Category Archives: Family


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good news

I just got some great news!

Long-time readers will remember that I had to be followed for my sugars when pregnant with Jakob.  I had Impaired Glucose Tolerance, which is treated the same way as Gestational Diabetes- many, many visits to the perinatal center at the hospital (paying for parking each time!), monitoring my sugars daily with a finger-prick kit, and, in the case of my pregnancy with Jakob – taking nightly insulin to control the first-thing-in-the-morning sugar level- the one I couldn’t control with diet.

When you have sugar issues in one pregnancy, my hospital’s policy is to start monitoring you almost as soon as you hit the second trimester in your subsequent pregnancies.  (This is starting to sound familiar…have I typed this up before?)  In any case, they’ve been keeping an eye on me since my 14th week.  My sugars have been so perfect, that instead of pricking 4 times/day as usual (first thing in the am, then 1 hour after each meal), they said I could simply do a morning test since it was the morning I had problems with last time, and only test the rest of the day every 2-3 days.  Also, instead of going in for weekly visits with the perinatal center nurses, doctor and dietician, I was able to go every 3-4 weeks since they trusted me to call if the numbers ever started to look funny.

The biggest issue to me right now, in terms of the sugars, has to do with the baby’s size.  I had a c-section with Jakob, and would like to not have another one, and if the new baby is too big, a VBAC* wouldn’t be recommended, and with IGT or GD, it is very likely that one would have a large(r) baby.

Last week I saw my ob-gyn for my regular monthly pregnancy checkup, and she said that since my sugars have been normal to date, that she might as well send me for a glucose test to see if I was testing for nothing.

I got my results today- my sugars are normal!  Absolutely perfect!  She told me to go ahead and cancel my next appointment with the perinatal center, because I won’t need to check any more!

I’m so thrilled, you have no idea.  I will still probably check the morning sugars once a week or so, just to make sure nothing pops up.  (As the pregnancy progresses and the placenta gets stronger, it isn’t uncommon for the sugar issues to commence).  But barring anything suprising, my doctor says checking any more than that is overkill, since I’m fine!

This is such good news for me, since no sugar issues=smaller odds of having a large(r) baby=better odds of having a successful VBAC, should the rest of the pregnancy go ok and dictate that a VBAC will be safe to attempt.

Whew!

Tonight I’ve got the October Montreal Knitting Guild meeting, so I’m looking forwards to a nice night of relaxing with some knitting…Hallowe’en is creeping up fast!

 

*Vaginal Birth After Cesarean


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speed demon

I think I’ve just knit the fastest shawl of my life. 

About 2/3 weeks ago, one of my first cousins was diagnosed with stage-2 breast cancer.  (First cousin as in proximity…not as in that I expect to have second, third or more cousins diagnosed with cancers).  As soon as I finished the deadline knitting I had at the time, I knew I wanted to make something special for her, both to let her know she was in my thoughts, and also to (hopefully) be useful.  I ruled out a chemo cap because it will be a few weeks before she starts chemo/radiation, and I don’t know how sensitive her head will be once she loses her hair.  Instead, I decided to knit her a shawl to help keep her warm during the chemo treatments, or just to make her feel pretty and special.

After investigating my stash and doing some browsing on Ravelry, I decided to go with the Summer Lace Shawlette, a free pattern from Interweave Knits and Knitting Daily.  My cousin’s favorite color is red, and while I didn’t have any appropriate red yarn on hand, I did have some deep pink yarn in the appropriate gauge.  The yarn is Tannis Fiber Arts’ sock yarn from one of Robyn’s Robyn’s Nest sock club kits, and the colorway is called E=MC2.  I feel like the pink color works perfectly for a breast cancer shawl (and it’s October too…does that qualify as ironic?)

I cast on Monday, September 29th when I got home from the first night of Rosh Hashana dinners with my family.  (Happy New Year to any Jewish readers, by the way!).  This photo (above) shows the colorway pretty accurately, as well as my total progress by bedtime that night.

And the next photo? 

This is the completed, finished, done shawl, blocking on FRIDAY night.  Friday.  Monday to Friday.  5 days to go from sock yarn to shawl.  I’m stunned.

