Shirley's World

2007-11-12T20:29:00.000-08:00

The Graduation Ceremony

2007-07-03T22:22:00.000-07:00

June 19'th was Grace's last offical day of preschool and it was Graduation Day. The classroom was arranged like an auditorium full of little chairs and each child was given a graduation hat. Everything was very cute! Ginnie, called each preschooler up by name and handed them each a certificate. I was so proud that Grace went up all by herself, as a few other preschoolers had refused to participate. She looked so excited and proud as she turned around to face the crowd of her peers and all the parents as they clapped.

Way to Go, Grace!

Preschool has given her lots of opportunity to explore art, music, playing and friendship...and she even has more hair and enough to have a real ponytail!!! Yay!
Here are a few other pictures of that day...

Grace with her teacher Kyna. Grace loves Kyna - she often sticks close to her side.

Braden likes preschool too!

Braden's Dedication!

2007-07-03T22:01:00.001-07:00

On May 20th Kevin and I dedicated Braden at Summerland Baptist Church. We waited so long because it was important for us to stand in front of a church we could call home and commit before "our church family" to bring Braden up in a Godly home and to teach him about God's word and love.

It was a nice dedication service performed by Sue, the Children and Families pastor and Pam her assistant. Braden was a wiggly guy and wanted to run on the stage but we managed to distract him long enough to get the job done!

Here is what else we have been doing!

2007-04-16T14:14:00.000-07:00

A little bit of DIRT BIKIN'

A little bit of DIGGIN'

Catching Up!

2007-04-16T13:59:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have taken a very long break from Blogging! Hopefully I still have some readers out there! I have several excuses.

We purchased a house in Summerland! Yay! We moved in on February 2nd. We also have started some fairly major renovations(keeping with the Bond tradition). LOL! Which include: moving exterior doors, framing in the front porch, moving a bedroom, knocking out walls, new kitchen and bathroom, and lots of yard work too!

So it has been a little chaotic! Well, only at times. It is, however, a construction zone; messy and dirty.

Our living quarters are primarily in the basement, aside from cooking, bathing and eating. We are all sharing the bedroom downstairs and evenings are spent in the rec room.

And of course, another reason that I have not blogged is because the computer is tucked away in the deepest, darkest corner of the basement; the part that has poor lighting, concrete walls and floor, and for me, it is not the most enjoyable place to spend too much time. It does, however, help keep Kevin on task with the renos!
Here are a few pictures

Grace Turns 3!

2006-12-13T14:20:00.000-08:00

Grace is Three!

Wow!
I can hardly believe how fast the time went and how much has changed. The first year seemed like forever but even with the feeding problems and the worries it went by pretty fast and now here we are at Three!

Grace is doing awesome! She is independant and sometimes stubborn. Grace loves collecting rocks and leaves, playing outside and going on adventures to the hardware store with daddy. Grace also knows what she does NOT like to wear, particularily dresses or skirts, but is pretty much happy with anything else as long as it is not "too fuzzy". She does not have one favorite toy and usually is very creative in finding something to play with.

Happy Birthday "G" you are a very special girl!

We Love you!

Looking Back

2006-12-13T13:40:00.000-08:00

Grace's first year!

My Kids!

2006-11-18T15:34:00.000-08:00

My Day!

2006-11-06T20:18:00.000-08:00

Do you think they need a bath?

8 pairs of wet pee soaked panties and pants

3 loads of laundry

2 Green faces

and 1 bowl of spilled cat food

Today I feel like I spent the whole day changing diapers, and dragging an unwilling toddler to the potty, dressing and undressing kids, folding clothes and lecturing about peeing on the potty and coloring on paper only!

Yep! That was it! MY DAY!

A Floater at the Pool!

2006-11-06T18:23:00.000-08:00

It was brown and it came out of Grace's swimsuit and it was EVERYWHERE. It was in the baby pool, on the deck and in the hot tub!

I have read other people's blogs and there are lots of poo stories out there but this one beats them all! In a public pool of all places - other people cleaned it up and they had to drain the pool. It was a big deal! It was not just a smear on the carpet or on the walls, it was in the public pool!

I was showering (taking any responsiblity off of me BTW) when Kevin quickly removed Grace from the baby pool when he discovered a floater. He notified the staff of the problem, unaware that he was holding the guilty party. Soon he discovered the source and was not so quick to draw anymore attention to the growing situation. I was so embarassed as I waited in the pool area for Kevin and Grace as the staff cleaned up my daughters mess. They looked pretty annoyed -- and for good reason! Who wants to clean up poo?!

