Recycling

After Mackenzie's 4th Birthday party just over a week ago, I realized that my gift bag and tissue paper pile were messy and needed a cleaning. I recycle gift bags if they are in good condition. The same thing goes with tissue paper. Why throw it out, if you can re-use it? I do on occasion pick up pink tissue paper since we generally don't get pink tissue in gifts for my boys, and sometimes it's fun to put a little pink in a gift for one of the boys female friends. After organizing the gift bags after Mackenzie's birthday (and even my own this year), I realize that I have gift bags in almost every size and for numerous holidays (birthday, Chanukah, Christmas, Easter, plain gifts bags for any occasion and even baby shower gift bags). Do you recycle gift bags too? And tissue paper as well?

Keep or Toss?

I've been organizing and de-cluttering lately, and doing a great job. The house is cleaner/tidier, and unwanted junk is being sold or tossed (recycled, or donated or even garbage, depending on what it is). I came across this pile the other day. Birthday cards, baby shower cards, etc. I have 5 birthdays of Sean's, 3 of Mack's, 1 of Quentin's. The 1st birthday is always the largest party we have for the kids, so there are a LOT of cards x3. Plus each kid had a brit milah. This is a lot of cards to keep. Not sure if I should chuck them all into recycling? Keep some? But where do I draw the line? What do you keep? How do you weed? Where do you draw the line? Input would be greatly appreciate. At least if I decide to keep some, everything is easy to find as I've organized (as they came in) into ziploc bags, after each event.

Bedroom Reorganization

We finally got rid of the changing table in the boys room. In its place, I moved the bookcase that was already there. I also re-organized all the book in the boys room (apparently they have A LOT of books!) We read the boys a story every night before bed. They also a big readers and like looking through books at other times during the day. (I'm glad that they love books!) So, in honor of Mack being potty trained, and getting rid of the changing table, I got the boys a second bookcase & we totally re-organized their entire room. I can't believe how clean their room is now. I love it. Let's see how long their room can stay organized for.

Organization

I've been trying to tackle organization chez Knit & Purl Mama. Let's take a look:

First, I came up with an organizational idea for my yarn room. I bought a few packs of these dot stickers. In order to make sure that every single skein in my yarn room is listed on Ravelry (in my personal stash AND on my trade/sell page), I'm checking each skein to make sure it's photographed & listed, and once it is, I'm putting a colored sticker on it, to mark it as done.

You see? These two are listed in my stash! I think it's a great system to make sure all my yarn is cataloged. I still have a long way to go, but it's coming along (slowly) (whenever I get the chance to work in my yarn room). When you have as much yarn as there is in my yarn room... you need a system to figure out what's what in there... and this is what came to mind!

On the theme of organization, my (printed) patterns are all now in protective sleeves in binders, categorized by type. (Sweater, socks, cowls, scarves, baby... you name it, there's a knitting binder for it).

The boys got a new light fixture in their room.

They love it. And there is now more light in their room than what the last light fixture was giving off. So glad we can finally see when we're in their room.

While we were at Comic Con two weeks ago, I got to meet Lynn Johnson, who does the cartoon For Better or For Worse. It's one of the comics I actually read when I actually read the newspaper.

Edited out my kids/hubby's last name. (Cuz in Quebec the wife (like myself) doesn't take their husbands name legally when they marry. Some b.s. about too high of a divorce rate and they don't want to do the legal paperwork - how encouraging to get married, eh?)

Hubby got around to hanging it up this past weekend in the kitchen.

And speaking of the kitchen, we re-arranged a bit in there. We moved the water cooler over (it was in the corner where the green swiffer mop handle is) so that we could move over the table to give more room for all of us to be around it. We took the high chair out of the kitchen and now Quentin is at the table in a booster seat instead of in the high chair. This new way takes up way less space in the kitchen. He likes being at the table with us now. It's nice. Now, hubby is just waiting for Quentin to outgrow our Jumperoo, so that it's no longer taking up space in the kitchen. Though, I still put Quentin in it more than once daily, while I'm in the kitchen, he likes to jump the shit out of it.

