New Jammies

Like my new jammies? My Auntie Lola gave them to me for my birthday. I feel like a princess!







In other news, I had to google Shaggy's math because I couldn't figure out his homework ~ it's been a long time since I've multiplied mixed numbers.

Manners

Why don't parents teach their children manners these days? I guess the majority do, but I don't understand the ones who don't. Because then their children grow to be unruly teenagers who have no respect for other people in the grocery store. And yes, I'm talking about me. How did you know?

I was at the store this evening and at the check-out beside me, there was a dad with his 3 sons, I'm guessing them to be 17, 15, 13-ish in age. The youngest was older than Zoomer, but not by much. So just as I'm leaving my check-out, the oldest kid puts their grocery cart in the very middle of the isle...which is considerably narrow because this particular store is under some major renovations. In the very middle of the isle. So I said excuse me and he moved the cart without acknowleding me. Whatever.

So as I'm walking down the narrow corrider (it's cordoned off by plywood on both sides and just wide enough for 2 people to fit side by side), the youngest kid runs past me. Runs. And the middle kid is not far behind, pushing the cart. And then he bumps my foot. I stopped because it actually got my sandal, looked at my foot, said outch and looked at him. He just stared at me and passed me by. Without saying a word. Not even an Oops. And then he proceeded to race through the parking lot, chasing after his brother.

What bothers me isn't the fact that I got bumped, although now my right sandal feels like a flip-flop and they were my favourite pair, but what bothers me is that he didn't apologize. Sure he didn't mean to do it, but just say you're sorry. Manners. If I was parked closer to them, I would have said Thanks for apologizing. I really would have.

Speaking of kids.

Mine went to Marineland yesterday for their school trip. They all had so much fun and went on just about every ride there was. For the life of me, I don't remember there being any rides at Marineland from when I was a kid. Husband assures me there were, but I only remember the whales, dolphins, deer and buffalo. Yes, buffalo. There used to be a big area to the right when you walked into the entrance.

Anyhoo, I gave the boys each 10 bucks for spending money and Zoomer bought a stuffed walrus for his baby sister. Isn't that just the sweetest thing? Shaggy bought candy. Surprising, I know. Tigger bought everyone in his group ice cream and with his leftover money, he bought himself a rubber walrus (I'm sure the dad in charge of his group helped out with paying for the ice cream, because Tigger still came home with change...) So again with a walrus. I thought maybe they had a special display of them, so I asked Tigger if he had a name...I'm thinking Orka or Shamu or something...and he said I'm calling him Michael. Michael! Michael the Walrus, sometimes also referred to as Waffle. How cute is that!

I like my kids. I try to teach them manners, and I don't let them run through grocery stores or in parking lots.

Hmmmm

Something tells me Thumbelina isn't quite ready to give up her morning nap just yet:


I put her in her highchair with a snack while I was getting ready for lunch, and when things went quiet, this is what I saw:


This was the other day when we got home from our walk:


And as you can see, we're still battling the hair bow thing:

I Hate the Government

I really, really do. Our tax dollars are wasted on inconsistencies.

We haven't received Thumbelina's Permanent Resident Card yet, and everyone else in our travel group has received theirs. We need the PR card before we can apply for citizenship. So I called the government office today and apparently it was mailed on April 10 but we never received it.

No problem, I'm told. Since I have an e-mail address, the girl I was talking to e-mailed me the website to go to where I needed to fill out a Solemn Declaration Concerning a Lost; Stolen; Destroyed or Never-Received Permanent Resident Card and then I was told to fax it to the fax number she gave me. Except on the Solemn Declaration page, it says To obtain a Solemn Declaration form (IMM 5451) contact the Call Centre...which is the same phone number I had just called. Huh???

So I called back. And since it's a government office, it takes a good 10 minutes to get through their phone system until you're actually talking to a real person. It was somebody different with whom I talked. She said Oh, I'll give you the web address where you can get the form from. And I said I was just there and the website said to contact the Call Centre. And she said That's because you need an original form. And I said And where do I get an original form from? And she said I have to mail you one. At this point I wanted to bang the phone against the counter multiple times.

Seriously. Why did they send me to the website only to have me call back and be told I need an original form? It makes no sense at all.

I should get the original form in about 2 weeks. I really hope this isn't a pre-curser of things to come concerning Thumbelina's citizenship. It's enough to make you scream.

So let's stop talking abou the government and enjoy yummy pictures from our play date:

I just love this picture ~ I'm going to frame it:


Thumbelina and her roomie from the orphanage ~ aren't they just so sweet together:


This one cracks me up because it looks like the one baby is telling Thumbelina a secret, when it actuality, she's trying to pull her hair:


Let go of my toys and I promise not to hurt you:


I just love the sweetness of this picture ~ aren't their noses and lips positively yummy:

I'm Excited!

