New Halifax Group site

There is a new website that is offering discounts at Halifax area restaurants.  Most deals are at least 50% off.  It's easy to join, and they just email you deals.  You only take any that look good to you.  AND if you sing up now, you will get $5 towards your first purchase!

http://tinyurl.com/2dlq3fn

Charlie's 6 month check-up

I cannot believe that she is now six months old!  Time really is going by so fast.  I took her in this morning for her 6 month check-up.  I have been concerned about her acid reflux, as it has not been getting better.  I am looking for a different treatment plan since we took her off all meds as they weren't doing anything for her.  They are going to try her on Prevacid, and she is being referred to a specialist.  The doctor was concerned with her weight.  She dropped about a half pound in the last two months.  It doesn't sound like much, but at her age, weight should only be going up.  I am not as concerned about the weight loss, as she is doing extraordinarily developmentally.  She was rolling over before 4 months, crawling at 5, etc.  Her height growth slowed, but she is already as tall as a normal 1 year old girl, and is wearing 12-18 month clothes.  To be honest, I think her thinning out is making her look more like her daddy.

Hanging out with daddy

As for her needles.  She barely cried, then shot the Doctor a dirty look, and promptly fell asleep on the way home. No drama at all...

Christmas Cookies

We had some fun making some Christmas cookies.  There was lots of good old fashioned messy fun!  We made sugar cookies, frosted them, and Quinn decorated them. 

making the dough

Then daddy had some fun with Quinn...

Going for a walk

Look, no hands ma

Sweet, sweet victory

It's really nice to have a boy that loves to cook.  He is even getting very adept at adding ingredients, and mixing.  He is always reminding me to add baking soda to every recipe, even if none is required!

Fun times

Today is a bit of random reports.

Quinn has been hanging out in the kitchen a lot lately with me, "helping" and stuff.  He loves sitting up height on the bar stools chatting with me.  Sometimes he brings some toys to play with, when I was looking for a pot this morning, this is what I found.

Simba and Chick Hicks, hanging out

Grasshopper soup anyone?

Apparently he found homes for his critters...

Tired daddy? LOL  Ignore the puke all over both of them...

My crew

A rare pic of me, with my little man

A funny story about those grey pants HC is wearing.  They are some ratty, old, ELASTIC-BAND-BOTTOM sweat pants.  I hate them, no, I LOATHE them.  I havebeen in a bit of a hubby-clothes-cutting-up phase lately, so later that night, I grabbed some scissors, and sliced the elastic band off those pants (while he was wearing them). I laughed so hard, because they actually looked like decent scruff around the house pants after that.  I also cut up his favorite jeans last week.  He was not happy about the jeans, but in my defense, he was wearing them in public constantly, and they were covered in many mystery stains.  I could pick out the blood, and grease stains, but there were many others.  I also had previously purchased new jeans for him, but he thinks they are too weird for him since they aren't Wrangler... LOL.  Here is a clip pf our convo.

HC: "But these show my butt"
Me: "Yes, jeans should do that"
HC: "But they are kinds stretchy all over"
Me: "Yes, it an addition to jean material that helps it conform to your shape, and will be more comfortable"

HC: "But these must be girl's jeans then"
Me: "No, they are for men"
HC: "But, my butt!"
Me: "Yes, you have a butt, people will see hat you have a butt, deal with it"

As funny as it sounds, this is really the convo, and HC hasn't worn his new jeans yet, but he will...

Stop this ride, I want off!

This is how my last few days have been like.

I have a house filled with sickies.  HC came home from work so very sick yesterday, and Charlie has been fighting a bad stuffed nose.  She sounds like Darth Vader with the heavy breathing.  Quinn is pretty much all better from his cold, but he is probably the most vocal about any ounce of discomfort. 
On top of all that, Quinn has been bouncing off the ceiling all week.  He is getting so excited for Christmas, and I am getting exhausted keeping up with him.  I have been putting him on a stool for five minutes of "quiet reflection time", basically, a fancy time out!  I think everyone he sees is secretly giving him candy, he sometimes randomly pulls a pice of candy cane out of his pocket, and we have NO candy canes here at all...
Hopefully this will pass quickly.

A thing about Quinn

Aunt Jess made a super cute slideshow that sums up Quinn.

http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d6a41354e4445784f5442384e4441794d5459344d6a413d0d0a&sb=1

It sure makes me laugh!

