Only 25 More Sleeps

For many of the recent childless adult years in my life, Christmas had lost some of its lustre. I think as an adult you reach a point where you question what it is all about. Is it worth the fuss? Is it just needless expense and stress? Is it even fun? I feared I was starting to sound/feel grinchy.

CH and I spent our first Christmas together travelling, and we were in Bali for most of the month of December. It was a welcome relief to be away from the hustle and bustle of North America, and the pressure to participate in numerous family gatherings, etc. Being in the tropics didn't hurt, but I enjoyed the newness of being in a different culture, and a break from tradition. We enjoyed ourselves in the company of new friends, food and festivities, as well as the quiet of just being there together.

However. I now find myself with a renewed sense of anticipation and enjoyment with the upcoming holiday season. I'm so excited!
It starts, of course with the impending family you are about to have, and grows from there. Last year was fun, but this year can only be more fun. The boys are more aware and more active. They still don't really understand, but they like lights and snow and cookies and music. I'm excited for them. And I'm also just happy to enjoy the lights and the music and the snow...and the cookies! We put up our tree on the weekend, and while we don't have many decorations yet, it makes me happy to see the glow of the lights every day. I guess, like the Grinch my heart has grown 3 sizes.
For that I thank my little Bug and my Bee!

2004

2005

Take a Look

One of my first and favorite blogs, other than the lovely Loobylu, was FluidPudding.
Angela has a sense of humour like no other and has a knack for making me laugh outloud (and no I don't know her in person, but feel like I sort of do, in a 'I read about your life and I think we'd be friends if you're not too cool for me' sort of way).
Sadly she recently sort of semi-retired, and quit her blog. Now, new and re-vamped she's back, with friends. It's pretty fresh still, so the jury is still out, but I invite you to take a look!

Cabin Fever

It seems like we've been inside forever. We haven't exactly, but it feels like it all the same. We're being held captive in an icy fortress. We're running out of supplies. The savages are getting restless. And it's not over yet. Will we make it alive? What are we to do with ourselves??!! Sanity is slipping away....

21 Months

Well, 21 months came and went during 'hell week'.
Luckily we are all pretty much recovered and seem to be doing quite well.
The Bug is settling back into a nice sleep routine, and The Bee is back to not napping, so back to normal!
It's nice to see them eating again which makes me feel better, but they can really eat a lot when they are hungry. I'm sure this is just the very beginning of trying to keep two growing boys fed into adulthood. Especially with their father's genes. He can eat like no man I've ever seen, and still maintains his svelte form. That's right. Charming and svelte.

It surprised me the other day when I was taking photos how much my boys have changed lately. They just continue to morphe into little boys right before my eyes, losing their baby-ness along the way. They still are sweet cheeked and baby soft, but they are certainly becoming more capable, more aware, more opinionated and outspoken.

They like to tease and taunt you for tickles. Chase me! Chase me! While they giggle and laugh with all the gusto they can muster. They love to play outside in the snow. They love storybooks. The Bee especially will hand you book after book and sit on your lap while you read to him. He loves music and singing. Even bad singing! He also loves to pull things apart or knock things down.
Especially if The Bug is putting things together or building things.

The Bug likes to organize things. He still loves legos and cars. He likes to organize his cars. He is good at picking up and putting things away. He is a pretty easygoing happy guy, except for the occasional meltdown when he really really wants something he can't have. Like Grandma's cell phone. He is also very good at opening and closing doors. And opening. And closing. And opening. And closing. The louder the better.

The Bee has also started calling The Bug by name. He can't really say all the letters, so it took a bit to figure out what he was saying. He calls out for his brother when he can't find him, or occasionally scolds him when he is getting into trouble. He can be a bossy little brother!
Most of the time they get along well, and are the best of brothers. I think they would be lost without each other.

New Look

Since I started blogging I've wished I had more control over the appearance of my blog. I'm not experienced enough in html to do it all from scratch or anything, but I'd like to be able to personalize it a bit more. This is my first attempt. I wish I could do more with images, but this will have to do for now. I like the cool wintery feel of this colour palette. Since it is certainly cool and wintery around here. Brrrrr!
Anyway, it's a small step, but in the right direction.

Baby Steps

My boys have made a new discovery lately. They have been working on it for a while.

I am not generally a morning person, especially if it has been a particularly rough night. We've had a few of those lately, with moving and Daylight Savings and sickness, we have had a difficult time getting our groove back.

One morning last week, CH and I were both trying to squeeze in a few more winks, while trying to ignore the increasingly intolerant bellows from the nearby bedrooms.
Then quiet.
Then a thump, followed by an opening door and the exhuberant footsteps of a 21 month old little boy finally realizing his freedom. Free at last!

My heart skipped a beat as I didn't know whether to cringe in fear at this lifechanging alteration or laugh along with his squeal of delight. Maybe a little of both.

Being able to get out of bed makes for a whole new ballgame. The Bee has now mastered the art, particularily at naptime, which he shuns on a regular basis.

Maybe I should look at this as a step towards that glorious day when they will get themselves up and get their own breakfast and watch Saturday morning cartoons while mommy and daddy get to sleep in!

Another Celeb in Town

Oh my gosh...I hope she likes us!

