Ikea hack

I love a good Ikea hack. I love how cheap and easy it can be to take something so generic, something that probably a million other people have in their homes, but tweak it a little bit to make it your own.

Remember a long, long time ago when I decided to change up our master bedroom? Well when we changed our room around, putting our large king size bed against the longest wall of the room, I suddenly had room on both sides of our bed for side tables. Good thing too because I love having a lamp right beside the bed. I knew right away that I wanted to do an Ikea rast hack.

Introducing the Rast dresser (they call it a dresser, but in my opinion it's a tad bit small to be called that). This basic little dresser has had MANY hacks done to it. Probably because its so cheap, and since its not stained or painted, it's basically an empty canvas for you to do whatever you want to it.

My inspiration for the hack came from This dresser. Why spend $200 on a dresser, when I can get almost the same thing for $40? Plus I wanted one on both sides of the bed, so the Novyll dresser was just not possible.

I was pregnant when I started this project. Like first trimester pregnant. Since I didn't want to play with chemicals, I got my sister to do the staining for me. She did an awesome job. The stain only cost $6.00 and we didn't even use half of it. Then I did one thin coat of white paint (that I already had) over each of the drawers. I wanted a thin coat to give it a white washed look. Then, finally in November, I added the hardware. I suppose you could paint and use the hardware that comes with it, but I wanted something a little nicer.

Here's the end result!















And now my bedroom make-over is ALMOST complete! What do you think!? What's your favourite Ikea hack?

Activity Bags

A few days ago I spent the afternoon making activity bags for Coral. The idea is to have a few bags of crafts or activities ready to go in a bag, so when mama needs a free moment, she can have one without always turning on cartoons. I can't take full credit for these ideas. Some I came up with on my own, some were friends ideas, and others I got from the Internet.

I ended up getting all my supplies at Dollar Tree. Ever heard of it? I hadn't either, but a new one just got built right by my house, so the kiddos and I walked there to check it out. They basically have all the same stuff as Dollarama, only everything is $1.50....no sneaky $2.00 or $3.00 items. Wonderful!




On this particular day, Coral decided against having a nap, or quiet time, so she became my little helper. She had a blast. It took me two full hours to put everything together. I basically just spread all the supplies out on the table and went to town. Here's what we ended up with.




Look out grandparents...noodle necklaces coming your way! So all it is, is a roll of yarn, and some dyed noodles. Coral and I dyed the noodles together, which she thought was amazing. You just take some noodles, place them in a bag, add a few drops of rubbing alcohol, few drops of food colouring and shake shake shake. Let them dry completely before letting your toddler play with them.




Beads and pipe cleaners. Let your toddler get creative. Coral will spend SO much time putting the beads on the pipe cleaners, making necklaces and bracelets. You can also work on patterns with your toddler. Coral knows how to do basic patterns (green, yellow, green, yellow).




Alphabet match. These letters are magnets, so Coral likes to place the sheet on the fridge and do the alphabet match there.




For this one I took a bunch of plastic eggs, put a number on each one, and Coral has to match the number of Pom Poms with the number on the egg.




Colour match. I went into the paint store, grabbed a bunch of samples (get double of every one you grab) and hot glued one of each of the samples onto a close line pin. I made sure to get some that were very similar in colour to try and trick Coral (greens that are very similar shades, but just slightly different).




Measuring. I cut pipe cleaners, yarn and straws, all the width of each thing on the page. Coral has to measure to find out where each one belongs.




Straws, Pom Poms, painters tape. Place painters tape all over your floor and your child has to blow the Pom Pom with the straw along the tape.




Counting lizards. Your toddler has to match the number of lizards with the number on the paper.




Learn to spell your name. Corals a little old for this one, she has known how to spell her name for a long long time already, but she still likes to match and gets excited when she spells her name. If your child doesn't know how to spell their name yet, this is a great way to teach them.




Shape match. Cut out doubles of every shape, and place one on top of the other. Your toddler has to match the shapes, colours, and in the right order.




These are little plastic links that we sort according to colour, then shape, and then make patterns out of them.




Basically the same as beads and pipe cleaners. They are little foam shapes with holes in the middle. Again you can work on patterns with these.




Another way to work on counting and numbers. Match the number on the clothes pin to the number of stars on the wheel.




