Potty Training Fail

Mackenzie, Mackenzie. I don't know what to do about him. He has been using his pull-ups as diapers. To him, it's the same thing. We can't go back into diapers now at this point, as he's moving to the next class September 1st, and he has to be in Pull-ups to be in that class. So, we decided to try something else this weekend since it seems nothing else is working. We left him naked most of this weekend. This morning, I was still sleeping (trying to sleep in since Quentin's been getting up every 3-4 hours all night these days (teething? growth spurt? That's a whole other story these days) and Jamie went into a shower. When he got out of the shower (he likes the main hallways shower so he showers there) and was in our en-suite bathroom putting in his contacts, etc, he heard rustling around in the hallway bathroom. When he got to the other bathroom, he found Mackenzie. Asked Mack what was going on - he said nothing. After a few minutes he figure out what happened. Turns out - Mack pooped in the playroom on the floor. So Mack went to get a baby wipe, cleaned it off the floor and put it in the bathroom garbage.

Sigh. I don't know what to do anymore. He won't go in the toilet. Even pees, which he was doing in the toilet/potty, he's regressed and is using his pull-up even more now for that. I can't believe that he actually pooped while nude on the playroom floor.

At least he cleaned it up himself?

We never had this problem with Sean. That was the first thing that he didn't do in his pull-ups. We had a harder time with pee, but we think for that his bladder just wasn't ready at first, but Sean actually was out of pull-ups in a few weeks and then used pull-ups during nap time at daycare (he never napped at home anymore after age 2) and overnight for the longest time. Sean was 3 and a half when he went into pull-ups and it was quick. Mack just turned 3 in June - not even 2 months ago (Aug 17th will be 2 months after his 3rd birthday - so this Wednesday). Maybe he's a little young? But we have no choice - and Pull-ups to be used as diapers, are expensive.

Have you had a similar experience? What worked for you in the end? I don't know what to do. Bribing doesn't even work on this kid - trust me, I've even tried that - even though I didn't want to.

11.20.10 :: 35 weeks pregnant

35 weeks pregnant today.
Done. So done. Spent. Finished. Beyond Exhausted.
Uncomfortable. Sore. Burned out.

This afternoon we had one of Sean's best friend's birthday party. It was at a local gym type place and the boys had a good time running around. I like that both boys are now old enough to go off on their own, so Jamie & I are able to chit chat with the adults while the boys play.

Mack's favourite part of parties :: Cake time.

Mack has taking a liking to our Dish Chair in the den.

It's so cute. You can find him lying as comfortable as comfortable can be. I wish I were his size and could lie in the chair just like he does.

Tonight I wrapped some Chanukah gifts that I need for tomorrow (early celebration), did the never ending laundry, finished catching up on In Plain Sight (fully caught up now just have to wait for Season 4 to air in 2011), listened to Featuring Norah Jones, crochet one more bookmark for the teacher's gifts (photo to come tomorrow), folded laundry, tried to tidy up the house (nesting much?), put together the diaper bag for baby #3's hospital stay before he can go home (I forgot how tiny newborn diapers are!), sipped Red Raspberry Leaf Tea, and felt baby boy move around like mad today. 35 weeks pregnant and he's still moving around making sure to have his presence known. I absolutely love feeling him and will miss that once he's born, but I'm anxiously waiting to see if he has blue eyes & blond hair like his brothers. I can't wait to feel his warmth against my chest as I hold him.

I crashed last night upon finishing my blog post - gosh, around 9 pm. I tried watching TV in bed, but it wasn't happening. I couldn't keep my eyes open. I slept right through to this morning, I was extremely exhausted. The bad thing about sleeping right through, is that I forgot to take Sean to use the washroom in the middle of the night. The good thing though? He woke up completely dry this morning. Knock on wood, we've had almost an entire week of him dry. I think by the end of this weekend, he'll have had one completely dry week.

Potty training = 1. Extra Extra laundry = 0.

I like.

11.14.10

I used to tackle Costco during the week, when it's quieter there. However, now, at 34 weeks pregnant I can't go on my own. I can't lift, bend, or push the cart when it gets too heavy. So we've been going on the weekend when we need to go. The parking lot is ALWAYS a zoo. However, (knock on wood), I always seem to get a fantastic parking spot. It's like the person's spot whom we get, knows I'm very pregnant and can't walk far. You know? Inside... even more so of a zoo. It was as if 4-5 people came out of every car in the jam packed parking lot. I took this funny picture of the boys while at Costco today - Mack was making sounds with his hands/lips and Sean didn't want to hear any of it, so he was blocking Mack out. It was too funny. While it was indeed a zoo there today, we went in with no rush feeling, had no set time to be anywhere, and took our time. That's how to go to Costco and not get frustrated. And now I'm stocked on toilet paper and kleenex until 2011. Found a few new items today, we'll see how they are. (Coffee Crisp, Rolo & After Eight Hot Chocolate? Heaven in a cup - I've tried both the Coffee Crisp & After Eight ones already. I don't see it lasting too long in this house - especially now that the weather has cooled off).

