april eleven :: 67 weeks

Sean is 67 weeks old today. He's halfway to 16 months old. Each week he gets smarter and smarter and figures out new ways to get into trouble! He really is a handful - but in a good way! I'm constantly on my toes with this kid!

Do you think we have another photographer in the family? What do you think? He certainly was interested in my Canon Rebel - the heaviest camera I own!

I present to you, Mackenzie's Baby Surprise Jacket. Finally, I seamed it last night & put on the buttons! The information is as follows:

Specs:
Pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman (Ravelry Link)
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport Multi in Devon #407

Purchased: Online at Yarnbow
Needle: US 4 / 3.5 mm
Size: 0-3 month size
Timeline: Cast on February 23rd, 2008 at the Montreal Canadiens vs. Columbus Blue Jackets game - Cast off March 16th, 2008. Added buttons & seamed on April 10th, 2008.
Modifications: None really. Followed pattern as published.
Opinion: Sport weight is not 6 month size. Thank goodness Mackenzie isn't born yet. This way, he'll fit into it when he does! But regardless, I love the finished project!

I am just loving this finished project! It's a fave piece of mine right now. And the buttons are just awesome. Nothing fancy, but look great.


This morning, at Sean's music class I asked 5 and a half month old Tyler's mom if he could model for size the sweater. He barely fit into it, and he's in the 50th percentile for 5.5 months old. Hmmm. Sport weight is supposed to be 6 month size according to the pattern. Apparently not. I think it's around 3 month old size, if that. Anyhow, it's a good thing it's for a baby that is not born yet, so he can wear it until he outgrows it. If he was already born, and didn't fit into it - I'd be upset! LOL. I am really happy with it's finished results.

My mom came with us to music this morning and then we ran some errands afterwards. On our way home, we came across this:

Which is this up-close. Isn't it great? This city is really obsessed! (Not that I mind!)

Today, I got the best deal ever.

Sean got 2 pairs of PJ's for .09¢.

The item was supposed to be on sale for 10.09$, minus 30% off. Anyhow, I got to the cash, and it rang up at 11.79$, which wasn't even the regular price, because regular price for the 2 pairs of pjs (4 piece set) was 16.79$ or something. Anyhow, so Price Protection Law, is under 10$ it's free, or if the item is over 10$ you get 10$ off your item - if it scans wrong at the cash, when it's a bar code (scanned) item. You know about this law, right? I've mentioned it a few times on my blog. Anyhow, so they had to give it to me for 10.09$-10$ = 0.09¢. Each pair of PJ's for 0.045¢. FOUR AND A HALF CENTS!

That was definitely the deal of the day. Not only did I get that, but she gave me buy one get one half off on pants that weren't supposed to be. (For Sean as well).

I'm the queen of good deals. I won't complain!

Tonight I spent cleaning up my inbox. Oh my. I had 200 + emails in my inbox. Probably close to 250. Right now, finally, caught up - I have 35. And I answered (emailed back) to every single last email that was in there. I still want to clean up those last 35, but I will get to those over the weekend. I'm also still slowly catching up on my blog reading (again, hence why you may get a comment on an old post). Feels good to get things accomplished - let me tell you!

april ten

Today was a busy day again! Start out with Sean's swimming class. Again, I was a few minutes late entering the pool - I really need to work on that! I'm finding it harder and harder each week as my belly grows, and I grow even more tired, to get places on time. Must make more of an effort. And it's not as if I leave late. I don't. I guess I just need to leave EXTRA early nowadays.

This afternoon I ran into the city, and did a return at Walmart. I also met up with Angela at Walmart. We did a few other errands on the way back into the West Island, and then sat down and chilled for a bit. I made some stitch markers for the May Sock Club kit, and eventually we left to go to the West Island Knit Night.

At first we had a REALLY BAD experience with the restaurant/deli. I had tried calling earlier to make reservations. The guy who answered said that we did not need reservations and that they would accomodate us. When we got there, the hostess/waitress wanted to put our group of what was supposed to be 8 of us (but ended up only being 6 of us), into two booths of 4. Apparently the dinning room (tables) was closed because they were installing TV's. (Which no one was doing anything at the time). So, how does that work? We're supposed to yell at each other over a wall between booths? So I started telling her (POLITELY) that we were a knitting group, getting together to knit/have dinner/coffee/cake, etc, and her response? "Oh no, we don't allow knitting & drinking coffee at the same time".... WHAT THE FUCK?????????? Excuse me???? So I said back to her "You can't kick us out for knitting at the same time as eating" and turned around and walked out, saying really loudly that they just lost 8 people's (cuz we were supposed to be 7-8 people at that time) money spent on food & tip....

Standing outside waiting for the rest of our party to arrive, deciding where else to go, the manager ran out after us, and told us he'd open the dinning room and accomodate us. So we decided to give this place a chance. Turns out that she was our waitress, and was EXTREMELY very nice to us.... guess who wanted to be tipped at the end of the evening... LOL...

