A Desperate House-Mom

Single Mothers

2012-02-15T08:14:00.000-08:00

Motherhood is hard. At least, it is for me. Often I think of single mothers, who don't have a husband to relieve them for a while, even for a short while, when they get home from work. They do all the disciplining alone. They bear the sole burden when their kids are sick. They cook all the meals, do all the cleaning and do all the arranging and driving around for whatever school or activities their kids are in. On top of that, they have other jobs to pay the bills. They have to be in charge of the maintenance on their own vehicles, paying the bills on time, and if they live in a house, they are in charge of that maintenance too. Somehow, over and above all that they have to raise their kids up right, putting their own needs second to those of their kids. That's a big load to carry.

Today, I begin the first of three days of being a single mother. It's not the same, because during that time I do not have to juggle a full time job, nor do I have to worry about vehicle or house maintenance, or even any activities, seeing Cody is not allowed to go to hockey on Friday by order of the doctor. But the rest is on me. I am already stressed out, and feeling very impatient. Micah has already spilled water all over the kitchen, and apparently he also peed his pants and did not bother to tell me. I am not sure whether that is true or not, as he got water all over himself. Either way, I am so frustrated I just put him in diapers. I can't deal with potty training today if he's just going to pee and not say anything. I was taking him to the bathroom at the regular time and his pants were totally wet. You couldn't tell by looking at them because they were fleece, otherwise I would have dealt with the issue sooner.

I did make muffins this morning, and have started a load of laundry as well as folded and put away another load, and hung my washed diapers to dry, so I suppose I have at least accomplished something today. But the truth is, my house is a disaster, and I just don't have the energy to fix it all. I fantasize about doing a massive cleaning job and getting this place spotless while Mike is gone, but it's not realistic. I have just enlisted the boys' help, as I will be vacuuming later this morning...or this afternoon, if we don't get enough cleaning done this morning.

When I walked into the kitchen this morning, there was a hockey net there. I mean a big, outdoor hockey net. Yeesh. They had gone outside and dragged it up the stairs and into the house, with the intention of setting it up in the basement. And Jamie has a really snarky attitude this week, which is unusual for him. Apparently it's a side effect of strep throat. He hates his medicine too. He calls it "spicy".

Now I am helping Cody to write his Valentines out so he can give them away at school tomorrow. He was too sick to do it yesterday. Today he seems mostly normal. His rash has improved a lot, and his glands are not as huge. His throat is also way better. Yay for antibiotics. I have to run so I can help him finish these valentines. Hopefully I won't have any overly "exciting" updates in the next three days.

Scarlet Fever for Valentine's Day?

2012-02-14T09:30:00.000-08:00

I know you're supposed to be all about red or pink for Valentine's day, but this is ridiculous. Cody seems to have scarlet fever. He was positive for strep yesterday, but now he has a rash all over his body. I looked it up, and he has every single symptom of scarlet fever, including being positive for Strep A. Yeesh. So we may have to go back to the doctor today. I'm not sure. I don't really know what this means. Will he need more treatment? Or is it the same as for Strep throat? I don't know. All I know is that scarlet fever has some serious complications and can be very scary. Cody threw up this morning and then panicked. I guess that's a symptom too. The barfing, not the panicking. I have booked an appointment for him and for Jamie for this afternoon, and they are going to call me if the doctor doesn't think he needs to see Cody again. Jamie's throat is red and his glands feel swollen to me (not that I'm a doctor or anything, but I compared him to Micah, who has no symptoms at all), so I will have him checked if we are going anyway. The last thing I want to do is go to the doctor again with all three boys. Yesterday was embarrassing and frustrating, but if Jamie needs antibiotic too I need to find out right away. Plus I need to know whether Cody is in danger, with it being more serious than just strep throat.

He is missing his Valentine's party today, but he skyped his class and had a little chat with them this morning, so that was nice. I don't think he'll be partaking in my cookies today, though. His stomach hurts quite badly, on and off, (another symptom of scarlet fever) and he doesn't want to eat. I kind of pressured him to eat a bowl of cheerios this morning and he threw up right afterwards.

So it's kind of a depressing Valentine's Day around here. Mike and I plan to have kind of a fake date later, when the boys are in bed. We have a meal planned that will be similar to restaurant food, and I guess we'll probably just hang out or watch a movie. Then, for the rest of the week, I will be a single mom, as he has a conference for work that he will be attending. He will be leaving after work on Wednesday and not returning until Friday night some time. I'm not looking forward to running the sick house without help, but that is how it will go for now. Ironically, by the weekend I'm going to crave a weekend away even more badly than I did before.

On the upside, the weather is beautiful once again, though the sun has disappeared behind some clouds for now. Our very mild winter weather is continuing and I am thankful. The highways have been very clear, which has been so nice for traveling. I will likely be out on them later today to get the boys in to the doctor, which is a good 20 minute drive from here.

For now, I'm trying to get my house whipped back into shape. It got very, very out of order when the dishwasher broke just before we went away! Yikes! It is temporarily fixed, so I can use it once again. Phew! I don't do well with hand washing. Pathetic, I know, but it just takes too long with the number of dishes we go through a day, and the boys get into so much trouble in such a short time...I just can't spend hours on the dishes. I also hate what it does to my hands, but again, maybe that's pathetic. No matter. That's how I feel about it, pathetic or not. Time to do load number two for the day! (And it's not even noon yet!) I'm off for now.

UPDATE: Back from the doctor at 6:15 p.m. Cody does not have scarlet fever, apparently, though I'm not sure I understand what the doctor said. He said the rash was part of the strep, but from what I read, once there's a rash it's scarlet fever. No matter. Cody is feeling MUCH better now. Unfortunately, Jamie has strep, and apparently his is resistant to amoxicillin as he had that just a few weeks ago and is still apparently sick. Yeesh. So two kids on ten days of antibiotics now. Joy!

A Weekend Away, With Everybody

2012-02-13T13:30:00.000-08:00

We spent the weekend away, in a hotel, a rare treat for us. Well, a treat for the boys. We had a surprise birthday party for Mike's sister, which was held at a roller rink. I didn't even know they still had those! Jamie and Cody both went for it in their roller blades and it was a breakthrough for Jamie. He was flying around like a little pro and he was so happy. Now we want to get him on the ice so he can skate there the same way. He is more than capable, but has been a little timid about it all along.

Yesterday morning we got all three in the hotel pool, and Micah and Jamie both broke through their fears there too! Every time we have taken them into a pool they will barely even sit on the top step, and they both go into sheer panic if anyone dares carry them into the water. This time, they floated with their water wings and matching tubes around their waists, and they just swam like they owned the pool. It was Cody that required a lot of convincing to go in. I was so proud of them. They had such a blast, and it was a very special time for them.

Though our sleep was pretty disastrous, I must say the weekend was good for me too. I know I have been craving a weekend ALONE in a hotel, but it turned out that having our whole family together gave me a fresh appreciation for my boys. I was so thrilled to see them so full of joy in that pool, and there was also a giant play structure that they invaded. They got to just be free and have a blast, and as a result there were few of the clashes that we have been having on a regular basis. Instead, it was mostly just a fun, family time.

And now I'm starting this new paragraph about six hours after the last one. A lot has happened since then. On Sunday (yesterday) in the hotel Cody was feeling really yucky with a bad stomach ache and a headache. Later that night he said it hurt to swallow. I took all three boys to town today to get Cody checked by a doctor. Sure enough, he has a bad case of strep throat. Ugh. It feels like the cycle of illness is never going to end in 2012! I thought we were almost in the clear, but I guess not. Poor guy is not only in pain and has a high fever, but now he has to miss his Valentine's party at school tomorrow, plus hockey practice tonight and his hockey game on Friday evening. He doesn't know he is missing the game just yet, but he will be very upset when he finds out. It has been a long day even though we only went to one place. We were gone a long time because of a bit of a mixup at the pharmacy...etc. Now we're home and Cody has the TV on so all is quiet in the house. Hopefully things will improve soon. I'm glad I took him though. He needs these antibiotics, so I hope to see some improvement in him in the next two days. Now it looks like we will be planning our own little Valentine's party at home, so he doesn't feel as upset. I did make my cookies, so those will be coming out tomorrow! Hopefully I can think of something fun to do with them too.

