motherhood

After a "beautiful" morning outside golfing with a bunch of other Mom's and a supremely full stomache I was really glad to come home to a sleeping house. Thinking (key word: thinking) how wonderful it would be to have a sleep on the couch, I curled up with a blanket and pillow and closed my eyes. 15 minutes later the phone rang. 10 minutes after that the kids woke up, one after the other. So I hurded them together and said, "it's not time to get up yet, let's go sleep on Mom's bed." Bad idea. Huge mistake. No sooner did I get them down, then they started poking one another. "Eye" Callah would say and gouge out Matthias' eye. "Ear" and pull his ear (and of course she'd have to do both eyes and both ears). Then they started pushing and laughing. I curled into a ball. Then they jumped up and starting chasing each other around my curled form on the bed. "Ouch!" I'd mumble as they stepped on a bunch of my hair. "Ouch!" as they tripped over my leg. I pulled my blanket over my head and curled into the fetal position.

I wonder... is this some sort of rite of passage into motherhood?

Somebody Said...

I got this in my e-mail, thought it was pretty cute, so I'm passing it onto you.

Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you've had a baby .
somebody doesn't know that once you're a mother, "Normal," is history.
Somebody said you learn how to be a mother by instinct .



Somebody never took a three-year-old shopping.
Somebody said being a mother is boring .....

Somebody never rode in a car driven by a teenager with a driver's permit.
Somebody said if you're a "good" mother, your child will "turn out good."
Somebody thinks a child comes with directions and a guarantee.
Somebody said "good" mothers never raise their voices .
Somebody never came out the back door just in time to see her child hit a golf ball through the neighbor's kitchen window.
Somebody said you don't need an education to be a mother.
Somebody never helped a fourth grader with her math.
Somebody said you can't love the fifth child as much as you love the first.
Somebody doesn't have five children.
Somebody said a mother can find all the answers to her child-rearing questions in the books ........
Somebody never had a child stuff beans up his nose or in his ears.
Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and delivery ....
Somebody never watched her "baby" get on the bus for the first day of kindergarten.

or on a plane headed for military "boot camp."
Somebody said a mother can do her job with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back .......
somebody never organized four giggling Brownies to sell cookies.
Somebody said a mother can stop worrying after her child gets married

Somebody doesn't know that marriage adds a new son or daughter in-law to a mother's heartstrings

Somebody said a mother's job is done when her last child leaves home ..

Somebody never had grandchildren.
Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don't need to tell her .

Somebody isn't a mother.

Check it out

A friend just sent me this website called WorkingMom.com

You can check it out. There's some neat stuff on there like an age appropriate household chore chart. It's never too early to start doing chores. I know my kids are always more than eager to help out, it's me that asks them not to. At Mom's awhile back they said (and I may have mentioned this before) we should let them help out now (use the hour that it takes them to help move laundry to read a book for yourself) while they want to, 'cos in a few years they won't want to help out anymore.

Anyway, thought I'd pass it on.

Boobies

Lately Matthias has taken to boobies. It's almost like a sign of affection. He likes you, he grabs your boobs. It's funny in the way that I can't believe he's doing this. So I laugh, which only makes him do it more. Yesterday I was giving him a piggy back and his hands went from around my neck to my boobs. He's lucky he's my son or I'd have to kill him (I'm JOKING!!!).

Any advice on how to stop this boobie mongler?

Ahhhh...

The "free" weekend is over (yeah rite..."free" I feel incredibly guilty over the amount of money I spent the past 3 days, even tho' in reality it wasn't really all that much) and my only regret was that we didn't stay a day longer (sorry "d"). There's just so much one can do, aside from shopping. So when you spend a day (4 hours) in the car, a day shopping and then another (4 hours) in the car on the way back, it just seems to be incredibly rushed. We did enjoy a nice supper out at East Side Marios (which I'd recommend) and catched 2 flicks at Rainbow (Inside Man and Failure to Launch). The worst part about these trips tho' is coming home. You kinda get used to only looking after yourself, even if it's only a day, then coming home, to two screaming kids is such a gut-punch. A rude awakening. I'm not saying it's not nice to be home, but being away has it's definate perks too. Thankfully my sister was still here, so I was able to immerse myself back into the swing of things throughout the day.

