busy, busy, busy

it's been one of those weeks. i knew september would be hard... i just didn't anticipate just how hard.

it doesn't help that we all got sick - a nice stomach bug. nothing like puking kids to stress ya out. follow that up with a severe cold, first cohen, now lili, and as of last night, luci too. and she, of course, isn't tolerating it as well as the other two.

in fact, i haven't slept more than 3 hours per night for 3 nights.

poor little angel.

anyway... activities are almost into full swing. lili's art class got canceled - of course, the one she was looking forward to the most. i'm still trying to find a replacement class... but honestly, i'm not trying that hard.

this week was really hard - cohen had hockey every night. so between me teaching, doing clinics, driving people everywhere... yesterday, for example, went something like this:
am - drive cohen to school
am - drive to clinic, teach for 90 minutes
pm - race home, get lili ready for school, drive lili to school
pm - try and straighten up, clean, prepare snacks for long night
pm - pick up lili from school, drive straight to skating lessons (deep south)
pm - come back home, drop julia off, swing by drive thru for dinner, rush off to cohen's hockey (NE)
pm - drive home... put kids in bed. clean up, do dishes, collapse into bed only to be awoken at 2am by a hysterical luci. 7am, finally fall asleep. alarm goes off at 7:30.

yeah. stupid busy. my van looked like a bomb went off in it.

anyways. i'm sure i'll settle into it. starting next month i won't have my niece to look after, so it'll be a little easier. hopefully.

i'm also dealing with a bum knee, which is making everything hard. it's not that it hurts so much, but it's a consistent pain, which, after a few hours, makes me pretty darn snappy and irritable.

otherwise... i'm so proud of cohen - he looks like a natural (well, a 6 year old natural) on the ice.

lili's doing great too - although she's being having some separation anxiety lately... so there were some tears at ballet and at violin this week. once she settled down, she had a blast. hopefully she'll remember that part next week.

i'm so tired, sorry if this isn't very coherent.

life is good... busy but good... i'm really grateful for these amazing kids... and i've made a vow to really make the most of the last half of my mat leave. since i may never be a stay-at-home mom after this, i want to squeeze as much into it. lots of cookie-making, craft-doing, nature-walking, story-telling, song-singing... etc.

sleep... here i come. please, luci, give me at least 4 hours...

Lili's First Day of French Preschool

This is what happens when I leave the house for 10 minutes.

I should point out, that this didn't wash off that well. And this was only 2 days before Cohen's picture day. Can you say "re-takes"???

It's been awhile...

Here are some pictures! I have lots, so it'll take me a few posts.

Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs

I think this is an amazing site:

http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/

I've been thinking a lot about this lately - although I try hard to limit TV watching in our house, they definitely get more than I'd like. It really hit home, this weekend, when Lili said to me "easy, breezy, beautiful, cover girl".

Yowser.

Anyways, Ian and I try to explain to our kids all about marketing etc. Although they don't understand it that well right now, our hope is that we've put the bug in their ear, and as they grow older, hopefully they will become suspicious consumers.

welcome to september!

wow, it has been a crazy 2 weeks! so much going on. i don't even know where to start! i guess we'll go by child...

lili:

miss lili started preschool last week! she is registered in french-immersion preschool - we did this only because the school was down the street, but as it turned out, the preschool had to move. so, instead of a 2 minute walk, it's now a 5 minute drive. not a huge deal, but definitely not as convenient as I had planned. although i love the french immersion, i fully intend to send lili to the arts academy, not french immersion... but i figure one year of french pre-school won't hurt her.

so far, she loves it.

she also started ballet class yesterday, and her comment was "it's HARD". but she said it with a smile, so that's good i guess!

last week was her kodaly music class, and violin lesson as well. she loved music class, as usual (if she wasn't already in a billion activities, i would put her in a girls choir, she loves singing SO much), and it was pretty adorable to see her in violin class. less adorable was me getting asked to leave the class because luci was fussing. frustrating for everyone... since she's in suzuki, it's really important that the parents participate and take notes during class, so i can only hope that luci adjusts and keeps calm in the future. my favourite part of class was when the teacher asked lili if she knew which hand was her right hand. "uh huh" lili said. "it's the one near the door". i laughed so hard i cried - and finally explained to the teacher that at home, when i'm teaching her piano, her right had IS indeed near the door.

in the coming weeks, she also starts art class and skating. i know. busy girl - but she handles it really well, so until that changes, i'm ok with it.

cohen:
cohen is now finished his 3rd week of grade 1. it's going really well - he is always very happy when i pick him up. of course, he forgets about that first thing in the morning every day, when he whines about having to go. i haven't yet had the heart to tell him that he has at least 12 more years of school to go...

