Sunday Mornin... Sunday Morninnnnnnnnn...

My title was supposed to sound like a song, but it didn't work to well.. can you guess which song? Just for fun?

ANYWAYS....

I woke up yesterday morning at 7 am. Our church service starts at 10am, and every week I think to myself that I have plenty of time to get myself and my two little boys there on time. My younger son slept in until almost 8:30 so I used that time to get my face on and decide what I'll wear - believe it or not, that can sometimes take a long time as I'm not the most fashion savvy gal out there. Before I knew it the time was 9am and I had myself ready - though not dressed yet because that's just a bad idea to wear your Sunday best an hour before church starts when you have boys - and I had clean clothes pulled out for the kids, socks included. I even had an idea of where their shoes might be located. That was just an idea, though... All that was left to do was get breakfast for me and my slumber king who slept in, dress the whole lot of us and then whip up a quick salad for our church potluck. I had an hour. Thought that was pretty good.

Breakfast, 20 minutes.
Get dressed, 3 minutes.
Dress slumber king, 5 minutes (he's wiggly)

9:28, still doing pretty good.

As I was getting Jackson dressed my older child did a very timely BM and needed cleansing. While I was cleaning him up, Jackson ran into my bathroom and grabbed my toilet brush and it's carrying pot thingy... pulled out the brush and dumped whatever evil was in the carrying pot thingy all over the ONLY pair of nice pants he has that fit him. I'm pretty sure they're ruined. Now I have one poopy child lying on MY bed and one pouring pure evil all over himself. The question that didn't even have time to cross my mind was, "which child do I help first?" If I stay with Linden, Jack could get hurt cause there was probably bleach in that carrying pot thingy. If I leave Linden and help Jack I get poop on my bed. I chose the latter because, well, bleach. Now my boys weren't going to coordinate their clothes, not that they cared, and Jackson had to wear ankle biters to church.

Time? 10am..

I got the boys in their carseats and promised I'd come back in a minute or two. I still had to make my salad. Pulled out everything I needed and started making the dressing. No olive oil. No salad. I decided that we'd have to be the family that shows up to a potluck empty handed today.

By the time we got to church it was 10:20 and I was spent. Thankfully, we had a beautiful missionary couple visiting our service, some good friends of ours. It was such a delight to hear their update and see the video of the work they're doing in India. I was quickly reminded that all of my complaining is so unnecessary and a little poop on my sheets and toilet brush juice on my son's nice pants is not the end of the world. I just wish I could laugh more in the moment then after the moment. There was even plenty of food at the potluck and I got to catch up for a few minutes with my missionary friend.

Good morning? You bet. Sometimes there are plenty of reasons to keep us from joining in the fellowship of our friends and loved ones. Sometimes you just gotta get there. No matter what. I'm so glad I did.

Blessed, Laura

Oh darn. That backfired.

I'm learning.

I tend to be a person who over teaches things. When someone else is not understanding what I'm teaching I find it much easier - though I'm not proud of this - to just finish it myself. An example would be my 3 year old wanting to put his own shoes on. It takes 1 minute for me to put his shoes on, it takes 10 minutes for him to put his shoes on and even then we have to take them off and fix it. I'm learning to let him try it on his own and celebrate the little achievements along the way instead of insisting on the correct outcome. So he puts them on the wrong feet... that's OK, he managed to get the velcro done up properly on both sides. Great job! He did it himself. All by himself. Maybe he'll get them on the right feet tomorrow.

On the topic of shoes, that very same 3 year old (Linden) likes to take his shoes off in the van while we're heading somewhere. I have told him many times to keep his shoes on. Today was no exception. Well, there was an exception. Mike and I are watching a DVD series right now on parenting. It's called, "Loving Our Kids on Purpose" by Danny Silk. Last night we were taught some simple ways to help children learn and take responsibility for their choices and actions. So, today I was armed with tools to help Linden learn a valuable lesson. Mr. Silk taught that it's a lot easier as the parent to just get angry or upset and say, "I don't have time for this!" while jamming the shoes back on his little feet (He was telling a different story, but insert our reality here). The child gets a stern talking to but still gets his shoes back on before heading out of the van. He's happy. No wet feet, got to have his shoes off, and see a pretty good reaction out of mom.

Not today. Today when Linden took his shoes off I didn't respond. I just got the grocery cart and lifted him out of the van onto the pavement. His reaction scared me. "Cool mom! I get to walk in my socks!" I thought to myself, "Oh darn. That backfired." He was supposed to tell me that he wanted his shoes back on so I could tell him that he made the choice to have his shoes off and he'll have to keep them off until we get home. We walked into the store and Linden got in the cart, we finished our shop and as we were leaving I lifted him out and said, "OK Linden, ready to walk to the van?" to which he replied, "YA!". We got outside and it was raining. It only took a few steps - and a few evil glares at me from concerned citizens - before Linden stopped and said that his feet were getting really wet. I responded calmly and lovingly, "Oh no! Boy, it sure is nice to wear shoes outside isn't it? We better get back to the van. Maybe next time you'll choose to keep your shoes on." Linden looked at me with a confused, blank look and then kept walking to the van.  Lesson learned? We'll find out tomorrow when we're driving, hopefully his shoes will stay on his feet. (Just so you know, we were parked in the best parking spot available, close to the entrance. I didn't let my child get hypothermia)

If I constantly am solving all of my kids problems for them, the problem may be resolved, but the child doesn't learn anything. Kids are smart. They need opportunity to use the beautiful brains that God gave them and we need to not be afraid of what will happen if they mess up. I hope that the result of our little learning opportunity today will be that Linden thinks before he takes his shoes off. I hope he doesn't think, "If I take my shoes off, I'll get in trouble." I hope he thinks, "If I take my shoes off, my feet will get wet." Then he will be learning to think for himself and not just follow rules cause he has to.

This is my learning journey. I am loving this series so far and I know Mike is too. Hopefully I will be able to give some great updates on our progress and bring you along on the journey.

Journey is a funny word. Journey. Jour. Ney. Jeeerrrrrnnneeeeey.

Laura.

I don't have much time here cause my boys are both starting to wake up from their naps.........

And update on this little momma that can:

I potty trained Linden last week. He turned three in June and I still had no plan of potty training him until his bowels are functioning like they should. They're not yet, but Linden all of a sudden started saying things like "Mom, I don't want you to change my diaper, I like my diaper" and other such scary sentences. I figured that this had to be the ultimate sign of 'ready' of perhaps beyond ready and a potential missed opportunity. Deciding quite quickly and not giving much time for me to talk myself out of it I started telling my mommy friends that the following week it would be done. I had to tell as many people as I could so I wouldn't back down.

Welp, I can tell you that the first two days were very, very challenging. Linden went potty upwards of 40 times. Each. Day. He was just so nervous and excited. Plus, the chocolate covered raisins create much more of a sugar high when you eat 40 in one day rather than 5 or 6. I think he enjoyed that part too. By Wednesday the nerves wore off and Linden really started to get the hang of it. Thursday we thought we'd try and venture out to our Canada parade and see how he did. We stopped for the potty while walking to and from the parade from our car and besides that he was totally dry. No accidents...no nothin! Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to announce that Linden officially 'day' potty trained (and ALMOST nighttime too if I may add)!!

Jackson. Oh my Jack, I wish everyone could observe Jackson when he is home and playing. He really is one of the funniest 16 month old kids I've ever seen. He is so smart, doesn't talk much, but he knows what he wants and he can find a way to tell you. One of the things that he can say is "I did it!!" It actually sounds more like "I diddahhh!" and he truly has the best timing when saying it. A couple of examples for you. The other day he threw a sippy cup down the stairs and the lid flew off spilling water everywhere. "I diddaahhh!" Jackson shouted. Another day he picked up a step stool and threw it across the room (yes, a step stool). "I diddaahhh!" Jackson proudly shouted. The best yet though was a couple days ago when my little man somehow got up into the garden without us seeing and pulled out the little basil that we had growing. "I diddaahhh!" Jackson proclaimed to the rest of us. I love him. He has a good sense of self-appreciation and affirmation I do think. We'll miss our basil, but I'd say it was worth the moment.

If I may say, take a little encouragement from Jack. Say, "I did it!!" to yourself MANY times today, and trust him...it'll make you feel awesome.

