3.10.11 :: 142 weeks old

Mack is 142 weeks old today.
(Mack is 100% back to his old self now, from his little bump yesterday.
Even his bruising is fading).

Today after taking Quentin to weigh in at the local clinic, (he's now 9 lbs 12 oz (4.42 kg or 4420 grams), keeping up with a 25g per day weight gain in the past 2 weeks), I managed to get Quentin down for an afternoon nap in his own crib. It's the first time ever that he's napped during the day in his crib. (Until now he's only slept in it at night). Before you start shooting me nasty comments that Quentin's on his stomach - I'm aware. (And both Sean & Mackenzie were stomach sleepers and they are fine). It was suggested to me unofficially by the doctors at the hospital that once I feel comfortable to leave him sleep on his stomach, that it was the best position for a baby with Laryngomalacia. As of recently, when I noticed Quentin had good neck control, I switched him to sleep on his stomach. And that's when he started to sleep through the night. I am so glad I successfully got him to nap in his crib this afternoon (instead of in the baby bucket (if out) or in the swing or bounce/vibrate chair).

Quentin absolutely love his new blanket. He wanted to show Maureen that he has been using it already. It keeps his warm while we're out & about. Sean placed the monkey arms around Quentin while we were doing story time this evening in the boys' room, so I thought it was too cute to not take a picture.

I got my new toy in the mail today, a 50mm Nikon AF NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8D Lens. I can't wait to start playing around with it. I actually picked it up because I ordered 2 toys to go with it, that I am still waiting for in the mail. My order for those 2 toys was shipped, but it hasn't gotten here yet. I will definitely show you when they arrive. Photography toys are so much fun. I'm a gadget gal... what can I say? These are my early birthday present to myself... (birthday is in June and it's a big birthday to boot). I did take this picture of the yarn on the right hand side with my new lens (was indeed playing a little with it tonight). The yarn, color has been taken away so you can't see what it is, has been wound up for my newest design. I was asked to design a pattern for the Nestucca Bay Yarns' Spring Lambs Yarn Club. The club looks like a lot of fun, and you should go sign up! You will be getting Madelinetosh yarn with at least one of the kits (not sure if all are knit up in Madelinetosh yarn), but I am very excited to be designing the sock pattern for the club.

Tonight before getting the kids from their classrooms, I sat in on the Parents Committee meeting at the daycare. There was a few things that I wanted to hear that were on the agenda, and I am curious to possibly join the Parents Executive for the next calendar school year. I am not sure how that all works, but I know that one or two of the moms on the Parents Executive have a child graduating in May and going off to Kindergarten in August (not sure why "graduation" is in May if they are still there for June-July-and most of August...)? Sean still has one more school year until he starts Kindergarten (August 2012) and Mack has two more school years until he's in Kindergarten, and Quentin will either get a spot and I'll have 3 kids there for 3-3.5 months or so (end of May-June-July-August of 2012) or Quentin will take Sean's spot when he leaves to Kindergarten, and then that'll be another 4 years of being at that daycare... I'll have spent 8 years attending that daycare then... September 2008 Sean started there, and Quentin will start Kindergarten in 2016. 2008-2016. Maybe it's a good thing that I get on the Parents Executive. I've always seen myself as a PTA mom.

Don't forget that by commenting, you will be entered into my giveaway for a copy of Arranged by Catherine McKenzie. The contest runs until March 16, 2011, and I will draw a winner that evening when I blog. All you have to do is comment on any post this blog.

10.03.10

This morning my husband decided to start cleaning up the garage to see if we could fit both his car & my mini van into the garage (they do fit - yey!) and we brought a ton of stuff into the house. Stuff that probably should have been in the house in the first place. Stuff that got used outside of the house and then brought back home, but then dumped into the garage. I have a huge pile of stuff to still organize that came in, but I finally started to do a bit of re-organization so that I could put Baby 3's Bassinet (that I borrowed from my cousin) in my office. I wanted one in here, so that I could have him close while napping, and I could get some stuff done in my office. We have a 2nd bassinet - which I got as a gift (though we bought it 2nd hand), that will go in our bedroom. The 2nd one, is a gorgeous dark brown solid wood, that looks like a mini-crib, and has the option to rock. It's gorgeous. We need to do some re-organizing in the bedroom in order to get that set up, more stuff on our to-do list before baby 3's arrival. It feels good to re-organize and move things around. Gives the room a new look, something fresh. I like it.


