The Kiddos

Anyone For Pie?

2009-04-29T14:58:00.001-04:00

*I just found this in a file marked "blog", probably about a year old. Amazing how things change. Or don't.*

Roanen has been getting into EVERYTHING - climbing on the island, pulling stuff out of the cupboards, screaming ear-splittingly when something doesn't go his way or right into Tristan's face when he gets mad at him, drawing in pen on the wood kitchen table, cutting pages out of my books, throwing anything he can get his hands on at the baby, taking stuff out of the freezer, eating sand (not dirt, because that would be gross you know), throwing handfuls of ashes out of the burning bin and wiping his ashy hands all over himself, lying on top of Tristan, pulling Josey's ears, attempting to call China and/or 9-1-1, pulling all the wipes out of the wipe holder and scattering them around the house, standing up to pee in the tub just seconds after he gets off the potty insisting "It's not working!", stopping the washer mid-cycle without my knowledge (because although the controls lock, evidently "stop" isn't considered a control), standing on the top of the chest freezer, hammering dents into the wood coffee table, kicking the cat, helping himself to overflowing glasses of water in the bathroom, poking the snake with a toilet paper roll, unpotting house plants, taking all the cushions of the couch and pulling stuffing out of them, climbing up on the island and swinging the pots and pans so they clank around, and refusing, REFUSING, to have anything to do with the potty, underwear, or being without a diaper, tossing my engagement ring down the cold air return. Fortunately he makes up for it by doing things like announcing "That where Nonno lives" when we drive by any cemetery, asking "Why you mad at me?" very earnestly when he gets yelled at, gently grabbing our ears for a second as a part of his bedtime routine, open mouth kissing, giving Tristan toys to play with, eating all but the tiniest shred of core when he eats apples and pears, asking for "chicken on a bone" and eating until the drumstick is completely clean, letting Josey lead him around by the hand on "adventures" through the yard, running downstairs in the morning yelling "Mommeeeee! I had a GOOD SLEEP!" whether he was up 5 times or not at all, needing to be kissed in whatever exact spot he hurts ("No, ON my tongue!"), playing well on his own for long stretches of time, making me laugh every single time I walk into a room and hear "No, I'M in here!" because he wants to be alone while pooping.

In new news, Roanen has puked twice today. After the second time he (against my wishes) shovelled in toast and eggs, then asked for pie. When I refused to give it to him on the basis that he would probably just throw it up, he insisted that he needed it so that his throw up could be a new colour this time.

Let's Try This Word Out...

2009-04-20T16:09:00.003-04:00

Roanen was helping me bring a pile of laundry downstairs to wash so I told him he was a very helpful boy.
"I s... su...suhtainly am"

3 Months...

2009-04-08T09:45:00.002-04:00

...pregnant.

Not.

It's been 3 months since I've blogged - and not because I haven't had anything to blog, but because I still feel like I can't rationalize blogging instead of studying. Or cooking/cleaning. Or bombarding my junior kindergartener with reading drills so he enters SK with a second grade reading level and a nervous tic. And just in case I wasn't busy enough already, Russ got laid off and decided to go back to school in the fall so I had to go get me a job and be his sugar momma.

I've missed many an opportunity to record cute kid stories that I have now forgotten and/or will surely forget soon, and I'm not looking forward to the inevitable task of summarizing the past quarter-year in a completely bulleted post. I'm trying to convince myself that this blog doesn't always have to be funny, that it's really just here for the purpose of remembering the boys in something other than a blur. I shouldn't care whether someone important happens to come across it and dismiss it as just another boring mom blog, right? So I'm going to try to start up again, for me.

So I'm Not Nursing Anymore...

2009-01-13T16:00:00.002-05:00

Roanen: "Uh oh."

Me: "Uh oh what, Roan?"

Roanen: "Your boobs are all gone!"

His Secret

2009-01-13T15:37:00.004-05:00

Josey got off the school bus yesterday and moped his way into the house. He complained that he didn't feel well, but couldn't specify what felt bad other than a vague wave at his head. He said he hadn't hit his head or gotten hurt in any way, so I wondered if someone had been mean to him and he was reluctant to tell me. After much probing, he insisted that nothing had happened and that everyone at school was nice to him. Later on he had a bit of a fever and complained of a bad headache ("like there's a bowling ball smashing around in my head!" - how descriptive) and dizziness so I gave him some tylenol and he was fine for the rest of the night.

I stayed up late studying, and when I finally went to bed I lay awake wondering if something really had happened. What if an older kid had hurt - or worse, MOLESTED - him and told him that something bad would happen if he told anyone. I fought the urge to go in and wake him up and finally fell asleep, vowing to have a talk with him in the morning.

When he woke up I was already downstairs with Tristan sleeping on me (a new game - wake up at 5:30 and insist on going downstairs, then pass out on Mommy while she sits uncomfortably on the couch watching infomercials). I heard him thump out of bed, go into our room, then begin to cry when he couldn't find me. Assuming this new behaviour was because of the imagined horrible incident yesterday I quietly called out to him so he knew where I was. He was happy to find me and snuggled up close to us.

I took a deep breath and wondered how to go about introducing the subject without scaring the bejeezus out of him and decided to go the "secret" route. There are some good secrets, I explained, like knowing what Roanen's Christmas present is and not telling him, or planning a surprise party for Daddy's birthday. Then there are bad secrets - secrets that don't make you feel nice and excited inside. If someone tells you that something is a secret and it doesn't make you feel good, then it's important to tell someone you trust, like Mommy or Daddy or Grammie or Grampa, or even your teacher, so that the bad feelings can come out instead of staying inside and making you feel yucky. You won't get in trouble, and we'll be very happy to know, even if it's about something bad. He listened without commenting or asking any questions so I let it go for the time being.

All was fine this morning. He played as usual, but became quiet and thoughtful at lunch. All of a sudden he looked at me and said "Mommy, you know how we were talking about good secrets and bad secrets this morning?" My breath caught in my throat and my heart started beating faster. How was I going to deal with what he was about to tell me? This was huge. "Yes Buddy, what about it?"

He paused for a second, then leaned across the table and looked at me with big, serious eyes. Then he whispered:

"Can we please have a surprise birthday party for Daddy?"

Baby Steps

2009-01-08T10:00:00.000-05:00

After a couple of unsuccessful starts in the last 6 months, I decided to buckle down and potty train Roanen over a 5 day period when Russ was home 4 of those days. Past attempts lasted less than 3 hours, in which a most resistant Roanen screamed whenever he was in sight of the potty and constantly peed on the floor, the furniture, and people.

We warned him days in advance that the new year meant no more diapers. These excited reminders alternately produced bored stares or proclamations of "Yes I AM wearing diapers", and bringing the potty out of the bathroom closet caused it to be immediately kicked back in.

The original plan was the "Potty Train Your Child in a Day" method, in which the child is given mass quantities of chips or other salty snacks for staying dry, and gallons of sugary pop to quench his thirst. I'm assuming this is to make the kid want to drink, but I forgot that Roanen, while definitely a chip lover, doesn't really like sugary stuff, particularly fizzy sugary stuff. He stayed dry the first morning, sitting on the potty for half a second before getting off announcing that it wasn't working, but shovelled in the chips like there was no tomorrow. Once he actually HAD to pee though, he would very cleverly inform us that he was dry and would like a chip, then would walk into the other room with it and pee his pants. If he was forced to sit on the potty he would scream like we were killing him, and only once did he actually pee, but it was uncontrolled and in the middle of a screaming fit so it was hard to muster up great enthusiasm at it.

The plan for day 2 was a little different. We weren't going to reward him for simply staying dry. We weren't going to make a big deal about it. However, we were going to have Josey pee on the potty and get marshmallows every time he peed. While this elicited a "No, I'M going to pee on the potty all day and get marshmallows!" out of Roanen, when we actually put the plan into effect he couldn't have cared less about what Josey was doing and wanted to sit on the potty even less. He had one more forced, screaming pee before I nearly had a nervous breakdown and stopped. I was really at my wit's end, but was afraid of going back to diapers after all the fuss. I resigned myself to pee puddles for the next 6 years or so and lamented the fact that there are no potty training experts to hire. I would have gladly paid someone else to do this for me.

Then, a breakthrough.

On the second night, just after tossing him in the shower for the 16th time to wash pee off his legs, Roanen asked to watch the Cars movie. (sidenote - this child is obsessed with the Cars movie and we watch it at least once every day. Thankfully I don't get sick of it either.) Russ told him that if he peed on the potty he could watch it. And. He. Did. Just sat down and peed a little. I left his pants off at this point, put on the movie, and told him that if he peed on the floor the movie went off. Amazingly enough, after a few minutes he said he had to pee again, sat down, and peed. Um, seriously? This happened once more I think, then he went to bed. The next morning I kept his pants off again and he asked to pee on the potty about every 3 minutes. Shockingly enough he stayed dry all day, except for one accident just after Russ came home. A weight was lifted, but unfortunately there was still one problem. Despite the fact that it was obvious that he occasionally would REALLY have to poo, he kept those little butt cheeks firmly clenched and hadn't pooped in 3 days. Absolute refusal. We pumped him full of prunes and mineral oil and were rewarded with an 11 PM wakeup call to change a fist-sized rock o' poo in the pullup. Sunday was another poop-less day, albeit with one frantic poopy dance in the evening that he probably wouldn't have given in to even if we kept a continuous loop of Cars movie on a mini-TV strapped to his body. Pee-free, though, which was like a dream come true.

On Monday it finally sort of happened. I say sort of, because it involved him telling me that he was pooping in his pants, and I whipped them off so the tiny turd that had escaped Colon-catraz could drop into the potty while he screamed and tried to get up. Again, hard to be enthusiastic, but we faked it bigtime and rewarded him with prunes, fruit gummies, a lunch at the Dixie Lee, a huge car transporter, and a chocolate "severed finger" I found in the freezer that was leftover from Halloween. We had promised way more, but he didn't seem to remember or care about the other things... Anyway, he also had one pee accident that day, but other than that he's been super good for telling me when he has to go, and holding it long enough that I can get him on the potty. Each day there has been a little bit more progress, to the point that yesterday he sat on the potty twice and let the poop that had already mostly come out drop into it, and just about an hour ago he actually dropped a chunk into his pants, but then pushed a huge poop into the potty, complete with his usual "Get out of here!" while he was going. Oh, and he even stayed dry all night, something that Josey has yet to accomplish.

I'm absolutely amazed with how it all happened, and while the first two days were hell, overall it went waaaay more smoothly than I expected, and it was much easier than training Josey.

Two down, one to go.

*******

I know I haven't been blogging lately. It's not that I don't have anything to report; on the contrary, I have many stories about sleeping, teething, school, and evil 4 year olds throwing pretzels at the doctor's head, then destroying the doctor's office while trying to steal suckers. Another time. I feel guilty enough taking time away from cleaning or studying to write this.

One Ticket For Hell, Please

2008-12-18T21:53:00.002-05:00

Last night was Josey's school Christmas concert and while it had a couple of cute moments, it was mostly excruciating. However, it really brought out the Catholic in me, with religious thoughts crossing my mind ever so often like "Dear God, please let the murdering of this song be over", "Jesus Christ this is taking forever", and "Holy crap, there are some ugly people in this town who should probably not have procreated". Looking forward to next year.

Glitter. Almost As Bad As The Mariah Carey Movie.

2008-12-13T20:55:00.001-05:00

When we were in Ottawa last week Josey brought along his life savings (a whole $6.11) to go on a shopping spree in the nearby mall. I steered him clear of the huge bin of Hershey's kisses at Bulk Barn, informed him that a Goldendoodle puppy cost slightly more than 6 bucks, and gently nudged him in the direction of the craft section of Scholar's Choice. He was overjoyed at the prospect of POM POMS! PAINT! GOOGLY EYES! I was so overjoyed at the prospect of him being occupied for more than 7.3 seconds that I didn't even consider the consequences of one of his purchases - glitter. At the time I thought it was a pretty benign choice and imagined homemade Christmas cards all a-shimmer in red and green.

Reality: wielding a glue stick and said glitter he created a masterpiece of swirling sparkles all over a huge piece of bristol board, then proceeded to turn it over and do the same on the other side. Every time he lifted it up to examine/admire/display/move/"fix" it, showers of red poured off and caught drafts, landing on every surface and spreading through the entire house.

Remember the Love Shack? "Glitter on the front porch / Glitter on the highway". That's us, except it's more like "Glitter in the hallway / Glitter in the grilled cheese sandwich". Bad, BAD decision.

Stylisto

2008-11-24T08:12:00.003-05:00

This morning I'm going to be volunteering at Josey's school. So far he has critically looked me over, announcing that I look "nice", but could he please see what I look like without my glasses on? The contacts went in, but then he asked if I could put some makeup on because my face was red. I'm just waiting for him to sniff me and tell me to put on some deodorant.

Dear Ferber

2008-11-05T14:14:00.003-05:00

You suck. However, today, on the fourth day of using your techniques for naptime, Tristan stopped crying and fell asleep approximately 4 seconds after I left his bedroom. Keep in mind that neither Josey nor Roanen could fall asleep without someone touching them until well after their second birthdays. I'm liking you right now, but you still suck.

The Sleep

2008-11-04T15:22:00.000-05:00

Yes, the sleep is still an issue. One that is slowly getting better, but still an issue. The last I blogged about it, the PLAN was going to be put into effect. The PLAN involved a dream feed to ensure non-hungriness through the night, and the "put-down" technique from the Baby Whisperer ("Yeah, well your momma is so fat..." Oh wait, not that kind of put-down.) It starting working within a few nights. He was definitely sleeping much longer stretches and didn't require much effort to get back to sleep, then he got a stomach bug and started waking up thanks to explosive poos and angry-red sore bum. This went on for TWO FREAKING WEEKS and I ended up nursing him whenever he got up because I was worried about dehydration, not to mention the fact that it's pretty impossible to settle a cranky baby with a burning ring of fire any other way. To top it off, Roanen had diarrhea for a week during this time and required nightly diaper changes, and Josey also got it, but his involved him coming into our room complaining about a stomach ache, then a frantic dash to the toilet where he screamed bloody murder because of the stomach cramps. And repeat. And repeat. Oh, and did I mention that I had it too? Fun!

Anyway, after that nightmare I'm fairly certain I started the training again, but can't seem to remember much about it. It might have been working to a point. It might have involved hours on end of him screaming. I do remember a couple of rough mornings where I finally dragged him downstairs at 6 AM after he screamed his fool head off from 4 AM on. There was also a period where he would fool around at naptime so I would leave the room and he actually settled himself and went to sleep. Then it stopped, but I don't know why. Frankly, the last several years of sleep training/deprivation/hell have all blurred into each other and I can't recall details. I THINK it was sometime around the "settling himself" phase that he started sleeping longer stretches at night. The problem was that the longer stretch usually ended somewhere between 3:30 and 5:00 and he was all AWAKEGETMEOUTOFHERE*SCREAM**SCREAM*ALLDONESLEEPINGNOWNOWNOW*SCREAM* and while I can deal with the waking at night to a point, the early rising just isn't my bag, baby. At some point he would consistently sleep until 5 AM and that was it. He won that round, and I actually dragged myself downstairs with him and discovered that if I nursed him he would play quietly for a bit while I watched reruns of House on Showcase. Those were loooooong mornings, made extra fun by the fact that while he wouldn't go back to bed at 5, he was still exhausted and wanted to pass out by 7:30 so he could have a nice half hour nap. Not even enough time for me to snooze at the same time, even if I wasn't rushing around trying to get Josey ready for the bus.
Fortunately the wake-up call got a little later, and while he still only sleeps right through about a third of the time, he's generally ok to settle down in the night and sleep until a tolerable 6 AM or later. He even slept until 7:40 one morning which pissed me off to no end since I had to get up with the other boys. Naturally during this time Roanen has decided to get up between 1 and 4 times a night so it's not like we're getting any sleep. Heavens, no!

Once nighttime got a little better, bedtime and naptime deteriorated to the point that it was taking me at least 30 minutes to get him to sleep, three times each day. He would lie down and start to go to sleep while I rubbed his back. Then he would suddenly sit up, or start talking to the flowers on the wall, or just generally fool around and I would get pissed off and leave. Then he'd cry. Then I'd listen to the crying. Then I'd go back in and he'd lie down as if he was so very sorry he'd fooled around and he'll go to sleep if I'll just stay with him, then it would start all over again. Meanwhile, Russ could put him in the crib, sit on the couch, and he would be asleep in minutes. Likewise in the middle of the night if he got up - after much crying and flinging himself around the crib, I'd get sick of it and make Russ go in to him. I'd hear the crying, then a loud "SHHH!", then silence, and Russ would be back in bed in 2 minutes. Not. Fair.

On Sunday I decided enough was enough and started Ferberizing him (yes, I said Ferberizing) for naps. Two days later and it's taken him less than 10 minutes to get to sleep on his own for naps. No, I don't wish I'd done it earlier, but *knock on wood* it seems to be working so far. Hopefully it will eliminate night wakings too, but I'm not holding my breath. I am not even that close to being lucky.

As for the boobage, I dropped the daytime feeds about a week ago and he hasn't had a dream feed for 3 nights, so I think the milk bar is closed. Feels weird, but I don't miss it. He does, however, and every once in a while he gets that look in his eyes and starts pawing at my shirt. All the more reason to stop.

So that's about it. Long story..um..long.

You're Welcome?

2008-10-16T18:09:00.002-04:00

This morning in a burst of good-motherness I made crepes for breakfast. Since I had a leftover can of Thanksgiving whipped cream in the fridge I made two eyes and a smile on each of the boys' crepes and presented them with a flourish. Josey's response: "Awww thanks for putting a puking frog on my crepe Mommy!"

Lazy, But Competitive

2008-10-06T11:51:00.001-04:00

Every night after bath Josey and Roanen are supposed to clean up the zillions of books that they have spread around their room before coming downstairs for a snack. A few nights ago I walked into their room during this time to check on their progress since it was suspiciously quiet. I found Josey sitting on the floor reading with Roanen holding on to his earlobe and peeking at the book over his shoulder. I asked whether they were planning on finishing the job and Josey got up to grab more books to put away. Roanen jumped to his feet, looked at me with a pained expression, and said, very dramatically, "It's too hard! This book is just too heavy!" He picked up a book and, bending over like it weighed 40 pounds, held it by the fingertips. "See? It's just too too heavy for me!" The book dropped out of his fingertips. "Oh! I just can't hold it because it's TOO TOO HEAVY!" Josey raised his eyebrows, bent over, picked up the book and put it on the bookshelf and Roanen immediately screamed "NO, I WANTED TO PUT THAT BOOK AWAY!", grabbed it off the shelf, then gently put it right back on the bookshelf.

6 Random Things - No Rules Version

2008-10-04T08:21:00.003-04:00

I was tagged for a meme by my brother, only because he only has a couple of blogging friends and I was filler. I'm insulted. Just for that I'll do the meme, but I'm not going to follow the rules, just to show him. Or maybe I won't follow the rules because I actually don't know anyone who blogs so I can't tag them. Whatever. Here are my 6 random things:

1) When I was a senior in high school my best friend and I decided that instead of having our own lockers we would both just use hers because it was in closer proximity to the lockers of cute boys. Somehow we managed to fit in all our textbooks and binders, a flute, a clarinet (oh I was cool), random grooming items, plus we tossed in a toaster, kettle, tea bags, hot chocolate, a couple of mugs, some bowls, and a big box of Life cereal. It was totally pimped out in a wannabe-housewife teenaged girl kind of way. Sadly enough, a few days after we were spotted making use of our small appliances there was an announcement on the PA system that students weren't allowed to use them. Our school sucked.