I cast on last night for Twist Hat for my hospital bag. I am hoping it's not too tiny. I am loving the subtle hints of color in the hall blue Colinette Jitterbug Velvet Damson colorway. (Using leftovers). It's to match Cache Coeur. I had plenty of leftovers from Cache Coeur's Dream in Color Smooshy Romeo Blue, however, I found it too "solid" for this hat. I have taken Cache Coeur off the blocking boards, but have not yet been able to find buttons in my stash that I want to use for it. (I will keep looking).

Hoping Twist is a fast knit, as I have so much more to knit.

This week I have to get over my anxiety over the mess in the nursery and tackle that room once & for all. It's such a disaster in there, I don't even know where to start. You see, I had neatly put away all the clothes Sean outgrew after he outgrew them into boxes that were all organized, labeled, etc. I got pregnant with Mack when Sean was around 9 months old. So things were easy to find after when I needed them for Mackenzie. After Mackenzie, my hubby wasn't having any more kids. (He always wanted 2 kids, I wanted 3, I won)! Anyhow, after Mackenzie outgrew stuff, I kind of got distracted (ok, ok, lazy), and shoved things into boxes, nothing was organized, sizes were all mixed up, and it went into storage, didn't want to get rid of my stuff yet, but didn't know what to do with it either. I always had hope there would be one more kid. Anyhow, now that I'm 34 weeks pregnant with another boy, all our stuff is getting used yet again! (Most people are lucky if they get 2x usage out of baby clothes, and here I am getting 3x usage). Some of the stuff will have to go after baby 3 uses it... as I'm sure by then it'll be either too stained, or too worn out (I did keep some stained stuff - for wear around the house - I don't care and I don't think Baby 3 will care either). There have been a few outfits, that I put away in Sean's baby box, and Mackenzie's baby box, as it was "their" outfit. Or it had their name embroidered on it. Or it was just toooo darn cute, I had to keep it for them, and will not get used by baby 3, nor get passed on. And since money does not grow on trees, as soon as baby 3 is done with certain stuff, I do plan on selling stuff on Craigslist, so I can get stuff that is age appropriate with the money, etc. There won't be a 4th child, I don't think I can take another high risk pregnancy. And after this baby, one of the two of us will most likely get "sterilized". Either I will go back in to get my tubes tied if I do have a successful Vbac this time and don't require surgery to deliver baby 3, (if I was having a Csection, I was going to get my tubes tied on the spot)... or maybe I'll send the hubster in for sterilization. We'lll see when we cross that bridge. There is stuff though that will have to go after baby 3, and I won't be able to sell - like my Graco stroller/bucket.... as they have "expiry dates" for safety reasons. My baby swing is on it's last leg (I'm actually looking to replace it 2nd hand or borrow one). (I must get one though, the one we've had has been a life saver for both boys). Anyhow... back to the nursery... it's jam packed right now with stuff. All baby stuff. Even the exercauser & jumperoo is in there. Boxes of clothing ranging from preemie size to 2T is in there too (as Mack's in 3T now and Sean in 4T). Ahhhhh.... that room gives me anxiety. I walk in, and seriously just turn around and walk out... I need to tackle that room once and for all. I WILL DO IT!!

And I'm seriously not packing my hospital bag just yet. Both times I packed it when pregnant with Sean & Mackenzie, my water broke the very next day. Same "overnight" bag too. Using it again this time. But waiting until I am closer to term to physically pack it... Baby boy still needs to grow a bit more before arriving. Stuff that I need for my hospital bag is indeed making it's way into a pile next to said hospital bag. But not exactly putting it in there just yet. I need to pull out my list of items I took when I packed it the last 2 time so that I am not forgetting anything. And I'm packing preemie stuff as well as newborn size - you know - just in case.

There are a few things around our house that we're noticing are nice to do now that the cat is no longer living here. I no longer have to shut my office door. The boys are old enough now to respect my office. (Heck, Jamie's office in our basement is wide open and they don't touch the stuff on his desk, nor his "figurines" still sealed in boxes. They're quite respectful. I now no longer have to make sure the top lid of the toilet seat is down, in fear the cat will go into it. And garbage!? Ah garbage... no more fear that the cat will get into it...

... oh and I slept sooooo good last night, with no cat jumping on me 50 times a night trying to literally sleep on me. Bliss.

Speaking of sleeping, and night time... Sean has now had 2 nights waking up dry. I started going out of my way to actually take him to the bathroom sometime in the wee hours of the middle of the night, and so far, it's working. For a few days there, I was doing laundry every morning and it's not so much fun.

