You Know You're A Mom When...

You shower with 3 rubber ducks, a rubber octopus, a rubber crab, a plastic scuba diver, a submarine and a book, because putting them all away would cut into your shower time.

And shower time is MOMMY TIME!

101 in 1001 Update #4

You didn't think I forgot, didja?

I can't believe I've been at this for 4 whole weeks. That's like 3.5 weeks longer then I thought I'd make it!

Here it is......

82) Fit into size 6 jeans

My younger sister is a dedicated follower of this blog, and as such, is very familiar with my list. So this year she took advantage of this knowledge to pick some fab Christmas gifts. I got Alice in Wonderland (it's on my list of books to read), and a pair of size 6 jeans.

I've been sporting a size 10 since shortly after I created life the first time. So I - WAS - FLOORED when those puppies just slipped on.

If you had asked me 8 months ago if I thought I would ever think of breast feeding as a blessing, I would've wiped the tears from my eyes and the blood from my nipples and answered you with some sort of profanity.

Oh how far I've come.

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As always you can find the list HERE and there <------- (on the sidebar under the header '101 in 1001')

My Sincerest Apologies

I can't believe how insensitive I've been.

Here I go announcing my plans to venture into a mall on CHRISTMAS EVE, and I didn't come back to report that I managed to get out alive?

I can only imagine that you were so consumed with fear over my well being that you couldn't enjoy the holidays!

Well let me put your mind at ease so you can enjoy ringing in the New Year. I survived.

I also survived my first ever Boxing Day shopping excursion.

Boy was I excited to learn that the Christmas get together my Grandpa hosts every year on Boxing Day had been moved to New Years Day. The opening in my schedule meant I would be free to take advantage of the mind blowing deals I'd heard so much about all these years.

I'd been looking forward to this day for 24 years, so 2 near accidents and a half an hour search for a parking spot didn't bother me. On the contrary, it fueled my excitement. If people were willing to face manslaughter charges to get a parking spot 15 miles from the mall, the deals must be incredible!

I was on cloud 9 as a strolled through the front door of that mall. I couldn't wait to get at those deals. In my head I could already see myself going home with my purchases. Hanaging up my new wardrobe while my husband hung up his new big screen t.v. No biggie.

Let me tell you a thing or two about Boxing Day shopping.

IT'S - A - SCAM.

All the same signs were up from our Christmas Eve shopping adventure, except instead of saying 'Holiday Special' they now read 'Boxing Day Special'.

I walked out of the mall purchase-less and feeling dirty and used.

I can't wait to do it all again next year!

101 in 1001 Update#3

OH-EM-GEE!

I can't believe it's frickin' wednesday already!

I'm so upset I'm channeling my 15 year old self to try and get my point across.

Another week, another EPIC fail. Of course.

I just poured over the list trying to find something I could quickly knock off the list and... once again... EPIC fail.

Then I remembered #47. Sweet, forgiving #47.

I still haven't come up with something to replace #47.

The heavens opened and a new #47 floated down and smacked me in the head.

47) Have a week where you do nothing off the list.

Oh wait...

Completing this would mean crossing it off the list and then I haven't really completed it so I have to uncross it, but then I'm back to having completed it. Cross it off... SH*T.

So basically, to sum up this week, not only did I NOT cross a thing of this list but I still haven't replaced #47.

Which means this week is an... all together now.... EPIC fail.

And with that last use of the word EPIC I will return to my 24 year old self and get my butt in gear for next week.

It's About Time You Got Here

For weeks I've been going back and forth on whether or not to make the switch from Wordpress to Blogger. A quick consult from google informed that this switch is absolutely THE WORST thing a human being can do. It's illogical and ignorant and here I am. In the end my vanity conquered my sense of logic and I made the switch.

So here we are. All my posts made the cut but due to some translating issues comments did not. Regardless, I'm happy to be settling in over here at Blogger.

I have to say though, the moving process meant lots of trip back to Wordpress and I couldn't help but feel a tinge of guilt every time I snuck back in there to pick up a link. Wordpress gave me 2 and a half of the greatest months of my life and I'll forever be grateful, but we're not the same people/blog hosting programs we were.

