Road Trip

I used to love Sunday drives, heading out on a beautiful sunny day and just enjoying the quiet scenery, but with young children quiet doesn't exist anymore and road trip has taken on a whole new meaning.

My husband announces that he would like to go look at a used snow mobile he has found on kijiji and it would be a nice family drive, would I like to go?  My first instinct....'ROADTRIP!"....my second reality check 'ugh, roadtrip?"

You see my husband is thinking it's only an hour and half away and its a nice day.  I'm thinking that is a total of three hours the kids would be sitting in the car and they get very antsy when they've been sitting too long.  I envision lots of 'are we there yet', 'how much longer', 'she's touching me' and 'ouch, she pulled my hair' among other calls from the backseat.  But, I don't really want him to make this purchase so I figure I might get the chance to be a voice of reason if he has a moment of hesitation.

Preparations begin....

I start with the easiest my 7 year old, send her upstairs to get dressed, brush her teeth and hair and have a pee. (haha one down, two to go) I ask my 3 year old to come upstairs with me so we can get her dressed.  We go upstairs together to pick out an outfit.  There are no arguments today on what to wear so getting her clothes on works out very well.  Into the bathroom we go, I ask again/remind my 7 year old to get ready, as I get my 3 year old's toothbrush ready and brush her hair while she brushes her teeth.  (haha two down, baby to go) I pick up the baby, remind my 7 year old that she will need socks and a sweater over her t-shirt since it is no longer summer, take the baby into her room, diaper change and dresses.  Lots of complaints and wiggles from baby but we get the job done.  Check the diaper bag, calculate how long we might be gone and how many diapers I could need.  Into the kitchen, pass my 7 year old and remind her to get her hair and teeth brushed, pack a small snack and drink for baby.  I look for travel drink containers for the older girls but I don't see anything clean, oh well we can buy something on the road if they need it.  I do grab a snack/treat for the girls since they have already asked.  Get myself dresses and ready very quickly, double check that my 7 year old is ready (can you tell she's a bit of a dawdler) We are all ready to go, now for the outdoor gear.  Get the baby's stuff on, help my 3 year old with her coat, she does her boots herself and my 7 year old is ready by herself with no reminding required.

Oh, where's my husband while all this is going on you might ask, standing around somewhere twiddling his thumbs waiting for us, I'm sure.  Why? you might ask.  Well, unfortunately (love him to death but..) he has no clue, I find if he does help with one child he always forgets something important and I don't notice until it's too late (and we're talking coats and hats), once in the summer we got to the grocery store and my 3 year old was without shoes.  So it's easier if I get everything ready that way I know we have everything and if not it's my fault.

The Trip....

The trip in a whole was pretty uneventful.  Yes, we had our backseat arguments and the girls had to be told on several occasions to keep their hands to themselves, but all and all pretty good.  You know how I mentioned that we could buy drinks for the girls on the road if needed.  Why is it you can never find a stinking corner store, drink machine when you are looking for one?  And of course we were even stuck waiting for the ferry at one point so that was even longer the girls had to wait in order to find a store.  But my husband bought ice cream as well and that appeased them enough we didn't hear another word about being hungry or thirsty.  And there was of course the bathroom break, this is were I regret having all girls, my husband gets off pretty easy with this one (and to think I only have two out of diapers).  We get to a public washroom, get the girls out of the vehicle and my husband says "I have to go when you get back" (I hope he can hold it??)

Boohoo, my husband didn't even have a millisecond of hesitation on his purchase, Hopefully he won't mind me moving it under the tree for him at Christmas.

Pretty as a Princess

I'm so excited this time of year when it comes to dressing my girls in their holiday dresses.  Luckily they all still love being dressed up and wearing pretty dresses.  I usually don't buy clothes for my 7 year old without her with me since she has started developing her own tastes in clothes and I don't always get them right.  But when I was out shopping the other day with my other two girls, while she was still in school, I saw this dress on display and it just sang out to me 'you daughter will love me'.  I decided to try and find the other two girls dresses at the same time in hopes of coordinating.  My 3 year old found a dress she liked and it looked good with the one I already had.  Good thing too, because it wouldn't have been easy to change her mind, it was purple.  Over to the baby section and got my 10 month old a dress as well.  One thing about shopping for them this early is that there are lots to choose from, usually I'm scrambling at the last minute (along with everything in my life).

My 7 year old gets home from school,

"Come see what I bought for you today" I say to her as I head down to the bedroom.

