BC - DAY 4 - Farmers Market/Miracle Beach/Fluid

More playing, this hole was a big hit!

ME and my boy! Ethan loved the beach, he was so tuckered out by the end of the day.

Beautiful Ladies: Alexis, Danika, me and Linds.

Ethan and Jorja digging a big hole with Grandma Teresa.

Ethan and Granny waving at the tubers going by. There has been a steady stream of tubers since I got here. I don't think i'm going to risk it this year.

Cousin Jorja giving Ethan a lovely piece of seaweed.

At the Courtenay Farmers Market. Ethan was playing in the dirt, was filthy by the time we left.

This morning started bright and early. I heard some movement in the crib, so i popped my glasses on and looked over, and there was my little boy standing with his blanket pointing at me. I guess that means it is time to get up. I'm not too sure what happened to the 10 o'clock wake ups that he does in Alberta, must be cause it isn't his real crib. So we got up, i enjoyed two butter soaked pieces of my cinnamon bread. Best thing i've ever eaten (well not ever but so delicoius).

We headed over to wake up Alexis at around 8:50. For some reason Ethan has a phobia of the Cottini house, he was happy as can be until we entered the gate, then he just started screaming, and he did the same thing last night. I can't figure it out. Anyways, we gathered Alexis and Erica and headed off to the farmers market. Lex did very well, lots of produce, and meat. Erica got a crepe, which sounded good but ended up being less than satisfactory. I just got a muffin and a gingerbread cookie. NOt awesome but not terrible. We listened to a few songs from the band then headed out. It was already getting super hot.

Mom and I headed over to Superstore and got some photos developed. I spent a good hour on the phone with Airmiles when we got back, switching Kelly's flight from next weekend over to a flight for Claire (just a heads up, if you are booking with airmiles buy the insurance).

We planned to meet Brian, Andrea and Jorja at Miracle Beach at 1:30. I crammed some food in Ethan for lunch, stopped for a quick bubble tea on the way and headed out. It was so beautiful at Miracle Beach. Kelly's mom and the boys made it as well. We had a great time just splashing and digging around. We didn't leave until 4:30!

Didn't have any dinner, cause I had plans to go to Fluid, and i usually get this awesome cheese dish there. Alexis, Kim and I met Lindsay and Danika at Fluid at 8:00. We ordered our cheese plate, and must say we were somewhat dissappointed, they seemed to have done something different, didn't taste near as good. But of course I had to eat it, don't want it to go to waste.

We sat on the deck, now i'm not sure but I thought the new law was that you can't smoke on the restaurant patios anymore. There were three people smoking, we questioned the waitress and she claimed it was legal. I'm not so sure, it really bothered me.

Anyways now i'm home, exhausted and ready for bed. Excited for tomorrow, just talked to Kelly, it sounds like he is being very productive at home, getting lots done.

BC - DAY 3 - Coombs/Relaxing/Art/Ice Cream

Not too sure about the stuff on his hands

Creating a masterpiece. The finished product actaully turned out quite nice. We bought him a blank canvas and let him just go for it. He definately lost interested fairly quickly and was more interested in squirting paint than painting. Still fun!

Visiting with the Cottini's.

Can't go to Coombs without taking a picture in this old car. Although I definately think it could use a little maintenance. Perhaps a paint.

Strong man!

Ethan could have played with these rocks for hours!

There were no goats on the roof of the market so we got this picture in front of the weird statue things. And I think it says "Coombs" in the background.

The Cinnamon Raison bread I have been craving for so long.

I'm going to rewind to day 2 here for a minute. yesterday I mentioned that my mom was having her bathroom redone, the tilers were supposed to come yesterday and finish it off, didn't come, didn't come again today. So last night I had to have a bath. Now this was an adventure in itself. My mom's house is 100 years old, she has an old claw foot tub upstairs that takes about 45 minutes to fill, it trinkles in and when you finally think you have enough water and climb in, it lukewarm and there still isn't enough water. By then I was sick of waiting so I did my thing, washed, but I needed to wash my hair. How do you do that in a bath with no spout, just a little flow coming from a tiny hole? My solution, crumple into a ball on my kneee, put my head over my belly into the water. Incredibly uncomfortable and really impossible to get all the soap out of your hair when you are rinsing it in soap water :S. And well since it is the longer weekend and i'm sure the tilers will not come tomorrow, apprently i'm going to have to do it again....

This morning we woke up probably aroun 8, our plan was to leave at 9:30 for Coombs. We all got ready, and I think we were out the door at 9:41. Pretty good I think. I'm glad we decided to go to Coombs early, when we got there is was pretty busy but by the time we left it was a zoo! Tourists everywhere! I didn't buy much but got a loaf of the cinnamon bread i've been craving for months. Very excited about breakfast tomorrow. We looked around at the shops then had lunch. Headed home after a delicoius lunch.

