After marriage comes the baby in the baby carriage...

Last year was the year of weddings...I wonder if there was a PUSH to get married in 2012, cause after 12 comes 13...perhaps its not good luck to get married in 2013!!! Who knows...none the less there were MANY Weddings!! We went to most ...and was THANKFUL to be part of them! So this year should be the year of the baby...and so far two fabulous LADIES are HAVING BABIES...one due in June and other due in July! I am  truly happy for them!! It will alter your life for ever more!! LOL!

Now that Hubby and I are HAVING NO MORE BABIES...I've been reflecting on my experience and reliving episodes through their Face Book Statuses(I know ..sad) and Emails. Things I know NOW and some things that I wish I KNEW.....now remember...my experiences only go to age 7!!

BABY SHOWERS....are GREAT!! Lots of FUN and GAMES!! Horror Stories, great food, silly games and GIFTS!! I just wished that SOMEONE gave me a DOUGHNUT....NOT the FOOD...but the CUSHION!! I pushed too HARD....and got HEMORRHOIDS! I didn't know what HEMORRHOIDS were...it was about a week before I got things checked out....I would cry from the pain!! Our FIRST OUTING AS A FAMILY was to get PROCTO CREAM!! Slowly YOU learn..... and by the second or third child, things get better and you become a PRO!! 

LABOUR with each CHILD was OK!!(I DON'T want to SCARE YOU!)  The first birth was not LONG...... I was playing POKER with Hubby! The nurse would come and read the monitor and comment "Wow...that was a BIG one...are you OK!?" I replied "sure....I felt nothing!" They all seemed shocked!  I felt nothing till they broke my water...... then I FELT IT!! Hubby left shortly after to eat while they gave me an epidural...after it was inserted, I was basically ready to PUSH! AND WHERE WAS HUBBY...going to EAT!! PLEASE....if your partner wants to go and eat...pack a MEAL to EAT in the ROOM or JUST OUTSIDE  THE ROOM...NEVER LEAVE THE MOM TO BE!!!! Hubby almost MISSED it...for PIZZA!!! They had him PAGED in the hospital...which they NORMALLY DO NOT DO!!

BUYING FURNITURE......I think we all FALL into that TRAP...gushing over little furniture for your Baby's room.....but don't do it!! LOL!! Yes...you need a CRIB(if you can get one that turns into a toddler bed...awesome)....but for the change table..NAH! I used a low dresser with a wide top.....bought a change mattress for like $30 with a safety belt....they only use DIAPERS for a SHORT period!  There are so many gimmicks out there...don't fall for them!!! I didn't...so far my KIDS are OK!! Plus their rooms are not cluttered!! Don't feel like you have to buy it ALL!! 

Lets face it...we see the softened photos, Mommy looking peaceful, hair swept across the brow holding her Babe in her arms...soothing him with a lullaby....YEAH....in reality Babe is crying and Mom is wearing clothes from a day ago, with spit up on her shoulder, hair tossed up in a scrunchy and singing a PINK song(or any other POPULAR song of that time).

Then comes the MOMENT when you DESPISE your PARTNER who cannot hear the BABY crying at 3AM....so what do you do...you mumble LOVELY words under your breathe and toss the blankets about...causing so much of stir that your PARTNER wakes and then suggests that HE get the baby......YEAH THANKS BUT A LITTLE TOO LATE!! Later in the day, you suggest NICELY that he should do at least one of the feedings in the night...he replies, "Sure just wake me!" I know, I know...he is working and needs his sleep to function through the day....but there were times that I wanted to reverse the roles....just to SLEEP!

Days of SLEEPING IN are OVER! I think for me, sleeping in is waking up on your own accord and not being WOKEN UP TO CHANTING of MOMMMMMMMMY!!!! You will never sleep in again...not till they move out and hopefully they DO move out....STUDIES have shown that more and more kids are staying home....that SCARES ME! LOL!

With the FIRST CHILD...everything is BUBBLED WRAP....they fall, YOU RUN..they SNEEZE you panic!! With the SECOND and THIRD CHILD......YOU ARE SO RELAXED that when there is BLOOD on the RUG, you wonder how you will get the BLOOD out of the RUG!! (Maybe exaggerating but you get the point!)

There will be times that YOU will just STARE at your child....and THINK, "WOW HE IS MINE, WE CREATED THIS KID!" And you will even ponder their future....hoping its nothing but HAPPINESS and no HEART BREAK(but it does happen...you just have to be there for them...waiting for that time).

