Just realized I haven't posted about any of her latest milestones. She now has two teeth on the bottom. If she gets top ones anytime soon we may have to end our nursing relationship, as she tends to bite down and tug and that hurts enough with just bottom teeth. She's also crawling, and man can she go! Baby gates will need to go up soon.
In related news, well, there isn't much. Sammie continues to amaze me with her reading. Hailey's speech is getting clearer, which sadly means some of her cute babyish talk is disappearing. I've realized I may have to finally correct one of Sammie's last remaining mispronunciations. She came home with a story she'd written at school about swimming in Opa's pool and about the "babing soot" she was wearing. I can't bring myself to teach her to say baTHing suit.
And a personal milestone...our nephew is staying with us this week, and tonight I had the pleasure of getting all four kids to bed on my own, as Ryan was at a ball game (I'm out with an injury, which is why I stayed home with the kids). Wouldn't you know it, the boy pooped right before bed, so I had to change my first poopy boy diaper - I'd only changed wet ones before, and only a few of those. I had to call my mom for advice on applying diaper cream because he had a rash and I didn't know where you could put the stuff on a boy! (No, I don't have any brothers, but my mom had brothers who were much younger than her, so she changed their diapers) Anyway, it seems to be okay now - fingers crossed.
So...what did YOU do today?
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Monday, June 11, 2007
10 Things I Love (and 5 I wish I did)
I got this idea from Daph, who used it on her blog. Let's just assume that it's a given that I love my family and friends and go from there, okay?
10 Things I Love (in no particular order)
1. Facebook - I forgot to mention this in my last post about why I haven't posted in a while - any computer time seems to be spent on Facebook. I've gotten back in touch with so many old friends this way! It's completely addictive.
2. The A-Ha moment - any teacher reading this knows what I mean - the moment that comes after you've spend countless hours going over and over something and all of a sudden a student says, "OH! I get it!"
3. Baking - even better now that my kids (well, two of them) are old enough to help. We have a lot of fun with this, and then get to have a treat at the end. The clean up? Not so much fun, but worth it.
4. Trivial Pursuit - I've been hooked since I was a kid and played the original one with my mom. I was too young to answer any of the entertainment questions (I still don't know who Tyrone Power is) but I could get a lot of the other ones. I now own several versions of this game.
5. Travelling - love it. Preferably with a favourite travel companion (Daph and Ryan are the best I've found so far). Preferably far away.
6. Diving - I was scared at first, but there is nothing like it. Being in that silent, still world under the water, gliding along, seeing things most humans don't...it's pretty darn cool.
7. Reading - preferably in the bathtub. With a cup of tea. And some chocolate. That's my ultimate fantasy right now.
8. Sleeping - don't do near enough of this anymore. As I've said before, it takes forever to get all the kids to bed, then I have to do school work and want to do things like check email, check Facebook, read, watch TV, hang out with Ryan...if I'm low on my own priority list, sleep is even lower.
9. Biking - I should do this more often. Hopefully I will now that the weather is staying nice. I was going to bike to work today but I hurt my ankle yesterday so I couldn't.
10. Sun - I know we have to be careful what with the holes in the ozone layer and whatnot, but I challenge you to spend a year in northern Finland and not come out of it with a renewed appreciation for sunlight.
5 Things I Wish I Loved (or think I should)
1. Breastfeeding - I hear so many women talk about how they love it. I have to admit, I don't. I do it because it's what's best for my babies, and it's easier than mixing a bottle, and more economical, but I don't really like doing it. I don't dislike it, but I sure don't miss it when I stop.
2. Crafts - I WANT to be a crafty-type person. I do. I have scrapbooking stuff and cross-stitching and a sewing machine and I always swear that when I get some free time I'm going to make use of them, but then I get some free time and I'd rather read, or watch a movie, or something else. I'm working on it.
3. Being active - again, I WANT to be an active, on-the-go, walking and biking everywhere person. But I usually manage to find a reason not to be. I'm working on this one, too.
4. Vegetables - it would be easier to convince my kids to eat them if I actually liked them too! I do eat them, and even enjoy some of them, but would like to be eating more.
