This weekend was cause for BIG celebration!

Eryn began to tell US when she had to go potty.

It is an exciting development in the life of a parent.

She's been going potty, but only when I figured enough time had lapsed and she was due for some potty time.

BUT

now, she's begun to tell us when it's TIME

Nana & Papa Bill came over Sunday evening to help us 'celebrate'

I made an apple pie, fetched some vanilla ice cream.

Nana & Papa came over after dinner, with a special gift for Eryn....

more big girl panties!

She was very excited even picking out which panties she'd like to wear the next day!

Perhaps there will be no need for sticker charts and other such rewards for behavior.

That would be nice!

 

In other news..

Kids woke up with a fever on Saturday morning. Both kids were listless from the get-go.

Needlesstosay, that coupled with the ugly dark wet weather, made it an inside day.

I got to head to the gym again (YAY)

I've been making it there regularly the past 3 weeks.

least 4 times a week.

Gary got a copy of that 'flushed away' movie for the kids.

I anticipated it to be..well..not appropriate..

but it was actually very cute and witty. Eryn asked to watch it like 4 times in a row, on her 'sick day'

 

Sunday arrived, kids seemed fine.

The day began sunny and seemed full of potential..

Gary got the kids dressed and out the door for a 'daddy adventure'

He takes them (and the dog) on the urban trails, down to the creek, to throw sticks and rocks into the water...stuff like that.

By the time he returned, so did the heavy clouds. Good thing he went when he did.

While they were out, I began my 'spring mural' for the living room window.

I hate to put a curtain up, as we live in a basement (for the moment) I want as much light as I can get.

So, I thought I'd paint it again (after the Christmas holiday theme).

It's done, I'm pleased with the result.

 

As tired as the kids were Sunday after lunch, Eryn still refused to nap, she just played 'ponies' in her room for an hour.

By 6pm she was not to live with, such a cranky unhappy 'princess'  ugh!

Our house was silent by 7:15, both kids asleep.

 

Passport applications for the whole family go in this week.

Got the applications done, photos done, all ready, just taking them to the 'guarontor'  tomorrow, then off they go. It will be interesting to see how long it will take to receive them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I saw video footage of the amount of snow all the folks got back east. I heard something like total of 8 FEET accumulated snow

OUCH

I've been living in BC for just over 10years now, and I don't miss the prairies OR the snow one bit.

WE

get rain

hence the 'wet' coast instead of 'west' coast.

So, considering the amount of snow and cold weather back east, I can't rightly complain about a day full of piss-pouring rain and 9 degrees C.

Least I don't have to shovel the rain, or  slide around while driving in the rain, or bundle up myself and the kids to go out in the rain.

So, while I'm tempted to complain about copious amount of the liquid sunshine...I won't...because, HEY  it cold be worse...it could be SNOW!!!

 

Our weekend went by too quickly, as always. It was an extended weekend for us. Gary took Friday off work, so that I could get a massage  (valentines day gift). I first hit the gym (by 8am), for my most intense workout of the week, then went to my massage appt. I returned to the house, to pick up the kids and go to my postpartum support grp meeting, but when I returned home, the kids were already asleep. Gary said; GO

So off I went, returned by 3:30pm, and that was really the first time I saw the kids all day. Needlesstosay, I felt pretty replenished by then.

 

Saturday morning, I took off to Cloverdale for the big 'kids stuff' swap meet. Truely the best place to buy kids stuff....most kid's stuff.

I found a few clothes for Eryn and a couple toys for Aiden, not alot. I was frankly too overwhelmed by the whole thing. Between the amount of people there shopping, to ALL the STUFF cramed into the halls. It was packed to the ceiling and faily overwhelming, too much stuff to see.

Saturday night, Gary asked his mom to come put the kids to bed, while we went to a movie. We went out twice in January..see if we can keep it up this month...HA

We went to see a movie Gary was looking forward to;  "ghost rider". It was a childhood favourite comic of his.

I like Nick Cage too, so I thought,  meh

It was an entertaining movie, but great acting?  not so much...