The MOST IMPORTANT TIP.....don't let "older, wiser, mature" Moms tell YOU what is the RIGHT WAY TO RAISE YOUR CHILD!! There are times, you will be bombarded with "their rules" on how to raise a child.....YOU HAVE TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT FOR YOU! ASK for tips from other Moms ...but in the END, do what is RIGHT FOR YOU!! If you need the HELP...ask for it...don't be proud and suffer in silence.....MOMS are there to help....just be PREPARED to say "Thanks, but no thanks..."

Its hard to BALANCE everything when you have a BABY.....alone time with your partner, family, friends, work, money, chores....you just have to WEIGH everything out...what will work for you!! PLEASE...have a date night AT LEAST once a month with your partner...you will need it! Take it from my experience...we didn't..and you need too!! 

Finally....you will express and feel a LOVE that you have never known!! Yes, we love family, friends and our partners...but when you first LOOK at your BABY and HOLD them....there is a DEEP LOVE that overcomes you...you will do anything for this little person....they have you wrapped around their little, pink, chubby finger!! Its AMAZING!

Lastly.......CHERISH EACH MOMENT....they grow up too fast! I know it might not feel like that at 3AM when they are FUSSY....but soon, like a blink of an eye...they will be starting school and slowly finding their own dependence....and you are left standing there, wondering what happened to the time!

PS. FUN FACT...I can only do JUMPING JACKS if my BLADDER is EMPTY!

PPS. WRITE things DOWN....keep a JOURNAL! Its a great way to look back and have your kids read it when they are OLDER!! My problem... I did that for the first child....the second..meh kinda wrote....the third..nothing!! I feel terrible ALREADY!!

GRAB each moment as it comes......

As a parent...you don't get to sleep in any more...those lazy weekend mornings are over! There are times that I miss sleeping in till 10...slowly rolling out of bed, start the coffee...and  then sink into the couch, watching the Food Network or HGTV, sipping coffee and watch the hours melt away.

Now(flash forward a few years), if I have stayed up till midnight on a Friday or Saturday night(catching up on things that I couldn't do when the kids were awake), I am screwed come the morning...KIDS don't sleep in! Not till they HIT the TEENAGE years...and I don't think that I am ready for that(at least not yet).  This is what happened this past weekend. Both nights I was up late...knowing I would be tired the next day...I still stayed up!! Sunday morning I heard the familiar song of "Mommy....I wake! Mommy!" Alex is in the top bunk and still doesn't know how to get down. Cursing myself...I dragged myself out of bed and got him.......shortly after the other two were awake...and so the day began!

In the kitchen I began the routines of making coffee and grabbing the paper from the front door....it was then coming back with the paper that I noticed the SUNRISE!! The yellow painted kitchen was turning hues of pinks, purples and oranges.....it was something that I hadn't seen in a long time! Shortly after the skies clouded over and it was all gone....just a grey sky! Before the SUN disappeared and the sky darkened I took a picture. SUNRISES like these are too far 'n between in January.  I quickly told Katie to glance out the back window....she replied "BEAUTIFUL!"

It made me think...how many things do we miss out on in life? I saw this BEAUTIFUL SUNRISE and a few moments later it was GONE! Try to GRAB each moment as it comes....spend that extra time with your kids, family and friends....relish in it.....

Set your alarm, watch the SUNRISE....you'll be surprised how it sets the MOOD for YOUR DAY!!

From Ugly Duckling to Beautiful Swan.....anyone can do it!!

Just wanted to share with you what you can do...when you find something for FREE...a little elbow grease and imagination is all you need.....and the support of your FAMILY!! This is a SHORT BLOG...just wanted to let you know what I have been up too.......CHEERS!!

Found this FREE Dresser, no handles, no slides for the drawers............

Here is the SAME Dresser NOW....all pretty and in Living room!

Now this Dresser took awhile....I still need to do the slides for under each drawer...but for now...it can be DONE!! It has to be DONE...Hubby was getting tired of seeing this sitting in the kitchen...we had to arrange chairs around the kitchen table......it was a TIGHT FIT!! You see....I don't have a GARAGE...and since I live in CANADA(which I LOVE) it has been bitter cold.....its hard to sand/paint and PRETTIFY a piece of FURNITURE in the KITCHEN!! Did I mention that I LOVE my HUSBAND.....he has put up with a lot lately!!!

I LOVE finding pieces...tired pieces and giving them NEW LIFE!! It makes my HEART happy!!

