1.20.11 :: 135 weeks old

Mack is 135 weeks old today.

There are always lots of hugs around our house. Morning hugs goodbye when Mack & Sean leave to go to daycare for the day.

And night time before bed sandwich hugs.

SPECS:
Pattern: A Neck Warmer for Coreen by Me! (My Ravelry Link)
For: Myself
Yarn:1 skein (82 yards) of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky
Needles: US 11 - 8.0 mm
Size: 5.5" x 23.5"
Timeline: January 11, 2011 - January 18, 2011. It never takes me this long to knit this neck warmer, but life with a newborn kept me busy.
Modifications: Knit pattern as written.
Notes: I've already knit 3 of these neck warmers as gifts. It was finally time to knit one for me.

Finally got around to hanging a few things in the house today. A few of those items were in Quentin's room.

One of which, is this awesome felt Quentin name that my aunt made for Quentin, I believe, for Chanukah 2010. It's his name on a Habs hockey stick, in the Habs colors. It's pretty awesome. (And the dog hanging on the wall is a pretty neat diaper stacker - though that was hung a while ago on the wall).

Talk about routine... Kids like routine. Jamie had sat down with Mackenzie a while ago and told him that he was a big boy and big boys don't cry at daycare drop off. The next morning, Mackenzie stopped crying at daycare drop off. It's been a few weeks now, and today I took the kids to daycare for the first time since having Quentin/the end of my pregnancy. Out of routine, and Mackenzie starts to cry at daycare drop off. Oh, I hope this isn't starting up again. Shows how much routine is important in kids.

The reason I took the kids to daycare this morning was because Jamie said that he doesn't mind taking the kids to daycare in the morning, unless there is a morning where I am leaving at about the same time, then he'd appreciate me taking them, since he takes my car to take them (car seats are in my car) and it would be silly for him to come back to get his car when I'm leaving anyhow with my car (makes sense). Well, this morning I was leaving to take Quentin to the CLSC to get him weighed. I was worried because the last 2 weeks from December 28th to January 13th, Quentin had only gained 15 grams per day (on estimate). Normal weight gain for a newborn is between 20-25 grams per day, so I wanted to make sure there was a gain in the last week of at least that. Well, in the last week Quentin's gained approximately 31 grams a day. He's now 7 lbs 4.4 oz. (3300 grams or 3.30 kg) - finally over the 7 lbs mark. Time to officially retire those 5 lbs sleepers and take out the 7 lbs sleepers (he's still swimming in newborn sleepers). Next week we see our doctor, so hopefully he'll keep on track for the weight gain.

After we got home, a friend came by for a bit, to meet Quentin, which was nice. I spent the afternoon backing up my home office computer as the power supply keeps shutting down my computer. I am having Jamie bring it into work next week to fix it, and upgrade a few things, as it started running slow. Backing up my hard drive is a huge job, as I have over 161 Gigs of photos backed up from 2007 until today. I don't want to lose any of those... so I'll be backing it up again after the initial back-up. Working in the computer industry and seeing people come in with fried computers and losing their kids' baby photos or their wedding files, etc.. I don't want to take the chance of losing my files. So my advice to you guys - BACK UP your files! I never dump my memory card off my camera until I've made sure that it's backed up - twice (in 2 different places).

It's -11C out there, and bitter. I hate winter. I hate that once my toes are numb (from the cold), they're like that for the rest of the day. And my skin? My hands are so bad in the winter, no matter how many time I moisturize. I'm longing for spring.

I made dinner in the slow cooker today - a rib recipe. It was fantastic. I made some alterations to the recipe, which completely altered it all together, but it is definitely something that I would make again. I've been looking at things like sodium (trying to make sure anything I cook with has under 500mg of sodium (anything above that is really bad for you), but sometimes it's super hard when a recipe calls for a soup base and the sodium is REALLY high in it - I tend to alter the recipe a bit, to find something with a lower sodium count.

This is how I use the internet - check out Project 365.

11.26.10

Conversation I had with Sean today:

Me: My nose is running. I hate this time of the year.
Sean: It's running? Where?
Me: That's what you say when you have a cold and your nose won't stop dripping. You call it running.
Sean: So then go catch it.
Me: Thanks Sean. Maybe tomorrow. Mommy has no energy today.

