Wordless Wednesday - The New Generation of Babywearing

Note: The solemn looking face is due to impatience. Mr. Mom here was getting irritated that Mommy wanted to take the picture as his "animal babies" were crying.

Tis The Season ....

..... for hockey. With training camps either just getting underway or starting within a couple of weeks, many Canadians are already speculating and drooling over the commencement of the new hockey season. Whether it be the WHL, NHL, Junior A or B or even the minors, the end of August creates a certain air of excitement. Commercials are airing on TV, sports analysts are brought in to discuss who is going to dominate each respective NHL division; basically a dream situation for those hockey buffs.

Here in Calgary the weather has also added to that excitement. We have had a few cooler days of late with even two days of frost first thing in the morning. You can't help but feel the change in the weather with the cool crisp morning or night air with comfortable daytime highs around the 20's. Fall is approaching and soon after winter. For Kaelen, that can't come soon enough. With hockey on his mind 24/7, he is getting ready for his upcoming hockey season. His skates have been pulled out and are worn around the house because he "wants to get the feel" of them. So, along with his usual attire of hockey helmet, gloves and stick, he is now adorning the skates. Thank goodness that the blades are dull and square so they do not cut up the carpet ....

Kaelen and Daddy have even gone so far as to map out where the hockey rink in the backyard is going to be this year. With the yard work that we accomplished this spring, it will allow for a slightly longer rink this winter. It will still be tiny, but for a boy who is almost 3, it is going to a rink to rival that of his heroes: The Vancouver Canucks. Each morning Kaelen wakes up hoping for cold weather and is asking every day if we can start building the rink. It is kind of humorous to see how upset he gets when he is told that it is still too warm for any kind of ice. I wonder how he is going to take the news that later on this week the weather is to get back up to the mid 20's ......

Kaelen practising his "scary" hockey yell.

Playtime on Baby's Turf

I am not too sure about you all, but when I manage to steal a moment or two for myself to take a shower or potty, I usually place the baby into her crib. It is the safest place for her to be when not under my watchful eye. Of late, big brother has been pulling his stool over to her crib to talk to her if she gets upset while I am showering. Yesterday though, big brother had the most fabulous idea of joining her in her crib to play with her while it gave me an opportunity to shower and get ready for a birthday party that we were attending. The thing is, when it came time to put our shoes on to head out to the party, he didn't want to leave. He claimed that he was having too much fun with Masyn and that they didn't want to go and eat cake anymore. I found the whole situation ironic seeing as at 20 months, Kaelen couldn't wait to get out of that crib in the first place and into a big boy bed.

This morning when he woke up and was asked how his sleep was, he replied: "It would have been better Mom if I slept with Masyn in the crib".

Hmmm .... now only if they could make the crib sides higher to ensure that I could keep him in there .... oh how that would solve a lot of headaches in a day.

A Quirk

Okay, I will admit it: I love slobber. I will qualify it even more by saying that I love baby drool; my baby's drool. It has to be my baby's drool and what I am trying to figure out is at what point does it become spit?

I went through this with Kaelen and am now going through it with Masyn, but I LOVE it when I am cuddling Masyn and she gets all squirmy and tries to suck on my cheek or shoulder. That is when I get showered in slobber and massive amounts of it at that. For me, it is so endearing and damn cute. My cheek could be dripping in it or my shirt looks like I just took a shower in it, and I love it. Yet, I find when Kaelen gets all excited sometimes that he will start to drool and I find that I am saying "Yuck Buddy, you just spit all over Mommy".

Now Kaelen still gives me the odd wet, sloppy kiss and I don't mind that, but at what point does baby drool become spit? When they get a full set of teeth and are eating regular food?

Baby Dagny

Wow! Thanks to Steph over at Adventures in Babywearing, I have just discovered this very cool site. Now, of course I would LOVE to win that swanky baby pouch that she is giving away but even if my lucky number isn't pulled, I am still happy that she has lead me to this site.

