East Coast Trip Part 2

So I left us off on Monday night bed time.  When we woke up on Tuesday morning we headed to Green Gables.  It was so beautiful and just like the movie. I purposefully put my hair in two braids to get as close to Anne as I could.  I found it interesting that the author of Anne of Green Gables did a lot of her growing up there.  It was her Grandfather's cousins house. I imagined myself in the movie as we walked through the house.  I don't know if B was talking to me because I was lost in my imagination for the majority of the time we were there. At one point one of the grounds keepers was explaining some of the rooms and such to us.  There were a few rooms that were closed off because they weren't part of the movie, but was part of the home.  The author just hadn't mentioned those rooms so they closed it off to keep it more to what people had read about. Interesting that the house actually had 2 extra bedrooms (those were the rooms that were closed off). We asked the grounds keeper about it.  I asked if there was any wine left and she told me that Diana had drank it all, thanks a lot Diana!

We walked through the haunted woods as well.  I didn't make it very far in though because W started to fuss (it was his nap time). So we walked a little ways in and then turned around quickly. When we got out of the woods W calmed down and went to sleep.  Guess it's safe to say he didn't enjoy the haunted feeling.  After our brief walk into the woods we went for a walk down Lover's Lane (another story setting from the book).  It was so nice, the leaves were changing and we basically had the entire setting to ourselves. We were the 11th group through that day.  Which made me glad we went at this time of year.  Even though it would be breathtaking in the summer or even in the spring, going in the fall we saw the changing of the leaves and it wasn't crowded, we could take our time and not worry about holding up the line.  We really got to saturate ourselves in the experience.  

  After our time at Green Gables we went on our own little island tour.  We stopped in Kingsington at a little bakery called Mary's Bakery.  We couldn't find a restaurant so we stopped in there and loaded up on yummy baked goods as well as some fried chicken and fries. We found a little look out point where we ate our lunch.  Then we carried on our little journey of the day going around trying to find lighthouses and taking pictures all along the shoreline. (Aka: red sand).  We went through one park where I didn't dare get out of the car with W.  There were foxes everywhere and they made themselves right at home right outside my door.  I wasn't afraid for me, but I didn't know if they could jump and I'm sure seeing a little person would look like a nice tasty meal to them so I said no way when B asked if we should go out and take a family photo by the water. 

After our journey lead us back to Charlottetown we found a restaurant that was still serving Lobster(it was end of season so it was hard to find a place). One place had closed down for the season on Monday, another place it was it's last night and then there was the place we went to.  I'm not sure on when they stop serving it.  It was called the Oyster House. I had Oysters for the first time and they were pretty good.  Salty, but good.  Than we had our Lobster dinner.  So good and W is such a super star.  After travelling all day he sat in a highchair for the first time like a champ.  Such a happy little camper, making raspberries at the server and chatting away with us.  Man I love that kid!  

So that day we hit all 4 of my trip criteria. Pretty sweet if you ask me 

Wednesday we walked around downtown Charlottetown.  It started off as chilly, than a light mist and then a more heavy rainfall (which luckily we were inside for at a Chocolate shop).  As we were walking along we went into a historic site.  At one point as we were walking outside I took W out of his stroller and put him in a pile of leaves.  B was a little shocked and asked me what I was doing.  A photo shoot of course!  As we made cooing noises to W, B said it must look like we're crazy making cooing noises to a pile of leaves because from far away you couldn't even see W in the leaves. As we kept walking we found a place that had W's full name on it and so of course we took about 10 photos of him infront of it.  It made me laugh when I thought of people being inside the house thinking, what are those crazy people doing taking pictures at our front door...haha.  How awkward!  

After our walk all downtown, a stop at the chocolate shop, and at the ice cream store (where yes we got icecream before lunch), we headed back to our vehicle (which was still in the hotel parking lot) and we went to a yummy sushi restaurant for lunch.  

After lunch we headed to the bridge to head over to New Brunswick. Before we hit the bridge though we stopped to take pictures of it. And of course there just happened to be a lighthouse there so it became more of a photo op.  I could see that place hopping with excitement in the summer. So many things there to keep little people occupied. A caboose, a boat playground, a lighthouse, and of course the bridge to look at. Than we headed on the bridge to the next part of our adventure. 

