Blithering

The Big Switch

2011-11-19T17:43:00.000-08:00

The last week has been quite eventful for the ol' Johnson family. Last Thursday, James got laid off from his current project - work is very slow for commercial plumbers right now, and isn't expected to pick up until January. Some guys that have been out of work since July are only now picking up jobs! A couple of weeks ago I applied to be a "product demonstrator" (aka free food giver outer) at Costco, just on Saturdays, to bring in a little extra cash. Because this is their busiest time of year, I was able to start working full time for the Christmas season instead - what a huge blessing!

I've been working full time for the past week - quite a change considering I've been a stay at home mom for almost 6 years now. It's not a bad gig - people tend to be pretty nice when you're giving them free stuff! I miss being with my boys, but everyone is adjusting pretty well. James is turning into Mr. Mom...he's getting the hang of this whole cooking/cleaning/running a household thing. I think he's enjoying the break from getting up at 4:45am and dealing with some of his more annoying co workers.

I will admit it's stressful having everything turned upside down on us, but we're making it work. I cherish my time at home with my kiddos a lot more now, and I'm very thankful to have this job to help make up for James' loss of income. I am grateful for my many, many blessings - right now I'm sitting in my warm home with a toasty fire in the fireplace. I've got my family with me and just finished eating a delicious meal I didn't have to cook. Oh, and a snuggly kitten on my lap. It doesn't get any better than that!

Epic Update

2011-10-20T12:03:00.001-07:00

Well, epic in terms of length, not of "epic-ness". ;)

Where to begin...my guys and I had a great summer. It was pretty low key, but we managed to get out there and have some fun. Seth rediscovered his love for slides, especially tall metal ones (pretty anxiety inducing for me, but I stopped spotting him after about his 50th successful climb). Emmett attended day camp for the first time and really enjoyed it. He did a nature camp in July where they learned about different kinds of birds, insects, rodents, etc, often with stuffed or mounted "specimens". The stuffed woodpecker left me wanting to hang out on the other side of the room, but Emmett had a great time banging Mr. Woodpecker's beak up against his plastic case and saying "Cheep!! Cheep!!" while giggling. Boys.

In August we took our first ever overnight trip as a family of 4, to Drumheller and Calgary. The kids weren't too thrilled with the drive down, especially Em ("We have to go home now. I need to watch TV!"). Once we got to the badlands though they got very interested in the change of scenery! They loved the dinosaur museum, the world's biggest dinosaur, and the hoodoos. But nothing could compare to spending the night at the SUPER 8!!!! Wow!!!! Really, they were beyond excited. Watching TV at the Super 8! Having a bath at the Super 8! Eating breakfast at the Super 8! It was all too much. I think Em finally fell asleep around 10pm, and they were both up at the crack of dawn...apparently the big beds at the Super 8 were too exciting to do much sleeping in. We hit the road early and headed to the Calgary Zoo, which was fun but HOT. Every single time I go to that zoo, it's a million degrees out without a hint of shade...it's like they know I'm coming. Anyway, the whole trip was pretty exhausting for James and I but it was totally worth it. Two months later and Emmett is still asking when we're going to stay at the hotel again!

Summer did end on a bit of a rough note. In June we adopted a stray kitty from the Humane Society that we named Monty - a big ol' tom cat, pretty chill around the kids but NOT a fan of other cats. At the end of August he couldn't attack the feral cat outside our door who was trying to get in, so he attacked me instead. He cut up most of my instep and heel, and left a few deep bites/tears in my leg. I went to the clinic right away and got cleaned up/started antibiotics, but my leg still got really infected. I ended up on IV meds for 5 days and now almost 2 months later the tears are just now fully closed up. I've got some nasty scars, but I am SO thankful that it was me and not one of the boys. We were already quite attached to that cat and it was sad to let him go, but we were able to find him more of a "barn cat" position that I'm sure he's quite happy in. We adopted a couple of sweet kittens last month, which has helped ease the loss. They are fun boys and are working out much better for our family.

Emmett started kindergarten in September at Tevie Miller School - a program that specializes in kids with severe speech problems. He goes full time, which I was a bit concerned about at first, but he's adapted very well. He's happy to get on the bus each morning and his teachers tell me he's a happy boy at school. He's got a lot of difficulties, as well as the attention span of a gnat, but he IS making progress. He can now print his name, and he is learning to print a new letter each week. With his fine motor delays I never thought he'd be printing this early! I'm so proud of him and so happy that he's in a good school with good teachers.

Seth is still a character/total ham. I'm fairly certain he's in love with Jamie, the lady that teaches his weekly preschool music and dance class at the rec centre. Today he told me "It's Jamie's CLASS!" and went for his shoes...I told him his class wasn't until tomorrow and responded "No, no fanks Mommy...Jamie's class." and kept on with the shoes. Something tells me this kid is going to do back flips when he gets to do actual preschool next year!

Spring Break!! Wooo!!

2011-04-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

The kids and I had a pretty great spring break last week...we made a trip to WEM and did our usual pet store/hermit crab kiosk/Booster Juice circuit, went swimming and went to library story time. We even got to ride the bus!! (Seriously, I think that was the highlight of the week. ;))

The library story time we went to really highlighted how polar opposite my kids are. Emmett was in a bit of a grumpy mood because he couldn't get on the library computers and play his favorite game, and absolutely refused to participate in any of the activities or even look at the book. As per usual when we do any kind of group activity, I spent most of the time trying to animate Em like a puppet and get him engaged in what the group was doing (which, um, now that I think of it, never works. Anyhoo...). He definitely prefers to be off doing his own thing...so apparently Thing 1 is a chip off the ol' block. ;)

Seth, on the other hand, acted like a puppy that had been in his crate all day and had just been let out. When we first got in the program room Seth noticed the circle of parents and kids, and was delighted that his audience was ready and waiting for him! He immediately ran to the middle of the circle and started to perform, complete with a "ta-da!!" at the end. Throughout the program he ran and sat on just about every other mom's lap, and honed in on one particular (grumpy) grandpa to "entertain". Seth was alllll up in this guy's face until he finally cracked a smile. I'm not sure who this child belongs to, I suspect he may have been left on our door step by a travelling circus and I'm just a bit fuzzy on remembering the details. He's so sweet and funny, but I definitely see a lot of parent-teacher conferences in my future...

It's my own personal pity party!!

2011-03-27T02:57:00.001-07:00

And you're invited!! Aren't you excited?

I've decided that spring/sunshine/green grass is just never, ever coming. If I don't get to spend more than 30 seconds outside soon, I don't know what I'll do. (Whine some more, I guess.)

Also, the 4 of us may never be simultaneously healthy again. In the past 2 weeks, we've had 2 doctor visits (soon to be 3, Emmett's up and complaining of ear pain), 1 ER trip and have spent a small fortune on prescriptions. Also, I pulled my back while attempting to spring clean. Nice one!

James is in school as well, which is always stressful in and of itself. He only goes for 2 months of the year, but they condense about 4 months worth of work into that time. He eats, sleeps, and studies. I think the children are starting to forget what he looks like. I just keep telling myself he's got one more month, and (hopefully) he'll be done for years. I can survive one more month of this, right? Right?!!!?!?!!! (Cue nervous/maniacal laughter)

It's really not that bad, just a triple combination that's got my emotional and physical "tanks" pretty dang low. I think I'll go back to bed now and try to get a few hours sleep before I drag yet another kid the to doctor...yaaaay.

The Corner Drugstore

2011-03-15T17:02:00.001-07:00

One of the things I really love about living where we do is how close we are to everything. I don't have vehicle access during the day, which can be a challenge, but I have enough things within walking distance that we haven't suffered too much. We have an excellent medi-centre literally steps from my back door, which has really come in handy. I took Seth there today to get him a stronger prescription for what feels like his 137th eye infection (he's got a blocked tear duct that will probably have to be surgically opened), and then hit the mom and pop drugstore next door to get his new eye drops.

I have fond memories of heading to the mom and pop drugstore near my house as a kid. My brother and I would head there immediately after receiving our $1 allowance - they had penny candy on a rotating display right near the front door. Kyle and I would usually get 100 sours (in a little brown paper bag), and then eat as many as we could before the insides of our mouth were too raw to continue. This drugstore by my house is very similar...just a few of each item on the shelves, discount chocolate bars, "surprise bags" (for a boy or a girl) and small candies for a nickel. I love the idea of the boys going over there and carefully counting out their allowance money for the patient older lady behind the counter. Admittedly, I do 99% of my shopping at the big chain stores, but there's something to be said for friendly little small businesses just down the street.

Our Excitement for the Day (/Month/Year/Life)

2011-03-10T16:01:00.000-08:00

I'd been hoping for something blog-worthy to happen...be careful what you wish for!

Let me set the scene for you: Emmett's school bus has just arrived, and I throw my coat and boots on to dash outside and get him. Please note: I have just worked out and I am sweaty, have seriously greasy hair and am wearing yoga capri pants. I leave Seth inside while I get Emmett off the bus, and Em and I come up to the front door. Which is locked.

Please also note that all house keys are either inside the house, or with James (who is a 45 minute commute away). My cell is also in the house, of course.

Okay, what to do? Don't panic, don't panic...at this point Seth is sitting on the other side of the door, screaming. I know my back door is locked (with the deadbolt), so that option is out. I ended up calling 911 from a neighbors house, and 2 nice police officers showed up a few minutes later. They calmed me down enough to remember that we could probably break in through one of the living room windows in the backyard.

Let me describe the current state of my backyard...the grassy area behind my backyard literally has higher than knee deep snow, some of which is packed, some not. The officers and I were randomly sinking into it as we treked down 9 units to get to my yard. The yard itself only has 2 feet of snow, but also about 14 bags of garbage and recycling that we've been throwing back there to avoid hiking it down to the dumpster about 150 yards away each time we have a full bag. I figured, who cares, no one can even get to the backyard, no one is going to see it!

So we finally get into my garbage pile/yard, and I'm looking through the window and Sethers is nowhere to be found. Greeeeeat. Meanwhile, one of the officers is cutting the screen off of my window, which *thankfully* was not locked. This window is about 12x18 inches, by the way. We figured the easiest thing to do would be to fish Emmett through the window and get him to open the door. (Emmett, BTW, has been totally cool up to the point and clearly doesn't even know something is wrong. He's been mostly admiring the officers' nifty uniforms/belts!) We stick Em through the window and instantly he knows something is not right and starts to panic. He's quite upset and can't manage the back door deadbolt, but we convince him to go unlock the front door and open it. Meanwhile, Seth comes to the window, and is quite amused that mommy and two strangers have just put his big brother through it!

The officers and I head back through the snow and get to the front door...Emmett is rather upset (although he was being heavily praised for saving the day!), Seth is performing a little jig for our visitors, and I'm (just barely) holding it together. All's well that ends well, and the officers are on their way. I'll probably be their easiest call of the shift!

I've learned my lesson...NEVER step foot outside the door without my key. And take my garbage out!

Five Little Degrees

2011-01-27T13:41:00.001-08:00

It's amazing what a temperature of 5 little degrees above zero in January can do for one's psyche...I swear I feel like a new person! Being a one car family, the frigid temperatures and the more than 2 feet of snow we've gotten this month has basically made me a shut in. But today the sun is shining, the snow is melting (if only a little bit!) and the kids and I got out there and enjoyed it. I feel lighter, more energized, and definitely more productive!

Not that the past month has been a total waste, mind you. I've been in the kitchen constantly, whipping up all sorts of gluten free stuff. Emmett's preschool provides a snack every day, which at least half the time isn't safe for him to have. I could just send whatever I have on hand along, but I really don't want him to feel left out so I've tried to send along a GF version of the day's snack whenever I can. Today they're having chicken noodle soup and crackers, so I sent along some homemade chicken rice soup (even made the stock from scratch!) and some GF "saltines". (Which, no joke, are about 10 times better than actual saltines...buttery and with that crunchy cracker texture!) Earlier this week I sent GF gingerbread dough so Em could make cookies with the other kids (and then hunt for them after they "ran away" from the oven!). James says I'm doing a great job at making sure he doesn't feel deprived. It's nice to know I'm good for something! ;)

In other Emmett news, he'll be going to the full day kindergarten program at Tevie Miller School (a special needs school for kids with communication disorders/delays). James and I were really impressed with our school tour and we think he's going to do amazing there! The early ed program at Hazeldean has already done wonders for him...he has made SO much progress in the last year. Now he can say things like "Mommy, I no go to school. I want to stay home and watch "Espiggable Me". My friends is nothing there." Every day he tells me that his friends aren't at school so he can't go either. Interesting excuse, I must say! (Of course once he gets to school he's so excited he can barely remember to take his coat off ;))

Seth is moving into a "copy everything the adults say" phase, and starting to verbalize a lot more. We drove by McD's the other day and heard sweet little cries of "Fwies!! Fwies!!" from the backseat. His favorite thing right now is trying on James' shoes and hats, while checking himself out in the mirror and calling himself "pretty!!". What a character!

James is going to school in 1 month, for what will hopefully be the last time. I am very much looking forward to having the apprenticeship portion of his career over and done with (although not nearly as badly as he is, I assure you). At least he'll be heading back to class in a sweet new ride...our old car needed major repairs, again, so we decided to get a new car. We ended up buying a Toyota Matrix lease return...talk about an upgrade! Now, I'm very much a low maintenance, frugal/simple living, couldn't care less about appearances kind of girl, so it's super weird for me to be driving this really nice new car. Maybe it'll grow on me (I will admit, I'm loving the working trunk and heating system. Yeah, it doesn't take much to impress me.). James is having the time of his life though! Now he can worry about school and not about stalling out randomly on the Yellowhead, so that'll be a nice change. :)

Christmas Eve Eve

2010-12-23T16:56:00.000-08:00

The presents are wrapped, the goodies are baked, and the house is starting to become presentable. I'd say we're just about ready!

