Help!!!

Ok, so I was a bad Mommy and I failed to pre-order school supplies from the school in June like I was advised to do. I figured I'd possibly save a few bucks and do the shopping myself.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find a Kanga Pouch. Can anyone offer me any advice on where to look? A Kanga Pouch, by the way, is like a nylon sack large enough to fit a binder with a flap that velcro's shut and a clear plastic sleeve on the front. I've seen them before, but I have no clue on where to get one.

Help??! Anyone?

Home sweet new home!

We're here! We're actually living in our new home. Yeehaw!!

After 12 nights of living at my parents' house, one long day of packing and unpacking a U-Haul, and a last-minute wrangling of friends for help, we've moved us and all our stuff into the house. Today was spent unpacking and making paths through the piles of boxes. The kitchen is slowly coming together (after I unpacked and arranged for about 5 hours!) and the rest of the house is insane. Fortunately, Liam got the laptop hooked up and I'm now sitting in the middle of our living room floor with a small plastic bin as my desk. It's so sad to be this desperate to get online.

Big highlights so far:

• I discovered a small herb garden and some rasperry bushes in the back yard.
• I've been able to get my gardening "fix" by weeding the various flower beds. Lily weeds with me, only her version includes sitting her butt in the middle of the flowers and eating rocks. Just because you're named like a flower...
• Nick and Lily's room doesn't have a closet. It really threw me for a loop. Just ask Liam.
• I'm falling more and more in love with my kitchen. It's so freaking cool.
• I met a neighbour at a garage sale. She seemed really nice and I detected...an east coast accent!
• Janine the super Telus geek hooked up my phone jacks in the kitchen. Geek friends are the best.

I'll update as things progress. Hopefully I'll get my life straigtened out enough that I can re-create a social life!!

Life in a trailer

For anyone who doesn't know yet, my family has moved out of our home and into my parents' trailer. Woot! There's nothing quite like living out of boxes waiting for idiots to pay you for your home three or more days after they were supposed to...but that's a long story in itself and I'm not in the mood.

If you're trying to phone us, don't. You'll get a message that our phone number doesn't exist. If you need to get in touch with us, phone my cell or my parents' house (which I won't post on here) or e-mail us.

I'm very much looking forward to moving into our new home partly because I'm excited about the house, but largely because I'm growing frustrated with spending my days in a non-baby-proofed home. I can't put Lily on the floor for more than a minute before she's pulling things down or headed for the stairs or slamming her fingers in the kitchen drawers. I knew that there were going to be frustrations with living here for 10 days, but I hadn't counted on this being one of them.

Other than the small bumps, we're all alive and well. Liam managed to bike all the way in to work and back yesterday without dying on the road. Nick is in his glory, spending days on end at Grandma and Grandpa's house. He loves the space out here and I can certainly see why. He goes off on his own for long periods of time and quite often I'm really not sure where he is.

A week until we take posession of our new house and one day after that til we move in!

New baby pictures!

Does it not look like Mina poked her in the eye just before the picture was taken??!
A baby on a beach. Doesn't look like they're trying to get her tanned yet.
A classic baby in the tub shot. Extra cute points for the curled up arms!
Family photo!
Mina looking beautiful as always. I think motherhood suits her.
"I love you Mummy! Can I have some milk now?"

Folk Fest 2006

Yet another year of Folk Fest has wrapped up. Well, technically I guess it's still going for another 30 minutes or so, but our family is home and both kids are asleep so it's over for us. Much fun was had by all, and I learned a few things along the way I felt like sharing.

Everything I needed to know I learned at Folk Fest

If you follow Liam into the woods, bad things can happen. Babies can get grumpy, families can get lost, and small boys can fall flat on their faces in the mud.

Sunscreen is good for babies. It would probably also be good for moms if they remembered to put it on.

If a mom who happens not to be wearing sunscreen wears an unusually low-cut shirt, the top half of her boobs can sunburn.

Everything tastes better when eaten outdoors, and it gets extra points when it's eaten in front of a stage.

Seeing an old heart-throb six years, two kids, and a husband later can make a girl feel old, especially when she remembers how naive she was when she used to swoon over him.

Port-a-potties which have been sitting in the sun for four days stink. A lot.

