It's staying a surpise + other impossible goals...

I think we're going to forgo the 3D ultrasound this time. Partly because, "yay surprises!" and partly because a colleague at work completely freaked me out about the safety of ultrasounds in general, and the 3D ultrasound being a gratuitous *extra* that isn't really necessary....and blahblahblah fetal temperature rise and 100 decibel noise factors. Although, if you research anything online, I'm sure you can find someone telling you how terrible and risky and unsafe it is. Including the delicious cheese curds I'm currently enjoying as a pre-lunch snack... I'm sure if I wanted to, I could find out how they were going to give me cancer, or make me blind, or cause congenital heart disease... 

ANYways... so my grand plans for sourcing vintage children's wallpaper for this nursery are slighly kiboshed. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing - because seriously? "Sourcing vintage children's wallpaper" ... I know I live 45 mins from T.O. - but that may have been a stretch for even me... Not to say I still don't salivate slightly when I look at these designs from Secondhand Rose's site:

BUT..... now I just have to find myself some cool vintage-y style fabrics that are little more "neutral" and use as accent pieces. Because you know - what newborn doesn't need a few throw pillows, right?

In other impossible to achieve news - I have decided instead of going to the Great Ikea for Maddie's new "big girl" bed, we are going to make it instead. Ha - I can hear you scoffing and laughing to yourself. Whatever - part of my enjoyable kid-free, hubs-free time last weekend was spent perusing through random design + craft blogs, only to stumble upon Knock Off Wood. I may have died and gone to heaven. Once upon a time I had all sorts of grand plans to make several  pieces of furniture (including a large harvest table made from reclaimed railway ties... Guess what? They're toxic!).

My achievements to-date include two small black, vinyl-covered cubes that currently sit obnoxiously in our living room. These were made in part with my mom and my step-father. To be honest, I did no sewing or drilling. I just gave the measurements and went to work with the staple gun. They're okay. They served the purpose. I now hate them. But at the time - in 2002, they were the shiznay. I had  been coveting a pair of upholstered cube ottomans at Caban for several months and in describing them to my mom, we decided I should just make myself a pair. Of course, mine were made of vinyl. And slightly smaller than they should be. And not quite padded enough. But at the time, there were my crowning achievement and made me want to start making all sorts of things.

And then I forgot about it. Until we moved into our house. And I was coveting a skinny bookcase/console table from Pottery Barn. At this stage I was thinking a bit more clearly and started to research cabinet-making classes at the local college - and put that on my Christmas wishlist for the year. And then I had a baby and good lord I could barely remember to shower, much less attend a class to teach me things. So I forgot about it for a little while longer.

And then, in my desperate search online for a bed that I liked, that I could imagine in Maddie's room, that wouldn't cost a bloody fortune, I found Ana and her plans for the Simple Bed. I am so excited I'm all squirmy like a puppy. Because this is gonna be soooo cool. And yes I'm 19 weeks preggo and planning on building a bed from some 2x4's and 4x4's and that may sound a bit crazy.... but also awesome, non?

So that's the impossible plan for the month of February. But not this weekend. This weekend will be for relaxing, and organizing the garage, and doing some Costco shopping, and fixing our doorbell.

That shouldn't be so impossible. There's not that much electricity that goes through a doorbell, right?

xxoo.S

Monday disappointment

After my lovely "Freedom Weekend" wherein I actually did some slothing, some inspiring blog discovering, some terrible Hugh Grant movie-watching and some reckless eating, Monday arrived. And with it a big fat deja vu style disappointment.

It was the day for our 18 week scan. "Ultrasound Day", if you will. The day I've  been waiting for, curbing these nesting instincts within an inch of their life - just waiting to hear..... PINK?  BLUE??  Tell me already... put me out of my misery...

Friends and family will be shaking their heads. In befuddlement, amusement, perhaps even amazement. Just how can this happen twice?

So yes - Lil Val #2 is going to remain a mystery. For a while at least. I mean, it should only take me a few days to work on the Hubs in convincing we do another 3D ultrasound, right?

Stupid, shy baby parts...

xxoo.S

PS -- I KNOW this sounds spoiled and rotten and whiny for no good reason. Trust me - I am VERY happy that all seems well in the womb-world, that we got the "unofficial" thumbs up from the ultrasound tech that he/she looks very healthy and happy and normal. I get it - that's all I should be concerned about. So really really - I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth. But it doesn't mean I can't be a bit bitter that it happened again, right?

Happy Not-so-Winter from Maddie!

xxoo.S

Freedom Weekend

About a month ago the Hubs notified me of all the "guys weekends" he had coming up. A fantasy football pool thing, a pond hockey cottage dealio and an ice fishing trip. They were all scheduled within 6 weeks of one another - as in Every.Other.Weekend.

That's cool. I'm actually a super-awesome wifey and don't usually mind these guys weekends (really, I don't - because I get the whole bed to myself and can I just say, "S.T.A.R.F.I.S.H."?) - but seriously, every other weekend seemed a bit lame.

At first I was all - pick 2 outta 3 - you're not getting all these weekends of awesomeness while I get to play single-kill-me-if-I-have-to-watch-another-episode-of-Dora-mom. Not that I don't LURVE my daughter. But dudes - isn't the great thing about weekends getting to do the hand off when you need to take a bath?

Then I realized, well all 3 are pretty unique and different groups of guy friends and blah-blah-softy-cakes, I said, sure have fun at all your weekends. But um - you're taking Maddie with you one of those times.

HA! Don't I rock?

Before any judgy-mcjudgertons here have explody heads, I didn't mean take her WITH him to the actual guys weekend. Because as much as she can out-toot them all, I'm sure she wouldn't be all that into the 3am poker games that ensue.

But this weekend (the pond hockey cottage dealio) is treacherously close to Kingston - where grandparents abound! So Madds is going to visit Grandma and Grandpa Vallier for the weekend. They're excited, she's excited. I'm sure Seth is excited because this is probably only one out maybe two times a year he gets to play hockey anymore. And me?

The sheets are in the laundry, in anticipation of all the starfish sleeping madness that I am going to subject them to this weekend.

Other plans include copious chick-flick watching. Some trashy novel reading. Some junk food eating. And some lounging in pyjamas, not getting dressed for the day, living.

And maybe I'll clean up the garage.

Maybe...

xxoo.S

That's right... I'm old.

Last weekend was my birthday. My 34th birthday. I was going to "allude" to being in my mid-thirties, but let's face it. I know I'm not really THAT old in the grand scheme of things. Mom - I'm looking at you here... kidding. (But not really. You are getting O-L-D. You have a 34 year old daughter - that's gotta make you pause)

So in an effort to actually celebrate my birthday with more than a 2-hour sneak out date while Maddie's asleep with the Hubs, we actually invited friends over! For dinner! And pre-dinner drinks and foodie stuff! And playtime for the kids!

My, aren't we grown-ups?

It was fun. We had steak. With double-baked-stuffed potatoes. And some garlic shrimp. And real bacon bits on the ceasar salad. And then we* poured some butter on our steaks. Because we're fat like that...

It was a hedonistic meal and I enjoyed a glass of my much-loved Masi with my steak (gasps of disgust from the pregnancy-rule-following-crowd!) and then sat and laughed at everyone else who DIDN'T have elastic-waist-band pants on.

Good friends. Good food. Good conversation.  Oh - and ice cream cake for dessert? Yeah, that makes for a solid birthday celebration in your *cough*cough* mid-thirties.

The kids' dinner wasn't nearly as nice as ours. KD + hotdogs. But they didn't mind.

Yum ice cream cake. We had more than a 1/4 of it left over and it was demolished by Monday morning.

Sleep is for the weak! The kids ended getting up at 11pm for one last hurrah.

