Morgan's First Birthday!!

Well.. tomorrow is Morgy's Birthday! And  yes, it happens to also be Christmas day.. so what.. a birthday is WAY more important than Christmas.. (well.. whatever.. )
So.. what has Morgan been up to this month?
Well... she's FINALLY learned to crawl!! YEAH! We went up to the inlaws at the beginning of the month to celebrate Christmas there and she finally took her first forward crawls. She was managing to manuveur herself backwards for quite sometime but finally managed to get some forward momentum. Some people thought that she was just watching her odler cousin and learning from her - but I think that's quite unlikely. Her cousin still does the commando crawl and hardly ever crawls properly.. I think Morgan was just waiting till she knew she could do it properly.. and then away she went.
She's learning more signs every day - the speed that she picks them up is so amazing. YOu can just see on her face how clever she thinks she is.. So far she does, More, all done, milk and food. She says Amen after we pray ("Ahh.... ma") and she says Bye bye when she waves. She can also blow kisses and fold her hands to pray.
On a negative note.. she's becoming quite prone to tears lately. AS soon as you nsay no to her (whihc is frequently now that she's a crawler) she gives you this pitiful look and bursts into tears. The only way she'll stop is to actually cuddle her too. One time we left her to "get it out" for 15 minutes and it took 30 mintues to calm her down again..
I tried blanket time with her yesterday. I've always sort of figured that before they can crawl, its sort of pointless.. it seems a bit silly to teach boundaries to a child that can't yet move! So.. in the spirit of her newfound crawling we did blanket time yesterday. 15 minutes, on a blanket with toys. She screamed. She cried. She played. She screamed. It did not go overly well. 9 minutes had passed - with Morgan crying the whole time. She'd finally calmed down a bit, and picked up a toy.. so I decided to end on a high note and made the timer go off. That worked. So.. today then? well, it went ok for the first 5 minutes. She got off umpteen times.. but at least she wasn't crying. Then she started picking up the blanket.. my "no" to that got the tears flowing. She's certainly grasping the concept.. but its not making her happy. I think my biggest problem righ tnow is that I'm trying to do both kids at the same time. Smae room, different blankets. Kelsey can do it, but she's attention seeking.. so one foot off.. and then a giggle to see if I'll notice. I've gotta get her doing something else tomorrow. At least we made the 15 mintues mark today. a couple more days and Morgan'll have it for sure.. and I bet she won't even be crying anymore.

And, what are we doing for her birthday?
Well.. seeing as how most people have family things on Chrismtas Day..w e opted for the Sunday route. So.. Sunday after church we have some "adopted" family comign voer for cake, coffee 7 lunch. Should be fun. I'm currently still working on the menu.. which of course meant a trip to the grocery store on Chrsistmas Eve - that's just dumb! But I only ahd to take Kelsey so it worked out fine. we sang Christmas songs and smiled politely at the stupid people rushing around all stressed out. 
I'll probably decorate the house tonight, blow up some balloons.. but tomorrow we'll celebrate and tlak about Christmas and not Morgan's birthday. And Sunday we'll make into Morgan's big day. Well.. asmuch of a big day as a Sunday can be for a 1 year old.. maybe I'll splurge and make pancakes for breakfast.. Of course, maybe I"ll do that tomorrow too.. we'll see.

On a compeltely unrelated to Morgan note. I have a new project htat I'm quite excited about. Our church was looking for an admin assistant. I wanted to offer.. but realised that with 2 small kids and a husband who worked odd hours, there was no way I could without having to rent out my kids (and for a volunteer position.. well.. that'd be dumb). But I was approached, and it was explained to me that it could be job shared nad a lot of it could be done from home.. and to top it off there's lots of IT/computer geek stuff to do. So right up my alley.. so I got started right away. Our church is currently operating in the dark ages. So.. first project - a church calendar that can be viewed online. Second project ..w ell.. the list will go on and on and on I think..
its a big learning curve for me.. mostly becuase I've been out of it for over 3 years.. but I love it. I love experimenting and playing. And, becuase its volunteer, I don't have to worry about someone paying me to play on my computer and experiment.. its perfect!!
Anyway.. have a great Christmas, wahtever you do.

Hubby's Birthday!

