house project!

It’s been about a year since we’ve done any redecorating/redoing around the house.. and even then, we didn’t do all of the last project [http://www.crazyfortrying.com/?p=668] (and, more specifically, I did none of the painting)! Clearly, it is time for something to happen: enter redo of the “2nd floor back”.

When we moved in 3 years ago the room looked like this:

Before we started tearing the room apart this past weekend it looked like this:

Right. You can see what I mean, no? Same carpet. Same wall colour. Same coffee tables. Same cabinets. The sofa (actually folds flat to be the spare bed) is new, but was purchased only a few months ago in anticipation of the redo. The tv is new, but only because our old one bit the dust last year. And the blinds are new because the old wooden ones were… hideous.

So, the plan is to paint, replace the computer shelving and consolidate that with the tv and media players. We’re going to get rid of the computer monitor and hook the hard drive up to the tv. Not sure yet what is happening to the cabinets the tv is currently sitting on… they’re from Richard’s bachelor days!!! I’d also like to get a new cover (hint! hint!) for the Bertoia diamond basket chair.

Oh, but the painting must be done first. Ya’ll, let me remind you how much I love to paint.

Let the fun begin.

my little kitchen helpers

Yesterday was one of those days when Maja and Madeleine were in sync with a task. I’m not sure if it was that they got to help me in the kitchen or if the task itself was just so novel that they didn’t think of it as ‘work’… but they had a fabulous time shelling peas. Yes, shelling peas.

What I loved about it was that it involved values that I hold dear: cooking with my kids that involved fresh, healthy, organic, locally-grown food. Maja was great at sharing with Madeleine and monitored the full and empty pods. Madeleine kept saying “hiding!” – in that the little peas were hiding in the pods.

So, our dinner that evening consisted of fresh homemade bread and homemade pasta (local only in that I made it in my kitchen) which I topped with some sautéed tomatoes (local), garlic (local), and mushrooms (not local) and the steamed peas. The girls only ate pasta with grated romano. And some bread. Dessert was strawberry sorbet that I made with the strawberries we picked last weekend.

Yum.

portrait of Madeleine

I love this photo of my sweet baby girl.

annual strawberry picking excursion

Madeleine cutely calls them ‘bawberries’ – and she loves them. I love them too. Fresh strawberries are one of the highlights of early summer (or late spring, if you wish, as it is still pre June 21).

One of the outings I used to love as a child was going berry picking with my mom. Sometimes we went strawberry picking, but usually it was blueberries. This was always a grand adventure as going blueberry picking in Northern Ontario did not mean you went to a cultivated patch on someone’s farm. Oh no! Going blueberry picking in Northern Ontario is a much more, um, shall we say, rural experience. Rural as in heading into “the bush” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bush
(aka the wilds north of the city). My mom would always start out by saying something about how she had heard from farmer Bob’s wife that blueberry picking up side road Whatever was particularly good. The directions were always suspect: go on down to Fifth Road, turn left and drive about 10 minutes. When you get to the oak tree near the creek by Farmer John’s place, turn right (note, this was usually some overgrown lane with two tire ruts), and drive as far as you can. Get out and walk north to the rocks and the blueberry patch will be right there. You can’t miss it.
Whatever. Usually we would find it and if not we found enough blueberries to make the trip worthwhile.

Contrast that with our recent trip to the strawberry field: get in car, enter address into navigation system, drive. Park car, get on wagon which delivers you to field.

A vastly different experience then the one’s I had growing up! But, I think the kids enjoyed themselves.

They ate them as fast as I could pick them:

Talkin’ ‘bout the New Situation

Aaaand, for once it’s not about the pregnancy. Well, at least not directly. Ok, well, it wasn’t at all until I just said that. Never mind. Everything is about the pregnancy.

In an effort to re-balance our lives, Richard and went back to the schedule drawing board a few weeks ago and are trying out having him do the school drop-offs. He has taken this task on willingly and it’s been working fine, except for the days I do the drop-offs which lately seems to be Mondays-Fridays in June. Well, at least that’s how it feels. It must just be the heat, humidity, and my hormones that make me feel that way.

