Indoor Water fun

Last Thursday was the peak of Ella's sickness, and it was the day we decided to take her to the hospital (or the night, rather).  She spent the entire day on the couch or in bed (again).  This made things a little tricky for Harrison and I because it was such a beautiful day outside, and we wanted to get out to play.

 

 

I set up the monitor in the living room, so I could hear her outside if she was calling me or coughing herself sick.  After about 15 consecutive trips inside to calm Ella's crying, I decided we better give up on the outdoor play for awhile. 

What came next was a tired parent's dream come true - 45 minutes of independent play by an almost 2 year old.  I've been planning this one for awhile, folks, but it wasn't until this day that I got the energy to set it up.

Indoor Water table!!  And by table, of course I mean bin on the floor.

 

I used one of those plastic storage bins that slides under the bed.  It was the best possible choice of containers for us because it is huge and the sides are low enough for Harry to reach over while sitting on the floor.  I filled it about 1/3 of the way full and threw in some bath toys and measuring cups.  The rest was up to the boy.

 

 

Here's a note of caution:  If you're going to do this, parents, you can't half-ass it!  As in, you need to let things happen (ie. spills and splashes).  Therefore, I would (obviously) suggest a tile or water-resistant floor, diaper only and keep a towel nearby to prevent slipping when the little one gets up to run around. 



 

 

 

If I were a smart lady, which evidently I am not, I would have used this time to sit down with Ella or get some things done around the house.  Instead, I spent the ENTIRE time taking pictures of Harry because it was so hilarious. 

 

Harrison is going through a phase right now where he runs (almost) everywhere and right before take-off he shouts, "super Harrison, to the rescue!".  

 

 

As you can imagine, he was soaking wet by the end of the water fun, so he ended up in his diaper to watch a little Dora before lunch.  Hence, my suggestion to scrap the clothes during the activity.  This is a must-try people.  I'll be saving it for the winter months!

 

Thanks for reading :D

 

 

 



25 Weeks Pregnant: An Update

I was planning to do pregnancy updates every 4 weeks...but, clearly, I missed last week.  So we're going for a week 25 update instead!

This is technically my fourth pregnancy, so it seems my body automatically knew to gain 30 lbs. the second it was expecting.  How precious.

The most ridiculous thing I'm experiencing is that I keep forgetting I'm pregnant.  Seriously, though.  At some point I will need to start preparing for another baby.  Every few weeks or so I hear about someone having a baby and it all comes back to me (the labour, the delivery, the late nights, the crying, the breastfeeding....) - for a few minutes. 


Here are some things this baby likes, so far:
-hamburgers
-fries
-milk shakes
-oranges
-Viva Puff cookies
-all other food items
-kicking my bladder
-kicking when I'm about to fall asleep
-getting tickled by Ella


The Midwives are also pretty lenient on a lady with two kids and a busy schedule.  I've had 6 weeks between appointments so far, instead of 4 weeks, and I've been able to turn down some of the testing which I don't remember having a choice in before (such as the dreaded glucose test...boo!).

So far, so good.  I could do without the sciatic pain, Braxton-Hicks contractions, occasional unexplained rage, acne that I haven't had since high school and more than necessary weight gain, but I suppose it'll all be worth it...

Thanks for reading :D

Toopy and Binoo Live: Ella's First Time at the Theatre {Tuesday April 30, 2013}

By the time last Tuesday rolled around, Ella was in full-blown cold mode.  She had the runny nose, cough and slight fever.  She wasn't up for much other than lying on the couch.  I had bought tickets for Toopy and Binoo a couple of months ago, so we were a little disappointed when she came down with a cold. 

I asked her a few times during the day if she still wanted to go to see Toopy and Binoo at the theatre and she said yes, so at 5pm we made the decision to take her...and see how it went.  She perked up a little in the car (after this picture), and I knew she was excited when she said "Mommy, I've never been to the theatre before!".

She didn't say much when we got there, so I took her over to the goodies table to see what they had for sale.  I figured we better get a souvenir in case we didn't stay long!  I was pushing the t-shirts because I thought we could get one for Harrison too, but all she wanted was the Patchy Patch (it turns out Patchy Patch is this green stuffy that belongs to Binoo).  Normally, I wouldn't have caved and bought the $35 stuffy...yes you read that price correctly...but I felt so bad that she wasn't feeling well and probably wouldn't enjoy the show.  So...

And that, folks, were the last few smiles we saw on her face for a few days.  She asked to go home at intermission because she was ready for bed.  It turns out we left just in time because she was sick as soon as we got into the van.  Thankfully, I packed one extra of every single item of clothing she was wearing (a very valuable parenting lesson!!).

Of course, I promised to take her back to the theatre another time when she was feeling better.  Probably the movies this time - some place where they don't sell merchandise related to the show!  Today, one week later, she has yet to pick up that patchy patch stuffy again (in her defence, she is just starting to feel better!).

Thanks for reading :D





Our Almost New Basement

I had a ton of posts planned for last week, but those all got put on hold when both the kids got sick...and then Ella got really sick.  Soooo, I decided to push all the posts back bay one week :D

Here's what you can expect on the blog this week:

Monday - A look at our almost new basement
Tuesday - Toopy and Binoo:  Ella's first time at the theatre
Wednesday - 25 weeks pregnant update
Thursday - Indoor water fun: keeping Harrison occupied while Ella's sick
Friday - Ella's trip to the hospital 

Let's get started, shall we?!

