BIKES, SPRING and SOLIDS

Well... Today I am going to pack up all the winter stuff!  I think it could be a bit premature in that we DID still have snow and hail this past Saturday...but seriously!!!! It’s almost May!  This week has finally felt like spring!  It’s been sunny and in the teens and there are no traces of snow left J

I have been taking all 3 kids to the park over the week, and they are currently at GREAT ages for the park!  I find between 1 and 2 a tough age to put in days at the park.  The kids are crawling and putting sand in their mouths, and need constant supervision on all the equipment.  They aren’t content to just be in swings, but want to start climbing and doing all the park stuff. 

This spring and summer, Jesse and Janna are both good to go!  They can handle most stuff on their own, and I don’t need to be steps behind them.  At the same time, Robyn is young enough that she is totally happy just watching from her stroller or swing.   I can actually relax a bit!  Getting to the park with the 3 of them, is also not too bad.  The girls love the double stroller, and Jesse is super sufficient on his trike to get there on his own. He pedals along right beside the stroller, able to keep up no problem, and is on top of stopping and looking both ways before using the crosswalks. 

 We have a real bike for Jesse waiting in the basement.  But, I think I’m going to wait for Dave to tackle this with Jesse in the summer.  I don’t think I can manage a kid learning to ride a bike with both girls on my own without a lot of stress.  I also need to buy a helmet.  I stopped in at walmart last night to grab one, but ended up not sure what size to get.  Jesse has a big head.  I realized I probably should have him there to try it on. However, when Janna and I were looking around in the bike section, I found the greatest red trike for 1.5 – 3 year olds.  It is sturdy and the seat adjusts up/down/forward OR backward.  The problem with the other bikes we’ve been given is that her short little legs just can’t reach the pedals. Anyways, this one fit her beautifully, and so I tossed it in our cart.

  Janna immediately looked at it, and said, “ Jesse’s bike.”  I told her, “ no, Janna.  That is YOUR bike!”  She looked at me confused and repeated, “ Jesse’s Bike.”  I beamed at her and said, “ Janna, this is YOUR special bike. All for you.”  Her eyes lit up, and she beamed and squealed, “MINE bike!  Mine Special Bike!”  She spent the rest of our time reaching back and stroking the bike, and telling everyone she passed, “ MINE BIKE! Special bike.”  It was priceless.  This morning, we have it in the house getting her all set for later this morning, when we’ll take it on the road!  IF the rain holds off.....  I’m not sure, it’s not looking too promising.  Oh well, Jesse and Janna are BOTH having fun spinning this thing around inside, so it won’t be the end of the world if we can’t get outside.

Robyn has also really been enjoying the fresh air, and playtime outside.  She just loves to watch all the kids running around and doing their thing.  She had been getting a bit funny around meal times though.  I noticed at suppers(when sitting on Dave’s lap)  her eyes just following all the food, and her lips and mouth practicing the motion of chewing alot.  When holding her, and eating a snack, or something, she has started diving and trying to latch onto whatever food I had on the go.  So, while 6 months is a common  recommendation for starting solids, we decided to get her started last night a few weeks early.  I had some sweet potatoes all pureed and frozen in the freezer...so I popped out one of those, and we gave it a whirl at supper. 

She was SO cute!  She knew exactly what to do.   I brought the spoon close and she opened, and swallowed.  She was certainly interested in the eating process.  I don’t know if sweet potatos were her favorite, it looked like she found them a bit sweet.  But,  she had a few tablespoons, and then turned away  when she was full, and had fun playing with the spoon for the rest of our meal time!

I like the first month or so of starting babies on solids.  I love seeing the different reactions to food, and it’s not too much work, or too messy as they don’t eat a ton and maybe just once a day.  However, I REALLY don’t like the 4 or 5 months following when they are eating a lot more, and start fighting for control of the spoons and flick stuff EVERYWHERE!  I love when they hit one and can start eating little pieces of whatever the rest of us are eating.

Anyways, that is all for now! I will leave you with a picture of Jesse.  Can't forget about him.  He wanted me to take pictures of his war wounds.  We have a fading black eye from a collision with a chair, and a scratch from nobody knows where?! Thanks for reading. I’m out!

the BASEMENT Play room is complete (almost)

It’s the end of a VERy hectic week, and I’m happy I have some pictures to post of the nearly finished play/living room!  We have a few more minor things to do (such as filling our frames with pictures) and some sorting and organizing of bins, but the big stuff is done!

It has been tremendously hectic since Katie moved out last Saturday.  That was a huge day for me entertaining the kids while Dave helped Katie move all her things out, cleaning up the aftermath, and then moving IN all the new furniture and stuff for the basement.  I think I made close to a dozen trips to Ikea over the past few weeks, (and while I do love Ikea) I’m happy not to have to go back anytime soon! 

The days have been filled with watching the kids while trying to sort and organize, and the evenings assembling furniture and hanging up stuff on the wall which resulted in staying up way too late!  I’m definitely one of those people who likes to get a project DONE as soon as possible, and so to just slowly work away at it over a month or something, is just not an option.  I go crazy.  So, I just work work work until the job is done! And between 8-12pm is my only real good CHUNK of time  to get things done without the kids.  Janna had a rough week with not ONE good sleeping night, and so every night when I’d crawl into bed way past my bedtime, I would be kicking myself in the bum, when Janna would wake up an hour later, and then again, and then again, and then Robyn for her feed, and then Janna one more time.  Ugh.  And so to say I’m tired is an understatement!  Add in that Robyn had her shots this week, and so has been a bit more needy than normal, AND that I have been rather husbandless, I’m surprised I’m still sane!  Dave’s school play ran this Thursday/Friday/ and Saturday and he ended up having to pull in a ton of nights and weekend and extra school hours because of his involvement with the cappies and music and media arts stuff with the school.

