Best Friends in the Making

The little man went on a play date for most of the day on Wednesday. He went back to play with everyone from the day home that he attended prior to me going on maternity leave. It was great for him to see everyone again and it gave me some time to do some running around that I normally wouldn't have gotten done if I had to taken him with me.

Upon picking him up, he greeted me with a big hug and kiss and told me how much he missed me. Sigh ... it melted my heart. When I brought him to the van, he was excited because both Daddy and Masyn were there waiting for him as well. Kaelen went on to tell us that he had fun and that he really missed Masyn.

For the duration of the day, Masyn and Kaelen were inseparable as a baby and preschooler can get. At every given opportunity they would grin and make each other laugh; Kaelen wanted to hold her and play with her continually. Watching these two interact and take such joy in one another was so heartwarming for my husband and I. Our night was filled with precious laughs and moments like this:

Mind Your Manners

This past week has been a REAL test of my patience; a virtue that I have been working on diligently to improve upon. However, the tests that have been put forth to me of late I feel don't require patience but demonstrate to me just how many people are out there are ignorant. Now, some would argue that people just look for reasons to judge others which to a certain extent is true, however what I have experienced this week you couldn't even convince me that I am the one being judgemental.

A couple of days ago as a treat I took my son to Burger King for lunch. We had been waiting in lines the whole day and Kaelen was beyond patient. As many of you can attest to, three year old children don't really have the ability to stay still for long. The lineup was long, the playcentre within the King was closed for cleaning and the volume level was extreme at best. Again, Kaelen patiently waited in line until we received our burgers. Taking a seat beside the playcentre so Kaelen could envision himself playing in the area and ask me only a thousand times if the cleaning crew was finished yet, my eye was caught on the dynamics being exhibited by the family across from us. There were four children who though rambunctious, were really cute and good towards one another. The mom by the looks of it was perhaps having a bad day as she wore a perpetual frown for the half an hour. When it came time for the family to leave, one of the children started cleaning up their spilt french fries when the Mom in all of her wisdom said, "Don't bother with that - one of the idiots behind the counter can clean that up". Um ... excuse me? Did I just hear that? Believe me, I was extremely hard pressed to keep my mouth shut with a rebuttal. All I could think was "Nice example you are setting for your children woman". It is important to me to practice what I preach. So, if I expect Kaelen to clean up after himself, then I too should do so. If I expect Kaelen to say please and thank you and treat people with respect, then I too should do so. So, hearing what this woman said went against my principles. Are those people behind the counter not people too? This is a fast food restaurant and for me anyways, that usually means that I am responsible to clean up after myself by dumping my garbage and return the tray to the spot provided. And ... what are those children going to learn if their mother calls people idiots and gives them the perception that some jobs are more demeaning than others?

Today when we were at the grocery store, we experienced another doozy. After buckling the kids up in their seats and in the process of buckling myself up, I heard a smack and the van literally shook from the impact. Startled, I looked around to see what happened only to discover that the elderly lady parked beside me, flung her door open which in turn smacked into the side of the van. Stunned, I waited to see if the lady would look at me and either apologize or look sheepish. After a minute, I realized that she had no intention of doing so. So, I let the window down and said, "Excuse me, do you realize that you just hit my van?" Her response: "Oh?" Giving her the benefit of the doubt I commented, "Yes you did. It kind of startled me as I think that you may have hit it a little hard". Her reply, "Well I am sorry dear. If it is such an issue to you, why don't you get out of your car and take a look at it". Okay. I am seeing red here. Maybe I approached this situation wrong but come on, I am not the one who did the wrong. So, I got out and checked it out and sure enough, a dent was made with paint coming off in the process. The elderly lady told me that it was no big deal and that I was over reacting. Umm ... hello ..... you just hit my car. If she were at least sincere about it, I wouldn't have cared and laughed it off. But the fact that she was so damn ignorant to me, I just wanted to argue with her there. However, I took the high road and just walked away; my children were in the van watching me and the last thing that they needed to see was me ripping a strip off of an elderly woman about respect and manners.