Check out the awesome sale that Baby Dagny is having!! I am SOOOOOOOO happy to have discovered a company that will sell pacifier holders for the Soothie! I have just purchased a 12 pack of these adorable holders as there are many babies around here that sport these pacifiers and you just know that they had spent some time in the SCN or NICU. While the pacifiers are terrific, it is very hard to find a place that sells a holder for them. Hence why I have purchased the 12 pack.

Now I have a special gift to give others that have them as well as let my little girl show one off!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

THE NEW BABY PACIFIER: SWEET LITTLE TOES

Why I Feel Incredibly Blessed

This is why. Every time I look into the eyes of my children and they bless me with a gorgeous smile or just a look, I tear up and realize just how truly blessed I am in my life. I won't lie, there have been days of late where the days seem so incredibly long and I have these silent wars within my mind just begging to have an hour break from my babies and then feeling incredibly guilty within a second of that thought for not appreciating my children. I truly hate myself sometimes for accepting the fact that I need a break from my children yet I now realize that it is okay to feel that way. By acknowledging that I may need a break, it doesn't make me a bad mother but only a human mother. It doesn't mean that I don't love my kids but by having that break from them, it will make me a better mother to them. Issues such as this, that may seem simple or a no brainer to others are very difficult for me as I am such a perfectionist and want to be good at everything that I do. Being a mom is the best experience that I have ever taken on in my life, but it is also a very time consuming mind battle for me as I don't think that my mind ever takes a break. I find that I am always critiquing myself and analyzing situations on how I can make it better. But when I get down to the truth of the matter, I am terrified of failure. Failure of being a good mom to my children. I am sure that I am not the only mom out there that thinks about this as no one can truly prepare an individual on becoming a parent until they are put in that situation. It is then that you truly get the understanding that you wear your heart on your sleeve persay when it comes to your children. You understand a whole new meaning to living without as you would rather provide everything and anything to your children and realize just how easy it is to go without for yourself. Suddenly things like buying new clothes or going out for dinners really isn't all that important anymore when you can spend that money or time on your children.

Time flies when you are having fun and that adage was likely written by someone who was a parent. For me, I sure wish it would slow down as my children are growing way to quickly. Having said that though, I do look forward to what the future holds for us as I know that Kaelen and Masyn will continue to make me laugh and enrich my life beyond anything that I had ever imagined.

Sisters Gone Wild

Yep; the title is correct but unfortunately for you men out there, it wasn't an x-rated adventure. The wedding last weekend was fabulous: the weather was perfect, the setting was breathtaking, the bride was incredibly gorgeous and best of all, I got to spend some quality time with my sister. You see, when my sister and I get together we tend to have these adventures that are full of laughter and stupidity. We find the humour in everything and often have the tendency to act young again. Scarily, liquor does not need to be a factor although it has been known to inspire us to some serious goofiness. However, much to contrary of these pictures, liquor was not a factor to encourage us to pose for these:

Our self portrait attempt. Neither one of us show any hopes for a future career in modelling.

And just because the wedding was at a golf course, we just couldn't resist the temptation of the golf cart.

At least we didn't take one for a joy ride ......

We found the bride in the potty freshening up and it didn't take too much cajoling to have her pose for a picture in the toilet stall. We call this the "Sisters Picture": Breanne (the bride), her maid of honor Danielle (twin sister), my sister Christie and I. We also figured that this will be our victory pose for next year's curling bonspiel that we are going in as a team.

Remember when I had mentioned breathtaking scenery? This is what we were looking at while watching Breanne's vows. Aside from Breanne looking stunning, could it get any more picturesque?

Wordless Wednesday - Beach Time Buddies

Off The Road

I am exhilarated yet exhausted to say that we are finally home. After almost two weeks on the road with about a 1/3 of that in the van, I am ready just to kick back and relax. As are the kids. Towards the end of the trip we started experiencing behavioural issues from Kaelen and major fussy bouts from Masyn.

There are many stories and pictures to share but for tonight, I am just going to kick back and relax. Okay, a wee bit of a lie. I will dig into emptying the suitcases, start the laundry, dust the house ....... and so on. In addition to the plethora of chores that are just begging me to take care of, we also have guests. I have a cousin that I brought back to Calgary who will be staying with us for the remainder of the week and a family arriving on Friday for a weekend visit. Oh, and Masyn has her vaccinations tomorrow and both kids have check ups on Thursday. Hmm .... did I say relax? Perhaps in another week or so.