 

Sunday we spent lots of time outside, as the sun was actually shining. Eryn scrapped up her hand real good. We were walking on the gravel trails around here. She insisted on walking Sirius and holding his leash, ALL by herself. And sure enough, Sirius bolted, she held on. She got dragged to the ground, and she got some road rash on her hands. I told her she can't do that again, until she weighs more than Sirius (and he's near 70lbs).

 

Monday arrived WET

and cold, considering how warm it's been lately.

My girlfriend April, had organized a mommy-meet up-group last summer. We all met every week. The past few months (since before the holidays)it's sort of fallen apart.

Today one of the moms, Amy (nice name) had us all at her house for an inside day.

She has a HUGE house in N. Van. Basically 2 huge rooms FULL of toys  (all 'boy' toys, as she's got 2 sons)

Eryn was too distracted by all the toys to be upset there were no ponies there.

(see LOVES her lil pony toys)

It was great getting to see everyone again, well, almost everyone. Shawna and her son didn't come, that was disappointing. But I got to see April and Kate and Lori (Lori's got a 9month old baby named Amy)

I got a few pictures. I felt for Amy when we were leaving the driveway. I was thinking, OMG is she ever going to be busy sorting out all those toys strewn from one end of the house to the other. There's no way I could have stayed to help tidy up.

We drove straight home, had a snack en route, arrived home and straight to naps.

 

After naps, I had my counseling appt. In the building where my counselor is,  there's a daycare room. Eryn LOVES going there because they have a big pony collection. Aiden loves to go because of all the attention he gets, being the only blonde, blue-eyed, white skinned boy in the place. Some of the kids come right up to him and touch his hair (also nearly white).

After an hour of vigorous play, we return home.

A Monday like that goes by in a flash.

The kids were SO tired by 6pm that it was NON stop whining and crying until we said goodnight and closed the doors.

Tomorrow morning, they go to daycare until lunchtime and I have the morning to myself.

This is the thrid week of this 'new' setup and I still can't believe I'll get 4 hours all to myself....ALONE

in a QUIET house....if I choose.

 

Tuesday afternoon, it's supposed to be sunny-ish..and if not, at least it wont be raining, so that would call for some more outdoor time.

Eryn had a great idea to play 'hide and seek' in the backyard. She loves playing that in the house with all the lights off.

Gotta finish this entry, so I can eat and ready myself to watch HEROES on tv (LOVE that show, that's real entertainment)

here's the photos from today.

 

OH, in the photo album above I stuck a couple pics of Eryn. On Saturday she came with me to the store to get milk. They had pint sized shopping carts and she pushed all our groceries around. We even ran into Papa Bill there, and stopped to have a donut with him. A real treat for Eryn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think it's so funny that people...well, some people, have resorted to calling this day 'friendship day'  out of fear they might offend someone if they call it what it has always been called (least in my lifetime) Valentines Day.

 

Over the weekend (last) we went to visit Edie and David. I got a few cute pictures of the kids.

Everett is growing rapidly, and before she knows it, his baby days will be far behind him.

Isabella is still a doll, just a very large doll now. though Aiden is VERY close to being the exact same size as her. They already wear the same shoe size. By summertime, we'll see who's bigger...hehe

We brought Sirius with us too. Before any of us had kids, we used to sit and watch for , well, close to an hour anyway, our dogs run and play together. Now , with the kids and all, we don't get them together nearly as often, but that day, Sirius and her lil 9lb. Gucci dog played like they used to.  Unfortunately, Sirius is so big still, he knocks the kids over without meaning to. I didn't get a picture of the dogs playing, too bad.

Here's the pic's I did get.

I love the one of Eryn with the flower. We went to Davids' work (an optical store) and Eryn was playing with the display flowers (fake) and sniffing them as if they were real, telling me how wonderful they smell.

 

Hope your mom is doing better Edie! I'm thinking about her lots, seeing her well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I make this entry to mark some milestones for Eryn & Aiden. I use this blog as a record of their childhood, as well as keeping family and friends abreast of what's happening in 'da house'.

