Can I hear a "Wooooooooo Hooooooooooo"!?!!!

This mommy is very very happy.... Since last Thursday E has been pooping on the toilet! THANK GAWD! It's been a real issue with him...he's been scared. I got great advice from Auntie Louise in L.A... make a chart up with the stickers etc, but when they have an accident in their pants put a big black "X" on that day. E did not like the black x. I also took away his McQueen cars (put on top of fridge) !! I know, I'm so mean as Barb said. But, it worked!!

Fingers and toes crossed it continues!! :)


Now, if he would only eat something else besides ham and cheese sandwiches.......

E dancing to "Backyardigans" .... he gets his moves from me!

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Happy FOURTH Birthday to my baby!

Been awhile....

We celebrated E's 4th bday on the 23rd. Out to dinner with Gram, Bops, Uncle Scott and Auntie Tracy. The restaurant we went to has a magician that walks around to all the tables on Wednesday nights. E loved that and tried to copy the magic tricks! "abara cadabara" he would say and hide his card in his shoe just like the magician.

Then went back to my place for presents and cake. Auntie TT and her girls came over too. Very fun and of course E was so spoiled.

Had his bday party at Springridge Farms again this year. They do such an awesome job - v.organized and fun for the kids. The rain held off for us too! :) Had 2 girls and 9 boys come to the party. They all really enjoyed themselves! Even the ex husband came too. Which was nice for E and me - easier to chat with the other parents when I don't have to watch my whirling dervish all the time!

Happy FOUTH||

Trip to Florida

Whew! We made it to Florida - the ride to the airport was a bit tense, but our flight was only 1/2 hr late due to de-icing. Big thanks to Mr. Hall for coming to my house so early to drive us there and drive my car home!!! :)

We arrived in Orlando afternoon of the 14th...E was thrilled to see Boppie and Grammie. I would have been thrilled to see my suitcase, but alas, it did not make it. The girl at the bagage counter seemed a little more concerned that her "favourite pen" was missing. Then, she left and said she would be right back. Ok, you don't do that to Doug (my dad) and I. We can get a tad surly at times. I said to the other girl behind the counter, um, do you think that girl is coming back, because I'm pretty sure my missing suitcase is a little more important than her missing pen! GAWD. So, she came back, I filled out the forms, we left. Turns out that another passenger took my bag my mistake (after 2 phone calls to airline, 2 to baggage claims people who were useless). I got the bag back 10pm (because the airport's delivery van forgot to drop it off when they said it would be at noon), on Thursday 15th. Double GAWD.

We spent Thursday at Disney's Magic Kingdom. It was great. E had a great time seeing the characters, getting their autographs and pics with them. What a racket tho! Disney is a serious corporation/business. They hit you with the merchandise pretty hard, not to mention the cost to get into the park. Vic and Doug were hoping there would be a "golden/seniors price. No such luck. (boppie bought a "Grumpy" sweatshirt cause it was a chilly 50 F that day! )I know a few of my friends really enjoy Disney, but it's just not my thang. E had a great time, it was fun watching him, but I really wouldn't care if I never went back. I know, the shock and the horror of it!! The "value resort" we stayed at was Pop Century and it was really nice - clean rooms, nice pool (there were even people swimming when it was 50f outside - in their heads they must have been thinking "dammit, I'm in Florida and I'm going to swim in the G.D pool, even if my digits freeze off!!"

We drove to Naples on Friday. After unpacking, E and I met my friends Rick and Kelly & their T at the McDonalds playland. Now, the original plan was to meet at the beach, but Florida was having a real cold snap and we decided to meet at McD's and then go to Target. Wish we could have gone to the beach with them!

It finally got really warm on monday. We enjoyed the pool and beach monday - friday. E had a great time making sandcastles, jumping in the waves, checking out the fishermen & pelicans at the Naples Pier. Everywhere we went, E would make friends. In the pool one day, some older kids about 8 or 10 yrs old were swimming too, E swims up to them and says "hi, I'm E and this is my friend mummy". It was soooo cute and funny! There were some older "kids" early 20's from Ontario at the pool too. E had fun throwing the rings into the pool and one of the guys Pierre (from Sudbury, I can not escape people from Sudbury), would dive down and get them for E. E thought this was just hilarious! Even on the plane home, he walked down the aisle high fiving the other passengers. Hey, dude! Then, he would tell them he was Lightning McQueen. Oh dear, I think I have a real comic on my hands!

