Beautiful Weather

 Summer is here!  As you can tell by Elmo getting out on his motorcycle.  Actually, that is a diaper cake I made and sold last month.  I really like making diaper cakes, and I believe I will be expanding my business with them when I get things organized for this fall.  Right now I'm working on getting my health in order, and getting Cailin into a routine.  This isn't leaving much time for sitting around crocheting, especially when the weather has been so beautiful!

Another order that went out recently.  I'm really liking how the blue one turned out - it's made of 100% cotton yarn.

So lots of exciting things have been happening.  We sold our old holiday trailer and bought a brand new one with enough room and accommodations for our family.  Here is a pic of the inside of the old trailer:

Sadly, there was no room for a playpen and both the table and couch needed to be folded down and made into beds every night.  Conversely, they had to be folded back up during the day in order to be used.  I was a little sad to see it go, but our new trailer is amazing.  I don't have any pics of it yet, but I will put some up soon.

We've used the new trailer quite a bit this year.  Our maiden voyage to a nearby-ish campground went really well, and we surprised GG and Papa Ray with a visit on our way back.  It's been at the farm since and we have our very own spot to stay when we come to visit.  We were planning a few big trips this summer in our fantastic new trailer, but we had to cancel our first trip to Jasper due to a nasty cold that rampaged through our house.  The second trip would be a lot more driving, and we decided to postpone a huge road trip like that until maybe next year.  We're going to do some maintenance and work on the house instead.  Hopefully we get down to the Calgary area later this summer though.

Cailin's birthday was at Mom and Dad's this year.  She had a bunch of her friends and cousins over to celebrate the day.  I got pictures, but they are on Mom's camera so I'll have to get them later.  She got some really neat stuff: a whole bunch of new books, crafts, a few toys, lip glosses (she LOVES lip gloss), an electric Spiderman quad and a trampoline.  She has been loving the trampoline.  I thought she would be on it a lot more due to the way she hogged the trampolines at gymnastics.  I can tell when she's been on it a lot when she passes right out at bedtime.

Oh bedtime.  The hell that was.  And still is.  She's been having a bad time going to bed since she was sick with ear infections in January.  It's taken about three weeks of carefully forced bedtime regime to get her into a semi-routine.  Every time we make some progress, then something comes up - like her birthday - and throws it out of whack again.  I know it's summer, and really hard to keep a schedule when there is so much going on all the time.  We tried a lot of different things to make bedtime more enjoyable and easier for all involved.  All of May we struggled with bedtime around 8pm.  It just wasn't working.  9pm seemed to be too late, and with her no longer sleeping in, she wasn't getting enough sleep.  She does not nap (no way, no how) and does not embrace 'quiet time' in the slightest.  This kid goes from the moment she gets up until she is forced into bed by her cruel mother.  So I did the unthinkable.  One night she was getting past the sleepy stage into the wound-up stage and I put her to bed at 7pm.  She was out in 20 minutes.  Eureka! Had I solved the bedtime mystery?  Had I found the magical routine to make my once amazing-sleeper back into a good sleeper?  The jury is still out.

Cailin is now in bed at 7pm sharp every night.  Some nights are ridiculous.  We read our books, sing our songs and she screams herself to sleep or calls me to her room approximately 311 times.  Some nights I don't even finish the books and she's out cold.  Some nights she simply tells me to leave, and leave the door open a little bit and she talks herself to sleep.  Sometimes it's silent, sometimes there's a lot of tears.  Other nights I have to sit with her until she falls asleep.  She is worried about shadows, and doesn't like to fall asleep with her night light on.  However, if she wakes up and it's dark, then it's a nightmare to get her back to sleep.  On average, she wakes twice a night and needs me to put her back to bed.  Some nights she is up five or six times, crying.  Sometimes I need to stay with her while she falls back asleep.  Five or six times.

Last night she went to bed nicely and slept all night for the first time in a long while.  Of course she was standing at the foot of our bed noisily mouth breathing at 7:45 this morning.  There is nothing more disconcerting thinking Darth Vader has taken up residence in your room while you were peacefully sleeping.  At least she let us sleep in.  She's been getting up around 6am for days.

