Four little cousins all in a row...

The kids got to meet their newest cousin, Pearl Clara, yesterday.

Then, today we met bright and early for waffles on my new waffle-maker (can you ever get too many waffles?), and general goofing around with the kids. Faith got a huge kick out of holding Clara...many, many times. Blake thought the "baby" was interesting and was very gentle. Logan thought she was also interesting in a "Mmmm...this looks like a nice new toy" kind of way, and patted her head. This was the result of trying to get all the kids into one picture. Yes...this one's for you Grampa and Gramma!

You know it's bad when...

When the telehealth nurse is trying not to laugh, you know you've entered a new level of parenting hell.

This morning I was feeling particularly parenty, and made scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. Faith, being more like her Dad on the breakfast front, decided to just have a banana. Blake, on the other hand, made the eggs with me, and then dove into his toast and eggs like a lumberjack.

Things were going well. Everyone was happy. I was even reading my new book. Peace.

Then, I looked over and Blake had a piece of toast in his nose. Great. So, I pulled it out and told him "No toast in the nose!" He smiled. I should have known.

I went to help Faith get on a web site, then looked back and Blake had his finger up his nose. He looked like he was on a fishing expedition. Freak! So, I looked up his nose, and sure enough, there's a piece of toast where it shouldn't be. Great.

I dialed the telehealth Ontario number (likely the best service the Conservatives implemented), and explained "the nature of my problem".

"My kid stuck a piece of toast up his nose." Words I never thought I'd have to utter.

The telehealth nurse gamely pretended to keep a straight face as she told me he should "blow his nose vigorously". (Yeah right, a 23 month old will do this.) Otherwise, we had to take him to the emergency room to get a doctor to extract the offending object. Great.

At this point Blake started to sneeze and I figured we were home free. In fact, I thought I saw a crumb fly out. I then wrestled him to the ground and shone a flashlight up his nose to see if there was anything left. Just looked like normal boogers, so I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing.

Half an hour later, however, I noticed his nose was really starting to run. Then, he let out a huge sneeze and this baby fingernail size piece of toast came flying out of his nose, snot and all. Yuck.

And this was all before 9:00 am. Can't wait to see what the rest of the holidays brings.

After the storm

Despite mind-numbingly cold temperatures, the kids wanted to get outside to play in the 18.5 cm of snow we got on Friday. Winter from a kid's perspective is all about having more snow to build forts, make snowmen, and slide down hills. Adults look at all the work it brings; kids just enjoy.


Our fun outside lasted until Blake took a face plant in the snow while his sister was giving him a ride on the sled. He likes the taste of snow, he just doesn't like wearing it. It all ended well though when we went inside to warm up and Faith made the hot chocolate for her and her brother. Sheesh. Next she'll be driving the car.

Welcome to the world Pearl!

My brother, Ryan, and his wife, Melissa, had a beautiful baby girl today, December 17th. We're sending them all our love, and we can't wait to meet our new niece, Pearl Clara.

Pearl was 8 lbs 4 oz and 23 or 24 inches long (Ryan sent out two numbers...both translate to looooong).

The girls are taking over!

Comparisons

Faith is doing her first communion in May, but we missed the regular service in which all the first communion kids were "presented" to the church. So, we had to attend the "makeup" presentation tonight at the 7:00 pm Tuesday service.

This would normally not be too much stress for us, but George was in Ottawa today, and our babysitter was busy, which meant I had to bring Blake and Faith. Blake normally is in bed by 7:30, and we haven't taken him to church for about 3 months because he gets a little rambunctious. So, this was essentially going to be a 30 minute trial by fire for all concerned.

Added to this was Faith's misgivings about anything involving her standing up in front of a room full of strangers, and it was all golden. As in the color of pee.

So, we get to the church chapel (which holds about 15 people) and I'm happy to see that there are four kids and their families there, including one family of four with a little baby and another two-ish-year old. Great! We wouldn't be the only ones making noise.

I couldn't be more wrong.

While Blake smiled, provided commentary, talked on my cell phone, tugged on the chair in front of us, and generally acted like the almost-two-year old boy he is, the other kids his age either slept, or were totally silent. SILENT! As in didn't open their mouths! For 30 minutes. They, in fact, fell asleep in their chairs! With my kid pointing at them and saying "Baby!" every five minutes. I even tried to get him to "pretend" to be like the baby and put his head on my shoulder. He grabbed my nose instead.

On the plus side, Faith survived her "presentation", although she informed me afterwards that there is no way that she's doing anything like that in front of the whole church. I'll leave it to her dad to explain what she actually has to do for first communion. I'm too tired.

Blake's 23rd month

Cheese!
Originally uploaded by Robin's Nest3

To Blake,

It continues to be an adventure. The last couple of months have been a little busy around here. We're finishing the basement and we spent a couple of weeks in Florida, plus getting ready for Christmas.

You are a funny little person. Lately your language skills are taking another quantum leap forward. Yesterday you learned how to say "disgusting" and "gross" (you were doing a food experiment with Faith at the time). You can also say "shoot" on a dime...any time I drop something, forget something, break something...you get the idea. I can only be thankful it's "shoot" and not "shit". (And, no, this isn't an invitation for his grampa to teach him how to say "shit" for Christmas. I will not consider this a present from Santa.)

Your favourite game for some time now is "I got ya". Whenever I need to change your clothes, your diaper, and take you to bed, you plant two feet on the ground, bend your knees slightly, grin and say "I got ya". Then you run. Fast. Usually in circles. Normally, I find this funny, but wrestling you to the ground to get your PJs on at the end of the day gets a little tiring by the end of the week.

