Sweet Sunday

What a great day today was. I am absolutely exhausted but it was a great day.

We started out day at church. The best way to start a day, don't you think? It was a full service so I didn't get my preferred seat on the left side of the church. I am so particular about that. I don't like the middle at all because I can't see anything and when I sit on the right it just doesn't feel proper. I am a creature of habit. Today's seat was in the middle near the back. Ugh. Oh well, my fault for arriving late. Again.

Jordan made her debut in the nursery. I was so hard leaving her there! The sanctuary was full today because there were two baptisms so lots of visitors. Every time there was any applause she'd become frightened and would cry. She also let out a burp that would make an old man proud and grunted shamelessly as she had her daily bowel movement. So.. off to the nursery she went.

It was weird. It was the first service in a year that I was "alone". She's been with me in some form or another all that time. It just felt weird when I realized that. Of course I'm always thinking so weird things cross my mind at regular intervals.

After church we headed to Julie's favourite place....the mall! Sam was torn between being excited and scared to get his ear pierced. We went to Mappins to get it done because I didn't want just anyone doing it. The woman was a little surprised that it was for Sam and not one of the girls.

He was pretty nervous but was positive that he wanted it done...



Ian videotaped it so Sam could see it later...



Preparing...



You can see Sam gripping Ian's hand with both of his during the piercing...



Ouch! He said it hurt more than he thought it would...



All done!



Julie was feeling a little left out of the whole process so she went off to sit on her own...



We had a bit of drama as we were leaving because she "really really" wanted a necklace she saw in the display case for $300. I told her that *I* didn't own a $300 necklace and neither will she.

A 7 year old girl can pout for a very long time.

She has now decided that she would like to get her ears pierced so that she can coordinate her earrings with her hair accessories and clothes. I guess we're going back sometime this week. I expect a lot of drama that day ;-)

Ian had a show at Centennial Park so while he was doin' his thang, the children and I hung out at the park.









After the park and a short rest at home we went to my mom's for dinner to welcome my aunt for the summer. YUM.

Here are the girls in their matching dresses...



Apparently Jordan was tired of having her picture taken...



Sigh... even when she wails she is still adorable.

That's it for me... I am off to bed.

~Kate

Change of Plans

You know how you plan for one set of events and something totally different happens instead? Sometimes I just love when that happens.

My most excellent husband Ian got up with Jordan and let me sleep in this morning until 9am. I thought those good ole days would end with Jordan's arrival but that is not so. Yay Ian!

OK... so as I was saying...

This morning we packed up and headed off for the opening of the beach. They always have tons of cool stuff for the children and contests on Opening Day and Sam has been waiting all year for the ice cream eating contest in particular.

In years past Opening Day has been PACKED. This year there were only five families there and we were one of them! It was pretty chilly and after awhile we felt tiny rain drops, but still hung in there.

I think Julie was writing the name of her Boyfriend du Jour in the sand but she wouldn't admit it when I asked her. ;-)



Here she is showing off her new bathing suit.



Every year she asks for a bikini and I give in. Every single year. I can't help it, I think that a little girl in a bikini is so cute. I know that there are a lot of moms out there that feel a bikini on a little girl is asking for trouble because there are pervs everywhere. I agree to a certain point, but my theory is that I'd rather she wear one when she's little than when she has something to put in one, if you catch my drift.

This year Ian said he'd like her to wear a one piece this summer. I dreaded having to break The News to her. Turns out I didn't have to. I took the children to Old Navy and they only had one piece suits. She simply fell in love with this one. It could have cost me $100 and I wouldn't have cared.. it saved me a headache in the long run.

Sam went into the water right away. He is such a little fish.



He likes to run around squirting Julie with his water gun but she wasn't having any of that today.



Julie hurt herself on something that was set up for the children and scratched her butt pretty badly, so that was just the end of things for her. She took over my chair and sat drinking her iced tea, patiently waiting for us to leave.

As it turned out it wasn't too long after her major injury that it started to rain. Lightly at first, so I thought I'd take a pic of Sam coming down the waterslide.



It was not meant to be because the first time he went down I wasn't ready so he had to go back up again, and just as it was his turn the rain started pouring down. Ian packed up everything and just as we reached the van the sun came out.

We headed to the mall to poke around for a bit. Ian and Sam went to Best Buy and the girls and I went to look at earrings for me. I don't want a hugely expensive pair, just something simple but pretty. Julie found ones that were circles with little crosses in them. She told me I could wear them and "worship God with my ears".