It was an (obviously) fast knit, easily memorized.  I extended the body section by 8 rows because I had enough yarn and wanted a longer shawl. 

Note: if you decide to make this, and to make it longer than called for, you have to pay attention to how many rows you add.  The final border is worked on a certain number of sts for the lace repeat, and by adding 8 rows (and thus 4 extra stitches on each side) I didn’t have enough to extend the lace section.  That meant that when ready to knit the 8 lace rows along the bottom edge (right before the bottom seed st border), I had to work the border as usual, then knit 4 plain sts in stockinette stitch before starting my lace pattern.  Had I just started the lace at the beginning of the row (after the border) and decided to “wing it”, the lace never would have matched up along the center lace panel that has already been established.  Ask me how I found this out!  As you can see from the photos, it doesn’t look so bad having a little stockinette stitch gap on either end of the lace border.  If it really bothers you, just make sure to add enough rows (1 stitch added at each end on every rs row) to be able to work an extra lace repeat before it would normally start.

Same shawl, same lighting.  I just threw in a light bulb for scale.  I’ll take some better photos when it is good and dry and I can unpin it.


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19 week ultrasound

As the title so aptly states, I had my 19 week ultrasound today. Everything looks good, and we were able to resist finding out the sex of our new little one. Unfortunately, the baby was being quite unphotogenic (not sonogeic, as the technician put it), and the technician wasn’t able to get all the measurements she needed. Fortunately, that means I get to go back in another 4 weeks and have another little peek at the baby!
You can tell the photos came out quite crappy. The green writing you can’t read says that you are looking at the baby’s profile (head on the left, facing to the right) with the body down below and an arm raised with the hand resting between the nose and eyes.
This is the same angle, but a closer shot at the baby’s profile.

And it just wouldn’t be fair to give you 2(!) new-to-be baby photos, and not put at least 1 of Jakob, so here is a photo my mom took the same day as the popsicle photos.
It’s a little over-exposed, but he’s still a cutie to me!


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ugh

I promise that this blog won’t be all-pregancy, all-the-time. But I’m feeling icky so I need to share. I thought “morning sickness” was supposed to be a first trimester thing?!? Ok, so I had some nausea in the first trimester. I thought it was novel, because with Jakob I had a pretty symptom-free pregnancy. So I was like, ok, this is what people feel. I’m queasy, and feel like I’m living on a boat, but it’s livable. I didn’t need meds, so I was ok. It only started at 6 weeks, and was pretty much gone by 10 or 11 weeks.

But now? Holy cow! The DAY I hit 14 weeks (second trimester) I started throwing up. That’s crazy! Friday night- lost supper. Saturday night- lost supper. And ever since yesterday, I have thrown up everything I’ve put in my mouth. Every meal, every snack, even a cup of coffee or 5 spoonfuls of soup. The craziest part is that I’m not nauseous at all! I don’t feel sick, or queasy. Sure, I feel shakey afterwards, and weak, because I’m empty. But I feel like nothing is triggering it, other than the fact that I’m eating. I’m actually getting kinda scared to keep eating, because I don’t want to keep throwing up. (Don’t worry, I know I need to eat for the baby, and I will. It’s just becoming an all-consuming thing now, this whole “am I going to throw up” thing).

Ugh.

In other news, I’m still working on the knitting for Veronik, so I can’t show you my current project, but I have some stuff I will be able to share, so when I’m home and have access to my camera, I’ll try to post some photos.


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and then there were 2…so we’ll be 4

I know I said I’d post today with photos of my first Secret Pal package. But that will have to wait until tomorrow, because I have something more important to talk about today. (Sorry Secret Pal!)

I’ve been working on a big project, something more special than any design or publication, and I feel that it is now time that I can share it with all of you.

Jakob feels like he hasn’t had enough face-time on the blog lately, so he wanted to be the one to tell you:

Can you read that? It says “future big brother“. Yup, that’s right. In January Jakob is going to become a big brother.

Today is the beginning of my 14th week, which means I’m officially in my second trimester.


