Dear Ungrateful Bastards....

So someone read my blog (a post from 11 months or so ago) and recently passed along a comment I made. They claimed I wrote something about the "ungrateful bastards" at the gym club.

I laugh.

I look it up.

Never said that!

Get it right - I said "Ungrateful, whiny, SOB's!"

So pass THAT along if you must.



It's nice to know you're out there reading. But to avoid future confusion, please be sure to quote me correctly when twisting the knife.



Ain't life wonderful?

Jack at 2 months old!

Baby Jack at 2 months old....

What's happening now....

• Weighs 10+ pounds...finally!
• Is beginning to coo...it's so sweet!
• Has spent most weekends at gymnastics meets
• Has been to Edmonton, Lethbridge, Brooks, Okotoks
• Likes to lay under his play gym and look at the hanging toys
• Has a rather large umbilical hernia...poor baby!
• Enjoys his soother when tired
• Is taking BioGaia Probiotics
• Is a really loud farter!
• Has been to the Chiropractor once
• Is a great breastfeeder
• Throws up a lot!
• Is just starting to stare intently on occasion
• Is starting to smile with much prodding from mommy
• Has a ticklish spot by his hip bone
• Has a pretty loose routine
• Seems to sneeze a lot - always in threes, like mommy!
• Laughs in his sleep, but never when awake
• Cries rarely but shows his temper when really hungry
• Gets tears in his eyes when crying...so sad.
• Loves his tummy turtle - he kicks his legs & holds his head up high
• Still sleeps in his bassinet beside our bed
• Sleeps best in a double swaddle at bedtime
• Likes his car seat
• Wears size 1 Huggies diapers - but still fits in newborn
• Will stare at the light/shadows of the windows for long periods
• Wears size 0-3 months clothes - he can still wear some NB outfits though
• Likes short naps in his vibrating chair
• Nurses 7-8 times a day plus a BM bottle at bedtime from daddy
• Has never had formula
• Still has big blue eyes
• Sleeps on his back most of the time
• Has a longer daytime nap if he is put on his tummy
• Loves the snugli
• Likes to hold hands
• Gave mommy a card and a dozen beautiful roses for Mother's Day

Positives....

Here are my 5 positives about my husband for the past week....

1) I have a husband who will give up some of his sleep in order to let me rest if it was a long night. Lucky me!
2) He always fills my van with gas before it needs any, and washes it for me just because.
3) He insists on pushing the stroller or the shopping cart if Jack is in it, when we are out shopping . I think it's really sweet and cute!
4) He made a great business decision last week to eliminate someone difficult that will lesson his stress and benefit our family in the long run.
5) He loves me even when I am crazy and unreasonable.
6) Bonus! He took two days off this long weekend - which is very rare! And even though he had a long to-do list for the weekend, he hung out with Jack while I had 3 - yup - 3 naps, to catch up on my 2 hour night. He took Jack to do the cardboard recycling and also took Jack when he went to pick Noah and her friend up after swimming at TC.


And here are my 5 self-care actions for the past week....

1) Took Jack in the Snugli & went for a few short walks with Taz.
2) Did not let myself get sucked into more volunteering than I could handle.
3) Finished a photo project I'd been putting off.
4) Baked some very healthy and yummy Chocolate Bran muffins.
5) Went on a quick but fun shopping trip with Noah and my sister Kathie. AND went on a different (and also quick) shopping trip with my sister Jennifer!


Ok - a couple stretches, but it's getting better... It definitely helps that Jack is now getting a bit more predictable so it's easier to go out and not worry that he'll be screaming to eat the whole time. I know I still need to work on more me-time...but it's coming....

It's 4am...do you know where...

...your dog is?






{Taz & Sydney}

(Have you seen me? The little cute one on the left.)


Remember those commercials?....I'm not even sure which decade their from...but they went something like..."It's 2am...do you know where YOUR children are?"


So, I can't sleep. I'm worried about Taz. It IS 4 am and NO, I do not know where my dog is!
My sister went out to McLean Creek yesterday afternoon to visit a friend who is camping out there and brought Taz with her. She was only supposed to go out there for a few hours, then come home...but it is almost 5am and they have not come home, nor called. I'm worried. I'm not sleeping. Ugh. Hello...I have a baby that is sleeping. I should be sleeping. Grrrrr. What if Taz ran away and my sister won't come home 'cause she knows I'd kill her! What if she got in a car accident on the way home and Taz and her are laying in a ditch somewhere? What if Taz was eaten by a bear or a coyote? Yikes. The things you think of when you can't sleep!!!


I'm also not sleeping as Jack woke up just before 4am in a panic, not breathing, then screaming at the top of his lungs, scared. Let me tell you, I have never jumped out of bed that fast before in my life. My heart is still pounding and it was an hour ago. He is fine now though...calmed down, diaper changed, fed and back sleeping away.
Be still my poor heart! Not a great night to have forgotten my evening dose of blood pressure meds!


