Renovations | Day 6 (and Koen)

The schedule for week one went right according to plan! Our wonderful electrician (nicest guy ever?!) is coming back tonight to finish his job. I mean, the plumber and electrician will come back after it's almost done to put all the fixtures in etc but for now, all good!

(The tub is in!)

(We'll have 6 recessed lights in the playroom...and really nice ones at that:)

Today we are having 45 sheets of drywall dropped off which means hopefully we can start on that soon. Gary needs to put in a vent to the outside (you know, drill through our wall...eek!) with his dad (for the bathroom vent) on Friday and then we will insulate away.

Koen is actually really stressing me out. We put the baby gate back up because I can't risk him getting into the basement these days. Yesterdays activities included eating 1/4 cup of margarine (using the butter knife) and picking every last unripe tomato off our vines and throwing them all over the yard. We have a lot of various tomato plants. This is what happens when he's unattended for 5 minutes. I love him like crazy and especially love the cuddles when he drinks his milk, but unless I am playing with him, he's causing trouble. I'm sure renos during this `monkey stage' are not helping. I have been off beta blockers for months but yesterday, I took two. I feels like my blood pressure is super high, even though it probably isn't. Love you Kokies!

Okay, that's my 5 minutes and I had to go get him twice (once for taking my entire purse apart and the other time for pulling a chair over to the edge of the basement to try to get over the gate). Gotta go!!!

PS When talking to Kai about Kenzie being born at Langley Memorial Hospital...

Me: Kai, do you know where you were born?

Kai: In a stable!!

Pretty sure that wasn't you buddy:)

Kenzie Joanna

Yippee, I have another niece! Maria was overdue by 10 days and was given the midwives concoction several times, then was induced by the gel 2 or 3 times and finally, at 5:11am this morning, Kenzie arrived. Maria managed to labour at home until about 7cm and then once she was at the hospital, had Kenzie just 1 hour and 15 minutes later! Maria def. had a bit of a rough go by not being able to sleep very much the past few days (or at all last night) and then just you know, pushing out a 9lb 7oz girl:) I'll let her blog the rest of the details.

She is a perfect little girl. Like a lot of big babies (both of my boys), they are concerned by her lower blood sugar levels and are `making' her feed every three hours (and with formula too) and pricking her heel every three hours to check if it's improving. So frustrating!! I remember with Koen how exhausting and unnatural the whole thing was. It took Koen 24 hours to be `normal'.

To me, this sweet little girl reminds me of Annika but she is def. her own little person:) When I told Kai her name, Kai said she be called `Meatball' (although Rose Petal was his first choice). I asked why. He said, `Because meatballs are just to nice and yummy!'.

I'm so excited for a new little baby in the family, gotta keep em coming with 4 sisters around:) My sister Jackie was there for the birth. I don't know that I could do it. Seeing people I love in pain just hurts my heart to the core...thank goodness I'm the one that went into labour and not Gary, I couldn't bear to watch him!

I just had a short visit as I had my mother in law at home watching the boys. I may have snuck in another visit this evening. A short one.

Proud auntie Louise!!

Suddenly Sami looks like a super cute giant next to Kenzi. These two are going to be super buddies, like Kai and Ani, being that there are just 6 months apart.

Yay for babies! Yay for family!

Life Around Here

1. Babies: for some reason, every time I see a pregnant woman, or a baby, I get teary eyed. Not because I'm jealous but because it's beautiful. I'm so happy for them. I saw a friend at church who is due in three weeks and tears fell from my eyes when I asked how she was doing. I guess it doesn't help that my sister is 10 days overdue and there will be a new baby here soon! I look forward to our baby to be but know that now would not be the best time.

2. Renos: the plumbers were here for 5 hours today (and probably 1 hour tomorrow)and our bathroom is all ready to go! Well, you know, tub is in and the plumbing is in. Ha, it has a long ways to go! Great plumbers (one is my bro in law)! So far, so good! I think in our first week of renos, we will put in $2000.00. Wow. Framing, Plumbing and Electrical (that includes parts and labour). I have ordered the drywall (and about 10% more than I think we need) and will go pay for it tomorrow (okay, add $500.00 to the total!). It will be delivered on Thursday. Does anyone know a good drywall mudder? I have one lined up for a quote but would like one other one, just to compare. Organizing all this is like another full time job. Thank goodness I don't have to actually do any of the framing, plumbing or electrical...I'm already losing one precious hour of sleep each night just thinking about the renos.

