It's hard to get good pictures while I'm concentrating on making sure Zach stays upright and Cole doesn't land a flying arm or foot in his face, but here's one that came out pretty cute and doesn't show anything inappropriate!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
First bath together!
Now that Zach is sitting up so well, we decided that he was ready to try out his first bath in the big tub. His big brother needed a bath too, so I decided to try giving them a bath together. It was great! For the first few minutes, Zach pretty much ignored Cole and was just busy chewing on a toy. But then Cole splashed, and I said, "splash" and Zach thought that was great, and started splashing his own hands! Then Cole started throwing toys and saying "splash" and Zach thought that was absolutely hilarious! He was screaming with laughter! It was so cute! They are really starting to take an interest in one another now and interact with and play together. It is so sweet to watch!
It's hard to get good pictures while I'm concentrating on making sure Zach stays upright and Cole doesn't land a flying arm or foot in his face, but here's one that came out pretty cute and doesn't show anything inappropriate!
It's hard to get good pictures while I'm concentrating on making sure Zach stays upright and Cole doesn't land a flying arm or foot in his face, but here's one that came out pretty cute and doesn't show anything inappropriate!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Easter cookies
Holidays are so much fun now that Cole is old enough to start getting into the celebrations. We made Easter sugar cookies on Monday. It's quite a messy and time consuming pursuit with a toddler! But so much fun. Of course, the most fun part is how excited he gets about it. And he loved his special time with mommy that little brother was too young to participate in.
We had to lose the shirt, it got too much flour on it! 
Baby brother looking on.
We had to lose the shirt, it got too much flour on it! 
Baby brother looking on. 
Decorating a cookie.
Daddy helped out when he got home.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Big Boys!
Cole and Zach had their 2 year and 6 month check-ups today. Both boys are doing great! Cole is 27 lbs. 12 ounces and 35 3/4 inches tall. He wasn't too thrilled to be at the doctor, but he did pretty well. Although he wouldn't let the doctor look at his throat. The doctor was quite impressed with his speech and the fact that he is putting 7-8 word sentences together already. Zachary is 16 lbs. and 25 1/2 inches tall. He has a little congestion in his chest from a cold, but otherwise, he's doing great. He is still exclusively breastfed, because he does not want to eat solids! We've tried oatmeal, which makes him sick, pears, peas, and sweet potatoes. All of them get a turned up nose! He's growing well and is a very happy little boy, so I guess there's no rush. It's just quite a difference from Cole, who was so eager to eat solid foods! He is sitting like a pro and getting more and more mobile. It probably won't be too much longer before he's crawling!
I feel so very blessed to have two healthy little boys!
I feel so very blessed to have two healthy little boys!
Monday, March 22, 2010
House hunting
A month after we got married, Jeff and I moved into our house in the south end of Calgary, a house that we had built together. We had both lived up north, but because we were both working in the south end of the city - in fact, I was working 20 minutes south of the city, which from my house, was over an hour commute on a daily basis - so we decided moving south would be the best way to go. If only we'd known that I'd get pregnant immediately and only work for another 8 months.... Since Cole was born, we've been talking about moving back up to the north end of the city. Our Church is there, my family is up there, all our friends live up in the north end. Although we love our house and have great neighbors here, who we will really miss, we have been feeling a bit isolated and disconnected down here. When you have 2 young kids, the hour that it takes to drive home after an evening outing to visit family or friends can often be prohibitive, so we don't get to nearly as many things as we like. And since most of our friends and family also have young children, it works both ways! So, after talking about it for 2 years, and trying once in the past, but pulling our house off the market because of the financial crash, we have decided to go for it and move back up north.
So, we are currently trying to sell our house, and hunting for a new one. It's been an adventure, to say the least! We have looked at probably close to 50 houses already. Turns out, we're rather demanding homebuyers! Problem is, we have a house that we love. Jeff has a garage that fits both our vehicles plus has room for all his tools, a very rare find in this city. I have a big, beautiful kitchen, a huge ensuite, and a room all to myself for scrapbooking. Our only regret is that we have a very tiny yard. We'd love to have more room for the kids to play. We're having a very hard time finding a house that compares,on a lot that we like, at least, in the range we're willing to pay!