Celebrity Sighting

Ok, I use the term 'celebrity' loosely here.
I dragged myself off to the brand-newly opened Co-Op this morning to buy milk and diapers. I say dragged not at an exaggeration, but that is exactly how I felt. I did manage to shower, but my hair was just wet and drippy, and only the bare essentials of cover-up on my face. Not even lip gloss to make my pasty lips look hydrated.
As I was about 2 items over the express check out, I made way for the regular line up, because I am afraid of confrontation and did not want an ugly scene from any snapper cashiers. I've heard of such things. I'd rather wait nauseously in the regular line while someone elses kid screams and I pray that at least there is enough staff to bag our groceries today for a quick getaway.

As I look ahead of me I saw Suzanne Fox in line with her husband. You may not have ever heard of her, but I see her every morning on Breakfast Television. Local, for sure. Celebrity, matter of opinion.
At that moment, I gave a small sigh of relief for my totally non-celebrity status. No one cared whether my hair was done, or tried to get a look at what groceries I was buying. Or was paying attention to how nice I was to the cashier. Not that I was doing any of those things.
Although she did look pretty. And she was nice. And she was buying bulk toilet paper.

p.s. I thought she would be a lot taller in person. Tara and Dave must be midgets.

Sick...and tired...

...of being sick and tired. The kids got sick over a week ago. The puking, the fevers, the crying. Which turned into the coughing and runny noses and whining. And just in time...the adults have caught the bugs. One of us (me) got the puking and other nasty stomach things. Which made me want to cry, but I tried to lay still in the dark and not move while flashes of heat swept over my aching body. And the other two got sore throats and sniffles. When I took the kids to the doctor last week, she didn't seem too worried, but mentioned how this bug seems to last and last. Uhg.
At last today the kids seem to be feeling a bit better. Their enthusiasm and energy are a mockery to the rest of us in the wake of lethargy and exaustion they leave behind.
We hope to join the living again soon.

2nd Sunday

Well, we're finally getting a bit more settled in here. It really does take a while when everything is just so new. I've spent all my years in Calgary since I moved here fresh out of college in affordable (cheap) apartments (back when there was such a thing) where nothing was really new. I didn't mind because it was a way for me to be independent and live here in the city. And not with my parents like a lot of city kids do. Hi Mom and Dad...love you!

CH and I got our first place together shortly after we were married, the main floor of a charming older house where we've been living for the past 3 years. It was fairly nice and a decent location, but old and it became quite overcrowded with the addition of 2 babies. There was just never enough places to put all our stuff.

Now everyone has rooms and closets and we have storage places and a garage, and lots of kitchen cupboards. And bathrooms aplenty! Come on over and pee at my place!

In an odd way it is taking a while to get used to the newness, and niceness of everything. We have a lot of beautiful hardwood floors...that dent when children throw toys. We have shiny new appliances...which glisten with tiny fingerprints and beep continually when they want our attention. We have lovely big windows with nose prints on them and blinds that must not be mangled. And happily we also have a partially finished basement where legos can be built and dinky cars can be crashed for fun.

We're really blessed to have such a beautiful home and a CH who takes such good care of our family.
And I don't mean that in a 'Ha ha my house is so nice and way better than yours which makes us feel so very important' because it's probably not, and we're definitely not.

It's in a 'Wow I can't believe I live here and this makes me feel like I should be all grown up, which I should be because after all I'm married and have two kids and I'm in my mid thirties and we live in the burbs now, but I still feel like a goofy kid a lot of the time, and I hope it's not painfully obvious' kind of way.

20 Mo Pho

First Sunday

So we jammed last week, but got brave and went to our new ward for church this week. I've been telling myself that it will be a new adventure and we'll make new friends, and it will be fun. I'm optimistic that way!

Who was I kidding?

It took me a long time to feel comfortable where we were. I'm basically pretty shy, and uncomfortable around new people. It takes me a long time to get to know anyone usually. I have friends who are amazingly friendly and outgoing. I am not. Today was just a blinding reminder of that. There were a couple of familiar faces, people that a knew about a million years ago, or vaguely familiar. Luckily my sister was at my side. She's a great wingman!
There's still that kid inside me who feels like the gawky new kid at school. You'd think there was a time limit on that. Nope. I missed my friends and familiar faces.

I like to think that I'm a fairly good adapter. I like to make the best of things and not get all freaked out. The past few weeks have been tougher than I expected. A lot of change.

The kids faired way better than I did today. They both played happily in the new nursery and The Bee didn't even have a meltdown. He even did some excellent coloring on a page titled "Why I'm Thankful For My Ears". It's up on the fridge.

Trick or Treats

So as you can probably tell, the theme of our first real Halloween was Grazing Animals of the Serengeti. Ok, we didn't really start out working with a theme, things just went in that direction. A zebra and a giraffe. And I have to say, it was a complete success!

Our night was a bit short-lived due to the extreme coldness and freeze factor, but the kids had fun, the parents had fun, we met and charmed some neighbours, and made it home with full buckets after about 5 houses. Did I mention it was cold. Grazing Animals of the Serengeti prefer the heat.

We're supposed to do what with these buckets??



Off we go into the wild!



The best part of the night was coming home and sitting down in the entry with rosy noses and diving into our treats. The Bug promptly opened a little bag of Doritos and started snacking. The Bee was quick to join in. They don't normally get to eat a lot of candy, so they happily munched at this golden opportunity! We can't wait 'til next year.