Starting over

I realized that all of my posts were way too old!!! So I decided to delete everything and start from scratch.

So we moved to a new (2 yr old) house in September 2009 in the south end of Guelph. We absolutely love it...it's on a nice quiet crescent with great neighbours + lots of kids. We are enjoying all of the "little" things that our lil' 135 yr old brick bungalow didn't have...a garage, closets and tons of storage, windows that all open, a decent sized yard, a deck and an open concept layout...I guess you need to live without these things to truly appreciate them. But most of all, not freezing in the winter and cooking in the summer since we now have insultation and central air will be a huge bonus. It is definitely a change from living downtown, but I am not really missing it like I thought I might. There are tons of trails through natural areas around where we live, and I can even walk to a grocery store and library in 30 mins, and Lucie's bakery/coffee shop in 15.

I quickly discovered that there were pros and cons to moving with a newborn. The good part was that I wasn't working, so I took my time packing and getting organized for the move. The bad part that it was a crazy busy time, and at times I felt like I wasn't able to spend as much time with Curtis as I would have liked to because there was so much to do. I am glad our old house sold quick because it was definitely a challenge keeping it pristine with such a young baby. Fortunately JC's mom was staying with us for a while, so she was able to help out a lot.

We don't have to do a lot of work on the house, but JC did build a mantle for a wall-mounted gas fireplace that we put in this winter (he finished it just in time for the warm weather!). We also had maple hardwood floors installed and did some painting on the main floor. Eventually we will repaint all of the rooms but for now we will just do a little at a time. JC also did a ton of landscaping work and it is starting to feel more and more like our place with all of the personal touches.

Claire is now 3+1/2 if you can believe that...and Curtis is turning ONE this week! He started walking a few months ago and is such a sweet and smiley little guy, he loves dancing, kicking and rolling a ball and most of all wandering around and getting into EVERYTHING...the girls at daycare and everyone that meets him just adores him. He is definitely very different from Claire...it is a challenge to get him to sit on your lap and read a book with you...he just closes it and wants to be on the move. We have had to lock up cupboards which we never did with Claire.

Claire has recently developed a keen interest in birds. JC has set up some feeders in the yard and she loves to watch the birds and identify them. Because we are one of the few people who have planted a lot of native trees and shrubs, the birds (especially the goldfinches) love our yard. We have a feeder right outside the kitchen window near a serviceberry and we can sit and watch them during breakfast without them knowing we are there. She continues to love books and movies, especially anything princess or anime. And she will be starting soccer for the first time next week...I hope she likes it!