~ Muddy Boots ~

lazy Saturday morning

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 20:49:00 +0000

Just a few pictures from Saturday morning this weekend. Testing settings on my camera before a maternity session, trying to figure out how I'd managed to mess up all my focus settings. Thankfully the boys were willing to sit still for a few seconds so I could take a few test shots. The light is not ideal in the two of Eloise and Andrew... but look how cute!

Edited to add that I do have a fourth child... the elusive nine year old boy. This somewhat shy and secretive creature can usually be found surrounded by impressive Lego creations, with his nose tucked in a book, or conquering multiple levels of confusing sounding sim games. Best to approach slowly and cautiously and with camera inconspicuously hidden from view. Spooks easily.

messy eater

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 03:52:00 +0000

I don't even remember what she was eating here. Likely some sort of Christmas/NewYears leftovers. Rice? And Turkey? Either way, it was clearly more fun to throw it around and rub it in her hair than actually get much in her mouth.

These were taken January 2nd with a wide angle lens I rented over the holidays. Was fun to play with something new.

a new year, already a month behind

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 05:44:00 +0000

I wish I had more time for blogging.

I love looking back and reading old posts and stories about my kids. They're going to wonder what happened to 2012!

I haven't even blogged about Christmas, and it might never happen, but this will always be remembered as "The Christmas with the Puppies". A good friend was headed out of town and we volunteered/insisted that we take one or more puppies while he was gone.

Fun for the kids, right?

Puppies! THREE PUPPIES!

Gah! Puppies are A. LOT. OF. WORK. Three crazy, rambunctious, not-quite-house-trained puppies... I was in tears the first day (Christmas Eve!) and would get pains in my stomach just thinking about those little beasts, but by the end of the week I even had a wee pang saying goodbye to them. Like most things in life, once I adjusted my expectations and gave things a bit of time to work themselves out... and made sure everyone knew I was boss... it went much more smoothly.

Every once in a while I start thinking about getting a dog, and in moments of temporary insanity might have even checked out a few breeds online.

Thankfully it passed. Then it came back. Then I pushed it down. Then it hit again.

I really don't need any more creatures to care for at this point in life.

But they were pretty cute.

(And I might have the pet section of kijiji in my top pages.)

(And I just might check it every time I sit down to nurse Eloise to sleep.)

What's orange and black and fun all over?? A 6th birthday party!!

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 03:59:00 +0000

We celebrated Simon's sixth birthday last Saturday.

A few weeks early (his birthday's not until the 25th, but we wanted to take advantage of my mom being in town (Peter was supposed to be on a business trip to Argentina, but the trip was cancelled). When I looked at the calendar and saw that grandma would be here at the end of the month -Halloween!- we convinced Simon that a Halloween/costume party would be WAY COOLER than a Bionicle party.

(Plus, how would one make a Bionicle cake??)

It also meant that we could spend most of the month of October decorating the house for Halloween, then leave the decorations up for the party... and not madly decorate and party-fy the house until the wee hours the night before! Win!

I'm not a fan of the scary/gory/spooky Halloween stuff, so we stuck to orange, black, pumpkins, spiders, and crows. I was really happy with how my minimalist Halloween art turned out (you can see the Superhero versions from last year HERE), and spent far too long making the giant yarn spiderweb and printing out Halloween-y art for our photo wall. The owl s'mores were also a bit time consuming, but so cute and such a big hit.

I'm so glad my mom was here to help with all the planning and prep. Especially since Eloise was a bit more clingy than usual, having broken her finger the day before (in case you start wondering why Little Red Riding Hood is wearing a sock on her hand).

I didn't manage to get too many pictures of the birthday boy on the day of... he was too busy running wild with friends. I'm hoping to get him out for a little photoshoot sometime nearer his actual birthday, though.

I'm sure I put far too much effort into decorating and food and themes and everything else for my kids' birthday parties... but I love it. And love THEM! Is "Party Planning" a Love Language?? If so, it's one of mine! I hope that they feel it and, when they're older, always remember how special their days were.

Love you, Simon.

baby broke a finger

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 02:40:00 +0000

With Simon's big 6th birthday party on the weekend, I took advantage of my mom being in town to run some last minute errands. While she stayed home doing math and reading with the older two boys (substitute teacher!), I took Eloise and Andrew with me to Bulk Barn and Michael's craft store.

All was going well. We'd breezed through Bulk Barn, getting some discounted Halloween candy and the thing we needed for some of the birthday fare. My main reason for going to Michael's was to see if they had any of their fun Halloween paper plates left. We picked up a couple packages of plates (at 70% off!), some fun black and purple striped napkins, and a big rubber spider to finish off the web I'd made in the dining room.

The cashier rang everything through and I turned to insert my credit card into the little machine (which was on the other side of the counter), when I heard a loud crash. I'd only turned my back for the time it took to insert my card (hadn't punched in my pin!), and in that time Andrew had decided to try to climb into the much-smaller-than-average shopping cart. Eloise was strapped into the baby seat so she went right over when the thing tipped.

She was screaming as I rushed to undo the seat belt buckle and pull her out. And as I pulled her into my lap, I saw all the blood. ALL. THE. BLOOD. I frantically searched her head, mouth, nose... the places you'd expect to bleed that profusely.

But it was her finger.

When the shopping cart tipped over, her hand must've been holding onto the side of the basket and gotten crushed under the edge. After waiting what seemed like forever for them to bring a First Aid kit, we got her hand wrapped up and covered in a sock so I could get the sobbing Eloise, the now-much-quieter-than-normal Andrew and our purchases loaded into the van.

After quickly dropping Andrew off back at home with my mom, I took Eloise to the Children's Hospital in Ottawa. I knew it wasn't a life-threatening injury, but was worried that I wouldn't be able to stop the bleeding from the gash on her wee finger.

taken after being re-bandaged in triage at the Children's Hospital

After a dose of Advil, some freezing gel (in preparation for the stitches) and a much more professional wrap job, she really was in a good mood for the most part. At one point a porter came into the waiting room with BUBBLES. Huge hit.

