december fifteen

This morning when I dropped off Sean at daycare, I filled out the rest of the paperwork for Mackenzie to start there in January. January 4th is his first day - which is the first day back after the new year. I am so excited, I can't even tell you! It will make my life so much easier to have both kids in the same school. When I picked up Mack today from his daycare I handed in the letter I typed up which notifies them that he will no longer be attending after December 24th, 2009. I don't even know how many days he'll actually go next week as we have family staying with us from Sunday until Thursday so we'll be busy with them. I will send Mack to his daycare on Monday though, at least for the morning, since it's his daycare Xmas party and I do have gifts for all his teachers. (All 3 of them!)

I did learn this morning that since I didn't purchase Sean's school picture package I won't be getting a class picture from the photographer. Though, the coordinator had a copy which she "loaned" to me today. Looks at this picture. None of the kids seem at all thrilled to be in it - and none of them are smiling. Not a single one! That shows you had bad this chick was. I am recommending to the school that they use someone else next year and even have a name to give them. Sean's 2 girlfriends are Shayna & Callie. Shayna is in the overalls in the bottom row and Callie is wearing the orange & red (or is that pink) outfit in the middle row on the right. Sean is the middle boy in the back row if you can't find him. My blondie. There is actually now 6 girls in Sean's class and 10 boys. (There was 11 boys and 5 girls before). I think one of the boys moved to the next class up when some kids got shifted around. There is going to be another kid entering Sean's class and one of Sean's friends moving up to the next class probably when Mack starts in January. I really hope that it's not one of his close friends moving up, he'll be so sad. But I'm still happy that Mack will be starting there!

I didn't work today in the office, I will be going in tomorrow. I had a rather upset stomach today, which is why I forgot to eat lunch. I was working all afternoon on wrapping gifts for teachers and for some of my knitting friends for our christmas exchange tomorrow night, that I forgot to eat lunch.

I can't believe Xmas is next Thursday night. NEXT. Yep. Next. You read that right. Next Week. How'd that happen? So much to do - so little time. I feel the stress coming on.

Tonight I watched the finale of Season 4 of Dexter with Jamie. I am sick to my stomach and shocked after watching the epsisode. When does Season 5 start? I can't believe they killed off Rita. I found this interview online, which confirms she was killed off. At first I wasn't sure if it was real or if Dexter was dreaming. It was real. And it looks like it was Trinity who did it before Dexter killed Trinity. Oh my! It looks like all the first four seasons of Dexter started the last week of September or the first week of October. So I am assuming that I will have to wait until next fall to watch the next Season. Oh my! It's going to kill me to wait that long! I must know what happens next! At least in January/February we have 24 (January 17, 2010), Lost (February 2, 2010) & Chuck (January 10, 2010)starting up, so we'll have stuff to watch!

Good news! I found Jamie's scarf! The guy who lives in the building where the poker tournament was held has it! I just need to coordinate picking it up from him since he lives off island. I think Jamie said he'd take Sean for a drive this Saturday afternoon while my step-mother-in-law helps me do some baking while Mack naps. I am so happy and Jamie is so happy. It means a lot to me that he loves his scarf that much.

Madeleine showed me this pretty neat link today, that I wanted to share with everyone.

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I was nominated for Best Canadian Craft, Cook & Other Activities Blog for 2009! Please vote for me in 1st place here! You have until Saturday, December 19th, 2009 to vote. Thank you in advance! And thank you for reading my blog!

december fourteen

Mack decided it would be a good idea to wake up at 5 am this morning and start his day. I ended up sleeping on the floor of my bedroom because he wanted to play and watch tv and have me next to him. Jamie and I both were dead to the world. We figured out why he was awake. We tried last night to give him his milk cold. He's been getting his milk warmed up as he had his formula warmed up when he was still on formula. I want him to be off warm milk and drinking said milk out of a sippy cup before he switches daycare. I see this being a challenge since he barely touched his milk last night and was up at 5 am because he was hungry. What I would do to have him sleep in until his normal 7 am wakeup. I don't function waking up at 5 am.