They were lucky, that was when Seth remembered to bring out the cake. Poor Maddie was totally shafted (and yet blissfully asleep - haha - suckers!)

xxoo.S

*I'm kidding. We didn't all do that. Just me and Vone. Whatevs. She's got the metabolism of a racehorse and I'm pregnant. We're dually allowed to be disgusting and eat butter on our steaks. Seriously. Don't knock it until you've tried it...

Now that's gotta be a side-effect

I had a dream last night that I was frantically packing for a "quick flight" to .... somewhere? I don't know where it was - I want to say Florida, and yet, I don't think that's quite right. But I do know that I was concerned that my pedicure wasn't in great shape and that just wouldn't work with flip flops.... so yeah. It was somewhere warm.

And while I was packing (frantically, did I mention the frantic packing?), I was talking to the Hubs about how I thought we probably should take Maddie with us, even though it was going to be a short trip.

His response?

Not worth the hassle. We'll be back in 24 hours and she'll be fine here with the cats. She'll just have to figure out to drink their water.

I'm not 'effing kidding. This was the conversation we were having. LIKE IT WAS REASONABLE. To leave our toddler alone. To drink from the cats' water dish.

And the whole time I had this sinking feeling like, something's not quite right. I feel a little guilty. And OMG have you seen the state of my pedicure? This is Not.Acceptable.

In the end, I woke up just as I was having an argument with the Hubs that I did think we should take her - but since we didn't have a ticket, I'd just put her in my carry-on so the airline wouldn't know. Because you know, while I was fine with her drinking from the cats' water dish, I was worried she wouldn't know when to put herself to bed ON TIME. Yes, that was my main concern. That my unsupervised toddler daughter, who couldn't tell time, wouldn't know that 7:30pm was bedtime and scoot her little ass off to bed.

I am so clearly ready to be a mom to another infant again, yes?

xxoo.S

PS - thank you ridiculously small bladder for waking me up at 4am and out of this cockamamie dream that wasn't really a nightmare but giving my heart palpitations nonetheless.

Potty Training Guide... erm... Guide on How to Abandon Potty Training

Abandon hope, all ye who enter here...

I'm pretty sure that should be the opening line of any potty training "manual" (imagine me speaking this with aggressive air quotes). Because "3 Day Potty Training Solution" - can suck it. That means you too, "One Day Guide to Potty Training".

Since we had a full week off with Maddie between Christmas festivities and back to daycare/work January 4th, we figured it was high-time to start the official attempt at potty training.

This included prep work of:

• reading a lot about potty training, with and without Maddie
• including her on the trip to Walmart to buy "big girl underwear"
• talking and prepping and generally hyping-up the whole "you're gonna be a big girl, potty time woot to the woot!"
• buying an superfluous potty (as we already had 2) that was specifically DORA-themed 
• stocking up on ice cream treats, m&m's, and stickers/potty training charts

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm just a bit too Type A to go into battle without researching my enemy. The research was done. The groundwork was laid. The Daycare Provider was conferred with, and in agreement that It.Was.Time.

So we went whole hog. No pull ups (oh I had plenty on hand, but not for "training" purposes - more for when we went out somewhere) - just underwear between the pee and my carpets.

The first few days were hit and miss. Like maybe a 50% hit rate. As long as I was asking, coaxing, encouraging, doing-nothing-but-watching-her-like-a-hawk-the-entire-time, we were able to pee pee on the potty. She got it immediately. You sit on the potty and you squirt a bit. Sometimes a lot. Sometimes not much at all, but enough to warrant the demand of a "Dib - the ice cream treat".

And then maybe I relaxed. Or got a bit tired of the constant watching/monitoring/asking/coaxing. I tried to explain/encourage/bribe her that she needed to tell me BEFORE she went pee. That when she needed to pee, she needed to go on the potty, not tell me AFTER she had already started peeing.

This went on for more than a few days until I started to get frustrated. Like how many times do I need to ask you if you need to go on the potty, before you'll put the sensation and the need to tell me ahead of time together? Because this is totally the LAST TIME I'm washing all the pads/straps on your highchair...

By the time Jan 4th came around, we had hit a milestone - she was starting to poop in the potty. That was almost a 100% hit rate. She wouldn't necessarily tell us - she'd just head to the potty and sit and sit and sit and sit. Finally I figured out, oh - she's working on a Number 2. So that's awesome (and also not just a little bit gross to clean up out of a potty chair, for the record). I figured - well, if she's got this, then pee isn't far behind.

Except it still was. Our daycare provider was all over the no pull-ups, just underwear, style of training we were trying. So that's awesome. Except it wasn't for her either because Maddie still wasn't able to "tell" when she had to go.

She would go - no hesitation, if you asked her to come and sit on the potty. So it wasn't a fear thing. Just a body-function-not-triggering-her-thought-process thing.

So after another week of no real progress, I reverted. To pull-ups. I figured this would still give us the opportunity to work on the "pull up, pull down" easier access to potty training, but without the mess. Except pull-ups are an easy way for you (as the parent) to get lazy about potty training too. So while there was no mess, there was really no progress being made at all.

I'm not a quitter and I hated the thought of putting all the progress we had made on the shelf and just abandoning the entire endeavor. So I researched more. And read more. And chatted and discussed and asked for opinions from pretty much any mom-type-person I came across.

It all came to pretty much the same conclusion - if she's not ready (and she was mentally, but perhaps not physically), there's no point in continuing. Because we could just frustrate her, we would (definitely) get frustrated and it could turn into a far harder process than it should be.

So we quit. For now. Good thing diapers are on sale this week. I bought another 2 boxes. Hoping that perhaps this would be the last... I guess we'll try again in a few weeks.

What's really ironic, is that I'm not frustrated with her at all. She's still young, perhaps just that little bit too young to really "get" it yet. But I'm frustrated with myself - is it weird that as a mom, you feel like potty training could be "your" failure, not your kids? Like, I could have been more on top of it. Perhaps if I pushed a little harder, or if I had watched more closely, or not been so quick to move to pull-ups, then we would have been further along?

Ah - the guilt of motherhood. How I've missed you these past few months... welcome back.

xxoo.S

Maddie pics

Laziness... the first thing to go is the blog, apparently. Have been meaning to post some pics from Christmas holidays for some time now, better late than never...

Maddie + Daddy at the Whitby Santa Claus Parade

Baking Christmas cookies with me (my first attempt at "roll out + cut shapes" cookie dough - they were good, but a bit weird because I used whole wheat flour)

Completely ignoring Baby Cole on Christmas Eve. But don't you love her fancy sweater?

She doesn't look impressed here because Christmas Presents were Over.Whelming. But that's another post for another time.

With a sick daddy and exhausted mommy, Maddie got to sit and watch more than her fair share of Disney movies over Christmas vacation. And the battle of chair supremacy continued with Simon the Cat.

"Helping" Mommy shovel the back patio on New Year's Eve. Intense work, I tell you...

xxoo.S

Sugar in my coffee? No ta, I'm sweet enough...

I've always embraced the New Year's Resolution tradition. Loved that whole concept of "fresh year, fresh start" blah blah blah bloopy blah. Except when it actually came to, you know, keeping those resolutions. Like most of you, I expect.

This year I had cheekily told a friend that I was resolving to be a "nicer person" for 2010. We both laughed at that.

Because, really? Aren't lofty, generalized resolutions like this, kind of bullshit? Unless you came up with a solid, structured game plan of how you are planning on accomplishing them. Which then means your resolution is now about 10 different resolutions that you have to keep. And dude, that's just getting a little too complicated.

Anyways, I've decided that I'm not all that interested in being "nicer". Because that would take real effort, you know?

