Funeral - April 30

Today I went to my first funeral as an adult. It was the first funeral where I was the adult. I didn't have my parents there and it wasn't a member of my family. 

It was a funeral I didn't have to go to but wanted to go to.

We took E along. She's been teething and acting a bit off of her "happy with anyone who will smile at her" attitude and so I hoped that at least being with us might keep her content. 

Luckily she slept for the first third of the funeral and was a dream the rest of the time. Phew. Embarrassed parent crisis averted. 

A lot of my friends with small children had left their little one at home and so as one of the few adults who brought a baby along, I would have been pretty embarrassed to have to leave the service.

E started squealing with delight signing at the end, during the music of the slideshow. She was thrilled to be singing but I was frantically trying to shush her with anything I could shove in her mouth so people would stop turning.

It was a nice service, sad, but funerals are. 

Dressed up for the funeral. 

On a thrilling, totally unrelated side note, I am meeting girl friends for lunch tomorrow. 

Alone. No kids. No sharing. No dodging baby hands.

I'm so so excited!! It has been much too long since I've had a "girls date."

Kim

7 months - April 29

E is now 7 months old. I feel like I want to puke. 
I find every new milestone so much harder to accept this time around. It's evidence of my baby growing up. I want her to stay a baby. 
And only 4 more months of mat leave?! How did that happen??


With J, I was looking forward to him growing up. I couldn't wait for each new stage. I enjoyed each new stage more than the last. He just got more fun! 
Now, the second time around, I'm more aware of just how fast time flies. 


On a happier note. E is truly such a joy. She's teething right now but unless you know her well, you'd have no idea! 
I love to watch her and her brother interact. She's now got little "chirps" she uses to get his attention and she waves her hands and stomps her feet when she's excited. I'm not even sure when that started, maybe just this week. She is changing so quickly, I can hardly keep up. 

7 months old!

Like Father, like Son.

 J has a big noggin'. It's no secret. I like to think it is to hold his extra large brain!

I knew his head was a bit large (97%) when he was a baby, but as my only child and nearly everyone else I knew had candy apple headed children too, he looked perfect to me. 

The summer he was 6-9 months, he needed a 2-3 yr size hat - sure okay, no big deal. 

8 months

Last summer, when he was 18-24 months, his hat was a 6-8 yr size. Yep. A little hard to find a hat in 6-8 yr size that still ties on like little kids require. But I found one and a few other cute "little -man" hats, so no big deal again. 

Last summer, 20 months old. 

This year, I was able to buy J and Daddy matching hats. Not just close... matching ... the same hat! 

Banana Republic. One size S-M and one M-L. 

Crazy.

Banana Republic, size S/M

I admit it. I like to dress "my boys" alike. 

Before having J, I would have never expected to be one of "those" kind of mom's. I even made fun of my sister for it -before I had my own little boy (sorry L!)

Now it's my favourite thing to shop for. "Mini me" little man clothes for J. I had no idea they'd be wearing clothes form the same store so soon :) 

E got her new hat for Easter. She fits a perfect 6-12 month size hat now!! 

Enjoy the sunshine and the need for a hat!! 

Kim

Yard work - April 26

My yard was in rough shape! 

That is, until Monday. 

C did so much yard work Monday. It was amazing. I can't even believe how much he did. J will tell you he helped too. Lots. 

Only a few things are coming up but now I can see where they should be! 

I love my Swedish Aspens but they drop their leaves really late, always after the snow is here for the winter and so my yard is covered by dead and decaying leaves, caught in the plants. 

There are signs of spring though. A few plants are coming back. (They have since been de-leaved) 

Chives

My daffodils are way behind

My poor bird house. The wren nest from last year is still inside. Apparently a $10 house from Michaels is not made to actually live outside.  

The yard looks so much better now, I can hardly believe the difference.

With the grade of the yard moving the water to the middle of the yard and then down the sides, it's pretty soggy but hopefully a few more warm days and we'll see some green grass! 

Kim

Pizza - April 25

I really love to cook. Most days. Okay, some days.
Wait. Let me rephrase. As long as I have the ingredients I need, I don't have to run to the store instead of nap time, I have some free time to prepare and I have help to keep little hands away from the oven ... then I LOVE to cook. 
I love watching cooking shows, reading food blogs and trying new things. 


One such great experiment was grilled pizza. 
It turned out so great, we haven't gone back! 
It's better than store bought and as long as you have your ingredients ready to put on your pizza, it cooks in about 5 minutes (not including the time to make the dough, I do that from scratch too).