The kids have really been fun this Christmas season. Every morning the boys are excited to get their daily chocolate ration from our advent calendars. Every afternoon Emmett asks to listen to my circa 1983 Raffi Christmas album (I've taught him to say "Let's get our Raffi on!"...so awesome.) While Seth is still in toddler Christmas Oblivion, Emmett knows what's coming. He heard me say the word "presents" the other day and shouted out "Presents? Santa's coming! Oh, I hear the doorbell!" Someone clearly isn't used to living in a house with a chimney. ;) He also sat on Santa's lap at the preschool Christmas party, which is HUGE for him (he usually has a total "stranger danger" reaction when he sees Santa).

I'm really looking forward to spending some time with my family this weekend. I can't wait to see my boys in their matching Christmas eve PJ's (matching outfits is probably my *favorite* thing about having same gender kids), opening presents and enjoying all the goodies I made for them. It's all so exciting and magical for them, and watching them enjoy things totally makes my Christmas. I vividly remember being Emmett's age and fully believing in Santa, lying in bed on Christmas Eve and pretending my hardest to be asleep (and hoping Santa couldn't tell!). It's hard to believe that now I'm the one telling kids to go to sleep so Santa can come!

Merry Christmas!

Sweet Procrastination

2010-12-17T11:39:00.000-08:00

I've got a to do list a mile long and a house that looks like a herd of wild goats meandered through, so I figured, what better time to catch up on my blogging?

So far this month has been really, really rough for us. The day after we got back from Lethbridge, James got really sick - we suspected food poisoning until I came down with it a couple of days later. When we found out that James' parents were suffering the same fate, we realized that stomach flu was our lovely souvenir from Lethbridge Regional. Thankfully, the kids only got a really mild version, and James and I weren't deathly ill at the same time. Once we started to slightly recover, James got rear ended on the way home from work (not hurt though), and about an hour after that his Oma passed. He wasn't able to attend the mid-week funeral, which was a real let down. Oh, and did I mention I've got my annual mid-December cold? I swear it's become a Christmas tradition.

Ok, I'm really over being this. Onwards and upwards, I say!

It's Emmett's last day of school today before Christmas break, and they're having pajama day! They're having school-wide milk and cookies as well (yay for gluten free oreos!!), I'm sure he'll have a blast. Sethers and I are going to head down at the end of class to wish all of Em's teachers a Merry Christmas, which works out well, because for Seth going to "big kid school" is practically Christmas!

Emmett drew his first self portrait yesterday, which is such a HUGE step for him. A couple of months ago he couldn't copy a horizontal line or draw a circle. I reminded him to draw a circle for his head (which he did, perfectly!), and then just asked him "What comes next?" and he added eyes, a nose and smile, arms, legs, feet and hair! You'll notice I left "body" out of that list, so it ended up looking like one of those Mr.Men cartoons - so cute. ;) I made a big deal out of his accomplishment and he seemed pretty proud of himself!

Seth has been talking more and more...we're starting to get phrases now! He likes to say "There it is!" and "Thanks. Buh-bye!" a lot. I also notice him trying to copy lines from songs and tv shows...he's really trying hard to communicate now. He's also discovered he can push boxes and things around to use as a step stool, so we have to really watch him like a hawk now.

And me? I'm just trying to get into the Christmas spirit. Once my cold is gone, the gifts are all wrapped (2/3s of the way there now!) and my house is back to rights, I will hopefully be full of Christmas cheer, or at least less Grinch-y.

To Lethbridge and Back

2010-12-02T11:36:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday night when I walked in the door from shopping, James had an absolutely downtrodden look on his face. His mom had just called and told him his beloved Oma was in the hospital in Lethbridge. Her health has been declining rapidly in the past few months, and it looked like she might have only hours left. We had to make a quick decision. We knew James could probably only take 1 day off work, so we decided to make the 5 1/2 hour trip down, stay for a few hours, and then come right home.

We took off around 7:30am Wednesday morning. It was pitch black and cold but with a couple of warm blankets and sippy cups of chocolate milk, the boys were comfortable. Thankfully, I was able to prepare and pack lots of gluten free food for my guys on short notice, so they didn't have to go off their diet. The kids were perfectly behaved on the long drive down, and played quite happily for hours in the hospital. James was able to sit with his Oma and hold her hand - she was very weak, but she knew he was there and was happy to see him. I'm so glad he was able to be there for her, and most likely say goodbye for the last time to the woman who helped raise him.

The drive home was very tough. It was already completely dark when we left Lethbridge at 5:30pm. James was in no condition to drive, and I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. Seth was content the whole way home, but Emmett lost it around Calgary - he cried off and on the rest of the way home. Thankfully we made it home safe just after 11pm and then we all collapsed into bed. I did end up sleeping a full night, but I don't feel rested. I'm glad to just have today to play catch up with laundry/cleaning and just be there for my guys.

I'm having a good day.

2010-11-17T12:28:00.001-08:00

I'm sitting here enjoying the quiet bliss of "school/nap time". The only sounds are of my ticking clock, my typing fingers and the furnace doing its job. I'm warm, comfortable and enjoying watching the snow blowing outside my window.

I'm feeling thankful. Thankful to live in a safe, peaceful country. Thankful to have my own home. Thankful for my furnace, stove, and hot water tank. (Oddly specific, no?) Thankful that my husband is employed in a job that's in-town and doing work he finds challenging and engaging. Thankful I can pay all of my bills, every month. Thankful to have a full stomach and food in the cupboards (even when it's getting close to grocery day and I have to start getting creative!). Thankful to have two beautiful, healthy, vibrant little boys. Thankful that my oldest son has amazing teachers, therapists and other supports to help him learn and grow. Thankful that my youngest son heals fast and gets over things quickly (he fell head first into the sharp edge of my headboard yesterday and is currently sporting a huge bruise and cut right between his eyes).

I woke up this morning under my warm covers, with a little body snuggled up against me. Emmett always wakes up when James' alarm goes off early in the morning, and as soon as James is down the stairs Em hops into the "big bed" to take his place. I rolled over, gave him a kiss, and the first thing he said was "Mommy, I love you." It was the very first time he said "I love you" without me saying it first.

So yeah, I'm having a pretty fantastic day. :)

We made it!

2010-11-12T12:10:00.000-08:00

We did it...tomorrow marks 1 full month of eating gluten free! (Ok, ok, *I* haven't been totally GF, but my guys have). For the first week or two, I was skeptical. It was a lot of work, and while James reported feeling a bit better, I didn't notice much change in the kids. Then around the 2 week mark, I noticed that Emmett was much more energetic. He always seemed more lethargic than other kids his age, and I would really have to encourage him to get off the couch and be active. Now, he spends his days running loops around my kitchen, jumping and watching himself dance in the mirror. ;) His teachers at school have noticed a real increase in his energy levels too. I would also say he seems happier - he's laughing more, he runs to the school bus every afternoon, etc. I think he's just feeling better in general. Seth was never lethargic, but he's had chronic eczema since his was a small baby - at times he would have huge patches all over his legs, arms and stomach, and his elbows and ankles were always really bad. He hasn't had an "outbreak" all month, and he just has a few tiny patches on his arms that are almost gone. James says his stomach pain is gone, and it's a lot easier to get up in the morning.

Needless to say, we're staying gluten-free. It's been a real learning curve trying to menu plan, but I think I've got it down now. I'm getting pretty darn good at the baking aspect, too. (I can make rice flour sugar cookies that taste every bit as good as the real thing!!) Eating out is the most challenging part...Emmett really misses Wendy's cheeseburgers, but he's happy with just fries and a frosty, too. It's actually a good thing, because having very limited eating out options forces me to cook at home which is so much better for us.

I guess the other good news is that I think I've figured out that my guys don't actually have Celiac Disease, but "Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity". People with NCGS will test negative or inconclusive on tests for Celiac disease, but still have the symptoms and feel better off gluten. It seems like the non-celiacs have less problems with small intestine damage, malnutrition, anemia, etc, so that's good. Emmett was given some pretzels by mistake at school this week, and he didn't have any ill effects. Hopefully if we try our hardest to avoid gluten the boys won't suffer too much from any "oopses".

My boy has a "three kid scream"!

2010-10-31T21:46:00.000-07:00

Yep, one house that Em went to expected to find 3 or 4 kids and were surprised to find out that the very loud "TRICK OR TREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAT!!!!!!" was just from one little guy! The kids had a blast this year. It was Seth's first year TOT'ing, and he had a pretty typical 1 year old experience I think. He didn't totally get what was going on, he forgot to carry his bucket half the time, but he enjoyed himself (for 3/4 of a block or so, anyways). Emmett was full on into it; running, laughing, screaming at each and every door. He went as "Super Emmett" this year and enthusiastically told everyone who asked that he had "the power to help!". He covered a few blocks and got a pretty big haul.

And as for the loot, I noticed some pretty distinct patterns emerging. Emmett is a "gorge myself on as much candy as possible as quickly as possible" kid. Seth is a "savour one tootsie pop for over an hour" kid. I predict in future years that Emmett will blow through his stash in less than 48 hours, and Seth will still have some candy tucked under his bed come Easter.

Quick Update

2010-10-23T11:33:00.000-07:00

Well, we've survived a week without gluten. :) The first day was rough...it was a busy day and I didn't have time to bake, so the kids had to make do with rice cake sandwiches. Em took it in stride, Seth just about lost it. Once I got the hang of things though both kids were fine, and have happily accepted my homemade substitutes for their favorite foods. So far I've made cheesy biscuits, muffins, pumpkin spice bars, pie crust and bread. Bread has been the trickiest...my 1st attempt was a dry, blobby, half-baked failure (although my carb-starved kids attempted to eat it anyway), 2nd attempt produced something that actually looked like bread but didn't rise (kids still gobbled it up and begged for more), and my 3rd attempt produced two nicely risen loaves that look and smell like real bread!! My homemade loaves cost an estimated $2 a piece to make, (which seems excessive for homemade product) but when you factor in the (much) more expensive ingredients and the fact that a store bought loaf costs more than 3 times that, I figure I'm doing pretty well!

Going gluten free

2010-10-15T08:15:00.000-07:00

A few months ago some routine blood work that we had done on Emmett came back showing he may have Celiac disease (intolerance to gluten). He had a biopsy done on his small intestine, which came back negative, but they told us he needs to have the blood test every 6 months because he's still at risk of developing the disease. I've since learned that the biopsies can be unreliable, and some chronic (mild) health problems that James and the boys have may be due to gluten intolerance. So, we've decided to go "gluten free" for 4 weeks (starting tomorrow) to see if anything improves.

Although I'm the only one not suspected of having a problem with gluten, as the family shopper and cook I've now got a whole bunch of extra work to do! Gluten is in almost all baked goods - bread, cake, muffins, etc, as well as in pasta and a lot of pre-prepared foods (bye bye cream of mushroom soup!). You can buy a gluten free version of pretty much everything, although you're paying a premium (a small loaf of gluten free bread runs around $6.50). We'll be buying a few snack type GF products (for in the car/preschool/nursery), but mostly I'll be cooking and baking everything from scratch. Yesterday I went to bulk barn and stocked up on rice flour, potato flour, tapioca flour and potato starch. We've also got xantham gum (makes GF baked goods taste more like the real thing) and rice pastas. Of course, there are tons and tons of foods that are naturally gluten free that we can still eat...we're just going to have to be a lot more careful about things. The thing that really worries me is Em getting upset if he can't eat the same snack as his friends at school, or that he won't understand why he can't get a cookie or muffin from the bakery at the end of a grocery run. I suppose he'll just get used to it.

Now I've got to go pack up all of my flour and pasta and get ready for "G Day" tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Wait...why am I doing this again?

2010-10-08T10:26:00.001-07:00

Kid 1 likes grilled cheese sandwiches, but not tomato soup. Kid 2 loves tomato soup, and will eat grilled cheese but usually just nibbles at them and throws most of it on the floor. Gave kids 1 and 2 their preferred meal items for lunch. Kid 1 refuses to eat anything and wanders off. Kid 2 sips at his soup until he spots kid 1's abandoned sandwich. Kid 2 decides grilled cheese sandwiches are now his FAVORITE FOOD EVERRRRRR and pulls the tablecloth toward him in order to obtain said sandwich. In the process the now neglected (and rather large) bowl of soup hits the floor in such a dramatic fashion that it could have been recorded and played in slow motion in a paper towel commercial. Kid 1 of course must investigate the crash and wanders straight into the soup mess while I'm scrambling to clean up.

Stick a fork in me, I'm done!! Of the past 21 days, I've been sick for about 19 of them. I'm pretty sure I managed to pick up another virus literally a day after I recovered from the last one. I was starting to improve but I'm feeling worse today. I'm just tired and cranky and apparently about to send kid 1 off to preschool with an empty stomach. Sigh...

Mr. Simpson? Gary spilt his ear medicine.

2010-09-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

Man, have we been a family of "Gary"s lately. James and I have been miserably sick for the past 4 days and we've been shelling out for all kinds of pills and potions promising to subdue our misery for a few hours. James has discovered that combining Sudafed with his daily dose of ginseng tea gives him the kind of euphoria normally reserved only for those on speed and 12 year old girls at a Justin Bieber concert. I've discovered that using a Neti Pot (go ahead, google it) is quite effective, although a little awkward and highly unattractive.

