Martin's Four

Snow Day

2008-01-29T15:35:00.000-08:00

I've been extremely neglagent with this blog. I aplologize. Life is busy. Two small children pretty much need constant care, attention, feeding, changing, playing, supervision, etc, etc. You know, so they stay alive.

In brief, Ian started pre-school, which you would think would give me extra free time. Mmmm. Really it's just an extra place to get ready for, and go to and from. Ian loves it and is doing great, as we knew he would because he's sooo smart and very social. If you know him, you agree. Jayden likes it too and can't wait to go himself next year. In the meantime, he enjoys, and I mean really really enjoys one-on-one time with me or Rob, or both if Rob's shifts allow.

We went camping to Winthrop, WA, for the Canadian thanksgiving weekend. Someone always gets sick because it's really cold there at night. I think we all got sick. That triggered and ongoing cycle of colds that lasted until mid-December and included bronchitis and anti-biotics for all of us at the end of November. Thankfully we have all been healthy since then. Of course now that I've put that on the world wide web I'm sure we'll all get sick soon.

Our Christmas and New Years was wonderful, restful, and joy-filled. Both boys were really into the whole Christmas thing this year and it just added to the fun.

In November I picked up another part-time job on the side gig. A nursing student from UBC is doing a research project for her phD on the reserve that I work for. I applied for a position as a research assistant, same hours more money, but didn't exactly get it. She did say she was impressed with my resume and asked to keep it on file for future. Why would I turn that down? A few weeks later she asked if I would be willing to type up transcripts of the recorded interviews that they are conducting. So I do it on my own time, in my own home, keep track of my hours and it brings in a little extra cash. So far I've only done about 10-12 hrs in the last two months so it's extremely part-time, but that's ok, we don't need extra money, but it's always nice and I get to exercise my brain in a new way.

From working at home in this way I soon realized that our computer, a desktop PC is really old, slow, and stupid. I started dreaming of a new, faster computer, a nice desk from which to work in a relatively calm, quiet space. Ha ha. I joke. In this house? With my boys? Practically impossible. Our computer is in the kitchen, on a small old desk (the one from my childhood), and in almost constant demand from all the other members of this family. Yes, Ian and Jayden are becoming quite computer and internet savvy. Ian doesn't even need any help anymore, he can turn it on and find his own website. It blows me away. (He was actually barely 3 when he first began demonstrating this. Rob and I used to just sit and watch him in awe as he navigated his way between Treehouse, kidscbc, and wiggles websites.) Aaaanyways...it's not a super comfy environment in which to work.

So we knew we had to do something. So for Christmas, we bought ourselves a nice new laptop. A router for wireless internet (can we say blogging in bed?), a new printer because our other one died like 3 years ago, and a new monitor/tv for the old pc, so at least it looks better and gives more space on the small desk. And that is the extent of our Christmas presents to each other. Quite enough money spent, I'd say.

We now plan on buying a real desk that we will for the time being, place in the dining room, which is currently empty as we only have one table that we sometimes move from the kitchen to the dining room if we have a lot of people, but isn't entirely necessary. I also dream of new books shelves in there so I can finally unpack the boxes and boxes of books that we have sitting under the stairs. We have three bedrooms upstairs, one for us, one the boys share, and the other one that is FULL of all their toys and books (which still manage to spread their way around the house). Someday, when a toy room is not so necessary we will convert it to an office, and then the dining room back into a dining room. (Maybe.)

I see that I've just spent a lot of time rambling away completely off topic, which it says at the top is "Snow Day". It snowed a lot here last night, this morning and still the odd flurry happening as we speak. I wimped out on the drive to North Van and decided to stay home from work. During Jayden's nap Ian and I went out and shovelled snow, he got bored really fast but was quite patient until I had done at least half the driveway and the sidewalk. And then I made my homemade cocoa when we got inside. It's awesome and I thought I'd share the recipe with you because it's so good I want you all to have some. This recipe came from my Oma, to my Dad, to me. Or from my Dad, to my Oma and me. Not sure.

5 heaping Tbsp cocoa powder
8-10 Tbsp of sugar (depending on your sweet tooth)
1 can of evaporated milk
my kettle holds 1.8L boiling water
extra milk to taste and temp

These measurements are really rough, usually each batch is a little different. Experiment to find what works best for you.
Mix the cocoa and sugar together with a little evap milk to make and nice smooth paste,
keep adding evap milk to make it runnier and runnier while getting out all the lumps (apparently this is very important, depending on my time and patience I skimp on this) while water is boiling
slowly add water and rest of evap milk to the paste in a pot, on low, on the stove, while stirring,
it tastes better if it's allowed to simmer a bit, but not to boiling.
Serve adding milk if desired to adjust taste or temp.

My sister like to put a dash of vanilla in her recipe, I don't, yuck. Or a bit of cinnamon. Feel free to top with marshmallows or whipping cream or whatever else you like with cocoa. I prefer it on its own it's that yummy. Sometimes I mix it with coffee for a great mocha. The leftovers, if there are any, keep really good in the fridge and it even tastes amazing when it's cold.

Hope your winter is going well, I will be back at some point to show you pics from the last few months.

Is it even possible?

2007-09-28T20:07:00.001-07:00

Is it possible for a younger child to be toilet trained before the older one? Maybe it will happen in our family. Jayden has started to pull his diaper off when it starts sagging too much due to its saturation level. He doesn't like it, and requests a bum change. On occassion he will ask to sit on the potty, but nothing ever happens. He sees Ian do it and he always wants to do what Ian does.
Well, out of the blue, tonight he pulled his pants down and announced "pee-pee". Afraid he was planning on peeing on the floor I immediately pulled his pants up and asked him if we should change his bum. He nodded and said "mm-hmm" which is his prefered way of saying yes. Once we got to the bathroom though he says "pee-pee, potty!". So I plant him on the toilet and lo and behold he pees! Actually PEES! On the actual TOILET! I'm in awe. Ian has NEVER requested of his own free will to pee on the potty and actually do it. He's asked, when it's time for bed or other un-prefered activity. He's peed, when we've sat him on it and told him to go. But never have those to happy situations occured together. And tonight Jayden totally showed up Ian.
I made a really big deal about it with Jayden and broke open a brand new Hot Wheel for him. Ian immediately got jealous, but he can't have a new one until he starts pooping on the potty. We toyed with the punishment of taking away his old cars when he poos in his diaper but Ian just started handing them over voluntarily. We've read that punishment doesn't work but I guess we needed to find out for ourselves. We still haven't found anything that works to motivate Ian to say good-bye to diapers. Perhaps Jayden will...

Camping!

2007-07-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

We've been doing a LOT of camping. Usually about every other week. We've done three trips down to Birch Bay, WA, and our latest outing was to Oliver with the Hansens and the Bonds.

Down in Birch Bay they have a Miniature World, with a train ride and Go-Karts. It takes a lot to impress Jayden, who stayed pretty sober for the whole ride and then refused to pose with Ian with Thomas the Tank Engine who was the train we got to ride. Ian loved it.

Ian's been asking for a bike for a while. He's too little for the littlest two-wheelers, he's got short legs. And he won't use the pedals on tricyles so he just ends up frustrated and upset. So we found him one of these new very small two-wheelers with no pedals. The idea is for kids to end up running and then coasting, thereby hopefully learning the balance part of biking without having to use training wheels. Ian needs to work on the steering though first. He smacked head first into a wall on his first attempt and now refuses to try sitting on the seat and running so now spends all his time pushing it while running beside. It is pretty cute though, and he has a blast.

I finally got a somewhat decent picture of the two boys together. It's not Sears but it works.

Our trailer may look small from the outside, but it has remarkably good use of space inside. It's cozy and warm. Sleeps six. Lots of seating. Large table. Even a good chunk of floor space for the boys to play. Why would they need to play inside the trailer? Because of our four outings we've had rain on three occassions.
I love that picture of Ian. He's such a nut!

Our camping trip with the Bond and Hansen famillies was a lot of fun. All the kids played great together. Ian talks about it all the time. We can't wait to do more! Of course we don't have any pictures from that trip because I'm a lame-o with a camera and kept forgetting it in the trailer or truck and was too lazy to go back and find it.

On another note, Rob and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary this year by camping in a 17' trailer with two toddlers. It was the one camping trip that we didn't have rain and the weather was sunny and gorgeous. It was also the only trip we've had on our own without friends or Rob's parents, so all in all it was pretty nice. We came back on the actual day of our anniversary and had a nice dinner with Rob's family where we also celebrated his sister's birthday and had cake.

Stitches.

2007-06-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I forgot to tell this story in my last post.

On Victoria Day we were very busy tidying up the house and getting ready for a bunch of Rob's family to come over for a bbq. Suddenly there was a thud followed by some blood-curdling, ear piercing screams and cries. This actually happens quite often, it's usually Ian, he's, ummm, active. Extremely active. He bounces off the walls, literally. I didn't think too much of this particular thud, he'd been bouncing around the livingroom. Rob was right there and picked him up off the floor. I then hear from Rob, "Oh, no! Heidi, get over here quick." I still wasn't concerned, I figured there was most likely blood, but that happens a lot too. He averages a split lip a month, but not badly enough to need stitches, just bloody. What greeted me was my screaming child with a HOLE IN HIS FOREHEAD! Head met the corner of the brick hearth and it was not a happy meeting. The hole was almost the size of a Loonie and I swear I saw skull bone. Surprisingly it did not bleed much, it just looked like someone had torn a chunk out of his face. We still put pressure on it and decided he should probably see a doctor to get that fixed. It took us about 10-15 minutes to get us and both kids out the door, by then Ian had stopped crying, but I was starting to get a little trembly. It really bothered me that it didn't bleed much. Aren't head wound supposed to bleed a lot? We didn't even need to put anything on it. We first stopped at a local walk-in clinic hoping they could stich him up, that way avoiding a trip across the highway to the ER which we thought might be rather busy on a holiday Monday. Thankfully the clinic said stitches were their specialty and they even put him in front of some people. They said the wait was about 2 hours but we were in and out in 1. Of course Ian renewed the screaming with vigour while the doctor stitched him up. Rob held his head, I tried my best to keep the rest of him still which was pretty hard even though he'd been wrapped up in a sheet, and Jayden wandered all over the clinic, made himself at home and friends with the waiting room. Ian cried and pleaded the whole time, never ceasing "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, MOOOOMMMMMYYYY!" It was pretty rough, and needles make me weak in the knees and want to cry too, so I couldn't even look him in the face. I just tried to be as comforting as possible while mumbling silly things like "Everything's OK sweetie" into his tummy. Obviously things were NOT ok. Five days later he was as good as could be for the removal of the stitches. He laid there quite calmly and let the doctor pull them out, didn't need to be held at all. The scar is still pink and lumpy and hasn't faded much at all. I'm wondering if he's inherited bad scarring from me, I scar terribly. Hopefully if he keeps his bangs a little long his hair will cover most of it.

There wasn't much of a lesson learned unfortunately. He still runs full tilt at the fireplace and we've seen some near misses. When asked if he's afraid of banging the bricks again he says NO. Perhaps there was some permanent damage after all...

It's been a while hasn't it?

2007-06-26T21:04:00.000-07:00

First to answer some questions.

A Bowflex is a home exercise equipment that simulates weightlifting, but uses bendy rods with varying degrees of resistance. Strength training basically. It's quieter and safer for the kids than a weight system. I love it. Finding time to actually use it is the hard part.
I'm done with the weight loss thing. I spent two months trying and actually ended up losing almost 10 pounds. I didn't make my goal to get down to the lowest I was after Jayden was born but I look smokin' and better than I did then because I'm more toned. We're eating healthier, I have more energy, and so far I've maintained (and lost a little more) for the past 3 weeks. Yay me!! I'm even eating chocolate again, in extreme moderation of course. :)

Time for pictures. I actually hadn't downloaded any for the past two months, but was forced to when my camera ran out of memory.

Mr Blue Jay who we saw in our yard quite often this spring.

Ian likes to pretend he's taking a picture when we take his.

Jayden looks more and more like Rob everyday. He's also looking more like his brother too.
My kids are so cute! I wonder where they got that from?

Watching Daddy cut down half the cedar hedge. All the heavy snow we got this past winter did some permanent damage.

Long day, dinner was exhausting. Click on the picture...aren't those lashes to die for?

Jay-Jay loves his cousin baby Keira. (Guess how many pictures I had to take to get that shot, and how many times Jayden was asked to kiss-kiss the baby.)

Rob enjoys taking the boys for bike rides in the bike trailer. I enjoy not knowing where he takes them until later. That way I don't have to worry about the fruit of my loins in traffic on the Lions Gate Bridge.
Our new to us trailer. Camping here we come! In fact we're going again tomorrow.

(Jayden really needed a haircut there.)

I can NOT get those boys to pose nicely for a picture together.
Dance party tonight with Moulin Rouge soundtrack and a wooden spoon.

In other news, I was rear ended three weeks ago. If you're on facebook you knew that all ready. See what your missing out on?

I was stopped on an on ramp, one of the really short ones with a yield sign. I was yielding. I was twisted looking over my left shoulder to watch the oncoming traffic when suddenly I was smashed into from behind. ICBC replaced my bumper but will not cover my injuries as it was deemed a Low Velocity Impact. Due to the twistedness of my position when hit I have whiplash. It's getting better slowly. I'm seeing a physiotherapist. We're thinking of seeing a lawyer.

