Good day to lounge around.

We hung out today and we took pictures to make Christmas cards on Shutterfly. They have given me 50 free cards for my post about it. I found the girls outfits that went together. I just snapped on and on until the girls had enough. I took almost 100 pictures and chose the three best out of them. If you’re one of my 50 closest friends you’ll be getting one in the mail. Provided I have your snail mail address. Hopefully I’ll get them out in time since they’ll be here in mid December. Here’s a few but not the ones included.

Clic, Clic, Clic VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This afternoon I noticed something in Vanessa’s eye and removed it and it kept coming back so after the girls were settled I went to the pharmacy to see if they could do something for her. Vanessa loves going to the doctor but I could do without. He gave me Polysporin for the eyes and ears and told me if it didn’t clear up in 48 hours to go see a doctor. Looks like Vanessa will be staying home from school.

I came home and weighed the pros and cons and got up my courage to wake Vanessa and give her the drops. I turned on the lights walked over to her still sleeping. Cleaned her eye out with a cue tip and put drops in one eye. She hardly moved a muscle and I left without waking her. I was shocked! I was also glad I risked it.

48 hours… So it should be cleared up for her first school birthday party. She’s excited. It’s for one of her closest friends. He’s the only child that remains from her first year at preschool. I’ve seen them dance together in apple orchards and heard stories about how Vanessa loves to help him out. I’m glad they have each other.

School pictures have arrived and I’m so disappointed. It looks like they’ve photoshoped them. They took pictures on a green background and then added a forest later. Not to big of a deal but it’s a little fuzzy around her hair and it looks fake. I think I’m going to pass on spending money on these pictures but I very much look forward to seeing her class picture.

As for the wedding dress Vanessa’s picking out. I asked her who she was marrying and she has high hopes. She’s marrying prince charming. Who else?!

Threats, bribes and behaviour.

Last week just few by. I guess this is what happens when your pre-schooler co-operates. She’s slowly learning how to listen and keep herself out of trouble. The other day I left her downstairs ALONE while I nursed Hailey and put her down for a nap. I was dreading going back downstairs. Vanessa’s always into something. When I got downstairs I had found that she had gone to the bathroom and washed her hands then sat at her table to colour!!! WOW. I was impressed and let her know. When she asked for TV, I couldn’t resist.

The other week she got into BIG trouble with Ronald and MJ. Nothing was broken but she knew it wasn’t allowed. I saw her take her time out seriously. Well ever since she’s been getting into less trouble.

I also had had enough with the toilet paper emptied onto the floor in the bathrooms. I decided she was big enough to know better but didn’t want to get into a bathroom war. I needed to be specific with what she was doing wrong. So I got down to her level and told her that toilet paper was expensive and that if she unrolled it again she would have to pay for it with her Halloween candy. She sure took that seriously. She was good for a couple of days and then tested me so I took a handful of candy. There hasn’t been an incident since. Nice!

Hailey is having some ups and downs. She had a fever for two days last week which was no fun for anyone. She’s possibly teething but nothing has surfaced. Her index fingers are bright red from chewing on them and wiping her nose with her hands constantly.

Last night was bitter sweet. Hailey slept through the night for the first time in months but Vanessa woke up and didn’t want to go back to bed. Vanessa must have said to Hailey, “It’s ok I’ve got it covered. I’ll wake mommy up tonight while you get some rest.” Vanessa’s having huge nightmares. She tells me that the dinosaurs are playing tricks on each other. Whatever that means…

Saturday evening I was alone with the girls. We had spaghetti but Vanessa wasn’t impressed. While we were finishing dinner Vanessa said,”Let’s have a bath after.” Awesome! I was even able to put Hailey to bed and read Vanessa some books.

Sunday was unusual. We went to swimming and then Pamela and Vanessa took the bus downtown to the Cupcake Camp. They were both so very excited. I went to Saint-Bruno and Canadian Tire alone. I was out for a couple of hours and came back nursed Hailey and went back out. Hailey was delighted to hang out with Daddy. Daddy took it as a sign to veg and watch the football game.

Vanessa came home jazzed about her day. She said, “Mommy, I didn’t have any accidents.” and “Mommy, I didn’t run away.” All very good things to hear.

Nothing exciting this week except to take pictures of the girls for the christmas card. I good some free ones with Shutterfly. I won’t be posting the pictures as to suprise the recipients since they’re the ones who mostly read my blog.

Adorable!

Vanessa’s new band is The Wiggles. She loves the upbeat music. I can “motivate” her to clean the living room with a little bit of Wiggles. She’s got Hailey’s attention but not grooving with her yet.

Shutterfly Experience

I’m so excited to use the cards designed and printed by Shutterfly. They have so many wonderful designs. I’ve read all sorts of blog posting great experiences with them. My biggest problem right now is trying to find a current picture to do it justice. Ohh I know. While we’re snuggled at home with hot soup it would be nice to remember days at the park in the sun.