It was nice this evening, got my fix of onion rings (huge craving this pregnancy) and finished, yes, you read the correctly - FINISHED the Baby Surprise Jacket! I'm so happy. I worked on it while we were there tonight, and it's looking fabulous. I'll post the F.O. tomorrow, as I prefer to photograph in daylight. Beautiful pictures await you tomorrow.

I won recently a gift certificate over at Jenn's Blog. I finally decided that I'm going to take that 30$ gift certificate to Chapters and get some kntiting books that I've been eyeing. I have my order waiting to go - and I can't wait to receive my prize! Thank you for hosting the Se7en Deadly Sins Contest Jenn! As soon as I place my order, I'll let you know which knitting books were ordered!

So, not only are the May Sock Club kits available, but all my Regia & OnLine sock yarn are 25% off for one week only, ending on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at the stroke of midnight!

ps- I'm now officially waddling. And I'm in pain. I feel like I've pulled a muscle, same feeling I had at the end of my pregnancy with Sean. I'm so damn uncomfortable it's not funny.... Can we fast forward to June/July???

april nine

This morning we had our usual music class, and then I dropped off Sean at my parents house. Today was Taxes Day. I got about 3/4 done. I was doing both types of taxes today, both my income taxes (I just needed to figure out all the information and put it together and give it to my father-in-law who actually does my taxes) and also, my quarterly taxes for my shop. My father-in-law needs my numbers asap, and the quarterly taxes I have until the end of the month to mail it in, but I just wanted to get it all over with, asap. As long as my quarterlies are postmarked by April 30th, then I'm good. Gosh, I hate doing taxes. I've never been good with math, so my mother-in-law set me up with a spreadsheet, thank heavens. I worked at my desk, (cleaning it up too so I had all my papers organized, etc) from about 11:30 a.m. upon returning home until 5pm when my mother dropped off Sean on their way home from some shopping. Sean came home sporting a new spring hat, and had a good time out with grandma.

Saku Koivu wanted to show you that we finally received the March Rockin' Sock Club Kit. With some investigation with BMFA, it was discovered that even though they acknowledge that I did an address change in November 2007 (for my December 2007 Sock Kit and forward), that they mailed out my March 2008 kit to my old address, which was delivered (and signed for) on Tuesday, March 25th. How ironic how GREAT MINDS think alike! Check out Robyn's Nest March Sock Club kit!

Sean has been making a huge "dumping" mess in the den. Any type of food that you give him, he dumps out or off of, etc. There are goldfish and animal cracker crumbs all over the floor. (Thank heavens the cleaning lady comes tomorrow). Anyhow, I couldn't find where I had put my dust buster, but Sean's dust buster cleaned up the floor and did a damn good job! It's a junior toy dust buster that actually works!

This evening I went to go walk around Walmart near me house as Jamie had the guys come over for the playoff hockey pool, and I was kicked out of the den (so they could watch hockey - not Habs though) so I went out with Sean. Ran into an old friend who was walking out as I was walking in, and ended up chatting/catching up with her for about 20 minutes. We basically lost touch because her husband did a bunch of things to piss off Jamie & his best friend, and so because of that the girls lost touch with her. It was nice to catch up, I gave her my business card, we'll see if she actually contacts me again.

Sad to see MagKnits go down. I just found out. So sad. I'm hoping there were no saved patterns in my bookmarks that I hadn't saved yet. Goes to show, that if you find a pattern, DOWNLOAD IT now, or save it or print it.... it may not be there tomorrow!

Chez Robyn's Nest we're having a Week Long 25% off sale on Selected Sock Yarn! You can save 25% off on all Regia & OnLine Sock yarn! Happy Shopping!

april eight

I feel like I ran around today like a chicken with my head cut off.... if you get what I mean?


This morning started off with some painting in Sean's Tuesday class at the Y. He made a beautiful painting. Look at those hands though, 150% covered in paint.


And then Sean sponge painted some "Matzah" for Passover. That was another mess in itself. Thank goodness I took off his shirt and he painted in his onesie. (The onesie on the other hand, may not be white anymore, we'll see after stain remover & like four washings).

And this was the final results. One messy kid. With paint on his face. He didn't seem to care though.

After class we met up with Angela, and then ran a bunch of errands. I decided mid errands to go to Ariadne, one of our LYS' here. (Probably the only LYS I'll ever shop at again in Montreal! They just rock!) Ariadne right now is having a buy one get one half off sale on some sock yarn, and I'd been eyeing the Reynolds Soft Seawool for a while now. I've used it before, to test knit for Veronik Avery & Mona Schmidt (who is pregnant by the way! Go over and give her your congrats!)