 

Eryn:    put herself in a time-out, with zero prompting from me  (I didn't see her hit her brother, but he came to me crying and Eryn ran to her time-out spot, all on her own. I asked her if she was mean to Aiden, she said ; yes..........YAY for discipline!.

Aiden: language is about to Explode, his 'baby gibberish' goes on for an entire conversation. The words he can say increase daily. He can put many words together, they just don't make sense yet...to us anyways...but any week now, it'll all come together.

 

Eryn;  sleeps consistently thru the night, though up early some mornings and into our bed (or plays quietly in her room with all her ponies).

Aiden:  sleeps consistent thru the night. Loves his crib. It's the only thing he hasn't climbed out of yet.

 

Eryn: bit of a picky eater. She likes her nutella sandwiches and banana tofu

Aiden; He eats when he's hungry, nearly anything you feed him

 

Eryn:  listens to 'commands' fairly well when out in public.

Aiden: I must have a hand on him at all times.

 

 

Eryn:  still LOVES her soothers, but that's the only 'thing' she usually puts in her mouth anymore

Aiden:  loves his soothers, AND still puts nearly everything into his mouth. Everyone who watches him comments on that. Play dough, markers, glue, crayons, paper, toys, plastic, paint brushes, paint..you name it..he's probably tied to put it in his mouth.

 

Eryn: Is nearly thru napping. If I push naptime back til 1pm-ish she might sleep for an  hour, but naps will soon be a thing of the past for her.

Aiden: Needs his naps like he needs food and water. When he gets tired, he's inseparable from his 'blankey' and becomes very destructive, he makes it clear  that all signals point to :  NAPTIME   and he still naps for a good 2hrs at least.

 

 Eryn:  LOVES her ponies and horses. She has her lil pony collection and nearly always has at least one with her. She asks me nearly everyday now, if she can go ride a real horse.

 

Aiden:  Is only attached to one thing, at this point,   his BLANKY.  He likes his cars and trucks and balls, but when push comes to shove, it's only his blanky he wants. Perhaps we should nickname him  Linus, instead of King Boo-boo  (it used to be King Kong OR Boo-boo, but we had to blend the 2 nicknames, because often after he 'king kongs' all over something, he usually hurts himself)

 

 Eryn;  can dress herself with minimal assistance. She usually picks out ehr own clothes, so she's not always matching. 

Aiden:  Tries to do everything he sees Eryn doing, so he's able to remove some of his clothes, and is trying to put some of his own clothes on, but usually needs help

 

 

Eryn will be THREE years old in 6 more weeks!

Aiden will be TWO years old in less than 3 more months!

 

later I will see if I can use the new  'embed video' feature on MSN blogs, and add a video of Gary with the kids..it's hilarious.

I just have to figure out the coding for it.

 

 

After taking a couple days break from my  'cardio' program, I returned today for more (and was down 4lbs already!). The 'runners high' is an awesome feeling of invincibility, superhuman powers , the feeling that you could run forever.

My 'forever' today lasted 25 minutes. Then I moved to the stationary bike, gotta start getting my 'climbing legs' back, for mtn. biking!

 

The kids, as always, enjoyed their time in the 'playcare' room. They have a bathroom RIGHT in the playcare room.

I've been inquiring about 'potty facilities' so that I can begin to venture out with Eryn sans diaper.

She's doing great at home.

It's me that's been reluctant to be out in 'public' with the possibility of an 'accident',

esp in the car seat  (eeuuwww).

 

Aiden is doing great with the potty thing too.

The big problem with him is language, yet.

Anytime I take him to the potty, he will go.

And because his bowel movements are so regular (too much info for ya???????)

I can even get him poo-ing on the potty.

His stage of potty training is early yet. He hasn't been able to vocalize it yet, when he needs to go, so it's up to me to take him regularly.

But he's always willing to oblige when set up on the throne.

 

I'm LOVING having my mornings FREE on Tuesday and Thursday.

