More like the Erin we all know and love!!!

I have a quiet moment right now, so I thought I would insert an update before my usual weekend one!

Erin is getting back to her old (young!!) self finally! It has been quite a ride for the past week and a half. She has been terrified to chew and took to screaming fits at the thought of having her teeth brushed. We had a breakthrough last night though, when she took it upon herself to brush her own teeth!! Whew!! I hope we don't have to go through something like that again anytime soon! She is still a bit fearful of chewing anything, but every now and then I take a peek and can see her trying the chompers out!

Well, on top of this good news, Erin has had a delightful week of being waited on hand and foot by her beloved cousin Emily! I think I mentioned that the daycare is closed for a couple of weeks, so Emily is coming out everyday to babysit Erin. I think they are both having a good time! Today Erin got another special treat, because she got to go and spend the day with Aunt Elaine! That's actually where she still is right now. Well, she's probably on the way home with Gord by now I suppose. Hence the quiet moment to myself! I even got some time to go and have a coffee with Dee after work! I can only imagine the wonderful stories Erin will have from her big day in Ottawa with Aunt Elaine! Once I get more details, I'll fill in the blank!

Erin was a big girl this past weekend when she got her hair cut too. I'm surprised how much they took off, but it looks much better now. Yes, I saved a chunk of the clippings!!

Oh, I should also mention that Patricia and Ashley have chosen a name for their baby boy - Malcolm Edward! I can't wait to meet him! Patricia, if you read this over the next couple of days, I am going to give you a call next week to check in!! I sat back and smiled when I read about their baby and all of a sudden realized he will be 2-weeks old already this weekend! It reminds me how time flies. Why Erin is going to be 3-years old in another 6 weeks! I'm sure Patricia and Ashley will treasure the time with Malcolm as much as we have with Erin.....

On a closing note, for anyone who knows Erin or has had the pleasure of meeting and conversing with her (listen to me!!!!) they will know she is a bit of a witty girl. Yesterday afternoon we were sitting outside after dropping off Emily. Erin was happily colouring the brick patio with chalk and we were having a big chat about her day. She all of a sudden asked me if I would help her colour. I told her I would in a few minutes, but for now I just wanted to sit and watch her. Miss smarty pants stands up, puts her hands on her hips and says: "Mummy, you know it won't kill you to help me colour this patio". Where do they get this stuff!! Oh and by the way, yup, I did get down to help her colour the patio. And no, it didn't kill me!!!

Until next time.....

OUCH!!!!!

Erin is having a nap right now, so I thought I better put in an update since a lot of things have happened since I last checked in!

Well, 'OUCH' represents how we felt for Erin last Saturday night. The poor little bug came running across the living room, tripped and fell chin first into the bottom of the loveseat. The blood started pooring out, followed by a big chunk of one of her molars, and another small chip from another. She also loosened a bunch of her bottom teeth. So we whisked her off to the dentist on-call (who is incidentally in Ottawa) that evening. Erin was just the bravest little girl I have ever seen. She was really scared, but got to sit on Gord's lap while they took a look and took some x-rays. Thank goodness the roots were not broken and the loose teeth have already tightened up. We have to bring her to see the dentist in a few more weeks to have a look at the molar that the big chunk was knocked out of. She has been on a soft food diet all week, but she is getting more daring in beginning to chew today. If I never have to do that again, I wouldn't be that upset. It could have been a lot worse though......

The Monday before we went to Niagara Falls started out a bit rough. Erin woke up with a fever in the morning and Gord stayed home with her. She was still rough the next day and we couldn't track anyone down at the last minute to stay with her for the day, so Gord took her in to work - I had to go to Kingston for meetings, otherwise I would have stayed home with her. I guess she had quite a time for herself though! She continued with a cough for the rest of the week, but she didn't let it put too much of a damper on her holiday in Niagara Falls!