I can't change that.

All I can do is move on with my life and hope WP does the same.

So I'm saying goodbye to Wordpress, but hopefully not to the people that took a few mins out of their day to hang out with me there.

Come on in and join my in the dark side that is.... BLOGGER.

Oops! I Did It Again

Jeez if I'm not careful this blog is just going to be is a series of disappointing '101 in 1001' updates.

You deserve more.

But I'm here on more pressing matters. The little calendar on the bottom of my screen claims it's the 19th?

For real?

Only 6 days until Christmas and I still have a mile long list of things to do to make sure my children remember this time of the year as the best frickin time of their lives. Yes, I realize their 2 years old and 7 months old, and won't remember this time of the year next month let alone in 30 years when they're doing this all with their families, but I really don't see how that's any of your business.

Somehow this happens to me every year. I started shopping in July! Literally in July. But between being over excited and giving people their presents early and my tendency to overdue things just a tad, a Christmas eve payday will see me fighting the crowds at the mall.

I am particularly excited for this trip because I had nothing better to do that day. You know except for wrapping all my presents (which includes a tradition brought to me by my in-laws of wrapping all the stocking stuffers), driving 2 hours to my uncle's house for Christmas eve dinner and of course driving 2 hours home to open christmas eve presents and get our milk and cookies ready so Santa doesn't jip us.

So I'm going to have to make a plea to all of you. Please, please be the responsible, considerate parents I dream of someday being and get all your Christmas shopping done by the 23rd.

I really don't want to end up on Santa's naughty list, but I'll do what I have to, to survive Christmas eve at the mall.

101 Things Update #2

I know what you're thinking. No posts for a whole week, she must've been checking things off that list like mad.

And of course you're wrong.

Are you ready for the excuses to come rolling in?

Too bad here they are.

My kids are sick. Meaning that something slimy is oozing out of every orifice in their body and apparantly it is part of my motherly duties to wipe said slime in a timely matter, before it turns into a crunchy coating. They should tell you about that when you sign up for this parenting thing.

We have already begun our Christmas celebrations. We went to my Aunt-in-law's (real term?) place on sunday where my cousin-in-law got all dressed as Santa, complete with a sac full of presents so that Sawyer could cower in the corner furthest from him, Sean could stare blankly at him and my nephew could discover his deep rooted fear of heavy set men with beards and spend the afternoon screaming and balling everytime he was brought near the poor guy. But, have no fear, they bought the suit so we will have another chance to do this all again next year.

I actually have one less goal to achieve then I did last week. Before I made this list my hubby and I had agreed to replace our broken stove instead of having it repaired because we couldn't justify the cost of repairs. That was until we accidentally had a service call. A little while ago Kevin did the cable for an appliance repair shop and when he ran our stove woes by the owner he seemed to know exactly what the problem was and booked us a service call. We were still pretty set on a new stove so we were going to cancel the appointment, but being the responsible young adults we are, it slipped our minds. Which of course means the gentlemen showed up when our kitchen was at it's messiest and we were in our pjs. Long story short the long 6 months we've spent without a working stove has come to an end. Which also means so have my excuses for needing to order pizza. Thaaaaanks stove guys :(

But don't write me off just yet. I was able to put a line through #97;

97)Tip a great server 100%

That's right, at Christmas time and everything. I am BALLIN'. Sure the bill was only $7.29. And sure the server probably thought I was pretentious for giving her exactly $7.29. But you guys are counting on me! I had to cross something off the list! The things I do for you guys.

So that's all for this week. Except that I would like to replace #47. Sure I could run out and get the kids a little toy stove so that I could cross it off, but I can't bring myself to cheapen our relationship like that. So any ideas of a new goal?

101 Things Update #1

Well ladies and gentlemen, it's been one whole week since I posted the list and so it's time for an update. Here, in no particular order, are the items I was able to cross off my list in the past week;

66)Finish this list in one day.

If your struggling at all to believe that I actually did this please go back and note the dramatic decrease in sass as the list goes on. By the time I had made this goal I had virtually lost the will to go on. In a desperate attempt to make this dream a reality I asked my husband for help in coming up with 35 more goals. He has always known this blog exists but never really had any interest in checking it out until I explained this list to him. Thursday morning I sent him the link to my blog and took Sean out to do some Christmas shopping. When I came home I experienced the fallout.

