Family Christmas: The Year We Actually Did Something!

Dekker is officially old enough to notice his surroundings! I know, he was somewhat old enough last year, but so much more this year! So we decided to actually make our family Christmas into a bit of an event.

I personally had a bit of a rough night, and we had eaten a really good/bad supper around 11:15pm the night before, so I woke up feeling like garbage. However, we got the kids up and made croissants for breakfast. Dekker wasn’t really himself over breakfast but we went with it anyway. It was Christmas!

We wanted to do presents right after breakfast, so we pushed all the toys in the living room aside and put Dekkers presents in a pile. And the kid just lost it. He wanted nothing to do with presents. So we pulled out his story Bible and read the Christmas story while he wandered around the tree a little and got a book or two. We sure weren’t going to force him to scream for new stuff! So we started to crack them open. Instead of saving the best for last, we started with it to ensure that he’d stick around to see the rest. He got a ramp that came with 18 Hot Wheels cars! He wouldn’t tear the paper, but as soon as we took it off, he quietly said “Oh, zoom.” And then he pointed. “Zoom!!” We opened the box so he could play with the cars while we did the rest of the presents. Of course, being Dekker, he wanted things tidy. The cars came packaged all in one piece of plastic with pockets punched out for each car. He would ask us to pull one out for him, examine it, put it back, and ask for a new one. His own kind of fun. Dekker also got the Cars movie, a book about Christmas, drumsticks, and one of those “Pillow Pet” things that is basically just a flattened stuffed animal. His is a puppy. Laela’s gifts all just got stuffed into one box because its not as if she’s going to open them. She got three sweater dresses, a puffy vest, a couple of hair clips, and bandana bibs off of Etsy. I got Brady a shirt, a zippo, a magazine subscription, and a hoodie with his company logo embroidered on it. And, in case you missed it on Facebook and I haven’t texted you to brag about it yet, Brady bought me mukluks 😀

IMG_3432Dekker likes them too.

We’ve waterproofed them twice already and I wore them out this evening. But we’ll get there soon.

Dekker was in a rough state after gifts, so we all went downstairs and set up his ramp and played with his cars. He lasted maybe a half hour before we put him down for a nap. He was furious for about ten seconds and then was silent. He didn’t have a super long nap but it sure helped!

While Dekker slept, Brady and I rested. We both felt a bit crummy from the night before, so we watched some tv online and lay in bed. We tried to map out our evening plans on Google maps but somehow, the app kept crashing and we kept losing all the addresses, so we gave up and figured we’d just fly by the seat of our pants.

Dekker woke up in time for a painfully early supper around 4:00. We all dressed up just a little, ate a bit, and headed to Saskatoon for a very special treat. We went to Moxie’s for their famous white chocolate brownie. I’m not one who really prefers ice cream with my cake but that brownie is sooo moist and delicious and doesn’t make everything crumby and yucky. However, Moxie’s doesn’t exactly present themselves as “family friendly.” I was relieved to see high chairs when we got there, so clearly we were not the first family to come through there with little ones. One of the hosts actually had an amazing tip for us! Everyone with babies, listen up! He came to our table with a high chair (similar to the Wendy’s ones, wooden without any real backrest), turned it upside down, and Laela’s car seat fit into it perfectly!

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So we could all sit around out table together 🙂 It was wonderful. We ordered one big brownie to share, Brady got a coffee, and I got something desserty that I’m still unsure what was in it. But it was good!

IMG_3444As we were ordering, our waitress mentioned that kids meals usually come with “volcano” desserts, and asked if Dekker would like one. Before we could even answer, she said “It would be completely free of charge.” Yay free stuff!

Everything came at one. Turned out the volcano is ice cream on a stand that is steaming from dry ice. Dekker shied away from it immediately, but as it started to die down, he seemed a bit more interested in it. And then when he saw the ice cream, he was much more interested!

IMG_3436Taking this picture lasted about four seconds before Dekker was pointing at the bite. It was a big hit, and the brownie was a big hit for Brady and I, of course. We only had one loud meltdown, when Dekker got a bit of ice cream on his pants 🙂 My little neat freak. I love him.

