Crazy Cute and Insane

Wow. Poor blog. When I look at my last post, it reminds me how long ago it was, because Coram is no longer that chubby little half-baby, half-toddler in the pictures below. He's an all-out boy, only 1 month shy of turning 3. 

He talks non-stop, can sing his ABCs and has a deep love for cars, marine animals, water hoses and picture books. He is passionate about fruit, hot dogs, and cream of mushroom soup. And the best way to get him to do anything is to pretend that he is a baby bird (sea turtle, worm, fish, or whatever animal-of-the-day).

 Oh, and since he turned 2, we've renamed him The Great Contrarian.

I should also probably mention that I had another baby since that time. 

Cort Ezekiel CrazyCutey Pants was born in January 2013 and is now a heaping 5 months and 18 lbs. I thought Coram was cute, but this little man is as adorable as Chewbacca with the face of an Ewok.

Well, since updating a year-and-a-half of life is a bit much, here's just a few tidbits to catch you on up:

Post-Partum Fun

Seven weeks after Cort's birth, Joash had to leave me with an volatile toddler and a sleepless newborn for gall bladder surgery in Moncton. He was gutted like a fish and came back to us 2 weeks later looking like a starved island survivor who'd had a run-in with a pirate.

(I survived all this only because our wonderful church family took such good care of me and my boys by making us meals, staying over and taking care of my kids so I could get some sleep!)

Schumpelts vs. the Predators

We had chickens. Twice. Last June, we had 3 beautiful chickens with one that lay blue eggs. They were eaten by a fox in the fall. Joash cried. This June, we adopted another 3 chickens - Lady, Cocoa and Marzipan - who as pullets, were already giving us 3 lovely brown eggs a day. A few weeks ago, they were eaten by a bear, and Joash cried. And now we play Farmville.

Reclaiming the Summer

Obviously, I was pregnant most of last year where I felt like a narcoleptic on a boat for ALL of it. We didn't do a whole lot for that reason, but this summer, we are having fun WITH A VENGEANCE. Every weekend, I drag the family to any beach, zoo or aquarium we can drive to. Joash asked me last weekend where this spontaneous, adventurous wife came from. I guess this is what happens when your body loses 40 lbs of human, plus crazy baby-making hormones.

I know that's not really enough to fill a year and a half of non-blogging, but that's all I can muster about now. And yes, my life is currently all about my boys. I am massively outnumbered. Help.

Postcards from the Mighty Miramichi

Coram and I spent an afternoon at Ritchie Wharf, a sweet spot on the river and a great place to see its banks flushed with red, yellow and orange on a sunny day. I couldn't resist bringing my camera!

Autumnal Portraits

Glorious fall leaves in New Brunswick

At long last, settling into life in New Brunswick

August. It was a strange feeling walking into our new house, keys freshly handed over to us by the realtor. It was still a stranger's house, and I felt like an intruder in a space that felt - and smelled - completely unfamiliar. Though I had spied on it's interior so many times on the MLS website to imagine how I'd furnish it, I still couldn't quite believe that this house was really, truly ours.

Coram, I think, didn't quite know what to make of it either. For the first while, he pointed at everything and responded to my answers with a never-satisifed "Oh!". He'd crawl around the house, poking his head into closets, playing with the old swinging cat door to the basement, or doing funny things that kids do best, like gathering balls of remnant cat hair (yuck!) hidden in places only small hands can get to.

Joash, on the other hand, has become enamoured with the barn spiders guarding the side-entrance under the carport. They are nice and fat, after a spring and summer of mosquito hunting, but Joash still feels compelled to turn on the light for them in the evening for their "feedings." And since we aren't going to kill them, he's decided we should be friends and has urged us to give them names. So far, I believe the one farthest from the door is named Charlotte (of course), who has a current lover on her left named Carlos. On her right, however, is a sneaky spider named Pedro who is intent on stealing Charlotte away but is waiting for the right time to make his move. Then, there's Pig Pen, who can't seem to keep his web clean at all, and the one closest to the door is a big fat spider called Nameless, because he keeps getting closer and closer to the door and there's a chance we may have to kill him one day. Sad, but true.