And I picked up an awesome corner of the shower stall caddy thing the other day while I was out. Jamie loved it so much in our ensuite shower (which I use) that he made me run out the next day and buy a 2nd one for the hallway bathroom (which he uses to shower). Why I didn't think to buy 2 at the same time? I'm not sure. Neither shower stall has shelves, so this was a perfect solution. I was getting sick of the little caddy that hangs over your shower head. There wasn't enough room for all my stuff on there that I was keeping stuff on the floor of the shower stall. New caddy is awesome.

While I was in that same department, I saw this and had to have it. Things were piling up on top of the toilet tank, and it's nice to have shelf space in the bathroom now. Now I don't have to worry about things on the top of the toilet tank possibly falling into the toilet. Cuz in our house, we all know that a certain someone (cough, cough, Mackenzie) is good at flushing things down the toilet. Just two nights ago we lost a toy Lightning McQueen down the toilet. (It was really tiny actually, so it shouldn't block anything, it was from a book game).

Things are starting to get very organized around here. (And de-cluttered too!) I like this progress. I'm ready to pat myself on the back. I hope to get everything done that is on my list before my maternity leave officially ends in November. (Though, I'll be staying at home (and working from home) with Quentin until he has daycare in the spring - as soon as he turns 18 months old as our daycare has no baby room). But, I do want to make sure my "to-do" list is done before my actual maternity leave ends (mid-November).

Lastly, today, I want to show you something I made that my parents framed & hung up in their house:

I think it was for their anniversary last year, that I made this for my parents. It has all our names in the family (pets included). My mom finally found a shadow box frame that fits this and she finally hung it in their house. I totally want to make one for our house now (just need to find the time to actually make it). Isn't it an awesome gift? I picked up some old board games at Value Village and had extra boards to make this! I still have 2 or 3 boards left, from my Value Village finds.

3.19.11

Today was a chill day around the house.
We kept Sean and Mack home today from skating.
They're both still coughing slightly.

Quentin and I headed outside for a little bit today.
Do you recognize this outdoor wear? (That's Sean in Feb 2007)
Or this little cute bear in it too? (That's Mack in September 2008)

No later than 5 minutes after we put our old sofa to the curb (and said goodbye to it), did a friend call my cell phone (luckily I was back inside or I would not have heard it), to ask if I was still getting couches. I took down the "FREE COUCH" sign we taped to it, and about 30 minutes later the couch was gone, as well as another couch that was in my playroom that we were getting rid of. Two more couches in our basement to go. I think we'll put them to the curb tomorrow (where this black one was) and put back up the sign FREE COUCH! (Well, couches, as there are 2 more). This de-clutter feels good. Get 2 couches new, getting rid of 4 old couches. It's feel good spring cleaning! (And ps- I smell Spring!)

Can I tell you how incredibly smart Sean is? He knows the days of the week in order. He knows the 12 months of the year, in order. He can tell you the day of the week we are today, the month and the date of the month (so like Saturday, March 19th). He also told me that spring is coming on the 21st. Unreal. Do most 4 year olds know this information? I find it quite impressive.

I've been working on that new design of mine, I should be able to show you what it looks like about mid-April. Though... you should totally go on over and check out the Kit that I'm designing it for. It's for 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. I actually might be designing both March & May's sock designs.. so go check it out!

I did take a few breaks from knitting that sock and today I whipped up 2 more of those Pompom Crochet hats this time in green. I'm not 100% in love with the yarn I used, but they're cute. Maybe someone will like them to have their newborn model in it. If not, that's okay too. My hat prop collection is growing, and I hope to have enough of a collection for moms to pick from. Pink, blue, neutral colors... you name it. I actually am looking for a newborn girl to photograph. I picked up the most deliciously gorgeous newborn size tutu that was handmade by a friend of mine, and I must find a baby to photograph in it. Too bad everyone I know who have recently given birth, all had boys. I have someone due shortly, but she hasn't given birth yet. Maybe I can wait...! For the crochet hats I did today, by the time I was done both of them, it was too dark to take any photos - (I'm a natural light snob) - so... photos are coming tomorrow. PROMISE!

Today’s Link Love:
- These origami stars.
- This origami tea. Aren’t those tea bags amazing?
- These awesome Drinklips
- I am adding a yarn bowl to my birthday wishlist...

2.27.11

Quentin is awesome. He slept a third night in a row, all night. I put him down sometime around 10:30 pm last night after his feeding, and he slept right through until just before 8:30 am this morning. Sleeping through the night at 12 weeks old? I'm loving this. Praying for a repeat tonight again. We slept in together until mid-morning today.

