Noah is 4!!!!!

It is 4:30pm here and 4 yrs ago my water broke and I was in labour for 15min by now, CRAZINESS. That day tom and I ran around getting last few mintue things and of course me complaining I was going to be pregnant forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was an amazing day we laughed all the way to the hospital about how we just got into the apartment and my water broke Hollywood style, like really as far fetch as you can get. I didn't think it was ever going to slow down hahaha. I even said how am I going to get to the hospital it won't stop. haha. Labour was quick too, which shocked the dr and nurses. It was an amazing day all around.

How is it he is 4 yrs old. The love I have for him, the dreams I have for him to be happy and full of life. To fall his dreams and to remember family comes first, and to give 100% of yourself in everything you do even if you fail or succeed. I want my children Happy.

Today is bitter sweet, we had plans and everything but Tom came down with a really bad flu yesterday and has been in bed since noon yesterday. So a lot is not happening today, But we are making the most of it. We made cupcakes for today and than I will make a Cake for Saturday. Tom rented a bouncy house for the boys and I have no clue if 4 of Noah's friends are coming for the Cake and BBQ but I think has soon as Noah see the bouncy house he won't care in the world if friends come or not. He still hasn't told us what he wants for his birthday, which is strange because he always know what he wants and this time he is just blank. We did get him a new hat he wanted and when he decides we'll pick something up for him.

I find myself happy but also sad, his life is just going by so fast for me...As any parents realize(I am sure... if not I am not sure how that is possible) and I think of our parents and Grandparents and how they see all of us. I have to say that it makes me realize that Life is way to short and I need to forget about things that don't work out well or take forever, to happen. Sort of funny how we complain well at least I do. Than before you know it yrs have gone by. Oh the heart ache and stress just to bring Noah into our lives and now he is four and we have three wonderful boys that we are proud of and hopefully we'll be lucky to be blessed with more(no there are no babies coming here...but we do want more just not sure when...just to make that clear)

Well to my big man on the block Happy Birthday Noah We are proud of the boy you are becoming!

video of Lucas and what he likes doing all day long. and update

Hope yo love the little guy we sure do.

So I updated it on the window house vent entry but I will say it here. So the real quote wasn't 73k thank goodness but it was 7,300. However he missed a window s and missed one bathroom window which needs temper glass(it's in the shower so that the price went up but was lower than what I heard on the phone. The quote is for the basic window and I wasn't crazy about having plastic window locks. Metal locks seem more safe for me! Anyhow we need to know today if we are doing it to get the deal since the windows are about 12,000k on sale which ends today. So that price is way better than 73k but still it's a lot of money. Maybe windows will wait and we'll try and build the deck and grass out front. Big lesson here is don't take important messages when you are sleep deprived(lucas is on another growth spurt) and have kids yelling in the background.

What is not broken

Well this is one of the 5 bowls we have left out of the set of our wedding setting, isn't it beautiful....hahaha

Our plates are like this too and cups etc. We are trying to get a new dinnerware but we haven't found anything we like and we are picky on the bowl style. We actually weren't fawn of this set but someone started it as a gift so we just went with it. No... Tom and I weren't throwing dishes at each other either. They have broken in the microwave, dishwasher which they are suppose to be safe for both, as well a few have fallen too. The dinnerware might not be strong but at least our marriage is!!!

Why you ask...

Do I not write a lot about the house or happy stuff about the house. Because just as I feel better about the house other things come up. I know this is all about owning a house and there will always be something but could they be lest costly for once. Before I get into the new surprises here, lets just go over what we had to do already. Sorry I need to vent this out...

So we have:

1. replaced the roof and added rain gutters-we knew this and was one of the cheaper things but had some hidden extra cost as they found a third layer of roofing which isn't allowed so not sure how they got a third lay put on.
2. the wood floors- however new damages took place even before we took owner ship and cost more than it should have.
3. oh than the furnace die and had to be replace that we didn't expect.
4. Bathroom started leaking
5. got the molding put back up but won't hire that contractor again
6. Had to upgrade the electrical box for the house so our stove worked that wasn't expected
7. dishwasher got put in
8. fixed the carport structure it was falling down and at the time we didn't know if we wanted it or not(we probably should have just taken it down.
9. Had a tree fall on the house lucky no big damage but lots of time cutting up the tree.
10. Almost forgot we had to rebuild half the chimney.

