11.01.10 :: 200 weeks old

Sean is 200 weeks old today.

5:30 pm today.

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November Calendars are ready! From left to right you have Train Tracks by ScoutJ, Swinging Gnome by Carol, Flowers by Cynthia, Paint Brushes by Robyn (me!). Open the image you’d like, right click on the image, and save as your desktop background. Voila! Let me know if you use one, which one that is!

What you've all been waiting for! The winners of my 5th blogaversary contest! I have drawn some names. Every comment that I received from the start of the contest to the end, got their comment printed and put into Sean's spiderman halloween bucket (or maybe it was Mackenzie's bucket - they had the same one). The winners are:

- 2 lucky winners win my entire Sock Collection in PDF format: Celia, Sandra
- 1 lucky winner win a copy of Jennifer Lori's My First Superhero: Jo
- 1 lucky winner win a copy of the pattern of their choice in GlennaC's Raverly shop: knitgirlknit
- 3 lucky winners will a copy of a pattern of their choice from WoolyBearDesign's Ravelry shop: Barb, Sara, Zonda
- 3 lucky winners will a copy of a pattern of their choice from Jane Richmond's Ravelry Shop: Sara, Knitgirlknit, Girlknits
- 4 lucky winners will a copy of a pattern of their choice from Spillyjane's Ravelry shop: Rosebelleknits, Caroline, Girlknits, & Lacey.
- 3 lucky winners wins a copy of the Gift Issue of KnitCircus: Bea, Sophie, & Amy.
- 1 lucky winner wins a one year subscription to KnitCircus: Tara
- 1 lucky winner wins a copy of the novel Jessica Z. by Shawn Klomparens, which I recently reviewed: Tomatoesgirl

CONGRATS TO ALL THE WINNERS! If you are winning a Ravelry prize, I've contacted the designers to let them know you're the winner with your Ravelry ID. Choose the pattern from their shop you want, and message them to receive your prize. For the book, I need Tomatoesgirl's address please (Email me! Or PM me on Ravelry). For the KnitCircus prizes, I've emailed the editor to give her your email addresses. She'll be getting in touch with you I believe. And those whom have won my sock collection, I've already sent it via Ravelry to you! HAPPY KNITTING! And thanks for participating in my contest. I hope those of you whom have de-lurked, continue to comment.

Here is another code worth 10 points to add to your PampersGifts to Grow account!
FBHalloween2010 - 10pts (Expires 11/6/10) and NOVFACEBOOK2010 also worth 10 pts.

I'm in a lot of pain and not feeling well at all these days. Counting down & hoping time passes faster. I really don't recall end of pregnancy this bad with Sean or Mackenzie's pregnancy. I've also been solo parenting lately while Jamie has been working crazy hours for the last week almost. We opened a 2nd franchise location today and he's been working like a mad dog. He's a really hard worker, and I love him for that, as he's been thinking about our future and all that stuff, but it's been super hard on my end solo parenting at 32 weeks pregnant, on modified activity. I can't wait to move on to the next stage of life, with 3 kids, already. I want to be there already, as it'll be easier to move around once this pain goes away. I'm wondering if it's just 3rd pregnancy pains, or if anything at all is associated to placenta praevia. I have an ultrasound soon to see what's going on with my placenta - and to make sure that baby boy is growing adequately due to lack of nutrients that placenta praevia causes. I am hoping he's all healthy - that's all that matters right now. The headache I started with yesterday is still around. I don't understand why I can't get rid of it. I totally thought that sleeping over night would "sleep it off" as most of my headaches do. Really hoping this doesn't turn into a migraine. If it does, Tylenol will not help at all. And I can't take Advil. (I have taken Tylenol twice this entire pregnancy. Once last night before trick or treating and once this morning before taking the kids to daycare - neither time did anything).

I can't believe it's November already. That means baby boy is due NEXT month. Next month! Ahhhhh! So much to do. So little time. I can feel a bit of anxiety coming on... Very excited already to meet the little guy - see what he looks like. I wonder if he'll be blond haired & blue eyed like his brothers? All I know is from the many ultrasounds he has the same button nose I do, that both my boys have as well. I love that button nose.