5. My body - just as it is, belly and all. I'm REALLY working on this one.
10 Things I Love (in no particular order)
1. Facebook - I forgot to mention this in my last post about why I haven't posted in a while - any computer time seems to be spent on Facebook. I've gotten back in touch with so many old friends this way! It's completely addictive.
2. The A-Ha moment - any teacher reading this knows what I mean - the moment that comes after you've spend countless hours going over and over something and all of a sudden a student says, "OH! I get it!"
3. Baking - even better now that my kids (well, two of them) are old enough to help. We have a lot of fun with this, and then get to have a treat at the end. The clean up? Not so much fun, but worth it.
4. Trivial Pursuit - I've been hooked since I was a kid and played the original one with my mom. I was too young to answer any of the entertainment questions (I still don't know who Tyrone Power is) but I could get a lot of the other ones. I now own several versions of this game.
5. Travelling - love it. Preferably with a favourite travel companion (Daph and Ryan are the best I've found so far). Preferably far away.
6. Diving - I was scared at first, but there is nothing like it. Being in that silent, still world under the water, gliding along, seeing things most humans don't...it's pretty darn cool.
7. Reading - preferably in the bathtub. With a cup of tea. And some chocolate. That's my ultimate fantasy right now.
8. Sleeping - don't do near enough of this anymore. As I've said before, it takes forever to get all the kids to bed, then I have to do school work and want to do things like check email, check Facebook, read, watch TV, hang out with Ryan...if I'm low on my own priority list, sleep is even lower.
9. Biking - I should do this more often. Hopefully I will now that the weather is staying nice. I was going to bike to work today but I hurt my ankle yesterday so I couldn't.
10. Sun - I know we have to be careful what with the holes in the ozone layer and whatnot, but I challenge you to spend a year in northern Finland and not come out of it with a renewed appreciation for sunlight.
5 Things I Wish I Loved (or think I should)
1. Breastfeeding - I hear so many women talk about how they love it. I have to admit, I don't. I do it because it's what's best for my babies, and it's easier than mixing a bottle, and more economical, but I don't really like doing it. I don't dislike it, but I sure don't miss it when I stop.
2. Crafts - I WANT to be a crafty-type person. I do. I have scrapbooking stuff and cross-stitching and a sewing machine and I always swear that when I get some free time I'm going to make use of them, but then I get some free time and I'd rather read, or watch a movie, or something else. I'm working on it.
3. Being active - again, I WANT to be an active, on-the-go, walking and biking everywhere person. But I usually manage to find a reason not to be. I'm working on this one, too.
4. Vegetables - it would be easier to convince my kids to eat them if I actually liked them too! I do eat them, and even enjoy some of them, but would like to be eating more.
5. My body - just as it is, belly and all. I'm REALLY working on this one.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Where does the time go when it's not around here?
Whoops! I have no idea how that much time passed without a post. Well, actually, I do. Life happened.
Rylee started taking longer to get to sleep in the evenings. It's either 8 or 9 pm, or she goes down at 7 pm for an hour, then is up for 2 or 3. Aaargh! Not sleeping so well through the night, either.
Work got VERY busy, especially once report card time rolled around. Thankfully, they're done now, although if any of my students have happened across this blog, your marks can still be changed at any time up to the moment the report is in your hot little hands!!!
Ball season started. Our team has never been a contender, until this year. We've actually got some wins! More than one! And of course, this is supposed to be the last season for the league, since the land where our diamonds are has been sold. Figures.
And then the bad news.
My grandmother finally succumbed to non-Hodgkins lymphoma in May. She was on a respirator and it was doing all the breathing for her, so my mom and her siblings made the very difficult decision to have it turned off, which was according to my Mim's wishes. She passed away with her kids near her, very peacefully. The doctors told our family she would likely not last long after the respirator was turned off, but she fought for a few more hours. What a wonderful, brave, special woman. I miss her so much already.
