Monkeys in my bed ...

Welcome 2012!

2012-01-01T15:47:00.000-08:00

So new year is upon us! For us 2011 was a difficult year so we are hoping that 2012 is going to be a year of new prospects and new beginning. I know that I say that every year but this year I am hoping to accomplish all the things that I didn't get done in the previous years. I have 3 baby books to do (read *start* ... ), I have to finally get the basement cleaned out and done so we can use it instead of just paying for it, I have to get all the old family videos transferred to dvd's and all the pictures put on the discs. I also would like to scan all the old "film" photos and finally order photo books for them. After all what are pictures for if nobody ever sees them?

So how did we celebrate the beginning of this promising year. Well the way we usually do. We all change into our PJ's and watch a movie, eat yummy snacks and drink sparkling juice after we count down to the new year. I know that this may seem very boring to some party-goers, but spending a New Year's Eve with the ones we love most is the best thing in the world. Mike and I both have done the party-till-you-drop thing and we are more than happy to stay home with the kids and welcome the New Year. Yesterday's menu included a roaster potato, beet salad, and tofu dinner, popcorn while we watched a movie, and home-made donuts and cheese and crackers for midnight snack. And the best thing was that we didn't have to go anywhere to enjoy them. And we got to enjoy them with the people that matter the most.
Happy New Year Everyone!

There goes my last year resolution.

2011-12-28T21:59:00.000-08:00

OK, so last New Year sesolution was not so greatly kept! Why, you ask? Because so many things happened last year. As years go it was not the easiest. But we are still thankful for all the blessings that were besowed upon us. We have 3 healthy kids, our health is nothing to complain about, we got to keep our house, we have many people around us that care for us. So although there were some upheel battles fought this year overall we can't complain. We have learned a lot and bacame better people for it. We learned that you can't run away from your problems and you best deal with them while they are new. They are like wounds. If you don't clean a wound while it's fresh then it will scab over. And then it's so much harder to clean it out .... But here is to a New Year and new opotunities!!!!

Welcome 2011!

2011-01-09T13:47:00.000-08:00

OK, pat of my New Year resolution was to blog more so that at 6 months after the birth of Milo he is still not listed as one of our kids. I will be back with his birth story later since that takes a post of its own. Milo is a baby who needs a lot of time. He is a high needs baby just like Noah was and a sensitive little boy (just like his big brother was) and on top of it all he has reflux. Needless to say I am very busy mama.But it's all worth it since he is a ray of Sunshine. Even when he has spit up for the 4th time in a row he still manages to have a smile on his face.

Our kids are getting so big. Noah is outgrowing his size 7 clothes (he is still 6 for a month!) and Maya is getting so grown up. We always joke that she is a 30 year old stuck in 3 year old's body. Another new development is that Noah can read now. He sits on the toilet and reads!!!

I will post more as I get time, but in the meantime here is a pic of the 3 kids.

Life lately.

2009-11-17T00:13:00.000-08:00

Sorry for being absent lately but I have been so busy. I had no idea when I started homeschooling how much of my time it was going to take. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE IT!!!! We have been working on reading, and math (Noah can now read simple words by himself and more advanced words with a bit of help from us, as well as he is doing addition, subtraction, and simple multiplication). We have been learning some Spanish and couple of days ago he came down the stairs and said "mommy, abre!" I was so proud of him picking that up. Our study still evolves around dinosaurs since that is his main passion, but he is starting to be interested in all insect. It was our not so little (outside) pet spider that sparked this curiosity. After some searching we found out that the spider was a female (only ones that build webs) European Garden Spider. We also discovered that she eats her web every night and spins new one in the morning. She will soon lay an egg (after mating with a much smaller male) and die. It sounded a lot like Charlotte's Web to Noah and he understood that she has to die so new baby spiders can hatch in the spring. If we can find out where she hides her egg then we could watch for the baby spiders. If they ever survuve the terrible wind storms we have been having.

Maya's birthday.
We celebrated maya's birthday twice. Since Oct 8th cam out on the exact day that we were leaving for Sun Peaks (we go there every year with the whole family) we celebrated it as soon as we arrived to the hotel. Our original plan was to get there about dinner time, but fate had other plans. We ended up with a flat tire and had to drive 3/4 of the way on a spare. So instead of travelling 120km/h we travelled 80. It took forever. We ended up arriving there at 11;30 at night. It was a good thing that we had the cake with us. We just stuck some canles on it and let her blow out her candle. She loved it either way.
Our second celebration was when we got back from Sun Peaks. We invited some friends and family and had lots of fun. Maya loved all the company, but then again she, very much like Noah, loves to be the centre of attention. The only sad thing is that she is no longer a baby. I know that growing up is part of this whole journey but it still saddens me a bit that kids grow up so fast.

New baby on the way
So we are expecting again. We have been trying for a while and nothing was happening. Then finally on November the third I took a test and I could see a faint line. By faint line I mean the kind of line that POAS (pee on a stick) addict would see. If you have ever bought pregnancy tests on ebay in bulk you know what I am talking about (no judgments please, it could happen to anyone). But since I know that thiese lines are not usually confirmed by a person not curently wearing BFP (big fat positive) goggles (or one's husband as they lack the x-ray vision needed to see a line where there might not be one), I decided to wait till the following morning to test. It was the glorious morning when the 24 FRERs (First Response Early Result tests - the almighty of all the HPTs, or home pregnancy tests) arrived so I could waste a few. The test that morning was positive enough to go and get a digi (digital test that displays the word "pregnant" as opposed to lines). And what do you know, it said pregnant. I couldn't wait for Mike to get home. I bought him a little gift because that also happened to be our exact 10 year anniversary of us meeting, and packed the test on the bottom under the other gifts.
When Mike got home he opened the card and read it. All the time I was thinking for him to get to the test. But he took his time wanting to savor the moment. Then he opened the movies and totally missed the test that fell out. He then thanked me for remembering and I said "Ahhhh, what about the other thing" He didn't get it. So I pointed to the test. He looked at it and couldn't believe it. We then told the kids and Noah was very happy. Maya had no clue what we were talking about. Ahh to be 2 again.

To all my BLOG readers ...

2009-11-05T19:01:00.000-08:00

just shhhhhh *finger over lips* about it on Face Book:

We are super excited!

First day of "school", weekend away and tooth damage?

2009-09-08T23:34:00.000-07:00

What a great first day of our schooling. We had a very productive day. Noah woke up early (well, with me) and begun doing his worksheet. He loves those. I found a website where I get them for free and they come in different themes. Noah loves the dinosaur theme. He is going through Kindergarten ones now, but a big bunch of them is a little too easy for him. On the other hand practice makes perfect.
We also started doing some Spanish vocabulary, and Noah is picking it up nicely. I guess that Dora the Explorer ingrained some Spanish words in his little head.

We also had time to go for a nice bike ride with Noah and Maya. Noah is getting closer and closer to riding on 2 wheels. I guess that I will have to take a weekend and teach him. As long as I don't do what my dad did when he was teaching me. Well, it was not as much teaching as telling me to hold on just before he let go. I still have a scar where my knee met the uneven pavement (that was before the knee pad and helmet days). So I vow to be more gentle about it.

A nice ending to our day was doing a bead craft from IKEA. Noah made his representation of the world. It's beautiful. And now he is hooked. Maya wanted to do it too, but despite her best efforts she could not get the little bead onto the plastic board. She was quite frustrated.

Long weekend outing
We were lucky to have Mike's parents invite us over to the cabin over the weekend. It was nice, although quite short. Since you have to travel half a day to get there and half a day back it's almost not worth going there for one day. But we did since Mike's dad needed some help.

It was a nice day up there. Mike's brother and his son came too. The kids had lots of fun with their cousin. And although we were only a full day there Noah and Maya made nice memories of the cabin.

Tooth problems
I was playing with Maya couple of days ago and I noticed that she had a brown spot on 3 of her teeth. It looks like a cavity or something else. so I freaked out. How can my baby have a cavity. We are very diligent with oral care. We brush twice daily, don't do bottles for nap time (or any other time), give juice once in a while and always diluted, and don't do too much sweets. So how can my baby have a cavity. Unfortunately, I can't get into pediatric dentist till the 30th, so we will have to see. My numerous hours researching it on the net found that it could also be enamel hyploplasia, where enamel doesn't form properly because of illness, or medication. Here is a doozy though, that would have affected these forming teeth in utero or first few weeks of life since the teeth form then. Huh? My mommy guilt is going in override now!

The Duggars are preggo again, with 19th child!

2009-09-02T01:33:00.000-07:00

I have to say that both Mike and I are fascinated with Duggars. Yes, I DVR the show every Tuesday and watch it with Mike and the kids. I have heard that a lot of people have a problem with the size of their family and their beliefs, but I am a very liberal person and I have no problem with them. My thinking is that if they can afford all those kids, they love them, teach them to be good citizens then they are already further than 80% of parents out there. Do I believe that they are perfect image of what a family is supposed to be? No! There are no perfect families. What my image of perfect family is would not be my sister's image, would not be my best friends image, and would not be an image of the family I came from.
Would I ever have 19 kids? Not a chance in this world or the next!!! But I believe that to each their own. I like to have more of one on one time with my babies and toddlers, and that's why we strive for a bigger age gaps. But I do know people that like to have their kids close together and often have 2 kids under 2 or 3 under 3. And that's the beauty of being able to make your own choice. You want a big family, have it. You want only one kid, have that. You want to adopt, go for it. You want to keep trying for a girl even though you have just given birth to your 4th son, be my guest! And if you want to be pregnant with your 19th child, it's up to you.

I do wish Michelle and Jim Bob all the best. Happy and Healthy 9 months and a beautiful baby!!!

Why are kids sick when the weather is so nice?

2009-08-27T14:55:00.000-07:00

Noah is on his second day of fighting the flu today. It's not pleasant to deal with a child who only accepts PB&J sandwiches, Toy Story in bed (our bed by the way!) and has the manners of an emperor of Crankyland. But we deal with it somehow, and by we I mean me. Supermommy to the rescue. But I might have to clone myself in the near future (most likely tonight) since Maya has all the signs of entering Noah`s Sicky land. Yey me!