After that she spotted Siblings and headed in there like nobody's business saying that she'd like a new shirt. I asked her if she brought her wallet because I wasn't paying. She just smiled sweetly and carried on.

While she browsed the racks she selected two shirts to try on. I suppose that this would have been the time to remind her that she wasn't getting a new shirt today. But I didn't. Why, you ask? Because I kinda wanted to see what they looked like on her.

While she was in the changeroom I found a rack of sundresses that were only $6.99. I KNOW! What a deal, right? I slipped one underneath her door and fell in love with it when she came out with it on.

Hey... I said she wasn't getting a new shirt. I didn't say anything about a new dress. Or two...

Yes. Two. I have only these three things to say in my defense: 1) they were only $6.99!! 2) I am so happy that she's getting back into wearing dresses and 3) she gave me "The Eyes". If you have a little girl then you know what "The Eyes" are all about. I am powerless against them. It's like her superpower. Ian, however, is completely immune to them.

And of course I have a picture to post as well. I only have a shot of the white and yellow one because she was eating a Hershey's kiss and it fell out of her mouth and on to the white and pink one she was wearing.

How does that happen? How does a piece of chocolate just fall out of someone's mouth?? Well I can tell you right now that it has never happened to me. Once that thing is in my mouth the only place its going next is into my belly.

Where was I? Oh how easily the subject of chocolate can get me off track.

Oh yes... the dress.



When we took the dresses to the counter I told Julie that we would use Daddy's credit card for this purchase. I told her that the key was to not tell him we used his card, or that we bought new dresses at all for that matter because he would cut us off. Just put one on one day and if he says anything about it just say "oh this old thing...?"

I guess I should have repeated myself a couple of times before we saw Ian because the first thing she did was tell him we bought two dresses and used his credit card to pay for them. Good thing he was in stellar spirits about a great deal he found on a video game. Whew.

Big news here... Ian has finally agreed to allow Sam to get his ear pierced. Sam has been working on Ian for over a year now. I've always been ok with it, but Ian had some concerns and I respect that. It started out that he could have it pierced for his birthday next month. He respectfully asked his dad to consider allowing him to do it today since there are only four days of school left and he'd like to show his friends. He agreed! We didn't have enough time to get it done today because Ian had to head downtown to do a magic show so tomorrow is the day. He is beyond excited!

In other news, here is a picture of the house across the street that is up for sale. Boo. He beat us to it.



I am so excited for tomorrow. Not just because Sam's dream of a pierced ear is coming true but because my favourite aunt arrives at my mom's for the summer. I love her visits. We last saw her in March when she came to help with the children while I was in the hospital having Jordan.

Jordan turned 12 weeks old today. Here she is after her bath, all tuckered out.



See you tomorrow...

~Kate

Sometimes I Just Gotta Shake My Head

Had to get gas today and this is what I saw...



Considering it's reached as high as $1.39 this was pretty much on sale. I was practically apoplectic with excitement.

This is all that $25 got me today.



Not even half a tank.



As much as I'd like to complain about the rapidly rising gas prices, I just don't have the energy tonight.

Poor Jordan... we had to run some errands today and this is how she looked in her car seat. I don't know how to keep her upright.



As I was driving along doing my errands, I was amazed at the clouds. They were so fluffy I had to take a picture for my blog obsession.



Oooh... fluffy.

Earlier this evening Ian spoke to the realtor that was here last night and told him we'd like to sign him. He had some news for us too... The house across the street - which is the exact same model as ours - is for sale too. Boo.

I've had a couple of moments of worry since Ian relayed this information to me. What if ours won't sell? What if we have to take a loss because of this guy? UGH.

But... I know that God is in charge. I know this. He has a home picked out for us already, and that family is working just as hard to prepare their home to sell as we are. I know that it won't matter what happens, He has things under control. He will bring things about so that everything falls together as He has planned. What a relief it is to rest in that simple truth.

This is something that absolutely KILLS me.



This is my neighbour's lawn. As you can clearly see, it's a small lawn and it belongs to two homes. The home on the left chose to re-seed their side and water it. The grass is lovely.

I have to wonder though....why not do the WHOLE lawn??? Maybe they aren't friends.

Then there is the other side. That guy decided to just re-sod his side. It doesn't look quite as nice, but one day it will. Again... why not talk to the other guy and re-sod the whole thing??

And then here's the kicker.... the guy on the right side only cut HIS side of the grass!!