When my grandfather died in July 2005 I went to Windsor with my sister and stayed at my cousin Ami's house, with my sister and another cousin, Christine, who lives in BC. We actually had a great time hanging out and shopping when we weren't doing funeral-related stuff. This time, I thought it would be different since Ami has a daughter now, I was going to have Rylee with me (the girls stayed with my in-laws last time)...turns out, Ami's daughter went to daycare and my sister-in-law said she would help my mother-in-law take care of all three of my kids. So after the first visitation, five of us cousins went to a drug store, went out for ice cream, and went back to Ami's to do facials and toenails. The next night, almost all the cousins who were in town and over the age of 12 went to Ami's again, where we ordered pizza and had a talk. See, some of my Mim's kids are squabbling amongst themselves for reasons we don't really understand. My cousin Matt wanted everyone to get together and agree that just because our parents aren't getting along, there's no reason we shouldn't. It was a great get-together, and hopefully the next time we do it, it won't be in honour of a dead relative.
I was asked to do a eulogy for both of my grandparents at their funerals. I barely got through this one. I had back-up ready to come take the speech and finish it for me if I couldn't. I managed, however. I was going to post my speech here, but it's pretty long. Anyone who's really interested can ask - probably anyone who's interested either already heard it, or lives in town and can see my copy.
Last bit of news (because Hailey just wandered into the hallway saying she can't sleep, so I need to go put her back to bed) - my niece Tatiana is still in hospital, now the veteran of several surgeries (and she's just 2 months old tomorrow). Her omphalocele has been put back in, she looks normal except for the stitches on her little belly that make her look like a football, and the many tubes and things coming out of her. She's far from being out of the woods yet, so keep praying to whatever higher power you believe in, please.
I will try not to let so much time pass before my next post!
Rylee started taking longer to get to sleep in the evenings. It's either 8 or 9 pm, or she goes down at 7 pm for an hour, then is up for 2 or 3. Aaargh! Not sleeping so well through the night, either.
Work got VERY busy, especially once report card time rolled around. Thankfully, they're done now, although if any of my students have happened across this blog, your marks can still be changed at any time up to the moment the report is in your hot little hands!!!
Ball season started. Our team has never been a contender, until this year. We've actually got some wins! More than one! And of course, this is supposed to be the last season for the league, since the land where our diamonds are has been sold. Figures.
And then the bad news.
My grandmother finally succumbed to non-Hodgkins lymphoma in May. She was on a respirator and it was doing all the breathing for her, so my mom and her siblings made the very difficult decision to have it turned off, which was according to my Mim's wishes. She passed away with her kids near her, very peacefully. The doctors told our family she would likely not last long after the respirator was turned off, but she fought for a few more hours. What a wonderful, brave, special woman. I miss her so much already.
When my grandfather died in July 2005 I went to Windsor with my sister and stayed at my cousin Ami's house, with my sister and another cousin, Christine, who lives in BC. We actually had a great time hanging out and shopping when we weren't doing funeral-related stuff. This time, I thought it would be different since Ami has a daughter now, I was going to have Rylee with me (the girls stayed with my in-laws last time)...turns out, Ami's daughter went to daycare and my sister-in-law said she would help my mother-in-law take care of all three of my kids. So after the first visitation, five of us cousins went to a drug store, went out for ice cream, and went back to Ami's to do facials and toenails. The next night, almost all the cousins who were in town and over the age of 12 went to Ami's again, where we ordered pizza and had a talk. See, some of my Mim's kids are squabbling amongst themselves for reasons we don't really understand. My cousin Matt wanted everyone to get together and agree that just because our parents aren't getting along, there's no reason we shouldn't. It was a great get-together, and hopefully the next time we do it, it won't be in honour of a dead relative.
I was asked to do a eulogy for both of my grandparents at their funerals. I barely got through this one. I had back-up ready to come take the speech and finish it for me if I couldn't. I managed, however. I was going to post my speech here, but it's pretty long. Anyone who's really interested can ask - probably anyone who's interested either already heard it, or lives in town and can see my copy.
Last bit of news (because Hailey just wandered into the hallway saying she can't sleep, so I need to go put her back to bed) - my niece Tatiana is still in hospital, now the veteran of several surgeries (and she's just 2 months old tomorrow). Her omphalocele has been put back in, she looks normal except for the stitches on her little belly that make her look like a football, and the many tubes and things coming out of her. She's far from being out of the woods yet, so keep praying to whatever higher power you believe in, please.
I will try not to let so much time pass before my next post!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)