Moments & Musings

He's Here!

2009-11-09T15:38:00.000-08:00

Of course, now I feel like writing up a storm, but that might take longer and result in an even later post. So, here's a quick update for any still wondering. I am working on another post with lots of pictures between feedings and naps though that might not appear for a day or two depending on how things start adjusting at home.

After almost 3 hours of labour, we welcomed our youngest - a 22¼ inch long, 9lb, 8oz little boy on Sunday November 8th at 6:18am. I woke up around 3:30 Sunday morning, and figured that we might actually be finally going into 'real' labour by 4ish. We got to the hospital at 5am, and just over an hour later we got to meet our youngest son!

And now we're at home where we'll be figuring out how things function with four kids. The adventures of life!

Another Week Passed

2009-10-24T23:25:00.003-07:00

Baby Dearest,

I thought you might be interested in an update on things out here in the real world. After all this time, and rushing about lately, I believe everything is finally ready for you to come!

When you arrive you will have a lovely name of your very own. Daddy and Mama spent many many hours looking for just the right one, but we found it and we can't wait to introduce you to everyone with it. The hospital bags and the overnight things for your siblings are all packed. Thanksgiving has come and gone, so you won't have to share your birthday with one of the funnest family holidays we have.

Mama has even gotten things on the to-do list done that have been waiting for months and months. The pantry is neat and tidy, I did a whole pile of mending the other day and your siblings helped me put the garden away for winter today, so the yard even looks nice. I should vacuum the house again, but raking the leaves on the patio this afternoon made me wish later that I'd skipped that job, and now I'm procrastinating a little when it comes to the vacuum.

Daddy keeps predicting that you'll come any day, and I'm beginning to wish he was right - you're getting awfully big you know, and I would love to lie down on my tummy again one of these days. Besides, you're probably close to 9½ lbs now and even Emma was barely bigger than that!

Well, tomorrow is meeting which means I should get some sleep soon. Wouldn't you like to meet everyone at meeting? They too, are all eagerly waiting to finally see you. So Little One, you are allowed to come now - the sooner the better as far as I'm concerned. Thank you for being such a compliant baby and waiting 'till the middle of the month like I instructed earlier. Your big brother asks for you every single morning - he already loves you so much. I can't wait to see his face when he finally gets to hold you!

Daddy, Dolly, PC and Emma send their love and like me, they can barely wait to meet you. Daddy even found a verse just for you, so I'll included it here as well!

"Come; for all things are now ready."
Luke 14:17

Lots of love,
~ Mama

Just in case you're wondering...

2009-10-14T17:40:00.002-07:00

Junior has not arrived.

Despite Sir's daily predictions of a delivery 'before the week is out', we have not had to make any quick trips to the hospital. I have had a few Braxton Hicks contractions here and there, but they're random and usually it takes me a while to realize that's what just happened.

Sir tells me I'm just in denial... and maybe I am, but there's still more than enough that I need to get done right now that makes sooner labour rather impractical. And I like practicality. (Baby... I hope you heard that!)

Besides, the 'official' due date isn't until November 8th... and the 'revised' one which is probably more accurate anyway, isn't until October 27th. And October 27th is still almost two weeks away. (Again, Baby.... were you listening?!)

I am making a little progress in the getting ready department though. We have a girls name chosen... now just to finalize one for a boy. I have found, washed and mostly packed some baby clothes for the hospital. I have lists of things to pack for everyone else although I've only gotten to packing a few things from the list for me so far.

And that's about all for now. So I will be going - I need to be rounding up my gang so we can leave for meeting in a few minutes anyway.

Victory

2009-10-07T16:20:00.001-07:00

Sometimes its the little battles that make parenting so trying or rewarding. Well, I guess to be more accurate - usually its the little battles that make parenting so trying or rewarding.

Today was a victory for me. Yes, a small one, but a victory nevertheless. Emma ate her lunch. Yesterday she didn't want her baked potato, sliced ham or green beans that we all had at lunch time. She stalled, and found creative ways to make things 'disappear', she fussed and protested and did not eat her lunch. Even when PC and Dolly were getting ice cream or cake for dessert, she would not swallow her pride and start swallowing her lunch.

So, she had it for supper last night while the rest of us had soup and hot bread. Emma fussed and wailed and pushed her plate away over and over, but would not eat more than the two or three bites I finally fed her. And after over an hour, I took her food away again and she went to bed.

This morning I forgot about the plate in the fridge and gave all the kids a cookie as we rushed out to the car to take Sir to the skytrain station, but I remembered as I was serving up their waffles for breakfast when we got back and exchanged Emma's waffle for her twice rejected former meal. Which she again refused to eat. Yes, she suffered her way through another couple bites, but would not just eat her food preferring rather to fuss and complain and generally resent this new cruel treatment from her mama. She waited for me to get busy doing something else and then abandoned her plate at the table still unfinished.

While the rest of us had cheese sandwiches this afternoon, Emma was faced with her yesterday's lunch again. She had to have been getting hungry, and it was agony for her to watch the rest of us eat one of her favorite foods. So, after much fussing and complaining and weeping and wailing, she tucked in her lip and ate her lunch. Just like that. Then she had a cheese sandwich like the rest of us.

I was so glad she finally ate. If I gave in, I knew the problem would only get worse. Emma is by far our most strong willed child (so far), and though she may be the most challenging to train, I have a feeling that being successful with her will be the most rewarding. As the children's hymn tells us, "Each victory will help you some other to win;" we must keep in mind the theme of that very hymn, "Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through!"

Calendar Space

2009-10-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

Dear Jumbo,
The doctor says you're a big strong healthy baby - 7lbs already! She also says that the middle to end of October is more probable for your arrival than the early November date we already have.

This is fine, but since I am the Mama, let me set down some rules: My calendar is booked until the 13th. You are allowed to come anytime after that though. Besides, if you come before that, you might not get a name... and Mama won't have time to get a hospital bag packed (this is important because all the baby clothes are stowed away out in the shed). Life will be much more comfortable for all of us if you give me time to get ready for you.

