number two

What you are looking at is indeed a pair of binoculars in the bathroom. Lexi had to poop the other day and she did so in her potty and then after I dumped it in the big potty she had to "see poop, see poop" and i don't know.. maybe she thought it would change from one potty to the next? It's amazing that someone would choose to do this and how doing this actually made her happy and excited. Well, I guess that's the life of a (almost) two year old!

Wow I'm Tired!

Why is it that when Auntie Bo asked Ryland about his day today he replied by saying "mommy just took us to McDonalds because we were being bad and mommy wants us to start being good"? Well I realize that doesn't sound right and Auntie Bo was confused but it is absolutely true.I'm exhausted! Ryland and Lexi fight and fight and then fight a little bit more. I thought maybe a change of scenery would do the trick and they'd be so busy on the slides they wouldn't remember that they were even capable of fighting. I also told them that if I was going to take them out for fries and to play they had to show me how they could be good to each other and they had to start listening. Well they did really good there, even when it was time to pack up and leave and so far at home things are going better.

This morning I woke up at 1:45 and could hardly believe that I hadn't yet been woken from one of my children. I wasn't sure if I should let myself go back to sleep because someone should surely wake me for something soon and I hate getting to the point where at any second I'm going to be sleeping just to have someone wake me. My next thought was 'are they alive and still breathing?!' something must be wrong for no one to be awake! and then the question is always...do I risk checking on them? what if they are nicely sleeping and I disturb them and then now I've woken them? I play it back and forth in my head for a while and then decide to quickly check on them, but not a good check where I touch them to see if they're breathing (3 times before leaving!) or make them move a little, just a quick listen at the door today. I actually got to sleep until 2:46am before I was woken by Sophia, that is a great night! and then things were back to normal..that means that when I was finished with Sophia and back in bed I got nice and cozy and I was just about to fall asleep and then I heard Lexi calling out for me...ahhh, this is what i'm use to and what my night should be like. (or shouldn't be like but is). I hate the fact that my baby is almost 9 months old and her waking up at 2:46am was such a great thing for me, I wish that that was a bad thing and that that would have annoyed me because she
slept through the night. I hate that Lexi waking up at 3:13am for the first time last night was good too and her going back to sleep nicely was the best part of it because in two weeks she will be 2! Ryland last night didn't wake up, or me up and that was a really really good night for me. Ryland is an awesome sleeper, I can't say much bad about him, at bed time he goes to bed and if he wakes in the night he usually goes to the bathroom and can get a drink by himself (I try to remember before bed to have one ready for him in the fridge but if not he can open a bottle of water) although sometimes he comes to tell me about his dream whether it be good or bad or sometimes he just comes to kiss me which is so sweet and I love. Sophia i can't figure out why she keeps waking up, is it partly habit is it partly because she really does want to eat a little?? I've tried so much already and i'm wearing out. she only eats a very little bit one time in the night, the rest of the time she may need help going from her tummy to her back again or she pooped or she's just up and talks, I try and leave her for as long as I can but it's hard when i'm risking another little one waking up and sometimes it's just easier to go get her rather then being up for an hour waiting for her to go to sleep on her own, I'm so tired I just want to get her sleeping as fast as I can. Lexi has gotten so much better since her molars have started coming through. Now she can have nights where she sleeps all the way through which is so helpful. My days have been getting started early again, I had a bit of a break where it was 7-7:30 and now Sophia wakes between 5:40 and 6:00 and then the other two are up by 6:45. Some days I don't know why I was chosen to have to deal with children who keep me up most of the night and then who also wake me up before the sun. I hate feeling tired all day, I hate having constant headaches because I'm just so tired, I hate feeling as though I can't enjoy my evenings because I need to go to sleep because I'm probably going to be up for a combined 2-3 hours in the night and then woken nice and early. Then this morning when I was in bed and so very tired and I could hear that all my children were awake and wanting something from me I realized how blessed I was that I had 3 beautiful children to take care of. I realized that any mom out there in the world who had a sick child, or one that had been taken from them already would trade my 'sleep' problems with theirs any day, any second. So I'm chronically tired but I have 3 children who are alive and healthy and one day they'll grow out of this..they have to right? Two kids who forgot how to play together and learnt how to fight don't mix very well with a mom who is so tired so I feel like I can barely function some days but like I said, I know this too shall pass and I will one day get the rest I desire and I know that I am blessed to have all my babies and I love taking care of them, even though they need so much care in the night still!

the funny thing about this is that this is my first year doing something for Lent and you know what it was I chose to do?? coffee! well that was horrible so I did 20 days of that which i barely survived and now for the last 20 days I'm doing chips.

