Not Much About Nothing

Ever have one of those days where you could go on talking about something, yet when you try to figure out what you were talking about you realize that it was about nothing? Yep - that is what it has been like for me these past couple of days. There have been situations or experiences that happen and I think, "wow, I really need to post about this" and then I start to write about it and realize that it is kind of boring, perhaps not appropriate or just plain stupid.

I think that I may need to Google the term "Writer's Block" to see what the definition is. Then again, I am not really a writer so what would you call it?

Spectacular View of the Mountains, Early Morning with Sunshine and a Steamy Cup of Coffee:

Contentment

To play along in the fun, click on the above icon or go to visit, Jenn in Holland!

Wordless Wednesday

Bedtime Giggles

Finding a Job

My little fairy tale is trying hard not to come to an end but sooner or later it has to happen. I need to find a job because we just can't survive on my husband's income alone but wow ... is it ever tough to find one in this small town. There just really isn't a lot out there right now and I as Murphy's Law prevails, I have managed to secure child care for the kids, but will have to give up those spots at the end of the month should I not find work. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to find something to do out of my house, administrative wise but at this point, I am starting to seriously consider taking in two children as a means of income.

I look back on that last sentence and it seems so cold but the thought of doing that does kind of excite me. It would allow me to stay at home with my children, it would give my children two other playmates and I could give other parents the security of knowing that their children are being well cared for. Yet, there is that part of me that is scared to take the leap because I know how hard it is to get back into the office atmosphere when you are out of it for a couple of years. I have worked in Human Resources and have seen the quiet shuffle of a short listed resume if that person hasn't been active in the work force. It is sad but true.

And when I start thinking of all sides of my situation (of having to go back to work) and thousands of other families out there in the same predicament, I get kind of irked that society is the way that it is. It irks me too that there is such a low priority placed on the importance of places for our children for working parents. We as working parents, will have to fork over a quarter (at least) of our monthly income for child care, yet that child care person is so grossly under paid for the job that they do. Being a child care provider is such an important job but there just isn't any monetary viability in it either. Hence, why many day home providers are closing their doors: they are burnt out and under paid. And for some, probably under appreciated and feel taken advantage of by continuous tardiness from a parent to pick up their child, which for the most part, the parent was stuck at work with expectations from their superiors. It is all a big vicious circle really.

In the short term, I will continue to savour each day with my children and relentlessly pound the pavement for an office job while doing the necessary steps to open my own day home for two children just waiting to find an exciting and loving home to play in when their parents go to work.

Breaking The Habit

The timing is all wrong, but I guess that I could continue to make an excuse to delay the inevitable and hope that Masyn will go cold turkey on her own. And, the chances of that happening are that akin to Mother Nature listening to my pleas to stop the snow from falling.

Masyn is severely addicted to her pacifier which we call a "Chooch" in the house. At any given time, she will be sucking on one with a back up in her hand and should that fail to provide exceptional comfort to her, she will flop them around. Quite often, you can watch her take turns with the chooches within her grasp as if she wants to ensure them all that she doesn't play favourites. She has been known to have at least five within her little hands and she would rather struggle trying to crawl around than to give them up.

We are on day three of trying to break the chooch habit during the day and then once we get that down pat, I will work on the night. I know that it is more a habit than soothing need as she doesn't miss the pacifier if she doesn't see it. In fact, she will for the most part, forget all about them because she is fickle that way. Yet, upon the first sighting, she would likely break the world baby crawling record by sprinting across the room furiuosly as if the thing is going to run away.

However, Masyn has come down with Kaelen's cold and both yesterday and today, she has been miserable and providing comfort to her is proving to be somewhat challenging. And, as if she had known that rehab was coming, she has hidden the little buggers away .... in good spots at that. There are probably a total of 10 in the house and at any given time, I can only find say 3 if I am lucky. It is kind of funny because I am trying in vain to be firm with not caving and giving her a chooch, yet it doesn't really matter what Mommy wants because she will just go and find one from her secret stash. And, because of this massively snot plug nose of hers, it is not like she can suck on it anyways, so it hangs out of the side of her mouth like Popeye with his pipe.

I have read somewhere that you are supposed to cut off the ends of the soothers a little bit at a time but gosh, I just don't think that I am brave enough to suffer the repercussions on that. So, I figure if I go slowly with the weaning that life in this household will be saner and a little more liveable.

So, my question to you all, have you ever had to deal with a soother addiction with one of your children? Do you think that I should just wait and see if she will self wean as she is only 14 months and it is not like she is three. What are your thoughts?

Mother Nature .. Are You Out There?

Dear Mother Nature,

We are very tired of snow, please send us sun and soon.


Yours In Need,

Me

Serving Notice

A Public Notice to All Concerned,

I hereby admit freely that for the past week and for the next five weeks to come, that I will be addicted to my brand new 50 inch plasma TV. Currently, it is on a daily basis but it will slowly taper to two to three times a week in the next coming weeks.

There is just something to be said at how incredible the NHL hockey playoffs look in High Definition and on a TV screen that is not 19 inches.


Yours in Hockey Heaven,

Allie


PS - You don't need to worry about the kids as they are not neglected too severely for hockey starts just before bed time.

Gotcha!