Well, its my hubby's birthday today. He has to work though - sucks to be him! I think that it should be law that you get a day of annual leave on your birthday - or if your birthday falls on a holiday that you get a day in lieu. I mean, why should new Year's Day be a holiday but not one's birthday!?!
So.. with the help of both parents.. I got Marco the BEST birthday present this year. Firstly though.. allow me to tell you what happened last year. Last year he wanted a welder. He'd been researching for a year, and knew what he wanted. And.. I thought I'd been listening for a year.. and knew what he wanted. So I went to a local store. Asked a few questions.. and they assured me that "this" welder was the one he wanted. But they didn't have it in stock. They could order it in though. Excellent. It wouldn't arrive till the next day. OH. I had left it sort of late.. the next day was his birthday. Well, if they got it sent to a different store 30 km away, it'd arrive by this afternoon. Perfect. Went home, confident in my purchase. later that day, drove the 30 km to pick up this new welder. drove back. wrapped it, hid it. threw something together for dinner. The next day I gave him his present confident that he'd LOVE it. He opened it. Looked at it. Said thankyou and kissed me. then shyly remarked that it wasn't the right kind. let down. He returned it, got his money back. All was good - although in hind sight, I don't think he actually bought anything with that money.. Hmmm...
Anyway.. so this year.. I compiled his parent's gift money, my parent's gift money and a few bucks from my measely savings and ordered the gift I KNEW he'd love - Guitar Hero Metallica. Not just the game either.. but a guitar too. So now we'll have 2 guitars. I gave it him last Saturday.. I was right.. he loved it. But now I have to play with him.. that's not so great.. I've really gotta think through these gifts better!
Anyway.. happy birthday honey. Can't wait to celebrate 60 more with you.

Kelsey - 2 yr 4 mo

Well.. today is the last day of November. And, on the last day of everymonth, I'll do Kelsey's update. An entry all about my first born. (Or at least this is what I'll attempt to do)
However, first, let me say.. the mouse is dead. 4 days in my house (that I knew about), but it is finally dead. We discoverd it was living/hiding under the new dishwasher. So, we set the trap there, and upon arriving home from church, it was dead. Thankfully, Marco was with me.. so he did the big brave thing and disposed of it while telling me not to look. Thank-you dear.

Anyway.. onto Kelsey. Kelsey is 2. K is also my firstborn, so I'm still learning how to deal with a 2 year old. I don't always liek it. She can be very disagreeable, and then seconds later, the sweetest most agreeable child ever. I think the world from her viewpoint must be quite interesting. She honestly thinks that she runs the show. We're desperately trying to teach her this isn't so, but she's just not grasping it. Mostly, I see this in how she relates and talks to Morgan. She's such a copycat - a mimic. We are currently trying to teach her that she's not to boss Morgan around - this is a lot of, "Kelsey, no telling Morgan what to do". So, yesterday, I was sitting at the lunch table with them. Morgan was doing something naughty (I don't remember what) and I (being her mother) told her not to do that, and what she should do. Kelsey turns to me and says, "Mom.. no telling Morgan what to do." While trying not to laugh, I explained that I was the mommy and it was my job to tell her and Morgan what to do. It was her job to listen & obey mommy. I doubt my words had any effect.

We're also struggling a bit finding enough stuff to keep Kelsey busy.. occupied.. not bored etc. Marco is really great at just getting down on the floor and playing with her.. I.. am.. not.  So.. I took a look at my goals for Kelsey. What is important for her to learn? What things should I/could I be teaching her? How do I want to see her behaviours change? With this list of answers, I decided that Kelsey and I could do a little home preschool. It would give her and I time to do something together. It would teach her a few thingsneeded for school. It woudl teach her listening, sitting, and communication skills. So.. about 2 weeks ago, I started gathering up some supplies and found an online preschool program with free downloadable stuff and we got going. I'm still not very good at keeping at it and doing it every day - but we manage to do it most days. And, the bonus, that I didn't see before, is that it gives us something to talk about.  That might sound really horrible but 2 year olds (well, at least Kelsey) can talk ALL day long. And about really stupid stuff. But teach them something, and they'll talk about THAT. For example, the first week our "theme" was cows. Suddenly we coudl talk about cows all day long. We knew what cows ate. We knew how many tummy's cows have. We knew what baby cows were called.So.. each week we have a theme and learn a new word that has to do with that theme. We also learn a new number, a new letter and a new Bible verse. Iw as so amazed after the frist week how quickly she learned a Bible verse. Our verse for the first week" Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good" She can still say it over and over again.

