Reason #1638 why I hate shopping with kids...

Went to Walmart to pick up some diapers and other essentials...the following happened:

N:  Mommy, do I have a sleeping bag?
Me: No, you don't.
N:  CAN I have a sleeping bag?
Me: Not now, N.  Your birthday is coming in a week and a half, you'll be getting plenty of "stuff".
N:  Well...since I don't have a sleeping bag...can you buy me a toy?
Me: What? No I won't buy you a toy because you don't have a sleeping bag.
****cue tears and whiny cry****
N: You hurt my feelings!
Me:  I am sorry that I hurt your feelings...
N:  If you buy me a toy, I'll feel better....
(internal dialogue: You demanding, entitled little brat!!!!!  I'll KILL your father for never saying "no" to you!)
Me:  No, N.  I am not buying any toys today.
N:  Stop talking to me!  If you keep disturbing me, I will just cry louder!

Meanwhile, an old man looked at G...and he started to wail at the top of his lungs.

Enter Grade 7&8 teacher and high school Principal...
Stacie!  Are these your children?...Boy did I want to say no...

Exit Walmart, enter Grocery store...

N:  Mommy, can I have a treat?
Me:  After the scene in Walmart?  I don't think so, kiddo.
****Cue tears and whiny cry****
N:  You hurt my feelings! 


Gah.  I quit.

At least the baby slept there...

 

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

I feel fortunate to have never experienced Breast Cancer in my personal life - in myself, or my loved ones.  I have experienced it in my professional life, though.  I want to share a story of my first professional encounter with Breast Cancer...one that effected me deeply and will always stay with me.

Back when I was still in college (really, it wasn't all that  long ago...) I had to complete a clinical job placement for my degree.  I am a medical laboratory technician, by the way.  My clinical was done in the hospital of my home town, where I gained experience in all aspects of the lab.  This particular story takes place in the Histo-pathology lab, where any tissue removed from the body is sent to be examined.

On that particular day, we received a breast, removed via mastectomy.  The patient was a year younger than my mom was at that time.  My supervisor there had me examine the breast to find the tumour, which was 2cm in diameter.  Now keep in mind, this is nothing like examining your own breast for lumps.  I could press as hard as I wanted or needed to without risking pain, I could flip it around and feel from the "inside".  I could do whatever I needed to do.  I started off examining it the way I would do my own breast exam, and found nothing.  I kept looking and feeling in different ways, and though I searched and felt and tried to find the tumour, I could not.  I wasn't able to feel it until my supervisor found it and pointed out where it was.  It was as hard and as big as a large marble.  It was something I had felt before (tumours in general, not that one).  I could not find it.

Like I said, the patient was younger than my own mother...who had never had a mammogram.  That day, I went home to my mom's and begged her to schedule one.  You see, self exams are infinitely important...but even experienced hands can miss a tumour.  So if you've never had a mammogram, and you're "that age"...make the appointment!  I will be scheduling my first for shortly after my 30th birthday.

So this memory brings me to another story.  The story of a woman named Cathy (coincidentally, this is my mother's name, but she is not my mom) who did lose her mother to Breast Cancer.  Cathy...oh how can I describe you?  Cathy, of the blog: Cathy's Creations makes stunning hand made bracelets by crocheting beads.  Don't ask me how...I can crochet a blanket, but the beads perplex me.  Cathy is a beautiful, loving, kind, generous, creative, and absolutely *hilarious* woman.  Cathy is one of the greatest women I've never met (yep, I meant that - "never met").  Having been touched so deeply by breast cancer, Cathy has made it her October mission to get the word out.  To raise awareness.  And I want to help her. 

In her efforts to raise awareness, she is having daily draws on her Facebook Page for a breast cancer awareness T-shirt, as well as other items, including her own bracelets and other breast cancer awareness goods donated to her cause.  You can win one of your own, just by visiting to her FB Page, becoming one of Cathy's *many* fabulous "Frikes" ( check out definition #1 at The Urban Dictionary ), and just comment on her wall daily.  That's it, and you're entered to win! 

Check these beauties out...

