Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Other Happenings and a Video Tour

My parents stayed with us until December 11th. We got to celebrate an early Christmas with them. My mom bought a gingerbread house kit from Superstore and the kids had fun eating - er, putting together the cookie, candy, icing treat...


On the last night they were here, we made a yummy Christmas dinner and opened Christmas presents with the kids. For Micah and Keziah this time of year is a little bit of present overload:



Keziah putting her birthday dolly into her Christmas cradle:


Micah having fun with all his new GeoTrax toys:


We dropped my parents off at the airport on Thursday morning and ran into a few other people we knew. Keziah ran off with some kids to see the Christmas trees and Micah looked up at me with genuine concern. He said, "I'm afraid Keziah's going to get lost! She's my best friend!" I assured him that we would keep an eye on her but suggested that maybe he could hold her hand - which he gladly did for awhile (though I'm not sure Keziah appreciated it). I'm not sure why he doesn't share this same love/concern/affection for her at home instead of the chasing/teasing/bugging big brother that he usually is :)


Micah's actual birthday was on Saturday and we spent most of the day with family since it is also his Auntie Rosanna's birthday. I think he had a good day and he seems pretty excited about being 4!



On Sunday night we decided to take Keziah's crib down and try putting her to sleep on a mattress on the floor. When bedtime came she spent about an hour playing in her room, enjoying her new-found freedom, but eventually she had a pretty decent sleep. Then last night I woke up for one of my many bathroom breaks at about 1:30 am. I was about to climb back into bed but thought I'd check on Keziah first to make sure she wasn't sleeping in some weird position. When I went into her room I couldn't find her anywhere! When I couldn't find her anywhere on the 2nd floor I got a little bit panicked. I went down the stairs and called out her name a couple of times before I heard her pajama feet padding across the laminate. She was holding her blankie and smiling. I think she probably woke up and figured it was morning and time to get out of bed!

I am actually considering potty-training her next week. We really don't have much planned for the week even though it's Christmas. But, we'll see if I actually have the energy when next Monday comes!

I finally had a chance to get some footage of our new place for the blog. I decided to take a video tour to give you a better idea of how our place looks. First of all, here are a few "before" pictures from the day we took posession. We debated long and hard about the floor since it didn't look too bad (as you'll see in the pictures). But in the end we knew we wouldn't be totally happy with it - especially since it wasn't laid very well - and changed it to the same antique laminate from IKEA that we used in our old place.

Kitchen/Eating Area - I wasn't a fan of the blueberry blue :)


First Floor 1/2 Bathroom - this room received the most drastic change which you'll see in the video:


Living Room:


Living Room view #2:


Dining/play room looking into kitchen - you'll notice on the video that Erik trimmed out a lot of the entry ways on our main level:


Micah's Room - we decided to keep all the carpets on the 2nd floor and they cleaned up quite nicely:


Keziah's Room - this was the worst paint colour. I liked to refer to it as peach vomit :)


Master Bedroom - the paint colour we chose is actually quite similar to this:



And here it is now...



It has been cold here. Cold for Abbotsford. And windy! Windy like crazy. It rattles the whole house and makes it hard for me to fall asleep at night. Today doesn't seem as windy, but it's still cold. I wish that we at least had some snow if it's going to be this cold. Micah prayed for snow on his birthday and we actually did get the tiniest little bit that evening. Micah was so thrilled about the sparse flakes that had gathered in the cracks of our sidewalk and kept commenting about ALL the snow! I just told him not to expect to build any snowmen until we got a little bit more!

To end off, here's a picture of me at bout 25 weeks (taken a week ago). I'm feeling pretty good these days though I still need to have a short nap most afternoons. I'm getting close to the 3rd trimester mark and it's starting to sink in more and more that we are going to be, once again, entering those post-partum days of breastfeeding, sleepless nights and post-labour recovery. For some reason, thinking about all those things is making me excited :)

16 comments:

rachel joy said...

you look so cute!

I can't see the video, it says it's private and I need to accept your invitation to view it ... ?

Jamie said...

Really? Darn it. It took so long to upload, but I might just have to try doing it again...

Jamie said...

Ok - I changed the settings on the video. Someone will have to let me know if it works or not!

rachel joy said...

Looks great! My boys have the same dresser as you have in your room, and I've been wanting to get that same bed as you have! You guys sure did a lot of work, looks so good and settled already.

Jen Glen said...

It's a beautiful place! You guys did such a good job with it. My favourite part? The uber-clean garage! Yeah, you can totally tell that garage belongs to one Erik Toews!

Kathy's corner said...

Great video tour!! It was so good to be there, but I really need to color my hair. YIKES!!!!!!!!!

Lori said...

Everything looks great Jamie...now I want a townhouse! :) Have a Merry Christmas...

kelly ens said...

ok, too funny about keziah's decision to get up in the middle of the night! A little scary, but thankfully it ended well :) Looking forward to reading more updates on the continued adjustment to a 'bed' and potty training!
you look great!!!

KDees said...

Tyler found his way downstairs the first night in his big boy bed too! :) Anyways, love the video tour idea! Your place is gorgeous! You've done a fantastic job! Congratulations!

Kirsten said...

Your place is great! Thanks for the tour.

Anonymous said...

your place looks really nice! i like micah's room....
are you planning on putting keziah and the baby in one room?

enjoy your christmas and have fun potty training...:)

leslie

p.s.: and kuddos to you that you're excited about this whole post-pregnancy stuff.....for me it's one reason to only have two children....:)

Sarah said...

Thanks for the tour, Jamie! I like what you've done to the place. Isn't it amazing what a little paint will do?

Renee Shaw said...

Wow, Jamie your new house is beautiful! I love all the crown molding you husband did and the fact that you have a nice big area for a table, plus a play room on the other side! haha We got to keep all those toys somewhere!
I was thinking about potty training Isabella before Christmas too, but I realized I have too much going on! haha I hope it goes well for you and without difficulty!
Blessings!

Trev and Rebekah said...

You are such a beautiful pregnant woman.
I loved it that Micah said that about Keziah. How neat to have an older brother who will look out for her.

Wenona said...

I was able to see the video now- it wasn't working the other day. Your house looks fabulous! I love all the trim work that Erik did - it makes it looks so nice.
And you are looking great as well! You do pregnancy so well!

Vanessa said...

looking great!!! :) love the new place!! and looks like you guys are having fun!