Emmett has managed, miraculously, to avoid this plague, but Seth is suffering along with us (and without the aid of OTC meds). To add insult to injury, he's rashy from head to toe and now has 4, count 'em FOUR, different ointments that need to be applied at various times throughout the day. For a child that can barely stop moving long enough to eat, you can imagine how well all that "greasing" is being received.

I'm not really sure what the point of this post is, other than I haven't blogged in awhile and have absolutely NOTHING going on in my life right now other than trying to keep my sinuses from imploding and trying to make sure the right cream is going on the right parts of my toddler. We've got to get better eventually, right?

13 going on...13

2010-09-05T20:01:00.000-07:00

My mom brought over a big bin of my childhood and teenage keepsakes yesterday, and I just went through it. The items ranged from the adorable (my little brownie uniform, complete with sash, belt and dues pouch!!) to the absolute cringe worthy (various diaries from 1993-2000, the worst of which was the one from 8th grade). I discovered that I was just as naive, shallow and overly dramatic as any other 13 year old. My best friend was Stephan, who I apparently had a bit of a crush on! ("Stephan and I are going trick or treating as an old married couple. It's going to be so wicked! PS. I (heart) Stephan. I hope he (heart)'s me back.") My family was investigating the church at the time, and I ranked all of the missionaries who taught us according to hotness...how deeply spiritual of me. ;) Oh, and every time I got punished or my parents wouldn't drive me to the store, my life was ending.

Some of my favorite excerpts:

August 1994: "I had a bad dream about school starting last night. I dreamed that my math teacher was Hitler."

July 1994: (on vacation) "There was a cappuccino stand, and they wanted $1.25 for a pack of gum...what a ripoff!!"

January 1993: "I learned that they have clear Pepsi now. To be honest it doesn't really taste like Pepsi but its still pretty good."

Ah, memories. ;)

I have a short memory.

2010-08-24T22:11:00.000-07:00

Short memories can be useful, on occasion. They say, for example, that women purposely forget how painful childbirth is so that they may actually decide to go through it more than once. I can attest to the truthfulness of that statement, as I distinctly recall having an "Oh, right. This is what agony feels like." moment during my labour with Seth. I seem to also have a short memory when it comes to being wronged by others...occasionally some moment from way back when in high school will come up in conversation and someone (usually my mom) will say "Remember when so and so did/said ______? You were SO upset.", and they answer is almost always no. I figure that's a really good thing, as we're supposed to forgive and forget. Clearly I've got that going for me. ;)

I also seem to have a short memory when it comes to eating at a restaurant with my small children. I haven't been feeling great the past couple of days, and my kitchen is a mess as my sink has been backed up (with what turned out to be long dark hair. HAIR. In the KITCHEN sink. I don't even know what to say to that one.). So when James got home I announced that I wanted to go out for dinner, and he obliged. Now, normally when we eat out it's fast food, preferably in the car where the kids have no choice but to remain strapped down, but for some reason tonight all common sense left my brain and I decided that we were going to eat at a REAL restaurant, with menus and real cutlery and everything!!

Here's the highlight reel:

-Seth CHUGS a large (almost adult size) glass of chocolate milk in literally less than 5 minutes. I ponder whether it's too late to cancel his dinner order. His food came like 2 minutes later, so yes.
-Seth reacts to me trying to feed him ravioli like I'm trying to poison him. We're talking flailing around in the high chair, howling and trying to throw anything within his reach to the floor for full dramatic effect.
-Seth decides he's too full for food, but still has plenty of room in there for crayons! Not unlike Smarties, red ones are his favorite.
-We take the ravioli away, but not before he has a chance to dip some of the crayons in the sauce, and then paint his colouring sheet with that.
-Since I finish my meal first, I offer to take Seth for a walk to burn off some energy. Cue Emmett meltdown. So now I'm trying to herd both of them around in the same direction while James finishes his meal and orders some previously-promised ice cream.
-Seth discovers if he takes a spoonful of ice cream, holds it in his mouth until it melts a bit and then leans his head back, he can make a melted ice cream volcano out of his mouth!! He is VERY please with his new discovery. Thankfully, Emmett was way to engrossed in actually eating his ice cream to notice or copycat.

Yeah, I think we're going to go back to solid diet of Wendy's, in the car. Just for the record, we DO correct the bad behavior when it happens, and the fact that Emmett sat nicely, ate his meal, said thank you to the waitress and was completely fine other than the "Mommy can't go somewhere without ME!!" upset gives me hope that someday going out to eat won't be a freaking circus.

Waning Summer

2010-08-16T08:48:00.001-07:00

I love this time of year. It's getting cooler at night, school supplies are front and centre in all the stores, and every once in awhile you'll see a few yellowing leaves. Summer is on its way out, and it's time to get ready for fall! I'm not a huge fan of summer...I'm a big wuss about the heat, being out in the sun for even a couple of hours makes me all useless and sleepy, and the mosquitoes have been brutal this year. But there's something wonderful about the last couple of weeks of August - canning, pickling, buying new school clothes and supplies. I love this time of preparation.

Of course, I haven't done any canning or pickling this year...that would require me to have my crap together, which I don't. Maybe next year. Oh, I have big plans for next year...I'm going to do some container vegetable gardening, and hopefully I'll end up with something worth canning.

Emmett heads back to preschool in a couple of weeks, and I can't wait. Emmett/Seth cat fights are now happening with much more frequency...everyone is bored and cranky. It will be interesting to see what Em thinks of having afternoon class and taking the school bus from our new place. Hopefully he'll have the same teacher so something remains the same. Fingers crossed!

Random Cute Kid Stuff

2010-08-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

I figured my facebook friends may be getting tired of my constantly kid-centric status updates, so I'm putting this here.

Seth has recently become a huge fan of "Blue's Clues"...Em loves the show so we watch it quite a bit. When Seth realizes that I'm putting on an episode, his face lights up and he says "Boo Coo!!!" while doing the "Blue's Clues" hand motion. Soooo stinkin' cute. I'm going to have to start hunting for some BC themed party decorations for a certain someone's 2nd birthday (yes, I'm already thinking about the kids' birthdays. Just ask my mother how party planning obsessed I was as a child...I haven't changed much!)

Emmett's latest obsession is Rhett and Link - a couple of guys who make up catchy songs about everything from velcro to Facebook. He especially loves this one, where they took the "Sham Wow" infomercial and made it into a song:

ShamWow Song

Now if you come to my house you can hear Em singing about how the sham wow "holds 20 times its weight in liquid" and that "the Germans always make good stuff", pretty much all day long. It's hard for him to sing the whole thing because he can't talk fast enough, but he sure tries! I usually sing along with him, which he looooves.

So there's my random kid cuteness for today. :)

Twenty-nine!!!

2010-08-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

Twenty nine years ago today, my very scrawny (4lb 12oz), rather purple, and decidedly bald self entered mortality. Woo hoo! (Thanks for that mom, and sorry I was born before epidurals were readily available. You ARE the woman.) I've gone from "pushing 30" to "REALLY pushing 30", overnight. ;)

I remember years ago when a co-worker friend of mine turned 29, I thought that was sooo old and that I would probably feel as depressed as he was about the "big 3-0" being right around the corner. I was 23, I think...and you know what? You couldn't pay me to go back to 23! Sure, my stomach was still intact, I could go out whenever I wanted, and I even got to sleep in (I think I remember that...),but I am SO into the whole established, boring, responsible adult thing I've got going on now.

I think I'm going to thoroughly enjoy the last year of my twenties...life is busy but really good and I'm enjoying it.

Seth's First Conversation

2010-07-31T07:43:00.000-07:00

James just told me about his first conversation with the Seth-meister, and it was so cute I had to share!

(First thing in the morning, James sees Seth's awake and goes into his room)

"Oh, you're up...hi!"
"Hi!"
"Do you want out of your crib?"
"Yeah"
(James picks him up)
"Wheee!"
"Do you want to go see Mommy?"
"No"
"Really?"
"Choo!" (as in "choo-choo")
"You want to play with your trains?"
"Yeah"

So he's up there playing with trains right now. What a little character!

Summer Updates

2010-07-25T17:55:00.000-07:00

Wow, that was an incredibly lame title. Let's move on, shall we? ;)

As of tomorrow, we will have been in our house for a whole month! It's flown by, for the most part. Home ownership has been an interesting experience. When we moved in, we of course had a to do list of a million little projects that we wanted to tackle asap. However, we seriously underestimated how difficult it is to get anything done with a couple of ankle biters "helping" (ie putting drill bits in their mouth and running off with instructions). It's going to take a loooong time to get everything done that we need/want to do, but we're getting there (thanks to the help of friends and family!).

We had our first big "mishap" last week - our old, crappy dishwasher finally gave out and flooded the kitchen and down through the basement (and over our phone box, which then shorted out). While it was a bit of an ordeal, I now have an AWESOME new dishwasher (and after over 7 years of hand washing, I can't even tell you how psyched I am about it!).

As busy as we've been around the house, we've tried to get out and enjoy summer as much as we can. James' union had a family picnic at Fort Edmonton Park last week; we got free entrance to the park, tickets for the old timey midway, and a BBQ with bison burgers and ice cream - score!!
Then this weekend we hit Taste of Edmonton, where the kids practically tackled me for my coconut gelatto and baklava. Poor Seth tripped and scraped the right side of his face down a stone wall, leaving him with the unfortunate nickname of "Two Face" (I know, I know...we're bad people. ;)). A little more coconut gelatto and he was happy and running around again, even though he was still bleeding a bit - that kid is such a trooper!! 48 hours later and he's healing really well - it's amazing how fast kids heal.

We've also started attending our new ward - we really like it! I can't get over how many kids are in this ward - they have more Sunbeams than our last ward has in its entire primary! Em is still pretty unsure about attending his new primary by himself, so I've been tagging along, but he went to Sunbeams solo today and did well, which is encouraging. Sethy just turned 18 months and has attending nursery for the past 2 weeks. He never showed one bit of hesitation; he saw those toys and it was "Dad who?" I can't believe my baby is old enough for nursery (but I'm definitely not complaining!!).

Is it July yet?

2010-06-30T12:19:00.000-07:00

June 2010 will probably go down as one of the cuh-raaaaziest months in history for the Johnson family - cleaning, packing, painting, cleaning, moving, unpacking, and more cleaning. Oh, and all of the lovely paperwork and running around that comes with buying your first place. A few things I've learned over the past few weeks:

-People are filthy, filthy creatures. Well, at least some of them are. My SIL Brittney took some "awesome" before shots of our place. Let's just say I discovered that the inside of my kitchen cupboards were an entirely different colour than I thought after I took to them with a magic eraser.

-Once you venture into home ownership, it is probably easiest to just sign your paycheques directly over to Home Depot. It's a good thing the kids are always up for a run to "Ho Depot" as Emmett calls it (snicker, snicker), because we've spent a lot of time there recently!

-Mormons really are the best movers on the planet. A bunch of people from the ward showed up on Saturday morning and swarmed our old place like a hoard of locusts, leaving nothing in their wake. All of our wordly belongings were out and loaded in the truck in 45 minutes!! The entire move was over in 3 hours...incredible.

-There's nothing quite like the feel of brand new carpet under your feet. Emmett actually told me the other day the was going up to his room to lay on "his carpet". ;)

-Being able to walk around your bedroom (versus shuffling and frequently banging up your shins on pointy furniture) is a wonderful thing!

-Seeing your old place all empty is a weird feeling. While I'm so happy to have moved to a place of our own with double the space, we have a lot of great memories from our little basement apartment. We moved there when Em was just a newborn, and that's where we brought Seth home from the hospital. There was something just a little bit sad about scrubbing scribbles off of those walls for the last time.

Tonight I'll be finishing up with the old place and handing the keys back - there's one chapter of our life over. Then it's on to a busy summer exploring our new neighborhood, completing a million little reno projects, and just getting down to the business of enjoying our new place!

House Update

2010-06-19T08:30:00.001-07:00

So it's officially super official now...we're homeowners! We got the keys to our place on Tuesday, and well, I'll be honest - it was little underwhelming. We bought the place knowing it was going to need a good cleaning and a lot of paint, but it was BAD. We knew that the sellers' dog liked to pee on the upstairs landing, but they had obviously been covering up the smell somewhat with incense, because once they stopped doing that the smell was overwhelming. I emptied a full bottle of Febreeze into the carpet and that only kept the smell at bay for about 4 hours. Good times. I can now say with almost complete confidence that I will NEVER own a dog.

So needless to say, that first day was pretty discouraging, but it's been a very busy week. The nasty carpets have been ripped out (thanks so much Carl, Kryssy and Rod!!), which has taken care of 95% of the smell issue (the other 5% will be tackled when I get a chance to scrub the heck out of everything). My hideous dark pink bathroom is now a white (and soon to be turquoise) bathroom. And other projects are well underway...we had planned to tackle the ceilings and painting later, but my parents came by on Wednesday and offered to help us take care of things now. My dad, bless his heart, has been breaking his back scraping the filthy popcorn texturing off our ceilings, and after that it will be time to clean everything top to bottom and seal it all with Killz. Yaaaaay Killz! We're going to paint the bedrooms and hallways a neutral colour and worry about personalizing them later.

I've been a bit worried about how Emmett would react to the move and how much of what was going on he understood. As usual, he has surprised me - no anxiety at all, and he asks quite a bit to go see "our house". In fact, he said our bedtime prayer last night and said "Thank you that we could see Grandma and Grandpa, and go see our house." Love it!

The house is a construction zone right now, but it's going to look so great when it's done, I'm so excited! It's really nice to see the kids excited too, I know we're all going to love having more than twice the space we did before.

Food Storage Rice Pilaf

2010-06-11T17:17:00.001-07:00

I discovered a super yummy way to make rice tonight, using only shelf stable ingredients (several of which were right from the storehouse). Since some members of my family may be celiacs, I've been trying to come up with more interesting things to do with rice, so this was perfect.

