Category Archives: Family


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2010-11-16

So yesterday was a bust on the knitting front.  I knit one small 2″ circle (for what?  You’ll see!) after making breakfast, getting the laundry in, putting away Jakob’s clothes and whatever else I did.  Then Yannick got home, we had some lunch and headed outside to keep turning our front lawn into a giant litter box.  Ok- I kid, we’ve actually been spreading the giant pile of gravel into the hole Yannick and his dad dug to extend our driveway widthwise.  And moving the extra gravel by wheel barrow to our front walkway.  But in the end it kinda feels like we’ve got a giant litter box outside.  (And the illusion was helped by the friendly neighborhood animal who left us a gift in the center of the gravel).

There I was, standing bent over the gravel pit, using my hands to scoop out a trench to lay a drainage pipe, when my umbilical hernia popped out again.  (Did I mention that I now have an umbilical hernia?  It popped out the first time the day before leaving for Rhinebeck).  After that I wasn’t much good to help, so I raked up the last bit of the leaves then went inside to shower.

I got one more 2″ circle knit while Yannick went to pick up the boys from daycare, then it was the usual supper routine, followed by playtime and the struggle we’ve been having lately to get Henri to bed.  He’s got his 2 year molars coming in, plus he’s on a medication that could be making him hurt, and it has been making him very fussy and clingy at bedtime.  By the time he was in bed and Yannick was reading a story with Jakob, it was my time to get OUR supper ready.  We don’t eat dinner with the kids ‘cus Yannick isn’t home on time.  Anyways, by the time the veggies were ready, the meat barbecued, and the food eaten, it was 9:30.  I had NO desire to do anything at that point, I was just zonked.  We watched the Big Bang Theory/$#!% My Dad Says from last week and then I just crashed.  It felt really luxurious to get into bed at 10, with new sheets and a fully charged, game-loaded iphone- though it would have been more fun had I not fallen asleep 10 minutes later.

—

The boys got their daycare proofs last week and we’re giving in our orders tonight.  Jakob’s photos last year were really hot and cold- it was very easy to pick which of the two photos we would take.  This year’s choice wasn’t as obvious, but I think we picked the right one.

(Ignore the backgrounds, each image is shown in front of 9 different backdrops and we get to pick the one we want.  We’re going with a sports themed one this time).

First there is Jakob alone:

The close up isn’t bad, but we’re going with the Mr. GQ, I’m-all-cool-with-my-hands-in-my-pockets look on the right.

Henri alone:

Henri was having a rough morning!  He was fussy, and didn’t want me to leave so he was crying when they went to do the photos.  We’re going with the pose on the right as well, though with the sports background.  Henri’s hair does this crazy stand-up thing when we take off his hat, and his teacher must have tried to flatten it ‘cus the front doesn’t usually make such a Musnters-esque widow’s peak.

Finally, whenever they have siblings in the daycare together, they do a group photo:

We’re not taking either of these!  Maybe if Henri was smiling, or at least not looking quite so upset.  As it is I have better photos of the two of them together.  (Plus Jakob’s protective embrace reminds me of those old-fashioned couples portraits, with the standing, stern husband and the seated, unsmiling wife).

I still can’t show you knitting progress, but I hope to at least accomplish some tonight.

Oh, and since some of you have asked, I’ll explain about Jakob and the oxygen monitor.  Jakob snores.  A LOT.  When we hear him through the monitor we call him Lord Vader, that’s how loud/bad.  When I first mentioned it to his pediatrician a while ago, he sent us for xrays.  They showed that his adenoids were “moderately large”.  We tried a round of Flonase to shrink his adenoids, but he started snoring again as soon as we stopped it.  We tried another month-long round with the same results.  Finally we were referred to an ENT a few weeks ago.

The ENT started the appointment by asking if we’d done an oxygen saturation test.  We hadn’t.  The visit ended there, with a referral for us to go rent the equipment.  (Out of pocket- ouch!)  So basically the test was similar to the finger monitor they put on you to check the oxygen levels in your blood/body, but we put it on his toe.  I waited until he fell asleep then attached it to his toe, taped it in place and put a sock on him.  Then, to make sure it didn’t get kicked off or detached in the night, when I was ready for bed I slept in his room with him.

The next day I brought the machine back to the sleep clinic and it generated a report showing his oxygen levels and heart beats during the night, as well as showing markers every time his O2 levels dropped more than 3% for more than 5 seconds.  Next Wednesday we’ll meet again with the ENT to go over the results.  If the results are within the normal realms, then we’ll ignore the snoring for now and wait it out.  If they show that his O2 levels are dropping out of the norm, then most probably he will have to have his adenoids/tonsils removed.

I’m really not worried about him having the surgery, should it get to that point.  A) I just had it done- well, the tonsils anyways, and though it sucked worse than anything I can remember, I know the recovery is much worse in adults than kids.  B) my nephew had done the surgery at the same age as Jakob, and is now 13.  I asked him what he remembered and all he remembered was eating a lot of ice cream.  Either way, we’ll see what the doctor says next week.