We usually do different pizza's, depending on the ingredients in our fridge. 
Todays variations were; 
1) Tomato, basil and mozzarella pizza
2) Proscuiutto, artichokes and goat cheese. 


Both tasted amazing. 
To make: 
1) Roll dough into two, thin pizza shapes. 
2) Sweep garlic infused olive oil over the top of both doughs (this will be the side that goes down on the BBQ)
3) Let cook for about 2-3 minutes, oil side down until it is light brown and bubbly. 
4) While it is cooking, sweep garlic oil over the new top. 
5) Flip. 
6) Quickly put your toppings on your pizza. Make sure they are thinly sliced so they heat. 
7) Cover and let heat. Until the bottom is light brown. 


Enjoy!

Easter weekend -April 24

We had a great Easter weekend this year. 

Our plans changed. We were supposed to spend the weekend in Canmore with Family 21. I'm starting to feel like our trips to Canmore are cursed with a sick boy every time! 

Christmas? Check! Family Day? Check! and now Easter!

Despite the change of plans, our weekend was great. 

J was still feeling better. No relapses. Hallelujah!

Friday (and Saturday) we spent the day looking for a bike for Jude. 

I wanted to get a bike before he was much older and before they were sold out for the summer. 

A bit of an ordeal. I wasn't sure $120 (or more) for a bike without pedals was reasonable, we thought it might be feasible to buy a little "cheap" bike and take the pedals off for this season. 

We don't know anything about bikes other than how to ride them and so we decided to look round... bike stores and department stores... with two kids in tow... for two days... not my brightest move.  Sorry kiddos.

So after lots of looking, we ended up at a real bike store buying J a real pedal-less run bike. 

He loves the idea of it. He doesn't seem to love riding it much yet. That figures! 

Easter Eve I was out at 10pm looking for a basket for the egg hunt the next morning. I couldn't find even one! Maybe I was at the wrong store. But I did find the fake plastic grass and decided we' make it work. 

I ended up using mixing bowls and making nests for the goodies and then J used the nest to put his eggs back into. 

It worked great and he's non the wiser. 

E's view for the egg hunt.

E trying very hard to get into that egg. 

C and I left the kids with my parents and got a bit of shopping/ running around done then headed back there for turkey dinner. 

My all time favourite! 

The day was so much for beautiful than I was even expecting. Maybe I had just forgotten how wonderful "mid-teens" feels after such a long winter. 

 J trying out his new bike. Still unsure.

 Easter bubbles. Enjoying the sun!

The kids in their Easter outfits.

J's words of the day. We've been watching a lot of playoff hockey around here. 

I hope you had a great Easter. 

Kim

Words - April 23

It's amazing the "little things" you miss while kids are sick and not themselves. 
We hadn't seen J spell any words in a whole week. 
I'm glad he's back! 
He commentates his entire life. He never stops talking. I've got to try and catch him on video, it's so cute. 

"I'll spell milk like this ... and then put my milk right here, see?"

"Mommy, come see what I spelled! Hot. Air. Balloon. Come here, take a picture!"

"Look, I can spell leaf"

Happy Easter Eve. 

Kim

Lonely - April 22

You know, I realize that J was very ill this week. And as much as he was a trooper for pulling through with flying colours, I hadn't realized how much J's illness would effect E. 


She's never been without J. Ever. I mean sure, an hour here and there if I could sneak out for groceries with just E, but really, since she's been old enough to be "aware," she has always had J at her side. 


This past week was tough on us all. We pretty much couldn't leave J's side for fear of him being sick or just being so weak he'd fall over. The day I spoke with my doctors office and they told me to take to the hospital right away, I left her for almost 8 hours while I dealt with J. That's the longest I had ever been away from her. By probably 5 hours!
E was so patient. She sat quietly, watching J, trying to get his attention, chirping at him and patiently waiting for him to come over and smother her in hugs and kisses. She waited and waited. For an entire week. 
I've realized these past two days just how much she missed him. 
To see the two of them together just melts my heart. If having kids was just about that, I'd have a whole football team! 

I hope their love lasts forever! 

Kim

Finally - April 21

Finally. J is feeling better! 
After another long evening at the hospital, he's home and seems 100% back to himself. 


