Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The Pioneer Woman
"Grab a cup of coffee. Curl up with a blanket. Have a box of kleenex and a fan handy. Here's the complete saga (to date) of the rip-roaring true story of how I met my husband, Marlboro Man, and how I went from spoiled city girl to domestic ranch wife in the blink of an eye").
I'm counting this as a book in my monthly recap!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
EC Update
On a related note, we've been catching probably 8 out of 10 poops a day! Pees? This kids pees a LOT! I manage to get him to go on the potty frequently but more often then not he is already wet. This is not doing a great job for our diaper service as we go through the diapers very quickly. Thank goodness I have a few extras as I used 15 of my own diapers by pickup today!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Memory Monday - lunches with dad
I took my father out for lunch today (along with Mitchell and Cierra since they were home and had to come with me). This was part of his Father's Day gift as well as one of my intentions for my Gotta Do list. He chose A&W. We had a great chat - primarily about his counselling work these days and a bit about the parenting books I've been reading and life in general. It was reminiscent of the days when he rotated taking my brother, sister, mom and I out for lunches back in elementary and highschool. He would pick us up on a rotating basis from school and we'd go to the restaurant of our choice - with just him. It petered out sometime in highschool (we think) and have obviously been long out of practice. I think it would be a good idea to do it more frequently. How quickly time gets away from us!
I'd like to do this with our kids too. I originally thought of their birthdays but both Marlee and Matthew celebrate when school is out. Knowing me, I have to come up with an alternate date to remember for each of them and put it on the calendar. They don't get that long of a nutritional break so I don't think we can do it on a monthly basis. I'm thinking maybe a "6 month unbirthday"? That would make it February 26th for Marlee and June 22nd for Matt. Seeing how I just missed it for Matt and now school is over, we'll mark it on the calendar for next year!
End of the Year and Teacher Thank yous
The school had a little ceremony which consisted of the kids singing a song (Together), each receiving a "diploma" and the principal relaying what they would like to be when they grow up. They ended with a good bye song with participation from the audience (Tony Chestnut). We met in the classroom afterwards for a few minutes before leaving them. We've had this particular teacher now for 4 years so it will be a bit of a change next year.
Basically we give gift certificates. Not extremely creative or original but hopefully useful and well, I like to give consumable gifts. To add a little personality we add some homemade goodies, which ideally, the kids help make. Skor bars have been very popular, as well as Mars Bar Squares. If I have time I make a little bag topper to spice it up.
This year our teachers got $20 gift cards for Michael's or Chapters and the EA in the classroom got $10 for Chapters. We recognized them at Christmas and at year end. They also got a Tim Horton's card back on Teacher Recognition Day. They have been exceptional teachers this year and all did lots of extras for the classroom. We hope they all have a great summer. Now we wait until the Friday before class starts in September to start it all over again. But for now, 2 months of ????
We'll be sitting down on Monday to brainstorm about what we'd like to do all summer. We are somewhat limited in that I don't have the space in the car to drive every day but we are again fortunate that there are lots of things to do around the neighbourhood. I have a few ideas of my own but it will be interesting to see what the kids come up with. We already have "ride the city bus" on the list.
Now I'm off to the leftover goodies...
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Sitting pretty at 3 Months old!
- 14 lbs 11 oz +
- eyes turning from blue to darker blue/brown
- chubby arms and legs
- wearing 3 month clothes
- not on a real schedule yet - feeds on demand
- EC-ing well - probably about 65% of the time (we catch 8/10 poops)
- definitely a mama's boy
- staying awake for majority of the day
- sleeping well enough during the night (in bed with us)
- has slept 2-5 hour stretches and a 7 hour stretch
- smiles, laughs
- discovering hands and likes to chew on them
- not liking car seat or stroller - preferring sling
- enjoys swing and floor mat for short stretches
- enjoys outside - looking at sky
- TOTALLY LOVABLE!!!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Dedication Day/ Father's Day
As usual, when we needed to be at church on time (I wanted to get there early so that I could feed Mitchell there rather then at home but that didn't work out) we got there just in time but I had to sit out for most of the morning to feed him. We did finish in time for our part. There were 3 families with dedications but we all went up together.
Drew and I read our prayer of dedication together (the same for both Matthew and Marlee) and then Dad came up to do a prayer over him as well. The kids behaved fairly well but all three couldn't keep their hands off him! I'm glad he was so tolerant!
Afterwards we had cake for everyone and Nana got to hold him for the duration. It was rather warm so we kept "airing" out his gown. I had one little girl come up and ask why he was wearing a dress. It was so cute. I explained that the "gown" as we call it, has been in our fmaily for several generations and it is a famiy tradition to wear it for dedications and baptisms. It was my mother's great grandfather's, which makes it 6 generations? Either way, Grandma wore, it mom wore it, Sarah, myself, Matthew, MArlee adn now Mitchell have worn it. Sean came into the fmaily at 10 months of age so he was too big to wear it. I will have to chekc and see which cousins wore it. I didn't get a chance to get a picture of just Mitchell in it. I'll have to remember to do that soon before mom passes it on to Sarah. It has a few yellowish areas which she hope to work on. Scary!
We came back to our house to have a celebratory bar bq with my parents and Don. It was a beautiful afternoon although we definitly missed Melissa (get well soon =)) and Nana.
