Just Jordan

On Monday afternoon I got some anxiety. Hugh had forgotten to tell me he needed the van for work. I had all 3 kids at home with me on Tuesday and the days when we don't leave the house, I often lose my mind about 4:00 pm. I had planned on taking the kids to the city in the morning, but since that wasn't possible anymore I had to reassess my options.  It didn't take me long to plan a bike/stroll around Martensville. We left the house after Lawson's feed (around 9 am). I walked, but threw in a few brief jogs. My legs were NOT liking those, but obviously needed them!  Calder loves the play structure at the ball diamonds, because they have some unique monkey bars (his favourite thing to do these days), so that's where we headed. Thankfully we had forgotten Boone's run bike at the lake, so I pushed the two little ones. Boone LOVES that bike, but doesn't glide on it yet. He just walks with it between his legs. Very. Slowly.  After hitting the play structu...

 On Sunday evening I spotted this mass on one of our trees. Hugh and I can't figure out how we didn't notice it earlier. We were in the yard all day and I was even digging some plants out around this tree. It was so gross. I had the hebegebees (no clue how to spell that and apparently neither does spellcheck) . Thankfully our neighbours had a solution - hot water and dish soap. Our neighbours also had a dispenser for the soap that hooked up to the hose. Hugh gave everything a good spray and we hoped for the best. On Monday night we forgot to spray again. Oops. So on Tuesday afternoon when the boys and I were outside we saw hundreds of them dispersed through all 6 trees along our fence. I couldn't wait for Hugh to come home. I grabbed the spray bottle we use to wet Calder's hair and added some warm soapy water to it. I also grabbed another bottle from my supply closet. I knew I was in for major fights if I headed outside and required the boys to share. I emptied out...

We have moved into our summer home! It took a lot of work and a lot of help. Thanks to Luke for helping getting the truck packed and my mom and dad for the unpacking, setting up, and watching the kids! We had a garage full of stuff, so we rented a 24 foot U-Haul truck! It is already half empty here! The front room is my favourite space in the cabin. It is so bright and spacious. The cabin isn't an open concept. . .  Hugh and I were a bit sad at first about the living room being all the way to the back of the cabin, but on Monday morning when we were having coffee with company, it sure was nice to have the kids a LONG way away! We could actually have a conversation :-) What do you think of the mint walls? My dad likes them. Me, not so much. Unfortunately, painting them is going to be a serious job. This part of the cabin has the A-frame roof and the mint goes all the way down the hall (which Hugh is calling the green mile). Hugh and I have a long list of projects....

Boone strung 3 words together for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I challenged him to a race to his bedroom to change his diaper. As he crossed the threshold of the door he proclaimed, "beat you, Mama".  He isn't going to be competitive at all. Calder has started soccer. We let him pick the spring sport he wanted to do, but I won't lie and say we were thrilled. Now, don't get me wrong. Soccer is a great sport. Ball is just greater ;-). Calder is playing 6U. I wish he was in 8U. He is so competitive and athletic. He just doesn't fit in well with that group (there are actually even a couple of kids on his team that haven't turned 4 yet).  This week he actually mowed a kid right over trying to get the ball. It wasn't on purpose - just Calder being Calder. Regardless, he is having fun. That being said, at this week's game he asked Hugh who was on the sideline where Boone was. When Hugh told Calder that Boone was over climbing on the play struc...

I will start with our most exciting news. Shortly after Lawson it the 2 month mark she started consistently getting up after 6 am. Yes. We are very fortunate. I think we can chalk up her prolonged sleeping to our routine and the kind of baby Lawson is, but it didn't hurt that we worked really hard for the first two months keeping to a routine similar to what The Baby Whisperer suggests and recognizing that naps need to be more than an hour.  Lawson typically feeds between 9 pm and 10 pm and then goes straight through. It is glorious (as my sister would say). In fact that last two weeks Lawson has been getting up after 7:30 am everyday and sometimes I have to wake her at 8 am to get our day going. Feel free to hate me a bit. Lawson does great with her morning nap. Again, the last two weeks she has been sleeping for around 3 hours during this block. I wouldn't typically let her go this long, but she has great nights, so until that changes I will let her be the guide. The aftern...

Our family is complete and there is some satisfaction in that as I reflect this Mother's Day. It has been a difficult road for me, and although my family doesn't look like the picture I had in my mind before I became a mother, I certainly am thankful for all 4 of my children. It is on a day like this that I especially wish Tripp could be with me. . . I miss him always, but it seems to hurt more on holidays. I am excited to get a picture of the three kids taken by Tripp's tree. It will be Lawson's first picture there (but not her first visit). I really like this tradition. I am going to be so pleased when I look back at pictures 20 years from now and get to see how the kids and that tree have grown. The top photo is at the Mother's Day lunch at Calder's school. I brought the two of us sushi. It was a lot of fun. Lawson looks like a crank, but she honestly only squawked when I went to take the picture. The bottom photo is from last week. Boone and I were...

Right around the 3 week mark with Lawson, I had my first visit at the Breast Feeding Centre.  We are so lucky to have one!  The lactation consultant thought Lawson was tongue tied at the back. I was still having a lot of pain nursing and the lactation consultant thought that a tongue tie could account for my pain and for all the smacking Lawson was doing while nursing. I felt very fortunate to get in to see an ear, throat, and nose doctor the next day. (This was a few days before my abscess ruptured.) After introducing himself and a resident, the doctor went on about the fact that lactation consultants were right 99% of the time and told me that there was controversy surrounding snipping tongue ties. I had no idea there was controversy, but he assured me that getting done was to Lawson's benefit, not only for nursing, but for when she got older. Once his speech was done he took an 8 second look in her mouth and declared the lactation consult wrong. Lawson was the 1% that was n...

My friend, Deena, has been doing monthly photo challenges on Instagram. I'm not exactly sure who started it, but for April Deena and another friend created a list of words or phrases. The idea is that you find something in your day to represent that word. I didn't post everyday, but I got a kick out of thinking about it and enjoyed seeing all the postings of my participating friends. Here are a select few from the month!  Happy Friday!