Eating, or rather, Not eating

Do you remember when I used to brag about how great an eater Max was? How proud I was that what ever I put in front of him, he would eat with gusto. It could be spicy, lumpy, smooth, cold or hot. He would eat it up and barely leave a scrap or crumb. Meal time at our house has now turned into this:


He took his masked potatoes off his plate and onto the his tray to better smear them around and pick out all the peas. This child has now become a very difficult eater. He is currently living on peas and porogies. Supposedly he is eating well at Delia's.

Am I worried? No. Have you seem him? It's not like he is starving! But it is getting a little annoying all the food I am wasting. I imagine this too will come to pass. I just have to ride the wave and be happy that he seems to be able to eat his weight in fruit and yogurt. Somehow I've got to figure out how to get some protein into the child.

Making Daddy Proud

I think this is the only reason Marty wanted to have kids.

Basement Renos - Day 5

No picture today, they just didn't turn out. I know, I know, you must all be so disappointed!

We got the walls primed. We are both still coming down from the high. We had to use some pretty nasty stuff to cover up the dark wood paneling. The house still smells bad and I can't imagine it will get much better since it's so damp. Ugh. But it's done. Now we wait for the guy to call us for the drywall mudding quote. We have NO IDEA how much that will be. How do you find out the going rate of a contractor?

The other part of our day was spent at IKEA. I used to really like IKEA. It's polish has definitely worn off. I do believe however, that it is because of the one store in Ottawa. They only carry about 75% of the items found in the catalogue or online (something I was always suspicious of and which was confirmed for me today by an employee) and the staff leave much to be desired. We went looking for the middle of the line flooring that we saw online. It turns out that the Ottawa store only carried the high end and the low end. It was over a $300 difference! Yep, we went cheep. Ah to be able to renovate with a real budget instead of pennies found behind the bookshelf! Maybe one day...

But back to reality. Marty and his friend (Marty, or as I call him, Dolan) are making a go at putting in the floor on Sunday. So, anyone out there up for a visit? I can't imagine I want to be here with Max when the swearing starts and little bits of fake wood start flying across the room.

Basement Renos - Day 4

Carpet up. Body aching. Tomorrow: priming the walls and buying the floor. So tired. Going to bed.

Basement Renos - Day 3

No photos of the basement today. You can't really see the progress. We finished the drywall and got ready for carpet ripping. This included taking up metal strips that were randomly located through the carpet covering up frayed seems, lifting up the trim and sort of cleaning up after the drywalling.

Then we went carpet shopping. OMG carpet is expensive! After picking my jaw up off the floor, we decided IKEA laminate floor is the way to go. It's a quarter of the price of the cheapest carpet. So we can buy a nice throw rug to go on top. I know it's not the best quality flooring out there, but we don't plan to be in this house for ever and it will look good when we sell.

Here is Max helping out. We hope to start priming the walls tomorrow after the carpet ripping. Oh, does anyone know a good drywall mudder? There is no way we are going to get that done ourselves in this century. Man, there are a lot of screws!

Basement Renos - Day 2

We have a ceiling!! Well almost. Ron and Meredith came over tonight and dry walled. We are almost done, but we all hit a wall and figured it would be best to leave it instead of waiting until someone sliced a finger open or drilled their hand to the ceiling. But you can see a remarkable difference with just a white ceiling!


That was all done tonight. During the day, Marty cleaned out the basement, I went to IKEA for some curtains and came out with instant art, bibs, dishes for Max, ... no curtains. It always happens. You go in for a $20 purchase, and you leave without that thing you intended and your bank account $100 lighter. We also went back and forth to Home Depot several times, and which will happen several more times for the next few days.

Tomorrow, ripping up carpet and maybe even some painting!

Day 1 - Basement Reno

Today is the first official day of our basement renos. We have been toiling with the idea for a while now, and I decided that I would take the week off (from a very crazy time at work at the moment) and plug away at the basement with Marty. Supply teaching calls won't come for another couple of weeks, so we needed to act now.

This is where we are now.



As you can see by the wood paneling and orange carpet, the last time the basement was renovated was probably around 1972. Prior to us ripping out the ceiling tiles, the basement housed and enormous amount of crap (which is now stuffed into the furnace room) and Marty's computer. Basically it was a hovel for Marty to disappear into.

With Max, we have accumulated more stuff, and the 12' x 12' living room is starting to feel a little crowded. Considering it's basically the only place that Max has lived in the past 16 months, I'm surprised he's a well adjusted as he is. Our big hope is to have a play room type of space in the basement, along with some storage and Marty's computer desk. I had huge dreams of getting it all done this week (installing pot lights, dry walling the ceiling, painting, putting down new carpet, putting up shelving and buying a new couch), but I have had the harsh slap of reality hit me pretty hard. Now I will be happy if we get the ceiling done.