Unfortuantely, Grace was clueless about how horrible the situation was. I don't think it will help in teaching her that poo in panties or pools is a no-no!

Taking Pictures

2006-11-04T20:55:00.000-08:00

These are a sample of Grace's photography. Not bad for a 3 year old! We didn't, however, include the ones of the ceiling and the floor.

Trick or Treating And Halloween Fun!

2006-11-04T16:18:00.000-08:00

We started out at about 6:30pm and it lasted for about an hour. Walking around our neighbourhood, Grace dressed as a lamb and Braden as a cow, knocking on doors and asking for treats. We went with our neighbours Chris and Corry and their little girl Aniesa. Our street was very alive with all sorts of characters carring their treats and looking for more. The street was decked out with some fun and some very scary decorations all adding to a party atmosphere. It was GREAT and everyone had a lot of fun!

We finished off our evening by meeting up with the other Bond family at the Peter's house for the annual fire, hotdogs, chili and pie. The kids were soooo tired, Grace could hardly stay awake to get her pajamas on. She walked to her bed and fell asleep half on and half off her bed and stayed there until Kevin came back with her water. I wish I had gotten a picture of that one!

Braden is One!

2006-10-21T20:58:00.000-07:00

My Baby turned One on September 20th.
Here are a few of the pictures from his party! We had a lot of fun!

It is hard to believe that a year has gone by so quickly when we waited so long for the day he arrived. Each day and week of my pregnancy was counted and checked off and now here we are at ONE Year!
I can hardly believe it! I find myself clinging to his babyhood! He is my last! And he must not grow up too fast! He was a baby for a long time as he did not move until he was 10 1/2 months old! Now he is on the move, he is crawling and cruising furniture and attempting steps on his own. He is talking (dada, Dora, cat, all done, down, and no), playing games, and making truck noises! He is a snuggler and loves his mommy, daddy and sister.

He is my sunshine. He is always happy and his smile lights up his whole face.

We love you Baby B!

At the Beach with Gamma and Gampa!

2006-08-12T22:34:00.000-07:00

My Mom and Dad came for a visit to Penticton this summer! It was a quick trip but it was GREAT to have Gamma and Gampa visiting for a few days. Gamma and Gampa brought lots of fun: Play-doh, stickers, trains and lots of time to play and read stories! They had a GREAT time.

Braden Moving Finally????

2006-07-23T16:07:00.000-07:00

Well, I know I have posted something simliar in the past, Braden rollin! Well that was a very sporatic event in this household. He rarely did it - but at least we knew he could. It was good to know that there was nothing physically wrong with him to prevent him from doing so, other than his own desire to move. This week Braden has been moving. He gets onto his tummy a lot more and is rarely in the same position you leave him in. He scooches around on his tummy or on his back mostly going in a circular motion or backwards from where he started. But not only that! He is also starting to lean into a crawling position.....hmmmm I am not getting my hopes up too much because he skipped rolling so he may just skip crawling.

Friends

2006-07-19T15:56:00.000-07:00

Grace and Aneisa on the front step

Aneisa is our neighbour that Grace enjoys talking about and playing with. They have enjoyed many warm afternoons in the sunshine this spring and summer.

Fun Pictures

2006-06-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

My Tatoo Artist!

My Sunshine!

Going Out

2006-06-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

She is a big girl now. She has her cell phone with her, her hat and her dancing shoes on. She is ready to go. I caught her just as she was heading out the door. Luckly the camera was within reach and she let me take the pictures.

She is very independant as I have probably mentioned before but here are some new ways she is showing her independance:

She undresses herself (mostly unaided). She also put on her own shirt without help the other day - I was very impressed.

She insists on getting into the bathtub on her own. She climbs in by herself and will not let me help. I have to guard her from the possible slip with out her knowing somehow.

She must open her own yogurt and play-doh by herself.

She is also turning into a little mommy. She loves to look after Braden, in fact, she started changing his diaper the other day on her own. By the time I got there his sleeper was unbuttoned and the POOPY diaper was coming off in a messy way only a two year old could master. I dove for the camera and then thought twice about the nasty potential of the situation and decided to help Grace instead (the priceless moment would have been passed anyway).