Everything looks good so far with this baby, and we are very excited to have another addition to our house. Jakob is already practicing being a good big brother- when we tell him to “kiss the baby” he lifts up my shirt and kisses my (growing!) belly. It’s really cute! (Although…it probably won’t be so cute when he kisses my belly after the baby is born!)

My due date is January 16th, and yes, some cold-weather baby knits have commenced!


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happy mother’s day!

To start this post off, let me wish a huge HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! to all the moms, grandmothers, mothers-to-be, foster mothers, and anyone else who raises, takes care of or in any way helps shape the life of a child. We rock!

Here’s Mommy with Jakob at 50 weeks (not this past week’s photo, but the one before).

I still haven’t uploaded the photos from my camera from last week, and my head is still in a fog. Sorry!

I have been knitting like mad, but can’t show any of it. See, I’m designing the sock for Robyn’s Robyn’s Nest June Sock Club Kit, and while it is going very well, it is a surprise. I still like my original design, but I came to realize that while many people might say “hey- that’s cool”, very few would actually want to knit it…or at least they’d want to knit it, but it wouldn’t be the kind of sock they’d want to wear. So I pored over my design books and was inspired by a little stitch pattern in a book by someone you might have heard of. Barbara Walker? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? I’ve been crunching more numbers than food this week, but things are starting to take shape, and I’m really pleased with the progress so far.

I can’t believe the kit is almost sold out! No pressure, or anything… 🙂

I do have some knitting that I can share, however.

Here’s the finished Marble Cabled Cardigan.

I’m really happy with how it came out. I knit the 1-2 year old size, and since Jakob is slim, I’m sure he’ll get to wear it even until next Fall.
Yannick chose the pattern when I told him I wanted to knit something with this particular Marble colorway. He also chose the buttons.
They are adorable, but a little heavy for the light sweater. I might have to change them.

Details: (from memory- so forgive any mistakes) The pattern is a pamphlet designed for the actual yarn. Needles are downstairs but I think I used a 4mm for the body and 3.25 for the ribbing.

Modifications: I reversed the cable on one side of the band so they would mirror each other instead of both leaning in the same direction. I didn’t do the hood, and did a simple ribbed collar instead. I did a one-row buttonhole instead of binding off in one row and casting on in the next. I’m pretty sure there was something else I changed but I don’t remember now.

Here’s a photo I’ve been wanting to take for almost a year.

Isn’t that cute??? I’d taken a photo of Yannick’s Mega Sock (Mega Boots Stretch yarn) next to the baby version I made for Jakob, but I always wanted to get a photo of my two boys IN their matching sock. I finally got one, and I LOVE this photo.

I leave you with a question…

My dad is trying to convince me to get these glasses for myself.

What does we thinks?

Does we likes? I really like the sides of the frame, and the side view. I’m scared to commit!
I think they’re too wide from my eyeball to my temple, but I do have a large head, and frames that fit nicely around my eye have the frame’s temple stretched sideways to go off to my ear.

So? I’ve taken the lenses out of the frame since these photos were taken, so I can take photos without the glare or designer name on the lenses, if necessary.


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thursday stuff

Before I forget, here’s a photo of my little matzoh ball at the first seder, last Saturday night. He enjoyed his first taste of puntzles (the small matzoh meal puffs that you put in soup) and was quite adorable in his “Kosher for Passover” bib!

I didn’t realize until too late that the backlight made shadows across his face.

Apparently Yannick doesn’t realize that either because this is the photo he took for me yesterday.

It’s Mommy with Jakob at 49 weeks.
I love this photo- this is what he does all day long. Whenever he wants a kiss, he reaches up, holds your face, closes his eyes and kisses. It is the sweetest thing ever!

When Yannick got home I left Jakob with him and went for a much-needed hair appointment. Here is the end result:


I still look exactly the same but don’t have the 4″ roots like I did before. I’m really happy with how it turned out. I tried a new salon because my old one is about 25 minutes away from my house. They also have the same work schedule as me, which means that I have to either convince my colorist to stay late for me one night and tip her really well to thank her, or I have to get up at 6:30am to get dressed and drive there for a 7:15 appointment on a Saturday, so I can have them do my hair and still get myself to work for 10:00am. NOT fun. This new place is open until 9pm on Thursdays and Fridays, and is literally 5 minutes from my house. Plus the girl (Kristin) who did it is amazing. She did the hair at Robyn’s wedding and it was stunning, and she even fixed(ish) the horrible flower-basket nasty hairdo my mom’s guy did on me. I will definitely be going back to Kristin.

