the boo and the boy

golden banana mustard sunshine - kids' edition

2012-02-10T07:15:00.000-05:00

to pin or not to pin. me, i choose to pin. and lately, i've been on a quest to find cool kids' fashion (preferably streetstyle) but it hasn't been easy. i've managed to put together enough kids' looks that incorporate yellow (to go along with the yellow fashion post - adult version i did last friday). as simon says almost daily, "don't worry, be happy" and yellow makes me happy.

milk magazine

shared girls' room

2012-02-09T07:00:00.001-05:00

Elizabeth of blogtownmom sent me photos of her daughters' adorable shared room. I just love the pink wall! Great job Elizabeth!

room for two

2012-02-08T06:45:00.000-05:00

Alex (of repurposed playground) sent me some photos of the room she just finished decorating for her two kids. She blogged it on her other blog project: haus. Of course I love the wall colour and the mix of old and new gets me every time. Alex, awesome job on this room! Check out her blog for some before photos too.

Bryan's nursery

2012-02-07T06:50:00.001-05:00

Check out this super cute nursery that Jess of The Eagle's Nest put together for her son Bryan.

Bryan's room is the one room in our house that is "done". I guess it helps to have a deadline! The room started as a rather uninspired guest room and my goal was to create a stylish, gender neutral nursery out of the room on a tight budget, sourcing from IKEA, Walmart, Etsy, local thrift shops etc. and working with the existing drapery, paint color, and artwork. I also wanted the room to be personal. I collect owls so you can see the theme running through the room. Additionally, 2011 is the year of the Rabbit so we had our closest friends and family create a selection of rabbit themed canvases that I mounted together over the changing table. Dad did the other "monkeys on machines" artwork that complete the gallery wall.

A couple before photos:

And now I present, the super cute after photos:

Rowan's room

2012-02-06T12:00:00.001-05:00

The lovely Roberta of Rowantree Design sent me these fabulous photos of her grandson's room. I love the colours, the maps, the table and chair, the art, the granny square blanket....this is one lucky kid!

our bathrooms

2012-02-06T06:45:00.002-05:00

I think I've complained about this before, but when we bought our house new, it came with a whole lot of cheap fixtures. This was most evident in the bathrooms. We have two full bathrooms and one powder room in our house. All three are pretty ugly since this is not where the builder puts their money. The three bathrooms have been painted but that's about it. I'd love to redo the mirrors, lighting, vanities, tiling, etc. Here are photos of 2 of the 3 bathrooms (Pablo's bathroom is full of medical supplies so no photos of our ensuite):

I found tons of good ideas on bathrooms.com. They've got numerous options for bathroom suites online with specials! on bathroom sets! I love me a great deal. And now that I think about it, our toilets are boring as all hell and bathrooms.com has some cool contemporary ones too because who knew that a toilet could be 'contemporary'. Love the wall hung toilets! What a freaking genius idea! Especially when you're toilet training a boy! (I'm thinking about how much easier it would be to clean messes from lack of aim). Check out the gorgeous toilet below. Did I just call a toilet gorgeous. YOU BET I DID!

Our bathrooms are tiny. You know a bathroom is tiny when it is practically impossible to photograph because either the door is in the way, you are in the photo or you can't even be in the bathroom when said photo is being taken. A good way to make a tiny bathroom appear larger is by using wall hung cabinets. When your sight line is extended - being able to see under wall hung cabinets - you get the appearance of a larger space. Bathrooms.com has a wide variety of modern and contemporary bathroom furniture cabinets. One cabinet that really caught my eye was their Madrid Zebra cabinet:

Gorgeous! That wood is so modern and I just love the clean lines of the sink, faucet and even the drawer handle. Totally my style.

I'd love to change out my ugly mirrors. They are rectangular and oh so boring. Cheap too. I'd love to pair the cabinet above with the Dune Moon circle mirror. The frosted edge would pair perfectly with the white sink above. And because I hate my rectangular mirrors, the circle shape would be a welcome change.

Time to start saving!