Basically this weekend is going to be awesome. It's Mike's 30th birthday tomorrow. We will celebrate! I think there will be chocolate cake records made here in the Bidell household this weekend. Not going to say who will break cake eating records, I just hope it's Mike and not me...sorta. If it does happen to be me I will notes from Jackson and say I did it! If I get sick from eating too much cake I'll be saying "Why did I do it?!!"

Update on my last post about the "Shredding" DVD I was starting, I loved it. But then I had to stop (doctors orders) because of some joint issues...but I can tell you that I was actually really sad I had to stop and have been on my eliptacle almost everyday since. I am loving exercise for the first time in my life and actually look forward to it daily. If you are wondering to yourself right now, "where am I? who's blog am I reading?" don't be afraid, it's still me. I just am getting all grown up I guess. They say that the brain isn't fully developed until the age of 25. I turn 25 in a couple weeks and I guess the exercise part of my brain took twenty-five years to develop. HA!

Kids are both up. I must go. By all!
LAUR.

What a week!

We said goodbye to our student from Korea on Monday. We are going to miss him a lot. He brought us so much laughter and entertainment, he was an all around good kid.

Tuesday we had three boys come and stay overnight so their parents could have a break. They were angels and actually played quite nicely with Linden so I enjoyed having them. Busy, but fun. It was crazy to think that my boys are going to be 10 and 7 sooner than I think. 10 year olds are pretty smart. So are 7 year olds. Now that I think of it, so are 3 year olds. Linden is super smart. I wonder what he'll know when he's 10. Probably everything.

As mentioned in my last entry, I've started Jillian Michael's "The 30 day Shred" DVD along with some girlfriends of mine. The first week was amazing. I LOVED it! Seriously... I felt so good, I had amazing energy afterwards and was using my evenings to get stuff done instead of crash. A week after starting my knees and ankles started to hurt real bad (said like Napoleon Dynamite). I sound like I'm old or something. One of the doctors at my doctor's office is a sports medicine guy, so I thought I'd just talk to him and see what was up. I really didn't want to have to stop my daily workouts, but it was getting too painful. Welp, I saw my doc.

Oh ya, I'll just mention that five minutes before I was going to put the boys in the van to head out for my appointment I put Jacksons shoes on. You're probably thinking, "ya, Laura, most people put shoes on their kids five minutes before they leave." You're right. But that wasn't the point. The point was that he was in his bedroom when I put them on. And then he fell down the stairs. All of them. Top to bottom. He's so tough, thankfully he wasn't injured. He only cried until I could get his blanket in his hands. Sweet kid. If my kids had a loonie for every catastrophe that happened while trying to leave the house they'd be rich. (I had a typo there that said "they'd be Rick". haha, just throught I'd share that)

Anyways, my knees are just 'mad' at me for going from zero to sixty in one day. You see, there are consequences for doing no physical activity for a long time. My consequence...my knees are mad at me. Also, I found out I have tendonitus in my ankles. That's not fun. But I have lived with that in my shoulders for a long time so I know how to deal with it more-or-less. So...I have to stop my workout DVD until I strengthen the muscles in my knees. I'm on my eliptical now and doing strengthening exercises for my knees. Still enjoying the workout.

I have to say, I have enjoyed exercising for the last few weeks. It's been a long time since I could say that. I'd love for this to be something that carries on. I'm going to let it.

Yesterday was our fifth wedding anniversary. I love my husband. He brought me Starbucks in bed and we shared a cupcake.

Have a great weekend friends. It's 9:10PM and I think I might go to bed now. zzzzzzzzzz
L

Jelly and gift wrap.

Hi. I've decided to join a group of crazy women who are doing a 30 day challenge with Jillian Michael's DVD "The Shred". I did my first work out in my living room today and thought to myself, "what an aweful way to die," as I rolled over on the floor struggling to find a morsel of air that I could suck into my lungs. I didn't die. However, if my legs were flavoured I'm sure you could make a delicious jelly out of them. That's how they feel right now...like jelly. I'm contemplating just having them removed, that way I never have to go through that workout again.

Linden had a great time during my workout. He jumped along with me and did the ab workouts on the floor. Then when it was time for the weights Linden disappeared. He came back a minute later with his own set of weights - two giant rolls of gift wrap. They were taller than him! But he faithfully punched the air with me, both of us using our respective sets of dumbbells. It was fun. Until I remembered the burning sensation covering my entire body.

Hopefully I can recover from my near death experience and learn to grasp pain by the neck and say "pain, I grasp you by the neck!!!" or something like that. I'd like to keep going on this program and may or may not fill you in on my progress.

Have a great day friends! I'm going to go and mop the floor on my knees cause it's the only housework I can do that doesn't require me to stand up on my legs. haha.

Laura

At least I know it...

Something that I have learned about myself over the past long time is that I have an addictive personality. There's a reason that I have never tried smoking people...I know I'd become addicted. Well, there's another reason and that is that the thought of inhaling smoke into my lungs for fun is not my idea of fun. There's also a reason I don't drink or gamble. I'd become addicted. Drinking doesn't really entice me anyways, but being truthful here - sometimes the thought of winning the 40 million dollars that the lottery companies magically have to give away seems pretty exciting. I know that the reason the amount is 40 million dollars is because millions and millions and millions of people have all bought tickets and not won, but that doesn't matter to me because hey...someone has to win, it might as well be me! Hence, the reason that I don't gamble. I would be lining up at every lottery centre around town trying to muster all my luck into one measly ticket and the real problem would be that I wouldn't think twice about buying another ticket if somehow my luck didn't transfer into the first ticket.

A good example of how I have come to know this about myself? Coffee. I'm not a huge fan of Tim Hortons coffee (sorry TH's lovers...). BUT when they have roll up the rim to win I suddenly forget about my loyalty and love for a good strong brew from Starbucks and spend irrational amounts of money on coffee from TH's so that I can get that silly little rim that is so difficult to roll up anyways. Not only do I pretty much never win, I'm shaking from the amount of coffee that I have poured into my system. Lose. Lose.

Since I have been given this gift of wisdom about myself I have decided that there would be even more wisdom in using this personality trait to my advantage. I'd like to think that my addictive personality will one day transfer into a lot of my day to day struggles...like cleaning...and healthy food...and exercise...oddly enough...it hasn't yet...still troubleshooting on that. BUT! One area it has definately leaked into is saving money!

I was recently graced with some knowledge on how to shop effectively. Lots of stuff with not a lot, or no money spent. Use flyers, hoard coupons and some other sneaky tricks have landed me in a pretty awesome position. I have concluded that at least I have acknowledged that I have a tendency to addictive behaviour and that using this tendency to save my family money is a pretty good outlet.

So if you'll excuse me...I have to go stand by the door and wait for my friday flyers to come. They usually come between 8am and 8pm, so I don't want to miss it.

LAURA
ps - if you live in BC and want to know what magical tricks and schemes I have come upon to save loads and loads of cash... my source for this wealth of information is MrsSmith - Extreme shopper...look her up on facebook under that name!! She even does skype classes if you live elsewhere in Canada*

A Mother's Day Poem

I once had a mom who changed my diapers
What rhymes with diapers?
Nothing rhymes with diapers.

I once had a mom who taught me to clean up
everybody clean up
everybody clean up.

She taught me to love and to be a good friend
She always made me dinner
And told me I'm a winner

Now I have a mom who is my friend
We chat and we giggle
And we both hate our feet being tickled

Now I have a mom who helps me with my kids
She still makes me dinner
But she doesn't change my diaper

You wonder how it's possible for one mom to do all this?
That's what so amazing
She really is amazing

I'd never ever switch my mom for another
She's the one that I needa
Her name is Carina.


I love you mom. Thank you for being my friend, you truly are wonderful. Happy Mother's Day.

Laura

Tunnel Vision.

To say that this past week was fun would be a completely obsurd lie. There were parts of it that were fun. My mom came for a visit, that was fun! The week has ended, that is also fun. Let me break down my week for you.

