last days of 2

I realized this morning that today is Ollie's last day of being a 2 year old, chronologically that is.  That 3 month difference is still noticeable in him.  That whole preemies catch up by the age of 2 is a bunch of bull, it might be true for babies born a couple of weeks early but mostly a huge lie for ones born earlier then that.  His size is still a bit of a struggle for some gross motor skills, stairs are still done on all fours for up and down, he has finally started jumping without holding onto things and is extremely proud of that fact.  Follow up appointments are coming up in March to see how things are progressing.

We had his birthday party over the weekend and he had a blast.  Our parents came over and so did Louis' grandmother.  We ate snacks and opened presents, he took the time to play with each of them individually before moving on to the next.  We had tacos for supper and I had baked a cake for the occasion.  Like usual we were to busy to take pictures ourselves and I forgot to take them before my mom left.....oops..... so I have no pictures to share right now, but I'll be getting them soon, I hope.

I know it's cliché but they really do grow up so fast.

Stuff Since The Holidays

I have been trying to write a post about our holidays and the stuff that we have been doing since.  Apparently my brain has decided to fight me on that idea though.  I have a few drafts sitting in my dashboard but nothing has gone further then a few sentences.  I would probably have to blame the January Blahs.  I haven't taken many pictures either but if I did I would have a hell of a time sharing them with you, our computer is full and I have been backing everything up to remove some from the computer so I can add some new pictures and share them with you.

Progress

Last night we painted the basement, it is amazingly pretty and retro looking.  The stair area is a happy semi-soft yellow and the rest of the room is a soft blue with a touch of green in it.  No clue what the name of the blue is, it was one of the oops cans the day we got lucky at Home Depot and I can't find the card for the yellow anymore so it will remain nameless for now.  I did the rolling of the blue and ended up with a blister on one of my fingers, I went down to see what it looked like today and I missed a few spots, will have to fix that on Thursday.  I have been looking for a red clock and some retro wall art to decorate with, i'm positive that with my owl obsession there will be a few that will find their way down there.  I am really happy that I will have a place of my own where I can get away for a few hours at a time.  It will be the art area of the house, all crafty thing will happen there.

Do you have a place to run off to when you need time to yourself?

#300

Look at that, i'm at 300 posts already.  I never though of hitting this milestone before Ollie's 3rd birthday.  We are still busy around here, repurposing rooms takes a lot of work.  We are taking what use to be my workshop upstairs and turning it into a guest bedroom, guests use to sleep in the basement.  The basement will then become my new workshop, where I hope to actually get some work done.  Currently everything is sitting in our kitchen/dinning room and I am getting frustrated that we have no more room.  The painting and flooring are pretty much done upstairs.  Just a few touch ups left to do.  Bringing up the futon will be interesting, I guess we will take it apart before trying to lug it up two flights of stairs.  A dresser and a wooden chest will make there way into the room too.  There is so much dust covering most of the other rooms up there so we will have to do a deep cleaning soon.  I am still not sure exactly how we will organize everything in the basement, don't know how to place the workstations for it to be useful and efficient. 

If you have any sewing/craft room ideas let me know.

A very important post. Summer Safety

On the heals of the 41st drowning of a child this summer in Quebec I have decided to share some links about water safety and what drowning looks like.

Ollie is super stoked to be able to swim at his grandparents house this summer, it's great practice for our trip this summer and to keep him motivated and learning new skills for when he returns to his swimming lessons in the fall.  It was very important for us to sign him up for lessons when he was younger, starting lessons when you are older always sucks, plus there is always more fear and apprehension.  We do not expect him to be a competitive swimmer or to participate in the Olympics, we signed him up to make sure that he would be comfortable in the water, to learn water safety and swimming skills.  Ollie's classes are not always full of fun, he has his moments where he doesn't want to participate with the rest of the group, we still have issues with pool noodles.
We are always extremely vigilant when we are in the pool, taking in account his limited swimming skills.  We hover around always with a hand on him.  As he gets older and better at swimming we will always be in the pool with him, we will be those annoying parents that hang out in and around the pool when the teens are over, water accidents happen in the blink of an eye.
Locked fences around pools should be a must, parents in the pool with the children too.
Just because your kid took swimming lessons doesn't mean he is immune to drowning.
We must remember that children do not understand the dangers of water.

Here is what drowning actually looks like and some pretty scary facts about accidental drownings.

Still alive, just busy.

Yes everyone, I am still alive.

Where the heck have I been?  Let me tell you.

I've been busy crossing some stuff off of my 53 in 3 list.

I got a new sewing machine for mother's day(the weekend before to be exact) so I was able to finish up some projects that I had the fabric to do.  I am waiting for pictures of them, I was too excited and mailed them off before taking a few pictures, oops.  I have already created a mental list consisting of a whole slew of new projects I want to sew, it would probably be best if I wrote them down somewhere.  