I plan on using the Green for Mrs. Hunter's Socks, which I test knit for Veronik & Mona and didn't get to keep. I just love the color, and want to knit them again! The rest is for Veronik's Wallpaper Mittens pattern. I won't need much of the pink, it's for the cuff on the inside. I plan to have them done before next winter! Crossing fingers.
While there Mary announced that anything on the table in the buckets was free. Susan Andrew stopped by the store and dropped off some de-stash. So I picked up some sock weight yarn for Sean's blankie - which I better get crack-a-lackin' on - if I want it to be done before Mack is born. (So I can start on Mack's blankie!) Yey for de-stashing yarn!

I also picked up while there (for free too!) a set of 20.00mm DPNS! How funky are these? I doubt I'll ever knit with them, but I want to put them in my needle vase on my desk. Just for show! Why not! They are HUGE though!

This evening Angela and I headed out to the Montreal Knitting Guild Meeting, where Maaike gave a lecture on Knitting and the Internet. A job well done Maaike!

Since I realized I didn't have any knitting pictures in a while (though, I've been talking about knitting related items on my blog) I thought it was time for an update!

My progress so far on Mackenzie's Judy's Grandma's Baby Sweater. I'm just loving it!


Here is a close-up of the sweater. It's knit from side-to-side, instead of top down or bottom up. I can't wait to see how it all comes together in the end. The DPN in the middle is for the sleeve.

Mary at Ariadne was nice to give me some leftover (enough for this small swatch) Brown Sheep Burly Spun to see the gauge for Juliet. However, I think I'm going to be using Lamb's Pride Bulky for it instead of the Burly Spun (half the price also!) I just need to figure out what color I want to pick out - which I'll do next Sunday when I go to Ariadne for Kate Gilbert's Toe-Up and 2 Socks on 1 Circ class. I am sure I will be able to get gauge with the Bulky. I may just have to adjust a needle size.

Upon picking up Sean from my parents house, who were babysitting tonight as Jamie had inventory after work hours at the store we own, my mom showed me this sweater, which she gave to Sean. It's made in really bulky acrylic yarn, but it's fabulous nonetheless. The knitter is unknown at this point (I'm going to try to investigate the details), but not sure if we'll get very far. It's a little big on Sean, but he'll grow into it. Apparently I used to wear this sweater.

april seven :: 27 weeks pregnant

This morning I got up early after fasting from the night before. I had to fast for my glucose test that every pregnant woman has to eventually do. Last time 'round, pregnant with Sean, my first glucose test came back borderline, so I had to go back for the 2nd one, which instead of a 1 hour test like the first one, it's a 3 hour one. I really hope to NOT have to do the 3 hour one this time. Crossing my fingers. I'll find out on the 21st when I go to my next check-up.

So I got to the hospital, and was relieved to find out that I didn't have to wait in the registration line. I knew I would be taken right away upon registering, but I still thought that I had to stand in the registration line. The HOUR AND A HALF registration line. So happy I got to skip it. So, they took my blood, and then I had to drink this special liquid. Then I had to sit and wait for an hour before doing another blood test. So I had to go first and drop off (on the same floor) my pre-registration paperwork for Mackenzie's arrival. While handing in my forms, there was a girl standing behind the counter next to the girl who took in my paperwork. She was like "You look familiar".... and we started asking 20 questions, to realize we danced together for like 8-10 years at the same dance school (for Ballet & Tap - yes pointe shoes eventually!) and were in the same classes for years. We caught up a bit, and it was nice to see her. (I would have NEVER recognized her!) Anyhow, the girls in admitting were so nice that they did my change of address for me, instead of having to go down to the room where they do your hospital card on the bottom floor. So I got a new card, and they actually put my married name on it and my actual legal name in the maiden name spot! (For those of you who are not Quebecers, in this lonely province of Canada, we are the ONLY ones who do not take our husband's name when we get married, because of the high divorce rate in Quebec, they don't want to take the time to do the paperwork. You think I'm kidding? "Both spouses keep their birth names after marriage and continue to exercise their civil rights under that name, i.e. they must use their birth name in contracts, on credit cards, on their driver's licence, etc. However, women are free however to assume their husband's name socially." Quoted from here.) It's just kinda neat to see my "married" name on a 'legal' document like a hospital card. It's just weird that my own son has a different last name as I do - but that's a whole other story.

After handing in my admitting papers, (so all I have to do it show up to the hospital when in labor/water breaks), I went back to the blood test area. I sat down and pulled out my knitting. That may have been a mistake. I attracted this really nasty man who kept asking me what I was knitting, what I know how to knit, and if he could have my number so that he could take me out. I explained to him that I was married. (Did he miss my wedding rings? And my pregnant belly?) He just wouldn't leave me alone, and he kept asking me what ticket number I had (which I didn't because I just had to go back after 1 hour to the same room for my 2nd test) and even after he was done his blood test, he came back and sat down next to me, even though he was free to go home, or wherever. He even pulled out a peanut butter sandwich (which is when I wanted to vomit!) Not only did he smell bad, but he pulled out the one item I detest. (I won't even allow Jamie to eat anything peanut butter near me, the smell just makes me nauseas, pregnant or not!) Anyhow, there's been some progress on the baby sweater, and I'll show pictures tomorrow.

