A night out with two good friends!

Interesting picture, I know, but one of the friends I had dinner with tonight was very pregnant and short of stealing a pic of her to paste up here this one will have to do. The dinner out, was, in fact, in honor of my good friend L. We wanted to celebrate her soon to be joining the Mom-Of-Three club :) Since she already has two children and is well established with household items a shower would be kind of silly. So my other good friend, C, and I put our heads together and come up with a long leisurely dinner. Which we pulled off ... I think it was over 2 hours long!

We all had a wonderful time and I came home to the kids all being up still 2 hours past their bed times! Now it's even later and also almost 2 hours past MY bedtime but I wanted to Blog while it was still fresh in my mind; that feeling of companionship that I could only get talking to other open minded, in the trenches, breastfeeding, cloth diapering, alternative parenting, Moms.

So if you are reading this C & L, thanks for a wonderful night!! Lets do it again in Early February, Okay?

C: I'll talk to you tomorrow as usual.

L: Welcome to the Mom-Of-Three Club!!

Much love and happy thoughts to both of you!

Cass :)

I want that!!

Yeah the latest thing I am drooling over ... an MP3 player. Next fall I will be walking alone again after around 11 years of no being able to wear my music and take it with me because I've had to be able to hear my children.

This new iPod is perfect.

So I've been roaming iTunes looking for some of the music that has been stuck in my head for the last 10 years and the range of stuff is amazing! Here are just a few songs/albums/groups I managed to dig out of my poor excuse of a memory:

Tone Loc Loc-ed after dark

Alanis Morrisette Jagged little pill

The Cranberries No need to argue

Nine Inch Nails further down the spiral

Nirvana

Weird Al

The Presidents of the United States of America self titled album

Crazy huh? There are also some newer country songs I really like and many songs from the 80's and 90's that I may manage to bludgeon my brain into giving me enough clues for to find on iTunes if for no other reason than to listen to the soundbite and say "Yuck! I can't believe I liked this!" most of the stuff I was hearing on the rock/pop radio stations in the 90's was pretty good though.... Oh, lets play free association, shall we? ... The Barenaked Ladies ... that song ... Wonderwall ... Counting Crows ... Joan Osborne ... Enigma ... NIN's, Head Like A Hole ... Sinead O'Conner ... The Clash ... Prince ... Phil Collins ... Spice Girls ... Gowan ... Micheal Jackson ... George Micheals ... The Batman soundtrack ...

I could go on but M and I have to go get our hair trimmed, yeah I'm finally getting a professional to tidy up the hack job I did on her. I also made appointments today for the 5th(K to see the pediatrician & all of us getting flu shots), as well as for the 18th (A's eye test) and next February for his hearing test. Fun stuff :) I'm sure everyone will be looking forward to shot day! *insert maniacal mommy laughter here*

Cass :)

Of Shopping, Vacuums and Litterboxes...

Last night J and I completed our Christmas shopping. Normally he does all of it all alone but this year he insisted I join him in the task of buying the 4 gifts per child that we normally get the kids. I usually fight the Christmas spirit tooth and nail until Dec 1st so it was interesting shopping now. We pretty much found everything we were looking for and feel the kids will be happy on Christmas day. During our ramblings we stopped off at XScargo and checked out their stuff(click their name it's a link to their site).

I've been having vacuum issues and have been itching to buy a bag less vacuum and was thinking of a Dyson and shuddering at the price. So when I saw this little baby at the store for only $50 I picked it up. When we got it home J and I put it together and figured out how to empty it and stuff and I ran it thru the house. For now I say I am impressed...it certainly sucked up the dirt and hair on the carpets even with no beater bar and I think the dirt cup thing is cool(now I can see the little Lego guys arms and legs if I suck them up!) but I think the very coolest thing about it is that it fits in my spare cupboard. I had cleaned out this cupboard a while ago and decided it was only good for things that the kids would not be interested in. We had been keeping pudding cups in it and the kids(especially M) kept getting into it, it was driving me nuts! So, up until last night, all it had in it after I cleanup it out was dishwasher tablets and kitchen towels. The little vacuum fits in there perfect...the wand on it collapses rather than needing to be taken apart so the whole unit fits in there and isn't taking up any of the much needed 1000 square feet of my house!

