Sick day :(

Today we all had a sick day. It started last night around 12:30 when Sam woke up coughing and crying and very upset. And his cough was a barky cough. Which means croup. We called HealthLink and after they listened to him breathe, they gave us some suggestions to help get his breathing under control. The first suggestion was to take him for a walk so he could breathe the cold air, which is supposed to help croup. I thought steamy bathrooms were the cure but it turns out I was wrong. Well, Sam was adamantly opposed to his snowsuit, although he was happy to have his hat and mitts and bunnyhug on, so we sat in our front entry with the door wide open, which was another suggestion from HealthLink. Yes, it was -25C (-29C with wind chill) and our front door was WIDE OPEN!!!



If you ignore the fact that it was FREEZING, we actually had a good time watching for the intermittent vehicles to come down 99th St. I've never seen it so quiet. Then it was time for a popsicle. Sam LOVED the popsicles and ate 2 halves. He also refused to take his "bunny glubs" and hat off which is why he's still wearing them in this picture. I was just plain COLD which is why I'm still wrapped in a blanket!



Well, around 2am we finally got Sam back to sleep and by the time Dave and I settled down it was past 2:30. So today we took a sick day and worked from home. Sam was in a surprisingly good mood, considering how awful he must be feeling. We allowed him to have his soother most of today and a longer nap (close to three hours) and to just hang out in his pjs. He really enjoyed dancing with Dave this morning. This video isn't the best example, but you've already seen what happens when Sam notices us videoing him! He was very funny, turning in circles until he got dizzy and then falling over and then starting the whole cycle over again. You can see some of it in this video. (And Dave says to excuse his singing!)



Shortly before supper Sam got into some sort of ... game... project... who-knows-what with his letters and the egg cups and the bowls and colander and frying pan. Here is a picture of it.



He played for 45 minutes before supper (including 20 minutes of trying to persuade him to eat), and now, after supper, he has been back at it for about half an hour. We're so glad to have a son with imagination and independent playing skills. As you can see from the video below he has been so into his game he didn't even seem to notice that I was taking a video!



So that's what happens around here on a sick day. Dave also got some work done, we did dishes, I had a nap and got some work done, and we generally tried to recuperate. Sam seems to be feeling better (I think he has a regular cold as opposed to croup now) and hopefully we can get back to our regularly scheduled activities tomorrow.

Lazin' around at home

So yesterday was a complete stay-at-home day. We didn't leave the house once and it was AWESOME! Especially after having been out most of the week because of the construction. And what does Sam wear at home when we're not going out in public? It was quite the combo today. He really likes his "bunny pants" (they go with a bunny onesie he has), and he also wanted to wear his Santa socks. I wanted to try the lizard shirt on, but it was too cold to wear without a onesie underneath. So voila! Sam's stay-at-home outfit. I know, I know, you want one too!



Sam also showed us that he can move the footstool wherever he wants to and he can "climb up" on it and reach the top shelf of our bookshelf. We are thrilled about this -- or not. But Sam is pretty pleased with himself.



Last night after his bath Sam wanted to "watch hockey." Since it is the all-star break there weren't actually any games on so we just watched some hockey highlights which seemed to satisfy Sam. All of a sudden, he was sucking his thumb. Then he was sucking both thumbs. He NEVER sucks his thumb so we had to get pictures. We think it is super cute! (And yes, I'm wearing my stay-at-home outfit too! Nice of you to notice.)



And last, but not least, I want to wish my Grandma Krahn a very happy birthday, yesterday. I phoned her and it was nice to catch up a bit. She turned 87. This is a four-generation picture we took when we were in Saskatoon for Christmas. I think my dad looks a lot like her, especially when he laughs, which he is obviously NOT doing in this picture :) Ha ha!

Sam derails Dave's singing

Sometimes, when Dave is singing Sam to sleep, Sam will sing some of the words. He was doing this on Thursday night and Dave thought it was super cute (it is!) and wanted me to video some of it. Frustratingly, or funnily (depending on who you were), Sam was not cooperative. He kept wanting Dave to sing other songs, as you can hear.

Sam, our little daredevil

Here's some video of Sam's favorite activity these days -- jumping off the coffee table and into someone's arms, or just onto the chair. His daddy and I are less than impressed with this new hobby. There is also a short video of why it's hard to get video of Sam these days, he just wants to "see" all the time!