We didn’t doddle long before heading to the front to pay our bill. Brady was paying and holding Dekker, and I noticed the two hostesses eyeing Dekker up, whispering to each other how cute he was. I’m assuming they were talking about Dekker. Hmmm… I switched gears to speak to the man who Brady was paying, as he inquired about our evening plans. But soon noticed the two hostesses again, leaning over the counter to peek at Laela in her car seat, again saying to each other how sweet she was. None of this was for my benefit, by the way. They never looked my way. As I left, I saw one girl lean into the other and say “I want kids.” I like that kids stand out that way. God has done great things in our family.

We loaded the kids up in the car, delivered our last Christmas present for a friend, and then began our adventure around the SE end of the city, looking at the Christmas lights. We went from address to address, pointing out the houses to Dekker, hearing his “Oh, wow!”s all along the way. We got a bit lost here and there, and some of the addresses weren’t as impressive as we had hoped, but I’m glad we went. It was fun, and easy going. We listened to Glee Christmas music quietly, and chatted amongst ourselves. Our last stop was going to be the Forrestry Farm, but that line was ridiculous so we opted out.

It was around that point where I realized just how carsick I was. Bad. Sooo nauseous. Supper had been really early, so we decided to fill the car, and then stop in at a Tim’s for something light to eat. We pulled into the Costco station before realizing Brady didn’t have his debit card on him. I had used it the other day, and he no longer had it, yet I always give it back. So for the moment, we just shrugged it off and figured we’d fill up somewhere else on credit this time. No big deal. Then we got to Tim’s and as we were about to get out, we realized that again, we didn’t have debit, and we don’t use Mastercard. Baaah! But Laela was wailing, desperately needing to eat. In that moment, I went into my jacket pocket for my phone and came out with Brady’s debit card. Go me. So we piled into Tims and grabbed a table. Brady went to change Dekker while I made Laela a bottle.

No formula in the diaper bag. None. I swear, Laela knew it, because she was not impressed AT ALL. Brady brought Dekker out from the change room and I told him our predicament. The decision was to get home as fast as we could. So Brady hauled the kids back into the car and went to fill it while I grabbed some food for us. Muffins for the boys, coffee for Brady, and soup for me. And yes, now I know that Tims takes Visa now. Bite me. (Tims won’t do it for you, but ask for a cup with your soup, so you can eat it on the road!) When we were finally all back together in the car, on the highway, Brady recounted those ten-ish minutes we were apart. Two bawling children in the backseat of the car, crying sooo loudly that he chose to stand out in the freezing cold while the car filled rather than sit inside with them wailing away. Sometimes a person has to laugh. Dekker recovered once he had some food in his mouth, but Laela was unconvinced. I didn’t blame her. So, as has worked for both of our children now, I switched from Christmas music to Marianas Trench, and she was sound asleep. Quite the family I have.

We all made it home in one piece. Brady changed Laela while I got Dekker ready for bed. Believe it or not, Dekker is getting too tall and skinny for his jeans! So he wears a belt now, which makes him look WAY too grown up! So I couldn’t NOT record it for you guys!

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Yup, a cup full of muffin.
Yup, a cup full of muffin.

I lay him on his change table with his cup full of muffin chunks, and of course, he dumped them all over himself, resulting in big tears and frustration. I collected them from beside his beck and in his hair and tried to put them back in his cup. Mid-wail, he snatched one from me and shoved it in his mouth. And continued crying. It was hilarious. Brady and I pretty much lost it 🙂 So he lay there and I gave him the rest of his muffin chunks. He finished them as I was finishing up his diaper. We got him in his jammies and put him to bed with his new pillow. He went right down, no questions asked.

Now we’re in our room, still feeding our bottomless pit of a daughter. I’m amazed she’s not bigger. But she is eating and eating and burping and burping. Such a good girl!

It wasn’t our smoothest evening ever, but it certainly was memorable! We had a really great family Christmas day, and I think we’re all pretty wiped out. I’m looking forward to a good sleep tonight, and a somewhat low key day tomorrow. We have a few things to do but nothing too crazy at all. Just rest, and prepare for next week! This is just the beginning of Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Last Chance!

Today was (hopefully) our last errand day before Christmas! Not necessarily our last day in the city, but last day being busy running into store after store, deadline by deadline. I’ve always found that, the closer Christmas is, the angrier and busier people are. I’m starting to think that was just my attitude. Everyone we came into contact with today was relaxed and warm. I don’t know if I’ve had it wrong all these past years or if we just were blessed with a beautiful day, but it was wonderful. We hit a couple of different stores for a few things, and picked up a quick late lunch at a McDonalds. At each place, people came to us and just fawned over our kids. We weren’t at all attracting attention even! Sometimes one kid will be crying, or Dekker will be laughing hysterically, and it draws attention to us, but that wasn’t the case today at all! People just sought them out. They were all interested in Laela and how old she was, how big she was, etc., and they would point out how animated Dekker was, and how charming he seemed. Since I don’t have much of a personal bubble at all, I was so flattered that people would come and want to touch Laela and be involved in our family. Everyone just seemed to warm and cozy today.