I got a message on my answering machine tonight from my almost 8 year old nephew. He asked for a laptop for his birthday. (His party is Saturday - cutting it close a bit much?) I already got him his birthday gift. On top of it, he asked me for another pair of Zekkies in his new foot size (as my mother-in-law calls them) and a new hat, since his Skull hat has holes in it). I was going to make him the Robot Hat, but ran out of time. Then I was thinking about doing it for Xmas, but now my hubby is thinking about splitting a little EEE PC for him with my in-laws for Xmas. I don't really have the time to knit him stuff as I have a list of other things first, and I am sure my mother-in-law is going to make him Zekkies for his birthday, as she did last year for my nephew and Sean, and this summer for Mack's 2nd birthday. However, I'm wondering... what the heck does an 8 year old need with a laptop? Parents of 8 year olds, or older... does an 8 year old really need a laptop? Especially when there is no internet at home? And he doesn't have homework at age 8 that requires being typed up? (When his mom does have a working desktop)? Am I crazy to think that an 8 year old doesn't need a laptop? Curious your opinions. What's he going to ask for next? A cell phone? Is this a crazy request from a kid? It's not the money that's an issue (for the cost of the laptop), it's the item that I am curious about. Our step-niece (Hubby's step-sister's daughter - who is related to our nephew as well) had to wait for her 13th birthday (which she was thrown a huge party for when she became a teenager) asked for a laptop in May for her birthday. She's in high school - and has papers to write and reports to type up. That to me makes sense. But an 8 year old? In the 2nd grade? (I think he's in the 2nd grade now).

Off to go finish off the last bit of laundry (cuz it really never ends...)... and hope that tomorrow is a better day without any pains, and without any head pounding.

(To make a crappy day better though, I won on facebook today an advance reader copy of Arranged by Catherine McKenzie which only comes out Dec 26, 2010. I LOVED her novel Spin, and can't wait to read this one. I totally recommend Spin - it was FANTASTIC & I couldn't put it down. Catherine is a local author, and I had the pleasure of meeting her back in the spring. I wonder if my ARC will come autographed?)!

10.01.10

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October Calendars are ready! From left to right you have Spider by Carol, Pumpkins by Cynthia, Sunset by ScoutJ, Berries by Robyn (me!). Open the image you’d like, right click on the image, and save as your desktop background. Voila! Let me know if you use one, which one that is!

Recently, there was a UFO Sighting not too far from my house. While I don't find this too strange, because people can believe in whatever they want to believe, but the coo coo thing about it, is that the person who witnessed it, was the exact same DOCTOR who cut me open to deliver Mackenzie (as my doctor wasn't on call that night). Aren't I glad that I won't be delivering at that same hospital. Wouldn't want to go into labor before my scheduled Csection and then end up that he's on call. He's the very doctor who was making derogatory comments towards the nurse (or doctor, who knows what their status was) assisting the surgery, and our mouths dropped. The guy is just coo coo.

I had lunch today with my awesome knit friend Tara. I hadn't seen her in a while due to our crazy busy schedules and it was really good to catch up. We indulged in dessert and it was nice & relaxing. We totally have to get together again sometime soon before too much time elapses again.

On my way home from work today, my first disc of Knit Two ended, and I was so upset to realize that I had left the next disc on my desk at home.

My in-laws came for dinner tonight, with a homemade lasagna (oh, it was so delicious) and some containers of frozen meat sauce (my step-mother-in-law's family recipe) to have for later. (My step-mother-in-law rocks!) I'm starting to stock up on frozen meals for now as well as for after baby boy #3's birth. (Any mom's dream, right? To have easy to defrost meals for the family). I think that's honestly the best gift anyone could give a new or 2nd or 3rd (etc) time mom :: meals to freeze. 'Cuz when you come home from the hospital with a newborn (especially after a Csection) the last thing on your mind is cooking dinner. And even now, being on modified activity, standing on my feet too long to cook/bake is getting really hard.

This evening we were sitting with the kids watching tv and playing in the playroom. Mack and Jamie were talking, I had no idea what was going on, I was winding some yarn and talking with Sean. All of a sudden I hear:

Jamie: "Mack, go tell mommy what is broken".
Mack runs over to me and says: "Broken".
Me: "What's broken Mackie?"
Mack: "Broken firefuck".

I start to giggle. I then turn to Jamie and say: "Oh wow, that sounds like he just said fire f-u-c-k". (Spelling out the word fuck because we don't swear around the kids at all). Almost immediately Sean spells out loud: "F-U-C-K". Oh no!!! Thankfully he can't decipher spelling yet.... but we immediately tried to correct him and say "T-R-U-C-K" and play on the Firetruck word, but we were trying not to laugh so hard because honestly this whole thing was way too funny. And Mr. Mack needs to work on his pronunciation of his words.

... Gotta love what kids say!

