Playdate

Well I successfully hosted my first playdate today. Who would've guessed there was room for 10 kids and 7 adults in my house. apparently there is, and I have enough toys to amuse 10 kids ranging from 4 1/2 months to 4 years. The other thing I learned today is that my table is not tall enough to stop little wandering hands from finding the snacks. And hosting a playdate is a great way to restock your baked goods supply.

Happy Halloween

Volunteers?

I am sending out a request for some volunteers to try some recipes I have created. The job is pretty simple, buy ingredients, make recipe, eat food, email me your opinion on taste, looks, ease of preparation, and any suggestions for improvements. If your interested let me know, and I will be glad to provide you with a little more information.

Procrastinating

Yesterday I went shopping and bought a really neat seat protector for the van, it goes under the carseat, has a toy box attached, drink holders and just random pouches. I was so impressed with this find, that I decided to clean and vacuum the whole van, so I dressed up Sara and Hannah and went out into the relatively nice weather and cleaned out the van, and I took everything out, even stuff the belongs in the van. I couldn't vacuum however with Hannah running around our front yard as I doubted my ability to watch her and vacuum simotanously, (I am only human after all). So my plan was to vacuum after they were in bed, and then reassemble the van. But well bedtime came and I no longer felt like vacuuming. So I procrastinated, and now I wake up today and it is snowing, and not just snowing a little, but the ground is covered, the van is covered, the trees are covered, and it is still snowing. I think the universe has turned against me and is teaching me a lesson about procrastination. Well I get the point, so if the snow could just melt I will go outside and finish what I started. (Sorry about my little rant, but I really wanted to try out my new seat protector)

Carpet adventures II

Well I decided I should post to update everybody on the result of my cleaning spree to my carpet. I did try the magic eraser on the chocolate soy milk, and it worked, but unfortunately it really chews up the eraser, and I ran out of eraser before I ran out of stain. I then tried a concentrated mixture of water and dish soap. And it actually worked, I was rather surprised by this as I have tried more powerful cleaners to no avail. So the two mystery stains are gone, and the chocolate soy milk stain, while it is substantially lighter has unfortunately come back, so it will be off to Walmart to buy the stuff suggested by Lynne. And I have actually not even touched the crayon yet, because well dragging out the iron sounds like a lot of work, and I am afraid water will just smear it.

Your know your tired when

Do you think I can safely blame this dumb moment on being sick:

As I was cleaning the livingroom, I put one of the fisherprice men into the fisherprice house. I of course used in the first available entrance, the chimeny. I go about putting books back into the book shelf, when I spot this man again, so I put him away again. I did this about 6 times, each time getting more annoyed at Hannah. Finally after putting it back into the chimney for the sixth time I realized that the chimeny just shoots the man back out the window on the side of the house.

I could perhaps pretend that I didn't know that that is how the house worked, but I've always known that, and usually I have enough sense to open the roof to put the men away.

BOO!

Somebody is taking this halloween thing to far. In the last hour I have been scared by:

a mouse in the garage

Freaskish hail suddenly hitting the window

two spiders jumping out of towel, in the basement, at me

I think I should just park myself on the couch under a blanket for the rest of the day, or I might end up with a bat in my hair.

Everybody loves a picture

Why I will never own a house with carpet?

I have some questions for my many faithful readers.

1. How do you get chocolate soy milk out of a carpet?

2. How do you get crayon out of a carpet?

3. How do you get the mysterious spot that just showed up one day out of your carpet?

Pictures

I finally got around to uploading all of my pictures to Walmart, so if you didn't already get an invite to view them, let me know and I will email you one.

Not much is happening in our world, Sara-Lyn is still growing, and Hannah is still opionated. We're off to Edson for Thanksgiving, which I am sure will be a perfectly enjoyable weekend, with lots of good food, and good company, and maybe just a few hours away from the kids. Well it is late and I am tired so I will keep this post short and end it with a picture of my two favorite people.

Bad hair day

She's lucky she's so cute!