You've also learned how to tickle people. Your little fingers dance across your sister's tummy, making all of us laugh together.

Speaking of dancing, this now officially a tradition in our house. We listen to the IPod and you do your mini-verson of the white man dance...bopping your head and arms up and down in semi-rhythm to the music. You like to "move it, move it".

Perfecting your techniques for annoying the hell out of your sister has been another recent pastime. You've advanced from hairpulling to hitting, screaming, writing on her papers, and the occasional biting. Yippee. It's hard to convince Faith that her screams are just the reaction that you're looking for. And, damn, but you've got the innocent look down pat.

So, mr. mischievious, I can't wait to see what the fun times of Christmas will bring. You've already been caught trying to open a present that was sitting under a tree. Upon being found out, you immediately tossed the gift behind your back and took off like nothing had happened. I'm sure you'll get better at hiding these things...can't wait.

Love,
Mommy

The grand prize

Every year, Faith's school has a magazine fundraiser. All the kids who sell magazines get their name in the draw for various prizes. This year, Faith won the grand prize....an IPod Touch 8GB! Holy cow!

The future

My eyes are a little buggy from watching CNN the last couple of days...they even had holograms!?! What?

I flipped on the tv this morning to get the final election results and see some snippets of the Obama acceptance speech. This was out of the normal pattern for our mornings, which usually sees Faith laying on the couch eating breakfast and watching the Family Channel (the bane of our adult existence) while I make my lunch and eat some oatmeal.

So, when Faith asked to watch yet another episode of The Suite Life, I explained that I wanted to watch the news because it was historic.

"Why?"

"Well, they elected the president of the United States." [Onscreen is Obama.]

"So." (The Suite Life trumps politics.)

"Well, he's the first black president of the United States."

Pause.

"What's black?"

This is where I had to stop and realize that, holy crap, she really didn't know what this meant. At all. Wow. I almost cried. Then, I had to figure out how to explain it. Her response afterwards?

"Well, E. has darker skin than me, and she's my friend. It doesn't make any difference."

What money can buy...

I let Blake play in the downstairs bathroom sink quite a bit. He splashes around and gets the bathroom wet, but it keeps him amused while I'm making dinner. Yes...I need two hands to cut vegetables, which he doesn't quite understand.

Today, my wet babysitting plan went a little off course though. Blake took me to the bathroom to show me the pink-striped sock (Faith's) that he had decided to throw in the toilet. Great. I grabbed a plastic bag to fish it out, but, of course, Faith had to see the excitement first. After the inspection, I was ready to grab the sock, but then had a brilliant parenting idea.

"Faith, I'll give you $2.00 to get the sock out of the toilet."

"$2 bucks? OK!"

And, just like that, she grabbed the plastic bag, and de-sockified the toilet. While smiling!

"Two dollars please!"

Best two bucks I ever spent.

Boo!

IMG_1018
Originally uploaded by Robin's Nest3

Faith has a pirate (Elizabeth Swann), and Blake was a cowboy (mostly because he wouldn't put on the pumpkin, the bee, or the lion costumes). Halloween was crazy in our neighbourhood this year. Warm evening + no rain = tonne o' kids. We ran out of candy for the first time ever. As Faith said, "My bag was overflowing!"

Best costume

Best costume
Originally uploaded by Robin's Nest3

Faith's riding stable had a Halloween party on Sunday...and she won the Best Costume prize. She dressed up as a pirate (specifically Elizabeth, from Pirates of the Carribean), complete with sword and gold-painted shirt. (My craftiness is limitless...I mean limited.) She also said she "put on a cute face" so she won. When she demonstrated, it was somewhere between sad puppy dog and cute kitten.

Her prize? A light-up pumpkin. George was thrilled. :)

How many heart attacks in one afternoon???

I picked the kids up from school today and settled in for what I thought was a normal, afterschool experience. Well, except for the voting. We toddled over to the school gym to vote in the federal election. After doing my civic duty, it was off to the house for snacks, etc.

It all started out normally enough...until Faith proceeded to dump all of caterpillar's poop onto the kitchen table. Yes. She has a pet caterpillar right now, and the bugger won't die. She brings it to school, plays with it at home, and feeds it leaves she plucks from outside. And, it poops. A lot apparently. Picture rabbit turns, but about 100 times smaller. Anyway, I cleaned up about a hundred of these from my kitchen table and then gave the kids a snack while the little caterpillar dude became free-range as Faith cleaned out his home.

Then, Blake decided to check out the fish tank while I checked out some emails. This means I'm standing right beside him. He's really taken to the fish lately, and likes to open the top of the tank to terrorize...I mean study...them. All of a sudden, I hear BANG and a wail. He had climbed into Faith's doll stroller to get a better look, overbalanced and banged his chin on the table holding the tank. This resulted in a mild heart attack on my part, a scrape on his chin, and major tears.

As I'm trying to calm him down, I see a piece of white on his tongue. "Oh my god! He chipped his tooth." So, I'm panicking and call the dentist to see what I should do. After we determine that I'll wait and see if I can get a better look in his mouth, and he spits out another piece of white substance, I realized that he had snuck a couple pieces of cauliflower when I was chopping it up for supper. Doh!

Then, as I'm making supper a little later, I look over at the kitchen table to see Blake standing ON THE ARM of the captain's chair, his little toes curled around the edge, reaching into the second shelf of the china cabinet with a look of intense concentration. I ran across the room to grab him and found that he was trying his best to reach past the good wine glasses to snag a small Russian doll!! Good grief!

When he spilled half the container of brown sugar on the floor, this seemed like a cake walk. He even tried to clean it up.

