Family Date!

My son has passed Kindergarten, or Primary, depending on what province you're in! Hooray! On Monday we were invited to his class to witness the presentation of his certificate along with his scrapbook and yesterday he brought home his report card! So great! The "graduation ceremony" was very cute. Dress ranged from shorts and t-shirts to evening gowns (I kid you not, wish I had taken a picture) and there were songs, slide shows and tears. Most of the tears were from younger siblings being kept away from the stars of the day, although the teacher did shed a few explaining that this was her last year as a K teacher.

To celebrate, we went to see the movie Cars 2 in 3D. I figured that while X, and all other Kindergarten students were done school, everyone in grades 1-6 had to go back for one more day, so the theater shouldn't be too packed. Here's the thing, X hates 3D movies, but as I've mentioned before, it's not like we had a choice. The other children's movie playing, Kung Fu Panda 2, was also being shown in 3D, so it was 3D or nothing. Turned out to be a fabulous choice! X laughed like a loon through the previews, the Toy Story short, and through the entire movie. If you've heard X laugh before, you know what I mean. A LOON. Straight up. The glasses lasted until about half way though the movie when one of the lenses popped out..."somehow." With my son, always beware of sentences that start with "Somehow...." These sentences usually end with "I don't know how it happened."

The movie was super-fantabulous. I was a little cautious about seeing it as all the previews were shooting and guns and violence, but it was so funny. I don't know if I'm giving anything away, but this little tidbit would have made me feel better about going to see it...McQueen isn't the spy. Mater is. That makes all the difference in the world.

On the way home X immediately started asking if we could go buy the movie on DVD now, because he wants to watch it again and he didn't want to forget about it. M suggested that maybe for his birthday he would get it. Apparently this was the wrong thing to say. Not only did X lament that people would forget what he wants since his birthday is so far away, we also had a little faux pas moment when we got home. M called his parents soon after walking through the door and since X was still up he got on the phone for a bit. Did he talk about the movie we just got home from? No. He immediately launched into what he wants for his birthday. I don't know why he thinks anyone will forget anything, because he certainly doesn't. Recently we got an awesome package in the mail from "Grandma Soup" (again, straight up, X comes up with fabulous names) which included a couple of wrestling figures. X explained that for his birthday he would like the complete set of wrestlers so he can have "real" fights with them. Right now the wrestlers battle Wolverine, and apparently this is not acceptable. All is good though, Grandma Soup loves X so he can do no wrong. :)

A couple of "fun" facts:
*Watching a full length movie is quickly becoming impossible for me. Unless it's at home where there's a pause button, many pillows, and a place to put my feet up.
*Did X sleep in today since he was up 2 hours passed his bedtime last night? No. He was up by 6:30am playing the DSi.

Odd Things 8

I did actually remember to write a couple of odd things down this week, but as usual, most of this post will be written on the fly!

For a couple of weeks now I've wanted to walk around like this to reduce the swelling in my hands!

It only happens when I'm walking around for a long time, like the day we spent at Heritage Park, but I still think it might look a little strange if I did start walking around with my hands in the air!

When I sleep I have three positions available to me. In each of these positions I feel someone is getting squished! If I sleep on my back, it's me that's squished. If I sleep on either side SOMEONE is always on the bottom, and I feel guilty a little about this. When it was just X I didn't feel bad at all since it was just his own weight on him, but now some one's sister is always invading space! I'm sure they'll not remember, nor will they hold grudges right? They're sisters after all! (sarcastic snort inserted here)

I do think it's odd that my doctor doesn't remember me when random yard sale hosts do.

I think it's odd that people believe it's okay to call 911 to report that people are throwing rocks into the water at a public park and scaring the fish.

My knees still lose feeling in perfectly circular patterns.

X started referring to his "nuts" yesterday. Before this it was his "private area." Hooray for schoolyard education!

Today we took X and A to the grocery store for a bit. It was raining. A stuck her tongue out to catch raindrops. Then she tried to eat the Cheerios box.

My belly is divided in half straight down the middle. The babies move individually. It's very odd to feel half of my belly move around like there's a tap dancer in there, and then the other half moves in one giant movement as if to say "shut up! I'm sleeping over here!"

Let's Face it, My Whole Life is Pretty Random.

A few funny things have happened in the last couple of days. Things that just make me want to shake my head. I will tell you about them.