------------------------------------------------------

We have been planning to redo the flooring in our basement since the second we signed the papers (five years ago), and the time has finally come!  The basement was a mixture of various types of ceramic tile and very bad pink carpet.  Extremely non-functional for us (with two and a half kids) and also a little hard on the eyes.

At first I thought we would redo the entire floor with a newer nicer carpet, however, after the last five years living with carpet in the basement (and none in my home growing up), there is no way I will ever have carpet again.  It is DISGUSTING.  For a family full of allergy sufferers (well, at least one anyways), I decided hardwood or laminate was the way to go!

We looked around quite a bit, but we finally settled on some nice and durable and inexpensive (and easy to install!) laminate flooring from Costco.  I love it! I love it! I love it!We decided to do the main living area, the playroom and the computer room (leaving the laundry room with the concrete floor)...so it has taken us awhile to finish up.  As of last weekend we are officially 80% finished. 

The kids, Nan and I left the house bright and early on Saturday morning and headed to the mall.  This is what we left behind...

Our main living area was already started (from a couple weekends earlier), so Adam pulled up the rest of the carpet and was about to pull up that ridiculous tile.  Note the duck tape holding up the plastic around the doorways...I'll revisit that another day.

And here is the playroom - picture that carpet continuing into the living area.  Ew. 

Harrison was just getting over his cold and Ella was just starting hers, so Harry was still willing to smile as we went on our way - Ella, not so much.

As per usual, I forgot to take pictures of our mall trip.  Here they are at the end of the morning.  Both tired and ready for lunch and a nap!  Harrison is in mid-cough....

 To our delight, we arrived home to a completed living area. 

The kids thought it was pretty nice!

Thankfully, the boys were able to finish up the playroom (leaving only the computer room left for another weekend!) before the end of the day.  We still have to paint the door and add some trim and organize the toy storage...but we'll save that for another day!

We also got to put up our lovely new bookshelf (from Ikea, of course) which was  a Christmas present and has been sitting at my parents house since Christmas day.  Although it's pretty bare here, it didn't take us long to fill up!  We managed to cram it with all of our CD's, movies, children's books, old textbooks and of course just regular old books.
 

 

My favourite part about it, is that it takes up the whole wall (which you can kind of see in this picture)...second best thing to a custom built-in unit. 

 



 We still have one more room to do, plus trim and door painting, but the basement is coming along!  I also have a few projects planned to re-vamp some of our existing furniture.  Stay tuned for updates! 

Thanks for reading :D

Quotes From The Week

There is no shortage of crazy, weird and ridiculous chatter around this house.  Here are a few quotes from the last couple weeks.

Ella:

"Mom, are the grapes in the fridge-rerator?"

"Daddy, Stella needs her allowance."  (Stella being her doll)

"On Wednesday I went to the zoo when I was 10, so I could go by myself and I met a monkey there and he gave me a banana because he thought he was my friend.  His name was Lucas."

"Mommy, do you want to play book club with me?"

(The day after she was big-time mouthy with me) "Mommy, I'm sorry I didn't be nice the other day.  I was just tired."

"When I was first a mermaid, I swimmed in the ocean to an island and then I fell out of a coconut tree."

(During one of our post-dinner games of I-Spy) 
Ella:  "I spy with my little eye, something red." 
Adam: "The flower?" 
Ella:  "No, red like a strawberry."
Adam:  "A strawberry?"
Ella:  "Yes!"


"Mom, I don't know about you, but I'm stumped."

(After seeing a friend with her new baby brother) " I always have a baby brother.  Nothing with get my baby brother out of here."

"Sometimes I make my own reading glasses out of ice and glass.  I like to make them out of warm ice, though.  I don't use cold ice - I only use warm ice so I don't get cold."



Harry:

(Again, during one of our post-dinner games of I-Spy)
Harry:  "Spy eye grey!"
All of us:  "the wall, the clock, the bib, the plate etc."
Harry: "no, no, no, no, no"
Then it ends up being the first thing we said....he's still learning.

"Mom, what doing?"  (This is his new favourite question)

(When he first wakes up in the morning, we can hear this)  "Ella, where are you?"  (They share a room.  She is literally 2 meters away from him.)



Thanks for reading :D

What To Do With All That Scrap Felt

My crafting moments are becoming fewer and farther between these last couple of weeks.  We are trying to get our basement organized (for new flooring!  woo!) and that means packing up all the craft stuff for awhile.  Oh, and also I've been kind of lazy. 
 

I came across a gigantic box of scrap felt that has been sitting in my craft section (no ladies, I don't have a room - I have a section) for months.  I've been meaning to do something with it...so I finally did.  No point in packing up all that scrap felt!

 

A banner is just about the easiest option for using up your scrap felt.  I literally took the scraps of felt out of the box and fed them through the sewing machine.  There's no need to cut them into perfect shapes (unless, of course, you have the time and want to) - the scrappy look is part of the fun!

These banners would be so cute for birthday party decorations or even to brighten up the playroom.  I think I ended up with about 10 feet of this scrappy felt banner.

So I wasn't kidding about the gigantic box of scrap felt.  I was also able to take some of the larger pieces and cut them into little circles before stringing them together.  If you're not into that scrappy look, these circles also make an adorable decoration.

 

 

My personal favourite use of this scrap felt is to use it as decoration around wrapping paper.  I like using plain wrap to package my Etsy items, and this colourful felt banner adds just the right touch!  I'm also considering it for ribbon around birthday gifts this year!  The only downside - you can't exactly tie it in a bow!

 

Hopefully this post provides some crafty inspiration! 

Thanks for reading :D

Wordless Wednesday