Apart from spiders and other things, we spent the rest of August unpacking (in fact, I think we're still trying to find homes for random things) and cleaning up the basement. We also introduced Coram to the above-ground pool in the backyard, got into a bit of gardening and watching songbirds flit in and out of our pine tree at breakfast. Coram and I spent a lot of August and September taking walks to French Fort Cove and down the riverside path in Chatham. Meanwhile, when Coram took his naps or played in my so-called office in the breakfast nook, I wrote website content like a madwoman, trying to exercise my brain after a year of career-related inactivity.

Now, it's October - the height of fall. The leaves have turned their fiery shades, setting the forest around us ablaze. At Sovereign Community Church, we've already begun plowing and tilling our "front yard" for a community garden. Today, among the red-orange maples against a clear blue sky, our church deacon was out on his tractor tilling manure into the soil to help prepare it for planting next spring. What a difference from life in Vancouver! Nobody owns a tractor nor several acres to spare for a community garden. Standing in the church parking lot, I can see a field of grass, a forest and a glimpse of the great Miramichi river sparkling in the sun. What a beautiful place to call home - and how blessed we are to be here!

Some pics of our new home and Coram settling in. More on our community garden to come!

Our house

I'm sitting in my damp basement apartment, after having packed most of my scant belongings back into suitcases and diaper boxes. I am SO ready to leave to move into our new home!

Yes, we are moving AGAIN. And gladly, only within Miramichi. I can hardly believe that in two short days, we'll be taking the keys to our VERY FIRST HOUSE, something I never even thought about while living in Vancouver. With new condos advertising the "affordable" prices of $500,000 for a 500 square foot apartment (that's $1000 per sq ft!), it never crossed my mind that we, the Schumpelts, would ever own any property. But come Tuesday, it's going to happen!

And while it's a bit intimating to be homeowners for the first time, I am excited to no longer have to fork over monthly payments to someone else. Keep posted for pictures . . .

Can't wait to have y'all over!

One year ago, God gave me this amazing gift . . .

. . . a sweet, silly, giggly, curious, delicious, totally adorable, - and stinky - baby boy. We named him Coram, and we loved him the moment we saw him. Today is his birthday, and I still can't believe that this amazing little person, who shoves food into his ears and already gives me teenage looks, was once in my body as a little ball of cells. I stand amazed, and thank God with all my heart for the precious gift that Coram is to me. How deep the Father's love is for us indeed!

To celebrate the monkey's birthday, I baked him a Tres Leches cake (my favourite) and let him have at it on the lawn - half naked (teehee!). Even Grandma Mary and Grandpa Winson were here to help celebrate.

Here's a review of Coram's first year in pictures, leading up to his big day and cake-mashing/eating adventure!

One year!

Happy 1st Birthday, Coram! We love you so, so much!

At home in New Brunswick

Still living in a basement suite in Miramichi, I couldn't wait to spend three days in a cabin on a lake, and getting to know the lovely people from the church. Packing up our stuff brought me back to our travelling days not so long ago, and this time, I hoped Coram would have a good time, too.

After an hour of bumping through dirt roads in an old logging area of New Brunswick, we arrived at a serene lake, curiously empty of the sound of motor boats and neighbouring cottagers. Being from Ontario, I thought this incredible. A lake as large and as pristine as this, populated only by loons and the occasional moose? It was heaven - or at least, close to it!

Because of our little monkey, we didn't think we'd last the whole three days at McKendrick Lake, but the good company of our new friends kept us from wanting to go home. Camps like this are always a great way for people to get to know each other . . . especially through competitive board games and the, er, inevitable toilet jokes! But what struck me the most was how we were so lovingly embraced and encouraged by each person there. By the end of it, we definitely left feeling more at home after more than a month of not having one. What a Miramichi welcome!

Thank you, friends!