Thursday, August 31, 2006

DUDE! We're gettin a DELL!

Dell computer that is :) We've lived long enough with patched together computers. Our current machine is a P3 800 that is not doing us too shabby but our dream has ALWAYS been a laptop. A sweet lap top. A really really fast gamer machine laptop. Our new laptop (to be delivered in 12-14 days!!!) is a Inspiron 9400 Dual Core Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T7200 (4MB Cache/2.00GHz/667MHz FSB) (copied off of the site...) I don't know what all this means but apparently it kicks ass. We also got the 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS video card and the 17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife. Apparently this is all good. All I am really caring about is the fact that I GOT A LAPTOP! Hurray!!!

Final price with taxes was close to $2500. That's not counting the financing. Not bad montly payments (around $80) for the NEXT FOUR YEARS!!! Holy shit. Oh well. It's the only way that we can afford a new computer so we're doing it.

We're really really excited. Like little kids at x-mas ;)

Monday, August 28, 2006

We're home...

sigh... can I go back yet?

It's not that there is anything inherantly WRONG with Prince George. But it just sucks so much ass that it's not even funny. I need to pack up my best friend and her kids and take her with Jeff, me and the kids and then I can leave. Cause really? She's about the only person I'd honestly miss. How sad is that?

We had a mostly good unevenful trip down. Massive traffic getting onto the Portman bridge. Phoenix now officially fucking hates the car. No other way to put it. lol! I spent quite a few hours on this trip in the back seat with my pinky in his mouth. Honestly? If I thought he would have taken a pacifier at this stage in the game I probably would have bought one. But alas it was the finger for him ;)

We got into Vancouver at 6:30 (after leaving PG at 4:30am!!!) ordered some pizza and we all fell into bed. Jeff and Liv slept together, Phoenix and I together and Maddy wanted to sleep on the floor. We got up early the next day and did some shopping and visited Jeff's sister and bil. We were in Sechelt by 7:30 pm that day. It was nice to be there.

We did tons of beach combing, walks, picking blackberries, visiting, singing, shopping... all the vacationy things. We wanted to get to Victoria to visit Jeff's grandma and Heather (sorry heather!!!) but we ran out of time and money. Why the hell are ferries so damn expensive?

It was a great trip. I am sad to be back. I love it there and I need to move there some day soon. Jeff's on the look out for jobs (I love that man) and then I can return to my home land :)

We've been cleaning and organizing. The baby is laying on his sheepskin on the couch and the girls are "tidying" Liv's room ;)

Easy dinner tonight and then relaxation. I think I'll have a baby free bath.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

I'm pissed off...

It all started the weekend that I was in the hospital having Phoenix. We came home and that night Jeff went out to water the garden. He stared at it, puzzled, and then realized that my statue of Mother and Child was missing. MISSING! Someone fucking STOLE my statue THE WEEKEND that I was having a new baby. The statue that my very best friend bought me for my birthday. The statue that commemorated the loss of our little baby Violet. The statue that was the ONE FUCKING THING that I had to remind me of our departed one. Stolen. That very weekend. Ironic... or was it?

Now I realize that my BRAND NEW STROLLER that my MIL bought for me to help transport Olivia back and forth to Maddy's school to pick her up is gone. STOLEN. Brand new! We used it once to go for ice cream. I cannot afford to replace this and Olivia is too big for our other stroller so what the hell am I going to do now? Ironic that yet ANOTHER baby item is stolen from our yard... or is it?

I have an enemy in this town. Someone that hates my guts. Bad mouths me all over MDC as "the LLL leader that destroyed all her friendships" (what friendships???) She knew when I was having Phoenix. Maybe I'm being paranoid but she would be the logical suspect. If I find out it's her I am going to freak. Totally.

In the past two years we've had
*our house broken into and stuff stolen by meth heads. (The stole our sudafed and ammonia)
*someone walk right into our house and refused to leave until I called my dog on him and threatened to call the police
*statue stolen
*another druggie (confirmed by a woman that deals with him) ask us for a ride at 11:30 at night and then headed up to another part of town to break into cars (we didn't give him a ride)
*some drunk passed out cold on our front lawn last week
*stroller stolen

GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF THIS TOWN!!!!!!!!