This morning we headed over to Kinsmen. There were a couple of Mom's there already and a few showed up after we arrived. I think it'll be a good thing. The kids sure liked hanging out and some of them recognized each other from Mom's Morning Out. Remember, if you're in the area, every Tuesday morning (weather permitting) 10-11 am (times approx. You can really show up anytime you want and leave whenever). My sister said on the walk home that "according to those other Mom's it's about time you have a baby". I said "what? They said that?" She said, "no, but they all had babies..." so somehow that relates to me and that fact that I too, should have one. Again, I'll keep you posted on that one.

Steve made it home last night too. Tired and dirty. He said he had a good time.

Wow. Here's a plug for you. Tomorrow on Oprah, she's going to take a concentration camp survivor back to Auswitz (I'm sure I'm spelling that wrong. Sorry). That should be interesting.

Now it's back to looking up prices. I sold a road bike on e-bay, now I just have to figure out how to get it down to MA as cheap as possible. Any ideas?

soon and very soon

In about an hour a friend and I are heading to Regina for a weekend away. Like she says it couldn't happen soon enough. For some reason my kids have been totally acting up this week. Maybe it's just in my head and it's some sort of coping mechanism for me leaving them for the weekend, or maybe they truly are acting up. I don't know and right now I don't care. All I care about is the fact that I was suppossed to go pick up a part for our Landcruiser (which we are "suppossed" to be driving down) and the part is not in. Or rather, as the guy said, it was ordered and it's "suppossed" (there's that word again) to be here, but he can't find it anywhere. Nice. Very nice. That leaves me where?
This same Landcruiser is also on e-bay as we speak and it's time is almost done in which case if it sells, then we can't take it anyway, but if it doesn't then technically I should be able to take it, however I'll need this stupid part.
Who knew leaving for a weekend could be so difficult?

On a lighter side we were at a friend's birthday party last week and Callah was eating sand. Our friend asked if this was the first time. I said, "no, she does this all the time." She laughed and I thought, oh yeah it's hilarious. Especially when it comes out like sandpaper!

Okay, that wasn't that funny.

So Mom's Morning Out is officially done for the summer. We will be meeting now, every Tuesday, at Kinsmen Park here in Prince Albert. I know I said it before, but we had the windup last week at Lil Red, so now it's officially done.

Otherwise I really have nothing else to say. That's why I haven't been writing that much. Nothing really new and exciting (or un-exciting even) to report. Just kinda blah...waiting for summer holidays and camping and swimming at the beach. Soon. And very soon.

I wish I could...

Aha!! Finally, even tho' the task seems so simple, for some reason getting this crazy picture up here has taken me numerous, frustrating minutes. So here, finally, is a picture of my kids on one of our many walks out at the Little Red Park here in PA. I have this other photo of them, walking amongst the trees, which I've mentioned before that I absolutedly love. I've always had a fascination with trees.

Anyway, other than that (and this new found knowledge of uploading pics) I don't have much to say at the moment.

C'ya!

thinking

Sometimes I think I think too much. Making mountains of mole hills and giving myself countless hours of sleepless nights. I also think that's a woman's thing, but if I'm wrong then I need a new excuse. My latest thought process' have been about summer and friendship. I freak out constantly about not knowing where and what and when we're having summer holidays. Mainly b'cos I want to ensure that we do get summer holidays. Steve is the kind of person, where if you don't make plans, the time flies by and it doesn't get done. That's why I'm pushing the whole holiday thing. I NEED summer holidays. A few good days of camping will cure whatever itch I've got.

I've been thinking about travelling. The thought occured this morning that I'm a traveller stuck in a body in Prince Albert. Not everyone is a traveller. Some prefer, even if given the opportunity, to just stay put and never go further than their back yards. Myself, I love travelling. I think it comes from my parents, who altho' have only recently went overseas, took us somewhere every summer. We toured Canada, from BC to Quebec, numerous times during my youth and hit many of the States along the way. So when I hear of people who get these awesome opportunities to go somewhere and don't take it b'cos they'd rather hang out with friends at home, I want to just kick them in their butts and say "get moving!". I'd SO gladly take their places. Or they're humming and hawing over whether they should go, well they may never get another opportunity to go, and then they'll regret it when they're older, with kids, and many more responsibilities then they had in their youth.

As a side note. I love Pearl Jam.