So our journey starts

2009-08-26T23:44:00.000-07:00

So it has been a while since I have updated. So long that Noah turned 5 in the mean time, maya started developing attitude, and Mike's work picked up so much that he is home only on Sundays. We have also made the big decision to homeschool. For those of you who think that we are absolutely out of our minds, relax; we are quite secure in our choice albeit a little nervous. We have done our research and have talked to people on both sides and we still want to give it a go. It's not that we think that public schools stink (for goodness sake I went to one and turned out just fine ... or so I think). I also know the concerns over socialization, but no worries there. Our kids are involved in community classes, play dates, they play at the playground, and Noah is in weekly dance classes (for the second year!). OK, I might sound like I am trying to justify our decision, but I am just trying to dispell some common misconception. So I will try to keep this blog updated to let everyone know how it goes. I don't think that we have anything to worry about a boy who reads at the age 5, knows what animals use camouflage for and can identify and name about 45 different dinosaurs and the periods they lived in...just saying

Updates, updates! Get your updates - January part!

2009-03-18T23:40:00.001-07:00

OK, so it has been a while since I posted last. It's not that I am slacking off, but I have been swamped lately. As of January 1st i took over all of our financial bookeeping responsibilities. When we got engaged 6 years ago we decided that it was time to join our money. At that point Mike took over all the financial stuff. I was more than happy to let him do that. He had more time and willingness to keep our books. I was never very good with money. Fast forward 6 years and Mike is too busy with work to keep up with it. As a matter of fact he got very behind. So I offered to take over, or should I say I had to pry the accounting book from his hands. I love my husband but he is a control freak (I know, I am the one to talk!). He would rather that it never got done than it got done by somebody else. But I begged and I pleaded and I got him to let go. So now I have a lot of catching up to do. It will get done, I just have to keep on going at it. And the poor economy and lack of work are not helping. It's hard to allocate money to different bills when you have little coming in.
I have also been doing some designing for Mike. I just finished his logo and I am planing to do his postcards soon so that he can go and drop then off at houses. Even if it generated a couple of jobs on top of what he gets from his comany, then that's a couple more than what we have now. I am trying to be optimistic. It's funny how people forget to pray when things are good but how soon they comeback to God when things are tough.
January was just a catch up month for us. But we didn't just work; we left some time to play too. Second weekend in january we went down to Science world for a dinosour exhibition. We were driving in the car one day when they announced that it was closing in couple of days. Well, I know how much Noah is into dinosaurs now so i knew that we couldn't miss it.
The exhibition was great. There were fossils of many different prehistoric species with the main attraction being the reconstructed replica of T-rex skeleton. Wow, did Noah ever love that. Maya on the other had was bored to death. But we solved that problem very soon with a visit to their regular science exploration room. This room amazed Noah when he was only 2 years old and it worked same wonders on his little sister. They were both ready for a nap after all that fun!
We also joined Taylor in calebrating her birthday at the Great Escapes. I am not a big fan of big indor playgrounds where parents let their kids loose and never watch them. At least the place in Coquitlam has a double check system where both the parent and the child wear a bracelet with a barcode on it, and neither of them can leave without the bracelets matching. Well this place doesn't have that. It has a bracelet system, but just for the kids. i took Maya's bracelet off way before we left and they just asked to see it. Forget that the child was no wearing it. But I guess that it's not my cup of tea anyways.
Either way, the kids had lots of fun. Taylor had a wonderful cake with Tinkerbell on it. Noah spent most of the time chasing around with his cousin Matthew, and Maya occupied herself in the toddler room. I managed to get a picture of Noah and Matthew, but I couldn't get the three older cousins together in the same place at the same time. So I just took a snapshot of Noah and Matthew. Taylor was having so much fun that I couln't see her most of the time.

Some more pics!

Some more from Science World

At the Science world

Daddy and Noah at T's party

Meeting Mel And Tai's new little bundle

Tea time with daddy!

Tay blowing candles

Cousins enjoying a hot dog

Noah and his friend

Christmas and Welcoming 2009!

2009-01-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

I know that it's a bit late in posting this, but better late than never.
Our Christmas we very quiet this year. We are used to Christmas packed with driving from one family member to another, but combination os weather and outside forces changed it this year. and let me tell you that I loved it. not that I don't like spending time with our family. I do, but there is nothing better than spending quiet Christmas Eve followed by lounging in my pj's on Christmas morning. So thanks to the great snow fall we got on Christmas Eve we got to spend the Christmas Eve by ourselves. I made bunch of yummy Polish food; traditional bigos (stewed cabbage), potatoe salad, pickled herring, borsch with mashroom perogies. And for the desert I tried Goat's cheesecake. We can't eat normal cheescake anymore because of Maya's allergy, so I have been meaning to try making a cheescake made with goat's cream cheese, but I have been hesistant about it. Well after we all tried it we are never going back. i made one for the New Years dinner at my inlaws too, except I made an orange chocolate one. Yummy
The kids got to open first set of gifts on Christmas Eve. They were very excited and tired at the same time. And very ready to go to bed after that. We all welcomed the morning in our brand new pj's. We have a tradition that all people who spend Christmas Eve at our place get a new pair of pj's to sleep in. This year it was only us, but it was still special.
After we opened the gazillion gifts we spent the morning with Mike's parents. We had a lovely lunch and then got dressed and went over to Mike's grandparents for dinner. Overall I would rate this Christmas 9 out of 10 (one point subtracted for not seeing all the family for Christmas).

New Years Eve was quiet for us too. We let the kids stay up late to witness it. We spent the whole day clearing the house out of all reminants of Christmas decorations so that we could have started the year on a clean note. Then we opened a bottle of sparkling apple juice for the kids and a bottle of champagne for us and we welcomed the new year. Than we snuggled up in our beds for the first time in 2009. It's going to be a wonderful year!

Noah and Maya ready for Christmas Eve

The table

Noah ready to dig in

Maya sitting patiently

Opening gifts on Christmas Eve

In front of the tree

The kids being silly

What a loving bunch

Maya opening her dolly

Daddy wants the camera

Noah and his wistle

Maya and her dolly

Noah opening gifts

More Noah

Daddy with his gift

Outside on Christmas Eve sprinkling magic raindeer food

Maya and I join in

Cookies and milk for Santa

Kids opening stockings on Christmas Eve

Opening gifts on Christmas Morning

Maya making faces

Noah showing off his socks

Noah and daddy

Maya and I

Noah helping Maya open her gift

And here it is .. new toy kitchen

Daddy opening gifts

Me and the kids

Mike helping Noah build his legos

Grandma Sue and Gramps over for brunch

At Grandma's for dinner

Maya at the dinner

Everyone gathering for the dinner

more family

Opening gifts at grandma's

Christmas dinner with mom

Opening gifts from mom and Chris

New year's eve

Kids waiting for midnight

A shot of me and the kids

Mike with the drinks

Maya discovered DVD

Mike setting the camera

Noah with his sparkling juice

Maya didn't like hers

Dinner at Grandma Sue's and Gramps'

Christmas season

2008-12-24T15:22:00.000-08:00

We have been so lucky to have a wonderful Christmas season this year. We bought all the gifts early (before Dec. 1st), so we avoided overplayed christmas carols at the stores which are now opened till 12 am or 24 hours (I think that is rediculous!) We played Christmas carols when we wanted them, and we didn't have to be shoved or pushed by angry shoppers who are more stressed than a bride on her wedding day. I tell you what we did more of; we played in the snow, we drank home made hot cocoa, we cut down our own Christmas tree, we decorate the house and that tree while listening to Christmas songs, I made a traditional Polish Christmas Eve feast, we baked cookies, Noah wrote a letter to Santa, and we spent many wonderful moments as a family. This might not be the way that others spent their Christmas, but it was picture perfect to us.

And not Christmas Eve is upon us, and soon we will share wonderful Christmas Dinned thinking of our families who are not with us (due to snow, and soon the kids will open their first set of presents, and then we will read "'Tis was night before Christmas" and we will put out cookies for Santa, and sprikle magic raindeer food on the front loan, and soon the kids will be asleep in their new p.j.'s (our little tradition that everyone spending the night at our place gets new p.j's) waiting and hoping for morning to be here. But till then we want to share some pics with you of our preparations for the Christmas season.

Annual Christmas Pics

2008-12-17T00:43:00.000-08:00

Every year at about the first week of December we go through the hassle of doing family pics. The first year that Noah arrived to our family we went down to Sears to get the pictures. But 80+ dollars for a set of pictures was just too much on one income. So next year I figured that a better investment was to get a tripod and a good camera, and couple of years later I got a set of backdrops from Ebay. Now the great thing about digital camera is that you can take an endless amount of pics and delete the ones that you don't want. So that is what I usually do. This year, though, we broke a record taking over 300 pictures!!! Yup, that's right, 300!!! 2 uncooperative kids, 2 tired adults, pre-christmas craziness, and you need to take 300 pictures to have these wonderful final ones. So enjoy. They only cost me 3 hours of my time and few gray hair.

Christmas tree picking!

2008-12-11T23:33:00.000-08:00

Our lovely time picking the perfect tree was upon us again. This year we took our time looking through all the trees to pic this lovely grand fir. It smelled beautiful. It looked even better! In the process we learned to recognize our christmas tree types and had a blast visiting one of our favorite farms. We love Alder Acres. It's a true gem! And we love our Christmas tree!

Our tree!!!

Noah gets this pic every year!!

Dinner out.

2008-11-30T22:15:00.000-08:00

Mike and I finally had a chance to have a grown-up dinner out without the kids. Grandma Sue and Gramps came to look after the kids while Mike and I went to La Masia for our Anniversary dinner out. The thing is that it was not our wedding anniversary, but our dating anniversary. Yes, we still celebrate our dating anniversary. And I am happy to announce that we have been together for 9 years now.

So Saturday evening, while grandparents looked after the kids, we went out for a lovely dinner. We started off with a great wine escargot appy to share. We followed with lovely entree, mine was seafood medley, and Mike had the most delicious stake. We finished off with a dessert (and I had one with milk in it ..... OOOOh, don't worry, I paid for it later). We had time to sit and talk about grown-up things without kids interrupting. It was so nice. When you have 2 kids at home you tend to forget how you get lost in time when you spend it with your spouse. It felt like the first date that we had all over. I didn't even notice how long we were there. I wish that we could do it more often. but I am happy with having that special time at least twice a year. Our kids are young now, but they won't be forever. And some day we will be able to go out more often that that, ..... well at least three times a year.

A special day visiting Noah's dance class.

