South Paw

We've been watching and observing this phenomenon for a while now and we're pretty sure that we can pronounce Eric left handed. There are a few things he does with both hands (throwing food, stuffing food in his mouth, grabbing toys etc.) but anything that requires some finesse is accomplished with the left. It is so interesting to see what characteristics emerge from your kids. You have one child and then when you are expecting your second it's hard to imagine that little person being any different from the child you already have. And then of course they show up and they are totally different: Mom's DNA and Dad's DNA have combined in another one in a million combination to come up with this totally unique character.

Happiness is...

Fitting into a size 7 pair of pants!

Finding them marked down from $40.00 to $6.99!!

Eric

Eric turned 18 months old yesterday. Hard to believe that when Jack turned 18 months we had a new baby four days later. Wow, that was an insane period of my life, lol!

Eric is such a darling when he wants to be, and can be a bit of a terror when he wants to be. He has taken to screaming at the top of his lungs when things aren't working out for him (his toy gets taken away, he's taken down from whatever he's climbing on, he isn't held when he wants to be held, etc. etc.) Given proper attention and affection though, he is quite the sweetheart, planting kisses, telling me where all my body parts are (nose! ear! mouth! nose!), enthusiastically "reading" and pointing things out the front window (kitties and puppies). I love how he snuggles his head into the crrook of my neck when I hold him when he's sad or tired. I love how he runs to me to kiss his owies when he gets a little bump or bruise. He is quite adept at making my heart melt.

Jack Turns Three

Jack turned three on Friday. It is hard to believe that he is three, it seems like not so long ago that we brought him home from the hospital, but on the other hand it seems like this little person has been with us forever, what did we do without him? I love a lot of Jack's qualities. His enthusiasm and energy is at the top of this list. He is often running and skipping around the house, off to his next adventure. I like that he knows what he wants, he is determined. I also love how cuddly he is. He often snuggles up with us and willingly gives hugs and kisses. He is a very sweet natured boy who blesses our home and makes our days brighter.

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes, cards and gifts. We are still meaning to call and say personal thank yous, we just haven't got it quite together yet!

Eric's Obsession

Trying New Things

I have been playing and experimenting with Photoshop the last week or so. Having the real software (as opposed to Gimp, the freeware program I was using) has been AMAZING! I'm grateful for the people who provide Gimp, at such a nice affordable price ($0) but Photoshop is just so darn functional, handy, documented, powerful, versatile, you name it. I am in love. My favourite things so far, and these are really simple things: 1. being able to justify text!! I could never get it to work in my version of gimp, it was like some crazy bug that was making me insane. 2. Using Quick mask to mask a selection. That's how I made the part of the photo below that is inside the frame in colour and the rest black and white. It's really two layers or photographs and I just cut the picture one that's on top. Being able to go online and find tutorials or answers to questions is so nice! Because there is this huge community of photoshop users they are so many resources to help you out. I love that so many people ask stupid obvious questions that other people take the time to answer, that's how I figure out how to do things that I should be able to figure out but can't. Bless them. Anyway, it's a wonderful thing, and I guess in this case, you get what you pay for.

Us at Our Finest

Doing a family photo session with young children is to expect unpredictability. You just don't know if they will cooperate, how long that cooperation will last, and in the end if you will all look good in at least one photo. Grant took some really good photos of us, I'm so pleased with them, but as noted there are a few that won't be framed, not because of the photography but the craziness of the subjects. On the other hand, I do get a kick out of the ones that are tossed on the cutting room floor. They truly reflect our lives as they are, kids in motion never stopping, me making weird faces, Darrel starting tickle fests. This is us, uncensored.

Baby It's Cold Out

It was -18 this morning, a far cry from the -4 and -2 weather we have been having. I'm glad that Jack has had some time to enjoy the nice warm(er) winter weather. He really does enjoy cavorting in the snow.

Domestic Observations

Okay, I've never made any claims to being a domestic diva. My house is sort of tidy and sort of clean most of the time. Today I have had two revelations about cleaning and cleanliness in general.

