These Are the Days :)

It feels like life has been a whirlwind since about a month before Christmas...... actually, make that since September....... ok, make that since T was born.  Life seems to be racing by at incredible speed.  One year ago today I was a week overdue with T and praying that he would come on a day when Dean was not out of town.  Dean was still long hauling until a few days before T was born and I had a backup person for my delivery, and then I had a backup for my backup.  It was probably around this day last year when I was pretty sure I was going into labour.  I was having mild contractions at regular intervals all evening long.  I was just about ready to call my sister (backup #1) and give her the heads up and then it suddenly stopped.  It was that evening when I realized that I would not be ok with a backup person.... I wanted Dean there.  I guess, if I am going to be honest, I didn't need Dean there.  For centuries, delivering babies was women only work but I sure do love having Dean in the delivery room.  He is calm, supportive, and he doesn't say stupid things like, "I know how you feel".  Plus, the look on his face the first time he met L was something that I am SO glad I was able to witness.  I missed out on that with T, but I'll save that crazy story for another day.

Anyway, talking about delivery rooms and labour was not supposed to be the point of today's blog.  Today I wanted to share a moment of my day.  Dean has been out of town since Monday morning so it's been just the kids and I.  They have been really well behaved but it is still exhausting and lonely doing life without Dean for a few days.  This afternoon I had to do some baking for T's upcoming birthday and I felt bad making L play by herself since life has been so busy lately and she's had to do a lot of that.  So I decided to set up our "kitchen beach" again so she could play in the same room with me while I got the baking done.  But, as soon as it was set up, T woke up early from his nap.  So, I decided that since it was "only water" I would seize the day and let him play too.  It turned out to be a lot of fun for all of us.  L got a kick out of T playing with her and T could not believe that there was a "bathtub" in the middle of the kitchen.  So, the wonderful moment of my day was sitting next to the warm oven with the smell of white chocolate birthday cake pouring out, while sunbeams sprayed through the windows chasing out the feeling of a cold winter day and replacing it with warm beams that shone on my two little blessings splashing and giggling in the middle of the kitchen with wet toys scattered all around and smiles a mile long.  That was my moment :)

The Most Frustrated Chef on the Block

Over the last few months we have been fighting some food battles with L.  My little girl who used to eat everything, without complaining, has now become a picky eater.  If it is not peanut butter and jelly or Kraft dinner (heaven forbid I try to make a homemade mac and cheese) L will have nothing to do with it.  Oh wait, she will also eat fruit until her stomach explodes..... literally..... I have to cut her off of fruit otherwise she would have chronic diarrhea.  But, I digress.  So, as a result of this fussy eating dinner time has become the most frustrating part of my day.  No matter what I make, even if it is something that she usually loves, she will look at her plate and announce that she is finished and would like to be excused.  At first, we would sit at the table forever trying to get her to eat but that always turned out bad.  After many frustrating dinners I started reading articles and books trying to get some ideas to solve this sudden problem.  Most things I read agreed that it is not worth fighting your kid.  Simply let them leave the table but they do not get anything to eat until breakfast the next day.  So, we have been doing that for the past week...... L has not had dinner in a week.  We have discovered that she will happily go to bed without eating a thing, even if she has not had a single snack since lunch.  Ahhhhhhhh!  All the experts say that once the child goes to bed a few times hungry they will start eating their supper.  Wrong!  Might I add that L has also been waking up at 5:00am every morning starving.  She will not go back to sleep even though she is clearly still tired.  That little girl is so exhausted!  L can be stubborn but I have never considered her to be a "strong willed" child, she just will not eat dinner.  Today, after drinking her water and declaring that she was finished dinner, she told me that she only likes breakfast and lunch.  Then, in my extreme frustration, I muttered, "Well, until you start eating your dinner I'm not feeding you any breakfast".  Seriously, Nancy??  You're going to starve your kid until she starts eating dinner?  I am getting very tired of making supper every night, placing it on the table and hearing, "I don't want to eat this".  I am also very tired of waking up at 5:00am.  The experts seem to be all out of advice.  I guess I am just going to have to start serving dinner for breakfast since L "only likes breakfast and lunch".  Sigh.

Glad That Week is Over!

T was so tired that he fell
asleep sitting up in his crib.

Well, it's been a crazy few weeks in our house.  About two weeks ago T got a cold and started teething at the same time.  By last Sunday he popped four molars.  I was very happy when they were all through because he was started to be much happier.  After a week of poor sleeping both at night and during daytime naps, I was ready to get some sleep.  Then, this past Monday T got a fever.  It lasted for three days and even when he was on Tylenol his temperature was quite high.  By Wednesday the fever finally broke but then I started to notice spots behind his ears.  By Thursday afternoon his head, belly and back were covered.  I called Health Links just to make sure this was normal and after a lot of questions the nurse narrowed it down to baby measles.  There is nothing they can do for it so we just had to wait for it to get better.  Then, that night T slept awful.  He had coughing fits, he was throwing up, and he was crying in his sleep most of the night.  Sigh.  So, on Friday I took him to the doctor.  She also concluded it was just baby measles but she thought it would be best to keep the kids at home until at least Monday.  So, the kids and I stayed home from church today (the hubster had to sing so he went by himself).  L woke up looking very tired.  She sat on the couch with me and fell asleep shortly after waking up.  She woke up when hubby left and asked for a bucket.  Sigh.  So, I got her a bucket and left her on the couch while I quickly visited the washroom.  As I was in there I heard her begin to heave.  Sigh.  I quickly got downstairs to find her standing at the coffee table barfing into the pail I had given her.  Woo hoo!  Good aim!  When she was finished, she looked up at me calmly and said, "Could you get me something to wipe my mouth?" Stunned by her complete calm I studdered something and went to get a cloth.  When I came back she said, very matter of factly, "I had a little drink of water cause I thought it would make my tummy better but it made me throw up.  I think it's a little pink colored because of all the strawberries I ate yesterday." Then, she walked away and played like nothing ever happened.  She was fine for the rest of the day and even had a big appetite.  Strange.

L thought it was quite fun when we
put our old bed right in the middle
of her playroom.

 Added to this already crazy week was a new bed for my hubby and I!  We are very excited about it since our old mattress was terrible.  The first night we had it Dean was out of town for work and T was up most of the night so I didn't get to sleep in my new bed much.  Then, the next day, as I was having a shower in the morning L dozed off on the new bed and peed her pants while sleeping.  So, I found myself scrubbing pee out of my brand new mattress.  Then, for the next two nights the kids both slept terribly so I really did not get a chance to sleep in my brand new bed that looked so inviting.  Then, last night, after a week of craziness I went to bed nice and early.  By 9:00pm I was fast asleep in my new bed and by some miracle, both kids slept like a dream.  So after almost 10 hours in my new bed I can conclusively say, it is wonderful! 

Now that we have survived the past two weeks we are looking forward to some good ones.  In less than two weeks T will be turning one and then we are finally off on our family vacation.  Hopefully the kids bodies are good and immune to anything they come into contact with for the next few weeks.  Regardless of what goes on or how crazy and exhausting life gets, I am blessed.  I have a loving husband, two beautiful kids, a house, and a good doctor ;)  Even with measles and barfing, life is good.