This, that, and other stuff

Posted on May 4, 2009 by Sherry

We had a busy weekend. Luckily it wasn’t the crazy, stressful kind of busy. Just busy in the sense that we had plenty of moments to enjoy.

Friday night, Hayley’s school held another movie night in the gym. The admission is free and they sell popcorn, drinks, and chips to raise funds. They were showing Bedtime Stories and since it’s not animated I had a strong suspicion that Breanna wouldn’t be interested at all, which would leave me following her all around the gym and cafeteria for an hour and a half. Instead, she went with George to get some ice cream while I took Hayley to the movie. When we were outside the school Hayley picked a couple of dandelions to give to her principal.

I made a good choice in not taking Breanna this time. Last time it was Wall-E which she loves, and even then she wandered a lot. This movie would not be her thing. Actually, there were an awful lot of kids in the gym who weren’t paying much attention – it was mostly all the parents watching the movie. Still, they had fun and that’s what counts. They seem to mostly just enjoy coming to the school out of uniform to socialize. And by the way, it’s a really cute movie for slightly older kids. I enjoyed it and want to see it again to fill in the parts that I missed (such as when my drink got kicked over, ahem).

When Saturday rolled around I was on a mission to finally – after ten freakin’ years – do something to make our balcony look nice. It was a good start last summer when we got our bistro set, at least we had somewhere nice to sit (which was why it was a shame it was so darn rainy), but for years I had been saying that I wanted to plant some flowers. For reasons that I don’t even understand, I just never did.

First, one of Hayley’s friends invited her over for the day, so we headed over there to drop her off. After that we went straight to Canadian Tire. Breanna had been disappointed that she wasn’t joining Hayley, but once she wandered around the garden area with me, helping me pick out flowers, she was much more cheerful.

I don’t know much about flowers, I’ve never had a very green thumb. Honestly, I have killed every plant I’ve ever owned. I went with what was familiar and what came with indications that they would thrive in full sunlight since we get constant sun from about 11:30 am until sunset on our balcony, with no overhang to provide shade. I ended up getting pansies in yellow, orange, white, and purple, as well as one geranium plant. They all make me smile because my grandmother on my dad’s side always had those in her window boxes. I also got a packet of wildflower seeds for fun.

When we got home, Breanna and I ventured out on the balcony with a giant bag of earth, some plant pots, and our flowers and we got to work. I realized I didn’t have a proper shovel, but we managed with our hands and some sturdy spoons. Ghetto gardening!

I didn’t get any good pictures of the pansies that are in the longer boxes up on the railing because it was a little too windy to get a good shot. Just ask Breanna.

After we were done and washed up, we were invited to go join Hayley for some pizza for dinner. Breanna was thrilled to go play with the two big girls and I was thrilled to have a glass of wine and talk to other adults. By the time we got home, both kids were so tired that they were out within about ten minutes, sound asleep.

On Sunday morning, Hayley wanted us to all go do something fun together and it was a nice day so we decided to go to the park. When we were headed out we saw our neighbor’s daughter; she’s in grade two at Hayley’s school but because they’ve known each other for years they often hang out together, especially when they go see the handball games at lunch. We ended up inviting her to come along and they all had a lot of fun. I was happy to take a lot of pictures, and was even happier when George took over the camera and took several shots of his own. I love seeing his pictures. This one that he took of Hayley hanging upside down from the top of a ladder is awesome:

I also liked this sequence. He took a picture of Hayley who was inexplicably climbing up the OUTSIDE of a play structure, and then he immediately swung the camera my way to capture my reaction to Hayley’s acrobatics. I was muttering, “please don’t fall. Please don’t fall. I am NOT going to hover but please don’t fall.”

Then I took the camera back.

Breanna was so tired that she fell asleep on the couch at 7:30 while I was drying Hayley’s hair post-bath and I had to carry her to bed, slip her diaper on for the night, and then I was able to tuck her in. Hayley was in bed at 8 and out less than 15 minutes later. It was the quietest bedtime in ages and I was able to watch the early release of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button that Paramount had sent me (I love my job). I loved the movie so much, I gushed about it a little over here.