While waiting for my mom & sister (who had Sean with them) to come back and pick me up, I ended up buying this book from this little old lady at the hospital who was selling 2nd hand books. Not sure where the money goes, but it's back to the hospital, in one way or another. The book didn't cost much, so I'm really happy about that! The book looks cute too.

We first headed to Walmart, where I picked up some socks for Sean and a few maternity tops that I need to try on to see if they fit/look good. I also picked up a tummy time mat for Mackenzie. I wish I had seen this thing when Sean was under 6 months old, but I didn't know it existed. I learned about it from blogless Kate-the-Enabler. It's a really cool mat. And for half the price that Toys R Us sells them for.

We then had lunch, and then did a few more errands. One of the errands was stopping at another Walmart on the way home, and while in the baby section there, an employee comes up to us and asks me what size Sean wears. At first I was a tad confused, but she had a reason behind it! Apparently there was a bunch of articles of clothing she'd just put on sale for 1$ each. 1$!!!! Sizes 2 and 3 boys. (2 year old and 3 year old size). And very cute items as well. I got 1 pair of pants, a bunch of shirts and some sweaters too. I couldn't believe it! I seem to get the best deals on baby articles.... it never fails! I only wish my wardrobe was inexpensive like Sean's! (Yeah right). These great deals just seem to fall into my lap. However, I won't complain.

I got my Wee Sock Swap Sock in the mail today! Thank you so much Carrie! I love it & everything you sent along with it! I absolutely love Orbit gum and you cannot get it here in Canada. I have not tried the Raspberry Mint flavored one either yet. Very excited about that. I also have two packs of Orbit in my bedroom that my friend Lauren sent me, I still haven't opened them yet. (Been saving them, since we don't get that gum here!) Thank you again Carrie, the little extras were super nice. (I hope the pal I sent my sock to, enjoys the little extras that I put in her parcel!)

This evening, while alone at home with Sean, first he decided to take off his pants. Within minutes, he figured out (for the first time) to take off his diaper.

What a funny kid. He proceeded to run around the den in just his t-shirt. I finally brought him upstairs, and just as we entered the bathroom and set him down on the ground, he peed all over the floor. (Thank goodness on the tile and not my den carpet!!)

Sean just loves bath time. I love spiking his hair up with soap. His hair is finally growing back long enough to do so too!

Another thing Sean loves to do is look at himself in the mirror after his bath to see what towel he's wearing. He laughs every time at each towel that I put him in. I think that the elephant one (due to the trunk of the elephant) makes him laugh the hardest!

27 weeks pregnant. (Or maybe 30 weeks if my doctor is correct and the U/S technician is wrong?) Either way, I'm now in my 3rd trimester. I'm sure I'm just going to get more and more tired. But I'm expecting it. Especially as my belly grows bigger and bigger and bigger by the weeks.

april six

This morning I slept in. Much needed. I got ready and headed out the door to my friend's daughter's baby naming. Never been to a baby naming before. I can tell you that I still have NO idea what is done at a baby naming. I actually unfortunately missed out on the ceremony part, so I'll have to ask my friend what exactly took place. I was in the other room cleaning Sean up when it happened. (He got dirty eating lunch there). Saw a few people from my past (high school) at the baby naming, not really my friends though, they were in the grade below me. My friend who had her daughter's baby naming was in the grade below me. We reconnected via facebook of all places, and I introduced her to the pre-natal aqua class that I was taking in the city before I moved, so we did it together. She was at the end of her pregnancy when I took the class again when just getting pregnant with Mackenzie in the fall before we moved. It was great to finally meet her daughter. What a cutie, only 6 weeks old.

Finally mounted my Habs flag on my car! GO HABS GO. Playoff schedule was just listed, and the 2nd home game is Saturday night, April 12th. I'm soooooo excited to go! (Home games against Boston are scheduled as: 10/04, 12/04, 17/04). Boston doesn't stand a chance. They have NOT won against us yet this year....!

This evening we went to my parents house for dinner, and I helped my sister cast on a pair of socks! I'm hoping she enjoys knitting socks! She's doing a real simple ribbing 2x2 and then St st for the leg. Eventually I'll introduce her to cables. I have just the perfect pattern in mind for that, but let her get through the socks first! If she can tackle socks, she can tackle anything!!! I've also been knitting, but it's a secret knitting project for a swap. I'll post pictures soon, it's the fastest I've ever knit a certain item! I will get back to Mackenzie's Judy's Grandma's baby sweater though (I have my Glucose test at the hospital tomorrow, I'm bringing both the baby sweater and the book I'm reading).

Sean was helping my mom bake cookies tonight, and was walking around the house in her oven mitts, with no pants on. (He dirtied them during dinner). No idea who put his shoes on though, he kinda looks silly! For those of you that don't understand French, Sean's shirt reads:

J'aime mon lait = I love my milk.

