2010

Here we are in a new year and a new decade. I guess it is time to make some changes around here. I am hoping that this year will be a great one. 2009 was a good year, with the inevitable ups and downs. I fell in love with another man, lived with 1 too many of My Dear Nathan's brothers, travelled to my favorite place in the world...twice and started to plan our trip back.

We already have a busy year ahead of us with My Dear Nathan working out of town for the better part of the year to come. We have already been at it for a few months and it is bearable but not the preferred way of life. I am so thankful that my children are who they are. They are so helpful when Daddy is gone. Darian and Camryn are so helpful around the house and with their younger siblings.

We are going to begin our year with a week of a new eating plan. This is only for the first week though. We are going no caffeine, no dairy, no meat, no sugar and for me, no alcohol. I am looking forward to seeing how we do and am so impressed with my girl's willingness and excitement at trying this with their Mommy.

Now that my Tiny Man is 6 months old (holy cow....where did it go???) he can go to the daycare at the gym and I no longer have an excuse for not hauling my ass there. I hope that Roo will cooperate but have faith that as long as there is other children for her to play with that she will be a trooper and go for Mommy.

I also feel like I need to make a commitment to this blog. I enjoy looking back and reading some of the things that I have written here. More the stuff at the very beginning though. I don't want to turn this into a whinefest so I need to decide what to make this blog about. I am thinking that it will be the place for our daily lives, funnies and our (hopefully successful) life style changes. I need a place to vent but I will create another blog for it and leave it out of here. I am going to attempt to blog at least once per week. I know I am on the computer at least that often (ok...who am I kidding...I am on this damn thing daily).

I don't want to call these resolutions because those are things that everyone says they are going to do and then forget about by Valentine's Day. The only resolution that I kept last year was that I went on my very first roller coaster. 33 years old and I finally did it. I was so proud of myself. Here's to making 2010 a year of many new roller coasters :)

Yay!

Today is Friday. I always look forward to Fridays now! Nathan will home in about 4 hours. Now I am just trying to get things tidy so that he doesn't come home to our messy house. Actually it is more messy from all our Wii equipment as the kids, Uncle Christian and I have been playing lots this past week. Beats watching nothing on tv.

My parents have had an exciting week. 2 weeks from today they will be the proud owners of a home in Florence, Arizona. :) Yay! We all have somewhere warm to retreat to when winter gets the best of us. My Mom is pretty excited about it and when my Mom is excited then it must be something special.

Roo and Tiny Man are getting ready so that we can go pick up some stuff from Walmart....should be fun. I wonder if I will be able to make it out of there without looking at the Christmas stuff....Roo is loving looking at it all!

Better Night

I just read what I wrote this morning and I have to apologize for those that may still read. I was having a difficult morning. I wrote it before I got in the shower and decided not to let my day be ruined.

I knew that I couldn't be doing that bad as I was able to jump in the shower while Roo and Tiny Man watched the Little Einsteins together. Roo telling Kaiden about what was happening and telling him to pat-pat-pat.

I think that I am doing a good job with my kids. They are loving, empathetic, smart, out going, friendly, helpful and a million other lovely things that I have had a direct hand in nurturing. I love my kids and will continue to do my best and if I find that it isn't good enough then I will do better. They deserve it.

What The Fuck????

This morning was rough. Half my kids managed to get themselves into trouble before 8:00 a.m. One of them has been getting in trouble for the silliest of things. This morning, it was lying about what she had for breakfast. Why would she lie about that? Why? What am I doing wrong that makes it so that my kids think that it is ok for them to lie to me?

The other one has to taken to lying by omission. A new concept that I had to explain to her. Just because you are not outright lying about something does not make it ok to leave out important details.

Oh. My. God. What am I doing wrong? I wish I knew what to do. I don't want to be a bad Mom....that would just prove everyone right. I am sure that there are people out there who have been waiting for 14 years for me to fuck up my kids. I guess I could understand if I was out-right a shitty parent but I really am trying.

What do you do when your best is not good enough? How do you respond to single, childless men giving you parenting pointers? What do you do when there is so much going on that you can't say anything at all because it really just proves that you are in over your head? And to think....I still have 2 more to fuck up.... :(

Hard Morning

My Dear Nathan has been working out of town for the past few weeks. It was hard to drop him off the first time but I managed. The week after was easier and I thought that it would continue to be relatively painless as I got more used to it.

WRONG. This morning was very hard. I know that I am going to "see" him every night this week (via iChat, which is the best invention ever!) and that it is only 5 days at a time that we are apart but this morning.....sucked. I tend to let my imagination run a little wild and to think the worst at times so that didn't help.

It also doesn't help that I am at the end of my rope with having someone living in my basement. I think that this situation is leading me to the land of the crazy!! My BIL said that he was going to come stay at our house for a week while the kids and I were visiting my parents.....that was in JULY!!!

He has been with us since July. Not once was I asked if he could move in. Not once. I said almost a year ago before he even moved back to the city that I did not want to have someone living with us. I have been there, done that. I didn't want to have it again....but here I am.

It is nice that he is finally giving us some money to help cover the bills. The only problem with that is that he now thinks that he is paying rent and can dictate what happens in the space that he is taking up. Have I mentioned that he is in my kids basement? The place where they once used to have a television to watch, a computer to use, a space to practice their piano?

Ugg...I don't even want to think about it anymore. Suffice it to say that I am tired of the situation and it needs to end before I get really pissed off....anyway this morning sucked. The End.

Help!!

Las Vegas for 5 nights or Disney World for 6 nights? What would you do?

Tiny Man Update

Kaiden will be 4 months old in 10 days. I can't believe how fast time is flying by. It seems that the more I try to concentrate on enjoying it and savoring his babyhood the faster it slips through my fingers.

In the last 2 weeks he has started to roll over. This makes for some surprises when I go into his room at night for his feeding. I put him in one way and he wakes up in the complete opposite direction. Now this is much more than just rolling around considering that I still swaddle him and he manages to move around without unwrapping himself.

As mentioned, he is still waking up at night to eat. He does sleep for a good stretch of anywhere between 5 and 7 hours but then he wakes up for a snack. Usually I just bring him into bed to nurse him but this is becoming less and less comfortable with his increased wiggling. I spend most nights wedged between baby feet and my cat. At least it is soft on one side.

Kaiden is absolutely adored by his big sisters. Roo loves her "tiny man" which is nice considering that for the first few days of his life she wanted nothing to do with touching him. It took many days of encouraging her before she would lay a finger on him. Darian and Camryn love him too but it is just so cool to see my 2 youngest children play.

My Little Man is a smiler too. He has these beautiful dimples that, I am sure, will melt female hearts for a long time. He also has this laugh that turns my insides to mush, he sounds like such a boy. He thinks that it is funny when I kiss him on the neck and his furry little back is ridiculously ticklish. Poor guy got his ticklishness from his Mom.

Every now and again I am still in awe that I have a son. I am so lucky!

Tuesday

Well it once again has been way too long. Thanksgiving was this past weekend. I am thankful for many things. I am thankful for a wonderful, loving husband and our 4 healthy children. I am thankful for my husband still having a job, even if it does take him out of town right now. I am thankful that his job allows me to stay home with our kids. I am thankful for my awesome friends and all the things that they support me with...you know who you are! I am thankful for my parents, grandparents, uncles and all my other family.

I am, however, not thankful for the wretched weather that we are having. It is cold and snowing already. Now, I know that I live in Alberta and I know that I was born here and somehow that should make me used to it but you know what???? I am not used to it and I don't think, at this point in my life, that I ever will be!! I hate cold, and snow, and snowy cold and all the other things that come with winter in Alberta. I keep suggesting that we move to Florida where there is sun and warm, oh yeah, and NO SNOW AND COLD! So far that is a no go. I am trying though.

Now that Thanksgiving is over and winter has begun that means that Christmas is soon. I am bound and determined to get started early on the shopping part....today in fact. I would like at least to look and see what I am getting for who. Or nobody will get anything and I will go to Vegas....that sounds like a great idea. Who wants to come?

Football Sunday

Even though the season started 10 days ago already this was my first Sunday at home to watch football. All. Day. Long. I will be watching tomorrow night as well because that is when my team actually plays.

It was nice although I have noticed that I am not quite as into the games as I am when there is no one here. Awesome-Father-In-Law was here today and so was My Dear Nathan's brother. I cannot perform in front of such a crowd. I can look forward to visitor-free Sundays I guess.

Back Again

I am back from Florida again. I love it there! I can't wait to go back. I will try to get to posting some pics and what-nots....just depends on my Little Man. He tends to command all my attention.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

I have to say an internet thank you (one that he will probably never know about) to Awesome Father-In-Law and another one to Uncle Christian. They have both graciously agreed to work a casino for 2 nights next week.

