Happy Birthday Princess Hailey!

Just in case I don't get a chance to post later, I wanted to publicly wish Hailey a happy birthday. Her princess birthday party will be this weekend, but for today, we're going to let her choose her dinner, and she's going to a Rangers game with Daddy - just the two of them. Right now, though, we need to clean her royal bedchamber. I'll try to blog later tonight, but there are two new episodes of House on tonight, so blogging may wait until tomorrow!

For weekend update...

I should definitely be in bed. Or exercising. Instead, I'm checking out my friends blogs, checking my email and generally wasting time in front of the computer. Life is good.

We made a quick stop in London on Sat to see our friend Chris (the one who suffered the head injury on New Year's Day) Ryan said Chris looked good - he recognized Ryan and laughed when our friend Ed suggested that he (Ed) was a faster skater than Chris. I just found out he's been moved to a different hospital to begin rehab, which can only be good.

After that, it was on to see the inlaws. We had a nice visit - all of Ryan's siblings were around, so we saw them all, plus the inlaws-to-be. This year Ryan's family welcomes three new members - a grandchild in April (Carianne's 2nd child), a son-in-law in July (Rosalie's getting married) and a daughter-in-law in September (Tim's getting married). It wasn't very eventful, other than Sammie got her hair cut - it's a chin-length bob now, very cute. The hope was that it would make her baby-fine hair look a little fuller (she got Ryan's colouring but my hair texture), and it does, somewhat. It's really cute, anyway, and she loves it. Then Hailey got her bangs cut, but that wasn't enough for her, so my mother-in-law took off just the tiniest little bit from the ends, just to make Hailey happy. You can't even tell she did it, but Hailey proudly informed her daddy she got her hair cut, too.

I have designed a little exercise program in my head, to help me get some muscle tone back and lose some weight. I have a plan to ease into some cardio, which will take advantage of the elliptical trainer that's been in the basement for ages. I know I need to do some core toning and strengthening, which I need to find out more about. In the meantime, I came up with some things today I could do with Rylee, so I don't have to wait until she's asleep to get some exercise.

Now that Sammie's back in school, I feel like the holidays are officially over. It's time to get back into a routine, stop eating crap 24-7, clean up this house and just generally get back on track. I let things go over the holidays, which I don't feel guilty for - I deserved a holiday too! But now it's over and time to get back to reality, for my own sanity.

Oh, and apparently Hailey wants a reindeer for her birthday. We think maybe she misunderstood the question, especially since when Ryan told her he couldn't get her a reindeer she told him we already have one. Although, there could well be one on the dining room table right now without anyone noticing...

PS - Daph - yes, bouillabaisse looks right. And thanks for fixing my grammar!

Jodi, don't read this!

Rylee is sleeping better than ever lately. It's like she made a New Year's Resolution - she partied hard on New Year's Eve, but has been going to sleep earlier ever since. Last night she fell asleep during House. I put her in her crib around 10. When she started crying this morning, I got up and went to feed her without looking at the clock. I was SHOCKED when I heard Ryan's alarm go off while I was feeding her. Tonight was the earliest so far - I put her in her bed somewhere between 8 and 9, and she didn't start crying. I think she woke up when I put her down, but she never cried, and eventually drifted off to sleep - something neither of her sisters ever did. I'd love to think it's something to do with my stellar parenting, but after three babies, I know it's nothing to do with me at all. I remember thinking when Sammie was a baby that it was something we were doing right. Then Hailey came along, and no matter what I did, that kid didn't sleep.

We were watching some videos of the days immediately following Hailey's birth tonight. We had both forgotten how dark her hair was at birth. I've been telling everybody she had brown hair, like Rylee does, but it was really dark! So maybe Rylee will end up being as fair haired as her sisters. And resemblance? I thought it was a video of Rylee's birth until I realized Ryan's hair was different. Hailey at birth was identical to Rylee at birth. This makes me happy, because Sammie and Hailey are much closer in age than Hailey and Rylee, and look SO much alike, I was worried Rylee would feel like the odd kid out.

Anyway, in other news, we have a new fish tank. It replaced the small one my sister bought as a present for Hailey, who was very into fish for a while. (She's into horses now, but fortunately, my sister's budget does not extend to horses) It needs new fish, freshwater fish who don't mind some current and can live with the harlequins, the cardinal tetra and the cori (sp?) who already live there, preferably colourful. Suggestions?