Dolly, PC and Emma are all looking forward to meeting you, as are Daddy and I, and we'd all like to see you before the month is over! Just be patient, grow slowly for a week or two, and don't kick me too much.

Love Always,
~ Mama

"Peter and James in a Fishboat!"

2009-09-17T23:35:00.002-07:00

Today marked the 1 month anniversary of Sir starting a new job. It was also the day the kids and I decided to drop in on him at work to say 'hi'. Ok, it wasn't exactly 'dropping in', he knew we were coming and had even given us loads of advice on how to get there the best way. You see, Sir's commute is between 75 and 90 minutes one way, and to get there he takes the bus to the skytrain, the skytrain to the seabus, and then walks the last block or so from the seabus to his office building. So, when the kids and I were going to come visit him, we drove to the skytrain and did transit from there.

Today was the first day I went anywhere on the public transit system by myself. All the other times (if you don't count the greyhound bus ride from California to Manitoba 10 years ago) I've always had Sir to do the worrying and organizing. I started out planning on giving ourselves an hour and a half to get there hoping to meet Sir for lunch around 12:30ish. Only, we didn't actually leave the house until 11 and then we had to stop for gas so we could get to the skytrain station which is about 15 minutes from home.

Once we got to the skytrain, found a parking spot, paid for parking, unloaded into the double stroller and figured out how to get from the parking lot into the station, I'm sure we'd wasted a lot more time. In fact, I think my clock said 11:41 or something like that. The first order of business, I thought was to find the elevator so we could get up to the platform. We walked right past it and tried going to the one that was being used only for the test train side of the station. After an employee kindly pointed us back to the right elevator, we scurried off and up to the platform only to discover I had no idea where I was supposed to 'validate' my transit ticket.

There was a train ready to go when we got up to the platform, and we walked its length twice looking for some place to validate our ticket before finally deciding that maybe we should have checked the first level. So, we took the elevator back down to the main floor and walked its length twice. We found the ticket machines where you can buy a ticket, but they didn't have any directions on validating one. So, then I figured it would be wise to ask for help, but there weren't any employees around just then and we ended up waiting in line at the snack shop to ask the cashier. She smiled and pointed at a long line of blue boxes behind me next to the elevator - I felt like an idiot, but smiled back an scurried off to one of the boxes that I'd absentmindedly chalked up as recycle bins. By this time at least 5 trains had left the station and I believe they run about 3 minutes apart. We validated our ticket, took the elevator up to the platform and then had to wait a good 5 minutes before a 'not in service' test train left and a in-use train pulled in.

Waiting for the SeaBus

Through all of this, all three of the kids were being exceptionally good and we found a nice spot on the skytrain that fit the stroller without too much fuss. The next leg of the journey was the 40 minute skytrain ride from one end of the line to the other with me explaining how many more stops we had left to go each time we pulled in and out of a station - but the kids loved it. When we got off the skytrain we headed toward the seabus dock except the elevator from the train platform to the seabus was broken. Sir had warned me about this, and I had decided to just fold up the stroller and take the escalator. I was in the process of unloading the kids and was about to fold the stroller when a man asked me if I could use some help. I was glad to accept. I gave him my stroller, grabbed my three kids and went down the escalator - just like that. We thanked the stranger, loaded up into the stroller again and headed on toward the seabus - into a crowd of people coming the opposite direction. They were the passengers of the seabus that was by that time now returning to the quay with a load of people going the way we were headed. So, we waited the remaining 10 minutes for the next seabus to arrive, and had no trouble getting on and finding a seat.

The other SeaBus going the opposite direction

Sir called me on the cell phone just after we'd gotten off the seabus on the North shore to see how we were doing. It was already 1:15 and he'd expected us between 12:30 and 1. Then was the short walk up the steep hill to Sir's office building, up the elevator to his floor and then finding the right office - we were finally there by almost 1:30. Sir let us in, we met some of his co-workers and then left to grab some lunch to eat in the park, just below his office building, overlooking the river. It was nice to see Sir in the middle of the day and the kids loved being able to eat lunch with Daddy. Finally he had to go back to work, I washed the kids up, we all said goodbye, and then I let them play for a few minutes while I packed up the stroller and figured we had a couple minutes to spare before we needed to head back to the seabus.

Except, just as I was planning on heading back to the seabus, a regular train thundered by (on the other side of a fence) next to the park and PC raced off to watch it. There had already been two other trains that had gone by and he'd watched them as well, but he couldn't hear me calling him back and by the time I went and got him, and got all the kids back to the stroller, we'd missed our seabus and had to wait for the next one. It was 3:15 when we got on the seabus, and started our backtracking. Up the escalator - no trouble there, to the skytrain where we got on a newer model train that seemed less stroller friendly so we got off at the next station and waited for the right train to come along two trains later. The kids were still being good despite being so late for naps already. Emma fell asleep in the stroller on the skytrain ride home, and Dolly reclined in the other stroller seat while PC bounced between his seat and my lap and the window the whole way back to our starting station. Between explaining how many more stops there were till we would get off, I read a book I'd brought along and probably got 5 or 6 pages read which was nice.

Sleepy Baby

By the time we got home it was quarter to 5 and I put the kids down for a late nap. Sir would be working late, and so supper would be late as well. Emma never went back to sleep, but I had to wake the other two up eventually. After Sir got home and the kids were ready for bed, they went in to say goodnight to him. I came in as he was saying good night to PC and heard him say, "Thank you for coming to see me at work today, did you have fun?" PC nodded and cuddled closer in response and Sir continued, "What was your favorite part of the day? What part was the most fun?" PC sat up beaming and said, "Peter and James in the Fishboat!"