11.12.10

Today I finished Cache Coeur. It's now wet blocking on foam mats. I am either going to let it sit until tomorrow or Sunday and then take it off, weave in the 4 ends that I have to weave in, and sew on 2 buttons (which I have yet to pick out). I absolutely love the way it came out, now that I see it properly on the blocking boards. Before, it was all bunched up from the stitch design, and I wasn't 100% sure about it. I really hope that it fits baby 3 as a newborn - because that's when they really need warmth on their torso. This baby wrap was very well designed. I would totally knit it again. Only took me about a week to knit it - though I worked on it here & there throughout the week.

Sean went again in the middle of the night to the bathroom, this time not waking up Mackenzie. However, he was soaked again this morning when he woke up. We told him that he has one more chance, tonight, to wake up dry tomorrow, or we'll go back to pull-ups at night for a bit. We're giving him this chance again because he freaked out when we even mentioned the word pull-ups. Tonight I will make sure I take him in his sleep to the bathroom before I go to bed. Just to be safe. I wonder if this works?

My in-laws came for dinner tonight and my step-mother-in-law made the most delicious homemade Chinese food. My father joined us as well, since my mom is currently in Florida as she helped my grandmother go down for the winter, as she does every November now. Since my dad is lonely at home without my mom, I thought it would be nice to have him come over as well.

Does anyone know of a free online tutorial for zippered pouches (flat pouches) that use a 7" zipper? I have an abundance of 7" zippers and want to sew up a bunch of pouches to add to the teacher's gifts for Xmas. Totally being crafty this year and I'm running out of time - since I don't know when Baby 3 will arrive. If you know of a tutorial for 7" zippers, please do link it for me. Thank you.

I cannot find one of my circular needles and need it to cast on a quick knit I want to make. I just used it for something and looking at my finished projects on ravelry, I cant even figure out which project I just used it for. My office is actually (surprisingly) quite clean right now and I cannot find my needles. It's driving me insane. I've ransacked my office tonight... but everything is tidy, so where on earth is the needle? Grumble. I totally should be knitting other stuff though, one in particular that now has a deadline. Slowly cleaning up my WIPs. And if feels good.

I have another code worth 10 points to add to your Pampers Gifts to Grow account: Thanks2Veterans. Also have for you today, a Huggies Enjoy the Ride Rewards point code: BJSMXWWNSTSBPGB.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Zeus. He was never really our cat to begin with - so there is no real attachment to him, like there was to Jazz, whom passed away May 2009. Jazz was Jamie's kitten since he was probably even too young to be away from his mother. Zeus on the other hand, has only been living with us for about 5 years now, though, I've known him since I met Jamie in 2002. (He belonged to Jamie's roommate/good friend before he moved out, I moved in, and somehow after Zeus moving out - he came back to live with us, as Jamie's friend moved in eventually with his fiancé, who turned out to be allergic to cats, so we took Zeus in). Though now it's time to say goodbye. Zeus is getting old, and senile & is doing stupid things sometimes. I am kind of afraid of the possibility of him not being so nice to baby boy after his arrival, so it's best that he goes now to live with Jamie's mom & her wife. They'll be picking him up tomorrow. I don't know if he senses if something's up, but he'll get better attention at their house, than the lack of time from us here (because my priority are the kids, obviously).

11.08.10 :: 201 weeks old

Sean is 201 weeks old today.

My day got re-arranged when I got a phone call just after noon from the daycare that Mack has 104°F/40°C fever. Poor guy was boiling when I picked him up from daycare. Luckily I eventually got him to fall asleep (watching some tv). His fever did go down, to 101.8°F/38.7°C before bed. I'm hoping the fever goes away so he can get back to daycare asap, it's really hard caring for a sick child at 33+ weeks pregnant. Sometimes he wants to be held, and I can't lift him, and sitting on the floor doesn't work for him. Not sure what about it - but he still likes to be lifted and held, high off the ground. I also have a lot of stuff going on this week, so I hope he gets better soon. I already had to line up someone to come stay with him tomorrow during the day as I have an appointment. I also really hope that Sean goes to daycare tomorrow and doesn't try to stay home because Mack is at home. We'll see how that plays out in the morning. Thursday the kids have a pedagogical day from daycare as the teachers have a conference (I've already lined up a playdate - providing Mack's not still sick). Honestly, besides the fever, he is himself. No other symptoms. Laughing and acting as normal.