Then there's friendship. I laugh at Matthias when he meets someone new. Right away they're his best friend and he loves them. He can't wait to go outside and play with them. His new friends are all he talks about for a few days. It occured to me this morning (I do alot of thinking when there's no kids around...this morning was my morning off, so Steve had the kids and took them shopping) that I'm just like Matthias. I don't have many friends, and so when someone actually wants to be my friend, I smother them. I'm like a 3 yr old and all I want to do is hang out with my new friend...ALL THE TIME. While painting our fence a few moments ago, I also thought that it's like I think they're cheating on me with other friends. I know they're doing stuff with other people, so why when I ask, do they always say no. It's so stupid. How old am I? Anyway, I guess the moral here is that I just have to step out and make more friends. Right?

Now for lunch, and hopefully some rest from my thoughts.

is this normal?

Both my kids have colds...again. I'm seriously wondering if there isn't more to it then just the weather or germs. Is there something in my house? The carpet maybe? So I washed down all the walls again with bleach, maybe that'll help.

But this morning Callah was in her room when I heard her call out in this really low, scratchy voice, "Mommy...Mommy...". It was kinda freaky. I went to check on her to see if it really was my little girl. There she was reading books on the floor. Now let me ask you, is that normal?

This evening at supper I look up at Matthias and he has the collar of his shirt pulled down exposing his nipple. "Mommy, this is my boob." He then proceeded to tickle himself and say "tickle, tickle". I covered my mouth with my hands to hide my smile, then told him to stop doing that and eat his supper. Again, let me ask you, is this normal?

think summer...

think summer...think summer. I've been repeating this little chant all morning. When I woke up to pee and saw snow on my neighbours roof (think summer), when my kids woke up at 6:47 am and the house was FREEZING (think summer), when Matthias looked outside and said excitedly "It's snowing!" (think summer) and when I went outside to work out in my shorts and flip-flops (think summer) and nearly froze off all things precious to me (think summer). Today is not the kind of May day I was hoping for.

Think summer.

Oh sweet heavenly summer.

Where are you?

8

A cousin just sent me this e-mail and there wasn't really a message, just a bunch of photos. It was of a family, they had 2 girls (possibly twins) about 4 or 5, and the Mom was pregnant...with 6 kids!!! Can you imagine? Having 8 kids under the age of 6? That's insane! God help that woman, whoever she is. There were other pictures of the 10 of them, at Christmas and stuff. Crazy.

This past week has been beautiful. The weather's been great, the kids have been decent, and Steve's been busy with his sermon. We spent alot of time outside, which I love. We went for 2 walks out at the Lil' Red (which has to be one of my favouritest places in Saskatchewan...I haven't been to the east coast yet, so can't say Canada) and I love it! Callah and Matthias just run wild on the paths and the wild crocus' were out and everything just smelt so fresh and summery. I can't describe how it feels out there. Just know that I love it! The coolest thing was just watching the kids run. Any other time I'm amazed by how big Matthias is getting and Callah isn't my little baby anymore, but out there, compared to the massive trees, they look so small. I'm always reminded of how massive our world is and the fact that God created it all. The little butterflies, the squirrels, the crocus', the huge pine trees, the winding river, everything. It's so awesome.

This Tuesday we're starting our casual Tuesday's at Kinsmen Park. If you're in the area and need to get out of the house (provided it's not raining) come on out to Kinsmen Park between 10 and 11 am. Bring your kids and whatever else you may need. Hope to see you there!

It's Official

No I am not pregnant.

Thoughts from the weekend

Well our computer was down all last week. Stupid thing. Can't live with them, can't live without them, or so it seems.

We had an interesting weekend. Not a busy one, but interesting none the less. Yesterday my Grandma phoned me and she had fallen again. She's 88 years old and not doing the best. Steve was home, so I was able to go over to her place and help her up and sit with her awhile. It was funny listening to her phone people afterwards. Like a little child asking for sympathy. A little gleam in her eye as she says she's fallen (sigh) but she's okay now. She looks at me with a little smile on her face. No, don't worry about me she says, I'll be fine. I was reminded of my own children. When they fall or scrape something they immediately come to me for a kiss and some lovin' attention. Old people, so much like children.

Then there were thoughts of our Toyota Landcruiser. It's an '83 BJ60. We're trying to sell it. We're asking $4500, but lately we're wondering if we should sell it to a friend for less. Sort of a God thing. Set it out there and see what happens, what blessings might befall us.

We've been thinking about our neighbours, and how odd it is that we haven't seen or heard them all week. A good thing, but odd.

Of course we did the usual yard work, raking dead grass and pine needles here. Sawing branches off our trees there and eating freezies on the grass everywhere. On Sunday (BEFORE supper!!) we took our kids for ice cream. It was freezing yesterday, but our little guys toughed it out and seriously froze their fingers off, but boy was it worth it!! It amazes me how dirty they get from eating ice cream cones. Can they not feel the sticky coldness ALL OVER THEIR FACES??