Sir and I looked at each other slightly puzzled and then it dawned on us that PC thought he'd actually met Peter and James - from the bible story - at Daddy's work today. One of his co-workers was a fellow Hungarian named Peter and the leader of Sir's division was named James.

Mischief with Missy B.

2009-09-12T22:54:00.002-07:00

Saturday, 4:30am. Of all days, I should be sleeping in - today will be busy. The kids won't be waking up for another 2½ hours and I would have been wise to take advantage of that and sleep that long myself.

But I'm remembering. Remembering is something significant in my life right now. Pregnancy does things to your memory, and for the past half hour I've been recalling things that happened more than 20 years ago. Things I haven't even thought about for years.

(Puppets at the N. California location - 25 years ago.)

Maybe it's because Dolly woke up at 4 and when I tucked her in again I thought about what we were planning to do today. Sir got a new job almost a month ago. Today we were going to celebrate and for weeks the plan has been to take the kids to Chuck E Cheese. As I tucked Dolly in a few minutes ago, I almost reminded her that today was the day the kids had been looking forward to for so long. Then I realized that reminding her then would only ensure my day starting even earlier, so I bit my tongue, and went back to bed. And kept thinking.

I was remembering the 3 or 4 times during my childhood that my parents took us to Chuck E Cheese. Once we went when I was 6 or 7 probably. There was this little girl who was staying with us - overnight, for the day, a couple of days - I don't remember how long she was with us. I don't even remember her name. She was either the step-daughter of my mom's nephew or she was the granddaughter of an older woman named Cherry B. I think she was the latter, so for blogging purposes, I'll call this girl Missy B. Missy B. was older than I - a year or two maybe? She had short brown hair, and she knew all about stuff. I was very impressed by her and she probably liked me because I was so eager to do whatever she asked me to. Although I did get into a lot of trouble for it.

The first thing I remember about Missy B. was that she asked me to ask my mom to let her stay with us. I did, she was allowed, and later my parents told me it wasn't my place to be asking things for other people - especially if it wasn't my own request.

(Tina, me - about age 14, Li'l G., and our brother Ike posing with a friend on the long-retired little John Deere tractor)

So, when the next adventure occurred, I think it may have been my suggestion based on something I knew Missy B. would like. See, I could drive a tractor. It wasn't a very big tractor - just a little John Deere thing with a scoop shovel in the front and any other kid loved to ride in the scoop. I wasn't supposed to drive it without being told to by my parents and I knew this, because I still remember trembling with excitement and nervousness because I took Missy B. down to the mixer in the shovel scoop. There was some urgent reason we had to go so fast and our legs wouldn't have gotten us there in good enough time. My parents seemed appreciative of the news we breathlessly brought them, but they also reminded me I had driven the tractor without express directions. They didn't punish me, but I'd never experienced butterflies in my stomach before and I know it was because I knew I'd done something I shouldn't have.

You'd think I'd have learned my lesson, but perhaps the excitement of having another girl close to my age around played with my good senses. The next thing I remember doing with Missy B. was making Kool Aid. I'd never made it before although we did have KoolAid packets around the house. Missy B. said that the stuff we were drinking wasn't really KoolAid and so, she and I slipped off to the chicken house to make it the 'right way'. My parents would put about a quarter of the suggested sugar into a jug of KoolAid and my siblings and I never knew the difference. To us, it was flavoured juice, and it was something we didn't get very often. Anyway, Missy B. and I took a package of Strawberry KoolAid, and I have no idea how much sugar, and we made our own KoolAid out in the Dove Room of the chicken house. We used plastic Strawberry Shortcake glasses (because they had red pictures on them) and basically concocted a syrup. Very few sweet things made me sick growing up, but the Strawberry KoolAid that Missy B and I made, was definitely one of them. To this day, I do not have any real liking for Strawberry Shortcake characters, and I do not think I've tasted strawberry KoolAid for more than 20 years!

(One of the few pictures of the Chicken house with Tina playing Indian out front. The Dove room was on the left side)

Of course remembering the KoolAid incident with Missy B., reminded me of one of the only other times I got sick on something sweet, and that was pomegranate juice popsicles. Aunt Helen had come over to watch my siblings and me for a while and she kept us busy doing all sorts of fun stuff. We made play dough out of flour and salt and water, and when that was done, we juiced a box of pomegranates and made pomegranate popsicles. I didn't do so great the next day when my mom let us all try one of our popsicles. Although, I have tried pomegranate juice flavored things since then - just never popsicles! But I'm digressing.

After the KoolAid making, Missy B. and I discovered some makeup underneath the kitchen sink. I think I was showing her a science experiment we had down there. Probably an egg in vinegar, and stowed away in the cupboard was a little basket of makeup my aunt had gotten rid of. I do not know why we even had it, but there was nail polish, and lipstick and some other stuff as well. Missy B. declared it a treasure and within a few minutes, we'd dashed off to the dark bathroom on the patio to try some on. I knew we'd get in trouble if my mom caught us wearing hot pink lipstick, so I persuaded Missy B. that it would be better if we wiped it off before leaving the bathroom. After all, we were going to a pizza place that night and the last thing I wanted was a reason for my parents to cancel those plans. Missy B. was fine with that, but in turn, she persuaded me that once we got to the restaurant, we could go to the bathroom and put the lipstick back on. So, we carefully smuggled the lipstick to Chuck E. Cheese's and at the first opportunity we got, we dashed off to the bathroom to apply our stolen treasure. It didn't take my parents long to discover us, and I distinctly remember being marched back to the bathroom, getting my faced scrubbed clean and then watching in dismay as my mom threw the lipstick away. When we got home, she threw out the rest of the makeup too.

(Me about 7 yrs old and Tina who I'd tricked into crawling into the cage before gleefully locking her in. We were directly in front of the Dove room of the Chicken house.)

6am - So, now that it's been an hour to write what took me half an hour to remember, I should be able to go back to sleep without words buzzing around in my head. Maybe I'll even get another hour or two of sleep before my children wake up and remind me that today is the day that they've been waiting for to go to Chuck E. Cheese's!

