Summer Fun For Boys

Now smile for the camera, Liam. Hold onto your sister real tight, OK, Liam?

Ok, Mom!

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

I decided Liam's ready to potty train since he can pee on the potty whenever I ask him to. So we trotted off to WalMart this morning where I let him pick out some new Curious George underwear. I explained that he wasn't going to wear diapers very often anymore and that he'd use the potty so that George didn't get dirty or wet.



Liam has been having his bms in the afternoon lately, so I thought this morning was a good time to start training because we'd only have to deal with the wet stuff. So, when we got home, I had Liam put on his new underwear and we immediately went to the potty where Liam went pee. "This isn't so hard," I smugly thought to myself. After explaining to Liam that he needed to try and let me know when he had to go to the bathroom, I left him to play in the living room while I put away groceries.

It wasn't long before Liam came running up to me saying he had to use the potty. I was thrilled! But my excitement quickly faded as I turned to Liam and noticed his underwear was sitting so low that Curious George now swung from his vine somewhere down around his knees.

And while Curious George dangled there, it dawned on me that Liam had pooped in his pants.

Before I could spring into action and contain this soon-to-be-disaster, Liam ran off to the potty, with that pretty sack of poop swinging to-and-fro between his legs. Curious George, unfazed by it all and still hanging from his vine, smiled while he swung like a metronome from his new vantage point.

If this was a movie, this would be the point where everything would start moving in slow-mo. In this shot, you'd see me running after my son, hands reaching, eyes wide with terror and a deep "NNNOOOOOOOOO" coming from my mouth. Curious George wouldn't be swinging as fast, but he'd still have that stupid grin on his face. And the poop? Well, the poop would eking it's way out of the underwear and onto Liam's thighs, down his calves and onto his socks.

If this was a movie, the punch line would arrive once the camera zooms in on my son and his underwear and socks to show that everything is now a lovely shade of pink. Are you puzzled? Why is everything pink?

Well, we started potty training the day after we'd had beets for supper.

Needless to say,I'm not so smug anymore.

Ada's Quilt

Although I adore Liam and all his fun 'boy' stuff, once I knew we were having a girl, I couldn't wait to dive into the world of pink.

During my last year of university, I stumbled across a book about antique doll and crib quilts at the used book store on campus. I loved that the author took the time to re-create a pattern for each of the well-loved quilts from yesteryear. The one quilt that caught my eye was called the postage stamp quilt. It was a plain, yet whimsical patchwork quilt and I knew it would be perfect for my little girl.

Sewing the squares together so that the seams matched proved difficult and ironing all those seams afterwards was rather tedious. But the end result was worth it.

The pattern was easy to adapt to fit a crib and I added borders to finish off the patchwork.


Nothing beats running your hands along a soft quilt...
Scratch that.

Nothing beats snuggling with your little girl for the first time under the quilt you made just for her.

Welcome, Ada!

Ada Grace arrived at 4:53pm on July 9, 2008 (her daddy's 26th birthday)! In spite of our IUGR scare, Ada weighed a healthy 8lbs 3oz at birth. She is a healthy and content little girl.

Just a few minutes old...

I felt wonderful after the delivery. I'm glad I chose not to have an epidural - I think it made all the difference with our nursing and my recovery was much quicker this time around.



Liam and Grandma Town meet Ada for the first time...
Peacefully sleeping...

Striking a thoughtful pose. Look at her hair, it's strawberry blond!

The family enjoying a 'quiet' night at home...

Preggo the Grouch

I'm wholly and thoroughly grouchy. I'm now one week overdue and feeling absolutely pregnant. I really shouldn't complain because at 9 months I only just now feel pregnant. Most women have discomfort right from the very beginning. I don't.

But that doesn't seem to make me any less grouchy.

This kid has dropped in the past couple of weeks which has resulted in the sensation that there's a bowling ball between my legs. I can't bend over and get stuff done in the garden like I used to and seeing all those weeds is starting to drive me crazy.

And, as if I wasn't going to the bathroom enough already, now I have to go almost every 15 minutes because there's a huge head on my bladder. There really ought to be frequent pee-er points for pregnant ladies. I could have gotten enough points for a trip to Europe and back by now.

40 weeks and waiting...

Last night I thought I was in labour; I had regular contractions. Liam was shipped off to the MIL while my mom stayed back and helped me relax and time contractions for 6 hours. And then the contractions stopped.

And that makes me pretty grouchy.

I'm trying to be patient and wait for God's timing, but so far I'm doing a pretty miserable job of it all! I've got to suck it up and remember that one week past due isn't too bad either!

41 weeks and counting...

Along Came a Spider...

Nialle often recounts how for one whole summer a white spider with pink stripes lived in the peonies at his old house in Calmar. Just last night he was telling me this story again and mentioned how neat it would be to see another spider just like the one he saw that summer.

Imagine my surprise when as I was weeding today I spotted that spider. Well, probably one of the descendants of the spider in Calmar.

I don't particularly like spiders, so these pictures are as close as I get, folks. Every time I put the camera near this thing, it would wave some of its legs in the air menacingly. I think that if it could have had me for dinner, it would have!

A panicky shot I took. It turned out blurry, but you can kind of see the pink stripes.

Another crappy shot, but you can see the spider's 'fangs' in this one. Shudder.