Wednesday, February 28, 2007

That Silly Husband of Mine.

Me: Wow, that toilet was really dirty. I think it's the dirtiest I've ever let it get. I used a toothbrush to clean around the rim, and it was totally gross and really stunk.

Armondo: Uhh.. what toothbrush did you use?

Me: *rolls eyes*

Next day, I go into his bathroom drawer to get something and notice he had bought himself a new toothbrush while he was out that day!

Someone is a little paranoid!

Come on, I'm mean, but not totally sick and disturbed!

Monday, February 26, 2007

Lesson Learned.

I had a dream last night that I cheated on my husband with my ex.

And he gave me herpes.

Lesson learned!

Awww!

I was taking photos of Peach...


In the little outfit that Maidink got her for Christmas (before she was born)


When Cherry came to see what was happening...



I told her, "Look, she's dressed like a bear, look at those little bear feet! Doesn't she look like a bear?"


So, she ran and grabbed some care bears and placed them around her sister...


To make for some of the cutest photos around!

More photos on flickr.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

So, the Mother Saga ends.

The last time I wrote about my mother, I left off telling you about how I took some of her stuff and was going to store it at my house.

Her intention was to come back to the Island within a week and move into some guy's house to do some extended house sitting.

Well, she didn't call me when she was supposed to, and when I DID get a hold of her, she hadn't heard from the man who owned the house and wasn't sure when she'd need me to help her move her stuff. It was Friday, and she was suppose to move into the place the next day. But she had "lost" his number, and he hadn't called her. (Oh, and that job she had "lined up" required a six month course to be completed first. Doesn't really sound like it was "lined up" at all.)

Eventually, the allotted two weeks was up that I told her I could hold onto her stuff came up. I talked to my dad first to ask him his opinion on what I should do about the stuff, which I was anxious to get out of Peach's room so I could actually start using it for day time naps and play time. He told me I shouldn't just get rid of it, and that I should figure out a way to either keep it or sort through it to find stuff that might be important.

Anyway, I phoned her on day 13 and actually got a hold of her. We actually ended up having a good conversation. She asked about the kids, and actually opened up quite a bit about herself. Also, she told me that one of the boxes and one of the bags of stuff that I had taken for her actually had stuff in them for me and the kids. Most of it was second hand stuff that she had collected from the women's shelter she was staying at, and some of it was nice stuff that some old grannies had made. A lot of the kids' stuff is actually pretty nice. I'll be able to put some of it to good use, then I'll pass it back on to the charity when we're done with it.

Somehow she convinced me to keep her stuff longer. I told her I could no longer keep it in the house, but I could put it in the crawl space, which is currently dry, but couldn't be guaranteed to stay dry through the end of winter and beginning of spring. When I had first offered to take her stuff, she had insisted I didn't keep it in the crawl space, but at this point had agreed that it was ok to put it down there. She was happy that I'd keep it longer, and I was happy that I didn't have to be a jerk and get rid of it all. She figured it might take as long as three weeks to be able to get it. Then, while she was on the phone, she told me that one box had food in it, and shouldn't be put under the house, and that we could have whatever was in there. At first inspection, it just looked like a couple of packets of noodles and some macaroni and cheese. I picked up the food and just placed it in the kitchen. It was late at night, so I didn't deal with it just then.

The next day, I was doing something or other on the computer, when Armondo asked me in a very serious tone to come look at what he had just found. There, sitting amongst the food, was a small grocery bag with some dried out marijuana and some roaches.

My first reaction was anger. Then I called my father. (For those of you who don't know, my father is a drug and alcohol counsellor, and has been completely clean and sober himself for almost 20 years.) I asked him what I should do and asked him what he would do. He said that he would keep her stuff and then the next time he talked to her, he would just say "I didn't appreciate the pot." and leave it at that. He also assured me that I had every right to be angry, and that it would be acceptable to get rid of her stuff. But he thought I should take her word that she's been clean from the last time she said she was. (Two weeks.)

I thought about it for a bit before making my decision.

It's "just" pot. Here in BC, so many people smoke pot, and it's no big deal. But, it's "no big deal" to people who smoke it. It IS a big deal to me. I choose not to smoke it. I don't hang out with people when they are smoking it. It's basically legal in my province, but it's not 100% legal, therefore, my MOTHER let me bring an illegal substance into my house, INTO MY CHILD'S BEDROOM without informing me. My husband doesn't do any drugs. He made that conscious decision 4 or 5 years ago, and hasn't had a drink or done any drugs since. So, my mother let me bring drugs into the home of a recovering addict. He's a strong man, who wouldn't be tempted by something like this, but what if he wasn't a strong man?

After all these thoughts went through my head, I made the decision that I wanted her stuff out of my house. I didn't want anything to do with it anymore. But at the same time, I didn't want to ask Armondo to move it out of the crawl space and back into the van when he had just moved it into the crawl space less than 24 hours before. But he figured that I wanted it gone, and was more than willing to move it again to get it all out.

