How to Hug a Baby (info for your dog)

ATTENTION ALL DOGS!!!

THE FOLLOWING ARE IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS FOR EVERY DOG TO KNOW

Instructions for properly hugging a baby.

1. First, spy a baby.

2. Second, be sure that the object you spied was indeed a baby by employing classic sniffing techniques. If you smell baby powder and the wonderful aroma of wet diapers this is indeed a baby.

3. Next you will need to flatten the baby before actually beginning the hugging process.**Note: The added slobber should help in future steps by making the "paw slide" easier.

4. The "paw slide". Simply slide paws around baby and prepare for possible close up.

5. Finally, if a camera is present, you will need to execute the difficult and patented "hug, smile, and lean" so as to achieve the best photo quality.Dogs, if this is properly done, it will secure you a warm, dry, climate controlled environment for the rest of your life.

Good luck to all of you!

I only wish my dog was this talented.

oh, oooh and ugh

I just opened an e-mail from a friend that nearly made me gag. It's a story about a woman who (apparently) wore some new undergarments before washing them and eventually started getting this rash on her breast. It later turned out to be bug larvae embedded in her breast! DISGUSTING! I don't even want to re-look at the picture, and I'm definately NOT posting it on here. The moral of the story and photos are to ALWAYS wash new undergarments before wearing them.

sick.

My nesxt e-mail was from Babyzone with my weekly update. "Week 10: are you feeling a bit moody?" Uh...yeah! Do bee's like honey?

My weekend camping trip was alright. If you forget that it took 3 hours to get there (and there are PLENTY of awesome parks within an hour of PA), all the road construction, the fact that a regional park is no cheaper than a provincial park (AND they charged a $1 for showers!!), that everyone seemed to think something awful about my "whiny", "bratty", "always-get-what-they-want" kids, and that my mother-in-law thinks that drums (or more specifically "anything with a beat") is of the devil. Yeah, so if you forget about all that stuff, the trip was pretty good. I'd recommend Brightsand Regional Park to anyone. But seriously it did have good hiking trails. The beach was pretty good. The sand in the lake was awesome and all the campsites had beachfront "property" instead of cabins. That was nice. So I guess take what you want to remember and try to forget about the rest.

S-E-X

There, now that I have your attention I can tell you that this has absolutedly nothing to do with sex. We had our first Mom's meeting yesterday and it went really well. I was completely off with the whole "relationship" thing. The "special topic" is all about sexual intimacy and all that covers. So yeah, sex might just be in there a bit, and yeah, so will relationships, but there will also be a WHOLE lot more to learn. Like I said before, I'm TOTALLY looking forward to this fall semester at Mom's.

Tomorrow I head off to go camping with the in-laws. I write that with a huge sigh as I'm just not completely looking forward to it. I thought I was, but things in the homefront are a wee bit stressful, and I just know that'll carry on into the weekend. It's hard enough getting along with one family, but when you put 3 disfunctional families together, its guaranteed to be an "interesting" weekend. Of course I could be completely wrong and the next 3 days could be heavenly. In which case I will eat a mushroom (which makes me vomit) if the weekend goes by without any hitch or argument. As Dixie as my witness.

Now to pack.

I'll see ya'll on the other side.

Potty Conversation

"Mom, I have to take a poop."
"Alright, just go. You don't have to ask buddy."
"Ok."
(little feet walk to bathroom, pull down gitch and shorts and sits on potty)
"Here it comes!"
"I heard a splash!"
"Ooohhh, it's stinky!!"
"Matthias! We don't need a commentary!"
"Oh. Ok."

Just thinking

Sorry I got completely thrown off track in my thoughts here.

A few days ago we found out some good friends of ours are expecting their 3rd! Congrats Luke and Erin! We also found out that she has thyroid cancer. You can read about it here. I know prayers would be welcome.