Update

I guess it is time I give an update as to what has been happening in our lives. Starting with Sara-Lyn, we moved her to the crib two weeks ago, she seems to be sleeping better, which isn't surprising seeing how the bassinet is not really the most comfortable thing. She loves to talk if you sit down with her and have a conversation she will chat up a storm. She is funny though, she tries so hard to make each sound, that sometimes she forgets to breath and then has to gasp for air which means she makes this adorable little squeak. We have started the process of potty training Hannah, I was starting to become discouraged but it seems that something clicked for her during yesterday afternoon. Yesterday evening she went to the potty 4 out of 5 times and today she is 2 for 2. Unfortunately we still aren't getting the poops, but with the recent successes I have faith that she will start going to the potty for those ones too. Hannah broke her first tooth on Sunday, well she chipped it anyways. She fell off of the teeter totter and hit the center bar. She went to the dentist this morning with Dad, and he confirmed that it was just a surface chip, but he wants to see her again in two weeks to make sure there was no root damage. Apparently both me and Dan have to go to this appointment as he wants to show us the proper way of brushing her teeth. I am a little worried about this as he mentioned that it involves two people, one to hold her and the other to brush. I have to wonder if it is really worth traumatizing our child on a nightly basis just to possibly prevent a few cavities in her baby teeth. Currently Hannah brushes her own teeth, and I think she does a pretty good as she does her best to imitate us. hmmm I think that is all the current news, Me and Dan live a pretty boring life so there is nothing about us to mention, We had company this weekend, it was fun to visit with old friends, and play a game of settlers.

I spy

a tire, Ernie, a bag of peas, a green ear, a bag of diapers, 5 shoes, a bowl of salsa, a red "Donald Duck" and a baby ....   What can you find?

Cooking

I decided to try using a set of recipes where you do all the prep work for 22 meals all at once and then you only have to actually cook them when the time comes. The instructions say it will take 4 hours, but it took me more like 8, so I am a little tired and I find it hard to believe that it will actually be time saving in the end. But I guess I will have to see how easy it is to make the actual dishes. I think it would be much better if a few people got together and made 2 or 3 sets all at once. So if anybody wants to assemble meals with me in about a month let me know and we can set up a date.

Since we got back

It has been an interesting week since we got back, the first thing that happened was on Sunday at midnight after a very long drive, I fell down the stairs, because I was holding Sara at the time I made no effort to protect myself and ended fall straight onto my tailbone, and it still hurts and it has been over a week. It was kind of frustrating last week when all I wanted to do was go to bed, but laying down hurt. Then on Monday night our hot water tank began to leak. Thankfully our landlady acted quickly and we had hot water again by Tuesday evening. Then over the weekend we attended Dan's cousin's wedding in Camrose. It was a nice ceremony and reception with good food and good company.

Saskatchewan

We had a great time in Saskatchewan last week, the weather was perfect giving us a few opportunities to hang out at the beach. Hannah had a great time, she spent most of the time inventing ways to get dirty. Her favorite was to sit in a pile of sand and dump handfuls down her clothes and into her hair. Sara enjoyed the fresh air and started to sleep on a more regular schedule. Dan had fun demolishing the roof on my Dad's cabin, he came a away with a few bruises, and a few stories. The most exciting being that of falling through the ceiling. It was great seeing everybody again and we're already looking forward to the next trip.

Off to Saskatchewan

Well we are off to Saskatchewan for a week, but before we go I though I better do an update on the Doctors appointment we went to on Monday. The appointment was for Sara-Lyn, and she is perfectly healthy, as expected. She seems to be suffering from reflux, which I kind of suspected, so from now on she sleeps with her head elevated and hopefully that will help her relax at night. I think I need to bottle my breastmilk and sell it on eBay as a growth serum. My guess of 9 lbs, for Sara was way off. The person to guess the closest was Dan's Mom at 10 lbs, but even she guessed low. Sara weighed in at a whopping 11 lbs and 15 ounces. She has gained 4 1/2 lbs in 5 weeks. She also grew 2 1/4 inches to make her 23 inches long. So no wonder I'm not getting any sleep at night, she is to busy eating to support her massive growth to sleep.