3. Work: I have been working way too much. I know. However, it is paying for the adoption and renos so it's necessary. And, let's be honest, I enjoy it, I'm learning a lot and I love feeling productive. I stopped accepting bookings for 2010 a while back and am already booked up several months for 2011. I have 4 shoots this week, then 3, then 2, then 1. Ah. Can't wait!! Although then we are doing the photo directory for church...it never ends! November. Yes, then I will relax. For sure. No matter what!!! I have decided that next year I am going to have a monthly max of 2 weddings and 2 regular sessions. That's it! I will stick to it.

4. The Boys: Kai already has his first back-to-school cold. Took two classes to get it. So awesome. I think Koen must be getting it because along with being a monkey today, he was a bear! I had my two nieces over today to give Maria (my 10 day overdue sister) a break and it was a little busy. Ani pointed out `Four kids is a lot, especially when one of them is Koen'. SO TRUE. The older three, no problem! Actually, I shouldn't complain, Koen played nicely with them for a whole hour while I worked. AWESOME. I know that Ani would tell me in a second if anything was amiss.

I know this is boring. This is my life right now. Kids. Renos. Photos. I think we will book off the two weeks of spring break to do a fun family trip, maybe Tofino? The boys would LOVE it. Maybe just Green Lake, that's the easy thing to do:)

And some random Kai comments from the last week:

1. Kai: Mommy, smell my belly.

Me (smelling): Uh, what am I supposed to smell?

Kai: I ate some ham!

2. Kai: Mommy, I made this picture for God. How can he reach it?

3. Me: Kai, you may not not call Koen a penis or any variation of it.

4. Kai: If I eat the salmon, I will die for sure.

Renovations | Day 1

Phew. I'm exhausted and I wasn't even the one with a hammer in my hand:) Today a lot was accomplished! Our wonderful framing team finished framing in about 7 hours and did a great job.

My job for the day? Buy a right hand bathtub ($300) and buy the shower/bathtub ($120) kit. I thought I got a great deal on a bathtub but now I'm not so sure. It had a little, itty, bitty ding on the corner so I got $100.00 off. He was trying to tell me that it was originally an $800.00 tub but now I'm not so sure about that...sketchy dude.

So, some before and after's:

PLAYROOM BEFORE AND AFTER FRAMING

BEDROOM (looking towards the bathroom) BEFORE AND AFTER FRAMING
(Please note the plum paint on the ground, thanks Koen!)

Please note our lovely tub in our bathroom. Our plumbers are coming on Monday and doing all their plumbing stuff (and putting in the tub). Wednesday and Thursday is when our electrician comes in (dudes, quality recessed lights are PRICEY and we are getting 6 of them). THEN, it's up to us to insulate and drywall. YIKES!!!!! Right now I'm trying to figure out what to do for drywall, like, how many sheets and how to get it to our house:) Dude at Home Depot recommended just doing 4X8' sheets, thoughts?

I have learned so much already. I can't say I'm loving all these facts but it's probably good to learn sometime in your life...right? Like tonight (on my 5th trip of the week to Home Depot) I learned that the ceiling drywall should be 5/8" not the 1/2" that you put on the walls. Good to know. Too bad it's like twice the price. Yuck.

We have decided on carpet and now just need to make sure it's all ready to go in about 3-4 weeks:)

All right, that's it for now! Bon nuit.

Fish Sauce and Olive Oil

Today was actually quite tough. Koen is driving me crazy and then I take it out on Kai too. I thought our house was pretty kid proof but it is not monkey proof. Today he got into my scissors, my computer desk (a MAJOR off limits in our house), poured juice all over the kitchen floor (which had been washed the day before), dumping a box of cereal into our shag carpet, and the worst was opening bottles of fish sauce and olive oil all over himself and the carpet. I don't know how you get oil out of clothes and just washing it did not do the trick. He can wear his oil stained clothes and stink like fish sauce because I'm sure he'll find something else to add to it. And added to that, he just makes a huge mess wherever he goes. Every. Single. Room. Must. Be. Destroyed.

You would think I wasn't watching him. This is what happens when I leave him for 3 minutes.

I am trying to get Kai on board with helping me instead of laughing and encouraging Koen. I think that is our new plan.

Do they have preschool for 1.5 year olds?!

We need this basement finished ASAP.

I usually enjoy cleaning my house but not at this rate!!

Back To School

I am loving the back to school routine. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE having Gary home for 2 months with a ton of family activity but there is just something nice about routine. I am so thankful that Gary brings home the bacon for our family. Ten years at one job could get kind of boring but he does what he can to spice it up (like teaching his favourite course; LEAD).

