Thoughts on your first birthday

Dear Lucas,

A year ago, you came into our world with a bang.  You had your own pre-determined schedule and you were sticking to it.  Now, 365(ish) days later, not much has changed.

You actually started out as a pretty chill baby.  I think you slept about 23 hours a day after you were discharged from your 9 day stay in the NICU.  You fit into our family easily and you were adored by all; especially your brother and sister.

As you sped through the months, your easy-going nature continued.  And then, everything changed... I don't know if it was when you learned to crawl, or if it was teething that sent you into an eternal angst-spiral, but ermahgerd child... simmer down!

If you want something, you WANT it.  And telling you "no" leads to wailing and gnashing of your three teeth (that may or may not be the culprits of your 'tude).  I guess what I'm saying is that you are one determined little dude.  Even though some days it makes me tear my hair out, I do love watching you crawl at warp speed towards the open front door, that unfaltering smile on your face as you are single-minded in your quest for freedom.  And no matter how close I am to that door, or how far away you are... still you make a break for it; one time even getting all the way out only to sit and munch on a leaf you found on our walkway before I caught up to you.

Speaking of eating strange stuff... once you learn to talk, I will be asking you what's up with that?  Paper, markers, leaves, dog fur, candy wrappers, Polly Pocket heads, Lego, rocks... those are just some of the items I have fished out of your cute little kisser. It doesn't matter how thorough I am at scanning the floor for these tiny torture devices, you still seem to find them.  Just stop eating them!

Having said all that, you are also one of the sweetest little snugglers a Mama could ever ask for.  I don't think there's a better feeling in the world than picking you up and feeling you wiggle into your perfect cuddling position.  I love how you light up when you see me, and even though it hurts my ears, your wailing as I walk away is a total ego-boost.  And yes, I even love those open-mouthed, drool-fest kisses you give.  And sometimes?  I don't even wipe my cheek afterwards.

This year we had a grand birthday planned for you.  People!  Coming to our house!  Food!  Cake! Friends!(as you grow older, you'll get that this is a big deal, your Mama hates being a hostess).  Then the ice hit the fan.  Er, the ground.  Everything was frozen over and people were stuck in their houses.  By the day of your party, things were a bit better and some people managed to make it.  Actually, it was perfect... right down to your face as we sang Happy Birthday to you and your expression when you had your first taste of cupcake.

Just like last year, your birthday was not boring.  But let's not make this a thing, okay?  It's hard on your Mama.

Happy Birthday my doodle.  I love you so much and can't wait to see what this next year has in store for you!

And now he is one

I meant to post this yesterday, but we had a party on his actual birthday and most of the day was spent preparing.  Only half the guests could make it because of an ice storm that hit our area, but I think a good time was had by all.

Apparently, Lucas's birthday will never be boring.

This baby goes to 11

I'm  a little bit late, but a sick, teething, not-sleeping-very-much baby will do that to you.  It's a good thing he's cute.

Happy Halloween!

Another year of getting my offspring to knock on strangers' door and ask candy is behind us, and all that is left is for me to somehow get away with eating said candy without said offspring noticing.

Hope you had a Happy Halloween too!

Making a scary face while posing with their pumpkins

Elise's design on the left, Mattias's on the right 

Cheetahs, Bumblebees and baseball players, OH MY!

Too cute.  Both of them

He's coming to getcha!

Munching on his Halloween treats.  Aka leaves.

Wee little Pumpkins

Can I be honest?  I don't get out of my house a whole lot.  Outings are short trips to the grocery store, or the happiest place on earth (Target), and then home again.  I fit these in between naps and nursing/feeding times of my two littlest littles.  

It's my own fault... I hate to disrupt nap time.  But today I figured for my sanity, and thus the sanity of my children, we must go out on some sort of adventure.

So to the pumpkin patch we went...

A rare moment... he's looking at the camera AND smiling

Brudders!

This. Is. Awesome!

Fun in the bounce house... Lucas didn't want to leave

He went on this only about a million times

Tractor!

He was fascinated with the straw

I'm going to eat this now

Cheese!

That is a very unfortunate position the one hand of the scarecrow is in
The kids, however, are adorable

Getting him to smile is never a problem

The best I could get... at least they're both looking

So there you have it... a fun adventure, no meltdowns, and a good time was had by all.  Boy is Elise going to be ticked she missed all the fun.

A perfect 10 (months)

Yes... this really was the best picture I could get.

The Stupid People Chronicles, Vol.1

Lately I've been encountering a lot of stupid people.  Now these aren't people with below average IQ who do things that even Homer Simpson would deem, "not s-m-r-t", but people who have ticked me off in some manner or another.