I know I’ve spoken of this before, but when we change things around in our house we have to tread carefully in announcing the change to Maja. She’s resistant to change – as any child her age is prone to be. If you tell her at the wrong moment the whole thing could blow-up in your face. Timing must be impeccable – she can’t be tired, hungry, cranky, or distracted. She must be in a mood that is playful, open, and given to new suggestions. The windows of opportunity are few and must be seized and used to your benefit!

I tackled this on a Tuesday afternoon. Tuesdays are good because they’re not Mondays (first day of the week back at school) or Wednesdays (rushed in the evenings) or Thursdays (choir evenings) or Fridays (she’s too tired). In short, Tuesdays are our best days. [One could insert an ode to Tuesdays here – an often under-represented day in the week, being squished between hated Mondays and celebrated bump-day Wednesdays.]

Apparently in my explanation to Maja that Richard and I were going to try this new schedule I used the word “situation”. I know this because from that day on Maja has not referred to the schedule as a Dad Drop-off Day or something equally alliteratively alluring [ha! I crack myself up]. Instead she calls it the “new situation”.

Mom, are we doing the New Situation today? [she calls me mom now, not mama. Sigh.]
Mom, why does dad drive for the New Situation?
Mom, I like the New Situation.

Um, so do I. It means that I don’t have to deal with feeding the kids breakfast or getting their shoes on or herding them into the stroller and out the door and pushing them to school and hauling them up the stairs and getting them settled in for the day. And, as this pregnancy wears on I’m going to appreciate it more and more, especially once the Monday-Friday exceptions in June are over.

Hats off to the New Situation!

Potty training sucks

We started potty training Maja in earnest about 2 years ago and guess what? We’re still at it in one form or another. She hasn’t worn a diaper in well over a year (and has been diaper-free @ nighttime for a while) but still it’s a constant process of asking her: Do you have to go potty? Maja, go potty. Ok, potty time!

It’s not that she doesn’t know she has to go… it’s more that she can’t be bothered.

The most frustrating thing is that she refuses to go by herself. Refuses. And when I’m at home by myself with the girls and have just managed to get dinner on the table and everyone seated THAT is when Maja decides she needs to go potty (even though I make a point of asking her before we all sit down) – and since she refuses to go upstairs by herself I have to drag Madeleine upstairs too. It’s chaos.

In the past week, however, things have dramatically improved. Now when Maja announces that she needs to go potty my response is: “ok, you know where the bathroom is. Go.” The ball is in her court: go potty or have an accident. And since the thought of wetting her pants is now so foreign to her… she goes. By herself. And washes her hands. By herself. And comes back downstairs. Hallelujah.

This morning we even had one more ‘break through’ – she got up OUT OF BED (longtime readers will remember that Maja never gets out of bed by herself) and went potty!!!!!! Yea!!!! I will not focus on the fact that she did this at 5:30am and woke her sister up in the process and that I had both of them awake and demanding their morning milk at 5:45am…

Lavish praise was doled out to Maja as I stood there blindly (no glasses on) in the hallway in my pajamas holding a screaming Madeleine. I really am so happy that Maja took it upon herself to get up out of bed and venture to the potty by herself. I cannot stress enough what a big step this is for her.

Yea Maja!!

Now I have to start potty training Madeleine… sigh.

In which we make it to 5 years.

When I tell people that today is mine and Richard’s 5th wedding anniversary the usual reaction is: only 5 years? It seems like longer.

[Seems I had a similar reaction last year: only 4?]

Yeah, yeah, well, we you know we like to pack in the activities: 2 houses, new jobs, 2 kids (with a 3rd in progress), 1 dog … You can’t say that we’re slackers! We like to keep busy.

I’d like to commemorate this special day with a poem that we had read on our wedding day.