Now list of things that have happen since we moved in and keep popping up.

1. there appears to be water leaking in under one of the doors into the family room.
2. there is a leak in the laundry room not sure if it is just the washer or a pipe.
3. found out that they painted over wallpaper, could not tell till now, the wall paper seem to be lifting off the walls
4. oh kitchen wall is chipping off yup more wall paper but a piece fell of and it looks like there is mold behind it all.
5. we eventually need new plumbing but that one we are holding off as it not to bad knock on wood.
6. we need a deck built and well since it looks like we fail with our grass we need to get that fixed.
7. need a water softener for the house we have hard water.
8. We need new windows since I don't believe the the glass is temper which is a little scary especially with the kids. I have to say one thing I like about the house is all the natural light, we have very large windows that I love but am not liking so much at the moment. Because I think most of them are going to have to be custom made. We got the quote for our windows project yesterday evening to be a min of 73K yes that is 73,000.00 actually there is also 7 cents in there too(the guy even said that haha) That is for the lowest grade replace window which I am not sure what that means. Which I have a feeling we didn't want the bottom base windows, especially if you look at resale value. We have to meet with him to see the break down of the cost and look at different windows. So 73K does 12 windows and one patio door. Patio door needs to be replaced because right now we lock it will a piece of wood so the door can't slide open. Huge update here and well it still not the best but sooo much better than above. Never believe an over tired mom trying to listen to an important call with kids yelling in the background. So the quote wasn't 73k Hallelujah!!!! Oh my goodness I could kiss the ground. Tom is never going to let me live it down either, however we still aren't sure if we can do it right now but it's about 12k. Which when you compare it to 73k sounds wonderful right!? 12K is the sale price with free insulation which is up our alley but you know there is always a catch....Sale ends tomorrow. Lots of talk going on tonight...
9. Oh and the kitchen needs to be gutted and redesigned so at least I can have some cupboards, a at least one drawer to put our silverware in and I counter would be nice. We looked at temporary island but we need one that is not open b/c the kids would just pull everything off and in the end they aren't cheap.
10. the big picture window in the family room is letting water in too.

I am going to stop there because I am finding it depressing. The windows was the tipping point for me the other day especial after our car needs to have a new front bummer which the quote came to more than that trip to Maui. arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. There was no accident but you know how sometimes ppl pull up too close to the parking stones and you hear the scrap. Well between Tom and I, Tom has a tendency if you compare the two of us to do it more often, which we don't do that often. But the one time I drive to the store and decide to park in a different area in the parking lot. Where there was actually a curb in front and didn't realize the front of the parking spot dipped down and up. We don't have a low sitting car either. Scraped the under the front bummer and it didn't sound too bad but something got caught and when I backed out a little well it didn't sound good and to the eye it doesn't look bad it's not like it's falling off and only if pointed out do you see the problem(the person at the body shop didn't think it was bad at the first look) but when we got it looked at of course the functionality to the bummer is compromiser and we need a whole new bumper. sigh things can really suck at times.

Okay anyhow I got to run the boys are quiet so that is probably not a good sign in this house.

We have a VACATION book!!!!!!

We bit the bullet and booked a Family vacation. Probably a stupid move but I think we all needed it. Tom found a sale to Maui and all four tickets with taxes and fees included under 1,000 dollars. We tried to go on a trip last decemeber before Jonas turned 2(I hate how 2 and up you have to pay for a seat, I think they should move it up to 3 yrs) so we only had to pay for three seats but it didn't work out. Anyhow all four tickets cost less than two tickets home to the Maritimes or Ottawa, crazy I know but sadly true. Our last vacation was when Noah was 16 months and I was almost 8 months pregnant with Jonas. So it will be over three yrs...38 months to be exact since our last vacation but who is counting right haha. Jonas is so excited to be at the beach for his 3rd birthday. I guess we'll have to have a small party for him before or after our trip.