I love talking to my toddler. It's so much fun to hear what will come out of his mouth.

I had my 36 week check-up today and it was absolutely useless. We talked a bit - since it was my first time meeting my doc’s colleague (as my doc is officially on maternity leave now due to the fact that she's pregnant and due the week after me), and she listened to the heartbeat (A steady 160). She doesn’t do internal exams until 37/38 weeks. I’m going to demand one at my next appointment next Friday (at a day shy of 37 weeks), if my water hasn’t broken before then. I told her that my first born broke my water in my 37th week (37 weeks and 5 days) and my 2nd son in my 36th week (36 weeks 6 days), and then she said “Well, I don’t think this baby is coming out that early”. How the heck does she know!?? Is she psychic? She didn’t even do an internal exam, maybe I’m dilating already? Who knows. And I’d never met this woman before today, so she knows me that well? She didn’t even measure my belly - which my doc has done every appointment until now from probably 28 ish weeks onward. I kind of feel like today was a waste of an appointment. Though, I did run into a friend in the waiting room - so that was nice to catch up with her.

Oh yes, get this, my new doctor starts talking about scheduling a Csection for 40-41 weeks if I don’t go before then naturally (since I’m going for Vbac this time). Is she insane? I’m doing everything I can to soften my cervix naturally so that this baby comes out in 2010. No way I’m still going to be pregnant in 2011. I’m 36 weeks tomorrow and so done. I've had 2 healthy and early babies. (Early but full term). I’ve never been more than 38 weeks pregnant, so she’s insane if she thinks I’ll still be pregnant at 40-41 weeks. My doc had talked about scheduling a Csection at 39 weeks now that my placenta praevia cleared, if I wanted to still do the Csection route. Not at 40-41 weeks. This doc seemed to push Csection, rather than my doc who was all “go for Vbac, you’re a good candidate". It just seemed like everything she said today resulted in a Csection.

I’m not sure how I feel about this new doc to be honest. I'm kind of hoping that my water breaks soon, and that she's not on call when I go into labor. We've got a busy weekend this weekend - so anytime after Saturday night (or Jamie prefers anytime after Sunday), I'm game to go into labor.

And now I'm trying to nurse a cold. (As per my conversation with Sean earlier today). I cannot even take anything for it - as every cold medicine is not safe during pregnancy. Drinking tea - of course and getting enough sleep. The cold has been building up for about 2 days now. The other night Jamie told me that he wanted to shoot me in the middle of the night, as I woke him up around 5 am, because I was snoring so loudly. I am not a person who snores. But I cannot breathe through my nose right now.... so I guess I must have been sleeping with my mouth open and started to snore. If only baby boy would come out - I could take cold medicine and not be sick anymore. Oh, that would be nice.

Besides my OB check-up today I wasn't allowed out of the house. Some of the roads were a sheet of ice, and Jamie banned me from going out. He wasn't worried about my driving - he was worried about everyone else's. I don't blame him. Other people scare me when it's ice out there. I'm really hoping the sticky snow doesn't come until after I've delivered baby boy. My feet don't fit into my boots right now (I'm that swollen), and I'm so close to the end of my pregnancy that I don't want to buy new boots.

I didn't knit a stitch today (or even crochet) - though I have some knitting homework that I need to take care of before going to bed tonight. I'll talk to you about the knitting homework tomorrow. Promise. I've been still on the crazy nesting kick, and I have been checking every skein in my stash (in my yarn room where all my yarn marinates before usage) and making sure that every skein that I have is indeed listed in my stash on Ravelry. This way when I want to look up yarn for a project, I can visually see everything. It's perfect. Also saves me from buying more yarn, when I probably already own what I have for a certain project that I'll want to do. (Giving total credit to Jenn for inspiring me to do this crazy stash clean-up). You know, I have yarn that I totally forgot that I even owned. I like finding yarn. It's fun! It's like finding money in your coat pocket after the summer when you go to take out your jacket for that upcoming winter.