Last Saturday I went to Football 202, at the BC Lions training facility. I did 101 last summer. 202 invloved doing drills with the players. I got a bunch of signatures on the t-shirt they gave me. I met some cool football players. Jen Hansen came with me. We had fun. I'm so lame, I couldn't find my camera so I have no photo proof of the day. I also couldn't catch the ball at Jason Clermont's station. I'm blaming it on my whiplash, I wasn't really trying that hard. I did catch it at Buck Pierce's station when Jen threw to me, but he complained about my throwing. :)

Well, there you go. Long post. Hope you stuck around to the end. Feel free to comment on the gorgeousness of my children.

Facetime and Flexing.

2007-05-07T21:22:00.000-07:00

I have a new past time on the internet. It's called Facebook. You may have heard of it. I'm in love. It's so easy, and addictive. I found a bunch of people I went to Kindergarten with. Kindergarten! Have you ever wondered "Hmm, whatever happened to so'n'so"? Well now, if you're on facebook, you can just type in their name in the search box, and if you're like me, about 50% of the time you'll find them, and then you'll know. Wow. Boys you had a crush on in Juniour High? There they are! Girls who made you feel inadequate in high school? Yup, them too! Co-workers? Family? Random goofballs. And it's ALL FREE. ((sigh)) I really don't need another excuse to ignore reality, but it really is so much fun.

Speaking of reality...we bought a Bowflex. So now I flex. Ha ha. The best thing about it is that it's in the privacy of my own home because I look like such a wimp on it it's embarrassing. So the weight loss thing with LA Weight Loss isn't so great. In the last month I've lost 5 pounds. That's it! And I'm barely eating HALF of what I used to enjoy!! No chocolate, no cake, no chocolate cake, etc. They promised that I'd lose 2 pounds a week. They keep telling me it'll happen eventually. Everyone's body is different. Believe me. There has been NO cheating. And I have 3 weeks left to lose 8 pounds to make my goal. HA! I've almost concluded that my body needs to be a little bit rolly, that anything less than 10 pounds more than I like is physically impossible to achieve. There's no other explanation that I can think of.

I'm sorry if this sounded a bit woe is me. It was. But I figure I probably don't have much of a readership so I can say whatever I want to make me feel better.

Anyways, if you want to cheer me up. Go on over to facebook, look me up, and be my friend.

:)

Our life in pictures.

2007-04-26T20:27:00.000-07:00

It's so hard to get them both to sit still for the camera. I think this is the best I've got in months. You can see how long Jayden's hair was getting. He got a real boy haircut at Easter and now you can see a much stronger resemblance between the two of them. He still gets called a girl though, he's THAT pretty. :)

Jim with new baby Kiera. Really, she is the most beautiful baby girl ever. I'm so excited about having a niece that I can do girly stuff with. Sometimes the boy stuff in this house of mine gets a little overwhelming.

The new "Boy's Bedroom".

Jayden in the hotel room wearing Ian's Canucks jersey because he peed his pants, and all over my lap at the hockey game and Ian's shirt was longer and covered his legs better. I remembered extra pants for the next game.

We went to the Fort Worth Zoo on the Monday. I won't bore you with pictures of all the animals we saw. They were some cool animals, but zoos are sad too. So here's a picture of Ian's first ride on a carosaul. After about 10 seconds he said "all done", but I convinced him had to stay on for the whole song. He did have fun after a while.

Here's another example of Rob's picture taking skills. You can't even see poor Jayden's face.

At the hockey game. I can't believe I didn't take pictures of any hockey action. Rob's mom has more picture of the arena. It's an impressive building, very pretty with lots of big windows.

It's blurry but I was excited and Jayden is squirmy.

The boys out on our deck on one of the very rare sunny days we've had this spring.

Jayden does this fabulous kissy face when I ask him for a kiss. I love it. He's just too cute!

Well now you're pretty much caught up with us. Oh, one more thing, Jayden and I have ANOTHER STINKING COLD!! Ughh, I'm so sick of sickness. I can't wait for some sun and decent temperatures. How about you?

So you know a little more about me...

2007-04-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

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So much news...so little time...

2007-04-19T22:01:00.000-07:00

I turned 29 on March 20. That same day Rob's brother Jim's wife Christy gave birth by C-section to the most beautiful baby girl I've ever seen. Best gift ever, my first niece. New baby Keira is Rob's parents first granddaughter after five grandsons. She is sooo spoiled.
Rob had a birthday too four days after mine. We planned on spending a night in a really fancy hotel downtown Vancouver on the 30th but had to cancel it when we got hit with V&D sickness (#3 since Christmas). Ian only puked twice but had the big D for several days. I have never seen so much vomit come out of one small child in my life; poor Jayden got hit the worst. He had both for about a week. Rob was laid flat for about a day and a half. I spent about 10 minutes on the toilet with cramps, so I got to nurse everyone else and clean up the messes. (So yucky!)
Easter was fairly quiet. One dinner with Rob's family, one with mine.
We moved the boys into the same bedroom. I took pictures but my camera doesn't want to talk to the computer tonight. The transition was bumpy the first couple nights but they've got the hang of it now. Both of them are pretty good about sleeping through the others cries.
I joined LA Weight Loss. Fifteen pounds have crept back on since I began the weaning process with Jayden last July. I haven't really gained much since he quit nursing in December, but I like eating, and hate exercising, too much to get myself motivated enought to lose it on my own. Now that I'm paying someone to help me lose the weight, it's much easier to stick to the diet instead of eating all the leftover Easter chocolate we have. I lost 3 pounds in the first four days.
Then I had a wisdom tooth taken out. It started growing in while I was pregnant with Ian. I used pregnancy and nursing as an excuse to put off having it delt with because I hate getting dental procedures done. It's linked to my extreme phobia of needles. Needles make me cry. So I dosed myself up good with Ativan and everything is sort of fuzzy in memory about the whole thing, but I still cried when I needed to get ANOTHER shot in the roof of my mouth because the first one didn't take effect enough. Then, in my drugged state, I had a stupid argument with the dentist about whether he was pulling the right tooth or not. For some reason I thought he didn't have the right tooth clamped up ready to pull out. Me: A yu ur tu a uh igh oo (Are you sure you have the right tooth)? Dentist: Yes, I have the right one. Me: ee-ee? i ee-ee ah aa er. (Really? It's really far back there?) Dentist: Yes I'm sure, I wouldn't pull the wrong one. Me: ee-ee? oh ur? (Really? For sure?) Assisstant: Heidi, he really has the right one. Dentist: I definitely have the right tooth. Don't worry. OK? Me: o-ay. After it was all over I lost it and had another bit of a cry. I'm so lame. Then I passed out and slept until the next morning pretty much. That was a week ago and I still can't chew on that side, but otherwise I'm doing ok now.
Then my hockey crazy husband and his hockey crazy mother got a brilliant idea to go to Dallas so we could cheer on the Canucks live for games 3 and 4 of the playoff series. So we got some great airmiles deal on tickets to Dallas from Seattle connecting through Phoenix. On Saturday we packed up the kids for their first ever plane ride (we bought a portable DVD player just for this, and some Dora DVDs), made sure we had our Canucks jerseys, and went to Texas. Our two little boys were AMAZING the entire trip. Plane rides, sleeping in hotels, eating in restaurants, going to hockey games, visiting the zoo. We were totally blown away with how well they did. Everywhere we went people commented, first on how adorable they are, then on how good they were. And yes I'm totally bragging, but I don't think it had anything to do with us as parents. We were just completely blessed. The trip was awesome. The Canucks won both games. I'll post more details about the trip when I get the pictures downloaded.

The birthday that was.

2007-03-15T10:41:00.000-07:00

Ian's big birthday bash with 10 little boys didn't happen because we were all dead. Yup, we just withered away and died due to excess snot. Well, not really, but it sort of felt that way. In truth we decided to cancel the party because Jayden was still feverish and coughing like mad, and we felt it wasn't fair to him to have such a stimulating day, and also not fair to all the other kids that would be coming and exposing themselves to his disease. A week later we had my family over for dinner and cake. My sister and her husband were visiting from the Island, and Ian got presents. Thankfully Ian has no idea that he missed out on anything.

To remind you all of how sweet my first born is click here to see the post I did for his birthday last year (how lazy am I?).
Shortly after he turned two we braced ourselves for the Terrible Twos. They didn't happen. We congratulated ourselves for being such amazing parents, using consistent discipline techniques, and creating a perfect child. Then he hit two and a half, and the terribleness kicked in. There were tantrums every day, we were afraid to leave Ian alone with Jayden due to the biting and flesh wound inflicting that the baby suffered, and the outright defiance, disobedience, and general "you just told me not to do something so I'm going to do it right now in your face so there" type attitude our perfect child had developed. It was frustrating. There were tears, from everyone, often. As Ian approached his third birthday though, things appeared to improve. I don't know if it's anything we did as parents. Mostly I think he's grown, his communication is better and improving everyday, so what we do and say he understands more. Ian is definitely strong-willed and stubborn (a little like me, though Rob isn't such a push-over either). On one hand I'm frustrated when he becomes aggressive with other kids his age (he gets time-outs at church fairly regularly), and on the other hand I'm impressed that he doesn't let other kids push him around. He never cries when other kids push or hit him, he just hits back and makes them cry. We've really been working with him to try and get him to use his words first, or ask for help instead of hitting right away. So far he's only bitten Jayden here at home. I don't know what I'll do if he starts biting other kids.

We've started looking at a couple pre-schools in the area for September. We went to an open house at one last Saturday. Ian jumped right in and had a great time. After 5 minutes there he turned around, saw I was still there, and proclaimed loudly "Bye-bye Mommy!" I think he'll do pretty well come fall.

I love the new things that Ian is always learning to say. He likes to add words like "all the time", "anytime", "everytime", or "maybe later", "in a little while", and "just a little while". For example, my favourite, I say "I love you Ian", and he says "No, I love you too everytime right now!" Another common phrase he says often is "I NOT!" As in "Ian, lets go pee-pee on the potty." "I NOT!!!" So asking to use the toilet is something Ian has yet to learn to say. We've tried bribes, threats, begging, peer pressure, shame. You name it. We let him run around in just cloth underwear, or naked and he just pees on the floor and doesn't tell us unless we discover it. Being wet or making a mess just doesn't seem to phase him a bit. Maybe he's not ready.

But he sure is cute!

Birthday cake at Grandma and Grandpa's house on his birthday.

Grammy and Pappa singing Happy Birthday. The 3 candle we got from Rob's mom broke so we used the 2 and 1 from previous years to add up to 3.

A reason for this busy season.

2007-02-22T12:56:00.000-08:00

This winter has been the worst I've ever experienced in the way of sickness. Since November there has been at least one member of this family with a disease of some sort. Mostly it's been colds, with gallons of snot and much coughing. But we've also had our fair share of puke and diarhea. In fact I've been nauseous and pukey since Saturday night, for the third time this winter, plus I'm at the last stage of a cold. Rob is at the beginning stage of a cold. Ian is almost at the end of a cold (much snot and coughing but no more fever and he's bouncing off the walls again). After two weeks of a cold Jayden has developed "something in his lungs" (direct quote from doctor), is on his third straight day of fever that Tylenol is barely keeping in check, and is now on bright pink antibiotics that will hopefully get him back to his perky self instead of the whiny baby that only wants to be held ALL DAY LONG. As much as I love the cuddles, Jayden is a cuddly baby at the best of times, and right now it's more a sign that things are just not right with his little self.

Ever since Ian was born, January/February seem to be marked by the illnesses we've suffered. But I always forget, or hope that it won't be like that "this year". And really, this year has been the worst yet. I sincerely pray it doesn't get worse than this next year.

Oh yeah! Today is IAN'S 3RD BIRTHDAY!!!!!
He and his daddy went to spend time with Rob's family so Jayden and I can get some rest. The amount of energy Ian has is almost insulting to me, especially since I've been surviving on one piece of toast and a glass of juice a day for the last 5 days and I don't have much energy to speak of. So I will do a proper birthday post for him after Saturday, which is going to be his very first kid's party. Including my two boys, there will be TEN boys here on Saturday (as long as we aren't dead by then), and so far the forecast is for rain which is not so good for the soccer game we have planned. Wish us luck, and good health. :)

Mexico Pics...finally!

2007-02-16T13:32:00.000-08:00

No, we did not decide to stay and live in Mexico. It was tempting, but we did come home. We've just been so so so so sososo busy that I haven't had a chance to update in ages. In fact, I'm not even at home right now. I'm at my parents, but I have some down time now while Jayden naps and Ian watches a DVD. So here we go...

The view from our balcony.

Rob at Chichen itza.

Swimming in the cenote.

Heidi at Chichen itza.

Rob on Isla Mujeres.

Travis and Karen and Rob in the golf cart we drove around on Isla Mujeres.

It was amazing how much we enjoyed spending time without our kids. We did miss them, just not that much. Sleeping in. Sitting and enjoying an entire cup of coffee in the morning. An afternoon nap everyday. No poopy diapers. No tantrums. ((sigh)) I still dream about Mexico. The sun, the warmth and humidity (which makes my hair curly and my skin feel so good).

We had an awesome time. I can't wait to do it again next year. ;)

(Karen takes way better pictures than I do. Check out the Bonds link on the side, look in January to see her gorgeous shots from Mexico.)

Great food, good people, fun times...

2006-12-28T11:35:00.000-08:00

We had Christmas, with presents and turkey, on the 24th at my parents.

We opened stockings at our house Christmas morning...

...then headed to Rob's parents for more Christmas, presents, and turkey.

There was some over-indulgence.