I don't know if I've ever shared this with you or not, but I'm convinced that Shaggy has a form of dyslexia. Except none of the teachers at school, save one, believes me. They all say he needs to work harder. The one teacher that does seem to be in my corner (or was in the past when I needed someone to talk to) is the one whom I've asked to tutor my kids.


Not that you needed to know all that, consider it bonus material.


So today I googled dyslexia and found a place that helps kids and adults deal with dyslexia so that they can feel better about themselves and improve in school as well as in their every day lives. I e-mailed the guy in charge - who sounds like he has awesome qualifications - told him a little be about Shaggy and requested an assessment.


And he called me back.


On the Holiday Monday.


And after our conversation, I'm just so excited about having Shaggy assessed. This guy said that if nothing else happens other than the assessment, Shag will feel so much better about himself because he'll know that he's not the only one out there who struggles with things the same way he does.


So now I wait for the information packet to arrive, try to find this book and read it, and we will proceed from there. It's all very exciting!


AND


We had a playdate on Saturday with some of the people from our travel group. The cuteness was just too much to bear. Four little 12 month old Chinese girls, crawling over each other and playing together. So much fun. I will leave you with one picture...to make sure you come back to hear all about it...

Okkkaaaaayyy

Something really weird just happened and blogger only published the first half of my first sentence and the last half of my last sentence. Which turned out to sound like Love Without Boundaries is holding their Happy Long Weekend. Unless that's really what I typed...

Wow.

Go check out Love Without Boundaries Born in My Heart Auction and help out if you can.

And Happy Long Weekend.

Warning

You know how there's all those warning out that say Don't mix alcohol with drugs ...well, I've got one better for you. Don't mix PMS with lack of sleep. I'm just saying.

So how was your day?

It's a Miracle!

Guess what! Go on, guess! Give up? Thumbelina slept the whole night. The.whole.night. She awoke at 5:40 am, which is and ungodly hour, but still she slept in the play pen the whole night long. She did stir and cry out a few times, but she stayed asleep. Asleep. And I'm exhausted this morning. Now, if I can just get her to lay down for her happy nappies instead of needing to be held...


So Mother's Day was quiet since Thumbelina was still sporting quite a cough...and now Tigger has it. Why is it that the only thing kids share freely are germs? We did go over to Fil & Millies and fellowshipped with the relations. It was a nice time.


Thus, I will leave you with pictures.





Sorry, no captions for the pictures. My assisstant will be here any second and I'm sill in my jammies.

To Train Up a Child

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. ~Proverbs 22:6

Do you think it's too early to train up Thumbelina in all things coffee? Ya, me neither.







And Happy Birthday, Lewis! I hope you have a grand day and that your students bring you lots of cake!

On Being a Mom

I didn't write the following, it was sent to me via e-mail. I was supposed to send it to 15 pretty moms, so if you are a mom or a mom-in-waiting, consider it sent to your inbox by me.

PRETTIEST MOM


Before I was a Mom -

I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.

I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.

I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom -

I had never been puked on.

Pooped on.

Chewed on.

Peed on.

I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.

I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom -

I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.

Or give shots.

I never looked into teary eyes and cried.

I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.

I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom -

I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to

put them down.

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I

couldn't stop the hurt.


I never knew that something so small could affect my life so

much.

I never knew that I could love someone so much.

I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom -

I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.

I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.

I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.

I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so

important and happy.

Before I was a Mom -

I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every

10 minutes to make sure all was okay.

I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache,

the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a

Mom.

Send this to someone who you think is a special Mom.

I just did!

P.S. I was puked on twice today.

Mothers!

I don't know about you, but my Mommy was mean to me today. She took me outside and sat me in the grass, and even when I started to complain, she just kept taking pictures of me. I was in obvious distress! See?

Yesterday, my Mommy took me to see a nice man in a white coat. He spoke gently to me and put a funny looking thing on my chest. He said something about bronchitis, whatever that is. I just know that since then, Mommy is forcing me to drink this pink stuff. I don't really mind, I just put up a fuss to see if she'll actually make me drink it.

~Thumbelina

Intentions

The road of life is paved with good intentions. And our road is no different. My intentions were to have a big birthday bash for Thumbelina, because you only turn 1 once, but it didn't happen. I was going to invite aunts and uncles and cousins by the dozens (well, the 4 of them anyway), and balloons and princesses, but with Husband and Shaggy sick all week, the house was disastrous and I was exhausted to the point of tears. Thus, I had no energy to do such a bash. Instead, Shaggy put up Sponge Bob balloons and Tigger got out Spiderman napkins. But we did have a Tinkerbell birthday cake! It was the closest to Thumbelina that I could find.