Perhaps I am truly super anal but I at least know how to admit fault and treat people with respect. It is important to me to let my children see that Mommy makes mistakes too. This past winter, when pulling into a parking spot, I nudged the van beside me. I could have walked away pretending nothing happened as there was no damage but I couldn't for two reasons: One is that Kaelen was with me and Two, that is not the kind of person I am. Instead, Kaelen and I stood outside for ten minutes in the freezing cold until the owner of the vehicle came and I explained what had happened and apologized sincerely. The owner was appreciative that I did that and it gave me an opportunity to teach my son to own up to mistakes and take responsibilities for them. When we are out about town, I go the extra effort to help out people who look like they need a hand if we are standing in line or in the parking lot. That is the kind of person that I was raised to be and that I in turn want my children to learn from me.

There have been other issues such as these two that have happened this week, I could share them with you but I would rather try to forget about them. So in an effort to get over this black cloud of lack of manners everywhere that I feel is hanging over me, when treating myself to a hot tea on my home from the grocery store today, I paid for the person behind me in the Tim Horton's drive thru. Perhaps they too had a black cloud hanging over them and it got lifted by a random act of kindness.

WORLESS WEDNESDAY

Precious Moments

Leaving Memories for Your Child

I think my mom was on to something as she stashed away all of the little things when we were younger. Things like receiving blankets, baby blankets, pictures that we drew for our parents to the hundreds of craft projects that we came home with over the course of our school years. My sister and I literally have a rubber tub each filled with these treasures. It has been fun over the past year or so to pull out that tub and look through it. It guarantees a good laugh and it has inspired me to do the same for my children.

One thing that I do wish that my mom would have done was write down her thoughts of what it was like to be a parent in the moment. Especially now that I am a mom. I find myself asking my mom if she ever went through the similar feelings that I have been experiencing with my children and my mom tells me that she really can't remember. This resulted in me starting an "anything box" for each of my children. Each box is equipped with blank recipe cards that I can write down something that I thought was particularly funny in that moment or if I felt incredibly frustrated. I write down my thoughts and put them into the box with the intention of organizing it all at a later date. Other things to be found in the box(es) is each child's outfit that they came home from the hospital in, hospital ID tags, monthly height/weight measurements, newspaper clippings of events that happened on the day they were born on, first hair clippings and so on. Basically, thoughts and/or items that I think that my children would enjoy when they get older or they themselves become parents.

I am always looking for ideas on how I can share my experience(s) with my children when they come of an age when they are curious. And then I came across this blog site via Stephanie over at Adventures in Babywearing. Our Seven Qtpies is endorsing this FABULOUS book. What a great idea! I mean, who wouldn't want to leave a legacy of memories behind for their children to have as treasures once they get older? Just think, if you are a parent right now, wouldn't it be so very touching to read letters that your parents left to you? Just knowing that you are going through those similar feelings now with your children as they did with you? I think that this book is going to be a very good read for me. I plan on ordering it today and will definitely share with you all, all of the beautiful ideas that come out of it.

So, on an ending note, I just wanted to thank my mom. Thank you mom for saving all of those precious memories of us when we were children. You don't know how touching it is to go through all of the scribbles that you saved, or that I get to wrap my children in the receiving blankets that I was once wrapped in. I get infused with warm fuzzies every time I go through my box of memories. What you saved for me is a treasure that will always remain near and dear to my heart. Thank you for sharing with me just how loved I was when I was a child.

Watch Out Target .... Here We Come!!

It is official! The United States will never be the same again ... or should I say the states of District of Columbia and Virginia. That's right folks, our little family has purchased our flight tickets. I am in the process of getting together our passport information to get those expedited now that I know my exact travel dates (if you can show proof of airline ticket purchase, for an extra $10 per passport, you can have them expedited within five weeks instead of the projected 10 week wait).

And have you seen the exchange rate on our dollar? How exciting is that? I can remember the days that we would go shopping in Spokane and our dollar was worth .95 cents .... ahem ... perhaps I am dating myself here. Yes folks, those times were the late 70's and early 80's. I am off to the bank today to exchange some moola seeing as it is par for if I waited until closer to our travel date, then you know that we will fall back down to the .64 cent range. I haven't had the chance for about five years to do some shopping in the United States so I am super excited. And my first stop will be Target. Yes, many people may be groaning out loud at that but it is truly one of my favourite places to shop on earth. Hubby has already been forewarned and it was definitely a negotiated point on the trip itinerary; he goes to a NBA game and I get to shop at Target. It is a deal made from heaven really.