This is a tale of a woman who made me want to run her over with my shopping cart because she was a Class-A Jerk. I was grocery shopping, and as I came around the corner to the aisle that held the Clearance Section (aka my favourite aisle in the whole grocery store), I noticed a back-up of people and carts.  It seemed one jack-weed had positioned her cart so nobody that was coming from my way could get to the clearance section.

She then proceeded to clear out pretty much every "good" item from the section; school supplies, diapers, pull-ups, batteries... you name it, she had it in her cart.  I think I counted over 10 packs of diapers.

By the time I came around the corner, she was done; sashaying her way towards the check-out leaving a handful of bewildered people in her wake.  They wanly smiled at me and shrugged their shoulders.  One person muttered, "she took EVERYTHING!".

My rage is two-fold; first, the blocking out of everyone else... so not cool on so many levels.  Had I arrived sooner, I like to think I would have sent her cart sailing down the aisle. Not before taking a few choice items out of it and putting them in my cart (okay, maybe not on that last part).

Second, SHE TOOK EVERYTHING.  She didn't leave anything for anybody else.  You might say, "so what, she's entitled to take it all if she wants."  Um.  No.  Because that makes you a turd.

Yes it does.

I remember one time I found some baby food in the clearance section, marked down to about 10 cents.  This was the good stuff; expensive, a well-known brand name, and organic.  I could have been a douche-canoe and taken every last package, but the human in me thought it would be nice to leave some for other people.  Because I'm decent like that.

I spent the rest of my shopping trip with visions of pelting her with all the diapers she took, but then the idea of the Stupid People Chronicles was born.  And it seems a lot healthier to write out my rage, then to act on it.

And a lot less crazy.

So congratulations, Raider of the Lost Clearance Section; you are the star of my inaugural Stupid People Chronicles!

A super-fine 9

Three!

From this...

 ... To this

Happy birthday to the best mix of crazy and sweet you will ever find in one boy.  You keep us laughing every day with your antics, and you keep me on my toes. Your pre-school teacher told me how well behaved you are in class (but you love making mischief for your Mama... hmmmmm), and that you are definitely a leader, not a follower.  May it always stay that way, and may it serve you well.

Happy Birthday... I love you, my little man!

Six

As we snuggled together on the eve before she turned 6, Elise said to me, "I wish I could stay 5... everything is perfect when you're 5."

If she only knew the greatness that awaits her; this year, next year and all the years of her life.

She will do amazing things.  She will have an amazing life.  I can feel it. 

And it all started 6 years ago today. Happy birthday to my sweet, wonderful, amazing girl.  I love you and love you.

And so it begins...

Some first day thoughts:

• Though I didn't cry, I did tear up.  I think the no-crying was mostly due to being distracted by my other two.

• When I came in the room to give her a hug good-bye, her response was a very disinterested, "okay Mom.  Fine. Bye!" I don't think she ever looked up from what she was doing.

• You'd think that would hurt my feelings, but it actually makes me feel pretty good.  Like I just might have done a good job in preparing her for stuff like this.

• She was a little ticked at only going a half day.

• When I picked her up and asked her how the day went, she told me, "it was a little too easy.  I though Kindergarten was going to be harder."  

• She was also disappointed that there was no homework.

• I need to get a friend for Mattias.  About 10 minutes after we came home from dropping Elise off, he asked me if we could go get her because he missed her.

• I'm wondering if this school stuff will affect the close relationship they have.  I really hope not... I love how they love each other.

• I am now officially old.

Nobody puts baby in the closet... except for me

The above picture is of Lucas's crib.  Cute right?  It's all matchy-matchy (thanks to my friend Nicki) right down to some lovely wall hangings.  For the full story, see the picture below:

As you can see, the crib resides in our master closet.  It's cool.  The closet is bigger than our apartment in SF.

What's great is that Lucas is behind THREE sets of doors, so the older two can make all the noise in the world and he never wakes up.  

One day he will share a room with his older brother. Who, at the moment, is having ridiculous night terrors and screams the night away.  I think it's because he doesn't want to share his room.

Well played Mattias.  Well played.

The toe

Can I just start off by saying feet gross me out a little bit.  This picture makes me feel all sorts of yuck.  But I post it as proof that cleaning is hazardous to your health.

Behold!  The broken toe... casualty of an errant vacuum cleaner left abandoned on the floor in hopes that some little nocturnal elves would come calling and put it to use.  

