Our Camping Trip - Part 1

From June 13-21, we went on our first camping trip of the summer. Peanut-lover's parents live by a beautiful lake and so we camped within walking distance of their home. The rest of the family lives in the same city, so it was a way for us to visit with all (30-ish) of them and camp at the same time. My in-laws have an older motorhome which is available for everyone to use, so that's what we use. I'd like to think that one day we'll be the type of campers who use at least a tent trailer, but with the little ones, the motorhome is much easier. And trust me, we need every little bit of sleep we can get! (And by "we", I mean "I"). I took over 200 pictures, most of which will end up on facebook, so I'll just share my absolute faves here. I left my camera at the in-laws though, so until I get it back, I only have the first half of the pictures.

First of all, here's KK on her very first camping trip, two years ago:

And here's KK now:
What?! Did I blink? When did that happen?

JJ wanted to get in on the traditional camping picture:

Here's what KK and I ate for breakfast most mornings (oatmeal, which she actually really likes):

But for a Father's Day and a Thursday treat, we had pancakes and bacon instead:

See the look of terror on KK and Peanut-lover's faces?....it's that darn syrup they're afraid of. In fact, we had to buy some syrup from the campground store, and look who had to carry it back for us:She's clearly not very happy about that!

Here's what we ate for lunch and dinner most days:

And every time I turned around, KK was eating something like this:That was a real treat for her considering we usually let her have a treat like juice once-a-week!

With all the consumption of hot dogs and hamburgers, smores, chips, ice cream and such, we tried to get out for lots of walks:

And KK practiced her photography skills:

She posed her Daddy and brother, and I jumped in at the last second. Next, she stepped back and looked at the layout of the picture. She posed me in a pothole to the far left of Daddy and JJ, and then proceeded to take a picture of just them. She may have the photography bug in her, but she also got the "speaks her mind" bug too.

My camping family:

Seriously folks, what's hotter than a man with a baby? After a busy day, we ended most evenings with a bath in the sink:

And some reading time with Daddy:

More to come...

Why being a nurse sometimes makes me a bad mommy

I had to take JJ back to see Dr. Allergist this morning. Considering the bad experience I had last time, my friend Emily graciously offered to watch KK for me during the appointment. What a great help that was. Thanks Emily!

So, Dr. Allergist comes in and he's clearly in a hurry and clearly not in a great mood. He asks me why we are there, so I tell him that he was planning to give JJ part of his 6-month immunizations. I then tell him that JJ developed a large welt at another allergy testing site several hours after the actual testing. And then we had a very uncomfortable conversation:

Dr. A: And you brought him back to see us right? No, you didn't! Why didn't you bring him back in to see us? He clearly had a reaction and you should have brought him back in!

Me (confidently): Well, as a nurse, I felt that it wasn't an emergency, and that it wasn't worth bringing him back in and spending another 2 hrs in your waiting room with my 2-year-old asking "where is my milk" every 3 minutes, only to have you say "Yep, it's a reaction"...when I knew I could just tell you about it at this appointment and you'd say "Yep, it's a reaction" and the end result would be no different.

Yeah right....IN MY HEAD!

It actually came out more like this:

Me (in a quivering voice): I'm sorry. I didn't think it was serious. I'm sorry. I won't do it again.

(And you were so proud of me for a minute there, weren't you!)

The problem with being a nurse and also being a mommy is that I either overreact because I know too much about what can happen, or under react because I don't think it's an emergency. The problem is, I don't know when I'm overreacting and when I'm under reacting. And in fact, I often believe that I'm overreacting when I'm actually under reacting! I fully believed when we started this whole allergy testing thing that they would ask me a few questions and then send me away saying I was wasting their time! This time, apparently, I under reacted....ALOT. And got quite the lecture for it.

And I'm sorry. I won't do it again. I promise.

WFMW - Chore Schedule

This may seem over the top for all my in-laws anyone who prefers to play things by ear, but this is what works for me...and that's what this is, works-for-me Wednesday.

After loading myself with guilt over not being able to balance my roles as mommy, housekeeper, friend, wife etc., I came up with a chore schedule. It helps me get the essentials done, so that I can keep my home relatively clean sorta tidy clean-ish. And hopefully then, I'll have time to be a better mommy, friend, wife etc.

So here you have it, my chore schedule:

Monday: laundry and groceries (groceries sometimes happen on the weekend)

Tuesday: banking, garbages and recycling. I also have "library" on the list, but I think we've actually only made it to the library once on a Tuesday.

