Odd Things 13 - Amendment

I have been charged by my husband to add a little information to yesterday's post. When I blog about him specifically, I usually tell him what I wrote as he doesn't actually read my blog. He just walks by, sees odd pictures, and makes comments. So last night I told him that I listed his odd fears. He takes exception. He does not feel these fears are odd at all and wants me to fully explain why they are not odd.

I have never fallen in the shower.

I have fallen in a hole.

I have fallen while walking with no visible obstacles in my way.

I did faint when I was pregnant with X at the top of some stairs, but I did call him first to make sure he would be there to help me.

I have never sneezed babies out, but his theory: "There's still time."

X was not early. They induced me 8 days after my due date and he still didn't feel ready so at 9 days overdue I had an "emergency" c-section. But twins are different and other people have M a little paranoid.

M used to love horror movies. He blames me for not enjoying them anymore, because I can't handle them. He anticipates my fear apparently, and the manifestation of belly bursters would be the final straw.

There. I feel I have explained fully. I'll let you know if any of his fears become reality! Have a great weekend!!

Odd Things 13

So many odd things this week!

I'm 30 weeks pregnant! Doctor says we're delivering at 38 weeks. That means only 8 weeks left of having 1 child!

If I put my hand on my belly it feels like there are tennis balls moving around in there! It used to feel like golf balls. Their feet, knees, bums, and so on, have grown!

I'm only able to sleep 2-3 hours at a time at night before I have to fully wake up so I can change position. This includes flopping around like a fish and sometimes elbowing M in the back.

My maternity clothes no longer meet in the middle. So that's sexy. My "Baby on Board" tank top looks like a tragic midriff-baring train wreck. Complete with train tracks. ;)

The swelling. Oh the swelling! I have to keep my feet up as much as possible. Which I do! So we have this old school toy box from M's childhood that we're using as a coffee table. It has a ridge design. When I used it the other day as a foot rest my leg looked like I'd lost part of it to a shark because of the HUGE indent left in the swelling! Again, so sexy.

This is an evil creature:
They are RAMPANT up here right now. But I have never fully understood the extent of their evil genius before! Do you know where they are biting me? On my ankles! Can I reach my ankles? No! But M can. Sure he can. And takes great pleasure in showing me how easy it is to reach his ankles and relieve the itchiness!

But enough about me. Let's discuss the oddness of other people in my life! M has some odd fears. Well, I guess the fears aren't really THAT odd, but it's odd how these fears seem to be forefront in his mind all the time!

He fears I'll fall in the shower.

He fears I'll fall in a hole.

He fears I'll fall while walking.

He fears I'll faint and he won't be there to catch me.

He fears I'll sneeze and the babies will come out.

He fears the babies will randomly decide to come early.
I think he secretly fears the babies will try to come out the side and become legit belly-bursters.

X has one fear. He fears his position in life will be erased when the babies come. Lately I've been reminding him that the babies are his too, and that they will love him. I think he's starting to feel a little better about it.

X's other oddness still revolves around Justin Bieber. Sigh. But apparently before this morning he was not convinced that the Biebs was real. I guess he was slotted with cupid and the Easter Bunny.

Random odd thing: I find it very odd that tattoo artists need not know how to spell.

That's all for now!

Medical Politics!

How I wish we could all just get along! Really! But apparently we can't. This office tells me that office is terrible and that office tells me the next office is worse! Let me tell you a story. I don't think I mentioned my trip to public health, but if I did, sorry. I'll try to keep it short.

I went to public health a few weeks ago. I was in the neighbourhood, waiting for the garage to be done with my car (what a fiasco THAT was), so I dropped in to see if I could get an appointment with a lactation consultant. I nursed X until he was 9 months, I plan to give it a go with twins, but as I've never nursed two at a time before, I have some questions! I wasn't expecting to talk to anyone, just get an appointment. The receptionist had me sit in the waiting room while she called for someone to talk to me, and a few minutes later a nice lady came out to call me back to her office. After some hmmmingh and hawing, she explained there is no lactation consultant employed by public health here. I'd have to drive 5 hours south. Why they could not tell me that at reception, I do not know.

