Oddities
Quentin and I were shopping today and got into a checkout line behind a mother with two children. There was a boy around 4 years old in the cart, and a baby girl in the seat on top of the cart. Quentin wanted a closer look at the 'cute cute baby,' so I picked him up and moved him closer. The mother asked her son if he wanted to see the little boy (he was about twice Quentin's size). "Do you want me to help you out so that you can see him, Quinn?" I asked her to repeat his name again. Turns out, the baby girl was named Elisabeth. (She said that's how they spelled it, different from Jade's middle name.)
After Quentin got sick at the end of last week, I ended up starting to feel horrible all weekend. I'm still not over it. Tyler stayed home today because he felt so bad he didn't feel he could move out of the fetal position. So, what did I do? Pushed myself too far and mowed both lawns. It was the only sunny day in the last week and a half, and we're not supposed to get another one any day soon. Why not leave them? The weeds out front were getting pretty tall not having been mowed in two weeks, and the back yard was getting knee high as it hadn't been mowed in over a month. Looks a LOT better now, and Quentin can run around the backyard again without getting lost, or having to worry about all the bumblebees in the buttercups.
I feel like crap. I hope that we all feel better tomorrow because I don't want to skip swimming already!
Take care.
ARRRRGGGG!
My dear son is sick again. Yesterday afternoon, he says he's feeling sick. Falls asleep in the car in the less than five minutes it took to get to the vet's office to pick up cat food. (Yes, we were going to walk, but I wasn't going to make him walk if he wasn't feeling well.) Sure enough, we're not home long when he starts crying and heading to bed "I want to go to bed!" when he loses the contents of his tummy. And again later that night. Today we didn't have that happen, but he was feverish this afternoon, and all day he's feeling sick. "Not so sick, but still a little bit sick."
Jade had a fever too.
I don't want my children to be sick anymore!
Swimming!
Boy, I'm uncomfortably open sometimes, aren't I? lol
Tonight we went swimming. We couldn't get Quentin into swimming lessons this summer (Mommy didn't sign up early enough - bad Mommy!), so we decided we'd start going swimming as a family once a week. Tonight was the first night, and it was lots of fun. We went into the tot pool first because Quentin said he wanted to go into the little pool. As it was the first night, we weren't going to push the issue so that everybody would have fun and want to come back. Jade was just...accepting of it all. She didn't move much, would NOT go to Daddy, but was perfectly content with Mommy moving her about the pool. No real facial reaction. Then Mommy decided she was too warm, and took Jade over to the 'big' pool...a few degrees cooler.
Jade perked right up. After the initial cool shock wore off, she was giggling, she was splashing, she was kicking when moving around the pool... In short, she was having fun. When Mommy started having her 'jump' off the side of the pool, the giggles and smiles were soon accompanied by Jade pushing herself off the edge. The good mood carried over to going back in the tot pool. She wasn't as active as she'd been in the big pool, but she at least let Daddy hold her for quite some time. She was also putting her face in the water, and she spit out any water that happened to get in her mouth from that or people splashing her without any upset. She was even content getting showered off.
Quentin had a blast too, but refused to go in the cooler pool. Too cold for him after being in the tot pool. He said his favourite part of swimming was when he was jumping into the water. I think his favourite part was dumping buckets of water on Mommy and Daddy's heads. He was pretty good about the times his face did go in the water, and he didn't panic too much about getting water in his ears. Before we went, he told us he decided that he liked the "bubble bubble" sound his ears made when they got water in them, so that helped. Getting ready to go home, he didn't let Daddy have the shower after Quentin was washed up - Daddy had to get his own!
Everybody is now exhausted, and looking forward to next week. I think this is one of our better ideas for family time.
Take care all.
Family
First off, Jade does have her second tooth in. I took her downstairs and checked after I last blogged, and sure enough it was through.
I have added two family pages to my links. There is a link to Tyler's Aunt and Uncle's page. Laurie and Damien are the proud parents of many children and live in Calgary. I have also linked to my brother and sister-in-law's page. Maria and Kris are the proud parents of one gorgeous little girl, Annika.
