Quebec City Aquarium

This past weekend we visited my Sister-in-Law, her fiancé and my nephew. They live about 45 minutes south-east of Quebec City. On Saturday we were looking for something to do and ended up at the Quebec City Aquarium. My nephew apparently has been there about 15 times and absolutely loves it there. We bought a family pass (as Quentin got in free) and it cost about 58$ with taxes. That’s not bad at all.

My fave thing at the aquarium was this cutie. I’m not even sure what it was but he was pressed up against the glass window of the tank and had the cutest little face!

Quentin was super excited to see “finding nemo” as he called them (above left) and I love the jellyfish – don’t they look like buttons?!

The shade of this green is one of my fave shades of green (above left). Whatever that was too, it was stunning to look at. The kids called this (above right) a sea mushroom. I thought it was cool to look at as well.

The polar bear we saw was doing laps in his pool and the seals were lounging by their pool.

There was awesome sand castles.

And awesome se creatures as well. How neat are these?

I tried to get a picture of all 3 boys. Mackenzie had no interest in smiling. It’s so difficult these days to get a picture of all 3 of them. I hope it’s just a phase and hopefully we’ll get to a point where I can take a nice picture of all 3 of them smiling at the same time. Maybe one day soon….

Bubbles

Recently I got a good deal on a Gazillion Bubble Machine from Walmart. Quentin absolutely loves bubbles, so I thought it would be fun – and it is! The only downfall is that it takes 6 AA batteries.

Another downfall is that I found that it worked better with the small thing of bubbles it came with. I’m hoping I won’t have to spend on the refill package. I tried using these bubbles after, and it wasn’t so great. The bubbles weren’t going as strong and as high out of the machine with the 2nd type of bubbles I used. I want to try my own soap concoction the next time and see what that does.

Regardless, it was a lot of fun, and we’ll for sure use this machine again. The kids had fun chasing and popping bubbles.

First Lost Tooth

Sean lost his very first baby tooth this evening. It’s been wiggly for a few days now (and he’s been playing with it), and I wasn’t expecting it to come out tonight. While it was wiggly, it wasn’t moving all the way back & forth, which is why I wasn’t expecting it to come out. I had given it a few more days. I’ve seen teeth hang on by less and not come out, but it came right out while he was brushing his teeth before bed tonight. The tooth fairy will visit him tonight, his tooth is in a small bead bag (from my craft supply stash) inside a tooth fairy pillow (that a friend of mine got Sean when he was just a baby). I wonder what the going rate is for the 1st lost tooth? He was so worried it was going to hurt coming out – but he was a brave boy, didn’t panic (even thought there was blood) and I think the fear of the unknown has gone away – phew!

I Just Want to Pee Alone

Peeing alone? What's that mean? As a mom of 3 boys (ages 2.5, 5 and 6.5 for those of you whom are new stopping by my blog), I am not sure what going to the bathroom alone means. I never get to go to the bathroom alone these days, unless I am actually home alone. There is usually a kid or two in the bathroom with me, because they cannot fathom the idea allowing their mother to actually go to the bathroom in peace. I don't understand why fixing their toy with dead batteries or showing me a level they passed in a game on their iPod can't wait two minutes. It's apparently the end of the world if I don't see it or do it now.

I received a copy of I Just Want to Pee Alone courtesy of Jen of People I Want To Punch in the Throat to read & review.

This hysterical compilation of mom blogger stories was great. I laughed my way through almost every one! A few of the stories I was able to relate to, being a mother of 3 myself. The title is definitely fitting - I can't remember the last time I got to pee alone as a mother of 3 young boys.

There were a few stories that were obviously funnier than others, but they all were entertaining. Some of the stories I found myself saying "been there" or "done that!" I think my fave story out of them all - that has stuck in my head, was the story about the furry underwear. I don't have any daughters myself, but I think I might be glad I don't now after reading that story.

I like that this compilation of stories made me feel like I wasn't alone out there and that other mothers are going through the same things that I am. It's just nice to know that.


If you're a mom, becoming a mother, or not a mother yet, you can still enjoy these stories. You can snag your own e-copy of this book on Kobo here or on Amazon here. If you're not up to date with e-reading just yet, you can find a paperback copy on Amazon here.