Wednesday: laundry including our sheets/towels, and kids'/cat's nail trimming. Yes, it has to be scheduled. And sometimes, this happens:


Thursday: next week's meal planning and bathrooms (alternating bath and shower every second week.)

*gasp* I KNOW mom. You taught me better than to only clean the bathrooms once a week. But actually once a week is my ideal and it really is more like once every two weeks....but two weeks MAX, I swear! And I'll look the other way if from now on you bring waterless hand wash and lysol wipes every time you come to my home...


Friday: budgeting and laundry

*We now interrupt our regularly scheduled blogging for an unscheduled poop explosion. I'm not sure how long my 6-month old, JJ, was happily jumping in his own poop. This was a bad one. Probably worse than KK's great-poop-all-over-mommy's-pants-at-church-explosion of 2006. It's making me re-think the "great" deal I got on diapers at Save-on-Foods*

Anyways, I also have two rules built into my schedule:

1. If I had a bad sleep, or the kids are extra needy or something comes up and I get too stressed about getting everything done, I have permission to drop today's chore and focus only on the kids and meal prep.

2. I have to do today's chore first. If I have extra time, I can go back to what I missed the day before, then the day before etc. So, if I missed laundry on Monday, I have to wait until Wednesday to do it again, unless of course I have extra time on Tuesday. It keeps me from getting overwhelmed which usually leads to crying, compulsive list-making and notactuallygettinganythingdone!

I know. A little over the top. But that's what works for me. Click here for more great tips (I'm talking hundreds of great little ideas) with Shannon at Rocks in my dryer.

Some pre-camping faves

While I'm working on my post (or more likely posts) about our camping trip, I thought I'd share some of my favourite pictures from the beginning of June.

I just love the interaction between these two! Oh, and that's not a tooth in JJ's mouth, that's a piece of barf. (It's not as cute a picture for you anymore, is it!)

KK took this one of her brother. I love how she caught me in the background, still in my jammies, mid-afternoon. Yep, I'm hot.

Nothing like finger-painting. This was before the pictures became soggy masses of brown.

And if you want to make mommy's heart actually stop beating, try this:

Anyone heard of crazy eyes? She's got 'em!

And it doesn't get any better than this:

....except maybe if my eyes were actually open! I should just be grateful to have a picture of me with my kids and stop complaining that Peanut-lover quits trying after 5 pictures, even if none of them turn out right!

Irrational fears we have passed on to KK

Ok, so you might have noticed my absence for the past week. If you're one of my facebook friends, you probably already know that we were camping for the week. For obvious reasons, I didn't want the entire world to know we were away, so I didn't forewarn you. Hopefully you're still with me and if not, well, I'll woo you back *eyelash flutter*.... I was touched to see that a few of you checked back faithfully every day to see if I'd posted.

Anyhoo...I'd love for this to be a fabulous post about my camping trip, complete with the best pics and hilarious anecdotes....but yeah, the laundry....oh, the laundry. Sorry guys, but the laundry wins this time. So I thought I'd share a quick observation I made over this past week regarding the irrational fears that we have passed down to KK.

Mommy's fears:
1. Spiders

I really didn't want to pass this one down to her because I hate how terrified of spiders I actually am. I know it is irrational. But it is really hard to hide my completely involuntary fight or flight reaction upon seeing a spider. Unfortunately, at the tender age of 31 months, she has already been brought to tears on many instances upon exposure to a spider, or the possibility of a spider. sigh.

I am proud, however, that so far I haven't passed on my queasiness about all bugs in general. It seems that if mommy acts excited upon seeing a bug, no matter how icky, and shows KK how to a) tickle it with a leaf or b) chase it around (ie. not touch it), KK seems to think that it is the cutest thing out there. True story. She actually called a slug "cute" and said it was wearing a "cute skirt and pink leggings" and all I had to do was name it "Bug the slug" and tickle it with a leaf. Hours of entertainment (and some really great pictures).

(We're back to mommy's irrational fears here people...stay with me)

2. Unpredictability

Yeah, I hate it, but I like things organized. I like to know what is expected of me and where my next meal is coming from. KK thrives on routine. It works for us now, but it frustrates me that she will have to deal with the same kinds of stresses I face as an adult...because unfortunately, I'm not in charge of the world and contrary to popular opinion around here, she is not either. And never will be. Unless of course she becomes President of the United States, for which her Nanna would be very proud, but is not likely to happen, considering she is Canadian and all...

Daddy's Fears:

1. Dirty floors

Actually this one kind of works for me. And I may have been known to encourage this irrational fear in both my husband and my children....but honestly, there are worse things that can happen to a person than having a piece of lint/dirt/lettuce on your sock.