Children, given nothing but a hill covered in grass and a bunch of other children, can entertain themselves for hours and hours and hours...

Hawksley Workman is a pretty cool drummer.

A workshop which includes Hawksley Workman and Feist on the same stage is very cool.

Although it's so very different each and every year, Folk Fest is a sure way to fill four days with enough sunshine and music for at least six months.

My 101 in 1001

I've come across this idea on a few blogs and I thought it would be interesting to give it a go myself. Here are my 101 goals to be achieved in the next 1001 days, which would bring me to May 6 2009. I'll likely set up a separate blog to track progress, but for tonight I'm going to leave it with just posting my list. Voila.


101 in 1001

1.Buy wooden kitchen table and chairs for my new kitchen.
2.Buy furniture for basement.
3.Complete Leader Applicant work and officially become a LLL Leader.
4.Incorporate FlyLady principals into organizing my home (at least zones, routines, and weekly plan).
5.Buy a nursing bra that fits (preferably while I'm still breastfeeding).
6.Have Liam and Nick's lunches prepared before I go to bed.
7.Extend meal-planning to include lunches and snacks.
8.Regularly wash my face and brush my teeth before bed instead of collapsing into bed at the end of the night.
9.Write up Lily's birth story.
10.Plant a herb garden and use it while cooking.
11.Plant a vegetable garden with Nick.
12.Keep my flowers alive for an entire summer.
13.Get some indoor plants (and keep them alive too of course).
14.Make sushi.
15.Do a family fondue night.
16.Have a girl's night dinner party at my house.
17.Have a housewarming party.
18.Complete a scrapbook.
19.Regularly back up my digital photos onto disc.
20.Get professional family photos done.
21.Get professional photos of the kids done.
22.Frame and hang up all of my pictures.
23.Go through proofs of wedding pictures and get prints made.
24.Decide if kiddo #3 is going to become a reality or send Liam to get snipped.
25.Meet my niece Trina.
26.Enroll Lily in swimming lessons.
27.Run regularly for an entire summer.
28.Exercise in some form 3 times each week.
29.Teach Nicholas how to tie his shoes.
30.Start keeping a journal in which I write at least once each week.
31.Go for 5 massages.
32.Give 10 Reiki sessions.
33.Receive 5 Reiki or reflexology sessions.
34.Write Liam a love letter.
35.Go on a family vacation.
36.Weigh 170 lbs.
37.Have all the boxes unpacked in our new home before Christmas.
38.Have a “home” for everything we own.
39.Start a compost.
40.Enroll Lily in a preschool class.
41.Breastfeed Lily until she's at least two years old.
42.Volunteer at Nick's school.
43.Read 2 classic novels.
44.Read 5 non-fiction books from my bookcase.
45.Have a Christmas party at our home.
46.Write up a will.
47.Make a new friend.
48.Keep a written inventory of the deep freeze and pantry.
49.Paint the kitchen.
50.Create a Body Clutter control journal and fill it in fully and honestly for two months.
51.Meet with Financial Dude and set up RESP's for Lily.
52.Meet with Financial Dude and set up monthly deposits into Nick and Lily's RESP's.
53.Take part in a Bible study, either in person or online.
54.Make prayer a structured part of my daily life.
55.Visit Jo's home.
56.Take a class of some sort by myself for myself.
57.Begin a written journal for Lily and continue to update the one I've started for Nick.
58.Find a meat dish Nick will like that isn't hot dogs, meatballs or chicken nuggets.
59.Make a soup from scratch.
60.Fill and deliver a Christmas hamper.
61.Go out for a fancy dinner with Liam.
62.Buy myself something at Lush.
63.Take dancing lessons with Liam.
64.Complete my 100 things about me list.
65.Make plans to build bathroom in basement, including jacuzzi tub.
66.Watch Ghostbusters with Nick.
67.Regularly put laundry away after folding it instead of leaving it all over the couch/recliner.
68.Make bread...without using my breadmaker.
69.Write an article and attempt to have it published, either in print or online.
70.Buy something that makes me happy and is not practical in the least.
71.Fill a blank book with poetry.
72.Complete a cross-stitch project.
73.Lean how to make a new (alcoholic) drink, then make and drink it.
74.Return all the books I've borrowed from people.
75.Take a picture a day for two months.
76.Walk barefoot on a beach holding hands with Liam.
77.Memorize a reading from the Bible that is significant to me.
78.Make Playdough with my kids.
79.Write my brother an e-mail at least once a month.
80.Bake a cake from scratch that isn't for a special occasion.
81.Get a pedicure.
82.Play baseball.
83.Go to a batting cage.
84.Do all four yoga videos in my box set at least once each.
85.Paint a picture.
86.Buy something at Linens 'n' Things.
87.Take my kids to Whyte Ave on a Saturday afternoon.
88.Make puppets with my kids and put on a puppet play for Liam.
89.Plan a celebration for our 5th wedding anniversary (August 21 2009!)
90.Get my and Nick's health care cards switched from my maiden name.
91.Make a soufflé.
92.Frame and hang my diploma and certificates.
93.Write a short story.
94.Learn how to play poker.
95.Get another tattoo, or add to the one I have.
96.Grow a vine of some sort on the lattice in the back yard.
97.Take Nicholas to a live sporting event.
98.Teach Lily to count to ten.
99.Make something out of clay.
100.Buy some nice pyjamas.
101.Sleep in until noon.