Sorting and matching. Have your toddler sort through all the foam shapes, and match them in the egg carton. If you know Coral, you know this girl loves to sort and match.

And that's it! Coral gets so excited when I bust out an activity bag. Of course the first time I bring out a new bag, I have to sit down and help her with it, but once I show her how to do it, she's free to learn by herself, and I'm free to get done whatever I need to get done.

Mama of Two!

Hey y'all! Its been a while eh! Let me update you with whats been going on in the Hodgson home since the last time I posted.

So, last time I blogged, I was still pregnant, ready to pop. A few days later, Andrew and I welcomed another little princess, Poppy Ruth, into our lives. We couldn't have been more thrilled.

The transition from one child to two has been very smooth for us. Maybe thats because Poppy is a MUCH different baby then Coral (making her seem like a breeze to take care of).

 I had a much different labor with Poppy. My water didn't break this time, I just slowly laboured all day long at home (and at the park...yes we decided to do a maternity photo shoot just hours before giving birth...talk about procrastination). We got to the hospital, got my epidural (at 10 cm...had I known that I was already fully dilated I wouldn't have gotten it), and then just seven minutes before midnight on October 5th, our Poppy girl was born.

Recovery was also much easier this time around. With Coral I was out of it for WEEKS. With Poppy, we left the hospital just two hours after having her (practically skipping with excitement), took her on her first official outing not even 24 hours after having her, and haven't slowed down since.

Again, Poppy is a MUCH different baby then Coral. Remember she had colic? I still shutter thinking about those long four months of constantly holding a screaming baby, not having time for a quick shower, or eating, staying up till 2 in the morning then getting up every single hour in the night to feed her because she was to busy with crying during the day to eat. Ahhh! Heres the great news though, Poppy hardly ever cries. Yes, she will let out a good scream if her needs aren't being met, but for the most part she is SO content.

Coral has also adjusted really well into her new roll as a big sister. In fact I would prefer if she didn't take her role quite so seriously. She wants to help out with everything. Bath time, changing, you name it. She always wants to be around Poppy. Which is wonderful, except she smothers her. No really, she literally smothers her. When she talks to Poppy, she has to have her face pressed right up against hers. She likes to squeeze her (one time Andrew literally had a tug of war with Coral over Poppy). But, this being our second time around, we have learnt that babies, while tiny, can actually handle quite a bit.

And now lets talk about sleep. Sweet, glorious sleep. Oh how I LOVE my sleep. Poppy definitely had her days and nights mixed up for a while there. It sucked, but was totally to be expected with a newborn. Truthfully, I could handle the sleepless nights, it was keeping up with my toddler the next day that I struggled with (her favourite game is tag....understand what Im sayin). Eventually though, she stopped wanting to eat at night, except one feeding that would occur anywhere from 4:30 am-5:30 am. Not so bad, except she was still getting up at 2am to hang out. She wasn't interested in eating, just wanted to stay awake and chill with me. Not cool Poppy girl, not cool at all. So, I took the advice from my good pal Rachel (she's a mama of four, so she knows what shes talking about) and decided to let Poppy cry it out at night. Crying it out wasn't a new thing for me, I did it with Coral too...she was just a lot older when I did it with her. But since Poppy was only eating once in the night, and it was so close to morning, I knew she could handle it. So, the first night, I fed her at 10pm, burped and changed her, kissed her goodnight and didn't get her until 6am. I felt awful doing it, but when I got her in the morning she was all smiles and giggles, so I knew I didn't traumatize her. Now I still put her down at 10pm, but don't get her till 7am (which she is always still sleeping and I have to wake her up to feed her).

And so thats that. I have a very happy, content little baby that sleeps through the night. And me? Well I haven't felt this good in a LONG time. I think part of the reason why I felt so good so quick after I had Poppy is because I felt SOO awful my whole pregnancy with her. I am fully enjoying not feeling sick all day and night, not having heart burn constantly, and not being totally uncomfortable all the time :) Life is good and we feel beyond blessed.

DIY headboard

If you have been to our house, you have probably noticed that all the beds we have are super low. Andrew has a thing with high beds...he HATES them. He claims that his pillow falls off the bed during the night and he has to practically get off the bed to pick it up. So low beds it is in the Hodgson house. Even Corals pallet bed is low (although I never really have to worry about her falling off the bed).