Another ER Visit

Quentin and I had a bit of a long week this past week. Here’s what went down. Monday a.m. I took Quentin with a swollen ear to our new paediatrician's office and a doctor (not our new one but one of the owners or co-owners of our clinic) told me that it was just a bug bite and told me it will go away on its own (that there was nothing to do for it) and sent us on our way. She told me I could give him Benadryl but it is drowsy, so maybe wait to see if he needs it to help him sleep at bedtime. After the appointment, I dropped him off at daycare. When I picked him up later that afternoon, his ear was mildly oozing clear liquid and looked even bigger (swollen). I took all the kids home, made dinner and after eating, Jamie took Sean and Mack to Sean's baseball game and I packed Quentin up and brought him to the Montreal Children's Hospital.

One of his ears (his right ear) by evening was swollen double (maybe even triple!) it’s normal size. I have never seen anything like this before.

At first they were going to have ENT (ears nose throat) look at it, give us antibiotics and send us on our way. But ENT didn't like the look of it and wanted to observe him overnight and see how it looked in the morning (Tuesday morning). So they admitted Quentin and gave us a crib for him on the 6th floor in the short stay unit. He got doses of IV antibiotic every 6 hrs. We saw ENT at lunch Tues and they wanted him on IV antibiotics for 48 hrs total. That meant another night’s stay at the children’s.

ENT came up at 7 am Wednesday to see him again and because he slept on his ear they want to see how it looked by 3 pm. I was pissed at this resident. Quentin was still asleep when he came to the crib during rounds. On top of it he was switched Tuesday night to oral antibiotics because his IV started to bubble so they had to take it out at his 9 pm dose. They tried to get it back in but after 6 or 7 attempts and him screaming bloody murder even with extra hands holding him down, they couldn't get it back in and after fighting with ENT to let him switch to oral antibiotics instead of through IV and because Quentin fell asleep at this point (it was almost 11 pm Tuesday night) ENT gave in and I fed him his meds by mouth while he was pretty much asleep. So because he was asleep on it the resident that came up they didn't think the oral meds were working which is why he said 3 pm, but an hour after he woke up his ear was better than the day before and I convinced the paediatric team to let us go home with a script for oral antibiotics and not have to wait for ENTs rounds later that day in the afternoon.

They think it is a bacterial infection in the cartilage of his ear, which needed to be treated or it's damaging to the ear. They said its rare but treatable. I also think they have never seen this before, not those doctors anyhow. They don't know why his ear became this way. It could have been either a bug bite that was a open or it possibly could have been a cut on his ear and he could have caught the infection one of those 2 ways. It's really unknown and we will never know. He is on antibiotics now, and is almost done them completely and his ear is completely back to normal pretty much. We have a follow up this week with ENT and we have an appointment with our paediatrician in his office next week. Our new paediatrician is so awesome that when he heard that Quentin was in the short stay unit, while he was on rounds on another floor, he took the time to come see us. That to me, is an awesome doctor.

Quentin and I discovered parts of the hospital that we had never seen before. On the 8th floor there is an outdoor indoor terrace. Basically it’s an indoor terrace with air that comes in, for patients to get the sense that they are outdoors. It’s really quite nice, and I wish I had discovered this one day earlier, when Quentin was restless. They had a slide, some cars, and some jungle gym type equipment for the little ones. 3 days in the hospital is long! (And as you can see in the right hand picture of Quentin & I, his ear went back to normal size once the antibiotics kicked in).

On Wednesday morning, Quentin got to do pet therapy for 30 minutes. He got to meet a dog named Gaia and Gaia even gave Quentin a pet dog to take home (above in the right picture). Quentin’s been walking his new dog everywhere, since it came with it’s very own leash. You press it’s back and it actually walks! Not only did Quentin get a pet dog to bring home, he got a book off a cart as well. A lady who volunteers at the hospital was going around with a cart full of brand new scholastic books. Quentin picked out a train book as his latest obsession is Choo Choo Trains.

By Wednesday Quentin was restless and just wanted to be home where he could run around freely. I knew how he was feeling – I wanted to be back in my own space too.

Goaltending

Sean has decided that he wants to be a goalie. (Just like his Uncle (my brother), just like his cousin (Jamie’s sister’s kid), and like a few other relatives in the family). Goalies seem to be extremely in demand. He’s been playing some games this summer, as call-ups to leagues in the area. Friday I took him mid-afternoon to goaltend for a game that was being played by a hockey camp near our house. They were missing a goalie for the game. It was my first time getting Sean into his equipment myself, and I think I did a good job!

Sean made some amazing saves, and I was quite impressed. The kids has talent. Above, I caught one of the saves he made on my iPhone camera.

