Talk About Tuesday- Home Tour Edition

It's been a while since I've TATed. I thought for this month's home edition I would share the "boys" room. It is official. It is no longer just Ryan's room. We are transitioning Adam into that room and the crib as well. Some storage and space issues had to be cleared up before that could happen. I wish I had some before pics...well maybe not because it was not a pretty sight.

First of all, Ryan had to be transitioned back to his "big boy" bed. Since shortly after Adam was born, Ryan has taken to sleeping on the floor. At first he would just refuse to sleep in his bed, would cry and kick and scream. He would always end up falling asleep with his favorite blanket and teddy bear by the door to his room. So we decided why fight it, got a bunch of old blankets and comforters and made a blanket mattress on the floor near his door. That's where he has sleot all summer and into the fall. We carried the same idea over into our room and placed a similar blanket mattress on the floor at the foot of our bed, and on the occiasions when he wakes mid-night and comes into our room, that is where he sleeps.

His bed was becoming a dumping ground for me. It had toys on it, clothes, blankets. I figured if he wasn't going to use it, I would. The same held true for the crib in the room. It was housing clean laundry that got folded but never made it into the closet. Or sizes that were too big/small for either boy. Last weekend I spent a lot of time working on the room, got the clothes sorted and put away, got toys sorted, organized and stored. I turned the room back into a functional space again. Ryan's blankets that make up his mattress on the floor needed to be laundered and I didn't have them ready before bedtime, so I thought, well why not try to have him sleep in his bed again. That first night, he walked into his room a little confused as to where his "bed" was but then I told him to climb up onto the "big boy bed" and he did. As abruptly as the floor sleeping started, it has now ended.

Since Adam is 6 months old now, I thought it would be a good time to try to make the crib transition. It is not going as smoothly but we are working on it. Ryan seems to like having his brother in his room.

Anyhow, here is what the room looks like now. The view from the door: Ryan's bed is to the left and Adam's crib is on the opposite wall.

We use a body pillow on Ryan's big boy bed to help keep him from rolling off the bed. I think he also likes it since it is like having someone sleeping in the bed with him and he spent quite a bit of time sharing our bed.

The veiw from the corner of the room opposite the door. This view shows the over the door organizers I have. One holds cars although it is currently empty since we have another car holder that is on wheels that Ryan rolls out from his room to living room to play. (And it slides nicely under his bed when not in use). The other door organizer holds face cloths and bibs.

This veiw is of the closet. One side is for Ryan, one is for Adam. I use the top shelf in the closet to store toys on. My guys have so many toys, that I use a rotation schedule on them. Every 10 days to 2 weeks I switch out what toys I have in a bin in the living room, and in the basket in their room. Toys not in that week's rotation get stored under the bed, crib or on the shelf in the closet. I also have another one of those over the door organizers that I hang off the back of Adam's crib. It holds socks and robeez/slippers.

Under the bed and crib I also have a storage bag that is holding clothes that are currently too big/too small. I used to use those rubbermaid storage bins for these but there were 4 or 5 medium sized ones plus 2-4 small ones (with socks, shoes and other assorted accessories) cluttering my spare bedroom closet. There is still work to be done here. I have some pictures to hang, shelves to go up to hold picture frames and other assorted knick-knacks and the letters for the boys names to go up. Actually I still have to paint Adam's name. OOOPS!

For more information about Talk About Tuesday, or to see what others are Talking About this week, visit Lara at The Lazy Organizer.

Talk about Toys

Today is the first day of the 2008-2009 DISCOVERY TOYS fall season. Last Thursday while Ryan was napping, my new fall product kit arrived. It was so much fun to open it up with him when he woke up. Sure some of the toys are much more advanced than he is, but the toys that are age appropriate (or close to it) were very well recieved.