On some Mom's News : The new year begins September 12th. I'm really looking forward to it, as it's not something we've ever done before. The whole Fall session will be about you: a Mom, daughter, sister and wife and relationships and how to take care of ourselves. We're having a guest speaker do 3- 2 week "specials" (sorry I know that's not the right word, but it's all I can think of) dealing with our marriage and relationship with our husbands. Like I said, I'm really looking forward to it. Every time I talk to her she gets me totally hyped up and I can't wait. So that all starts with Registration Day on September 12th.
The Fall Clothing Sale is September 22. I highly recommend helping out. Not only do you get to shop early (hey first dibs on kids stuff is pretty sweet!) but you also get to just experience the whole thing which blows my mind every time I help out. The amount of people who come through those doors. I tell ya, you'll never see as many pregnant women anywhere, in one spot, as you do there. It's really neat.

There, not bad for having very little sleep all week eh? I hate my neighbours. I wish the earth would crack open and swallow them up.

As you can tell, I'm also working on being a better Christian. I know that's totally cliche, but I'm realizing more and more that I have an evil mind (altho' I did this test and was named merely "twisted") and I'm trying to change that. I know that you can't really see a difference yet, but I assure you, I am trying. So please pray for me and my wicked ways.

Now I think I should go for a nap while my kids are still sleeping.

barf

I hate being pregnant. If there's one thing I hate about the whole pregnancy/labour thing, it's the whole 9 month pregnant stage. I hate it. If there was a way I could beam out of my life for those months and then magically re-appear to give birth, I'd do it. I hate not being able to sleep on my belly, and yes, I know I'm only 2 months, but it already hurts if I lay on my belly for a long period of time. I hate that I'm ALWAYS hungry and then when I eat, I feel like throwing it all back up. I hate brushing my teeth, b'cos it seems like the very act of brushing my tongue makes me gag in enormous proportions. I hate always being tired. I hate it when you finally feel like eating and do so, someone close to you says, "they don't really mean it when they say you should eat for 2." Yeah thanks.

Sigh,

I thought for sure this time I'd enjoy it.

On another note. The past 2 nites I've been laying in bed, being uncomfortable, and thinking. It seems like alot of people around us are being diagnosed with cancer. Some of them beating it, some still fighting and some loosing. We just found out yesterday that a friend of ours has thyroid cancer. She's also 3 months pregnant. It got me kinda depressed and wondering how can you beat this? How can you avoid getting cancer? It seems like everyone is getting it. I know some pretty "psycho" health nuts who have cancer. So how do you avoid it? It just seems like soon, if you live to die of old age, that'll be the abnormal. And that worries me. I want my kids to grow up and live long lives knowing their grandparents. I want Steve and myself to be able to grow and see our great-grandchildren grow. But is that possible?

I hope so.

I pray that it is.

Alright, alright, alright

I wasn't going to say anything, but I just think this is so cool. Dixie got me hooked on this website and I've been checking it out every few days.

I'm pregnant.

This is what it looks like.

"alien baby" indeed. Cool eh?

So here we go again.

Back...for now

A friend sent me this picture. I don't know where she got it, and I'm pretty sure it's not her kid, but it's funny all the same. Callah has done this before. Not as bad, but she's found my "collection" and made a nice path from the bathroom to the living room.

Well we're back for a week. I'd like to say for good. But it seems we (by "we" I mean "Steve") agreed to go camping with my in-laws for a week (really, would I agree to something like that?) so that's up for the week of Aug 21-25. I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to it. I'd really just like to stay home, altho' now that I think of it, the kids next door are getting more ballsy and more annoying so maybe a week away might do some good. Altho' the in-law thing causes a damper and to top it off I can't drink, b'cos if only I could it would make it that much more enjoyable.

So the holidays were a blast. The kids loved the Calgary Zoo. My sister had taken them to see Megamunch in Regina before we left, and they were quite terrified. In contrast the dinosaurs at the Zoo were nice 'cos they were quite dinosaurs. That was a definate highlight as well as seeing the giraffes and zebras for some reason. Those are all Matthias talks about. WestEd was fun also. Of course there's the sea lions show, and GalaxyLand (which turned out quite well as Callah got on rides for free and had to be accompanied by an adult who also got on rides for free!). The actual reason for our trip, a Reid family mini-reunion in Sherwood Park, was simply a good time added onto the rest of the week.

The kids travelled great and the van is still chugging. All in all a good time.

I'm so glad to be home!