More to come
Michelle

East Coast Trip - part 1

Well we went on a vacation and are back now.  I have a rule that I don't mention going on a trip until after we're back.  Call me crazy but I think it's crazy to announce you're going on a vacation on the internet.  It's like inviting anyone that is looking to loot into your home.  Hey, they're going away for 2 weeks, lets steal from them because they won't notice until they get back. Plus it's more exciting for a reader to read about the adventure that was already had not the countdown leading up to it. Am I right or am I right?  I'll answer for you - I'm right - your welcome for that  :) 

So we left on a Wednesday morning at 8:50am.  Well that's when our flight took off, we left our house a lot earlier than that.  We had coffee with B's mom at the airport and then we took W on his first flight. (I've decided to call Kiwi - W from now on).  He did AMAZING!  The sound of the plane engine put him right to sleep.  I told B that I would like a plane engine installed into his room when we returned home.  (I'm still waiting on that - maybe for Christmas?)  When we landed in Toronto we had a 3 1/2 hour lay over.  We changed W, got a bite to eat, played on the carpet (yes I'm that crazy lady who would rather sit on the floor than on one of those uncomfortable chairs) and W didn't mind either, that way he was able to sit or lay down and have all the freedom he wanted. Our second flight mimicked the first and when we landed we overheard others say, "What?! There was a baby on our flight?"  Oh yeah!  W is a superstar!  We arrived at 10pm in Halifax, however one of our bags did not.  It was B's bag, which also had all the gifts we had brought.  So we carried on our way back to B's brother's place, one bag missing.

When we got to B's brother's house we had a quick visit before we all headed to bed. Luckily I'm a little skeemer and I had a pair of B's old pj's in my suitcase (They are comfortable and I have claimed them since he never wore them anymore.)So he had something to wear to bed.  The next day we were taken to a really cute coffee shop where they had chocolate filled croissants.  I had a butter one wasn't feeling like chocolate (I know take my temperature right?!)  B had a chocolate one though and that thing was HUGE! It was the size of a miniature football.  W's cousin is so incredibly cute.  She just turned 2! Afterwards we went for a drive and saw some of downtown Halifax and hit up the farmers market (Which was awesome!!) We saw a huge pumpkin and it was funny because M&T ran into many people they knew there.  I found that to be cool.  

The next day we went to W's cousin's birthday party. There were a lot of people there and I loved watching all the dynamics that were in the room.  I am more of a sit back and watch people kind of a person when I don't know anyone.  I hope nobody found me to be rude. I had a good time.  And B's brother had made the cake which turned out really neat!  It was a lady bug cake and it was super cute!  

After the party B went and picked up our rental car as well as the lost bag which had been found!  

On Monday we ventured out to PEI (Prince Edward Island for my American readers). It was breath taking there!  I would tell my younger self to do my university there! Charlotte Town was so neat!  I need to back up a bit though.  We left B's brother's house early that morning and stopped off at a closed bakery, (We didn't know it was closed otherwise we wouldn't have gone there) so we turned around and hit up the Tim Hortons on our way out of town.  We headed towards the Ferry which was a hour an half drive away. When we arrived we found out that we had missed the ferry by 15 minutes. So we turned around, went and grabbed some lunch in the nearest town and went for another long drive to see what we could see while we waited for the Ferry time.  Once we were on the Ferry we saw lots of Ocean and islands and then we saw a lighthouse! 

My criteria for the trip consisted of 4 things. 1. See a lighthouse (emphasis on the 'a') 2. Go to Green Gables from the famous Canadian story - Anne of Green Gables 3. See red sand 4. Eat Lobster.  B is funny, I asked to see "a" lighthouse and we ended up seeing more than a dozen.  He said, you want to see a lighthouse I'm going to make sure you see as many as we can.  So funny and sweet. 

Once we were off the ferry we drove to one end of the island where we saw two really sweet Lighthouses.  I'm sure W really took it in!  Than we headed to our hotel. When we walked into our room I was blown away.  They had upgraded us and the room was wonderful.  I should have taken a picture but I didn't. It was a suite room where the bedroom actually closed off from the rest of the room. Which is awesome when you're travelling with a little one.  You can put them to bed and not worry about keeping them awake because you can close their door.  We went down to the pool first before heading to bed. W loves the pool so we had a good time (even though the water was sooo chilly). Than we went back up to our room and called it a night.  And this is where I will end this post.  More to come

Michelle

Pumpkin Patch

Kiwi is sleeping so I thought I would take this time to update my blog.  Also because last night I heard about how I hadn't updated my blog again in a long time from B.  Funny that he reads my blog when he sees me all the time.