 

Or maybe days where we hung out on the living room floor and played nicely together.

Or we must not forget Vanessa’s favourite dress. She called it her ballet dress because it twirled when she danced. My tomboy is sure has her girly moments.

 

Hmmm let me have another look. The adventures we have at Grandma and Grandpa’s

Honestly, I’ve never sent Christmas cards before but I love receiving them and want to share pictures of my beautiful girls. My friends and family will be shocked and amazed to receive cards in the mail and gorgeous Shutterfly ones will be the icing on the cake.

I have, however, given calendars for Christmas. Shutterfly makes some very special ones that are customizable and I’m sure you could find a design you like here.

Shutterfly is offering free cards to bloggers who write a post about them. I’m hoping this post will get their attention.

New Craft space

Even though I have 2 daughters, I never thought I’d be buying a pink and purple table. Vanessa’s favourite colour is  blue and that makes my life really easy. Most things come in blue. I found an awesome table for Vanessa in blue and red and green. I had very specific criteria for this furniture. It needed to sit 2 people, a rectangular shape that fits in the corner of the kitchen and under the counter, and have a fair amount of storage. I’d like her to use the table for crafting and leave the very small dining table alone.

I found something that looked perfect but was only available in the U.S. I can get around that but it’s a pain or expensive. I had lots of trouble googling for these items. One last ditch effort and I found that Sears.ca had some on sale in their online outlet. I wonder how soon I’ll have to paint it. I was thinking of applying chalkboard stickers to the top.

cross your fingers and hope it lasts for a while

This post is to remember the good days. I’m a little afraid to jinx myself but  it’s worth noting. Hailey is finally starting to kick her cold. This morning we didn’t have to clean out her nose. Horrible process but very effective. She stops coughing for the day after that. Hailey’s aging beyond her years. She clears her throat like an old man who smoked most of his life. For the past couple of days she’s only woken up once in the night. 

As for Vanessa, she’s started to settle down at home a little. She’s been playing with toys alone, reading books alone and asking to be read to. The biggest thing though is she’s showing a small interest in colouring and doing activity sheets. She gets frustrated easily and says she can’t do it but at least she’s at the table with pencils and crayons in her hands. Her time out moments are getting fewer overall. I’m not counting the minutes until her quiet time in her room. Sigh of relief.

Let’s enjoy this time while it lasts.

Yesterday we cleared out the kitchen of all the chairs to sweep the floor. I put Hailey in her high chair to watch us tidy up. Vanessa wanted to sweep the floor herself so in self defence I gave her the broom and left the room. Vanessa “swept” the room and talked to Hailey about getting ready for a party and when N, the friend of the week, comes over what we’ll do. Apparently when they come over we should serve pea soup. It was delightful to listen too. I didn’t risk recording it because the moment would have been ruined.

This week-end swimming has been cancelled so Christine and Tim took this opportunity to invite Vanessa to their house for a sleep over. Sssshhh don’t tell Vanessa. We’ll tell her on Saturday as we get ready to leave because she’ll be so very excited and has no concept of time so we’ll hear about it every couple of hours until then.

Dinner Dramatic

Originally I was just going to share them with my parents since my father takes pleasure in watching children cry. That’s if they’re crying for no reason or just some “injustice” done upon them.

We got the camera out to take the obligatory blueberry eating pictures of Hailey. There’s just something about their bold colour and dark skin that makes them extra messy. Hailey was closing her eyes after the red eye light so half of them she has her eyes shut. Vanessa played with her yogurt one to many times and we took it away. We found out how very tired she was when she through a fit which turned into making faces at the camera.

Dinner time fun VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

If you view the slide show there are more pictures.

Something went right today

Big event! I just nonticed Hailey went from lying down to sitting. Time to make sure those gates and locks work!

Facebook Status

Here's a few things I've posted on Facebook over the past week.


I'm loving this new Chom FM show.

Wow! Me Mom on the radio!

I told Vanessa she could go watch TV but I wasn't turning it on

Sssshhhh the girl who dumped two lunches on the floor is quiet in her room. She's potentially napping

With this ear ache Vanessa got off easy. She fell asleep no problem and is still sleeping at 8:30 am. (We did keep her up until 10pm)

Vanessa's watching Fantasia and loving it despite the scary bits and that there's no dialog.


‎&^%* ear infection #3 since sept... poor baby.

Vanessa is so not herself that she was watching the tv on the music channel. I felt for her and changed it to Disney.

Ahhhh!!!! I got a new computer chair.

I can't believe I just bought Vanessa size 6 pants.

YYYYUUUMMM. Just made home made Spiced Hot Chocolate. Who needs to go out now. It will be better when we have homogenized milk in the fridge next year. ;-)

Vanessa saw a flowing sparkly dress and asked if she could have it. I said no but then there was," But it's for my wedding!"