I called my mother's cell phone that night to let her know I had found her little stash and that her stuff was on the way out. She didn't answer my call, and now, several weeks later, I still haven't heard from her. I wanted to tell her that I hoped she WOULD clean up, and that I'd be looking forward to her next call, but that I would want her to be clean for a solid year before trying to contact me again.

But I haven't had the chance to say that. But it doesn't matter. It's over. And I'm sad. But relieved. I now have a solid reason to let her go. Before, I couldn't feel right about just cutting her off, but now that I have a real reason, and I'm sort of happy about it. It's weird. And sad.

Like I said "it's over", at least until next time. And then, until a year after that. Maybe.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Wisdom From CeCe (with two new ones I forgot last night)

~It is acceptable to wear a toque to the dinner table when your wood stove is malfunctioning and your house is an ice box!

~When the power goes out, and leaves three digital clocks flashing, it is ok to only re-set one. And when you (accidentally) re-set that one an hour ahead, it's ok to (purposely) leave it like that, 'cause you've got to change the time on all of your clocks in a month anyway.

~It is perfectly fine to wash your kid's shoes in the kitchen and leave all the dishes for another day.

~It is also perfectly fine to leave those shoes in the dish drying rack.

~But don't wash all the shoes in one day, 'cause then your kid will have no shoes to wear.

~Be careful when "testing" your freshly boiled perogies. I went to try one, and boiling water dribbled out, burned me, and left a blister on my lip that looks like a cold sore. And it bloody hurts!

~Taking a walk at dusk with your two little ones just to see if you can "find some horsies" can be a lot of fun. Even when it takes you so long to walk up the road that it's dark by the time you get to the farms and the horses have "gone to bed", the walk itself can be fun as you pick snow drop flowers and gaze at the moon and point out the geese flying overhead.

~It is ok to take 48 pictures of one child in 10 minutes just to get a couple really good ones. (red eye doesn't count.)

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Breast Feeding.. Again.

What? Time for me to blog? It's amazing! The house isn't a complete disaster today, and there's not much good TV on tonight (except for American Idol, but that can just play in the background), so I have a few minutes to sit and type!

I want to touch again on breast feeding, just so that the saga is complete.

It's going well. It's working now. I'm so glad I stuck it through!

One side is still better than the other, and once in awhile there's a touch of pain, but NOTHING like it was before. And, to tell you the truth, I'm actually enjoying it now. Peach is awesome in that she just eats when she's hungry-fills her tummy, then stops. She doesn't dawdle on the n!pple, nor does she use nursing as a pacifier. (Loves her sucky though!) It's purely for nourishment for her, and I'm glad for that. If it stays this easy with her, I could probably feed her for longer than I originally intended. (Wow, things change fast!)

And, I'm becoming a pro with public feedings. I'm of the "discreet nursing in public is acceptable" line of thinking. I don't think that women should be ashamed or should hide if they're feeding in public, but I don't like it when a woman takes her whole breast out of her shirt to feed and flashes everyone. It's just not necessary! I don't believe in blankets over babies' heads if they don't like that, though, I DO believe in covering the top part of your breast with a blanket if the breast has to be removed from your shirt. In reality, only a few square inches of your breast needs to be exposed to feed, and if you're showing more than that in a location other than your own home, then you're being inappropriate. Period. However, I also believe that if a woman feels like she HAS to show off her whole breast, then whatever, she can do it. I just feel like they're making a statement that's equatable to high school punks with pink Mohawks yelling "What are YOU looking at?!" at the passerby at the bus stop. I think that they're trying to make a statement that is unnecessary!

Anyway, sorry for my mini-rant. MOVING ON!
This kid is seriously a cutie. Just ignore the baby acne. It's almost gone.


Dressing your kids in matching clothes is SOOO awesome. More pics on flickr.


Blog entries to come: The conclusion of my relationship with my mother. A few of Cherry's favourite things. Peach's birth story. And others. Soon, I promise.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Why It's Awesome to Have Handy Relatives!


Her uncle made her this toy/hope chest and brought it over for her today. He's 17 years old and on his way to being a pro woodworker!


I'll blog more soon, I promise!

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Ahh, the joy of two, revisited.

How about when they both poop in their baths within minutes of each other? That's pretty rad too.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Ahhh... time to blog!

Thank all of you who cared enough to notice I hadn't blogged in awhile. All two of you, anyway! (Love you guys, you know who you are!)

Everything is going fine here, we've just been pretty busy. I'm not sure what we've been busy with, but it just seems like I haven't much free time.

We're doing the portrait thing again. We did the whole family last week, and I've got two more appts. this week; one for Peach by herself, and one for the two girls together. (Walmart has an AWESOME deal on right now, and the rules are a little funny, so that's why we've split up the days for the photos.) I'll be sure to scan and post them when we get them back.

Just so you know, when I don't blog for a week, it would be nice if you guys were all considerate and stopped blogging as well, 'cause I'm sooo far behind in your life stories that there's no way I'll get caught up.