Thwarted

2012-02-10T10:28:00.000-08:00

Yes, thwarted. That is one of the many themes of my life, but I will tell you why it specifically applies this week. I know I have mentioned my Valentine's cookies, and how I love to make them. Wait, that is not right. I don't love making them. But I love to eat them, and so does everyone else. Making them is a long and tedious process, and requires a lot of prep and cleaning, and has taken me as long as seven hours in the past, and that didn't even include making the dough. So I don't really love the process. But this year Cody wanted to help me. Well, we're not going to be around this weekend, and Valentine's Day is on Tuesday, so given that it is a two-day process I decided I better start this week and do them before the weekend. Cody has school Monday, Wednesday, Friday this week, so I decided to make the dough on Tuesday because Cody wanted to help.

Only Cody was not in a good state on Tuesday. Things were rough, to say the least, so the cookies were put on hold. Thwarted, if you will. But not completely. I just didn't want to make them with him.

So Wednesday I decided to go ahead and make the dough, which has to sit in the fridge overnight before baking, by the way, hence the reason it is a two day process. I began by softening the margarine and started beating it in the KitchenAid, which Mike fixed last week, by the way. Next on the list? Sugar. I grabbed the canister out of the pantry, but there was barely any sugar in it. No problem. We had about a third of a 10 kilogram bag in the pantry, so I hauled that out and poured it into the canister. As I watched the sparkling white grains filling the container, I noticed a few darker crumbs pouring out. Hm. Okay, well I could just filter those out when I scooped the sugar into the measuring cup. I kept pouring. What was THAT? Something much larger than a crumb and dark in colour dropped into the bin. Oh boy. There went another one. Wait...is that cat food??? A closer inspection confirmed my fears. There was indeed cat food inside the white sugar. I can only think of a couple of things that could have been grosser than that. But cat food was gross enough. Clearly, the whole canister contained sugar that was contaminated. It was going to have to all get thrown out. That had to be at least 3 kilograms of sugar, which translates to approximately 6 1/2 pounds. That is a HUGE waste!

I had to call Mike immediately, as he was already at the grocery store on his way home from work. He brought me home a smaller bag of sugar, which was good, and I did make the dough. But it has sat in the fridge ever since. Yesterday Cody once again thwarted me from baking them, which is the hardest part of the process as it involves rolling the dough, cutting each cookie out and baking them. The recipe yields more than 100 cookies.

So now my KitchenAid bowl sits in my fridge, full of dough and covered in plastic wrap. On the counter, a large container full of sugar, and cat food. I just can't bring myself to toss that all in the garbage, but I don't know what else to do with it. The idea of baking cookies with that sugar and having small crumbs of cat food inside is enough to make me want to barf. I need to bake the cookies. I just don't want to. But I might get my act together this afternoon and do it.

As for my other plan for the week, the daily vacuuming is still in effect. Well, sort-of. Yesterday was a write-off day in every way, so I did not vacuum then. But the boys still cleaned their toys and I was able to vacuum everything this morning. So even though it is extremely freezing cold outside, our house looks warm and inviting, with sunshine streaming in on almost every side and carpets devoid of toys, and freshly vacuumed. Yep. It is good for my mental well-being, and I certainly need for something around here to benefit my mental health.

Now I'm off to face the music. Somehow I have to decide whether to bake these crazy cookies or not. I know I should. Ugh. Not even the thought of eating them later is doing much to inspire a baking fit. If my kitchen was clean, it would be a different story. I guess that will be my next plan then. Happy Friday, everyone.

Maintaining a clean house - Attempt #4,138.

2012-02-08T06:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a non-Kindergarten day, so I had all three boys at home. It was not a particularly good day. There were many, many battles fought, and those battles were painful and loud. And I don't even mean battles between the boys. There were some of those too, as there always are. But I'm talking about the kind I have to fight, particularly with one of my boys. More about that in another post.

The reason I mentioned battles is because cleaning is often a battle around here. It has been for some time now. Boys don't like to clean up. At least, mine don't. Cody is getting better at it. Jamie...well, no. And Micah? Micah is 2 1/2. He loves to help, so if cleaning is the effort that is underway, he will gladly pitch in. Usually. Except when he simply doesn't want to. Then he employs that magical word that two-year-olds everywhere adore. "No." Such a simple word, but with such power.

Well, this mommy gets very tired of toys all over the place. I say that out loud many times a day, every day, and I'm sure they either tune me out or do an inward eye roll. But yesterday I had had enough. I enforced a mandatory clean-up time. In truth, it wasn't that bad upstairs. Well, it was, but I have seen much worse. I knew the effort would not take me more than ten minutes, but it was the principle. Shockingly, nobody was willing to help me out. So I used the threat that puts fear into children and toys everywhere. The vacuum was coming out, and whatever was left on the floor would be shown no mercy.

It worked. For a while. But then the fear wore off. Maybe I should have chased them around with the vacuum running. I don't know. All I know is the clean-up fizzled out after only a few minutes, and next thing I knew, I was standing alone in the living room and all three boys were downstairs. Okay, I can deal with that. Time for the next threat level. I started picking up books and toys, and I loudly announced them as I did. Those were the toys (and roller skates, and hockey equipment...etc.) that they would not be getting back. Panic ensued. Cody charged up the stairs and then things got ugly. He cleaned. He cleaned in a frenzy, and left not one item on the floor in the living room or hall, and I told him his room was next. Of course, he did it in a bit of a rage, and he was mighty ticked off that he was not getting those other items back, but they are up in my closet anyway.

In the end, I had clear floors and I vacuumed happily. I was even able to do my own room, after moving a few stray items out of the way...including more of the boys' toys. Yes, they are in every room. In my success, I had a brilliant idea. Okay, so maybe it wasn't brilliant, but it has the potential to be. We have a bit of a cycle in this house. Mess and clutter builds up over the span of weeks and then mommy loses it and enforces a clean-up much like yesterday. (Sometimes this happens after only a few days.) The vacuum threat is effective every time, and when they do not comply, they lose toys. But I just want it to be clean ALL the time. I know that is not realistic with kids...especially these ones, but yesterday I decided I want my floor back. They have their toys downstairs now. They don't need them all over the place up here. So in the afternoon I told them my plan. From now on, I will be vacuuming every day. The living room, the hallway, and the bedrooms. If their stuff is on the floor, it's gone. Period. Cody, of course, immediately threw a fit. That's not fair, and so on. But I told him, it's very simple. All he has to do is keep his stuff off the floor every day! And he picked up his room in a hurry.

That is my plan. I have had many plans on how to keep this place clean, but I hope this one will somehow make it hit home. Then I can be happy having a clear floor, and maybe, just maybe, it will teach my boys to habitually keep their room clean and keep their stuff off the floor. I have not vacuumed yet today, but it's only 8:30 a.m., so I'm okay with that. I will have to post back in a week to update on how my plan is going. Who knew being a housewife was this complicated?? I'm off to clean the kitchen.

I wish I could explain, but there are no words.

2012-02-06T07:58:00.000-08:00

Life with boys. It's hard to explain. Really, it is, and sometimes I wonder whether life with boys is a universal thing, or whether my boys are the only ones who do the things they do. I never had any brothers growing up. That's right, just two sisters. I have been a mother to boys for almost six years now, and I am learning as I go, but day after day they continue to shock me.

Maybe that's not true. Maybe I am beyond being shocked now. There is a sense of resignation that has come over me...at times even a sense of futility. Don't get me wrong. I love my boys to pieces, and they make me smile and even bring me to tears of joy on a nearly daily basis. They are delightful and sweet, and each one is special in his own ways.

