My Baby is turning 3

I was going to save this post for tomorrow, but looking at my track record for posting when I say I’m going to, I decided to do it today.  The kids are napping, well at least 2 of them are.  And it’s my free time to do what I want.  So here it goes! 

February 25th 2008 we welcomed Isabelle into our lives.  She was 7lbs 10 oz and 21.5 inches if I remember correctly.  My due date was February 23rd.  While I obviously didn’t have her this day, this was the day that things went into motion for her arrival.  I believe sometime around lunch time I started leaking fluid.  Isabelle’s head was so far down she was acting like a plug.  I started having mild contractions on during the afternoon.  They were getting worse by the night time, but they were so all over the place in their timing that I didn’t think about it.  I knew that if I went to the hospital they would probably just send me home.  Ian went to work on the 24th, they were short guards I beileve so it seemed like a good idea to get some overtime before the baby came.  By that afternoon I was so miserable that I was upstairs in the fetal position.  I called Ian and told him to come home.  It took him a while but he managed to come home.  We decided that perhaps I should try to have some dinner since I hadn’t really eaten that day.  I spent most of my day either in bed or in the tub trying to soothe the pain.

Ian made a nice simple dinner of scrambled eggs.  I couldn’t eat.  I finally said to Ian that maybe it was a good idea to call the hosptial and see if they could check me out.  Oddly enough not because I was having contractions but because I couldn’t remember the last time I went pee.  I would feel like I had to go, but if I tried a contraction would happen or nothing at all would happen.  So the hospital said they were just about to have shift change so not to show up for 20 minutes if I could make it that long.  I said sure.  I think about 10 minutes later I decided I could not wait 20 minutes.

Over to the hosptial we went.  Luckily my Dr. was there.  She asked if I was alright, I said no.  Couldn’t remember when I went to the bathroom last and also that I had been having contractions for the last two days.  So they were going to do an NST and check to see what was going on.  As I got up on to the table some more fluid managed to get out, so they checked and yes  my water had broken for the most part.  Like I said, Miss Isabelle was acting like a plug.

Sparring you all the fun parts, I went to the hospital at 7:30pm on the 24th.  I was 6.5cm dialated and they all thought she would be born that night.  Wrong-o!  I got to be miserable all night long, very long and tiring labour until she was born at 7:31am on the 25th.  Welcome Isabelle Mae Diplock.  She was perfect and we were in love instantly.

Now my little red headed bundle is turing 3 years old and we love her just as much and even more.  She is a bright, happy, loving, caring, head strong, intelligent little fire cracker.  We are blessed to have her in our lives.  Here’s to you my beautiful little Isabelle.  Happy Birthday, we love you very much!

Beautiful day!

Today was absolutely wonderful! The sun was out, it was warmed up enough outside today that I could take the kids outside for a nice long (for them) walk. They had a great visit with Grandma who brought them more Mr Potato Head parts, new Crocs and new clothes and lots of hugs and kisses. I don’t think my Mom had sat down for more than 2 seconds before Maddy was asking to sit with her. Maddy did not move a muscle, she tucked herself in really good and was content to sit with Grandma until it came time for Grandma to get up. It’s pretty obvious they missed her while she was in Florida. The first person they asked for after waking up from their naps was Grandma. They were quite disappointed to find out that she had gone home while they were sleeping. I tried to explain that she is coming again tomorrow but they weren’t listening very well. Too busy pouting.

I hope tomorrow is just as nice as today was because I would love, love, love to get the kids out again. It’s been so long!

peanut butter and tv’s

Some how and someone with very tiny peanut buttery fingers touched the tv today. Luckily for them I was not around when it happened and none of them would say who had touched the tv. All of them had equally peanut buttery fingers. Tonight *I* is going to figure out how to remove peanut butter fingers from his tv. Not a happy daddy. However, at least most of the nutty goodness is on the plastic frame part around the LCD screen. Always good to point out the bright sides to *I* when it comes to his expensive toys.
These kids are good. So good I didn’t even hear them climbing up on the entertainment unit to try to reach the tv. They managed to not even knock over a single picture frame in the process. I put several frames up on top there to hinder them climbing on there. Doesn’t seem to have done the trick.
Well a new day is approaching quickly, better get some sleep to recharge and try not to fall asleep sitting up while reading a book to them like I did this morning! Ha!

Finish THAT Sentence

Maybe I should… try harder to keep my house cleaner.  And I do try, but we’ll have that one day where it all goes to hell and then who wants to clean that up?

I love… hugs.  It’s simple I know.  But honestly, nothing feels better than a hug.

