july eight :: three weeks old

This morning we toughed it out (how do mom's with more than 1 kid get out of the house??!) and we went to a music in the park event. I wasn't impressed with the chick who did the music class, but I pretty much went to socialize and get out of the house! And for Sean to see his friends from his classes at the Y (which ended at the beginning of June).

Mack is 3 weeks old today.

21 days old marks the day that I have to do Mack's Pee Test. Mack has to pee on a towel cloth thing that is provided by the Government of Québec and then I have to blot it onto a special paper and then mail it off to the Government. Fun! I was able to collect the pee without soiling it (if you get any poop on it you have to re-try), and tomorrow it'll get mailed off to the government!

Yesterday while Caroline was over, she gave me some leftover sock yarn for Sean's Blankie. I eventually plan on knitting one for Mack, so I'll have plenty of leftovers as well! Thank you Caroline!

I also received my Fave Things Swap from Christy! She sent: An awesome pair of green earrings, a scrabble letter pendant that was altered, 1 lb of green apple licorice (my fave flavor!), some knitting note cards, a cute book about a sheep, a music mix, as well as a cute tote organizer (under the licorice). Thank you Christy!

A garden update today:

That zucchini is massive now, I think we'll be pulling it tomorrow! Okay, how do you 'safely' remove a zucchini from the plant? Anyone? What's the best way?

Jamie's index finger for size of the zucchini!

And the third zucchini that is growing in nicely. There are a lot of flowers on the plant, so I'm hoping a TON more zucchinis come!


And we realized that if we just pull the lettuce leaves instead of pulling up the entire plant (we didn't know before), that the leaves grow back and we'll get more lettuce to eat! Awesome!

It's a tomato jungle in the garden! It's huge and big and green! Lots of tomatoes will hopefully grow!

My San Marzano tomatoes are starting. They're my Italian tomatoes! Mmmmm - pasta sauce!


And my beefsteak tomatoes (yep, I checked, they are indeed my beefsteak tomatoes!) are looking great! Can't wait for them to ripen!


And my cherry tomatoes are coming out by the tons! I can't wait to eat those right off the plant!

I replanted another patch of carrots in another location, but in the original location, we've only got 2 carrots from the entire two rows I planted. Oh well. I guess it didn't like that original location. I'm curious to see what will happen with this new location I planted in the front of my garden where there radishes were. I am not re-planting the radish as I'm the only one who eats them, so we'll see. Maybe I'll just plant a handful just for me later on. The only take 28 days to full maturity.


One of my two cucumber re-plants is THRIVING! The other one is doing alright, but this one is doing fabulous. I love it. Cucumber is one of my fave vegetables. I am so happy it's working out!

And my early calwonder peppers are also looking like something's going to happen. I was worried because I thought that the pepper plants are supposed to be as big as the tomato plants, but then someone told me they are supposed to be this small... so we'll see what happens?

Mack had his tongue-tie check up today. He's gaining weight still and now weighs 3060 grams which is 6 lbs 12 ounces. I'm very happy with that, and it means the breastfeeding is working! Though, I'm still not too sure how I feel about it, more to come on that later. Still composing my thoughts.

Today, I'd like to ask you how you put your kids to bed? What method do you use? I'm not sure how to get Sean to bed. (Or even nap for that matter). I must be doing something wrong? He'll only fall asleep at night with us on the couch, and then once asleep, (whenever that happens) we bring him up to his crib. This is bad. Very bad. But how do I get him to sleep/bed without doing this? What's your bed time routine with your kids? Please share. I need advice.


It's too hot (see above! Warning! High heat & humidity! Ouch!) to compose my thoughts today on the breastfeeding topic, so my breastfeeding post will most likely be tomorrow, if I get in early enough from my knit night. Stay tuned!

Don't forget I'm designing the pattern for the August sock club, so if you haven't gotten it yet, go on and sign up!

july seven :: was my due date...

Today was my due date with baby Mack. So happy he's here already and almost 3 weeks old (tomorrow!) I am really happy that I didn't have to go 40 weeks, I couldn't imagine being pregnant any longer than I was! (Especially not in this heat!)

Sean was a really good boy today. I am really impressed. He has his moments, of course, but I really had a good day with him (especially this evening, while alone with both boys for about 4 hours myself! More about that later). (Those are not cuts on his face, but indeed specs of sauce from the Ravioli that he had for dinner!)

