Word to the wise...

When you're feeling really down, listening to James Taylor's greatest hits DOES NOT help.

20 kids later and we're still alive

I know, I say it after each party "never again". But seriously, I'm sure I will do it again if they ask...kind of like walking 60 km year after year. ahem.

We had a birthday party for Bryanna at our house on Friday night (her birthday) with 20 kids. We could not have done this without the help of our dear suckers friends Shadia, Diana, Charlene and Zubin, and of course our clean-up crew (Nana & Poppa) who opted not to hide out in our bedroom.

One thing that was cemented into my brain during this party is that boys definitely have a different energy than girls!

7 years later

Seven years ago, Keith and I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into

We were very excited about the prospect of  having our own family, each with our own delusions dreams. What happened when Bryanna was born was nothing like we thought it would be. Our first bubble to be burst would be the labour part. My labour was nothing like the TLC baby stories I had watched. My labour was quick and scary and involved a vacuum and many stitches. The second bubble to burst was the breastfeeding part. It didn't work for us at first. NOT. AT. ALL. My bottom end was so painful I could barely move and my top end was quickly competing with my bottom end in the pain category.

The drive home from the hospital was the slowest I've ever seen Keith drive. I think we could have gotten a ticket for going so far under the speed limit (or speed lemon as per Caitlin).

Eventually things improved and we took it one day at a time. Bryanna has always been an easy baby, toddler, little girl, which has helped. Oh, she does have her moments, but don't we all.

Happy Birthday to the little girl who first made me a mom. I love you!

Totally loving it

I've inherited my father's ability to chat up anyone. Apparently, it's been an asset since we've been in Las Vegas. We're finding out the best places to eat and the best place to get deals. Someone in one of our elevator rides told us about the kiosk in front of Treasure Island where you buy one ticket to Mystere and get the other free....all you have to do is ask! Tonight Keith and I saw Mystere. It's a Cirque de Soleil show playing at Treasure Island. It was incredible.

We were so in awe of the show and had so much fun that we decided to take the tram over to the Mirage and see how much it cost for tickets to the Beatles 'Love' show. When we arrived, the 7pm show was just ending and we talked to a few people coming out. They were all raving about it, so we went and stood in line to possibly purchase tickets for tomorrow. It was our turn next when someone came from behind us and gave us two tickets for the 9pm show because his wife was sick and they couldn't go. SERIOUSLY!!!!!! They weren't just tickets, they were FRONT ROW TICKETS PEOPLE. We were so thankful for these tickets because once we saw the price, there was no way we could afford to have bought them.

Two incredible shows in one night...does it get any better than that?

view from the bus while going to the outlet mall (this is an older casino)

another older casino

us on the bus after a full day of shopping

view of older casinos at night

We were supposed to go for supper, but ran out of time so we just grabbed tortillas and crab dip here. There was a competition, and our cool bartender 'Steve' from Canada won...which meant everyone sitting in his section got free shots - this was fun...crab dip, shots, then watch Mystere...

view from our seats at Mystere

 view from our seats at Beatles 'Love'

us in the theatre for 'Love'

view of our hotel at night (niiiiiiiiiice!)

um...this is in the hotel lobby store right next to the advil, band-aids, and toothpaste.Viva Las Vegas!

Vegas Baby!

Can you believe it? Me either. We're in Vegas!!

The only way I can describe it so far is sureal.

We are missing the kids SO much already. Tried calling around 4pm home time and the girls were outside and Devon was still sleeping. We didn't make it back to our hotel in time to call them before bed because it took us so long to walk just 2 hotels down the strip. Nothing is clear cut in trying to get from point A to point B. You must first go up three escalators, do three cartwheels, walk through 2 casinos, perform karaoke and then you're you're still not even close.

us driving to the airport...it's SO early

our hotel - how cool is THAT?

Everything is larger than life here. Las Vegas has...

 

motorcycles coming out of buildings...

 

 talking trees....

$2,000 sunglasses....

 

pirate ships...

curious signs posted in the washrooms....

 

and even the Eiffel Tower!

He did a bad, bad thing

Artistic license now revoked

It took me almost half an hour to get this cleaned up with the help of a Mr. Clean eraser and a lot of elbow grease. So much for my idea of a little work table with markers for them to use when they want. THE MARKERS ARE NOW IN A CUPBOARD OUT OF REACH.