She did have some "helpful" information though. Not only did she give me websites (like I hadn't searched them already) she was so kind as to inform me that the nurses at this hospital will steal my babies and formula feed them without my knowledge and then they'll never go back to the breast again. Awesome. She then further explained that it would be best if I went into labour before 36 weeks so they would ship me down to Edmonton. Then I could feed them with a syringe and pump in my room. But at least I would be away from the evil nurses up here. Then I asked a question that forced her to admit that she'd never visited the maternity ward here, and didn't really know how it was set up. After clearing my throat of the unkind words that arose I thanked her for her time and left.

On the other hand, my family doctor warned me that the support staff at my OB office was useless and mean. Good. I look forward to it. Not that I've had a super experience with the support staff in her office either! So yesterday I had another appointment with my OB. 3 weeks ago I was there for 4 hours, yesterday my wait was 2 hours for a 10 minute visit. But boy does he ever pack a lot into the visit! He assured me all my swelling and discomfort is normal, did a mini-ultrasound to look at the babies' heads, (both look good, he's happy), and called the head of the radiology department to get me in for a "growth scan" ultrasound. Remember, I'm high risk because I'm old. ;) When he got off the phone he explained that he's always had great success in getting things done while being nice! And he is a very friendly sort of guy. His secretary promptly informed me that the radiology dept. is picky, so wait until today to call for an appointment.

From the very nice girl on the phone in booking I learned this morning that they have not yet received any paperwork. They have a sticky from the head of the dept. telling them to expect the paperwork and have some instructions from him, but no order yet. So I call the office and low and behold....it has not been faxed yet. Grrr. Here's hoping that at some point the Doctor's mode of operation will rub off on his staff!

Now all 4 of these offices work for Alberta Health Services. Why are they not all on the same page? Frustrating.

Oh, the other thing the doctor told me is that we will be booking my c-section for 38 weeks, so that counter over on the right of the page? Subtract 14 days!! That means 59 days! Oh boy.

Baby Shower!

This Saturday past I went to a baby shower, for me! Hooray! We are still going to the crazy-friendly, mostly Nigerian church. There are some things that I could wish for, like other kids, but really, they have been so friendly and welcoming and excited to see us all the time, they really gave us no choice but to be part of the church. To cap it all off, they threw a shower for me!
This is me and my belly at 29 weeks at my shower. :) We had a great time! The food was fantastic, but it was Nigerian, so I made mom taste everything first! Usually, I'm not picky at all (obviously) but I had learned my lesson on Friday at book club! That's right folks! 2 nights out for this mama. At book club I had one piece of pepperoni. One. All night I thought I was going to die from heartburn. I actually ended up sleeping sitting up for a while. So that's why I had mom by my spice-o-meter! I stuck with the fruit, cheese and cashews! It was great!

The gifts were also great! Clothes and blankets and diapers and a bag and chairs! So good! There was even a gift for my husband! A's mom gave him a nose plug and New Zealand scented febreeze! I don't know how you can fit the smell experience of a whole country in one bottle, but I've never been, so I believe them! :) A's dad is from New Zealand, hence the connection there. Smelly diapers are sort of a running joke. You see there are times when M will watch X and A while I go to a doctor's appointment. The first time he did this for me coincided with the end of a 3 day poop strike A was on. Apparently 5 minutes before she went home. I didn't even try to keep the laughter in. My poor husband! But he hasn't quit yet!

Bom bom BOMMMMMMM!

I have to tell you a story. I've been holding it in for a couple of weeks, but I don't think the story is going to get any better. It has reached it's climax, so I must now share.

We have new neighbours! Since we moved here in January only 3 units out of 8 have been unoccupied in our building. In April our next door neighbours moved leaving us the only occupants on the ground level! This gave X access to the entire "backyard," but very lonely. 2 weeks ago we noticed a couple of young girls hanging around. They would ride their bikes passed our windows in the back while casually glancing in, or hang around in the front yard for a while. We hadn't noticed any moving truck anywhere in the complex, so we were a little confused. Turns out this family moved in right next door, but as is common up here, they have to wait a couple of weeks for their moving truck to arrive.