Like, not rolling my eyes at dumbasses. Or laughing at inappropriate times. Or talking like a sailor... And that's just at work. bab-dum-bum-chshshhh (that's a drum roll you get after a funny joke - get it? har. har.)

Seriously though. I give stuff to charity, sometimes. And I try to recycle as much as humanely possible. I correct my daughter on her P's & Q's. I totally brake for small animals crossing the street.

But in examining my niceness in comparison to the average person's "nice-appeal", I think maybe my short-coming is really just my lack of patience. Which I totally blame on my parents - because genetics are an awesome blame-shifter, non?

So, since I've perhaps pin-pointed a possible area that I could improve as a person, let's use that as a focus, shall we?

For 2010, I resolve to be more patient. With family and friends mainly. And maybe the elderly. But not annoying or idiot strangers in a parking lot. That's just asking too much.

xxoo.S

Post-holiday... er... Post.

Okay. So I've been avoiding this post like the plague. Because honestly? I hate when more than just a few days pile up between posts, much less a few weeks. Too much to cover and I'm far too wordy already. I don't want to subject you to that. And holy shit, I've already written an entire paragraph about how much I don't actually want to write because I write too much...... AND, breathe.

There were a number of ups and downs over this holiday. And to be honest - I've never been happier to be back to our "normal" routine. Although we're not quite there yet. But getting infected with 3 (THREE!) separate sicknesses and family-drama-rama means that it wasn't the funnest vacay ever. I give it a 5 out of 10.

Instead of boring you with details, I'll give you the highlights...

• Christmas Eve we hosted what I hope becomes the Annual Vallier Xmas Eve smörgåsbord of drinks + appy's. I introduced my family + friends to scotch eggs and they are now fatty Anglophile converts like me.
• Christmas spanned about 3 days in total between real Santa-day and visiting family. Lots of good eats, FAR too many presents and good family time enjoyed by all.
• We watched the Cars movie about 7,093,098,023,563 times. Clearly Santa could have saved money and just put this one item in her stocking and called it a day.
• Maddie started potty training and is doing well. Not gonna lie to you, I thought it would go faster, be easier, less messy-like. But apparently my expectations were too high, I should be more patient (what? ME?), and things are going fine.
• Miss M also started speaking incredibly more clearly - like a little person with full sentences and prepositions and shit. Oh, she still starts most sentences with "Maddie" - but then again, you would too if you were the centre of the universe, right? ;)
• Other Miss M accomplishments include jumping (WITH 2 FEET MOMMY!), shoveling snow, eating snow (lots and lots and lots), and ... erm. I mentioned the potty training right?

All in all. Life is good. Life is (getting back to) normal. Bring on 2010...

xxoo.S

She comes home today!

As stress-free, productive and well, productive!!! these past 5 days have been, I am very happy to report that our little munchkin is coming home today. I've been specifically avoiding all mention of weather forecasts and reports all week, as I don't know if I could handle her getting snowed in over Christmas.  Needless to say - my avoidance theory has worked, and if all goes well, they will be on the road shortly after lunch (strategically-timed drives during nap time is the only way to drive!).

Happy Ho Ho to you and yours. We will be hosting our annual Christmas Eve buffet of gluttony tonight.  I am attempting something that is supposedly *simple* with phillo pastry and brie. I may bake cookies, but I'm no pastry chef.

Luckily, our bar is stocked well enough that I anticipate no one will really notice, much less taste the food. Except me of course... at least I was smart enough to pick myself up a bottle of sparkling grape juice... le sigh.

Holidays without alcohol? I'm pretty sure the Hubs is going to pay for this at some point...

xxoo.S

Remember those days?

Last night I had dinner, out at a non-kid-friendly restaurant, with the Hubs. Ate $30 entrees. Enjoyed kid-free, tv-free, dinner conversation.

Remember those days? When you could luxuriate over dinner, taking hours to meander your way through appetizers, entrees and coffee/dessert?

We really talked, for the first time in a long time. Mostly gossiping about friends, chatting about work, about the future, about how we planned to spend our holidays. And it's not that Maddie didn't come up - don't get me wrong. We miss her, talked about missing her, how we were looking forward to seeing her on Christmas Eve.

But that was it. To sound like a complete horrible mother... she didn't monopolize the conversation. Instead we just chatted and laughed and poked fun and shared jokes and commiserated about work and, and, and...

It was pretty awesome.

xxoo.S

Happy Ho Ho from Maddie

xxoo.S

Snippits

"Are you in a good mood? I will eat anything you want me to eat if you stay in a good mood!" Said by the Hubs, in response to my email if he was okay w/ leftover-lasagne for dinner.

Pregnancy mood swings are one thing. When you're already known as the bitch in the family, they're something else for sure. I'm sure glad I don't have to live with me...

xxoo.S

So this is what the "twos" are like?

We've all had those weeks, non? Where all you can think of is just how quickly it will be over with? Thankfully that week is behind me now - Hubs away, had a (small) car accident, Maddie got sick, I got sick + lots of fires at work that needed to be put out.

Thank God my mom was in town - if only because she let me vent to her and hummed around the house doing my laundry and cooking meals. In fact, it was almost like I had an ol' fashioned housekeeper for a week. Yeah, that was definitely the highlight.

In other, more interesting news... Maddie has started to give me timeouts. That's right. You heard me.

I've figured out, it's usually a delayed reaction to getting one herself, like she's trying to process it or something.  And for the record, I don't give time outs freely, but you slap me across the face, you're sitting on the 'effing stairs Missy.  Then about a 1/2 hour later she'll come up to me out of the blue, looking cross and shaking her finger at me "Time out Mommy. Go to your room!" 


[Sidebar - I'm not sure where this "go to your room" thing comes from, as I don't send her to her room. Simply because she just plays up there, and I'm like, dude that's not a punishment. Sit on the stairs and look sad. Thanks.]

Regardless, it's difficult not to laugh and try to act serious when I ask why I'm in trouble.

xxoo.S

Letting the cat out of the bag

So the bossman officially knows, which means it's finally safe for posting! Yup, we are expecting another little sprog to our family at the end of June. Woot!

That's probably partly why I've been so quiet as of late. Because you know those early weeks - when everything is shitty and nausous and you're exhausted and all you want to do is complain? Well trust me, it's hard to think of other things to write about when that's the case.

I've always found it so ironic that some of the hardest months of a woman's pregnancy are during that time when she may not want to actually be "out", if you will. Don't get me wrong - if you're one of those subscribers to the "when I know everyone will know" way of announcing, then coolio for you. But if you're not - then you've essentially sentenced yourself to suffer in silence, trying to act normal when really all you want to do with throw up all over someone colleague's desk.

So yes - that's the whinge - it's been a rough couple of months. But I think I'm rounding the corner. Energy levels definitely seem on the uptick, and the nausea is being held off with some timely B6 supps (instead of downing Diclectin like they were tic-tacs, which has been my strategy from wk 6 to now-ish).

And hey! Sidebar! Did you know that Diclectin is essentially B6 with a little antihistamine thrown in? Because I just found this tidbit out yesterday and was kind of bummed that essentially I could've spent $5 on vitamins vs $75 and saved myself a few nosebleeds. (b/c dry winter-heated-air + antihistamine = nosebleeds -- hurrah!)

Other things that are different this time round (besides me being almost 3 years older and clearly worse for wear on the whole, how your body handles pregnancy thing). What's been different:

• I could eat more cheese and butter and bread and other grease-saturated, carb-infused food than all of Paris. 
• Fruit and green vegetables? Can mostly suck it. Last time I prided myself on eating fruit salads for breakfast and snacking on frozen raspberries at night. I literally could not get enough of various types of fruit. This time? I can force myself to eat *some* fruits (i.e. really having to force down those usually yummy and well-loved pomegranates) - and vegetables? Unless you're a potato, we don't have much to talk about.
• Weight gain - hilariously I haven't actually GAINED a lot of physical pounds. Like, a total of 3 pounds I believe. (With Maddie I started gaining weight almost immediately). But WOW have I pouched out. Like full-on 5 month preggo looking by 6pm. Which brings me to the...