The doctor decided to x-ray her hand in addition to stitching up her finger. Turns out there was a small fracture to the last knuckle of her index finger. Poor baby. The cart really must've crushed it for it to break the bone AND rip it open like that.

Saturday, I had to change the dressing on her hand just before the Simon's birthday party started. Peter helped while one of the boys -Andrew maybe?- took some pictures with my phone. What you can't really see from the pictures is how blue it is. Her whole finger, even into the first knuckle (which is more of a pudgy little blue/purple dimple now).

She'll live, of course. She was quite tentative to use her left hand all weekend, and insisted on having a sock on it at all times. By yesterday, though, she'd abandoned all wrappings other than a Bandaid, which serves mostly to remind us all to be careful with her hand.

We went through triage, ambulatory care, three waiting rooms, assessments, bandages, treatment, stitches, three x-rays, and almost five hours later we left with extra bandages... and without paying a penny. It's times like this that make me thankful for Canada's great health care.

I'm also thankful that baby bones heal so quickly.

halloween 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 03:16:00 +0000

This year we had a knight, a *Canadian* astronaut, a Clone Trooper, and Little Red Riding Hood. I snapped these as we were rushing out to pick Peter up from work on our way to a Halloween party at some friends' church. It was dark and cloudy and threatening rain. I was happy to be headed someplace indoors, but would've like a bit of a brighter day for pictures.

I also wish I'd thought to get my mom (who was here for a visit!) in a picture with the kids. Or ME for that matter.

Oh well. They're cuter than mom and me.

We went a bit further with my Halloween decorating this year. Because of the timing of my mom's visit, we decided to have Simon's birthday party early on November 3rd. We doubled up on the Halloween decorations and had all of his friends come in costume. Although we failed to get around to carving pumpkins (forgive me boys!), the decorations turned out REALLY fun. I'll try to post them soon. Hope you had fun in your neck of the woods.

our little Colombiana

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 19:45:00 +0000

Or is it Colombianita? Whatever. I never claimed to speak Spanish.

Now that Eloise is older (I was going to say "bigger", but she's so tiny that that hardly seemed accurate), I decided it is high time to start documenting her in all the cute little outfits that our friends gave us in Bogota when she was born.

This little embroidered dress and Colombian doll were given to us by some of Peter's colleagues. I'm afraid that the doll's straw hat and sandals will not make it past Eloise second birthday... she's pretty rough. She's going to, literally, love them to pieces.

I love the dress. Since Eloise is so petite, I know she's going to wear it for years. As a long dress now, and later as a tunic.

As always, Andrew had to get his cute self in on the action. What a pair.

Next time we'll try the string-to-doorknob trick

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 03:32:00 +0000

I haven't forgotten about the rest of our New York trip, but an event happened here last week that cannot go undocumented...

Simon lost his first tooth!

Over the last few years as Liam lost teeth, Simon went back and forth between jealous and fear. I was a bit worried how he'd handle it when his turn came.

As it turned out, he was a total trooper. As it became looser and looser, it began to hurt a bit when he'd try to chew. Last Friday night was his favourite supper of taco salad, and he was worried it would hurt when he ate. I jokingly said, "Let's go get the pliers!" since I like to scare my kids... but he agreed!

With only mild trepidation, he let Peter pull his tooth our with a pair of needle-nose pliers!

Truth be told, Peter has been dreaming of this moment since becoming a dad. To be honest, I was kinda jealous.

Simon looks a bit terrified in one of the pictures below, but he was totally into it.

Peter and I have been dreaming up what we'll tie the next loose tooth to...

P.S. My kids grow teeth like sharks. Ew.

at the pond

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 21:57:00 +0000

Do you like picture-heavy posts? Good. There are 62 in this one. But I made them into collages, so I only had to upload 12.

I'm not just a pretty face.

So, after a short drive south from Rochester, we arrived at our sister-in-law's family farm and headed straight for the pond. As soon as we got there, the boys jumped out of the van to find their cousins, who they hadn't seen in over four years. The last time we saw them face-to-face (other than Skype calls) was when Liam was five, Simon was only 18 months, and I was three months pregnant with Andrew. So neither Andrew or Eloise had met them, and we'd yet to meet little Cora. After a brief, somewhat awkward, arm-around-the shoulder hug, they were off together... having found that thing over which all boys can bond... Lego.

(Let's pretend I imported this into photoshop to add some text over that grey square, ok?)

The three-and-under set aren't always included in the big boy play. Thankfully there were many distractions and much fun to be had apart for the tiny plastic men.

I can't imagine where Andrew learns to make all his faces...

The afternoon we arrived was also the birthday party of the son of Susanna's (our sister-in-law) cousin. So, it was the birthday of my husband's brother's wife's cousin's son. Follow? They were gracious enough to include us in the scavenger hunt, games, cake, etc. One of the games involved cups with holes and water that had to be moved from one bucket to another.

There was a bit of a mishap (I don't even remember what happened), but nothing that hugs from mom couldn't fix. Even hugs with a camera in ones face.

When not playing Lego, swimming, swinging, playing shuffle board, fishing or digging in the sand, THIS was often happening.


There are two large plastic dump trucks at pond and someone came up with the idea of riding them down the big hill. I thought it was a joke when someone first suggested it. Nope. They really do it. Simon, especially, loved it.

But enough with the boys.

How about this cuteness below? And a view of the beautiful pond?

I was worried that Andrew would feel left out, with the Toby/Liam and Asher/Simon combos clearly established. But he didn't seem to. He loved swimming with anyone who was in the water, and played in the sand whether the other boys were or not. His back was pretty tan by the end of the week from being bent over in the sand pit so often.


These next pictures are of our sweet little niece, Cora. She's two years old and it still makes me shake my head that we didn't get to meet her until this summer. Her family living in California and our in Bogota/Ottawa makes getting together a big challenge. I'm sure if we lived near each other, she and Eloise would be great little friends.

I just love how she's holding her dress up in the first picture.


