It has been a while since I posted. Since I have no camera, I have no new photos, since I have no new photos it seems I have even fewer stories to share.
Before I start I must acknowledge the pain that our relatives in Enlgand are going through. Mike's cousin lost their son after a long battle with brain tumors. I didn't know Ritchie very well but everyone (including Mike) was extremely fond of him. The stories everyone shared with us was about a young boy who faced this battle with bravery, grace, and a level of maturity that if I am fully honest no child should ever have to demonstrate. When I hear of tragedies like this my grief and my anger seem to do battle inside my head to the point where I feel like my head might actually split into two, and I can't hold back my tears. If only tears could wash away the pain that our loved ones are feeling right now... To Debbie, Alan, Gerald and all who are in England we wish we could ease your pain, but all we can do is send out love across the ocean.
XOXO's to everyone in England.
Life in Canada (thankfully, and knock on wood) is pretty uneventful. I like uneventful. I like routine. I like average. So I am perfectly happy with it. It does however make my blog a little dull.
So here is what is happening. Mike is in the USA right now with some of his teams. He is supposed to bring me back a camera (yippee). I recently took a scrapbooking trip with a couple of friends. Boy have I changed, a weekend away involves comfy pants, photos of my kids, and a whole lot of colorful paper, glue and scissors. I have to admit, a much healthier option for my liver LOL. I must admit, I feel guilty when I take these little breaks, and I know I shouldn't feel guilty but I do. It also doesn't help that when I got home on Saturday night, yes that is right everyone else stays until Sunday afternoon but I just can't, and drive home late at night so I can see the kids in the morning. Anyway when I got home everyone was fast asleep, but I thought it was odd that so many lights were on in the house. I went to Charlotte and Robbie's room and Robbie wasn't in his bed. I thought maybe he couldn't settle so Mike had him. As I left Robbie's room I happened to look down the hall into the living room and there curled up in the smallest little ball was my boy. He was on the couch, freezing cold with no blanket, fast asleep. My heart breaking I picked him up, his sleepy little eyes open and looked pleased that mommy was there, I carried him back to his room and tucked him into bed. Needless to say I was a bit frustrated that Mike had no idea Robbie had gone around the house flicking on lights looking for his mommy.
Updates on Mae... she is a monster. Yes a little mini monster... and so darn cute at it. She toddles around normally with some left over food caked in her hair, which is incidentally is always standing strait up, her nose constantly running at a profuse rate, and a bottle in hand. The bottle is going to be problematic when it comes time to get her off of it, but right now I let her have it because it keeps her happy and keeps her from throwing usually very hard objects around the house. Mae treats everything as a weapon, and treats her brother and sister as nothing more than squeaky toys. This is what often unfolds...
Mae hits one of them (lets say Charlotte, and lets say Mae doesn't have her beloved bottle and picks up Robbie's toy hammer). After being cracked on the head with no warning, Charlotte says "Ow!" So Mae hits her again. Charlotte says "OOOWWW MAE!". Mae hits her again. Charlotte (a.k.a Drama-Queen) starts to scream/cry "Owww Owwww Owwww Mommy!!!! Mae is hitting me." Mae thinks this is a fantastic game and wants to hit her again. I take the hammer and now have two kids screaming to the high heavens. Which no better than when Mae hits Robbie because Robbie normally grabs both of Mae's cheeks and squeezes them together yelling something that only the Tasmanian Devil could possibly understand. This time I have one crying baby in the living room and one crying kid in time out. And of course this is usually happening while I'm rushing to finish supper (lest say spaghetti sauce) while still in my work clothes which includes a white blouse that is now nicely decorated with tomato sauce splatters....... Urgh!
Updates on Robbie, he has a new bike and is still learning how to peddle it. He's getting there and by the hot summer months I expect him to be cruising. As rough and tumble as Robbie is, he is my softy. Robbie can roll with things pretty well, as long as the foundation of his day is there. For example mommy, and as I told earlier he was all out of sorts when I went away. The other thing that unsettles him was switching rooms at daycare. I'm happy for the change as he is now with his peers who he'll be going to school with. But it took him a while to settle and it even showed at home, he was much more defiant and rough than normal. It also didn't help that one day I forgot to bring Mr. Murphy home from daycare. Robbie loves Mr. Murphy and it was NOT a good thing that Mr. Murphy was locked inside the daycare. He cried and cried and I layed with him for over an hour. Finally settled and asleep, it wasn't a few hours later that he woke up got out of bed (hey, Mike see how this works, kid awake = parent awake) Well Robbie had wet the bed, which is quite uncommon for him. Poor guy, he was just out of sorts with out his monkey. He is settled into his new class, and this week really enjoyed himself, so I am relieved and thrilled. I am also now in the routine of getting Mr. Murphy from his new locker.
Updates on Charlotte... she can be summed up in two words. Big Girl! She is onto her next swimming lesson and can swim independently. I still wouldn't throw her into the deep end unassisted but it won't be long. She is back into dance and is still a little shy. This is where I notice that Charlotte is turning into a big girl before my eyes. She can tell me why she is shy at dance. The reason is she doesn't like all the parents watching. That is kind of a little girl reason, but spoke as a big girl... she how she's caught between the two. So I explain that there are way more parents watching at swimming and she isn't shy. I then told her a secret, that all mommies and daddies only watch their little girls dance. We can't see the other kids. So she can rationalize the numbers of more parents at swimming but also likes the magic/secret of parents only being able to see their little girls. We will see what happens next week. At least she is quietly and slowly participating this time, but there will definitely be no 'deep end' when it comes to dance. Charlotte also had her first playdate when only the kid comes and not the parent. I asked her a while ago if she'd like to invite a friend from school over to play, so today her friend Callista came over. I thought the best time would be when Mae and Robbie are napping. That way the girls could play uninterrupted by siblings, and I could sip a cup of tea. Well that backfired, upon arrival there was so much noise they woke Robbie, who in turn woke Mae. I then had 4 kids one of whom I find out (once her mom leaves) that she is terrified to the point of tears of dogs. Especially big black dogs who come bounding from around a corner at her like a wild horse. I try to explain that we have to go downstairs because the baby gate has recently (lin the last 24 hours) been ripped out of the wall and Mae will launch herself down the stairs. "BuBuButtt that is where the D-D-DOGGG ISSS!!!!". Just lovely. Of course I figured it out, but still why couldn't it have gone the way I imagined.