We had two appointments today. First was Laela’s three month check. Not all babies have a checkup at this point but she’s been dropping a bit on the weight curve chart. She was born into the 85%, and had dropped to the 75% by two weeks. At her two month shots, she had dropped a bit again but not a solid amount, and today, at just shy of three months, she’s around the 50%. She is not dropping in weight, but she’s just not gaining as fast as the charts say she should after being born at such a heavy weight. I love my doctor, and I feel like I can hesitantly say that she loves us. She at least is very respectful of us and trusts our judgement. Technically, if a child drops more than two weight curves, they’re supposed to get some tests done to make sure they’re absorbing the nutrients properly. Our doctor has agreed to leave the testing alone until Laela hypothetically drops down to the 15%. She went as far as to say that really, she knows Laela is healthy and thinks she looks fantastic, so neither of us are really thinking too much about it. Laela obviously thinks Dr. Guselle is pretty fantastic as well, and was very generous passing out smiles. Her exam went great and we quickly talked about Christmas plans before we left. I love her.

Our second appointment was my counselling. It was my second time with my counsellor, and I have to say I really like her. For the record, for anyone who is curious or interested, I’m truly not embarrassed at all that I am seeking counsel, and am happy to talk about it openly 🙂 I’m just not going to put it all out here for the entire world to read, just in case I have haters reading this that I don’t know about. Let’s hope not! That aside, my appointment with her went very well today. I had done the homework she had asked of me, and I have to say that they were VERY good assignments! It was interesting to have her read back some of the things that I had said last time, and how I clearly am already feeling so much better in such a few short weeks. The ways I described my feelings turned out to be exactly what she was gunning for with the exercises she gave me to do. I now have ways she wants me to expand on my homework, but I have strict instruction not to touch any of it until the new year. She wants me to just sit back and enjoy family time and all the joy and chaos that comes with it. I appreciated that, considering the next steps I need to take are going to be quite a bit tougher, I think. But in my own strange way, I’m looking forward to it. I love the progress I’m seeing. I had never been to counselling before this, and I truly see the merit and benefit of it. After two sessions, I already see a change in myself. I needed to speak to an impartial party and view my struggles from a different perspective. I like how she helps me step back from everything a bit and look at it logically and a bit more like information rather than something highly emotional and scary. For the moment, anyway. I think we’ll get back to that part of it next time.

While I was in counselling, Brady was in the car dealing with our baby girl who had pooped up her back, all the way to her neck. In the car. I admit that I laughed when he told me about it, but I am so glad we brought an extra sleeper. There was poop everywhere, including on Bradys jeans. Quite the blowout. Our first ever, in two kids. I know, none of you feel bad for us anymore.

We’re now home, obviously. Both kids are sleeping and I think Brady and I will hit the tub pretty quick. Its our Christmas Eve tonight! I’m so looking forward to tomorrow! Let just hope for a good night with Laela so we can be energetic for our kids. Yay Christmas!!!

Saved from my own Procrastination

Tomorrow will be our city day. Our last errand day before Christmas. Or at least thats the plan! Plans change. I realized a little late that my second counselling appointment is tomorrow and I still haven’t done my homework!!! Always the procrastinator. I am so thankful for my friend, Willa, who came out for a few hours to tend to my kids so I could get some homework and other preparing done.

I finished all my homework, completed a project or two, did a bit of dishes, and two loads of laundry. Willa and Dekker chased and tossed balls and sang into microphones and Dekker even showed off his mad sword fighting skills he learned from the Duggars a couple of days ago. Laela either cuddled with Willa, played on her mat, or slept. She was pretty much super easy.

Dekker went down for a nap about an hour after Willa left. Laela also opted for a nap around the same time so I wrapped my last present for Brady that finally came in the mail a day or two ago, and after that I just took a load off. I feel a bit guilty considering I forgot to feed myself and Willa. Again. Sorry, Willa. One day I’ll remember my manners and feed you lunch, haha!

