Gabriel with Santa

Now that I've gotten that out I can tell about Christmas. It was not so crazy this year. It was crazy just not in the same way as it usually is for us. I'll start with the Michael news because well, it'll be quick. He got that suit that you see him in which is corny and cute but totally ridiculous, it will only be worn this once and it won't fit him next year unless he stops growing soon. So I personally think it's a bit wasteful (you know me ...everpractical). He also got an obnoxious toy that only makes noise and says ages 3 and up on it which I know means 3 years and not 3 months, and it's so loud that I won't even let my almost 3 year old have it. Needless to say I will be taking it back to the walmart for store credit where I can buy my sweet boys some books or clothes like I told people they needed. Michael's Christmas present to me was a bit extravagant considering his age but I accepted it all the same now I don't want to be the envy of all the other mommies out there so...please don't hate me. He gave me 3 consecutive nights of 10 hours sleep. I didn't sleep for 10 but he did and that is what counts. Gabriel got everything he asked for and then some. I don't know where to begin with him so I think I'll just put up some more pictures and you'll see. A quick list is : books, pj's, socks, sweat pants, new sweaters, train table, and fast track for mega blocks. I would like to mention, just in case you're reading this Debbie, THANK-YOU for listening and buying him clothes instead of toys I really appreciate it. And the other note is to Mel, if you ever catch wind of this I want you to know that while funny to buy obnoxious toys for your grand-nephews they will just be returned for something more appropriate. Chris got a gift card for future shop and we went for fun and not so practical (his choice not mine) and got a game cube. Nothing else of note for the grown ups. More later kids calling....

Just a note

I posted pictures this morning but they seem to have a date of last week so they are further down the line. I will still try to get the boys to nap at the same time so that I can write something more meaningful later.

'Tis the Season

Where have I been for what seems like a week but hasn't even been that? Well actually I wrote a whole big long blog the other day and navigated away from this page the wrong way and I lost it all. It wasn't anything too exciting just a big long rant about someone who's driving me crazy so it's probably better that I lost it because I sounded crazy and it wasn't really nice of me. Oddly enough when I had finished even though I had lost it I felt good for getting it off my chest.
Anyway, last week we had lots of company. Tuesday we went to the drop-in play group and Wednesday we had Kelly and Aubree over, Thursday we had Marcelle and Brendan over, and Friday we had Chris and Michelle over. My mom was here nearly every day too. She is trying to work on something that she needs the computer for and so this is where she comes.
Last night was definitely the highlight of the week though. We went to Christmas on Chelsea Crescent which is a big party at Shanda's house where Santa takes time out of his busy schedule to visit all the kids and give them a 'practice' present. It was so much fun there were about 45 kids and their parents and other friends. And the food.... What a variety! Not your usual chips and dips, someone brought a Turkey and someone else brought a really great Broken Glass Cake (me) and there was all kinds of the regular meats, cheeses, and crackers and stuff.
I was able to catch up with some people while I was there and that's always nice. Tanya who has twins that are slightly younger than Michael and a daughter Gabriels age. She is doing well. I don't know if she'll ever read this or not but I think she's doing great even if she has help through the night 3x/wk. That doesn't sound quite right when I say it like that but I know what I mean and I hope that if she reads this she will too. Shauna who has a boy Gabriels age and is expecting #2 in 6 weeks. She is also doing very well and asking questions trying to prepare for life with more than one little one in her life. Very exciting times for everyone lately. We are so adjusted to having 2 kids that I hardly even remember my 'life' before. (did I really have one?)
I am trying to get the pictures off the camera but I did it wrong last time so I'm waiting for Chris to do it this time. He's at work now by the way, Sunday, all day. Grrrr.
Pictures to come soon... I promise.

the pics

Ok So I've forgotten how to post pictures any other way and so here they are. My dad and Gabriel in Mikeala's room (sorry no pics of him in the tiara),Mikeala and Michael, Sarah and Michael, Michael, Gabriel on his bike, Gabriel and Mikeala.

Gabriel wouldn't leave Mikeala alone when we were there the other week, they had loads of fun playing cars and tea party.

I'll try and get the boys to nap at the same time later and write more then.