Sean woke up absolutely dry this morning (and even went to the bathroom in the middle of the night last night (4:30 am) when he called out for us to take him. We're still trying to figure out how to get it in his head that he doesn't have to call for us to go. He unfortunately just had an accident in his bed, 2 hours after going to bed. Though, because Mack's sick, I have a funny feeling that Sean will wake up with fever tomorrow morning too. I just took his temperature while changing the bed sheets (because honestly he felt very warm) but he has absolutely no fever. I hope I am wrong and he doesn't wake up tomorrow morning sick as well. We just put him into a pull-up because of the situation of possibly being sick, and I hope this doesn't throw us off from training. He did fight us however on putting on the pull-up, he wanted to wear his underwear. Oddly, he had been wearing 2 pairs of underwear when he woke up soaked. Not sure on how that happened, as I wasn't on duty when he got dressed for bed this evening. On nights when Jamie is home, he does the bedtime routine (as I am not allowed bending/lifting and it's getting super hard for me), and I just do bedtime story before bed.

This is the project I started the other night. It's Cache Coeur. I'm already a lot further than my progress photo which was taken earlier today. (It has been a sit on the couch and watch tv & knit type of evening). I am not a fan of blue (not my fave color) but since we're having a 3rd boy, blue it is. I'm knitting this with Dream in Color Smooshy in Romeo Blue, and on US 3/ 3.25mm needles, so it's really tiny. I am hoping it keeps baby boy warm after birth. I really shouldn't have cast on for it - as I have other things I need to be working on, but I hope to get this done as soon as possible so I can move on to those items I really need to finish.

My mother-in-law (Jamie's real mom) approached me before leaving my house on Saturday after my nephew's birthday party. We had been talking earlier during the party about our cat Zeus, and how it's not fair that ever since the kids were born he's gotten less and less attention from us, and how he tries to sleep on me and I push him off me about 80 billion times a night. How he does things to get attention that we just can't give him, and that I fear it's only going to get worse once baby boy is born. Jamie's sister had offered to take him, 3.5 hours from here, but he'd become an outdoor cat. He has no front claws, so this would be totally unfair to him, and he's old now, about 16 ish years old, and this would be totally unfair to put him outside after living indoors all his life. To me that was cruel. She approached me, and told me she had talked to her wife, and they wanted to run it by me, that they were willing to take him. They have 3 cats of their own (one who is currently sick at the moment, and they are not sure what to do with him, as he's only 11 years old, but needs a lot of testing (that is way above of their budget to do right now), and that I should talk to Jamie and get back to them. I waited until everyone was gone and discussed it with Jamie. We decided that the deciding factor of letting Zeus (whom wasn't our cat since his birth - but Jamie's good friend's cat (he doesn't want the cat back and doesn't unfortunately care what happens to him)) go would be Sean's reaction to Zeus going to live with Bubbie Penny. (Bubbie is Yiddish for grandmother). We came up with a way to go about it, and yesterday we sat down with Sean. We told him that Zeus was lonely and that he was going to go live with Bubbie Penny and his 3 cat friends at her house. Sean was a little hesitant at first, saying "Oh, he's going to visit, and then come back?" but after explaining to him that Zeus will go stay there permanently, and that he can visit at any time - he said ti was a good idea. Phew. So this upcoming weekend, Zeus will be going to stay with my mother-in-law, for good. I love the guy, but he pukes on yarn. (NOT COOL!) I love the guy, but he tries to sleep on me, and the only good night's sleep I've ever gotten in the few years we've had him - are when he was accidentally locked in some room that we didn't realize he was locked into. Locking him out of our bedroom wasn't an option, as he paws at the door to come in and then starts meowing if you don't open the door for him. He's also become a huge meower lately, and it's gotten to be very annoying. I'm sure I'll miss the guy once he's gone, but I am so glad he's going. He'll be much happier surrounded by other cats. I am sure he is totally lonely here. And I'm glad we're doing this before baby 3 is born.

Today's Link Love:
- This Got Bob? Baby Bib. I totally want one for baby 3!
- Love this image.

11.06.10 :: 33 weeks pregnant

33 weeks pregnant.
Feelin' very disproportional these days (and extremely swollen).
Definitely waddling like a penguin.
Wish I had an exact date to count down to, but I don't.

Today we had my nephew's 8th (family) birthday party at our house. My sister-in-law lives about 3 and a half hours away, and with all the complications this pregnancy, I couldn't travel there to celebrate his birthday. Since he was having his friends party separate this year now that he is getting older, my sister-in-law figured it would be easier on me (and her real mom & her wife) if they came into Montreal to celebrate my nephew's 8th. We had a nice day, got to see my husband's family that we don't get to see too often. The kids get to play in the park in our circle and throw leaves and be buried in them too. We got to enjoy Nana's homemade lasagna for dinner, and a delicious homemade birthday cake.

