Christmas #1

I tried to post this yesterday, but a scheduled service time-out on the blog server caused all my work to go unsaved. Drat rats phooey kablooey.

We had Jake's family Christmas yesterday morning, with all the presents that his sisters and gramma sent up with Linda and Scott. Hayden woke up and went into the living room and then was strangely quiet. I left the bedroom to see what he was doing, and he was just standing there staring at the tree and all the presents. Then he looked at me and broke out into a million mile smile. It was priceless.

The Presents

Hayden sees the presents

Hayden LIKES the presents

He likes them a lot
Hayden enjoys present #1 so much he is not interested in the others.
But eventually he understand there's more where that first one came from!
Nanna helps him open them up.
More presents!
Nanna and Pappy open their presents too.

Hayden and Sage in their matching outfits, just a small sample of what they received from their generous southern aunties! (sorry Cybil, Rhi and Erica, we don't know who sent what for some of the stuff, so thanks to all of you for everything!) And great job Daddy for getting both kids smiling in the same photo!

"Oh Wow!" My three boys. Aren't they cute?

Candy Cane Head

Linda shows off her beautiful angel.
An afternoon nap in her new shirt with one of Hayden's new friends.

This is an older photo from last week that was still on the camera. This was taken around midnight when we were going to bed, I went in to check on Hayden and he was down at the foot of his bed! Don't worry, he didn't fall off. I moved him back under the covers at the safe end of the bed.

Here's Hannah! and some other stuff

Wendi and Chris emailed this photo to us, so I'm sharing. What a little darling!

In other news, Jake's parents got here today at 4pm-ish, during our freezing rain day we have been having. They brought many gifts from themselves and also Jake's generous sisters, so tomorrow morning we're going to have Christmas! The presents are under the tree now and it looks very impressive. We'll take photos once all the presents are under there and share with y'all tmr.

I took the car to the store to get some stuff for breakfast and it runs really great! Power steering rocks my world. Also I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief to discover that there are rear shoulder belts, which means we don't have to fart around installing tether anchors for the carseats! I AM SO RELIEVED!!!

It's great having Jake's parents here. We spent the evening catching up, sharing stories, and being really comfortable in our living room. It will be a great week.

In-Laws

My in-laws are coming! My in-laws are coming! I never get to say that. We're all so excited! I keep reminding Hayden that Nanna and Pappy are coming to visit, and show pictures to him. He hasn't said anything about being excited, but I know he will be once they're here. They're due to get here tomorrow night. They're leaving Johnstown PA at noon today, and driving the 5-6 hours to Niagara Falls and spending the night. Then they'll finish the last 6-hour leg of the journey on Tuesday after some sight-seeing.

Then they'll be here! Y i p p e e !!

Hannah Marie Daze

My cousins Chris and Wendi had a baby on Wednesday! [Chris is the oldest cousin on my mother's side. He's the first son of the second daughter of my grandmother.] Hannah was born at 12:45am and was 8 lbs 7 oz, 19 inches long. Tonight they had a Meet and Greet for the fam, and I went with Hayden and Sage. (Jake had worked all day and was too tired to attend.) Wendi has another daughter from her first marriage, Meghan, who's in grade 8 - and such a proud older sister too! I forgot to bring my camera to the party, so I don't have any photos until someone else emails me some. I'm sure you'll see her soon. The funny thing was that Sage looks humongous next to her! Even tho she was only one ounce lighter than Sage at birth, she looked sooo impossibly tinier than him. It's hard to believe Sage was practically the same size just a few short months ago. Hannah has lots of light brownish reddish blond hair, gorgeous wee face, and a perfectly shaped head. She has very long fingers, and as Wendi described them, a "bouquet of toes". I thought that was very lovely and poetic :o)

Our congratulations to the new addition! You done good. Can't wait to have play dates with her and Sage!

Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat.

Christmas is coming and all I can think about is that I have to really buckle down and eat more healthily. Higher amounts of protein at meals, no sugar, no carbs by themselves. Can I give this to myself for Christmas? I want to say that I definitly can. Part of me screams "no! I love the bad stuff too much!" I wish that part of me would shut up. It's good timing to start right now because all the Flakey's are gone, and all I have to do is not buy more. That cream inside them tho really knows my name. I can have a tiny bowl of icecream after supper, but after this tub is gone, I will not get more. Also I'm going to see if I can stop all eating by 8pm. My cousin who's advising me said when she was in weight-loss-mode she stopped eating at 5pm. I don't think that's reasonable for me at the beginning of my journey, but I think 8pm is a still a challenge, but a do-able one.

