It Takes Two

So, as long-time followers of the Raine Drop (Hi Jennifer! Hi Shannon! Hi Donni!) know, Talia has had several versions of Ted E. Bear. This has served us well, since for 2 years she insisted on chewing on his face, and he would eventually become disgusting beyond repair. So Mommy would "wash him" (ie, buy another Ted) and everyone was happy.  Eventually we started staying one Ted ahead of her, which was handy for leaving one in the daycare bag, accidently leaving one behind at Uncle's, etc. She doesn't chew on his face anymore, so Ted v3.0 is actually in good shape, but we still sub Ted v4.0 in for the occasional bed-wetting or vomit incident.

It worked so well that we smugly bought 2 monkeys right off the bat with Declan. We've had Daycare George and Home George since the beginning, and it has worked just as well with Declan as it did with Talia - until recently. Because now we have a 3.5 year old who insists on opening any zipper she comes across, and naturally one morning she got into the daycare bag, saw Daycare George, and ran him right over to Declan......... who was cuddling on the couch with Home George.

It's all over. The success of Home and Daycare Georges depended entirely on them never being seen together in the same room!!!! Now one George is never enough, Declan insists "I wanna nother George!" and cannot sleep with just one. The Georges have never been happier.

Hide & Seek

Hide & Seek always starts at our house by Talia and Declan hiding, then yelling "MOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYY! Come find us!" so I already know exactly where they are. So I wander into the room the voices came from, and some variation of this ensues:

Me: Where can Talia and Declan be?
Declan (from his hiding spot in the closet): *giggle, giggle, giggle* I no know!!
Me: Are they under Tally's blankies?
Declan (from his hiding spot in the closet):  *giggle, giggle, giggle* Nooooooo!
Me: Are they under Declan's crib?
Declan (from his hiding spot in the closet):  *giggle, giggle, giggle* Noooooooo!
Me: Are they in the clothes hamper?
Declan (from his hiding spot in the closet): Noooooo! In da cwoset!!
Talia (enraged): NO, DEC!!!! DON'T TELL!!!!!
Declan (from his hiding spot in the closet):  *giggle, giggle, giggle* No da cwoset.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Getting Schooled

Sometimes I think Nursery School is more trouble than it's worth - like the million fundraisers and meetings I don't attend, for starters.  Or how every Tuesday and Thursday, Talia is so thrilled to see me, but then throws a GIANT tantrum about getting strapped into her carseat because she's so exhausted. Or how she's learned so many great new things, like how to stomp her foot and roar "Diss is ALL YOUR FAULT, DECLAN!!!" at her little brother, or cross her arms and say "my no wanna be your fwiend anymore, Deckie." (Poor Declan. He totally gets the short end of the stick - he cries his heart out when Talia goes into school without him, and then is the brunt of all her naughty sayings and tricks when she gets home.)

And then she tells me things like "I missed you so much and wanted you to come back and see my turkey!" and hands me this:

..... so then I think that Nursery School is making my kid a genius.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!

Can-Skate

This morning was Talia's first official skating lesson, or as my friend called it, 'pay a bunch of money for my kid to crawl around and cry' lessons. LOL. The younger class is pretty much 3 & 4 year olds who have never been on skates before, or only a handfull of times last winter. So basically, it was awesome.

Talia was so excited about her lessons all this week. When we tried her skates and helmet on yesterday to make sure they still fit, she exclaimed "I dust love dese skates. Dey are so... so... so SKATEY!" and insisted on wearing them all afternoon. She could barely eat breakfast this morning because she was so anxious to get to the "wrinkle." But when we finally got her all geared up and ready to go out on the ice, she was not as excited. She took her teacher's hand and went off like a little trooper, but the other kids around her started dropping like flies. At one point she was the only one standing, the teacher and assistants had all scattered to help kids get up, and she was freaking out by herself in the middle of the mayhem, screaming her head off. So I broke the cardinal rule of Can-Skate (no parents on the ice! EVER!!) and went out to calm her down and shuffle her toward the closest teacher before I high-tailed it inside the rink where she couldn't see me. After that she was fine, she fell down and tried about 1 million times to stand back up, and had a great time crawling around. She was the only one in figure skates, but when we were taking her skates off at the end of lessons I heard one of the other girls crying because she didn't want black skates, she wanted white ones like Talia. Ha!

After her lesson was over she got a sticker for her helmet and a colouring sheet to take home, and proudly told me she had so much fun!! I guess there's going to be a lot of public skating in my future this winter, as it's definitely going to take some practice to really get her going. But as a former figure skater & figure skating coach, I'm super excited my big girl is in lessons this year!