What has been the same (or similar) to last time:

• Gas. Not stinky, embarrasing styles. Just, you know... buildup. In the form of above said pouchy tummy. Looking like I swallowed a pumpkin or small watermelon by about dinner time. I had that last time too - but I guess since I was tinier then, the actually "pooch-y-ness" of it all was also smaller. From what I remember - this never went away... hello Gas-x.
• Nausea - again, it's just worse this time. Or was. I do think I'm almost over it (don't you DARE come back and jinx me because I said that out loud).
• Exhaustion - how can you tell if this is worse or the same this time? I don't think you can. Last time I had the luxury of resting when I needed to. Nowadays I have to resist the urge to drug Maddie with Tylenol at nap time in hopes of extending it to a solid 3+ hours. Resist the urge, I said. I don't actually do this. Just thought about doing it, once or a hundred times...
• Sleep (lack of it) - already happening. Damn you freaky realistic nightmare-y vivid dreams + ridiculously small bladder. My total sleep has probably suffered by about 2 hours a night. I know this happened last time, I just can't remember if it started so early?

So yeah - things are different, things are the same. I think week 9 was the pinnacle of shitty-ness, and we've reached that peak and heading downward into the realm of normality again. Goals for second trimester include: exercising regularly again (with all that added energy!), eating as many vegetables as I can possibly stomach, starting to potty train Miss M.

Say it with me: hahahhahahhahahahahha!

Whatever. I like goals...

xxoo.S

It's the miracle of sleep

Sleep begets sleep.

You read that line on every parenting blog, website, and book you come across in the early days of a newborn. How in fact, the more sleep and rested the child is, the easier they will be to get to sleep and sleep for a longer period of time.

As a true type-A rule-follower, I took this theory to heart.  Spending hours of my life trying to get Maddie to sleep the minute she looked the least bit sleepy.  Trying to predict schedules, cycles, any kind of pattern.

If you've read this blog over any period of time, you'll know that I was a failure (CAPITAL F!) at getting any kind of solid sleep for the first 1.3 years of Maddie's life. Sometimes she'd sleep thru the night. Usually when my mom would be visiting (I called her my sleep charm during the 6-12 month stage).

And then all of a sudden, she started to actually sleep through the night, consistently (oh, the allusive c-word). It was bliss. It IS bliss. I love not waking up several times throughout the night. And when molars or a fever or a random coughing cold interrupt that status quo, I go a teeny bit mental.

But you know what is one step beyond that bliss? (What is one step beyond bliss? Rapture? Euphoria? Yeah, I like euphoria)...

That one step - is called learning the "Magic Window".

What is the Magic Window you ask? Well, I'm sure any seasoned mother will roll her eyes at this post, as really, in many eyes' what I've figured out (and lovingly named) is no less obvious to them than 2+2=4. But for me? It's like finding shangrila.

The Magic Window is that special period of time in the evening in which we start and end the bedtime routine. For us - it's no later a start than 7:10pm and no later an end than 7:45pm.

Bedtime routine consists of bath (preceeded by fight to get clothes off, chasing naked baby down hallway, pleading for her to get in the bath, avoiding splish-splashy-wetness of tub-play and then pleading for her to actually get out of the bath); pj's; books; bottle (yes, judgy-mc-judgers - she still gets a bottle - I've found my shangrila, you think I'm messing with it now?) + bed.

This entire routine used to take much closer to an hour or more. My talented Hubs has whittled that down to a solid 30-minute window. Just one of his many talents...

And what happens if we get her to bed between 7:30-7:45pm? She sleeps for 12 hours.

12 HOURS.

In fact - we're having to wake her up at 7:30am most days, so she gets to daycare on time... looking back at a year (or 6 months) from now ... that's more than a little ironic.

Although, as always when I post any kind of comment about enjoying the good sleep, it only means she'll revert her ways and start awakening at 6am on the dot again...

xxoo.S

Ho Ho Ho!

Maddie loved Santa almost as much as she did last year. We tried to pump her up as much as possible, trying to convince her that she would LOVE Santa, that he was a friendly guy, and that he brought her presents, so what's to be afraid of?

Clearly she didn't buy what we were selling...

In case you're wondering, yes that's my hand pinning her to Santa's lap. Yes, that's what it took to get the picture on the 3rd try.

I'm nothing, if not relentless in my torture...

xxoo.S

I'm gonna try positivity

So the stove repair guy has called. He promises to be here before lunch time. Which is noon, right? Or in there-and-abouts?

I feel it this time. It's going to work. He will fix my stove. Let's say it again, shall we?

He. Will. Fix. My. Stove.

Yes, that's better. I feel much more zen now. And happy. In anticipation of a positive outcome. Because if you put the happy thoughts out there all those karma-zealots say you'll get it back, right? HAPPY. THOUGHTS. (was that too aggro?)

If we indeed do have a working stove I am so overwhelmed with ideas for dinner that I'm not sure I can stick to just one. A roast perhaps? Maybe my famously-loved lemon chicken? What about a cake for dessert?

The weekend promises to be good. One birthday surprise thingy on Sat night and the rest of the weekend for pure family relaxation.

Which actually means I already have a list of all the errands I'm going to be dragging the Hubs and Miss M along to all Saturday and Sunday.

Santa pictures are at the top of the list. As we need those for the Christmas cards. And perhaps some joyful Christmas prezzie shopping.

Happy. Thoughts.

xxoo.S

PS - have you seen this? We did one for Maddie last year, but I don't think she got it. Since she's starting to "get" the idea of Santa (although last night she told me "Maddie no like Ho Ho") I'm hoping this helps get her a bit more excited. http://santa.sympatico.ca

Aaaaand the stove is STILL not fixed.

I don't know why I feel compelled to keep updating this blog with my stove drama. Maybe as an outlet? Or to document the nightmare that has become mine in trying to do something as simple as get a RECALLED stove FIXED properly?

Maybe I want to ensure Maddie has enough ammunition in 20 years time against me. "Remember that month when you fed me nothing but microwaved meals and take out and sometimes bbq'd pieces of meat? I didn't get into Princeton because of you!!!"

The repair man came today. With all the parts and more that were needed to fix the stove. He tinkered around for about 15 minutes and then came up to my office dining room table where I was working and said, "I have bad news."

My response?

"I don't like you already." Pause. "I mean, that - I don't like the sound of THAT, already."

Apparently they shipped the wrong part. He walked me through everything talking about triptochometres (??! like I'm even supposed to pretend to know what  the hell that is), sealants, breaker boards, kryptonite and flux capacitors.

I'm totally kidding. About the triptochometres...

So he's ordering a part. Which magically he expects he could get tomorrow. So apparently waiting 1.5 weeks for the other part was SILLY because the part was WRONG anyway.

Of course not. Silly lady with her silly logic.

At least I found out that it's all being 100% covered under warranty. Which is kind of awesome in a now-we-can-have-Christmas kind of way.

Except now that I've posted that, I'm sure Frigidaire will change their minds and charge me the full $650 + labour ($650!!! For a CLOCK. That's an expensive effing clock, no?).

Right so... Microwaved lasagne anyone? I may have leftovers...

xxoo.S

Hi Guilt!

Daycare dropoff. I already feel guilty every time I have to do it. Even though I love my job and do enjoy working - I know that both me and Maddie would much rather spend the days together than apart.

