Ho Ho Ho~

Notice the coffee pot that is brewing ...

Doodle is ordering

wow!
I logged on and relized it's been a long time since I blogged. I don't know where the time goes!
It's been a wonderful and busy couple of weeks around here. Christmas was wonderful. It was a magical morning. Doodle was thrilled Santa had come, and the princess was dumbfounded by the presents and the wrapping paper and the excitement of the day.
The big gift that both kids received was a play kitchen. I hoped that they would share it and I wasn't disappointed. They loved it, and play in it constantly. Doodle makes "meals" for the Princess and she dances to the music on the jukebox. It's adorable.
Santa was pretty good to me too :)
We got a wii as a family gift. I surprised Phat Daddy by finding a wii fit a couple of days before Christmas.
He surprised me with a beautiful necklace, Rachael Ray Frying pans and a cookbook, and a bunch of Disney World stuff.
And - not to be outdone, my parents surprised my sister and I with something we had both always wanted. We each got a beautiful Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I have been baking and cooking up a storm. I LOVE that machine! So does Phat Daddy. We've been making all sorts of stuff and even competed over raisin bread.

But there's been more going on around here.

On Christmas Eve I really injured my finger. I'll spare you the pictures! But, really, I managed to get my finger stuck in the blender and there was blood everywhere. Somehow I managed to stay calm, and convince Doodle NOT to call 911 and instead called my parents to come and help out. It set us a little behind in all the stuff that I had planned for the day, but it really put stuff into perspective. It could have been far worse for me, or Doodle could have been helping me (which he often does). It's also made me really paranoid about appliances. What happened was that the blender was not on the base, and I was simply moving the base. But, my finger happened to be in the place where you rest the glass jar (the thing that spins that blade) and as I was moving I somehow pressed the ice crush button. The lesson in all of this is that I need to unplug equipment all the time. DUH.

The other excitement of the past few days is that our nanny has arrived in Canada. Her sister lives about 10 minutes away from us, so she is staying with her sister for the next couple of weeks to get used to the weather and the culture here before coming to live with us. On Boxing Day she arrived. We've now spoken on the phone (and I also got a phone call from Immigration Canada) and I'm feeling better about things. We still have a couple of weeks before she moves in and then a couple of weeks after that before I go to work.
I've been struggling with all sorts of emotions. I'm grateful to have a job to go to. And, I know I will be fine to go. But, I worry about my kids. And about me. I think knowing I'd be going back to work made me appreciate the time at home more than I would have had I been staying home. But, it also put me in the mindset that I have to appreciate the moments. And, now that I'm reaching the end of mat leave I feel like maybe I missed something or didn't appreciate it enough or SOMETHING.
It's a hard feeling to explain.
But, I'm grateful to be going somewhere I know. It's nice to know that some of the people who I consider to be close friends are the people who I will be working with when I go back, and who will totally get where I'm coming from when I'm having a hard time. But, that feeling of having to trust that things will work out. That's really hard for me!!!

Of course, our house is still in complete disarray thanks to redoing our basement. But, it's looking so good. I can finally see how our basement will look. We've chosen carpet which has seemed to be the biggest issue of all, and now we're just watching it all come together.

And that, in a nutshell, is what's going on around here.

Dreaming of a White Christmas

She's not quite sure what to make of all the snow!

But it's definitely warmer inside than out!


Meanwhile Doodle and I made a gingerbread house and then some gingerbread cookies.

I kind of like being snowed in!

Teeth

Image via WikipediaDoodle has a dentist appointment today.
It's been planned for months, but we don't have a choice about it.
Here's why. A few weeks ago at school they had a routine dental check at school. We got a letter home saying we could opt out if we returned the form, otherwise Doodle's teeth would be checked. I wasn't remotely concerned about this. He has been to the dentist. His teeth were fine in the summer. We brush regularly, and I do my parental duty of making sure all the teeth are brushed. I'm not saying I was cocky about the school check. I just didn't really think about it.
Until.
I got a letter from our health department saying that my child's teeth were in need of a check up. To say I was a little annoyed at the letter is an understatement. It was worded in such a way that it was implied I don't take care of my kid's teeth. And, it included check boxes to indicate the problems they found with my child's teeth.
Except they forgot to check the box.
So, given that I had received such a formal letter written in such an urgent way that I insisted I rush my child to a dentist I was a little nervous. Especially since they forgot to tell me what they'd see. (and they had told Doodle he had "twenty beautiful teeth" - wtf?)
I called my dentist's office. They said not to worry, to keep my regular appointment and call to let the health department know the date of the appointment in order to stop any further letters, and also to find out what box should have been checked off.
So, I did.
And, after dealing with several people and finally getting a phone call back a not-so-friendly woman let me know that they had seen tooth decay. And . AND. I HAD BETTER GO TO THE DENTIST SOON OR THEY WOULD BE IN TOUCH WITH CHILDREN'S AID.
What????
This has been bothering me a lot.
The more I think about it, the more it angers me.
I'm a good mom. Both of my children are up to date on their needles. My son has never missed school. I feed them organics, for goodness sakes. And, yet, because my son has tooth decay I could be reported to the Children's Aid? Seriously?
I hate that fact that because I let him have his teeth checked I could be on the radar of a child protective agency.
I know it's a small thing. I know that once I take him to the dentist today I'll get the form signed and sent back. In fact, I may even send it registered so I KNOW that it has gone back.
But really ...
Doesn't the health department have bigger things to worry about than the fact that my kid has tooth decay?