I would do it all over again

When I tell people how old I was when I got married, I get the look. You know, the look.

Thing is, I figure I lucked out in finding him at such a young age. I give myself credit for realizing it and not letting him go. He's the best thing that ever happened to me.

I'm a storm and he's my rudder, ehm, so to speak.

Happy 11th anniversary to the person I love the most *smooch*

Growing up, one tooth at a time

My little monkey lost her first tooth on October 5th. It had been wiggly for a bit and when it finally got really wiggly, I asked her if I could pull it out. Much to my shock, she said yes. I pulled. It came out. She was THRILLED. The toothfairy that lives in our area pays a twonie per tooth. She woke up, found the money and promptly put it in her shoe "piggy" bank.

Reason to Smile

Devon: When are Nana & Poppa coming to visit again?

Me: I don't know, in a couple of weeks I think. Why?

Devon: Because I really love them. And their peanut butter.

To Pee or Not to Pee

In an effort to be a bit healthier, and decrease the amount of times I have to wake up in the middle of the night to go pee, I've been trying to drink more water during the day and very little after supper.

Yesterday, I picked up the kids from school and we went to the park to play for a bit. I only lasted for about 15 minutes before I got that feeling. You know, the feeling where you have GOT to go, there is nothing else you can think about, you can barely walk, you're back teeth are floating because you're so full of pee.

So after another five minutes of negotiation, I get all three kids and all the school bag's and lunch boxes together and we're heading towards the car. At this point, I'm seriously dying. Caitlin is walking slowly beside me and Bryanna and Devon are walking much faster along the sidewalk ahead. Actually, quite a bit ahead of us.

All of a sudden, I see Bryanna bolt off the sidewalk and start running towards our car in the parking lot. WHAT!??!! My jaw drops to the ground and a drop of pee escapes from my bladder from the shock of what I'm seeing. I've told all three kids SEVERAL TIMES NOT TO LEAVE THE SIDEWALK WITHOUT MOMMY.

Okay. So I think, I won't yell because I don't want to startle her in case a car starts to back out and she will stop behind it or have her stop and run back in my direction through the parking lot again. She will just stand beside the car and wait for me. Everything will be okay.

Have I mentioned that it's really hard to think clearly when your brain is floating in piss?

THEN, Devon jumps off the sidewalk and runs after his sister. Ahhhhrrrg. At this point I know I have to run, full bladder or not, because I see an SUV with it's white back-up lights on and my little man is heading right behind it.

NO, DEVON, STOP, STOP RIGHT NOW, DON'T MOVE. STOP. STOP RIGHT NOW. DO. NOT. MOVE. I scream as I'm running towards him in the parking lot. Thankfully, someone else walking in the parking lot who was ahead of me was able to grab him and pull him back and the SUV driver's window was down and heard a mad women screaming and stopped to turn and look.

Phew. MAJOR crisis averted, however, MINOR crisis did occur. My bladder, which has been sat on my three HEAVY babies, didn't fare so well.

And, yes, I did have a very STRONG conversation with all three kids once we were all in the car and buckled up. And once we got home. And before bedtime. And the next morning. And again as we were leaving the park today.

Reason to Frown

Someone refuses to watch another episode of The Wire because it's 11:30pm.

Peek-a-boo

Why I'm Going to Hell

For the past few weeks, I've been reading my favorite blogger's website from the beginning. So far, I've worked my way from 2001 to 2005. One of my favorite things from her site was the Thinking, How to Annoy Me, How to Charm Me section. I wish she would bring them back.

The real point of my post is that while in church, I was...ehm...not necessarily paying complete attention to what was happening. I was finishing reading a post from Dooce's website. This post is completely hilarious on it's own, but when you're not supposed to make any noise -- especially laughing noises -- it is just SO MUCH funnier. Keith wanted to know why I had my head down and was making funny noises and shaking. I, being the good wife that I am, passed him my iPhone so he could read it as well.

I've learned that the only thing harder than trying not to laugh when you're not supposed to is trying not to laugh when you're not supposed to AND have your husband beside you doing the same thing.