J's random purchase of the night was a new litter box for the cat. I got it set up this morning and am happy with it. Now the big job is actually scooping the dang thing out once a day instead of ignoring it until the cat starts taking drastic measures to get out of the house to go.



















I have to thank my very good friend C for making my shopping trip possible...she actually brought her boys over to play at my house and watched my kids for me so J and I could go and finish the shopping. If she reads this I just want her to know that I really really appreciate her doing that for me, without her the kids wouldn't have had such a great time! Ever thoughtful she brought over homemade playdoh and I'm sure the kids had a total blast with it since the rest of the house was hardly messy at all.

So it's done...the only trick now is getting all the stuff into the house and then wrapping it...but that is a chore for another day....

Cass :)

Anger Management...

I Googled the above phrase and found this article which seems helpful and I'll have to re-read it when I don't have a naked 3 year old in my lap snuggling at 6:30am. My reason for looking up stuff on anger is that I seem to be angry more now and more easily as well. Very small things that I should just be able to take in stride are becoming major anger inducers for me and I am not happy about it, in fact it makes me angry!!

I was saying just last night to J that I have got to figure out what is setting all this anger off. It's not good for me since I am already on daily medication for high blood pressure. It's not good for the kids, especially A who seems to be angry all the time as well or at least easily angered, who learn behaviors from me. It's also no good for J since he is then dealing with a grumpy complaining woman every time he walks in the door of the house that should be a relaxing happy place for him.

So, although today is supposed to be my Muscle Works class at the Y, I'm going to go and relax and think about why I am angry so often. Maybe then I'll be able to take some action on defusing the whole situation a little.

Cass :)

Happy Thoughts...think happy thoughts.

So today on our way to the Y for our family day and J and M began their usual game of "Where's the Y? Do you see the Y, M?" just after going over the bumpy wooden bridge(where I always comment-"I can't believe you took me over this when I was in labour with M.").

The where is the Y game is very funny though. J and M play it every single time we drive to the Y as a family. As we start up the road where we can finally see the Y, M always says "I see the Y!" and J says "Where? Over there?" and points in any direction but the Y. M gleefully corrects J about 3 times before he finally says "Oh! There it is!" *grin* It is funny every single time :)

That got me to thinking about other good and funny things in my last little while so I got a few flashes that made me smile:

A and J talking about Pirates of the Caribbean and J saying 'Johnny Depp' in conversation to which A replies, with the actions to suit, "Arg! I'm Johnny Deaf! I can't see!" and begins staggering around the living room. J and I laughed a lot and he reminded me of the time Adam said Darth Vader was called Dark Vader because he wore black*laughs*.

*grin* Oh and on the way home and J asked M "Who's the cutest baby?" and she said "I am!"

*smile* When K asked if she could invite a friend over and J said "Only if they say no."

So no matter how stressed I am (and I have been stressed way to much this week) there are lots of times during the day when I laugh and smile and have a wonderful time with my family. Good thing to since my doctor told me Friday that it would be a very good idea to have A assessed for ADD. She has ADD herself and says that how he is acting at school and home sounds very familiar to her. I, of course, will have to be convinced and will delay any testing for a while until I have done more reading. I think he's 6 and a boy and that explains why he doesn't want to pay attention in class or stay on task.

Think happy thoughts...happy thoughts...

Cass :)

A new way to get in touch with me!

Or rather just the old way...again. If you know me you'll know my e-mail address or know how to contact me in other ways or just leave a comment saying "Hey it's me, So and so, contact me with your info so I can add you to my contacts on MSN!" I'll get back to you as soon as I can :)

Cass :)

One of those days...

