Flashback Fridays - Football game.

   Here is a post from October 2008. It was a special outing!
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We went to our first football game with the kids. Daddy's parents came along. It was a blast. Daddy asked Funky Monkey, when we were driving downtown, what team he is going to be cheering for. Funky's answer, whatever team daddy doesn't cheer for. Ha-ha. So our 4 year old is already defiant ... Daddy was fine with it. So Daddy cheered for BC Lions, and Funky Monkey for Toronto. We were surprised that Girly Monkey sat through the whole game. She was super pooped after but she was there the whole time (minus the diaper changes). Only hiccup of the evening ... the family room at the stadium. It sucked! No baby change table, only wet side of the counter no bigger than 18 inches. Try to change your baby there! UGH! And the family room (only one for a stadium that holds about 6000 people) was on the other side of the place. So every time Girly peed her diaper I had to drag her all across the place. Note to self, wait to go to another game till Girly is potty trained.

Happy 6 months Baby Monkey!!!

   Baby Monkey is 6 months today! I can't believe that he has been part of our family for 6 months now. He is the sweetest, most cheerful, little guy! Happy 6 months Baby Monkey!

Flashback Fridays - Jail bird!

So here is a post from September 2008. Have a good laugh. It wasn't funny at the time though!


 
 Our little innocent Girly Monkey has a record!!! No, not a record of height or immunization ... A POLICE RECORD! Is she the youngest 10 month old to have one, I don't know, but one thing is for sure I have never heard of a baby that young having one. It all started when we were getting the kids to bed. It was Monday night of the long weekend. Funky Monkey didn't start school till the 3rd so we let both kids stay up late on the last night of summer. I had left Girly Monkey and Funky Monkey in Daddy's care while I went to get my jammies on. Girly was playing with the phone on our bed, but I didn't think much of it. As long as she wasn't complaining. When I returned, all comfy in my pj's, I took the phone from her and heard someone saying "hello?" on the phone. Automatic reaction "turn the phone off". So I did exclaiming to Mike that I think that Girly just called someone.

Time flies ....

 
This is crazy busy part of the year now. Every year, starting in April and ending in June I wish I could just crawl into a hole and hide, or run away to a sunny place with a sandy beach and a beautiful water front and not come back until July. In the span of three months we have Daddy's and mine birthdays, Easter, Our wedding anniversary, Mother's day, Father's day, Dance competitions, Year end show and rehearsal, Year end parties for soccer, and finishing up all the school work for the year. It's busy, and days are super long, but this year with Baby Monkey being only a little infant, it's that much harder.

Flashback Fridays - July 2008

Here is an oldie for all of you. This post is from July 2008 (6 years ago!) My diaper making business never made it as new regulations made it hard for small companies to make it without getting everything tested for lead (which is expensive). But one thing is still the same ... I get no sleep!!!!


I got an email from Chaara couple nights ago complaining that I have not kept up with my blog. Sorry
Chaara, this one is for you!!! LOL

OK, so I am not avoiding writing this blog, it's just that life has been sooo crazy lately. Both kids are getting bigger and with Girly Monkey crawling now I have 2 of them to supervise. Sometimes I feel like I am a recess lady watching over them.

On top of that I have decided to enter the cloth diaper making business. Let me tell you, the amount of work a new business start up requires is insane. Initially I thought that I would just make some diapers and sell them, but there is a whole business side to it (Duh!!!). I have to get a name, set up an online store, register my business, order supplies, Come up with logo, get labels made ... etc. It's never ending.



Daddy got inspired by me and decided that he is starting his own business too. But he has a business you say? Yes and no. He is self employed, but still takes orders from big companies. He wants to call all the shots. I always tell him that he is a control freak, but he already knows that.

So 2 young kids + 2 new businesses = NO SLEEP!!!! It can only get easier ... right!

Flashback Friday (just couple of days late ...)

   Here is a post from November 2008. Although many things have changed, Daddy and I still enjoy a date out together. (As you can tell, I couldn't eat dairy then. I have since "fixed" my dairy allergy.)

   Daddy and I finally had a chance to have a grown-up dinner out without the kids. Grandma and Gramps came to look after the kids while Daddy and I went to La Masia for our Anniversary dinner out. The thing is that it was not our wedding anniversary, but our dating anniversary. Yes, we still celebrate our dating anniversary. And I am happy to announce that we have been together for 9 years now.