It is hard to imagine that 2 1/2 years ago she was so small that we could only hold her for a hour at a time. Now she is running, talking, getting into trouble and showing her independance. She is a "big girl" now and I could never have imagined it back then. The time flies and my babies are growing and changing with each passing day.

Building a Foundation

2006-06-12T21:38:00.000-07:00

This is gone!

And the new one begins! Yay!

This weekend was a busy one! We were getting the site ready for the new storage shed. We are laying the foundation! Thank you to Dad for his hard work - we do have pictures to prove it!

The new shed will be larger than the last one and better looking. Imagine that!(Not too hard to beat!) It will have a large storage area to house our tools and lawn equipment and four storage rooms for each suite in the building.

It is going to be Great! I will love having a place to store strollers, bikes and outdoor equipment. Maybe now the house will also be free of misc. tools, silicone tubes, hammers, drills and various bits of hardware! I am looking forword to seeing the finished project.

Colds etc.

2006-06-07T21:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Grace came down with a cold and today she is VERY sick and oozing yellow stuff from her nose. She is whiny and just not well and this is by far the worst cold she has had this year. She wants me all the time and it is really hard to be in two places at once.

I am sooooooo tired of colds and sickness! It is June - cold and flu season is OVER! And on top of that we have rarely had the pleasure of leaving our home in the last few weeks to pick up these NASTY bugs...but somehow they seem to find us.

I am crossing my fingers again that this is the last one for a while! For the summer?

It has been a slow/crazy (not sure which) couple of months for me so it seems I have little to blog about (other than my peeves on all the sickness we experience -- my apologies to bloggers and readers) and no time and energy to blog. Kevin has been very busy with flooring jobs and working on projects around home which leaves me with the kids and trying to keep up with my home etc. Kevin has been very fortunate to be so busy, especially with flooring jobs. The demand for his services seems to be getting bigger and bigger and with summer coming that is great!

This month is going to be very busy with school coming to a close and various special dates like Kevin's birthday, anniversaries, Fathers Day, and Chris' stag, it seems we will barely have time to breath. Right now I am hoping for a quiet summer and time to stop and enjoy my WHOLE family and creating some bloggable memories.

HE DID IT!

2006-06-07T16:50:00.000-07:00

Braden is on the move! Braden rolled over today for the first time! He is only about 4 months late on that one! Gone are the days of leaving the room and coming back and finding him in the same spot.

Hmmmmmm....more watching and work is on the way for me!

But YAY! HE DID IT!

Updates

2006-06-06T22:44:00.000-07:00

Braden is feeling better now! The poor boy! It only took one day on antibiotics and his smile returned. Although, he HATES the antibiotics and it is a struggle we endure 3 times a day! He clamps his little mouth down so tight that you have to pursist until he cries - then you can get the medication in. There is lots of head shaking, dodging, arching, crying, coughing and sputtering.

Grace's potty training took off well and then stalled when Braden got sick. It was hard for her. She didn't get the attention she normally gets because Braden needed to be held a lot of the time. We took a break which was probably more for me than for her. She does really well when she wants to and that is what it comes down to. But we will continue on and slug through the accidents and frustration as every parent does and we will reach the goal.

We were also able to register Grace for preschool this September. We were fortunate to get into the OSNS program, Kinderplace Preschool, this was our first choice. It has an excellent program and facility. We were expecting not to get in until next year but fortunately we were offered a spot for the fall.

A Mother Knows Her Baby!

2006-05-30T12:58:00.000-07:00

Why don't some people recognize this? I hate being dismissed as a new paranoid mom when I KNOW my child is sick!

Braden never cries for long periods of time and is always consolable but this weekend he was not. He was unusually miserable all day and would wake up crying in the night almost every hour. When I would hold him and he would flop his head on my chest and cry and cry. I finally decided to take him into emergency (because on the weekends in Penticton there is very little doctor coverage except at emergency). The admitting nurse, who I am pretty sure thought that I was over reacting, was very curt with me but sweet to Braden. She talked only to Braden and cut me off if I ever tried to say anything. She was very patronizing.

She listed his symptoms off: "low grade fever, pain, drool, sounds like teething to me!" "Yes, lady it does, but consider that he never cries unconsolably and he is always drooling!" is what I felt like saying although if I had tried she would have cut me off...hmmmmm actually I did try saying that and she did cut me off. Fortunatley, the emergency doctor was more proffessional but couldn't find any obvious signs that Braden was sick. He could not get a good look at his ears because there was too much wax to see anything. He felt that he probably had the nasty virus that his going around and would feel better in a few days.