Stuff and things

It's really early in the morning and yet this is what I am doing, as if I have some big news that simply can't wait to be shared. The past week has just been the same as ever.
On Saturday we had the kids Christmas party for Chris' work where Gabriel got a gift from Santa and it seems that Santa made some kind of a mistake and got the wrong train and it won't work with the other pieces that will be arriving in 12 sleeps. How do you return/exchange something that Santa gave you? Not that it matters right now because in all of the hussle and bustle and commotion of trying to leave the hotel where the event was being held, he left it behind. They found it and are putting it in the mail yesterday. What happened as we were leaving (other than the obvious of trying to get an over sugared child into the car) was that he saw the table of gingerbread cookies and put down the little blue engine in order to make space in his hand for one last cookie. It seems to me that there are far too many cookies lurking around at this time of year.
We went to my Auntie's house for a seasonal family gathering and we had a really nice time with lots of good food on Sunday. The highlights for me were seeing my dad in a pink fluffy sparkly tiara having tea with Gabriel and Mikeala and a cake called broken glass. If the maker of the broken glass is willing to share the wisdom I would love the recipe. It was the most wonderful Jello desert ever. (Is it especially lame that I am blogging about a delicious desert?).
Michael was a superstar baby when we were there just sleeping and then smiling for everyone, I am really very lucky to have such wonderful boys. Earlier in the week I wasn't feeling nearly so fortunate when I heard myself saying things like "STOP DANCING ON THE RICE KRIPIES ON THE FLOOR!!" I know, he's only 2 1/2 as long as I keep it all in perspective then I'm usually alright.
Gabriel is in the 'why' stage of life and needs to know everything lately his questions are 'where did you come from mommy?' and why why why about anything and everything. Since I am interested in making him a smart little boy I try to answer everything with really answers not the parental standards of 'because' and 'because I said so'. It's hard work answering all his questions when all you want is 2 quiet minutes to yourself.
I will try to put up pictures from the weekend soon (time permitting..hahaha) but for now Dora is 1/2 over and I need to have a quick shower before Michael wakes up.

This is one of the ones we didn't buy

As I mentioned previously we had a photographer here for Michael las week and I knew these pictures would be good so I thought I'd share the one that we didn't buy. The others are better, cuter, sweeter, and smilier. I will post them in the new year when we get them back.

Finding time

Gabriel
Ashley and Michael
Gabriel (again)
Family
Does finding time always mean taking it from something else? Last time it was about napping this time it's about those darn Christmas cards. Whatever.
So, where to begin with all the news that is new? (It's a joke). My mother-in-law was here with her husband and his 2 daughters (Ashley and Autumn) Saturday and they all stayed overnight since they live in Merritt. It was good to see them but I really only like them in limited doses. They are wonderful people who just happen to drive me up the wall at the best of times. I don't seem to have as much patience with them as I would like so I ended up not hanging out with them very much and hiding behind Michael or Gabriel. I fell like saying all they things that I thought were crazy that I heard this weekend but I'm sure that upon reflection they won't seem crazy and they definitly won't seem even unusual to anybody else who reads this. Besides that there is always a chance that they could find my blog and well, it's not really nice to call people crazy behind their backs.
Saturday as soon as they got here Chris and I went out to do the shopping for the kids Christmas party for his office. Toys R Us was INSANE, it was fun to spend someone else's money on gifts for kids but it was not fun to be in that store watching other people struggle with children all pleading for something. We smartly left our kids here with their much adoring Grandparents who took G to the park and basically just oogled and googled over Michael. I am happy to say that although I often think them somewhat crazy and they make me fell crazy I can still trust them with my children. They are good people, they just aren't me, and I'm used to me and my ways, I think that is what it comes down to in then end.
Gabriel skipped his nap today. I prefer days that include naps. Michael slept from 9:30 last night til 5:45 this morning.
We went to pre-preschool in the morning and then straight over to my mom's house where we had lunch and went shopping. Nothing extravagant no malls or wal-mart or anything like that just a quick trip into the Costco for dishwashing detergent and another quick stop at a store that I can't really explain.... like Liquidation World or MTF if you know what those are. I spent $40 total and $10 was on dishwasher soap. The other $30 was on a puzzle for G, and some cookies, and 2 toilet pucks (what's with the yucky growing in the toilet here that never happened in N.V.?), some chips, and some soup, socks for G for Xmas, socks for somebody else for Xmas and other miscellaneous junk that I shouldn't have wasted Chris' money on. My mom is a bad influence when it comes to money and she knows it.
I know that ther is more that I have been thinking of, I'm just not thinking of it now. I am sure that it will come when there is no time to be spent typing nor time in the forseeable future.
Finding time really does mean taking it from something or someone else...

I should be napping

I told Gabriel that I would come right back to him after I went pee but that was 20 mins. ago and he's still in his bed, which means I don't have to go back. I should be having a nap because there really is no good reason why as tired as I am I should be up now. I'm not doiing house work or preparing for dinner, I'm not even thinking about those things. I am thinking about how my day usually goes and how today has not been that day and how am I going to recover from that and get on TRACK for the rest of the afternoon and evening. I haven't even done the one thing that I was supposed to do today and I probably won't be able to do it later because the office will be closed. Arrgh. I think that in order to best recover from my day going awry I should nap now and think later. Or do something productive.
Good Nap (just like good night only it's nap).