Jungle Tower, Twisty Bug, Choo Choo Chase, Hello! Hola! Learning Phone


Inside Out Puzzle- at home, Bright Builders, Progressive Puzzles, English/Spanish Bilingual songs cd, I'm Going Green cd, The Potty Train book, Flip Flop Faces


Puzzle Island book, Gearopolis, Sticker Art Delux, Jawbones Starter set (has three other add on sets available), Mosaic Mysteries, Stormy Seas

Ryan's favorites:
Gearopolis- even though it is for ages 5 and up, Daddy just had to play with it and now Ryan asks for it all the time (he calls it "keys").
Progressive Puzzles- Ryan can do the 4 piece puzzles all by himself, he can do the 6 piece puzzles alone half the time, and likes to do the 9 piece puzzles with our help.
Hello! Hola! Learning Phone- he loves the phones.
Busy Builders- although he can't alwasy get them to stick together, he knows they are blocks and he wants to build with them. He likes to dump them out and sort them and when putting them back he will count. He can count to 5 unassisted (maybe just by memories) and repeats up to 24.

When I joined DISCOVERY TOYS I was not looking for a home based business (not that I really do much about it in that regard, although maybe I should), but I was just looking for quality toys for Ryan. I knew of Discovery Toys from one of my times teaching Kindergarten so I looked them up on the web to see if they made baby toys as well. Some people find the toys pricey but I don't mind paying the price for toys that have a quality guarantee and that are not only fun but educational and help me by providing me ways and ideas on how to play, learn and teach my sons.

If you would like more information about DISCOVERY TOYS or their products and you live in the US, please use the consultant locator to find an Independent Educational Consultant near you. If you live in Canada and do not already have an Independant Educational Consultant, feel free to contact me.

For more information on Talk About Tuesday or to see what others are talking about, visit Lara at The Lazy Organizer.

Talk about Fun with Friends and Static Electricity

Fun with Friends is a playgroup I joined when Ryan was just a couple of months old. I heard about it from the Breastfeeding Support Group I belong to called Babies First. The Babies First memebers who are available on Friday mornings and who have younger than school aged children, joined Fun with Friends. Fun with Friends provided us with a space to gather from September to May. From May to September we gather (weather permitting of course) at the Lions Park.



Last Friday we went to the park. Ryan loves it. He loves the things to climb on, the slides and thw swings. He always brings a small sandbox worth of sand home in his shoes. I don't know if it was the drier air, his velour track suit, the plastic slide or some combination of all three but Ryan had a wild case of static electriity.







For more information on Talk About Tuesday or to see what others are talking about, visit Lara at The Lazy Organizer.

Talk About Tuesday- Snacking

Want to know what others are talking about this week? Head over to The Lazy Organizer.

This week I am going to talk about snacking. My newest snack food addiction. Nachos! I am seriously in love with the new (ok newish)Tostito brand Multi Grain Tortilla Chips. I've seen the commercial with the three moms, their newborns in car seats, while they munch away on the multigrain chips and commenting how great playdates are and that they should have them more often. I've always liked tortilla chips and salsa but I just love these new multigrain ones. I place some on a plate, put some chopped up green onions, sweet peppers and tomatoes on top, cover with shreaded cheese and put in the microwave for half a minute or so. Then dip with mild salsa. Or if I am in a hurry/have no veggies in the crisper, just the chips, cheese and salsa or even just chips and salsa in containers to take to the park/beach/wherever. Brad and I have even been known to add cooked cubed chicken breast to the chips, veggies and cheese, call it supper and eat in front of the TV. Especially if there is a special episode of a show we have been looking forward to (like a season premiere or finale), a movie or hockey playoffs!



Ryan has even started to like nachos! He loves things to dip and as long as he gets a chip with no veggies, he will dip and eat happily. We used to just buy the big box of no name/generic brand chips and it's matching mild salsa on 10% Tuesday. But the generic brand does not have multigrain chips and really the salsa is not as tasty. But I am getting fed up with the price! $3.00 or more for the salsa and $2.50 or more for the chips (and a smaller bag than the other "flavours"). So I wonder, does anyone have a recipe on how to make these? Could you just take some multigrain tortilla's or pitas, cut into wedges, spray with veg oil, season and bake 'till crispy? What about salsa? We like mild, so nothing with too much hot stuff. But a recipe would be good. Please leave me a comment and recipes f you have any to try. Because seriously, I have gone through 4 bag of chips and 2 jars of salsa already this month.



