MH, this one is for you...

So, after dressing my kid in a rugby jersey, ball cap with the Canucks logo, and a nice pair of vans so that he doesn't look at all like he belongs on a soccer field - I have failed. He loves soccer, much to my distaste. Here is the proof...

Practicing stopping the ball with my foot...


Are you sure this isn't basketball?



Running with the ball (the right way)


Stopping the ball (the not-so-right-way)


He shoots....


HE SCORES!


Of course, big bro can't have all the fun, now can he?

I am now OFFICIALLY a soccer mom.

Today Ethan had his first soccer class. The local community center has soccer classes for boys aged 3-5 for the month of July, one hour/week, $5 per class. What a deal. Mind you, it would have been nice if I actually got to socialize with a couple of friends instead of chasing Nicholas for the hour and giving him lessons on various bugs we found (now there is a good use of my biology degree).

A couple of nights ago I had a bit of a freak out, as Ethan doesn't have appropriate shoes for soccer. He loves being barefoot, but I figured that I should at least make the effort to find something for him to wear so he doesn't stand out like dog's balls in the middle of the field. In the end I decided that he would be ok in his Vans - not quite runners, and definately not soccer cleats, but it would do.

I have never been a big fan of soccer. I have told my best friend on a number of occasions that if either of my sons shows an interest in the game that she can ferry them to practices and games. We live close to a fairly large soccer field, and every year it seems to pour rain whenever there are soccer tournaments. ICK. The idea of standing outside freezing my ass off and getting soaking wet doesn't do it for me. Unfortunately, once my sons find out that they can kick a ball and get filthy dirty all at once it will be game over. Sigh. At least soccer is cheaper than hockey.

So we show up today at the field, and just as I expected, there were some boys all decked out head to toe in soccer gear. Jerseys, shorts and soccer cleats - on THREE YEAR OLDS. At least there were a good number of kids (mine included) that looked like they rolled out of bed and put on whatever was left on the bedroom floor from the night before.

Ethan loved the class. His listening skills need alot of work, but all in all he had a blast. Once he figures out that he doesn't need to tackle the ball to stop it we may have a half decent player on our hands. Oy.

Rockstar....

Last year I was addicted to Rockstar INXS. I couldn't get over all the talent, and this year Rockstar Supernova looks even better. And I find Dave Navarro very sexy in a tattoo covered bad boy sort of way. So not my type, but easy on the eyes.

Rockstar makes American & Canadian Idol look like a second rate 7th grade talent show. I must admit, I can't sing worth crap, and I know that if I ever had the nerve to try out for Canadian Idol, I would be one of those who would be THE WORST of the worst. The Canadian public would never forgive me, thank goodness I am just too old for that kind of stuff.

I am not even going to begin to say who I think would do great on this show. There were a couple of performances tonight that didn't do much for me, but most of them were quite good. I must admit, it is brilliant marketing by Mark Burnett - worked wonders for INXS, I think it will do the same for Supernova.

Long time, no blog.

So this thing called "life" has made blogging a bit more difficult...it seems whenever I get five minutes to myself I just want to turn my brain off. I am too paranoid to blog at work - mind you it isn't like I ever say anything about it or the people I work with - which all in all are a pretty good bunch. That is saying alot for government employees. Ha ha ha.

Actually, I don't think I am a "typical" civil servant. I work my ass off - most days I don't stop to take lunch, although a coffee here and there is a must, hell hath no fury like me without my java. I really do like my job (most days), I guess the best part is that I manage stuff and not people.

I have a great view from my office - if you like to watch people strung out on who only knows what gearing down and showering with a hose in the back alley. Last week we found some people sleeping in our front bushes to the building. There is always something interesting going on in the general vacinity of the workplace.

So not much new with us, same old same old. I am loving this Vancouver weather - lots of sun and nice warm temperatures. The boys love it too - they are spending an obscene amount of time outside playing and just getting filthy and enjoying every second of it.

Cute as the bee's knees...

I know I am a whole lot biased, but he sure is cute!

How to really piss me off....

Key my car from bumper to bumper - just enough for everyone to notice and make me wonder if it really is worth getting re-painted or is this something that I am going to have to live with. ARGH.

I just don't get it...

Young kids just amaze me. The stuff they come up with is fantastic, and even though I have bitched and moaned about Ethan's parent participation preschool, I really enjoy my time in the classroom when the kids get a chance to tell stories or just talk about "stuff". Three year olds come up with the craziest things, and it is all so innocent. I love it.

