Oh bloggy blog blog how i've missed you. My babies aren't giving me as much me time anymore so you have gone to the way side.
But I still love you.

This is a busy week. But a good week.

S has been reading her bible while sitting on the toilet more lately. She has been demanding it almost angrily. She loves to read about Noma, and his auk. (Noah and ark) I pointed out to her that Jesus has hair on his face like grandpa. Now whenever she sees that picture she calls Jesus Grandpa. At least now she is saying grandpa. Except now shes not saying grandma....lol.

Monday Sarah and Nessa, my dear college friends came to visit. Sarah brought her beautiful happy baby, Nessa brought beautiful donuts. I ate 2 1/2 of them. My body ached unbelievably afterwards. It was so nice to hang out with them. Its great to have friends that you can see once a year ( or once every four years lol) and feel like no time has passed. Except for the children thing. We had a good time reminiscing and hanging out with the girls.

I made a gigantic stew, thinking Nessa was staying and not that Nessa eats alot, but for some reason I felt the need to be ridiculously prepared. We barely made a dent in it. Though it was mostly vegetables. The meat wasnt thawed and i didnt have time to let it thaw, so it was very large lumps of stewing beef. Heh. I just dumped them in. So its full of vegetables and not much else. Enough leftovers to feed an army.

Yesterday, my dear Emily came to visit. I woke up at the crack of dawn so i could take Josh to school and pick her up from the train station. ON the way to picking her up, S started getting very ornery so I just kept saying " we're going to get auntie Emily" in a happy sing song voice and S kept saying " em uh yee" over and over again.
She had a doll named Emily when she was younger. It was attached to the arm of her car seat so she had something to look at in the car.
She frequently beat it. Viciously.
But she likes the real Emily. Thankfully she doesn't try to beat her. Emily also doesn't make crinkle noises though. So that makes sense.

We went to the mall and S ran around. She isnt so interested in pushing the stroller anymore so that's become awfully problematic.  We also went to superstore.
Food shopping with Emily is always interesting. She finds things that you have never seen before and they are always ridiculously cheap.
Quote of the day " OH! whats this!? They don't have this where I come from!"
hah.
Although I recall saying a similar thing the first time I went to a grocery store in Brampton with my cousin Tine and saw strange and wonderful fruits. She thought I was crazy. I now understand why.
We went home and I made a lasagna ( 5 pts per slice....large slice...boo ya!!!) and Emily cleaned my kitchen floor.
And made glutino boxed cookies which taste more like cake but are really good. Ugh.

Josh and I are now both down 16 pounds each. I somehow managed to lose 8 pounds in two weeks. I blame it on the stomach bug ( even though there was no puking). Josh can't wear his wedding ring anymore cuz it just falls off. Sickening no? So im not a pound less than pre S pregnancy, but naturally my body is completely not the same. Yay.

Dad is visiting. Currently he is watching judge Judy with Josh. I feel like my childhood is back. *shudder* My dad used to watch way way way too much judge Judy. It enraged my mom and I. We can't stand her. Now, Im just like "meh" Josh and dad are philosophising now about idiots and money.

On a sad note, one of my tastyfresh friends passed away yesterday.
(tastyfresh being an online dance music community i used to practically live on back in my early 20s...not really on there anymore because of the children but i still talk to a lot of my old friends from time to time)
I didnt know Kevin well but what I did know about him was that he was a good guy and a lot of people are going to really miss him. Unfortunately he was young, and those of us who have passed on were all young. The only comfort is that we do not mourn like those that do not have hope. We will all be together again
<3

and now i should go socialize with the men now that judge judy is gone.
xo

For as long as I can remember, I've disliked wearing socks.

Tonight I discovered that I hate wearing socks that are too big.

I worked tonight and with the craziness of the day ( as in the zero times today the girls napped at the same time, S napped way early and therefore was crusty not to mention, I believe E is dropping a nap) I didn't notice that A. I had no clean work pants and B. I had no visible clean socks. This meant jeans and Josh's socks. Thankfully I wasn't being audited.

So I clearly haven't blogged in ages. This is for several reasons. Lets make a long story short. Thanksgiving happened. Nice time with the family. Except the touch of stomach bug that affected each of us, some worse than others and is continuing to affect the girls(C diff poo odour has got NOTHING on my babies right now ughhhhh) and the cold I came down with. I spent a lot of time in bed Monday, despite my dad who I hadn't seen since march being here. Though there are other reasons for that too but that won't be blogged until I have some more information......