And just a few more of Andrew that I couldn't not share. He's generally a pretty good sport about having my camera in his face so often. And even when he is being a bit difficult, he's still cute. I love that he's still wearing all his bracelets from the market in Colombia, even after a year.

I'd say 62 pictures is a not-too-bad start to sharing our time at the pond. It really was such a treat to be there. More to come!

Seasame Street, Super Heroes and not a TV in sight

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 22:17:00 +0000

Before heading to the pond to join Tim and Susanna, we spent a couple days in Rochester. High on our list of things to do was a visit to the Museum of Play. IT. DID. NOT. DISAPPOINT. I'd go as far as to say that this museum ALONE is worth the five hour drive from Ottawa/Gatineau. Truly amazing.

The museum has a large Sesame Street area, complete with the famous steps, Big Bird's nest and full Elmo's World. All totally exact and interactive.

We paid extra in order to visit the butterfly exhibit. Eloise didn't last long (she just wanted down to play in the puddles and chase the tiny quails), but the boys enjoyed it more than I thought they would. Liam grabbed an identification guide and went on a hunt for all the different species. Andrew was more into the little quails, and the toucan and other birds. Simon... poor Simon... he wanted SO BADLY for butterflies to land on him. I don't think I've ever seen him stand that still for that long! He's so rarely NOT in motion! A couple of them did land on his hand or back, but only briefly and not really long enough to satisfy him.

This area of the museum DEFINITELY had the best lighting. I love these shots of the boys. Not sure what Andrew's up to in that first one, but it makes me smile.

Next up was the Super Hero exhibit. Oohhhh boy! Are you ready for a glut of pictures?? The boys loved EVERY INCH of it.

Aren't the building-climbing ones fun? Check out the ones below of Eloise dragging Peter. I was almost crying while taking these... I'm surprised they turned out!

This next series shows Simon and Andrew receiving their super powers. Simon was totally into it. I'm surprised he didn't try to leap off a tall building afterwards.

The museum also had this amazing mini grocery store where kids could shop, play butcher/baker/etc, and then check themselves out, complete with printed receipt. In the back, behind the store was a mini TV station with set ups for a cooking show, weather and news. It even had working cameras the kids to operate and move around to film different areas of the set. We spent quite awhile back there and I have a few ridiculous videos to upload to YouTube later.

At the last minute, we decided to go upstairs and walk through the toy archives,where the boys loved seeing all the old Star Wars toys, the original Lego set, along with a bunch of other fun vintage toys and games. There was a large section featuring a vast collection of old/antique/vintage dolls and, let me tell you, it was SUPER creepy. Eloise didn't notice, but it made the hairs on my arms stand up and the boys REFUSED to take more than a few steps in. Spooooky!

We ended our trip with lunch in the old school diner at the museum. The food was forgettable, but the pink vinyl and chrome decor made up for it.

All in all, a fabulous morning and I'm officially jealous of anyone who lives in Rochester and gets to visit whenever they want. Hands down the best children's museum we've ever been to.

sandwiches state side

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 21:24:00 +0000

It was my birthday this week. Thirty-three years old.

I know! Yikes!

But my kids assure me it's not THAT old.

I was sitting here trying to remember what we did last year for my birthday and, drawing a blank, I decided to check back on my blog. Blogs are great for remembering details like that... if you actually use them and write regularly. Which I didn't. And I haven't been.

The day after my birthday, I sat down a wrote out some goals for this year. Goals related to family life, fitness, business, and our home. It's still a work in progress, but it's a good start. Sort of mid-year resolutions.

One of my goals is to be better at recording my family's stories here.

Cause my memory ain't as good as it used to be.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Early July, we loaded the van and set out for NY state. South out of Ottawa, across the boarder, and on to Rochester. To avoid a long stop at some restaurant (never fun with four little ones... even less so when you've got someplace to get to), we packed a lunch and found a little picnic area to spread out at.

Liam even looked up from his book a couple of times to talk to us.

Simon really wasn't mad at anything, but he likes to play his cards close to his chest at all times. Wouldn't want us to think he's enjoying himself TOO MUCH, but he did tell me I make the best sandwiches EVER. Win.

Andrew finds most things funny. Even sandwiches.

Eloise, true to form, walked around eating. Sometimes actual food that we gave her, but mostly rocks and sticks. We joke that she's part goat.

I'm going to be sad when she outgrows these pants.

And no family photo opt would be complete without be setting up the camera and timer (my remote was dead) and forcing everyone to stand nearish each other for picture. These are important memories, folks. They've figured out that it's better to just go along with it, rather than have me pout about it afterwards. I rewarded them by letting Liam pretend to punch me in the face in the following frame. Hopefully Eloise will get in the game soon.

I have so many pictures from this trip and I'm REALLY going to be mad at myself if I don't get them up and blogged. Feel free to send me threatening letters if you think I need the motivation.

I've missed you all!

Eloise Amora Kaye

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 04:01:00 +0000

With the dawning of tomorrow's day, our baby girl will complete her first spin around the sun.

Our sweet Eloise.

One year passed.

Already.

How??

She is DEFINITELY our last. Our last baby and, this, our last first birthday. For the last few

weeks, this thought has been sending me into bouts of melancholy and nostalgia.

Our baby girl is so sweet and so little... how can she be a year already? Where has it gone??

And in my refusal to face the reality of passing time, I have made NO preparations

and put NO effort into planning her celebration. To assuage this particular mommy guilt,

I hope to dust off the sewing machine and whip up a little crown or bunting or something

to mark this momentous occasion.

And it is momentous.

Our baby is one year old.

Aversions to sleeping in her crib aside, she is... just AWESOME. Sweet and smiley and friendly, so easy to laugh, fearless and determined, bright and lovely and full of so much personality. She was our wee Colombian surprise, but I just cannot fathom my life and our family without her in it.

In looking up the meanings of her names again, I'm surprised at how fitting each of her names is:

Eloise: a mix of Eleanor meaning light and Lois meaning good

Amora: means love

Kaye: either pure or rejoice

She is pure love, goodness, light and joy. That's Eloise.