I've met Maria once, and that was at my wedding. A little odd, I know. But not as odd as people telling me last year that Kris and I are related in some weird way. I didn't think being brother and sister was being related in a weird way, but okay. I worked in a fairly tight community of a school, where Maria's sister's then fiance worked (and Maria's sister had worked as well). When I found out, the students thought it was rather strange that I didn't know them from before.
Well, it is and it isn't. I really don't like that I don't see my brother or his wife, and it really bothers me I have yet to meet his daughter. I don't know how they feel, as we don't even talk. (Although we have now officially posted on each other's blogs!) I wanted to go to Annika's Christening on Kris's birthday (still remember it every year). But, there's a problem. I have seen his mother once since our parents separated back in the summer after grade 2. I'm a fairly strong person as a result of what occurred in the years prior to their separation. I saw her four years ago at American Thanksgiving. My dad and I were visiting my sister (Kris's sister by birth), and I thought he might want to see Kris so I wasn't getting the hint we should be taking off. Kris walked through the door. His grandparents walked through the door, I still recognized them. And this other woman walked through the door. It took me a minute to figure out she wasn't an aunt I didn't remember. There was nothing in my mind that had prepared me to see her, and I just never thought I would be crossing paths with her. My dad said he saw the instant I recognized her and immediately shooed me out the door without any words passing between anyone, and took me home. I shook uncontrollably for at least three hours. It's not something I want my children to see me do.
Anyways. In my mind, Kris and his sister Holly have remained my brother and sister, and always will, even if my father hadn't adopted them, which he did. Four children in a house for something like five years makes bonds for life, even if they're only the memories in my head. My deceased stepfather's children are still my brother and sisters, even though they were not adopted by my mother. I loved having 9 brothers and sisters, and now I have 11 with my mother's most recent marriage.
There was no way I was having only one child. Brothers and sisters are too important to me, even if we don't talk or see each other often. Lives are busy, I know, it sucks sometimes. But I love all of them and didn't want my children to not know a little bit of how great it is to grow up with at least one sibling.
Ah, the random thought spewing that can occur when one is tired and avoiding job-hunting.
Take care.
A new tooth
Jade's first tooth broke through yesterday. The second one shouldn't be too far behind. She's quite proud of it and its ability to get a reaction out of me while she's eating. Right now she's lying on her big brother's bed playing peek-a-boo with me. She holds her hands together and then moves them in front of her eyes. Big smiles when she sees me again.
She just snagged Quentin's sippy cup of water and is getting herself a drink. She's growing up so fast! There aren't even any handles on the cup.
We realized last week that she was scooting herself backwards. We knew she could spin on her belly, and roll in any direction, but the scooting was a new thing. Then, this weekend she started scooting herself forwards.
I'm not sure how tomorrow is going to go. I should get a call to go work tomorrow morning. Yesterday Tyler wasn't even enough to make her happy if I went out of sight at all. This morning isn't much better. I leave her in the kitchen to take food to the dining room and it's a big panic. Fun for Nana tomorrow, I suppose.
Time to feed. Take care all.
Nonsense
So, Crofton House has posted for an English teacher. They told me that they welcome me to apply again at any time. Does that mean now?
The school in Tsawwassen sent me a letter. I think because I said I don't teach grade 8 very well they didn't hire me. I don't think they were looking for a senior teacher. Oh well.
Talked to my dad last night. He's ticked off at the schools for not hiring the right person. He also was looking for a partner to join him for the tv show 'The Amazing Race." And, he was getting morbid saying that due to history of the men in his family, he's living on borrowed time and he could go any day now. He's one of the healthiest people I know, so I don't think so. Sheesh, I lost one father not too long ago, I really, really don't want to lose this one any time soon. Okay, any time, but I do have half a baby toe in reality so while it may happen some day, not any day soon that I need to worry about. Give me another 30, 50, 60 years. Something like that.
I sat Quentin and Jade on the bottom of the stairs to take their picture today (filmnotdigital so you'll see it sometime in the whoknowswhen future). They both sat there smiling and looking so adorable, I had to force myself to not keep taking the same picture until the roll ran out.