The disaster

Yesterday after our fabulous time at the park and some snacks, I made Vanessa some lunch. I reheated one of her favorites of Shepherd's Pie and she dropped it all over the floor which is unlike her but an accident most likely. I finished reheating my dinner of apple roast pork with potatoes and corn and shared it with her. Nice of me I thought and she chucked it on the floor also possibly an accident but Vanessa is not one to through food on the floor not even as a baby. She wouldn't want to waste any. After loosing 2 meals I sent her for a nap with no food. I know it's evil but I NEVER punish her by sending her to her room so she knew I meant business and I knew she wasn't all that hungry. She hung out there for over an hour but naps are a thing of the past.
Hailey and I got to eat in peace. Ahhh....

Crisp!

This morning the girls and I met up with Kieran and Christine at Parc National du Mont-Saint-Bruno (not quite what I called it growing up) It was a gorgeous morning. Just above 0 but no wind and really sunny. I was glad that Chris suggested it and I got off my but to go. Every day we see Kieran and Vanessa growing closer. So much fun! The played in the wet park for a while. Vanessa was wearing her rain pants which was a blessing and a curse. On the one had she was warm and dry but on the other she went down the wet slide with great speed and fell on her butt hard. She got over it fast but insisted I catch her the next time. Kieran was wearing absorbent corduroys so he didn’t go as fast but seem to be just as warm.

Although we could have with the warm sun, we didn’t stay for lunch. Instead we all went home for some wishful naps. Wellllll the only one napping today is Hailey. I found that out when I called to invite Kieran for dinner.

Kieran did come for dinner and we all had a good time. The food was very low key. We bought a cooked chicken and had home made bread and carrot sticks with it. Kieran was not sure what to make of eating at our house so I don’t think he had more than 5 bites. Vanessa didn’t take any prisoners. She even tried to steal Kieran’s plate when she noticed he wasn’t going to eat it. Hailey did pretty well for herself too. She had shephard’s pie and squash with a blueberry dessert. It was the first time she inhaled the blueberries.

Kieran and Vanessa had a bath to kill time mostly and we tried to read some books but Kieran was too distracted by the fact he was in Vanessa’s room with all these new toys and that Hailey was downstairs. We went downstairs and they played for a while until they started fighting over toys. Vanessa asked many many times if Kieran could stay for a sleepover but we told her it would have to wait until he was older.

I took the two older kids for a walk. Kieran didn’t make it down the street before he was out but Vanessa whined and whined for 20 minutes and fell asleep for the last 10. When I got back it was time to take Kieran home and meet his parents. Eric moved him into the car fast asleep.

I had the pleasure of putting to bed a child that had a cat nap and was wide awake……

The NOW

To start off Hailey is putting on weight. She loves her solid food so much that she put on 1 pound in a month. Fewf. I went over to the breastfeeding clinic with Hailey and Vanessa. It was a little bit of a nightmare. Hailey was happy to be there with all the other babies but Vanessa was all over the place. I would have stayed there a long time but I didn't have the patience for Vanessa since she was high on candy from a morning Halloween party and there were goodies at the clinic. Next time I'll sedate her or give her my iPod to watch videos. Same thing. That's unless someone wants to take her on a Friday afternoon. :-)

Vanessa’s trick or treating went pretty well. She got a little freaked out by some of the mildly scary bits but loved the candy. She was a princess at school and her playgroup but a monkey trick or treating. Sorry no monkey pictures. She found a strawberry one and told us we should return it. I told her, “Daddy will eat it.”

Super Baby: Able to sneeze big bubbles and drown you in drool and love.

Vanessa is having more and more good days but she still sure knows how to get into trouble. She’s playing by herself safely in the basement. I’ve learned a trick. She really likes to listen to music and we have a children’s music station on the TV. I turn it on and set the TV to turn on a show much later. She’s playing for long periods of time and we’ve finally locked down the things she likes to get into. We went to Walmart with her walking holding on the cart today. I see other parents take much younger children why can’t I? I only lost her once for about 10 seconds. Apparently she had found her wedding dress and wanted to show me. Before you ask… I forgot to get her fiancés name.

Eric has the girls to himself Monday evenings while I’m at AquaFit. This week he dressed the girls in matching PJs and took pictures. The range of emotions tells me it’s time for bed. If you see Vanessa has railings on her bed which she doesn’t really need but it’s nice now for Hailey. Keeps her out of Vanessa’s choking hazards.

		Girls Night VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

If you’re following along, we got our car back and a new GPS was delivered from Costco. It’s a newer model with lifetime map updates for less than we paid for the old one 8 months ago. Ahhh technology sure doesn’t keep it’s value.

The weather outside has dropped pretty dramatically. Saturday evening it snowed while we were at a lovely party at Glenn and Heather’s with friends and their family. Vanessa through snow balls before getting into the car. This week has been pretty dry but cool. Eric has ridden his bike all week and he’s worn all his warm bike gear. He tried to tell me he wants a baklava or something making odd gestures to demonstrate. It was fun to watch. He really wants a balaclava or just a face mask to add to his scull cap that goes under his helmet.