You just can’t complain about a weekend that was filled with movies, flowers, playdates, and park outings. I can use more of those please and thank you.

Field Trip

Posted on April 25, 2009 by Sherry

I think that one of the best things about working from home (aside from having business meetings over Skype while wearing pajamas) is that my schedule is flexible. I still have to get certain things done each day but I don’t have to account for every single second of my day as long as I’m done when I go to bed. That meant that when Hayley’s teacher sent a letter home saying the grade one students were going to the Montreal Biodome as part of their current rain forest studies, I was able to sign on as a volunteer parent.

The Biodome is seriously one of my favorite places in all of Montreal. I’ve been there more than ten times now and I never get tired of it because there’s always something to see that I missed the time before. There are still countless animals that I have never even seen yet.

Anecdotally, the first time I went there was about 13 years ago. I worked at Second Cup as a Barista and I hated it because the boss was a sexist pig who screamed at the girls – even in front of customers – for the same mistakes that were overlooked if it was one of the guys. I was standing in the metro station, waiting to go to work and decked out in my black uniform shirt, a black skirt, and striped tights. I had absolutely no desire to subject myself to another day of crap, and I suddenly noticed an advertisement on the wall for the Biodome. I thought, “you know, I still haven’t been there. I bet that would be more fun than being screamed at for minimum wage.” And so, when the metro came, I got on and I didn’t get off at my stop. I went all the way there, spent – literally – eight hours at the Biodome, and then came home. While walking around and looking at animals and birds I decided life was too short to put up with that and I quit.

Anyway, there was no question that I was going to go and volunteer for Hayley’s field trip. I was thrilled when two other moms that I know pretty well also volunteered. It was a lot of fun. The kids enjoyed it a lot, and I think they learned quite a bit too. It will be so helpful for them as they keep studying this segment, having seen some of the rain forest with their own eyes.

It was also a bit stressful, just because it’s a huge responsibility to be keeping a bunch of kids safe. I had five kids in my group, Hayley and four classmates. I swear, I spent so much of the day counting heads over and over and over that by the time I crawled (exhausted) into bed, I was still saying “1, 2, 3, 4, 5… 1, 2, 3, 4… where’s?! Oh. 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…” Still, I never lost anyone. Lost track of one from time to time, but always found them within ten seconds. Thank God, because no one wants to be that person who says, “uhhh, I lost your kid. My bad.” Also, for anyone who thinks that little boys are scary, they totally aren’t. I love having two girls, but there were two boys in my group that were just awesome and so cute. One insisted on holding my hand everywhere we went, and the other never stepped more than two feet from me. Awww!

Of course, there are other ecosystems, not just the rain forest, and as was to be expected, the penguins were a HUGE hit with the kids.

We spent about an hour or so at the Biodome, then we gathered to have lunch in the cafeteria. After that we had a majorly long walk to the Botanical Gardens so that we could go through their greenhouses. The kids were a little bored. I understand because I was too when I went in elementary school – at that age you just don’t care about plants and flowers. Now, as an adult? I would love to go back for several hours with my camera and just take a billion photos.

What they did love was the “Butterflies Go Free” exhibit. In one huge greenhouse there are hundreds of butterflies just fluttering around. Sometimes they land on people, sometimes they just hang out on plants. They have fruit platters out and there were always several butterflies getting their fill. They were just spectacular. I couldn’t get a shot of my favorite unfortunately, which was this beauty. When they flew up high, the light filtered right through their wings, making them glow a little.

This guy never even flinched when I closed in for a photo. So amazing.

Day 113: Caligo eurilochus (Owl Butterfly)

We were also supposed to go to the Insectarium but by the time we got out of the butterfly exhibit and made the long walk over there we only had five minutes to check it out. I did get to show Hayley cockroaches though (the enormous ones from tropical areas, ewwwww!) and I told her that’s what we’ll have crawling around if she doesn’t stop leaving her food lying around. Mean, perhaps, but effective so far!