Tonight when we went to put the kids to bed, we realized we were completely out of pull-ups for Sean. Oops! The options were no diaper/pull-up, a diaper, (I have some size 6 ones he'd probably fit into (Mack's in a size 5 still)) or a Little Swimmer (kinda is almost the same effect as a pull-up, really. Sean made the decision to try out tonight with nothing but his pj's. I told him any time he feels he has to pee in the middle of the night - to go. He has on occasion done that. He does mainly wake up dry these days (the rare occasion his pull-up is a bit wet). I am praying that tonight, of all night, he is dry throughout the night. Otherwise how else is he going to learn to be 100% potty trained? Maybe tonight was the night to test this out! Maybe it was meant to be? I'll let you know tomorrow how that works out. Hopefully I won't have extra laundry to do tomorrow!

I have been working on my new knitting project, but forgot to take pictures of it today during actual daylight, so I will take care of that tomorrow. I do promise you photos of that - it's on my list for tomorrow.

Today's Link Love:
- Need a letter to send your kids from Santa? Go HERE and choose one of the 5 letters, and then the style of letter. Fill in the boxes with the info, preview it, make changes, and either have it printed or emailed. It’s that simple! I think I might just be sending Sean & Mack some letters this year. That would be really cool.
- Thank you to Barb for sending me these two great links for this cute Easy Drawstring Bag and this Sock Sack.

07.19.10 :: 185 weeks old

Sean is 185 weeks old today.

Sean had to stay home today. He has to be free of tempra/fever for 24 hours before he can go back to daycare. Jut when I thought it was gone, it came back at dinner tonight. Poor guy. It’s stayed all evening too. So he’ll have to stay home tomorrow again, though, I might take him into work with me for a bit, to see if there is anything that is urgent on my desk that needs to be taken care of.


After dropping off Mack at daycare today, I did a few errands with Sean. One of our stops was to Omer De Serres. I had a ridiculously large gift certificate that I got for my birthday to the store, and wanted to see what they had. Sean picked out a few items that he wanted, but settled on some tools for his playdoh. I fell in love with this Amy Butler Creativity Bag. While it’s meant for Scrapbooking, it’s a PERFECT knitting bag. Even has a pocket that I can keep my knitting patterns in without them getting ruined or crumbled. (It’s meant for scrapbooking paper). The tote was on a sale and even at that price had I not had the gift card, I would not have bought it.

I just love it. The pattern and colors are awesome.

I found a few other treasures today at the same store, that I probably would never have bought had I not had a gift card. I probably would not even have gone in there today had it not been for the birthday gift. I love that store, but they’re not exactly cheap (even with their sales).

I realized today that is sucks to be alone with a child in a store when they have to go to the bathroom. I was with Sean (who is fully in underwear now – and didn’t have a single accident today! I am so proud of him!) Anyhow, we were at Costco. I did a return. Sean asked for a hot dog from their restaurant for lunch. So we got out food. Sat down to eat. Started eating. And then, after a few bites, he says “Mommy, I have to go to the bathroom”. Uhh….! We weren’t at a restaurant that we could just get up, leave our food, go to the bathroom and then come back and continue. We were in Costco. So I packed up the food, back on the tray, and carried it with us to the bathroom. And of course, when I got to the bathroom, there was absolutely no where to put the tray down. Except the floor. I had no choice. Thankfully I had the tray. Sean did his business, we washed our hands good, brought the tray back to the table, took our stuff off of the tray and ditched the tray by the garbage cans as it had been on the floor in the bathroom. So gross. I had no other choice though. And to make my morning worse, Jamie had my Costco receipt, and my Costco card was on my desk at home. Luckily they were able to give me a temporary card (Toy Story vitamins were on sale), and were able to do my refund by looking up my bill from my card number. The lady was so super nice, which helped make my not so good start to my morning better.

Sean actually got a bit of shut eye this afternoon. Rare, but normal when he’s not feeling good. Poor guy, I really hope he feels better soon. Not only does he have fever again, but he says his head still hurts him.

When we went to go pick up Mack from daycare today, this is how I found Sean after I asked him to put on his shoes. He decided he felt like wearing his flip flops. Over his socks. I really need to teach him some fashion sense… Boys!

This evening was a really relaxing one.
We had leftovers for dinner and a salad with veggies from the garden (see below).

Mackie asked for his picture taken.
He also had a new thing for sticking out his tongue for pictures.

Before dinner I went out into the garden to see what was there.

The spaghetti squashes are growing nicely.

We even have some strawberries on the strawberry planter.
Very excited to see how many we actually get this summer.

And our loot from the garden today. 2 cucumbers, 1 Kohlrabi, 2 large tomatoes & a handful of cherry tomatoes. Cucumber and tomatoes became a cucumber/tomato salad. Spiced it up with some oregano, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper. Tossed on some oil & vinegar – and voila, a tasty cucumber tomato salad. My fave. Both kids don’t eat tomatoes (unless in a sauce), so it was just Jamie & I eating it – the kids had cucumber slices instead with their dinner. Kohl Rabi - unsure what to do with.