Tonight is another story again.  It started out promising, but there were a lot of tears later.  Now I realize that she snuck downstairs, collected a soccer ball, helped herself out to the deck with Ry and is now playing ball in the backyard.  Sigh.  Also?  I just have to say something about those stupid kids' shows. I fully believe she wouldn't even know how to be scared of monsters, the dark or shadows without the express help of Caillou and Curious George.  Curse you, Curious George!

Potty training is happening!  One week accident free and in real underwear!  Night time training is just around the corner.

Carter is getting more teeth and is fighting off this cold the rest of us came down with.  He's been a little on the grouchy side and wants to be held all the time.  He's not crawling yet, but wants to get mobile so badly.  He's completely frustrated with his legs not listening to him.  He assumes the scooting position, but has yet to figure out that his one leg is holding up production.  We are eagerly awaiting his follow up with the pediatrician on the 16th.  I really want to know what they found on his x-rays and blood work.  We made one visit to the physio therapist.  He did pretty well, and she gave us some exercises to work on in the meantime.  They seem to be helping him strengthen his legs.  He does not qualify for a helmet, and his head is rounding out very nicely.  He also has been having some trouble sleeping.  Maybe because the sun shines on that side of the house at night.  Maybe because he ends up on his belly and doesn't care for it after a while.  Who knows.

Otherwise, Carter is still exceptionally giggly and happy.  He's really taking to solid foods and is turning his nose up at pureed baby foods.  He wants the real stuff.  I'm guessing I will have a cupboard full of baby food to donate soon.

I'm still working on my thyroid stuff.  As it stands, I'm going to get blood work done on Monday and make another appointment for the week after.  I think that's enough time to see if my current dosage of thyroid medicine is working.  I feel a bit better, but I'm sure it's still too low.

Recently I came across an App for my iPhone that counts calories and helps track weight, exercise, water intake etc. and started charting my calories everyday.  What a wake up call!  I had no idea I was consuming that many calories in a day.  Although I wasn't eating a lot of food every day, the foods that I was eating were laden with calories!  Add that to my lagging thyroid, and no wonder I gained 20lbs in a month.

It's absolutely astounding what I've been discovering and learning about health, thyroid and nutrition in the last while.  I came across an excerpt of a book on the dangers of too much wheat, and decided to go on a wheat free diet as well as count calories.  This would be the fourth day nearly wheat-free.  I feel fantastic.  Add that to the 5km walk I did yesterday, and the 7km walk I did today, I'm feeling really positive about this new lifestyle.  I haven't felt this good in quite a while, and I've lost 6.5lbs!

The kids enjoy the walks too.  They go in the double jogging stroller and off we go on the trails around the city.  Cailin yells when it's time for me to 'go faster'.  She's a slave driver.  We have to spend some time at a park too, of course.  Cailin won't sit in the stroller for long without the promise of sliding 302 times as a reward later.  In fact, we discovered a water park within walking distance of our house today.

I'm looking forward to our walk tomorrow.  Better do it early in the morning since it's going to be another hot day.

We're also going to start work on our house tomorrow!  Super exciting.  We're getting a new vanity/paint/light fixtures/tile/shower door put in the downstairs bathroom, a deck out the front door complete with railing and a gate, two new screen doors and new eavestroughing.  Next year I will be doing flower pots/flower beds off the front deck.  I also will be very busy painting the entire upstairs - ceiling and walls included.  Nothing too wild - everything is going bright white.  Then I will accessorize with nice bright colors.

One of these days I'm going to paint Carter's room, but still don't have an idea for the scheme yet.  I spent some time in there with him today.  He in his toy bins, gleefully ripping things apart and driving cars across the floor; me adjusting the crib mattress to the lowest setting.  It struck me that this will be the last time I adjust anything on this crib.  The time of the crib is almost over.  Big boy beds, potty training and walking are all coming our way next.  I can't believe he will be 1 next month.