Jade sits so well these days. Just had to say that because she's sitting on the spare bed beside me, playing with the phone, just as happy as can be. If she has a toy or two, she will sit and play quite happily for about an hour. On Tuesday that let me weed the front garden before Quentin woke up, and yesterday to finish weeding and planting it (with the help of my mother-in-law).
Quentin is definitely starting to feel better. Today he actually has been hungry. Okay, he's also put himself back to bed four times because he's been tired, but he's doing a lot better. (None of those returning to bed instances have been for longer than five minutes.) He's picked up a habit in the last month or so that I'm not so sure about. He sings to the tunes of his music class songs, but he sings nonsensical words. Or he sings the song, but changes the first sound of each word to a constant consonant or something else a little odd. Drip drop changes to mip mop, or bip bop...right now he's changing 'Skip to my Loo' to be "kick, kick, kick koo kie kow."
Oh, Jade added peas to what she eats now. So, it's up from just milk to also having rice cereal, and peas. But the peas have to be in the cereal. She can also scoot backwards, roll in any direction, and turn herself around on the floor.
Be well.
Two updates
Quentin was doing just fine yesterday...except for not eating much. He had two bites of oatmeal for breakfast, and two bites of applesauce for lunch. By dinner he actually ate a little more and all day he was saying he felt fine and didn't feel sick at all. In the middle of the night he had a bit of a fever again and this morning he did not want to get out of bed and his tummy felt sick. So, I let him sleep and now his tummy is "not so sick, but still is a little."
I received a phone call this morning from Crofton House (the all girls school). They aren't hiring me. It was nice of them to call and let me know. I'm also welcome to apply again at any time.
So, I'm probably going to work a half day or two with Coquitlam to make sure I'm eligible for positions in the fall. Heck, even if it's only one half day, that still makes me an official employee.
Time to tend my kidlins. Take care.
Happy Mother's Day!
Happy Mother's Day to all you mommies out there, and to everybody's mommies!
I was trying to figure out when I'd get to start unwrapping my presents myself again, and figured out it's going to be when Jade and Quentin start fighting over who gets to open them. Shouldn't be too many holidays away. :)
Quentin is sick. Feverish yesterday, threw up. Seems fine today, but still wondering if we should bring him to dinner with his great-great-grandmother. Yesterday his tummy hurt (his chest, "not too bad," and his head was "fine, better than his tummy." Then of course, there were the fights to get him in the tub to cool him off. He wanted to go potty first. He sat on the potty for almost an hour without going, and didn't want to get in the tub without. Ended up picking him up and carrying him into the tub where he proceeded to hit me and scream at me until I was about to take him out again (we were done) and he decided he didn't want to go potty, he wanted to stay in the tub with me.
My breakfast is ready. Hope you all had yummy breakies too.
:)
I love my children
Quentin is the sweetest boy. Of course, he can also be a handful, but he is my son so that's expected. Out of seemingly nowhere "Mommy, your hair is beee-you-teee-ful." I also very rarely have any problems getting kisses and hugs from him.
My daughter has definitely taken over my role as princess. I have realized that I have too much responsibility now and have to fully assume the role of queen. She's quite happy to take on the position of being pampered and getting her (almost) every whim.
I went out today for four hours (the longest I've been away from Jade) for an orientation to become a TOC (Teacher-On-Call) for the Coquitlam School District. I could start working Monday if I really wanted to. Today they were short 50 TOCs, and they were getting 40 set up at the orientation. I was thinking that I might do a half day here or there, but then I got home to find out my princess had been miserable without me. She woke up early today - one of three times in the last two months - and did not want me out of her sight. Then she just looked like she was wretched when I got home...her face red from crying and being tired, and just not wanting to let me go. She wasn't hungry, she wasn't upset about her Nana watching her (she would have done the same with Tyler), she just wanted Mommy. A bit more money, getting known in the schools, or being with my children... I just don't know this minute. I have teacher friends in at least four schools in the district that I know of that would recommend people call me, so I don't know if I'm all too worried about that. But, yeah.
:) Princess is calling. Take care.
Do I look like a bird to you?
