Spring Urges

Something needed to be done. It was cluttered, disorganized and full of relics.
My closet.

Now a big bag of clothes sits ready to donate to the clothing swap at church this month.

Things are looking tidy!

Look at all those empty hangers waiting to be replenished. Looks like a little shopping is needed this spring. I didn't get to buy anything last year due to the bump so now I'm REALLY ready for some new duds. Those bags on the floor are Liam's outgrown clothes. I'm just waiting for some friends and relatives to have their babies so I can pass them on!

Keith's side doesn't look so bad but really it's full of stuff that he never wears. How can I ever convince him to purge his half of the closet? Sigh......he is not fond of purging like his wife is!

Food, Glorious Food!

I just finished reading this book. It's a very good book. To me, it's stuffed full of common sense but sadly I think many parents (although well-intentioned) really don't nourish their children as well as they could. Food nutrition has always been of interest to me. I have to publically thank my mom for teaching me to fill my plate with color. This is an easy way to ensure you are getting a variety of foods and vitamins. She would also inform us frequently about which vitamin or mineral was in the food were were eating at that particular time. My mom didn't feed us much processed food except for Kraft Dinner. You could look through the cupboards at home and get rather frustrated at the lack of food (ready-to-eat variety) to eat YET she could whip up amazing dinners with all the ingredients she had on hand. Thank you mom! I now find myself telling my kids all about the different vitamins and how they help our bodies when I serve a meal to them.

I have found that feeding one's children is a sensitive topic...I am not pointing fingers and I don't mean to offend. I would just encourage all the moms out there to keep on serving good 'real' food that isn't flash frozen, pre-packaged or wrapped up in a crinkly bag as often as they can. Your children will be better for it in the long run. Save those foods for treats because we ALL deserve a treat on occasion.

The basic premise of the book is: You are the parent....You decide what they eat...they decide how much.

Good reading.

Play Time

Liam had his first 'play-date' yesterday. I was invited to lunch with a very dear girlfriend of mine. We have known each other since we were five years old. She has a gorgeous son named Mason who is 10 months. I can't say the boys 'played' but they were interested in each other. As you can see Liam looks a bit concerned and Mason is having a grand time!

Half Way to ONE!

Surprise! It's your 6 month birthday baby boy!

You are a most beautiful baby!

You have great powers of concentration!

You have an obsession with your feet!

And we LOVE YOU!

Feeling Better But NOT Better

March 11 ~ an evil bug attacks me and I am feverish, achey and having the worst sore throat I can ever remember

March 13 ~ go to Doctor to get a swab done to test for Strep

March 20 ~ FINALLY feeling like myself again and happy that no news is probably good news in regards to swab test

March 23 ~ Dr's office calls to have me come in to 'discuss' test results

March 24 ~ Indeed it was strep and I am now on antibiotics for seven days!

Gotta love the efficiency of the Canadian Health Care system!!!

A Taste of What's to Come

On Saturday the sun shone! I'm really glad I've been busy this winter with the baby because it's taken my mind off the fact that we've had the worst weather ever.

We couldn't help but leave the house and take a nice long walk in the semi-warm sunshine.

I received a wonderful MEC backpack as a shower gift and this was Liam's first time trying it out. We never had one for Nathan but we had borrowed one when Chad was small. We used it so often that we knew when Liam came that we definitely wanted to get one for ourselves. He seemed to quite enjoy the view from way up high and even took a short nap at the end of our walk.

Party Hearty

Nathan had his six best buddies for his party this year. I must say I'm really proud of his choice of friends. They are all fantastic kids! We went to the local wave pool for a few hours of swimming. Thanks Kori for bringing your camera as I forgot mine!



I'm not sure what Nate was doing in this picture but it's kinda funny. It's like he can't believe how many candles are on his cake! Just wait until you're my age, buddy!
It was Blake's birthday yesterday so we had to sing for him as well. Thanks for sharing your special day Blake!

Pizza, pop and cake. What more can you ask for? Actually I was so happy the rain stopped in time for the kids to burn off all their energy after supper in the yard. They had a blast whacking each other with light sabers. Boys!

Celebrating

Hanging out with Grandad before supper. The ceiling fan never fails to amuse the babies of the family!

Oh a delightful Black Forest Cake for 'afters'. Never a disappointment!

Look at all those candles! He blew them all out so there will be no girlfriend this year.

Us....our little family.

11

Happy 11th Birthday Nathan!!!

How the heck did you get to be so old? How the heck did I get to be so old for that matter!

Nathan is a wonderful kid. An easy baby from the start. Our first experience with parenthood such a joy with a boy that was all smiles and slept like an angel from the get go. He was a clever little lad who kept us in stitches over his expressions. He did assert himself quite strongly around four years but never was 'horrible'. (or do those memories just fade?)

Nathan loves to be a help to people. He doesn't balk when I ask him to help with with various chores. He's an excellent gardener, an avid bookworm, a gaming enthusiast and a wonderful son, brother, grandson, nephew, and friend.