Update to last week's TAT: Still waiting to see a doctor on the hip clicking. Sleeping is hit and miss. We are trying to re-establish a bed time routine but are not being super strict about the time. We start the process at the same time everynight but if he is not ready to sleep by a certain time, we continue with quiet play and books until he is. Two nights in a row now, Ryan has stayed up playing quietly with books and a teddy bear in my bed while I watch some TV quietly and nurse Adam. Between 10:30-11 both nights he has fallen asleep beside me on my bed while I was nursing. Then once he is fast asleep, we've been able to move him to his bed and he has slept until almost 9 in the morning. So YAY! And since he is still napping 1-3 hours a day he is still getting 12 or more hours of sleep a day at 2 years old.

Talk About Tuesday- Toddler Night Terrors and Infant Hip Clicking

For more information about Talk about Tuesday, or to see what others are talking about this week, visit Laura at The Lazy Organizer.

This week both my boys are presenting me with challenges. My toddler is no stranger to sleep issues (and I am sure that the same is true of most toddlers). I think he has developed some night terrors. I am lead to believe this after having clicked on a link to Paige's Talk about Tuesday from last week. I had heard of night terrors before and wondered if that was Ryan's problems or if he was just starting to have bad dreams. Either way, talk about something that makes you feel like just the most wonderful parent! <--- snark in case you missed it As for my infant son, at his two month needles the nurse remarked that his left hip is clicking and that we should have our family doctor look into it. Combine that comment with the fact that Adam ssems much more stiff than Ryan was and the fact that Brad is convinced that Adam's legs are bowed and twisted and I'm on the verge of freaking out!

So here is how it has been playing out at the Melanchuk residence of late. Ryan fights going to bed at night. He kicks and screams and throws quite a tantrum. He will go to bed easily but as soon as we have finished reading him a story (or 3) it begins. If we don't shut the door to his room he just keeps crying and comeing out to us. So some nights we shut his door and let him cry because he is obviously tired and we have tried all we know. Some nights we talk to him through his door, reading more stories. That means that some nights he falls asleep on the floor next to his door, some nights he crawls back up on his bed once he gets tired. Then usually around 1 or 2 am he wakes up screaming. It is that blood curdling scream that makes me jump out of bed and go running into his room. If he has fallen asleep on the floor next to his door, he will be banging on the door, if he crawled back up on his bed to go to sleep, I will walk in and find him sitting up on the bed. He is usally very warm, his face is wet with tears and his eyes are open. But he is unconsolable. Every offer (water, something to eat, a hug, ect) is met with a "noooooo" and he pushes us away. He usually willgrab his favorite blanket and puppy dog and let one of us guide him to our room or out to the couch. Within 5 minutes of doing that he will be sound asleep again and within 15 minutes he can be moved back to his own room. The waking up in the middle of the night is not every single night but it does happen in blocs. Usually 3 or 4 nights of waking up followed by 2 or 3 of sleeping through and then lather, rinse, repeat.

I am comforted to know that we are not the only family where this is happening, although it is frightening that it is happening at all. One of the triggers and solutions to night terrors are that since they are often triggered in children who are overtired, sticking to a good bedtime routine and making sure your child is getting enough rest can help to prevent them. I must admit that since our newest baby has been born, I worry that Ryan is not getting enough sleep as our daily and night time routines are all out of whack. He was staying up late while my parents were here helping out (often because we ate dinner very late and because the days are longer and lighter) and while we tried to get him back into his routine once they left, it has proven difficult. Then we had more family arrive and while they have small children as well, we all found it difficult to get most of the children to sleep with any sense of regularity or normalcy. So hopefully now that things have calmed down, maybe we can get back into our normal routines and the sleep issue will resolve itself.