So when we got married, we went to Ikea and bought the Malm bed, king size (trust me, king size was needed for us). It's a very basic bed. Kinda boring actually. But as boring as it may appear, this bed can easily be transformed. The headboard is just a huge rectangle, which makes it super simple to reupholster. Our headboard has been the basic black, yellow and grey, cream with light blue damask, and black again. Because its so simple to do, the whole reupholstering usually only takes about 20 min.

Here's what I did this time. And yes, I know I'm about three weeks away from giving birth, but what's a nesting mama gonna do?




This is what we're starting off with. Plain, black, boring rectangle. No romance. Lets spruce it up shall we.

First, I took an old blanket we had laying around, and draped it over the headboard. Then I took a cream coloured top sheet we had and placed it over top the blanket. I did this for two reasons.
1. So the headboard would be soft and a tad bit fluffy. If there was no blanket, it would be one hard headboard with a piece of fabric over top.
2. The cream coloured sheet was because the blanket I used was blue, and the material I was using to reupholster is burlap. Slightly see through.

Then, I stapled everything into place so it's nice and snug.

And now the fun part. I LOVE burlap. I love love love it. It's cheap, and it looks fantastic. Again, all I did was drape the burlap over the headboard, pull tight where it needed to be pulled, and stapled (ah I love my staple gun).




Cream coloured burlap.
Next I added some bling. This part obviously took longer then the usual 20 min, but it was so worth it. Has anyone ever used upholstery tacks? There a pain in the butt, but look so good.




Ok, so there not totally straight. Give me a break, I'm nine months pregnant and can hardly bend over, what did you expect. Andrew, bless his heart says he likes that they are not perfectly lined up and that it gives it more of a vintage feel (what a good hubby eh).

Here's the finished product.
















And now to finish those end tables.....

Any time now...

Well, we did it! Baby made it to 37 weeks and is now considered full term. Phew! Let me just say that bed rest with a toddler is not easy. I am very thankful that we have a little girl who can entertain herself. She pretty much spent the second half of summer stuck inside our house, but has been so busy with her imaginary friends that she hasn't really noticed (that and she doesn't really like the heat anyway).

One of the hardest things about bed rest is the mama guilt that comes along with it though. Coral didn't really notice that she was missing out on stuff, but I did. I felt guilty that I couldn't take her to the park everyday like I used to, and that things like going to the zoo were out of the question because I just couldn't walk that much. Things like dance parties, wrestling, tickle fights, and hide and go seek couldn't be done until daddy got home from work. And every once in a while Coral would say things like "when the baby comes out you will pick me uppy again right mama". Mama guilt. But I knew I had an obligation to be a good mama to the baby inside of me, and do what I could to make sure I didn't give birth before 37 weeks. And we did it!

Like I have said before, Coral coming two weeks early has really thrown me off for this pregnancy. It was so exciting when my water broke at 38 weeks because I was totally expecting to go late. What an awesome surprise to have her come early! But now what do I expect with this one? I have heard that usually your second baby you go earlier, and labour is faster then with your first. But I don't want to allow myself to think that way. Thinking that way would leave me feeling overdue by the time I hit the 38 week mark. Not good because not only could I not go early, I could go all the way to my due date, or late! But still, I can't help but think 'any time now'!

I also wish that I had paid closer attention to what was happening to my body before Coral came. But again, I really wasn't expecting her to come early. Braxton hicks? Psh I thought that was the baby doing some funky karate inside my tummy. This time I'm aware that I have been having Braxton hicks for a while now. But how long did I have them before I gave birth to Coral? I have no idea! Did I even notice when she had dropped? People keep asking me if I feel any different right now, or if I feel like the baby is coming soon. Honestly, I don't know. I feel like we have a while to go before the baby comes (ok I'm a bridesmaid in a wedding this Friday, it has to wait until after then at least), but with no warning signs last time, I almost feel like a first time mom about to give birth again.

All that being said, we are prepared for baby to come any time now. Bags are packed for everyone, car seat is ready to go, emergency bag is in the car in case my water breaks in public, towels under the sheet on my side of the bed, all baby gear is out with fresh batteries, you name it, it's done. And now we just wait. Whether the baby comes early or not, the countdown is ON. We for sure have less then a month until our whole world changes once again. I could not be any more excited!

Coral at two and a half....