The casino is important to us because it is a fundraiser for Camryn. Her Girl Guide group (troupe, whatever you want to call it) is going on a mega-field trip next year to Yellowknife. This trip has been priced out to cost just over $2,000.00. Of course, being that I am made of money I could totally afford that but figured I would let Camryn participate with the little people and do some fundraising.

Each night that someone works a casino is worth $75.00 toward her trip. Awesome Father-In-Law will work 2 nights. Uncle Christian has also agreed to work 2 nights. $300.00. Thanks to the truly awesome in-laws for their time and effort to helping Camryn get to Yellowknife.

Big Brother

I love watching this show. Every episode gets more interested. One question though.....who the hell is dressing Julie Chen? Clowns? A stylist with a grudge? Her dress tonight looks like a bean bag chair. Just saying....

Game Shows

I have been watching The Price Is Right lately. I don't mind Drew Carey now. He is no Bob Barker but he has his own charm. I especially liked when he all but called a woman an idiot for her near $60,000.00 bid on her showcase, which consisted of a scooter, a golf cart (or what essentially amounted to one) and an american car. You knew that she was way off when the whole audience groaned at her bid. When Drew read the actual retail price he just looked at her and told her she was off.....by a mile.

I love watching people when they "come on down" to be the next contestant. They are so happy, they get confused as to where they are supposed to stand and they have those awesome name tags on. I love it even more when they get to play and win at the pricing games. More jumping, some yelling, awkward hugging of the host.

Everyone on game shows are just so happy to be there. They make me smile with their excitement. I remember when I was little that there was way more game shows on television. And way less talk shows. Talk shows are horrible (except for Oprah). There are doctor shows scaring the shit out of you. There is Dr. Phil telling you that you have to stay in a bad marriage or that you are a horrible parent. Then there are the likes of Jerry Springer and Maury Povich. They are bottom feeders. What happened to shows like The Newlywed game? You know, games where they talk about good, clean whoopee. We need some good ol' game shows back on the air.

Heavy Weight

Today I took Kaiden for his 6 week (although he is almost 7 weeks) check up. He weighed in at a whooping 9 lbs. 3 oz. That is good. That means that he has gained 2 lbs. 3 oz. in 3 weeks. He is back on target to where he should be.

I now face the weaning from formula and bottles dilemma though. I have noticed that he is taking less and less bottles through out the day but he is also getting lazy about sucking....if it isn't one thing it is another....oh well. I am happy that my boy is healthy and thriving. That is all that matters.

Let the work begin....

Some Pictures of My Babies

Point Ryleigh

Last night Ryleigh was being entertained by her favorite Uncle. He had been playing with her for awhile when Darian asked if he wanted to watch a movie. He said he would so he left Ryleigh to her own devices.

You would think that when he left her room that he had taken her heart out with his bare hands. She was crying and yelling "tum ay wiff me" (translation: come play with me). With the movie starting to play I told her that if she was going to cry that she had to do it in her room. Her response was to sit in the middle of the hallway and continue to wail.

***WARNING*** This is the part where I threaten to spank my child, making me the worst Mother ever. I often threaten this to show that I am serious. I don't spank my children....much ;) (I am kidding of course) (I spank them on a daily basis) (Again, I am kidding)

Anyway, now that is out of the way. After a few minutes of Ryleigh crying and in the middle of my "go cry in your room or I will spank your bum" she announced that she was done. She was done crying but informed me that she wanted to talk loudly. I had to turn away from her lest I burst out laughing in her face.

She insisted that she was going to continue to talk loudly until her Uncle came back. I again told her to go in her room to "talk loudly" or I would spank her bum. She then pointed out that she had won the game.....I couldn't spank her....she was sitting down. Ryleigh 1, Mommy 0.

Late Introduction

I hope you will forgive me for the late introduction....

Kaiden Nathan John

Born June 24, 2009 at 8:59 a.m.

Weight 7 lbs. 4 oz.

Kaiden arrived a few days late but that really is par for the course with my children. I had worried about having to have another c-section due to a previous one and some scarring on my cervix. I am so happy to say that I had a successful VBAC.

My labour started with contractions every 20 minutes apart at around 5 p.m. while Nathan and I were trying to have a nap. By 8 p.m. I called my parents to tell them that the contractions were only a few minutes apart and that we were going to head to the hospital.

At the hospital I was checked and found to be 2 cm. I was not excited about that. When they hooked me up to the machine my contractions slowed down. I was not excited about that either. On doctor's orders I wandered the hall of the hospital for an hour while the girls sat in the family room waiting for something to happen. It was getting late and they had school the next day. They were excited about the thought of not having to go in the morning. At least someone was excited at this point.

To make a long story short(er), I was sent home from the hospital, after refusing drugs, only to return with contractions less than a minute apart within 2 hours. Once I returned to the hospital I was found to be 4 cm. I got a little excited at this point because I was dilating. I was not sure if this would happen or not and it did. I screamed for my epidural and my favorite person of the evening arrived and hooked a Momma up!

After a long night, well, more so for Nathan and my Mom, trying to get some sleep in very uncomfortable delivery room chairs, at 8:56 am (as marked down by the nurse) I started to push. Kaiden was delivered in 3 pushes at 8:59 am. My doctor had stepped out of the room to give the nurse some room to get everything set up and missed the delivery. I could not believe how fast he came. It was wonderful. Everything looked great with him. We went home the next day but had to return for night to put Kaiden under the lights due to jaundice.

That in a nutshell was my delivery story. It has been a rough month though. I think that I lulled myself into this false sense of This-is-my-4th-baby-how-hard-can-it-be-itis. Kaiden is 5 weeks old and we are still struggling to really see eye-to-eye (or eye-to-boob, however you want to think about it) with breastfeeding. It has been 5 weeks of sore, cracked, raw nipples, low supply, weight loss (his, not mine....because if it were mine it would be a good thing), supplementation, city wide searches for supplemental nursing systems and tears. Lot and lots of tears.

My new boss is calling....I apologize if this doesn't make sense!!

So Proud

I think that it is safe for me to say that we have a potty-trained toddler.  At least during the day.  Roo has been using her potty faithfully for sometime now.  We can go out during the day without diapers!!

I have some diapers left so we still are putting them on her at night, only because the few times that we have tried with training pants she woke up wet.  I am not worried about the night time thing quite yet as I know in a few weeks I will be up changing and feeding during the night and figure that I will start getting Roo up at that time to pee.

I am so happy for this milestone, especially since we just waited for her to be ready.  We bought her the potty, showed it to her and she just started to use it....it was minimal work on our part and did not involve "pee candy" like the little girl we encountered at the hospital earlier this week.

I remember trying the treat route when we were training Darian.  She would get a Smartie when she would use the potty...right up until the point where she spent most of her day sitting on the toilet expecting Smarties for every drip she managed to squeeze out.  That idea quickly left the building.

I remember telling Camryn that she couldn't turn 3 until she was trained.  I will never forget the day that she proudly announced that she could "turn free now" because she had used the potty!

I am wondering what it will be like to potty train a little boy but I guess I don't need to worry about it at this moment in time.  I am sure that by the time I get to that point it will happen.  I am fairly certain I don't know of any adult male in my life that is still untrained....at least on the potty.

Junk

I am overwhelmed by the amount of stuff we have.  Not all of it is junk but just stuff we don't need.  

I have literally bags upon bags of clothes that the girls have outgrown.  I have 2 bins full of baby clothes that will never again be used by us.  I don't want to just give them away as we can always use extra money but I don't know what else to do with them.  I know that there is a bunch of stuff that I will be giving away but there is just so much...

Two summers ago we rented a big bin and cleaned out our garage.  We could fit both our vehicles in it....it was glorious.  Now.....there is stuff piled everywhere.  Right now if we don't need it in the house out to the garage it goes.  Soon there is not going to be enough room out there for anything else.

We have new beds for Darian and Roo.  Great...saved us money as we didn't have to buy them.  Not so great....the box spring for Darian's bed will not make it downstairs....guess where it is?  My parents had the bed frame for Roo from when they lived in a bigger house.  They actually had 2 of them.  My parents wanted to bring me both of them so that they didn't have it in their house.  They have 2 people living in their house (which I am sure is bigger than mine) and we are on the verge of 6 people.  I am not sure where they thought we might put this extra bed.

I would love to have a garage sale but I have a broken van in my garage taking up space....I am just ready to cry....I just want my house clean, organized and junk-free.....and my bank account full...but that is a whole different post.

OMG

You see that widget over there...the one with the spinning baby?  Do you see how many days it has left on it?  Do you?  Do you know how much stuff I still have to do in those very few days?  OH. MY. GOD.

As I sit here we have still not finished painting the baby's room.  Although My Dear Nathan and our lovely Darian put on the primer today.  We should be finished painting it sometime this week.  One thing to check off the to-do list.

After said room is painted I have to make curtains.  I found the coolest material this week and it just so happens that we are making a trip to Grandma's house this week (Baby's Grandma...not mine, otherwise that would be Great Grandma....you get the drift).  Grandma knows how to sew curtains and it only takes her an hour where it would take me an hour just to contemplate cutting the material lest I screw it up.