2. Syrup

And here we are. The entire reason for writing this post. The peanut-lover is deathly afraid of syrup and we have recently discovered that so is KK. Hmmmm....

Make Me Laugh Monday - Business Time

Here is one of my favourite videos: "Business Time" by the "Flight of the Conchords". My hubby and I laughed our heads off the first, second...99th time we watched this. There are no explicit images, but if you have older kids nearby...let's just say you may have some 'splaining to do, if they hear it!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WGOohBytKTU

Not sure how to actually insert the movie here, so all I can give you is the link. Feel free to share if you know how to do it.

Wooooossshhh...there goes my nap!

I've been fearing this day for a long time. Probably since I got pregnant with JJ.

I think it's time to let go of my nap.

I've always loved naps. Except maybe when I was a baby. (Payback, right mom?)

Since KK was born, I've been napping almost every afternoon with her. A glorious three-hour nap. When JJ arrived, he just joined in with us. And there we were, all three cuddled up in bed.

Now don't get all jealous, I don't actually sleep that entire time. But I do get to rest and catch up on some reading, lying between my two babies to ensure that one doesn't smother the other. No, I'm serious. It really could happen. One time I went to the bathroom and came back to find KK had thrown her leg over JJ's neck and all he did was make little moaning sounds in his sleep.

I thought KK would be the one to make me give up the naps. She's nearing three and we started thinking she might be able to trade in the nap for an earlier bedtime. But no nap makes for a VERY long day. And no nap seems to lead to more night terrors, which in turn leads to less sleep for me...which as we all know, is a VERY BAD THING.

As it turns out, it seems the kids got together when I was cooking supper one night and hatched a sinister plot: to sleep on alternating schedules. They are so sneaky those two. Now JJ naps before and after KK's nap, perhaps giving me a 30 second nap, which really is just a teaser, and probably worse than not napping at all.

What's a mommy to do? And if you're thinking I should get all my sleep at night....tried that! From day one, the kids had already worked out that KK would sleep early and get up early, and JJ would sleep late and wake up late, thereby reducing my sleep time to a maximum of 6 hours/night.

So on I go, continuously adjusting, adapting, figuring out. That, it seems, is what mommies do best!

Events of the week, thus far...

JJ said "mama" yesterday and really hasn't stopped saying it since!

JJ also found his scream and has been using it effectively for several days now.

JJ did an accidental backwards flip out of my arms, and liked it!

My sister-in-law had a beautiful baby girl, causing me to think a lot about The Question again.

KK used "God" and "The Doodlebops" in the same sentence. As in, "I want to go see God and the Doodlebops".

I hit my lowest weight since JJ was born! Now I'm within 3-4 pounds of my pre-weaning goal weight.

KK got into my self-tanning lotion, but fortunately hopefully I caught it in time and washed it all off!

I checked my work email and, for the first time, seriously considered finding a new job :(

Works for me Wednesday - overwhelming laundry

Ever since I started thinking about starting a blog, my mind has been filled with ideas for "Works for me Wednesday". Here is my first WFMW post! (So excited!)

Sometimes Often Lately the laundry has been overwhelming for me. It's not so much the washing and drying part. That's easy enough to do and to keep going. It's the folding and putting away part that sneaks up on me and brings on significant panic attacks, causing me to obsessively start writing to-do lists. It seems I keep turning around to find that another load has been added to the pile of clothes that need to be folded.

Instead of continuously chipping away at Mount Laundry and never making any progress, I've found a way to break it up so it feels like I'm actually getting somewhere.

First I get out my second laundry basket. Then my daughter KK and I go through Mount Laundry and find everything that goes in her room. We make it a game.

I hold up a pair of her pjs, "Does this go in KK's room?"

"Yes!" she shouts gleefully and in the basket it goes.

I hold up a pair of Daddy's pants, "Are these KK's pants?"

"No!" she shouts and we laugh uproariously because what could be funnier than mixing up Daddy's pants with hers?

And on we go until everything is sorted into two piles "KK's room" and "Not KK's room".

If Mount Laundry still overwhelms me, then we continue to sort into smaller piles until I feel like I could tackle ONE of them. That's the key. I only have to fold and put away ONE PILE. But suddenly, that didn't seem so hard...and that sense of accomplishment felt really good. Maybe I'll just do one more pile.....

Next thing I know, everything is folded and maybe even put away.

I didn't know it was possible to use such trickery on oneself!

For more great ideas, head on over to "Rocks in my dryer" where Shannon hosts "Works for me Wednesday" weekly.