I started doing this way of eating last November, and lost 18 lbs over Christmas and into January, but I was pregnant and the thought of all that meat all the time was nauseating and I had to stop. This time I will stick with it!

So now I'm off to make my eggs for breakfast!

Slacker

Lately I haven't posted a lot. Maybe it's got something to do with the Wii? Well whatever it is, I shouldn't be neglecting my trusty blog.

Things that have happened in the past few days:

1) Tuesday my dad thought he had a heart attack but thank goodness it turned out to be fibromyalgia in his chest wall. Still very painful, and I spent the day with him in Emerg. on Tuesday. He's feeling much better now.

2) Tuesday night I attended a focus group that concerned Bell Aliant, the name of Bell now everywhere in Ontario except Toronto through Kingston to Ottawa and also everywhere in Quebec except Montreal. It has been the name of Bell in the Maritimes for a few years now. They wanted to know our thoughts on the name change, but no one really knew what it was, and it happened 10 months ago! Anyway it was kinda interesting and I got paid $65 for it. Plus coffee and cookies. Whoopie!

3) Wednesday Jake went to work and I played Wii in between caring for the kids.

4) Thursday Jake didn't work and we both played Wii all day.

5) Today was Friday and we were supposed to have a friend over, but sadly we slipped her mind and so we spent the day playing Wii. Jake did clean the carpet in the living room in preparation for his parent's visit next week. Hayden and I ate spaghetti for supper (sauce courtesy of Auntie Penny via my parents - It was great Pen!).

And now you're all up to speed.

Growth Progress

The health nurse came by yesterday and unfortunately I was not able to be at the meeting, but Jake was there holding the fort and here's the measurements as accurate as pie. Is pie really that accurate? Yes! Especially when it's your sister's mother-in-law's home-made rhubarb pie!

Hayden weighs 33 1/2 pounds, and Sage is a whopping 16 pounds 4 ounces. Sage is also 24 1/2 inches long. We didn't get a height on Hayden, but at last count he was 3 feet tall exactly (36 inches).

Pretty soon I want to get or make one of those wooden Giraffe neck and head thingies that you put on the wall to measure and track your kids' heights. I guess it doesn't have to be a giraffe. And this could be a christmas present or birthday present for Hayden, if anyone out there is in the market for gift ideas for him.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

Once upon a time there was a little husband named Jake. Jake loved his video games and was always looking for news updates on the computer to find out when the newest versions of games and game systems were being released.

One day, he discovered that his FAVORITE video game manufacturer Nintendo was coming out with a brand new system called Wii (pronounced Whee, or as we like to pronounce it, WHEEEEEEEEEE!!!). But it wasn't going to come out for a long time. It had innovative game playing and a whole new world of games. He waited and waited, and when it came close to Christmas time, he told his wife that he wanted Wii for his Christmas present, since the release date was a few weeks before then. His wife, looking at the price tag, said "no way" and that was that. The little husband was very sad. He decided that he would sacrifice and trade in his other game systems in order to lower the cost of the Wii. He had the Nintendo Game Cube and the newest version of Nintendo Gameboy, plus a few good games that he could get a lot of money for if he traded them in. And with that promise, his wife agreed. The Wii would cost about $320 including taxes, but the trade in value of all his other stuff was to his calculation about $100. And that was okay. Release day was November 19th 2006 for the Wii. Little Jake was so excited the night before, he decided he would go to the store at 7am to try and buy one. His wife told him about the time she was 8 and she and her mom and her sister sat outside a Woolco from 6 in the morning waiting for a Cabbage Patch Kid. She had put nailpolish on the night before, but wasn't allowed to wear nail polish, so this was a naughty thing for her to have done. She was afraid that if her mother saw the nailpolish, she wouldn't let her come on the neat adventure, which happened to be on a school day. In order to hide the nailpolish, she wore some gloves, but then a little birdie flew itself into the window of the store and stunned itself. The caring mother and girls carefully picked it up and let it recover on their hands. The mom and sister laughed as it walked around on their bare skin, and they told the naughty sister with the nailpolish to take off her gloves so she could feel the tickly sensation of the birdy's feet. Wanting to feel the birdy feet, she removed her gloves and the nailpolish was discovered. She was in trouble.

But I've digressed.