I have a little lady in my house that is growing up quite fast...to fast for this mama. At two and a half Coral is:

-funnier then I ever thought could be possible. This girl definitely has a goofy side. Between the things that she says, and the way that she says them, she has Andrew and I laughing quite often. The other day she said to me "mama when are you going to go poop that baby out" with this silly look on her face (meh I'm just glad she has come up with her own explanation on how the baby is coming out so I don't have to explain it to her).

-her mind is ALWAYS going. She's a thinker and is always trying to figure stuff out.

-she's creative. She can come up with games on her own, and make up songs about whatever she sees. She will pretend JUMP into a book to save the characters....or discipline them if they are being bad.

-she talks all.the.time. Like I said, her mind is always going and she always wants to be heard. This girl literally seems like she is 2 going on 12. She will pretend call people and explain to them on the phone that she just doesn't have energy to play right now. The things that she says and does constantly blows our minds. Half of the time she leaves Andrew and I speechless or else were saying "where does she learn things like that".

-she's obsessed with hide and seek. Literally obsessed. As soon as she hears the garage door opening when Andrew comes home, she runs and hides. She would play all day, every day if she could. She's a little cheater though. Most of the time when she's counting she peeks. Or else she just follows you as she counts. Sneaky monkey.

-speaking of monkeys, sometimes we think she might be part ape. The girl won't stop climbing on every thing. If there is a chair around she will go up and down, up and down. She hops from couch to couch and yells "BUM DROP" and then slams her little booty down.

-she has a wild imagination. She has lots of imaginary friends that come with us where ever we go. Baby lion, baby woodpecker, and most recently the whole cast of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Especially Donald. She has a blast with Donald. Before naptime and bed time she talks and talks to Donald. She makes him have a tea party with her, bounce on the bed with her, sometimes Donald even gets stuck up in the sky. Sounds cute but Donald can be a pain in this mamas butt sometimes....like when he comes with us to the grocery store and takes up a lot of room in the cart, or starts throwing food out of the cart. Or when he steals her spot on the couch. Or when she uses Imaginary Donald against her friends (eg- "no you can't sit there, Donald is sitting there" or " Donald's playing with that toy right now"). Don't worry, she's always good at disciplining Donald and making sure he gets time outs.

-she's obsessed with the baby's stuff. She's so excited for this baby to come. She goes in the nursery and steals his/her soothers (she hasn't used a soother since she was 8 months old), and she pulls all the new born diapers out and "organizes" them on the floor. She also likes to put her precious stuffed animals in the car seat, bouncy chair or bassinet.

-she has a servant heart, always wanting to help out. If she sees me grab a rag to wipe something down, she grabs one too and helps me. If I sweep, she wants to sweep with me. If I need some tums for my heartburn, she will run and grab them for me. She helps me carry grocery bags inside the house, and put the grocery bags away. And she loves helping with laundry too.

-she loves to pray. We never taught her a prayer that she could memorize and just say before dinner or nap time or bed time. We didn't want her just saying the words that she memorized, but actually learn how to talk to Jesus and think about what she is saying. It's amazing how much she has picked up on just by hearing Andrew and I pray. Her prayers go something like this depending on what we did that day "Dear Jesus, thank you for today. Thank you that I got to go to the park and play with mama, and read books, and do princess puzzle. Help me to have a good sleep and good dreams....AMEN". A few weeks ago she offered to pray at supper and said her normal prayer but threw in "thank you for this food and bless it to our body's use....AMEN". And when it's Andrew or myself praying she always nods and throws in a "yes" here or there. At two and a half...amazing.

Every single day this little girl continues to amaze me. We are SO blessed to have her in our lives. As the next baby's due date slowly creeps up, I get anxious and excited about Corals new role in our family. I am so thankful for the two and a half years that I have gotten to spend on JUST her...no distractions, no one else to take care of, just me and my side kick. We have a wonderful mother/daughter bond, and I'm excited for that to only get stronger as she gets older. Coral we love you and are so proud of you!

Kids will be kids...

Every night before I go to bed, I go in Corals room and check on her. I'm mostly just checking to see if she pooped in her pull-up or not because while she is potty trained, she still sometimes poops in her pull-up at night...and friends, no one wants to wipe a toddlers butt that has been sitting in poop all night.