I looked up Kohlrabi today. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, but we had one that was absolutely ready to pick (see above). I found it interesting to know that they have an “Approximate weight of 150g and has a good standing ability for up to 30 days after maturity.” Mine however, (just weighed it) weighs 298g. Damn! Did I let it grow too big in my garden? I also didn’t realize that it was a German Turnip. I like turnip – cooked. Apparently it taste a lot like broccoli stems. (Which I am not a fan of broccoli stems). However, I have eaten Kohlrabi once, when a knitting friend brought some over. I’m trying to find a good Kohlrabi recipe – how do you eat your Kohlrabi? These Kohlrabi & Squash Empanadas look delicious. I actually think I might print out the recipe and try this one out tomorrow. Hmm, after reading that pattern fully, maybe not. I’m ready to pick spinach tomorrow too – I even got a recipe written down tonight from Jamie’s mom. I will make that tomorrow for dinner and share that with you tomorrow.

Today’s de-clutter progress is here. I did very well today – 25 items!

Today’s Link Love:
- I love this image. This one too. Oh and this one too.
- I would like to hang something like this in Zoe’s room. I actually have a few pairs of Pointe shoes from when I use to do ballet on pointes, and I think this would make lovely decoration in her room once we paint it.
- Love this trivet idea. I have a few corks, I wonder if I have enough to make one.

It’s late now, later than I have been going to bed as of lately, but I still think I’m not that tired. I am sure after a couple of pages in the book I’m currently reading, my eyes will get heavy and I’ll fall asleep. I did manage to knit a bit on Zoe’s Spring Shirt while watching a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother. Jamie and I just started watching it last night, and it’s just too funny. Do you watch that show? There’s already 5 seasons that have aired, season 6 will be starting up (I assume this fall).

07.16.10

I am so sad that the pool in my area is closing down for the fall session. They’re not sure if there will be still pre-natal aqua in the fall, as they are not sure if they are keeping any of the “day” classes like aqua running in the small back pool, but for sure the kids swimming lessons are not being held for the fall session. They’ll start back up again in January. I don’t think I am going to even to bother registering them for the fall session elsewhere. I think I am going to just take a break for one session, until January. I do want to see if I can find a pre-natal aqua class somewhere else (preferably during the day though, I don’t function too well at night anymore for activities of the like).

This morning in pre-natal aqua I made friends with a teacher. She’s the only other English speaking in the class (we’re 6 of us, but so far we’ve only ever been 4 at once. Last week she was there, but I wasn’t (Mack was home sick) and the week before I was there, but she wasn’t. She’s super sweet, and due the same week as me. She’s not sure her exact due date, her Ultrasound at the beginning of August will confirm what date, but she’s due somewhere between Dec 26th and the 31st. (I’m due Dec 28). It’s nice having new friends in the area, due with a baby at the same time. Since she’s a teacher and has the summer off, I think she’s going to join me for pre-natal yoga. The other 2 girls in the yoga class are due at the beginning of the fall, so as soon as they give birth, there will be no one left in my class. I am glad that I’ve found someone else to join. We instantly bonded. Now that I’ve dumped the useless people in my life in the mental trash (no offence to them, but I have no reason to keep them in my life), I have room for new people in my life. I am all for meeting new people. Maybe she’s a knitter as well… you never know!

After work, I picked up the boys from daycare and learned that Sean didn’t have a single accident today either! He’s had a superb week potty training in big boy underwear. Aside from one accident during daycare nap time and a few accidents here or there at home at night, he’s been doing VERY well. So proud.

Sean helped me pick stringless beans and snow peas today after school/work. They were the only things that were ready in the garden (besides some spinach, but I don’t know what to do yet with the spinach, so I’m not picking it until I’m ready to do something with it. Mmm! Fresh produce.


The boys invented their own poker game tonight while my in-laws were over for dinner. My in-laws are huge poker players (texas hold’em) and Sean likes to play poker with them. Mack really got into it tonight as well.

Tonight Jamie and I finally caught up on Big Brother. I worked on Bekah’s Birthday gift, but had to stop because it’s getting a little long, and I need to find someone to try it on, for length. Now I’m thinking about starting another one for Zoe, also in Cascade 220 Superwash. What a great pattern (Girl Cap Sleeved Shirt). Need a quick knit? It can be easily knit in less than a week, depending on how much knitting time you get.

Today's de-clutter progress is here.

07.15.10 :: 108 weeks old

Mack is 108 weeks old today.
(And still walks around carrying not 1, but 2 Social Tea Cookies).
(Doesn’t eat them. Just carries them around).

This is the tutorial I used to make these shorts.
They were intended for Sean, but he couldn’t get them over his bum.
However, Mack fit into them perfectly and wore them all day.