Gymnastics

Talia started gymnastics class last night.

Gymnastics with 3 and 4 year olds is pretty much the funniest thing ever. It sort of looks like one poor 19 year old drew the short straw and as a result has to herd a group of deaf and blind cats. I was impressed that all the kids were really great about taking turns.  It's so hilarious that they have no idea how to get in a line and keep moving one step up as the person in front goes back to the end - a reminder that although they aren't the little newborns we brought home, there is still a lot for them to learn.

Talia is the shortest in the class but probably has 10lbs on most of the other girls. The other parents probably think we feed her junk all the time, haha. We always call her our "delicate flower" or our "dainty ballerina" because she could not be further from either of these things. My rough and tumble little tomboy loves to jump, and stomp, and run fast but has yet to come into her big-girl co-ordination. She is so cute stomping around with the other kids! She has no idea that she can't do some of the things the other kids can, she just loves to be there in her "babing suit" and her "nastics syippers." It was really neat to see her listen and take direction from her teacher, and giggle with her little friends. My big girl.

I also love that they are all completely oblivious at this stage. I wish they would stay this way right through high school sports. The whole class cheered for the little girl who jumped off the trampoline perfectly the same way they cheered for my little girl, who was on a trampoline for the first time and sort of crawled/slid off, before jumping on the spot and throwing her arms triumphantly in the air. I like that we are in a small town and my kids will get to play any sport they want to - in fact, will be encouraged to do so just so there are enough kids to make a team, haha - and not have to deal with "making the cut" at an early age.

I don't know how much gymnastics they are going to learn, but I'm pretty sure Talia is going to have a great time. Maybe by the end of the session she'll even know how a line works.

Washing Tatoes

I like to get these kids out and about as often as possible. We all (Mommy included) behave better when we're not stuck in these 4 walls all day, everyday.   But I also want them to always know home is safe, and welcoming, and FUN. So when we're home, we make lots of messes, play with lots of toys, do lots of activities, make lots of crafts, watch lots of Dora (gag), etc. The busier we are, the happier we seem to be.
Today, however was a good reminder that we don't have to do much to have fun. Declan, Ruby & I went to Kids Spot with some friends while the big girls were at nursery school this morning, then we came home for lunch and naps. While the littles napped, Talia watched some Dora and then we worked on some letters together.

When Declan and Ruby woke up, I put some diapers in the wash and brought up some potatoes to get started on supper. Talia said "tan we hepp you wash dose tatoes?" It would have been easier, and faster, and a lot drier, to say no. But since Tal was a baby, we've involved her in the kitchen whenever we can. So I heaved a little sigh for the quick supper prep that almost was, and got Talia and Dirty Shirt Declan set up at the sink to wash dose tatoes.

They washed potatoes for about 1/2 an hour, squealing and giggling the entire time. They shared, and took turns, and were completely silly together. They got a little bit wet, they made a bit of a mess, but they had lots of fun and my potatoes have seriously never been so clean! We lost Declan's interest after the washing was done, but when I sliced the potatoes up, Talia dug in and tossed them around with some olive oil and seasonings, and put them on the cookie sheet for me. It was fantastic, since I hate getting my hands all oily, and she felt like such a big helper.  And sure, my little healthy eaters eventually turned their noses up at their hot dogs and fries in favour of fruit and peanut butter, but whatever. We had a good time getting it ready.


 It sort of freaks me out that Talia is already 3 - I remember tons of stuff from when I was 3!  What is she going to remember about our days at home?!? What will she remember about today? Will she remember that she was happy to see me when I picked her up from nursery school? Will she remember that I was frustrated and angry when she had an accident this afternoon? Will she remember how we giggled together, pretending to be frogs? I hope she remembers that she and her brother were welcome in our kitchen whenever they wanted to be there.

First Day

Talia started Nursery School this week. I've been telling her all summer that she was going to go to school with her friends Charli and Olivia, only to find out at the end of summer that there are 2 seperate classes and her friends were both in the other one. Whoops! I was pretty worried that this was going to be a big problem, because m'girl is so, so, so, so shy. So when I was talking to her teacher, I warned her that sometimes Talia spends an entire day at my friend's house (who she has known as long as she can remember) without saying 2 words AND without going potty for about 7 hours, and wondered if perhaps it might be helpful to have Tal in the same class as the other girls? But there were no open spaces in the other class, so I declined their offer to switch another kid out of that class to make room for Talia (I didn't want to start off as "that" mom, you know) and just braced myself for what I hoped would just be an interesting first couple of days.

