We had BIG plans for March Break but they were somewhat interrupted by illness of the throwing up variety. There was one rather pathetic day right at the beginning where the kids were too sick to sit up but wanted to play so they had their own "islands" in the basement and they played that they were sleeping. When they wanted to interact they used remote control cars to send toys to each other.

So by the time we were feeling well enough to venture forth March Break was half over.

Nonetheless we went to the park, and the agriculture museum (Elizabeth and Matthew felt it was unfair they hadn't gotten to go before).

We joined Aidan, Caitlyn and Evelyn at Home Depot for our first time doing one of their excellent kid's workshops, had lunch at their house and then went to the Science and Tech museum. It was our first time back since they reopened. I asked Elizabeth what she thought and she was all "it was a little crowded" LOL I guess we'll want to check it out again when it isn't March Break insanity.

Elizabeth's friend Ruici came over and they played with a big box.

We went to the Nature museum and checked out the new Arctic ice exhibit. The kids wanted to pretend to feed Michael to the dinosaurs, as per tradition. I intended to come back and take better photos with a second adult but these will have to do.

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In which Elizabeth learns how to demolish a board

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At two months Michael is an input / output machine! That is, he nurses a lot and poops a lot. In between he sleeps. Actually he's quite a good little sleeper and usually gives me several hours uninterrupted in the night. He likes to snuggle close with a heavy blanket - I worried about him getting overheated but if I just use a receiving blanket he wakes up constantly and fusses.

I rarely have to change his diaper overnight. During the day is quite another story. Elizabeth will change his diaper if he pees but she finds poop difficult to deal with.

Everyone around here has been ill and while it's hard to tell exactly, we think Michael has caught the dread plague going around here. There's definitely an increased amount of baby spit. The sharp-eyed will notice an outfit change during the bear photo shoot. That is certainly a first!

On the positive side he is no longer yellow; the breastfeeding jaundice seems to have finally more or less cleared out. His toe is much better as well, though it looks like the hair may leave a scar.

Two months is pretty smiley though, so that is pretty nice.

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We got a new car! I only had to spend about 45 minutes at the dealer to a) sign the final paperwork, b) transfer the license plate and c) listen to the sales guy enthusiastically blather on about all the new features of the car. Mostly c), which I put up with because Brendan was interested (this is love). Also love is when your husband does all the actual car buying without you because he knows how annoying you find it. Plus he is so good at it!

It's exactly the same as our old van, but technology has advanced rapidly in the last four years. Lots of precursors to self-driving cars - adaptive cruise control where it varies the speed and steers for you. Windshield wiper de-icer on the front. And a vacuum cleaner in the back which is a sure sign of a vehicle aimed at parents.

My favourite feature is probably the fact that the middle seat can flip up out of the way so that you can slide the chair with the car seat in it out of the way.

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Amelia needed an outing so we took Michael to the agriculture museum for the first time. We haven't been for a long time because I was cranky over not getting to do farm camp last year, so it was the first time to see the canola exhibit.

It's a bit on the noisy side with a rather odd marble run art thing that moos and plays God save the Queen on endless repeat. Also the under five's play area has shrunk dramatically. However, while the honey is gone the bees are still there, it isn't all (broken) high tech and (non functional) screens the way so many museum exhibits have gone as the current cool thing.

Amelia enjoyed our outing very much!

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Matthew seems to have inherited my lungs. If he runs around too much - he starts coughing. If he gets very worked up - he has trouble breathing. If he has a cold - it lingers until we break down and use the inhaler for a few days. Mind you it would also help if this kid would learn to blow his nose instead of sniffing all the goop into his ears etc but that's a whole 'nother story...

In any case, Matthew definitely has asthma. Sadly Matthew is also frightened of his inhaler. Usually it takes a bit of "coaxing" to remind him how much better he feels after using it for him to have the courage to put it to his face.

We took this picture at his insistence because it was the first time that he worked up the courage to place his inhaler over his mouth by himself. The picture is "for next time I'm scared, so that I can remember I know how to do it".

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