So Saturday evening, while grandparents looked after the kids, we went out for a lovely dinner. We started off with a great wine and escargot appy to share. We followed with lovely entree, mine was seafood medley, and Daddy had the most delicious stake. We finished off with a dessert (and I had one with milk in it ..... OOOOh, don't worry, I paid for it later). We had time to sit and talk about grown-up things without kids interrupting. It was so nice. When you have 2 kids at home you tend to forget how you get lost in time when you spend it with your spouse. It felt like the first date that we had all over. I didn't even notice how long we were there. I wish that we could do it more often. but I am happy with having that special time at least twice a year. Our kids are young now, but they won't be forever. And some day we will be able to go out more often that that, ..... well at least three times a year.

Flashback Fridays!

Since we are on the topic of God and religion, here is my post from August 2008:



I was not expecting this right now. Not yet. I have read all the books on child development, and even took a course in university on child psychology, so I knew that this subject was going to come us sooner or later, but I was just not prepared for it. I had to explain death to my son! I can deal with sex, guns, gay people, and all the awkward other subjects that kids tend to bring up, but death and God make me uneasy. Maybe because I am not quite understanding them myself. But that's the beauty of children; they will make you face your uncertainties so you can find an answer to their questions. The problem with the subject of death is that I know that death makes people sad, and I don't like to think that something would make my child sad. Not the kind of sad that they feel when they don't get a toy they wanted, but that deep sadness that comes from loosing someone close. The kind of sadness that never really goes away, just lessens with time.

Why I believe in higher power and not institution of God.

   I normally don't attempt to touch any controversial topics on my blog, things like religion, politics, sexual orientation, ethnicity, etc, never enter my topics here. But once in a while it's nice to stir things up a bit with a bit of controversial topic. Let's talk about my views on religion. It is not a big secret that I am a very liberal person, for the most part. But many people assume that because we home-school our kids we must have super conservative views on things. Many people assume that in our family the man runs the house (for all of you who know us you know that this is far from the truth!), women are expected to obey, we don't believe in science, are highly religious, don't associate with people who are "different" from us, and generally eat granola and walk barefoot (OK, the last one might be a bit exaggerated ... ). The truth is far from it. I believe in equality for all people (no matter the gender, race, sexual orientation, political views, etc), I believe that everyone is entitled to live a happy life, I believe in conservation of our planet (yes, I am an environmentalist), and I am not religious at all. But why not religion? 

100th POST!!!!

It's my 100th post!!!!!!!

Here is something very special just for you!

I hope it makes you HAPPY!

Flashback Friday!

Few years ago I had a blog that I kept for a while. I think that it would be splendid to re-post an old post every Friday for a little while.

May 8, 2008:

We had a lovely day yesterday, just by accident. Although it was BC day and a long weekend it didn't feel as such since Daddy was working. But that all changed when he finished his work early. It was only 3 pm and sunny, so what was a nice family to do on such a lovely day? WHITE ROCK!!!!! Funky Monkey loves to look out at the water when we walk down the palisade. Girly Monkey, on the other hand, enjoys seeing the people walking by. How could two such different kids come from the same mom and dad

Birthdays, festival, uniforms, and teething!

  Life is very busy, and I originally wrote this post 2 weeks ago and never got a chance to post it. So I am posting it now!

   This week has been a crazy busy week. Both Daddy and I celebrated our birthdays (we are a day apart in birthdays). I tried really hard to surprise Daddy with a take-out form his favourite Chinese food restaurant, but apparently the people who own that restaurant did not know about my plans and took a 3 week vacation. I was very surprised when I phoned to place an order and the answering machine informed me that the restaurant is closed due to a 3 week holidays that the owners were taking. Sometimes, I wish that people could read my mind!