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almost everything else missing

I’ve changed my mind, and am not going to post backdated photos of the boys doing cute things or playing together.  I’d wanted to catch up each month as it comes, but the more I delay the more recent events become part of the backlogged past, and I will never catch up.  Here are the last of Henri’s weekly photos and monthly chair photos, which will free me up to start posting “live” again. 

 

Here’s Henri’s 9 month chair photo.  I think I’m missing 7 and 8 months, but it doesn’t matter at this point!

Mommy with Henri at 38 weeks.

…39 weeks…

…40 weeks…

…41 weeks…

…42 weeks…

Here’s his 10 month chair photo…

…43 weeks…

…44 weeks…

…45 weeks…

…46 weeks…

…11 month chair photo…

…47 weeks…

…48 weeks…

…49 weeks (on his own ‘cus I’d forgotten to take one with me)…

Henri at 50 weeks

Henri at 51 weeks (forgot to take a photo with me again)

 And instead of a 52 week photo (‘cus I forgot that too…man second-kid-syndrome is accurate!) here’s his 1 year chair photo, from January.

Henri is an awesome, funny, happy kid.  He’s a mule who will bulldoze his way through anything, over your legs and even through walls somehow.  He is the epitome of persistant, and I truly don’t think there’s anything he can’t do if he wants to do it badly enough.  He’s always in such a good mood that when covered up, no one would ever guess how severe his skin problems are.  He probably thinks it’s normal, and behaves as such.  He’s a trouper, and beautiful, and loving, and so much his own person that it drives me crazy when I expect him to act like Jakob.  But he’s not Jakob.  He’s our wonderful Henri, and we are so happy to have him in our lives.

 There, you’re caught up!  Now all I have to do is catch up on uploading my knitting projects but hey- it’s a start!


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august to september 2009

Mommy with Henri at 31 weeks old.

I can’t get over this photo of Jakob.  Just Mr. Joe Cool, hanging out with his Mr. Potato Head cowboy hat.  I think this is a preview of what he’ll look like at 17.

Here’s Henri modeling the new chair I got for my office.

Mommy with Henri at 32 weeks…

…and 33 weeks old.  Ignore my sweaty skin and red cheeks, I think I’d just gotten back from the gym.

At the end of August I decided to give Jakob a rare treat and keep him up past his bedtime in order to bring him to the Shriner’s Circus.  He was as good as gold, stayed awake the whole time (even though I’d brought him in his pjs in case he fell asleep) and got to try his first popcorn and cotton candy (my first night as a pushover).  I think the highlight of his night was waiting for the show to start, because I took him on an elephant ride.  I didn’t think he’d cared much for it since he was really quiet and taking it all in, but when the elephants came back out to allow for more rides during intermission OH MY GOD- he THREW his sippy cup to the ground, JUMPED up and yelled “I RIDE THE ELEPHANT MOMMY!  MORE RIDE ELEPHANT!” 

Mommy with Henri at 34 weeks old.

I couldn’t resist snapping this photo.  Nothing was staged, I just happened to come across Sam sitting there, and the composition was just too perfect to pass up.

This was a peaceful Jakob one morning with his Cheerios and his Barney.  But later that night I went to check on him before I went to bed and found this:

The next morning I asked him why Barney had socks in his mouth.  The answer (translated from 2.5-year-old speech): so he’d be quiet so I could go to sleep.

Mommy with Henri at 35 weeks old (and Jakob too).

I was wrong.  THIS is what Jakob will look like at 17!  (Uh…minus the dolphin…I’d assume).

Mommy with Henri at 36 weeks old.  In this photo you can see some of the Strep A bacterial superinfection that had spread across his feet, hands and face.  This was taken about 3 days before we figured out what was wrong with him, so this doesn’t show it as bad as it actually got.

and finally, Mommy with Henri at 37 weeks old.

This covers the backdated stuff (except the monthly chair photos) until the end of September 2009.  I’m slowly working my way through the photos, both for knitting stuff and family photos, so I will keep at it until everything is caught up to date.


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i am an idiot and don’t do what i did

How many mistakes can one knitter make in one project?  Let’s outline below.*

Remember Kayla’s Lace Cardigan?  This is the project that my friend Julie picked as a birth gift for her daughter.  Who will be turning 2 later this year.  Anyhoo…

I’d started the cardi last year after translating it from Norwegian.  Yeah.  I got about 4″ into it when I found an error in the stitch counts that I couldn’t work out.  I emailed the publisher and had to put it aside to work on something else.  At some point I slipped it onto smaller needles so I could work other projects, and it languished in my knitting bin.

This year, once some health issues and timing and sleep and such were worked out, I knew that I needed to regain my focus and get back to work.  It’s not fair that Kayla is almost 2.  (Although lucky that I was always going to knit the size 2 size).

I’ve been working on it steadily for the last 3 weeks.  The pattern is written by dimensions, not rows, as in “when the work reaches 10 cm work a decrease”, or “when work reaches 25 cm BO 2 sts at markers” and so on.  I’d already worked out that my gauge gave me X rows per 2cm, so I had gone through my working copy and written down the row I should be at for each of the length notations.

Tuesday night I’d knew I’d have the whole body finished by the end of the night.  The body is worked in one piece up to the armpits, then the right front, left front and back are worked separately.  Early on in the evening I’d finished the right front, my first of the fronts.  I eagerly laid it flat on my couch to measure to ensure I’d reached the required 44 cm.

