Smiley Siley

Projects & Freebies

It's been a busy week! I've finally gotten some transcription assignments again in the last couple of weeks. I had about a 2-month break from work - partly due to me having a baby, but also because there wasn't much work to be had. So, I'm glad to get back into it, but now I need to find a balance. I used to be able to get work done during nap time and in the evenings, but just because the other kids are sleeping doesn't mean I'm off "mom duty" with Silas. He's pretty needy after supper these days so I'm finding it difficult to find time for my work (or myself for that matter). Yet I don't want to turn any assignments down since we need all the extra money we can get these days!


We also had a few little projects going this week. Erik was inspired to do some work in our ensuite bathroom over the weekend. We have 2 bathrooms upstairs that were exactly the same - pink tiles around the tub and ugly old lino. Here's a picture of the bathroom that we haven't renovated yet:


And here's a shot of the ensuite in process - the tiles have already been painted white:


And here's the end result:


We used a linoleum stick-on floor and it turned out great. Now we just need to put some new baseboards down and get a nice shower curtain to finish it off.

And despite how busy I felt with work this week, I was inspired to do some decorating in the boys' room. I've accumulated a pile of picture frames over the years, so I filled them in with some scrapbooking paper to create their names. It was a really fun project for me:


I also got Erik to hang this white shelf and - Voila! - the finished product:



Erik got me my first set of gardening tools this week. You'd probably laugh if you actually saw the tiny space I'm referring to as "my garden", but it was all matted with last fall's leaves and weeds so I spent some time cleaning it out yesterday morning. Right now we have a vine that's flowering and I think it looks so pretty...



Our weather forecast shows sun, sun and more sun for the next 2 weeks! We finally got to enjoy our swimming pool this past weekend and the kids had so much fun. I think we're going to be thankful for it this summer! I'll have to take a video of the kids jumping into the water - they are absolutely fearless (as long as they've got water wings).

I just realized that I have NO new pictures of Micah to share, but I took some cute pictures of Keziah and Silas the other day. She is such a little mother. Erik and I are pretty sure her love language is "physical touch" as she loves to smother Silas. The other day he was fussing while I tried to burp him on my lap. Keziah was climbing all over us (and being a bit of a pest while I was trying to settle Silas) and before she knew it, she had a face full of spit-up! I couldn't help but think that it served her right for getting too close! She had a look of shock on her face for a split second and then giggled - she thought it was cute, I guess :)




Undressing her baby:


Onto the topic of sleep - we were doing wonderful in that department as of last weekend. Silas seemed to tack on an extra hour of sleep with every week that he got older. At 4 weeks he was consistently sleeping 4 hour stretches, at 5 weeks, 5 hours, etc. And on the evening of his 7-week birthday he did his first 7 hour stretch! It only lasted a couple of nights though and then he had a bad week sleep-wise. I'm not sure what the issue was (growth spurt maybe?) but I waited a few nights to see if it would sort itself out. Last night he woke up a couple of times but settled quickly without being held or fed and lasted a whole 6 hours! So, hopefully we're getting back to those lovely lo-o-ong nights!

(yawn)


Naptimes are a bit troublesome with Silas as well. He has a chronic problem of waking up about an hour into his naps. I'm generally a pretty soft (un-stubborn) person and have always struggled with hearing my kids cry. But, Erik is even softer than I am, so I've had to step up my "tough love" approach. Anyway, this week I've started getting a bit more liberal in letting Silas cry, and it really seems to be helping. This morning he had his first nap in over a week where he slept 2 hours straight through without a peep. His 2nd nap he woke and cried briefly but settled back in for another hour. It feels so good to be able to nip some of these bad habits in the bud!


Now onto the "freebie" portion of this post... Erik came home from a hockey game the other night and saw one of our neighbours about to put a perfectly good high chair by the dumpster. Erik intercepted and said he would take it. Then the guy asked if he wanted any other stuff. Long story short; Erik ended up coming home with a highchair, a baby swing, a stroller, a bassinet and a baby bath tub! We didn't end up keeping the bassinet and the tub, but the rest of the stuff is in perfect condition! Keziah was pumped when she woke up the next morning and saw the new stuff:


The next day Erik saw 2 perfectly good little step-lid garbage cans by the dumpster and snatched those as well. And then today he was outside when another one of our neighbours asked if he wanted his carpet cleaning machine! So, we got about 6 "new" things in the matter of 3 days - what a blessing!

Mother's Day Weekend

The Vancouver Canucks are playing tonight and even though I am interested in the outcome, I find it impossible to just sit and watch an entire hockey game. So, I will blog the events of the weekend while keeping one eye on the TV :)

The new sleeping arrangements are going really well. There has been no problem with the boys sharing a room. Silas is usually just waking up once a night to eat now. Micah doesn't even stir when Silas cries at around 3 am for his feed. They've both been waking around 6:30 am but this morning everyone slept past 7 which was great.

Cute :o)


I think Keziah is happy to have her own room. It's my favourite bedroom because of the 2 bright windows and it will be fun to "girl" it up a little bit.


She's been having a little bit of a tough time staying in her room though. Nothing like what we went through with Micah, but I think she's still adjusting to the new arrangement. The other night we came up the stairs and found her fast asleep in the hallway again...


