Two years ago I wrote about Casey’s first emergency room trip.
First of all, would you just look at how little he was? And how funky he was? I loved that black beanie. And those sweatpants. Aww.
Moving along… Casey has now experienced his second ER trip. He cut his head badly at daycare on Monday and it was bleeding a lot so we weren’t sure if it needed stitches. This time Kent brought him because I was finishing up at work. Two year olds don’t get the special treatment that three month olds get, because they had to wait five hours. Casey is just fine – he didn’t need stitches but they did glue his cut together (I didn’t even know that was a thing.)
Kent on the other hand, is traumatized – apparently five hours in a waiting room with a two year old that doesn’t stop talking and can be very stubborn (who was feeling fine and FULL of energy the whole time) is cruel and unusual torture. Especially if it takes place as the Leafs lose their spot in the playoffs. Not a good night. Kent now keeps saying, “No want tooooooooooooo!” Apparently that was a much-uttered sentence that night by a certain two year old, that he can’t get out of his head.
I was at home for most of that time, wondering how my baby was doing on one side of the hospital, and wondering how my sister was doing in the hospital, a few floors up (she was having a baby!)
Then, on Tuesday morning I got a call to supply teach at that same hospital. I didn’t know what that entailed or that it was even a possibility for teaching locations but definitely decided to give it a go – especially since Katelyn had a baby BOY the night before that I could visit after I finished teaching! They already had two girls so it just seems so crazy and new and wonderful that they’ll now be raising a little boy too.
Teaching at the hospital was amazing – I was on a floor full of high school students with mental health issues and eating disorders. These kids were just so delightful and bright and refreshingly open about what they were going through. I really felt like the facility was such a good place for them. Schoolwork is obviously a distant second to giving these kids a nurturing and positive environment, so we mostly just sat at a table and did artwork and chatted. It was sad, but also hopeful.
And, on my lunch break (and after school was out) I got to visit the hospital gift shop and buy a cute outfit for an even cuter boy – Braeden Gregory!
I also got to cuddle with him and listen to Kate’s stories about how completely awful the labour was – he was 10lbs, 1 oz and she didn’t have an epidural. Basically she’s a hero. And I’m just so excited for her to have a boy. Plus, you know, I obviously have hope that he and Casey will be bffs.
Last week my sister Leah texted me very excitedly telling me she’d won four third-row tickets for a kid’s show called Toopy and Binoo (based on a cartoon show our kiddos watch.)
So on Wednesday, Hailey and Casey were delivered to my work and we booted it down the highway.
Think they were excited to go? Casey was so psyched to have Hailey in the nearly-always-empty seat beside him in the car. The next morning he was so sad to see that Hailey’s carseat was gone. Someone get this kid a sibling!
We drove like this for an hour before picking up Leah, then half an hour more, both kids chattering away nonstop. I loved it. Hailey tells the cutest stories and Casey points out e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.
The show was… well I couldn’t really tell you. I was too busy enjoying watching Hailey and Casey loving it! This is what it looked like:
Hails and Leah spent much of the show like this:
…while Casey stood up in front of his seat, dancing away. I didn’t know if he’d be petrified of the show or completely uninterested, but he really impressed me! Luckily this show was the opposite of the “stay in your seat and stay quiet” type that we’re used to. The background of that picture gives you a tiny bit of a clue of the hilarious chaos.
Then this happened (blurry, but worth it.)
It was a perfect evening – so fun to do something completely out of the ordinary and an hour and a half away on a random Wednesday, getting home wayyy past bedtimes and not worrying about it, with two of my favourite kids and one of my favourite sisters. Thanks Leah! Now turn on the radio and win us some more tickets, svp!
I come from a family of quilters and have a whole bunch of gorgeous quilts around my house to show for it. So, I guess it was only a matter of time before I caught the bug.
Lucky for me, a three of my friends and a sister have also been itching to make quilts and so a couple of months ago we all went out to pick out fabric. We’ve gotten together just once to sew, but putting photos of our progress up on our Facebook group is a very handy way to keep us all accountable. I’m sure we’ve all thought many times along the way, “You’re THAT far? I need to get going!”
In fact, this blog post will probably serve that purpose too. We were all stuck with what do to (all very much beginners) once we finished the quilt top, and I “cheated” a few weeks ago and went to my mom for help one evening when the girls were all busy. She is a sewer-extraordinaire and I figured she was a good person to teach me how to bind. When I got to her house she said, “Sooo, you know I’ve never actually made a quilt?” Oops! She watched a couple of YouTube videos and called my aunt who is actually a quilter, and was good to go.
And, after a whole lot of talk about it, here you have it: My baby quilt! I really tried to stay gender neutral since we aren’t finding out what we’re having. I think I succeeded, but it was hard – there are so many cute girly fabrics! It’s not finished yet – I still need to hand quilt it (and probably give it a good iron, huh!)
A few months before we started, I told my friends that part of the challenge was to have a baby on the way by the time we finished our baby quilts, and most of us actually succeeded in that too!
