Checking out buds on trees and wearing a raincoat for the first times this year, the girls are ready to say good-bye to Old Man Winter (I would've kicked him out a long time ago!)

Rant

Last night Jo suggested we go out for dinner – yippee! I’m all for not having to cook. We loaded the mini-van with protesting kids (they wanted to stay home, maybe for some more of my hallucination-causing cooking?) and headed off to Licks, a family friendly restaurant (it’s kind of a goofy place, but the burgers are good and the kids can run around without causing a lawsuit against us). Anyhoooo, the only other family there happened to be Grace’s former “care”giver (dum dum dummmmmm!) Now, this “care”giver looked after Ms. Grace for under a year. It was during this time that Grace was going through her hitting phase and general two-year old mini-terrorist phase. Being a first time parent and not having any experience with kids whatsoever, I didn’t know that this was perfectly normal behaviour in two year olds. This “care”giver told Jo and I that Grace was abnormally aggressive, not capable of socialization and a general terror. She placed Grace on probation more than once. She had me convinced that Grace would become a danger to society. I also later learned that she used less than desirable time-out techniques on Gracie (my heart bleeds when I think about this). Jo had it after a particularly unpleasant exchange with the “care”giver and we found a new daycare for Grace that day in which she thrived. We also learned that, hey, two year olds hit and say no a lot, and that’s okay! I also developed a stomach burning hatred for this former “care”giver who I really feel caused a lot of stress between Grace and I for those few months.
Back to the restaurant. I’ve been into karma lately and thought I would be civil to this woman and her family, and besides, we were the only ones in the restaurant so it would have been weird if we didn’t acknowledge each other. I said hi, made pleasantries, cooed over her kids (who are not endearing at all) and went back to our table. Her husband never looked up from his meal to acknowledge me, and they slunked out of the restaurant without saying bye. This kind of cowardly behaviour really crawls up my ass. Get over yourself bitch and grab a pair. You screwed us, remember? You made me question my daughter, myself as a mother, my choice to return to work, you even made me question whether or not I should have another child, because I couldn’t bear the thought of having another “bad seed”. Fuck you. If I can put it all aside and say hello, hug your child and smile at you, you can at least not sneak out of the restaurant without acknowledging my family.
When Jo and I asked Grace if she remembered who that lady was, she said no. Thank you Jesus. At least she can close that chapter of her life. Wish I could do the same.

What does it all mean?

• Last night I dreamt that Edie was the size of a PollyPocket doll and I carried her around in the cuff of my jeans. She had very fluffy hair and had jeans and a hot pink vest on. I was participating in frosh week activities and panicked when she fell out my jeans, I couldn’t find her anywhere and started to freak out. Eventually I saw her tiny little self running around in a field and I scooped her up and put her back in the cuff of my jeans.
• Edie had a little nightmare about ice cream. Not sure what was going on in her noggin, but she kept moaning “ice cream ice cream ice cream” in her sleep. A little back rub put her back into la-la land, but she made me want ice cream too!
• Grace had a bigger nightmare – she couldn’t tell me what it was about because it was “too scary to tell”. Poor girl. I remember having nightmares that were too scary to talk about when I was little.

I’ll have to check with Jo to see if he had a weird dream or not. I wonder if it’s my cooking that’s causing all this?

We’ve been having way too many threesomes lately!
Got your attention? Good! Now get your mind out of the gutter because I’m taking about our 2 year old.
Miss Edie has been inviting herself into our bed almost every night now since the operation. The doctor has assured us that she is fine and perfectly healthy in every way. Judging from the way my back feels, I think she has gotten quite used to being attached to one of us constantly (god forbid her Robbie’s should touch the ground!) Well, I think we’ve had it. I don’t mind so much (I get her sweet smelling head on my shoulder) but Jo is getting a little fed up with having her foot up his nostril. Last night we made a decision to put an end to her invading our precious alone time together. We resolved to let her cry (I’m not gonna say for how long – I don’t web-nasties to harass me). Once she finally settled, we didn’t hear another peep from her and I had to wake her at 7:30 this morning. Good, right? Well, just because the stars can never completely be aligned, guess who hollered out at 4:30 this morning? You got it, Miss. Grace did. She first hollered for me, and upon stumbling bleary eyed into her room, she requested that I fetch Jo to comfort her from her night- mare. Uhhh, sure. Why the hell didn’t she call out for him in the first place? Perhaps she was worried that she might hurt my feelings.
We’ll see what tonight brings!

The Soul of a Tortured Artist

So the other day I’m making dinner and Grace is planted in front of me at the bar busy doing her art. Being the supportive, encouraging mother I am, my enthusiasm bubbles over for anything my children produce. This time being no exception, I threw out an “Oh Grace, what a wonderful rocket ship!” After a very stony silence, Grace informed me that it was a Christmas tree, not a rocket ship and said, I quote, “You just don’t understand my art, Mommy”. She then silently descended from her perch, took her drawing, and retired to her room. Wow. I wonder what adolescence will bring.

what strep throat will do to a five year old on a beautiful saturday afternoon
poor gracie, we had no idea. what a trooper.

Edie Before and After
It doesn't look too dramatic here, but there is a difference. Plus, once the blood goes away, I'm sure the difference will be even more obvious.
They almost didn't do the operation due to Edie's cold (number kajillion of the winter). I think they could sense our despair of having fasted this poor two year old all night and morning, getting her all prepped and ready for action. Also, the amount of psychological prepping Jo and I had to due was pretty intense as well. In the end, they felt the gain out weighed the risk, so they went ahead. I had been so strong up until that moment they took her away. Seeing her in the nurses arms, with her own arms outstretched to me, crying, screaming Mommy! Mommy! made me pretty much lose my bones and melt into a puddle on the floor. Luckily, big strong Jo was there to pick up my sorry self and get me out of ear shot. Thank god one of us is strong in these situations.
Edie did remarkably well, and what I will remember forever from that day is when she was brought out crying from the operation. As soon as she was in my arms, she immediately grew quiet and went back to sleep. It was a very profound moment for me, that I could comfort her that way. Sniff.