But my house! Oh, my poor, poor house. Nobody told me how destructive boys are. Seriously, I thought my rabbit was bad, chewing up electrical cords, tearing up the carpet in our apartment, chewing the back of the couch...Yes. Dear Oreo was destructive. But he didn't hold a candle to a team of three little boys.

I posted on Friday about our team cleaning effort, which went very well. Over the weekend, the boys cleaned all the toys in their room so it was "clean" too. (I have to put the word clean in quotation marks because the boys' room is never clean. It can be tidy, but the walls need to be repainted, and I would say the carpet needs shampooing too.) Anyway, I thought I would take some pictures of the scene I encountered yesterday in their room, just to show you what can happen in there in the span of one day, or more accurately, one hour.

In this first picture, you see how they have taken Jamie's mattress off and made it into a "slide", a frequent occurrence in their room. It is also often used as a bridge between the two beds. What is particularly noteworthy in this picture is the gaping hole in the box spring. No, that was NOT there before. In fact, that was what stopped me in my tracks as I was walking by. Not the mess, the chaos or the fact that furniture was being disassembled in there.

Above is a closer up shot of the destruction. I don't know whether you can tell from the picture, but the hole is about two feet in diameter. I daresay even Oreo would have been hard-pressed to make such an impressive mess in that short span of time.

Finally, a shot of the whole room, just to show you how beautiful it is. Keep in mind, an hour or so prior to this it was "clean".

As I said in my title, there are no words that can adequately describe the chaos that is a constant in this house. It is exhausting. It is discouraging. It is amazing, really. Cody is nearly six and I have still not gotten through to him about this kind of thing. However, I think that can be attributed to what I call "mob mentality" in my boys. If Cody was an only child, or if he did not share a room, I suspect he would not be doing a lot of this stuff. But he has two brothers, and he shares a room with one of them, so I don't see things changing any time soon. As far as having a clean house goes, I will continue to fight a losing battle, at least for a while now. Their room is not the only place in this house that can get destroyed in less than an hour.

Incidentally, Cody was the one who ripped the hole in the mattress. Perhaps he was retaliating for the incident a couple of years ago when Jamie ripped Cody's fitted bed sheet in half. I'm not really sure. The explanation I got was that some kind of toy fell and they thought it was in there. Maybe they have a future in search and rescue. Either way, this incident has put a damper on my plans (our plans) to buy the boys a new bed (a bunk bed) and to get them new bedding and mattresses. Is it worth it? Hard to say. I guess we will hold off a while and see whether we feel like risking it or not.

And now I'm off to start the second load in what is going to be a laundry marathon today. At least then I will feel like I have accomplished something.

Teamwork

2012-02-03T08:32:00.000-08:00

It's another beautiful day this morning, with mild temperatures and bright sunshine. I was hoping to do an extra thorough cleanup job in this house to surprise Mike when he gets home. Yes, I know it's pathetic that a clean house would actually surprise him, but keeping it clean in here beyond the morning is nearly impossible. So today I started with a bunch of dishes and then I gathered the boys' laundry. Here's where the teamwork comes in.

As silly as it is, there has been a sock frozen on our back deck for weeks now, and every time I open that door to put the garbage out, I see it sitting there, all pathetic and frozen. It is Jamie's of course. His socks are always scattered all over the place and when gathering laundry, it is close to impossible to find all of them. It drives me crazy, in all honesty, but I have not been able to train him out of it so far. He is only four, and just barely, so maybe there is still hope. It's hard to say.

Anyway, the surface of the deck was looking awfully frosty and being in my bare feet I decided to enlist a helper. I asked Cody to put his boots on and retrieve the sock. First he went out in his bare feet, despite my warnings that it was going to be pretty cold out there. It is mild outside for February, but it is still below zero. Cody put in a valiant effort and he was joined by Jamie who was wearing a sleeper with feet, so he fared better than poor Cody. Soon, Cody put his boots on and went back at the sock, which was apparently frozen pretty solid onto the deck. They left the door open, and Micah watched with great interest from inside the doorway. I could see all of this from the laundry room, where I was putting the clothes in the washer.

It soon became apparent that a massive effort was underway on the deck. That sock was not going anywhere. I decided to help, so I put on my shoes and joined the whole crew. (Micah was now in his boots too, outside with his brothers.) I could not budge the sock either. Wow. After a joint effort that lasted several minutes, I told them we'd wait until spring and then we'd wash the poor sock. But I changed my mind. I filled a pitcher with hot water and we went back outside. I poured and Cody and Jamie pulled on the sock. It moved, but not enough. I poured all the water on it, to soak right through, and then I finally pulled up the sock. There was a great cheer and our entertainment was complete. I put the sock in the washing machine and it was over. It was so funny to see all the boys so engaged in such a minor activity, but it amused all of us far beyond what it should have.

Since then, I suppose we have been in team mode. I was miraculously able to get them to help me clean the living room and the hall, by moving all their toys back to the basement where they are currently being stored, and I was able to vacuum. When Cody was a baby, I vacuumed three times a day. I am not exaggerating. He would crawl around on the floor and pick up every single tiny thing he could find that was not part of the carpet, and then he would eat it. So in my first-time-mommy-paranoia, I felt I needed to keep the floor devoid of even the tiniest crumb or fluff. Now, vacuuming is difficult at best, unless I am willing to be the one who picks up all the boys' things, and I don't think that's very good training for them.

All that to say, we have made progress today and it feels good! Perhaps it is naive, but I do hope when they are all older they will be better at not being tornadoes of destruction, leaving debris in their wake at every turn. Hm. Yes, I think maybe that is naive. Well, maybe at the very least we will be able to contain the mess to their own rooms instead of having it explode all over my house. Until then, we will survive the best we can in the chaos and continue in our efforts to train them to be helpers.

Only a few hours left!

2012-01-31T13:24:00.000-08:00

It is January 31st. Less than half a day remains in the month of January, and I can't wait to bid it farewell. We have had an exceptionally warm and beautiful month, and I am grateful for that. Even more, I am grateful for the lack of precipitation that we have had so far this winter. So far, our flooding outlook is pretty good for the spring, though we have a long two months to go yet before we can really get confident in that.

But weather aside, I just really look forward to February. I do every year. February symbolizes hope to me. It is still winter, and can be downright miserable. But February is on the home stretch. It means spring is coming. And it is a happy month. It's full of pink and red and hearts, chocolate and gifts. Yes, Valentine's Day. Am I a fan? Not necessarily. In fact, as a rule I kind of hate pink. But it is a happy colour, and signifies spring and flowers, and freshness. I don't know why. That's just how I think of it. Valentine's Day is hit or miss for most people. It is a terrible, torturous occasion for the single and lonely, a stark reminder of their status. (For those who are unhappy being single, that is.) For those who have someone special, it can be a wonderful day, or it can be a day marked by unfulfilled expectations and disappointment.

For me, I don't much care. I mean, I was never really bothered by Valentine's Day in my single days, and once Mike and I started dating it became a really fun day for me. Now, we don't get out much ever, let alone on Valentine's Day. I would love to go on a date, but I know that's unrealistic, and that's okay. As long as we can spend a fun evening together at home. But I really do look forward to baking my Valentine's Cookies. As a matter of fact, this year I did not make my Christmas cookies, which are the same except cut into Christmas shapes instead of hearts. Valentine's Cookies have been part of our tradition since our first Valentine's together, in 2000. So this year, I am irrationally excited to make them.

Our KitchenAid mixer broke several weeks ago. In fact, it was over the Christmas holidays, in the first week of January. Mike just got it fixed last night when our parts finally all arrived, and now I am excited to have it available again. Yes, I will be making the cookies, despite the ridiculous amount of time it takes me each year to make them. I will put pictures on here once I get to it, which won't be this week.

Anyway, as silly as it is, these little things are enough to inspire me, and I feel like it's going to be a good month. I also have a sneaking suspicion things might get very cold outside, but in Manitoba, you just never know. Either way, I am happy to say January is nearly over and we are coming to the last cold month of the season without having gone through much harsh winter weather at all. That is a small detail, but it certainly is enough to make me smile for the moment.