After I got up for the day, Jamie wanted to nap, so I took the kids into Quentin's room while I organized some baby toys (I wanted to see which needed to be ran through the dishwasher (to clean) and which were good to go into his toy buckets in his room. I also went through all of Quentin's bibs and made a donate pile and a trash pile (some were really bad from being used since Sean needed them & then Mackenzie)). After we cleaned & organized in Quentin's room, I brought the boys down to the dinning room so that we could do all of our puzzles. Sean & Mack recently decided that it would be funny to dump our puzzle books (we have a handful of them that have about 5 puzzles in each, at about 12 pieces per puzzle). They had dumped every single one out, so we had to sort the pieces by puzzle and by book and then put them all back together. This killed some time before lunch, and I'm glad it's all organized again.

I pulled out Cache Coeur to see if it would fit Quentin, and it does. It's too bad he was born too small, the Cache Coeur is something that would have been fantastic for him to use as a newborn to keep warm. I am going to go through our other hand knits to see what else will fit Quentin now (before it's too late).

Quentin is doing well with his neck control. It's still not perfect, but it's certainly getting there. We've been having tummy time lately, and he's doing good. Once he really starts to control his head better, I'll start using the Bumbo more.

Today was catch up on laundry day, however, I still feel like after doing about 6 loads today that I have another 6 loads more to do tomorrow. It never ends. And once you are done all of it, you wake up the next morning and the baskets are starting to fill up again. I never thought I would be doing this much laundry with a family of 5. I guess with a newborn even though they wear tiny clothes, there is still a lot of it. It's insane. Sometimes I wish the laundry folded itself. It's a long and tedious job. I think what I hate more than folding it - is putting it all away.

I have a new feature on my sidebar, which you can now subscribe to my blog via email. I set it up a few days ago and tested it out and it works. So if you want to never miss out on my posts, you can enter in your email address on my sidebar, it'll email you a confirmation link and then it'll email you daily (I believe in the morning) with my latest post! Pretty neat if you ask me.

Don't forget that you have until tomorrow night to enter my contest for a free copy of this book.

1.26.11

Three boys. We're now 8 weeks into Quentin's arrival, and we're still working out the kinks of life with 3 kids. I'm thinking that maybe things will start to smooth out once Quentin starts sleeping through the night. Besides those freak few nights where he has actually slept through the night, last night he let me sleep from somewhere around 3:30 am until just after 8 am this morning. It's a start. Longer stretches than 2-3 hours is much appreciated. I really feel like a walking zombie, and it's affecting my mood. I think the sleep deprivation is horrible, and while some days I can nap during the day, other days I cannot (as there are too much to do). Alas, life goes on with a family of 5. I wish I could just nap every day, all day. Wouldn't that be nice if I could?

Sean (& Mack too) really love Quentin. This makes me so happy.
I was so worried that it would be a complete different reaction.
Things we're so hot after Mack was born, there was a lot of jealousy.
This time around - the boys are older, and we've completely avoided that same behavior.

So, yesterday, I was out for a little bit and decided to check out a shop just off the island of Montreal. I had heard that Mission Falls was out of business and their yarn was discontinued. Mission Falls was one of those yarns that I had on my "to try" list... and had NONE in my stash. So for the 15 minutes I was in the shop, my yarn diet was off. I limited myself to the cash that I happened to have in my wallet, and they guy working gave me a cash discount. Perfect. Well, I managed to put a whole bunch of yarn into my basket.

Dark Grey (6 skeins) & Green (8 skeins). All of it is Mission Falls 136 Superwash Merino, which is a sport weight yarn. I have many sweater ideas for the boys.


A light grey (2 skeins) & purple (9 skeins - I could have sworn I'd taken 10, but must have miscounted).

Yarn Diet back on... let me tell you. But what's a knitter to do when Mission Falls is just not going to be available anymore when the yarn diet is over?


This yarn, was not a purchase. I received it in the mail today. I traded 3 skeins of the same yarn in Shocking Pink, for this Malabrigo Worsted in Autumn Forest. It's the exact colorway that the Pompom Bear Hat is knit up in, which I just love, and I see a few more of those hats in my knitting future. (Just need to find more time to knit).