Money Wise Mondays - Baby pictures

   Who doesn't like showing off pictures of their precious little baby to everyone. We post them on social media, we send them in mail, we show them off to everyone who would look at them. And since they will be looked at by so many people, it a nice idea to have the pictures look clear, sharp, and presentable. That's why professional photographers are so abundant. Let's face it, they can make your blotchy-skinned, wrinkly newborn look like he is an angel-faced cupid sitting on a cloud. But their services come at a great price. A newborn session can range from 100 dollars to 500 dollars and more. But there is an altarnative to high priced photographers ... doing it yourself. Here is how to:

Step one - Decide on the types of pictures you like and props you will use. Vintage items (like wood crates, old planters and hand knit blankets make for a wonderful items for baby photography session.) If you have access to backdrops then use them, but they are not necessary.

The Boob Job.

   I know what you're thinking; this is another internet article about increase of breast implants among people, or about dangers of implants to your health. I would like to surprise you with the notion that this post is about the job your breasts were designed to do .... to feed an infant. Breastfeeding has gone through a bit of a makeover in last few decades as researchers discover how beneficial, nah, important, breastfeeding is for both women and babies. Let's explore the topic of breastfeeding.

Ahhhhhh ... to live by the sea shore!

   Sometimes, in life, the cards that life dealt you is not the cards you want. Sometimes you have to take charge of your own destiny. The question you have to ask yourself is how much do you want it?

    I was born in Poland in a place that was very much inland. Except for few trips to the lakeside and one trip with my mother to the seaside, I was never around the water much. I didn't even know how to swim until I was 9. As a matter of fact I taught myself to swim at a summer camp to Czechoslovakia. I begged my parents to let me go, even though I was much younger than most kids going. As part of that camp activities we went to a swimming pool every other day, and in order to keep up to all the other kids I was driven to learn to swim. I tried hard, "drank" a lot of pool water through my nose, went under few times, and persevered in learning to swim that year.

Sunday Snapshots - Finally, cupcake time.

   This weekend, we finally got a chance to have some family over for Funky Monkey's cupcakes. I felt so bad that it took so long. First, we had troubles getting everyone together, then, twice we were sick with stomach bugs. Funky Monkey was very understanding about it, but since it was his 10th birthday I thought that it should be more special. But we got a chance to have some family over for cupcakes. He wanted them to be Angry Birds cupcakes, so I got them done. In the process, I got a chance to unload all my baby girl clothes, And kids got a chance to spend time with Grandparents and Aunty. Yey!!!!

The good, the bad, and the ugly - part 3 ... "change time"

   I finally got some time to continue my "Baby needs" series. I already mentioned Bathtime and clothing in my previous posts, so now is the time to talk about change time. Why is change time so significant? Because you'll be changing your baby's diapers for the next 2 to 3+ years. That's right, you better get used to it. 

   First, let's talk about how baby's toilet routines change from birth to potty training. At birth most babies will wet their diapers very little. The way that a nurse explained it to me is that on the first day they will have one wet diaper, on the second day -two, third day -three, up to fourth day (or the day your milk comes in) when they will start having significantly more wet diapers. At first, the baby will not pee a large amount, but by three months you can expect a very wet diaper, especially after nap time or night-time sleep. As to poop (yes, when you have a baby you can use the word "poop" in casual manner ...)

Girl Time!!!!

Sometimes it's nice to have a Girl Time. Girly Monkey used her money after Christmas to buy this fancy nail stamper (you've probably seen the infomecials for it) and we finally got some time to try it. We started with foot bath and then painted our toes. It was lots of fun.

Happy Birthday to my sweet Funky Monkey!

   I really can't believe that Funky Monkey turned 10! Where has the time gone? I can still remember being a new mom holding this squirmy little baby in my arms and wondering how he was going to turn out in the future. I remember sitting in the hospital room, holding my new baby, and wondering if they really were letting me take him home. After all, I was really worried that I would break him.

   It was a big adjustment going from living only for me (and my husband) to being responsible for this little creature that depended on me for everything. There were many nights that I cried with him. He was nothing like the calm, content babies in commercial ads and movies. Funky Monkey made a statement wherever he was. He arrived with a surprising amount of pain and a vacuum extraction. The first few months he cried and nursed constantly, the only constants in his little life. It took me a while to get to know his needs and act accordingly. Once I did, our lives went much more smoothly, He still nursed all the time, but I could now recognize his cries and what they meant. When he started crawling he eagerly explored everything, although he was very cautious. He always needed his mommy within the arm's reach. I didn't mind. My presence build his confidence and before I knew it he was out exploring everything, although he never leaped before he looked.