2) The liquor store gives me panic attacks. I could spend hours in there looking at all the stuff, but I have to psych myself up every time I go in because I think the people that work there are looking at me and thinking I'm under 19. Last week when I had to get some wine for cooking I was looking through my purse for my ID and Russ burst my bubble by disdainfully saying "They're not going to ask you - you're, like, 30!" The age thing aside, I figure the employees also look down on me because they somehow know that I know nothing about wine or liquor and that makes me classless. Or something.

3) Sometimes I don't sort my colours and whites when laundering. Martha would definitely not approve, but I don't think Martha has ever had to IMMEDIATELY wash white, pee-soaked sheets when there is nothing else dirty but a couple of beige towels, 3 pastel washcloths and some navy blue baby clothes.

4) A spelling bee in grade 9 affected the entire course of my life. In that spelling bee I won an introductory lesson in karate, where I then met a boyfriend whose sister suggested I apply for a job at the salon she worked at, where I became friends with one of the hairstylists who brought me to a bar in the sticks where Russ was the head doorman. And the rest is history. Also, I will never misspell the word "charlatan" again.

5) When I was around 9 or 10, my brother and I would play a game at the cottage in which we'd go into my bedroom and one of us would put a sleeping bag over our entire body and try to catch the other one. Kind of like Marco Polo, without the Marcos and Polos. I always really liked the dream-like feeling I got from being the one in the sleeping bag, which I now know was most likely lack of oxygen. I often wonder how many brain cells we lost doing that. I could have gone to Yale...

6) I have a problem with the way toilets are designed these days. On the outside under the tank the ceramic (is it ceramic? I don't know.) is molded around the pipes and the look of it repulses me. They might as well have a sign back there on all toilets that says "Look here! This is the exact path your POOP takes!" Frankly, I don't care to think about poop once it's flushed, ok? When we renovated the bathroom in our old house I specifically bought the one toilet with flat sides. We then promptly sold the house and moved into one with decorative poop pipe toilets.

The End. I choose to tag NO ONE.

Mmmmm Tofurkey

2008-10-02T09:40:00.001-04:00

After several unsuccessful attempts at veggie dogs the boys unknowingly scarfed down veggie turkey amidst exclamations of "Wow! This turkey tastes just like pepperettes!". Other than the horrible breath it gives them, my only problem is that I'm afraid that the teacher thinks I'm sending really low quality lunch meat sandwiches to school with Josey. I mean, the stuff is gray and smells like someone really tried hard to cover up the smell of chicken lips and arseholes with excessive spices. Last night I told Josey the truth, hoping his big mouth will share it with the class and no one will think I'm feeding my kids nitrate-filled crap. Because I'm sure the teacher who brings Yogos, chocolate cookies and white bread sandwiches to school will be relieved to know.

Things I Learned Yesterday About Chicken Killin'

2008-10-01T07:12:00.002-04:00

1) Guys who kill chickens for a living reeeeeally like having to walk up a steep hill to the coop, then stumble down it carrying six flailing chickens at a time.
2) When flailing chickens are caught and carried around by the leg they squawk "OWWWWWWWWWWW!" Yes, exactly like that.
3) Chicken killers smirk when you make comments about the chickens and their "feelings". Then they zap them to death while they're hanging upside down and slit their throats right in front of you. Totally harsh.
4) Chicken killin' has a smell. Kind of a wet cooked feather/entrail/blood, blood and MORE blood smell. A smell that gets stuck in your nose, especially if you've just had to peel bloody water-soaked clothes off of little boys who danced with glee in puddles and revelled in the fun that is zapped, headless, drippy chickens and OH MY GOD GET THE SMELL AWAY.
5) SO not a good idea to come into the house after experiencing chicken killin' to a slow cooker full of chicken stew. Roanen flat out refused to eat it, and I can't really blame him.

On the schedule for today: reaching into freezing cold barrels of chickeny water for chickens that need to be weighed and bagged. In 10 degree weather. Fun!

Ummmmm, OK...

2008-09-28T18:55:00.000-04:00

Last week we were having dinner and Josey looked up and said "What's that bell?" to which I responded "What bell?". "That one!" he insisted, and immediately our old time-out timer loudly went off in the other room. Freaky.

He's My Third...

2008-09-27T08:10:00.001-04:00

...and that's why I post first birthday pictures two weeks later.

And So It Begins...

2008-09-18T09:58:00.003-04:00

Josey is officially a kindergartener. A lunchbag-toting, backpack-wearing, schoolbus-travelling, Catholic school-going kindergartener. He loves it. And I'm OK.

Evidently I Don't Speak 4 Year Old

2008-09-12T12:37:00.001-04:00

From the bathroom: "Mommy, I'm hungry!"
Me: "Jose, did I not just give you an apple?"
"No! I mean, where's the toilet paper!"

Well Hello!

2008-08-26T13:17:00.011-04:00

I've been seriously delinquent in my blogging lately, so much so that I've probably lost my readers, all 2 of you. To make up for it I've glued the older boys to the TV and left Tristan screaming on the floor in order to treat you to "Our Summer...In Photos!":

The summer started off with Roanen's eyes getting more and more wonky, to the point that a lot of the time he would close one eye when looking at something.

This always made me feel guilty. But not guilty enough that I couldn't take pictures.

While we waited for the surgery date, Josey started playing in the local soccer league. He started out very enthusiastic, but chasing after ball-hogging 6 year olds got old after the first few lessons. He finally ended up spending soccer nights picking grass and eating clover flowers when he wasn't rolling into the fetal position in the back of the net. The coach also found soccer a little tiring so he only showed up about 3 times. Way to teach dedication, Coach!

I'll stand here in front of the net, but only because you're giving me a freezie when this is all over.

Roanen got his first real haircut and went from baby to boy. Sob.

Big boys don't smile Mommy.

Fortunately Roanen's surgery was scheduled for early in the summer so we could (hopefully) get his eyes straightened out. He was happy playing with the toys at CHEO until he was made to put on some of the cutest pyjamas imaginable.

Or is it that he's the cutest pyjama-ed child imaginable?

Either way, he was unimpressed with the whole situation and proceeded to lie in the middle of the corridor and refuse to participate in any of the fun waiting room activities. That is, until he got some funky sedative that is evidently equivalent to a few beers.

Hey Mommy. This is waaaaay funny. If only I could sit up without falling over...

Despite being told that Roanen would be perfectly fine after the surgery he was pretty cranky. And also not very pretty to look at.

You'd be cranky too if you had stitches in your eyes.

A week later we had a real emergency.

And the next day we headed down to Niagara Falls. We had a great time on the Maid of the Mist boat.

Picked up some souvenirs...

And went to Marineland, which turned out to be a lot of fun for Josey:

For me too:

Look at the size of that caramel apple! Refrain from looking at my pasty pale legs, my hideous running shoes and the fact that my eyes always look messed up in pictures.

But evidently not so much for Roanen:

Daddy looks impressed too.

Note to people travelling to Niagara Falls with kids - the Imperial Hotel and Suites (I can't seem to find the link right now) is a super inexpensive, super nice place to stay. It's right near the main tourist street and within walking distance to the falls. The suites have separate bedroom and living areas, mini fridges and microwaves so you can bring a lot of your own food if you're like us and don't like torturing restaurants and their employees and customers with your children's presence. And did I mention cheap? Like 80 bucks per night cheap. It rocked. Don't pay any attention to the horrible reviews on the review websites (although do read them because they're hilarious).

Back to us.

Just a couple of weeks after we returned home Grammie and Grampa decided to take the boys on a little vacation. So I invited myself and Tristan along, because I'm like that. We drove down to Toronto to spend the day at Canada's Wonderland. At the hotel Roanen made friends with a very bold dove who invited himself to breakfast.

The bird ate mostly scrambled eggs. How very, very creepy.

Roanen loved Wonderland almost as much as Marineland.

A $5 bag of tiny donuts made it all better though.

Then the holiday fun was all over. But not for long! Russ found an ingenious way to get out of having to work that involved chicken poop, kerosene, and the old oil tank we use as a burn barrel. Sneaky, and oh so graphic.

That's only one leg. The other one, as well as both arms, his fingers, and a bit of his face got it too. He was dead sexy, I tell ya.

I got to take care of the chickens, the kids, and Russ for two weeks which was pretty stressful, but for the following two weeks Russ was up and able to do pretty much anything except go to work so it felt like holidays all over. Unpaid holidays, but holidays nonetheless.

Now that he's back at work, the boys and I are back in our (lack of) routine and trying to enjoy the rest of the summer before September hits and I have to send my baby to school, something that I'm alternately dreading and looking forward to. While I'm not as freaked out as I used to be, it's still going to be traumatic.

In other (pictureless) news, Tristan is crawling! Actually I meant to post that 4 months ago. Nowadays he's taking 6 steps at a time and coming very close to not needing to cling to my legs constantly.

And finally, the reason I haven't been blogging lately is because I felt like my plate just wasn't full enough and signed up for a 2 year distance education program in natural nutrition. So my "not studying" guilt has been stronger than my "not blogging" guilt and I've been hitting the books instead of regaling you with tales of my existence. And right now my "Tristan is yawning and exhausted and the boys are trying to murder each other" guilt is taking over so I'll sign off for the next 2 years or so. But not really so keep checking :P

Emergency

2008-07-09T16:28:00.002-04:00

Last night as I'm sitting at the table waiting for Roanen to finish his supper Josey runs up to me with his lips pressed tightly together, stares pointedly at me for a second, then walks to the other side of the kitchen. He pulls down his craft box and begins his usual routine of cutting and taping paper. 10 minutes later he walks up to me, lips still pressed together, and begins a game of charades, pointing at his mouth then at the paper, which looks like this:

I start guessing - "Your mouth is taped shut. You're hungry. You want to eat the paper. You want to eat what's ON the paper..." He shakes his head at every guess, then points to his mouth again and opens it just enough that I can see what's in it: a mouthful of murky, chunky puke.
W....T....F....
I tell him to go spit it out in the toilet. He comes back and tells me that he puked in his mouth 10 MINUTES AGO and, not knowing what to do (as if it's never happened before), he decided to make a sign to let me know about it.
He then proceeds to make a sign post for it, then tapes it to the wall. In case of a puke emergency he can point to it and I won't be confused...

Why I (Sometimes) Buy Canadian.

2008-06-21T14:22:00.002-04:00

Apples'n'Oranges is having a Canada Day contest with some awesome prizes. I personally want to win all the little girl stuff so I can further curse my chances at having a girl next (last) time around.
All you have to do is write a post (or email them at info@apples-n-oranges.com if you don't have a blog) explaining why you buy Canadian.
Here's my reason:

The shipping's usually cheaper.

I KNOW! Awesome reason. I'm so patriotic and supportive of our local economy, etc, etc. But seriously, I know there are good reasons to buy Canadian, I just don't exactly have the time to go online to research them. They are there though, so you should all buy Canadian, particularly from Apples'n'Oranges because Lara just quit her job to run the company full time and she won't be able to feed my nephew if you don't. Do it. And enter the contest while you're at it.

No, I'm Still Not Sleeping.

2008-06-20T07:04:00.002-04:00

So much has happened in the saga of sleep since the last time I blogged about Tristan, yet I'm pretty much at the same place I was then, and possibly even more sleep deprived. That being said, it's 10:37 PM and I'm choosing to blog rather than go to bed so YOU HAVEN'T BROKEN ME YET, SLEEPLESS CHILD. Ahem.
I decided to go with the Baby Whisperer once again, but instead of doing the "pick-up/put-down" technique, it was more of a "put-down" because he was at the age where picking him up constantly would distract more than comfort. He got his bedtime feed, then he was cut off from feeding for at least 8 hours. This is where I deviated from the Baby Whisperer because, according to her, at his age he should be able to go 12 hours without a feed. On the first night his growling stomach after 8 hours told me otherwise. Although it was necessary to feed him in the middle of the nights, usually at about 3 AM, I think this is what ended up keeping the plan from being totally effective. He would settle with just being put down when he stood up in anywhere from 8 minutes to two hours, and was sleeping longer stretches overall. He even managed a couple of 7 hour stretches, although they were at the beginning of the night so I didn't get the same 7 hours of sleep unfortunately. The problem ended up being that after I gave him his feed in the middle of the night he would start getting up every hour to eat and/or be very wakeful. A couple of weeks ago a combination of things began to throw us off track even more. First of all, my exhausted body began tricking my mind in the middle of the night into believing that he should most definitely be coming into our bed to be fed at midnight. I distinctly remember feeling that this was a rational act, despite Russ asking me what the hell I thought I was doing. Then teething hit. His four upper front teeth have been sloooooowly and evidently very painfully making their way down for a couple of weeks and he's totally miserable about it. This combined with the crazy heat wave of last week (and therefore his increased thirst and my decreased desire to have a sweaty screaming child hanging off me) had me feeding him every time he woke up crying. And that brings us to now. His teeth still aren't totally out and he's cranky about it off and on. He's gotten used to being fed every time he wakes up, so now he's sleeping about a 3 hour stretch at the beginning of the night, then waking about every hour and a half or two hours thereafter. I usually bring him into our bed after the fourth or so waking. My overall attitude has been ok about it, but I've definitely been super grouchy during the day when I got woken up a lot the previous night or when the boys all decided that 5 AM is a good time to wake up (oh my children, you just wait until you're sleepy teenagers and I decide that 5 AM is a good time for you to wake up).
And now the new plan! (Because I'm so good at being consistent with this sleep training thing) Next week we're going down to Niagara Falls and Marineland for 3 days, so there's no point in starting anything before then. I'll just have to suffer through the next 7 days and make Russ get up with them in the morning so I can sleep in. Right. Once we're settled back at home I'm going to do the regular bedtime routine, then before I go to bed I'll give him a dream feed at 10 or 11. This will top him up so I won't have to feed him in the middle of the night (when he wakes up himself) or feel guilty about starving him. When he's sleeping right through (note my naive optimism) I'll boost his daytime food a little more and start giving him the dream feed earlier each night until it's cut right out.
And this will definitely definitely definitely work and we'll all live happily (not sleepily) ever after.
The End.

"What are you talking about Mommy? I wouldn't keep you from sleeping!"

Because My Bathroom Doesn't Smell Pissy Enough.

2008-06-19T15:29:00.003-04:00

On Saturday evening I went into the downstairs bathroom to get the boys' toothbrushes ready for them. I glanced around while doing so and noticed a puddle in front of the toilet and some droplets between it and the sink, most likely due to Roanen's earlier attempt at getting himself a drink of water with a floppy silicone muffin cup. Then I happened to look down into the garbage can. I wondered what had been put in there that made crumpled up paper towel turn yellow. Then I saw yellow droplets on the side of the bag and it hit me. I stomped into the kitchen where the boys were having their snack and asked Josey "Did you pee in the garbage?" He immediately got a wide-eyed deer in the headlights look on his face and asked innocently "How do you know I peed in the garbage?". Little bum. When he finally confessed (which he only did because I cracked a smile at the absurdity of the act), it came out that he wanted to "make a lake" in the can, evidently after he had already started in the toilet and couldn't stop the stream while he switched receptacles. Naturally I forgot all about it until we got home from Ottawa yesterday and now my bathroom reeks of old pee. I love having boys.

The End Of The Wonkiness...Maybe

2008-06-18T06:42:00.002-04:00

On Monday Roanen got his eye surgery. Everyone at CHEO was really great, especially the male nurse who gave him his sedative along with some blowing bubbles, which greatly amused him until he got too buzzed to do anything but flop on Russ, giggle at his stuffed lamb and inform the nurse in a slurred voice that he got a sticker. Other than sleeping for an inordinate amount of time in recovery (we were told 15-20 minutes and he slept almost two hours) everything seems to have gone pretty well. The outside whites of his eyes are bloody red with a couple of stitches each (ew), and now instead of sliding outwards he's a little cross-eyed, which is temporary and apparently desirable according to the doctor. Now we just have to wait and see whether the strabismus was fully corrected. If it's still wonky the surgery will have to be repeated which would really suck because he's been miserable and freaking out, especialy when I have to put ointment on his eyelashes. Awesomely gross "after" pictures to come as soon as I can upload from my camera.

Some Antibiotics Might Clear That Up...

2008-06-03T11:10:00.004-04:00

"Mommy, Daddy's penis looks like a turkey."

(No blue balls jokes, please)

Get You A Waxin', Woman

2008-05-10T09:21:00.001-04:00

Lately Josey has been watching too much adult television. He especially likes the commercials, because THEY PROMISE that their product is the best and that you DESPERATELY NEED IT. It started off innocently enough with the Food Network airing a Nutri-Slim commercial at least once every ten minutes. Josey was fascinated by the pictures of the food, especially the desserts (whose filming, I might add, required a zoom lens because of the tiny portion sizes) and would ask "Do you want to get that, Mommy?" every time it aired. Next came the Proactive commercials. Despite the fact that I (thankGodthankGodthankGodknockonwood) have had pretty clear skin since I was pregnant with Roanen, Josey feels that I also need that. Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Love Hewitt say so too. Then came Garnier Nutrisse. Both Josey and Sarah Jessica Parker would like me to see a dermatologist AND a nutritionist every day.

Thankfully I've managed to explain the concept of commericials to him so now he forms his own opinions. Opinions like, "You need to lose weight, Mommy" out of the blue. My personal favourite though is "It's just not right!" and "DO something about that hair - raze it or something!", spoken with utter disgust while gagging at the sight of my unmaintained nakedness. We've gotten him away from the tv, now if we could only pry Grampa's old Playboys out of his little hands. In the meantime I will have to aspire to be his ideal Mommy, a wrinkle-free anorexic with a brazilian.

Crying It Out

2008-05-05T10:24:00.001-04:00

In the past couple of weeks I've started to compose a blog in my head about crying it out and each time I've gotten so angry and emotional that I had to stop before my head exploded. The catalyst was the visit from our therapist and home worker where we discussed the "treatment" for our "troubled" family.

My biggest worry was for Roanen. The impression I got from previous visits was that we were basically going to lock him in his room and let him cry until he passed out, so I was relieved to hear that we were just to bring him back to his bed as soon as he came into our room. Relieved, that is, and slightly annoyed that Russ eagerly accepted this idea when they presented it, after I had presented it many times as common sense.

The girls then proudly presented their solution for Tristan's sleep issues. They had done a TON of research and talked to many people in their field and found the best way to deal with it. The answers were all in this MAGICAL BOOK written by someone extremely knowledgeable on the subject. The book? A very famous book by a certain doctor with a whole METHOD named after him: Ferber (can you hear the hate and disgust with which I type the name?). Um, apparently someone missed the memo about how I had a little problem with the cry-it-out method? Or else they sat around bored one day and said "You know what would be funny? Let's tell Lindsay that she has to let her kids scream for hours without comforting them. Let's take bets on whether she'll cry!" And you know what? I did. Or at least I visibly teared up, then I composed myself because the last thing I needed was for them to see me fall apart when they already think I'm guilt-ridden and ruining my kids with coddling. I went temporarily insane and agreed that it had to be done. We made up a plan in which we were to go to him when he cried, comfort for less than a minute without touching (?!..?!!?), then leave. We could go back at 5 minute intervals and he would eventually cry himself to sleep. He would be sleeping through the night within a week and a half. Yes it would be hard, but worth it in the end.

Once they left, reality set in. I looked through the photocopied pages they gave me that coldly stated that I was doing him an injustice by letting him use me as a comfort tool, and that it made children feel anxious and worried, not comforted, to co-sleep. I looked through The No-Cry Sleep Solution and reread the part that describes in heart-wrenching detail how a baby must feel when it's left to cry Then I looked at him and realized that as tired as I constantly am, as frustrated as I get when I have to nurse him for the sixth time in one night, and as angry as he makes me when he screams for hours at a time while alternately reaching for me and pushing me away, I couldn't do it. I couldn't listen to him get as hysterical as I know he would get and not comfort him, not even touch him. And despite being assured that doing this wouldn't cause any permanent emotional damage, how exactly do they know? When a baby begins sleeping through the night after crying it out is it really because they've learned to self-soothe, or is it because they've resigned themself to the fact that they're not deserving of comfort at night by the people who are supposed to love them unconditionally? As far as I was concerned, the end just wouldn't justify the means. I called the home worker the next day and told her I wasn't going to go through with it.