This Christmas I have felt so grateful. I am so blessed. Even though we did get some great stuff, I'm so happy that we could spend time with our dear families, stuff our bellies, and make some great memories, while celebrating the birth of our Lord and Saviour.

So from us to you, may this holiday season bring blessings, and may you have joy in the New Year.

Now we're off to Cancun in less than 48 hours so I'll probably not be posting until we get back. I still have to do ALL my packing, plus packing for the kids too. At least the house is clean.

I'm dreaming of a...

2006-12-21T18:54:00.000-08:00

I think that snow came about a month too early.

This next picture is about the best I can do when it comes to getting proof of Jayden's walking ability.

Ian helped me decorate the tree. After he lost interest I rearranged them more evenly about the tree. This is our first year without a real tree. Jayden still likes to eat everything and I'd rather he didn't consume pine needles.

We tried to get a nice shot of both the boys together in front of the tree. These are the best we could do. Jayden doesn't stay still long enough, and Ian was just being 2.

See, I told you I had more Christmas stuff on my mind. Now, since I've stepped up and posted more, I think you need to step up and comment more so I know my efforts are worth it.

I LOVE Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-12-19T21:02:00.000-08:00

You have NO idea how much. Every year I get those butterfly giggly feelings in my tummy in anticipation of all things Christmas-y. Decorations, music, FOOD, time with family and friends. If possible, having kids makes it even MORE exciting. Have you seen the movie ELF? I feel like that about Christmas. "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is to sing out loud for all to hear." Love it!

So work is going really well. Even though it takes a looooong time to get to work and back home, I really enjoy the quiet alone time I get in the car where I can listen to MY music, not necessarily kids music, and definitely not sports talk radio (no matter how much I've come to appreciate Pratt and Taylor). Two days a week seems perfect. After two days I'm glad to spend the next five with my family, and when Monday comes around I'm really looking forward to going to work. Did I change the subject you ask. No. Today was my last day until January 8th. Our office is closed for the same two weeks that schools are closed. I'm officially on my Christmas vacation. Aaaaaand...only 11 more sleeps until we go on a REAL vacation to Cancun MEXICO! On the beach, for SEVEN days, with NO children. As much as I love them, their grandparents really love them too. And I know that they will have fun, and be spoiled while we are gone. Maybe not as much fun as WE plan on having! We're going with our friends Travis and Karen. Oh the excitement, oh the giddyness, oh the capital letters and exclaimation points!!!!

I have more Christmas stuff to exclaim about, but we recorded one of the best Christmas movies EVER, A Muppet Christmas Carol, you HAVE to see it, and I'm going downstairs to watch it because the kids are sleeping, and Rob's at work (he just doesn't seem as excited about it as I am), and I can watch whatever I want to.

:)

(I'm SOOOOOO excited about Christmas and New Year's!!!!!!!)

More Birthday Stuff...

2006-12-12T23:12:00.000-08:00

Minutes after birth, red, wrinkly, and a full head of dark hair.
Bonding with Mommy and receiving Canucks indoctrination. You can see a little bit of the orange sleeper he's wearing, which was the one that I wore home from the hospital after my own birth way back in 1978.

One year later, happy, active toddler with an 8 toothed grin.

It's getting hard to fit him on the counter after bathtime.

Birthday party pics. Chocolate cake.
Presents. Can you see the snowstorm out the window?

My Baby Boy!

2006-12-08T21:50:00.000-08:00

Baby Jayden isn't really a baby anymore, he's a one year old toddler! (This is so overdue I'm ashamed.)
At 3:14am, November 21, 2005, Jayden Robert was born. He was loud, and very very red. He seemed to be the exact opposite of his brother. Once he became accustomed to our ways, and the ways of nursing, things calmed down and he was shown to be a very happy content, mostly quiet, baby. He learned early to make his needs known immediately since he was competing for attention with a toddler who could scream louder than he could. He was a wonderful sleeper, until he hit 6 months. He was always a fabulous nurser, but did not take kindly to solids. He's a bit sensitive, he takes awhile to warm up to people, won't smile right away, but has the greatest giggle I've ever heard.
He's now walking all over the place. Being constantly knocked over by the bully big brother doesn't seem to deter him at all. He will eat almost anything we put in front of him as long as he can feed it to himself. Holds a sippy cup like a pro and is pretty good at using a spoon to feed himself too. I think it has something to do with doing everything that Ian does. Ian is his most favourite person in the whole world. His little self will is developing nicely as well. He's learned how to scream when he doesn't get what he wants.
This past year I've learned so much more about being a mother. A mother to two different boys. It's the most difficult, yet the most sweetest thing I've ever had to do.
I love you Jay-Jay!

Dribs and Drabs

2006-11-13T21:29:00.000-08:00

* Jayden is sooo close to walking. He's taken independent steps when he's trying to reach something and then when he realizes what he's doing he drops to his knees to crawl.

* Ian now only naps with me in my bed and only for about an hour/hour and a half tops. At least I can nap too then. My sleep situation is getting better overall now too.

* We went to the CFL Western Final yesterday. Good good times. Much fun was had. Lions just smoked those Riders. It was loud.

* I start back to work tomorrow in North Vancouver. I know I'll miss my boys like crazy, but I am looking forward to the break from them too, and the chance to exercise my brain in a different way what with all the talking to adults I'll have to do. Thankfully I'm down to part-time, two days a week, so we won't need to buy childcare. It's pretty easy for Rob to shuffle his shifts a bit so he won't need to work days on the days that I work. It will be fun to see Rob taking care of the boys all by himself all day long tomorrow. It might be tough on him considering he's working the midnight shift tonight.

* Ian sat on the toilet the other day and peed, then said "Good job penis!!" He wanted a new car but I said only if he went poo on the potty since he has yet to do that. If we put him on the toilet (without him having a fit) he'll pee, but he rarely asks to go himself, only if he wants a car or is trying to avoid something else. I'm not totally sure he has complete control over his bladder yet. He peed on me today while I was putting a clean diaper on him. Granted, he was trying really hard to fart at the time. Boys.

* I don't think I every posted about our new car. Well, it was new to us. A 2002 (?2003?) Jetta. A JETTA!!!! I love it. LOVE. IT. My very first car was a Jetta. Bought from my Opa. It sat outside through two Alberta winters and then died when we brought it home to BC. I've always wanted a Jetta again. Rob promised that someday he'd buy me one. That someday was back in August. It's black, it's a diesel, it has seat warmers. It's mine! It will make my commute to work much more enjoyable.

* I can't think of anything else to say right now. I have to go to bed. I have to get up really really early tomorrow morning.

Happy Hallowe'en!

2006-10-31T19:07:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of our pumpkin family. Rob said they looked like us. If they do then the grumpy one must be Rob. ;)

Ian dressed up as a puppy dog and was very excited to get candy and chocolate.

Jayden got to dress up too but he stayed home to help Rob hand out candy.
Rob took this picture and I knew I wasn't ready when he snapped it but when he looked at it he said "Good enough" and wouldn't take another one.

So Ian and I went trick-or-treating to a few houses close by. Ian chanting "trickotreat, trickotreat" almost the whole time until we got to a door, then needed prompting to say it when the door was answered. Many of the houses had jack-o-lanterns and Ian, picking up on the spirit of the occassion, declared them "spooooky!"

And then when we arrived home he proceeded to continue filling his bag with candy from the bowl we had to give out. We went out around 6pm and only ran into one other kid. We also only had about 20 kids visit our door, so we had a LOT of chocolate left over.

Hope you all had fun too.

I am here, but I'm tired.

2006-10-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

Really tired.
It's been a week and a half since we cut Jayden off of his 4am bottle. He still wakes up at least once in the night. At first he wailed his lungs out for anywhere from 1.5 hrs to 3 hrs until resigning himself to sleep again. The reasons we've stopped feeding Jayden at night is, one, he doesn't need it, two, maybe he'll eat more solids during the day, and three, we really want to get a whole nights sleep ourselves. So far he seems to be doing better with solids, but we still aren't sleeping well.
On top of that Ian has had one nap in the past week. ?!!???!!?!?!?!?! Hello? He still totally needs to nap. By 5pm he's falling to pieces. His behaviour is worse, his tantrums more frequent, and louder and longer. Ian not napping means I don't get my daily nap either, hence increased exhaustion. Potty training is officially on the back burner, it's just not worth it if he throws a fit everytime we want him to sit on the toilet. And we still haven't figured out how to get him to stop beating on Jayden.
It's not so much physical tiredness (although there's a bunch of that), but the emotional and mental drain of dealing with a two year old. It wears me down. To counteract the funk that threatens to overwhelm me some days, I seek escape. Some of my faves are;* other peoples blogs (one of these days I'll let you know what an internet stalker I am), novels read in a hot bath, Starbucks decaf mocha no whip (mmmmm, and since the end of nursing is in sight, soon I'll make that full caffeine), solo grocery shopping trips, and of course Wednesday mornings Breakaway at church (today we did pedicures and my toes are oh so pretty). Other recent highlights of my life include a Pampered Chef party that I spent money at, and I completey hooked on this new show on TV 'Jericho' (tonights episode gave me goosebumps). I'm also contemplating water-robics at the rec-center. I tried a class. The easiest class, which was for old people with arthritis. The instructor very politely told me I could stay and try, but may want to join one of the other classes. My legs felt like cooked noodles after the 45 min class, that's how pathetic I am. The other classes are a full hour long. Now I'm scared. Do I try one of the other classes and die in the attempt, which would be humiliating, or go back to easy class and admit to the instructor my patheticness, and be the youngest member by about 30 or more years, which is also humiliating in a way. Please help me decide what to do. If I can't decide I just may go back to eating chocolate in bed watching TV.

Now some pic of some other faves (live ones).

Jayden likes to make messes, he can even say "uh oh". We've stepped up the childproofing and put clips on some cupboard doors so he can't open them. That's something we never had to do for Ian.

He likes to walk. No independent steps quite yet but can stand alone. My bet is he'll be walking before he's a year.

The local fire department had an open house and Ian really had fun with the fire trucks.

The little boys in this house have colds again, for the second time in a month, and they're both coughing like crazy, so I expect another night of little sleep since Rob is working tonight and only Mommy is around to tend the babies. So goodnight.

* English pros out there, did I use the punctuation correctly? I have a fear that I make really bad mistakes and annoy readers and that's why no one ever comments on my blog.

It's Fall...Autumn...Hockey Season!

2006-09-25T21:39:00.000-07:00

I think that in Rob's world, Hockey Season is more wonderful than Christmas to a five-year-old. And it's not just the beginning of the NHL season (GO Canucks!!), it's that he gets to play in a league of his own with other little boys, er, I mean men who like hockey. Here you can see how his last season culminated. For most of the summer we had The Cup at our house, somewhat displayed, in our livingroom. Before he needed to give it back so they could engrave his teams names on it, we took some time to take pictures of our kids with it. Perhaps by having Jayden slobber all over it, the chances of it coming back to us are increased? I don't know, maybe Rob thought this might be the last time he has a chance to revel in the glory of a win like that. Either way, those of us in this house will be rooting for Rob and his team again this year. Each game is on Saturday nights, and they're usually very late on Saturday nights, which makes it really hard for me to get to see any of them, what with our children going to bed, and we have yet to find a local babysitter.

So for what it's worth.... GO ROB GO!! May all your hockey dreams come true.

A First!!

2006-09-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

On Monday Ian went pee-pee on the potty for the very first time EVER!! As I was putting him down for his nap he announced that he had to go poo. I didn't really believe him, he had filled his diaper that morning already, but I asked if he wanted to go sit on the potty. He said yes and then asked me to get him a "wheel car". We bought a big pack of Hot Wheels for him as rewards for going potty. They sit on top of the cupboards in the kitchen and he gets very upset that we don't give them to him unless he's willing to go potty. So I brought down the wheel cars and placed them on the counter in the bathroom but told him no car unless there was actual pee in the toilet. I assumed that this was just a standard nap delay tactic. It took 20 minutes, and every once in a while he would say "Get down, wheel car Mommy?" Then I'd ask if he had gone pee, he'd say no, so I'd offer the clean diaper and naptime. Then he'd say no, go pee-pee. Then we'd wait some more. Eventually there was peeing. I could hardly believe it! There was much celebrating, clapping and cheering. He announced "I di' it Mommy!" I was so happy. I think he was too. He picked out a really cool red truck and still carries it everywhere, even to bed.

There was a lot of gymnastics happening on the seat while we waited.
So far, when asked if he wants to go pee-pee on the potty and get another wheel car, he says "no", as usual. But I'm happy that we've made a start, and that someday soon I may only have one child in diapers.

((sigh)) Another sign that he's growing up so fast.

August In Review.

2006-09-09T17:53:00.000-07:00

Did you notice that it's been over a month since I last posted? We've been busy. Surprise! What else is new? Here's some pictures from this past month.

Jayden really enjoys playing with Daddy and Ian. And even though we usually barricade the brick hearth with a lot of toys, it's amazing how quickly he gets through them, as if he knows that's the one place in the whole upstairs we don't want him playing.

We have really enjoyed our new deck this summer. It's so spacious, and Ian can run around and around and around and around the table.

Here we are at another wedding.

Baby Jay-jay's first haircut from Grammi. ((sob sob))

And Ian who is just too cute, stuffing his face with chips, and the Penny dog waiting eagerly for some droppings.