I don't think Tal had much of a concept of school until last week, when we checked out a lot of "(Main Character)'s First Day of School" books. I told her that we were going to visit Grandma & Grandpa for the weekend, and then we would come home for 1 sleep, and then it would be time to go to school. Well. All weekend long all we heard was "My wanna go home and go to schoo!" When we finally did get home, we rushed to get supper and baths over with so we could get T & D to bed early, but she was so excited she just laid in her bed, singing about "schoo" until almost 10pm. Ordinarily the late night would get us off to a terrible start the next morning, but she woke up still excited to go to schoo! She posed for a few pictures with her Peeker Parker backpack and then toddled off to the van.

Once we got to schoo, I braced myself for a big melt-down - but m'girl totally surprised me! She had a huge grin and marched down those stairs like she owned the place. She went right into her classroom and started chatting away with her teacher. I got her new shoes out of her bag and she asked her teacher to help her put them on! HRMPH!

Anyway, she was too busy to notice I left and I was so happy. That's the way she always used to be once upon a time at Jodie's daycare as well, it was nice to see that happy little Talia-at-drop-off again. I took Declan and Ruby grocery shopping and then even had a few minutes to catch up on email and read my Kindle in the parking lot before it was time to go pick her up. When her teacher opened the classroom door and she saw me, she came running to me with the biggest grin and a huge hug, before running back to her teacher to say "Sankoo! See you next time!"

My big girl. Where did my baby go?

Random Updates

How can I live with this family of jokesters and have no good material for a blog post? Oh well. Here's what's new at the Raine Drop:

Talia
Talia is as crazy as her curls. She is getting to be such a big girl. We are getting ready for her to start Nursery School next week. She loves being outside, climbing, swinging, etc. but still does a bit of the Drunken Sailor while running around like a wild woman - just enough for me to get a glimpse of my baby girl every now and then. Today she spent the entire day with our friends and I missed her like crazy. I'm so lucky that I've had 2 extra mat leaves since she was born, I've gotten to spend so much time watching her grow up to this point.

Declan
Deckie Boy finally started walking last week! He's so cute toddling around all over the place. We call him "Dirty Shirt" because he hangs around everything Talia does. He loves his big sister and his little sister. I sometimes feel Ruby's life is in danger when Declan tries to "play" with her but he really is gentle and loving with her - as gentle and loving as an 18 month old daredevil can be, I suppose. He chatters away and loves to tell me "Noooooooooooooo!" in the sweetest, sassiest little voice you can imagine. He likes to team up with Talia to be a stinker - we are in all kinds of trouble when these kids are teenagers.

Ruby
Ruby is trying her hardest to get moving! She can pull herself short distances in this weird little army crawl, and also gets up on her knees. A baby that wants to move! Amazing. She seems to be more and more sensitive to dairy and soy, instead of growing out of it, which basically sucks. But we still have hope she'll grow out of it, and if not, hopefully she won't have an anaphylactic reaction to either. As more time passes since I last ingested dairy or soy, she is getting to be happier and happier. She is a really easy baby, loves to eat as much as her brother and sister did, and is already a couch potato.

Rainer
Rainer is super busy at work. You know what? July year-ends ruin your summer. Poor guy. But he is working hard for all of us and he is such an amazing Daddy and husband. We just wish we got to spend more time with him in July and August. He's hardly had time to have any fun in the pool he maintains or to play with the kids on the monstrosity of a playstructure that he built for them.

T McQ
I am really tired these days! We are so busy during the weekdays, trying to soak up every last bit of summer. I like to have the kids out and about - going to programs, playing outside, etc. It makes our days go fast and while it's taking its toll on me at this time of year, I keep pushing through because I know the -40 weather is coming!!! I'm still on my restricted diet for Ruby (the plus side to that is the positive impact it has on my waistline) and have started running to be ready for the Niverville 5k at the end of September. It will be my first race in a few years, and I'm pretty excited about it!

Time Out

Declan got his first time-out this week. First of many, I'm sure, because this boy is a bit of a buggar. He has the most mischievous twinkle in his eye and a huge laugh when he's being a buggar, too, it's all I can do to keep a straight face.

Class Dismissed

Talia is finally starting to show some interest in the alphabet, besides just making the Leap Frog letter toy be super annoying all. day. long. So, in an effort to nurture this new interest in letters, I've been trying to get her ready for nursery school this fall by having some "school time" everyday when Declan has a sleep. It's a good way to have some quality time with m'girl. She has a pretty good grasp on what the letters are and what sounds most of them make, so we're moving on.