Him:I read your blog, you're a good writer.

Me:Thanks. Wait, did you read the whole blog or just the list?

Him:The whole thing.

Me:Oh.

Him:I couldn't understand all the references to the hot sauce until I got all the way to the beginning.

Me:Yeah about that....

I'm going to pay for that damn dinner for the rest of my life.

8 ) Have 75 views of this blog in one day.

This one was very important to me, because I base my entire self worth on how many people care to find out about my trips to grocery store or minor mental breakdowns.

I actually achieved this goal the day after I posted it. I think I'm going to have to go ahead and thank facebook for this one. I posted a link as my status and my highest daily stat went from 39 it 98. So thanks homies!

38)Inspire at least one other person to make a '101 in 1001' list.

I'm crossing this one off the list with the help of a young, up and coming new photographer named Kandice. You are definitely going to to want to follow her blog not only for updates in her list but because she is, for sure, the next Annie Leibovitz, and you'll be able to say you knew her before she was taking controversial pictures of teenage megastars and the newborn pics of Brangelina's 17th child. Her list can be found on her photography blog................ HERE!

And just as of last night I can link you to another 101 list made by a very good friend HERE. Get over there and harass her for me, so that she keeps up her list! Specifically mention the dancing at a bar thing.... I've been trying for 5 years to get her to do that!

Basically, to sum up, everyone's doing a list but you. So jump on the band wagon and send me the link because I LOVE these things!

The updated list can be found HERE or at anytime over there <---- in the left hand column under the title.... 101 in 1001.

I Hope He Gets His Passport In Time

I think this is something that every parent has happen to them at one point in their parenting career, but this was a first for us.

It's my fault really. After I realized I had a little grinch on my hands, I did everything in my power to MAKE him love the holidays. The boys eat, sleeps and breaths Christmas.

Yesterday in the passport line Sawyer looked up at me all excited and said (very loudly), 'Mommy look... Santa Clause!'

The white bearded, jolly looking gentlemen behind us in line pretended not to notice, but I knew the damage was done.

Disappointment

I almost didn't want to publish my earlier post. I wanted to save it so that I had something to post on a day that I didn't have something so blog worthy going on.

Because today was passport picture day. I have been dreading passport picture day for months. We are taking a trip in January that we have been planning since the summer and I have put off getting our passports until a month before the trip, because the very notion of this day would send me into a fit of cold sweats and eye ticks.

Then I started this blog. Suddenly, through the shadows of terror, I could see a glimmer of light. Epic hissy fits and hours spent giving a photographer the same symptoms of passport photo day that I was experiencing, make good blogging material. As today inched closer and closer and I started to get almost excited. I found myself whispering advice to my children like, 'If you get frustrated on passport photo day, just start throwing things. It will make you feel much better!' and 'We can only afford to take one of you on vacation, first person to make the photographer cry gets to come'.

I wasted my breath.

We took them in, they sat straight in the chair, closed their mouths and looked blankly at the camera. Just the way the government likes it.

It's so disappointing to think I'm raising well behaved children

"You Are What I Never Knew I Always Wanted"*

*-From the 1997 movie 'Fools Rush In'

Without the use of language or full motor control, Sean finds little ways to show me he loves me every single day.

He wakes up every 3 hours all night long.

He won't take a bottle keeping me from leaving him for any more then 2 hours.

He throws up promptly after each meal.

He takes my putting him down to clean as a personal insult.

I'm tired, secluded, stinky and living in chaos, but I've never felt so loved!