IKKS

2012-02-05T11:10:00.000-05:00

I was perusing milk magazine's site last night and came across the clothing collection of IKKS. Their children's fall/winter 2011 collection is just gorgeous. I was in love with so many looks that it was really hard to narrow it down for this post. Here's a whole bunch of my favs:

lovely dollhouse

2012-02-04T07:45:00.000-05:00

mekkotehdas

golden banana mustard sunshine

2012-02-03T06:00:00.002-05:00

i've been pinning streetstyle fashion like crazy lately and i started noticing a trend. i was pinning a whole bunch of photos where yellow is somehow incorporated. i love yellow and recently did a post on yellow in kids' rooms. here are some of my favourite yellow outfits from my fashion board on pinterest.

my pinterest via kendi everyday

my pinterest via karla's closet

my pinterest via a beautiful mess

my pinterest via punky-b

my pinterest via et pourquoi pas coline?

my pinterest via punky-b

my pinterest via kayture

my pinterest via rebel attitude

my pinterest via scent of obsession

my pinterest via late afternoon

modern nursery/toddler furniture

2012-02-02T08:30:00.001-05:00

having a hard time finding the perfect modern nursery furniture? well, search no longer. Nurseryworks and Oeuf have got to be the top brands for modern nursery and toddler furniture. their products are so gorgeous and modern. My Urban Child has a great selection of both of these brands. here are some of my favourites:

boo's pink project

2012-02-01T11:22:00.000-05:00

i should have known that as soon as Isabella saw my previous post, that she would want to replicate it with her stuff. with only a few minutes to put it together, here is what we came up with:

the pink & blue project

2012-02-01T06:40:00.001-05:00

i know this is old news and has probably been blogged about a million times over the last few years. better late than never i guess! LOL!

JeongMee Yoon did her thesis on the colours pink and blue. 'This project explores the trends in cultural preferences and the differences in the tastes of children (and their parents) from diverse cultures, ethnic groups as well as gender socialization and identity. The work also raises other issues, such as the relationship between gender and consumerism, urbanization, the globalization of consumerism and the new capitalism.'

Check out these photos from her site:

All I could think of when I saw this HOLY CRAP. I should do this with all of Isabella's pink stuff (unfortunately, there is a large amount). Simon doesn't have a lot of blue stuff but he does have a lot of yellow trucks...

Crib and bed in one room

2012-01-31T09:10:00.001-05:00

kids' rooms from family living

2012-01-30T06:40:00.001-05:00

images above from this family living link

coastal boys' room

2012-01-29T07:58:00.000-05:00

Kirsty sent me this photo of her boys' room : "We made the beach hut wardrobe and found the old cable reel that they use as a table." WOW! I'm in love with this room and Kirsty, you are one talented lady!

kids' crate wall

2012-01-28T17:18:00.000-05:00

nietylkodzieciaki

Judah's nursery

2012-01-28T14:32:00.000-05:00

Lacey designed a beautiful nursery for her son Judah's nursery. She chose grey for the walls which I love and aqua accents. Judah certainly looks like he loves his nursery! See the full post and some before photos on Lacey's blog here.

fashion friday

2012-01-27T07:39:00.002-05:00

to spice things up around here, i thought i'd try something different. fashion fridays. it all started a few weeks ago when i got a pinterest account and my sister's started a fashion blog - closet rivalry. i started perusing fashion blogs (closet rivalry is my fav of course) and pinning photos of achievable looks. now if only i lived in a city that had decent clothing stores. we don't even have an H&M!!!!!!!!!!!

here are some of my favourite outfits from my fashion board on pinterest (from blogs such as scent of obsession, et pourquoi pas coline, sincerely jules, rebel attitude, the blonde salad and atlantic-pacific):

Evie's room

2012-01-26T20:00:00.000-05:00

Beth emailed me the cutest photo of her daughter Evie's room. Love the fun colours!

a sign that someone is going stir crazy while recovering from surgery

2012-01-25T11:53:00.001-05:00

Pablo just sent this to me at work. He titled it 'Sleeping pills'.

the pill bottle is napping on the bed from Isabella's dollhouse

pops of yellow in kids' rooms

2012-01-25T06:45:00.000-05:00

FANTASTIC NEWS!

2012-01-24T11:48:00.000-05:00

Pablo just got a call from his surgeon and it turns out that the tumour that was removed (the second part of his pilonidal cyst removal surgery last week) is BENIGN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The surgeon was quite surprised. It is quite common for brain tumours to travel down the spine and cause damage so he was not very optimistic that this was going to be nothing and Pablo was quite worried.

BUT WORRY NO LONGER!!!!!

Now all we have to worry about is whether the brain tumour is what caused the bladder issues that Pablo is having and get that dealt with.

Almost 2 years later and we are still dealing with the after effects of the effin' brain tumour...

vintage pieces in kids' rooms

2012-01-23T07:00:00.000-05:00

a genius idea!

2012-01-21T11:01:00.000-05:00

This morning, my sister sent me this link to lifehacker. The article discusses how the average American family of four throws out an estimated $130 to $175 in uneaten or spoiled food every month. CRAZY but true. And that is alot of money.

As you can see in the photo above, they recommend creating a fridge triage box that puts in plain sight and gathers in one place the foods you should reach for first.