The kick and scream days while getting manhandled into her coat + shoes are bad enough, but today topped that.

There was no kicking. There was no screaming. She just quietly got into her duds without complaint. On the drive over she was quiet. Not unusually quiet - she's not much of a chatterbox in the car anyways (yes I realize how lucky I am).

But when I was unbuckling her out of her carseat. That's when she got me. Gripping my arm like a freakishly strong little monkey, she looked up to me with big sad eyes and said, "Maddie no daycare. Maddie with Mommy today."

And that my peeps? Is where Guilt tapped me on the shoulder and said, Hi!

xxoo.S

Alarm clock

Maddie, without fail (for the most part) wakes up these days between 6:58am and 7:03am. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining... it's FAR better than the recent 6am offensive strategy she had been launching on us last month.

But doesn't anyone find this incredibly strange? That her little internal alarm clock is that precise? I do. Am both mystified and intrigued by it.

xxoo.S

Bullets b/c I don't have the energy to create flowing paragraphs

• Spent the weekend in Kingston. Specifically to see Stone Temple Pilots, that for some unknown reason, put K-town on their list of concert tours. I guess Scott needs the money? It was a nostalgic walk down memory lane for me - I was one big STP lover at one point. And they still put on a  good show. I felt young and old all at the same time. Mostly old.
• Maddie joined me on my road trip - and got to spend a bunch of time with Grama V as well as visiting Grandma and Grandpa Burke. She played shy with the latter and acted like a whiny spoiled brat with the former. Quel surprise.
• Don't you love how you come home to a house as messy, or messier, than you left it? When the Hubs has had all weekend sans toddler to um, apparently sit on his ass and watch football?  
• Our stove is still not fixed. But apparently the part is "in". But they aren't calling me back for a service appointment because.... Why? Was the cursing and crying and sobbing and begging a little off-putting?
• Other than that, I slept most of the weekend away. At least, as much as I possibly could.

xxoo.S

3rd person

Maddie has this endearing habit of speaking in the 3rd person. As in, "Maddie no like 'nanas." Or, "Yes, Maddie have more 'nanas please. Maddie more."

Sometimes it's completely out of context - like, "Maddie no kitty. Beep beep kitty." <-- that just sounds like a whole lot of gibberish, eh? Well, it would to me too, if I didn't know we had a 50 lb cat that lies at the top of the stairs, stretched out and constantly in.the.way. Getting a gentle "beep beep" is far nicer than my method of getting him out of the way---trust.  BUT my point is more that the "Maddie" at the start of that sentence is really unnecessary.

And yet, that's how most of her sentences now start out. And while writing it out here kinda makes it sound like we're raising a little cave-dweller, if you hear it in person, it really is adorable. With a capital ADORE.

I'm sure everything will be MY/MINE/ME/I very soon and I will miss this little egocentricity.

xxoo.S

And here's more stove drama...

So I haven't written in a while. Perhaps that's because my brain is turning to mush from eating too much microwaved food.

That's right. My stove is still not fixed.  It's a long story.  And I'm feeling particularly venomous about it now. So what better thing to do than complain to you guys, right?

It all started here. When one of the burners magically decided one evening, to not turn off until we actually clued in and unplugged the stove. After time spent online researching and 1-800 calling, we finally determine that our loverly stove has actually been recalled due to dangerous mind-of-their-own-elements just randomly turning on, never to be turned off again.  Lame, but yeah, we all know they don't make 'em like they used to.  So we get an appointment to get the damn thing fixed - 2 weeks later.

Whatever - we still have the oven, right?

For about 2.5 days. Then that stops working.

Huh. That's weird. Better call the recall dept at Frigidaire to report this little occurence as well. Make sure they bring all the parts they need to fix it. You know - trying to be PROACTIVE in the whole, full disclosure of all information affecting said broken-ass stove. We're told, no worries - the repair dude would assess the situation.

Fast-forward to our long-awaited repair appointment on the Monday. Aaaaannnnnd, repair dude is a no show. After numerous calls to the recall line, it's determined that in fact, the repair guy was "sick" that day and couldn't show. Or call. Or let anyone know that he was a no show.

Repair rescheduled for Wednesday. This time the guy shows up.  I show him the stove, explain the issues, and he twiddles away.  About 20 minutes later he's done - well, the cooktop repair anyway. The oven is "not under recall" - it's a regular shitty-quality malfunction and in no way related to the burner issue.  His response to my strong disbelief at this INCREDIBLE COINCIDENCE?  A shrug and, "yup, guess it's just bad luck." Although he did know what was wrong with it (needed a new timer), he couldn't fix it.

Back to the 1-800 number - to be bounced around randomly to different departments before they decided to tell me to call the place the stove was purchased (The Brick) - they'd be able to get the repair done.

Luckily the former homeowners gave us all their old paperwork on the appliances and so I had all the details needed for the Brick repair center. No longer under warranty it was determined.

I responded, "Like I give 2 shits - I'll pay to get it fixed, just please please please send me someone. Oh - and the timer part that this repair dude said we needed."

They promised they would. For Friday. Fantastic - so I had dreams of a working stove by weekend.

Which also happened to be the scheduled date of my annual Christmas bake-a-thon with my mom. All would be good.

Or not. New repair dude shows up. Takes a look and starts fiddling. Then, with a crackle*snap*pop and a puff of smoke - there goes the burners. The only working part of our stove that we had just got back into service.

Turns out, yes, we need a timer.  But he doesn't have the part - gonna have to order it. Will be a few days. Likely Tuesday at the earliest. But oh - because he feels bad for us for wrecking the only working portion of the stove (and because the oven not working isn't actually a coincidence, but related to the original recall issue), he's going to try and get the part through warranty so we don't have to pay.

Lovely. But I just want my fecking stove please. If the warranty process is going to take another 2 weeks, just give me the bill and I'll take it up with Frigidaire later.

So another weekend of eating microwaved food and take-aways. 

And then Monday goes by. And then Tuesday. A nasty cold managed to eat up all enjoyable vacation days that were scheduled in the first place - and making me a little more fuzzy-headed than normal - which meant I wasn't my normal "stalker" self and it took me until today to realize - hey, where's repair dude with my part and his handy-dandy repair skills?

Another call into his office results in a "part is in the States. You have a weirdo non-regular stove and ETA on part is undetermined."

And that's when I said FUCK YOU FRIGIDAIRE.

Actually I didn't. I didn't even use the F-word with the repair dude. I thanked him for his incredible follow-up skills and asked that he please call me the minute the part shows up and if he did so I may just name my next baby after him.

Graham has a nice ring to it - non? It could totally work asexually.

All is not lost though. The Hubs unearthed the ol' George Forman Grill from the basement. No more microwave pasta dishes for us. 

How lucky am I?

xxoo.S

**So there's you're answer as to why I've been quiet. Because I've been a brewing pot of instability, irrationality and venom. Or perhaps that's just a side-effect from eating Taco Bell more than once a week...

Don't judge a book...

The Hubs got into an accident last night. He is fine (as is everyone else involved). But his (work) car is not. The tow trucks were on the scene before the cops - which is interesting in a whole realm of logistics that I don't have the energy to really explore at this point.

What was super intriguing (to me anyways), was how nice the tow truck driver was. Because apparently I am pre-judemental  to the extreme and think all tow truck drivers are big, grumpy, scary man-bears on par with a Hells Angel biker.

To be fair, I am openly admitting my misconceived prejudice, so don't flame me too much. And no - I have never, ever, met a tow truck driver, so I really have no basis for this opinion.

As he took the Hubs down to the collision reporting centre, he offered to give him a ride home. And then proceeded to wait for him.

For the better part of 2 HOURS.

