50 Days

On February 9th D will have had 50 days of kindergarden.

His teacher wants everyone to dress up in 1950's style clothing.

This was our practice run...

While I was styling his hair he told me he wants his hair and clothes back.

Here he is trying to make a "greaser" face.

Once I took the pictures I showed them to D and he said, 

"Well, okay, you're right, I do look pretty cute."

"EH!"

Butt Creme

Stateside Shopping

Things I always try to get when stateside shopping:

- Slim Jims

- Combos

- Candy you can't find readily in Canada (different flavours of Jolly Ranchers, Redvines, etc.)

- Spaghetti-Os (with franks)

- cool licensed kids wear

- products you can't get in Canada (like the eczema cream I wanted to try for G)

- varieties of sugar cereals we couldn't even fathom

- Red pop (or any Faygo pop)

Hmmm... I wonder why Americans are so fat?

Back to Work Blues

This is a short post today:

I go back to work in exactly one week.

sadness.

My Time: Summary

Looking back at the experiment, I realized that I am actually pretty aware of where my time is going. I thought maybe I'd find that I was doing something that I didn't realize, but while I do have a lot of supposed "me time" on the computer and watching t.v. - most of the time that I'm doing that, I'm also doing something else; like eating, or feeding L.

What my previous posts don't show is the constant stop and go flow of my life. I can't actually sit and read for two hours, because I am interrupted by fussy babies, whining boys, phone calls, door knocks, bathroom breaks, breaking up fights between children, kissing booboos, random snuggles, searches for lost toys, help me on the computers, or pleasechangethechannels. Same with my computer playing time. I seem to be on the computer a lot, but that is because I can never get through a whole blog post/read without being interrupted, so everything takes three times (literally) as long to do. Anyone who calls me on the phone knows this, because I'll stop talking mid-sentence to deal with a request of some sort from someone.

While some may have noticed that "clean the bathroom" never showed up on the lists - because I do prioritize playing with my children/taking them to the Early Years Centre, etc. over a clean house... and I am not talking spotless - just clean. I do my best to tackle the worst messes every week (this week I scrubbed my stove top), but my house looks like a disaster, because I would rather it be a mess, than spend less time with my kids.

Perhaps this is where I need to find my balance. Although I'd appreciate more help with the cleaning from everyone else in the house, I need to sometimes set aside play time with the kids for clean up time - which every so often I do - but as I said, I can't just go and clean the bathroom, without being interrupted seven or eight times for various crises - and it does take three times as long to finish... sometimes while I'm making dinner, I just let everyone cry... because it needs to be done and I don't want to set the house on fire - having a dirty bathroom, while sometimes gross, won't burn down the house or starve.

Video 2: Dancing

L dancing to JEM. If you don't remember/haven't heard of JEM:

She's a rock singer cartoon from the 1980's.

In the video L dances and then mimics the guy on the show who doesn't like JEM's crazy rock and roll style, so he covers his ears.

Huzzah Teletoon Retro for my Saturday morning JEM flashback!

Video 1: Cat Love

G thinks he is a dog sometimes.

Here L seems to think she is a cat.

Well, they are the same size 

(although the cat weighs significantly more than her).

I recently discovered that G loves pretzels.

Monster Jam

A good friend of mine won some Monster Jam tickets for this weekend that she couldn't use, so she called me up this week and asked if we wanted them. (Monster Jam = Monster Trucks)

I had been trying to win tickets through a YTV contest (and was unsuccessful), so I said yes, P got the night off of work and his sister (thankfully) was able to watch baby L for the evening.

We decided to drive to the closest Go Transit station and take the train into Toronto.

G on the train.

He was hard pressed to decide whether he liked the trucks or the train better.

In the end he decided the trucks, but he did highly enjoy the train.

We got to Toronto right on time, and we ate at Finn McCools downtown and the boys loved walking around and seeing the CN Tower all lit up at night. There was also a hockey game on, so on the way out we could see it on the big screen while walking by the ACC.

At Monster Jam

Being honest, I don't really get the thrill of Monster Trucks myself, but the boys highly enjoyed it and were enthralled by the crowds, the noise, and the stunts. D enjoyed it WAY more than I thought he would and started out quiet, but really got into it later. 

My favorite moment was when the announcer said, "Who's ready for more Monster Jam action?" and D politely stuck his finger in the air and said, "oh, I would."

On the train home

D was good and watched Up on P's ipod on the way home, but G was drunk with sleep (we were on the train around 10 p.m.), and instead of falling asleep like I thought he would, he went crazy.