I am also looking for some suggestions for places that we must go and see. So far, we have the sporting outlets covered: NFL, NHL and NBA. Those are all a done deal. I want to do some sight seeing so the Smithsonian and Monument are on the top of my list. Where should I go??? And, I am thinking because we are heading down there for the beginning of December, everywhere will likely be decorated beautifully for Christmas; my favourite time of year.

Lastly, how far are some of you from DC? I have a girlfriend driving up from NC for a day and my hubby is really encouraging me to take an overnight trip somewhere to have some girly time for myself. How far is NYC? Any suggestions??

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

It's a Bird! ..... It's a Plane! ....

It's .... Super Kaelen!

A New Perspective

Fortified with two cups of coffee and armed with five consecutive hours of sleep, making it a total of six hours of sleep; I feel like a new Mommy today. It is amazing the wonders of sleep and what it can do for one's piece of mind.

Thank you for all of the tremendous support for my whining rant yesterday. You know, it is funny; I have never met about 90% of you yet there are days that I feel so close to you all. Knowing that you too are all mommies and can all relate is truly so very comforting. I am truly grateful for you all.

So how are the kiddies today? Well Kaelen is fine - just dealing with the tail end of a snotty cold. Masyn on the other hand isn't getting much better. The fever is still there and is starting to be accompanied by a lot of pulling of her left ear. As a precaution, I was able to get her into my family doctor this morning. I don't want to find out that I ignored an ear infection that was the root cause of all of this. Deep down I am pretty sure that it is just a nasty cold but I can never be too cautious when it comes to my children. So, signing off for now but will be back later on today to visit all of your sites and to post again on how my little girl is doing.

Help. Need. Sleep. Badly.

Feeling like death warmed over, this Mommy is waving the white flag. I surrender. I need help.

These past two days have been really difficult. It started out first with Kaelen getting sick and it has now transferred to Masyn. Masyn slept all of three hours last night. The remaining nine of those hours she cried; not a whimper cry but a full blown tantrum cry. The back arching, puke inducing, get your throat raw kind of cry. And, absolutely NOTHING I did was able to console her into a relaxed state. Meanwhile, luckily, Kaelen slept like the dead for he was the one performing the night before.

So, my tank is getting darned close to running on fumes. I have been trying to figure out a way to get caffeine injected into my veins to help keep me going as I have had a total of five hours of sleep in the last 48+ hours. To add to my pity party, I am tired of the newest fragrance that can be scented on me: Eau de Barf, or the luminescent marks on my clothes and upper body of snot and wait: yes, I am pretty sure that I am now coming down with the Plague. My chest feels like there is at least a 100 pound weight on it and my throat is starting to get raw. Nice. Did I mention the copious amounts of laundry that come with all of that barf and snot?

Wait, I am sure that all of you know as you have all been through this many times before. I honestly don't know how you all do it; dealing with one sick child is tough but more than one at the same time is just plain draining. How do you manage to comfort both kids when they need and want you? Kudos to you all: you have my heartfelt admiration. I just plain suck really. I am ashamed to say that I almost broke last night. At one point of Masyn's ongoing cry fest, I caught myself getting mad at her. Why, I kept asking myself. Why get mad at her when all of this isn't her fault. She is the one that feels like crap and yet there I was feeling sorry for myself because I was tired and irritated. I can't imagine how difficult it is for parents who have a colic baby. I honestly can't imagine. These past two days have been a HUGE wake up call for me. I have so much yet to learn about myself and MANY MANY things to work on with patience being number one on the list.

So, today (so far) has been about me fighting back the tears, hugging my children in hopes that they know just how much I love them and what they mean to me. I can't tell you how many times that I have apologized to Masyn for getting mad in her time of need. It is not like I did anything bad - I just told her to settle down and quit being a drama queen in my stern mean Mommy voice. For some reason and I am trying to convince myself (to make myself feel better), that I am just over emotional about this all because I too am tired and not feeling well.
This is the one time that I wish my mom would impart those words that I have learned to dislike: Allison, quit being so over dramatic about this.

