Happy Fall (& 7 Month Update)

Halloween was a giant low maintenance success this year. The 3 year old wanted to be a Ninja Turtle (same as last year) and the 6 year old didn't have any requests or complaints about going as Batman again so we reused last year's costumes and the baby, of course, went as Tigger just as his brothers did for their first Halloweens. 

In baby news. Noah just might be the sweetest baby boy ever (I'm sure I said that a million times over with his big brothers too). Some highlights from 7 months:

- Sitting on a blanket or mat playing with toys. His favourite thing to do.

- Eating! Oatmeal cereal, acorn squash, butternut squash, carrots, sweet potato, green beans, apple sauce (mixed with oatmeal). He isn't a huge fan of the green beans so we mix them with the sweet potato or squash with a 2 to 1 ratio and he gobbles it right up. I've been making 2 batches per week of pureed veggies and freezing them in ice cube trays. He usually eats about 3 cubes per serving.

- Teething! His two bottom teeth are coming any day now. I keep checking each day but they haven't yet broken through.

- Enjoying outings. On occasion my sister will take the two little guys to the park in the morning so Noah has gotten used to riding in the swing and sitting in the sand. On Remembrance Day, they took the bus to our local ceremony and parade.

- Starting to vocalize. Slowly but surely, we've got a developing chatterbox on our hands. Lots of  giggles, "ahhhh", "Gah" and putting his lips together and going "pffft".

- Still nursing but mostly at night, in the morning and in the evening. He doesn't actually nurse much when I come home at lunch from work any more. He seems either not overly hungry then or too interested in everything else going on. I still end up feeding him a little and pumping a couple of ounces so it still feels worth coming home for to me but I definitely see an end to the lunchtime nursing sessions coming soon. We supplement about half of his daytime feedings with formula. On the weekends he nurses much more frequently and only one or two formula feedings per day.

Toe sucker

Winter seems to have come early this year. We got our first snow fall and the big boys couldn't have been happier! Hard to believe Christmas is right around the corner.

First snow fall of 2014

Intrigued

Snowstorms and The Hip

We've been having a lot of low cost fun around these parts lately. Last weekend we had a ridiculously huge snow dump which meant a snow day for the schools on Friday and a struggle for me getting home from work. I foolishly thought I wouldn't bother with snow tires this year since there are only a couple months left of snow, it hardly seemed necessary. Boy did I wish I had snow tires, a heavier car and 4 wheel drive! But in the end the little Prius made it home.

The boys made hills and rails in the backyard once again. The littlest enjoyed sitting on the ATV stuck in the snow and I enjoyed going to see The Tragically Hip with some girlfriends, one of which had extra free tickets!!!

Snow, Snow, and more Snow

The past few weeks have been particularly crazy in regard to the weather here. Ryan hasn't been working as much due to the cold, snow, and general lack of work. The economic here has really slowed the construction sector down and he was lucky to keep his job. Unfortunately, our friend got laid off which is no good. I must admit that I do kind of enjoy it when Ryan comes home early or just doesn't have to show up one day for work. It is really nice to be able to see him and not have to always work on the renovations or do regular house work. But the lack of money sure does stink and to much disappointment, Ryan will no longer be able to take the time off that we had planned to go visit his parents in Florida next month.

All the time we have been spending renovating has left me missing Brendan a little and wondering what it will be like once I start working soon. He is becoming so independent. He plays really well on his own and is taking the bottle really well (we are down to two-ish breastfeeds a day). He is also becoming a little chatterbox and says mostly ma's and ba's but no dada's yet. He can scoot around backwards on his little car which is really cute.

Progress at the house has been going a mile a minute. Last weekend we got the hardwood upstairs mostly done and all of the bedrooms painted. This weekend we are painting downstairs and tiling the kitchen and hallway. Next weekend will be the big move I think! A friend of mine, mentioned to me that she had reupholstered her chairs herself (a nesting urge!) So that is another project I am going to attempt to undertake just as soon as we get settled in. I will be so happy to finally slow down and start to enjoy our house that we've been working on for 7 months in every spare minute.

In other news, I signed us up for a food share this summer from a local community sustainable agriculture operation. I can't wait to start recieveing farm fresh, minimal pesticides, local fruits and veggies weekly. I also found a farm that offers organic beef.

The snow piles here are getting so high, we are running out of space to put all the snow that wont let up. Tomorrow.. I think I will take Brendan for a ride in his sled..and maybe get a vanilla rooibos tea latte from Starbucks for myself :)