A whole lot of bullet crap

But I do ramble ("Noooo....really???"), so the bullets may get...rambly. If that's even a word.
First, what's keeping me so damn busy that I can't even manage an entry a week?

• scrapbooking. yes, i've become one of those. in my album right now are two completed pages and three almost done pages...i just received supplies won on eBay so I can finish said pages. i have to admit that i've already been drawn in by the gadgets. part of my shipment is an embossing gun so i can make an attempt at pretty christmas cards this year... i try to spend a couple of nap-times a week staring at pictures and paper waiting for inspiration scrapping. considering i have 2+ years of Cael and almost 10 months of Iain to cover, the time i spend on it isn't nearly enough.
• gardening. as i mentioned before. LOTS of stuff being done. the perennials i planted this year have taken well, and the ones i put in last year have doubled in size! flowers are almost out...i'll take pictures when its all abloom. well, the peonies and roses are blooming, but the coneflowers and daisies are soooo close to opening. so hopefully they'll bloom soon and i'll catch the end of the peonies in the photos.
• other misc yard and house stuff. jon FINALLY touched up the paint and got the window trim up on our new windows. two months later. the kicker...one of the pieces of trim that the window installers cut for us to nail up is too small. all i could do was laugh. and its probably too late to call them to replace it. so jon will just take a piece in to Rona and try to match it. then he'll just caulk around the frame and we can put the curtains back up. again, FINALLY. i hate not having curtains.
• the pool. nope, its not open yet. we got the water off the cover, only to have it rain all last week. so now there's water on it again...and the ducks have decided the little bit of water that's there is good enough. so they land and waddle around on it while i talk to them and throw bread. i'll have get it vaccumed off this week. i'd take the cover off myself, but its heavy and awkward. if jon gets it off, i'll do the shocking etc.
• chasing iain. lawrd is he busy. the fastest crawler in town...
• watching the World Cup. yes, i am a self-professed sports freak. if its sports, i'll watch it. last week was the French Open... (sorry, there's an embedded video on that site...annoying music, so watch the speaker volume...)

Cael stuff:

• he's pretty much always doll...what more can i say? we can hold a full conversation with him now...he's talking a blue streak. i should start posting some of the stuff he says...he cracks me up. ok, here's one from the weekend i can think of right off the top:

C: please mommy, i think i'd like some juice please (JUST like that too...)
Me: go ahead sweetie...there should be a cup already in the fridge for you.
C: the REFRIGERATOR mommy.
Me: oh right...in the refrigerator...

we get lots of that...

• his seeds are still growing, and he points it out every morning. though the pansies in the pop bottle are sadly not doing so well. i might have to buy some pansies for the metal tub...not sure what i'll tell him. do i say they are from his seeds and they miraculously quadrupled in size and flowered while he was at daycare? or do i just say that the seeds grew nicely and now we're going to take care of these flowers in the tub? i'm thinking the latter...and i'm sure he'll be thrilled regardless.
• in the not-so-charming file, lately he's taken to having his tongue hanging out of his mouth and letting spit dribble off. it makes me shudder every time he does it...sososo gross. i try to act disgusted and tell him its not a nice thing for big boys to do and that only babies drool and spit. it doesn't seem to be working...but he has learned the term disgusting and actually uses it properly. i'd love some tips on nipping the dripping habit in the bud. oh, he's also become a bit of a screamer. if we do something/make him do something he doesn't want to do, he'll whine for a minute, then SCREECH at the top of his lungs if we ignore him. we just continue to ignore him, which pisses him off even more, but eventually he stops. i so hope this stage doesn't last...
• he's become very interested in everything iain is doing. usually because iain is into "his" stuff. we hear lots of "NO iain...MINE!" over the weekend, or in the evenings during the week. and he'll even gently tap his fingers when he's really serious. very funny.

Out in the rain feeding the ducks...



Iain bits:

• as mentioned, he's crawling all over. driving the poor cats insane...cael NEVER terrorized them this much. he's cruising furniture like a pro as well, and has stood on his own for a few seconds at a time. he's losing his pudgy legs already. i mean, he was never much of a chub anyway compared to most babies...he's apparently considered "below average" on those (stupid) charts. but he has some leg rolls and chins galore. just no belly or arm fat really.
• sleeps are ok, but usually annoying. he'll go a couple of days where he falls asleep no problem and will snooze for a couple of hours twice a day. then he'll decide he has to scream and cry each and every nap and only sleep for half an hour after all that. we're assuming teeth. but i so hate drugging him before every sleep just in case. so i give camilia before naps and motrin at nite.
• he's a good eater. a little piggie usually. although lately he's started to get choosy. mostly for anything i try to spoonfeed. i think its normal at this stage....usually i just give him finger food meals. but there's lots of foods that i just can't give him for finger food. yogurt for example. but i can generally manage to get some into him anyway. the weirdest thing is that he seems to prefer green veggies. if i were to put sweet potato chunks and broccoli on his tray, he'd scarf down the broccoli and squish the sweet potatoes. very strange.
• he's started giving the cheesy grin whenever the camera comes out. you know the one...scrunched up nose, eyes squeezed shut, teeth showing. YES...he has teeth! two little chicklets on the bottom. he's always running his tongue over them.
• he has a door thing lately. he wanders the house, going into rooms and closing doors. then he whines because he can't get out, but when i go to rescue him, he's sitting right behind the door so i can't open it. eventually he figures out that he has to move his arse if he wants out. then he goes on to the next door and we repeat the process. fun.

The afore-mentioned cheesy grin:



On a family note, Nova Scotia votes today in their provincial election. And my dad is up for re-election. He's an NDP MLA, and the party finished #2 in the last election, resulting in a minority government. They're hoping for another good showing this time...go dad!!

See??? Told you i'd get rambly. Maybe someday I'll be able to piece together a decent post that's not in point form and/or full of photos...

AND I've been trying for two days to get this entry up. It would either time out or my formatting would somehow fuck up just as I was about to post so I'd have to try and fix it. Everything...bullets, pictures, links and all. I can't seem to load pictures with their uploading tool either, so I'm putting them on Photobucket...that's why the duck ones below are so huge...I didn't have time to resize. With Iain's bad sleeping and Cael home (the sitter is sick) I've been working on it as I have time. Am I the only loser who is having terrible problems with Blogger lately?? I hate to try to find excuses for not posting, but the technical issues are a big part of it...