This helped me get organized. I was inspired by that blog post. So I picked up this folder organizer from Walmart the last time I was there. I have categories like "Bills to pay", "To file", "Recipes", "Patterns", you know... stuff like that. This will keep the piles of paper off my desk. I'm trying to stay more organized and trying to eliminate the clutter in my life.


I also hung up 2 magnetic boards I recently got on the wall in my office. I think they're super cute, and they'll help me stay organized as well. 2011 is the year for organization. I ♥ it.
Today I went out with a friend to see the movie No String Attached. We met up with 2 girls that I went to high school with (that were in the grade below me) that also recently had babies. One has a son 29 days older than Quentin (Nov 1st) and the other exactly a month younger (Dec 30th). It was nice to see everyone. We're actually in the mist of organizing a playgroup, which will be nice. This time, the girls are not people I don't know (like it was with Mackenzie). Some of those girls turned out to be psychotic, and playgroup was not fun anymore after a while. One girl wanted playgroup at her house to show off her 8 strollers, 32 diapers bags, and thousands of kid toys. It was a show. I'm not interested in that. I want real people. And it looks like this new group, for babies Quentin's age, are all people I know, (with maybe the exception of one person) and I'm looking forward to it. It's also going to be nice to re-connect with old friends that I haven't see for a while, that are now on maternity leave with a baby Quentin's age. It's nice. Sorry to have switched subjects there... the movie... it was very cute. I really enjoyed it. Total chick flick. Exactly what the doctor called for.
Today’s Link Love:
- I love Leslie’s knitted hearts.
- I love this video. Hello Patrick Swayze!
- This is a pretty neat music video too.
- These job balls are a genius idea!
- 42 free (odd number, I know) Pampers Gifts to Grow Points: VMF776C7HMXXT4A.

1.17.11 :: 31 Months Old

Mack is 31 months old today.

Today was a quiet Monday. It's a tad cold in the house today, as well as freezing outside (-22°C (-7.6°F) today), so we're all bundled up nicely. The only decent rooms are the upstairs bedrooms. That's where we've been hanging out lately when we're home. We still have had no luck getting firewood, as this weather would be awesome to make a fire in the fireplace. All the contacts I've had, have no wood left, and I even tried calling an ad that was in the paper and the guy never called me back. I think for next winter, we'll be more organized and get firewood in advance.

I've been slowly also checking things off my to-do list as I'm able to do them. Now that Quentin's almost 7 weeks old, even though we're a tad sleep deprived over here, we're starting to finally figure out our groove. Today was a good day to tackle the Tupperware drawers. I have 2 drawers, one for the large pieces that I use often, and one drawer for the smaller pieces that I don't use as often. I matched up all lids with their bottoms, except for 6 bottoms & 12 lids that didn't have a match. And those items that I chucked brought me to 505 items de-cluttered from my home. My goal is still to de-clutter 2011 items before the end of 2011. I think I can do it. I'm already 25% complete.

Sean wanted to show you that he learned how to color pretty well in the lines. I'm impressed, I told him. So proud of his accomplishments. And I love that he's proud too.

Today's Loves, and Link Loves:
- Love this Confetti Garland idea.
- Love this free 2011 printable calendar.
- My friend from high school's husband is a very talented singer. Love his voice. ( I think the "voice" is off from the audio on this but I can't find a better video - sorry).
- Love that when you tell Mackenzie that he's "something" he has an answer for it... "Mack, you're being slow as molasses today", (for example), he'll respond "I'm not slow as molasses, I'm Mackenzie". Or, "Mackenzie, you're a real class clown today", he'll respond "I'm not a class clown, I'm Mackenzie". It's too cute for words. I crack up whenever I hear him say that.
- Free 10 point Pampers Gifts to Grow Points: 4WJDHKU4RPP6PT2.
- I am dying to get a yarn bowl. ♥Love ♥.
- My greenway filters came in the mail today. I am so happy to have my water cooler back & working. I felt so lost without it.

1.11.11 :: 210 weeks & 6 weeks

Sean is 210 weeks old today.

Quentin is 6 weeks told today.