Friday fun

This morning I thought I would take pictures of Sam eating breakfast and my current breakfast cravings! Sam has been eating bananas and yogurt for breakfast for ages. Although lately he's been a little less excited about it. He has also really gotten into "toast bites." Toast bites are just toast cut into squares and Sam couldn't be more excited about them.

Since getting pregnant with Knut my breakfast cravings change about every month or so. Currently I am LOVING toast with honey, a little container of yogurt and hot chocolate. Yum yum yum. Other breakfast cravings this pregnancy have been Cheerios and milk and decaf black tea with milk and sugar, and a bowl of raisin bran and a moccachino at Mom and Dad's at Christmas.


And this morning I spent some time unpacking Sam's toys after our week of renovations. I can tell he LOVED being at home this morning because he was creating "chaos" as Dave calls it, left, right and centre. Here is just a small sample of the chaos he created in the living room and among the tupperware. I didn't take pictures of his "recycling chaos" or his "truck chaos."

And tonight I wasn't feeling super great so I ate supper in bed. Sam gets the most interesting ideas in his head and he was having a conversation about kicking tonight with Dave. Here is just a small sample of the conversation:

"Kick Daddy?" "No, you don't kick Daddy." "Kick cow?" "A cow wouldn't feel it if you kicked it." "Kick Auntie Marcia?" "You couldn't kick Auntie Marcia two minutes ago, why do you think you can kick her now?" "Kick car?" "If you can catch a car, you can kick it." "Kick people?" "No, you can't kick people." "Kick diaper guy?" (I don't know why the "diaper guy" is such a key figure in Sam's life; I don't know that he's ever seen the guy who delivers our diapers. Another key figure is the "food guy" who delivered Chinese food to us ONCE, about two months ago. These "guys" have made a huge impact on Sam. He wasn't allowed to kick the "diaper guy" either.)

This conversation went on for about five minutes with Sam asking if he could kick various things and Dave having super reasonable answers about why he couldn't kick these things and me, in bed, laughing hysterically!

And that's life at our house these days.

Knut at 20 weeks (and four-ish days!)

So today we had our 20-week ultrasound. This is the one where they give the baby a good looking over and make sure it is physically looking alright. Knut passed with flying colours. (Okay, I added that part.) The ultrasound tech was VERY thorough and it was about half an hour before she called Dave in to see our baby. Fortunately she let me pee after about ten minutes. Trust me, having more than a litre of water in your system while you are pregnant is NO FUN.

When she showed us Knut, we saw his/her head, face, arms, heart beating (which was super cool!), spine, hands and legs. And now, without further ado, here is our little Knut as of today!


I love how he/she is waving at us in the above picture. That's the blob on the upper left side of the picture. And I love how clearly you can see his/her spine along the bottom of the picture. And I love this next picture of his/her (so adorable! so cute!) feet. Check out all his/her toes :)

We can't wait to meet you extra-wombally little Knut. Keep growing!

The house is FINISHED!!! (For now...)

So today has been a GREAT day. For a number of reasons, actually. I had an excellent morning at MOPS (Mothers with Preschoolers) and felt very connected to people. We also had awesome waffles, and I'm not normally a waffle person. Plus, for the first time since September, Sam didn't cry when I left him in the nursery. In the car on the way home he kept talking about "so much fun" at MOPS and "so good morning" so I think he had a good time too!

We dropped Sam off at Auntie Marcia's house because we had our 20 week ultrasound with Knut today. (More on that in a separate blog post!) And when we got home we found our house was almost finished. I must admit, I had my doubts that they would finish it in a day, but in reality it took them less than a day! And they even put our kitchen back together and re-hung our coat rack.

Here is our finished kitchen wall, with the fridge back in place (as opposed to in the middle of the kitchen.) Our landlord has said that Sam can "decorate" the wall to his heart's content since it will get rebuilt in the spring. (For some reason, this is only a temporary solution with a more permanant solution to come later.)


The front entry now has an "extended" door frame. Our landlord was worried we would find it "too ugly"to live with for a few months but we are so happy to have insulation, and our house back, that we don't care. As long as it doesn't intrude on our space, and we are warm, we could care less about the looks. Especially for a few months.


The contractors put up these two by fours, so that the insulation won't fall from the ceiling. Again this is a temporary solution until the spring. Again, we could care less about how it looks. We can live with it for a few months.