101 Things In 1001 Days

I was going to make this a ‘210 Things to do in 2010′ list, but in looking for inspiration I stumbled upon a ‘101 things to do in 1001 days’ challenge. This seemed a lot more realistic so I’m going to give it a try!
Start Date: December 3rd, 2009
End Date: August 30th, 2012
Incomplete
Complete
1)Write 450 posts for this blog (40/450)
2)Knit my family stockings. Turns out this is much easier said then done, or so says the knitting needles I bought 2 months that have remained untouched except to be used as WMD’s by my son. (0/4)
3)Run a marathon. This one was inspired by the contestants on ‘The Biggest Loser’ and my dreams to have Bob get all sweaty running the final mile with me. I’m pretty sure this is exactly how my marathon run will play out.
4)Take a trip out of the country. With one already booked for January 8th I feel fairly confident that I’ll be able to do this one. (Good times)
5)Rachel Ray Week. For months I’ve been talking about doing a full week of recipes from my Rachel Ray cookbook and for whatever reason it keeps not happening. We’ll see who comes out a winner that week, Rachel or the hot sauce. (0/7)
6)Get Sean sleeping through the night.
7)Potty train Sawyer.
8 )Have 75 views of this blog in one day. Rest assured wordpress does not count my trips to this blog as views, so August 29th, 2012 I may be begging for your help on this one. (No Begging Required)
9)Write a novel. Why not?
10)Watch all 6 seasons of ‘Sex and the City’ (0/6)
11)Have my Christmas shopping done by December 1st
12)Make a trip to Ottawa to visit my best! Miss you Erin!
13)Sell something on Kijiji. I just feel like this is something I need to do.
14)Potty train Sean.
15)Get a new camera. Which I will keep away from my children. I’ve learned my lesson.
16)Get a copy of photoshop.
17)Take a digital camera course.
18)Take a photoshop course.
19)Enroll Sawyer in a sport.
20)Enroll Sean in a sport.
21)Have both kids enrolled in swim lessons.
22)Visit Calgary for the stampede
23)Add 20 new facebook friends. (4/20)
24)Teach Sean to walk.
25)Read at least 25 of the books on this list (1/25)
26)Get drunk. Having been either preggo or with a child under 1 for 3 years now, I feel I deserve it (Thoroughly Enjoyed)
27)Get a custom layout for this blog. In other words ‘Pimp My Blog’
28)Donate to the Cancer Society.
29)Donate to the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
30)Get another tattoo
31)Send a care package to a friend. Hoping it’s you? I’m not opposed to bribes
32)Make a will. Hoping you in it? I’m not opposed to bribes
33)Open RSP’s
34)Sleep outside.
35)Take my kids to the zoo and an amusement park in one weekend.
36)Take my kids to a museum. Seems like something a ‘good parent’ would do.
37)Make a dream board.
38)Inspire at least one other person to make a ‘101 in 1001′ list. (Wanna see 'em?)
39)Buy a bigger house.
40)See Wicked live
41)Not touch my computer for 24 executive hours.
42)Become debt free (except mortgage)
43)Go to a wedding. I guess this one’s out of my control. Someone get married!
44)Get a drastic haircut </strike> (Ended up with 'Mom Hair')
45)Get a spray tan
46)Take the kids to see my parents 3 times. (0/3)
47)Be the SITS feature blogger.
48)Spend a whole night playing video games with Kevin
49)Blog everyday for a month
50)Start my Christmas shopping on Boxing Day
51)Become an airmiles Gold member
52)Get to 75000 shoppers optimum points (0/75000)
53)Eat dinner in everyday for a month
54)Eat out every meal for a day
55)Get Domino neutered (Sorry Domino)
56)See a baby in it’s first 24hrs of life.
57)Eat at the Olive Garden
58)Make dinner for my in-laws
59)Learn to make goulash
60)Go on 3 weekend getaways with Kevin (0/3)
61)Have my wedding dress dry cleaned
62)Make a cake from scratch
63)Fill in 100 pages (50 front and back) of a paper journal. (0/100)
64)Finish Sawyer’s baby book
65)Start and finish Sean’s baby book
66) Finish this list in one day (It almost killed me)
67)Take the boys to the drive in
68)Plan and execute a very special 30th birthday for Kevin. I’m going to have to keep the details vague on this one.
69)Learn to make sticky buns from scratch
70)Win the lottery</strike> (About freakin time)
71)Have $5000 saved. (0/5000)
72)Finish watching ‘The West Wing’
73)Go ice skating
74)Buy an SUV
75)Have a shopping weekend in the states
76)Get a new bed set
77)Cook my family a four course meal. Hot sauce optional.
78)Invest in some quality MAC makeup (coverup, blush, eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara) with some professional advice – Randelle shopping trip? (0/5 items)
79)Do our taxes on time</strike>  (I just hope the gov't doesn't expect this to become a regular thing)
80)Subscribe to a magazine
81)Watch all of Audrey Hepburn’s movies (0/28 I did not realize there were so many)
82)Fit into size 6 jeans (Believe it or not)
83)Plant a vegetable garden
84)Send out Christmas Cards
85)Have Sawyer and Sean pick out presents for the tree of life.
86)Host a dinner party
87)Make Kat & Kevin scrapbook <3
88)Go to an NHL game
89)Get a new job
90)Buy a ticket in the expensive local lottery
91)Replace the bedroom windows
92)Stand on the glass floor at the CN Tower
93)Have a whole day without timeouts. No matter what they do
94)Visit a family member when it’s not a family function(PLAYDATE)
95)BBQ a meal by myself
96)Buy an expensive bag
97)Tip a great server 100% (BALLIN')
98)Sleep until noon.
99)Go shopping in the middle of the night
100)Secret goal
101)Make a new list for my next 1001 days (1/101)
I’m going to try to do a weekly update on my progress but apparently I’m going to be very busy for the next 1001 days.
Wish me luck!