 

Once curtains are taken care of and we return from Grandma's house bearing a new bed for the Roo and Darian then I will be able to proceed to set up the crib, move the futon into the room so I have somewhere to sit for late night feedings and then I need to figure out where to put the dresser and change table.

Once the dresser and change table are appropriately placed then I will have a thousand loads of tiny, blue laundry to wash, dry, fold and put away.  After that then the hard part....you know, the whole having of the baby part.

I have to go have another ultrasound to check on baby's position (which makes me nervous as my Dr. has always been able to tell me how my baby's were positioned but this time....well....she is just giving off uncertain vibes) and meet with the OB at the hospital to get his blessing to try a VBAC.

I really want to avoid another c-section but have realized that as much as I don't want it I should prepare myself just in case.  Speaking of preparing myself....there is also the whole hospital bag to pack.  Yikes....so many things, so little time.....where have the last 8 months gone?

Quickie

I feel so accomplished today!!  Nothing like a visit from the Grandparents to spur on some cleaning.

I have cleaned my kitchen, including the pain in the ass stove.  I have cleaned the bathroom, which I usually refuse to do.  I have done the laundry (just need to fold it....later).  I have swept the floor and cleared off my dining table.  I cleaned out the baby's room in order to prep for painting (just need to sweep the floor and wash walls).

I even had a nap today.  It was only a cat nap but I feel great.  I am not sure if that feeling is from the nap or the fact that I accomplished something today.  Don't get me wrong, there is still a million other things to do but at least I got started.  And lookie-here....a  blog entry.  I wonder.....has hell frozen over?

Easter Weekend

It is 1:00 a.m.  My house is quiet.  My kids are visiting my Grandparents with my Mom and Dad and My Dear Nathan is sleeping.  My baby is rolling and kicking and just generally doing whatever it is babies do 10 weeks before they are born.

We are painting bedrooms to prepare for our new arrival.  We are moving Roo into her new purple room on Monday.  We just have one more coat of purple to go.  And then we will move on and paint the baby's room.  We are going with blue...because we have never done that before.  This whole blue thing is new.

The Easter Bunny is coming soon.  I hope he brings me some energy.  I don't do chocolate but would like something sweet or beer.  Beer would be good......I miss beer.

I think spring is finally here.  We actually had a thunderstorm tonight.  Thunder shook my house and made my cats crazy.  The lightning was impressive too.  I love thunderstorms.  I am thankful for the rain too because that is what will turn this city from brown to green.  I am so happy to see that the snow is almost all gone.  I couldn't have taken one more second of winter.

9 Already!!

9 years ago....wow, I can't believe it has been 9 years already.

Today is our crazy Camryn's birthday.  She is so funny, outgoing, carefree, compassionate, spirited....and a million other things that I absolutely adore.

Her little sister loves her to bits.  Her big sister loves her too....just in a different way.  Roo affectionately refers to her as her "baby sister" and gets quite upset if she doesn't get a kiss before Camryn leaves the van for school.

I still remember the day that she was born.  I knew that she was going to weigh in around the 8 pound mark and in my head an 8 pound baby was about the size of an average 5 year old.  I still remember being in shock that such a tiny thing could weigh 8 pounds.

I was so anxious to hold her and get to know this little person who insisted on rolling around in my belly when I was trying to eat (not the most pleasant of sensations).  I had to wait a very long 3 hours before I could have her all to myself.  She needed some extra care after her surprisingly fast delivery.

When I finally got to hold my baby they put this bundle of black hair and chubby red cheeks in my arms and I was in love.  Darian loved her so much!!  She was thrilled that she had a sister (something I need to remind her about now) and was so relieved as she wanted nothing to do with a baby brother.....as she said "boys are nothing but trouble".

9 years.....when did time start speeding by?  I am sure that when I close my eyes tonight I will wake up and another 9 years will have flown by but I know that I will love those 9 years just as much as I have the last 9.

Happy Birthday Camryn!!  Love Mommy.

Adjusted....Finally!

See this picture here?  This is my baby.  This is my BOY baby. 

I have known for almost 2 weeks now that this baby is going to be a boy.  I think that I am finally used to the idea.  I honestly didn't think that I would ever have a son.  I thought that My Dear Nathan and I didn't have the ingredients to make a boy.  Lo and behold we did.  My Dear Nathan is convinced that it was all the drugs that I was on shortly before I got pregnant that did it.  Just to clarify....the drugs...they were blood thinners that I was required to inject myself with for 10 days after my surgery to repair a broken ankle.  Nothing exciting.  Nothing illicit.

Our daughters are all so happy that they will have a baby brother.  They have done the little sister thing and are good with what they have.  Everyone else that we tell about our son (I still get goosebumps from that word....son....hee hee) is so very happy for us.  To the point that I am starting to wonder if anyone would have been happy for us had this baby been another little girl.

I must have subconsciously known that this baby was going to be our boy as I could not for the life of me think of a girls name.  We also could not think of middle names for another girl.  All of our daughters are named after family members, middle name wise, and there are only a few people left that we thought to name another girl after...only thing was we really didn't like any of their names.  Bullet dodged.

This boy will also have middle names from a family member.  Unfortunately for our Dads....it will not be them.  Our Dad's name's....not our style.  As much as My Dear Nathan has protested it in the past our one and only son will be named after the most wonderful man I know...his Father.

Friday, at last!!

Even when I have a slow week of nothingness I am always happy when Friday arrives.  It means no having to get up at a particular time on Saturday and that My Dear Nathan doesn't have to go to work.

We don't have anything spectacular planned for this weekend as it is going to be stupid cold this weekend.  The official definition of stupid cold is approximately 30 degrees colder than it was this time last week.  We are currently under a windchill warning.  It really is somewhat tolerable when it is only -20 but when that wind blows, even in the slightest, that is when it turns stupid.

I have decided that I am going to win the $43 million lottery tomorrow and then head directly to Orlando on Sunday.  I may have to wait until Monday for the pictures with the big cheque and whatnot...but then....off to Florida to soak up the sun.  I will let you know how things are when I get there ;)  (If only it were that easy!)

I have been feeling exceptionally tired again.  Back to having morning naps while Roo watches cartoons.  I think that it has everything to do with the fact that I can't fall asleep until after midnight and then wake up a few hours later to an alarm, or a waking 2 year old, or to pee, or tingly arms, or a plethora of other things that keep me from sleeping.  It is getting really tiresome but I if I don't sleep I am liable to kill the first person who looks at me wrong.  So I sleep, Roo eats cereal in my bed (on Nathan's side of course) and watches cartoons.  So much for the 2nd trimester being the "honeymoon" trimester.  Mine includes sleepless nights and headaches.

Next week should be interesting....I have my ultrasound on Friday and have been anticipating it for sometime now.  Keep fingers crossed that we get to find out what this baby is.  

I should go finish making supper.  My family is hungry...sheesh...they are so demanding!!  Have a great weekend.

Sunday

Last day of the weekend.  I have a love/hate relationship with Sundays.  I love them because there is football on.  At least for 2 more Sundays that is.....then begins the long wait until October.  My Dear Nathan plays hockey on Sunday as well.  Most times I will go and watch, it really just depends on what is going on with football.

I dislike Sundays because it is the last day to our weekend.  Weekends never last...they are just not long enough.  This weekend we just spent an easy, relaxing weekend.  I think that we are all still recovering from a very long Sunday last week and then jumping right back into our non-Disney World life feet first.

We went shopping for a new stroller yesterday.  We know that we are going to need a double stroller for some time after this baby is gone because Roo will only be just 3 years old.  We found one that we really like that will fit our near future needs for a double stroller and our further down the road needs when we can go back to a single.  The only downfall is the almost $600.00 price tag that comes on it.  We still have 5 more months before we meet this little one so we should have that saved in no time.

My Dear Nathan took the girls out shopping with him this afternoon so I am enjoying the quiet in my house.  I know that they will be home pretty soon though as Nathan will have to get ready for hockey.  I should probably go and get ready for that as well.  Darian has to be at the rink early to time-keep the first game.  Her first job....she is so excited about making her own money.

Hope that everyone was enjoying our beautiful weather this weekend.  If it was not beautiful where you are I hope you had beautiful company to share your weekend with.  :D

Honesty

My Roo-baby can be very cuddly when she is in the mood for it.  Last night she crawled up onto my lap and was all cuddled in.  I asked her if she was going to love me that much when the new baby comes....her response?  "Nope".  

Darian then asked Roo is she was still going to love her, "yep", she will still love Darian.  Camryn, same thing.  She will still love Camryn.  And Daddy too, of course.  I asked if she will love the new baby, another affirmative.

"Are you still going to love Mommy?", just thought I would give her a second chance to change her mind...."nope".  Gotta love honesty.