There is a new Pampers Gifts to Grow code out to help you add 10 points to your account (BTW, what are you saving yours for?) FacebookOct2010 – 10pts

Today's Link Love:
- I love this doormat.
- I love this photo and the hat the baby is wearing.
- I love these dishes & the way they are displayed in the cupboard.
- I love this field guide.
- This adorably cute bag!

Wow, I can't believe it's October already. As of tomorrow I've got 9 weeks left until I'm full term (37 weeks), my target goal date for now. So far, besides the placenta praevia and the anemia diagnosis this week, I haven't had any praevia bleeding yet. I guess staying off my feet as much as I possibly can has been keeping everything in check. I have high hopes that I might be able to avoid pre-term labor. 9 weeks though... I better get started on slowly getting the nursery in order.

07.07.10

 
I’ve got some garden updates for you! Above is some spaghetti squash forming! The flower on the end will fall off as the squash grows. Zucchinis, cucumbers, pumpkins (and I’m sure a few other vegetables) grow the same way. We have to pray we have no issues with the spaghetti squash buds. They seem to grow the same way the pumpkins did 2 summers ago, and some animal kept nipping off the buds of the start of the pumpkins and we ended up at the end of the summer, early fall with 1 pumpkin. Hoping no animal comes and nips these buds off. I want spaghetti squash!

 
We finally have some zucchinis. While this is the first one that is large enough to be eaten soon, there are other tiny ones starting to grow. Finally! I’ve been craving grilled zucchini. Our BBQ is supposed to finally get hooked up tomorrow, so I hope there will be some more to grill soon! I plant to grill some, bake some and puree some into soup. Oh yum.

The cucumber (and zucchini and spaghetti squash) plants are taking over the garden. This particular cucumber plant is growing up the house wall. The other plants have green stakes that were planted into the ground for them to grow up on, but this plant had a mind of it’s own.

 
We planted different kinds of cucumbers this year. 3 of the 4 types of cucumbers survived the first heat wave we had at the beginning of the gardening season. These ones above are like English Cucumbers, long and skinny. I can’t wait for it to grow a bit more so that I can pick it.

 
And we have regular Marketmore cucumbers growing too. The last type, I will have to double check in the garden and get back to you. I know for sure there were 4 kinds and one didn’t make it the heat. (The organic munchers didn’t make it at the beginning – so I planted 2 more zucchini plants in their spot instead. We have a total of 5 zucchini plants in the backyard garden). My first year gardening, I only planted ONE zucchini plant. Someone told me with just one plant I’d have zucchinis growing out of my ear and I wouldn’t know what to do with the excess. That first year, I wanted MORE that what I got. So last year I think we planted 3. Still, I wanted more. This year, I planted 3 again, but in another location, hoping that it would grow better than last year, as I only had room for 3 plants. But when 2 cucumber plants didn’t make it (both the same kind of cucumbers – maybe they just weren’t meant for our gardening conditions and wilted away) I planted 2 more zucchini plants, and hope I finally do get more zucchini than I know what to do with. That’s the plan.

Managed to get squeezed into the doctor’s office today for an appointment. I wanted to get Mack’s cough checked out – and since Sean was coughing a bit – I brought him along too to get looked at. Sean’s lungs are fine, Mack’s got a bit of mucus in his lungs and has something viral that is going on in there. There’s nothing we can give him or do for it, so he’ll just have to cough it out. Poor guy. I am keeping him home from daycare for the rest of the week and Sean will be going back to school tomorrow providing that he doesn’t get worse at all. Glad that it’s nothing serious. I was worried that Mack had asthma or something, as some of his coughs sounded like they could have been related. Nothing to worry about.

The boys were super cranky today. This heat is making us all grumpy. I was able to get Mack down for a nap in his big boy bed – successfully. It was his first afternoon nap in his new bed. So far, so good. Sean gave up his home naps around 2 (he does still nap at daycare). I’m praying Mack doesn't give his up just yet.

Jamie called me mid-afternoon from the golf course (lucky guy getting to golf with a supplier from work – however I don't think I’d want to be golfing in this heat) and told me that he’d watch the kids tonight, and that I should make plans and go out. Since there’s no knit night tonight (people busy with out of town guests, stuff with their kids, etc) I made plans to go over to my friend D’s house to swim. It was a nice evening – her pool was about 83°F which was perfect because it was still 33°C (91°F) out.

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Better late than never – the July Calendars are finally ready for it’s release to the public. They’re free, so please use one! From left to right you have Carol’s scenery, Scout’s Flag, Cynthia’s Peonies and my dock at the country house. Let me know if you use one and which one!