I think we might need a BIGGER house soon!! Or perhaps I should have a STORE!! Fuel my passion into others.......just a thought!! I could sell baked goods on the side too....FOOD FOR THOUGHT!!

Flipping the HOUSE...EASIER than MOVING!!?? Right!?

We just had a few days of MILD temperatures...it was HEAVEN...but it gave me a FALSE SENSE that Spring is around the corner! Snow melted, the sun was out...we wore Hoodies and I started to plan what needed to be done this Spring.  The shed was going(tattered and old) and  a new shed would be bought and placed closer to the house, fix the pavement, patch the BALD spots on the lawn .....it was a GREAT FEELING.....new beginnings!! See this is what I meant about false sense that Spring is here...cause this morning I woke to CHILLY temperatures and light snow falling...rather a dusting, like icing sugar on a cake...mmm....which reminds me that I need to bake this afternoon.....

With the New Year...one plans for NEW CHANGES, whether with themselves, career, family life.....whatever it is, change is always WELCOMED in the NEW YEAR!!  I want to be a better person...that's one part of my New Year Resolution... another change is that I want my FAMILY to be HAPPY living in THEIR HOME!! IN a perfect world...we would move to a BIGGER house...a HOUSE where each child could have their OWN ROOM...their OWN SPACE where they could be HAPPY and ESCAPE anything that is bothering them....usually their siblings! But with today's economic outlook......I think, no, I KNOW that we will hunker down and make the best of what we have!! And I think we have SUCCEEDED!!

We knew, unless we won the LOTTERY.....that Hubby's MAN CAVE would never formalize in the Laundry Room.....lol....so I gave up control(which is hard for me....) and gave the Family Room in the basement to Hubby!! I think he is HAPPY...its slowly turning into the "CAVE"...how do I know this, well while he was watching Bat Man(I think...) my arm was vibrating to the Bass...all along I was upstairs in the Living Room trying to watch Sliding Doors...!! He is turning that ROOM into his own.....I know that he is HAPPY! And so is Josh...he got to spend QUALITY TIME ALONE with his Dad!!

My NICHE....where I HOPE to be MORE Creative!

During the emptying out of the Family Room, I moved, with great success, the computer to the bedroom....its all set up by the window. I feel more creative!! As I sit here I type and glance out the window at the neighbours...for instance someone must be having issues with their cable...the "cable guy" is out there and literally scratching his head at the cable box! I have created my own little niche and even bought a Fern Foxtail...its the little things that can change and create a new room...and its done on a budget! All we are doing is moving things about, from room to room...nothing says that an object must stay in its current room....move things, give them new life...its amazing what you can do on NO money or VERY little money. Go through your HOME, sort and organize things, move things .......buy a plant, PLANTS are full of LIFE and GREENERY.....plants can change a room's outlook....FLOWERS, buy flowers!! Their SCENT can fill a room and give you a sense WELL BEING!

My NEW Friend...I chat daily to her!

We also switched BEDROOMS... again....the KIDS that is!! Katie was becoming MISERABLE by sharing her NEW ROOM with Alex......but then Josh didn't want to give up his new room...sigh....the issues with having THREE CHILDREN and not enough bedrooms. HAPPILY I got her back into her OLD ROOM, and I persuaded Josh to go back to his! Although with Josh, I told him that he could have the bottom bunk and we would make the bedroom a THIRD CLASS STATE ROOM...like on the Titanic! He agreed EAGERLY! He is now back in his room and awaiting for Spring(I think) to paint his room...we will chose colours that were on the Titanic and get new bedding(Third Class Blankets)!! I think I would make a GOOD politician!!

In the end, its all about making due with what you have....and we did, we spent very little...moved things about, gave new life to old objects, bought plants and created little niches for everyone to enjoy!!! I truly believe that it takes time to make a HOME.....furnish it with LOVELY objects...for me its hand me downs and items that I have found( Kijiji, garage sales, estate sales, second hand stores...) and crafted them to show their beauty in my HOME.......anyone can do it!!

I just need a SOUND BARRIER between the BASEMENT and the MAIN FLOOR!!

Its like saying GOOD BYE to a DEAR, DEAR FRIEND! Pathetic I know!!

Hubby and I have been saying it for awhile.....we suggest it, casually.....but never thinking that we are actually going to do it!  BUT after looking at accounts and trying to think where to save...what do we need and what do we NOT need.......it had to be DONE! With my 2013 New Year Rant and after watching a certain show...full of energy and positivity on where to save money and how to get ahead!! I got this IDEA(again)...and told Hubby later that day when he came HOME.  He simply replied, "do you want me to do it now?"