10.31.10

Woke up to snow still on my car. I was told it snowed again a bit this morning.

After everyone left my parents house, we had a family lunch today instead of dinner since I wanted to take the boys trick or treating at dinner time, we tried on the boys costumes to make sure I didn't need to do any alterations before it was time to go out. The costumes fit them perfect.


And after struggling (yet again) to get them into the costumes, I couldn't get them out of them until it was time to actually go trick or treating tonight.


I had an hour at home before heading out to my sister & brother's area for trick or treating. I decided to go there this year (last year the boys were sick so we handed out candy and the year before we did our neighborhood) as it was way easier for me to go there than to walk further distances between houses. I had fun trick or treating with my two mini-spidermans tonight. I totally could have gone more if a) it wasn't so cold out and b) I wasn't 32 weeks pregnant. I felt such pressures "down there" by the time I got home, it's a good thing I'm not 37+ weeks pregnant, as I'm sure I would have gone into labor if so. (And I love whomever had this HABS pumpkin (above) out in front of their house - totally awesome!) The boys had matching Spiderman buckets to collect their candy in and the boys loved them.

... I'm totally going to be sick tomorrow. I started out this evening with a BAD headache (I am hoping it doesn't turn into a headache) and a runny nose. Totally coming down with something. So not happy about that, but I so had to take the boys trick or treating. They're only young once.


Progress on Vestee. It's 95% done. I just need to make the neckline band (which is knit separately then sewn on - not sure why you don't just pick up stitches off the neckline - but anyhow). I finally got the body done (that has been hibernating since my birthday in June). It's size 12 months, so baby boy 3 won't be wearing it until at least next fall. For all of you whom inquired, I am making the shawl collared version, not the hooded. I figured after someone made a comment that if baby 3 falls asleep without the hood on his head, it might bother him being bunched up or something, so I decided to go without the hood. I like it regardless. Totally cute. Almost done, thankfully.

Don't forget that I'm having a contest to win a ton of awesome prizes! If you want to win, just simply leave a comment anywhere on this blog until midnight, TONIGHT, Oct 31st, 2010, as I'll be drawing winners on Monday, November 1st, 2010. Good luck! Please note, even if you are logging into your blogger profile, not all of you have email addresses associated with it. Also - a lot of you have 100% blank blogger profiles. If I don't know who you are, you won't be able to win a prize. So please leave your information. Some of your profiles link to blank pages or don't link at all anywhere, so if I can't find you, you can't win. THANKS! (ps- I'll allow any comments that come in before I get up tomorrow morning to be included to win the prizes.)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

10.30.10 :: 32 weeks pregnant // 8 months

32 weeks pregnant // 8 months.

I was thinking about going as Juno for Halloween?
What do you think?
I don't even need to stuff my belly under my shirt!

This morning Sean had his Halloween skating class (however he decided not to wear his costume skating, which is fine, because only a handful of the kids were dressed up). Sean did extremely well skating without the bar again today. So very proud of him.

This afternoon I worked on some workbooks with Sean. He is really getting the hang of tracing the letters to help his skills. I really like these workbooks I got.

This evening we carved 2 pumpkins.
Sean had a lot of fun cleaning out the insides of it.
(I plan to roast the seeds)! YUM.

He was so proud of his work. (My dad helped him cut out the face).

These are our 2 pumpkins! So not putting them out on mat night.

This evening I looked outside to see SNOW on my car!!
I couldn't believe it. Snow. On the night before Halloween.
In my almost 30 years on this planet, I don't think we've ever had snow before Halloween.
(That I can remember anyhow).

I've been working on Vestee. Making great progress. Stay tuned.

Don't forget that I'm having a contest to win a ton of awesome prizes! If you want to win, just simply leave a comment anywhere on this blog until midnight, TOMORROW, Oct 31st, 2010, as I'll be drawing winners on Monday, November 1st, 2010. Good luck! Please note, even if you are logging into your blogger profile, not all of you have email addresses associated with it. Also - a lot of you have 100% blank blogger profiles. If I don't know who you are, you won't be able to win a prize. So please leave your information. Some of your profiles link to blank pages or don't link at all anywhere, so if I can't find you, you can't win. THANKS!

march eighteen

Progress! (I’ve actually finished the front just now, so more progress pictures tomorrow). All I have left to do now is the sleeves & the neck ribbing. I can smell the finish line on Sean’s Sweater.