Now I must sign off. Tonight is a hockey night for Cody, so it is a rushed afternoon as I have to feed the boys supper between 4-4:30 p.m. so he is ready on time to go to his practice. Sadly, I continue to lack in imagination in the culinary department. Sigh. Well, one thing at a time, I guess. We can't all be good at everything!

Houston, we have a problem.

2012-01-24T07:48:00.000-08:00

It's business as usual today here at home with the Dynamic Duo. Cody has gone to school and the boys are playing nicely in Jamie & Cody's room. If I'm being completely honest, I will admit that though it is already 9:28 a.m. and I have been up for two and a half hours, I am, shall we say, easing into my day. That's right, I'm hanging out on my bed doing some fun internet browsing looking for ideas for the boys' room, for when we finally fix it up. But as I sit here, I can't help but notice I have a bad chill. Hm. Every night we turn our thermostat to 19 degrees and in the morning I turn it up to 21 degrees. Very reasonable. This morning was no different. The kitchen was very cold when I went in to get Cody is breakfast and Jamie his medicine, so I popped into the living room and turned up the temperature to 21.

So why am I so cold? I just went to check out the situation, figuring the boys had shut off the thermostat, as they frequently do. (Nice, eh?) But it was still set for 21. The problem is, it was only reading 18.5 degrees in the living room. No wonder I feel cold! I checked the heat vent and though it was blowing air, that air could barely be classified as warm. So it looks like our furnace is still not working. Or maybe just not working again.

That's okay. It is supposed to go up to -3 outside today, and it looks like the sun will be shining brightly, so there is a good chance it will warm up in here at least a degree, maybe even two. But wow. It is still January in Manitoba, and once the temperatures drop back to normal again in a few days, we will be in serious trouble if we can't keep it warm in here. These are the moments when I think we should really invest in an electric fireplace or something. Yikes.

Jamie is wearing a fleece sleeper, complete with feet, so he should be okay. I put Micah in a very thick, fuzzy fleece sweat suit and socks, so he will probably be fine too. But this is quite irritating. I am so tempted to just crawl under my covers and have a nice cozy nap. But, obviously I can't do that. Here's hoping the sun shines with a little extra intensity into our living room window today.

Meanwhile, I will continue looking forward to February with much anticipation. Is it silly that I'm already excited about Valentine's Day? Yeah, I thought so. I have no plans. I just really want to make heart shaped sugar cookies and ice them in pink. More on that when we get closer to that day! Bye for now.

2012-01-23T12:58:00.000-08:00

It is Monday afternoon. I should be in the middle of "quiet time" right now, but sadly, quiet time has taken a serious turn for the worse in this house. Micah spent his whole "nap" shouting, "I want a banana! I WANT A BANANA, I SAID!" He also sang a Coldplay song and requested ice cream. A few minutes ago, Jamie looked as though he was about to have a narcoleptic episode and I asked him to think of what he wanted to do. He said he wanted to play with Micah. Well, I decided to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. Micah is now out and about with Jamie, playing "kitty and puppy". Micah is a kitty and crawls around meowing, until such time that he wants something. Then he talks to me in his "kitty voice". Jamie pretends he is "Oddball", one of the puppies from 102 Dalmatians. They have never seen the movie, but they have the book. I don't know what triggered the sudden obsession, but it is there. Mike and I secretly think that Oddball is quite a fitting name for Jamie, who is and has always been a tad bit eccentric.

Cody is here too. He was doing some math in a book we bought for him for Christmas, but now that Micah and Jamie are playing, he doesn't want to be left out so he is right in there too. They have this ball that is covered in suction cups and they take turns hurling it violently at the window. If it sticks, that is considered a goal. I played a little yesterday. I won. It was strangely satisfying. In fact, I wish I had one with me right now so I could hurl it at something. Maybe I'll borrow it after they go to bed tonight.

Jamie is feeling a lot better, but he is still grouchy. I don't know about Mike. He went to work, so I'm assuming he is okay. But then, who knows what will happen once he gets home. The rest of us still have colds, but not strep so far, so I am thankful for that.

My domestic accomplishments for the day? Well, I have folded two baskets of laundry so far and I hear that my third one is ready now too. Not a huge accomplishment, but somehow it always makes me feel like I have done something worthwhile. I had Cody on garbage collection duty this morning and we went around with a garbage bag and he picked up all the things they have dumped on the floor including (but not limited to) broccoli, grapes, a multitude of granola bar wrappers, kleenex, empty sticker packages, candy wrappers from Cody's birthday party he attended on Friday... Sadly, I could go on. The good news is, the floor is close to being ready to be vacuumed. That's right. In my house, you can't just vacuum. It's like a three day process to get ready first. All discarded laundry must be picked up. (That would mostly be Jamie's socks, which are found anywhere and everywhere on a daily basis.) All toys must be picked up and put in their proper places. This alone is a two day job. Garbage must be collected and discarded. I wish I could just pull the vacuum out and go for it, but it is seriously that difficult. Every day I am awed by how much mess three boys can make and how much destruction they can reap. It is amazing.

And even so, I have my heart set on fixing up their rooms in the spring. Well, mostly just the one room which has been ruined so badly by them. Time to paint over my once beautiful baby room and remove what is left of the tattered border. I will have to post before and after pics once we get around to that. We will wait until spring so we can set aside some funds for the job. I can't wait, even though it will be painful to watch the room get torn apart once again. Our hope is, if they are part of the fixing up, they will be less likely to write on the walls...etc. Naive? Yes. But that's okay. It's either that or we have to leave their room like this for another five years or more, and I just can't do it. After the destruction that the flood hit us with in the spring, we are just ready to make our upstairs look as nice as possible, seeing our basement is pretty much ruined.

Oh, and besides the laundry and garbage I forgot to mention I'm making a roast beef dinner tonight complete with mashed potatoes, gravy and some kind of vegetables that are as yet undetermined. That definitely counts as a domestic accomplishment, right? Now I am off to grab my next basket of laundry to fold and organize. Maybe I'll even vacuum before Mike gets home!

Improvements

2012-01-21T18:53:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Mike called me at lunch to tell me his throat was incredibly sore. He went to the doctor and was diagnosed with strep throat. With that in mind, we took Jamie in. He also has strep. So they are both on antibiotics and Jamie was substantially improved today. He played and he had no stomach troubles at all. Mike's throat was better in the morning but got bad again later in the day. I am hoping and praying that the rest of us don't get it, but we will have to wait and see, I suppose. The boys were all very grouchy today. Actually, all of us were. But we made it through. We have to wake Jamie up at 11 p.m. every night now to give him a dose of his medicine because it has to be every eight hours. I thought he'd cry and whine, but he was so sweet last night and even thanked me for the medicine. He knows it will happen again tonight. I remember my mom doing that for me when I was really sick. There is something very comforting for a child who is sick to be taken care of by their mother, or their father. My dad, like most, was a working man, so he was not the one there for me during the day. But he always checked on me when he got home from work.

Anyway, that's it for my update. I hope I don't have any further strep updates to give. I'd love to see everyone even more improved by tomorrow, but I don't know if that's realistic. Apparently it takes three to five days of treatment to clear it up. So I'm off to enjoy the rest of the quiet evening until Micah wakes up crying, like he does every night. Goodnight.

Big Day Here. UPDATE at bottom of page.

2012-01-20T06:38:00.000-08:00

I'd love to say, "Thank goodness it's Friday", but in truth, I will be relieved when today is over. Cody is off to school this morning. From there, he goes straight to a birthday party in town. From there, he goes straight to hockey, also in town. It's a huge day for him, and I am feeling kind of bad about it. This morning, I had to wake him up to get him ready on time, and that is not normal for him. It turns out, both he and Jamie are complaining of sore throats today. We've all been struggling with colds for a long time in this house. Well, maybe not Mike, but the rest of us are. Micah has been sick for weeks, and I have been for over a week now too.

