Life at the zoo

Well that is pretty much what our house feels like, and most of the time I don't mind at all. We are all trying to adjust to being back home now after over 3 wks of being back in Canada seeing our families, well the three boys and I!

It was an unexpected trip which was bitter sweet, So we tried to make the best out of it. I am going to focus on all the great things on our trip in this post.

Our families finally got to meet Lucas which made us happy. We stayed at my parents for a while and the first three days our family was almost complete but just missing Tom. My parents had 12 grandchildren there and they all had a great time together! I have to say I enjoyed seeing them all play together and the Boy having a great time with their cousins. My older nieces and nephew were awesome with the younger one! Every morning they ask if they were going to see at least some of their cousins. We did some beach trips with my sister Sandy and her family and it was a lot of fun and the boys loved every moment with their cousins.

We did a trip up to NB to visit the Flynn families too. We stayed at mom Flynn the first night for a rest before driving the last hour to Trevor and Sarah's place. I as so exhausted from the drive that I am glad I stop at Mom's b/c I fell asleep putting the boys to bed. I never got in my pj's or finished making my tea, eat the peach I cut and lastly never finished talking to Mom(sorry mom). Well the boys had a great time with Sean, Hayden and Rowan. I have to say they all did really good pretty good playing together and not too many arguments over toys! I loved the fact that Rowan would come up and cuddle with me on the couch and fallow me, I even had some bushy eyebrows for him to play with too :D. Miss ya little buddy. We were happy that Uncle Dan, Aunt Genevieve and Victor could make it out to see us for the BBQ. The dark brown eye's victor has are going to stop many girls in their tracks. I was a little sad I didn't get to play with him but since I am a stranger I figure it was best I didn't pick the little man up but I did steal a quick game of peak a boo with him when he was play on his cousins play structure! The were all awesome boys.


Well on our trip home and the last month Lucas has changed so much and dad could tell right away.
1. Lucas took his first steps before we left and before Tom left for Ottawa. But he is now walking 8 step in a row, he does prefer walking on carpet or rugs, than hard floors at the moment.
2. He can drink from a straw
3. clap his hands
4 .the day before we left he stood up in the middle of the room with out any help or assistance. It was all him with nothing around.
5. He also started saying UH AH instead of UH OH when we had pizza with Grampie before we left NB when he dropped his straw on the floor.
6. And just being home for a little over a day now he is already getting up and walking after the boys, He walked the whole length of our family room after Jonas. It not going to be much longer now that he is going to want to walk all the time and say good bye to crawling.

7. waves bye

I am sure there are other things but that is all I can think of.
He is having a hard time yesterday, hoping today is better. He got so spoiled with our families cuddling him and holding him so much which he does not get here or I wouldn't be able to get things done so there was lots of crying.

We still have some jet leg a bit and getting up too early and waking up some at night but I am hoping that will end soon. Especially for Lucas who I think only slept through the night 2 when we were home which were the first two nights. Now that he is in his own room and I am not worried about waking anyone else up

Well I have to say we came back to beautiful windows though. I love them I just wish I got the before and after pictures of them, which I was hoping but Tom didn't think of it when they were installing them but I will try and take some photos of them anyhow and show you the finish product. I do have to call them back thought to see if they can do something about our screen door b/c the lock on it is not really good and Bella can actually unlock the door and gets out. Hopefully something can me done. So now hopefully next summer we can get another project on the house done. But for now I will keep looking at my windows!

just another update

Not too much going on here. Tom leaves Thursday very early to fly to Ottawa for four day for Quentin's wedding. Pretty disappointed me and the boys can't go but not much we can do about that now. Money sucks period. I do hope he'll have fun b/c lets face it we sure don't get to go out or do anything fun together, and he pretty much works no stop so I really hope he can have some fun even though I am seriously jealous!

Well it sure now that the Flynn family is going to finally have a girl in the family. Tom's brother Dan just found out that they are having a girl in late September. So I am pretty sure everyone is very excited! So congrats to the two of them I know Genevieve really wanted a girl.

Well we get our windows soon Got the new credit card in the mail so we can pay for them woo hoo just what we need more credit haha. Well at least it will hopefully keep the summer heat out and the winter cold out. Tom and I are really excited to have a working patio door than the windows. So next Thursday they start and I am hoping it will be a one day job but the book Friday too just in case.