I have also been busy filling out paperwork, we now all have our passports, it took a while because of a little hiccup with Ollie's application and supporting paperwork.  I have read a couple of books and have cleaned out the junk from our computer.  I have researched information on blood donation, found out that I have one of the rarer blood types in Canada, I can only receive the same as mine or O-, a huge reason for me to donate.  We are also signed up to be on the waiting list to find a family doctor, it is a weird system in Quebec, well mostly in Gatineau, too many people with no enough doctors working on this side of the river, they get more money on the other side.

Owning a house keeps you pretty darn busy also, we found a used central vacuum on Kijiji and managed to install it in a weekend without making gaping holes in the walls.  We have also been researching prices for our windows, after 25 years they aren't the most effective things anymore.  We have decided to purchase thermal glass panes and change them ourselves, we will change the seals and while the windows are out we will paint up the frames and change out the pieces of wood that are no longer good.  On top of that we have some landscaping on our to-do list, we have lawn issues.  The previous owners had an above ground pool with a sand base and had managed to kill off most of the rest of the lawn.  We have been trying to grow some new lawn since last spring with less than stellar results.  We have raspberry bushes to plant in our claw foot tub and need to purchase some plants for the front of the house and a few for the back containers.

This past week the city has been replacing our curb and fixing the slope of the road, sending the water in the proper direction instead of pooling in front of our driveway.  I'm ecstatic that it wasn't a project that we had to do and that the city got to it pretty quickly.  All that is left is for them to do is fill in the whole in our lawn and add some sod.

I will be happy when the bigger projects are done and we can relax in the backyard with a cold drink with a good book.

What are your summer projects?

The Yard

Our big project of this summer is the back yard.  We have measured it out, designed it and have finally gotten enough nice weather to get started on it.  We pick up 1.5 yards of rock dust and had 6 yards of soil delivered.  I didn't think 6 yards of soil would take up that much room on our driveway.  We spent today installing the patio stones and levelling out the yard, we got about a third of it done.  Tomorrow we will bring back the soil tamper and pick up a bag of grass seeds, a spreader and probably some sort of fertilizer. We have decided to get a container of native plant and grass seeds for our planter.  At least with that it will pretty much take care of itself.  Low maintenance is the best friend of new parents.  We are even getting slow growing grass with clover to help cut down on weeds.

I will post pictures when we get further along.

It's here

It's official, the nice weather is back and here to stay.  I was surprised today when I opened the kitchen blinds.  Our groundhog friend was out of his den and wandering around the yard trying to figure out where things have gone.  He is going to be even more confused by the end of the summer because we are planing on moving things around and making things pretty.  As of now, our shed will be staying in the same spot so his home will not be bothered.  I'm going to take advantage of naptime to draw our yard with a few different design options.

Birthday Weekend

I told you all I would eventually get to posting pictures of the birthday weekend.

I started to post them just as pictures but it was taking up so much room on the page so I decided to make a slide show for them instead.
Everyone arrived on the Saturday, we spent some time catching up and had a great supper.  On Sunday we started off with a breakfast of bacon & eggs.  I baked the cake and while it was cooling some of us went to the bookstore, french books are hard to get in Ontario.  We came back home with pizza for everyone.  While Ollie was napping we got things ready for his party.  For cleanliness factors we started with gifts, he was spoiled, again.  Louis' parents and sister got him some clothes for when he will be a bit bigger and a really cool tricycle that will grow with him.  My parents got him a ball popping toy, a book, some cool little animal cars and a sleigh.  Auntie Joanie got him some cute shirts and a hat from New Caledonia and we got him a couple books and some bath toys.  Ollie enjoyed his first ever cupcake, got to play with some of his new toys then it was time for a nap. We ate tacos for supper and then the adults got cake for dessert.  It was a great weekend, everyone had lots of fun.
(I made his birthday hat, it is impossible to find forrest themed birthday things)

Busy bees

Louis has been off since Monday and has been busy around the house since, he is putting the cabinet doors up in the kitchen. Tuesday we had a visit with the paediatrician and today we went to the children's hospital to get some x-rays done.  We are still trying to rule out if there is a real reason for Ollie's small size or if it just because he's a preemie.  Yesterday Ollie turned 10 months old, so he is corrected to 7 months old.  He is now sitting unassisted for short periods of time, babbling a lot more, seems to be on his way to saying either mama or dada, we will see what one he chooses.  He rolls from back to front, front to side, pushes himself up onto his elbows.  He also sat in a shopping cart for the first time on Tuesday, he was padded with our coats so he would fit.  Time has gone by so quickly, it does not seem that long ago that we brought him home.  We are getting ready for our first Christmas with the little man.  The tree is up and decorated, the presents are wrapped and Ollie's stocking is made.  Only a few days left.  We will be spending part of Christmas day in the car and the other part with my family and will be with Louis' family on the 26th.  I am off to go make some cookies.  What are you doing for the holidays this year?