Baby Fever

I've got it big time.

I just found myself searching baby names online at www.babynamewizard.com . GREAT website by the way. It rates names on a yearly basis on how popular they were, so if you are looking for a popular or unpopular name, it lets you know what the ranking was from the 1880's all the way up to 2007.

Anywho,

We (the husband and I) have decided to let things happen if they happen, I am finding that is a plan that gives me no control and it is driving me nuts, lol. I liked TTC and everything that I did during that time. The charting, the planning, all that sex! It was a way for me to feel like I had some control over the whole baby making process. While, yes, it was probably a false sense of security, it helped me to keep from obsessing.

Now I'm obessing.

Am I, am I not? Did we catch ovulation or did we miss it by a few day?

This is no fun for me.

So in the mean time, it's the Baby Wizard and me, looking up possible names for the possible babies that may or may not come to us in the future.

sigh

Cheers!

It's a winter wonderland today!

The snow is just coming down by the heapfuls today!!! I am loving every second of it now that Husband is home. He had to go to work today, which is a 75KM drive one way, but got off at noon (as per every Friday). He said the roads were crazy and the people driving were even crazier!

JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE A 4X4 SUV DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU CAN STILL DRIVE 130KM/H!!!!!!!

It is crazy people like those people that cause the accidents and walk away unharmed while they leave a trail of detestation in their wake.

Off my soap box now, lol.

Here are some pictures of you winter wonderland from around 11am.








I'd just like to say that there was no snow what so ever on the ground before this snow fell. I've got more picture from this afternoon, and you can really see the difference. I'll have to upload them.

Enjoy the snow!!!

Cheers!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

I am absolutely awe-struck that Christmas is next week. This past weekend put a wrench in my Christmas festivities as we couldn't go and cut down our tree, so we decided to just use the fake tree we typically have outside.

I am a very sensory person. I need to smell Christmas, and part of that is the Christmas tree. I was really bummed about it for a while, especially since the tree is very cheap and leans to one side. Think of it as a big Charlie Brown Christmas tree, LOL.

Well, MiniMe LOVES it, and his joy about it has put the spirit of Christmas back in to me. After all, Christmas isn't a tree.

I really miss the pine smell though...

So the tree is up early this year because of the change in plans. That is kind of nice because usually we put up our tree on the 21st.

Also, it SNOWED last night. And I mean SNOWED. In less than an hour we had 3 cm on the ground. The weather today was beautiful so MiniMe and I stayed out all morning and shoveled and made snow castles. It was so much fun but I am utterly exhausted now. Whew! The fresh air kicked my butt :)

We are expected to get more snow over the next week. I'm so happy and excited that it is going to be a white Christmas.

Hmmm, MiniMe is still sleeping. He's working on hour three now. I guess the fresh air kicked his butt too, LOL. Best go get a head start on dinner because I'm sure he'll want to go back out in the snow again!

Cheers!
Marina

I'm a blog neglecter :(

I have totally neglected the blog this week. Marks were due, a festive sweater had to be made and MiniMe has been up partying at 3am almost every day this week. I know, they all sound like excuses, and they are, but at least they are good ones :P

For the first time since last weekend, I have some free time. I am so excited to be going to the hair dresser today, finally!! I am chopping it all off. I'm so tired of having nice long hair that no one sees because it is always up in a bun or pony tail. What's the point? So I'm chopping it back to "just above the shoulder" length. When it is curly, it should be up at my ears.

I'll do before and after pictures when I get home.

That is about as exciting as my life gets right now. I have spent all week marking and making a festive sweater for Husband, which I will show you later. It is part of a festive sweater party contest, so I don't want to reveal my creation before the judging, LOL.

I made a wreath!

I am so totally proud of myself, LOL. Every year we buy an advent wreath at the local florist. for those of you that don't know, an advent wreath is wreath with four candles in it, one for each Sunday of advent. You can find out more here .

Anywho, the prices of these wreaths have gone up so much over the past years (I'm talking 35-40 dollars for one small wreath) that I skipped it this year and was determined to make my own. Yes, I'm a week late, but we did light a candle last week.

I'm so happy with the way it turned out! I think it looks great, albeit a wee bit square and not as circular as I'd have liked, but good none the less. My mom has asked me to make one for her next year because she liked it so much!

