Summer time.

Summer is going. Fast. We decided that August is sad, because it means summer is almost over. But enough being sad, we said! Lets do stuff, we said. And we did.

We drove into the big city on the long weekend and checked out the science centre. It. Was. A. Blast. Seriously. If you have kids under 12 go. Do it. They'll have a great time. And no worries if they're a lot younger. As long as they like to play you will find something for them and easily kill a few hours. The "creative room", as I believe it was called, maybe, was just perfect for Caed. We spent a couple hours in there and didn't even finish checking everything out. There was just so much to keep him busy. Go. Just do it. And if you want to do the zoo as well, then splurge for the spark pass. It's definitely worth it. We also decided to spend the little bit extra and check out one of the shows in the dome theatre. It was fun. I'd spend the 8$ again. Caed fell asleep, but I think we wore him out from playing and not having a nap, I do not think being bored was a factor.

Friday night we went for a swim and then Caed got pretty sick. Fever and puking all night. Which, I mean, doesn't really make staying in a hotel super fun, but it really wouldn't have been better anywhere else either, so we just got through that. The only unfortunate part (I mean, apart from the whole fact that our baby got sick in the first place) was the daunting three hour drive home with a puking kid. We had planned to do a quick trip to IKEA Saturday and debated skipping it. We did not. We decided to try it. Gave the Caed some Tylenol and headed over. He was sick on the way. We were almost there and had to clean him up anyway so we got there, cleaned him up and decided maybe a quick walk through wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. And this isn't completely because of my like of IKEA. I am not the worst parent in the world. Obviously not the best, but it ended up being a good choice. His stomach settled, he actually ate some lunch and kept it down and I was really happy we decided to stop for a bit and let his poor little body get sorted. Kind of. He slept most of the way home and after another good nights sleep my baby was fever free, albeit a little bit grumpy from not sleeping well.

And now we are here. Josh is back to work for a few days. The weather isn't crazy hot like it was. A little sad and a bit of a relief. I'm still hoping for a couple scorchers so we can enjoy the water park a couple more times this month. That place is a blast. And free. What a wonderful city.

Next week Josh's parents are coming out and we have a decently full schedule for their trip. And then we're looking very close to September. Scary.

A little catching up

So I've been busy, or lazy or sick a lot and I haven't been here in, well, a while. A bunch of stuff has happened. Like my kid turned 2. And that was a lot of fun. I mean, I have a two year old. We survived traveling in Ontario and made it through a wedding. The little man even did his walk down the aisle like a pro. We knew he was going to look smashing in his 3 piece suit, but we didn't actually know if anyone was going to see him... mostly because we are pessimistic parents and, lets face it, he seems to know when he's supposed to do something and choose that thing as the only thing in the world he does NOT want to do. His uncle and new aunt are champs though and brought a wagon into it. Boy loves wagons. Josh got an official year older. I celebrated mothers day #3 (I was pregnant that first time, but VERY pregnant so I'm counting it. Nothing says you're already a wonderful mother when you're overdue and not complaining... too much. And ya, I just called myself a wonderful mother. This is only true some moments. But I just fixed a train track, so right now I'm doing pretty good on the mom scale.) And, oh ya, we told everyone we were pregnant for round 2. 

This baby is being much nicer than the Caed. Not to say that I haven't spent many, many a time hanging my head over the toilet (or bag in superstore as life should have it.) And evening after evening laying on the couch wanting to cry because I felt tired and sick and not like a wonderful mother, or wife or human. But that 14th week hit and I'm actually starting to feel better sometimes. Which is a huge improvement over the first time I did this.

Summer is here, the weather is nice and we get to play outside lots. Beach time and backyard time and hanging clothes on the line time. Josh has also been convinced to take us camping on his next days off. He had to be bribed with mountains, but hey, seems like a pretty decent deal to me. Now to see if this love of the mountains extends to wanting to buy me a slightly bigger tent...

One can always dream.

The Forhead Lump

My baby boy hits his head on things when he doesn't get his way. It's a bit concerning. He basically has a permanent bruise and bump on his forehead. It is not a way I would choose to live life. It looks painful. I can only imagine how much it hurts to actually do and I'm completely unsure of what it's accomplishing. Maybe so he can rreeallyy cry? I mean he has a pretty wicked fake cry, but it's mostly just hilarious. He's working on it.

The thing is, he has been doing this for a ling time. And then, a couple months ago, he stopped. He would hit the table or floor or whatever instead. But that was a vast improvement. Now we're back to the permabruise. At least the rest of his face is cute.

He's starting to talk. Hasn't said anything that would help make life a little easier, like "snack" or "milk" or "mom, I'm screaming because...". He does LOVE the words he knows though. I'm sure he says shoe 50 times a day. "Yes!" is a response to anything as long as it's not "ooo". As in, "no that is not what I want, please try again."

But he's a blast. He's growing like an insane person. SO TALL! And huge feet like his father. And his dads big head. But that's enough of that.