As I said my dad was here, as was my mom so we took the opportunity to use the help to go to the doctor ( rather, mom ordered me to go to the doctor and since E needed her scheduled check up and S needed a referral to a specialist anyway I decided we'd all go. This is basically how every visit to our doctor goes) Dad walked S around the parking lot while it was my turn and they apparently counted 29 cars with licence plates that started with B.

My doctor is maybe 2 years older than me and has a good sense of humour. We have made previous references to the extreme whiteness of S ( he is not white so his comments were carefully stated and in appropriate manner such as being very careful in sun but I blew political correctness out of the water cuz frankly, she is Casper) conversation as follows during E's check up:
Dr:  to E " you are quite pale"
Me: Really? I thought she was darker than S
Dr:everything is relative
Me: I thought you were going to say everything is darker than S
Dr:(smirking) you said it , I didn't

I also got him to weigh me to double check the correctness of our scale because it said I had lost 5lbs this week. It was right!!!2 more pounds til per S weight! Not like my body looks anything the way it did before, but at least my shelf has decreased a lot ( my shelf is this weird ledge I get over my butt when I gain weight. It's hereditary. And weird.  My old college friend Belinda actually patted it once and called it "African butt" she's African. )

I saw Christmas lights up on my way home from work tonight and I seriously felt warmth in my heart.  Normally I'm bah humbug til November 1 but this year I have had Christmas music in my head. Pre November....per Halloween.....even per thanksgiving! My husband is wearing off on me. I had met him in November and I remember telling him the following April that it was time to take down his Christmas tree. I think he only agreed because he was moving that June.

Well I figured I'd get a blog in so I could use it as wind down time since Hubble passed out about 5 minutes after I got home....poor soul. We are both horrifically wiped. S has been waking really early and pounding the crap out of her crib , waking us and E up before 5 the past few mornings. She's also been snorting up a storm. Teeth? Illness? Trying to kill us? Maybe a bit of all of it?

I heard this on my way home from work. It makes me feel 22 again. I love it. It unfortunately for absolutely no logical reason, reminds me of my ex which is the only downside.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SPzf1bqB1Mc&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DSPzf1bqB1Mc

Goodnight all
Xo

Fall

Ive said it before, I'll say it again. I love fall.

I so miss Peterborough right now. I have been having frequent yearnings ( YES I said yearnings) to walk by the liftlocks on that path with all the pretty trees and gorgeous leaves and crunch all the ones on the ground and just breath in the relaxed atmosphere ( so like on a weekday....in the morning....).

Or looking all fall fashionista with one (or two....or three) of my favourite scarves walking downtown with some fancy hot drink, window shopping ( and nabbing one of those custard tart thingys at Nata's that are probably NOT weight watchers friendly but I.dont.care.) and heading to chapters to spend the entire day reading ( crunching leaves all the way!!! Though there really arent that many trees....but in my mind there are!)

Yeah Im a little homesick. Sort of.

But I do love Peterborough in the fall. And summer.

For thanksgiving, we ( and mom) are going to my inlaws. I'm looking forward to getting to spend some time with family. Its been a bit of an emo past few days. Im going to be making this: click here to see yummy goodness. Pretty sure the only 500 calories thing is a lie but Im going to make it gluten free and I will let you all know how it turns out....not like thanksgiving period is going to be weight watchers friendly but whatever. Its better than stocking up on mickey D's.

Speaking of WW, im down another pound. Yay!!! only 7 more to go to pre pregnancy weight!

Today we walked. S was walking with me, and kept looking at the leaves. There are a lot more on the ground than last time she walked and so she kept stopping and peering at them. She picked up a couple and looked at me like "what are these?" I told her she should give one to sister ( which by the way is what she calls E now - thanks to me i know). She showed them to her and then took them away lol. I gave E one and she ended up kind of eating it....lol. Great mother eh? We went to the library and when I took E out I realized that she had puked all. over. herself. Naturally I had no change of clothing but I knew if I tried to keep her in that stroller without giving her some freedom time we would all be unhappy. At first there were no other people around the children's section. There was a storytime class though that let out shortly after and suddenly there were people everywhere and I was like um...yeah...my child is covered in barf. I know what this looks like. I forget though that for the most part, other people don't really take notice of others because they are just as flustered as I am.

So the l ibrary has a computer for little kids with this near program where you can choose lots of different programs to learn .....stuff......I picked some alphabet stuff but of course S just sat there hammering on the keyboard. The library lady didnt seem to care so I let her. She's not allowed to touch any of our technology. Ya, I'm that kind of mom. It was really cool though. In a few months she may be more interested.