One of the greatest things about living in Vancouver is the diversity of people that you see every day. There are so many different cultures and ethnicities that the boys are exposed to on a daily basis, and with this comes people who speak with different accents. Honestly, I don't think much of it because it is such a way of life here. The reason I find this all interesting is that my kids seem not to be phased by any of this at all. They don't seem to notice the differences in people - when they meet up with young kids at the park they all manage to get along and figure stuff out even though there are sometimes language barriers. It is great to watch.

A few weeks ago, I took Ethan to my hairdresser's shop for a haircut. I used to take him to the kids hairdresser close to us, but the last few times they have butchered his lid, and I was getting fed up. We went there because they had great cars to drive in and TV to watch while the kids got their hair done. So I told Ethan that we would go to a grown-up shop instead and he would just have to deal with looking at himself in the mirror instead of Dora when he was getting his hair done.

We got to the shop, and the girl that was going to do Ethan's hair was quite young, and covered in piercings, tatoos, and had jet black spikey hair. She was so nice and friendly, and did an awesome job of Ethan's hair. What struck me as odd is that Ethan didn't ask once about her piercings (in her nose, eyebrows, lips and chin) or her tatoos all over her arms and legs. He has never mentioned it at all. I thought it might be something he might ask me about, but it didn't seem to phase him in the least.

Today, we were at the dentist's office when a young boy (about eight) came in. He was bald, and had been undergoing chemo (I heard his mom talking to the receptionist about his treatment). I peeked into the play area where the boys were playing with this young kid, and they were having a blast. Again, Ethan didn't ask at all why this little boy had no hair. He didn't seem to notice the difference.

Ethan has entered the "why" phase - EVERYTHING I say is followed by a "why?". I wonder at what age he will notice differences in people and ask about it.

Road trip

We just got back from a road trip with the boys - we went down to Oregon for a few days for a "holiday". As most people know (or can imagine) a holiday with kids and a holiday without kids are two entirely different things. Before we had kids, we didn't really have to think much about where we went - we just found somewhere interesting, packed a few things and took off. Now planning a trip entails making big lists so we don't forget anything (special blankets, cars, toys, books, cars, cars and cars), booking hotels that have an inclusive breakfast with lots of options (for the second born who is the pickiest eater EVER), local playgrounds, and planning for lots of stops on a long road trip.

We have friends who live just on the Washington/Oregon border, so it was nice to catch up with them. We then went to a "fair" of sorts - it was called "Kids day America". Apparently these are held all over the US.

So we looked at all the different things for the kids, such as spinal health screenings, they had tips for healthy eating habits, fitness & exercise and lots of different saftey things (child ID cards, etc).

Nothing could have prepared me for what we found at one of the tables though. Right next to the Mr Yuck stickers and the pamphlets on bike traffic laws was a container full of FREE GUN LOCKS. Something I have never seen in my sheltered little life, and certainly nothing I would expect to find at a table between the speech therapist and the dentist at this kids fair. But there it was....and what did I do? Pulled out my camera of course.

Update...

First off - I haven't been blogging much. Life has been busy, and to be honest, I haven't really felt like it. I love reading other blogs, and there are those I visit on a daily basis (and I get ticked pretty quickly when I don't see a new blog entry - talk about being a hypocrite...). So for those who have dropped me a line asking where the heck I am - I am still here, but feeling pretty blah about the whole blogging thing.

The boys have been great - Ethan has developed an interest in all things S.E.X and baby related - I think Auntie K who is expecting in a few months may have something to do with it :). Out of nowhere he will ask me about boy parts and girl parts and baby stuff - I can't say I wasn't ready for it, but man, I just want him to be my baby forever and never grow up.

Nicholas has been having his head examined - for fun and a bit of cash. A few months ago, I signed him up for a study looking at social interactions of toddlers. Since I was a science geek back in the day (now you can just drop the "science" part of it), I have always been interested in experiments, especially the ones that don't invlove killing something or the stench of formaldehyde.

This experiment on the whole was fairly simple, and Nicholas' education fund got a bit of an injection. Suffice it to say that my son is one little thinker - I don't think this series of experiments was a pass or fail kind of thing, but if you get points for making the experimenter laugh his butt off, then my kid probably kicked every other toddler's ass. I can't go into any great detail, but the series of experiments basically involved Nicholas interacting with a pimply faced twenty something guy who obviously has not been around children much. He was really nice, but was puzzled at the fact that he couldn't always direct Nicholas to do exactly what he wanted him to do when he wanted it.