I am totally going to do this as soon as I can find an empty shoebox.

surgery #26473838474

2012-01-20T12:45:00.000-05:00

Pablo had surgery yesterday. This was a two for one surgery. He had his pilonidal cyst removed and another cyst/lump removed. The surgery went off without a hitch. Thankfully his heart didn't stop like it did during his hernia surgery a few months ago. Pablo needs to see the surgeon in about 2-3 weeks and maybe we'll have more info about what the second lump was (hints that it could be colon cancer related).

Pablo is sore and didn't sleep at all last night. A nurse is here right now to repack the hole where the pilonidal cyst was. We went through this 3 years ago when he had the same cyst surgery. It's not pleasant so my job is to keep the kids in another room.

It's going to be a real quiet weekend around here while Pablo tries to heal, the weather is too freaking cold to go outdoors and we are still attempting to get Simon potty trained...

table and chairs for kids

2012-01-20T07:10:00.000-05:00

boys' rooms

2012-01-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

estilismo con encanto

eclectic kids' rooms

2012-01-16T06:50:00.000-05:00

Qu'est-ce que f*ck - part...i've lost count....

2012-01-15T11:46:00.000-05:00

You know, we were really hoping that this year would be calmer, with less medical issues and BOY, OH BOY, we couldn't have been more wrong.

Not too long ago, I blogged that Pablo's pilonidal cyst that he had 3 years ago has returned with a vengeance. It is driving him crazy. We thought he was going to have surgery before Christmas to remove it but that didn't happen. Surgery is this coming week.

Here's where the 'qu'est-ce que f*ck' comes in...

A couple weeks ago, Pablo noticed another lump. A bit further south from the cyst. Coincidentally, Pablo had an appointment last week with his urologist and he checked out the lump. He was concerned and told Pablo to call the surgeon doing the cyst surgery and get him to look at it before the surgery. Pablo got an appointment and went to see the surgeon. He concluded that this lump had to be removed right away and he would add an extra 45 minutes onto the scheduled surgery time to remove this lump.

The concern is that this could be colon cancer.

They will test the lump once it is removed and we'll go from there.

This will make recovery from surgery that much more difficult since two surgeries are happening at the same time. Bad enough that the spot where the pilonidal cyst is needs to heal from the inside out so Pablo will have a whole in his lower back for quite a few weeks (which will need daily repacking with gauze...we went through this 3 years ago).

Pablo calculated that this will be 16 surgeries in 6 years. Pablo is only 34 years old.

dollhouse

2012-01-14T15:36:00.000-05:00

I was perusing blogs for kids' rooms and came across this gorgeous dollhouse on Varpunen:

rocking sheep

2012-01-14T10:04:00.000-05:00

check out this adorable rocking sheep from bright spark design on etsy.

kids' bathrooms

2012-01-12T12:00:00.000-05:00

wallpaper in kids' rooms

2012-01-11T06:30:00.000-05:00

hus&hem

ideverkstan

jack thompson photography

built-in kids' beds

2012-01-09T06:10:00.000-05:00

closet rivalry

2012-01-08T07:56:00.002-05:00

A new project has developed within my family. My twin sister Kim, of desire to inspire, and my younger sister Jen (blogless until now), have started a new fashion blog called closet rivalry. It's a genius idea since my twin sister is an avid shopper and Jen is a stay at home mom who loves fashion blogs and needs ways to stay busy! LOL! I think it's going to be a big hit and I am a very proud sister. Stop on over!

I was so overdue...

2012-01-07T15:35:00.001-05:00

to get my hair done. And here are today's results (taken in our windowless bathroom with crappy lighting):

hair by Jayme at Platform Artistic Hair Concept in Orleans

a great idea for a sleepover

2012-01-07T10:14:00.000-05:00

restoration hardware

adorable girl's room

2012-01-06T07:10:00.001-05:00

photos taken by Maks via weissbunt

the boy's room

2012-01-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

Simon has a few new additions to his room: Ikea's Malou duvet cover. I had REALLY wanted to get him Ikea's Tupplur roller shade (like we have in our room). Simon needs a black out shade and Tupplur would have been perfect BUT Ikea has taken them off the shelves to make them cordless and they'll be back in the store in March. Bummer. The photos below would have been so much nicer with the roller shade so please ignore his broken white blinds that do not keep the sunshine out at all. We also got Simon a stuffed moose head from Cabelas for Christmas and that got put on the wall under his tree. My mom made some buffalo plaid pillow covers which I put one on his bed and the other on his rocker. I got a white sheepskin rug for his rocker too to make it a cozy place in the winter.

