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!

tired

So tired. So very tired.

What made me think I could do 3 weeks of holiday with only 2 nights of sleep in my own bed?

What made me think handling 2 kids (under 4) with messed up schedules would be easy?

Must find energy.

Must enjoy myself.

Must make the most of every minute.

Must go to a movie.

thoughts from week 1

1. I swear I'll NEVER forget diaper rash cream again.

Ever.

Even if I don't have kids, so that if some other uncaring, evil parent forgets their diaper cream, I'll be able to offer them mine.

2. It's a loooong walk from the tent to the outhouse piggybacking a near 4 yr old at any time of day.

3. Kids eat sand. Sand scratches up bum. Which leads to point #1.

4. Sunsets are always beautiful up north.

5. Mosquitoes like backs and bums. Always spray repellant on the area of your back that becomes exposed when you bend forward and your shirt rides up your back a bit.

6. PB & J is always a good thing to eat. No matter what meal it is.

And finally (well there are many high/bad lights but these are just the ones I can think of right now) when you feel that you should go home, follow your instincts and go home early. It's usually better than staying, freaking out and causing more pain that was necessary to make.

A week here and there

Yesterday we celebrated Callah's 2nd birthday with some close friends and family. I'd have to say it was a good time, altho' I can't read minds, so who knows what other people thought. She may be miserable and sickly of late (to prove this, she puked up something incredibly stinky and nasty at about 3 am last night) but I love our little angel. Who knew she could get so incredibly dirty while eating, or create something truly "special" with a bottle of ketchup and a spoon. That she'd love her thumb so much it takes an "army " of fingers to pry it from her mouth. And that she'd delight us in unimaginable ways with her laughter, her non-stop questions, and overall cuteness. So here's to you Callah girl, may God bless you richly and may you always know we love you!


Call me crazy, but today I'm heading out camping for a week with our youth group (7 of them) AND our 2 kids. I'm still having doubts. It'll be an adventure if nothing else.

Then when we get back from that, we have a day to regroup and repack before we head down to Katepwa (near Regina) for a week at a cabin with my parents.

Then we'll head to Regina (not home to PA) to regroup and rewash before finally heading to Calgary and Edmonton for our family vacation.

I already can't wait to sleep in my own bed again. Pray for me! ;-)

what would you do?

9:45 am

It's been a busy morning.

8:17 am - Matthias comes into our room and says, "Callah's making a mess with the ketchup."

8:40 am - We listen to the kids rendition of the Veggietales theme song (which includes a bunch of screaming and head bobbing from Callah)

9:07 am - The 3 of us watch as Callah turns in circles, falls down, has difficulty getting up and then does it all over again.

9:23 am - Matthias throws a blanket over Steve's head, gives Steve directions on where to walk, and Callah has a blanket over her head hanging onto Steve's leg.

and here we are...9:49 am and the kids are playing hide-n-go-seek.

blowup dragons

It was really hot today. Sickly hot. Humid hot. I hate hot hot. The kind where you go outside and the air is thick. Granted it's not as bad as down south (Florida-ish) but too hot for me. So thinking of cooling off the kids and I went hunting for pool toys (you know, in the odd chance we ever own a house with a pool). We went to JYSK, Dollar Store, Wal-Mart and Liquidation World. We actually bought a blue ring with handles at the $1 store and a baby floaty thing (which wound up having a hole in it, so we took it back, I really don't know why I bought it anyway as the weight limit was 25 lbs and Callah is nearly 30...wishfull thinking I guess) . Then at Wal-Mart we found this cool "easy ride dragon" for $6.95 (which I thought was a good deal, and I still do, so please don't tell me if it's not). Of course the kids couldn't wait to get home and blow it up so they could ride it. Funny as hell. They would sit on this thing and rock it back and forth, then it would flip and they'd be flat on their backs. Well, to me it was funny, I guess you had to be there. They wanted to take it to the park thingys (every day of the week at local parks here in PA, they have a "hang-time" where they have games, snacks, and water in a paddling pool from 1-5-ish...it's pretty cool) but I said they couldn't. Of course, now I'm the "bad Mommy".
Whatever, so we get to the park, there wasn't too many kids there (Hazeldell area, I was given the "411" that there weren't going to be many kids) and my kids completely forget about any blow-up toys the second they hit the water and start splashing. Fun, fun!! The only thing I'd have to add is that I stepped on a piece of glass in the pool. It broke the skin and went in pretty good. I'm just glad I found it and not some 2 year old.