Since then, Tristan's sleeping habits have once again deteriorated. His longest stretch at night is 2-1/2 hours, but it's not uncommon for him to wake up 40 minutes after I finish nursing him. The past few nights I've brought him into our bed the fifth or sixth time he's woken up and when that happens he pretty much wants to nurse constantly. That being said, I still don't regret my decision. One of the things that I've gained with having another baby with sleep issues is perspective. I know that while things suck pretty badly right now I won't be having to nurse him 8 times a night a year from now, let alone for the rest of my life. Both the home worker and Russ gave me the look that says "isn't that nice that you're fooling yourself" along with a mental pat on the head when I told them that, but I'm not going to do something I'm completely against to please them when I'm the one who has to deal with feeling bad about it afterwards.
For now I don't really have a plan. The boys and I have been really sick for the past week so I'm too desperate for any kind of sleep to even think of a plan, much less act on one. My one extreme is to just deal with it until he's old enough to be sleep-trained like his brothers were. My other extreme, and the closest to crying it out I would ever do, is to stand by his crib and lie him down every time he stands up, comforting him with touch and my voice. And even that scares me a little bit. We'll see how much more of this I can take.

Our Budding Photographer

2008-04-13T10:26:00.005-04:00

This past Christmas Josey received his own digital camera. He had been taking some fabulous pictures with my camera, so we had high expectations of him. We weren't disappointed.

This one is my favourite. It definitely looks like it could be in a gallery or on a CD cover. Who needs eyes in a picture when the goatee expresses so much emotion on its own:

Have I mentioned that I look very much like my father? This is me in 25 or so years. I fear for my future (note: limited edition picture - my mom is going to make me remove this):

"Separated at Birth?"

"Self-Portrait - Sadness" Ok, so he didn't take this, but it still counts:

This kid is so quick and adept, he can even catch those rare moments when his brother is missing a nose. Watch out, Loch Ness Monster:

Missing from this show, "Fat Cat In Motion", a series of 50 pictures documenting Annabelle's every move while walking across the kitchen. Also, "500 Photos of Mom Making The Same Stupid Face", which was lost in an unfortunate deleting accident. See photo #2 above. They pretty much look like that, but with glasses and messy hair. Groan.

Let's See How Many Times I Can Use The Word "Suck" In One Form Or Another

2008-04-12T13:55:00.001-04:00

Today I feel...wait for it...good! Pretty amazing considering how hellish the last few weeks have been. Obviously I haven't been blogging much lately and it's mostly because sleep training sucks and preschoolers suck and I don't want to relive my sucky days by writing about them at night when the suckage temporarily stops. Today, however, hasn't sucked too much so far so I'm taking a little bit of time to blog. Lucky you.
Last night was a not-so-bad night for me. Russ and I switched roles and he put Tristan to sleep while I put the boys down, something that usually ends with bad results. Luckily Tristan went down no problem (ok, so putting him to sleep hasn't been much of a problem lately) and even the boys didn't give me any grief other than Roanen crying about wanting "MY songs" but not telling me what they were. I was even able to leave the room before he was totally asleep, something that we've been working on and that I've never been able to accomplish before. In the past couple of days Tristan has been settling himself occasionally when he wakes up and he did so a couple of times before we went to bed. Naturally as soon as I got into bed he really woke up and started crying. I've been really torn about what to do when he wakes up at night. According to the Baby Whisperer I'm supposed to do pick up/put down until he goes back to sleep and he's not to be fed between 7 PM and 7 AM if he's getting enough food during the day (which I finally think he is since he's taken so well to solids). The problem is that once he gets really crying he gets so worked up that he won't settle without nursing. I'm talking hysterical crying for hours and if he DOES finally settle, it doesn't last. I haven't yet managed to go an entire night without feeding him and he calms right down and generally sleeps for a chunk after he nurses. The verdict is that I'm going to combine a couple of sleep training techniques: the Baby Whisperer stuff for when he's first going down at night or for a nap, as well as when he wakes up at night and settles back down easily with shushing, and the No-Cry Sleep Solution techniques for the middle of the night when he won't settle back down easily. Basically that means nursing him when he wakes up, but not for longer than it takes for his sucking to slow down. I have a bad habit of falling asleep on the couch in his room while I'm nursing him and it tends to make him sleep really restlessly. As well, our bed is off limits. Since I've started the sleep training he has been intolerable in our bed, fussing and wanting to nurse constantly and I can't deal with it. It's actually easier to be awake and dealing with him in his room than half-ass sleeping and dealing with him in ours.
So back to last night, I nursed Tristan right at my bedtime, then once at about 2 and once at about 5. He slept in until 7, which I was able to do as well since Russ was home until then to entertain the boys before he had to leave for work. Of course just before the 2 AM feed Roanen came into our room and climbed into bed on my side because he knew Russ would get mad at him if he went to him. I put him back in his room after the 5 AM feed, then nearly got to sleep when Josey started calling for me. When I went in to check on him he was standing in the middle of the room and he said "Mommy! What did the Backyardigans have for snack?" as which point I tossed him into his bed and went back to mine.
I realize that I probably shouldn't be thrilled about a night like that, but I feel pretty energetic and well rested today so I'll take it. The best part was to come this morning though. Around 9:15 I took Tristan upstairs for his nap, sang him a couple of songs and put him down in his crib. He wasn't overtired so he just smiled and talked to me, which I took as a sign to leave. He fussed a little bit, but 5 minutes later HE WAS ASLEEP. ASLEEP. ON HIS OWN. I REPEAT, ON HIS OWN. WITHOUT ANYONE IN THE ROOM. I mean, Roanen still has a hard time with that and Josey didn't do it until he was 2 1/2. I'm ecstatic. I'm not assuming that this will happen every time, but it's definitely a step in the right direction. Yay.

On other fronts, we have our Nanny 911-esque sessions with a home worker starting in a couple of weeks. All the assessments are done and the worker will be helping us out with sleeping (which I actually hope to resolve before she gets here), self-soothing for Roanen and Tristan and discipline. We really haven't had many problems with Roanen lately, even though he was the main reason we originally called for help. That being said, he's been standing at the glass door in the playroom for the last 20 minutes in hysterics because I *gasp* locked them in there to play with their zillions of toys so they wouldn't wake Tristan up. I'm mostly excited about the discipline part. We've been having a ton of problems with Josey lately. He refuses to listen to anything from "Please turn off the tv and get your boots on" to "Get out of Tristan's face, he's scared of you" to "Don't run into the busy road or you'll get run over". He gets physically aggressive with the younger boys and myself and is getting time-outs at preschool because of bad behaviour. Time-outs are hard because I end up having to chase him around the house when he gets one and drag him into his time-out spot. Overall sucky behaviour which will (hopefully) get resolved sometime before he's bigger than me. Too bad I can't take the car keys away.

And finally, a conversation between Josey and Roanen:

Josey: "I'm all done my granola bar, Roanen. Can I please have some of yours?"
Roanen: "Ok, Josey. Here you go"
Josey: "Thanks Roanen"
Roanen: "You're welcome Josey"

And I didn't even imagine it.

An Easter (Quasi-) Miracle

2008-03-27T21:26:00.000-04:00

After months of 10+ wakeups per night, 10+ mini nursing sessions per night, much fussing, a seriously sore back (and boobs for that matter), and a bed that was no longer parents-only, I decided that I needed to seriously buckle down and attempt to sleep train Tristan. This past long weekend seemed perfect. I had four nights that were followed by days that either my parents or Russ were around to support me if I needed to pass out from exhaustion so I mentally and emotionally prepared myself for the torture ahead.
I chose to follow the Baby Whisperer's "Pick Up / Put Down" method, with a few adjustments. I really don't think Tristan is getting enough calories during the day to sustain him through a long period at night so I figured I'd feed him if I felt it had been long enough (and/or I was so freaking tired that I didn't have the energy to listen to him scream). I really wasn't expecting him to start sleeping through the night within a couple of days; my main goals were to get him to sleep without nursing, rocking or bouncing him, have him go a decent amount of time between nursing sessions, and keep him out of our bed. So far I'm fairly happy about our progress. Although I don't have set times for naps and bedtimes yet, I'm trying to put him down for his nap 2 hours after he wakes up from his previous wakeup time and he's been taking 5 or 20 minutes (yes, one or the other for some reason) to fall asleep. We sing a couple of songs, then I lay him down on his tummy (because I've always been an evil parent who puts children to sleep the wrong way). Usually he starts crying within a couple of minutes at which point I pick him up and hold him until he quiets down, starts pushing me away, or a couple of minutes of crying passes. Then I put him down and start all over. Three days ago he started rolling over in protest which annoyed the hell out of me and made me have to hold him straight, but thankfully he isn't doing it as much anymore. Now he likes me to shush really loud while holding my hand on his back. Whatever works.
He seems to be getting used to going to sleep this way, which is good because I used to hate taking forever to get him to sleep. He hasn't slept in our bed since last Thursday night and he usually goes 2 to 4 hours between wakeups during the night. I've been giving him a "dream feed" at 10 PM where I basically pull him out of the crib and feed him while he's still asleep. When it goes as planned, he sleeps 2-3 hours before the dream feed, goes down without a problem afterwards, then sleeps another 4 hours afterwards. I usually feed him at this point, but when he doesn't go a full 4 hours I'm in for a screaming fight to get him back to sleep. Now I know that I shouldn't be excited about getting 4 hours of sleep but after what I've been through it's freaking awesome. Hopefully things will continue to improve. If he starts to regress I may have to be a little stricter with making sure he eats enough during the day and not feeding him at night, but for now I'm pretty happy with how things are going. Just don't ask me about it after a night of him screaming angrily in my face for an hour.

Roanenisms

2008-03-20T10:33:00.003-04:00

A couple of things I forgot when writing about Roanen...

-Lately he has been paying more attention to Tristan, and will regress into baby talk, but only so Tristan can understand the conversation too. He loves making him laugh and always imitates him through dinner which works well to keep him from screaming bloody murder.

-Whenever I'm knitting he'll come up to me and say "That a screwdriver?", referring to my knitting needles. When I say no, he always slyly says "It BE like a screwdriver" and tries to take it away. Not only is he good with regular english, he's evidently mastering ebonics as well.

-When I started putting him on the potty to pee he would always get up after an unsuccessful attempt and say "It's not working", referring to his penis. Now everytime he actually pees he yells "It works!"

In Honor of St. Patty's Day I Give You O'Roanen, Our Irish Child

2008-03-17T17:02:00.004-04:00

(you know, as in the frustrated exclamation of "Oh, Roanen!" that is so often heard around here)

I will now curse us by announcing that Roanen has actually slept through the night IN HIS OWN BED WITHOUT WAKING UP for 12 out of the last 13 nights. It will now never happen again. Actually it was 11 of 13 nights, but one of the wakeups didn't count because Tristan was screaming so loud at midnight that he woke him up. Anyway, this started one night after we finally had the area's version of "Nanny 9-1-1", the Phoenix Centre (for "troubled" children and families) pay us a visit at Russ' request. Basically we're getting an assessment done by a therapist and we'll have an in-home worker help us out with Roanen's freakout issues. The main problem we were going to address was his fighting bedtime and the nightly trip into our bed (because those are the issues Russ has with him - I don't particularly enjoy his fits but they don't make my life miserable either) and now Roanen decided to partly fix that on his own. The problem now is that when the in-home worker comes to help us she's planning on basically using the Ferber method to get him to fall asleep on his own (much to my anti-crying-it-out dismay) and I'm worried that if he gets upset at bedtime he'll regress in the middle of the night. I was ok with the idea when it was first presented, but the more I think about it the more sick I feel about it. Since it will be a while before the worker is able to come in the evening, I'm hoping to try some gentler methods in the meantime to get him to sleep without someone being with him, kind of like we did with Josey. I'm desperate to avoid the crying, especially since the reason we originally asked for help was because we knew if we tried something like that he wouldn't stop crying. I would honestly take having to sit with him for a while at bedtime over hearing him get upset at being left alone in his bedroom. Ugh. I'm depressed thinking about it.

Also filed under "happy" - he has peed on the potty several times, mostly in the morning. I'm not full-out training him because that would be ridiculous at this point between Josey's preschool and Tristan being Tristan, but we've taken the potty out and every once and a while I ask him if he wants to sit on the potty and get a jellybean. Unlike Josey, he doesn't seem to pee much at night so if I catch him first thing in the morning he'll usually have a mega-pee that somehow manages to flood the floor around the potty. Whatever. So what if I have to soak up a huge puddle (one-handed, of course, due to Tristan freaking if I put him down) every morning. He's peeing. I'm happy.

Taking after his father, Roanen has earned the new nickname of "Chatterbox". He pretty much constantly has a monologue going, usually consisting of things like "That's a-MAZING!", "Wook at that! Oooooh, that's WEEWY WEEWY PWETTY!" and "That's a taw biwding. What a bootiful biwding!" Almost as cute as Josey's exclamations of "Wow Mommy, that's weewy wuvwy!" My boys appreciate beauty. That's why they like staring at themselves in the mirror :)

Stories, by Josey

2008-03-14T17:00:00.001-04:00

(as "written" on a scrap of paper and read aloud)

"There was a boy who didn't have eyes and he was on a dragon's back and he killed the dragon with his sword. The dragon couldn't eat him because the boy cut off his head. Then the boy took the dragon's head and put it in a big big big big big big big big garbage can. WE END."

(When asked, I was informed that the boy didn't have eyes because he was an alien. And how could he see where the dragon's head was so he could cut it off? "He just REMEMBERED where it was!")

"Once there were two boys who lived in a house all by themselves and they could play when they wanted and eat what they wanted and they even made supper by themselves. And then they decided to go to Grammie's house and on the way they saw another Grammie so they went there instead. WE END."

Not sure about the "WE END" part. Possibly a misinterpretation of me saying "the end" at the end of every story. He's still a genius though.

The Trisser-Wisser

2008-03-14T16:25:00.004-04:00

Yes, we do call him that. And no, when we decided to name him Tristan we did not think "Hey, Trisser Wisser would be a great nickname". His buddies in high school are going to love it. But I digress.

Tristan is 6 months old as of yesterday and I finally feel like time is really speeding up. I think it has to do somewhat with the fact that he's so much smaller than the other boys were at 6 months. Whereas Tristan weighs 15 lbs 1 oz, Roanen at this age was 17 lbs 1 oz. and Josey was 17 lbs. 5 oz. He looks so tiny in comparison and it's hard to believe I can give him solid food now. We started off today with some organic whole grain oatmeal cereal and he ate about 1-1/2 tablespoons without a problem. I didn't expect there to be any issues with eating though seeing as how I give birth to children with sleep problems, not food problems. While his daytime sleep has improved from a zillion 10-30 minute naps in the swing or in my arms to a couple of 30-60 minute naps and one 2-3 hour nap in his crib, his nighttime sleep has deteriorated from a 6 hour stretch at the beginning of the night to a 1-1/2 to 3 hour stretch. This is followed by a refusal to fall back to sleep in his own crib. When I bring him into bed with us lately he wakes up every half hour or so and needs to be not only nursed back to sleep, but switched to the other side every time. I tried the "pick-up/put-down" technique last weekend to get him down for his nap and he screamed for an hour before I gave up and nursed him to sleep. Even Roanen only took 45 minutes the first time I tried that. The annoying part is that when I hold him until he's asleep then put him down he often opens his eyes and looks around, then settles down and goes to sleep, which means that he's obviously comfortable in his crib and can put himself to sleep. That's evidently a key to getting babies to sleep through the night, so why are we having problems? I'm still stupidly hoping that he'll just start sleeping longer on his own. Ha!

Aside from the sleep issues, he's super happy most of the time. He's always smiling at everyone (although he's shy and gets upset if a stranger holds him) and everyone comments that he's so bright and alert. He still has his screamy moments, usually between dinner and bath, but he can be distracted fairly easily and he's also been fantastic in the van. I honestly don't remember the last time he cried in his car seat and it's such a treat after the way Roanen freaked in vehicles. Definitely much easier on the nerves. He's really grabby and leans waaaaay out of his bumbo when he's trying to reach for things so we have to watch him really closely because he's fallen out a couple of times. He vocalizes a lot and yesterday he started making "ba" sounds. Oh, and he's really ticklish, especially on his inner thighs and armpits. I can even make him laugh in the middle of a screaming fit by tickling his armpits. Because I like screwing with his emotions like that.

Happy 6 months Trisser!

Look, Ma! I found the best parts!

Josey

2008-03-11T16:07:00.003-04:00

In order for me to actually blog I've taken to writing a little bit at a time elsewhere so I can copy, paste, and post it when it's done that way I don't feel pressured to write something amazing and cool while frantically trying to stay within my dialup limits. Not that this is amazing and cool. Anyway, this is the latest on Josey:

Josey is two weeks away from starting his 7 week, thrice-weekly, 3-1/2 hr a day preschool class. This has turned from a super exciting thing to a minor annoyance thanks to the gas prices, which so far are turning "free" playgroup into a ten-bucks-a- day deal, and will add an extra $30 a week to preschool. Dropping him off and driving home again is now completely out of the question so I'm going to have to find something to do in town after playgroup and on the days when there is no playgroup. Hopefully the weather will improve to the point where I can go for walks with the other two boys, but I think that's going to get old after a while. That being said, I still think Josey is really going to benefit from some structure and social interaction without me around. His behaviour lately (ok, not just lately) is pretty bad and he wanders around the house like he's bored. Good thing he got a gazillion dollars worth of toys for Christmas. The past week or so he's been colouring and making crafts a lot more and that seems to occupy him for longer periods. He's figured out that he can draw things other than people (although people are still his favourite thing to draw) and he's been drawing a lot of pictures of dragons with lots of fire and people with swords "killing" the dragon. He also likes copying pictures from books, like cars and random things like fruit and houses. He likes asking me how to write words and will copy things like "TO GRAMMIE" onto pictures. He also loves doing pre-K activity books and can now recognize letters of the alphabet in both uppercase and lowercase, as well as tell me the sounds of quite a few letters. He doesn't really like being taught these things as such, but he will listen to me a little then pretty much figure it out on his own time. I keep getting surprised when he all of a sudden easily knows something that he struggled with a couple of days earlier, like identifying and writing numbers. It's hard to believe that just over a month ago I overheard Josey "reading" to Tristan like this:
"TRISTAN! We're going to read this book. It's about FOOD. Now THIS is an APPLE. M-L-H-P. That's how it's spelled. Apples are CRUNCHY and JUICY. And THIS is a BANANA. Um...Y-O-S-G-A. Banana's have peels and they're yummy. This is an ORANGE. O-S-B-B-A. Oranges have lots of JUICE in them and sometimes it's yech but they're very JUICY."
And so on...

Anyway, we went to the preschool meeting last week and the teachers were telling us that they hoped to teach the kids to recognize their names and write the first letter. Meanwhile, Josey was at the blackboard writing all the numbers from one to ten, drawing a picture of himself and signing his name. Genius.

Once again we're having pee issues. I can't even believe I'm having to say that about my 4 YEAR OLD. When he started his mini preschool programs he immediately stopped having accidents and I figured we were finally done with pee pants. That lasted for quite a while, but in the last couple of weeks he's been "forgetting" again when he's outside playing or busy doing something. The punishment this time around is losing his Vtech video game for 2 days every time he's wet. It sucks that this is happening. Seriously. He's not even remotely close to staying dry at night either, but that's really the least of my concerns right now. They make pull-ups for kids that weigh over 100 lbs so we're still safe at least for a couple more years.

The End.

Miss Me?