One of the experiments involved fish crackers. The tester would show Nicky the cracker, hide it (while Nicholas watched) and then tell him that he couldn't have it until a bell was rung. Nicholas looked at the tester as though he was nuts, lifted the cup where the cracker was hidden and popped it into his mouth. This whole exercise was repeated about four times, each time the tester getting a wee bit more agitated. Finally he told Nicholas that he absolutely couldn't have the cracker until the tester rang the bell (what two year old knows the word "absoultely"?). Nicholas - to his credit - waited....about five seconds, and the he reached over, rang the bell himself and got the cracker. The tester just about wet himself he was laughing so loud. It was a proud, proud moment for mama.

Hubby and I are still plodding along - he has been getting more heavily into the dragonboating thing and a wee bit of golf on the side. My running (or more of a shuffle) is still going - I ran a 10 K race a couple of weeks ago, and am training for a half marathon....haven't decided I am actually going to do it yet, but it sure sounds good to say I am training for it...mind you, while I was running the 10 K I thought to myself NEVER AGAIN. I guess it is kinda like childbirth - you forget the pain. Sort of.

When it doesn't rain...

This is why I love Vancouver....it is just such a beautiful place (even when it rains). I took these pics this past Easter weekend at my folks place - they live on an island just outside of Vancouver.

so much to do, so little time....

When I first started this blog I was pretty good about posting something every day or two. I look now and I am shocked that it has been over a week. It isn't that I don't think of things to blog about, but it just seems like I don't have much time, and all I want to do is crash on the couch at the end of the day. I was thinking of all the things I have to get done in the next week or two and honestly, I am scared to write it all down. Between work, preschool, photography and miscellaneous other stuff, I hardly have time to breathe it seems.

One thing that I did start a few months ago was running. I joined a running clinic with the hopes that I could finish a 10 kilometer run. The big test is next week's Vancouver Sun Run. I have run 10K a couple of times, and suprisingly, didn't collapse at the end. Thank goodness for the running group, there are some days it takes ALL MY ENERGY to get out the front door, especially when it is pissing down rain. There has been talk amongst the group that we may start training for the Victoria half marathon....I think I might give it a try and see what happens. The thought of running 21 kilometers without stopping is a bit daunting though.

I have never been a runner. Years ago I was a swimmer, but I got so burned out that the smell of chlorine almost makes me wretch. The nice thing about swimming is that it is great exercise, and the stress on your body is pretty minimal. I am hoping one day to get back into the pool (maybe join a masters swim team) but right now I am doing the running thing and enjoying it quite a bit.

In the next few weeks I hope to have up some of the photos from the wedding that I did about a month ago...gotta get on that!

Milestone....

I wrote quite awhile ago here about Ethan's little ritual of getting completely naked when he goes to the bathroom to poo (I have no idea why I find it so weird to type "poo". I have no problems with shit, crap, dump, #2, but "poo" just feels funny to type out). Typically, he just announces that he has to do a poo-poo, and proceeds to gear down to nothing (including socks) right where he is standing. It could be the living room, family room, kitchen...you name the place, and he has gotten naked there. In fact, after Christmas dinner this year, he got down from the dinner table, stripped, and streaked through the house to get to the bathroom. At that point I decided that we would work on the whole getting naked thing.

I am pretty damed lucky that he hasn't had to go while at preschool - I explained to the teacher that he gets naked when he poops, and her first question to me was "where did he learn that?". Hmmmmm....I have no idea. I think that she thought that we just all get naked as a matter of course to go to the can in our house. Actually, I am sure that it stems from the time that he got his shirt wet when he was taking a pee - Ethan hates being dirty or messy, and I guess that this memory is etched in his little mind and every time he goes to the can, he wants to make sure he will stay as clean as possible.

So I figured that I would try something this week to get him to go to the bathroom with his clothes on. I had tried in the past to do it in baby steps, leaving his socks on, then his shirt, etc...but that didn't work. We didn't get past the socks. So in despiration I did what all the parenting books tell you not to. I bribed him. With a toy. I told him that if he did a poo poo with all his clothes on, I would buy him a special treat (thank goodness for dollar stores!). It worked. A little too well. No fights, no arguements, no nothing. He trotted off to the can, did his business, and that was it. I was fearful that I would have to buy him special treats every time he took a shit until he was 21. Thank goodness that (at least to this point) it seems as though one small firetruck is all that it took. For now.

Thankful

Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body.
~Elizabeth Stone~

Today is the second anniversary of Nicholas' heart surgery. He was only three days old. We had no idea when he was born that he had a heart defect, and we were extremely lucky that there were a long list of doctors and nurses who were involved with diagnosing and treating him soon after he was born. Never in my life had I felt so absolutely helpless as I did that first week of my wee baby's life.