So after a weekend of crying, we are off to see our family doctor. This morning I noticed liquid leaking out of Braden's left ear. I am sure this is enough evidence that he has an ear infection and possibly that his eardrum has ruptured because of the ear infection.....

Anyway.....
We have seen the Doctor and he is pretty certain that he has an ear infection but he could not be sure if his eardrum has ruptured as there was no blood evident in the liquid in Braden's ear. He also was unable to see the eardrum clearly so we would need to wait until he is feeling better to be sure of a ruptured eardrum.

I guess next time I will have to listen to my instincts and not let a nurse insist that she knows more that I do, because it is not always the case.

Grace!

2006-05-19T13:35:00.000-07:00

Poor girl..

Sometimes it seems like all I ever say to her is "You have to wait Mommy has to feed or is feeding Braden." She is a little girl on the go and mommy is tied down unable to go with her a lot of the time. I know this will change soon enough, but it sucks right now. She is such a sweet little girl who wants some of my time and I want to give it to her.

Her new thing right now is "tay-toe" - translated Play-Doh. She loves "tay-toe" and gingerbread men made out of play-doh. She needs a lot of help with it but it keeps her occupied and it is better than T.V.!

"More gingybread, Mommy, Mommmmmmmy!"

Gotta go she is calling!

Potty Training!

2006-05-17T15:12:00.000-07:00

Ok I am actually a little nervous about being so excited about this and telling people just incase it is alittle too early to start bragging (and it probably is) but...

We started potty training the day after Mother's Day. Grace needs to be potty trained by September in order to start pre-school; so it is time to start. She is doing awesome! We bought her a potty and put it in the living room for now. She does not want help, she does not want to be asked about it and she does want you checking in or reminding her. She just prefers to do her thing and proudly tells you when she is done. She is very independant she has always been that way. She really seems to know what she is doing except when it comes to pulling down the pants and lifting up the skirt - that is something we have to work on. But we have only had two major accidents in 3 days!

I am sure we will have ups and downs but these last 3 days have seemed like a really good start.

Catching Up

2006-05-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

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This is the way that Braden prefers to sleep! I will often go in to check on him and his face is always covered with the blanket.

Grace and Braden LOVE each other. It is so sweet to hear them talk back and forth and make each other giggle and laugh with delight. I even caught them holding hands in the truck the other day...awe!

Mmmmmmmm! Sweet Potatoes! So Messy!

Swinging at the Park! This is Braden's first time in a big swing!

Mother's Day

2006-05-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

God knows what he is doing even when I sometimes wonder. Many people thought we were crazy to go through another pregnancy and yes I thought that too at times(who am I kidding I thought that MANY times!). I am glad God thought otherwise!

I am very blessed to have this perfect family and now I feel our family is COMPLETE! I LOVE my two beautiful children! and I love being their mommy!

The Story of My Life

2006-05-10T20:59:00.000-07:00

I don't even know where to start...hmmmmmm

I spent too much time in the presence of doctors and nurses this weekend. I ended up in Emergency at Penticton Regional Hospital after experiencing shortness of breath and chest pain. These symptoms are primary in diagnosing a Pulmonary Embolism so I thought after a bit of "humming and hawing" that I should get checked out. Needless to say...it landed me on a stretcher in emerg with wires everywhere and on oxygen. Nice! I felt ridiculous. All I wanted was the blood test to check for clotting that the nice doctor at the Walk in Clinic suggested I get at Emergency. Funny enough, I also got the privilege of being a patient of Karen Bond's for my chest x-ray. It was bizarre to be wheeled through the hospital on a stretcher like I had about 7 months ago on bedrest with Braden.

After waiting too long to find out the results of the blood work and x-rays etc., we were told that my blood gases (or oxygen in my blood) was low and my d-dimer (the clotting test) was on the high end of normal -- not confirming but pointing towards another possible pulmonary embolism and I would need the dreaded CT Scan with IV Contrast to confirm it -- which is exactly why I almost chose not to go get checked. The reason I did not want it was because they have to inject a die into your blood during the scan which means that I would not be able to nurse Braden for 24 hours.

I left the hospital after learning to inject myself once again with Heparin, hardly believing this all could be happening again.

Poor Braden....