I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday. We went down a little early so we could drop off an application for a bigger place to rent. Apparently, before we submit said application I need a letter from my doctor saying I'm pregnant. My rounded belly was just not proof enough. I thought, what a great coincidence that I'm heading over to the doctor's office right now!

My appointment is sadly typical. The doctor has forgotten that it's twins. She has a vague recollection of seeing me before. She also giggled when I told her my feet are swollen and my boobs are itchy. I react typically, I "yell" at her for not remembering me...again, and sarcastically tell her that laughing at my pain is very helpful. Since I know that everything in this town costs mucho $$, I ask how much a letter confirming my pregnancy would cost. She also finds it comical that my belly is not proof enough. She says $30. $30 to say "yes she is pregnant." Seriously? Then she tells me that usually it's $60, but I'm pregnant with twins, and her sister had twins, so she likes to do nice things for people who are pregnant with twins. The best part about it? She spelled pregnant wrong. Oh yeah. But it's stamped and certified. Hopefully I don't get notice back that a condition called pregnanat is not grounds for a larger townhouse.

Today I had the day off. I still had to get up early to take X to school, but there was no poop on my arm when I got home from that errand today, as there was yesterday. A's daddy decided to brave the day on his own. I'm actually looking forward to hearing how he did in the morning! I don't know if I'm hoping he gets the same crazy terrible diapers I dealt with yesterday or not. Would that be mean? Anyway. The funny part about this day off. I've been taking X to school since late January. This includes driving to the school, parking in the small legal space provided, and crossing the street. I have seen the same 2 crossing guards nearly everyday for the last 5 months. 3 weeks ago a one-year old started making the trek across said street with us, perched on my growing belly. Today, she was not there. The crossing guard says, "You're missing someone!" I explained that to the baby girl, I am just the babysitter, so she's not actually with me 24/7. The crossing guard was seriously perplexed! Totally thought A was mine! She never asked where I procured this random 1 year old! She just magically appeared one day. So much for the powers of her observation skills! And yes, both crossing guards double as teacher's aides.

I don't know if I'm terribly mean. I like to think of it as finding humour in strange places. Sometimes it's hard to stay positive all the time if you don't laugh at silly things!

Completely Random

On Sunday, being Father's Day, M and I went out on a date night. That's two! Since we are movie addicts, our date nights more often than not revolve around what's playing at the theatre. We went to see Green Lantern. Overall? Meh. I'm a Ryan Reynolds fan, and he was great, funny, hot, everything that you expect. I'm not a fan of Blake Lively, so she was just annoying. It was a good movie, but M and I both liked Thor much better.

Speaking of M, he walked by the other day while I was looking at this blog and he wondered at my sanity in posting pictures of my foot. He just didn't get why that would rate as something to blog about. Here's the thing. As my friend E pointed out this morning, I'm making sure that all those moms out there who remember how "great" it was to be preggers also get reminded about the not-so-magical bits! If you're thinking about doing it again, I believe in the eyes-wide-open concept!

Any boys reading this blog need not read the next paragraph. It'll just make you uncomfortable.

Not-so-magical bits? Well, I've mentioned my feet are swelling, and I do have three months to go. Hair grows at an annoyingly fast rate, and shaving is no longer a priority, some days it's not even possible. Hooray summer. My brain no longer functions at full capacity. Sleeping is hit and miss. Sometimes I wake up thinking I'm going to puke because of heartburn. Common illnesses have also been different. Instead of getting a chest cold or whatever, my neck hurts major when I'm feeling under the weather. Colostrum. Yes. 3 months to go. My emotional meter is on yellow alert ALL THE TIME. At least 15% of my brain is constantly terrified about one thing or another. My body is slower at doing stuff like walking, sitting, getting up, getting dressed.

But don't misunderstand me. It is magical. Looking at X now, thinking he was where the twins are now 6 years ago is pretty staggering. Feeling and seeing movement that I am totally not in control of is pretty magical. Knowing that there are 2 little people in my belly is crazy awesome. Picking out names is hilarious. Collecting tiny shoes is wicked. Hearing X talk about when the babies come makes me feel fabulous. It all comes out totally in favour of having babies by the way. :)

Introducing A!

I finally remembered to get parental permission to put A's picture up here on my blog! So here she it, the little girl that X is practicing his brother skills on!

