My Poor Little Chickens...

That's the newest line in our house. I think it comes from Tony's side of the family since both of his parents (who are divorced) have said it at least once this week.
My kids are sick. It breaks my heart. :(
On Thursday of last week, Rylan started to cough and her nose started to run. I felt bad for her since just a week prior she had a nasty GI issue, puking & diarrhea... gross! She was really crusty and had a hard time sleeping because her nose was so stuffed. What a nightmare! She's been gradually getting better and has less of a cough, less nose running today and is acting more and more like herself. She has even slept in until 8 am for the past 2 days!
I didn't know how hard it could be to see your kids sick until Tatum got sick too. It's bad at 2, even worse at 5.5 months! Tatum started showing signs of a cold on Saturday. She was coughing and her nose was running. On Sunday night Tony, Tatum and I were watching Scott & Tessa skate (GO CANADA GO!) when she started coughing again. It was undeniably croup. The loud, seal like bark coming from my little baby! She kept coughing and was having a hard time catching her breath. I debated whether I should take her in to the ER to get checked out. It's funny, being a paramedic, I'm SO hesitant to take her to the ER because I don't want to waste anybody's time. I know how often this happens. But as her breathing rate picked up and her cough continued, I decided to take her. We got there at 11 and waited about 10 minutes before being triaged. They took her vitals and heard the god-awful cough. Her oxygen saturation was a little low, so they took us back right away. As soon as we got to the room, we got the boot! An ambulance was bringing someone in. I felt like cursing the ambulance... but I couldn't really!
So we went out to the waiting room and waited for the next available bed. So to make a long story (or wait) short, she had severe croup and was given a steroid to calm the inflammation of her larynx. I was told that if her breathing worsens or gets louder to bring her back. Tony inflated the air mattress in her room for me so I could sleep in there and keep a close eye and we settled down to bed around 3am.
On to the next day. Tatum still wasn't acting herself. She was crying a lot, coughing (not the croup cough), having trouble eating because her nose was stuffed and not having a lot of wet diapers as a result. I was told that after day 3 she would improve. It was currently day 3, so I waited it out patiently. Day 4: Still not well. I got out my stethoscope to listen to her breathing and could hear a bit of wheezing. Tony and I discuss it and thought it was probably just part of the croup working it's way out. I wasn't completely convinced, but I went along with it. A few hours pass and Tatum still wasn't eating much and hadn't slept. She was getting more and more fussy, and she was becoming a really noisy breather. I took out the old stethoscope again and sure enough my poor little chicken was full of wheezes and she was using a lot of accessory muscles to breathe. I decided to take her back into Emerg. Once again we were taken back right away, except this time we didn't get booted out of our room!
She was assessed and a Respiratory Therapist came in and gave her some Ventolin. It didn't take all the wheezing away, but it did make things better. We were told she probably had the virus know as RSV. It's quite common although her cough will probably last for 4-6 weeks!!
Anyway, today, she is MUCH better and I actually got a few smiles out of her! The first 7 - 10 days are known to be the worst and we are on day 6... almost done! Hopefully that's all the illness we'll get in this house this winter!

The quest to rid myself of this 'Mommy Tummy'

I hate it. Picture flesh coloured Jell-O that has been attacked by a tiger. Not pretty... and I apologize if I made anyone sick or discouraged anyone from getting pregnant. It doesn't happen to everyone, so take the chance! Actually, it didn't happen to me with Rylan.
I'm going to blame it on getting pregnant with Tatum less than a year after giving birth to Rylan. I don't know if it's true, but that's what I tell myself!
I definitely had a jelly belly after Rylan, but it seemed to de-jellofy (no, that's not actually a word) a lot sooner, plus I didn't get a single stretch mark when I was pregnant with Rylan. I thought I was home free for subsequent pregnancies but I guess not.
You may wonder why I am posting about this on my blog. The truth... I need motivation. We just put in a pool last summer and I do not plan on hiding under a sweatshirt in July like I'm doing now.I've got a lot of work to do. I wasn't in tip top shape when I got pregnant in the first place, so I not only want to get back to my pre-pregnancy state, but to my pre-marriage state.
So I figure I have 20lbs to lose and I'm giving myself until next Christmas. Seems fair. It's only 1/2 a pound a week! Sounds easy enough...
I am still breastfeeding exclusively, so I can't really cut my diet too much. My focus until I'm finished breastfeeding (probably June/July) is to develop a good workout regiment and make healthy food choices. So eating 1/2 a carrot cake with cream cheese icing for lunch will have to stop. Too bad because it was the best tasting lunch I've had in a long time!
I will be updating my stats weekly and I hope like hell there will be changes or I'm going to look like a fool! A fool who looks 4 months pregnant when I'm not even pregnant at all!
So here they are, I'm nervous typing this!
Weight: 146lbs (ok, now pretend you didn't read that)
Bust: 41" (hopefully once the milk is gone this stat will decrease, and lift!)
Waist: 39" (measured from my widest point... I think I can see the carrot cake poking out)
Hips: 37" (I'm an upside down triangle!)
Thighs: 20"
Bulging Biceps: 11"
Well, I've done it. Let the games begin!

Did you eat paint chips as a child?

Name the movie!