I had to switch the head of his bed away from the window because it 's too drafty during the winter months.

Simon insisted he be in a photo...

at the end of my photo taking, these three came in and I managed to get this cute pic

the boo's room

2012-01-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

We had to rearrange Isabella's bedroom because we thought it was time to get her a desk for her room. She spends alot of her time writing and this will give her a good space to do it and she now has storage for all her writing stuff. We ended up buying Ikea's Micke workstation and the Snille chair. Isabella couldn't be happier. I re-photographed the whole room:

I also took new photos of Simon's room which I'll post tomorrow...

Girls' rooms

2012-01-02T06:30:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday nonna!

2012-01-01T11:35:00.000-05:00

Today is my mom's birthday - 'nonna' to the kids (grandmother in Italian). Happy birthday mom! - with love from the four of us.

these were taken last night at the new year's eve fondue at my parents' house

Random photo

2011-12-30T20:30:00.000-05:00

ellmania

boys' rooms

2011-12-29T06:50:00.000-05:00

Some of the xmas goodies

2011-12-27T11:56:00.001-05:00

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas! Ours couldn't have been better. Everyone got what they wanted and the kids behaved so well too (BONUS!). Tomorrow I am back at work, unfortunately. Anyway, I went around the house this morning and found some of the gifts that we got and took some photos:

i bought this amazing moose head for Simon's room from Cabelas. i also bought one (deer) for my niece as seen here.

in the next few weeks I'll post some updated photos of Simon's room (i have to go to our giant new Ikea very soon to get him a black roller shade to replace his ugly blinds)

bought these awesome shirts for Pablo and Simon from etsy store coup

i bought this print for Pablo from etsy - it's his fav book

i got a pandora bracelet with this charm from my parents

Isabella has wanted a globe for some time now and my parents got Isabella a box full of office supplies (her fav thing to do is write, draw, etc.). Now we have to get her a desk for her room to keep all this stuff. I was thinking of this one from Ikea...

Simon got his first remote control vehicle thanks to my sister and BIL

this is just a fraction of the games that the kids got...

animal planet set from my sister Jen and BIL

a really cool Chuck car and track for Simon

Bruder log truck

I got Simon this vacuum because he loves to clean and it's not pink!

my aunt and uncle got Simon this keyboard and as you can see by the look on his face - he loves it!

we've had to talk about not sticking the whole microphone in his mouth....i was giving him a warning as I took this photo

we don't have overhead lighting for over our dining room table (annoying) so this was from my sister Jen and BIL

it's from Structube and it worked great on xmas eve when we had dinner at this table

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T15:47:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow I'll post some of the cool gifts that we got...

Merry Christmas everyone!

2011-12-24T19:46:00.000-05:00

sweet paul

Random holiday photos

2011-12-24T19:40:00.000-05:00

Holiday house

2011-12-24T07:10:00.000-05:00

klikk

Random holiday photo

2011-12-24T07:05:00.000-05:00

bolig pluss

Random holiday photo

2011-12-24T07:02:00.000-05:00

homes

Random holiday photo

2011-12-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

insidehomepage

Random holiday photo

2011-12-23T12:40:00.000-05:00

hege in france

Update to Simon's list for Santa

2011-12-23T08:07:00.000-05:00

The other night as I was putting Simon to bed, I asked him again what he wanted Santa to bring him for Christmas. His usual answer has been 'dumptruck and backhoe'.

This time Simon answered, "Toys, dumptruck, backhoe and peanut butter."

Random holiday photos

2011-12-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

vtwonen

Holiday house

2011-12-22T19:44:00.000-05:00

hus&hem

Random holiday photo

2011-12-22T07:35:00.000-05:00

poppytalk

Random holiday photo

2011-12-22T07:10:00.000-05:00

mitt liv pa landet

Playrooms

2011-12-21T11:30:00.001-05:00

Random holiday photos

2011-12-21T06:30:00.000-05:00

hus&hem

Random holiday photo

2011-12-20T12:00:00.000-05:00

bolig pluss

Random holiday photos

2011-12-20T07:00:00.000-05:00

kjerstislykke

colourful kids' rooms

2011-12-19T06:47:00.000-05:00

Random holiday photo

2011-12-19T06:45:00.000-05:00

mitt liv pa landet

An eclectic kids' room

2011-12-18T14:01:00.000-05:00

from Ellinor of glad i farg

Random holiday photos

2011-12-18T13:00:00.000-05:00

all images via poppytalk

Random holiday photo

2011-12-17T14:40:00.000-05:00

bolig pluss

Random holiday photo

2011-12-16T06:50:00.000-05:00

plurielles

Desk spaces for kids

2011-12-15T12:30:00.001-05:00

Random holiday photo

2011-12-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

gamla skolan

Vignettes in kids' rooms

2011-12-14T06:12:00.000-05:00

Random holiday photo

2011-12-14T06:10:00.000-05:00

vtwonen

Random holiday photo

2011-12-13T06:10:00.000-05:00

poppytalk

Eclectic kids' rooms

2011-12-12T12:10:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday Pablo!

