I am sooo ready for spring. Sooo ready!

Today actually should have been good. And it was, to an extent. Our evening plans fell through, so we didn’t have to have the kids ready and loaded in the car in order to meet a specific deadline. We didn’t have to venture out in the cold. We could just have a normal day at home. Brady did have to duck into the city for a couple of hours to touch base with a guy regarding a private job he’s picked up, but the kids slept almost the entire time he was gone. It was a good day.

But I think winter is finally starting to get to me. I’m low. Loooow. Not like I’m in horrendous pain over it, but I am emotional over everything, very sporadically throughout the day. I cry about Dekker’s upcoming surgery. I cry about Laelas delivery. I cry about this coming year, and the hope I have to reach certain goals within its months. There’s a lot going through my head. Always. Luckily, I’m doing better at sleeping these last couple of months so I rarely lay awake for hours upon hours with my mind ticking anymore. I don’t feel unhealthy, but I think I could do a few things to help myself get it together.

I totally flunked on the exercise this month, but tomorrow begins another! Maybe, with Brady home one and off, we’ll do some kind of challenge together? I think exercise of some kind would help anyway. Also, I’m neglecting myself vitamin D-wise, so I should get back in that groove. Dr. Mike told me the first time I saw him after Laela’s birth that fish oil is a really good option for mood and cognitive health. I bought a really expensive bottle of the stuff, mercury-free, and those things are enormous!

I gag on Avdil. So while I really trust Dr. Mike and want to do as he instructs, I have no idea how to take these things. I made the mistake of draining them out and just slugging back the oil. For the entire day, my mouth tasted like something I can’t describe but never want to taste again. It lurked there all day. I don’t know what to do! Tips? Anyone on enormous fish oil pills?

I feel like those few things would really help me feel better. That, and getting this surgery over with. I think that will help a lot. Once the procedure is done, we’ll have roughly two weeks of recovery, I believe. Thats most of February. Once thats over, we can move forward to bigger and better things 🙂 Exciting plan and goals and milestones for the kids. I cannot wait for that. But until then, I’ll take any tips or tricks you guys could possibly offer to feel better. I’m on the right track, right?? I sure hope so anyway…

I’ve been looking forward to today for a little while already. Laela and I went out just the two of us. So of course I knew it would be a great day! However, our list of things to do wasn’t something to look forward to.

The first item on the list was her four month shots. If you’ve been following me on here long enough, you’ll know I rarely have a good experience at public health offices. I’m not sure if anyone ever really does. I find the staff there very critical, and while its their job to give advice and check my babys health, not all of us are bad mothers. Today was different. Yes, Laela had needles, and those are never fun for anyone, but the nurse we had was amazing!! I think I’ll request her for our appointments in the future. She was so encouraging, and commented that I seemed very comfortable and at ease with my daughter, so I probably had everything nicely under control with having two kids in the house. I took that as a compliment. She said Laela looked to be in beautiful health. I’m proud to say my baby girl is yet another inch taller, at 23.5″, and that in the last month, she’s gone from 12 lbs 10 oz to 14 lbs 9 oz!!! I can’t believe it, but I’m so thrilled! With this weight gain, she has seemingly settled around the 50th percentile for the time being, which is perfect. This nurse didn’t get on me for formula feeding, or for putting Laela in an amber necklace. She seemed very happy with us and really sweet. It was as good as a vaccination appointment can be!

Shots were at 11:00am and chiro was at 12:00pm. We got done at public health at 11:15am, which left us just enough time to not be able to do anything significant. So I drove to a nearby Tim Hortons for a bowl of soup. This was how the drive-thru conversation played out:

Window Guy: What can I get for you?
Me: What do you have for soup today?
Window Guy: Soup?
Me: Ya.
Window Guy: Just a sec… Cauliflower, Broccoli, hold on *indistinguishable yelling* Potato Leek, Mushroom, Tomato…(eight different soups)
Me: Could I have mushroom please?
Window Guy: Um…I meant minestrone.
Me: Ok, then I’d like broccoli please.
Window Guy: Ya, I read that one by mistake. We don’t have it either.
Me: Ok, do you just have vegetable or something along those lines?
Window Guy: Um…yup.