It was 38 cm long.  I couldn’t believe it.  I measured from the bottom up to the first button hole which should have been 20 cm – it was.  I remeasured the length – still 38 cm.  What?  Ok, I thought, it was my fault for measuring on a couch.  I went and got a foam tile and my pins, laid it out and remeasured.  Even with SEVERE blocking, there was no way it would reach 44 cm.  I realized maybe I’d counted my gauge on the couch last year.  Stupid me for not pinning it out!  That will teach me.  I patiently wrote out my current (supposed) gauge, then remeasured a section down towards the cast on and wrote down the number of rows per 10 cm that I got.

They were exactly the same.  WTF???  How could I have the same gauge but not have it work out?  I remeasured a 3rd time – spot on.  Ok, enough of this.  I’d had enough trying to figure out where I’d screwed up.

I would have to rip.  I couldn’t figure out what I did wrong, but I assumed I must have fudged a row count somewhere.

The easiest spot to rip back to and know what row I was on was the armpit row, since it had the easy-to-find bind offs.  (Remember, it’s an allover lace pattern).  I yanked out the needle, ripped back to the armpits (over 60 rows) and painstakingly reinserted the needle into 197 tiny lace sts, decs and YOs.  I worked one row to reorient my stitches properly on the needle and pick up any accidentally dropped stitches, and had enough.  My eyes were going squinty, my head hurt, and it was late.  I went to bed.

Wednesday I kept picking it up to work on, but suddenly something new was bothering me.  The bottom of the cardigan, from the cast on upwards, is worked in an allover eyelet lace pattern.  Then after about 4″ of work, you insert markers where the armpits will eventually be, and a few times over another 8″ you decrease at the markers “keeping pattern going across”.  Well apparently I’d interpreted that rather loosely.  On rows where the pattern fit into the remaining number of sts on either side of the markers, I’d worked lace.  On rows where they didn’t quite fit, I’d worked stockinette stitch.  For some reason it never occurred to me to work the lace across the markers.  Anyhow, looking down at my work I now had these unsightly panels under each armpit, with a mix of half-formed lace and stocking stitch.  Not pretty, and not what I wanted for Kayla when she finally got her sweater.

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It was staring me in the face- I had to rip back.  I called Maaike and told her of my plans to rip.  She convinced me to wait until I saw her later that night and not to rip in the heat of the moment.  I managed to wait, but she agreed with me- it just didn’t look good.

Yesterday I brought the knitting down to my ball winder.  I knew I’d be ripping back the better part of a ball and a half of sock yarn, and wanted it properly wound, not just wrapped around the ball band.  I ripped, and ripped, originally intending on stopping just before the first set of bind offs.  That way I could at least salvage my original 4″ of work.

In the end I just ripped the whole thing out.  I figured that I must have made some mistake somewhere to wind up with such a difference in total height, so I would be better off just starting over from scratch at this point.

This afternoon I put Henri down for his nap and made a glass of tea and settled down with recordings of So You Think You Can Dance (both US and Canada) and my knitting.  I cleared my mind and glanced at the pattern to see how many hundreds of stitches I needed to re-cast on.

My translated notes read: CO 197 sts w/3mm needle

I grabbed the needle I’d been working with (an Aero) and started to cast on.  Then I thought “hmm…I don’t remember owning a 3 mm Aero needle”.  I pulled out the needle slip bags from my larger knitting bag.  There were 3 in there from way back when I’d been in the swatching stages.  There was an empty 2.75mm Aero bag, an empty 3mm Addi Turbo bag, and a full 3.25mm Addi Turbo bag.

Oh crap.

Anyone want to guess what screwed up my knitting?  Did you pick it up already?  I mentioned it way up there…

I’d started the cardi last year after translating it from Norwegian.  Yeah.  I got about 4″ into it when I found an error in the stitch counts that I couldn’t work out.  I emailed the publisher and had to put it aside to work on something else.  At some point I slipped it onto smaller needles so I could work other projects, and it languished in my knitting bin.

I can’t believe it.  I never put it back on the proper needles.  My gauge, that I’d remeasured in the bottom 5″, was from my original knitting.  So it was spot-on.  Everything after that, everything I’d knit in the last 3 weeks had all been done on the 2.75mm Aero that I’d used as a stitch holder so I could use my 3mm for other projects.  Had I left myself a note, had I even looked at my needle properly, I would have switched and by now had been done the entire body and be at least halfway through the sleeves.  Had I even looked before ripping I could have ripped back to that 4″ point to at least save that much reknitting.

Sigh.  I didn’t look.  I didn’t notice.  And now I’ve got an entire project to start over. At least I can restart my “start date” in Ravelry.

….grumble grumble….

 

*Yes, I’m ignoring the loooong delay in posts, and all the missing posts on the boys and knitting in the last 2? months.  They’ll come when they come- if I didn’t get this post up I would just not bother.  To make up for it, here’s a mosiac of my boys, both at 8 months.  Can you tell who is who?

8-month-twins-bw


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18, 19, birthday too! plus – pirate fondant cupcake & cake tutorial

2009-05-15 18 wks 01a

Mommy with Henri at 18 weeks old.