We went to our/my favourite Chinese restaurant for lunch, Thumbelina wore her red silk dress, and could hardly stay awake. She didn't nap at church and was extra tired. Plus she was a little out of sorts and I couldn't leave her in the nursery so I stayed with her the whole morning. And even then, she wouldn't get on the floor to play, she stayed on my lap and played. So back to lunch. The owners were happy to see her, so I was glad we went. Even though Husband took Thumbelina home half-way during our meal so that she could nap.

Both sets of grandparents came over in the afternoon and we had an impromptu party with cake and presents. Thumbelina was very happy ripping paper and trying to eat it. And the cake. She loved the cake! We actually thought it might have been too much for her tummy last night because she was pretty restless, but she managed to sleep until 3:00 am in the playpen, and then in our bed until 6:30. So we are definitely making progress. I think it's just a matter of time for her, to feel really secure with us and know we will be here for her when she wakes up, and soon enough she will be sleeping on her own in her own crib. I think.

Happy Birthday JB - I'm sorry it didn't work out for us to have a double party. Maybe we'll do one if/when Allie & Lewis come home this summer.

The Decorations:


I'm the Birthday Girl!


The Cake:


Yummy:


Where did it all go?

Thumbelina and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Night

(Have you ever read this book? It's one of my all-time favourite children's books)

So last night my poor little Princess had her first nightmare/terror since coming home. I'm not convinced it was a night terror - we experienced those when Zoomer was a toddler and this was different. The poor little thing was so upset and crying so hard, it took Husband a long time to calm her down, and then just when she was starting to calm down, she saw me out of the corner of her eye and the wailing began again. Husband gave her to me but it didn't help; I thought she would calm right down, because let's face it - most babies only want Mama when they're upset - so it took me quite awhile to calm her down as well. But she finally did settle. And then she wanted nothing to do with sleeping - almost like she was afraid to go back to sleep. She would just grip my arms when I tried to rock her. Today she has been extra-clingy as well, as in not even wanting to be held very much by Husband and he's her favourite person. Except for today. It was me (yay). Is that wrong of me to be happy that I'm the favourite person in her life for today?

When Zoomer would have his night terrors, he would be screaming and crying in bed and be looking right at us, but not be awake. We would soothe him and after a few minutes he would go back to sleep with no ill effects the next day. So it was different than what we experienced with Thumbelina.

I'm hoping tonight is a better night, because tomorrow is her birthday! Yay for cake!!!

School Play

Wednesday evening was the school play and all the kids did really, really well. It was the story of Esther and the kid who played King Ahaseurus did a great job. Lots of expression. Especially when he was demanding his wife to come to a dinner - Tell the Queen I demand for her to come now!! The kid's Dad said it was every man's dream. As he took a big step back from me. I don't know why he would have done that. My reply was - But you all know better.

Zoomer was a Government Official and had to play his trumpet and read official announcements. Four different times. Of course he was the star of the show.

I only saw half of the play because Thumbelina needed me in the nursery. I wasn't surprised because it was past her bedtime. I tried to put her to sleep but she would have none of it. We didn't get home until 10:00 so yesterday she was a little out of sorts and was falling asleep in her highchair at supper time. Poor little thing. She slept pretty good last night. Yay!

Shaggy is sick. He has a fever, headache, soar throat, soar tummy, cough...same thing as everybody else. He was up a few times in the night and this morning, apologized to me for getting me up so often. What a kiddo.

I'm hoping to make it to the city today; I've been trying to go for over a week now. There are a few specific toys I'd like to get Thumbelina for her birthday (this Sunday!!!), plus I need to stop at Michael's because Shaggy has been assigned a science project of the solar system. He wants to make a model using styraphoam balls and floam. And I still haven't gotten Thumbelina's OHIP yet. Slacker parent, I know. Actually, more like an exhausted parent who is just trying to make it through the day.

I'll shut-up now and leave you with some pictures:

Part of the Choir:


Government Official:


He's a star!


Really bad picture of me & Thumbelina:


Thumbelina and Husband:

It Has Started

What, you ask? The blaming of missing things on the baby. The baby. Why, what's missing, you ask? The remote control for the tv. It is true that Thumbelina had the tv remote in her possession, but seeing as she is unable to walk and is carried from room to room by her brothers, I think it's a cop-out to say Thumbelina had it.

Boys!