Tomorrow will likely be a quiet day, with daddy at work and the rest of us enjoying our

last day with Grandma before she heads back west. We will (hopefully) wake slowly, have the

birthday girl's favourite eggs for breakfast, bake some cupcakes, do a bit of crafting, a lot of playing, and a ton of loving on our baby girl. All along my camera will not be far from hand as I try to document her special day.

To freeze the time that is going way too fast.

You are loved, Eloise.

(right now) I am...

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 18:01:00 +0000

I've posted once this year. ONCE.

And only seven times since we moved back to Canada in August. Seven times in seven months. And while I'm struck by the lovely symmetry -lucky seven and all that- perhaps I'll draw from that completeness and try to open a new chapter here, so to speak.

Clearly this is a phase of life where "something has to give" and that something has been the blog. But it makes me sad when I think of all the stories I didn't tell. All the pictures I've taken over the last HALF A YEAR that have not seen the light of blog.

Since I started this blog as a record for my kids to have when their older, I feel like I've let them down by my neglect of this space. Weekly, I resolve to dig into those hundreds (thousands?) of pictures. To cull, edit, export, upload and post. And write informative/meaningful/engaging/witty/love-filled stories to go with them all. Then I start thinking about all the other posts that never got written... Liam's 7th birthday, various visits from family over the last 2-3 years, the amazing deck Peter and his dad built summer '10, our Easter week spent with three other families at a vacation rental in Colombia last April, the baby shower that was held for me in Bogota hosted by a dear friend, a last fun filled, Nerf battle playdate that Liam had with friends before leaving Colombia...

And the list goes on.

And I get overwhelmed.

And I do nothing.

So instead of trying to go back through the last two years and write every story that should have been written, I am instead choosing to simply write about what's been going on this week.

Thanks to the Scintilla Project for the writing prompt, to Soulemama for the format, and to my sister for nagging on my Facebook wall.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

RIGHT NOW, I AM...

:: Enjoying the thought that spring is coming. Bulbs are beginning to sprout new growth and buds will soon be appearing on the trees. I can sense things slowly starting to wake up... me too, perhaps?

:: Seeing the disaster in the boys' room grow and grow and grow. While they're loving having all their Lego and Playmobil in their room (while the basement is a job site), I start to twitch every time I'm forced to enter.

:: Missing my mom after her visit in February.

:: Searching on kijiji and craigslist for that perfect vintage/retro/mid-century couch.

:: Watching my calendar fill up with spring maternity, newborn and family photo sessions.

:: Smelling a whole new array of smells from the diapers of an eight month old who's being introduced to new foods daily. Motherhood is glamourous.

:: Putting away the calamine lotion and calendula cream (finally!) after having the chicken pox spread from Liam/Simon to Andrew to Eloise. They didn't love it, but now it's over with. Yay for immunity!

:: Looking at design ideas and paint chips as we plan the finishing touches on our basement reno.

:: Waiting for the drywall guys to arrive. They're 2 hours late and counting.

:: Wishing that life would slow down just a little. Except for the drywall guys. They can hurry up.

:: Hearing the confidence in Liam's voice as he reads (on his own! chapters at a time! with only a little bribery!), and amazed at Simon's reading ability for only being five years old.

:: Feeling a bit overwhelmed by all that has to be done and all we'd like to do.

:: Reminding myself of where my priorities lie.

:: Remembering how very much I have to be thankful for.

:: Laughing at the boys daily. They drive me crazy on a routine basis, but they also bring such great joy and laugher and fun to life.

:: Being more and more aware of areas where I fall short and where I want to improve/change/grow. This is a good thing!

:: Working on organizing those thousands of photos I've taken over the last many years.

:: Tickled that Simon and Andrew like peanut butter and pickle sandwiches.

:: Noticing how much longer and warmer our days are getting. Hooray!

:: Recording Simon's use of the term "yesternight" and Andrew's pronunciation of "yicken pox".

:: Happy that Liam enjoys the Rick Mercer Report just as much as Peter and I do.

:: Hoping that Eloise won't break a bone before she actually learns to walk SINCE SHE THINKS SHE ALREADY CAN.

:: Listening to the sound of Liam rummaging through drawers of Lego upstairs (the soundtrack of my life), Simon and Andrew giggling/fighting while making silly videos of themselves on the computer, and Eloise breathing deeply as sleeps in my arms.

:: Knitting, um, lots in my head! I'd love to make some toilet paper roll knitting nancys for the boys and see how they take to it.

:: Inspired by Ann Voskamp. Her blog, her reminders to live life fully and THANKFULLY, and this post especially.

:: Thinking of two great men. One recently diagnosed and the other whose journey ended Monday night. I know we're not to live in fear, but cancer scares me.

:: Eating ice cream for breakfast next week in honour of Bruce and Jim and countless others. In Bruce's own words, "as a show of support AND as an affirmation that everyone will vow to live life and not take even the small things for granted".

:: Hoping that this blogging thing sticks for a bit!

family fun

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:01:00 +0000

With three boys who have had a camera shoved in their faces most of their young lives, in order to get them to agree to a "nice" picture, I have to bribe them with getting to do crazy ones afterwards. So for every nice picture on my hard drive, I have at least a couple of these...

Truth be told, I actually like the crazy ones better than the normal ones most of the time! Very soon I'll have enough to put into a book!

This photo was submitted to the I Heart Faces photo challenge – www.iheartfaces.com

Christmas Day in photos

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 13:51:00 +0000

Andrea from the fishbowl once again issued an Hourly Photo Challenge for Christmas day. I've enjoyed seeing others blog their holiday pictures in this way in past years, and -having joined the iPhone club not long ago- I decided it'd be a fun way to document the day... although my DSLR wasn't far away the entire day and also got put through its paces.

This was, however, a lot of fun.

Moreso for me than for all my family who had to endure the alarm on my phone going off every hour and me spending a few minutes each time to edit and upload a picture.