They’re so cute on him.
Pat myself on the back.
I’ve promised Sean I’d make him another pair.

Here is the progress on Bekah’s Girl Cap Sleeved Spring Shirt. Just a bit more knitting to do on the body and it’ll be done. This is such an easy knit. I’ve got to make one for Zoe as well. Super easy. I love that it’s made in numerous sizes from 3T-10.

Not sure if this is really a 3T-5T however. You see, underneath is Sean’s (tight fitting) 3T swim shirt. The knitted garment is a touch smaller than a 3T FITTED garment. Hmmm. I am going to use this swim shirt as a guide for length, because in the pattern it just says to “knit to desired length” and well, I don’t have the person it’s for here, to try it on. It’s a gift for my friend’s daughter, and they live near Philly. I am curious to know what actual size it is though. Once I am finished the length I’ll try it on both Sean & Mack for sizing. Or I’ll borrow one of my friend’s daughter. I’ll figure it out. Great pattern though. I’m loving it.

Day 5’s De-clutter progress here. I was on a roll today! Still working on de-cluttering the office! (Eventually onto the rest of the house!) 2011 items seem soooo many. I hope I can do it. Speaking of de-cluttering, does mental clutter count too? I’ve been on a roll weeding a bunch of unnecessary people out of my life lately.

I am so done with other people’s stupidities and immaturities and I am so annoyed with people trying to comment on what I am doing, and that it either “doesn’t work that way” and that they know better because they have a child a couple of months older than mine, for example. Just because you have a child a few months older than mine, (and you are younger or older than me) doesn’t make you an expert. What may work for you, may not work for me and my situation and my family. I wish some people would just keep their comments to themselves. I really am grateful for the close friends that I have, and over the last couple of months I’ve really been weeding out the unnecessary people in my life. There’s been a lot of them too. People who just were dragging me down. Life shouldn’t be like that. So I’ve moved on. I think that should count as emotional clutter, getting de-cluttered (part of my challenge?! Could it include that too?) I’ve come to just let things not bother me anymore. I used to care. I don’t anymore. (Don’t worry, I still care for those that are important to me. But to people who aren’t important, no sweat off my back anymore. Life is WAY too short to have that bother or affect me).

I’ve also started to back off from some people who I felt I had a one sided friendship with. Even though I like these friends as people, why bother with them if I feel like I am putting all the work into the friendship? I try to make plans, I invite them & their children to my kids birthday parties and stuff, but never do they try to invite me to do stuff or invite my kids to their celebrations. That also – is stuff that I don’t have time to deal with anymore. I really only have so much free/extra time in my life, and I don’t want to waste any more of my precious time when these people just don’t give any time back. I’m done. Moving on. There are better people in my life to focus on. Amen!

Ok, I feel better now. No longer have to think about this. Wanted to get it off my chest, and move on. There really should be a emotional de-clutter in my challenge too. Right?

I’ll leave you tonight with some garden updates:

Any plant that grows upwards, (like zucchini, cucumber, etc…) their plant will curl and the curls will grab onto things (like walls or cables or fences, etc). I absolutely love these curls. They’re so pretty. This one is from one of my cucumber plants.

We have one HUGE tomato that is almost ready to eat. Still has a bit of red to color. The production of tomatoes hasn’t been as quickly as we’d have liked, but we do have some promising tomato plants. We think we’ll be over flowing with tomatoes probably mid-August.

Right now in season are our snow peas. They’re everywhere. And they’re SO good. I’ve been eating them raw. I think tomorrow night we’ll try them steamed with dinner. Yum!

We have 2 spaghetti squashes that are about the same size. This is one of them. I need to do research to find out when they are ready for picking. It’s our first time ever growing spaghetti squash.

Today’s loot. Zucchini (pictured last from tomatoes (3 cucumbers in between)) become muffins tonight. Cucumbers were eaten at dinner time. Lettuce became Caesar salad for dinner too. I used this recipe to make some zucchini muffins. Definitely a unique recipe. I’ll let you know how they turned out. They’re sitting on the cooling rack right now. Fresh out of the oven. If they’re good, I’ll link the recipe again tomorrow. Stay tuned to find out if they’re tasty or not.

On the potty training front, Sean only had 1 accident today at school (while he was napping), and 1 accident at home (during dinner - he was drinking his (watered down) juice way too fast). I think he's been doing excellently. I am trying to figure out what to reward him with this weekend for an excellent week.

Today’s Link Love:
- Love this tutorial for a Travel Roll-up Chalk Mat.

07.13.10 :: 16 weeks pregnant

16 weeks pregnant.
4 months already.
Apparently Zoe’s the size of an avocado now.
Still tiny, but already making it uncomfortable for me to sleep.

