Saturday, May 30, 2009

Fresh Water

"A change is as good as a break"

Sometimes we need to make a big change in order to get a fresh start. Such has been the case for me!

Last week I finally came off a 40 day computer fast. That was a challenge, I assure you. It's hard to imagine how much of a fixed place the computer has taken in my life. It's a good thing to let go of from time to time, though! Amazing how much free time I had each day! I got lots of deep cleaning done both in the house and in my soul. New revelation, amazing experiences, and a fresh start. I feel like a new woman.

Read More Here: www.PraiseWalker.com

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Am I being unreasonable?

One night a week I like to go to my local gym and participate in a yoga-fusion class. One night. For the past 5 weeks, I have not been able to attend my class for 2 reasons; my husband was out of town for 2 weeks, and my children have sports team obligations.

Tomorrow is "yoga night". My son has a baseball game. I innocently asked my husband if he could take our daughters along to the game so I could make it to my class. He started coming up with reasons why he couldn't do so -- he's been home to help with the kids almost every night; he's got yard work to do; lame excuses in my opinion. 

So I put on my bitch hat and said, "my class is on during the baseball game. If you don't take the girls, I will be stuck at home, and the yard work will still not get done. I will likely be home before you are. There is NO reason you cannot take them with you." The proverbial foot was put down.

Am I an ogre? 

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

My poor son and his asthma!!

Usually in the AMs Justin would bang on his door telling me he is up and wants out of his room (we close his door at night.) But this am he didn't do this at all. Never heard a peep from him. So at 8:00 I went in to see him and there he was laying on his bed awake. That is not my boy!! The way his face was was just not right. Us Mom's know their kids and know when something is wrong. I gave him his puffers as I was told to do. Then at 10:30 it seemed he was having problems.So I gave him another shot.I went in to check on him again and it seemed his lips were a bit blue (in my opinion--- hard to tell). So Hubby and I decided to take him to the hospital.We get there and they check his oxygen level and it's fine. That's good.But they gave him FIVE puffs of a puffer!!! They gave one puff and waited for him to breath that in (about 10 breaths) then shot another one. Till they reached five!! Then they gave him oral steroid too. Then they sent us home. So now I have to give him one puffer twice a day. And another puffer every four hours for at least two days (or when ever needed). So yup that is my life right now. Thankfully he was not admitted this time around and we can get this fixed sooner than later! Wish us luck!
__________________

Monday, May 25, 2009

Potty training...the sequel!!!

So at the ripe old age of 3 1/2, Rhiannon has finally decided that she is ready to get potty trained!!! For the last week, she has been peeing in her potty regularly during the day, and as of yesterday she is in "big girl underwear" for the daytime! I'm so proud of my little one, it's been a long time coming! Of course we are having little accidents still, as I'm typing, her block bucket is being disinfected after she decided it made a good potty, but hey life's good!

Monday, May 18, 2009

A Year of CrockPotting

Several months ago I heard a story on "Good Morning America" about Stephanie, a freelance writer who made it her New Year's resolution to use her crock pot every day for a year in 2008. During her endeavor she developed and compiled some wonderful recipes, many of which have become standbys in our household. It is amazing how many different meals this lady can whip up in the crock pot and, even if you do not aspire to use your crock pot every day for a year, it might give you at least one or two good recipe ideas!

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Bon Appetit!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

My son hates girls already?!!

When Hubby and I tuck Justin (age two) in we kiss him good night. Well Hannah (Age four) wants to kiss him night too like a big sister should. He puts his hand out in front of her and says "no Hannah! No kisses" She then hits the floor on the verge of being in tears. She says to me "Justin kisses every one (meaning ma and my Hubby) but me"! I fell so bad for her!

Tonight I go and kiss him and he takes his hand and wipes away my kiss off his cheek and says:

"ewwww"!!

Holy Cow is he starting early or what?? Funny little man!