The kids were all exhausted by the time we piled onto the bus to come back to the school. I’m sure that they all slept like the dead that night. On top of all that walking, when we got to the school we saw that George and Breanna were waiting for us. We drove over to George’s parents’ house for a bit and we ended up playing in the back yard and going for a walk in the woods. By the time we got home and ate some supper, Hayley was totally wiped out. She was asking to go to bed by 6:15 that night and the only reason I said no was because I didn’t want her to wake up at 5 am. You can tell she was tired.

She was in bed a little before 8, after eating very little of her pre-bed snack, and I swear it took five minutes tops for her to pass out.

I had a great time, though let’s just say it wasn’t only the kids who were tired. My pillow was very wonderful last night. I would definitely do it again. I know this is a yearly trip in grade one so I look forward to round two when Breanna gets there!

You can check out the full set from the Biodome here. (And yes, I have all the proper names on the animal/bird/fish photos but that’s just because I’m a huge nerd and pored over the Biodome website to find which one went with which picture.)

The other half of a good one

Posted on April 14, 2009 by Sherry

Sometimes I worry about these long four-day weekends because Hayley is used to every second being used up at school that I feel like I need to create a full schedule to fill in the time that she’s off. Then I remember that it’s FUN to just go with the flow and not necessarily have any set plans. Because that gives you time to just sit around eating too much Easter chocolate and spend another two hours in the park on the final day of the long weekend.

The kids were both up bright and early on Easter morning. Hayley has had a lot of questions about God and Jesus lately, and I’m doing my best to answer them in ways that she can understand. However, on Sunday it didn’t matter to her about things like Jesus rising from the dead and sitting at the right hand of God and salvation. At 7:15 all she wanted was the chocolate that the Easter bunny had left lying around various parts of the living room.

(How did the Easter bunny even come to be? I should go Google it because while I understand giving gifts at Christmas and the tie-in to the three Wise Men bringing gifts to the baby Jesus, what in the heck does a large bunny leaving chocolate eggs out have to do with the Resurrection?!)

Anyway.

Breanna was still asleep when Hayley woke up but all it took was hearing her big sister say, “Breanna! It’s Easter!” and she was sitting bolt upright in bed, ready and raring to go. They were not impressed that they had to wait for me to take Pearl out to pee, but I really didn’t relish listening to “arroooooo” for the entire egg hunt.

They were pleased to see that the bunny had eaten his salad and apple that they had left out for him, but mostly they were ecstatic over all the eggs they found.

We also gave them a gift from us, a little Easter pail with some jelly beans, markers, a notebook, and a Precious Moments soft doll. I *love* the doll and wouldn’t mind one for myself to be honest. Those dolls then went everywhere with us for the remainder of the weekend.

In the mid-afternoon we went to see George’s parents and had our Easter dinner of chicken, ham, black-eyed peas and rice, vegetables, and key lime pie. We had wanted to visit my parents on Monday for an Easter lunch but the timing didn’t work out so hopefully we can get out their way next weekend.

Breanna was so eager to eat that when she was done playing, she went and sat all by herself at the little table set up for the kids. It was at least 20 minutes too early for her to be waiting for supper but she flat out refused to get back up, and she sat there drinking some juice and waiting patiently.

It was totally delicious but poor Hayley got a little carried away. She ate so much that her evening went down the tubes because she got a huge tummy ache from all the food.

Luckily she was all better by Monday morning. It was quite nice out and I didn’t want to waste the day so I put off most of my work until the late evening so that I could take the kids out to play. As per Breanna’s request, we first went for a walk in the woods again. Her new thing is that she insists on leading. Just to bug her, I ran ahead and taunted her because I was first. She then charged straight past me, yelling, “no you’re not! I’M FIRST!” And then she gave me this face.

Well she sure told me!

