Pink, Pink and more Pink

I know the walls are bare, but I just haven't found the right things to put up yet. I think we definately need a shelf or two and something to match the little green surfboard pegrack on the window sill (that will be hung near the door when I get to it). I need to pick up a dresser for J's room and move over the baby sized dresser from his room to here. But the essentials are in and the rest can come later on.

The paint colour is Pratt and Lambert "Angel Food" done up in Para Paint, wall and trim, eggshell in matte finish (say all that in one breath). Now Para is a Canadian company, but I thought I should be specific with what we used as I have had inquiries before. Truthfully, Hubby and I usually just go for eggshell finish in a basic latex. But, my Father, the painter by-trade, picked up the paint for us and decided that this was the best finish for the baby's room. And he was right. The matte look makes it look even softer than expected. And I think I mentioned that I never thought I would choose pink for a bedroom, I am much more a purple girl, but this one just kept coming back to me.
Add to that the fact that my Mother picked me up this wonderful quilt down at the beach. I was looking for something beachy like the ones from Pottery Barn, but since PBK doesn't ship to Canada and they don't have one close to the beach, I went with this one. It has cute little Angels on it and the colours were great. A little of everything. The pinks in it matched the paint colour perfectly so that is how the room came to be pink. My Mom also picked up some sheets at PBK in Nashville (had I only known she would go there). They are called Tropical Toile. In other words toile done up, beach style. Sadly the beach line at PBK has now been discontinued (at least online, but my Sister is on the lookout for some stuff on sale) so I cannot pick up anymore Tropical Toile or all things beach at this time.

And I wanted to address the fact that there is a crib and a bed already. I did this for J too, had a bed in his room from the get go. It makes nursing at night so much easier and on those nights when the baby just won't settle, I don't have to keep Hubby up till all hours when he needs to go to work the next day. This was the deal I made when we agreed that I would not have to go back to work. I do all the night time duties and he gets to sleep. Some of my friends think that is awful and he should have to get up too, but I disagree. First of all, I am nursing these babies, and second of all he works hard so we can have me stay home with them, so I let him sleep. A lot of his friends were jealous when he was coming to work all refreshed and they were up all night with their kids, but I felt better knowing he could function. I don't have important meetings and only have to impress myself so it was ok if I was functioning at half mast.

So, this is the baby's room... She is getting ready to arrive as we only have four weeks left, but I think she might arrive just a few days or so early. Just my hunch.

Coming Soon...

... photos of the new baby's room!

I hesitate to say that it is almost done, but in truth it is. I can hardly believe it myself. I have but a few little odds and ends to put together then I will take some photos and post them. And yes, it's PINK! I never thought I would truly paint the room pink, but that is exactly what I did. And I love it. It is a soft, mauvy pink that illuminates the whole upstairs in the afternoon sunshine. It is a very happy colour and I think it is all going to work out exactly as I wanted.

If I get everything finished tonight I will take the photos to post for tomorrow.

Just Passing the Summer Days

A visit to a local farm for kids, Valleyview Little Animal Farm, left J thrilled to have fed all the goats and deer. We used to take A to the farm, years ago, when there were just a few animals and playstructures oh and the train. Now there is a museum with tractors, more animals, puppet shows, and more. We had a fabulous time and will be sure to go back soon (like on the long weekend for a corn roast.).

And yesterday it was off to a birthday party! J was one of the oldest, being almost four at a two year old's party. But, I couldn't have been prouder. He behaved so well and played with all the kids. He only really knew the birthday girl, and the two of them played very well together. He even managed to eat all the icing off of his cake before he realized it was cake!

Now, how on earth am I going to beat the last two days today, I don't have anything planned.

A Rare First

Since J is almost four, have a first is rare these days. And when he does do something new it is usually so long in the making that we forget to celebrate.

Hubby added a swing to the playhouse in the backyard on Sunday. J has never really been interested in the swings and only recently decided to use it as a "Superman" way of flying. Yesterday, after our dip in the pool, J decided to try it out like the other kids and sit on his butt. He asked me to push the swing. Which I did, but quickly grew tired as standing in one spot is not so much fun right now. So I decided to teach him how to pump his feet. Within minutes he was swinging away singing a little song (he does this for everything, sings a little song). All he needs is a little push to get him going and voila, swinging away.

And as another first, just for fun, I should add that I took him all by myself, as in with no other kids or parents to an indoor playplace. I should probobly clarify that I don't do things like this without others to help occupy the time because I hate going somewhere for twenty minutes then heading home. But that is exactly what we did yesterday because that is really what J wanted to do. I survived and he survived and we only lasted twenty five minutes, but he was happy.