Ethan slept in the car, when we got home we were exhauted, Ethan played in the paddle pool and with the kitchen for an hour or so, but he got super fussy and I was too tierd so we all took a nap at 3:00. When everyone was rejuvinated we had some more fun in the yard. Chloe popped Ethan's favorite ball so we had to walk over to the dollar store for a new one. We had a quick dinner then the plan was to go get Gelato with Alexis and Erica.

Alexis, Erica, Kim and I walked over to BOTH gelato stores and they were BOTH close. We were somewhat dissappointed, but that didn't detour us from having dessert, we just continued walking on to the DQ. Rootbeer float.... so good!

BC - Day 2 - Splash Park/Comox Lake/Gelato

A walk on the Comox Wharf after Gelato! Yum!!

I was going to crop my legs out, didn't go well.... both 25 weeks pregnant!

Comox Lake with the Glacier in the far distant background.

Snack time!

Playing in his new pool. Granny really spoils him.

Ethan spending some time with Chloe and Kit. They seem to get along well :)

Ethan in the Courtenay wadeing pool. Had so much fun splashing around in there! Not too much bruising from the events of yesterday, his one eye is shut just a slight bit more than the other.



Swinging in the swing, one of Ethan's favorite places to be :)

Well it was Day 2 here in Courtenay, another beautiful day. Ethan woke up between my mom and I bright and early. Around 7, all set to go. We planned to head over to Superstore and Canadian Tire. I of course had forgotten a few key items which I needed to get and Mom still wanted to buy Ethan a paddley pool. I had to call the airmiles centre before we did anything, well it turns out airmiles was 'experiencing higher than normal caller volume' so we didn't leave the house until 10. Anywho, we were successful, got a great little pool for Ethan and picked everything we needed up.

We went to the spray park first, Ethan wasn't too too interested in the water, it was really shooting out of the spouts, I think it could knock a child over, so we heading to the baby pool. He much prefered that and splashed around for probably half an hour before he was ready for a good snack.

We headed home for lunch and Ethan was exhausted so it was upstairs for a nap and I was off to the lake with the Cottini family. We stopped on the way at the Cumberland bakery (who make the most delicious doughnuts ever). Then off the the dock for some fun in the sun, it was 27 today and I am happy to announce that I am no longer as pale as a ghost. Infact, I got my first burn. Lex and I layedout on the air matress for awhile then took the boat over to check out a nice beach.

Once we got home it was time for dinner, my mom had Ethan out in the yard in his new pool. We made pasta for dinner, Ethan shoveled back more food that i've seen him eat in awhile. And what is a good dinner without dessert, so we took a quick to Comox for some gelato and a walk on the pier. It is just so beautiful here! But we miss you Kel, sorry you are stucking working in the land of the mosquito!

On a complete side note, my mom is having her downstairs bathroom completely re-done and it is the only bathroom with a shower, so tonight, for the first time since I can't even remember when I'm going to have a bath. Hopefully that bathroom is done soon. I don't like the sounds of this whole bath thing....

BC - DAY 1

New Chair granny bought for Ethan.... Loves it! Played for over an hour with the hose and the kitcehn. Attempted to eat the play food, didn't go so well :)

Our arrival at the airport!

So Day one of our BC Vacation. Virginia picks Ethan and I up in the morning and we are off to the airport. Of course we make a few essentials stops on the way. A quick stop at Once Upon a Child. Didn't get much, but did get a very cute pair of shorts for Ethan, and obviously something for the new baby. THe boys were hungry so we stopped off at McDonalds. Yes that is right, I haven't been there for AGES, Kelly hates that place with a passion. I'm not sure why it is SO delicious, and Ethan loved it. Anyways, Don't worry Kelly we won't be going back for awhile.... it was just a fun treat. We finally make it to the airport, perfect timing, we just walked right on the plane. We sat in the very back, no one in the seats beside us. This was a good thing as Ethan was very uncomfortable and screaming. But once we took off both him and myself fell asleep. Even missed the darn 'snack'.

Once we land in the beautiful Comox Valley Alexis and Mom are there to greet us, we even arrived on time and we were back at our place by 1:45. Alexis and I took off downtown to see what was new. Not too much I must admit, although Hot Chocolates was our last stop and we both go two scoops of gelato. Just was two pregos need :). It was VERY hot yesterday, so we suited up and headed down to the river..... AWWW so refreshing. And so much better than any Alberta River I have ever been in.