I handed in Mack's birth certificate and medical record book today when I dropped off Sean. Tomorrow I will be signing the paperwork, and then I will give notice to Mack's daycare that he will no longer be attending come January. I am a little nervous about handing in Mack's "resignation" to his soon-to-be old daycare, but I am sure it will be okay. I just don't want them to give him less attention or not care for him properly because soon they will know that he will not be coming back. (One of my friends put this silly idea in my head and now I'm not sure whether to be paranoid or not). I've probably got nothing to worry about. I hope.

I finally called the phone company today and sorted out my answering machine. It now works again properly. I use the same company for our internet/phone & cable. (Much easier just to pay one company, don't you think?) Anyhow, what probably happened is that one of the kids must have hit *93 which de-activates your answering machine. So I had to hit *92 and now it works. We tested it out. I get voicemail when I call my house and the voicemail also picks up if I don't answer my call-waiting. Phew! It's been honestly WEEKS since we've had a working answering machine. Took me a while to even have someone tell me "you know, your answering machine doesn't pick up anymore, it just rings & rings & rings...". Well, that's now sorted out. Phew! One more thing to cross off my list. (I do have a long list let me tell you).

As promised, my latest design:

Possibility.

Oh, I love cables.

For now all my designs are available on Ravelry. I do plan to get them all up for sale on my own website soon (sometime over the winter break). I hope you've liked my 2009 designs, stay tuned in 2010 for some more ideas I've got kicking around!

I finally started to block some of Babette. I am blocking them out to 4"x4".

I plan to work more on this in the new year. I'm slowly collecting solid sock yarn scraps to make it. Solid/tonals/semi-solids are what I'm using. If you have any leftovers you don't know what to do with and would like to send them my way - please do so! That would be very appreciated!

Jamie's scarf is officially missing. He's looked everywhere. I still am waiting for a call back with the guy's name who lives in the condo building where the poker tournament was held, as maybe they have an lost & found. The guy who lives in that building would have had to of cleaned up the party room where the tournament was held, so if Jamie left it there, there could be a chance they found it. Here's to hoping. If not, he decided he likes Mabel's Scarf pattern (non Ravelry link) though I am not sure what yarn I'd use, as I don't have any Malabrigo Worsted in a color he likes. I'm not going to cast on anything yet, in case his beloved scarf does turn up.

Mack finally started saying a few new words! He is still not saying much. He says Mama, Dada, Book, Ball, Up, and now Papa (my dad's nickname). Slowly! Though, of course, we can't get Mack to say Papa infront of my dad! My parents stopped by this evening to give Jamie his birthday gift since he wasn't at family dinner last night. We tried so hard to get Mack to say it - but no luck. I'll have to catch it on video!

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I was nominated for Best Canadian Craft, Cook & Other Activities Blog for 2009! Please vote for me in 1st place here! You have until Saturday, December 19th, 2009 to vote. Thank you in advance! And thank you for reading my blog!

december thirteen :: 154 weeks old

Sean is 154 weeks old today!

This morning I had booked a studio session to re-do Sean's school pictures after the school photographer had done a horrible job with the ones she took at the daycare. I really wanted to have them, so I had them re-done. So we started with that. I just love these! Isn't he a handsome kid? I'm just biased, but still!

Then I added Mack into the mix. Both of them wanted to hold a football. Thankfully the guy taking the pictures had 2, one for each kid. I'm in love with this picture. It's just perfect. I love it. I love my boys. They're too cute. Ok, I'll stop gloating!

Then came the "famous" Habs jersey shots. Had to do them. Though, Sean had to hold a huge (dirty) soccer ball and cover his jersey. Next time we do this I have to remember to bring the mini hockey sticks. That would have made the shot!

Then I snuck into some photos. Wasn't having a good hair day. But we were having way too much fun with the photographer. So we decided to snap some extra.

And then my mom, who didn't come "dressed" for a photoshoot came into some photos. I think she looks great regardless. I wasn't "dressed" either for a photo shoot.