Potty training is....going. Its not as exhausting for the moment. The problem is that when we aren't home she forgets to tell me she needs to go and I forget to just put her on the toilet except when we first arrive or leave somewhere. Somehow I manage to miss her a lot. I suppose in time this will improve. She's right about needing to go when we are at home so I know she knows when she has to go. Maybe I need to take a couple of days and let her run around in just underware or something. Really don't want to clean up pee everywhere. Ugh.

I think I have written enough for today. I guess I'll get cracking on the coupon trading. Zzzzzzzzzzzz

Tomorrow hubbie had to take the day because I have a doctors appointment at 11 and couldnt find a sitter. Woo Hoo! This dr you have to wait for about an hour to see for a bout 2 seconds. So should be interesting *rolls eyes*

xo

Ive been having annoyingly weird dreams.

Usually I enjoy my weird dreams: they make for good stories usually. Lately though its been snippets of things that I remember instead of entire dreams. I remember people and their moods and thats about it. I had some dream about Elvis. Can't remember anything about it. Last night there were angry people. Guys wearing plaid shirts. Yeah.

So I decided to read through Ephesians ( thank you mommy - i asked her to pick)
One major issue. Paul ( though to be fair it IS translated from another language) with his run on sentences gives me a headache. Now I understand why people get mad at me when my grammar is all screwed up. My phone's keyboard period doesn't work and auto correct. Oh auto correct. Anyhow it gives me a headache. Im so glad Jesus kept his words short and to the point. Well, a little puzzling with all the metaphors and such but thats what you have scholars for to help do some deciphering. On another note, I LOVE Isaiah. SO much good stuff. There are so few chapters that you read and get nothing out of.

But now, this is what the Lord says—
    he who created you, Jacob,
    he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;

This is a passage I have highlighted in my bible. I remember feeling like total crap when I read this but I can't remember the situation. Usually I'll put a date in my bible when I read something that really hits me at bad time ( See! keeping books around IS a good idea -all this books on computerish devices thing....psh....give me a good old book with real pages ANY day :) )but I didnt that time lol.

Now all my text is changed. I can't figure out how to change it back. Poop.

So for like a month I havent done any coupon trading. I uploaded my copious amounts of coupons early this morning ( thanks E...) and now Im being bombarded....so...overwhelming....especially since my stupid facebook message box doesn't work all the time ARGH!!!

I feel like i need to make two posts today. So im going to.

xo

Keeping the pregnancy test industry in business for 3 1/2 years

Today, the outdoors smelled like my childhood.

Ok, it smelled like the air after it rained at my childhood home.

Fishy.

We got to walk in the rain today. It wasnt too bad actually. I finally was able to use the double stroller weather shield and neither child ripped it down so that was great.

Seriously, nothing interesting has happened today as of yet.

Alright, so like I said last time, I swear im keeping the pregnancy test industry alive. Well for the past 3 1/2 years anyway. Hubbie was greatly chagrinned when I told him I was writing about this. He was afraid that family would read it and think Im pregnant again. I assured him that wouldn't happen.

I am the most paranoid person ever. Back in the day, before I could so much as look in the general direction of a male I was afraid that somehow, I would magically become pregnant and be austricized ( how IS that spelled!? its just NOT coming to me today) by my entire world when I didnt even do anything. Ya I knew the birds and the bees ( thanks Dr Dobson, you and your preparing for adolescence book - the most awkward moment of my teenagehood - though to be fair my mother did a good job, but at the time I hid under a blanket completely mortified) and i knew the getting pregnant from a toilet seat theory was false AND made no sense but still......

Of course I had no sensical reason to fear until I got married. I have even contributed to Ireland's economy in this way ( 22 euro for a pregnancy test is SERIOUSLY overpriced). I have used basically ever type you can think of, screwed up every type you can think of...I have spent probably 3x the amount on pregnancy tests than I did on my wedding dress.
Think about that.
Sad no?

Interjection: I just had what I called an Emily moment ( as in Emily Woods) I'm listening to Kirk Franklin, and without even realizing it I started rocking out.
I am...so tired.

I worked this weekend. Other than the fact that we went for a walk and were ambushed by the clients extended family in the middle of the street ( which was...hilariously unexpected) nothing interesting happened there either.

I got tons of spaghetti squash on sale? Does that count as interesting?

E is teething like mad. This means poor naps and more night wake ups. I seriously do not envy babies. Poor bulging gums.

On another note, I have discovered a recipe for a low calorie pumpkin cream cheese loaf that Im hoping to make weight watchers and gluten free friendly to take to thanksgiving......

Speaking of gluten... I have been flirting with it way too much lately. I am discovering that homemade baked items aren't causing issues with my joints....hm.....interesting.......