Week 18  brought Jakob’s birthday and a fun little party at his school, then a fun little party at my parents’ house since they would be out of town on the day of, then a fun little party (with a trip to the pet store to look at the animals) on his actual birthday.  I miss such celebrations for MY birthday!  Thanks to Daycare Disease we were all sick around here, and those of you with husbands know there’s nothing more pitiful than a hubby who is sick.  When Mommy is sick the world doesn’t stop turning, and every little sniffle isn’t cause to down a bottle of Advil Cold & Sinus…I’m just sayin’.  Anyhoo…the colds eased up and just in time, ‘cus week 19 was crazyness around here!

I was busy knitting non-stop for the 2 weeks, but couldn’t show any photos ‘cus my swatches were for submissions to the Winter Twist Collective.  I don’t know if I’ll get accepted, but keep your fingers crossed for me!

Once the submissions were in I got down to work on the plans for Jakob’s party this past weekend.  We were doing a party for his friends (ok, our friends and family with kids the same age) at a local play area, followed by lunch and dessert here at our place for our close family.  That way those without young kids didn’t have to hang around at the kids’ playground, bored.

I whipped up a batch of cupcakes and debated how to decorate them.  We’d sent out pirate invitations for Jakob’s party, and my mom had found similarly-themed table cloths, napkins, plates, etc.  I knew I wanted to do pirate cupcakes and for a long time the plan was to ice the cupcakes then put some white icing in a bag and pipe a skull & crossbones onto each one.  Thank god I talked to my friend Jessa who quickly extolled to me the joys and wonders of working with fondant.  I am now a convert!

I picked up some supplies at our local bulk/baking store: 1 box of Wilton’s pure white rolled fondant, 1 box of Wilton’s bright colored rolled fondant (contains a pack each of red, yellow, blue and green), some black gel icing tubes, and a tube of sparkly-yellow gel icing.  I took it easy for my first time and stuck with simple techniques.

piratecupcakeshowto

What do you think?

Pirate Fondant Cupcakes

  • First I baked the cupcakes and let them cool, then did a crumb coat of thin icing
  • I iced them properly with chocolate frosting (store bought)
  • I rolled out some white fondant and cut the circles with a cookie cutter.  I placed a white “face” onto each cupcake and smoothed it in place
  • next I cut green circles with the same cookie cutter, and cut them in half.  Using a Q-Tip and a glass of water, I put a bit of water on the back of the green semi-circle and stuck it in place for the bandana.  I used the green scraps to make little twists for the bandana ties, held in place with another little dab of water.
  • the face was drawn freehand with the black gel icing, followed by a quick dot of the sparkle yellow for an earring.piratecupcakesfo04

I made 42 of them, and they seemed to be a big hit at the party.

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Jakob really enjoyed chowing down on his first of many desserts that day!  He blew out his candle by himself and polished off the entire cupcake before getting into the other desserts and fruit.

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Henri couldn’t have any dessert so he spent the time hanging out with his uncle Mike.  I love this outfit on him- doesn’t he look like he just got back from a round of golf?  I swear, he does NOT look like a 4-month-old!

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Not our best shot, but here’s one of our little gang.

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Mommy with Henri at 19 weeks old.

I’m a few days late for that photo, but we’ll pretend it was taken on Thursday, m’kay?

After the playground we came back to the house to prepare for the onslaught of family (and I mean that in a good way!).  There was much (more) food and laughter and meowing from Sam who was locked in the basement.  When it was time for dessert (again!) I brought out Jakob’s cake.

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I’m so proud of this one!  My first official fondant cake, and I LOVE how it came out!  It was so much fun and so easy to do!  Here’s what I did:

piratecakehowto

Pirate Fondant Cake

  • I baked the cake and let it cool, then did a thin crumbcoat.  I actually left it in the fridge overnight at this point because I did the cupcakes that night (Friday night).  I only decorated the cake on Saturday night (his party was Sunday morning).  Before putting it in the fridge I lifted the edge of the cake (I had baked it in a springform pan, so the bottom pan was still under the cake) and put a big dab of icing.  When I put the cake back down and pressed lightly the icing acted as a glue to hold the cake in the center of the yellow platter.  Once it had been cooled in the fridge over night the cake was going nowhere!
  • I re-iced the cake giving it a generous coat and making it as smooth as possible.  I even used a piece of carton at one point as a smoother.
  • While the icing set (firmed up a bit) I rolled out a big chunk of the white fondant.  My cake was about 9″ in diameter plus 2″ high, so since 9+2+2=13, I rolled out a circle-ish shape about 15″ in each direction.  I centered it on the cake and went around slowly, smoothing it into place and easing it gently around the edges.

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  • Next, with a sharp knife, I cut away the excess.  Everything I read online said to use a serrated knife, but I used a regular flat one (like a sharp butterknife) and had no problems.

