Sunshine, sunshine

I have been loving loving loving this amazing weather we are experiencing. It feels like we've had months of beautiful weather and it's only April!! The screen tent is up, the yard is clean, clothesline has been hung, barbecue lit (more than once), car cleaned and now waiting to plant... The gardening centres and nurseries don't seem ready for the fact that people are wanting to plant already since it's so unusual. Normal years we'd still have snow on the ground! Crazy to think that since we've been out in summer clothes for weeks now and we've all adjusted to the warm weather. Winter jackets, hot soup and mittens? Can't imagine being there.


This video has been on my mind lately, dancing through my head

We shut off the heat today (celebration time!!). I'm sure we're quite far behind other people but our house stays surprisingly cool during the summer months. They were building smartly back in 1902. When we moved here two years ago in June, it was so hot outside but we were shivering in sweaters and long pants inside the house! I'm thankful for that when the air conditioning bills come in the summer... not so much for the winter heating bills though.

But summer!! Oh thank goodness you are here, we've been SO overdue for a good one. If I hadn't had a baby last year, I would have taken off for sunnier locales for sure, just tired of waiting for warm weather.

We've been lazing around in our tent with a blanket on the ground, letting Jude explore. Cruising up and down the couch, from chair to table and back again. His initial unsteadiness and occasional faceplant has given way to a surprisingly sturdy stance. He gets up and down again with rarely a miss. I'm both excited and scared to see him start taking steps on his own. We have a walker (essentially he pushes it and walks behind it) that he has no interest in using but this morning we discovered that he'll happily walk behind an upside down laundry basket, pushing it around. Children don't need toys, they need exploration and positive feedback. What's more exciting between a fisher price sorter and a spatula? Spatula wins every time!

Spent the afternoon lounging around the park with Mikki and Kingsley - more sunshine, swings and leaves in the mouth. munch munch yum yum. Elicited a rare smile from the serious Miss Kingsley (which I will hold onto happily until the next one comes!) and borrowed a wrap so I thankfully didn't need to carry my heavy heavy bug home again. With him in and out of arms so quickly, it's been such a pain to tie my Cuddly Wrap (although I do love it so) and I often end up just carrying him on the hip... but OH THE PAIN! My elbow aches, my shoulder throbs, my leg starts twitching! I know, melodramatic much but he's a serious heavyweight. Now that other mama's and I are passing babies back and forth, I'm always excited at holding a featherweight baby while they can't believe how hefty my guy is. He's a solid mass of baby, that one. Healthy all the way.

What else has been happening this past week? Bread baking (for the first time ever!) was quite successful. Will definitely have to revisit that but sans the molasses. They were quite noticeable in the finished product although they gave the bread a nice colour. Visits and more visits, teething and more teething, celebrated my brother Gabriel's birthday on Friday with a family BBQ and homemade cheesecake. yum. Did bedtime routine at my parents and he was asleep before reaching the Pembina underpass. Success! I think that's more than enough catching up for now.

I always think if I posted more often I wouldn't have to rant on and on... not sure if that's true or just wishful thinking. Perhaps one day.

But my ranting on and on also provides me with something to do instead of getting out the sewing machine and finally teaching myself how to sew something. So it's a great time waster.