Finally (well no not really, but I think Cinderella is done and my kids are running free upstairs) I thought about being pregnant again. There's a pretty good chance I am now, and we'll know for sure in a few more days. It's earlier then I wanted to be, I would have liked to wait a month or two more, but then I see those little babies, and everythings seems to be alright. We'll see. I bought some sweet maternity clothes at the clothing sale on Friday, so it makes it more exciting.

Now it's off to get some groceries so I can make something tasty for the potluck at Mom's tomorrow. See you there!

Neighbours

When we first bought our house, we thought it was a pretty good neighbourhood. We had a fancy, rich house on the one side, the other was a super sweet 90 yr. old man. Behind us was a young family who liked our dog. You can't argue with that. But then the 90 yr. old man turned 93 and the winter of '04/05 wasn't kind to him, so his family urged him to sell his home and move into a seniors complex. Goodbye Floyd, you are greatly missed. The house next to us sat empty for a few months. Then we heard it sold. We started seeing a younger couple come and go, but never saw any furniture. Then we saw a young native mother come, an older native woman go and yesterday a group of native teen boys sat on the fence smoking. Now to make myself perfectly clear, I have nothing against Natives. Unfortunately I worked in a pawn shop for a year, so I got to see the side that don't give a flying flick. There were those who did have good jobs and were nice people, but I will always remember the others. Like I said, I have nothing against Natives, but I do when they start messing with my stuff. Case in point this morning at 6 a.m. a beer bottle was thrown against our house (outer bedroom wall) and smashed into little pieces. Steve brushed it all up and put it back on their sidewalk, but I told him I'm afraid they'll just kick it into the grass between our two houses and I'd rather not that happen. See when these two houses were built, the two old guys who inhabited them were great friends. So they had a stone walkway built between the houses and they're just very close together. We've been wanting to put up a fence since we moved, now we're thinking we'll expand it a bit, the length of our house. Sigh. Times like these I really wish we lived on an acreage.

In other news at Mom's on Tuesday we watched a video about children who take tantrums. I know a few who do (mine included). It was pretty good. A few things were learnt. The speaker, Kelly Nault, really pushed trying to get your kids involved. Get them to help clean the house, or put groceries away. Yes it may take a long time, and patience is a virtue, but come 5-6 years when we want them to help out, they'll know how and it's easier then telling them to NOT help now and expect them to later. We got into table groups after and talked about ways to keep our kids occupied (other than TV....which sadly my kids are watching right now while I type this) and there were alot of cool ideas. Like finger painting, sidewalk chalk, filling a 9x13 pan with rice krispies and letting them play in it with little trucks, etc., putting snow (if you still have some) in the bathtub and letting them play with it, bubbles, getting them to help gardening, etc. It was pretty good. Another thing that Kelly pushed was having Mom's make a 100 Wish List. She said that Mom's without dreams are Mom's without hope (or something similiar) and that's no good. So then we talked about some of our dreams. Like I said, it was all good and I enjoyed it.

No Mom's next week. The Clothing Sale is on the 21st, so come on out for some good buys. The final potluck is on the 25th, there's always good food. Have a great week and pray for my new "neighbours"! :)

A Mother's Love

It's been awhile since I've been on the computer, so I decided to make some quick rounds this morning. I don't usually link to links in other people's sites but I will to this one. I have a friend who had a son die when he was like 5 or 6. I can't imagine. I'm inspired every time I see her. She's had more children since and would like to have more still. In my eyes, she's a great example of a Mother's love.

woody

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that also at Value Village yesterday we found this Woody doll (from Toy Story). It's gotta be like 2-3 feet. Comes with a guitar and everything. When Matthias found it he HAD to have it. Luckily I was able to keep it from him until I completely hosed it in ammonia. It was just funny last night when Matthias and Callah were arguing over who got to play with him. Then I remembered that we also had a little Woody (small action type figure) so I told Callah that she could have the small Woody and Matthias could play with the big Woody. I found it quite commical. I told Steve later that night that I was talking about big and little Woody's, and he barely even cracked a smile. But he's sick, so I'll blame it on that. Am I the only one that thinks it's funny?

