today was a fairly typical day...

> 7:30am: Wake up to Fynn needing me; Sophie needing breakfast, getting her dressed and ready for daycare when daddy gets back from his early morning Rotary meeting at 8:00.

> 8:15am: Sophie and Vic out the door. Realize that Vic has forgotten her swimsuit. Realize that I will not be having a leisurely morning drinking coffee as I need to get her swimsuit to daycare. Phone daycare to let them know I'm on my way with it. They also remind me that today is tie-dye day and Sophie does not have a white t-shirt (I forgot).

>8:30-9:30am: Get myself and Fynn ready. Stop at Tim Hortons for a coffee. Spill a little on myself.

>10:00 - Go down to Zellers. Buy white t-shirt, new underpants for Sophie, beach towel for Sophie (for daycare) diapers for Fynn and a new toothbrush for myself (how decadent!). Really want to go to the health food store and buy his environmentally friendly diapers, but am running short of time. Spend $50 at Zellers!

>10:45am: drop off t-shirt, bathing suit and beach towel at daycare. Give extra hugs and kisses to Sophie.

>11:00am: rush home because I have an 11:30am appointment with a woman named Karen who is going to give me a kick butt workout. This means I won't have to go to the gym tonight, since I'm ticking it off my list early in the day (yah!).

>11:15am: Karen is early. We put Fynn in his stroller and head for some hills that she makes me run up. And then I run down them. Nice.

12:20am: Finish with Karen. Grab a shower as I need to head into the office for a meeting. Get dressed, nurse Fynn. Grab a fruit bar.

12:50am: Drop Fynn off at the sitters'. Go to meeting. Grab a coffee, some grapes, cookie and diet coke at the meeting, because I'm starving from the workout and nursing.

1:00pm-3:30pm: meeting. Get a phone call during meeting: "Urgent message for Sheri Hamilton." Phone sitter. Fynn was hungry, but now he is munching on mushed banana. He's okay after all.

3:40pm: pick up Fynn at sitters'. Go home, get changed into shorts. Check email. Vic asks me to pick up dinner.

4:00pm-4:30pm: pick up frozen pizza, salad fixings, strawberries (a screaming deal)Real Simple magazine and an avocado (for Fynn). Trying to be a better mommy and not feed him store bought baby food.

4:30pm: pick up Sophie. Admire her tie-dye shirt. Realize that I have forgotten to return the book of raffle tickets that I'm supposed to be selling. Must return tomorrow. Give Sophie her Dora popsicle.

5:00pm: meet Vic at home. He's emptied Fynn's diaper pail (thank goodness as he had a stinky today). Prepare to feed Fynn his avocado, while Vic gets dinner on the table. Fynn does not like avocado. Fynn does not like avocado mixed with rice cereal. Surmise that Fynn is becoming a picky eater.

5:30pm: eat dinner with Sophie. Glance through my magazine. Yes, not good table manners, but tonight is swimming for Vic, so dinner is pretty casual.

6:00pm: clean up dinner;watch kids play on the floor; watch Fynn begin to lose his composure.

6:30-7:00pm: give Fynn a bath;nurse him. Bed for Fynn.

7:00-8:00pm: help Sophie with the bathroom, watch her play. Update my blog and enjoy a little quiet time with Sophie before bath and story.

House project, playgroup, etc

Just catching up on a Monday.

We got back from Vancouver and Oliver yesterday. Lots of happenenings, but we
are all settled back in now.

Here's a photo of Fynn and I in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery. We didn't go in, but wandered by.

A photo of Fynn at his Little Caboose playgroup. So nice that the weather is good enough so we go outside for song time.

A photo of the in floor water heating tubes that are running through our house.

Father's Day

Vic awoke to a couple of little early risers this morning bearing gifts.

Fynn dipped his feet in some blue paint below a nice little dad's poem last week in playgroup, so that was his gift. Sophie made caramel popcorn and put it in a cute bag with a little paper necktie. I put the family photo we had taken on our cruise into a frame for Vic's office.