And Tyvek re-enters our life once again. My parents had this on the outside of their house for almost two years and Dave and I completely got used to it. It feels like an old friend to see it again :) Again, the house will be re-sided once the more permanant solution is in place.


So we are completely thrilled to have our house back and Dave has been bringing everything up from downstairs for most of the evening. I will spend tomorrow morning organizing (as much as I can do with Sam around!) and we will spend the weekend relaxing in the luxury of our own home. I don't even feel like I want to go ANYWHERE all weekend. And the best part is, we don't have to!!!

Unnecessary

So today we planned to be out of the house all day and it was completely unnecessary since the contractors didn't come. sigh.

Dave took Sam to the community playgroup and got to meet Stella's baby sister, Mia. I can't wait to meet her either but it will have to be this weekend, maybe.

I drove Dave to the training session he was hosting at NAIT and then Sam and I hung out at Kingsway Mall. It was a pretty neat place to kill a couple of hours. Sam, sadly, peed through and absolutely soaked his pants and his stroller. He also downed an Orange Julius smoothie and completely loved it when a plane flew overhead to land at the City Centre Airport just across the road.

After we got home from Kingsway Mall, and I almost got stuck trying to park at home, I threw in a load of laundry and then took Sam to Tash's place. He watched Baby Einstein's Shapes DVD and broke one of Tash's decorations. sigh. Again.

Tonight he's been entertained (and confined) by a super long bath and then he's off to bed. And on that note, so am I. Good night.

Construction zone and keeping occupied

Here is our day in pictures, somewhat!

The outside of the house when we left this morning.

The wall in our kitchen has been boarded up. As we're sitting at our kitchen table we can clearly hear traffic noises so I don't think it's weather or soundproof!

The front entryway now has its own supporting wall. And given that I think the pink insulation is the only thing between us and the outside world, I don't know why we bothered locking our door tonight :)

The outside of our house this afternoon. I think we're stripped down to the drywall on the outside which would explain why it's so noisy inside.

Option #2 for keeping Sam entertained: West Edmonton Mall. Sitting in the tractor was fun for him so we didn't bother to pay for a ride.

Sam LOVES Chicken Nuggets, fries and watching hockey at "Donald's." We've been eating out this week to avoid cooking in our kitchen.

After "Donald's" it was off to Galaxyland. Sadly they were only open for another fifteen minutes. Sam was not as thrilled about the merry-go-round as we were hoping. And we missed riding on the train. Fortunately Sam is still free until he's two so we'll have to go back sometime.

House renos and Cafe O Play

So the renovations have begun on our house. I was only home for a few minutes this afternoon but it allowed me to take the picture below. The one without the temporary wall was taken this morning.



Since we weren't sure what to expect, we decided to take off to Cafe O Play tonight. Cafe O Play is a new discovery for us. You pay admission per child, you can buy food and drink (like a regular cafe) and there is a HUGE play area in the middle. When I was here on Friday with some of my New Mom's friends, it was CRAZY busy but tonight it has been nice and quiet. Yes, they also have free wireless, making Dave quite happy, and I am posting this from there :)

Here is a picture of Sam enjoying the train table and eating some yogurt. The only problem is he doesn't eat much while we are here because he enjoys playing too much :) As you can see, he's ready to take off and play again!



It's nice to have a Sam-friendly place to be while the renos are happening at our house. We may become regulars here for awhile. And I think all the playing, and all the other kids, tires Sam out. Ha!

Sam on Sunday

Here are some pictures of Sam on Sunday. I read a couple of Mommy-blogs and one of them suggested the website: www.productiveparenting.com I LOVE THE IDEAS!!! The water play that Sam is doing below was a suggestion of theirs and helped solve the "help dishes" problem. (Sam wants to "help dishes" every time Dave or I run water in the kitchen sink and he needs to be on a chair and he's all over the place and it's just really difficult so I gave him his own dishes "to do" and he played for an hour. Yay!)

20 weeks!!!

This is me and Knut at 20 weeks. Today marks the midway point through our pregnancy and I'm getting excited to meet Knut "extra-wombally" as his/her daddy refers to it.