People would say that I’m… Hmm, this could turn in to a list of things.  First off, a good listener.  I’ve always been there for my friends when they’ve needed someone to listen, when others wouldn’t or couldn’t.  Secondly, I will tell you like it is.  If you ask me if your ass looks fat in those pants I will tell you the truth. 

I don’t understand…  why my child will not poop on the potty.  She’s doing so well when it comes to pee but I swear to everything that is holy she will hold in her poop until she has a pull up on or it’s nap time. 

When I wake up in the morning… all I can think about is how much I want to go back to sleep.  I love sleep.  Always have, always will.  Nothing better than being inbetween nice warm sheets and  a cozy comforter.  Snuggle heaven!

I lost… a friend, a best friend, a sister, she was to be my bridesmaid, she was to be an “auntie” to my children.  She was always supposed to be there when I needed her to be and I the same for her.  But she was taken away from me and her family.  And even though  it’s been 7 years but it still feels like yesterday.  I lost a piece of myself that day.  I never stop thinking about you Amy.

Life is… short.  Live it to your fullest, do the things you want to do and be happy. 

My past is… filled with lifes ups and downs because of  a wonderful character flaw I tend to remember mostly the downs of my past.  My past is my past, can’t change anything about it now, so might as well focus on the future and all the good stuff that is to come!

I get annoyed when… people talk without thinking first.  “Are those all yours?” “You must have your hands full!” “That’s a busy household  you have!”  “Are they triplets?”  I’ve only had that last one once, but SERIOUSLY?!

Parties are… things I never went to much when I was younger or older and now I just don’t have the time or I am too darn tired. 

I wish…. that my husband would be happier with his life.

Dogs… love them, Jersey and Max are a wonderful part of our family.  However I despise muddy paw prints in my house, torn up garbage bags because they think we didn’t feed them enough, oh yeah and when one of them takes a huge dump on my living room carpet at 4am.

Cats… need not apply

Tomorrow… my day will be reset and it’s starts all over again, wake up, get kids up, get myself and kids dressed, let dogs out, get kids breakfast, let dogs back in,feed myself, play/read/referee/play/tv/play/timeouts/feeding time/play time again/let dogs out again/play/ref/let dogs back in/change kids/potty/naps/lunch for me/let dogs out/internet play time or nap time for me/get kids up and changed/playtime/dinner prep/dinner/play/bedtime routine/chill on couch with spouse/bedtime/RESET

I have a low tolerance… for toys being left out all over the living room floor.  If we had a finished basement and their toys were down there, well then so be it, let there be  a mess.  But I have to live here folks, I’d like to come downstairs after putting the kids to bed and be able to walk across the living room floor without needing the light on. 

If I had a million dollars… I would have a bigger house designed the way I want it.  I would have a car that does not label me as a mommy but that could fit all my children and two dogs in it.  Hello gas guzzling suburban here I come!  We would also be living somewhere warm and fly our the grandparents to see us when ever they wanted.  I would get lyposuction and a tummy tuck and ass implants because  I literally have NO ASS people!  I keep getting fatter but it’s all in the front!!  WTF!!!

I’m totally terrified…  to lose weight, isn’t that retarded!  I hate my body.  I’m not at all okay with my body.  I love my children but not what it did to me.  And I’m afraid that if I lose weight, I will have all this saggy skin flopping around and I will hate that even more than I hate myself now.  Most of all I’m terrified that I will never be happy enough about my body.  When I was skinny I was told I was fat, I was called terrible and horrible names by a certain MICKEY SCHMITT in highschool.  I have hated my body since I was a young girl, and now I hate it even more and while I want to he healthy and be here for my children.  All those issues come rushing back.  Isn’t it wonderful?!

I would love for all my fellow bloggers to particiapte in this if they choose.  It’s kind of a way to get to know you better I guess!  I’m not as crazy as I sound!

questions questions questions = noise all.day.long.

Mom? Mommy? What’s this? Huh? Can I have juice?  Where’s my cup?  Mommy can I go outside?  Mommy where’s my toy?  Mommy where’s Daddy?  Mommy I help to?  Mommy tv?  Mommy help me?  Play blocks?  Watch Buzz?  Go potty?  What’s that?  Juice?  Snack?  Mommy?  and so on and so on and so on.

By the end of the day I’ve had enough.  I want the noise to stop.  I can’t even stand the sound of the tv being any louder than volume 10.  My day is filled with constant noise and that part is just the questions.  Nevermind the screaming, crying, whining, arguing, crashing, banging, screaming, crying….on and on thoughout the whole day.  *I* has these ear protectors for shooting, I’ve often debated just wearing them around the kids.