When we got to the park, Hayley was ecstatic to find a five-year-old girl there with her family, so they played together for a long time, further proving that language barriers are non-existent in kids – she spoke Spanish and French and Hayley is still learning French, but they managed anyway and had fun.

Meanwhile, the girl’s older brothers and father were practicing soccer on the grass and you could tell by the way they kicked the ball around that they play on teams. Breanna ran straight for them and I cringed as I thought of the scene she might cause when I would go to remove her from the middle of the game.

Instead, they immediately welcomed her and let her play. They would kick the ball hard back and forth a few times and then one of the boys would stop the ball and kick it very gently to Breanna, and then they all hooted and hollered at her in encouragement when she would take off kicking it along the grass. They did it for a good half hour with her, and I let them know I could take her to the swings but they flat out refused and said as long as she was having fun, it was fine.

At one point Hayley thought it would be funny to climb into a baby swing but was unamused when she realized she couldn’t get out. The father came over to help me when he saw me struggling to pull her out and on the way back to the grass he mentioned his sons were 14 and 16. I told him that they were both incredibly nice kids because really, how many teenagers would be willing to play soccer with a three-year-old? Those are exactly the kind of kids I want to raise.

We were all so exhausted when we got home that by bedtime it took very little prompting or effort to get the kids to sleep. And frankly it didn’t take me long either.

I think all weekends should be long ones. Four-day weeks and more weekend time to spend playing would be a wonderful thing.

(You can see all the Easter photos right here.)

The great outdoors (finally!)

Posted on April 11, 2009 by Sherry

While I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the weather so far this weekend has been WARM, it’s certainly been warmER. Especially when you consider the fact that it snowed halfway through the week. But I refuse to talk about that any further, and since it melted by lunch time, I’ve decided not to hold it against Mother Nature, though there will be WORDS if it happens again. Ahem.

Anyway, with the weather being pleasantly sunny on Friday (more overcast today) and of a decent temperature both days Hayley, Breanna, and I spent many hours (hours!) outside. It was so nice. We decided to hit up the park both days for awhile for some playing on the swings and the slides.

After doing that for awhile, we decided to take a nice hike through the woods. Breanna demonstrated her utterly fearless leader behavior (as long as you don’t turn out the lights!) by leading the way the whole time.

Can you TELL how happy I was to finally be able to enjoy the great outdoors again, instead of just trying to survive it? It was so nice!

When we finished our hike we stopped by the park again for a little while since some kids had shown up. Neither Hayley nor Breanna were very keen on coming home, but I finally managed to convince them – plus we were hungry! We had eaten a really early supper after Hayley’s eye appointment on Friday, so by the time we were done running around outside, we all needed a little something else to fill us up.

(Hayley’s eye exam was inconclusive. It’s been determined that she will most likely need glasses but because of the scope of the issues with Hayley’s eyes and her history with strabismus, he said he’d feel more comfortable referring us back to the hospital, so we’ll know more then. At least I still have an appointment for May!)

Today wasn’t quite as beautiful as yesterday but it was pleasant enough. The kids were both all wound up and high strung because they were excited about Easter being tomorrow, so I figured the best thing for my sanity was to take them back out again to kill some of the afternoon. Another two hours passed in a blur as we spent time at the park and in the woods again. We took a different trail this time but it was cold enough that I didn’t want to go too far; I figured it would be better to go back to the park instead and let them run around to keep warm.

That photo of Breanna makes me laugh because after all the playing she sighed and said she was tired, so she ran over to sit on the bench at the newly installed picnic table. She said, “Oh, I never sat here before!” Then all of ten seconds later, she hopped back down, announced, “I feel better now!” and ran off full tilt to play some more.

We also took Pearl this time which was an exercise in patience (I failed) because she still pretty much sucks at understanding not to pull on the leash. She knows not to, but she doesn’t care. I don’t understand how she can enjoy walking for long periods while constantly gasping for breath since she essentially strangles herself, but I guess that’s part of what they were talking about when the SPCA folks told us Beagles are stubborn. STUBBORN IS PUTTING IT MILDLY.