Yeah...kind of a continuation of some of the obstacles that were set in my path yesterday. Only it was today. Rather than get into all the petty details I'll just, for the sake of brevity, say that I had a rotten day..compounded by all the joints on my left side aching off and on throughout the day and the fact that I am feeling very down. Mostly just this afternoon I've been blue. Hopefully it isn't the onset of the depression that seems to run in the family.

Why am I sad? I don't know ... a lot of little things seem to have gone wrong for me and sometimes just the constant mind numbing repetition of my life gets to me. I like routine most of the time...but housework needs to be done and meals need to be made and laundry needs to be washed and dried and folded and put away; over and over and over and over. That's some of it. I guess. Mostly this afternoon I just feel really sad for no real reason that I can put my finger on ... because over all I don't have anything that I can say "Blah! That's why I'm sad!" I just am ... I guess I should just try to enjoy the sadness and hope that I feel better after a good night's sleep. Before I had a family to take care of I would get blue a couple times a year and would just revel in my sadness for the day and not do anything...I don't have that luxury anymore.

Cass :(

M's Birthday & Birthstory Post

There...you've been warned. First I will type out her Birth Story as I wrote it in the front of her photo album years ago;

"Born: November 13th 2003 @ 5:25pm

Story: Mommy had just gotten home from a midwife appointment when K called from school saying she was sick, so Mommy and A went to get her. For the rest of the afternoon Mommy spent a lot of time kneeling on hands and knees to get "Eggbert" to turn into the perfect delivery position. At about 2:50pm Mommy switched to just sitting and thought she felt something but dismissed it. At 3pm A called Mommy to help him in the bathroom and Mommy realized her water had broken! Everything was slow for a bit but then went fast ... D from across the street thought she was going to have to deliver you! Daddy got home at 4:45pm and we got to the hospital only a half hour before you came! It was Mommy's easiest delivery yet and Mommy's first words were "It's a girl! M was wrong!" later Mommy asked Daddy if she was home dreaming! You were 7lbs 12oz at birth and nursed great right away!

Mommy December 13 2004

PS I can't believe you're a year old already! Right now you're just starting to stand up and will walk if someone is helping you."

Things I didn't add into that story:

How mad I was at K all the way home from her school for making me come out again on a cold , rainy, miserable day when I had already done the walk to the midwives office(50mins) and back that day.

How scared/weird K was when I was getting her to go downstairs to get a change of pants for me. I had had to wake her up because she was sleeping, she was not very happy when I told her "The baby is going to be born today!!".

On the way out to the van I was unable to walk during contractions.

I refused to let J hold the elevator in the parking garage for someone that was right behind us. J was surprised and I gave him a dirty look for even thinking about holding the elevator while I was in labour.

I told J on the way up to the maternity floor that although I didn't want one I understood why a lot of women get epidurals.

How boring the hospital was once M was born. I should have gone home right after delivery.

M's 3rd Birthday!!

Sadly M woke up on her birthday with a low grade fever and that explains the large amount of skin you will see in the following pictures...that and the fact M just prefers not to wear clothing when at home. Her brother was the same way and I don't remember K ever doing a lot of stuff in the buff.

Our first visitor was my good friend C who brought M her first present of the day; A bubble wand!

















The first Picture is M sucking in air...the second is where she is about to blow, I was faster than I thought. The third is the big payoff, Bubbles! The fourth is after she was done blowing.

In the afternoon, after a morning of TV and M and I had taken a short nap, I looked through my recipe book and finally found a cake that didn't need a whole lot of white sugar(I only had a 1/2 cup of the stuff in the house). This is how it turned out(way better than A's cake):



Of course what birthday would be complete without more presents? First we have a rescue center with Dora and Diego(?), the second shot is all the twist ties that were on the set, something that increasingly drives me nuts so that normally we remove all of them before we wrap birthday and Christmas presents.




M also got a colouring book, play doh, and crayons:





















Over-all even though she wasn't feeling(or looking) all that great M had a good birthday:


So that was M's big day! I will post again soon :)

Cass :)

My name is Mommy...and I am a Sims2 Addict.