Updates on the kids:

It's still hit and miss with Jayden's sleeping schedule. I have completely cut out the middle of the night feed, from the breast. He still gets a 4oz bottle though. We were hoping that he would be turned off of eating in the night if it was from a bottle, my thinking that it was mostly the comfort of mommy that he needed. But no, he refuses to stop crying and go back to sleep unless he's eaten something, even when Rob gives the bottle, so maybe he just is really that hungry. On a bright note though he's totally fine with a bottle and does a whole one during the day too, which means I only need to nurse him three times a day now.
We still are having a tough time getting solids into this baby. He got bored of bananas every day but still refuses to eat anything resembling baby food. So I've pretty much thrown all the rules about feeding solids out the window and he eats whatever we eat, usually right off our plates. He really enjoys noodles, KD, salmon, and potatoes. Seems to have an issue with fruits and veggies though.

So we feel pretty stupid about the baby gate thing. We had purchased one from walmart that we really liked before we discovered that our stairs are really wide. Our stairs are 4 inches wider than the widest setting of the gate. I am embarrased to admit how long it took us to figure out what to do about it. Eventually Rob bought a 2x4, put one piece on each side of the stairs, and what do you know, now the gate fits.

Ian still really likes to hit his little brother, and kick him, and push him over, and sit on him, and on occassion give him a bite for good measure. We are becoming increasingly frustrated about how to fix this. Time-outs don't seem to work, neither does spanking (he just turns around and smacks me back, how do I tell him not to hit after I just hit him?). The only thing working right now is to run interference. As long as we are right there watching the entire time we can prevent the acts of aggression. Too bad it's hard to supervise ALL the time, especially with Rob back at work now. Sometimes I need to go pee, or make meals, and answer the phone. It seems like as soon as I'm out of sight Ian attacks. Right now I've resorted to just praying that he grows out of it soon.

I know I had more I wanted to say but I've forgotten, and I really want to go to bed. Despite what the time says at the bottom of the post, it is now 8:15pm, that's how long it's taken me to do all this. Hmm, wonder how long it'll take me to post again?

Love Bite?

2006-08-05T21:52:00.000-07:00

The other day Ian chose to show his affection for Jayden in a new and violent way. Those are real TEETH MARKS on the poor baby's cheek. This happened about 10 seconds after I complimented Ian on what a good big brother he was playing with the baby so nicely and making him laugh. Perhaps he did not appreciate my comments and needed to prove me wrong? I don't know. Ian bit him again the very next day on his fingers. So far it hasn't been repeated since.
Jayden is SO happy to be able to move around and GO to where he wants. It has kept him so much happier now that he can find the toys that he wants to play with. Ian, I think, is a little frustrated at Jayden invading his playing space, and I find myself playing referee a lot more often with the result that Ian is being sent to the penalty box a lot more often as well.

*Sidenote* We are having some trouble finding a gate for the top of our stairs. It seems that our stairs are wider than all other stairs in all other homes that need baby gates. The ones that extend to the width we need it are those designed for wide doorways (like french doors) and are labelled "not suitable for use on stairs". We're planning on checking out Babies R Us and if they don't have anything we may need to resort to using something not suitable for stairs. Right now the furniture is configured so that it would take some manuevering to get to the stairs and then we just keep a really close eye on him, as he is still moving slowly. Anyone have any suggestions?

The Weekend of Parties!

2006-08-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

Finally I have some time to sit and tell you about our busy busy weekend. Both babies are in bed at last and Rob is out with his boyfriend Jamie seeing the fireworks in Vancouver, so I have uninterrupted time to spend blogging.

Saturday night Rob and I headed out to Chilliwack to attend the 10 year reunion of Sardis Secondary School grad class of 1996 while my parents came over to take care of the kids at our place. Highschool reunions are funny things. For the most part I'm so relieved that that part of my life is over and in the past, yet it was interesting to see where some of my schoolmates are at in their lives. It was satisfying to see how mature a lot of people have become (and amazing how international my grad class is now), and really gratifying to be able to tell at least one guy honestly how terribly he had treated me back then and to have him admit it and be able to have a good laugh at ourselves. It was unfortunate that most of the people that I spent the most time with in highschool weren't there. It was also unfortunate that they had such loud music going that to find out about people you had to get in their face and yell at each other. All in all it was a fun evening with good food and friendly faces. I think we were the first to leave what was becoming a big booze fest, but we had a wedding the next day as well as a cranky baby at home. (So sorry I have no pics of us all dolled up from that night.)

On Sunday Rob's brother Jimmy married Christy. It was beautiful! See photos here. Rob had the honor of standing up as one of Jim's groomsmen and I have to say he looked migh-ty fine in his tux. As a family member we had pretty good seats right up front at the ceremony but I forgot my camera in the car. (Can you tell I'm not much of a photographer?) Ian and his cousin Colby lasted through maybe half the ceremony before getting shipped off to the nursery to play with toys, but Jayden stayed through the whole thing sitting on my lap happy as can be. After the ceremony my parents came to pick up the kids and took them to their place for the evening so Rob and I could really enjoy ourselves at the reception. (Really, grandparents are SO great!) We had so much FUN! The food was so good. Rob gave the BEST speech ever. We danced. I discovered I am a really really bad dancer, Rob may be a little better than me, but when partnered with me it was hard to tell. We stayed really late too. We picked up our boys shortly before 1am in North Van. Got to bed just after 2, Jayden woke around 6 to feed, and then Ian let us sleep til 9.(!!!) My head was only slightly fuzzy in the morning but I have a cold. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

Here's Rob speechifying and toasting the groom. Notice the basketball hoop. Ian was kind enough to lend it to the cause. Instead of tinkling glasses, if you wanted bride and groom to kiss you had to make a basket.

And here's me and MY groom. (Seriously, he was so hot that day.)

My children have been full of something that's not good the last few days. Lots of tantrums, crying, disobedience, fussiness, and general unhappiness. I'm sure it's in reaction to all the upheaval in the usual routine, which goes to show that there's a price to pay for all good times. Worth it though, because they were good good times!

Get around, get around, he gets around, oh...

2006-07-28T11:51:00.000-07:00

After many days of hard work and practice, much squirming backwards on his tummy and rocking on his hands and knees, Jayden has finally managed to crawl forward.

Once he reached the dump truck he collapsed to take a well deserved rest.

In other news he sleeps 7-9 hrs at night about half the time. The other half he's up every 3-4 hrs wanting to nurse. My poor breasts are so confused I'm working on my second plugged duct in as many weeks. We did find a nipple that will allow him to take formula from a bottle, even when I feed it to him, and when that doesn't work he'll drink from a sippy cup. He still only eats bananas and cheerios though, but I've been to lazy to try anything else recently. Thank goodness he'll take formula now, since my 10 year reunion is tomorrow night in Chilliwack, and Rob's brother Jim is marrying his sweetheart Christy on Sunday, and we definitely want to have some childless fun.

A Day with Grammi and Papa.

2006-07-27T12:52:00.000-07:00

On the day that Rob was attending his brother's stag (golfing and poker), the kids and I spent the day with my parents in North Van.
We went to Maplewood farm and saw lots of animals.

Ian was very brave with the sheep and goats but was very frightened of the bunny rabbits. Who knows?

After the farm we went to Cates Park, Whey-Ah-Whichen. There we heard some bands give a free concert and took turns chasing Ian. Jayden took a nap. When the second band began to play quite loud rock music Ian announced that it was "too loud" and we should go to "Gammi's house". So we did.

I don't get it.(see July 7 post)

2006-07-27T12:42:00.000-07:00

Rob took me to a French restaurant in West Vancouver for our 6th wedding anniversary on July 8th. What I don't get is how French women don't get fat if they eat the way we ate that night. So much BUTTER! It was extremely rich food. Delicious, a lot of it too. Rob couldn't finish his 7 hour lamb, so I helped him polish it off the next day. Somehow I don't think that meal caused me to lose any weight.

Football 101!

2006-07-26T23:36:00.000-07:00

Guess who I got to meet? Yes! That's me with the great Lui himself.
The BC Lions have this great thing called Football 101 for women. Sorry guys. We got to go hang out in the locker room at the training facility in Surrey. We learned the basics of CFL football from Jason Clermont and Javier Glatt, and got to meet Wally Buono and Lui Passaglia. I kicked myself for not bringing my camera to that session but remembered it for the next homegame where we got to go down on the field and watch the pre-game warm-up. I seriously almost got hit in the face by a ball thrown by Dave Dickenson. I had a total blast. I recommend it to anyone who is even remotely interested in football. The Lions did an awesome job, Jason and Javier were truly superb teachers! It was too bad they lost that game though.

Here's Jayden at that game. He had fun too!

A day in Lynn Valley.

2006-07-14T13:35:00.000-07:00

When Rob's cousin Todd and his daughter Violet came up for a visit at the end of June we went for a walk up at Lynn Valley. Ian did a fabulous job, I had trouble keeping up with him and was in constant fear he'd tumble down the mountain side. He was a little freaked out going over the suspension bridge, but he made it with Daddy's help.

Sitting by the pool where people were cliff-jumping. (heart in my mouth there too, not for Rob and Ian, but for the crazy kids leaping off the mountain side.)

Ian playing by the river.
I framed this one and displayed it. He's so cute.

Pics from Father's Day.

2006-07-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

Getting Jayden dedicated.

My sister Heather with my little boys.

Jayden getting excited about the cake. To bad he didn't get any, except later in the form of breastmilk.

Did you know...

2006-07-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

...that French women don't get fat?

That was in the subject line of an email we got. When Rob was on his no carb let's get skinny kick he somehow signed up for all kinds of health junk emails that we continue getting at least 2-3 times a day.
So apparently if you eat like French women you won't get fat. Go figure.

He rolls his eyes.

2006-07-05T20:58:00.000-07:00

Yup. Rob rolls his eyes at me when I mention blogging. I've been expressing my sense of unease that I haven't updated here lately, and that I'm missing what's been going on at some of my blogger faves, and then he rolls his eyes. I have some blogs that I LOVE to read, and he says to me "You don't even KNOW these people, but you have a family right HERE that you do know and should spend time with". He makes an excellent point.
So, in favour of my husband here goes...(pics will come later)
Fathers day was FANTASTIC, Jayden was so good and sweet.
Bought an airconditioner for the dining room window because we got HOT. New patio furniture for our new deck (long story stay tuned).
Good time spent with cousins Todd and Violet from Texas.
Rob's motorcycle is no more. (Another long story)
Rob is now on vacation til Aug 20, hiphiphooray!
Jayden sometimes sleeps 7 hours and sometimes wakes every 2-3 hours and only eats bananas. Rolls and sits like a pro and is showing signs of impending crawling.

Gotta run, I'll try to be back sometime soon.

About a boy...

2006-06-15T23:01:00.000-07:00

Ian is such a bundle of joy. So much joy! I had no idea before I became his mother that my heart could even hold this much joy. Everyday I find some reason to delight in him. That's not to say he doesn't ever inspire frustration, come on now, he's TWO, let's be realistic. But for the most part I find him quite delightful.

I love how he prays. Every night when we tuck him in he asks "Jesus?". He lets us do the talking but he closes his eyes and gives a resounding AMEM at the end. And before meals when we say grace I confess to peeking at him a lot, because he's just so cute the way he folds his hands, bows his head and keeps his eyes closed the whole time and never peeks himself. I might just have to take a picture of it some time. Would that be sacreligous?

I love how he comes up with new words and phrases that we don't mean to teach him, but he just picks up. He's become quite good at detecting my emotions and if I show any distress, say from stubbing my toe, he'll ask, quite concerned, "OK Mommy? OK?" and offer a "Big hug? Kiss?". It's a fairly accurate immitation of what I do when he gets hurt.
Another recent new phrase is "Mmmm. Taste gooood." The inflection and spacing of his words just about kills me. It's so hard not to giggle at everything he says.

The other day he was jumping over Jayden who was playing on the floor. Something we've been trying hard to discourage. And he tripped on the baby and landed on his face flat on the hard wood floor. Jayden started to cry, and Ian was obviously hurting and crying too. I immediately launch into an "I told you so" type lecture about not jumping over Jay-Jay. As I'm talking sternly and practically shaking my finger at him, his cries intensify and suddenly a drop of blood forms on his lip and threatens to fall to the floor. Out goes the lecturer and in rushes a very sympathetic and caring mommy who scoops up the poor, hurt little boy and tends so carefully to his cut lip that puffs up noticeably right before my eyes. ((sigh)) Sometimes life is hard.

I really like this picture. I took it myself and it took about 4 tries to get the right angle and for both of us to be smiling. I won't be showing any of the others.

Ian really LOVES to "play soccer". Here he and Rob are at the school ground behind our house. According to Ian's rules, his opponent (Rob) must be "away away" at the opposite end of the field standing in goal. Then Ian starting at the other goal starts dribbling the ball down the field until he shoots and "SCOSE!", with much applause and praise. Then the ball is turned over to his opponent who must wait until Ian is back in position at his goal before advancing with the ball to score in his turn. And so it went back and forth. I got some of it on video from our balcony.

Ian attended his cousins 6th birthday party at a gymnastics place. The kids were supposed to decorate their goody bags. Here Ian is decorating for about 30 seconds before heading back to play. He even turned down the cake in favour of jumping around on the trampoline.

So much joy.

About a baby...