Anyone? Please tell me that I am overreacting about this ......

Uh Oh ... The Plague Has Arrived

Yep. That's right, it has arrived. We are on Day 3 and both kids have been felled so the next day or so should prove to be interesting if not long. This is Masyn's first cold and I just hate to see babies get colds as you feel so very helpless at times to help alleviate their discomfort. Aside from children's Tylenol, fluids, the nasal aspirator and possibly a humidifier, what else can I do? Any suggestions? She is a cuddler and even more so now, so she has been attached to me since yesterday afternoon. We slept together last night and well now I am finding it difficult. Difficult because Kaelen wants Mommy too. He is being a trooper, but has periods of the day where he just wants to be held and comforted by Mommy's heartbeat and warm body wrapped around his. I try to accommodate this by putting Masyn beside me when she is sleeping and then hold the little man but it doesn't always work. Sigh ....

The most concerning of this whole thing is that my girlfriend's little boy has just been diagnosed with the measles. And as Murphy's Law would dictate, my children were playing with him right at his contagious stage. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that this doesn't develop into the measles for either one although, her son's illness started out with the runny nose and fever. Crap. That is what my kids have right now. I check their bellies and backs almost on an hourly basis in hopes that I don't see "the rash" developing and am convincing myself that their illnesses is just the seasonal fall cold. Please oh please be that .........

A Big Smile Here

A big THANK YOU to Sheryl over at Peanut Butter and Jelly Boats! Sheryl being the beautiful person that she is nominated me for this award! Wow - I am truly touched. Thank you Sheryl!!

Now it is my turn to nominate two people. As much as I would love to give it right back to Sheryl, I am pretty sure that I need to pass on the love to others.

I would like to pass on this nomination to Jenn over at My Life in a Nutshell. Jenn has always provided me encouraging words when I have written about doubts. She always has a compliment ready for me and happy thoughts. Jenn didn't even freak out when I recognized her in the mall a couple of weeks after having my daughter and basically stalked her to stop and introduce myself. She was so warm and inviting.

My next nomination is for Breanne over at A Girl and Her Pug. Breanne is one of the most giving people and kind hearted people I know. New to the blogging world and married life, it has been cute watching her learn all of the new things that life has to give.

Getting To Know Me

Tagged by my new blogging friend Ellen, here are a few things that you may not know about me. Oh ... and keep checking out Ellen's site as she is eagerly awaiting the arrival of a precious little one and today is day two past her due date (unless you went into labour last night and none of us know ..... ) But first, here are the rules:


Post these rules before you give the facts. You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.) When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post and then choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don't' forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.


Here were go:


L - Loud - Believe it or not for some of you that are just getting to know me, I used to be a very shy girl. Something changed at about the age of 8 and since then I grew to love being in the spotlight. Now, I am not loud in the obnoxious sort of way, but I do like to have a good debate, I love conversation and have a difficult time not talking, I like to public speak and well have been known to dress rather .... erm .... loud as my husband would say.


Y - Youthful - I want to stay young in mind forever. I am a firm believer that age is what you make of it, so if you act like you are 60, then you will be 60. If you keep a good outlook on life, learn from your mistakes and approach difficulties and troublesome times with humour, then it will help you maintain that youthfulness that we all see in our children. And, if that doesn't work, then be sure to hang out with children as their enthusiasm will certainly let you forget about your worries and troubles if only for a couple of minutes.


N - CommuNicative - Okay ... so I cheated. I am having a hard time with the N's that are descriptive of me. So I choose this one as it has a N in it. I love talking to people. I am a very verbal person. I want to get to know people, am fascinated by them and can sit for hours getting to know a person.

N - Neurotic - I used to be and to a certain aspect in my life still am. I am a perfectionist when it comes to myself. I used to be so concerned that I could have done better when failing and would beat myself up over it. As a result I became neurotic in everything in my life: something wasn't cleaned the right way, or jeez ... I haven't cleaned the house in two days ... a project at work could be done better .... to oh - that work function isn't being planned correctly so I will just take it over so it will be done right and perfectly. I am learning though and have definitely relaxed since becoming a mom. My children have taught me that imperfection is just as perfect and the world isn't going to fall apart if I don't do it perfectly.