Mom made Quiche for dinner,however, her oven broke half way through... so we had toaster oven/microwave quiche. It turned out alright, considering. After dinner we were just about to head out to Canadian Tire to buy Ethan a paddly pool. Well change of plans. The dog pushed the basement door open and Ethan went chasing after the dog, probably not realizing there were stairs there. I chased after Ethan yelling "stop". Nope, too late, I watched my little baby boy roll down 15 wooden stairs and then finally watched his head smack against the concrete at the bottom. The worst thing I have ever seen. I was screaming/crying/shaking, oh my gosh what has just happened. I scooped my little guy up, he was just screaming. His nose started to bleed and I was worried he had cracked his skull. His head made a huge clunk at the bottom. HE cried hard for about ten minutes, then seemed to stop. We decided we'd better go to the drop in clinic, just to be sure. By this time the goose egg on his forehead was the size of an egg.

THe drop in Clinic wasn't too busy, They had toys and Ethan decided he would probably feel well enough to play with them. By the time we got into the doctor he was chatting and playing away, definately seemed alright. They doctor checked him out, his nose was a little swollen, and he is bruised on his chin and forehead. She gave us some warning signs to watch for, if they happened we had to take him to emergency.

We put Ethan to bed, We had to wake him every hour to make sure he was ok. for the first hour, mom and I (my dad is away) Crafted a locking system for the basement door so this could never happen again.

We finally went to bed and decided rather than have Ethan sleep in the crib we would both sleep in my mom's bed with him in the middle. Ethan squirmed and wormed around all night and this morning is feeling great. In fact he is ready to head to the splash park.

That wasn't how I thought this vacation would start and i never want to watch any of my kids fall down any stair (or get hurt in any way) again. I could get the image out of my head last night of him heading down those stairs.

I've added some photos of Day 1. None of Ethan's bruise. Don't want to upset Daddy.

Four more days....

We get our house in FOUR more days, I couldn't be more excited. And I know Kelly couldn't be more nervous (but excited at the same time). I'm supposed to be in bed right now but all I can think about it what we need to do first, what we need to buy, where everything is going to go. Last night Kelly, my mom and I sat down and discussed what some of the main priorities were for the house. Obviously we can't purchase everything all at once, we just don't have the money for that. So my mom made Kelly and I both, seperately write down what our top priorities were. We had some of the same ideas, although some were way off base.
Kelly and I both agree that a baby gate (or a few of them) is an essential. There are so many twist and turns and different stairs cases in our house that I still haven't decided how many gates we are actaully going to need. My mom and I are heading to Babies R Us tomorrow to check things out. Next purchase: Washer and Dryer. Of course we could have purchased a washer and dryer from the builder but that would have come at a price far more than what we are willing to spend on a washer and dryer. We went and checked a few out and found one we will most likely purchase. Finally our third and final priority for week one is blinds. I don't want to be living in a fish bowl.
So that takes care of Kelly's first pay cheque. Everything eles we will have to save for. The rest of the list included; Grass, deck, garage door opener, toddlers bed, couch set for the living room, a T.V. A new Suv. Of course those aren't as important so they have all been put on the back burner until some more money magically appears. I'm pretty sure that now that we have a new house it will be a never ending list of things we need. But it is exciting.
Kelly and I differ so much. I like to go out, find something that is priced right and just buy the darn thing. Kelly on the other hand prefers to shop around, price things out, take days and days and days to hum and haw about something and then go in the for the plunge. I tell ya it makes things difficult. I would rather buy something right away, have it, even if we pay fifty bucks more at least we have it, it is local, we haven't spent the day looking and searching for a 'better' deal. I would prefer to buy something in Spruce Grove rather than the city, then if there is a problem we don't need to drive into the city to complain etc. Nothing wrong with either of our methods but it sure doesn't help that we are both so stubborn haha! So far I think I have won the battle for the washer and dryer. I found a good deal on a good set from our local Sears outlet. Another issue Kelly sometimes has is finding the cheapest deal around, pruchasing it, and low-an-behold it breaks within a month. I think it is worth it to spend a little more money for something a little better quality.
I think this whole process will be an adventure. I am quite looking forward to it :)