This morning I had to run into Quentin's room to make sure he was still alive/breathing. He was still breathing perfectly fine. I woke up startled because he went to bed at just after midnight last night. It was 8:21 am when I ran into his room. Is he going to break Sean's record of sleeping through the night? (Sean started at 9 weeks old and Quentin is 6 weeks old today. My 2nd Mackenzie, on the other hand, took a few months before he started to sleep through the night). I got 8 hours of sleep. UNINTERRUPTED!! I feel like a new person. Keep it up Baby Q. He actually woke up just after 11 am. I couldn't believe it. I went into his room a few times to make sure he was indeed breathing/alive. I'm crossing my fingers he sleeps through the night again tonight. I can hope, right?

Quentin got his Wubbanub in the mail today.

He loves it.
And I just think it's super cute.

Today I was on a rampage. I guess that's what getting 8 hours of sleep in a row will do to a mother? I cleaned, organized, re-arranged. If I didn't just have a baby, you'd think I was nesting. I organized my sewing scraps in a box (above), re-organized the linen closet (it's beyond neat right now - let's see how long it lasts), I re-organized the crawl space under our stairs in the basement (things had just gotten shoved in there as of lately), I did laundry (though it needs to be folded and put away), I cleaned up the den, the playroom (organized toys by type in each bin - like kitchen stuff in one bin, cars in another, etc). I was on a roll. I like that I got a lot accomplished. Quentin was really good about me getting that stuff done as well.

This evening I got to get out of the house for a little bit (with Quentin) for January's Montreal Knitting Guild Meeting. I really wasn't interested in the subject that was being lectured (Weaving) but I went to see some friends and get out of the house (and start a new knitting project - details tomorrow). I had to be home early though, so I just went for a little bit. Jamie's hockey got switched from tomorrow night to tonight, so we compromised a time for me to be home so that we both could go out for a bit.

Posted my silly Mack to Project 365 today.

Today is 1-11-11. Love the date.

1.8.11

This morning started off with a cheese omelet (the first one I've ever made myself & I did a pretty darn good job if I do say so myself - even Jamie was impressed!) with eggs from my sister-in-law's chickens. (She has a couple of chickens and a rooster at her house in the country). It was delicious.

Quentin's been spending his day today in the swing I picked up for parts but ended up not needing them. We are making use of this swing in the kitchen, which he'll use while we're eating meals, etc. (Or if I need somewhere to put him down while I am making his bottle, or cooking/baking, etc). This swing is not as fancy as our original swing (that I picked up when Sean was born) but it does the trick.

This afternoon I got a call from the Electrolux repair technician from the place I brought my vacuum cleaner to. Not only is my nozzle attachment brush finished (which is why it wasn't picking up stuff), the motor needed replacing and it needed a good cleaning/maintenance as well as a new filter. The cost? 140$? At first I was like "What?! I could buy a brand new machine for that price!?" - thinking that in my head. But then I realized... Electrolux's sell brand new for between 2000-3000$. The shop I brought mine to, sells them 2nd hand for 400-800$ depending on the model/year/condition, etc. The new machines that are out there, do NOT compared to my machine. Electrolux's rock. So I told the guy to go ahead. He assured me it would be working like brand new, and it would serve me for many many many more years. That sounds very good to me.

Jamie went to go take out Sean's new helmet (that I exchanged yesterday) out of the box, and guess what? It was defective, in the same manner the original one we exchanged it for yesterday. Someone had returned it and they must have put it back on the shelf. One of the snaps came off, just like ours had. We were livid. Then we went to go take Mack's new helmet out of the box, which we bought a few weeks ago, and at first glance it seems fine. Jamie snaps the grill onto the helmet, and takes it off, and what do you know? The snap comes loose. 3 defective helmets!? From Bauer nonetheless? What a piss off! Anyhow, I have no idea if other companies sell Jr. size helmets, but I will be returning the Bauer ones, and hoping to find something before the boys start their skating lesson (which is coming up).

As of late afternoon I was solo parenting. Jamie had tickets to the Habs game tonight and went with one of his best friends. It's been a challenging evening, but alas, all 3 kids are currently sleeping. I've been taking care of stuff on my to do list, like wrapping gifts for upcoming birthday parties, laundry (cuz it's never ending), organizing in the kitchen (well, started to anyhow, will hopefully finish the rest tomorrow). I've also even gotten to add to my de-clutter list, but will post about that tomorrow, I'm too tired now.

So... what do you do when you're alone with 3 kids? Well... I tried to keep busy. (Keeping busy is KEY! or they go bananas... well my kids anyhow...)