At dinnertime. On a random Wednesday night.

Maybe it's the remnants of the big-city living that makes my head spin at this random act of kindness. But dude - that's pretty awesome. Sitting and waiting for the Hubs to get through a crazy line up at a collision centre that was approximately 30 minutes away from our home.

And no, there was no payment involved. He gets paid on the impound fees (or something like that), not on time spent on the "case".

While eating his dinner at 8:30pm, the Hubs relayed this info to me, and all I could repeat (aside from, thank eff you are fine), was, "You know, that was really nice of him".

And it was.

Thank you random stranger. You helped make a bad situation, somewhat better.

xxoo.S

You can say it - she's adorable

That face that you see - it is Maddie's way of nicely showing disgust at me trying to get her to help me remove the pumpkin guts. Yeah, she wasn't down with that at all...

Maddie, on Halloween night, dressed as a little bug, with her buddy, Cole the Lionheart.

Note the impulse makeup craftily created from some of Mommy's lipgloss. Try not to note the spaghetti sauce stain that I couldn't get out of her only pair of pink leggings.

Wing shot!

xxoo.S

Happy Halloween from Maddie

xxoo.S

This post is called: 33 steps to fixing a stove...

...or 33 steps to the insanity that is known as requesting service on a recalled appliance.  Or 33 steps to getting annoyed on a Thursday night.  Or 33 steps after almost burning down the house because of fire-hazard cooktop...

1. After cooking pot of potatoes, turn element off.
2. Stare in befuddlement at element that will not turn off.
3. Try over and over and over again to turn element off.
4. Wonder at one's own sanity as to why this simplistic task is so incredibly difficult.
5. Finally realize (after 10 minutes of fiddling) that it is not, in fact, you that is broken, but said stove (more specifically, the element) that is broken.
6. Unplug stove.
7. Spend 15 minutes looking through organized (ha!) household appliance instruction manuals and warranties.
8. Find manual/warranty for said broken stove.
9. Call Canadian warranty number - find out that not only do they close at 5pm - they also get a break between 12pm-1pm from answering calls.
10. Get annoyed and bitch with husband about stupid stove.
11. Spend further 20 minutes looking through previous homeowner's paperwork to find purchase receipt to determine actual age of product.
12. Discover stove is not under warranty regardless of what is wrong with it.
13. Get even more annoyed and take your frustrations to the internet to Find! A! Solution!
14. Discover your stove has likely been recalled - due to elements that will turn on spontaneously and never again turn off.
15. Spend 10 minutes looking for serial number and model number to confirm recall.
16. Recall confirmed.
17. Call the recall line listed on website.
18. Get transfered to Canadian line.
19. Provide all of information and promptly get disconnected.
20. Call back and barely shielding annoyance, provide all particulars again.
21. Find out that yes, your stove has been recalled and is deemed a fire hazard.
22. Determine they will fix said element (and all other elements) free of charge.
23. Ask what could happen if same thing happens again.
24. Advised: ideally should turn breaker off whenever not using stove. Oh, and don't leave anything on top of it when not in use.
25. Laugh and ask for real answer.
26. Told is real answer.
27. Provide address details to determine timing of delivery man.
28. Advised earliest appointment available 2 weeks from now.
29. Promptly lose your shit and very sternly advise that this is Not. Acceptable.
30. After several minutes of silence, told that they could schedule for November 9th.
31. In effort of not pissing off service advisor, humbly accept date and write on calendar.
32. Ensure a reference number is received before hanging up phone.
33. Sit down and stare angrily at unplugged, dead, useless stove.

Thank you Frigidaire! I enjoy not eating. Or avoiding 3rd degree burns while cooking. Or spending my life savings in eating out for the next 1.5 weeks.

xxoo.S

The H1N1 debate

The topic du jour. Are you going to get the H1N1 vaccination? I have a lot of friends and family that are quite vehemently against it. Citing that it's dangerous, untested and likely not very effective as the strain mutates so quickly.

Those that are for the vaccination argue the benefits far outweigh the risks, and that all flu vaccines cover similar testing (as the strains change every year, and for them to get the vaccine to market in a timely manner, there isn't years and years of testing). So in essence, if you're cool with the flu shot, you should also be fine with the H1N1 vaccine.

Except one little thing - the H1N1 currently available is adjuvanted. Which means it includes a mixture of squalene (shark liver oil), DL-alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) and polysorbate 80 (emulsifier used in ice cream). This mixture bolsters the vaccine - essentially meaning they have to use less of the actual antigen to make the vaccine (because it was limited, this was a way for Canada to buy from the limited supply, and still have enough to provide to everyone).  It's this adjuvant that is making many nervous. Because this is the part of the vaccine that is less tested.  Do a google search re: adjuvant and you can learn a lot about it - more than you want to probably.

To put it bluntly, I'm nervous about it. Nervous enough that I am going to do my due diligence to see if I can instead get Maddie an un-adjuvanted version of the vaccine. She's under 3 and there are reports that it will be made available for those under 3 and pregnant women under 20 weeks.

At the same time - for us, I don't see an option of not getting it. As much as the adjuvanted vaccine makes me nervous, it's the reports of otherwise healthy children dying from this virus (like that poor poor boy just this past Monday) that make me more nervous. Maddie goes to daycare - many of those kids go to school.  That just puts her at an exposure rate that I'm not comfortable with. And while I wouldn't say she is a sickly child, we have certainly had our share of "the sick" in our house in the past 2 years.

But that's us - and that's a decision made after several weeks of thinking, researching, asking for opinions and trying to learn all that I can about it.  I highly recommend you do the same.  The Globe & Mail published a great Q&A article about it, which I found to be fairly unbiased.

Lastly, vitamin D is being touted as a great defense against all flus/colds/seasonal shit.  Because we in Canada cannot get the recommended amount via sunshine from October thru March, it is highly recommended we use supplements. There is also vitamin D in milk, fortified orange juice - lots of stuff. But if you want to be sure, just get some drops.  And according to what I've read, the recommended dosage for kids is up to 400 IU from the 200 IU previously recommended.  We currently give Maddie a multivitamin - but I plan on getting some additional D drops for the whole family.  I mean, why not, right?  That, I don't feel nervous about at all.

xxoo.S

She knits too!

Not Miss M silly. ME! I knit. I totally knit.

I am down with the knit-dawgs.

Jiggity.

Er? What?*

Let's start again... So this lovely weekend I decided that I was tired of my darling little snugglebum's neck being exposed to the elements and after doing a half-hearted search for a kidlet-sized scarf, decided to knit her one myself.

Enter my coolest discovery of the week - Howcast.  It is like YouTube for "how to" videos. And is superawesomefantastic if you ask me. What makes it so? Well, I went to YouTube and the "how to knit - basics of knitting" videos I found were assy. As in - moved way to fast for this newbie, and used random language like "once you've cast on, you're ready to learn the knit stitch", which of course only made me click pause while I frantically searched "cast on knitting" in the YouTube search box. And ...... scene.

The vids I found on Howcast not only showed step by step, it also has these built in little buttons in the feed that lets you go back to any specific "section" of the video. All in all - if you already know about Howcast - well, bully for you. Clearly you spend far too much time online. And if you don't - now you do. You're welcome. Your life is about to change.... for the better! I jest. (not really).

Anyways - I'm approximately 1/16 my way through the scarf (turns out I chose super-hard yarn to knit your first project with, needed larger needles and generally need to relax the hell up while I'm knitting so it's not so tight as to build a blister on left index finger from pushing the needle thru). And I'm sure to more advanced knitters out there, it's not all that pretty or done with correct form, for that matter (the whole "cast-on" thing still has me stumped).  But it's a scarf and it will be warm and she will love it.