I took him to our family doctor yesterday and she was really concerned about his lethargy. He couldn't do anything for himself and it had been going on since Saturday. I tried to tell her his energy that day was an improvement, then she was really worried. She said children can succumb to dehydration. 
She gave me a plan. He had to drink 500 ml before 5pm. It was noon. Otherwise he was to go back in for more hydration. 
Sure, I thought he was doing so much better. He hadn't thrown up in over a day, the diarrhea had stopped too. He wasn't contagious anymore. Obviously he's better! 
I was wrong. 
I took him to visit Grandma 21 briefly while we picked up E from her house. J wasn't able to walk on his own so taking two babies to the doctor wasn't going to happen. 
I stopped at Second Cup to buy him a hot chocolate. The doctor had told me he needed sugar and fluids, hot chocolate seemed perfect. 
Of course, he wouldn't drink it. He couldn't even keep his balance and fell off a kitchen chair, flat on his face on the tile floor at Grandma's. 
I brought him home and put him down for a nap. Despite his need to fluids, he couldn't keep his eyes open. 
He slept for over 3 hours. I tried to wake him 3 times and each time I literally couldn't keep him awake. His eyes rolled back and he fell asleep again. 
Then I was worried!
I had C take him back to the Stollery after work. I definitely had not gotten 500ml into him, maybe 50ml. 
This time they got in much faster than Monday. C said the doctors were great. This time instead of IV hydration, they were thinking they'd need to put a tube down his throat to rehydrate him and allow his bowels to get the food and get moving again. 


They were able to give him an ultimatum. First, they'd try oral rehydration. 5ml of pedialyte every 2 minutes for an hour. He freaked out and wouldn't take the pedialyte but agreed to have milk instead.
C gave him 5ml of milk, every 2 minutes for an hour. 
He perked right up, I could hear him singing songs in the background of my phone updates. Wow. What a relief. 


It is amazing what calories and fluids can do!! 
He got home late last night, wanted to play with E and gave her hugs. I saw my first real smile in a week! 

J having breakfast this morning. I don't think I've ever been so pleased to see him scarf down his Cheerios!! 

Grinder - April 21

Last week, I tried to grind up some "people food" for E using my mini Cuisinart chopper. It didn't go well. I was only chopper a tiny about and so it turned out it wasn't even enough food to reach the blades. 
I fed it to her anyway, it didn't go well. Lots of chunks and gagging ensued. 


Have you seen one of these?

At the stage E is at, they are the greatest things! It is only three pieces, light and really portable. It allows you to grind up your dinner in a flash! 

This may look a little gross to you, but to a baby girl, mashed potatoes, carrots, roast beef and gravy all in one neat, easy to swallow package is heaven. 

All I had to do was turn the handle! 

It was a little thick to begin with. More gagging. Lovely. 

Once I added a bit more gravy, she was happy as a clam. Ate the whole thing!! 

I like that I can expose her to a variety of flavours while she's still just on baby food consistency. 

-Kim

Tired - April 19

J continues to be sick. 

We are exhausted to say the least. I can't even imagine how he must feel ... well I have an idea. Seeing him flopped all over the house is enough to make your knees weak. 

If he doesn't turn a corner soon, we'll be back to the hospital for more hydration.

I think being in the health care field and knowing how dangerous dehydration can be makes it easier for me to try and stay on top of it, but it makes it harder knowing what we are fighting when he refuses to drink anything. 

He went to bed at 6:30 last night. 

Hopefully this is it. 

No words of the day since Friday ... so sad. 

Veruca Salt - April 18

I met a real life Veruca Salt today. It was HORRIBLE!
Do you remember her? From Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory?! I don't remember Vercua Salt in the Johnny Depp version, but I mean the original movie. 
She was in the waiting room of the ER today. A horrible little girl. British accent and over and over with the "but Mummie," and "but I don't. want. to!" and not to be out done by "I want to leave straight away! Take me home!" and the incessant whining in a british accent. 
Seriously I was ready to loose it. 
It's bad enough having your own sick kid at the hospital but having to listen to this Mummie try to console the whinyest little girl I have ever seen was about enough to make me leave ... or at least find a new seat far away. 
Too bad the waiting room was completely full. 
2 HOURS I had to listen to them both. 


I think if Jude had been whining too and not passed out on my lap, I might have moved or even stood somewhere else. 


Phew! Rant over! It's been a long day. 

J waiting while I ran around preparing to take him to the hospital. 

Lots of wires to keep a check on his ticker.

IV in and running and alert enough to read his favourite story!  Hooray!

This flu is a nasty one. 

Remember the importance of hand washing!! 