After I picked up the boys from daycare today and were done doing groceries, I had this conversation with Sean:

Sean “I want to put this sticker on the window”.
Me: “No, please don’t”.
Sean: “But I really want to put it on the window”.
Me: “Please don’t, I don’t want you to. Why don’t you put it on your car seat instead?”
Sean: “No thanks, it’ll get stuck because it’s sticky”.
Robyn: “That’s exactly why I don’t want it on my car window”.

Boys. At least he understands why not to put it on his car seat. Guess where the “PAID” sticker is now that the cashier gave him when we checked out our groceries? Stuck to my car window.

My joints on my left hand are aching. This means it’s going to rain in the next few days. I almost took it as a disability to knit tonight, but I managed to work through it. Do any of you suffer from arthritis? It runs in my family, on my mother’s side, I’m almost positive it’s early arthritis. Not only have I been dealing with that in the last 24 hours, but I’ve had back pains and aches for the last couple of weeks (I’d say at least a month) and the heel spurs just seem to be getting worse. Is this really what happens to your body as you age? If so, I must be screwed.

I was emailed a few days ago by my wonderful father, to remind me to change my winter tires. I love these little reminders, they’re great. Honestly, I have no time to think during the day about stuff like changing my winter tires, that this is a great reminder. However, I heard that it's supposed to snow next week. I don’t want that to happen and have my summer tires on my car, so I’m waiting a bit more to change over my tires. Sucks though, I just chucked my winter boots (as they weren’t going to make it until next winter, and they weren’t exactly cheap boots) so I don’t have proper winter boots anymore. I’m going to pray to the sun gods and hope that there is no snow. Mother nature… she’s a really tricky woman, ain’t she?

february twenty-six

I’m praying this snow goes away. There is a lot of snow on the roof of my house. In order for the roof to get repaired, the snow must disappear. I really don’t want to have to hire someone to shovel my roof, so send good thoughts that it disappears soon. The weather seems to be tinkering around +1C, so I’m hoping that it melts away fast. Once the roof is fixed, we can then go ahead and fix the attic. One step at a time.


Sean wanted to model his new Mickey Mouse hat. He loves it.

I love how it’s embroidered with his name on it. Mack has one with his name too.

Houston, we have a sleeve! Today I worked on the first sleeve on my February Lady Sweater. I knit rows 5-48 today. (Rows 1-4 of sleeve were done already and left on needles from beginning of pattern). I have now completed 12 Gull Lace Repeats on the sleeve. I keep trying it on to see how long it is to determine how long I want to make the sleeves. I believe I will do them three quarter length. I think it looks cute like that. I am hoping to have the sweater done by tomorrow night so that I can wear it out on Sunday! The sleeve will probably be just a tad longer than the black shirt sleeve I’m wearing underneath.

Check this out – the yarn dyed my bamboo DPNs! I couldn’t believe it!

Today on my way home from work, I fell in love with the sunset.
I love how it changes color so fast.

I’m looking at the amount of laundry I need to do this weekend (haven’t touched laundry in a while) and it’s very daunting. It’s a vicious cycle that just doesn’t end.

Tonight I watched (and knitted) Team Canada Men’s Hockey beat out Slovakia tonight 3-2. We had a great lead for most of the game and then somehow let 2 goals in during the 3rd period. The last few minutes of the game was a nail biter. Sitting on the edge of the couch, I jumped up when the game was over, and it was secured that we will be playing on Sunday to try and win gold against Team USA. I have faith – hoping for another gold medal for Team Canada. We’re currently in the lead for most gold medals won at the Olympics. We may not be in the lead for the amount of medals won, the USA has that on us, but all that matter is Gold. And we currently have the most. GO TEAM CANADA! Hoping for a few more before the Olympics are over on Sunday.

february twenty-four :: 88 weeks old

Mack is 88 weeks old today.