Lexi's Heart of Gold

What is this you're asking? Or because of the mere fact that I have 3 children simply rule out any such questions? Well, I'll tell you what it is...my Lexi is a very thoughtful and sweet little girl and last night we were having our regular video call with daddy and Lexi hadn't finished her snack yet and she thought her daddy might want some so this is her sharing with her daddy even though he is miles away from home. Ryland was telling her "no Lex, daddy can't get those" but I told him to stop that because it was very nice of her to share with daddy and she doesn't need to know that daddy can't actually reach out from the screen and grab the goldfish. Does she really think he can I wonder? and if he could do that then does she wonder why he doesn't just reach out to kiss and hug them goodnight rather then them blowing each other kisses? I would love to be in the mind of my little ones for a moment or two. She is so good at sharing (food only!, not toys) I have to keep a close eye on her with Sophia. She knows how to get ahold of some snacks by herself and loves to share with her little sister. A few days ago I heard Sophia choking and sure enough Lexi had given her some of her corn pops and when I had ran over to her Lexi looked so happy and proud of herself it was a little sad telling her that she can't share with her but then remind her the rest of the day that she has to share, how confusing it must be for a kid!

2 birds with 1 basket

Sophia is now in a little bit of an annoying stage in that she is trying to crawl but can't quite figure it out and once she's in the crawling position she is stuck. she starts to sway back and forth and does this for a while and then either starts crying or sometimes she goes flat on her stomach where she is happy for another minute or so and then she starts crying anyway. So either way I have to stop what I am doing to come and rescue her and place her back on her cute little bum and thus the whole process starts again. What a cycle we are living right now. I have a basket I keep in the livingroom right now for all of her toys and today after nap time I decided why not put her right in her basket. this way the toys don't spread over the entire livingroom and I don't have to 'rescue' her every few minutes. She loved it! she had a huge smile on her face and started clapping immediately. I don't think this will last very long but maybe it will work for little bits during the day. I think if I save it for times like making lunch and supper and whatnot I'll be able to it more peacefully.

1 vs 4

Taking a trip to winnipeg by yourself with 3 children in winter is ridiculous to say the least. the fourth thing i was up against was my usual dud cart I always seem to get at WalMart. I thought today wouldn't be so bad because it was so mild out so off we went to wpg. First stop...Michaels, they're carts are almost useless with kids so all I could fit in there was Sophia. Well Lexi loved everything in there and there were so many flowers for her to go touch and say "mowa? mowa mama?" that means 'there are more flowers over here too mama?' and she loaded up the cart with things she liked while i tried to concentrate on what I all needed for her cake. Perfectly placed in the cake decorating aisle was one of those huge blue ladders that Ryland knows all to well about and sees them and always asks "you have to work here to go on these mom?" "yes Ryland you have to work here to go up the ladder" so of course Ryland and Lexi swing from it and do everything else other then actually climb up the ladder itself. I finally decided to just buy the kit and one thing I knew i'd need for it and i'd read the box at home later to find out what else i'd need for it. We had to make a bathroom visit in the store which is always fun craming a cart load of kids into a stall and deciding which of them can go first and who can hold on to it for just a little while longer. After leaving the bathroom Lexi found a post that she decided to start hugging, passers by just said how cute she looked and said how nice it was she was hugging that post and blah blah blah....do you have kids? do you see that i have 2 more here? do you think that i think it's cute that she is hugging a pole and refuses to let go? I asked Ryland to watch Sophia for me so I could go get Lexi away from that pole and on my way over to her she started to kiss it! gross. So i managed to convince Lexi to come with me by showing her mommy had a sucker in her pocket that she could have and then when I turned around Ryland wasn't just watching Sophia any more he was giving her a ride. Our adventure lasted about another 15 more minutes or so and then we were all safely in the van and off to the mall. What
would Wal-Mart be without a dud for a cart?? I wouldn't know, I always seem to get them. Todays veered to the right. We started out with Ryland and Lexi in the main big area and Sophia on top where the cart is nicely designed for one child to fit in this world of famlies of 3 I guess. I already knew at home it would be a tight fit with winter gear so I had Ryland just wear his runners instead of his big clunky boots to make more room for kids, jackets, diaper bag and anything we might want to buy. This arrangement didn't last too long and we were switching and putting Sophia down with Ryland and Lexi up where Sophia was, this gave a little more room down there as we kept filling the cart. Wal-Mart wasn't too bad I just had to remind Ryland (and Lexi when she was down there with him) to stay sitting and stay to the left or mommy can't push the cart every minute and a half or so. With that done we proceded to go to The Disney Store, yes i said it, The Disney Store. This store is made for parents with kids and obviously they want kids to be in this store yet I'm amazed at how its set up. First of all there is no room to navigate a stroller or a cart and second it's carpet flooring and with a dud of a cart that veers to one side it's really hard to push in the hallways of the mall let alone carpet and i believe its about 15 degrees hotter in here then anywhere else in the mall. So barely in the store I wasn't able to push hard enough to the left (and I think Ryland forgot himself and went to the right of the cart in his excitement) and we immediately crashed into a display case of cups and one shelf was almost totally off so if i backed the cart up before fixing the shelf the entire shelf would have slid right down so i had to pick up everything that fell while convincing the kids not to touch the cups of "cars", "princess"and "buzz light year" even though it was hanging into the cart! Thankfully a lady that works there came to help us out and surprisingly enough mentioned that this happens more then once in a day! Well this store wasn't too crazy actually, Ryland managed to hop out of the cart without me noticing once and Sophia started crying towards the end because it was now past her supper time, oh yes and the kids wanting everything in the store and asking seperately for it all. So now we went to the food court to eat and all was fine and good and then Lexi needed to pee. I am so gratefull that this happened at the end because i could just pack everything into one container and throw it all in the garbage we were right beside, unstrap Sophia from the highchair, place her in the cart, get Ryland into the cart and then chase down Lexi who insisted she walk to the bathroom that we were soooo far from and I ended up having to carry her there while pushing my lovely cart full all the way there. Thankfully the family washroom was empty so we could use that right away but then Lexi wasn't sitting far enough on the potty and ended up peeing all over her pants and boots and some on the floor! Well that is all I am going to say about our trip to wpg. it was one for the memory banks I tell you. Now Jordan, now do you fully understand why I appreciate your help when you're home and we all go out on our little day trips to winnipeg one day and steinbach another? we always say how crazy it is with us 5, this is what it's like when I say us 4. Hey honey, I love you!