It was a little silly. But I got my soup and bun and it actually really hit the spot on such a cold day. I ate it and listened to some music while Laela slept in the backseat and we waited out the rest of the time before her chiropractic appointment. Basically, we doddled our way over there and upon our arrival, were let into a room immediately. I guess we could have gone early! But you never know.

Laela is doing great with her twisted spine. Dr. Mike showed me a few new ways to hold her that will sort of help stretch her out without having to do actual exercises or make her uncomfortable. She responded great to him, even though she was freshly woken up and had just had shots. She didn’t cry at all. I was proud. Once her treatment was over, Dr. Mike took lots of time with me and asked how I was feeling, and what the latest was on Dekker’s eyes. I told him that we got a surgery date a while back and that its coming up soon. He asked lots of questions and seemed to watch me very closely while I told him what I knew. I can very much feel the concern he has in my family. I felt very blessed after my appointment, to the point of tears. I felt very cared for.

Technically, that was the last thing on our list of things to do, but I remembered we were out of milk at home. So we hit up Walmart quickly for milk and bananas. And of course, with milk and bananas came other things. Pens and pencils, since we can never find either, recipe cards, a bit of makeup, and a shirt for Laela that I’d been eyeing since before she was born that was now on clearance.

Laela was the cutest date I could have asked for, although her flirty eyes were not just saved for me, but shared with anyone and everyone who would care to peek in at her. We made it home to our boys before 2:00pm, and I can safely say they were happy to see us. Almost as soon as we got home, both babes went down for naps and Brady and I had some quiet time together downstairs. It was relaxing and necessary. We all had supper together a couple of hours later and now, at this moment, both kids are quiet and asleep. Now, for my bath. After such a good day, I could probably sleep without in, but why not put the cherry on top if its available?

I left out a few details on todays post because I wasn’t sure I wanted them on a searchable place for the world to see, but if anyone wants more info, I’m more than happy to share. Just a bit more privately than on here 😉

I hope you all had as good of a day as I did.

Laela woke up at 7:30am. That is way too early for this mama.

Good thing she’s cute.

After a super emotional, heavy Sunday, followed by two days of swimming and crying toddlers, we stayed home today. Even better, we had Jerilee over for the day. She came bearing treats and beauty, as per usual 😉 I’ll be honest, though. I was the most boring hostess ever. But she was gracious as ever, and we still enjoyed hanging out. Plus, this was the first time in forever that Brady could actually be home to visit with her too! It was a nice day.

Our day was really nice and low key. It was exactly what we needed. We recapped a lot, since we hadn’t seen each other in weeks, and I started dreaming again about our house that we are aching to build. It was fun to get excited about all of that again. I had a great day.

Jerilee left before supper, and Brady wasn’t feeling awesome, so we made our favorite go-to from years back. Our big salad. Its not as lame as it sounds. If you’ve watched the episode on Seinfeld, you can appreciate the wonder of just a “big salad” in general. Ours is lettuce and cucumbers that have been coined and quartered, chicken strips chopped up, cheese chunks, bacon bits, sunflower seeds, and my homemade honey mustard dressing. We make like half a lettuce head and a whole cucumber, and tonight we had I think six tiny little chicken strips from the bottom of the bag. I hadn’t made my honey mustard for a really long time and actually had to look up the amounts again, but it turned out beautifully. The meal really hit the spot. Dekker isn’t great at salad yet since it doesn’t poke on his fork nicely, so he just had a chicken strip, some cheese, and a bunch of cucumbers. When Laelas protests grew from her mamaroo, we brought her to sit on Brady’s lap while he finished his salad. Dekker gleefully announced her presence. “Hellooooo, La!”