We made words with the Scrabble letter Cheeze-it's that Bea sent over.

Sean found crackers to spell his name (and then later Mack's too)
He's so proud he can spell both their names.

Then we worked on some puzzles, until the pieces ended up all over the kitchen floor....

And then the boys decided that it would be fun to clean the floor. Uhm, okay? Do I fire my cleaning lady? Just kidding. No, but seriously, they thought it was a fun game. Who was I to complain?

In between all these games, and scrabble word finding, and floor cleaning there was a ton of "he's touching my puzzle pieces", "he's touching my chair", "he's hurting me"... fun. The joy of boys. The joy of being push over mommy (when daddy is bad cop daddy). It's been a challenging night. But I managed to feed them dinner (ordered the kids a pizza, to discover I ordered from a 2 for 1 place, and only Sean ate a slice and a half. Not sure what I'm going to do with almost 2 small pizzas, as Jamie & I are on a diet and Mack is not a fan of pizza. Sean's going to be eating pizza for the entire week? Oy.

I'm trying to figure out, how to manage all 3 kids at the same time. At one point I had Sean asking for something, Mack whining about something else, and Quentin screaming his lungs out in his swing because he just woke up and wanted to eat. I really wish sometimes that I had 8 arms/hands. Wouldn't that be sweet. Then I could get everyone what they needed and everyone would be happy. At.the.same.time.

ps - I updated my sidebar on my blog. Check it out --> (I updated the book I'm currently reading (when I have the time to read), the audio book I'm about to start and added a button for you to access my project 365 if you'd like to see what's going on over there).
pps- I told someone today I was going to knit an entire cowl tonight (pattern :: my own design). Yeah, that didn't happen. I didn't get a second to knit a stitch today. Maybe tomorrow.
ppss - I also told someone else I was going to take a relaxing bubble bath and enjoy a glass of red wine while doing so tonight once all 3 kids were in bed. You guessed it... that didn't happen either. Maybe tomorrow night.

12.30.10 :: 132 weeks & 1 month

Quentin is a month old today.

Mack is 132 weeks old today.

Please take a few minutes and go over to Tara’s blog and send her your prayers. Her daughter Émilie was diagnosed this week with a benign brain tumor and will be operated on January 4th. Please pray for her. I know I will be. Tara - my thoughts are with you & your family.

Oprah has a network coming to TV on Saturday. She's taking over DHC (Discovery Health Channel). It will be called OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network). I get it on our satellite dish and already have About Season 25: Oprah behind the Scenes set to record. Can't wait to see that. I'm finally catching up on watching the shows on my PVR. I had over 80 episodes and now I'm down to about 40-something. I will catch up.

Is it possible to still nest after you give birth? Today I continued on my cleaning frenzy (after a long morning nap that is - naps are a must these days) and today I moved the dresser in Quentin's room that holds his changing pad. I'm still looking for a few missing things around the house, and didn't find anything but one children's book behind there, but vacuumed all the dirt/dust. Yesterday when I pulled up the mattress and box spring off my bed in my bedroom, I did manage to find 1 missing sock (I think Sean's). I do plan over the long weekend upcoming to move both Sean & Mack's beds from the wall and see if there are any more missing socks that maybe fell down the side of their bed. I wonder what else I'll find back there.

Quentin is finally going through a growth spurt. Before, when I was preparing him 60ml of water to 1 scoop of formula, which made just over 2 oz of formula, now I'm preparing double that (120ml of water to 2 scoops of water) and he's drinking about three quarters of it (Roughly 90 ml he is drinking). There is no way to make exactly what he drinks to avoid wasting formula unfortunately and there is really no point in saving (refrigerating) 1/4 of the bottle (which is what is left after he drinks) for his next feeding as I'd have to make more than that anyhow. I also realized why Quentin was "leaking" some of his formula out of his mouth when he was drinking (this was only sometimes happening). I had gotten a "gift set" kit from Playtex Advanced Ventaire. I didn't realize until today that there were both "slow" and "fast" nipples in the box. I thought it was a newborn kit (meaning all slow). Oops. I'll have to go tomorrow and get a few more slow nipples to replace the fast ones, which I'll keep for later on when Quentin is older and needs a faster pace nipple to drink. Now that I have that issue resolved, hopefully there won't be anymore formula leaking out of his mouth as he eats.