Ubma

This is how Roo insists that her Daddy told her how to spell bunny. She will hear no part of b-u-n-n-y.....her Daddy said ubma!

Why are we talking about ubmas? Because Roo has taken to playing all of the Facebook games. She plays Petville, Yoville, Fishville and Happy Pets. Just in case you were all wondering why I am constantly on Facebook. It isn't me. It is Roo. Every time I turn around she is on my computer. I already bought her an iPod Touch so that she would lay off my phone. I do not think that she will be getting her own laptop anytime soon. Maybe her own Facebook profile though.

Her name would simply be "roo". She knows that spells Roo. That is her name, after Ryleigh of course.

Me: "What is your name?"

Her: "Ryleigh-roo."

Me: "How do you spell it?"

Her: "One r and two o's."

Me: "OK that spells Roo. Do you know how you spell Ryleigh?"

Her: "I tole' you....one r and two o's."

Me: "No it is R-Y-L-E-I-G-H. Ryleigh."

Her: (Hands on hips, getting mad at me) "No....it is ONE R AND TWO O'S I TOLE' YOU!!!"

I give up.....Roo enjoy your ubma :)

28 Day Organizing Challenge

Check this out!

This is from a website that I like to frequent, which frequently leads me to say "hmmmm.....maybe I should stop procrastinating and actually organize this house like I keep saying I am going to".

I have decided that I am going to participate in the 28 day challenge. In the last few days I have been washing the walls in my living/dining room because I desperately want to paint them. I do believe that I have mentioned this before. I am going to use this challenge to hold myself accountable to wanting to do this.

My living room has become a baby zone. I have large furniture which doesn't help the situation either. Have I ever mentioned that I hate my furniture, talk about buyer's remorse!! Ugggg.....perhaps once I have the room painted, new curtains and maybe even a new layout I will enjoy the room a little bit more.

I will take some pictures of the room for the required before shots but I think that I will keep them to myself until the end. Or maybe not. I just don't know at this point. I also have a few small areas which I will take pictures of.....if nothing else maybe I can at least enter in that category.

I dunno. I want to get this done. I want to live in a house where I don't constantly feel overwhelmed by stuff and mess.....this is all sounding familiar. I think that I have said all this before. Maybe that is enough of a reason to join the challenge. Prizes certainly don't hurt either.

This n' That

Tuesday. That means it is weigh in day. I did not have a stellar weekend. Mostly because I drank too much beer and didn't eat enough. It is also hard to eat properly when you are sleeping, another thing that I did quite a bit of this weekend. I need the sleep though. I love my Tiny Man but he needs to start sleeping better before I have to check myself into a looney bin.

Speaking of my Tiny Man. I have a feeling that the little turkey is going to walk sooner rather than later. I have set up his playpen in the living room so as to keep him contained for short periods of time so that I can do things like, say, go to the bathroom. I was watching him yesterday while he was in it and he let go of the sides and stood on his own for a little while. Turkey....growing way too fast! I have also realized that if I don't go shopping for him soon he will have no clothes. I don't think that it can wait until next month when we go to Phoenix either. Thankfully I have met some new ladies at my Moms and Tots group that have little boys that have offered some of their outgrown clothes.

I have bags of clothes from Darian and Camryn have outgrown to go through. I will probably keep a few things for Roo but with a lack of space for storage, there will not be that much. I have a bin in the garage that I started. With my luck I will forget about it until she is too big for all the clothes anyway. I am hoping to be able to get my garage cleaned out soon so that we can park our van in it again. I am sure we will get it done just in time to not have to worry about snow or cold.

I am also hoping in the next few weeks for some nice weather so that I can paint in my living room. I am sure that I have mentioned this umpteen times here but I really do need to get it done. I have had the paint for over a year and am tired of looking at the cans. Not to mention that I am tired of having a house that is in a constant state of renovation. I know it will probably be next year, at the earliest, before we can afford to put down new floor but maybe having the walls done will be extra incentive to start saving hard for that!

I have to start saving for our trip in September as well. I want to have a minimum of $3000.00 to go with so that we can really enjoy ourselves on our trip. I am so looking forward to it that I think I might be a little crazy. Once we get our tax refund (which I am fairly confident should be a good one) we will be well on our way. I have stayed on top (for the most part) of all of our bills over the Christmas season which makes things easier. It will also help that My Dear Nathan will be working some 12 hours shifts at work starting this week. Yay! :)

Well, my Tiny Man is ready for a nap, my Roo is ready for some breakfast and if I continue to sit and waste my time on the internet I will be ready for a nap and to make today's to-do list an "I'll do it tomorrow" list. Did that yesterday!