Ken and I were so fortunate that we had so much help, love and understanding from family and friends who stepped in at a moment's notice and would have moved the earth and then some if we asked. My mom came and stayed at the house so that Ken and I could go to and from the hospital a few times a day. Poor Ethan had no idea what was going on, but having his grandparents around to help out lessened the stress considerably. My mother-in-law made sure that I ate, and prepared meals for us to take on the way to the hospital.

The emotional support from friends was amazing - one friend in particular who had lost her own child a couple of years earlier and was a wealth of information and support - she was one of the only ones who would truly know what we were going through.

We were fortunate that our wee man's surgery went really well. To look at him today one would never guess that his little ticker isn't 100%. Often when I see him playing outside I forget - he is more active than Ethan ever was, and some days he just doesn't stop. It still floors me that only two years ago I was anxiously awaiting to hear how the surgery went on his little wee heart the size of a walnut and the consistancy of wet tissue paper.

blah blog

Sigh...it has been ages since I have blogged. I honestly thought I could easily keep this up daily, but it isn't turning out that way. I have been so tired lately - work is CRAZY (but I really like my job) and even though I technically only work part-time, it feels like I am working full time. It is great it is so busy, but by the end of the day I am ready to just crash in front of the tube.

I have also taken up running. A long long long time ago I used to be a competitive swimmer. Not that I was ever a serious threat in the pool...I once swam against Victor Davis (a Canadian champ from way back) in an fun race at a swim meet and he KICKED MY ASS. It was all downhill from there. Lots of swimming and coaching over the years has given me a serious case of chlorine burn out, so I have decided to train to run - starting with a 10K race to be held here in Vancouver at the end of April. I am quite impressed with myself - about 2 months ago I could barely run 30 seconds without passing out, and last night I ran 30 minutes. The only thing that has been frustrating as hell is that I haven't lost any weight. I guess I am gaining muscle, but still, I want that scale to scream "skinny" when I step on it.

I also had my first photography gig on the weekend. A friend's wedding in Downtown Vancouver. It went ok, on a scale of 1-10 I give myself about a 7 for the pics. I would love to post some now, but since the bride and groom haven't even seen them yet, I should wait....I'll get them up once they are edited (have I mentioned that I LOVE PHOTOSHOP?).

Those eyelashes

I have no idea where they got them from....but man what I wouldn't give for these...

Proud Mama...

Ethan has been a royal pain in the backside today, grumpy as all hell. I have no idea why, but wow - whoever said two was terrible has not run smack into my three year old. I must admit, for the most part he is pretty good, but it is on days like today that if Ken was to suggest that we try for kiddo number three I'd tell him that I would rather poke myself in the eye with rusty scissors.

Having said all that, Ethan has made me pretty proud this week. First off, we managed after WEEKS of trying to finally get him to blow is nose. This is a huge deal around here. Mind you, it is a very dainty blow, but air is coming out his nose rather than him sniffing, so at this point I'll take what I can get.

Next, I was surfing the Robeez web page and came across this:



Honestly, I thought this picture had wound up on the cutting room floor, so it was a nice surprise to see it on the web page.

But by far the best is the surprise that Ethan gave me last week. We were at the preschool open house and he was pretty busy drawing. Now Ethan never sits still for more than five seconds, so when I wandered over to see what he was doing I was shocked.



This is a picture of our family....needless to say I have framed it because I just love it so much. The funny thing is that Ethan drew his head the roundest of all of us, which is quite ironic seeing as how he had to wear a helmet when he was a baby to round out his noggin!

Two things I said in the last week I totally regret...

Oh it has been a couple of weeks from HELL. Hence the lack of posts.

Last week, one of the moms at preschool said that her son had been throwing up constantly all day. I told her "wow, that must be awful. I haven't ever had to deal with that" (things I said regret #1)

Fast forward a few days and Nicholas is a barfing machine. My poor mom was looking after him, and while I got puked on first thing on my way to work, she had to clean up the rest of it for most of the day. He kept nothing down, not even water. I hate it when they are sick, makes me want to just take it away from them and have it myself so they don't have to go through the misery (things I said regret #2)

So I came home from work early to take him to the doctor (I was concerned he would become dehydrated). We walk into the clinic, and my beautiful, angelic son proceeds to barf over everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. The counter, the floor, my hair, my clothes, all over himself....I am still gobsmacked at the amount of puke that came out of his little wee body. Great timing though I must admit, we got into see the doctor right away.