Snow and other things

So, it's not that much snow and the boys haven't grown that much since the last picutre but I am feeling more compelled to post because I know people might be reading. I had something meaningful in mind earlier but by the time I downloaded the pics. and fed Michael, Gabriel was finnished watching Dora the Explorer and now I really don't have more than a few seconds at a time to string together these words. My only real chance to do this are when he's watching Dora or napping. And all of my deep thoughts are seriously interupted.
Yesturday we had a photographer here taking Michael's pictures and Gabriel didn't get that it wasn't his turn this time. Eventually he had a turn but it wasn't easy for him to wait quietly. I expect the pictures to turn out beautifully (since my boys are so cute and photogenic).
I am sleep deprieved today Michael was not his stellar self last night and I think that's adding to my lack of continuous thought.
Gabriel's word of the day today TRACK is ther any surprise? He is a nut for trains. If only my dad could have waited a bit longer to retire then Gabriel would get to see and go on real really big trains. It's cute how much he likes trains and how much he wants to be a conductor I mean he really doesn't know that that's what his favorite grandparent used to be.
Anyhow now that I've been at this for one very interupted hour we are off to the library for books and then to play group. If I don't nap at nap time I might have more to say at that time.
M

I'm still new at this and I don't know how much of what to write and since I haven't told anyone that I know that I have a blog I'm pretty sure nobody's reading it anyway. I am feeling on the verge of telling my cousins (you know who you are if you're reading this) because they have blogs and are the main reason that I have decided to try it... they say I might like it. Since I see that these are used in an effort to keep up with people and stuff, I feel like there should be something new to say. However since I blogged yesturday I'm not too sure that there really is anything new at all.
hmmm... It snowed today, mostly last night and this morning but Gabriel was excited because in the mind of a 2 1/2 year old snow= Christmas. I had some explaining to do. Time is a complicated subject to grasp at that age. Upon further discussion with him I can tell you that he figures he's on Santa's good boy list and he will be getting one hundred toys and presents, primarily a train set.
I am learning the names of the people that I am meeting these days which is nice instead of being Mrs. soandso's mom I know that her name is Allison and she has her own life outside of her kids when possible. There are others too but they haven't got many exciting stories that I feel like sharing just yet. Would you really want to hear more about peoples kids anyway? I'm bad enough when it comes to my own kids I shouldn't need to talk about kids all the time. There must be more to life. Just not for me for a while longer. I love my boys and that's not a bad thing.
We set up our Christmas tree in November which is a first for me but the timming was right. We will be busy next week with my mother-in-law and step-sisters-in-law coming for a visit on the weekend and with life in general no doubt.
Michael's news is that he is growing like a weed and sleeping like an angel baby at night (6to 8 hours). As any parent knows sleep is EXTREMELY precious.
I now need to put munchkins to bed but if you are reading this I have told you about it it's because I want to keep in touch with you and want this blog to work.
Missing you all (you know who you are)
Mer

Later, might mean now

So hmm.. last time I thought I'd be right back at this trying to keep up with things but, with the boys being what they are (little kids) I haven't had any time. Chris received his results for his UFE on friday and unfortunately they were the same as last year "competency not yet achieved". It's been really hard for him, he was sure he'd have it this time, he will have one more chance to write it again next fall. The idea of annother unpaid summer off for studying is not very appealing to any of us. If it were a little bit paid and not so much studying maybe it would sound like fun but it's hard work.
My older sister Jenn was in town with her kids and that also added to not having anytime to do anything. We ususally have a good time and hang-out all together this time was more stressful with the addition of Michael and his needs that need to be met immediately. She only sayed with us for 3 nights and then decided that she sould stay elsewhere for the remainder of her visit. We went with the kids to the Vancouver Aquarium and had a good time. I will try to post a picture to go with this if I can remember how to do it. (Incase you didn't know Jenns kids are 5 this January and 2 last August). We also had a nice visit with our Grandma, who incidentally has too many breakables at arms length and within reach of curious toddlers and preschoolers.
Beyond all that life is pretty much the same day in and day out.
Maybe more time for this will present itself later and I can fill in more blanks but for now the kids are calling and so is the laundry.... fun and goiod times. M

Hi I'm new here

So, here I am trying out this blogging thing that I know other people do. I'm not excatly sure what to say and where to begin. I guess some background information might be a nice way to start. My name is Meredith I am married with 2 children Gabriel, 2 1/2 and Michael 2 months. my husband's name is Chris and we have been married for 3 1/2 years but we have been togehter for 8 1/2. I am a full time mother and most days I like it that way. I have 3 sisters, no brothers, a niece, a nephew, a mother, and a father, (who are divorced since practically before I was born) 7 aunts, 6 uncles, too many cousins and one grandma. I think I'll leave it at that for now and get on with my day.

Chris, Gabriel, Michael and Myself