Two more days till we leave!

Thursday to run errands, Friday to pack, and Saturday morning we go! Well, I hope we ALL go...

Ryan has been in the little hospital in Boyle since Sunday night. He has been battling an ongoing infection from a procedure he had done on May 31. On Sunday, we decided enough was enough, the pills were not working, and it was time to get it looked at, NOW.

So, he has been on IV antibiotics (Abx) since then. The first Abx did not seem to be working, so he was switched to a second one yesterday. Tomorrow, I drive him to a different Hospital in Westlock so he can have an ultrasound to check for an abscess. He has been having some pain, but it has improved since starting the IV therapy. Our hope is that the second Abx will work, and he can be discharged on Friday taking oral Abx. We shall see how it goes.

So, yesterday, I played chaperone to 4 Jr. High girls while the school visited Ft.Edmonton. Wow, they have done a great job in that park. You can even stay overnight in the hotel that is in the middle of the 'town'. The park has become one of the 'you gotta check this out' attractions for people who visit us. Like all heritage type parks, it is not very stroller accessible, but that was my only criticism. Evelyn threw one great big fit, then settled in and was well behaved. Ethan just loved being in the hip hugger carrier and did not make a peep - even though he missed a nap!

Today, Ryan got a 'daypass' to leave the hospital for a few hours and we went to school for the last day and award ceremony. My little sister got two awards for 'most improved' and 'citizenship'. Ryan really wanted to say goodbye to the kids. I am glad he was able to go.

Evelyn was generally naughty and not listening, so I decided it was time to go. (Ryan had work to do, so we were going to come back and pick him up at 2 pm). Well, Evelyn did not like that we were going without him and she escalated into a massive tantrum. Screaming, kicking, scratching, crying... not a pretty sight. I wrestled her out to the car, then went back in to collect Ethan. She was still screaming, and screamed all the way home (all 1 km) then continued to scream and kick when I stopped the car. I was not able to even undo her seatbelt. So, she stayed in the car while I took Ethan inside, then, when I went out to get her, she managed to calm down a bit. Once she could actually hear what I was saying, I asked if she wanted yoghurt and strawberries for lunch. Immediately, she stopped all her sniffing and whining and was bright and happy. I think I was more emotionally exhausted by her drama than she was!

Evelyn and Ethan have been interacting a lot more this past week. I think that Ethan starting to make real verbal sounds has gotten Evelyn interested in him. He will start "Ba Ba-ing" in the car, and Evelyn will answer. Ethan thinks that is pretty funny, Evelyn loves to be funny, so the game continues. Now, when Evelyn is tired and in the car, all the rules change. Ethan can do nothing right. She gets upset that he kicks his foot, or does a raspberry, or looks at her, (or looks in her general direction for that matter). Ethan is totally nonplussed by her drama and seems to just be thinking "She is paying attention to me! Cool!".

They played a game of hide n' seek a couple days ago. Ethan was on my lap and Evelyn was popping up beside the chair in the living room, then crouching down, then up... Ethan would lean toward her whenever she popped up and they would both giggle.

On Sunday, just before I took Ryan into the hospital, Evelyn fell asleep in her high chair while she was eating her dessert. It was so funny to watch. She kept tilting and starting and leaning and jumping. I washed her hands without her waking up, and she only opened an eye for a moment when I washed her face. She slept spread-eagle while I put her night time diaper on, then, the moment she touched the bed, she was wide awake. "Stories?, book? sing songs?" I thought I might get her to bed without a fuss. Nope. She was awake until about 9 pm. She fell asleep cuddling Serena. What a monkey!

On Monday night, I had Serena come and babysit while I went to visit Ryan without the kids. Evelyn knew I was going, and decided to come too. So, she went and put her boots on, then her hat, then she asked me to hand her her jacket. Thus attired, she waited, and waited, and waited at the door so she would be ready to go visit daddy. She was hanging out there for at least 20 min. Not getting into anything, not making a fuss. Just waiting. I finally convinced her I needed to change her diaper (See previous posts on potty setback) and managed to get the hat and boots off. The jacket had to stay though. When I tried to get her PJ bottoms on her, she looked at me with a quizzical expression and said "No jammies. See Daddy!" By the time Serena arrived, she had lost the fight and let me go pretty easily.