So Jake woke up on Sunday, Release Day, half an hour before the alarm he'd set, and went out to wait for a Wii. The first store he went to had a huge crowd, and only 20 systems available, he knew he would have no chance there. As he passed Future Shop, he saw people with tents who'd camped out over night waiting in line. He got what he thought was a good spot in line at Zellers and was hopeful. He was seventh in line, but just before the store opened, the manager came out to say they only had five, and Jake was out of luck again. He came home and was sad. He looked online throughout the day and saw that people were selling them on Ebay, but they were going for anywhere between $600 and $900! That's too much, Bob! said his wife, even tho his name was Jake.

Then Monday, the day after release day, Jake and his wife went out shopping with their two little children. They took Jake's old systems in for trade, and actually got $50 more for it all than he had originally figured. On a whim, the family went to Wal Mart to see when their next shipment of Wii's would be. Jake asked a very young and pimply sales clerk if he knew when they'd be getting more. The clerk said "there's some in the back. I"ll get you one." WHAT? Jake became very excited. They waited and waited for the clerk to come back. They saw another young pimply clerk and mistook him for the one who said he'd go check. Jake asked if he'd found any in back, and the clerk said "no, we don't know when we'll be getting more in. Could be a few weeks." Jake asked his wife if that was the same guy. His wife had forgotten what the original pimply clerk looked like, so they both assumed it was the right guy. They waited a few more minutes, but had lost all hope. They needed a cable for their VCR, so they went to go look for one. Just then, the original pimply clerk showed up with a box of three Wii's! Jake and his wife couldn't believe it! They got one! Jake asked if they could get two, thinking to sell one for profit on Ebay, but there was a limit of one. Oh well. The family hoofed it back to the store where they had a credit, so they could get the necessary games and an extra controller. While there, another customer asked that store clerk if they had any Wii's. Jake volunteered the information that there were two Wii's behind the counter at Wal Mart as of five minutes ago. His wife said "Just ask the twerpy clerk, he'll get you one!" Jake said "they're all twerps" and then to their chagrin, they both noticed at the same time that the second pimply clerk who had told them there were no Wii's was in the store and looking at them. He said "Yeah, he wasn't supposed to sell those ones. The manager had told us not to touch them." Oh well! Jake and his wife felt bad for calling the sales clerks twerps, but their guilt faded quickly as the excitement of owning a Wii overpowered all other emotions.

And they lived happily ever after.

The End.

Winter Gear

Last Christmas (or was it his birthday? Can't remember.) Carol made Hayden this cute little set of mittens, scarf and adorable hat with jingle bells on three of the peaks. He was too small for it last year, but this year it fits him just perfect! And he loves wearing the hat too. Thank you Auntie Carol! You sure do make great gear!

Ornaments

Today was Sudbury's and Toronto's Santa Clause Parade. Now I don't feel so silly having my Christmas Tree up. I do wanna ask if any one else has ever had trouble with their ornaments being unruly or so heavy they bend the branches, or knocking other ornaments off as they try to get higher up in the tree? Has this ever happened to anyone else?

Three Months Already!

Time sure is flying by. I don't want to even think about the fact that I have to return to work in nine months. EEEEAAARRRRKKGPHQ! What a horrid thought. To change the subject, here's my littlest darling in his new coat to celebrate three months of life outside my womb.

Wee Sir Laughs-a-lot

Sage has started laughing! It's extremely cute. Last night he was in his pod just after his before-bed-feeding and started cooing and laughing away at whatever it was that was tickling his fancy. Jake and I were just trying to settle down to sleep, but we kept bursting out laughing when he'd do his little laughs and squeals. He'll be three months old tomorrow! Time has flown by. Next Tuesday the Health Nurse is coming over so we'll get an accurate weight and length. I should try to locate some of Hayden's progress reports so we can compare, but I'm sure Sage is bigger than Hayden was at this age.

I BOUGHT THE CUTEST COAT FOR HIM THE OTHER DAY!!! It was only $14.50 at Children's Place, not even on sale! I couldn't believe it was so reasonably priced. He's really upset right now or else I would rush right over and put it on him and photograph it for you so y'all can see. I'll do that tomorrow :o) I also got a little red neck-tie for Hayden with a few tiny snowmen skiing down the slopes. I'll get him a white dress shirt and that'll be his Christmas outfit.

