Just Some Pictures

Things have been just a little crazy around here lately.

Can it just be summer already?!!  Seriously!!

So.  How about a few pictures.

Love these two boys.  Nice neck shot Sawyer.

This kid.  Love him.

Trying to bring the outdoors in.  Loving my new beach-inspired print-- ordered it a LONG time ago and it just came...

Speaking of the beach.  We went.

Sawyer's first trip.

  

 Talk much??

Sports Day!  Can't believe this kid has only a few days of Kindergarten left!

And... that's it.

Just a bunch of randomness

Spring sprung today.

I felt energized so I went grocery shopping.  First time I was outnumbered in the grocery store 3-1... I shudder just thinking about how terribly that could have gone wrong.  But we survived.  

Then I went to the park.  Picture me attempting to teach Caleb how to pump on the swing, while trying to keep Eme going on another swing, while repeatedly running over to the stroller to pop Sawyer's soother in to stop the squawking.

We got home and the doorbell started ringing.  All the kids in the neighbourhood love playing hockey with Doug and Caleb.  At about 1:00 they start ringing the doorbell every 10-15 minutes asking if Doug's home so they can play street hockey.  This goes on ALL afternoon.  No joke, my doorbell rang about 300 times today.  And you can imagine how a 7 year old would ring it-- ding! ding! ding! ding! ding!-- as many times as fast as possible.

Evenings of street hockey are now becoming a regular occurrence around here.  Emerson likes to think she's one of the boys.

Smiles have also been springing up around here too... Caleb and I spent a solid chunk of the afternoon doing anything and everything necessary to keep this little guy grinning...  can you blame us?

Made a trip to Home Sense.  They are always my go-to for awesome baskets (I seem to collect them) and lately they have not been disappointing.

I don't really keep toys in the kid's shared room as it tends to make things a little too crazy in there... but  they needed a place for their bed time stuffies and a few special items.  This basket seemed like the perfect fit...

And over the weekend we hung up a picture above each kid's bed.  They look cute-- but are also strategic.  We put them right over the switches for their lights... now they can't easily turn them on and off and on and off when it's bedtime without parental intervention.

I found a funky little print at Ikea for Caleb's side.  I didn't have anything for Eme so Doug painted her a big pink heart.  Makes me smile.

In other important news... my washing machine broke.  Not good.

Doug was sure he could fix it.  Just needed to order a part.  After walking into the garage to discover my washing machine (at least that's what I think it was) in many many pieces... unrecognizable-- I was worried.

But.  The part came.  Doug put it back together.  It worked.  Doug saved a bunch of $$ fixing it himself.  My hero.

While it was nice to have a legitimate excuse to ignore my laundry pile for 9 DAYS... I am now BURIED under a pile of smelly laundry that needs to be done.  Not sure if I'll be able to dig myself outta this... seems like the kids can make things dirty a whole lot faster that I can clean.

Wish me luck.

5 Weeks

Wow... tomorrow Sawyer will be 5 weeks old!  Crazy.  How have the last 5 weeks been?  I'd be lying if I said they were totally smooth sailing--  the combination of sleepless nights, another round of colds/sickness for everyone, kids that insist on starting their days at 5:30 am, and copious amounts of rain can be a wee bit exhausting.  But on the bright side, I feel like I've recovered pretty quickly this time around and Sawyer is a pretty great baby-- he eats well (and quickly!!), usually goes to sleep after feedings at night without a problem, only really cries when he's hungry or has a dirty diaper, and doesn't spit up-- it doesn't get much better than that!

Anyhow, I thought I'd just share a few new things I've learned along the way over the past few weeks, and a few things I've "re-remembered" from past experience...

1.  Babies who don't hate their carseats is a priceless gift

2.  Youtube videos on my phone are way way funnier during 3 am feedings than any other time of the day

3.  2 year old big sisters love love love their little brothers.  They can also be major smother-mothers-- Eme is constantly shoving the soother into his mouth, she loves to "play" with Sawyer in his crib, she makes sure the baby swing is always rocked extra vigorously, Eme thinks he must be covered with blankets at all times, and the other day I caught her peeling his eyelids back with her tiny little fingers as Sawyer was sleeping-- she was shouting, "He's awake Mama!!  He's looking at me!!"