So two nights ago I thought I would give a quick check, not actually expecting there to be anything because she pooped on the potty right before bed, but as soon as I opened the door, I instantly knew she had to be changed. So I grabbed the wipes and turned her lamp on.

Oh the horror.

Let me explain something to you quick. Y'all know that I love to decorate. It takes a lot of time, energy and creativity for me to get a room exactly the way I want it. And since I spend the time and energy to decorate (and the money), I like to keep my house looking neat and tidy. We have always taught Coral to be respectful of not only her things, but our things as well, and truthfully, I have never had to worry about her wrecking any thing.

Ahem.

Oh. The. Horror.

When I turned on the lamp, I literally gasped and dropped the wipes. Y'all are thinking "uh oh Coral put poop all over her room". Psh, poop would have been easy. Instead I saw bright red crayon, all over her ENTIRE room. The walls, every single spot on her pallet bed, all over her blinds, her table, the rug, her books, both her dressers were covered, and worst of all...her yellow couch. The entire yellow couch was covered in crayon. And no, the crayon was not a washable crayon.

Ok, I should have taken pictures to document the moment, and so you could fully understand just how bad it was, but I was in pure panic mode. Her whole room...that I worked so hard on....ruined! Must. Get. Crayon. Off. Immediately. Im almost nine months pregnant, I don't have time to re-do a whole entire room! So I called Andrew so he could change Corals bum, and I ran and got some laundry stain remover. We're a chemical free house, so that was the only thing I could think of that might save the couch.

Parents with crafty kids, let me tell you, crayon is evil. That wax really knows how to get right in there and stay. After some good scrubbing (first by me then I put Andrews muscles to use) it started to come out. Before putting her back to bed we managed to get the couch in decent condition again. It now has a bit of a red-ish tint to it here and there, and there is discoloration where we sprayed the stain remover (which was practically over the entire thing) but the chair will survive.

And for the last two days I have been scrubbing her room. The hardest part was definitely getting it off her pallet bed. At one point we thought we would need to just sand the bed down. And there are some spots that I didn't even attempt to clean, like her chalk board. That was a lot of work for this mama who is on bed rest.

The hardest part about the whole situation....disciplining her. When I first saw what she had done, I panicked about the things she had ruined. But the truth is, it's just stuff. My panic was immediately followed with "ooh crap, now I'm going to have to discipline her....how do I do that in this situation".

I must admit, we have had it pretty easy with disciplining Coral. Part of that is her personality (a people pleaser) and part of that is our consistency with her. She caught on pretty quick that mom and dad mean business, and if you don't listen, swift action will be taken. She has only been spanked about three times in her entire life, and now most of the time, we only need to threaten a time out to get her to listen (but that's because she knows that if she doesn't listen we will follow through with giving her a time out EVERY single time...yes, even in the grocery store).

So again, what do you do in this situation? We didn't just want to wake her up and give her a swat on the bum..that seemed cruel. And a time out wasn't an option in this situation. And now here's the clincher. After I turned the light on and gasped, she woke up. She saw the look on my face and immediately started saying sorry. And she said it over and over and over again. "I'm sorry mama....I'm sorry for doing this mama....sorry for drawing on my room mama....I won't do it again mama".

Great. Smarty pants. How can I be upset at you when you clearly feel bad about what you did. So in that moment, as she was saying sorry over and over again, and I was using every muscle in my arm to scrub the crayon off, I had to stop and teach my daughter about forgiveness. Ok, she's only two, so I don't think she fully understood what I was telling her about forgiveness, but it was still a good teaching opportunity. Mommy doesn't stay upset with you, and even when you have done something wrong, I will still hug you and kiss you after, and not hold it against you.

Ok. Toddler is sorry, toddler is forgiven. BUT she still needed to be disciplined. She was sorry, we forgave her, but we still needed to teach her that there are always consequences to your actions. Lucky for me I got off easy again when she sighed and said "I guess I probably won't be allowed to watch cartoons tomorrow eh". Hmm..yes...that's a good one Coral. No cartoons (ahem win/win for me...shes being disciplined, and I get to watch the morning news instead of monster math squad). she also got her crayons taken away for the day which was heart breaking for her. She loves a good coloring sesh. And over the past two days, I think she has apologized over 60 times for coloring in her room. Ah, bless her sweet little heart.