He struggled pretty hard after supper. We went downstairs to play toys and as soon as he’d take a step away from me, he would fall down on his knees and start to cry. I would just hold my hands out and he would come up on my lap, hug me, and lay his head on my shoulder to finish up his cry. Poor boy. He eventually just wanted to sit on my lap, and right towards the end of playtime, he would go wander a bit on his own. But he was tired. Laela was very happy to be in her new-to-her toy!

We’re still trying to figure out the perfect height to build up the bottom. This method was too high. Its a work in progress.

Dekker was sad to go upstairs but not sad to go to bed. He was ready. I even ducked back into his room for something and he didn’t stir. It was definitely bedtime. Now, Laela is crashed as well and I am so ready for my soak in the tub. I’ve been chilled all day. Even as I blog from my bed, I am tucked under the covers fully dressed, including socks. Its time to be warm.

As I mentioned earlier on Facebook, we went swimming again today. We were well prepared, having gone yesterday, so packing up our stuff was fast. We got Dekker up and fed him breakfast while we put the finishing touches on packing. And then we discovered that schedules change at pools, and since the pool we were going to go to was attached to a school, there was school swim from 1-3pm. That was right when we were going to arrive. I wondered if we should even go. I thought the only thing we’d really have going for us would be that we’d be going to the same pool as yesterday. But that was out of the question, and we were determined. So we looked up some more hours, picked a different place, and headed in again.

Upon arrival, we realized there was no family change room. I’ve been to this pool tons in my life, but not in several years, and I had mixed it up with one across town. We had packed everything together – all bathing suits in a bag, all towels in a bag, all toiletries in a bag, etc. It was a real nuisance to piece it all out in the hallway with our hands already full of children. But we worked it out and both took our respective gendered children to get ready. Laela and I beat the boys out to the pool only by about a minute. And, you guys, it was perfect. This pool area was so much bigger and had less people. It was quieter. there was just generally less going on, which was perfect!

Dekker didn’t cry when we walked into the water. He didn’t have a death grip on Bradys neck like he had on mine last time. He seemed cautiously interested. Laela really couldn’t be bothered, honestly. She sucked my shoulder pretty well the whole time, except occasionally breaking off to suck her lips. Salty.

A lifeguard brought out a milk crate full of toys for us. I picked him a watering can. I know he should be able to pick his own toy, but it was intentional. I picked it and poured water on myself. I poured water on Laelas back and Bradys arms around Dekker. I then poured water on Dekker and he squealed happily. I passed him the watering can and he poured water on us and on him and really enjoyed it. He got comfortable much quicker this time around, and was splashing and bouncing in no time. After a little while, I moved away from the boys, telling Dekker that Laela and I were going to jump into the pool off the side. We picked a spot just a little ways away, and I stood Laela on the side, counted to three, and lifted her into the water with me. And Dekker wanted in. He was frightened, I could tell. He would stand on the side with his watering can, legs physically shaking, but he would kind of lean and fold in half and eventually fall into Bradys arms. We did it over and over, until he was standing on the side bellowing “Two! Four! Boom!” and falling right into Brady. He loved it. Once or twice, he took a bit of a face full of water and choked pretty hard, but even then, there were no tears. The most fun he had was “swimming” with Brady. Brady would set him up on his tummy and whip him around the little pool making boat noises, and Dekker was just full of smiles the entire time. They would arrive back at Laela and I and Dekker would immediately point back to the other side of the pool, requesting “sween!” (swim) We were in the water for about an hour and fifteen minutes before Laela was almost dozing and Dekker was noticeably cold, so we packed it in. Total. Success.