Today we had one of the Three Musketeers Birthday party to attend. (Sean and two buddies at school are very good friends). They had a blast at the gym it was held at. (Above Sean is jumping into a sponge pit - if I wasn't over 7 months pregnant, I'd want to do the same thing too!)

I enjoy kids birthday parties too - it's nice catching up with Sean's friends parents whom I don't get to see very often. When you're around toddlers all day, it's nice for some adult conversation as well, even if you end up talking about your kids.

Sean had fun making noise with some party horns.

Mack didn't want to hear it.

But then after some cake was in a good mood himself.

We had some time today to play hopscotch in our front yard before bedtime.

It was Sean's request for me to draw the hopscotch game.
I haven't played in years.
(Though, rather difficult for me to play it now, so I watched my boys play).

Well friends, it's that time of the year again... the Habs flag has come out of it's summer storage place, and is now hanging above our garage on the patio railing. I'm very excited for the new season to start, GO HABS GO!

The kids went to bed early tonight as we've had a really busy weekend which resulted in absolutely no napping for either boy (which I hope to not let happen again next weekend - though next weekend is jammed packed with more stuff going on, as is the entire month of October - next thing I know, it'll be Halloween). After the kids were sound asleep, Jamie and I sat on the couch and caught up on a bunch of shows we watch together. I worked on the sample knit, as I'm just dying to get that over with already... and was trying to dodge more alpaca up my nose. Ick!

My SD1200 is now resting in peace. It was slightly busted inside the battery door, a piece was broken off to hold the battery down. The camera was still usable for a while now, without that piece, but somehow the actual battery door (where the SD memory card rests as well while the camera is in use), somehow totally came off today when I went to go dump some photos off my camera onto my computer. Anticipating the 1200's funeral, (may it rest in peace), a while ago, I picked up an SD1300 when it was on sale (at a place I could also get points at). This is the exact same camera, but now instead of 10.0 MP I now have 12.1 MP, allowing for better printing capabilities. I absolutely LOVE this line of pocket cameras, and have absolutely no complaints about it. I still shoot with my Nikon D60, but you can't exactly stick the D60 in your pocket, like you can with the SD1300, and sometimes I enjoy a pocket sized camera as well. (What photographer doesn't love a toy?)

06.17.10 :: two years old

Mack is 2 years old today! TWO! I can’t believe it.

You all want to see the belly!
Here’s the belly I’ve been hiding on the blog for a while now.
Really cute & round. Love it.
12 weeks 2 days.
3rd baby really popped early.

Today I went in the afternoon to Mackenzie’s class to celebrate his birthday!
He ate his piece of birthday cake to the very last drop.
This kid LOVES cake.
He would have liked the plate if we’d have let him.

Some garden updates!

Zucchinis in the back, Celery in front of it.

Snow peas and Stringless Beans.

Spaghetti Squash Plants

The little tomato plants aren’t so little anymore.
Must start pruning soon.

Our very first red cherry tomato!
(And the only one right now)!

This evening my family went out to celebrate Mack’s birthday as well as mine,
to one of my fave Italian Restaurants.


We all got to enjoy Oreo cake. Yum!


I got this awesome camera bag by Golla from my sister.
It’s beyond awesome. Thanks sis!


Oh! And by the way, we’re having a GIRL!!!
We are beyond excited!
Words cannot even describe!
Who said there was only a 13% chance!
I like beating odds!
I won't be painting the baby's room until after my next Ultrasound,
just to be sure, but it's a GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can now knit in pink! Whoot!
Our daughter already has a name.
Though, we’ll save that for another time.
She’s been named long before she was conceived.
It’s been our girl’s name all along.
She’s very wanted this princess.
Not only did both an internal & external Ultrasound show no “dangly bits” between the legs, but the heart rate was really fast
(beats per minute) which my doctor when listening as well, from her experience, predicted a girl. Enough for me!

ps- I love these shoes. Wow. Oh, and this photo.

ps- Just a reminder that I'm throwing a contest for this entire month! Details are here.

