Good bye

On August 5th, Gorans dad passed away. He has been sick for 2 years, and towards the end was in pain and was suffering. We all miss him and we are sad that he is gone, but at the same time we find great comfort in the fact that he is not suffering anymore. The week of he funeral was hard but the family gathered often, finding comfort in being together and sharing special memories of Stevo.

We layed him to rest him on August 9th, 2008.

I'm on the Move!

Bryan is working very hard at moving around. He sorta inches around on his bum. The kleenex box is a great incentive, and he'll move pretty fast for it. The potted plants are too. The toys on the shelf aren't to big a deal anymore now that he has the world at his feet - bum I guess :) He is my earliest baby to be moving around. There is so much he doesn't understand, but he does understand the word no. 2 nights ago he had inched quickly across the room for that kleenex box. When he got there I sad, "Bryan, NO!" In a deep mommy means business voice. He looked up at me, and actually turned away from the box. I hope he always listens that well!!
He wants to walk. He luves if you hold his hands and walk with him. He does not want to sit....he will actually make his legs ridged when its time to sit (like when my back is hurting from being all bent over in helping him walk.) He is afraid of being left behind. He wants to get up and go with those sisters of his!

Renos......Need I say more?

We are up to our neck in reno's. Its a bit of a bummer to see the space. We had some cracks in the foundation. This encouraged us to knock down dry wall and find them. This has in turn encouraged us to refinish the basement properly. So here we are, the brick fire place is 3/4 gone, bare foundation exposed, plumbing exposed, ceiling gone, a closet is gone, on and on. I keep picturing the end product, and that is keeping me encouraged. It will likely be a good month anyways, maybe 2, but in the end it will be a leak free, clean, dry, fresh space. Renovating has its ups and downs. Specially at the end of the day, I'm tired, and it is that much harder to stay positive. Usually I'm crabby, and all I can see is a big mess. But after a good sleep I can see the bigger picture again. Keep in mind too, that most of my working time is when the kids are sleeping. So in the afternoon, (my drowsy time), and about 9:00-10:30pm sometimes. Those are usually wind down times, but instead I am smashing bricks, lugging bricks, ripping down walls, lugging out stinky moldy drywall....you get the idea. We are almost done demo, and the cracks are going to be fixed hopefully towards the end of next week. Then on weekends we can drywall, and start puttying....yuck.....Anyway, here is some pics for you to get the idea!
Oh, and one more thing, thanx to Cheryl for all your help knocking down that fire place. That was fun!

They are Growing, despite my despair!

1. Parker and Bryan, chomp, chomp chomp!

2. Trying out some sweet potatos, he's only nibbling on foods so far.

3. What a face! I'm glad I cought it! check out the cloth diaper.

4. What a sweetie...sometimes!

5. Just playing outside.

5. My big girl went on the train with Daddy.

6. Here is, another face, in his kamono, if you notice his feet, trying to pull up. He is tryng soooooo hard how to figure out to move!


Hope you enjoyed, have a great day!

It Always seems to happen in 3s

That how it seems to be this week for me. I've hit 3, so I should be good for awhile!

1. Last week we began the renos on our basement. 2 lovely cracks. One is huge! $2000 later...that is taken care of.
2. I had a wee bit of a fender bender. Oups. My fault 100%, I confess, do the right thing, offer to pay, and outside of insurance. I am wondering if these people are taking me to the cleaners, another $2000 later...
3. I broke a window. Oh boy! My poor toes. I have this terrible habit of kicking the window if the kids are on the deck and being naughty, or the dog is doing something he shouldn't. Not really hard, just enough to remind them I'm watching. The window has been so strong, never given in to those kicks...until today of course.

Tomorrow is Friday, and I have to say I'm glad this week is coming to an end. I hope for a way better weekend, and productive week next week. I have a basement to work on!

A tooth, and a Check up, and Slap cheek

So, in order of the title,

1. Bryan's first tooth broke through the gums. Yeah! He is my youngest baby to get a tooth. Angelina was 13 months, and Grace was within a few days of her first birthday. Bryan is a week away from being 7 months. We were sitting at my neighbors house the other day, and he was chomping away on my finger. I pulled my finger out of his moth but as I did, I felt a little something sharp. I had to double check, brushing my finger on it a few times, and finally investigating visually. And there it was, a pearly white poking out. It is the bottom right, and the one beside it is just about through as well. No toothless smiles for him on his first birthday!
2. Bryan had a long overdue check up last Friday. His weight was 14lb 13oz, and he was 26 1/2 inches long. His weight is on the low side, but he is happy, and healthy, and reaching all his milestone. I did ask the MD if he was concerned about his weight, and he said "No, he is not a skinny baby."
3. And Slap cheek, or otherwise known as fifth disease. Usually something like this, grumpy moody children, suddenly a high fever along with bright red cheeks. The fever breaks within 24 hours, and the cheeks last a few day. Sometimes they can have a rash as well. Both the girls had it. Grace, first on Sunday, her fever was 103 F, which was scary, but she woke up on Monday, right as rain and happy as could be. Angelina had it Wednesday. Bright Cheeks, high fever, and sleepy. Thursday, she woke up right a rain, and happy as could be. Now I'm waiting for Bryan's turn...

That's it for me, a busy weekend ahead, I'll post again soon.

I Luv My Feet...and Swimming too!

I was commenting to Kristyn that my kids never really 'found' there feet, and wasn't Bryan to old for that? As usual, I spoke to soon, and a week later he was chomping away on those tiny toes. That was all about a month ago. At first he was sitting and would fold himself in half to get them, but then he realized if he was laying down, it was much more fun, and easier to get in his mouth. I had some great pics. Some in his chair, some on the change table, some color, and some black and white. I toke my camera in, and popped my card in...and oups, wrong slot. But the card was gone inside. So I tell the clerk and she tells me I'm was not the first to do this. Another clerk comes along, and proceeds to get it out with some tweezers. Hummmm. When she manages to get it out it is damaged, and I've lost all my pics. So I get a brand new card for free, and am suggested to go to another picture place to see if I can get my pics back. After all that, I finally got some new pics of him with his feet, although at this point its not quit as exciting to him as the first 50 times he did it. So here he is, chomping away....chewing which seems to be the trend as of late.

We went to my mom and dads on Sunday for fathers day, and Bryan went swimming for the first time. At first he really didn't seem to like it one bit. But he did warm up to the idea, and started splashing and smiling and having a great time. Once we got out, the poor guys feet were blue! So we cuddled up, and he nursed and fell asleep, all snuggled up to my chest. It was sweet and lovely.