Bits About Me

Where oh where is the grass???

2009-02-08T05:16:00.000-08:00

Well it certainly has been a long winter! The snow is finally starting to melt after an entire month straight of cold, below freezing days. I'm sure we are in for a few more big storms but it is nice to look out side and see a couple patches of grass this morning.

I'm back to work now and the girls are both in daycare. Avery just started at Martina's daycare this past week and she is adjusting great! She has had a rough week as she is trying to cut 2 or 3 molars all at the same time! Poor baby is not eating or sleeping well. Martina loves JK and is reading now! She just moved up to level B for reading and may move up to C within a couple of weeks! That will put her at the end of SK level for reading! She's learning so much and she is picking up stuff so quickly.

Bob has worked all winter which is a nice change from the last few years and I'm slowly adjusting to being back to work. It's exhausting but we are managing. We have started painting the house (finally) and Martina's room was just painted. We just need to add the chairrail and then it will be ready to decorate. She has a princess theme for a little princess!

I've been scrapbooking more lately and I'm holding classes and crops once a month to help others with their books.

Christmas was fun this year! The girls loved their presents and Avery just spent the whole time dancing to all of her musical toys! She is becoming quite the ham like her sister. She is a much bigger stinker though! She likes to get into everything, aggravate her sister and grab things she shouldn't have and run! It makes for a busy day but she's just so stinkin' cute!

I hope everyone had a nice holiday and stayed warm this winter!

What a great weekend

2008-09-02T19:45:00.000-07:00

We were gone to Chatsworth for the Johnny Cash Bash that Bob's cousins put together. Boy did we have fun! Martina was in heaven being on the farm and she was so good all weekend. She was so comfortable around all the animals and she helped Auntie Laura collect chicken eggs and feed the animals. When I asked her what her favorite part of the weekend was she said, "Everything". How awesome is that! Avery did really well for sleeping in the tent and being around so many people as she is not usually a crowd person. She loved the animals also. When Bob sat her on one of the horses she said so loudly, "Hiiii". It was with so much excitement in her voice. It was so nice to spend time with everyone and meet some new people. And it was so relaxing. Doug and Laura have a beautiful farm. I'll add some pics from our weekend. We did a photo shoot with the girls on Monday afternoon and I love the pics!

Martina started her first day of school today! For JK they do a staggered entry so she went today and will start full time on Monday. She had so much fun. The funny thing was as soon as she was done her picture that she had to draw she went right for the farm and the animals and she played there for about 30 min. She loved her room and her new teacher and she is very excited that her best friend is in her class.

Here are some pics:

It's been a while!

2008-08-03T08:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. Things have been really busy around here and I kinda forgot. Avery is now 8 months old and she is so busy!! She's crawling, pulling herself up, says hi, dada, nas (bananas), ma, and more, and she also waves now. This all happened in about 2 weeks. She's been crawling on her belly for a month and a half but now is crawling on her hands and knees. She's getting so big, so fast. I only have 3 months left of maternity leave and I'm very sad to have to go back to work.

Martina is starting JK in September and is very excited. We are going school shopping this week. Should be fun! Bob really likes his new job and we are enjoying the new house. We are going to start painting finally and then it will feel more like home.

The summer has been nice but wet. We've gone to Zooz several times and the library. We also went camping this week. Martina loves camping! Bob and I are going to see the play We Will Rock You next week in Toronto. Should be fun! Summer is going by so fast! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

A few pics of the girls!

6 months already!!

2008-06-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how quickly Avery is growing! She is now 6 months old and boy is she a busy girl! She is rolling her way around the room and looking for anything and everything to get her hands on. She just cut her 2nd tooth and she's been sick all week. She's now on antibiotics so she is starting to feel better. She thought she would share it with me first. Martina is 4 now and boy she will make sure you know it. She really is getting her own personality. It needs some tweeking and guiding from us but she is quite the diva. We are pretty much settled in now. Only the laundry/craft room needs to be unpacked. The kids love it, the dog loves it, and I am so much happier to have more space. Although it is alot more to keep clean! hehehe. We've been very busy in May and hopefully things start to slow down in June so we can enjoy the sunshine. We've started back to Zooz and Martina was able to feed the giraffes, bunnies, horse, and goats. She is such an animal lover.

I hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather finally. Here are some pictures of the girls:

Settled In

2008-05-09T06:22:00.000-07:00

Well we are pretty much settled in to our new home. Most of the unpacking is done (hard to believe)! We still have painting and decorating to do, stuff to buy and the toy room and my craft room still need to be unpacked. But for the most part we are able to live comfortably and just plug away at the rest. I'm so glad the move is over. It was so stressful. The girls are adjusting VERY well. There have been no issues with them and the dog absolutely loves it here. I am so happy that we can finally let Martina out in the back yard and not worry about her now that we have the fenced yard.

Avery is getting so big so fast. She is now mobile!! She is rolling and twisting her way around the room. She really wants to keep up to Martina! Martina was stationary until about 7 months but not Avery. She is going to be one busy little girl.

Well I only had time for a wuick update! I'll post more pics soon!

1 week left!!

2008-04-21T14:07:00.000-07:00

Well, we have 1 week left in our house until the move. It's been a crazy couple of months. The girls are growing so fast, it's hard to believe Avery is almost 5 months old already. We are just about finished packing and are very excited to move into our new house, yet sad to leave this one.

The girls are good. They are both fighting a throat infection right now, so that hasn't been too fun, but they handled it well. This is just a short update and to show some new pics of the girls.

Enjoy!

We're moving!!

2008-03-03T18:59:00.000-08:00

Well in 2 weeks our house was officially sold!! A couple bought it because they loved the space we had to park their transport trucks. So on April 28th we will be moving out of our home. We found a place in Crescent Park and I think we are going to be very happy there. It's a sidesplit and has many updates that will save us money in the long run. It has a beautiful deck off the dining room and a fenced yard. This will be perfect for the girls to play outside. The girls will also have their own toy room downstairs and my craft room will be relegated to the lower basement. I can't wait to get in there and paint and make the house my own. Martina is excited that she will have her own room again (she's only had to share hers for about 1 month so far), and she wants to paint it pink and orange, so I think we are going with a Dora theme. They are pretty popular colours so changing the theme without the paint shouldn't be too hard. Avery will have a Caribbean blue still, to match her crib bedding and I haven't decided exactly on the rest of the rooms. So the next couple of months are going to be busy but it will all be worth it in the end. Here is a pic of our new house:

Have we ever been busy!!

2008-02-17T19:39:00.000-08:00

Well, the last 4 weeks have sure been crazy around here. Avery is getting so big, so quickly. She is 11 weeks old now and she does not want to lie down. She is sitting herself up when she is in her swing or propped in her boppy pillow or the couch. Granted she falls forward after she is up, but nonetheless she is sitting herself up on her own. She wants to see the world and she adores Martina. She watches her play and you can see Avery just wanting to run with her. She even rocks herself toward Martina. We are in trouble when they can start plotting against us!!

Well as most of you know we are selling our house (or trying anyways). For the last 4 weeks we've been decluttering, cleaning and organizing like crazy people. We've found a house that we like but we are going to keep looking at what is out there just to be sure. The other matter is selling our house. In less than a week there has been many inquiries and we had a showing tonight so hopefully someone will see this house as perfect for them and buy it. Because of the industrial zoning that we have many people are looking at running a business out of it. I just hope we sell it because we have run out of room and really need a bigger house.

Well, here are some pics of the girls, enjoy!

This last picture was on Valentines Day.

7 Weeks Already!!

2008-01-21T19:19:00.000-08:00

Well, Avery is 7 weeks already and growing like a weed. At my final appt. with the midwives Avery had gained 3 lbs from her lowest weight and grew 3 inches!! She is now tipping the scales at almost 9 1/2 lbs!! Martina was almost 3 months old before she was that big! Martina has settled in to being a big sister and is the biggest helper a mother could ask for. Although it comes at the price of an attitude, she is the BIG sister now so she knows it all. LOL. I knew at the beginning when Avery was such a good sleeper that it had to be too good to be true. It was. She sleeps well through the night only waking up at 5:30 or so to eat and goes back to sleep but it is the bedtime routine that is a problem. She takes forever to fall asleep and stay asleep. It has been about 12 or 1 am before she is falling asleep for the night. The last couple of nights it's been closer to 11 or so but tonight it was 9:30!!! Yeah!! Let's see if we can keep this bedtime. It is a 2-3 hour ritual to get her down for the night. Needless to say I'm exhausted but it is all worth it when I see my little baby smile. Check out these pics I took at 6 1/2 weeks. She just started smiling a few days before.