Instead of rushing out afterwards to meet another deadline, we went out for lunch. This was a risk for us, actually. Without sounding mean or unloving, Dekker in a restaurant can be a big challenge and, more for everyone else in the place, we find it easier to go through the drive-thru and eat in the car. He just really struggles in crowds. But we were having lunch around 3pm, so we figured it was worth the risk. We hit up a Wendy’s for some burgers and fries for the boys, and a chicken wrap for me. I say “wrap” in the loosest sense of the word. Literally…

But Dekker was happy. He didn’t fuss. He ate half his burger, and some fries, and drank his water without complaint. Granted, he had been working hard at the pool, and was a hungry boy. He had eaten a Ziploc of corn pops between the pool and the restaurant 🙂 Laela slept through lunch, which was actually pretty great.

 

We had a really enjoyable time together, drove everyone home, the kids napped, and we rested. It was awesome. Sadly, we won’t be able to go for the rest of the week, and possibly not next week either 🙁 But it was fun while it lasted.

Here’s hoping this all translates to the bathtub…

 

 

We lived!!

Today was our first visit to the pool in a really long time, and while I’ll soon post a bunch of cute pictures of my kids, it wasn’t a lot of fun. I won’t sugarcoat it. It was tough. But, from the beginning, as always.

We got the kids up, dressed, fed, and headed out to the city. It was freezing today. I read somewhere that some of the buses weren’t even running. Sooo cold. The perfect day to get the kids wet and take them outside. But we were determined. Dekker clearly felt summery enough, rocking his shades. He didn’t know where we were going.

It was as though he knew exactly what was happening as soon as we entered the change room area. Probably just the wet floor did him in. He was crying and panicking as we were undressing him, and that isn’t usually too tough of a thing to convince him on! Once he was in his trunks, I took him to the pool and Brady got Laela dressed and put our stuff in lockers. Yes, more work, but with a much calmer companion.

Dekker was freaked. He was crying sooo loudly. I got a few sympathetic looks but there were so few people there, and they all seemed to be together, so we all kept to ourselves. I carried him into a cool pool and splashed water up on his toes. Even just that made him so distraught. It was awful. I waded around in there for a while, but then someone turned on that huge, chaotic water display with big fountains and water dumping on heads and spraying water and lots of noise. Not exactly what we needed, as we had limited time there. We retreated to the family hot tub. For those who don’t know, thats just a hot tub that isn’t too hot so its a bit nicer for kids. Even just walking down the stairs, Dekker tightened his death grip around my neck and wailed. Finally, I just bit the bullet and walked all the way in, so he was a good ways into the water. He cried and cried. He was so upset. Luckily, all the noise from the water monstrosity covered his big voice and I could just hold him instead of shush him. I waded into a part of the hot tub with less jets and that seemed to help. Less unknown maybe. I never let go of him. He would hardly even lift his head off my shoulder to look around.

However, finally Brady and Laela appeared. He was happy to have us all together. Also, Laela was incredibly comfortable in the water, so we floated her around and bobbed her up and down and Dekker would watch and smile at her. When Brady would just hold her against him like normal, Dekker would point at her and say “Float! Float! Feeky! Feeky! La Feeky!” Thats ‘Dekker’ for “Laela’s feet.” So we’d lift her back up on her back and he would touch her toes and giggle. So we had a game, anyway.

Finally, the water feature stopped and the jets turned off, and we were just in a warm pool. We had about ten minutes left before we had to leave, and Dekker finally started enjoying himself. He trusted me to hold him and stopped holding on so tight. He looked around and saw other kids. At one point, a man and his kid were in a little pool behind us and Dekker called out “hello!” to them and they greeted him back! It was really sweet. I even just grabbed him by the pits and bounced him in and out of the water. It was starting to work.