Today, we thought we finally found the house. It is a beautiful 4 bedroom house, with a good sized kitchen, a formal dining and living room, and a huge great room. It has an undeveloped basement, which Jeff loves, because then we can do whatever we want with it. And it had a great sized lot, with a very nice playcentre already on it. It's in a neighborhood we both like, with a community centre that has a splash park and playground, and where lots of our friends live already. We both loved it. But...we found out that the neighborhood it is in is what is called a "bare land condo development." I'm not sure what exactly that is, but essentially, these large, expensive, single family detached homes, are subject to a condo board! So, there are rules on what you can put on your property and where, rules on where you can plant trees, rules on where you can park.... It's quite ridiculous! Whoever heard of a single family home being subject to a condo board? There was even one rule in the agreement that said that owners shall not make or permit any disturbing smells in the unit. I had to laugh, because with a toddler and an infant, there is no shortage of disturbing smells in my house!! But seriously, does that mean that I might get fined if I cook ethnic food and you can smell it from the street? Or if we barbeque in the back yard and a neighbor finds the smell of meat cooking disturbing? Or it I plant a lilac bush (if I can even get that approved in the first place!)? Aargh! Jeff wants to put a shed or workshop on the property, which would have room for it, since the garage will not hold both our vehicles and all his tools. But it looks like it's unlikely to get approved. So, it looks unlikely that we'll be buying this house. Very sad.
On a somewhat lighter note, we thought maybe yesterday we were going to look at our dream house. We were browsing through foreclosures and found a bungalow on 2 acres of property in a very swanky area of the city, where most of the properties would be well over a million dollars. And this one was under $800,000.00! The pictures on MLS made it look like it could be a nice place. Check it out, http://abmls.mlxchange.com/Pub/EmailView.asp?r=1169758620&s=ALB&t=ALB not too bad, right?
Well, the realtor was quite creative with the photography, and that blanket of snow covers a multitude of evils! Oh my goodness, it was bad!! The yard was overgrown and filled with dead trees, garbage, cigarrette butts, and crap, literally. The house was very run down, dingy and "rustic" to put it politely. It obviously had mice, and we're pretty sure it had had a grow-op in the garage! I wish I would've taken pictures of what it was really like! You would've had to bulldoze everything and start all over again, and then a person could've maybe had their dream house. But, the new ring road they are building here will be running right in front of it, so that's not ideal either. It was not a challenge we wanted! I was just eager to get out of there, I felt dirty afterwards!
So.... the house hunt continues. It is hard not to get discouraged, when we look and look and nothing seems to quite meet our needs. On the other hand, our house hasn't sold yet either, so that holds us back from making an offer anyways. This is definitely an exercise in trusting God for his perfect timing! Meanwhile, looking and dreaming is fun, trying to keep a house show-worthy with 2 small children is not!!
If you pray, your prayers that this will all work out and that we will not become too discouraged would be very much appreciated!
So, we are currently trying to sell our house, and hunting for a new one. It's been an adventure, to say the least! We have looked at probably close to 50 houses already. Turns out, we're rather demanding homebuyers! Problem is, we have a house that we love. Jeff has a garage that fits both our vehicles plus has room for all his tools, a very rare find in this city. I have a big, beautiful kitchen, a huge ensuite, and a room all to myself for scrapbooking. Our only regret is that we have a very tiny yard. We'd love to have more room for the kids to play. We're having a very hard time finding a house that compares,on a lot that we like, at least, in the range we're willing to pay!
Today, we thought we finally found the house. It is a beautiful 4 bedroom house, with a good sized kitchen, a formal dining and living room, and a huge great room. It has an undeveloped basement, which Jeff loves, because then we can do whatever we want with it. And it had a great sized lot, with a very nice playcentre already on it. It's in a neighborhood we both like, with a community centre that has a splash park and playground, and where lots of our friends live already. We both loved it. But...we found out that the neighborhood it is in is what is called a "bare land condo development." I'm not sure what exactly that is, but essentially, these large, expensive, single family detached homes, are subject to a condo board! So, there are rules on what you can put on your property and where, rules on where you can plant trees, rules on where you can park.... It's quite ridiculous! Whoever heard of a single family home being subject to a condo board? There was even one rule in the agreement that said that owners shall not make or permit any disturbing smells in the unit. I had to laugh, because with a toddler and an infant, there is no shortage of disturbing smells in my house!! But seriously, does that mean that I might get fined if I cook ethnic food and you can smell it from the street? Or if we barbeque in the back yard and a neighbor finds the smell of meat cooking disturbing? Or it I plant a lilac bush (if I can even get that approved in the first place!)? Aargh! Jeff wants to put a shed or workshop on the property, which would have room for it, since the garage will not hold both our vehicles and all his tools. But it looks like it's unlikely to get approved. So, it looks unlikely that we'll be buying this house. Very sad.
On a somewhat lighter note, we thought maybe yesterday we were going to look at our dream house. We were browsing through foreclosures and found a bungalow on 2 acres of property in a very swanky area of the city, where most of the properties would be well over a million dollars. And this one was under $800,000.00! The pictures on MLS made it look like it could be a nice place. Check it out, http://abmls.mlxchange.com/Pub/EmailView.asp?r=1169758620&s=ALB&t=ALB not too bad, right?