I FINALLY saw the new batman movie. Yes, it's been out for a long time. But the previews made me scared. Bane looks ridiculously creepy. The face thing. But it was so good. Those are the best movies. I really enjoy them.

This is all I have to say.

rocks and sweeping

I have rediscovered curling and how wonderful it is.

My baby likes to sit and watch with me.

He is the best.

That is all.

Caed's Quiet Book

The book. 

As I mentioned in my last post I took most of my ideas for Caed's book from Stephanie at Imagine Our Life. She has some really fun ones AND she gives the pattern. Double bonus. She does each of her pages separately and then "binds" them with binder rings. I liked this. I could add to the book as I went. If I ever wanted to take out a page I can, and since I think I'll keep making a second book, because I had so much fun, we can pick and choose which pages we want on any given day.

Because I didn't make it an actual book, I wanted some way to keep it all together. I saw lots of ideas for quiet book covers and this is what I came up with:

 Handles so it can be carried like a bag.

 A strip to clip the binder rings around.

 

I used interfacing to keep it a bit stiffer and so it would sit nice.

I'll probably put "Caed's Quiet Book" on the front at some point. I should have done it before I sewed it all together, but live and learn. I'm also a little hesitant because I don't want it to be too busy... and the pattern is pretty cute. Opinions? I think I'll also put a pocket inside for some of the pieces that might not stay in so well during travel... I am NOT losing pieces in the airport!

 Here we go!

 Tie the shoe laces and a mail box!

Now most people who have ever had a quiet book will have seen a tie the shoe laces page. Classic. I got that pattern from here. Caed saw them and chanted "shooes, shooes" for about 3 minutes straight. He may not be quiet old enough to tie them but he knew what they were! The mail box was from Imagine Our Life. (Surprise!) It opens up and there are envelopes inside. I need to put some letters in them!

 (Like my stripey socks?)

 Planets! (Imagine Our Life.) It's mostly a button page. It was more of a planets learning page on her pattern, but I wanted a button page and decided it could be both. Do you know your planets?

Wait for it...

Bam! Shapes. And colors. They're supposed to be cookies which you can place on the cookie sheet (which they are already on in my picture.) There is a button on the lifter so you can move the cookies all proper-like, and of course a glass of milk to dip them in. (There is plastic over the glass of milk so you can actually dip them "into" the cup.) You, obviously, match the cookies to the shape in the cookie dough and when moving them back (with your lifter...) match the icing color to the button. (Imagine Our Life.)

 This is the pattern that got it all started. I was doing a preliminary, kind of a perhaps I'll make a quiet book, some day, maybe, if I find anything I like, web search and came across this page. I thought it was pretty super cool. Match the socks! They come out of the drier and then you match them. Simple matching game, plus life skills disguised at a fun game. There are magnets in them which I thought was pretty fun too. (Imagine Our Life.)

 And last but not least. My baby loves his cars, so I made him the city pattern from Imagine Our Life. I did magnet roads (because I think magnets are fun. Caed thinks they taste good...) with magnets on the back of the vehicles. You have your ice cream parlor (because what good is a town without ice cream?) and its delivery truck. The church. A school and school bus. The grocery store with a fruit truck, fire station and fire truck, and apartment building and car. It took the longest to make, so many tiny parts to cut and sew, but was super amounts of fun. The last page is hanging clothes on the line. Even though the concept was simple enough I used the pattern from here. Once again, I am not artistic. And her pattern was really cute. The clothes can go in the basket and you can hang them on the line. I think I'll need bigger clothes pins, these ones are a bit hard to use, but super cute, so that's something...

 The end.

And this is Caed's quiet book #1. I had a blast making it. He needs help with most every page, but I think, at the very least, he enjoys the shapes and colors. I guess it will give me something to do on the plane anyway...

Thank you again wonderful people who share their patterns! You make life a little easier and my quiet book a lot prettier.

I got bored... again.

I am good at starting things. I get bored. So didn't feel like posting pictures of the bedrooms... they're not very exciting. That's why. The rooms I posted are exciting. And we use them lots. And I like them lots. But our bedrooms... they're just kind of there. And used to sleep in. 

And so I didn't post anything.

Know what's coming up fast? April. Know how I know this? Because I have a plane ride with an almost 2 year old to think about. I do not particularly like planes. Often I have a miniature panic attack before we board. It makes my head hurt. And then we had a kid. It makes it so much worse. Now I'm not only worried about falling out of the sky, I am constantly thinking about what will make getting through the airport easier, how will we entertain a small, extremely active child for 4 hours on a plane (after a 3 hour car ride) and how will we get him home happily. And last year I need not have worried at all. He slept. But he's older now. And I'm scared again. Also I'm flying back alone... my arms might get tired.

So I am working on yet another project. This one doesn't necessarily have a finish so when I get bored, my husband can't make fun of me. Or constantly suggest that I work on that *enter unfinished project here* whenever I ask what I should do. But Caed has the working of a quiet book.