All in all it was a good surprise trip for the boys and they really seemed to enjoy themselves.

But, I echo P when he commented on the drive home: 

Well, now I understand why my parents never took me to one of these.

Me too... 

Toy Project

D was assigned a toy project for school.

I've complained already about how much work D is expected to do in jk, and I'm not really impressed with the actual assignment - as it is directed for the parents to do WITH the child. This is the type of project that should be done at school, perhaps instead of making 4 years olds sit and do paper work all day. Both D's conceptual thinking and his fine motor skills make this type of project a parent heavy assignment; and I feel like it is my parenting ability that is being graded.

(I know it isn't... but that's how I feel)

Digressing...

Task: Create a toy and make it out of 3D objects found around the house.

- when I asked D what toy he wanted to create, he responded with, "Candyland."

Planning

- it took a half an hour conversation with him to get him to understand that he was supposed to create a new toy, not something that already exists (plus creating a board game is far too much work)

- I sat him down with paper, once he had his idea, and he designed his toy.

- this is a super villain action figure. He named him "The Fang."

- I found a bag full of 3D objects (from the recycling bin) and had him go through to decide what he wanted to use for his figure.

Creation

- Together we cut, pasted, taped, the thing

- Alone he decorated it, decided colours, shapes, and where everything would go

Final Product

The Fang

My Time: Friday

This is the last day of the project. I'm just counting the "work week" because I'm unexpectedly heading out of town tomorrow, but I think the past five days have given me a pretty accurate picture of where my time is going and I'll look it all over and summarize it next week.

7:30 - 8:00

- got showered and dressed before the kids woke up

8:00 - 8:30

- took care of pets, started laundry, got kids dressed, fed, into the car.

8:30 - 8:45

- cleaned off the ice and snow on the car.... ugh

8:45 - 9:00

- took G to Montessori, talked to teacher about his program

9:00 - 10:00

- WalMart (double ugh)

10:00 - 11:00

- breakfast, feed D and L, COFFEE, start dishes, checked email, fb, blog online

11:00 - 11:30

- laundry, get everyone ready to go out again (oh winter in Canada...)

11:30 - 12:30

- picked G up, went to Zellers because I forgot something when we went to Walmart (ugh, need ear plugs for this weekend)

12:30 - 1:30

- make hot lunch, do dishes while it's cooking, change laundry loads, got a new calendar and needed to use the big "family" calendar to write down appropriate dates

1:30 - 2:00

- ate lunch, while playing on the computer

2:00 - 3:00

- helped D finish his project for school (pictures tomorrow)

3:00 - 4:30

- on computer uploading pictures of D's project, then posting them to fb, and writing the next couple of days worth of blog entires for "future posts."

- I also fed L while waiting for things to upload (and watched the end of Phineas and Ferb - it was one I hadn't seen before)

4:30 - 5:00

- folded, sorted, put away laundry

5:00 - 6:00

- made and ate dinner, played Superheroes with the kids

6:00 - 6:45

- cleaned up after dinner
- dishes
- played on the computer

6:45 - 7:30

- read

7:30 - 8:00

- bedtime routine

8:00 - ____

- try to get L to sleep at a reasonable time tonight, she was up until 10 last night
- read, if I can (I only got to read for a short while last night; see above

My Time: Thursday

7:00 - 8:00

-morning routine, get D on the bus

8:00 - 10:00

- back in bed with a headache (thanks to this snow storm, I'm guessing)

10:00 - 11:00

- up again, get G ready to go to the Farmer's Market, attempt potty training (fail)

11:00 - 2:00

- go to market in snow storm, grocery store, home again, put food away, make brunch (missed breakfast with the headache), eat, feed L while watching Roseanne rerun

2:00 - 2:15

- computer time

2:15 - 2:30

- G down for nap, back on the computer for a few

2:30 - 3:15

dishes and kitchen clean up

3:15 - 3:45

Folding and sorting laundry

3:45 - 4:00

Doing homework with D

4:00 - 5:00

Dinner
Dishes

5:00 - 6:30

Watched t.v.

6:30 - 7:00

Bath time for the kiddos

7:00 - 7:30

More t.v.

7:30 - 8:00

Bedtime routine
+ picking up the kid's room, because somehow it became a disaster somewhere between 7-7:30.