She enjoyed it too, though, and is currently passed out asleep by my feet. I love this picture of her sitting on the park bench (attached, naturally), because you can tell how utterly unamused she was.

I know it’s cliche for a mother to say that her kids are gorgeous, but you know, duh. Of course my girls are beautiful. But even knowing that, every once in awhile I take a picture that takes even MY breath away. This would be one of them:

I think that happy smile sums it all up, you know?

I hope you’ve all had a great weekend so far too!

Eye Spy

Posted on April 1, 2009 by Sherry

If you’ve been reading my site for awhile, you may remember that when Hayley was a baby, she had a condition called Strabismus. In simple terms, it meant that her right eye crossed in, waaay in. We treated it by using a patch on it several hours per day, and then she had a surgery to correct it at the age of ten months. It was much better but not perfect, and they did another one for her at age three. Her eyes were nice and straight and the only time they would turn in a bit was if she was really tired, and even then I think it was more noticeable to us just because we knew to watch for it.

Prior to the first surgery, she was given a prescription for glasses, and good lord a little baby in teeny little glasses is adorable. Check her out at seven months old:

After the procedure, she no longer required them. However, the other day she mentioned that things sometimes looked a little fuzzy. George also noticed that her eyes looked a little unfocused from time to time. Her class is mostly laid out so that the shorter kids are in front (which makes sense) and with Hayley inheriting George’s tall person genes, she sat in the very back row. I asked her if she could see the board and she told me that sometimes it was hard.

I wish she had told me sooner if she was having problems, but regardless of that, I immediately called our eye doctor at the hospital. The earliest they could see us was in May (!), so I took it anyway, along with one for Breanna who has never had an eye exam. Still, I didn’t want to wait that long, so I also called Lenscrafters and booked an appointment for Hayley next week. If there’s any sort of real problem, they’ll refer us back to the hospital anyway (which is why I kept that May appointment), but if it’s just that she needs glasses now, we can get everything taken care of sooner rather than later.

Hayley is eager to have her vision fixed but she asked me if she would look strange in glasses. Ah, the joys of getting older and being in school with other kids – that’s the sort of question that never would have crossed her mind once upon a time. I assured her that she would look very nice with glasses. It’s a tricky step for me since I personally hate my glasses and prefer my contact lenses. George and I explained that I don’t like MY glasses because they’re really old – the anti-reflect coating is partially worn off which makes it look cloudy when I look through them and it bugs me. I told her that I plan to get some new glasses soon and then I’ll probably wear glasses and contacts equally. I also showed her pictures of other young kids in glasses, showing her how nice they look.

I do hope that it’s just a simple matter of glasses. When you’re sitting at the children’s hospital, waiting for surgery to finish on your kid, it’s just a whole ball of stress. I would see other kids who were obviously very seriously sick or I’d chat with another parent who was waiting for their child to finish a major surgery (such as the mother of a young boy who had a perforated intestine and bowels and it was like some 7-hour procedure), and I would remember that at least eye surgery wasn’t quite that scary, but no one ever wants to have their kid put under, so glasses would be a much better solution. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

Plus, if she has glasses, I’m hoping that maybe it will allow her to better see the mess that she makes and that it will make it easier for her to CLEAN UP after herself a bit. What? They don’t make glasses for that problem? Well, I can hope, right?

RIGHT?!

(The photo above shows Hayley with the mummy she made out of clay and t-shirt strips since her grade one class is studying Ancient Egypt. I never got to study Egypt in grade one, she’s so lucky!)

Rain, pain, and something awesome

Posted on March 11, 2009 by Sherry

It was pouring rain this morning, which is not necessarily the best way to get me to leap out of bed with joy at meeting the a.m. you know? Rainy weather is what usually makes me want to lie in bed with the covers pulled up high, a cup of coffee on the night table, and a good book (or my laptop) in my hands. Unfortunately, it was Wednesday, not Sunday, so there was no lounging to be had.