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  • To make the bandana, I did the same think as for the white face, only at just under half the height.  I cut a straight edge with the knife then placed it on the cake, dabbing a few edges with the wet Q-Tip to “glue” it in place.  Once I had it smoothed nicely I cut away the excess.
  • Once I knew where the face would go I used a small ball of white fondant to make the nose by squishing it with my fingers into a triangular shape.  I glued it in place with some water.  I used 2 balls to make the ears and glued them with the water, but since they were raised from the surface of the platter I stuck a small ball of fondant under each ear to support it.
  • I didn’t have any black fondant and didn’t want to use my gel icing to draw a face on.  I ended up making some black fondant by squirting a big dollop of store-bought black icing from a tube into a little ball of white fondant.  I kneaded it a lot to mix it all together.  Ugh- it was the right color, but incredibly gloppy and slimy.  When you work with fondant you use icing sugar instead of flour to flour your surface and rolling pin, so I kept mixing some icing sugar into my black fondant mess until it was a workable texture.  Luckily the icing sugar didn’t cause the black to get pale.
  • I used a cookie cutter for the eyepatch, squashing the top of the circle somewhat to make it flat.  I put it in place first, gluing with water.  Then I rolled out a long, skinny snake and glued that into place for the band.

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  • I used the same cookie cutter as for the cupcake faces to cut circles from my leftover green and glued them down with water to decorate the bandana.  The small circles were cut out with a drinking straw.

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  • I rolled out a thick rope of the red fondant and made an actual knot with it, then glued it to the side of the bandana, over the ear.  I stuck on a few random bits of green so it would look like an actual fabric.
  • I rolled a thick snake of the yellow fondant and glued it in place around the other ear for an earring.  Once it had set I took some of the sparkle gel icing and smoothed it over the earring to add a sparkly, shiny sheen.  It took a long time to dry and always remained tacky, so I wouldn’t do that on an area that needed more work.

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  • Small bits of the black and white were used for the face.

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  • I thought I was done, but last-minute I decided to add a skull & crossbones to the eyepatch.  I made 2 small white snakes and used the knife to make a cut in the end of each.  I pushed the cut open and pinched the middle of each “bone” so they could overlap eachother without having a lot of bulk in the center.
  • The skull is just a small ball of white formed with my fingers.  I indented the eye sockets with the dry end of the Q-Tip I was using to “glue”.

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  • Finally I decorated 4 cupcakes to go around the cake.  I didn’t want to stick a candle in the pirate’s face so I made the cupcakes to say “Happy”, “birthday” and “Jakob”, and added a “nd” next to the “2” candle I stuck in the 3rd cupcake.  So all together they said “Happy 2nd birthday Jakob”.

And that’s it!  It took me about 2-3 hours from the second coat of icing on the cake to “gluing” the 4 cupcakes onto the platter with dabs of leftover frosting.  It was totally easy and a very rewarding experience.  Plus a little fondant goes a LONG way, and I have a bunch left over so  I am already planning to make more cakes!

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I couldn’t believe Jakob polished off another cupcake, and some fruit, plus a cookie, all after having lunch when we got home after the first party where he’d ALREADY eaten an early lunch and had dessert.  No wonder the kid never napped that day!  He was wound up on a sugar high and exhausted, but we were so proud of both he and Henri.  They were both so well behaved at both parties!  Even though there were over 40 adults and 25 kids running around, neither one freaked out or had a meltdown.  Jakob was polite and didn’t grab at the food or the toys, and even when sleepy later he just lay on the couch next to us commenting excitedly about his new stuff as we opened his gifts with him.  They truly are great kids (ok, I’m biased) and they made us really proud.

2009-05-24 01a

Jakob’s other birthday cakes


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four months

By four months, your baby…

…should be able to:

– on stomach, lift head up 90 degrees – not really

– laugh out loud – CHECK

– follow an object in an arc about 6 inches above the face for 190 degrees (from one side to the other) – CHECK

2009-05-08 4 months 01a

…will probably be able to:

– hold head steady when upright – CHECK

– on stomach, raise chest, supported by arms – nope

– grasp a rattle held to backs or tips of fingers – CHECK

– pay attention to an object as small as a raisin – I think so

– reach for an object – CHECK

– squeal in delight – CHECK

2009-05-08 4 months 03a

…may possibly be able to:

– keep head level with body when pulled to sitting – CHECK

– roll over (one way) – CHECK

– turn in the direction of a voice, particularily mommy’s – CHECK

– say “ahh-goo” or similar vowel-consonant combinations – CHECK

– razz (make a wet razzing sound) – not really, but I think he tried to the other day

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…may even be able to:

– bear some weight on legs when held upright – CHECK – this is his FAVORITE thing to do!

– sit without support – nope

– object if you try to take a toy away – nope

– turn in the direction of a voice – CHECK

2009-05-08 4 months 02a

 

What can I say about Henri at four months old?  He’s my little big boy.  I have to remind myself to stop comparing him to Jakob, because he’s his own person.  I also have to remind myself he really is only 4 months old, and cannot therefore do what a, say, 7 month old would…even though he’s the size that Jakob was at 7.5 months old.  He’s still a baby and I need to enjoy every second of it, not sit around waiting for him to “catch up” to where Jakob is.