And of course a Happy Father's Day shout out to Drew! We couldn't ask for a better dad. He s always there for me and the kids. I'm pretty lame at gift giving if not given ideas and this year was no exception. I do hope he knows how much he is appreciated though and that we would do anything for him. He has really been giving 100%+ these last few months since Mitchell was born. Dinner is usually prepped when he gets home but making it and serving it has fallen to him regularly as it seems as soon as the daycare kids go, Mitchell needs feeding and there is no point in starting dinner with the other kids there. Mitchell also seems to need feeding right at bedtime so Drew has been the sole doer in that area too. I'm glad that I can still snuggle although that tends to keep Marlee up just a little later. But kudos to Drew - you mean so much to our family and we couldn't ask for a better husband/dad. Thank you and WE LOVE YOU!
Friday, June 18, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Is it a Funk?
Today was a daycare day and the kids were busy. Thank goodness it was beautiful out and we spent the majority of the day outside. They went swimming, played on the equipment and "hung out". Not so bad. And then Marlee got a sliver. Woah! Her screams brought about Mitchell's screams because I had to put him down to get it out. Then the boys shared all of their wound stories which really weren't helping the situation. I finally got her calmed down and distracted, removed the sliver effortlessly (b/c she was actually calm) and then she continued crying b/c it hurt. Really? It was out! Woah. Enough.
Back to the post though. As I was finally getting my long anticipated shower this evening, I too was thinking to myself "I'd really like to cut my hair. I am tired of wearing it up". When it is down it has no style and gets caught in Mitchell's hands or gets spit up in it. So up it goes. Makeup? I haven't worn anything other then lipgloss since Mitchell was born. And clothes? Well we'll just say it's casual and leave it at that. Did we mention the spit up and yes, with ECing I do get #1 and #2 on me. Frequently.
But this sounds more like complaining then I mean to. Just like Erin, our little guy is amazing. He is so enraptured with us! He is totally into his hands right now, learning to spend a little more time on his own but still definitely MY guy. I can't believe he is already 12 weeks (today!! - I had to look it up b/c I thought he was only 11 weeks -oops!) It's so hard to believe how much our lives have changed in such a short amount of time.
But I am craving time. Whoever says that "wearing baby" still lets you get everything done is wrong. I feel very behind. Marlee and I spent a good couple of hours on Saturday cleaning up her room and purging a great deal of clothes (Note - Drew was home and Kristy was visiting - good entertainer!). We managed to get 5 baskets together. We brought them downstairs for some friends to go through. Since they went through them on Saturday evening, they are STILL sitting on the pool table. I need some boxes which I haven't had a chance to go get.
But this will change - and I will be wishing for these days to come back again. But for now, I too have to wonder am I in a funk and how long will it last? I too hope that some organizing - no let's just make it CLEANING will work. And that will come tomorrow. I can't wait!
PS - we did end on a higher note. The kids' school had a movie night showing Bedtime Stories. We had a great time!
Friday, June 11, 2010
They are in!
- broccoli (4)
- celery (8)
- garden lettuce (4)
- mesclun mix lettuce (4)
- cauliflower (4)
- purple cauliflower (4)
- zucchini squash (4)
- tomato(1)
- beans (12)
- cucumber (12)
- sweet green pepper (4)
- sweet yellow pepper (4)
- basil
- dill
- parsley
- chives
- rosemary
Unfortunately I just didn't prioritize (I'm trying to avoid saying "have the time for") planting seeds again this year. Maybe next year? I hope to buy the PVC piping for the trellis in the next day or so for the bean section. This year I am primarily using the new garden bed as the old one is full of weeds, except for the beans and the asparagus (if I can figure out how they work??). Again with starting too late this year, I don't think I'll be able to manage that much produce. Poor Drew - after I made him get the second garden bed in for me. He won't be pleased.
Still to do:
- figure out about fertilizer
- set up trellis
- buy tomato plants
- figure out where to plant the basil
- get the soaker hose out and set up
- get out the tomato stands and set them up
Oh and did I mention I used the new water barrel to water the plants?
I really hope to get the kids more involved this year with the overall gardening process. Maybe they will be more apt to eat raw vegetables.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Annoying Orange!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Monthly Recaps!
Now if I can find the time there is lots to talk about...
...LOAD is officially done and how did I do?
...Drew's half marathon
...our great weekend away at Great Wolf Lodge!
Hopefully I'll be back to tell you more!
Monday, June 7, 2010
Memory Monday - 80's movies
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
May 2010 Recap
- Exercise – first mini jog at 6 weeks post partum; walking regularly to and from school again; Drew running regularly
- Books, Magazines Read – The Sunflower by Richard Paul Evans; It’s All Too Much by Peter Walsh; Attachment Parenting;
- Entertainment (TV, Movies, Live events seen) – LOST finale, NCIS; Parenthood; 19 Kids and Counting; 30 Rock
- Special Events – Matt in church play “GPS - God’s Plan of Salvation”; Drew’s birthday (38); Cierra’s birthday (20th); opened pool (22nd); Drew ran half marathon with G
- Travel – visited Sean’s new house; Ottawa for ½ marathon
- Significant/ unusual purchases, gifts / changes – gas barbq; new tires (3) – Odyssey; tile for backsplash;
- Health – Mitchell hearing test passed;