Eeek....where my main thoughts, he actually wants to do it...no second guessing, just flat out, "lets do it!" We don't always use it...but its nice to know that its there...in  case of emergency...bored emergency....something to pass the hours away during dreary winter!! Somehow I put him off...."do it after the weekend...(I pleaded...)." He DID it yesterday...he made the call!!! Come February 7th I'll be going through detox and so will the children...who will have it worse? The KIDS or ME!? We are cutting the CABLE.........((I know, I can hear the shrills of horror now...NO cable...))

Cable is like some Family.....you don't talk to them that much, but they are there for you....when you really need them! In all honesty....there are not too many shows that I truly ENJOY...I have my FAVOURITES and I can get them on the INTERNET! Like many shows all together, you can get everything on the INTERNET....so why are we paying close to $100 every month??? Just to watch it on a BIGGER SCREEN in HD! ((nodding head YES!!)) Then you have repeats and dull shows...... I call them the reality shows....I cant stand them....!!  With that being said, its the kids that mostly watch their shows on both TV's......and those can be seen on the INTERNET! But why do I feel like I am loosing a DEAR FRIEND!!?? Cable was just always there...when in need...when bored....when sick.....it was and is ENTERTAINMENT!!  But I have to keep telling myself that I can get EVERYTHING ON THE INTERNET!!! Right!? My new mantra....."I get everything on the Internet!!"

Its funny how much we rely on technology to pass the day....how many times are YOU on the INTERNET and watching TELEVISION!? Perhaps we have become addicted?? What happened to the olden days when kids PLAYED outside, you actually chatted with your dinner guests instead of scrolling through your phone to see the latest news on friends, walking and actually paying attention to your surroundings?? I am HAPPY to say that I don't have a CELL PHONE!! I have a HOME PHONE...remember those!?

If you take your monthly bills...which is the most expensive(don't say Rent/Mortgage...these are an necessity)??  Its TV/PHONE/INTERNET!! That's why we are cutting CABLE!! I can watch most of everything that I want on the INTERNET!! Plus.....we will have more time for each other....being creative, reading(which I already LOVE and DO) and just being a Family!! BUT with this all said...and I do believe what I just wrote....I still have this pang, a pang of loosing a dear, dear Friend!!!

I'll let you know how it goes......if YOU see someone lingering outside your WINDOW, it could be ME...needing a LITTLE TV FIX!!

2013!! New Year....time to get things RIGHT! RIGHT?

I think for all of us, there comes a YEAR...a YEAR that sticks with us and we still believe that its still that year.......for me, I feel like I am still in the early 2000's....BUT when I see that its 2013.....I think "what happened?? How did we get to 2013 already!?" I then start calculating dates...I've been with Hubby for NINE YEARS!? My KIDS are now 7, 5 and 3!!?? I am what AGE......???? It all goes by FAST! Too FAST! See what happens when you are having FUN!!

Hubby and I ended 2012 quietly...watching some TV after the kids were tucked in.....we giggled our way into 2013...uncontrollably at times... to the point where your sides ache and you cant breathe any more and the tears are flowing down your face...a REAL GOOD LAUGH!! And NO...we were not drunk...slightly tipsy...laughing like BEST FRIENDS....isn't that a GREAT WAY to bring in the New Year!? I think so!! I LOVE the relationship that we have......LOVERS and BEST FRIENDS!!  Are we all so LUCKY!?

So..its 2013! Its around this time of the year that SOME come up with NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS! Do you have any? I know eventually some will fail....that's what "experts" say when the gyms are FULL in January and EMPTY in March....if YOU are ONE to KEEP your RESOLUTION, all the POWER to you! How do you do it!? For me I want to BANISH all IDIOTS....which should be EASY, most of them are on Facebook....gotta LOVE and HATE Facebook...it does keep you connected with Friends/Family...but sometimes the IDIOTS creep through and finally you wonder, "why am I reading this GARBAGE from them...there is more to life...why am I letting them bother me....." finally I delete the person!! No complaints yet!

After all....this is what 2013 should be about!