Anyway, Jamie was looking pale and was whimpering when he got up. He didn't eat any of his breakfast. He seems to have a fever, so I told him to get his pillow and I have him set up on the couch watching TV with a blanket over him. I gave him some Tylenol too, partly for the fever but also in hopes it might help his throat pain. Poor boy. This is not normal behaviour for him either.

Micah is in my room with me, peeling billions of small stickers off of a roll and sticking them on me. I have 21 on my arms so far, but I see he is coming in with another one. I keep telling him to stop, but he is addicted. It isn't that I mind being covered in stickers. My only concern is that these may not be his stickers, and if they're not, there will be backlash later when the rightful owner finds out. Nothing makes Micah happy like stickers. Haha. It's pretty cute. He woke up crying at around 6 a.m. begging me to blow his nose, so he is not feeling awesome either. I hope this will go away soon. It's annoying.

So I anticipate a very quiet day here, seeing I won't even see Cody again until about 7 p.m., and Jamie will probably veg out all day. Micah is always pretty quiet, though he does get into trouble. Maybe we'll all even get to nap this afternoon! That would be nice. This cold has me losing sleep too, so I could do with the extra rest.

That's all from my frigid corner of the world this morning. I will quickly add though, I am very glad we are nearing the end of January. February is cold too, but psychologically it just feels better.

UPDATE: About an hour ago, Jamie threw up on the living room floor. He is weak and pale, and his voice is so quiet. He has finally fallen asleep on the couch. I have laundry going from the barf. I'm not as stressed out as I normally get about stomach sickness, but I am worried about Cody. This morning he said he had a stomach ache, but he used the bathroom and then seemed fine. Now I'm wondering whether he really is fine or not. I hope I will not have to go pick him up. That would mean dragging Jamie out in the freezing cold and making him endure a van ride with a bucket in his lap. Ugh. I hadn't even thought about that part of things. I SO hope that doesn't happen. But I wonder whether Cody will be okay after a day this big when clearly he was off to start with. Cody never sleeps in. Ever. Sigh. Okay, I am definitely a bit stressed out.

Micah is playing very quietly on the floor in my room, which is fine with me. I will probably try to keep him in here for a lot of the day to avoid contact with Jamie. (For Micah, I mean.) This is just not cool. I hope it will be a mild one and not get really horrible. I've been trying to call Mike so he is aware that Cody may not be up for hockey tonight, but I can't get a hold of him, as usual. Yuck. This is definitely depressing. Hopefully I will have a good update tomorrow, or whenever I post next.

More Invitations...

2012-01-18T12:39:00.000-08:00

Last week I posted about Cody's birthday party that he was invited to and how that was a milestone for me as a mom. I am sure I overreacted to the whole thing, but regardless, I was somewhat stressed out for many reasons. I told myself it was good, I would have to get used to it because there were bound to be more invitations in the future. What I forgot to update in here was, the very next day, I found another invitation in his backpack! It's for this Friday, so at least this time I had more notice. Once again I am a little bit stressed, but only because that day will be so huge for him. He will get on the bus to go to school at 7:40 a.m. Crazy, right? Then, at 3 p.m. when school is over, he will go directly to the birthday party, which will go until 5 p.m. Then, Mike will have to pick him up and rush him straight over to hockey, which starts at 5:30 p.m., and he really should be there by 5 so he can get dressed in all his equipment. I'm not sure how the whole thing is going to be coordinated. I haven't talked to the mom yet, but her son is also on Cody's hockey team, so I am thinking she will want him to rush over there too. But then I wonder, will she be feeding them supper? If not, Cody will not eat before practice, and that will NOT work. I have this and many other questions, but what I really need to do is call her. I will be doing that later, to sort out the details. I also need to know whether I have to drive to town and pick Cody up and drive him over to the birthday boy's house, or whether she is going to walk them all over from the school. I'm guessing that won't be the case, seeing it is ridiculously cold out this week.

Yes, winter has bared her fangs at us here, and we have been under an extreme wind chill warning all day, and it will continue all through tomorrow as well. The wind chill will be as low as -43 tomorrow morning. I heard it was -50 in parts of Saskatchewan and Alberta today. That's just gross! As it was, I had to take the Dynamic Duo out today, which was not thrilling for me. I had to see my ophthalmologist yet again, and it was early in the morning. So I had to take them over to Mike's parents' place at 8 a.m. and then brave the highways. I was nervous about that because there was a lot of blowing snow, but it turned out the visibility was pretty good. Ironically, just as I was exiting my house to leave, I got hit with a migraine, and when that happens to me, my vision goes very weird and it's hard to see. So even though road conditions were pretty decent, my eyes were not that good. It turned out okay, but I was worried I might have to pull over on the highway and wait until I could see again. Fortunately, it didn't get as severe as it did last night. I guess it was one of those kind that continues into the next day. I feel fine now, so that's a relief.

And now, I have one of those permanent chills you get when you have been outside in weather that was not made to be out in, and the only way to get rid of that kind of chill is with hot water. Man, I wish I had a hot tub. That would be so awesome. Not that it would matter. In 25 minutes, I have to go outside AGAIN and walk to the road to get Cody from the bus. How I wish I could stay inside today! At least tomorrow I get to, though I am going to get my hair done in the evening, so I will freeze then again.

Hm. A fireplace would also be nice. At any rate, as you can tell, I don't have anything profound to say today. I'm off for now.

Things you do NOT want to overhear your four year old saying...

2012-01-16T09:41:00.000-08:00

Well, I just had my adrenaline rush for the day. Cody is at school today, so I am just here with the Dynamic Duo. It has been very quiet in here for the last few minutes. I am in my room, where I do my laundry folding and putting away, and I heard Jamie say, "Now hold still, this won't hurt." My eyes popped open and I headed for the living room. On my way, I heard Jamie say, "Now don't move. I'm just going to cut around your ears." AAAHHHHH!!! Well, I supposed it was time. I have been a mom for almost six years now, and I don't think any of my kids have given themselves a haircut yet, let alone giving each other one. I bolted into the living room, my jaw already hanging open, and I stopped short. Jamie looked up, guilt in his eyes, but he was not holding scissors. He had a pair of pliers! Phew! Oh my goodness, that got the heart pumping. I really thought he was hacking Micah's hair, and I only hoped I would get there before he cut one of his ears while he was at it. I can't tell you how nice it was to walk in on a scene like that and feel relief instead of horror. Too many times I have been in the other boat.

Now I'm going to make some lunch for them and maybe I'll get some of their stuff cleaned up. It's like somebody set off a bomb in Santa's workshop. I'd love to get rid of some toys. I think that will be on the agenda soon. I also need to go through all my boys' clothes and "retire" the ones that are not fitting them and then bring out the ones that have been outgrown by someone but will now fit someone else. Endless cycle! I have been avoiding it because it is such a big job, but I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet soon and do it. Micah has a ton of clothes in his drawers that should have been retired a long time ago, and I think Jamie has some in storage that were Cody's but will fit him now. One day, when they are all past the youngest stage, I will be able to box up ALL the clothes and get rid of them. Not that I won't be sad to see some of them go, particularly the really small ones, but it will be nice to have some more storage space again too.

Micah is crying and needs some help. I'm off for now.

2012-01-15T07:37:00.000-08:00

I'm in my room by myself with a tall glass of chocolate milk. Mmm. Outside, huge fluffy snowflakes are falling gently to the ground. It is mild out again today, but starting tomorrow it's going to get super cold for the whole week, which I'm not looking forward to! I'm tired and a bit run down these days from a yucky cold, which I'm sure I got from Micah. It's really not that bad except the congestion gives me headaches and I find it hard to sleep at night because I can't breathe, so I'm tired most days. Hopefully it will clear up soon, and Micah's too. He has been sick for weeks.