Last Friday my one year old Jackson woke up from his nap with a fever of 102. He was super fussy for the next two days. That's fine, we can make it through that. Sunday he broke out in a rash. Monday when I brought him in to the doctor -he was pulling out his hair, literally, he was so itchy - he had to get 3 tests done including blood work, a urine sample and a throat swab - all are awesome tests to run on a one year old - because they thought it could be the measles. Both my boys were now quarantined at home for the rest of the week until we got the results. (I recognize that the sentance before the last was a majorly long sentance)

When Linden turned one there were all those rallies against immunizations because of a possible relation to autism. We opted to wait a bit and do more research before getting his 12 month and 18 month shots. So Linden hadn't been immunized either. So....Tuesday morning Mike and I brought the boys in to have their shots. I now understand why they give the shots at one year old and not three years old. A three year old is very aware of everything.

By Tuesday afternoon Jackson was almost better. The rash was almost gone and I really didn't think that it was the measles, he didn't have some of the very obvious symptoms that come with measles and he was recovering very quickly. But I still had to keep them home until we found out for sure. Thursday I called my doctor's office three times to find out, they were so patient with me. (smile) I just explained, kindly of course, that I have two children at home who can't leave and we're going crazy, and if I don't find out before the weekend I'll have to cancel all my plans including Mother's day stuff because of a possibility that it could be measles. The front end gal was very understanding and I got the test results first thing friday morning. NO measles. Praise the Lord!!! Now my boys are immune from the shots and I don't have to worry about them getting it. If the rash that Jackson had was that bad (it actually was just a common cold virus that showed itself in the form of a rash instead of the normal symptoms) and it wasn't the measles, I NEVER want my kids to go through actually having it.

........sigh..........

I think that sometimes I can get tunnel vision when I'm having a rough week. I'm sure my husband has known this about me for a long time because I'm also sure that he takes the brunt of my frustration and worry. When I look back on it now I can see that there were good things to my week. I got to get my hair cut and I'm soooooo happy with the result! My momma was here and I also got to have some girls over last night for a fun night of learning, laughing and of course, eating! Mike and I also got to go on a date to a new restaurant in town. Tonight we have a banquet, and tomorrow I get to be celebrated for all my greatness (Mike, I hope you're reading:). If I could only remember the good when the bad seems to take over I'm sure the bad wouldn't seem as bad.

Anyways, I'm hoping that Jackson wakes up sooon from his nap because my street is buzzing with people and cars, I think there's a huge garage sale near by. So....I might go encourage Linden to stomp like a dinosaur and bang some pots together to see if we can get him up and go check out what all this craziness is.

Have a great day and may your tunnel be bright with light today. Mine is.
Laura
p.s - I'm not actually going to try to sabotage Jackson's nap. That'd just be mean.

p.p.s - I'm a mom. I'm a good mom. I'm a loving mom. But I'm not a perfect mom. So when I say 'celebrated for all of my greatness' I'm just being cheeky and trying to get nice presents from my man.

p.p.p.s - I don't know if ppps is right, but it'll work for now. I also would like to add that when I said at the beginning of this post that 'to say that this week was fun would be a completey obsurd lie' I was still seeing through my tunnel of negativity and perhaps a bit of self pity. I have now stepped out of that tunnel and can see the brighter sides of the week too. Thank you. That is all.

I dreamed a dream...

Linden is sitting up stairs in my room having 'quiet time' with some books right now because he won't go to sleep. He is happy to sit on my bed and read if it means not having a nap. Before I went up there and gave him some books I thought he had been sleeping...an hour went by! Then I heard him start crying and screaming so I thought he had fallen off the bed, I ran up there and he had certainly not been sleeping. He had been sticking his feet in the slats on our bed and had gotten one foot jammed in there. Turkey!

What I want to know is when is the right time to start taking out day time naps all together? I don't feel like Linden is ready for that - oh my, I hope he's not! - but every so often he just won't go to sleep. Then on other days he'll sleep for 3 hours in the afternoon.

I seem to remember my own parents enforcing afternoon naps until I went to school. Now, the memory of my childhoon is often blurred and I have been known to think that things really happened when infact I either dreampt of them or just imagined them happening. One example of this was when I was a kid and one night we were sitting around the dinner table all laughing and sharing funny memories. I piped up and laughing so hard I said, "Remember the time I was Gumby for Halloween and couldn't climb up our neighbors stairs because my legs were too stiff in the costume?? Ah hahaha!!!!" Suddenly there was an awkward silence followed by an outburst of laughter by my parents. "Laura, you were never Gumby for Halloween, you saw that on America's Funniest home videos!" My siblings then added to the laughter and I have never lived that moment down. Thankfully, I now know that I possess this amazing ability to make dreams a reality and have gotten over myself. I can laugh at myself in these times and really....I quite enjoy them when they come. It does, however, usually make me nervous when I am telling some amazing story that I may have actually made it up. Back to napping as a child, THAT I remember. Even when we were older my parents always had us nap on Sundays. I am so thankful for this, though I wasn't at the time, and regularily nap on Sundays (and any other opporunity).

So...what did you do? When did your kids quit the afternoon nap? How did you make the transition? I do plan on having my kids nap until they go to kinderschool and even then will have them nap on Sundays...but it's good to hear other people's stories! Am I dreaming to think that my plans are possible? Perhaps this is one dream I can't make into reality.

Linden is now downstairs asking me as many questions as humanly possible. I must give ear. Thankfully, he's a happy camper even though he didn't nap today. I love my boys.

LAUR.

PS - If you are a person that I have told some crazy story to and are now questioning my credibility, please know that I am an honest person with a lot of true stories....it's just that some times some stories I only think happened. Oh boy..... I'm starting to sound really bad... I have good intentions..... oh man.....

La la la lasagna.

I made an attempt at making a lasagna last night for dinner. You might ask, "But Laura, you mean to tell me that you've been married for 5 years and have yet to make a lasagna for dinner?" Oh I have. I have failed dismally a couple of times. The issue? Those fantastically frusterating 'oven-ready' noodles. They are supposed to save you time. My lasagna's either end up like a noodle soup in a shallow dish, which is just altogether bad, or it ends up dry as a bone with a nice crunch as you bite into it.

Time consuming, difficult to make and oh-so fattening, my lasagna last night was my first semi-success! It's a secret family recipe and so I can't share it with you, but actually Kraft parmesean cheese stole my recipe years ago and posted it on the back of their containers so you can get it off there if you want. I added a layer of ricotta in and probably will use cottage cheese next time. And I think I'll try the traditional pre-cooked noodles. And maybe take out a bit of the mass amount of garlic I added. But other than that I really enjoyed it and so did the fam. I do feel this morning though - thanks to dinner and the terrible quantity I ate - that if I were to jump into a pool I'd actually sink.

I hope today, wherever you are, is a sunny day. It's beautiful here today. Kids are up......gotta go!

Acting on Motivation...

What a fantastic weekend. I love Easter. I love it because it is a beautiful celebration of the life of our Lord. There is such joy in Easter weekend. While we remember the sacrifice made on the Cross we also get to  remember what side of the Cross we live on. What an incredible gift of love given to us, the opportunity to live on the redeemed side of the Cross. Where death is beaten and sin is forgiven, life is freely offered and received. Healing is normal and joy is natural. I love it!

Some times I wonder if God's grace is blind. If God knew who he was extending grace towards he'd probably change his mind. The crazy thing is, grace is not blind. That's why it's called grace. This unmerited love and favour is not given because God is blind or ignorant, it is given in spite of our imperfections and blatantly ugly sins. God sees it all my friend. That's what makes his gift to us so amazing. Grace is incredibly motivating. I am not guilted into living for Christ. I am motivated by grace to live for Him. He is the only one who can love me unconditionally because He is the only perfect love. That leads me to search my life for things I can change. I want to learn to love perfectly.

Sometimes I feel bad about putting so much emphasis on Easter. Sounds strange doesn't it? But I think to myself that I should remember the Cross and celebrate Christ's resurrection daily. I shouldn't have to wait for one weekend out of the year to celebrate. Not that I go through the rest of the year in complete disregard for this, but it just seems like Easter dulls the rest of the year and makes it feel like I haven't remembered.

This is crazy thinking though. While those thoughts have come into my head, I must say that they are brief and quickly diminished. I'm sure that God loves all the attention that Easter brings! And why shouldn't he?! It brings our eyes back to the Cross, back to his Son, back to the reason we have hope. What great things to think about. I'm sure he loves any opportunity to draw closer to his children. People who don't normally go to church will go on Easter Sunday. Instead of feeling bad about not celebrating the rest of the year, let's act upon the excitment and joy of Easter and use it to launch us closer to God.