Anyway, I'm off to bed right now. I'm hoping to sleep well, as last night wasn't so great when I got elbowed in the head by Armondo and later got rolled onto. Needless to say, he got kicked to the couch, but unfortunately, I did that entirely too late to really get a good night's sleep. Co-sleeping with an infant and a full grown man on a double size bed is torture. Good thing I'm already sleep training the little one, and it doesn't seem like it's going to be too hard to get her to sleep in her own bed when the time comes. (I make sure she spends at least one nap or part of the night in her bassinette or crib. Right now she's sleeping in her crib, but I'll be taking her into bed with me when I go to make the early morning feeding a little more bearable.) And we'll be sans hubby tonight. (You mess with me, you're gonna get kicked!) hee hee.


One has no eyes, and the other has devil eyes. Our optometrist is going to love us!

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Hair Cuts.

Why I'm not allowed to go near my children with scissors or clippers:


I'm sorry, Jacy, I DO know it's the middle of winter.. I swear I didn't MEAN to take all of your hair off! It was an accident, really!


She needs a haircut, but I'm resisting. Until she asks for it, or gets gum in it. (And, yes, that's C3PO, which means she's taking after her Daddy. Again. Daddy's girl all the way!)



And this is me, with my new hair cut. I wanted a good one, an expensive one. But in the end, I chickened out, and only spent $22 including tip. I'm so cheap. I think I like it. Not sure yet. Ask me in a week.

Monday, February 05, 2007

Pffft


More on flickr

Sunday, February 04, 2007

I've been tagged.

Alex tagged me to do a MeMe. Since I don't have a lot of time on my hands to write a real post, this tag came at a perfect time.

I have to write six weird or interesting things about myself, then tag other people.

I'm not really sure if any of this stuff is actually interesting, but I'll let you guys be the judge of that!

1. I played box lacrosse on an all boys team for two years when I was either 12 and 13 or 13 and 14 (can't remember exactly) and I really sucked. But I had a lot of fun playing, and it made for a lot of good memories. It was a good escape from home.

2. I've always wanted several children, including adopting a few or having foster children. Except for a short period of time while I was in university.

3. I hate feet. Even when they're perfectly normal. (As in, not fat and puffy from pregnancy water weight) And, I can't start my day and be functional unless I'm wearing socks. Shoes are even better (as per Flylady), but if I'm not wearing socks, I can't do the slightest bit of housework or get off of my butt to play with Cherry. It's something to do with either the fact that my feet are cold and exposed, or they get sort of sweaty in my slippers, and it doesn't feel right. So, socks and shoes, or socks and slippers to get me through the day. And I can't stand the thought of putting bare feet into shoes. GROSS.

4. When I was a teenager, a bunch of friends and I went out to the middle of nowhere on the highway at a truck weigh scale in the middle of the night and tried to pull a "Tom Green". We made little vegetable men that got run over by cars. Then we would run out and eat the road kill. Well, someone called the cops on us. When the cop arrived, he just laughed at us, and then stuck around to see how much my friend's car weighed on the weigh scale. It was a lot of fun.

5. I'm a bit of a germaphobe these days. I have NO IDEA how I was able to eat road kill vegetables. The thought of it now makes me gag.

6. I went to three different high schools, and also did a stint of correspondence and a bit of night school. Due to this fact, I found it really hard to keep friends. I never really found it hard to meet people and get to know them, but keeping friends was another story. I would either lose friends when I moved, or lose them because I was sort of weird and never really learned how to not be socially awkward. I was also very clingy when I DID make friends. I've been able to re-connect with a few old high school friends (mostly ones from grade 11 and 12) and I'm so happy about that. I currently live in a town that I went to one of the high schools in, and I'm always recognising people I went to school with, but it seems no one here remembers me, which has made for some awkward moments when I've served them at restaurants or at the hardware store. I never know whether to say hi like I know them or not, 'cause I don't want to seem like a snob, but I also don't want to embarrass myself. It happens all the time!

There ya go. And, I don't really know who to tag, 'cause some people LOVE getting tagged, and some people hate it, so I'm only going to tag two people who are new at blogging, so they haven't been around long enough to hate it or love it! So, Alisha and Shandelle, you're it! And if anyone else wants to do it, then, please let me know in my comments so I can go read it!

Friday, February 02, 2007

So much to write, so little time!


A completely posed photo. They don't really get along this well! More on Flickr.

~Ok, so I don't know how to deal with RSS feeds, but I checked and one out of three of my feeds is working, so, if you want to, you can delete my feed then re-subscribe to the working one.

~I have like 6 posts in my head, but no time to write them. I'm spending too much time hanging out with my kids and the TV. And currently, Armondo has been taking a few days to work casually as a painter, which means I'VE BEEN HOME ALONE WITH THE KIDS FOR THE WHOLE DAY NOW FOR TWO DAYS IN A ROW! (and I have to do it again tomorrow.) The whole experience has been scary, but we've been getting through it just fine. Besides me accidently closing Cherry's fingers in the sliding door. But we won't talk about that.

~Breast feeding is getting better. No pain at all on the one side now, but we're still working on mastering the other side.

No time to write any more, enjoy the photos.