Kai's `Just take the picture so we can go to preschool' smile:) He was so happy to be back there again. We found out that one of his best friends is moving away in a month and he was very upset.

I had to pretty much shave his head yesterday to try to fix the haircut he gave himself.

Koen wanted to be in a picture too.

His cheese face is hilarious. And...just to see the fun they had minutes before leaving for preschool, a diaper (and dirty laundry) party. Apparently it makes the room more comfortable?

Koen has been a full time job these days. He got into the paints in our basement and made a lovely mess. Plum paint, all over. Today he got back into it. Great. I don't remember Kai being this monkeyish but I guess he was, it's just a stage. Right?!

In other news, which is way more exciting, our very good friends who have been in the adoption process for over 2.5 years have been matched!!! I'll wait until they blog about it but ya, so very cool. They are now the parents of a beautiful two year old girl!! Gary and I were giddy when we got the call from them. So exciting.

Bon nuit.

Our Wonderful Basement-to-be

Okay, so this will probably be extremely boring for 95% of you but I want to record this for me:) Besides, if you are ever finishing your basement, you could be interested! Also, I do want to know your opinion on two things:

1. What is your favourite warm looking basement paint colour? Kai says he refuses to use the basement unless it is purple but I refuse to use the basement if it is purple:)

2. Basement carpet with two lively boys...should we go with berber? (our stairs to the basement are berber)

(This is Koen's bedroom for the next two months...he has a fort made with the toddler bed and foosball table. All of our rooms look a little chaotic because we want to be able to park in the garage during the basement reno).

(We had our last studio session on Monday, which was a very fun Smash the Cake for a one year old, and have packed everything up)

So, here is our tentative timeline starting this Saturday. I could be way off because I have never done anything like this before. Here we go:

Week 1: Framer, Electrician, Plumber (done by professionals who we are connected to). Get tub put in.

Week 2: Insulation (done by Gary and I, shouldn't take this long but giving him lots of time!)

Week 3: Drywall (Gary and 3-4 drywalling buddies who will be paid in pizza and beer. Should be done in one day as our basement is half done already. Ceiling should be the hardest cutting around all the `stuff'. I will probably try to do some of it with Gary and have his friends aid with the ceiling.).

Week 4: Mudding (will take at least a week, possibly more. We are hiring someone for this for sure!!)

Week 5: Painting (Gary and I). Anyone have a paint sprayer?

Week 6: Carpet and plumbers/Gary put in bathroom fixtures (toilet and sink). We already have our sink and toilet and just need to find a well priced tub. I'm going to check out `Andrew Sheret' at Splashes this week and see if I can find a good one. We were going to put in a shower but alas, the drain size and location of the drain will only allow for a tub. Currently deciding on carpet and then getting a couple of quotes. Need to get on it ASAP as it can take a month to order it. At this point, the kids will be able to play downstairs again! Woohoo!!

Week 7: Put in floor in bathroom and laundry room (we are doing the floating floors that you can buy at Home Depot). Looks super easy and they look great! (us). Put up cabinets in laundry room and bathroom.

Week 8: Put in doors to bedroom, bathroom and closets. (us)

Week 9: Put in baseboards and crown molding around doors etc. (us)

This takes us to basketball season when we will no longer see Gary so hopefully everything happens according to this schedule. I feel that as long as I have people booked for the appropriate time and the supplies available when needed, we should be good to go! If it is way over our heads, I will bring in some finishers to do week 9's job.

My budget for this is $9,000.00 but I'm thinking it will be closer to $8000.00. We'll see!! If we had it done before we moved in, they were going to charge $20,000 and I know it will be nowhere near that.

And, the final thing that I am keeping track of? Number of visits to home depot:) So far, we are at two.

Run For the Cure

This year, like every year for the past 10 years, I am doing `Run For The Cure'. I actually started doing the run on my own, before my mom was ever diagnosed. My mom passed away 4.5 years ago from breast cancer that had metastasized into her bones. This run is a time of celebrating her life, remembering her, and celebrating those that have beat cancer. It is also a time to reflect on our health and work towards not having this disease ourselves. This year I plan on running it, which will not be as easy as it may have been for me in the past. If you would like to donate, please click on this link. Hopefully it works. Thank you!

I better get Kai some pink this year, he will LOVE it!!

It is so important to me that the boys do this run each year. I want them to connect to their oma this way and it's something we can do to remember her.