Got to get on the ball and get Noah's pre school papers done. he's suppose to start next month. Seem strange starting school in August but the do down here and they get out the beginning of June. It's going to through me off big time since I always think as August as summer since it still is really.

Lucas is starting to walk. Just a few step here and there. Very different from the other two boys. Once the other two took even two steps they were walking the next day none stop but there is no hurry for him to get going fast, well at least I don't think he should hurry. But I have no doubt he'll be going full steam at the end of August for sure.

The boys are in bed and I am just waiting for tom to get home and putting off cleaning...sigh I really wish I had a live in maid or someone to walk behind the boys and Tom to pick up everything they just drop and leave around. But I guess that is what I am here for right. Mom's work never ends. Well should run because nothing will get done if i keep sitting here now will it.

I need to post some new pictures I know but I was hoping to edit some actually but at last I have no time to do that so I will just post the un edit pictures, soon.

what a day

Well Lucas had his 9 month and his %'s are going down a lot now.He is now 29. something % for weight down from 90+% from birth and his height is 78% down also in the high 90%. He is totally one of our kids. So he is 19lbs 8oz and 29 1/4 inches at 9months. He is babbling non stop and I find he is very much like his big brother Noah , right down to expressions and looks. The only think I am not liking very much is since we were all sick last month we are not sleeping that well at all and it is wearing on me. Looks like I will be doing some sleep training again....so so tired. He is just not happy today and is screaming like mad if he's put down and will not sleep, it like he got needles too which he didn't.

Well Noah completely surprised me today...He had to get some needles even a TB skin test for pre-school and he screamed and cried like I never heard before in my life, he even yelled Stop that at the nurse and get it out!!! He has never really cried at all with the needles and I had to pin him down and he cried all the way to the car. He made Lucas and Jonas cry in the injection room. Tom will becoming for his next set of needles which most likely will happen next month I think.(he doesn't have all his needles yet). And he still screaming now and than about his arms which I know are sore but he will for get about it and play and t have all of a sudden remember and he can't lift his arms and screams...long day. Jonas is tired too so he's just hitting and screaming...is there a full moon today?!?!
Well in the dr. office, Jonas started screaming he had to pee so I ran out of the room with Lucas and Jonas to the bathroom down the hall and Noah stayed with the dr and talk her ear off that she was laughing when I got back. She told me he told her all about his birthday and that he is 4 now, he had a bouncy house at his party and he spelled the word Zoo. I didn't even know he knew how to spell that yet but he has been pretty much learning a new word each day I would say, He has duck down, cat,dog, his name, mom, dad, and so many more. He is such a sponge these days and every day I am in a spelling test and it's is getting harder for me b/c he is picking out much bigger words and the English subject is my worst subject and my very weak point sigh.

Well I am still waiting on Lucas's passport to come. I was really hoping it would have been here yesterday. Jonas's passport came in a week but I guess this time around it's not going to happen :S. Still hoping any day now.

Well Tom will be leaving in a little over a week to Ottawa now! Completely and ultimately down in the dumps and I could say depressed to some extent that I can not go with him. I haven't been back to see our friends in Ottawa since we left and what more fun could it be to go back for one of our friends wedding!! Money sucks is all I can say I wonder if I will ever get back there I love that city and our friends! I know it wouldn't be the same life with the boys there but still it suck that I can't go to the wedding too. But tonight I am going to see Deathly Hollows Part 2 I am so excited I an't even express myself. I love the HP movies/books and As well getting a little get away from this day is just what I needed!!! Woo hoo can't wait the movie is going to be awesome!!!!!!