Speaking of which, he's now down to 2 bottles a day. One in the morning, and one before bed. He's pretty much also only on 3.25% real milk. I think I'm going to just check out the formula I have sitting on my counter. It's been opened for more than a month I think. (Opened formula is only good 1 month so the label says).

Some new additions to Robyn's Nest today! New colors of Cascade 220! Colors in the brand new line of Cascade 220 Dip Dyed Yarn! Also Cascade 220 Handpaints! Also, don't forget that May's Sock Club kits are now listed!! The stitch savers are also selling like hot cakes, better get yours while they're still in stock!

april five

So the freezing of my pants and scrapping off with a dull knife method for removing gum didn't quite work. So, I've decided to look further into other methods, and found this website. They mention this:

Ironing Method: Place the article with the gum facing downwards onto a piece of cardboard.
Set an iron to medium heat. Iron the clothing until the gum is no longer on the article, but has been transferred to the cardboard.

It worked! All the gum came out - except for the stickiness. So then, the next step was the washing machine. I put it alone into the washing machine, as I didn't want it to get on anything else should that be the case. After washing, it came out just okay. Still marks where the stickiness is. Dried it next in the dryer. It looks like it's gone. Maybe it just needs a few more washings and it'll be gone, but they were definitely wearable this evening. I missed them this week while they were in the freezer trying to harden the gum. Ugh. I hate gum on clothing. Especially when it's not even mine!

Look people - MY SISTER FINISHED HER FIRST KNITTED HAT!

This afternoon we went to go visit Zoe who is in town for her great-grandfather's funeral. Zoe was sleeping when we got there and still sleeping when we left. Apparently she hasn't been sleeping well at night, so they let her sleep. Oh well, - Sean still had a great time playing with an orange which he thought was a ball. (Silly boy!) And it was nice to visit with friends of the family. It's unfortunate that a funeral brought us together, but it was still good to see them.


I went to the Habs vs. Toronto game tonight. We won 3-1! GO HABS GO! There was a LOT of fighting going on tonight. It was definitely a GREAT game and a GREAT atmosphere tonight.

We even had a special guest at the game tonight, Al Gore! They welcomed him twice tonight on the big screen, and after that people kept going up to him to shake his hand. I'm sure he wasn't too happy that they spotted him. He was sitting in the section right below us.

Oh yeah..... we were sitting in the All-you-can-eat (food included in your ticket) section, and that's not good for a preggo! I got my slushie fix.... I've been dreaming of them all week!


Ignore my laundry pile behind me (never ends the laundry, I tell ya), but here is a picture of my new hat. My pink Habs jersey DOES NOT fit me right now, I won't be able to wear it during playoff season... Unfortunately Mackenzie is growing too big and my belly don't fit into it anymore. I knew it would come a time. I am able however to fit into some of my Habs long sleeve shirts that I own, so I still have Habs gear to wear! :)

There was a bit of knitting tonight at the game, but unfortunately I cannot show it. I was knitting for a swap I'm in - details to follow when the recipient gets the parcel (It needs to be mailed by April 14th (9 days from now) so figure in 3-4 weeks you'll get the details, as it's shipping to the USA.

Tonight we're baby-free :) Sean's sleeping at my parents house. I'm picking him up from my parents house on the way to a baby naming thing I'm going to tomorrow. Never been to one before, so it should be interesting.

april four :: 66 weeks

Sean is now 66 weeks old. He can brush his teeth on his own, well, actually prefers to do it on his own, but I double check his work once he's done. He's still got only his front 8 teeth (top 4, buttom 4) and has cut 1 molar, but it's not really sticking out yet. Though, when you go to feel it, it's sharp (and he bites!)

We had music this morning and I left EARLY to be there EARLY and just my luck.... there was a truck pulling some sort of U-turn at the exit of the highway at the entrance to the overpass to get to the other side of the highway, and that caused traffic exiting there to back up. It was a NASTY mess. So, of course, traffic was at a standstill for about 5 minutes, and then it had to clear up. Needless to say, I was a few minutes late. Grr!!

After music I met up with another mom, who does the Tuesday and Friday classes with me. We went to go walk around the mall. It was nice. She left before me, because her son was getting restless and needed a nap.

While there, I picked up this really neat Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Baby Swim Float. We already have this one which Sean used all last summer. It was 7.99$ and I thought it was super cute. I think Sean will get more of a kick out of this one, than the plain blue one we have. I can't wait for the snow to melt and to be able to use my parent's pool. My parents live 5 streets away, so I'll be taking advantage of the pool all summer, let me tell you! Even with the newborn! I hope to get Mack used to the water as young as possible. Sean was introduced to the pool at about 2-3 months old. It'll be perfect timing for Mack this summer! Maybe not at the beginning of the summer, but definitely by mid-to-end summer! (I'm hoping anyhow!) I picked up a few other things while out, 3 new books for Sean (he's modeling one of them in the next photo below) and some shoes for me (oops!) I also stopped into the sports store to visit my cousin, and I ended up getting 1 baseball cap that I'd been eyeing for a while, as well as another hat (both HABS!) and a Habs Flag for my car. I've been wanting one for a while now, and thanks to my cousin's family discount at the sports store, I now own one :)

Sean fell asleep on the way home from the mall. Which was fine by me. I had another errand I needed to run, but I put it off because I didn't want to risk waking him up. The errand could wait for later. As you can see, he's wearing his hood. Because we weren't expecting this when we left this house today (see next photo):

WHERE THE FUCK DID THIS SNOW COME FROM?? It's April people!!!!! APRIL! SPRING!