Although Talia has had little interest in letters until recently, she has a pretty good vocabulary. So good that I fear my lousy artistic talent is no match for her. Here's what we worked on today:

Answer I was looking for "A is for ant."

Talia: "A is for insect!"

Answer I was looking for: "C is for cat."

Talia: "C is for Kitty!" (okay, that one was close.)

Answer I was looking for: "H is for happy face/ H is for hand."

Talia: "H is for glove!"

Answer I was looking for: "S is for snake."

Talia: "S is for anaconda!"

I give up.

If You Can't Beat 'Em....

This morning Talia refused to get dressed. After asking her a couple of times to get dressed so we could get on with our day, I finally gave her a time-out for not doing as she was asked. At the end of her time-out, she would not tell me she was sorry or get dressed, so I told her she had to stay in time-out until she was ready. After 24 minutes (that's 8 consecutive time-outs) I finally told her that jammies are for sleeping, and if she wasn't going to get dressed she needed to get back in her bed. She did, and promptly fell asleep.

Good old Monkey-See-Monkey-Do Declan couldn't bear to not be part of his big sister's terrible punishment - he promptly got his monkey & blanky and fell asleep on the floor beside Talia's bed.

After I checked on the 2 of them, I put Ruby down on my bed while I ran to the washroom, when I came out she had fallen asleep, too. At that point I decided to go with the majority and have a little nap as well. These kids are wise, a nice nap was just what we all needed.

Backyard Camping

Once upon a time, many moons ago, a Girl Guide got together with a guy from Kenora. Being a Girl Guide, and then a Girl Guide leader, she was used to camping in tents with many little people, having an exhausting but fun time. Plus, she had grown up in a camping family, and had spent all summer at the lake when she lived at home. Being from Kenora, her boyfriend was inherently "outdoorsy" - but also had a belief that you should be outdoorsy in your backyard (which includes rocks, lakes, rivers, bush, etc.) and then go home to your nice comfy bed to sleep.

So one year when this young couple had so many holiday days saved up they didn't know what to do with them all, the Girl Guide decided to make it her personal challenge to make that Kenora boy embrace camping. They got a great deal on a huge tent, booked a campsite in the Whiteshell, and headed off for a week of fantastic fun. So what if Kenora Boy literally ran into a bear cub while on his bike, provoking said bear to stalk them the remaining half of the Trans-Canada Trail that runs between West Hawk and Falcon Lake? So what if Girl Guide got the worst chest infection of her life and thought she was going to die on an air mattress in the woods? SO WHAT if they packed it in and spent the last half of their vacation in Kenora Boy's parents' house, being outdoorsy during the day and sleeping indoors like civilized people at night????? Tenting can still be fun, right? RIGHT?!?

So our experiment in tenting never inspired a love of camping within Rainer. Meh. We actually still used our tent for several summers - meeting up with my family in Clear Lake, etc. We even took it to Prince Edward Island one summer for a 2 week vacation, in which we had good weather, lots of fun, and an all-around great tenting experience. But we certainly don't plan our holidays around tenting excursions anymore. And it seems like a lot of work to go camping on a regular 2 day weekend, when there are so few free weekends in the summer and we have that pool calling our names and all. So we haven't had the tent out since Talia was born.

But lately I've been getting the camping itch - partly due to lots of friends buying campers, partly due to my parents selling their camper and not going to the lake for the first time I can remember. So I've been suggesting doing a little backyard camping all summer, and since Rainer is just such a good sport, he agreed.

Last night we set up the tent in the backyard:

Ruby was so impressed with our mad tent skillz:

We had a wienie roast complete with s'mores:

We let the kids stay up late, playing outside in their jammies as it grew darker and darker:

We put them to bed in the tent. Hard to believe our ginormous tent is almost too small even for backyard camping:

We woke up this morning to find Declan had embraced his first night of freedom from a crib or playpen - he'd started out beside one sister and ended up with the other:

And of course, everyone piled into Mom & Dad's nice warm bed when the morning chill had woken them all up:

It was so much fun!!

To Talia at Three

Dear Talia,

You turned three years old last week. Three years old!

You are officially a little girl. I only get glimpses now and then of the serious little newborn,



the roly-poly one year old,



and the still-babyish two year old you were.

You are growing up so fast! I guess you've had to, since you're the big sister. I love how you love your little brother and sister. You've only recently started to understand that Ruby can be your sister AND Declan's sister at the same time, and you love to remind me every morning that "Diss is my sista Wooby and Deckie's sista Wooby! She be bofe da sista!" You love being the big sister. You give Ruby her sucky and make her smile and giggle. Declan is your partner in crime, it seems you can read each other's minds somtimes! I hope you stay just as close to them for all of your days.