Santa baby

This is the first year that Quinn has managed to actually sit with Santa for a picture.  Last year, there was screaming, clinging, and running, at the mere thought of meeting Santa.  Since we don't really talk about Santa much in our house, he didn't even understand the concept until he went to preschool this year.  Now, he thinks Santa is an old man that gives out presents.   I was hoping to hear what Quinn would like for Christmas this year.  Whenever I asked him, he would say silly answers that aren't gifts, like a little brother, or Mickey Mouse to live here... or as daddy kept getting him to say "a puppy!"  And we all know that is NOT happening. 
Quinn still was ok with meeting him, but when he saw that Santa is an old fat man in a red suit, his excitement cooled.  He only went to sit with him after Charlie was there... As for Charlie, there was no drama, and she loved grabbing his silky beard.  No problem at all.  Here is a pic.

Is it just me, or does Santa look creepy?

Gotta love the d'oh look on Charlie's face.

HC's days off

It is taking some getting used to HC's schedule since he rotates day and evening shifts, and works on an 8 day schedule.  It makes it hard to establish a daily/weekly routine.  I pretty much have to run things, and half the time he will be here, and half the time he wont.  It hasn't been so bad this year since I am on leave, but I will have to adjust my life, and more importantly, my attitude next year when I go back to work.
So for this 4 days off, HC has been trying to spend a lot of time with Quinn.  There have been mixed results, as you can see...

That's HC's Wii gun

Bad daddy!

So after playing in the basement for a bit, this is what I am greeted with.  Really nice daddy!  Apparently, they found some of daddy's old army stuff.

Quinn's Every day

I posted a while ago about an advent calendar that aunt Melanie had sent up for Quinn.  He of course loves opening a little present every day, and calls it his "every day".  Each morning, he runs up to me and asks if he can open his "everyday" present, it's so cute.

Posing by the advent calendar

Checking out the goodies

We have been working on his numbers since he tends to count to 20 like this:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11,12,13,19,20
So, I have been getting him to count from one every day up to that days number.  Good fun!

Christmas Concert

Tuesday night was the kids' Christmas concert, it was very cute to see them up on the stage.

Walking up to the stage

Baby C with P Russ

What's with my kids and fingers in their mouths?

Chilling

 

It is fun, and sad too because HC couldn't make it to the concert.  He had tried to get off an hour early to come see them, but it was too busy, and they couldn't let him go.  It sucks, but something that goes with the job. 

Crawling already?! Oh My!

For the past few days, I have been putting Charlie down on the mat and finding her in a much different place a few seconds later.  So, today after finding her under Quinn's train table, I decided to film her shenanigans.  Here is the result.

She is still a little awkward, but can move pretty quickly already.  She loves books, and will go across the room to find one.

Charlotte's Dedication

This morning we got to dedicate Charlotte. It was so fun, and she loved being up on the stage.
Here are some pics of the big day.

The family

Quinn talking to Pastor Russ

Charlie checking out the audience

She's already trying to take the mic

She was captivated by all the people looking at her, not shy at all

She looked and smiled at Pastor Russ the whole time he spoke

 

It is so weird now to say that everything is the "last time".  Sp this is the last time I will have a baby dedicated, WOW! Time is running by so quickly, I have to make the best of every day I am given.

Chili with a Kick

I got a great gift from my sis Mel for Charlotte's birth.  She baked up a whole freezer full of yummy meals, since I probably wouldn't get around to proper meals for a while.  She was right as there is no way we would have had more than cereal or toast for while!  So, when I say a freezer full, I am not exaggerating as it filled my freezer, and there was some extras stored in mom and dad's freezer.  Well, mine have been long gone, but mom was cleaning out her freezer and found two meals that were hiding, so she rushed them right over for us to enjoy right away.  HC saw one was Chili with a kick, and he was in the mood for something super spicy.  He cooked up that pot of chili, and excitedly tasted it as soon as it warmed up.
This is the look I got right after that

Spicy chili?

So, he said there was no kick, and not even a nudge in the chili!  I laughed and reminded him that Melanie finds onions too spicy.  We then decided to really kick up the chili and added some cumin, chili power, garlic, and about half a bottle of "stinky Pete's" hot sauce.  Now, that was some chili with a kick!

no-kick chili

So, the moral of this story is, bring your own hot sauce to eat with Melanie...

The funny thing is that HC and I love anything spicy, and so far our Quinn's tastebuds bear a strong resemblance to his aunt Melanie's.  He hates all things spicy, and finds onions way too "HOT!"  The jury is still out on Charlotte, as she has no teeth, and has only had mush so far!

