Only Mommies can be excited about pee and other adventures

Ok, I know K isn't that old yet, especially to try potty training... but she keeps asking to go pee.. so I keep taking her. Just the other day I had been taking her to the potty regularly, and after 5 minutes of such a trip she said 'pee', so I figured, hey what does it hurt. So I took her again, and she actually had a full pee on the potty!! I was so excited!! I know she's not going to be potty trained over night, but really if she wants to keep this up, I'm willing to participate :)

In other news, the kids were playing outside yesterday, it's beautiful out here, a few degrees above zero. Of course my son HAD to find the only mud around and got his mittens, jacket and snowpants full of it!!

I started this post and didn't get to finish it (wonder how that happens!?!) so today I am adding a happy birthday going out to my big brother or more commonly known around here as Uncle Mike :) Hope it's the start of a great new year!

First Sleepover

So my kids just had their first sleepover! This was the first time I packed them up and sent them off to their friend's house, and after they left, stood around in my house like a crazy person. I didn't know what to do with myself! I felt like an alien plopped into some strange world. It's only been three years since my son was born, but I realized that my life has changed so much! Now I don't know what to do if I don't have to care for my children. This may sound silly to some of you, like if you were given 'time-off' there would be tonz of things you would do! It is such a weird feeling of being alone, like what it may be like if I didn't have kids yet... Let me just say that it was really nice to have them back this afternoon!! I was also a little worried that my daughter may not fare so well, since she is a little attached to mommy, but she did just fine, and so did TJ. I am really proud of them, we all cut a little string yesterday, one of the first steps of many. Raising kids is all about letting go afterall. Maybe I should say I'm proud of myself that I didn't get all paranoid and actually enjoyed the evening out with friends!

Siblings and School

Some days I wonder if I'm doing things right... I understand that most siblings fight (I did with my brothers). The part that I am worried about is that I don't always take one child's side vs. the other one. I pray that I realize who the instigator is and not always blaming the 'bad' one, if you know what I mean. I don't want to pit my kids against each other - I want to encourage their relationship! Anyone have any great ideas about getting kids to play together, and not just bicker at each other? Don't get me wrong, my kids can play VERY nicely together, when they want to, but other times it's one pestering the other, the other whinning and retaliating, and then the other one cries too... it's a tiring circle some days!

On the other hand, the love that is shared between them is incredible, the hugs, the kisses, the giggles, the scheming, the jumping on the bed together, the chasing and laughter - it warms my heart. There are tiny moments that would be easy to miss, but they are like little treasures. I just wish it could be like this more than it is.. but I suppose with a 3 yr old and an almost 1.5yr old, the sibling rivalry should be expected :)

In other news, I am really excited for February! I enrolled TJ in a local gymnastics class!! I think he's going to love it!! The thing is they have a wonderful playschool there that I would like to enroll him in, in the fall, but it is SO popular that basically the only way to get him in is to first have him in gymnastics class(kids currently in a class have priority enrollment over the public). The preschool class is a morning class with a 45 minute section of gynmastics as well. I think it will be so helpful for him with discipline, listening to the teacher, socializing, plus the great exercise he will get! My reason for wanting to put TJ into preschool, is that I hope it will help me decide if TJ would be ready for kindergarten in Sept 2010 or not. Since his birthday is in December, he makes it just before the cutoff, but do I want to send him when he's 4 turning 5 or 5 turning 6? Any thoughts?

1-800...

I don't know if the rest of you have this service across Canada, but it is one thing I could not live without :) Every mother needs to have this! A 1-800 number to call when you have a bad feeling about your child's health, if you are not sure if you should take them in to ER, or just moniter them at home, a number to call 24 hrs a day! We have such a 1-800 number, and I LOVE it! You call and get to talk to a Registered Nurse, talk about symptoms, what to watch for, when to take your child in and lots of other really good information. Now this is not to take place of a Dr.'s diagnosis, but it can save needless trips to the ER :) I have used this free service many times, since my children were born (a lifesaver for those new mom jitters when baby gets sick), for little questions (like what temp. is considered a fever) and big ones (like what to watch for after my baby fell down the stairs). Now I usually take what the nurses say into consideration, if I am still not comfortable after I have talked with them, I will still take my kids in, or if I don't think it's quite as serious I will wait, but it's nice to have a sounding board and advice! No, this is not an advertisment! I just feel like singing the praises of these Nurses who probably don't get the recognition that I think they deserve!! Thank you ladies, thank you for being there at 5am when my son is sick and I can't sleep cause I'm worried, thank you for being there at 1am when my daughter has a fever and I don't know how high is too high, thank you for being there just to assure me that I am doing the right things and help me watch for signs that mean my children need a Dr.'s care! THANK YOU!!