We left the house this morning to find a lot of snow. I know they’d been calling for snow, and that’s why the roofer didn’t come by today to take a look at the roof on the house. I am hoping that the snow melts away with the rain they’re also calling for, as I need to get my roof fixed as soon as possible.

However, as much as I don’t want the snow to be here right now (due to the roof), it’s still very pretty the way it falls on the branches and is so clean & pretty. I love photographing snow. So hard to photograph as well!




The guys finally finished the bathroom today! It’s done. It’ll be cleaned tomorrow morning & then we’ll be able to test it out. I do need to go to the hardware store and buy a massaging shower head for the stall because they destroyed the original one when they demolished the fibreglass shower stall we got rid of.

I love the new shower. I can’t wait to try it out!

I went into work today, I was surprised to see that my office was pretty clean, my manager had taken care of a bunch of stuff while I was out of the office last week. The driving was a bit slower than usual due to all the snow that fell, though the roads weren’t bad at all to drive. People drive slower than usual (and worse than usual) when there is snow.

This evening I went out with some good friends (hi M.E.C!) for dinner. We made sure we were sitting near a TV as the Team Canada vs. Team Germany Men’s Hockey Game was on. We won (7-3) and it was a good game. I worked furiously on my February Lady Sweater. I am now done rows 150-152 to conclude the 26th Gull Lace Repeat and then started on the Garter Ridge Edge at the bottom. I worked 10 rows of garter ridge, which brought me to just over 1 inch of the 1.5 inches required as the pattern states. Will be able to start on the sleeves tomorrow! I can see the end in sight. I can smell it! And when I’m done, not only will I have completed my first adult sized sweater, but I will have completed it in about 2 weeks. Two weeks. That’s crazy! I’ll show you an updated picture soon!

january twenty-eight :: 37 months old

Sean is 37 months old today.

Here are some new squares I’ve made for Babette.
I’ve been chugging away at these squares. I’m loving how they’re turning out.

This is my beloved bath sponge.

It’s old. I can’t even tell you how old it is, but I know I got it after moving out of my parents house (2003) from a Yves Rocher order. I would love to find another one like this (doesn’t have to be a star, just the way the soaping pad on the back is).

But I haven’t been able to find anything similar. I did find this sponge at Target while in Florida. I tried it out today. I like it. It’ll do for now. The tag said to replace this sponge every 3 months. Uhm, I don’t have a target here… what am I going to do? And this was the last one at the Super Target in Deerfield Beach, Florida, so I can’t even ask my grandmother to bring another one home for me. (Unless they re-stock that is).

Today was very snowy. It was blowing everywhere. By the time I picked up the kids from daycare, it was getting thicker and thicker out there and you couldn’t see where the icy patches were. I am glad that my plans tonight got re-scheduled, because the roads were terrible just going the 3 streets to pick up the kids from daycare.

The kids were off the wall tonight. I caught them jumping on the foot rest bench in the den. They’re monkeys.

Jamie and I did a 24 marathon tonight. We’re trying to catch up. We have 1 hour left before Monday night’s new episode. Not sure yet what to think of this new season. I worked on a few more squares for Babette. I’m up to 36 squares done. I am not sure how many squares I will need, as I don’t know how large I want this to be, but I know that I am blocking them to 4”x4” so once I figure out the size I want it, I’ll divide it by 4” and figure out how many squares I need. I know I have no where near enough squares right now, so I will keep plugging away at them. I hope I don’t run out of solid/semi-solid/tonal leftovers, or I won’t be able to finish it. Right now I still have some solid/semi-solid/tonals left, but I will soon run out and then I’ll have to figure out what to do next.

Off to go crawl into bed and start the new book I’m reading, Holly’s Inbox, which I picked up while in Florida.

january twenty-seven :: 84 weeks old

Mack is 84 weeks old today.

I worked in the office today since I flew home yesterday, and I usually go into the office on Tuesdays (and Fridays). They’ve been doing some re-arranging in the back where I work and I am so happy things are starting to become more organized back there. I see some great changes to come this year, and possibly some renovations (that are being talked about). I wouldn’t mind a new desk/desk area, where no one but me used my computer. (Too many times I come in and my items/things/computer) has been touched/tampered with. We’ll see what this year brings.