"Hello Mommy!" *grin*



Actually I had to make a call today on just how much I was doing with my Sim Game. I am a very active member in a very fun group called Sim Swap where we exchange families and tell stories about them. I enjoy it a great deal, or did until recently. Sadly, although I will remain an active member, I will no longer be in the active rotation. I will, instead, play what we call 'Filler Families' which are families that don't have a set deadline when the stories have to be in. For the next while I'll just be playing for fun.

I tried to take it easy today but didn't really get the chance. M has been very demanding recently and likes to spend time with me and does not like me to spend time on the computer or on the phone. I know she's only going to be this small for a very short time so I try to spend as much time as I can handle, without feeling overwhelmed, with her.

Really with a face like this how can I resist her when she tells me she wants to snuggle with me and not to leave her alone to go on the computer??

So I made that call and chose to cut back on my computer time to keep myself on task with the kids and my housework(icky!) and to keep my sanity intact as well. I feel better for it already!

Tomorrow is M's 3rd birthday so my next Blog entry will be her birth story; my more squeamish readers(yes Viras this means you) may want to skip that one! Until then...I remain, as always, 'Mommy'.

Cass :)

Family Day: A pictoral entry.

Yes I took a lot of pictures today just to show everyone what a typical Family Day entails for us...well okay for me...because you know it's all about me*grin*.

We start out with a badly edited picture of the computer area clock (my old clock radio): I only realized after I took the picture that the flash would make the red numbers vanish...

Moving right along, as the older girls (K and her friend M) fought with little M to get her dressed A presented himself as the first one ready to go:He was ready once he fixed his shoes, they're on the wrong feet in the picture.

I finished getting little M ready and soon A & little M were waiting at the door:

The big girls then headed for the back door as well and I grabbed a shot of them in the kitchen beginning to get ready and yes that is A's head in the picture, A likes to be in every picture!

Old Dog wondered what was up when I tried to snap a picture of J and all I got was hand!








I did finally manage to grab a shot of J (which he hates) but he was smiling at me so I like it:

The big girls were finally ready to ham it up for the camera:

And I grabbed a final shot on the way out the door of the faithful stuffed animals waiting for Big and Little M's return:

We trooped out to the van and packed in:











We were on our way to the Y at last!




Once there we trooped back out of the van:


The first order of business was to get everyone into the change room and into their swimsuits, which is more involved than you might think. First we put our shoes and socks and coats in a locker near the front of the change room. Second I run and grab towels from the Women's Plus change room. Third I get the older girls into a change room with their suits and I take A and little M into another change room and get them and myself changed.


Then we can go shower and get into the pool. about a 1/2 hour later I get out with big and little M, leaving K and A in the care of their swim teacher and we go get dressed.



Then it's off to Minding for little M:



Then I nip back to the Plus change room again to grab more towels, you even need to punch in a code and little kids aren't allowed in. I love it there:



Once I grab the towels K & A's swim lesson is just about over so I head back to the Family change room and get them showered and dressed:

Then is the ordering and waiting for food from the Y cafe. Oh, and don't forget the waiting for a table. Most of which a tied up by people that are watching their kids in their lessons in the pool and not eating anything from the cafe at all. Usually a table opens up just about the time all the food is ready but I still get mad almost every weekend while I wait:


M has the most interesting way of eating:



After we eat it's time to go to Family Gym where the kids can play and have lots of fun:

What is little M looking at?

*laugh* It's big M!!

Then we went home. K & big M called T over and they all went out shopping for a late birthday present for T, then hit McDonald's and came back here to wake me from my nap I was having with little M to tell me they were going to T's next. If you're wondering where J is during our family day, he goes and works out and usually meets up with us at the cafe just when the kids and I are heading for the gym..then he eats and watches the kids play from the safety of a bench on the other side of the glass that surrounds the gym. He does drive us there and it's his money that pays for the lunch and he drives us home again. Then we all veg for the rest of the day...well except for me. I do laundry and nap and read and Blog.

So there you go...Family Day in pictures. I think I need another nap...

Cass :)