No-One Ever Has Sex On A Tuesday

I enjoyed reading No-One Ever Has Sex on a Tuesday. Tracy Bloom had me entertained with wit and humor. This took me longer to read than normal as I had some stuff going on that came up but it was a fast paced story nonetheless. This is the story of Katy Chapman who didn’t expect to walk into a pre-natal class at 8 months pregnant to find her ex-boyfriend there with his extremely pregnant wife. She hadn't seen him since they slept together about 8 months prior after a school reunion. She then realizes that it's possible that her ex-boyfriend Matthew could be the father of her child.
 
Katy, 36, hadn’t planned on getting pregnant - in fact it was the very last thing in her plan. Her boyfriend Ben is a number of years younger than her. He is a gym teacher who makes inappropriate jokes at every opportunity that he gets. He’s not really the person she had pictured spending her life with, but then again, she hasn’t pictured spending her life with anyone since things ended with Matthew, her childhood sweetheart. He broke her heart when they both started university. 

I liked Katy, and felt that she was someone I could easily be friends with if she were a real person. She has some weaknesses as a person with her decision making, but who doesn't, and that made her real & likeable. Ben, Katy's boyfriend and possible father of her child, I didn't like at first, but in the end, he grew on me with the way he twisted everything around to try to make things right to Katy. I won't give away the details, or it'll ruin the book for you, but Ben, even though he was younger than Katy, proved that younger men can be suitable boyfriends/lovers/fathers. I myself have never enjoyed dating younger men, I have a thing for older men (my husband is 5 1/2 years older than me), but this story proves that younger man could live up to being a suitable partner.

The mannerisms of both Daniel and Braindead had me laughing hysterically. Some of the British humor I understood and some of it I wasn't too sure about. I couldn't decide if I liked or hated Matthew throughout the book. I won't tell you all the details for this either as to why I couldn't decide, as it'll ruin the story for you, I hope you'll pick up a copy and read it (and for 2.87$ on amazon it's a great deal!) I also like that besides the funny moments, there were some sincere moments between the main characters as well. It was a nice balance of both in this story.

I can't wait to read the sequel to this book, No-One Ever Has Sex After A Baby. I also caught a glimpse at the end of this book of  the first 4 chapters of Tracy's next novel, Single Woman Seeks Revenge, which comes out July 19th. I can't wait to pick it up to read.

KOA Camping

Last weekend we decided to take the kids camping. We were originally planning to stay close to home (not too far from Montreal) but it was pouring rain in Quebec, so we decided to drive away from the rain, and ended up at the KOA in Mallorytown, Ontario. Above left, Sean worked hard to help us set up the tents, and above right, is our camp site with our 2 tents.

The kids had a blast roasting marshmallows over the campfire.

Quentin was my tent-mate. Everyone else slept in the other tent.

The kids spent one full day by the pool. They loved it.

They had fun jumping in the water, and making new friends. (Sean is Mr. Popular!)

The new friends they made got them to help search for frogs at the pond in the campground. With my help (they needed long arms) they caught a frog. We put him gently back in the pond after, don’t worry! I think I might need to get my boys some fishing nets!

The property at the Mallorytown KOA is really nice. The staff is extremely helpful and friendly. I definitely recommend this campground and we hope to make it back there sometime maybe this summer, we’ll see how the summer goes, and how the weather holds up. Mallorytown is about 15 minutes past Brockville, Ontario, which is about 2 hours from the west island of Montreal.

Quentin my cutie, relaxing in a camping chair surfing the apps on his iPod. He’s too funny. KOA’s offer free wifi service and this allowed him to have endless hours of Caillou (ick!) and Elmo videos on Youtube during relax time.

Ear Bud Cozy Proto Type 2

I made a 2nd ear bud cozy to test out the pattern I wrote out. I think it’s good to go now and I’ll be making a PDF to post on Ravelry very shortly. I’m aiming for it to be done the beginning of July.

This is a great little cozy to use up leftover worsted weight yarn and keep your ear buds for your MP3 player or iPod/iPhone safe in your purse/bag so that they don’t get tangled.

Is this something you think you’d make? I think they make cute little stocking stuffers… (Is it sad I’m already thinking about Xmas in June?)

Ear Bud Cozy

Last night while out with my stitch group (that I founded about 2 years ago), I came up with an earbud cozy. I wanted something to keep my iPhone ear buds together and not tangled in my purse. I saw something online but no pattern was available, so I got back started with crochet (it has been a while since I last crochet) and I whipped up this cute little cozy.

I wrote down exactly what I did, and I will type up the pattern later & post it on Ravelry as a PDF. It took a little bit of worsted leftover, and it was done in a flash. Makes a cute gift too!