I was picking up Quentin from daycare and had already put Jade into the car. Quentin is doing his usual thing of playing with the rocks while I was busy. As I turn to get him, he says "Look, I was saying hi to the bird!" Sure enough, in the little bush by the door is a bird. A teenage Stellar Jay. Moptop fuzzy feathers on his head, short little wings, looking almost grown up, but still not quite an adult. Cute little guy. Okay, I say hi too, and tell Quentin that it's rather neat to see a bird like that (only a couple feet away from him.)
As I turn to bring Quentin to the car, the bird hops out of the bush and opens his beak up wide asking for food from me. "Sorry little bird, I don't have any food for you." And I put Quentin in the car. I come around again, and the bird has hopped behind my car, following me. I don't want to run it over, so I try to shoo it over to where we first saw it. No chance. It goes under my car. It keeps asking me for food. It follows me as I try to put Quentin's stuff in the car. It tries to hop up on the car door. Basically, it won't leave me alone.
Okay, I knock on the door and ask Nahid for a box and to call the SPCA. She won't because she won't leave the one child she's taking care of still alone. Okay, good, but you can carry him with you to grab a phone book, can't you? Apparently not. Even though I know she's had people she shouldn't in the daycare area (family members), and a few other things. Whatever. But, she does call her neighbour to come over with a box (she only had an open tissue box). In the meantime, the bird hops onto my foot to ask me for food again.
I don't think I look like a mommy bird, but it wanted to be on my foot. I think this is actually good because I can carry it out of the way of my car. No such luck...as soon as I got it almost off the driveway, it hopped off my foot and went back to my car. The neighbour teenage boy comes over with a shoe box. I've trapped it under the recycling box because it's all I can find around me. I really didn't want to drive over this little guy. Obviously the bird didn't want to go in the box, and hopped on my foot to ask for food again. We finally got the bird in the box, and I asked the boy to call the SPCA for me.
Hopefully they send someone soon, as that little bird sure was hungry, and I know that I wouldn't want to be stuck in a shoebox for long. I didn't take him with me in case they could find the nest nearby, that was in Coquitlam, and I live in Burnaby, and well, I don't think my cockatiel really wants a baby Stellar Jay for a companion.
Strangeness.
Take care.
Books, anyone?
After giving birth to Quentin I started selling Usborne books. I'd seen them around for years, owned a couple of their encyclopedias (they are often at the PNE), and loved them. We got Quentin lots of books, and quite a few other people got books too.
With Jade having a fascination for books like her brother did, I'm very tempted to become a seller again. Do any of you think you might be interested in some great books for yourselves or your children? They range from simple board books, bath books, and touchy-feely books, to puzzle books and simple story books, to novels and some great informational books. A lot of their research books have internet links that they keep updated so the information doesn't go out of date, and you know that the sources are reliable.
www.usborne.ca if you want to take a look at the catalogue then let me know! Thank you.
Children falling over themselves giggling at each other. I think I want to take part. Take care.
Jade's check-up
Took Jade in for her 6 month check-up today. She is 8.56 kg (just under 19 lbs) which is in the 90th percentile for her age, and 68.5 cm long (27 inches) which is in the 80th percentile for her age. I think it took Quentin twice as long to get to this weight...
She had her immunizations today too. This girl is amazing. She was more upset that I wasn't feeding her when she was sitting on my lap than she was about getting the shots. Okay, the alcohol in the spots where she got her needles she didn't like too much, but she was smiling before the doctor even finished getting her third needle ready.
I did get tsked that she's not on fruits and vegetables yet. She just started eating the rice cereal more than pushing it out of her mouth. The doctor told me to start her on solids when she was four months. With Quentin's allergies, I didn't think so. As well, she did not want anything other than milk her mouth. No medicine, nothing. Besides, with her size, her health doesn't seem to be lacking.
I think we'll see a tooth come out before the end of the week. There's a hole in her gums that looks promising.
Time to get big brother from daycare. Take care all.
Sheep
Okay, decided not to do the picture thing. Found a series of animals so the children could 'find' a sheep amongst the other animals. (On cards, flip them over...) Then had them make sheep out of toilet paper tubes, egg cartons (needed heads somehow), cotton balls and pipe cleaners. They seemed to enjoy it.