Brady was planning to have tomorrow off, but today went a bit longer than he was hoping, so he’ll be working for a few hours in the morning before coming home so we can all be in the city together. We have Laela’s three month check up with Dr. Guselle at 2:00, and then have to hit a few places before my counselling appointment at 4:30. Hopefully we’ll get in earlier than that so we can run a few errands beforehand. Superstore, Walmart, Dollarama, and a couple of friends houses are all on the list! But after this, I think we’re just going to be done with errands. Friday is our Christmas and my siblings start showing up on Monday. I am SO looking forward to Christmas! Do you know that feeling of anticipation when something amazing is right around the corner, and how it makes your current situation almost unbearable because you know something better is coming? Yup. Thats me. I cannot WAIT to have everyone together!

But first – appointments.

Good Day Bad Day

It was weird today. Very 50/50. The morning was great, and the afternoon sucked the bag. I’ll recap.

Laela slept last night from around 10:00 until 7:00! It was a beautiful stretch. I fed her a big bottle and put her back down and the whole house slept until 10:00! Only at our house, I know. Laela was peachy and fun, and hung out in her MamaRoo while I got Dekker up and gave him breakfast. We all went downstairs for toys soon afterwards and of course, that went well. It almost always does. Its our routine.

After being in the basement for not too terribly long, Dekker came up to me and announced “I pookied,” which is his way of telling me he pooped and needs his diaper changed. Isn’t “pookie” so much cuter than “poop?” I think so. So I asked him if we should go change it and he went for the stairs. But as I followed him up, I realized that he didn’t stink. He hadn’t pooped. So I said that to him, and asked if he needed to poop. He kept motoring up the stairs. I’m excited that he informed me that he needed to poop! Thats the beginning of potty training, maybe, right? So instead of taking him to his room, I took him to the bathroom to see if he’d maybe poop on his little potty. I’ll spare you the suspense. He didn’t. As soon as I started taking his sleeper off, he thought it was bath time and he freaked. But I hugged him and said ” no bath” over and over. When he finally sat down, he got comfy, and we looked through a couple of car magazines together. Then I just strapped his diaper back on and took him back downstairs. And he pooped within minutes. So while we didn’t have complete success, I wouldn’t call it a fail either. We just need to keep building from here I think.

I’ve started napping Dekker later in the afternoon, but he tired out a bit earlier today. At least, he got super irritable earlier, so he went down and I started a project. I know I was saying yesterday how much stuff I needed to do in the next couple of days, and I definitely didn’t touch that at all. I have had a crafty project building in my mind the last couple of weeks and I felt ambitious to give it a go today! I pulled out my sewing machine and got Laela all situated on a play mat. She played like a trooper while I worked. And worked. And worked. And I failed. Turns out my sewing machine is crap. After every seam I would sew, the threads broke off. So I had to rethread it every single time. And then I’d check the seam and it would pull out. So I checked to see if perhaps I was threading it wrong, but I wasn’t. The tensions were off in a bad way but its just a cheap little machine that can barely be adjusted. I say again, its crap. So I wasted a good few hours with nothing to show for them. When I finally gave up, Laela was done being on the floor and needed to eat. As I fed her, I heard Dekker wake. So I got him too.

So. Much. Crying. The rest of my evening was crying. Dekker would not eat his supper. He loves pizza, and it was leftover pizza from the night before. Wouldn’t do it. Lately, he’s entered a phase where he’ll eat less at supper and want a snack before bed. But this was a whole new level for him, not wanting one bite. He started to get very smart mouthed. I would ask him to please take a bite and he would actually shriek “Nnnnnno!” I’m not sure at what age the kid just doesn’t eat then, but I told him to speak more politely and take some bites. But he kept screaming at me. When he took a swing at me, I put him in his room. Sadly, that was not his only time out this evening. When I finally got some food into him, we went downstairs to play while we waited for Brady to get home. My goodness, that boy was on fire. He would bring me a water bottle and point to where the lid should be. If I said I didn’t know where it was, he would whip himself around and scream and frighten the crazy out of Laela. It was horrendous. I adore my kids, but it was a rough evening.

Brady had a crummy day too, and now we’re both totally grumpy and sore and needing some quiet time. Hopefully Laela gets the memo on time.

