Terrible, terrible Tuesday

I don't know how else to describe the day, or more like the morning, we had today.
Today just started off differently. Normally, Tony and I lay in bed until the absolute last minute possible and are usually joined by 1 if not 2 kids. Not today. We were both up and getting ready before either child had even opened their eyes.
Tatum was the first one up so we plopped her in her high chair while I rushed around like a crazy person before heading to work. Tony had given her a few toys to play with to keep her occupied. I just happened to glance over at her when I saw this horrible look of distress on her face and she was turning a shade of red... she started gagging.
I rushed over, ripped her out of her seat, flipped her onto her stomach and started giving back blows to bring up whatever was obstructing her airway. I kept checking, still obstructed and now she was going from red to blue. Tony was just getting into the shower, so he couldn't hear me calling for his help so I grabbed Tatum and ran for the bathroom to get him. I stopped halfway to continue back blows, still obstructed. Drool with blood was pouring out of her mouth and the look in her eyes made my stomach churn like nothing before. I got to Tony and STILL hadn't removed the obstruction. Tony called 911 and I kept trying. I must say, calling 911, as a paramedic, IN UNIFORM, felt very odd! While Tony was talking to dispatch I felt her take a deep breath and then start to chew on something. I looked, still didn't see anything but decided to feel around anyway and got it! It was a piece of scotch tape... I hate scotch tape right now. All gifts from me will be wrapped with any other kind of tape!
I keep reliving this morning events over and over and it makes me sick. We HAVE to be way more careful now that Tatum is mobile and puts everything in her mouth. My heart aches every time I think of her little face... Thankfully, she's perfectly fine now!! Just keeping us on our toes!

Is this for real?

Almost once a day I look at Rylan, I look at Tatum, I look at my house and I think, "Is this for real?!".
Why am I so lucky? I have a great husband (we've been together for 9 years today!) and a great life. I am so thankful! Look at these two... they make the darkest day bright.



I just had to share :)

Happy Mother's Day... Plant one on me!

How did you spend mother's day? It's half over here and we've been very, very busy!
I had a great morning with breakfast (still healthy as I'm not about to jeopardize my weightloss!), coffee and a beautiful card from my girls coloured by Rylan.



Later in the morning we stepped outside to plant approximately 34 perennials and 1 tree in our backyard. We are so proud of how it turned out!
Here are some photos to show you how much change has been made since last spring...





We started with a professional plan from Klomp's Landscaping in St. Marys. I'm so glad we went this route... I don't have time to research what plants work around a pool, in our soil and full sun.


I flipped it upside down because this is how I see the pool from the house.

Once I had the plan I used wood shims and paint stir sticks to label where everything would go. This was a great way to get a 3D plan!


$500 worth of plants doesn't look like a lot when they're bunched up on the patio!


Then just to be sure I set the plants down in their pots.


When I was happy with everything we put them in the ground!






So that's what we accomplished today! We still have to put some filter cloth down to keep some weeds out and top it off with some black mulch. I feel like I've been waiting forever to get this far. Last summer was annoying... it was hard to enjoy the pool with piles of dirt and weeds everywhere... not this year! Now we just need the temperature to shoot up about 20 degrees!

Natural Sunscreen? I like it!

Sunscreen is a necessity in our house. We just put in an in ground pool last summer and plan on spending every daylight hour possible in the backyard. :)

I've been doing a lot of reading about the make up of sunscreen lately because Tatum broke out in a rash a couple of weeks ago and I'm pretty sure that sunscreen to blame.
I have found a couple of sites with a DIY sunscreen recipe and I'm going to try it out and then test on myself. I couldn't find any information on the SPF rating for the recipes, but everything I read says that you can probably spend 2 hours in the sun without getting burned.

Here are the 2 recipes I plan on trying... I will test them out and post how everything turns out and hopefully come out with a favourite! It's storming here right now, but hopefully we will get a really sunny day soon so I can get a good test! Maybe I will put half one side of me and half on the other... if one doesn't work out, this could make for some interesting tan lines!

This one is from The Soap Guru:

• 5 oz grapeseed oil (feel free to infuse with herbs like Calendula or Plantain)
• 1 tablespoon shea butter
• 1/2 oz beeswax
• 4 0z lavender hydrosol (or any other hydrosol you like)
• 2 tbls zinc oxide powder

Mix the oil, shea butter and beeswax in a 2 cup pyrex measuring cup, put in a pot partially filled with water (to act as a double boiler), melt over medium-high heat. Add the zinc powder. Allow to cool until a crust starts to form around the edges. Using a hand blender, begin to slowly pour the hydrosol into the oil. Keep mixing until all the hydrosol is fully incorporated and the cream is smooth. Put into a clean, sterilized jar. Store in the fridge.

and the second one is from ehow.com. It's very similar. The directions are a lot longer, so just click on the link to check it out for yourself if you want.

I really hope these work. If not I found this Purple Prairie product that has had some good reviews. They also have a bug spray!

Do you know what the SPF rating on sun products actually means? I had to look it up. I did learn what it means way back when in esthetics school, but I couldn't remember. This article explains it pretty well and also explains why 2 people who put on the same product at the same time can have different success.

Wish me luck!

Everybody should own a DYSON!

After talking about it for a year, we finally bit the bullet and bought a new vacuum. Now this isn't just your ordinary vacuum, it's a Dyson! I had heard a lot of good things about them over the years, but the price was always a big deterrent for me. What if I spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars and it's really not as good as I had heard? Plus our house is roughed in for central vac, so we had to decide if we were going to go that route or not. Anyway... here's my story about me and my new BFF Mr. Dyson.

Friday April 23rd - I ordered my Dyson online from www.dysoncanada.ca. How much was it you ask? $372 including tax and shipping! We bought a refurbished one that still comes with a 2 year warranty... how can you beat that?! Even if I only get 2 years out of it, I think it was money well spent. Moving on...

Wednesday April 28th - Pam, our cleaning lady (I hate that term, what should I be using?) came and made our house sparkle like new. It was our first time having someone else clean our house and WOW, it's awesome! She vacuumed using our old vacuum because my BFF hadn't arrived yet. Our carpets looked fantastic... she has a lot more patience with our vacuum than I do!

Thursday April 29th - The Dyson arrives!!! They said on the website that I would get it within 7 days, and they were right! I know that Pam was just here, but I had to see if it was as good as I had expected. I started in our bedroom and I filled the canister with dog hair, dirt and carpet pieces TWICE!! I even had to be careful where the carpet met the hardwood floor for fear that it would rip it up.

This is pretty gross, but I can't say enough in words to demonstrate the power of Dyson.

Here is the 1st canister full from our bedroom:

GROSS!!
and the 2nd canister...

That is from 1 room after it had been vacuumed by our previous vacuum!
If that didn't gross you out, here are the contents from our 3 carpeted bedrooms and basement rec. room... ready?

Isn't that sick? The bag was actually heavy! We played with our children on this disgusting carpet. What were we breathing in before now? I must say...it's the best $372 I've spent in a while! Ok except for my new camera! :)
Here is what our Dyson looks like... it's the DC-17. If you don't own one, buy one, you'll love it!