The Thing About Oatmeal

I love feeding my boys oatmeal in the morning because I feel like they have had a filling, healthy breakfast that will give them energy for the day. However, with Levi's new found love for feeding himself, we have this little disaster on our hands.

What a mess.

This little man, however, has learned to keep himself pretty clean. He does it mostly by refusing to feed himself and making either Dave or I feed him.
But isnt he just so charming???

A Feast To Serve

To no one.

Have you ever had one of those days where you finally drag yourself off the couch simply because you know someone else would appreciate the work you would do if you did?

Well today thats how I felt. I got off my seat and said, " Thats it, I need to get to work" and I dewcided that work was going to be making a nice dinner. My brother in law is suppose to come tonight after work to help Dave with taxes so I thought the two men could use a nice dinner.

I went to work creating a lasagnia. Unfortunately I somehow dont have a recipe for lasagnia so I tried out a new one. I found a tomato sauce in Joy of Cooking that I had never made and went to work making it and playing with it a bit. I assembled the whole thing and have even cooked it once. Ill reheat it for dinner and it should taste even better than before.

Than I decided to make some cookies for dessert and a ceasar salad, with real bacon to go with the meal. I must say ive been feeling pretty excited about dinner for a while now.

Not yet assembled and it probably makes more sense not to adssemble it until it is ready to be eaten.

Then I got a phone call. It was Dave. He is meeting a client before he comes home so he will be here around 7:00 and so will my brother in law.

I feel so disappointed. They will eat reheated dinner that isn't freshly made and soggy salad and I and the boys will have already feasted. I just feel disappointed that it worked out that way.

Funny how we can get excited about the littlest things and then experience disappointment from them as well.

Potty Progress

Saturday: We started training today. It was meant to be more of a potty introduction but Matty really wanted to do it. I reminded him every hour or so and he peed every time. Once he ran to me saying he peed his pants and all he had done was a few drips in his underwear and he finished the rest in the potty. This day was so successful because we werent home for much of the day at all. We went to my parents and to Daves parents and Matty was still good at listening when we told him to try. His big accident was a poop in his underwear but it was pretty easy to clean up.

Sunday: We didnt bother to try today because Matty was really grumpy (too many late nights) and church made it difficult

Monday: Back to underwear today. Matty loves wearing them. He went for two poos in the potty in the morning and then had a pee accident. It was my fault because I wasnt around to remind him to try on the potty. Thats the thing about Monday. So many things to get done. We handled it well and he continued in a new pair of pants and underwear for the rest of the day. One more acccident, this time a poops- three in one day- not expecting that but then the rest was great.


Tuesday: Matty woke up too early for me to catch him right away. So when I was almost awake he told me his diaper was wet. I should make sure I get that sooner but he really shouldnt wake up before 6 and come into our bed. His diaper was still mostly dry and we managed to catch a pee and a poo in the potty before breakfast.

Wednesday: Today was a day away from home and Matty actually stayed in underwear without accidents the whole time. Even in the nursary for bible study... he didnt make a mistake.

Thursday: We had no accidents all day until after dinner. I guess he just couldnt hold it any longer and pooped in his underwear. He hated it and felt so sad but we handled it calmly and he was fine afterward. We also had Amanda over for dinner so he was a little distracted.

Friday: We were out of the house a lot today. We went shopping and Matty even used the potty at the store. No accidents at all. We even went for a drive all the way to Aunty Jo and Uncle Aidans and he remained dry and clean.

Saturday: Matty had a daddy morning outside. This meant he wasnt reminded about the potty and did have a poop accident. Dave said he was destaught but Dave also had lots of work to do so he put Matty in a diaper until I came home and then was back in underwear. He remained clean after that. We were even out all evening and he had no accidents at his cousins birthday party. he slept in underwear for the first time and stayed dry all night.

Sunday: Another busy day but no accidents at all. At church he used the potty and did all his business there and remained clean and dry, even at Julia's birthday party. He slept through the night and stayed dry again. He is very proud of himself.