Just wanted to follow up on two things. First, Cody's birthday party for his friend went all right. All in all, he had a good time and even though they watched part of a movie (we picked him up before it was over), the mom skipped the part that I was concerned about, so she must have been thinking the same way. I'm sure there will be many more birthday parties to come, so it should be interesting to see how that goes! Hopefully I won't be as nervous for all of them.

Also, I wanted to mention that Mike's dad came over and helped him fix the furnace. Well, apparently it still has a problem, but they did get the new elements installed and we actually have heat! I was beyond relieved. Anyone who knows me will tell you I am more often hot than I am cold, so it is ironic that it bothered me so much, but honestly, it was really uncomfortable in here. Whenever I sat still or stood still I had a chill and even under blankets I was shivering. The day after it got fixed, the boys and I all gathered on the floor in the living room around the most accessible heat vent and we just enjoyed the warm air coming out. Yes, that was very nice!

I don't have a ton more to report today. Cody has a hockey game today out of town, and as I watch the snow outside I wonder how the roads will be. In the few minutes I have been typing this post, the snow has gone from one of those romantic, gently drifting down snowfalls, to something a lot more intense. Still big flakes, but they are coming down much harder and faster than before.

The other thing on my mind in the last few days is home improvements. I really have this strong urge to go to Home Depot and buy a whole bunch of paint and other supplies and really fix up our place. I'm so tired of the writing on the walls...literally. So much writing, and much of it is in blue ball point pen, so it does not come off. I just want to paint this place, but then if we do, the boys will probably just do it all over again as soon as we're done. I just keep wondering how many years we'll have to wait before we can really get this place nice again. Oh well. Tis the season, I suppose. The season of life, that is.

I'm off to eat some breakfast. Bye for now.

A New Mommy Milestone For Me

2012-01-12T15:18:00.000-08:00

I suppose I am a bit of a sheltered mommy in a way. This year, Cody is in Kindergarten, obviously. I found that to be a hard transition in terms of having to let him go a little bit. Well, he just started back on Tuesday after a couple of weeks off for Christmas break, and I found a birthday party invitation in his bag. It was for today. Wow. It was very short notice, and I didn't know how we would possibly get a present between then and now. In addition to that, the invitation only had the boy's first name on it and not the name of the parent. I have not been particularly informed of Cody's classmates' last names, so even though I know a few of the parents' names, I don't know whose kid is whose. There was a phone number and a note that the kids would take the bus home with her son.

As silly as this might sound, I have been stressing over this ever since. I called the phone number on the invitation and found out his mother was one of Cody's preschool teachers, so I had at least met her before. But this is not the city, and their place is a minimum of ten miles from here, in the boonies (like we are) and even though a map was included, I must say it felt very odd to agree to send my child to someone's house that I have never been to, who has siblings that I have never met. In fact, I don't even think I have ever met the birthday boy himself.

Anyway, after much deliberating (with myself) I decided Cody could go. He was really excited about it, but I have been so nervous. I pretty much grilled the other mom to find out the details of the bussing arrangements, and what would be taking place at this party. She said they would be playing some games and making a craft and that she might put a movie on. That's when I got really nervous. Cody is very sensitive and finds a lot of things scary that some kids might not, and especially that many parents would not consider scary. I told her how sensitive he is and she said it would just be a cartoon. Well, that is not very comforting for me. Cody has barely seen any movies in his life, and most cartoon Disney type movies have at least one scary part in them, if not more. She listed a few movies, none of which thrilled me. Then she told me her five year old watches the Harry Potter movies. Oh dear! That is way beyond what I would ever show any of my boys. I don't say that in judgment of her. I don't care what other parents show their kids. But I know my boys, and something like that would have lasting damage on them, particularly fear issues and nightmares. Anyway, she assured me they would not watch anything like that, and I know she meant it. Still, I was left feeling nervous because I know Cody and I didn't want him to end up feeling uncomfortable and trapped.

So I told her my name and phone number and told her to please call me if Cody was having any problems and I would come and get him early. I also told Cody to have her call me if he was uncomfortable or scared if they watched a movie, and he's the kind of kid who would, so at least I had that.

All in all, the average mom would find me overprotective, but I can't help myself. This is way out of my element, beyond my comfort zone. It will be time to get him in about fifteen minutes, and I look forward to having him home again. It would be different if I knew the birthday boy, or his family. Sigh. This is such a drop in the bucket compared to all the moments I will face of uncertainty and worry in my mothering future. Hopefully I will get a good report from Cody when he gets home!

Shivering...

2012-01-11T17:51:00.000-08:00

This is Manitoba. It is January. We get cold, harsh winters here, and that is no secret. It is not unexpected, though it is usually unwelcome. This year we have been spoiled with amazing weather and I'm going to venture a guess that we have broken some records with our high temperatures. One day last week it was +9 here, and I think I mentioned it in my blog. That translates to 48.2 Fahrenheit, for those who don't speak Celsius.

Today, the tide has finally turned and we are getting a blast of that arctic cold that is typical for this time of year here. I get it. This is normal, and I should not be upset about it. Right now, the temperature with the wind chill outside is -29 C, which is -20.2 F. No problem. We have a nice, cozy house, right? Well, we used to. Our house was once so well insulated people joked that we could light a candle and it would heat the place. Right now we have two problems. One, we tore out the majority of our insulation in the basement this spring when it flooded and got all mouldy. That has not been replaced for a number of reasons, one of which is that my husband assured me we would be fine because that part of the basement is underground. That logic doesn't work for me, but okay. I told myself, I'm just a girl who knows nothing about the logistics of house building/maintaining, so I should listen to what I'm told.

Problem number two...our furnace is not working. I told Mike about a month ago that our furnace had a problem and was no longer keeping up. He changed the filter on it and felt like that helped, which at the time, it did. However, we also had the most ridiculously mild winter weather ever, so it didn't take much to keep it warm in here. Now, on the first day of extreme cold in a long time, our furnace is NOT working. It is currently 17.4 C in here. That is 63.32 F. That's pretty chilly. I told Mike I believed one of the elements in the furnace must be burnt out. But he insisted it was this filter. Again, I felt like I guess I'm just a girl who knows nothing about furnaces, which in all fairness, I don't. But, his dad came over tonight and checked (Mike is not home) and sure enough three out of four of the elements are burnt out.

Now let me tell you, it is very icy in this house. I had to give all of my boys extra quilts in hopes that they will make it through the night without frostbite, and our furnace will not be fixed until at the earliest tomorrow afternoon. It is still supposed to drop another ten degrees tonight, so I can't see the temperature staying as high as it is right now in here. Right now I have a cat on my lap, which is helping some, but I hope the other one will join us soon. Even the dog refuses to go outside right now, and he has a good coat on him. (Though he is also a wimp.)

So that is how we are starting our full blown winter. I imagine it won't be fun getting out of bed in the morning. I might have to break out my hair dryer to stay warm!

Anyway, I'm going to watch tv for a while, I think, seeing I'm on my own tonight. Stay warm everyone.

The Holiday Ends

2012-01-09T07:32:00.000-08:00

School starts today in our area, which means Mike is gone to work. Cody does not start until tomorrow, seeing kindergarten is every second day. So we are back to the grind, as they say. Things started out in their typical fashion, with all three boys up and every light in the house on by 6:30 a.m., which is not even as early as many of our mornings have been this past couple of weeks. That wouldn't be so bad if they didn't proceed to make a huge racket out there, stomping, screaming, throwing things, yelling, sometime having very loud fights, and recently they have also made a habit (the older two) of going into Micah's room while he is still sleeping to steal his toys. That wakes him up, and then it's all over. I've said it before, but I will say it again. It is very difficult when you wake up angry every single morning, which we both have been. They have started this routine as early as 5 a.m.

Well, once I finally dragged my butt out of bed to face the lovely music, I found that my oldest was in a terrible state indeed. He goes through these cycles and of course it has to start as soon as Mike is gone and I'm on my own. I have him in quiet time right now in his room, and hopefully that will have been enough to snap him out of his foul mood. It seems to be working so far.