It was at this point I just wanted to put everyone to bed and have a glass of wine...and it was only 5:00.

How many years?

IMG_0120.JPG
Originally uploaded by Robin's Nest3

It's Happy Anniversary to Mom and Dad. I'd say how many years, but then you could figure out how old I am. :)

Happy Birthday Mom!

IMG_9092_edited-1.jpg
Originally uploaded by Robin's Nest3

A big happy birthday to Mom/Gramma from the clan. If you slow down enough to read this, we hope you have a great birthday and take a little time to pamper yourself. You are usually so busy taking care of everyone else...put some of that energy to good use and put your feet up. :)

Love,
Robin, George, Faith, and Blake

Blake's 19th and 20th month

Eating rice krispies
Originally uploaded by Robin's Nest3

To Blake:

OK. Mommy's been a little delinquent in her blog writing lately. I can make lots of excuses (summer vacations, weddings, life), but you can use this in your therapy later in life.

Let's see. What's been going on with you lately? Oh, yes. Words. Lots of them. In sentences, loud, over and over and over. You have discovered the joy of talking, and you won't shut up. Of course, this is the good stage of talking, when you are cute, and don't talk back, call your sister names, or learn swear words from your Grampa. So, I'm enjoying our little conversations about backhoes, and trucks, and various types of food you want to eat. And, your word for help right now..."MUM.MEEE".

You also like to talk on the phone. Not big conversations. Mostly, "Hi Buppa" and "Bye". But, it's earning you big points with the grandparents, which I'm sure will convert into Christmas booty for you.

You have also become fairly obstinate. As Faith says "They shouldn't call it the terrible twos, they should call it the terrible ones." Your favourite phrase right now is "No, no, no, no, no." Followed closely by "Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine." If these two items fail, then a big scream also works.

But, when you're not pulling her hair, biting (yes...you did bite the neighbour....low moment), or hitting her, the best times are watching you and your sister play around the house. She's definitely still the "big sister", but watching you guys scream through the front hall laugung and giggling is like watching my favourite episodes of MASH--funny and touching at the same time.

Love,
Mom

He peed.....

...on the POTTY! Holy crap! (Or Holy wee-wee.)

I'm sooo not ready for this yet.

Happy Birthday Wyatt!

Best friends

I called George as we were on our way to McDonald's to celebrate a good first day of grade 2, I called George to see if he was interested in some salty, fatty goodness. He mentioned that Uncle Curtis was coming over later, so he'd be heading home.

Faith piped up from the back seat:

"Uncle Curtis is Dad's best friend."

"Why do you say that?"

"They talk and drink beer together."

"That means they're best friends?"

"Yeah, that's what men do. Talk, drink beer, and sometimes have a cup of wine."

Introducing....grade 2

Faith ventured off to the world of grade 2 this morning, full of all the fears that naturally befall her quiet demeanor. (I'll have to say my name in class! In front of EVERYONE!)

For the first time, I didn't drop her off for the first day. George got the pleasure this time, and was generally appalled by the mob scene at the primary school door. This is, in fact, normal, as I think families recruit extra relatives to drop off their kids for the first day of school.

Faith was her normal quiet, sober self entering school. She told me that she tried not to cry when Dad left, but she had one tear come down her cheek. (Sniff.)

But, the rest of the day went very well. The grade ones in her split 1/2 class are "learning how to be quiet". And, she wants to do harder work. She's also very excited that she gets to do four days of French this year including counting to 100 en francais. The best part apparently, was recess in which her friends came and found her to play with. This was her big fear the night before, that no one would play with her at recess. (Sniff.)
I swear that school is just another way of reliving all the angst of your own school years, only this time squeezed through the eyes of your kids.

But, all in all, we were pretty happy with how the first day turned out, and Faith celebrated with a new webkinz, and a trip to McDonald's.

Oh, all you'll note that Faith is wearing a nice sweater from her Uncle Duncan. It was chilly this morning, but about 28 degrees C when I picked her up. Yes, the first week of school has turned into summer around here.

A living fence

Ryan arrived on Monday to put in a "living fence" for us. Melissa, his fiancee, designed it, but Ryan got to do the grunt work. :) Here's the before picture of the bed that Ryan dug out. Apparently our ground was too hard for the rototiller, so he had to do most of this by hand.

This is the bed after the plants were all in, but before mulching and edging. He had Faith and our neighbour helping out by getting rid of the grass he'd pulled our earlier. Faith decided that she should be paid 25 cents for her work...cheap if you ask me.

And, here is the finished product. It will take about three years to fill out completely, but I'm really happy with how it looks now. The bed has forsythia, weigilia, zebra grass, snowball, and some other stuff I can't remember now.


Thanks to Ryan and Melissa for all the hard work...and to Ryan for dealing with our grumpy neighbour (hint, hint...the reason for the living fence).

Not my kid!

One of my favourite treats are macaroons and their various incarnations in cookie form, such as haystacks. I love the combination of chocolate and coconut. Our local cafe sells a particularly luscious version of this treat called Tits of the Andes (seriously). It's basically a giant, dark chocolate haystack full of coconut goodness and topped off with a white chocolate "snow cap", which has a chocolate dab in the middle. (I'd show a picture, but I already ate it.)

Anyway, besides the great name, they also have a great taste. So, as a treat I picked one up today. After supper, I pulled it out and broke off a little bit to give to Blake. The kid loves anything chocolate.

I put the chocolate in this mouth, and instead of asking for more, he promptly spit it out and said, "Bleah." Bleah! I couldn't believe it! He obviously takes after the non-coconut lovers in the family (including his Dad). I swear this is a genetic defect as coconut is such a delightful treat.

