SM Digital Artistry Blog

Last week was stressful because Amelia has not been feeling 100% and has had some troubling symptoms. We did get in to see the doctor who sent us off to do some bloodwork and whatnot done. The good news is they didn’t call us immediately to come in *phew* so whatever is bothering her is not a medical emergency. We have an appointment to go over the results in a few days. 

She was an absolute trooper at the lab, didn’t put up any fuss and stoically sat while they drew their samples. I was envisioning a meltdown, but I had pre-warned her it might pinch and whatever little pain she felt would go away quickly. Neil said the nurses were super – three of them work together to distract, hold and poke.

With that stress on my mind, I wasn’t inspired to finish my latest image. I do have it open right now, and feel I can dedicate my time to it again. For fun I played with some AI, a completely new-to-me platform to spark some new creativity. It is controversial as the computer does the work on entered parameters – in this case a representation of my little ones enjoying each others company, mother and child, and a random bird below. I will not offer any AI work for purchase, just a fun thing for me to tinker with.

Other than being stressy stressy I took the little ones to my parents’ garden and Amelia helped Grandpa pick potatoes. He would dig the hole and she would pick up any potatoes that rolled out. Cedric was befriended by the sweetest little cat, but I would not allow him to pet it. He can be a bit (ok a lot) overenthusiastic when he pets small furry creatures, so I did not want to risk him getting a bite or scratch. He amused himself by running up and down the garden paths and looking at the array of cartoony windmills.

Tomorrow it is back to the grind, and Cedric will go to my parents place while Amelia heads off to daycare. T-minus three weeks until Cedric also joins the world of daycare! Exciting! Also upcoming is the Sunflower festival next weekend, I bet the kids will find that super fun.

We went on a little adventure this weekend to pick berries at the u-pick farm called Sweder Berries (approx. 30 minutes south of town). It was a drizzly drive and I was immediately regretting my decision to wear tennis shoes instead of my rainboots – I also had not anticipated needing the kids’ rainboots or mud buddy suits (lying weather network). By the time we arrived the drizzle was letting up leaving it a perfect temperature to pick in. I put the kids in their raincoats and hats and sprayed them with insect repellent before letting them loose. My Dad said there were no bugs, I’m not sure what he was looking at but there were definitely mosquitos lying in wait (Cedric has the marks to prove it haha).

Amelia and Cedric enjoyed running up and down the rows of berries and watching the group pick Saskatoons. Grandpa reached in and was able to bend a few trees over so Amelia could also pick (plus the juiciest berries were on the top branches). My mom told her that Saskatoons are delicious, so Amelia gamely tasted one….she immediately went “blech! Yucky!” and made a face of disgust while trying to scrape her tongue off. I told her they taste better in pies.

Cedric sampled a few but also spat them out. He did however have a great time trying to remove the picked berries from the pails. I eventually got him his own little container with a few berries so he could play. After a bit of time shaking saskatoons out of his container, he made his way back to the big pails and used his bucket to smoosh the berries :S At least we noticed what he was up to before he did too much damage.

All-in-all we were there 1.5 hrs before the kids were thoroughly wet and getting tired. Thankfully I did bring them changes of clothes. On the dirt road back to the driveway we came across two Mule deer bucks running down the lane so followed them towards the highway. They eventually found an opening and bounded off into the woods. When I told Neil about the deer he immediately asked ‘how many points” . . . . you know hunting season is approaching when . . . .Neil had missed out on the trip because he was working nights that day and needed to sleep.

Amelia made it all the way back home awake, but Cedric couldn’t keep his eyes open zzz. Overall it was a great day or fresh and family time.

Happy Thursday! (photo above is a composite I made the other day, there is also a blog entry below this one I forgot to send a notification out on)

Today was my second day back to work since my maternity leave ended, and it has been going tickity-boo. I was worried I was going to be incredibly rusty, but everything came back instantly, and it is as if I never left. Funny how that works. One thing that made coming back to work less stressful was the phone call from the YMCA saying Cedric finally had a spot starting in September!

What a huge immense relief. Childcare for under 3 years old is so limited that daycare spots are as rare as unicorns. Cedric was put on the YMCA list as soon as I knew we were expecting (therefore was on the list for over 2 years). The same thing was true for Amelia – she was on the list as soon as we got the positive test. My advice to anyone thinking about having children – do NOT hesitate to go on available waitlists, it is not too early to apply. Amelia moves up to the big kid side in September which will be an adventure for her. Happily, two of her little friends are moving up as well.

In other news – I was able to snag one of the coveted swimming lessons spots for October. If you aren’t a local to Prince George you may not realize the demand there is for pre-school aged swimming lessons. In fact, they usually fill up in a matter of a few short hours. Phew! Thank goodness for other moms on Facebook alerting people registration had opened. I had my alarm set for the right day, but put it as PM instead of AM :S

The littlest one has decided that sleeping past 6:15 am is for the weak and has been up annoyingly early the last few days. He has not realized (or doesn’t care) that regardless of what he wants, no one is coming to get him until 7am – hopefully daycare will tire Cedric out more and encourage him to sleep that extra 45 minutes. He has always been a morning lark, Amelia is much more keen to sleep in. 