You're such a little Mama. As I'm typing this, you're sitting on the couch with the Boppy, breastfeeding Ted E. Bear and watching Dora. Soon you'll get up and do the "We Did It!" dance. I hope you continue to dance over all your accomplishments, both big and small.

You are bright and curious. You love to play with babies, Play-Doh, and your little kitchen. You love the idea of playing with lots of kids, and everyone you see is "my fwiend." But when the kids are actually around you, you're pretty shy. You can count to 12 or 15, depending on the day. You can say your alphabet but aren't too interested in identifying letters. You love to make crafts, cut with scissors, glue things, paint, and colour. Your favourite thing to draw is happy faces.

You love to play outside and your Daddy broke his hand putting together a playstructure for you, your brother, and your sister this summer. You are getting adventurous in the pool - you like to jump in and you can swim around by yourself in your Puddle Jumper. You like to watch Dora, Diego, and Caillou on TV, but the only movies you're interested in are the Toy Story movies. You love, love, love bugs! And you could spend the entire day playing in the mud - the dirtier, the better.

Your hair is crazy, curly, and out-of-control most days. People say you look like me - when we go to Gilbert Plains, we practically give people heart attacks because they think you are the ghost of me as a little girl. Will you look like me when you grow up? I don't know, when I look at you all I see is your Daddy's big, crooked grin. I love it as much on you as I do on him!

You fill our days with songs, giggles, tantrums, time-outs, hugs, questions, and even the occasional kiss (when I'm lucky!) You challenge us and delight us, surprise us and tease us. You make me happier than I ever thought I could be, and ready to pull my hair out, all at the same time. I can't wait to see what the next year with you will bring. Love you, Ladybug!

Mommy Got Back

Since Ruby was born I've lost 46lbs. That's way more than the small amount of weight I gained during my pregnancy (the upside to being sick for the entire time!) and my Dad even thinks I'm smaller now than I was in highschool. He's wrong, but it's nice that he's noticed the change. So I'm feeling pretty good about myself these days. Well, I was feeling pretty good about myself, until today.

Today we stayed inside to beat the heat. Yes, we have that pool in the backyard, but I can't manage all 3 of my babies in the pool by myself, it's too hot for Ruby to be outside and not in the water, and it's so hot Declan's non-walking legs get burned on the deck, concrete, etc. So.

Declan is pretty good at identifying body parts, but if I ask him "where's your nose?" he finds my nose instead of his. So today I was playing with him and working on body parts, with Talia jumping in here and there when she felt like it. All of a sudden I felt a little tap on my butt and Talia asked "Dat your bum, Mommy?" I said yes, and she said "WOW! Iss weally biiiiiiiiiiig!" Thanks, Tal.

Ha ha ha ha ha boo hoo hoo.

Random Summer Updates

I wrote a lovely, sentimental post about Talia's birthday earlier this week. After several days of Blogger refusing to publish it, (what the hell, Blogger?) it inexplicably disappeared. So since I'm still up waiting for the diapers in the washing machine, this is the best I can come up with right now:

- Talia had a fun birthday party with lots of little friends. There is a group of us here in town that have a little girl Talia's age and a little boy Declan's age, and most of those families came to the party. I love it!! I actually didn't think we'd get many people who were able to come, since it's lake season and all, but it was busy and chaotic and so much fun.

- We're waiting for Auntie Kylie, Uncle Chris and the kids to come this weekend. Can't wait to see them. I'm hoping we can sneak the kids off to Walmart or someplace to get their picture taken while we have all 5 of the grandkids together, it will be a nice gift for Rainer's parents.

- I'm pretty sure I broke my toe on the new playstructure. That is not awesome.

- Rainer just said the other day that it's been months since Declan sounded like a coffee perk when he breathed, and now he's been coughing his head off all night. Jinxed.

- Ruby's announcement/thank you cards finally came! Now to find time to get them written up and sent out before she's out of diapers.

- We have no daycare. It's fun to have lots of days to do summer things with the kiddies, but it's also harder to do things like big grocery trips or days of errands with multiple stops. I also think I should have tried harder to do things like, oh, I don't know... go to the dentist? get an oil change?... when I still had daycare.

- Talia loves my old Smurf collection. She calls them "Spoops" - I don't know why but I've gotta tell you, I'm not correcting her.

- I'm totally obsessed with that show "Oddities." Have you seen it? I love it!!

