Ramblings

Children are determined. I guess that's more polite than saying they're downright stubborn. It's funny to see the personality come out. John has quite the temper on him. Right now he is easily (oy, very easily) frustrated and screams out his feelings. Usually accompanied with tears. He wants to do what Sarah does, and be where she is. This is usually not welcomed by Sarah who doesn't want him touching "her" things.
Sarah is dealing with some fears and needs everything to be the same. I can't even change her bedsheet. Tonight, she had the pink sheet on. She noticed right away and wanted the white one back. I explained it needed to be washed and she could choose between the pink one and the white with flowers one. She chose the flowered one. But she could not settle. She came out and said she was scared. I stayed with her a few minutes and tried to leave but she panicked right away. She asked for the white sheet again, so I dug it out of the laundry basket and put it back on. I haven't seen or heard from her since.
It's been a crappy summer so far, weather wise. Today it rained pretty much all day, which meant we were kinda housebound. We squeezed in a walk between the rain drops but that was about it.

Sarah

That girl is so funny. She looks at you with those big blue eyes and she's so serious when she talks.
Last night she kept getting out of bed. I warned her a couple of times and finally said "If you get out of bed again I will have to spank your bum." Well, she turned and stuck her little finger right in my face. "You no spank my bum! You be a big girl now!" I didn't know whether to laugh or salute. Then she said "I be a big girl now too." I left and didn't see her again until this morning.
Tonight I gave her a swat on her bum the first time she got out of bed. I put her back and told her again "If you get out again I will have to spank your bum". She looked at me. "Again?!?!" she asked in a disbelieving tone.
Wonder what she'll be like as a teenager......

Just A Vent

Ugh. I don't know what is wrong with me. I feel so down and yucky. I don't know what I want to do or even what I want to eat. I want time away from everyone, but at the same time I don't really want that either. I'm frustrated. Maybe bored? I feel guilty about not doing enough activities with the kids like taking them to the zoo or the park but the days seem to be flying by so fast (and at the same time going soooo slow!)
I want to have all my pictures printed off and organized and then scrapbook them. I wish I had enough room that I could leave a table with all the stuff on it, out. Now I have to haul everything out of cupboards and get set up which just wastes time.
I'm off the diet too and dreading having to step on the scale tonight. But yesterday, James and I brought the exercise machine down to the basement so I'm going to start on that. At least it's something.
I felt so bad this morning. I took the kids to Walmart. Sarah had John in the stroller, I was looking at something when suddenly the stroller tipped over. I just saw this out of the corner of my eye. John hit the floor hard and started screaming. He put his teeth through his lip so was bleeding as well. I don't know whether Sarah did this on purpose or if this was an accident. A lady who witnessed this says Sarah was smiling behind me when I went to get John. Sigh.
Oh,well. That's enough complaining I guess. It's not making me feel any better, anyway.
A more cheerful post next time.

Ernie

Sarah is just getting over a phase during which her Ernie doll had to come everywhere with her. Now it's okay if he stays home once in a while, and he did while Sarah went to the cottage. She was reunited with him tonight and gave him a big hug. She then proceeded to put him to bed in a basket and covered him with two pillow cases. Then she kissed him goodnight. It was so stinkin' sweet! When it was time for me to sing "Ik ga slapen" she wanted to sing it to Ernie first. So she got down and started to sing. Then she looked up at me and said "Ernie doesn't want to go to sleep. He wants to go downstairs with Mom." While I'm pretty gullible most of the time I did see through this one! I told her I'd take Ernie downstairs with me after. He's currently sleeping peacefully in the basket on the couch.

This weekend was supposed to be kid free for us. John went to Mom and Dad's and Sarah to Mary's on Friday. The plan was that I could do some scrapbooking and relax but it didn't happen. John got sick so we took him to emerg where 4 hours later he was diagnosed with croup and an ear infection. Poor kid.
He hates medicine. Sarah would cheerfully drink a bottle of Tempra, but John..... well, you pretty much have to force it down. Same with the antibiotic he got. I've given it to him twice now and he cried pitifully each time. I need another arm or two just to get it down the hatch! I feel so bad for the kid and hope he doesn't hate me by the time we're done.
Sarah, however, is having a blast with Auntie and Uncle Ner. Let's hope everyone sleeps well tonight!

Potty Woes

Will I ever, ever, ever be able to use the washroom again without someone crying for me downstairs or following me? And heaven forbid if I lock the door!