He was once a good enough bottler to get him out of the SCN at Royal Columbian Hospital but now (as we found out) he REFUSES anything other than his mommy. So for 24 hours he got lots of carrots, sweet potatoes, squash and he was also spoon fed some thickened formula. The hardest time for him was the 7:30pm feed. This is his bedtime feed so he is always desperate by 7:25pm. He is such a good natured baby and he did surprisingly well considering he was probably hungry and bordering on dehydration (towards the end of the 24 hours his urine was orange and he was looking orange after all the orange he was eating!)

It was hilarious to nurse him for the first time after the 24 hours was up. He was sooooo excited he could hardly believe it and he kept pulling back to check it all out!

The CT Scan (thanks Karen for arranging it for Sunday..it made it sooo much easier) was completely clear showing no evidence of a PE or anything else that might cause the symptoms. And actually the CT Scan showed no evidence of the previous DVT and PE that I had while I was pregnant with Braden. I also had a Pulmonary Function Test today which gave me a report of excellent lung health. In fact, some of the tests that were done put me above the average 30 year old woman for lung function...what a shock considering my history and how out of shape I am right now. Great news all around.

Home with the Kids!

2006-04-26T20:55:00.000-07:00

I have not been doing any posts lately mostly because I am very tired and uninspired! Braden has been getting up every hour to two hours at night...ahhhhhh...what is the deal with that. On top of that our cat, Bob, always starts a yowling at about 5 am...NICE! How do you get rid of a cat that your child loves?

Speaking of Grace, she has been sick with something new almost every week or two since before spring break...this week was another ear infection. Which means...lots of crying and not so much sleeping.

I think in the past two weeks my uninterupted sleep has been 4 hours which would be one of the better nights. I try my hardest to co-ordinate naps for the kids so I can sleep, but it is tough, I think I have gotten an extra 1/2 hour on a couple days.

I have been fortunate up until now to have kids that sleep great. I guess it is pay back.

I Survived!

2006-04-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

I survived a day of my #1 child puking by myself! I feel I have accomplished something or faced a fear.

This morning I woke up to a white faced Grace saying "puke". Great! I hate puke more than the average person. Well, we made out fine and I managed to keep my cool as Grace puked in the towel beside me while I was nursing Braden. (Pretty talented hey?) I swear every time I needed to feed Braden there was puke coming out of Grace. Needless to say, I was counting down every hour until Kevin came home, but by then all the action had died down.

Grace seems to have bounced back pretty fast and I am crossing my fingers that no one else gets sick.

Home life - by Kevin

2006-04-12T21:23:00.000-07:00

The last 2 weeks have seen change around here, both for our kids and our house. You know how distant relatives used to say, “Wow, you’re growing up so fast”, well we find ourselves saying the same thing about our kids. Weekly we can reflect and see how much they’ve changed.

Grace is now regularly including “pleases”, ”thank yous”, and “your welcomes” in her sentences, which finally brings her into the 3 word category. Her vocabulary is also really expanding – she knows a lot of words we didn’t know she knew! She’s learning words all over the place and can even count to 6 in Spanish, thanks to Dora. Of course, she has no clue that she’s talking in Spanish but she knows she’s counting. Her vocab expansion is a nice change, though, she’s still happy using the word “this” while pointing to show us what she wants. It’s obviously still easier for her to return to familiar words that have previously worked for her.

Grace is also off bottled milk. It was time for this to happen because she didn’t object to receiving milk in a cup. Since the actual bottle still holds a dear place in her heart, especially at bedtime or when she hurts herself, so we give her bottled water. When she hurts herself she’ll ask for her bottle and run to the couch where she’ll bury her hand under a cushion. She’ll remain here for around 10 minutes until she’s recovered fully (or until she forgot about the accident), then she’ll toss the bottle. She hasn’t asked for bottled milk in 2 weeks!

Braden is also getting quite pudgy. Anyone meeting him might assume his dad was a 300lb football gorilla because of his size. But when you’re on the 97th percentile for weight and soon won’t be able to see past your cheeks when you smile, you can’t be miserable. He’s now 6.5 months chonologically (5 months corrected) and he is sitting up on his own, reaching for objects and sticking them in his mouth. Grace really pays him a lot of attention. When he cries she’ll go get him a toy, his toy. She knows exactly which ones are hers and which are his. If he continues to cry she will quickly notify us that he’s hungry. I’ve concluded that Grace will be babysitting for us as soon as he’s on pablum. She can obviously problem solve quite well.