Saturday, 6pm - now that I've dug up some old pictures for this post, I'm publishing it just before I wake my kids up from their naps so we can go do something they've been anticipating for 23 days.

10:50pm - The kids woke up before I got the rest of my editing done. They're in bed now, wiped out from all the excitement they had this evening. Maybe one of these days life will slow down a little and I'll get more posts written.

Blueberries and Hymn Sings

2009-08-31T23:49:00.006-07:00

After the first few days of our heat wave subsiding, the kids and I went blueberry picking with Grandma C... or Grandma C went blueberry picking with us - either way, we took all the fruit home. The sunshine came back the next day, making the one day we spent hours picking berries out in the open, the only overcast day in more than two weeks. I was thankful because my kids get very fussy when they get hot, and there wasn't any shade in the blueberry fields, really.

Starting out.

"This is how you do it," ~~~~~ "I can't eat them all?"

Lost in thought.

Finding the perfect berry... losing the perfect berry.

All by myself! (sorry Mom, the rest didn't make it into the bucket).

Posing with the end result... or trying to.

My blueberry pickers.

The next day we got our Nexus cards which meant we could cross the border again. The rules had changed and our documents were either invalid, or expired. Having Nexus meant we could start going to the weekly Hymn Sings that Doc and Bashful were hosting at a beach down their way. The first time we went, there was the most beautiful sunset, and tonight was the last planned sing for the summer. Again, we had another beautiful sunset - I didn't take any pictures today... sigh.

Emma telling me about the fire.

Aunt Knittery helping PC roast a marshmallow while Emma ~~argues~~ chats with her cousin about the actual process.

Dolly proudly cooking her very own marshmallow.

Dolly in the sunset.

And that was a lot of pictures for one post. Maybe I should stop here tonight. (After glancing at the clock)... yeah, I should stop here - bedtime was a while ago!

How Long Has It Been!

2009-08-30T22:56:00.001-07:00

It's been so long since I posted anything here, I'm having a hard time even remembering how to! If you must know, I couldn't let a whole month go without a single post... well, my pride couldn't. So, I decided to shape up and do some actual writing. Mental blogging doesn't show for very much when you're trying to remember anything later. A lot has happened since the beginning of July.

There was PC's 3rd birthday at the very end of June... I sort of mentioned that earlier. Here he is with some of his favorite people. We had his party at a park that had a train which we got to ride on. This was the 'all boys' train car.

Then a couple days before our 6th anniversary, Sir and I went up to Whistler for a break. It was so nice to do nearly nothing and act completely lazy. We slept in, ate meals at odd hours, rented a canoe, went for walks and just enjoyed our time together.

Dinner/snack: cheese, grapes, apple cider and shrimp. Who needs real food?

Breakfast. We brought enough food along to last us probably 3 or 4 more days than we actually stayed! It was good though.

After Whistler, we had our annual week-long heat wave. Temperatures only reached the low 100's, but for us, that seemed pretty hot - especially because of all the greenery adding to the humidity! The kids spent a lot of time in the kiddie pool, and we played the 'battle of keeping the house bearable' game that often feels like a lost cause. Note to self: someday when moving again, avoid living in upper levels of houses. It was definitely wonderful to have the normal 20 degrees cooler weather the following week. Here are a couple random life-shots.

Emma - Cuddling with the Cat.

Friends.
PC loves babies. I'm sure he'll be glad to have a new one of his own soon since these two are growing up so fast!

I was going to keep working my way through my summer photos for this post, but it's bedtime now and tomorrow comes awfully early these days. So, I'll stop here for now, and hopefully it won't be another 7 weeks between posts!

Gone

2009-07-09T09:51:00.001-07:00

The last few weeks have been crazy around here. And today I discovered a small (well, it seems bigger to me) price of that busyness.

Two weeks ago yesterday our van broke down. Then there was PC's party at the park. We would have had to cancel or relocate the party had it not been for some very generous people who helped us get places that week we were without wheels.

One week ago today Sir's computer died and he was thankful for enough online backups that he could continue working from his laptop while the replacement parts were ordered, shipped and finally received as of yesterday. Two days after the computer died, the van was repaired so life began to return to normal.

Now Sir is getting his computer going again and this morning we discovered that pretty much the only thing lost from the whole deal was about 600 pictures - the last pictures that I'd downloaded to the dropbox for him to file away in our archives.

I know it's a small thing, and maybe it's just because I'm pregnant and over-reactive, but losing the video of us telling the kids about the new baby... or the in-progress pictures for one of the hardest birthday cakes I've made yet... the finished product pictures of PC's birthday train cake... the dozens of pictures of Emma's fashion sense - the stuff like that, which just can't be duplicated. Gone. All gone except for the 7 pictures I last posted.

Those are memories and losing the reminders just makes me sad. I want to cry, but I know that in the long run, a month's worth of pictures lost will hardly be noticed five years from now. I need to be thankful that we didn't lose a lot more than 600 pictures, but right now that's a bit of a challenge for me.

Well, I've felt sorry for myself, and gone on about it long enough now. It's time to move on - I need to get busy on the things that are still waiting for my attention. Today Sir is taking me with him up the mountain for a couple days (alone!) for our anniversary and I have a few more things to pack and get done before it will be time to drop the kids off.

The Source of Money (apparently)

2009-07-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

This was our breakfast conversation today while we had sticky cinnamon rolls with leftover birthday cake icing on top. Maybe all the sugar had something to do with the thought processes.