4. On the other hand, 5 year old big brothers can be surprisingly super helpful.  Caleb has been so great with his little brother-- he's always willing to hold him, is very gentle, doesn't get irritated by crying, is willing to fetch things for me around the house, and is actually quite successful at calming Sawyer down when he's crying in the car-- turns out Sawyer really likes Caleb's rendition of the itsy bitsy spider.  It makes my Mama heart so proud.

5. My mom deciding to start potty training Eme the day I went into labor with Sawyer?  A priceless gift indeed.  I will admit that it is a little crazy taking a 2 year old to the potty 50 times a day when you've got a newborn in the house, but not having to by 2 sizes of diapers is so fantastic.

6.  Keurig machines are an absolute necessity if you are ever faced with a time when you need to live and survive on almost zero sleep.  Seriously-- best invention ever.  In the morning I'll be lying in bed hearing little feet running down the hall at 5:30 am and start to feel defeated-- and then, I remember that I can have instant hot (and awesome) coffee in about 15 seconds at the press of a button-- and suddenly the prospect of crawling out of bed is not so daunting anymore...

7.  Mini vans-- yup, I've got one now.  The jury's still out as to whether or not I'm going to love driving one for the next 15 years, but I must say that being able to strategically place your children in separate quadrants where they cannot reach each other is pretty fantastic.  Just saying...

8.  In the past 5 weeks I've started watching Duck Dynasty-- and I'm not afraid to admit it.  At first I was a little concerned that the lack of sleep was beginning to affect my sense of humour, but the more I watch it the more I laugh uncontrollably...  I feel like the Robertsons are very familiar to me... I feel like I know them in real life... I'm fairly certain that I know people like them back home and possibly in my family... it just makes it all the more funnier...

9.  The fact that Eme still cannot open closed doors is a rare and precious gift.  It is the only way that Sawyer can be completely safe in his crib...

10. Receiving sweet little notes from my 5 year old completely melt my heart.
 

 11.  Friends who stock your freezer with yummy (and dairy free!!) meals are lifesavers.  They are also wonderful, and thoughtful, and awesome, and pretty much the best thing ever :)

12.  French fries at Wendy's are also awesome... and so are photo ops of Caleb and I about to enjoy said french fries.

13.  Having Doug around during the day at times is the best thing ever.  I love that he's always willing to help out with the kids.  And last night he was totally willing to hang out at home with Sawyer so that I could go to my bible study without the distraction of a newborn-- it was so great.

14.  And to follow up on number 13-- babies that take a bottle on occasion so that you can leave the house for more than 2 hours at a time is pretty great.

15.  And to follow up on number 14-- my 5 1/2 year old electric medela breast pump is still going strong-- best investment ever.

16.  And finally... there's nothing better than a little sunshine.  The promise of springtime?  So exciting...

And there you have it-- a little glimpse into my life over the past 5 weeks.

It was kind of nice to take a little blogging break-- but I think I will be back soon-- there's been some progress made on a few projects around the house that I need to share!

What Just Happened??

Okay, so it's been a month... totally unintentional... and I'm totally not gonna apologize.  This pre-baby, crazy Christmas, been out-of-town season has totally kicked my blogging butt.  Don't worry-- I have no intentions of falling off the blogging bandwagon.  Sometimes a girl's just gotta take a little unexpected break.  Sooo.... what's been up around here lately?  Let's just do a little picture recap, shall we?

Over the past few weeks...

We got a wee bit of pre Christmas snow here in Abby... definitely snowman worthy.

Caleb begged me to let him continue with swimming lessons... even though I was so done with sitting on the side of the pool twice a week.  But, he finished yet another level a few days before Christmas and was a little sad to be done with lessons.  I'm going to wait until life settles down a bit before we decide to conquer the next level :)

Eme and I shopped and shopped.  Turns out she's as into shopping as her Mama is... no real surprise there.