I'll keep trying to post more often. It's easier to keep in touch this way!!

Happy New Year!!

2008-01-02T14:23:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been a long month but yet it seems to have gone by so fast. Avery is now a month old and she is bigger than Martina was at 2 months old. She is a very happy, content baby and I'm pleased to say she only wakes up 1 time a night. Martina has adjusted very well. She used to get up in the night at least 1-2 times a week and since Avery has been born she has never gotten up in the night.

Christmas was full of excitement. First we were all hit with a stomach bug, except for Avery thanks goodness. And then Christmas night we blew a tire on the way home from Hamilton and were stuck on the side of the St. Catharines Skyway. We were able to get a tow and changed our tire and we were all safe. But let me tell you it sure was scary being stuck on there.

Martina was thrilled to get the blue princess dress she asked Santa for. She got lots of accessories to go with it and she has been strutting around here in her dress waving her magic wand. She received many other gifts and she has really enjoyed playing with all of them. Avery slept through most of Christmas (hehehe) but she got a lot of clothes and some toys and Martina can't wait for Avery to be able to play with them. Here are a couple pictures from Christmas.

I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays.

Avery Doreen is here

2007-12-12T04:41:00.000-08:00

Wow it has been so long since I posted on here I forgot my sign in name and everything!! Lots has happened since my last post. In September Bob cut his tendon in his thumb while working and he had surgery and physiotherapy for 3 months. He was just cleared last week but may still need one more surgery. And the biggest event of all was Avery Doreen arrived into the world on December 1, 2007 at 10:06am. She weighed 7 lbs 1 oz. and was 19 1/4 inches long. She is doing great and is growing and changing already. She is a very good baby and eats and sleeps well. She is a very content baby. Martina is loving being a big sister. She is very protective of Avery and is very gentle and loving towards her. She is always concerned about her and makes sure she has some stuffed animal with her to sleep with.

Christmas is coming fast and I have so many things to do. I haven't finished my shopping yet or even started my wrapping but I'm going to be very busy this week getting that accomplished. We still have to put the tree up. We've just been so busy that we haven't had enough time to do it.

Here are a couple pictures of Avery and Martina.

I hope all is well!!

It's A.......Baby

2007-07-24T15:45:00.001-07:00

Well, I went for my 3D ultrasound today and I found out what we are having. Notice the use of the word "I"? Bob did not want to know the sex of the baby so he did not go and he does not want anyone to tell him. So, if you want to know you have to e-mail me for the answer and you have to swear on your life you will not let it slip to Bob. He says that the person that lets it slip will have to pay him $100. So if knowing the sex is worth that much to you than e-mail me. LOL. Here are some pics from the ultrasound today. I went a little early (I'm only 21.75 weeks) so the baby doesn't have much fat on it yet. So you can really see the muscles in his/her face and legs. The optimal time is between 26-32 weeks. I may go back but it all depends. The 20 minutes that it takes is pretty expensive.

Remember....the sex is a secret...you can't tell Bob. And I am DEAD serious!!

2007-07-07T05:15:00.000-07:00

I have had a rough 2 weeks. My grandfather became extremely ill a week and a half ago with pancreatitis. He was found laying on the floor unconscious. They took him to the hospital and determined it was kidney failure as a result of diabetes along with pneumonia and low blood sugar. He then got worse and was shipped to St. Catharines General and was in the ICU. He was not expected to last the day. Well through tests they found out it was actually pancreatitis that got the ball rolling but he also had kidney failure, pneumonia, septic shock and more. He should not have made it that first day and he held on. Then he started to improve which shocked the doctors. The doctor said that even after the illnesses started to get better, all the medication he was on should have killed him. He lasted for 7 days. The last 2 days he was unresponsive (not following basic commands) and was deemed brain dead. However, my mom and I knew he would not have wanted to be in the hospital let alone a nursing home. He would only respond through hand movements to my mom, brother and I. It was very emotional and very difficult to deal with but it was the best thing he could have ever done. He passed away Wednesday and we buried him yesterday beside his son who died 20 years ago.

I'm going to miss him so much. He was one of those people that just stood out and you could never forget him. I love you Grandpa. RIP

Back to Work

2007-05-21T17:14:00.000-07:00

Well, my vacation is over and it's back to the grind. I had a very relaxing vacation. I needed it. I've had some bad sciatic pain lately and I needed to rest. I'm feeling better but I know it will start bothering me again as soon as I'm back on my feet all day. But I'm very thankful that I'm not as sick this time. That has been a blessing.