This is very exciting news. 2 little girls living right next door! One 8 and one 4, we'll call them K and S. After two weeks of neighbourly action this is how I see them:

Only, replace the fence with my back deck sliding doors. And they are much younger than the couple seen here. I'm really not exaggerating here. I will look up and there will be noses pressed up against my screen door! No sound...just watching. Sometimes when we go out to our car, or for a walk I will see those same noses pressed up against their window watching. When A's mom comes to pick her up they will stand at the end of my walk just staring. It is getting a little creepy.

This is how they see me:

Muahahahaha! Yep. I'm the evil witch! No I have not tried to lure them into my oven, nor have I offered them any poisoned apples.

If you are my "friend" on facebook, you may recall my post about grounding X for the first time. And the next day I grounded him for the second time. And the next day I grounded him for the third time. The day after that his grandparents were here, so you can't ground him, but boy did I yell.

The first three incidents involved X getting completely soaked, sneakers included, after we told him no more water. I know, water is a hard thing for kids to resist in the summer, but I'm still the boss. The third was general dangerous behaviour; jumping off of the deep freeze on our back deck. Again, after a warning.

The "yelling incident" takes a little background information to get the full effect. One day before all the grounding the girls came over to watch some cartoons. X, at one point, decided that he needed to give them a tour of our apartment...even though they live in the same set-up next door, only in reverse. He opened closets, and the laundry room, and was on his way to my room when I stopped him. I told him that since he wasn't allowed to hang out in my room, neither were his friends, so they didn't need to see it.

On "yelling day," as I mentioned, my in-laws were here. A's parents came for her early, and I wanted out of the house! So I told X he could play outside while I was gone because M and his step-dad were working on the car. I went shopping. With my mother, and my mother-in-law. With my big belly. A)I did not take enough breaks for my big belly. B)The topic of choice was menopause. I'll let you in on a secret. I'm not experiencing menopause at this moment. It's not even on my radar screen really. I did buy some cool stuff though. :)

When we got home I was in desperate need of feet-up action. As I walked into my house I heard this strange noise...coming from my bedroom! I opened the door, and low and behold there is the air mattress that we had set up for my in-laws on my bed, on the air mattress are the 2 girls from next door bouncing away! X is wedged between the air mattress and the wall playing his guitar serenading these vixens from next door! Where is my husband? Outside working on the car still!! Also, there is ceiling spackle crap all over the mattress and the blinds are messed up, and my books have been tossed on the floor.

So I yelled. "Out. Out. OUT!!!" Boy did those girls run. X, who is old hat at my yelling, was all "but mom, we just..." "No. Not until I talk to your father to see if the rules changed while I was gone! Out!" Haven't had the girls in since really. They still play outside, and press their noses to my windows, and play with X outside...I'm just not ready for the in-house visits yet!

Oh, and the rule had changed slightly. They were supposed to be watching a cartoon in the living room. Lesson: Don't think a 4, 5, and 8 year old will be responsible enough to be left in the house! Even if the 5 year old would be responsible enough if he was not showing off for girls! Good times.

Odd Things 12

Really, I can't believe it's Friday again. The weeks seem to be screaming by! I'm 29 weeks now. Technically that means 11 weeks until my due date, but really about 9 weeks until I have babies. Here's my belly:
This shot is me placing the camera at chest level and pointing directly down. Yup. There it is.

Even holding the camera up and slightly away from me, my feet are still gone. Poof! See you in November!

So that's odd. My belly. Sure is. Looks pretty symmetrical in these pics though, I'll have to remember to take a pic the next time it's lopsided. Totally freaks me out. Another odd thing related to my belly? I can no longer fit in the stores in the mall. Seriously, yesterday in Please Mum, the lady actually pulled one rack out of the way so I could look at the new girly stuff. They know me there by now though so it's cool. I also went down to Claire's to see what they have for baby girl head adornments. I was a little afraid I was going to get stuck, because for a few weeks now I've only been able to go into that store if there are NO other customers. I have one path in and out available to me and if someone blocks that path I'm stuck.

The children in my belly are odd. They sure are. As big as I am now you'd think I'd be able to comfortable sleep on my side and just let my belly rest on the bed. No. Who ever happens to be on the bottom is not happy unless there is also a pillow under my belly. So not only are they squished by sister, they want to be squished by pillow. I'm definitely going to have to learn to swaddle!!

