When Mommy is your job, there is no such thing as a sick day.

Well the stomach bug has made its way through pretty much the whole family now. First A on Friday night, then M on Monday night(and what a night that was!), then I felt off on Thursday but the full brunt hit me Friday and I was wretched to say the least. I had K & A stay home after lunch to help me *rolls eyes* not that either of them were much help ... it just meant that three voices were calling "Mommy!" instead of one *sigh* K was some help, I should give her a little credit but not as much as I had hoped.

Then Friday night just as I was feeling almost better again(other than a continuing tummy ache and general feeling of weakness) K came down with it and needed help with some things only a Mommy can help her daughter with *sigh* no breaks for me. Don't get me wrong J brought home supper and made sure everyone was fed and let me rest but I still had to listen to him and the kids bickering and the general chaos that is my happy (most of the time anyway) home. I'm still not 100% but way better today than yesterday and K is starting to improve as well.

Being Mommy can be very rewarding ... I've thought that lots of times. Like the other day when I was snuggled with M and we were taking a nap and the cat joined us. Or just today when I was napping with K and enjoying feeling better(oh yeah ... if you want someone to nap with, I'm your girl!). My kids love me and no matter how often I yell or get exasperated or cry K will still tell me I'm the best Mommy in the world and A will still try to cheer me up and M will still climb into my lap and snuggle with me. There are lots of times I lose sight of that small fact, like when I'm angry or ill or just plain tired out. I'm the only Mommy they have and they do love me very much ... and I love them right back with every last piece of my heart.

Cass :)

Livingroom / Nursery / Sickroom

Warning: In the trenches Mothering post ahead. Not for the weak willed.

As I was trying my best to grab some sleep on the living room floor last night it came to me that we use the living room for a lot of things. Of course one of the reasons this is so is because the house is so small almost all the rooms have at least two jobs to fulfill; The kids rooms act as their play rooms as well, the dining room is also our mudroom and homework area as well as where we keep the cat's food and water(and probably the new puppy's crate when we get it), the basement is our hardest working area of the house split into storage, J's workroom, our bedroom, the laundry room, the computer area and a reading video area.

The living room though has been everything and then some. We sleep there play there eat there and gather there as a family to talk or watch TV or read. When M was little it was her nursery and I would make the couch into a bed for myself with a sheet blanket and pillow every night(the basement was too cold). Her bassinet was there and I changed her diapers there on the floor in the night before I nursed and sent her off to sleep. It was also where I would call J from when I couldn't deal with her any longer and needed a break.

Why was I on the floor thinking about stuff like this? I was there because last night and today it is serving as sickroom. Yup we have a stomach bug in the house. A had it on Saturday(and C if you're reading this I'm sorry I didn't mention it to you before you watched A & M yesterday he was fine by then and I had honestly forgotten) but was fine by Sunday. Last night M was complaining that her tummy hurt...I figured I was in for a long night and I was.

I went to bed about 10pm tired from a busy day, and K woke me up at 11pm with M in the bathroom covered in puke(M not K) M needed a bath, which I gave her while she shivered and shook(yes the water was warm enough - you try waking up with puke all over you and see how good you feel). I then got her settled in a nest on the couch and gave her a puke bowl. I tossed her Giaffee(said Jaffee - it's her comfort toy, she's the only one of my three kids to have one) in the wash since he was puke covered as well. We watched a little TV, or rather she did and I read sitting on the sofa with her(thanks for the book C, it is funny!). After a while she was tired so I calmed things down and put some music on the TV instead. Then I was tired and had to make up a bed with chair cushions and throw pillows and a blanket on the floor. I was up a lot, emptying out the puke bowl and comforting her as best I could. I saw the clock say 1am, 3, 3:15, 3:40, 4:48, and 5am then I got J up and went to bed for a couple hours. He's calling into work today so he can take A to an eye appointment(we already bailed on it once we can't again) I am deeply grateful for his help.

Of course today I have to deal with M's bedding(I put it outside to freeze, hoping it would be easier to shake off the clumps of puke) and the huge amount of laundry this is turning into, poor Giaffee has been washed twice now. Man I hope we all don't end up with this!!

Cass - Mommy in the trenches.

Progress! "click"

More on the clicker training of the cat: At this time I'm working on him to pay attention to me. The behavior I am clicking is a direct look into my eyes. Tonight I saw a marked improvement in the speed that he looks at me after he eats his treat. So once I got a nice fast look I started holding out for a sitting look ... which he also gave to me nice and fast. I am very excited that I'm seeing progress with him so quickly. Now I will spend a few days seeing if I can get a sitting look from him each time I say his name(which is my cue for this behavior) once I know how to get his attention focused on me I will move on to teaching him something else ... I think fetch would be cool(it will also take a while since I'll have to break down the behavior into smaller steps). A cat that plays fetch! Imagine!!

Cass :)

The more things change ...

Today in the mail I got a flyer for a new condo apartment building in my city ... so why Blog about it? The new apartment condos are built in what was once just another seedy downtown apartment complex ... I've seen them working on the building. Part re-furbish part new building the ad was slick and made my city(and especially that area of my city) look cool and hip and wonderful. I realized a few things while I looked at the ad(comparing the square footage and prince to my little house that is over a half hour walk from downtown). The first was that I have actually lived in this city for over 10 years(if you combine the time I lived here before I moved and then came back) which is longer than I have lived anywhere other than a tiny village in mid-Ontario a couple hours drive from here.