8:00 - ____

- read, t.v., internet, laundry, hopefully in bed by 10:00

My Time: Wednesday

7:30 - 10:00

- up, showered, dressed, kids up, dressed, fed, everyone winter geared out, G to Montessori, back home, D's second breakfast, feed L, feed myself, phone call from Passport Canada for a friend, boil eggs for lunch, turn on computer and fb the friend about the Passport call, start blog post.

10:00 - 10:30

- checked fb, blogs, uploaded a couple of videos of L's cuteness onto fb (will upload them on here later, blogger is harder to upload videos)

10:30 - 11:00

- started D's big toy project for school. He is making a super villain action figure. We finished the head today... it.looks.awesome. (pictures to come once it is all done)

11:00 - 11:30

- a mix of computer surfing, drinking coffee, making lunches (since we're having lunch at Montessori today) and getting the kids in their snow gear to go and pick up G at Montessori

11:30 - 1:00

- Orientation for G's next speech therapy class. Luckily it is being held right after Wednesday Montessori, in the school, this time, instead of the library

1:00 - 1:30

- lunch

1:30 - 2:45

- fiddled around on my laptop, didn't get much done as every thing that I tried to do didn't work the way I wanted it to, so I gave up and played on facebook, pinterest, and checked various emails.

2:45 - 3:30

- played trains with D

3:30 - 3:45

- back on the computer rechecking for a response to an email that I sent (got it) and updating this list

3:45 - 4:00

- fed L, since she woke up from her wonky mid day nap (she didn't have a morning nap)

4:00 - 5:00

- Dinner

5:30 - 7:00

- Karate (D)

7:00 - 7:30

- phone chatting with friend

7:30 - 8:00

- Bedtime routine

8:00 - bed

- read

My Time: Tuesday

**Note: My time log is going to be much shorter from now on, as I am going to only give a summary of how I spent my time - still true to the experiment, but not so annoying.

7:15 - 8:00

- wake up late

- morning routine

8:00

- drop D off at bus

8:15 - 8:30

- check computer for updates/fb/blogs etc.

8:30 - 9:45

- drive to Delhi for doctor's appt.

- eat breakfast once back home

10:00 - 10:30

- read a story on my Kobo with G, and then letting him destroy all of my settings because he is having so much fun playing with it.

10:30 - 11:15

- troubleshoot why P's ipod won't sync with our computer, and then play on the computer for a few minutes (team effort figured out the problem and fixed it)

11:15 - 11:45

- dishes

- kitchen tidy up

11:45 - 12:00

- make lunch

- eat lunch

12:15

- organize kid's craft dresser

12:30 - 1:15

- general tidy/ pick up (I'm looking for a lost disk, so tidying up is one of the best ways to find lost things)

1:15 - 1: 45

- search online for tutorials for the next craft project that I want to try (found it, but I need a hot glue gun before I try it)

- updating blog, checking fb, etc.

1:45 - 2:15

- clean up desk while waiting on hold for Service Canada to tell them when I'm going back to work

2:15 - 2:45

- rocked L for her afternoon nap while watching reruns of 3rd Rock From the Sun

2:45 - 3:15

- read (yay both kids napping)

3:15

- picked D up from bus and spent time with him discussing his day at school

3:30 - 4:00

- played Crayola Story Maker with the kids

4:00 - 5:00

- made, served, ate dinner

5:00 - 7:00

- cleaned up after dinner

- continued the clean up of the house in an attempt to find the lost software disk

- gave up after massive search effort and found the software was available online (duh)

- installed said software (ugh updating the OS has been a HUGE pain in my arse)

- spent FAR too much time beating my head against a wall trying to make the printer work (fail)

(p.s. I found the lost disk AFTER I downloaded it online, BUT now I can't find the USB that goes with the printer... this thing is cursed, I tells ya)

7:00

Bedtime routine

8:00 - 10:00

Everyone in bed. I'm going to try and work with this printer for 20 more minutes and then I'm either giving up or throwing it out the window... then I'll likely play on the computer for a little while, or read.

My Time: Monday

As per my previous post, I tried to recount everything that I did today to show myself where my time is going every day. I only tried to add the "bigger" items, and left out the smaller stuff that I'm always doing; changing diapers, making bottles, dealing with small crises, checking to make sure L hasn't popped something in her mouth, going to the bathroom, etc.

Wake Up several times past 2 a.m. with fussy, wet, hungry, snotty baby.

8:00 a.m.

- out of bed
- take care/feed animals
- start laundry
- get yoghurt cups for boys until I have time to make a real breakfast.