Food Storage Rice Pilaf
(all amounts are approximate, since I didn't really measure)

3 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups rice (you could totally use storehouse rice, but I had Uncle Ben's on hand)
1/4 cup dehydrated carrots
1/4 cup dehydrated onions
1 box chicken broth (at least 3 cups) (homemade stock would be perfect too!)

Heat olive oil in a medium pot on med-high, then add rice. Stir for a few minutes until rice is starting to brown. Add carrots, onions and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then simmer until done. Voila!

The only change I would make would be to add some parsely flakes for colour. I served this with pork chops but it would be a great side for a lot of dishes. You could also do this like regular rice without the olive oil if you're watching calories, but browning rice gives it a nice nutty flavour. (Besides, olive oil is good for you. Just do it!! ;))

I'm old.

2010-06-05T20:48:00.000-07:00

I caught myself doing something today that is the very hallmark of the old: I complained about the fashion choices of today's teenagers. I saw a kid, about 15 or so, walking down the street today - well, walking isn't really the best word for it. More like waddling. You see, this young man had decided to combine two trends: 1) the super skinny jean, and 2) wearing your pants so low that at least 6 inches of underwear is visible and the crotch of the pants is closer to your knees than, well, your crotch. It appears the "waddle" is no longer solely the domain of toddlers and the very pregnant...sullen teenagers in tight pants are getting in on the game! What are these kids thinking?!

I imagine about 10 years from now he'll see a picture of his teenage self, and have a "What was I THINKING?" moment. But now I'm wondering how many people secretly snickered at my "awesome" vintage polyester shirts and bell bottoms I was so fond of a decade or so ago...

This just in...

2010-05-20T07:12:00.000-07:00

...having stomach flu is downright unpleasant. Also, my mother is a saint. Yesterday I came down with stomach flu, and I was having a really hard time taking care of the kids, but James couldn't come home (he was the only one in his department at work and they would have had to shut the site down if he left). I was starting to panic a little, and I called my mom. She came right over and took the boys so I could rest, even though that meant she had to go back to work in the evening. Moms rock.

I'm starting to recover today, although I feel like I've been in a fight and the smell of food, any food, just about sends me over the edge. It's like really bad morning sickness, only all I'm incubating is a cute baby virus. Bummer.

Anyhoo, since I'm stuck in bed and James is on kid duty, I thought I'd do some random blogging.

A couple of days ago Em and I were reading a Mercer Mayer book (LOVE those books!), when he noticed an ad on the back cover for this book:

Em LOVES "Just Grandma and Me", so I told him I would get on the computer and ask it to find us a copy of the book. I went to the library website and found a branch we'd never been to before that had a copy - I told Em and he was SO pleased! So off we went on our library adventure...and let me tell you, once he had that book in his hand he couldn't get the smile off of his face. I love that little things like that make him so happy. Seth's even easier to impress...he just kept running around the library saying "Wow! WOW!". He was happy until I wouldn't let him go down a certain hallway, so he headbutted me in a fit of toddler rage and then fell against a window and cut his head open. It takes a special kind of kid to figure out how to draw blood at the LIBRARY. That's my Sethers!

Other random stuff: we spent all of last weekend packing, and we're well on our way. James even found some stuff tucked up in a crawlspace that we didn't know was there! We found a huge Japanese fan (the kind you hang on the wall), and judging from the box we think it's from the 60's or 70's. We're going to keep it when we move, because it's just cool. We also found some weiner sticks that, well...let's just say I wouldn't bring them to the ward picnic. That's right, we have been unknowingly harboring X-rated campfire cooking implements for the past 4 years. You should have seen the look on James' face when he found those! So if anyone's looking to spice up their next weiner roast, I guess I can hook you up. ;)

Preparations

2010-05-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took the boys to what will soon be our new neighborhood - we've driven through a few times but had never gotten out and walked, so I grabbed the stroller and we set off to see what we could find.

We walked through our new complex, and I pointed out which unit is going to be ours (Emmett was pleased about that and wanted to go inside right NOW). We met the 3 little kids that live just 3 doors down. We figured out a path to snake through to the elementary school down the street, and we tested out the playground equipment. :) We watched a bunch of teenagers play basketball, which was hands down the most exciting part of the whole excursion for Seth! I also learned that Emmett is quickly moving into a "chase little girls around the playground" phase, which was apparently a favorite past time of his father at that age. ;)

I felt really relaxed in our new 'hood...it reminded me a lot of my own childhood. I spent my preschool/elementary years living in a townhouse complex - I had lots of kids to play with, a little park, and school was right next door. I really liked living there, and hopefully Em and Seth will enjoy the same type of upbringing.

We take possession in 4 weeks and 4 days, but who's counting? ;)

Spring Cleaning

2010-04-26T20:51:00.000-07:00

The past couple of months have been pretty eventful for the ol' Johnson family, and a lot of things have been getting neglected...like home organization, for example. Piles of clutter have been creeping up everywhere, various cupboards and drawers are starting to spill out their haphazardly piled contents, and my duster hasn't seen the light of day for weeks. I see two reasons for this:

1) We have way more stuff than we have places to put it, and

2) The fact that we are moving in a few months has only encouraged my housekeeping apathy; I'll have to do it all in a little while, so why bother now?

As much as I can't wait to get out of this apartment, it IS home for the time being, so I've decided to start sprucing things up, one little project at a time. I'm quite pleased with the results; there's something rather satisfying about hauling everything out of a cupboard, scrubbing it out and neatly replacing the contents. Catharsis for the home is catharsis for the soul, I suppose. Besides, I'll have that much less to do in the upcoming cleaning/painting/packing/moving insanity that is fast approaching. It's an exciting but daunting prospect.

On the Emmett front...no more answers yet. We took him for a bunch of blood tests but the genetic testing needs to be redone, and now he needs a small intestine biopsy as well because they suspect he has celiac disease. Oh, and the medicine they prescribed to calm him down for medical appointments makes him hyper instead. Heaven help me! He is still doing fantastic in school though - this morning it occurred to me that I can't remember the last time I asked Em to "use his words". He's come so far since February! He's also obsessed with pigs right now and loves to watch "Charlotte's Web 2". In fact, the other day he came up to me and introduced himself as "Wilbert" the pig and started oinking. What a character!

Seth is doing great as well...walking like a pro, and saying about 10 words regularly. He is SO different than Emmett, I feel like I don't know what to do with him sometimes. When Emmett gets upset, he wants cuddles, songs, etc...any kind of mama attention. Seth doesn't want that at all - if he wipes out he gets MAD and throws a little "life is NO FAIR!!" style tantrum. You need to distract him or just let him burn out on his own...he's my little Mr. Independent. Figuring out how to parent Seth the way he needs to be parented has been a real learning experience - I'm really enjoying him though! My Sethers is moving from baby to toddler so fast, I'm trying to soak up all of his "babyness" before it's gone.

I've booked us in for a family portrait this Friday...I probably don't need to add anything to our current chaos, but I want to document our family as it is now - time is going so fast. Life is really chugging along, and I've got to try to savor the good moments when they come (and handle the disappointments and trials with some sense of decorum). Every day I'm reminded of the fact that my little family won't be little forever.

We bought a house!

2010-04-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

Yep, we did it. James and I have joined the ranks of the property owners. We bought a townhouse in Mill Woods today, and we're pretty durn excited about it. :)

It's 1200 sq feet, 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath with a little patio type yard in the back. It's not much, but it's ours! I'm not going to post pictures yet because frankly, it needs a really good cleaning and a lot of paint, but we're going to fix it up nice. We don't take possession until June so now it's a matter of sit and wait (and pack, and plan!).

I remember when Emmett was a baby, and housing prices went through the roof...I really felt like we'd never be able to afford our own place. I'm so glad that wasn't the case. I know it's going to be a lot of work (and money!) but I think I'm really going to enjoy fixing up things the way we want them and turning it into OUR home!

Adventures in House Hunting

2010-04-07T06:31:00.001-07:00

The past 2 weeks have been crazy stressful - we found a (great!) realtor, put an offer down on a house 2 hours after we started looking, sat in limbo on that for DAYS, realized they were trying to screw us over big time on the deal, and walked away from our "dream" house. Sigh.

Yesterday we went out again, and this time we took the kids with us. They were SO good and sweet! Emmett *clearly* has a HUGE crush on our realtor...he was calling her by name and asking her to "Come here!", following her around, etc and was SO sad when she had to leave. We also think that he thought we were looking at the realtor's own house, because he kept asking to see "Jaclyn's room"! Seth was his usual charming self, trying out all the stairs he could find and just wandering around and clapping. We discovered the boys' #1 criteria for a house - ceiling fans! The last place we looked at had a couple of them, and both boys were absolutely enthralled - it took a lot of coaxing (well, forceable removal essentially) to get them away from those fans!

We've decided to put down an offer today on another place...fingers crossed this one works out! In any case there is a lot of "sweat equity" work in our future...at our price point the stuff that's available is in most cases a little run down looking. James and I aren't afraid of a little hard work though, and the thought of renovating things to our taste is pretty exciting. The last time I was allowed to paint/decorate how I want, I was 16 and living at home, and that was a looong time ago. Mostly I am just super ready for us to have a space of our own and a place for the kids to grow up!

Yesterday was a good day

2010-03-25T06:52:00.000-07:00

Progress! For the past couple of weeks it seems like all we've been doing is waiting - waiting for meetings, waiting for people to call me back, waiting for stuff in the mail, etc. And yesterday it all came at once!

1) We got James' marks back for 3rd year, and he passed! We were pretty sure that he had, but we had never had to wait that long to get his marks back before (he took his test Feb 26) so we were sweating it a little bit. That means that James is officially in his last year of apprenticeship, and will get a raise (from 70% of the journeyman rate to 80%). That also means that we can go ahead with buying a house! I'm in the process of finding a realtor right now, and James and I have been scouring MLS. We've got a few places in mind and our fingers are crossed that we'll find something suitable. Our budget is definitely in the "teeny tiny" category, which limits us a bit, but I think we'll find something that works. My strategy is that I keep my standards low, and then I won't be disappointed. ;)

2) I heard back from the nurse at the Glenrose, and they will be mailing me a prescription for some anti-anxiety medication for Emmett. He really struggles with anxiety, both with little everyday things and big scary things (haircuts, medical appointments). These pills will hopefully help him with those big scary things when they happen.

3) I met with Emmett's teacher, SLP, OT and PT yesterday to write up his IPP for school (ah, the land of special needs is full of abbreviations!). Basically, I sat down with everyone who works with Em at school and we discussed his strengths, weaknesses and made some specific goals for him for the rest of the school year. It was so great sitting down with these women who have been getting to know my son and had some great insights for me. I was happy to learn that Emmett has a little group of friends in his class and he loves to spend time with them and do what they do - he has some issues participating and trying new things, so watching his friends do things is going to be huge for him. He's happy at school and his speech is really improving...at home I've noticed less and less of using just one word and a big jump in using short sentences. The staff at his school are so nice and accommodating - they didn't even seem to mind that Seth was in the meeting or that he continually added his own opinions, at top volume!

Life is so busy right now, and it looks like it will continue to be in the months to come. I am really looking forward to summer in my own place, with my own (landlord's-dog-poop-free) backyard, with everything unpacked and just being able to relax with the boys. I can feel that time is coming, but there is a lot to be done first!

And the journey continues...

2010-03-11T01:22:00.001-08:00

It's 2:30am, and I can't sleep (it seems a lot of my blog posts are a result of insomnia!). Four years ago exactly I was tossing and turning as well. I was in the hospital, extremely pregnant and with my waters broken, waiting for my baby to make his or her long awaited entrance into the world. I wasn't in labour, just being monitored and watching for pot to boil, so to speak. I didn't have a private room so James had been sent home and told to come back if I made any progress (you can guess how much sleep HE had that night...zero!). I was so excited (I'm going to be a MOM!!) and nervous (this thing is coming out of me, and I'm going to be solely in charge of it! Are they nuts??!?). Of course that "thing" turned out to be Emmett, who finally arrived on the scene around dinner time that day. It was an exhausting and emotional day, and I will never forget the moment I looked at my son for the first time, saw he was a boy and James and I said to each other "Emmett! We have a little boy, Emmett!".

Now I'm up again in the middle of the night, after another long and exhausting day. We had the family conference to wrap up Emmett's assessments and get a diagnosis. Essentially, Emmett is about 25 months old mentally. He is severely delayed in his communication and learning. We're not sure why, but we suspect the cause may be genetic. We will probably be undergoing some genetic testing to see if we can isolate the cause.

I'm still processing everything...a lot of the behaviors that I'm concerned about, and that were leading me to believe he may have a form of autism, could be explained by the fact that mentally he's only 2. They aren't totally ruling autism out at this point but right now he doesn't meet the criteria for that diagnosis. We also aren't sure what this means long term...he will continue to progress but he has been classed as having below average intelligence and will probably never fully catch up to his peers.

So that's where we're at right now. Obviously, it's upsetting news and not what we wanted to hear, but it's reality. The good (great!) news is, Emmett has been blessed with SO many family and friends that love him and will support him. He's in a great program with excellent teachers and other professionals. He's got all the tools he's going to need to live up to his full potential in life, whatever that may be. We are clearly living in the "right" place, at the "right" time...there are so many programs and resources we can access.

Today is Emmett's birthday, and we are going to celebrate him. He has changed my life forever, and if I had the choice of doing it all over again, I would without a doubt. That sweet child is and always has been a huge blessing to our family, and I love him for exactly who he is.