Baby Update

This morning was another prenatal appointment.  I drove half way across the city (on extremely shitty roads) to find out that my doctor was delivering a baby.  The office did try to call me but I was already gone to drop the girls off at school.  Thankfully another doctor in the office had an early opening and so they fit me in to see her.  :)

Everything was good.  I didn't gain or lose a pound this month.  I was wondering what would happen with that seeing as I ate not so great in Florida but I did a lot of walking.  Blood pressure is good and other than being tired from a very long travel day on Sunday, I am feeling more energetic.

I heard baby's heartbeat although very briefly.  Baby was being squirmy so every time the doctor would find the heart beat the little bean would slip away into another corner.  I have been feeling it move every now and then but was still relieved to hear that beautiful little thump-thump.

I have my ultrasound scheduled for January 30th.  I am looking forward to seeing my baby for the first time and hopefully finding out whether defied fate and made a boy this time.

On another note....we are having troubles with names...both for a boy and a girl.....suggestions?

Monday

Has it really been so long since my last post?  Ugh!  

So what has happened here in the last few weeks?  I won't spill it all today as then I will have nothing to post about again.  On with the show....

We had a very busy December just like everyone else.  Although we had a very quiet Christmas.  Probably the quietest we have ever had.  We had some company on Christmas Eve and then Awesome-Father-In-Law came over for a few hours on Christmas Day.  

We didn't put up our tree until just a few days before Christmas and then it was down by the 28th.  I loved it.  We didn't have a ton of presents due to our trip to Disney World but everyone seemed happy with what they did get.  The girls got Guitar Hero World Tour so we spent a lot of time playing the Wii.

It was cold over Christmas just as it had been for the better part of December.  Not just normal cold, but stupid cold!!  I really need to move to a warmer climate but My Dear Nathan says it is not going to happen anytime soon.  He has told me that we can retire in Florida though.  Always nice to have something to look forward too!

After Christmas I didn't leave my house for 3 days.  It was great.  I would love if I never had to leave at all.  We took Awesome-Father-In-Law for dinner for his birthday.  It was not really that monumental an occasion but it was the reason I left my house so I thought I would throw it in.

Hmmmm.....not really that exciting of a post.  That was our Christmas in a nut shell.

Today I need to finish unpacking, go grocery shopping and maybe clean something.  All things that I am avoiding by making horrible blog posts.  For now I will end the misery.  I think I have lost my blog mojo.  Has anyone seen it?

Finally!!

Today I went for my prenatal appointment.  I am 13 weeks, 2 days and I finally heard this little one's heartbeat!!  Everything else is in proper working order.  I have even managed to lose 5 pounds!  Ultrasound is booked for the end of January.  Keep your fingers crossed that this baby shows me what it is because I need to know....

We are under the Christmas gun right now.  We haven't gone shopping yet and we still have no tree up.  The plan is to go shopping tonight and I hope we get it all done in one shot because I am not really in a shopping mood.  The plan is for the tree to go up tomorrow and to come down before New Years.

We are only 2 weeks and a few days away from our trip and I cannot wait.  It has been stupid cold here for the last few days and it is expected to hang around for at least another week and beyond that, who knows?  Bring on the Florida sunshine!  There is a 50-something degree temperature difference between here and there (-25 here, +27 there).  I totally live on the wrong side of zero.

Just another note that has absolutely nothing to do with anything else.  My cat snores when she sleeps!

Have a great day.  Will try to update more....if you care.  :D

December

I cannot believe that it is already December.  In 8 days my "baby" will officially be a teenager.  In 24 it will be Christmas.  Have I mentioned that I still have not done any shopping.  This year we are not having a big Christmas so I keep telling myself that everything will be ok.  We have a pretty good idea what we are getting the kids and have pretty much decided to limit our gift giving to our kids, nieces and nephew, parents and my grandparents.  No brothers this year.  I feel kind of bad about it but gift giving is getting increasingly harder as everyone pretty much just buys what they want when they want it.  Honestly, I am just not feeling that creative this year to think about giving an original, thoughtful gift either.  Bah humbug!!  

Actually, I am rather looking forward to Christmas.  As much as I loved being in the Florida sunshine last year there is just something about being home.  Now if home were in Florida....well, things would be perfect.  Speaking of Florida (another reason for a slimmed down Christmas....something has to be slim around here and it isn't me), just a month and a day now.  I cannot wait!!

On other home news.  I have been working with Ryleigh on potty training.  She has been doing really well.  We still use diapers but when we are at home I more often than not find that she has removed her diaper herself and spends the day running around bare bummed.  She is learning new words almost daily.  This is a relief as we had to take her for a speech assessment in October.  I thoroughly disagreed with the speech pathologists suggestions on how to encourage her to start speaking and have completely ignored her advice and Ryleigh seems to be doing just fine.

Camryn and Darian have both recently received their report cards.  Nothing is really shocking on either of them.  They are both good students who just need to put in more effort.  Hmmmm....that sounds vaguely familiar to me.  Could it be that I have heard that for a number of years about myself?

Baby is doing well I guess.  I don't go back to the doctor for another 2 weeks so there is not much to report there.  I need to schedule myself for some blood work.  Ick.  I hate needles.

On the agenda for the day is some laundry folding and probably some napping.  Oh there is that whole pesky making dinner thing too.  Maybe if I start thinking about what to make now I might have some sort of clue by this afternoon.  For now I must take my children to school.

A Case of the Mondays

I do believe someone would get their ass kicked if they said that.  Let the ass kicking begin.

Monday.  The beginning of the week....a very important week.  Payday week.  Week 10 of pregnancy.  Week 13 of the NFL.  Week of Happy Macy's Parade/Football Day to our American friends.  Well if any of those things are important to you then it would be an important week.

A week in which I am hoping to once again begin to feel human and not sloth-like.  I was all ready to do laundry this morning (as planned yesterday) and then my plans got rail-roaded by a feverish little girl.  Last night I picked up Ryleigh after she had cereal for supper...again (it is the only thing she will eat lately, but at least it is something).  Ryleigh was boiling hot.  Her temperature was almost 102.  We broke out the tylenol just to discover it was expired, just like my prenatal vitamins.  Me thinks it is time to clean out the medicine cabinet.  Fast forward a bit.  My Dear Nathan bought new tylenol, we gave her a shot and hoped that it would help her sleep comfortably.  Well, it did make her comfortable....comfortable enough to stay up until after midnight watching cartoons in my bed while My Dear Nathan slept beside her and I slept on the couch.

I did not do laundry this morning.  I went to sleep while Ryleigh watched cartoons in my bed but this time she slept after a few shows too.  She still had a bit of a fever left but she seems good to go now.  She is good enough to have mimmi-uuush (mini-wheats) for lunch, followed by a bag of cheetos.  All necessarily served in a beebee bow (baby bowl) as the normal bowls are totally unsatisfactory.

This week is also the week that my maid service ends.  Maid service you ask?  How do piss poor people afford maid service?  Well I have a maid thanks to a new route of punishment that I am taking.  Darian had gotten herself into trouble at school and rather than take the grounding route which is not effective on a girl that does not go out anywhere I chose to make her my personal maid for 2 weeks.  I figure that she may not think of it as a punishment but thought that after 2 weeks of being at my beck and call for anything from getting me a drink to washing my floors that she would think twice about fooling around in school.  If nothing else it got some of the housework done.

It is now 2:00 and I am awake.  I should find something more to eat and actually get my ass downstairs to do laundry.  Apparently no one has clean socks....I never know because I don't wear them.  Have a nice Monday.

First Appointment

I went for my first prenatal check up this morning.  Ryleigh did not think it was that exciting.  In fact, it really wasn't that exciting.  I got some paperwork to get needles (I hate needles), I got felt up and I peed in a cup.

I am just over 9 weeks so I didn't think that I would get to hear the baby's heartbeat and I was right.  The nurse practitioner wasn't even going to try due to how not far along I am but decided to give it a shot because apparently my uterus is large.  I guess you would say that is a good sign.

I still don't really feel pregnant.  I am just tired.  I could easily chalk it up to the time of year as it always screws me up.  Short days + no sunshine =  tired Nancy.  No pregnancy needed in that equation.

I will go again in 4 more weeks.  I hope by then I feel something.

November

I cannot believe it is November already.  That means that winter is going to be here soon and I don't much care for winter.  It is cold and snowy and just yucky all over.  

One reason that I am glad that it is November is that I am now less than 2 months away from our trip to Florida.  I can't wait.  I hope that it is nice and warm and sunny in Florida while it is the complete opposite here in Wintertown.