Dolly (to me): Do you have your own computer?
Me: Yes,
Dolly: Did Daddy give it to you?
Me: No, I bought it a long time ago before I married Daddy.
PC (to me): Ooo got money oo buy or combuter?
Me: Um, hm. It was a lot of money at the time.
PC (in a whiny/half crying tone): I want to get money bor a combuter!
Me: Well, crying about it isn't going to get you any, so stop fussing.
Dolly (in a cheerfully, optimistic tone to PC): PC, if you see a girl and you like her, you can marry her.
(as if that is the solution for attaining desired funds)
PC: Hmm.. (then to me)Can I marry ooo?
Me: No, I already married Daddy.
PC: Awww! (then in a more complaining tone) I wanted to marry ooo!
Me: Well, you can't. Besides, you can't marry your mommy.
Dolly (to PC): You can marry Emma. Do you want to marry Emma?
PC: No. I want to marry ooo.
Me: You can't marry her either. You can't marry your sisters.

And then I went out to tell Sir before I forgot any of the wording or tones. When I came back I saw PC hit Dolly with his sippy cup of milk. "Hey!" I started to scold as I walked toward them. "PC just hit me back" Dolly began in explanation "after... I... um... hit... him." I had to dash back into my room before I exploded in laughter. At least she finished truthfully even after she realized she was condemning herself!

And Then There Were Four

2009-06-27T16:55:00.001-07:00

A picture says a thousand words, but I'll just add a few more. After all, I'm starting to feel half alive again finally. Some of you may have noticed my lengtly blogging slumps over the past four or five months. Beside cold after cold after cold that our family battled in the first few months of 09, there was our confernce (we had 10 guests stay with us for the weekend), more colds after conference, then spring hit with a vengence - being a lot warmer than usual and bringing the alergy plagues with it. On top of all that, there's been the general spring/summer busyness that seems to just whirl us into non-stopness for weeks on end. And through it all I was exhausted with no time to be tired. Definitely not a feeling I'd wish on anyone else!

Today we're celebrating PC's 3rd birthday, and the kids all got new t-shirts to wear for the day. I expect they'll cause quite the stir - but we thought we'd do something different this time. Anyway, I'll let the pictures do most of the rest of the talking since I have a few phone calls to make before the party.

Dolly's shirt

PC's Shirt

Excited Kids

Here's the reason why

Emma's shirt - the give-away.

A little better look

So, July 9th is officially the first day of our sixth month, and now that the news is out... I can dig out some more comfortable clothes! And wait until November 8th-ish. 'Cause we're gonna have another baby!

Checklist

2009-06-25T22:53:00.013-07:00

PC is turning 3 on Tuesday. We're having his birthday party on Saturday. So, for my own organization this will be a check list for what I have left to do. I might take pictures later, but right now, there are priorities. :)

~~Bake cakes~~
~~Make jell-o~~
~~Wash dishes~~
~~Unload and load dishwasher~~
~~Find tape~~
~~Wrap presents~~
~~Assemble cake~~
~~Make and color icing~~
~~Ice cake~~
~~Make taco filling~~
Chop vegetables
~~Grate cheese~~
~~Get matching shirts ready for kids~~
~~Take garbage out~~
~~Feed birds~~
~~Take a shower~~
Clean bathroom
~~Make guacamole~~
~~Make iced tea~~
~~Sort through last clothing container~~
Wash Dishes (again)
~~Figure out how to get everything to the park or if we won't be going to the park~~(right now our car is dead)

There may be more, and I'll add it if I think of it, but right now it's almost 11 and I need to make sure the cakes are baked tonight.

Copy Cat

2009-06-22T22:13:00.004-07:00

NaomiG did a Father's Day interview with her girls and just for fun I thought I'd see if my munchkins would hold still long enough to think about the questions if I asked them. Overall, they did pretty good and I did get a few cute responses. So, I'm copying Naomi and posting my kids' answers to her interview.... or at least most of the questions she asked.

What makes Daddy happy?

PC: The Word Je-uh. (the Lord Jesus)
Dolly: Being good. Taking him camping.

What makes Daddy laugh?

PC: A game!
Dolly: Like play with him.

How does Daddy make you laugh?

Dolly: By tickling me.
PC: Ohm, Daddy can be wike a giraffe.

How tall is Daddy?

Dolly: He's this tall (she indicates by tossing a dress into the air)
PC: He's dat tall (he indicates by tossing his stuffed pony into the air)

What is Daddy really good at?

Dolly: Games!
PC: My bir-day train.

What do you think Daddy did when he was a kid?

Dolly: Um, like not obeying his mom?
PC: Maybe he get in the garbage.

What is Daddy not very good at?

Dolly: Running.
PC: A game!

What does Daddy do for his job?

Dolly: He works. ..with the computer. Pays us money.
PC: He get money at work.

What is Daddy's favorite food?

Dolly: Lamb meat.
PC: Tea!

If Daddy was an animal, what kind of animal would he be?

Dolly: A giraffe because he's big like a giraffe.
PC: A Wion!

What do you and Daddy do together?

Dolly: I come with Daddy when he goes shopping.
PC: Play.

How are you and Daddy the same?

Dolly: We're not!
PC: I don't know.

How are you and Daddy different?

Dolly: Well, I'm a girl and he's a boy (then in a softer voice she added)I think that's what's wrong with me. (I know she forgot the word 'different' as she answered this question, but I had to include her whole explanation.
PC: I don't know

Where is Daddy's favorite place to go?

Dolly: Work?
PC: At work.

What does Daddy like most about Mommy?

Dolly: Your hair long?
PC: Being nice.

The End.

Happy Father's Day Sir, You're a great dad to our kids... even if they do think your favorite place to be is at work! ;)

The Plaster Man

2009-05-23T23:43:00.006-07:00

Anticipation

2009-05-22T17:32:00.000-07:00

Our house is literally abuzz with excitement. See, months ago, we decided to take our little ones to the capital city of BC. We told them about this possible outing and told them it wouldn't be until almost summer - when the leaves on the walnut tree were big and thick. Well, sure enough, the leaves started to bud and our little people checked out the window every single day to see if it was yet time to go to "Big-toria". Then earlier this week we told our little people that if the weather was good - if it was sunshiny, we'd go this weekend. I've never seen then pray so earnestly about something before. And so far, it looks like it will be beautiful tomorrow!