Good thing they're used to me having a camera in my hand.

So here it is, our Christmas day in hourly increments...

8:00am... and the kids are still asleep! All five of the older ones! Only the babies are up.

9:00am Baby's first Christmas. For this baby AND my new niece and nephew.
STILL waiting for the bigger kids to wake up and join the party.

10:00am A trio of minifigures from Liam's stocking.

11:00am Christmas kisses. She's so sweet.

12:00pm Andrew sitting at the window waiting for everyone -who wasn't sick-

to get home from church, and hanging out with Sir Axlerod and Finn McMissile.

1:00pm Tucking into the big gifts since we only had time for stockings and
breakfast before heading to church. It was a tight fit at my sister's, with seven adults,
five kids (3-9), and three babies! (wish I hadn't left the black bands on the top and bottom of this pic)

2:00pm Spreads and dips and crackers and fruit and nuts and chocolate and
coffee and egg nog and juice and Irish cream, oh my.

3:00pm The building begins.

4:00pm The building continues.

5:00pm Simon on the left and Rowan on the right. Masters of mischief.

Getting along better than ever before.

6:00pm One of my two (TWO!) jaunty hats. You will see them both often.

7:00pm These particular Christmas decorations are up year round at my sister's place.

8:00pm After seven boys between my older sister and I, we both had surprise pregnancies
this year AND BOTH HAD GIRLS! Eloise is on the left and Maizy on the right.

9:00pm My nephews received these carousels for Christmas from another aunt. Twitter
informs me Es ist ein Weihnachtspyramide! (translation: It's a German Christmas carousel!)

10:00pm Since someone was sick-and-throwing-up-and-took-an-almost-four-hour-nap-in-the-afternoon, that someone got to stay up late and play games with the grownups.

11:00pm Ticket to Ride is FUN! (depending on how ~~fair~~ charitable you are, I either came in second or last)

12:00am I kind of look like I have no/weird eyebrows here, so just look at the sweet-
and-wide-awake-at-midnight Christmas baby in her pretty rainbow wrap.

It really was a nice, nice day.

We had fun giving gifts to our family and were thoroughly spoiled in return. We all received gifts that were special and fun and thoughtful and perfect. The boys were thrilled with all their Legos, Peter with his Tassimo (to take to work), me with my hats and wool and jewelry and to-be-exchanged-for-different boots, and Eloise with her crochet hat and handmade dolly.

We tore through our stockings, ate copious amounts of good food, Peter took Liam and Simon to church where their uncle Joel was preaching (to a higher capacity crowd than was expected for a Christmas Sunday morning!), opened loads of presents in a bit of a frenzy to make sure we were through before my younger sister and her family had to leave for her in-laws, ate some more, visited, put a not-feeling-super-well Andrew to bed for a much needed nap, said "No you can't open any new Lego sets." a dozen times before finally relenting because we realized it was too cruel to make them wait, made some phone calls home to friends, talked to family on Skype, ate even more, built more Lego, searched for already-missing Lego pieces, played with babies, read Christmas stories at bedtime, played Ticket to Ride until far too late and finally went happily to bed.

It was a very good day and a very good night.

consider this your Christmas card

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 17:45:00 +0000

Perhaps the best

Yuletide decoration is being

wreathed in smiles.

~Author Unknown

Many blessings to you and yours.

the rest of the family is just as crazy as we are...

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:52:00 +0000

In the past, I've been terrible about blogging when people visit. It's not that I don't want to write about it all... it's the exact opposite! Usually we are so busy and having so much fun together and making lots of great memories, and I'm left with a camera full of to-be-editted images and a heart full of love for our great family and friends. Yet when my house is empty again, I realize that I've gone a week without doing laundry, cleaning bathrooms, bathing my stinky kids or doing any school with them, and then blogging ends up waaaay at the bottom of the priority list!

But not this time!

I really, really want to post pictures from Simon's birthday this last weekend, but I promised myself I wouldn't do that before dedicating a quick post to our most recent visitors.

Peter's brother, David, and his wife, Kristi and new baby Eli were here last week. We saw Parliament Hill, walked around Byward Market, celebrated American Thanksgiving (with all the trimmings!) AND threw one heck of a Super Hero Party for Simon's 5th birthday. They left Sunday morning and we already miss them terribly!

Here are a few pictures from their last night with us, including a sneak peak at a couple of the (many) crafts we did for the party.

cousins (from left to right): Eloise (5 months), Liam (8), Andrew (almost 3), Simon (5), Eli (4.5 months)

modelling felt masks that Kristi and I made for the party, and being rather good sports about it!

these two are only 13 days apart!

this, according to Simon, is his "superhero face"

poor Andrew was up until 10:30pm the night before and then

had NO NAP the day of the party!

What a good looking bunch!

...most of the time.

Thank you guys soooooo much for all your help getting ready for both Thanksgiving and the birthday party! There's NO WAY I could've done it all without you! Kristi, having someone to talk and cook and laugh with was a far better way to spend all those hours in the kitchen... maybe sister-wives isn't such a bad idea, eh? ;)

We can't wait til the next time we get to see the three of you!

*Check out the cool minimalist superhero art that David and Kristi put together for the party! Those are definitely going up in the basement once it's finished!

at least I got this post in before Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:36:00 +0000

I'm the last kid on the block to post about Halloween. To make up for it, you get a video instead of only mere images.

(Warning, when I first watched this it was suuuuper loud. Maybe turn down your sound.)

My kids crack me up.

I was a lazy mom and didn't get a costume for Eloise this year. For her first Halloween! I know! Hopefully she'll forgive me one day.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Clearly I haven't been blogging much since we moved back. I've just been busy. But good busy. Moving, unpacking (no, we're not done yet!), setting up house, homeschooling (again! yeah!), several photography sessions, and -oh yeah- A NEWBORN have all conspired to fill my days to the brink and leave no room for blogging. Pinterest hasn't helped anything either, if I'm being honest.

Thanks for sticking with me. I'll be back soon.

