Caught it!

Oh yes I did. I caught Ian's cold.
At Jayden's 4:30am feeding this morning I felt the unmistakeable signs...sore throat, tickly but only slightly drippy nose, a wicked post-nasal phlegm thing, and a dull throbbing headache at the base of my skull. Nothing much has changed throughout the course of this day, but my brain feels really fuzzy. I'm expecting the snot to really start flowing more after tonights sleep.
Which I am starting right now, because I'm all ready for bed, both kids are sleeping, and I'm praying very VERY hard that they have good, sound, silent sleeps tonight.

Murphy's Law of Poop.

I've made an observation in all my diaper changing. Poopy diapers fall into only two categories.

a) Complete blow out, soaking through clothing and perhaps onto whatever surface baby is on, requiring a total change in outfit (blankets, bedsheets, etc) and sometimes even a bath.

or

b) Into a fresh clean diaper that was just changed within the last 15 minutes.

Thereby poopy diapers attempt to create as much work for mommy as possible.

((sigh))

6 Weird Things About Me

OK I saw this on a blog that I read that is linked from Karen's. I was "tagged" by reading it and now am compelled to complete it for myself. I'm not tagging anyone else who reads this, just enjoy.

1. I LOVE kids music, books, toys, and TV. Before I had kids I had no excuse for indulging in such entertainment, so it was weirder then than it is now. I love that I can now buy things that I would have wanted as a child, thereby fulfilling some of my childhood dreams.

2. I am NOT a morning person. In fact I am downright grumpy before I have had sufficient time to wake up. You would think that this makes having children a little difficult for my morning routine. You're right! Rob deals with Ian so much better in the morning than I do. On days that Rob works I pray that Ian will sleep until at least 8, which he usually does. If it's before 7:30 he is ignored, if he makes too much noise to be ignored he is put back to bed and told it is still nighty-night time. When I can't ignore him anymore I stumble into the kitchen and get him a sippy cup of milk and a small bowl of Animal Crackers (gasp!) or a Nutragrain, bring him into my bed, turn on Treehouse TV (on mute) and try to get a few more winks in. Ian has now learned the phrase 'wake up'. "BAKE UP MOMMY!" while he pounds on my head.

3. I have an unnatural fear of needles and needle-like things piercing skin. I've mentioned it before...

4. I like to dance. I have never been dancing. I am not a good dancer. So I shake my stuff in the privacy of my own home with Ian and Jayden, and occassionally Rob if he can be convinced that it isn't "evil".

5. I am a sci-fi geek. I love to read science-fiction and fantasy. And I thoroughly enjoy Star Trek. Please don't think any less of me. I want to go to the moon, for real. And I'd love to meet some extra-terrestrials.

6. I started drinking coffee when I was about 2 or 3 years old. My Oma would make it really really milky and soak her homemade buns in it and cut them up for a nice yummy snack. Everytime I have good cup of coffee I think of her and her super good buns. Maybe that's why I'm shorter than everyone else in my family. And sugar in coffee RUINS it.

I hope you enjoyed this little recital of things that are weird about me, although I don't think they're weird at all, they're just me. But I have been told by others (most likely Rob or my sister) that these things are weird.

Hmmmm...

We've been really busy this past week. Easter, lots of family stuff, shopping, etc, etc, etc, blah blah blah! Do you really need a run down of all our daily activities? I think not. Here are just a few highlights.

We bought the Magic Bullet. Have you ever seen those infomercials? Rob watches them all the time while on the night shift at work because sometimes that's the best thing on TV in the middle of the night. In case you live under a rock, or don't watch much TV (good for you, seriously!), it's basically a small, high-powered blender, chopper, whipper, creamer, drink maker thing. Finally it isn't just available from off the commercial anymore. We found it at Linens N Things. They reduced the price and we had a coupon so it was a heck of a deal. Rob LOVES it! I admit it's pretty neat. And surprisingly it IS very quick and easy to use. So know we're saving a ton of money by Rob making mocha-chip frappes at home instead of spending 5 bucks at Starbucks. Saving money is always a good thing yes?

The weather has been fan-freakin'-TASTIC the last few days. I spent nap time today out on the deck reading a book and now I am sunburnt. Aahh. Feels sooo good. I'm refusing to think about skin cancer. There are so many cool trails and parks around here, we've been enjoying exploration of our neighborhood. At Ian's pace too, which is perfect for me since I can't enjoy walks if they feel too much like exercise.