Then it was off to do some recycling, a bike ride for Vic, playground for the kids, and then all 4 of us went to the pool for a swim. Followed by dinner at the Thai place. A good dad's day all around.

Daytrip #2

Our day started early when we (Vic) volunteered to do some landscaping for a couple who had bid on the a "workbee" party composed of daycare parents at the Rotary Auction. For $400, the woman bought about 8 adults to help build an Allenblock wall, paint planks for her shed, and shovelling bark mulch. We were there about 1.5 hours. The wall alone was probably worth about 30 hours of work (needless to say, the wall didn't get finished today).

They had some neat miniature ponies that Sophie and I fed.

***
Slightly before lunch we headed out to Revelstoke, a town of about 3,000 about 75 minutes east of us. We wandered around their downtown, poking into a few little shops. We had a nice lunch at the Modern Bakery. Cute place.
We also bought one of these at a kitchen shop. Now there is no excuse for me not slicing apples.

Our little man is 8 months old

Hard to believe that the little Fynn man turned 8 months old this past week.

A year ago at this time, we were getting the results of my amnio and finding out he was a boy! We were also putting the "mysterious cyst on baby's head" ultrasound issue to rest. Thankfully it was nothing and that 4 weeks or so of hell are behind us.

Going from 1 child to 2 has been challenging. Fortunately, Fynn is a pretty easy going baby. He smiles and laughs much of the day, except between 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm when he has his daily melt down. Every.single.day.

He is much sturdier than Sophie was. He is eating almost an entire jar of baby food each night for dinner (unless it is something he doesn't care for -- like peas), and he nurses like a champ.

He has no issues with bedtime either. When 7pm rolls around, he begins rubbing his eyes and once I lay him down in his crib, he's out for several hours. He doesn't fuss or need to be rocked to sleep.

With Sophie, I probably spent too much money on clothes. She is a girl, after all :)
Little Fynn gets the odd new thing, but most are hand-me-downs. And he is almost always barefoot. He loves to pull off his socks, and we lose more socks this way.

He really hasn't had any ailments. The odd cold early on, but no stomach bugs. Touch wood, but the roto-vaccine seems to be working. He rolls around on the slightly icky play mats at his playgroup and nothing seems to get to him.

He's loud. When he starts babbling, it's in a VOICE MADE FOR PUBLIC SPEAKING.

He hasn't had a haircut yet. He is getting a lot of hair on top, so maybe one is coming. I also noticed some wavy hair at the back of his head.

He can MOVE. One minute he is on his blanket, the next he is behind the couch.

We love you little man. Happy 8th month b'day.

I Can

At times, Sophie can be the poster child of "I can't".

She tried it on us during skating last year (and we persevered, and she finished two sessions).

She has been very keen to take gymnastics this spring. All has been going well until today, her final session. She and her little friend Jacob were fooling around in front of the door to the gymnasium before class started and unfortunately Shawnee, her coach, opened the door just as Sophie was on the other side. Her big toe got hit by the door. Crying and lots of tears, plus a bandaid from Jacob's mom (she's a doctor, too) and hugs from me didn't seem to help. I didn't want her disrupting the class, so I asked her to wait it out by herself in the waiting area while I watched Fynn inside the gym. Half way through the class, I went to get her and she collected herself enough to rejoin the class.

While she missed doing the "rings" she did get some time in on the balance beam and the big trampoline. While it was not without some coaxing, I'm proud of her for coming back to the class and getting her participation ribbon and stamps at the end.

Here's a poem for you Sophie (from your mean Mommy --- you will thank me one day for not quitting):

I CAN, by Edgar A. Guest

Can't is a word that is foe to ambition;
An enemy ambush to shatter your will.
It's prey forever to a man with a mission;
And bows only to courage, and patience, and skill.

So hate it with hatred that's deep and undying,
For once it is welcomed twill break any man.
And whatever the goal you are seeking, Keep trying!
And answer this demon by saying, "I Can!"