Like I said... sometimes I just gotta shake my head...

Thursday Night Already??

Wow this week went by fast.

Tuesday night I went to see The Happening. I love M. Night Shyamalan's work but I have to wonder what he was thinking when he wrote this movie. There were two things that saved this movie for me. 1) Marky Mark was in it (sorry Ian) and 2) the movie was free.

"Free" you say? Yep... When Ian and Sam went to see The Incredible Hulk last weekend the projector shut down for a couple of minutes so everyone got free passes and you got it...I took one.

Yes, so my friend M Night let me down. He thrilled me with The Sixth Sense and Signs... and The Village was BRILLIANT in my opinion. Then he made Lady in the Water and I was all "what the heck are you doing M Night" but I had faith in him that he wouldn't make another bad film. But he did. Oh M Night... I am disappointed.

Wednesday morning I went to get my hair done and I feel like a million bucks. She did my roots (of course I'm a real blonde) cut 3 inches off the length, added side bangs and lots of layers. I feel terrific and I look younger which is important because I am closing in on 40.

That night we had a painter named Erwin came by to quote us on the work we needed done. Ian showed him around and then some big mouth (which would be me in case you were wondering...) said "just so you know, we're looking to get this done ASAP".

While Erwin went around to take measurements Ian very respectfully asked me not to say things like that until AFTER I have the quote in my hand because I very likely upped the price. Oops. I almost dropped dead on the spot when Ian showed me the quote. Way to go Katie...

After Extremely Expensive Erwin left we went to see a house that is for sale close to an area I like. It is a Power of Sale/As Is type deal. Wow. There wasn't a room in that place that didn't need work done. The layout was terrific and it had huge potential but wow... lots and lots of work would need to be done before anyone could move into it.

Tonight we had another painter come in. This time I kept my mouth shut and just smiled politely. He looked everything over and pointed out some things to Ian and after assuring him he would do a good job for us he handed over his quote. SCORE! Looks like Pino the Painter is Perfect.

We also had another realtor come tonight. I spoke with this gentleman about 3-4 years ago and even though we weren't ready to sell our house he patiently answered all of my questions. He was floored when I called him yesterday. We got a really great feeling from him (even better than the one we met with last week) so we're planning on going with him. Ian feels really good about him.

In other more important news, Miss Jordan seems to be doing very well. She still has a few coughing fits every so often, but seems overall to be alright. She is such a happy baby and is full of smiles.

Julie read me a story before bed and I was so impressed with how well she read. She even did voices!

Sam was making me laugh earlier this evening. He put on his apron and was sweeping the kitchen floor and was begging me to teach him how to wash dishes. Umm.. ok!

No pictures today. Maybe tomorrow...

A Day In The Life...

I've posted before about how much I love walking my children to school, so for today's entry I thought I'd share my day with you.

Here we are outside my mom's, heading to school.



My mom is getting into her car to head to McDonald's to pick up coffees and muffins. We have this for breakfast every morning. Yum.

Along our way Sam made a friend... I didn't particularly want him touching this cat because it could have been infested with cooties, and well... if you know me then you know I have an issue with cooties.



We were running a few minutes behind and heard the bell ring just as we were entering the catwalk so the children had to get running...



Sam never waits for Julie if he can help it.





Julie started running out of steam as she hurried through the schoolyard...



Once the children headed into the school, Jordan and I headed off for our walk. She was so cozy and warm in her stroller and fell asleep pretty soon after we left the schoolyard.



I love this street. It's so quiet and everyone keeps their property looking so nice. I love walking along here. There is one particular garden that I love looking at because it's filled with irises but they have gone all brown now.





This house kills me. How many satellite dishes does one need?? Doesn't one do the trick?



Mom and I spend the entire day talking and never run out of topics. She wouldn't let me take a picture of her laying on the couch but I did snap one of her with Jordan.



Here come the kids home from school!



I make them hold hands while they walk so they stay together. I think it's cute. I bet they don't.

Looking right....



Looking left....



And crossing!



The children played on my mom's lawn for a short bit to blow off some excess energy.





This is my mom with my children.



And Sam and Jules in front of my mom's.



That's it!

Scary Night

Our little Jordan gave us a huge scare last night. HUGE.

It was just after midnight and I was heading up to bed for the night, but stopped to change Jordan's diaper and hand her over to Ian to be fed. She was very hungry and went at that bottle like she was starving. A couple of minutes later she started coughing and choking. Her little face went red and her eyes started watering. Ian immediately sat her up and started to pat her little back, but she still kept making choking noises and started gasping for air.