Weigh In

I had my Weight Watchers meeting tonight. In week 1 I lost 1.6 lbs. Not bad. It is a healthy weight loss and still puts me on track for a goal that I set for myself. I would like to be down 5% of my weight by my birthday.

I will not lie though. I was hoping for more. I guess that this week I will just have to work that much harder. I did good with the eating. I ate all (or most of) my daily points allowance which is something that I struggle with. I just find not eating to be so much easier....it doesn't require any preparation or thought. I think that my weight problem has way more to do with this mindset than simply over eating. I need to get out of the mind thought that food=fat.

I often watch The Biggest Loser and they always seem to have a person on that has some sort of an emotional breakthrough. I have been thinking about my life and trying to figure out if there is something that happened that may have contributed to weight gain. I don't think that is the case for me. I don't eat and think about, or not think about, bad things that have happened. I think about how fat is this going to make me. I think about, well I would just rather not think about eating.

This week I am going to try to get in all my food and add a day of exercise to the week. Roo enjoys doing the Wii Fit with me so as long as she wants to play I will have no excuses not to. She had me doing it today when I wanted to nap :)

Here's hoping for better numbers next week!!

7 Months

Yesterday my Tiny Man turned 7 months old. He decided to put his party pants on and keep me up until almost 4:00. Good thing he is cute because I was tired and would not have put up with that from just anyone. Oh well, we watched The Great Escape on television. That Steve McQueen, he was so macho! :D

Kaiden is crawling and learning how to pull himself up on the furniture. He looks a little worse for wear though as he has not learned how to sit down and usually just falls over when he is done grabbing at everything at his standing level. His forehead is a little blue and bumpy. My Dear Nathan tells me to get used to it as boys are always bumping themselves and looking like they wrestle with tigers.

I am hoping that in the next 5 months Kaiden will begin to sleep through the night because honestly....I need him to. By the end of the week I am so tired and then I spend half my weekend with My Dear Nathan home and looking after the kids while I sleep....I would rather be out and doing things with my family.

Kaiden has started to become quite the story teller....mostly stories about Da Da Da Da....figures Ma Ma Ma Ma is way too tired to tell exciting stories about lol.

Off for a nap while he does....thankfully Roo will lay with me for some quiet time.

Day 2

I did it on Tuesday. I waffled right up until the time that I was leaving on whether or not I was going to go to that Weight Watchers meeting. I had all sorts of excuses...I don't have money today. Even if I have money today if I don't commit to it I will just be wasting money. I ate bad things today, I will start tomorrow and be prepped for next week. It is snowing. It is cold. It is winter. I have a baby at home....and so on and so on. But I did it. I just went.

I am not happy to say what my weight is and it is not the all time high that I was at my first prenatal appointment with Kaiden, but it is not great. I am pleased to say that it does not include a consecutive 2 and 5 which is what I was thinking.

I have done good with the eating these last 2 days. Stayed within my target without going over. I even dusted off the ol' Wii Fit today. I only managed to get in 20 minutes during one of Tiny Man's catnaps but it is 20 more minutes of movement than I have been doing up until today.

I hope that I see good results on Tuesday. I made a half-assed attempt to rejoin a few months ago and knew I was on a crash course when I didn't lose on the first week. I knew in my head that I wasn't ready then but I tried to tell myself I was going to do it. I don't feel like that this time. I don't feel like I am telling myself that I have to do this, I am just doing it. I don't want to be this size in Florida. I want to feel better about myself in Florida. I want to feel better about myself everyday.

I have a target of losing 5% by my birthday. It is totally doable. I am going to do it. Now I just need to figure out what my reward will be for reaching this goal. Suggestions? I do know that I need new jeans and almost always buy them from the US....hmmmm....will be there at the end of March. Maybe buying a smaller size would be a good reward! :)

At It Again

I have to do it. I have to. I am going to bite the bullet and go back to Weight Watchers. I have had success when I have done Weight Watchers but then I get complacent and quit, thinking that I can do it on my own. I can't. I admit it. I suck at trying to lose weight on my own.

