Best. Photo. Ever.

Cookies for breakfast on your birthday? Sure!

(I'm working on a birthday post, but loved this picture so much I had to share it right away!)

You Smell GOOD!

What was supposed to be a laid back, relaxing, quiet day in the city, turned out to be the EXACT opposite, and for that, I am so grateful.

I really didn't have much of an agenda. I just knew I needed to get away for the day -no kids. Don't get me wrong, I adore my children. But, my patience this week was slim to none and I just needed some me time. I started the day with a trip to Tim's for a very enjoyable iced cap and picked up Shelly at 8:30 in my husband's sweet, kickin' 92 Corsica. I will admit that the only downside to the day was driving that dirty, loud car that, at one point in time, we were convinced was going to lose a door.

We hit all the hot spots: Payless, Dollarama, ToysRUs, PartyStuff, ValueVillage, Scholar's Choice, Michaels, Old Navy, Olive Garden and the mall. I'm pretty sure that I have never, ever, EVER laughed that hard and that much throughout the day. At one point, in the VV parking lot, I couldn't breathe and had tears streaming down my face. It was definitely a different day than I would have had on my own and I am sooo glad. I needed to laugh.

We topped it off with some people-watching, fruit smoothies, and seeing "The Bounty Hunter" in a real theatre. Amazing day. I feel loved, refreshed and ready to take on the week. This week. Birthday week for my baby girl. 3 years.

Randoms.

- I'm sitting on my deck, enjoying the sunshine. I love love love our deck and back yard. We'll be doing a bit of work back here this summer, closing off underneathe our deck, and adding a sandbox and a fire pit. Ooh summer fires.

- Oh for crying out loud! I'm sitting here, enjoying the sun and my neighbours are outside smoking and it stinks. GRRRRRR.... I want to tell them to go away, but technically, they are on thier doorstep and it's the wind bringing the stank my way. Calm it down Amanda, calm down.

- I really don't have a lot to blog. I'm in a bit of a dry spell. I have no funny stories or anecdotes. It's kind of dull around here, and I think I like it.

- I'm not taking any more cakes for April, May or June. I like not having cakes. Is that bad? I have so much more free time and my house stays clean. I love doing cakes but I think I'm going to stick to just friends/family and previous clients.

- I'm taking a "me" day tomorrow. I'm leaving Gavin at home and going into Winnipeg. Just me. Gavin will miss 2 or even 3 nursing feeds, but I'm sure he'll be fine. He eats more table food than Chelsea, so it's all good. I'm excited to go shopping at silly stores and have no agenda. Just me, some icey coffee drinks and some wandering around the city. Lovely. I'm picking up stuff for Chelsea's 3rd birthday swimming extravaganza. Decorations, party favours, that sort of thing.

Oh baby up. Laters.

Can't wait for summer

C came downstairs dressed like this after her nap one day. Apparently we're kicking off bathing suit season a little more risque than usual!

My new toy

So I know nothing about cameras, but I'm hoping I'll learn. I love it! Isn't she pretty?



And here's a few of the pictures I've taken.

Sorry I've been neglecting my blog. I had a super busy cake week and then I've been making up for it by getting together with friends every night! When I am home, I'm reading through my camera manual trying to learn how to work this thing!
I'm heading home for a few days. Happy Easter everyone!

9 months... and a few days

Nine months already. This guy is halarious.

He is getting into all sorts of trouble, now that he can move.

Plus, he's hungry all the time. There's not much he won't eat.

He has figured out how to use his walker to chase his sister. She has learned how to escape the wrath of the walkerfootram.

He is such a happy baby, usually smiling and talking away. Still no teeth, but dang, do we have dimples! He can crawl so fast. It's crazy. It's so stinkin' cute. Chelsea never really crawled on her hands and knees, so I'm getting a kick out of this.

Plus, he's been pulling himself to stand on furniture, in the bathtub and even using some of his toys. He tries to use Chelsea, but she gets mad and pushes him away.

Oh and stairs are his next mission, I think. He stands and tries to climb them for a good 20 minutes a day. I'm not sure what I'll do when he figures it out!

I can't believe how fast time is going... soon I'll be planning his first birthday. Ack!

Proud mama moment

Every day I become more and more amazed by this sweet little girl. Every day. I can't tell you how much joy she brings me (when she's not on the time out step, that is.)

She is so stinkin' smart too. The other day she was drawing me a picture and then she said. "Look at my lady, mom." I was so impressed!

It is recognizable! We have hair, eyes, nose, mouth, arms, legs and feet! I was so excited!!!

Lately she's been obsessed with her My Little Ponies. Today she discovered that they stick to the light fixture in the kitchen. She thought it was halarious.

Yes, she's wearing a tutu dress and yes she's sitting on the table. The toys are too small to keep on the floor because of Gavin crawling all over, so she gets to sit on the table to play.