My goals for today? Well, I have already made my bed, an accomplishment in my books even though it's an easy job. I find it gives me satisfaction because it gives me something to cross off my endless list of housework, and it gives visual proof that I did something during the day. I could do three loads of dishes, or laundry for that matter, and once they are put away, no proof remains that I did them, seeing the mess is just accumulated instantly again anyway. But when I make my bed, it makes my room look cleaner, and I like that. I might try to clean my whole room today. Sadly, that's a big job. There are several things in here that have no place, so it is looking very cluttered right now. I don't like it, but I'm not good at figuring out where to put things, so I have not done anything about it for a long time. Maybe today will be the day. And if not, I think I will clean our bathroom. Maybe the boys' bathroom too if I get really ambitious. And I have the oven preheating so I can make muffins for the boys to snack on soon.

Beyond all that, we shall see. We are a little run down here, having been through colds and Micah had a mysterious rash all over his body and high fever for a few days. He's doing much better now, but it was a rough few days, and he still has a bad cold. But, I'm happy to report that nobody threw up over the holidays, even though I had some kind of food poisoning a few days before Christmas. I can't tell you how much that lifted my spirits. (Not the food poisoning. Just the whole celebrating without stomach flu situation.) Hopefully next year we can do it again!

Now I have to run and get started on all my stuff. Bye for now.

3:56 p.m. Can I just add that it is +9 degrees celsius outside? That is unheard of for January in Manitoba. A few days ago it went up to 11. It is indescribably beautiful and I am so thankful. I have survived much of the day now and am headed to the kitchen to make some Shake 'n Bake chicken for supper. Hoping for a nice quiet evening tonight as this will be a busy week!

Sad for my sick boy and happy for our beautiful weather.

2012-01-05T21:00:00.000-08:00

I'm about to go to bed but thought I would check in quickly. The week has been okay, but Micah is quite sick and I am feeling worried about him. At first he just had a cold, but then he got a fever. I know this is pathetic, but I don't know what his temperature is. I have a thermometer, but it's hard to take a two year old's temperature. I have done it under the armpit before, but it's hard to get them to stay still that long. Then I have to figure out how to convert it to what it would be orally, so usually I don't take it unless it seems like the fever is really high. Well, this time around, he has a significant fever, and we have been alternating tylenol with advil to keep it down. It is working, but in between he gets very hot. His face is red and puffy when he wakes up from a nap or in the morning, and this evening he broke out in this rash all over his body. Red dots and patches all over, and they are raised. I Googled it, which is dumb, I know, but I am wondering whether he has something called roseola. It can't be measles or chicken pox, as he has been vaccinated against both of those. Roseola is not severe, though it can bring high fevers for a week or so, so I guess I should hope for that. But I just feel so bad for him. He's just this sweet little guy and for days he has been miserable. Before the rash appeared, I figured he probably had influenza or something, but now I am probably going to have to take him to the doctor tomorrow. I hope that will be possible. It is supposed to rain overnight and with very high winds and the temperature dropping below zero, the highways might not be good tomorrow.

And that brings me to a lighter note. The weather here is unbelievable right now. I know, I know. Us Manitobans have a reputation for being obsessed with weather. Guilty as charged. But seriously, it is January, the month when things get unbearably frigid, and today the temperature was not only above zero, it went up to 11 degrees here. That's celsius, my American friends, not Fahrenheit. That is basically unheard of here. It has been a very mild winter and I am beyond grateful for that. The less snow we get, the better our chances of not flooding this spring. I know we could still get hit with crazy amounts of snow over the next three or even four months, but at least we are starting the year with barely any. I hope this trend will continue. And besides, it just feels nice to go outside in January and stand there with no hat or mitts and not feel cold. Wow! I'll take it!

Mike is busy with homework so I have picked up on my book where I left off about two months ago. Yikes. I think I'm ready to get back at it, and I am quite excited to do so. My intention was to write the whole first draft in a year and then spend however long it takes rewriting it and perfecting it after that. (Likely at least another year.) But I started in early February last year, so I'm running out of time! Here's hoping I will be very inspired and have lots of quiet time this month. Odds are I will not finish on time, but at least if I can go strong and steady, I will finish it in a couple of months or so.

Phew. That was a fast post, but longer than I expected. Hopefully I will have good news about Micah soon. He is really pathetic and sad and it breaks my heart. He just says, "Can I hold you, Mommy?" and wants to sit on my lap all day and cuddle.

I'm off to bed. Goodnight all.

Good-bye, 2011.

2012-01-01T18:24:00.000-08:00

Here begins a new year. I am more than glad to say good-bye to 2011. Our Christmas and New Year's has been much better than the last two years. Nobody was sick other than me on the 22nd, which we are sure was food poisoning, and not contagious. Jamie turned four yesterday and enjoyed a really fun birthday. Mike's birthday was today, and was mostly really quiet, and spent here at home. The holidays have been relaxing for the most part, and not filled with chaos, and I am very thankful. I feel as though I am breathing a sigh of relief to be starting a new year. May it be our best one yet. Happy New Year, everybody.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T09:38:00.000-08:00

Twas the day before Christmas and all through our place,

Much chaos erupted just like every day.

Coffee grounds were strewn over Jamie's mattress with care,

In hopes that some chocolate would magically appear.

Hockey equipment was left all around,

and not a clean room in the house could be found.

The dishwasher's running with nothing inside,

and Mommy's increasingly emotionally fried.

We're soon off to Christmas with Mike's family.

Here's hoping this Christmas will be vomit free.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Tis the season, again.

2011-12-23T13:49:00.000-08:00

Well, I got the stomach flu yesterday. Or maybe it was a bout of food poisoning. It's hard to know for sure. All I know is, I don't like this time of year. I used to love Christmas and the whole month of December. Now I wish I could just skip it. So far, I'm the only one who has gotten sick, but I feel very weak and I am still barely eating, and we have Cody's hockey game tonight. Honestly, I would like to stay home, but I can't because Mike has to run the gate, which means there will be nobody to help Cody dress in all his equipment. So I have to either come and run the gate with both the other boys in tow, or I have to try to dress Cody on my own. Sounds easy? Well, I have never been a hockey mom before. I had no idea how much equipment there was, or that there is a picky order to putting it on. I don't want to sit through the game with two bratty boys. They are not brats, but at the game they might be. They were last time, and I am simply too exhausted to deal with it this time around. Not sure whether I should run the gate and then leave, or what. On top of that, it means I will not be able to eat before we go. Not without serious risk of consequences, and I am hungry already. I don't know what I can eat. All I've had today is some soda crackers and two pieces of toast. Oh, and part of a bowl of Rice Krispies.

So it looks like I will not do any Christmas baking at all this year, at least not on time for Christmas. I don't really care. I'm more worried that people will be annoyed at me at the gatherings we are going to. Oh well. I can't do anything about it now.

I guess I don't have much more to say. Today was supposed to be the day I cleaned my house before all the Christmas gatherings, but I did not. Mostly I rested, as I am still feeling so weak. At least we are not hosting, but I really wanted it to be nice in here. Maybe tomorrow morning we'll get something done. This is truly pathetic. I hope I will have a good report to give after Christmas.

The busiest week

2011-12-21T08:41:00.000-08:00

Like everyone else, we are super busy right now. It's the week before Christmas, and how I wish not a creature was stirring in this house. However, it is quite the opposite. Right now, all three of my boys are in the hallway screaming and hollering at the top of their lungs. They are happy, but loud. Playing some kind of sport in the hallway. I am hiding in my room for a moment of sanity.

Cody's school Christmas concert is today and I am rather stressed about it. Silly, but I can't help it. This morning I had to "hem" his pants, as they were four inches too long for him. Well, I didn't want to cut all that length off, and in the end I cut about an inch and a half off and then stitched it a little at both seams, but I taped the rest. Yep. On the inside of the pants, of course, but still. I just didn't have time to really sew. I am a VERY slow sewer. Hm. Seamstress looks better, doesn't it? Sewer. Sewer. Two different meanings, but spelled the same.