Umm lesson learned? Don't let your child go to bed with a crayon in her room.

Basement pics

So, our basement is ALMOST complete. We still need some more trim, a few doors, toilet, and decor (sectional, area rug, coffee table, desk, and art for the walls). Here are some recent pics of the basement (I think the last time I did a basement post we were still mudding).

We now have hardwood flooring.



We got this engineered hardwood from Lumber Liquidators in Pickering for a steal of a deal. Let's just say that my hubby is a great negotiator :) If your looking for awesome flooring, I suggest checking them out. Since its a basement, we didn't want dark flooring...it would feel to much like a cave then. And we didn't want rug because let's face it, rugs are gross and with kids in the house it wouldn't take long for it to get stained.

We have a brick wall!









One of our fav parts about the basement. When we first started renos, Andrew knew he for sure wanted a brick wall. Again, the basement is HIS area, so he decided on the brick, flooring, trim...everything. Grouting a brick wall in a basement is no easy task my friends. It took him almost a month to do it, but it was so worth it in the end.










We have lights, and working surround sound. It can get very loud in the Hodgson house, especially when Coral is having a dance party.




He chose a basic high trim. Looks sleek and clean.




Guest room. Sorry about the mess. Coral currently has her ball pit in that room. This is the accent wall I did for Andrew. He picked it out, I put it up.




The rest of the room is white. As you can see we still need a door and trim in this room.




And the bathroom needs a toilet.

Andrew and his brother have been enjoying playing video games in the basement for a while now, and when Matt and Christy came they stayed down there. We are loving the extra space it gives us. Now to finish and furnish it.....

Freezer Meals

Andrew is going to laugh at this post because I have been all about the freezer meals lately. Hey buddy, back off...things like getting a new deep freeze are exciting to us house wives, and you won't be so sarcastic when you are eating delicious meals when the baby is born.

So after getting our double stroller, it was time to start making some freezer meals in prep for the baby to come. After Coral was born, one of the things I struggled with the most was having the energy to make good healthy meals. When your baby has colic, the whole house is in a simply survival mode, the last thing on our minds was what we were going to eat. We did ok, we survived, but this time I want to be more prepared.

Eating healthy is important. It's good for breastfeeding mamas (you need lots of vitamins and nutrients...it's a lot of work for your body to make that milk), AND this time around I have a toddler to feed. I need to make sure she is eating good. Oh and I suppose I care what Andrew eats too :)

So here's what I did. When Andrew was in England, my mom came out for a few days to help because of the whole bed rest situation. I decided to put her to good use and got her to help me with the crock pot freezer meals. I chose five meals that we would make, then took a short trip to Costco to get what we needed. I knew that the crock pot freezer meals would be the most work, and wanted to get them all done in one shot. And we did! In fact we got it all done from start to finish during one of Corals naps.

We ended up making:
-3 roast beef meals
-2 stews
-2 goulash
-2 teriyaki chicken meals
-2 BBQ chicken meals

To make them, we simply just chopped all the veggies, added the meat, spices and sauces, and threw it all into a freezer bag. We wrote on the bag the directions (such as, some need rice added to it, or noodles, or more sauces, and how long to cook it for in the crock pot). Then, when it's time to actually cook the meal, simply defrost it, toss it all into the crock pot, and BAM, six hours later you are eating a delicious healthy meal. And since they are in freezer bags, they freeze pretty flat, making more room in the freezer for more meals.

Next I did some baking. Not all at once, just every now and then when I was getting bored of the whole bed rest thing. In our deep freeze we now have two bags of chocolate chip cookies (thanks to Christy for making one of those bags for us), chocolate chip muffins, and coconut peanut butter balls.

And the rest of my freezer meals are being made as I make dinner. For example, last night I made perogie casserole, doubled the recipe, and made a freezer meal out of it. This morning I made chili and tripled the batch, leaving one for us to eat tonight, and two to freeze. This is super easy to do, and I'm planning on continuing to do this after the baby is born. It's so simple to just double what your making, and then if I'm having a lazy day, or if I get sick and have no energy to cook, I will still have good meals to feed my family.

Other things in our freezer are: potato soup, bacon/chicken/spicy potato casserole, lasagnas, and pizzas.

Still to make: enchiladas, hashbrown casserole, chicken and rice casserole. And then my little deep freeze will be FULL! And there will be no starving people at the Hodgson house after the baby is born!