I'm Sensing a Pattern

This evening my husband walked in the door, screwed up his face and asked what's that smell?

I made stir fry for dinner again.

Catch More Flies With Hunny

At 2 years old my son is already the master of manipulation.

It started simple, flashing a huge smile in the direction of authority, while doing something he knew he shouldn't.

Then he took advantage of how proud we were that he had learned to say please and thanks to get the world handed to him on a silver platter.

But all of that pales in comparison to his newest tactic.

While doing the laundry I looked up to see his little head poke out down the stairs. Just as I was about to open my mouth and start the 3 second countdown to timeout, he looked me in the eye, smiled and in his cute little high-pitched voice said, 'Hi Hunny'. Then just now I asked him politely to stop eating dog food and still flying from his earlier success he calmly replied, 'No Hunny'.

I'm so out of my league with this kid.

Round One

Right now my hubby and Sawyer are at each other's throats over what to watch on television. Kevin wants to play NHL '10, while my little boy wants to watch Fifi and the Flowertots. I can just imagine what's going though my hubby's head. Every once in a while it's nice to just sit back and laugh!

Please

15 more minutes pleeeease.

Just lay down and let me change your diaper please.

You can't just have milk for breakfast. Please eat your toast.

Put mommy's coffee down please.

Share please.

Please let go of my hair.

Please let go of your brother's hair.

Please let go of the cat's hair.

Sit down and eat your lunch please.

Can mommy please watch ONE big person show?

Give your brother back his toy please.

Please stop crying.

Pleeeesase just let me make dinner.

Please get into the tub.

Please get out of the tub.

Pleeeeease just go to sleep

The word please has lost all meaning to my family

I *HEART* Christmas

I feel that it is necessary for you to know that I am absolutely fanatical about Christmas!

I love everything about it!

It is because of this love of Christmas that I'm starting to wonder if Sawyer is the same child I pushed out 2 years ago.

After weeks of begging and making promises I was not prepared to keep my husband agreed to put out the Christmas decorations. I thought it would be a cute idea to have the Santa Clause Parade playing in the background as we decorated, but hitting the play button on that recording caused Sawyer to throw himself to the ground, screaming and thrashing like he had been slapped in the face.

That was my first hint.

After I switched the t.v. to an edge of your seat episode of Caillou, we pulled out the Christmas Tree decorations. Sawyer was much more keen on eating them then actually decorating with them. Hint#2.

Hint numbers 3, 4, and 5 came with the destruction of a Santa sleigh, a wooden snowman and a stuffie of the jolly, old man himself (I'm still cleaning pieces of his beard up off the floor 6 days later).

I'm not sure where I went wrong with him, but hopefully I have more luck forcing my love of Christmas on Sean!