A little bit of everything

2010-03-06T07:10:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to post for awhile, but didn't have anything "major" to blog about. So I figured I'd just update on a few little things:

Weight Loss

I lost another 3 lbs in February! I figure that's pretty good considering February was pretty insane for me...with James being in school I was pretty much a single mom and was transitioning Emmett into school at the same time. I just discovered this morning that my scale is broken, so this will probably be my last weight loss update for awhile. I'm not at my goal yet, but all my pants are too big so I'm happy with that. The next couple of months will be crazy as well, so I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing - watching portion sizes and making good choices most of the time. I'm also trying to carve out some me time a few mornings a week to work out at home...lately I've been kickboxing.

Seth

My little one is growing in leaps and bounds! He took his first steps a couple of weeks ago, and it's starting to dawn on him now that walking *could* be a better way to get around than crawling! He usually starts out walking and goes as far as he can with that until he falls down (which doesn't take much!) and then finishes with crawling. He also now says "Emmett" clear as day, which is so awesome! He usually goes down for a nap while big bro is at school, and often "Emmett" is the first thing he'll say when he wakes up...he misses his brother! He's turning into your typical annoying little brother, following Emmett around and bugging him all the time. Usually this does NOT end well, but once in awhile Em will play with him and it makes him SO happy!

Emmett

My eldest is SUCH a grump in the mornings, until I mention the magic words: "school bus". Yesterday I wasn't getting ready fast enough and I got "Come on mama, time for SCHOOL BUS!!" You should see him waiting in front of our house every morning, he's practically bursting with excitement. His bus drivers love him and it's a great start to his school day. He also understands the whole birthday thing this year, and is VERY excited for his 4th birthday next week. He's getting cupcakes at school, a friend party, *and* a family party so he's going to be in heaven! He is still obsessed with Cars (in fact we're watching it right now...sigh...) and we got him Mater, Sheriff, Red (the firetruck) and Chick Hicks for his birthday - he's going to flip when he opens them!

My Hubby

James survived school again this year...he got the highest mark in the class on his blueprinting project and passed all of his subjects. Now we're just waiting for his final exam marks...he thinks he did pretty well. He's back at work, but they've actually got him doing materials handling for the time being - a complete overhaul of their warehouse. Word must have got out that James was a parts handler for 4 years, because he's been put in charge of the project! James has a real knack for organizing so he's right in his element.

Assessments

Emmett's big appointments at the Glenrose are scheduled for Mar 8-10...I'm a bit nervous but looking forward to getting a complete picture of what he's dealing with and how to help him. I'll update on that once he's been assessed.

Oops.

2010-02-23T06:57:00.000-08:00

I noticed a few days ago that Seth had a bit of a rash on his back. It's not unusual for Seth to be a bit rashy so I didn't pay much attention to it. When I undressed him last night I discovered that he was now covered in big red welts.

Oops.

So, off to the after hours clinic I go...I've never had to wait there more than 45 min or so, so I figured I would be fine with just a bottle and a few diapers.

Oops.

After 2 1/2 hours of waiting (and 2 hours past bed time), Seth had explored every inch of the clinic and was DONE. It was all I could do to keep him from screaming his head off. I resorted to wearing his pajama top as a hat for comedic effect and was ready to start making origami out of the paper covering the exam bed when we were finally seen. He's got hives all over his little body from some kind of allergic reaction (to what I'm not sure, but our scented laundry detergent is the #1 suspect right now - good thing I just used the last of it yesterday and had just bought some fragrance free stuff). By the time we got out of the clinic it was 11pm and we were both incredibly tired. I had a prescription but I didn't think he'd tolerate another stop at the pharmacy and we had to be up at 6am, so we just went home to bed.

Oops.

Did you know that the Shoppers Drug Mart on Whyte and 109th street is open at 2:30am? Cause it is! Did you know that doctors at the after care clinic prescribe weird liquids that cause pharmacists to make a "What the hell?" face and phone 4 other pharmacies looking for the stuff? Cause they do! Poor Sethers had to settle for some OTC stuff and an oatmeal bath in the middle of the night. By the time I got to bed I was supposed to be up in 2 and a half hours (to drive James to school so I would have the car to take Em to school) so I woke James up and told him he could just take the car and I would walk the kids to the school in the stroller.

Oops.

The fact that the stroller is currently located in the trunk was the very first thought I had when I woke up this morning. About an hour after James left. Thankfully my friend down the street has a very nice jogging stroller that I was able to borrow....phew! Hey, at least I'm getting my exercise today (72 blocks for 2 round trips).

Something has to go right today...right?

Prayers Answered!

2010-02-17T15:22:00.000-08:00

Emmett is doing wonderfully at his new preschool! He did WAY better than I expected - he cried a bit when we first arrived on the first day, but once he noticed all the toys he started to warm up to the idea. I stayed at the school for his whole first day and popped in and out, and he wasn't clingy at all! This morning he went by himself the whole time and did great!

They way this worked out was no coincidence...things were mentioned to the right people at the right time just when a spot opened up. Heavenly Father knew this was where Emmett needed to be, and I know he's going to blossom!

Good News/Bad News

2010-02-12T20:29:00.000-08:00

The past week has been crazy - in a nutshell I learned of a spot at an amazing special needs preschool and have spent the past week trying to figure out if we can get Emmett in there. One of the pre-requisites was an official assessment to send to Alberta Learning so that Em could get funding to attend. We had that assessment today.

The good news is that the speech pathologist seemed pretty positive that he would qualify for funding. He's pretty much already been accepted to the school and the vice principal is just trying to get all the ducks in a row to make it official, but that was still nice to hear. Actually, I think the reason she told me he could just start attending right away is after meeting him for less than 10 minutes she could tell he would qualify.

Emmett's speech delay has been classified as severe. She didn't give me an approximate age level that he's at, but I'd guess about a 2 year old level (he'll be 4 next month). She said "I know that's hard to hear", and I was very professional about it all and tried to focus on the positive (now he can get the specific help he needs to grow). I won't lie though, inside I'm really struggling. I know this is just the beginning and things can only get better from here, but it's still scary and overwhelming. I question my ability to help him reach his full potential.

Next week is going to be very difficult - ever since his 3 day stay at Hitler's Preschool for Young Nazis, Em's anxiety goes right through the roof whenever he's in a school type setting. Heck, he was practically hyperventilating at library storytime. My family has been great about agreeing to watch Seth so that I can stay with Em at school for as long as he needs me there, but it's still going to be hard. At least there are a TON of cool things to do at school, which should help win him over...the question is how long that will take.

To whomever is reading this...if you pray, please include Emmett in your prayers. We're praying that he will feel safe at school and learn to trust the teacher and aides. I'll post an update this time next week about how his first few days went.

Weight Loss Update

2010-02-01T10:41:00.000-08:00

It's been 1 month since I started eating better and working out...and I've lost exactly 5lbs! It doesn't really sound all that impressive, but I'm celebrating anyway. ;) I am now approximately 10 lbs above my original weight watchers goal weight from when I was 19, so I know the scale is going to move slowly...I remember it taking a few months to get those last pounds off. Even though I'm almost 10 years older and have popped out a couple of puppies since that time, I think that goal is still do-able. I'm going to have to work it though!

My goals for this month:

-find more healthy and cheap things to cook, and try to move away from "recipes" a bit more and just cook lots of whole foods. (I'm thinking lots of root vegetables roasted with olive oil and a spinach salad sort of thing) The trick is finding something the kids will try as well...Emmett is very wary of foods he doesn't recognize, and Seth's starting to become kind of a pickypants too.

-drink lots of water, and less diet pop

-keep doing some form of exercise 6 days a week...I can really see a different in my abs already so I'm going to definitely keep up with that.

-this is unrelated to weight loss, but I need to get back in the habit of daily scripture study.

I'm hoping to see another 4-5 lbs gone this month...we'll see how it goes!

Simple Things

2010-01-24T12:54:00.001-08:00

Emmett and I had a serious case of cabin fever yesterday, and James needed some quiet time to study, so I decided to take him out for a few hours in the afternoon. Emmett LOVES riding the bus, so we just took a bus up Whyte to run a quick errand, then back downtown where we had some Booster Juice and window shopped at the downtown mall. Em had his first ride on one of the new LRT trains (automated announcer that announces the stops=not cool, going over the river=very cool!) and mastered the art of stepping on and off of an escalator.

We didn't do anything big or exciting, but we had a lot of fun! We enjoyed looking for a bus with the right number on it's sign, finding juuuust the right seat (back of the bus, first seats on the left), pushing elevator buttons, saying "one, two, three, GO!" before getting on the escalator, and of course people watching. I remember riding the LRT with my dad when I was little, and having SUCH a fun time. We didn't have a lot of money to do stuff when I was a kid, but we always had fun. I really do think it's the simple little stuff that kids remember most....just having one on one time with mom or dad. I've got to find something to do with the Seth-meister, maybe a mommy and me swim class (he loves the bathtub and never wants to get out!). I loved spending some time with just my big boy though.

A long road ahead

2010-01-15T04:13:00.000-08:00

When Emmett was about 18 months old I started to notice that he was a bit different than other children his age...I remember going to the health center and reading that kids his age should be saying something like 50 words, and Em was only saying 4 or 5. Things would bother him that wouldn't bother other kids, like people in a group laughing. He would plug his ears and hum when he felt uncomfortable or heard a noise he didn't recognize. He would point and whine for something he wanted, or use one word over and over, long after his peers started using simple sentences.

At first I just thought he was a late bloomer, and that he would catch up soon, and that the weird behaviors were just the quirks of a toddler. My mom tried to broach the subject with me gently (albeit not all that tactfully) and I kind of freaked out at her. I took it as an attack on my parenting, that he was behind and different because of something I did/didn't do. Still I told myself that he WAS going to catch up, it was just a matter of time, that by the time he was 4 or 5 this would all be a distant memory.

Then he was 3 1/2 pushing 4, and the "toddler quirks" weren't going away. The words "autism spectrum" came into my head from nowhere one day, and I started to research. I cried as I recognized many of Emmett's "quirks" on a list of "symptoms". I was quickly pulled out of my denial.

Nobody wants to be in the "special needs club". Nobody gets pregnant with the hopes of having a kid that's behind, that's different. I will be the first to admit I spent a day crying and feeling super depressed about it...then I woke up the next day I decided it was time to DO something. Denial wasn't going to help my child, and crying that it wasn't fair wasn't going to help him either. He needed ME to advocate for him if he was going to get the chance to live up to his full potential...whatever that may be. I realized that loving Emmett for the unique little person that he his and helping him be happy and successful on HIS terms was more important than him being the same as his peers.

I took him to our family doctor a couple of months ago and told him about my concerns with the hope of getting a referral to a pediatrician. I wasn't prepared to be treated like an overprotective mom with nothing better to do and to have my concerns challenged at every point. I stuck up for myself though and got my referral. Yesterday Emmett saw the pediatrician (who was MUCH better, and thoughtfully listened to my concerns and asked questions). She wasn't able to tell me anything right away...she's not totally convinced it's autism but agreed there was enough concern to do further testing. He's getting a full workup as well as some genetic testing, and he'll be going to a preschool assessment centre for a full evaluation. The process is going to take somewhere in the ballpark of a year. While it's frustrating that the wait is so long, starting now means we should have some answers before he starts kindergarten and hopefully we can get him in any special programs that he needs.

Emmett really is a joy to parent...he's a big time mama's boy and I love that he's my little buddy. We love to read together, sing together, have tickle fights. We even have inside jokes! I believe he came to our family on purpose...he needed us and we needed him. I don't know where this journey is going to take us, and I know there are many challenges ahead, but I also know that somehow everything is going to be OK.

Post Christmas Detox

2010-01-11T12:52:00.000-08:00

I'm not much of a crowd follower...if everybody starts doing something that's usually enough to make me NOT want to do it (case in point: the whole of facebook still doesn't know the colour of my bra ;)). However, this year I decided to be totally lame/cliche/sheep-like and resolve to eat better and lose weight starting January 1. I lost about 25 lbs last year and then sort of lost my resolve (and by what I'm sure is some sort of miracle, maintained that loss). I've got another 10-15lbs to lose so I figured now was the time to kick it back into high gear!

I'm loosely following Weight Watchers (I did that program hard core for a couple of years in college, so I know it well) and eating mostly whole foods. There's a book I've been hearing a lot about that just came out called "Food Rules", by Michael Pollan. His philosophy is "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." He includes such things as "the whiter your bread, the quicker you're dead" and "don't eat things your great-grandmother wouldn't have recognized as food". Sounds like a good philosophy to me!

I'm mostly a scratch cooker, so it hasn't been too much of a switch...just cutting back on the fattening condiments, watching portions, and no more weekly candy binges. I've always been good about making sure that Emmett doesn't eat too much junk food (good thing Grandma and Oma always hook him up with dessert at their houses or the poor kid would be totally deprived!), but I'd eat it myself without a second thought...not the best example. I'm finding healthier treats - my brother and sister in law got us a stove top popcorn popper for Christmas and I love popping some corn with a bit of olive oil. I get some healthy oil and it makes our place smell like movie theatre popcorn...win win!

Now I just have to get through baking Sether's birthday cupcakes this weekend without too much "sampling"...

Ah, sweet normalcy!

2009-12-30T13:05:00.000-08:00

It's 2pm, Seth is napping, Emmett is shopping with Daddy and I'm sitting here in my sweatpants doing a whole lot of nothing. We had lunch together as a family (vs. scrounging out of the cupboards), the laundry is finally getting done, and I'm about to clean the kitchen and put the Christmas decorations away. It's quiet, and I don't have to be anywhere...life is good. :)

The 2000s

2009-12-26T22:03:00.000-08:00

I've noticed a lot of "The 2000s in Review" articles lately, and I thought it might be a good time to reflect on the last decade in my own life...