I am happy we have this trip b/c I have to say I was pretty sad that only Tom will be going to Ottawa for Quinetin wedding at the end of July. I haven't been back to Ottawa since we left to move here. I miss our friends we had there and we aren't the best at staying in touch with them, so it would have been nice to go back with the kids. As well I am a bit upset that it doesn't look like Lucas will be Baptized in the same church the other boys were. Not sure how we are getting him baptized this yr but we have to look into it. Add on the family Flynn reunion which we are missing. Than the stress of this house few more things have crept in like the possible mold issue which they were probably hiding) and Tom's work the list goes on. But now with the excitement of this trip and the fact Grampie will be here Christmas day, December is looking pretty good!

Anyhow we are going to Maui an island I love so much and is so relaxing which is eating and going to the beach and sleeping and being a family. LOVE LOVE LOVE this type of vacation with family. I miss going to countries we haven't been to before and sight seeing but with children at least small children this is the vacation that I want!!!

Not too much is going one. Jonas has fully entered the I do it phase which seemed to happen and exploded over night. He can now dress himself with shoes now as well as buckle himself into his carseat. It's the I DO IT! which at times can be frustrating especially when you want to get somewhere but you aren't allow to help.

Lucas finally said MUM last night while yanking on my pants. he also hold onto the back of my legs and walks a little with me. I am not making him do it but he does it when I am trying to cook.

Noah not up to anything new at the moment but I am sure there is going to be a new skill coming up soon.

The boys room

Still working away on the boys room. I have yet to order the right color circles(bought these circle a while ago b/c I couldn't find what I wanted) and construction truck wall decals but I have found them.

Mr. Wobbles

I walked in and found this he already got half way and I had to put him back a bit to get the video. sniff sniff why does he have to grow up fast. Not even 8 months yet. Still love him though.

Flying our kite last November

The boys in the leaves last yr.

Okay pictures of our house before we moved in.

front of our house

Part of the back yard

Looking down the hallway from the entry and Living room. main bath would be right there on the left before walking down the hall. Noah and Jonas room is the first

door on the right, Lucas's is the next right and master is the door at the end on the left.

So this if the converted garage into a famly room. The door on the right side of the picture is our laundry room and small storage room.

This is our living room that still only has my rocker and at the dinning end which you can't see in the photo is where tom's mess desk is. I hope one day to buy an old drop lid or rolltop desk so I can just close the door on the mess.

Master bath (only a shower)

Main bathroom

This is Lucas's room and guest room.

This is the boys room

The master bedroom and a picture of the floor how we found it after the seller had the termite damage fixed(in my eyes doesn't looked fixed some thing is missing)

The kitchen. the dishwasher is now where the cabinets are by the fridge. That is all the storage we have. the microwave sit where the laptop is in the picture so no counter space. i put a cutting board arcoss the double sinks(at least I have a double sink!)

We're just not stopping

Here Another one of the little man, I have a bunch of old ones but i am having problems loading them up on my computer b/c apparently I am out of space, I also lost or my phone got stolen at tom's softball game(juggling to many things I guess, so a lot of videos I had are gone). Anyhow enjoy this one.

watch what I can do

I thought this was over do. Especially since none of our family except Nannie got to meet this little man and even now he is acompletely different baby since she flew back home when he was 5 days old.

guilty

So when I was little and my grandparents came to visit(my mom's parents). Sundays you can't doing anything but sit and read, make a meal and that is about it. We couldn't play cards or laundry etc. I like that concept I have to say and I wish i lived it more like they did. I try not to go to the stores etc. But sometime Sundays are the only day I can work on the house a little or pick up something with out the kids while tom is home. Today we planted a bush and cut dead parts of the rose bushes and well tom was chopping out part of a stump and went in with the kids while I took some swings at it too. My neighbour who reminds me or my grandfather came over and first ask what I was doing and than said that is what I have a husband for hahaha. But made the comment that I already know. "You're brave to be working on Sunday" I have to say I ran into the house and well i think if I do anything from now on it will have to be in the back of the house. I already feel guilty I haven't joined a church down here. They don't have any United of Canada Churches here but there is a Presbyterian church that might be similar to the church I use to go to. I know I need to get the boys into to church too. But the classes don't start till 4yrs and before that at this church they are in the nursery(seems a little weird to me). I would just like to go to church and not draw attention to us or me. We might get there yet b/c I need to get Lucas baptized and I don't think we'll be getting home before he is a yr since I like having them baptized before a yr.