...those are the hands of my daughter, modelling two of Cathy's creations!  I have a matching bracelet to the blue and silver one, with a "Mother" charm, to N's "Daughter" charm. Cathy designs unique bracelets to support so many worthy causes (which she donates a portion of the proceeds to!), and will even custom makes one to your request (like that yellow ribbon "Army Brat" bracelet N is wearing).  You can find her Esty page here ... Go there!  Order some pretties!  You know you deserve to give yourself a little shiny present!  You can find one for any occasion, any novelty, for you, your friends, the little and grown girls in your life!  Anything!  And if you don't find it, just let her know!  She will do whatever she can to make your bracelet dreams come true.

Old habits die hard...

You know, I never was all that great at maintaining a journal.  This is digital proof. Ha.  I've been thoroughly entrenched in my new love -- Quilting!  Fabric feels so nice...petting a beautiful cotton is so much more fulfilling than petting an animal...because I can't turn an animal into something! :o)

So in honour of my new love, I will soon be posting a tutorial for easy quilted oven mitts!  With pretty pictures and everything!  But before I can do that, I need to clean my basement, which will soon become my work space.  You know, one that doesn't take over my entire kitchen, forcing my family to eat every meal at the coffee table in the living room.  It will also have to wait until I get over this god forsaken cold that has taken over my life, and will to live.  I sure didn't realize when I made my first quilt that it would become such a passion for me!  Since the start of my first quilt (mid August), I made another, with the help of my daughter...or she made it with my help...either way, it was a quilt when finished.  I started a third quilt as a gift, and made a pair of oven mitts!

Hey look - Pictures!!  This is the first completed quilt...

My Daughter's quilt... Doesn't she look proud?  She really did a lot of work on this with me.

And oven mitts...

I can't post pictures of the gift quilt, since it's a secret and all...but see, there's proof of how busy I've been!  The upcoming tutorial will be to make the oven mitts depicted above...different fabric, though. :)

Ok, until next time...and I promise it won't be so long.

Wonder what he was thinking?

So I'm peacefully driving home today on the highway.  It was mid day, kind of rainy and dreary, when I glance up at my rear view mirror and there is a cop right on my ass!  It was like he appeared out of thin air...I swear he wasn't there when I looked 10 seconds before.  Oh, did I mention I was speeding?  Right.  So my stomach drops to my feet, and my heart jumps into my throat and I almost piss my pants (you see, I had to pee...I was speeding to get home faster so I could do so).  I'd never been pulled over before, and I just knew this would be my first time.  My speeding ticket cherry popping, if you will.  So I let up on the gas and allowed my car to naturally slow, waiting for him to turn on the lights and signal me to pull over.  Well, he didn't.  He passed me, and took off like a bat out of hell.  This officer was clearly on a mission and had some place to be.  I'm fairly certain that if this officer wasn't heading to somewhere specific, I'd have been his prey of the moment...then again, if he hadn't been heading somewhere specific...he probably wouldn't have caught up with me! ha.

In any case, I can't help but wonder what he was thinking when he pulled up behind me.  Was he pissed off at having to leave me be?  Unable to serve me up some bitter justice because of something more pressing.  Was he laughing to himself because I'm sure he knew he gave me a little scare?  Either way, though I sure hope he wasn't heading to a place where someone was hurt, I'm pretty happy that my bit of law breaking wasn't enough to thwart his mission.

I hate it when this happens.

My baby, 4.5mos, was such a good sleeper.  From birth, he would wake up once, sometimes twice at night, just to eat.  Every so often, he'd decide it was time to play at 3am, but it was pretty rare.  At about 1.5-2mos, he started sleeping through the night!  It meant a 6am wake up call for me, but I'm ok with that!  He slept through the night for almost a month...then the teeth happened.  For three weeks he was up all hours of the night.  Nothing would make this kid sleep longer than two hours at a stretch.  It was taxing.  Once those wee baby teefers came through, sleep came back!  He was waking up at 4am for a feeding, and back to sleep.  I'll take it!  Until it stopped, again.  Every hour or two, up and at em.

Last night, I was a little later than usual getting to bed.  I got myself all cozied up, and set out for an hour of sleep before G woke up.  But knowing he would, I tossed and turned, I kept grasping the monitor to see if it was loud enough.  I couldn't sleep because I knew I'd have to get up soon.  An hour later and he is still asleep...and I finally dozed off.  He didn't wake up.  Not until 4am, for a quick feed.  And now, at 8:30, he's still sleeping.  Oh!  Not any more...time to start the day!