In other news, JAKE'S PARENTS ARE COMING TO VISIT!!! For the first time in three and a half years, some of Jake's family are able to come up. The reason they're coming, besides seeing us of course, is to drive Jake's Gramma's car up here, which we are buying from her. It's a four door! It has a trunk! It's old, but only has 55,000 miles on it. It's an '88 Chevy Celebrity. Linda and Scott (mom and step-dad) will be flying back to Pittsburgh, since flights right now to that city are very reasonable. They'll be here probably Tuesday November 28th, and then staying till Saturday. I'll be driving them to Toronto for their 1:45pm flight. I am so excited to see them again, and to introduce them to Sage, and to show them both of Sudbury's sights. And this close to Christmas, I'm so glad Jake will be able to see them and share some of the season with them. Good thing our tree is already up!

Here it is

Okay, if you were the 1000th visitor, please view the following parade as your prize. (If you weren't, then please avert your eyes.) The other prizes will be mailed and include a portable dvd player, a coupon for a free Wi game system, and several little plastic GI Joe figurines - the kind with their feet melted together on a puddle of plastic. Also included will be seventeen mini-marshmallows.

And HERE IS THE PARADE!

There's the marching band... oooh they're playing Semper Fidelis (http://www.dws.org/sousa/mp2/semperfi.mp2)

And now the upside down clowns!

Here comes the baton-swinging cheerleader type squad.

Look at the confetti! Look at the huge floating balloons!

And finally, here comes Santa Clause! Oh wait wrong parade.

Clarification

Apparently some of my readers don't know how to behave themselves, and are becoming unruly in their fight to determine who was the 1000th visitor. One of them said they have a picture of the event, an another one said they have a screen shot of it.

I will now be requiring proof before any parades or presents get given.

Send me proof of the 1000th visit, and your parade awaits!

And we have a winner!

I got a comment from an anonymous person saying they were the 1000th visitor! Just provide some identification and your prizes will be mailed to you. And in response to the sheep question, they were just there trying to help me sleep :o)

1000th VIsitor!

Well? who was it? Who was my 1000th visitor? Let me know because the parade marshal is standing by. If you don't show up by Monday night, then I will award the parade to the lucky viewer who was 1001th.

Let me know! Or not. Whatever :o)

PS Yes I am up at 5am this morning. I couldn't sleep after feeding Sage. I played in a poker tournament at Cranky Joe's last night and I keep reviewing my hands in my head. Not my fleshy hands, my cards. ya. It was so much fun! I'm going back next Sunday for more.

I just had some shreddies and hopefully I will be able to sleep now.

Snowbaby -er, I mean Snowtoddler

Today I promised Hayden we would go outside and play in the snow. Last night I bought him some boots, but they turned out to be too small. I'll have to exchange the SIZE EIGHTS for SIZE NINES! Holy big feet, Batman.

This is what I put on Hayden in order to play outside, in this order: Thick socks, thick jogging pants, turtleneck onesie (I had to lower the pants again to button it), polar fleece sweater, mittens, snowpants, rubber boots, heavy winter parka, toque. He could hardly walk! Even tho the boots didn't fit, Jake convinced me that we weren't going to freeze his toes off if he wore his rubber boots. Then I put on my own shoe-boots and a sweater and since I was sweating heavily from applying all Hayden's snow gear, that's all I got. I grabbed the camera and out we went!

At first he didn't want to let go of me, understandably since his ballance was all off. But then he loosened up and let me take a few steps away from him. Then he fell down and got snow on his mitten, which made that hand totally useless, of course. I put the camera back inside and we walked around the yard in the wonderful packing snow. Then his boot came off and he didn't want the other one on either, and kicked that one off too. So I carried him inside (no easy feat when he's wearing slippery snow gear!) and he cried for 20 minutes wanting back out, but he didn't want his boots back on. So, if you tally up all the time it took getting him ready and after the fact dealing with his sadness, that's about 45 minutes worth of trouble for a 7 1/2 minute excursion outside. Who said parenting wasn't fun?

Almost a Snow Angel

The Useless Hand

whups sorry

In my last post I asked for snow three times. And now this is what we got last night and today:

At first I didn't want to open the door and let a draught in, but then I realized how silly it would look to have a picture with screen in the way. Then I had to laugh because right after I took these pictures, I came on the computer and checked my friend's blog (http://livinginyellowknife.blogspot.com) and she wrote about taking pictures of the snow and how she leans out her door to do it LOL which is exactly what I did for the second picture. Ahh great minds think alike, eh?

I apologize for bringing on the snow, but really, I'm glad! I can't wait for sledding and snowball fights and building a fort in the snow with Hayden. Last winter he didn't walk yet, so couldn't enjoy the winter as much. We did sit him in a snowbank once, but since he didn't have boots, I didn't want him to crawl around. We're lucky because the snowplough leaves a big mound of snow in the yard next to our house, so Anya and Carol have already promised to come over and sled on it, once it's big enough. Hayden will have a ball! I hope.

