One or the other

I love my monkey!

She has been so GREAT but also so NOT the past few days. I seemed to have exchanged my easy to bed baby for one who sleep through the night, but puts up a BIG fight to stay in there. I am currently listening to her crying in bed. It is hard for me not to go and get her. I know at this point she has already thrown her soother out of the crib and is probably sitting/standing up crying. I think at this point she just doesn't know how to lay down and fall asleep. It is like she gets 'stuck' sitting up and doesn't know what to do.

Ah.... I can't do it... I'm going in... I promise I won't pick her up...

Yay for me... I didn't pick her up. She was indeed standing up at the edge of her crib (right by the door), holding her blankie and crying. I kissed her forehead, laid her down and put her soother in. She seems to have quieted down now but is still 'voicing' the injustice of being put to bed.

She has slept through the night 3 times in the last week (the last 2 nights in a row). I have found that I feel MORE tired now than when I was up in the night?!? I don't get it. I wake up feeling so out of it and often confused as I am coming out of a CRAZY dream (and yes I am dreaming again). I'm so tired that I have to nap with Hailey in the morning just to function.

This is seriously interfering with my plan to get to the gym ;)

Despite the increased exhaustion I am grateful to sleep all night without interruption. I also think that the problems with going to bed are in part due to a little cold Hailey has. Hopefully this will pass. I have come to learn though that just when things get the way you like them... they change.

I love my baby and enjoy spending my days experiencing life with her.

- an interesting tidbit I saw in the paper... there were 19 babies born this week in Lloyd!

I want one....

Another one that is :) I miss my little baby.... okay, just the little part. I don't miss much of the rest. You might be wondering then WHY I want another one? I am convinced that God would not give me another child as difficult as Hailey was! Right?!?!?!? Here is to hoping. That is all I have to go on. The next one HAS to be good right?!?!? Whatever comes though I will deal with it and love them to bits. I think just with it being the second time around I will be a lot less anxious and hopefully nursing isn't such a struggle also.

Hailey is pretty easy now (when teething isn't at it's worst). I never wanted large spaces between children (perhaps that will change after another one) and I am not getting any younger. In one year from now I would be the same age as my mother when she had her 6th child. I can't imagine that!!!!! I had really hoped to be done having kids by the time I was 30. This isn't going to happen now unless we only want 2.

So the word is out.... we want another baby (and NO it isn't already on it's way). Ian isn't as eager as I am but he is ready for #2. We will see what happens after the summer. I am being selfish and wanting a summer off from being pregnant... especially the sick beginning stages. So keep your ears open... hopefully around December we will have some news.

(I know that some local people will be zealously watching for any signs of a 'bun in the oven' until it is confirmed :)





looking back at these pictures I am making sure to think of only the positive.... otherwise I might change my mind!

Our Yard

Our yard has been getting a major overhaul this spring! When we had purchased the house it had been sitting empty for a whole year and previously had a young single owner/tenants who didn't touch the yard. Due to the neglect all of the plants were overgrown/dead and OUT OF CONTROL! I wish I had taken before pictures but was not on the ball. This is what we have done so far... with many more plans to come.


This is at the front of the house. My mom (champion plant puller) helped us to dig out our ugly/dead/overgrown plants. We pulled 3 out from around/under these two large bushes. These two large bushes will also be going but probably not till next year as that will be a huge task. These plants are too big and block all of our basement light. We will change it up by pulling out all the rocks, putting in soil and planting small bushes or flowers here next year. We are also going to pull up the half dead bush in the middle of our front lawn, remove the rock and replace it with sod so our entire front yard is just grass.


This corner still has 2 bushes left it in (for now) the closer one you see in the pic will be pulled out. Why don't people look at how large a bush is going to get once full grown before they plant? This space does not allow it to grow properly. The remaining space around these bushes was also full of other terrible looking scraggly bushes. We are also going to replace the logs and take out the rock for more sod. We have such a small yard that we are trying to take advantage of 'play space' for the kiddo/s.


This is the other angle of the same corner. This bush WILL be staying. I am a minimalist but I will not take out everything. Plus this one fits nicely and is in pretty good shape.


What is currently left of our soil that will be placed in the rocky areas we pull out. We had the soil dumped out on the back burm. Hopefully the grass can recuperate :/


Here is the pile of dead bushes we pulled out. Also out on the burm :/ We definitely need to make a run to the dump. We just need a truck to do it!