Promise.

six years

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:30:00 +0000

I desperately want to blog and get everything out of my head and onto paper, but it will have to wait.

Instead, I'm going to repost last year's birthday post for Nathaniel. Not much has changed, except that this year our box of his little things is not thousands of miles away... just buried a pile of boxes of non-essential-things-that-didn't-have-to-be-opended-right-away. Hopefully I'll have the chance to pull it out this afternoon.

Wow.

Six years.

*********************************************************************************

Another year has passed.

Another year with a hole in our family right between Liam and Simon. This hole is imperceptible to most -even those who know it exists- but, to me, it's gaping. This hole should contain a little boy whose birthday we would be celebrating today. A likely loud and crazy five year old to add to the already loud and crazy chaos that reigns here most days.

It's a Nathaniel-shaped hole.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Because Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day is October 15th each year, and the anniversary of Nathaniel's birth and death is October 19th, the middle of this month is always rather... emotionally charged. Even if I wanted to "forget" this day was coming, it would be impossible.

Not that I want to forget. THAT would be impossible.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Five years later, I can say that the sting of Nathaniel's death has gone out of my memories of him (hazy, dream-like images seen through the heavy fog of exhaustion and powerful anaesthetic drugs). The searing intensity of grief and loss has ebbed. The rawness is gone. The pain is still there, but it's more of an ache. A dull roar rather than a piercing scream that tears through my heart without any warning. A throbbing that lies below the surface, always present, but now covered over by the experiences and life lived over the last five years... including the addition of two life-filled little boys and the anticipation of the newest member of our family.

But it is hard not to wonder what our life would be like with him still in it... what HE would be like.

An almost-black-haired little boy with eyes that would have likely turned some shade of brown, like Andrews. I'm sure that, like Liam and Simon, he'd love all things Lego and Star Wars and Clone Wars and Bionicles, and would gravitate towards heros like Indiana Jones and Iron Man and knights and soldiers and super heros. I know he would laugh at America's Funniest Home Videos and Garfield comics and Wipeout along with his brothers.

I wonder if he'd sit quietly and spellbound during our readings of The Hobbit or The Chronicles of Narnia like his older brother, Liam, or if he'd squirm in his bed like his two younger brothers. I wonder if he'd prefer soccer or hockey. If he'd have allergies like Simon and Andrew, or be able to eat anything like Liam. If he'd be reading on his own yet, or riding a bike without training wheels. I wonder what his personality would be like. What would be his strengths and weaknesses? What kind of brother would he be? What kind of son?

I do know that he would be loved.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Somewhere today, that sweet boy who I will have to wait my lifetime to know is celebrating his fifth birthday with his cousin, Lachlan, and with his grandpa, my dad. He is perfect and whole and healthy and happy. He is being toasted by angels and sung to by family and friends who have passed before. He is surrounded by love and light and the glory of God.

And he is loved.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

For those of you who are new(ish) to this blog, here is the video we played at Nathaniel's service. For those who've been reading for awhile, no obligation to watch it again. I know it's not a "fun" thing to watch. It is, however, almost all we have. The little box of mementos from the hospital -his bracelets, copies of his hand and foot prints, the comb we used to brush his hair, the tiny preemie sleeper we dressed him in- all those things are thousands of miles away in a storage facility in Ottawa. And his little grave is next to his cousin's in Regina.

And so we watch his video and experience again the wonder of his birth, the pain of his loss, and the love we will always feel for our sweet boy, Nathaniel Achaziah Bundy.

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:12:00 +0000

I kinda left you all hanging with that last post... almost a month ago! Moving into a new house WITHOUT INTERNET ACCESS FOR TWO WEEKS can seriously cramp one's blogging style...

Speaking of our new place, here's a picture of the boys on the front step the morning we got the keys (Andrew's holding the keys up).

We've been settling in and slowly making our way through the mountain of boxes and bins and crates that need to be sorted through, and whose contents all need new homes. We're arranging and re-arranging and trying to figure out how best to make this house work for us.

And we're really enjoying it.

(The house, that is. Not so much the unpacking.)

You might have to indulge me a bit in the weeks and months that follow as my head -and by extension this blog- is constantly full of design ideas. I'll try to get some 'before' shots posted along with the 'in-progress' ones as we work towards the 'afters'. Those of you who follow my boards on Pinterest probably won't be surprised by some of what you see.

Oh, and in the midst of all this, we're also homeschooling again.

Cause I don't have enough to do.

But so far we're enjoying that too.

Thanks for sticking with me over the summer. I'll try to pop in here more regularly from now on.

new house! new house!

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 11:50:00 +0000

We get our keys today!!

I'm so excited (!) that even though Simon is the only one awake (barely), I've been up for an hour and have made toast, bacon, an amazing fruit salad, and have the eggs all cracked and beat and ready to scramble. If I knew how to use the coffee maker here, I'd have done that too!

After feeding and watering the little people, we'll be dressed and out the door and heading to the notary to sign the papers AND GET THE KEYS! Peter will have to go back to work, so I'll get to re-explore the new house with the kids on my own. We have lunch planned with some good friends who very conveniently live only a few blocks away, which will get them the chance to see our place and it'll give the boys a chance to run. And at some point we need to get to Home Depot or another paint store to look at paint chips. Then tonight once Peter gets home, I'm going to head back to the house with just Eloise and paint all night.

That's the plan at least.

Wish us luck and pray that the house is as we remember it! Looking at 22 houses in two days, deciding on one, and making a offer ALL IN FOUR DAYS was a bit of a whirlwind!

So long and thanks for all the fish*

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 06:12:00 +0000

Criminal Minds is on right now.

Again.

It's on every night here, one of the only shows in English so we seem to watch it a lot. The wife of one of Peter's co-workers used to work homicide with the RCMP in Vancouver. I once asked her if she ever watches shows like the CSI and Criminal Minds type shows. She said that she COULDN'T STAND all the CSIs, but that Criminal Minds and Cold Case were both pretty accurate.