- I would like to go to bed before midnight one of these days. Yawn.

Tips From Treen

At some point in your life you may have a baby. You might decide to breastfeed said baby. And imagine your joy when you discover your baby is very sensitive or allergic to a million different things, including dairy, soy, and caffeine. Oh, and did I mention you also are into your third month with thrush, so you're still trying to stay away from anything that will feed yeast, ie. anything with sugar, grains, yeast.... the list of things you can't eat or drink goes on and on.

Now imagine that although you used to have a fairly healthy diet that did not really include any processed foods anyway, now that your milk is the only option for nutrition for your baby until she is at least 6 months old, your new and improved healthy diet feels a little restrictive at times. You might even find yourself starving while grocery shopping, and suddenly feel desperate to eat something you did not make at home. Lo and behold, you come across a package of cookies in the organic aisle. Nut-free! Dairy-free! Soy-free!

You will think your ship has come in, and will throw those $4.99 cookies in your cart without a moment's hesitation. Well, let me tell you something. Processed foods that are nut-free, dairy-free, and soy-free are also taste-free. Do yourself a favour - go back to the produce section and buy an extra apple. Sigh.

People In Glass Houses

Tonight we were watching My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding on TLC and they kept flashing a text ad saying the Duggar grandson has been born, tune in for the special on Father's Day. Apparently the tiny bit of text in the corner of the screen was very irritating for my husband and sparked this conversation:

Rainer: Wasn't that kid born already?
Me: Yeah, I think he was born earlier this week. Wednesday, maybe?
Rainer: No, I mean, wasn't it born like a year ago?
Me: That was their first baby.
Rainer: This is their second baby already? Geez!
Me: Yeah...... before you get all judgey, you should know that their kids are 20 months apart.
Rainer: Oh. Nevermind.

Hahahahahahahaha!

This Kid

Talia is at a really fun stage. She cracks me up and makes me want to pull my hair out, at the same time, all day long. Here are a few of her latest gems:

Heading out the door for daycare: "My be wight back, Mommy. You no be scared. Okay?"

After I flushed the toiled while giving her a hard time for having an accident: "Da poop's all gone, Mommy. It no bug you no more."

Tucking her big plastic Bert into my bed one morning: "My dust need to put diss ya-liddle guy to bed. Sweep dweams, Bertie."

As soon as we turn the corner and she sees the park: "Oh, DERE's da park! Sank-oo, Mommy!"

At Ruby's baptism, after I told her she had to keep quiet because it was the priest's turn to talk: "Him hafta take turns wif ME, Mommy."

Asking for some Easter treats (that are in the freezer): "Uh, can you find some bunny eggs for me?"

Snack Fail

This weekend our older kids were lucky enough to have a babysitter! She's the daughter of our daycare provider, so she knows the kids well and they really love her. Declan is her special boy, whenever I go pick them up he's always practicing walking with her and she carries him out to the stroller or van for me (which was a huge help when I was pregnant, let me tell you.)

When my brother and I were little, we were always excited to have a babysitter because that meant special treats for supper, like a TV Dinner. (Once we even had a can of ravioli!) And I totally used to sneak out of bed so I could share the chips & dip my parents had left the babysitter for a snack. So, I wanted to give our kids a little treat for their first supper with a babysitter, and I wanted to make sure we had some treats for the babysitter, too.

So I made a homemade pizza. (I used that new natural meat from Maple Leaf, have you tried it? No nitrites or nitrates or whatever it is that will give you cancer and stop your heart. Salt, sugar, celery extract, water. Delicious. But I digress.) I sent Rainer to the Esso to get some chips or something that a 12 year old girl might like. I was super smug with our awesome treats and was confident we were well on our way to being the babysitter's favourite family.

Before we left, the babysitter asked what the kids could drink for supper. I said milk or water, but that she could have whatever she wanted - not realizing that this actually meant milk, water, or almond milk. She asked "Do you guys have any pop?" and I realized we *might* not have thought about what normal people drink. While we were out for supper she called and asked if we had any ice cream or popcorn - we didn't. Ha. That's when I began to think we *might* not win her over with our awesome snacks, so the kids better be cute. SNACK FAIL!!!

So yesterday I went to pick up Talia from daycare and the girl who was our babysitter came out to the van to see Declan and Ruby as well, and her younger sister came along. I told the babysitter when we wanted her to come again, and this is the conversation that ensued:
Babysitter: What are we having for supper?
Me: Uh, I don't know, I haven't thought about it yet!
Babysitter: Let's have hotdogs! Does Deckie like hotdogs?
Me: I don't know, he's never had a hotdog.
Babysitter's younger sister (who comes home from school to have lunch with the daycare kids): He sure eats them like he likes them when he's here!