This picture was taken in the middle of what I like to call an excited episode. :) She's a very happy, mostly quiet little girl that likes nothing more than eating and following X around. Mostly he pretends she's not there while she's treating him like her own personal jungle gym. It's pretty great.

Pay no attention to the mess in the background! She would like him to play "Little People" with her all day, but sometimes he would rather do more "macho" things, like play video games, or "soldier."

Really, we're not violent. He just turned out to be all boy! I'm afraid I get pretty fed up with the nerf guns quickly, so they're actually not out all that often.

So that's who's causing the ruckus in my house all day! Soon school will be out and there will be no morning reprieve for me. Hopefully A will still have her morning nap even if her favourite 5 year old is home!

Funny Story

This story may warm the cockles of your heart...or totally creep you out. Really. It could go either way.

We did not go to any yard sales this weekend. That's two weeks in a row. I am starting to have a little withdrawal, so for sure I'm going next weekend. But this week as my sister and her husband were here, and there's a chance they may look to make this home, they wanted to see the sights. So we went to the mall. I figured, if you're gonna come, you need to have your eyes wide open. A luxury we were not allowed. Whatev. I'm not bitter. I knew some. ;)

Please Mum was having a sale, so I went in and got these totally cute pink monkey diaper shirts, sweaters and booties. M thought I was acting a little out of character buying 2 of each as I am terrified of mixing babies up, but every once in a while it'll be ok right? Plus I know where I can get some baby-safe nail polish. It will be my secret weapon. But that is not my story.

There was another woman in there with a 3 or 4 year old boy and pushing a baby girl in a stroller. After we joined forces to make the boys stop playing hide-and-seek and tag in the store she approached me and said "Excuse me, you're having twins right?"

Seriously, I looked down to check if there was some sort of sign indicating this in some way. "Uhhh. Yeah?" was my brilliant reply. Then she says, "You were at my yard sale a couple of weeks ago and you bought a brown sweater." Say what? The look on my face, I'm sure, must have told this lady I thought she was crazy. "It has a happy face on it," she explained further. Then I remembered the sweater, "Oh! The cute fuzzy brown bear sweater!" "Yeah! Well the other day I found the pants that go with it! I have no idea why it was with his stuff, but when I found them I wished I knew who you were so I could give them to you! They are a set, and it's always nice to have the pants. So I'll give you my number and you can come pick them up whenever if you want?" Crazy? Yes. Awesome? Also yes. She explained that she has a talent for remembering faces. So I've got her phone number and I'll go pick up some pants sometime this week! Too funny! Now I just have to find some cute baby girl jeans to go with the monkey shirts I bought. :)

I've mentioned before that this town is a little odd, yes?

Odd Things 7

Boy do I have some catching up to do! My sister and her husband came to visit this weekend, and so I haven't been keeping up with the blogging this week at all! I've got some stories though, don't you worry! But first, odd things!

This is my left foot. I have 3 more months and the swelling is already getting a little uncomfortable!

My left foot is about 50% bigger than normal, and my right is about 25% bigger. The tops of my feel actually jiggle when I walk. Sorry if that grosses you out, but I'm pregnant and everything is gross. Hahaha! Speaking of, I got a text from my sister on Thursday asking about the weather as they were driving through some pretty heavy rain storms on the way up. When the text came in I was at the lab for my monthly pee test, so I told her the delay in my response was due to the fact that I was peeing in a cup. Apparently she was doing the driving at that time so I told my brother-in-law that I was peeing in a cup. When they got here she told me about my faux pas, and he was obviously a little embarrassed. I told him to get over it. I'm pregnant. I have to give my pee to anyone who asks for it! Hahaha!

A news story that kept popping up this week on sympatico was about the shortest man in the world. At 18 years old he is apparently 23.5 inches tall. When X was born, he was 24 inches long. That struck me as odd.

People keep asking what we're going to name the babies. People who are not BFFs or family. If we did have any names picked out I'm not spreading them around! I might change my mind, or one might turn out to be a boy, or you might try to make me change my mind, or you might steal the name for your dog or something. So, until the babies are born, you will not know the names!

I'm getting crankier. Can you tell? Hahaha. I feel bad when I get cranky at M, or X. I'm trying to stay aware of my emotional state so I can choose to be happier, but I'm done putting up random dumbness. Like the drunk guy at the bank. DON'T COME CLOSE TO ME. You smell and my nose is extra sensitive these days so BACK OFF! And the panhandler in the grocery store parking lot. Look, just because I'm walking slower than my husband and my son does NOT mean I'm an easier target. Shut up and leave me alone! :) But really, I don't think I'm all that scary.