2006-06-15T19:31:00.000-07:00

So it's been ages since I've posted and believe me I have lots to post about. I'll just give you the high-lights. The main reason I haven't been on blogger, in fact not even reading others blogs much either, is Jayden. The last few weeks we have seen a different side of our baby. And it's not been so pleasant. There has been lots of fussing and crying, a LOT of nursing, mainly to stop the fussing and crying, and quite a bit of sporadic sleeping schedules. Before the May long weekend he was such a great sleeper, went down easily, slept 6-8 hours before needing another feed, sometimes would even just take his soother and sleep another few hours. Then he mutated. First he stopped taking his soother, and I mean absolutely refusing it. He would scream in rage at the notion that I would want him to suck on that instead of on me. Because really, all he wants to suck on is ME. We've been attempting to get him to take a bottle every now and then. It's not going so well, in fact it's not going at all. Early on, I followed the bookly advice to introduce a bottle between 4 and 6 weeks of age so he would learn to accept it. He did ok. But since then he's had maybe 2 or 3 bottles, each one harder than before. I guess I should have been more consistent, but formula is expensive, and a can of it would expire before we'd use it all, and I don't have the time, energy, or such prolific supply to express milk for bottles, and it was just so easy to breastfeed exclusively. With Ian it was so easy to get 4 oz every morning that's how over-flowing with milk I was. This time I think my body just is more regulated, Jayden's a little bit better at nursing well at each session than Ian was. Needless to say it's been rough. And I really want him to last an evening without me. At the end of July I have a 10 year high-school reunion and a wedding that would be much easier if Jayden could be away from me and still get nourished. ((sigh))

And then TWO teeth popped out on the same day (June 2), and I thought "Great! Now we can get back to normal and he'll take his soother again, and he'll eventually get used to the occassional bottle and his sleep will get so much better." HA! Things just got worse. Even though he's on oatmeal, he INCREASED his nursing. Anywhere from 6-8 nursings a day now. Sometimes he'll want to eat an hour and a half after a feeding. It is now normal to have him wake up an hour or two after going down to eat some more, and he rarely goes more than 4 hours at night. And just getting him to sleep became torturous, for everyone. It's always worked to just put him down after a feed, while he's still awake but drowsy and then just leave. Why doesn't that work anymore? I've toyed with the idea of letting him cry it out. I just can't do it. He just increases in volume and hysteria. He cried for an hour and a half the other night before finally drifting off attached to me, because of course I caved and let him nurse to sleep. He's been doing so much nursing that it's beginning to feel sore, reminiscent of that first week all over again. I'm hoping that this is just a phase, a growth spurt, a bizaare side effect of growing teeth.

On a positive note he's rolling all over the place. He's become compulsive about it. I think perhaps some of his sleep issues are due to the fact that he can't help but roll over onto his tummy as soon as he's laid down, but he doesn't really like that, and because he gets a little wrapped up in his blankets he can't get back over and then gets cranky about it.
And he's almost sitting totally on his own. He lasts upright for a few minutes before flopping over, and then straight to his tummy, and then the complaining begins anew....

We introduced carrots for the first time. It was a disaster. First there was face making, then shuddering, then gagging, then choking, then NOT breathing, and then I was holding him upside down and finally there was puking of carrots all over and lots of crying. So we stopped the carrots.

We've started bathing the boys together now that Jayden's more sturdy in the seated position. Sure makes getting them both clean more efficient. It's fun too!

Jayden sure is happy when he's with Mommy ALL the time.

And then we tried peas. Wasn't too much different from the carrot episode. It's like he forgets how to eat when faced with something distasteful. Doesn't spit it out, but also doesn't swallow it, so it sits in his mouth gettng more spitty until it trickles down his throat triggering the gagging and choking. We ended the session before there was any puking.

And the cherry on top is that it's been difficult to coordinate the kids naps with Jayden being so fussy and nursing all the time. Consequently, I've been missing a lot of my daily naps. With our nights not going so well I've been feeling more tired than usual, hence the lack of blogging time. Any free time I get I spend vegging.

The last couple of days have seen an improvement. Here's praying this trend continues...

One exciting thing though. We're having Jayden dedicated to the Lord this Sunday at church. I like to think of it more as us as parents dedicating ourselves to praying for Jayden and asking for God's help to raise him in a loving home, knowing that we love, and rely on, Christ for our lives. Then we're having a bunch of family over for lunch. It should be fun.

Would you like to know a little more about me?

2006-06-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

I saw this on Karen's friend Angella's blog and since I can't think of anything else to blog about, here's my answers. If you have a blog and feel like answering them, go ahead, if not, that's ok too.

1. What curse word do you use the most? ~Damn. It's the only one I use besides shoot and occassionally crap, and I know it's bad and it only happens during the MOST frustrating moments, and I'm really working on stopping it before Ian starts paying close attention.
2. Do you own an iPod? ~No
3. Who on your MySpace "Top 8" do you talk to the most? ~I don't know about MySpace
4. What time is your alarm clock set for? ~I don't set the alarm unless I have someplace to be before 10am. The kids usually wake me up around 8.
5. What colour is your room? ~Sort of a neutral, off white cream-like color. I'd love to make it more dramatic like an orangey-gold.
6. Flip-flops or sneakers? ~Hmm, tough one. Flip-flops in summer, sneakers in winter.
7. Would you rather take the picture or be in the picture? ~Take the picture, in it only if I'm with other people.
8. What's the last movie you watched? ~Failure to Launch at the drive-in. I've probably seen the occassion movie on TV since then, but never all the way through so I can't remember anything specific.
9. Do any of your friends have children? ~ Yes. More and more all the time.
10. Has anyone ever called you lazy? ~Oh yes! Almost everyone in my family and a few of my friends. It's true.
11. Do you ever take medication to help you fall asleep faster? ~No. The occassional alcoholic beverage works just fine. (Not while pregnant, and rarily while breastfeeding though)
12. What CD is currently in your CD player? ~ ABBA. Ian and I were dancing in the living-room today.
13. Do you prefer regular or chocolate milk? ~Both!
14. Has anyone told you a secret this week? ~No
15. Have you ever given someone a hickey? ~No. Gross.
16. Who was the last person to call you? ~Rob, today from work, just to say hi.
17. Do you think people talk about you behind your back? ~Probably, about my laziness? ;)
18. Did you watch cartoons as a child? ~Once we got a TV, of course! Looney Tunes!
19. How many siblings do you have? ~2. One sister Heather, one brother Blaine.
20. Are you shy around the opposite sex? ~Not anymore.
21. What movie do you know every line to? ~Princess Bride and Mary Poppins. LOVE them!
22. Do you own any band t-shirts? ~ No, I'm not that cool.
23. What is your favourite salad dressing? ~Jamaica Mistake
24. Do you read for fun? ~ Oh yeah, every chance I get!
25. Do you cry a lot? ~Hormones get me every time. Movies, books, A Baby Story, arguments...
26. Who was the last person to text message you? ~Don't have text-messaging.
27. Do you have a desktop computer or a laptop? ~Desktop. Would like a laptop though.
28.Are you currently wanting any piercings or tattoos? ~NO! Have you heard about my fear of needles?!?!!!
29. What is the weather like? ~Cloudy and showery and SOOO humid.
30. Would you ever date someone covered in tattoos? ~I don't think I'm allowed to date anyone except Rob, and he only has one tatoo.
31. Is sex before marriage wrong? ~The Bible says so. From personal experience, sex within marriage ROCKS, and I wouldn't want it any other way. (Is that TMI?)
32. When was the last time you slept on the floor? ~A few years ago, when we were living in Alberta and came home for Christmas and slept on my parents livingroom floor.
33. How many hours of sleep do you need to function? ~At least 6, prefer 8 or more.
34. Are you in love or lust? ~Love!
35. Are your days full and fast-paced? ~Well they're pretty full, but not too fast-paced. I move slow.
36. Do you pay attention to calories on the back of packages? ~No, life's too short, but I like to read the ingredient list.
37. How old will you be turning on your next birthday? ~29
38. Are you picky about spelling and grammar? ~Yes, and it bothers me when I see a typo in my blog, but I'm too lazy to go back and edit after it's posted unless it's a really bad one.
39. Have you ever been to Six Flags? ~Yes, Magic Mountain in California with Rob. I LOVE roller-coasters.
40. Do you get along better with the same or opposite sex? ~Both I think
41. Do you like cottage cheese? ~Yes, but Rob doesn't so I don't eat it much.
42. Do you sleep on your side, tummy, or back? ~Usually side unless I'm having trouble falling asleep, then I go to my back. I can't breath when I'm on my tummy and it hurts my neck.
43. Have you ever bid for something on eBay? ~No, I'm not that computer savvy.
44. Do you enjoy giving hugs? ~Yes! I love hugs, but I'm kind of shy about giving them to people I'm not sure will like them, so I REALLY like it when they initiate the hug (and I'm always a bit worried I might have BO).
45 What is your favourite TV show? ~Pick one?...Star Trek varieties, CSI, Amazing Race, Survivor, MASH, cartoons...
47. Which celebrity, dead or alive, would you want to have lunch with? ~I'm really looking forward to meeting some great composers, Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, if they're in heaven when I get there.
48. Last time you had butterflies in your stomach? ~Sometimes, when Rob's been at work all day I still get those excited butterflies when I know he'll be home soon.
49. What one thing do you wish you had? ~More time to enjoy my kids babyhood, it's disappearing way too fast.
50. Favourite lyrics? ~I don't know, I've always been partial to Simon and Garfunkel songs. Maybe Song for the Asking.

Losing Weight

2006-05-29T13:48:00.000-07:00

No, not me. Rob again. This time from his head. Rob's been growing his hair for many months. It's beautiful. Thick and curly. But his family gives him such grief about it. And then he was ordered to have a "properly" shorn 'do before his brother's wedding in July. So last night, out came the clippers, and off came the hair. ((sigh)) Although I do like it short too.

Before

Jayden was quite unsure during the procedure

Such lovely locks

The finished product

Trailer Camping, a little bit of Tenting, and Rain.

2006-05-25T20:11:00.000-07:00

I meant to do this post days ago but have been distracted by my family.

Friday we headed up to Osooyos. We stopped at Manning to get fed and let Ian run around a bit. Then we ended up taking a wrong turn and so decided to stop and see Karen and Travis in Penticton first. We gave them no warning as we didn't have their number with us. When we knocked on the door and Karen opened it Ian just walked right in and started playing with the toys. I think he must have thought it looked like home and anyone who has toys like that must be ok. It's funny since lately he's been acting really shy with people.
After a short visit we headed down to camp with Rob's parents. That evening it started to rain but Ian and Rob still slept out in the tent. I'm afraid that we brought coastal weather with us to the Okanagan.

Ian was up with first light at around 6am. Rob was nice enough to take themselves off to McDonalds so the rest of us could sleep a little longer. It rained and poured almost all day Saturday. Thankfully Ian slept for 3 hours in the afternoon, Rob's parents had cable TV (yay Treehouse!), and then Rob took Ian swimming with the Bond kids in the indoor swimming pool that the campground has.

Here's Ian with a girl on each arm. Grace and Sarah.

I have to say that those Bonds grow beautiful children.

And here's the three baby boys. Baby Ben knows exactly what to do when there's a camera around. Jayden is very confused by cameras, and Braden is way more interested in toys.

The highlight of our Saturday was when Jayden did a massive poop. Since starting solids the week before he'd gone SIX days without pooping. We took a break from the cereal and then he had a most impressive movement. The next best thing that happened on Saturday was the sun coming out for dinner.

Here's Ian playing golf with the girls. Rob thinks Ian looks a bit welfare with his old hoe that grandma Bond found at a garage sale last May long weekend, while the others have a nice new set of toy golf clubs that she brought this year. (Boy was grandma Bond prepared! She had all kinds of neat things to play with, while we only brought his hoe and a soccer ball. We obviously weren't expecting so much rain.)

Sunday Ian was up even earlier at 530. It was a little easier for Rob to keep him entertained playing outside while we sleepers in the trailer got a bit more shut eye. Rob only got 9 holes of golf in that morning, planning to do the other 9 in the evening, but then the rain came back. We then decided to just pack up and head home that night. Not much point in staying for a rainy night and morning just to fight traffic all the way home. Ian didn't nap as well on Sunday and was beginning to lose it a little. So we left around 9pm and both kids slept most of the way home.

All in all it was a fun weekend. We enjoyed our visits with all the Bonds, and Ian had a blast playing with those pretty pretty Bond girls. So here's a picture of Ian and Sarah with a baby carriage. Visions of the future perhaps? Hmm, before that happens Ian will have to toughen up and not let Sarah push him around so much. ;)

Weekend Images.

2006-05-25T19:37:00.000-07:00

Ian has one wicked swing. He'll either make a great batter, or golfer, or have a killer slapshot.

Daddy and Jay-Jay.

Silly boy.

Mommy and Jay-Jay, the only picture where he's smiling.

It's so hard to get him to smile for the camera.

Ian was asked to smile at the camera and did for about 2 seconds, but my camera isn't that fast. He's still pretty cute though.

SO Excited!

2006-05-19T08:58:00.000-07:00

I am so so so excited. I feel like a kid. We're taking a little vacation this weekend. In fact we'll be leaving just as soon as we're all ready.
Rob's parents are camping in Osoyoos (spelling?) and we're going out to join them. We'll most likely end up sleeping at Karen and Travis' house for a night or two as well in Penticton. So excited!!

HOT day!

