The big 6!

Phénix is 6 months! Hudson is 29 months! We had a rough month... but right now they are both sitting on the floor together and playing with gears! This is one of Hudson's favorite toy right now! And Phénix likes to chew on a gear while watching his sister play. "playing together" just started in the last few days. Hudson seem a little happier that her brother is finally "doing something" and Phénix just LOVES his sister. Being with her always makes him laugh and smile! Phénix can sit on his own, can roll around and has started to "try" scouting on his bum. Right now he doesn't make it really far but I can see him being successful soon. As for crawling... I don't think it will happen for a while longer. He much prefers sitting to being on his tummy.

We also started EC with Phénix. We started a bit later than we did with Hudson for two reason. Hudson could sit up unassisted a lot earlier (3 months), and the weather is so cold, I find it hard to have diaper free time. (Granted I could raise the thermostat on the house....) So we started about a month ago, and so far he is doing great! He goes twice a day and is pretty consistent. When the good weather will arrive (yes we are still sitting at -17 today...) we will be more proactive about it.

So I said we had a rough month... and we sure did. After a few days of very high fever, Hudson ended up in the hospital. Turned out she had the flu. (No one has had the flu in this house ever!) She did very well, and although she was very weak and sick, she kept on nursing! It was actually horrible for me as she wanted to nurse 24/7... but in the end, it kept her hydrated and well enough to fight without needing any IV.

As I kept nursing both, Phénix did not catch it either. He was swabbed for precaution a few days later and it was negative. That was such a relief! None of us got it either. The doctors were a little baffled ;-) During her sick days, I allowed Hudson to watch a little bit of TV on my tablet! She discovered the Bubble Guppies and really like it. Now that she is better, she ask me to watch it... I might allowed her too a little bit everyday. Otherwise, she took a liking for writing and can now write her name (although the "s" and the "n" are not quite looking like "s" or "n" yet). She also likes "reading" and started recognizing basic sight words. Right now she likes words with "m". The rest of the time, she is your typical 2 years old who likes to say "NO!", "What's that" and "WHY!"........ it gets draining.... especially when you ask her to stop and she then switches to the other language and restarts all over "NON!", "Qu'est-ce que tu fais", "Pourquoi!"....

So March was pretty much spent taking care of a sick toddler while finishing my semester! As for Phénix... as healthy as he is... he is teething.... and teething.... and teething... and just like it was for his older sister... nothing is coming out... it is taking for ever...... so I am a little bit short on sleep right now. But it's ok... who needs sleep anyway ;-)

 

Mudroom DIY Part 1

When we bought the house, 7 years ago... we actually purchased a very different model... Then there were some issues with the permits and ended up moving to a different neighborhood, on a different lot, in a different model. The neighborhood was much better and the lot nicer and bigger (for the same price). The house was also bigger.... but the layout was not what we wanted. 

However, in the end, we thought with a little bit of work here and there, we could make it work. One of the biggest pet peeve about this house, was all the wasted square footage in the entrance room.... It it huge but has a bad layout. We knew, we wanted to turn the space into a nice functional mudroom, and with two kids it became apparent that we needed it NOW! So after browsing Pinterest a whole lot... we came up with our own little design... 

We started off by building two benches for the opposing walls. The goal was to have 5 lockers space (2 adults, 3 kids....) We used MDF and trimmed it with Pine. We used THIS tutorial but with our own measurements. Then we painted the whole thing white. At first the whole unit was going to be white... but then we found some beautiful Pine on sale and decided to do a mix white and stained pine....

 

We up-cycled some baskets to store the hats and mittens. And I made cushions with fabric from our local fabric store. 

 

We installed wood paneling on both side (because I love the wood paneling style... although I wanted to paint it white, my husband convinced me to let the beauty of the natural wood peek out from a light stain)

And built a custom overhead cabinet... and there is where I will stop the preview! We still have lots of work to do... like staining, trimming, cleaning and staging... so make sure to come back in a few weeks to see the final product! (You can't see it on the picture but the seat's edges have been routed into a nice trim. I will have close up pictures of that too)

 

Colic? Purple Crying? NOPE... blame the fleece

A few days after turning 2 months, our son started crying every night at the same time... for more or less an hour (sometimes longer...) Hudson never did this! I knew he was not overtired... him being such a good sleeper... Yet every night at around 7:30, he would start hysterically screaming... no matter what we did... he would not stop... we nursed, we rocked, we walked, we sang, we flashed lights, used sound machine, sushed him, brought him on car ride... you name it... there would be the odd day where we would have no "colic" but otherwise it was very steady and heart wrenching... (no mother likes to see their baby cry like that). We talked about it with friend, with doctor.... and well... we were told : "Just your classic case of colic" We were even told to be thankful he didn't scream any longer than an hour... So we went with the flow... and every night got ready for his "colic"... Knowing one day it would end!

Then he turned 5 months... and as quickly as the colic came, the colic stopped... for 6 nights that is... Then last night it came back!!!! We were devastated! WHY!!!!!!!!!!!! What did we do differently! Why stop for 6 days and then go right back at it! Then it hit me! I quickly removed his PJ and layer him down on the cold cotton bed sheet. He stopped right away! And went back to his happy self!

I had my answer right then! The fleece PJ! When he was around 2 months, the weather cold colder and we started using fleece PJ at night.... then 6 days ago, I notice he had eczema (which got confirmed by the doctor), so I stopped using fleece PJ (I myself have eczema and can hardly touch fleece)... But I had never done the math... it should have been obvious... PJ fleece + dry sensitive skin = lot's of pain!!!! 

I think that some of the reasons I never really made the connection was 1. Hudson does not have eczema; 2. His eczema only became visible 2 weeks ago and 3. I was blinded by "it's just a colicky baby... it will pass".

I feel horrible about it... and can't help but wonder how many colicky baby actually have a "real reason to cry" that goes undetected... 

So no more fleece anything for Phénix and just bought some raw shea butter... time to make some serious anti-eczema cream ;-)