Changes

Just an update on various aspects of our life:)
1. ADOPTION
I wish that I knew that we were 3 months along in this `pregnancy'. I feel like that would be perfect in so many ways. I think Koen will be a little less monkeyish, our basement will be finished, and we have no weddings booked for February 2011. I'm currently not impatient to have a baby right this second, I feel like 6 months from now would be so perfect. I'm assuming that it will be about 2 years but who knows? I talked with a guy this week who has a biological sibling and then his parents adopted 3 more kids. He said the hardest part was the age difference between the oldest and youngest. The parents had to spend almost all of their time/energy/attention on the youngest ones. I really, really want to keep our kids ages close together. It worked so well to have Kai and Koen 2.5 years apart.

(Gary with my niece, Sami. I did a photo shoot of Sami and her mom and and dad this week. Pictures will be posted on Sunday:)
2. BASEMENT
Okay, so I know other people do renos all the time. We are not handy. I do not do well with chaos and mess. However, in one week, we are starting!!! I'm so excited! We will be adding 700 square feet of useful space to our house by finishing our basement. I don't know how long these things take but I'm giving it two months and hoping it will be done sooner. I'm excited to set up the best playroom ever and have the kids playing down there this winter. They do play there already but I think it will help to have carpet everywhere etc. You know when you just need an hour to yourself? I can say, `Go play in the basement boys!'. So looking forward to it! I'll have to take before an after pictures. So far we have just been getting rid of the mass amounts of stuff we have stored down there. So, if you come and visit in the next two months, you are not allowed to look in our garage or our bedrooms.
3. BABIES
My sister is due with her third child this week. I am SO EXCITED. She has had two great natural childbirths already and this time she is using a midwife, I'm so excited for her. I wish I had used a midwife with my Kai bear!!
4. GARY
Gary is back to work which is nice. I can get back to my regular routine with the boys which I have missed. I can't wait for preschool to start!! I think I get more exercise when Gary is at work. When he's home, I mostly work. When he's at work, the kids and I play, go for walks etc. Kai told me today that he wishes he could go to daycare everyday. Too bad buddy, you're stuck with me!! This is the first September that I am not going back to teaching (besides my maternity leaves). It is a strange feeling. I don't know what the future holds. Back to teaching? Continue with photography? I don't know. In the meantime, I'm so thankful to have a job that works so well with our family! Oh yes, on the topic of Gary, he shaved his head today while I was off doing a photo session. He hasn't had a shaved head since we were dating. I think it will take a bit to get used to it!
5. FOOTBALL
For the first time since 2005, when we started, we are not having a football team this fall. Amongst all the babies and injuries it was going to be tight on players. I look forward to having Saturdays free-ish and now I just need to make sure I work out on my own!!


Have a fabulous weekend everyone!
Love, Louise

20 Months

Oh Kokies, what a loveable monkey you are. Go, go, go all day long. This month, Koen ended up in Time Out about once every other day. And to be honest, he's really cute there:) For the first 2 weeks or so, he would run away but with a little persistence (aka holding him there) he now stays. The best part is when we talk about what he did that was naughty. He will say `Sushi' (sorry) and then, `Huh' (hugs). I love it when he's says sushi and don't know if I should correct him because I love it so much:)

I love him so much. I feel like I know Kai very well but I'm still getting to know Koen more and more. I guess he is just changing and developing so much of his personality at this age. When Kai was 20 months, he was more verbal but less coordinated. It's interesting how they are so different! I shouldn't say Koen isn't verbal, it's just that his words are usually only understood by Gary and I:) Example: Miw=milk, Hoe=hose. He did say three words together though yesterday, and clearly too: Hot tea mommy. (No, not hottie mommy, I was actually drinking hot tea:).

He loves riding his bike (us pushing him on his bike), playing hockey, running around the mailbox, going the park, Blue (which he now calls Bubi to be like Kai..and it's head is about too fall off), eating, drinking milk, climbing, and emptying everything around (especially if it's hidden/forbidden/makes a big mess). His favourite word is `dirty' and he loves the throw things in the garbage. Oh yes, Kai and Koen love it when I have a shower. They take all the blankets off our king size bed, turn the lights off and our bed side lamps on, turn on the radio and have a dance party. Every. Day.

Koen will not drink water and does not like having dirty hands.

Kokies, you bring so much sunshine into our lives. I can't imagine our family without you. I remember when I was pregnant with you thinking that I could never love another kid like my Kai Bear, but boy, do I ever. Your goofy grin makes my day and I hope you always keep smiling. You are so loved.