2006-05-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

Hmmm. I was re-reading my post from yesterday. (Thanks for the nice comments by the way. I agree my kids are SOOOO cute!) Did I give the impression that I'm a with it, put together, on the ball kind of mom? I hope not, but am afraid I may have a little. That's not how I typically am. I rarely do that much housework that many days in a row. I actually rely quite heavily on Rob to help with all of that. (He doesn't feel that's entirely fair. Perhaps he's right, he is the one with a full-time job outside of the home. But isn't raising his children a full-time job inside the home? Does that HAVE to include all the housework too? We're working it out slowly...) Today was much more of a typical day for me.
Jayden did not let me sleep more than two hours in a row last night, and I think I got about 5 hours total sleep. I was a total crank this morning. Besides changing Jayden's diaper a few times and nursing him about every 3-4 hours, all I did today was half-heartedly put a few more things in the dishwasher and turn it on. Then I laid around a lot and complained about the heat. It's been about 30 degrees here for the past couple days. Hot hot hothothot.
Rob, like the trooper he is, did not reproach me, he fed Ian, took him to the grocery store, let him see the sun today, let me have a nap, BBQ'd hamburgers for dinner, and then went off to work a 12 hour midnight shift. He's the reason I'm as good a mom as I am. So now that it's cooled down and there's a nice breeze blowing through the open windows, I will finish cleaning the kitchen before going to bed.

A Motherly Weekend.

2006-05-15T22:20:00.000-07:00

My mother. She is beautiful, so giving, and has a great sense of humour. I love her like crazy! To show her some appreciation, and give a little something back, we had her and my dad, and my sister, over for dinner on Saturday. Rob and I did dinner, and my sister brought dessert.

After dinner and the guests had left, the four of us packed into the car and headed out to the drive-in movie theatre for a double feature. First we saw 'Failure to Launch'. Very funny, much fun. By the end of it both kids were sleeping. Great. Rob and I thought we'd get to enjoy the next movie on our own, 'Mission Impossible III'. Nope. That would have been too easy. About 30 minutes into it Ian wakes with a vengeance. It appeared that he was rather ticked off that he was stuck in his car seat. His crying woke Jayden who proceeded to scream as well. Rob tried to settle Ian while I settled Jayden. It was not meant to be. So off home we went. Got to sleep by 1am.
Baby woke at 7. Ian woke at 730, but was convinced to go back to sleep for another hour. I sort of got to sleep in while Rob took Ian to church. I baked a chocolate cake, Rob made me Eggos with strawberries and whipped cream, then I made a smoked salmon/cream cheese spread for crackers. While the kids napped I got myself ready to go. Then we packed up the food I'd made, and the kids, and headed off to a Mother's Day lunch with Rob's extended Martin family. We had a nice visit with everyone and of course Ian had fun running around with his cousins.
When we got home Rob took the boys downstairs so I could clean up the kitchen from dinner the night before. Then I folded two loads of laundry while we watched the finale of Survivor. We went to sleep around midnight I think.
Now you may be thinking that my Mother's Day didn't sound very restful or relaxing. To be sure I spent a lot of time cooking and cleaning. But I did have a bit of break from being a mommy. Rob did most of the child care. He got both boys dressed and ready, changed almost all the diapers all day, and kept them occupied so I could to housework. You see, Rob is such a fantastic husband and father, that almost everyday feels like Mother's Day to me. Rob cooks, cleans, does laundry, vacuums, and changes Ian's poopy diapers most of the time (they REALLY stink). So because he had a cold this weekend, and is such a swell guy (for the most part), I let him take over "mommying" stuff while I took over the house.

Today Jayden had me up at 4am. Rob left for work before 630am (not to return until 730pm). Ian woke up at 745. I've changed two poopy diapers, dusted, vacuumed, washed floors, entertained Rob's grandma, dealt with a temper tantrum, pulled some weeds, and made dinner, along with all the usual taking care of kids stuff like nursing, playing, reading books and singing songs etc, etc. So I'm right back into being a mom. And I LOVE it. I am so blessed. There is truly no greater job on earth.

So here's a cute picture of the two boys that call me 'mommy'.

And here's the most recent picture of Rob and I. He's my true love, the man who made me a mother. Thank you so much.

Somethings New.

2006-05-15T21:29:00.000-07:00

On Friday Ian and I built a fort in the livingroom with some chairs and a sheet. Ian called it his 'house'. His favourite thing to do was pull it down, declare that he 'break the house', and then insist that I fix it so he could break it again. This game, by my choice, did not last long.

Jayden is trying so hard to roll more. He goes from tummy to back fairly easily, but has some difficulty getting to his tummy from his back, but oh does he ever try.

On Saturday Jayden got to experience Rice Cereal for the very first time. He LOVESES it. He got the routine down fast too. Open mouth, suck on spoon, spit some out.

I've forgotten how long it takes to feed a baby.

Our View

2006-05-12T18:10:00.000-07:00

I felt a need to show you the view from our front window. I love it! We moved here in September and the view was pretty during the fall with the changing colors. But I was very pregnant and didn't pay much attention. Then Jayden was born and I've been pretty busy over the winter with that. When spring arrived, with blossoms and green leaves and sunshine I was blown away by the gorgeousness out our window.
This first picture was taken on a drizzly wet day, but the spring-y-ness is still very evident.

This next picture is obviously on a sunshiny day. We have a great view of Golden Ears.

Our living room is kind of plain, I'd love to put more color in it sometime soon, but when you see this out the window it's hardly noticeable.

Flowers and Food Ahoy!

2006-05-11T22:32:00.000-07:00

The other day Ian was outside with Rob. They had gone for a little bike ride and then stopped at the playground for a bit before coming home. He loves spending time with his daddy, and has always been a real daddy's boy. When they came back inside I was made aware that "Mommy" does occassionally cross his little mind. He presented me with a slightly wilted dandylion. I think I melted a bit. I placed it in a little vase and put it in the center of the kitchen table, and then took a picture of it. How sweet yes? My very first flower gift from my little boy.
This fits right in with his recent learning the phrase "I love you". Quite unintentionally I would always say to Ian "Guess what?" before pronouncing "IIIIIIII....looooooove.....YOU!" So now all I have to do to hear him say "I fwuv you" is ask "guess what?" Although because he is 2, he occassionally answers "NO I fwuv you!"

Last night we introduced Ian to the White Spot Pirate Pak. Oh the excitement of the chocolate coin! We had received some coupons for legendary burgers and pirate paks with some Giants tickets we bought a few weeks ago and decided to use them. Originally we were going to order from the car hop and eat in the parking lot, (because who really wants to take a two year old into a restaurant?) but discovered that the coupons were for dine-in only. So we thought we'd give it a try. There was some screaming, throwing of crayons and fries, spilling of milk, and just one or two odd looks, but since we were ahead of the dinner rush we didn't disturb too many people. Ian's favourite part was the chocolate of course (that's my boy), and he got to bring the "row-row" (you know, from the song) home with him. It is nice when there are still some things around that you enjoyed as kids that you can share with your own children.

Little o' this, bit o' that.

2006-05-05T22:11:00.000-07:00

So I was girding up my loins to endure the suffering of a cold and miraculously it never went beyond a scratchy throat and drippy nose. I am astonished. Having witnessed the never-ending tide of snot flowing from Ian's nose and his coughing every night last week, I was quite certain that I was going to be miserable. Hooray for my immune system!

Last night I attended a Chocolate Buffet for women at the church. It was heavenly! I LOVE chocolate, especially all-you-can-eat. It was a lot of fun. The funnest part was leaving both kids at home with Rob for 3 hours. Ian, of course, was an angel and went to bed perfectly, on time, and didn't make a peep. Jayden, on the other hand (tee hee), cried the majority of the time and refused to nap as he was supposed to. I had neglected to take the cell phone along with me so Rob had no way of asking me to come home. I felt so bad for Jayden. I knew he couldn't be hungry, it was most likely just over-tiredness, teething, and plain just wantin' his momma. He's usually a very happy baby. I did feel a little bad for Rob. I think we may start introducing a bottle more frequently so that there is something to offer him if I'm gone. (Although I don't think it would have helped last night.)

Tomorrow we're leaving Ian with my parents overnight and going to see a Giants hockey game with a bunch of people. Looking forward to a fun time.

Oooh. I'm reading the Da Vinci Code. What a fascinating book! I'm only about halfway through it but I think I may have many thoughts to tell about it when I'm done. So I've been wasting a LOT of time reading today. In fact, I stayed in PJ's all day.

Caught it!

2006-04-30T22:48:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-04-29T13:50:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-27T17:24:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-04-24T20:49:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-04-13T17:23:00.000-07:00

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'....

2006-04-12T20:12:00.000-07:00

...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...

2006-04-11T21:32:00.000-07:00

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!!

2006-04-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

....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!

2006-04-01T23:53:00.000-08:00

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.)

Happy Birthday Rob!!

2006-03-24T20:25:00.000-08:00

Rob is 30 today! He's been on this earth for 3 decades, he's officially left his twenties and entered his 31st year! This birthday is the reason for his insane diet (on which he lost at least 30 pounds!! so unfair), beacause he said he didn't want to be "fat and out of shape when I turn 30". According to him it's all downhill from here. ;-)

All joking aside, it is much fun to have our birthdays so close together. Usually we do something for both of us in one night, but this year it's all about him. We're having a bunch of people over tomorrow night for dinner and another chocolate cake.
I was planning on doing this post a lot earlier today and I was going to wax eloquent on Rob's virtues and all the reasons I love him so, but that, I think, will have to wait for a later time. You see, Rob had a cold last week, and Ian has a little snuffle and I came down with it harshly the other day. So I'm being lazy today because my head is so thick with congestion I can barely think. (And I can't drug myself to happiness since I'm breastfeeding, so I suffer.) I was planning on making a nice big homemade dinner tomorrow but we're cheating and we got M&M's instead. I'm still doing the cake, because it's necessary on a birthday like this to have a nice big cake fresh out of the oven...

So, Rob, happy happy birthday! I love you tons! May we spend many many more birthdays together.

(ps. I'll also post pics later too.)

Update on Ian

2006-03-22T15:33:00.000-08:00

Ian is 25 months old today. Not too much new with him. He does seem to be getting bigger. Suddenly a whole bunch of his pants are too short so we may have to do some shopping soon. His vocabulary grows daily, he can repeat almost anything we say. A new phrase lately is "Oh MAM!", learnt from me I'm sure when I express frustration.
Now here are a bunch of Ian pics...if it doesn't take blogger too long to upload...

Ian's creative expressions on the wall. "Mommy! See? See? WOW!!"

The train set we got Ian for his birthday.

Building a "higher" with Daddy (doesn't Rob look skinny?).
That's all I'm able to show for now. I may be back later to try more pictures.

Update on Jayden

2006-03-22T14:02:00.000-08:00

Jayden was 4 months old yesterday. I can't believe that a third of his first year is already past. ((sigh)) The last five nights he has spent in his own bedroom in the crib. We moved the playpen/bassinet out of our room so he is officially moved across the hall. He is such a fabulous sleeper! Only two of the nights I've had to go in around 3:30, he normally goes 7-8 hours with nary a peep. (I wish I could say the same for Ian, who routinely gets us up 1-3 times a night.) So Jayden is thriving, he's becoming more and more smiley though we still can't seem to get him to smile for the camera very easily. I've resorted to tickling since it appears that he is very ticklish. He breaks into giggles just from changing clothes. Other than tickling, the way to get him to laugh is by Ian. When Ian acts silly, falling down and laughing, Jayden thinks it's the most hilarious thing ever. He never laughs so hard for me.
So here are some more recent pics of baby Jay-Jay...

I'm tickling him here.

I've been trying the different effects with our photos.

My parents bought him this bib, he drools sooo much now, and yes he is definitely a breast man.

We spent a ridiculous amount of money on some Canadian Baby photos, but they're so so cute.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2006-03-20T22:30:00.000-08:00

I am now 28 years old. I don't feel bad about getting older at all. I never have (except for that slight twinge when I turned 15 and I realized that I was half way to 30...ha). Although it is slightly comforting to know that I have two whole years to go before reaching that particular milestone.

Anyways, it was a very nice day. For most of my life I can remember my birthday being sunshiny and spring-like. I was so happy that today was just like that.
We got up early-ish and headed out the door. Our friends Kevin and Shirley (see link to Shirley's World --->) had invited us to go to the Vancouver Aquarium with them and their two little cuties Grace and Braden. The last time I went there was in high-school on a field trip. It was a lot of fun. Grace and Ian didn't seem too too interested in taking in all the sights and displays. They concentrated on running around, chasing each other and any other kid they came across. We then went over to the Fish and Chip place and ate lunch outside at a picnic table while Ian and Grace did more running around. And we had a really good visit!
After lunch we said good-bye to the Bonds. We headed over to the North Shore, did some shopping and then went to my parents house. We had a fabulous salmon dinner with some delicious chocolate cake for dessert. Ian did more running around with the puppy as per usual. Since he only napped for about 45 minutes in the car he started getting sort of cranky so we packed up and headed home after dessert. Surprisingly Ian did not fall asleep on the way home, but did go down pretty quickly. Jayden also is in bed somewhat earlier than usual. Rob and I are also on our way to bed.

It has been a busy tiring day, but I must say one of my more enjoyable birthday's. Even though there was no big party or big gifts, I'm not really into those kind of things anyways. For my birthday I'm going to be booking a massage at Spa Utopia this week. Aahhh, some pampering, my idea of a super good time. I'm really looking forward to it.

I know I wanted to say more but I'm too tired to remember it all, so goodnight...

Oh the hair!