Dodged that bullet...

So, tonight I went and got a puppy. Chris has been giving me those puppy dog eyes for a few days. His eyes light up when he's around a dog and Chelsea has been acting as a puppy constantly since we gave Maggie away.

So tonight I drove and picked up the cutest, most perfect puppy. She's adorable. She's cute and fluffy and she is a Bichon, just like our beloved Belle. She waddles when she walks and she's very cuddly. I wasn't sure if I was ready for a puppy, but sometimes, it's not about me. I knew my family would be ecstatic.

So I went and picked her up and talked to the lady for over an hour. I gathered the puppy's toys and blankets and food and brought her home. Chris got all lovey eyed and played with her for a few minutes and then said,

"I don't think we should get a puppy right now."


....


Are you kidding me?? But, since I was feeling it too, I phoned the lady and fumbled my way through a conversation and now, Chris is driving that cute, perfect puppy back home. We didn't want to deal with the puppy whining all night, or Chelsea seeing that puppy in the morning and wanting to keep her.

I'm a little sad, but mostly relieved. Now, we aren't going to talk about puppies for a while... a long while. I don't want this to happen again. I kind of like being dog free, but at the same time, dang! I hate sweeping my kitchen 5 times a day!

Real.

Had a rough day yesterday. I was feeling sorry for myself and was pretty cranky. It was not a good day. Chris only took a short lunch and then was only home for 20 minutes before having to leave for the evening. I had to leave my baby with the neighbours so I could sit in Urgent Care with a princess for an hour and a half. (Victory though, as we exited with a magical piece of paper.) Rather than focus on all that junk though, let's focus on the good things.

Good things!

- had a great weekend that ended with a swimming birthday party for my friend's little girl. Although it emphasized how much we miss grandma and grandpa's pool, we had a blast. Chelsea learned the valuable lesson of only jumping into the pool while wearing a lifejacket and Gavin just loved every second of it. Makes me so excited to celebrate C's birthday here in just over a month.

- Although not seeing any results on the scale (hence the me feeling sorry for myself) I do workout hard every day. My running is coming along great and I can't wait to run outside. I'm hoping to start this week. It was also a nice surprise to do a p90x workout that my husband said was super hard only to discover that it was easy for me. Chris was shocked. :) Thanks Turbo Jam and Jillian!

-so glad for friends who get me where I'm at and love on me.

- I am pretty proud of the gift I gave my friend's little girl. It's totally copied from what Heather gave me when my girl turned one, but I loved mine so much I had to make one for my friend. I am not a scrapbooking person and so it was a bit of a stretch for me, but I think it turned out great!

- G is officially crawling on his hands and knees. It allows him to move faster in order to pull his sister's hair better.

- I'm taking on fewer and fewer cakes. I'm all booked for March and pretty much April and even have 4 in May already. I want to concentrate more on myself and my family and enjoying time outside while my matleave is quickly coming to an end.

- Feeling a lot of peace about a pretty major decision that Chris and I made last week. Major announcement about that coming soon. (Ha! You like that? That's right. You have to wait to find out.)

- loving my husband and how helpful he is. I realize that he's not the majority every time I read on someone's FB page that someone is excited because thier husband washed the floor or did dishes or laundry. Mine does things like this all the time and I am very thankful for this.

- good friends who laugh loudly at Boston Pizza.

- thankful I don't have to cook tonight as we're going to a friend's house tonight.

- Friends who love my kids almost as much as I do.

- pedicures. friend. Saturday night. Excited! 'nuff said.

- my dining room table. And the fact that it is covered with a little girl's idea of heaven. My Little Ponies, anyone?

- There is way more good that I could list, but one of the good things just woke up and needs some hugs and cuddles. Laters.

Say "Cheese!"

Here's the face we get when we ask her to smile. I'm not excited about her 3 year pictures if this is the smile we get.




And then there's this guy. I see this face a million times a day. A big, silent, eyes closed, head thrown back, melt your heart grin.




(And yes, he's wearing a pink bib. Benefits of having an older sister.)

Busy, busy.

Too many hobbies.

I've just finished sewing a table runner and 8 placemats for my new table.

My beautiful fabric arrived from The Fabric Shoppe to start making Gavin his quilt.

I have 5 various cakes this week - 2 smash and 3 birthday.

I bought a cute little dresser thing from MCC on Saturday that I'm refinishing to put in my dining room.

I'm in the middle of making a really cool gift for someone's birthday. This one is a little out of my comfort zone, but I'm loving it!

And on an unrelated note, now that the carpet is gone, G can easily run his walker around the house. He found the bathroom, of course!















Reminds me of when this girl discovered the same thing!















Happy Monday all!

C'est fini!

Before.