Pretty sure E is waking....so this is going to end ....

NOW.

xo

You know you are a mother when you find dried up food on your underware and have absolutely no idea how it got there.

I've always had a really good memory for dates. Though its more from dates in the past such as birthdates of classmates from elementary school and usually dates that I probably shouldn't remember. Today is one of those dates. Today, several years ago I officially started dating my ex boyfriend. Seems kind of weird to me now that I am married that I remember that. However, today is also the day 4 years ago that we had our engagement photos. It was a gorgeous fall day and I was so excited to get photos with beautifully coloured leaves. Our photographer, my friend Michelle did an amazing job. She also did our wedding photos. I loved how she had all sorts of ideas, but also let me give my input and bounce ideas off of her to see if they would look good in reality and not just in my head. She also is very talented in making me look gorgeous. No, this blog isn't some kind of ploy to make you hire her. I kind of just went from one thought in to going on about her fabulous talent.

Today was just nuts. You know when you know you are doing something that's probably not smart but for the sake of your sanity you do it anyway? At the same time knowing it could save or destroy your sanity? Yeah today I made those kinds of choices.
Yesterday I had said that potty training was exhausting? Well now I have other words for it. Words my momma taught me not to use so I won't. Really it was my fault anyway.
Today we did our usual venture out doors for a couple of hours. I decided to put Sophia on the potty before leaving, bring her potty seat, and walk to the plaza we usually walk to. I gave her her milk on the way, figuring that would give her a good 15 minutes to process and then we would try the potty at Tim Hortons.
Well first of all its the tiniest bathroom in the world. I tried changing diapers there once and never did it again because there's just no room at all. So the girls, the stroller and I are all in the tiny whellechair bathroom. I have Sophia on the toilet, Elisa in the stroller and Im trying to bribe Sophia to stay on the toilet cuz I know shes going to pee and I ( at the time) only knew of that specific bathroom
I gave her goldfish crackers. She tried to shove them between her legs ( seriously what is UP with kids shoving toys and stuff between their legs!?) and drop them into the toilet so I said " dont drop em! Eat em!" SO she kept stuffing the crackers ( new ones, not the ones that went between her legs) in her mouth, grinning and saying "eat em! eat em!" She sat, she ate, I sang, Elisa squealed like a pig....about 5 minutes later, still no peeing and Sophia dropped a cracker in the toilet and I thought...oh well...shoppers HAS to have a washroom. So we fought with the "underware" ( underware fashioned cloth diaper), held sophia back from playing with the toilet seat, in the toilet water etc ( anyone who has done potty training has to know what im talking about) and wrestled her into the stroller again.
Did I mention this Tim Hortons is so not stroller accessible? Nor is it really wheelchair accessible. So there's a button to push to open the door but that's where accessibility ends. For those of you who know me well, you know I have a serious issue with wheelchair/assistive device accessibility. It really irritates me.
After our errands, on the way home, we stopped again at Tim Hortons and went through the whole process all over again. Except this time Elisa was livid. Sophia didnt pee. The lady in the stall next to us flushed her toilet which terrified them both and so there was all sorts of screaming. I was sweating like crazy and I thought to myself...why Christina...why did you choose to do this? On the brink of losing my mind I thought "its ok...i can blog about this experience. It'll be fun....Then I bundled Elisa into my wrap ( THANK you Leah) and tried to explain to sophia that she wasn't going to be able to walk cuz little sister needed mommy and trekked home.
Speaking of the wrap....ive watched tons of tutorials, all saying the same thing, and tie is exactly like them but something never seems to be right. Elisa was bouncing like someone who doesnt know how to properly ride a horse. It was kind funny.

Later on, we had supper. Sophia didnt want to eat her beef stroganoff ( like piggy with pasta. all meat that isnt pork is called "like piggy" - meaning pork is called piggy) so I said to Josh, here give her some goldfish crackers.
Her response?
"Eat em!"
What a friggin smart kid! We are so in trouble.

Another funny happening from today....
We were reading her alphabet book. She can read quite a few letters now. She still thinks I is e initially but then changes her mind. Anyway, she was reading I, so I asked her what j was
Her response?
She leaned toward me and very seriously said "twat" and then ran off.
Husbands response when I told him later?
Where did she learn THAT word?!

Its taken me all day to finish this. Tomorrow Im going to talk about how I single handedly will probably keep the pregnancy test industry alive during my childbirthing years.
( im not pregnant. I know cuz I took a test. Again. For those of you that know me well, you are not surprised, and want to smack me)
xo

Josh: maybe in your head you sounded like axel rose but it didn't come out that way

So potty training is exhausting.