Anyway, I have to drop Cody off at school at noon, but the concert starts at 1. So I don't know what to do. If I drop him off at noon, we won't get home until about ten after. Then I want to get to the concert early, though maybe not TOO early...so I'll probably have a grand total of 20 minutes at home before we have to rush off again. Ick. Plus, I will have to feed the boys lunch at 11 a.m. to make sure they will be ready to leave on time. I don't know why stuff like this stresses me out so much. I am just too uptight, I guess. But I so look forward to this concert being over. He has a second one this evening, but Mike will be the one going to that one. I will be here by myself with the dynamic duo.

So, aside from sewing this morning, my worst frustration was the discovery of more unwanted wall art. The whole kitchen wall that runs along our stairs has been vandalized in ball point pen. Has anyone tried taking ball point pen off the walls? Well let me tell you, it is very difficult. To make matters worse, the "artwork" is actually some very large numbers, written very well with a few exceptions that are backwards. That pretty much confirmed who had done it. Yep. Cody. My five and a half year old is STILL writing on the walls, and not even in washable marker. I lost it a little. I was so mad. He even had the nerve to lie and say that Jamie did it. Well, Jamie can't write numbers, so I know better. I just can't understand. I felt like I might as well buy a big can of black paint and hurl it all around my house randomly on the walls and the carpet. So many walls are ruined in this house. I don't even know where he got the pen. I can't even find a pen when taking a phone message. We have removed all writing utensils out of the kitchen and any other "public access" area of the house. That includes washable crayons and markers, as I was tired of seeing that writing on the walls and carpet too. There are days when I feel like I just can't win. Micah is only two. What if he is still writing on the walls three years from now? Will my house be doomed to be ugly and ruined forever? Sometimes it feels like it.

So, that is my very fast vent for today. Hopefully the concert will go well. I look forward to it, but also to it being over. After that, we only have one big day left before the two biggest of all, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Cody has a hockey game on Friday night, which we will all be attending. I have still not done my Christmas baking. It may not get done this year.

Gotta run. Soon I will have to prepare lunch, and I should make sure everyone has nice clothes to wear too. I also have to iron Cody's new white shirt. Bye for now.

I'm updating to add that I just discovered yogurt smeared on the living room carpet as well as a WHOLE carton of orange juice poured out on the kitchen floor. I am completely fried and desperate for a break. I just want to stay home by myself for the next week and skip Christmas altogether. Or, go stay at a hotel for a week where I don't have to face the destruction that is all around me. This is absolutely unbelievable to me. I just don't know how to stop it. Our boys invade the fridge at 6 a.m., before we are even awake. We have a child proof lock on the fridge that all three of them can beat. I feel like getting a giant chain and padlock and putting it around the fridge. I will wear the key around my neck. I want to throw away every pen, pencil, marker, crayon, paint...anything that a person can write with, and get rid of every toy in this house. I just don't know how to keep this chaos contained anymore. It is impossible and I am at my wits' end.

I'm still here...

2011-12-15T15:21:00.000-08:00

Wow. I sure haven't posted in here in a long time. Things on the homestead are typical. Today, I caught Jamie putting his boots on to go outside after he had stripped all of his clothes off. I mean everything. Yep. Buck naked except for the winter boots. His plan? He was going to spray himself with the hose. For some reason, Jamie just can't get a grasp on what season it is. This is winter. And I'm not talking about winter in Florida. This is Manitoba. Granted, our winter has been fairly mild so far, even with minimal snow, but it was still well below zero today, even with some snow flurries. I'm just glad I caught him in the act. Well, technically Cody caught him. And panicked. In fact, he told Jamie if he went out there he would die. Then he pounded on him to stop him from going out. Of course I was very angry, but he said he didn't want his brother to die. Yeesh. So Jamie needs work on his concept of what is appropriate attire for the weather...or even just for the sake of normal social skills. (For him, naked is always the superior choice when it comes to wardrobe.) And Cody needs to understand that if he doesn't want his brother to get hurt, he probably shouldn't go ahead and hurt his brother. Twice he did that today. In the name of protecting his brother, he did a preemptive strike. Hurt him before he can hurt himself. The lesser of two evils, I suppose.

I am slowly coming to grips with the approaching holiday season. We put up our Christmas tree on December 3rd, earlier than I was ready to, but the boys really wanted it up. I have not listened to much Christmas music, but the tree is pretty, albeit very messy, as usual, so I find its presence comforting and not as much of a negative reminder as I was expecting I would. I am still very nervous about getting sick this year, and indeed I do have a sinus cold, but it's bearable, so I am not too upset about it.

My shopping was done in November just as I had planned, but I have not done a single bit of baking yet. Ah, well, we have been busy with Cody's hockey and I have also done quite a bit of wrapping.

That's the update for the moment. I might not be posting much in the next week or more, as it will be busy with hockey and Cody's Christmas concert at school, and of course then it will be Christmas. I sure hope to have a good report this year. We will see. I'm off for now.

Napping and potty training...

2011-11-29T12:41:00.000-08:00

Why do my kids quit napping so early??? I don't remember when Cody quit, but I remember it was too soon for my liking. I guess Jamie would still be napping if I would allow it. Poor kid. He asked me to let him nap today, but I said no. Weird mom, right? I know. But if he naps at all during the day, he is up all evening and it's very irritating and exhausting. But Micah is only two. Surely he should still be napping, right? He's in bed right now, and I hear him singing "Rumour Has It", by Adele. I don't like that song. But he does, and I guess that's all that matters to him at the moment.

Quiet time in the afternoon has become a desperate necessity for me. Listening to Micah scream (and I don't mean cry, I mean deliberate shrieking), holler for me, sing, throw things, and make up stories about needing to poop on the potty all afternoon is really taking the quiet out of my quiet time. Don't get me wrong. At times I find it cute, and even downright funny listening to him. But sometimes, I just need a little silence. I guess that was not part of the job description.

I really should mention that since my last post, nobody else has thrown up. Well, nobody in our little family. Lots of others who were at our huge gathering have, but we have been extremely blessed so far. I am very grateful for that, and have even toyed with the idea of doing some Christmas decorating. But then I changed my mind. What I really want to do is wrap all the presents. True to my word, and my plan, I do have all of my shopping done, and it is not yet the end of November. I am beyond thrilled about that, and I suppose that means it will soon be time to bake. In two days, it will be December 1st, the day that, traditionally, I like to put up my tree. This year, I don't know. I'm just not going to say anything and we'll see when Mike mentions it. If the boys really beg and we are in to December, I guess we'll go ahead and put up the tree. It will be interesting to see whether it survives this year, with Micah at the stage he is at. And it's a fake tree, so survival should theoretically be much easier to achieve. Don't be fooled into believing that. Our tree usually looks nice for about one day. After that, there are continually missing branches, the garlands are hanging wrong, ornaments are all over the floor, sometimes broken, and often at least missing the string or hook used to hang them with. Hm. That does make it difficult. Last year I resorted to resting the Christmas balls carefully amongst the branches, but the tree was shaken so much they did not stay on. Jamie is much more interested in using them as hockey pucks than seeing them hanging on a pretty tree.

Micah is now shouting to me about poop. Hm. This is the tricky part about potty training. Micah has now discovered that as long as he yells that he needs to poop on the potty, I will come and get him. It doesn't have to be true. Just saying those words is his ticket out of his crib. Me, on the other hand, I am in a precarious position. Do I run in there every time, encouraging him to manipulate me? Or do I ignore him, and take the risk that he will indeed poop in his diaper because I ignored him even though I told him to tell me when he needed to go? The second option is also accompanied by him removing said poopy diaper in the crib, and that is all kinds of nasty. Sigh. I guess I better go find out whether he really went or not. I guess his "nap" is coming to an end once again, without a single moment of sleep. He is now singing about poop. Bye for now.