Midway through the long weekend and what has been accomplished… well a place has been looked at and seen as suitable for us… we wait on word back still (argh), Ken and Sean and Ted have moved basically ALL of the big pieces out of the basement (except the deep freeze which will be last out),

I had Ken pick up a new treat for Echo when he and the guys ran out to Safeway last night… some of the Gerber brand finger foods – banana flavour. They were a HUGE favourite of Emanuel’s when he was little.

Treats!

As of yesterday my stepsister is officially married! I have seen one picture posted by one of her friends on Facebook which sadly did NOT show very much – just a shot of one of the tables (decorated prettily) and the friend and Kat’s faces. But she looked very happy and last night my stepmom put up a happy message on her profile. I am very happy for them and hope they enjoyed the speech I sent down with the gift for my dad to read. I really wish we could have gone but circumstances and finances just weren’t favourable.

My brother, stepsister and myself almost 10 years ago at MY wedding!

Speaking of weddings – I do have a mission. I need to draw out (according to the measurements we took on Friday) and come up with a variety of ideas on how to decorate the venue for Chris and Chris’ wedding. We have the individual prices as well as a price on a kit… so all I have to do is take all of that and make something pretty out of it! We have 4 balloon colours… the lovely red, black, silver and gold… so I can vary combinations… oh so much to think about!

Late afternoon took a definite turn for the rainy. Which meant outside smelled absolutely lovely but we decided to keep the kids in. The mosquitoes are beyond aggressive right now. So during naptime the twins made up thank you cards to their Sunday School teachers for next weekend. I know they are BOTH sad to have to say good-bye. Gavin was too quick and sealed his in an envelope before I could take a photo.

Finished cards

As promised, a better picture of Echo on the little car AND a video!!! Enjoy!

So proud!

I have made personal copies of all of the requisitions for Echo. After all at least that way we KNOW what tests were done. Usually we go so quickly to the tests that we don’t have the time or means to do so so I took advantage of the long weekend and used our printer.

The little stitch is done! I give you Choco-Cat… based on this image.

Choco-Cat

I have started the stocking… barely… but a start.

A beginning... updates to follow over the next few months I am sure

So what is to be done – books to go to the used bookstore, bottles to go to the depot, bikes to be picked up for the twins, a few more boxes to pack in the basement and of course the garage to deal with (tomorrow’s task). I find that as long as I break it down into what will be done when I can deal… I have yet to face the fact that there are SOME stores I love that I won’t be able to easily visit after this… Change is good, change is good!

Be sure to take a moment and check out Fat Sheep’s adventure with Karyn and her family in Saskatchewan… Tiny Sheep was along as well! We really need a family reunion for these lovely sheep!

Future serious gamer?

Do you know what I just realized??? After going through the whole “what happened at the doctor’s” portion of yesterday’s entry I realized I did NOT share her weight… well when she went to see her other doctor they weighed her in at 11lbs… when we weighed her last week we got 11 1/2… now… deep breath… as of yesterday at the doctor’s she weighed in at TWELVE POUNDS!!! That’s right, a half a pound in a week!!! Well done our bitty Echo, well done!

Our Pixie

Today we lucked out and Nathan, Ada and Anna had enough time to drop by and pick up a bag of stuff we had set aside for them. Anna turns 1 next month if you can believe it! She is such a sweet girl. I lucked out and when we woke up Echo from her nap she was in a great mood so the two got in their first play time! I am hoping once we are settled in a new place we can have them over for a day, or head back into the city and visit with Anna at her home.

Sharing

Girls together

The kids were absolutely over the moon that they got to help Daddy mow the lawn. We have a push mower so it is safe enough for Ken to let them get a little hands on. All 4 of them took turns in a pretty organized fashion.

One of Daddy's helpers

OH did I mention that last night we had a video playdate with Bree and Quinn? Quinn was born before midnight on the 25th and Trinity after midnight on the 26th so they are basically birthday buddies! Trinity and Quinn had a nice chat and showed off some of their favourite toys. Hopefully we can line more of these up and I want these two to have a great friendship even with the distance.