Before I talk about my day, I want to give you a garden update:

There are now 3 zucchini's in my garden. On this side of the plant there are 2, and on the other, there is a new one growing. I cannot believe how BIG they grow and how FAST they grow that big! Seriously! It's amazing. It's like 3 days ago, there were no zucchinis! The big zucchini above is just about ready to eat.... though, I may leave it a little longer to get a little bigger, and then cut it up and slap it on the BBQ! Mmmmmm! Grilled zucchini! I can smell it now!

Some of my tomatoes! They're growing big!! My cherry tomato plant gets new tomatoes on a daily basis, very excited to pick some off and eat them when they are ready. I believe the tomato above is my beefsteak tomato plant. I'll check tomorrow when I go back out to take a look. I keep forgetting to check the tag on the plant. Though, I'm pretty certain it's my beefsteak!

This morning the company that cleans Air Ducts in your house came to clean out our ducts. Since they were here, I feel it's cooler in the house. Ahhh! My A/C is working properly now. Also, the guy said that it's very possible that it's been about 30 years since the air ducts were last cleaned. (We've only been in this house for about 7 and a half months now (mid-November 2007), so I have no idea what went on before that, and the lady that was living here before us was here about 28 years or so, something like that. Apparently, she never got the ducts cleaned. My mom picked up Sean and took him on her errands while the guys cleaned in my house (took about 2 hours) so that Sean wouldn't chase the guys up and down the stairs and try to use their tools. It was much better (and easier) that he wasn't here!

This afternoon I had my sister Amy, Angela, Caroline & Madeleine over. To knit. I did get a few rows done on my misty garden scarf. It's coming along. I've done about 1/3 of the scarf. I'm going to get cracking on it... I plan on definitely having it done before winter. I've got another project to start working on as well, I will get to that shortly.

Madeleine brought me a present. It was really nice of her. I just love it. It's a beer sweater & hat. Perfect! I love the green color too! Fits my beer perfectly! (Actually this beer was a gift from Madeleine as well!) Thank you!

We hung out all afternoon, knit, talked, watched some TV (some Sean TV and some Adult TV too), and it was nice to have friends over. Late afternoon Angela took Sean for a walk in his stroller and within 7 minutes he was out cold and slept in his stroller for an hour. He NEEDED his nap. However, in the house, there is NO WAY he'd nap. NO WAY! Too many people and he'd be afraid of missing out on something.

This evening Jamie had baseball and everyone left, and it was nice to just have the house to myself with my two boys. Mack slept most of the evening, and Sean and I hung out and cleaned up his room and a bit in Mack's room. (Mack's crib has been a dumping ground for baby stuff in the past few months, so I finally started to organize it). I am sure it'll be a while yet before Mack goes into his crib and sleep there. (Probably when he starts sleeping through the night, he'll go into his room). Right now, he's been sleeping in the basinette in my bedroom as I'm breastfeeding. Sean started sleeping through the night at 2 months and 1 week old. If Mack follows in his footsteps, then that's in just 6 weeks from now. I can dream, right?

This evening Sean was REALLY good. He had his bottle of milk, and cuddled with me on the couch and was a really good boy. He even helped me change Mack's diaper. He was really good while I fed Mack on the couch, (I was worried about him taking off and getting into trouble somewhere in the house while I was stuck on the couch feeding Mack). I got lucky, and he was really good. Thank goodness.

I have a LOT of emails in my inbox. I am slowly getting back to each of them. I'm planning on emailing everyone back. It just may take me some time. If you're expecting an email from me, please be patient.

Tomorrow we have music in the park (a few streets away from my house) early in the morning. I'm planning on taking both boys. (It's more for Sean than Mack!) I'm hoping that I can make it out of the door on time, and get there on time. I think I can do it! Mack also has his tongue check up tomorrow afternoon, I am hoping he's gaining more weight than the previous week, after his tongue-tie clipping last week.