Today we were at the Dr’s office because the twins were getting the last of their immunizations.  They were getting their 18month needles, yes I am quite aware of the fact that the twins are almost 2, but we managed to get behind in their shots because Ontario does things differently than the north, so we missed the 15 month immunizations and that is what has slowed us down.  At any rate, they went in today, got poked, screamed for a minute and then it was as if nothing had happened. 

Our apt was supposed to be at 16:15.  17:00 we were finally showed into the teeny tiny room.  Before that, the kids were being fairly quiet but would have their moments of loudness.  Despite having three little noise makers, and not bragging of course, but I think all in all our kids are pretty good.  When they got too loud we asked them to be quiet and to remember that people were here working.  And they would do their best to quiet down.  That being said, we were told that we were going to be double booked.  This way, we didn’t have to be on the list for an actual appointment.  And we shouldn’t have to wait long either.  Being double booked meant we would just get in, wait a few minutes, take the kids into the rooms have the twins ready to be poked and then away we go.  Well I think they forgot what they told us, because we had to wait until 17:00 just to get in the tiny room and then it was a good 10 minutes of telling the kids not to touch everything in that tiny room before our Dr even came in.  Frustrating.  This of course delayed dinner, which kind of threw off the rest of the night, but oh well.  Not too much I can do about the wait times.

The twins did well.  They screamed for a minute each and then big sister Isabelle gave them both a hug after they got dressed.  What a nice big sister.  We climbed in the van and made our way home again.  I gave both twins some tylenol before going to bed.  Figured they could both use it since they can be tender after getting their needles.  Aidan can be particularly sucky about it at times, however he is just skin and bones so I would imagine the neeldes might hurt him a bit more.

Earlier today, it was nap time for Maddy and Aidan.  I was keeping Isabelle up today since their nap time was not going to be very long and Isabelle would just keep them awake anyways.  This gave Isabelle and I some one on one time to work on some crafts.  Madeline seemed to understand that Isabelle was not going to be sleeping and was therefore rather pissed that she was having to go to bed.  Anyways, before all this the kids were jumping on the spare bed.  Isabelle would jump on top of Maddy and she would just giggle away.  And then Maddy would jump on top of Isabelle.  What was funny is that when Maddy would jump on top of Isabelle she would repeatedly say “I love you!”  It was pretty cute.  Aidan was jumped on from time to time and as you can probably guess he was not a big fan of it.

Well I can’t wait for Thursday.  Grandma is coming for a visit!  The kids are going to be excited and Mommy can have a bit of a sanity break!  And then on the weekend it’s another ODIV Spouses Girls Day Out!!  Which I am totally excited to do!  It will be nice to hang out with the girls again!  Some much needed away time to feel like an adult again!!  So those are the two things I’m looking forward to for this week!  I hope it helps my week go by quicker.  I wish my Mom could come every day, but I can handle what time I get.  I think I may look into a trip to the library since I’ll have an extra set of hands.  I’d really like to get the kids swimming, but we need daddy to be around for that too.

Bring on the summer!!  I’m so ready for this white crap to be gone!  I would just like to skip most of spring though.  I don’t enjoy the muckyness that is spring.  I can’t stand the dogs bring in dirty paws, and the kids can’t be on the lawn much because it’s mucky.  Oh how I can’t wait for summer!!  But before all that we have to have some birthday parties first.  Isabelle is turning 3 this month!  Picking jaw up off floor.  My baby is turning 3.  Time is just starting to fly and I want so much for it to slow down.  I want to spend so much time with her before she starts to want to spend less time with me.  Next month the twins turn 2.  Holy crap I’ve made it.  I’ve survived   I would not have survived without *I* and without the help of Mom.  Sure we still have moments but they are turning 2, they are just amazing to watch and they have changed so much but yet stayed the same.

We are looking forward to having the grand parents and Auntie and Uncle Rob come for the combined birthday party in March.  We will still have individual family parties for them.  And we’ve been deciding on cakes and or themes and gifts and all that good stuff.  My babies are growing up and while it makes me happy to see them grow and to become the little people they are becoming.  I sure do miss holding them and rocking them and cuddling them.  Well, I still get cuddles from Maddy and Aidan and every so often Isabelle too.  It’s nice to be hugged back I must say!  Well I’m getting tired and starting to ramble. 

Here’s to a week filled with one million and one questions…hopefully I have all the answers and can drown out a little bit of the noise!