Charlie and the icky cold bugs.. AND Her first word!!!!!

So, Charlotte has had a cold this week, and just hasn't been herself.  She has settled into a routine so well, that this week has really thrown ME!  She has been tired, and cranky, and it is reminding me of how things used to be every day last time...   It has made me realize what a cool, happy baby she normally is!
So here are some pics of my happy gal

EDITED to remove pics




And here is a video of her saying her first word!  Can you pick it out?  The video is a lot of baby babble, but she does say something (and has been saying this word for a week)  Any guesses??

PJ Sunday

Well, Quinn had a super fun Sunday this week!  They were having a special treat for Sunday School, and the kids were allowed to wear their PJs yesterday.  Quinn was very excited because that is just so much fun!  On Saturday night, I went to get his clothes laid out as HC wouldn't be home for church, and he asked if he could choose the bulldog jammies.  I didn't even think he knew the difference between one set of jammies and another.  Then he said he chose those ones because "daddy and Quinny need a dog". Ummm, NO!  The jammies are as close as they are getting to a dog right now.
It was also special because he got to take baby Kita out of the house.  Kita is his lovey, she is a cute little mini-me version of his (now dead) dog Kita.  She is never allowed out of his room, so this was a very special event for the both of them. 

Cutie

Baby Kita

Here are some random pics from yesterday as well.

Playing real nice like

Ummm Yeah

Charlie just stared

So, aunt Melly is going to freak out, because this is what I walked into.  Quinn sitting in the baby swing, and Charlotte laughing at him.  I ran and got him out since this thing was not meant for a three year old, but Charlie just kept laughing at him, even as he sat in time out...  Sorry Mel, it won't happen again.  The reason why Mel will freak out is because the swing is hers, we had the exact same one for Quinn, but it met its demise due to the rodents we had living in our shed called squirrels.  They had literally destroyed the entire swing that Shawn had nicely dismantled and stored in a tote.  They chewed through the tote, and made a nice home for their filthy babies in the fabric of the swing.  Even the motor was useless since is was obviously the bathroom of their "rodent mansion" And that is just another day around the MAC house...

Baby Bling.

I had been thinking of doing something with Charlie for a while.  It is just another example of how things are so different with girls and boys. After Shawn and I discussed it, I did some research to make sure that it was safe, and weighed the decision as it will have an impact on her life for many years to come. So what was the big deal?  We got her little ears pierced!
We decided to do it now because we both would be fine with our girl to have her ears pierced when she wanted it done.  Since she would probably ask at a young age, knowing we felt this way, it would be a lot harder to keep them clean as she would be tugging and pulling the earrings out.  Cleaning would probably also be a battle.  For a baby, it seems much simpler.  No pulling on them, easy cleaning etc.  I always figured that if she was the rare girl that didn't like them, she could take them out anyways.
So even with the research, we had no idea how she would react to the piercing.  If it would hurt her a lot, I think I would just cry with her.  I can safely say that in my family, the drama queen role will not be filled by the newcomer, she was no Quinn, and it went very well.  She was fantastic! She cried for a second, and then smiled at the lady that pierced her.  No problem at all!  She is such a trooper.

Jumping

Notice the bling in her ears?

Mail Call

Quinn had some mail today, he got very excited since he doesn't usually get any mail.  Well, sometimes I let him open the bills, but tell him he will have to pay for it out of his bank.
  Nice, huh?
I don't have any pics of him opening the package because my camera is not that fast!

Way cool Advent calendar!

 It seems aunt Melanie was a busy gal, and made this super cool advent calendar for Quinn!  It will be so fun to open up the packages every day.  They will be displayed better tomorrow, but I had to get them up high out of curious little finger reach. 
It is so nice to have a crafty sis (even though she says she's not), I have no crafty bones in my body at all, and never have. Quinn just threw his hands up in a dramatic way and said "Aunt Melanie!", probably because he knows there is no way I would be making anything like that.
And a woot to Canada Post for delivering it in one day!

I'm back, and Sooky update!

So, I had some much-needed vacation, and I am back now, a bit refreshed, and feeling behind on many household projects!