I'm going to miss it, I think... along with a certain Dr. Reid.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Although I've written all year about our time here and the things we've done, I haven't spent much time describing some of what makes it such a special place. I've left out a lot of details.

Like the smells.

While I definitely won't miss the smell of the Septima with its thousands of unruly taxis and almost equal numbers of obnoxious smoke-belching buses, there are many smells here that will always make me think of Colombia... the scent of rain in the air (which happened probably 80% of our days here!), corn grilling on street corners and meat grilling on parillas, smoke from cedar and eucalyptus wood fires, and the sweet scent of jasmine flowers (now one of my all time favourite smells).

And the sounds.

The ringing bells of the church next to our apartment building, the buzz of the gate letting cars and people into our complex, the somewhat-out-of-place-yet-completely-normal sound of horses' hooves on the pavement below, the bells of the propane trucks, the vendors in the market, the "buenos dias'" and "buenos tardes'", the "permissos" and "gracias'", the buzz of the phone in the kitchen when the portero would call up, the sound of our doorbell early on Tuesdays and Fridays signalling the arrival of our maid...

Ah, Rosalba, our maid.

At first I was completely against the idea of having a maid. I didn't need help. I didn't like the idea of some stranger being in my house, doing my laundry, touching my stuff. Someone I couldn't even communicate with. Then I got pregnant and so sick I could barely drag myself out of bed before noon. A person gets used to not cleaning bathrooms or the kitchen, or changing beds, or vacuuming, or doing laundry pretty darn quick, letmetellyou. Having some help around here (even if it was only two days a week compared to most people's five) has been nothing short of phenomenal.

But Rosalba is definitely not the only person I'll miss.

There are other people... great, lovely, amazing people.

The friends we've made here have been really wonderful. The Canadian Embassy is not huge, and there are definitely some, uh, "colourful" personalities within its walls, but in general it's a really nice group. Even though our post was only a year long, most everyone embraced us -and our growing family- with open arms. Many (both Embassy staff and others from the expat community) went above and beyond to make us feel welcome and at home and cared for and loved.

* * * * * * * * * *

As I sit here, it's after 1am and I'm sure I'm going to be tired in the morning. That will, however, hopefully make the nap I have planned for the afternoon even more effective.

You see, we have this wee overnight flight with four kids that leaves Bogota just before midnight tomorrow night.

(Or more than likely after midnight since the flights from here are rarely on time.)

DOESN'T THAT SOUND LIKE FUN??

Even though we haven't left yet, I'm already feeling a bit nostalgic about this place. This country. This city. These people and the year we've spent among them. I honestly don't know if I'll ever be back here...

There is much I'll miss.

*10 points** to the first person to correctly identify the origin of my post title and tell me who said it.

**In this case, the 10 points will actually be a tagua (also known as "palm ivory") ring that I picked up at the market today. You'll have to agree to send me your full name and address, or we'll arrange to meet if you're local.

ETA: I published this post at 1:12am, and although Kelly commented at 3:01am (so says google reader), Sara aka @squirrellykoala responded to me via twitter (since she couldn't get the comments to work) at 2:21am. I am impressed that you both knew the answer AND THAT YOU WERE BOTH UP SO LATE. The correct answer is, OF COURSE, that "So long and thanks for all the fish" is a parting message from the dolphins before they leave earth prior to its destruction in the fourth book "in the increasingly inaccurately name Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy" and is also and also the title of said book. Congrats Sara! We'll touch base when I'm back and unpacked.

loose ends

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 04:57:00 +0000

Have I really only posted once since July 15th? Hard to believe that much time has gone by, yet when I think about all that's happened it seems incredible that we fit it all in!

Little Eloise (or Lolo, as Andrew calls her) is now eight weeks old. Holy smoke! She's still as sweet as can be and is far more amazing than any parent of a newborn has the right to hope or dream. She cries only when desperately hungry (which rarely happens as she's on her own schedule and I feed her whenever she seems to want it), when she's having trouble burping (which she does seem to struggle with a bit), or when she's tired of having the hiccups for the sixth time that day. She rarely ever spits up... even when I'm too lazy to burp her in the middle of the night. She often has a 6-7 hours stretch of sleep each night... she wakes up less than Andrew! She's smiling more and more each day, and has even treated us to some little giggles. The boys eat it up and I'm sure it will be no time before they're constantly competing to see who can make her laugh (with Andrew having a wee melt down when it's not him).

Also during this time, Peter and I left the boys here in Bogota with my mom (bless her!) while we travelled back to Canada to shop for a new house. While Colombian women traditionally don't take their babies out of the house until after 40 days, Eloise travelled internationally, stayed in a hotel, visited several new restaurants and pubs, went to her first tweetup, went shopping, met almost all our amazing friends for the first time, and travelled home.

We saw twenty-two (22!) different houses in two (2!) days before finally deciding on one. It came down to a choice between two very different homes... My choice had a loft, finished basement, MASSIVE although super empty yard that backed onto the highway, but walking distance to a school. Peter's pick had bigger rooms, a garage, a smaller yet more mature yard, nicer finishes, partially finished basement (that we can finish to suit our needs), but will mean a bus ride to school for the boys (should we send them). I was almost in tears the night we had to decide from the stress of it all. In the end, I convinced myself to like Peter's choice and he decided he'd be much happier in a place where I was happy. Aren't we cute? Truthfully, we would've been happy in either place, but we put an offer in on the one Peter liked. In all honesty, come winter -and snow and ice and freezing cold weather!- I'm sure I'll be plenty glad for the garage (which the other house didn't have) and will happily declare it was MY IDEA ALL ALONG.

On the way home our flight from Ottawa to Toronto was cancelled, putting our connecting flight to Bogota in great jeopardy, making me freak out a bit since the boys had been promised they'd see us that night and prompting me to snap at the Air Canada ticket agent. After sitting around for an hour waiting to find out if they could route us through Chicago, New York or Miami, it turned out that the flight to Bogota was actually going to be delayed enough that we could get on the next flight to Toronto and still make our connection. And while waiting, we met a Colombian lady travelling to Bogota alone with her two small kids who not only all speak French and a bit of English and Spanish, but the mom also babywears and they live a few blocks from our new house! Not sure what the odds of that happening are.