Kim

Poor sick boy - April 17

My poor boy has the flu. 
I' m not sure where he picked it up. With the speed it came on, I'd have thought it was almost immediate but we hadn't left the house in two days prior. 
Friday, he threw up from 4:30 until 9:30 when I finally decided to head to the Stollery. 
We had an episode similar to this last year and we waiting all night before taking him in in the morning. This time I didn't want to wait so long. 
I called my mom for company and a bucket holder for J. We made a stop past Health First on our way and it wasn't very busy so we stayed there. 
It took us until 1am to get home but they got him all "fixed up." The medication Zofran/Ondansetron  they gave him is used on almost all my cancer patients but I see it much more effective on my little guy. Lucky for me!! 
He slept until noon Saturday and we had to wake him at 10:30 this morning for breakfast. 
He's been cuddling or sleeping now since he's been home. Almost two full days. He hasn't left his Daddy's arms! 
He's so tired and dehydrated he can barely sit up without needing to lean on something.
It is so sad. He's been drinking lots of water but can't seem to catch up. 


I know I complain about him being "busy" some days but I'd love to have my busy boy back. 
We have been lucky enough to keep this contained to J (fingers crossed) with lots of hand washing and LOTS of laundry! 

E keeping me company while the boys slept and I caught up on laundry.

I hope he's "back" soon. 

-Kim

Helper - April 15

J has been asking to help around the house a lot lately but I find it hard to think of things he can actually help with. 

Before Christmas, he started asking to help with sweeping but he'd use my broom to knock things down off the kitchen counters, so Santa brought him a mini sized broom and a dustpan. Unfortunately now he just uses that to knock things off the counter too, so it has been hidden. 

He helps move clothes from the washer into the dryer. 

He's been trying to help in the kitchen but that usually involves him standing on a chair watching while I worry he'll get cut or burnt. 

I need ideas on what he can SAFELY help with! 

I found a task for him yesterday. Watering plants!

Yes, he made a mess but the water on the floor helped wash off the mess he made during lunch. He had a great time so it was worth it. 

Any suggestions on tasks I can give a 2.5 yr old to help with around the house?? 

Kim

Where is spring? - April 14

Don't get me wrong. I was expecting this storm. C has been away on a work related trip every April since he started working and it has ALWAYS snowed while he's gone. This year we were off by a week, he was gone last week and it snowed this week. But I was expecting it. 
It doesn't make it any easier to handle. 
I was hoping that since there was so much snow left in my yard, that might be enough for Mother Nature. I was mistaken. 
Luckily, we got the kids a warm winter sweater (massively on sale) when Christmas was over and the rest of the world  was starting to welcome spring. Who knows how long we'll need them. I already had to get E a few more long sleeved shirts because it was supposed to be spring by now. Short sleeves are not going to cut it any time soon!

Super cute sweater. A bit big but adorable for $3

J keeping his snack away from the dog. This sweater also should fit next winter. 

J was so excited to have his picnic table out

J's word of the day.

Think warm thoughts! 

Kim 

Always Late! - April 13

I am AWAYS running behind. I hate it. It stresses me out and leaves me feeling frazzled all day.
No matter how hard I try, I. am. always. late! 
I am tempted to set my house clocks all ahead 10 minutes but that seems extreme. 
Today I had a 6 month checkup for E. 
Taking J with me to the doctors office, even when he's sick, is a chore. He touches everything, opens all the drawers, pulls stuff out, climbs on the table, stands on the rollie doctor chair... phew. Makes me tired just writing it. 
I'd need 6 hands to keep him still. Needless to say, I opted to leave him with Grandma 21 while I took E in for her checkup. 
All was running well this morning. I had both kids fed and ready with plenty of time. I should have turned off the tv! 
Trying to get J to do anything with the tv on is literally like talking to a wall.


I got J dressed a bit later than I should have. I see that now. With a 11:30 appointment and two kids to get out the door, and one to drop off across town, I should have been in the car at 11:00, max, instead I was getting J dressed at 11:00. Then I remembered the potty!
Ugh. The potty. 
Don't get my wrong, I love having one less diaper to change but the potty thing is a big time sucker, especially when you are running behind. 
Of course he needed a longer than just a minute, it's Murphy's law right?! 
I left the house then at 11:15, having to still drop J at Grandma's house. 
I essentially had to drive by the door and throw him out of the car. 
I feel like it ALWAYS happens that way and I feel so guilty. I can't stop in on the way and say hello -just run to the door, throw him inside and run back to the car!  "J, be good. Okay, bye!"

We arrived a few minutes late but didn't miss our appointment window. Luck for me, parking wasn't an issue today as it usually is. 


I'm not sure how to retrain my brain to be on time, I really don't. 
Any hints?! 


It's so hard to leave the house an hour in advanced when you have a baby to feed but maybe that's my only hope. 
I'm annoyed with myself. I need to improve my time management skills! 


-Kim

Jude is thrilled he now has a letter mat at Grandma 21's too. 

E visiting at Grandma 21's.