Max and Ruby

Are you familiar with the cartoon Max and Ruby. It started off as a book series by Rosemary Wells, and has been adapted for television. I love the stories, as does Alexander. What I love about them is the simplicity of life it portrays.

Max and Ruby live in a world where children can walk to the park on their own, take the bus to go play at their friends house, go over the grandma's house through their back yard and have a hill they can sled down in the winter.

Ruby spends much of her time talking to her dolls, writing stories, making music, baking, gardening and being a Bunny Scout earning her badges. Max plays with his toys, makes mud pies and like any other boy, gets in to lot so mischief.

My husband gets very upset at the fact that there is never any parent supervision. Although there is a bunny scout leader and Grandma who are both grown ups, he is still extremely bothered by the fact that Ruby has to deal with Max all the time.

I think it is really a look back in the times. Many of the things that Ruby does, my mother did as a young girl, minus the scouts. It was a time that was socially easier, people had more trust in the world around them and parents weren't over parenting. They allowed children to play and to discover things on their own. Children were allowed to be children.

Just the other day I was at the park and a little boy wanted to badly to climb up the ladder to go down the slide and his mother repeatedly pulled him off because it was too dangerous. She wanted him to go down the slide that had the stairs leading up to it and that had a plastic slide. But that little boy was very persistent, and unfortunately it ended in tears with the mom taking him home for disobeying her.

I felt horrible for the little boy because he really wanted to test his skill and to see if he could do something. In situations like this, I say let children explore, and make sure you help make it safe. Stay behind them on the ladder and hold their hand as they sit at the top. After a while of being told they can't do things because it is unsafe, children will stop trying to do things in all situations and will rely on you to tell them where to go or what to do.

I understand that the times we live in now are very different than they were before. But I do think we can create a world for our children that is more simple and less focused on our needs and fears as parents. We need to focus on the needs of our children, things they should experience to grow and develop in as many areas as possible.

Cheers!

My Little Rock Star

Here is the latest video of my little rock star. He loves to sing with the Wiggles, and will use anything and everything he can get his hands on as a guitar / microphone, lol. Enjoy!



MiniMe brings us so much joy and laughter it is hard to remember what the heck we did for entertainment before he was born :)

Sily Monkeys Stories

I'm excited to join Karen's Silly Monkeys meme! Here is a picture, that to me, needs no words :)

Visit Karen's Blog 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires for information on how to add your Silly Monkey Story!

Christmas Pictures

I took Christmas pictures of MiniMe this evening. I do them at home, create my own set and everything. All I need is a child that will sit in my set, LOL. MiniMe was all over the place. Last year I stuck him in a Christmas box and that made things a whole lot easier. But this year I had bigger plans. I wanted a picture of him beside a beautiful Christmas tree decorated with lights and ornaments.

Not under the tree.

Not hugging the tree.

Not throwing ornaments at the tree.

Not kissing the tree.

BESIDE the tree.

Unfortunately, he had other plans.

It went really well considering, and I'm pretty patient because lets face it, when we as parents get restless because our toddlers aren't doing what we want them to do, they just do more of what we don't want them to.

So I improvised.


I got a chair.


And chocolate.


And got the best pictures of him EVER! I am very happy with them, even if I had to resort to "carrot in front of the horse" tactics. He is looking at the camera (thank you chocolate!), he is beside the tree (ok, in front of a tree, but really, who cares) he is smiling and he is happy.

What more could you want out of a Christmas picture :)

Cheers!!

Snow Storm Approaching!!!!!

I love love LOVE snow storms! And there is a good one on the way right now :) Husband feels otherwise but he is letting me enjoy it for the time being. Then when we get ready to go to bed tonight, I start worrying because he has to drive in it tomorrow morning to get to work. All those crazy drivers out there make me very nervous.

But the snow storm is coming! I already have all of MiniMe's snow gear out so we can go for a walk in it after dinner. I'm happy to report that he loves the bad weather as much as I do.

It has been a nice day today. Husband and I did some cleaning while MiniMe puttered around the house with his tool box, hand broom, swiffer and a damp cloth cleaning things he felt needed cleaning and fixing things he felt needed fixing.

I love days like today. Those days when you reflect back on them and you thing "Wow, that was a perfect day. Everyone got along and functioned so well in the same space." I hope it ends as nicely.