I wanted to give an update on Quinn and his sooky.  It has been gone for over a month now, and it is still alive and well!  I followed the snip a bit off each day, and within 4 days he had nothing but the sooky handle left.  There was not as much drama as I expected, and he was done for good with actually sucking on it.  I followed the regimen, and do you know what happened to the 99% success rate within a few weeks?  Well, my boy is the 1%... LOL He still "needs" his sooky to go to bed at night, and nap time.  He was waking us up every night at least once to find it for him, even though it was functionless.  He really just has a love/hate relationship with it, as on vacation, it was found in no less than three different toilets, and under two beds.  BUT come bedtime, he would stay up until dawn without his precious sooky.  I am still sticking to letting him decide when he wants the sooky to go, but, for now, it is firmly attached in between two knots on a hand towel so that it will stay in his bed.

Costumes, and fun, and enough candy to make Quinn bounce off the wall

I took the kidlets to a fantastic party last night at Rock.  It was really a lot of fun.  Quinn was excited to wear his costume.  It was a loaner from his nana Rose, as it was Evelyn's when she was his age. He made a super cute, I mean terrifying, dragon.
As for Charlotte, i had no intentions of going out and buying something for big bucks that she would wear for an hour or so... BUT, I was looking at a cute peacock costume at Old Navy, and this employee came over and said he could mark it down to $6 for me, so I caved and got her a costume.  She was adorable, of course I am a little prejudiced.  Judge for yourself!

Baby peacock

Ignore the feet in the pic...

He's saying "aunt Melanie", it always makes him look at the camera instead of running around.

 Sorry the pics are awful, I had about 2 minutes to take 30 pics because kids were staring to come to our door, and I had nothing to hand out!  I was looking for juice boxes and granola bars just in case...

Little Critters and Sookies!

I have been tasked with finding Little Critter books.  You know, the ones from OUR childhoods long, long ago.  With the cute little critter...

Well, my dear, sweet, can't-sit-still, little Quinny had developed a love for these books.  I got him one at a garage sale for ten cents, and he started reading it with me recently.  He will actually sit still and listen to me read it, then he will re-read it to me!  And when that is done, he flips the book over to the back, and picks out all the OTHER books in the series he wants to read!  I have looked in my usual places (Kijiji, Ebay), and the prices are OUTRAGEOUS.  I'm talking people wanting $10+ for a used old copy.  Ouch. So if anyone knows where I can find some of the books for relatively low cost, let me know!

I haven't written a post about Quinn's sooky going bye-bye because it still lives on.  I decided with Quinn's personality, I had to pick a method that would allow him to give it up when he wants.  I tend to avoid any method that will result in weeks of unbelievable drama-filled shrieks that would be suitable for a horror movie...  I went with the cut a bit off each day method.  That was about 9 days ago, and he has nothing to grasp his teeth on, so he gets no pleasure out of the thing, but he is still keeping it.  It has been easier than I thought though, and I can see the attachment getting weaker.  For example, before I cut it, he would steal Charlie's sookies if he could find them, but now he sees them lying around, and doesn't suck on them.  I will post again when he throws it out. He will be going to his first movie in the theatre when he throws it out,because that is what I got when I stopped sucking my thumb!

GROUPON

I am posting today about groupon.  If you haven't heard of it, this site is a deals site for the city you live in.  Groupon is a combination of the words group and coupon.  It basically works like this.  If you register with them, they will email you deals for Halifax. If enough people choose to get the deal, everyone will get a coupon.  If not enough people sign up for the deal of the day, then you are not charged.  Just make sure to read any fine print, expiry dates, exclusions, etc. 

Today, I signed up for the Discovery Centre.  I got 2 tickets for $8.  This is worth $17, and I have been planning to go for a while, so it is good for me!


http://www.groupon.com/r/uu7570031

Check it out!

Waaahhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Action shot since she will not stay put!

So, HC had to go back to work today. BOO!   He has been off for the past 12 days, and it was an interesting vacation. On his first day off, he got some surgery done that typically has a quick recovery time.  We assumed he would be  average or better since he has a high threshold for pain, and is in very good shape.  Well, that so didn't happen.  Poor HC was bedridden for half of his vacation, and very sore for the rest. At 5 this morning, he was begging me to call in sick for him, dreading walking downtown for 12 hours.

So, we hung around the house a lot, just hanging out.  It was quite nice, even for us go, go, go type A people. We talked, played, watched movies, but did not get a lot checked off the to-do list.