So. How are you all doing?

Still on that Potty Express

We are into Day 7 and are still riding (euphorically at that) on that Potty Express. We have only had two accidents and now the little man is looking like he is training himself to hold his pee overnight. Yep. How lucky am I? The diapers have been dry every morning with Kaelen beyond excited upon waking to run to his singing potty to have a "Monster Pee". I am still pinching myself every morning thinking that I am in the midst of a dream so we will see .....

Aside from the potty training, the trip so far has been excellent. Each day we have gone on a new adventure that has Kaelen jumping up and down with excitement. Due to the extremely dry weather here, the forest fires have been in abundance so there has been so much activity around here. The province has brought in one of the world's largest water bombers to help combat the issues here and it takes off, lands and sleeps for the night right by my mom's house. In addition to the big red (and loud) plane, my mom also lives close to the helicopter pad so those are flying back and forth all day long. Kaelen's career ambitions have now gone from wanting to be a garbage man to a helicopter pilot. That has a few of my family members sighing with relief with this newest choice of a career path.

Masyn is sitting up all on her own now as well as sporting a nice new tooth, which brings the count to two. We were at a good family friend's house on Thursday and there was a three month old baby there; it weighed the same as Masyn and was just as long. It brought a few laughs to us at just how petite my little girl is.

Tomorrow, this Mommy has a night out without the kids to attend a wedding and reception. I promise to behave myself (reasonably well) and won't be featured on the next issue of "Mommies Gone Wild". I am keeping my fingers crossed that Masyn will take the bottle for Nana and that my boobs won't increase too much to the point that I will be walking around all night feeling like Pammy Anderson. It may pose a problem with my ability to perform up to my legendary "interpretive dancing" if I can't move my arms due to sporting concrete rockets.

The Potty Express

Aside from possibly Amber and the comments that I have left her in her attempts to teach her daughter how to potty, I don't think anyone realizes the trials of what we are going through in attempting to potty train Kaelen. It is suffice to say that he is an extreme test of patience and I have little tongue left from having to bite it or should I say chew it off. No matter the suggestions of how to go about teaching your child on potty etiquette and techniques, we have failed miserably. Rewards, throwing a potty party, stickers, bribes, charades to almost down right threats; nothing works. We have also tried the cold turkey attempts such as running around bare bum but that causes constipation. Experts tell me that if I get my act together, it can be done within a week unless you are Dr. Phil, then it would be 24 hours. Seasoned Moms tell me a couple of days but just ensure that I don't leave the house for those days .... yah right. Cooping my son up for a few days would ensure me a one way ticket to the fourth floor spa. What everyone unanimously has said is do not attempt to train with situations that could cause stress such as travelling or a new situation at home.

Well ... well .... what do all of those experts know? I mean, I am day three on the road and guess what? Kaelen has pooped and peed in the toilet for three days straight with only ONE accident. I mean, this kid woke me up at 3:00 am this morning crying to tell me that he just peed in his diaper. I tried to reassure him that peeing in a diaper at 3:00 am at this point is just fine, but he was adamant on going to sit on that damn potty and read a book in an attempt to pee again. Oh ... and have I mentioned that our "magic potty" is actually a possessed potty? Yep, in my many previous attempts to bribe my son to piss in the pot, I purchased the magic singing potty. You know, the one that sings a little song when your child does a number one or number two in it. Well this potty is possessed I tell you. It rarely sings it's magical song when showered with fecal love yet for no reason at all, it will decide to share in it's happiness with no one around. It particularly likes to show it's magical love during the night ... or should I say did until it received a nice boot from me to shut it up. Needless to say, it is now permanently turned off. Kaelen has asked me a few times why it won't sing for him (he will only do number one in it and will sit on the big potty for number twos) and I have told him that it got so tired from him using it so much over the past few days. Kaelen puffs out his chest and proudly exclaims that it is because he is a big and strong boy ......

I am trying really hard not to hold my hopes up too much yet as it is only a matter of time before we derail from my celebratory euphoria.