First, she draws you in with those big (So big), blue (So very blue) eyes.
Then she reaches out to you with those long arms of hers.
Next, she grabs you with her death grip.
She then finishes you off by gumming you like you’ve never been gummed before.
The poor rattle never had a chance. Take a close look at his face…
Just wait until she has teeth.
Hello?
Tap, Tap, Tap
Is this thing on?
Screeeech!
Um, hi.
My life seems to have moved into warp speed and I’m trying to keep up with it. I’m succeeding. Kind of. For now. I cannot figure out for the life of me where my days go. It seems I wake up and realize that a whole week has gone by…and I still haven’t cleaned the bathroom, among other things.
I was talking to a mom who has four kids. She told me that she had three pre-Kindergarten kids at home for a year and a half and it was the hardest, busiest, craziest year and a half of her life.
Sounds about right.
She also said that it gets better once one of the kids starts school. For Graham, that’s in September. If we assume he starts the Tuesday after Labour Day, that’s about 217 days from now. Or approximately 5,208 hours. Not that I’m counting or anything.
On top of the regular craziness of three kids (feeding them, wiping bums, KEEPING THEM ALIVE), we have a few other things going on this week. And Matthew’s Dad is still gone and Honey is working dawn to dusk. Cold #352 has also hit all of us, Emily included. Boogs, boogs everywhere.
Last night Matthew asked if I would like to go on a date with him this Friday. Without any of the kids. Um…YES! So if we can arrange a sitter, we are heading out. That’s in about three and a half days. Or 78 hours. Again, not that I’m counting.
My creativity for blogging seems to be sapped right now. I have a million ideas bouncing around in my head but I can’t seems to be able to put them together into a cohesive entry. My funny bone also seems to be on hiatus and I can’t seems to find a way to parlay any humour to you folks. Not much I can do about it, and I’m not going to resort to lame knock knock jokes in an attempt to be funny.
I also haven’t taken many pictures, because who wants to see crusted boogs on my kids’ faces? Likely not you. I know that I’m tired of seeing them.
There have been many bright spots, though, and my kids have all been giving me lots of love and joy this week. It’s when they give me grief that I am spurned to put a humourous spin on it, but it’s been pretty low key.
One of the bright spots (probably due to the colds) is that all three kids have been in bed the last two nights at 7. ALL THREE. AT 7:00. The clouds parted, the angels started singing, and I heard a voice from heaven say,
“Angella, get thee to thine craft room.”
Well, maybe it wasn’t quite like that, but I did spend two nights up there stamping whilst listening to my MP3 player. I have been aching to be creative that way for weeks now, and it just hasn’t worked out. So it felt good to get up there and be lost in my creativity. It felt real good.
That’s about it folks. I’m still alive and things are going well. Just completely out of control time-wise. I’m not complaining, just explaining where I’m at. Or where I’m not at, which is my computer.
If you’re lucky (and I’m not) my kids will start being the monkeys they are destined to be and I will have blog fodder coming out the wazoo.
Well, tonight was the night.
I had told you last week that I was looking forward to a night out with The Girls in honour of my birthday. Unfortunately for me (but fortunately for my weight loss goals), I wasn’t able to go out last weekend. I was instead bowing to the porcelain throne, thanks to Stomach Flu 2007.
Before I left I had Matthew take some pictures of me since 99.9% of the photos we have are of the kids. The rest of the pictures from tonight are on Flickr, but here’s a sample:
I was trying to figure out why I looked so…weird. Or different than I thought I did. Matthew pointed out that most recent pictures of me were when I was pregnant and I was a little puffy. The puffiness is gone, so I think that’s why I look the way I do. He thinks I’m hot, so I guess it doesn’t matter what I think, now does it?
Some of the girls couldn’t make it this weekend due to other committments, or to them being out of town (That means you, Christy. You were missed).
But Amanda had a good point. She told me that when the group is really big you only get to talk to the four people around you anyway. The other girls were there in spirit and the five of us that went out together had a grand ole time.
Adele and Shelley:
Karen, Amanda and I…looking “sultry”.
Riiiiiight. Us moms are so saucy. Well, maybe a little bit (wink, wink).
It was a great night. Good food, great friends and big laughs. I couldn’t have asked for a better time.
Auntie Dayna asked for a new Graham video. Why post one video, when you can post THREE?
Our neighbours gave us an air hockey table yesterday. Yep. For free. They bought it last Christmas for their teenage boys and their boys don’t use it. They must not really be Canadian.
Here’s a video of Hockey Night In Canada at our house:
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Not a hockey fan? Here’s the original video I shot for Auntie Dayna. Graham Batman is a little grumpy, but he’s still cute. And aren’t Nathan’s eyelashes the longest ones you’ve ever seen?
