The Sweetest thing....

I asked my son why he always brought home pictures of coloured Princesses from daycare.

His answer, "For you Mommy - you are my princess!"

Awww....can he teach some of his lines to his father?

Swiper No Swiping...in fact don't even visit our house!

My daughter loves the TV show Dora the Explorer. I cannot remember how this happened. I am a bit cynical that marketing companies have just done some research to find out what words are easiest for infants to spout out. I know both my kids were able to say "Elmo" and "Dora" before they could say "Grandma" or "Grandpa". Since we are so overjoyed that the babes are actually conversing that perhaps as new parents we actually think they know they want to watch this TV show or play with that toy. But I digress...
My daughter turned 2 and since the only thing she seems to be interested in is Dora we had a Dora themed party. Complete with a spanish menu. The party went well and my toddler seemed to love being surrounded by Dora.
For my son and the other 3-6 year old guests I had planned a treasure hunt. Since reading is not yet a skill that has been acquired by all of this preschool set I had taken pictures of places in the house where they would get their next clue. Keeping with the theme of the party the reason for the hunt was because the wily fox character aptly named "Swiper" had taken the game prize box. The kids liked the game and actually were disappointed when they found the treasure since they had liked the competitive nature of pushing each other to get the next "clue" (picture). Nothing seemed amiss - the party continued - gifts were opened - cake was enhaled.
Hours after the guests left I was tucking my 4 year old into bed. He was very serious. "Mommy is Swiper still in the house? I don't want him in our house""How did Swiper get those pictures? Why would he do that?". My son seemed quite perturbed. He wouldn't really listen when I explained that it was mommy who made the game and Swiper wasn't real.
The next day he was better. "Daddy - we really should have left Swiper one of the prizes"

Eviction of unpaying tenant(s)

Rewind to Friday, I was navigating the short 6am walk from the front door to the garage completely in the dark and completely from memory. This morning, with an accelerated heartrate, I made the short trek with lights a blazin'. Thank goodness the passage was uneventful. What changed?
I found out that the six of us (2 adults, 2 kids and 2 furbabies) are not the only tenants of our home. It all started in the summer when our new neighbours decided to blaze a trail through the wild undergrowth separating our 2 houses and build a walkway.
The stonework is beautiful and it looks great. Then on Sunday the dog disappeared for a good 10 minutes in the scrub on our side of the great divide. Upon closer inspection I found enormous (well I am exaggerating a tad) holes in the concrete under our front porch. The dog was going nuts for another 10 minutes until I smelled an altogether unwanted yet familiar odor. I grabbed the kids and ran. We all managed to come out of this event unscathed and odorless. Even the dog.
Not sure why I am upset because in hindsight I think Pepe has lived there for quite a few years. I remember on my first mat leave 4 years ago I saw a little striped monster venturing into the neighbours garbage. If the recent development of a paved walk had not come to fruition I probably would have been happily ignorant of our house guest for another couple of years.
What to do now? Our arsenal contains a bright overhead light (these critters are nocturnal and wouldn't appreciate new lighting installed by their landlords), used cat litter (I know ewww), ammonia etc.
We haven't done anything yet as hubby is still strategizing. In the meantime I am off to buy copious amounts of tomato juice just in case the canine wants to make anymore friendly overtures.

Bowling with Babes

Not sure where this idea came from but I thought it would be an adventure to take the family bowling. Not just everyday run-of-the-mill bowling but of course "Cosmic bowling"! (Essentially just glow in the dark bowling with loud top 40 music and lots of flashing lights.) My son embraced his inner Fred Flintstone and took to the game immediately. So much so that he didn't really appreciate Mom and Dad breaking his stride by taking their turns. I was afraid he was going to get a hernia because he insisted on lifting the balls himself.

He also sported some Bieber breakdancin' moves in the bowling alley in his cool rental shoes.

Than again some more moves in the party area...

Much to my surprise our 23 month old also enjoyed picking out the balls and pushing them down the kiddie ramp. Although her favourite part was the glow bracelets I gave them (such a girl)

Mom to a JKer!