Friday, May 15, 2009

Workout

So how long can I use the excuse I just had a baby to explain the many exta pounds I am carrying? It feels like I have been pregnant for YEARS!!! Cian was born in Sept 2007 and 10 months later I found myself pregnant with Auley. So now after two glorious almost back to back pregnancies in which I gained 60 lbs each (thank god I lost the first 60 before getting pregnant the second time or I would really be in trouble) I am desperate to take my body back! Auley will be 8 weeks next Tuesday and I think that means the excuses are over!

I went out and got a family gym pass today. I looked long and hard for a facility that had all I wanted in a gym and guess what it came down to... great personal trainers? Lots of classes?Nope. The pool? Nope. Location? Nope. Somehow when you have kids everything becomes about them including what gym you go to. It came down to the daycare. The daycare!!!! Not a fancy sauna or towel service, not an on site Starbucks. Of course who I leave my kids in the care of is more important than all of these other things but I was hoping to have it all! Unfortunately in this fitness/weightloss journey I can't have my cake and eat it too and I can't have quality affordable childcare and towel service too.

So we got our membership all set up yesterday so that we would be all ready to go work out today. I packed my gym bag, packed the boys bag which was to include diapers, wipes, a change of clothes for each of them a snack for Cian, a soother for Auley.....? Did I forget anything?? Socks! I always forget socks for myself. Bags packed. Check.

In the morning we got dressed, and fed, shoes and coats on, (oops mom forgot to eat and probably should have something if she plans on having any energy to workout) ok....moms fed, kids in car seats, bags in car, drive to gym, haul the two kids (one sleeping in carseat) and two bags into childcare center, drop kids off. Wonder to self is this worth it??? It is exhausting enough just to get to the gym. So I do finally get to the gym drop my bag in a locker, put on my runners, walk out into the fitness center and.......now what??? Seriously. I didn't even know where to start. I spent so much time plotting out just getting to the gym that when I finally got there..... ???? So that is my plan for this weekend to work out my work out plan beyond just getting there. (But isn't that half the battle won already?)

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Darn Elmo

Yesterday, my husband told me that John was calling for mama for most of the morning.

awww. How sweet.

And then he realized that no, in fact, John had been calling for Elmo ("Mowmo") for most of the morning.

I keep meaning to include the link to my blog but I ALWAYS forget!
www.talesfromthemothership.blogspot.com

Monday, May 11, 2009

She walks


My daughter is walking! She started on May 6th. Two days after she turned 13 months old. Everyone said I would dread when she walked because she would be in to everything. My daughter has been pulling herself up though since 7 months old and since that day she was in to everything so now that she walks I haven't really noticed a difference. I just think it's so cute now that she can walk!! Her little penguin waddle is just one of the many ways I can see more child in her and less baby. I think it's time to start planning a sibling for her. I've always wanted two at two years apart. So I am thinking in July we will start trying again!! Ah things are good.


Mother's Day

Yesterday made me all broody and introspective about being a mother. It was my first Mother's Day, with a baby on the outside, An almost 1 year old, who has changed my life so much, that I don't remember what I did before he arrived. This comment sums it up well;

"It feels like something you really wanted but were scared to ever even hope for came true, and sometimes you still don’t quite believe it. " - gngrgirl, http://www.multiplebaby.blogspot.com/

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Blue Toe Nails

This is my "thing".... I love having blue toe nails.

Avon has the best quick dry nail polish and I love it for doing toes!

My girls see how happy it makes me to have blue toes and now they want it too.

Here's to sharing some blue polish with the girls!!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Night Time Training

It's funny...I didn't have to "toilet train" any of my kids...they just did it on their own. Night time Training is another story though.

My oldest son....it's only been just about a year that he's not been peeing the bed....I was very excited to one completely out of diapers!

My next child, another son....still pees the bed. Doesn't matter what I do! I can wake him 10 times a night to go to the bathroom, but he'll still have a little pee saved up just to ruin the sheets. He just turned 6 and I've all but given up. Honestly though, this is the same little dude that wasn't day trained until 4.5 yo. I'm not too worried...I'm sure his wife won't have to worry about have pull ups for their wedding night.