8:15

- feed L

8:30

- get both boys dressed (D is pretty independent, though)
- start breakfast

8:45

- make breakfast
- put away last night's dried dishes while Eggos toasts and breakfast fries.
- give boys first helping of breakfast

9:00

- Put L in high chair with a handful of Cheerios (yay, she's eating them now!)
- start leftover dishes from after dinner/this morning (didn't finish), while I finish frying my breakfast
- make second helping of breakfast for two little boys, one of them screaming because I didn't psychically know that he'd want another one immediately
- watch my breakfast burn while cutting up second helping of Eggos.

9:15

- Realize that L has pooped in her clean diaper, so end up letting breakfast get cold while I change poopy diaper
- L has pooped through her clothes and needs to get dressed
- boot up computer and set cold breakfast on desk.
- finally start breakfast, while writing this list out

9:30

- finish this list, and finished breakfast... I guess we won't make it to the Early Years Centre by nine... since I'm not even showered yet.

9:45

- shower

10:00

- get dressed, attempt to brush hair (the latter is a fail because L was screaming for attention and my hair looks like crap)
- read to D so that he can get his 25 books for the EYC's book readathon (G already had 25)

10:15

- got boots, hats, coats, etc. on three children and myself
- got everyone into the car (takes 10 - 15 minutes) and buckled up
- drove to Early Years' Centre

10:30 - 11:30

- EYC

11:30

- pack up kids into car with winter gear
- drive home
- get L a bottle, she feeds herself while I start to pick up the mess of toys and movies the kids made since they woke up
- update list

12:00

- G decides to have a HUGE melt down, that literally goes on of 15 minutes, because his train tracks won't do what he wants them to. He ends up in time out.
- L goes down for her morning nap
- I restart the dishes that didn't get finished thanks to the busy morning

12:15

- While some of the greasier dishes soak, I sit down on the computer, as the boys are watching a superhero movie on t.v.
- check facebook, and all of the other computer interest sites
- picked up toys, books, coats, boots, etc in living room, dining room, and boys' room

12:30

- did the dishes that were soaking
- started bread (breadmaker) for dinner

This doesn't normally take so long, but someone didn't put the lid on the sugar canister on all the way and I dumped a lot of sugar on the counter/floor that needed to be cleaned up.

12:45

- changed loads of laundry
- served kids lunch
- made my lunch

1:00

- developed one of those headaches where the lights dance in your peripheral vision.
- ate lunch
- read

1:15

- read

1:30

- made second helping of lunch for boys
- read

1:45

- L woke up, needed to be changed and entertained
- put a new movie in for D and cleaned up after lunch
- vacuumed

2:00

- G went down for a nap
- updated this list
- fed L lunch

2:15

- read various blogs that I'm interested in/checked email

2:30

- changed loads of laundry/folded clean laundry

2:45 - 3:15

- folded and put away laundry

3:15

- play trains with D

3:30

- read

3:45 - 4:30

- unsuccessfully try to put L down for an afternoon nap (dealing with fussy baby)

4:30 - 6:15

- Update OS on desktop and multitask by making, serving, and eating dinner, while troubleshooting OS upgrade

6:15

- after dinner clean up
- most dishes done

6:30

- larger dishes soaking
- bath set up for kiddos

6:45 - 7:15

- bath time

7:15

- L fed and munching on Cheerios

7:30

- kid's bedtime routine

8:00

- boys in bed, L on her way

8:15

- D's lunch packed, livingroom general pick up
- sit down to watch the last bit of HIMYM

8:30

- read

I plan on reading until I go to bed, which will likely be around 9:30.

End of Day One of the Time Experiment

Keeping track of My Time

On fb I subscribe to the Mabel's Label's site, since I ordered a pack for D when he went to school.

Besides loving the labels, they sometimes refer to posts on their blog: The Mablehood.

Usually it is supermom stuff that I'm not interested in, but this post piqued my interest:

http://www.mabelhood.com/index.php/2012/01/where-is-your-time-going/

It interested me so much that I'm going to try it. Next week I am going to track my time in 15 minute intervals and see exactly why I feel so busy and why nothing ever seems to get done around here. I mean, I KNOW why certain things never get done - G is a TORNADO - but I feel *so* overworked, yet the end result seems so pathetic that I'd like to know where I am going wrong. I know that I like to sit and read occasionally, but it is never a continual thing because I am constantly being interrupted by adorable, but needy children - so two hours of reading time actually amounts to a very small amount of actual "me" time (and a very small amount of the book actually read). I will fully admit that I spend too much time on the computer, because that seems like one of the few times that people will leave me be (well... sometimes)... I don't watch a lot of t.v. (but that is tv's own fault for sucking), and I spend a lot of time playing with the kids - but that is just my perception of where my time is going... I want to track it out to give myself an honest look at my day.