My mom thinks she's having sympathy swelling. M thinks he's having sympathy baby brain. X thinks both babies will have the same name as they will be twins. I think they're all crazy.

A Day Out!

Yesterday, being Saturday, and a day off for M as well as X and I, we decided to get up bright an early at 10ish! M made some pancakes because I said I was starving. So nice of him. Then M thought maybe we should go do something. We decided that we would check out the local Heritage Park. It took until we arrived to get X to understand that Heritage "Park" was not a playground. This is how excited he was to see a school on Saturday.
Really, he perked up when I wasn't taking pictures. Apparently he was in-character or something. What a ham. Below in front of the steam powered tractor he was being a soldier for some reason!

Soon after the tractor, the following conversation could be overheard: Me "This is a pretty sad teepee village." X "What? Sleeping village?" Me: "Teepee village. This is a sad teepee village." X: "Why is it sad?" Me: "Because there is only one teepee. There should be at least three or four." X: "What? Where's the door?" Me: "Never mind. Good talk." X: "What? Do you mean there should be more teepees?" Me: "Go chase your father." Yep, it was a special mother-son moment. Here we are in front of the site where the park map indicates there should be at lease two more teepees.

We also had a fantastic conversation about the snow trekker below. He could not understand why there would be a giant snowmobile in the middle of summer. How short his sweet memory is.
We quite enjoyed our time at Heritage Park. Both M and I actually felt like we had "gotten away" which was the goal! The freaky part of the day? One of the houses we went into, which was built and lived in by a single family for 66 years. We walked in and I swear it smelled, looked and felt like my grandparents place in Nova Scotia. There was even a mannequin of a woman situated by the piano that looked a lot like my great-grandmother, mother to said grandmother in N.S. It freaked me out so much I couldn't even take a picture. I think even the curtains were the same as the current curtains in N.S. I just had to get out. M agreed with me. X thought we were acting strangely for no reason.

When we got home and had supper, I thought I could relax. No. The following is one short video I captured. It's mostly who I think of as Twin B moving. They were very active. And have been today as well. No rest for the wicked! Hahaha

Odd Things 6

It's Friday again! Hoorah! I've been trying to pay attention to odd things all week, but for some reason I'm still trusting my baby-brain to remember it all! I didn't write a single thing down! Well here goes anyway.

One of my favourite websites has added an new, very odd, component called invisible cats. It's odd how much I enjoy these pictures! To see more, click here.

My son says "yippee ki yay" a lot. It's odd how my mommy senses go on super alert every time he does, because he has never seen ANY Bruce Willis movie, let alone the Die Hard series.

I think that every time I take a shower the water makes my belly grow bigger.

I woke up this morning thinking about how much I am going to enjoy sleeping in tomorrow. Ok, so maybe that's not so odd, but sleeping is on my mind a lot!

Feeling Twin A flip from head down to head up while Twin B apparently simply supervised.

Finding out that "the super odd feeling" was Twin A flipping.

Waiting in the doctor's office for over an hour with nothing to do but stare at a diagram of the male urinary system.

Having X hang out with me on the couch while he touches my stomach waiting for the babies to move.

Wanting so many pickles. Pickles all the time. And peanut butter toast. And freezies. And watermelon. And cereal.

Cereal and milk give me heartburn.

People who live here pay more than twice the provincial average for rent. This particular family does not make twice as much money, I am sure!

I miss coffee, but can't stand to drink it right now.

Speaking of hungry all the time....

Waiting!

This was me this afternoon. Let me tell you about it! 2 weeks ago I had my regular checkup with my family doctor. At that time she put in the referral for me to see an OB. Usually in this province you don't get referred to the OB until the 8th month, but because I'm pregnant with twins she put it in early. I really expected to hear from the office that I would have an appointment sometime in July. When I talked to them this past Friday they told me I had an appointment for today! Woah. That was quick.

I arrived at the office 3 or 4 minutes before my scheduled appointment, which was for 3pm. At 3:20 the nurse called me in to do my blood pressure and so on. Then she put me in the next room to wait for the doctor...

So I waited...