2011-12-12T06:40:00.000-05:00

A very happy 34th birthday to Pablo from the boo, the boy and yours truly. May this year bring you WAY more good health than last year (and the year before that for that matter). The kids and I love you very much and I just want to say how much I appreciate how you 've been able to hang in there even when you feel like crap (taking care of the kids while I'm at work). Isabella wants me to tell you that she really hopes you start feeling better soon (ditto that!). HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

a recent photo I found on the ipod

these 2 photos were taken in August - 2 of my favs

Random holiday photo

2011-12-12T05:40:00.000-05:00

poppytalk

Pablo's upcoming surgeries/medical issues

2011-12-11T07:35:00.001-05:00

We still have no word on when Pablo's surgery is to remove the pilonidal cyst on his lower back. The surgeon was out of town for a bit and his office reopens on Monday so maybe they'll be able to tell us whether it will happen before Christmas or not.

Next is Pablo's urology issues. I'll summarize a bit of what's been going on lately and hopefully I get the details right. Pablo has been having difficulties in the peeing department. There are times when he feels he needs to relieve himself and he'll go to the bathroom but he'll sit there for 20 minutes (sitting due to length of time) before anything comes out. Too much detail? It gets better... In the middle of the night, Pablo has been known to fall asleep while sitting on the toilet because it would take so long.

Pablo has lichens sclerosis which I've mentioned before. This causes a build up of scar tissue down the urethra. Pablo has had this for years, even before the brain tumour discovery. He has had quite a few minor surgeries to remove scar tissue and aid in him being able to pee more freely and easily. But he is still having problems and his urologist now thinks the current problems are not caused by the lichens sclerosis. His urologist has a couple of interesting theories.

Theory #1 is that the large brain tumour Pablo had last year has caused some sort of disconnect between the brain and Pablo's bladder, etc. For example, the brain is telling Pablo that he needs to pee but the bladder is not full and he shouldn't feel the need to go.

Theory #2 is that there is a disconnect between the parts of the bladder, etc. I can't remember the exact details here but there is a process whereby the bladder fills up and then passes urine down and then you pee. The urologist says that there could be some kinks in the sequence of steps where step #1 happens and then step #2 should take over but isn't synced up to. There is some extensive video testing for this and the wait is long. Pablo is scheduled to have this testing at the end of March.

I asked Pablo's urologist how can the disconnect in theory #2 be fixed. He said that there is a urologist in Toronto who, as of only last month, came up with this new solution to the problem - a pacemaker for the bladder.

Until Pablo has the testing done in March, his urologist wants him to catheterize himself on a daily basis (EEK!). There are a few reasons for this. First, Pablo will no longer have to spend so much time every day in the bathroom waiting to get relief. Pablo figures he spends about 2 hours a day, if not more, trying to pee. Second, Pablo can learn alot from the results of catheterizing himself, e.g. if he feels like he has to pee and catheterizes himself and very little comes out, then that confirms that his brain is telling him that he has to go but there is really nothing there. Also, he'll be able to figure out by the amount that comes out, how often he should go every day.

On Friday, Pablo went to the hospital for a teaching session on how to catheterize himself. As you can imagine, it's not pleasant. The urologist there who helped him, told him that he should do it around 4 times a day. This urologist is convinced that a pacemaker would solve Pablo's problem.

In conclusion, Pablo should catheterize himself 4 times a day till March when he has this video testing of his bladder and they conclude that he'll need to go to Toronto for this pacemaker surgery for his bladder.

Random holiday photo

2011-12-11T07:30:00.000-05:00

poppytalk

the boo, the boy, and santa

2011-12-10T07:18:00.002-05:00

Simon was not happy while we waited in line to have this photo taken so right when we put him on Santa's lap, we kept telling him not to smile and the reverse psychology worked!

Update on these two: Isabella no longer cries during soccer and she is showing some definite talent! They had a skills competition the other night and she came in 3rd! She also thinks all her teeth are loose and are going to fall out any day now... Simon's weekly in home visits with Donna (for his speech) continue to go really well. She is constantly amazed at how meticulous and methodical Simon is and he is showing improvement every week.

I have a Pablo update that I have to write, hopefully today when I have some free time...