Night Terrors

Lately, KK has been having night terrors. They seem to happen more when she is overtired. Usually it hits just minutes after I've finally fallen asleep.

I wake to hear her screaming and calling out in her sleep. My heart racing, I run to her room and pull her into my arms. But she is thrashing and crying and nothing I can do will console her. Her eyes are open, but if you look into them, you can tell she's not really in there....she's not really awake. She's having a bad dream and she can't get out!

If I try to wake her, she gets more agitated. Can you imagine being stuck in a dream you can't get out of and on top of it you can hear mommy calling you and you can't get to her???? It is so hard for me to watch.

And then she quiets down. I lay her back in bed and she is deeply sleeping within seconds. But sleep will evade me for awhile now. I wonder if she knew that I was there?

In the morning, she cannot remember anything.

Tag, you're it!...again?

My bestest friend ever over at Four-Part Harmony tagged me in a meme last week, which begs the question: is "meme" pronounced mee-mee or meem? Oh, there are so many bloggy things of which I do not know.
According to this chart, my name in Japanese is nokukatodochi.

That explains why the Peanut-lover keeps yelling "nokukatodochi" at me! I thought he just didn't like my cooking....

I don't have enough brain cells left to figure out what the Japanese version of my whole blog name would be, but if you have the burning desire to do it, you go right ahead!

Since I have only one bloggy friend (that I know of), I am tagging Harmony back but if you secretly have a blog that I know not of, and would like to participate, consider yourself tagged!

Note to self....

Monday morning is a VERY bad time to go to Costco. Don't do it. Just don't.

Profound Wisdom

I have this friend from work who shared a bit of her mommy wisdom with me a few months back. I doubt if she realized I would use that piece of advice every day. Every. Single. Day.

We had a chat going back and forth on facebook. I told her I felt like I was butting heads with KK all the time. And that's when she bestowed her profound wisdom on me. She told me that when she brought her second baby home, she found it hard not to expect too much of the older daughter, because she suddenly seemed so grown up.

It's true. When we brought JJ home, KK suddenly looked SO HUGE! I thought she was abnormally large for the first few weeks. And she could do so much stuff compared to JJ, who really hadn't mastered more than sleeping and farting (no seriously, he's quite talented in this department).

See what I mean? Abnormally large, right?

Every day, and sometimes many times a day, I have to remind myself that KK is only 2.5 years old. Even though she's the most grown-up little girl I have, she is still a baby in many ways. It is so hard not to expect her to understand more than her beautiful little mind is ready to understand.

So thank you my friend for your profound wisdom. It sure has helped me be a better mommy to my baby girl.

What about you? Is there someone in your life that gave you some great advice that you use all the time? I'd love to hear about it!

Five things I love about the Peanut-lover

1. He's strong.

I don't mean physically, although he can bench 225. But he has a strong character. He believes what he believes and no one is going to shake him. He also has a strong smell, but that belongs on another list.

2. He's strong.

I mean physically. And that's handy to have around here. He can carry a lot of groceries, and kids, and whatever else I may need him to carry. He's also good at opening jars.

(Just so you know, I made him pose for this picture!)

3. He's gentle.

Just watch him with his babies and you know how true this is. He gently prods me when he sees an area in which I need to grow. And I usually am mad at him for the first day, but I always know he's right.

4. He lets me be me.

And most of the time sometimes I'm not a great person. But somehow he sees the good in me. Even when I see a weakness in myself, he sees the reason for it and considers that a strength.

5. He's mine.

Six years and counting...

You're here, now go away! (Fave links)

Well, it's already 11am and I'm a little overwhelmed with all that I need to get done. But I know all three of you are eager for a new post. So for today, I'm going to send you away (but please come back again).

Shannon over at rocks in my dryer hosts Works for me Wednesday weekly. Fellow bloggers post an idea that works for them. This week's theme was "Mom, I'm bored". At last count, there were 287 links to ideas to keep the kids busy. I've only made it through 5 of them so far, but I've already got some great ideas for the summer. If you've got some extra time, read some of Shannon's other posts. She's hilarious.

Mommin' It Up! is another of my favourite blogs. Here is a post that describes JJ so perfectly that at first, I thought Emily might have kidnapped my son. Until he farted and I remembered where I had left him.

If you read my post last Friday, about my bad momma jeans, and didn't quite get it....Sue over at Navel gazing at its finest wrote a post which expresses my feelings much better than I can....except for the not blogging so much part. I need to write. It helps me sleep at night.

And last but certainly not least, my bestest friend over at Four-Part Harmony is looking for some ways to get more active with her kids. Please go read her post and give her some of your great ideas.