I specifically wanted to do this before I went back to work for two reasons:

a) I want to know how to get more done when I go back to work, without letting the house fall apart.

b) This mat leave seems to have completely disappeared on me and I am actually more than a little anxious and stressed out (and depressed, to a degree) about going back, therefore I want to see that my life did, in fact, have meaning over the past 10 months.

I'm going to try and update my results on here - for accountability purposes - and we'll see what my life really amounts to...

End of the run.

Okay... so I gave it a good try.

I wanted to see how many days that I could post, with a picture, in a row before I had an uneventful day.

11.

I guess to have 1/12 days categorized as uneventful is a good thing; although I did lots of non-blog worthy things today, like meet with the lady who is going to help G with his speech at Montessori, go to the market, and send D off and pick him up in the pouring rain, dishes, cook, clean, change diapers, dress children (redress children), read, and play on the computer, help D with his homework, start backing up my important files in preparation for an operating system upgrade... but in my world, that is uneventful.

So I guess blogging about not having anything to blog about should count, right?

Except that I don't have a picture of that.

Eating Habits

L has had trouble eating since birth.

It was part of the whole not being able to breathe thing.

We've worked with a couple of occupational therapists and a paediatric dietician to get her on the right path.

She was slow to start with solids and she still can't eat anything lumpier than applesauce.

But, I'm happy to say that she can eat - and she is starting to love eating!

She will now eat a whole bowl of cereal, as compared to a bite or two.

She'll now eat and want more.

She'll now eat and be happy about it.

She'll even open her mouth in excited anticipation for food.

This is huge for her.

I am a very proud Momma.

4 AM Conversations

4:00 a.m.

thump

D: (outside voice; the entire conversation) Mom. I have to pee.

Me: Shhhhh! Then, go pee.

D: I can't reach, and it is too dark to see my stool to reach the light.

Me: Shhhhh. Okay, I'll be right there.

loyal-zombie brother who got up just because his brother did back in bed, light on, boy on toilet, shlumpy mom sitting on side of bathtub.

D: Y'know what I like? Superheroes.

Me: I know. Please be quiet, everyone is trying to sleep.

D: Y'know what I like?

Me: Superheroes.

D: YES! AND I LOVE DADDY'S MARVEL VERSUS CAPCOM GAME, BUT I DON'T KNOW THE NAMES OF THE CAPCOM GUYS, JUST THE MARVEL GUYS AND I ALSO LIKE DC COMICS. I KNOW ALL OF THEIR NAMES AND ALL OF THE NAMES OF THE BAD GUYS. SHOULD I TELL YOU?

Me: No, but you are too loud, honey, please be quiet, you'll wake everyone up.

D: (continues to loudly name every superhero and villain he knows)

Me: Are you finished?

D: Peeing? Yes. Tooting? No.

Me: Tooting?

D: Yup... oooh, there's one.

...

and another.

(This goes on for a few more minutes)

mom is finally able to get chattering four year old back in bed, after convincing him that he did NOT need to sleep in Momma's bed, so that he could continue his story.

mom lays down.

L: Mama?

Visits

L wants to see Noni's teeth ;)

"Gramma, I'll trade you this sucky for your necklace,"

Who's My Biggie Girl?

L has started to throw her hands in the air when someone says, "Big Girl," or "So Big!"

It is insanely cute how excited she gets when she does this.

Sometimes she even cheers for herself or growls when she does it.

The other night P and I were watching Modern Family and in the opening sequence Phil is at the doctor and the doctor is asking him some questions while doing an exam. 

He says, "So you kids must be getting so big." L threw her arms in the air and cheered... 

P and I laughed harder at that than anything in the show.

Storyteller

New Camera Lens

I saved up my birthday/Christmas money and ordered a new lens for my camera during one of those Boxing Day deals. The lens I bought wasn't one of the door crashers, but it was the one I wanted - discounted $110 for Boxing Day - so I consider it a good deal.*

I'm still figuring out how to use it, but here are the two best shots that I got playing with it today.

*edit: I posted earlier that I forgot Boxing Day, which I did. I bought the lens online, on the last day of "Boxing Week."

Well... He IS Two

happy New Year