Anyway, the place we wanted to take them in Victoria, closed about 5 years ago, just months after we'd been there. This means we can't visit the Crystal Gardens this time, but the kids are looking forward to the ferry ride, and riding the bus. They would love to ride on a double-decker bus like the one we told them we'd gone on when we last visited the city, but they'll be happy with any kind of bus since they've never been on one.

So, the plan is to get up, get dressed and head for the ferry grabbing some breakfast on the way to eat on the ship. Once we get to the island, we'll take the bus to the city and then we'll play it by ear. There's a Harbor Ferry that the kids might like, possibly a bug zoo if it doesn't look too boring, and maybe, perhaps, it might be possible that a horse-drawn carriage ride might be in our price range. I know the kids would love that, but all I could find online was either outrageous prices or tours that were longer than my kids' attention spans. We'll grab some lunch at a stand somewhere, splash in the Parliament building water fountain a little and just see what looks like the kids would find interesting.

Now to go pack up the backpack and diaperbag.

Too Good to be True? or Just Long Overdue?

2009-05-15T23:08:00.001-07:00

My Second Potty Training Saga
Week 1... so far.

On Monday PC begged me to let him wear underwear instead of a diaper. I figured I could handle some extra laundry and put him in training underwear. There were no accidents and when nap time rolled around I put him in a diaper much to PC's disappointment. Then I forgot about it until after supper when he insisted he 'needed to go potty'. Of course his diaper was a bit wet from an earlier time, but he went anyway and since we were on our way out the door for a Bible reading with Chasm and HisLady, I just put PC back in a diaper and put him in pajamas.

Then Tuesday morning, PC begged me to let him wear underwear again. The day before had gone well enough, so I thought, "why not? after all, he is almost 3. I can't put it off forever." So he wore underwear. When it came time for naps, PC earnestly begged me not to put him in a diaper, and I figured he probably could go a couple hours asleep without any accidents at the rate he'd been at. And he did, but I forgot to remind him to go to the bathroom while I was busy getting supper on, he had an accident later that evening. He was very upset about it and I let him wear underwear again until bedtime.

Wednesday I had to do laundry which means I'm usually distracted being upstairs or downstairs and the kids get away with a lot more mischief when I'm not close enough to hear them or see what they're getting into. But I gave in to my little man and let him wear underwear a third day. After all, I was doing laundry, so a little extra would hardly be noticed. Sure enough, he had an accident before nap time came and realizing I couldn't keep up on the potty training at the same time as the laundry, I put PC back in a diaper. He was terribly disappointed and begged me again and again to let him wear underwear, but I was a mean mom and denied his pleas. Until after supper. Then I let him wear underwear again. We were going to the prayer/reading meeting that night and I figured it wouldn't hurt to get him used to wearing underwear at meeting and I wouldn't be distracted trying to juggle laundry and life. PC was delighted and there were no accidents the rest of that day.

Thursday there were no accidents and he didn't have a diaper during his nap. The milestone was establishing the going potty routine order. He eagerly waits my next prompt, "Ok, now what do you do?" "B-ush the Potty!!!" he exclaims as he does so complete with slamming the lid closed. "Great, now what comes next?" "I wash my hands!!!" as he pulls out the step stool and positions the ducky hand soap for easy access. Then he started dreaming up what kind of 'big boy' underwear he wants when he's trained enough to get something other than the training hand-me-downs. "Car underwear? No! Train underwear!, no, maybe a tow truck?! No, maybe just car underwear!?" either way it's very clear that he would like some kind of wheeled object on his very own 'big boy' underwear. I think I'll take him shopping with me when the time comes.

Today (Friday) there were no accidents. He even started going all by himself - insisting I not come in to help him. Then proudly coming out to tell me how he wiped himself and b-ushed the potty, and washed his hands with ducky soap and how he even pulled his underwear and pants up all by himself. I just love his shy/proud little grin/smile when I exclaim over his latest achievement. And tonight... well, I'm taking a chance and I let him wear his underwear to bed. We'll see how that went when I get up in the morning.

I'm so excited about how easy he's been. I'd been putting off for so many reasons. Occasionally I'd let him wear underwear for a day, but he'd always have an accident, or just never think he should actually tell me when he needed to go since I was sending him to the bathroom on the hour to avoid accidents. I think this latest change may have come from a conversation we had about his cousin DR (I think I'd read that as 'doctor' - after all, he's Doc and Bashful's third munchkin). DR is two months younger than PC, and started being potty trained back in March. I stressed how much DR. was a 'big boy' because he didn't need diapers anymore and I think PC finally caught on and didn't want to be left in the dust.

Maybe this is all too good to be true and tomorrow will be the beginning of the accidents that last for weeks. Or perhaps PC was just finally ready and I was finally up to the challenge at the same time. I guess time will tell.

I love those laughing eyes.

Fleeting Baby Days

2009-05-14T13:09:00.000-07:00

"For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands."
Psalm 92:4

My baby is a little girl now. 18 months old already. Sniff. A little girl who talks in sentences, tries my will to the breaking point in many areas, takes the outside stairs with ease(Dolly was just slightly older, than Emma is, when she fell off the outside stairs), vaults over crib rails and baby gates (our baby gate happens to be blocking the inside stairs), bosses and terrorizes her siblings, can do very amazing things to a computer in under 10 seconds, can get to the top bunk three different ways - using the ladder, climbing up the back, or by pulling herself over the railing after hopping from the top of the rocking chair back, she loves to dance to nearly anything and sings almost all the words to many of the children's hymns.