A Feeling

I thought it was funny at first when nobody was dancing, or moving really...except the crazy girl in blue (which totally would have been me).

This video will definitely make you smile!

Sunova

The kids were asking me last night about a sunova. I was very confused. What is a sunova? I was thinking about googling it when Bryanna helped clarify what they were all referring to.

Bryanna: you know Mommy, what Daddy is talking about when he stubs his toe or something, he scream SUNOVA. What is that?

I thought to myself for all of 0.001 seconds before it hit me, aaaaahhh SON OF A .....

Me: Hey look, is that a bird that just flew past the window? no? Alright, who wants ice cream?!

I'm great at distracting.

Beaming with Joy

School has begun.



Can you see the rays coming down on the kids? That's from all the parents beaming with joy.

I'm Still Here

A few people, several actually, asked me how come I stopped posting to my blog (which was quite surprising since I thought the only one reading was Keith).

I've had a lot going on lately and it's been hard to write anything that I want everyone to read. It's also been hard to write anything lately because then I would actually have to deal with feelings that I'm trying very hard to ignore. I didn't really realize how everything that has been going on in my life is affecting me until tonight when I ate 4 miami cakes, three quarters of a 10" pizza and washed it all down with a can of pepsi containing a mere 41g of sugar.

Ahem. Yes. Food. Is. My. Drug. Of. Choice.

Pool toys

We discovered the best pool toy ever. I actually think it should receive the toy-of-the-year award.

It’s called the Daddy 2009. Best part?...it’s FREE!





Check out her pointed toes, maybe we should put her in gymnastics!

Smells Like...

We bought a new shampoo for the kids.

Caitlin: “Do you know what this smells like?”

Daddy: “What?”

Caitlin: “Mommy’s coconut rum punch!”

Care Bears

I went to a birthday party with Devon for a four year old girl.

Every aspect of the party was wonderful, everything was perfect.

I mean perfect.

The mom does everything that I’ve always thought I would love to do. She plans the best parties ever. You know, the one’s that the kids are talking about even at their high school graduation. She does the best scrapbooking. She does tons of crafts with her kids, which are beautifully displayed throughout the house. The back yard is immaculate. She has a beautiful vegetable garden.

I love crafty things, I love scrapbooking, I love to bake, I had plans to start a garden.

Reality.

I barely have time do to crafty things with the kids, and I shudder a bit at the thought of pulling out paint and glue for the fear of the mess and havoc it usually creates.

I haven’t scrapbooked in almost three years, I choose sleep instead.

I sometimes bake with the kids, but it’s definitely not a beautiful cake or cookie that you would be proud to display.

The new shrubs we planted in the spring are being strangled by the weeds towering over them.

Garden...eh...what garden?

The last few birthday parties that I planned consisted of either me calling Mr. Loblaws for a cake or doing a quick Duncan Hynes mix and throwing smarties all over the icing.

The decorations are the same dollar store streamers from two years ago.

Nothing matches.

Really though, you should have seen the Care Bear cookies that were individually decorated.

Look!



These effin Care Bears are making me feel inadequate as a mom.

Potential Rock Star

Devon loves music. We’re convinced that there is a continuous soundtrack playing in his head. He makes up songs for EVERYTHING.

I’m putting on my shoes, puttin’ on my shoes, my shoes, MY SHOEEEEESSS.

Up the stairs I’m going, I’m going up, up, UP, UUUUUPPPPPP.

He has also loved guitars since he could hold the plastic red Wiggles guitar. He loves to pretend he’s playing and make up songs. He put on a concert for me today.

Talking about the song he will sing for me


Singing a heartfelt song about bare feet


Mom, let me seeeeeeeeeee the picture


Playing a solo, check out his face, he’s SO into it


Mom, let me seeeeeeeeeee the picture


I think he’s channelling Elvis here


Thank you, thank you, thank you to all my fans!

Bedtime Braids = Princess, Who Knew?

Tonight at bedtime after brushing teeth, Bryanna came in the bathroom and asked me if I would put her hair in braids for bedtime.

I was quite surprised – shocked actually. She never wants me to touch her hair, her face, her ears, or any part of her head for that matter.

Of course you can have braids! I try not to smile too much or make eye contact in case she changes her mind.