2000: I started the decade working full time and saving up for my first year of college. I had a missionary I was writing that I was pretty positive I was going to marry. In April I went to Jasper for a few days with my best friend Carl - it was my first "grown up" trip away by myself. In September I started college and I was SO excited...I've always loved school and I really missed it the year I worked after high school. Needless to say I found the transition to post-secondary pretty easy and I got right into the school thing.

2001: Just 13 days into the year I met a guy at a party...a guy that started out as a nice distraction until my missionary got home but quickly became more than that. James and I's first year together was a rocky one...our families were very different religions and it was a big point of contention (mostly for his family). Carl wasn't a fan, and I don't think my parents could figure out what I saw in him, but we were crazy about each other pretty much from day 1. We broke up a couple of times but couldn't stay away from each other for long. During the summer James started investigating the church and was baptized in November. He proposed on Christmas eve day at the Muttart Conservatory in the middle of the poinsettia display.

2002: was all about The Wedding. In February we set the date: December 28th. The whole year was pretty much consumed with wedding planning and I don't think I came up for air until 2003! I also did my first student teaching practicum teaching a grade 5/6 class during November and December...that was very stressful but I had a great mentor teacher and it was a good experience. James struggled to find a full time job to support us while I was in school, and our prayers were answered when he got a warehousing job 9 days before we got married.

2003: Our first year of marriage! The first part of this year was a tough go...James and I were living in a tiny (and crappy) basement apartment on the west end of the city (in not the greatest neighborhood) and didn't have 2 nickels to rub together. We couldn't afford a car so James had to ride the bus for 90 minutes each way to work. Still, we had the "newlywed glow" so our dingy apartment (which we now refer to as "the hobbit hole" due to the fact that the ceiling in the bathroom was a little less than 6 feet), garage sale couch and second hand pots and pans were great because they were OURS! We were really adults now, living our own lives! Thankfully in June we got a very nice 1 bedroom apartment just off Whyte Avenue...I'll never forget when I found out that we got that apartment, I felt like we'd won the lottery! I waitressed during the summer and transferred to the U of A for the 3rd year of my degree. My second teaching practicum late that year didn't go as well as the first one...my mentor teacher and I had very different styles and I felt super intimidated by her. I didn't do my best and I started to seriously question the degree I was taking. Of course, being in my 4th year, it was a little late to do anything about it.

2004: I remember feeling very lost at this time in my life. I was the first in my family to graduate from university, an accomplishment I felt very proud of. At the same time I felt extremely discouraged because I had no teaching job lined up and no prospects...and I wasn't sure teaching was even what I wanted to do. That spring I got a job downtown at a call centre (answering customer calls for an american cell phone company)...the pay was decent and it seemed like a good job to pay the bills until I figured out what I was going to do. A few weeks out of training I noticed a job posting for a trainer position - a university degree wasn't required but a huge plus. I got an interview right away and I got a job about a week later! In a matter of a few weeks I had gone from student to teacher, so it was a bit of a challenge trying to teach subject matter I was still learning myself. It wasn't a perfect job but it was a "real" job and I discovered that I enjoyed teaching much more when I was teaching adults. We also got our first car this year which really made life easier!

2005: Ah, the year I got the "baby rabies". Bad!! James and I decided it was time to start our family, and on June 27th I nearly passed out when I saw the second line pop up on the pregnancy test! Which would have been problematic, since I was in a food court washroom at the time (I've never been good at waiting, and I just couldn't wait the 20 minutes it would have taken me to get home!). I was thrilled to be pregnant and thought about nothing else for the rest of the year. ;)

2006: By mid February I was as big as a house and went on some much needed maternity leave...by then I was glad to leave my call centre job behind and was excited to be a stay at home mom. On March 10th around noon my water broke, and Emmett Joseph Johnson made his way into the world at 6:21 pm the next day after a rather forceful eviction. I was in love instantly with this pink, gooey, squalling little creature. The transition to motherhood was not a smooth one...I felt incredibly insecure about my ability as a parent and there were many, many tears. Still, I loved being a mother and put my heart and soul into raising my little man. One bedroom wasn't going to cut it anymore, so our little family moved into our current place when Em was just 7 weeks old. Faced with the challenge of supporting a growing family, James busted his butt trying to get a plumbing apprenticeship...he quit at the warehouse and worked odd jobs while lining up at the union whenever he could trying to get that first job. Finally in September he started as a 1st year plumbing apprentice and we were thrilled! James proved to be a natural at the trades.

2007: Most of this year was uneventful...James was putting in his hours, waiting to go to school so he could advance to his second year, and I stayed home with a rapidly growing Emmett. In November we got some great news - I was pregnant again - and some very bad news...James was laid off very unexpectedly. He got another job quickly, but it was in a remote camp up north and he would be gone for weeks at a time. We decided to jump in with both feet and make the best of it. Just as we were adjusting to this new work schedule - James had been gone about a week - I learned I was miscarrying. Going through that without him was one of the most trying experiences of my life (and his, too). However, we grow through our trials and although that winter was very hard, I know it made me a stronger person.

2008: Things really started looking up for us this year...in March James found an in town job, and that spring I extremely happy to discover I was pregnant. That summer James was extremely happy to discover that our baby had an "outie"! ;) James had a series of jobs that weren't the greatest, but in August he got on at a project very close to home. Suddenly we had a lot more stability in our lives and it was so nice to have James home at 4pm! He also finally got his chance to go to school which meant a promotion at work. Emmett started to verbalize more and explore his world, which was very fun to watch.

2009: Seth John Robert Johnson joined our family on January 14th at 11:15pm...another beautiful little boy to love! James went to school and got another promotion, and continues to be the "go-to guy" on his project site. This year has been a bit of a blur as I've adjusted to parenting two small children. I took up running and discovered that I, the least athletic person on earth, could run a 5K! Emmett started preschool and Seth is growing at a fantastic rate - it's hard to believe his first year of life is almost complete!

Well, that's my life for the past decade...it's been one of huge growth and change. I've gone from a young girl just out of high school trying to find her way in the adult world, to a university grad, wife and mother of two boys. I think the next decade (what are we calling it? the "teens"?) will be one of big changes as well...home ownership, most likely another little one, maybe a return to the workforce, aunthood (looking at you here, Brit!! ;)) and the challenges of parenting school age kids. Bring it, 2010!

Christmas Eve Eve

2009-12-23T14:14:00.000-08:00

I am being super lazy today...spending way too much time on the computer and goofing off with the boys and not enough time getting stuff done. It always feels like the last couple of days before Christmas drag, and that always makes me feel super unproductive.

Christmas sure is different as an adult...and at 28 I feel like I'm only now adjusting. Christmas as a kid feels so magical...all of these decorations and goodies seem to just fly out of nowhere, and all *you* have to do is attempt to get some sleep on Christmas eve/count the minutes until you're allowed to get your stocking on Christmas morning. (I think 5:30 or 6am was the rule)

Then you grow up and realize how much work Christmas is...the shopping, decorating, baking and wrapping, not to mention trying to schedule time between various families while not missing out on anything. Don't get me wrong, Christmas is still great, but part of me kinda misses the days when all I had to do was wrap a few gifts from the dollar store (bought with someone else's money), eat my Captain Crunch and unwrap my mountain o' gifts. Now it feels like most of this year will be spent trying to make sure my kids eat something other than cookies, only open their own gifts, and stay out of the relatives' breakables.

Maybe that's the crux of the issue...travelling with small kids is a massive pain in the patootie, even if it's just grandma and grandpa's house, and Christmas = The Friends and Family World Tour. I'm just going to try and let the small stuff go and enjoy them opening their gifts, and maybe tell my mother in law to just put the dang marble chess set away already. (Love you Joanne!)

11 days and counting...

2009-12-18T05:45:00.000-08:00

That's how long I've been sick with this stupid cold. Here I couldn't wait for December to start, and all the fun of the Christmas season has been dampened by my constant hacking and nose blowing. Not to mention my throat is still sore! Honestly, who still has a sore throat after ELEVEN days? I'm starting to think I've got the plague.

Ok, sick rant over. (At least for you. Poor James has to hear it constantly!) Last night was so nice and warm we took the kids over to Candy Cane Lane to check out the Christmas lights. Not surprisingly, Seth was asleep practically as soon as we pulled out of the driveway, but Emmett stayed awake for the whole thing. Em's not big on commentary, but we did get one "Wow, look at that!" so that was cool. :)

Speaking of Emmett, he's doing SO much better with preschool now. Up until recently, any time the "p word" was mentioned he would say "Back to bed?" and head for his room. Yesterday I asked him if he wanted to go to Max's house for preschool and he said "House? OK!" No stress, no whining. He happily brought his Makka Pakka toy for show and tell (which was apparently a big hit) and was happy there right from the start. When I came to pick him up he did NOT want to leave...when he was finally coaxed out of the playroom all I got was "Bye, Mommy!" It's such a relief that we've put that awful preschool debaucle behind us and it's something positive for him now.

Awesome deal!

2009-12-10T12:04:00.000-08:00

I was heading to my favorite second hand kids' store when I noticed a party supply/dollar store advertising 50% off everything. My kiddos' birthdays are coming up in the next few months so I decided to see what I could scrounge up. Here's what I got:

Emmett's Party

-a "4" candle
-2 candles shaped like hot wheels
-2 packs of party invitations
-a red plastic tablecloth

Seth's Party

-"Baby's 1st Birthday" napkins and plates
-party hats
-a big bag of balloons
-2 packs of streamers

And for all of that I only paid $10!! I would have bought more but it was already pretty picked over. Still, I love it when I get a good deal like that!

Associations

2009-12-09T02:20:00.000-08:00

I consider myself a pretty tough chick...not much scares me. I can suck it up and get through anything if I have to. I've given birth twice, the second time with very little pain medication. However, I'm a COMPLETE baby when it comes to having a sore throat. Despite as much rest as I can manage and a healthy dose of Cold FX, I've finally succumbed to the cold that's been running rampant through my house. I've got a very sore throat and can't sleep. Everytime I get sick I pray for the sore throat part to end...I'll take a nagging cough and being plugged up over the throat thing every time.

I think it all goes back to the worst sore throat of my life...it was St. Patrick's day when I was a young teenager. I remember waking up that day and decided to microwave a chocolate St. Patrick's day cupcake for breakfast...eating that thing was like choking down broken glass. Later that day we went to this Eastern Star thing of my grandma's - it was a dinner and they had Irish dancers performing. I told my mom I was too sick to go but I think she figured I was playing it up like a teenage drama queen to get out of going to my grandma's thing. So, I had to go. I think my mom figured out that I really WAS that sick after getting down a couple of teaspoons of jello for dinner and then basically curling up in a corner for the rest of it. I clearly remember watching the dancers and praying they would finish so I could just go HOME!

Anyways, to this day I can't eat a St. Patrick's day cupcake or watch Irish dancers. Maybe one day one of my grandchildren will offer me a delicious cupcake with a jaunty leprechaun sitting on top, and I will start telling them all this and they will be thinking "Great, Grandma's telling another one of her stories that doesn't go anywhere." Like, that time I took the ferry to Shelbyville to get a new heel for my shoe...

Well, at least Emmett seems to be doing better...it's 3:30 am but he's literally jumping up and down beside me shouting "Dance dance dance!". At least one of us is feeling good right now!

I was just on the radio!!

2009-12-03T16:16:00.000-08:00

Didja hear me? Huh? Huh? Didja???

Yeah, probably not. ;) Anyhoo, I usually listen to Dave Ramsey's radio show in the afternoons while I'm cleaning (read: scraping who knows how old applesauce off the wall that I just noticed) on a local Christian radio station. Sometimes I keep it on that station afterwards and listen to this call-in talk radio show...I'm an opinon junkie and I love reading/hearing other people's opinions (even if the opinions on this show are usually a little too far right for my tastes).

The show called a bunch of stores and asked them what the policy was this year on being allowed to say "Merry Christmas" (for the record, 4 out of 5 stores were OK with Merry Christmas or didn't have a policy). He brought this up because apparently James Dobson (a big name in the evangelical Christian world for those not in the know) has been suggesting for a few years now that Christians not patronize stores that won't allow their employees to wish you a Merry Christmas.

Uh, OK.

So, I called in during a commerical break and I got on right away when they came back on air, which was pretty cool! I told the host that I was a Christian and that I didn't care in the least what a store's policy was, because Christmas is NOT about presents and shopping. Sure, those things are nice, but that's not why we're celebrating! I pointed out that we are a multi-cultural and multi-faith society and that it doesn't make sense business wise to cater to one religion, and I respect that. I suggested that instead of worrying about what the cashier at Zellers says to us we could perhaps spend the season doing charity work and setting a good example. I also said that I was trying to teach my children the true meaning of Christmas and that I wasn't going to focus on what the STORES are doing.

The host basically agreed with my "Christmas is not about presents" thing, and didn't say much else. After I got off the phone I turned the radio back on and he was saying that my call reminded him of a sound clip of some comedian he had heard...cue some "comedian" frothing at the mouth about how THE FOUNDING FATHERS were Christian and that THIS COUNTRY was founded on the BIBLE and if YOU don't like it TOO BAD because HE is going to say MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERY CHRISSSSSSSSSTMAS!!!!!

Yeeeeah. Totally not what I was saying at all. My point was about businesses, not individuals. But hey, I got to have my say...and maybe someone out there agreed with me!

Christmas Time!

