A New Year's Resolution...

Christmas has officially ended, and we've just rung in the New Year.  Danny and I love this time of year.  We're the type who turn on our Christmas lights December 1, and bring our tree in the first weekend in December as well.  We decorate the house, inside and out, and play Christmas music the whole month.  We absolutely love Christmas!

But there is one thing that always bothers me about Christmas time... Christmas is supposed to be a time of year that reminds us of how lucky we are to have what we do, to reflect on the importance of family, to remember how much we love each other, and to treat each other with love and respect.  It's a time when you can count on complete strangers to smile at you, to hold open a door, or to go out of their way to help someone they don't even know.  And yet each and every year, I am reminded that some people seem to care more about the presents, about keeping score, about making others feel guilty... so many seem to forget the true meaning of Christmas!

There is no worse feeling than to be so full of Christmas spirit, grinning ear to ear, and have someone make a comment, more than likely without even thinking, about something they perceive as a "slight."  It just completely deflates you... takes the joy right out of you, and makes you wonder "why bother."  It is just so frustrating!  It can be family members, friends, acquaintances, or complete strangers.  But there are always those people who just don't seem to think before they speak.  It happens all year, and yet for some reason, it especially bothers me this time of year.

So I have decided to make a New Years' resolution... these people will not bother me any longer.  I will give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they just don't realize how the things they say make people feel.  I will hope that, deep down, they are appreciative of the things that are done for them and just don't know how to express their gratitude.  I will try my best to remember that people's reactions shouldn't be the reason we do things in the first place.  We should do what is good and right, regardless of what we get in return!  I think a part of all of us wants recognition for good deeds done, but it really and truly shouldn't have any affect on our decision to do those good things, and I resolve to remember this!

I also know that I have been on the other end of a thoughtless comment.  We've all said something and then realized that it wasn't the thing we should have said, and I really want to work on making sure that, first and foremost, people realize that we are grateful for them!  We have an amazing circle of family and friends, and they should always feel appreciated and loved.  Life is too short to spend it making other people feel guilty and bad about themselves.  Life is too short to waste time being hurt or insulted by those who may not even mean to make us feel bad.  And life is certainly too short to hold grudges or be bitter about things that have happened in the past!  I can't control what other people say or do, but I can control how I react, and how personally I take it!  And that is my resolution for the New Year... wish me luck! :)

"Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask yourself if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future" - Deepak Chopra

  

Dreaming of a White Christmas...

Wow... it's been so long since I've found the time to sit down and write!  I guess Christmas will do that to you!  Every year I say I'm going to be more organized - buy gifts starting in January, have cards done by October, gifts in the mail by December 1 - and every year I'm caught off guard by just how unorganized I am!!  It always costs me more to mail gifts to Danny's family than it does to purchase them.  Next year, I'm shopping online... shipping's usually free!! :)

We arrived in Fredericton (well, technically Lincoln) on Monday to officially kick off our Christmas vacation.  We were supposed to come up Tuesday, but after checking the weather and seeing a ginormous snowstorm coming our way, we decided Sunday night to pack up and be on the road by morning.  That meant around 32 loads of laundry to be done in one day, house cleaned (cause who wants to come home to a disaster?) gifts packed, luggage packed, and all that good stuff!  It was a challenge... but I succeeded!  At 10:30 p.m. Sunday night, I called to Danny to pack up the car.  I was finished!! :)

It's 5 1/2 hours to get to Nanny and Grampy's.  We left at 7 in the morning on Monday.  We had a few stops to make, so by the time we actually got moving on the highway, it was close to 8:00.  We drove straight to Sackville (NB) and stopped for lunch, then carried on until we made it here... safe and sound, and before the snow hit!  Mission accomplished!  I've asked Danny before, "do you ever wish we didn't have kids?" and we both agree on the answer... only when we're driving!  By the time we do all the gas runs, potty stops, lunch breaks, and actual driving, it's an almost 8 hour voyage for us to get here.  And Gracie, God love her, never shuts up the whole way!!  My mom laughs, and says she's just like me.  But there was a big difference when I was a kid.  I didn't care if anybody was listening.  As long as you gave the occasional "uh-huh," or "yes," or "really!?" then I would just keep on talking.  Gracie isn't quite like that.  Gracie's too smart and realizes when you're trying to brush her off.  She expects a reply.  A real one.  Actually, what she expects is for you to repeat what she said, that way she knows you were reallllllllllly listening!  Here's an example:

Gracie:  "Mom, my sock came off.  I took my sock off.  Mom, I took my sock off.  My sock is off.  Mom.  Mommy.  I took my sock off.  Mom?  Mommy!  I took my sock off.  My sock is off.  Mommy.  Mom.  I took my sock off."

Me: "Gracie, did you take your sock off?"

Gracie:  "Yes."

Then 2 minutes of silence before she moves on to the next thing.  So there's no sitting up front, with one of us occasionally throwing out an "uh-huh."  You must be listening.  You must stop what you are talking about to acknowledge her.  You must repeat what she says.  AND, it must be the right person.  Once, Danny replied to her, saying "Yes, Gracie we hear you.  You took your sock off."  To which she replied, "No, daddy.  I'm talking to Mommy.  Mom, I took my sock off......"

Anyway, we made it here, and Tuesday and Wednesday brought us one whopper of a storm.  We lost power for most of the morning on Wednesday.  We went out sledding on the front yard, and Gracie loved it!  When we first went down the hill, I thought she was crying.  Turns out she was laughing so, so hard!  It was hilarious!  Here's a video of the first time she went down the hill by herself.  You'll have to excuse the heavy breathing by me... but carrying a 27-pound child up a hill half a dozen times is more exercise than I've gotten allll year!! :)

Before I go, I must tell you the latest Gracie-ism that took place while we were at supper a couple days ago.  Gracie needed to pee, so we trudged off to the bathroom.  The first stall was taken - "there is a person in there, mommy!" so we opted for stall #2.  While Gracie was doing her thang, the woman in stall #1 let out the loudest fart.  Gracie's mouth dropped open, and she said (very loudly, I may add) "Oh. My. God.  That was the biggest fart!!"  I tried so hard not to laugh, but the woman in stall #1, to her credit, did chuckle a little.  When I took Gracie off the potty, she bent right down to peek under the stall "who is in there mommy??"  I washed her hands, ushered her out, and laughed all the way back to our table!!  

So that's our adventure so far... here's hoping the snow doesn't completely melt away before Christmas.  We love us a white Christmas!  Stay tuned, I'm sure Gracie will find more ways to entertain and amuse us!! :)

Accidents Happen!

It's true... accidents happen!!  And that's how the story of Baby Ford #3 begins.  Just kidding!! :)

My sister was over this morning for our weekly coffee break, and Danny remembered an important lesson... always check behind you while backing out of a driveway.  

This is my sister's new car.  She got it... oh, about 3 weeks ago!   I doubt that she and her husband have christened this car, so Danny took care of it.  He banged her real good!  And let me tell you, it's gonna leave a mark to remember!  Well, at least until we get it to a repair shop to make her all shiny and new again.  Patricia, if you're reading this... let me just say, "Whoops!" (and sorry) on behalf of the Ford Family! :)

We were brought up with a sense of humour, and not to sweat the small stuff... so when Danny came back into the house to tell us what he had done, Patricia did pretty much what I expected her to do.  She said "meh, it's only a car, we'll get it fixed."  In fact, knowing Patricia, she probably apologized to Danny!  "Sorry, Danny... I shouldn't have left the car parked in the side of your driveway where it wasn't in anybody's way!!"  Danny, of course, felt horrible!  But what's done is done, and that's what insurance is for! :)

It's funny how it happens though... and this accident was pretty inevitable, really.  There have been a few times that I've been backing out, only to realize there was a car parked to the side of me.  It's just unfortunate that Danny was the first to not miss the car by mere milimetres.  It's also unfortunate this car was brand-spanking new.