Last pregnancy related odd thing. I have never felt both 100% woman and 0% lady at the same time. There is no sitting, standing, walking, or transitioning between these activities in a lady-like fashion. No. It's all grunting, groaning, sighing, waddling, flopping, rolling, and generally not caring. But at the same time, I'm fully aware of my body and that it is in fact all woman! Honestly, I don't know how much more woman I can handle. I don't know how much more M can handle!! Here's a conversation my husband and I had last night:

Him: Are you OK?

Me: Yeah.

Him: Are you sure?

Me: Yes...Do I look terrible, pale or something?

Him: Well I just don't understand how you're not constantly in pain.

Me: Snort. (totally lady-like right?)

Last week my in-laws came for a quick visit! Here are X and A enjoying the bed we had in the living room first thing in the morning!

Not that I think that two kids enjoying a blow-up mattress is odd, but they were so cute playing together! A sat in the middle of the mattress while X crawled around her, making her feel unstable. They both laughed like loons for about 20 minutes. P.S. The dog is not real, but A loves him.

X gets very insulted at WestJet commercials. It's pretty funny. The one we see most often is the flat tire one. The last time we flew, it was with WestJet and they lost one of our bags. X took this as a very personal insult and when the narrator in the commercial indicates that WestJet "owners" are always willing to help he tells that narrator "that's not true because WestJet lost my stuff." It makes me laugh.

Last, but not least is more of a rant than an odd thing. Well, it's odd that these things get by news editors. When the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were in Canada for their first tour, I became a Royal watcher. I didn't read ALL of the stories, but I read enough of them. The CTV.ca news site had a couple of gems I need to share. The first: 'This is the first tour for the young couple during "their marriage."' What is the writer implying here? That "their marriage" is not real? It's all a big hoax. A publicity scam. Well done! The second was the story about them going to Yellowknife where 'a couple of hundred fans greeted them.' A couple of hundred? What's a 'hundred fan?' Why were there only two of these strange people to greet the Royal couple? And if they were both hundred fans, were they disappointed that it was Will and Kate who got off the plane? What were they actually expecting?

Ok, now you know beyond a doubt that it is actually me who is odd and nothing that happens to me need be out of the ordinary for me to call it odd. I do hope you keep coming back for more though!

Harry Potter and Beyond

You may, or may not, have been wondering where my promised blurbs about books and movies went. I think they're in my feet. My feet are certainly large enough to be hiding any number of missing items! The last couple of days have actually been a little uncomfortable, but after hours of keeping them in up, they can almost pass for normal again!

On to the subject matter! I'm a Potterphile. Books and movies both, I love them. 10 years ago my husband, then fiance, took his sister to the first movie, and then my boss convinced me that I NEEDED to read the books. Since then I've been hooked. So when M called from work and asked if I wanted to go on an impromptu late night date on Sunday rather than wait until later in the week there was really no question.
Ah Neville. Became all hotness just in time. The movie, as I'm sure you've heard is fabulous. So I won't bore you with my run down. It was great, you should see it, that is all. On the other hand, there were people around us that I wished had not made the decision to see the movie. For example. If you don't know who HAGRID is you should a)just be quiet and pretend or b)stay home in the first place. Do NOT "whisper" "Oh he's so cute, what's his name again?" No. This is not acceptable. And even if you are desperate for female companionship, do not "threaten" above mentioned girl with "You're lucky you're cute." Especially if I'm caught in the middle. Just not cool folks. P.S. it was dark. No real way to tell level of cuteness. Dumbness, no question.

Rant over. Happiness! As I mentioned, I'm a Potterphile, and since there are no more books, and no more movies, my logical next step was curiosity about what projects the main actors from the movies are working on. And here's the tie to a book review! One of the next projects Emma Watson is working on is a movie adaptation of the novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I read a blurb somewhere that quoted her as saying as soon as she read the book she knew she had to be a part of the movie. So I thought, here is a Brown University educated person who seems to be making good career choices, so I read the book too!