Ok- so knitting. I have been knitting dishcloths for our WEBS trip this weekend. You’ve all now seen the Habs one, and I also made a fleur-de-lys one to represent Quebec…and to represent Montreal I made one with…a bagel on it. 🙂

I worked on Jakob’s sweater while at the hairdresser, and am at the shaping decreases on the last sleeve. I’ve decided not to do the hood as the pattern calls for, but to do a shawl collar instead, so the sweater is almost finished.

I think I have to make myself an official knitting “to do” list so I don’t fall behind. That being said, here it is:

1. Finish Jakob’s Cabled Cardigan – due end of May/June

2. Knit 1 of the 2 Family Circle dinosaurs for Jakob for his birthday – due end of May/June

3. Knit the other dinosaur for Jakob for Jakob (optional) – due end of May/June

4. Design the June sock club sock for Robyn’s Nest’s sock club – due end of May/June

4. Design project #1 for Mary Maxim contest – due June

5. Design project #2 for Mary Maxim contest – due June

I think those are the most important things right now.


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the one that should have been posted on saturday march 15

Saturday was more of the same sicknesses as Thursday and Friday, with the main difference being that I was able to leave Jakob at home with Yannick when I went to work. This was the first time since Jakob’s birth that he’s been alone with Yannick for more than 3 hours, since the previous times they’d spent the day together I was still breastfeeding and Yannick brought Jakob to me to feed every 3 hours or so. My boys spent the day together on the couch, watching tv while Jakob slept in Yannick’s arms. He (Yannick) loved the feeling so much that he never got off the couch to do any of the tidying up I’d hoped for…but I can’t fault him. As much as it sucks when Jakob is sick, it is really sweet the way he cuddles.
The gastro had the poor kid soiling his clothes so often that we got tired of doing laundry, so for a little while in the morning we gave him breakfast in only a bib and diaper. I can’t get over how tall he looks in this photo. He’s average height, but I find his arms and legs look so long!

Saturday night we went to the Biftheque with my family to celebrate last years’ birthdays. (We’re a bit behind). After dinner they all came back here to open gifts, and I FINALLY was able to give my mom the Montego Bay scarf I’d knit for her. It had been sitting in my drawer since November when I thought I’d be giving it to her on her actual birthday.

In other knitting gift news, my inlaws have both requested socks for Christmas this year. Everytime they were with Yannick when he was wearing his handknit socks, he kept raving about the fit, the comfort, etc. Could it be? Could I finally wind up with some family members (besides Yannick) who *gasp* appreciate my knitting?


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happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy 10th birthday dear knitting guild, happy birthday to you

First of all, a big apology to those of you who get here directly via http://www.jeloca.com/. I’m sorry it appeared as if my blog had gone bye-bye. Apparently my domain-forwarding-provider decided that since they never sent me a renewal contract, I clearly must no longer be desiring their services, so they dropped me like a hot potato. I swear our phone call went like this:
Me: How come my website isn’t working?
Them: Because you haven’t paid for it.
Me: Well, you never sent me an invoice.
Them: We don’t send invoices until after you pay.
Me: If you don’t send me an invoice, how am I supposed to know it’s time to pay again?
Them: Well, we don’t send invoices until after you pay. Your payment was due in January.
Me: How did you expect me to know that you wanted more money in January?
Them: We sent you an email in December to tell you.
Me: I never got it.
Them: You probably didn’t check your email.
Me: I check my email about 15 times a day. I didn’t get it.
Them: We’re sure it was sent out.
Me: Can you check?
Them: No. The emails are all sent out autmatically and are generated by our system. We can’t check to see who got them. They were sent in December.
Me: But I never got it.
And so on. Ugh…At least everyone is happy now. They have my money, I have a blog that works, and you don’t have to finagle your way here via the http://www.jeloca.blogspot.com/ address. It’s all good.
There was hardly any knitting today, and I might do a few more rows on the Striped Scarf before bed, so I’m saving my row count for tomorrow. Tonight was the 10th anniversary party of the Montreal Knitting Guild, and it was a potluck event. There was so much food! I ate much too much, and knit much too little.
I do have a photo of that Marble Cabled Hoodie thing I mentioned the other day. I’m about 10 rows farther than this, but I’ve put it aside to try and finish the Striped Scarf instead.
Instead of stripes, I leave you with a tutorial on how to eat toast.