2008-03-09T20:33:00.002-04:00

Yes I'm still around here somewhere. You see, I have these three little distractions that don't allow for frivolous blogging. I actually do have lots to blog about, but I don't want to frantically write something random down and forget a bunch of stuff so I'm waiting until I have time to get it all out (ha). So I'll be back sometime. Maybe.

Welcome To The Best Day EVER!

2008-02-07T09:04:00.001-05:00

While going through my must-read blogs today I found a link to the coolest site, where you input your birthdate and get a personal biorhythm reading. This is a measure of something to do with your intellectual, physical and emotional somethings that is much better explained here. Anyway, today and for the next day or so I am at negative 100% on all of the above. So basically I'm a lazy dumbass who doesn't give a rat's ass about anything. I'm so excited that I have an excuse for it now.
I checked Josey's biorythm too and yesterday he was at -100% for intellectual and emotional and +100% for physical, which explains why he was acting like an inconsiderate caveman on crack. As in "TRISTAN AND I ARE HAVING A PILLOW FIGHT!!" *thwack*

NOMEATPO WEEK - The Verdict!

2008-02-03T10:28:00.001-05:00

When I was 16 years old my best friend made an awesome pasta dish for me. Since I loved cooking and baking, I decided to recreate this dish for my family one night at dinner. I slowly soaked sundried tomatoes, lovingly roasted sweet red peppers, delicately chiffonaded (??) fresh green basil, simmered a homemade tomato sauce and cooked pasta to perfection. I proudly set the beautiful plates in front of my family to enjoy, imagining the praise that was to come at the deliciousness that was our meal.
My father, hunter to the core, immediately asked "Is there meat in this?", to which I responded in the negative, confused as to why that should be an issue. He then stood up and rustled around in the refrigerator until he found what he was looking for: a container of leftover venison which he promptly nuked and tossed into my creation. To him, a meatless meal means the family was not provided for adequately enough - the word "vegetarian" is a Native American word for "bad hunter". When my husband jokingly complained that I wasn't feeding him any meat this week my father, startled, asked if we were out of venison and offered us the contents of his freezer.
Although my husband is also a hunter, thankfully he tolerates my attempts at a healthier diet, as do my children who aren't old enough to know better. The five days of vegetarianism have turned out as well as they could have under the circumstances, which proved to be less that perfect.
Dinners were a non-issue. I always plan the week's meals in advance so I had five recipes - some old, some new - ready for the making. Our breakfast are also generally meatless, usually consisting of cereal, eggs or pancakes so that wasn't a problem either. However, when it came to lunch we hit our first speedbump. I had very little time, a fridge void of meatless leftovers, and a cupboard full of tuna and canned chicken and beef soups. My first thought was pasta, but we were having pasta for dinner and I'm anal about not having the same thing twice in a day, even if it's in different forms. Yes, I'm a OC weirdo. That first day we ended up having cereal for lunch, not that the boys minded in the least. (As a sidenote, children in diapers DO NOT need All-Bran, no matter what they say.)
Our second problem appeared when we were stranded in Ottawa for a couple of days due to a huge snowstorm. When you're a houseguest you can't exactly dictate what's on the menu so we ended up having chicken at dinner. But I closed my eyes and pretended really hard that it was tofu. Really. We also had to share meat-filled ravioli for lunch the next day, but I was trying to be good so instead of making the second can of ravioli I opened a can of meatless baked beans instead. *silence while I await my pat on the back*
Overall I think the week went well. We managed to stay meatless otherwise, even when my husband made breakfast and proudly announced that he COULD HAVE made bacon, but didn't. The meals that were made were very tasty, and we didn't even miss the meat. I even tried some new foods, like veggie ground (a soy product that is supposed to taste like ground beef...um...sorta) in my vegetarian chili. One thing I did find was that there tends to be more preparation when it comes to decent vegetarian meals and that's not necessarily a good thing when you're in a hurry to get dinner on the table.
I'll definitely try to add an extra vegetarian meal into our weekly meal plans, and ultimately I'd like to be having at least three meatless nights a week. This week showed that, with a little thought and preparation, it is possible.

Our Vegetarian Dinners:

Spicy Sesame Noodles

1 lb spaghetti, cooked (we used brown rice spaghetti)
1 cup peanut butter (preferably oil, salt, and sugar free)
1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1/4 cup 7 Pepper Vinegar (this is an Epicure Selections product - not sure where else you'd find it)
1 tsp garlic powder
crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
salt, to taste
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1 medium cucumber, sliced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro (optional)

Cook spaghetti according to package directions.
In a large bowl, whisk together sesame oil, vegetable oil, soy sauce, peanut butter, vinegar, garlic and crushed pepper flakes. Season to taste with salt.
Add cooked spaghetti and toss well with green onions and cilantro. Top with cucumber.

Vegetarian Pad Thai

1 package rice sticks
1/4 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp each soy sauce, lime juice and brown sugar
1 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp crushed red red pepper flakes
1 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup diced red onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup grated carrots
1/4 cup each chopped green onions and chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
1/2 package extra-firm tofu

Cook rice sticks according to package directions (for stir-frys)
Drain, rinse with cold water, drain again, and set aside.
Combine ketchup, soy sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, and red pepper flakes in a bowl. Cube tofu and add to sauce. Set aside.
Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet or wok over medium heat. Add onions and garlic. Cook and stir until onions are tender, about 3 minutes. Add sauce and tofu and bring to a boil. Add cooked noodles, sprouts, carrots, green onions and cilantro. Heat through, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with peanuts.

Vegetarian Chili

1-1/4 cups chopped onions
1 cup each chopped green and red pepper
3/4 cup each chopped celery and carrots
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp chili powder
1-1/2 cups quartered mushrooms
1 cup cubed zucchini
1 can (28 oz) chopped tomatoes, undrained
1 can tomato paste
1 can (19 oz) each black beans and chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can (12 oz) kernel corn, undrained
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1-1/2 tsp each dried oregano and dried basil
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (or more if you like it hotter)
1 package veggie ground
1 large handful (or more) baby spinach leaves
Salt, to taste

Spray a large saucepan with nonstick spray. Add onions, peppers, celery, carrots, garlic and chili powder. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until veggies are softened.
Add mushrooms and zucchini, cook and stir for 4 more minutes. Add rest of ingredients, except veggie ground, spinach and salt. Stir well. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add veggie ground and spinach and stir well until heated through. Salt to taste.
Top with shredded cheddar cheese.

Cumin Carrot Tofu Patties

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup grated carrot
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp ground cumin
Pinch cayenne pepper
1 package (350 g) extra firm tofu
1/3 cup tahini
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
1 cup pasta sauce
1 tsp grated lemon rind
Pinch cinnamon

In nonstick skillet, heat 2 tsp oil over medium heat. Cook onion, carrot, garlic, pinch of cumin, and cayenne, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
In food processor, blend tofu with tahini. Add onion mixture, half of the parsley, bread crumbs, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Pulse to combine. Form into eight 1/2 inch patties.
Heat remaining oil in clean skillet over medium heat. Cook patties in batches until golden about 4 minutes per side.
Meanwhile, in saucepan, combine pasta sauce, lemon rind, cinnamon, and remaining cumin and parsley; bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Serve over patties.

Wonky Eye

2008-02-02T07:01:00.001-05:00

I searched through my previous posts and only found one little mention in passing of Roanen's "lazy eye", around his first birthday. The doctor had checked out the alignment of his eyes and found them to be good, but I still noticed his right eye sliding outward every once and a while when he was tired or when he looked into the distance. It was hardly noticeable - even my mother who saw him all the time had never seen it happen - but it bothered me enough to take him to the opthamologist about 9 months ago just to get things checked out. It took the opthamologist about 2 seconds to shine a light in his eye and diagnose him with exotropia , a form of strabismus in which his eye slides outward. He assured me that it was purely cosmetic and that it wasn't affecting his eyesight. The only way to fix it was with surgery, which wasn't necessarily successful, and could only be redone 2 or 3 times before they had used up all the space to try to fix it. The surgery could be done anytime, but people who do get it usually wait until the early teens, when having "one eye chasing bees" (as Russ calls it) affects them socially. Being painfully aware of how cruel kids can be I didn't really want to wait that long, so at his follow-up appointment 3 months ago I asked for more information about the surgery. We were referred to a pediatric opthamologist in Ottawa and drove in yesterday to find out more.
As it turns out, he actually has a severe form of strabismus in BOTH eyes. In the link it's the rarer form called "alternating exotropia" although his eyes don't go quite as wonky as the kid in the picture. The doctor had him looking across the room, and as he covered one eye at a time the uncovered eye would "jump", then slide outward. It was kind of disturbing and cool at the same time to see it just happen at will when you would just see it by chance before. When the eye slides out he gets double vision, and it will affect his depth perception if it's left untreated.
We also found out that it's always genetic, so somewhere in the family someone else must have it. Our other kids are also at risk, although Josey seems to have avoided it since it usually appears before they're 2 or 3.
So the only treatment is surgery, and he's already booked for June 16th at CHEO. The muscles holding his eye have to be loosened under general anesthesia, and although it sounds complicated it's day surgery and the only care afterwards is a little cream over his eyelid. No patch, no temporary loss of vision thank goodness. There's a chance that since the strabismus is on the severe side, we might have to repeat the surgery within a year to further correct it.
The only thing I'm annoyed at is the fact that the original opthamologist was wrong about it affecting his vision. If we had decided to wait until he was a teenager to get the "cosmetic" surgery he may have had problems with things like coordination that I don't think I would have associated with his vision (since the doctor seemed so sure). See, there is an upside to being shallow :)

Wait! Come Back! I Can Be Cooler!

2008-01-29T19:30:00.001-05:00

I briefly clicked on my blog entry today to see if anyone (i.e. my convalescing mother, the only person who regularly reads my loser blog and comments) had commented. Much to my surprise someone I didn't know actually commented. And not like the time Kristen commented - because I commented on her blog so she graced me with her presence here Chez Les Kiddos - but an evidently very popular blogger with an evidently very popular blog of her own. Exciting, eh? Especially when you REALLY think about it and figure out that she probably hit that "A Random Blog" button and came up with little old random me. Then she commented in hopes that I would check out her already popular blog which I obviously did.
Here's where it gets complicated. I SHOULD feel a little used and mildly insulted that someone pretended to care about whether or not I eat meat this week simply to get me to her blog so I can love it and link repeatedly to it. Sure, that's the way things work here in the blogosphere but I don't have to agree with it. Instead, I feel a mild panic at the thought that she read my lame post, snickered and/or yawned, commented vaguely, then returned home with nary a second thought about me. Granted, I haven't exactly put a lot of imagination into my posts lately, but I do have some good stuff around here, don't I? Stuff about boobs, downward-facing dogs and the like? I was cool once, and I'll bet we could have hung out then. But no more. Sob.

Mmmmmmmmmmeat.

2008-01-29T12:01:00.001-05:00

Check out the piggie in my sidebar! There's a challenge going on over at League of Maternal Justice to try to eat vegetarian for 5 days. Now it's supposed to be from the 28th of January to the 1st of February, but since I found out too late and ate meat yesterday and took out meat for dinner tonight I'm going to start tomorrow instead. I'll go a full 5 days anyway, even though I have to post my summary by Sunday night. There are a bunch of cool prizes and I'm looking forward to finding some new recipes to keep in my file for my weekly vegetarian meal that I've resolved to have.
I'll try to post every day, but we'll see how that goes... Considering I haven't even blogged about the kids in almost 2 weeks I won't count on succeeding at that.

January 17

2008-01-17T19:34:00.001-05:00

2004

I was 12 days away from my due date for our first baby, 80% effaced, 1.5 cm dilated, and completely sick of being pregnant. I had just eaten half a bunch of celery and chugged about 2 litres of raspberry tea in hopes of bringing on labour. I was also unknowingly 12 hours from my water breaking and 24 hours away from delivery.

2005

It was 2 days away from Josey's first birthday and we couldn't believe it. We talked about how he would be the perfect child if only he would sleep through the night...

2006

I was 12 days away from my due date for our second baby, 50% effaced, 0 cm dilated, and completely sick of being pregnant. Again. Josey and I were at my parents' place in Ottawa for the night. I had a crazy craving for a Quizno's sub, but didn't get one. There was no way I would go into labour tonight. Not being an hour away from the hospital, with severe freezing rain warnings...

2007

We were in complete shock. Russ picked up a pregnancy test on the way home from work and I quickly took it, just to be completely sure that the first one 2 weeks ago hadn't been a false negative. It just wouldn't be a good time for another baby; not for another year at least...

Positive.

2008

But he's darn cute.

Quickquickquick

2008-01-15T13:57:00.001-05:00

This one's going to be all over the place. I'm frantically trying to blog while Tristan naps and the boys aren't too needy, so I apologize in advance for a confusing read.

Josey is going through another "angry" phase, where he constantly gets upset at us and says such lovely things as "MOMMY I DON'T LOVE YOU!" and "BAD DADDY!" for any number of reasons, usually when we make him do something after asking 600 times. He definitely needs more social interaction, but I sometimes resist going to playgroups because it's such a huge ordeal when we have to leave and I often end up dragging him into the van kicking, hitting and screaming without his coat and boots on. He's been good for his preschool group though and the teachers have both told me separately that he's very smart. So far he listens well during the sessions, and hopefully that won't change when he gets to know the teachers better.
He can write his name, and can identify quite a few letters and numbers. He still insists that he's going to be a "tractor painter" when he grows up, so he really won't need any of them writin' or readin' skills though. Good thing he knows his colours.

With the exception of two nights last week, Roanen has been getting up every single night and coming into our bed. If it wasn't for Tristan I'd probably be more insistant that he stay in his bed, but Russ is the one who has to deal with him screaming for hours on end, then get up for work at 5 AM so I don't blame him for just letting him sleep with us. After he screamed for hours the other night at my parents' place I went out and bought a couple of herbal remedies, one that is supposed to calm him at night and help him sleep in general and another that is to be sprayed in his mouth if he's having a screaming fit. I don't have much hope for either of them since I think it's just in his nature to be like this, but it won't hurt to try. Russ is actually calling around, trying to find a child psychologist to help us out. While I think this is a bit extreme, I'd appreciate any suggestions on how to deal with him when he gets psycho. Supernanny? Nanny 911? Please?
On the upside, he's getting even more independent and is very comfortable going off on his own at playgroup, and even joining in a group of kids singing or listening to stories without Josey or me around.

Tristan has been totally weaned of his medication for about a week now and seems to be a lot better. He's doesn't cry nearly as much as he used to, particularly since I've figured out that he can only handle about an hour and a half of awake time before needing another of his 30 minute naps. His night sleeping, which used to consist of a 5 or 6 hour stretch, followed by a 2-3 hour stretch before he insisted on coming into our bed, has deteriorated badly in the last couple of weeks. Last night he was up every hour and a half, and wanted to be nursing constantly once I brought him into bed with us. I'm pretty sure this is because he's not eating much during the day (he's happy with 8 minutes of nursing every 3 or so hours) and needs to get more calories at night. I just don't know how I can extend his day feeds without starving him and listening to him scream at night.
Otherwise he's super smiley and pretty happy. Everyone comments on how alert he is and although he's small (12 lbs 11 oz today, less than both the other boys were at HALF his age) he's really strong and can hold his head right up and stand up straight. He also crawls to the head of his crib when he wakes up. He's just starting to grab at things and everything goes into his mouth, where he gums things really hard, including fingers.

Now it's my turn! ME! Now ME!

I tossed out the old goals that I made before Christmas and made up a new set of health resolutions at New Years. Here they are:

1) Drink 8 cups of water each day
I've been pretty good at this one, mostly due to the fact that I reward every 2 cups of water with either a white chocolate peppermint Hershey's Kiss, or a Riesen caramel. I'll get a craving, then chug water just so I can have my reward. Whatever works, right?
2) Eat raw vegetables every day
This one is hit and miss. I usually get in a couple of carrot sticks or some red pepper because they're easy, but actually breaking down and washing broccoli or cauliflower is a little too much like work for me.
3) Have at least one meatless meal a week.
The first week I started off just making pasta with tomato sauce, but this week I made vegetarian enchiladas and tofu pad thai, both out of the Looneyspoons and Crazy Plates cookbooks. They both turned out really yummy.
4) Each week have at least one serving of the following: spinach or kale, sweet potatoes, legumes, broccoli, cauliflower, red pepper, nuts and olives.
I've been really good at this one, even doubling or tripling my servings of some of these during the week. It really helps to plan my meals well in advance, and I use Recipezaar to find really good recipes if I don't know what to do with something.
5) Eat fish or seafood at least once a week.
We pretty much did this before anyway, but I threw it in there to look special.
6) Find a good Greens supplement and take it.
I don't like Greens+ or anything like it so I've been lazy on this one, with the excuse that I can't make it to any stores that carry it with the kids. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I stopped buying ice cream too, and if I want something like it I have frozen yogurt. Just like I thought I would, as soon as I bought new pants I lost a pound and evidently several inches off my waist and hips. Now I have two brand new pairs of pants that I can pull off and on without undoing the button. Grrr. I'm guessing that I was dehydrated before and retaining water because of it. Once I started drinking enough water my body didn't have to store it anymore and I lost water weight. Grrr again. I haven't been exercising at all, other than lugging Tristan around half the day. We're trying to get Tristan to take a bottle, and if we succeed at that and Russ is compliant I'd like to start taking a yoga or pilates class in town. I was also planning on starting to jog in the spring, but I think it would be a little too hard on my joints so I'm going to try (gulp) biking instead. I've ridden a bike once in the last 10+ years and I just about killed myself, so I'm not looking forward to it, although I'd like to be able to get into good enough biking shape to stick a couple of the kids in the bike stroller and go for rides.

I know I have way more to blog about, but my mind has gone blank for now. I'm off to drink water so I can eat chocolate. Sorry so boring :)

Well, Since You Asked So Nicely...

2008-01-04T09:40:00.001-05:00

...I suppose I COULD pose for a picture with your monkeys - I mean, charming children...

...although I do find them raaaaaawther uncivilized...

...and my delicate nature can only tolerate such antics for so long.

Whoa! Nooooo touchy!

What's that? You mean I have to...stay in this family?

You've gotta be kidding me.

This Is Lindsay Blogging About Hats

2007-12-30T13:11:00.001-05:00

When I was pregnant with Tristan I decided to actually knit something. I'd learned a basic knit and purl stitch when I was younger, but had never been motivated enough to learn to follow a pattern or make something other than a scarf (or 5000 unfinished scarves). I bought a kit for a baby cardigan/hat/booties and actually made it. It's pretty hideous and I have no desire to put in on Tristan, but it gave me enough practice to make some cute hats:

My first project - I also made a white hat with a pink flower.

Who doesn't need a hat like this?

One of my favourites that I didn't think would turn out well:

On my lovely assistant and hat model:

Anyone notice the girl theme going on there? Those were from when I was sure Tristan was going to be a girl. Oh, but I did get me some blue yarn to make this...

...which is girly nonetheless, according to my mom. Hey, I didn't add the frilly thing around the bottom that it was supposed to have. It fits on Roanen's melon head too:

Ok, Roanen isn't really a melon head. That title belongs to child #1, who partially stretched this baby onto his noggin after I had finished one "ear", changing it from a 12-18 month size to a 18-24 months size. Thanks buddy:

That one took me the longest to make. I was nearly done it when I went into labour with Tristan, and sadly put it aside to make a little green cap for his little boy head. *sob* I finally had enough time last week to sit down and actually finish it and start another. Coming soon: the Chick Hat.

I Stand Corrected.

2007-12-29T14:12:00.000-05:00

Me: "Roanen, do you want to stay in the car?"
Roanen: "Nooooo....IT'S A VAN!"

Me: "Look, you get to wear a onesie with a bunny on it!"
Roanen: "That is a rabbit."

Fortunately he has yet to use the "disdainful teenager" tone of voice that Josey is perfecting.

This Is Lindsay Blogging

2007-12-29T13:47:00.000-05:00

I've been neglectful of my blogging duties, so I will generously offer up a boring blog update.