I have been with J for almost 9 years ... in that time I have had two children, lost a dog and seen my first baby grow into a pre-teen. I highly dislike change and my city is changing a lot all the time. We've had huge development in housing in all directions and the downtown has been trying it's best to shine itself up with all sorts of new stuff going on there. I guess it's okay though, things change, the kids will grow up and J and I will get older. I ignore what is going on in the world as much as I can though and so stuff like this always comes as a surprise. I remember sitting on the steps of that building, smoking and talking with K's father when we first met thru a telephone dating service. This city holds a lot more than my house, it holds almost my entire adult history ... *sigh*

I wonder how I'm going to feel in another 10 years and where I will be then ... after all, things change.

Cass :)

Tarot card of change pictured.

Clicker Training ... Why not?

So I read in a magazine that J brought home about clicker training and decided that since we have to wait until July for our puppy I would master clicker training with our 8 year old cat. Hey, if I can train our cat to do stuff I should be able to train a dog, right?

The basis of clicker training is to mark the behavior you want. I found a metal bottle lid that makes a good 'click' sound and started tonight working with the cat. First I clicked and fed him treats for a few minutes until he figured out what the click was about ... I used some of his cat treats cut into smaller pieces to treat him.

The first thing I am working on is getting him to look me in the eye when I say his name, he's still a bit slow to do this and may just be looking at me because I'm standing there looking at him but I figure it's worth a shot and will give me something to do at odd times of the day(today's training session was in the kitchen after I put the kids to bed). I'm not sure what I'll work on after that ... maybe a trick.

Hopefully I will have all the kinks of training worked out by the time we get the puppy :)

Cass :)

Why can't anything be easy?!?

I had it all planned, today M and I would grab the bus to the library and return some CDs that were due today and pick up some CDs I had requested be held for me when they came in, today was the last day they would hold them for me.

It was -15C(5F) when I got up this morning but I decided to go anyway, we weren't going to be outside long since we were taking the bus. I checked the schedules and got everything together and got A & K off to school before gearing up M and I to go.

We caught the bus in good time and I only over shot my stop by one getting off. This meant a 4 block walk but M was happy and walked along at a good pace ... only when we were about half a block from the library did I realize that it opened at 10am not 9am like I assumed. It was 9:15am and -15C there was no way I was waiting 45 minutes for it to open. I knew my bus was coming right by the library to go home in only 10 minutes so I dropped the CDs I was returning in the drop box. When I told M, however, that our trip was going to be shorter than expected because I hadn't thought to check the library hours as well as the bus route information; she threw a fit. I had to carry her the 1/2 block to the bus shelter(please remember my pulled muscle is still tender) with her screaming in my ear "I don't wanna go home!!" and she screamed for a little there as well. Five minutes later the bus was there and she was quiet, sulky, but quiet.

Our bus stop closest to our house is about 3 blocks from our front door. After we had walked one block M was saying she wanted me to carry her. I refused. She stood and screamed and I walked two houses along and stood waiting for her. She stopped screaming and started my way playing in every front yard and scribbling in the light snow with a stick. It took her a good 15 minutes to walk the 2 blocks to our house. I made it there first and took the time to shovel and would call the 1/2 block to her "C'mon M!" and she would call back "I'm comin'!!!" in her cute little 3 year old voice ... sounding a lot like big sister, K.

We walked back in the door at 9:50am. All that was just a trip to the library... easy right?

Cass :)

Random stuff about me.

I was born in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada. My family lived in Carcross, Yukon Territory at the time.

Map of Canada
(Yukon Territory is in the top left corner)

Map of Yukon Territory
(Whitehorse is marked)

Directions from where my family lived to Whitehorse where the hospital was.

Now you know :)

We're off to see the dentist!

Yes and we all went. J works this weekend so I asked my mother to drive me...well actually I asked her to take K and leave me home with the younger two but she offered me a trip to our local dollar store and I just couldn't say no to my Mom after all :)

K is a bit of a drama queen about, well , everything, but she was actually quite good this time I didn't have to threaten to take anything away from her for a week...or two :) Which is cool with me. However, we did get the news that she has ground her brand new adult molars flat from her teeth grinding at night(which I have heard on the occasions that I have fallen asleep in the girls room by accident). In this she takes after her father(not J, P my first husband) who is supposed to wear a guard at night because of his tooth grinding habit. They would also like to prescribe one for K but it would have to be re-fitted fairly often because of tooth loss(she's just now dropping a lot of teeth to make room for her adult teeth) but if we leave it she's going to be in fora world of hurt once she makes it thru her enamel and onto the root of the tooth, never mind the dental procedures she'll have to undergo.

The trip to the dollar store was fun...except for the meltdown that M had as we were leaving*sigh* but she got over it. I also got my meds refilled while I was out, which is cool. Sadly I also managed to pull the muscle in my left calf again*sigh*. Now we're all home again.

That's pretty much it for me. I've been home all week because of a cold and laundry(which is still not done). So until next time!

My name is 'Mommy' :)