Perhaps Easter is a Christian's New Years, if you will,  a time to measure our values and priorities and make changes where needed. We often think it's lame to set new years resolutions because everybody's doing it. A bunch of people with 15 pounds to lose buy passes to the gym and get motivated that this year is a new year. You know what? I didn't set ANY new years resolutions for that very reason. Everybody's doing it. And you know what else? Shame on me. Good for those people who acted on their motivation, who shamelessly marched into that 24 hour fitness and signed up for a year pass. I didn't act on that motivation and now it's gone. I'll have to find it somewhere else now.

Anyways, back to Easter. How does grace inspire you? Does it compel you to draw closer to God, or perhaps a friend in need? Act on it. Do it now before the motivation gets lost in busyness.

For me, this past weekend reminded me that it's all about people finding Jesus. I heard some amazing stories of how Jesus has transformed families and individual lives recently. I am motivated to love the people around me with selfless love. My neighbors need to know Jesus. I can help make that happen. I can love. I will love.

Sometimes we just need to put down what we're doing and do the right thing.

Laura

P.S - I don't know how exactly that last line fit into what I was saying........but I thought it sounded pretty cool.

Taking it all in...

I don't even remember what I wrote about last time.........it's been so long. Oh ya! I like my salad plate. huh. Funny I wrote that then, cause right now my lil precious salad plate is starting to dip in the middle. Ok, I guess it'd have to be made of playdough to do that.

A little update on the life of the little momma that could.

Not gonna lie, life's been a challenge as of late. Linden's got seemingly endless poo issues, Jackson's got an ear infection and trying to cut ten teeth at the same time and learning that pushing buttons on everything is really fun......for HIM. Oh, he also likes to throw things. Big, small, wet, sticky, hard, soft, round, not round, if it somehow gets in his hand he'll throw it.

Jackson is at a really fun age right now; learning everything and it's all such an adventure for him. Just tonight, he was starting to go down the stairs head first so I grabbed him and turned him around. Pulling his leg down towards the next step I tried to show him how to go down backwards on his knees. I thought it was a silly attempt on my part but the little turkey got it! For the next twenty minutes he climbed up the stairs, down the stairs, up two stairs, down two, etc. The only time he got confused was when he reached the landing and had to keep going down the next set of stairs, he had nothing to hold on to so he just went head first and then sorted it out once he had a hold on something. Did I mention he just turned one last week? Yup, he's smart.

While a fun stage, it's also tiring. Mike (my husband) put it well that, to Jackson, everything is a game right now. It seems to us like he's testing us but he's not testing us...he's playing, we're just being tested by our lack of patience (paraphrase). He doesn't know he's pushing our buttons, or disobeying - he did, however, just go for the power button and stop and look back at me today - he's just playing, discovering.

Linden has an appointment with the pediatrician next week. Let me just put it this way...he's on day five of adult doses of adult laxative and he still hardly has soft poop. Any other kid would be nothing short of a fire hose......nevermind, that's rude. I feel so bad for him.

Sometimes I feel like my problems are so small in comparison other peoples. And really, they probably are. I feel like I shouldn't be stressed about things, like I should be able to handle what comes my way, that I shouldn't complain. When I hear about other people's problems I feel bad that I even feel tired or frusterated myself. I am learning, though, that my reality is my reality. Everybody goes through hard times and, yes, the pain and terrible things that some people go through far outweigh the challenges that another person may go through. But in no way at all does that cancel out the person with the lesser issue's stress and pain. It doesn't devalue your situation. So, instead of feeling bad about feeling bad about my situation because of someone else's situation (ya following? :), I can instead see them making it through their struggles and be inspired to do the same.

I apologize to you for my rants and raves lately. When I first started this blog I said in my very first post that I was always going to try to find the positive in things. That's been hard for me lately, speaking truthfully. Someone wrote to me recently and told me to value the hard times, take them in...because then the good times will seem even better. It's hard to remember that when you're lying on the kitchen floor with a 2 year old in your arms screaming cause he's scared to go to the bathroom and the 1 year old is screaming just cause he thinks it's fun. BUT, looking back at that episode from today I see how special it was. My two year old loves me and trusts me to hold him when he's in pain and my one year old thinks that screaming is fun.

Life is hard, but life is sweet. Life is tiring, but it's also so rewarding. I'm taking it all in tonight. The good and the bad. Because I know that the good times are real good if I let them be.

I borrowed "English Grammar for Dummies" from the library. I was a bit worried that my homestay students would think that I brought it home for them because I think they're dummies. They think it's funny that I have a book on learning proper english grammar and I don't think they're dummies. I'm gonna get good at english. I'm learning things I never knew. I'm in the chapter on linking verbs vs. action verbs and tenses of verbs. Did you know that in the latin language verbs have over 120 tenses? Yuck. No offence latin, but I don't want to speak you. English, I will take your six verb tenses and be happy.

Heading to the mainland for a couple of days. We're so excited to be going to the wedding of one of the girls that we had in our youth group for 5 years (I actually think it was longer). She's the gal that if we could have adopted her we would have. The only problem was that there was no problem and she has really awesome parents and they love her a lot and raised her really well. Plus she was already a teenager and it would have been weird if Mike and I, being so young and newly married, adopted a teenager who had no problems and had a great family. Mike has the honour of being the officiant at their wedding ceremony this weekend. So fun. So great to see two really awesome people get married and love God together.

Well, good night friends. May the Lord bless you and keep you, and make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, and may He give you His peace. Amen.

I like my salad plate.

Welp, it sure seems like my posts have certainly been few and far between lately. I apologize for this - to you, and to me. I love to write and feel like it's somewhat theraputic for me, I know I've said that before, but it really is. It's funny, however, that when life gets stressful we put the things that we need the most on hold until all the crazy stuff settles down. That date night, or taking time to journal or write - I hate journaling by the way - or even spending much needed time with the Lord (I don't hate that!). If I could somehow remind myself that those things would HELP calm the craziness down it would sure be helpful!

Life has been quite the ride for me lately. There are some things that we're needing to iron out around here - and I sometimes have to stop myself from just throwing the iron through the wall. ha. Don't worry, it's not my marriage or my kids... we're having some issues with our students, but for confidentiality purposes I won't talk about it here. I will say that I am starting to realize the importance of doing a life survey every once in a while. Just to check up on how things are going. You know? Ask yourself some questions, see what you can do to make things better or ease the load. I have to admit, I am not a person with a large plate that can hold many things at once. Some people have GIANT plates and seem like they can take on the world. Me.....not so much. My plate is more like a salad plate, and I can't say that I don't like it like that. I like my salad plate.

I was driving today and thought to myself, "huh...haven't seen many eagles or deer lately." Now, for those of you who do not live where I live, these two beautiful creatures are a daily treat to view in my town. I kinda thought it was too bad that they all went away - seeing them usually brightens my day in a lovely way. They point my thoughts to their Creator and I like Him a lot. And thinking about Him is good. I drove home and didn't see any. Then I was out driving again and a thought popped into my mind, perhaps I haven't seen any deer because I haven't been slowing down (to the speed limit I admit) to spot any. Perhaps I haven't seen any eagles because I haven't been looking up. I guess I have had my head in the sand quite a bit lately. Something that is really great about living on Vancouver Island is that the pace of life really can be slower if you allow it to be. You can just drive the plain old speed limit and people just coast along behind you and enjoy the ride. You can slow down and enjoy the drive along the ocean and watch the eagles and seals...and the road of course... I haven't been doing this lately.

I've gotten caught up in just getting tasks done and not enjoying life as it is; enjoying the pleasant moments that are quietly offered for my taking but I avoid as to not 'waste' time. Today, I am thankful for the friendly reminder to slow down and enjoy the view. I did look up. And guess what? The sea food shop along the ocean was feeding the eagles. What a sight!! There must have been 40 bald eagles all feasting and flying through the air. It was so beautiful and such a treat. I slowed down, and so did everyone around me and we all just enjoyed it.

As I write this I am learning a lesson on slowing down and just enjoying a quiet moment. I received a promotion thingy that gave me a free download to a movie (don't worry, I'm not pirating, in no way to I support downloading illegally.) and my 'high speed' internet is currently downloading a 908MB movie at........wait for it....wait for it.....a whopping 120 KB per second. So, I have 2 hours before my movie will be ready for viewing. Instead I'm sipping 'Sleepy Time' tea and happily waiting for it to finish downloading, and I'll watch it another time.