Now, for Adam. Since day 1 Brad has been convinced that Adam's legs look weird. Our doctor has mostly brushed aside Brad's worries and has suggested we look at his legs a little further down the road. Which kind of makes sense to me, after being cooped up for 9 months, wouldn't you expect a baby to be a little curled and twisted. Especially a 22 inch baby inside a 4'9" lady?! I have to admit that sometimes Adam's legs seem a little strange to me as well, but mostly because of how stiff they are but it's not something I've been stressing over. However, when the nurse suggested at Adam's 2 month needles that I take him to see our family doctor to have a clicking in his hip looked at, I paniced a little. I've phoned a made an appointment but the soonest we can get in is into August and with each day I go back and forth with how I feel about this.

Sometimes I worry and panic that something is wrong with him and that waiting so long will make things worse. But then I remember that the nurses at Ryan's 2 month needles were concerned with his lack of growth and labeled him as "failing to thrive" (again- what a wonderful thing to say to a post-partum mother eh?!). We spent 4 months back and forth to the health centre seeing nurses weekly, weighing him weekly, doing everything and anything to make him gain weight before I was refered to a specialist 3 hours away. The specialist was a little concerned and was able to help us a little but then when we went back to see our family doctor he was not so concerned with Ryan's slow weight gain since he figures Ryan will be little like his mother. I was determined this time that if the nurses gave me greif about Adam's weight, I was not going to let it bother me. But Adam is a good gainer so it's not a problem this time around.

So I wonder, am I a terrible mother? Am I worrying needlessly? Or is this really a cause for concern? And if that is the case, should I wait until August to have Adam's hip looked at or should I try to find another doctor to see us? Do I dare take him into emergency? Or am I freaking myself out needlessly by spending too much time online googling what ifs and possibilities?

Thanks for letting me make my Talk about Tuesday a venting blog. Now, for some random cuteness and visuals since I didn't really have anything to "show" in my Talk about Tuesday topics. We spent Saturday outside enjoying the sun and the local beach. Especially the playground at the beach.



















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Talk About Tuesday- Home Edition

Welcome to Talk About Tuesday-Home Edition. For more information or to see what others are talking about, visit Lara at The Lazy Organizer.

This time around, I am going to talk about outside my home. This fall we will start year #4 in this house and finally things are starting to feel like home both inside and out. This is what it looked like when we moved in.


We moved in during the fall so nothing was done outside, except that the glass rails were put up around our balcony overtop our garage. The first summer was when Ryan was born and so nothing was done outside as we were focused on renovations inside to make room for visitors. At the end of last summer we got our driveway. (sorry we didn't get any photos of it taken until Christmas time!)


Then this summer, with Ryan turning 2 and Adam being born, we decided we needed a place for the boys to play. So now we have a lawn.
From the front:

The back from the back access road:

The back from the back of the house:


And here is our balcony, complete with the new bbq from my parents as an early anniversary gift this year and our seats 6 patio set. (A couple of weeks ago a strong wind took our umbrella up and away, over top our house, our neighbors house and deposited our umbrella in the backyard of the house 2 doors down from us. It suffered a few minor cuts in the fabric and two broken arms.)


All that is left to do outside is to get a fence. Maybe next summer. People ask me about flowers but I kill plants so I am hesitant to plant anything.

Talk about Tuesday

Welcome to Talk About Tuesday. For more information or to see what others are talking about, visit Lara at The Lazy Organizer.

So maybe it is actually Wednesday. I am just catching up on some important blogging I wanted to get done but couldn't find the time to squeeze out of the day. Today, I am going to talk about my house. Specifically the glorious space on the main floor that I've longed for but until now haven't gotten to use much. WARNING: There are a lot of clickable links in this post to pictures plus the pictures of the office at the end of the post.

In October of 05 we moved to our current location. Our main living area is on the 2nd floor. The only thing finished on the main level was what we called "the office" and a hallway from the entry to the stairs to go up to our main living area. The rest looked like this. It became a big storage space for us. It was home to all my school stuff, our Christmas stuff, some of Brad's tools, his car audio stuff, stuff from grandma, stuff from his dad and stuff that we hadn't yet found a home for in our new house.