Through the Eyes of our Kids

What a great and fabulous weekend!! The weather was back to normal, not a cloud in the sky. And my Sister-in-Law made her first visit here from Vancouver in almost 5 years! We did see her in Vancouver 3.5 years ago but that was the last time. Hubby was quite happy that his Sister finally came this way and we had a great day yesterday catching up and watching the kids playing (and yes, kids includes Hubby).

A took the first two photos. He loves photography and wanted to try out the new lens on my camera. He has an SLR of his own, but it was at his Mom's house and it uses film, so he doesn't feel as free to goof around. When I downloaded the photos this morning I had to laugh at the 20 or so photos of the airplanes flying overhead. We live near the airport and he was trying to get cool shots of the planes landing. But truly he just got shots of the planes with a deep blue sky behind them.

He took a few of Hubby and J in the pool (I didn't go in because my SIL didn't want to and A didn't go in because it isn't cool). They were riding around the pool in circles which was rather cute.

The second photo is of one of our dogs, Cosmo. Cosmo is eleven and still such a good looking dog. He isn't as fast as used to be and he is a little jaded by our adding to the family, first with Mickey (our other Dog) and next with J. Just wait until this baby arrives he will really feel put out.

Next we have J's photos . J loves taking photos, I tried to give him my old point and shoot, but he prefers Mommy's good camera. So I put the strap around his neck and hold tight to the back of the strap. He wanted a photo of the slide and the grass, not sure why, but that is what he wanted.

First the slide. Just the end tip as the zoom lens was on and that is as far away as he could get.And second is the grass. Despite my complaining of the rain, it has been a stellar year for our grass. We went from dry brown grass this past spring (normal after winter) to lush full green grass. Probably the lushest we have ever had. We are attributing it to our weed n'feed and the fact that I was still watering even when there was no rain (back in June when it was actually hot and sunny every single day). And yes, the camera was set on auto-focus, but it is fun to see what J comes up with when he takes photos. They are getting more and more creative the more he takes (he just took one of the fireplace a few minutes ago). Maybe we will have a professional photographer in the house yet!

Totally Honoured

I feel so totally honoured. LVGurl has given me a blog award! This is my first actual award, so I am feeling the love for sure.

I have been tagged with the "Power of Schmooze Award". The definition being, Good schmoozers effortlessly weave their way in and out of the blogosphere, leaving friendly comments, happily making new friends along the way.

It feels great to be recognized this way. When I first started blogging it was to ease the guilt of reading all the blogs I was reading without something to share. Then I started coming out of lurkdom and actually commenting. I like to leave notes or comments when I drop by because it's nice to know someone is reading and appreciating what has been written. To be acknowledged for my comments is just icing on the cake. I think I finally found LVGurl becasue I started to see that the two of us read quite a few of the same blogs, so I started to drop by her site and voila, I am now a regular reader.

So a special thank you goes out to LVGurl for noticing all my comments.

Here are the Schmooze rules:

* If, and only if, you get the Thinking Blogger Award or The Power of Schmooze Award, write a post with links that make you think, or have schmoozed you into submission.
* Link to this post and Mike so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.
* Optional: Proudly display the “Thinking Blogger Award” or the “Power of Schmooze Award” with a link to the post that you wrote.

Mail... the old fashioned way

A little while ago, Kailani over at An Island Life suggested and old fashioned gift exchange through snail yesterday (although it could have arrived Monday, but I forgot to check the mail box).

I was partnered with Lisa, from Sew what's up? and got set on putting my package together. Not sure if has arrived at it's destination, so I will just tell you the wonderful things that arrived in mine.

Lisa put together a package of really cool things.

I have some Sunset Red Popcorn and some Sun-Dried Tomato & Basil dip from her local farmers market (mmmm... can't wait to try the dip) and a car candle shaped like a lighthouse. The car candle smells very yummy and I think it will keep our car nice and fresh for a while to come (I knew there was something yummy in there because my post box smelled like flowers when I opened it).

In addition to these treats, Lisa included some seeds from her garden for Spanish Bluebells, complete with a photo! I have the perfect spot to plant them (along the side of my house that was just waiting for the perfect plant or flower). I am so excited.

Also included are some very beachy stickers that J was coveting, but I am going to find the perfect spot for them, most likely with a photo from the beach in a frame. There are also three sheets of alphabet stickers, complete in totally beachy colours. And to top it off Lisa included a coupon for a Gillette Venus razor, which is perfect beause my last razor bit the dust on our vacation and I need a knew one to keep these legs nice and smooth.

So thank you very much Lisa, it was really fun to receive my package and see all the wonderful treasures that were awaiting me on the inside.

And thank you Kailani for arranging the exchange.

The Weather here sucks

I think if I knew we would be returning to such aweful weather, I would have opted to stay for another week with my Aunt and Uncle.