I have done almost this exact same thing once... it was prom night, 2002.  My brother returned from the car wash, and his lovely Toyota Camry was so pretty, and shiny, and waxed up real nice!  He was dressed all purrty, and was just about ready to head out to pick up his date.  I was on my way to work in my beautiful Geo Metro and I backed up and heard that sound... *crunch*  Yup, drove right into the side of Leslie's newly-detailed car.  Whoops!! :)

Then there was the time that Leslie flipped that beautiful Geo Metro on an icy road.  After crawling out of the window of the upside-down car, and sludging through a snow drift to get himself onto the road to call my dad, I believe he said something along the lines of "dad, I forgot to turn the car off!!"

That same Geo Metro was also involved in a little scraper when I was driving down the north mountain in the pouring rain.  The road wasn't paved, and I got caught up in some loose dirt and a rain rut, spun the car around 3 times, knocked over a little tree, scratched the paint a little on the side, and ended up in the ditch.  We pushed her out, carried on our way, and I told my dad about it later that night.  Sorry, mom, we probably didn't feel the need to tell you about it then... but, on behalf of 19-year old me, "whoops!!"  :)

And in case that wasn't enough trauma for my poor little Geo Metro, my dad also wrote her off once after being hit by a gentleman in a snowstorm.  She was a tiny little car, but God, did I love her! :)

When I called to tell my mom and dad about the damage we inflicted on Patricia's car today, she told me a story about how she was rear-ended by a woman on a cell phone at a stop light.  They got out, surveyed the damage, realized there was nothing to really worry about, and carried on... only to have the same woman rear-end my mother again at the next stop light!

And there was the time that my mother was backing into a parking space at a church dinner, and smacked a tree with our station wagon.  She turned around in the seat, said "don't tell your dad," and proceeded to move to a different parking spot, only to hit a different tree!

And, not to pick on my mother, but she also hit our house once.  Not quite sure how you can miss a house in your review mirror, but she certainly didn't miss it with the car!! :)

My brother, in his brand new car, also pulled out in front of somebody once (whoops!) and had his car rear-ended and smashed in 2 days before moving to Ontario.

Patricia had a man back up at a street light, right down the side of her car.  Not quite sure why you would back up at a stop light, but I am quite sure he wont do it again!  She was also rear-ended by a lady at an intersection once, but she sent her on her way without getting any information after she realized there was no damage to her car... except that her bumper fell off once she got home.  

So needless to say... accidents happen (apparently, quite a lot in our family!)!  It's good to have a sense of humour about things!   Just carry on, and start your own collection of embarrassing car moments!  I'm sure my whole family is thrilled I shared all of their stories with you!! :)  Especially my mother, she loves it when I tell that tree story.  So just remember people... there's no point crying over scraped paint!!

Christmas Time is Here...

It's the most wonderful time of the year!  Danny and I both looooove Christmas, and we hope to pass that love onto our children.  We have already established certain traditions, and Christmas decorations are up no later than December 1.  This year we started early, since we are spending Christmas in Fredericton, and we wanted to be able to enjoy our decorations before we leave.

Yesterday was December 1, and we brought home our tree.  It is the biggest, fattest tree we've bought yet... and we've had some pretty big trees!  I don't know how we're going to beat this one next year... but we'll try!! :)

Here she is... hard to capture her largeness!

While the girls were napping today, Danny and I decorated it... she's a beauty! :)

First go the lights...

Then the ribbon!

Bulbs are next!

Star on top...

All finished!! :)

So there's the tree... Gracie likes it, and Ella loooves it!  She just stares at the light... it's so cute!

Gracie kinda sorta understands Christmas.  We have our very own "Elf on the Shelf," and she knows he flies back to the North Pole every night to report to Santa.  We've also told Gracie that the only way Santa brings toys is if you leave some for him to take with him.  She's already picked out 3 toys to give away... they're all Ella's! :)

I think Gracie's favourite part of Christmas is the Advent Calendar... she gets to eat an entire chocolate every single day for 24 days!!  She gets quite excited at supper time, cause she knows it's almost "add-int cow-a-der" time!