Monday: Today Matty showed me what Ive been waitting to see. He went to the potty without me asking him, pulled down his pants and peed. Looks like he is starting to understand how this process works. Ill continue to remind him if I notice he hasnt gone in a while but Im encouraged. No accidents at all today and that was even out of the house most of the day with dr. appointments and some shopping.

Tuesday: Matty woke up dry in his underwear again and even stayed dry for half an nhour until i reminded him to pee. He ran to the potty, pulled everything down and did it all by himself. I love it because he always say "oh, I peeing". So cute. He did his poops without me asking him to try and so far we are accident free.

Nutritious snack

I found Levi trying to chomp on this this morning:
Do you see the slime trail behind it? That is Levi saliva that the ladybug tried walking off after I swatted it out of Levi's mouth.

Bla! It ended up being washed down the sink when Levi tried to snack on it a little later.

Suckers, Potties and Accessories

Yesterday was a fun day.

The boys, myself and their tante Tara went for an shopping adventure in Kemptville- a small town near our home. I had groceries to do and also wanted to check out some of the shops near us and so thats what we did.

After hitting the super Walmart and getting groceries as well as getting Matty some underwear and a potty we headed to the little strip mall and took a look around.

I managed to have great success in many areas but mostly I was excited about my $10 shoes from the Bargain Shop. I also got some earrings from the grocery store and some lollipops for the boys. Arent they pretty? It was getting late and the boys were getting a bit cranky so why not give them a bit of sugar to tide them over?

We stopped for lunch and everyone felt better with a full tummy and then it was time to head home and have some naps. Both boys slept for several hours and let Tara and I recover from our expedition.

Here is my picture to summarize our day out:
As for the potty training, today is only day one so I will give you all an update a little later on when we have a bit more expereince under our belts.

A New van der Meer

Introducing our new baby (although it's mostly Daves):

Our little man at the wheel. I love how far away he is.

Im Back!

Well, it feels like I have been absent for much longer then I needed to be but we only just got the internet on Saturday and today is the first day I've had a chance to get on and read and write. So hello again.

Living here in our home is fabulous. Slowly but surely we are working make it look more organized and homey. Our entry way is painted and is now our sitting room. There still isnt electricity in there yet but it wont take Dave long to hook that up wince all the recepticles are in.

This is just to show you the pain colour (look at the wall not the disaster on the stairs).

Believe it or not, I spent so much time cleaning and tidying today and from this picture you can see it was all undone before bed time. I decided to quit for the day and blog instead of cleaning it all up AGAIN!

And I love our bathroom. I find the colour very tranquil and relaxing.



We are still lacking hanger for towels and shelves to put things away on but they will come soon enough.

As for the rest, not too much has changed except for us living in it which makes it very messy but nice. Ive been enjoying baking and cooking. I have even been making Dave his lunches which is something that I have always hated doing.

The boys have adjusted pretty well. The one thing I find difficult is Matty's sudden dislike for sleep. He will easily get into bed and pray and sing and sit quietly in bed but when Dave and I come up to bed (much later) he is still lying in bed wide awake just waiting for us. He has a night light and, for the first while, sleep came to him easily but now he isnt so sure.

Dave and I have decided that we can start working on the other side of the house before finishing any more of this side so we can get some more bedrooms done. Maybe if Matty is in his own room he wont be expecting company and will sleep better.

Other than that, my in-laws celebrated their 30th anniversary and everyone was able to get together to celebrate them.

It is increadibly rare that every child is awake and willing to sit still for photos.

Dave rigged the timer on the camera so we were all able to get in the picture together.
Introducing the van der Meer clan!

Well, hopefully I will be able to blog a little more regularly now. I've never been too consistent but perhaps a few more than recently.

Half Way There

...almost (19 weeks and 4 days).

Introducing...

A thumb sucker

van der Meer Baby number three.

Face shot- kind of alien like

If you are not interested in knowing what we are having stop reading now.

Another face shot

Everyone else, I am pleased to introduce you to our third little son. No idea on names just yet but we are very excited to have another little man in our family.

Man, historically, royalty would have really coveted my womb. Very male friendly :) No shortage of heirs here.