So...what's new? Last night we went out to Okotoks for Noah's last gymnastics competition of the year. And probably of her life. She did ok - won a silver medal on the uneven bars, a bronze medal on beam, 4th on floor but last of 7 on vault. She ended up 5thAA. However, they did include 2 or 3 open aged girls in her group, so without them she would have been 3rd AA. Not her finest finish, but her vault was a mess and she scored really low and that brought her AA total way down. I know she wanted to win Gold AA, but it didn't happen. She is disappointed and I am too, for her. I know she wanted (and I wanted for her) to go out on a high note. She did great last weekend at our home meet though...so I hope that sticks with her.


One of the moms of the host club came up to me...our girls have competed against each other from day one, until this year actually....and she congratulated us on Jack and mentioned how she'd heard that Noah was retiring from gymnastics and how sad she was that she wouldn't see her and us at meets anymore. It made me realize again how much this sport has impacted our lives...the people we've met and become friendly with, the travel we've done, the kids Noah has met. It is the end of that era. :( I'm gonna miss that aspect for sure.


She then also brought up that she wondered if Noah was leaving the sport due to poor coaching as her own clubs coaches have mentioned to her how bad our coaching situation is and how mean Noah's coach is to her on the floor. That's hard to hear. But it rings truth.


It's so hard as a parent to take a step back and just let things happen as they may. I want to fix this and make it so that the outcome is positive for Noah. I want her to be thankful for all the years of hard work, the ups and downs, the successes and the struggles...I want her to remember gymnastics as a great and positive part of her life. Will she? I think it will be hard. I think this past year as really put a knife in her spirit and her love of the sport.


If Noah could continue with her new diving career AND do gymnastics - I would encourage her to go for it. She really is a great athlete and I just hate to watch her leave something behind she loved so much.


I think I am in mourning.....


Well...it is almost 6am now. Still no dog. I hope he is ok and they decided to stay out there for the night and will be home soon. Geez - next to Jack, Taz is my other baby. I love that dog!!!


Jack is grunting away....struggling with gas pains. Not sure if I'll be able to sleep anymore anyway though. We normally get up and start our day by 7am. So I had a grand total of 2 hours of sleep as I was silly and stayed up to watch the season finale of Saturday Night Live. Bad me. I'm gonna be so tired in a few hours!

5 Positives.....

Well - it is time to return to being grateful and accountable and AWARE of life. Being pregnant you seen to earn (or take?) a certain amount of selfishness...and having a newborn also seem to earn you that right. But I've come to realize (after a short mental vacation) that at some point you need to step back and assess what is going on around you. Therefore, I am back at recording (and sharing) my 5 positive things about my husband and my 5 self-care points each week. Hopefully, I will be diligent about keeping this up weekly...it keeps me in line!

5 positive things about my husband....

1) He loves, loves, LOVES baby Jack to pieces! And he never complains about changing diapers...even though he does only change a couple each day.
2) He works so hard for our family - 10 to 12 hours a day, 6 days a week.
3) He left work and drove Noah to gym one afternoon with 1/2 an hours notice when I was supposed to but was dead tired and just gotten Jack down to sleep and desperately needed a nap myself . He really is a great dad to Jordan & Noah and has always treated them as his own. You would never know otherwise.
4) He fixed a big hole in the wall (that I made) without harassing me about it.
5) He is the best cookie baker around and makes them on a moments notice if I have a craving! His newest are trail mix cookies...YUM!


My 5 self-care activities this week:

1) I showered! (seriously - with a newborn - this IS self-care!)
2) I took the time to straighten my hair. Which I love the look of but hate the time it takes, so don't do it that often anymore.
3) Enjoyed a glass of cool white wine.
4) Spent some time organizing my scrapbook stuff. Not so much "self-care", but it is a form of enjoyment.
5) Bought some Clinique moisturizer and got a bonus! Have not used anything yet, but I have it here for when I do.

Ok - the last two may be stretching it a bit, but it's all I have for now. Obviously, I need to focus just a little more each week on doing nice things for myself.

The BIG 40!

Here it is....40 has arrived. Uneventful, but here whether I like it or not.

Birthday's seem to stress me out. They always have. 30 was crazy - I honestly think I had a 1/3 life crisis when I was approaching my 30th birthday. It took me a while to recover from that one. I feel like I am in a much better place now than I was then...but it weighs on me.

At 40 I am grateful for:

• My 3 kids. My life would not be so fulfilling (or stressful! LOL) without them!


• My amazing husband. Always there. Always ready to be my hero.


• My family & friends - whose help is always there when needed.

So - what did I do to celebrate this milestone? Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. Not even a glass of wine! It was a typical day home with Jack....feeding, burping, puking, changing, entertaining, sleeping... feeding, burping, puking, changing, entertaining, sleeping... feeding, burping, puking, changing, entertaining, sleeping.... you get the idea.

It was also the set-up night for our clubs gymnastic meet...which every parent must help out with. So we waited for Noah to get home from diving and headed over to help set up. It was disorganized chaos as was expected - but not my mess anymore...so we did what we could and made it out of there by 10:30pm. Noah and Anthony wanted to go out for dinner still, but I was pooped and Jack needed another feeding and bed...so I opted out and we came home. I had chilled a bottle of wine before we left but fell fast asleep before even getting the thing uncorked.

So much for a rockin' wild 40th birthday!