I baked a zillion gingerbread cookies for the school bake sale-- torture for this gestational diabetic preggo.  And shocker-- I made it through the ENTIRE Christmas season without a SINGLE bite of Christmas candy/chocolate/baking goodness.  I decided I would make no exceptions... no compromises... otherwise I would likely slide down the slippery slope of sampling too many sweet treats and have trouble stopping.  Needless to say-- the ladies at the Diabetes Clinic LOVE me, and I will admit that it's nice to step on the scale and realize that I've only gained one pound in the last 7 weeks of being pregnant.  My non-exsistant waistline is gonna thank me later!!

The week before Christmas I finished moving the last of Eme's things out of her room and started prepping for baby #3.  Turns out gallery walls murder your drywall.  So I've got some patching and painting to do.  More on the baby room progress to come...

The "nesting" phase made a brief appearance.  It has since disappeared (darn it!).  I did manage to do a clean sweep of a few closets... all the kids crafty stuff found a new home as Eme has demonstrated the tendency to run with scissors and experiment with markers/paint on any and every surface of the house.

On the 25th we took the first flight out of town to head home to Saskatchewan for Christmas.  Doug sat with the kids giving me the most relaxing flight ever-- alone across the aisle free from kids-- glorious.  Best Christmas present ever.

The kids were so excited to be at Nana and Papa's-- and absolutely fell in love with their cousin.  Seriously... Eme tried to smother him.  Baby Toews #3... watch out.

Eme was a frequent helper in the kitchen.

My sisters and I did our annual boxing day shopping trip.  I bought... slippers.  So exciting, hey?  Seriously... it was the only thing that fit.

Guys... I turned 30.  And I have nothing to say about that.  Well, except that I should have actually combed my hair and washed my face before snapping an "I'm officially 30" self portrait.  Oh well... I guess it's all down hill from here anyways.

(side note-- I get a little weird-ed out taking self portraits and always end up looking like a crazy person-- sorry about that)

The kids had the most fantastic time bundling up and heading outside to play in some good old Sasky snow!!  Eme thought Caleb looked hilarious when he got all ready for a snowmobile ride... but soon she was bundled up just as good as he was...

And of course Daddy had a fantastic time playing in the snow and cruising around on the snowmobile too.  Just love this picture :)

And this one too!

And then this happened.

Like most households we were hit with the nastiest most violent flu.  It struck down EVERYONE except me and my Mom.  Honestly... I must have superhuman immunity or something.  After listening to the most awful and wretched sounds coming from every bathroom in my parent's house I thought I was a goner for sure.  I'm not taking any chances though... I booked myself in for a flu shot as soon we got home!

And now... back to normal life.  Doug's been back at work, Caleb heads back to school on Monday, and the baby is set to arrive in about 5 or 6 weeks.  My family doctor and the obstetrician I've been seeing are wanting to induce me sometime during the 39th week due to the gestational diabetes and  because I had an abruption during delivery with Emerson.  So... the countdown is on!  I have SO much to do in January... where to start!!?

An Update of Sorts

It's not even December yet... but things are already getting crazy around here.  It seems like I'm constantly running (but not really-- more like waddling) around town with a thousand things to do... which means I rarely have time to bring out my "real" camera....

thank goodness for iphones and instagram... right?  Here's what's new...

Eme's become a real chatterbox.  She talks all.day.long.  Just about every sentence starts with the word "where" and her favourite line is "where's daddy mom?"  She asks this question approximately 300 times a day.  Doug will be in the same room-- sitting right in front of her and she'll say "where's daddy mom?" about 10 times in a row.  It's cute.  It also drives me crazy.

The other day she brought me the globe and asked "Where's Canada?"  Apparently she's listening as I give Caleb many geography/history lessons... :)

Caleb continues to love school.  This smile says it all.  

I recently made up a crazy (and loud) "we love school!" cheer that the kids and I scream all the way to school.  It's a short drive... don't worry.  It get's Caleb so pumped up about his day that he is literally attempting to jump out the door while the car's still moving so he can run to his spot in line by his classroom door.