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! So I guess Declan eats hotdogs at daycare, and I also guess our babysitter isn't the type to be impressed with a homemade pizza and a nice glass of almond milk. We're going to have to resort to letting her Pay-Per-View a movie next time if we have any chance of being her favourite family!!!!

We Survived

So we survived our big weekend without Daddyo. It was actually fine, we had lots of fun. I wasn't worried about being alone with the kids - hello, that's my gig for about 12 hours a day, everyday - but I was worried that I would really be dragging by today or tomorrow. Rainer pretty much takes over everything with the kids on the weekend, except for nursing the baby. I sleep in, relax, I might make a meal or two, but otherwise it's the Daddy show around here. I really get recharged during my weekends so I was a little worried that without that, I'd be having a hard time by now. So far, so good, though. Tomorrow the 2 older kids are in daycare while Ruby and I have appointments and run a few errands, and then it's the long weekend, woo hoo!

I sent this picture to Rainer whle he was on the road - bedtime the first night without him. I jokingly said I would send him "proof of life" photos throughout the weekend. I wonder if he worried when I didn't follow through on it?



Anyway, we all survived and have been loving the summer weather. This week we've played outside a ton and even had a picnic at the park. I'm quite proud to say that Declan's fair skin is still as white as a ghost, although Talia is darkening up by the minute. I'm so anxious about my fair skinned baby boy, Rainer and I are both in the fairly-dark-don't-really-ever-burn category, and obviously Talia is as well, so we have basically no clue what to do with Declan. I'm probably a little over-zealous with the sunscreen and keeping buying hats and deciding they just aren't good enough for my pumpkin's pumpkin head. But with 2 different grandparents from both sides of the family having had skin cancer, I'm pretty crazy about my kids not getting a sunburn. I even made them have their picnic in the only shady spot in the park - under the play structure. They didn't seem to mind, though!

Depths of Despair

Talia this morning, upon realizing her Daddy wasn't home: (sad face) My Daddy runned away. He no yalike me anymore.

Me: (thinking this was the saddest thing I'd ever heard) Oh Tally, Daddy loves you! He just went golfing, he's coming back.

Talia: (head in hands): But Daddy's all gone. WHO WILL TURN ON CAILLOU?!? ON DA TV!!

Rainer will be so touched that his little girl missed him, and his TV skills, so much.

Dear Cling-Wrap

Dear Cling-Wrap,

You have one friggin' job to do. CLING. Is that too much to ask?

Sincerely,

The leftovers in the Tupperware without a lid

6 weeks

A few weeks after Ruby was born, Auntie Shannon & Nicho came out for a visit and to spoil the kids. I remember pulling one super cute little 6-12 month outfit out of the bag, and thinking "that will be so nice for next winter."

Here we are, a month later, and 6 week old Ruby is wearing it:





Having a big baby is a new experience to us. I finally know what people mean when they say how fast babies go through clothes - unlike Talia & Declan, who stayed in the same sizes for months and months, Ruby is literally only wearing some things once or twice before they get packed away in the basement. If she keeps growing at this rate, she'll be 8 feet tall in preschool.

Yesterday I took the 3 kids to the doctor. This is kind of a pain because I now have 2 that don't walk, and my doctor's office is the most inaccessible place in the world - how ridiculous is that? Anyway, there are 2 steps that are unavoidable and I would never be able to get the sit & stand up them, and once inside there isn't enough room in the exam rooms for the big stroller anyway. So I put Ruby in the wrap, Declan in the umbrella stroller, and Talia walked like the big girl she is. I thought I was pretty smart and everything was going smoothly, but maybe I didn't look quite as together as I felt, since some stranger in the waiting room totally felt sorry for me and helped me get shoes and coats on the kids when we were leaving!

At each stage the kids go through, I think "This is the best it's ever going to be. There will never be a time when it's more fun than this age." And then Talia gets a little older, and does a little more, and makes me laugh a little harder, and I change my mind and have a new favourite age. Yesterday after we got home from the doctor's office, she made herself a stethoscope out of plastic rings and gave all her babies check-ups. Sometimes I can't believe how smart she is and how much she just knows already. Although, I guess any woman she meets who gives her a rare treat of a sucker is probably pretty important to her, ha ha.

