Who's who?

For a long time I wanted to do a scrapbook page layout that had four pictures of my family of four on it. 

I had a hard time finding the right four pictures though, because I wanted us all to be the same age in the photo's.

My Mom had given me a picture of myself when I was anywhere from 8 to 10 months old, but do you think I could find it in that very special place that I had tucked it into?  Nope.

Untill this past weekend. 

I had tucked it into B's baby book that his Mom had given me, probably because I was looking for a semi-decent photo of him the same age.

And as luck would have it I happen to have two pictures of my boys at similar ages, in a similar pose.

I always wondered throughout my pregancies who my kids would look like.

What I didn't imagine is that one would look like me and one would look like B.

Makes me happy.

Off to get ready for a busy day.

Gym, groceries, M needs a haircut, and we need to clean the house.

My MIL is coming in for M's third birthday and arrives tommorow morning at 7:30am.

I don't forsee alot of bloggy time in my near future.

Have an awesome day!!!

P.S.  I just looked out my window and there is fluffy white stuff falling from the skies and blanketing my perfectly green grass....

Overheard

M to Puppy and Polar Bear:  "come on kids, it's getting dark."

These are the conversations I have waited my whole Motherhood to overhear.

Love that kid.

Nighty Night.

I'm his.

As soon as I opened M's door this morning he said: "There's my Mommy!".

This was the first time he has refered to me as his, in the right context.

It made my heart all warm and fuzzy.

Now I am just waiting for the possessiveness to start in other areas.

Can you just hear the cries:  "THAT'S MY TOY!!!!"

Can't wait...

In other breaking news, J had some allergy testing done yesterday after some hive issues after introducing milk.

He is deffinately allergic to milk.

And...

Peanuts.

Greeeeeaaaaaaaaattttt.

I wasn't thrilled to hear this news.

We are the proud new owners of an epipen.

We have to take him for a blood test to determine the degree or severity of the allergy.

The Dr. felt that it wasn't severe but it has to be treat as such until he is 5, at which time a "Peanut Challenge" will occur.

For the time being this also means that M will not have any peanut butter or foods that may contain, as he may contaminate J accidently.

I don't think he will miss it.  He is more of a honey on toast kind of kid.

But I will need to be more careful, as will B.

I will become a label reader at the grocery store.

It was also communicated to us that he has a 75% chance of developing asthma because of these allergies, combined with his diminishing excema.

Ugh.

My head and heart are telling me they are not serious allergies and that he will outgrow the milk allergy by 2 and the peanut allergy by 5.

I already bought some soy milk this morning and J drank 3 ounces.

YAY!!! 

Let the weening begin!

Off to watch the WonderPets with the turkey and the monkey.

And to read my Flyers.  ;)

Have a great weekend.

Easter Scrappiness

 Just a quick share on the layouts that I did of this past Easter.  I am not a great holiday scrapper in that I don't usually buy that type of paper, or if I do it stays in my stash and I moan and groan on the best way to use it.  That being said, I enjoyed doing these, mostly because my LSS had some new Easter papers that were cute. ;)

First up, J's first Easter page.  He had such a sweet look on his face when he was rooting through his basket.

While we were at Mass, the Easter Bunny left some treats for M.  I don't usually let him have treats that early but its hard to keep a good kid down.  :)

And last but not least, those krispie eggs I made with M munching on his.  Yep this is a treat house around Easter.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

One year ago...

I started my second and last maternity leave. 

I am having a lazy Sunday, bogged down with a cold, compliments of Hubs when it struck me.  I have already been off for one whole year. 

How can that be??  Wasn't it just yeasterday that I was moaning and groaning about my stoopid sciatic nerve issue??  That I couldn't take M for a walk longer than 30 minutes because I physically just couldn't do it?  That I was building a bed for myself at the base of the stairs at 7:00am in the mornings because I wanted to snooze longer and I was baracading the exit for M should he try to escape?

Seriously?

Wasn't it just yesterday that a size three didn't fit M and now in two week from today he will turn three and being wearing a size four in some things?

I'm sure it was just yesterday that I was sitting in my Dr. office and he was giving me the details of my schedule c-section.  And I know that it wasn't that long ago that I walked up to the desk in Labour and Delivery at the hospital and ordered up one baby boy.