Have a great one!

How do you know?

We've been sitting on the edge of our seats the last few days, checking and double-checking our cell phones, watching all of the in-laws' status updates on facebook....waiting for the safe arrival of our newest, precious, already adored niece.

It's got me thinking...how do you know when you're done? You know, making babies?

Since JJ was born, we get that question a lot. "So, you got one of each, does that mean you're done now?"

Probably. Our family feels complete. Right now. But I'm not ready to say that we're done.

I was miserable being pregnant, but I can't imagine never being pregnant again.

I didn't have a BAD labor, but the very first thing I thought right after JJ was born was "I shouldn't do that again". (If he asks, please tell him that thought came after all the wonderful loving mommy thoughts). It makes me sad to think that I might never go through labor again. I know. I'm crazy. Peanut-lover tells me that every day. It is just a very powerful, miraculous experience. Something only I can do for my family.

And don't get me started on not ever having a newborn again. Sniff.

So how do you know that you're done? Do you just decide and then go through the baby clothes and cry it all out at once? Or does it just sneak up on you and one day you realize that your family is complete? I have a feeling that no matter how it happens, there will be tears shed. Although I'm pretty sure they won't be from the Peanut-lover. He's done.

Tackle it Tuesday...started on Monday

After my crazy day Monday, this is what my house looked like:

Now I'm not really a neat freak, (ok yeah I am, except compared to Peanut-lover) but it's rare that my home gets this messy.

Here's what the top of my fridge looked like:And then this happened (vase fell off the fridge):Laundry coming out of the woodwork:Fortunately, this happened......so that I had time to throw together a quick supper before Peanut-lover screeched in for 10 minutes and then headed out to a meeting.

KK made me a beautiful dinner of fruit/veggie/ketchup salad:

Then I put on some music and an hour later:

ahhhh.....

I put these in the freezer to save for our family favourite, chocolate chip banana bread:

Now all that's left to do is fold all this (and two other loads still in the wash/dry process):

For more Tackle it Tuesday posts, head over to www.5minutesformom.com

Why I don't usually plan more than one activity a day

What a day!

We got to bed late last night because we spent the day with Peanut-lover's family doing a workbee on his sister's house. About that, it was pretty amazing to me to see everyone pull together to help their sister like that. She is due any day now and has been living in complete renovations during her entire pregnancy. How loved she must have felt to have everyone there, working their butts off for her and her family. (And loved they are!)

This morning, I slept in. I felt that need emphasis because I never get to sleep in anymore. Unfortunately, today I wasn't supposed to sleep in because JJ had an appointment to see Dr. Allergist at 8:45 this morning! He had an allergic reaction after his second shots, so we are trying to get to the bottom of that.

I brought KK's breakfast with me thinking it would save me time AND it would distract her during the appointment. I even told her she had to wait for her milk until we got there because we were running so late. Man, did I regret that! Just outside the door to Dr. Allergist's office: In order to protect our patients with life-threatening food allergies, absolutely no food or drinks allowed.

We waited in the waiting room for over an hour, while KK ran a five minute-cycle of questioning over and over. "I have my milk, please?...Why we see doctor?...We go van now?...Why? Why?...Why?...Why somebody drawing on paper?...Where'd my milk go?...Why JJ barf?...Why man sit there? ...Why?...Where lady go?...Why?...I have my milk, please?..........." and begin cycle again.

I tried to answer her questions as patiently as possible....for over an hour. Of course I hadn't brought any entertainment for her because her food was supposed to be her entertainment! It didn't even occur to me to ask how long we had to wait and then just take her outside and feed her. (Although I did ask if it was okay for me to nurse JJ there...apparently that was okay).

We then spent more than an hour with Dr. Allergist and his nurse doing the allergy testing. It's looking like JJ is allergic to something in the tetanus shot, so we're going to do his next shot in the office next time.

So now it's almost 11:30 and I was due to pick up my babysitter at 11:15. Got home with her and the kids, quickly explained about JJ's shots, food for KK, and please excuse the disaster in my home! Then out the door to my physio appointment.

Got a call mid-appointment from an inconsolable little KK...who had finally been pushed to her limits. She'd eaten nothing all day, skipped her nap yesterday, to bed late last night, busy morning, watched her baby brother get 9 shots. Poor baby girl had just HAD IT! Finished up my appointment and raced home to console my baby girl.

When the peanut-lover got home from work, I greeted him with "If you've ever wondered what I do all day, I didn't do it today..."

Then I started my "Tackle it Tuesday" on Monday.....