My Dear Nathan will get a few extra days off in November which will be nice on everything except the bank account.  The bank account has taken a hit as of late due to broken ankles, short notice trips to Las Vegas and assholes who break into my van and garage and take my can stash.  The short notice trip to Vegas wouldn't have been so bad had I won a big jackpot like I was supposed to!!  I guess I will have to try harder next time. ;)

November will also see the first of many doctor appointments for me.  I go for my first prenatal checkup on the 18th.  I am excited and so hope that I hear this baby's heartbeat.  I didn't hear Ryleigh's heartbeat on the first visit but she was determined to do everything differently...nothing has changed.

November is also the month that I plan on continuing the many renovations that need to be finished around here.  I have advised My Dear Nathan that I want the main floor of our house completely renovated by the time this baby arrives.  We will be putting Ryleigh into the bigger bedroom, which will need to be painted again, so that baby can have her room.  The list is long but I think we can do it.  It will involve many cans of paint, a few swear words and eventually new floors.  I hope.  If not...I am moving.

Where has this year gone?  Has it gone by as fast for you as it has for me?  

Oh So...

tired.  The only thing that I have been able to do for the last week is sleep.  I don't think that I slept this much when I was pregnant with any of the girls.  Even while we were in Las Vegas I needed to go have an afternoon nap...what am I?  80 years old.  I napped...in Vegas.

Since we have been home it has not been any better.  Would you like to hear about what a horrible mother I am?  Ok...here goes....no calling Social Services on me though OK?  

My girls wake me up approximately 10 minutes before we need to leave to get them to school on time.  They get Roo ready to go after they are ready.  The only thing I need to do is get dressed and drive.  By the time we get home 30 minutes later I am ready for a nap.  The dilemma then becomes what to do with the 2 year old.  

I make her some breakfast, which is usually peanut butter toast and some milk.  I can usually stay awake while she eats but once she is done...this is when the spectacular mothering begins.  You know those door knob covers that prevent little hands from opening the door?  I have some of those, only one of them....it is on the inside of my bedroom door.

Thats right.  I lock myself and my 2 year old into my bedroom.  I turn on Playhouse Disney for her and she lays on Daddy's side of the bed, watches cartoons and her Mother sleeps.  It is so bad that I know what time it is by whatever cartoon is on.  I don't know what else to do.  I need to sleep otherwise I am liable to snap at the most innocent of requests.

I cannot wait to get through the next 6 weeks.  I am hoping at that time that I will be able to stay awake for stretches longer than a few hours without needing to sleep like I have just been on a week long bender.  On the plus side though...I am only tired.  I do not (yet, knock on wood) have morning sickness and am generally not feeling bad (assuming I get 20 hours of sleep a day).

Now that I have had my morning nap, which today is fueled by the fact that Ryleigh kept me up most of the night, I need to have lunch.  After lunch....probably a nap.

Greetings

from the Calgary International Airport.  The current time is 2:04 a.m.  The current temperature sucks compared to the glorious 30 degrees I was experiencing a mere 12 hours ago in Las Vegas.  My Dear Nathan and I are in the airport waiting for our 7:15 flight from here back to Edmonton.  We arrived here from Vegas just an hour ago and are so very excited about our camp out here :P

Las Vegas was great but another trip is definitely in order...you know one where I am not pregnant or with my family.  Actually I had a great time with my family this weekend.  My little brother got married this weekend.  For those of you who know my brother you will understand when I say that the weekend was not without a little Joe drama.  In the end it all turned out beautifully though.  I have a new sister-in-law who is just made for my brother and I got to go somewhere warm.

I can't wait to get home and have a good sleep in my own bed.  I cannot believe how easily time slips away in a place that literally never sleeps.  I kept wondering why I was so tired only to look at the clock and see that it was some crazy hour.  I think that the earliest that we made it to bed was 2:00 and of course, that was after donating some money to some hard up slot machines.

We didn't arrive until late Saturday night and with all the plans that my brother had made for us we did not have an opportunity to check out any of the Cirque Du Soleil shows, of which there are 6 (by my count...there could be more).  We did go to a burlesque show at the Crazy Horse in the MGM Grand which was pretty neat but not a show I will soon be attending soon again, at least not with my parents and brother that is.

I got to spend an afternoon in the spa at our hotel.  I got my nails done and a pedicure.  My Mom also graciously offered to pay for me to get my hair done.  I am sure that if she knew that it was going to cost her more than $300.00 she may have reconsidered.  I am going to admit right now that I am a horrible pregnant person and got my hair dyed.  I figure that I dyed my hair while I was pregnant with Darian and there isn't anything wrong with her so I should be OK this time too.

I am sure that there is more to tell but as of right now I have t minus 5 hours to go in this god-forsaken airport and I want to go put on some comfy clothes for my long night....

Yay!!!!

A picture paints a thousand words....  :D

Update

Since my last post I am happy to say that I am up and around again.  I went to the surgeon 2 weeks after being released from the hospital.  He told me that I needed to wear my Air Cast for one more week and after that I was free to walk on my foot unaided.  I am driving again and have once again resumed my life.  I never knew how nice it is to be able to choose to do something or not.  When you just can't do it....well, it really sucks.

I am 3 days away from a very much anticipated trip to Vegas for my brother's wedding.  I am looking forward to a couple of kid-free, husband only days.  Oh and the whole wedding thing too. 

 :D

Thanksgiving has come and gone for another year.  We hosted dinner and had 17 family members here, both from my family and My Dear Nathan's family.  We have enough turkey to feed an army from now until next Thanksgiving.  I am very impressed with myself as I baked a couple of kick ass loaves of bread.  I really do enjoy baking bread.  (Can you say dork?)

As of now I am doing laundry for our trip and trying to get the house tidied up after our whirlwind weekend.  Enough procrastinating...bring on the laundry!

Laid Up

I suppose that I really have no excuses for not blogging.  The only one that I can think of is that I am sleeping.  I have been doing lots of that lately.  It's the drugs.  I will explain.

On saturday night I took my girls and one of Darian's friends to our community league Corn Fest.  We got there early, had something to eat and then I noticed the dessert table.  They had cookies that I really, really like.  The girls had already headed outside to play at the park.  I decided to bring Ryleigh some cookies, so off I head towards the door.  I should have just sat my fat ass down and not went anywhere.

The stairs out the door at my community league are sinking into the ground.  I went to step down and fell.  Hard.  Awkwardly.  I knew when I hit the ground that things were not good.  I managed to twist both my ankles.  The strangers around me finished laughing and then came over to see if I was OK.  I wasn't.  I knew that I was not able to put any weight on either of my feet.

Long story short....I got an ambulance ride to the hospital, where I proceeded to spend 5 hours only to find out that I twisted my left ankle and broke my right.  My break required surgery which I put off until Sunday as My Dear Nathan was on his way home from work in Fort Mac and my kids were at home waiting for me.

Sunday came.  I went to the hospital, had my surgery, which went well.  I spent the night there and came home on Monday.  My football team lost and my neighbours have decided to call me names  (I am being very sensitive about it right now as I am horribly embarrassed about falling in front of strangers).

All in all it has been a shitty few weeks.  My husband is working out of town, the toilet broke, my cat died and now I am laid up for at least 2 weeks.  I have a metal plate, 6 screws and 12 staples in my ankle and I can't take care of my baby.

Thankfully my Grandparents live near and are here taking care of us.  My Dear Nathan is able to come back home and work here again but he is in Fort Mac for another 4 nights.  After that I am going to have to figure out how I am going to take care of Ryleigh during the day.

I will be going back to the surgeon on October 6.  I am hoping that at that time he will tell me that I can start putting weight on my foot then....it will make it easier for me to do things around the house.  All in all it is going to be a long few weeks. 

Connection?

I have been trying for months to get my house and life organized.  I have so many things that I want to do.  I need to paint my entire upper floor so that I can get new flooring and baseboards.  Before this can be done I need to clean my basement.  

We purchased storage shelving months and months ago (sometime in March I think) that is supposed to be set up in the basement so that I can move some stuff from upstairs down there so as to create more space.  I have gone through and gotten rid of tons of stuff but there is still so much more to do.

I have a spare bedroom that one day I would like to put another baby in but it is the black hole for everything that doesn't have a place in our house.  I get in there and clean it out and it looks great for about a week and then it is piled full of shit again.

My bathroom is hideous as is the ensuite in my bedroom.  I would love to have them redone but I have neither the time nor the money to do it at the present moment.   My kitchen tiles that I keep talking about grouting....yea, we put the tile on the wall over a year ago.  Our kitchen has been in a state of renovation FOR A YEAR!!!

I have never been at home for this long before.  I always went back to work or to school after my other girls were about 1.  I have not had to entertain a toddler all day long.  I have never lived in a house where we have done major renovations.  I have never not had an income for so long.  All of these things contribute (I think although I am no Dr. Phil) to my feeling like I am walking around in circles all the time.

In an attempt to gain some insight and advice on the subjects I have done loads of searching on the internet.  I have found a few websites that offer advice....for $9.95 for 3 months or after you finish our short survey which then turns into a bazillion other surveys in your email.  I have found a few blogs on the subject as well.  