I wish things seem to be more simpler at times. Or I wish I didn't feel like I make thing more difficult than they really are, I can be so chicken some times.

House

So I know I have been horrible and have not really posted much about the house. We moved in here when I was almost 7months pregnant with Lucas. Which means tired and exhausted. I myself will pat myself on my back b/c I myself unpacked every single box and sort of put it away hence why there wasn't much time to write about the experience. I have to say that before looking at buying houses I love to go look at houses but when we were looking to buy it was not as fun and I sort of didn't want a house right away I would have been fine living in the apartment at least till Lucas was 4 months or so. I would want to be out of there now though with him moving around. But Tom got it in his head we need one before the baby, and if we didn't find one by the end of July were were going to move most of the stuff in a storage and rent a month to month expensive 3 bd apt till we found one or something like that.

So many things happen in that time frame, a lot of ups and a lot of downs. We put bids on two other houses. On I like a lot except for the kitchen and it had nothing to be done to it. But the seller decided not to sell it in the end. The second house was small but on a 10, 000 sq ft lot. Didn't need any work either but was small(happy we didn't get that one). We and just I and the kids looked at a lot of house and lost track. Glad it is over. If we have to move I hope we can just build our house, I already have a dream house floor plan but I don't think that will ever happen. At least not down here. Okay back to the house we got.....At the end of June we'll have owned(well the bank owns it we just pay them for it) this house for a yr, and on July 19th we'll have been living in the house for a yr. Progress well since we moved in on the July not a whole lot, and since Lucas came nothing has been done. Well nothing except me putting up some

curtains for closet doors and the valances in the boys room and sadly one picture on the wall. Sad I know but the fact is that I have two boys that don't nap and a very fast growing almost 7month old who doesn't have any plans for slowing down sigh. it's hard to try to paint, sand and work indoors and out side since Lucas still loves to put stuff in his month, in goes grass and dirt. I was hoping it would be easier once Lucas was here(where I could move around better not being pregnant) but in fact it's been way harder to get the time to do stuff besides every day up keep and I am no pro at keeping up with all of that either.

There are times I love the house and a lot of times I get frustrated with the house and hate it. Mostly I don't hate the house really, I hate our situation in getting stuff done and I can't do anything with the house to make it what I want it to be. The smallest task which I could do in a day with out kids takes months to do. I have to admit there have been many tears over this place. but I love it to in my own way. I can't see us living anywhere else at times and I dream of the day it will be how I want it to be. Anyhow it's home, and it is what it is. So today I have one room clean haha sad I know and I realized I don't have pictures of the house so I will post pictures of Lucas's room. It's not complete at all but will probably be like this for a few yrs. Unless I become super mom with super powers.

Well that is the 360 in one room. Hopefully I will get back before a yr with another room. Maybe the living room since it still has no furniture in it but some like to use it as a dumping ground not naming any names haha.

You have to be kidding me!

I leave the family room for a moment go back towards the family room only to meet this...


Yes I know it's a cute face and I love this face but come on we aren't suppose to be climbing the stairs. Thankful we only have the two steps in the house which is one thing I love about this house. He managed to get up one step but got stuck. Only a matter of time now.

His other favorite things do is this. Jonas was climbing on me just when I went to take this photo and I missed his foot in the air but you can see some of his leg behind him, in the air.

6 months

Lucas is fallowing this brothers to the T's.