On the plus side, this meant I got to eat the whole cookie myself. Yum.

Budding artists

Faith is passing along her artistic talent to her brother.

Trot, trot, and more trot

Faith did it! She trotted on her own tonight...a lot. The main trick is getting her lazy-ass pony to actually move, but she can do it. It's the command, cluck, kick, kick, kick, kick....kick that gets little Texas going. She even got to use the "pony smacker", or crop in the vernacular.

I was quite fun to watch actually. :)

TV habits

George was watching The Good, the bad and the ugly on tv the other night when Faith came downstairs. Her first words, "Is this appropriate for me to be watching?"

Blake's 18th month

To Blake:

We have entered a whole new era now. The chairs are laying on the floor around the kitchen table. Any time one gets left upright, you're immediately on it. I just caught you literally trying to jump from a chair that was just a little too far from the table for you to easily make the transfer.


And, you've discovered that you can THROW things...anything, everything. In church on Sunday (a whole adventure in itself), he was playing with a purple plastic lid when suddenly his arm went up and he whipped it, baseball player style, down the pew and into the center aisle. Hello!

You are also turning into a chatter box. Cookie, cracker, cheese, milk (a theme is developing here), doggy, kitty, duck, Faith, Karen, hat, and many more. Yet, this doesn't stop you from grunting and pointing either. We're working on this. You're also using some sentences.

Me: "Who made this mess?"
You: "I did it."

At least you're honest.

You have developed a newfound love of the water. At the cottage on the long weekend you walked in and out and in and out of FREEZING COLD Lake Huron water. Even when you did a face plant, it didn't stop you. In our own backyard, you love to splash in the mud puddle at the back of the yard. Of course, when you bed over to slurp up the puddle water like a little puppy, that's when it gets gross.

You are also a good locator now too. Daddy asked you where you hid the clicker and you trotted off into the bedroom only to come back with the remote control. Today at Karen's house, they asked where Oliver's soother is (just talking aloud really) and you walked over to the pile of toys and pulled out the soother....as if to say "Voila!"

And, strangely enough, you've started sitting on the potty. Whenever I hit the bathroom, you insist on having your turn, no diaper on, sitting on the potty. Mostly this is because you like to take the toilet paper and "wipe your bum", but we may get luckly one day and you'll actually go. Although, frankly, I'm not quite sure how to get you to sit so I won't get hit in the eye with a stream of pee once you do let loose. This may be a learning experience for both of us.

Yes, you are a daily adventure. Mostly I'm wondering when you'll either get stitches or break our leg. As long as it isn't both at once I'll be somewhat relieved.

Love,
Mom

Blake's 16 and 17th months

To Blake:

Well, things got a little bit crazy the last couple of months, so I've missed some posts. A summary goes something like:

May .... sick, molars, sick, molars
June .... climbing, running, jumping, talking, exhausted (me, not you)

You are getting more and more fun, and also more and more sure of what you want and when you want it. This translates to the cusp of a temper...close but not quite there yet. I'm enjoying the teetering on the edge, and hoping we don't fall into terrible twos too soon.

So far, you are learning more and more words. Your "thank you", which you've been saying for ages, is quite clear now, and you've added "more milk", "more cheese", yes/no (head movements), dog, gramma/grampa, nana/papa, "I did it", and many more to your vocabularly. You have no trouble making yourself understood now.

The other big accomplishment for this month is your ability to climb....on everything. You scared George one night by climbing over the back of the couch onto the console table to type on the laptop. That was just the beginning. You can now officially climb onto the kitchen table at will, and push the chairs all around the main floor to climb up to the counter, sink, and stove (!!!!). Thank god I had my hair dyed a couple of weeks ago as the gray hairs are multiplying. The other night I got home to find out you had pushed the chair up to the buffet which holds our laptop. You were apparently surfing the 'net and using the IPod. The IPod also mysteriously had green crayon on it. George would only say that this "was a long story".

You are also quite good at climbing things you are meant to, such as our playset out back. You scramble up this quite easily so that you can slide down on your belly. You've recently graduated to sliding down the right way, on your bum. This is much better than your penchant for running off toward the road, which I swear is only to see me run after you yelling, "Blake...stooooop!"

I swear you have notched up the energy level, as if that were possible, the last couple of weeks. I took you to the library this week so that Faith could sign up for the summer program. This involved her doing a few crafts and games, and me chasing Blake from place to place in the library as he caused various types of havoc, including throwing the little alphabet magnets from the play corner all over the place, trying to use the phone, and climbing on the coffee table in the reading lounge. Who needs exercise classes? I was sweating by the time we left!

So, here's to an energetic summer...and hoping we all survive without stitches.

Love,
Mom

More riding lesson wonders

Faith learned how to ride bareback on Saturday. She was little tentative at first, but then she really liked it. ("Mom, you can really feel the bones in the horses back!") She practiced her balancing (no hands!) while Amanda led her around.

Then, wonder of wonders, she learned how to jump off the horse. While it was moving!!! Well, moving is not something Texas does willingly, so this is a strong word to describe his forward motion when she learned how to slide off his back and away from him. This is prep for when a horse she is riding takes off and she needs a fast exit (hoping this doesn't happen for awhile).

Faith was psyched about the whole experience though. And she's moving up to one hour lessons next week. Soon...show jumping...not.

Left or right?

So, I took this quiz to determine whether I was right or left brain dominant. Apparently, I'm a leftie...although what this actually means, I have no idea. :) Actually, here's a site that talks about left vs. right brain dominance.

Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz The higher of these two numbers below indicates which side of your brain has dominance in your life. Realising your right brain/left brain tendancy will help you interact with and to understand others. Left Brain Dominance: (9) Right Brain Dominance: (5) Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz

Post-haircut

This is Blake's new look. Still lots of curls, just a little less "stuck my finger in a socket".

The first haircut

Blake had his first haircut today. It was getting just a little crazy. The curls were very cute, but he was mistaken for a girl for the first time a couple weeks ago. I'd said all along that would be when I got his haircut, so, with much trepidation, we went to the salon today. All the moms at school were "ahhing" about cutting off the curls, but it has to be done sometime.

I figured it was going to a loud and wiggly experience, but the kid totally surprised me. I sat him up in the chair and he just sat there the whole time with a look on his like "what the hell is going on?" and "who thought this was a good idea?" and "why the hell are you squirting that water at me?" and "when the hell can I get out of here?"

He did get through his whole haircut with a very serious look on his face, and then he started to cry when I took him out of the seat. A sort of after the fact, "I really didn't like that Mom!"

But now he looks less like an urchin, and he still has lots of curls.

Cool shades

Faith got some new sunglasses this week, complete with rhinestones. Very cool. I told her she had to take care of them, so she's cleaned them about 50 times since she got them.

As an update of funny things she's said lately, the other day she was jumping from the chair to the ottoman, which I promptly told her to quit. First, she's not supposed to jump on the furniture, and second , Blake was taking it all in trying to figure out how he could do the same thing. She was not happy to have her adventures cut short.

"Mom, you never let me do anything fun!"

"That's my job...to suck the fun out of everything."

"Well, you're really good at it!"

First horseback riding lesson

Faith's first horseback riding lesson was at a stable near our town. She loved her first lesson, which included learning how to brush down the pony and put on the saddle.

Then Faith went out to the ring with her instructor, Amanda where she learned how to get on pony, hold the reins (which she already knew...she was happy to tell me), get the horse to "walk on", and stop..."whoa!" Texas was a little bit lazy, so Faith had to be pretty forceful with her walk ons. Then she got to turn the horse in a circle. Finally, she was able to ride the pony all on her own! She was so proud of herself!

Of course, as soon as the lesson was done, she informed me that she wanted to get her own horse. Grampa will be so proud. (And, no, Papa, this does not mean Faith will be getting racing lessons any time soon.)

Catching up....

Faith has been talking about having a birthday party for about a year now. She wanted to have her friends over (although exactly who they were has changed as time has passed) and play games. She finally settled on her friends, and that she wanted a Webkinz party. Essentially, this boiled down to me googling "webkinz birthday party" and stealing other people's ideas. Faith was totally impressed by this..."Mommy, you are so smart."


We ended up with four girls and two boys, and a whole lot of squealing, shouting and jumping around. And that was before they had sugar.

The kids seemed to have a great time running from activity to activity. We did everything from Webkinz Supermodelz (making capes for their WebKinz) to Zingoz Pop to Gem Hunt. (One tip: Popping balloons sounds fun in theory, but doing it with six kids and very large balloons in an unfinished basements is a recipe for deafness.) The party ended with Candy Bash (a pinata) and we sent the kids home wanting more. (They didn't want to leave.)

So, apparently I have a possible second career as a party planner for seven-year-olds. But frankly, this sounds like the seventh level of hell. After the party, I was more tired than the kids and put my feet up for about 15 minutes, until we figured out that Blake had stomach flu. Woohoo!

Making cookies

Faith and I made chocolate chip, oatmeal cookies the other day. This used to be a much easier proposition, but since George showed Faith that licking the beaters is OK, baking is much more interesting. Throw in a curious 15 month old, and things can get downright hairy.

Faith's whole purpose for making cookies now is to lick the beaters and eat the dough. After I caught her stealing cookie dough for the hundredth time, I told her she was "just like her Grampa...always stealing cookie dough!"

"I don't care," she replied, "Grampa's grrrrreat!"

Cookie dough is no longer safe in my house.

Blake's 15 month

To Blake:

With each day that passes, you are getting more fun, and becoming more challenging to keep up with. Your big thing right now is climbing on just about anything...the ottoman, the stairs, the chairs, your sister. You have mastered pushing any item that resembles a step stool next to the object you want to climb and then climb said object. Your latest trick is to climb the ottoman sans stepping object. Which means at any moment I can look over and see you standing on top of the ottoman smirking at me. Being a mom, this usually gives me a heart attack as I envision you running off the ottoman and smacking your head into the fireplace. Blood and stitches. I predict this in your future.


Your other big tricks this month involve language. You are really starting to talk...we just have to pay attention. The cutest thing right now is how you say "thank you" whenever we give you something. It sounds more like "ta da", but we get the idea. Not sure how you turned out so polite, but I'm hoping this lasts into your teen years.

Other words include cheese, soos (for soother), kiss, sis (for sister), light (you're obsessed with these), hi, and fai (you pounded on your sister's door and yelled "fai"). And, you love to talk on the phone. You'll walk around the house pushing the buttons on the phone and pretending to talk to people. When we did put you on the phone with Great-Grandpa and Grandma, you said "Hi", and chatted away with them. Then you like to push the buttons and make beeping noises in their ears, so you haven't quite got the phone etiquette thing yet.

In the last month, you've really started to play with your sister, or I should say she's playing with you. And, man, does she ever play rough with you. And, man, do you ever like it. Again with the mother thing and the heart attacks, but if she's carrying you around upside down, the better you like it.


But, my hands down favourite thing you've started to do this month is cuddle more. You'll put your head on my shoulder and snuggle your face into my neck. I think this is your version of a hug, and it feels perfect. Just like you.

Love,
Mom

The "f" word

Faith's been playing with our across-the-street neighbour quite a bit since the weather has turned summer-like here. She has a trampoline, which is a kid-magnet, so the girls often plan to get together after school for a jumping marathon.

Today, she stayed over there for an hour or so while I got groceries with Blake. When I got back, I was chatting with E's mom, asking what every mom wants to know, "Was she well-behaved?"

Turns out all went well, although she mentioned that they were talking about the "f" word. As I picked my embarrassed jaw off the floor, I remembered that Faith and Cordelia were talking about this in the back of our van yesterday. Apparently, Cordelia had seen the "f" word spraypainted somewhere.

Faith: "What is it? I want to know."
Cordelia: "I can't say it or I'll get in trouble."
Me: "Don't even think about it."

So, my neighbour had to find out from Faith was she thought the "f" word was.
Faith whispered, "It's 'freakin'."

OK....that could have been much worse.

Tired of these phone calls

Saturday brought more phone calls....about 50.

Dad decided to test the theory that his helmut actually protected his hard head by getting into an accident with his horse Sophie and the carriage. But, how did we find out?

My cousin called us up looking for Mom's cell phone and explained what happened. Dad had called them from the back of the ambulance because he couldn't find Mom. He explained what happened, then I had to call Curtis to get the cell number, then call Mom, then call back to say I just left a message. (Later to find out that her phone was in the mail.) Then finally talk to Mom on her cell, and so on....

Faith was standing there listening to all this, and getting pretty upset. She kept asking about Grampa and the horse.

"I'm really worried."

"Don't worry, the horse will be fine."

"Not the horse. GRAMPA! He's a HUMAN!"

Grampa will be happy to know that he rates above the horse.

Turns out that he didn't break anything, and neither did the horse, but he is pretty banged up. He's going slooooow right now, but is happy about the drugs.

We're just happy that his helmut was on his head. We knew it was pretty hard--his head, not the helmut--but the extra protection saved his ass...um....head.

Another phone call

Faith got to sleep over with her friend from school on Friday night. When the girls called me at about 4:30 from said friend's house, I got to hear, "Guess what mom? N... has a phone in her room!" Great.

Next, "I dialed our number and you know what happened? Some old granny answered the phone! Why did that happen? I mean I know our phone number and I dialed it. Why would some old granny answer the phone?!"

Great, now I'll not only get bugged about getting a phone in her room, but she is also prank calling senior citizens.

A phone conversation

Got a phone call from Dad tonight that went something like this.

"Do you have a few days available?"

"Why?"

"Your mother broke her arm."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"No...really?"

"Yes...would I lie?"

"Put mom on the phone."

"What...you don't believe me?"

"Put mom on the phone."

"Curtis had the same reaction. He didn't believe me either!"

"I wonder why. Put mom on the phone."

And, yes, she did break her arm...elbow to be exact. She confirmed it herself.

A taste of the future

Today I saw my future and it was exhausting.

My sitter asked if I could pick up her son and son's friend from school today. So, I took the stroller over to the school, and then Faith, the two boys and I walked to our sitter's to pick up Blake/drop off the boys.

I've always realized that boys are different from girls, but walking two of them home brings this all home. Every puddle, stick, and pine cone on the walk / run between the school and our destination were fair game. If there was mud, they found it; if there was a stick they picked it up; if there was a pine cone, they threw it. On the other hand, they found the cool shortcuts and the special path behind a row of fir trees. What an adventure!

When I told Faith that her brother was going to grow up to be just like this, all she could say was, "Oh brother."

Sniff, sniff

On the weekend, I finally got around to downloading some music from ITunes that I'd been thinking about for awhile. OK...admittedly this was prompted more by my current guilty pleasure, American Idol, but everyone's gotta have one of these right? They've had a few songs on Idol this season that are among my favourites, so I went about downloading the original versions. These included Innocent by Our Lady Peace, and a tune that everyone should have on their IPod, Imagine, by John Lennon. (Did I have to tell you that?)

Anyway, I listened to my new tunes on Friday night at midnight while trying to get Blake to go back to sleep. A good way to pass the time when you're half awake.

On Saturday morning, Faith hopped into bed with us and picked up the IPod to listen to the new songs as well. After I got out of the shower, she was still listening. When I walked into the bedroom, she said, "Mom, this is the best song."

"Which one?"

"Imagine."

Darn...I swear I almost started crying. Our daughter likes The Who and John Lennon.

OK...she also likes Hannah Montana, but I'm going to forget about that for now.

An unusual snack

The other day I had the kids upstairs playing around. Blake toddled off into his room for a minute and Faith and I went into hers. When he toddled back over to his sister's room, he was, as usual, chewing on something. So, I stuck my finger in his mouth to fish out the offending object before a choking incident occurred. What I pulled out, however, looked like cooked hamburger. I couldn't figure out had he had gotten hamburger bits in his room. We hadn't had meatloaf for a while, and it definitely wasn't upstairs.

Then, I smelled it.

Think about it...

Ewwwwwwwwwww.

Yes, it was poop.

No, he didn't seem grossed out in the least. Faith and I, on the other hand, were more than slightly repulsed.

Apparently, Blake had a diaper incident that morning the involved him trailing brown bits from a half-undone diaper around the upstairs. George *thought* he had it all picked up. But, obviously not.

Again....ewwwwwwww.

Welcome to spring!

We're having a lovely blizzard this afternoon. Likely 10 cm of snow with whiteout conditions and blowing snow. Where are the robins?

