Category Archives: Family


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a boy in knits

Does anyone remember me talking about the Cabaret for the Cure? My friend’s leukemia fundraiser? Well, it is next week, so last weekend I got my tushie in gear and fixed the Montego Bay Scarf I’d knit for her.

Yeah. Um, no.

We won’t speak of that scarf again. I wove in the edge that got caught, and I spent 1.5 %&$^ hours carefully unpicking the part that had torn and ripped (of course it wasn’t the side that would unravel easily), and used new yarn to bind off, and wove in all the ends. Then I looked at it.

I had to admit that it was now a) a good 2 feet shorter, and b) still looked really fuzzy from getting attacked in the washing machine by some stray velcro. I did the only thing I could think of to tame the fuzz…I let it soak in Eucalan for 10 minutes, rinsed then gave it fresh water and a squirt of hair conditioner. I worked the conditioner through then put it in the dryer. Much of the fuzz was flattened, but even at this new, softer feel I had to admit that it still wasn’t good enough to be a charity-auctioned scarf. Hell, it wasn’t good enough to be a raffle prize!

I kept looking at another project I’m doing with the proper yarn, and realizing that I should never have skimped on the yarn for that project. Well, I didn’t really skimp to save money. I just honestly thought the sock yarn would be cute, since there was one in my LYS that was made with sock yarn and it was great. I should have realized that particular sock yarn was Regia Bamboo, which had a much silkier hand and feel than plain old sock yarn.

I didn’t want to leave my friend empty-handed or renege on my offer of knitted goods, so I looked around to see what I could offer. In the end I am giving them 3 sets of knitted goodies: all stuff I’d knit for Jakob. I don’t feel bad because a) I missed the boat on some articles that are already too small for Jakob, b) they have never been worn, c) they were knit with love, and d) they will go to make someone else’s child warm and happy, and that is much better than staying here and sitting in a bag.

Since they WERE originally knit for Jakob I took some photos of him wearing them, just to have for my records, and I will show them to you here.

This is the “Ice Cream Cardigan and Hat” knit from 2 balls of Regia Canadian Colors- Ottawa. I used my leftovers to knit “Christine’s Baby Booties” to match.
Jakob was all giggles that day and I can’t help but crack up when I see these photos!

I think this one (below) was my favorite of his silly grins. He looks like a roly-poly little toy and I just want to pinch his cheeks!
I will be giving away the Just Ducky Hat and Socks set. It is still too big for him, and I think by the time it would fit he would be too old to wear it.

I’m sorry…I think I’m going to gush here…but I LOVE this boy’s face!

The last set I will be giving away is the Froggy Hat and Socks set. I don’t know why but the hat is way too small but the socks are too big…it would have been cute when he was smaller but that would have been May and too warm…all in all I feel quite comfortable with giving it away.
More of his favorite face…sucking in his lip. (He didn’t stay that way for long, I think I tickle-bombed him right after this photo was taken).
Finally, some other knit photos to share. This is the Baby Cabled Cardigan I finally got around to finishing last week. I don’t know if this photo properly shows it, but the cardi is baggy and the sleeves are too long, which means it should fit for another 3-6 months- or until the Winter is over. But you can clearly see that the length is too short. Every time he moves his arms it rises, and since it has a hood the weight of it pulls the back down and the front rises up to about his mid-chest.
I’m going to fix it once I finish my secret project.

The hood however…let’s not go there.

Cute elfin look- yes. Practical and useful hood- no. In theory the hood would fit a normal head, but the cables pull it in too much. I really don’t feel like knitting a border, and I can’t pick up more sts at the neckline and work up since the hood already grows up from the front edges of the cardi. So the hood will be purely decorative. I’m ok with that.


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lotsa fun stuff

There was a lot going on this weekend, here in our little neck of the woods. Saturday was a huge milestone for our family- we started Jakob on solid foods!

Here he is having NO idea what he’s about to get into.

…here comes the airplane…open the hangar…

…and the verdict is…

…he likes it! Ok, he really didn’t express any form of like or dislike over the strange mushy stuff we were repeatedly spooning into his mouth. He did, however, avoid crying or fussing, and kept breaking out in his usual grins, so we’re counting this as a success!

We’ve been giving him a sippy cup with some purified water after each meal to help wash down the cereal, and he has yet to refuse the cup. If he continues to take it we’ll see if we can get him to take breastmilk or formula in it, and since he’s still refusing bottles, this might be a way to be able to leave him for longer than 2-3 hours. (Of course, I’m not going to try to get him to take bottles any more, because there is no sense in getting him started on them just to have to wean him. I’d rather him go straight to the sippy cup).

Here’s another photo of him, just because. 🙂 I can’t stop taking photos of him and I can’t stop staring at them, so now you all get to see what I get to see every day. My gosh I love this boy!

Does anyone remember the Froggy Hat and Socks set? I finally found the bag of handknits I made while pregnant. Just in time too…the socks are too big still but the hat barely fits! I think he will have worn it just for this photo, and it is now going to go into the “grown out” bin.
Sunday was another exciting day- I attended an all-day Fiona Ellis workshop! She is so nice and warm, so genuine, and I am really, really happy I took the course and got to meet her. In the morning I took a class on short rows, and in the afternoon it was about slipped stitches. I felt bad because Yannick had to bring Jakob to me twice so I could feed him, but it was remarkably non-disruptive. The first time he brought him in was during the morning class, but they came in silently, I fed Jakob on my lap and then they left, all within about 10 minutes and all without causing any interruptions to the class. The second time we called a bit more attention to ourselves, but that was because it was during lunch hour and we played with him for a bit. It might also have had something to do with the fact that he wore his Superman costume. (I had been asked to bring it in).

This is my short row swatch. The pink section uses the “wrap and turn” method, which I usually tend to use in garments (like the bum area of the Superman costume). It works well, but if you look closely you can see the 3 turning points. The blue area uses a “yarn over, slip first stitch” method, which I enjoy. I find it shows less than the wrapped one, and I tend to use it a lot on short-rowed sock heels (and toes). The yellow sections use what I think she called the “Japanese or catch method” where you grab the back of the stitch in the row below to close the gap. I didn’t mind it, but it was fiddly. I was knitting fast on Sunday so I had enough time to make a second “catch” swatch and do the short row/3-ndl bind off shoulder method. I didn’t really need practice on that, however, as I almost always adapt patterns to enable that bind off on the shoulders. I really, really like the professional look it gives.

Before the short row class was over we were given the time to work on a creative swatch. The assignment was to work the short rows while interrupting a pattern, and the examples given were lace and cables. I decided to see what would happen if I worked short rows while working a striped pattern. This was the first time I used 2 different colors to cast on (I did the long tail method) and I was able to practice my Fair Isle. I tend to pull too tight when switching colors (probably because I do a lot of intarsia) so I was trying hard to keep things loose. I was also holding the green with my left hand and practicing the two-handed technique. I was able to knit pretty fast using both hands, but I had to remember to knit that color through the back loop on the following rows because the stitches I knit from my left hand wound up mounted the wrong way on the needle.

This is my swatch from the slipped stitch class. There are 6 different techniques shown, I did the first 4 twice each for practice. I never before realized how much fun slipped stitches are, and how much I enjoyed working them and how much I like the look of them. I think this is something I will definately have to play around with some more!

Two last things. First of all, I tried a new recipe tonight. I found this on Caroline’s blog not too long ago, and remembered that I had some apples in the fridge about to go bad, so I made it for dessert tonight. The only modification I made was to bake it in individual dishes instead of one larger pie plate.


It was delicious! Thanks Caroline! Next time I would probably try adding just a dash of lemon juice (I like how it brings out the flavor of the apples) and I would put less sugar, because I found it sweet. I would also probably make up for the less sugar by serving it warm, with vanilla ice cream. 🙂 What I also found cool was that I’d sprayed the dishes with Pam first and the resulting dessert was able to pop out and still hold its shape…so I would try making it in smaller ramekins next time I entertain and each person could get their own little one for dessert, maybe with some melted chocolate drizzled across the top…

The other last thing is my current knitting. I have been working on something but I can’t show photos of it here. I can tell you it’s a hat, but I can’t say much more because it is one of my Knitty.com submissions. My mom’s manicurist saw a photo of it and wants me to make her some to give as gifts, but before I can figure out how much to charge I need to make a second one and record how long it took, the exact yardage it took, etc. So I’ve been working on that for about a week now, but today I decided to put it aside temporarily.

We have a family event to attend this coming weekend and I wanted to dress Jakob up a little. I decided to knit him a little vest to wear with a white button-down shirt and dress pants. After rooting through what little of my stash is unpacked, I found some gray Patons yarn left over from the Glam Coat. I have two balls left, which I’m sure is more than enough for a baby’s vest. I didn’t feel like hunting down a pattern at the right gauge, so I spent today writing one up. I was able to knit the ribbing too, and hopefully I will have a vest in time for this weekend.

Here’s my swatch, before I unravelled it. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to use a garter or ribbed edging for the cuffs, so I swatched it with both. That’s regular garter on the bottom, sideways knit-on-as-you-go garter on the top left, and ribbing on the top right. I like the look of the regular garter the best but the swatch kept flipping up really badly along the first stocking stitch row, so traditional ribbing it is.

Tomorrow I get to go knitting with Robyn, Tara and the blogless Kate, so I hope to have some vest progress photos by night time.


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playgroup and knitting

It’s been a really hectic week! We are part of a playgroup that meets every Thursday at a different mom’s house. This week was our turn. With a baby you don’t want to leave stuff for the last minute, so on Tuesday I made my lists of what I needed, and picked up all my groceries. On Wednesday after the movies (we saw The Feast of Love…it was a tearjerker but which was totally NOT for kids…lots of nudity and sex and stuff…) I went home and began to prepare whatever I could prepare in advance. Finally, on Thursday at lunch time, everything was ready. We’d locked Sam in the basement, vacuumed, cleaned, set out the food, arranged all the furniture and toys for maximum space, and voila- this was how my house looked:

This is the view of our dining room from standing in the living room. Normally the table is in the middle of the room and there aren’t any toys in there.

Each mom who hosts provides the food so no one has to bring anything. We usually provide finger foods because it’s a bit unweildly to wrangle a baby and a knife and fork. I put out pasta, Caesar salad, cold pizzas, veggies and dip, nachos and salsa, and 3 different kinds of cheeses, cubed, with crackers.

This was the “dessert” area, LOL. In the bowls there are Smarties, tropical dried fruits and Ringolos, then popcorn, then a platter with 3 different kinds of cookies.

This is the view going the other way, looking into the living room.

And this is how that same view looked a few hours later! In this photo there are 11 moms and 12 babies, and by the end of the day there were a total of 15 moms and 17 babies (2 sets of twins). Whew!

It was a lot of work to get ready, it probably doesn’t look that way but each time I’d get in the middle of something, like slicing veggies or boiling water for the pasta, Jakob would cry and need to be held, or fed, or changed, or I had to make dinner for Yannick and I…it’s a lot of “stops” and “starts” with a baby around, but in the end it was all worth it. I love to entertain so we had a really good time having a house full of people. Plus I’d invited my neighbor (literally 2 doors over) who has twins 6 months older than Jakob, and it was the first time we’d gotten together since we’ve moved here, so it was nice to get a chance to get to know her a bit more.

On Wednesday I’d finished the Montego Bay Scarf. Yay! I was really, really happy with how it came out, and needed only to wash it and it would be ready to give away.

Here’s a closeup of the stitch pattern.

Finally, on Thursday night I started swatching for the Hallowe’en costume. No one has guessed it yet… 🙂


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catching up wed, thurs, fri and today (sat) and YES i talk about knitting

I don’t know where the time goes. I blink and it is a few days after I said I would post. Sorry, loyal reader(s)! 🙂
On Wednesday my mom, her friend Esther and I took Jakob to go see the movie Stardust. I loved it! They took a while to get the story, but I caught on right away and thought it was amazing. If you like The Princess Bride, you’ll like Stardust!

That afternoon we were supposed to have a playdate with Maaike and her daughter, and Robyn and her son, but they both cancelled on me so Jakob and I spent the afternoon making beef jerky for Yannick with our food dehydrator. I like beef jerky too but this time I used the “hot and spicy” spice mix, and it is WAY too hot for me.

On Thursday we spent the morning play around in bed.

We worked on some tummy time, which he is getting much better at. He’s always been good at holding his head up, but usually starts to fuss after a few minutes. He is now able to go much longer before getting frustrated or sore (holding up his head).

 

Thursday afternoon we were invited to join a friend’s playgroup. It was so much fun! Her daughter is only 1 day older than Jakob, and they were the two oldest kids there. There were 11 moms and kids total, and the youngest baby is two-and-a-half weeks old. I gave that mom great “props”- I certainly didn’t have the energy to go out that early! It was a riot watching all of these babies- just imagine all 11 together once they start to crawl! Right now they’re not doing much, but it is more for the mommies to get a chance to socialize. After the playgroup a few of us took our kids out with their strollers for a walk, then I went to the pharmacy then to my parents’ house. I had invited myself, Jakob and Yannick over for supper because I was going to go to my friend Jackie’s to watch Big Brother at 8:00pm, but Jackie had to cancel so I made sure I was home in time. I fed Jakob and spent the night working on the JCA project some more.

Friday we played around some more then went and did a few errands. I wanted to exchange one of the breastfeeding tops I’d bought at Thyme for a different one that was more flattering, and also wanted to return a toy I’d bought for Jakob since I wasn’t happy with it. Luckily both stores were in the same mall so I didn’t have to run around too much. Friday night we brought Jakob to my parents’ house to babysit and Yannick and I were going to see Stardust (I knew Yannick would love it) but last minute something came up so I came home alone to get a good chunk of knitting done, and Yannick went to help my parents clear out their backyard for a pool they are going to put in. (Yay!) The other good news is: I finished the JCA project! I just have a few ends to weave in, but those suckers are done! I’m very excited because I want to start new things already!

Today we went to Robyn’s dad’s store and I got my new digital camera. It is the Canon PowerShot SD1000 Digital Elph and I am so excited to finally have a camera small enough to throw into my purse or diaper bag. Our current Canon (PowerShot S2 lS) is wonderful but SO bulky! Robyn’s sister, my (wonderful, amazing, awesome, great) cousin Amy was working that day and not only gave us great service but made Jakob laugh and smile. After the store we had a playdate walk in the park with my grad date of all people! He had married his high school sweetheart (we had gone to grad as friends, with her permission) and they’d moved to the West Island and had a daughter just 2 months before Jakob was born. We went to Centennial Park and hung out at the dog park for a bit before going to sit by the lake and catch up. I can’t believe it- I haven’t seen him in 13 years! We found each other on Facebook of all places.

From there we went to my parents’ house for a short visit, then came home. We just finished supper and Jakob is napping so I’m going to weave in those ends so I can start working on my next project:

That’s the Montego Bay Scarf from this summer’s Interweave Knits. It is scarf 1 of my (hopefully) 3 items that I will be donating for my friend’s fundraiser auction.

This photo sucks but shows the color of the yarn a bit more true to life. Each strand of color is plied with black. I can’t wait to see how it turns out.


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Happy Birthday Laura!

I can’t believe it. Today my baby sister, the youngest of us 4 kids, is 20 years old. We are 10 years apart…which means I’m going to be…30 next month. Man.

When did she get to grow up? Why isn’t she still playing with dolls and letting me stick colored dot stickers all over our faces and letting me put garish makeup on her and dress her up?

Happy Birthday Laura!


Jakob had a rough night last night. He went from 9:30pm to 8:00am without eating, but he woke up at least 5 times through the night. Each time he’d be folded in half almost flipping onto his stomach again. I’m guessing that he is getting bigger and the dose of Zantac we give him for acid-reflux isn’t strong enough for his current weight. I left a message for his doctor to find out if we can raise the dosage. I’m pretty sure that it’s his poor tummy hurting that keeps waking him up.

I took him to the movies again today, we went just the two of us and saw The Simpsons. It was a great movie! I like the cartoon, so I really enjoyed the movie. Lots of inside jokes and bits of sly humor (although the one part I can’t stop repeating was shown in the commercials…”Spider-pig… Spider-pig… does whatever a Spider-pig does…” He slept through the beginning of the movie and I had a chance to knit up a swatch I needed to have done. My LYS was clearing out some yarns and had a heavy cotton/acrylic blend on sale for about $2 CAD/ball so I bought them to make a sweater. The LYS owner told me she’d use her computer program to design me a pattern and I needed to have the swatch done for that.

After the movie I brought Jakob to the LYS and had the pattern made. There wasn’t enough white for a whole sweater so I bought some navy too and will have to get creative with the color.

Later I brought Jakob home and fed him, then changed him to bring over to my parents’ house for my sister’s non-surprise surprise party (her friend leaked the news but Laura pretended not to know, and didn’t know that we knew she knew).

Like his tank?
Can you read it? It says “Dad thinks he’s in charge”. 🙂

We had a great barbeque over at my parents’ house and Laura had a blast showing Jakob off to her friends. It was weird seeing my sister and her friends hanging out, surrounded by cigarettes (not hers) and beers (also not hers). My mom had provided wine coolers and sangria, and they thought it was quaint. Instead they drank down their beers. I watched them all horse around and can’t help but remember hanging out with my friends at that age. You feel like you have no cares and your whole life ahead of you…and now I’m almost years older and feel like I have a lifetime behind me.

Ok, enough melodrama. I just put Jakob to bed and will go knit while Yannick reads the next chapter of Harry Potter #7 to me. (Yes, we read out loud to each other when we want to share the same book, we’ve been doing it since we started dating, although I usually end up reading since Yannick’s reading out loud isn’t the best. No, I haven’t read any spoilers online so if you know who dies or anything DON’T tell me!)

p.s. Today is also my brother-in-law’s birthday, so Happy Birthday Mathieu!


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9 and 3/4 months pregnant

As you can tell, I’m still here and posting. Since this baby did not decide to come early, it looks like I will be having a C-Section tomorrow as scheduled. I don’t know what time yet as they don’t call until after 8 pm to let me know what time to show up at the hospital.

I’m still not “ok” with having surgery, but I have at least faced the facts that it is my only option, and is inevitable. The baby’s stuff is ready, the play pen is ready, the living room is ready for us to hang out in until the move, and this morning we went to the notary and officially bought our new house.

By the way, it appears I won’t get a chance to type up and post the house saga, part 3. I’m actually ok with this, since I’m feeling lazy.
Long story short:
-We made an offer, but it was so soon to the house being put on the market that they refused and wanted to wait.
-A week later they called us to see if we’d want to make another offer. We said sure, but it has to be in before the open house that weekend, and it has to be within a certain range because we weren’t willing to go higher. They said fine. We made the offer.
-That Sunday night (AFTER the open house) they countered our offer with an offer higher than the price point we’d set. When we complained they said that they’d had over 18 visits at the open house, and that they’d be fools to accept a lower offer at that point. We got (rightfully) pissed and refused their offer without a counter-counter.
-A week after THAT their agent called us again and asked if we’d be willing to make another offer. (I guess their open house wasn’t as profitable as they’d thought). We said “No, we don’t feel like making another offer. However, this is how much we’re willing to pay. If your guy is serious, have him make us an offer at that amount”. And…their guy did. So we bought the second house that we’d really wanted.

Now then, back to tomorrow. C-Section. Right. When you go to the C-Section “teaching” at the hospital they give you a little booklet you can bring home and go over. So while I go crash and knit for my last child-free day, I’ll leave you with some excerpts from:

Your Guide to a Planned Cesarean Section Delivery

What should I do the day before my Cesarean Section?

-call the Family Birthing Center the night before to confirm the time of your cesarean section.

-the evening before your planned cesarean birth you may eat a normal meal. However, DO NOT EAT OR DRINK anything after midnight (the night before the surgery).

-take a shower with antibacterial soap. You must wash your entire body and hair the night before and the morning of your C-section. This is to prevent infections.

-Remove all nail-polish, make-up, jewellery and contact lenses.

-Leave any valuables at home. The hospital assumes no responsibility for any loss of personal items. Wedding rings can be taped to your finger if you are unable to remove them.

What should I expect on the day of my Cesarean Section?

When you arrive at the Family Birthing Center a nurse will prepare you for the surgery. You can expect the nurse will:

-ask you to change into a hospital gown and remove all undergarments

-give you a hospital identification band

-check the fetal heart rate, your blood pressure, pulse, respirations and temperature

-draw a blood sample for routine tests, as well as a urine sample

-use a clipper to remove the upper portion of pubic hair

-give you a medication to decrease the acid in the stomach

An anesthetist will come to speak to you. S/He will discuss the type of anesthesia and the procedure. You will then sign the consent forms.

What should I expect in the Operating Room?

-the anesthetist will give you a spinal anesthesia, which makes you feel pain-free over your abdomen and in your legs. It will allow you to remain alert/awake during the operation. You may feel pressure or movement during the surgery. This is normal.

-A small catheter will be inserted into your bladder to drain it of urine

-an intravenous catheter will be placed in your arm

-your abdomen will be cleansed with a sterile solution

-a screen will be placed over your abdomen so that you will not see the doctor perform the operation

-once your baby is born, s/he will be assesed and then wrapped warmly by the nurse. The baby will be brought to you and can be held by your significant other

What should I expect immediately after the Cesarean Section?

Your baby will be brought to the Main Nursery on X floor. Your significant other can stay with the baby at all times, or visit you in the recovery room for a short period. You will be transferred from the operating room to the recovery room on Y floor and stay approximately 2-4 hours. You will then be transferred to the Postpartum Unit. The baby will be brought to you and feeding can be initiated once you arrive in your room.

What should I expect will happen during my stay on the Postpartum Unit?

-you will have the intravenous for a minimum of 24 hours after the surgery

-the urinary catheter is usually removed 12 hours after delivery

-you will be encouraged to walk as soon as possible

When can I eat after my Cesarean Section?

-you will be able to drink fluids once the nurse has listened to your abdomen for bowel sounds. You will continue to have a fluid diet until you are passing gas rectally. Once you start passing gas, you can have a regular meal.

There’s a bit more, but I figured I’d end on that note. (No pun intended).


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my soon-to-be-mother’s day weekend

We had a nice little weekend. Saturday was my last day of work (!) and afterwards we went over to Yannick’s sister’s place for dinner with their family and his parents for Mother’s Day. It was the first time I’ve had lobster in about a year and it was SO good! I’m a lobster purist- I prefer it withOUT the garlic butter, and this time it was so sweet and so tender…yummy! I’ve had no appetite STILL these days, and I had already told Yannick’s mom that I would share a steak and a lobster with him because there was no way I could finish one on my own, so when she plopped a whole one on my plate after I’d eaten about 1/4 of my steak I started offering up parts. Good thing I skipped the rest of my steak- I ate the entire lobster! Mmmmm

On Sunday we prepared a quote for Yannick’s work then went over to the Montreal General to see his grandmother who was recovering from surgery. Then we went to my parents’ house for a barbeque for dinner. My mom (rightfully) refused to organize it, so my dad had spent the day shopping. It was a meat smorgasborg! He got angus burgers, bison burgers, salmon burgers, shrimp burgers, lamb kabobs and balogna to slice and cover with maple syrup like my mom does. Not to mention bacon for the burgers. Thank god I reminded him to buy some salad and fruit- the only veggie’s he’d bought were some monster tomatoes and onion to slice for the burgers!

My parents actually managed to find a “Happy Soon-to-Be-Mother”‘s Day card, and got me a sweet gift – a breast-feeding night gown from Thyme Maternity with a matching little cover up.
But what I couldn’t believe was Yannick. On his OWN he went and picked out the cards for his family and my family, plus he got a card for my parents from the baby, thanking them for all the stuff they’ve done for us and given us. THEN he got me 2 cards- one from him and one from the baby!

I’ll leave you with the cover of the card he gave me from the baby:


On the inside it says: Oh, well…at least you can say that raising me wasn’t a boring experience.

Knowing the father…this card is so true!


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my soon-to-be-mother’s day weekend

We had a nice little weekend. Saturday was my last day of work (!) and afterwards we went over to Yannick’s sister’s place for dinner with their family and his parents for Mother’s Day. It was the first time I’ve had lobster in about a year and it was SO good! I’m a lobster purist- I prefer it withOUT the garlic butter, and this time it was so sweet and so tender…yummy! I’ve had no appetite STILL these days, and I had already told Yannick’s mom that I would share a steak and a lobster with him because there was no way I could finish one on my own, so when she plopped a whole one on my plate after I’d eaten about 1/4 of my steak I started offering up parts. Good thing I skipped the rest of my steak- I ate the entire lobster! Mmmmm

On Sunday we prepared a quote for Yannick’s work then went over to the Montreal General to see his grandmother who was recovering from surgery. Then we went to my parents’ house for a barbeque for dinner. My mom (rightfully) refused to organize it, so my dad had spent the day shopping. It was a meat smorgasborg! He got angus burgers, bison burgers, salmon burgers, shrimp burgers, lamb kabobs and balogna to slice and cover with maple syrup like my mom does. Not to mention bacon for the burgers. Thank god I reminded him to buy some salad and fruit- the only veggie’s he’d bought were some monster tomatoes and onion to slice for the burgers!

My parents actually managed to find a “Happy Soon-to-Be-Mother”‘s Day card, and got me a sweet gift – a breast-feeding night gown from Thyme Maternity with a matching little cover up.
But what I couldn’t believe was Yannick. On his OWN he went and picked out the cards for his family and my family, plus he got a card for my parents from the baby, thanking them for all the stuff they’ve done for us and given us. THEN he got me 2 cards- one from him and one from the baby!

I’ll leave you with the cover of the card he gave me from the baby:


On the inside it says: Oh, well…at least you can say that raising me wasn’t a boring experience.

Knowing the father…this card is so true!


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things that make you go "hmmmmm"

Yesterday was my second baby shower. I had two because there were too many people to have in one place, so last weekend was one with my friends and my parents’ friends, and this weekend was one with all of mine and Yannick’s family.

I’m not going to get into all the gifts that we received, or into who gave what, because I truly feel that everyone was more than generous. I never would have expected half of the stuff that we received, and it is so heartwarming to realize how loved and how blessed this little baby will be (not to mention how spoiled!). You will all get cards in the mail, but if any family or friends are reading this, thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. You overwhelmed us, you really did.

I have some FOs to post, but they deserve their own post, so I will get to them later. Plus they’re still in the dryer.

In the meantime I will leave you with a video of the baby gift that won the prize for being the most…um…inappropriate? wrong? Yannick and I couldn’t stop laughing at it, and trying to figure out the thought process behind its design. Fun toy, or wince-inducing torture idol? You decide!


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something cute to look at for distraction

Not the most clear of photos, but that little face is our little stubborn child. I say “stubborn” because as of yesterday, the little one is still breech. Which means I am officially scheduled for a C-section. I’m not thrilled about this, but have reconcilled myself to it nonetheless. Luckily they do an ultrasound an hour beforehand, so if any turning does occur (which my doctor HIGHLY doubts) I will get a chance to deliver naturally. I know the next big question is “what’s the date?” and I will share, but only on Monday as I am having a baby shower on Sunday and my mom wants to play the “guess the baby’s birth date” game, and it really wouldn’t be fair if any of my family who reads this knows the exact date. :p

Everything else, blood pressure, etc, is perfect. Not even perfect for me (which is borderline) but really perfect (120/80), so I’m actually doing better than normal. And I still have no pregnancy symptoms, in fact, when the baby isn’t moving, I often forget I’m pregnant. I’m still wearing my same shoes, socks, undergarments, rings, etc… have only the occasional heartburn, rare back ache, no swelling, etc. I know, I know, I’m lucky. While we have had many scares (most of which were blogged about, like the amnio, hospital visits, etc) *knock on wood* there has yet to be anything actually wrong, and this has been, for the most part, an incredibly uneventful pregnancy.

Actually, I have been very lucky. I’m due in 3 weeks, I’m still working for another week and a half, still driving, going out, for as much as my life will change very soon, it hasn’t changed yet. So I know I shouldn’t complain if the worst I get is the need for a c-section. And I know I’ll get over it, and it will be fine in the end, and I have tons of support from both family and friends to help me if I need it, and to get through the recovery, however easy or difficult it might be. But yeah, I can’t help but be disappointed.

So I get 6 wks of recovery to look forwards to, while living among boxes in our old house for at least 3 weeks, then trying to move into the new one. At least I have that cute face too look forwards to meeting. You know how in Cabbage Patch Kids, because they are smiling, the eyes make that half-moon shape? Look at the bottom photo…I swear the kid is grinning, laughing or giggling, which, as anyone who knows me in real life can attest, is TOTALLY me (when I’m not being a moody little brat). I think I recognize my chubby cheeks. 🙂