Step 1: get toast into mouth


Step 2: get toast into mouth

Step 3: get toast into mouth
Step 4: get toast into mouth
Step 5: grin with accomplishment (and toast in mouth)
Step 6: pose for the camera


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7 months

By seven months, your baby
…should be able to:
-feed self a cracker WE HAVEN’T TRIED (all the commercially available ones have sugar as one of the first few ingredients, and I’m not making all his food myself just to load him on sugar with some crackers)
-razz (make a wet razzing sound) CHECK
-coo or babble when happy CHECK
-smile often when interacting with you

…will probably be able to:
-sit without support CHECK
-bear some weight on legs when held upright CHECK
-object if you try to take a toy away NO- he’ll tighten his grip but he’s not possessive yet
-work to get a toy that’s out of reach CHECK
-look for dropped objects CHECK
-rake with fingers a tiny object and pick it up in fist I’M NOT SURE I don’t give him tiny objects
-turn in the direction of a voice CHECK
-babble, combining vowels and consonants such as ga-ga-ga, ba-ba-ba, ma-ma-ma, da-da-da CHECK
-play peekaboo 50/50- he’ll laugh when we play, but he doesn’t cover his own face yet
…may possibly be able to:
-creep or crawl I’M NOT SURE does it count when he can get anywhere he wants to go by rolling and “scootching” his body?
-pass a cube or other object from one hand to another CHECK
-stand holding on to someone or something CHECK
…may even be able to:
-pull up to standing position from sitting WITH HELP
-get into a sitting position from stomach NO
-play patty-cake (clap hands) or wave bye bye NO but he’s started raising his arms to be picked up
-pick up tiny objects with any part of thumb and finger I’M NOT SURE (see above)
-walk holding on to furniture (cruise) NO
-say “mama” or “dada” indiscriminately ALL THE TIME!
Jakob turned 7 months yesterday, on the 17th of December. You know the drill…time flies, yada yada, he’s gotten so big, yada yada…but really…time does fly. And he has gotten so big! He sits by himself, he rolls anywhere he wants to go…and the best part is…he gives me kisses. He takes my face in his hands and presses his face up against mine for a second then pulls back and grins at me. Can I get any more in love with this boy?

And what would this be? Something not on the What to Expect list? Why yes…that would be

TWO TEETH!

My baby has two teeth! (I think you can click on the photo to see it larger). The first one cut through about 2 weeks ago, but we were waiting to tell anyone that he got “his first tooth” until you could see it when he smiled. We didn’t want people pulling down his lip to try to see it. Well, wouldn’t you know it, but the day it was out enough to be visible the one right next to it cut through!

In other news…I’ve been a lousy blogger lately. I don’t know what’s with me…all I want to do in the mornings is sleep in while Jakob naps, and all I seem to want to do at night is sleep. I’m the one who usually goes to bed at 1:00am, and lately I’ve been getting into bed by 10:00pm! Plus I’m stressed about 8 million things* and can’t seem to give my brain a rest, so whenever I get a chance to sit at the computer I think to myself “eh, I’ll do it later”, which somehow ends up the next day, or the next, or the next, and that’s why I end up not posting for a week until I feel really guilty. :/

I’m only here for one more week before the holidays so I’ll do my best to post often until I go on vacation, and keep it up once I’m back.

In knitting news: I have to knit 2 penguins by Sunday. I know, the self-imposed deadlines again. I’m a sucker for them, aren’t I?

Any ideas how this is supposed to look like a penguin?