The slow pace probably helped us since Charlie is well into her 4 month sleep regression.  This thing has been lasting for almost three weeks already!  I think the end is near, as she is not trying to party all night.  Poor thing just got her needles on Monday, and yesterday evening, she had a really hard time to get to sleep.  It did make me value how good of a sleeper she usually is.  It is also bringing back memories of trying to get Quinn to sleep.  He only had one cry, it was loud and long!  Charlotte has distinct cries for hunger, reflux pain, or being overtired.  It makes it easy to diagnose what to do.  Last night from 8-10, she cried "owww!".  The funny thing was that Quinn was having a hard time settling down in his room, but as soon as she started up, I never heard a peep from him until this morning.  He hates to hear her cry.

The good news from the check-up was that she gained back all the weight she lost while struggling with her meals.  She is now 16 lbs, and has gone from the 20th percentile to the 70th percentile.  WOW! She still struggles with her meals, but in the end she eats a lot!  Her height is also good news, she is 28", and off the top of the chart.  It is not hard to believe, since she is wearing 9 and 12 month clothing!

Weekend Away

HC and the gang, hanging out

We were away for the weekend visiting Nana Rose and Papa Gerry in Amherst.  It was a nice visit but too short.  The reason for the trip is unimportant, I will just say it had to do with guns and hunting and blahblahblah...

Quinn always likes to go there and stay in a big bed.  This bed also happens to be next to a window that faces the train station.  In other words, every time he hears a train whistle, he sits by that window and watches the train go by.  He stays as quiet as can be, and tells me about it the next morning.  It is times like this that make me smile.  I can get so caught up the everyday rush, and I need to chill out.  My Quinn is making lifelong memories of having fun at his grandparent's house, I hope he can keep these memories forever.

Now Charlie, she just will not sleep at her Nana and papa's house.  We have tried a few times, and she just screams for most of the night.  She stays in a pack 'n play in Shawn and my room, but she wakes up constantly screaming bloody murder.  It is so disheartening since she is a fantastic sleeper, and I am rethinking future visits and how long they should be, since we are wrecked by the time we leave!

Blast from the past.

Just going through some old pictures, and came across this one of Quinn "driving" the Disney bus.  The pose, and the excitement totally remind me of Jon when he was about the same age.  He was allowed to "drive" a postal vehicle, and it made his year.  So dad and Jon, do you remember this?

Free Stuff!!

I will try to update the blog when I find out about good deals.  One way to get a few free good samples is to go to Procter and Gamble, and sign up for brandsampler.  You just give your information, and answer a few questions, and they will send you samples.  They have done a few in just the last few months, and I haven't had to buy a razor for a LONG time!

https://www.pgbrandsampler.ca/en_CA/home.php

Let me know what freebies you get!

First Trip to the Dentist!

Well, my little boy is quickly growing up!  He had his first visit to the dentist yesterday.  He was quite excited to go since he could brag about how much he loves brushing his teeth (it's true).

Brave boy!

Not to sure about this...

Just get it over with!

 Well, it ended up being fairly normal for Quinn.  He sat pretty good while I was getting my cleaning done.  He had his head almost in my mouth to see what was going on.  The poor hygienist, had her hands full as he talked non-stop to her asking many questions.
By the time he was to get his check-up, he was so over the whole dentist thing!  I got him in the chair long enough for some pics, and then he refused to open his mouth for the dentist!  I managed to get him to open up by sitting him on my lap and getting him to say awwwww!  The dentist was amazing and she was able to see all his teeth.
Unfortunately for Quinn, the visit is going to be much more traumatic.  The dentist notices a slight overbite.  It has no real ramifications for his teeth IF he had different genes... BUT both of his parents had braces, and this means his sooky has to GO!!!!  Oh my, this could be a most interesting development. You see, my dear Quinn has had a first love since he was 2 days old, and it is his sooky.  He has not been able to give up his sooky at all, we managed to get him to use it only for sleeping when he was about 2, but that has been as far as we have gotten.  I have researched many many methods of getting rid of the sooky, and none of the methods seem like they will work for him.  For example:
*offer a nice new toy and say the sooky has gone with the sooky fairy.  He has already told us that he would trade mommy and daddy to keep his sooky.
* Have him give it to us to give to deserving babies, HA yeah right.  He has crawled over us to get to Charlotte's sooky!
*Snip off the end, and he will choose to give it away since it doesn't satisfy him anymore.  When one got a hole in it a while ago, he was heartbroken, and carried it to his daddy.  He sobbed that daddy can fix anything, so he needed to fix the sooky!

Poor baby at the hospital for an ear infection (old pic)

So, there will be drama, there will be yelling and screaming, and it will be happening very soon.  Pray for us, we will need it.