New toy

We've always wanted a piano, but more recently Shaun became quite interested and focused on obtaining one. He put a request on the Bruce Classifides (a free service for Bruce Power employees) for a used piano and got a LOT of responses, but this was the piano for us! We checked it out yesterday and today Shaun, James (Lisa's boyfriend), Dad F, Dad M and 2 of James' friends picked it up in the trailer and brought it to us. Itwas a steal at $100 and is in TERRIFIC shape for being over 100 years old.

It is a Gerhard Heintzman made in Toronto and has a cherry finish. There are a few chips and scrapes in the finish that I plan to work on with a stain pen and lemon oil. (**NOTE Lemon oil is apparently VERY toxic if ingested and there is NO antidote!!) The lady who sold it to us also included a brass piano lamp and it came with a bench (some assembly required) and a stool and now resides in our living room where the desk & hutch used to be. The ivory keys were re-done about 15 years ago and are in excellent shape. The sound board (the most important part) is also in terrific shape, and despite being moved it is still wonderfully in-tune.


Patrick loves his new toy! He has quite the interest in ANY piano and he likes to play all 88 keys from top to bottom. We think he may have quite the gift for music and will send him for lessons when he is older. For now, we are happy to let him play and explore on his own.

Patrick's new room

We're done! We're done!

My father helped me put the finishing touches on the room yesterday morning and I took some shots this morning. Here they are!

1. P's crib
2. P's closet
3. P's toddler bed (aka changing table -- works great)
4. P's cuddle cornor (the rocking chair is temporary until the nursery is done, then it will go back there and will be replaced by his fuzzy toddler chair).

Enjoy!

17 week apt

We are healthy! Sprout's heartbeat was 140 -- I do believe this is boy range? I have also heard that low is girl range. My three nieces all had high-range heart beats though, and so did Patrick. So much for that theory. Hopefully we will know for certain at the ultrasound on August 14th.

Patrick had his check up too. He is 11 kg and he got 2 shots and cried a LOT. This is the first time he's gotten shots in his arms :( Shaun was a whimp and went to the waiting room while I held him still. Booo.



Oh baby! What are you doing?!

And so it begins. The wiggles, the sharp toe/elbow/hand pokes. The unexpected summersaults. Ugh. It makes me feel ill.

You would THINK that feeling the baby move was exciting, and it is! The first few movements are enough to bring me to tears. After that, I spend a lot of time asking the baby "what are you doing?" and prodding my belly to try and figure it out. Until I become adjusted to the movements they are foreign, bizarre and just plain weird.

I don't remember being comfortable with P's movements until after 20 weeks when they were good strong kicks. I guess my belly is sensitive until it gets used to the prodding.

Sprout and I have a checkup tomorrow and P gets his 15 month shots.

Our ultrasound on the 14th is a mere 20 days away now! I am glad I will have an active baby, and hopefully get a glance at the gender.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

We're back!

We had a terrific (and very busy) week with my parents, but it IS nice to be home, now that the unpacking is completed.

During our stay, Shaun helped my dad re-do his shed (remove and replace roof, put up siding, etc) as well as help with the post-storm clean up. It looks FANTASTIC! I am so impressed with the transformation.

Mom and I did some sewing (curtains for P's closet) and picked out the fabric for the baby's new bedding. We also seemed to get groceries every day! But it was great to get out.

Patrick was busy too. He is now quite the walker. He can stop and re-start, change direction and navigate obsticles. The only thing he CAN'T do is get up to stand from the floor, he still needs to pull himself up on somthing: the wall, furnature, people. I am sure it won't be long before he can get up from the middle of the room too!

Ramses was especially happy to see us return and he was REALLY curious about P's walking. It was very cute to watch.

My parents are coming for a visit starting Wednesday afternoon. Dad & Shaun are going to finish up P's closet and then go outdoors to start moving pool dirt. We've decided instead of patio stones in the 'triangle' inside the pool area, we're going to build a small triangular deck instead. Better for drainage AND we won't have to level the dirt, which I was seeing as a BIG P.I.T.A.