Stroller for Two!

Sorry blog readers, August was a busy month. We had company from August 1st-August 28. No time for blogging.

When my midwife told me I need to be on bed rest, my mind immediately started racing with all the things I needed to do before baby comes. What about all those freezer meals I wanted to make? My hospital bags aren't even packed. My rugs aren't cleaned like I wanted them to be. My house isn't spotless. Who is going to nest for me? And I don't even have a stroller to put both my children in. I thought I was more organized this time...and truth is, I am more organized this time, I just had counted on me having these last two months to finish everything I needed to do.

Bed rest means I can't go rushing about finishing everything on my list I wanted to do, but I CAN check things off my list one at a time. First thing, purchasing a double stroller.

Here are my thoughts on strollers. Love them...NEED them. However, Andrew and I aren't willing to fork out a whole pay cheque on something that our kids just sit in. I have taken kids for walks in strollers that cost more then $1000, and truth be told, they aren't that much better then the basic stroller that we have. They may look fancier, but they all do basically the same thing.

Another thing we considered is Corals age. This was a tricky one. Shes a two and a half year old little monkey. She is still young enough that she needs to be sitting In a stroller. She's a dasher, meaning if we just let her walk, she will take off. For some reason, she HATES being in a shopping cart, but put her in a stroller and she's as content as can be. BUT that won't be forever. Have you ever seen a four year old in a stroller? I have, and it looks silly. So for the time being, we still need a stroller that Coral can sit comfortably in, but also one that is going to grow with her so we're not spending money on something she will only use for a year or so.

I immediately thought about getting a sit and stand stroller. It almost seemed like the perfect option. Not pricey at all, there is a spot for the baby's infant car seat, then normal seat for when the baby is bigger, and Coral can sit on the bench now, and when she gets bigger she can stand on the platform while we push her. ALMOST perfect. I knew for right now the bench in the back wouldn't be good for Coral at this time. Again, she will sit for forever if she has a normal seat in a stroller, but anything else and she's done. With the sit and stand I could see it working a bit later on when Corals older, but she would probably take off on me now.

Thank-you Graco for making a stroller that is perfect for my growing family. Let me introduce you to the Graco ready2grow stand and ride stroller. It has all the basic features of a sit and stroller, with a few extra bonus'.




This beauty has 12 different possible riding positions for two kids. Excellent if you want to switch it up every now and then. Let's take a closer look.




We have the front seat, which is where Miss Coral will be sitting. It has a five point harness and fully reclines. She hasn't fallen asleep in her stroller in like a year and a half, but in case she does, we're prepared.




The little nugget, will chill in his/her car seat and stare blissfully (not making a peep right) at me as I walk them places. Both children are comfortable, safe, and no one (ahem Coral) is escaping anytime soon.

But let's say we decide to go to the Toronto Zoo. Coral would probably be best in the sit and stand in that situation because she gets in and out of her stroller a lot to see the animals.



The baby would go in the front, and Coral would use the sit and stand bench.



Yes the little seat comes off, I'm just to lazy to take it off for a picture. You get the idea though right.

And when baby gets older and is out of his/her car seat, the baby has its own little mini seat in the back, and Coral can still sit in the front.




That seat looks super small, but Coral actually still fits in it. So if they want to switch it up, I suppose Coral could sit on the little chair, and baby can use either the front seat or be clipped into the front while it's still in its car seat.

It has a big basket underneath to carry stuff, a tray for both children, and a coffee holder for me (selling point...ok kidding but mama does need her coffee so I was pretty excited about that). This stroller is also great if you are expecting twins because it has two spots for infant car seats to go, and will grow with the kids as they get older.

I love how versatile it is. I love that it will last us SO long because of the sit and stand platform and grow with both kids, and I love that even though it's a double, it's not much bigger then our normal stroller. It still folds with one hand, and unlike other double strollers, I'm not taking the extra seat off and on when I fold it. The only downside to this stroller, is that when it is collapsed, it's really long. No worries though, we basically drive a school bus so it still fits in our car.

Thoughts? Questions? Opinions? Still willing for fork out an arm and a leg for a stroller when you can find one just as versatile for much cheaper? Come on little nugget, mama wants to take you and your big sister for some walks.