Isn’t it cute?

Hidden

I have been a fan of Catherine McKenzie’s work since her first novel came out, which I read in the spring of 2010, about 4 months after it was released. I've read all her work, and thoroughly enjoyed every single novel that Catherine has written. I had the pleasure of getting an advance reader’s copy of Catherine McKenzie's new novel, Hidden, which was released yesterday. I also have the pleasure to participate in the Hidden blog tour. (You can buy Hidden as a book here or an ebook here).

Hidden is completely different than the style of Catherine's first 3 novels, which was a nice change. This novel introduces 3 narrators (Jeff, Tish & Claire), instead of one/two narrators. Each chapter moves through the story in chronological order through each of their own stories and leaves you not wanting to put the novel down until the very last page. The story is completely realistic and that's what I like in a novel. I also liked the suspense of wondering throughout the entire novel, if Jeff and Tish were actually lovers or not.

Jeff, while walking home from work one day, is hit by a car and dies. Hidden is the story of his wife, Claire (and their son Seth) and another woman, Tish a co-worker from the same company at another branch in another city (as well as her family, husband Brian and daughter Zoey), who both are heart broken at the death of Jeff.

I recommend this book to anyone who has or has not read any of Catherine's earlier work. If you haven't read any of her earlier work, you should, Catherine's novels are fantastic. They're light, fun reads and this one is being released just in time for summer, perfect to read by the pool/beach.

I look forward to seeing where Catherine goes with her next novel, because she certainly outdid herself with Hidden.

I had the pleasure of asking Catherine a few questions to share with my readers:

1. What inspired you to write Hidden?

Like all of my books it was a conjunction of things, but the biggest catalyst was probably that mine disaster where one of the guys in the mine had a wife and a girlfriend. I kept thinking about how that might never have come out if he'd died, and what that would be like for the girlfriend.

2. What kind of research did you do for this book?

None.

3. In one sentence, how would you describe Hidden?

Hidden is about one man's relationship with two women - his wife and his co-worker - and how they cope with life after he dies unexpectedly.

4. You talk about places in the USA that Jeff & Tish visit on their retreat that they went on through work. Have you actually visited those places? Your description of the places seems real or was it based on research? (Example: Your description of Indio on p. 290).

I have been to Indio. My grandparents winter there. And the places I describe there - The Shield's Date farm and the Joshua Tree National Park - are a must see.

5. You also mention that Jeff and Tish each live in a different Springfield. In the USA there is a Springfield in about 35 states with over 50 cities/towns/called Springfield. In your past novels you haven’t straight out said where your characters live, only mentions of where they have traveled to (example: Africa in Forgotten). Did you use Springfield on purpose because it still leaves the reader open to their interpretation of where they actually are?

Yup :). Honestly, I wanted to have the novel a bit more grounded in place than my previous novels, and I love that there are so many Springfields that it could be any one of them or none.

6. Do you have any other novels in progress?

Early, early stages.

7. I know you’re a litigation lawyer and you also teach law at McGill University so I need to ask – when do find time to write 4 novels?

I no longer teach law. I write when I can and it's been a long time too. I wrote Arranged in 2006-2007. Spin in 2007-2008. Forgotten in 2008-2010. And Hidden in 2011-2012.

8. How long does it take you to write your novels?

Each one has varied. I think the first draft of Arranged and Spin were fastest - about six months, but they took a lot more revision.

9. What’s your last favourite book you’ve read?

The Banks of Certain Rivers by Jon Harrison. It's awesome (as you know!).

10. What are you currently reading?

As I write this I'm about to start reading Khalid Hosseini's new book. But I read a book a week for this reading project I'm doing on Goodreads so I'll be reading something else next week!

Thanks for the questions!

Thank you Catherine for taking the time to answer my questions!

The Best of Us

The Best of Us was my first Sarah Pekkanen novel and I thought it was fun & enjoyable. This is the story of four friends who met in college, Dwight, Tina, Savannah and Allie as well as their spouses who go off to Jamaica on vacation to celebrate Dwight's 35th birthday. During their vacation they get threatened by Hurricane Betty and the storm heads their way. We learn about infidelities and secrets kept from husbands, and the characters have to decide what truths to share and what not to. The writing what fluid and I wanted to see how the story played out/came all together. Having just been to Negril, Jamaica in January I felt that connection to the story as well, being able to actually picture it in my mind. I felt that each of the characters had a unique voice. I thought that with all these main characters it would be hard to follow them without being confused but Sarah does a great job of writing so that you don't get lost and are able to follow each character's story. The main characters are stressed-out stay-at-home mother of four Tina who is married to Gio, to seemingly put-together mother of two Allie who is married to Ryan, insecure Pauline who is married to the birthday boy Dwight and flirty Savannah whose separated husband Gary appears in Jamaica at one point in the novel. We learn of Pauline's sister Therese and that Allie might have ALS which runs in her family as well as cheating that goes on between a few of the characters in the story. I won’t give away too much – or it will ruin the story for you. I recommend that if you are looking for a good read this summer, check out this novel.