Kelsey favorite food a tthe moment is spaghetti. Any time you ask her what we shoudl ahve for dinner, her reply is "Sgetti". EVERY SINGLE TIME. Without fail. She's also quite into chili. And, of course, french fries. On the day that she came down with the chicken pox I bought some french fries and she refused them. I KNEW then that she was sick.
Anyway.. I do loe watching Kelsey grow up. Every day is unique, different and a bit of a challenge for me. But , just the other day, I sat back and I just couldnt' believe how big she was. Her sentences are coming along so well (although, usually she sounds just like me - scary). She remembers every time tos ay thankyou and most of the time remembers to say please. She's somewhat obedient - but the strangest things are not problems for her at all (whereas for most 2 year olds are). Such as, Its time to go to bed, supper time, time to brush your teeth, etc. These requests are always met with a very happy "OK!" and off she runs to do it. That's my favorite.. when she really does just have a happy willing to please attitude about her. Then again, maybe that's when we're all most likeable...

Mouse in my house

photo source: kids.nationalgeographic.com

The Mouse in My House

The following story is no mere tale

Its a story that's sure to turn you pale

It all began one day in my house

when before me there appeared a mouse!

I was so incredibly scared,

I didn't care how that little mouse fared.

I jumped on top of my wee office chair

My hubby was gone, this just wasn't FAIR!

I promptly fell off that swiveling chair

And ran to my bed, my whole body pale.

I called up Marco, frantic and crying

He didn't answer, my heart was sighing

Why couldn't I have a cat?

Preferably one that's not too fat.

I finally started to calm down,

And took off my night gown.

Went to the store to buy a trap

This mouse wasn't going to give me any crap.

I set it up and left the house

Came back later. but no dead mouse.

Now here we are 3 days later

That mouse is a bit like Darth Vader

It just won't die, it won't be caught,

It won't be trapped, it won't be shot!

Its keeping me awake all night

3 days now, I'm quite the sight.

Last night at a bit past quarter to one

I think the mouse thought he'd have some fun

He started running around in my room!!

My heart beat faster, here comes my doom!!

The mouse seemed to be prancing around in glee

The lights were off, but in my mind I could see

He was probably calling his friends, from far and near

"Check out this house.. let's find their beer!"

I thought about turning on the light

But I figured I just get a big fright.

So I just sat there shaking in fear

Uncomforted by the snoring hubby so near.

And here it is daylight at last

I'm glad the night is in the past.

The mouse must die today, my friend.

When it does that will be the end

Of the quick brown mouse

That's living, in my house.

Morgan is 11 month's old today!!

Firstly, let me start off by saying that this morning a saw a mouse in my living room. So.. as I type, I'm bouncing my feet up and down to scare the little *&#^&^@%# away. So.. there may be more typing errors than usual. My apologies. I'm a huge wimp when it comes to varmint of almost any kind. I just don't see their point. Why can't they all go live in Australia? Thankfully, I understand - logically- that mice mean to do us no harm. So I had no problem leaving my 2 kids floudnering on the floor while I jumped up to the safety of my bed :) Anyway, I bought a mousetrap, set it up.. and hopefully its caught something before hubby gets home tomorrow night - and HE can empty it.
Anyway... today (25th of November) is Morgy's 11 month birthday. And .. I thought.. on both Kelsey & Morgan's monthly birthdays, I'd take the opporutnity to write about some of the things they've been up to this month.

Morgan is such a great kid right now. She's (generally) so incredibly happy and just pleasant to be around. She's quick to smile and absolutely adores her big sister and her daddy. Well, she adores me too, but she still expects me to be there, so I don't ever get to see her face light up the way it does for Kelsey and Marco.