I knew I would make him one at some point. About a year ago I was helping my parents clean out the house we lived in for...... 18? years... a long time anyway. There was A LOT of stuff in it. So. Much. Stuff. Memories. So many memories. And we came across quiet books, that I believe my Aunty Kathy made us when we were little. (If it was you who made them, and you are not my aunt, I apologize. And I will correct this story.) I still remember playing with them... until we lost a bunch of pieces. But such is life. Hopefully I can keep up with any missing pieces from our book and just replace them.

It's fun. I like finicky sewing. I do not want to make clothes or anything else that needs some element of perfection. That is not me. Not even close. But if you need some sort of something in the shape of a triangle. Done. I can do that. So, since I'm artistically lacking in the drawing abilities I was a little bit worried how I was going to make it, you know, look like something. Let alone semi-nice and so that maybe Caed might kind of want to look at it, let alone play and learn. But I found the most wonderful lady of all time. She IS artistic, and then she shares with us unable. I can trace like a pro!! I change somethings up. But mostly, I'm just a great instruction follower. Thank-you Stephanie! (Ya, I just linked her blog twice. She's that wonderful.)

I made my own, all by myself today. It was a counting one. I couldn't find any number pages I liked anywhere... so I took elements of ones I found and made it up. I could only do this because I printed out numbers and then cut straight lines. But I think it turned out good... I may be biased.

I still have an unfinished afghan I was knitting for Caed before I knew he was a Caed.

(I don't think I remember how to knit anymore...)

The bathroom.

I think this was maybe one of my favorite rooms to redo. Granted, I didn't have anything to do with the plumbing and I definitely had a lot of help with the tiling. And I didn't demolish, frame anything or insulate or put up drywall or install the wainscoting.... But I did most of the mudding, painted and, the best part, picked everything out. Except the tub. Josh picked it out. I like it a lot. Good pick, hubby! I have probably posted too many pictures, but I think it was a pretty cool transformation. You may have seen some of these before.

 The cupboard looks out to the hallway. If you're looking through it you can see our bedroom door on the other side. I actually looked into a closet with the washer and drier. It's placed above a shower-less bathtub. I'm really not sure what the point in it was...

 

 The wall to the right is going to come out! As is the window.

 

 All openned up. We took out the closet in what is now Caed's room as well as the laundry closet in order to make the bathroom bigger. The laundry closet both openned up the bathroom and allowed us to put a closet back into Caed's room, albeit a bit of a smaller one.

 

 The brothers finishing taking out the closets. The picture is taken standing in front of the bathroom window so you can see the two bedroom doors there as well as part of the hallway to the side door.

 

 Taken from Caed's room. The big opening is where the closet was and the smaller opening to the left is Caed's now closet.

 Stripped to the studs! In order to re-insulate and put a water resistant cement board in.

 The bathtub. It's in what was once Caedmon's closet.

 

 Cement board in and partially mudded.

 Paint.

 In-floor heating. By far the best part of the bathroom. Thanks dads for helping me put it in!

 

 The controls to keeping my toes warm.

 Adhesive to stick down the water-proof barrier. (I'm sure it has a more technical term.)

 

 Dad mixing the grout.

 Ain't this bathroom getting moldy or rotting! The previously mentioned water proof membrane.

 

 Starting to tile.

 

 Brother Josh giving tiling a go.

 

 Before it's grouted.

 Grouted and wainscoting is starting to go in.

 

 Everything is installed and the bathroom is pretty and ready to use.

 Lived in and used daily bathroom. The finished product!

Well. That is our bathroom. It isn't huge, but I think it's a nice size. No en-suites in this house so it's our one and only right now. But we like it and since the Caed only uses it when I make him bathe we get along just fine. 

It seems like this should have taken a lot less time.

Our living room wasn't absolutely horrible. We could have lived in it... probably. Yes the carpet was maybe a little yucky and the texture on the ceiling wasn't my favorite. However, once you take out a wall, redoing all the insulation doesn't seem unreasonable (good call, I wouldn't have liked 400$ utility bills) and that basically means a complete reno.

Dad is standing by the wall we took out... just behind him is the front door and a little entry closet. The idea was nice... the chopped up rooms were not.

Taking down walls. The carpet is also out.. but that happened the first night they started ripping stuff out.

Subfloor.

Note: insulation falling from the ceiling and the awesome door I wasn't allowed to keep. (Look how tiny and cute my baby was!)

Beam in place and the ceiling is semi-patched.

Warm walls!!

Getting rid of the textured ceilings... and by getting rid of I mean covering up!

All drywalled and ready for some paint.

Getting ready to move in. (White trim! White trim!)

 Yesterday. I very lived-in look.....

On an unrelated note, there is a green, uncapped marker somewhere in this house. I can not find it and the Caed refuses to tell me where he put it.