Caitlin now comes in the bathroom and requests braids for bedtime as well.

Huh?

You want braids too? Now I have to ask.

Me: “Why do you girls want braids for bedtime?”

Girls: “Because Cinderella puts her hair in braids at bedtime too!”

Aha.

I knew there had to be a reason. They just watched Cinderella this afternoon.



I wonder how long my two princesses will be requesting braids.



Oh, and they only wanted the braids, they were completely opposed to doing all of Cinderella’s chores before bedtime.

Sick of all the Poo and Pee

I’m so tired of all the poo and pee. I really am. Really.

Just recently, we had a conversation about kids peeing in the pool. You know it happens right? NO, no, I did not know that. I was under the wonderful allusion that it does NOT really happen. I liked it that way. Then we moved on to discussing just how long adults stay in the swim-up bars drinking without ever getting out of the pool. YUCK. OH MY GOODNESS YUCK.

While we’re on the topic of pee, I don’t understand how all three of my children have to pee a gallon of urine after they’ve been in the swimming pool for 5 minutes. Is it osmosis?

Naturally, our bathroom is at the front of the house so they have to run all the way through the house sopping wet to get to the toilet. Often, they slip and fall in all the water. Sometimes they barely make it to the toilet and other times they just end up peeing on the floor around the toilet. Seriously? Like you didn’t know you had to pee this badly?

We came up with this great idea to put a potty seat in the outdoor cabane right next to the pool.



This worked for about a week. I think now that they know it is so close they wait even longer before exiting the pool. I am now SO TIRED OF CLEANING PEE FROM THE CABANE FLOOR!

Just in case you’re still wondering why I’m so sick of the pee and poo...

Setting: The kids and I were all swimming in the pool

Devon: “I’m pooped.”

Me: “YOU POOPED?! GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT!!”

Devon: “No, I didn’t poop, I’m pooped, my yawns are coming.”

Me: “oh, pooped, okay, get back in.”


Setting: I was at the table eating lunch when

Devon: “Look at my hand, you know why it’s all wet?"

Me: “Why?

Devon: “Because I stuck it in the toilet.”

Me: “GROSSS, GO WASH YOUR HANDS NOW, DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING, DO NOT COLLECT $200 AS YOU PASS GO .... GRRRRRRRR”

Rain, Rain, Go Away – or Not!

Kids: “Can we watch TV?”

Me: “No, it’s beautiful outside, we will watch TV if it rains.”

I swear to God they are all doing daily rain dances.

It’s SO working.

We have had a seriously wet summer. SERIOUSLY. WET.

We haven’t watered any of our flowers or the grass yet, and the garden looks wonderful, and the grass has to be mowed twice a week.

How many hours of TV per day does it really take to rot your brain? Just asking.

Ps: we just watched Bolt with the kids and they are totally on board for getting a dog – they want Bolt!

Rejected by Dog Rescue

Devon has had quite a few accidents lately and I will not be getting the mother-of-the-year award for my reactions. I do not like to clean up urine and feces. I do not like it at all.

Devon: “the carpet is all wet”

Me: “what do you mean?”

Devon: “I peed a little.”

Me: “WHAT!? GO TO THE BATHROOM NOW!”

I go check out his bedroom. The carpet is soaked. Dammit. I go back into the bathroom to remove his soaked clothing.

Me: What is wrong with you?

Devon: Nuffin.

Yep...being rejected by the dog rescue doesn’t seem so wrong anymore.

No Puppy for YOU!

Keith has finally caved agreed that we could get a dog. We don’t want to buy a dog, we want to rescue a dog that needs a home. Preferably, we’d like to get a puppy so we can train him/her ourselves.

We completed an adoption form to rescue a pup and we received a very polite PFO because our children are too young.

“My suggestion would be to wait another full year or two before considering adoption....for the sake of your children.”

SERIOUSLY?! It’s not like we want to adopt a pit-bull, it’s a golden lab for goodness sake. We’d like to adopt Daisy. The girls looked at this picture of her and said, “she’s so sad! If she came to our house she could be part of our family and be happy”.



We will have to move on to Plan B.