After. (We moved a big chair up from downstairs. I'm not sure if it'll stay.)

I like it. I like it a lot. What I like almost as much is having my kitchen and dining room back. One more day of cleaning and tidying up and life should go back to normal.

gum in hair, poop on stair.

What a day.

It started with a wad of gum in her hair. Some olive oil and lots of combing later, we only had to cut out a small chunk.

Then she was off to Grandma's for the morning and nap time. We're all good.

Then she woke up. Oh. my.

Trouble. She went to the bathroom and came out without her undies or pants on. Whatevs. In our house, pants are always optional. The problem was apparently she didn't wipe and when I gave her a time out for hitting her brother, she wiped her bum all over the carpeted stairs. Her dirty bum. I don't have to draw you a picture, I'm sure. I was not impressed.

I went into the bathroom and discovered probably half a bottle of soap squirted all over the counter, floor and toilet. Another time out followed with a good dose of her trying to clean it up.

As you know, our livingroom is down to the bare boards right now. We had Corner2corner in this morning to spray the floors down with an odor eliminator, so the boards were a little damp.

Around 4 or so, I noticed that all the knots in the wood had water in them. I called Chelsea into the room and asked her if she had sprayed water onto them.

"Nope. I drank from my sippy and spit it out on the holes."

Seriously?

There was a "consequence" and a time out. Followed again by Chelsea having to clean up her mess.

Hmm... what else? I know there was more. By about 4:30 I was done. I'd had it. Chris could not come home soon enough. I knew I had run out of patience, if I even had any today to begin with. I wasn't doing well because my house is in disarray. The toys the kids always play with are moved around, there's no room to move in the dining room, the basement is overcrowded and I was frustrated with all the setbacks during what was supposed to be a quick renovation (I know - is there such a thing?)

Then my little C walks up to me, out of the blue and says, "I forgive you, mom."

"For what?" I ask.

She gives me a hug. "For yelling at me today."

...

Aw. Shucks. Guess this is one of those bad mommy days.

We had some snuggle time and I apologized. I'm so glad children are so forgiving. We talked about how she needs to listen and why mommy says no. We hugged and kissed and said some "I love you's" and then I gave her to the neighbours for a while because I still needed a break. I'm so grateful for my neighbour friend who loves my children but more importantly, gets me and totally understands where I'm at right now with no judgement. It means a lot.

Eventually, she returned from next door and when tucking Chelsea into bed tonight, she pulled me close and said, "I'm happy with you, mom. Are you happy with me?"

I reassured her that indeed, I was very happy with her, and that I was glad that we could start all over tomorrow. Sometimes, I'm not happy with her behaviour, but I'm always happy with her. She has such a way of knowing just what to say.

What a way to end the day. Just knowing that someone is happy with me. Isn't that what we want every day? On those days when we find it so hard to be happy with ourselves - the way we look, the weight we are, how tidy the house is, how high the laundry pile is, how many dirty dishes there are... Just to have someone look at me and say something as simple as "I'm happy with you."

Loves.

P.S. I'm happy with you, too. :)

Just sayin'.

The resemble is uncanny. Even the wispy hair...


Those cheeks are incredible, Chubbs.

(And yes, I'm aware he's holding his gums funny, but it does really emphasize the cheeks!)

The pee-pee palace

The carpet in our house has never impressed us. The house is only 3 years old, but the carpet always looked dingy and matted and dull. It was professionally cleaned when we moved in and then when we bought our new tv, we had to clean it again because we moved some furniture around. We've talked about taking it out, and now seemed like a good time.

Here's some progress pictures - mostly for Shelly who is begging for them. But since my sister did give me "permission" to blog them, I figured I should get on it!

The before shots.

Woah! Where did all the furniture go?? This is great.

Mom!! I found all our stuff!!

(sneak peek of the new table and chairs and the laminate that will be going in)

Here's when we started to get a little suspicious. The carpet is rolled up and the foam underlay is revealed. It is at this time when the overwhelming urine smell is also unveiled.

Shocked and horrified when the foam comes up.

Gross - gross - gross. At first I was like "MAGGIE!!!" but then when we were looking we realized it was all really old and huge stains. Since Maggs is only 7 pounds, it couldn't have been her. Also, alot of the stains were covered by our furniture, so they couldn't have possibly been Maggie. I should add that when we moved in, even after the professional cleaning, we could always smell pee in the stairwell going down into the basement. We soaked it one day with Norwex's odor eliminator and didn't smell it again. So although we were shocked last night, it did make sense to see all these stains.

So yeah. That was my last night. The cleaner guy is coming tomorrow morning to soak the wood with neutralizer. The wood can't be replaced because it is structural to the home. We could lay another sub floor overtop, but that would mean the livingroom would then be higher than the rest of the flooring and we don't really want that.