Possibly my last lazy day…

I was lazy today. And comfy. Laela can pull amazing nights, but last night was not one of them. I’m thinking she’s growing because all of a sudden we’re barely getting three hour stretches between waking for feedings. Not ideal for anyone involved. So we did our regular routine of eating, toys, snack, more toys, naps, quiet rest time, toys, supper, and toys.

Without being too gross, there was so much poop this morning, I almost didn’t know what to do with myself. Even better, we had a small handful of Laela’s diapers on hand, and that was it. So I admit – I was leaving her in diapers longer than usual. But NOT with a poopy diaper, I swear! But it was a yucky morning for poop. We survived though. Once Deks went down I made a list of all the things we have to do before Christmas, which is somewhat daunting. I also called to check on a surgery date for Dekker but no one called back. So I at least tried to do a few things! But I say again, it was a lazy day. I watched Dr. Phil and he “accused” a mother of leaving her children in pyjamas until 2:00 in the afternoon, and she vehemently denied it. Who cares?! Pyjamas never hurt anyone! Lots of people think going out in sweats or yoga pants is acceptable, and I’m pretty sure those are just slightly more upscale pyjamas. Maybe. I don’t know, I thought that was pretty hilarious as I realized I was in yoga pants and an old shirt, Laela was in a sleeper that was soaked around the neckline thanks to ridiculously early teething, and didn’t Dekker have pasta sauce on his sleeper from yesterday? Apparently my charges would be even worse!

Brady came home bearing diapers and a Costco pizza. We chucked the pizza in the oven to heat it up a bit, and then ate supper at the table with the kidlets.

I bathed Dekker in the evening. I’m at such a loss with that. We had a nice upswing where he was somewhat freaked to get into the tub but was happy once he was settled in there. Not anymore. I don’t say this lightly, but he cries as if he’s being abused. I’ll be honest and say, for this reason, I rarely bathe him. Its not worth the devastation. I was so gentle with him today. I ran the tub and he started crying, so I told him he could play toys while he waited, but he didn’t want to. He sat on my lap in the bathroom and cried nonstop. I undressed him and showed him bath toys, and he cried and cried. Finally I went to lift him in and he immediately scrunched his legs up and started screaming. He does this now when we try to put him in the tub in an effort not to touch the water. So I put him back on the ground and explained to him what was going to happen and what I needed him to do – stand on his own. He stood on one leg and clung to me, wailing away. I hugged him and eased his other leg down into the water. He didn’t fight it too hard, and stood with his legs locked, crying. Would not sit down. So I washed his body while he stood but he was getting cold, so I asked him to sit. I said “I’ll help you, I have you safe, I promise. Please sit on your bum.” Noooooooo!” BIG tears. I finally just helped him get there rather than him sitting on his own. I wasn’t rough but firm. He then sat and cried while I washed his hair. We hadn’t even got to the worst part yet, of rinsing his hair. He’d probably been crying for fifteen minutes at this point. But it was time. I asked him to look up, He knows what that means, so he fussed away, but he obediently looked up. I started pouring the water over, not even close to his hairline yet, and he bailed out, put his head back down and screamed “NO!” In doing so, he swallowed tons of water and began to scream and gag and choke. He tried to get up and out as well, but there was no way. So I admit. I just dumped a few bowls of water right over his head to make it go faster before pulling him out. I know the water in his face is the worst part of it for him, but I don’t know what the heck I’m supposed to do!! What did I miss when he was younger? Could I have done something different to make him not hate baths so much? Sigh. I dread bath time probably as much as he does.

After that, I am tired. My next two days will likely be filled with jobs, Thursday I have a few appointments in the city, and then Friday is our Christmas!! I’m looking forward to the end of the week, thats for sure! Until then, I will be tired.

Rest

Brady and I had plans to go to church this morning. We’ve been missing fairly regularly due to the general busyness of life and the season, and once or twice just on fatigue, and we’re starting to feel a bit guilty. We decided, no matter what, we’d go to church in the morning.

And then there was freezing rain. So we stayed home. We slept in and had coffee in bed while watching Netflix. When the kids were both awake we had breakfast. I did a bit more organizing in the kids room before we went downstairs to play toys in our jammies. We watched Elf and Dekker fed us all the magical food and drinks he created. It was lovely and restful. When Dekker went to bed, we decided to actually accomplish one or two things. Brady shovelled the driveway and changed the oil in the car while I tended to a fussy baby girl and wrapped Bradys Christmas gifts.