With only 2 completed bedrooms, I joked with our realtor (my father in law) that buying a house with only two bedrooms was a sure fire way to take us from a family of two to a family of more than two. And surprise, surprise the end of the next month we found out we were expecting our first little man. So in the spring of 06, Brad began the main floor renovations. That big open, unfinished space would be come 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, a linen closet and a laundry room. He pretty much got all of it done before the guests started arriving to visit the little man that had joined our family. What happened to all the items in that big, open unfinished space? It all ended up in our "office". We could barely get the door open, the space was so cramped. The blinds were pulled closed, the door was closed and we sort of forgot this space ever existed.

Over the last 2 years there have been many times when we have wanted to use this space, to reclaim this space as an office. But since one of the projects that didn't get finished with the renovations was hooking up the under slab heating, for 8+ months of the year, it is just too cold to do anything productive on this main level anyway. (A reason why most people only come to visit during the summer.) But before littlest man arrived we started working on this room a little. We were able to push our way in a bit. We finally found someone who was able to hook up our under slab heating without putting us on a waiting list longer than the drive to Edmonton. It wasn't in our budget but we knew it had to be done. (And this new water system may actually help us save $$ on our natural gas heating bill!) So now, people can visit any time of the year.

And they are coming. Right now, we are about a week away from the arrival of the Ukraine Melanchuks. And there is talk about a possible visit from some on my side of the family later this summer. So, when we decided to host a good bye party for a co- worker of Brad's we thought it was a great incentive to get the main floor all ready to go. Turn that office into an office again, get the two bedrooms and bathroom ready for our guests and just reorganize and get rid of some of the clutter.

So now, our office looks like this.







It is far from perfect, but it is live able, and use able and it just feels so good!

Talk About Tuesday- Home Tour

Welcome to Talk About Tuesday. For more information or to see what others are talking about, visit Lara at The Lazy Organizer.

I was looking forward to this home tour idea for Talk about Tuesday until I realised that my house is a mess! No photos from me of my house currently. I would love to have pictures of our yard to post but as it was almost 3 years ago when we moved in, it is just dirt. However, about 2 weeks ago it was all leveled by a bobcat and sometime this week we are getting several more loads of dirt delivered with the hopes of sometime soon having sod delivered as well and having an actual yard one of these days.



I do however, have a couple of pictures of my pantry which was one of the parts of the house I loved from day one. I have to laugh though that my pantry can often be full but I will have no idea what to make for dinner or will complain that we have nothing to have for dinner. LOL! In addition to food, my pantry also stores plastic bags which I take to be recycled or use again myself, my george forman grill and my pizza oven, my mop, bucket, broom and dustpan, my aprons and a fire extinguisher.



My pantry is "L" shaped. The top shelf long side of the L is home to our cereal. We eat a lot of cereal. We have it for breakfast, sometimes we have it for dinner and Ryan and I snack on dry cereal throughout the day sometime. The short side top shelf is home to my pizza oven (which was actually out on my counter when I took the photos) and my GF grill. The next shelf on the long side is home to drink mixes, rice, instant potatoes, croutons, shake n'bakes and canned pastas. The short side is home to canned fruit and veggies, soup, crackers and cookies.



On the next shelf, the long side is baking land. All my ingredients for baking and treats are stored here. The short side is "seasonings" and is home to all my spices and spice mixes. So really this is a whole shelf in my pantry that is not really something that can make supper on it's own. The bottom shelf on the long side is home to pasta, pasta sauces, Kraft Dinner, any extra containers of condiments, baby food (that I was given as a baby shower gift but Ryan never enjoyed), cereal bars and Ryan's applesauces and various cookies (Baby Mum Mums, animal crackers, gold fish, ect). The short side is home to snacks and lunch items for Brad's lunch.



On the floor in my pantry I have large items stored. On the long side we usually a bottle of vinegar and a bottle of oil, a container with sugar and a couple of bags of flour. We also often have bottles or cans of pop stored there, our plastic bag collection and then tortilla chips and potato chips.

Talk About Grandparents

Welcome to Talk About Tuesday. For more information or to see what others are talking about, visit Lara at The Lazy Organizer.