There was a LOT of snow out there today. It was nice though, the nice pretty huge white flakes! But still. It's April! Spring weather! Not snowing weather. And it's supposed to be 10+ degrees this week. So why on earth is it snowing??????????

This evening friends of ours came over. We ordered in dinner and they are almost done the entire series of Sopranos. They had 2 episodes left. Tomorrow night they're watching the finale with their uncle or something, and asked if we wanted to watch the 2nd to last episode with them. We've seen the entire series (when it was live on TV), so we didn't mind. I knitted (on the Judy's Grandma's baby sweater) and Sean ran around the den making a little bit more noise than we were hoping for. We had a good evening with friends.

Tomorrow we're going to visit the people sitting shiva so Sean can run around and play with their bored 19 month old, and then I'm dropping Sean off at my parents house as we've got tickets to see the Habs vs. Toronto game. Last Regular Season Game. Let me tell you, I'm STOKED for the playoffs!!! GO HABS GO! Hopefully we'll make it past round one! And I'm pretty sure I have dibs (yey!) on the first playoff game.

Don't forget that May's Sock Club Kits are now available for sale chez Robyn's Nest. You will be receiving a skein of sock yarn handpainted by Jennifer of NYS Farms, VanCalCar Acres Sheep Farm. You will be getting an exclusive colorway that you won't be able to get anywhere else. The pattern is from an outside source, by Adrienne of Knitting in the Belly-button of California. And of course, stitch markers to match made by me, and extra goodies - as always! :)

april three

Look where we are at!! Tied for first!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In the Conference. Though, we're FIRST (clinched!!) in the NorthEast DIVISION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO HABS GO! We beat Buffalo tonight 3-1. ONE game left on Saturday night, Habs vs. Toronto, and I'm going!!! And we have a child-free night too! Sean's sleeping at my parents house. I also get first dibs on Playoff tickets this year, as last time we made the playoffs my brother got to go. So providing it's not on a Tuesday night (my sister has classes on Tuesdays) then I'll be going to the first playoff game that we have tickets to (since we share season tickets with a family friend), with my sister. GO HABS GO. (And sorry mom, there will be knitting at the habs playoff game. Knitting got them to the playoffs, knitting will be at the playoffs!)

Sean's rain boots look so cute next to mine. I finally took the tags off of them, and put them out. He even has the matching yellow rain coat and yellow rain hat. Oh, I want one rain day! (With warmer weather of course, as his rain coat is not good in the cold winter weather!) He's going to look so super cute in his rain coat! I can just picture it.

I pulled out a new type of sippy cup for Sean today. We've had them a while, but I wasn't sure if he was ready for it yet. It's the one with the straw that goes all the way to the bottom. At first he looked at it, like "what is this mom?" but then tried it out. He still tries to hold it like a bottle, tilting it upwards. But that doesn't work, as nothing comes out, as the straw picks up from the bottom obviously. So we're working on getting him to use it like a cup and not a bottle.

Sean was hanging out with Jazz this afternoon. Jazz decided that he wanted to take over Sean's couch though, so Sean got the floor. He didn't seem to mind though.

I finally put up the magnetic board in Sean's room. I'd gotten it on sale at Walmart a while back, and finally took it out of the trunk of my car! I had also pulled out the magnetic alphabet (made by Rose Art), for Sean to play with. I have 2 boxes of the alphabet and 1 box of number (for math) but the numbers will remain sealed until we start teaching him numbers. We're working with alphabet first. (Above is not even one box of letters). (I think there are 50 letters per box, so almost the alphabet twice). (I guess some letters are just not as popular as others?!)

So Sean's big boy room is coming along and we should have the crib we're borrowing soon. (Which will go in the corner of the room where the play house is/hamper).

So I finally moved my planted seeds over to larger pot thingies. (Not sure what they're called?) They're the type of pots that you can plant with the pot right into the ground. (I like that idea!) Anyhow, above are my Sweetie Tomatoes (tiny tomatoes, like cherry tomatoes). Now, let me show you what else is going on with my planting, and then I have a few questions for anyone with gardening experience.To the left in the picture above, is my San Marzano Tomatoes (Italian) and to the right, Bush Beefsteak Tomatoes. (Before I transferred them).

