Home Sweet Home

Wow....The Hodgsons have been busy (have you noticed the lack of posts? To much to do, so little time to do it). But let me tell you what we have been up to. First of all, I cant explain to you how weird it was being at home on Friday without Coral. Yes Coral has been babysat before, but all our babysitters live at least 20 minutes from us, which means she really only gets babysat when Im going out somewhere and is being dropped off, not when Im just randomly home by myself all day. Also, yes we recently went to BC, and Coral didn't come with us, but it felt so different this time. It was just weird being in our house without her. It constantly felt like something was missing. It almost felt like she was just having one big nap. I found myself cringing like I normally do when I heard our neighbors loud truck start, or when Kaya would bark. I also found myself working hard, nonstop, as that "must get as much done while Coral is sleeping" feeling was still there.
That being said, I did enjoy my little break from being a mommy. It was nice to be able to wake up and have some breakfast without worrying about a poopy diaper or a hungry baby. I tried to rest and relax, I really did, but for those of you who know me well, knows that this momma has a hard time sitting still when I have projects on my brain. I started my morning off by painting our master bedroom. Our bedroom is big, and it took what seemed like forever, but I honestly didn't mind. I had my music turned up loud and was enjoying myself. The rest of the day was spent attacking that never ending to-do list of mine and then going to a wedding. Andrew and I had a great time at the wedding. It was nice not having to worry about the clock and knowing that we could stay up late and sleep in the next day.

Andrew and I woke up Saturday morning and we were ready to go see our baby. Ah I wish I had a video to show you what I was greeted by when I got to my parents house. We parked across the street from their house, and as I was walking across the road, I saw children. My nieces Emma and Chloe, nephew Kaden and Coral were all running towards me, screaming with delight with their arms wide open. My heart melted. Coral had acted as if we were never even apart. She gave me a hug and then went right back to playing with her cousins. It was so much fun to watch her try to be apart of all the big kids games. She follows Emma around everywhere she goes. She watches the big kids and tries to mimic them, running when they run, laughing when they laugh. I love seeing her with my parents as well. She just adores both of them. My mom gets right down on the floor with her and plays games, make believe, and reads stories to her. My dad chases her, takes her for walks and sneaks her lots of junk food like ice cream and cookies. They have so much energy for all their grandkids.

Of course we didn't leave Port Rowan empty handed. When Andrew and I drove down to Port Rowan we were shocked at how empty the car looked (no kennel for Kaya, no car seat for Coral)....well it was packed to the brim on the way home. My loot?

Some new toys for Coral. My mom was cleaning out her toy room and Coral took what she wanted.

This big picture frame that is going in my newly painted bedroom . The picture frame is from an art gallery on Grandville Street in Vancouver, 1979.

This picture frame, from the same gallery, PLUS a bunch of more smaller frames. This is going to be used in Corals playroom, turning it into a chalk board for her.

The best loot of all, FREE landscaping for our backyard! 

My parents back yard is like a jungle. It has the most amazing landscaping done to it. So we dug up some trees and perennials for our backyard. Trust me, the last thing I wanted to do last night when we got home was dig up our yard and plant stuff, but Im so glad I did. It looks great so far. Everything we took spreads and grows like crazy, so right now it may look a little bare, but by next year it should start to fill out more. We also took six trees for our back yard. They are tiny right now....they look like we planted sticks in the ground. But they are rosa sharons, which grow really fast.

So, thats all. A newly painted bedroom, landscaped backyard, clean house and a trip to Port Rowan. Now Im exhausted. Time for some coffee.