2008-11-30T00:37:00.000-08:00

I was very lucky that this Saturday was a parent visit at Noah's class. I have never observed his class, and my only knowledge of what was going on in there was a 4 year old description of his class as "we did the same stuff as last time." So I was pleasantly surprised. The terachers were very nice. Once they got settled in all the parents were invited in. We sat on chairs around the room. It was such a nice experience seeing what they do at the class every week. Here are some pics

Gramps' birthday dinner.

2008-11-26T15:41:00.001-08:00

Thomas show

2008-11-22T00:24:00.001-08:00

We have recently went as a family to see a Thomas Live Show. We paid 30 bucks a ticket, so we expected decent show. And the show was great, we just couldn't see it. We got tickets in an "P" aisle on the floor, and that meant that there were 15 rows of people in fron of us, so the kids had to stand on the floor to see anything. But the show was nice. And the best of all it had a 20 minute intemission and lasted only 1.5 hours total.
Here are some pics:

We go to the movies.

2008-11-18T14:44:00.000-08:00

Sunday we took the kids to the movies. It was Maya's first experience with movie theatre and popcorn. We went after Maya's midday nap, so that she would be happy and content. While Maya napped Noah and Mike enjoyed one of their special daddy-Noah outings. They went to the bowling alley. Noah did really well with it, averaging 112 per game! Sometimes I don't even bowl 100! So Mike started contemplating putting him in a peewee bowling league. We will see about that though.
So the movie of choice was `Madagascar 2`. Maya has seen the previews and it looked like something that she could sit through. Noah`s first movie-theatre movie was `The Hefalump Movie`which had a running time of about an hour, and because it was a little kids`movie it had no previews and the volume was turned down. Not so for Madagascar, which is deemed a movie for all age groups. Maya did really well for the first hour, but then she got antsy. So I ended up walking the halway of the movie room with her while watching the rest of the movie. So she did considerabley well for her age. And Noah ... he loved it. He kept on asking us what was our favorite part. So although I still prefer a movie at home, since I can pause it to get a healthy snack, once in a while it is a treat to go to the movies.

Maya takes her 1st steps!!! and updates.

2008-11-07T14:38:00.001-08:00

Maya - So Maya took her first steps a day before she turned 13 months. She was so proud of herself. Noah actually saw her attempting to take steps few days prior, but I didn't see how much she walked. I am happy, because she might need me to carry her a little less. Although I think that she is quite clingy because of her molars coming in. She now has 8 teeth which help her chew all the food she eats. Her favorite think to eat are crackers, goat milk mozzarella cheese, pomegranate, and tea (not necessarily in the same meal.) She still nurses, although most of it is at night now as she is too busy with play during the day. She is quite a talker too. Here are some of the words she can say :
duck
more,
juice,
ckrkr (cracker)
play
grg (George as in curious)
dady
mama (mommy)
oah (Noah)
mnam (namies as we call nursing)
ack (backyardigans)
ego (Diego)
vroom vroom (car)
aaaaah (airplane)
dog
beby (baby)

On top of this she can also motion for things and point to what she wants, If she gets hurt she comes and points to her "awie" for me to kiss it better. She also stands up for herself, although we don't approve in the way she does that. If Noah takes something away from her she chases him with her teeth ready to bite. She loves playing chasing games with Noah. She is going through Diego stage (from 'Go Diego Go"), and although Noah doesn't even watch that show he has some PJ's with Diego on it, and she loves to play with them. She wears size 12-18 month clothing. She measures 29 1/2 inches and weighs 21lbs 8oz. She is down to one nap a day now. We have a tradition that on 1st birthday we set out a number of items in front of our child (like book, pot, camera, jewelry/money, ... etc) and let them pick out the item they like. This will represent what career path they will choose in the future. well, Maya looked long and hard at the items and picked out a book. So she will have a career that has to do with books, like scholar, teacher, librarian, writer, book reviewer, or the like. This might be not the real thing, but it's a fun tradition that my family has had for a while. When i was a baby I chose money, and Noah chose camera.So Maya is happy with a book! Overall she is a happy little toddler now (wow, I can't believe that she is a toddler now).

Noah
Time flies by so quickly. Noah is going to be turning 5 in 3 months. I still can't believe the changes he has gone through. He is so very independent now. Noah at 15 months

He wants do do everything himself, and he loves to help his daddy do "manly" stuff. We promised him that he can help his dad put up the Christmas lights this year for the first time. He already helps Mike clean the car, and cut the grass, and do work around the house. He is counting to 100 now, and is picked up letters quite quickly. He is sounding out letters and learning how to read. He still loves books, as he always has, and he often loves to go to Chapters. He still loves Thomas, but he is also into cars, planes, and dinosaurs now. School is going well, although he is disappointed that the school doesn't use more Thomas books for their story times. He has a best buddy at school, his name is Braden, and he is the nicest little boy. This is Noah's last year in preschool, and in January we are going to register him to kindergarten class in the school beside us. Unfortunately Braden and Noah will not be going to the same school next year.
Noah is growing like a weed. He is wearing size 5-6 (depending on a brand), and size 11-12 shoes. He is super excited about Christmas. It's his favorite time of the year. Although he likes the presents, he loves all the Christmas events we attend, the cookie baking (he just looooves cooking), the Christmas tree decorations, making gifts for everyone, etc. But don't get me wrong, he still loves the presents. His Christmas wish list is longer than Santa's list of naught children, and it will take a long time to narrow it down to few items. That's what big boys do, ask for fewer thing ... haha

Mike and I
Mike and I have been together for 9 years as of November 11th. Yup, it was our 9 year dating anniversary. I always knew that we would be together forever, and 9 years is saying much. Our lives are super busy, but one thing that we have going for us is that we communicate well. Even when we are angry at each other (and that happens in the best of relationships) we talk. Some people believe that sex is the most important thing in a marriage, but I believe that talking is way more important. A solid marriage can survive long periods lacking sex but no marriage can survive lack of communication. And we communicate in so many ways. Words are important, but so are our actions. As a matter of fact 90% of what humans say is without words. OK, that;s my fact for the day. LOL
Mike is busy with work now, so for now I am a work widow. Most of household chores fall on my back. But Mike helps alot when he can. I do appreciate the fact that he is very involved with the kids. There is nothing more sexy than a man who loves his kids and plays with them.
My business is coming together. I got the label proofs to approve, and now I am just waiting for them to ship to me. I am finalizing the pattern, and shopping for e-store solutions. It's a lot of work, but I am hoping that once all the prep work is done then I can just do the diapers.
I started running again. I have bought a Quinny jogging stroller about a month ago, and I am running 3 times a week while Noah is in school. It feels so good to do something for myself for a change. And I love running, although I have not run in 9 years (coincidence with meeting Mike, I think not ... haha). So I have more energy now, plus I give a great example to my kids that taking care of their bodies is so very important. It's true what they say, having kids forces you to be a better person.

More pics from Noah's Halloween school party and dance class.

2008-11-05T00:35:00.000-08:00

Here are pics from Noa'h Halloween party ar school:

Noah sitting with his friends

Noah with his best buddy, Braden.

Noah with his cousin, Taylor.

****

Noah's dance class pictures from Halloween

Halloween fun!

2008-10-31T22:38:00.000-07:00

Mike carving pumpkins with the kids Some pics of Maya in the butterfly costume I made for her Some pics of Noah in his Dinosaur costume that he insisted I make too. His sessiom ended early because the leafs that we brought in had a worm in them, and during him throwing the leafs into the air one landed on his NOSE!!! He freaked out a bit. LOL. It was so cute!

Some pics of trick or treating at night:

Noah and Maya in their costumes

Maya's and Noah's first football game.

2008-10-28T15:32:00.000-07:00

We went to our first football game with the kids. Mike's parents came along. It was a blast. Mike asked Noah when we were driving dowtown what team he is going to be cheering for. Noah's answer, whatever team daddy doesn't cheer for. HaHa. So our 4 year old is already defiant ... Mike was fine with it. So Mike cheered for BC Lions, and Noah for Toronto. We were surprised that Maya sat through the whole game. She was super pooped after but she was there the whole time (minus the diaper changes). Only hickup of the evening ... the family room at the stadium. It sucked! No baby change table, only wet side of the counter no bigger than 18 inches. Try to change your baby there! UGH! And the family room (only one for a stadium that holds about 6000 people) was on the other side of the place. So everytime Maya peed her diaper I had to drag her all accross the place. Note to self, wait to go to another game till Maya is potty trained.

Lesson in frienship

2008-10-23T17:17:00.001-07:00

I have been thinking about a friend lately, or should I say an ex-friend. We met working as cashiers when I was 19. We quickly became friends. She was there when I met Mike. She was in my wedding party and I was in hers. But something happened to our friendship over the years. It started quite innocently; I would call her to talk and then she would promise to call me back, but she would never do. Then we lost touch after Noah was born. One day, a year later I heard from her. She asked me to be her Matron of Honour at her wedding. I tried to fulfill my duties although I was sick due to molar pregnancy. I even ignored her friend's comments that I should have done more. I didn't want to make a scene. It was her time and a good friend would acknowledge that. I called her few weeks after her wedding to tell her about my ordeal with molar pregnancy diagnosis. Our conversation was short. She had to make dinner for her hubby, but she would call me in the evening. No phone call came that evening. None the next. As a matter of fact one and a half years go by before I receive an email from her. I am pregnant with Maya. She is pregnant with her daughter. She says we lost tough. I, a little hurt, remind her of our last conversation and suggest that we stop being friends and move on. She apologises and promises to be a better friend. I decided to give our friendship another shot since she might have not known how to handle my molar pregnancy. So I get excited to have a pregnant friend so we could talk about pregnancy with. But Mike thought that she contacted me because she needed me to throw her a baby shower. All in all we meet only once during our pregnancies and we also attend each other's showers (her MIL threw her one, so I was off the hook although I offered to help). Well her little girl was born 3 weeks before Maya. Next time we saw each other was in January, and she informed me of her birthday party in May. We made plans to call eachother the following week to meet up again. I phone but she doesn't phone back. I decided not to go to the birthday. Our friendship was dead by then. But she emailed me in July to inform me that she was pregnant with her second and ask to meet again. Well, what can I say, I am a sucker for giving second ( and third, and Fourth chances) so I agreed to meet. It was a nice visit, but the second thing out of her mouth was "since you missed my birthday I want you to keep September in mind so you can come to my daughter's birthday". That made me feel uneasy. I love attending my friend's functions, but I started to get a feeling that she only invited me to get more people coming to her party. We made plans for her to call me the following week so we could meet again. And again no phone call. None till her daughter's birthday. As much as it pained me to miss the birthday, I did.
So our friendship is over. It's funny because I keep saying that we have been friends for 10 years now where in fact we have been friends 10 years ago. The hardest thing is that no one ever expects a friendship to end. A relationship has a small print attached stating that in case of differences in character the love relationship will not last. But friendships are supposed to last forever. It's not her fault. It's not mine. At this stage of our lives we are just on different paths looking for something different from our friendships. I need fewer but deeper friendships but she is looking for more friends that don't need to know her so well. I am sad. I thought that we would have been friends forever, but that is not so. So instead of holding it against her, I vow to remember the good times we had and remember her as a good friend that meant so much to me 10 years ago.