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For those of you who mainly come here for a baby fix, here’s one of Miss Emily:
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While playing these back, I asked Matthew if my voice really sounds like that. Apparently so. Now all you Internets can have an idea of what my voice sounds like.
Hope you enjoy the shows!
The other day I sat down to nurse Emily and I turned on the T.V. I saw that Oprah was on and decided to see what the topic of the day was. It was a show dedicated to moms, or more specifically, the decision of whether to be a stay at home mom (SAHM) or a working mom. The fifteen minutes or so I caught had some women who were pretty defensive of their reasons as to which path they chose and both sides had some pretty good points.
I have always wanted to be a SAHM. I didn’t want to have my kids in daycare full-time because I didn’t want to miss out on the milestones that occur in the early years. But I don’t think it is the only option, and I don’t judge those who work outside of the home. Everyone knows what works for them and they need to do what they feel is best for their family. For myself, however, I wanted to be the primary caregiver for my kids.
Part of the allure of obtaining my CA was that I would always be in demand, and at the time there were moms who would come into the office and bring work home. Sounded good to me. That way I could keep doing work I enjoy and keep my brain stimulated. I NEED that. I could have the best of both worlds. Do work that keeps my brain from turning to mush, and get to see my kids’ first steps, etc.
My situation is even better than I had imagined years ago. I do contract work, the bulk of which is online. No trips to and from an office for me. I do get to go away the occasional weekend to teach in person or to work on course content development, and those weekends are work, but they are also fun (believe it or not).
Until now my work has fit well into our life, especially since Matthew also works from home. He would give me an hour or two over lunch, and any time I needed in the evenings and on weekends. When the boys were younger, Nathan would have a long afternoon nap (It’s gone! I miss it!), and Graham would colour, etc. at the table and I could do a bit more work. It could be a little tight for time sometimes, but it worked well.
Things have changed.
Emily has arrived, and babies require a lot of one-on-one. Matthew’s work has been busy. That’s a good thing, because then maybe we won’t be eighty when we retire. These last couple of weeks have been extra busy for him because his Dad is away, so he’s a one man show. He’s been working from early morning until supper with barely a lunch break. Which means there is absolutely no time for him to be on Daddy duty.
After supper is the wind-down to bed time. By the time the kids are in bed and the kitchen is cleaned it’s already 8:00. And I’m tired. The thought of starting to work then does not appeal to me in the least. Emily has slept through the night a couple of times, but she still usually wakes up once a night to eat. I can’t pull a super late night or I’m a grumpy Mommy the next day. There are the weekends, and I can do some work then, but we also want to have some family FUN time. We can’t always be working.
I don’t have much work on the go now, but I would like to start up again this summer. As I said above, I really enjoy what I do. It also pays really well. (Note to any young ‘uns: Get an education!)
Graham starts Kindergarten this September (that’s a post unto itself). He will be going two full days one week, and three full days the next week. It alternates. There is a preschool right next to G’s school, and we’ve talked about enrolling Nathan for the two mornings that coincide with Graham’s school days. That leaves me with Emily. She’ll likely be moving to one long afternoon nap around her first birthday if she’s anything like her brothers were.
So here’s what we’ve been thinking.
Either enrol Nathan in an afternoon preschool session as well, or find a Mom who wants to make some extra money and drop him off there. That same person could watch Emily in the mornings and I could bring my baby girl home for her afternoon nap. That would give me two days a week to do my work. And maybe even clean my toilets.
I have a few friends who work part-time and have opted for placing their kids in the care of another Mom (as opposed to daycare) and it seems to be a good balance.
I don’t think I would miss out on much with Emily if it’s only two mornings a week. Nathan will THRIVE in preschool. He loves Sunday School, and he cries every time we drop Graham off at Playschool because he wants to stay. I think he will benefit immensely from it. Toys, crafts, kids to play with…
That’s where we are. Trying to get a good work/life balance. I would still be at home, but my kids wouldn’t. I hope I can find a good person to watch either one or both of my kids. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the whole stay-at-home vs. working mom issue as it’s been on my mind a lot lately.
Momo from Romania (!) tagged me with this meme. I was uninspired for a post today, so she came to my (your?) rescue.
"Go through your archives and find the post that best fits the words listed"
Something SERIOUS
I don’t think anything was more serious than our house fire.
Something totally ROMANTIC
Well, how about how I came to be married to Matthew, aka the best man ON THE PLANET? The best man for me, anyway.
ALL ABOUT ME
That’s easy. I happen to have a post titled About Me. There was also my list of 100 things. Though this entire blog is mainly about me and my perspective, wouldn’t you say?
Something FUNNY
Well, I try to be funny most of the time, though I often fail miserably. I’ll link you to a couple that still make me smile.