Besides the obvious challenge of going swimming, there was a downside thats sort of been bugging me since we left. Now some of you will likely not like what I have to say, and thats fine. I see all sides. When Dekker began to get comfortable with the water, he splashed. He splashed big splashed, got water all over himself, and laughed and laughed. It absolutely warmed my heart. I know that splashing isn’t encouraged, and I know why. Its rude to splash other people. I get it. However, I know the situation my family is in, and while we’re the same as every other family in the long run, Dekker is terrified of water. If he finds a water game that helps him be happy, and no one is around to get splashed, then I don’t see the problem. We were sitting in the hot tub, with only a couple other people way on the other side of it, and that one decent sized group of people behind us sort of. Far enough that they would not have felt any water, but close enough to be within earshot. I wish they weren’t. One of the women commented right out loud how she had taught her kids it was impolite to splash and how she wishes other people would too. She mentioned that when other kids splash, her kids want to, and then she had to tell them not to. Those “splashing kids” are bad influences. And I get it. I do! But it really got under my skin. Without being too ghetto, she doesn’t know me! She has no idea where or what we come from. I thought it was just as rude for her to say that about us when we could obviously hear her, as I’m sure she thought we were rude to let Dekker splash. I don’t know. It ticked me off. We had to leave almost immediately afterwards, which turned out to be a good thing. I might have left anyway. Call me crazy, or sensitive, and you’d be right. This fear of water breaks my heart, and I am doing my best with my kids!!!

A song lyric comes to mind. You gotta keep your head up, but you can let your hair down.

We’re doing our best.

 

It was sooo refreshing to be at church today! Not so much in a lot of ways, actually. Brady would probably disagree, as he sat out of most of the service with a tired baby girl who refused to sleep and an incredibly grumpy toddler. I promise, I offered to help more than once, but he gave me the opportunity to sit through the service, kid free. It was a lovely gift, and I took it.

This morning was good for my heart. I felt heavy when I woke up this morning. I looked awful, and felt awful. Maybe the devils way of trying to discourage me from going. Good thing we pulled it together! We even got there a little early.

Dekker was horrendously overwhelmed by everyone. It didn’t take long before Brady opted to sit in the back with him. I stood up in the sharing time and asked for prayer for Dekker’s upcoming surgery. Its still just over two weeks away, but I made a joke about our horrible track record of making it to church, so we should give everyone the date already, in case we weren’t in attendance before then.

Well, wow. Our pastor prayed so beautifully for us. They went through the same thing with one of their kids way back, and he and his wife can really relate. He spoke very encouraging words. I cried. So did a few others – some friends, my family. It was lovely. I felt enveloped in people’s compassion and love and hope for us.

Church went on as it tends to do, and once it was over, Dekker came whipping out from the back room, happy as a clam! He went running around with my mom right away, and even pulled out his charming ways when one of his favorite church ladies came over for smooches. Sometimes, when approached by someone “new,” he spooks. Being that we haven’t been in church for so long, I thought his reaction to anyone would be really, really loud. But he surprised us nicely 🙂 One day, hopefully very soon, he will have the clarity he needs.

As if today wasn’t full enough, we are biting the bullet. Brady and I are taking the kids swimming tomorrow. I know that seems like a happy family event to many people, but we are making a point to take him swimming in an effort to learn about water. The few times we’ve went during the morning/daytime, its been very quiet and not very busy at all. I’m really hoping that is what we find tomorrow. Dare I say, I expect tomorrow to be a complete disaster. Not that Dekker couldn’t surprise us all and warm up to it and have fun, but I won’t be surprised if its a fight the whole time. But if it is, thats ok, and we’ll just keep trying. We’ll probably go in on Tuesday too, and see what the reaction is. WE’re all learning.

Speaking of swimming, I tried Laela’s swimsuit on her for the first time today 🙂 Who wouldn’t want to go swimming with her??!

I’m excited for tomorrow, but at the same time, I’m totally not. Should be interesting!

Off to take my nice, warm, bubbly “swim” for the night. Sleep tight!