I've been thinking a lot of my opinion on breastfeeding. I am having mixed feelings about it. I will compose my thoughts together, and write a proper post about it (maybe tomorrow). I didn't get to breastfeed Sean, so this is a new experience for me. (Sean wouldn't latch, after 2 weeks of struggling, but I did pump as much as I could until he was 6 weeks old, when I wasn't producing much milk anymore). Mack is latching and eating a lot, I'm just not sure 100% that it is for me, but I want him to get the breastmilk. So I'm torn. Really torn. I will compose my thoughts on why I'm feeling this way and I will blog about it tomorrow. Breastfeeding in public - is another reason I'm having mixed feelings about this. I have no issues with the act of doing it in public, though even with a cover wrap - I'm not 100% certain it's for me. Anyhow, I'm beat, so I'm going to go feed Mack, and hit the sack. I'll be back. Same time. Tomorrow.

july six

Sean.

I love him to pieces but he's being a rebel against us. Ahhh, toddlers!

How do I get Sean to stop throwing stuff (food, cutlery, sippy cups) off his high chair? As many times as we take everything away from him, and as many times as we tell him "NO", he just doesn't listen. Anyone have any tips or advice?

We had to take the fence/gate away from the den, as Friday he climbed right over it. So, we cut the umbilical cord yesterday, and gave him free reign of the house. Not sure yet if that was a bad mistake yet or not. That fence went away, but a baby gate went up for my office (since my office door doesn't stay shut apparently).

As of today, there will be no more high chair for Sean either, as tonight at dinner he climbed up on chair at the dinning room table and wanted to sit with us like that, instead of in his high chair. So we took the booster seat out of my trunk (which we use at restaurants, etc), and he'll be joining us at the table now.

And now, Sean is freaked out about taking a bath. It all started on Friday night. I had my in-laws over for dinner. (Jamie's dad & step-mom). Jamie had ball so he wasn't home. After dinner I put Sean in a bath. Sean likes to get in the bath while the water is still running. He likes to play with the water while it runs, etc, and this way it gives him more time to play in the bath. Anyhow, while he was in there, just as he goes to put his hand under the faucet, my father-in-law in the bathroom in my bedroom, flushes the toilet. BAD! When a toilet is flushed while someone is in the shower or in the bath, the HOT water comes at full blast, because the cold water is being used for the toilet that is being flushed. Sean got really hot water on his hand. I can't say that he burned his hand, because it's not burned, but it must have been really really really hot. He freaked out, starting bawling, and we had to force him to stay in the tub to at least wash his hair (he had to get washed, there was no getting out of it). Anyhow, tonight, in the bath (we bathe/wash Sean every other night, unless he's filthy and needs an extra bath), he refused to get into the bath. It took both Jamie & I to try to get him to stay in again just while we washed him and his hair. I don't know how we're going to get him to enjoy his baths again? He obviously didn't forget that he got hurt in the bath. Has this ever happened to you and did it take long before your child trusted the bath again? (The first time we learned that our water system did this, I was using the bathroom & flushed the toilet while Jamie was in the shower. Let's just say that I will never do that again!)

Jamie's mom and her wife came by today for a quick visit, it was nice of them to come by. They brought Sean 2 books about being a Big Brother/having a new baby in the house, which was nice of them.

Boy must zucchinis grow fast? There are two huge zucchinis on my plant now, and I could have sworn there was only one yesterday! I really cannot wait to be able to pull some off and have them grilled on the BBQ!

Yesterday I got a chance to plant some more seeds. I started them inside the house for now, and I'll move them outside once they start sprouting (as I did back in March/April for the seed starters). I planted some more lettuce (both the Paris Island & the Black Seeded Simpson) as well as some broccoli and cabbage, that didn't work out when I planted them in the garden. I'm not really sure why? I'll see what happens this time. I also planted some more of other stuff, we'll see what happens. I do have to say that my pumpkin plant is taking over the garden like you wouldn't believe. It was just a test for this year, not sure I'll plant it again next year. It's really trying to take over the garden! I also, today, re-planted carrot, to see if anything will happen. In the original patch where I planted the carrots, I think we have 2 carrots. (Only 2 - I know, so sad!) I'd planted 2 rows of them! Anyhow, maybe it'll work this time. Crossing my fingers!

This evening my brother came over for dinner. After dinner he took off and Jamie & I watched the movie 21. It was really good, but it was the exact same movie that we saw last year called The Last Casino. Identical.