So, that has been our life for the past few days. I have much more respect for single parents than I did before (which was still a lot of respect). I also have a lot more respect and understanding for K-A and all that she had to do when K was away.

Nana and Papa visit

Ryan's mom and step-dad came for a short visit from Monday night to Friday morning. Evelyn really enjoyed the extra attention and special Nana time. Ethan was not sure what to make of his Papa and kept giving him these intense and serious stares.

While they were here, they replaced our back stairs and deck. What a huge help for us. When we were removing the old ones, I realized the extent of how unsafe they were. We are lucky they did not collapse while we were on them! The new stairs are very well built, wider and have a larger landing at the top. I think we will be able to fit a BBQ on there when we get one. They look pretty nice!

I played softball on Thursday night and got my first run! The game was forfeited because we did not have enough players show up. But, we borrowed from the opposing team and played a fun game anyway. We actually won the game (but it won't count).

Yesterday, I did 6 loads of laundry, de-cluttered the house, and baked a few dozen rhubarb muffins. I really like this new recipe I found online. Very yummy. I should post it.

Today, I had a little photo shoot with Ethan. Now that he sits up pretty well, I was able to get some more interesting shots. They are at the end of the video, but here are a couple of my favorites.

Evelyn has had a big setback on the potty. I think it was the visiting and being so busy playing in the dirt while we worked on the stairs. We will have to regroup and start over. (I washed 12 pairs of her pants that were from a 5 day time span!)

Enjoy the video!

Happy Father Day

Daddy, I love you

For all that you do.
I'll kiss you and hug you
'Cause you love me, too.

You feed me and need me
To teach you to play,
So smile 'cause I love you
On this Father's Day.

author unknown

Thank you for playing with us, reading to us, holding us, hugging us, kissing us, and loving us. We know you love us, and we love you too.

We appreciate your care for us, providing for us, shielding us from the bad things in the world, comforting us when we hurt ourselves, or wake trembling in the night.

We respect you for the man that you are (though not always for the authority that you represent...) (We're little kids, that will come later!)

Today is your day, Daddy. We'll try to be good... But no matter how we act, we always love you!

Adoringly, Evelyn and Ethan

A day in the life of Ethan: Age 7 months

These clips were all taken on Saturday, June 16th, 2007. Ethan is 7 months old today. They represent a fairly typical day at our house.

Track and Field

We went to participate in the Track and Field day at the school. Evelyn had a blast. I did not know she had figured out how to climb a ladder until she was already climbing high!.

Tasting, Playing, Making and Laughing

Here is some new video. Yesterday, Evelyn and I made birthday cupcakes for Ryan's co-worker Melissa. Today, Ethan had a laughing fit when I imitated his hiccups.




Aside from what is in the video, the kids and I dressed up. Or, more correctly, Evelyn told us what to wear... I am a bunny fairy who likes necklaces. Evelyn is a ballerina princess who also likes necklaces. Ethan is a lizard of some sort.

My 'little sister' finished scrapping all the pictures she had brought. She will bring more for the last two sessions before school lets out. She has done a great job!

This afternoon, we are going to head to the school for Track and Field day. This evening, I am going to play softball with Melissa and Ryan is going to come to watch and score-keep.

Life

I did not take many pics this week, and almost no video (nothing of interest, anyway). There were a few amusing stories I can write about though.

Tuesday day was nasty and wet. We had thunder storms all through the night and into the day. When we were driving back from Boyle, I saw lightening strike a power pole about 800m ahead of me. A couple seconds later, it struck the ground in the field nearby. The pole erupted into a plume of light. It looked like powder ignited. The light lasted for about a second and a half, then the pole looked like nothing had happened. The rain at that time was so heavy. The drops were huge. It was so loud against the windshield, I thought the impact might break it.

On Tuesday night, just before bedtime, Evelyn and Ethan played peek-a-boo. Evelyn popped out from behind her closet door and surprised Ethan. They were both tired and ready for giggles. It was so cute. Evelyn pops out, Ethan starts giggling and squealing, so, Evelyn starts to giggle and squeal too. Then she hides behind the door and it starts again. They have similar laughs, so it was hard to tell who was doing the giggling at times. I wish we had gotten a video.

Wednesday, I did some scrapbooking with my 'little sister' she got 3 pages done in a little over an hour!