I love my children. Jade spat up tonight so much I took her shirt off and replaced it with one of mine before heading upstairs to find her new clothes. Quentin saw it, and immediately wanted one of my shirts to wear too. After we picked one out, he was content to wait until we were ready to dress him (he'd just had tub time), until he saw Jade again and wanted it on immediately. On my filmnotdigital camera I have what should be a great picture of the two of them lying together giggling while wearing Mommy's shirts.
I'm finally reading the Da Vinci Code. I enjoyed the beginning, but thought that it dumbed things down a little too much. Employing the tell, not show, method of storytelling. I'm almost done now, about 60 pages to go, and I'm rather annoyed. I suspend disbelief as long as I can when I read a book or watch a movie so that I get the full experience, but these 'brilliant minds' that are surrounded by a billion things and know all the background information inside and out don't clue in to certain things that are painfully obvious? Heck, any elementary school student that has read Harry Potter knows the first thing you do with strange writing is look at it in a mirror, let alone someone who is familiar with Da Vinci. Whatever. Interesting spin on history, my fault for not hearing it before, but I haven't thrown my belief systems out the window because of this book. Now I just have to figure out if Tom Hanks is going to irritate me too much to sit through the movie... That feather at the end of Forrest Gump ticked me off enough to hold a pretty serious grudge against him that I've only in recent years started letting go of. Hopefully he won't play the character as idiotic as he was written in the novel.
Time for sleep. Take care.
Tired
Looking for pictures of sheep on the internet to have children glue cotton balls to for Sunday school tomorrow. Urg.
So, I kicked butt on that interview. Embarrassed one teacher out of the three that were inteviewing me, they kept a copy of my favourite lesson plan (how to not plagiarize), and was told that I interviewed well and I'd hear from them next week as the next stage is to meet with the Headmaster. Then I spent an hour in the car trying to get home. It was good, they seemed really nice and like people I'd like to work with, so it wouldn't be the end of the world to work there. It's just so troublesome to get there and home. They asked me what my passions were in my personal life and at work. Super easy to pick my passions in my personal life. I love these two adorable ones and almost everything they do.
Figured out there was a new recipe on the bag of oats we get for our morning oatmeal. Granola bars (instead of oatmeal cookies) that don't use corn syrup. We've definitely adapted to Quentin's allergies, and he's so awesome with them if I even remotely say something will make him itchy, he won't take it from anyone. But, we have had to get creative in what we eat to avoid all corn and wheat in his food. Anyhow, we made the granola bars tonight. It makes two dozen good sized granola bars and boy are they tasty! I think I've found my new favourite recipe. I hate not having homemade things to munch on. Homemade is so much tastier and cheaper. And of course there are so many variations one can make that we shouldn't get bored! These ones have oats, crisp rice, raisins, cranberries, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds and a handful of chocolate chips. Yum.
Take care all.
I'm a good teacher, really I am!
So, another interview tomorrow. This time in Tsawwassen. It's not one I really want because of the commute, but I do need to work so that we get to keep our house.
Last week I had an interview at Crofton House. It's an all girls school, so it would be different, I'd be teaching university prep so it would be great experience. I thought the interview went quite well and was told they'd be making their decision by mid-May and if I found myself in a position where I needed to make a decision before they'd made theirs, to give them a call. All good, so thought I. Then I noticed that they posted the job again today. Okay, it's the same posting they had before and it has other positions on it too, but...yeah. I have a very bruised ego where it comes to jobs.
It didn't work out at the Catholic School. No big surprise as I'm not Catholic, but it still hurt. Okay, it might have if we hadn't purchased our house before we got married, but we really didn't need to be doing the wedding and house thing at the exact same times. I know my stress levels. It didn't work at Marlborough. It was great experience as I taught all five secondary grades, but it's not a great loss to not go back there. We all know that. But I really enjoyed my last school. A lot. I had to be a bit tougher than normal as I was fitting my 10-month curriculum into 8 months, but I thought it went okay. They have their reasons for not hiring me this year (shortage of positions), but it's now my temperament to be skeptical of their hiring a Biology teacher as that is one of the few subjects I can't teach. And, well, that's what the Catholic school did to not hire me was to put in one subject I couldn't teach into every position they hired. (English position with one Religion class, Math with one Computers class, and so on.) I'm hoping I'm just being paranoid as I don't think I ticked anyone off. I really behaved myself there. I did have really bad morning sickness 24 hours a day there for a month with extreme exhaustion thrown in for good measure, but that shouldn't have knocked me out permanently, right?