Wasn't it?

It couldn't possibly be that my baby is going to be one in five weeks.

And I am certain that I am not ready to return to work in five weeks.

Time is once again not on my side.

My babies are growing, their personalities maturing into little people that I could never, ever do without.

It doesn't stop me from missing the smallness though.  I can't even begin to describe that feeling when your newborn baby is placed into your arms for the very first time.

I remember it for both of them like it was yesterday.

Happy Sunday.

Everynight...

When I ask M to say goodnight to his brother he says:
"Goodnight brodder!!!"

Everytime  M starts a puzzle, J will crawl up and M will say:
"Stop...stop...stop...You need to learn to stop."

Every morning when M see's his brother he says in his sweet morning voice:
" Hey J, that's your baby brodder J....good morning J."

It's a not so vicious cycle; one that I love being a part of.

Nighty Night.

I love my stroller...

So much, I felt the need to do a page about it.

Some times I am a little cheesy.

Enjoy your thursday!

Scrappy me...

Yesterday I was a little fiesty again...I'll get over it I swear.

(I did bump that post because it was kind of cranky of me but theraputic to write)

I was able to get some more layouts done this past weekend.

One of J and one of M.

I usually like to be fair with whom I scrap... 

Can you say OCD?

First up, Mr J and his 9 month page...super simple.

He is going through some sort of anti sleep phase lately.

Last night we were up for two hours, hanging out in the basement.

The night before he cried for 1hour and 45 minutes...I didn't have the heart to do it again last night.

We watched the news and eventually he fell asleep in my arms.

I'm starting to get a little worried about going back to work and the lack of sleep I might get.

I might be hitting the hay at 7:00pm if this keeps up.

On to Mr. M. 

He is almost three, I can't believe it.

He is getting so good at giving hugs and kisses lately.

He walks around asking, "what can I do for you?"

I always tell him that he can give me a kiss and he obliges.

He is also getting a little too sassy with his brother...ugh.

It's a beautiful sunny day here. 

A nice long walk and a hot bath tonight are on the agenda, followed by the season premier of GLEE!!!

Happy Tuesday peeps!

Moving on and Project 12.

Yesterday for us was challenging but...

I have moved on.

With the small exception that I lost M's new Outdoor Research hat today,

I have little to whine about.

No major bouts of wakefulness last night but...

That youngest of mine???

He is quite cagey.

He really needs to sleep longer stretches,

I really need to wean him,

And he almost climbed out of his bath seat tonight.

Cagey.

.
.
.

Alright so Project 12 March. 

I really liked the sketch,

But I had so few pictures from March that appealed to me.

I made do, and picked out some cute ones of the boys.

So here is my take:

It's not perfect but hey...is anything?

Off to watch the game/race with hubs.

And just because I can, a pic of my kiddo's.

Yep...those are matching boys.

I have issues with matching them.

In that I do it often.

It is a sickness. 

Are they not the most handsome?

I love that they are both looking at Daddy in this picture and not me.

Makes my heart feel full.

Nighty Night.

A really big book of ideas...

A while back Memory Makers posted a call for never before seen scrapbook layouts for a book that will be published in May 2011.  They were looking for 500 layouts so I thought I might have a chance.  Applicants could only submit 10 layouts.  I submitted 8.  Today  I recieved an email letting me know that they selected 5 of my layouts for their book. 

FIVE! 

Of those 5 layouts, 3 of them are personal favorites of mine.  Truly I love them.  The other two I was pleasantly suprised.  One was so simple I thought there was no way, but I sent it off anyway. 

The 3 that didn't make the cut?  I love them too.  Some really different for me.  This being published thing is kind of cool, but I have to admit that after I submitted them I no loger felt like scrapping.  I am suffereing from a creative block.  My mind feels like mush.  And March wasn't the best month on record for me. I think I will continue to submit pages here and there, but it isn't going to be a big focus for me.  Once I'm back at work I won't have much time.  I already find I am becoming more simple as I become crunched for time.

So there you have it.  My scrappy rant.  And here are the three that didn't make the cut. 

Happy Monday!

A weekend in photos...