My dog sheds her boy weight in fur everyday.  This means I have to vacuum everyday.  Sometimes twice, or her little furbleweeds will grow big enough that I fear they will morph into some sort of living thing. Like a gremlin.

All that to say; I hardly ever put away my vacuum.  There's no point.

You think that I'd learn the first time I tripped over it to either put it away, or avoid it entirely.  But it was the second trip, a mere 5 minutes later that snapped that third toe like a twig.

There are no words.  Except there are.  And although I won't type them here,  I sure did yell them.  

Don't worry, the kids were asleep.

Blergh Soup

I started this post a million years ago.  But it made me giggle, so I'm posting it anyway.

Andy, a friend of mine, has a blog and from time to time he writes bullet-point posts called "Blog Soup".  Because I lack the time to complete one blog post in it's entirety these days, I've decided to give the bullet-point post a whirl, and partially steal Andy's name as an homage.  Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery... right?

Why Blergh Soup?  Because "BLERGH" is the sound my brain makes when it explodes from being so full of thoughts from all the thinking I do and Elise asking me, "why" one million times a day.

Let the blerghing begin...

• Dear Spring Forward people... I want my hour back.

• There is something beeping in my house and I can't find the source.  It is one solitary beep every 30-40 minutes.  It's making me crazy(er)

• I think Target pipes air-borne Valium into their stores.  It is my happy place.  Seriously, Target is the real "happiest place on earth".  Suck it Disney.

• I can't figure out how to change the time on our DVR.  Shouldn't it have changed by itself?  I really hate this time change stuff.  See bullet point one.

• I know I'm not their target audience, but the guys on from the Hard Line on the Ticket really crack me up.  They bring back nostalgic feelings of when I worked in radio. And Mike Reiner sounds like George W. Bush to me.

•  Summertime in Texas makes me wish I was dead.

• Fred bought me an iPhone because my old cell phone was on it's way out.  As much as I hate the way so many people bury their faces in technology, I have to admit that it's pretty handy.

• Speaking of technology, Fred was helping a stranger change their tire the other day, and some guy stole his Ipad while he was doing it.  I can't even verbalize how mad stuff like that makes me.  I just don't get how a person has no problem taking something that does not belong to them.  Jerks.

• Those last two bullet points made me realize that I do not know the proper spelling of any iProducts

• I have so many posts in the drafts section, I'm not sure what to do with them.  Some are half finished.  Some are only titles.  Some have just a few lines written and I can't quite figure out what the hell I was thinking of.

• This was fun.  I created a Blergh Soup label, so perhaps I shall attempt it again. 

8 is great!

7 Months!

Happy 146th Birthday Canada!

It all started with a simple picture of my 10 month old daughter holding a Canadian flag.  Now 5 years later, all 3 of my kids proudly wave the maple leaf on Canada Day. 

C-A-N-A-D-A,

Tell me what’s a Douglas Fir

C-A-N-A-D-A,

Betcha never heard a bobcat purr

C-A-N-A-D-A,

Have you ever seen a lobster crawl?

In Canada, we get to see them all.

We get to see the maple trees, maple sugar and the maple leaves,

We got the biggest wheat fields growing tall

In C-A-N-A-D-A, where we see the reversing falls

In Canada, we get to see them all.

C-A-N-A-D-A,

Tell me, what’s a tidal bore,

A-N-A-D-A,

Have you ever heard the ocean roar?

C-A-N-A-D-A,

Just listen to that wild goose call.

In Canada, we get to see them all

We get to see the maple trees, maple sugar and the maple leaves,

We got the biggest timber woods so tall 

In C-A-N-A-D-A, where adventure ever calls,

In Canada, we get to see them all.

C-A-N-A-D-A,

Have you ever heard a maple creak?

C-A-N-A-D-A,

Betcha never seen a mountain peak.

C-A-N-A-D-A,

In the land of the big snowball.

In Canada, we get to see them all.

We get to see the maple trees, maple sugar and the maple leaves,

We got the biggest wheat fields growing tall

In C-A-N-A-D-A, where we see the reversing falls,

In Canada, we get to see them all.

C-A-N-A-D-A,

Have you ever seen a magnetic hill?

C-A-N-A-D-A,

Or a lady on a dollar bill?

C-A-N-A-D-A,

Betcha never seen the autumn fall.

,

We get to see the maple trees, maple sugar and the maple leaves,

We got the biggest timber woods so tall 

In C-A-N-A-D-A, where adventure ever calls,

In Canada, we get to see them all.

*Lyrics from the song C-A-N-A-D-A by Raffi