Falling for Pumpkin patch

2008-10-21T17:51:00.000-07:00

Yup, it's that season again. The leaves are turning orange and yellow, the birds are migrating south, the weather is getting colder, it gets dark soooo early in the day now; in other words it's pumpkin patch time again. This year was our 4th year going to Aldor Acres. It's a really nice farm run by a nice family. We get our Christmas trees from them too, but that is couple of months away still.

Although busier than any other year we attended, this year was by far the best. The weather was nice, I wasn't pregnant and cranky, Noah was really enjoying the animals, Maya had a taste of beelicious honey, and Mike run into an old friend of his. We had a lovely time, and here are some pics to prove it.

Maya's Birthday party yesterday.

2008-10-19T11:37:00.001-07:00

We finally had Maya's party yesterday. It was lovely. We were very thankful for all the people that could make it. Maya was a little cranky because she missed her nap, but she had lots of fun. Up to the point when she fell asleep in my arms, that it. LOL. So we had fun. Here are some pics from that wonderful day:

Maya is 1 year old today!!!

2008-10-08T14:10:00.001-07:00

So our little girl turned 1. I can still remember everything from a year ago.How I wanted her to be here already. I was overdue, tired, and really wanting Maya here. I went on a hay ride at a pumpkin patch, enjoyed labour-inducing intercourse, and rubbed a birth starting belly oil all in hopes of getting things started. And so she came. At home, in the presence of her family, on a calm Thanksgiving monday morning, she arrived. So tiny and helpless she was. But she grew. She learned to move, learned to eat, learned to communicate. And now a year had passed. Maya is taking her first steps towards being a toddler. And if I get a little nistalgic then so be it. I have seen a liitle baby girl turn into an independent little child who knows what she wants, and can definately let you know. So we celebrated her 1st birthday on the day of her birth. Just the 4 of us. With some home made cake and gifts for Maya from Noah and us. So here are some picture from our little celebration.

We have a new computer ...

2008-09-30T15:40:00.000-07:00

Our computer gave up the ghost!!! So we got a new one. Last one was a laptop, this one is a desktop. It's going to be mainly for home and my work. It's nothing expensive, but it runs so much better than the old one we had for 4 years.

On a good note I have done my work logo. Here it is.

Now I am just waiting for the business labels to be done, and an e-store to be set up. All my fabrics are on their way.

Tiana's baby shower.

2008-09-29T15:56:00.001-07:00

Here are some pics from Tiana's baby shower. Can't believe that her boy will be here soon!

Wow, Taiana, you're having a big baby.

Look at that happy mamma!

Opening gifts ...

Ang and Jen (don't worry Jen, it's the nice pic!)

The cutest gift for a bike-riding mama

Look how happy she looks ... so cute!

Tai and I

Now her shirt says "touch my belly ... loose a hand" ... LOL, I wish I had that tatooed on my forhead when I was pregnant.

Girls, you can save the pics, just click on a pic you want and then left click to save. You can then print them or save them to your disc.

Noah's compassion.

2008-09-22T13:32:00.001-07:00

Our little boy keeps on surprising me all the time. I knew of his sensitive side, but his love for all things living is something special. I had 2 examples of it in the last week alone. The first happened when we went to the Zoo on Pro-d day. It was a regular Monday without school. Noah was super excited about going to the Zoo, as he always is when we are ready to go there. It was quite late in the day so Mike was going to meet us there after work. Noah decided that he wanted to go on the train ride, but we would have to wait over an hour for our spot on the train. So I decided that we would walk the Zoo grounds while we waited for the train and for Mike. Well, we didn't walk far before I spotted a pigeon in the grass just to the side of the paved walking trail. To my surprise he did not fly away when I got near him. Noah was very concerned about the pigeon. I told him that he might be hurt and that's why he didn't fly, but I also didn't want to jump in there is the pigeon was just more "tame". So I told Noah that if he was still there in the grass when we come back from walking the trail and going on the train then we would inform the Zoo care-takers and have them look after him. While we walked the Zoo grounds I told him a story of how my mom saved a bird that was hit by a car, and how we took him home with us and nursed him back to health, and how we let him go when he was better. Noah loved that story and had me telling the story 5 times, the whole time being quite concerned about the pigeon. The train ride was nice. We don't get to go out with Mike to many places because he works so much, but it was nice to have him on the train ride with us. When we got back to the pigeon spot the pigeon was still there. Not flying, just moving. As agreed I got Mike and Noah to go and find a Zoo worker. A nice lady came and said that the pigeon looks otherwise unharmed, but sometimes if they fly into something they may get a bit stunned. So she brought a cage and caught the bird. She promised to look after him and see how he does overnight. Noah was so happy. All the way home all he could talk about was how he helped a pigeon that was hurt and could not fly.

Another compassion moment happened when Noah overheard a story on the radio. The night before Mike and I watched the news. The cover story was about a boy who got a puppy from his parents as a gift for finishing his cancer treatment. One day couple of hunters walked by their house and shot the puppy dead. There was a bit more to the story, but that was the gist of it. The newscaster on the radio the following day announced that the story had a happy ending as a dog breeder who heard the story decided to donate a new puppy to the boy. Noah was curious, so I told him the whole story. A funny thing is that a couple of day ago we had a talk about guns. See, Noah watches Mythbusters with us all the time on Discovery Channel. It's a nice educational show, but it does test a lot of myths pertaining to guns. So I had to explain to Noah that guns hurt people and animals, and that the way that mythbusters test it is to not hurt anybody. So this story tied in nicelly to our talk about the result of people using guns. Noah was so sad for the boy and the puppy. He started crying and asking more questions. I offered for him to watch the story on the afternoon news, and it made him happier. He was very happy after the news story. He still kept asking about the dead puppy, but said that he is happy that the new boy got a new friend. Who new that he loved all living things so much?

Tip of the day
This one was invented by us as a means of taking out Noah's slivers without the need for needles and tweezers. See, Noah came home from a family dinner one day with about 20 slivers in his hand and additional 10 in his forearm. Since he was only about 2 and a half he would not let us come close to him with tweezers (forget the needles). So what do couple of resourceful parents do. Use scotch tape. Yup, you can take out slivers and small glass shards from skin using a sticky tape. Just apply the tape in the direction of the embedded sliver and pull the tape off. It works like a charm for all the slivers that poke out of the skin. You can use tape that has a bit more stickiness if Scotch tape doesn't work. You can also soak your skin and then air dry before doing that to loosen it out.

Another update post ...

2008-09-09T01:48:00.000-07:00

So we welcomed another school year! Noah is in his second year of preschool now. He went back to school happy that he will be returning to most of his old friends, and some of the new ones. Noah's younger cousin (third cousin, I think ... we just call her his cousin) Taylor joined his class. Noah and Taylor always play so well together that we expect both of them to get more time with each other while in school. Braiden, Noah's best little buddy is also continuing in the same little class. These two boys have lots of fun together. Braiden has a little sister, only few months older than Maya, so we expect the girls to play together soon as well. Noah is still very much into Thomas, and dinosaurs. Thanks to his ever growing curiosity I have learned a lot about dinosaurs. He saved his allowance to buy a big bucket of dinosaurs from Animal Planet, and he has a lot of fun playing with them. Noah also loves books. He often sits in the corner looking at one book or another, but his favorite time is when we read him a bed-time story, or few children's poems at night. Noah starts his dance school this month. He is very excited to be going to an actual dance school where they have a concert at the end of the year for all the parents and family members.
Maya is getting big now. I can't believe that she is 11 months now. Next month she will be celebrating her 1st birthday. She is quite the "cruiser" but she is just too cautious to let go and walk on her own. Most days she is down to 1 nap now, so that makes my life easier. She still only has 6 teeth, but is in the process of cutting two more, at least that's what I think that all the fussiness and clinginess is all about. She still loves Curious George, but her new obsession are planes and dogs. She will spot a plane from far away, and makes a panting sign as soon as she sees a dog. I have to get her weighed and measured, so I will post that when I get a chance. She has started to scribble on paper. I was quite surprised at how early she took to it. Noah wasn't interested till he was about 13 months. Well, of course he loves to color now, and finally started to stay within the lines. Maya's new accomplishment is that she loves to share everything. She shares her crackers, her toys, her crayons. Most days she'll comply when you ask her to give you something, and that helps when she gets hold of an item she is not supposed to have.

Mike and I are taking a little time to adjust to the new schedule. Mike's work picked up now, so I am a "work widow" 6 days a week. It's hard managing it all on my own, but I get it done. We try to make sure that we spend some quality time every Sunday, otherwise we are just strangers living under the same roof. Mike's family is going through a bit of a rough time since his uncle started battling terminal cancer. It definitely makes you realize how short life is and to do the best to live it fully. We will all be keeping Mike's uncle in our prayers and hoping that the doctors are all wrong.
On a different note I have a major "baby-fever". I have few of my friends who are expecting in the near future (Tai, you'll be a mama by next month!!!), and that makes me want another one soon. If it was up to Mike then I would be pregnant right now, but I and mother nature disagree. Although I really want another one soon, I want to have them spaced out a little more. This, plus my AF had not returned after having Maya, and it probably won't till I stop breastfeeding (and maybe even later, according to my doc). And since Maya is not weaning anytime soon we are safe for no baby right now.
My business is going great, although slow. I have purchased most of my supplies from various coop groups, and they are slowly coming in. I have also bought a new sewing machine, since the old one is good for nothing anymore. I wish that I could have gotten the top of the line 2000 dollar one, but we just can't afford it right now. So I got a 200 dollar Brother computerised machine. It's nothing fancy but it will do.
Speaking of purchases, I am in the market for a jogging stroller. I think that I am ready to try that again. Last time I jogged was when I was going through the eating disorder (10 years ago), and I have been so afraid to go down that path again. But with Mike's support and strong will I hope to get into a healthier set of mind without venturing down that scary road. So we'll see how it goes.
Here are some pics from summer, since it is all done now!