third times a charm

There are a couple of cd's that bring back memories of the few months that Steve and I actually dated. One of them is Third Eye Blind. I had a copy of their debut cd (entitled simply Third Eye Blind) and Steve had his own copy. I had my own reasons for liking the band (the lead singer Stephan Jenkins had the coolest beard and he was hot) and I'm sure Steve liked them for whatever reasons. The fact was that we both liked them. I can remember playing cards at his house (our game of choice was rummy) till all hours of the morning listening to Third Eye Blind (and Third Day....hmmmm....there's seems to be a running theme here). Life was good. Then we were broken into and Steve's copy was stolen (as well as half of his other cd's). But we were still good, we still had my copy. A few years later, we were broken into again (different house) and they stole my copy as well as half of my cd's. Now we were without a copy of the cd. The memories were lost.
But wait!! Yesterday while shopping in Value Village (our store of choice) what do we see? A copy of the Third Eye Blind cd, perfect condition not a scratch on it (it was probably one of our stolen copies). I look at Steve, "should we buy it?" " I don't know, everytime we have a copy we get broken into and they steal it." "Let's buy it." So we bought it. I'm listening to it right now (and downloading it onto our computer!) and loving it! Ahhhh...the memories. It's soooo good.

Just Wait

Growing up I had the Blues Traveller tape cassette Four. I really enjoyed their music. I don't know what reminded me of them, but sometime last week I thought of them and looked up a bunch of their songs. The song Just Wait really hit home for me. For the past week you could say it's been a type of theme song. Last night at bible study (we've been doing this for awhile now, where we have a candle on a table in the middle of the room, and we can bring whatever we want, be it a song, baking, prayer request or praise or just how we're feeling, to the table of Christ. It's kinda cool.) I brought this song. It was kinda cool 'cos some other people had some praise and readings dealing with waiting. Anyway, here are the lyrics. Like I said, I thoroughly enjoyed them.

Just Wait

If ever you are feeling like you're tired
And all your uphill struggles leave you headed downhill
If you realize your wildest dreams can hurt you
And your appetite for pain has drinken its fill

I ask of you a very simple question
Did you think for one minute that you are alone
And is your suffering a privilege you share only
Or did you think that everybody else feels completely at home

Just wait
Just wait
Just wait
And it will come

If you think I've given up on you you're crazy
And if you think I don't love you well then you're just wrong
In time you just might take to feeling better
Time is the beauty of the road being long

I know that now you feel no consolation
But maybe if I told you and informed you out loud
I say this without fear of hesitation
I can honestly tell you that you make me proud

Just wait
Just wait
Just wait
And it will come
Just wait
Just wait
Just wait
And it will come

If anything I might have just said has helped you
If anything I might have just said helped you just carry on
Your rise uphill may no longer seem a struggle
And your appetite for pain may all but be gone

I hope for you and cannot stop at hoping
Until that smile has once again returned to your face
There's no such thing as a failure who keeps trying
Coasting to the bottom is the only disgrace

Just wait
Just wait
Just wait
And it will come
Just wait
Just wait
Just wait
And it will come
Just wait
Just wait
Just wait
And it will come

the sky is falling

...well no, not really, but Steve bought a pair of cowboy boots today and that could be thought of as the end of the world, or at least the world as we know it.

Looking Brighter

Well yesterday was a day from hell. It all started Sunday when my hubby and I had a little "argument" about my involvement in certain things. His point made no sense and it was just infuriating me. So that carried over to Monday morning...and Monday afternoon...and into the evening...and well we still haven't really talked about it, so I guess you could say into today as well. The bright spots, and there were some, were truly bright. Yesterday I pulled into a parking lot right after another minivan. The other Mom got out first and opened her side door to reveal her son. I laughed immediately at this little youngster who had removed his boot and was eating the mud from the bottom. His Mom laughed too and said something like "I thought he was hungry but I didn't think he'd eat his boot!" The little guy had mud smeared from one ear to the other. It was really funny.
This morning was my Mom's Morning clean sweep. I heard people laugh, questions were answered, prizes and gift certificates were handed out, so I think it was a good morning. There were no major mishaps on my part, so I guess that's all I can ask. At lunch the kids and I walked home from church after dropping Steve and the van off. And after their nap we played outside in the sun and sat in our lawn chairs soaking up the spring rays. That was my highlight of the day (forgetting about the snow still lingering under my feet).
Steve will be home soon, and it'll be time to "hit the pavement". I hate lingering problems.

In other news we all have colds once again. *sigh* PLEASE bring on the nice weather!!!!