Jackson had his first birthday yesterday. What a turkey. I love him so much. He's into yelling right now. Not bad, yucky yelling, it's actually really funny yelling. It's kind of like he's a car reving the engine. He's so delighted in himself when he does it. We had a fun day. It snowed, so randomly, on his birthday. I had planned a fun walk around the air strip but we ended up walking around Superstore instead. It was still fun though. Today the boys had great naps because they were so wiped out from yesterday. Jackson woke up crying in the monitor. Let me just say that when you can smell it down the hall and down the stairs, you know it's gonna be a major clean up operation. Needless to say, it WAS. You see, he's also into this whole filling-your-diaper-during-your-nap-time thing. He wouldn't even stand up when I came into the room. He just sat there, still, like he was sitting in a mine field - of poop - and one tiny move could cause an explosion. Bless his heart for not moving. Enough said about that. Well, ok...when I plunked him onto the change table he had such a sneaky pleased look on his face, like he had just really proven his diaper filling capabilities. If he can study one day like he.....nevermind. I said enough about that.

[sigh] My tea is kicking in, I'm starting to get sleepy. My movie is 56% downloaded and it's been at it for an hour...so I think I'll just go to bed now. Tonight is the time change, Spring forward this time. For all you parent out there, this is the AWESOME one where your kid sleep in an extra hour cause they don't know you changed the clocks and you trick your mind into not thinking there was a time change at all. Don't worry, I've finally figure this out. When Linden was a baby and it was the 'fall backwards' time change I prepped him all week long leading up to the time change by putting him to bed and hour early. When the time change came and I realized that now he was going to bed at 5PM in the afternoon it wasn't fun. I did it the wrong way. Ha. After that awesome move I worked really hard to understand the time changes so I'd never do that again. Poor kid.

Ramble ramble. Good night friends. Have a deep sleep.
Laura
P.S - Linden was singing the national anthem tonight and it went something like this, "Yo Canada, we stand on Arc." That was it. And that was enough to make it the best national anthem ever. Although he doesn't call it the national anthem. He just calls it the hockey song.

Fractal chaos.

It's been a while since I blogged last. To be honest, the last month has been pretty hard and so I didn't feel like I had much to offer in terms of enjoyable reading. I am SO glad that Mike and I had a week away in Mexico last month. Last month seems like a year ago already though...the only thing left to remind us of our relaxing trip is Mike's tan. Yes, Mike's tan. Not mine. Mine is long gone. Ok, there are also pleasant memories of sleep, rest, and food. I cling on to memories of rest and sleep....ahhhhh, sleeeeeeeep.

After surgery (see previous post for info) I had the opportunity to head to Langley to be with my family for a few days of rest. The day that we left for Langley my baby Jackson got sick with croup. He wasn't too sick so we decided to keep travelling. Linden has gotten into car sickness. So while driving to the ferry in Nanaimo he covered my mother-in-law's van with grossness. Pulling over to clean him up in the freezing cold was great frozen fun. He was thrilled as my MIL and I gagged our way through cleaning him and the van up. Jackson was also thrilled for the momentary stall in our trip. Bonnie and I may as well have joined in the crying, we could have harmonized our cries and made a screaming quartet. Back on the road Linden was so offended by throwing up the first time he was determined not to let another drop out of his body; the poor kid held his hands over his mouth the rest of the way, refusing a repeat episode. What a tough kid!

The first few days of our trip were pretty good, Jackson started to get better and had more energy. It was hard to not be able to hold him while he was sick because of my surgery... the day before we were going to head back home Jackson took a turn for the worst and I ended up in emergency through the night with him. Poor kid couldn't breathe. That was a tough night. But I was so glad my mom (thanks mom:) told me to take him in because they were able to give him medication and put him on a ventilator and as soon as he woke up the next morning he was doing heaps better. We stayed one extra day and enjoyed one extra day of fun with our families. What a gift family is. I love my family. Both sides. Everyone. They are pretty awesome.

We're back home now and life is starting to get back to normal. I still have remnants of surgery that remind me ever so often to take it a bit easier, but my energy is returning and I feel motivated by this beautiful weather to get into spring cleaning mode. I'm starting to wonder what 'normal' means. I think that for me 'normal' is chaos right now. Being a young mom with two tots and two teens (Korean students) is quite literally the definition of chaos. Perhaps the chaos would seem a bit more like fractal chaos if I could manage our time a bit better.

What is fractal chaos? Well, it looks like a crazy, messy life of business, but when looked at closer it is actually a very carefully designed pattern of routine and planning. Fractal chaos. Google fractals, they're facinating. I'm not sure if my definition would make it into the dictionary, but I have only altered it to suit my current dreams of time management. Fractal chaos sounds exciting. It seems energizing. It's fast paced, but it's with a purpose. It fits everything in without allowing too much in. There's room for rest and relaxing and room for getting messy and creative. There's room for playing and learning and even cleaning. Everything flows together seamlessly and it just works. Doesn't it sound glorious?

I have no idea how to get there but I know that I will. I will reach fractal chaos. I will. I'm excited. I'm motivated.

Jackson dumped my coffee all over himself this morning. It was sad. He wasn't sad. It wasn't hot coffee, so he was unharmed. He happily slopped up my carpeted stairs as I tried frantically to wipe up the mess on the laminate flooring. My heart was harmed. I was still thoroughly enjoying that cup of mostly warm coffee. We were in process of heading out the door to drop our students off at school. Chaos. Oh well, I forgive his curiosity and I also forgive my non-sensical thinking in leaving my (large) cup of coffee within arms reach of an almost one year old.

Right now my 'normal' is chaos. It does not make a lot of sense all the time and seems totally out of control, there aren't many moments of quiet and when there are someone usually breaks it with a timely passing of gas. That's what I get for being the only female in a house with five of the male species. All of that to say, that while I do long one day for formulated business and order, my life is fun in all this chaos. I mentioned the frustration in losing my coffee this morning, but I didn't mention the delighted look on Jackson's face that made it all so worth it. And when that silence is rudely broken, there is always laughter - I may not always be a part of the laughter, but at least it brings laughter to the rest of the household.

[sigh].....I'm signing off now with a hot cup of coffee in my hand and a happy heart.

Everyone's normal is different. I hope that today you can find joy in your 'normal' and if your normal needs to change I hope you can embrace a new normal with gladness.

Peace to you.
Laura

When life throws you lemons...

Make lemonade? No thanks. I'd rather have chocolate, in large quantities.

I've thought a lot about whether or not I'd write about this. I wasn't sure what people would think and I didn't want to write it for sympathy. Please know that this is not a sympathy plea, I appreciate prayers for sure, but I mostly write this so that maybe someone else can feel supported, or understood. *the following information may be graphic, reader discretion is advised :)

Last week was awful. Not going to lie, it was the worst week of my life and I'm glad it's over. Even though it was the worst week ever I feel so blessed and thankful. It could have been a lot worse. On Saturday, the 13th, I ended up in surgery for an ectopic (tubal) pregnancy. By the time we got to Saturday I was just thankful for an answer. Throughout the week I went from being told I was pregnant (we weren't planning that by the way, it was a surprise for us) to being told I had a miscarriage, to possibly not and could still be pregnant, to an ectopic pregnancy, back to possibly being a healthy pregnancy and back to it being an ectopic pregnancy. At the time of each of those announcements I went through all of the emotions of each of them. We weren't planning on getting pregnant for another year, but I was thrilled to hear that I could be pregnant.

I never understood the emotions involved in an early miscarriage. There were times in my head were times where I'd think, how is it possible to get so emotionally attached to something I didn't even know that was inside of me? I now understand, very well, that while your mind might not be aware your body is 100% fully engaged and aware of the life that is trying to develop inside of you. When I was then told it was an ectopic pregnancy I was devestated. I didn't understand the true danger in an ectopic pregnancy for the mother - and I didn't know that pretty much 100% of the pregnancies ever develop to the point of having a heart beat. I was so scared that I was going to harm a possibly healthy baby. My OBGYN was so gracious in explaining everything to me. It really is life threatening for the mother. Because the pregnancy is in the fallopian tube it can burst leading to massive loss of blood suddenly.
She then told me that my pregnancy hormone had doubled meaning that it could still be a healthy pregnancy in utero and sent me home with strong cautions to come back immediately if I felt any pain whatsoever.