Monster Poop!

I just have to tell everybody about the horrendous poop My youngest daughter had. Yes it was that large that it deserves a post. It leaked out both legs and the back of her diaper. (Try cleaning that one up without making a mess) I take back my estimate that she is 9 lbs now, after that poop I have to say she is down to somewhere around 8 lbs and 10 ounces.

Time Flies

Wow, I can't believe it has been almost six weeks already. It seems like just last week we brought Sara-Lyn home. I have a hard time when I look at Sara coming to terms with how quickly she's growing. When Hannah was a baby I didn't realize how quick babies grow, so I looked forward to each new development, but with Sara I know how quickly things change so I want to slow things down so I can appreciate each moment more. But of course that is impossible and she has continued to grow despite my objections, and boy is she growing fast. We have a Doctor's appointment next week so we will have some real stats, but I am sure she is close to 9 lbs. Hannah is also growing, lately I have noticed that she can reach things previously out of reach, and can climb onto furniture with a little more ease. Of course with her ability to climb, comes falls, and she defiantly knows how to fall. I am almost afraid to go out in public with her, for fear someone will call child services on us. Currently I can count 3 bruises on her face, and six on her legs. Ironically the biggest one on her face she got while we were at the Doctor's office on Monday. Hannah has decided that Sara is her own personal toy, which makes it difficult for Sara to get any tummy time, or just time by herself, every time I try to put Sara on the floor, Hannah is there within moments to hug, poke, and take whatever toy I have given to Sara. But I hear Sara crying and I am assuming she is probably hungry, so I must go feed her.

3 weeks

Well it has been three weeks since Sara-Lyn was born, so I guess it is about time that we posted and let everybody know how things are going. It has been a very busy three weeks for Sara. The first few days of Sara being home went smoother then I could have hoped. Hannah was more fascinated with Sara than any thing and was a great little helper bringing diapers and giving Sara hugs. Sara however seemed to be having problems settling the first few days and was continually waking up in what seemed like pain. So we took her to the chiropractor when she was only three days old, we saw a pediatric chiropractor and she made a minor adjustment (Sara didn't even wake up) and ever since Sara has been sleeping soundly.

When Sara was only 8 days old we drove to Edmonton in order to see the pediatrician. It was an exciting trip, we went to the zoo with Nana and Papa; Katy, Steve and Jayda; and Kerri and Jay. We stopped in for supper at our friends, who still live back in Edmonton, house. Hannah had a great time playing with their son, in their wading pool, and well Sara slept.

A few days after returning to Calgary we had more visitors and we made another trip to the zoo, Hannah slept and well so did Sara.

And lastly this last weekend we decided to take Hannah and Sara to the Calgary stampede. We watched the supper dogs and Hannah danced and sang along with Strawberry Shortcake, It was a fun but tiring day.

That catches us up to now, I think. For being only three weeks old Sara has had a pretty exciting time. Hannah is still being a helpful big sister, she takes the diapers to the garbage whenever she spots them, and pushes Sara in her swing when Sara cries. We have had a few misunderstandings where Hannah has gotten mad, but mostly things have been going pretty smoothly. I wish I had a picture of Hannah giving Sara one of her hugs, but I'm always afraid to grab the camera incase, Hannah gets a little over zealous with her hugs.

The only thing I would like to grumble about at this point is the lack of sleep. Now that Sara's jaundice has cleared up, I have discovered that she is an around the clock eater, she eats every two hours day and night. This means that I never get any more then one hour of sleep at a time. It is getting to be a little tiring. So you will have to forgive my bad grammar and disjointed thoughts, but my brain is only functioning at half capacity. Sara does have one three hour block, but it coincides with Hannah's wake up time, so it does me little good. But I'm done complaining now, after all getting no sleep is what being a parent is all about, right?