Christmas is over! Yay! The boys got about a zillion presents (ok, not really, but over 50 anyway which is a ridiculous amount), but naturally it wasn't enough for Josey. After each present-opening session he would drag himself around sullenly, announcing to whomever was listening that he "only got (x amount) of presents...*sigh*" Poor kid. I really felt for him, hmmmm, not at all. The award for most unappreciated present goes to the big bag of MegaBloks given to him by his great aunt and uncle. He ripped off the wrapping paper to reveal a box previously occupied by a blender. How exciting! However, upon opening the box he found not a blender, but a bag of MegaBloks. Later, he sadly asked me where his blender went. Yet another disappointment.
The boys were all sick over the holidays, coughing, sneezing and expelling copious amounts of thick green stuff. In the spirit of the season they tried their best to share with others, resulting in both Russ and I being sick. Thank you, sweet children.
Best of all, when we got home after being gone from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day we somehow had enough laundry to cover half the playroom floor. I did laundry non-stop on Thursday and didn't even finish it. That amounted to three huge overflowing baskets which took me over an hour and a half to fold. Yesterday there were 1 1/2 baskets. Today I might get caught up. Laundry is no longer my favourite chore.

How I Measure Up.

2007-12-08T22:04:00.000-05:00

Here's the story:

When I got pregnant with Josey I weighed a very normal and acceptable 125 pounds. I wasn't thrilled with my level of tone and was definitely not in even remotely good cardiovascular condition, but I found myself physically tolerable - for me. I gained 16 pounds during the pregnancy, and my weight ended up as low as 109 pounds while I was breasfeeding. I was pretty skeletal and gross looking, with only a tiny bit of extra skin around my belly to show that I'd been pregnant. I was 115 pounds when I got pregnant with Roanen, and this time I gained 25 pounds, and went back down to around 115 pounds afterwards, looking pretty much the same as before. Then came Tristan. I gained an amount somewhere between the first two pregancies, but having my second and third so close together, combined with my really bad eating habits ("the baby NEEDS me to have ice cream every night!") really messed up my body - FOR ME.

(Has anyone noticed the bold yet? That's my disclaimer, because I know you're all thinking WAH WAH, sucks to be you, and you have to understand that it's about how I perceive myself and not what anyone else thinks. I am allowed to be unhappy about the way I look because my standards for myself are super high and I don't want to look "good for a mother of three". I want to look amazing, period. So shut up.)

Anyway, now that no one is reading anymore, I will continue. I am completely disgusted with the way I look right now. I'm back to 125 pounds, which is a fine weight, but my proportions and my tone are totally whacko. After Josey and Roanen, the last thing to return to normal was my hips. I couldn't fit into my regular pants for about 4 weeks give or take, but eventually it happened. This time my hips barely moved afterwards, which isn't such a bad thing on it's own, but my stomach turned to flabby mush and somehow any weight I had in my face, shoulders and neck slipped down into my belly and thighs. My wardrobe, which used to consist of tight shirts and teeny jeans, has turned into two pairs of pants (my maternity jeans and a pair of khakis that fit through more than half of my pregnancy), a maternity/breastfeeding tanktop with a maternity zip-up sweater, and two long, baggy at the waist breastfeeding shirts. NOTHING ELSE FITS. It SUCKS and I'm miserable about it. While I've finally given in and bought larger clothes, I've also decided that I'm going to start doing something about it. This thought was only partly motivated by the fact that my dad poked me in the belly today like I was the Pillsbury Doughboy and commented that I must be "relaxed". (No I am not mad or upset about it, in fact he's the only person that is honest enough to tell me - in that subtle way - that I don't look as good as I used to.) The problem is it's freezing and snowy outside, and I have a baby attached at the boob, which is not conducive to the things I want to start doing, like running and yoga or pilates. For now I'm just going to make a couple of changes so I can ease into the whole process (because I have a tendency to go all out, then burn out).

First, I'm going to start drinking more water. I'm horrible at keeping hydrated and I often go from morning to evening without peeing. Not good normally, but particularly bad when breastfeeding. So I'm going to get some kind of yummy little chocolate thingies and reward myself with one for every 16 oz of water I drink, because I always need a reward. I'm going to aim for 3 litres a day while I'm breastfeeding.
Next, I'm going to stop eating after dinner. I've gotten into the habit of having a bowl of ice cream or a bunch of cookies almost every evening and I'm sure it's not helping the cause.
Finally, I'm going to incorporate some kind of physical activity into my day. When I'm stuck inside it's going to have to be something like going up and down the stairs a million times, but if I can muster up the motivation I'll strap the baby to myself, get the kids suited up (groan) and go outside, where I'll walk up and down the driveway (which I'll have to do anyway to keep Tristan from freaking while in the wrap).

If you're totally disgusted with me, head over to Proud To Be A Fit Mom . She explains the reasons for a "skinny" mom wanting to look good way better (and less offensively) than I do.

Now the fun part. I took some basic measurements today as a starting point so I can monitor my progress:

Upper Thighs (my newest problem area): 22"
Hips: 38 1/4"
Waist: 32"
Shoulders: 38"

I didn't bother with my bust measurement since that changes hourly :) I also got Russ to take pictures of me in a bikini which I will post once I upload them. And when I stop hyperventilating about it.

I Like Talking About You You You You Usually. But Occasionally...

2007-12-05T20:44:00.000-05:00

I Want To Talk About Me!

Aren't you impressed with all my literary and musical references lately? Makes me feel like not all my brain cells were expelled during childbirth...

So anyway, although technically the baby of the family, I've realized that I have a serious case of middle child syndrome most likely due to the fact that my mom started babysitting a younger and way cuter kid when I was 2. I dealt with this by a) punching him in the nose, giving him chronic nosebleeds and b) feeling the need to be the center of attention at all times. Naturally it has been difficult for me to relinquish this attention now that I have kids. When I started this blog I intended for it to be all about them (hence the name), and so far I've managed to keep it totally kid-related. The problem is that when something interesting happens to me that isn't about the kids I feel like I can't blog about it. I might lose my gazillions of readers who faithfully log on with the sole purpose of hearing the latest on my pants-peeing, night-screaming, explosive-pooping children (in that order). However, now that my life involves approximately 3.4 seconds per day of non child-related activities like running as fast as I can to the chicken coop to get eggs before the boys realize I'm gone and start trying to pull Tristan out of the swing, I've decided that I reeeeeeeally want to share those moments with you all (that's "youse" to those of you living in my neck of the woods...all one of you). Therefore, in true middle child spirit, from now on my blog will include charming stories about yours truly. If anything charmed ever happens to me.

A Snack, By Any Other Name, Would Not Taste As Sweet.

2007-11-27T12:00:00.000-05:00

Look at me - I read a book once.

Russ started his new job yesterday morning and had to leave at the same time he used to get up. This caused some major issues when it came to the boys getting up (which is usually at the same time as Russ or shortly thereafter) and having their snack.
When Josey was just over a year old Russ started giving him a snack every morning to hold him over until I dragged myself out of bed and made breakfast. For the longest time he had a banana and his vitamin for snack day in and day out. Then he started having some dried apricots and his vitamin. This continued with Roanen, to the point that Russ was pretty much giving them a full breakfast some days. Up until yesterday, asking the boys what they had for snack yielded answers anywhere from "a vitamin and a little orange" to "my vitamin, some cottage cheese, an egg, and a piece of toast with jam". Regardless of how little or how much they had eaten earlier on, Josey still insisted on needing both a snack and his breakfast, which was anything from a bowl of cereal or oatmeal to pancakes to eggs, toasts and fruit. If he woke up after Russ had left he would freak out when I suggested just having breakfast. If, by chance, he forgot about the snack and I just made breakfast, a little while later he would suddenly remember that "we forgot to have snack!" and insist that we eat something else "for snack".
Now that I'm in total charge of the boys pretty much from the time they wake up, I've informed them two days in a row that they will not be having two meals first thing in the morning, and that I will make one large breakfast a little later than we usually have snack. This has caused crying, screaming, and the insistence that they NEED a snack or else they may die of starvation in the hour between waking and breakfast (they can have fruit if they really need something in the meantime, but I ain't making pancakes). I'm standing firm on this point though, so this morning I dubbed our meal "sneakfast" to avoid mentioning the forbidden "s" or "b" words. They did not appreciate my cleverness.

Last night Tristan slept 6 hours straight, from 9 to 3. Amazing, yes, but did I get to enjoy it? No, because Roanen woke up for the third time at 1:30 and fussed and cried, even in our bed, for an hour and a quarter, when Russ finally tossed him into his bed where he immediately passed out. I'll forgive him a little, because he's still sick and coughing pretty badly at night, but I really would have liked to sleep during the 6 hours that Tristan did. It may be a little premature, but I'm hoping that Tristan's apparent laissez-faire attitude about nursing at night may be to my advantage when it comes to him sleeping fully through the night. Seriously, I have to have one good infant sleeper. I'm entitled.

Just Call Him Beaver

2007-11-21T09:46:00.000-05:00

There's a book out called Even June Cleaver Would Forget the Juice Box. Think the preschool teacher has read it?

Is That Your Final Answer?

2007-11-19T10:15:00.000-05:00

I'm back on milk. On Saturday night I had a mini-freakout about not having prepared for dinner, and we ended up deciding that last week's bad days probably weren't dairy related after all. We got some really good cheesy, buttery, yummy takeout from a restaurant in town and crossed our fingers. So far Tristan has had no reaction to it. I'm still avoiding chocolate just in case that's the problem (which makes more sense since I have chocolate allergies) but I'm looking forward to trying it out sometime soon...

In other news, Josey has croup and is feeling crappy, and Roanen somehow hurt his wrist and is having a hard time doing normal things like lifting food to his mouth with his left hand and climbing on things (that one's a shame). Both the boys have been getting up at 5 AM and Roanen freaks out when we don't immediately "GO DOWNSTAIRS!" like he wants. I think daylight savings time hasn't kicked in yet for them, and wasn't helped by the fact that we started putting them to bed an hour earlier last week.

I think I'm going to start posting stuff about our little farm soon, if only to be just like the Pioneer Woman. Actually I just think everyone is dying to see graphic pictures of the next time we get our chickens slaughtered. Admit it, you are.

And The Bad Mommy Award Goes To...

2007-11-16T09:34:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was our busiest day of the week, with Tristan's 2 months doctor's appointment (complete with shots) and Josey starting his preschool class. It had crossed my mind that the timing may be tight since the appointment was at 11:15 and preschool started at 12:30 and we had to fit lunch in somewhere, but I wasn't that worried since morning appointments are usually quicker and I figured that I could do drive-thru at Wendy's or something in a pinch. Naturally on this particular day the doctor was running behind and also ended up talking to a patient on the phone for about 20 minutes while we waited. I was watching the clock, and we seemed to be doing ok for time provided we skipped lunch and hauled ass over to preschool. The boys behaved well during the appointment, but the couple of minutes grace time we had were eaten up when Josey decided to run directly out of the office and into the cubby between the two glass doors leading outside. I was waiting for my next appointment booking while holding Tristan when this happened and I peeked out the door to see a woman standing in there with him. After all the warnings we'd given him about not running outside without anyone, I thought he'd know better than to go all the way out, but sure enough when he saw me looking at him, he took off out the door. Roanen was playing with the toys, so I set Tristan into his carseat and ran out after Josey (and the woman), who was tossed into the van and told to buckle himself up. Back in the office I walked past all the staring, disapproving people, announcing that he was in the van just in case they thought I was just letting him run through the streets by himself. Tristan, who started screaming as soon as I put him down, was being held by some woman who was evidently madly in love with him. Just as I got the carseat ready (while this woman unhurriedly walked him around showing him off) Josey came running back into the office, because apparently he now knows how to get out of the van by himself. By the time I got everyone into the van it was 12:33 and I was freaking out about being late and Josey not being fed. I told him he could reach into his bag and eat his snack that I had packed for preschool (that was just a precaution because I didn't think they'd actually have a snack there). When we got to the rec center, I rushed them out of the van with Tristan screaming and Josey moving as slowly as possible because he doesn't like people to know that he's with me, and brought them inside. As I got his jacket off, the organizer wanted to verify that I had packed a snack for him so I pulled out the snack bag, which now contained 3 half eaten crackers. Fortunately Josey was perfectly happy to stay by himself (yippee!) so I said goodbye and rushed out, remembering once I was outside again that he hadn't peed since well before leaving the house and was sure to wet his pants since I hadn't told him about asking one of the teachers to take him to the bathroom. When we picked him up at 2:30 I was happy to find out that A) he had a great time and didn't want to leave and B) when he had to pee he had asked the teacher to take him. The happiness ended when the teacher asked Josey "And what are we going to tell Mommy to pack for next week?" to which he responded "A drink". The teacher had to share with him, and I can only imagine what she was thinking about a mother who packed some chewed-up crackers and no drink for a snack. He was wearing pretty ratty looking clothes too, so she probably figures I'm just another one of those white trash welfare moms. Yay. Next week we're making muffins FROM SCRATCH and cutting up veggies for snack. And I'll give him TWO drinks. Yeah, that'll show them.

Just Get Off The Cow!

2007-11-15T08:36:00.000-05:00

For the record, I didnt go too crazy on the dairy. Aside from the sorta-cheese on Monday night I didn't have any pure dairy like milk or yogurt and I even restricted foods with dairy ingredients in them. I was good, really I was. Unfortunately Tristan has been excessively cranky since Tuesday evening and I'm going to have to cut dairy out again to see if it helps. His nights have been really good though (after he finally passes out after screaming for hours) and he's slept 5 hour stretches at the beginning of the night 3 nights in a row. I'll be talking to both the doctor and a lactation consultant about it all today, but I'm already preparing myself for a long cheeseless, rice milky year. Ugh.

Mmmmmm Dairy.

2007-11-13T13:31:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note to say that there has been no reaction to me having dairy last night. I don't know how long it takes for something to get into breastmilk, but Tristan's been really good since last night. A little fussy at the boob in the evening, but I attributed that to having spicy food at dinner. He was down for the night at 8:30, which is pretty good for him, and he slept through until 1:30. Just before 11 I tried to give him what the Baby Whisperer calls the "dream feed", which is when you pick him up and feed him when he's asleep (so that he can sleep a longer chunk without waking up hungry) but apparently doing that counts on the baby having a good suck reflex, which my soother-refusing, non sleep-nursing baby doesn't have. He stirred and stretched for a while, but wouldn't open his mouth to nurse at all. Oh well. Even Roanen slept pretty well last night after the nap disaster and didn't wake up until 5. We're trying to get the boys to bed at 7 now since neither are sleeping well during the day and we figure they need more rest. Nothing to do with the fact that we'd like time sans children in the evening, no sirree.

Had To Be Done

2007-11-12T18:30:00.001-05:00

I ate cheese at dinner. Actually, it was Tostitos Salsa Con Queso so I'm not sure if it actually counts as real cheese. Even though I said I was going to deprive myself a while longer to really make sure, something told me I should go for it. It was probably the cheese. I made a (dairy free) chicken chili for dinner and we just happened to have a (dairy free) bag of Tostitos in the cupboard that would go perfectly with it. Problem is that the bag of (dairy free) Tostitos was purchased with a (not so dairy free) jar of cheese dip and I reasoned that if we just ate the chips the dip would be very very lonely. And then I reasoned that I'd already eaten cheese so a mini Caramilk wouldn't hurt. And then I reasoned that I'd already eaten cheese and a mini Caramilk so another mini Caramilk wouldn't hurt. And then I reasoned that I'd already eaten cheese and two mini Caramilks so some PC the Decadent chocolate chip cookies made with (so not dairy free) butter definitely wouldn't hurt.

And now my tummy hurts.

It Has Escaped.

2007-11-12T14:03:00.000-05:00

What has escaped, you may ask? My ear. From the death grip of an exhausted nearly-two year old who spent an hour in hysterics because he DIDN'T WANT TO GO NIGHT-NIGHT and who wanted to GO DOWNSTAIRS. The only thing that would calm him down was to have a tractor and truck clutched in one hand and my ear in the other, which wasn't working so well for me since I had to do a variation of downward-facing dog to achieve the perfect ear-grip for him. Napping has been an ordeal lately, with Roanen sleeping a maximum of one hour before waking up and coming downstairs extremely cranky and needy. Naturally Tristan is usually fussy at this time so I end up with the two of them fighting for prime lap space (ok, Tristan does more crying than fighting but whatever) until Roanen wakes up enough to remember that he likes bulldozers better than me. After being good in the middle of the night for a while he's back getting up at least twice (on a good night) or screaming and refusing to stay in his bed (on a bad night). Most mornings there are 4 of us in our queen-sized bed and if we're really lucky Josey will squish in as well when he gets up and amuse himself by alternately kicking at us and pulling out my hairs one by one.

I'm a week and a day into not having any dairy products in case Tristan is sensitive to them and I'm thinking that it's not making much of a difference. I've mostly decided that he's just really sensitive to being uncomfortable in any way. I still think he's got reflux because he's not screaming in pain every night now that he's on medication, but otherwise when he gets upset I can usually attribute it to having gas or being overtired. He seems to have bad circulation too and I'll sometimes get him out of the swing or bed when he starts crying suddenly and his hands, feet and face are freezing cold. Just one more thing to talk to the doctor about when he gets his shots on Thursday (yes, already. Groan.) One thing that is making life easier on me is the swing. He really likes it and falls asleep pretty easily in it so I've gotten really lazy and I rarely try to put him in his crib during the day anymore. We'll see how that works out for me when he outgrows it...

Last bit of news is that Russ got a new job and he starts in 2 weeks. Instead of working from 8 to 5 he'll be working 7 to 3:30 (with 40 minutes of travel time each way) so he'll be getting home about an hour and a half earlier than he is now. In my mind it will be extra time that he can play with the kids while I happily make dinner without one kid in my arms and another (or two) holding onto my leg. In his mind I'll be able to get a job a few evenings a week since I'll have enough time to get somewhere for 5:00. Yes, apparently even though he can't handle the baby on his own for longer than about 15 minutes (because Tristan hates him, you know), if I get a job he'll be able to get all three kids fed, bathed and in bed without committing infanticide. Riiiiiiight. I'll start looking tomorrow.

No Excuses...

2007-11-09T09:02:00.000-05:00

I'm running low on excuses not to blog (like the newborn + crazy older brothers excuse isn't good enough on it's own). We finally went ahead and bought a new computer since the old one was beyond ancient and near useless. And I mean delete-as-much-as-possible-off-the-computer-just-so-there's-room-to-upload-a-camera-full-of-pictures useless. On Sunday we popped into WalMart to check prices on laptops (because I NEED a laptop so I don't have to hole up in my room and neglect the kids while I go online) and lo and behold, there was an Acer Aspire 3100 (no it's not a new model, yes it's a gazillion times better than our old computer) on for $345.00. Not knowing whether it was actually going to be good enough on its own we made sure that there were plenty in stock and that the price was going to remain the same for a while and went home to make some calls. After being assured that it would be sufficient for us I went back on Monday to pick it up. I was seriously annoyed to find out that not only was it sold out because they'd only had 5 to start with, it was only on sale for the weekend. Now here's where dealing with major stores comes in handy. Knowing that I, the customer, AM ALWAYS RIGHT when it comes to WalMart, I called around and found the one store in the entire world that still had ONE left. Ok, it was only 5 stores, but luckily enough it was the one in Pembroke where Russ works. A few phone calls, a non-customer service-oriented manager in Renfrew, and a visit to a very the-customer-is-always-right visit to Pembroke and I am now the owner of a fancy-schmancy new laptop, for the sale price of course. I loooooove it, but since I can now sit on the couch or at the kitchen table on the internet, I don't have much of an excuse not to keep up with the blogging. Although I draw the line at typing with one hand while holding the baby. So don't get too excited.