At 4:26 the doctor came into the room I was waiting in, handed me my file and told me to go wait in "room 9" and he would be with me shortly. Dude! An hour and a half? Surely that's a bit excessive! And of course my appointment lasted less than 15 minutes! That time even includes the quick ultrasound! He took down my medical history, quickly read all the reports from previous ultrasounds and blood tests, then told me to hop up on the table for a quick u/s. Really, the appointment was fine. He seems like a capable doctor. He told me that I am classified as "high risk" because of my age, and because it is twins. He also told me that apparently Twin A didn't want to be upside down anymore. They are now both in the breach position, cuddling. At least they're not kicking each other in the head anymore. So he 100% agrees with my c-section decision. They are good though, healthy, the right size, beating hearts, moving appendages and all that, so I'm happy too. Despite the waiting. Worst part about the waiting? I finished the book I brought in the first waiting room! Boo!

Routine!

These days it's tea rather than coffee...but you get the idea. I'm afraid my life has become quite routine over the last few weeks. Not that I'm complaining, it just might seem a bit boring, therefore I haven't had much to write about! I get up early, meet A at the door, get breakfast for X, get them both in the car, go to school, come back, get A a snack, put her down for a nap, get her up, in the car, get X from school, come back, get lunch, put A down for a nap, get her up, get a snack or two, meet her mom at the door, crash on the couch. Repeat. Of course there are some diapers, some great quotes from X and time with M mixed in there too!

We did go to church again this Sunday. I know! We're almost regular attenders! If only we could find one church to attend. We went to the Alliance church again because X loves the Sunday School program so much. A friend suggested a couple of churches downtown, and I think next week we'll try one of those out. I don't want to say anything specifically mean or destructive, but at the Alliance church M is constantly reminded of Mandy Moore's character in the movie Saved. Great movie. You should see it. This week's service was dedicated to the team who went to Mexico on a "missions" trip. Missions and Work n Witness trips have value, no doubt. I was just left uninspired. Maybe it's because I am in no way acquainted with any of the people who went. It could also be because I enjoy debating taking money and doing the work versus sending the money in addition to the money I would spend on a plane ticket to an organization already there so they can do twice the work. It's a good debate.

We also helped my mom move this week. She said this is the 8th move in a little over a year! That's a little excessive! X and I have only moved 3 times in the last 12 months. 4 houses, 3 provinces. Yep, his life just might mirror mine a bit! Hopefully we'll be a little more stable from here on out with lots of notice between moves!

One more thing that I've added to my routine this week is a SAL (stitch-ALong). Yes. I cross stitch. I'm a nerd. In a lot of ways. Not only do I cross stitch, I'm also a sci-fi fan. My buddy Mamacita and I working on the same project. I think we started on the same day. Just so you know, she's kicking my butt. I'll put a couple pics up of my finished work...later. :)

The Pressure's on!

I've been writing this blog now for about 6 weeks, and every time some one new indicates that they read it, I feel a little more self conscious. I love that people seem to be enjoying reading this, but sometimes I just can't imagine why! hahaha. I've always wanted to write, but for this type of platform there is not editing or re-writing! Once it's out there, it's out there! I'm obsessed with bad grammar and public spelling mistakes, but I know my writing is far from perfect! There are times that I want to go back and count the times I use the word 'so.' I know I over-use it, and if I catch it, I will delete it! But secretly, I do wish I could start every new paragraph with that little word!

Speaking of spelling mistakes, my mom brought to my attention that I spelled "yard saling" wrong in a previous post. This was an on-purpose "mistake" by the way, and I had quite the philosophical discussion with her about it. I explained that we didn't go "yard sailing," that brings up too many strange mental pictures.

This is just not a proper depiction of what happens! Nor could I spell it "yard saleing." You never put an 'e' before 'ing' do you? We decided that I should have used "yard sale-ing," but just now looking for funny pictures on bing.com, apparently a lot of people use the spelling "yard saling." So, (there it is, can't help it) even though mom disagrees, I'll stick with my original spelling! And now maybe you understand a little more about my spelling ocd. And now you'll be looking for errors! I bring it on myself, I know.