On all things father and son ...

2008-09-07T22:09:00.001-07:00

It's soo funny watching the relationship between Mike and Noah slowly develop. For the first two years or so, Noah was my little baby. He spent lots of time with me, was never interested in his dad's work, or football games, or competitive spirit. He spent his days with me watching episodes of a cute purple dinosaur, dancing in the living room, or baking cookies. With time he became more interested in what his dad is all about. He never lost the interests for the things he loved doing with me when he was a toddler, but now he expanded his repertoire to include some "manly" activities. His biggest motivation is that he misses his daddy a lot when Mike is at work. He often says that he wants to go and work with his daddy, but when asked why he says that it's because he misses his daddy when he is at work. Poor guy! Mike works very long hours 5-6 days a week, and Noah is now craving that manly presence. But as he gets older Noah begins to understand that he is becoming a little man. Ad since Mike works long hours Noah tries to fill his "man shoes" when Mike is not at home. It's mostly cute and innocent. He tries to help me in taking care of Maya, he carries in heavy things. he puts on a brave face when I get upset at something. But there is a bad side to that. When Mike comes home Noah challenges his authority. Like a male lion cub he challenges his Lion father in hopes of running the family. Ok, maybe it's not that primal, but the idea is the same. So we decided to remedy that by scheduling a daddy-son time every 2 weeks. And this week was the first time. Mike took Noah to mini golf. They had a blast! And so our new traditions is born.

Maya, aka Jail Bird!!!

2008-09-02T02:18:00.000-07:00

Our little innocent Maya has a record!!! No, not a record of height or immunization ... A POLICE RECORD! Is she the youngest 10 month old to have one, I don't know, but one thing is for sure I have never heard of a baby that young having one. It all started when we were getting the kids to bed. It was Monday night of the long weekend. Noah didn't start school till the 3rd so we let both kids stay up late on the last night of summer. I had left Maya and Noah in Mike's care while I went to get my jammies on. Maya was playing with the phone on our bed, but I didn't think much of it. As long as she wasn't complaining. When I returned, all comfy in my pj's I took the phone from Maya and heard someone saying "hello?" on the phone. Automatic reaction-turn the phone off. So I did exclaiming to Mike that I think that Maya just called someone. For the next minute we brainstormed as to who she could have called. Since I only have 3 numbers programmed into the house phone we figured that she phoned a Family member. And then someone called us! Mike and I looked at each other and instinctively said "you get it!" I made an excuse, Mike made an excuse; no one picked up the phone. We agreed that whoever it was would just leave a message. So the answerig machine came on ... once, twice, three times. No message. I called *69 to find out who it was, but the recording informed me that the number did not accept calls from this number. I thought it odd, but I thought that maybe it was someone calling us while blocking their number. Boy, was I wrong! I did not find out till 10 minutes later when a knock at the door filled our house. Mike looked at me and went downstairs to open the door. My first thought was that it was Mike's parents who drove all this way since they were worried because we called them and then failed to pick up their phone calls. There was a siren in a background, probably firetruck leaving the fire station. And then it dawned on me. POLICE! Maya called the police. I took Maya off my breast and asked Noah, still parading in his underpants, to sit and wait. I could hear Mike downstairs explaining himself to what sounded like 2 police officers. I thought to myself that this will leave a spot on that parent of the year award! Footsteps up the stairs signalled the appearance of non-uniformed female police officer. She was slender build and very pretty. I apologized for the inconvenience but she assured me with a smile that it happens more than anyone would believe. She had to follow the procedure though and check every room of the house. I wished that she would have arrived after my nightly cleaning session so that I would at least look like an ignorant parent that wasn't a slob! She said to me that it must have been my 4 year old, but boy was she surprised when I informed her that it was in fact my 10 month old. Before they left they took Maya's name, age, and birthday to put down in their records. Mike and I laughed and vowed to A) never let the kids play with a phone again, and B) pick up the phone when they do it again in the future.

Tip of the day
For cloth diapering mammas. I hate using cold cloth wipes on my baby's tushy, especially in the cold months. Solution - I bought a soup thermos, one of the stainless steal ones. Before any outings that require me to take ready made wipes with me, I just fill the thermos with wipes and hot water, squeezing out the excess water with the back of a spoon. The wipes will stay warm for up to 8 hours, although be cautious if you need one right away as they will be hot.

!st birthday here we come!!!

2008-09-01T16:58:00.000-07:00

For those of you that don't know that I have been part of an Ovusoft message board since I was 14 weeks pregnant with Maya. All of our babies were due within couple of weeks of each other, and we all delivered within a month of each other. Well our earliest baby is turning one this week, and that made me thing really hard about Maya's upcoming birthday. I can't believe that it's been a year already. So I am thinking "Curious George" theme. She loooes curious George. I already got the invitations and napkins and plates. We are going to have a buffet style dinner. For the cake I will bake a cake and make curious George out of it, and the I will have a platter with cupcakes that will serve as balloons that curious George will be holding. We were thinking of doing it from 3-6 pm. That's all that I came up with for now.

Small lesson in death and existance.

2008-08-27T00:44:00.001-07:00

I was not expecting this right now. Not yet. I have read all the books on child development, and even took a course in university on child psychology, so I knew that this subject was going to come us sooner or later, but I was just not prepared for it. I had to explain death to my son! I can deal with sex, guns, gay people, and all the awkward other subjects that kids tend to bring up, but death and God make me uneasy. Maybe because I am not quite understanding them myself. But that's the beauty of children; they will make you face your uncertainties so you can find an answer to their questions. The problem with the subject of death is that I know that death makes people sad, and I don't like to think that something would make my child sad. Not the kind of sad that they feel when they don't get a toy they wanted, but that deep sadness that comes from loosing someone close. The kind of sadness that never really goes away, just lessens with time. And God? Well, I believe, that's for sure. I was born into a Roman Catholic family. My whole family was very religious. I was baptized and received first communion, but due to us immigrating I never went through confirmation. Mike and I were married in my church and Noah was baptised there. But once Noah came everything changed. At first he was too little to grasp the concept of God, and he developed a fear of church. I think it had to do with a gloomy atmosphere during the service. When he hit 18 months he would start screaming and throwing himself on the floor if we ever came near a church. So we stopped going. We started introducing Jesus and concept of God at home, and we even got him a kid's bible. And then Maya came. And we wanted to baptise her, but they would not do it at my church if we didn't have Catholic godparents. So it made me start to think. I know what I believe, and I am very secure in my beliefs, but I wasn't sure that I believed in the church institution, at least not the one that I have been attending for 29 years! I believe in God, but I believe that he is in everything and everywhere. When you look at the face of a child, that's God! When you witness a beautiful sunset, that's God. When you get that loving feeling while spending time with your family, that's God. When you eat your meal, that's God. When you receive an act of kindness from a complete stranger, that's God. When you look at a beautiful painting, that's God. When you read a poem that moves you, that's God. God is in every being, every gesture, every object, every act. And many church institutions miss that fact. Yes, the Bible is the word of God, but so is a kiss from your husband, a sweat on a brow of a firefighter, or a laughter of a child. I also believe that Jesus was a real person. He loved like us, ate like us, and performed all the humanly functions just like us. Would I thought of him any less if he had a family, NO! Yet many church officials are ready to do anything to keep him as far away from being human as they can. And yes, i did watch DaVinci Code, and thought it a nice novel, but there is one line in it that I really liked; "why does it have to be human or Divine, why can't human be Divine?" So needless to say that subject does not come easy to me neither, since so many things that I believe have been taught to me as being wrong.

But getting back to my story, I had to tackle one of these subjects this week. Couple of weeks ago Mike made a bug screen for Noah's window, but miscalculated the height of it and the window screen is about 2 inches too short. We left it on for now since it got much colder here now, and that window doesn't get opened much. Well a couple days ago a little bug flew in and got caught between the screen and the window. Noah noticed it and freaked out. Everyone should know by now how petrified he is of bugs. He won't eat his breakfast if there is a fruit fly on a fruit basket on the table. A FRUIT FLY!!! But I assured him that since the window was closed the bug would not fly in, and that eventually he would find his way out and fly away. But he didn't! Instead he stayed there, trapped between the screen and the window and eventually died. Noah found him couple days later, and started crying. He asked what happened to the bug, and I replied that he died. With tears in his eyes Noah asked if the bug would ever get up and leave. I read somewhere that honesty is the only true way to explain death to the kids. I wanted to avoid the sadness by telling him that the bug was just sleeping, but that wouldn't be fair! So despite me not feeling so great since Noah was obviously very upset by this, I told him the truth. I said that the bug died and that he will never get up again. I said that it was just part of life and that everyone dies sometimes, and that it's ok to feel sad when they do. I also told him that the bug fulfilled his purpose here, and that I bet that he had some babies that would grow up to be bugs someday. Noah's curiosity kicked in. He wanted to know if he would die someday, if we would, how about grandparents. Do other bugs die. Do other bugs have babies, etc. He still felt sad, and he even had tears when he told Mike about the bug, but at least he now knows that death is part of life. It was't easy explaining that, but I am glad that I approached it with honesty.

Tip of the day
Vinegar - the other cleaning product I use. It kills 98% of germs without the harshness of heavy chemicals. I spray it on the counters before bedtime and let it evaporate over night. it kills germs and the smell dissipates by the morning. Also awesome on floors. I use it on our kitchen floors so they would be crawling-baby clean. Another use is to clean glass with it. Awesome results without all the bad stuff. And I ca be sure that if Maya ever gets into my cleaning supplies she would not get hurt by them.

DH 2000

2008-08-24T21:42:00.000-07:00

ring

ring

automated message: Hello, You have reached DH communications LTD. All customer service representatives are currently busy. Please stay on the line for the next available representative.

music playing...

Rep: Hello, this is Lisa. How can I help you today.

Mary: hello, this is Mary. I am calling because I have one of your DH's and I seem to have a problem with it.

Rep: Which model do you own. DH 1000 is the older model manufactured before 1970's. It's a little older and it does have some problems with accepting input from his female companion. Our DH 2000 is a newer, updated version that was manufactured after 1970's. This one has a much more harmonious existence with his female counterpart.

Mary: I have DH 2000.

Rep: And how long have you owned this model?

Mary: It's been 5 years since the contract was signed, and 4 years before the contract.