The past while we've done a lot.  We went to the pumpkin patch with some friends (twice - different friends each time). That was a lot of fun.  We walked through the corn maze - first time for all 3 of us to ever go through a corn maze.  Than we shot apples from a sling shot. I was the only one in our group to actually hit the target.  You get 3 apples and I hit the target 2 out of 3 times!  Oh yeah!  Yes they skimmed across the ground each time but they still popped up and hit the target.  One of them even exploded as it hit :)  That made me happy.  Weird. It also reminded me of my summer at Circle Square Ranch.  They put me in charge as the archery instructor.  Um...I'm a city girl!  By the end of the summer I was called a tree hugger because in the middle of the archery station stood a tree and it had so many dings in it from being hit by the arrows.  So before each session started I would make the kids all grab hands and we would give a collective hug to the tree, after all we were at "our-tree".  Wow, did that go off on a tangent.

After the sling shot we grabbed some lunch.  Of course Kiwi wanted his lunch right than too.  It's like a server always asks a question just as you have taken a bite, a baby is always hungry just as you're about to eat.  So Kiwi had his lunch and then I had mine. After lunch we went on a hayride.  After our hayride our friends had to leave for nap time (for their kids I'm assuming).  So we stayed behind and I proceeded to take a million pictures of Kiwi with the pumpkins.  Ok, it actually ended up being just over a hundred.  

So many things

Dear Blog, I suck at keeping you updated even when I remind myself of what my next post is going to be about.  Yoy!  I don't even know if I remember what I did last Thursday it's so long ago.  I remember the night before I had done all the laundry, to the point when B got home from work I made him get into his PJ's so I could wash the clothes he was wearing.  That way when we woke up on Thursday morning we could choose anything! to wear because everything was clean!  I am such a nerd but that was a fantasy come true.  It always bothers me when you do all the laundry and then that evening you have dirty laundry already.  So I fixed the problem and it was blissful to wake up the next morning feeling like there was already a head start on the chores. 

I immediately threw our bedding into the wash as soon as we got out of bed and went straight to dusting. After the dusting I cleaned the washrooms (out of order from my usual cleaning routine, I usually end with washrooms). After the washrooms I swept and swiffered the floors. I ran out to the store for a couple of last minute items. I set both tables, the inside one and the outside one because I didn't know what the preference was going to be. I swept the deck because there were some "treasures" still out on the deck from when B had his workmates over. I iced some sugar cookies with an amazing icing recipe I came across on the inter web.  I cleaned up downstairs a little bit (cleared the hallway and cleaned up the garbage/loose ends of reno stuff. Oh right, I took care of Kiwi all day too! And he was having a don't put me down kind of a day so on went the moby wrap and my hands were free! Than I prepped the items for build your own pizza. Cutting the veggies and getting everything into some really cute serving bowls that I had found on my adventure out to get the last minute items. Than I prepped the items for build your own sundaes. I feel like I'm forgetting something but like I said it was almost 2 weeks ago so I can't remember everything.  But I do remember that I was so tired by the end of the evening that I started to fall asleep while we visited with B's aunt and cousin.  

Now for the last week or so I don't remember what all has been happening. Ha!  What a great update that was!  I had a dentist appointment today when they did a deep root cleaning.  It wasn't as nearly as painful as they had played it out to be.  I guess they prepare you for the worst but after all the dentistry I've had in the past this wasn't too bad. 

B has been really sick since last Wednesday so that wasn't very fun. He's on the mend now so that's happy news. Kiwi has been practicing rolling over.  We're up to 4 times now!  He usually just rolls over but gets stuck on his one arm so I don't count those times.  He is so cute!  Lately he's been waking up really early (not really that early but it feels that way when you're up every 2 hours). But it's so hard not to laugh because he'll wake up and he's talking and laughing and as soon as he catches your eye he's got you sucked in!  He LOVES to socialize!  

Today while I was grocery shopping he started talking as soon as we entered the store and didn't stop until we got home from the store.  One lady had seen us a few different times within our shopping trip and on the third or fourth time of crossing paths she said, That's one of the most vocal babies I've ever seen!  I just laughed, I have no idea where he gets it from.  He is the biggest social butterfly and he is so happy.  I love his little spirit!  