In other news...

I may or may not have created a swimming lesson monster.

Caleb is insanely passionate about his swimming lessons... and it's become apparent that I will tire of taking him to swimming lessons long before he's ready to take a break.  You'd think that he'd be tired after a long day at school... but twice a week he happily goes off with his instructor and literally jumps for joy the entire lesson with the hugest grin on his face.

I've also created a "mom... do my hair" everyday monster.

I curled Eme's hair for church one morning and now she thinks hair straighteners and hairspray should be the daily norm.  Oh dear. 

Over the weekend I started spraying some headboards I picked up for the kid's shared room.  They should be ready for action shortly!

Meanwhile... we moved both kids in together tonight even though their room isn't "ready".  They were quite excited (although Caleb does look like he's about to cry in this picture).  Let the sleepless nights begin!!

And tonight after the kids were tucked away in their shared room asleep in their beds... I stood in Eme's room and felt a teeny bit sad that she wasn't in there... 

So crazy to think that this room will be inhabited by another child soon!

October so far...

busy month.  here's what's been up around here...

spent thanksgiving weekend in whistler.  hot weather and outdoor pool at thanksgiving?  when does that ever happen?

boots weather arrived... Eme approves

fall weather means baking weather around here... Doug approves

purchased some usbourne activity cards-- draw on them with dry erase marker-- hours of fun

made a quick trip to the new west elm in vancouver and got a gorgeous kantha throw-- kids are not allowed to touch it

Eme got sick last weekend.  boo.

as of today (friday) I finally got caught up on laundry after Eme's "frow up" fest.  boo.

under cabinet lighting finally got installed.  yay!

Caleb's got a day off from school and decided to practice his letters.  he's loving kindergarten :)

And... I'm glad it's friday :)  how bout you?

Random-ness...

Just a few random things for you on this gloriously gorgeous September Friday...

We are concluding Caleb's first week of Kindergarten!!  He started out with two half days on Monday and Tuesday and the rest of the week has been full days.  Let me tell you, he's been a Kindergarten superstar.  He's not the most outgoing kid out there, so I was a little unsure of how he would react to being left at school ALL day.  But, he's totally put his brave face on in the mornings, even when I can tell he's feeling nervous, gets into line with the other kids, and waves goodbye to me and Eme as he marches through the door.  And each day when I pick him up he tells me that Kindergarten is great :)

I had a few unused canning jars kicking around so I decided to use em up and make some red pepper jelly!  Let me tell you-- red pepper jelly is one of my all time go to snacks-- some cheese, crackers, and pepper jelly?  Yum.  The best kind is always the homemade version-- I have yet to find a store bought version that compares.  I used a recipe off the Mennonite Girl's Can Cook site-- easy peasy.

Thank you all for your feedback on shared kids rooms-- I've been shopping around to find a few things and measuring up the room to see what's going to work.  First up-- I've gotta give the room a fresh coat of paint (Caleb really did a number on his walls by his bed).  Maybe I'll even attempt it this weekend?? Maybe if I consume enough Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi??  We'll see.

I'm a little sad to say goodbye to Caleb's room... I've always loved his dresser/shelves space... cluttered little boy goodness.  But, gotta make room for....

... this little lady.  Who's been having a whole lot of alone time with Mama while Caleb's in school.  She love to shop... atta girl.  We hit the stores and the next thing I know she's decked out in bracelets and necklaces or she's on the floor trying on a pair of pants.  We're going to have fun together.

And... the bump this week.  It's growing... and that baby is moving in there!  I seriously need to get me some elastic pants... I've outgrown almost all of my regular jeans... just have the pinks and my green gap jeggings left...  but I hate maternity clothes.  They always look a little lame.

Oh, and my hardware came for the kitchen!!  I decided to skip the cheapies and go straight for the amazing ones... they really were the perfect fit for my kitchen.  Can't wait for them to go on!  Too bad my cabinetry guy's out of town for the weekend... guess it's going to have to wait a few days!

So, it's just me and kiddos over the next days... gonna have to get creative to keep them entertained!  Happy weekend everyone!