And now you're all up to date!

Steps

Patrick's walking is really coming along well. We are up to over 20 consecutive steps!!! We are so proud of him.

We've been working really hard with him on identifying body parts. Supposidly, by 18 months, he should be able to point to 5 different body parts when we name them. So far we are stuck at 'nose' and Shaun is working on him with 'ears'. Patrick will happily touch your nose when asked, but can't seem to find his own. Shaun has had some luck with 'ears' but nothing permanant.

Patrick also has a new 'word'. You may recall that before he could say 'kitty' he would meow instead. Well, now he pants three times to identify a dog. I think he also said 'puppy'! But I'm not totally sure. By 18 months we're supposed to have 5 words. We're getting there!!!

Storm

What a storm we had last night! It was crazy! The wind was so strong I thought for sure we'd be under a tornado warning. Our power flickerd and went out briefly, and when the lightening flashed we could see there were tree limbs down, and the canopy on the deck had fallen and looked twisted by the wind. It all died down and we were able to sleep!

This morning we got up to survey and clean up the damage. The canopy was mangled beyond repair, there was a tree down in the back, leaning on the house. Two spruce trees out front lost their tops, and there were pieces of popplar everywhere. Behind the shed, giant popplar limbs were down. Fortunately, there was only minor damage to the house, and there was no damage to our van which was parked in the driveway.

Mom and I went to work on the front, clearning the large limbs, and raking up the small ones to bag. The boys worked out back taking down the fallen tree, and one for the neighbour, and dragging huge limbs into piles. What a mess.

Fortunately, it all seemed to go smoothly. On Friday a team is coming with a chipper to get rid of the wood which will save us countless runs to the dump.

Hair

Yesterday Patrick had an appointment at 3 p.m. to get his hair cut. We got there just before 3, rushing actually, because I hate to be late. We got in, registered with the receptionist and sat down in the waiting area.... and then walked around... and then explored the entire facility (P was wanting to walk and hold my hands) and then waited... until the hairdresser told me that due to a scheduling error she would be about 15 more minutes, on top of the 15 minutes we had already waited. I decided to take P outside for a quick stroll because he was getting restless. We came back within the time frame, and she was ready to cut his hair, but I was upset that we had to wait. Afterall, I made an appointment and he's a toddler, and their facility isn't really toddler friendly. I let it go. She does such a good job on his hair.

Today I had an appointment. It was for 3:30. I arrived at 3:25, told the receptionist who I was, what time my appointment was for and who it was with. She said "have a seat" and I sat down and started going through old magazines. At 3:45, I started to get upset. I could see the hairdresser wrapping a perm. The receptionist was doing nothing, and everyone kept glancing at me but no one said anything. Instead of getting upset, I decided that I would wait until 4:00, and if I wasn't served or spoken to by that point I would leave without saying a word. I figured I would never be sitting there THAT long. I was wrong.

At 4:00, I put the magazine back on the stand, stood up and walked out. No one said anything. I was very upset! I knew if I had said something I would have gotten emotional so I didn't. But my head was just whriling.

"is my business that unimportant to them?"
"Was I invisible?"
"why did they ignore me"
"Why do I keep having to wait?"

I decided on the way home I would never go back there. Patrick and I will have to find somewhere else to go that will appreciate our patrionage.

When I got home, I lost it. I talked to Shaun about it and we decided together that when I was less emotional I should call and talk to them about how disappointed I was. It took me until 5 to calm down enough to call.

The receptionist answered the phone. She was indifferent that I was upset and disappointed and seemed to say "oh" and "I see" just to 'appease' me. I asked to speak directly to the stylist I had booked with and told her what had happened. She was surprised that the receptionist hadn't said anything beyond "have a seat" to me. She seemed a bit PO'd about it too. She offered to reschedule. I declined. We hung up.