Happy Easter...chocolate hangover

Easter was strangely early this year and too cold to put into words. I mean, we still have 3 feet of snow in our yard. What's up with that? At least it was sunny...trying to be positive.

Blake and Faith had a hoot finding eggs in our basement. Blake was particularly proud when he learned how to shake the eggs open to find candy. Yes, he does love smarties. And, I think he would have eaten them all day if allowed (read more on this for his sister).

Due to the cold weather, we couldn't kick the kids outside this year during our easter dinner/pig out, so they spent the time getting their faces painted into bunnies and dogs, and then sneaking off with mountains of chocolate. Between Cordelia, Faith, and possibly Ava, they ate almost all the easter candy in one afternoon. This included the dishes of chocolates and jelly beans I had set out in the kitchen for the 15 other people at our house. Being the observant adults we are, we didn't actually notice this until it was all gone. Perhaps related to the multiple bottles of wine we drank.

Anyway, Faith and Cordelia reaped the rewards of their candy binge with very sore tummies. We got out the pepto and the Tums for Faith. And, she informed me in a woeful voice, "Mummy, please go and empty my cash register. It has lots of chocolate in it." She just couldn't take the thought of another bit of chocolate. Later on, when I put her to bed, she said, "Mommy, please don't buy as much candy next year."

Of course, what was the first thing she wanted to eat the next morning? An errant bit of easter bunny. Oh, how quickly they forget.

Blake's 14th month

To Blake:


Well, life is gotten more interesting the older you get. You're not a baby anymore and have moved into toddlerhood with both feet. And those feet carry you anywhere you can get to. Not only have you become an avid walker, but you have also become an avid climber. You can climb the back of the couch, onto your play table, onto the ottoman by using any small box left lying around, onto the top of your stand-up piano!!, into the bathtub, into ....you get the idea. Basically you're a walking trip to the emergency room, waiting to happen.

You are learning new things now at an amazing rate. You can paint and draw with crayons (and you only eat the paint sometimes), and you have even done a little cooking. Today you helped stir the pumpkin bread mixture, and it miraculously didn't end up on the floor.


You're also picking up language so quickly that I can't keep up. We had your "one year" infant development assessment on March 7th. This involved lots of questions about language that I couldn't answer. Does he say Ca, Ta? How many words does he know? Can he say uh-oh? Does he nod yes? I felt like I was the one being examined! So, after I assured her that you didn't do these things, I decided to test you out at home.

And, what do you know, you can say Ca and Ta. And you do say uh-oh...actually you say it all the time now...usually just before you drop your cup on the floor! And you can nod Yes to pretty much any question. Sometimes you even nods yes just to see what it feels like to get that slightly dizzy feeling from moving your head too fast. And, this weekend you said "Kitty"!

You turned from slightly behind to boy genius in a couple of days. It's amazing what happens when your mother is actually paying attention.


One major event for you this month was, hopefully, the biggest snowfall you'll see in your lifetime. Actually, we've had the largest snowfall in one winter in 86 years. And, we had about 16 inches of snow on March 8th. The next day, you and Faith got to experience the huge snowbanks around our house, and you proved that yes, you can walk in your snowsuit.

What you like best, however, is eating snow. Daddy taught you this. Now, when I sit you down in the snow, you bend over at the waist like a piece of paper and lick the snow. I have to be vigilant about where you sit.

Food is still one of your favourite pastimes, and you eat pretty much anything. Of course, a few oatmeal chocolate cookies provides not only a yummy treat, but an opportunity to make a big mess. Bonus! You've also learned that if you put cheese in your mouth, then squeeze it out into your hand, that it gives a new and interesting texture that you can then smear on the floor. Yippee.

I still wish I had a quarter of your energy, even if it means going to be at 7:00 each night. I get tired just watching / chasing you. But the best times are when you're wiggling around in my arms and giving me wet sloppy kisses on the cheek. It's gross and endearing at the same time, plus slightly dangerous as you like to bite now. But, I'll brave the threat of your eight, sharp little teeth for a kiss any day.

Love,
Mom

Use this word in a sentence

Faith always brings home her various school assignments at the end of each week. Normally, this involves a series of writing sheets related to her "word wall words". At the beginning of March break she brought home a worksheet of sentences. In each sentence, she needed to use one of her word wall words. As I was reading through them, I got my laugh of the day (word wall words in bold):

"I can talk to my friend."
"I would like a sister."
"I have a brother."
"I can give a gift to my friend."
"My Gramma is old."

Blake's 13th month

To Blake:

I still haven't figured out everything I'm going to write for this post since the past month has been crazy, but I decided to at least upload the pictures.

Two cousins

End of an era

Two weekends ago, Faith lost her fourth tooth. We forgot to put it under her pillow for a few nights and before we got around to it, she asked the question.

"Mom, is the Tooth Fairy real?"

Great. And George was nowhere in sight to field this one. In classic avoidance mode, I said:

"What do you think?"

"Come on Mom. Just teeelll me."

"OK. No the Tooth Fairy is not real."

"So do you put the money under my pillow?"

"Yes."

She didn't seem too devastated by this revelation.

"Mom, can I get paper money for my next tooth?"

So, that was last week. Tonight, we were driving home from Sparks, when she pipes up from the back seat, "Mom, is the Easter Bunny real?"

This time, she had to wait to get home so George could be the one to destroy her childhood illusions instead of me. Then, of course, the next question out of her mouth, "Is Santa real?"