We have a fun filled evening planned tonight. It is the first Sunday of Advent, and this is the first year that MiniMe will semi understand the process. We will light a candle on the wreath, turn on some randomly placed Christmas lights for him (which isn't a part of the ritual but he loves the lights) and watch a Christmas movie/cartoon eating roasted chestnuts (although this week, I couldn't find any so we are going to have peanut butter on toast, lol) . It is something that my family did for as far back as I can remember, and it is a tradition that I can't wait to continue with MiniMe.

It seems as if everyone is very busy around this time of year and too caught up in the go go go. I feel that everyone forgets that the season should be about spending time with family and friends, making memories and forming traditions to be carried on with the next generation. Children very rarely remember the toys they get for Christmas, but most can recall a memorable moment with the family. I think it is those moments that count the most, and I hope to create a whole book full for MiniMe and our family.

Off to go dig out the candles!

Cheers!

Jumping Off the Soapbox

Today, I'm jumping off the soap box and relishing in the fact that I was able to clean the whole house before 10:30am!!!!! It may seem like a small accomplishment to some, but lord, it feels like the Maple Leafs won the dang Stanley Cup for me :) My husband is out at his parents with Mini Me and I didn't have my usual helper as I trudged through the house. I forgot how efficient I could be without a toddler linked to my leg :)

It is amazing how much of your life changes when you don't even realize it. I got dressed to take the dog for a walk in less then 5 minutes. I was fully dress and out the door in under 5 minutes!! It felt liberating and oddly wrong, lol. It has become second nature getting ready to leave the house ten to fifteen minutes before I actually have to leave the house. Chasing MiniMe around the hallway as he investigates every nook and cranny for the ten thousandth time in his short little life has become a sort of daily Olympics. With mulitple reruns of me sittng him on the step and getting one boot on before he is off the step again grabbing his runners and attempting to put them on top of the boot or grabbing the clump of dog fur that just fell out of our Sheppard and needing to put it in the garbage can, and the realizing that the green bin is not locked properly and uh oh Mama, Sheppard has no water etc etc.

I know that some of you may think that I'm letting him run rampant and I should enforce that this is a time to put on your boots and that is it. But really, we are very rarely on a schedule that needs us to be out the door at a certain time, and I love to watch how his little Toddler ADD mind works, because he links things together so brilliantly (in my opinion) and I really enjoy watching it. When we are on a tight schedule, he will sit and put his boots on like a good little soldier, but for most days, we are good just puttering around the house, investigating every corner for something new to discover.

For now though, I'm going to live in the 2 hours of bliss I have left and look at my newly clean and crisp house from the couch, watching reruns of John and Kate plus 8, drinking my cup of tea and waiting for MiniMe and Husband to come home to me again.

Cheers!

The Stay at Home Mom

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article1139839.ece

This is an AMAZING article about the stigma attached to women who decide to stay at home with their child and drop their career goals. While there are areas of the article that I don't agree with, I think it really hits the nail on the head when it comes to how I feel I am perceived as a house wife.

When out and about, either teaching or at a group with my son, I always come across the question, "what do you do?". I love to answer back that I stay home with my son, and teach on the side, occasionally to help with the bills. Most of the people I meet balk at me, asking how I do it; don't I get bored; don't I feel that money is tight; do I feel guilty for not being able to get what I want, when I want it?

I am always the first to tell people that we had to make a lot of cuts for me to be able to stay home. And while I miss going out to dinner on a weekly basis, going to the movies regularly, using the car without thinking about the price of gas, going out with friends and running a tab and I really REALLY miss Rogers Digital Cable, every time I look at my son and the daily quirks and quandaries that I am able to see each day, I know that it is well worth the sacrifice. And really, our lives are better for it!

We spend more time walking, reading and cooking than we ever did before, and we have managed to make even the simplest errand in to a family affair. It is a simpler life that doesn't focus so much on the "haves" and "wants", but on the experiences that we create as a family.

More on this later. I've got to get the chicken in the oven :D

A Time to GiveThanks

To my American friends, belated Thanksgiving Day Wishes! (For my Canadian friends, I would have posted about Canadian Thanksgiving, had the blog been around then, lol)

I think that in the hard times we face, it can be very difficult to find things to be thankful for. But when you go back to the basics, we are all so lucky to have what we have.