Wow, now after that immensely boring section here are some more random things because I can't get my thoughts organized enough to cover the last couple of weeks in an exciting fashion.
After about a week on the medication, Tristan was still fussing quite a bit in the evening and not going to bed until late. Then his days started to deteriorate to the point where last Thursday I had to call Russ and make him come home at lunch to help me out. He's getting really gassy, but I was totally confused as to whether he was crying from reflux pain, gas pain, unknown pain, being overtired from refusing to sleep on his own or for long periods being held, or just being a baby. Either way it was getting unbearable. Ultimately we decided to continue with the reflux medication, get him to sleep more, even if it means holding him or letting him sleep in the swing or in bed with us, and cut out all dairy products (right down to trace amounts in stuff) in case it's a sensitivity to milk protein. It's been 5 days of this so far and he's much happier, although I have no idea which of our changes is helping. I'm going to continue it all for another week or so before adding dairy back into my diet to see if there's any reaction, and if that's not the issue (please God let him not be sensitive to dairy because I'm going to die without it) we'll go a little longer before trying to take him off the reflux medication. A happier baby lately has made things a little easier, although I'm still hoping the next few months go by quickly because I don't deal well with this infant stage.

"Watching you suffer without dairy makes me happy!"

Josey is going to be starting in an intro to preschool program next week. It's 2 hours a week for six weeks and he's really excited about it. I'm looking forward to it too, although I'm worried that he's going to get upset about it not being at KidsCorp where he's used to having his playgroup. His new thing is saying "Why doesn't anyone want to play with me" when we don't provide him with constant entertainment and although I know he totally just testing us, it makes me feel bad that he doesn't get the chance to play with other kids very often.

That's it for now. Even though I'm in the same room as the kids, I still feel guilty about just sitting here on the computer while they watch TV. Bad Mommy. I promise to update more often from now on though. Maybe.

I Heart Zantac

2007-10-27T15:12:00.000-04:00

Can you hear the big sigh of relief from there? Tristan is 7 doses into his prescription and I'm definitely noticing a difference in him. He used to get agitated really easily, especially when he was sitting on his own and now he's pretty content a lot of the time. His fussing doesn't automatically turn into screaming after a few minutes and he settles down to sleep without needing to be nursed. Twice already he has fallen asleep in his crib with me just shushing him and patting his back. Needless to say I'm thrilled, although we are still having issues in the evenings and at nights with him really fussing about nursing and crying quite a bit. I'm thinking that he's reacting to certain foods that I eat, namely broccoli and beans, but he also still has a cold and gets really stuffed up at night which makes him cranky. At least he's not constantly screaming in pain anymore. That does a number on the nerves, particularly after suffering through a year of Roanen's hysterics.

Now for the other exciting updates:

The older boys are actually going out for Halloween this year. Josey is going to be an elephant and Roanen is going to be a pig. Josey is thrilled because I'm "forgetting" that I don't like him to have candy (and I won't remember with him constantly saying it...). We have a tentative deal in which he will keep a few items and trade the rest for a bugs & cheese lunch date with me at Boston Pizza. This is a very good deal for me since not only do I get his candy, I also get lunch out. Oh, and the leftover candy that we don't give out, since I highly doubt we'll actually have enough trick or treaters to use up the 90 chocolate bars I bought... That's when I'll sadly figure out that Tristan is sensitive to chocolate in my milk.

Last week we had our chickens killed and butchered in a gory, yet strangely fascinating and efficient manner. Josey really wanted to watch them, but I was hesitant to let him see any of it since he can be sensitive about things like that. When I told him that I didn't want him to get upset about it, he informed me "I won't get upset - I kill things all the time!" He ended up having no problem with it all, and found the chickens hanging upside down with their heads partially severed and blood dripping from their necks particularly hilarious. No joke. I was slightly less impressed with that. Roanen followed his lead and ran around laughing and yelling "Really scary!" He also decided that it would be a good idea to bend over and try to drink out of a bloody puddle on the ground. Always good when your toddler channels Ozzy Osbourne.

Behaviour is still less than would be desirable, although I haven't been driven to tears by it for over a week now so things are improving. Today at the grocery store we were informed by a woman with three teenaged boys that this is the absolute worst time for us and that it gets really good later on. I was just impressed that three teenaged boys (all of whom looked relatively "cool") actually let themselves be seen in public with their mommy. Even Josey walks several yards behind us in the mall and yells at us for looking at him.

Hard to type with one semi-asleep 6 week old and one wiggly 3 year old on lap. Signing off for now.

Happy Drugs Day One

2007-10-24T20:14:00.000-04:00

Last night we gave Tristan his first dose of Happy Drugs. Although he spit most of it up within a few minutes we still imagined that he cried less and settled down easier when it came down to going to sleep. Today was pretty confusing when it came to figuring out if the medicine was actually doing anything. When he was awake and alert, he was pretty easygoing and less agitated than he usually is, but he had 2 major hour-long screaming fits today where he still seemed in pain, but he could also have been overtired. Adding to the confusion is the fact that he has a cold and isn't breathing very well. So we'll give it a while longer before deciding if he actually does have painful reflux, but I'm disappointed that there wasn't a miraculous change in his disposition. And panicking that he cries because of something I'm doing wrong. Shouldn't I have caught on to this mothering thing by now?

Cross Your Fingers For Me...

2007-10-23T15:29:00.000-04:00

After our disaster of an appointment last Monday we had a good day, then a really bad day and night with Tristan crying hysterically. We took the doctor's advice and raised the head of his bed and dosed him with Tempra when he got upset, but nothing helped so on Wednesday morning I called the doctor back to ask for a prescription. Naturally he was on holidays until Monday morning so we suffered through the rest of the week with Tristan still screaming, not sleeping on his own, and eating erratically, sometimes crying WHILE nursing. He also started spitting up more and getting some really good distance with it. Finally Monday rolled around and I talked to the receptionist at the doctor's office, trying to sound as desperate as possible. Long story short, the doctor ended up prescribing him Zantac drops since neither Ovol nor gripe water did a thing for him. I'm going to start him on them tonight, although it's really tempting to give it to him now since he's been screaming for the past 45 minutes despite the fact that he napped and fed not too long ago. Wish me luck - hopefully my next post will be all about what a contented, sleepy baby he has become with ther help of the happy drugs.

If He Can't Have Drugs, Can I?

2007-10-15T16:56:00.000-04:00

This morning before Tristan's scheduled 1 month checkup I was skimming through my Baby Whisperer book, hoping to figure something out to solve his sleep issues. I happened to find a part that spoke about babies who "never sleep" that referred to another section about reflux. Turns out that Tristan has a pile of reflux symptoms including not wanting to lie flat, frequent hiccups, inability to burp well, unexplained crying, restless sleeping, prolonged feedings and back arching. Oh, and the fact that almost everyone on my side of the family had or has it. I was so happy that I had him (possibly) figured out and I was really hoping that the doctor would just prescribe some kind of medication that could make him feel better so that I could put him down while he sleeps. Unfortunately all he's willing to do right now is have me elevate the crib mattress and keep him upright most of the time, which is the most unsatisfying answer. To add to my misery, Josey wouldn't shut up the entire time we were in the office and yelled "I WANT A TREAT I WANT A TREAT I WANT A TREAT I WANT A TREAT" repeatedly while the doctor was trying to explain everything to me. Fat chance, kid. Roanen grabbed a big pan filled with water and disinfecting solution and pulled it down all over himself, Josey's back, and my leg, which freaked him right out and he screamed for a good 15 minutes while I cursed silently about not having brought any extra clothes other than 1 pair of pants and underwear. And finally, both boys attached themselves to my leg on the way in the office. This is Josey's new game - he holds on to my ankle and makes me drag him across the floor while Roanen just holds on due to shyness. And naturally Tristan was nursing at the time so I just stumbled in, mortified at their behaviour. Josey also grabbed on on the way out and parked himself in the doorway of the office while Roanen screamed hysterically at him for blocking the doorway and not letting him close the door. The doctor told me he wasn't jealous of my situation. And laughed. And I cried aaaaaaaaall the way home. And them some more.

Ha! Fooled Ya!

2007-10-12T17:43:00.000-04:00

I was just reading my last post and had to laugh because Tristan is so not laid back and independent anymore. Apparently he was hiding his true nature to lull me into a false sense of security. He will definitely not lie quietly in his cradle until he falls asleep on his own anymore - not even close. In fact, even when he falls asleep in our arms (which is a long, screamy, sometimes impossible achievement) he'll generally wake up as soon as he's put down, or at least within 5 minutes. He has such a hard time getting decent sleep that he's constantly overtired, which severely limits his happy, alert time and makes him into a fussy grouch. The solution? Nursing waaaay to frequently, of course! Nothing like shoving a boob in his mouth to shut him up. He also sleeps in our bed most of the night, usually cradled in my arms. I'm actually not as bothered by all this as I thought, considering that I was totally obsessed with having a baby that fell asleep on his own, slept all night from an early age, and sat contentedly watching the action around him while I cooked and cleaned to my heart's content. I guess after having two extremely high-need babies I realize that he'll only be like this for a year or so then things will get better. I'll probably change my mind about it in a week or so though.

Alright, now for the big boys - in point form!

Roanen:

-will not identify himself in pictures or in the mirror. That guy is Josey.
-he is mostly cooperative when asked to do something, like put something in the garbage. He'll usually say "Otay!", but this also alternates with his other new favourite "Don't want to!"
-he's saying almost everything. For some reason he's been repeating "Josey pooped pants really bad" to make everyone laugh.
-still waking up at night and not wanting Russ to leave the room for hours, but seems to be maturing a little in that he'll occasionally accept excuses like "Daddy doesn't feel good sleeping in your bed"
-very impatient, especially when food is involved and will scream if he doesn't get instant gratification.
-is a little rough with Tristan, but also very affectionate. When he wants to hold him he'll say "Snuggle Baby Bobby?"

Josey:

-has been pretty good for staying dry lately. He has only had a couple of accidents since Tristan was born
-his behaviour seems to get worse when Grammie or Russ are around, but if I'm alone with him and we stick to a routine and keep him busy he's been really good
-the Montessori preschool thing was a bust, but the Early Years Centre in Renfrew has a preschool program that is a couple of hours every week for 6 weeks. Of course it started last week before I found out about it and I don't know when there will be another session of it. As an alternative I thought that I might take on a kid around his age to babysit to keep him busy. This might backfire if I get some crazy kid that teaches him all new ways to be bad.

And a final note, TV is a happy, happy thing as it will keep at least one of my children occupied for a very long time.

Baby Bobby

2007-09-27T10:11:00.000-04:00

Now that I've got my mom's computer I can finally post some pictures...none that haven't been seen on Facebook, sorry.

Both the boys still call him "Baby Bobby" most of the time. I thought it would have worn off when everyone else was calling him Tristan, but apparently not. I think it's just easier for them to say...

The latest big discussion in the house is the possibility of sending Josey to preschool, preferably the Montessori. He's just so bored at home, which leads to really bad behaviour. He also loves playing with kids, but never gets to do it because we live so far out in the boonies (and I'm antisocial). I figure that if he even got a couple of days a week away from us to learn some social skills and independence he might be less annoying and demanding the days he is home. Of course this is all just talk right now, especially since the Montessori school costs a zillion dollars to enroll in. If it does happen, it'll probably be in January once things around here settle down a little.

Must Type Quickly...

2007-09-25T09:12:00.000-04:00

The boys are behaving and Tristan is sleeping (on his own - yay!) so I'll quickly post about the latest. On Wednesday I went in for an ultrasound to see what was going on in Uterus Land. After the regular ultrasound, the tech informed me that she was going to do something called a "trans-vaginal ultrasound". Are you kidding me?? Are you aware that I had a baby less than a week ago and I have STITCHES? That I am BLEEDING and don't WANT anything even remotely close to that particular area? Anyway, apparently in order to get a good look at the walls of the uterus this has to be done. The worst part was the stretching against the stitches, but overall it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it was, although I did leave the place in a cold sweat. My doctor was waiting in the waiting room and immediately went in for the results, which the tech wouldn't tell me other than "It doesn't look as it should". Wow, thanks. So long story short, there was definitely a piece of placenta still in there and I was booked for a D&C the next morning. We had to arrive at 7 AM, so I was thrilled to wake up at 6:38 and frantically rush around without being able to feed Tristan. Fortunately he slept right through the whole thing in his car seat and even stayed asleep for a while afterwards. Thank God for jaundice - hee hee. The procedure itself went well apparently - I was totally knocked out by the amazing invention that is general anesthesia ("Ok Lindsay, you're going to feel a bit drowsy...not too much" "Oh ok, I feel it a little....whoa, now I'm in recovery. Cool.") They got more than 1/2 a cup of tissue out, which is quite a bit, and I bled a little more than I should have, so I had to stay until 1:30. It was pretty painless, and I would definitely take a D&C over bleeding for 6 weeks anytime. Are we all totally disgusted yet?

The boys have been back with us since Friday, and it was really stressful at first. Josey's behaviour was unbelievably bad for the first few days, and he tends to get Roanen into the act too. The past couple of days have been easier, and I'm feeling more comfortable with having to do it all myself (not that I've had to yet). Tristan is still being pretty laid back, although his eating and sleeping patterns are erratic. He tends to not eat very long, then pass out right away which I'm trying to avoid. When he does follow a routine he sleeps much better and has even fallen asleep on his own in the crib or bassinette a couple of times. He doesn't need to be held when he's awake and alert, which helps a lot when I'm trying to get things done. Hopefully when the jaundice fully clears his system and he has longer awake times things will regulate. He spends about half the night in our bed, but also will sleep in the bassinette if he's in the right mood for it. His favourite place though is in the crib downstairs in the evening, where he'll usually sleep for a good 2 1/2 to 3 hours with us talking and the tv on. So much for "respectfully" keeping him in a quiet room when he's sleeping.

So that's the exciting news. Tristan is up now and the boys are going to start going nuts if I don't give them breakfast, so I'm off to be a good mommy.

Doesn't Everyone Love a Good Birth Story?

2007-09-19T10:56:00.000-04:00

All right, here's the story:

On Wednesday the 12th I was feeling pretty crappy, although not really labour-ish; I was getting the usual amount of annoying contractions, but they tapered off in the afternoon. At about 8:30 that night I started getting them again, not much stronger, but a little more regular so I decided to time them. They were between 9 and 11 minutes apart for 30 minutes or so, then 7 minutes apart but still not any stronger. Remembering how quickly I progressed with Roanen (less than 3 hours from the first minor contraction to him being out) I called my mom to have her come over just in case. I went to lie down when she got here and dozed for about an hour. I only got 3 contractions in that hour but one of them felt real enough to get me pretty anxious. When Russ came to bed at about 11:30 the contractions came back, still not very strong but closer together at 5 minutes. We ended up calling the hospital at around 12:30 to let them know we were coming in and we arrived around 1:00 AM. In the car the contractions were about 2 minutes apart, but I was still feeling good and talking through some. Once we got to the hospital I immediately felt better anxiety-wise, mostly because I hated just lying around at home trying to decide if I really was in labour or not.
The nurse checked me and determined that I was 5-6 cm dilated and having contractions 1.5 minutes apart. I still felt really good and walked the halls for 15 minutes before my doctor showed up (or rather came blasting through the doorway at full speed because he didn't make it in time for Roanen's birth and knew he'd never hear the end of it if he missed this one), checked me, pronounced me 5 cm ( I liked the nurse's assessment better) and broke my water with a little difficulty since the baby's head was incredibly low. We just hung out for half an hour or so and the contactions got stronger but still bearable. I was checked again - 8 cm - and then the contractions got quite a bit stronger so I stopped talking and definitely stopped smiling. 5 or 6 contractions later I had to push and the head came out 1st push, body came out 2nd push at 2:37 AM. I opened my eyes to check it out and immediately spotted some very familiar parts. A BOY? How did that happen? Russ then confirmed that he was QUITE a boy (very important evidently) and we got to examine him and send him over to the nurse for weighing, etc. 6 lbs, 10 oz, 20 1/2 inches long, and apparently a little premature, despite my beliefs otherwise. We didn't have a name for a boy right away, but (I) eventually decided on Tristan Craig, a name that Russ and both my parents had agreed was british and faggy. Too bad.
Anyway, we came home on Friday night after almost no sleep, a bed that constantly adjusted itself, and 2 days of nauseating hospital food. Tristan is not a good nurser, is very sleepy, and mostly refuses to sleep by himself which should be a lot of fun once I'm home alone with all the boys. We're looking forward to the next year :) Sorry, no photos at the moment because my computer sucks and doesn't have enough space left to upload them. He's cute though ;) Looks just like a skinny version of newborn Roanen, but with Russ' nose.

*STOP READING NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT REALLY GORY DETAILS*

Things have been pretty crazy since getting home. On Sunday morning we brought Tristan in to the hospital to get his weight checked and he had only lost 50 grams, which was ok, especially since I couldn't seem to get him to nurse more than 2 minutes at a time before he passed back out. He didn't seem too jaundiced to the doctor, so we were just told to bring him in to the office for another check on Tuesday. We then proceeded to go grocery shoppping, where I began to feel really sore in my hips and sacrum and crampy again. By the time we got home I felt just about as bad as when I was pregnant and decided that I had pushed myself a little too much (although I didn't really think I went too crazy with the activity). *GROSS PART BEGINS HERE* I then noticed that I had passed what looked like a small piece of the placenta. The doctor had mentioned that there was a spot that didn't look like it had separated very cleanly, so I assumed it was that and didn't really worry. However, I did notice that the cramping that I got when I nursed that had gone away after the first day returned, but no big deal. On Tuesday morning, after a rough night with Roanen (Tristan has been much easier to deal with at night since he's been sleeping in bed with us - go figure) I woke up with horrible cramping that felt just about as bad as end-of-labour contractions, but in the smaller area that my uterus is now in, and a constant pain rather than coming in waves. I called for Russ to get me some Tylenol, then ended up asking him to call obstetrics at the hospital to see what I should do. They told us to immediately go into emergency since I could start hemmorhaging - fun! Russ had to get all the kids ready and into the car since I was pretty much just doubled over in pain, then we got going. The tylenol had kicked in by this point so I was feeling better, but still concerned. We spend 2 1/4 hours at the hospital getting blood taken and having - get this - an INTERNAL pelvic exam (totally the best thing to have 5 days after giving birth and getting stitches) to be informed that I'll need an ultrasound and that I have tissue blocking my cervix that won't let my uterus tighten and close. Ultrasound is this afternoon and the doctor informed me that I may have to get a D&C tomorrow if it hasn't cleared up. So fun. Anyway, we had to go from the hospital to the doctor's office for Tristan's check, and he had only gained a little bit of weight and was looking more jaundiced so we had to go BACK to the hospital for blood tests for him. Meanwhile the kids were exhausted and Josey was completely freaking out about everything. Russ was totally stressed and for once looking forward to going back to work. We had a pretty low-key afternoon and were relieved to hear that although Tristan's bilirubin levels were high, they were below the point at which he would have to be readmitted to the hospital to bask (or scream) under the UV lights. We still have to get him another blood test today, but he's not as sleepy and is nursing for longer periods so I'm assuming that things are getting better. He even spent from 5:30 to 7:30 in his own bed this morning, and had a half-hour nap in there as well. Hopefully things will get on track soon and I'll feel a little less stressed.
I'll try to update soon, but no promises.

A Week Later...And NOTHING!

2007-09-12T15:12:00.000-04:00

Here I am, a week after my last blog, and still sitting here knocked up. I am getting quite a few contractions today though, but nothing even worth timing or calling Russ about. After I didn't go into labour over the weekend like I thought I would I got pretty resigned to the fact that it hasn't happened yet. It helped that the boys were in Ottawa for a couple of days so I wasn't too sore and desperate for it to come out. Although I'm not going to complain if it happens now, apparently the maternity ward at the hospital is full so I don't mind waiting until it quiets down. When Josey was born I was stuck in a room at the other side of the hospital while he was under the UV lights so it was kind of a pain to have him so far away. Also, we lost a couple of the clips for the infant seat so it would be best to find those before needing to bring a baby home... That's why the baby's not coming. It knows we're not ready. Right?