My First Top 10

I am always looking for new ways to waste time on the internet ,and since stalking people I haven't seen in 5 years through their facebook status' can only take up so much time, I've turned to mommy blogs to fill those empty places in my agenda. I've been to quite a few now and it has been brought to my attention that a blog is not a blog without a Top 10 List. So in light of this discovery (and because I have nothing else to write about), I have complied my first ever 'This Or The Housework Top 10'. It is entitled...

'Favourite' Things My Kids Do

The Favourite is in '' because I couldn't think of a nice way to say 'Things that make me want to tear my hair out and go running, screaming and crying from this house.

10)Make this noise... 'Angh'. If you have a toddler you know exactly the noise. If you don't, you're probably thinking 'why does a noise make her want to scream and cry?' Just wait.... just wait!

9)Insist (through ear piercing screeches) that putting a 6 month old in a highchair or anywhere but on your lap at meal time is a form of abuse. Then taking advantage of their seat at the table, by grabbing food and shampooing their hair with it.

8)Reaching down while I'm changing a poopy diaper and flinging it across the room (Both boys find this extremely amusing).

7)'Helping' with the grocery shopping by picking up glass jars of spaghetti sauce that we don't even need and dropping them. Then announcing 'Uh Oh MESS' for anyone in the store that missed the crash and shattering glass sound.

6)Waking up at 3am and then 5am and then 7am.... ugh!

5)'Helping' with the laundry by unfolding everything I've just folded and then piling it all on the dog's back to see how far she can run before it falls off.

4)Waiting until they have a mouth full of something really pleasant looking like smashed green peas, and then raspberrying it all over anyone in a 5ft radius.

3)Hiding food in places that guarantees you won't find it until a nice thick fur coat has grown on it.

2)Refusing to wear pants.

1)Learning to walk and talk.

There we go folks, I'm official now!

*********EDIT********** As I was writing this Sawyer took advantage of the fact that I was distracted to reach into his diaper and use it's contents to smear on his face like war paint.

Walk A Mile In Little Shoes

The other night we bundled up the boys and took them to the local Santa Clause Parade.

We saw a parade grand marshall, Sawyer saw a pirate.

We saw a group of llamas, Sawyer saw a herd of cows.

We saw the Hamburgler from McDonalds, Sawyer saw Zigby the Zebra

We saw Santa Clause, Sawyer saw a Grandpa.

Sometimes it's nice to just sit and see the world through a 2 year old's eyes.

Elmo Night Night

I know you've all (all 3 of you that actually read this) have been on the edge of your seats since it leaked on the internet that we were getting family photos. Well Sean did not give me any good blogging material. He sat up straight, smiled for the camera, even managed to not throw up on his new sweater! Sawyer, however, did not disappoint! Before we even left the house he had gotten a hold of a marker and given himself a beautiful maroon goatee and uni-brow.

Once we got there the real battle began.

He refused to stand with us for family picture and so the store's stuffed Elmo is in our portrait, we had to ditch the idea of a picture of just the two of them (it was just not happening), and I so wish you could see the portrait of just him.... it sums up the whole trip! Of course no trip to the grocery store is complete without an epic hissy fit and ours came when it was time to leave and give the photographer the Elmo back! After attracting the attention of every single person in the store we convinced him to tuck Elmo in for a nap and leave the store. Now every time we so much as drive past the store he yells 'Elmo night night"! Grocery shopping just got a whole new challenge!

Teaser

Spoiler Alert

This afternoon we are taking the kids to the grocery store portrait studio for holiday family photos. I could hear the poor woman on the phone cringe when I told her my kids ages!

Wish us luck!

Adventures in Grocery Land

Grocery shopping with young children should be an olympic sport. Or illegal.

The other day I was pulling out everything I needed to make dinner and found that the milk pitcher was in the fridge but did not, in fact, contain any milk. My stomach sank when upon further inspection I found we were out of milk entirely. My Hubby was still at work and I needed the milk to make dinner, which means I was going to have to bring my boys to the grocery store -wait for it- by myself. Here are some highlights from my trip;

*Sean decided that grocery shopping is not his 'thing' and instead busied himself screaming at the top of his lungs. Apparantly he finds it amusing to see people give me the 'what did you do to that poor child' stink eye

*Sensing that this was a stressful situation for his mom, Sawyer helped by refusing to hold on to the cart like he'd been taught, and instead running wildly through the store. I can tell you I no longer judge parents that drag there kids around stores on a leash.