When we got outside, Hayley at least made me smile. The water was rushing down the streets and gushing loudly into the sewers. She heard the gurgling sound, stopped to listen for a second, umbrella clutched in her hands, and then she grinned and said, “Mommy! The sewers are singing a song with the water!”

I guess rain can’t be all bad if it’s musical, right?

*******
She was less cheery when she came home from school. At lunch recess she was running around and someone bumped into her, knocking her to the ground, and she sprained her ankle. We wrapped it up in a bandage to help her out, but she spent the rest of the afternoon and evening either crawling or sitting on a cushion and scooting herself around the floors. I pointed out that she can’t crawl all over the school tomorrow and eventually managed to get her to walk around by showing her how to put minimal weight on that foot, but good lord.

The DRAMA.

I don’t mean to sound like an uncaring mother, and I know a sprain hurts. But I guarantee, a greater drama queen has never existed. To listen to her moan about it you would think that she had actually shattered every bone in her body.

I think I’ll be sending a note into the school asking them not to make her go out for recess or lunch recess if she doesn’t feel up to it.

*******
Something awesome happened back in early February, but I was asked to keep it on the down low until everything was formalized. That was HARD because I was excited. However, everything is up and running now so I am free to spread the word.

Catherine of Her Bad Mother contacted me to let me know that the Silicon Valley Moms blog had expanded and was now adding a Canada Moms Blog to its impressive roster. That’s interesting enough, but they wanted me to be one of the writers for it.

I can’t tell you how flattered and honored I was to be asked. Seriously. When I saw the final list of contributing bloggers, there were so many names that I recognized because I read them all the time; the names I didn’t know were immediately added to my Google Reader list and let me tell you, I am in some EXCELLENT company over there.

We’ve been posting for a little while now but I wanted to wait until I had something to add as well. Today I finally got my first post up – please feel free to pop on over to read “All Aboard for Junk Food” and while you’re at it, throw a comment in if you could. Then when you’re done be sure to check out the other incredible bloggers with whom I am sharing the space.

Pretty damn cool!

56 hours of my life in photos

Posted on March 9, 2009 by Sherry

On Friday morning, Hayley’s last official day of March break, my alarm went off with a vengeance at 6:30 am. By 10 am I was sitting with George, Hayley, and Breanna on a train heading to Toronto.

The girls were remarkably good considering it’s five and a half hours sitting in seats. Breanna started to fuss about an hour out of Toronto but it was because she was tired; she finally fell asleep and got a half hour in which made a big difference for her. Overall they really enjoyed the train and we kept them busy with lots of coloring books, notepads, books, impromptu games (I taught Hayley to play Boxes, she did great!), and snacks.

We had gone to Toronto for George’s sister Elsa’s wedding, so we went to her condo first, where we were staying for the weekend, had a bite to eat since we were STARVING, and then we went to a hotel to visit with some family from out of town. It was tiring but fun to see everyone. We were all wiped out, but still hungry, so we stopped at a Kentucky Fried Chicken to pick up some food, ate a piece each, then we all crashed by 10 pm.

I don’t sleep well away from home the first couple of days so I was awake for a couple of hours in the middle of the night, and then we were all jolted awake by a blaring siren coming from the ceiling. George called his sister to ask what the hell it was and she said if there was any problem we’d hear a voice telling us what to do from the speakers in the ceiling, and that’s exactly what happened – like the voice of God or something. It was weird. A security guard from the lobby announced there was a fire in one of the parking levels and to stay tuned for further instruction. We immediately got everyone dressed and waited by the door; fire trucks came and then within five minutes they announced it was a false alarm. Alas, it was 7:15 am and we were all groggy but far too awake to go back to sleep then.

Luckily, the building has a big pool and spa room so after breakfast I took the girls downstairs and we alternated between swimming in the smaller pool and relaxing in the spa for an hour. It was really nice and I would have stayed longer if we hadn’t had things to do. We had to hurry to get ready because Hayley and Breanna were flower girls in the wedding, so we had to get them over to the wedding site to get them dressed and to have photos done.