TMI - Alert - today I have been dealing with a little bit of a dilemma. It's that time of month that I could get pregnant. We wanted to start trying right away but my doctor has advised us to wait until at least December before trying to allow my body to heal from the c-section. The reasoning is because if I wait until December than I have the choice of trying to have a natural birth or a c-section next time, however if I don't wait than I will be forced to have a c-section.  A part of me wants to say who cares lets go for it since my body PP (pre-pregnancy) only worked 2 maybe 3 times a year. And here it's working this month and I don't want to just let the opportunity pass by. The reason we want to start trying right away is if it's going to take 2 years again than we would like to get that ball rolling, however if it were to happen right away we are ok with those consequences too.  I don't even know if this paragraph makes sense.  And like I said it's much info. I just wish I could rely on my body being "normal".  I have heard that girls that have PCOS have had their bodies re-start themselves after pregnancy and then they have become normal.  I guess I'll know next month if this is going to be a monthly thing or if we're back to the twice a year chance and even then it's only a 20% chance, oy!  I will have faith that my body will work. It did it once before. Just something I'm dealing with mentally...I'm quite distracted today.  

Well I think that catches you up...probably more than you were wanting to be caught up on. But there you have it.  Thanksgiving is coming up this weekend.  I am so excited!  I think we might be taking Kiwi to a pumpkin patch!  I already have an outfit picked out for him for pictures.  I think it will be a very fun family outing!  

Until next time,
Michelle

This and That and the Other

Wow, again it's been a long time since I last updated my blog.  Life has gotten busy.  I didn't know that having a baby would increase my social life.  I figured I would be busy with baby things, but the visiting and errands that take much more time to just "run out and grab something" have seemed to eaten up my time.  I don't mind in the least but it's you who follow my blog that have nothing new to read for several weeks that suffer.  Maybe you haven't even noticed.  Whateves, no biggy.  

Today I was happy to help out a friend.  I didn't even know her son had autism and she put out a shout on a popular media site for some help.  I asked her what her deal was and she told me and I was first surprised he had autism (he's very high functioning) and also had run into the same issue with 3 of the kids I have worked with so I told her what worked for me with those kiddos and she seemed happy with what I suggested.  Hope it works for her and him.  

I went to the snoring doctor and he said that it looks like if I had my tonsils removed that could help solve the problem because I have abnormally large tonsils.  I was not shocked with this info because I've been told multiple times by doctors about it.  Funny that none of them put the two and two together.  However, he's reluctant to take them out until after an extensive lab sleep study to make sure there is nothing more serious going on before putting me under.  Waa!  I am in the mentality of "Let's get er done!" and having to wait for this will take a minimum 6 months.  Grr.  That is not conducive to my little life plan.  

Our neighbourhood just opened up a new neighbourhood park and it's super cute.  I know kiwi is going to have a lot of hours of fun there.  Well, once he's able to walk and such. But he seemed to enjoy standing (with support) and watching the kids play.  He's such a funny guy. When there are other people around him he's quite quiet, but as soon as we're in the car or at home he's a talkative little man.  He usually wakes up talking and has occasionally talked in his sleep.  He's always laughing and smiling.  I just can't get enough of him.  

Loves his football

Tummy Time

3 Months old

Loves his new reading chair (It's a minature recliner chair)

Let's see what else have we been keeping ourselves busy with?  Lots of going out and about and walks every day.  Well last week we didn't go for many walks because it was appointment central week.  Dentist/massage/snoring doctor and then on Thursday we did a bon voyage party for B's mom because she was going to visit B's dad in Korea (where he's teaching for a year).  I'm going to do another post soon of Thursday's events because lets just say I'm still recouping from that day, tuckered me out good it did.  

Today we went and saw B's Grandparents. It was so fun and they are both so witty. I had an ulterior  motive for going there other than the awesome visit.  I am working on a project for them for their Christmas present and I needed to get a little bit of information from them without them knowing.  So mission impossible esk!  I even got asked out right what I was doing and I somehow avoided that bullet.  

Well that's all for now.  I hope you've had a wonderful couple of weeks.  
Michelle

Life tinkers on

The little man is sleeping so I thought I would take this moment to do an update.  Things are going along nicely.  Yesterday was my little sister's birthday (she's actually my sister in law).  That was fun.  We took Kiwi with us and he got passed around a lot, which I didn't mind because I actually got to eat my dinner -hot!  I have yet to eat a meal that's suppose to be hot, cold though.  I try to strategize my meals for when he's sleeping, so far it is working but that might not be a forever thing.  In fact I know it won't be, but it works for now.  