Oh, and Ian has a cold. We sure hope no one else gets it but the way he smears snot around it wouldn't be a shock if we all got sick too.

And he's tough too.

Jayden got his four month shots today at the baby clinic at the Walnut Grove Rec Centre. Since I'm so afraid of needles I had Rob take him in to the little room with the nurse and I stayed out in the hall. (Where we happened to see the Easter Bunny and he gave us a treat....pssst, hey Ian, it was really just a guy dressed up like a giant bunny.The Easter Bunny is just imaginary and the real reason for Easter is Jesus.)

Anyways, after that Ian and I went back into the little room, and discovered that Jayden's shots were over and he didn't cry at all. Not one peep. Tough as nails! Perhaps Ian's tender treatment of him has served to toughen him up.

So far he's been his usual happy self too. Perhaps this irrational fear of mine will not be passed on to my children.

Rollin' rollin' rollin'....

...my baby did some rollin'!!

Yes, Jayden rolled over for the first time today. Not completely, but from tummy to back. We were beginning to wonder if he had inherited Rob's physical development (he didn't walk 'til he was 17 months old). You see I can't help comparing him to Ian, as that is the only frame of reference I have. Ian rolled one way by the age of 3 months and all the way, back to tummy to back by 3.5 months. Jayden will be 5 months old shortly and so far his physical movement has greatly ressembled that of a slug.

But today while experiencing some tummy time he was fussing and fussing and generally expressing displeasure and being stuck nose to the carpet. I was preparing a nice banana snack for Ian in the kitchen when suddenly I noticed it was silent. I looked around the corner and there was baby Jay-Jay, on his back looking extremely happy. I congratulated him heartily and attempted to have him repeat the performance for our enjoyment but it didn't happen.

So we didn't get to witness the actual rolling event, but evidence shows it did happen.

Various Martin Moments...

Here, finally, some pictures of the big cocoa mess .

Doesn't this look promising? Alas, it does not accurately reflect truth. He only sits on the potty at bath time. He does not pee-pee, or poo-poo in the potty, never has. When asked if he would like to he says "no".

Isn't he adorable?

From our day at the Aquarium. Can you see the alligator creature in the background?

BIG NEWS!!

....ha ha...not really. Just thought I'd grab your attention, give you a thrill.

No, no, no big news, just lots of little news. I've been too busy to post lately, all my time on the internet is spent reading other peoples blogs. I've also been wanting to post pictures to go with all the blog stories I have in my head but our camera isn't talking to the computer, or the computer isn't talking to the camera, either way there's been a general falling out between the two and I can't seem to figure out what to do to get them back together. So instead of pictures you'll get a bunch of words and maybe some older pictures. Here's a quick run down of our lives the last 2-3 weeks or so...

Tamar, a friend from Prairie Bible College who also was in the Aviation program (check out her adventures in the link-->), and her husband Piers stopped by during their worldly travelling. We had the pleasure of giving them lunch and playing some Rook, on Thursday March 23. (Yes, it's been that long since I've been wanting to post about this.) Poor Piers, such a good sport, even though he's never played before, he gamely endured an hour or so of Rook. I hope he doesn't think us boring, or inhospitable, by us making him play, but Tamar really really did want to play it. It was a delightful afternoon. We feel honored that they deemed us important enough to include on their itinerary.

Rob's birthday party on March 25th was lots of fun. In attendance we had friends Jen and Dwayne and little Josiah (soooo good to visit with them), Brian and Andrea, and brother Jim and his fiance Christy. Good food and good company.

That following week we laid low while the kids and I got over our colds. (We saw a dr and the dr said...I COULD take decongestants. So I did at night, oh sweet relief.)

Because I had a baby, Welcome Wagon offered a free facial or foot spa from Mary Kay (complete with pressure to buy AND join the band and become a seller of the product). I decided to risk it and thoroughly enjoyed a foot spa (and only spent about 30 dollars).

Rob and I went to the dentist. (I HATE going to the dentist.) What a nasty experience. OK, my teeth are pretty good. I have maybe three fillings in my mouth, and rarely get cavities, so that's not what scares me. And yes, the dentist scares me. I've done some inner purusing, and I think I know the source of my fear. I'm afraid of needles. Seriously phobic! I've had my share of shots (been to Africa, got lots), I've had two babies. Bloodwork, IV's, etc, etc. I know it's not overly painful, nothing like labour, so it's not necessarily the pain that I'm afraid of. The fear is in my head, it involves any sharp pointy like instrument piercing my body. (Hence no earings, and never never any tatoos!) Needles and needle-like things make my knees go weak, and if pushed a little I'll cry like a baby. Can't even watch stuff like that on TV. (Yes, my babies vaccines are traumatic for me.)