Hmmm...that could be a weight thing. Maybe if I hadn't had that revel bar at lunch, the glass wouldn't have gone in so deep. We'll never know...

I'd still recommend the parks thingy. Just maybe let them run around in sandals.

driveby's

I love plums.

*Yeesh. As a side note, a few minutes ago the sun was shining and there were few clouds. After sitting down here a bit, watching the weather station, seeing thunderstorms are in the forecast for the next 36 hours, and then looking outside to see dark grey clouds, I'm thinking it was a good thing I took down the tents.*

Right.
I love plums. I love how sweet, soft and juicy they are. How when you take your first bite, the juice runs down your chin. They're just so good. On the few occasions I've had the luxury of going to the West Coast, one of the highlights has always been buying fresh fruit at one of the roadside stands. Plums, peaches, and cherries. Yum. I'm salivating just thinking about it.

I think it's time we head out west again.

sleepless in PA

Last week Steve was away at a church camp. The kids and I had planned to go along, but more kids than we had planned on signed up (which is a good thing) so there was no room for us. Which was fine. My parents were coming up to stay with my Grandma, so I knew that I wasn't going to be totally "out there". I don't know about you, but when Steve leaves over night I have the worst sleeps. I try everything. Staying up late till I can't possibly stay up another minute-being so tired that I'll just collapse into bed completely unconscious, drinking alcohol (same result), grabbing a pillow and pretending it's Steve (the "cuddle" factor), and sleeping with one or both of the kids. I honestly don't know how I got thru the week.

Then of course when he gets back, having another body in bed again, throws me off and I couldn't sleep anyway. The next night Matthias was up sick from 2 am to about 8 am. I don't know how he manages to stay so active on VERY little sleep, me on the other hand, was a complete zombie yesterday. To complete the sleepless nights, last night Steve went to bed at 10 pm, but me, in my so called "infinite wisdom" had a nap yesterday making me less than sleepy last night, so I stayed up to watch the 2nd half of A&E's Pride and Prejudice. Again resulting in an after midnite bedtime, to which God answered with a vicious thunderstorm that woke both the kids screaming postponing my bedtime to after 2 am. As much as I love thunderstorms...well I'm just to tired to continue that thought.

And of course there's no EDO being a Mother, so there's plenty of stuff I have to get done today, so the nap is looking pretty slim, and the kids still have an abundance of energy. I think I'll take them to the park anyway and try to drain them a bit. Might make my day a little easier in the long run.

If you're in the PA area, next Thursday (20th) is the annual KIDZFEST at Kinsmen Park. I've taken the kids the past 2 years. There's cheap food and drinks (either $0.25 or $0.50) lots of games and activities for the kids to play and participate in. It's definately a good way to kill an afternoon. So mark it on your calendars and hope to see you there!

"Mom."

Today Matthias started calling me "Mom". For some reason it makes me kinda sad. Like he doesn't "need" me anymore. Like he's all grown up. I miss being his "Mommy".

sand, beer and men in tights

We had a really good anniversary last week. Makes the 5 years of marriage worth it. Hopefully it was productive as well (more on that hopefully soon!). The weather was stupid hot so the pool and waterslide were a cool comfort after a day of shopping. True to my mother-in-law's word she booked us at the Days Inn. Here's my hotel plug, if you want an enjoyable stay, this would be my choice. They also had a good breakfast selection and the price wasn't too far out there. It's also a CAA/AAA choice hotel. We had the best burgers at McGuires Pub in S'toon. If you're ever in the area you gotta try these burgers. They are so HUGE. Thursdays just happen to be their beer/burger night. You get a choice of 3 burgers and a choice of a 12 oz. beer for $6.95 (burgers are regularly $7.95 and beer is $3 something). Like I said, awesome deal. Then we went and saw Superman. I tell ya, nothing gets a girl in the mood like seeing a man in tights. And the actor who played Superman, well, by the end of the movie, I was ready to faint. What a great guy!! So that was our anniversary. The next day we hit Princess Auto (yeah!!) then went to pick up the kids and found out that Callah had dunked a 3 week old kitten in a bucket of oil.