Off to go feed Mack & then it's bed time!

july five

Remember this photo (above) of Sean at 6 days old (and about just over 4 and a half pounds?) 01/03/2007

Well, today, at 2 weeks 5 days old (and just over 6 lbs in weight), I remembered to take Mack's picture with the dog that we got as a gift from my mom's Great Dane Bosco gave to me at Sean's baby shower back in November of 2006.

And I'll have to remember to take a picture of Mack with the stuffed dog at 3 months old like I did with Sean back in March of 2007.

Sean got a little dirty in the backyard this afternoon in the garden. He wanted to help me garden, which wasn't such a good idea. He came in the house filthy!

My very first zucchini in my garden. I can't wait to have a bunch that I can throw on the BBQ and eat. I love grilled zucchini. Can anyone tell me when it's ready for me to pick? How do I know/tell?

Here's the purse I got from my gift certificate yesterday from The Baie for my birthday. I love it.

And my 5$ George shoes. Love them! Now I need somewhere to wear them to.

I was cleaning up my office this afternoon and came across the gum that Jenn got for me while I was in the hospital. Even though most of it was chewed (I heart gum!) I still had them all together to be able to photograph it for you. Thank you Jenn for bringing me the goodies while I was in the hospital. (There were some Runts & Fuzzy Peaches too - I heart both of those candies too!)

I can actually kind of see my 2nd desk in my office now. My desk with my PC is also a bit of a mess, but not so bad anymore either. Ever since I came home from the hospital with Mack, things have just gotten thrown into my office - it's kind of bad. I keep saying I'm going to be more organized with my things, but then I don't find the time to be more organized! It's a lose-lose situation for me!

This evening Angela came over and we had dinner and just hung out. Jamie went to play hockey with my brother this evening, and we were going to watch a movie, but Sean went to bed too late to allow us to do so. Oh well. We just watched TV and hung out instead.

Just a reminder to you all - the August Sock Club kits are for sale (almost sold out already actually!) and I'm designing the pattern! So come on by & get one!

july four :: 79 weeks

Sean is 79 weeks old today. I think we'll do something for his 100th week birthday! My father-in-law was joking about have a "party" for his 80 week birthday next week, but I think something is due for his 100th week! Just something with immediate family, nothing serious, but I like celebrating. Celebrating is fun!

We went out today with my mom to do a little shopping and get out of the house. Sean wanted Chicken Nuggets for lunch, so we stopped to have some. He wanted to show you that he's a big boy now, and knows how to drink out of a cup. (Though I don't put much in at a time, because he spills still if there is too much).

My big boy! I can't believe how big he's getting. Every day he amazes me with new things!

On most days he fights his naps. Today, we managed to get him to sleep in the car, and he stayed asleep once we transferred him into his stroller while my mom & I did some shopping. I had a gift certificate to HBC so I went to The Baie and picked out a pj 4 piece set, a new purse, and 2 shirts. Thank you to my in-laws for the very generous birthday gift certificate! I also got a great deal (at another store) on a pair of gorgeous black heels for 5$. (More about those tomorrow).

It was a nice afternoon out, and on my way home we did some groceries, and I picked up a 12-pack of Heineken. Dying for a beer. Though, I need to put them in the fridge and let them cool! MMmm, ice cold beer, hot summer day.

This evening my in-laws came over for dinner while Jamie played ball. My father-in-law BBQ'ed, which I'll never allow again. He didn't cook the hamburgers properly, and I think now I'm traumatized. Never again will I let him BBQ at my house! It's my MIL who is the cook!

After ball, Jamie's best friend & his girlfriend came over, and we watched a bit of Last Comic Standing from Thursday night and just chilled.

I need to clean my office tomorrow. It's a mess again. Yep. Life with a newborn & toddler. I need to find more time to read (want to finish my book already) and also more time to knit! Need more knitting time, it's a fact! I'm jonesing to knit. Will make the time. I also need Jamie to hang up stuff around the house, he's better at hanging stuff, than I am. (Picture frames that need to go up!) and also, I need to do laundry. It's piling up again. I think though, that I need Sean to be babysat for an entire day (like 10- 5pm or so), so that I could organize my office, and get it cleaned. But who knows when that'll happen. Maybe one day I'll see the floor in there again! LOL

To my American friends just south of us, Happy July the 4th. Hope you had a good one. Crack a beer open for me, okay? Mine aren't cold yet.

ps - this evening I spotted the first zucchini in my garden. Hopefully I'll be able to photograph it tomorrow! xoxo YEY!

pps- I'm nearing my 5000th commenter. Will it be you? There will be a prize for the person who is!

july three

I received some lovely mail today! A beautiful skein of Scouts Swag Sock Club (2nd Installment of 2008) in Stocker Pond. Yep, I love it. Finally a colorway I like (I wasn't 100% fond of the first installment, but I'm still not able to find online how it knits up? Has anyone knit it up yet? Ravelry has nothing).