because he's busy in school, we don't have cohen is as many activities as lili. he has kodaly (he's reluctant about it, says he doesn't like it, but try as he might, he cannot hide is smile during class and i usually get a rare hug at the end of class), and hockey starts in a week. gasp. hockey is such a huge commitment - even at the Timbit level, it's still 2 hours per week. the first week is 5 nights in a row. craziness. but it's what he loves more than anything, so, we do it.

we're also looking at putting him into some martial arts. probably aikido. because he is at times insecure and he has a temper, we both feel that it's really important that he learn a martial art to help him gain confidence but also learn discipline and respect. the problem is, it's something that we feel that ian should do with him (the boy is surrounded by women, he needs some man-time with daddy!)... and ian's schedule is so crazy. it's hard to figure out.

as for miss luci:
she's 4 months old! incredible how fast it's going. i'm trying so hard to soak it all up, but i'm admittedly freaking out a bit. for instance - i keep staring at her smile every day, knowing that this is the last toothless grin in the family. at least, until ian and i are old, haha! she actually has a molar that has almost broken through (how fair is that), but i'm not counting that one cause i can't see it! but she's gnawing at everything these days, so i know her bottom teeth are on their way.

she's so amazing.

such an amazing smile, and ian and i would do anything to hear her giggle. she's starting to sit up on her own, and rolling over is only days away, i suspect.

by christmas, she'll be crawling, most likely.

it's such an amazing experience, raising children. more than once in the last few months, ian and i have discussed the possibility of having another baby. yes, you heard me. however, unless we win the lottery, we just can't do it. it breaks my heart, but that's reality.

all right - i've used up all of my luci-sleeping time on this post! yikes! pictures to come later today... i know i've been awful at it lately!

m

Seriously, they loved it

From my new "Retro Kids" recipe book:

Hot Dog Pizza
1 whole wheat english muffin per child
1 hot dog per child
grated cheese
ketchup

1. Toast English Muffins. Spread Ketchup on, sprinkle with cheese. Top with cut-up hotdog slices.

Bake in oven for approximately 8 minutes, or until hot dogs are cooked.

I tried this today on my super-picky kids - and they LOVED it. Not super-healthy - but use a turkey-dog instead, and it's great!

I had lots of fun making this, it's seriously easy, and what a hit.

Hanging in there

There are times that being a mom of three is completely overwhelming. Times like tonight - I'm trying to get dinner ready, Luci is screaming for me, Cohen and Lili have just discovered that toilet paper plus water equals goo, and goo is super-fun to throw at walls... the dishes need doing, I can't remember the last time I washed the floors, I've washed the same load of laundry 3 times because I keep forgetting about it overnight... I know that there are still size 2 clothes in Lili's closet and I really need to go through everything and clear it out... There is meat in the fridge that is waiting to be frozen, and chances are it'll go bad before I get to it. Dinner consists of Cohen refusing to eat, Lili spilling her food everywhere, and Luci crying. My plate is empty but I have no memory of eating... oh wait, that's because I actually haven't - I served the kids and forgot mine.

It's 9pm, and I'm so tired I want to cry. And this was a supposedly EASY day! Just my 3 kids! In my defence, it's Ian's last night shift, which means it's the last of 4 days by myself.

Sigh. This also means that tomorrow I have all 6 kids while Ian sleeps. I am trying to tell myself that a good nights' sleep will do wonders. Problem is - I'm noticing lately that my milk supply is waning. Seriously freaking me out. I'm nowhere near ready to stop nursing, and so I have to increase my supply... and to do that, I need to nurse Luci every 1.5 - 2 hours. Which means, a good nights sleep is nowhere in my horizon.

Funny, one thing parenthood teaches you, it's how to live in the moment. Because even as I typed the above, my brain was reminding me that before any of that, I have a long, hot bath in my immediate future.

Amen to that.

Yesterday was such a terrific day - I took Cohen and Lili to the movies, Ian got the groceries (well, he got some of them. small price to pay for not having to get them myself, i guess)... i came home, enjoyed a healthy dinner with my kids (almost no complaining from Cohen, miraculous)... and then we all snuggled up on the sofa, me and the three kids, and watched cartoons until bedtime. I remember thinking at the time - I wouldn't trade this for the world.

Today, I'd probably trade it for a stiff drink.

But that's how it goes - good days and bad days. Thank goodness Ian has the next 4 days off... I vow to do the following:
1 - go out for drinks with the girls
2 - go swimming, and spend at least 30 minutes in the hottub while i'm there
3 - take a walk, just me and my ipod.

those are my lofty goals for the week!

for now, hot bath ++ green tea + trashy novel calls!