Rep: So ... 9 yeeeears .. t-o-t-a-l tiiime.

Mary: Yup

Rep: And what seems to be the problem?

Mary: It seems to have a problem with communicating with me.

Rep: Oh?

Mary: It seems that no matter how many times I try to communicate something to my DH, it fails to register.

Rep: Did you check if your DH still has his main lines connected to MIL. In some circumstances if DH's lines of communication are too strongly attached to our female MIL model, then it an cause miscommunication between you and your DH model.

Mary: No, No1 They are good. I made sure to re-route the main lines to involve me in the equation.

Rep: Good for you. Some of our customers are afraid to attempt this procedure, but I guess you're not one of them.

Mary: Thank you. I have done that as soon as the contract was signed.

Rep: Another solution could be to test if DH has problem in communicating with you only or if that applies to generally communicating with anyone.

Mary: Oh no, it's just me! I have noticed that DH has no problem retaining and understanding what others are requesting of him. He can even memorize sports stats from the radio.

Rep: Oh ... ok ... let's see what else could be the problem

Rep: Have you thought of upgrading to a new DH, but of course that doesn't guarantee that this one won't be faulty somewhere down the line.

Mary: No ... I am kind of attached to this one. I would rather just fix it.

Rep: OK, here it is. Our computer suggests that next time you attempt to communicate with DH you get down to his eye level, speak slowly and clearly and use tools such as schedules, calendars, presentation boards, or pointers to help you in your tasks.

Mary: Ok, I can try that.

Rep: If that doesn't work, then try being naked when you communicate with you DH. It seems to solve the problems for all of our models.

Mary: That's an awesome idea!

Rep: Was there anything else I could help you with?

Mary: No, that's it.

Rep: Thank you for calling DH communications LTD. Have a nice day.

Mary: You too.

Now go back and re-read that knowing that "DH" is used for "Dear Husband" in a messaging community, and "MIL" is "mother in law". Love them both!

Tip of the day
When preparing corn, do it on the BBQ. Is super easy and yields the best tasting corn. Simply place whole corn (husks and all) on the BBQ on low heat, and keep turning until the outside leaves become blackened. Serve immediately. Enjoy!!

End of summer fun!

2008-08-21T08:53:00.000-07:00

So summer is quickly coming to an end! But we are not going down without the last "hurrah"! We vowed to enjoy every last part of what is left in this sunny season. So we start off on Sunday with going to the beach, not any old beach but driving all the way to Harrison Hot Springs. It quite the trek to get there, especially since Mike had to work that morning (what, on Sunday? *shoulder shrug*.) So we packed up the kids (which takes a total of 100 billion hours!) and left. It's about an hour drive from our house, and with pit stops that we have to take (why does a baby soil their diaper as soon as they are in their car seat? Must be the same reason that a 4 year old threatens to die of hunger if you don't pick up Tim Bits on the way!) it took us longer yet. We finally arrived there at 3 pm! And to our dismay it started sprinkling. But we were not about to be defeated after all of that. So we set up our "camp" and hoped for the best. Noah gravitated towards the dirt" right away, but we proposed to go in the water first. The water was very cold in the large lake, but the man-made lake was warm. Since Maya (our little water creature) would not even submerge her feet in the large lake, we decided to move to the man-made lake and stay there. Before we left the house Noah complained that he hated the water and that he would not go in, but 5 minutes into us being at the lake and he would not leave the water. As a matter of fact, he spent most of his time in there. It's a good thing that we bought him that life jacket for the Nelson Island trip. I could let him go with confidence into the water and not worry. It's much harder to keep an eye on 2 kids, even when there is 2 of us. At one point I thought that a change of activities would do well, so I suggested to build a castle as a family. Well, that lasted a total of 10 minutes before Maya started crawling away (you'd think that by now I would get the hint!), Noah started playing in the water, and Mike started complaining about digging the moat. So the best laid plans of mice and men could not have predicted that the castle would never get farther than the hill that it was supposed to sit on. And to make the matters worse the wind started picking up, creating little sand tornadoes that would swirl in the air and land in your eyes. By that time we all got quite cold and sandy and decided that we should probably go. The sand danced around me as I changed Maya into her good clothes. It was getting cooler by the minute. Mike grabbed Noah by the hand and walked him to the near-by change rooms. Although they were not gone too long, the rain started to fall on all of us and our dry clothes. There were not many people left on the beach. Most of them were packing up their belongings as not to let the rain wet them. Ironic, since most of them just left the water. We packed up the car and left, On the way out Noah announced that he wants to come to this beach every time we go swimming. On the drive home we stopped and picked up some yummy local corn on the cob. Nothing says summer like corn on the cob! It was a nice trip. The kids slept well that night!

We wanted to continue the fun, so on Tuesday we went to the annual fair, or the PNE fair. Mike had to do some work in the morning, and then he had a doctor's appointment. The appointment was pertaining to his blood work, and all is well with him except for cholesterol. I have already reminded him a quatzillion times to cut down on junk food while at work (we don't keep junk food in the house except for some occasional halva or dark chocolate). So doctor's recommendations - EAT MORE FISH!!! Haha, doctors orders. For those of you that don't know Mike, he hates fish. He actually hated healthy food. He has gotten better over the years since I cook at home and I am a health nut, but he still fight me on it. Well, now he has to come under my healthy powers. LOL Anyways, we got to the PNE ofter lunch. It was cloudy with some passing by showers, but since Mike booked off that day few weeks ago, we had no choice. It was actually nice. Not many people decide to go to a fair in the middle of the week when the weather might not cooperate. So there was maybe a quarter of the people that would normally be there. We had a blast. Maya and Noah both enjoyed the dog show, and the petting farm. Noah fell in love with this one sheep and he kept on going back to pet it. Maya just loved all the animals. She got very excited when she saw the little goat. I guess that she is just like Noah and she loves animals. We also watched the parade, and the kids loved all the toons. But the most exciting part of the trip was that Noah was finally over the 42 inch height, so he could go on some bigger rides. At first he was scared. I guess that I have got to know his inhibitions over the last 4.5 years because I know that I have to push him to try things. I also know that once he tries something he loves it. So I pushed for him to go on the big rides, and he loved them.
Mike had fun too since he went on the rides with Noah. As a matter of fact Mike said that he had the most fun at PNE in a long time. And that was without even going on the big roller coaster. But I will just let the pictures do the talking!

Beach day!!!!

2008-08-16T01:00:00.001-07:00

We had a great day at the beach today. It was only me and the kids since Mike had to work. I like it when Mike comes with us, if for nothing else, then for the sheer fact that I need some help caring all the beach equipment. Don't get me wrong, I love my hubby, but going alone to the beach with two kids is like some form of Chinese torture. I have to bring with me a diaper bag, dry clothes bag, large beach blanket, beach umbrella, a large basket of beach toys and a cooler full of food. And I have to carry most of that while lugging a baby on my hip. I would take a stroller, but to get to this beach we have to get through a bunch of rocks stuck in muddy sand, so that is usually not a good idea. Usually does not mean this time, because I caved and brought the stroller. I had to take Maya out and pull the stroller, but we all got there safely.

The weather was overcast, so I decided to leave the beach umbrella behind. But the weather was still warm, so sunscreen was a must.

As soon as we got there Noah begged to go and play it the "mud". I am convinced that both of my kids are 80% mud since they both love it so much. While on any beach with sand we call Maya a "mucky baby" because she will get mucky all the way to her neck. She will even sneak some sand in her mouth if we are not watching. Noah likes to get mucky too, except he doesn't find sand very appetising.

We agreed to go to the water first. Maya looooves any body of water, but Noah will only go in if there is no seaweed. Yup, our little boy is terrified of seaweed. Don't ask me why, but I think it has something to do with whales, since he was petrified of them last year. Or maybe this is a whole new thing.

Afterwards we sat close to the blanket ad built a sand castle. Let me rephrase that; I attempted to build a sand castle while Noah made excuses to play with his cars and Maya used the castle as another object to pull up on. The final project was nothing spectacular but it was special since we all made it.

It occurs to me that as the summer comes to an end I will miss the lazy days with my kids. With every summer they will get bigger and less interested in sand castles, until some day they will not go to the beach with me at all. I know that a part of being a parent is seeing your kids move into independence, and that you have done your job well if you raise kids that don't need you a whole lot, but I dread this time. Someday I may be OK with them being independent, but for now I promise myself to enjoy beach days with my two little kids who still enjoy getting mucky in the sand with me.

Recipe of the day

Avocado Tuna Salad

This one is a favorite of my kids. Perfect for the middle of the day snack or lunch. It's packed with good stuff kids need.

1-2 ripe avocados
1 can of dolphin safe tuna
1 tbsp of cream cheese or Chevre goat cheese (optional)

Drain tuna and place is a deep dish. Flake it with a fork so no large clumps are formed. If using soft cheese, mix it in now. Peel avocado. The easiest way to to that is to cut avocado in half and twist the two halfs in opposite directions. Next take the half that has a pit in it and cut a sharp knife into the middle of the pit and pull out. This should get the pit out. Next slice the two halves into quarters and peel off the skin. Place the avocado quarters into the tuna mix and mix in while cutting the quarters into smaller pieces. The remaining pieces should not be larger than a size of a bean, and the salad should resamble a thick quacamole in apperance. Serve with Late July or Ritz crackers.

Noah's dentist appointment and nosey neighbours.

2008-08-14T01:15:00.000-07:00

So we had to get up early yesterday because Noah had a dentist appointment at 7:30am. The office is close to our house, but we had to get up early to get both kids ready. The reason for such an early time is that it's the only way that I can get Mike to come in with me. It gives him a chance to be involved all before starting work. The kids woke up very well, and no complaints from either one of them. I dreaded this visit. Last visit, 6 moths ago did not go so well. Noah used to be very good with doctors until we took him to a regular adult dentist when ha was 2 years old. I have read in all the books that a baby should have their first visits when they are one (or ... their teeth will have cavities *eye roll*), so off we went. Well my 2 year old was not ready for a dentist, especially one who could not handle kids. His tactic was "hold him down because it's got to be done". Well, needless to say Noah got so terrified of this dentist that he would not be able to go to any medical office without throwing a fit. So at a last visit (at a child dentist!) he ended up crying and shaking with fear. And all they did was brush his teeth and look into his mouth. Since then I have discovered that most pediatricians think that it's unnecessary for a child under 3 to see a dentist since it's pretty traumatizing to them. And there is really no need for it if they eat a healthy diet, don't go to bed with a bottle, get their teeth brushed twice a day, and after the age of 2, get their teeth flossed. The only exception to the rule is if parents notice something that concerns them. Of course dentists would recommend otherwise since they get paid per visit!