I went back in on friday for more blood work and ultrasounds. Unfortunately, my pregnancy hormone had not doubled again meaning that wherever the pregnancy was, it was not developing normally. The ultrasound showed that my uterus was empty. I had no pain but because they were sure now that it was an ectopic pregnancy they suggested surgery as soon as possible. On Saturday, before the surgery I asked them to test my pregnancy hormone one last time. I wanted one of two things. One, maybe, just maybe it had been sent to the right location miraculously, or two, that I would go into surgery knowing that I was the only one living in my own body. In hoping for the latter I was by no means giving up hope that my God was able to do a miracle. I know full well that God is capable. I felt peace though that He knows ALL things and if it was an ectopic pregnancy that He cares enough about me to let me know that I wasn't harming a growing embryo. The level dropped significantly. He already had that little life in His hands caring for it. Now it was time to care for my body.

After the surgery my doctor came in and said he was shocked that I hadn't been in pain during the week. I ended up losing my right fallopian tube because of the size of the mass. I know that God was gracious to me in the week. He kept me safe. He kept me from experiencing a lot of pain. But he also led me to go to the doctors office early. I am not a person that heads into the doctor for myself quickly. But something earlier in the week just felt off to me in my body. I felt hormonally weird and just thought I'd go tell the doctor about it. Had I not done that, I could have lost a lot more than a fallopian tube. I could have lost my life.

My right ovary is singing the blues today...feeling a little lonely over there...but the good news is that I can still get pregnant in the future. A dear friend reminded me yesterday of the scripture that says 'He makes all things new'...God can even give me a new tube if he wants to. I'll take it!
I am sad that it didn't turn out in the end to be a normal pregnancy. Today I feel fine emotionally, and I know that in the next few weeks I may have some more emotions to work through. I will validate all of those feelings and work through them as they come. Me writing this out today is a part of helping me look back and see God's gentle and kind hand in all of this.

On Wednesday, when I was initially told it was ectopic, I was crying and crying in the front seat as we were dropping our kids off before returning to the hospital. I was crying quietly though because we had our two Korean students in the back seat and they didn't know what was going on yet. All of a sudden, Linden started to sing.

"I cast all my cares upon you. I lay all of my burdens down at your feet. And any time I don't know what I should do, I will cast all my cares upon you."

God has such a sweet way of reminding us that he cares for us and in difficult times we may have trouble remembering that He is there, but He doesn't forget, nor does He disappear. Hearing my little angel sing that song gave me such a peace. He was verbalizing the message that God was passing along. Cast your cares upon Me. When you don't know what to do, come talk to me.

I am so thankful for friends and family. People here have been so helpful - sending meals and caring for our kids. The body of Christ is such a gift. I am so thankful for Mike, my husband. He is my best friend and there is no one else I would have rather had beside me through this. (No offense all you others :)

Our dishwasher broke yesterday. ha. I don't mind though because I'm not allowed to be doing anything so I don't have to hand wash the dishes...hee hee...sorry Mike. MAYBE I guess I could sit on a chair and help dry them...but only MAYBE. [yawn]...actually, I'm feeling kind of tired... :)

To all of you women out there...especially moms who are caring for lots of people all at the same time. Make sure you care for yourself. Don't ignore signs that your body could be trying to tell you something's up. Don't pass up help when it's offered. And in all of it, bring your burdens to God. He lost a Son once too. He can relate.

Taking nothing for granted,
Laura

Danish Immersion Camp!

Linden is so funny. He is ALWAYS listening. To those of you who have almost 2 year olds...they will always be listening. At 2 years old, Linden walked into the TV room and said, "TVtropolis". Only a short time after that we may or may not have been watching Seinfeld and he came in and shouted, "George!!" I couldn't believe it. Whenever we watch tv that isn't a cartoon, Linden usually isn't paying attention, he's off in the corner playing with toys or something. But I guess he's still got his ears on.

Lately a famous line of his is, said after we ask him to do something, "sorry, mom, I just am playing with my toys." Just yesterday Mike asked me to help him with something, oh ya......it was changing a poopy diaper.....ha.....and I said, "sorry, I just have to go to the bathroom first." huh. Guess I know where he's picking up his lines from. It's a lot more cute coming from a child.

The last, and quite possibly the best one liner of Linden's...he walked into the living room a couple of days ago with a very serious face and looked right at me and said with a very serious voice, "DANISH IMMERSION CAMP." Said with such authority and passion I thought my son had been turned into an officer of less desirable sorts. Danish Immersion Camp? that just sounds scary to me. But don't worry, he didn't say danish concentration camp. It's an immersion camp. I guess if you have to learn a language it'd be fun to do it camp style. I have to credit Veggie Tales for this one. I'm pretty sure that's where it came from, cause that's where he's been saying a bunch of other lines from lately. I love it. I love that a 2 year old can think it's fun to learn how to say something and then just say it with no worries in the world.

Ok, one more. Linden has quite a few bruises on his legs right now from running in the house and bashing into things. I guess his legs resemble that of any normal boy child. Anyways, he pointed to the one on his knee and said, "this one's my beach." Only 'beach' didn't sound like beach, it sounded like the term we use for female dogs. Thankfully I didn't laugh like I normally would have...cause I was so confused. I couldn't even figure out what he was trying to say. It kinda looked like a bridge I guess...maybe he was trying to say bridge? I don't know, but thankfully he was saying it unintentionally and to add to the cuteness, he could see that I was confused so he just kept saying it over and over until my facial expression changed. And just for the record, if he was indeed trying to tell me that this one was his 'insert bad word here'...I have NO idea where he picked that up from. Serious. None of that talk in my house. Ok, I'm not joking here people. You don't need to laugh because it may look like I'm writing sarcastically, but I'm not! :) Seriously.

I think I'll just move on now...

So, today, enjoy the things your kids say. Listen carefully. You may get a little golden nugget of joy and hilariousness when your child shouts out something like Danish Immersion Camp. So random. So good.

Enjoy your day, friends. Be blessed. Go play outside. It's still dark out for me right now, but I can feel it. It's going to be a nice day.

Mexico Part 2: SEA-HUMANS.

I like pools.

Pools are fun.

They are safe - providing you know how to swim - and there aren't any surprises in pools. I enjoy swimming in pools. Call me a geek, but one thing I love to do is tread water. Just tread. I don't need to go anywhere, I'm happy to stay in one spot for 45 minutes and just turn my legs round and round keeping my head above the water. You can't do that in the ocean. If you do that a shark might eat you. Or if you live where I do, a brown sea lion may give you a bite on your leg. Neither of those things would be enjoyable in the least.

The ocean in Mexico (on the Caribbean side) is lovely. Right by the second largest coral reef in the world you can spy on fish and all their little friends all day long if you'd like. Crystal clear water and large waves makes for a delightful day of wave jumping and water splashing. To those of us who call the pacific ocean our main body of water, even more precise the shores of White Rock Beach, you could definately call the waters of Mexico (once again, the Caribbean side) an upgrade. No sloppy wash up goop that wraps around your feet and tide pools that fester blobs of germs and grossness all day long.

I have always had a small fear of oceans. Actually, there were a few years in my childhood when I REALLY didn't like swimming in lakes either. Let me explain why I prefer not to swim in the sea. There are a few reasons.

Salt water. No matter how hard I try to avoid it I always manage to swallow a big gulp of it when a wave unexpectedly knocks me in the face. My first reason is rather minor though, I can get over the salt water thing.

Creatures. Do you know how many creatures and animals and fish live in the ocean? Neither do I. That is reason enough to have me nervous. There must be at least a million creatures and animals and fish in there. It's the really tiny ones and the really BIG ones that just creep me right out.

Undertows and sharp rocks. Put them together and what do you get? Ouch. There is no controlling the hugeness of ocean. We truly are foreigners there, it can change at any moment.

I did go in the ocean in Mexico, once.  I was a little bit reluctant because there was a sea urchin warning (no joke!). They're basically sea porcupines waiting for you to touch them so they can plant one of there sharp needles into your fragile flesh. But I had goggles, and borrowed - demanded more or less - Mike's crocs for my precious little feet. I watched my steps very carefully and thankfully, I was unharmed. There were also giant barriers keeping out large, dangerous fish and sea mammals.