Secondly.....I want to SAVE...which is hard on ONE INCOME, THREE KIDS, Mortgage etc etc etc...... which leads into STRETCHING things out. I WILL MAKE THINGS STRETCH to the point where I cant use it any more!! For example....last night I made a Roast Chicken Dinner...Hubby said it was the BEST that I ever made(wish I remembered exactly how I did it...I rarely follow directions...always a splash of this and that)...and for tonight, I took the leftovers and made SOUP...adding more of this and that...sprinkle here and there...handful of that and this!! AND it TASTES YUMMY!! There is enough WASTEFULNESS in this WORLD...we need to teach our CHILDREN!! And it all starts at HOME....

Thirdly.....I want to be MORE CREATIVE.....creative in REFURBISHING, Writing, Baking and Cooking....I don't feel fully satisfied UNLESS I have been CREATIVE for some part of the day! My kids keep me busy and I LOVE being a PARENT....but there are times that I need to be CREATIVE for ME!! That's usually when I get them INVOLVED with what I am doing.....and they LOVE it!!  More often its BAKING...hence the WOMANLY HIPS.....hmmm, maybe I should sneak in another Resolution...the GYM! But lets face it...I'm going to break that Resolution!!! I'll just walk more! To the store to buy the Baking ingredients! HA!

Lastly I just want to be HAPPY with the LIFE I have! We only get ONE...make it count!!
So...I am going to try to WRITE MORE BLOGS, recipes, stories, LOVE my KIDS and my HUBBY, plan for the FUTURE...save and make the DOLLAR STRETCH!! What are you going to do in 2013!? I know it will be a GREAT YEAR...I ended it LAUGHING the NIGHT away and then I awoke to a BEAUTIFUL, SUNNY MORNING!!!

January 1, 2013!! Great start to the YEAR!!

Potty Training......

For the past little while I have felt like a YO-YO...physically, emotionally and with just the usual routine of life. Life is never easy! Is it ever easy?? Or is it always meant to be difficult....like a rolling hillside...life has ups and downs!! Who knows where I am right now on this country hillside......perhaps right now I am rolling along some flat ground! But during this roller coaster of life(nice images...huh??) we decided to start POTTY TRAINING! Our youngest, Alex, just turned three on Remembrance Day and the following day I decided to throw him into training pants!! Now the funny thing, I bought him pull ups, Cars Underwear and Training Pants(the quilted kind)....now they are for BOYS and on the package it says, "Training Panties". I thought about this...it made me laugh...I can understand if the "panties" were for GIRLS...but these are for BOYS...they are BLUE and have DOGS ......shouldn't it read "Training Pants".....make it sound MASCULINE!? None the less.....I bought all these and gave them to Alex for his Birthday!! I bet he was EXCITED!! LOL!

So the next day I put a pair of the "training panties" on him. We chatted(one sided mind you) about go pottying and what would happen if we didn't make it!! The whole morning I kept asking "do you have to go potty?" and the answer would be, "NO!" This went on for the WHOLE day!! Even my Daughter was asking him....I bet he was annoyed! But....later in the afternoon...he had that look...that look like he was about to go but didn't want to tell me....it was like he wanted to see if the "panties" would hold it!! It didn't!!!! But that was the ONLY time he had an accident.....and its been a week now!!! And BONUS...he wakes up DRY!!

I feel BLESSED.....that he is making an easy transition!! I have three kids.....and I know each kid is different! But with potty training, each child has been the same! EASY!! I wonder if its because I am FORTUNATE enough to be able to stay at home with them!? Now don't get me wrong, life would be easier, financially, if I worked .....but with daycare expenses and MORE juggling of routines, we might not be that much further ahead....LIFE is HARD trying to find that BALANCE....what works for you!? Maybe by being at home with them, having the same routine, being able to spend that time(one on one) to ensure a SMOOTH transition to the potty is the way to go? Perhaps too its because we didn't RUSH him, he was ready for it, at that prefect age....and who knows what that perfect age is! A child is ready when they are ready! Right!? Its hard being a parent...you never really know what is right or wrong....you just have to follow your gut and do what's right for you and your kids. I have heard some horror stories about potty training from my friends. So if my friends are about to ask, "how did you do it?"........I don't know!! But we don't need diapers(Hubby and I calculated that in 7 1/2yrs of diapering three kids, sometimes 2 at a time, we probably spent close to $7K...on DIAPERS ALONE!!) and we don't need the pull-ups I just bought...I only used TWO!!

The only issue now is trying to convince Alex that he doesn't need to POO every time he PEES!! He will sit there, for awhile, trying to POOP........

LAST photo of Alex in a diaper! It was taken this past Summer when Katie attempted to help me and change him herself!