So Noah's visit went really better than expected. He sat nicely in the chair and talked politely to Dr. Lisa (his dentist!) and the hygienist. He let the dentist check his teeth, and then he even let the hygienist clean them without any fuss. This time around he also had to get his first set of dental x-rays, since his molars are touching now. He did awesome at that too. He was so proud of himself when it was all over. And of course he got 2 stickers for being extra good, and he picked a dinosaur toy from the "magic toy chest". I think that it makes a parent's life easier when the child goes to a dentist or a doctor with a smile on their face. And the verdict? NO CAVITIES!!! To the dismay of all nay-sayers about not using fluoride, our son is in 25% of kids his age that have not had a cavity yet!!!

On another note, we discovered that there are some less than neighbourly neighbours living around us. Well, maybe just one. She lives across from us. She approached me when I was going for a walk and said that some neighbours are ready to call the by-law office on us because Mike parks his work truck in front of our house, and that she "held them off" *presenting an imaginary medal*. I informed her politely that Mike parks the truck a block away, and that he only pulls in front on some occasions when he needs to get something from the house. Well let me tell you, she started rattling off actual instanced (dates and times!) of when Mike's truck was parked in front. At this point I dismissed the fact that there were neighbour"s" complaining and figured that she was the one that didn't like it. I informed her that Mike was well within his right since he is insured under 5000kg, and as a courtesy to all the neighbours he has been parking on another street and not in front of the house. She would not have it. She started complaining that his truck is too loud, that all the bedrooms face the street, etc, etc. She even knew that Mike pulled out without looking this morning and had a car honk at him! I am now convinced that all she does is sit at home and keeps tabs on everyone. Well, just to be sure I called the city's by-law officer, and we were right. As long as the truck is insured under 5000kg, he has a right to park it on any street for a period of no longer than 72 hours in one stretch! If she complains again I will just tell her that if "these" neighbours want to complain then she can stop "holding" them off, because if they want to call the by-law office then they will get the same answer that I got. At least the neighbours on either side of us are good people. If people only minded their own back yards!

Tip of the day

Baking soda for cleaning. This stuff is amazing!If you have caked on corninware, or stained coffee mugs, or scuff marks, this is the stuff you need! Just sprinkle and scrub with wet dish cloth. No chemicals, safe for kids, and not toxic to the enviromrnt. I now clean all my bathrooms, and the kitchen with this stuff, and I also add it to my diaper wash to get rid of stains! And the best part? It's dirt-cheap!

Updates!!!

2008-08-10T22:27:00.001-07:00

So here it goes: Noah - He just had his 4 year old check-up (we are 6 months behind). He measured 42 inches and 47 lbs at the doctor's office. We usually do at home measure at 6 month intervals, and he measured 43.5 inches and 46 lbs. I don't know which is more accurate, but I know that going off our measurement (since it is more consistent) he has grown 2 inches and gained 5 lbs in the last 6 months. We started buying him 6 and 6x clothes for the fall since he is outgrowing size 5. By the look of it he is going to be one tall boy. We have not quite decided how we feel about our son who might be taller than us. I think that it will be very weird since we will be looking up at him. Especially when we try to scold him when he is 16 and 6ft tall. I guess that time will tell. Noah is very excited about school in September. He will be attending the same preschool as last year, only this year he will be attending 3 times per week. Another exciting news is that Noah's third cousin, Taylor will we joining his class this year. Noah and Taylor play well together, and he is very excited that they will be in the same class. Noah is also having a great time this summer. We have implemented a system that lets him earn money for the things he wants to buy. He gets a 2 dollar allowance every week no matter what. He then has an opportunity to earn a star for every chore he does. At the end of the week he can trade his stars for money in the ratio of 2 stars to 1 dollar. He has been doing so well with it. He has managed to buy quite few toys for himself. Plus we are happy since he is helping around the house. Noah's favorite toys are still wooden Thomas the Tank trains, but he now added Cars and dinosaurs to his repertoire. His favorite food is cake, especially one he helped to bake. We bake together often, and he loves working in the kitchen. His new fascination is "dirt" as he call it, or sand to everyone else. We got him and Maya a sandbox, and both of them love spending time there. He also loooves flying kites, although we are down to one small kite now. His favorite tv shows are Bob the Builder, Thomas (of course), and Curious George. Maya - our little girl just turned 10 months. I have not measured or weigh her yet, but I will post when I do. She is getting around quite a bit now. She has now figured out how to crawl on all 4's, as opposed to the worm crawl she was doing before. And she has gotten fast!!! She has just learned how to crawl up the stairs, and she is pulling up on everything. Her favorite activity is walking with the help of our hands. She can walk while holding only one hand, although she is not sure of herself yet. Maya loves to go to the park. Her favorite activity there is swinging on the swings, or going up or down on a see-saw. She also loves when we take Noah to the park and kick the ball. I have bought the Ergo Carrier, and I love it. It allows me to have Maya on my back while I play in the field with Noah, or while we fly a kite. If I have a lot of chores in the house that involve me going up or down the stairs a lot, then I just stick her on my back and off we go. She likes being part of the action, and I get my exercise. I use the stroller when we go to the Zoo, or anywhere where there is a paved path, but Ergo carrier allows me to go on uneven roads, in narrow store alleys, crowded areas, all of which are not the best places to have a stroller. Maya loves both, so it's all the same to her. Maya got her 6th tooth yesterday, so she now has two bottom and four top teeth. We call them "chompers" because she politely lets us be chomped on by them. LOL. She is able to handle all sorts of food now. She is very good at feeding herself too, which allows me to finish my meal. She has tasted most foods, even fish and peanut butter (ahhhhhh, I know, doctors say possible allergens, but I have done my research!). Her all time favorite are fresh, local blueberries. She eats them up like crazy. If they are on her plate mixed in with other foods she will pick out all the food that's in her way of getting the blueberries and throw it down from the plate. She has very clear food preferences. Most days there is just as much food under the table as there is in her belly. Sad to say she still has milk allergy, but she can handle goat milk! Maya babbles a lot, but with the exception of yesterday no real words. About yesterday, she repeated "mama" 7 or 8 times, but then went back to blowing raspberries in my ace when I asked for her to say "mama". She recognizes many short commands, and tries to communicate. When she hears a sound she turns towards me with a question on her face and sails "huh?", as in "what was that sound". There is this game that we play when we are brushing her teeth, where we look out the bathroom window and look at the roof. If we ever brush her teeth when it's dark and we can't see the roof, she will turn to me and ask "ahhh?", as in "where did the roof go?". It's so funny, but if you listen they will communicate. Yes Maya is still in cloth diapers. She has been cloth diapered full time since she was 6 weeks old, and I would not have gone back to disposables. We saved tons of money, no sore bottom, very few blow-outs. I wish that I followed through with cloth when Noah was little, but I listened to too many bad advices. The only bad thing about cloth is that we have to be careful about Maya's clothing. She has to wear a size bigger (12-18 months right now), and the bottoms have to be stretch cotton (her skin doesn't tolerate man-made fabrics), but beside that it's easy enough. She is also a great sleeper. She wakes about twice a night to nurse, but then falls right back to sleep. I still breastfeed her, and I will till she is ready to wean. Noah breastfed till he was just over 2, so hopefully that will be so with Maya too. The world Health Organization recommends breastfeeding till the 2nd birthday because it has so many benefits. I like the higher IQ part, LOL. Yup, doctor and lawyer in the making! We don't watch much TV, but when we do Maya's preferences for her shows are highly influenced by her older brother. She loves Thomas, but her favorite is Curious George. She recognizes the theme in another room, and picks out George on a cover of a kid's book. So I think that this will be the theme for her 1st birthday, So this is the update, at least the one about the kids. I will update about Mike and I in another post. But here is my new idea. Every post I will share a tip or favorite recipe. Be smart though, I am not a medical professional, so this is not a medical advice. If you are not sure about something talk it over with your health care provider. Tip of the Day. Everyone loves to spend time in the sun during our summers. We always wear sunblock, but I wait 10 minutes before applying it on the kids. I have read somewhere that too many kids are vitamin D deficient since they are always covered up or sunblocked. 10 minutes a day in the sun is enough to get vit. D, but it's not enough to get burned (unless it's mid day then I drop the time to 7 minutes). That way the kids reap the benefits of sun exposure without the risks of skin burn.

Families are ...

2008-08-09T00:05:00.000-07:00

I was reminded of a joke today. It said that families are like a box of chocolate, mostly sweet with few nuts in between. Well I think that I got jipped. My family box is all NUTS!!! I am really blessed with a great family on Mike's side, but my side is fully rotten. I could do without all the drama. I know that everyone thinks that they have crazy family, but I actually have prove that mine really is.

I don't see any of my immediate family anymore. For reasons I don't care to discuss my mom and my sister chose not to be in my kids' lives. My brother is involved in bad-people-organization (read between the lines!), so he is now not welcome around my kids till he finds an honest way of living. And finally my father decided that dealing with family was too much for him so he split to Europe. Sometimes I sit there and think if I am maybe a little insane, but then my wonderful husband reminds me that I am the only sane one of my whole family.

Growing up I never really felt like I was surrounded by people that really cared. My parents split up when I was in grade 9, only to get back together a year later and split up in another year. My family life was filled with spousal abuse, constant arguments, marital indiscretions, accusations, etc. Growing up my home never felt safe for us. I bounced between my parents hoping that one of them would provide a real home for me, but no such a luck. And then, at 19, I met my wonderful Mike. I vowed that if our relationship was going to last I would do everything in my power to create a family that was nothing like the one I grew up in.

The need for stable family became even more important once we got pregnant with Noah. I gave my family a fair shot at being in my kids' lives, since my kids deserved to know where I came from. But disappointment after disappointment I couldn't bear it no more. I believe that you should not surround yourself with people that are toxic, even if they are your family. Everyone has a right to live a happy life, and I vowed to provide that for my kids. I want to give them something that I never had, a safe place to call home, a place where you can be a kid, a place where you can have a bad day, a place where you are respected and loved, a place where you will not be manipulated or ignored, a place where no matter how bad it gets outside they will always have someone that will listen. I can't change the world around them but I can provide them with a safe place to escape it. And although things might not always turn out the way that they planned them, but I want to show them that they will be loved no matter what.