He was I believe 99% for weight and has dropped down to 60% at 18lbs 3.5oz and is 28 inches long which is still in the 90's%. Dr said mostly do to all his moving which she was shocked he has been crawling for a month now to the day. So we showed her what he can do and he crawled a crossed the room and out the door in no time on our way out. He is so fast now. Apparently even Noah was considered an early crawler at 7 months which I thought was the normal time but I guess I was wrong. She thinks he'll be walking early too since Jonas walked at 10 months and Noah walked at 12 1/2 months. I guess we'll just see anyhow here are the boys growth comparison.


Noah
birth 7 lbs 12oz 20"
6 months 14 lbs 1.5oz 26 1/4"

Increase of 6 lbs 5.5oz 6 1/4"


Jonas
birth 8 lbs 11oz 20''
6 months 18 lbs 3.5oz 28 1/2"

Increase of 9 lbs 8.5 oz 81/2"






Lucas
birth 10 lbs 2.1oz 22"
6 months 18lbs 3.5oz 28"

Increase of 8 lbs 1.4oz 6"

Crazy Jonas and Lucas were pretty much the same size at 6 months. Looking in Jonas baby book it appears he slowed down right after 6 months, Noah and Lucas slowed down before. I love how different and similar these boys can be!

Changes

Well I though that I would write about all the new things that are going on with us, since all our loved ones back home don't get to see us.

Most of the new things are with Lucas. 5 months was the big changing point for him.

• 5months 1 wk he started crawling now he is very fast and nothing stops him
  
• 2 days before turning 6 months he said his first word daddy, not da da but daddy to tom's face.
• Sitting up on his own actually when he was 4 1/2 months but at five he was doing better and longer. Now at 6 months he can hold it for more than 5 mins if he doesn't want to move. At music class he just sits and stares for about 10mins the other day.
• The day he turned 6months he got his first tooth.
• He can stand while holding on to things and if sitting in your lap on the floor he can pull himself up into standing but he' still wobbly.
• Love his jolly jumper and goes absolutely nuts in it and we only have 3 loops of the chain left, he's is going to be the first one to out grow it in this house.

Noah

• Can spell a few words and write his own name, with no help at all.
• He is still shy in big setting when we aren't involved so I am hoping this next soccer class helps(we had our next soccer class since I started writing this and it went wonderfully that mum was almost crying and dad was just as happy when he saw the last 15 mins of it)
  
• He'll be starting preschool 2 days a week in august(did you know schools start in august not September?) for 3 hours a morning.
• Noah has been getting himself dressed for over a yr but mum sometime tweaks our outfit choices lol.
  

Jonas

• Jonas has been potty trained for quite some time now. We started before moving, we had a short set back when Lucas came but was back on track with in a week or two. Still the rare accident but that happens more at home when we are playing hard and scared to stop playing and can't quite get to the bathroom in time or have harder pants to pull off and don't make it. But like I said it not often.
• we can count to ten, and a little with our fingers, we can see our ABC. We are still working on recognizing letters and numbers though.
• We can get dressed a little on our own but most of the time we still want help

Tom and I

WE are getting older haha, something our parents probably don't want to think about and something we don't want to either.

Tom's work is going well, he is still enjoying it. Which is the most important to us.

I am busy with the kids and the house(even though I am not making great progress on the house which is frustrating to say the least)

We are all healthy and happy so I shouldn't complain, too much.


Well this has taken a few days if not weeks to write and my time is up, so I am sorry for all the mistakes you might find reading this if you choose to do so. But if I don't hit the publish than you won't even get this to read.

Trip to Tahoe

I can never find the time to write on here these days. From time to time I start but am never able to finish, plus I figure since I never write here anymore no one checks this long forgotten blog. As well it is not like we do a lot of exciting things: so there is not a lot to report.

This week Tom took a few days off(a break before the storm of work to come) and we took the boys to South Lake Tahoe. The drive up was one long crazy trip. I have to say I am proud of our boys because it was such a long trip up. Will try and write about that adventure later. But they did well and no we don't travel with DVD player, but the boys do watch the GPS a little and I think Jonas was coloring and spelling on the iPad I feel blessed our boys travel really good. Noah did cry a bit during the last 10 miles or so because his bum hurt, and let's just say after what we went through everyone's bum was killing them from sitting so long. Jonas woke up two miles from the hotel and vomited all over his blanket. Lucas did well. So lots of adventure for us.