The one downside to this time of year is the never-ending everything that goes on!  Shopping, decorating, wrapping, baking, visiting, card-making... all on top of regular every-day life.  This makes me exhausted... because I have apparently yet to return to my pre-pregnancy energy.  This will be the first time in 2 years that I haven't been pregnant at Christmas, but yeesh, I'm so tired, you'd never know it!! :)

And there... my brain just shut off!  Guess that's enough for now!! :)

A little funk...

Being a parent is wonderful blessing... it makes you smile every single day and there is never a bad moment!  HAHAHAHA  Okay, now that we've all had a good laugh, it's time to discuss the parenting funk we all get in every now and then.

How can you love a little person so much... and yet imagine yourself flushing them down the toilet when they act up??  I would call and ask my parents how they dealt with me, but let's be honest... I was a pretty fantastic kid, and they probably wouldn't have any advice for me! :) 

Gracie has started her grunting again.  If you're new here, and haven't had the pleasure of reading about Gracie's grunting, you can find it here!  She outgrew the grunting when she learned better ways to express herself... but apparently it's back with a vengeance!  Except now we get the grunt, the attitude, and the words to go along with it.  For example... "Gracie, finish your supper please!"  "No, mommy!!  Shush!" - Hits the table - "Errrrrrngh!"  And that's when I want to pick her up, stuff her in the toilet, and flush.  We're often on Skype with my parents when these little episodes occur... and they laugh.  Well, my dad laughs.  My mom doesn't really know how to laugh.  Her eyes close, she leans backwards like she might fall out of her chair, her whole body shakes, and she makes noises out of her nose (kinda like a snort, but also like a wheeze), but no real laugh comes out of her mouth.  Obviously (like I stated before), they find it entertaining because they've never seen this kind of attitude before!

I don't know if it's the fact that I've stopped breastfeeding, the fact that I've started back on birth control (for the first time in 3 years), or whether I'm pregnant again (JOKE!!), but I must say, my hormones are all wacky these last couple of weeks!  I'm cranky, and teary-eyed, and just feel in a funk!  I'm laughing at Gracie one minute, and swearing I'm not having any more kids the next minute.  My patience to deal with the little people has been in short supply lately. 

Danny has been off on parental leave, so I've been able to pass Gracie and her attitude off to him when I'm having an especially hard day.  I feel for the stay-at-home moms who never get the break they need!  Like I said before, being a parent is a wonderful blessing, but my lord children can be exhausting!  99% of the time we smile and patiently say all the right things when our children are acting like little hellions, but for those of us without back-up for the other 1% of the time... well, let's just say I can fully understand why 2-year-olds happen to know so many curse words! :)

My wonderful hubby has noticed the little funk I've been in the last couple of weeks... so the other day when the girls were napping (including me), he ran to the store and brought me home a little treat!

Some lovely flowers!! But the best part (because he knows me soooo well) was the fact that the flowers were accompanied by Jalapeno Poppers and sour cream & onion Pringles!  Nothing gets me out of a funk faster than cheese-filled peppers and chips!!  :)

I feel much better now... apparently it wasn't my hormones out of whack, it was junk food depletion!  I wont be letting that happen again!! :)

Sleeping like a husband!

Sleep is a luxury.  It's probably one of many things that people without kids take for granted.  And by people without kids, I mean husbands.  I'm fairly sure that people without kids realize that their sleep will be affected by kids and babies... and yet somehow, most dads didn't get the message! :)

I warned Danny that this blog was coming... his response was, "Go ahead, I'll start my own blog and tell the real truth."  I'd believe him... except he sleeps too much to keep up with it! :)

I should be fair and tell the whole truth... I'm a morning person.  Danny isn't.  So it was never an obligation of Danny's to have to get up with the kids.  It was always just sort of agreed that we don't need two sleepy parents, so he shouldn't have to get up with them.  Except that things have changed slightly from my perspective with the addition of Ella...

Gracie was a phenomenal sleeper.  She slept until 8 or 9 most mornings from the very beginning.  Ella does too... except she still gets up around 5:30 a.m. to eat.  The problem with 5:30, is that by the time I get back to bed and start falling asleep, it's 7:00, and that's when Gracie wakes up.  So I've started staying up after feeding Ella.  That means most of the time, my days begin around 5:15 or 5:30.

