3 Boys + a Business

Slowly the Crib Catches On

Hopeful — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 02:53:45 +0000

Yep, 8.5 months old now and finally he is starting to sleep in his crib. Of course now that I said that he’ll start screaming any minute!! He now has 4 teeth and is looking like he’ll start crawling/scooting anytime this month. Yeah for getting bigger!!!

We bought school supplies this weekend for biggest boy – grade one is around the corner! Soon we’ll register biggest and middle boy for indoor soccer for the winter and before you know it summer is over. Didn’t it just start?!

The business stuff is still rolling along – I got my name registered and I *might* be signing my first client on Monday. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!!

8 months old – Never Sleeps!

Hopeful — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:00:32 +0000

Ok, he does sleep, but not well, especially at night. He naps great (in the sling!) but since i have two older boys it’s not like I’m able to just lay down and nap when he does. I know it gets better, but boy does it feel like it takes forever!!!

On other notes, we’re having a pretty nice summer and it sure is flying by. I’m going school supply shopping soon – it feels too soon!! I’ve been so busy getting my virtual assistant practice set up that I haven’t had much time for this blog. But it’s almost all set up now – i think today I’m going to head over and have my trade name registered – I really need to get baby his birth certificate so I can do both things at once!

Ok, time to shut down Mario Kart and those boys! We need to get moving and get outside!!

It’s Getting Hot in Here!

Hopeful — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:52:55 +0000

I love summer!!!!!!!!!!!! We’ve been in a heat wave (by Alberta standards anyway) and I am enjoying it. Lots of park time for the kiddos and lots of bbq cooking. What’s not to love?

Canada Day is Coming!

Hopeful — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 04:35:52 +0000

On Tuesday we will celebrate Canada Day in our family by attending our local celebrations – a pancake breakfast, a kids’ parade and some other fun family stuff in town. We might also go to the legislature grounds in Edmonton and check out the Canada Day celebrations happening there.

Canada Day really is a great time to think about my love for and loyalty to my country. I’ve always been grateful to be Canadian and lately we are really trying to buy things that are made or produced right here in Canada. We love to go to the Farmer’s Market and we now buy all our meat from two local farmers (elk and buffalo). We buy our chicken at the neighbourhood butcher shop and the chicken farm is of course local also. We also are trying to avoid the big chain stores and shop in smaller local shops (ie the great downtown cafe instead of McDonalds!) When it comes to clothing and other stuff we look for Canadian made products whenever we can.

The most important reasons for us in shopping Canadian are to support our economy and to reduce environmental impact (less shipping etc).

So it was exciting when I read about Apples’n'Oranges Ultimate “I Buy Canadian” Blog Party and I’m writing this post as part of the event – What a great way to celebrate a birthday!!!

Check out my VA blog!

Kindergarten Countdown

Hopeful — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 01:23:05 +0000

Well my big boy only has 5 more days of kindergarten left – and two of those are fun days really (a big field trip and the summer concert/pizza lunch). It seems like just the other day I was crying myself sick after leaving him the first time. The year did not start off well, for him or me, but now he’s so much more grown up and I think he’s really ready for grade one next fall. Then one year later and middle boy will start his school journey. It’s crazy!!!

On big boy’s last day of school he also has a soccer game and then the next day we will leave for a little mini-vacation to grandma’s house and the hot springs – yeah!! I’m looking forward to the break from our normal routine, but am also anxious about travelling a few hours in the car with baby boy. The two big boys are pretty good little travellers, but baby hasn’t been tested yet and it could be interesting.

6 months and summer fun!

Hopeful — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 05:05:32 +0000

Baby is over 6 months now – wow it sure is flying (time that is!!!) He can sit all by himself now, of course you can’t leave him at all – he tips often and suddenly! He babbles and coos and gets so excited when milk is offered. He had his first baby food a couple weeks ago and it went poorly – he was just getting the beginning of a cold. This week though he loved trying baby food – maybe someday he’ll nurse a little less!

Other excitement – Big boy is enjoying soccer and both older boys are mostly done another round of swim lessons. We’re getting outside a lot and my square foot garden is sprouting!

Dermoid Cyst

Hopeful — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:38:05 +0000

The u/s results make the dermatologist relatively sure that baby’s lump is in fact a dermoid cyst. They sound kind of icky on the wikipedia entry, but overall most are benign and we can wait a couple of years to have it removed, when baby is old enough for us to be a little more comfortable with general anesthetic (the derm recommended waiting until he’s at least 3). So for now the crisis is over and my worrying can move on to something new.

In other excitement, I’ve planted my very first square foot garden this weekend. I’ve got yellow beans, beets, potatoes, peas, carrots, a tomato plant and a pepper plant, plus some flowers! I’ve also promised the kiddos we’ll plant some pumpkins nearby – hopefully later today. Then DH is planning to finally seed the lawn in the back so we don’t have just dirt in our backyard!

Timberwolves Take Game 1!

Hopeful — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:25:07 +0000

My big boy’s soccer team is called the Timberwolves. He loved that as Grandma Froggy (as she was lovingly nicknamed by her first grandchildren 10 or so years ago) has two miniature pomeranians named Timber and Wolf! It was a fun and interesting first game – several of the boys are more experienced but big boy didn’t care that he was less experienced and had so much fun. Game 2 is tonight (weather permitting – goodness I love Canadian weather!)

Other big news for today is that it is baby’s ultrasound day. I won’t have results until next Friday (May 16) but I still feel anxious about today. I’m taking him alone while daddy stays home with little boy and waits for big boy to get off the bus. Then we’ll all head to soccer. Busy day – I better go shower!

You’re getting very sleepy…

Hopeful — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:31:20 +0000

Well the boys might not be but I sure am. S did not sleep last night much at all and X also had a few wakings (due to the late nap yesterday – I knew I should have only let him sleep 20 minutes). I was worried that the big boy wouldn’t get enough sleep for school today but he seemed alright. Good thing, he has his first soccer game today and it’s going to be a long, long day. I might pick him up at school so he gets a bit of time in between.

Thursday S is having his ultrasound to see if we can get a better idea what exactly this nodule/cyst thing is. I think we might have to pull big boy out of school as Auntie isn’t free to babysit and wait for the bus this week. I could ask another mom to take him home with them, but I’m so hesitant to ask for that, he’ll miss the whole afternoon but is that really so bad one time? Next week’s follow up with the dermatologist is early enough that there is no worry about picking him up later, so he won’t miss then.

Time for a snack for X – hopefully before pretty baby wakes up and is cranky again. I think he has a cold (thus the poor sleep last night) and it is really going to be a long day.

She said Tumour

Hopeful — Fri, 02 May 2008 13:38:58 +0000

She did say usually they are benign, but who wouldn’t be nervous hearing their 5 month old might have some kind of tumour on their face? At least she was helpful and things are moving along. We’re going to take him for a nose ultrasound next week, as the doc felt it might give us enough info to avoid an mri. And that is good of course as the general anesthetic required for the mri is cause for worry in and of itself. Thank goodness we have such a good children’s hospital for this stuff, but still it’s stressful.

After the ultrasound we’ll head back to the pediatric dermatologist (Dr. F) for another discussion about next steps. If needed he could still then be sent for an mri or he may need surgery to remove the lump (she calls it a nodule).
I found a link to what I think she called the tumour (who can be sure when they say long medical words to their intern and then just call it a cyst to you though) – it’s pilomatrixoma http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/uvahealth/peds_ent/plmtrixma.cfm

I actually hope this might be it, as it sounds not so scary as “calcified tumour” – in the meantime I will keep praying my beautiful boy is fine.