134 photos to be exact. Normaly I wouldn't take that many pictures, however alot of fun was had and the scrapper in me thought it might be possible that some of these moments may need to be scrapped.

Friday we headed over to the golf course so M could check out this machine:

Go for a ride on the "John Deer Gator"

Watch some of these land:                    

And search for some of these:

On Saturday I made these:

And let M decorate his:

Of course he had to taste test it afterwards...

The finished product didn't really end up looking like eggs but they were tasty:

It was such a beautiful day that we headed outside afterwards to burn of the sugar:

Some of us enjoyed a meal of grass:

On Sunday we went to church and came home to discover the Easter Bunny had paid a visit:

M enjoyed the hunt:

And the chocolate that I left him eat before 10:00am:

Others just enjoyed...

In the afternoon we headed to the backyard where M was in his glory playing on his slide:

J enjoyed the culinary delights of sheets:

I enjoyed the rare opportunity to spend time with just my guys:

Some of us were in bed earlier than others due to a sugar induced coma.  Or was it the far too many temper tantrums that were brought on by plumeting and skyrocketing blood sugar levels???

Several times throughout the day I thought about how different my life was this year compared to last.  For some reason I always feel the need to reflect on this holiday.  And count my many blessings.

I hope yours was as special as mine.

10 months...

have past and everytime I see him from behind, his neck makes me sigh and his ears make me smile.

I find myself getting weepy some days with the thought of him becoming a toddler.

I hate the thought of going back to work and knowing that I am going to miss some little milestone.

He has been over the weight and height limit for his bucket seat but somehow I avoided the change until last week...now he looks so lost in his big seat. 

I dread the thought of weaning him, even though it hasn't been as peaceful as it was the first time around....he is so impatient.

I know this kid is going to give me a run for my money but one look into those eyes and I'm a goner.

I hope he never, ever underestimates how much I love him.

Calling a spade a spade

Have you ever been in a situation where someone made a comment about you, your husband, your child or a friend that was subtle in design but was so obvious to you that it could have been an elephant standing in the room?


I feel like I am on the receiving end of those comments more often than I would like to be and I don't get it.

Maybe I have "walk all over me" written on my forehead.

Or maybe it is that I am so easy to read that the person that so graciously extended the comment knew I wouldn't respond.

Boy, are they wrong if they don't think I respond because if they had a ticket to the sold out show inside my mind would they be surprised.

I can unleash a world of misery without even opening my mouth.

Which is why I don't; I don't trust the words that may come cascading from my tongue.

History tells me that they are going to hurt.

And I am a huge believer in picking my battles, being the bigger person, leading by example...blah, blah, blah.

I don't always want to be that person; I want to tell someone who overstepped their boundaries of our "friendship" that they have done just that.

But how?

I don't struggle with this in my professional life, and that may be because I don't have a choice.

When you lead people you need to make your expectations clear from day one.

"At no point in our friendship will it be acceptable to make subtly snide comments about my child butting in line. Should you make an observation of this occurrence, please redirect him to myself and I will follow up on his behavior. "

When people fail, or become misguided, you probe, use self discovery, coach, redirect, get commitments, follow up...I could go on and on.

Should I be doing that in my personal life?

Do I need to interview people to make sure they are suitable candidates for my friendship?

Do I just need to "cut them out" as Phoebe likes to say, if they are not holding up their end of the friendship?

I'm not good at calling people out on their BS even though my radar is tuned into their BS frequency.

There has to be some sort of middle ground for me and I am struggling to find it.

And for the record....he butted in line, he's not "a really, really fast runner." 

That is why he went ahead of your child on the slide. 

Because he butted in line. 

And yes I saw it, however if you would have given me the 10 seconds to respond, I would have been able to address the issue with him directly.


So in the future, please try to parent your own child and let me parent mine.

Your wish is my command...

Mommy would you like to go for a ride in the car?
(suuuurrrreeeeee!)

Mommy, would you like to get some gas?

(not really.....)

Mommy, would you like to go to the library?

(If only going there meant reading quietly.....but he had fun.)

Mommy, would you like to go to the park?

(sure why not.....I must warn you though we won't be here long.)

Mommy, would you like a timbit?

(I would love a timbit...would you like one?)

All of that in the span of 90 minutes......