Speaking of yard saling, we went again today! The big find? Homemade Filipino spring rolls! Oh baby! I mentioned that I'm continuously starving now didn't I? Therefore there is no picture to accompany this statement. I ate my 3 in about 45 seconds. I haven't had these fabulous creations since my wedding! (Shout out to the great community at Nanaimo Church of the Nazarene! They throw a fantastic wedding!) I also picked up a small baby swing for $5! Not too shabby either! You've got to watch the yard sale hosts up here! We stopped at one yard sale that had a high chair and they wanted $60 for it. No. The next yard sale wanted $4. Granted the second high chair was a little older, but still, a far better price! We just don't have room for a second high chair here yet, and I figure I won't need the second for at least 8 months! I might even make it to next year's yard sale season! Hahaha!

Ok, so this post is a little less focused than previous posts, hopefully you'll love my zaniness...zanyness...you'll love that I am zany. This word no longer looks correct in any form. I'm done for now. Stay tuned!!

Odd Things 5

This week has been full of changes, but at the same time it's starting to feel repetitive! Some odd things regarding pregnancy with twins? I'm about 23 weeks now, 17 to go if I was waiting until 40 weeks, but I'm thinking it will be more like 38ish, so that's only 15 weeks to go. That does not seem like enough time at this point. Actually, I'm feeling a bit light-headed now reading that. I'm having trouble comparing this pregnancy to the one with X. First, that was 6 years ago, and second, he was alone in there!

I know some of what I'm going through now I went through before with him, but I don't remember if it's happening faster this time or not really. I know I started feeling movement earlier, but that's typical for a second pregnancy. Now I'm definitely feeling two moving at the same time! I can see them move! The other day Twin B rolled over and it felt like I'd swallowed a tidal wave, but only in half of my belly! I have swollen feet and ankles full time now. Last week I could make the swelling go away by sitting with my feet up for a while, yesterday and today that's just not helping! So I will get "my feet" back sometime in November maybe. Also, I can no longer reach things on the floor when I'm sitting down. If something falls at my feet in the car? Forget it. It's gone.

Food. Food is odd. In my first trimester food was terrible. I couldn't eat very much. I had food aversions, "morning" sickness, and I'd eat a few bites and feel incredibly full. Now? I'm HUNGRY. All the time. Starving. Watermelon, pickles and ice cream? I see nothing wrong with that. That sounds like a perfectly reasonable dessert. Mmm. Pickles. I think I'll have some now. Pickles and tea. Yes. BRB

Lovely. Where was I? Ah, odd things. Unrelated to pregnancy? People are odd. That's a big one. Couldn't you just people-watch all day? I watched a crew of 6 men take 3 days to mow my lawn this week. There's actually not that much grass here. It's mostly sidewalk and parking. I see people getting frustrated with my speed-limit driving so they change lanes so they can beat me to the next red light. I see babies point at each other and wave in the grocery store while parents pretend the other baby is completely alone. Why do we ignore each other as adults? When did that become polite? Like when we turned 12? So we're all still acting pre-adolescent? Good choices.

My family is odd. In a great way of course. My son is an energetic ball of ridiculous public behaviour. But he is my son. We both have a tendency to not watch where we're going. Yesterday in the grocery store he ran full speed into a freezer and ended up flat on his back. He thought it was a great game. Last week at a yard sale he tried to jump over a baby toy, but wasn't actually looking at the toy and totally wiped out. He did get a lot of attention and I think that's what he was looking for as I was once again rifling through a pile of baby girl clothes. :) My husband is oddly fantastic. Sometimes I feel a bit guilty that I have such a great husband and that's odd. He does have weird quirks though. For example, every time we walk outside he sneezes. I think he's allergic to the sun. Maybe I could write the next sensation! Vampires don't sparkle, they sneeze...and they have a desire for clean kitchens, bathrooms and shiny cars.

I'm odd. But we all know that. ;)

Things That are Awesome (or not, depending on your point of view)

Recently I've been looking for more and more humour in life. Sometimes it's not that hard to find...especially if you're will to laugh at yourself! Here is a short explanation of a few things that are an awesome and constant source of snickering.

Baby brain. I fully intend on blaming every dumb thing that I do from now until October on this phenomenon. After October I will blame it on having three children. That's right, I have a plan. Some of the dumb things I do? Turning on the back burner while watching the pot on the front burner wondering why nothing is happening. Forgetting laundry in the washing machine. Staring in the fridge wondering where I put the Cheerios. Yup. Baby brain is awesome.