Sleep….pleaseeeeeee

I don’t want to have to beg, but that’s what it’s starting to feel like I have to do just to get Isabelle and Madeline to sleep at nap time. They have been having their own little moment of chaos for the last hour. When I go in to remind them it’s nap time, poor Aidan is laying with his head under all the blankets probably trying to drown out the noise!
So here I go, upstairs to remove Isabelle from the room so that everyone will calm down and have some quiet time.
Why do I have to be the ref of everything?
Where was this in the Mommy manual….oh wait there isn’t such a thing….damit.

Waiting on some peace & quiet

Figures, tonight I chose to haul my laptop upstairs and hang out in our room so that if the chaos that is our children going to bed got out of hand, I could easily shush them.  I know it’s good excercise to run up and down the stairs 30 times, but I don’t enjoy doing that as my evening activity.  So as I sat here surfing the net I listened to the choir singing themselves to sleep.  It was a mix tonight of “The Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Ring Around the Rosie and Twinkle Twinkle.  All three were singing their hearts out, then it started to fade to two and then Madeline was left singing Twinkle Twinkle to herself.  And now, all of 20 minutes after closing the door and saying good night, they are asleep or at least very close because it’s very quiet.

Had I gone down stairs the senario may have played out differently or maybe it wouldn’t.  For most of our bedtimes, there is jumping on the beds, someone starts crying because they can’t get their blankets on, a misplaced lamb or puppy, tearing down the curtains, Isabelle loves to take hanger out of the closet and give them to the twins to sleep with.  Lots of yelling and singing.  Some nights it takes them over an hour to calm down and go to sleep.  This is the reason I’m thinking of taking Isabelle out of the room. However, *I* has decided to give it until the weekend, he wants to try some things out.  I’m not sure what he has in mind but hopefully it works.  Cause I’d much rather be downstairs vegging infront of the tv with a cup of tea.  So that’s where I’m headed.

Oh and FYI, if you have 3 like me and only 2 Mr Potato Heads, Walmart (at least here in Milton) has none!  I went out in the snow and crappy roads to buy a third Mr Potato Head to end the Mr Potato head wars (we only have two Potato bodies).  So I’m on the look out for Mr Potato Head.

Tea time.  Then sleep time.  Then the circus starts all over again tomorrow.

Continuous learning

Every day my children teach me something and it is usually for the most part something new.  This week I’m learning that nothing in my house is safe any more and I’m learning to improve on my patience skills.  This past week the kids have taken a liking to getting up on stools to wash their hands or help me wash dishes in the sink.  Which is all well and fine so long as I’m around.  A few days ago we were all playing in the living room.  Maddy wandered off to do her own thing, I figured she would come back in a few minutes.  Next Aidan disappears.  Again, this is fine.  They have a play kitchen in the kitchen so I thought perhaps this is what they were doing.  However a few moments later I thought it seemed rather quiet in there.  I go in to find Maddy and Aidan standing up to the counter, Maddy has a butcher knife in her hand and is just inches away from Aidan’s fingers on the cutting board!!  Today I left the margarine on the table after lunch, Madeline climbs up on the chair and goes nuts with the bread knife, pasting Becel everywhere.

Other times I’ve found Isabelle using her hands to play with dirty dishes in the sink, and then wipes her fingers though her hair.  Or better yet, lets put our fingers in our mouth!  Gross!!  Their new favrourite is the dog food.  Aidan is like a fly to dog shit when it comes to the dog food.  He can’t keep out of it.  He had a 30 minute tantrum the other day because he put his train in the dog food and couldn’t reach it.  I, trying to teach a lesson about the dog food refused to get his train and therefore he had the tantrum.  They also love the dog water dish.  Nothing better than dog spit water to run our fingers though and then wipe all over each other.

Patience.  1, 2, 3, 4, 5 breathe…..

I think we are going to be putting Isabelle back in to her own room.  Having her in with the twins just isn’t working out for us right now.  She keeps them up and therefore everyone is getting less sleep and being fairly cranky.  We will leave her bed in there and she will sleep in there when we have company, but I think she’s going to go back to sleeping in the big bed in her room.  Perhaps we will try again maybe later in the year when the twins don’t need as much sleep.  Today I had to put Isabelle into her old room for nap time because she was keeping Maddy awake and waking Aidan up from time to time.  He would cry out and “yell” at her to be quiet.  Aidan for sure needs his sleep.  I’d take Maddy and Isabelle out of the room so that Aidan could sleep, however Aidan is very particular about having his sister around.  He gets very upset when she is taken out of the room and he’s left behind.  While he’s okay leaving her in a  room to be taken out, he will constantly ask for her.  So for now, we’ll just take Isabelle out and try again down the road.  As soon as I took her out today, Madeline quieted down and went to sleep.