2009-12-02T12:13:00.000-08:00

(or "Christmas Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime!" in baritone , if said by Emmett ;))

Well, it's official...I can now break out my Christmas spirit without fear of judgement from my husband or brother (Grinches!). My shopping is DONE, and I couldn't be happier...I tried really hard to pay attention when people mentioned "I like _________" and then store it away in the ol' memory banks...hopefully I did well. Now I've just got to wrap it all, and avoid all unnecessary shopping trips until January. Crowds really stress me out...James could happily spend all day at West Ed mall weaving in and out of the crowds, whereas the thought of doing that (especially doing that with 2 small children) is enough to give me heart palipitations. Thank you amazon.ca!!!

Emmett is really into Christmas this year...I got him a chocolate advent calendar, which he happily attacks each morning. He then spends most of the morning asking for more chocolate and trying to reach the top of the fridge to sneak some more of his calendar. I don't think we'll be hanging advent calendars on the wall like I remember doing for a few years yet. We also put up our "Beary Merry Christmas" calendar, which has a little bear that moves all around his house looking for Christmas. He likes it, but doesn't really get it yet - he just wants to take the bear off and play with it. I'm holding off on decorating and putting the tree up until next weekend...hopefully this will give the tree better chances of survival. Last year wasn't too bad except I noticed ornaments kept disappearing and then reappearing all over the house!

December itself isn't looking too jam packed, which is nice...I want to be able to relax a bit and just enjoy the holiday rather than run around all over the place. I'm going to try to focus more this year on the true meaning of Christmas...on Monday for family home evening we started teaching Emmett the Christmas story. They must be talking about it at nursery, or he's just picking it up super quick, because he could point out Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus right away. He also LOVES it when we sing Away in a Manger (he calls it "Baby Jesus song"). That really warms my heart, because I remember my grandpa singing that to me all the time to me when I was little, especially at bedtime when I would sleep over. I'm pretty sure he sang it all year round...maybe that was the only song he knew all the words to! That song will always make me think of Grandpa, and I'm so glad my little man loves it too.

Be careful what you wish for.../kid update

2009-11-17T22:23:00.000-08:00

So far this "Suck-vember" has been flying by...I'm so busy I feel like I don't know what's what. It's a good thing though, as Martha would say.

The Seth-meister is pulling up on everything now...he is just SUPER proud of himself, it's so cute. James and I always say that Seth "really thinks he's somethin' somethin'". Which he *is*, of course, but it's always better to keep that ego at a reasonable level.

Emmett is really getting better at telling us what he wants, and he's not afraid to try and "trick" you to get it. For example:

Emmett: Yogurt?
Me: No, you've had enough yogurt today...how about an apple?
Emmett: (Thoughtfully) Apple....aaaaaaaaaaand yogurt!

Because hey, maybe mom won't remember she said no to yogurt five seconds ago. It could happen!

We've also started having him do some chores around the house...we get him to help pick up his toys, and he's sort of getting the hang of setting the table (which consists of everything just sort of getting plopped on one spot because he's still too short to really see over the table, but he gets an A+ for effort!). He even put his own laundry away yesterday (after much tears and complaint, according to James!).

He's also started talking about his feelings, which is SO huge for him...the other day he came up to me and said "Mommy, I SO HAPPY!" Talk about a heart melter! He is talking a lot about Christmas as well...he's loving all the Christmas decorations in stores. DO NOT bring up Santa though...Santa is a creepy, evil old man and not all the presents in the world could persuade Emmett otherwise. We went to the holiday light up downtown, and even though we were approximately 300 feet away from Santa that was NOT far enough. It's kind of weird, but at least it gives me a great opportunity to focus on teaching him the real meaning of Christmas instead. I'm going to try and find an unbreakable nativity set that we can play with together...I think he's old enough this year to grasp the basics of the story.

This just in...

2009-11-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

Parenting little kids is hard. They don't sleep when you want them to (and they're too little to be left to their own devices when awake so YOU can finally get some sleep), they make messes faster than you can clean them up, and going anywhere with them involves so much packing and planning you sometimes wonder if you're actually going on a week long trip rather than just running a couple of errands.

Case in point: my oldest is a FANTASTIC shopper. You could run errands all day with him and he'd be happy as a clam. My 9 month old, however, can't stand more than about 20 minutes in a shopping cart. Going to more than one store at a time is absolutely out of the question. The longest I'm ever out with him is for the weekly grocery shopping trip. I'm always very prepared...I always go right after nap, feed him first, bring toys and have a detailed list organized by section of the store. Still, by the time I hit produce a certain someone is throwing himself back in the cart in true "drama llama" fashion and sobbing like his whole world is ending. Usually while I'm bagging up the groceries Emmett finally gets sick of his brother's shenanigans and starts punching him in the face. Oh yeah, I'm sure Superstore just loooooooooves it when we show up.

Yesterday I had to do a HUGE shop (I'm putting on my big lunch this Saturday and had to buy all that stuff as well as our groceries), so I brought James with me and put Sethers in the sling my sis in law gave me (thanks Brit!)...this solved the cart conundrum (all he really wants is to be held while we shop, but good luck doing that while pushing a full cart with a 33 lb preschooler in it), but I was so weighed down by the chubster I could barely pick things off the shelf. And today my shoulders are killing me...I can't win! I guess I'm going to have to add grocery shopping to the list of stuff that has to wait until James gets home to help me. Seth, you are about to be banned from Superstore.

Sorry this is so long and ranty, I'm running on way too little sleep and just having one of those "baby for sale" mornings. I really do love my kidlets (and tell them so everyday), I just need a hot bath and a 3 hour nap. Neither of those things appear to be forthcoming, so a ranty blog entry will have to do. ;)

Suck-vember

2009-11-02T09:59:00.000-08:00

Well, it's that time of year again...the pumpkins are slowly rotting on their doorsteps, my jeans are tight following a major Halloween week (yes, I said week) candy binge, and Christmas is still like 7 weeks away. November just sort of sucks any way you look at it...I mean, there's Rememberance Day, but that's not really in the category of Fun Festivities, now is it? I'm sure all of the stores are in full on Christmas mode, but I know if it I start getting into the holiday spirit now I'll be fully burnt out a full week before Christmas actually arrives. I always feel like I'm just trying to get through November so the good stuff can start.

I'm changing my strategy this year...I'm going to cram November so full of stuff I won't even notice it flying by (I hope). Looking at the calendar, my strategy looks promising. This week we've got to deal with the flu shot fiasco (whenever they decide to open up the clinics again), then next week I'm putting on lunch for 50 at a church thing (if you're going to quarterly enrichment...hope you like chili! ;)). After that I'm planning a hawaiian luau themed preschool activity, and somewhere in all of that will be Christmas on the Square - fireworks and the big Turning on of Downtown Christmas Lights. Doing this in November totally goes against my policy of no Christmas until December 1, but Mayor Mandel isn't taking my calls. So, I'll have to once again make an exception.

Also on the docket this month...finish Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (I'm right in the thick of it right now...sorry Langstons, I broke down and borrowed a copy from the library!), do some knitting, finish my Christmas shopping (oh yeah, that's right, I said FINISH) and hopefully sneak a date night in with James, too. Anyone feel like babysitting? ;)

My New Toy

2009-10-28T08:20:00.000-07:00

I mentioned awhile ago that I love indexing and all things history related in general. When it comes to doing my own family history, I haven't done much. Most of my dad's line is done, and my mom and grandma are working on my mom's line. So, I decided a couple of years ago to start working on James' family tree...armed only with a few names, dates and places written in his baby book, I set off to see what I could find. I found his great grandmother on a census from 1911, but I didn't get any further than that. Well, on Monday night I decided to try again - ancestry.ca has a 2 week free trial so I signed up and started searching names.

That great grandmother I couldn't find anymore information about...I found her marriage certificate! Her name was slightly different, which is probably why I couldn't find her before. Anyways, I noticed that someone had a family tree connected to James' great grandfather - lo and behold, someone has done a TON of family history work on one of James' lines! Not only did I find lots of full names, dates, and places, I found pictures too! I have pictures going 5 generations back, but this one was my favorite - this guy's name was also James Johnson, and I think he was James' great great uncle:

The first time I saw this picture I thought "Hey look, someone put my husband in old timey clothes!" The face shape, nose, stature...clearly James is a Johnson through and through!

So, I've officially got the bug now...all of my precious TV time has been cut out in favour of going through this public family tree and recording every bit of information I can. I've found a lot of info but there is so much more to do!

Stuff I Waste Time On!

2009-10-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a bunch of my favorite blogs:

http://www.lovelylisting.com/

Lovely Listing has all sorts of interesting/creepy/weird/eye bleed inducingly ugly photos from real estate listings. People have some weeeeeeeeird houses. Like this one:

Yep, that's an aquarium floor. I'm pretty sure this is James' dream home. Well, we ARE saving up our downpayment right now...quick, what's 5% of 29 million?

And then there's Cake Wrecks:

http://www.cakewrecks.com/

Like cakes with obvious spelling errors? Cakes with instructions like "I want sprinkles" written out? Cakes with random, unexplained piles of dog poo icing? Cake Wrecks is the place to go. One of my personal favorites:

Now really, how could you NOT have a happle birthday with a cake like this? Man, I can't wait until I'm fithy years. plus Nine...that's gonna be awesome.

This next one comes with an assignment:

http://www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com/

No picture, but see if you can find the one of the nude couple posing with their very annoyed looking cats. Don't worry, the cats are covering all of the essentials...I want the back story on that one, bad.

And a couple for the members reading:

http://www.whatmormonslike.blogspot.com/

This guy hasn't updated for awhile, but this blog is well worth a read through...hee-larious!

http://www.overheardintheward.com/

Lots of funny stuff heard at church - not surprisingly a good chunk of it comes from sunbeam classes. This one's my favorite:

Mom: How was Primary today?
Son: Good.
Mom: What did you do?
Son: Well, they told us Jesus was coming but he never showed up… so we just colored.

And finally...

http://www.sexypeople-blog.com/

I'm not brave enough to scan my grade 7 picture, but believe me, they'd post it.

My Office has "Es-ploded"

2009-10-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

It's been teething hell-week for poor Mr. Seth...he's cut 3 top teeth in the last 7 days, and #4 isn't far behind. Little man and I were up at 4am this morning, so I thought I would get some much needed paperwork done while he was distracted with his "baby genius" DVD and we waited for the baby Tylenol to kick in.

About an hour later, piles of various papers all around me, I gave up. Half the stuff I needed was buried who knows where. I'm normally an organized person - I seem to do well everywhere else in the house but papers just pile up like crazy. For the past year or so whenever I'd have to hunt for something I would swear up and down that I was going to straighten this mess out Once. And. For. All. Then I'd find what I needed, and that plan promptly went out the window.

No more...I'm gonna get me wunna them there offices in a box today, and then the Great Office Organziation of '09 is ON. Seems like the only solution now that my desk file drawer only opens half way and my hanging file folders have literally fallen apart. It's like an ancient ruin of what was once a great filing system, pre-children. Now Emmett plays mailman with said broken drawer (if James or I ask the other if we've seen some small item, the first reply is usually "check the mailbox"...and at least half the time, we're right) and one of the Seth's favorite pasttimes is tipping over my office garbage can and diving head first into the balled up paper and candy wrappers.

The real heart of the problem is we have just plain run out of space. We live in a basement apartment, which by anyone's basement apartment standards is pretty nice and very liveable, but even as a rather minimalist family of 4 we are really crammed in here. Our christmas decorations live in the boys' closet, along with kid clothes of every season and size (properly boxed and labelled...go me!). James' tools are hanging out in the pantry. My griddle is hanging off a coat hanger on a pipe in the laundry room. My mother in law gave us their wok yesterday and I honestly haven't the faintest idea of where it's going to live.

A basement, a basement, my kindgom for a basement! (That we, uh, don't have to live in too.) Hopefully we'll be buying our first place next spring/summer...then my office in a box can get to know its friends Christmas Tree and 0-3 month Boy's Sleepers better in a cozy dark little corner far away from my line of sight. ;)

I want chicken, I want liver...or maybe just some tofurkey.

2009-10-13T17:12:00.000-07:00

I caught a bit of The View today as I was folding Mt. Washmore (aka a long weekend's worth of laundry for a family of 4) - Alicia Silverstone was on promoting some new vegan diet book she's putting out. She spoke about how "nasty" foods like meat and dairy are "unkind" and make you feel bad. Ok, I can be on board with that...downing tons of meat and dairy probably isn't the best for you. There is definitely something to be said for a (mostly) plant based diet, and if someone feels the need to be vegetarian or vegan, I can totally respect that. I could go veggie, but avoiding anywhere that bacon was being fried up would be tantamount to my success. I don't think I could handle vegan (if my life had a subtitle it would be "A Life Without Cheese isn't a Life Worth Living"), but to each their own, right?

But you know what part really stuck with me? Alicia Silverstone's DOG is vegan too. The thought of a vegan dog manages to both amuse and annoy me simulateously. Some argue that humans aren't meant to consume animal products, and while I don't agree, I can accept that argument. But dogs? What exactly does Ms. Silverstone think her dog would be eating if left to its own devices? Perhaps she imagines it would hit Trader Joe's and Whole Foods begging for kelp "meat"balls (kelpballs?) like that scene in Lady and the Tramp. Come on...has Hollywood really reached the point that even naturally carnivorus animals can't enjoy a little Iams the way nature intended?

As The View's co-hosts ooh and aahed over the guacamole (vegan cheese and sour cream, natch) and aformentioned kelpballs, one mentioned her sister and five kids...where were they to find the super special calcium rich seaweed used in the kelpball dish? "Oh", Alicia replied "you could order it online, or just pick it up at (insert overpriced specialty hippie store of your choosing here)." Yep, I can just see it now...Joe Six Pack driving right on past Wal-Mart to the local hipster hangout to pick up the kids' favorite vegan cheese-whiz. It's just not dinner without it, you know?