Turns out he must have had a 24 hour bug, because he is fine now. I on the other hand felt like I had been hit by a truck yesterday, I could hardly get out of bed, and when I did it was to run to the bathroom. OMG it was awful. I haven't been that sick in years, not even when I was pregnant. On the plus side I lost 7 pounds, but I don't recommend the method!

Back to reality...

Ken and I just got back from Hawaii...I didn't realize that I would be missed, but I got a few e-mails from some readers wondering where the heck I was. Funny - my kids couldn't have cared less we were gone!

It was a pretty good trip down, we flew with
Harmony Airways and the service was pretty good, and the food wasn't bad either. Much better than Air Canada - I try to avoid them at all costs if I can. We flew into Honolulu, and after we landed, we had to clear homeland security before we caught a connector to Kauai. Ken was wearing his knee brace (similar to this one) under his pants, and he set every damned alarm off in the joint. He was pulled off to the side, had a wand passed over every inch of his body, and questioned right down to his underwear size. They swabbed his hands, his brace, and for a second, I honestly thought they were going to make him drop his drawers so they could swab his ass. Thankfully they didn't. For all his trouble, he got a cute little sticker.

We make our way to claim our luggage after the knee brace fiasco, we came across a group of guys who were checking the contents of their "luggage" with a gentleman with a clipboard. All we heard was a series of numbers. As we got closer, we could see that their "luggage" was actually these huge, semi-automatic guns. A group of us were keeping our distance, and in complete shock that this was being done about 10 feet from the luggage claim area. You just don't see that in Canada (at least I haven't). I wanted to pull out my camera SO BADLY, but Ken would have wrestled me to the ground if I had tried. After what he had just been through with his knee brace, he wasn't about to find out how they would deal with his shudder happy wife taking pictures of those big black guns. I have a whole new respect for my girlfriend who shot a roll of film in a restricted area when she was in Iran. I wish I had the guts to have snuck a few shots in Hawaii!

That was about the most adventure we had all week - which is just fine by me. We spent quite a bit of time exploring the island, did some kayaking, swimming in the ocean, and seeing a luau. All in all it was a great holiday. My parents are slowly recovering from a week with the kids, and reality has hit both Ken and I square in the face. It hardly feels like we were away!

Pictures to come....

More of what???

I don't think it is too much of a secret that I want more kids - at least on the days where the two I have don't send me close to the edge. They have been really good this past week - which does not bode well for Ken when we head off on vacation (without the kids) in a few days. I really want to try for a little girl (but would be happy with another boy), but Ken is convinced that if we try again, I will have twin boys and we will have to work until we are 80 in order to support FOUR boys. I am not convinced it would be that bad, although I can imagine the grocery bill would be a tad overwhelming when they got older.

One of my co-workers was asking me the other day what our plans were when we were away. I looked at her, and said (straight faced I might add) "I'm going to get knocked up". She just about spat out her coffee in shear and utter shock - and asked me if Ken knew about this. Oh, Ken knows. Every vacation we have taken in the past (with the exception of our honeymoon and a wedding we went to back east last year) I have got pregnant (either that or I was already pregnant on the vacation). So, I figure the odds are pretty much in my favour.

My other aim is to get a nice tan. I am not much of a lie-in-the-sun person, but I sure as hell am a swim-in-the-warm-ocean type of person, so chances are I will be getting a bit of colour. That would be a nice change from my rain induced pasty white complexion at the moment.

Too bad when Ken came home after work he told me that he made a pit stop on the way home....for condoms and sunscreen.

Rain, rain go away...

As I was trying to dodge the rain today I suddenly realized that I don't own an umbrella. I live in VANCOUVER and I have managed to get by for a couple of years now without one.

Yesterday we had a patch of sunshine, and it was beautiful. Even though my window at work overlooks a dumpster in a pretty icky area of the city, that one patch of blue sky and sunshine made even that look beautiful. I love this city - and I don't even mind the rain too much.

A few weeks ago it seemed as though the big man upstairs was screwing with us Vancouverites. Vancouver's longest wet spell began January 6, 1953, and ended 29 days later. We were on track to beat that record a couple of weeks ago. We got to 28 days. Then the sun shone. FOR ONE DAY. Just enough so we couldn't get the record. And then, wouldn't you know it, just to rub it in, it has pretty much been pissing down ever since. Sigh. The kids love it though. We go out for walks and stomp in every single puddle we come across. The one great thing is that when the sun does come out and shine, it is like magic (and no, the cherry blossoms are not out. Yet.).