Will Wonders Never Cease?

This morning we all slept-in until 8 am (Phat Daddy and the baby later). And, we all felt refreshed. The baby, who has been feverish and had had a virus all week woke up healthy and happy.
And, as if that wasn't enough, after cofee, Phat Daddy asked if I would like to go to the mall and Christmas shop.
Off we went to the mall. Our family of 4.
We spent 3 hours there, got everything that we were looking for .... on sale.
In 3 hours Phat Daddy and I didn't argue once
Doodle didn't have one temper tantrum (and we didn't buy him any toys).
Princess didn't even cry.
We even managed to stop at the Starbucks drive-thru on the way home. Pushing our luck maybe, but still no tears.

And now we're having a bit of a toss up around here. Phat Daddy is staying home alone with the baby, in hopes that she'll take a bottle from him.
Doodle is playing lego with his uncle, and I'm going Christmas shopping with my nieces.

I'm hoping it all works out!

Oh, and if anyone has any super weaning tips please send them my way. We've tried everything and the baby refuses a bottle. We're getting hard core around here because I need a break, and I need to know that she will take a bottle BEFORE we have the nanny start.

American

I have a soft spot in my heart for American Thanksgiving.
My grandma grew up in Buffalo, and every year we would call her on her Thanksgiving and wish her a happy Thanksgiving.
So, when I turned on the tv and saw the Macy's parade preparations, I was excited. So, I told Doodle all about Great Grandma, and how this day was special to her.
I told him that Great Grandma was born in Buffalo. He looked at me with really wide eyes and said "Wow! My Great Grandma grew up in a Hotel and shopped at Target when she was 4???"
I could have told him about hardship and growing up back then. But, instead I just said "yep. her life was pretty exciting."

I'm sorry to not post more. I have about a zillion drafts saved, but really, there's not too much to say. My baby is teething again, I'm kind of dreading going back to work, and I'm stressing about Christmas. That makes for some fun posts.

Thank Goodness for Family

This weekend was a long one. A good one, but a long one.
In just a few short days, Phat Daddy has replaced our old kitchen with a new one. He spent hours working on replacing our old crappy cabinets, squaring up new ones, fixing plumbing, and installing a counter-top.
I'm so proud of him. And, I'm so in love with my new kitchen.
Mostly I love our double sink!
We still have a ways to go. The flooring has to be laid, and we have to paint. But, I'm so excited.

In addition to the kitchen we did a couple of other things.
Yesterday both of our kids were Baptized. That deserves a post all of its own. But, it was a beautiful day, and I couldn't have been prouder of my kids, especially Doodle. He stood so quietly and listened beautifully, and was totally calm when they did the water thing.
After we had a small luncheon. Thank goodness that my parents live nearby because we all went to their home for lunch.

The other fun part of our weekend was clearing out our basement. Because we're planning to start a basement reno soon, we need to empty our basement out. Fun times. Wisely, I rented a storage locker - unwisely I should have gotten one MUCH larger! My brother in law came on Saturday and spent a good 4 hours slugging boxes and crap over to the storage locker. Once he had cleared out a ton of stuff I went in and was able to sort through a ton more stuff, get more organized and clean a fair bit.

And the kids? Well, that's where my big sister came in. She helped on Saturday, she helped on Sunday. The cousins had lots of playtime. We had lots of work time. And I think I exhausted my entire family in the process.

But now ... we're seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, a nice kitchen, and an almost-empty basement. And as for next week? Hmmm ... I think some sleep is in order.

Renovation Fun

We're doing some work on our house, or trying to. And, part of the process is hiring a contractor.
There are some very specific things we need done, so we've been interviewing (is this even the word) different contractors.
I actually thought this would be an easy process. Not so much! It's really hard. I've been making lots of phone calls. Some people I've ruled out over the phone. (Rule 1, if you call me "Sweetie" then I will keep looking)
Others have stopped by.
Tonight's guy was Phat Daddy's and my favourite.
He came over for a "free quote". We showed him the basement, he talked, and then he told us he couldn't give us a quote because he needed to do some work first - at $50 an hour. Oookay. Moving on.
He then proceeded to talk to us about his experience and his ideas for the job.
I was still back at the whole paying for a quote. But, whatever.
He seemed okay. Phat Daddy seemed interested. I asked the next logical question:
"Do you have references?"
His answer? Classic.
"Yes. But, it's not like I'm going to give you anyone's names or phone numbers or anything. And they all live in a different province."
Really, I wasn't quite sure what to make of that comment. The fun continued when he said he does plumbing and electrical, but if there are any problems we'd have to call in the experts, and "who knows what they charge?"
At that point we knew we would have to keep looking.
Who knows, maybe I've set my standard too high!