Christmas Memories

This is what our Christmas memories are.

Spending time with Great Grandad (still going strong at 99, though I'm sure he'll outlive me) and then making sure we stay healthy with Doodle's first taste of street meat...


All before meeting up with my parents and my sister's family in an unplanned visit to the store windows at the Bay.

Have an O'Henry Christmas

My grandad is 99 years old.
He lives in a one bedroom apartment and his days are very routine. He gets up, he goes for his walk, he visits Tim Hortons, he has dinner.
His apartment is very tidy.
So, when I come and visit him with 2 kids in tow, it's a bit harried. Now that the baby is cruising, pulls herself up on everything and doesn't sit still and Doodle has discovered that nothing brings her more joy than him making her laugh ... it's a little overwhelming for a 99 year old.
So, I was a little nervous for our visit.
But, on Saturday morning we decided to drive up. We went before lunch and brought presents, Doodle's book of school poems, some baking and ourselves.
It was one of the nicest visits ever.
My grandad hasn't bought me a gift in years. What he usually does is give us a cheque for dinner out. It's much appreciated. And, there's no way that he would be able to go and get gifts for his kids and grandkids.
But, this year he knew going to visit him was out of the way with the kids. And, when we got there and gave him his present his face lit up and he said "oh! I have something for you too."
For Phat Daddy and I - a box of chocolates.
For Doodle - a bag of chocolate Christmas balls
For Princess - a king-sized O Henry Bar. Seriously!
I have to admit, the O Henry bar was the hit of the morning. The princess only saw a giant yellow bar thing she could chew. Doodle knew I wouldn't let her eat it and was thrilled that she may pass it on to him.
Phat Daddy and I were amused because my uncle was sitting in the room, and I thought he was going to have a heart attack when he saw it (he has 5 kids ... I'm sure he knows that she's a little young for a chocolate bar).
And, bless his heart. My grandad said to me "I wasn't sure what babies eat, so I thought she could gnaw on that to stay quiet."
And, that is the best parenting advice EVER.
We opted to instead feed her the organic pureed baby food I had brought with me, and leave the chocolate bar until she has a few more teeth.

Back to the Naturopath

Today we went for another naturopath visit. We haven't been for awhile, and we had to review some hair analysis results, review the different supplements that Doodle is on, and I also wanted to have her take a look at the baby.
It was a pretty cool visit. My mom came with us which made life a lot easier. With the Princess moving constantly and Doodle talking constantly it can be difficult to discuss stuff. So, my mom read Doodle stories and the baby played with the toys and life was good.
I realized about halfway through or visit, though, how much of a difference this visit was from when we first started visiting.
The first time we saw our beloved "Dr.Jane" I was almost in tears from my frsutrations. I had a child who ate far too much sugar, who was out of control and I was a little overwhelmed by all the different things she spoke about - supplements, smoothies, minerals, etc.
Fast forward a few months.
This visit was so positive. The hair analysis we did for Doodles showed that his system is pretty balanced out. Our conversations over what food to feed him are fascinating to me, and better yet, I can bounce ideas off of her. We were laughing over some of my healthy cooking attempts, and I was thrilled to tell her that Doodle never takes junk to school.
And, then after, my mom, the kids and I went for lunch.
It hit me in the middle of lunch that we had gone to the store (fancy lunch at the Super Store - Doodle's choice), chosen our lunch, found seats, and eaten pretty much the entire lunch and he was CALM. There was no frantic running around. I was not disciplining, bribing or stressing out.
I have to admit, all of the work over the past few months has been worth it.

We also had an appointment for the baby. She is a pretty healthy little girl, but she seems to sometimes have some digestive problems, and I really want her to eat healthy foods. Plus, I'm really struggling with the transition to formula. I'm not about to pump when I go back to work, and she really doesn't seem to do well with any formula other than the organic formula. But, I think she may have a bit of a milk intolerance.
So, we came up with some ideas for the transition, and I may even be making my own organic rice milk formula. Seriously! I'm strangely excited about that.

Ahhhhh ... The Family Bed

The other day I had our princess sleeping in bed with me. Doodle woke up at some point and decided to join us.

