Happy Father's Day

Father's Day fell during out trip to Sandbanks so I promised Matt a celebration day when we returned (the actual Father's Day itself was a bust for Matt - he made breakfast, lunch and dinner and I was a total crab and forgot all about it). I sent him out the Friday after we returned for a full day of stuff that he likes/needs to do, but can never find time for. First up, the driving range to hit a couple buckets of balls. Then off to a specialty store to pick up a few Pittsburgh Penguins hats to celebrate their Stanley Cup Champion status. Next up, a trip to the mall for a haircut, shopping for some shirts and shoes. The day finished off at the spa with a massage. I think Matt enjoyed his day but unfortunately we didn't get any pictures.

Ontario Science Centre

On our last day in Toronto, we headed to the Ontario Science Centre. Our membership at the Science museum here gives us free entry there so we figured it would be a great place to spend a few hours. They have a giant, hands-on kids exhibit and Simon loved it. It had everything from a working hot-air balloon, water, building blocks, ball chutes and of course, Simon even managed to find a dump truck. Matt was right in there with Simon showing him how everything worked, while I passed out on a bench. I did manage to turn this in to useful skill later on in the morning when I went up early to wait in line for the IMAX movie.

We also took Simon to see his first movie (well technically it wasn't since I took him to movies all the time on maternity leave, but this was the first one for him). It was called under the sea and was basically a documentary on the sea life and how it is endangered by the rising populations and temperatures. It was scary at parts but Simon loved it, not surprising since he loves to watch fishing with Poppa. Thankfully the IMAX effect didn't make him sick like the poor boy we passed in the hall on the way out!

We were all pretty tired out after 2 1/2 hours at the museum so we decided to call it a day and head home. Simon thankfully slept the majority of the way in the car so we could enjoy some silence.

Out of the Mouths of Two-Year Olds

With Grandma watching sports news and showing pictures of basketball.
Simon do you play basketball?
No, black guys do!

Uh oh, we have some educating to do.

Stanley Cup Champions

The endless hockey watching finally resulted in something to celebrate. Matt's team pulled off a victory and won the Stanley Cup. Matt brought the television outside to watch game 7. It went down to the wire and Matt managed to contain his reaction and only wake half the neighborhood when the time expired. I was expecting a few tears (I don't know why since I have only seen known Matt to cry twice since we've been together and neither of those times coincided with the birth of our children!) but he managed to hold it together.

"Run Daddy, Run"

Where have all the flowers gone

Well with all of the basement renovations that we have been doing and weekends filled with rain, we didn't quite make it down to the festival portion of the Tulip festival. Needless to say, upon arriving today, we learned that tulips have an incredibly short life. We did manage to find a few beds with colour left on them and from a distance could pass as flowers but for the most part, we just enjoyed the stems, fresh air and a walk with Simon down by the water.

Tractor Obsessed

Well it figures now that construction is wrapping up in our neighbourhood that Simon would suddenly develop a love bordering on obsession for tractors (a.k.a "Dan"). Simon first encountered a tractor (named Dan) in one of his first books and was drawn in by its' flashing lights and loud noise. It wasn't until he started visiting the tractor exhibit at the farm that his obsession took root. Now we can't drive anywhere without being on the lookout for tractors. Walking to daycare has becoming an ordeal and it can take up to 1/2 an hour to walk down three houses because we are too busy watching all of the construction activity. In the past few weeks, they finished the landscaping on the houses in our neighbourhood (yeah, we no longer live next to an abandoned building lot but actually have real live neighbours), watched neighbours dig for a pool and watched while they ripped up the street in preparation for final paving. Needless to say, we have spent a lot of afternoons on the front lawn watching the tractors at work. I must say, this has been perfect for me in my pregnant state. Sitting and watching tractors with a totally engrossed 2 year old is a lot easier than chasing my crazy toddler.

I bought Simon a tractor picture book earlier this week and in three days he can already distinguish about a dozen different tractors. It's so fun listening to his tractor speak - his favourites are "backhoe", "mini excavator", "front-loader", "forklift", "bulldozer". We may just have a future farmer or construction worker on our hands or maybe just a wannabe like every other man who wishes they could dig their flower beds with machinery!



"Me ride it please"



Simon, enjoying a snack and watching the tractor laying the neighbours new grass

More Updates on Pregnancy Number 2

I had my latest appointment and ultrasound this week. Aside from the long wait at the doctor's office, things were pretty uneventful. Baby was measuring fine, blood pressure was okay, heart beat was normal. Apparently, I have a "history" of big babies so I need to go for a fourth ultrasound a few weeks before my due date to get a size estimate but other than that, nothing new.

The ultrasound was scheduled to check the location of the placenta. My earlier ultrasound had shown that the placenta was close to the cervix which would have caused issues for delivery. Well it was all good news. The ultrasound confirmed that this was no longer an issue and she gave us an approximation on the weight - looks like another big baby as he was already measuring in at 4 lbs.

Other than the obvious aches and pains associated with pregnancy, things are going well. This pregnancy is totally different than last though as it seems all of our preparations are centred around Simon versus the new baby. We have decorated his room, settled him in a new bed and come up with a new routine to get him used to his new room. Aside from moving Simon out of the nursery and washing a few clothes, we haven't done anything specific to prepare for the new arrival. Although we do have a list a mile long......

Day Two Score: Big Boy Bed 1, Simon 0

Well the second night in the big bed didn't go quite as smoothly as the first. Around 5am this morning, I heard a poor little boy sobbing and woke up Matt to go to him since carrying Simon down the stairs is just not possible for me these days. Matt found Simon on the floor crying and figured that he had woken up and climbed down. After a bottle and some cure all Fraggle Rock, Matt tucked Simon back into bed. Fast-forward to 7:45am when I had to go in to wake him up so that I could get working and Simon had his shoulder jammed up against the headboard and his head hanging over the side of the bed - I'm guessing that if he was sleeping like this last night too, that he likely fell off the bed versus climbed down. We're going to have to adjust the bedrail closer to the headboard tonight and hope that he doesn't take another header off the bed. Poor little guy - what a rude awakening.

First Night in His Big Bed

Matt was home yesterday to catch up on some of the man tasks around the house (which is pretty much everything these days in my pregnant state). He installed a gate at the top of the stairs and fixed the door to Simon's new room so we were good to go for a full night in the big boy bed. After a few books, no less than four of his favourite blankets and he was good to go for the night. He was out within minutes and there wasn't a peep until this morning when he shouted, "Mommy, nice nap". It looks like it was a success! Now if only we could get around to finishing the room...