Anyways. There is good news on the work front. The Coquitlam School District interviewed me on Wednesday for the first time since I got out of university and essentially told me that I was hired and would be at the TOC orientation meeting next Friday. The down side is that we need a steadier income than TOCing gives at the beginning of the school year. (Mortgage, two kids in daycare, Tyler starting schooling with his apprenticeship...) But, I do happen to know a few people in the Coquitlam District that would speak up for me to get positions if not call me in to cover their classes. And, the travel time is great compared to other places I've worked. Plus, I'd probably get to work with some of those teachers I consider friends, and that would be very cool.
Who knows. Everything always works out in the end.
Cute picture
I like this picture. It shows how much Quentin adores his sister, and I think it gives a hint of how Jade is amused by him. They love to laugh at each other. Jade watches Quentin bounce around, and Quentin will do crazy stuff just to make her giggle.
Promised updates on the children.
Quentin: 2 1/2. Screams at bugs. Yells at us that there's a bug in the house if he sees an ant until we come and get it. Resisting potty training. Will pee, but never number two, and now that we've been putting him on the toilet every couple of hours for two weeks steady, he's starting to fight it again. Today we spent the day with the potty near us, and he went (taking his shorts down himself and putting them back on) pretty constantly. At times every five minutes. Only two accidents, and one was number two right beside the potty...so I figure that is getting better. We'll try again tomorrow and see what happens.
He says the most astounding things. The other night he hurt his head, so I later asked him how his head was. He stopped to think, then said "It's better. It still hurts a little bit, but it's getting better." Seriously. Word for word. I didn't know that two year olds could think like that, let alone vocalize it. We got a piano the other week. He loves it, but sometimes gets upset when anyone tries to play anything other than "The Ants Go Marching." (Nobody actually knows how to play that song.) He still loves music class, loves daycare, especially loves doing art, and is looking forward to swimming lessons again, although he refuses to put his ears in the water. (He was fine with that until we went to Italy just before he turned one and they didn't have a tub, only a shower.) Currently he is into puzzles. We've had to add them to the bedtime routine. He can do 25 piece puzzles pretty much no problem, especially by the second time, but the first time he does a puzzle isn't too tough as it is.
Jade: 6 months. BIG. Quentin grew long quickly, but Jade is sturdy to go with the length and has been in 12 month only clothing for about a month. Her waist and Quentin's are the same size (they're only ~10 lbs different). Rolls all over the place and loves getting attention for it. Biggest smile we've ever seen. Loves taking off her socks and shoes. Had two teeth poking almost out last night, but they went back in. Very interested in glasses and getting something to drink from them, but not interested in food too much, except as a means to get a spoon to chew on. She finally discovered splashing in the tub the other day. She had tons of fun doing that, even with the water hitting her face, and she definitely hasn't forgotten. Bathroom was soaked today. She sits up straight, but loves falling over almost as much as rolling over. Rolling over happens to be one of the funniest things she does, according to Jade. Just accuse her of rolling over, and see the smiles and giggles it produces. She stands quite well when supported. Jade also enjoys banging on the piano, and loves any song that she hears her name in. She has a great laugh, and may or may not be getting those bottom teeth any day now. She is very big on showing how she can curl her tongue out of her mouth though.
Okay, sleep is demanding it gets to take me over now.
Take care all!
Initial Posting
The comic book family. Why? Because we have a little boy that looks like his dad and a little girl that looks like her mom. Plus, those children are really funny.
I have lengthy updates on the kids I'll copy and paste over here and embellish, sometime tonight I'm sure.
I'm in the throes of interviews for next school year. I've had two very promising ones, and another one on Friday. We'll see what comes from them, but I think I'm going to have to be making a big decision very soon. I'll probably expand on that later.
Time to make dinner. Tyler's home and demanding my attention too. Sheesh. Being a mom is busy, isn't it?
Take care all.