I hold up the dress for her to see, her eyes bulge out of her head in delight and a smile slowly spreads across her face,

"for my party!" she squeals with excitement, grinning from ear to ear.

(uh-oh) She is, of course, referring to her birthday party which we have been planning for and is fast approaching in a couple of weeks.

"um, no" I respond, as I watch her smile slowly fade. "It's for Christmas time."

After thinking about it for a bit (I do have their photography session booked for before her party).

"I say, if you promise to be very, very careful and not get anything on the dress you can wear it for your party." I say to her.

"oh thank you mommy," she hugs me and skips out of the room.

Cross my fingers that her sister doesn't decide she wants to wear hers as well.

Do you think the shower curtain I wrap around her when she is eating her chocolate cake will affect the pictures? ;)

Let the Fun Begin....

So my 10 month old is now able to get herself around crawling very well and really enjoys exploring the different rooms in the house.  She can now pull herself up to stand and rather prefers being upright, so will climb on anything and everything she can.  It is getting really hard to get back into the watch them constantly, don't turn your back for a moment mode again.  I would like to say that she is getting quite mischievous, but since she is still a baby I can't really say that, she doesn't know what she is doing, or does she?  When I say her name, or tell her no, she looks at me with those brilliant blue eyes, gives me the biggest smile, shakes her head, I swear she is thinking, 'hehehe, Watch this mommy.  See what I can do."

Yesterday I really got the message about how much fun we are going to be having together....

First off she showed me how much fun the bathroom can be.  There is a big bowl of water to splash around in (thank goodness the toilet was flushed!).  There is this wonderful white ribbon that spins around, you can wrap yourself up in it, it tears very easily into tiny bits and you can even eat it but it doesn't taste very good.

Second she was kind enough to help me with the laundry, although she seems to do the job in reverse.  She seems to think that the folded laundry which I foolishly left on the couch looks much better on the floor in a pile.  While I was putting clothes away in my closet and she pulled all my sweaters down off the shelf, even crawled up in to get the job done right (how kind of her).  She had such a blast playing in my soft cozy sweaters that she decided to do the same in her sisters closet when it was time to put their clothes away.  I even tried giving her a basket of unfolded laundry to play with, but no she decided to check out those books on the book shelf (at least they were on the book shelf).

Next when we were playing downstairs she selected approximately 20 movies that she would like to watch and pulled them out of the media drawer, but she was kind enough to place them in one pile.

Yes my littlest princess is starting to get into all sorts of mischief and having a blast doing it.

...its a phase it will pass..this is a phase it will pass....deep breath in...and relax...

A Spoonful of Sugar

Had a bit of a fight with my 3 year old tonight over medicine.  She had one of her I'm over tired won't listen to reason tantrums that she has now and again.  It was bed time and I had just tucked her in for the night and since she has had a cough from her cold hanging around we have been giving her some herbal cough&cold medicine to help her with her cough at night.  But tonight was different...

"Mommy, Can I have some medicine?" she says as she tries her best to cough.

"No honey, you don't need it anymore" I respond.

"But I want medicine, pllllleeeease can I have some medicine?" she begs me.

"No, we don't take medicine unless we need it." I try and explain.

Yep, you read right, my 3 year old is pleading with me for medicine.  Not only is she pleading but she is now in her bed crying and screeching about how unfair I am for not giving her medicine (I'm not going to her birfday party!).  How did I get so lucky you ask, I have no freaking idea???

I hate taking medicine.  My mother had to hold me down and fight to get me to take any medicine growing up.  She still talks about the grief I gave her over it and I still cannot take medicine without gagging and plugging my nose. My father's worst threat he could scare me with was "I'll make you drink the white medicine".  I still have the image of that huge white bottle on the top shelf of the linen closet.

Because of my childhood trauma involving medicine, my 6 year old has actually benefited, for whenever she has to take any medicine I allow her to chase it down with a spoonful of ice cream (thank you Mary Poppins).  Now when she is coughing she also asks me for medicine, but again I discourage it when it's not really needed.

So as a result I have no walls, sheets and shirts covered in red goo as I fight to stuff a syringe into a child's mouth as they spit and thrash about.  No I just have an discussion (er, okay,argument, I do have girls) about how we don't take medicine unless our bodies really need it.

...my mother shakes her head with jealous awe.....hehehe

That's My Job!

You'll have to forgive this post but I need to blow off a little steam.  There are some things that I find very irritating and one happened to me yesterday.  I need to vent a little, and what better way than a blog.  