Point number 2 of the last meme I did makes me laugh, because I know God has a sense of humour. At least I hope He does.
Then there was the decree I issued. It’s still in force. And still changes hourly. Gotta keep them on their toes, you know.
A year ago I did a post about our vacuum when the handle broke. We ended up fixing it with duct tape (How Red Green is that?), but now we really need a new one. Since that post was on my old site which has since been deleted, I’ll copy it here in the hopes that you Internets have some good suggestions.
Our Vacuum Sucks
Actually, it doesn’t. That’s the problem. It used to suck, but the handle broke today.
It’s an Electrolux, and until today worked amazingly. It was a hand-me-down from my parents, because they had moved into a house that sucked. Built-in vacuum.
I think it’s almost as old as I am. Which is like 700 in vacuum years.
I bought a Dirt Devil once, when I lived in Vancouver. But it sucked. As in, it didn’t suck very well. So, I returned it.
And now the hunt is on for a vacuum that sucks. Well.
Not sucks, as in doesn’t suck.
Suggestions?
Now who to tag? I have a hard time tagging people because I don’t know who likes to be tagged and who doesn’t. Since I was tagged from the other side of the planet, why don’t I tag a few people from over there. Hannah, Robyn and my sister Dayna. If I didn’t tag you and you want to play, please do.
Please help us with some vacuum suggestions. It’s time to bury the beast we currently own.
Yes, there were actually some highlights on this flu weekend. There were “lowlights” as well, of course. There was my Friday Night Fun mentioned in my last post. Sorry if I gave too much information. Just be thankful I didn’t tell you what food combination was coming back up. It was disgusting. And gross. And downright wrong.
Another lowlight of the weekend occurred after midnight on Sunday. Graham’s coughing woke him up and he called out for water. I stumbled to his room, opened the door, and was hit by a wall of STENCH. I knew that it wasn’t G or he would be crying and such. I walked over to Nathan’s crib, peered over the edge, and glanced upon my peacefully sleeping boy. Sleeping in a puddle of his own vomit. SLEEPING! IN VOMIT! It was all over him, the mattress, and dripping onto the floor.
It was not a one-person job, so I got Matthew up to help. He cleaned Nathan up while I cleaned his bed and the room. I don’t know how Matthew and I didn’t start barfing again. Likely because we hadn’t eaten in a couple of days.
But there were highlights! Really, there were. I feel I should share them, because there always a reason to be thankful for something.
1. Matthew and I had some great chats. We don’t lack for conversation on any given day, what with us both working from home. We eat lunch and dinner together, etc. But we spent all of Sunday sitting on our couches. No chores or work were being done, and we got to chat beyond our normal daily stuff. We did have our daily “We Hate Winter” conversation, but it took a new spin. Instead of moving to Mexico or California, we could move to Australia. It’s part of the Commonwealth and my CA is recognized over there. There is also a lumber market. It won’t happen, but it’s a nice dream.
2. Nathan was my cuddle bear. Saturday he and I were nearly inseparable on the couch and had a couple of naps together. He was just plain cute and sweet all weekend.
3. Graham was a great sport. He just had the cough so he was the most energetic of us all. He had a good attitude and helped where he could. He missed Sunday School and Playschool yesterday (I don’t want any other family to get what we got), and he’s our uber social kid. He’s starting to ache for some social time, so I’m hoping a play date tomorrow with Amanda and Christy’s munchkins will work out.
4. Emily was her usual sweetness. Not only that, but she decided to give me her own special birthday present: her first laugh! Yep. They were a couple of little chuckles and they made my heart sing. She’s also been doing some of her “advanced” development. Last night, she rolled over from her back to her front. So cute. Her one arm was stuck underneath her, but I think it counts. She’s a sight to behold as she pulls her top leg over with her hand and kind of yells until she gets over. Like the competitive athlete she is.
She’s also been putting her hands together for a couple of weeks and playing with them. She still has jerky movements, but is starting to grab things (toys, blankets, MY HAIR). She has been sucking her thumb to go to sleep for a little while now, but this weekend she mastered getting it into her mouth while sitting up. I love it:
How cute is that?
We’re all on the mend over here. Graham’s still coughing, but Nathan wasn’t sick yesterday. I knew that they were back to normal yesterday afternoon when the wrestling and fighting began. Boys.
I had a Toast Day yesterday and it all went well. I had my regular oatmeal for breakfast this morning and it tasted fantastic. I still feel a little weak, but that should get better as I start to eat normally. Oh, and one more highlight of the weekend. Those last 5 pregnancy pounds? GONE!
Though I wouldn’t recommend that weight loss plan to anyone. Seriously. Effective? Yes. Would I do it again? Not on your life.