I really don't understand the hype about being IN the ocean anyways. When God created the oceans he did not put humans in there. He created sea turtles, sea urchins, sea cucumbers even! But nope, he didn't create sea humans. I am not a sea human. I know of many sea humans and they seem to do just fine being in there. I am married to a sea human, so I guess that makes my children half-sea humans. I will not keep them from swimming in the ocean. I may even join then every so often....more like...maybe once.

I am not entirely against these great blue displays of power and awe. I do like skim boarding...and building sand castles beside the shore. I look forward to this summer with our kids. Oddly enough we live on a peninsula completely surrounded by the ocean. I LOVE where we live. I LOVE looking at the ocean. It reminds me of the greatness of our God. The creativity..incredible. I LOVE learning about and seeing all the creatures - weird animals that do amazing things like light up and dangle things over their heads to attract prey - I just prefer to see it on Planet Earth DVD's and not be swimming in the same water as them.

Some of the times that I enjoyed best on our trip was sitting under a grass roof hut watching all the little sea humans climb up on the barriers and wait for the waves to send them into a tumble. I had lovely laughs and thoroughly enjoyed watching them thoroughly enjoy themselves.

To all of you sea-humans out there, just be careful!

LAURA.
ps - My husband Mike is thinking about getting into diving. He wants to go diving with the giant six-gill sharks that come up from thousands of feet deep each year to mate near Hornby Island. Huh.

Mexico Part 1: Travel tips

Welp, we're home. What a great time we had! The weather was perfect and the company was also perfect. It's great being married to a person who likes to vacation the same way that I do. We like to sit quietly, wherever we are... people watch, watch old TV re-runs on DVD, and act like children in the swimming pool.

I thought I'd write a couple posts about our trip - just cause putting it all in one may get a little lengthy. My first post is entitled Travel tips. I wish that the following list of valuable tips have been tested and proven true by me, but they are more things I wish I would have thought of before travelling this time around.

#1: Whether or not you are travelling with children, bring a toy or a childrens book along with you; you may be seated behind a child who is absolutely out of control and lacking all parental oversite. Ooooh! A puppet would have been perfect.

#2: If you are the parent of the out of control child, they don't need to be calmed down, they need to just be strapped down - then the flight can proceed.

#3: If you are the travellers around the family that is out of control, be patient. If you think that the parents are having a fun time - they're not. They may have a general disregard for those around them, but it doesn't mean they're enjoying their present situation more than the next person. And really, it sure is a whole lot less stressful to listen to a child scream when it's not your own!

#4: Ear plugs. Wait - I did have ear plugs...so I guess that is a tried, tested and true suggestion.

#5: Just bring the skirt that you were waivering about. Chances are it won't tip the scale at the baggage check because of it, and you may not even wear it. But at least you will have the option!

#6: Say no to burning, yes to sunscreen. There were two types of people at this place. Lobsters, and roasted chickens. There really wasn't much inbetween, the finely fair-skinned folk burn and cause people to whisper "ouch" as we walk by, and the crispy dark tan that if whipped a little would eventually make a fine leather handbag. I am ok with not being blessed with skin that holds any sort of colour except for the great occasion when freckle meets freckle and amalgamate into one glorious light tan blob. Actually, while I enjoy roasted chicken, there is nothing like a good lobster feast slathered in garlic butter. Lobster ordered at dinner turns heads as it passes the other parties wishing they had ordered it. I, on the other hand, turned heads as I walked past the other tables because I am not made to be - or look like - a lobster. And magically, after only spending a short hour in the sun, I morphed into one. And just as magically as my appearance changed and held a glimmer of hope that maybe, maybe this time it'd fade into a wonderful semi-pink-semi-brown tan, it disapears by sunrise the next morning. Choose sunscreen. Apply evenly.

#7: When travelling home to a cold place from a hot place, do not think to yourself "how cold can the airplane be" and then not bring sufficient clothes for yourself. You may be hot at the airport checking in...but you won't be hot on the airplane at 37,000 feet in the air with a grandioso temperature of -74 degrees fahrenheit. Socks should do the trick.

#8: Don't eat a full rack of ribs before embarking on a 6.5 hour flight. I'll leave it at that.

#9: "Moderate" turbulence only feels moderate to those who are flying professionals such as stewards, stewardessessssss, pilots and pilotessesssss. To the rest of us, going to zero gravity and plunging for any amount of time is 'Major' turbulence. That's not a tip, you could call that a mini rant. Basically I feared for my life - on the inside. I was very composed and calm on the outside of course.

#10: Have an awesome teenage brother who stays up super late anyways so that when your flight arrives at 2 in the morning you know you can rely on him to be awake and up for the mini road trip. I realize that this is probably something you cannot change in your life if you do not currently have a teenage brother, but...ya...sorry about that.

I thought that it would be smart to only have 9 tips because 9 tips is less than 10 tips and it's not an even number. And I thought I DID only have 9 tips...but I really had two #3's so my numbers got mixed up and I guess that means I ended up with 10 tips after all. huh.

All of that to say, those were my travelling tips and in no way do they reflect the quality of vacation that we had. 10 across the board. 1st place. Numero uno. Zee Best.

G'nite friends! Travelling home to our beautiful Island tomorrow. Mexico Part 2 will make it's debut sometime in the next week. For a little teaser I'll give you the title: Sea-humans.

Adios Amigos.

AVATARRRRR

So this is my first movie review. It will probably be my only movie review as the town I live in does not have a theatre that is worth seeing movies at. I am in Langley. And last night we went to see Avatar in 3D. I didn't really want to see the movie - but kinda felt the world wide pressure to see it because of all the historic new advancements in technology used to create this film. We went with some dear friends of ours.

Ok. Movie.  There were a few things that I thought were kinda cheezy, especially for a film of this caliber. The political undertones were at times so blatant it was brutal...Mike is calling them overtones. Definately major racism stuff going on. The 'green' and anti-Bush agendas were so prevalent. At one point the general even said that they were going to 'fight terror with terror'. BRUTAL. I mean, I get that every movie has a message lying beneath the actual story line, but this was tooooooo much. It almost got a bit tacky.

 I forgot to wear contacts so my 3D glasses had to sit ontop of my regular glasses, that was a bit annoying - I was always pushing them up and trying to focus. But that was my fault.
There is some pretty strong tribal 'Mother Nature' chanting and prayer stuff going on in it - I think there are definately some things we could incorperate into our prayer styles :) (that was sarcastic, hopefully that came across)

All of that being said, I loved it! The graphics were amazing, and the creativity was incredible. If you haven't seen it - it's worth it to see it in a theatre.

G'bye. L

Poke me with a needle. Take my blood. I can handle it. Stick a baby in me then tell me to push it out. Fine. I can do that. Drop a clothing iron on my foot (not hot please) - No problem. I can deal with that. I can deal with all of that because it's pain that I can feel. Pain that I can rationalize as temporary, pain that will soon go away. The kind of pain I don't like is the pain I can't feel. Pain that someone else feels. I don't like that kind of pain. I can't control that pain, I can't rationalize and think through that pain and tell it to go away. Even if it really is going to go away soon for whoever is experiencing it, because I can't do anything about it I don't like it. BLAH.

Today I took Linden for his blood work. That is the pain I'm talking about. The pain is done and my Linden was a champion. He sat so still, even as he screamed and cried about the pain of the needle, he leaned into me and held strong. What a guy. He was being tested for some things that may be causing his constipation and lack of weight gain. I'm praying that it all comes up negative of course, but even having that response would feel like some sort of an answer. I wasn't looking forward to today, but at the same time I'm so thankful for today. I wasn't looking forward to today because what mom likes to drive to the lab with their child knowing that they are about to seem like the one inflicting pain on their child for reasons the child doesn't understand? But, I was looking forward to today because it'd finally be done. One poke could give many answers.

I don't worry about Linden. I know that he is a healthy boy. I know that it is probably something he'll grow out of, that it's nothing. I heard a doctor say one time that it's always best to assume the worst with a child, that way you know that you took every measure possible to protect and help them. I am not afraid that Linden will have the worst case scenario, but I am taking every measure to make sure it's not that. Why not? We pay loads of money for the incredible medical care that is available to us, why not take advantage of it? My son is worth it. Plus, he got a little blue airplane, two stickers and icecream out of it so he's happy too.