E - Enthusiastic - I have endless amounts of energy. I am always up for a good laugh and will jump in feet first for almost anything. Wanna dress up bizarrely for no reason? Count me in. Wanna sing some off tune karaoke? Okay - I am in! I will join in on any fun regardless if it makes me look like a fool. I love to laugh and see others laugh so will do almost anything to ensure that happens.

Okay, so now you know a little more about me. I tag the following people in hopes to learn a little more about them: Christie, Breanne, Ellen, Jenn and Stephanie.

Wordless Wednesday

Golf Anyone?

I Remember

Today for me, it is a day full of reflection and tears. Although I wasn't directly affected by the horrific tragedies that occurred, the events that took place broke my heart. It infused me with fear of the ugly that exists in our world.

Six years later, I still wear my heart on my sleeve in compassion for all of the people and their family and friends that were directly touched by this. I can't imagine how truly devastating it must be for those out there that suffered loss(es), for those that lived in the fear of that day and for those that practiced such extreme selfless bravery. The events that went down on this day were truly horrific and unfathomable.

My heartfelt prayers today go out to all of those families that were touched by these horrific tragedies and to those that have to live their lives in warfare, poverty and daily struggles. May God bless you all.

Ooohhhhh .... Pick Me!

Once again, Steph over at Adventures in Babywearing is having a fabulous contest. And yes ... once again I am going to cross my fingers and toes in hopes of winning this gorgeous ring sling! I can just see it now .... not only would I look fabulously hip for once, but it would fulfill Masyn's inner diva requirements too! We would certainly be rocking the town sporting this sling should we be the lucky gals to win it!!

In the meantime, I am headed over to Rockin Baby to check out all of their swanky stuff.

UPDATE:

I won!! Thank you so much Steph and to Rockin Baby!! This is honestly the first contest that I have ever won!!

I can hardly wait to get this and I promise to post a picture of us two ladies being the stylish divas that we are!!!!

Again, thank you so very much!!!!

Birthday Boy Breakfast

Happy Birthday Kaelen! You turn three today and Mommy, Daddy and Masyn love you so very much!!

Celebrating 3 Years

It is hard to comprehend that my little man will be celebrating his third birthday this weekend. I mean, I close my eyes and can relive those precious moments of his birth within seconds. Parents always tell you that as your child grows up, the times and experiences with them only gets more fun. This has been true for us, however we would like to savour each stage of Kaelen's growing just a little bit longer. We want to soak it all in as each day our little boy becomes all that much wiser and becomes just that much more independent.


Now that Kaelen has experienced a few birthday parties under his belt, he is wired for his party which we are hosting tomorrow. He has been practising blowing out his candles and has been singing the birthday song to himself for about a week now. Each day he reminds me that he is getting bigger and stronger because he is going to be three years old. Our excursions to the mailbox have been an exciting adventure as presents have been arriving for him every day this week from family members who don't live here. Despite his excitement, he hasn't asked to open them as he knows that he must wait until his big day. And, you can just see the wheels turning in his head and his eyes light up in anticipation when he sees those presents sitting there on that shelf.


Today we are decorating for his party and cleaning up the house. Tomorrow will be the day of chaos with seven of his friends coming over with their parents. Our small little house will be filled with screams of laughter, crumbs from cake and bits of wrapping paper as the gift open frenzy begins. Sunday is Kaelen's actual birthday so he will be spoiled and get to open even more gifts, this time from his family. And, there will be more cake, balloons, crumbs, wrapping paper ..........


This is a picture of Kaelen only 13 hours old. It was the first time that I got to hold him since birthing him and I only got to hold him for 5 minutes due to him being a preemie. And the next picture was taken last week. Oh how they grow ......

Misled

When I was pregnant with my son, I voraciously read every book that I could get my hands on about pregnancy and how to raise a baby. I wanted to be informed about everything and be armed with knowledge for any situation that may arise. I remember reading in one book about breastfeeding. It discussed that no matter the size of a boob, a woman could breastfeed. HOWEVER, the book also said that boob size would not increase nor would breastfeeding cause boobs to sag. Ha! Ha! A man must have wrote that book.