Gharg.

To the cashier at Safeway,

Surely, if two school-aged children and one baby can keep from smooshing my bag of apricots during our grocery trip, you could have managed to do the same. I bought three apricots specifically for my baby, so when I found them crushed underneath a bag of apples I was more than just a little bit frustrated. Don't they teach you how to bag groceries properly in Cashier 101?

Signed,
The not-so-satisfied customer


Dear Lily,

Cheer the heck up.

Sure you're cute, but looks will only get you so many hours of whining time. Two days straight is more than enough.

Much love,

The Mom who's sick of all the complaining

P.S. Peeing all over me today when I was running your bath was a trick I'd rather not see you repeat again, thanks.



Dear milk,

I'm very afraid that you're bad for me. While it would be nice to find out that my recent ill health is thanks to you so I could quickly get better, I'm going to be sad if we have to part ways completely. Sure, I'm not the kind of girl to chug down tall glasses of your frothy goodness (unless I'm pregnant of course), but life won't be the same without my double-doubles or my crackers and cheese. The rice milk makes me feel like I'm cheating on you, but what's a girl to do?

Signed,
Not sure if I love you or if I hate you.


Oh, and I almost forgot...

Dear Liam,

Thank you for taking the kids to the playground this evening. Being in the house alone listening to really loud Guess Who is the equivilant of drinking daiquiris on a patio, without the inconvenience of drunken breastfeeding.

Giant kisses to you,

Your wife who is ALL ALONE in the house!!!!

Injury upon injury

Talking to my Mom on the phone today, I learned that my Dad had an accident while biking home from work yesterday. Something happened to his chain and before he could get his foot underneath him he took a tumble off the side of the road, which had a shoulder 12 inches high. He ended up re-injuring the shoulder on which he had surgery this winter.

At his doctor's appointment today, he was unable to get a definite answer as to the extent of the injury, but there's a possibility that the tear that the surgery repaired has been torn again. Ugh. He's to go back in a few weeks when the inflamation has gone down and he'll have an MRI done. Ugh ugh.

While I'm extremely grateful that nothing worse happened (like falling under the wheels of a vehicle) I'm still worried.

Childish moments

I've been having a lot of fun with my kids this summer, so I feel the need to share some of the more amusing moments.

Nick quotes:
"You shouldn't pick at your scabs because it's a waste of platelets."

Me - "Nick, what are you doing?"
Nick (from behind a chair) - "Hiding from Istanbul!"

"But how does the dad fertilize the egg?" (Just the conversation every Mom wants to have with her 5-year-old.)

"When I'm a farmer and I have a farm, people in Africa who don't have any money can come work for me. They can live there and have chickens instead of money."

And now for some Lily moments. Since she doesn't say much besides Mama and Da, there aren't any good quotes but there are still cute moments to share.

- Every single time she or anyone around her farts loud enough to hear, she yells "Aaah!" with a very satisfied look on her face.

- Yesterday, she thought that me sticking my toungue out at her was funny enough that she giggled furiously for ten minutes straight.

- Her favourite exercise is yoga. She pops up into Downward Dog about a million times a day and enjoys peering at the world from between her legs.