We hit the road bright and early on the Wednesday morning, after picking up Emily. It was an uneventful drive, except for the pouring rain that started around Belleville and ended as we rolled into the Niagara region, and the ridiculous traffic in Toronto. I honestly don't know how people can stand all of that congestion in Toronto. It wasn't even rush hour. We stayed right in the heart of Clifton Hill. Anyone who has been to Niagara Falls, knows this area is simply a hoot! We stayed at the Quality Inn (good choice Chris!!), which was a pretty dated hotel, but the rooms were clean and the service very good. Best of all was the location. We were only a block from the falls. We took a big walk to see the falls on Wednesday afternoon and scoped the area out in general. As part of our hotel stay package, we got some passes for a big ferris wheel that was right next to our hotel. I guess it is the biggest ferris wheel in North America. It was really good (mind you I think the London Eye is at least double it's size!!) and the views were amazing. Aidan didn't want to go on it - he's at a brave stage, until he actually thinks about going on a ride - so Jo stayed down with him, and Chris took Cole (the 2-year old) and Gord, Emily, Erin and I all went together. Erin and Cole just giggled with delight the entire time!! We took the kids to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner that night. It was okay. I was pretty disappointed with the restaurant in general. We went to the one in Toronto last summer and it was just so much better in terms of the service. The kids enjoyed themselves though, which is the important part. After dinner the kids all wanted to take a walk, so we found ourselves in a big indoor Midway for kids. They had little rides and games for the kids to play. Gord used some tokens and played 'The Claw' game and won all of the kids some stuffed toys! I think he had more fun than the kids!!!!! It was about 10:00pm when we all crashed.

Erin actually slept in until about 8:00am the next morning! I got up early (I wish I could sleep in sometimes!!) and used some of the Tim Horton's money we got with our hotel package (how great is that!!!) and picked up coffee and timbits for Erin and Emily. At 9:00am, we met up with Chris, Jo and the kids and went off to Marineland. The kids had a ball!!!! I couldn't believe how much Erin loved the rides!!! It's a good thing Gord has a stomach for rides! I went on a couple of the tamer ones with Erin, but Gord went with her on the twisty-turney ones!! We saw a couple of shows and I think the kids were most amused with the fact that one of the HUGE walruses had a big poop on the stage at the end of the show. Erin continues to tell everyone about that almost daily! My goodness it was hot though. It was 34 degrees in the sun. Everyone was definitely tired from the heat by the time we left. We got back to the hotel around 4:00 and we took the kids down for a swim at the hotel. The pools were pretty good. There were a couple of slides for the two outdoor pools (one was for toddlers and the other was a regular pool), as well as an indoor pool. There was even a playstructure there, so the place was really family friendly. That night, we used another one of our hotel package coupons and ordered up a couple of large Boston Pizza pizzas for dinner. We topped the evening off with another walk, another play at another indoor amusement centre and another big crash around 10:00pm!

We left Niagara Falls on Friday morning and headed for the Vaughn Mills Mall just North of Toronto. Gord wanted to stop at the Pro Bass Shop there and Emily, Erin and I took a walk around the mall. This place is huge and is full of outlet stores. I picked up a few things for Erin for the fall and winter at amazing prices. We dropped Emily off and got home around 7:00pm that evening.

It was nice to have the weekend to unwind before going back to work. Saturday was swimming for Erin, so Gord took her in while I did some cleaning and laundry. I already mentioned how our Saturday evening was spent, so I won't rehash that! Sunday was uneventful and the workweek started up again.

Erin went back to her new daycare on Monday. She did okay for most of the week, but was running pretty rough by the time this past Friday came along. I guess she was pretty weepy all day yesterday. I left work a bit early, so I picked her up at 3:00pm and I'm pretty happy I did. Erin is definitely having a bit of a tough time adjusting. I am confident she will, but it makes it tough with the schedule we have kept. The daycare is now closed for 2-weeks, so we will start it all over again right after the long weekend in August. As bad as I feel for her right now, I know it will be better for her in the longrun to get used to more structure now than to be surprised by it when she starts school. She was really sad about the place this morning, but we had a good talk about it and you know, she really is learning things daily and she talks about all of the fun things they do there, so I know it will just be a matter of time.

Oh! On another really happy note, Patricia and Ashely had their baby on July 14th!! They didn't tell anyone until a couple of days ago, only because they haven't picked out a name yet!! They had a beautiful baby boy and everyone is doing well. I am so excited for them now!! Whenever I hear about a baby being born it brings back such wonderful memories. I am hoping to get up to visit her and the baby soon, depending on their schedule!! I'll let everyone know the name once I know.

Minnie is completely back to herself now. She's getting bigger and is showing no signs of problems from the problem she had with her hoof.

Anyway, all is good. The job is going great and Erin gets to stay home with Emily for the next couple of weeks, so I imagine it will be a fun next couple of weeks around here!

Until next time.....

A Successful Week at the Beautiful New Daycare!!