So, what did we accomplish on Day 1 - Basement Reno? We came across some potential electrical problems, so didn't get anything done over the weekend. But with the wonderful help of Meredith's dad, Jim, we were given the green light and could proceed with the lighting installation. So that's what Marty accomplished today. What did I do you ask? I did a little bit of work in the yard, and then went to the spa. Yep, Marty slogged at home and I sat in the sauna and whirl pools of the Nordic Spa in Chelsey. If you live within an hours drive of Ottawa and haven't done this, Go. Do. This. It's the best stress reliever that I have ever come across.

So what's in store for Day 2 - Basement Reno? I think some carpet riping and dry wall buying. Stay tuned.

Happy Birthday Me!

It was my birthday yesterday, and we were in Montreal with my family, and extended family, The Belangers. There are so many things I'd like to talk about: what the past year has been and on turning 37, but I am just too tired (Max has a cold and I have been up with him since 4am). So, instead, another photo adventure. I know, not terribly inspiring, but my brain just can't handle anything more than that.

Marty and I decided to head to Montreal once more before the start of school and the best time just happened to land on my birthday. It turned into a little party with all of the family. It was a beautiful day to be outside and enjoying Tammy and Matt's new backyard, and in-ground pool. Yeah.

A little family time in the pool (oh, did I mention it's a salt water pool and heated to 80 degrees?)


Marie-Francis and Claudia enjoying some time together before Claudia and family move to Chelsey (yeah for us!).


Charlotte was having a great time heating Adrian with the water blasters.


Dominique and Tom (boyfriend: we like him) helping out with Max while Marty and I enjoy either the pool or some cool yummy adult drinks. I can't remember.


Max on his way over to push Alex off the chair. I hope they learn to play nice together.


After dinner (Montreal smoke meat brisquet on the barbeque, barbequed potatoes, coleslaw, rye bread and DQ ice cream cake) everyone got back into the pool. They have some very cool lights in the pool, even a strobe light!


Danielle got Mom to take Alex in the pool. Supposedly he wouldn't go in at Margaret's, but maybe the heated pool was more up his alley.


So there you have it. I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day weather wise, and I got to spend it with some of the most important people in my life. Pretty good birthday.

A day at the zoo

The Toronto Zoo rocks! We went last Saturday with the Stewarts, when it was hotter than Hades, and had a great time. Instead of blabbing on and on, I thought I would put a wonderful weekend in pictures.

The Sting Ray exhibit is on at the moment. It's very cool. Max seemed to like playing in the water more than petting the sting rays. Marty didn't really like the sensation. I thought it was way cool. You can see the sting ray at the bottom right hand corner of the photo.


Oh my, what big ears you have! Better to hear you with my darling!


Max's was very much into walking everywhere, as long as he was holding onto my finger.



What did Max get excited about most? Lions? Tigers? Giraffes? Zebras? No. Fish! I see a fishbowl in my near future.

Marty was so excited about Max seeing elephants. I was a little worried that Marty would disappointed. It was getting late in the day, Max was really hot, he hadn't had a nap, and we didn't know if the elephants would be close enough for him to really get a good look. But neither the elephants nor Max disappointed. Here is the look on his face when he saw them. Then he shot his arm up in the air and did his elephant noise. Marty just beamed.

There is the most incredible splash pad at the zoo. It's huge and considering the heat, it wasn't too crowded. Marty brought his swimsuit and joined in on the fun. I was very grateful for the opportunity to let Max cool off. He loved it!


We ended the day sitting in a little patch of shade and eating - you guessed it - watermelon. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.


Again, we have to thank the Stewarts for their hospitality. There was a lot more fun over the weekend which included water fun in their backyard, some yummy drinks after the kids were in bed, and of course, good food. I can't until we get the basement done and we can finally have them over to our place. Soon guys, very soon!

Weekend fun

We had a great family weekend. On Saturday we went to the Experimental Farm. This is such a great place. It barely costs us anything because I can get in free with my museum card and Max is free up to the age of 3. So Marty bought an adult membership for $34.00, which includes the Science and Technology Museum and the Aviation Museum. How great a deal is that?

So Max mooed at the cows, baaed at the sheep, neighed at the horses and doot-dooted at the tractors. Actually, there is an exhibit on tractors at the Farm at the moment and I thought Max was going to go into a fit seeing all the tractors. And the fact that he could sit on one, oh my! We made his year I'm sure! Forgot the camera, so no pictures of the look of pure joy on Max's face.