I really love that Talia and Declan are each other's constant companion, and spend so much time playing together - even though they gang up on me now. Here's our conversation from lunch the other day:

Me: Tal, who's your best friend?
Talia: Ummmmmmmmmm.... (pretending to think really, really hard, with a big grin on her face.)
Declan: Deckie!!
Me: (full of outrage) WHAT?!? Not Deckie!
Declan: (giggling) Daddy!!
Me: (still outraged) EVEN WORSE!! What about Mommy?
Talia: Iss okay, Mommy. You be Wooby's best fwiend.

The Fifth Time's A Charm

Now that all our company/help is gone, we've settled into a nice little routine here. I get the triple nap out of these kids most days, which is a nice break even if I don't sleep myself. Talia has gone through a couple of stretches where she's a little hit and miss on the nap, but lately she's back to napping almost everyday. If she doesn't nap she stays in her bed for some quiet time, looking at books or playing with some quiet toys. Today Talia was up a little bit earlier than usual and looked completely exhausted all morning, so I thought the triple nap would be no problem today. After lunch I packed my 3 little Rainedrops away in their beds and settled down to have some lunch and catch up on the PVR. Within 10 minutes, all was quiet..... then the phone rang. By the time I got off the phone, Talia & Declan were having some kind of dance party in their room, and before too long I heard the pitter-patter of Talia's flat feet.

The first time she came out, I sent her back to her bed.

The second time she came out, she was wearing her shirt from this morning and pajama pants. I sent her back to bed.

The third time she came out, she was wearing pajama pants & a non-matching pajama shirt. I sent her back to bed.

The fourth time she came out, she was wearing a pajama shirt and 12 pairs of panties. I sent her back to bed.

The fifth time she came out, she was completely naked. I gave up completely and turned on Caillou. She laid down on the couch and was asleep within a minute. I'll take it.

3 Raine Circus

Yesterday was the big test - Rainer went back to work, assorted grandparents are all gone home, it was just me and the 3 for the whole day.

We had plans to go to Kids Spot with friends of ours, but when that didn't work out I decided we would just stay home. The morning was crazy busy but good. I got up before the kids so I could get showered, dressed, and eat something. The kids ended up waking up one at a time, so it was easy - I got Declan changed and eating breakfast, then Talia showed up in the kitchen, and by the time I had her eating Ruby was awake and ready to nurse. I don't think I really sat down all morning, apart from nursing, so it went really fast. After lunch I put Ruby down for a nap while T & D were watching a show, then Declan went down, and finally Talia. Ah, the triple nap. Then I was finally able to sit down and I even remembered to eat lunch!

After naps, we were busy getting a little surprise ready for Daddy. His birthday came while I was still not allowed to drive, so I hadn't been able to get out and get him anything. We went out for lunch earlier this week and went to the mall so he could pick out his own present, but he didn't end up finding anything he was looking for! So yesterday while Ruby & I were running a few errands we picked up a little something for him so his birthday wasn't such a giant bust. Talia was excited to help make a nice card for Daddy, Declan was not excited in any way, and Ruby - well, she's 3 weeks old, she doesn't even know what her hands are yet, so how excited could she be?

Ruby's gift to me for her Daddy's birthday was a 7 hour stretch last night, 15 minutes of nursing, and then a 4.5 hour stretch. I feel like a million bucks! I really hope she's still gaining well, since she's such a sleepyhead. I hate to wake up a sleeping baby to feed them!!

Two Weeks

Can't believe it's already been 2 weeks since Ruby was born! She's slipped into our family like she's always been here.

Talia loves her, she likes to show Ruby everything she's playing with ("See, Wooby? Lookit me!") and likes to read to her as well.

After Declan stopped screaming whenever he saw her, it seems like he's forgotten about her completely. This morning he was scooting around the floor on his back (think back crawl, but on land) and when he bumped into poor snoozin' Ruby (who was hanging out on a quilt on the floor) he burst into tears. He occasionally rolls a ball to her when she's sleeping on the floor, but he's not impressed with the way she just lets it bounce off her back. Apart from that, he hasn't been interested in her at all. He's just been thrilled to have assorted grandparents and Daddy around for the last 2 weeks!

Ruby is another super mellow, easy baby. I know she's only 2 weeks old and I may be jinxing myself with this post, but she seems to be just like her brother and sister were. She's very content, hardly makes a peep, and loves to sleep. She's been pretty consistent and giving me a 4 hour and 6 hour stretch at night since her second or third night home. (We really get far more sleep than a couple of people with 3 kids under 3 have any right to even hope for.)

It will be sad to see G&G go home this weekend, but will also be nice to settle into routine with our little family of 5.