Turns out though, as I'm chatting with my daycare provider today, there's a reason toddlers scarves aren't all that maintstream. It's a whole, uh, safety thing. Because they're going to choke each other on their scarves? Get hung up on something with it? I'm not so certain the why's, but apparently schools are starting to request the youngun's (like kindergarten age) not come w/ scarves, but instead baclava type neck coverings.

So instead of teaching our kids to learn how to live with the (gasp!) dangers of wearing a scarf, we instead should make them look like a gang of carjackers.

The school system is awesome.

xxoo.S

*Love that in 5 (10?) years I will look back at this and be mortified with embarrassment. And then spend the next week telling Maddie that I'm "down" with something. Or "jiggity". Perhaps "down with jiggity". And really, I will have no idea what I'm actually saying. Because at the ripe old age of my mid-40's I will be so out of  touch that I may still be wearing Uggs and think I'm cool.

Time to wean

It's time. I've faced the fact. We need to cut out the night-time bottle.  I am terrified of this because...

• This is really her primary source of milk. All other milk from a sippy gets, well, sipped on, for 2.8 seconds and then thrown on the floor.
• It's been a part of her bedtime routine forever - as in, this was the first (and only bottle) we were able to introduce, and she associates the bottle with bed.
• When she wakes up in the middle of the night (oh yes, she still does this - awesome, non?), it's the ONLY thing she wants and will soothe her.

The reason I am actually contemplating this upheavel in our lives?  Here's a snippet of my Saturday night (early Sunday morning):

MissM (over the monitor at an ear-crashing shout of volume): MOMMY!  MILK!  MADDIE WANT MILK!  MOMMY! MOMMY! MILK. MADDIE. PLEASE!

Me: w.t.f? roll over and think perhaps I can just ignore this away

MissM: MOMMY? MILK. MADDIE MILK. MOMMMMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYY...

Me: blearily look at clock. 4:effing16 in the morning. Superawesome. Go into her room and attempt to reason (with a toddler - I know - demented...): Dude - it's still night night time. How are you so awake? Go back to sleep. Night night.

MissM: Milk mommy. Maddie milk NOW.

Me: No, you don't need milk right now. You can have some in the morning. Just go back to sleep. Night night bugaloo.

MissM: instant and v. loud meltdown

Me: What the hell... I go, warm up a  bottle and bring it back up. And then I take her out of the crib and hold it for her.

It's those last 5 words that I want you to pay the most attention to.  That's right.  She won't hold her own bottle.  Well, that's not true. She will. For 1.3 seconds. Then it will fall and she'll look at me like, WTH is your prob lady?

So yeah. The wakeups are annoying enough. The having to sit for 10 mins while she drinks her bottle and then force my insomniac ass back to sleep? So not cool anymore. Because as sweet and loving as it could be - it's just.not.anymore.

But aside from going cold turkey (which I expect y'all will tell me to do), how else do you get rid of the bedtime bottle?

xxoo.S

Another birthday weekend + a case of the sick?

I know, I know. Enough with the post (pre?) dated posts already. But I need to get these out and into our so-called online journal. Otherwise we'll just look back and realize wow - we did nothing and mom just bitched a whole lot. Ohhhhhkay.... carrying on.

It was another birthday party filled weekend for us. We were supposed to be attending 2 parties, but because Maddie was fighting "the sick" all weekend (and her lack of enthusiasm at the first) made us have to miss the 2nd one unfortunately.

I don't know what "the sick" was however, as it never really culminated in anything diagnosable. There were a few sleepless nights and some low-grade fevers happening all week. And a crusty grumpy little girl. It was fun! (said with wide eyes smiling and nodding head...) Maybe 2 year molars coming in? I can't really get my head around that, since she barely done cutting her eye teeth and we all know she's breaking world records for being the slowest possible teether evah! Who knows.  Kids are germoholics.

Anyways - before bday party #1 we hit up Pingles for some good ol' pumpkin-pickin'-out. There's tonnes of other things (tractor rides, corn mazes, face painting) that you can partake in - but yeah, like I said, we were on our way places and Miss M was a wee bit grumped out.

Although you can't really tell from these pics (liar! she's a liar!)

So yeah - then it was off for an hour to a bday party where my good friend Vone (she of the magical crafting powers and coolio blog: How to do...something) put together pretty much the coolest bday cake strategy for a roomful of toddlers (and young 'uns) that I ever did see.

Cupcakes. Sorry - a rainbow of cupcakes. That the kids could decorate. Each guest got a section tin, with candies and chocolates and assorted cupcake decorating  paraphernalia.

They got to pick a cupcake and decorate it (and then eat it of course!). All in all - a pretty fantastic idea. The kids had fun. The parents had fun. Oh - and almost forgot my fave part - she (because she's crafty like that) also made each child their own apron. Like a little pint-sized lovely adorable apron that we got to take home. And since we've just started baking together (Maddie helped me make choco chip cookies on the weekend), I think that's like, the COOLEST thing ever.

After that massive sugar rush (and crash) there was no way we could make it to the other bday party, so we called it a day. Maddie slept. Hubs watched his football and I made cabbage soup.

What? You don't lurve cabbage soup? I'm done with you...

xxoo.S

Maddie's First Fingerpaint

Maddie tried out her new birthday fingerpaints on Thankgsiving Monday. It was a creative process. To some of the pics - go here.  Otherwise, just enjoy the results:

xxoo.S

Maddie turns 2

Don't you hate it when you mean to post something, and you don't do it right away, and then time gets away from you and next thing you know it's 3 weeks later?  Isn't it awesome that you can just post-date your post and in the future, anyone reading will just think you posted on that day?  I do...

So it was the weekend that Maddie turned 2. And since I'm (apparently) determined she grow up to be a total diva, yes, we called it Maddie's "birthday weekend". Because in the Vallier house, if you have a vagina, you get more than just a day for your birthday. Just sayin'.

Friday was still a daycare day for Miss Madds, so I sent her with some cupcakes to share with the gang, purchased from Brooklin Bakery (no, I didn't make them - but before you roll your eyes at my laziness, read on to the Dora cake adventure).  Fri night dinner was our mainstay Fri night dinner: fish & chips a la Krispy's (another Brooklin fave - look at us supporting the local biz!) - joined by Gramma V who came up to visit for the weekend.  With cupcakes for dessert, Maddie enjoyed her first rendition of "happy birthday". Then it was off to bed so I could finish the Dora Cake!

*sigh* Yes. The Dora Cake. This monstrosity took away close to 6 hours of my life, when all was said and done.  I think because the Elmo head of last year's bday party ended up being so easy, I may have bitten off more than I could chew.  Followed the same steps - rented the pan from Bulk Barn ($2 a day - such a steal!), purchased cake mix, icing and icing tint.

We made the cake earlier in the week (actually fun as Maddie was totally into making her DORA cake - and we got some good pics of her first baking experience).  So that was f.i.n.e.

Really, it was the icing. So much colour. So many different steps to follow. So many intricate little spaces to get the star shaped icing globs into. It was like drawing Dora all freestyle, yo!  Nothing a little wine couldn't help, right?

Yeah - I fully blame Dora's eyes on that wine.  As a good friend stated, she looks like Lisa Simpson when she was the Lizard Queen (Simpson's reference that makes me sound super old).  Or as the Hubs commented - "Why did you make Dora look like she was beaned with a 2x4?"

Whatever - it's an A for effort, right?

Sat was actual party day - so we decorated and laid out all sorts of food and awaited the guests. Maddie was super-excited for her "Dora Party". That is, until the guests arrived. Maybe it was too many people? Maybe it was that I had wake her up from her nap to attend her own party? Maybe she doesn't like seeing all these other kids playing with her toys? I dunno. But she was s.u.c.k.y. the entire time. Like Gramma/Mommy/Daddy (whoever will pick her up and carry her around) sucky. Which, well to be honest, made me a little sad - but you can't force it, right?