Then on Sunday we headed to Lac Philippe in Gatineau Park. It's a little out of the way (about a 50 minute drive) but so worth it. It's not too crowded and is totally a family beach, with lots of little naked bums running around. Dan, Heather and Sara joined us for most of the day. We playing in water, picnicked, played in the water and ate LOTS of watermelon. I think Max could eat his weight in watermelon if we let him.










In the water, Max had a little visitor for a little while. Heather couldn't stop exclaiming that it was the biggest dragonfly she had ever seen. It was a doozy!

Baby genius

Sitting on the stairs at the front of the house, Max is playing with seeds that have fallen from our poplar tree.

He takes two seeds and lines them up.

"How many seeds do you have Max?" I ask.

He points to each seed. "One, two."

I run into the house to call Mensa.

Girl TIme

I love Marty. There are many things to love about him, and I won't go listing them here. But one thing I do love about him is how he never seems to mind when I mention something I would like to do, without him or Max. I usually feel guilty about asking. Not only because I am missing out of my time with Max, but often it means Marty has Max for a full day and night, not getting much time to himself. For the most part, these times are what I call my "Girl Time." Last week I got to have two Girl Times.

The first was Thursday night. I went out for dinner and a movie with some of my girlfriends from work. We went to see Mama Mia! What a blast. I don't know if you have been reading any of the reviews, but they are mostly right. It's so bad, it's good. As nice and Pierce Brosnan might be to look at, he can't hold a tune in a wheel barrow. Makes you question why he was cast in a musical. He was so bad that I laughed until I cried, yelling "Please stop!" at the screen. And of course there was lots of singing. Well worth the $10 entrance fee. If you like ABBA (and honestly, who doesn't) this is definitely worth a look. It doesn't need to be seen on the big screen, so you can wait until it's out on DVD. Then you can laugh and sing in the privacy of your own living room.

The second Girl Time was this past weekend. Heather was in need of a break from motherhood. After almost 15 months of never being away from Sara, the time had come. I had mentioned it to Marty and he said "Why don't you both go to Montreal for a girl's weekend?" (Did I mention how much I love the guy?) We left Saturday morning with a spring in our step and money in our pocket for a little shopping. A little shopping? Is there such a thing in Montreal?

We arrived, had lunch, shopped, had ice cream, shopped, had dinner, and then could barely move as our bodies protested against all the walking. We ended up going to my parents a little earlier then expected and could barely make it to 10:00pm. Oh how different a weekend in Montreal is for me now!

Now it's Marty's turn for some Boy Time. He definitely deserves it.

Words

As you know, Max has been babbling away in his own language for a long time now. Ever since he found his voice at 3 months old he hasn't really stopped. Now he seems to be saying a new word ever day. Being the proud Mama, I feel the need to share Max's ever expanding vocabulary.

Here are the words he has down packed:
Mama
Daddy
Hi
Bye
What's that?
That
No
Doggy
Hat
Cat
Baa Baa (for sheep obviously)
Belbow (elbow)
Up

Here are the animal sounds that he has when you ask: "What does a ** say?"
Neigh
Moo
Woof Woof
Baa Baa
Meow
Roar

Not bad, ey?

A Day at a Cottage

I love cottages. I love friends with cottages. I love swimming in lakes and sitting around in muskoka chairs. I love fire pits and barbeques. Can you tell we had a great day?

Our friends Julie and Pete invited a bunch of us up to their cottage for the day. It's the perfect distance away, 1 hour. Invited were basically everyone you hear me talking about. Karen, John, Emily and Hope, and Meredith, Ron, Ella and Duncan. Julie and Pete have two of their own as well, Nathanial and Maggie. Eight adults and seven kids all under the age of 5. At least we still out number them!











It was a beautiful day with sun and cloud. Not too hot, with a little breeze to keep the bugs away. The lake was warm and the wine and beer were plentiful. Ahhh... I didn't really want to leave.

Everyone had a great time, especially the kids. What more could you ask for!

Detto Family Vacation (in Pictures)

We got back from the yearly Detto family cottage vacation on Saturday. It was a really nice week with lots of time down by the lake, lots of eating good food, and lots of laughing and antics (both kids' and adults'!) Here are some pictures from the week.

We weren't there fore more than a few minutes and Max swindled Rick into reading him a book.









Day two and Max in in the water.






Max hung on Connor's every word and action. Come Christmas time, he'll be running after Connor!










Max discovered Bacci. Lining up for the perfect shot.











Max also discovered and new toy. You can see how excited he was when he figured out all the knobs and dials.










Little cousing Emmy. Check out those gorgeous blue eyes!











Max and Mike did some bonding.








And Max and Opa too.








Dinner time!









Chili was in doggy heaven.