I have heard from the surgeons office.  I don't know if I mentioned that on here before.  I have looked into surgery for my snoring.  I have tried all the other non-invasive routes and none of them work for me so surgery is the next step.  I talked to my doctor only a couple of weeks ago and she referred me but told me I most likely won't hear from them until October.  Here it's still August and I have an appointment in two weeks to see him and take the next step.  I am looking forward to becoming a non-snorer.  Also it will help erase the problem of sleep apnea (when you stop breathing in your sleep) which will also be a super bonus!  I'm so hoping I'm a candidate!  

In this picture I'm using my moby wrap - in my opinion this is a must have. Kiwi falls asleep within 5 minutes any time he's put in it

Enough about me though, back to Kiwi.  I am so in love with this little guy.  He is really into his jolly jumper (even though he can barely see out of it since he's still so small).  He loves to wiggle all the time!  And he's started kicking his legs up in a motion that makes his body turn so he's been doing 360's on his playmat for about a week now.  He's definitely smart in that he knows how to manouver his body to get it to move.  His cries have been distinctive since pretty much the first week.  His coughing cry means he's hungry, his cry that reminds me of Waluigi from mario kart is his tired cry and his scream is saved for when he's in pain (I've only heard it twice).  He loves to coo and in the last two weeks he's started the deep throat sound like a gurgle talk and thinks it's hilarious when I try to do it back to him.  

Oh it looks like he's waking up so I better go.  Until next time
Michelle

Hello again

Oops I forgot I had a blog and I have not updated in a long time.  It has been 3 weeks since I last updated and seriously a lot of it has been a blur.  I know there has been a lot of laundry in there because there has been a serious increase in laundry since Kiwi came along.  My cousin from out East came to visit and it was so nice to visit with her.  

We also did our first over the border trip to the states with Kiwi.  It was so much fun.  Every evening we went down to the pool and he loved it!  I was so excited that he was happy in the pool and not a screamer because I am in fact a fish and I love to be in the water.  I had to buy a special swimming diaper for him because they don't make the disposable swimmers in his size.  The smallest size for them is 18 pounds and well he's still 5 pounds away from that so we got him a reusable cloth swimmer and it is super duper cute with dinosaurs on it.  However you couldn't even see it because it was under his full body swimsuit that is so very adorable as well!  Our trip overall was so fun.  We did a lot of shopping and a morning in the park where we watched a triathlon take place.  Well, the final moments of it where they run to the finish line. Very exciting.  

Kiwi did a great job travelling.  He slept the first 4 hours of the trip.  When he woke up he was super hungry so we stopped for over an hour to let him eat and have lunch ourselves.  Then the last 3 hours I rode in the back of the car with him  (he was being fussy) but as soon as I was back there with him he was smiling and laughing and cooing and it was fun.  He stayed up for the entire time.  We ended up taking a wrong turn and found ourselves in a short cut to our destination so it was actually a great mess up.  Coming home Kiwi travelled really well again.  He slept for the first 3 hours and then we stopped for lunch and got him some food. Than he fell asleep again shortly after and we only had to stop on one other occasion to give him a snack and then we were on our way again.  Super traveller!  

B and I celebrated our 3rd year anniversary yesterday.  We went for dinner to Earls on Top, overlooking the lake on the patio.  We took Kiwi with us and I had dressed him up in his onesie that has a tie on it.  He was very stylin!  After diner we got some ice-cream and went for a walk through the park.  After our walk we headed to camp to see some friends who are in town and then came home.  It was a fun evening.  The last 3 years have been packed with adventures and I am looking forward to see what is yet to come. To sum it up we have been to Flordia (Disney World), California (Disneyland), Mexico, Sicily, Scottland, England, many camping and road trips, we bought a house and had a baby all in that short time.  I know I'm missing some other things but I believe those are the majority of the large events.  And there is nobody I would rather have this adventure called life with than B! 

  Kiwi is sleeping.  I did his bedtime routine this evening.  That's usually B's position but his boss is in town and his one co-worker is celebrating being able to walk again (he had broken his leg in like 5 places during a skiing accident) so he went out to hang out with them this evening at a fire.  So I was in charge of bed time routine tonight.  It seems to be helping Kiwi figure things out, he's been getting longer and longer sleeps through the night since we started the routine.  He eats, has a bath, eats a snack, has a little bit of interaction time (song/story/or talking) and then goes to sleep.  There was one other time I did his bed time routine and he just did not like the adjustment to having mommy do it.  He didn't laugh during his bath and only smiled twice (he loves his bath so this was odd).  Tonight however he was talking up a storm and laughing and being his normal self even though it was thrown off with me doing bath time.  Woot!  

Well that's enough of an update for now.  Until next time
Michelle