I asked him what was happening and he said he thought something might have been wrong with her bottle. After what felt like forever she still seemed to be struggling for air. He was patting her back harder but still nothing. Her little face looked so panicked. Finally I called 911.

I tried to stay as calm as possible on the phone with the 911 operator so I could accurately relay what was happening. My voice was shaking and I was trying not to cry. I did pretty well until he conferenced me with the fire department. He told me to keep silent until he came back on the line. I started to lose it when he relayed the wrong street and then said that he had a "2 1/2 year old female child". I had to speak up to correct him.

Several times he assured me that the paramedics had been dispatched and were on their way. It felt like forever for them to arrive. I cannot find the words to express what I was feeling at that moment. Believe me when I say it was the scariest night of my life.

While I was on the phone with 911 Jordan started breathing again. She was still coughing, but she was breathing. Ian told me she was coming around. Finally the paramedics arrived and Ian gave Jordan to me so he could let them in. I held her so tightly and the tears started to fall.

I was so glad to see them that I didn't even care that they wore their wet and muddy shoes on my freshly cleaned carpet!

Jordan greeted them with the biggest, most joyful smile you'd ever seen.

Brat.

The fire department and police arrived shortly after.

The entire episode lasted about 4 minutes, and she was without air for about 20 seconds. It felt so much longer than that. The paramedic attached a lead to her tiny toes to check the oxygen in her bloodstream and found she was at 98%. A quick listen to her heart followed. He said she appeared to be breathing fine and her colour was good, but he would take her to the hospital if we wanted. We declined and said we would take her to our family doctor in the morning.

We stayed up with her until almost 2am. I was still shaking but she was breathing fine and all appeared to be perfect once again.

She woke just after 4am and we both got up with her. She coughed and gagged a bit while Ian fed her, but nothing like a few hours before. She barely ate and settled back to sleep.

I started calling my doctor's office at 9am and finally got through at 9:20. I was told that my regular doctor would be out of the office until September due to a medical issue but they could fit her in at 3:10 with a different doctor.

I kept her as quiet as possible throughout the day and Ian took us to her appointment. I described the events from the night before and the doctor told me that in a nutshell, all that happened was that her formula "went down the wrong way".

Honestly. That's all??

He explained what happens when an adult swallows something that goes down the wrong way and how they will cough and choke and will not be able to breathe for a few seconds until the airway was cleared. Babies don't know enough to clear their throats or to signal for help. As a precaution he sent us downstairs for an xray just in case any liquid make it to her lungs.

The xray showed some shading on her lungs which was consistant with pneumonia. She said that pneumonia was a term for fluid on the lungs, and she had "inhaled pneumonia".

Back upstairs we go to see the doctor again. He gave her a prescription for the pneumonia and a new requisition for another xray to be done on Monday. I made a follow up appointment for her for the 26th. Hopefully all will be fine by then.

She has been sleeping fitfully all day and hasn't had a solid stretch of sleep. She is resting now and appears to be ok.

Please pray alongside us that her body will heal quickly. I can't tell you how much I would appreciate that.

~ Kate

What is it with these parents???

Honestly... what is with these celebrity parents not cutting their sons' hair?? Don't they see how awful they look?







UGH!

Father's Day

This morning the children and I brought Ian breakfast in bed, then we all climbed into bed with him while he opened his gifts. It was my intent to run a hot bath for Ian to soak in before church but then I used all the hot water for my shower. Oops.

I don't think there is any way for me to adequately express just how great a father Ian is to our children. He is so patient and loving, always looking for opportunities to teach and encourage them. He is so affectionate and playful. He encourages them to be confident and tells them constantly that he loves them. He makes time for each of them, to listen or to play, whatever they need. They are very secure within themselves because of the father that he is. I love the way he is with our children. It makes me love him all the more.

We made it to church early, which is a miracle. We are always arriving JUST in time or a few minutes late. I thought I'd have 20 minutes to feed Jordan and get her settled and find a good seat before the service began. WRONG. She started howling as soon as we pulled out of the driveway and didn't stop. So much for me getting a good seat in church. ;-) We found a quiet spot and I cuddled her until she fell asleep then we headed in.

She slept for the first part of the service then woke up and found great entertainment in my friend Jennifer who sat just behind us. She was on the verge of laughing she was having such a good time. At one point she kept hiccuping... I didn't know if I should take her out or not. Our services are relatively kid-free and very quiet. When our pastor says "let us pray" you can practically feel a breeze as everyone bows their heads.