Henri at four months old is a delight.  No, he’s not napping much better, and no, his nights are broken up by multiple wakings to feed, but he’s not a “bad” baby.  He’s so much fun to be around, as he has the best personality ever.  If you’re in the same room as him then he wants to engage your company, and if you dare to smile at him- watch out!  You’ll be instantly assaulted with a barrage of drooly, gummy smiles.  I swear this kid smiles so big his lips disappear!  He will flirt with anyone and everyone.   

He’s not a fussy baby and really only cries when he’s hungry or hurt.  He isn’t demanding either, and is able to and enjoys spending time playing alone in his crib or on a floor mat (supervised, of course!).  He doesn’t have a constant need to be held or to have someone’s attention, but he will charm the hell out of you if you pick him up and give him a cuddle.  He’s very ticklish, and his squeals of laughter when you tickle him are a riot!


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what happened today

No photos because I forgot the camera somewhere upstairs and I’m spending a few moments hiding out here in the cool, dark basement.  Can someone send me some tea?

The Log Cabin blanket was seamed and in the end I decided not to line it or put a crochet border.  I hope Robyn and Amy agreed with my decision!  I realized that it might look silly having an outline around the blanket when we’d chosen such a striking geometric pattern.  Also, any border or lining would restrict the blanket from stretching, whereas the nature of the garter stitch IS to stretch.  The blanket, unstretched but patted lightly into place on my bed, measures 50″ across and up/down.  But because of the weight and stitch, when I hold it up to my nose, it sags almost to the floor.  The stretchiness allows it to snug up all around you, easily covering one person vegging on a couch, and probably most of 2 people.  All in all, perfect for a throw, I think.  I’ll upload photos tomorrow, hopefully.

We had the bridal shower yesterday and we gave Caryn the blanket, and I think she really liked it.  It’s hard to tell when giving people unexpected handmade items, but I hope that she will enjoy cuddling up under it with her fiancé (and later, her husband).  I sent Jakob to work with Yannick for the day and had Henri with me at the shower.  He was the lone guy there, but I was breastfeeding so I couldn’t leave him home.  (The little snob refuses bottles.  I forgot to keep giving him one a day once the bfeeding got easier, and am paying for it now.  I’m hoping if I make an effort to give him one a day that he’ll eventually take them again.  I don’t even care if it is formula or bmilk in the bottle, as long as he drinks from it).  We had a really good time, and Henri was super well-behaved and I was really proud of him.  He was all smiles and only cried once when he was hungry.  He even took 2 naps in my arms, in the middle of the crowded room during games and gift opening.  (He even stayed asleep when I almost dropped a crystal candy jar on his head and instead spilled the strawberry-flavored Malt candies that people were trying to count all over the floor).  Did that last phrase make sense?  I’m too tired to go back and add commas.

So what happened today?  Well, as usual on Sundays, Jakob and Yannick went to Jakob’s swimming class.  Only a few weeks left and he’s done for this session.  Next session will start his colors!  I’m so excited!  (Yannick is too- he can finally stop getting in the freezing pool).

Also today our friends Julie & Rich and their almost 18-month old daughter came in from Ottawa and hung out for lunch and a bit.  It was great letting the kids play together, although at this age they more play “side by side” as opposed to playing “together”.  Still, they were cute and even kissed a few times!  Does this make Kayla his first girlfriend?  Can I put “first kiss” in his baby book?  I wish I could say this is the farthest he’s gone with a girl, but at the wee young age of 6 months he was lying next to a little girl in his playgroup and reached up her skirt.  Daddy’s boy… LOL.

Also today [ let me just interrupt myself here.  When was Henri born?  On Jan 8th.  He’s not 4 months old yet, right?  Nope, he’ll only turn 4 months on May 8th, almost a week away.  Ok, so he’s still technically 3 months old?  Yeah, technically.]

Where was I?  Oh yeah- today my 3-month-old cut his first tooth.

My 3 month old has a tooth, people!!!!!

Cut.  Out.  Completely through the gums.  Lower right center tooth, but the left one is very swollen and ready to go any day now too.  I only saw the “pockets” swell up for the first time last week and now…he’s got a tooth.

Between his size, the way he tries to roll over ALL THE TIME and has managed to flip onto his stomach at least once while awake and at least 3 times while sleeping, and now the tooth…a part of me wonders if I could somehow have been pregnant 2 months longer than I’d thought.  Could he really be closer to 6 months old?  I’m not actually serious here, I know I measured “dead on” for each month of gestation as I passed it, and I know when I had my last period, and I know I gave birth at 39 weeks, NOT some magical 47-week-long pregnancy.  But still, I can’t help but wonder…


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13 and 14 weeks

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Mommy with Henri at 13 weeks old.

Don’t ask me to remember what I did in weeks 13 or 14.  I keep meaning to sit down at the computer, and I do get time to read emails, etc, but either I go to post but haven’t synced my camera yet, or I have the photos but no time to do the post.  Sigh.  Soon, I’ll get things back on track.

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I know it’s getting easier to get photos of the boys together, because all Jakob wants to do is play with his brother.  And kiss him.  And read him stories.  And kiss him.  Did I mention he wants to kiss him?  Thankfully I’m breastfeeding, or Henri would have had almost a cold a day from all the germs Jakob brings home and slobbers into his mouth. 

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Mommy with Henri at 14 weeks old.