 

We headed to the city this morning to have coffee with a guy Brady knows from work, and his wife. It was a cool circumstance, as they are Christians, yet we didn’t meet in a church environment. Maybe it sounds stereotypical or just flat out lame, but thats where we find most of our friends. However, we’ve made a few connections with people Brady runs into, including the painter, and now a delivery driver.

We hung out at a Tim Hortons, and our visit quickly became a two hour conversation. I appreciated them and their patience. Dekker was throwing fits when they arrived and continued to for the first little while. We were the terrible parents who gave him donuts to keep him quiet. Honestly, I don’t actually feel that badly about it. We rarely give him things like that, so I think its ok once in a while. He was fairly content after his donut, and sat patiently while we visited. Our new friends seemed way more wrapped up and enthralled with our kids than we did! It was a really nice time, and we’re meeting them again on Friday.

From Tims, we went to Walmart for a few things. We have a need for tubs around here, and there has been a nice tub sale going on for a while now, so we got four tubs for Dekkers megablock, duplo, cars, and plastic food. We also picked up a few groceries and I got a few new makeup things I wanted to try. For the first time in my life, I think I need to use an under-eye thing to cover bags. Sad but true. At least I’ve made it this far.

Home was next. Both kids slept on the way home. Its hard to see here, but it happened.

We put Dekker back down once we got home and made a late lunch for ourselves while he slept. Once he started waking up, we arranged all the toys in the tubs, which was noisy but nice. I’m glad we picked up the biggest tub we could find for megablocks. We needed it!

Dekker looked like a million bucks when he woke up! He looked so grown up today, it blew my mind, and I have to share his beautiful face with you guys!

Too bad that beautiful boy has started hitting again 🙁 Only at bedtime, because he’s bummed. If he ever hits in the day, he gets time outs, and they actually really do the trick! But time outs right before bed are awful, because he thinks we’re just abandoning him at bedtime. So today, when he hit on the way to his room, we decided he couldn’t come to our room for jumping time. He was so remorseful. But that lets me know that its a good consequence. It was sad. I miss him. We have such good playtime before bed! But hopefully this will do the trick sooner than later.

Tomorrow, we’re actually going to go to church! We’ve been such slackers, and it’ll be good to be back and see everyone we’ve been missing. Brady and I are in a terrible rut of going to bed super late and getting up late in the morning too. Hopefully we have the energy to be good Christians tomorrow!!

Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful for every day I am given. But today was just another one of those relaxed, at home days. Luckily, for whatever reason, I actually took some pictures along the way, so it won’t be completely boring.

The biggest thing we did today, however, I did not photograph, probably for the sake of embarrassment. We finally took down Christmas. Finally. No judging. It was nice to have the place looking festive and intentionally decorated a little longer than most people, but our tree was real. Emphasis on the word “was.” That thing was sooo dead. I think we quit watering it after the 25th. One branch had actually come all the way off. No good. But its over now. Back to reality, and my random day.

In an effort to get the house together this morning, I put all the boxes of cereal in Rubbermaid containers. It would appear we really like cereal in this house.

The one on the very bottom is rice, just for the record. Just one less box to admit to…

As per our usual routine, after breakfast, we went downstairs and played toys. We started the movie “Enchanted” yesterday, so we finished it this morning. Dekker likes the background noise of tv or music, but rarely pays any attention. This was the first time he seemed aware of what was happening, and of course, it was during the part where the wicked witch got a bit scary. Dekker stared at the screen and shouted for her to stop. She did, very quickly actually, so that worked out.

Between breakfast and naptime, I put in supper. I made the new meal that I tried earlier this month. Cheesy chicken and rice. You can find it on my Pinterest if you want to try it. Its ridiculously delicious and even ridiculouslier easy!

Ok, side note. Do any of you watch The Bachelor? I just watched the second episode, and the bachelor takes his woman on a date to Utah, where they participated in what they called a five kilometre running/dancing party. It looked like SO MUCH FUN! I looked it up and in perusing the website, came across this 🙂 Made me laugh.