Anyhoo. I’m excited for a more normal week this week!  And a chance to enjoy being in the (mostly finished) basement.  I did have fun trying to come up with an area that would be baby and kid friendly, but also enjoyable for Dave and I as a second sort of living area.  I also had to work around some interesting things like: super green walls that Katie had painted, low lights, yucky tile floor, etc.  I’m happy with the results, and we are all really enjoying it so far!

I took some pictures tonight after Jesse and Robyn went to bed.  Janna had fun photo bombing all these!  Hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading. I’m out!

COMING DOWN THE STAIRS

 ROLE PLAY AREA..I have different things I'll switch out every few weeks.  For now we have kitchen stuff and animals...in a few more I'll put in our tool bench and tools

 IN YOU GO

TOYS and COMFY RUG

THE BOOK NOOK! Kids have been loving this so far!

Fun curtains I still need to hem

the New FUTON!  A space for visiting guests to sleep

I love this picture.  Snagged this baby at Canadian Tire!?

Pictures and storage and files and Dave....

Our new side table that hides the remotes from the kids.  Shhhh... I still don't think they know this opens!

La television and more toy storage

Action SHOTS:

in the book corner

playing with some animals

loving that soft rug

Out into the hallway...

The basement, the kids, the stay-at-home-mom plan...

March was a rough one for blogging, I am noticing.  I really have been cutting back on user time in regards to computer and TV, and so the blog is suffering a bit, I see.  Also, the month was just sort of weird in it’s flow.  I had a week with Dave on his March break. A week of sick kids.  Two weeks with in-laws  here. Dave had a short mid-week trip to Toronto.   Anyways- just lots of stuff that has sort of thrown off the daily schedule. 

The next interesting thing happening (aside from an ice-storm today?!?!?) is that Aunt Katie is moving out this Saturday.  Only 10 minutes up the road into a house with some friends, but we just needed more space for the growing family!  

Dave and I had decided around Christmas this year, that I would open a home day care in September instead of going back to work.  With plans underway, however, we realized that what we really want (more than the ample extra income a daycare would provide) is for me to be able to invest primarily in my own kids as they are so young and I will be starting to home school Jesse in the fall. On days where my kids are happy and healthy, I feel like I could manage another 2 or 3.  However, most days, I feel stretched with the 3 of them all so young and needy.  I’m not ready to divide my attention quite yet. 

So, we decided to strip down the budget the bare necessities for the fall, and live a very non consumerist “YEAR OF FRUGAL” as we called it.  Upon realizing there would be STILL a deficit, we just started praying heavily for some sort of income or opportunity to make “stay at home mom” possible.  God is so good.  Not only were we given MANY random lump sums of money from people totally out of the blue, we also received a super income tax refund.  On top of that, we got an email from a co-worker of Dave’s.  His son’s daycare was closing down, and they were looking for someone part-time (just a few short days a week) to watch him come September. So!  I jumped on board.  It will be great to have another little one around a few days a week for the kids to interact with.  However, I still feel like I will have the time and energy to invest in all the kids well.  Not to mention, space in the van to go on all our regular outings.   On a totally selfish note, I will still have all holidays and full summers off!  I’m excited about it.      We’ve been able to balance the budget to include a few things we were sad to strip away,  afford to furnish the basement, and put a good chunk in savings.

Alors!  This Saturday after Katie moves out, I suspect a kind of crazy week with many ikea trips to set up another living, and (primarily) play space.   It will be wonderful to have a bigger open area for the kids to run around in (especially in the winter), and a hide-out for most of the toys!  I have spent the past week thinking up a million combinations of ways we can set things up, and trying to decide what to leave where, and it’s been fun!

I have also really been enjoying my kids these days.  (The nights have been another story with Janna’s unpredictable nightly screaming fits)  However during the day time, she has been much less clingy and grumpy since cutting back heavily on dairy in her diet.  She is also very quickly putting words together the past month.  “Butter and Ham wrap please”- she said to me yesterday.  “Daddy work,  gone.” As she looked out the window a few days ago.  She is also improving heavily with songs.  She sang along with “twinkle twinkle” in the car and got several of the words.  Very cool.  She continues to love dressing up, and having her nails painted.  The other day, she took a tantrum when she found a bottle of nail polish on the counter.  I was making a snack (her favorite activity of the day).  She saw the bottle and grabbed it and said, " Paink! Pease! Paink! Pease!" I suggested that we wait until after snack to paint her nails, and she went ballistic. " NO SNACK! THIS! NAILS! PAINK. NO SNACK"  What a nut 

Jesse is being SO cute with Robyn day in and out!  He has taken it upon himself as her protector.  If she cries he RUNS to her with a toy or song or to pat her head.  If it doesn’t work, he will shout, “ Mom! Robyn needs her milk!”  He also makes her chit chat and laugh like nobody else can!  Robyn continues to be the most awesome baby ever.  She is just so happy all the time, and easy going and fun.  Here Jesse is showing her the ropes of the jumper that we just pulled out this week for her to try out:

Well, that’s all for now. I just needed to post something and stay in the game.  Hoping to post some shots of the basement in a week when it’s all set up.  Happy weekend. Thanks for reading. I’m out.