We look forward to seeing Nathan move from his boyhood into a young man. Those hormones are already stirring and we can see things are going to be pretty interesting around here for quite a while!

Happy Birthday Nate....we love you!

A great big brother the first time around....just as he is now with Liam

A handsome boy!

He can be intense at times!

But is full of love and affection.

My three wonderful boys!

How We Are

Being sick is the pits.

I had some sort of virus attack me Wednesday afternoon. It completely wiped me out all of Thursday. It was so bad that Keith had to stay home from work to take care of Liam...I was useless. My throat felt like I was swallowing a golf ball with razor blades. The aches, chills and fever made me want to die. Today the fever is gone but I feel quite weak still. The throat still hurts something fierce and I did go to the doctor to get a swab done to test for strep. The only good thing is that I can't really eat solids so I have dropped a few pounds. Bonus.

So much for doing something fun with the kids this weekend! Not only am I not up to it, Liam is still needing his treatments every four hours so we need to stick close to home. The doctor also checked Liam today and he is improving. What isn't so good is that she feels he could possibly have asthma. She has referred us to a pediatrician to sort out Liam's breathing issues. That appt. isn't until the end of April so until then we'll just hang tight.

I am not often sick so I feel like this winter was particularly bad with one cold, one flu and now this whatever I have. We are so much looking forward to a warm and healthy summer!

Relapse

Oh Liam why do you do this to us?!

Liam caught a mild cold in the first half of February. It ran it's course and we thought that was the end of it. For the second half of February until now he's had a bit of a rattle or wheeze you could say. You know how it sounds when you need to clear your throat. Liam would cough a time or two and it would clear up. It wasn't anything serious....at least that's what my mother's intuition told me. My mother's inutition is apparently defective.

Today he was raspy all day. It was very phlegmy sounding when he breathed. I still was dithering on what to do about it because in all other respects he appeared completely healthy. Robust, hungry, rosy-cheeked, smiling, squealing and all that delicious baby behaviour. Keith came home from work tonight, heard him breathing and made an immediate decision to take him to the local walk-in. I was skeptical because we haven't had much luck with walk-in clinic doctors. But this time we lucked-out with a great doctor. The doctor on duty was our regular GP's associate. I've met her a few times in the past and have a great feeling about her. She got Liam's history, listened to his chest and sent Keith with a referral letter straight to ER for x-rays. Once Keith got to the ER he was fast tracked through triage and saw the attending physician very quickly. The x-ray wasn't great but it wasn't bad enough to admit him. Thank-you God! He's was given a prescription for the same meds he was on back in January. Also, the doctor gave strict instructions for the future. When Liam gets any sort of cough, wheeze, rattle etc to take him to the doctor pronto. That way we can get the Ventalin and treat him before it gets worse. We will need to invest in a nebulizer since this is going to probably be Liam's weak point in his health for a few years at least.

When Keith got home with Liam you should have heard the squeals of delight from that baby! One wouldn't think a 5 month old would miss his mom and brothers so much but if you could have seen him...it was a sight to see.

Braggin' Rights

Friday was report card day!

I was fully confident Chad would get an excellent report (and he did)...he's consistently doing really well and his teacher tells me all the time how much she enjoys Chad. No worries there.

I really wasn't sure what I could expect from Nathan though. He has had a new teacher since the beginning of the term and I haven't quite figured him out yet. He seems nice and easy going but appears to be inconsistent in his marking and expectations of his class. That being said Nathan does like him so that's what counts I guess. We found that we rode Nathan really hard this term and it did cause a fair amount of stress most evenings.

Anyhow, immediately after school on Friday while we were sitting in the car letting the after school traffic jam die out I ripped open Nathan's report card. I just couldn't wait until we got home. Much to my delight I found that he had FIVE 'A's (Language Arts/Math/French/Social Studies/PE) and THREE 'B's (Science/Fine Arts/Health & Career)!!! I quickly showed him and the look of pure delight on his face totally made those horrible homework nights worth it. He was so very proud of himself. Honor roll status!

Of course the teacher's comments were a bit weird. Stuff about Nathan not achieving his full academic potential blah blah blah. I don't care...to me that was a top notch report card!

Both our boys are very clever and we're just so pleased with them both!

Basement Boy

It occured to me that I totally forgot to post pictures of Nate's basement abode. He's completely comfortable in his new room and is really enjoying his own space. I wish we had an intercom system though because it now takes much more lung power to call him upstairs!

This is as tidy as it gets! A rare day with the floor actually showing. Nathan is not neat by nature.

His cozy reading corner.

His new book shelves. I'm irked we can't have his books upright but we need some get some book-ends to keep them from sliding over.

His window view. Not too bad for a basement room! It's south facing and his room is very bright.