*Having now exhausted himself, Sawyer took a breather to pick himself out a stuffed animal. I informed him that the stuffed monkey was not in my grocery budget this week and that since he has yet to obtain a job or any other source of income for that matter, he could not have it. To my great surprise my 2 year old could not handle this logic, resulting in him plopping himself down on the ground and matching Sean scream for scream.

Next time we run out of milk, I'm ordering pizza.

Dry Spell Over

I'm sure that everyone that knows me well was shocked to see that my diligent blogging came to an abrupt halt a little over a week ago. It's just so out of character for me! Regardless I'm back now and we've had a busy week! Here it is in a nutshell;

Friday my sweet little baby Sean turned 6 months causing me to reflect on how quickly the past 6 months have flown by and to cry over the fact that he'll soon be leaving the nest to go off to college. My husband found this very amusing!

Saturday Sawyer attended his first concert. A rocking Backyardigans show! After much debabting we decided that my hubby would be the one to take him to his first concert as long as he took lots of pics. He of course came home with none because "no one else was taking pictures". But Sawyer had a great time and that's what matters... I guess! Saturday did not end there however, after the concert we took to the streets. Sean was a skunk breaking the cuteness barrier with a little heart on his bum that read 'lil stinker' and we wrestled Sawyer into the Pablo (a backyardigan) costume he picked out himself and then refused to wear. We kept trick-or-treating to a minimum, just visiting close friends and family. Sawyer enriched everyone's night by greeting them with his famous 'shy guy stink eye'.

To round off our eventful weekend Sunday night ushered in our first toddler night terror. Sawyer woke us up at 1:30am terrified that the vacuum was going to get him. We assured him he was safe by letting him hog our bed and steal all the covers.

I'm pretty sure we're knee deep in teething so I'm sure I'll have lots of stories about sleepless nights and laundryless days in the weeks to come! Keep tuning in!

Some Days

Earlier today I was doing the dishes and I felt something hit my leg. I looked over to see Sawyer had pushed a chair up against the counter and was climbing up, dish towel in hand. He stood up proudly on the chair and announced 'My Help!' and started drying the pots and pans in the sink.

Most days I find myself wondering where I went wrong, but I guess I must be doing something right :P

My Mistake

I was concerned that people wouldn't believe my previous claims that my son's left hand is possessed so I went and dug up this picture from a family photo shoot we did when he was about 6 weeks old.

Turns out he's just a bad egg.

Crossover

I just got excited because this afternoon's episode of 'Go Diego Go' was a crossover episode with his cousin's show 'Dora the Explorer'.

How did I let it come to this?

Idle Hand

I have found my arch nemesis in my son Sean's left hand.

The thing has a mind of it's own.

It hits and punches (hard), it pinches, and it pulls hair.

His right hand does none of this.

The absolute worst thing it does though is to wait until the rest of Sean's body is just giving in to a sound sleep, and reach up and rip his suckie out of his mouth, sending him into hysterics. I have no idea what to do but I am POSITIVE that this left hand issue is going to get him in all kinds of trouble growing up. Fortunately since I am right handed and my husband is not, I'm sure that it will all be blamed on him as opposed to my parenting.

On a side note I had big intentions to come on here and compare my son's possessed left hand to the movie 'Idle Hands'. Since I have never actually seen the movie and since I take this blogging stuff VERY seriously I decided to do a little research. Of course by 'do a little research' I mean I wikipedia'd it. After reading the movie's synopsis I decided not to make the comparison as that movie is messed up.