06.10.10

I got whacked in the face this morning by the back of Mack’s head. He was cuddling with me and not sure exactly what happened, but boy does he have a hard head. I now have a bruise next to my eyelid as his head went into my glasses which pressed against my head. It hurts to squint and blink. Any touch to it stings. Ouch. I think I need to get a helmet to wear around my kids.

Here is the progress on Vestee. Front & Back done (as much as I could before joining and continuing) and I’ve got three quarters of the first sleeve done. It’s coming along and I hope to have it done before the next class, which we’ll be working on seaming things. I think I’ll be able to finish it on time. It’s been knitting up quite quickly.

I got my new lens in the mail today. It’s a birthday/anniversary gift from Jamie. I love it. I was so excited to receive it, that I forgave Canada Post for leaving it on my doorstop without ringing my bell. GRR! Why on earth do they do this? This wasn’t exactly a cheap purchase to just leave on my doorstep. I found it there when I went to go take out the trash as my cleaning lady was leaving. We were both shocked that it was sitting there, as my car was in the driveway, hers in front of my house, so why the delivery guy decided to just drop & run is beyond me. I hate it when they do that. Such annoyance. At least he left it and didn’t leave me a “missed slip” as if I wasn’t home and that I’d have to go tomorrow to the post office to pick it up.

This afternoon I had Sean’s songfest in his class.

Sean’s class was a lot more organized than Mack’s.
Makes a difference when they are a year older.

Sean was so cute holding hands with one of his “girlfriends” in the class.

The show was really super cute, and my new lens came in handy since I was sitting near the back of the chair set up in the classroom. Oh, I ♥ my new lens big time.

The show was really cute. Sean knew the whole thing off by heart and was the loudest child singing. My mom took video of the entire show. I can’t wait to have a copy on DVD. It was just awesome. It’s sad that he’s leaving this class on Monday for the next class. At least he’ll be reunited with 2 of his friends.

Way to go Busy Bees!

This evening I went out for dinner some some of my girlfriends
to celebrate my birthday next week.
Left side of the table from front to back is D., myself, Jenn, and Amy.
Right side of the table from front to back is Kia, Tara, Madeleine & Jocelyn.
Thank you everyone for coming out to celebrate my birthday.
I had a fantastic time.


My sister & I.


Raspberry swirl birthday cake!

What a great time!

I got some very lovely gifts from my friends. A knitting kit, a bead kit, a soap kit, some left over yarn for my babettes, a lovely dream catcher, a ring holder in the form of a shoe, a personalized scrapbook photo album, some perfume, a concealed kit and a gorgeous vase with 2 flower candles. And someone even treated me to dinner. Thank you everyone for the wonderful gifts. I love everything.

ps- Just a reminder that I'm throwing a contest for this entire month! Details are here.

06.07.10 :: 179 weeks old

Sean is 179 weeks old today.

Sean had his last swim lesson today with Dana. She’s been an awesome teacher. She’s taking the summer off from teaching, so she won’t be Sean’s teacher anyhow, and I’m not even sure she would have been, as Sean is advancing to the next level next session. Mack has his last swim lesson tomorrow. Very excited for the 2 week break in between sessions (I registered the kids for the next session tonight, both will be taking swimming lessons at the same time next session, so happy to only have to run to the pool once a week next session). The break will be nice, I just feel like we’ve been non-stop running lately. Time for a little relax time.