It's only been the last month or so that our original arrangement has started causing me some... issues. And by issues, I mean bitterness, anger, and hatred towards my husband.  Of course all of those emotions are dripping with love... and I mostly laugh while I feel them!  So it's not 100% bitterness, just a tiny little dose.

We were at my cousin's house this weekend for a bonfire, and she recently had a baby as well.  Her husband is now off on parental leave (as is Danny) and Danny asked him how it was going.  He said he gets up most mornings at 6:00 because that's when the kids get up, and my cousin sleeps in until around 8.  Danny thought that was hilarious!!

I think all of the aggression towards his sleeping started about a month ago, when I started to sleep train Ella.  I was letting her "cry it out" in the middle of the night and just getting up in the morning to feed her.  After the second night of the crying, I said to Danny in the morning "did you hear how long and how many times she cried?  I hope it didn't keep you up."  I actually felt bad.  And then the little bugger said, "no, I didn't hear anything.  I put in earplugs."  Earplugs?  EARPLUGS?!?!  Something about that made me so mad.  I guess I felt that if he didn't have to get up, he could at least have the decency to be inconvenienced by the noise!  Nope, he wears earplugs to bed now.  So when Gracie is up at 7:00 and she's in a particularly heinous mood, and throws 15 temper tantrums before 7:30, and I'm on the verge of having a mental breakdown... Danny doesn't hear a thing.  Because he's wearing EARPLUGS!!

Most mornings Gracie and I come in and wake Danny up between 9 and 9:30.  He rarely comes out on his own.  The other morning, after I had been awake already for nearly 4 hours, we went to wake him up.  We sat on the bed and played for a few minutes, then he had the nerve to say to me:  "Sammy, can you take the girls out and just give me 5 minutes to myself to wake up?"  I stared at him.  I don't think I said anything... just stared at him!  Imagine, after nearly 4 hours with the bed to himself, he needed 5 minutes to himself!  

When he came out, we had a lengthy discussion about sleeping... It started with me saying that I realized that it was our arrangement that he sleep in while I get up with the girls.  But that was before my mornings began at 5:15, and I was probably getting a little burned out since I felt kind of bitter every time the lazy bugger crawled out of the bedroom at 9:30.  He agreed about the bitter part... apparently he had noticed! :)

I said, "I think I just need like one week where I can sleep in and you get up with the girls.  Just  like 5 days."

His response:  "5 days of getting up at 5:30??  That's crazy!!"  

I think the fact that my eyebrows raised into my hairline and my mouth opened so wide and yet no sound came out was probably the giveaway that he had said something stupid.  I started laughing, and said, "you think?!?!"  He laughed too, and when I asked him if he was laughing because of how crazy that sounded, he admitted that it was.  He knows how lucky he is!!  I think the next thing I said was, "I hate you... just so you know.  And I want to punch you in the face."  I told him, "oh buddy, I'm soooo going to write about this."  He laughed.  He knew how ridiculous he sounded.  He knew he was busted!!

I have to cut him a break though.  Danny's a phenomenal dad.  He really is!  And it was my idea for him to sleep.  I really do believe that it's pointless for him to be up and tired if I can handle the girls in the morning by myself.  But the female part of me also wants to blame him for something that isn't his fault.  It isn't his fault that I agreed to let him sleep in, then get mad when he does.  It isn't his fault that Gracie has mornings where I swear she is the spawn of Satan!   But that doesn't matter to the female part of me... the female part of me comes in to wake him up after a morning like that, sees him snuggled into bed all comfy and cozy, and wants to smother the poor bastard with a pillow for having the audacity to actually sleep like I told him to!  It isn't his fault when he comes out, and I sweetly ask, "how did you sleep babe?" that I want to kick him in the teeth when he says "really good, thanks!" because I think he should have at least had the compassion to have a crappy sleep if I had to deal with screaming children all morning!