Tin Wedding Whistle – Ogden Nash

Though you know it anyhow
Listen to me, darling, now,
Proving what I need not prove
How I know I love you, love.
Near and far, near and far,
I am happy where you are;
Likewise I have never learnt
How to be it where you aren’t.
Far and wide, far and wide,
I can walk with you beside;
Furthermore, I tell you what,
I sit and sulk where you are not.
Visitors remark my frown
Where you’re upstairs and I am down,
Yes, and I’m afraid I pout
When I’m indoors and you are out;
But how contentedly I view
Any room containing you.
In fact I care not where you be,
Just as long as it’s with me.
In all your absences I glimpse
Fire and flood and trolls and imps.
Is your train a minute slothful?
I goad the stationmaster wrothful.
When with friends to bridge you drive
I never know if you’re alive,
And when you linger late in shops
I long to telephone the cops.
Yet how worth the waiting for,
To see you coming through the door.
Somehow, I can be complacent
Never but with you adjacent.
Near and far, near and far,
I am happy where you are;
Likewise I have never larnt
How to be it where you aren’t.
Then grudge me not my fond endeavor,
To hold you in my sight forever;
Let none, not even you, disparage
Such a valid reason for a marriage.

me time

I was talking to a friend the other day about “me” time. You know – those few moments in the day that I get to spend with me doing me things? Stop laughing.

It seems that when I think of “me” time it means alone time: me by myself doing something I enjoy. I define it as NOT being with the kids or doing something within the context of the family. Examples include: going to the pool for a swim after the kids go to sleep; going to the farmer’s market alone; going out for a quick beer or ice cream treat with friends.

The challenge put to me, though, was to find “me” time within the context of the family. Huh? Is this even possible? If I’m not alone how can I possibly focus on myself? Kids are not easily ignored or put to the side for 5 minutes so I can sit quietly and have a bowl of ice cream while daydreaming about my fantasy trip to Spain.

Is it even possible to find “me” time while the kids are around? I put this to the test yesterday and my preliminary answer is: yes. The experiment: mango. I know, I’m soooo exciting. The reality is that when I take a snack to the park I take it for the girls. I rarely every eat any of it – no matter how tempting it is. Yesterday, however, I brought a bowl of freshly cut-up mango and I ate some. And I didn’t feel guilty about it. Liberating.

So, how do you define “me” time? Is it something done by yourself or have you been able to incorporate it into time with your family around? Examples? Tricks? Tips?

i kicked the karma fairy

yeah, after yesterday’s post it DID get worse — the dog “exploded” all over my house. Several times.

BUT today is better.

The sun is shining. I am feeling at least 80% better. The dog has stopped his antics. The girls are at school and I am at home (working. Can’t you tell? No, really, I am, just taking a quick break for some lunch).

Richard gets back tomorrow. I swear he’s going to walk in the door and everyone is going to be feeling great and he’ll wonder what the hell all the fuss has been about this week. He’ll probably think that his going away was a good thing because men think that way. He’ll be all: look! You all are healthier then when I left you and I didn’t get sick! Right.

Also, I am coming around, slowly, to the idea of a baby. I saw someone holding a newborn the other day and my heart melted. Those little feet! That helpless little cry. Oh the sweetness. A baby!! I am looking forward to my next doctor’s appointment (June 10!) and the ultra-sound appointment on the 16th. I am dying to know if this baby is a girl or a boy (I’m thinking boy. You heard it here first.)

Ah, I must be feeling better as it doesn’t feel as if the world is coming to an end any longer.

So, Karma Fairy — I’m sorry for whatever it is that I did to upset you. I’ve paid my dues for this round. I’ll work on building up my stash of goodness again and perhaps you won’t frown on me anytime in the next 12 months? (HAHAHA)

Pity party

Indulge me, just for a few minutes days more.

Yeah, it’s time for a pity party for me. Sob sob. Richard is gone on a business trip, I am at home with the kids AND I am sick (chills, headache, muscle aches, sore throat). To top it all off we had a horrible weekend in the sleep department with Maja getting up two nights in a row and ending up in bed with me. This is the first time ever where I have let her sleep with me.

I didn’t like it.

Her feverish sleep involved hourly tossing, turning, wimpering, crying, and bad dreams. At one point she was convinced she was covered in ants and had bugs in her hair. Last night she wanted to brush her teeth in the middle of the night so they would be ‘clean’. She insisted on cuddling right up next to me which of course kept me awake all night. Kicking feet in my kidneys, thrashing around… in short: unpleasant.

Today, I feel like I could keel over and never get up.

I don’t know what it’s like for you when you’re sick, but for me it always feels like I’m NEVER going to get better and I’m NEVER going to enjoy life again. A spiraling pit of despair. Oh woe is me.

Where’s my fairy godmother waving her magic wand to make all the aches go away?