Bleh

I know I'm not posting a lot.
I have a miserable teething child who just wants her mommy all the time.
And, when Daddy comes home and gives me a break. Or Grandma comes over to give me a break I pay more attention to Doodle, who is trying his very best to be a kind big brother. So, we read, or play or do stuff.
Which is wonderful.
Except it leaves very little time, and more importantly mental energy, to blog.
but this time, screaming baby and all,I'm apreciating it, because too soon I'll be back at work.

Remember my Tiny Baby?

She's not so tiny!
And she's super-stubborn.


When she sees something she wants, she gets it!

Guess what we're doing this weekend? Yep. We're investing in MORE baby gates!!!

Words

Image via WikipediaSometimes Doodle kills us with what he says. Because he's learning so much lately, some things don't exactly compute.
For instance, on the weekend we turned on some old cartoon station and the Pink Panther was on. Doodle was watching it, and really enjoyed it. A little later in the day he was humming the song and said to Phat Daddy and I, "I really liked that show you let me watch."
Absentmindedly I asked which show.
His response was "the cat show". So, I said "oh, you mean Tom and Jerry?"
Nope.
"No. Mommy. The Big Pamper. The Big Pamper made me laugh!"
Too funny.
The other thing that he's been doing lately is calling Phat Daddy "Father".
I have no idea why.
We asked him and he told us that it's because Phat Daddy is his father. True. But still.
He does it all the time. He talks about "father" not "daddy" and whenever he sees him says "Hi Father".
It cracks me up.
Phat Daddy does not find it funny. But, whatever.

And, in the not so funny words.
Yesterday I made Doodle his morning smoothie. He said he wanted to also have eggs and a cheese sandwich. Weird. But, I guess he was hungry. So I told him if he finished his smoothie he could have something else to eat.
So, as I was trying to calm down the Princess (who wanted to nurse) Doodle shouted for me. His question
"WHERE'S MY ORDER?"
What????
I calmly walked over to him and asked what he had just said. His response. "I ordered eggs and a cheese sandwich. HURRY UP WITH MY ORDER."
Nice.
I had no idea where he got that from. He was very quickly told that is not how we talk in this house. And, upon further questioning I learned that at the Krusty Krab (Spongebob) that is how they ask for their food.

Oh the joys of 4 year olds!

And it gets better ...

You may have thought that November was enough fun just trying to wean my sweet baby girl.
It gets better.
Last night I went to sleep feeling crappy. I had itchy eyes and could feel a cold coming on.
I woke up with one eye stuck shut. Weird, eh?
I got up, washed it, and went to church. I still felt crappy, and we decided to stop at the drug store to pick up some visine. Confused by the choices, I asked the pharmacist. He looked at me and said "you have an eye infection." and sent me to the doctor.
And oh, the walk-in clinic.
What a fun place! After an hour and a half surrounded by much sicker people I got a prescription for my eye, ear and sinus infection.
So yes.
Life here is good.
The baby is not really subscribing to the theory that if she's hungry she'll eat. She has taken a total of 3 ounces from a bottle over the past 2 days. She's quite happy to wait it out by screaming, sleeping and being miserable.
We're a happy bunch over here.

Why November Sucks ...

Let me tell you how our month is starting.



Take one little Princess (see the teeth) whose mommy decided that November 1st was the day we start weaning in earnest, and who is demonstrating that she has lungs that are just as capable of screaming as her brother's!

Add in a scary 4 year old who is, for all intents and purposes, hung over from a day of candy, indulgence, lots of fun and little sleep.

Throw in 2 adults who decided that the way to cap off Halloween was to have a yummy bottle of wine - and are now nursing headaches to go along with seasonal colds. And the requisite amount of Mommy Guilt for letting my child scream in Daddy's ear while he tries to convince her to accept formula.

And that, my friends, is how we're starting off our month!

The good news is that we live very close to the liquor store, and since we're weaning, a glass of wine may just be the remedy.