Really though, our arrangement works 99% of the time.  Danny is lucky to have a wife that is a morning person and doesn't mind him sleeping in most of the time.  And he would totally get up at 5:30 this week if I really wanted him to feed Ella (even thought he really does think 5:30 is crazy!), and he would get up at 7:00 and deal with Gracie if I needed him to.  But I don't.  I just need to vent sometimes about how lucky he is.  I need to threaten him with bodily harm, tell him he's a lazy little bugger, and swear I'm going to murder him in his sleep sometimes.  He knows I'm joking... and if I wasn't, he would never hear me coming because of the earplugs! :)

Don't poop in there!

Before we begin, I have a confession to make... my daughters have seen me naked.  On numerous occasions.  For those of you who aren't parents and think this is weird... believe me, it is not!  In fact, I don't think I've gone to the bathroom alone since the day Gracie was born.  Okay, that's not exactly true, but I do have company more often than not when I need to go!  Getting changed alone is a luxury as well.  Not to mention showering.  It's so nice to have a shower all to yourself, instead of having a little person pulling back the curtain every 3 seconds to have a chat or to make sure you're not using "my shampooooo" as Gracie likes to call it (as if I'd want to walk around all day smelling like blueberry sherbet!).  As much as I could complain about the showering thing though, I'm sure it's worse for Danny... who has to answer the "what's that?" question when Gracie peeks in on him!  The fact that I'm also a breast-feeding mother also means that, inside my home, my breasts are exposed more often than they're covered!  Cause really, who has time to tie blankets to bra straps to make sure you're covered inside your own home!  So, needless to say, Gracie has seen her fair share of naked mommy.

We're in the midst of potty training Gracie.  We haven't had to clean a poopy diaper in weeks (yay!!), and when Gracie needs to go, she always yells, "potty poop, Mommy!"  or "potty poop, Daddy!"  and off we run for the bathroom.  When we were first teaching about potty-pooping, we used to say "we don't poop in our diapers anymore, we poop on the potty!" and everytime we would run to the bathroom and still have a clean diaper, Gracie would get some praise "Yay, Gracie! No poop in there!"

So all this nakedness and poop talk is quite common place in our house these days.  And it never even occurred to me to share it with strangers... until Gracie did it for me today!!

On Monday mornings, Gracie goes to swim lessons at the pool on base.  We usually get changed in the women's locker room, but I discovered that the family changing room is actually heated... so we change in there now.  When we got changed in the female change room, I would just wrap a towel around myself and get changed under it.  Since the family change room has mommies and daddies in there, they provide you with nice little changing rooms.  Today was a very busy day at the pool.  The change room was full of mommies and daddies and babies!  After Gracie's swim lessons were over, I changed her in the main part of the room, then took her to a change room to get myself changed (I didn't want to try the towel trick in front of other daddies!).  The change rooms are actually just shower stalls with an extra wall in them, and they are thisclose to the main room.  We went in and shut the door, and since it was just Gracie and I, I dropped the towel and my swimsuit!  Gracie laughed and yelled "mommy's naked!!!!" and I heard a few giggles from the main room.  I'm not quite sure what Gracie thought I was about to do next, but all of a sudden, in her biggest, loudest voice she yelled "NO MOMMY, NO!!  DON'T POOP IN HERE!!" All I could hear was laughing from the main room, and I have to admit, I was actually embarrassed!!  Not that any adult in their right mind would think I would go potty in the change stall, but still... I felt like I had to defend myself! So I had to say in a loud voice too, "don't worry Gracie, mommy's just getting changed," to which she replied, "Yes mommy.  Poop on the potty. Don't poop in here."  At least that time was a little quieter... but I felt like I had been scolded.  When I had my pants and sweater on, Gracie came over, rubbed my leg and said, "therrrrre, mommy," like I was a good little girl for not pooping on the floor.

I can just imagine the conversation Gracie had with her little friends when she got back to daycare.  I can picture her standing there, with the group gathered around her, "you wouldn't believe what my mommy was going to do today at the pool... but I stopped her!!"

This may be the first time that Gracie has embarrassed me in public... but I'm quite sure it wont be the last!  Eeep!!