Monday, October 11, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for family:
My husband.  He loves me despite my crazy moments.  He reminds me to laugh. 
I love him.
My kids.  They make me smile.  They teach me a lot.  They drive me crazy.
I love them.

I am thankful that my family is healthy and happy.  (ok... most of the time!)

I am thankful for the option/opportunity/ability to stay home for the past two years and look forward to the next 6 months.

I am thankful that my friends are always there to listen and share a laugh or a gripe.

I am thankful for all the support and encouragement from our family and friends.

I am thankful that my husband cooks the turkey on the BBQ so I have lots of oven space for all the other yummy stuff.

I am very thankful that we had a nurse last night!  ahh... sleep is a wonderful thing...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Hopefully this is the end of our most recent no nursing stint... we've gone three nights in a row without our overnight nurse.  Caelan requires 24/7 supervision.  We are unable to sleep when he's sleeping so without our night nurse it means that we have to stay up.  We usually split up the night; I go to bed early with the kids and Damian wakes me up when he can't keep his eyes open anymore.  This morning that was at 4am, which was glorious because I was in bed by nine with the lights off.  Almost 7 hours of sleep is totally doable.  I'm might still be a bit cranky but can function much better than say yesterday when Damian worked the evening shift at work.  On Fridays Damian doesn't get home until 10ish so my opportunity to go to bed at the same time as the kids disappears.  I think I got almost 5 hours sleep, a far cry from the 8 hours or more that my body craves. I can still function, just not very happy about it.

On Saturday we travelled into town as a family.  I don’t know why I have such a hard time learning that errands as a family is never going to be a fun time, regardless of how many treats we interject!  A family errand day in the middle of a 3 night no nurse stint was just a disaster waiting to happen.  Actually it really wasn’t THAT bad, but it wasn’t that good either.  I’ve realized (FINALLY) that it’s really my husband that I want with me, not necessarily the whole family.  I’m talking specifically about errands here.  I like to talk to him.  I like to hear his opinion on different things.  I like the extra set of hands.  I like a lot about shopping with him, but throw the kids in the mix and all of a sudden it’s pretty difficult to achieve any of them!  I also think that if we were able to do errands alone together all the time I wouldn’t enjoy it at all.  We’d drive each other nuts, no question about it.  Oh well, lesson learned… at least for now.

We managed a stop at Gramma and Grampa’s house to meet their new addition, Bullet.   Ryland and Damian had met him last weekend but this was the first for the rest of us.  He is adorable!!  I was surprised that Darcy was nervous around him because he’s a far cry from big ol’ Bear.  Bear topped 100 pounds and Bullet will be lucky to reach 10 pounds at most!  After meeting him, Darcy quickly retreated upstairs to the toy box and left Damian and Ry to play with Bullet.  I wasn’t surprised that Caelan was very nervous.  Caelan isn’t a fan of dogs at all.  We’re going to work on it slowly with Bullet because at least Caelan was able to look at him and smile, which is an improvement from other dog meetings!  I forgot to bring the camera but I managed to snag a pic of him from Gramma’s facebook account!

Friday, October 8, 2010

Ryland thought she should get a post too...

Thankful Thoughts
By Ryland

I am thankful for my family because
they love me and show me great support.

I am thankful for my friends because
they show great empathy and respect.

I am thankful for school because
it gives me great knowledge and treats me nicely.

and everything else that I am so lucky to have


Love you Ryland, xo
Darcy brought this home from school today.

Thankful Thoughts
By Darcy

I am thankful for my family because
with out them I would not have been born.

I am thankful for my friends because
I can play with her.

I am thankful for my school because
I like science.


Love you Darcy, xo.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

a good book

I love reading.  This isn't new.  I've always loved reading and have been known to obsess slightly over a good book.  It's true, I get so far into a book I can't put it down and I just need to finish it.  I'll stay up until the wee hours of the morning just to find out how it ends.  I've met someone of the opposite perspective who, when nearing the end of a really good read, actually slows down in an attempt to make it last.  I like the idea of prolonging the ending but have never managed to actually do it.

Fortunately or not, I've passed this love of reading onto my eldest daughter.  I can't take sole responsibility or blame for this because Damian reads as much, if not more than I do.  At nine years old Ryland has already read the entire Harry Potter series at least four times and it's by far her favourite.  She’s also read all kinds of fairy chapter books, all of Judy Blume’s Fudge series, the Percy Jackson series and Treasure Island among others.  We’ve quizzed her on the storylines to make sure that she’s actually understanding what she’s reading and so far she seems to be. 

This week Damian introduced her to The Hobbit.  She’s almost done the book, or was when she left for school.  I wouldn't be surprised if she's done it by the time she gets home.  It’s hard to find appropriate subject matter for her reading level and we’ve made amazing use of our library card.  If you can’t find Ry, you can bet she’s curled up in her room with a book.  She loves when reading is assigned for homework and argues that the hours she read on the bus to and from school don’t count.  I know I shouldn't complain but it does sometimes get to be a bit much!

Caelan also demonstrates this same passion for reading – or at least a love for books.  We empty his book shelf daily with him bringing me books to read to him.  So lately my reading has been more along the lines of Curious George, Barney, and Ten Little Ladybugs.  Board books just aren’t the same though!

I feel as though I'm in a bit of a lull in my reading and haven't found the right book to get me back on track.  I miss it and look forward to any recommendations.

ARGH!  Just got the call that our nurse for tonight is sick and they weren't able to find a replacement... and I have nothing to read!!  It's going to be a long night.  Maybe I'll drive Ry to dance tonight and visit the library...