I would dance for five kilometres!!! Anyone want in?? I know I do!

When Dekker slept in the afternoon, I looked up swimwear. We are wanting to go swimming with Dekker sometime soon, plus we’re vacationing at the hot springs in a few months, and I came to the realization that all I have that will fit me is a bikini. Having had Laela less than four months ago, I’m not in a place where I would feel comfortable showing my stomach to that many people. I’ve come to the conclusion that I could probably rock a monokini, but I don’t know where people find swimwear in winter without paying hundreds of dollars for it. Tips? Anyone?

The search ended when Laela started fussing uncontrollably. All she needed was milk and mommy 🙂

Deks woke up at a decent time and we had a (dare I say) suuuper yummy supper before heading back downstairs for running and throwing balls and racing cars and building blocks. And the latest running trends – the bumbo and the rubix cube.

He fits in this chair better than he ever did as a baby. His thighs are all slimmed down, to a point where he can actually get out of it without it sticking on his butt. This next picture is what he did when I asked him to hold up his rubix cube for the camera. I demonstrated, obviously.

Dekker came into our room for playtime on the bed before he went to sleep, as per usual. He’s taken to sitting on Bradys pillow and asked us to sit with him. This evening, though, he asked for Laela to come sit with him. He has never asked to hold her before, and we haven’t pushed it. It was awkward and cute and Brady was there to catch it on camera. Love you, babe.

Biiiiig hugs!

It was such a sweet, low key day. Tomorrow we’re heading into the city for morning coffee with someone Brady knows from work, so hopefully that’ll be a more exciting post. But this works for today 🙂 Time to put the littlest little down for night, and then Bradys gonna work on some some tax stuff while I play some serious Free Cell. And then bath time! I’m totally failing on this “no snack in the bath” thing. Sigh. Old habits die hard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My posts have been boring lately. You guys don’t even have to say it. I know. Our non-plan for today was to remain boring, but while sitting at the breakfast table with Dekker, we decided to be ambitious instead. Quite ambitious, if I do say so myself. So after breakfast, we bathed Dekker. Which was awful, as per usual. I discovered a better way to rinse his hair, which I’m relieved about, but he still screamed bloody murder the entire time. Its ok. We had lots of cuddles. And he peed on me, which I haven’t felt in a while, so I guess thats…nostalgic…

First of all, Laela was sooo gorgeous today! For those who missed it on Facebook…

Dekker was also super cute but I’ll show him in a minute or two.

Our first stop was getting Dekker’s glasses adjusted. The last person who adjusted them decided that his ears were crooked so he bent one of the arms good and proper. I know none of us are symmetrical, and I wouldn’t take “crooked ears” as an insult, but since that man did that, the one side can barely stay over his ear. Its bent so far out, of all things. Also, the nose pieces are so far apart that they are basically useless. The glasses sit so close to his face that his eye lashes spread. So I brought him in and we waited our turn. And he was immediately unimpressed. He wanted a book, but there were no kids books. We looked through a car magazine but he was super uninterested. There was also a toy he liked the looks of, but he would have had to *gasp!* go near other children to play with it! So he started screaming. And screaming. I was so relieved when we finally got back there, except he didn’t want to sit still. He was arching his back and flailing and screaming. It was awful. Luckily, the women at the desk were super patient and gave him a sticker, with the promise of another if he was very good. It worked! The glasses went on and off a few times, and he handled it like a champ. We left with glasses that sat much nicer on his face, plus two stickers and a tiger-faced eraser. Success? Its hard to say…

We hit up the bank for our weekly savings money, and purchased a two week pass at the nearby pool. At that point, we had no other errands left to run before Dekker’s…sigh…haircut.

Yup, we did it. I’m so sad that his beautiful long hair is gone, but he looks quite dashing.