Above is to the left my Early Calwonder Peppers, and to the right my Mini Bell Peppers. The Calwonders takes 8-10 weeks before frost is gone, but I think I planted them 2 weeks late (we'll see what happens), and the other peppers (along with my tomatoes) are 6-8 weeks before last frost.

I also transferred my Mini Bell Peppers to the larger pot things. Now, for my questions:

- I had 6 starters for each type of seed I planted. Was this too much? (As you can see above, 6 each).

- In each "starter" jiffy greenhouse thing, pellet I think it was called? I planted 3 seeds, as the instructions for the greenhouse recommended. Was this too much for 1 little pellet of earth? Cuz now, 3 are sprouting in most cases.

- I've got them in these little pots. They fit in the palm of my hand. I was told they can be transplanted into the ground in these, that I don't have to take them out. I plan on adding some earth to each little pot in the next few days. Now, will they last 6 more weeks (until about Victoria Day weekend, which is known as "planting" weekend here in Canada (if I'm not mistaken), (third weekend in May, it's a long weekend), in these little pots, or will they grow a LOT larger that I'll have to transplant them into something else??

Can you tell I'm new to gardening? Right now, that's all my questions. If I think of any more, I'll be sure to ask. I plan on planting my 4-5 week seeds in about 2 weeks from now, when it's just about a month or a month and a bit before our long weekend in May, when gardens are generally started! I'm hoping the snow melts soon enough, so that we can a) map out where the garden is going to go, and also, figure out where the boundaries of the fence we're putting up, will go. We're fencing in the backyard. (Today, I got a heart attack, I was sitting in the den watching TV, talking on the phone to Jamie's cousin, and a man walked through my backyard. Turns out he was with Hydro Quebec - but still!!!

Gum. Someone else's nasty chewed gum. On. my. fave. pair. of. pants. I AM SO MAD. This happened on Sunday night when we went out for dinner. Not really sure how it ended up in TWO spots on my pants (and on the bottom of my shoes). It's fucking nasty. I googled it, and was told to put the pants in the freezer to harden the gum so it'll come off easy. Yeah, my pants spent Sunday night until today (THURSDAY!) in the freezer. Just to be safe. LOL. Yeah, the gum won't come off. What do I do? I am NOT throwing out these pants. They're my fave. (And very dirty right now from wearing them). LOL. They're sooooo comfy. They are not even maternity pants, and I'm able to wear them throughout my entire pregnancy. That's how awesome they are. Just the best. And I only have ONE pair. Anyone have any suggestions? I don't want to put them alone in my machine machine, in case the gum gets stuck, we're finally about the sell (this month) the washer & dryer that came with this house, and put in our own (which have been sitting in our garage since we moved in), and I don't want to ruin the machines. I just want to get the gum out of my pants.

Tonight we went to a shiva house for Jamie's dad's best friend's father. A man that I actually met. Jamie's dad's best friend and is also really good friends with her sister I've met millions of times over the last 6 years almost. (In 2 months, Jamie and I have been together 6 years! Maybe Mack will be born on our 6 year anniversary?!) Anyhow, they live in British Columbia now, so the shiva was held at a hotel nearby. We'll be going on Saturday afternoon so that Sean can play with Zoe, who is almost 19 months old. Sean got to play with her this evening, and they had a blast! Sean's the same height as her! He's sooo tall! They were so cute hugging each other and chasing each other! Maybe Sean likes older women - LOL. They're actually living in the USA now, in Florida. (It's Zoe's great-grandfather who passed away, Jamie's dad's best friend's daughter). But since Zoe has been bored cooped up in a hotel, we've been invited for lunch on Saturday so that Zoe has some fun. That was really nice of them! But it'll give us the opportunity to hang out with them longer. Mandi, Zoe's mom is due the week before me! June 30th is her due date! She doesn't know the sex, and doesn't want to find out. That's kind of exciting! (I would NOT be able to do that).

Sean said his first TWO SYLLABLE word tonight! HOCKEY! Jamie and I both heard it - and we just about died!!! It was sooooooooo cute. We taught him well. Now I've got to work on GO HABS GO!!

May's Sock Club Kits are now available for sale chez Robyn's Nest. You will be receiving a skein of sock yarn handpainted by Jennifer of NYS Farms, VanCalCar Acres Sheep Farm. You will be getting an exclusive colorway that you won't be able to get anywhere else. The pattern is from an outside source, by Adrienne of Knitting in the Belly-button of California. And of course, stitch markers to match made by me, and extra goodies - as always! :)

I got some new products in stock today, which I am very excited about. I will be listing them over the weekend, so come and check back for details!

april two

The belly is getting so large it takes over my view of my feet. They are slowly disappearing! Soon, I won't be able to see my feet, period.

This morning we started Sean's music class again. This time, he's one of the younger kids, and not the only walking kid, and is being bullied by the older kids! He deserves a taste of what he was doing to the younger kids! (Nothing harmful, don't worry!) For a lot of the mom's joining us in this class, they're on their 3rd kid..... and have 9 or 12 year olds at home as well. They're a lot older than me, and it's hard to connect with them. It's a good thing I still have other moms that I know from last session, but the class is really for Sean, not me! (Even though, I admit, I love the social aspect of these classes, as I get to talk to other moms, etc).