With both of my kids, my boobs went from a barely there A cup to a DD cup size and at times even larger. Now, as some of you know, having large boobs was at times an issue for me. I found that they got in the way, I hated looking in the mirror and seeing these large bowling balls hanging from my chest. There were days that I dreamt of having my nearly flat chest back again. I found after weaning my son, my boobs came back a little smaller and they definitely drooped a little. Not a lot, but enough that there was no way that I was going to get away with wearing no bra - even if it was just around the house. I kissed those perky little things goodbye and embraced my slightly saggy ones with pride in knowing that they provided excellent nutrition to my son (who was a preemie at that).

I am currently in the process of completing the weaning process with my daughter. It was a difficult internal struggle to begin the weaning with her as I truly enjoyed every moment of breastfeeding. There was however the chance that I may have had to go back to work this month and pumping was just not an option for me. Pumping over stimulated my boobs no matter how I went about it; I would never fully drain and even a partial pump to alleviate discomfort would cause my boobs to literally triple in size. And, perhaps it is selfish of me and all, but I just didn't want to deal with having to pump in a bathroom stall or behind closed office doors and dealing with all of the hassle with it. It may work for some women, but the thought of it didn't work for me. So, my daughter and I have been working on the weaning for the past month. It was a very gradual process and now she no longer feeds from my breast. And, those breasts of mine have gone from that DD cup back to my barely there A cup. HOWEVER, that book that I had originally read has lied to me again. My breasts now resemble that of dried up, empty pastry sacks. I now embody that of a flat chest with these two little bumps at the bottom of my rib cage. There is now no way that I could ever go bra less again.

In a humorous attempt to poke fun at my new body (which don't get me wrong: I am prideful of those boobs despite their new appearance as they nourished my daughter for six months) to my husband, our conversation went a little like this:

Me: Honey. Check this rack out now. You thought that my DD leaky boobs were a little scary, what do you think of these now?

Hubby: Erm. I don't want to look at your boobs.

Me: Why not?

Hubby: Well why? Why do you want me to check them out?

Me: So you can see into the future of what they will look like when we are old and geriatric. What you see now is what you will see in 30 years from now.

Hubby: Hmm ... not a pretty sight. Is that what they truly look like when you get old? Perhaps we could save up and get you a lift.

Child Care Secured

A big Yay and a big Ugh .....

I have been blessed to have totally lucked out and secured child care for both of my children come February. And, my family has hit the jackpot big time because it is back in the dayhome that Kaelen was in prior to me going on maternity leave. We truly feel that the dayhome that Kaelen was in was a godsend and Cathy ... well on more than one occasion I have told her that she is an angel that was sent to us. Cathy is incredible and as a parent, I couldn't have asked for anyone better to watch my babies while the two of us work.

Now, the ugh part means that I do have to head back to work come February and in reality it isn't that far away. That also means that I will likely have to dig out my old resume, update it and start beating the pavement soon to see what is out there. I would love to go back to my former place of employment that I was at before having Masyn but that will all depend on whether there is any openings at that time. I won't lie in admitting that there is a small part of me that continues to hope that a big dream job will open up for my husband come the end of the golf season that pays really well. Or at least well enough that it will allow for me to stay at home with my children and for us to live relatively comfortably. Kind of selfish of me isn't it?

Calling All East Coast Bloggers ....

Attention ... or should I say, Beware!

I think that we will be packing up the family and coming down to the east coast for two weeks in early December. We have very good friends whom live in Virginia and work in D.C. . Right now we are just trying to figure out our dates and which airline(s) we are going to fly with.

I have always wanted to see the east coast so we plan on doing a lot of driving and sight seeing when we are down there. Anyone game for possibly meeting up once we have our dates secured?

How far is say Florida ... or ... Chicago ... or New England ... or Philly ... Or gosh ... my mind is coming to a blank with some of the places that some of your all live. We will be staying in Alexandria, VA.

I should have our passport apps done by the end of this week but as Murphy's Law would dictate, I have erm ... slightly misplaced my marriage license so my passport renewal could be an issue. It is in the house so I am not too concerned, I just have to find what box it is hiding in ..... That and hopefully our passports will fly through the process and won't take the projected 10 week backup .....