I don't want to weight 5000 lbs. when I go back to Florida in 8 months. I don't want to weigh what I do now. I need the accountability that comes with the weekly weigh in. I know that I have all the support in the world from My Dear Nathan, I just have to support myself.

I sit here during the week and watch shows like The Biggest Loser. I would love to do what they do but I can't. I have other things to worry about and I have no Bob or Jillian. I have me. I know that I can do Weight Watchers. I have done it before. I want this to be the last "before".

Weekend

This weekend definitely had some ups and some downs.

The downs included:

• My satellite radio being stolen out of my van. Now I am not sure why someone would steal it as it is no good to anyone else. It was not activated and has now been reported stolen making it impossible to activate it. They ripped the antenna so unless they have one...again though...no programming makes for a boring radio.
• My satellite receiver in the house is kaput. I have a new one coming via the insurance program I pay for but I am more than likely going to lose the programming that I had recorded on the hard drive. This makes me mad because there were pay per view movies on it that I haven't had a chance to watch with My Dear Nathan yet.
• Certain conversations that I had with Awesome-Father-In-Law and Awesome-Brother-In-Law. I really wish that they or us would move far away from each other so that I didn't have to deal with them. Every time I try to get somewhere with them, for the benefit of my kids, it goes nowhere. Oh well....I will not be the one who goes through life thinking that I am a good Grandpa/Uncle even though my grandchildren/nieces/nephew can't be bothered with me.
• My Dear Nathan was ever so helpful and put in some laundry for me. Down side of that...he overloaded the washing machine causing it to shake so bad that a full bottle of laundry soap fell on the floor and broke. Yay! I love gooey, soapy messes! :(
• Of minor consequence, both the Cardinals and the Cowboys lost this weekend. Those were both the teams in the NFC that I was hoping would win.

The ups of the weekend include, but are not limited to:

• My Dear Nathan being at home for an extra night this week.
• After taking her ipod to school when she wasn't supposed to and having it disappear, we got Camryn's ipod back, in complete working order.
• Going out for beer with My Dear Nathan.
• Our awesome weather. Warm and sunny in January makes for a happy Mamma Schmoo.
• My Dear Nathan cleaning behind the stove. A project which I have been wanting to get done but am unable to do alone due to the weight of my stove. While I slept in yesterday MDN did it for me.
• My Dear Nathan letting me sleep in. Although I am still up with Kaiden it is nice that I am allowed to sleep in after MDN gets up for his shift with our Tiny Man.
• It was nice of whomever stole our radio out of our van to leave all of our kid's DVDs. They are likely worth more than the radio is and would have been more expensive to replace.
• Knowing that My Dear Nathan may be working some 12 hour days soon. Since he is out of town he would prefer to be working as much as possible. 12 hour days make for nice paycheques.
• The Colts winning their game.
• The Chargers losing their game.
• Only 245 more days until Florida :)

Bad Night

Last night was rough. Really rough. So rough that even now I still feel like crying. Kaiden was up all night. I am not sure what his deal is but the past few weeks have been horrible, sleep wise. I cannot get over how different he is from the girls. He is so busy. He hits, he pinches, he digs his toes into my leg. I spend all day feeling like he is beating the crap out of me and he isn't even 7 months old yet!!

My Dear Nathan will home tomorrow night. A bonus night at home. He still has to work on Friday but at least I will have him here to help me tomorrow. I feel so bad for relying on Darian to help me all the time. I broke down in tears tonight telling her that I really do appreciate all the help that she gives me around here. I am not cut out for this single Mom life :(

Weekend

They are just not long enough. Especially when that is the only time that your family is together.

Friday started with a trip to Walmart after I picked up My Dear Nathan from work. Then a trip to Westworld to pick up Darian's computer. It went fritzy and we took it in on Boxing Day and she was very anxious for us to bring it home to her. We were as well since My Dear Nathan takes it out of town with him so that we can ichat every night. Once we got home we realized that the computer was still not working properly so out the door and back to the store we went. This time I took Darian with me and an hour later we came home with a computer....only not hers. I bought a new computer for our basement to replace an old one. I love it. We did eventually get Darian's computer back that evening when I had to run back to the store with only 10 minutes before they closed to buy a connection for the new one. Happy early birthday to me. I should have wrapped it up first! I stayed up late playing with my new computer, tending to my Tiny Man who kept waking up and having a chat with a good friend. 4:00 I finally went to bed.