Before and after

Well it not finished but we finally got furniture!!!! Woo hoo. still need like end tables, stuff on the walls but that is not a big thing. We have paint touch ups and well actually you can't see it but the seems of the wall paper under the paint are starting to show and cracking. Not sure when we'll deal with that but now we can sit in this room. I love being able to sit and read in the room and in the winter I can't wait to sit comfy and watch the fire. The boys love the furniture too. I am not sure if these are the pieces we would have picked out if we didn't have the boys with us. I like the look but not sure if they are really comfy. Shopping for furniture with three kids is pretty much not a good thing but what can you do. I figure if we don't end up loving them than well if the family furniture ever breaks these pieces can go in there and than we can get new pieces for the living room but some how I don't think the family furniture will die. hahaha. Anyhow I want a mirror in a white frame over the fireplace and have that wall painted a light blue with the other walls an light cream color I think sort of like the color behind the couch but more yellow than brown it's a very light beige. I have some wall decals to go up like a small tree with birds but not sure if I want to put them up where I know we have to remove the painted over wallpaper(this really bothers me because it is not easy to remove, I think I have ruin the drywall in Lucas room and I worry that we may have to replace the dry wall, which in this house in order to get done mean I have to hire someone to do it, unless there is some crazy person that wants to help me out. haha I was hoping tom and I could put the walls up in the laundry room this summer but I don't think that is going to happen at all. sigh But Hey look at the living room we have furniture :)

Noah's Party

window it is.

Well we bit the built and I am very nervous if it was right or not. But since we could get financing with interests free payments for a yr we decided to go for it. We'll have new windows probably sometime in August. The papers are all signed and they were supposes to come this morning and do the final measurements but they called to say the person that was suppose to come out was really sick and couldn't make it. I have to say I was extremely relieved and thanking whoever was looking down and realized I had enough going on with sick kids. The house is a disaster and I was already running around trying to pick up things...which is not going well b/c the littlest one of all hasn't been sleeping and only wants to be held(which is actually sad to see). So next Wednesday they will come out and than it's 4-6wk wait, than 1-2 day insulation. So excited now everyone one in our neighborhood won't hears us anymore.

So we had Noah's 4yr well child dr appt. I took all three kids hoping she could look at them quickly. I knew what ever Noah had the others had. So we get there and some how they aren't sure how but our appt got cancelled during the night(they are looking into it). I was extremely tired and well could have cried but I was tired too. I just asked what do they want me to do. I didn't care what it was I just wanted to know. Anyhow they managed to get us in fast which was nice but bad too because now they are rushing us and well I don't think everything got looked at properly and not all my question got answered. Anyhow during the appt she quicky listen to Jonas lungs and said we need to make an appt Jonas and Lucas to get better looked at. So back out into a waiting room with three sick kids which all had temperatures, till the next opening. Noah and Jonas wearing mickey mouse hospital mask but over all well they did okay for not feeling well. Jonas whine A LOT and kept crying to go home... I have to say the staff was wonderful to us, that I can't complain about it too much. I was just exhausted and it was a long day. Noah and Jonas have walking Pneumonia and are antibiotics, Lucas I am pretty sure has it but since he was only just over 24 hours with the symptoms and not 5 days like the boys it was to soon to tell but I have to keep watching him. We are hoping that I got the virus but have had it sometime in my life so that my body has the antibodies and Lucas is getting them through me(yay for breastfeeding is all I can say). So they are on some pedilite too but I can't get them drinking it it and of course they hate the medicine I had to pick up(they say it's too spicy...LOL). So I am fighting with them trying to get them to drink fluids(This house has more juice in it than the last 4 yrs...which they aren't into grape, mango stuff tom pick out or the orange and apple that they normally have on a rare occasion) so hard on the head, but I think they have peed twice today woo hoo.

However Noah stats are in and he is 31 1/2 LBS and 39" tall. Noah also has an eye appt with the Ophthalmologist to get his eyes looked at since he is having some trouble reading now and than. Not to surprise that he's having trouble seeing. Tom and I haven't really passed on the best eye genes to our children sadly.

Well Jonas and Lucas got weighed too at their sick appt and

Jonas at 30 months weighs 28lbs 15.5oz

Lucas at 8 months weighs 19 lbs 7.5oz

HOT

There is no other word to say with that but HOT HOT HOT. I don't like it, even the walls are sweating and having sick kids with fevers in this heat is not much fun either. So it's 95 and don't ask me what it feels like b/c of course it feels hotter than that. Normally we have the heat but not the humidity and normally it cools down at night but last night it did not and it was already 86 at 10am. Lucas is having trouble napping b/c it's so hot, not having AC on days like this really sucks.

right!

So not much is getting done and I am going crazy b/c I can't seem to get stuff done and the place is getting more and more a mess, and I am in just in survival mood!!! So hope things get a little easier around here. As well for this weather to go away.

Oh to be BOYS!!!

Noah sing.

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.