At the beginning of this month, she'd just sit down where I put her, and play happily with a few toys that I would sprinkle around her for an hour or 2 at a time. However, now (at the end of the month), she barely ever just sits.. she immediately flips onto her tummy and rolls around on the ground. She's still not crawling (officially) but she surprises me every day by where she can end up without me noticing.  For the most part, she doesn't mean to go where she goes - she keeps wanting to go forward.. but can only manage to go backwards. But she has such an adaptable spirit that she's still happy with most places that she ends up. She does get a bit grumpy, however, when she backs herself into a corner, under the easel, or into the couch.. then we hear a little whine, and I go rescue her. Sweetie.
This month was also the month that she got the chicken pox. One Saturday I noticed little red dots on her and Kelsey. Within the day there were LOTS more. She was SO good about it though. Thankfully, she still takes 2 naps a day, so that helps. There was 1 night that she wasn't interested in sleeping. I think she was just TOO itchy. Poor thing. The next day she didn't want to nap either. But it was only 1 day of that, and then back to normal. Occassionally we'd see her rubbing her head, or wiggling on the ground to try to relieve the itch, but for the most part.. she just kept playing.

She is learning tonnes of new tricks. If I could think of more to teach her I'm sure she'd just lap them up. We started this month with the sign language training. As with Kelsey, I'll probably only teach her 4 or 5 useful ones, but I'm blown away by how quickly Mrogan is picking them up. After showing her the sing for milk just 2 or 3 times, she now does it on a regular basis. She's also just started doing the sign for All Done (we use that one after meals mostly, but occassionally on the playground as well). Now I'm working on teaching her the sign for "More" (more food, more toys, more kisses.. etc).
Speaking of food.. she's getting mostly people food now, and for the most part she's feeding herself. For breakfast she gets either weetbix or porridge (same as Kelsey). She's at 1 1/2 to 2 weet-bix already.  I've been trying to get her to eat sandwiches for lunch.. but she's just not that interested yet. So she usually only manages about 1/2 of one.. and that 1/2 I have to have cut up into very small little squares. How do you teach a kid that their teeth are for biting!?!For supper/dinner she's getting whatever we're having. Usually (becuase i"m hungry) I put some on her plate and let her go nuts on it - but it depends hwat we're having. Obvously, she'd need some help with something like mashed potatoes - or soup. I've completely forgotten about teaching Morgan to drink from a cup. Well, not forgotten.. but just procrastinated. And here we are, 1 month from supposedly being ready for cow's milk, and no cup insight. So yesterday, I gave her a cup with water in it. I'd tried those baby cups once or twice before - the ones iwth the no spill lids - but those are impossible for me to ddrink from - so no wonder she thought it was just a chew toy. Anyway, so I gave her a tupperare cup with sippy lid. She did great. Until I took my eyes off and she poured it all over her tray. But at least she got some water first.. we'll keep at it and hopefully she can start milk in another month!! Oh.. I can't wait to not have to buy formual anymore!!

Other tricks - She's been pretty good at waving bye-bye for a couple months already. She's really sweet. I always forget to tell her to say bye, but I always remind Kelsey, and there's Morgy waving both arms bye bye.. it looks so cute! I was on skype the toher day with my parents, and my mom was getting Kelsey to blow kisses.. so we started to teach Morgan that too.. it was So cute. So now if we tell her to blow kisses, she immediately puts her hand to her mouth, but similar to Kelsey at that age, she forgets to move it away again. Oh well.. one step at a time.She'll also nod "Yes". Not necessarily all the time, but we have a fun little thing we do here. When either girl wakes up from a nap or nighttime sleep, I ask - "Did you have a good sleep?" and they say "yes" ok, it doesn't sound like much, but these are the silly mudane things that makes up a family. Anyway, Morgy now nods Yes everytime I ask her.. its so cute. OK.. maybe I think everything she does is cute and sweet - except for trying to rip her bib off during dinner, or when she threw her plate of spaghetti on the floor last night (I knew I shouldn't have given her a plate), and throwing her head back unexpectedly while in the shower and banging it on the shower floor.. Hmm.. there are a few things she does that aren't so cute or sweet.. but she's still sweeet & cute.. and lovely.. and mine. well.. ours.
Anyway.. I should probably go get her up from her nap. I never quite know when she wakes up as she just lies there in her bed quietly. Maybe she knows that mommy needs this time.... oops, I told Kelsey we needed to go wake her up... she's gone to do that without me - ahh.. better run..