Did I love quilting as much as I thought I would? YES! I feel super accomplished. This was a big project to tackle for my first one though. Next time I want to do something more detailed and a lot smaller, so I can focus more on the details and have less of the “just need to hurry up and finish this is taking forever!” feelings.
I went with the moose for the backing – for my Canadian baby.
And now with an hour left of Casey-baby’s naptime, it may be time to start quilting (nervous!)
I take so many videos of this little guy because he’s just so cute right now and I just want to bottle him up to enjoy in the future. I can’t help it.
These days, before he leaves the room to get something he tells us, “Be back!” while pointing his thumb out at us. I’m sure I tell him that I’ll “be right back” all the time, but I have no idea where the thumb came from.
It’s the cutest.
And you better believe that every time I say it now I point my thumb like he does, to make sure that he doesn’t ever stop doing it.
So here you have it. “Be back,” followed by the thumb point. Just because it needs to be saved forever, and this blog is the best way I have to make sure my videos aren’t lost in the abyss of the stacks of cds that I save them on, but hardly ever manage to look at.
Kent requested that I print a nice picture of Casey today to put up at work. I took this as a challenge.
We started out on the stepladder in our room. Kent moved it in there yesterday to look into the attic and when Casey discovered it yesterday evening he was obsessed. Literally the first thing he said this morning was “ladder!”
Things started out pretty well. Casey was actually interested in the fact that I was taking pictures and wanted to see them and make sure he was looking at the camera in each photo.
This next one makes me laugh because Casey orchestrated it. “Up high,” he instructed me, then grinned his face off.
Then we moved into his room, where he proceeded to completely ignore my existence. I’ve got nothing on dump trucks.
That cow you see on the shelf was my only hope. I grabbed it because it moos, and Casey managed to look at it sweetly for a millisecond before “I try now!”
We had a nice weekend that involved watching Kent run a race downtown, teaching Casey to ride his tricycle, two big family gatherings, nonstop baking, trips to the playground, an adorable cousin egg hunt, Easter morning mass, board games, tons of chocolate, and thrifting and a playdate on Easter Monday.
AND, we actually had some actual nice weather for once, although you can’t tell by the fact that Casey and I are wearing winter boots and a winter jacket in these photos. I’m always cold and I never trust that it’s actually spring until a few weeks in. I was right this time – we had a blizzard happening yesterday.
I didn’t take many pictures but here are a few from Lauren’s iphone from our Saturday afternoon festivities.
We tried for a nice family picture. Casey was more interested in keeping an eye on the chocolate he had just collected and make sure no cousins got too close.
And a trip to the playground with the cousins:
Luckily, sometimes the best family photos are totally unplanned!
And of course, the requisite Easter morning picture. Please note the handfuls of chocolate… love it.
So I need to confess to you the epic April Fools joke I played this year:
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I’m not really pregnant.
… just kidding (or should I say April Fools?). That would have been a ridiculous joke.
My actual trick was much more lame… but I’m still kind of proud of myself that I actually played one. Here it is:
APRIL FOOLS, ERICA AND DENIS!
I saw a pin on Pinterest a few weeks ago (that I can’t find right now) suggesting to play a trick on someone by adding some stickers to the family on the back of their car and see how long it takes them to notice. Since my sister and her husband have family stickers on their car, I added a couple of babies (and a bottle to Denis’ hand.) I had to do it on Thursday because I originally thought we were going away for the long weekend, but then our plans changed and we stayed home. I hoped they wouldn’t notice it until today but Denis is way too observant for that.
When I saw them on Saturday they mentioned, “Someone added two baby stickers to the back of our car, weird huh?” haha, not the best reaction you could have from your April Fools joke but hey, I tried.
So far no one’s played one on me (which is surprising if you know my husband)… how about you?
I’m doing as my cousin Lara does and filling a survey out this week.
How am I feeling? I feel like I’m way more tired than I was with Casey. However, at this point with Casey I’d been on summer vacation for two months, had a little apartment that never seemed to get messy (those were the days), and of course didn’t have a toddler to look after. I think most of my days were spent going to prenatal yoga, walking around the city, and sitting around my inlaws’ air conditioned house working on a course I was taking. I really think most of it has to do with the fact that I got a lot more exercise last time around. Must work on that.
Cravings - Me and Casey’s idea of a perfect day would be spent sitting at our kitchen table eating bowls of raspberries and strawberries. I ate a ton of fruit when I was pregnant with him too and you can sure tell – if you offered him raspberries or chocolate I’m not sure which one he’d eat first. So still fruit this pregnancy. I think Casey and I may start a strawberry picking record at our local patch this season.
Whats on my mind? – Ahh I want to know what we’re having! Kent feels more strongly about really, really not wanting to, so we didn’t find out at our ultrasound on Friday (which went well, I think!) Our technician was great and let me watch the screen the entire time, which made me wish that I’d done some research on how to read ultrasounds. I did some afterwards and learned about the hamburger sign and the turtle sign (still want that hamburger for dinner?) Now I want to go back in time just to see if I can figure it out myself. I guess waiting a few more months won’t kill me. I hope.
That cow you see on the shelf was my only hope. I grabbed it because it moos, and Casey managed to look at it sweetly for a millisecond before “I try now!”
