At least it FEELS like Christmas. Sort of.

Well, my parents, sister and brother-in-law (sort of - they're not actually married, but they live together) came last night for a Christmas get-together. My parents will be in Windsor with Mom's family for Christmas, and my sister will be at home because she has to work (she's a nurse) so we got together to exchange gifts today. It was great. My mom went so overboard buying gifts that even she knew she bought too much, but everyone loved their gifts, so everyone was happy. We all bought Mom and Dad tickets to the final weekend of the Tim Hortons Brier, which we saved for the last gift. When Mom realized what it was, she burst into tears and could only repeat, "This is awesome." So, I guess we done good.

So because of all that, it feels somewhat Christmas-y, but I tell ya, the lack of snow is just not doing it for me. I mean, why did I move to the edge of the snowbelt if I can't even have a white Christmas? I ask you! (I asked Rylee but she had no answer for me.) It is just not right that I went to meet Sammie coming off the bus on her last day of school before Christmas, and I had to bring an umbrella! (Or as Hailey calls it, a birella) On December 22!! Again I say, it just ain't right. I know some of you never, or almost never, have white Christmases, but I usually do and dang it, I want one! I mean, we had snow the day Rylee was born, for heaven's sake! In October!

One of my favourite things about this time of year is that most of my friends get at least some time off of work, which seems to allow for more chances to get together. Since my family does not live nearby, my friends are very important. Now that we all have small children, there don't seem to be as many chances to get together. We had a good visit last night with some of them at our friends' annual holiday open house, and will be seeing most if not all of our friends who live around here twice more next week. I'm looking forward to that.

To sum up - feeling good because of good family gathering, not good because of lack of snow. Overall, more good than not. I have a wonderful family and fabulous friends, and at this time of year, I don't feel I need anything more.

Bikini update (that one's for Daph!)

Okay, quick post. Rylee is sleeping and has been for a while, so I don't know how much longer it will last. She actually slept through for two nights (Sat and Sun) but was up twice through the night last night (although not for long either time, and the first time I think she was just cold - she had kicked off her blankets). The whole sleep thing is getting much better. Yay!

Almost ready for Christmas. Like most people around here, I seem to have a hard time feeling Christmas-y without snow, but I'm trying. The kids help - they're so excited that I get a little excited too. Just a few more things to buy and wrap and we should be all set. We're hosting a lot of Christmas/holiday parties in the next week, so in the next few days we have a lot of cleaning to do - thank goodness I'm not married to a man who thinks that's entirely my job (I wouldn't be married to him very long if he did!)

Well, that's all the time I can spare right now. Maybe in about a week or so things will settle down somewhat and I can take a large part of Rylee's nap time to blog. Yeah right. And maybe I'll win the lottery too.

Whatever you're celebrating this time of year, I hope it's happy and joyous. Happy and Peaceful 2007 to everyone!

Christmas can be confusing...

So, we're on our way to swimming lessons tonight, and Sammie is singing Jingle Bells. As she's singing about the one horse open sleigh, she stops and says, "It's not Opa's sleigh, it's Santa's sleigh!"

And apparently, according to Hailey, that red-nosed reindeer's name is Rudo. I don't think she's intentionally shortening it, she just thinks his name is Rudo (not to be confused, of course, with Rudy, who is the aforementioned Opa)

They're so cute.

Joe?

I know a few Joes, but I'm guessing the one who left a comment for me was Joe Martz (whose work is featured on the site Joe's Camera, which is one of my links at the side) Am I right?

I can feel it coming in the air tonight...

Blah. Something unpleasant is sweeping through my family. It started with Sammie on Monday. I was woken up by Hailey coming into my room and saying, "Mommy, Sammie fwew up." On Friday night, I was giving Hailey a hug when she said, "My tummy hurts." I gently suggested it might be time to stop eating the Christmas candy Grandma has around the house when she made a strange noise. I ran to the bathroom with her and held her over the toilet just in time. Last night it was my turn. I thought I had just eaten too much at dinner (my mom made one of my favourites) or had overindulged in said Christmas candy. I ended up throwing up twice, and am still only on toast, crackers and juice for now. For dinner I'm thinking of going crazy and having some soup. My mom was going to make a great roast beef dinner, but I suggested this morning we change the plan, which we did.