I have started to notice something about these organization blogs though.  The vast majority (like 99.8%) of them are deeply religious women.  They have all their shit in order, neatly I might add, could give you an entire inventory of their bathroom cupboard or deep freeze all while baking dozens of muffins for their church, in between homeschooling their 12 kids and doing a bible study.  

What the fuck?  Is that why they call it "organized" religion?  Do you need to "walk with the Lord" and then all of a sudden your home looks like the maid from Brady Bunch lives there?  Is this what I have been doing wrong all this time?  If I clean my house will I find God?  Is he what is under my ginormous laundry pile?

If I become organized will I become religious or is it that you need to first be religious in order to get organized...either way I think I need to find me a bible, but where the hell do I begin to look in this disorganized hell hole?  ;)

Lame Wednesday

Today has not been nearly as productive as yesterday was.  I have not quite finished the laundry.  I have only 2 more loads left downstairs, soon to be 1.  I have put away everything from yesterday though.  My kitchen tiles still have not been grouted a second time.  I am hoping that I will find the motivation to do that while I take Camryn to her first Guides meeting tonight.

Tomorrow is going to be another busy day.  We have Meet the Teacher at one school and Family BBQ at another.  I am leaning towards the BBQ as then I won't have to make supper.  I know, I know....lame-ass mothering....oh well....free is the right price for anything.

I am hoping to start attending my WW meetings again as well.  I was going to go in the morning but I think that I will just try to get to the evening one as we will be out anyway.  We will see.....I just really need to get back to it!

Friday is a PD day for one of the girls.  I will have to get all 3 of them up to take the other to school though....ugg....I wish they could all be on the same schedule.  Friday is also the first night of Scrapbooking/Social Night at my community league.  I am hoping to go but will have to see how the girls are.   I don't scrapbook but I am still trying to finish my cross-stitch.

Well I should run to finish off cleaning my kitchen but I doubt the grout is getting done tonight.  Again.

Tuesday

I started out today with a plan.  I have to do laundry.  I have done some laundry.  I haven't yet put it away but it is cleaned and dried.  2 out of 3 isn't bad.  

I also managed to decide what I was going to make for supper early enough to take it out of the deep freeze....now I just have to make it.

I set up my new printer and have started to print out sheets for my new venture.  A household notebook.  I have read about such things on the on-line and figured I would give it a shot.

I also printed out my awesome Gail Vaz-Oxlade interactive budget.  Starting next week (after payday) I will be using her jar system.  I am hoping that this will help curb our spending, particularly in the area of groceries.

I am also going to try selling some of the girls clothes that are too small.  I usually just donate them to Goodwill but figure why should they make all the money on them.  I could use the extra cash.  I have a few bags of stuff to go through already, now I just need to find the desire to do so.

I would also like to find some ideas for home-made Christmas gifts as we are going to have a slim Christmas so that we can have more spending money in Florida.

Sad Day

Monday started out alright and then it all went downhill from about 7:00 on.  

We were just sitting at home, watching t.v., another uneventful night.  I hear a knock on the door.  When I looked out the window I see that there is a police cruiser parked in front of my van.  Sure enough when I get to the door there are 2 police officers standing there.

My heart dropped.  I immediately felt like I was going to puke.  My mind started to race....why are they here?  Oh.  My.  God.  What happened to Nathan?  Thankfully it had nothing to do with Nathan.

Unfortunately it had to do with one of my cats.  :(  We have (had) 3 of them.  Ariel is the Momma, then there was Squeak, her baby, and Zodiac...the replacement (will explain this another time).  Ariel and Squeak were both outdoor cats, much to my neighbours dislike.  When we went out of town on friday I made sure that they were all inside as I didn't want them out all night.  We tried to keep them in during the night, for their safety and our sleep.  They liked to come meowing to come inside sometime around 5 am.

Squeak and Ariel went outside on Saturday night when we got home.  I sort of wondered on Sunday about Squeak as I had not heard him but didn't really think too much of it.  Until last night.  The officers told me that a lady walking her dog found him deceased in the field behind a neighbourhood school.  She also told them that she has been seeing coyotes out there recently.

Squeak met up with one of them and he lost the fight.  The police had a forensic team look at him to ensure that there was no foul play (as that has happened here in the city) and then he was sent to our pound.  I need to call them tomorrow.  I don't want to.  I want my kitty to come home.

Naturally, I had to tell my girls.  They wanted to know why the police were here, why they came in and why I was crying.  They took it so well.  They are naturally sad about the loss of our kitty but know that it is better to know what happened than to wonder when or if he would have come home after disappearing.  They made me laugh through my tears, telling me about all the mice he will have to chase in cat heaven and wondering whether or not his wings will be big enough to lug his big butt through the sky.

Not the best pic that I have of him on this computer....but when I tell the story of Zodiac the replacement I will have a great one.

Monday

Another exciting week begins....Roo and I are going to join one of my friends on a trip to Costco.  Costco is always exciting because we always find way more stuff than we originally intended to drag home.  This time I have a list so hopefully I can stick to it.  

I was going to go to see Rancid and D.O.A. tonight but I don't think that I will have anyone to watch my girls for me so I guess we will just have to watch football....darn lol.

We have Girl Guide registration this week so I can only assume that by next week the Mom Taxi will be in full swing.  The girls also start piano lessons this weekend.  At the end of the month Roo, Camryn and I start swimming lessons.  I am looking forward to participating with Roo.  I haven't done anything like this since Darian was little and I was pregnant with Camryn.

This week Moms & Tots starts at our community league as well.  I have planned to attend every week in order to meet new Moms and give Roo the opportunity to play with some new friends.  Hopefully this will help out in the clingy department.  I would love to be able to go back to the gym in the mornings but Roo hates the daycare and just cries when I try to leave her.  Fingers crossed because God knows that I need to go to the gym.

My Dear Nathan will be home this week.  I am very much looking forward to it.  His birthday is the day before he comes home so I am going to make him a nice big meal this weekend.  At least that is the plan and I know that plans have a tendency to change.  This turn-over has been easier than the first but I still miss him when he is not here.  I thank my stars everyday that I have a man that is willing to do what he does for his family.....I am a lucky woman.

Enough rambling for now....I should get some laundry in before our field trip.....ahh the exciting life of a stay at home Mom....I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Tagged, by name even.... :)

I was tagged by Tess (at least I hope it was me...) so here goes....

ONE WORD

1.  Where is your cell phone? Table

2.  Your significant other? Nathan

3.  Your hair?  Flat

4.  Your Mother?  Ali

5.  Your Father?  Kevin

6.  Your favorite thing?  Football

7.  Your dream last night?  Positive

8.  Your favorite drink?  Beer

9.  Your dream/goal?  Superbowl

10.  The room you're in?  Living

11.  Your hobby?  Unsure

12.  Your fear?  Loneliness

13.  Where do you want to be in 6 years?  Content

14.  Where were you last night?  Driving

15.  What you're not?  Healthy

16.  Muffins?  Nope

17.  One of your wish list items?  Motivation

18.  Where you grew up?  McMurray

19.  The last thing you did?  Typed

20.  What are you wearing?  Jersey

21.  Your TV?  On

22.  Your pets?  Cats

23.  Your computer?  Connection

24.  Your life?  Improving

25.  Your mood?  Meh...

26.  Missing someone?  Definitely!!!

27.  Your car?  Minivan

28.  Something you're not wearing?  Watch

29.  Favorite store?  Liquor.....lol

30.  Your summer?  Short

31.  Like someone?  Yes

32.  Your favorite colour?  Black

33.  When is the last time you laughed?  Tonight

34.  Last time you cried?  Thursday

35.  Who will resend this?  Dunno

Anyone who reads this is tagged.....Cammy?  Emma?  Joy?  Anyone?

Gone For A Night

In an attempt to keep myself occupied I am going to Calgary...for the night.  Actually, the trip is more for the eye appointments that my kids have tomorrow afternoon.  

I plan on going shopping with my Mom tonight when we get there and spending way too much money on clothes for my girls.  Tomorrow afternoon we will have our eye appointments in Calgary and then make our way to my Mom's optical office to pick out new glasses for Camryn.

I figure that I will stay and have supper with my parents before I head home tomorrow night.  I must be at home on Sunday morning to watch football.  All.  Day.  Long.  I have been waiting for this Sunday since February.

This post is hereby nominated for "Most Pathetic Post Ever".  Anyone second the nomination?

New Year

I cannot believe that tomorrow is the official end of summer.  The girls will go back to school tomorrow.  Grade 8 and Grade 4.  Yikes.  That is only 4 and 8 years away from graduations....hmmm, funny how that worked out.

The Roo baby and I will try to make better use of our time together this year.  We are going to try to make it to Moms & Tots every week.  We are already signed up for Parents & Tots swimming lessons and will just generally try to venture out of our home more often.

