a hippie with a minivan

Productive day…

Well…

I finally got some meals done. This morning I started by cutting up onions, garlic, carrots and Celeryâ€¦

Cooked the onions and Garlic with two Family size packs of ground beef.

Filled 5-6 bags with that mix (two big portions aside) and froze it… (the prepared frozen ground beef with onions will be used in recipes that call for browned ground beef like tacos or shepherdâ€™s pie)

Cooked up the carrots and celery in two big pots and added meat to both of them and then canned tomatoes, puree etc and spices and made one big batch of chile and one big batch of Spaghetti sauce.

While that was simmering I made two loaves of Banana Bread and baked them.

While the Banana bread was baking I made two Apple Pies which I put in the Freezer before cooking and then froze one of the Banana breads (Simon wanted to have one left out to eat) but froze a Zucchini bread that I made the other day instead….

Then I baked a big squash that I had on the counter for a few weeks now that I needed to cook upâ€¦. and then bagged and froze that.

Then I cut up a big peice of Pork that I had bought on special and got 4 very large porkchops out of it and then cubed the rest and marinated them for souvlaki brochettes and put them into bags that will make two very generous size suppers for us allâ€¦.

When the Chile had cooled slightly I put it in Ziplock bags and got 3 meals worth out of it and the spaghetti sauce will give me quite a bit more than that but I am just waiting for it to cool nowâ€¦

I am really happy with todayâ€¦ I still have quite a few things that I want to get done but at least I have really gotten my head startâ€¦

I already had a portion or two of spaghetti sauce in the fridge and I had a few meals worth of homemade burritos and enchilada sauceâ€¦ now with the things that I have today I have some things that I can fall on when I donâ€™t feel like cooking, especially after the new babe comesâ€¦ I am going to plan another one of these days again soon and get even more doneâ€¦ I also want to start making meals double the size and freezing halfâ€¦

Our first buy…

Well last week we made our first purchase for the new baby…

An Amby bed!!!

found on Craigslist in Montreal for a great price! This is a very rare find here in Quebec since pretty much no one that I know has ever even heard of them…

Though we are Co-sleepers most of the time… (well 100% for the first few months) at some point I like nursing to sleep in the living room and then putting babe down in their bed and then they can join us after the first wake up… I just love the way that this bed is made and it just feels so much more natural to have baby in a hammock/sling like bed…

around 31 weeks…

Every few days I have to check and see about how many weeks I am… This pregnancy I seem to be really in touch with myself and how I feel etc… but the technical stuff seems to evade me…

I don’t really have a due date in mind, and I don’t want to… I just tell everyone that the baby will be here between mid November and the beginning of December… But everyone seems to want a dateâ€¦so I just give them one that is in the middle somewhereâ€¦

Not having a date gives me comfort; however, knowing how many weeks I am gives me an idea of how many weeks I have left to get things done…

I still have tons to do… though I keep thinking that I have more time and keep on procrastinating what I have to get done and then when I check again to see how many weeks I am at then my mind starts racing again…

we have to find two bureaus for the boys clothes (or one big one)… the dresser that ds#1 is using is broken and doesn’t have enough space so I can’t even pass it on to Colin… and the one that Colin is using is for the new babe (it has passed down and used for 3 generations)
we also have to rearrange their room so that it all fits since the babe will be sharing a room with his/her big brothers. (Well technically the babe will be in our room)
I have to make Xavier’s Halloween costume,
get the babies clothes out and pick out the warmer clothes,
get clothes out for Colin from Xavierâ€™s old clothes.
Wash the new babeâ€™s diapers and find the covers that are somewhere in the house on various cabbage patches and other dolls…
Prepare and Freeze more food so that I will be able to have somewhat of a babymoon without having to cook a lot.
Finish buying birthing supplies and figure out if I want to buy a water birth pool…

There must be other things that I have to get done tooâ€¦

Anywaysâ€¦ I am getting more and more excited about the birth. Even though I have had rough and long labors, I LOVE giving birth! I am looking forward to laboring in my own home, not having anyone there but Simon and the kids. I feel ready to have my UC and I feel confidant that it will happen.

I am also looking forward to having a babymoon after the baby is born. Staying in bed and getting to know the new babe. Simon will be on Parental leave so I really feel like I will have the time to get to know the new life that will come into our home and the boys will also be taken care of. And then later on I will be able to give attention to the boys also and Simon will be able to get to know the new little oneâ€¦

Cool little guy…

just had to share this pic 😉

2 years old…

It is hard to believe… Colin turned two last weekend…

We had a quiet weekend, just us and a good friend and had a small party… not much… a few balloons, Foods that Colin likes and a cake…

Colin is so different than Xavier… his language skills are so much better at the same age and he is already talking in sentences often. He is completely in the two’s… saying no, making trouble, hitting Xavier over the head with toys and everything else a little brother can do to bug his big brother… (of course, Xavier doesn’t make it easy for him)

Colin loves to sing songs, and loves music and dancing… His favourite songs are the ABC song, Twinkle Twinkle and loves singing “Elmo’s World”… Simon put a bunch of kids songs and theme songs on his Ipod and he has special requests when he is in the car..This of course is the complete opposite of Xavier who used to cry and scream as a baby when you tried to sing to him and still sings a few notes only when he thinks that no one can hear him…

Colin is a little jokester, he loves to make us laugh. He has this face that he does where he scrunches up his nose so much that his eyes are almost closed and smiles showing all of his teeth… the kind of face that you can’t help but laugh, pick him up and kiss him…

About 2 months ago we went shopping and I found a little plush Max and a Ruby from the TV show… He fell in love with them at the store and they have remained his favourites since.. when he is tired he goes into his room, gets them both and comes have Maju to take a nap… at night the same… he must have both…

Some days, often when we are in the car we get back and both of them have soaked ears from where he sucks the tips of their ears…

Colin is also my little cuddle monster. He loves to be in our arms, loves to get worn in the Ergo on Simon’s back, loves to sit down next to me on the couch, under the blankets and watch TV or look at a book.. Again, very different than Xavier.

He also has a great appetite. He eats all day and is always in the fridge looking for food… the first thing that he says in the morning is what he wants to eat… Croissants, Apples, eggs, pancakes, Sushi, Avocados, black olives, Bananas, grapes, pizza, spaghetti, yogourt and Cereal are just a few of his favourites…

I could just go on and on about him…

I can’t believe that my little babe is 2!
Which of course also brings the 2 year anniversary of Tandem Nursing 🙂

Here are a few pics 🙂

Serious Colin