It's a personal pet peeve of mine to see celebs hawking the latest "miracle diet" calling for weird, inexpensive, hard to find ingredients and insisting that evvvvvvvvvvvvvvverybody would just feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel so much better it they only tried it! Tell that to the majority of people out there whose monthly grocery budget would be busted after one trip to the store.

/End Rant

On a completely unrelated subject, Em had his first trip to the dentist today...we've been reading Just Going to the Dentist (Oh how I love Mercer Mayer!!) all week and talking about how the dentist was going to look at his teeth with a mirror on a stick, which he seemed to think was moderately cool. Still, Emmett is Emmett, and things went about as well as could be expected. The dentist said Emmett was the first kid he's ever seen that could cry and scream with his mouth closed...LOL, classic Em! The new dental hygenist there also spoke and acted exactly like Kelly from The Office, which was highly amusing. She was great though, super gentle. Hopefully Em's a little more cooperative next year, otherwise we may have to talk alternative measures - maybe The Big Book of British Smiles and then "hold still while I gas you!!" ;)

Nerdy Confession

2009-10-08T13:12:00.000-07:00

I love indexing! There, I said it. Whew! ;)

For those thoroughly confused right now, indexing is when you take images of old records (censuses, birth/marriage/death certificates, ship passenger lists, etc) and type out the info so that it can be searched by those doing their family history. Before indexing you would have to get rolls of microfiche and scroll through them until your eyes felt like they were going to fall out of your head, and hope you found the information you were looking for. (Yeah, I did that exactly once.) After something is indexed you should be able to type in a name, for example, have it pop right up for you.

I started indexing last year after reading an article about it in our church magazine (Mormons are well known for being genealogy-happy) and checking out the website. As of today, I've indexed 10,659 names! It's probably more than that, because I've done quite a few records that had more than one name on it (like a marriage record that's got the bride and groom as well as their parents' info). A couple of weeks ago I got an email from the site inviting me to be an arbitrator...each record is indexed by 2 different people, and the arbitrator goes through any discrepancies and picks the correct information. I have to admit, my inner nerd was pretty stoked to be given arbitrator status. So far I've arbitrated 150 records...sometimes it's really hard to figure out which interpretation of the info is correct, but I'm doing my best with it.

It's pretty interesting to read the old records and learn a bit about the past. The death records make me glad I live in the 21st century...even 70 or 80 years ago people died of seemingly benign things ALL the time. The romantic in me wonders if the people who filled out those 100 year old marriage certificates stayed together all of their lives. It surprised me as well to see the number of women in their late 30's and up getting married for the first time...I always thought back in the day you were a confirmed spinster by the age of 23! I've seen plenty of interesting names - one 19th century black family in the deep south gave all of their sons occupation names: Doctor, Judge, etc. Sometimes I even Wiki the places on the records...I did a bunch of death records for what turned out to be a TB hospital somewhere in the southern states. I looked it up and found a picture of the place - it was pretty much the creepiest looking building ever.

So yeah, I may not be doing *my* family history (kind of at an impasse on that one right now) but at least I'm helping others do theirs...and satisfying my inner nerdiness at the same time. Win win!

Another quick preschool update...I hosted for our co-op preschool for the first time today! We learned about Thanksgiving - we ran around pretending to be turkeys and made a turkey centerpiece out of a lunch bag and some construction paper. Emmett still wasn't sure about things, even though we were hosting this week - I think the word "preschool" still has negative connotations for him. He freaked out while we were pretending to be turkeys, which didn't surprise me (he is really weird about pretending to be animals), but I'm trying to teach him that we do a variety of stuff at preschool so there is something for everyone and it's not just things HE wants to do all the time. He actually did most of his turkey craft, which pleasantly surprised me, and he did a fantastic job sharing his toys with the other kids. Oh, and he went nutso for the animal crackers we had for snack, surprise surprise. ;) All in all a successful morning!

Preschool Update

2009-09-22T21:08:00.000-07:00

So it seems it's all's well that ends well with this preschool business. I talked to the director via email a couple of times about my concerns, but she was pretty much all "We're awesome, what are you talking about?" Yeah. Long story short I got my money back and I never have to set foot in that place again.

On a much more positive note, I am now doing both homeschool preschool with Emmett, as well as a preschool co-op with some friends from church once a week! We'll all take turns teaching, and it will be Emmett and 4 other boys, all pretty close in age. We had a planning meeting this week and I'm really excited about it...these ladies are all fantastic and I love all the little boys that will be in his "class". I think we're going to have a lot of fun!

I'm doing the homeschool thing Monday thru Friday, just for about 10 minutes a day. We're doing things like colours, letters, numbers, nursery rhymes, etc. He pretty well knows all of that stuff, but it's more about having him practice school skills. He really needs to work on his listening (What 3 year old doesn't, right?), and I'm just now introducing crafts to him - definitely his LEAST favorite part of "preschool"! Each week we're doing a theme based on stuff he's interested in - last week was cows and this week we're learning about bees. He's becoming quite the little expert on beehives and honey! On Friday we're going to make a bee that he can play with, so maybe that kind of craft will interest him a little more.

As terrible as this whole preschool experience has been, I think it really increased my confidence as a mom and reminded me how much I've grown as a mother in the past few years. I was updating Seth's baby book this morning and I pulled out Emmett's for comparison. Seth is just starting to crawl, but Emmett was still a couple of months away from crawling (and 4 lbs heavier!) at this point, and I remember being super worried about it. I also remember people telling me it was no big deal, that he would get there, but until he did I couldn't stop myself from worrying. Of course with Seth being my second I'm way more laid back in that area, but even with Emmett I'm loosening up. Emmett has always been behind his peers on most things developmentally. He's proven that it's not a matter of intelligence (this kid has all of his books memorized and practically operates the computer better than me), but a matter of only working on things that are important to Emmett. Singing and reading and computer games are important to Emmett. Taking his own shoes off or using the potty...not so much. It can be frustrating at times, but I KNOW he's going to get there. I'm doing what I can to help him stretch out of his comfort zone and try new things, and I'm not sweating the rest. I can't tell you how much I wish I could go back about 2 years in time and tell myself to chill out. ;)

Alarm Bells

2009-09-10T09:15:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last entry, Emmett started preschool last week. After the second day I got pulled in for a "chat" about Em's lack of listening skills and short attention span. This behavior "couldn't go on all year". I was asked to observe the next class to see if I had some suggestions for them.

I spend the whole day crying off and on, thinking I had somehow failed as a parent because my child wasn't falling in line at preschool. I was afraid he was going get kicked out of the program. I spoke to trusted friends and family about it over the weekend and went in there on Tuesday resolved to help my child adjust to preschool and support the teachers any way I could.

As I brought Em into the classroom, he started bawling, which surprised me since he had been fine the first couple of days. Alarm bells started going off in my head when I was consoling him in my lap and one of the teachers came up to him and said (well, more like yelled): "Come on Emmett, there are only 12 minutes left of play time and you CAN'T stay on your mom's lap, you need to get down here and PLAY."

I reacted slowly...things just kept going from bad to worse and something inside me was screaming "Something is NOT right about this". The pinnacle moment came when Emmett refused to draw something on the daily art project and the teacher grabbed his head and forced him to look at the paper while holding his arm and forcing him to draw. I don't know why I didn't slap this woman, I think I was in shock. I could NOT believe was I was seeing.

During this time one other child was crying for his mother - he was shown no compassion whatsoever, was told "You are in SCHOOL now and you should know better than to keep crying!"and was basically just put in a corner to cry. My mom suggested I go back to the school and find this boy's parents and tell them what happened. That's what I did this morning and I am SO glad that I did...alarm bells had been going off for them as well but what I told them convinced them not to put their kid back in that class. The boy's grandmother told me that when they went to pick him up on Tuesday, the teacher said "Oh, is he still in the bathroom?"

They had put him in the bathroom, closed the door and forgot about him. Him mom found him sobbing on the floor. Apparently this child's mother and grandmother also saw Emmett sobbing in a corner on the first day, and they thought it wasn't right.

I can't believe anyone would possibly think treating a child like that is acceptable. I've written a letter to the preschool director letting her know my concerns (and believe me, showing professionalism and restraint while writing it was no easy task) and Emmett will never set foot in that place again.

This was my first experience with the "mommy alarm bells" going off, and needing to advocate for my child. I am so grateful that I was in that class to witness what was going on and that I listened to my gut on this one.

Summer Update

2009-09-08T03:10:00.000-07:00

It's 4am and I can't sleep, so I might as well check "finally write another blog entry" off my to do list and post a bunch of pictures I've been holding onto for the last couple of months.

We went to Jasper for Canada day...the weather wasn't fantastic but the boys proved to be excellent little travellers and we made the best of it. We had a picnic beside Lake Annette and Emmett was way too busy throwing rocks in the lake to actually eat!

There's a paved trail around the lake so we were able to take Em and Seth for a little hike after lunch...Emmett walked most of the 2.4 km, which I thought was pretty impressive for someone who's legs are only 10 inches long or so. ;)

A rare shot of James - he's almost always behind the camera!

Then the kids figured, hey we drove 4 hours to get here...let's hang out in the car some more!

Em and daddy by the Jasper bear - it's amazing how much these two look alike, their builds are identical!

One of the stores in town had a bubble machine...he was SO MAD when we had to leave it behind!

Not sure why James took this one, probably because he's pinching himself while sleeping...kids are weird.

I turned 28 on the August long weekend...getting older isn't really as fun when you're closer to 30 than 20! I decided to make my own birthday dinner - I saw these french bread mushroom pizzas on Rachael Ray's show years ago, and they looked SO good, but the ingredients were way too expensive to justify making it for a regular dinner. This year I decided I was finally going to make them...they were really good! I turned it into kind of an italian theme with caprese salad and grilled asparagus.

James cleaned the kitchen after, which was also my present. ;)

Emmett started preschool last week...he was very excited to wear his little backpack and seems to be really enjoying it! Here he is on the first day:

He's having a little trouble adjusting to the structured environment of preschool, but hopefully we'll be able to work with him on that in the coming weeks.

We just got back from Lethbridge this weekend - we visited James' Oma and Opa, and hit the Calgary Zoo on the way down as well. (I don't have pics of this yet, as they're on James' phone) It's funny what is important to little folks...we worked hard to get Emmett to notice all of the exotic animals, but he was more excited by things like the flowers and a bunch of sparrows hanging out in the porcupine enclosure. He did really enjoy the giraffes and the monkeys though.
The boys did very well camping and visiting Oma and Opa...it was a lot of time in small spaces not really designed for children and they handled it quite well. (We were hoping to spend some time outdoors but it was wasp central...I got bit myself under my arm, not fun.) The boys were the hit of the assisted living centre where Oma and Opa live - Seth was in full charm mode and Emmett had a great time running around and saying hi to all the residents. Opa even arranged for Emmett to have yogurt for dessert at dinner time...yogurt is his favorite food and he was SO excited! Now that he's talking more it's so fun to get his "take" on things...we got a lot of "Wow!" and "It's so BEAUTIFUL!" this weekend. (The camper was especially "beautiful" ;))

Sethers sure changed a lot this summer...he's sitting up really well now, and is on the verge of crawling. He's adapted a really cute system to get around - a combination of rolling and hand over hand wriggling that looks like he's swimming! He's babbling constantly and we think he's starting to mimic words - this weekend he was saying "oooooooooopa, oooooooooooooopa" a lot. (Probably because big brother was saying Hey Opa, Hi Opa, Opa up, etc constantly the whole trip)

A few random pics:

This is what happens when you go on a formula bender:

The tiger and the hawaiian tourist:

So that was our summer...it was fun but I'm glad it's over - bring on the colder temperatures please! (Note: I reserve the right to take this back in February!)

Feeling Greatful

2009-07-24T11:37:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to think of new ways to get my rather disinterested 3 year old to sit on the potty for more than 2 seconds - bribery doesn't work, books get old quick and any attempts at conversation are met with "all done potty?". Now we sing church songs, and lately he's been asking to sing to me rather than the other way around. I swear I feel like my heart is going to burst as he quietly sings "A Child's Prayer" or "I Love to See the Temple" in his sweet little voice.

I feel so grateful to be Emmett's mom...parenting him has taught me so many things. Him and I are very different personality wise; I am fiercely independant, he is completely unenthused about learning to do pretty much anything for himself. I have a hard time shutting up, his philosophy is "why use 10 words when 1 will do?". He has forced me to learn patience, humility and how to let go of things that aren't that important.

It's kind of interesting to watch Em amongst a group of his peers...he's definitely got his own little drumbeat going on. He loves to be around other kids, but doesn't really feel the need to play with anyone else yet. If someone steals a toy from him, he barely seems to notice...or at most quietly takes it back without comment. He's kind to his little brother (who, BTW is ever so pleased when The Great Em acknowledges his existence) and, despite a blossoming bossy streak , is really well behaved as far as 3 year olds go. I do worry about him sometimes (Will his speech ever catch up to his peers? Will he make friends at preschool?), but I try hard to remind myself that he's doing his own thing and getting there in his own time.

I've really got to post some pictures on here - I've got a camera full but my cord has mysteriously walked away (probably to a toy box), so I'll add pics as soon as I can.

Wow.

2009-07-15T08:21:00.001-07:00

Between getting my own cell phone this past weekend and starting this blog, it looks like I might be jumping into the future! Or, 2005. What's next? Hovercars? $50 bottles of Pepsi? Exercise bikes powering TV screens and playing "Beat It" on a continuous loop? The possibilities are endless!