Thank the Goddess we're leaving on vacation friday. I can't take much more of this shit.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

New pics and a fun day

Well we got a call at 9am saying the Elisabeth had the flu and the party was postponed until next wednesday. So what to do? We ended up going to the fair for 4 hours and had a GREAT time! The kids petted all the animals and did the face painting. We had snacks and went on a wagon ride. All the usual fair things :)

We cleaned out the car (well jeff cleaned out the van) tonight in prep of our trip. It's supposed to be anywhere from +32 to +37 while we are there!!!! Holy hot!

Now for some new cute pics of the kidelts :)



Phoenix yesterday sucking on his frog :) 10 weeks!



Olivia... 3 years old :)



Maddy... almost 5 :)

I have the cutest kids in the world. And no I am not biased ;)

Kubuntu

This would be the name of our new operating system. It's actually a derivative of Linux and so far it's pretty cool! Now that Microsoft has started this "have to have a real copy of their operating system" we decided to become legal and use different software. It looks pretty much the same and acts pretty much the same but apparently much more versatile. Honestly? As long as I can get on the net and fool around with pictures I'm all good.

The past couple of days have been pretty good. Yesterday the kids had a picnic lunch outside and Maddy selected and gathered all the food together while I sat on my patio (my carport lol) and drank my tea. We had fun feeding the ants All-bran bars. Talked to the various neighbors and picked some saskatoons. Checked on the apples (not ready yet) and took a neighbors dog home.

Today we stayed inside mostly. I was very tired for some reason. Phoenix was a fusspot tonight. He gets really overtired and does not want to nurse, cuddle or anything conduitive to sleep. I usually end up with him on my shoulder and patting his butt. I wonder if this will turn into a spanking fetish when he gets older? lol!

We went and got Maddy's school supplies. Crayola crayons make me happy. I don't know why :) $35 later and I think she's ready.

Only 7 more days till we're in Vancouver! Hurrayyyyy!!!!!!!

Tomorrow is Elisabeth's (Maddy's friend) 5th birthday party. We made her a "pin the worm on the apple" game and bought her a Cinderella Barbie that was on sale from $50 to $24! Good deal. Hopefully it's nice so all the kids can go in the pool.

Last night was LLL. It was a pretty full meeting and fun was had by all. I get kind of annoyed at C though (she's my other leader) as she ALWAYS arrives later than I do (we're supposed to show up at 6:30 to set up and she always gets there at like 6:45) so by the time she's there I've already done most of the lifting and such. I'm only 10 weeks pp after a c-section so I probably should not be lifting 100 lb book boxes! After the meeting though I sat and chatted and made her put everything away ... evil? Slightly.

I hear my husband snoring away in my chair :)

Phoenix is in bed (for the last half hour) and I should head there. I have a horrible tooth ache and nothing is touching it. Maybe if I sleep I won't be able to feel it. I do have t3's if it gets too bad...

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Dr. Phil.. and random stuff

So I was watching Dr. Phil today (yah yah... I know. Hey the girls were napping and Phoenix was glued to the boob and there was nothing else on!) and it was quite possibly the most horrific episode I have ever seen. To sum it up there was the most EVIL mother I could ever possibly imagine on there. She swore, screamed, beat, humiliated her kids (come to think of it I used to know someone like that) on a daily basis. I cried through the whole episode to think of these poor sweet babies just beaten down by their mother. She.. should be shot. Hands down.

I think of how I am struggling with Olivia lately and her very "threeness" I was blessed to have the most mellow child in the planet until about one month before Phoenix's birth. She then realized that she didn't actually HAVE to do the things that I asked of her and that she was in possesion of her own free will. Sigh. It sucks. lol! I am working on giving her a choice in everything and not sweating the small stuff. She wants to wear her puppy costume to bed? Sure! It's not going to kill her. She wants her pillow on the opposite side of the bed? Sure! She wants to be naked? Who cares! Hopefully... this will work. I'm already feeling less stressed and hopefully she will soon.

Tonight I sat and held a mini mother goose session with the girls while Phoenix hung out on my lap. We sung for about an hour. The girls got their "babies" (cabbage patch dolls, Angelina and Leslie) and they participated. During various times through the session babies were "nursed" and "changed"... sometimes they had to use the potty or get kisses for owies. My little ladies are going to be the best mothers some day. They wear their babies in slings and talk about how tiny babies DO NOT need needles in their bodies and about how some food is very good for your body but some is not. Speaking of which...

Last night we had Ground Chicken Taco's for dinner. Maddy actually made her own Taco and put (get this!) chopped tomato's AND onions AND salsa AND lettuce on it! She's claimed to have hated tomato's and onions for a while now and all of a sudden she is eating them. yayyyy Madeline!