On a different note, our yard has really taken shape this spring. Of course last year’s focus was renovating the inside of the plex. This year our plan is to landscape the yard. The previous owners really neglected the property and they positioned some of the plants quite poorly. Essentially, we’ve pulled some trees and shrubs and put down topsoil. In fact over the last 2 weeks we’ve dumped 3 yards of topsoil (around 2500lbs) around our yard, and we’ll soon be getting another yard for Shirley’s new garden. More gravel has also been put down in the parking area. Grace (and to a lesser extent, Braden) has really enjoyed playing outside during this time. The weather is pleasant and Grace is getting her shovel and helping move dirt. She enjoys the wheelbarrow rides the most, which really slows down productivity, but she just can’t stop climbing into it.

Braden's wagon is pretty popular for Grace right now... wait till she finds out its his.

She’s also discovered the river behind our place. Last week Grace was playing in the backyard as I was unloading some soil and she points to the river and said, “there, hand”, which means “let’s go over there, right now. Come with me.” Not knowing what she wanted, she grabbed my hand and led me to the noise of the river. Soon, we were at the water’s edge throwing rocks. Now anytime we go outside she asks, “throw rocks”, or “throw big rocks” with a “please” thrown in.

Here's a picture of Grace chasing Bob. He is just ahead of her to her left.

Anyhow, our yard is looking good – probably about 60% done. The last phase of our landscaping plan involves removing the eyesore in our backyard that we call a shed. Perhaps later this spring or summer we’ll replace it. For now we’re just enjoying the outdoors now that the temperature is milder. Gotta go to bed.

Kevin

"No Fit"

2006-04-11T15:43:00.000-07:00

That is what Grace said when she saw her Easter dress. It is a size 2 and of course it will fit. I asked her if she liked her pretty dress and she said "no" and then proceeded to explain to me that it would not fit..."No fit, small" is what she said. I tried it on her and she protested the entire time, I took her to the mirror to see her pretty dress and she cried and said "no fit" and she wanted the dress taken off.

In fact, I recently showed her the dress again and she said "no" and ran in the other direction!

Great! I have a toddler that is not even 2 1/2 yet and she is already particular about what she wears!

Maybe she will want to wear jeans for the rest of her life like her dad!

What fun is that!

What They Are Doing Now

2006-04-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

Braden is saying Da, Da, along with lots of combinations.

Grace sings "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".

Braden is sitting by himself...with a safety cushion.

Grace occasionally puts on her own shoes.

Braden enjoys his bath.

Grace asks for your hand to take you places or to get help.

Braden is a VERY happy, smiley baby...a real charmer.

Grace counts to ten and knows her colors. She also is counting in Spanish. LOL

Braden is starting cereal and usually has about 1 - 2 tbsp two times a day.

Grace knows some of her alphabets and particularily likes the letter "W".

Braden has two teeth.

Mud, Mud and More Mud!

2006-04-02T14:41:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, I was unable to get a picture of THE MUD but I think I can paint a picture of it for you.

We are in the process of some major landscaping right now and there is a lot of dirt and mud. Grace has been outside helping Kevin with some of the work and has enjoyed the dirt immensly. Today, we had water involved to cut some paving stones for a walkway. So as I am peacefully feeding Braden, Kevin comes in baring Grace who's backside is caked, literally caked, with mud and soaked to the bone. He took off her purple rubber boots and as one fell over it spilled a puddle of muddly sludge onto my clean tile floor. Nice!

A while Later...

Grace was playing near one of my trailing plants and accidentally pulled it down spilling dirt EVERYWHERE. As I was picking up my poor plant, Grace knocked the her Blue's Clues chair into the puddle of sludge in the doorway that I had not yet had a chance to wipe up. Now I have a dirty entrance way, the carpet is sprinkled with dirt and a chair that is driping mud. Ahhhhhhh.....it never ends at least not today! I don't think my entrance way will be free of mud and dirt for a while, especially not until after our landscaping is done and the grass has grown in.

I think I am being hopeful when I say...hmmm..."four weeks"?

Rice Cereal!

2006-03-28T13:07:00.000-08:00

Braden is now six months and due to start rice cereal, so we tried it today. He wasn't so sure at first and prefered to spit it out and suck on his bib. I think towards the end I actually got some in that stayed in. He seemed to enjoy it in the end but I am not sure if it was the cereal or the spoon that won his affections.