This is the first winter in a long time that I am not anxious for something. Last year I was a big ball of anxiety since I had to return to work after a year off, and the year before I was a big ball of anxiety since I was about to have my first baby. I'll be off work, with two great little babies, and a caring adoring husband who loves me. Who could ask for anything more? Maybe a little visit from Jake's mom, that's what! I don't want to say too much just in case it doesn't pan out, but it is looking rather promising that Linda may be coming up for a visit possibly! That would be so awesome.

Ok, we're ready!

Well the weather outside is(n't) frightful (yet)

But inside, it's just delightful!

And as long as we've no place to go,

Let it snow let it snow let it snow!

It's not snowing yet, in fact it was 11 degrees today. (Or was that yesterday? Who can keep track of what day it is! Not me, please refer to 2 blogs prior to this one.) BUT DID THAT STOP US? no way. We saw a sale, and we pounced! We acted! We Purchased Our Christmas Tree. We then Purchased Lights And Decorations. And then, THEN, we came home with our tree tied to the roof of our little tiny Tracker, and we Put The Tree Up. Yes. This is not a miss print. Take a look:

I think I'm going to change the star. We got LED lights for the branches and that white glows with a bluish tinge. It doesn't match the yellowish tinge to the regular lights of the star. Here it is in the dark:

Oooh Aahhh. Looks kinda like the night sky up in Yellowknife when the solar winds are a-blowin. Pictures of the real thing can be viewed (along with many more great photos including those of a cute baby and nifty parents) at http://livinginyellowknife.blogspot.com

And these cuties I got from the dollar section of the grocery store yesterday, and put them up right away as well. Notice each one represents a member of my beautiful family.

So November 8th is kinda early for a Christmas Tree, isn't it? I mean, the month isn't even into double digits yet. Oh well! Jake was feeling Christmas-y and I jumped on it before the Grinchification starts. He can be prone to a very grumpy Grinchy attitude towards Christmas. I think it has to do with his family being so far away.

Mini Movie

Hey there's my little brother in his chair! He sure looks happy to see me.

I think I'll give him a little kiss.
What's that over there?

You mean over there?
It's Lacey! Lookout, she's lick-y.
My thumb sure tastes good.
Yikes! I told you she was lick-y!

Wednesday? Nope.

I thought today was Wednesday, then I signed on to blog and it said I hadn't posted since Sunday. That would make it 2 days in a row without blogging! Had it been that long? I didn't think it felt that long. Then I realized today is Tuesday, not Wednesday. That made me feel better.

I think I'm getting a cold. I've taken some vitamin C and given some to Hayden as well. I've got that icky back of the throat/nasal feeling you get right before a cold. Hopefully early detection will veer it off. Sage has been sneezing last night and today as well, so I think I musta caught it from him.

Mmmm I'm craving coffee and we only have a crappy kind that I don't like. Ok that was judgemental. We only have a kind that I don't like. If only Tim Horton's delivered. Jake's at work today with the car, otherwise I might consider loading the kids into the car and going to get me one. Maybe I'll just suffer through and drink the stuff we have, but add lots of cream and sugar.

I'm having a free-association blog today. Welcome to my mind! What else am I thinking of? Yesterday I learned on Surviving Motherhood (a tv show onTLC) that if your baby doesn't like tummy time, which Sage does not, you can roll a receiving blanket up and put it under his chest and it helps him push his head up. Eventually they get strong enough and you don't need to put the blanket there any more.

We don't have any ice-cream.

Funny Anya

I remembered a funny story I wanted to post from our Toronto trip. We were at Sheena's house, Carol's mother-in-law, and Sheena was talking to Anya about the photographs in the room.

Sheena: "Who's that man up there with the beard?" meaning BJ.

Anya: "Daddy!"

Sheena: "And who's that lady with him?" meaning Carol.

Anya: "Mommy!"

Sheena: "And who's that little girl sitting with them?" meaning Anya herself.

Anya: "You!"

Sheena: "That's right! That's you!"

Carol: "Yeah I'm trying to work on that...."

The Throne

While I was away in Toronto, Jake made this throne for Hayden, the "King of Kings" namesake. When he told me about it on the phone, I had my doubts, but after I came home and saw it, I was thoroughly impressed! Way to go my creative honey, Jake! I love you.

Sage likes it too. "Fetch me my slippers and a bottle of my finest formula!"