I am still angry.

Awake

It is 5:57 a.m. I have been awake since 5:30. I cannot get back to sleep, despite being tired. UGH!

Yesterday, I put the second coat of paint in P's new room, and Shaun took out the carpet. The floor looks terrific! I am so pleased about that. While we are away this next week, Shaun's mom is going to put a coat of finish-white on the ceiling. Yes we should have done that before the 'real' paint, but we were toying with the idea of painting the ceiling blue too. We decided against it.

Today we're taking Syd to the dealership to get the oil changed. We'll also hit walmart and zellers and we might go out for lunch. This afternoon I need to vacuum the house, change the spare bed, do laundry and pack.

Tomorrow we are leaving for my parent's place for a week. We're also going to a wedding on Saturday. I even bought a new outfit which is a good thing since my stomach is expanding. I still do not look pregnant though, just fatter. I'm almost 4 months along now.

Next week Shaun will be helping my dad re-build the shed, and they'll also get some golf time in. Mom and I will be working on the curtains for P's closet and hopefully find some fabric for the new one's bedding! Wish us luck.

Since everyone else is still asleep, kitties included, I have no idea what I'm going to do with myself. I can't go trapsing around upstairs or I'll wake up P because he's a really light sleeper and easily disturbed, despite the 'white noise' machine we use in his room.

Surprise

My MIL and I conspired yesterday that she would come over and we would paint P's new room as a surprise to Shaun. Here are some pictures!

The first one shows the window and the other shows the home of the future closet.

Shaun won't see our work until 9 tonight so don't say anything.

Shhhhhhh.

Fence

Here is a picture of our lovely plexyglass fence.

You can kind of make out the wind-spinners I put up, and usually the pool and chair are infront more.

Gotta love seeing the 'swamp' and 'jungle' in the background. The jungle is being removed by Shaun shortly, and the swamp will be fixed when we get the cash.

I also just LOVE the red metal fence. So trendy :)

July 10

Happy 36th Birthday Derek!!!

Hope you have a terrific day!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Happy Anniversary Ray & Alicia!

Enjoy your side-by-side massages!!

Up to speed

You would think after all my posting the other day, that I would have run out of interesting things to say! You are very close in this assumption! However, I do have one very small, but important thing to add:

Patrick took 3 consecutive steps last night!

Way to go Patrick!

Government money

I've been doing some thinking about the $100 per month we will start recieving mid July for "child care". I would really like to do something with it, something specifically for Patrick. I think I would like to enroll him in a half-day program once or twice a week. I think it would be good for him to be with other kids his age and learn new things, and also when the new little one is here it will be a little escape for him (and for me too).

I haven't looked into it at all, and I haven't talked to Shaun about it. But I think it is a good idea. I'll start asking around about day programs for toddlers. With $100 a month I can spend $25 a week - that should get us at least 1 half day. HA! Makes me laugh because $25 per week when your kid is in full time care is just a laugh.

Step

Patrick just took his first step!!! I almost missed it because I was on the phone with homehardware talking to the rentals guy about how to 'cut down' a chain-link fence.

He stepped from the chair towards the table (and computer -- his favourite forbidden toy). WOW!! I tried to get him to do it again and he refused :(

Way to go Patrick!!!

Fence

I'm bored today? Does it show?? Haha!!

Patrick is having a second nap. He hasn't had 2 naps in WEEKS. Poor kid is just so sick :( I can hear him hacking through the monitor but when I go to check on him he is asleep. Poor kid. I've always said you can only heal when you are sleeping so I am glad he's taking advantage of his tiredness to get some extra healing in.

Our backyard neighbours are putting in a fence. I was originally happy about this because it meant their dogs could be outside in the lawn and play and Patrick LOVES to watch them. Unfortunately, they are building it about 6 feet high -- the same height as our pool fence so we will be unable to see the dogs :( It makes me sad. Perhaps I can work out a way to go visit! I should ask them.