After class, we came home and I did a few things that needed to get done before dropping off Sean at my parents house, and heading into the city.

Sean at my parents house this afternoon/evening (picture courtesy of my sister). GO HABS GO! (This is my fave 18 month outfit, can you tell?)

When I got to my first destination, coffee/knitting with Caroline, Angela (and my grandmother & her sister joined us for a bit too! My grandmother even pulled out her knitting!!!) I realized that I'd walked out of the house this morning with no purse... I had my knitting bag, and all the items that I had to bring for people this evening with me, but no purse, no wallet, nada.... It's a damn good thing that I did not need gas, or anything like that. Can you say "PREGNANCY BRAIN???"

I really felt lost today, or "off" without my wallet. (What a good way to NOT spend money though! Well, that statement, I lie. While out with Angela I did buy myself this really nice watch. (With money that I had in my pocket from cash someone owed me). It's really nice. I love the circles (symmetry) of it.


After coffee/knitting, I headed over to a Montreal Handpainter's house, and picked up the sample for June's Sock Club Kit. WOW! Then I ran over to Jenn's work to give her said skein, as she's designing the sock for June's kit! You'll all have to support her that month, and her idea is amazing, I can't wait to see what it looks like finished! (Those kits will be on Sale beginning the first week of May). I will be loading up the May kits into the shop this week, we have a few kits left for April, (4 kits left I believe - so I'm giving it 'til the weekend for those)!

This evening I went to the NDG Knit Night, and we over took the back of the cafe shop. Local knitter/designer Veronik Avery was there to "destash" and I scored some fun stuff for myself, as well as some yarns for Jenn, who asked me to see if there was anything I could get for her. I hope she likes what I picked out. From whatever was leftover, Veronik gave it to me, so that I can add it to my donations, which I'll be bringing it next week to the Y near us, where Sean takes his classes. They're always looking for donations of art supplies, so I am sure they will really appreciate the donation.

Tonight, we were 18 of us - and amongst the 18 of us, pictured above is: (left to right): Angela, Melanie, Caroline, (someone hidden!), Janet, not sure her name, Madeleine, Veronik & Jennie. I rarely take pictures at knit night, so here's one for you!

Progress has been made on the baby sweater, but I'll post pics of that when there is actually seen progress!

april one

This morning we had our class at the Y. Sean always tries to go straight for the painting. I usually try to get his shirt off first (to which his teacher would yell at me for - she doesn't believe in interrupting their thought process). I swear, he's my little picasso!

In my aqua-stroller class this late morning, someone actually signed up and another girl and her daughter moved from Wednesday's class to today. So, we will actually be running the class - Woohoo!!! I'm happy! It was a good work out today, even if Sean tried to climb out of the boat he was supposed to be in, and gave me a heart attack. Hopefully he won't do that again, or I'll have to stop attending that class.

This afternoon I ran some errands and picked up a few things that I needed. Yes, my friends, I spend a few dollars today. I was out and saw these really cute dishes (like fancy serving tray dishes) for Passover. You see, I never go to someone's house empty handed. And this year, we're going to the first night of Passover to Jamie's cousin's house on his dad's side, and then the 2nd night of Passover is at my mom's. (Very excited that there will be THREE knitters at Pesach this year, and so knitting will have to be allowed! There will be myself, Jenn & my sister). So I picked up a dish for each of the houses we'll be going to - and as well some Kosher for Passover candies. (I've got first dibs on the RED ones when the box is open... I'm craving them, and didn't buy myself a box). (Wasn't going to buy a box for just the red ones).

Robyn's Nest now has in stock Stitch Savers. They are awesome! As seen on Knitty.com's Cool Stuff page. You can now get them through Robyn's Nest.

Also, the rest of the Shibui Sock yarn is now listed. We have 11 beautiful colorways!

If anyone is interested in a free e-book, Melanie Lynne Hauser is offering her new book Jumble Pie for free. You can find the details here. I've started (and then got side-tracked) her novel Confessions of a Super-Mom. Must remember to pull it out and finish it. And when Jumble Pie is eventually published, they will let everyone on the list know about a special signed book plate! How cool is that?

Courtesy of my sister, I'm shocked that these 2 next products even exist. I got a good chuckle, maybe you will too. First up, we've got the USB Pregnancy Test. Second, Super Pii Pii Brothers for the Wii... Yeah.... interesting to say the least!

Though I'm glad my slow month is over.... I'm still going to be managing my shopping. This is important for discipline (I love to shop!) and also, with another baby on the way - maybe a little important. I just am used to getting whatever I want, when I want it - so it's going to be tough! :)

I wanted to come up with a grand April Fool's joke, but unfortunately I couldn't come up with something as good Drea's joke! Oh well, next year!