My family has been through its tough times, yet we have always had a roof over our heads, warm beds to sleep in, and plenty of food on the table. We also have love for each other and others, and that can get you through a lot. I know, it sounds incredibly hoaky but really, love means a lot and generally is something that you can continue to give even when you have nothing else.

I hope that everyone had a great holiday and is enjoying the long weekend with friends and family.

Cheers!

The Costco Shoppers

They are a species of their own. And they drive me batty!

Never in my life have I had to shop with people who are so self absorbed, like children in a candy store, that they have no consideration or awareness of the other shoppers around them. I don't know if it is just because they are so amazed at all the stuff that is there, but they consistently stop in the middle of aisles with eyes glazed over looking at the objects around them. They then abandon their shopping cart (which is still in the middle of the aisle) and go over to look at the treasure that costco holds for them. They don't pull over, they don't check to see if there are people around them who might want to walk past, they just drift off, leaving a road block in an already hectic store. And I know I'm not the only one who feels this way because I have heard many people mumbling the same thing and have friends who have had the same experiences.

Now, anyone who knows me knows I don't shop well. I don't like crowds, I don't like all the noise, I like to get in and then get out. But I do understand that others (like my husband) like to peruse the products, savor the deals, make lists for the future. And I can live with these people in my world. What I find it very hard to live with are the people who road block, and after several attempts of me saying "excuse me... excuse me could you please move your cart over?" , these people bet mad at ME when I move their cart over for them!

Just like toddlers.

And I know, because I have one at home. I understand how toddlers get totally absorbed in the new thing they are investigating. I totally understand that it is hard for them to hear when others speak to them because they can really only concentrate on one thing at a time.

I can understand when my son stops in his tracks to look at the latest bug, fluff, leaf, clump of dog fur, toy car, piece of paper etc in his path and trip me up, because he doesn't understand the space he takes up, or that he can actually make mom drop all her nicely folded towels by stopping in HER path to pick up that sticker he couldn't find last night, but has spotted from ten feet away today.

He doesn't understand that because he can't understand that. Developmentally, toddlers haven't yet learned how to judge the space around them and how much room they take up in it. So I can understand that behaviour from a toddler.

But not from an adult.

I know that sometimes, it just happens, and people graciously move their cart and apologize for the inconvenience. And to those people I smile and say no problem! I know that not everyone is totally self absorbed. But to get angry at me and tell me to go down another aisle because you can't take the two seconds to move your cart over? That's just poor social skills and a lack of common courtesy. And I really feel that this is a reflection of society today.

What are we teaching our children and young people when they see others respond in this manner? It used to be that we set good examples when out in public so that our behaviour could be a model for others (or at least keep us from looking like total and complete asses! ). But now we are all about us. Me, me, me. And I worry about the children, because I see so much of this type of lack of respect and courtesy for others already in the youth today. It makes me sad, it truely does.

We as a society are too self absorbed for our own good. And it is glaringly evident in Costco.

A Place to Slow Down

The start of the Christmas season is upon us. I guess to be politically correct, I should say holiday season. Either way, the rush is on. I have received my copies of all the December editions of my magazine subscriptions and one underlying topic blared across each page in every magazine. Apparently, people are stressed, have no time, no patience, a full calendar, are accumulating holiday dept by the second, and feel that that the Christmas season (uh, holiday season) is the most stressful time of the whole year. What a shame!

These articles go hand in hand with articles in every parenting and lifestyle magazine where they depict (mostly) mothers as being harried, over extended, cab drivers attempting to live their life with children as they lived their life before children. Articles about how to decorate your house so that it is chic and or funky and provides no evidence of children (One headline actually said "Your home: It doesn't have to look like kids live there!"), how to create a family schedule that is easy to follow so that you don't forget to pick up your children and how to save minutes on every task so that you have an extra ten minutes to play with your child.

I'm a pretty old school parent and a traditionalist at heart. I believe in a society that focuses on the goodness of people and the challenges they can face when they work together. I also believe that we are losing a lot of the precious minutes/hours/days of life as we live our lives as those people depicted in all those magazines. And while I don't think there are many of me around in this day and age, I do believe that we are a breed that is rising again. We aren't perfect, we aren't always beautifully put together, be we are in fact real.

This blog will be dedicated to my thoughts on the fast lane that society is seemingly obsessed about, from the slow lane that I tend to live my life in. It will be about the rewards of my life as a mom, wife and as an individual of society who really just wants things to be easy again.