Last Night

Last night we said goodbye to our pastor who is moving to plant a church in Florida. There was an open house in the evening which we foolishly decided to attend with the two hooligans. What followed is pretty much comedy material!
First of all our nice big stroller had a flat tire. James pumped it up but it didn't last at all. Kinda stupid to bring the big stroller because it was wall to wall people. My reasoning was that John was sure to fall asleep and he could lay down in the stroller. Yeah, right. And it was HOT in the building. Sarah had a fabulous time jumping around on the small stage with two other kids and her Ernie doll while I sat with John out of the way. James visited around, and we all sweated.
Then it was time for the presentation/formal part of the evening so we all moved into the sanctuary where it was blessedly cool. Sarah kinda crawled around and about two seconds before the program started a decidely pungent odour drifted my way. Of course I automatically blame John and sniff his butt. Nope. I then eye up Sarah fervently hoping she just "tooted" but no such luck. I hustle her off to the nursery and try to change her but she announces she's not finished. Great. I really want to watch this program. So I force the issue and tell her she can finish in the new diaper. Good. Compromise reached. I stand in the back of the sanctuary with Sarah several feet away and all is quiet. For about 10 seconds. John starts to whine. Mary, my sister in law gets up and we get the stroller to the back and rock him back and forth. However, John is tired of sitting in the stroller and announces his plight to the world. Loudly. So I take him into the lobby and let him scootch on the floor while I hover near the doors hoping to at least hear what's happening. But John cannot scootch quietly. Nope. He has to talk and scream while he's moving so the ushers close the doors. The stroller and I are now separated. I can't go in to get it because John will scream. John spots an open door leading to outside and scootches over as fast as he can. He doesn't like it when I stop him so I give him a cracker. This he likes. I hover by the doors again and can kind of hear something. I sigh as I spot Sarah marching to the doors. She wants a cracker. I tell her to go ahead but she needs me to come also. But I don't wanna. But I have to. So I pick up John again (he's about 28 pounds by the way!) and we go get a cracker. Back to the doors. I stare resentfully at the back of James' head, sending evil thoughts his way. How come he's in there and I'm out here with two kids? I thought we were in this parenting thing together! Sigh. We will "talk" later. By now it's about 2.5 hours past bedtime for John and about 2 hours for Sarah. John is pooped. Sarah is still going strong, Mama's eyes are starting to glaze over and James is sitting in the sanctuary WHERE I WANT TO BE!!!!
It's finally over and eventually we head to the car. John has peed through his diaper but I don't care. I just want to get home. The mosquitos are out in full force and decide to eat me for their bedtime snack. We quickly roll up the windows and head to the exit to go home when from the backseat comes "I FORGOT ERNIE!!!!" followed by tears. Now my eyes are really rolling. James wants to know what we should do. I give him the look of death and inform him that we have to go and find Ernie. James goes while I get in the driver's seat. I'm noticing some mosquitos in the car and look around to see that Sarah has opened her window all the way. I reach behind and roll it up as quick as I can while, in total exasperation and on the verge of completely losing my sanity, tell Sarah to keep the window closed. John is blessedly quiet. We watch James scurry back and forth in the church building looking for Ernie. It occurs to me that Ernie is probably in the women's washroom as he went with Sarah and Auntie. James gives up and comes to the car. We inform Sarah that Ernie is going to have a sleepover at the church. Thankfully she eventually accepts this on the way home. John is stripped and changed. Sarah wants stories. Nope, brush teeth, go to bed, all the other kids are going to bed too, and so are
Auntie and Uncle Ner. And Mama, hopefully.
At 10:05 the house is quiet and I crash. I don't think I moved until Sarah woke up!
Kinda funny now that I look back.

The biggest loser.....maybe?

'kay, so I'm blogging twice in one day but I NEED to! I have lost 27 pounds. Yeah me!!!!!! Well, actually it's 26.5 lbs BECAUSE I GAINED!!!! AND THEN I WENT TO DAIRY QUEEN AND GOT A MEDIUM CHOCOLATE EXTREME BLIZZARD!!!! Bad! Bad! Bad! But sooooo yummy.
I started out so well on this diet/lifestyle makeover and now, now I'm messing up. I'm not eating my veggies like I should. I wish I liked raw vegetables better. I wish I loved to exercise. But if that were the case I wouldn't be this fat, would I??
So now I must get back on track. I have at least another 30 pounds to lose. And I HAVE to. I think I'm seriously heading down the road to diabetes. I've been testing my blood sugar first thing in the morning and it's a little on the high side. The testing strips are left over from before John was born though, so I'm hoping they might not be good anymore.
For tonight, I'm gonna enjoy my ice cream all by myself, and read a good book. And turn off this darn computer.