So the day finally arrived... The day when pregnant or comforting my gassy little infant seemed eons away. It has been really eye opening to me how time has virtually gone on fast forward upon returning to work after my first mat leave.
Here I am...a mommy of a junior kindergartener. What!?!
I shouldn't really complain because being a February baby, he just missed being sent to JK last September. It seemed to go ok and he seems to really like his new teacher. He wasn't too keen for daddy to leave upon drop off but the teacher quickly got him interested in the cars.
When hubby went to pick him up he proudly showed him a tour of his new stompin' (learning) grounds.

Chi-town!

Chicago!
Thanks to awesome Grandparents hubby and I managed to fly away for 4 days to enjoy Chi-town. It was great to reconnect (and not have any little people interrupting our every conversation)!
The bike tours along the waterfront were awesome. I was also surprised to have enjoyed the architectural boat tour. It was really interesting and the weather was great.
The deep dish pizza was well worth the wait but it was definetly hard to move after. The Cubs game was a great party - I have never had so much fun at a game before!
The best part, of course, was the welcoming hugs and excited smiles of our babies when we got home:)

Millions of peaches....peaches for me!

We took four kids on little sleep to the Winona Peach festival on Sunday and I'm the only one that had a nap after the adventure!
Despite the exhaustion created by our hot hike and outing , it is super cute to see how excited 4 year olds get to go the midway rides (our son has a cousin that is the same age).*

At first they (and their Grandma) seemed apprehensive to go on the "flying dragons" but after a few spins around they were old pros. After that there was no stopping them (except for the fact they were too tall for the bouncy castles!?)

*Note - upon first arriving at the festival, they were also equally enthused by the port-a-potties.

The Circle of Life Lesson

This weekend we had the opportunity to go to our first outdoor pig roast party (my uncle is turning the big F-word). There were about a dozen kids at this soiree ranging in ages of 2 - 9.
Most of the kids took one look at the roasting pig, proclaimed loud "EEWww gross - I'm not eating that" and hightailed it to other areas of the backyard party to scarf down their pepperoni pizza.
My son, however, much to the delight of the butcher, was fascinated with the pig. "Look mommy I can see the eye". "Look mommy I can see the teeth" It was also the first time he really fully connected the fact that the meat on his plate doesn't come from meat trees.

We just spent another week up at the cottage with the kids and quite frankly I am exhausted. I feel kind of like I just spent a week at a fat camp with all of the activities (but with copius amounts of food and beer).
My 4 year old has so much energy I can barely keep up. He always wanted to be "doing" something - and that did not include sitting his butt down with a sippy cup on a muskoka chair.
The good news is that he has come a long way from last year when he pouted and was upset for me putting him into the lake. Now I found myself being hyper vigilant about making sure he wasn't taking an unauthorized dip into said lake.
My 22 month old apparently likes to pretend at being a future femme fatale and you don't realize how much she can secretly do until you turn your back on her. Than she is scaling ladders and swinging on swings. Hmmmm...gonna have to watch out with this one.
But for now it's back to reality and the daily grind. At least I get to sit down at the office (minus the beer of course)!

Does anyone over 18 really enjoy splash pads?

I have recently realized I have a love/hate relationship with Splash pads. To be honest I don't really remember going to them as a child. They either didn't exist or perhaps were just a couple of small fountains spouting out of the ground? I did remember there used to be a lot more outdoor public pools in the 80's and the splash pads of today definitely seem to use more advanced technology than the small fountains of the past.
However, with temperatures soaring, no access to a pool and two small children I find myself packing up bags, jumping in the car and heading out to these places. But to be honest getting blasted in the face by streams of water is not really my idea of a good time. I find the whole experience kind of chilly and uncomfortable. The disgusting inevitable used band aids that litter these places also kind of turn my stomach - especially when your 10 month old decides to put them in his/her mouth and chew them like they are a free snack.
Not sure if it is genetic or what but my own two kiddies aren't overly big fans of being sprayed and heaven help me when they get a stream of water full on in the face. What they do seem to enjoy is splashing around in the puddles and activating all of the water sensors.
The reason I torture myself at these kind of places is because happy toddlers equals happy mama! On occasion I must also admit that when the humidex climbs its way over 35 the cool water misters are enjoyable for all!