In my attempt to make it out more I am also going to try to make it to the gym a few times a week.  I have fallen off of the Weight Watchers wagon and have maimed myself horribly.  I think that I am probably at an all-time high of fatness and it does not feel good at all.  I have only 125 more days until Florida...do you think that I can lose a pound a day until then?  Probably not huh?  That would be spanking great though!!!

I always feel like the start of a new school year is the REAL new year, not that fake January 1st.  I am going to journal my new and revised resolutions for the year and hope to high hell that I have the courage to change what needs to be changed.  

Weather

It is currently 13 degrees celsius.  This is only monumental because not more than 48 hours ago it was 30+ degrees celsius.  This is what you get living in Alberta.  So help me if I wake up in the morning and it is snowing I am packing up and moving to Florida....Fay and all.

Apologies

RE: yesterdays post about friends and the lack thereof.  I, do, in fact have friends here.  I have a handful of great friends here.

I was having a pity party yesterday and am really trying to make the best of the situation that is ahead of us.  As a last word on it just know that I would rather poke a million hot needles into my eyes than send my husband to Fort Mac.

On the positive side:

- I believe this is my 100th post!  Yay for me!!  100 posts!  I think I will make yummy blueberry muffins (recipe courtesy of Kyddryn).

- I had a great day with my girls yesterday.  We went shopping.  We went to the park.  We caught up on some episodes of The Mole.  Just a nice relaxing day.

- I had a great time camping with my girls and my Mom last week.  The weather was great (minus the sun burn....my stupid fault as I forgot my toiletries bag which contained our sunscreen), the water was warm and I didn't have to sleep in a tent.

- I had a great weekend.  My parents had the kids.  My Dear Nathan made me a great dinner on Saturday.  We progressed on some renovations that are long over due and then spent Sunday afternoon with my in-laws/friends house.

- While at the in-laws my Awesome Father-In-Law didn't say anything that made me want to kill him.

- Only 142 more days until we go to Florida.  You may think that it is crazy to be counting down already, but I will admit that I started at 220!  We have made great progress.  :D

- We are going to CrueFest tomorrow.  Well, not Roo but everyone else.  Motley Crue is Camryn's favorite band and she is something excited about getting to see them.  I am sure that I will enjoy watching her more than any band that takes the stage.

Pity Party - Table for One

Next Monday, how I dread thee.  

It has been just a hair over a month since My Dear Nathan began his new job.  The new job that pays better and has better hours than the sweatshop that he had previously been working at.  The new job that is a union job with benefits and a pension.  This is the same new job that is making me dread next Monday.

We knew that because of the fact that My Dear Nathan is working for a union shop that there may be a chance that he would have to go and work out of town.  I thought that I would be able to deal with it should it happen.  Well....it is happening and I am not sure how to deal with it.

Work wants to ship My Dear Nathan to Fort McMurray.  I would rather send him to Siberia myself.  I have issues with the City of Fort McMurray.  I don't like it, don't miss it and don't want to send my husband there.  

The shift is 10 days in, 4 out.  It could be worse but I don't think that I have ever spent more than a week apart from My Dear Nathan.  I also lack severely in the friends department.  My Dear Nathan is the only one that I have here.  What am I going to do with myself?  Who is going to entertain me?  Am I really this pathetic?

I keep being reminded of how the money will help.  Debt will be paid down, money saved for 2 trips to Florida that we have planned for next year.  School starts soon and I want to finish my renovations.  All of this will be helped by My Dear Nathan being away in the Pit of Despair that is Fort McMurray but money does not sleep next to me every night or make me laugh or rub my feet.

I can only hope that this is a short lived situation and that there is an angel riding on his shoulder for every 5 hour stretch that he needs to spend on the highway to hell.  Pity party over....for now :(

Only 3 More Days

I am so excited that I could just pee my pants.  Believe me when I say you will be sadly disappointed by what has me all worked up.....and probably will stop reading this post but if you make it to the end you will win a cookie.

On Sunday, the NFL starts pre-season games.  For those of you who may not know I.  Love.  Football.  I love every Sunday from September through to February.  I also love Monday nights and the occasional Thursday and Saturday.  It is a big event around here.  Every Sunday I get to sleep in while My Dear Nathan and our girls prepare our snacks for the day.  Then approximately 5 minutes before kick-off MDN comes into our bedroom to wake me up.  I then park my ass on the couch for a day of football watching and eating.

Our girls participate as well but mostly for the food.  Camryn will often watch part of the game with My Dear Nathan and me.  Darian has no interest at all.  I think that we need to start exposing Camryn to other sports though, in particular hockey.  We are Canadian after all.  I thought about this last night as we were watching My Dear Nathan play hockey.  After watching someone fall due to a vigourous cross check Camryn commented, "oooooo, what a tackle!"  I just shook my head laughing and did not bother to tell her that this is the wrong sport.  

(I apologize if you have made it this far.....there are no cookies.)

Busy Days Ahead

We have such a busy few days ahead of us.  My house is an absolute sty.  I can't believe that it takes so long to clean and so few minutes to mess up!!  I have loads of laundry to do but have already started on that.  I even put some in the wash at 1:00 this morning when I couldn't sleep.

We have to get some of our camping stuff together as we are going camping for 5 days with my parents.  I am looking forward to spending some time with them and my girls.  My Dear Nathan will be staying home and working his tail off for us, as he always does :)

My older girls are cleaning up the basement after having their cousins from Calgary stay with us for a few days last week.  It was nice to have some company but I think that has contributed to the mess that is my house.  We were on the go for most of the week last week, taking in Capital Ex.

My Dear Nathan has his last hockey game tonight.  I think that because it is the last that we are going to go cheer him on.  I could be totally wrong about it being the last game though as we are unsure if he has made the play-offs.  In any case I think that he is ready for a bit of a hockey break before winter comes.

Instead of procrastinating about where I should start, I probably should just do it.  Here I go....

(I just read this post and realize that it is crazy and all over the place....must be a reflection of my house)

Ho Hum

It is worth having people in your life that drive you completely bonkers?  People that when you don't see them for a weekend you find it refreshing?  How do you handle them?  How do you distance yourself from them without it being painfully obvious?  How and where do you meet people that don't drive you nuts?  I wish I was a kid still.  It was so much easier to make friends......

Vampire

It is much to early to be awake.  For me, it is much too late to be awake.  Why, oh, why must I be a creature of the night?  Why is it that it takes me forever to train myself to sleep when it is dark and be awake when it is light?  And why is it that it takes only one night to revert back to my vampirism?  

What to do at 5:15 in the a.m.?  

Bad, Bad Blogger

You know you are a very bad blogger when reality television gets in the way of your creative thoughts.  I keep having all of these ideas for great posts but then some mind-numbing television show comes on and I get hypnotized by it....speaking of which....Big Brother is coming on soon.

Only 7 more days.  As of next Thursday I will have my 3 girls home with me for the summer.  I am very much looking forward to it.  Our summers are generally spent flying by the seat of our pants.  We have a standing appointment with the Calgary Stampede and we are very excited that this year My Dear Nathan will be joining us for 5 days of Stampedin'.  We are even taking a "night off".  While my girls stay with my parents, we will be livin' it up like a couple with no kids!

The girls and I will be going camping for a week in August with my family.  Not sure if My Dear Nathan will be joining us for the whole trip (not likely) but we are hoping that he can take a day off to join us.  This camping trip will be a celebration of sorts as my Grandparents will celebrate their 50th anniversary in August.  We will also be celebrating our 10th anniversary (which was in May and was the reason for our trip to Florida) and my parents 30th anniversary which is the day after my baby turns 2.

OMG!!  My baby is going to be 2 in a matter of weeks.  I cannot believe how fast time flies by.  She is a funny little thing.  She talks up a storm, problem with that being is that it is her own little language.  Every now and again she says something that is clearly english but other than that it is just a string of "uh-uh's".  We are hoping that she will start picking up some more words as the summer progresses.  I am sure that with her sisters being home that it will come sooner than I expect.  

Speaking of sisters....Camryn has finally learned how to ride a 2-wheeler.  She is so very impressed with herself.  Her only problem now is that her bike is too small.  I took her out to look for a new one yesterday and we believe that we have found "the one".  We just have to wait for Daddy to approve the size.  I think that this will be the first time that we will only have to buy one new bike.  Darian is still good with hers but she does need a new helmet.  

With Darian this summer I am hoping to improve our relationship.  She has been having some troubles the past few weeks and I am hoping that we can get everything out in the air and start coming up with some solutions.  She is much closer to her Dad than with me and I am mostly Ok with that....I just wish that she felt a little more comfortable with me...so that is what I am going to work on.  Wish me luck as she is only 12 and I have heard that it only gets worse from here..... :(

Well....there are my ramblings.  I was hoping that I would just sit down, start typing and something brilliant would come out....guess today was not the day.  If you have made it this far....you are a trooper!!  Have a good day.  Hope you have lovely weather where you are, I think we are going to have some sun today, which makes me happy :)

I'm Back

Well I am back...have been for sometime now but just have not been feeling like I had the ability to blog.  I have been very tired and think that I am finally getting caught up on the sleep that I have been missing out on for sometime now.