Thursday was the airband competition at the school. Ryan was in Edmonton on a field trip with his class, but Evelyn and I participated with the grade 4 class. They did the Wizard of Oz and the kids were munchkins. Their teacher (Melissa) was Dorothy and I got to be the Good Witch Glinda. Evelyn wore her Cinderella dress, a tiara and a wand. She was kind of like a mini-me little Glinda. She went up with the kids and stood there while they danced their routine. I thought our group did the best, but we came in 4th. All the classes did a good job. It was a fun afternoon.

Thursday night, Melissa and I played softball with the "Family of Faith Worship Centre FLYERS" (the church we have been going to). I did not hurt myself! This is a first! Evelyn has come to associate baseball with hurts and owies. Either Ryan or I get injured every week. Evelyn played in the sand volley ball court with her little friend Elizabeth. They had a great time. Her pull-up diaper was full of sand when we got home. Oh, we saw a bear and 2 moose on the drive to and from the game. Ryan also saw a bear on his trip from the city.

Evelyn has started to breastfeed her dolls. I have been waiting for her to do this, and, I had been a bit disappointed that she had not done it before now. Anyway, she started by nursing her little 2" tall "Boots" figure (the monkey from Dora the Explorer), then, she started to feed her dolls too.

Ethan had a growth spurt. I went to put 3 different PJ's on him only to have them all come up about 1" short. He is now wearing 9-12 month PJ's. His moodiness has settled, and his gums are not swollen anymore. Overall, he is returning to our cheerful little boy. He has figured out how to turn on his 'Ocean Wonders' crib activity thingy. So, now I will check in to see if he is really still asleep and having a long nap, and find him watching the lights and listening to the crashing waves.

Evelyn is counting down to her visit from Nana and Papa. She is also asking several times a day when she gets to see Casey and B and D. I am also counting the days until summer vacation!

She has also started to sing the alphabet song. She does a pretty good job of it too. I will try to get a clip of it. When she plays with the foam letters in the tub, she knows the D is for her friend D, the B is for his sister B, the J is for Juliana and the C is for Casey.

I had a baking fest on Saturday and made over 100 muffins and 3 loaves of Banana bread. My snack contribution is ready and waiting in the freezer for the lake. Pina Colada muffins, choc chip and walnut banana muffins, peach and coconut muffins, rhubarb muffins, and rhubarb filled streusel muffins.

Today, I made my supper for the lake. It is also waiting and ready in my freezer right now. I feel such a sense of accomplishment.

This past week....

Here is a video to sum up our week in only 2 minutes and 20 seconds!



Evelyn had a few rough days with potty training, but is on track again. She was even dry one morning! Her new motivator is Jelly Beans. She gets one when she uses the potty. She spends about 2 minutes (no exaggeration) choosing which colour she wants. Then, she spends about 5-10 minutes just eating the Jelly Bean! She licks it, she takes a little nibble out of it, she licks it some more... Her fingers and face become stained with colouring... But, she is going consistently. I can put up with sticky red and green fingers if it means no diapers!

We sowed a little flower box with a "butterfly blend" of seeds. It has only been a couple days, and they are already sprouting! I was not sure how they would do because Evelyn dug her hands in and scooped out a bunch of dirt (and seeds) after we had planted them. I scraped as much back in as I could. I am looking forward to seeing what happens.

Ethan has been a real grouch. I palpated his lower gums and felt a bump. So, I think he is teething. Poor kid. I think Evelyn had it easier when she teethed late. I also think he is starting to have separation anxiety. He puts up a real stink when he is left in the living room by himself.

Aside from that, Ethan is improving his sitting skills. He can now sit without hands for a few minutes and has even been able to chew a toy while sitting. Ryan and Evelyn are trying to get him to say "Ba". He has mimicked them a few times.

Evelyn did some colouring this morning. Like many a child before her, the marker caps became 'fingernails'. I remember doing the same thing. I put nail polish on all her nails on Saturday, and she proceeded to colour her nails again with the markers. Good thing they are washable and come off easily!

I set up our hose sprayer to be like a sprinkler and let her play in the mist on Sunday. She enjoyed that. The mist made a nice rainbow.

Oh, speaking of Rainbows! Wow! We had a brilliant double one over the weekend. On the inside arch of the more intense one, the spectrum actually started to reverse and mirror itself. Ryan took a couple pictures.

That is all I can remember. The video fills in the gaps and tells the funny stories.