Martina's birthday was lots of fun!! She got lots of great gifts and she is enjoying every one of them. Here are some pics:

We had a great time at Zooz on Saturday and Martina was very excited to see all the animals. She even was able to feed a giraffe!! The hippos are her favorite and she can't get enough of the goats. For the $50 the season passes cost, it is more than worth it. I would recommend it to anyone with little kids. It's really a great place!

The Fort Erie Lions put on a carnival on the May 24 weekend and so we went to that and Martina (my little daredevil) loved the rides. The higher they went, the faster they went, and the more she was jerked around, the more she squealed and loved it. She went 2 days in a row and was very sad to find out that they would be leaving after the weekend.

Well, that's about all that has been going on. Of course the weather is turning nicer as my vacation comes to an end. Same thing last year. Next year I'll have lots of time off to enjoy the nice weather. Hope everyone is well.

2007-05-01T17:25:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted in a few weeks but it has been crazy!!! We had Bob's 30th birthday party this weekend and it went really well. I got Phantom of the Opera tickets for him and I and he was very excited to get that.

I've been feeling okay. Some days are rougher than others. Morning sickness does not seem to be as bad as with Martina but that could be because I am taking my vitamins at bedtime instead of in the morning. When I take them in the morning (with or without food) I seem to get sick. So at night I have more of a chance of benefitting from them. I have an information night with the midwives on Monday and then I'll have my regular appts. starting after that.

Martina is doing great!! She will be 3 on the 13th and she is very excited about her birthday but more so about the fact that Zooz will be open when it is her birthday. She loves it there. We are getting season passes again so we will always have something to do in the summer.

I'll try to post more often but it gets hard as the nights for me are shorter because I'm usually in bed the same time as Martina!

Guess What!!!

2007-04-17T18:59:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a couple of weeks but my keyboard went kaput and I had to get a new one. Plus I was busting at the seams with news that I had to wait to share........WE are PREGNANT!!! I'm 8 weeks on Thursday and we are very excited. Martina is very excited and says that I am having the boy baby and she is having the girl baby but she changes her mind occasionally. The morning sickness has already come back with a vengeance (as most of you already know how bad it was last time) although I can't say it is quite in full swing yet. I'm really tired by the end of the day so I don't get much done after 6:00pm but hopefully that will pass a bit in the coming weeks. My due date is NOvember 29, 2007. That's right!! Another November baby. We are looking at building an addition on to our house but if that is not possible we are going to move. So it will be a busy 8 months either way.

Easter was great!! Martina loved her presents from the Easter bunny and she had so much fun doing an Easter hunt in the house (38 eggs hidden in our living room). Once I can figure out how to post pics on the blog I'll do so. But you can always view them on my yahoo photo site that I sent out. If you lost the address let me know and I'll resend it.

Bob's back to work full time and things are really picking up for him so that's good. I have my first stamping workshop this weekend and I am quite excited. I hope that I get some good referalls from it.

So that's the update for this week!

We're Back!!

2007-04-04T04:04:00.000-07:00

Well we are back from Owen Sound and we had a great weekend!! The girls went to the Maple Syrup Festival and we ate TONS of food but we forgot to buy some maple syrup!! Oops! Thanks to Laura for sending some back with us. The guys did there patio door for the cottage and Sunday was a pretty relaxing morning. On the way home we stopped at Laura's (Bob's cousin) farm. Martina is a country girl. She had so much fun!! She loved playing with the goats and petting the horses and the cows. She did not want to leave. She even told Laura that she could keep her! (Sorry Auntie Kris). She can't wait to go up again and spend some more time on the farm. I'll try to post some pics from the farm this week.

Happy Easter everyone!!

2007-03-30T03:43:00.000-07:00

Well as some of you know, I have recently became a Stampin' Up independent demonstrator. I'm really excited about this new adventure and if you want to book a party or just order something, let me know.

We are off to Owen Sound this weekend to visit Bob's brother and sis in law. We may go to the maple syrup festival, which sounds fun.

See you monday!!

Let's give this a whirl!!

2007-03-27T04:52:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

I am trying this new way to keep in touch with family and friends, as Bob and I are horrible for e-mails or phone calls. I will try to post once a week and keep everyone updated on what's happening.

Keep smilin'!!