They say it is the job of a grandparent to spoil a child and then hand the child back to it's parents. Our boys are lucky that they have a grandpa and grandma that live close by. In fact Brad's mother often comes to visit, play with Ryan and sometimes babysit for us and he is always very happy to see her. Brad's father comes by to visit often as well but Ryan still plays shy around him sometimes. My parents however, live in a different province and haven't seen Ryan since he was 3 weeks old. They spoil him rotten with gifts at every chance though. This week I am going to talk about my parents and how as granny and poppy they spoilt all of us rotten over the last 3 weeks. (It's not that Brad's parents don't help us-they do and on a more regular basis since they live so near- but my parents just left, we miss them and we want them to know that we appreciate all they did for us while they were here.)



My parents came out to visit and help out when Adam was born. They left Ontario the day after Adam was born and arrived at our house the day after we were discharged from the hospital. Brad and I both thought Ryan would play strange with my parents but he took to both of them almost right away. Now that they have gone, I am sure Ryan misses them, especially granny who often played with him. While they were here, my mom cleaned my house daily, did my laundry, helped me cook, played with Ryan and when I was feeling up to it, took me out to do things. My dad helped Brad change the engine in his mother's car, helped us get cartoons for Ryan, helped Brad with a few household projects and built Ryan a rocking horse. They even bought us a new bbq as an early anniversary gift. We were thinking of getting a new one but the one we had was working fine, although a little on the small side when trying to cook for any more than 3 or 4 people. So we passed our old bbq on to Brad's mom. They sent flowers to me in the hospital and brought presents for both boys when they came. They stopped at Costco along the way and brought food with them. They bought items to leave for birthdays and Christmas later this year.





The rocking horse was something I wanted my dad to make for Ryan. And it worked out well that they were able to get most of it made before they came and then assembled it here. It is nigh and Ryan needs help to get up on it now but he loves it and will grow into it and it will last a long time. I know already that it is one of those items that Brad and I will keep long after the boys outgrow it and hope to pass it on to another generation at some point. It works a a gift to Ryan since everyone is bringing gifts for Adam.




For Ryan's birthday they bought him a potty (which although the potty is in the box in the living room we are saving it until his birthday), a race car set (which Poppy wanted to see up and running before they left and is now a favorite toy) and a bike. We all agreed that we thought Ryan was too small for a bike this year but my parents wanted to look at one they could possibly buy and leave as a Christmas or Easter gift. The bike is so great. It has a belt to help hold him onto the seat. It has a handle so I can push him when he gets tired of peddling. You can lock the handlebars so that if you are pushing he can't steer all over the world. He doesn't reach the peddles yet (what a shock eh?!) and although it wasn't meant to be a gift for now or even his upcoming birthday, we have taken him out on it a few times and he loves it. Granny even bought him a cute little bell for it and he has figured out how to make that work.



All of us are missing granny and poppy. I know sometimes I got frustrated because I couldn't do things and things were not getting done the way I would have liked or in the order I would have preferred or because I was not completely in control, but it really was nice to not have to worry about certain things at all. Already I miss having someone to take my laundry downstairs and bring it back up folded already. And someone who did my dishes every night and cleaned my floors pretty much every other day if not every day.




And then there is Ryan and his boundless energy. I know I will miss having others around to play with him while I rest, recover and bond with Adam. But we are beginning to settle back into our little family routines though and before I know it, my activity restrictions will be off and things will be back to "normal". At least Ryan loves his little brother and wants to help with him all the time. I am sure things would be more of a challenge if Ryan was not adjusting so well and was overly jealous of Adam and the time I spend with him. But I think part of the reason Ryan adjusted so well to Adam was because of the time and love that granny, poppy and grandma were able to shower him with during this time of transition. For that, Brad and I are so very grateful to all of them.




On a side note, Ryan got a hair cut today. I'd been wanting to do it for a while now but things kept getting in the way. I miss his curls but it is still pretty wavy in places and I know the curls will be back. We think he looks much more grown up with this new hair cut.