The other day the kids and I went to my mom and dad's. Sarah was so excited you'd think she never sees them. She hauled out her suitcase and packed it. She found John's suitcase and packed it. She got herself dressed. She was READY! I broke the news that we weren't staying overnight but she didn't care. I thought I'd check to see what she'd put in the suitcases, just for giggles. For herself she packed: 3 pairs of socks, 1 pair of underwear, 4 diapers, her water shoes, a jacket and a teddy bear. John got: 3 pairs of long pants, a pair of shorts, 1 long sleeved shirt and a pair of socks. We also had to bring her bicycle helmet, Ernie and a blanket. She is too funny, and forget even trying to talk her out of anything. It was easier just to take the stuff even if it stayed in the car!
Today she wanted me to bring up her "weasel" from the basement so she could play with the alphabet letters and draw with chalk. It's so rainy today that I said "okay". Of course now I have to draw bicycles with chalk. Did I mention it's only 7:22 am?
John is still peacefully snoring (lucky stinker!) while Sarah and I have been up for more than an hour. James is also in bed 'cuz of working all night. I'd loooove another hour or so but alas, mothering duty calls. Or blogging duty, in this case!
I think I need more coffee......

Yikes!

I can't believe it's June. I don't even know the exact day but I know it's June. I don't know what I'm trying to do here because I've got Sarah literally hanging off me asking for "goldfishies" and John about to hijack the phone (WHICH HE IS NOT ALLOWED TO TOUCH!!!). I'm waiting for the spaghetti to cook. Dora is rescuing animals with Boots and Diego and I'm wondering why the samhill Sarah isn't watching. I've just pried John away from the phone and he has already bumscootched back over there. Sigh.
It has been "one of those days". And I've even had a kidfree two hour break today. It feels like it was yesterday.
Now John is screeching in the highchair and Sarah is halfheartedly watching Dora. I really should stop ignoring them and feed them supper.
More later. Maybe.

Poor Fishie

My dear sister in law, Mary, gave Sarah a goldfish for her birthday. I gave Mary the evil eye and she promptly threw up her hands and said "Hey, I could have bought her a kitten." Good point. Fishie can stay.
"What's his name, Sarah?" By the way, how the heck can you tell if a fish is male or female???
"His name be Goldfish." Apparently Goldfish had already been dropped several times on his way home.
So we got him settled into his little fish tank, gave him some food and left him swimming happily, probably relieved that he was out of the hands of an almost three year old.
Goldfish the First lasted about three weeks before I found him seriously listing on his side at the top of the tank. It's a good idea to change the fishie's water on a regular basis otherwise they suffocate. Who knew?? Sarah wanted to feed Fishie and didn't quite get it that Fishie didn't need food anymore.
Our neighbours across the street have goldfish in their pond. They generously offered to give Sarah three of them and gave me some tips on the general care and maintenance of goldfish. Blow some bubbles into the water to reoxygenate the water, and change the water every 5 days or so. Got it, Larry. Thanks.
Two days later Sarah and I are blowing bubbles into the fish tank, making sure Goldfish Junior, Goldfish the Third and Goldfish the Fouth have enough oxygen. Sarah forgets to take the straw out of the water before reoxygenating herself and swallows a gulp of nasty pond water. Mental note to self: Blow bubbles into the tank when Sarah is not around.
Goldfish Junior and Goldfish the Third are discovered floating about three days after the bubble blowing incident. Sarah doesn't even miss 'em.
Goldfish the Fourth seems to be made of hearty stock and is still swimming happily. He gets some nice, clean water and a whole tank to himself. He gets fed and bubbled until TODAY when I saw him in exactly the same spot as Fishie the First, dead. He's still there. I can't make myself get rid of him.
Sarah doesn't care. She knows there's a whole pond of fish across the street. And she knows Larry'll give her another one.
I care. Dead fish are gross. Where can I hide the fish tank?

Copycat

Okay, I'll be the first to admit it. I'm a copycat. My friend Chrystie has a blog and I've been experiencing blog jealousy (blealousy?). I'm addicted to her blog and love being able to have a peek into her life, especially as she lives far away! I'm also a wanna be writer and thought writing a blog might be a good way to express any creative impulses I might have since I don't have time to scrapbook (another addiction.....sigh.) I might post some pictures of my absolutely adorable children, and my gorgeous hubby but since I am technologically delayed it might be some time before I figure that out. So stay tuned and we'll see where this goes!