Great...in one week we've lost the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and Santa Claus. We are eagerly awaiting the time when Blake is old enough to believe in them so we can get a little magic back. And Faith is more than happy to play along. But she did ask whether she could say thanks to us at Christmas instead of Santa. She may not have Santa anymore, but she does have manners.

Happy Valentine's Day

So far, we've spent Valentine's evening in bed...all four of us. George and Faith are both sick, and Blake was just happy to crawl on top of everyone until he went to sleep in his room.

So, enjoy your Valentine's Day. I can only hope it was as romantic as ours.

A whole new look

Faith decided to get her hair cut to her shoulders this week. So we went on Friday and she got it chopped off. She was tired of brushing it and "getting it caught in her coat and in her backpack". She looks very cute and grown up with her new look and is quite happy with it. (Even if her Dad isn't.)

Chocolate chip pancakes

Chocolate chip pancakes
Originally uploaded by Robin's Nest3

We had pancakes for supper tonight in honour of Shrove Tuesday. Faith likes her with chocolate chips, so she got the honour of adding them to her pancakes.

I took this photo with my new camera lens, which takes awesome pictures!

Making a mess with oatmeal

Making a mess with oatmeal
Originally uploaded by Robin's Nest3

Blake got into the cupboard and spilled my container of oatmeal on the floor. Instead of just dumping it into the garbage, I scooped it up and let him play with it on a cookie sheet for awhile, which he loved.

Cold season

It's been a week of colds at our house. Blake had croup at the beginning of the week. Croup is nature's way of reminding us that viruses are truly evil creatures with a bad sense of humour. I mean any illness that is at its worst at night, and requires that you take the child out into the cold to relieve its symptoms, is pretty much a cosmic laugh in the face for any parent. Luckily Blake had a milder version so he sounded awful but we didn't have to stand on the porch with him. He did get to sleep with us for a night so we could keep an eye on his breathing and I learned why he is never in the same place in the crib two nights in a row. I swear that boy exercises in his sleep.

Then, in the spirit of sharing, Faith and I got the cold version of his croup. Thursday night at 2:00 am Faith came into our room with a stuffed up head so I rolled out of bed to give her some Dimetapp. As I was tucking her back in, I asked about any other aches and pains.

"Does your head hurt?"

"Sort of"

"Why?"

"I ran into your door."

I know I shouldn't have laughed, but sometimes you have to.

Snow and beer

Today we got about a foot of snow here, so everything was closed. But, I did venture out this afternoon to get some Dimetapp as Faith and I are both sick with colds, courtesy of Blake. The route to the pharmacy passes the local beer store, and to my surprise, there were actually people out getting beer during the snowstorm! I said, "I can't believe people are getting beer now!"

From the backseat, I hear, "They need it mom."

"Who?"

"Men."

"Why?"

"For the snowstorm."

For her, this was a completely reasonable explanation.

Blake's 12th month

Blake is one!
Originally uploaded by Robin's Nest3

To Blake:

It's hard to believe that it was just twelve months ago that you entered the world. To us, it seems like you have always been a part of our family.

The last month has been a whirlwind for all of us. The bulk of the month was taken up with Christmas and all the fixing's. We managed to keep you from toppling the Christmas tree this year, although you liked to sneak past the giant rubbermaid container we kept in the living room to block it off. You started getting smarter after a few tries and would crawl around to the back of the tree to play with the ornaments. This gave you a precious few more seconds before I could move the plastic container and reach around to drag you out, which you thought was hilarious.

For you, Christmas itself was very much about the boxes and the paper. You loved the toys, of course, but ripping through the piles of paper and boxes left over in the living room was much more fun.

You have become decidedly more mobile in the last weeks and have now turned your skills to opening and closing the doors in the kitchen. The lock is on the doors under the sink, but everything else is fair game right now as we can't get the locks to fit. So, as we have an open concept floor plan, this means that I'm constantly listening for the tell-tale banging of doors. Once you figure out that you can get away with this if you're quiet, I'm not sure what we'll do.

Your other big fun lately has been pulling your sister's hair. Faith used to be fairly patient about the hairpulling, but now she just gets ticked off. Until today, I thought you were just pulling it accidentally, but this afternoon you cruised right over to her and yanked on her hair. Just to see what she would do. Oh goody.

She does like helping to teach you to walk though. Faith and I spend time each day letting you try to walk back and forth between us. The first time you actually took a step was on January 7th and I'm not sure who was more surprised, Faith or I. You just thought it was funny. Now, you're up to about four steps, but they are pretty wobbly still. When you're crawling around, however, you never just stop. You have to fall back on one knee with the other foot on the ground. It looks like you're about to stand up or race away. To me, this means you're getting ready to just jump up one day and start walking on your own.

The biggest change this month in our lives has been my return to work on January 7th. I'm off in the mornings by 6:30 so Daddy gets to experience the craziness that is the morning routine. You guys drop Faith off at school and our sitter, Karen, picks you up at the school as well. So far, you've sailed into the new routine with no problems, other than scaring Karen with the copious amounts of food you eat during one meal. When we get home at 3:00, you practically jump out of my arms to crawl into the living room and make sure everything is still the same. Then you usually crawl back over to me so I'll pick you up and give you some lovin'.

Our first year has flown by. I can't wait to see what the next one brings.

Love,
Mommy

Blake turned one today!

Just a few pictures from Blake's first birthday. It got a little messy around here but we had fun!
Like Faith when she was little, Blake loves spaghetti...we just don't have it very often because it takes longer to clean up the mess than it does for him to eat it in the first place.

Faith and I made cupcakes for Blake's birthday after we got home today. Blake enjoyed the experience of gooey icing and crumbly cake.


And then, we had to do the clean-up.....