Ok, Anytime Now...

2007-09-05T14:18:00.000-04:00

I just went to the chiropractor for an adjustment, so everything is properly aligned and the baby can come out now. Just as a teaser I've actually gotten quite a few contractions in the last little while, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm achy and sore again, plus I've been sick to my stomach since last night so I'm totally done with pregnancy again. Bring on sweet epidural-free labour.

A couple of nights ago I was in our bedroom upstairs while Russ read the boys their bedtime stories. Roanen has gotten quite annoying lately while he's listening to Josey's stories, constantly asking "What's that?" and commenting on the pictures. Russ told him to stop talking a few times, then while he continued reading I heard a little voice say "One...two...three...four...five...six". I wasn't sure who it was since Roanen's voice is exactly like Josey's when he's clear, and when I asked Russ if Josey had just counted out loud he said no. Roanen then repeated the numbers, adding "Nine...Ten!" at the end. He's definitely a genius. Or just really good at mimicking Josey, who counts out loud all the time. Who needs seven and eight anyway?

I don't know if I posted this earlier (and am too lazy to look back through the blog to find out), but as an attempted solution to Josey peeing himself we've been giving him a quarter every morning to put in his bank. If he stays dry he's allowed to keep the quarter, but if he pees himself he has to give the quarter back, plus one more as a penalty. It's been working pretty well and he's earned enough to buy a couple of Hot Wheels Cars, some Smarties, and last week he used his money to buy Annabelle some cat treats. Oh, and he also gets a loonie every day that he doesn't get a time-out, which we thought we'd never had to pay out, but he succeeded 3 times last week. Eventually when he's staying dry all the time we'll give him some chores and he can earn the money that way. The novelty may be wearing off though. Yesterday morning we were getting ready to go to the cottage and Josey was watching a show on the evil tv while I got stuff together. I was in the playroom when I heard him go into the kitchen and say "I'm peeing on my hand and on the floor!" I walked in to see him hanging out of his pants and standing in a huge puddle of pee. I was seriously annoyed because when he watches tv he doesn't want to miss anything and often ends up peeing himself, so we'll have to cut our kids show watching down from less than an hour a week to NONE if he can't tear himself away long enough to go to the bathroom. After that he peed himself twice more yesterday so needless to say he didn't get his quarter. Or post-bath playtime with Daddy. Like he cares about any of that.

No, Not Yet

2007-09-04T11:11:00.001-04:00

So apparently when you start telling people "Anytime now" a month before your "official" due date, people expect you to have the baby by the next time they see you. I don't think I was being premature with the statement considering the due date I was given was at least a week too late and I've gone early in both previous pregnancies, so don't roll your eyes at me ;) I was pretty sure that I was going to go into labour on Sunday night because I realized on Sunday morning that I felt really good, with not much hip and sacrum pain and without the feeling that I was carrying a bowling ball around in my pelvis. This was the way I felt the day before having Roanen that I assumed meant that the baby's head was engaged. Surprisingly enough Sunday night brought NOTHING and here I still am on Tuesday morning, still not feeling horrible, but still hugely pregnant. I've been faithfully taking my evening primrose oil and twice-daily doses of raspberry leaf tea, but I didn't REALLY expect that to instantly throw me into fits of contractions... It did last time, but really, I'm not complaining...

On a fun note, I got my maternity pictures yesterday and I LOVE them! There are a bunch of Josey and my belly that he is so gorgeous in. Seriously, I have the most beautiful child in the world. Check this out:

And this one:

And she took an unposed picture when my mom was reading to the boys:

I'll post some others of the belly when I have more time. I'm going to have a really hard time decided which ones to enlarge and frame. Ok, so I'm off to a doctor's appointment. My last one. Really.

This Post is Brought To You By The Numbers 1 and 2

2007-08-30T21:49:00.000-04:00

I'm very proud of myself for posting within a week of my last post. Where did I find the time, you ask? After spending the entire day with the kids (and cleaning the house since we have a playdate tomorrow with someone who has never seen the house), making them dinner, getting annoyed at them for not eating dinner, giving them their baths, getting them dressed, doing all the dishes, making snacks, brushing teeth, reading stories, and spending well over an hour dealing with Roanen, who got ridiculously hysterical after I didn't hold his hand properly, I plunked myself down in front of the computer just to share all my uninteresting news with you. And where's Russ? He didn't even come home tonight, but went straight to the Shawville fair tractor pull where he's doing all his favourite tractor-y things. He'll be home sometime after midnight. Must be nice. So enough bitching, here's the dirt.

The kids stayed in Ottawa after we visited friends on Sunday and didn't come home until Tuesday night (and they were asleep when they got here so it didn't start counting until Wednesday morning. Being a nasty pregnant bad mommy I didn't miss them much, particularly when Josey spent a five minute phone conversation with me on Monday morning repeating "I don't love you!" over and over again. I got lots of sleep on the first day, sleeping in until 10 and having a nap in the afternoon. I got not much tidying or cleaning done and I don't care. The second day I couldn't even keep myself in bed until 6:30 and spent another looong day doing nothing.
Tuesday afternoon I had my 36 (37? 37.5?) week appointment where I was told that the baby is really low (but not engaged yet) and it doesn't look like I'll "hold onto it much longer". Oh darn. My appointment was at 4, and since I figured that by that point in the day the doctor would be way behind schedule, I warned Russ that I might not be home when he got there at 5:40. I set out all the ingredients to make dinner on the counter, hoping that I'd be right and maybe, just maybe, Russ would come in, see that I wasn't there and make dinner. Ha! As luck would have it, I got out of the office at 5:15, with just enough time to drive home and start dinner. So what did I do? I sat in the car in the parking lot and knit until 5:40, evil woman that I am. When I got home Russ was in the kitchen making dinner. Hadn't checked on the chickens, hadn't had a shower, just saw that I wasn't there and started chopping away, even following a recipe which is apparently one of his most hated things to do. Sweet man. Now don't tell him how I tricked him into doing it. That night he even made me a homemade iced cappuccino, which whacked me out on caffeine at 10:30 that night and kept me from sleeping.
Anyway, now I'm using the "baby could come anytime" line and today I started taking my evening primrose oil capsules which are supposed to soften your cervix. Not that my cervix needs any help in that department since judging from my last labour it dilates and effaces a lot without me even being aware of it. The nursery is totally set up and I even have my hospital bag packed. So send some labour vibes my way.

*Knock On Wood Again*
Roanen has slept through the last 4 out of 6 nights, and the 2 nights he woke up he went back to sleep really easily. I thought that maybe he'd forgetten that he likes screaming, but he did enough of it today and tonight that I changed my mind.

Josey's behaviour has been pretty good since he got back from Grammie and Grampa's. I started teaching him how to write numbers yesterday and he really surprised me with how fast he picked it up. Granted we only practiced 1 and 2, but he did a really good job. He can now count objects and write the number beside them. Genius. Today we tried out the number 3 and he couldn't write it properly, frustrating both of us and causing a boycott of number writing for the rest of the day. We'll try again tomorrow.

Next post to come after the baby is born. Yeah, right.

Yet Another Boring Post

2007-08-26T09:24:00.000-04:00

See? I can't even come up with a decent title.
Yes, I know I've been a blog slacker. Between guilt about blogging when the kids are awake, utter exhaustion when they're not, things that NEED to be done (but still don't get done thanks to the aforementioned exhaustion) and the fact that my....computer.....is.....slower.....than......this, I haven't even been turning on the computer, let alone posting blogs, reading blogs or entering blogging contests. The only thing motivating me to do this now is the fact that the computer and dial-up seems to be fastest on Sunday mornings (and I have a basket of to-be-folded laundry next to me to take care of while each website sloooowly appears). Oh, and I was worried that I've posted so little that my next post was going to be about the birth of the baby and that would have been weird. So here's the latest:

I'm up to prenatal appointments every week now since they say I'm at 35 1/2 weeks (at least 36 1/2 according to me) now. Last Tuesday I had gained 4 lbs in 2 weeks (apparently there is no rhyme or reason to my weight gain) and the baby's head is now really low, but not yet engaged. The doctor said all that means is that he could pretty much guarantee that I wasn't going to have the baby before Thursday. I have been *absolutely miserable* in the past 2 weeks due to the combination of not being able to move quickly or bend, painful contractions, something that feels like bad gas pain in my extreme low abdomen (which has actually thankfully subsided since I made an effort to eat regularly), pressure in my tailbone area, severe hip and sacrum pain, and what I believe to be cervical dilation that feels like someone is sticking big needles in unmentionable places. I've also started (ok, continued) really disliking feeling the baby move since it has no room left and stretches out causing more contractions and pain. I seriously can't understand people who enjoy pregnancy, but unfortunately if I want 4 kids I'm going to have to go through it one more time. Not anytime soon though.
I'm guessing (I don't remember if I've posted this before and am too lazy to check) that I'll have the baby by the 9th. I have a baby pool going and there are some extremely pessimistic people out there who are not trusting my motherly instincts. But they'd better not be right.
We finally put the crib together last night because I started panicking about not having anything done. The clothes are sorted and I have a couple of packs of newborn diapers (not that I bought them), but otherwise the room is a disaster and in that sense I'm not even remotely ready to have this baby. I'm sort of hoping that I'll have it soon and the magical fairies will show up while I'm at the hospital and clean my house and get everything ready (reading my mind about what I actually want done since I'm anal about how it SHOULD be done...). Fortunately when I was feeling really good and Martha Stewart-y a couple of weeks ago I managed to cook and freeze 20 main meals and about 15 side dishes to help me out with dinners post-baby. I'd still like to make more, but just don't have the energy or motivation for it. I'll wait for that magical day before the baby's born when I feel really great and pain-free and nest my way into household organization.

*Knock On Wood* Roanen slept right through the night last night and only woke up once the night before. Lately, though, he's been waking up at least twice and getting hysterical again for no reason. He's also been hard to put down, getting himself tangled in the sheet on purpose and screaming "BANK-ET" repeatedly until we straighten it, then repeating this several times. Oh, and now he likes me to hold his hand while he falls asleep, but it has to be JUST RIGHT, and JUST RIGHT is never how I do it and he freaks. When he gets psychotic we've taken to taking him right out of bed and bringing him into the baby's room to sit on the couch until he calms down and says he wants to go back to bed. After doing this about 3 or 4 times in a row when he won't calm down he usually settles, but that doesn't necessarily mean he won't wake up again during the night. He's still playing really well on his own during the day, but has zero patience for anything going remotely wrong and gets frustrated easily when things don't go exactly as he wants them to.

Josey had a period of two days where he was an angel child. He was helpful, obedient, and relatively calm. It was heaven. Then the devil re-emerged and he's been extra bad for about a week and a half now. I don't know if he's upset that I can't do much and sit around a lot, or just taking advantage of the fact that I can't move quickly, but it's driving us crazy. His normal time-outs are 3 minutes long and I don't thing he's had one shorter than 7 minutes in all this time because they get extended when he refuses to sit down for them and runs around, making me chase him (no, don't picture it - not a pretty sight). He also likes to copy anything bad that Roanen does because bad attention is better than no attention, right? I'm wondering how he's going to react when the baby's born, and thinking that it could really go either way. At any rate, when I can move more I'll (hopefully) be able to deal better.

So that's it for now. I'm off to make junky treats with Josey to make up for ignoring him while I blog.

The Most Boring 100th Post Ever

2007-08-20T09:14:00.000-04:00

I've been putting off writing my 100th post because I really feel like it should be something extraordinarily special. Perhaps an extremely amusing story? Or, even more fitting, my 100 Things About Me post (which I wasn't actually tagged to do, but sometimes I need to talk about me too). Unfortunately I have no really funny stories, and zero time to think about 100 things, let alone type them all out. So it's a regular old this-is-what-has-been-happening-lately post that will bore my readers. All 4 of you.

2 Tuesdays ago (yes I'm way behind) I had a prenatal appointment. They're getting closer together so it had only been 3 weeks since my previous appointment. At the same time, Roanen was due for his 18 month shots so we all went in together, with Josey panicking the whole time because he has needle issues, whether it's him getting them or not.
Roanen immediately freaked out because I LEFT HIM IN THE EXAM ROOM (about 3 feet away) while I was getting weighed. He ran out and stuck himself onto my leg, interfering with the weighing process, so I ended up having to weigh both of us at the same time, then I put him on a chair in the exam room, surrounded by an obstacle course of toys and chairs then ran back to the scale. All that to find out that A) despite forcing myself to eat all meals, some snacks, and fill up on meal replacement drinks I had only gained half a pound in three weeks and even better B) Roanen has actually lost a pound in the last 3 months. This is the kid that eats more than I do some days. I wasn't as concerned about my weight, since the doctor didn't seem to have a problem with it and I lost a pound around this stage in my pregnancy with Josey as well. As for Roanen, I was a bit worried because he does eat a lot and a pound is a lot when you only weigh 24 pounds to start. Granted, he is really active and he is growing height-wise (evidently 4 inches since Christmas), but it kicked the Italian mother genes in me into high gear and I've been watching everything that he eats to make sure he's getting enough calories. Of course Russ, who was always super-proud of how big Roanen was since he gave up on Josey (who is apparently going to be a midget despite only being in the 40th percentile for everything) was really bummed out. There is no hope for our tiny children. Note that we are average-sized people from families of about 25% average-sized people and 75% short people (including an aunt on Russ' side who is actually short enough to be classified as a little person). But no, our children should have been the giants and they're not so we'll just have to hope this next baby isn't also a dwarf.

Story requested by Grammie:
I have been asking Josey if he's interested in seeing me give birth to this baby, provided the labour isn't too long and not in the middle of the night. He has seen births on TV and gets really excited about seeing the baby come out, so he has said that he would probably like it. The last time I asked, he got very pensive and asked me where the baby was going to come out. Being one to give honest answers to my child (at least some of the time and in certain situations), I told him that babies come out of mommies vaginas. He nodded understandingly, but then asked "But how are they going to put that vagina back together?" Without getting into details about TEARING and BLEEDING and NEEDLES and STITCHES and SCAR TISSUE, I took out my hair elastic and showed him how it's a certain size, but stretches WAY bigger to fit over this coffee mug then goes back to its original size (ha). Don't know if it really sunk in, but he did want to play with my hair elastic after that. And he now thinks our new baby is going to be a coffee mug.

Sweet, Sweet Boy Part 2

2007-08-13T17:06:00.000-04:00

Josey is going to be a fabulous big brother to the new baby. He's very excited about it coming, but is getting tired of waiting SO LONG for it. So as a temporary substitution, he has pulled out his baby: a soft-bodied, plastic-headed unattractive doll that makes weird noises when you squeeze its belly or hand that Grammie got for him when Roanen was born. The other day between bath and snack he was taking care of his baby. He put on the baby's shirt. He decided that the baby's pants needed to be washed, so he put them in the laundry. He carried the baby around. He nursed the baby. He read the baby some stories. He shared his snack with the baby. He tucked the baby into bed. He was very gentle and sweet. The next morning I was in the kitchen when I heard him walk down a few stairs, then his little voice said "I drop it?" and I turned to see this:

Yes, Sweetie, sometimes I want to do that to you guys too.

Sweet, Sweet Boy

2007-08-09T13:58:00.000-04:00

"Mmmm Mommy, this breakfast is really good! Make it again....or I'll THROW YOU OUT!"

Wordless Wednesday - 1 Garden + 1 Hose + 1 Shovel + 1 Big Brother = 1 Messy Baby

2007-07-31T21:16:00.000-04:00

He's A Boob Man All Right

2007-07-29T21:12:00.000-04:00

Josey and Roanen love playing with balloons. We recently bought a big bag of mixed balloon shapes, and Josey picked a heart-shaped one for us to blow up for him. The next morning he came up to me and said "Look Mommy, when you hold it like this it looks like a pair of boobies!" Note that we don't actually use the word "boobies" in this house, nor am I sure that he really knows what a "pair" is. Put it together pretty quickly though. I do have to say that because of the shape there were dark spots on the "boobies" that looked just like nipples, so once again he's just being very perceptive.

Now this morning we told Josey that Great-Grampa was going to be coming up for a visit. I asked him if he would like to make a card for him since his birthday is this week, and he excitedly asked for paper, markers, scissors and glue. He meticulously cut, pasted, and drew for a while before announcing that his card was done. Although he doesn't know how to write any letters yet (except for "J" for obvious reasons) he had written a lovely birthday card for dear old Great-Grampa. I first excitedly pointed out that the third letter was a "T". Then I saw the "S". "Wow Josey, you know how to make an "S" like a snake!". Then I saw the "I". I was very impressed that so far all his "letters" were actual letters. Then I saw the first letter. Then I put it all together:

After laughing hysterically for a while, I managed to convince him to make an alternate birthday card, then gave that one a place of honour on the refrigerator. It will be saved forever, to be brought out on such occasions as bringing his first girlfriend home, his wedding, and his graduation from plastic surgeon's school (specializing in breast augmentations, of course).
And, why yes, he was in fact breastfed.

Great Start!

2007-07-24T21:40:00.000-04:00

Tonight was the night that things were going to go very smoothly when it came to putting the boys to bed. Josey didn't have a nap today, and was very tired because he did a lot of swimming and running around. Roanen napped well, but didn't sleep too late so he was tired too. Everything was going to go perfectly. They had their baths late. They were good during storytime. Josey got into his bed, Roanen got into his bed, and they both settled down instantly. For the first time ever they were both going to sleep without making even a tiny little fuss for me.

And then the biggest freaking spider I have seen in a long time crawled up the side of Roanen's headboard and across the top. And not one of those teeny-bodied spiders with big legs, this sucker was huge all over and hairy and awful.

I immediately turned on the light, dragged Roanen by the feet off the bed and into Josey's bed (which he whined at me for), then called out the window to Russ because there was no way in hell I was going to attempt to catch this thing by myself without traumatizing the boys by shrieking and flailing wildly trying to get its imaginary babies out of my hair. Surprisingly enough Russ didn't complain, but came right up and caught it (after he made one attempt and the thing FLEW off the headboard at me and started trying to get into the sheets - first it reared up and waved its front legs at him. No I am not exaggerating, this thing was creepy). Turns out it was a wolf spider and they bite so it was right of me to freak. Of course the boys were way riled up after that, but after a couple of minutes they settled again and started to doze off, while I freaked out every time I saw movement out of the corner of my eye or felt the bottom of my pants brush my leg.

And then Russ decided to take that opportunity to call up through the window that I should close it because he was going to be cleaning out the chicken feeders with the hose and making some noise. Thanks very much for making the boys decided that they'd rather have "Daaaaddy! Daaaaaaaaaddy!" put them to bed instead.

Long story short, they ended up asleep at 9:15, so just about the usual time, with way more stress than I wanted to endure. It will work better tomorrow, I know it.

Oh Yeah, That's What This Blog Is For...

2007-07-24T15:11:00.000-04:00

I guess I haven't really been posting about what the boys are doing stage-wise, so here's one of those boring just-in-case-anyone-actually-cares blogs ;)

Josey is a big ball of nasty attitude (most of the time). He screams at me. He tells me he doesn't love me. He tells me that I don't love him. He says "You don't let me DO anything!". Of course he then makes up for it all when he climbs into bed with me in the morning and tells me he wants to snuggle, then actually snuggles me instead of kicking and pinching.