There is so much more too. Emma has always been my snuggly one - thankfully, she hasn't grown out of that cuddly-ness. I would miss it dreadfully. She is my second lefty - so much for the 7 to 10% chance of left handedness when it comes to our family!, she learns her memory verse right along with the other kids and thankfully, she eats just about anything. Sometimes I get so tired of dinner-time battles. But there are other things too... like how Sir or I have to check on her every three minutes or less every time we put her to bed. Or how it's the thrill of strategizing and manipulating to get a certain spot on the couch, a chair or kitchen counter space. Emma is our calculator - she's littler than everyone else, so she has to figure out how to get them to do what she wants without them realizing it. But on the other hand, she can play by herself for long periods of time which is pretty nice.

I love these pictures of her. Just three days before her scheduled pictures, she tripped over a mattress and crashed into the corner of a dresser. The result was a vertical split and a massive egg on the right side of her forehead. If I'd had butterfly stitches handy that night, I would have used them, but we had to settle with a band-aid. We were not going to wait hours in an ER just to find out that the cut had been open too long for anything other than a band-aid anyway.

So, I had to figure out how to hide the band-aid in her pictures. In the end I settled for the hat - after all, she still doesn't have much hair, so it would add a little change to her appearance than the standard bald feel. Sir said she looks like a little French Paratrooper in the pictures. Below is the extra pose. You can see the band-aid peeking out under her hat.

And I need to go make lunch before my munchkins decide that I'm never going to and start raiding the refrigerator - you can just guess who'd be the mastermind behind the crime!

Being Nice

2009-05-11T18:47:00.000-07:00

Scene 1

EMMA sitting on my bed hoping Daddy will let her watch something on his computer.
DOLLY enters and hops up onto the bed beside Emma.

EMMA (speaking sharply)
Dolly! No! GO A-WAY!!!

SIR
Emma, you be nice.

EMMA (in a much softer tone)
Pease?, GO A-way!

Let's just say, I don't think she's quite grasped the concept of BEING nice.

4 Years Old...

2009-05-08T22:43:00.003-07:00

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
John 10:27-28

Of course I'm late again when it comes to getting pictures up here, but I guess late is better than never. Time is ever marching on, and it seems so unreal that Dolly is already on her way to 4½. It wasn't that long ago that she was just a helpless little thing - so different from the very independent and capable little girl that she's become.

5 days old

3½weeks old

Now Dolly is learning to read and write. She reads by sight over 50 words now, and with a little effort she can sound out a lot more. When she fills a line with painfully printed letters, the pride she beams while I pick 'the best one' is just priceless. Her memory is incredible whether it's memorizing long passages or just remembering what I said at a certain time about nearly any topic.

She is such a help to me in so many ways and I'm so thankful for her willingness. That said we do have days where the willingness is not so prominent, but she does obey even when she would rather not. Naptime is almost a thing of the past - we skip it about half the time in favor of 'doing schoolwork' or 'quiet time'.

More and more I find her picking her way across the piano keys and its so much fun to watch her begin to understand the instrument. I wish I could teach her how to play it properly. I love to hear her sing 'Jesus Loves Me' to the melody of a scale - do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do-ti-la-so-fa-mi-re-do: Je-sus-loves-me-this-I-know-for-the-bi-ble-tells-me-so!

Dolly has always been the easiest kid to photograph - as in she's been the most cooperative, but much to my surprise this last session was the hardest picture we've done yet. I think that maybe she's finally becoming conscious of her smile and was just trying too hard. It was hard to get a smile that didn't look slightly forced. It's always hard when you're the mom and you know what a bubbly happy smile looks like on your kid and you have to choose one that may be 'nice' when you know she's capable of sparkling.

Anyway, below are the original professional pictures we had taken when Dolly turned 4. Sir edited the main package picture for me above - I could have paid an extra arm and leg to get the photo lab to do the same thing, but the package prices are getting bad enough as it is when it comes to the number of pictures and assortment of photo sizes available now.

The package shot.

The extra free pose our picture card wins us.

Hockey

2009-05-04T23:53:00.001-07:00

I should put this into my 'Little things they say' post that I've been working on for forever, but it would be a rather long section, and that post is getting long enough as it is.

Some of you may know that the Hockey Playoffs are going strong right now. Sir occasionally listens to the radio broadcasts for the games during the regular season, so our kids have slowly been introduced to the sport. But for the Playoffs, Sir spoils them and downloads actual video versions of the games and as a special Daddy/kidlet time, they watch the game or part of a game on his laptop.

That said, Dolly has really gotten into it. She has an incredible memory and quickly learns the names of the teams and who they've beaten or lost to. She's also learned the name, logo and colors of our local Vancouver team. It's very cute to watch. Until we're driving. Or unless she expects me to intelligently discuss whether the Penguins should have beat the Flyers or if I thought the Capitals or the Blackhawks or the Canucks or the Flames or the Sharks or the Ducks or whatever other team she has buzzing around in her head should win or lose this game or that.

Around here, if the Canucks win a game, people go crazy. They honk their car horns for hours after the game and one out of every five... or is it three? cars proudly flies a flag (or in some cases up to 6 flags) bearing one of the team's logos.

So, we're out driving and the Canucks had won some momentous? game and people are honking at every intersection. Dolly pipes up from the back seat as the kids and I make our way home from the grocery store, "Mommy, why is everybody honking?" "I guess the Canucks won a game today or something." I replied. She thought about that for a few minutes. "But why do they want to honk their horns?" she pressed. "Probably because they're happy that we won the game." I said. "Are we glad they won the game?" Dolly asked "I guess." I absentmindedly returned. "Maybe we should honk our horn. Don't you think so, Mommy?" I'm sure I disappointed her by insisting that there were probably enough people honking that we didn't need to join in.

Every single time we're in the car, Dolly will point out vehicles with a hockey flag or flags on them. "That means that person likes hockey!! doesn't it Mommy?" she said one day. "Um hmm," I helpfully reply. "That person must REALLY like hockey!" She points out as a car with four flags drives by us." "Probably." I respond. You'd think this would get old, but she exclaims in excitement every time she sees a flag, and we often repeat the interchange above multiple times during each car ride.