Home Fireworks = Stupidity

We went to a family block party tonight to celebrate Canada Day and well...really, just an excuse to have some fun with friends who all happen to live on the same crescent. After much drinking, to the point where most adults could not walk a straight line, the home fireworks came out.

Keith (ahem, and most people who know me well) often calls me Marlin. You know, Nemo’s dad. Yes, I admit it, I wear the name well, but, SERIOUSLY PEOPLE, I just don’t want anything bad to EVER happen to my kids – is that so wrong?

So back to the fireworks, I’m driving, which means I’m sober. Way to sober to think in any way possible that home fireworks are a good idea. I am, however, in the minority. The adults gather all the children in one spot before setting off dangerous flying flames the fireworks. Caitlin, who is five, decides this isn’t such a good idea and goes inside one of the houses. (We did just witness someone being arrested last night for setting off home fireworks near the fair. Such a smart kid – I hope she continues to make her own choices and not cave to peer pressure when she’s older.)

Fireworks Begin: Colors, noises, cracking....that’s just me grinding my teeth with nervousness and closing my eyes so tight I can see colors.

Fireworks Really Begin: Okay...this isn’t so bad...OMG, OMG, OMG...okay...are they over yet? OMG, OMG, OMG, I can’t look. Yikes...that one landed on the roof of the house. Bam, bam, bam....WTF!!!! HOLY SH*T, they are flying directly at all the children!!.

The children learned a new vocabulary during those scary 40 seconds of hell when the last round of fireworks fell over and shot directly into the crowd of kids instead of the sky. Let’s just say that many expletives were used.

Thankfully, nobody was hurt. Lesson learned: if this happens next year, we're ALL going in the house with Caitlin.

Even Superheroes Must Sleep

I don't think I've ever thought or talked so much about sleep before having kids. How much sleep I’m not getting, how much sleep they are or aren’t getting.

Bryanna has always needed more sleep (slept through the night at 10 weeks) and knew when to ask for a nap. We had play dates with her friends Erin and Maddy from the time she was an infant until she was almost 4 years old. Even with everyone over and playing, she would ask for a nap when she was tired. She would go upstairs and sleep soundly even with all the chaos still happening downstairs.

Caitlin, well...ehhmmm....let’s just visualize the energizer bunny on ten cups of espresso with a round of firecrackers shoved up its a**. She’s never ever really in a restful state. From the time she was born, she would nap for about 20 minutes a day. I would need a 4-hour nap after the excruciating process of trying to get her to rest for those 20 minutes. We quickly realized it just wasn’t worth it...by quickly, I mean after two years of trying.

Devon, now three, was a completely different story again. He slept through the night later than Bryanna, but unlike Caitlin, he always took his naps and enjoyed them (maybe it was his magic blanket – that’s another post). It’s been a bit of a struggle trying to get him to take a nap lately. It’s really hard to try and get him to sleep when he knows his two sisters are up and about and doing something that he is missing out on.

We’re doing a balancing act with the just right amount of sleep time for our little super hero. If he naps too long during the day, he’s up until 10pm. If he doesn’t nap, he is cranky and unbearable. We should have it all figured out by the end of August when schedules change. Right?

Out of the Mouths of my Babes

Setting: Devon playing dress-up
Me: You look so cool as Spiderman
Devon: But, I’m not Spiderman, I’m Devon because I don’t know where the mask is.

Setting: Putting temporary tattoos on the kids over the sink
Bryanna: Mommy, can you lift me up on the sink too?
Grammy: Bryanna you’re too heavy for mommy to lift.
Mommy: It’s okay, I lifted her yesterday, she’s not too heavy.
Bryanna: See Grammy, I’m not too heavy for mommy, just for old people.

Canada Day Sisterly Love

We celebrated Canada Day the same way we have for the last few years. We go watch the Pierrefonds parade, visit the fair, then return at 10pm to watch the fireworks. I love this family tradition...although, this year the fair seemed a little seedier than usual, and the kids are quickly outgrowing the rides that I am comfortable with them getting on. We may need to tweak this tradition next year, or at the very latest, the year after.

We’re always wondering if we did the right thing having our girls so close together (17 months apart). They bicker often, so, when we catch glimpses of sisterly love, it does us all a bit of good. They were so sweet holding hands on the swings.