Sean loves giving kisses to his brother. He tries to pick him up - but there is no way I'm letting him. I have to explain to him that Mack is not a toy, but his little baby brother. I'm hoping one of these days he'll get it.

Kisses galore. It's really cute how Sean tries to kiss as way he puckers up! I love it! I love my boys.

This afternoon my mother took me on some errands. First I needed the post office, as yesterday when I tried to get to the post office, there was a line up like I'd never seen before, and then we headed to Mack's doctor's appointment. We were seen right away, and first he was weighed. He has gained about 30 grams a day in the last three days, and is now at 2840 g which is just 5 g below his birth weight. So in 5 more grams, he's back at his birth weight. 2840 grams is 6 lbs 2.6 oz. (So almost 3 ounces). I am sooo happy that he's gaining weight.

With further discussion with Dr. F, I decided that I am going to do the clipping of the tongue-tie. It'll help him eat better, latch on better, and possibly (though there isn't enough research yet) prevent a speech impediment later on in life. She decided to see if she had the proper tools to do it at her office at the medical center, instead of having me come down tomorrow to the hospital where she works. Luckily, she had the tools there, and was able to do it right there on the spot.

It did bleed a little bit, but nothing severe. The bleeding did stop by the time he was done eating though. They have you put the baby on the br.east once they are done the procedure. It was nothing, and I think Mack was more distraught by the bright light in his face & the hospital gown that was tying him down, and also the fact that he really wanted to eat.

I'm glad I did it, since it won't harm him in any way by having it done. I've been getting a lot of emails in support (I do plan on emailing everyone back when I get a few moments to do so), and I see that I am not alone with having a child that has had a tongue-tie. Makes me feel better about the situation & doing the procedure.

This evening I watched the movie Sex & The City with my mom & sister. I really enjoyed it, though it was a long movie. 2 hours and 16 minutes. It did feel a bit long. The story was totally not what I was expecting, but I liked it regardless in the end. For the 2nd half of the movie though, I really hated Big.

Summer of Yarn Love Contest: I have to blog about my favorite Summer time memory:

That is a good question. I think my fave summer time memory is a time back when I was about 8 or 9 years old and it was a time where I had no worries in the world, and we used to go out in the neighborhood and collect caterpillars. I'd collect some and put them in glass jars with holes in the lid, so they could breathe, because I wanted to see them turn into butterflies. I can't recall any of them turning into butterflies, but I do remember the act of collecting & saving them!

july two

Just as I was waking up and feeding Mack this morning, Angela arrived. She came over to spend the day with me. We had lunch and then finally got out of the house (getting out of the house is a whole other story!) and ran a few errands. I got my property taxes paid 25 minutes before they closed for the day (yep, life with a newborn!) and I tried to go to the post office, but there was a line up like I've never seen before (and I have no idea why, because income taxes have been over since April 30th).... so we left and I did some banking and we got blue slush puppies. Slush puppies are great on a very hot summer day!

When we got home, we checked out my garden:

Not really sure if this is a weed or if my Red Globe Onions are supposed to be like this? Anyone have experience with vegetable gardening onions?

My strinlgess bean plants are massive! I'm not even sure where on this plant the beans will come, but I'm very excited to see how they will! I totally thought that by now, there would be something growing on this plant, but now, I don't know how long it takes?


And my Paris Island lettuce is HUGE! We've been using this lettuce as well as the Black Seeded Simpson to have fresh Caesar Salad each day until today (we're out of Caesar dressing & croûtons, I need to buy more). I love being able to pick fresh vegetables that I planted from seeds from my own garden. It's great.

And my tomatoes are growing larger! I love it! I can't wait to see how large they grow.

And my cherry tomatoes are growing too!