I plan what I will do with every precious hourof my free time.

And after a full morning worth of stimulation at Chris's, the kids are both quite content with a low-key afternoon at home.

Plus having the 'sensational suppers' to rely on, and a good meal ready for dinner each night (or not if I so choose),

it finally feels like I got a few things figured out.

It sure has allowed me to have enough 'space' to focus on what I want in my life.

and synchronicity rushes in.

 

We've been working on applying the 'law of attraction' for nearly a week now. I'll 'blog it out' as the 'orders' come in.

 

 

 

 

 

So far, this week has been awesome.

Tuesday, I had the morning to myself!

from 8am until 12:30pm, I was child free.

Both kids went to Chris's, and I started my morning, immediatly after dropping them off,  doing the 4km loop on the urban trails here, with the dog.

I did some writing at home, enjoyed the silence in the house, then did a bit of shopping.

I also FINALLY got a chance to stop by the rec centre and sign up for a membership!

The childminding cost is low too, so my rec centre membership was a far cry more affordable than the private girls only gyms.

From what I hear, though, the rec centre has all the same 'stuff'.

There's the tv's for the cardio machines (and there's alot of them) all the weights, and machines etc, plus full pool access, including steam, and sauna, and I also can join in a fitness class (incl. spinning classes etc.), for no extra charge.

 

After my sign up, I got some groceries, my LAST MacDonald's meal, and went to fetch the kids.

They were EXHAUSTED, when I picked them up. Chris had them playing outside for 2 hours, and they still had their coats on when I arrived, so I scooped them up, brought them home, shoved a snack in their mouths, and sent them to nap.

They rose by 3pm, and played nicely, even 'allowing' me to make dinner.

What an awesome day!

It was nice to have some time to myself, and a chance to get some things done, but what I really enjoyed, was;

when I was 'with' the kids again, I was really WITH them.

I didn't feel tired, or overwhelmed, or multi-tasked to death. There wasn't all the whining, and crying and fighting.

I felt more rejuvenated with the kids.

YAY

 

So, today I started my 'journey back to me'

 After a leisurely breakfast, I got the kids packed up, and off we went to the rec centre.

I dropped them into the 'daycare'. It is an awesome room, including indoor climbing structures (great for Aiden), several tables, lots of toys and space to play. They even had a 'my lil pony' collection, with unicorns..Eryn couldn't have been HAPPIER.

I figured I'd work on my cardio a bit ( for a few weeks) before joining in one of the 'core workout' classes. I headed for the cardio machines.

I had even picked up a cheapo .mp3 player, the day before, on MY morning, so I had my own tunes, in a weee tiny lil thing, smaller than a granola bar (god, technology is awesome!)

I spent 25 minutes on the stair climber thingy, then straight to another 20 minutes on the treadmill (running for 15 min).

I was surprised at how much energy I had, and how effortless it felt to run on the treadmill after the agony of the stairclimber thingy.

I think I could have gone on  longer, but as it's the first day and all..I didn't want to push it toooo much.

I then had a good stretch and headed for the showers.

It was nice to take a leisurely shower, even if it's a public shower, it's still an opportunity to ENJOY it!

I picked up the kids,  headed for home and Aiden was trying to fall asleep on the 10 minute drive.

I put them straight into bed again. Even Eryn wanted to nap.

YAY!!!

 

I can't wait to go again on Friday. And, on the mornings I have to myself, I'll throw in the 4km loop with the dog, so that's 5 days of physical activity a week (I'll go mon, wed, fri).

My goal is to shed 50lbs.

yep   50

That would put me back to pre pre pre pregnancy weight.

Back in my university days. That's when I remember feeling physically at my best.

That's my goal.

And if I'm not feeling motivated, I just say to myself....  wouldn't an hour break from the kids be nice?  about now?

and off to the gym.

 

 

 

 

 

My grandma was in from Kelowna, this weekend,  with a friend of hers for "Robbie Burns Day" dinner (the 40th annual, mind you!!!). My mom's side of the family is very 'proudly Scottish", so it didn't surprise me that she came all the way down to attend.