Other than that, we've been having a great visit with my parents. My kids get spoiled rotten, I get to read all day long with occasional breaks to feed Rylee and my parents get to hang out with their favourite kids (note to my sister - I mean the little ones, not me!) I also got to do some shopping, and my parents got Rylee to take a bottle again, so all in all it's been a good trip so far.

Not much else new. My friend Sean, from my UW days, became a father recently. His little boy is absolutely adorable. I would love to get together with all my UW/V2 friends who are now scattered around the province (well, continent, actually, since one is living in San Francisco) - if any of you are reading this, what do you think?

Speaking of reuniting with old friends, I found a book here at my parents' house about the city where I lived in Finland, and found a picture of Daph and me from a Finnish newspaper that was taken at the Oulu market shortly before we left. It was such a blast, looking through that book and seeing the Ball, Rotuaari, and so many other familiar places. Strange how familiar they looked and how clear the memories were even though it's been 14 years. So, Finnbounds, when are we getting together?

Hmmm...I suppose I have an obligation to check on my children, although I'm sure Mom and Dad have everything under control. I feel bad dumping my kids on them, but on the other hand, I just plain have felt bad most of today. I am just SO glad I wasn't home alone with the 3 of them when I got sick.

Miss you, miss you, oh my soul

MIA for a few days there ... my internet connection failed me, and without my resident IT guy, I couldn't fix it. I spoke with said IT guy tonight, and lo and behold, here I am.

The girls are still fairly cranky, but not too bad. Off to Grandma and Grandpa's tomorrow night which should put everyone in a better mood. To hear Hailey tell it, we're going to Dwama and Dwampa's after fwimming lessons. She's so cute. Part of me worries a bit because I know Sammie didn't sound like that at the same age, but I think she just spoke well early. Hailey's right on target. I hope.

Sleep has been an issue for Rylee lately, but she went down well tonight, so hopefully we're in for a better night. Last night was okay once I got her to sleep somewhere other than my arms, but then Sammie and Hailey appeared in my room around 2:30 am. I almost left them there and went to sleep in their bed, but mine is more comfortable :)

And snow...much more of it fell, and not the light fluffy stuff of a few days ago. Oh no, now it's heavy wet snow, the kind that is fabulous if you want to make a snow man or build a snow fort, but not so fab if you have to shovel it. Which I did.

Anyway, it's stupidly late, and I really need some sleep. More posts should be forthcoming once I get to Mom and Dad's and have someone else to hold Rylee while I type.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We got the tree up and decorated on Sat, and the outdoor lights have been up for a while. We got a few more decorations around the house too, and Mother Nature did her part by dumping a few inches of light, fluffy snow yesterday and last night. I had the pleasure of shoveling the first December snow this morning - lucky me. It was, as I said, light and fluffy and there wasn't too much, but I still think Ryan timed this latest California training very conveniently! It's not his fault, and it could have been worse - he was originally supposed to go right around when Rylee was due, and switched it to now. Then the trip almost got stretched to 3 weeks because he was going to have to go to Winnepeg, but fortunately that was avoided.

So anyway, I've been alone with the girls for the better part of two days now. Sammie is old enough to understand now that Daddy is far far away, and to actually miss him, not just say she misses him. She cried the night before he left. Hailey still doesn't get it - we told her Daddy is gone for two weeks, but she still thought he might be downstairs when she got out of the bath last night.

Normally, my girls are very well behaved. I'm actually very fortunate, because they rarely act up in public, and not often at home either. Of course, as soon as Daddy leaves, that goes out the window, or at least it has this time. Unfortunately, I've had things I had to do, so staying home hasn't been an option. As a result, Hailey has missed her nap for two days in a row. It will be early to bed tonight, and definitely no missing the nap tomorrow! She does NOT deal with lack of sleep very well (can't imagine where she gets that from!) Everytime Ryan goes away, I am reminded of how much respect and admiration I have for people who do this single parent thing all the time, and do it well. We will be off to Grandma and Grandpa's for a visit while Ryan's gone, which should do wonders for my sanity.

Rylee is still doing well with the sleep thing at night. Day time sleep has gotten better since I've started swaddling her for naps, too. On Sat she actually slept a couple of hours on the couch, so I was able to do some stuff around the house. Yesterday she slept most of the day as we went to church and walked around the mall. Today has been pretty good, she fell asleep on my shoulder while I checked email so I put her in the crib so I could have two hands to type. However, she's waking up now so I must wrap up. More tomorrow, hopefully.