Beach Bonanza

Call me crazy...but my mama guilt finally get the better of me and I managed to wrangle a vacation day off work to go on a field trip with my son's preschool class.
This time the daycare boarded the bus to take us to an indoor beach volleyball centre. Although a couple of beach balls did randomly make their ways over the net it was mostly just a trip for the kiddies to play in the MASSIVE sandpit. The best part was there was no constant worry of water or reapplication of sunscreen.
It was interesting for me to view the daycare dynamic as my days are filled with analytical adults.
I enjoyed watching the good cop/bad cop exchange between the caregivers and their charges. What was eye-opening for me was the appalling behaviour of 2 of the children. The kids sat in "time out" more times than I can count for throwing sand or running away. While the kids did sit in time out it seemed to do little to change their behaviour.
The best part of the day was that my son was just so unbelievably happy to have me there. I know that time is running out with regards to him wanting to have me around so I am grabbing them while I can. Now if only I could get rid of all of this sand in my hair:)

This article makes my blood run cold

'a mistake of memory that delivers a lifelong sentence of guilt far greater than any a judge or jury could mete out ':
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/27/AR2009022701549_2.html?sid=ST2009030602446

This Pulitzer Prize Winning article sends shivers down my back. I think because I honestly believe all of these wonderful parents truly just made a mistake. A horrible mistake. This is honestly one of my worst nightmares. If it should ever happen to me I know I would not be strong enough to endure it. I can see how easy it would be to be a completely exhausted parent, trying to do it all (and what parent doesn't?) and the results are disasterous.

I totally relate to the one story of how the parent dropped off the other parent (out of the norm for this particular couple) and the mind registered it as a daycare dropoff. A similar incident happened to me at Union Station where normally I would punch my 10 ride ticket to ride the train. I went to the bank machine instead and my mind registered it as punching my ticket. The end result was a $110 ticket when the GO train attendant came round to check and a realization of how easy it is to forget things. Interesting how the mind works and although mad at the time I am grateful in hindsight that it wasn't something as serious as this.

When my own kids are passed out in the back of the car they are so quiet that sometimes hubby and I wonder if they are still there.

Still feeling those shivers....

What do you think?

So I went to my first wedding in 5 years were I wasn't pregnant or breastfeeding and I honestly didn't think of my children once! The wedding was at a Muskoka resort and the weather couldn't have been any better. For a change I knew the majority of the guests in attendance and some of my close friends I hadn't seen in awhile were there.
I felt like I was in my single days again! No child to ensure doesn't fall inadvertantly into the lake, no watching the clock to stay on schedule, no trying to convince someone to eat their veggies. I haven't felt so relaxed in a long time (maybe the cocktails helped). I was completely surprised that I allowed myself to live in the moment. I wouldn't classify myself as an anxious parent but they are definetly in the back of my mind 100 percent of the time. Wonder what changed on this one wonderful weekend away? Hope it happens again if hubby and I ever get a chance to get away again.
The best part is coming home and seeing your kids super excited to see you again.

Navigating the Medical Underworld

My kids have big noggins'. It's pretty obvious and due to genetics. It's an understatement to say I was terrified of childbirth when pregnant with my boy after hearing the war stories of my father's and my brother's birth. But I survived mostly due to the wonderful epideral (I know to much information)


For the most part after labour there has been very little difference in my life with the regards to their head size. Perhaps, I've been known to buy clothes a size bigger or to ensure that they have button down shirts. Also choosing a hat to fit their heads is always a challenge. Mostly I just share my own ball caps with them ;)
So despite my continued assurances to our doctor regarding our family propensity for large craniums she scheduled an appointment for a pediatrician to assess sweet little T.
A month later we were scheduled and after working out all the workplace / daycare logistics (always a difficult task) I scooped her up early and made it to the medical center early. It was an unseasonably hot day so we didn't linger in the car too long. We trudged our way to Dr C's office only to find that she did not work there anymore - hadn't in fact worked there for over a year. What!! It was the address the receptionist had given me over the phone. I tried to call but of course no answer. Another receptionist directed me to the hospital. T and I ran across the street and were sent on a wild goose chase through the hospital trying to find pediatric services. Five different staff members, though pleasant and helpful, gave us five different sets of directions. By this time I was completely dripping with sweat in my business suit and T was getting a little perturbed by the racing around. We did finally manage to find pediatric services (not that I could ever find my way there again). I was really nervous that the doctor wouldn't see us as by this point we were late (and ironically doctors hate to be kept waiting).
We get to reception only to be informed that Dr C has no appointments and is not back from her surgery recovery until June. What! I had called to confirm! Sweat drips down my back as I realize this logistical nightmare was all for nothing. Five minutes later the receptionist finds a piece of paper that states all referrals are suppose to go to Dr E. She eyeballs me and kindly asks if I would like a glass of water. I decline and realize I must look quite dishevelled since she offers the water two more times.
Luckily the wait isn't too long but am surprised that this gruff, unfriendly dr is in pedriatics. Not really sure how he wins over his pint size patients. He opens T's file only to find that my GP's office forgot to send T's head charts!!!! What!!!! He couldn't assess without all of the statistical trending data. At this point I could do nothing but smile... This day was totally ridiculous...