My son's mental musical catalogue. Not only can my 5 year old sing every song he's ever learned at Sunday School or VBS, but he also knows the lyrics to Aqua's "Barbie Girl" and Adele's "Rolling in the Deep." These two are special thorns in my husband's side. X also knows the lyrics to most Abba songs and a lot of Great Big Sea. On the other hand I am quite familiar with Justin Bieber's "baby" and have watched the you tube video for "Never Say Never" with him, so this really does work both ways.

My sister is awesome. Specifically her strange desire to embarrass my husband at every opportunity is hilarious. Generally, she's a ham. For example, here's my sister with her husband.

Recently my husband was away for an extended training course. During this training course he kept getting anonymous mail that had some homosexual innuendo. It drove him crazy wondering who was behind it. Now, he's known my sister for at least 10 years...so we sort of wondered why he didn't guess it was her sooner, but maybe he thought she wouldn't do anything THAT crazy. When he graduated from this training course she gave him a Chippendale's calendar. Good times. This morning when he came home from work he handed me this postcard:
With only two words on the back: "Miss you!" It was sent from Mexico, to his work. Now if you know where my husband works you know that this is a place filled with manly men and super-capable women. The postcard was send 2 and a half months ago, so we suspect the mail-room ladies showing it to everyone else before it was delivered to his box! Good times.

I hope no one gets offended by the above picture...including my husband! Hahaha. And just in case they read this randomly, both my brothers are also awesome. :)

One more awesome thing: I got my replacement phone yesterday! Hooray for being connected to the world at large once more! Now to collect all the numbers again!!

What? June? No way.

I can't believe that it's the first day of June already! Up here where the sun is rising at 4 am and setting at 11pm, we're hitting temperatures of 23-28C during the day and still having frost warnings overnight. Crazy times! The smoke is still heavy in the air from all the forest fires in the area, so outdoor activity is still at a minimum despite all the sunshine!

The last couple of weeks have been a great learning experience in our house! I know I mentioned that I started babysitting a 1 year old girl. Two weeks ago was a part-time week, last week turned out to be a 3/4 week because of the holiday and this week is our first full-time week. I must report that X's transition to one little girl in his life has been excellent!

When I first told X about the possibility of babysitting, he wasn't a fan of the idea. He told me it would not make him happy because if it was a baby they would cry all night while he was trying to sleep. When I explained that I would not be keeping her all night he opened up to the idea. Now a couple things to note here; first, no we did not clarify that two babies in October will be here full time, second, I have done childcare before. This is not the first non-family member to hang out with us all day, so I don't know why he thought I'd be keeping her for days and days!

For the last week and a half X has been studiously ignoring the presence of an extra body in the house. He's a 5 year old boy, so obviously she has not been ignoring him, but he quickly became expert at slightly turning his body so she was no longer in his direct line of vision. Pretty funny to watch actually. He was never mean, and always helped when I asked of course, but did his best to pretend she was not there.

The first day I had her before I took X to school she came with us to drop him off. When we were getting out of the car he told me he was old enough now and could cross the street by himself. I explained that even though he is a big boy I am not ready to let him cross any street in this super-busy town alone. Even in a 30k/h school zone. Even with 2 crossing guards. His response? "But Mooo-ooooom. If you bring her all the people in my class and all my friends will think she's ours!" Again, something to note here...I do get a few double takes when I walk down the street with a 5 year-old by my side, a one-year old on my hip, and an obvious baby-belly. X seemed ok when I told him it was alright to tell his friends that mommy was baby-sitting if they asked.

Yesterday we had a break through! After we picked X up from school we decided to take a quick trip downtown to return some library materials and, since it was released yesterday and I've been a super good girl, to pick up the 3rd season of True Blood from Walmart. On the way back we decided to make an ill-fated stop at Tim Horton's. The line-up was not too bad, not out on the road, so just 9 or 10 cars between us and the speaker, but 3 cars away we noticed the "we ran out of steeped tea" signs (my drink of choice these days), and then when we got the the speaker we were told they were also out of Iced Capps (M's choice). Before we got there and while we were waiting in line I realized X had been playing peek-a-boo for 15 minutes! And making sure the water cup and soother and toys were always in easy reach. Because she is still rear-facing he also gave us a minute-by-minute account of her every move. This morning when getting in the car to take X to school he asked if I had her water cup or her soother. He seemed to think it was very irresponsible of me to go on this 5 minute drive without either! too great. She also helped him with his homework this morning! He read his book while she listened and tried to sit in his lap.

All in all, this child-care thing was a great idea! X is going to make a fabulous big brother!!