6 month old and changes!

We've been busy here this month since my last blog.  First of all, Cara turned 6 months old!  I can't believe how fast the time has gone, I've loved being able to spend so much time with her and just watching her learn and discover new things.  This month has been a big one for that!  She's learned to sit up on her own in the last month and is getting pretty good at it, her only downfall is that when she looks behind her while sitting her loses her balance because her head is so big. She's fallen more than once because of that.

She's also started solids, which she loves!  It's so much fun to give her real food now and watch her face as she tries new things, I hate having to wait and see whether she's allergic to something because I just want to keep giving her new things to try.  We gave her banana to start off with, which she gagged on and not much got down, however that had more to do with the texture I think, as the next day she gobbled it all up with minimal gagging.  It took her a bit to remember what was going on the third time we tried it, but by day four she had her mouth wide open by the time I had her all buckled into her high chair looking for food.  Now when the food is done, she grabs for the bowl looking for more.  So far she has had banana, brown rice cereal, sweet potato, chicken and peas, all of which she enjoys with the exception of the chicken, she gagged on that so bad I had to stop giving it to her and mix it up with some sweet potato.  I think she couldn't handle the texture of it, however I know with time she will.

Cara has also moved into her own room!  That has been a long time coming.  John wanted to keep her in our room until 6 months since that is what is recommended to help prevent SIDS, I on the other hand would have been okay with moving her sooner...but since he was showing care and concern for his little girl I agreed (plus the convenience of being able to just get up out of bed and take two steps to feed her won me over haha).  However, for the last couple weeks of March into the beginning of April, Cara was starting to wake up when we would come to bed and/or waking up twice in the night and that second time deciding that it was time to play, so after I'd feed her she would talk, squeal and cry until I got up and put her soother in or rock her.  Eventually we got to the point that we needed to let her cry it out, which would go on for like an hour at 3am!  One night John finally left and slept in the spare room because it was pretty clear sleep wasn't happening in ours!  At this point we had been preparing her room to paint and get get ready to move her, mainly we were waiting to get the window in her room replaced, since we figured we would do that and then paint, however when we ordered them we found out it could take up to 2 months, so we decided it was time to get a move on her room.  We got the room all prepped, John had to do some patch work and fix a shelf in the closet.  I was going away for a weekend with Cara to my grandmother's, so this was going to give him time to finish everything up so that when I got back I could paint.  Little did I know that he had other plans!  He worked the entire weekend getting her room completely done for when we got back!  When we got home, he took us upstairs, where all the doors to the rooms were closed.  I opened our bedroom first and saw that everything was back to the way it was, which made me start to tear up and I walked right over to her room and just started crying because everything was all set up for her!  I realized how loved I am and how lucky I am to have a wonderful husband!

Everyone seems happy with the move.  It didn't seem to affect Cara at all, if anything it helped her sleep better!  And Mommy and Daddy are sleeping better too!!

My last update is house related, as we have been trekking through getting the house done.  We recently got all the windows replaced, I haven't used them much yet as it's still too cold to open them, however they look much nicer than the old ones!  Since we had to move everything out of the way for the windows to be replaced, we decided to do some painting this weekend, which started with some touch ups and painting over the green wall in the living room.  We've painted it the same colour as everything else, and while I'll say that the green seemed to grow on me, I am REALLY happy with the grey, it just looks more professional, I think it will really help with selling the house as it really transforms the living room.  It's amazing how one wall can make all the difference!  Here is what it looks like now!

This week I am hoping to start painting some of the baseboards and trim, specifically I'm starting with the dining room window, as you can see from above, they had to replace it with an unpainted piece, so since everything is moved out of the way, I'm going to start with it!  We're also hoping to get the green wall going upstairs painted to grey in the next week...I'm sure that will involve another blog! However for now, I'm done with the updates, I'm off to enjoy the rest of the evening with my husband!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

It's been a while since I last blogged, probably because we haven't been doing any work on the house but mostly to do with Cara taking up so much time and it hasn't been top on the list of things to do!  However that is all going to change - at least I hope!  There is change number one ;)

John and I have been motivated by the spring weather and the desire to get our daughter into her own room so we can have ours back, to start a push and getting things moving again on the house.  There are only a couple of big jobs left and then A LOT of painting and touch ups/finishing touches to complete the house and make it look good.  We recently ordered new windows for the whole house, so stay tuned for a blog on those once they are installed.  We've also began some painting and changing some of what we had originally done.

For anyone following my blog, will remember that when we redid the living room, we decided on grey with a green accent (for those who don't follow it, check out my Home Reno 2.0 series for reference - Home Reno 2.8 if you want to only see what I'm talking about).  I was never keen on the green, but John really liked it so I went with it (mainly because I knew we weren't staying here forever haha!).  However, over time John has decided that the green may be a bit too much for people who may be buying, so he's decided that we need to paint over all the green!  Ironically, I'm a bit sad because I've become accustom to it and thinks it suits our space, but alas, we are not staying, so again I'm going with it.

We've begun with painting the mantle from green back to white.  I can tell you that as the person who has painted this mantle twice in a matter of years, I hope that this is the last time I do this!!  The white has really given the room a different look, with the light that comes in from the patio door, it reflects onto the grey, making it look lighter.  Here are a couple pictures of the transformation...

All prepped and ready to go!

First coat done

Final product!

 Next up for the mantel - new glass doors which were broken the month after John moved in and then to do something with the brass!

Next up on the house - prep and paint Cara's room!  Can't happen soon enough ;)

Speaking of Cara, she's a joy these days!  She's really found her voice, going from one octave to another in two seconds flat, aslso full of "ba-ba-ba", "da-da-da" and "ma-ma-ma".  She's also learned that if she rolls onto her stomach and then cry because she won't roll back, that one of us will come get her (however I watched her this morning roll from her back to her tummy and then back to her back when she didn't know I was watching).  We had our first swimming lesson today, she was captivated by all that was going on, as there is an aqua fitness class in the other pool beside us going on. She can also sit up on her own, although I wouldn't walk too far from her when she's doing it unless she's got padding all around, even though she's learning that if she tips one way, she needs to tip back the other way (yesterday she overcompensated and fell over the other way!).  AND we have our first tooth coming in!   Last night she woke up around 9, we gave her some time to go down on her own, but eventually we had to go get her, as soon as I got my finger in her mouth I felt how swollen her gum was!  Poor thing, not easy having teeth break through!

I must run now as she's awake and crying.  Until next time...