One thing that I forgot to mention, is that in the midst of house craziness, my parents came to visit for a day, on their way to BC/Mexico. They hung out with Sam on Wednesday while I went to the dentist, got my hair cut, worked and while Dave just worked. That evening we went to The Cheesecake Cafe for supper. (I had forgotten my debit card there on Sunday so we needed to go back at some point soon anyways!). It was delicious. And then we went to West Ed Mall.

Well, I wanted to go to Motherhood Maternity "just to see" what they had, and what they had was a sale! An awesome sale! So my mom and I got excited and I spent almost two hours trying on clothes and came away with my entire Spring/Summer wardrobe! Which my parents generously bought for me. Thanks guys!

Since I was only pregnant with Sam until the end of March (except for a week in Jamaica) I had very few summer clothes -- a couple of t-shirts, one pair of capris, one pair of shorts, one skirt and one dress. Now I have a whole bunch of options. I also got another pair of maternity jeans and a wonderful pair of dressier pants. The sweater I am wearing below was another great purchase. It is sooooo comfy! And really shows off Knut, I think :)

So here's Knut at 20 weeks. Just another 20, or so, to go!

House update

"What's going on with the house?" "Why is it cracking so badly this year?" The answers to that varied over this past week. It's the weight of the snow on the roof. It's the ground freezing and heaving. It's because the house wasn't properly built to begin with.

The solutions changed day by day. The front stairs need to be detached from the house. The snow needs to be shoveled off the roof. We need to heat the downstairs intensely so that the ground will warm up. We need to brace the outside wall.

And now we have a final answer. We need to rebuild the wall, both inside and out, as soon as possible (like YESTERDAY), and rebuild the roof in the spring. So that's what is currently happening. The contractor who looked at it on Friday started today, is pushing off his current job, and working on our place this week.

And although it is stressful, Dave and I are pleased that this is happening because the cracking (and insulation mess) are just getting worse.

The front entry crack today. And once we moved all our coats and bags (to make room for renovations), we discovered it was cracking all the way down the wall.



The living room ceiling. I think all the insulation that can fall out has, because the insulation mess is a lot less scary today!



The kitchen. You can really see the wall bending but I couldn't get a picture of it because I can't figure out how to MAKE my flash go off. sigh.



The contractor has been removing stucco from the outside in preparation for renovating this week. It's loud Loud LOUD and I'm surprised Sam is napping through it. I'm also glad that they didn't start working on this until about 10:30 this morning. I was really looking forward to sleeping in, and Sam needed a sleep-in day too. We both got it!



So today we have been moving stuff from our living room into our basement in preparation for the wall being rebuilt this week. Thankfully I have wonderful Mom-friends who are home during the day and willing to take Sam so that he can sleep. I don't think much sleeping will be happening here. And Sam and I have morning activities most of the week, which will take us out of the house in the mornings. Yay!

And at the end of this week we should have a sturdier wall and no falling-apart or cracking house. Don't worry, I'll try to keep you posted with updated pictures as the week goes on!

Some Sam pictures in the midst of house chaos

Here is a more lighthearted post of some funny Sam pictures we've taken throughout January. This should provide some lighthearted entertainment in the midst our house craziness!

Sam sitting on a birthing stool at our midwife's.
He thought it was a potty!

Sam with Natasha's cousin, Pam, and her
fiance, Nadav, who were visiting from Israel.



Sam drinking another smoothie at Cafe O Play, an amazing
cafe where they have a huge indoor playground
for kids and amazing food for adults. It was a lot of fun!



Sam and Mommy watching hockey (streaming from
the internet). Sam was in a relaxed mood, eating apples
and goldfish, after his bath.

Our house is continuing to crack

Well if you can't cry about it, you gotta laugh. And document in pictures. Here are the changes since Tuesday. They're pretty dramatic. sigh. Or should I say, "Ha ha ha!!!"?



Teresa, our cleaner, cleaned on Thursday morning, and then Dave told me he also vacuumed again on Thursday around 5:30. So this is only about twelve-sixteen hours worth of mess. It's getting worse.



And the kitchen. The one picture is looking up into the crack near our ceiling. If I can step back and not think about the fact this is happening in my house, I must admit it's interesting to be getting a closer look at how the house was built. Like I said, you have to laugh, or you're gonna cry!





And this is the insulation that is falling into our kitchen window sill. We've definitely got a mess on our hands and the vacuums are getting a workout -- both our regular one and the super, hand held one Dave got for his birthday. The timing of that gift couldn't have been better!