Wordless Wednesday :)

Age old question...

I am sure many of you have asked this question yourself, some have answered it, some haven't needed to answer it as the answer has supplied itself.

How many kids are you going to have?

Everyone seems to want to know the answer or how to find out the answer. Right now with friends having babies, friends being pregnant, friends wanting to be pregnant, it has seemed to put the question in my mind for our little family. Most days I would say I would like to have three kids, some days I think two is enough when I feel like I am failing to teach them the way I want to. I hear a lot of, "you have the perfect family" (one boy, one girl), and this world was made for a family of four (look at most vehicles, hotel rooms, even restaurant tables are set with four chairs) and it could seem to just be easier to conform. Sometimes I wonder if I am being selfish for wanting another child because I want one, and yet don't know if I would be adequate to handle another one at times. Or is it just wanting to have another sibling for my kids (I grew up with two other siblings - I can't imagine if I had only had one), is that a right reason to have another one. And then there is the question of what my husband thinks.. as a typical man, he doesn't have much of an opinion - whatever you want honey, it's your choice dear.. that's all I hear. I figure this is a major decision and he HAS to have an opinion - but somehow, he doesn't seem to see it that way. Should I just go off BC and see what happens? well that may not be a good idea with our track record, both kids were conceived as soon as we decided to try for a child... so that's pretty much a one sided decision (going off BC). What makes the decision the best decision - best for me, best for my husband, best for my kids, best for the unborn child?
I would like to hear what influenced you to have another child, whether it was to stop, or to have another :)

Little News

So Monday has come and gone and not a whole lot has come of it. What happened with Kevin's job is that just before Christmas he was offered a promotion. Late New Years Eve he was told that they took away his promotion because of an incident that happened before he was even offered the promo. Needless to say we had been waiting for this for a long time, and when the bad news hit it was pretty stressful all around. So on Monday Kevin had a meeting with his bosses (we figured that the only reason they wanted a meeting with him was to fire him) but turns out he's not fired, but also no promotion for who knows how long! So needless to say the decision we need to make at this point is whether to keep going at the current rate or to find something better. There are a lot of other factors that I haven't mentioned but this is the basic goings on of our situation.

Belated Merry Christmas & Happy 2009!

We are back from our trip east. It was a nice break (not to be at home), but also more work with the kids since they tend to have the need to completely explore their new environment for quite a few days before they settle in. The food was incredible, the family was wonderful, Air Canada was unforgivable, the experience one of a kind :) My brother-in-law was stuck in Vancouver on Christmas eve, where his AC flight was cancel, then just delayed, then cancelled again and with no remorse they inadvertently told everyone 'sorry for your luck, you don't get to spend Christmas with your family' (actually they didn't even say sorry). Finally they ended up flying him halfway to his destination and thanks to Hertz he was able to drive the rest of the distance (most car rental agencies were not open Christmas morning!).

The kids all got way too many gifts from Grandma & Grandpa, Aunties and Uncles - we wouldn't even have needed to buy the kids anything for Christmas!! My gift was a wonderful day at the spa with my MIL and SIL for, wait for it.... 7 HOURS!!! It was wonderful!! Unfortunately something that I could really get used to!!!

The new year was just as exciting, with some unexpected phone calls from Kevin's company - uncertain news - this year has started with a great big ? Our future is unknown, do we need to re-evaluate our goals, do big changes need to happen, is this the time to take a different road? It is pretty stressful for us thinking that there are a lot of unknowns. They are having a meeting on Monday, hopefully a few answers will come from that, or at least help us in knowing what to do next, if an action is necessary. I know this is all kind of vague, but hopefully after Monday I will be able to explain a little more (I don't want to explain when there are a lot of assumptions and unknowns).