I'm glad that Sophia is insistent on using the potty and loves using it but oh my gosh. She pees like twenty times a day and its all tiny bits. Shes like her mother.

So if you are my facebook friend you already understand my title.
If not,
this is from bath time duets of jesus loves me in abnormal voices. I thought I sounded like Axel Rose. With a touch of Billie Holiday maybe? Erm. Probably not ....It amused and scared Sophia intermittently.

There was something I was going to write about. I started composing it at 3am in my head but now I totally forget. Oh mommy brain.

Well last night Josh had a guitar lesson so I stayed home. Just before he left, there was this creepy looking guy in the dirveway walking around with a clip board looking lost. Josh told me to pretend to not be home so I went downstairs. Apparently the guy had approached him, with a clipboard with nothing but lined note paper and asked if he wanted free meat. Josh was like um no thanks. He also told the guy no one was home and then left.....and as he was driving out the guy knocked on our door anyway lol. I was in the shower by then so I didnt hear. Still. Odd. This street is full, absolutely full of people trying to sell things. I think they send all the newbie sales people here.

So we had the great weigh in monday night and i have managed to lose another pound, despite feeling like the week was shot. Yay! Today I was at a church moms group where I discovered a friend is on weight watchers and she brought low point chocolate chips cookies, which aren't gluten free, but i ate them anyway and they finally satisfied my chocolate chip cookie craving YAY!

I am tired. Whatever I was going to say clearly wasn't that important so ......

That is all.

Read the instructions on medication labels.

Yesterday evening I was supposed to be sitting in my friend Elsy's living room, sipping AMAZING, ridiculously overpriced maharaja chai oolong/samurai chai mate tea mixed, having adult conversation.

But I wasn't

I had been feeling like I was coming down with a cold for a few days. So I had been taking some sinus medications at night before going to sleep. I had been feeling ridiculously drowsy and wasn't sure why. So I decided to stay at home. Since Josh was giving Elsy's husband a guitar lesson in the basement, I decided to take the sinus medication and lie in bed with the laptop watching clips about the Duggars ( IM SO mad TLC won't post full episodes of 19 kids and counting GRR).

Around 7:15, I suddenly felt like I had been punched in the face with a tranquilizer. I decided it was best to stop watching Duggar stuff, take out my contacts and lie down.

The next time I woke up was Josh asking me if I was ok. I then began to try to explain what was going on, in a thick drugged up voice, apologizing for the fact that I needed to stay in bed and sleep.

I am seriously the worst at self medicating. Sorry excuse for a nurse. I just take whatever I think is going to work the best. This isnt the first time I have had weird experiences. You would think that I had learned by now but no.....


Friday night Josh and I went out on a lovely date and ate amazing food - not sure it was all that weight watchers friendly, but since I did lose a pound I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought.

My inlaws came for the weekend and we had a very nice time. My mother in law always brings lots of food and its always good. She also brought her amazing carrot cake which I ate only 1 ( and a bite) piece of. That  requires a level of  discipline that I can't even describe to you.
Sophia has somehow got it in her head that Dave and Sue are both Grandma. She was running around babbling grandma repeatedly. It was kind of funny. Naturally, shortly after they left she finally said grandpa.

We are on the road to finally joining a small group. We have to take a three week class at church to find out about their beliefs and the way they run the church. Its kind of the stepping stone to deciding whether or not you really want to go to the church. So far so good.

Sophia decided that she is going to be potty trained. We were hoping to wait til Christmas, but no. Potty has become her favourite word. She wants to be on it alot. And everytime she says it, she really does go - or i have left her too long and she has gone in her diaper. Today she has had one wet diaper so far. She wears cloth so she usually has gone through quite a few by now. The one issue I am having is that she will sometimes pee a tiny bit. I will leave her on for a few more minutes, she insists she is done and then a short time later she wants to go again. She actually does too. So I am a bit at a loss. Its frustrating because poor Elisa is getting left alone more than I would like. Any suggestions would be wonderful....

Oh, heres another reason to use cloth - its much easier to fashion a pair of underware out of a cloth diaper and pull it on like underware when they are done with the potty, than try to wrestle with them and put a disposable diaper on. Especially if you have a child like mine who is determined to grab the potty seat and play with it or "fix" it to go back on the toilet seat the way they think it should go.
Its kind of exciting and she looks soooo happy when she goes. I cant believe my kids are growing up so fast.....

Now I need to listen to last sundays sermon and try to stop eating carrots. Im turning into a rabbit.

xo