When we got home I found out that my Grandma had been admitted to the hospital. My parents came up the next day and it's been non-stop action ever since. Today we just came back from the beach. I think Callah is finally over her fear of not seeing her feet in the water. But boy, was it funny when she was. We weren't home but 10 minutes when she pooped and tried to take her diaper off herself. That was disgusting. Now after a quick shower (for Callah) I left them upstairs eating apples and cheeze. Suppose I should go check on them. She has a habit of doing things she shouldn't. Like spraying disinfectant on the floor until there's actually a puddle. Or opening the playdoh and rolling it on the carpet. Or my favourite, helping herself to the juice in the fridge and winding up dumping it on the floor.

Tomorrow it's suppossed to be 37 degrees C.

Ugh.

tank tops

With the weather being so hot nowadays, I find it hard to not wear a tank top. I've never been a huge fan of them. I don't think I even wore them really until I was like 18. I used to always cut off the sleeves of old T-shirts. It wasn't until I married Steve that I actually bought and wore a spaghetti strap tank top. I don't know, I just don't like looking down and all I see is boobs.

hot fun in the summertime

Well yesterday morning I had 2 screaming kids before 9 am. I was pretty tempted to call beach day off, but thought, why should I not "enjoy" my day just b'cos of 2 screaming kids? I shook off the obvious reasons and saw only 1 thing on my "lisa-vision": the beach. So we packed up all our stuff, gave Callah some Tylenol and cough medicine and went to pick up Dixie, Madeline and Luke. After loading up their stuff, a quick stop at the office, the Co-op and Tim's we were on our way.
The trip there was fine enough. No major fits or tantrums. It wasn't until we actually hit the beach that they occurred. Matthias had a complete fit when he saw Madeline carrying the bag of beach toys. Apparently carrying lawnchairs wasn't exciting enough for him. So after a brief "time-out" he returned to the "party" and we all had a good time. The water was beautiful, only one leech was found, lunch went over great (rather than making sandwiches for the kids we cut up a bunch of stuff and they could munch on a little bit of everything in a cup. It worked great!), Callah and Luke waited until we were almost ready to leave before they pooped in their swimmers. It was just a really good time. I think we can definately do this again sometime. Way better than sitting at home going stir crazy!
But that's just my opinion. Dixie took some pic's so we'll see if she downloads them and hear her side of the story.

Then we came home and had a $6 large pepperoni pizza from Domino's. The kids had baths and went to bed early. It was a great day.

But then the day ended. And of course, most good things have to come to an end. Steve's been working his butt off trying to get things ready for camp (which starts on the 2nd of July - 8th, then again from the 17-21) and a lady from church asked him to put some new flooring in. He's been gone from 8 am to 10:30 pm, sometimes later, and I'm just tired of him being tired. I like to talk to my husband from time to time. So that created a bit of friction last night. There always seems to be friction near our anniversary. For once I think I'd just like to enjoy it. That would be nice.

You see Steve and I met 5 years ago in February. 5 months after that we got married. 6 months after that we found out we were pregnant (not planned). 5 months later we moved. 6 months later we moved again. 6 months later we moved one last time. In that 2 year period we went through 6 jobs between us. I honestly didn't think we'd make it to our first anniversary. I admit I'm an emotional person. Since getting married, we've seen friends get married and would always ask them if their "honeymoon period" was over yet. They'd always say no. Which made us feel like dirt, 'cos I think our "honeymoon period" lasted the span of our honeymoon. Of course, since then I've also heard from alot of people that their first year of marriage was anything but pleasant as well. Which is encouraging. Sure we've had our ups and downs. Since we've stopped moving, things have gotten better. More settled. More happier and uplifting. Babies have been planned and not a complete surprise. I can still say that he's a dream come true. I mean after all, not every guy will shave a leg for you if you ask him.

So, Steve, thanks for the past 5 years and I hope there will be plenty more and never a dull
moment.