And the Shift Begins..

Well Jordan left this morning for yet another shift, this probably should have been his last or maybe second last one but it now looks like we'll be living this life for a little while longer. Obviously the hardest thing about Jordan working out of town is how it affects our family but sometimes I think the hardest thing about deciding to do this for longer is feeling the pressure to explain our choices to everyone.
Now that Jordan is gone the house is once again clean! this always is a bit of an unusual thing because it would make sence that having Jordan home and having that extra set of hands the house would be cleaner with him here but it is a total zoo for pretty much the whole week he's here and quite clean for the three he's gone. It's also back to routine for the kids, they had their normal bath and were all in bed not only at bed time but before bed time! isn't that crazy! They normally get 1-2 baths when Jordan is home. I'm just in awe at this because it sounds so opposite. This is not me saying i like having my husband gone, i want him home and can hardly wait for him being home being our normalcy and he being part of our routine, it's just not our time for that right now. It kind of makes life exciting with all the anticipation me and the kids have when it gets closer to having Jord home, it's kind of like we get a week of holidays every month too which is awesome for us!
Robyn usually has been staying with me and the kids in the weeks that Jord is gone but this time around we're going to see how it works if she only stays here for 1 of 3 weeks. I want her to have more of a chance to be an aunt to my kids and not have her feel like she needs to be always helping to take care of them. I want her to enjoy them more.

Play Room

Yay..the play room is almost done! wow, i've been waiting for this since we bought this house and finally it's just moments away, or finished enough so that we can have all the toys in there and none upstairs and the kids can use it. we'll do baseboards, better lighting, shelving and ceiling later. for now the painting is done and floor is almost in and i'm happy with that. the kids each got a square to paint in that they could do this morning and it turned out so well, i'm so happy with it. i got them to each do a handprint and i did a mark in their box of how tall they were when they did their artwork, i'll write their names in it later on. they had a blast painting and are so proud that they did the artwork for their room, it's awesome. i also did a chalkboard and magnetic board for them (spraypaint) but i'm not as happy with the look of how that turned out. they chalkboard sprayed way to much out and the magnetic one hardly did a thing, i actually went and bought a new can as i thought i bought a dud and turns out it's just a pain in the butt to do. well i hear my named being called so that will be all my ranting for today.