It also meant that we got to see her too.

She's not getting around as well as she was just a couple years ago. She did have knee surgery last year though.

I made an awesome Indian curry stew, my grandma and her friend, well , everyone loved it, even Aiden..only Eryn pushed the plate away with a very polite: "no!  tshank you'  (as she says with her little lisp).

My grandma hadn't seen her great grandchildren (the only ones she has) since the end of summer. She said Eryn had really matured, but Aiden looked so different. He wasn't a baby anymore.

I said:  nope

 

Eryn was really excited to see 'gate gamma'  (yup, that's how she says it) probably because I was too.

She's the closest  'family' out west here.

 Aside from her (my mom's mom), my other uncles are out east, way out east (or even south, one has become like one of those Canadian water fowl that migrate to Florida, on a quarterly basis). My brother is way down in Kansas, and that's it for family, aside from my few cousins who've seemingly been scattered by the wind. (It must be a westerly wind, because they're all east of me).

That's why I was so glad to see my Grandma, because she's MINE!

It was fun to tell Eryn, who crawled into Grandma's lap, that when I was a wee little girl, like her, I sat in Grandma's lap too.

Grandma brought, what grandma's usually bring, knitted things.

She made an adorable poncho for Eryn (she'll be big enough to wear it when she's in kindergarten). I got a picture of Aiden in it, because whatever Eryn does, he has to try too.

She also made a hat and mitt set for Aiden, and a nice scarf, and little slippers for both of them.

It's amazing that she's still knitting up a storm. She's knit like crazy ever since I was a tiny lil' girl. Guess she could probably knit in her sleep. My mom loved to knit too. I saved all her knitting things. Most likely, when I'm older, I'll 'take up' knitting too. Got to keep up the tradition, ya know. My mom learned to knit from HER grandma (could have been her great grandma, I'll have to check that out).

I'll probably have to 'take lessons'.

 

After dinner, the kids were released from their restraining devices, and had to burn off some energy. So, Grandma and her sidekick got to see them in full-on force! They were especially excited because of our special guests.  Gary's folks came over to join us for coffee and homemade pumpkin bread. The kids were REALLY excited then!  Getting to see Nana & Papa as well!!!! 

At one point, Papa Bill was so caught up in his conversation, he wasn't aware that Aiden walked right up to him, and ate ALL the pumpkin bread that was on his plate. I got a picture of that! When he finished it (he even ate it with a fork) he put the fork back on the plate and said:  "OH NO"

 

 I love watching my Grandma tell stories, or do anything really..because she reminds me so of my mom. Guess the mother-daughter 'thing' is inevitable. I miss my mom's mannerisms, which she picked up from her mom, and my daughter will most likely pick up mine as well, which I got from my mom. Funny how that works , eh?

 

I was sad to see all our guests leave, but once they had departed, the house was...

silent...

ah

sweeet silence

 

Here's the pics:

 

 

 

 

 

I just had a brilliant idea!

I actually 'had' it yesterday, but decided to 'sleep on it' and review it again.

Eryn had 'her' day in daycare yesterday. She had a good time, happy to see her friends again.

After I picked her up. It just occurred to me, that I could put BOTH kids in daycare for a HALF day, for the same price as one for a full day.

SO, from  8am til  12:30 pm, I could be child FREE..

instead of just 'down to one'.

 

I'm sure Aiden would 'fair' better for a half day than full anyways. And putting their naps back by another 40 minutes would help too.

By then Eryn might possibly be tired enough, from all the excitement to nap those two days of the week.

DUH

Don't know why it didn't 'dawn' on me before.

Not being as flexible with my thinking, as I thought...

but I am after all  :P

just took me an extra week to 'get there'

 

This week,  I will be 'child free' for at least 8 hours in total.

8 hours 'off the job'

I have to start anticipating what I might do in those precious few hours. I certainly don't want them to 'go to waste'

Some properly scheduled 'me' time.

 

YAY

 

YAY

 

yipee