A view of the garden :: Full & Green

 
Today’s loot.
(I’ve been munching on the snow peas all day. They’re so tasty.
The tomatoes & cucumbers turned into a salad with some oil & vinegar).

  Some Kohl Rabi growing. I have no idea when to pick this. I will have to look up how large these are supposed to get. I also need to look up spinach care (picking/eating) as well as celery.

Some spinach.
(There are a few bite marks on the spinach from some anonymous source).

 
Some more red cherry tomatoes. Yum!

The strawberries, that I thought I’d killed (oops) are coming back again! After some water and some loving, I’ve got some strawberry flowers growing! YEY! They’re ‘Quatre Saison’ strawberries, so if we were living in a climate that doesn’t have winters like Montreal does, then we’d be getting strawberries ALL year long. I wonder if I can move them indoors by the window for the winter, maybe we’d get strawberries all winter long? Hmm, something to look into.

Today after work I ran to the daycare, got the kids, came home and got myself organized to be picked up. I headed with my mom, sister & grandmother to see Mom’s The Word 2: Unhinged. I was curious when we went to see the original Mom’s the Word. I could have sworn it was a year or two ago. Negative! It was before I even had kids. July 7th, 2001. Before I even became a blogger on here.  (I keep my ticket stubs in a photo album so I was able to look up the date). I saw the show before I even met Jamie. I swear, I remember the show like it was yesterday. I can honestly tell you that I really thoroughly enjoyed tonight's show. I probably appreciated this one more than the first one because I do, now, have children of my own, so I can totally relate. I wonder what people who don’t have kids get out of the show, but it was so funny, that I am sure people who don’t have children enjoyed it just as much. I haven’t laughed this hard in a while. It was much needed.

Sean started his first day in big boy underwear today. No more pull-ups during the day. When I went to pick him up from school, I had no idea what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised. He didn’t have one single accident in his underwear. Not one. I’ll have to find out tomorrow how he was tonight while I was out at the show and now all the boys in my house are fast asleep, but so far so good! Very proud of my little dude.

06.04.10 :: Yarn P0rn Friday

Yarn P0rn Friday brings you this lovely skein of Natural Cascade Magnum. I want to make a cowl with it – I love how chunky& soft it is. I’ve been digging chunky yarns too lately. This skein was picked up at Chilliwack Wool & Craft in British Columbia as part of my birthday presents from Vancouver this year. I used the birthday money that I received from several people to get the yarn. This yarn will definitely keep me busy for a while, until my yarn diet of 2010 is over. Kind of makes me glad my birthday is in the middle of the year.

Today after daycare we hung out in the backyard. I decided to bring out the potty, just in case, so while I was planting, I wouldn’t have to break to run into to take Sean to the bathroom. Let me tell you, that I am so proud of Sean. I caught this photo just before he made you know what, for the first time in the potty. We are so extremely proud of him. And let’s hope that we can continue to get him to do his business on the potty as well as just peeing. Apparently “number 2” is the harder than getting them to just pee in the toilet. Sorry if this is too much information for you. It’s my blog, and I’m damn proud of Sean! (And one day, he’ll probably kill me for taking this photo!)

We hired a new gardener to mow the low. Ha, just kidding. It’s a fisher price toy.
Oh, and finally a garden update! (With many more to come over the summer)

Finally placed my “welcome to my garden” stone in the garden near the tomatoes.


Sean wants to show you that the Zucchini plants are growing nicely.


We have some beans sprouting. (Stringless beans)


I planted celery today. I’ve never planted celery before, we’ll see how it goes this year.


We have some cherry tomatoes starting on the plant already.


As well, some larger tomatoes.
(I believe they’re Fantastic Tomatoes, but I’ll have to double check).
And the Romaine lettuce is doing extremely well.
We’ll be eating fresh Caesar salad before we know it.
(Our Pomme Head lettuce is doing well too,
only a matter of time before we have fresh salad to eat).

Got one more free Huggies Point for you: BJCPN-JNFMS-SPPGB which is worth 1pt.

Today’s Link Love:
- Love this baby mobile tutorial.
- This inspired me to re-organize in my office, more to come on that in an upcoming post.
- This magazine seems really cool. I wonder if it’s sold in stores here. I’ll check out Chapters on my next run.
- Loving I Am Woman from Sex & The City 2 Soundtrack. It’s actually performed (sung) by the 4 girls.
- Also loving this version of Empire State of Mind, also on the SATC2 Soundtrack. (I got my CD in the mail (thank you Chapters!) and cannot stop listening to it!

Today’s Link Hate:
- Did you hear? Jamie Salé & David Pelletier, the famous skating duo are divorcing? So sad.

I started a new knit project tonight so that I have something to seam on my last Finishing Class with Mona Schmidt on June 16th. I will show you progress tomorrow & tell you all about it then.

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