I know. I said it again, and I did it again. I promised I'd post more often, and I didn't. I think I've averaged about 1 post/week.

But there are things going on here that I don't blog about. I'm not one of those bloggers who post every detail from their lives. I don't think anything is wrong with that however in my case I tend (in person anyways) to share too much and only think later "why did it take me 100 words to answer when I could have answered in 15?". I didn't want to have to keep editing my posts so a few weeks after Jakob was born I stopped describing the minutia of our daily lives and stuck to some basics, and, of course, my knitting. That means I haven't always blogged about the little things that happen, or that are bothering me.

Lately there has been a lot going on.

I'm going to try to lay this out fast because it is already 1:30 am, I have another 2 hrs of work on the computer to do before I can go to bed, and I haven't slept more than 3 hrs/night for the last 3 nights.

Here's the deal:

-I've been dealing with the mastitis. I've felt fine since I was put on the antibiotics but my doc was concerned about a duct that refuses to unblock, so I've had to run to her office twice a week. I had to go to the hospital for an ultrasound (supposedly fine) and might need to go for draining when I get back.

-I'm leaving tomorrow morning for 2 weeks. My family is taking a cruise and I'm not bringing Jakob with. (But there are people staying at our houses- any would-be robbers take note). This has been a very difficult decision and one that wasn't made lightly. Long story short his doctor advised against it as he is too young for the hepatitis vaccines and the ship doctors aren't trained for babies, nor will there be baby-safe medicines on board. Plus if something happens we would be stuck out in the middle of the ocean.

-This decision has caused me a lot of stress, primarily because my son refused to take bottles. Refused. I was going to leave him to wean cold-turkey with my mother in law but had a very sudden change of heart Friday night and woke up Saturday morning determined to make him go cold turkey myself. Saturday he cried and slept and cried and slept and drank 1 bottle under much duress and after a lot of soothing at 6:30pm then slept all night. Sunday was mostly a repeat of Saturday. Monday he drank 2 bottles with minimal fighting. Today he drank 4. You need to pin his arms down (or he'll push you away) and force the nipple into his mouth but if you're quick it only takes 30 seconds and once the nipple is in his mouth he drinks. He'll even hold the bottle on his own and gobble it down. It's almost like he forgets that it is the source of his food so he refuses it completely until you stick it into his mouth, then he remembers and is ok. The bottle/no boob/will my son drink or dehydrate himself stress has only begun to lessen today.

-I have never been away from Jakob for more than 3 hourse (not counting sleeping over night). I don't know how I will make it 2 weeks without him. I will try to hold it together, but am already missing him so terribly.

-I've had to take care of everything. Packing Jakob for my inlaws', packing Yannick, packing me, writing/sending our holiday cards, wrapping gifts, making lists of Jakob's schedule, doctor info, etc to send with him, making sure dry cleaning or shopping was done before Christmas and before the trip, printing our boarding passes, making sure we had our passports, etc... You name it, if it was necessary to be done for either of us, Jakob, our house or our trip, I took care of it.

All in all there have been a lot of balls in the air these last few weeks and I've been doing everything I could to juggle them without hurting myself. I know I will get a much-deserved chance to rest in the upcoming days and I will take advantage of it, even while my heart is here at home with my son.

I don't want to make another promise that life won't get in the way because let's face it- that's what life does best. But please excuse my absences and have a wonderful holiday season and a very happy New Year and I'll see all of you (those I read and those who read me) in January.

Take care, everyone.

According to What to Expect the First Year:

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?

Here's Mommy with Jakob at 27 weeks. (2 weeks ago).
I know I still haven't posted the one from this past Thursday (28 wks) and...well...you're not getting one. I managed to get Yannick to take 3 photos for me and all 3 suck. :)
On Friday Jakob and I had music class, then we went into town to go visit my grandmother. On the way in I saw this Plymouth Voyager in front of me. Nothing against the car...but dude..."pimp"? You're driving a Voyager!
I forgot to post this photo from Wednesday. Robyn, Sean, Jakob and I went to the movies and saw Enchanted, which was very cute. I love how Jakob looks irritated ("leave me alone Ma, I'm here with a friend!") and Sean looks guilty ("I told my mom I was at the library!".
Yesterday was Dec 1st so we introduced Jakob to his first Advent Calendar. I think it is hysterical that I (Jewish) bought this for Jakob, and had to explain to Yannick (Catholic) what it is for. Of course, we're not letting Jakob eat the chocolates, but it makes for a cute photo op!
Finally, in this collection of random photos, here's a skein (actually 2 smaller skeins together) of Hand Maiden's Rumple, 100% silk yarn. I made a joke to Yannick the other day about how he'd gone to our LYS 2 weeks ago to buy me yarn as a way of making up for something but left empty-handed, and never went back. Friday he left after supper telling me he had an errand to do, and he came home with this! I had been raving about my mom's gift, which was knit with that pale, almost banana-green Hand Maiden Sea Silk (70% silk, 30% seacell) and Yannick wanted me to have something for ME that was out of a yarn as nice. Isn't it pretty? The colors are actually much deeper in real life but the lighting sucked when I took the photo.

In other news from this week:
-Jakob can roll over both ways (left or right), from his tummy to back and vice versa. Gonna have to start baby-proofing the house!
-Yannick's dad came over yesterday and today to help work on the den. Still a few more weeks' worth of renos to do, but at least it's finally gotten started
-I hand wound the Rumple with Yannick's help and started the scarf/shawl but needed to pick up some pointier needles (to get into those k2togs in the boucle-esque yarn) so I only have an inch or so completed and no photos yet.
-I knit up to the first repeat in the Chain Melody but forgot to take a photo
-I don't know if Jakob is teething or growing, but for 2 nights now I've had to feed him at 4am to get him to stop crying, plus he cries for 2 hrs before finally taking any of his daily naps. This can NOT continue...
-I started a pair of Pocket Book Slippers for myself (I'll post the link in my next post with some photos). I went stash-diving for yarn and found a soft mauve in the proper gauge in the stash I inherited from my grandmother. I got halfway through the first slipper last night when it hit me- I only had 1 50g ball of yarn...and 2 feet. Further exploration of my stash got me to find out that the Patons Shetland Chunky I'd used to knit Jakob's vest was the exact same weight and yarn content (75% acrylic/25% wool) as my Bubbie's vintage stuff. I had most of a 100g ball of the gray left, so I completely undid my slipper and started over, working the new pair in 2 row stripes. The pale gray and pale purple actually go well together, in an almost old-fashioned way, which makes me happy that I could find a use for my Bubbie's yarn and transform it into something I would use and have to remember her with. I think I explained this really backwards and I'm too tired to go back and rewrite this paragraph...but I'm glad I was able to mix the two yarns and come up with new socks that look old-fashioned and thus will remind me of my grandmother.
-I just used the word "thus". I need a nap.