I'm getting my hair cut on Friday. When you have a short hair cut it's a whole lot more noticable when a spot of hair grows faster than another. I have a rat tail growing out my neck because one spot on my head likes to grow faster than the rest. Ha. Just call me 'gussy' (said with a lisp, like the mouse from Cinderella).

Off to change the laundry, get my baby up from his nap, make a bottle, clean the kitchen, attack my bathroom with strong and potentially dangerous chemicals, put my baby back down for another nap, pack, pack, and pack some more. Don't worry, my baby won't be around the strong and potentially dangerous chemicals. He will be in the bath tub in the other bathroom. And don't worry, there won't be water in the tub. He likes to play in there better than in his playpen....

Ta ta for now!
Laura

I think I can, I think I can.

Yesterday Linden pee'd on the floor twice, and on a chair once. I know that he is in his 'prime' to potty train right now. He will say things like "here comes the pee-pee" that will be followed by a cute little pee shiver. Love the shiver. Today, again, it's been at least twice on the floor. Add on top of that a 10 month old who still spits up and now he likes to slide around in it and you've got one dirty floor. I need to bend at the knees more otherwise I fear I'll turn into one of those wooden dolls on those pack pain commercials.

I've got my reasons for not going full out into potty training mode with Linden...and believe it or not, the aforementioned pee on the floor is not one of the reasons. See, Linden is almost always constipated. (ok, a shameless poo talk coming up. I am going to talk about poo. You can make this like a choose-your-own-ending and skip to the next paragraph if you so desire) If I let Linden go through the day without wearing a diaper he will go pee on the potty - hence the word 'prime' used above. However, he won't go poo if he's not wearing a diaper. Not because he's stubborn, the poor kid just has poo issues. So right now if that's the only place he'll 'go'.....I think I'll take the having two kids in diapers for a bit longer until Linden's intestinal track gets sorted. So am I a bad mom because my kid is 2.5 and no where near being potty trained? Well, that's all a matter of perspective. *wink*

 BTW - I don't think I'm a bad mom. I actually know I'm not a bad mom. Even good moms get frusterated when they step in a puddle of pee.

It's on days like today where Friday seems like it's taking forever to get here. It's ONLY Monday? I'm pretty sure that Jackson is in the midst of popping out 18 teeth. At least that's what his behavior is telling me. Sure glad that teething is something that we don't remember as we grow older.

*Sigh* Enough complaining. So, why is Friday my magical day that just can't come soon enough? WELP, on friday we're heading to Langley. And if that isn't cool enough, we're heading to Langley because on Monday Mike and I are going to MEHHICO baby!! That's Mexico...intentionally spelled MEHHICO because if you say it like that it just sounds so awesome. One week of all-inclusive awesomeness on the Mayan Riviera. And I am so doing nothing the whole time. I plan on sleeping in my bed, then going to the beach and sleeping there. Then I'll find a poolside chair and sleep there. I would say that I'm so excited to sit with a good book and read, but that's totally not the truth. That'd require way too much brain power for this lil momma.

Now that I read over this blog post I must admit that it probably was more for theraputic purposes that I wrote it. It may not be one of an inspiring nature or knee-slapping humour. It's mostly one to remind myself that there are only 4 short days left before we head off to start our holiday.

This is the little momma that could signing off with a motivating "I think I can, I think I can" make it to friday,
Laura.
PS - I really love you all.  Thanks for reading. You help me feel normal. You help me remember that I do have a vocabulary that expands beyond the words no, don't touch, let's count to ten, ugga-bugga, and peek-a-boo. I appreciate that.

Don't say goodbye, say so long.

Tonight we said goodbye to our two darling Korean girls who have lived with us for the past 5 months. I am generally not a very sentimental person and can sometimes feel awkward saying goodbye to people because I feel like I'm not showing enough emotion and may come across as....I don't know, unsentimental and emotionless. And I also thought that I'd be glad when the 5 months was over to have a break and just have our family back to the four of us. But I have to say, it was hard saying bye to Jessica and Diana. I genuinely grew to love these two girls and feel like they became a part of our family. I'm going to miss them a lot.

I think that this is going to be a good lesson for us and our kids on loss and dealing with saying goodbye to people. These girls were such a joy to have as part of our family and 5 months seemed to fly by. I pray that we have a great experience with the next kids that come through our home. At times it seems like it's my 'job' to have students live with us. However, saying goodbye to Jessica and Diana tonight made me realize even more that we are learning to open up our lives beyond just our family and welcome people into our hearts and home who might otherwise never have come into our lives. We are learning how to accept and welcome cultural differences and also teaching what it's like to be a part of Canadian culture. If you want to learn more about your own country, have people from another country come and stay with you! It's facinating how much I have learned about Canada being a host parent to Koreans.

Anyways, I am thankful for the few weeks that we have off here. It'll give us a chance to clean up, rest up and gear up for the next group that's coming. This must be so confusing for Jackson. Linden is starting to understand goodbye's a bit more now, I say a bit because tomorrow morning he'll still ask to go and do homework with the girls in their room and tell me I can't come in. But Jackson, he has no idea what's going on! I wonder what he thought about the girls, who they were. And what his memories will be of them. Interesting.

Welp, g'night.
L
ps- watched "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs" tonight. So random, and pretty funny. One of the guys names was Brent. He's a big, dumb, macho guy who fames himself on his childhood as "Baby Brent" the sardine kid. He doesn't remind me anything of my dad, who's name is also Brent. My dad is famous just cause he's cool. And he's not big and dumb either. I have to stop blogging so late at night.

Y2K.

Y2K (said in deep booming voice that echoes many times over).It was ten years ago. And it was one of those times where the whole world remembers where they were and exactly what they were doing as they waited for the world to end - or at least the technological world as we knew it. I remember exactly where I was.

I was 14. I had a perm, braces, and was wearing overalls and an orange t-shirt. I had a 'happy new year' head band on and was basically the epitome of cool. I was oozing cool. It was written all over my freckled face. I stood in the not-yet-renovated sanctuary of my church watching as the screens went fuzzy at the stroke of midnight, a funny joke on the part of the tech guys. I even remember who I had a crush on.

That's all. I just wanted to point that it was 10 years ago already. Where were you? And how awesome did you look? :)

2010 is off to quite the start.

Member in my last post how I said I was going to choose to be happy more? Well, I'm choosing to be happy. I choose to be happy. I choose to be happy.

What a day. Happy New year everyone! The boys slept in until 8:30 which basically is as good as 11 for me. It was awesome. A great start to a new year. Until I went downstairs and had no coffee cream. When you live in a small town there isn't much hope of getting coffee cream on a holiday. But alas, Shoppers drug mart was open! Before I left I thought I'd put on the coffee so that it'd be nice and hot and ready for me to drink the whole pot when I got home. Except that by the time I got home my coffee maker had shut off - it's dying a slow and painful death - and my coffee was warm at best. Oh well. At least I had a cup of coffee.

Fun Morning playing Mario Kart Wii with the Jessica and Diana. They leave on Wednesday to go back to Korea, gonna really miss those two. We've had fun.

Jackson christened his playpen with vomit. Cleaned playpen. Lunch time. Jackson vomits in highchair. Smiles so sweetly after. Linden smacks his temple so hard on the corner of the wooden arm on the couch. No sweet smiles. Only big goose egg. Upstairs for Jackson's bath. Linden decides to get naked too and somehow in some strange turn of events he was climbing into the tub and Jackson was following behing him. Almost put his face in Linden's bum. Quickly picked up Linden so Jackson wouldn't get a close up...and instead Jackson fell and bashed his eye lid on the tub. Big black bruise. Did I mention that this all started only 15 minutes proir and Jack still has puke all over? Finish bath. Nap time. Thankfully we all had good naps.

I don't really know how many baths Jackson actually had today....I am still trying to stop my head from spinning so I can count straight. I guess if you count the bath that was a bath within a bath because of the diarrhea in the bath then it'd be three.

I'm wired. I think I might pull and all nighter. NOT. Poor Jackson.

I choose to be happy.

Good night. Sleep tight. Don't let the flu bug bite.
Laura - the laundry princess.