Cake time was a bit disastrous as well - I forget candles (so she had tea lights on her birthday cake - I'm seriously a contender for party-planner of the year). Maddie hated all the people singing (as in, looked absolutely terrified the entire time). And she didn't even notice the cake. The 6 HOUR CAKE. Wouldn't even really look at it, acknowledge that it was Dora, nothing. Although in retrospect, perhaps she didn't recognize cracked out birthday cake Dora as the Dora that she idolizes on tv.

The rest of the weekend flew by - contrary to all my claims in the past, I actually attempted to cook some turkey on Sunday. There was way to many dishes and pots and pans and time spent over a steaming oven to convince me that this effort will ever be worth it again.  Sorry mom - I'm not like you...

Hmmmm - disastrous cake, disastrous turkey meal. Sounds like I just described a pretty shitty weekend - but we had fun. Honest!

xxoo.S

Happy Thanksgiving from Maddie!

xxoo.S

PS - yes, this post was totally back-dated. Whatevs. I am not authentic. ;-)

Dear Miss Maddie,

Wow - 2 today. I've written and rewritten and rewritten today's post. You just learned and changed and metamorphised so much that I just couldn't get it.

So instead I gave myself the task of trying to capture a summary of it in a video instead.  It's over 7 minutes long (so apologies to anyone who is busy today... come back and watch later maybe?) - but I dare anyone to try and summarize someone's life in under 5 minutes.  It's bloody impossible.

I hope you look at this video someday and it really conveys just how much fun this year was.  Because holy crap - you are so much fun to be around and we just love the little person you have become.  Stay happy, stay curious and keep your humour, bugaloo.  It makes you such a special person.



Happy birthday my sweet little monkey - we love you more than anything.

Love,
Mommy

Bullet-this

I shouldn't even be posting right now - but I find when I get to write it out, it leaves my mind (if only for a bit) ... so if you don't feel like being part of my recessionerapy, carry on elsewhere...

• People who judge moms who work - like full-time at other jobs - suck. Because you know what - you're right, I HAVE a choice. And I choose NOT to raise my kids in a squatter apartment in Siberia. Because I'm pretty sure that's all we could afford on one income. I live NORTH OF 7. Haven't I made enough comprises???
• Speaking of work... Yes, I do work from home 3 days a week. Yes, my daughter is in daycare from 8-5. No, I don't think I could get as much done with her around. Seriously? Have you ever tried to write a 4 sentence email with a toddler around? Because, yeah. It doesn't work. And I'm already borderline homicidal on a good day.
• And speaking of working-from-home... No, I didn't see yesterday's Oprah. Or Rachel Ray. Or Ellen. I know you don't believe me - but I w.o.r.k. from home. I don't sit on a couch in front of the tv with my laptop open. I actually do shit. Imagine that...
• Yes, I know could tone/tighten/lose that baby weight. If I actually TRIED. I am well aware of my lack of effort and no, I really don't expect to lose weight just because I want to. (am totally lying - thought I would've dropped 10lbs just by the force of owning an elliptical)
• Am I aware that I wear less makeup/dress more casually/am wearing flat shoes? Yes fucko, I am. Am also aware that I am currently (like right now! right this very minute!) wearing jeans with stretch denim for a waist, kinda like maternity pants (but I assure you they are not...please see below). Does that mean I gave up? No. But I'm far more comfortable now, fuckyouverymuch.
• How long am I waiting to have a 2nd child? This is my fave. Here's the answer du jour: "Wow - you sure like personal questions!" Does said person often continue to badger for an answer? You'd think not right? Oh no ... they totally do. Next time I'm just going to scream in the little old lady's face at the grocery store as a distraction. Then she and the cashier can talk about how much they hope I DON'T have a 2nd...
• And lastly (and most timely of all) - no, I'm not cooking a turkey for Thanksgiving. No, I don't plan on doing so. I have a thing about raw poultry and shoving things up the bum of a bird. Yes, I'm aware this makes me weird. Doesn't mean I don't love eating turkey and all it's yummy sidekicks. Yes, I totally get the selfish, self-serving spin of this all. I'm an only child, whaddya want?

xxoo.S

The Sleep

I never knew just how much my happiness could depend on someone else's sleep. Whether they're getting enough. Or waking too often. Or waking too early...

Oh the snark - it is alive and well this morning.

In other news - I have continued to NOT use my brand new elliptical. Because I refuse to wake up at 5am to exercise. 

Read: I am not using my new elliptical because Miss M is waking at 6am every morning.

And that my friends, is lame. With a capital W.T.F.

xxoo.S

"Friend"

There is a little boy at daycare that Maddie adores. Well they adore each other, I suppose. Apparently they are inseparable and it's an example that you can have personalities that "jell" even at a preschool age.

And he really is the sweetest little boy you ever could meet. Like if your daughter, who was in daycare from 8-5:30 could be hanging out with another kid everyday, this would totally be that kid.

We knew about "Kyle" before Maddie brought it up - just from our daycare provider letting us know how adorable they were together, how much fun they had together, yadda yadda yadda.

And then at storytime at night, his name would start to come up. The random bunny on page 6 would be "Kyle's". The little boy going to bed at the end of the book was "Kyle". Again with the adorableness and that proud mama bear feeling of your child building relationships outside of her family that she enjoyed. I was such an introverted little kid that it was literally painful for me to make friends. So watching her do this with ease and charm, it was a bit of a learning experience for me.

But then came the icing on the cake. A few days ago - Maddie sitting in her highchair at dinner time, telling us random shit things about randomness, and these words came out, "Maddie play park with Kyle. Kyle Maddie friends."

You know you want to... let's do it together: Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.......

And also - she's not even 2 yet! I so love that she gets what the hell a friend even IS, much less making them like it ain't no thang.

xxoo.S

The countdown is on...

Our little Miss turns 2 in exactly 5 days. Not to sound all typical-mommy on you, but holy crap it's blowing my mind a little bit. Perhaps not the age thing, because 2 doesn't sound all that old yet. She's still in diapers. We still give her a bottle at night (I KNOW - we will wean soon, I promise). She's still a baby in so many ways.

And yet, she's totally not. She's a little girl. A little person with likes and dislikes. With a sense of humour (which still surprises me to no end - but she is the biggest sarcastic joker you'll ever find this side of preschool).

Since she's our first, I don't know from experience - but it really seems like these first two years are crazy-banana-cakes in terms of development. I think I said this after the first year too (just how much they change) - but after spending a few hours last night looking at home videos and pics from the last year - the change from October 2008 to present is bonkers.

We do timeouts now (sometimes self-inflicted if she's annoyed at us - she just goes up to her room to be alone - hi, MiniMe!). She understands the concept of "later" - as in, No we can't go to the park, but we'll go later today - I totally get called on that quite often. She recognizes letters, she's starting to count actual things (getting the concept of counting - how cool is that?), she breaks into spontaneous song (and dance). She's a little card. She loves to be in the limelight, and clearly lives for a laugh.

She's possibly the most happy-go-lucky, thoughtful, kind, funny, carefree children you could ever imagine.

Especially with two moody, selfish only-children for parents.

I jest.

Not really.

Anyways - this isn't a post about how fabulous my daughter is - because you know I'm saving that one up for Friday, right? It's just a comment on how crazy it is that we're here already. How time has flown by so fast but and at the same time it feels like it's been forever.

xxoo.S

**This post brought to you by my cheesy nostalgic feelings of motherdom after spending 3 hours pouring through photos and video archives.