Madeline also can write her entire name in upper and lower case letters, write her phone number, knows her address and birthday. She's got the whole upper case alphabet figured out and most of the lower. She knows all her shapes, colours, seasons and days of the week. She is set for kindergarten. But am I? Sob!

I am actually kind of looking forward to september. Maddy is full day kindy Monday, wednesday and alternating fridays. Olivia is in afternoon pre-school tuesday and thursday from 1-3:30 at the child developement center with Jassy. Then on saturday both have ballet, one right after another. Busy busy! I've actually been kind of bored for the past couple of weeks. I can't wait to get back into the fall routine of Mother Goose, LLL meetings, Baby Friendly meetings and such.

Well it's a full moon tonight so off to worship for a bit. After being awake until 6:30 AM!!!! last night Phoenix is actually in bed right now! So I should join him.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

I'm done! She's done!

Olivia at the age of 38 months has weaned herself from the breast. Her last nursing was about a week ago and was a memorable one :) She asked for "nums" and nursed for about a half an hour! She gobbled up the milk like it was going out of style (and this was strange because she's not been into nursing since Phoenix was born for more than like 1-2 minutes) and then when she was done she popped off, looked at me and said "Momma, I'm a big girl now and I don't need boobs any more."

And that was it.

She has not asked, mentioned nursing, looked longingly... anything!

Happy sigh :) She was done when she was done and that was it.

So Phoenix has his nums to himself (though he bleats like a lamb and hoots like a baby owl when it's time to nurse) and I am nursing my last baby. Bitter sweet.

Are my children wierd?

Because right now when I gave them some veggie chips and asked if they wanted garlic hummus to go along with it they SQUEALED with delight and started jumping up and down. "I LOVE hummus mommy!!! Thank you thank you thank you!" (Maddy...) "Oh yummo!" (Olivia) Hey with the way some people feed their kids these days I am so glad they are like this. That reminds me that I am almost out of CLO and should pick some more up for them.

Monday, August 07, 2006

Hodge Podge

Friday night jeff and I went out for dinner while Rose watched the girls. We went to White Spot and it was fantastic! I had this Tuscan Chicken Pasta that was fantastic. Phoenix slept through appy's, dinner and desert in his KK fleece pouch. I LOVE this thing! He woke just after desert and had his dinner while jeff and I chatted :) Our server was asking about it and if it was good for breastfeeding in so we talked for a bit about the advantages of baby wearing and such.

After dinner we went to Winners and picked up the rest of Grayson's pressie (some Mega Blocks baby stuff) and bought the girls suitcases for our trip. Maddy got Cinderella (of course) and Olivia got Strawberry Shortcake. Phoenix already has his Franklin one so we are good to! We also got the kids (just because they rock and we love them) some extra pressies. Maddy a doctors set (she's been hankering for one for forever!) and Olivia a Melissa and Doug Log Barn and animal set for like 12.99! I love Winners for wood toys. After winners we went to hell*mart and bought pickles, tea, picture frames, gum and something else that I can't remember.

Saturday was Graysons party and we had a good time :) It was in the park and it did rain most of the time but the kids still played and had fun. Robyn's friend Teryn was there and spent a good deal of time talking to jeff *roll eyes* She knows I dislike her intensely ;) After the shit she pulled on me about how I was excluding her from LLL playgroups and such I just can't stand her. I was polite however :) She was telling jeff how Conner is turning her into a health nut. Ummm.. sure. This is the woman that gives her kid COKE so he'll tolerate being left with a babysitter. Hey... not my kid!

We then hit the fruit/veggie stand on first ave and got almost all my veggies for $20! Rockin! Then we bought Olivia a pine shelving unit. We didn't stack the shelves like we were supposed to so she has two. I bought some cool baskets for them and viola! Instant organizational system. Wonder upon wonders she ACTUALLY put her toys back when she was finished with them today! Then I went grocery shopping.

Today was spent packing stuff to mail, hitting the mall (jeff got some rockin deals on clothes for himself... and more dad slippers) and chilling at home. Some Pork Soulvlaki for dinner with veggie chips and suger snap peas. Yum.

Jeff's passed out on the bed (tons of sex will do that to you every time) Phoenix is passed out in his cradle in the living room and I'm about 10 feet away from him on the puter. It's almost one am and he's been sleeping since about 9:45 pm! He sleeps well when he wants to ;) I'm thinking of waking him, changing him and then taking him to bed to nurse and sleep. But I'm kind of enjoying the quiet and the alone time.