We had potatoes and chicken strips for supper. I swear, this snowy season so far, all I want is potatoes or soup and crackers. Thats it. Just hot, yummy, guilty pleasure food! Just typing this out makes me remember I still have some containers of soup from a few different friends in my freezer!! On that for tomorrow.

After another good hour or so of toys, Dekker got cuddly and a bit clumsy, so we all went upstairs to begin the nightly routine of putting the crying toddler to bed. He’s always been pretty good with bedtime. He used to love it! We would ask him if he was tired and ready for bed and he would giggle hysterically and race upstairs. Then he went to screaming and hitting and bawling from the moment we headed towards his room until he fell asleep. And now, he cries on the way to his room, plays like a champ in our room for a bit, cries while Brady carries him to bed, and then is quiet by the time he is actually laid in bed. So while its not an ideal setup, it works ok, and he’s happy when he goes down.

However, all this aside, Laela is UNhappy this evening. Something that is different about her from Dekker is that she cries when she’s tired. Dekker never cried out of fatigue. He just fell asleep. But Laela is SAD when she’s tired, which is now. But she’s not hungry. So we can’t feed her to quiet her, or specifically hold her a certain way. No difference. So it may be a longer evening of pacing and bouncing but thats having a baby for you! I still love her, don’t worry.

Time to go. Our laptop is in desperate need of a new battery, as ours is expanding and scary. Therefore, I’m trapped at the dining table to type my posts to give the battery more breathing room than it would have if I were in bed like I prefer to be. My bedroom currently smells like pumpkin carrot cake, thanks to Bath and Body Works, and I feel like I’m missing out.

Sleep well, friends.

Thank you, Cyber Monday

I didn’t know Cyber Monday existed until this year. I think its the Monday after Black Friday? Anyway, we took advantage of it and ordered a new white dresser for the kids room, and a new printer. They’ve been at home for a while now. Historically, we’re bad for receiving things and then leaving them in bags or boxes forEVER!

A while ago, I started to put the dresser together by building all the drawers. Today Brady put the rest of the unit together and we finally moved it into the kids room!!! I probably spent the next hour at least rearranging their room. The wardrobe is full of all of Laela’s things, Dekker’s dress clothes, and a couple small boxes of clothes that the kids are still growing into, while the new dresser is full of Dekker’s clothes. The beauty of all of this is that we have extra space now!!! Not in the room, haha, THAT is full! But we have a couple of empty drawers for the time being, which is great! I am sooo excited to be able to pull an outfit out of somewhere and not have thirteen other articles come out with it.

Brady set up the printer while I played downstairs with the kids. We got a Canon wireless printer, and its pretty much just a newer model of our last printer. It actually prints beautifully! The only thing that annoy me is that I have to turn it on manually before printing. I know, first world problems, right? I just liked the idea of being able to print patterns or recipes off from my laptop, whether I’m in the kitchen, my bedroom, or the basement. Oh well. Legwork. Either way, I’m happy to have a new printer. I’m thinking we should it up somewhere else now. Our old one was on the floor under the desk we never use except to stack things, and Dekker has recently started playing with the buttons and opening the little scanner door. So maybe we’ll put it up higher somewhere. Who knows.

As for the rest of the day, we didn’t do too much. We had a pretty rough night and are feeling “less than motivated.” Brady and I made the genius decision to stay up late and watch a movie like we used to, so that lasted until 2am, and Laela was up at 3am. And stayed up until after 5am. Bawling. It was a challenge, and we were tired. Hopefully tonight is not a repeat. She’s had a lot more wakeful time today. I blame Saskatoon for yesterday. City days are always hard because the constant movement keeps her sleeping, and not eating. So she goes a little backwards. Its all good. We’ve done this before.

To clean this post off, I’ll tell you all to go watch my video on Facebook called “Oh, snap!” and also to view these pictures of my beautiful girl.

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IMG_3349Sleep well, all.

 

A Day to be Pampered

I didn’t write much about the day yesterday. We accomplished a lot, but I had very high expectations of it being a fun day, and it truly was not. Looking back, I see the things we accomplished, but I don’t see the fun. I don’t think we had any. That made me really sad at the end of the day. So I told Brady how I was feeling and said that, if everyone woke up and was even lightly grumpy, I wanted to go into the city today on my own and run the errands myself. Lucky for me, everyone woke up in good spirits and we got out the door on time, all together.