I ran some errands today with my mom. I needed to get some stuff on my list (ingredients for Mack’s birthday cake – which I tested out today but still needs some tweaking, a spring form cake pan, a potty ring for each bathroom that doesn’t already have one (as there sometimes is no time to run to the bathroom that has the ring for the toilet if Sean has to go “now”), amongst some other things. We also stopped into Dumoulin, where my sister has a hook-up. I was going to pre-pay for that Sigma lens (which Dumoulin doesn’t have on their website), but the guy convinced me on another lens, a 70-300mm Nikon lens, and for the price he gave it to me for, I couldn’t say no. He also said that I would get much better photos with a 70-300mm lens, than a lens that is technically 2 in 1, (18-55 and 55-200), etc, which when you’re putting 2 lenses into one, you’re losing quality (according to him). I really hope that I didn’t make the wrong decision on getting this lens. (And thank you to my husband for the most wonderful birthday/anniversary gift). Does anyone have either of these 2 lenses? What’s your opinion?

ps- Just a reminder that I'm throwing a contest for this entire month! Details are here. First set of prizes are being given out tomorrow!

04.12.10 :: 171 weeks old

Sean is 171 weeks old today.

Since the contractors started work on our attic today, I had my mom take Sean to swimming this morning. She got this great photo of Sean jumping into the water. The kid is fearless! At 2 and a half year sold last summer he was jumping (with a life jacket) off my parents diving board into the deep end of their pool. I’m so happy my kids are fish. Fearless of the water is the way to go.

Today the piece came to replace the SD card slot on my Nikon D60. I am SOOO happy that it’s back to the way it was before now. No more broken door. It took a lot more than just 2 screws to get the new door in & the old half broken door off. I was sweating it out for a bit there too – because the piece came with no instructions on how to replace it, and I couldn’t find anything on the internet. However, it’s fixed, and I will never break the door again (knock on wood!). At least now I know how to fix it!

As I said before, the contractors started working on our house today. It’s such a mess in here. (I can’t wait for them to be done in the attic). They said they should be out by the end of the week. Phew. I’m hoping that’s the truth this time. Last time (for the bathroom) it was supposed to take 2-3 days and they were here over a week).

The kids played on an old laptop that my dad gave them when they got home from school today. Mack was having fun typing letters into a Word Document. (It’s the only software that works on the computer).

He looked so serious composing his text.

Sean says he “checks his email” on it. (Though, he has NO idea what email is). Monkey see, monkey do.

I’m 7 chapters in (just over 100 pages) into the book I’m currently reading. I seem to be reading this one a lot faster than I read the last book I just finished. I’m really enjoying it, that’s for sure. It’s funny, light, and chick lit (my genre of choice). Very excited to see what happens next in the book.

04.07.10 :: 94 weeks old

Mack is 94 weeks old today.

I love going to the mailbox to see it jam packed. 2 books I ordered, a magazine, some free diaper samples and some other items. Fun! No bills today thankfully!

I was feeling completely drained today, (maybe it’s the rain) but decided it was a good idea to go out for a bit to knit/crochet. I worked on some more squares for babette, doing another 3 while out tonight. I’m addicted. The crochet up so fast. (20-30 minutes a square).

Today, somehow, I broke the door on my D60. It’s the door for the memory card slot. Technically I can just “put it back in” and use it broken. Since I don’t think a broken door is covered in my 5 year warranty that I have on the camera, I googled “d60+ SD card slot door” and found that someone had found the replacement piece on Ebay. Next stop, Ebay. 2 minutes later I bought a new door (buy it now) and it’s being shipped tomorrow morning from Toronto. I’ll either receive it Friday, or Monday. It seems like it’s just 2 screws. I hope it comes with replacement instructions, if not, I’ll call Nikon and ask them how to replace it. I don’t recall seeing anything about it in the instruction booklet, but I could be wrong. I tried to glue the plastic back to the piece still attached to the camera, but I don’t recommend (not one bit!) you doing that if yours breaks like mine did. I’ll let you know how surgery goes when the part comes in the mail.

Things I love today:

- This song. I keep playing it over.and.over again. I love it. I’m glad it’s stuck in my head.
- This ensemble.
- These 2 rings!
- This peeler!
- These or these pendants. (Oh, those would make lovely stitch markers!)
- This cake. (I know a certain boy who is turning 2 this June. I’m waiting to see if I can get the recipe.)
- This window garden!

Other links:
- Did you see these crazy young adult who bought an ipad and then whacked it with a baseball bat? Uhm, why on earth would they want to waste 500$? Please tell me!??