The photographer said he usually only takes about 10 shots for one booked sitting. He took 147 shots! I got them on CD, since I took the large package which gave me the 7.99$ special that is going on right now (for 30 prints) free (which is 6 sheets) as well as 12 other sheets of my choice, and the entire session on CD. The 7.99$ package that I was getting for free I used it to take Sean's new school picture so I would get wallets to give to family, and an 8x10, etc... and the other 12 sheets I picked from the above photos and made wallets and 5x7's and some 8x10's. I can't wait to get those, but the guy doesn't know if it'll be before Christmas or not. I'll cross my fingers and call on the 23rd to see. If not, no biggy.

I am so happy the way the session turned out though!

On our way home we made some stops. I was looking for a copy of Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2009 and cannot find a copy anywhere in this city. I've checked a few LYS', a few magazine shops and as well my local book store. Not a single copy to be found. Let me know if you have access to a copy, and don't mind sending it to me. I'll send money for it! I really want a copy. I did pick up a Foot in the Door door stop at one of the stops we made (pictured above). Isn't it cute? Sean brought it to me while I was in the kitchen earlier and said "mommy, I found your shoe in the door." I got a good laugh and put it back telling him it was meant to be there! I also picked up a thumb thing today. I can't wait to try it out. Looks neat. I am hoping it will help me hold my book while reading in bed. I'm still working on Julie & Julia. I really want to finish it soon so I can watch the movie. It's sitting here waiting for me to watch.

Tonight we went out for dinner with my parents and siblings and celebrated Chanukah.

Each kid got a really nifty Habs housecoat from both my siblings. Thank you - they love it! I also got a cute knitting notepad from my mom and a remote control to replace the one we lost (we think Mack accidentally put it in the garbage can and it got thrown out, because it's no where to be found in our house), from my sister who got it from a supplier from work. Thank you so much! Now we can finally use the sling catcher in our room again. Just need to load the remote with batteries.

Tonight I watched the movie Funny People since Jamie was still out. It wasn't even really that funny. It was also a little long (just over 2 hours). I won't be watching that one again. I didn't hate it, it just wasn't that great.

Jamie came home tonight from the poker tournament he played in today and now he can't find his scarf. He is so upset. If it doesn't turn up I told him I'd knit him a new one. I am going to see if I can found out if there is a lost & found from where he was today. Jamie thinks it's a waste of time, but I am hopeful. Jamie made it to the final table tonight out of 39 people. Since it was a work night, they all decided when it got down to the final 7 people to split the winnings fairly. Jamie came home with some winnings, which was a nice birthday gift. His dad and step-mom went with him today to play, (They are poker players as well) and gave Jamie money to enter the tournament. So by him winning, was a great birthday gift! He said it was really a lot of work to make to to the final table. I'm glad he still had fun though, that's what counts.

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I was nominated for Best Canadian Craft, Cook & Other Activities Blog for 2009! Please vote for me in 1st place here! You have until Saturday, December 19th, 2009 to vote. Thank you in advance! And thank you for reading my blog!

december twelve

I'm really bad. I skipped Sean's swim class again. He has one more week next Saturday. I will attend. After that, next session he goes into the pool by himself - what a big boy! I can't wait. I feel really bad, but I just couldn't get out the door to swim. Jamie took him out to get bagels and we had a nice brunch in instead.

This afternoon I met up with the lovely Tara and the lovely Caroline.
It had been forever since I'd seen Caroline, and it was nice to see Tara again, and actually sit down and knit with her this time. Always a blast hanging out with my knitting peeps.

The lovely Kadi joined us as well for a bit.

It was so nice to see them. I hope we get to do it again sometime soon. Especially since we all hail from total opposite ends of the city. Literally. From 4 different corners. I worked on an über secret knitting project while out today, that I ended up finishing tonight while watching tv. Quickest knit ever. The person receiving it will get it next week, so I will only be able to post pictures then. Stay tuned!

I keep hearing a sizzling sound coming from my laundry room. Yet when I'm in the laundry room I hear it coming from my office. It's driving me nuts. I want to know what it is so I can make it stop. I'm hoping one of the kids' chanukah/xmas/Sean's birthday toys isn't possessed and is making sounds. And today's not the first time I've heard it. Very weird. I am hoping it stops soon.

Since last night I lit the candles after Sean was in bed, tonight I made sure to do it while he was still awake so that he could see what was going on. Last year he was still too young, he wasn't even 2 yet.