I’m looking forward to the weekend – if the weather gets hot again I know Amelia would love to go swim in our pool. I had a bit of a hiccup with my chemistry and drained most of the water out. It is refilled and fixed now, but we need a few sunny days to warm the water back up

Happy Birthday 3rd birthday to my sweet little girl! Just when I think I couldn’t possibly love you anymore. . . . I do! She wound up having two birthday parties this year. Neil’s side of the family was going to be out of town for her real birthday yesterday so we had an early party last week with cupcakes from Sandi’s Cupcake Creations. Then yesterday we had cake after she got home from daycare. The cake that I completely blanked on and forgot to make. Thankfully my parents and sister we on the ball and created the prettiest little butterfly cake, I actually thought they had bought it. 

Other than birthdays we have busy the last few days making the most of the time I have left before my maternity leave ends at the start of August. Almost every morning my sister and I take her boy and Cedric on a big walk on the University trails, then I’ve been toting Cedric around on various outings (Amelia is at daycare). One fun trip was visiting my parents’ plot at the Community Garden, where Cedric found two zucchinis that he claimed as his own and proudly carried around. He also investigated the peas with great interest, especially since Grandpa was picking them. There was another lady at a different plot who thought Cedric was just the cutest and let us pick some of her strawberries for a treat.

Another little outing was brunch at D’Lano’s with my parents. We kept Amelia home from daycare that day so she could come too because “pancake day” is the highlight of her week when she goes. She actually eats French toast and says no to pancakes, but to her it is pancake day.

In the evening to beat the heat we are usually playing inside, and one of their new toys arrived a few days ago (Grimm’s 7 Rainbow Friends in Bowls) It is a colour sorting set of peg people and bowls. Who knew you could do so much with these little people. Amelia used her imagination and built little scenes for them with her wooden rainbow arches and was trying to teach Cedric the colours, among other little games she devised. Cedric promptly tossed one of the little people across the room, so that took a bit of searching to find where it rolled off to. We have also read an entire library’s worth of books, built forts with our Kiico Play Couch and watched the Disney Short ‘Far from the Tree” on repeat. She adores the story of the little racoons. 

Neil and I hung out in the pool the other night for almost 2 hours which is rare because the weather is usually only nice when he is at work, and promptly turns too windy or rainy on his days off. The kids are going swimming this afternoon after naps and daycare, Amelia has been looking forward to it for a few days, but I had to hold off going in because I got the last piece of my tattoo sleeve done last week so needed to stay out of the water. 

I feel like we have done so much more, but I can’t think of anything more to add. Cedric is up from his nap – off to swim now!

July 12, 2022

Firstly: new birthday card added to the Occasion Cards page. A large art piece is in the works and will be shared shortly.

It has been a quiet few days because of all the rain – I know some people do activities regardless of the weather, but I am not one of them. I did take the little ones over to the park the other day so Amelia could ride her bike on the pump track. I am absolutely flabbergasted by how natural she is. She has only been to the track once, and she was pretty wobbly. This time she promptly decided to skip the flat bits and go straight the the “hills” – and executed her ride flawlessly! Do you know how long it took me to ride my mountain bike without crashing? Too long!

Cedric wanted to run around the track making himself a tiny unpredictable obstacle. He eventually decided he was going to make a break for it and high tailed it off to the grassy school field. When I thwarted him he sat and howled in disgust, so we went over to the actual playground where he had the best time.

In other news Cedric got his 2nd haircut the other day! I was very unimpressed with Chatters last time, it was rushed and the lady seemed annoyed with a wiggly boy. This time we went to The Heritage Barber and Rob was absolutely amazing. He had the best bedside manner with my son making him feel comfortable, took his time and masterfully followed the moving head. There was a TV in the studio and he was more than happy to put Frozen on in the background as a distraction, and even gave Cedric a lollipop. The lollipop really got Cedric’s attention and he sat very still figuring out how to eat it. It is amazing what little kids will eat. He dropped it in his lap – which was covered in hair – and proceeded to continue eating the fuzzy treat. He offered it to me and I declined haha. So if you want a great haircut for your wiggly little boy I recommend you talk to Rob.

Lastly in the world of moi, I had to hook up the hose to the pool drain and drain a whole bunch of water out. Over the course of a few days of rain the water level rose a few inches so it was about to overflow! Thankfully this time I had no crazy rushing water to soak me, and within 30 to 40 minutes it was down to a reasonable level again. The water temperature is holding strong at a comfortable level despite it being overcast all the time – so I am still loving those solar heaters.