By way of an update please read the brief below:
Parker is asleep. He is asleep and he has only nursed once today. I am giving myself a little time here. 2006. That's my goal. So, i have a few weeks to complete this task. But, i am holding strong, despite waking up with a 24 hour backend flu bug this morning that rendered me unconscious on the couch all day. I think my immune system is still week from the pneumonia and the little bug that Toby had at the beginning of the week spread like wildfire straight to me. Lucky me.
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What should i be taking to boost my immune system?
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The christmas presents have been bought, sort of. Parker is getting an easel, it is only to be used for chalk in the short term as he still draws on everything. I freecycled our old one in the summer. That's okay though because i fancy a new wooden one. I am so over the Little Tykes plastic.
The other kids, in case you want to know are as follows:
Toby – 100 army men, an army castle and Trouble board game
Tristan – Harry Potter Scene It game, Hermione time turner necklace and many books
Eliza – My Little Pony Stuffy, Fur Real Twins, Light Brite
There's other stuff, but that's the gist of it.
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The shoes are still in the bag. I showed them to shane and his eyes lit up a bit. But, i am questioning my ability to walk in them. I think they may be returned. Stay tuned.
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Happy Turkey Day to all my american friends. Our turkey is due to be put in the freezer next week. Today i watched the PeTa turkey video. My turkey has it REALLY good. He freaks me out though.
Shane once wrote a poem about me that had the line:
she gives me a sore back like a job
Well, tonight parker has given me a sore back. Seriously, i want to tear my brain out and send it out with the recycling. I want to gouge my eyeballs out with my Dr Sears endorsed boppy pillow.
Parker has reached that unfortunate stage of not really needing a nap, but not quite being able to make it through the day without one. Some days, the good days, he doesn't nap and goes to bed and zonks out in seconds at 7pm. Other days, yes like today, he has a nap and then it is my own private hell when i try to put him to bed. TWO HOURS i spent lying beside him. Coaxing him, bribing him with booby, pleading with him, and eventually yelling. I yelled at my perfect little two year old boy. Then i called Tristan, my future mother 8 year old, and she tried. Because she's seen all this before. She feels my pain. Parker wanted nothing to do with his big sister.
Frustration won and i lost my cool. I hate that. Eventually, i stood at the end of the bed and said "GO TO SLEEP! SHUT YOUR EYES!" And exhaustion beat him and he succumbed.
But, you can write this down. Because this time i mean it. Tomorrow he shall say goodbye to the booby. AND he will go to sleep on his own. At least, begin to learn to do that. I will begin 2006 free from breastfeeding and co-sleeping. Mark my words internet. This is it!
I'm kicking myself for wanting to be different when i had my first child and opting into the attachment parenting phenomenon. Not that it's been all bad. I treasure those moments sleeping with my little babies and waking up to their smiling faces beside me. But the lack of sleep. The constant waking. The mommy-brain. I. Can't. Do. It. Anymore.
He did, however, because he's perfect except for the sleep thing, pee on the potty three times today. He kills me with cuteness. As he was "washing the dishes" while i made dinner he declared "OH! I have to go pee…. i've got work to do!" And off he trotted to the bathroom to sit on his little potty seat. (What do you do with that penis when they sit on the seat anyway? I am constantly tucking it down for him. But i don't think i can do that forever. Right? Right!) And then he wiped. A lot. Wiping is the reward when you're a potty training toddler. All that toilet paper! Pure bliss. Piece by piece. At some point i will break the news that boys don't wipe, gross things that they are.
And so you see i just want to love him because he is the cutest thing ever. I don't want to be mad at him every night.
Sorry crazy homeschooling lady that keeps emailing me – Dr Sears and his sidekick wife can still kiss my sleep-deprived ass.
M.A.S.H.
Cause Supa did.
*They all have to be places you've actually been to. Canadian spelling optional.
5 Favourite Cities
1) Vancouver circa 1990's – it was a great place to be and learn, not as trendy as it is now
2) Toronto – shopping, food, culture. so much to love
3) Seattle – like vancouver only better (Target!)
4) Kihei, Maui – what's not to love
5) Lisbon – i was only 12 but the memory lives on, the freckles too.
5 Cities I would live in
1) Toronto – but for the cost of living
2) Vancouver – ditto above. oh, and family way too close
3) Montreal – some of my favourite people
4) Right where i am
5) Summerland, BC – hello, it's called summerland.
5 Least Favorite Cities
1) LA – freak scene
2) Edmonton – but for jenandtonic
3) Surrey BC – you have to live here to know
4) that's it….
5) i've never really been anywhere.
Go ahead, do it! I double dare you. Linky back.
On december 10 the kids school is having a parents christmas party. In the past 9 years i have been out at night, without kids, twice. The first time was the last christmas party and, actually, now that i think about it we took Parker. So, make that once. In the spring we went to a dinner theatre fundraiser put on by the school and stayed out until 1:00 IN THE MORNING.
This year not only am i president of the school, but my fabulous husband's band is playing at the christmas party. I feel the need to look hot. Like the super mom i am.
On the weekend we went to see Derailed. Wait a minute! How do i go to movies if i never go out without kids you ask? Grandma dawn comes and babysits in the afternoon early evening and we go to a matinee and then for a quick bite. So, all is not as pathetic as i lead you to believe.
Anyway, we went to see Derailed which was fine/good. But Jennifer Aniston? She looked great in these really high heel shoes. I want to look JUST LIKE HER.
So, i dragged the kids out today and i bought these shoes. I got home put on my little black pencil skirt, which according to What Not To Wear, never goes out of style and a black silk sleeveless top and, oh yes, the shoes.
Guess what? I did look hot. But then guess what? I could not walk. At all. I have never owned a pair of heels. Ever. I am not jennifer.
Is it possible to learn how to walk in these things? Or should i just satisfy my buyers remorse and return the damn things.
Help the vertically challenged!
I should add that i NEVER (i have never used caps so much before and it's kind of FUN) spend that much money on myself. My back-end is the home of cheap-ass Old Navy clothes. We are borrowing from next years christmas to pay for this years. Plus, i paid full price, that's the second thing i never do. Even at the grocery store.
But the shoes. They are nice. No?
Shane and i tend to act on whims, probably too often. But, we always have faith that things will work out and if they don't, well, change again. We are not static people by nature and change is something we embrace – not fear.
Four years ago we bought Doodle on a whim. She was the cutest darn thing, plus a schnoodle? With a name like that you always have a story to tell. Doodle the schnoodle. We bought her before the incredible rise in popularity of this mixed mutt breed.
Plus, you know, we (I) ONLY had three kids then. So time was something we (I) had plenty of to deal with the puppy peeing and pooping and, my god, they pee and poo a lot. On the carpet. It took us (me) two whole years to finish training her. Then we got new carpets. Twice.
Because last October when we had FOUR kids we got another puppy, Lucy. Lucy the mini schnauzer who we (I) tried a little harder to train and it was better.
And now? Now we have the cutest little friends to keep us company at night because, you know, we never have anybody else climbing all over us all day.
Except Lucy? She has an eating disorder. An eating disorder in that she eats everything she sees. Dog food, kid food, chicken food, diapers, chicken poo, train tracks, puzzles, shoes, my underwear (worn), rocks, chicken legs. Wait! Chicken legs? Yes! and not the kentucky fried kind. Every now and then a raccoon kills one of our chickens and they don't eat legs. Too chewy. But Lucy? Lucy loves the legs. She loves to leave the legs in our shoes. Just now after a Lucy scnufffle which includes her sniffing and licking around your face i discovered another chicken leg in her bed.
Reason enough to love the dogs.