I cautiously recommend this book. I'm trying to take my "audience" into consideration here. This book is not for everyone, a) it is published by Mtv Books, b)it's about high school. If you don't know what one is and haven't even thought about the other one in over a decade, I don't think you'll like it. But if you know anyone in high school, and are prepared for a very raw look at life in high school, I think you will enjoy it immensely. There is no smoothing over the issues, and no episodic solutions. The telling of this story feels very genuine and legit. There is also the added bonus of ease of read. If you have 4 hours to dedicate to this book, you will finish it. I am very much looking forward to Emma Watson's portrayal of "Sam."

Thank you!

Thanks for all the prayers! You guys are awesome, and God takes care of us! I'll be back later today! We're going yard saling! :)

Odd Things 11

I haven't posted anything this week, mostly because I haven't been my usual "upbeat" self. A little stressing happening this week, but we'll get through it! Just have to keep trusting and keep being true! So, if you pray, remember us, and in turn I promise to pray for all "my dear readers!" :)

Enough of that! I'm upbeat! Looking forward to what the next couple of months has to bring! Now for the oddness!

M found a super funny article about pregnancy! Warning. This article is not for those who have weak stomachs! But according to cracked.com I'm getting off very lightly on this whole pregnancy thing!

I am getting more and more afraid of going out. We had a surprise short visit from my in-laws this week, so of course we went shopping. M and his step-dad "watched" X while working on the car, and I headed to the mall with my mother and mother-in-law! Really, I should have just taken more rests on the benches. By the time we got through walmart I was thinking, "oh no, next time I go shopping I'm going to have to ask for the courtesy wheelchair!

I had to go through 43 pages of the scariest people on earth to get this gem, I hope you appreciate it!!

In addition to fearing the wheelchair, I also have little issues with going out such as people staring and my belly being bigger than I expect! You know how you lean against higher counters while waiting to pay? No. I lean, I'm still 18 inches away, and it always comes as a shock!

Belly rubbing. Apparently, according to my mother, I rub my belly excessively. Someone at church mentioned it and then, later when we were home, she agreed with the comment. So here's what I think. When I was pregnant with X, it was just X. When he moved I thought "hooray, baby moved!" Now there's two and when one moves I think "why didn't the other one move?" So I rub the other side until I feel the other baby move. Now it's just become habit.

Belly rubbing part two. I'm not trying to be harsh on my mother here, but she made a very joking comment about how I'd better not be favouring one baby over the other already by rubbing one side more than I do the other. She was totally being funny. But now I'm a little paranoid. I've been thinking through some recent events how much parents of each generation mess up their kids in a different way than the generation before them. Have I already messed up my kids while they're still in the womb?! I hope not, because I've got 18ish years of parenting that I can mess up ahead of me!!!

Random odd things.

We got a wrong number pocket call to our house phone at 12:17am the other night. Luckily it was one of the nights M's parents were here, so we were late getting to bed anyway. How do I know it was a pocket call? There was a lot of noise in the background and there were still buttons being pushed. How do I know it was a wrong number? The name on the caller id has called before looking for some guy. Why has he not deleted our phone number from his phone? This I don't know.

This morning at 5am I had to pee. I'm pregnant, this is a normal occurrence. I swung my feet out of bed and kicked my son in the head. This is NOT a normal occurrence. X does not sleep in our room. But there he was, blanket, pillow, and 2 stuffies laying on the floor. As soon as I moved he hopped up and grabbed his blanket and pillow and said he was just sleeping on the floor for a little bit, he could go back to bed now. Random!

I only have two weeks left with Miss A. This makes me kind of sad. She's pretty cute....most of the time. ;) For example. She sits on my lap throughout the day and every time I say babies, she rubs, or pats my belly. I hope this does not lead to any uncomfortable moments in the future for her parents. :)

That's be it for the moment. It's taken me almost three hours to get this done! But fear not! I have more to say, so I'll be back. :)

Odd Things 10?

I can't remember how many of these I've done now! But I think it's 10. I have a bigger list this week! I've been paying attention!

As I told my friend, Mamacita, I'm growing a twin-peaked mountain. The thing is sometimes the peak on the left is bigger, sometimes the peak on the right is bigger! Depends on who's pushing the most!!