My next child, a daughter...she just turned 4 in Dec. I don't even remember ever trying to get her to go pee on the toilet. She just did it one day and never wore a diaper again! Well, this past Saturday, I was at a wedding and the babysitter forgot to put the pull up on her for bed. I didn't know this until Sunday morning when she comes up to me saying that she's dry. I told her good job and go put the dry pull up in the drawer to use tonight. She then proceeded to tell me that she was in underwear...still not understanding, I asked where the pull up was...she told me she had slept in underwear....this finally caught my attention. So Sunday night, I put her to bed in underwear again....Monday morning, she was dry. Two nights...wow! Are we onto something here? Monday night again she went to bed in underwear...this time she didn't make it through the night...about 530am, she peed the bed. No biggy. Tuesday night underwear again and Wednesday morn she was dry. Tonight again, she's in underwear so I'm hoping that soon I can officially declare here Diaper Free!!

Now on to the next challenge....toilet training a two year old!!!

Should I be missing my husband?

My husband left on May 1 for a course in Portland Oregon, and will be returning May 10. I know as a wife and mom of 3 boys, I was looking forward to this "break". The kids and I are "baching it" and we even had cereal for dinner one night! My husband calls via Skype to chat with us each morning. It's great as the boys get to see him while chatting, its pretty cool actually. BUT the first few days he was gone he must have called 3 times a day to chat. He was driving me crazy and he wasn't even at home!! LOL
I do love him and miss him, somewhere deep down in my soul, somewhere... I really do, but I do know I am really enjoying his absence too!!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

China Syndrome Part 2

It's been nearly 2 weeks since my husband left for China on a business trip, and somehow I've managed to limp my way through morning-getting-ready-for-school routines, preschool duties, meal preparation, shopping and kids' after school activities with almost no outside help. Today, however, the tiredness and stress reared their ugly heads. My girls were the unfortunate targets of all my pent up anger towards my husband and his absenteeism. I found fault with almost everything my dear daughters did today. I yelled. A lot. I felt, and still feel, so horrible for how I treated those 2 sweet darling babes today. All the hugs and I'm sorrys will not take back the screaming and angry words. I hope my girls will be forgiving of my behaviour. I'm finding it very difficult to forgive myself, but I will go to bed and pledge to start tomorrow on a better note. One look at my sleeping babies will give me the inspiration to be the "good mommy".

The Road to Mother's Day

I didn't realize how much "stuff" is out there about Mother's Day. There's commercials, newspaper articles, online stories, articles, blogs. It's overwhelming. I think I may just be drowning in it.

I'm just not sure about this Mother's Day. It's definitely going to be bittersweet. While I am thankful and blessed with my own son and furbaby, I'm saddened that this will be my first Mother's Day without my own mom. Don't get me wrong, every day is tinged with a little bit of sadness but man oh man, Mother's Day. That's right up there with her birthday & Christmas.

I don't want to wallow in my grief and tears. I want to be able to remember the happy memories, to be able to think about her and smile, maybe laugh at some small quirky thing. I want to be able to share my mom with my son, her only grandchild. I hope there will soon be a day that I will be able to think about my mom and be happy and not this overwhelming sense of sadness. I want to celebrate her life and the person she was and the lives that she touched.

As it gets closer to Sunday, I get a bit more teary and my heart hurts just a little bit more. I keep telling myself that it's just another day but it's not. It's just another day that reminds me that my mom isn't here anymore.

My husband is going out of town this weekend so I've invited one of my sisters to spend the weekend with me. If it's difficult for me, then I'm sure it's 10x harder for her. We'll comfort each other and remember the good times together.