I had a hair appointment first thing. I never used to be able to play much with my hair, as we didn’t have tons of extra money to spend on it. But we’re at a point where we can justify a bit more, and Brady is growing his hair out and requires considerably less upkeep. Now that I have to go in every couple of months to redo the color, I figured it was time to play. And there are sooo many ideas out there! So I opted for…

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Blonde, and asymmetrical. I know, some of you don’t like the white blonde on me. Thats fine. We bleached over the dark and didn’t quite let it get as white, so it looks like there are carmely bits in it if you look close. And I LOVE the cut! I’m not whether it looks super cool and a bit funky, or more distinguished. I’ll take either.

It took quite a while to get the color where we wanted it. Brady entertained the kids on his own in the mall the whole time! Thanks, babe.

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Once it was done, we had a quick lunch before heading to get my legs waxed. Not everyone will understand it, but getting my legs waxed is a HUGE treat for me! I love it. And today I got my eyebrows done too. I’ve never had them waxed before but I hate plucking them so much. This was well worth the few dollars I paid! And I loved my waxing girl. She’s finally back from maternity leave and it was great to catch up with her. Both appointments were so good today!

Once both appointments were done, we checked our list and realized we could likely get everything we needed in one area on our way out of the city, so we headed over there. Saw this truck along the way. Winner. All I have to say is that your spelling is ugly.

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We reassessed our list as we got closer and decided that going to four places for such few things was silly, so we dropped Superstore and figured we could get everything we needed there at Walmart. And unfortunately, we were wrong. Sadly, I can say that was the WORST Walmart experience of my life. They didn’t have probably half of what we were looking for, some of the sales we had seen the flyer were worded in a super misleading way so we didn’t end up getting them, and the employees in the photo centre were ridiculous. I was completely unimpressed and likely won’t do business there again if I don’t absolutely have to. Eat my shorts, NW Walmart!

It was already after 6:00 by the time we started the drive home. We were determined to eat supper at home, so we didn’t sit down until a bit after 7:00. And then, we just had grilled cheese. Well, the boys did. I had soup and crackers, which was magically delicious! We played toys downstairs for a while before putting Dekker to bed. Laela and I anxiously waited for Dekker and Brady to come for bedtime cuddles.

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Brady had been telling me throughout the day that Dekker would ask for me while I’d be in an appointment, or he’d cry when they would drop me off at the doors of the mall or my salon. Yet, when I would come back around them, he kind of gave me the cold shoulder. I got my kicks in during bedtime playing in our room. I wrestled him and tickled him until he was pretty tuckered out. He then dragged himself over to my pillow, lay on it and said “ni night.” So I lay beside him and wrapped him all up in his blanket. I lay my arm over him and we talked and peeked and played and cuddled and eskimo kissed and kiss-kissed and made funny faces and just really soaked each other up. I was probably more sad to see him leave to go to his room than he was. I missed him today too.

Laela didn’t really miss me, and she is already too tired to care who is here and who isn’t. Which means Brady and I can have our soak together! I’ve missed that so much!

Snacks and Netflix, coming right up! Today was certainly better than yesterday. Exactly what I wanted. Best Friday the 13th ever!

Feeling like Christmas

Our home.

Our sparkly, disco-ball tree
Our sparkly, disco-ball tree

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Whose to say a transformer wasn't present at Jesus' birth?!
Whose to say a transformer wasn’t present at Jesus’ birth?!

I agree that Christmas isn’t just about gifts. I applaud people who don’t exchange gifts, or set up trees. I know we don’t need those things, but I love the tradition in the decor and smells alone. Gifts are so much fun to wrap and present to each other. I truly love the hubbub and general chaos that comes with the season. So I don’t need the lectures about being selfish and materialistic. Christmas is celebrating the birth of baby Jesus! I couldn’t be happier that He was born, truly.

Without being too cliche, I feel like I can relate more to Mary and Joseph this year than ever before. Jesus’ birth is always depicted as this peaceful, beautiful, clean, calm event. But I can’t help but think it probably wasn’t. Of course, times are different now.
We drove to the hospital in our car going 110 kms down the highway. They walked to the Inn with their donkey. Can you imagine labouring on a donkeys back?!?! I cannot.
We got a good scare upon arrival at the hospital, but were let in within minutes. Mary and Joseph were turned down when they had finally arrived at their place of safety. They had to go deliver their newborn baby in a filthy old barn out back.
Without pain meds. Kudos to you brave women who want to do things medication/intervention free, but I’m sure some of you can look back and find that moment where you wanted to back out and have pain meds. I bet Mary wished for some relief at times. Not to be crude at all, but Mary had never even had sex, and now she was delivering a baby! Did she really just lay back in the hay and quietly deliver Jesus? Or did she cry in pain? Or out of fear? I didn’t get pain relief with Laela either, but at least I had doctors! Someone was there to help me when I was bleeding too much. No doctors for Mary, Joseph, or Jesus.
Did Joseph know how to delivery a baby? Had he even held a baby before? Newborns are floppy and scary when you haven’t handled many. And slippery!