Though, again like last year, after lighting the menorah, he wanted to blow out the candles as if it were a birthday cake. That gave me a chuckle. Silly boy!

Happy Chanukah to my friends who celebrate!

So, I had NO idea until today that I (Knit & Purl Mama) was nominated for the Canadian 2009 Best Crafts, Cook, & Other Activities Blog! Please go and vote for me! I was actually elected into the top 5! I can't believe it! Thank you to whomever nominated me! I also was nominated for "Best Overall" but didn't make it to Round 2. Wow! This is so much fun - thank you so much. Round 2 voting is open until December 19th. Please go rank me number 1! Thank you in advance! I hope to make the next round, 3 of us will move on! Yes, I know, I'm up against the Yarn Harlot, but she has won in the past, and she's also in Round 2 for best overall blog - so maybe she can win in another category, and maybe I can actually beat her? Wouldn't that be nice! No offence to her or anything, but maybe it's time for a new winner? :)

december eleven

I got great news this morning when I brought Sean to daycare. The coordinator at his daycare pulled me aside and told me that she finally has a spot for Mack starting January 4th. I don't want to scream and jump of joy yet, but I swear, I almost kissed her feet when she told me. I have to bring in Mack's birth certificate & his medical record book next week. I won't say anything to the daycare where Mack goes until I have officially signed the paperwork so that I don't jinx anything. But I am so happy! Finally. No more dropping off and picking up in two separate locations. It's been very tiring.

I worked today in the office, nothing exciting really. My printer is broken so I kept having to run to the service department to get anything I printed. I could have shouted through my little window at the guys to bring me my papers... but I can never remember any of their names (except for our manager & the assistant manager, and one other guy who wasn't even working at the time!) LOL. Anyhow, my manager assures me that he's ordered me in a specific printer that we don't actually carry in stock for my office and we should get it in soon. Sounds good to me. Hoepfully it'll be there the next time I am in my office.

Tonight my in-laws came for supper and we celebrated Jamie's birthday. My step-mother-in-law made lemon merangue pie and boy was it delicious!

We managed to squeeze a family shot in before Mack's bedtime, but as you can see he was already having his bottle as it was late and almost his bedtime, and wanted nothing to do with a picture!

I read The Eight Nights of Chanukah by Leslea Newman tonight with Sean before bed. Chanukah started tonight - Happy Chanukah to those who celebrate. I lit the candles tonight, but only after Sean went to bed, so I will take some pictures with him tomorrow. He's so excited about Chanukah, I hope he understands what it's all about. I need to find another book that explains it better, because the book I read him tonight, while cute, was a song to the tune of "The 12 Days of Christmas"... so no real story in the book, but it was cute. And Sean liked it.

I finally have some designs to show you! I've got one for you tonight and another to show you in the next couple of days!

Here is Grape Vines.

I'm in love with this design.

Look at the pattern in the sock. I'm in love.

december ten

Today is Jamie's Birthday.
Happy Birthday hun!

I worked at home all morning. I watched The Answer Man (USA working title) today. I like Kat Dennings who was in Nick & Norah's and I like Lauren Graham who was Lorelai in Gilmore Girls. The movie was a little slow and just okay. Not something I'd watch again.

Then headed to sewing class just after lunch. I had a nice time in class today and my sewing teacher really liked the holiday gift that I got her. She's so cute. I'm going to miss her once class is over (one week left). I don't think I will continue on in the next session, I lucked out having a private class and I don't think there is any thing more I want to learn how to do right now. I've mastered the zipper, and know how to sew a straight line right now, so I'm pretty happy. I definitely won't be taking up anything with sewing for a living, but it's fun to know how to do, and know how to work my own machine to actually make a few things.

Today in class I made this box bag. It's freakin' tiny. Totally thought it would be larger, but it's meant for notions, not a sock project in progress. I completely altered the pattern though, and lined the pouch properly, instead of just making the inside the way it is in the pattern. It looks a lot better completely lined. I'm much happier with it that way. It's a cute little bag, and there was a bit too much hand sewing for my liking, but that's okay.