Not the most flattering photo of either of us, eh?  For Henri- excuse the triple chins- it’s the angle of his head.  And the horizontal stripes.  Ugh, NOT a good look for him!  As for me, well that was the day I first came home with the bangs and the blue hair.   Unfortunately I left the salon with my hair still damp and didn’t realize until it had dried that instead of having blonde hair with high- and low-lights, my hair was pretty much brown.  I went back the next day and had it fixed, so you’ll see that look in next week’s photo.  MUCH better, if I do say so myself.  As for the bangs, loyal readers will remember them since I tend to grow them out then cut them again, over and over.  Most people think I look more like “me” with the bangs, I’m likely to agree although I’m not sure if I look too young with them.  I had my hair in a ponytail the other day when I went out with Henri, and between the jeans, bangs and blue streak I’m sure the people I saw wondered what kind of sitter this poor kid’s mom left him with!

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This might not be chronologically accurate, but sometime in the last few weeks I finished the first Toasted Almond Toe-Up sock (TATU sock).  These are my “keep in my purse for found knitting time” socks, the ones I was complaining about not finding the repeat on.  I finally found it!  Do you see it?

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If you look near the toe of the sock you can see two blue stripes with cream and brown in between.  You can see that same pattern at the heel, and then again for the cuff.  That means everything from end of the toe increases to the beginning of the heel is ONE REPEAT of the colorway.  Can you believe it?  I’ve never seen a repeat this long before! 

I tried to find the matching repeat for the other ball for the other sock, but I have a feeling the sock might have been wound inside out, as I found a similar blue-cream-blue section, but the following colors didn’t quite match up.  I did the best I could to mark a starting point that was similar, and now I’m just going to let the yarn do its thing.  I haven’t cast on yet but it still lives in my purse waiting for the next long wait at the doctor or somewhere.

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I’ll leave you with this last photo of Jakob because I couldn’t resist posting it.  I love this kid!  I can’t believe he will be 2 next month!!  He’s accomplished so much in the last few weeks- no more bottles (although he still gets 2 fingers of milk in a sippy cup before bed), he can officially jump, and he’s developped a HUGE appetite for books.  I have to put him down for a nap with a book so he can wake up and start “reading” it.  I’ve even caught him “reading” to Henri!  Oh, and today (not part of weeks 13 or 14, but whatever…) he rode a real tricycle for the first time and pedalled forwards by himself!  Yay Jakob!


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9, 10 and 11 weeks

Today Henri turns 12 weeks old.  I’ve only caught up until his 8th week…and I can’t remember how I used to do it with Jakob.  I think it was easier because I had the computer in our spare bedroom at the time, so I’d lie him down (when he was still a non-rolling infant) on the bed next to me and do my computer/blog stuff, and if he fussed I could play with him then get back to my own stuff.  Whereas now my computer is downstairs in the basement, and there is no where in my office for Henri to play, so I tend to only run down and check my emails quickly when he’s napping.  I should really bring a bouncer chair down here and solve my problem that easily…

In any case, I’m trying to bulk catch up here so hopefully as of tomorrow I can start posting in real-time.  Plus I have 2 finished objects and 2 wips to share!

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 Mommy with Henri at 9 weeks old.

In Henri’s 9th week I took some “me” time and went out a whole 2(!) times in one week.  I took my mom to see a show at a local performance center with some of the moms from Jakob’s old playgroup, then later that week I went out for a late dinner with some other friends.  It was nice to get out but not so much fun to get home to a hysterical Henri and an exhausted Yannick.  To Yannick’s credit, he didn’t lose his cool and even listened to me and didn’t give Henri a bottle within 30 minutes of my expected return time so that I could give him a proper feed when I got home (hence the hysteria).

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 Truth in advertising?

His 9th week also brought some further feeding hardships.  Now that he was finally feeding well(ish) he began refusing to feed on one side.  Not an outright refusal (which could cause other worries) but he would go purple and rigid and scream his head off.  The only way to get him to even do 2 minutes would be to rock and jiggle and shush him the entire time before I would give up.

Probably related to the fact that he wants to eat all the time, he had quite a big jump in percentiles when measured at the doctor’s office for his second month appointment.  Henri had been in the 50th percentile for height and weight at his 2 week checkup, and now that he was 2 months old he was in the 75th-to-90th percentile.  At 2 months Jakob had been 22″ long and 11 lbs.  At 2 months Henri is 23″ long and 13 lbs 6 oz.  According to his pediatrician, Henri’s voracious appetite and growth spurt will last another 2 months and will then even out.  I hope so!  No one can believe that Henri really is as young as he is, because he looks like he’s over 3 months old already.

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Finally, his 9th week also brought a new knitting project.  I am still working on Kayla’s cardigan but it is a lace pattern and not very easy to pick up/put down at the whims of a crying child.  I needed a plain stockinette stitch pattern that I could carry around for quick knitting opportunities.  As luck would have it, my mom had just given me some Red Heart sock yarn.  I know!  It’s actually the same makeup as Regia and the like, so it actually has wool content, and it even has aloe in it.  It’s amusingly called “Heart & Sole” and it quite nice to work with.  The colorway I have is called Toasted Almond and I decided to cast on for a carry-around plain sock.  See all that yarn unravelled above?  The small balls as well as the amounts rewound around the balls?  I had pulled ALL of that from each ball, and had yet to find a place where both balls (with matching dyelots and all) matched up.  It’s possible one ball was wound inside out, but after that much work I decided to be ok with fraternal socks instead of identical.  I cast on for a toe-up pair and have been carrying them around in my diaper bag for random knitting moments that come up (like when someone else drives- nice!).