Fun stuff!

2008-08-05T22:08:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely day yesterday, just by accident. Although it was BC day and a long weekend it didn't feel as such since Mike was working. But that all changed when he finished his work early. It was only 3 pm and sunny, so what was a nice family to do on such a lovely day? WHITE ROCK!!!!! Noah loves to look out at the water when we walk down the palisade. Maya, on the other hand, enjoys seeing the people walking by. How could two such different kids come from the same mom and dad?

We parked the car and crossed the train tracks. The tide was on it's way back up so no chance in playing in the sand. we chose to walk down to the pier instead. With Maya on my back we were briskly walking, but took our time to stop end take in the scenery and splash in the water. Now White Rock beach is ocean water, so it's full of seaweed. That's fine with all of us except Noah. Seaweed is his biggest fear second only to bugs. Now you combine the two and you get White Rock beack water. Poor guy screamed like a girl few times when he thought that the flies and the seaweed joined forces to make his trip a living nightmare! He opted out to sit on a log near by and play with rocks instead.

Maya is a different story; seaweed or not she splashes in the water and loves it. She squeeled with delight a few times when the waves hit her toes. We had to make sure that neither one of the kiddos got their clothes wet since we had plans to go for dinner. I chose The Boathouse. Although expensive that place has the best food. Plus that is where we ate diner minutes before Mike proposed to me on the pier. Ah memories ...

We chose the patio for our dinner seating since it was sunset time, plus we didn't have to wait as long for the seats. It was so nice. And the food delicious, as always. Noah liked his fresh fish and chips, ad Maya loved the wild salamon. It's so nice to go out once in a while.

Life back to normal???

2008-08-03T00:21:00.000-07:00

So we are back. Back from vacations. Or was it a vacation? We originally took the trip to my in-law's cabin because Mike didn't have much work. But treating lack of money coming in with spending mucho mula on a trip is no solution. So now the finances are even tighter.
But, you ask, did you have fun. Let's just say as much fun as we could have with 2 little kids. Noah and Maya on the other hand had a blast. Oh to be a kid again. They don;t worry about money, or time, or being late, or being dirty, or anything else for that matter. All they care about is having fun. I really try to be kid like, I do, but my grown-up'ness wins every time. Or maybe my mom just conditioned me to worry so well that I can never go back to the innocence of being a child. I have seen the other side. I have seen calendars, and clocks, and bank statements, and schedules, and check books. I can never just blissfully loose myself in a game, or a moment. Sometimes I feel like I am fighting a loosing battle with time.
This trip was going to be our poor attempt at trying to regain some of that pure relaxation moments. We didn't quite accomplish that, but we did steal some magical moments with our children. A mental picture of Noah throwing rocks from the front deck into the water, or of Maya sleeping in my arms while we tried to teach Noah how to fish in bad weather, or a game played between Noah and Grandma Sue, or how lovingly Gramps held Maya on the swing. These are moments that the time will not erase (and if it does I took lots of pictures).
This weekend was also to finally go up to Nelson Island with the kids. See, we used to go every year, and then I got pregnant with Noah and we didn't go anymore. It's actually been 5 years since I have gone. And I am glad that we have. The kids got a chance to spend some quality time with the grandparents. Considering that my relationship with my family is not that great, I am glad that the kids have Mike's parents who want to be in their grand kids' lives. Every child needs the love of a grandparent. I loved spending time with my grandparents. Although my time got cut short by us moving to Canada, I never regret spending the time I did with my grandparents.
When I went back to visit Poland in 1999 I stayed with my grandma. I loved listening to her stories. I was always fascinated by the lives our grandparents lived when they were young. How did grandma feel when grandpa proposed? How did grandpa spend time with his first child? Did they have the same worries and troubles that we do? What they can remember from the world around them.
To some grand kids it's just old, irrelevant memories, but to me it's a painting of who that person is. Maybe it's mushy stuff, but I am curious. I might not be George, but I do believe that marvelous things happen with a bit of curiosity. So maybe this trip was not in vain after all. Maybe it was a bonding time.

Off to the cabin ...

2008-07-27T03:53:00.000-07:00

It's too late to write sice we were up packing. And Now we are off to Mike's cabin for a rest. Will update when we get back. Since I will be well rested and all ... NOT!!!

Summer fun!

2008-07-21T00:38:00.000-07:00

I am soooo tired. See we took both kids to aquarium today. If you ever took 2 young kids to any public place you know how that would make anyone tired. I am not complaining. They both did relatively well considering their ages. We have taken Noah there few times before Maya was born, but that was a first time for Maya.

When we got there they had a little surprise for us. A baby baluga whale was born just last month, so the kids got to see the baby. It was a hustle to get down to see the new addition as the stuff only allowed a small group of people at the time, and the line-up was long. Once down there everyone had to be very quiet as not to scare the baby. I dreaded the quiet zone considering that the little creature on my hip had no understanding of "quiet". But she did well. She sat beside Noah on the floor and looked at the whales.
I actualy got a chance to learn a little something about being a beluga whale mom, and what I learned is that beluga whale mother is much like a human mother. Here is what I learned and compeared it to human moms:

Beluga whale mother - gestation time 13-14 months
Human mom - gestation time feels like 13-14 months when you have been pregnant for 9 months out of water

Beluga whale mother - pushing the baby out took about 3 hours
Human mom - average 2.5 hours, but who keeps count after 30 hours of labour!

Beluga whale mother - male removed since in nature they have nothing to do with their ofspring after the initial mating takes place
Human mom - after 6 months a father is still unable to change the diaper at which point the mom questions his usefulness in the baby rearing process

Beluga whale mother - the grandma became a little overbearing so she had to be quarantined so mother and calf could bond
Human mom - No quarantine system available for overbearing grandmothers, moms everywhere are working on it.

Beluga whale mother - other females in the pod have been known to produce milk in anticipation of pregnant cow giving birth
Human mom - helpful friends jump out of every corner ready to feed exclusively breastfed baby formula.

Beluga whale mother - nurses her young twice an hour for about couple of minutes before the calf comes of the breast and continues exploring
Human mom - baby latches for couple of minutes and then comes of when new mom attempts to nurse in public, which usually causes her to expose her bare breats to unexpecting people

And finally ...

Beluga whale mother - starts to wean her young at 6 months of age, but the process continues till the young is about 2 years
Human mom - starts solids at 6 months, and would continue breastfeeding till the baby was 2 if she was to ignore her "well meaning" friends, her uninformed doctor, the formula companies, the grondmothers who can't wait to have the baby for a sleepover, the parenting "gurus", and finally her own insecurities

So next time someone asks if I am still nursing my 18 month old I will just say "I am following a Beluga Whale mother's example"!

Not bad ...

2008-07-15T21:43:00.000-07:00

I am doing a post 2 days in a row!!! Yay!

We had Maya's doctor appointment today. She is doing well, although she is very pettit. She weighed 17lbs 6oz. I am disregarding the height measured by the nurse. Why you ask. Well, normally they measure her height by laying her on the bed and marking the top of her head and bottom of her feet with a line on the tissue paper that covers the bed. The nurse then measures the distance between the lines. Well this girl was a newbie. She attempted to lay the measuring tape next to Maya and measure her height. Well, 9 month old is a wiggly creature. She had me help her at one poin!, but I still think that her reading was way off. She noted that Maya was 27 inches. My last measure of her was 3 weeks ago and she measured 28 1/2in. I guess it's my fault that I have not had her in since her 5th month. I just don't see any point if all they do is measure and weigh them. I can do that at home.

On a different note, we discovered that Noah is more than super competitive. I got a little Air Hockey game for Mike today, and had Noah surprise Daddy with it. While we waited for Mike to get home Noah and I decided to play a game. I won the first game, and then I won the second game. Noah broke down and cried. I hate to see him sad, but my belief is that by the time they are 4 you should not let your kids win. The world would be a better place if some people learned how to lose. I believe in fostering the love of the game and not a win at all cost attitute. But that might take months or even years to set in. I guess that we are in for many games ending in tears or tantrums till we get through to him. If we ever do ...

Life has been crazy busy!!!

2008-07-15T00:41:00.000-07:00

I got an email from Chaara couple nights ago complaining that I have not kept up with my blog. Sorry Chaara, this one is for you!!! LOL

OK, so I am not avoiding writing this blog, it's just that life has been sooo crazy lately. Both kids are getting bigger and with Maya crawling now I have 2 of them to supervise. Sometimes I feel like I am a recess lady watching over them.

On top of that I have decided to enter the cloth diaper making business. Let me tell you, the amout of work a new business start up requires is insane. Initially I thought that I would just make some diapers and sell them, but there is a whole business side to it (Duh!!!). I have to get a name, set up an online store, register my business, order supplies, Come up with logo, get labels made ... etc. It's never ending.

Mike got inspired by me and decided that he is starting his own business too. But he has a business you say? Yes and no. He is self employed, but still takes orders from big companies. He wants to call all the shots. I always tell him that he is a contol freak, but he already knows that.

So 2 young kids + 2 new businesses = NO SLEEP!!!! It can only get easier ... right!

So much has happened!!!

2007-12-14T10:16:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I admitt, I have not posted for a while, but things have been crazy. First of all, Mike had an accident at work, so I was left to deal with everything. He cut his arm with a saw and had to go in for surgery to repair it, so he has not been able to help me a lot with anything. On the othr hand Maya experienced her first snow.

Tired!!!

2007-11-30T00:12:00.000-08:00

So it's 12:13 am and as much as my head wants to rest on a fluffy pillow, it can't just yet. See, Maya is sick and sleepless, so this equates to sleepless me. It might be an hour yet, or more. Good thing that I used to sleep little before I had kids. My body is somewhat used to it.

On a good note I finally worked up my courage to use the advance photoshop to do Maya's announcement, and I took a gorgeous pic of the kids today. Here are the results:

Well, it's off to bed now!!!

My first post

2007-11-29T12:11:00.000-08:00

So this is the first post. I sort of feel like a bit of celebrity inviting people to view our lives. I read once in a magazine somewhere that everyone wants to be famous nowdays and mindless blogs are popping up everywhere as a means of people to have their-so-wanted celebrity status. I can assure you that this is not me. I want this to be a means of our friends and family to have a peek at our busy life with Noah and Maya! Although just posting this made me feel like I had paparazzi on my tail. LOL