1. Your kitchen always looks cleaner when the sink is sparkling. It is worth the 5 -10 minutes of effort to get out the cleaner and rag and scrub down the chrome. My new resolution is to do this at least once a week. I know no one else in my house will notice or care, but I will have a secret sense of satisfaction every time I turn on the water (about a 100 times a day), and that's a good thing.

2. Self cleaning ovens are AMAZING! I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that this is the first time I have cleaned the oven in this house in the 15 months we have lived here; and in fact I have only ever cleaned an oven when we have moved out of an apartment or sold our house. Terrible I know, I should be ashamed. But that is all going to change now that I realize what a wonder these self cleaning models are. Whoever invented them deserves 10 gold stars, seriously. I will never be the same again. No more weeks of dread prior to oven cleaning time. (Is the fact that I really hate cleaning ovens coming through?) No leaving baked on gunk to smoke every time the oven is on because I can't bear to get out the stinky and toxic oven cleaner. I am a changed woman, and that is also a good thing.

Home Renovations ...again, nope the list never gets shorter.

Darrel really has been the king of getting stuff done around the house lately. Tonight he installed a new smoke detector and replaced the light in the entry way. We're pretty sure the smoke detector that was here was original to the house (yikes!); so now there's a new on in the hall way AND one downstairs which didn't have one at all.


The entry way light was just plain ugly so I'm pretty happy to see it go.
The final picture is our new dining room light. Darrel installed this before Chrismtas but I have not posted a picture of it yet. We are estatic with how much light it puts out. The old fixture only had a single bulb and pointed down, emitting a focused triangle of light and leaving the corners of the room dark. The new fixture makes the room glow and makes it feel much more homey.

If you are wondering what is happening with the chairs... Darrel had a GENIUS idea for keeping Eric from climbing and going on the table. We were putting all the chairs up on the table after every meal but Darrel brought in these bungee cords and wrapped them around the chairs. They are on tight enough that Eric can't pull the chairs out. Hooray! (But not too tight for an adult to get them off.) Eric was not impressed with this at all. There's a certain sense of satisfaction, call it smugness, at being able to out-thunk a toddler. :) Way to go honey!

Funny Moments

We got a lot of mileage out of this at our house. Darrel first asked Jack what his favourite kind of pie was and Jack replied "Apple Tree Pie!" very emphatically. Then when I brought it out for dessert he thanked me for the pie (truth be told it is from the gluten free bakery in town, ahem I mean I toiled and slaved all day to produce it).

Jack was pretty cute although the emphasis doesn't translate to paper. Just imagine drawing out and almost shouting the words "thanks" and "favourite" and you may be close to Jack's enthusiasm.

Resolutions

It is 12:27 am on January 1 as I sit down to write this. The rest of the house is asleep and I rang in the New Year scrapbooking. We went over to Debbie and Jonathan's tonight with a few other couples and had a nice time visiting. We didn't have a babysitter so the evening wrapped up at 10pm when Eric finally decided enough was enough. ("What's going on?! I'm normally in bed for 2.5 hours by now!") We had brought pajamas for the boys and changed them before we left. They fell asleep in the van and we just popped them into bed once we were home. Hooray for car rides!

Darrel and I actually both made resolutions this year. My easiest to keep (in some ways) is to take more pictures, which I've quantified at one a day. I'd like to have more photos of every day life and just the normal day to day routine. Our other resolutions listed here are a little more vague, basically stress less and enjoy more. Hard to quantify but very important none the less. I think it will take a very conscious effort on both our parts to let go of the little things that get to us and just learn to live in the moment. We're both Type A personalities who like to cross things off lists. I think sometimes we don't savour the moment of getting something done before we're on to the next thing. It's like we're never satsified with what we've accomplished because there's still something on the list. I summed up our new attitude to Darrel as work hard and play even harder. Or maybe it should be that we just play more. Either way, I think we are on the same page with the attitude we want to have.

Happy New Year to all, may 2008 be a great year for you!