During our trip, I joked with Peter that we should be taking different planes. We're like the President and Vice President, and shouldn't be travelling together. What if the plane went down??

But it didn't. The boys were thrilled to have us home, as was my mom. They all survived the 10 days (ten!) without us... and I survived the time without them! Having never left them alone for even a night (with the exception of some sleepovers at my sister's house and Liam spending one night at a friend's), this trip did afford me with a fair bit of anxiety. But I held it together. Three cheers for me!

And to be honest, the trip was good. Really good. Peter and I got to do some shopping, see almost all our friends, visit our much-missed church, eat out LEISURELY... and we bought a house that we're all excited about. Seeing so many houses with four kids in tow would've been nothing short of a nightmare... can you imagine!

* * * * * * * * * * * *

As I sit here typing, all our household goods have been packed and it feels like we're once again living in a (very bare) hotel. As soon as we got home from our trip, we started in on the task of deciding what to pack up in our shipment of goods and what to keep aside to carry back to Canada in our luggage. Clothes are a given, but we needed both cool weather clothes for here in Bogota and warm weather clothes for back in Canada. We also needed to keep out bed and bathroom linens, all the necessary new baby accessories, and enough cooking basics (ie, spices) to keep us going for a couple weeks before we get our house keys.

The boys are going a bit crazy with so little to do... read: they've been playing an obscene amount of wii. They've even badgered me into playing, shattering the carefully and deliberately crafted illusion that I know nothing about that confounded machine. We have been out to the park and the market a few times, and also drove out to Chia (a nearby town) and spent a super fun afternoon with some friends from the Embassy.

Hopefully we'll be able to take full advantage of our last few days here before saying goodbye to Bogota and Colombia.

one of my favourite things about motherhood

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 03:51:00 +0000

I know I just posted these, but they deserve a repeat in honour of World Breastfeeding Week from Aug 1-7, 2011.

And here's a little video I put together of some of my favourite breastfeeding images from the newborn sessions I did before moving to Bogota last year (I think you'll have to click through if you're reading in a reader),

For those in the Ottawa/Gatineau area, if you'd like to book a maternity, newborn, or family session with Muddy Boots Photo send me an email to muddybootsphotography@live.ca . I've already booked as many sessions as I'm willing to take for August, I might be able to squeeze in one or two more for September, and still have a bit of availability for October. I'm going to keep things pretty low key while we wait for our shipment to arrive and then spend time going through all our stuff and the boxes we packed up over a year ago... and set up our new house! So please contact me soon so you're not disappointed. ;)

Eloise: one month

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 18:35:00 +0000

Alternate post title: The Easiest Baby in the World*

*except when her mom wants to take a particular posed picture of her

I was all set up yesterday to try to recreate a certain picture I'd seen months ago -and was reminded of thanks to a pin of Dani's- but Eloise had different ideas. After over two (TWO!) hours of nursing, hushing, rocking, bouncing, nursing some more, being peed on, changing six (SIX!) different poopy diapers, swaddling, holding, walking, nursing again, etc, etc, ETC, this baby girl STILL REFUSED TO SLEEP.

Even with a heater set up nearby to keep her toasty, a fan on for white noise, and all the aforementioned tactics, Eloise insisted on staying awake, using up the entirety of the little boys' nap time. This is especially remarkable considering that a normal day for her is more like today... As I type this, she's sound asleep, as she has been since about 11pm LAST NIGHT, having only woken up long enough to nurse, burp and be changed.

Yesterday was a very poorly-timed fluke.

But I did use it to my advantage and pulled in Simon and Andrew once they woke up to snap a few shots with them and Eloise.

And ruined photo attempt aside, she still retains the title of one of the easiest babies I've ever met.

Seriously.

I won't go into her awesomeness too much -lest I sound like I'm bragging- but I will say that this first month with her has been wonderful. She's fit seamlessly into our family.

The boys all adore her without question or reservation or any jealousy. They run in to greet her first thing each morning, insist on holding her often, and practically (sometimes literally!) smother her with love and kisses and affection.

She sleeps peacefully most of the day, making only sweet little squeaking noises (and the odd tiny grunt or snort) when she dreams. When she's awake, she rarely ever cries unless to let us know she's getting hungry. She's generally content to just lay there or be held while looking around and taking it all in... the colours, the smells, the voices and faces of her family... the noise!

(Oh, the noise!)

where'd my fist go??

I have all the respect in the world for photographers who rock the self-portrait. Clearly I need way more practice. And maybe a tripod (to avoid the perilous laundry basket + milk crate + pillow combo I used for these).

focus of off/soft, but I still love this

look at the wrinkles!!

The pictures I took of Simon and Eloise didn't turn out that well. One always looked great while the other way making a beyond-weird face. Simon had zombie eyes in the first picture, and Eloise looks awful in the b&w picture, but I think Simon looks pretty stunning so I wanted to post it. He looks so much older than four! And you can hardly see the chunk of hair he cut out near his temple.

And I think Andrew looks sooooo cute here! But his bracelets were blocking Eloise face... and poking her in the eye.

She eventually did start to get a bit sleepy, but still wouldn't give in. I ended up running out of both time and light (the sun sets here at 6pm EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.) without getting my shot. Hopefully I'll have time to try again this weekend, although it's looking like a busy time... what with getting ready for our house hunting trip back to Canada!

This first month has gone by so quickly. It's been wonderful to finally meet this little soul that's been entrusted to us, and so fun to watch the boys interact with their new sister. The adjustment has been so easy, it's hardly been noticeable, except in a slight more fullness to our day... and more laundry!

That being said, when we return to Canada in a little over a month it will be without a) my mom, and b) a maid twice a week who does all the laundry, vacuuming, bathroom cleaning, bed changing, kitchen cleaning, etc, etc, ETC.

That's when everything will likely come to a screaming, crashing halt!