Speaking of the belly, so far no doctor has measured my belly! Every one of my pre-natal appointments when I was pregnant with X included peeing in a cup, weight, blood pressure, the search for the heart beat (after 24 weeks as first dr. was scared he would fail and freak me out), and measuring my belly from top to bottom and keeping track of how much it expanded between appointments. This time around they do the weight and b/p, and my GP dr. looks for one heartbeat, but they send me to the lab to pee in a cup and don't care how much my belly grows!

When I wake up in the morning my hands are pins and needles. Doesn't matter if I'm laying on them or not. Not my arms, mind you, just my hands. Oh. And my knees. :)

Now for odd things pertaining to my son.

Someday he's going to hate how I keep pulling this picture out.

First, he has a plan for the zombie apocalypse. Have I mentioned he's 5? As I previously twittered, his plan is to stay in the house and throw pots at the zombies. What I did not mention is that his plan is for me to go outside to engage the zombies in hand to hand combat while he "helps" me by staying in the house and throwing pots. I don't know where my husband is supposed to be, maybe at work.

X believes he understands baby talk. He has been practicing by interpreting A for me for about a week or so. According to X, A is a very unhappy child who believes she is the boss and tells everyone to do what she wants them to do. For example. "Dadadadadadadadadadada" means "X, you should give me that toy that you are currently playing with because I want it, so I get it because I am the boss." Likewise, "gah" means, "Mary-Anne, would you kindly change my diaper? I believe there may be a slight odour." Assuredly this talent will come in very handy in a few months.

And last but not least, this odd thing is super special. You know how in grade 9 we learned about subliminal messages? In grocery stores they make sure you can smell the bakery as soon as you walk in to make you want some fresh baked evil pastry or something? Well I'm pretty sure when X walks into a grocery store instead of turning into a bread-craving shopper, he turns into
Totally scary right? The kid totally goes mental. He runs, tap dances, slides, runs into displays, tries to hide in displays, talks to people, asks me what random people are going to do with "that" (whatever is in their cart), talks a mile a minute, wants to ride the cart, wants to jump off the cart, asks for very odd things (like a can of sliced okra, I don't even know what that is!), wants to "help," runs away, starts following other random families, and generally does not listen. It's not like he's overtly bad, he's just all of the sudden super charged with insani-energy. I thought maybe it was just me, but my mom took him grocery shopping early this week and he did the same thing to her! As soon as they walked into the grocery store he went bananas. She thought it was her. But we've compared notes and it's the grocery store's fault. I think in a couple months M and I are going to have to flip for who gets to go grocery shopping and who gets to stay home with the kids!!

Our Canada Day Adventure

Ok. I think I've recovered enough to tell you about our Canada Day celebration. Maybe. It being a Friday, I was pretty excited to sleep in, but M had to work early in the morning. When I had to pee about 1/2 an hour before his alarm went off, I felt pretty bad about disturbing him, so I decided to stay up until he woke up and look up the times for all the events planned before I went back to bed. Of course X somehow got the telepathic message that one of his parents was up before him and this is just not right anymore, so he woke up. I convinced him to go back to bed since it was so early, but he took the DS with him and played in bed.

I discovered online that the fireworks had been held the night before while we were all sleeping. They didn't start until midnight...as that's when it gets almost dark here now...and we were all in bed by 10 the night before. Yes, that's how party animal-ish we are. So we missed the fireworks. The parade was to start at 10 in the morning and then there would be a kids fun-zone at the local community center until 4 pm. Having garnished all this information I kissed M goodbye and went back to bed. I slept through the parade. Go me.

Bright and early at noon X and I left to pick up my mother, we grabbed a quick lunch, did an errand or two and headed downtown to the fun zone. Now I'll explain, the community center is on a sort of peninsula surrounded by rivers, that means it has a super long driveway/road that gives access to nothing else, and it's the only way in and out. Upon approach we discover two bylaw officers stopping traffic and most traffic is turning around and going back. When it got to be out turn Officer Helpful tells us that parking is closed and we can walk (2 kms one way), get a taxi ($$), or here's a helpful flyer. The flyer lists some park and ride locations for a shuttle service that is free after 5pm. Yes. The children's event is over at 4pm, but if you're going to the concerts at night you can get there for free.