My Little Mover

Liam first rolled over a month ago. We were pleased to see he was developing as a 'textbook' baby. But after that first time it was pretty rare that he would actually do it. As of a few days ago this is all he does. I put him down to play for tummy time and within minutes he's relocated himself. Good for you Liam!

He starts here!

And ends up here...or further if I don't rescue him!

Liam is also a sweet little sleeper. He generally sleeps from 8 pm to 7:45 am or so. You can't ask for better than that. He will often wake up just once for a feed but also can do the whole night without getting up at all. And would you look at my purtttty bruise?! I have no idea how this happened. No, I didn't beat Keith. Very strange. Anyhow.....it's fading.

Sold to a Good Home

There is a sad man sulking about my house this afternoon. Keith's 'dream' vehicle has been sold to a very excited 17 year old girl.

Murphy's Law. We just took the insurance off the jeep six days ago and then need to buy some more so it could be test driven today.

In desperation last week, I thought I'd try posting it on Craigslist in the Interior. Seems that was the trick as the emails started to come in with many interested parties. We got a very serious email on Thursday from a guy in Kelowna. He came down to take a look this morning with his daughter and when I got home from church the paperwork was just about completed. The buyer told us he had been looking for months for a jeep he could share with his daughter...seen many duds and was just thrilled with our Jeep. We did have to come down a bit on the price but after 2 months of trying to sell it in this economic climate we knew we had to bend a little. It's all good.

Happy 5 Month Birthday Liam

You have GOT to be kidding me! You're pointing that camera in my face AGAIN?!

Finally!

Well after having our vehicles for sale for the past 2 months or so with no luck we have decided to change plans. Originally we wanted to sell both the Jeep & Jetta and get Keith a small car or pick up truck just to get to work.

It's not the right climate to be selling cars we have found. We have had a fair amount of interest but everyone wants a good deal. A REALLY good deal. We are not so desperate that we are going to give them away!

So we are going to keep the Jetta as Keith's commuter car. It's a great car with tons of life in it yet. It fits all of us so either car can be used to transport the family. The Jeep has gone into 'storage' and will continue to be for sale. Jeeps generally sell better in the spring/summer. We are confident it will sell eventually as there are always men looking for a hobby vehicle.

So yesterday Keith insured the Honda and this morning was it's maiden voyage to school. It's nice...I think. It took me the whole drive there to figure out what all the knobs and levers are for and my foot kept pounding the floor board looking for the clutch :) It'll take some getting used to. There is a nasty blind spot when I shoulder check that scares me so I'll have to learn how to use my mirrors a bit better. The boys were pleased with the roomy backseat and that's really what it was all about. Room for the boys!

Also, if you haven't seen the movie 'Fireproof' I would highly recommend it. It's very inspirational and encouraging! I have a copy and if anyone would like to borrow it you are more than welcome!!!

One of the Nicest People I Never Met....Yet!

I have a special blogger friend who is having her 'jubilee' birthday today! I don't even really quite recall how we got connected in blogland but I am certainly glad we did.

Lovella is quite certainly a person you want to know. She is very encouraging, supportive, generous and kind. Even though we attend the same church and have people we know in common we haven't had the chance to meet each other in person yet. Even so, she has been very encouraging to me with kind emails. I do look forward to meeting her one day....and hopefully soon! I am also inspired from reading her blog to become a better wife and mother. Lovella also initiated the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog and does a fabulous job of administering the behind the scenes work that goes along with it. I want to take this opportunity to wish the lovely and talented Lovella the most fantastic birthday today!

Saturday & Sunday

Another weekend come and gone. Keith was out investigating another fire Friday night and most of Saturday so I was on my own a fair amount this week-end. I'm getting used to it though....all a part of the job! I always told Keith that when he finally got hired at the fire department I would be so happy that I would not complain about the crazy hours. Doing my best to keep up my end of the bargain :)

I bought Liam this very cute and very Canadian looking hat. He really needed a hat with 'ears' as he as outgrown all of his winter hats so far. Great bargain at $4 on sale compared to $15 regular price!

Liam is probably as tired as I am of soccer season. It was sunny but cold!

Today we took the boys out for a walk between rain showers. Chad and Nathan took their wooden airplanes and flew them as we walked.

Yep....those walks are just plain exhausting!

My Clever Husband

I do admire creative talents in others. I think mostly because I don't have any creative talents! I am practical to the core and don't know how or actually have the desire to go beyond that.

Keith is very artistic and doesn't always get to use that in his job. Back in his drafting days he was able to draw and create but now he's in a job of rules, regulations and there isn't room for drawing or coloring :)

BUT! The guys at work know about Keith's creative side and asked him to come up with some designs as their VW Bug is getting a new paint job courteousy of a local autobody shop. The chief approved his design last night and I'm really proud that my husband's design is going to be driving all over town in a short while. So the bug that has had Sparky the fire dog on it for so long is going to be cool now. Maybe now all the guys will stop fighting over who has to drive the 'girl' car!!!