Don't try and parent my child when I am there.  When I send my child to your house and I am not around, of course I expect my child to act accordingly, respect your rules and listen to you.  But when I am around if you have a problem with what my child is doing then you come to me with the request, you don't snap or yell at my child.  Maybe your having a bad day, I don't care, respect my child and don't take your issues out on them.  If you see my child about to do something that is going to hurt them self or someone else then of course speak up, if there is no time for my inclusion.  But if she is doing something that you feel is inappropriate behavior then bring it to my attention and I will deal with it how I see fit.  I'm sorry, but if you think it appropriate to berate my child in front of me then you have another thing coming.  Not only is rude to me but it demeans my authority and insults my parenting skills.  Let me be the judge of whether or not the behavior is worth snatching back something, that she clearly is only trying to help with, and snapping at her like a cruel witch.  Maybe you need to step back and think about a situation before you jump to the wrong conclusion.  Your just lucky that I respect you as a person enough to hold my tongue and not lash out at you for acting so foolishly.  If we are both in the same room and I see your child doing something I would never take it upon myself to correct his behavior, because I know that's your job.  

I know that it's your child's special day, but please let my girls share in the fun, they only want to help!

Confessions of a Shopaholic

I am not a shopper.  I'd like to think it stems from the fact that I am careful with my money (yeah, ok I'm cheap!).  I also find it exhausting to walk around from store to store looking for 'a steal'.  Throw trying clothes on, forget it, what's your return policy, I'll do this at home when I have the time.  Now that I have three munckins I find shopping even more exhausting.  But it's got to be done, right?

So today I venture out into the world of shopping with my three girls.  I had to exchange a pair of pants I had purchased for my 3 year old that ended up being way too big.  So I needed her there to try on the next size down since I did not want to return to exchange the same darn pants again. I also wanted to find a fall (and maybe winter) hat for my 6 year old.  I mean we have lots of hats, but apparently they cannot have any poof on the top.  I figure there is no sense in my forcing her to wear something to school that she doesn't like, cause we know the second she steps on that bus it's going to disappear into her bag. 

As soon as we enter the store my 6 year old dives for the first thing she sees that she likes.

"Can I have it?" she asks.

"No" I say simply.

"awwwwwww" she whines.

(and so it begins)

I take the girls into the change room (luckily it's a children's store, so we all fit) but my 6 year old, who is becoming more and more independent, ducks out again.

"I'm going to wait out here." she declares. 

"Why don't you go and find the hats and see if you can find one you like." I say to her.

"Okay!" she response with utter delight.

We finish up in the change room, with success, and go in search of my 6 year old.  Not a big store so she was easy to find.  Of course the fact that as soon as she spotted me she was bouncing up and down with three hats in her hand....

"Mommy! Mommy! I like this one and this one, and can I see that one." She squeals excitedly.

She tries on one of the hats and I ask her to go look in a mirror to see if she likes it.  Since there didn't seem to be any mirrors around us I directed her to the change room to look in the mirror there.  I though I asked her to do something simple, but apparently I gave her permission to do something as exciting as 'eat this whole big bowl of smarties as fast as you can'.  There began a slew of her sister and her running back and forth from me and the change room trying on different hats.  Laughter and giggles filled the store, other parents may have found it annoying, but I didn't care my girls were having a blast.  My 6 year old eyes were as big as saucers, she was grinning from ear to ear when she finally chose two hats.  I think I have myself a future shopaholic.

"Mommy, I think I need gloves too."

All I Want for my Birthday is.....

Ah, the wish list has come to me, I asked my soon to be 7 year old to make out a list for her birthday and Christmas wishes.  I've given translation for those who don't read grade 2 writing, but if you say it phonetically you can usually understand what they are saying.

Wish List for Birthday

zoo zoo pets,

zoo zoo pet climre (climber),

zoo zoo pet clowse (clothes),

clowse for me,

costchooms (costumes),

and most importintly (importantly) munny munny (money)!

So apparently she really wants some of these zoo zoo pets, some kind of interactive fad toy hamsters they have on the market right now.  She loves her clothes and costumes comes from the fact that we are in the midst of hallowe'en.  The last thing on the list made me chuckle to myself since my daughter has no strong concept of money yet nor how much things really cost, so I wonder what she is planning on buying?

All in all a pretty reasonable list, I think.  No big ticket items or unreasonable demands.  She has always been more of the heat of the moment kind of girl.  Wants something but the thought quickly fades as time passes.  Hasn't really held onto an idea for very long, except for her Nintendo DS and she got that last year for Christmas.