And take two of my cucumber plants are doing great. YEY!
We're going to have cucumbers!
This is just one of the two plants!

I found these flowers in my front yard. As I said, new stuff is blossoming in my yard. Anyone know what these flowers are called? I love how white & pretty they are.

Remember this plant (above)? It's blossoming!! I cannot wait to see what they look like!

And there are flowers like this that are about to blossom as well. Curious to see what they look like fully bloomed. I like that they are pink. I heart pink. Pink rocks.

Mack likes sheep. Just like his mommy! Ok, so his mommy bought him clothing with sheep. Mack doesn't know yet that he likes sheep. This outfit, 1 month size is WAY too big for Mack. The pants keep coming off. It's kinda funny. He's still pretty much in preemie sized clothing. However, some of that preemie sized stuff is big too. And socks don't stay on his feet, no matter how tiny they are. When we go to the doctor tomorrow to get Mack weighed again. I tell him every night that I hope he's gained some weight, that it's very important. However last night, he ate and ate and ate, and then didn't keep it down. So he had to eat some more because he had an empty stomach. Poor little fellow.

Mr. Mack's tiny feet. So precious. I love them.

My thinker. I wonder what he's thinking about? I love this pic a lot - I had to share it.

I got some lovely mail today!! From my Summer of Yarn Love Pal! Thank you! I love it! I got some Koigu KPPM, a row counter, some new brand of gum that I've never seen before (I'm a huge gum chewer!), some gorgeous silver earrings, some really cute stitch markers, a Thomas & Friends book for Sean, and a really pretty card. Thank you pal! I love everything!

The beautiful flower arrangement that I received from "Cherry". Some of it was dying, so I put it into my own little mug and made a smaller arrangement. I think it looks cute!



Tonight I watched What Stays in Vegas with Angela. I thought it was really cute. A fun comedy. Was in the mood for one, and it did the trick! There had been such bad movies out lately, I'm glad that there are finally some movies that are coming out that are great/good.

Secret Pal Question of the Week #4:

1) What yarn (that you don’t have/haven’t used) would make your stash “complete”?

Yarn to make my stash complete: I would like to get some Sundara Sock Yarn, Paca-Ped Sock Yarn and some Wollmeise Sock Yarn to make my stash complete!

2) What yarn do you never want to be without?

Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock, as well as Colinette Jitterbug! I think those two are my fave sock yarn right now.

july one :: 2 weeks old :: Canada Day

Mackenzie is 2 weeks old today. He is a very good baby & sleeps! Only cries when he's hungry. That's my kind of guy!

And he's still asleep...!

I just love his Air Jordan socks. They came with a 0-3 month size onesie & hat set, however, the onesie is the exact same length as Mack! No way he's fitting into it now! But the socks, are sooo tiny, they actually fit! Yey for something fitting!

Some new things are sprouting/blooming in my garden! I just love this spikey flower thing. It's going to turn into some flowers, eventually. (I'm pretty sure). The rest of the plant has flowers - so I assume that's the next stage for this neat looking thing!

We also got these really nice red & yellow/orange flowers. I think they are daisies, and so does Jamie. He noticed them the other day in the front yard and told me to go out and check them out!

This afternoon Sean went bike riding with my parents. I thought he would love to look around and check everything out, but apparently he fell asleep after leaving my house, and napped in there for 45 minutes while my parents cycled around the area.


Oh well, next time hopefully he'll stay awake, I really think he'd get a good kick out of checking out everything near him en route.

Last night Mack decided that he wanted to eat for about 3 hours straight from about midnight until almost 3 am. So I fed him, and today I'm zonked because I went to bed late, and didn't get that good of a rest. Neither the night before, Mack decided he didn't feel like staying asleep more than 30-45 minutes at a time, and well, we're all pooped. It's starting to catch up to me!

Late afternoon Jamie & I went to go meet Sean at my parents house, they brought him back there after bike riding, so that he could go swimming in their pool. He had a lot of fun, and I'm so jealous that he can go into the pool. Hopefully in due time I'll get to go into re has pool.

I got a few rows knitted before dinner at my parents house, so there has been progress on my misty garden scarf.

Must make time for finishing my book that I'm currently reading. Though, I'm getting caught up on my blog reading - that's a start! I'm also slowly getting caught up on emails.

Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends!