Progress.

Therapy went well today. Emm is getting to know the therapist and her routine better so the session went pretty smoothly. She was impressed with Emm's new ability to keep his mouth closed for longer periods. We worked on that at home by practicing making lipstick prints on paper. We have to work on eye contact and improved communication this week--a much more challenging task. We have to work on not "telling" Emm things and letting him fill in blanks more. We have some songs to sing and games to play to work on that. We have to teach him some new signs too. Lots of work to do.

I fell off the Weight Watcher's wagon pretty hard and landed at McDonald's this weekend. Not my finest moment. I am not looking forward to weigh-in tomorrow, but I will face the music and look that scale in the eye. I am trying to be more honest with my food journal as well--no creative accounting of points allowed! I just gave away a bunch of my bigger clothes--I need to shape up because I can't go up. I also need to figure out how to stop snacking while I am cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. Hubby won't buy my story that he needs to do the dishes to help my weight loss efforts. I posted a favourite low-point muffin recipe on my food blog so we can all eat better together.

I have started my first lace knitting project -- a leafy scarf. I have to do a lot of tinking (ripping back for you non-knitters) so by the time I have finished it I probably will have knit it a few times, but it is so pretty I must perservere. I am doing it in a lovely hand-dyed amethyst-coloured merino wool.

Finis!

Here is a baby sweater I made for a friend--she picked the yarn and pattern.
Yarn: Bernat Baby Boucle 100% acrylic. The colour is mostly lavendar with bits of pale pink and blue mixed in.
Pattern: Baby Hooded Pullover from March 2006 Creative Knitting Magazine
Size: 9-12 months (Char is usually in 18-month size so these sweaters are generously proportioned)
Needles: 5.5 and 6 mm (I had to size up to get proper gauge)
Notes: This boucle was tricky to work with sometimes and it was pilling up as fast as I was knitting it. Good thing the sweater is already pretty fuzzy or it would be more obvious. The yarn fluffed up nicely with washing and blocking. I seamed it with matching, smooth yarn. I am not a dummy! I added the tassle because a pointy hood needs a tassle. The orginal sweater was knit with a smoother yarn and embroidered with flowers. I left the embroidery off of this one. I like the pattern--I think I will knit one for Char--in a smoother yarn and then I can practice my embroidery skills!

click on pictures to enlarge them

The Honeymoon is Over.

Well, 10 pounds down, another 12 to go. Weight Watchers is great, except when you are having a bad week and are eating chocolate chips by the handful to medicate. I have had such a hard time controlling my eating this week and am in a downward spiral. I have PMS, I am mad at my mother in law and my wrists hurt too much to knit since I have started cycling. Bring on the junkfood! My weight was up at my last meeting, I am sure it will be up at this one too. I just cannot keep away from the junk this week. The thought of counting points today is almost too much.

The wrists will be getting better--my new splints are on order and hopefully they will help. I am also going to buy some gloves for cycling. I started swatching a summery cotton-silk blend for a pretty sweater for me and it is killing me that I cannot work on it. (Blogger is not letting me use apostrophes today) Knitting also keeps me from snacking in the evening. Double whammy.

Why am I mad at my mother in law (this time)? Could it be that when she babysat she let my son play with a spray bottle of coloured liquid that she did not know the ingredients of? Thankfully I knew that the bottle contained food colouring and water because I gave it to Emm to spray paint the snow with over the winter. Why did she still have it? Who knows? He and his sister were dyed blue when I picked them up. I am not against kids getting dirty--dirt washes off. You do not let children play with unlabled bottles. It could have been fertilizer in there! MIL is also taking it upon herself to potty train my boy. Behind my back. Without my permission. I really need to call my church and get the names of some nice kids in the youth group who can baby sit. I am angry enough now that it is a good thing MIL is going away for a week so I can cool off. At this moment I am not sure I can allow unsupervised visits anymore.--Oh yeah, she knows I am on Weight Watchers, so to show her support she offered me the Big Mac coupons she got in the mail. Thanks a lot. You really know how to help a girl out.
Where are the chocolate chips?

Baby is always right.

In my never ending quest for a full night's sleep, I am trying to eliminate one of Char's two daily naps. Clearly Char thinks she needs more beauty sleep than I think she does. Here she is at the forbidden nap time of 5:30 PM. I hope hubby gets home soon, we could have a quiet dinner for two before we play rock, paper, scissors to see who wakes her up. (Emm is visiting Grandma right now)

Bridget Jones was here.

The nice mailman dropped a box on my doorstep this morning. What was in it? Why a special "slimming" slip to wear under a certain bridesmaid dress as well as a clingly floaty number I bought to wear to another wedding. It looks and feels like a sausage casing, but man, oh man, does it do the trick. I tried it on under the clingy dress and it looks like a whole new outfit. The dress just floats over the industrial-strenghth Spandex and my baby belly is perfectly smoothed out. My waist even nips in a little now. Hubby must never, ever see me in it. It is like the scene in Bridget Jone's Diary where she has to decide if she should look good in the dress by wearing the granny undies or if she should look good out of the dress with the pretty undies.

I am pretty sure I can still get lucky with my man either way. I think seeing me in a glorified girdle is less traumatizing than the time he saw me give birth and then was ordered into the bathroom by the midwife to make sure I didn't topple over in the shower. He had to help dry me off and wipe up the blood that was dripping down my legs and then put the giant pillow-sized pad in my undies and pull them up. Yep, I married a keeper.
Note to those readers who don't have children: sorry, that is the way it is after you give birth. It is not like they show on TV or the movies at all!! Oh, and hubby was not so helpful during the birth of our first--he had to leave during the whole pushing thing because he was going to hit the floor if he didn't. I still give him an "A" for effort--the poor guy is pretty squeamish on a good day.

Sorry for the rambling and tangents--this is what happens when you blog after having half a pot of coffee with breakfast.

The Politics of Pole Dancing.

As all of you in blogland know, I will be a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding this summer. I recently got an email from the Maid of Honour telling us that the bride thinks it would be super-fun if we took a pole-dancing class to celebrate her dwindling days of singlehood. I was very surprised. Clearly, I don't know this woman as well as I thought I did. We've been friends since our first meeting in fifth grade, mumble, mumble, cough ,cough years ago and I never thought she would want to do this--and we have done some pretty crazy things in the years we've known each other.

My first reaction was: "Ew, gross, I would never do that!" After some time to think on it I have formed a much more coherent opinion. I also talked to several of my friends about this party and found them very clearly divided on the subject. It seems there is no middle ground when it comes to pole dancing. Some of my friends were really interested and said that it could be fun and asked me why I didn't want to be sexy for my husband. Others were in my camp and wondered what would be in it for them. They didn't see this as something that would make them feel sexy at all. One of my friends, a certified feminist (she has the woman's studies degree to back it up) was actually nauseous. I could hear her gagging over the phone. I noticed the people on the "con" side of the argument were a little older and married a little longer than the ones on the "pro" side. Have the older women had less exposure to the media influences that tell us how to be sexy and what is sexy now? I doubt it. We all watch TV and browse the magazines in the checkout line. Are we more self confidant and secure in our relationships and therefore more resistant to falling for these unrealistic expectations? Perhaps.

I still stand by the "Ew gross" and raise it to a "Why do I have to try so hard to be sexy for my partner?" I don't believe it when people say that wearing uncomfortable lingerie and spike heels and swinging around on a large phallic object bolted to the floor is empowering, sexy and "for me" in any way. We are not celebrating our womanhood and being powerful and independent by doing something that is so clearly for men. I don't want to be sexy for my partner. I want to be sexy with my partner. There is a big difference in my book. Quite frankly, if I ever did try to swing from a pole my dancing would look more like the Elaine Bennis version of pole dancing, not the Carmen Electra variety.

What about those that claim there are fitness benefits to be had? If I want to strengthen my core muscles I will take a pilates class, fully clothed, dignity intact. If I want to dance to celebrate my femininity and womanhood, I will do so by bellydancing--an artform that celebrates the female form in all of its curvy powerful glory with no stilettos and large phallic objects in sight. As for being sexy with my partner as opposed to being sexy for my partner? Well, that stuff is none of your business!

I will go to the party, because I love my friend and am so very happy for her and her upcoming marriage. I will not dance on the pole. I will probably knit licorice thongs for everyone. I don't want to be a total party pooper --and undies made from candy are fun for all consenting adults.

Are you wondering what hubby thought of all this? He just laughed. I didn't marry a man who needs me to subjugate and demean myself for his enjoyment. We don't believe in spectator sports behind closed doors--we are full contact participants.

Happy Mother's Day Part 2

I hope everyone in blogland had a happy Mother's Day. My Mother's Day spread out over two days, lucky me. On Saturday my friend Poppins was ordered out of her home for top-secret Mom's Day crafting so we went shopping (I am always ready to help a friend in need--especially if it is a shopping emergency). I bought some yummy scrummy hand dyed Nova Scotian yarn destined to be a lovely lace scarf as well as a new book-not knitting or mommy related (The Time Traveler's Wife). The next day hubby baked me lemon pie and let me knit for hours. My wrists gave me hell for that one, but I don't regret it.

I also got to surf the web and found a new blog that all mommas who love gossip should read (Rebecca, I am looking in your general direction.) Mamarazzi is the place to go for celebrity snark put together by several blogging mamas.

Oh, check out my food blog for Crock-Pot Sloppy Joes. They feed a crowd and freeze well--great for emergency rations!!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! Have some flowers.

So Cute.

Here are the men of the house doing manly things.

Emmett followed step-by-step behind his dad and didn't miss a spot, even mowing under the shrubs and lifting his front wheels when he got to the sidewalk. When they were finished he carefully parked his lawnmower in the garage beside the big one. It was just too funny!

My first meme

From Crowjoy, who got it from Pete:

If you comment i will:

1.say something random i like about you
2.tell what song/movie reminds me of you.
3.i'll name something we should do together
4.i'll say something that only makes sense 2 u & me(or just me)
5.i'll tell my first, clearest memory of u.
6.i'll ask u something i've always wondered about u.
7.if i do all these things, you must post this on yr journal so you can do unto others as i have done to u.

In "real" news I am doing a calorie-burning happy dance because at my last weigh-in I found out I have lost over 9 lbs since joining Weight Watchers. I can almost justify breaking my no clothes-buying rule. I bought a frilly little dress at Le Chateau to wear to a wedding next month. C'mon, you know if you find something in that store and it fits you must snap it up because sure as anything it won't be there when you come back.

Gotta run--kids are calling.

New Questions

We had our first session with the Speech Pathologist today. As of this moment we now have many, many questions and no answers. Why are Emmett's orofacial muscles weak? How do we strengthen them? Why can he sit with a pen and fill a sheet of paper with tiny squiggles but cannot undress for a bath without a lot of help? Why does he focus intently on a toy, but won't make eye contact with his playmate? The speech pathologist seems to think his reactions to certain stressful situations are inappropriately intense. She also doesn't think he interacts with people in an age-appropriate way. This means more referrals and more waiting. One referral is with the occupational therapist in her department, and one is with a pediatrician who specializes in child development. We are in for a loooooong wait for the doc appointment. The OT will probably be in a week or two.
I am so happy we are starting to get the wheels in motion to get Emmett better, but I am so scared of these newly uncovered issues. I didn't realize how complex his situation was. I always saw the other problems but I was very quick to dismiss them--Moms are so good at looking at their children with rose-tinted glasses, we don't like having them removed.

What Kind of Knitter are You?

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Goddess. You are constantly giving and are unconcerned with reward, you simply want others to love knitting as much as you do. If someone wants to knit miles of novelty yarns, you are there for them. If someone wants to learn short row shaping, you can help. There are no taboos in knitting, only opportunities to grow. Everyone should have friend like you around if they want to learn to knit, and there's a good chance that your passion has rubbed off on a few others.http://marniemaclean.com
Take this quiz!








Quizilla |
Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Happy Birthday, Charlotte

On the day you were born you looked so worried and wise, like you had lived this life before and weren't sure you were happy you had to do it again. I also think that is why you gave me four hours of labour every night for a week before you finally decided it was ok to come out and join us.













Your brother tried to help as best he could, in his two-year old way.

You and your brother have taught each other a lot this past year. He taught you to crawl so you could keep up to him, you taught him how to make new sounds so you could talk to each other.
















It doesn't seem like that long ago that you were a tiny, helpless newborn, only wanting to be held and cuddled.

Now you have to do everything for yourself.



















You're never above taking a ride on Daddy's shoulders, though.

Happy, Happy First Birthday!!!

Decontamination time.

Well, we haven't gone 24 hours without something exploding out of Emmett, but he definitely seems better today, so it is decon time. I bleached the bathroom last night, and now it is time to gather up the toys and put them in the sunroom with the windows open and blast them with Lysol. I also have to mop every floor and shampoo the diningroom rug. I wish I could put bleach in the mop water, but I like my hardwood the colour that it is, so a good hot scrub will have to do. Will Lysol damage my leather furniture?
Yuck!!!!
I actually took Emm to the walk-in this weekend and the doc said as long as he is hydrated we must wait. (Saturday his pants exploded in my hair salon, and then when we got home he threw up in the garage, the back yard and our pack porch just like a college kid on Spring Break. He would have thrown up in the van but I grabbed him and got him out just in time.) The nurse at the clinic said that everyone else that has gone through this bug takes five days to get better. Today is day five. Think happy thoughts for us. Even though Charlotte didn't get the bug as bad as Emmett, I am still canceling her appointment for vaccinations this week--lets not pile too much on her plate, right?
I started to feel sick on the weekend too, but it passed quickly, thank goodness.
Yes, I am blogging to put off cleaning--whatch'a going to do about it???