On my way home from work today it was snowing. It was really pretty snow too. It wasn’t even that cold. Mild out, in my opinion and the snow was falling so softly. Both kids were excellent today at daycare, which I had feared all day. You never know after being away for an entire week how they’ll react in school the first day back. Mack cried for a few minutes this morning, and by the time I got Sean in his sneakers and into his classroom, I heard Mack’s crying stop. Phew. Sean went into his class no problems, and was already babbling away to his friends about the snake he petted at the zoo and showing off his new GI Joe sneakers. Ah, the life of a child. Sometimes I wish I could trade places and go to daycare for the day and have a 3 hour nap… don’t you just wish?

Mack said 2 new words today – Hockey and Car. I really think he’s opened up a new can of worms and will be saying this more and more lately. He started singing Do Re Mi (that’s all he knows are those 3) during the trip to Florida. He now says my mom’s name “Bubbie” which is yiddish for Grandmother. And while we were away he said “I want cookie”, learned a not-so-nice word “c-a-c-a”, and named his bunny “Nunnee”. He also knows my brother’s name, and calls my sister “A-eee”. He can’t say her full name yet. And from before he said “book”, “ball”, “hi” and “uh oh”. He’s on a roll. He’ll get it. I’ve heard him once say “bye”. Sometimes you can catch him saying “Abc”. Even though I’m glad he’s talking, I’m not looking forward to him having a full vocabulary. If he’s anything like his brother, he won’t stop talking.

Off to go watch some tv with Jamie and crochet some more squares for Babette. I am loving the way it’s coming out.

january one

A new year. A new calendar. A new journal. Fresh pages. Clean start. I made some resolutions.

2010 I'll knit from Stash.
2010 I won't buy yarn.
2010 I will knit myself my first sweater.
2010 I will knit (mainly) for me.
2010 I will stay on top of the laundry and not procrastinate.
2010 I will fold the laundry right away and not have it sit for days.
2010 I will try to be more patient with my children.
2010 I will try to get more organized.
2010 I will try to stay organized.
2010 I will de-clutter my home.

I think these are pretty obtainable goals.

I've added a ticker on my sidebar to count up. Once it reaches 365 days, I'll be able to make a new yarn purchase. Unless this year is a leap year - then that will be 366 days. Does anyone know when the next leap year is??

Sean decided that he wanted to wear my sock project bag that Bea made on his head as a hat. Silly boy - it actually just fits his head perfectly. The imagination on him sometimes is just wild.

This morning we decided to bundle up and head outside to play in the snow.

Sean has a thing for sunglasses. It wasn't even sunny.

It was the perfect weather to make some snowballs.

Some perfect snowballs to boot.

The kids had fun throwing them at me.

Sean & Jamie made a snowman.

The snowman got to try on Sean's sunglasses.

Mack's not really convinced by this snow business.

He's just like me, and would rather be inside where it's nice and warm.

Though he was kinda happy when we gave him a ton of snowballs to play with.

But then it was time for Mack to go inside and eat lunch, so Jamie & Sean stayed outside for a bit. Mack was getting a tad cranky as it was nearing nap time. I was happy to go inside though, my toes were starting to get numb.

Some more progress on my Mara Shawl. I totally thought I'd be done this by now... but I've got over 250+ stitches and it's taking a lot longer than expected to knit this. Though, I want to finish it already because I want to wear it, and I have other stuff I should be doing. It's going to be so cozy though... I can just feel it's warmth already!

And the color!? How can you resist this color? I have enough of this stuff in my stash to make a sweater as well. It's just sooo delicious. And wonderful to knit with.

Jamie and I watched Inglourious Basterds this evening after the kids went to bed. All I have to say is.... "interesting". While I don't normally sit down to watch a movie about Nazis, it was well, interesting. I can't even use any other words to describe the movie. While I am not a huge fan of Brad Pitt, he was alright in the movie. I wouldn't exactly sit down and watch this movie again, but I wouldn't say that I hated the movie. I did get 2 and a half hours of knitting time though, so I can't exactly complain.

Here's to a glorious 2010. I hope it's better than 2009!