We moved the playpen downstairs the other day so that I would have a safe place to lay Silas down (safe as in no poking Keziah fingers or jumping Micah feet). We've also been letting him catnap there in the evenings. He's been pretty content to spend long periods of time in there staring at the ceiling :)


The kids' latest favourite activity is baseball. Erik will often take them to the park after supper and pitch balls to Micah. Keziah's main job is back catcher which she is glad to do! Erik told me how well Micah is doing at batting and I got a chance to see for myself the other night when I joined them at the park. I woud say Micah hit about 75% of the pitches and can actually hit the ball pretty far!

Just to prove I was actually there...


Here's a video of one of Micah's hits. I almost missed it because I was distracted by Keziah's back-catching (and the couple making out in the grass behind the fence...)



Sunday was, of course, Mother's Day. Here are Micah and Keziah ready to head off to church:


The afternoon included a trip to Birchwood Dairy for fun and ice cream. I'm not sure how both the kids ended up in white shirts while they ate their "gubble-bum" ice cream but it made for some cute pictures!


Wow - it's been a long time since we've taken a picture of just the 2 of us!


Just being cute!


Sitting up on the wagon seat:




Here are the kids on the same wagon almost 1 year ago!


And on the topic of how the kids have changed, I realized this week how much Micah has grown up. Every 6 months I take the kids to the health unit to get a flouride varnish on their teeth and every single time Micah screams his head off. I had to take them again this week and I knew going into it that, this time, Micah would do OK. We talked about it beforehand and, sure enough, he was very brave and co-operative even though I could tell he was a little anxious.
Also, when I first mentioned preschool, he would get very anxious and not want to talk about it. Now when I bring it up, I can tell he's starting to get excited. It's a relief to see him growing out of his over-anxious behavior and developing the ability to cope with stressful situations.

Silas spends so much of his day swaddled up or in his car seat, but he looked so handsome yesterday that I had to snap a few pictures:


Silas is doing really well. Everyone always asks me if he's a good baby and it's hard to know how to answer that question. I don't think he's an exceptional baby, but I definitely think he's a good baby. He doesn't often cry for no reason at all and he's generally content to be in the swing or the playpen for awhile after he's been fed.


One unique thing about Silas (from our other 2) is his cry. It has a raspy sound to it that is really different and cute :) I should record it sometime so that I'll always remember what it sounds like.


Silas is smiling at us more and more. I took a video of him the other day and even though there aren't any huge smiles, it was still cute enough to share:

Zits & Timbits

I couldn't resist the title when I realized that 2 of the things I want to blog about actually rhyme... :P

Let's start with the zits. Silas has the worst case of baby acne of any of my kids. It was so bad when it first broke out that we worried that it was something more serious. But, it's only been on his face and chest and it already seems to be fading away, so I'm quite confident that it's just a bad case of pimples. Someone told me that when breastfeeding Moms eat strawberries (or straw-ba-berries as Keziah would call them) it can make it worse. This makes a lot of sense since I'm probably eating more of them now than I did with my winter babies.

It's hard to see it well in this picture, but you get the idea...


However, I'm glad to report that Zit-Boy has started smiling at us more this week! I'll try to get a video or picture of his little grins, but here he is looking quite cute on his change table yesterday morning giving me a pleasant pre-smile look.


Notice the spit-up covered sleeper? He goes through several outfits a day...

I've had 2 FANTASTIC nights in a row with Silas sleeping about 6 hours between feeds. There had been some bad nights last week as Silas fell into a deep sleep at about 8 pm and didn't want to wake for a final feed when I was ready to go to bed. Of course, then he only lasted until midnight or so. But the last 2 nights I've tried to keep him up more, just letting him doze in the living room if he gets really sleepy and then waking him at around 9. I've also added another feed in the evening so he's tanking up on some extra calories before bed. It seems to be doing the trick.

We had another room switcheroo this morning. Silas has been in his own room and the other 2 kids sharing a room. But the room-sharing wasn't going so great. We couldn't put Keziah down until Micah had fallen asleep because she would bug him like CRAZY if he was still awake - climbing into his bed, talking to him, etc. So, if Micah was having a particularly hard time falling asleep, sometimes we wouldn't put Keziah down until almost 9 pm - and then she was often over-tired and unable to fall asleep until almost 10! And Keziah is sometimes able to sleep in, but with Micah waking before 7, she usually doesn't stand a chance.

This morning Erik mentioned the idea of Micah and Silas sharing a room and Keziah having a room to herself. I hadn't really considered this option, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. Initially I decided to wait a few more weeks before trying it, but you know how it is once you get a good idea in your head.... I just couldn't help myself. I spent about an hour this morning switching all the furniture around and right now the kids (minus Micah) are napping in their new rooms. A bonus of doing it this way is that we can make Keziah's room really feminine and girly and the other room can just be all boy! I'm not going to do any major decorating yet though. We'd better see first if this new set-up is going to work!

Now on to the "timbits" portion of the post...


I've been meaning to take Keziah on a Mommy-Daughter date ever since Silas was born. As the middle child, she often seems to get our left-overs. Keziah is testing her boundaries like crazy these days, but I know that a lot of it is an effort to get our attention. So, after a day of giving her time-outs repeatedly, I decided it was time to give her some one-on-one time. So, off to Tim Hortons we went...

25 Degrees

We had a picnic lunch with Grandma and the Aunties (& Uncle Keith!) earlier today...


Cucumber sandwiches, fresh salsa, fruit... Mmmm. Feels like summer.




We have an outdoor pool in our townhouse complex and it actually opens tomorrow! If it's anywhere near as beautiful as it is today, you'll know where to find us... :)