Camryn had a field trip with her Guide Unit to the Museum on Saturday morning. She seemed to have fun although a tiny bit of drama followed her home. My Dear Nathan went to pick her up when she asked if her friend (we will call her Ann) could come over to our house. MDN agreed and off Ann went to ask. Only thing was that she wasn't with her parents. MDN did not know this. Ann was supposed to get a ride to someone else's home where she would be picked up. I did not know this until later on but was less than impressed with both Camryn and Ann for even asking knowing that Ann was not with her parents. If this were Camryn I would have been furious at her for not going with the person she was supposed to be with and at the person I left her with for allowing her to go with someone else!

Ann eventually did get in touch with her parents and let them know where she was. Camryn did ask if she could sleep over but I have a rule of not being put on the spot with such requests and if I am the answer is always no. We had plans already, if you consider watching football plans that is. Anyway, I have to admit that I am not one of Ann's biggest fans and her time with us just confirms my feelings. When we went to drive her home she needed to be told by us to put on her seatbelt. This was after Camryn had already told her she needed to have it on. We have dropped Ann off at home on one other occasion last year but could not remember exactly where her home was. I asked her for her address. I didn't hear her the first time I asked so I asked again only to have her bark at me, in a snotty voice, that she did not know her address! She is 10 years old! How does she not know her address? I was floored but at least she knew her way home from the area that we were in.

After Ann was sent home we just went to pick up some groceries for dinner. We watched the football games on Saturday night and then My Dear Nathan and I proceeded to stay awake until 4:00 am talking. Just when we were going to bed our Tiny Man decided that he was going to wake up. I really wish he would find a schedule and stick to it because every time I begin to think that he is predictable he changes!!!

Sunday we just spent the day catching up on sleep and watching more football. We didn't get the chores done that we wanted to but I can do that during the week. 3 nights with My Dear Nathan is not enough to worry about how clean the area behind my stove is.

Update

So I have been doing some research on this sort of detox that we have been doing and apparently I shouldn't be doing it at all! Due to the fact that I am still breast feeding this is a little extreme in cutting back on the calories and other things necessary for me to breast feed. I am going to put this detox on hold until I have finished breast feeding but am committed to adding more fruits and veggies to my diet and cutting back on the things like caffeine and sugar. I was doing great but did find myself very hungry and I am not sure whether or not it was related but found that Kaiden was a tad bit dehydrated yesterday. :( I will update again on when we are going to give this a full go but I am in no way, shape or form going to quit breast feeding to do this. I worked too hard to breast feed my baby.

Ripping off Cammy ;)

She has done a "things that made me smile today" list here.

Here is mine:

• My baby falling asleep while nursing
• Darian and Camryn trying new foods with me
• The sound of my husband's voice
• Roo doing her Wall-E impression

All of these things would make me smile everyday but today was hard as I know that there is a member of my family who is in the struggle of his life and I am just grateful for what I have. I am truly blessed and need to acknowledge that more often.

Kaiden

On December 24 Kaiden celebrated his half birthday! I can't believe that time is flying by so quickly.

He went for his check up yesterday so here are his stats :)

Weight: 15 lbs 15 oz.

Height: 27 inches

Eyes: Blue

Doesn't he sound like a catch? lol...oh, I should also add that he has killer dimples.

He is totally mobile now and he is a fast little turkey. Our doctor seemed surprised that he is crawling already but I'm not. By the time Darian had her first halloween (she was almost 11 months old) she was walking! I think that this Tiny Man of mine will be an early walker too but if he decides to put it off that is just fine by me. I am in no rush for him to grow up and find that it has already whizzed by.

Just an update on our detox week. We are doing good. I have found myself throwing out things that might tempt me though. Bag of chips, gone. Half&half for coffee, gone. I forgot to weigh myself before this began but on the other hand I am reminding myself that this is about eating healthier and not specifically for weight loss. If it happens it will just be a pleasant side effect. The girls are doing great although I told Camryn that she is to eat a regular old lunch as I don't want her to be hungry or missing out on what she needs for her health. I am a tad hungry as I type this but I am hoping to be in bed within a half hour so will just plan on a great breakfast in the morning. Keep your fingers crossed that my Tiny Man sleeps all night tonight....Mamma needs it. :]

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.