I'll take what I can get

I just said goodbye to J, yet again, as he heads back to the course he's doing out of town, I'm lucky he is able to come home some weekends.  Part of the deal as an Army Wife is a lot of goodbyes.  Sometimes they're achingly hard.  Nearly every time, though, is tender.  Today certainly was, watching him with our son, trying to coax a few more smiles from him and with our girl, making jokes and the peaceful smile left on his face, brought out by her giggles.  The gentle pressure of his hand on my cheek and kiss on my forehead before wishing me luck on my next two weeks as a "married single mother".  Mostly, despite the tenderness and love shared amongst us, goodbyes suck.

But "goodbye" means "hello!".  The age old saying - "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" - holds true with every goodbye and every hello.  Whether he's been gone for a couple of days, a couple of weeks or several months, each time I get a thrill of excitement when I know he's on his way back home to us.  He is barely gone, and I miss him already.  I am already looking forward to our next hello, but until then, I'll be running around like a mad hatter.  Between school starting this week, appointments for the kids' pictures, groceries, housework and the occasional moment of rest, I'll snuggle my boy, and cuddle my girl.  Chances are one or both of them will end up in my bed every night...and I love it.  Until I have my soldier home, I'll take my few quiet moments with my beautiful children before we start the whole hello/goodbye process all over again.

Until next time...

Baby? Maybe? The anticipation is killer.

Not me!!!  My best friend, A.  Some history:  I met A when I was five years old.  I was riding my new pink two wheeler through my neighbourhood when the new neighbour mom yelled at me!  "A.......!!!!!!  Come here!"  Huh?  Me?  I'm not A.  Went on my merry way.  She came running after me and not until she saw my face, did the new neighbour mom realize that the youngster with the brown curly pigtails was not, in fact, HER youngster with brown curly pigtails.  "Oh, I have a little girl about your age...how about we go talk to your mom and you can come meet her!"  Turns out A was out gallivanting around with her older brother (4yrs my senior).  Anyway...she and I have been friends ever since.  Twenty-one years (please, don't do the math...).  A was with me when my dear N was born five years ago.  She was the most amazing labour coach - the best thing I remember about my whole labour experience, you know, until my baby was born.  She (and her family) is, in every way that matters, my family.  She is my sister, Auntie to my children.  I love her, more than I can explain.


I was about five months pregnant with G when we discovered A was expecting - I was there and read the test!  What a Christmas day that was!  While J (her J, not mine) went into a minor panic, I was filled with thrilling excitement.  My Bestie and I are pregnant together!  Wow.  I think I was more excited for her pregnancy than I was for my own!  Well now, my G is 4.5mos and my Bestie is in labour...I think.  What?  You think?  I shall explain...

A is two days overdue.  I talked to her this afternoon, when she told me she was having some minor contractions.  Last I heard, she was heading out with her Mom to do some walking in hopes of getting things moving.  I sent her a text just a bit ago to see if anything was going on...no reply!  And her sister in law has posted on Facebook that Baby A is on it's way!  So I sit here...my brain going a million miles an hour...waiting, waiting, waiting to hear some news while I bounce on my couch.  Baby A is a surprise.  I cannot wait to learn if it's a Girl A or a Boy A!  I cannot wait to meet him/her!  I cannot wait for our babies to grow up together.  The anticipation is killing me and I'm wishing my J was here, so I could take off and be at the hospital with her (if that is where she is! ha!). 

Hurry up and wait...the story of my life. 

Editing to add:  You know, last night I was thinking of what this baby would be.  From the moment we found out she was expecting, I thought for SURE it was a girl...HAS to be a girl!  It just seemed "right".  But last night it occurred to me, while writing up this blog that maybe she needs to have a boy.  We've been the best of friends, all of our lives.  My baby that is closest in age to her baby is a boy...so she needed to have a boy, for them to grow up the best of friends. (not that boys and girls can't be friends, but still).  Well Baby Boy C was born around 1am September 2!  And a big boy he is - 9lbs 7oz, 20". It might not take long for this guy to catch up with G.  Come next summer, these two boys will be rolling around in the dirt together.  I can't wait!