Helping Daddy "In the Shop"

2006-03-27T22:24:00.000-08:00

We have a fancy new ARB bumper on our Landcruiser. It is something that Kevin has wanted for awhile. We finally found a good deal on one. Kevin spend part of spring break attaching it to the truck and installing our massive winch to it. Grace was there to help. Grace is hilarious, she loves dirt and being outside in any capacity, gardening or working with daddy's tools. Here are some pictures:

I think she helped Kevin by reorganizing his bolts and washers.

Braden watching from the stroller.

Notice there is a little bit of "RED GREEN" happening here. Is that Harold?

Yes, A Tooth!

2006-03-27T21:38:00.000-08:00

As you can see, there is still lots of drool but Braden has cut his first tooth. Last week I happened to take a peak and discovered the pearly white just barely making its appearance. The debut of teeth always makes a baby look so much older. Sigh...my little baby is growing up and I don't want him to...not yet!

And there is more....

Braden is also starting to sit on his own, but he has shown no signs of wanting to roll over at all. I guess he is too content and layed back to move! The chubby little guy is the size of a 1 year old! He is a big baby and such a pleasure. He loves to smile and wiggle and he has an adorable laugh. He is very social and enjoys talking and playing with his voice.

Grace and Braden are starting to enjoy each other and interact more (in both good and bad ways). Today, Grace decided that Braden should have his head adjusted with some water pump pliers, so now he has two red marks on either side of his head. Braden didn't like it too much, poor little man! It is tough when you can't get away! I also caught Grace and Braden turn taking in a baby conversation. Funny, how Grace knows to speak his language! It was VERY cute!

Trip to Apex

2006-03-06T21:45:00.000-08:00

Braden cosy and warm in the stroller! Note pushing a stroller through snow at Apex is not for the faint at heart!

It didn't take Grace long to fall asleep looking at her book on the way home.

Yesterday we ventured up to Apex to check out the snow. We enjoyed two of the local resturants. Yes, two of them! We intended on sharing our sandwich with Grace at the first resturant but, to our dismay, they put a hot and spicy relish on both sandwiches and they only took cash (we had about $1.13 cash left) leaving Grace lunchless. So we embarked on a trip to find a small bowl of soup for Grace and a quiet place to feed Braden. This took us to the hotel resturant. Needless to say Grace enjoyed some Homemade Mac and Cheese for $9 (it was that or Parsnip and Apple soup for $7).

Once we had lunch in our stomachs, diapers changed and ski clothes on, we headed to the slopes to check out the tubing. By now, it was 2:15pm, snowing and had turned quite cold and windy. We decided to check it out anyway. We discovered that the tubing would cost $16/hour for both Grace and Kevin to enjoy sliding on the snow and seeing that we only had 45 minutes left before they closed we decided against trying the tubes. We did enjoy the adventure and will be better prepared for next time. It is not easy carting a 2 year old and a 5 month old around, especially in that much snow unless you are totally organized and have a plan! I think.

TEETHING!!!

2006-03-02T21:48:00.000-08:00

Braden is just over 5 months and teething up a storm. I have forgotten how unpleasant this experience can be. Poor boy, not usually a crier but certainly has his moments now. He sleeps well at night but during the day has at least one or two episodes of crying and needing mommy. Along with the experience comes the drool, his wet face and my wet shoulder, and also a hunger strike! The little guy looses his appetite and has gone 6 hours without feeding. One day he only fed 2 times in 12 hours! Ahhhhhh, I am learning what to expect from him now and I am more relaxed about his refusal. I look forward to him cutting his first two teeth because it is supposed to get easier after that.
I am crossing my fingers!

On the Phone With Grandma

2006-03-02T07:44:00.000-08:00

"Hi", "Good girl", a lot of "yeah", and "Braden" (and "cheese when she saw the camera. This was Grace's conversation with Grandma Bond yesterday. We have gotten several new phones recently (new cordless and cel phone) and she has been delighted with the new cordless phone, so she was very excited to hear that she had a phone call. I watched as she walked around, imitating Kevin and me, with the phone to her ear and chattering; I got a glimpse of the future...I am sure it will not be long before she is sinking into a chair or her bed with the phone for hours.

The Dream of a Two Year Old

2006-03-01T07:46:00.000-08:00

....goes something like this:

NO! NO! Mine, Mine, MINE, MINE!

or at least as far as we could tell.

More Pictures

2006-02-25T21:54:00.000-08:00

Braden at 5 months!

The Photo Shoot!