Yes, this space also had a huge overgrown bush in it that was growing through the deck. A new log will be placed from the rock to the deck post. Rock filled behind and sod put in front. will look so much nicer and be easier to cut the lawn.

Underneath these large poplars we are going to keep the rock because it would be a pain to mow around. Our back gate needs some repairs too! I am pretty sure it should be straight and not angled like that. It doesn't open properly.

This corner was also full of bushes/plants we pulled out. The huge rock is staying, I love it! On the other side of this tree we will be planting raspberry bushes (thank you Preete's for the shoots). Pic below is the other side where the bushes will be going.


And HERE IT IS! The grand finale and beautiful raised garden that Ian put in (with help from my Dad and Bro). I think it is great and am so excited about our garden this year. Hopefully we can still get a good crop, even with the late planting.


Here is the sprinkler system Ian put in the garden as well. There are 3 nozzles which aren't so easy to see in the pic.


In order to get this garden in, 2 small/dead poplars where removed along with rock that ran along the whole fence line.

We planted in our garden beats, lettuce, spinach, peas, beans, carrots, tomatoes and transplanted our chives from last year. I am in the process of making cute garden markers to identify the different plants.

Is this really going to last a WHOLE month?!?

I seem to have lost my husband to FIFA World Cup! If he isn't watching the games, he is taping them to watch later. I don't mind TOO much now that it is re-run season and that I do enjoy my share of soccer... just in moderation.

In order to curb the daily obsession I made Ian a deal. He gets to choose 4 teams. He may only watch games that involve one of those 4 teams and then once they are out, they are out!!!! These are his choices...

Spain, Netherlands, Brazil... and he is still deciding the 4th (I think it is a convenient ploy to watch more games until he 'chooses' his last team.....

WAIT... he picked Germany!

So he is really holding out that one of these teams gets to the final!

Now what consequence should I come up with if I catch any 'extra' game watching ;)

Vinyl creations

I'm back at the design table again. The vinyl business has been as steady/busy as I would like it to be. If I want more work I put more effort into advertising and contacting people and the projects come. Or I can ignore it for a whole month without negative consequences. I have been enjoying creating things for people. So much so that I have lost creativity for myself. There is so much I want to put on my walls.... but the follow through just isn't happening.

Here are some projects I have been working on lately....





And some ideas of what I want to do in my house...

I want to do #8... a large tree on my kitchen wall. It will have future family photo's on it... so like a family tree :)

maybe this world map in my office

something polka dot-ish for Hailey's next room (yes I am already planning her next bedroom!)

The possibilities are exciting!!!!!

Yay, it worked!!!!!!!!

Yes I did it... I left a bottle in bed overnight, for my baby. Yes I know it will rot her teeth... but having her stay in bed, without me having to get up, for a whole night makes those little teeth a worthy sacrifice! Ok, really I'm not going to go crazy about it. I have no intention of sacrificing those little teeth but after 9 months of wandering like a zombie I was willing to take the risk. Of course it wasn't all perfect as the extra fluid resulted in a diaper overflow and the necessity to clean all of her bedding... not something I want to repeat every morning. But IT WORKED. I got to stay in bed from 11:30 pm until 8:00 am.

Sigh :) maybe I can just get a larger size of diaper to hold more ;)

Onto other news...

Could this rain PLEASE STOP?!?!?!? Did I move to Vancouver in the winter without realizing it? We finally got our top soil delivered yesterday to put in our raised garden bed (yes it is still unplanted) but it is supposed to rain for the next 3-4 days still. I think we will just get out in the muck tonight and do it anyways. Here is to hoping that we can still have a harvest.

I think we are now an 'illness free' home (knock on wood)! And we will be going to baby group today. We shall see what Hailey brings home with her this time.

T- 41 days until Steph comes! Yay for our baby union (can't be a re-union as they have never met).

Speaking of reunions... my 10 yr was last week (didn't go). I guess hitting the bars is still 'cool' to my 28 yr old ex-classmates. LAME! When did we get so old :(

Had a busy weekend with company and celebrating my brother's birthday. We finally managed to get our christmas lights down, installed a new light in the laundry room, a new hood fan and have half replaced our dishwasher (meaning the old is out but new one not yet in). Oh and by 'we' I of course mean Ian and the men (dad/bro). So excited about our renovation projects and all our new appliances (new to us and better than what we had/have). The stove/fridge will be coming later once my parents new ones are installed in their house.

Here are a couple pictures of late...