My sweet little monkeys

Although the weekend did have a rough start I must admit I do love being with my two little monkeys. Being a working mom with a 1 hour commute each way leaves very little time during the week to enjoy them for too long. I absolutely love the daycare and honestly feel they get a great early education there. Everyone is much better off that I'm working and that they are at an awesome care facility. Having said all this I still really miss them... When I'm with them I definetly appreciate it more than when I was a stay-at-home mom during my maternity leaves.

There's just something about their smiles, hugs and "I love you's" that just make it worth it. Despite that M is not feeling all that great - it was wonderful to play with them all day yesterday and today. It's finally nice enough to go to the neighbourhood park and drama queen T can actually go down the slides this year! Wow they grow so fast!

Single parent

And so begins my long weekend as a single mom. Hubby is off at a bacholor party that lasts all weekend. Did Imention that it's the May long weekend? Eek.... How did I get here? A couple of years ago I would be going camping and drinking beer and sleeping late and than drinking some more beer...



Instead - hubby's been gone an hour and the drama queen T is having a major meltdown. Oh boy...Fastforward to 2 hours after hubby left...cryboy M is spiking 103fever. Is the weekend almost over?

On Sunday we were traveling along the 401 highway on our way home. Due to the daily hustle and bustle of our family life sometimes things just get forgotten. I know that McKay had died at the age of 24 just before returning to Canadian soil. The news had caught my attention on Friday because of the fire chief connection but it's not until you really see all of the people lined up on the highway of heros that it really hits home with full impact. What must it be like to say goodbye to your son as he leaves on his tour of duty and never know if it's the last time you will see him?

I cannot believe all of the firemen and citizens that lined up to pay their respects on such a beautiful day. They must have had many other things to do...gardening, golfing or just plain relaxing. Instead they wait patiently for hours for the body to make it's way along the 401. It just so wonderful that people still care and respect the lives of all these Canadian soldiers. The memory of Sunday still makes me teary...

My university roommate recently competed her very first fitness competition. Many of my colleagues are competing in marathons. This has brought about a self-realization that I’m not giving fitness the high priority I used to. My last half marathon was in 2004. I am using motherhood as an excuse not to take it to the next level.
I am proud to say that I worked out daily until I delivered both of my children (albeit in the 38th week with baby #2 it was more of a waddle than a power-walk). I have lost all my baby weight (and than some) but unfortunately this is due more to working mom stress than to strenuous workouts. During both of my year long maternity leaves I ended up using jogging as my main exercise (and reason for leaving the house for much needed breaks from the babes). Upon returning to the world of work I have discovered a new fitness love: Spinning!

But what happened to my competitive spirit? What happened to my fitness goal setting? It’s definitely time to get back in the game so to speak.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’ll just commit a goal of setting a goal by the end of summer J After all having time to hug my kids are definitely higher priority.

No more baby....

On Friday sweet little T had her last day in the infant room at her daycare. She is more than ready to move on to toddler time...question is...is mommy?

With a heavy heart I realized with finality that this means no more little baby. With my older child I was super excited to go on to the next stage. However, with my youngest I'm dragging my feet and trying to wallow in what little is left of her "baby" hood. Not completely sure why...since I'm not overly fond of the terrible two's and am completely enjoying my older 4 year old conversationalist.

However, as my hubby says, "The money we are saving by moving her on to the next daycare room let's us afford the more expensive beer." :)