The weather was spectacular this weekend as was the company. I was spoiled by having my sister come down for two days to hang out with us and check out our new digs. Due to the warm, beautiful sunshine, we spent most of the weekend outside playing and there was a lot of life coming out in full force. You could see little flowers starting to poke their little buds out of the winter sore ground, grass was being raked and given a good breathing, bees and butterflies were out in full force. The bees especially were attracted to Masyn's shirt. Her shirt has small little embroidered flowers on it and they just would not leave her alone. At one point, I actually picked her up and a bee chased us around the yard for a full two minutes trying in vain to get at one of her flowers. It was creepy really.

And for Kaelen, all of this activity gave him a perfect excuse to try out his new butterfly net in hopes of catching some form of life to live in his new bug house. Somehow, I don't think that this particular species is indigenous to the Cranbrook area:

Kaelen catching his Auntie Tee Tee

One day Masyn will kill me for her not looking perfect in this picture, but I just had to post it so you could see what the bees were after: all of those little flowers on her shirt.

The Boy Next Door

Right now, we are loving Cranbrook. On days like today, where it felt like spring has arrived with the beautiful sunshine and crisp wind, one couldn't ask for a more uplifting kind of day. We spent most of the day outside playing and get this .... playing with the kids in the neighborhood. A few times when we met new kids, when Kaelen introduced himself, we would hear the typical reply "Oh ... you are the new kid next door to ..... "

It was blissful really. Watching the big smile that came across Kaelen's face as he eagerly tried to impress his "new best friends" by laughing and showing them all of his toys. While Kaelen is still the youngest kid on the block, he is keeping up relatively well with the older boys on the block. And bless their little hearts, most of them are super kind to Kaelen and are always encouraging him to play with them whether it is hockey or basketball.

It is a dream coming true for me. I have waited for this day it seems like forever to have the luxury of hearing excited screams and laughter outside. To have kids run around in my yard and neighbors yards having the most excellent adventures that their imaginations allow them to have. And, as I did witness today, it is only a matter of time before hurt feelings come forth because older kids can only play with young ones for so long before one of the older ones has to become cruel. Thankfully, Kaelen remained blissfully ignorant to the comments from this one boy even if it did take all of my will power not to get involved and verbally strike back to this boy. As Kaelen and I walked into the house for dinner, he was excitedly talking about how wonderful his day was and I was silently wiping away the tears for the hurt feelings in the future.

Aside from that one incident, it couldn't have been a more perfect day. Kaelen is tuckered out in bed with a smile on his face and Masyn is probably dreaming of bubbles seeing as us two girls went through two bottles of bubble juice today while sitting on the lawn. Isn't spring so great?

Little Miss Diva

She is stinking cute and a true handful. At 13 months, she is already displaying her penchant of expecting things to go her own way, demanding that she is the center of attention and most days, tries to ensure that she is the cutest little one in the room even if it means resorting to doing a stupid human trick.

If I had consumed that extra cup of coffee yesterday morning, I would have put the camera on video to capture her little dance routine that accompanied her fly girl hat (which she put on herself) to her favourite song. And this my friends I am not lying about, it is Low by Flo Rider and T Pain. The song came on and before you knew it, she ripped Kaelen's hat off, put it on and began shaking that little booty of hers. In this picture, she just got a little too low that she fell on her ass and, like the diva she is, quicky grabbed a few building cups to make it look like it was part of an innocent baby routine.

Blissful Nights

Yep - it is official, my marriage is like your favourite, worked in pair of shoes. You know, the ones that you can't live without because they are the best thing that you have ever worn ....

You can tell that we are comfortable in our lives together as I look across the living room and he is sprawled out on the couch, channel surfing in bliss and all dreamy while eyeing the action on our swanky new 50 inch plasma TV. Meanwhile, I am stretched out in my glory here on the other couch playing around with my fabulous new laptop and both kids are snuggled in their beds. Sigh .... could this night get any more perfect? The two of us giggle away in rapture commenting on how we have both gotten what we want as far as entertainment for the night. Our anniversary is in two days and prior to moving to Calgary, we both realized that we would have the opportunity to actually go out on a dinner date for our special day as we would be living in Cranbrook and would have my cousin or aunt to watch the kids while we snuck out and had a romantic evening.

I mean, dates are totally over rated are they not? Like who gets romance when you have kids? Ahem .... okay that is going to be our tag line excuse while this new novelty in our lives is exciting. Pathetically, we are seriously thinking of bagging the date and romance and settling in on the couches. Sad, I know, but being married for 4 years and 363 days and living in sin for 10 years prior to that, we are sincerely happy together so who is to say that the couches aren't just as important?

On an ending note, Kaelen was very adament the other night on giving Masyn her bedtime bottle. Isn't he just the best big brother?

Busy with Spring

Keep your fingers crossed and hope that spring has finally arrived down here in sleepy Cranbrook. We have all just about had it with off again and on again snow showers dumping 4 inches of snow over an hour of chaotic unpredictable weather. Perhaps chalk it up to cabin fever but I am done with the snow and am looking forward to warmer days of running around in the yard chasing bubbles or creating chalk art on the driveway with the kids. I long for that first day of planting late spring, early summer flowers that will decorate my deck and walkway entrance. I long for the warm nights where we can have picnic dinners on the deck and listen to children running around in the neighborhood with their enthusiastic laughter and adventurous screams. I can hardly wait to teach Kaelen how to ride his first bike and make new friends at the soccer pitch when his little league starts up. I can hardly wait for Masyn to master her walking technique and showing her that wonderful world of adventures just waiting for her to explore in our backyard.

Yes .... spring needs to come and fast for this girl.