Quinn!!!! Giggles and all

I have a membership with BigFish games. I purchase a token every month and this month I had extras. It is a really nice and affordable way to get to play different styles of games. This month I picked out TWO games. One for the kids – a match crystals sort of game and one for myself called The Tiny Bang Story. I have to admit I mainly got it for the beautiful backgrounds and graphics, but it is rather soothing as there is no time limit.

With it being the long weekend and no Sunday School (the final party is next Sunday), we have made the executive decision to stay close to home. With the van limping and the need to make it to Tuesday’s tests we figured it best to park the vehicle. That leaves us time to get stuff out of the basement, packing of other odd items and of course completing unfinished projects.

We have started a rather aggressive campaign to “get things done” in the house. Which so far, has the boys interested and willing to ACTIVELY help out. There is something rather cute about watching our twins trucking these large boxes out of the house with their serious helping faces on. AND the added bonus of wearing them out in a helpful manner.

"Helping"

I am finally finding the time to complete my little stitch AND have the pattern partially printed out and colours chosen to start the stocking for this year! I am going to do basically the outline of everything, and the toe and heel now and then fill in the detail work as Ken can get it to me.

Almost done I swear

Gavin offered to feed Echo her late lunch today. She loves it when he does. They were both VERY patient and did a rather tidy job at it, once I wiped the chin and reminded Gavin SMALL bites.

Yum!

Sadly Zander has had a huge attitude all day, nothing keeps his attention long enough, nothing is fun enough… BUT I am working on my patience with him and trying to convince him that working on his own to find something to do is not a bad thing. There is still the occasional – I don’t want to move – but it is less frequent thankfully. It is funny how differently the kids are reacting to this whole move idea. I am hoping that once we are moved we can start off with a fresh. new attitude.

Thankfully today life has given me some sweet moments… Echo tried Trinity’s little baby sit and ride toy… I didn’t get the best picture but she was TRYING to help Ken along with her right foot and everything! We will try again tomorrow for a better picture.

Vroom Vroom

We had our visit with our Anna, Fydo and Kristen went and saw a place for us today… oh I hadn’t mentioned that yet had I? The place is big enough and in rather good repair… they sent us pictures and Ken emailed the agent… now we wait… with baited breath, oh and continue looking as of course you do NOT depend on anything.

We heard from Ken’s dad who recently had a kidney removed and he is already back to work a week earlier than projected! We wanted to update them on our Echo’s health which if you missed is blogged about here. As well as our rental hunt. It will still be a while before they can come up here to visit sadly, but he is healing well.

For supper we had donairs… from the place that Chris and Chris showed us. Yum!

So while nothing is concrete and nothing completed and tons of grumpy people and work in progress are in this home we have had a lovely day!!!!

One more of the girls

So I faced a mutiny today – the kids were solidly united AGAINST the idea of going to a doctor’s office where Zander predicted they would NOT be allowed to play toys (generally correct as fewer offices have toys nowadays AND with our 4 kids we often are just too many for the toy area, especially if there is other kids there). I had, when the nurse called to schedule this appointment in the first place, inquired as to whether or not there would be a problem if I stayed home with the kids as we did NOT have a sitter and DO have a large family. She was more than fine with that, stating that as long as Ken came with knowledge of Echo’s habits and our family that would be just fine.

What amazes me is how many people scoff at my NOT going to an appointment, how I am letting the family down and shouldn’t leave Ken in charge… how many Mommies go to the appointments solo? Do all of the scheduling? Ensure information is passed along? I wonder if stay-at-home dad’s face that sort of prejudice on a regular basis… because Ken is VERY capable of sitting through an appointment and sharing the information required.

After a somewhat lengthy appointment (well not by a specialist paediatrician’s standards but still) we have some things to deal with. The doctor heard a heart murmur. This is not the end of the world as after all Emanuel has one that is not needing medical treatment. The doctor was surprised our other doctor hadn’t heard it but then again last appointment Ken says she was SCREAMING at the doctor. So the plan for that is to have a chest x-ray and ecg. Then, to deal with the potential reasons behind the weight issue – blood work, one set specifically dealing with thyroid.