Tonight I was ignoring the kids and speeding through a good book when Dolly announced her presence with a loud huff as she plopped herself down on the chair opposite me. "Well. I guess we really don't like hockey, Mommy." She sadly? dramatically? dejectedly? all of the abovely? stated. "Why is that?" I asked more curious about her mannerisms than her words. "Well," she began with a wave of her hands that ended up plopping into her lap "we don't have a hockey flag on our car." she finished very matter-of-factly. I had to go tell Sir about this latest conclusion our daughter had come to. When I came back, I told Dolly that she should talk to Grandpa C. because I suspected he might show her the collection of lost car flags that he's gathered from the sides of the roads. And that seemed to brighten her mood.

But to be fair, I should clarify that it isn't just Dolly that is completely engrossed in our Canadian sport. PC and Emma are almost as bad - they just can't talk about it as much. Daily PC will ask me if there's 'a ock-ey game oo'night?' and Emma will often barge her way into Sir's office and politely stand at his knee and say, "Pease, wah ockey?!"

This evening all three of them were fighting over a Bubble Tape container in the middle of the living room when they heard Sir start playing the latest downloaded game of hockey in our room. You should have seen the shock and excitement on all three faces as they realized that there was HOCKEY TO WATCH!!! And the stampede over each other in the race to get the best spot to watch the game was hilarious as well. Dolly immediately released the gum container that she was trying to wrench from Emma's tightly gripping hands, Emma completely forgot the container, dropped it and ran, PC bending to pick up the container got run over by Dolly who by then was running to the bedroom and then he too, dropped the container and ran to join his sisters. It was priceless. Now I'm going to bed.

Family Pictures

2009-04-23T21:29:00.000-07:00

Maybe I should start with the exciting news that we got a new printer/scanner? I was going to write all about it the night Sir set it all up and I got to scan my own pile of stuff that I've wanted to get scanned for - well, I can't remember how long it's been now. But I got so wrapped up figuring out and playing with my new freedom (a networked machine!) that I never got to the writing part.

A couple months ago, I posted our 2009 family picture... but I had to 'doctor' it because our scanner was broken and left a big black line skewering our heads. Anyway, below is the un-doctored, properly scanned copy as well as the extra pose we got with that picture package.

2009 Family Picture

Extra 2009 pose

Then just for fun, and because they're all scanned now, I thought I'd toss in the rest of our professionally taken family pictures. It's neat to look back occasionally.

Family Picture - 2008
Dolly (almost 3) with a broken arm, Emma (2 months old) and PC (almost 18months)- his shirt turned out a darker green than I'd hoped.

Family Picture - 2007

Family Picture - 2006
Dolly was almost 1 year.

Ghost Writer

2009-04-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, I used to blog here. Sometimes it was even fairly regular - occasionally happening two to three times a week. Then I don't know what happened. Life got busier? Probably not, life is always busy around here. My mind went blank? Very likely, I have been known to fall asleep answering questions at the table after lunch.

But what hasn't happened is that I don't want to blog anymore. I really do, but some weeks I never even turn my computer on, and if I do, sometimes its on for a few days before I ever sit down and try to figure out where to begin. E-mail? Oh, you mean people are waiting to hear back from me? Read other blogs? I'm so far behind on my reading list it's like I have a brand new novel waiting for a rainy day and a cozy blanket.

Then there's the 'priority' to do list - like right now I should be making lunch before my kids start tearing each other apart, and I have until tonight to get the suite downstairs empty again so the new tenants downstairs can move in without colliding with all my conference guest paraphernalia. And then there's the sensibility of using a good day of weather to get stuff outside done before it rains again.

So, if we all get caught up on sleep from this past weekend and everyone gets over their colds (we're going through tissues like crazy), perhaps I'll blog again before another month has passed.

And now I'm off to rescue my diaper bag from Emma who has found the zip lock of medicines and is trying to figure out how to take her temperature (in her belly button).

Banditos and Bathtubs

2009-03-14T19:14:00.001-07:00

Yes, I'm still here - north of the border. I discarded my Roman toga for the more appropriate attire of a Ranger since it should help me keep in better control of these banditos that run wild around here.

Actually, we've been busy, and I've been too lazy to discipline myself into writing something blog-worthy. I mean, who wants to hear about more snow? or how we're actually trying to clear a garden area this year? or how our house smells like a can of paint or tubs of glue or tubes of silicone since the landlord is remodeling the suite downstairs.

And there's always a gazillion other things that have to be done - like me getting Emma in for her 18mo. pictures before the end of the month, or maybe watering my parched and dying house plants while I still have a few left, clothes switches to do for the kids (one of the perks of growing, I guess) and the dreaded ironing to do since I can't keep putting it off forever. In case you haven't noticed, I don't like to iron.

Well, I need to regain control of the dinner table behind me before I get rice in my hair and then I need to ship them all off to the tub...

"We interrupt your program to bring you..."

2009-02-26T21:41:00.000-08:00

...Our Family Photo for 2009.

The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.
Psalm 25:14
Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
Psalm 12:7

So, I finally got our family picture scheduled (a month and a half late), and now we've gotten the pictures back from the lab. This means that all I have to do, is sort out which picture goes to which recipient, and I'll have finished one more project. It might take a while this time and it won't be due to my distractedness. Our scanner is broken - in fact, I had to 'fix' this picture so I could post it without a bold, black line skewering our heads.

When Sir gets the other scanner hooked up and working, we'll be able to scan a good copy. Then we can print out and send decent sized pictures to the long line of family members and friends who would have been stuck with a teeny tiny miniature size picture. And a mini with five people in it is absolutely ridiculous! Yeah, this package had 16 - SIXTEEN minis and only 8 wallets. Once upon a time you'd get 21 wallets and 4 token miniatures, but I shouldn't complain, the package deal this time was only $5.00 - who knows, they change the package size and price around every month, so maybe next time will be better when it comes to quantity.