I'm re reading my "How to talk so kids will listen, and listen so kids will talk" I need more idea's on how to deal with and evade the three year old temper tantrums and how to evade the jealousy coming from Madeline these days. Have I mentioned I can't wait for kindergarten and pre-school to start? lol.

Well... off to read my "memoirs of a geisha" I'm about 2/3 of the way through and it's SO much better than the movie. Hopefully I'll get some sleep tonight.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Diapers too!

I forgot! I ended up ordering the diapers from Cottontail baby instead of Jamtots. They were charging only 2.25 for INDIAN prefolds and Jtots wanted like 3.34 for regular prefolds! I got free shipping too and 5% off for being a MDC member. Hurray! I paid a bit extra for air mail so hopefully they'll get here soon. I am SO glad I was able to get the indian ones. They are so much softer :)

Tired, tired, tired...

Me and the baby!

It's been a long day. The kids and I spent the day up at my friend Jean's place. Her daughter Elisabeth is Maddy's age and she has a wee baby that is 6 weeks older than Phoenix (well he's actually more like 17ish pounds... so not so wee!) After the kids went through an initial re-adjustment period and learning one anothers boundries they had a great day! At one point Jean had to take Elisabeth aside and talk to her about sharing, she was having issues with it. It got better. We made cookies and then sat outside on the porch swing nursin our babes and watching the kids play in the backyard. The only way the day could have been better is if Robyn and kidlets were there :) Their cat was being neutered though and Mike needed the van to pick him up.

Tonight we had some chicken dogs and chips for dinner. Oh hurray nutritious ;)

Jeff and I reserved the hotel for our trip to Sechelt in two weeks (two weeks! Oh yay!!!!) We're spending one night in Vancouver so we can do some shopping and see his sis and BIL. I am sooo looking forward to going to Ikea!

Phoenix is very fussy today. He wants to spend all of his time either nursing or fussing. It will pass. In the meantime though I am sooooo tired. Someone suggested I should give him a bottle. Meh. Yah like that will help. No thank you. No artificial nipples for this boy!

Tomorrow the girls are going to Rose's for a PJ party (note to self... pick up a movie for them) and Jeff, Phoenix and I get to go for dinner! Afterwards we're picking up a shelving system for Olivia's toys and buying the rest of Gray's birthday pressie. It's his party on saturday (at Ft. George if it's nice) so that will be a good time :) I need to grocery shop at some point too. We were going to go camping this weekend but I forgot about Gray's party. Good auntie I am!

Well hopefully little man will think of sleeping soon. I'm exhausted.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

ho hum...

It's another dreary day. I like it this way as it means we are not BAKING OUR BRAINS OUT!

Today I got the kitchen cleaned, dishes in the dishwasher and foccacia is rising on the counter. We are going to a Lammas ritual tonight and needed something for the picnic. I think I'll pick up some hummus and juice boxes on the way.

Hopefully the kids will be into listening and actually being a part of the ritual. If not we'll step off to the side so they can play and then Jeff can actually take part. It would be the second one in a row that I would miss but it bothers me less and for less time to miss them than it does jeff.

I am very lucky to have him but lately I feel as if he is resentful of me and the kids because of everything he has to do. Phoenix nurses so much and so often and refuses to be put down that I find I can't do stuff like laundry and dishes with him in the sling. So jeff ends up taking on most of the household chores plus working all day, plus putting the kids to bed. One wonders how much longer he would continue to do this before throwing up his hands and fucking off...

So today is day one of "take back the house" lol. I imagine that Phoenix will be spending even more time in his sling and the kids will be even more neglected. But hey at least their dad won't ask for a divorce! That's something.

meh... I'm pissy today.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

That's one big baby!

At 8 weeks old our wee tiny little 7lbs 7oz when born Phoenix... weighs

14 freaking pounds!

All of a sudden he has outgrown his infant prefolds that I was counting on for another month at least!

So now I've got to buy premium prefolds and some bigger covers stat! Thankfully payday is friday.

So I've got 2.5 dozen premium prefolds (I was going to get the indian kind but shipping to canada plus duties is pretty pricey) just the green earth textiles ones (but unbleached) and 2 medium Bummis velcro (just for Jeff!) picked out and ready to pay for. The small ME covers still fit and I have two medium ones and one medium/large one. I think I'll pick up another two medium ones and then I should be good to go... for a bit at least.

Wow. Big baby!