6 month thoughts {they grow up so fast}

Owen turned 6 months on Sunday.

SIX MONTHS. 

That’s half a year, people.  Half a year is a LONG time. It’s amazing how quickly this past half a year flew by. 

“The days are long but the years are short”. I want time to slow down. I want to be able to soak in all of these moments with Owen – firsts only happen once and I don’t want to miss a thing. 

These past six months have been a combination of joy, a huge amount of love, tears, laughs, hard work, and a sense of accomplishment, pride and love I never knew existed. I think most of the time I have been trying to figure out our little bean, just in time for him to change and move on to a new phase. I need to stop trying to figure everything out, wishing away the current phase, and just be in the moment.

Owen is so much fun – it’s amazing to see him learn – he’s into looking at his hands and you can see the wheels turning in his little head that HE controls THESE things. So cool. And then he invariably grabs something with the utmost precision (usually my hair) and rams it in his mouth. Success. :)

He has changed so much in the past six months, but still looks like the little guy we brought home that sunny day in September. His hair is lighter (and longer, we’ve had to give him 4 trims already!), he’s bigger, and he has a whole array of expressions, sounds and movements. I love seeing his smiley personality shine through. 

I can’t wait to see all the new changes the next six months bring, and at the same time I want to pause everything to really soak it in.

The ugly (do-it-or-else) reno

We had a case of the uglies here last week.

Well really it's a problem that's been going on for a little while but we finally decided to do something about it. Our drain in the cold storage had backed up before - we called the city, got it plunged (thanks, property taxes at work!) and it was good for a couple of years. Until this year...this year it happened 3 times in about 2 months, and a city worker who was plunging it on episode 2 said - You should really get some quotes to get this fixed.

Ok, Ok. So we did just that. Last week we had Toronto Drain & Plumbing here digging up holes, working through that crazy snow storm we had, and fixing our drain.

It started as just a back flow valve installation, and then expanded to replacing a portion of our pipe due to tree roots (we have a silver maple out front...which while beautiful is notorious for root issues), and replacing the waterline from the main line. It was one of those things where we figured, while they were here and everything was dug up we might as well get it all out of the way.

I really wish I was spending that money on a rug, coffee table and other goodies for my living room. Or on fun clothes for Owen (that he grows out of in 2 weeks), or anything else really. But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. At least we won't have to clean up sewer back ups (thanks Mr.) for a while!

 

This is a DEEP hole. They were not kidding around, this is NOT a DIYable project :)

  

On to prettier things... 

*I get no kick back (unfortunately) for naming the company that did the work, but this is work that you tend to only do once, and if they did a good job, why wouldn't I recommend them? We were happy with their work and they worked hard to get it all done in a reasonable time frame.

Spring, where art thou?

I want Spring. Today, is not spring-y. Blustery is how I would describe today. Snowy. Windy. Cold.

It's MARCH. Yesterday and Monday were glorious days with highs not only on the plus side of the thermometer, but up to 9 yesterday. 9!!! I was way too warm in my winter coat while out for a walk. Owen and I soaked it all in yesterday because we knew today would be gross. What a tease.

Here are some images that are making me happy and willing (in my mind at least) winter to go away. Join me, will you?

Flower market in Paris (Our trip, 2011)

 Cherry blossoms in High Park (2012)

Loving how the LCBO suggest displaying tulips! (Spring 2014 issue of Food & Drink)