Continue reading →

Desperation

Posted on March 2, 2009 by Sherry

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Breanna is still coughing like a crazy person so she couldn’t really go outside to play since it was pretty cold out. Also, with Hayley off from school, we sent her extremely filthy snow suit over to George’s parents’ house since they have a clothesline in their basement. As a result, no one was able to go out to this afternoon.

Unfortunately, I had to work. Also, my laptop decided to commit suicide by way of a corrupted boot disk or some such thing, so George was hard at work trying to work his way in to save my documents and whatnot so that he could format and re-install my operating system (dear Vista, I hate you). By the way, he did indeed find that last resort success when he managed to use a CD to boot up in Linux, and he pulled all my files to safety. PLEASE BACK YOUR SHIT UP. You don’t want to know how many times I was thinking I would need to breathe into a paper bag last night when I couldn’t sleep because I hadn’t backed up in “awhile” and by “awhile” I really mean “what kind of idiot doesn’t back up over a year of photos, holy crap?!”

Anyway.

So when I get desperate for a bit of peace amongst fighting siblings, you can tell because that’s when I do something crazy. Today that showed when I pulled out the Moon Sand. Let me put it to you this way: I bought them Moon Sand as a joint Christmas present in 2007 and I think this was the 4th time it’s been out. It’s not as cool as it looks on TV, but the biggest problem is that it’s a pain of epic proportions to clean it up when they’re done.

However, I have to say that this sand – which used to be white, blue, purple, pink, and yellow, and is now a big blob of gray – kept those kids playing for over two and a half hours together. There was minimal arguing, I only had to step in a few times to remind Hayley that it’s not fair to hog 7/8 of the sand while leaving a wee pile for Breanna, and they were mostly quiet other than the chattering at each other. Two and a half hours!

Seriously, that more than made up for the fact that it took me about 20 minutes to completely clean it up when they were done. Still, I am looking forward to getting that snow suit back and taking them outside to burn off some steam.

What’s your desperate time filler?

Second verse, same as the first!

Posted on February 26, 2009 by Sherry

Apropos of nothing, really, I’ve started styling Breanna’s hair in a little bun high up on top of her head. Surprisingly, she really loves it. There are only three ways she likes her hair – loose (which unfortunately causes knots), in two braids, or this bun. This is my favorite of all, I think it makes her look even cuter than usual; George said it makes her look like Raven Simone did when she was a little kid on The Cosby Show, and he’s absolutely right.

Apropos of everything these days, now it’s Breanna’s turn to be sick. Hayley still isn’t 100% but she’s well enough that she finally went back to school on Wednesday, a full week of sickness behind her. Luckily she didn’t seem to be too far behind and we’ll catch up on the homework over March break. She nearly didn’t survive today, which was Carnival Day at the school. They played outside a lot (the weather today was perfect, not cold at all and the snow was perfect for building snowmen) by playing games, going on a horse-drawn bus ride, and enjoyed a big bouncy house in the gym. After lunch they let them all wind down by watching a movie, and by the time she came home she was a big pile of exhausted. I’m surprised she didn’t spontaneously combust from the tired-related, end-of-plague crankiness. It took her less than three minutes to fall asleep.

Overall though, Hayley is okay other than the sporadic coughing and the sniffing. Have I mentioned my hatred of sniffing? It makes me insane. But it’s getting better.

Breanna, on the other hand, is a whole big mess. The faucet in her nose sprang a leak and she still can’t really blow her nose very well so it’s driving her crazy. She hasn’t really been feverish, but she has the worst cough ever. She sounds like a little old man who’s been smoking two packs a day for the past 60 years. She can’t sleep long without waking herself up with a coughing fit. We’re taking her to the doctor tomorrow because she had bronchitis this time last year and I want to see if that’s what this is again. On the other hand, the sound of her cough fits better with the description of “the barking seals of Croup” so it could be that too.