Here are a few pics. That's Sophie and her coach Shawnee and the group of kids getting their stamps at the end of class.

Flashback to June 9, 1990

Happy Anniversary to us :)

Public Swimming

We had a sudden downpour this afternoon which literally put a damper on any plans to
go to the playground. We have a decent indoor community pool, so we went there. It was also a good dry run for me, since Sophie and Fynn will be starting swimming lessons in a few weeks (during the same time slot). It was good practice on how I can get one little squirmer out of his swim trunks while not dropping him on the floor, and how to convince another little one that she has been in the shower long enough and really needs to get dressed.

We were there about 90 minutes -- definately long enough that they both should sleep well later. Vic and I are going to a movie -- a rare treat. I'm hoping Fynn is good as gold for our sitter. Sophie loves her, so no worries on that front.

Summer day-trip #1

Vic and I decided that we needed to get some variety in on our summer
weekends, so we are going to take day-trips on Saturdays or Sundays when we can.

This morning we woke up earlier than normal and drove down to Vernon (about 40 minutes south of us) and went to Creative Chaos. It is an amazing craft show. I picked up a small print for my office at work and Sophie got a little beaded bracelet and her face painted (in a unicorn design). It was all quite fun!

Then we continued on for another 15 km or so until we got to Ellison campground and met our friends Bryan and Patti who were camping. We joined them for lunch (we supplied buns and desert) and then a walk around the park. The campground is perfect this time of year -- not too busy. This campground also has 2 yurts available for renting too -- we peaked inside one -- definately more civilized than tenting -- they even have bunk beds.

House project update

Vic and I were over at the house today, watching our electrician Ryan do his work.

Here are a few pics.

Vic with a hammer (not a common occurrence), but something Ryan placed in his hand.

A "to do" list that our builder posted on a beam. What I love about it is the last item: PORK CHOPS

And the reason why everyone should stay in school: math counts. I thought it was neat to see some long division on some lumber in Sophie's room.

**excuse the crummy photos. camera is still out.

books

Here is a great list of books to plow through this summer.

5 for Wednesday

1. I pulled out my scrapbook supplies to do a layout about our vacation for Fynn's album and Sophie wanted to get in on the act too. She's into making cards. Her cousin should check his mail next week.

2. Fynn is loving banana. Check out that smile.

3. One more week of gymnastics -- somebody REALLY loves it and I think she will be a little sad when it ends.

4. Headed down to the playground today. We were all feeling kind of blah....Sophie was tired, I was on my second Tim's of the day and still dragging my feet. But we spotted an old bookclub friend and her 2 little ones, and her girlfriend and her 2 kids, and then her friend joined us with her 2 little kids (one of whom goes to daycare with Sophie) and pretty soon we were all happy, and spirits picked up. The wonders human company will do for you.

5. I am really liking these pendant lights for the new house. Hoping to hit a sale like we did the last time we bought lights at Restoration.

message to doll makers, Disney, etc

Please make some dolls, princesses, mermaids or fairies that have something other than the obligatory butt length hair.

Sophie has become quite preoccupied with her shoulder length hair and says she "doesn't like" it. Her hair is actually quite lovely (when it is combed). It's soft and reasonably thick and a pretty shade of blonde. We keep it just skimming the top of her shoulders for manageability. I wouldn't expect her to want short hair at her age, but do all little girls need to have hair that requires a bottle of detangler to deal with?

When she sees Ariel, Jasmine, Rampunzel, Belle and Sleeping Beauty with oodles of hair, it is hard for her not to compare why her hair isn't the same. Does this mean the female comparison thing is starting at age 4 now?
Snow White seems to be the only hold-out for shorter hair. I've mentioned to her that Snow White is a kind princess (kind to animals, the dwarves...), but that doesn't seem to matter since she doesn't have hair touching her toes.

If you know of any little girl princesses, etc that have shoulder length hair, please let me know!