I think that was the best few hours of sleep any of us has gotten in awhile (Phat Daddy, who was sleeping on the couch agreed!)
Doodle never gets up in the middle of the nights, but for some reason he did, and it was kind of nice. Especially when the cats decided to join us also.
My personal opinion on sleep is you do what you can. For us, Doodle went from crib to our bed to crib to big boy bed to race car bed to bunk bed.
But, I'll admit that every so often it's nice to have both of my kids snuggling with me. Time flies so quickly, I know these moments, the ones where you wake up and have 2 happy little ones curled up around you won't be here forever.

When You Turn Off the TV

All day, between our various errands Doodle kept sitting down and playing with his lego. My job was to keep the Princess away from his Lego.
Well, he did put up a lego-sized danger sign, but she tried to eat it. Yum Yum.


By the time we picked up Phat Daddy at work he had created this jet. He was really proud of it.

I was too!

Things are Coming Together

I'm so excited.
We've officially started re-doing our basement. We met with our contractor last night (recommended by the fabulous Kerry J) and agreed on the schedule.
I've started choosing carpeting.
And last night we cleared out our freezer and donated it to my dad's school.
I'm feeling good about all the changes going on.
Phat Daddy had planned on doing all the demo in the basement, but since our contractor had already tied that in the price, we get to skip that step instead focusing on emptying the rest of the basement and getting organized with what we have left down there.

In other news, Doodle continues to make us laugh constantly these days. My mom came over yesterday to bring him to school.

Doodle: Grandma, do you know what I like when I don't have food?
Grandma: Nope. What?
Doodle: SNOT!

Maybe you had to be there, but we were killing ourselves laughing.

Brought to you by the Letter Q

Doodle has weekly homework.
It's not a big deal. Every week they learn a poem and the letter they are learning is in it. The homework is usually to circle the letter in the poem and then read the poem to a certain number of people. Then, the child usually has to read the poem to something special.
This week our letter was Q (for quiet), and they are learning about owls at school, so Doodle was supposed to read to a bird.
Then, when the homework is complete the parent is supposed to sign a sheet at the beginning of the book where there is a place for comments.
This is the highlight of my week.
Really. I've taken this homework thing very seriously. Really. Since we've been learning about birds and bats and owls I found a fun craft in order to attract the birds (pinecones dipped in peanut butter and bird seed).
When we were learning about squirrels we ended up at an apple farm on a squirrel hike.
Oh, and then there was the week we had to read to the moon, but since it was so dark we couldn't find the moon, so we got out our window paints and painted a moon on the window.
And, each week I've been documenting a bit about our homework.
I thought this was normal.
Now, Doodle's teacher is incredible. And, she sends me back notes. I truly thought this is what most parents do.
And then she told me that she rarely gets stories of homework. Usually just a signature or a note if there is a problem.
Yep. Rookie mom here.
She particularly enjoyed it when I enclosed a picture of Doodle reading his turkey poem to his grandparents and great-grandparents while wearing the turkey poem he read at school. Seriously. She wrote me a not about it.
I'm not about to give up the habit of writing stories to her. But, I've decided that I'm going to share our homework stories here on my blog. Because really, I love the homework of the week. I also love what we are all learning.

Holy Crap it's December 1

Image by Randy Son Of Robert via FlickrReally.
December 1.
Where did the time go????
I love December and Christmas. And, I love that I have 2 kids to share it with. I love that this year Doodle is really into Christmas, and has a grasp of traditions and wants to do stuff.
So, I'm trying to do a Christmas thing every day.
Yesterday my mom and I brought the kids to a garden store full of Christmas Trees. Doodle was sooooo well behaved. We reminded him about 5000 times to look not touch, but he totally listened each time. And he walked with us and he was good. The baby was enthralled with the lights.
We've started hanging lights.
We've started decorating.
And yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent. And, that meant Christmas carols.
I love Christmas.
And I'm ready for shortbread. Yum.
But, this year we are also reminding Doodle of not only Santa, but the Christmas Story. I want both to be a big part of the tradition.
Phat Daddy also wants to create a Christmas Eve tradition. His idea? Something involving fondue. I love it.
I'm still a little stressed about gifts. I went shopping with my nieces on the weekend, and we had a blast. (okay - we had a blast, but I ended up buying them a bunch of stuff I shouldn't have - but really, matching sweaters for them and my princess????)
We haven't got any clue what we're doing about the tree. We have a couple of little (fake) ones up, but we haven't yet figured out our big tree. Doodle loves trees, the Princess will love to attack it and eat it. We are thinking a small tree. We just don't know. Add on an upcoming basement reno, and we don't know where we will put it since we'll have a lot of added stuff upstairs. Who knows.
And, I still have a bunch of stuff to organize and buy.
The sweet thing? I let Doodle paint his own ornaments for people he loves, and he thought it was so much fun.
And ... my Christmas cards are done.
So we're getting somewhere.
My real goal this year is to sit back and enjoy the Christmas spirit, to show my kids that spirit and for all of us to pass it on.