Been a while

So it's been a while since I've posted on here. I just haven't really felt like doing anything creative or being too involved in anything lately. I've totally slacked on my scrap booking project I was working on and totally have been avoiding blogging. Life just hasn't really been all that great lately. I've kind of gone back into single mom mode and it's tiring. What little help I get from the significant other who really isn't all that significant is barely any help at all. I'm tired and worn down and frustrated that I put in so much effort in the current life and it feels like it's just all been thrown back in my face. I've done what I can and there's nothing else I can do to make anything better, and I don't think I want it to get better. All I can say is I don't know what I'd do without some of my friends. My friends have always been my family. My family has really just been people who come in and out of my life at their convenience and right now the only reason I have a relationship with my family is because of Kai.

This past weekend I got to see my best friend who has been my best friend for almost 13 years. We spent our giggling teenaged years locked up in her bedroom drooling over posters of boys, listening to the same music and chatting about everything. When I moved it was one of the hardest things to do because her family was a second family to me. Watching her and her siblings grow into their own families is incredible and I love that I'm still included in their lives. It was so hard to say good bye though because I miss having her around in my life on a regular basis. Now we talk maybe once a week for a good 3 hours on the phone and Facebook each other, but it's just not the same. I don't have a really close friend like that here and although I do have one who is close it's just not the same.

It just seems these last few years just as I get my life on track I de-rail all of a sudden and everything goes every which way and I get caught up in the whirlwind and don't know what to do. This time it affects Kai though and I hurt for him knowing that the big change coming will be so hard on him. I just hope like all the other times we do get through this okay and Kai realizes every choice I make is to better our lives together and to focus on him having a healthier and happier future. One day I hope he understands we all have to make sacrifices to live a better life.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

My Baby is off to school in FOUR months!!

Come September my life will change. Hannah will be in school for five hours a day, five days a week! Justin will be in preschool come September as well. He will be there two days a week for two and a half hours. So I will lots of spare time on my hands. And I will love it. I am sure I will be lost for a bit. But you know what? I will get used to it pretty quickly! And I will LOVE it!
I can not believe that my baby girl will be off to school in four months. It blows my mind! I think, come September our lives will change a great deal!
Hannah will be a young student as she will still be four.She will be five in November. But I think she is ready to go.
She is to get her five year needle at the end of this month. Not too sure how that will go down. She has had blood tests done over the last few years but her last needle was when she was a baby. She was a bit difficult getting her blood t done. So I am worried about how this will go. Thankfully Robin has taken that day off.
Then the beginning of June is going to be a busy time. Her orientation is in June.. She will be going to school from 9:00 to 11:00 that day to see what it's all about. We, her parents go the same time for our orientation as well. I am looking forward to this. Hubby will be coming too.
Then June 12th is her last day of preschool and her graduation day! And again Robin will be coming. This is one day I will sure to get teary eyed. I will be a very proud Momma for sure!

Saturday, May 2, 2009

The ups and downs of Potty training!!!

Well over three months ago Eric started taking off his diaper, several times a day so I got him a potty. I figured if he was doing this then he might want to go on the potty or big toilet like his big brother and daddy does...
Well it was great. He took right to it and from the first day he never popped in his diaper or underwear again. He started to wear underwear about 4 days after we got the potty. He was doing great..never having an accident with pop but a few with pee but hey he was just starting out...
So jump to Easter..we go home to NL for a week. He is doing ok but has a few more accidents there. I say it is the excitement and all the people and say things will go back to normal when we get home. Well nothing in our lives are normal right now. My hubby is in AB for work, left on April 20th and I am packing and doing most everything on my own...so our lives are crazy.
When we got home he stopped going to the potty all together, I was disappointed but figured he is only 2 and I can try again later when it warms up, I don't need to be cleaning up Pee all day everyday on top of everything else so i put him back in a diaper. I know I should not have done this but I really didn't have the strength to deal with it and he was still doing his pop in the potty and sometimes his pee.
So about a week after we return from Easter and daddy is gone he stops going to pop in potty too...So I felt totally defeated...but accepted it as a set back.

However today he decided he wanted to sit on the potty again. Mind you he had already done everything in his diaper but it is a start and I cheered him on for wanting to sit there so we will see what the days ahead bring....