I was nervous to bring him in somewhere that he needed to sit still and be contained, but it needed to be done, so I chose the route of being a bad mom and I gave him candy. We went to one of those little vending machines with all the hard candies that are pure sugar. We ran two quarters through and got him a heap of neon colored fish. (Gross, hey?) I just fed them to him, one after the other. He would chew twice and say “Treat?” and I’d give him another. Seriously, the kid never has candy, so I didn’t feel too guilty giving him some, and it also still really works as leverage. He sat for his haircut pretty well 🙂

While we were in the mall, we took a peek inside the Toys R Us Express store. We wanted to get Laela a Johnny Jump Up, but the Toys R Us by midtown said they didn’t carry it. (For those who care to know, its just Evenflo’s version of a Jolly Jumper, but its half the price.) When I asked at the express location, she said the same thing. I mentioned that it was online, and she questioned whether it was the Canadian or American site. I said Canada, and I would just order it from home. She checked the website and immediately offered to order it for us so we didn’t have to pay the shipping charge. Yes please!! We had to get the more boyish one, as it was the only one in stock, but its pretty gnarly, with guitars all over it. Whatever. We like music around here.

We hit up Extra Foods for a few things we couldn’t get at Costco, and then I ran into Costco for everything else. Diapers, formula, some Kirkland K-cups, fish, milk, and Cheerios. We obviously didn’t need tons of groceries, as we certainly eat more than just those things, haha! I feel like we got a LOT done! Especially for a day that we weren’t planning to go to the city at all. We weren’t organized at all, but maybe thats what made it more fun.

Once we got home, Laela took a nap and we had breakfast for supper with Dekker. Eggs and toast was sooo yummy! Afterwards, we went downstairs for racing cars and to watch a bit of a movie. We tried out Miss Laela in the bumbo for the first time, and she actually held up better than I thought she would! She’s not ready yet. She’s still pretty sideways, and her core muscles aren’t there, but she didn’t fuss at all! She seemed pleased with the independence I had offered her.

Soon enough, she’ll be in there confidently. And then walking. And then asking to borrow the car keys. Yikes.

She’s now having a bottle and Dekker is sleeping. The bath is run and my feet are cold, so I’m extra looking forward to it! Should be a great evening after a truly great day 🙂 I hope the rest of you guys has as solid of a day as I did.

 

 

Behold – the worlds most boring post. We did nothing today. Not a thing. Well, I guess I did dishes, but that was it. Dekker was grumpy and Laela had another cranky day of not eating. I’m not sure whats up with the kids. Maybe they have the winter blues too? Either way, they just took lots of attention and cuddles, which I am more than happy to provide, and we survived another day.

One fun positive is that Bradys mom officially booked a vacation for the whole family! Bradys parents, siblings, and all the kids will be getting together at the Fairmont Hot Springs resort in a few months for a few days!!! The accommodations are great, and the togetherness is even better. Dekker warmed up to his cousins with these last two visits much better than we expected, and I’m excited to see him remember them and fall back into the swing of things. Also, Dekker’s eye surgery will be long done with at that point, and I wonder if some of his tantrums in groups will be healed by that as well. I know my mom said I was the same way before I had my eye surgery. Granted, I was much younger than him, but crowds overwhelmed me, as they do Dekker. I’m excited thinking about all the possibilities.

Other than that great news though, we didn’t do much at all. Dekker was exhausted and asleep before 2:00 in the afternoon so that was early and different, but the nap was a nice break from the constant whining. I promise, I adore my kids! But I’m also just trying to be honest. When everything I say is met with a just a whiney “uuuuu…” sound, the days get long.

So the big little is down for the night, the little little is having some milk and we’re crossing our fingers that it stays in. Once she’s down, or at the very least, calm, we’re going to finally have some supper. I’m super hungry!! I know eating this late isn’t going to help me lose my baby weight, but I’m indulging. Tonight, my drug of choice is perogies and wings.

Sorry for the boring post, guys!!!