2006-03-17T12:26:00.000-08:00

There are many joys to being a woman. Some more joyful than others. Some not joyful at all.
I'm losing my hair. Seriously, it is ALL falling out. The fact that I'm not completely bald astonishes me. One of those joys of pregnancy. It comes out in handfuls in the shower. My lint trap is full of hair after every load. I don't want to even think of my bed, Rob and I both get it in our mouths at night. It it gets all over my children. I'm forever picking strands out of their mouths, and off of their clothes, and out of their diapers.
Suddenly I'm afraid it got into my cooking the other night. I want to get a hairnet. We're having company over again tonight, Rob's sister's family and his grandma. I'm making a big chocolate cake. But I'm really quite frightened that they'll be picking hair out from between their teeth and then will never want to eat my cooking again. If that happens (of if it already has) I'm so very sorry.

Of posts, pictures, dinner, and friends.

2006-03-15T23:20:00.000-08:00

I tried posting some pics of bathtime (because my kids are sooo cute when they're naked), but blogger is having some issues. I've been informed that their engineers have been informed of my problem, and they're working on it. So I'll try again tomorrow. I'm sorry to say that there is still no new batteries in our camera so you may have to wait even longer to see the cocoa picture.

Instead of baths, I'll talk about tonight.

Life is funny. Back in January when I started attending Breakaway on Wednesdays at the church here, I discovered sitting at my table a long ago person. Her name is Jennifer. She and my sister Heather were friends way back in Elementary school in Yarrow. I hadn't seen her for 18 years because she and her family moved away. Lo and behold she lives here in Walnut Grove (she used to live here on our street!!), with her husband and two little boys. It was so much fun to connect with her grown up self. On one hand you feel this connection from childhood, and on the other you discover a new person in adulthood. It's very cool. So tonight we had Jennifer and Josh, and little Isaiah and Jacob over for dinner. Ian has a new friend. He and Isaiah were having so much fun playing, and laughing, and screaming, and falling all over each other, it was a blast to watch. (Not to say there weren't the odd moments of tears from things like not sharing and someone, ie Ian, playing rough, ie shoving.)
I LOVE having company over. I'm quite selfish about it. Not to say I don't enjoy visiting others in their homes, but I really really like having people over to mine. My house gets tidied in preparation and I make a meal. Rob will tell you, and I freely admit, I don't cook often, but if we had people over everyday, I would cook every day. I even made dessert. I tried a new recipe for Mocha Frosted Coffee Cake. Mmmm. I think it was good. The company was good too. Exceptional in fact. We had a lot of fun visiting with them, talking about kids and pregnancy (of course), and hockey. Josh and Rob play in the same church hockey league but on different teams. All in all it was a most enjoyable evening, I hope we get a repeat soon. Always sad when it's time to say goodbye, but two certain toddlers really needed to get to bed.

Speaking of which, I think I really need to get to bed too. Goodnight.

Where oh where??

2006-03-15T21:47:00.000-08:00

Does time go? It goes by so fast. I can't believe how loooong it's been since I posted. It goes to show how busy life is as a wife and mother. On one hand I'm glad that it shows that I don't completely neglect my family to indulge this new hobby of mine, but on the other I'm a little sad that I'm not keeping you (all my faithful readers...ha) up to date on our happenings. I will try to up date a little more frequently. I know from my own experience that I so enjoy reading some blogs, that when a day, or week, goes by without a new post, I'm sort of disappointed. For those of you that blog, and don't happen to post every single day, please do not feel bad about that. I totally understand that life gets in the way... a lot sometimes. And yet, after a time without seeing new posts, when one suddenly appears, it's oh so much fun, and gives me a little thrill, and only serves to re-enforce the conditioning of myself to check in on these blogs everyday, if not more often.

So...feeling a thrill??

This blogging...it's funny. I find myself watching our lives, the lives of my family, with different eyes. I look for ways to tell the story of daily events that would make, say, taking a bath, or eating lunch, interesting for others to read about. When I don't post for a few days, I find myself feeling let down, a little disappointed in myself for not finding something that I just couldn't wait to share with the world on my blog. Then I'm reminded that I have three boys to spend time with. And they really are far more important than making sure I post on my blog every day. Believe me, at times life is so full that some days this computer doesn't even get turned on. Yes, it's true! I can hear your gasps of disbelief from here. Some days, we get so wrapped up in ourselves and each other that we don't even make a token effort to connect with friends and family through the technology of email and internet.

But I'm here now and here's an update:
It's MARCH!
My favourite month. Spring is coming, I've seen it, daffodils and cherry blossoms and rain oh my! In fact, my birthday falls on the first day of spring. Rob's birthday comes four days after that (it's a BIG one this year). Ian's was supposed to be this month, but he was in a hurry and came 2 weeks early, oh well, he still gets to turn 25 months this year in March. Jayden will be turning 4 months! Oh the anniversaries that befall us next week. I'm going to make chocolate cake... a lot. Hee hee.

Stay tuned, I'll be posting some more...

Funny Ian makes me laugh.

2006-03-03T13:27:00.000-08:00

Last night Ian was having a bit of a fit about going to bed. Pounding on the door, crying, yelling for Mommy and Daddy. After a while I went in to tuck him in again. Of course the crying ceased immediately, and he asked for his soosoo. He likes to throw his soother down between his bed and the wall, knowing that we'll retrieve it for him. Sometimes he uses that distraction to run out of the room. Last night he was peering down behind his bed, "soosoo, soosoo". So I dutifully began feeling along the floor beside the wall for the lost soother. Then suddenly Ian yells "BOO! Soosoo!" and there in his hand is his soother, and he's laughing. He really fooled Mommy that time, hahaha! So I tuck him in, and he quietly goes off to sleep. The little stinker. It totally amazes me to see these signs of his sense of humour.

Today while he was eating lunch, I was busy being distracted on the computer (my first mistake). But Ian was being very good, and very quiet, babbling away to himself so nicely. When a toddler is being oh so good and quiet, you must run, not walk, RUN to where they are to avert the pending catastrophe. When I finally went back into the kitchen a gigantic mess greeted me, with Ian in the middle, huge grin, "Hi Mommy! Oh no, biiig mass!" I couldn't help but laugh, it was too funny. I had made homemade cocoa this morning. "Mmmm nummy nummy cocoa." And I gave Ian a cup of it (well watered with milk). But I gave it to him in a sippy cup with no stopper (second mistake), and even though it was nummy nummy chocolate goodness, I guess it was more fun to play with. The whole wall behind him was splashed with cocoa. The floor was covered in cocoa. He was sitting in a pool of cocoa. His tray was runny with cocoa, the remaining apple slices soggy with cocoa. And Ian himself, from head to toe, was wet and sticky from cocoa. He was having a grand time splashing away. I took a picture but then the batteries died so you'll have to wait to see it. So into the tub he went, and then into bed for a much needed nap. Well, I needed it, so I could clean up the big mess.

LOVE...

2006-03-03T13:00:00.000-08:00

.....and kisses.
I love all my boys soooo much! (Warning: if you don't enjoy overly-sentimental mush, you should just skip this.) And I really love kissing them.

Rob and I are again rediscovering the art of kissing. Background: Of the past 33 months, I've been pregnant for 18 of them. For those of you that don't know me, when I'm pregnant I puke, a lot, everyday, for the entire nine months. And there were lots of things that made me nauseous, kissing my husband for instance. It was yucky. It was sad. Please feel free to feel sorry for the poor man. But now, kissing is a lot of FUN! That's all I'll say about kissing Rob, I am trying to keep this blog family rated.

Kissing Ian is a lot of fun too. I know that 2 years olds tend to have a lot to say about stuff being imposed on them. Keeping that in mind, I always ask Ian's permission to kiss him. Lucky me, he usually says yes. It goes a little something like this...
"Hey Ian! Can Mommy have a kiss?" Then he approaches me saying "MmmmmmWAH", and presents to me the top of his head to receive my kisses. If we're sitting together I'll occassionally get lucky enough to kiss his nose or cheeks. On the rare occassion my question is responded to by a "NO!", if I start the "Mmmmmm"ing, routine kicks in and I get my kiss anyways. And sometimes he runs away after saying no. And I respect that, it's OK, because I know that next time I'll most likely get that kiss. Of course there are the bonus kisses too. Every little bump and bruise must be kissed to feel better.

And Jayden? Well, he has no choice but to endure the many showers of kisses that fall on him each day. But I don't think he minds them because he smiles, and coos, and never cries while being kissed. We all love kissing Jayden. Daddy and Ian make sure they kiss Jayden a lot too.

Can you feel the love?

The BEST Weekend!

2006-03-02T13:45:00.000-08:00

God is good! Sooooo good.
I went on the women's retreat with our church this past weekend, and I had such an awesome experience. We spent two nights at Camp Charis just east of Chilliwack. I roomed with two other Moms who had nursing babies and that was so fun. I met some amazing women. Women of God who displayed such faith and encouragement. The worship was inspiring, the speaking was enlightening, the food was soooo satisfying, and of course all the chatting that happens with women was a total blast. I feel so refreshed.
On Saturday night I opened up to my small group and shared, to be blunt, some crappy parts of my life. Through those women, and their prayers, God gave me such a major breakthrough. Originally I wasn't planning on sharing at all, especially with people I've just met. I'm not that type of person. But suddenly it just all came pouring out, with many tears. Later as I was sharing my experiences with Rob, he told me that while he was at Coquitlam Alliance on Saturday night, he went to the front, and prayed with his sister Wendy that I would be able to open up during the weekend. Talk about giving me goosebumps!
Thank you Wendy for praying for me. Thank you Rob for that, and being a great dad and taking care of Ian all weekend so I could have this time to grow. And most of all thank you God for being so good, and blessing me so much, and teaching me new things, even if they're hard, because through You I am becoming a better wife and mother.

Go Canada!

2006-02-24T10:32:00.000-08:00

Are you watching this?!? The Olympics! Mens curling!! I've never been so excited about curling. In fact I never ever watch curling except for the Olympics every four years. Canada is doing AMAZING. I've done almost nothing this morning but watch this. We're leading 10-3 against Finland for the gold medal!! Ha ha, "we're leading"..."we", like I'm somehow personally involved with our team over there. "Our team", I think that makes more sense.
Anyways, just two more ends to go. I'm actually clapping and cheering! Ian's getting into it too. "Go go kick a ball!"
I really felt a need to share some of my excitement. Almost everyone I know is at work so I can't call anyone, so I thought I'd post it on my blog.

Go CANADA!!

Happy Birthday Ian!!

2006-02-22T13:00:00.000-08:00

Ian is officially TWO years old today, although he's been acting like one for quite some time already, with many screaming fits, demands, contrariness, and lots of "No's" and plenty of "MINE's".

Here is a little photo tribute to my first baby boy. A few glimpses of Ian moments. A brief look at the boy who made me a mother.
My water broke 2 weeks early and exactly 8 hrs later he was born. Since then he has always been on the move and in a hurry.

This is the second day of his life, while we were still in the hospital, getting to know each other.
.

( I tried putting a few more pics in here but it wouldn't let me...)

Ian has always been sooo happy, his smile as just lights up his whole face.

Can we say future piano virtuoso?

And the birthday party we had on Sunday. He actually blew his candles out!

((sigh))

There are many many more pictures I would have loved to share, but I know you'd probably get bored and stop looking. Perhaps I'll share more happy Ian moments some other time.

Happy birthday Bug-a-boo! I love you!

Hey Ian! Where's Daddy?

2006-02-21T21:06:00.000-08:00

Drum roll please.....

"Biiiiig TD!"

Yes, if Daddy isn't upstairs playing with us, he must be downstairs watching the biiiig TV. The answer to this question used to be "car-car", but now it's more likely that he's just mesmerised by the humongeous screen, on which we have been watching the Olympics in high-definition.
In fact, we have all been spending a little more time than usual downstairs. Ian now asks to watch treehouse TV especially on the big screen. And I? Well I spent a good portion of my day yesterday watching the Cinderella DVD that I got for Christmas. (Hey, it's classic Disney, don't judge!) It's almost like seeing it in the theatre.
So while I did not see why getting all this excessive TV viewing equipment was necessary, I have to admit, it is pretty cool.

Been looking for an excuse to show this.

2006-02-20T22:49:00.000-08:00

I couldn't resist posting this picture. Rob brought out his gameboy that has a football game on it. Ian just loved it. "Go kick a ball! Yay hupball!" And in this picture he's showing it to Jayden. "See baby? See?"
As you can see, we had recently finished a nap, all up in Mommy's bed again. :)

I know this is cliche, but.....

2006-02-20T22:18:00.000-08:00

...my babies grow soooo fast!

Jayden especially. Last week he completely skipped over the 3-6mos size onesies and moved right into the 6-9mos shirts and sleepers. As for cute little outfits, 3-6mos size seems to be still fitting...for now. Even though he's not quite 12 pounds yet, he's really really loooong, and we need to put size 2 diapers on him or he goes around with plumber bum, and that is disasterous when he poops.
Ian did not grow this fast. I know this because I had him weighed and measured every two weeks for at least 6 months, and I kept meticulous records. But you know how, when you have your second child, and your first is still a toddler, your baby, they seem to get monstrously huge compared to your new one? That's how it is with Ian. And everytime I lift Ian after carrying around Jayden, it strikes me all over again how my baby is no longer a baby. In fact he's becoming more and more a 2 year old every day...

Mommy's tummy what?!??

2006-02-15T21:56:00.000-08:00

Mommy's tummy jiggles. It's true. And it's oh so funny. This evening Ian had a great giggle lifting up my shirt, giving me a smack, and watching it jiggle. Ha, ha. Does Daddy's tummy jiggle? We tried, but nope. Daddy's spent the last six weeks on a low (mostly no) carb diet and lost 25 pounds. It's not nearly as much fun as Mommy's tummy. Daddy looks so fine now, but will this motivate me to start sit-ups perhaps tomorrow? I don't know, we'll have to see. And if not, at least I can be counted on to provide entertainment for the 2 year old.