EDIE'S OPERATION WAS A SUCCESS! THANKS FOR THE CALLS AND EMAILS....YIPPEE!
Details to follow later....

Husband Seeks to Divorce Wife Due to her Ridiculous Library Fines

Well, he’s not going to leave me but he’s not happy with me. I got all excited last summer with the whole concept of going to the library, taking out a kajillion books and DVD’s, for absolutely FREE! I sort of forgot along the way that you have to return these items, and what I really didn’t know is that you have to pay $1.00 for every day a DVD is late being returned. The outcome? A $130.00 fine from the Ottawa Public Library, who have turned my case over to a collection agency. Sheesh, I think that’s a little hardcore considering I was late returning a few Baby Einstein videos and Dr. Seuss books. I guess baby’s not buyin’ any new boots any time soon.

I had Edie in for her pre-op appointment yesterday and it’s all a go for her operation tomorrow. I’m a little concerned about how she will deal with it. Last night she looked at a little cut on her finger (a week-old wound) and burst into tears crying “waaa!!! Bo-Bo!” How is she going to deal with her eyeballs being operated on???

Grace is showing signs of jealousy, I guess by all the concern people are showing over Edie’s operation. Yesterday at the Dr.’s office she insisted on also being weighed and having her chest listened to, eyes and ears looked at. She claimed that she was “sicker” than Edie and even wanted to get a needle. Weird. (And no, the doctor didn’t give her the luxury of an unnecessary needle).

If you want to send donations to my library fine fund, you know where to contact me :)

Giant baby head….

I have pretty much the coolest job ever. I was encouraged (told to) go see the Ron Mueck exhibit at the National Gallery
If you are in Ottawa, you should go check this out. His models are so real it is unsettling. The one thing that made me sort of laugh inside though is that, like I mentioned, everything is very real looking, from the wrinkles to the pubic hair to the toe nails of the subjects. Then you get to the woman who has just given birth and her new baby is lying on her stomach, umbilical cord still attached. Even this artist who focuses so intently on making the subjects realistic feels the need to sanitize the whole notion of childbirth. It’s not clean and pristine, it can be downright messy and kind of gross. While the birth of my two girls was a beautiful thing, I would never consider the birth of other people’s babies to be.

Okay, enough with the soap box. Here are the things I hope to accomplish this weekend, stay tuned next week to see if it gets done:

1) Clean out the medicine cupboard (when Grace required cough suppressant at 3:00 a.m. last week, I was less than thrilled with myself when I discovered I had put an empty bottle back in the cupboard – WHY do I these things!)
2) Get Edie to nap (please God, please let her nap!)
3) Round up some new slow cooker recipes (everything is starting to tase like tomatoes and oregano).
4) Go for a run. I only got out once this week and I feel pasty, pudgy and low on energy.
5) Clean out my closet (gotta make room for the all the spring stuff I’m itching to buy!)
6) Build a snow-fort (hopefully the girls will help!)
7) Make some time and call my best girlfriends who are unfairly scattered around North America.


We’ll see, we’ll see.

Other odds and ends:

My father-in-law has parked his Mercedes in our driveway. I’m acting very aloof about it and letting the neighbours speculate. Hee hee.

Grace has two birthday parties this weekend, Edie has one. My God, even Edie has more social action than I do and she’s only 2!

Jonas has his second last hockey game of the season tomorrow….yippee! I get my husband back!

Edie was scheduled to have her operation back in January, but because of a nasty cold, it had to be delayed (for the record, Edie has been on and off sick since October 21st). I have to admit I was a little bit relieved when it was cancelled as I’m no fan of my baby being put under and operated on. The date was moved to March 7, and that’s next week! I brought her to the doctor yesterday to get her checked out due to yet another nasty cold, and the good doctor wants to see her again next Monday to give her a pre-operation go-over.
I’m nervous. I have a feeling the operation is going to happen. I feel nervous because I like user manuals, instruction booklets and step-by-step guidelines for things, and after Edie’s operation she’ll just get sent home with us, same day, with whatever instructions from the doctor we have retained in our grey matter (I’m not so good at retaining information – especially important information. Now ask me any celebrity related question and for some reason I can retain this and can spew out facts and figures).
I have a few other blogs I’m faithful to, and take great comfort in knowing that there are other moms who know what’s it’s like to have to bring their child to the hospital; Chantal over at http://www.breadcrumbsinthebutter.typepad.com went through hell with her son and a rare illness and http://www.mamatulip.com/will be visiting the hospital soon with her little one soon. I don’t know these people, but reading about their experiences helps me a lot.

Enough about that.

Grandad came over last night and babysat while Jo and I wined and dined. We needed that. Did you know at the Keg you can have your glass of wine “Keg-sized”? I guess this is the classy version of “super-sizing” something. Yum! Both kids slept through the night (hollah!) but it was still painful to get up at 6 a.m. We have our alarm set to a radio station, like many others do I’m sure. So, I’m wondering what the song programmers are thinking when they play songs like Avalon by Roxy Music http://www.mp3.com/albums/13741/summary.html?from=88575 Is this going to make me jump out bed and get going in the morning??? No, it’s going to make me feel all warm and fuzzy and fall right back to sleep, like I did this morning.