Ps. Coral LOVES her new stroller and can't wait to use it with her new sibling. The first few days we had it she would climb in her seat and ask to be pushed around the house in it, and pretend her baby bro or sis is in the back. That got old quick so it's always collapsed now...but still...she loves it.

Bed rest...in the summer??

I have this theory that when the hubby goes away, the world falls apart. Ok that's being a bit dramatic, but it does seem like whenever Andrew goes away at least one or two discouraging things happen. But this time will be different right? What could go wrong? I have my favorite girl and her boys from BC staying with me for part of the time, and the other part I'm with my family in Port Rowan. Seriously, all should go well.

Let's start with the little thieves that broke into my car. How rude! Everything was going smoothly, until we decided to take the kids for a walk at the Whitby Waterfront. We get all three kids into the car (oh my goodness...such a task getting three kids ready and out the door and into the car), turn the car on, and there is pure static blasting through the radio. Umm where's my iPod? Wait, where's Andrews iPod? Both are gone. Stolen. Ugh. Thankfully they left all three of the car seats and both strollers (which are worth way more then the iPods anyway).

Communicating with Andrew from across the world is difficult. We can't text, we can only email each other, which is also hard because of the time difference. But he walks me through how to handle the situation (filing a police report, etc) and its all good. Moving on.

Before Andrew left he said "what's your game plan if you go into labour while I'm gone?"

HA! I actually think I laughed when he asked me that and responded with "um I would be ten weeks early, that's not even possible". But wait Laura. It's totally possible. Unlikely, but not impossible.

Thursday evening Andrew leaves. I start getting contractions. Very very mild contractions. I start getting cramps, and severe lower back pain, as well as ALOT of pressure. I'm talking about the exact kind of pressure I had with Coral on the night she was born. This went on for a few days, and then I had my regular midwife appointment.

And so here it is. Im having preterm labour and have been put on bed rest. Not the kind of bed rest where I'm literally stuck in bed and can only get out to shower and pee, but more of a really take it easy kind of bed rest. Which means no going to the park, no grocery shopping, no gardening, no cleaning. I'm suppose to stay off my feet as much as possible.

The midwife was concerned about my pains and pressure, but she got even more concerned when she was checking my stomach to see where the baby is. Baby is currently head down, and really really low. Basically just waiting to come greet the world. Problem is, she said the baby is also really tiny. At 30 weeks the baby should be around 16 inches long, and weigh about 3.3 lbs. well at 38 weeks Coral was born being only 17 inches long, and 5.12 lbs....looks like this baby is similar to its sister and is going to be tiny. But because of its size right now, if it were to be born this early, chances of survival are lower then normal (normal being 9 out of 10 babies born at 30 weeks will survive).

So there we have it. Bed rest... In the summer! Talk about boring! I'm sure Coral is going to eventually go stir crazy. But it's whats best for the baby. Our goal is to make it to at least 36 weeks. 37 would be better, 38 perfect. So far bed rest hasn't been so bad. I have my mama here doing my cooking and cleaning for me as well as entertaining Coral, and my friend Britt dropped off some delicious goodies for me to enjoy at my door this morning.

Ok so maybe the world isn't falling apart, but we could certainly use Andrew around here right about now. Andrew, you got one more week to change lives out there, and then your all mine again. I miss you, and Coral needs you to chase her around the house and tickle her.

Latest painting

Wow, it's been over a year since I picked up a paint brush and did a painting. I guess I have been focusing so much on the bigger projects of the house, that my little hobby got neglected for a while. Truthfully, I wasn't really missing it though. Don't get me wrong, I do love to paint, but when the inspiration is just not there, it's not as fun.

On Friday I was feeling the urge to paint again. I wasn't sure what I had in mind or what I wanted the painting to look like, but I knew I wanted to put a quote from the book of Ruth on it. We are doing a series on the book of Ruth at our church this summer. If y'all haven't read Ruth in a while, do it. Such a good book in the Bible.

Anyway, here's what I ended up doing.




"where you go I'll go, where you stay I'll stay." Ruth 1:16

The rest of the painting is pretty basic. Nothing to fancy.






It was also my first painting done on wood. I put it up on my big empty wall that I just painted going up our stairs.







Not sure if I totally love it or not, but it did feel good to get those creative juices flowing, even though it's a really simple painting. Hopefully it won't be another year before I do another one.