My tan is fading fast and although yesterday was quite nice, it only lasted for half the day. It is cold rainy and rather depressing actually. I miss the sand and the sunshine. All the folks south of us getting a heat wave and we are stuck insome artic chill or something.

I guess I do have the photos and the memory of warm sun and air on my skin. If only I could sit out back and close my eyes and pretend I was still there. If I sit out back right now, I will be soaked and wind up with a chill.

Finding my creativity

Here is our cottage. There are two levels, both exactly the same with different furniture. I know it doesn't look like much, but it is wonderful. Last year we stayed downstairs where the porch has a front door, a little nerve wracking when you have toddlers that can reach the lock on the door. This year we stayed upstairs where you can only exit through the kitchen at the back. We found things with both that we liked. We prefer upstairs because you can sit up on the stools at the table and watch the world go by. We enjoyed downstairs because it had much nicer furntiure and no stairs. We booked in for upstairs again next year because, well, the porch won out.

This is one of the views I had from the porch. There are actually two houses here, the white one on the left and a dark brown one hidden in the trees on the right. As I sat with my coffee the first morning all of a sudden I could see my characters in my novel living in these cottages. I started working on the rewrite of my novel back in March but, I just couldn't get unstuck from where my characters were and how fast I wrote it. I needed inspiration, but was getting nothing sitting here in suburbia. Within a day, I had a whole rewrite going in my head. And since Hubby decided we didn't need to bring out laptop because wireless was scarce last year. I had nothing but paper towel to write on. So off I went to the bookstore to purchase a journal. For three mornings I saw my characters and their stories intertwining. Some of the novel has changed a bit, but that is good because it wasn't working for me the way it was.

Not only did my writing get inspired but so did my photography. I didn't take as many photos as I wanted to, because carrying around my camera bag with my belly was a little more difficult than I first thought it was going to be. And Hubby was so inspired by my inspiration that he bought me another lens for my camera. I feel so blessed because our trip was gift enough, but he knows how much I love taking photos and how often I use my camera that he figured it would be best to make the purchase down there where our dollar was almost the same, there is no sales tax and the actual merchandise is a third less than up here. It may just become an annual event. And Bob at the photo studio was fantastic. Nobody sells DSLR's and accessories anywhere near the beach. Everyone told us to go to NYC, which would have been great if we hadn't been at the beach for a week. But, Bob has a supplier that could UPS me a lens overnight. It ended up that I missed the first truck, but got to extend our beach time on Saturday while we waited for the lens to come in. I didn't get to take any photos with it at the beach, but I have been playing with it since we got home and am in love with it.

All that inspiration has already led me back to my sewing here at home. I just didn't feel any creativity prior to vacation but it is back and I am so thankful. I don't like feeling like I have lost everything all at once. I knew our trip was going to be tough, travelling at eight months pregnant is not ideal, but it was so worth it. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Back from the Beach

"We're going to the beach, the beach, the beach..." is the song J sang almost the entire ride to Rehoboth. It was so heartbreaking for him to realize that we had to spend one night at my Aunt and Uncles before we actually saw the beach. But in the end it was so worth it. My cousins dog Buddy was visiting so J had lots of fun entertaining my Uncle and playing with Buddy.

Our first stop on the way to Rehoboth was a detour to Ocean City, Maryland to visit with my cousins. Their beach is gorgeous and we often think of renting their condo for the week, but and yes, there is a but. Their condo isn't close to the boardwalk, so going out for a morning, afternoon and evening stroll is much more stressful on a busy street than it is on the boardwalk, so for now we stay in Rehoboth. J found many sea creatures in Ocean City and Hubby found a horseshoe crab that wandered too close to shore.
We woke up Sunday to beautiful weather and gorgeous sunshine. Hubby went for a run, J and I went for a walk and A slept. Within the first few hours of being at the beach we were well on our way to being rejuvinated. I, myself, had been having creativity block for many things. I was feeling uninspired, but by the Monday morning so many thoughts and ideas were bursting to come out I had to buy a journal to write it all down. It is very obvious that my creativity is rejuvinated by being at the beach.
We got to experience a fantastic 4th of July. The weather was cool and there was a high seas warning so many beach fireworks were cancelled. Fortunately for us the fireworks were on the beach and at the end of our street so we were able to put on a sweatshirt and not fight the crowds to see them. And it is sad to say, but they were much better than any Hubby and I have seen living here in the Capital of Canada. We were so blown away we prebooked our week next year.The owners of the cottage that we rent were there and invited us down to light up some sparklers. It was wonderful to meet them and to share in the festivities. The kids hit it off and chatted every time we met up.

I have so many stories to share and even more photos. We truly had a wonderful week and feel like we are ready or almost ready for the rest of the summer.