Oh, and Rylee laughed for the first time last night. Ryan said she almost laughed on NYE, it was like she was trying but couldn't quite figure out how to get the sound out. Last night he was tickling her stomach with his nose while I changed her, and she actually laughed. It was such a sweet sound, and all the better because we were both there to hear it.

Life continues to be busy. Sammie is in soccer and gymnastics, as well as school, of course, and will be starting skating lessons soon (she still says she's going to be a Ranger someday - Kitchener Ranger, not New York). Hailey is not currently in any activities, although I may enroll her in swimming lessons again. She turns 3 next week - unbelievable. I am trying to get the house undecorated, and finish tidying up from our various holiday adventures. I would love to just curl up for a weekend with my new books and my scrapbooking, but that's much easier said than done with three - count 'em, three - kids, especially a wee one. I've heard more than one person say the first three months are the hardest, and Rylee will be three months next week, so here's hoping those people know what they're talking about. She is getting more settled now. I was re-reading Hailey's first year calendar yesterday - I had forgotten how long it took to get her sleeping in her crib instead of our bed. I'm SO glad Rylee made that transition already, and so easily.

So, yes, life is busy, but good. On more than one occasion over the holidays I looked around and smiled and thought (and sometimes even said), "I'm happy." I have a husband who loves me and who I love (that sounds very grammatically wrong, but I can't figure out what it should be). I have three healthy, beautiful children. I have a job I truly enjoy, a nice place to live, enough food to eat, enough money to provide my family with the things we need and some things we don't need but want, we're all generally healthy...on the whole, there's very little to complain about. I am grateful.

Speechless

I just found out a friend fell down a flight of stairs on New Year's Day and has apparently suffered a serious head injury as a result. He is in hospital and unresponsive right now. Please ask whatever higher power you believe in to watch over this guy.

I had more stuff to talk about but it seems unimportant right now. I need to digest this news. Please keep Chris in your thoughts.

Are the holidays over yet?

Not to sound like a Scrooge or anything, but it's been a busy holiday, and I'm about ready for it to be over. Everyone got at least a little bit sick, and we had many parties, but it's all winding down now.

Christmas was good, but weird. I've never in my life had a Christmas with so few people around. It was just our little family of five. It was nice not to be on the road, and not to pack all the presents and stuff and have to haul them around. We had a quiet day and basically got ready for our party the next day. Ryan's cousins on his dad's side always get together on Boxing Day, and this year we hosted the shindig. A couple of Ryan's cousins are married to women I really like and enjoy being with, and they came out, so it was a good time. All of Ryan's siblings made it, and some stayed overnight. On Dec 27 we opened our home to an annual gathering with friends. It used to be hosted by friends who moved to Washington this summer, so we volunteered our house as it would already be in party mode from the Boxing Day bash. That was also a good time.

We did some post-Christmas shopping, ate out a lot (Ryan decided to steam clean the carpet in our living and dining rooms, and we still haven't finished putting things back) and rested. Last night we went to a small New Year's gathering with friends, the first such gathering without kids in many years (we brought Rylee, but all the rest of the kids were with babysitters).

Rylee continues to sleep well, although she normally doesn't fall asleep until 11 or 12. She will stay asleep for 6 or more hours, though, so it's hard to complain (and REALLY hard to get sympathy from other moms of babies!) We couldn't get her to settle last night at the party, though, so she was exhausted today. She's asleep now, but I don't know how long it will last. She also eats well and seems to be gaining weight and is generally content, so I guess all is well.

I haven't really made any resolutions this year. I would like to lose the last of the baby weight, and get some muscle tone back, ideally by late March (I have a conference to go to and would like to be back in my regular clothes looking good by then, plus I start back to work in April), and would like to get Hailey potty trained by the time I go back to work, but that's more about her than me. She will be three next week, and insists she's not a big girl yet, and doesn't want to be.

Ryan's youngest brother is getting married in September, and he and his fiancee have asked Sammie and Hailey to be flower girls. Hailey said yes and Sammie said no, but we told them we'll change her mind by then. She is just painfully shy sometimes - she wouldn't even open her Christmas presents from her godparents with all her aunts and uncles around.

There's probably more to tell, but I got a whole lot of books for Christmas, and I just heard the kettle boil, so I think I'll go have some tea or hot chocolate, some of the chocolate cake Ryan's mom sent, and hang out with my husband, watching the Leafs or reading or something. When I remember what else has happened that's worth posting about, and have some time, I'll post again.

Oh, one more thing - my grandmother is not well. She has an upper respiratory infection. She is my last surviving grandparent, and the only one I've ever felt I really knew. Please send happy thoughts and well wishes her way.

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!