Today we had a guest speaker who talked about relationships. He said he had lived in the same apartment building for two years yet didn't know any of his neighbours. So he and his wife decided to do something about that and planned an Easter egg hunt for the children in the building. It cost them $50 to do. He said about 20 people showed up, six of them stood staring at him and his wife like they were crazy. Someone asked him why he would do something like this. He told them that he couldn't live in isolation like this, that he liked people and felt it was important to know the people you live with. After that he decided to plan a bbq. Six people volunteered to help him. For the next few weeks they met to plan this bbq. Soon the meetings weren't just about planning for the bbq, it turned into a time of sharing about who they were and where they came from. One week someone brought cookies. Someone was heading out to Tim Hortons for a coffee and called to ask him if he wanted anything. 35 people came to the bbq and again he got the question "Why would you do this?" When he'd give his reason people would agree and say that they had lived in that building for 5, 10 or 20 years and never knew their neighbours. When the bbq was over people asked "what's next?" So... they planned a Fall Festival and he had 18 volunteers. They were no longer a group of people standing in the elevator watching the numbers change. They had become friends.

He said something that really resounded in me. He said that wherever we are or whomever we encounter, we should leave some sort of impact. He said that in order to be the salt and light of the earth we need to use every opportunity to reach out to others, that we are designed by God for relationships and that our society is saturated with lonliness. We need to be God's hands and feet so that He can reach people through us. Our neighbours are lonely and hurting, hungry and broken.

He was right.

I have lived in my community for almost 10 years and I only speak to two of my neighbours, one of which is moving away in two weeks. What have I done with my time here? How have I used my time to make a difference to someone else? Have I allowed myself to become God's hands and feet so He could work through me to reach someone? No I haven't.

At that moment a crazy idea popped into my mind. One that was absolutely unlike me and not from me. What if Ian and I were to hold off selling our home and for the next year commit ourselves to building relationships within our community? What could God do through us if only we let Him? Who could we reach through Him and for Him?

Have I ever just said "Whatever Lord" and truly, truly meant it?

The idea stayed with me throughout the remainder of the service. I actually started thinking of how we would have to move everything from our storage unit back into our house, where we would put it, how we could rearrange our space so that we could last another year in these cramped quarters. Maybe put the girls in our room, Sam into Julie's and we move into Sam's? Could we convert Ian's office into a bedroom for Sam, and would he then be too far away from us...? What would people say? We're already knee deep into this process.

I mentioned it to Ian after the service and he suggested that we pray about it. It sounded crazy to even say it out loud. But what if it wasn't my idea? What if it was His idea? Lots to pray about for sure.

After church we headed to the mall. Ian and Sam headed off to their favourite store - EB Games - while the girls and I went looking for a new dress for Julie. This morning she put on the one we bought her for her birthday this past March and it was too short! She has shot up again! We checked out Please Mum and she found a dress she really liked. Turned out they had the same print in Jordan's size so I bought that one too :-) Yep.. I'm going to be "That Mom" who dresses their daughters the same. LOL.



It was a lot of fun shopping with her. She has definite ideas about what styles and colours she likes and isn't afraid to let me know when they differ from mine. :-)

We met up with the guys for lunch then on our way out stopped at another store and I ended up buying another dress for Jules.



I am SO happy that she is getting back into skirts and dresses again.

On our way home we stopped for the slushies Ian refused to stop for last night at 10pm. Ian went in to get them and came out with this gigantic cup that made my jaw drop open. I have NO idea what he is ever going to put in this cup or use it for ever again, but it sure gave us all a laugh.



He can't even fit his hands around that thing.

I love the shirt he's wearing. We bought it on our last trip to Disney. I wanted him to wear it when our pastor-friend was preaching. I told him to wear a sweater all buttoned up with this shirt on underneath and as soon as he began his sermon, just unbutton the sweater to reveal this huge eye. Come on... that would throw anyone, don't you think? LOL. Ian is a terrific jokester but he thought this would likely be a bit inappropriate. Boo. He wore it this morning as he was teaching Sunday school. The church kids love him.

Tomorrow I start stripping wallpaper from the hallway. I blogged a couple of weeks ago about how much I absolutely hate stripping wallpaper. Now that I know that I am supposed to WET the paper BEFORE I strip it, it should go easier.

That's all for today!