Just some updates....our trip was awesome!!  I cannot believe how much I have fallen in love with Florida.  The weather is spectacular, the beer is cheap and plentiful, clothing is reasonably priced and I have found a store that sells fat chick clothes that do not require you to be 10 ft. tall or a million years old to wear.  I bought $350.00 worth of clothes before heading to the airport to come home....I also had to buy a new suitcase to fit it all in!!  

We have already planned and booked our next trip back.  We will be going back for 9 days in January.  We are going to be taking my parents and the girls with us.  We are very excited and have already begun our countdown....only 204 more days!!!  (Yes, I am obsessed as some people like to say but seriously...if you have not been to Florida you have no idea so please do not continuously ask me what the appeal is.....it is as annoying as me asking you why you choose to go camping every summer....duh, because you like it!)

On the downside....I was doing well with Weight Watchers right up until I stepped off the plane in Orlando.  After that everything kind of went out the window.  I enjoyed food and drink of every variety and rationalized it all by saying that I was walking alot.  Since I have been home I have continued to enjoy and indulge....only without the walking.  Knowing that I have not been a good Weight Watcher I decided that the best way to enjoy Florida is be being a lot lighter.   I attended my first WW meeting in a month yesterday.  I have managed to gain back half of what I have lost in the matter of a month.  It took me much longer to lose it.  Why oh why must weight be so much easier to put on than to take off????

So besides Florida and WW nothing much interesting has been going on here at the Schmoo house.  We are trying to get projects that we started sometime ago finished along with getting ready for summer.  I cannot believe that the girls will be done school in a matter of weeks.  I am looking forward to it because I am tired of having to leave my house to drive 5 minutes everyday.  I am also looking forward to spending sometime in Calgary to do some Stamdedin'.

Well this post is starting to go everywhere and explain nothing so I will bow out now before I really get confusing.  Sorry for the hiatus....I guess I just needed to get the blog juices flowing again.  Hope you enjoyed.

(Cammy....I miss ya too.  Hope you are OK...call me....maybe I can come out for a visit before you go home....would love to see you again).

Update

Well....Ryleigh is feeling much better now.  Thanks to everyone for their concern.  

Mommy, on the other hand, is not feeling so great.  Ryleigh passed on her cold to me.  I leave tomorrow :(  I also got the luck of getting an ear infection.  I went to the Doctor yesterday and he gave me some antibiotics which are supposed to help but as of right now my ear is totally plugged and I feel like I am living under water.

I am just about finished packing.  Only 2 more hours until we leave to take the kids to my parents.  We fly tomorrow morning at 8 a.m.  Cross your fingers there are no delays and that my ears hold up.

See you all in a week or so!!!  Have a great long weekend!

Poor Baby

I think that my baby is getting sick.  This is not good.  Ever.  I don't like it when my babies are sick but this time I am being especially selfish about it.

I don't want to leave my sick baby while I am away basking in the sun.  I don't think that my Mom would like it if I left my sick baby with her while I am away basking in the sun either.

I have a feeling that it could be a long night tonight.  While I went to the gym tonight (yep, you read that right, I went to the gym) My Dear Nathan put all of our girls to bed.  He said that Ryleigh went quite willingly.  She usually does but not that early.  

I have heard a few cries from the crib tonight but nothing that indicated that she wouldn't just roll over and go back to sleep.  I was informed by My Dear Nathan that we have no milk though.  I am thinking that I should be going to the store for milk instead of writing (boring) blogs.  Should I walk?  Hmmmm....

Good Things....

Having been a bad blogger as of late I will report on only happy things.

Today it was nice outside.  When it is nice outside it is nicer inside because Mommy can send children outside and out of her hair.

I only have 9 more days to wait until my trip.  I am so excited that I could pee my pants.  I do have to admit that even though I have not yet left that I already miss my babies.  I am crazy.  

I had a good weekend.  We spent our Friday night celebrating My Dear Nathan's big hockey win.  I am pleased to announce that he was voted Goalie of the Year.

Canada's Worst Handyman 3 starts tonight.  I love this show.  I think this one is even better than Canada's Worst Driver.

My Dear Nathan is on call this weekend but does not have to work on Mother's Day.  I hope I get a nice necklace to go with my new dress.

I bought a new dress to wear to Cirque Du Soleil at Disney World.  Although I am a little sad that I couldn't buy a smaller size (bad, bad Nancy for not working hard enough to lose more weight) I am happy that I look better than I did at Christmas.

Last thing is the Happy Monster Band.  Google it and then listen to the Monster Hoe Down.  I have been singing it for a week.  Claw left, claw right.....now double claw!!!!

Camryn Gets Revenge

In my effort to conserve water I bathe 2 of my children together.  I always have (age appropriate of course).  I also shower every day with My Dear Nathan (sorry for the wealth of personal information).

Camryn and Darian used to bath together all the time.  I will never ever forget one fateful night though.  Camryn must have been around 2, making Darian 6-ish.  Our one and only bathtub was upstairs in our tiny house.  We ran the water, tossed our kids into the tub and then went about our business.  Everything was going swimmingly until we heard Darian screeching at the top of her lungs for her Mommy.  Thinking that something was wrong, we both bolted into the bathroom.  Upon our arrival we found Darian straddling the bathtub, a foot on either side, while yelling.  Camryn, on the other hand, was happy as a clam.  Just sitting and playing.  It only took a second before we realized what it was that Darian was screaming about.  Camryn had pooped in the water.  It was a priceless moment.  We plucked our children out of the sewage, cleaned the tub and then proceeded to clean our children.

Camryn has got her revenge tonight.  She wanted to bathe with her baby sister so we obliged.  We ran them the tub, gave them the toys and left the room to go about our business.  Tonight, however, there was the teeny-tiniest call of "uhhhh.....Mommy?".  I almost didn't hear it.  I muted the hockey game and answered.  It the calmest voice I have ever heard Camryn replied "Ryleigh just pooped in the bath".  We bolted to her rescue, expecting to see her straddling the tub ala Darian.  Nope, she simply got out and waited for us to come and rescue her.  Ryleigh was not pleased to have to get out but we promised her that she could get back in....just as soon as we removed all the toys, all the poop and scrubbed the tub.  Now I have dirty tub toys, a clean tub and pretty soon will have clean children.  

I can't help but wonder when (or if) Ryleigh will get her revenge....that and how the hell am I going to clean all the tub toys?

Bradford Ex-crap!

Remember how I was saying that I was going to blog about what Awesome Father-In-Law had waiting for me when I came home from Disneyland?  Well here it is....in all of its glory.

These lovely things are not for me specifically but for my 8 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER!  Yes, you read that right.  At some point in her 8 years my little Camryn may or may not have mentioned that she likes dragons.

Any of you who have been reading will know that I have been incessantly complaining about trying to get my house decluttered and organized.  I have gone through boxes upon boxes of stuff that I thought that I needed.  I have realized that I needed none of it.

I realize even more that I DO NOT need crappy Bradford Exchange anything in my house.  Not only are there these 2 dragons in my house but there is also a number of wolves (that belong to Darian) and some other crap in large styrofoam containers.  It would not have been so bad if my children had actually asked for any of this shit but they did not.  My Awesome Father-In-Law took it upon himself to buy them these lovely pieces.

I get that he is just trying to give his grandchildren something but why these?  These....totally age inappropriate, totally home cluttering, totally ugly specimens.  The best part though?  Is that this is a series.....of 8!  I do not have room for the 2 that we have what the fuck am I going to do with 8?

My favorite part is the scantily-clad warrior women on them.  I am sure that they are Camryn's favorite part too.  Groan!  What am I going to do?  Anybody wanna adopt some dragons?

Tired!!

It.  Has.  Been.  Snowing.  For.  Days.  Who the hell pissed off the weather gods?  I am so tired of the snow.  How is it possible that in the last 3 days we have received more snow than we did the whole 2 weeks we were away.....in DECEMBER!!!

I have shoveled our sidewalk because the snow gets too deep during the day to leave it for Nathan to do.  This morning, after getting home from a horrible attempt to work out at the gym, I just left Ryleigh in our van (running of course) to watch Spongebob while I tried to clear a path to our front door.  I have left the back for Nathan to do.  It is garbage day tomorrow and I will have no part of hauling any garbage out through at least a foot of snow.

The worst part of this, besides the fact that it is nearing the end of April, is that there does not seem to be a stop to this hideous weather until after the weekend.  Ugg.  Groan.  Retch.  Alberta weather is just not impressing me right now.  Good thing that I only have 22 more days until I go to Florida.

**I would add pics but this damn thing is not working.

***I would also like to add that my boys won their hockey game on Sunday!!!