One time I was at the dentist and the dentist thought I'd be interested to see what he was doing. I got to watch in the mirror while he did the scaling. You know, with that needle like instrument shaped like a hook that he uses to scrape gunk out from under the gums. YIKES! Ever since then each trip is more stressful, and the other mildly unpleasant things, like floss and flouride by association are cause for tension.

So, at this latest trip to the dentists office of horrors I get some bad news. One of my fillings needs to be fixed, and my upper right wisdom tooth that grew in shortly before I became pregnant with Jayden, needs to be removed (I sort of expected that one). These things involve needles. I am sooo scared. The whole appointment made me so tense I got a wicked headache, and of course my gums were sore, and then Rob while trying to reassure me talked about getting his wisdom teeth out the whole way to his parents in the car and it all made me cry. I bawled my eyes out. So I'm delaying. Putting it off. I won't be going back until Jayden is weaned. No need for me to get all those drugs into my breastmilk right? So I figure I've got about 8 months before this torture. And now I will forget about it.

We got haircuts. Rob, Ian and I. And we look mighty fine. Wish I could show you pictures.

It's spring, which means spring and summer clothing. Last summer I was growing a baby in my belly and my wardrobe was severely limited. I just recycled 3-4 outfits all summer. But now I can once again take out all my pre-pregnancy summer wear, because yes, I lost ALL the baby weight. Pardon me while I boast a bit. I lost all the Ian baby weight after him, but then gained 6 pounds in the month after he weaned just before I got pregnant. (I lost it again puking my guts out with morning sickness but it came back quickly so it doesn't really count, mostly water you know.) Well, I've lost all of that, plus that 6, PLUS another 7! Whoo hoo! Hooray for breastfeeding! It will be interesting to see if it stays off after weaning Jayden, because I really like to eat. I am totally into eating whatever, whenever. Half a bag of Oreos at midnight? Why not? Jayden will suck it all off the next morning. Gotta love it.

Ian's learning new words every day. Most recently he's learning colors. He can point out the basic wed, g'een, boo, wehwoh, pupoh, and pik, more often then not. He's so much fun!

Rob bought a motorcycle. It doesn't run but he's working on that. It's exciting because when he takes that to work I can have the car and escape my house and go visit other people.

We still like naps. Sometimes Jayden co-operates, and sometimes he just can't co-ordinate his napping with Ian's. I grab the time when I can.

sidenote: it's annoying when people ring the door during nap time, I'm thinking of getting a "Shhh! Baby sleeping" sign to hang on the front door. Good idea? We already turn the phone ringer off and let the machine handle incomings, but just recently the doorbell rang and woke Ian prematurely.

Also on a sleeping note...Jayden regressed to 3:20 am feedings for a while. Thankfully that passed though and we're back to 6-7hrs of sleeping in a row.

So that's a brief (although fairly long) summary of our lives the past few weeks. We have more family birthdays and of course Easter coming up to look forward to.

(Ooops sorry no pics in this one...I'll do another.)

The Conquoring Hero!

Rob. He has this love affair with hockey. He LOVES it. Watching, playing, listening on the radio, talking to his friends (Brian, like every day) about it.

It's paid off though.

Tonight his team (Willingdon Avelanche) were in the final game against Trinity Western Bombers. The place was packed out. Mostly university fans. It was a tight game. TWU scored first, then guess who scored? Yes, my hockey hero Rob! TWU scored again, then the Avs answered with another goal. Then late in the third period, we scored AGAIN. Oh the excitement! TWU pulled their goalie in a vain attempt to tie it up. But the Avelanche came through with the victory, and the cup. In fact, Rob is a big reason they were even in this game. During the first round of playoffs he scored the winning goal during the shootout in over-time. Pretty good for a thirty-year-old eh?

So it was really nice that I got to see this game. Rob's mom was so nice to stay and watch the boys while I went.

I'm so very proud of you Rob! Way to go! Here's to an excellent season next year as well. (For now, though, I'm also really happy to have you back with us on Saturday nights.)