I can't wait to check out what else Sarah has written.

Scary ER Visit

Last night I experienced one of the scariest things ever as a mother. I had to rush Sean (again) to the Children’s Hospital, for an allergic reaction. Unlike his hives from head to toe when he ate 3 peaches and we discovered he was allergic (to 4 fruits: peaches, nectarines, cherries & apricots), Sean had an anaphylactic reaction after eating a handful of almonds. His entire body turned red in a rash, different from the hives from his previous reaction, (and different from his reaction when we visited MD Now in the USA). He started to cough, and he tried to hoark (is that even a word?) into the sink saying he had something stuck in his throat and it was tickling his throat. He then started to wheeze. That’s when I panicked. I didn’t think it was bad enough yet to administer him epipen, but what did I know. I learned a lot last night. I left the kids home with Jamie and I grabbed my mom and we ran to the Montreal Children’s Hospital (and got stuck in traffic). It freaked all the way to the hospital, but in a calm way, not to freak Sean out, who wanted to rip the skin off his body and my mom had to hold his hands so that he wouldn’t keep scratching. When we got to the ER he was admitted immediately and they had me administer the epipen. I was scared. I had never done it before, and I had to jab my son in the leg with this needle that I hear hurts. Me? Inflict pain on my son? I didn’t want to – but it was to save his life. So I grabbed his leg while a nurse held down his arms, and held the leg in a position to grab the muscle, and I jammed the epipen into my son’s thigh. SCARY! Frightening. He SCREAMED BLOODY MURDER. I counted to 10, as per epipen instructions, and I stopped shaking. I calmed down, they gave him antihistamines and steroids and an oxygen mask. When there was a bed free in observation we got moved, and we sat and watched movies for about 4 hours. They monitor him, checked his saturation levels, his blood pressure, and temperature. We discovered his elbow on one arm was extremely swollen (you can see the red elbow in the photo above). We ruled out infection (there were 2 mosquito or some other bug bites that were by his elbow that we thought might have gotten infected when he was trying to scratch his entire body from the reaction. I was given a script for antibiotics just in case and was told that if it’s still inflamed or gets worse by today, to fill the script. The did give him 1 dose of antibiotic in the ER last night, just in case. But he woke up and the swelling was gone and his arm was back to normal (besides the bug bites) this morning. I kept him home from school today because his leg by the epipen injection area was stiff from the actual injection, and we also got home close to midnight last night, so I gave him a pass to stay home today. When he woke up this morning, at his usual wake-up time for a weekend (when not in school) he looked like he had purple lines under his eyes, and he looked exhausted.

Now, we avoid nuts all together until his appointment with his allergist in August (I couldn’t get an appointment any sooner). At least I’ll have some answers before he starts grade 1.

In the last week and a half I’ve been to the Children’s Hospital with all 3 kids. Mack for his lip, Quentin for the developmental clinic (more on that in another post sometime soon) and with Sean for his anaphylactic reaction to almonds. I had even been to the hospital twice yesterday, once at 1 pm for an hour long appointment with the developmental clinic to go over Quentin’s results with the physician in charge of his case, and then back again just after I picked up Sean from a playdate after school, just as we were getting in for dinner. I swear, when it rains, it pours.

Blocking

My sweater is blocking! I just need to weave in ends, and sew on buttons once it’s done blocking. I am sooo excited to finally wear this sweater! Took me a year to finish it (but worked on a few other things in between). I’ll be back soon with a finished object post.

Mackenzie’s Graduation!

Mackenzie graduated daycare today. So proud of him! It was touch & go if he would actually do the show today, as he came down with an ear infection this morning, but after getting some medication in him, he was good to go (after a little bit of compromising too). This video is 7 minutes and 46 seconds long, but it’s worth watching every minute/second. From someone who didn’t do the show last year and was in hysterics, he’s made a full circle in the last year. He’s got the moves, let me tell you! Enjoy! The video is too freakin’ cute! I am glad they changed it up a little bit from the dance Sean did last year at his grad.