This video is quite fun. It is part of an incredible project called I Believe She's Amazing. You can read more here and add someone you love to the list of amazing women you know.

05.01.10

We had a very busy day today. In the morning we met up with a friend of mine at a park down the street from where I grew up. It had been years since I went into that park, so it was neat seeing all the upgrades that they had done in the park. Very nice park with cool toys. It seems there was only one or two things left (swing sets) that were circa my childhood. The rest was all brand new (last decade).

The boys had fun with our sand toys.
Of course the other kid’s sand toys were better than ours.
We have quite the bag of sand stuff.
Everything is ours except that yellow bucket Sean is dumping sand into.
(Along with 2 shovels that came with that bucket).
And my boys still fight over all our stuff, even though we have plenty.



Mack really LOVES swings.
Can’t go to a park without going on the swings.

Sean had fun on a see saw with my friend D.

Then a few of us played ball.

Sean came fully equipped to play. Glove, bat, ball.

Once my friend’s son was done playing ball with his team, Sean joined them on the field.


After the park, we ran home, ate a quick (fast) lunch, then made sure that Mack got a long enough nap, and then we headed mid afternoon to Sean’s friend Noah’s 3rd birthday party.

Here is Sean next to the birthday boy, around a makeshift parachute. The kids had fun playing parachute games.

They even tossed balls up in the air!

Mackie really enjoyed the birthday cake. He sat with one of Sean’s friends to eat.
They were being so cute with each other!

This is Mack’s funny “cheese face”.

Sean said the funniest thing to me at the birthday party today. He picked up a marshmallow, turned to me, showed it to me and stated “Mommy, I like mushrooms”. I almost peed my pants in laughter. Kids… they say the darndest things. I swear. I love it.

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May’s calendar’s are out! From left to right you have Scouts’, Cynthia’s, Carol’s & mine.
You can download them here: (Scouts’, Cynthia’s, Carol’s & mine).
Enjoy! Let me know if you chose one (and which one) for your desktop calendar!

march thirty-one :: 93 weeks old

Mack is 93 weeks old today.

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For those of you whom have emailed me asking when the April 2010 Desktop Calendars are coming, they’re here!! From left to right you have the B&W record player print (that one is mine!), devil girl, flowers & branches. Pick which one you want, save it to your desktop as a wallpaper and voila – a free gift from myself & three other wonderful ladies (2 of which I get to meet later this month in beautiful British Columbia!)

At work today I got to meet Yannick Lupien, who is a Canadian Freestyle swimmer. He’s won silver for Canada at the Olympics! I had no idea he was friends with 2 of the guys whom work for me, and he came today to see them. It was really cool hearing all about swimming & the Olympics. This week has been filled with athletes. 6 degrees of separation really does exist, eh? (Well, I’m not related to any of them through dating/marriage, whatnot) but it’s such a small world. Really. Now, if only I could get Curtis Stone in the same room…!

This evening I went out with some friends to a different coffee shop.
We sat cosily by a fireplace (though it wasn’t on), and enjoyed conversation.

My mind wasn’t 100% focused tonight, I’m tired and have been feeling out of it the last couple of days, so I didn’t want to work on anything complicated or work on anything that was new. I pulled out my trusted Babette & knocked off 4 squares tonight while I was out. I can almost do these with my eyes shut. I say almost, because then I wouldn’t know where to put the hook in…!



These are the 4 squares I managed to finish tonight. I’ve now got 45 squares done for Babette. It’s really coming along. I really don’t know how large I want to make it, but I know that I don’t want to do any seaming until after all the squares are done, so that I can properly do a color placement with all the squares. Sounds like a good plan, I think. I will be using black fingering weight to seam all the squares together.

I now have about a hundred pages left in the book I’m reading, so I hope to finish it soon. I really want to finish it, and start something new. What books have you read lately? Anything worth suggesting?! If so, please leave me a comment. I’d like to know what books you thought were really good, even if you’re not done reading them yet.

march one :: 165 Weeks Old

Sean is 165 weeks old today.

 
We had Sean’s swimming class this morning, so we hit up the library afterwards. Sean borrowed 3 DVDs from the library. We found a new children’s show on DVD to try out. I’m honestly a tad tired of the same Caillou, Sesame Street, etc, episodes that we watch in our house, and that I hear in the car, as the kids have a DVD player set up in the back of the car in front of each of their seats.

Outside the library right next to where I parked the car, I saw this “art installation”. How cute is this? It brings me back to my childhood, when I used to play Monkeys in a Barrel with friends. Ah, the good old days.