The good news is that the didn't ask us to go half. Yes, I do feel a bit guilty about this, but honestly we can't afford it. Our big purchase this summer was our AC unit which we are still paying for and will be until December. We also have 2 rooms to finish renovating. I'm not whining, this is just reality.

The other good news is that this event of fence building has prompted us to remove our gross and totally useless chain-link fence. It doesn't even span the entire length of the back yard. Basically it does nothing. I am wondering if it was once part of a dog-run because we found another pole beside the house. Perhaps it was once linked to the rest of the fence. Shaun has said he will go out tomorrow and cut it off at ground level.

Tonight I'm going out to dinner with my SIL. My MIL is watching P so I won't have to drag him along and can actually have an uninterrupted adult conversation. Won't that be fun!

Well I can tell from the "clunks" upstairs that P has thrown all his soothers out of the crib in attempt to get my attention and let me know he's awake.

Don't be surprised if there is another post. I seem to be on a roll today.

Work in progress

Here are a cople of pictures of Patrick's new room -- after filling holes and then after the first coat of white primer. As you can see, our little helper was... helping! :) They uploaded funny... the ones that are "blue" are the starting colour and the "white" is the primer. I hope that makes sense.

The room now has a second coat of primer and next is top coat. I can't wait, but I still haven't decided which colour of blue..... Oh well.

Baby sling, Part II

I bought a sling from ebay. I bid on it a few days ago, but didn't win. Fortunately for me, the person who DID win backed out and I was offered to purchase it for my max bid price. All together, with shipping it is less than $20 - much better than that site I listed a few days ago.

It doesn't have the padded rails, but upon furthur research, apparently they are a pain because I can have a hard time getting the sling tight enough with them. Plus they make it hotter in warm weather -- this will not be an issue in December/January!!

Oh the joy of being sick

Patrick is ill. He has a really really nasty gross cough which keeps him from sleeping and makes him generally miserable. He also seems to have a sore throat because he won't eat much of anything and is surviving on puree jared food, mac&cheese, yogert, milk and apple juice. He is also up numerous times in the night because he needs a drink -- who doesn't when they're sick? Heck, I get up several times a night for a drink anyway, and I'm not sick. Poor kid.

On Tuesday, I decided we should see someone to get him checked and rule out anything overly nasty. Unfortunately, our primary care provider has the week off. She always has excellent timing! We generally go to the hospital every time she has vacation. We must be on totally opposite schedules. Last time she was on vacation, Shaun got walking pneumonia and the time before that Patrick had an ear infection.

Shaun's mother came with me, which was a complete life-saver because we had to wait 3 hours. There were many MANY times I thought about leaving because the wait was awful for everyone, but we needed to be sure that Patrick was OK and didn't have something severe. Unfortunately, the waiting area at the hospital is being renovated, so the 'waiting area' is actually a hall... with chairs.... and a few old magazines. No toys. No carpet. No TV. Dorothy and I spent a lot of time just wheeling Patrick around the very small hospital to change the scenery. Thank goodness we had the stroller in the van!

When we finally did get to see the doctor, Patrick had just about had it. Being prodded and poked was hard on him and there were lots of tears. The news? He's got a virus that is going around: sore throat, icky chest cough, generally crankiness. Should last 14 days. Poor kid.

Tuesday night he slept OK. But last night he was a mess. I lost count of the times Shaun and I were up with him, giving him juice/water/formula/backrubs/buppies/hugs and kisses. The coughing was just awful and I winced everytime he broke into a coughing spell. Fortunately, he was able to sleep through some of his coughing fits.

It was a bad night for everyone and to top it off this morning we found that his diaper couldn't handle the barrage of liquids and leaked all over the sheet. Upon reflection, all together while wearing that diaper we gave him over 32 oz of liquid. We shouldn't have been surprised at the leakage, but its been so long since we needed to do a middle-of-the-night diaper change it didn't even cross our minds.

I am hoping he is feeling better soon.