Awake

Well I'm awake, it is 3:24 in the morning and i've gotten out of bed three times since two. I heard once that if you try to sleep for 20 minutes and can't that you might as well get up because you probably won't fall asleep. So here I am.
It is a million degrees in our little apartment we are living in, we went and bought a new fan last night so now we have two, but still a sauna. I have so many things on my mind, which may be the cause of my not sleeping. I can't stop thinking about our new house, where i'm going to put everything. I can't stop thinking about what we are going to do tomorrow and where could we go for a swim to cool off. I'm thinking about having our mail forwarded and if Canada Post will be intelligent enough to figure out how to do it without screwing it up. One thing I find about Alberta is that if you want something done right you have to continue to bug people, they forget, or they do it, but they do it wrong and just leave it. I find I am constantly talking to people, fixing thing etc.
Our new little baby is FINALLY kicking. I thought forsure I would feel this one earlier (because I would know what I would be feeling) but nope, not until 23 weeks (Ethan was not until 24 weeks). I had a doctors appointment with my surgeon on Wednesday. She was wonderful. We tentetively booked the 29th of October for my C-section. She said if I do go into labour before that she will assess the progress and see how my body will do with a natural delivery. I guess we will have to wait and see.
In the mean time we have so much happening. We take posession of our house next Thursday at 1:00pm, not earlier, no later. We leave for BC on the 28th of July for 12 days, When we get home from Alberta we have my parnets and sister coming as well as Autumn and Lochlan. I am having a baby shower for Michelle that weekend. The following weekend my sister is coming down for a soccer tournamnet. Then it is pretty much September. I am watching Caleb for the first three weeks of September, Michelle's baby is due. So exciting.
I always thought it would be so fun to be pregnant in the summer cause I could wear all these cute dresses. I kind of forgot how freaking hot it got here, I am definately uncomfortable to the max!

Discipline

Today was kind of a rainy day, so we thought we would go to the PERC, which is an indoor playplace. It is government funded and probably aimed at the lower income families, but of course everyone is welcome to use it. It is free and a great place for the kids to play.
The kids (Ethan and Virginia) played for a good half an hour before anyone eles showed up. Two kids (one probably about 5 and one little girl 3) came in and started playing. Ethan LOVES other children so he went up to say hi. The little girl was not interested and kind of pushed him out of the way. Rude, yes, but not he mother of the girl but the mother of the little boy told the little girl to be gentle. Good parenting.
After awhile the little girl was sitting in the middle of a large tunnel. There are holes all in the sides, it is pretty wide (wide enough for two children to pass each other). The little girls mom was sitting RIGHT beside the tunnel, Ethan sarted crawling through (I could see them both and the little girl didn't like Ethan coming through) so she HIT him. Not just a little girl hit, like a hit/shove. I ran over to grab Ethan. Little girls mom, DOES NOTHING, SAYS NOTHING. Ethan trys to continue on through to get the heck away from this little girl and she again HITS Ethan hard. I was fuming. The mother SAID NOTHING. I grabbed Ethan and we left the entire place.
I have always taught Ethan to be GENTLE around other kids and not to hit. Ethan seems to understand that he he is only 15 months. This little girl was FAR older than Ethan and his mother was right there. I think the thing that made me the most angry was the fact that she said nothing. She didn't say "Don't hit honey" or "Be Gentle". She just sat there and watched her little girl hit my son. If Ethan hit someone (espeically as hard as she hit him) I would attempt to tell Ethan that hitting is wrong, and then apologize to the mother.
I don't know maybe that is just me, everyone has their own parenting techniques. Just can't figure out what hers was.....

July already?

I can't believe it is July already! Where is time going? July is a super wonderful/busy month for us. Thursday (Canada Day) my mom flew in. We spent the day with Aunty Michelle before we left for the airport to pick up Granny. I'm so happy my mom is here for 13 days! It is so nice to have someone eles around during the day, so helpful and much less boring. My mom is a real 'Go-getter' so we are ALWAYS out and about. Usually on Canada we go to the celebrations in town. Last year however, we were somewhat disappointed with the festivities in Spruce Grove so we opted to pass this year. Next year the celebrations and fireworks are going to be celebrated in the park across the street from our new house so that will be great!

Kelly got Friday off, which was wonderful. We didn't waste any time, crammed in the vehicle and headed to Costco. Mom has a Costco card (and we don't) so we stocked up! We rented a terrible (When in Rome) movie, don't reccommend it. Saturday we heading out to St. Albert to go to the greatest farmers market I have yet to find. We had fun puttering around. I got the cinnamon loaf I have been CRAVING for the past two months. It was DEVINE! We had a quick lunch with Aunty Michelle's house and then headed to the South Edmonton Common for clothes. Kelly has had the same clothes for the past three years so it was due time for some new duds. WE were fairlysuccessful. Banana Republic was 40% off everything so we managed to find some great deals.

TOday is Sunday, for some reason Ethan woke up screaming at 5am and really wasn't interested in going back to bed. So I took a two hour shift then plunked him in with Kelly for his turn. I was exhausted (since we stayed up late to watch the blockbuster "13 going on 30"). So I think him and Kel headed to TIm Hortons where apparently Ethan met a very nice old woman who chattted with them for awhile. The weather isn't the greatest we were thinking of going out to the river today.

This week we have doctors, lawyers, house walkthroughs. It is going to blow by, just an update we move into our house in 11 days. Can't wait. I think we might possibly start packing today :)