"YAY JABADA!"

2006-02-15T19:46:00.000-08:00

Yay Pajama Time! It's soooo exciting!

Yet the very next instant..."NO JABADA!"

A big Mommy mistake.

2006-02-13T22:15:00.000-08:00

Last night I made a pretty bad Mommy mistake. I decided to try changing Ian's bedtime routine. What a bad idea. Before bed Ian usually drinks a 9 oz bottle of milk while cuddling with us and watching Treehouse TV. Do you have any idea how much pee that can produce through the night? Much more than a size 4 diaper can hold. It was becoming a routine in the morning to have to change him out of his wet pj's and occassionally change his sheets as well. We now have him in size 5 diapers for the night, but we also thought it might be good to phase out the bottle as well. So last night, after a day that was so far from Ian's normal routine (different bed, different church, nap in the car etc, can you see where this is going?), I decide to try a new bedtime routine. Really, what was I thinking? I thought substituting a bottle with a sippy cup with less milk and earlier, and a story in his own bed would be pretty simple. When it came time to say night-night he lost it. Total and complete toddler melt-down. Screaming, tears, heartbreak. It was so tragic. And I immediately saw my folly and repented. He got more milk, he got a cuddle in Mommy's bed, with Treehouse TV. He also went to bed an hour later than usual. It did not end there. Oh no, for such a big Mommy boo-boo, the punishment is much more severe. An hour after going down he came right back up again, in pain, screaming. We knew that his teething was bothering him (oh it just gets worse doesn't it), and had given him Tylenol before bed the first time. But now he had gas cramps (I think it was the pepperoni pizza he had for dinner), and there was writhing, and moaning, and soooo much farting. But after all the farting was done he finally collapsed back into sleep. Amazingly he stayed asleep all night but woke up early again at 7. Thankfully, after a mellow day here at home, and a 3+ hour nap he seems to be back on track. Bedtime was as smooth as usual, but with only half a bottle of milk now.
I have learned that I must take Ian's routine a little more seriously, no matter how flexible he can be. All day Sunday he was so good, I forgot that the entire day was so different from his normal schedule. I didn't even stop to think that changing up bedtime just might put him over the edge. Everyone has their breaking points. I am so sad, and ashamed to discover that I found Ian's. Live and learn. I hope this just makes me a little bit better at Mommying, and perhaps Jayden will benefit by having a much wiser Mommy when he gets to that age.

Things that make Rob happy.

2006-02-13T21:55:00.000-08:00

Ever since I've known my husband, I've known how much he likes TV, especially BIG TV's. And videos games. He actually spread it around that for a wedding present he wanted Play Station 2. He didn't get it. Up until now he's made do with a fairly average 27" TV, the computer sports games, and then a DVD player...but he's never stopped talking about the someday when all his TV viewing dreams would come true. Friday was that day. Downstairs in our TV room we now have an HDPVR, yes that's a high-definition personal video recorder from Shaw digital cable, with a surround sound system, soon an X-Box 360 will join the family, and it is put through a projector that makes the viewing screen 7 feet wide upon our wall! I mean really, the word that comes to my mind is "obscene". Rob's words: "freakin' AMAZING!!!" Do you know how many books I could have bought instead? Rob soooo owes me.

Back to our stomping grounds...

2006-02-13T20:55:00.000-08:00

We spent this past weekend in North Vancouver where we lived for almost two years before moving here to Walnut Grove. My parents went away for the weekend and we stayed at their house to take care of their dog Penny. Ian loves Penny. When we talk about Pappa and Grammi's house he brings up the "puppy". So on Friday we packed up a lot of stuff for the kids and set off for the North Shore. First we went shopping and Rob bought a bunch of stuff that makes him happy, but I'll talk about that later because it really deserves it's own post. Due to our unfortunate timing Ian didn't really nap, just a snooze in the car and not nearly as long as he usually gets. So the first night was a little rough for Ian, different room and bed and Rob ended up sleeping a good portion of the night with him, but that wasn't so bad since they had a queen size bed, which left me on my own in the other queen size bed (which I had to share with Rob the next night while Ian got a big bed to himself, ha ha). And Jayden slept fabulously in the bassinet that they have, which was the bassinet that I slept in as a baby, and was silent and still from 11pm to 5:30am, and then right back to sleep again until 9. Ian on the other hand awoke at 7am. Needless to say I was really looking forward to nap time.
It's really funny how a young child can have a bad nights sleep, be up early, and yet have seemingly boundless energy throughout the day. How does that happen? So on Saturday Penny Puppy was a little mopey, stopped eating, and spent the majority of her time in another room from us or laying in front of the front door. It's difficult to say whether she was really missing my parents or if Ian was just a little too much for her. Because to be honest, Ian was a little too much for all of us...well, too much for me, since Jayden was super good and slept a lot (I believe he sympathised and was trying to be easy on me), and Rob was gone almost the entire day doing a variety of errands. Ian wasn't being bad, just...hmmmm, well just being a toddler I guess. He spent a fairly good portion of the day, in fact almost the whole day, running through the main floor of the house and screaming. Running on hardwood floors (thump thump thump), and screaming (screeching, high pitched squeeling). But he was obviously doing it in an exhuberant happily joyful way. But a person can only take so much joy, especially if it's really really loud joy. Ian did nap, despite losing his soother (which trying frantically to find before nap time only added to my frustration), but for less than two hours which translated into about an hour nap for me. Normally that would have been great, but I had so been hoping for more. In the afternoon we even went outside, I was hoping Ian could burn some energy running and screaming in the backyard. Ian has endless energy, he just keeps going, and I swear I did not feed him any sugar at all. Rob got back around six, in time for baths and bedtime, and my sanity had time to recover. Ian went down great and had a really good night sleep. Jayden was done nursing and asleep by 11 and so was I. Rob went out to Langley to play hockey and I woke breifly when he got back around 1:30. Jayden woke to feed at 5am, and then Ian woke us up at 8. Soooo much better.
We went to Cove Community Church on Sunday and it was really nice to see the folks there again. I do have to say that I miss it. I was really beginning to put down some soul roots in that church, but driving all that way from Langley really is very impractical.
All in all it was a nice weekend. My parents have a beautiful, large, comfortable house. Ian had a blast playing with the dog. And visiting the Cove again was nice. Even though I really miss living in North Van I would not trade it for my house. And coming home is always so nice.

Naps...and other good stuff.

2006-02-08T16:51:00.000-08:00

So this is a fairly unflattering picture of me, but a pretty cute one of Jayden. Rob snapped this yesterday during our nap. Before you judge me too harshly regarding co-sleeping, pillow, blankets et al with SIDS, let me explain a bit. We don't usually sleep like this. If Jayden is in our bed he's more removed from pillows and such, and certainly not that close to me. In fact at the moment of this picture he had already slept for an hour and a half in his crib, but since I was not yet ready to get up, and he didn't need to eat right then, the simple (also known as the lazy) solution was to let him cuddle up with me and then we got another hour of snoozing in. We have a bassinet next to our bed where Jayden slept really well for the first six weeks of his life. Then a week after New Years we got this really terrible puking/diarrhea sickness, which of course hit me the worst (because if there is any puking to be done I'm really good at it). After that we went through about three weeks of bronchitis, with everyone (including baby) on antibiotics at some point. During all this sickness, I was spending a fair amount of time in bed...with Jayden. It was just soooo easy to keep him right next to me so I wouldn't have to go far or expend much energy when it came to nursing him. Well of course since then he has become so used to sleeping with us that when we tried putting him back in the bassinet his sleep got much worse, and shorter. We've worked on it and he is now back in the bassinet and sometimes even the crib across the hall at night, but for naps during the day...if I want a nice long snooze it's happens way easier with him in bed with me.
I think I've talked enough about napping. (Though expect to hear more about it because it is one of my most favourite things.) The title of this post included other good stuff, like banana bread. I made some yesterday. I have an amazing recipe for "Fluffy Banana Cake". I think it is even better than my moms, which I've alway thought was super yummy. I don't often bake, or cook, or do much food preparation at all, but when I do, it really is too bad that it usually is something that Rob doesn't or won't eat. So the house smelled really good last night and it made me happy.
Another good thing is baths. Long, hot baths with pretty smelling stuff in the water accompanied by a book. I got one of those last night. Rob went off to work a midnight shift, Ian went to bed, and Jayden kept me company in this little swing next to the tub where he cooed and gurgled at me and eventually fell asleep, and let me lounge for a good hour. So my day yesterday was pretty good, but I paid for it during the night. I did get three straight hours of sleep then was up hourly with one or the other of the boys and then the night ended for good at 6:45am (which is very early for us, and even earlier when the night began at 12:30am).
But then today is Wednesday, and Wednesdays have become my new favourite day.
I go to something called Breakaway for women, at the church we are attending now, from 9-11am every Wednesday, and they provide child care for Ian. The first hour we sit around eating, drinking coffee, chatting, singing a bit, listening to a bit of a talk, then the next hour they offer a whole list of electives from piano, to crafts, to cooking, running, and book studies. The one I chose is a class called "Mommy and Baby". It's facilitated by an RN, and it's an hour I get to spend with Jayden, talking to other Mom's about babies. I love it!! Ian loves it too. He's so social he has a great time playing with other kids, and the ladies that look after them all say they love having Ian because he is so happy and good, even though he is very active and runs so fast that he wears them out. But that's good because after Breakaway we go home, eat lunch and then take a nap. (See? I told you.)
Now just for fun here's a picture of my first baby boy. He brought me the camera and asked for "cheese". So I obliged.

Comparing...

2006-02-07T19:25:00.000-08:00

This is Ian at 3.5 months old. He's in our friends Jen and Dwayne's exersaucer, and he barely fit into it. Last night Rob put Jayden into ours and he's only 2.5 months old but he's half an inch longer than Ian was at that age. His feet reach the bottom of it! He didn't seem too impressed but was content for about a half an hour.

(Ha ha...look what I did!! I figured out how to move the pictures around to where I want them. It's funny how happy that makes me.)

More comparisons...

Ian was nursing 8-10 times a day, Jayden nurses 6-7 times. Ian slept thru the night (8hrs ish) starting around 3 mos (it only lasted a month though and then it was back to 4-5hrs), Jayden started sleeping 6-8hr stretches almost 2 weeks ago, and yet Jayden is half a pound heavier than Ian was. They're both extremely happy contented babies, we totally lucked out (or I should say have been completely blessed by God). I've heard so many stories about people who had one easy child and then one difficult one. Maybe I'm jinxing us here and one day Jayden will transform into a cranky monster, but so far, if it's possible, he is even more laid back and relaxed than Ian was. On the other hand he also knows how to cry way better than Ian did. When Jayden is hungry he needs to be fed immediately or there is much weeping and wailing with real tears. We didn't see tears from Ian until he was almost 4 months old.

It really is amazing how different children are, how much of their personality is present, at such a young age. I'm really looking forward to see more of Jayden's uniqueness as he grows older.

Superbowl Sunday!

2006-02-05T20:29:00.000-08:00

So, how dissappointing was that?
We had a bunch of people over and everyone except for Jim, Rob's brother, was cheering for Seattle. There was a lot of frustration about the reffing. At one point Rob got so upset that he commanded that the children leave the room so they wouldn't hear the bad words he so desperately wanted to yell. Even though the outcome of the game was a downer we did have fun. We have a Shaw digital box so we could watch the American feed and see all the new "cool" superbowl commercials that they wouldn't show on the Canadian channels. Like it's so hard to find them on the internet right Rob? ;)
And Ian had so much fun cheering "yeah hupball!" and eating chips that according to him it was a very successful party. At the end when people were saying goodbye Ian was heard saying "no bye-bye, no bye-bye".
Now both kids are sleeping, and since we brought the TV upstairs for the game, Rob and I can cozy up together on the big couch and spend some quality time watching TV...

Aaahaa...I think I've figured this out...

2006-02-04T12:51:00.000-08:00

So here I am, while one child naps and the other one is laying on the bed just looking at me, trying to figure out how this whole posting thing works. I've been reading a few blogs and it looked like so much fun I've finally decided to try it out myself. The previous post with the pic of Ian and Jayden appeared there while I was lost and confused trying to post a picture onto our profile. ((sigh)) Please forgive any appearance of ineptitude on my part, I am new to this.

Actually I should confess my real reason for doing this. Rob and I made a deal that I would take a break from reading novels (he thinks I spend too much time doing that), and he would take a break from watching sports until the Superbowl. Well today Rob is at work all day so I don't have a car, it's stormy and miserable outside, so the kids and I are stuck inside. We've been watching a lot of TV and to prevent myself from looking for a book to read I've been spending time online today. So here I've found another way to waste time, another method of procrastinating from doing useful things like emptying the dishwasher or cleaning the bathrooms.

Anyways, I'll try adding another picture here...
Ha, it showed up at the beginning...now how do I get it to move? Oh well, I'm impressed I've done this much.
About that picture, we have what we call a "baby cage". It allows Jayden to play on the floor unmolested by his monster big brother, who still seems to think that being "nice" to the baby involves poking him in the eyes. Ian is very intrigued by this and sometimes insists on being let into it. I admit a guilty pleasure in putting him in there and leaving him there while I empty the dishwasher or fold laundry so I can get it done without his "help".
Now I'm off to explore this blog a bit more and see what I can learn...

2006-02-04T12:10:00.000-08:00

My two boys