2006-02-25T20:58:00.000-08:00

Just playing around with some black and whites.

Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!

2006-02-17T12:58:00.000-08:00

I am IT for Grace these days! Everything is Mommy, Mommy, Mommy! It comes out in varying different tones and moods. I went grocery shopping and left the kids with Kevin and all Grace did was ask for me the whole 30 minutes! Today we were at Grace's speach and language class and she clung to me like mad. She would not let me out of her sight. It is interesting that as soon as we are in the yard or at the park she doesn't even look back! It is all or nothing!

Popcorn Anyone?

2006-02-16T16:34:00.000-08:00

Braden loves his thumb! I am glad, it is GREAT to wake up to thumb sucking noises rather than the previous, cries. Not to mention it makes such a sweet picture! Last night I noticed that Braden was sucking on something other than his thumb, it was A PIECE OF POPCORN! Grace had kindly decided that she wanted to share her popcorn with her brother - how sweet! Braden being my second, I did find a bit of humor in this, had it been Grace at that age I would have freaked! How many 4 month old babies get to sample popcorn? Funny!

Corrected at 3 months of Age!

2006-02-15T19:45:00.000-08:00

Comparing my two babies at 3 months corrected. My sweeties! I love them so much.

Their lives have been so different from the start.

Looking back on Grace's weight, she was approx. 11lbs(I don't have an exact weight for this month) and Braden's weight as of the end of January was 15 lbs, 6.5ozs. Grace was just over 21 inches long and Braden is almost 24 inches long. Wow! They have similar personalities, both are easy going and layed back. Braden is a bit more vocal than I remember Grace to be ( but then again it was such a haze back then, who knows!). I struggled to get every drop into Grace and Braden feeds readily on demand.

It is amazing to look back and compare. I have had such different experiences with both of my children that it is like doing it all over agian for the first time.

One bottle fed, One breast fed,

One 3 months early, One 1 1/2 months early,

One girl, One boy.

Grace's Big Bed

2006-02-10T19:25:00.000-08:00

I think that we are finally breaking the attachment to the crib! Grace has been sleeping at night in her big girl bed for almost two weeks now and doing pretty good too. She has not, however, been napping in her bed. This is mostly due to the fact that she has not been sleeping during her naptime ...and I still do not want to give up "my time". This afternoon, feeling energetic, I decided to give her the choice for naptime. She chose her bed. She climbed in and fell right to sleep, not one peep.

Thats my girl! She is growing up fast!

My Little Man!

2006-02-06T12:15:00.000-08:00

Shirley's World: February 2006
Braden was born 5-1/2 weeks early on September 20, 2005. During my pregnancy, he probably took years off my life (and other family members, as well). I had early labour signs at 24 weeks (around the same time as with Grace) and was put on complete bed rest at Royal Columbian Hospital. As a result of inactivity, I developed gestational diabetes, then a blood clot, and finally a pulmonary embolism! To further comlicate things, Braden was breach and I required a c-section for his safe delivery. But this was a complication due to the anti-coagulants I was required to take. I spent one whole summer in bed concentrating on incubating this baby in the best possible place - my tummy. We marked off each day and celebrated the start of a new gestational week with a special dinner. It was all worth it, though! I have an amazing little boy who is a joy to me in so many ways. I am enjoying every minute of his little life, and I thank God for his health!

Wonderful Children?

2006-02-05T21:01:00.000-08:00

Shirley's World
My children were not so wonderful today...or maybe it was my lack of sleep that made it seem soooooo bad. In total last night I got about 4 - 5 hours sleep (broken up of course!) Braden was up several times to snack and then Grace woke up and started rattling the door knob at 6:30. Naptime was production of her noisy happy babbling, knocking the blinds against the window, and making various other annoying banging noises. Sure this is ok for a while...but it went on for, I am sad to say, 2 hours with no sleep for her or me. I would never normally leave her in for so long, but I NEEDED this time today! I am happy to say that getting her out of bed was not so bad in the end. She seemed quite happy to play with Bob (the cat) and chattered to herself as she tried to coax him out of her chair. She must have sensed my weariness and later decided just to sit on my lap and play quietly with her toy. As she sat there I could hardly understand why I needed the break so much..it was all forgotten.

2006-02-01T22:09:00.000-08:00

This is my first blog posting. I am excited to share parts of my life and world with those who are interested. I need to have an interenet project otherwise Kevin hogs the computer with his internet hobby.