Tuesday didn't actually start off quite as successful as we would have hoped. Tuesday was Erin's first day at her new daycare - in fact, it was all of the kids' first day at the brand new daycare in Merrickville. Erin wanted both Mummy and Daddy to bring her, so in we went. Erin got to meet one of her teachers, Ann, as well as a couple of the older kids. Erin definitely got a bit scared and the tears started flowing. Of course that set me off, followed by one of the women that runs the place. Gord was trying to calm her down when we just decided that we were going to have to leave her with her teacher and leave. One of the other teachers told me to call 10 minutes after I left because they were sure Erin would be fine. I pretty much cried all of the way to work. I called when I got settled in my office and they told me that she had stopped crying before we had even drove off! That made me feel much better. She was pretty happy to see me when I got there to pick her up though! The rest of the week was much better, but Erin is certainly feeling the stress. She has been quite a bit more emotional than usual this week, but she has been steadily improving as the week went by.

Erin is off right now on a big Saturday adventure with Daddy. She started a new round of swimming lessons and I'm sure it has been topped off with lunch and a big visit to Home Depot!! I spent the morning cleaning the house and scrubbing floors. My back is killing me, but the house is nice and clean!!

Minnie is back to her goatful self. She is pretty much walking with all of her weight on her injured hoof. It's funny to see her now though, because she is having a harder and harder time squeezing through the gate to break out of the barnyard!! It must be all of that grass she eats non-stop!!

Well just a couple of more days and we are off to Niagara Falls!! Erin (and Aidan and Cole) is very excited to go. She is learning about animals and fish in the ocean so is looking forward to seeing the whales and the dolphins at Marineland. Gord and I are looking forward to the getaway too. It's always good to see some new sights and although these visits are usually very busy, they can be strangely relaxing at the same time. It's just fun to watch the world through Erin's eyes!

I'll be back with some Niagara Falls pictures next weekend. Have a great week everyone!

Happy Canada Day!

Canada was officially on Saturday, but today is the stat holiday, so it's still fitting!!

Another week has come and gone. We had a great time last Sunday hosting Jo-Ann and Chris' two boys, Aidan and Cole. The day started out a little dicey, with Cole picking up a toy and whacking Aidan upside the head, but after a couple of tears and a toy being taken away, the rest of the day proved to be fun! The thing I couldn't believe is that Aidan and Erin actually convinced us to let them go in the pool! Gord had only filled it up the evening before and the temperature was reading a crisp 70 degress Farenheit! I think back to when I was young though and the thought of jumping into a freezing cold spring water lake on Victoria Day weekend in May didn't faze me one bit, so I guess I wasn't really surprised that it didn't faze Erin or Aidan!! I drew the line at letting Cole go in though! I think Jo and Chris got quite a bit of packing done, so all in all it was a good weekend for everyone.

This was Erin's last week at her daycare in Kanata. Tomorrow she starts at the brand new centre in Merrickville. Gord and I have been trying to get her used to the idea. I have a feeling it is going to be harder on me than it will be on her. To all of you adults reading this, don't you wish you were still as resiliant and adaptable as little kids are?!! I am excited to see the place though. There is an open house on Wednesday evening, so we will get a better chance to look around then.

I completed week two of the new job unscathed! All is going really well. I did have quite the eye-opener in my training sessions in Kingston. Well, maybe eye-opener is too much of an exaggeration, but some of the folks in the company are having a tough time with change. I guess that leads back to the resiliance and adaptability comment I made a minute ago....

This weekend has been pretty uneventful. We had the unfortunate task of attending a funeral for a friend of ours, Shelley, who lost her mother this past week. It has been a rough past couple of months for Shelley and her family as her mother was diagnosed with cancer which took her very quickly. I give full credit to Shelley for being as strong as she has been through it all. It could not have been easy and I have no idea what she went through, I'm only happy that she and her family can now begin to heal because her mother is no longer in pain. Best wishes for Shelley....

Sunday came and so did a visit from Erin's beloved Aunt Dee. Dee is an honorary Aunt, but I think loves the job as much as she does for her actual neices and nephew. A couple of drinks on the patio and a great rib dinner topped the weekend off nicely.

Today was a bit quieter. We had some running around to do and Gord and Erin have been in the pool a couple of times already because it's really hot out there today. So it's back to work tomorrow, a new daycare, and a short week! Next week will be a short one too as we get ready to head off to Niagara Falls for a few days. That should be fun!

Oh, how's Minnie you ask? Well, the leg is still a bit sore. We had the vet come out this past Thursday to have a look and Minnie is now on antibiotics. It's amazing what a shot or two can do to heal a goat's spirit! She is more full of piss and vinegar than ever before!

Anyway, hope you enjoy the pics and I'll check in again soon.