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 Mommy with Henri at 10 weeks old.

In Henri’s 10th week the feeding issues didn’t get any better.  He would go absolutely ballistic when I would even lie him down to feed on that one particular side.  I kept persisiting though, because I wasn’t willing to get into a routine of pumping one side for the next many months or however long.  Even letting the milk dry up on one side and only feeding on the other would be a last resort.

In the 10th week we hosted Henri’s playgroup at our house, and had fun with all of our new friends over.  We had the best nights’ sleep since Henri’s birth, as we had 3 nights with over 7 straight hours of sleep.  Henri’s smile began coming much more frequently, and all-in-all, everything (except the feeding) seemed easier. 

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 We went to one of Jakob’s friend’s birthday parties at a local kids’ play center.  I love this photo of my boys together!

Yannick would lift Jakob up to the top of the slide and let him fly down on his own.  He would laugh and want “more, peas!’ and it was the cutest thing ever.

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 Finally, we have last week.

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 Mommy with Jakob at 22 months and Henri at 11 weeks old.

In the 11th week we had some ups and some downs.  After sticking to it and repeatedly giving Henri the side he would try to avoid, he finally started taking it again.  Not every feed, and not always well, but most often he would take it and drink as normal, at least for 5 minutes.  Considering my boys do a typical feed of gulping non-stop for 5-10 minutes on each side, 5 minutes of leisurely drinking was a godsend after the screaming jags of the last 2 weeks.   That’s the ups.  The downs are that his sleeping has decreased.  All week he would only do a 3-4 hour night before starting his 2 hour cycles.  If I were really lucky then he would sleep for 4 hours, feed, and then do another 3 hour sleep before starting his every-2 hour-days.

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As a thank-you for some help with his car, my brother and his girlfriend took Yannick and I to the movies.  Thankfully Henri slept the whole time we were out, and we had a nice night.  We saw I Love You, Man and it was quite funny.  Paul Rudd is adorable and we had some good laughs. 

We also took Henri to the movies again and he was an angel and slept through Duplicity with Maaike, her son, Robyn, her son, my mom and my aunt. 

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I leave you now with this photo and a dare to not smile.  🙂


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two months

By two months, your baby…

…should be able to:

-smile in response to your smile CHECK

-respond to a bell in some way, such as startling, crying, quieting DIDN’T CHECK

…will probably be able to:

–lift head 45 degrees when on stomach CHECK

-vocalize in ways other than crying (e.g. cooing) CHECK

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…may even be able to:

-hold head steady when upright TEMPORARILY

-on stomach, raise chest, supported by arms HE DID, BUT ONLY ONCE

-roll over (one way) NO

-grasp a rattle held to backs or tips of fingers CHECK – he grabbed the leg of a toy dangling from his bouncer chair and after accidentally letting go, he grabbed it again

-pay attention to an object as small as a raisin NOT SURE

-reach for an object CHECK – occassionally

-say “Ah-goo” or similar vowel-consonant combination CHECK – all the time!  If he’s in a good mood, and awake and alert, then he’s “talking”

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…may possibly be able to:

-smile spontaneously CHECK – oh yeah- he smiles at and laughs with his toys and flirts with people

-bring both hands together CHECK

-on stomach, lift head 90 degrees I THINK SO

-laugh out loud CHECK – and it’s adorable!!!

-squeal in delight CHECK – (see above)

-follow an object held about 6 inches above the baby’s face and moved 180 degrees (from one side to the other), with baby watching all the way I THINK SO

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Henri’s second month was a million times better than his first.  By the time he was 2 months old we were off the nipple shield and breastfeeding (quasi)properly, which gave us a chance to work on our rapport without all the strain of the feeding issues.  The sleep stuff has gotten better too, and we both wake up rested and happy in the morning.  (Ok, I lied.  He wakes up happy, and rested.  I just wake up…but when he’s happy and smiling at me…I can’t help but be happy too.  And since he’s happy and willing to hang out in his crib and talk to his toys, then I get to spend a few more minutes in bed…which helps me towards rested).

Two months was enough time for Henri’s personality to start to come through.  He’s a real little character- when he’s grumpy he’s grumpy but when he’s happy- oh, you’ve never seen grins like these.  He could melt the Ice Queen’s heart with his smile.  And every day with him and Jakob together is a day I wish I could freeze in time.  When we first had Jakob, I told friends that my favorite part about having a child was watching my husband’s interactions with him.  Well, the best part of having 2 children is watching them interact together.*  I am amazed at the tenderness that Jakob is capable of at such a young age, and I can already see Henri developing an attachment to his big brother.  I can’t wait to see more of them, and watch them grow and play.

 

*For now.  I reserve the right to amend this statement when they are older and fighting non-stop!