I have decided that after 3.7 years of living in this house and after obsessing over Young House Love.com, I'm finally going to decorate it to my taste! We haven't done much since we moved in. In fact, I just hung pictures up on nails that existed from the previous owners! We did upgrade our counter tops about a year and a half ago and put in a pool last summer... so we are doing something, just not decorating. Our counters were a huge improvement, so now I'm ready for paint!

Yesterday Rylan, Tatum and I made a trip to Home Depot (which Rylan can say clear as a bell now) to pick out a few paint samples. Behr has a new paint that is a paint and primer in one. Totally worth the extra money! Unfortunately, all the colours I chose for our house, aren't the 2-in-1 paint colours. Oh well! While perusing umpteen colour choices with my young decorating team, I came up with a brilliant idea. The paint and primer combo paint had really nice samples. They are big, and just one colour per sheet. They have little holes punched out in the corners and supply rings so that you can clip a few of them together and make one of those little books that designers always have. Anyway, onto my brilliant idea. I picked up a few vibrant and obvious samples, like blue, red, yellow, orange, green and black. When we got home, I clipped them all together and wrote what each colour was on each one. Rylan has already been doing really well with her colours but I thought this was a good way for her to associate the colour with the word. It may be a little early to start this kind of learning... but the kid's a genius! Just like all kids are to their parents! She knows the alphabet, even out of order. I can write a random letter or number on our chalkboard and she can tell me what it is. She struggles with G and Q, but c'mon, she just turned 2! I'm so proud!

Olympic Mania!

Ok, I can admit it. The girls and I have been spending an awful lot of time in front of the TV lately. I am wrapped right up in these Olympics! A few weeks ago I was at The Bay and they had just received a new shipment of Canadian Olympic gear. I picked up a red zip-up sweatshirt in a size 2 for Rylan and one in 6-12 months for Tatum. I also grabbed a pair of mittens for myself.
As I walked around looking for a wedding gift for my friend Jill (the reason I was even at The Bay) I started to feel guilty. My girls have SO many clothes, do they really need these sweatshirts? Would they even wear them enough to justify the $50? Probably not, so I put them back but did sneak my mitts in with my wedding gift purchase!
Then the Olympics begin, as does my obsession. Now my girls definitely NEED those sweatshirts! On Tuesday I couldn't wait to get the girls packed up and out to the mall. We get to The Bay and well... everything was gone!!! In kid sizes anyway. I was so disappointed and annoyed with myself. I managed to get a blue zip-up for Tatum in 0-6 month (they run big, so it's working out well), a boys large for myself in black and all I could find in a size 2 was a lousy T-shirt for Rylan!
We got home and back down into our own Olympic village, which is our TV room in the basement, and started watching more events... and that's when I saw it... a commercial for Olympic gear from Zellers! How could I forget that Zellers is a part of HBC!? As soon as Tony got home from work I rushed out feeling optimistic that I would be able to snag a size 2 hoodie for Ry. Once again I was disappointed after digging through multiple disorganized heaps of clothing in boxes. I did find an 18-24 month red zip-up that I bought anyway to try. Now to get Rylan to try it on. She has a thing for not wanting to do anything I want her to... I call it the terrible 2's. I'm hoping that term catches on ;) I finally convinced her to try it on after calling it her Scott & Tessa sweater. It is now a favourite!
Rylan & I (and Tatum too if she was old enough to understand) can't wait to watch Scott & Tessa skate this weekend! "I believe" Rylan says it best...

I've been sew busy!

Once again, it's been way too long since I last posted. I won't make any more promises about posting more regularly since, let's face it, it will just be broken. I have been occupying my precious 2 hours a day without kids (between their bedtime and mine) with a few sewing projects!
I love sewing! Even though the only formal training I received was in my grade 8 Design & Tech class. We made a pencil case...
When I was pregnant with Tatum I decided to make myself a nursing cover. A friend of mine had one and paid almost $50 for one from a specialty baby shop. I decided that I wanted one so I could feed Tatum anywhere and not have to worry about exposing myself. That's when I began my search for the perfect fabric. I decided on this nice Amy Butler pink and white floral cotton.

I added a lining to keep the baby nice and cool and I also added a piece of boning between the two straps so that the cover bows out and baby is visible while I nurse. I was and still am quite proud of it and use it more than any other baby thing I have, excluding my boobs of course! After so much use, I realized that a couple of added features would make this cover even better. I have been making a few of these for friends and friends of friends lately and have since added 2 terry cloth pockets to each bottom corner. They're great for keeping breast pads/soothers in while feeding and the terry cloth works wonders for wiping away milk mustaches!

Here are some pictures of ones I have made recently... (all out of high end designer fabrics I might add!)

Terry cloth pockets

Rectangle rings - adjustable strap

Some finished projects! Nicely bundled with washing instructions.
(Nothing crazy, wash in cold water, low heat dry or air dry and iron if necessary.)
Please excuse the disgusting water stains on my ironing board!

Anyway, I'm out of projects for now, but I did buy the CUTEST fabric to make some throw cushions for the girls' playroom when it's finished! I think it will be a while... we're stuck at the drywall stage! Here is the fabric I just bought from www.etsy.com (I love this site!!)

I'll be sure to post the finished projects! I was thinking about using red for the backs, maybe with white polka dots!