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.