She was quite impressed by Echo’s development (spot on) and her proportions (perfect). There was no other issues that needed dealing (of course the tests are a big thing but still). She was wondering when we could get the tests done, and with Ken already gone well over an hour and my needing to leave with Chris she was fine with us waiting until after the long weekend. Just to ensure that the heart murmur was not an EMERGENCY situation she checked Echo’s blood/oxygen level. 99/100 so absolutely wonderful. If she had had low levels they would have kept her there overnight but there was no current concerns. So the plan is to head over to the university hospital where her specialist is on Tuesday and spend as much time as needed going to the 3 different clinics to get all her testing done in one shot.

Our specialist is going on vacation now for 2 weeks but has promised to have one of the other doctors up to date to review all results in a timely manner. Step by step. We are to keep our August appointment with the regular paediatrician for now (as if she doesn’t have any major concerns it is best to not have her on the specialist’s roster) and go back to this doctor mid July.

Apparently there was a student doctor there that Ken spent most of his time with, the poor man got peed all over when doing his assessment of her stomach etc. And of course, with how all over the place we are right now (and the earliness of the appointment) Ken left the house WITHOUT the diaper bag, something he did not realize until he went to strip her down for weighing (according to their scale 12 lbs). Thankfully they HAD diapers… size FOUR! ack! She is only a size 1 if you are lucky and of course wearing her cloth set. The nurse helping weigh had a little giggle I guess.

So she wowed the office with her dainty beauty and was suitably sweet and wonderful to win over her doctor. All in all Ken was gone almost 3 hours, he got home in time for me to breastfeed the baby and change her into a diaper that actually FIT before Chris (she) got here.

Our Sweet Pea

After two days of consistent excitement what else could I do but continue with the theme? After all who am I to rock the boat? (stop that snickering Ken) So instead of setting up a whole ream of homeschooling stuff for the boys to do in my absence I made sure to leave them their craft bucket, bike helmets, and the reminder that they need to play nice together. Time just keeps getting away from me, we have a house full of boxes, children starting to react to the chaos and our own frustrations are making it difficult to have our usual organized chaos. The mosquitoes out in droves are NOT helping matters either. Which is a shame as the weather has been perfect for outside play… the bugs have not.

Chris (she) and I ended up with TWO of the children as a last minute decision. Echo and Trinity were along for the ride. We then proceeded to spoil Trinity rotten… first her very first iced cap from Tim Hortons made with chocolate milk and 5 Tim bits. Then A&W and on the way home a lemonade.

Tim Hortons

A&W

Echo with her A&W toast

Lemonade on the ride home

We started with the venue for the wedding, measuring and discussing ideas. We are thinking – lots of balloons!

Time to measure the venue

Where the headtable will go?

Chris picked up each of the girls a teddy – pink kitty for Trinity, Tigger for Echo when we visited Grandma.

From Aunty Chris

We also got to talk with her co-worker Wendy who knows all about Russell-Silver syndrome! Echo thought she was rather nice!

Getting to know Wendy, I took the picture one second too late to get them both snuggling. Boo

I caved at the balloon place and got Trinity a Hello Kitty toy. She was such a well behaved little girl after all!

Yes, Mommy is weak

I ran briefly into my favourite baby store and picked up another washable liner for Echo and the next size up swim pant for Trinity. I love these, only around 7.00 and reusable, much better than the disposable option.

Baby store booty

We got home around 6 in time for Ken to finish baking and head out with Sean to get the furniture and other kid items we were exchanging our cookies for. We had to use Sean’s vehicle, ours going in for repairs is put off until after Tuesday’s tests of course. I feel very blessed that she was willing to exchange all these lovely things for cookies which we enjoy making anyway!

The kids are all wound up though, Ken took the boys on a walk to the gas station while we were gone for super treats. And then there was the playing, the craziness that comes with no Mommy there. Zander made himself a rather interesting block structure.

Block structure

This weekend is completely a cleaning weekend. We have to empty out the heavy pieces in the basement since Sean AND Ted are here to help. We have desks down there, Echo’s crib… it will make it much easier to finish up the basement. There is the lawn to be mowed, some bottles to be taken to the depot and a multitude of other things to complete.

That is where something exciting comes up – at 3pm tomorrow Fydo is going to look at a very promising rental for us. It is a 4 bedroom half of a duplex. A rather large duplex it sounds like. So keep your fingers crossed for us please!

Tonight the guys are here… I am resting and of course my cross stitch is calling… so I will answer!

Practicing standing on Daddy