When I picked up the boys from daycare today, it was a bit of a challenge. The were both really good today during the day (napping, eating, behaving, etc)… but when it comes to 5pm, and I have to get both of them dressed in boots, hats, gloves, jackets… I long for Spring when there’s none of the sort to deal with. I am fed up of boots & hats & jackets, and, and and…! By the time I have one kid dressed, and I’m working on getting the 2nd boy dressed, the first one is undressing himself. Or running around. Or this. Or that. It’s quite the challenge. Luckily I’m not the only mother dealing with this (or parent, as there are a few dads who come to pick up their kids from daycare too).

I cast on a new project today. Sean’s sweater. His team Canada Jersey Sweater. I’m making it up as I go, charting, and doing research as well. A sweater of the sort does not exist. So I have to create one. I’m making it in size 3-4T. This way, he can wear it now, and grow into it as well.

It’s going to have the white stripes on the bottom & on the sleeves, the logo & the word CANADA on the front. Like above. It’s going to have his name on the back, with the number 3 on it, as that’s the number he chose to have on it. I’m going to be the coolest mommy ever, for knitting him this sweater, and I know that he’ll wear it proud. (I mean, come on, he goes around telling people (strangers even… we’re working on that though – not talking to strangers) that his mommy knit him a dino hat… of course he’ll be even happier when this sweater is done… it’s hockey!!) I’ll keep you updated on my progress, that’s for sure. It’s going to be quite interesting designing this sweater, but I have faith that I can 150% do it. And it’s going to make one 3 year old very very very happy. To say the least…

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I’ve been working again on a collaborative project with 3 other lovely ladies. Each month we’ll be giving you free desktop calendars. I hope you enjoy them and use them. If you do use one, please leave me a comment to let me know which one you liked best and set as your desktop. From left to right you can choose from the skyline, the tattoo girl, the yarn scene, or the Vancouver Olympic lights. Once you open the link of the one you like, just right click on the image and set it as your desktop wallpaper.

The four of us behind these are:
Carol: www.carolbrowne.com
Robyn (Me!): knitpurlknitpearl.blogspot.com
Scout: www.scoutj.com
Cynthia: www.biggirlfeet.ca

Help yourselves – they’re free!!
I’m so happy to be apart of this project.

For those of you collecting Pampers.ca points (or dot com), I have to more bonus codes worth 30 points each: GTGTEAMUSA2010 and GTGPLAY2USA2010. I tried looking to see if they had the same thing but for Canada, but nope… THat’s okay, I’ll be a traitor and take the points with the USA codes! Not even sure what I’m saving up for, but I’ll figure it out, I have a ton of points right now, and nothing yet to buy with them.

january thirty-one

Today I gave Sean his first pair of scissors. I have no idea if he’s used scissors at daycare, but he’s never used them at home. I got him a kiddie pair, that are super safe, so I wasn’t worried. I let him hack away at some paper. He had fun.

Mack’s out of the high chair now (since we’ve been back from Florida – Jamie put it in storage while we were away). He’s getting to be such a big boy now, 19 and a half months old. He’s growing up too fast for my liking.

I spent some time this afternoon doing Mack & Sean’s Valentine’s Day cards for school. They’re so cute. Their party will be on the 12th of February (the Friday before V-day) and I have to go through their wardrobe to make sure I have red outfits for them to wear. I’m not a big Valentine’s Day lover, but it’s fun for the kids.

This afternoon I was 50% done my Spring Beret. I managed to finish it this evening while watching tv. Details will follow tomorrow! I will tell you all about it then. It’s not as “beret-y” as I would have liked – but it’s cute nonetheless. Also – it’s a super fast knit. Took me about a day and a half, not even.

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I can’t believe it’s February already tomorrow. I’ve been working on a collaborative project with 3 other lovely ladies. Each month we’ll be giving you free desktop calendars. I hope you enjoy them and use them. If you do use one, please leave me a comment to let me know which one you liked best and set as your desktop. From left to right and top to bottom you can choose from the pink floral one, the heart one, the yellow floral one, or the black paris one. Once you open the link of the one you like, just right click on the image and set it as your desktop wallpaper.

The four of us behind these are:

Carol: www.carolbrowne.com
Robyn (Me!): knitpurlknitpearl.blogspot.com
Scout: www.scoutj.com
Cynthia: www.biggirlfeet.ca

Every month we’ll be taking photos and my dear friend Cyn will add the design and calendars.
Help yourselves – they’re free!!
I’m so happy to be apart of this project.