If ever I wanted another baby, this tag-team sickness is curing any such desire – mostly because I am remembering what sleep deprivation is. The past few nights I’ve only had a handful of hours of sleep and most of them are broken into 20-30 minute stretches. I don’t think I can willingly go back to that.

Of course, it’s not just me. After all, the reason I’m not sleeping much is because Breanna isn’t either, so the poor kid is overtired and cranky almost 24/7 right now. There are large parts of the day where asking her a question results in high-pitched shrieking, as though we were torturing her instead of just asking if she’d like some more water.

I am doing everything I can think of, beyond the basic “wash your hands eight hundred times a day” concept, something I do anyway, in order to prevent getting sick myself. Next Friday morning we have to get on a train and head to Toronto for my sister-in-law’s wedding. I can’t imagine a five hour train ride when you feel like Death.

Please go douse your hands in bleach after you’re done reading this, I’d hate to pass all of our germs on to you!

'Round these here parts

Posted on February 22, 2009 by Sherry

Things have been somewhat chaotic here lately, living up to the name of my blog quite nicely. On Tuesday, as I mentioned, Hayley came home early from school because she was sick. I feel bad admitting that I thought she was faking or at least exaggerating it. Hayley goes to bed at 8 pm on school nights but often stays awake reading until at least 9:30, sometimes 10 pm and then she has to get up at 6:30 the next morning. I really thought that she was just overtired, because I know that sometimes I feel like utter crap when I haven’t had enough sleep. Then her body got completely run down with a raging fever that night and I realized that she actually was sick.

She’s been sick ever since. She never went back to school for the remainder of the week. She’s had low fevers and high fevers, and fevers in between. Once in awhile it will break but it keeps coming back to fight off whatever she has. It’s really difficult for me to become alarmed over a fever (though I did raise my eyebrows at the thermometer a few times) because they serve a purpose, to kill off the germs that are making you sick. They really don’t phase me.

What HAS surprised me is her sleeping. My amazing, non-sleeping, poster child for the anti-sleep movement has been falling asleep quickly at night, sleeping in a bit in the mornings, and more importantly, falling asleep during the day. Today she woke up at about 8:30, putzed around, and fell asleep in the recliner at 11:30 for half an hour. Then she woke up, had a piece of toast with peanut butter and jelly, and ended up falling asleep again at 1:30 for another half hour.

We’re not sending her to school tomorrow either, we’re going to take her to the doctor to see if she just has the flu or if she has something that needs antibiotics. As much as she can drive me crazy when she’s running around and being loud, it’s very sad to see her lying around on the couch, all tiny and worn out.

*******

Today it’s been ten whole years that George and I have been together. It’s a bit shocking, really, to think that it’s been that long. In some ways, working at the studio (where we met) feels like it was a whole other lifetime ago, but at the same time I don’t know how the time has flown by so quickly.

We had planned on going out to dinner tonight, either to Au Vieux Duluth or to Pacini’s (mmm, bread bar), but with Hayley still being sick we don’t want to leave her. Her grandfather was still willing to come watch the kids for a couple of hours but she’s fluctuating between being really quiet and being really upset, plus we don’t want him to get sick too. We’ll just order something in instead, and when the kids go to bed we’ll either watch a movie or kick each other’s ass in Wii Sports again, something we’ve been doing the past few nights.

I figure we have to practice because Breanna, at all of three years and change, won her boxing match the other day with no trouble whatsoever.

She takes it so seriously!

And really, you know, it would be much quieter if we went out for dinner or if, like last year, we could send the kids over to his parents’ place while we ordered in. It would be nice to finish a whole meal without getting up and have an uninterrupted conversation, but we can always try to go out some other night when everyone is healthy again. For now, we’re celebrating with one sniffly, feverish, coughing six-year-old and one loud, energetic three-year-old.

Ah, the things that change over ten years!

Chaos Theory

Category Archives: Hayley