But wait! The flyer was retarded. Not only is the shuttle service free after 5pm, it doesn't START until 5pm. We go to one of the park and ride locations, there is no indication of where the shuttle service would be, the people who work at the business have seen no buses, nor do they know anything about the shuttle service. So we wander across the road to a bus stop where there are many other people waiting with their children. 15 minutes later a bus comes, I ask him if he's going to Mac Island, he says to get on, get a transfer, he will take us to a place that we can catch the Mac Island bus. Good times.

Eventually we got there. Then it hailed. I kid you not. Hail. X and I are waiting in line for one of the bouncy castle things, my mom had run for cover from the rain, and then the "rain" starts bouncing off the grass! Of course they close the bouncy castles. So there I am, 6 months pregnant with twins, 3 kms away from my car, disappointed 5 year old, standing in the hail. WOOT!

But really, it was a good day. Events Wood Buffalo may have dropped the ball in a ROYAL manner, but you can't keep a determined-to-be-happy 5 year old down. We took a turn around the tents and discovered some sandboxes! Huzzah! X shed his shoes and socks and dove into the sand with wild abandon! Digging, filling the bucket, trying to make a sand castle, talking to other kids near him. He was pretty happy in there! I couldn't figure out why the volunteer kept sprinkling red sparkles in the sand, but I guess that's how they were making it a patriotic event! The rain stopped and we did get a couple more bouncy castle turns in before things were closed down for the afternoon.

The funniest thing about it all was the World Stage that was set up. For the afternoon there were displays of cultural dance and song. When we first arrived there were some adult belly dancers on the stage. X cocked one eyebrow and said "that's weird. You're not going to watch that are you mom?" He was actually disturbed! He blushed and avoided looking at the stage until we were leaving and had to walk by again. When we were leaving it was a completely different story! There was a little girl, about 4, doing a Bolly-wood type dance. He was entranced! Completely under her spell. When she was done we started walking away again, but then another little girl, about 6 or 7, came out. "We can leave after this one last show ok mom?" Rrrright. My mother made a comment that at least he was age-appropriate!

Getting back to our car was another adventure, and we did end up having to walk 8 or 9 blocks because I wasn't going to fool with transfers again, but we got there. And I didn't go into labour. Bonus.

Long blog, sorry, but I had to tell somebody about my disaster day! :) Thanks for making it to the end here!

Odd Things 9

I wanted to post yesterday, I really really did, but I was exhausted! Canada Day totally wore me out! But more about that later!

I only have two odd things this week, but they're sort of convoluted so stay with me!

The first one is an interesting example of how my brain works, not only during pregnancy, but all the time. It's also something I can keep you posted on. This odd thing has three parts, present, past and future! Presently Little Miss A (1 year old girl that I babysit) gets the hiccups every day at 8:45am. I don't know why it happens, but it does. I also know that 8:45am is 15 minutes before her morning nap time, so I always make sure I have her water cup on hand every morning so I can help her get rid of them before I put her down for her nap! Have you ever tried to sleep while hiccuping? Not possible! This daily situation reminded me that X got the hiccups everyday for the last 6 weeks that I was pregnant with him. I remember feeling bad that I could do nothing to help him with the hiccup issue! I would just sit still and rub my belly while he hiccuped away. Poor unborn baby. Then I thought...what if the twins get the hiccups while I'm still pregnant? Won't that feel odd! If one gets them and the other doesn't? Or if they both get them but hiccup at different times? Oh gosh. I think the last few weeks are going to be strange anyway! I only have 11 or 12 weeks left by the way. Oh boy.

Odd thing number two is a funny story. My husband came home from work the other day with a birth announcement from a co-worker. It's a very nice full-colour on card stock picture of the baby with his name, date of birth and birth weight printed on it. This baby was 6lbs 13ozs when he was born. M looks at me and says "6 lbs?! You could sneeze that out!"
Well at least I know he appreciates my...skill? Talent? Ability to produce "extra-healthy" sized babies. Hahahaha. Sometimes my husband is just as odd as I am, in case you weren't aware! :)