My Encounter With A Mythological Creature

One of my favourite past times, and by favourite I mean I would give it up in a nano second given half a chance, is driving around town at 4 in the morning. Sean and I get all bundled up and hit up the fanciest neighbourhoods in the city with the intent to induce dreaming in both of us. After three hours of trying to rock my apparently nocturnal son to sleep, I decided that last night (well this morning) was the perfect time for a drive. I was wrong. Car seat in hand I headed toward my car only to be met at the door by what I can only assume was a werewolf (it was very dark), that had somehow gotten the lid off our garbage bins (and by lid of course I mean the piece of plywood we lay across the top of the bins because we forgot to get lids when we purchased the bins and are too embarrassed to go back to home depot and admit it). The 100lb beast had knocked it over and was having a feast of chicken wing bones and pizza crusts, because in addition to hating housework I am also not huge on cooking (you can see why my hubby snatched me up, I'm a catch). Instantly my motherly instincts kicked in and I backed up and put the carseat on the table leaving the door wide open. Fortunately my plan to act irrationally and somehow have things turn in my favour, worked like a charm, and the wolf took off down the driveway instead of into my kitchen.

Despite the favourable outcome we did not go for that drive last night and will most likely never leave the house again.

So, long story short, you can expect an increase of posts in the days ahead.

IPOD Sensitivity

Both my boys are in bed fast asleep and there's a mountain of laundry in my bedroom calling my name, so I ran straight over to hide behind my computer until it shuts the heck up.

Instead I'm going to write about a very real problem I'm dealing with.

Over the weekend I went and got myself an MP3 player.

That's not my problem.

I came straight home and loaded it up with the limited number of songs I have downloaded to my computer.

That's not my problem either.

My problem came when I was out with some friends and they asked to see it. I felt like I had been asked to strip off all my clothes and prance around the room in the buff. As their eyes passed over my song list I could feel the judgement oozing out of them. I silently prayed that they would notice all the classic rock I had on there (I hear that's very hip right now) and was already trying to come up with excuses for how that Miley song had wound up on there. When they handed it back without any smart comments I felt relief wash over me.

But I know that I can't take back what they saw and I know that our relationship will never be the same because of it.

Oh and if we could just keep that Miley thing between you and me that be awesome. Thanks.

Childhood Obesity

Well I don't know what you did this weekend, but I found the cause of childhood obesity. After the news of this discovery breaks I'm betting that this blog is going to become very popular so go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back for being with me before I hit the big time. Anyways, back to my find. It hit me like a ton of bricks today while listening to my mother in law talk my son out of the apple he had asked for and into a handful of gummy bears. Ever since he's been able to digest high fructose corn syrup, she's made a point to run out to the store before every visit and stock up on everything she wouldn't allow her own children to eat growing up. So that's it, the indisputable cause of childhood obesity. So please stop depriving your children of such valuable entertainment tools as the television, computer and most importantly video games. There's nothing wrong with them. It's all a conspiracy set in place by all the 'sweet', little old grannies and grandpas out there, to fatten up our children. It's all just so Hanzel and Gretel.

Guess all that's left to do now is sit back and wait for the big, fat gov't appreciation cheques to roll in. I'll keep you posted.

Please

I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to please go to sleep.....

Real Life

Tonight my family and I spent the evening with some great friends, one of which we haven't seen in quite some time. So long in fact that we had not met his girlfriend of two years and he hadn't met our two boys. The best part of the evening though was that we just found out that our friend and his girlfriend are expecting their first child this march. My oldest son congratulated them by screaming through dinner, insulting the hostess' cooking and running around the livingroom naked. My youngest son, by throwing up all over daddy-to-be. When the idea of a playdate was brought up, poor mommy-to-be giggled politely and quickly changed the subject.

Needless to say they called it a night early, a little paler then when the night started.

At Least There's Hot Sauce

Well I've been wanting to start a mommy blog for a while. Raising a 2 year old and a 5 month old has left me just enough time to get a moderate amount of housework done and I've been looking for a way to phase that out for some time. Mission accomplished. I've been holding out on starting it though as I wanted my first entry to be very special and meaningful and finally an incident has occured that I've deemed 'first blog entry' worthy. Yesterday my husband called me from work to let me know he was on his way home and to ask what was for dinner. When I informed him of the culinary delight I had prepared for that evening he responded with 'oh, well at least there's hot sauce'.

For all my future followers (of which I'm sure will shortly be in the thousands) who would like to know the recipe for my famous 'At least there's hot sauce stir fry' please don't hesitate to ask.