Our 4th Wedding anniversary

This is copied from the old blog.. but now with pictures added :)

Well, yesterday was our 4th wedding anniversary. 4 years.. when I look back, they've gone by awfully fast.. although it hasn't always felt like it at the time. In fact, we were reminiscing a bit about everything that's happened - over 12 cars, 4 moves, 3 cities, 2 kids, 2 bought houses, 3 trips to Canada (for me & Kels, 2 for Marco, and only 1 for Morgan).. that's a lot of going on in just 1461 days!! Wow.. we havne't even been married for 1500 days yet.. now that puts it in perspective!
So.. Marco had to work yesterday morning, and it was my turn to plan something for us to do. So, I had long ago arranged for the girls to go away for the night (their first sleep over without us!) but then of course, Kelsey started throwing up Wednesday afternoon (the day before our anniversary) and was up at 8pm, 10pm and midnight. This was NOT looking good for our date. But then the day of our anniversary dawned bright and sunny. Morgy was happy and lovely and Kelsey was only a wee bit not feeling well. We warned Beppe (their adopted grandparents from our church) that Kelsey was a bit sick, so it was up to her.. but she was fine with it -plus, by that point Kelsey  had stopped throwing up - so it was all good for the girls to go away.
In the morning, I tried to explain to Kelsey what today was - today is the day that mommy and daddy got married. She didn't get it (probably becuase she's never been to a wedding, and she's 2). She immediately said something about Morgan getting married. So, I put on the dvd of our wedding. She still didn't get it, but she thought it was spectacular seeing all the people she adores on tv. She stood inches from the tv shouting - Mommy, Daddy, Grandma.. etc. It was a bit annoying after 15 minutes! I was blown away by the rush of emotions that came back just by watching the dvd. Those same feelings of seeing Marco for the first time that day - the nervousness, the excitement, the anticipation.
I wish we could've held onto that for longer. I was saddened to see all the people in the congregation that have changed - the number of people that have died in the last 4 years.. it was just sad to look around and see all these people that we loved who are gone. But the little babies that are now 4 years old (and I've only seen once or twice since), the way the older kids have grown up, the people that are married since then... even just the hair styles that have changed since then! Lots of changes..
Anyway the girls left for Beppe's house around 4:30 and I busily made the rest of the preparations for the evening. The plan was a picnic on the seashore, then a walk along the beach. And, becuase it was my anniversary as well, I decided to get takeout for the beach. I picked up some gerber daisies and mad eup the same ceterpeices that we had at our reception. I brought candles, a blanket, a bottle of wine and some glasses. We picked up some thai takeaway and we were ready to go.

The things I did not anticipate: it was cold by the beach. It was probalby 25 degrees at our hosue, but add in a sea breeze and it was NOT 20 degrees by the beach. Good thing I brought jackets for us. Good things though - the seagulls didn't seem to notice us - that was nice. Thsi lady was walkign her dog nearby and asked us what we were celebrating and congratulated us. That was kind. Although we realised afterwards that we didn't specify it was our wedding anniversary - and we'd hate to have her think it was just our shacking up anniversary!

Anyway.. after our stroll along the beach, we realised it was only around 7ish.. and the whole date I'd planned was over (I'd imagined long talks, snuggles on the blanket, a long stroll until dusk - but when you're trying not to talk about work or the kids.. there's very little left to talk about!!) Anyway, so we decided to rent a movie yet. It was lovely!
In the morning we totally indulged and slept as long as we wanted. The night before, I'd guessed that I'd still be up by 8 (normal time) - but we both slept until 9am!! Unbelievable! The kids were being dropped off by 10am, so I got up put the coffee on and made breakfast. I found this recipe for strawberry blintzes - they're crepes filled with a ricotta-creamcheese mix and covered in a strawberry sauce. And we ate over candlelight. Overall, it was a fairly romantic little date we had. I'm pleased we did it. I was really pleased when the girls came home and Kelsey said, "Happy Wedding Birthday!!" with flowers and a card she'd made. And to hear that they'd done incredibly well - was music to my ears. Beppe even suggested that we go away for a weekend.. don't tempt me!

Moved my Blog

OK.. I was tired of all the hard stuff using MSN's blogging. Not that any of it was actually hard.. but it was just... well.. hard. :) So.. I've moved it. To here. Its my blog. Its my perogative. And hopefully this one is actually easier to use and manuveur around and customize, which would mean that I'd use it more often. Here's to hoping.
If you're looking for older content (I'll try to move some of it over.. but, in case I don't) check out: 
http://harmarco.spaces.live.com

Thanks.
(ETA: can't access old blog. poopy crum. sorry)