The similarities I see in our stories are mostly just in the uncertainties. My sister in law asked me the other day why I figured it made me a bad person to scream from pain. Did that really say anything about my faith, or my devotion to God? Did my volume make me any less of a Christian? I think not. Whose to say Mary didn’t cry? Or even scream! Maybe Joseph did too. Its awful to see someone you love in so much pain!

In both of our stories, God was completely in control. Mary didn’t have nurses or blue curtains or a warming table, and she did a bang up job! And I delivered Laela without an IV, a paper gown, or a glove-wearing doctor. This is by no way me saying I don’t appreciate our health care system, because I DO! And I plan to use it more thoroughly with our next child, haha! But we made it.

I wish this was a more fluid post. I have so many thoughts I’m not expressing the way I want to. To sum up my feelings, I have always heard the Christmas story in the Bible as “Jesus was born and then the wise men came with gifts and celebrated his birth the end.” I have never once stopped to consider what an insane labour and delivery it must have been. Well done, Mary and Joseph!

Such an unpredictable, scary situation, followed by an outrageously wonderful outcome 🙂 God is good.

My as well throw my feet into the oven with the cookies

My feet hurt. I haven’t baked that much in a long time, if ever. But it was incredible!!! I was stressing a while back (and likely every day since then) about how much there is still to do before Christmas finally makes its appearance. My mom called me last week and invited me over for a bake day – today.

I only learned recently that she has actually completed almost all of her Christmas baking, and therefore we were just going to bake for me. Instead of feeling too guilty, I accepted and brought over a few ingredients that my mom didn’t have, and my Kitchenaid mixer. And of course, the kids.

We arrived late morning and immediately jumped on making dough. We made peppernut dough first, which we had decided the night before that we were going to half, considering a whole batch would make hundreds and hundreds of little cookies. Its true. It does make that many. Know how I know? We forgot to half it. I’ll get more into that later. I don’t know about you guys but our dough was painfully sticky, so we had to cool it outside for a good long while before we could even roll it into fingers, and then freeze it again so we could cut it into coins. So while it cooled/froze, we made sugar cookie dough and cooled that in the fridge as well before we broke for lunch.

My mom and I used to eat smile fries on very special occasions. It was something only she and I liked. Today, she pulled out a bag she had specially bought for today, to share with Dekker and I. And I assure you, they are still just as delicious. We ate way too many, but it was so yummy and special. It wasn’t long after lunch that Dekker began lagging and getting a bit more irritable, so he went down for a nap and slept like a log all afternoon. That was helpful, considering the HUGE peppernut production that was ahead of us!

We should have taken pictures. Each pan had roughly 50 little cookies on it, and I’m going to say we easily made fifteen pans, but probably more. Sooo many! Luckily each pan only needed 7 mins. It took a few trial and error pans to get them right but the vast majority turned out beautifully. We couldn’t get everything done before supper so once the boys were home from work, we had a crock pot meal of pork chops in a mushroomy gravy with rice and corn. Dekker had napped probably four hours in the afternoon and was a bit of a grumpus when he woke up, so that made the evening a bit tougher, but Brady played with him a bit while mom and I finished peppernuts, iced sugar cookies, and made about five dozen gingersnaps.

Did I mention that my feet hurt? Worth it.

Everything is now home and inside. We had to rearrange the freezer to fit stuff in. I seriously need to make a list of what is all in there because I know I’m forgetting things. In my last post I talked about goals, and two of them were based on food and finances. I wonder how long we could go without buying food! I bet we could survive at least a month on the huge amount of meals we still have in our freezer, and all the extras in our pantry. Perhaps thats another idea I could try…

Time to soak in the tub with a snack. I’ve had so many sweets today, its time for some chips.

Thanks again, mama! I had a great day with you. Thanks for loving me and my kids. We sure love you back.