I've decided (as of yesterday) that we're going to eliminate his daily nap. As much as I hate to do it because it's so nice when the boys nap for a couple of hours at the same time, he's been fooling around and distracting Roanen at nap time and it's been taking at least half an hour to get Roanen to sleep. When Josey finally falls asleep, he only naps for an hour or so, then gets up. Come bedtime, he's not even remotely tired and distracts Roanen some more, then comes downstairs a billion times to complain that he's not tired and he's bored of his books and he wants to watch tv and he needs a drink of water and he's STILL not tired. The past two nights we've actually fallen asleep before him. Hopefully he'll have some quiet time in the afternoon, then be too exhausted to act up at bedtime. I'm not holding my breath though because he is Josey after all and can always find the energy to be bad.

He has really been repeating things he hears lately, but fortunately he's somehow filtering out the bad words Daddy says when the carton of eggs falls out the grocery box and smashes in the trunk. Yesterday he said "Roanen broke this book. He's a very foolish boy". This morning, after getting M&Ms from Grammie for being good at swimming, he said "Grammie was very nice for giving me chocolate. We'll keep her." This also comes hand in hand with trying to discipline Roanen himself when he feels it's necessary, and I usually have to console Roanen because Josey has just screamed at him for touching one of his toys.

The pee situation is improving (knock on wood) and most days he stays dry and pees without me nagging him. He has yet to go more than a week without an accident, but it's still way better than it was.

Now for Roanen:
Roanen will repeat just about any word you say to him. He's regularly putting 3 words together and is counting to himself, saying "three, four" and "eight, nine, ten". He won't do it if he's asked though.

He's definitely picking up the peeing in the toilet thing, but I'm being way too lazy about it so he usually only sits on the potty before and after his bath when Daddy puts him on. He has yet to pee before his bath, but he'll hold it in and say "potty" afterwards, peeing about half the time. He's pretty impressed with our reaction when he actually goes, particularly the giving of the jellybean (although he sometimes wants to see if it floats instead of eating it).

He's still really independent, especially outside, and only wants to sit with me if Josey gets him upset or he hurts himself. Sandals are optional and he usually has them off within about 5 minutes of going out. This doesn't stop him from walking around on the sharp rocks on the driveway and in the garage.

Sleeping is hit and miss, mostly miss. For some reason even if he goes down easily, he'll still usually wake up a couple times a night and have a hard time going back to sleep. Not sure if it's a coincidence or not, but the last two times he has slept right through were when we darkened the room by taking out the brighter nightlights. Last night was one of those nights, so we'll keep it dark and see how it goes. Again, I'm not holding my breath, but I'm comforted in the thought that Russ has agreed to take over night duty with the boys once the baby comes. Until the baby sleeps through of course, which is only going to take a few weeks because this child will be a GREAT sleeper. Ha!

As for the pregnancy, I'm now at 31 weeks and the countdown is on. I'm thinking I'll deliver sometime between weeks 36 and 38. I'll venture a guess that it's a girl weighing between 6 lbs 3 oz and 6 lbs 6 oz. Short labour, but not as short as last time - maybe 5 hours long. I really should start a pool - I think it would have some interesting results (Like Lara's - boy, 8 lbs something, delivered at 42 weeks, right? Stop raining on my parade ;) ) The baby is doing more stretching and less kicking, unlike the boys. This means that I can occasionally feel its foot waaay up in my ribs at the same time as it's poking out to the side and pushing its head down. I'm getting excited about losing the belly, but a little worried that I may get stretchmarks this time (an unfounded worry since I'm not any bigger than the last times). I'm definitely more confident about sleep and happiness issues since reading "The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems" about 30 times over and marking pages. Although I didn't think I'd be eager to get the baby out, it's happening again because I really do hate being pregnant. I do know that it's way easier in than out though :)

My 3-1/2 Year Old

2007-07-19T15:15:00.000-04:00

Mr Joser-Boo,

One morning you woke up and instead of my big-bellied toddler you were a preschooler. You're a bundle of energy, complete with crazy hair and bad attitude.

You need constant attention, unless you're glued to the tv (which I always deny you, proving that I "don't love you") and you drive me up the wall with "why"s, "how"s, and "pleeeeeaase"s. You will be screaming at me and hitting one second, then the next you turn around and earnestly say "Mommy? I love you." with a hug and the sweetest face possible.

You are the most generous child I've ever encountered, always ready to share even your favourite snacks and treats with your brother, putting pieces gently and directly into his mouth. To my delight, you're becoming anal about putting your shoes and hat in the proper places when you take them off, and lining your cars up "just so".

You're a budding artist who makes the most detailed pictures with hilarious stories behind them.

(see * for picture explanation)

You're very excited about your new sibling coming, insisting out of nowhere that it will be named Bobby if it's a boy and Sarah if it's a girl. You will probably be dismayed to learn that we have other ideas about that.

You have no fear of things most people find creepy. You will pick up any bug, snake, or weird creature you find.

You rarely cry when you're actually hurt, even if you want to, but you scream far too often out of frustration and anger.

You've been sweet, silly, and loveable from day one, and nobody can resist you because of it.

Happy Half Birthday!

Love and kisses,
Mommy XOXO

*The drawing is of Mommy (on the right) with a baby in her belly button (drawn before he knew I was pregnant). The lines between her eyes are "tears streaming down her face" because apparently I don't have any hair. Josey is on the left, also with a baby in his belly button, this one armless.

My 18-Month Old

2007-07-18T14:09:00.000-04:00

Dear Roanen

Today you are 18 months old. People keep saying it goes by so fast, but let me tell you I felt every excrutiating scream-filled moment of your first year as each passed in slow motion.

The last six months, however, are a blur. Since the day before your first birthday, when I found out you were going to be a big brother, time seems to be speeding up as I try to hold on to your babyness while you're still my littlest baby. You have different ideas about it all though, and you do more and more big boy things every day. You're already putting 3 words together, going down huge slides without any help, climbing things that four year olds have trouble with, and trying to do everything your brother does.

You can be so independent, amusing yourself for hours at a time, and then you turn into the neediest kid ever, clinging to Daddy's neck like you won't ever let go, or refusing to sleep anywhere but between us in our bed.

You need to eat very regularly and get your 2 hour minimum nap every single day or you turn back into a 3-month old, crying inconsolably for hours.

You are afraid of "noisy" cows, the lawn tractor, and new situations, and you are leery of hyper dogs. You love getting a ride from Daddy on the tractor, going down slides and eating handfuls of sand.

You're one of the two cutest boys I've ever seen and you've turned out remarkably happy despite your initial temperament...and you're all mine!

Happy half birthday Roanen!
Love Forever, Mommy XOXO

Sneaky! (And Untrue)

2007-07-17T22:53:00.001-04:00

Josey, 3-1/2, to Daddy:
"Mommy said to turn on the TV for me because she wants to stay in bed all day."

Wordless Wednesday - Gotta Love Country Living

2007-07-17T22:07:00.000-04:00

1 Down, 13 To Go

2007-07-16T14:00:00.000-04:00

Josey had his first swimming lesson this morning at the beach. He was really excited to go, and pretty keen on getting into the water right away. The problem? Since it's been getting so cold at night, the water was absolutely freezing and after swimming out to the raft and back he WAS COLD. And he DIDN'T WANT TO GO BACK INTO THE WATER to blow bubbles. Besides, it was DIRTY water. Who said? HE DID. After stalling by taking a pee break (in the most disgusting bathroom I have seen in a while), he eventually did get back into the water without the dripping life jacket that was keeping him from warming up. Still refused to put his face in the water though, which made me crazy because he does it all the time everywhere else and can blow bubbles out of his mouth and nose like a pro. I was trying to encourage him to stay in while not ordering him to do so because unlike our skating lesson fiasco, I don't think there are refunds if he refuses to do it anymore. He was really quiet at the end, and mentioned a couple of times afterwards that "swimming lessons aren't very fun", which is usually the precursor to "No, I don't want to go back" and lots of heartbreaking tears. Good thing there are only 13 lessons left...
I'm taking bets on which one of us cries first tomorrow.

Try, and Try Again

2007-07-16T13:54:00.000-04:00

Adventures in Babywearing (check out the button in my sidebar) is having another contest to win a $50 gift certificate from Kangaroodle. I just know that if I enter enough of Steph's contests I will eventually win something, just like I did this morning from Mama Speaks , the new review website that Steph writes for. I won an Il Cocco di Mama t-shirt. Yay! This baby's going to be fully clothed thanks to me winning these contests. And fully greased up from the sunscreen and lotions I'm winning ;)

You And Me Both, Kid

2007-07-13T21:01:00.000-04:00

Josey has just come out of his room for the second time since bedtime. The first time he just said he couldn't sleep. This time he informed me that he was "fwuster-ated" that he couldn't sleep".

Crazy 3D Ultrasound Pics

2007-07-12T16:45:00.000-04:00

I had my (hopefully) last ultrasound today to check the placenta, which evidently looked like it had an extra lobe last time. Turns out it was normal, as was everything else and I got an amazing 3D picture to bring home. Good old Renfrew Victoria Hospital has come out of the stone ages and we now have the technology! My mom immediately thought it looked just like a newborn Josey so here they are to compare:

I think there are definitely some similarities. I've always wanted a little girl version of Josey...not that I found out the sex, despite the lecture I got from my dad this morning about "Not taking advantage of technology". Anyway, it can't go wrong looking like Josey regardless of the sex :) Well, it can't go wrong looking like any of our beautiful immediate family. Hee hee.

Throwback Thursday - Josey Then and Now

2007-07-12T10:49:00.000-04:00

Ok, so this isn't throwing back really far, but since I don't have a scanner yet I have a limited amount of old pictures on my computer...
Here's smooshy newborn Josey:

And here he is recently:

Hard to believe he's this big. Or has grown that much hair. And gained as much attitude as he has, for that matter... ;)

Wordless Wednesday - Presenting the Future Mr. Universe!

2007-07-10T21:31:00.000-04:00

Gavin, Every Little Kid's Hero

2007-07-10T15:34:00.000-04:00

Have we all seen the commercial for Pull-Ups that they play, oh, every 3 minutes on the Discovery Health channel, amongst others? In it, a little boy is playing with a chess set and he's wearing the new Cool Alert Pull-Ups that get cold if they get peed in. He gets a funny look on his face, then says "My Pull-Up felt cold!", then runs to the bathroom as his mother smiles on. When he comes out, he says "I'm a big kid now!" This commercial (and the whole concept in general) drives me insane. I mean, if the kid feels cold, then he has already peed in his pants, defeating the purpose. Why not put the kid in underwear so he can say "My underwear feels wet!" and actually feel what wet feels like and be uncomfortable so he actually wants to prevent that from happening? I mean, Josey would probably get so much of a kick out making his Pull-Up feel cold that we never would have gotten him trained. I wouldn't have blamed him either - it WOULD be pretty neat.
Normally I wouldn't care much about it, other than to be mildly annoyed, but Josey LOVES this commercial. He stops what he's doing, watches it in amazement, then states, in awe, "He's a big kid!". Then we have to explain to him, "Um, no, sweetie, he felt cold because he peed in his Pull-Up, which means that he didn't get to the bathroom in time. You're a big kid when you PEE IN THE TOILET WITHOUT GETTING YOUR PANTS WET!" Repeat every time the commercial comes on. No wonder we're having toilet issues with our 3 1/2 year old.
Thanks, Gavin.

Let Me Win One!

2007-07-09T11:54:00.001-04:00

Adventures in Babywearing is running another contest, this time for a Podonbutai, which is a cool new kind of carrier from All Natural Mommies. Still stopping myself from buying a new carrier for the baby in hopes that one of these times I'll actually win one :)

Some Simple Math

2007-07-09T11:49:00.000-04:00

Ear-splittingly loud tractor pulls + Small children who want to constantly take off running + Not enough nap time + Tent that is apparently not waterproof + Rain + Field of mud + Hysterical tantrums + Maple syrup-filled sandals = Not such a fun family weekend.

Throwback Thursday

2007-07-05T15:01:00.000-04:00

Remember when there was no such thing as a chicken pox vaccine? This picture of me was taken on Christmas morning, 1982, when I had chicken pox, and an early-morning craving for chocolate. My mom thinks I look like a battered child ;)

Join the Throwback Thursday fun over at Pinks & Blues!

Wordless Wednesday - Peekaboo!

2007-07-04T09:59:00.000-04:00

Oh, The Guilt

2007-07-02T11:40:00.000-04:00

The kids have been shipped off to the cottage with Grammie and Grampa, where I am to join them later. I was coerced into taking some time to do really important stuff like blog, read blogs, enter contests, oh and maybe hang out laundry. Where does the guilt come from? It comes from the fact that the boys aren't driving me nuts today (in fact they're being little angels) and I feel like I should be spending time with them while I feel like being nice so they don't draw pictures of me with an "angry" face. The kids are also having a Grammie and Grampa day tomorrow when I will be *cough cough* too sick for Russ to go to work (we're sneaking off to Ottawa so Russ can secretly apply for some better jobs - I will be deposited at Starbucks and Chapters for hours upon joyful book-perusing, hot caramel apple cider-swigging hours). Yes, it's ridiculous that I have a knot of anxiety in my stomach from taking this time for myself, I am fully aware of this.

I was just over at the Pinks & Blues website where they're having another contest. This time it's for a pretty purse and coconut cream from The Body Shop. It'll be worth the guilt of staying home if I win ;)

We had our most favouritest friends up for the day yesterday, which is always fun. I almost got an adorable picture of Josey and his little girlfriend Ava standing on the rungs of the new cedar fence, looking out at the field of cows. By the time I got my camera they had climbed down, then when I made them get back up to fake the picture the battery died. Bummer. Not so bummer? Ava's mom Lynn is pregnant again with baby #3. She was my pregnancy partner with both Josey and Roanen (Ava is a month younger than Josey and Cara is 2 months older than Roanen), and now she's coincidentally accidentally pregnant, due officially in January, but since she has had 2 preemies, it's more likely that she'll pop in December. I think I may be more excited than they are :)

The panic has set in. Since I'm 28 weeks (tomorrow), it actually feels real now that I'm having another baby. Frantically reading all my Baby Whisperer books. Considering putting the crib up. Peeking into boxes of baby clothes. But, feeling a little more prepared, surprisingly enough. And guess what! Russ finally agreed to the name I picked for a girl! Yay! Now we're working on middle names, which he is once again being extremely picky about, but I can live with that since I got my way. Now it had better be a girl so I can actually use the name I worked so hard to get.

Keep Your Damn Sick Kids Away From My Babies

2007-06-30T15:01:00.000-04:00

I forgot to mention in the last post that the reason Roanen slept so long during his nap was, as I soon found out, that he has developed a cold. He was sneezing a lot last night, and was more tired than usual and therefore cranky, then he kept waking up all night with a stuffy nose. He ended up in our bed, restless and waking up every hour or so whining and crying. This makes me think of an interesting story about Toybus this week:

Wednesday morning was the last Toybus before summer break (why they take a summer break is beyond me because God knows I particularly need to take my kids to a fun, controlled, air-conditioned place during the summer). I noticed right away that one of the regulars, a little guy who is several months younger than Josey, was sneezing and snotting all over the place. Lovely. Then one of the little girls said "Mommy said she hoped *insert Little Snotty Guy's mom's name here* wouldn't be here today because her kids have pinkeye". Uh, excuse me? I went over to her mom to check out the story and apparently the kids HAD pinkeye, but she didn't know how long ago it was. Then, speak of the devil, Little Snotty Guy's mom came over and, when asked about it, told us that her three older kids had it a little while ago. And Little Snotty Guy? She was hoping that he wouldn't get it (zoom into Little Snotty Guys' really red eyes). And boy, was that dirt road at her house dusty today and he must have suddenly inherited her allergies, you know, with all that snotty sneeziness. Sounded a little sketchy, if you ask me. And, lo and behold, here we are three days later (the perfect incubation period for a common cold) and Roanen is sick. Now I'm royally ticked off about it because I keep my kids at home if they've got runny noses, even if I know they're no longer contagious. Why? Because it's just respectful to do so and I don't want the other moms to be talking trash about me like I now am about Little Snotty Guy's mom. So leave your sick kids at home, or else come over and comfort my Little Snotty Guy 30 times a night when he can't breathe through his nose.

Death 101 - Postponed (For Now...)

2007-06-30T14:11:00.000-04:00

On Thursday afternoon while we were playing outside, Josey excitedly informed me that there was a snake under the van. I meandered over to check it out because, although there are a ton of them around our property, I think they're pretty cool, and I like the fact that the boys are so interested in them and want to encourage them not to be scared of stuff some people consider creepy. It was a little grass snake, all curled up lying in the dirt. I thought that it was pretty weird that it was just lying there instead of bolting like they usually do, then when Josey touched it and straightened it out I realized it was injured, probably by one of the cats. It could move the first inch and a half or so of itself, but not the rest of it so it couldn't get away. We got a shoebox and put some grass in it, then Josey picked it up and put it in (after carrying it around and talking to it for a while). It drank a little water that we gave it, and I Googled snakes to see if there was anything we could give it to eat. I figured that there was really nothing we could do for it and that it would probably die anyway, but Josey was so happy to have it and proud of himself that he "saved" it from the cats or another animal that I played along. I also though that it would be a good introduction to death when it finally made its way up to snake heaven.
Surprisingly enough, the next morning it looked like it might have actually eaten a couple pieces of earthworm that we gave it, and he had a little more mobility in the rest of his body. Today he's pretty much the same, but we're all hoping that he just needed a little care so he could heal. I'll keep you updated on our new temporary pet "Snakey" (named oh-so-originally by the child who has randomly decided that the new baby is going to be named Bobby or Sarah, names that he has never heard).

Adventures in Babywearing is holding another contest for a Moby Wrap from Supermomz and I'm determined to win a wrap before this baby is born! She also had some really cool clip-on lights from Supermomz shown that I would love to get for oh, about a million different purposes.

Yesterday after Roanen's extra-long uninterrupted nap *sigh of relief* he sat on the potty for quite a while and actually peed! I was really excited, but I don't think he really knew what was going on. He did like the jellybeans I gave him for it, but I think it was just a fluke. I'll keep trying, if only to get him used to the idea of sitting on it. I'd really like to start seriously training him around now, but I don't know how that will work out with the baby coming so soon. At least I can take some steps to get him started and we can play it by ear from there.

Happy Naps (And Bedtimes...)

2007-06-29T14:40:00.000-04:00

I haven't blogged in great detail about the shared bedroom situation (other than the hysterical-ish rant about my hellish day), mostly because it requires so much energy to just deal with it, let alone rehash it and find enough synonyms for "awful" to fill a post. I had a near-nervous breakdown the other night after Russ (once again) managed to get them to sleep in record time, while I had had a ridiculously horrible nap experience, and we discussed what the problems were. I was fully prepared to move Roanen back into his room because, really, do I need this kind of stress right now? Fortunately the past few days have been easy and relatively stress-free for both naps and bedtimes so all the furniture will stay where it is for now. I did notice that Roanen was extra needy in the middle of the night two nights in a row, so I ended up having to sleep in his bed for hours both nights, but I think it had to do with the stifling heat upstairs here because I didn't sleep well either. Last night they went down easily (with me!) and Josey slept right through, while Roanen only woke up once and I just sat by his bed for 5 minutes patting his back, then was able to go back to our room. He slept until 7:30 (!!) and woke up in a really good mood. I'm relieved, but still wary that things could fall apart again at any time.
I won another contest! The endless hours of signing up for them is paying off ;) This time it was the Zen Momma contest from Pinks & Blues Girls and I won a sample of body lotion and 50% off all purchases for a year. Hello, can you say Christmas and birthday presents? Hopefully they ship to Canada...and hopefully that doesn't disqualify me from the Summer Bling Contest Giveaway they have on ;)
My mom and I took the boys strawberry picking this morning and behaviour was actually pretty good. We managed to get 4 5-litre buckets full, while Roanen ate about a pound of berries straight from the patch. Looking forward to that diaper. We took a bunch of cute pictures but I'll have to upload them from the cameras before I post - so you'll see them in January or so.

Wordless Wednesday - Coming Up For Air

2007-06-26T22:02:00.000-04:00