Well Isabelle isn’t about to sleep any time soon.  So I’m going to get her some toys to quietly play with so that I can grab a quick snooze before the twins wake up.  Hopefully I’ll wake up feeling a little more patient.

Winter blahs

It’s official, I have the winter blahs.  It’s weird because I used to live in a place that was cold and dark for practically 8 months of the year and I never once had the winter blahs.  Yet, I move down south to Ontario, we’ve only had snow since mid January, it’s now Feb 1st and there is apparently a historic snowstorm headed our way.  I have the winter blahs.  I’m over winter, I want there to be sun, I want to go outside and stand in that sun and feel the warmth of it.  I want to be out side with the kids from 9am until 8pm.  Heck, I’d even put up our tent and try to convince Isabelle to sleep in the back yard with me.  I am so not happy about this storm coming.  I don’t want to shovel any more, I don’t want to have to spend 30 minute packing the kids up to go outside.  I’m tired of trying to find shoes or boots or mitts or hats.  And yes, try to keep them all in the same place.

I’m tired of my kids having all this extra energry they can’t burn off which translates into why my kids aren’t sleeping at nap times!  Isabelle is currently upstairs exploring every inch of her old bedroom, most likely destroying it because I’ve locked her out of every other room upstairs, and she’s not tired.  I don’t have the square footage in my home so the kids can run aound in circles and tire themselves out.  Sure, I’d go outside but even dressed up warmly, the wind is too much and so are the frigid temps of damp Ontario winters.  I hate them!  I would rather have to 30 minutes to dress them to go outside in Tuktoyaktuk than here! 

I think part of the problem is that in the Arctic, winter is pretty.  No slush, no dirty snow, well except for where skidoos have been, but even then it’s not that bad.  But all around you is this thick crisp beautiful pure white snow.  Down here it’s crap.  If a dog hasn’t peed on it, it’s dirty because it warmed up enough to turn to dirty mush and then re froze, then the plows and sanding trucks come along and shove all the dirty snow up onto the nice while snow or what was left of it.  Ugh.  Stupid winters.

I’d like to add in that I would just like to skip over the melting part, and then all the rain that’s going to happen and just get right to the nice dry, warm but not too warm summer.

On another blah note, I’m starting to feel like the only parent in the world who can’t get her 2, almost 3 year old to go on the potty.  It’s such a fight every time, but if and when she does go, she’s really happy.  And of course we are really happy too.  We’ve been trying to have her in panties during the day, at nap and bed time she wears a pull up.  But either she forgets or just doesn’t think of it, but she’s still peeing herself or grosser yet, pooping.  What frustrates me the most, is lets say at 10am she will tell me she has to go potty, so I put her on she goes.  Fantastic.  Then half an hour later she’s waddling over to me in her soaked pants telling me she’s sorry. 

It’s not like I was hiding, she knew where I was, but she didn’t come and tell me.  Nevermind that, she can go on her own.  She knows to pull her pants and everything down etc and she can get to the potty herself, her stool is always there.  But she just peed her pants.  Poop is a whole other story, she will not poop on the potty.  She will run off and hide somewhere and poop her pants.  Or she will wait until naptime and poop then because she knows she’s in a pull up.  And again the whole “sorry mommy” line comes up.  And I do believe she is sorry, but I’m starting to wonder if I’m the only parent of a child who doesn’t seem to mind peeing/pooping their pants?

I’m doing my best to be consistent, and I make sure I get her to go every 2 hours despite her refusing and crying and carrying on.  And if she doesn’t go then, I try again either 15 to 30  minutes later.  I keep track of how much she’s drinking during the day etc.  But she just won’t do it.  And of course this is just like her eating habbits.  The night before last, Ian made shake and bake chicken thighs.  He cut up the kids pieces to the size of chicken nuggets.  The twins happily ate their meal.  Isabelle, wouldn’t touch it for her life.  After some serious parental persuassion she ate some chicken.  Then last night, being in a rush, we opted for chicken nuggets and fries.  She of course devoured the nuggets all the while happily saying “I LOVE CHICKEN!!”  Oh well apparently you didn’t love chicken yesterday!  Drives me bonkers sometimes.  I do my best to ignore, but I think with winter getting me down, potty training getting me down and Isabelle’s crappy eating habbits getting me down….I’m down. 

Mommy needs a hotel room alone with a bottle of wine and a soaker tub with bubbles.