I had a clumsy day in class today though, I broke 2 sewing machine needles, one just after my teacher told me to be careful going over the zipper. Oops. And then not too much longer after that, I busted another one. Not my day! I was also having threading issues today. It just wasn't my day.

Tonight we dropped off the kids at my parents house and we headed to the Habs game. What a nice way to celebrate Jamie's birthday. Too bad we lost 3-2 to the Pittsburgh Penguins. I honestly think that we should have won this game. We had tied it up but the ref blew his whistle prematurely, and caused the entire Bell Center to boo the referee. It was nasty!! It should have counted as a goal. It was totally not fair. We could have tied up the game, sending us to overtime and possibly winning the game. Ugh! It was nice to come home tonight to no kids though! They're sleeping at my parents house tonight, and I will pick them up tomorrow morning before daycare.

With Chanukah starting tomorrow night, I saw this awesome link on my friend Rhoda's blog. Thank you for sharing. It's totally cute! I hope to find some time to make some with my boys this week! Let me know if you end up making some as well!

december nine :: 76 weeks old

Mack is 76 weeks old today.

We woke up this morning to some really beautiful snow.

And beautiful trees.

And a lot of snow everywhere.

I hate this time of the year, because my pants usually end up soaking wet.

And you have to leave your windshield wipers up in the air.
(This is not my car, but one parked in front of me in a parking lot).

I ran errands after dropping off kids which lasted ALL morning. I did some Christmas/Chanukah/Birthday gift shopping. I am really happy with my progress. Not only is it the holidays, but the December birthdays begin tomorrow:

10th - Jamie
19th - Amy
22nd - Mom
23rd - Step-mother-in-law
28th - Sean

After getting everything done, which was nice because not a lot of people were out shopping today because of the storm, so checking out of stores was super fast. I love it. What a good idea to go out today. When I got home and unpacked all the stuff I'd picked up today, I got a phone call from Sean's daycare. ean had an allergic reaction or rash to something and I had to come pick him up immediately.

So I picked up both kids and headed to the Clinic. While picking up Mack, his teacher told me that I should put Mack to bed around 8:30/9pm instead of 7:30pm after asking me the exact time I put him to bed at (which is 7:30pm). Mack doesn't make it past 7:30 pm, he starts crying for his bottle and wants to be put to bed. He created his own bedtime, and I am fine with that. Who is she to dictate what time I put my kids to bed? I am honestly baffled by this... and it's honestly the last straw. I cannot wait for Mack to get into Sean's daycare, I'm ready to start kissing some feet to get him in... I really hope it's not too much longer. It's honestly the only thing I want for Christmas/Chanukah...! (Since we celebrate both). Is that too much to ask for?

So I take the kids to the children's clinic in my neighborhood. I have never before in my life been in and out in 10 minutes. This is the clinic that I had a very bad experience with, with one of the doctors back in December 2007/January 2008. However, we saw another doctor there today who was on call. Sean had a reaction to the H1N1 shot. I couldn't believe it. And it's hives that are all over his body. The clinic said they'd seen 127 cases so far, usually because of egg allergies. Though, Sean doesn't eat eggs on their own, he does eat a lot of things that are cooked in eggs, so I was shocked about this. Maybe there is something else in the shot that he reacted to? I am going to bring it up to his doctor at his next check-up. (Or when I go with Mack to his, which will be sooner).

I picked up Benadryl on the way home from the clinic as that's what we were told to give him. Here is what some of the hives looked like:

The worst of it was all around his upper legs. It was so bright red and in huge patches. He said it felt itchy, so I am hoping that the Benadryl helps. Poor kid! Now I am wondering if I should have gotten us vaccinated? I'm worried now.

This evening we lost power in the house, so we ordered in supper. We lost power for exactly an hour from about 6pm until 7pm. We couldn't exactly cook as we couldn't see anything, even though we have a gaz stove, so we could have cooked. I really wasn't in the mood to cook by flashlight. The power actually came back on just a minute before our supper arrived.

Jamie and I chilled after kids had their bath and were in bed for the night. By the time Sean went to bed, his hives looks like they're going away and were looking a lot better. I hope they are all gone by the morning, but I have no idea how long these things take to clear? Poor guy!