Well, the realtor was quite creative with the photography, and that blanket of snow covers a multitude of evils! Oh my goodness, it was bad!! The yard was overgrown and filled with dead trees, garbage, cigarrette butts, and crap, literally. The house was very run down, dingy and "rustic" to put it politely. It obviously had mice, and we're pretty sure it had had a grow-op in the garage! I wish I would've taken pictures of what it was really like! You would've had to bulldoze everything and start all over again, and then a person could've maybe had their dream house. But, the new ring road they are building here will be running right in front of it, so that's not ideal either. It was not a challenge we wanted! I was just eager to get out of there, I felt dirty afterwards!
So.... the house hunt continues. It is hard not to get discouraged, when we look and look and nothing seems to quite meet our needs. On the other hand, our house hasn't sold yet either, so that holds us back from making an offer anyways. This is definitely an exercise in trusting God for his perfect timing! Meanwhile, looking and dreaming is fun, trying to keep a house show-worthy with 2 small children is not!!
If you pray, your prayers that this will all work out and that we will not become too discouraged would be very much appreciated!
Friday, March 19, 2010
A couple more pictures of my boys
Just because it's been a few days since I've made a post! :)
I decided when I was pregnant with Zach that I wanted to try this babywearing thing. I carried Cole around a lot, but figured, with a toddler who was going to need my attention, I was going to need my hands free once in a while. So I got a couple of different baby carriers - a Cuddly wrap and a sling. Actually, the sling was given to me by my aunt. I really like using both of them, although I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I have only recently figured out how to wear the sling properly so that it doesn't cut into my shoulder! Now that Zach is getting bigger, I'm really wanting to get an Ergo carrier, as I hear great things about them. Just have to convince my husband it's a good investment!
Yesterday, I was tying on my wrap to put Zach, who was being a fussy muss into it, and Cole decided he wanted to be carried in it instead. Cole thought it was pretty cool!
I decided when I was pregnant with Zach that I wanted to try this babywearing thing. I carried Cole around a lot, but figured, with a toddler who was going to need my attention, I was going to need my hands free once in a while. So I got a couple of different baby carriers - a Cuddly wrap and a sling. Actually, the sling was given to me by my aunt. I really like using both of them, although I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I have only recently figured out how to wear the sling properly so that it doesn't cut into my shoulder! Now that Zach is getting bigger, I'm really wanting to get an Ergo carrier, as I hear great things about them. Just have to convince my husband it's a good investment!
Yesterday, I was tying on my wrap to put Zach, who was being a fussy muss into it, and Cole decided he wanted to be carried in it instead. Cole thought it was pretty cool!
Okay, my baby is not allowed to be doing this already!! He's not pulling himself up, but his balance is amazing! He'd better not start walking soon, or I am going to cry! ;)
Going after mommy's phone already! I think big brother taught him that!
The playground!
Well, the weather here still leaves something to be desired some days, like today, but we have had some beautiful days lately. On Tuesday, it was supposed to get up to 19 degrees. I don't think it quite did, but it did get quite nice, so in the evening, we took the boys out to the playground.
Cole loves riding in his wagon and Zach, well, he hangs on for dear life, but he seems to think it's alright too.
Cole loves riding in his wagon and Zach, well, he hangs on for dear life, but he seems to think it's alright too.
Zach is wearing his Halloween costume. It's warm, cute, and really should get more than 10 minutes of use, don't you think?
Cole is pretty fearless at the playground. He especially loves climbing and sliding on the slides. He's quite willing to slide down without anyone catching him, and it doesn't bother him one bit when he flies off the end and lands square on his behind. (Which his mommy finds quite hilarious!)
Zach wasn't too sure about the swings at first - he hung on pretty tight - but he decided they were pretty fun. Or maybe it was just that the silly faces mommy was making to try to get a smile out of him were pretty funny!
Monday, March 15, 2010
It feels good to feel good!
For the first time in about a year and a half, I feel great! I have rather miserable pregnancies. While the end result is definitely worth it, I am not one of those women who says, "Oh, I've never felt better than when I was pregnant!" In addition to serious nausea that lasts far longer than the first trimester, I get some pretty good heartburn and reflux too. And back pain. Well, when I was pregnant with Zach, I thought the heartburn and backpain were just pregnancy symptoms. But then, I had him, and they didn't go away! After my first attack, which almost had me thinking I was having a heart attack, I was diagnosed with gallstones. Man, I do not wish those on anyone! Apparently they are quite common during and after pregnancy though. I had my gallbladder removed on February 9, via laproscopic day surgery. I was really nervous about the surgery, but it went really well, apparently. The first week was rough. I couldn't hold Zach accross my abdomen, which made nursing him very tough. And I couldn't lift him, or Cole. But, thanks to the help of my husband and family, we made it through. Now, 5 weeks later, I have gotten the all clear from the doctor, and I feel good, finally! No more heartburn, no more upper back pain, no more worrying about an attack after I eat! Now I can start to think about getting pregnant with number 3! :)
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