Any how we had lots of fun in the snow and swimming in the pool. It was an awesome family trip. I have to say I love our family trips! I don't really get families or couple that don't vacation together. There are so many memories we made and shared it is completely priceless. We keep talking about our trip and I know we will for a long time. Tom and I keep laughing at the sight of Noah coming back in from sledding, he was so tired his eye were almost shut, but he had the biggest smile on his face, he was a pretty funny sight to say the least.

The second day we were there we went to go to our sliding hill but the dump trucks took it over since it was snowing so much while we were there, that we we did the gondola ride up the mountain and than went into the pool. I have to say from skiing when I was a kid you use to take the chair lift or t-bar up the mountain to ski down. However I know the mountain back home are like peanuts compared to the Sierra's but it feels weird that you have to take the gondola up and down the mountain to to get to the chair lifts to go up the mountain further so that you can ski down the the top part.The view though is amazing!!

Lucas started crawling that week. He's a week earlier than Jonas was. Thankfully he not fast but he does get around quicker now instead of rotating in circles to move.

We had a wonderful time, I can't say it enough" I absolutely love family vacation" where there is no schedule and you just wake up and plan one thing and go from there. I have some pictures but they are on my phone(so they aren't that good) and this has taken more than a day to write so it will have to wait till next time.

Ps. short version our our drive up. Made it up with no problems until the last 16miles from town. It was snowing the whole time and the traffic wasn't moving we didn't know why for a long time and than we found out it was closed both way for avalanche control; meaning they put dynamite in the snow on the mountain and induce and avalanche and than they have to clean it up. It was a long 4 + hours sitting there. Mean while probably 40 min before traffic picked up again we realized our car battery died. Tom left the lights on and it didn't help I had my phone plug into the car for the GPS. sigh Luckily probably 7 cars back a group of young men had jumpers and the car in front of us helps us up...fun time in the Flynn Vacation. Oh and driving with chains is not fun at all. it's so bumpy and you can't go over 30 mph so long. I miss good studded snow tires when driving in those road condition. We finally got there at 9pm something could have been close to ten. exhausted and sore and tired. We were luck the trip home was smooth and uneventful, oh and only took 4.5 hours haha.

They are brothers

Well I get ask all the time which brother does Lucas look like and Tom and I agree that Lucas looks like both but maybe more like Noah when comparing photo's but you have to compare Lucas photo's to photo's of Noah pretty much 9+ months b/c Lucas is pretty much the size of Noah was around nine months. haha

Anyhow here are the differences in growth. As of 4 months...it will be interesting next month to compare them at 6 months

Noah
birth 7 lbs 12oz 20"
4 months 13 lbs 2.5oz 25"

Increase of 5 lbs 6.5oz 5"


Jonas
birth 8 lbs 11oz 20''
4 months 14 lbs 11.5oz 25 1/2"

Increase of 6 lbs 13.5 oz 5 1/2"

Lucas
birth 10 lbs 2.1oz 22"
4 months 16lbs 10oz 26 1/2"

Increase of 6 lbs 8oz 4 1/2"

just dropping in

It has been a while I know. It seem I can't find a lot of time to get on the computer actually this is the first time I have sat at the computer in months. Besides quick check on my phone theres not a whole lot of online time for me.

I have written a few blog entries on my email(on the phone) but they never seem to get finish or posted. Not that there is a lot going on with us. Just normal days lives of going to parks, soccer classes, music classes, play dates, trying to clean and Tom goes to work. So exciting I know.

Anyhow we are all good in our end of the world. All the boys are growing and happy just the way I like it. However I wish they weren't growing up so fast just as most parents feel about their little ones. I feel very blessed even on the hard days that I get to spend these early yrs with them b/c I know before I know it they will have families of their own. Don't believe me just ask your parents. :)

Well that is about all the time I have so I though I would end with a little video of our newest big man on the block.