We came home, tanned, relaxed, a bag full of shells, a suitcase 10lbs over the limit (oops) and energized to deal with the rest of winter!! Thanks Grammie and Bops for having us, we had a wonderful time with you!!

Vacation time!!

Tomorrow, E and I leave for 10 days in Florida!! Woot Woot! Keep your fingers and toes crossed that we will be able to get out of Toronto - big snow storm here in Btown and in Hamilton ... apparently, not much snow flying out in the Toronto area. Please, don't let me get stuck at the airport!!
The plan is to fly into Orlando tomorrow, do the Disney park on Thursday and drive back to rented condo on Friday to meet up with the Wirkowski family at the beach Friday afternoon. Kell, Rick and thier kids are vacationing on Marco Island where her parents have rented a condo for a month. E is really looking forward to our trip and to see Mickey Mouse!
Send good vibes to us for a safe trip and that we actually get outta here on time!! :)
Cya when we get back!!

Splish Splasing away!

My friends Kirsten and Rob had a fun bday party for their kids Maddie (8) and Braden (5) yesterday. It was at the Fallsview Waterpark in Niagara Falls. It's on top of the parking garage. Huge water slides, wave pool, medium sized waterslides/structure and toddler/preschooler type waterplay area. Needless to say, it was tonnes of fun, even though I had to wear a bathing suit in public the entire time! Damn those Lindberg thunder thighs.
Kirsten watched E for me a couple of times while I went down the big slides (E was too short and too chicken to go on them!). They watched me come blasting down and E just thought it was hilarious and funny! It was soooo fast and I was sputtering away from the water shooting up my nose and face!
There is this bell that starts ringing and all the kids come running and stand under this HUGE bucket that dumps water onto them. They all run away laughing hysterically. E did it once and didn't like it too much, but loved watching the other kids do it.
It was great fun - E was very tired last night! I'm sure he slept well!
The falls were beautiful too.... we didn't get out (too cold -20c) but drove by. Everything was frozen and looked so cool!

Winter Weekend

I watched 2 really good movies this weekend - Little Miss Sunshine and the Last Kiss. I recommend them!
After gymnastics class Saturday morning E and I met Grammie at the mall. Went to the pet shop. Thinking I might be E a guinea pig for his bday this year - I had Angel a white, albino GP when I was a kid and then I had Gidget a orange & white rough haired GP a few years later. They are great little pets and pretty low maintenance. So, we looked at them - I love the "squeaking" noise they make. E loves that show Wonder Pets - one of the characters is a GP "Linny". On the way home, I asked E if he would like GP and of course, he said yes... He wants a black one with curly hair and he's going to name him E----. I said, don't you think the GP should have his own name? Maybe blackie or cupcake or curly. Nope, he wants his name to be the same as his!
Pretty uneventful weekend - it was -15 degrees c, so we didn't go outside. I don't think E would mind the cold, but mommy sure would! Just about 3 weeks till E and I meet Grammie and Bops in Florida for 10 days! Can't wait!

so much for that warm weather!

It's -3 degrees c today. I could hear the rain/ice falling against my bedroom window since about 1am this morning. Needless to say, it was not pretty when I got up. My car was covered in ice (can't wait for my new house to be built with a garage that my car will actually fit in!!). Scott was scraping the ice off his car too. We were pouring hot water on the windshields to make it easier to get the caked on ice off. Took me a good 1/2 hour. It's a bit slippery but not that bad. The rain/freezing rain is supposed to turn into snow this afternoon. Thank goodness I don't have to commute to work! It's about 2km to the daycare then about 2km to work.

Weather

Weather has been phenomenal here! It was 12degrees c yesterday and today! (52F). Personally, I love it - don't need to bother with snowpants, hats, mitts, winterboots...much easier! Think E has only worn his snowpants twice ! I'm sure it will all come to an end soon enough - we'll be hit with a tonne of snow and -15 degree weather.

Happy 2007!!!

E was in Sudbury with his dad from 20-25th. He came back to my house around 12pm on the 25th. sooooooooooo, our "xmas eve" was the 25th and "xmas day" was the 26th.

My friend Louise came home with her kids and husband from L.A for 2 weeks. Louise, her sister and her brother (who to my shock and horror is now legal to go to bars. I swear, last time I saw him he was 6 years old back in the day when Louise and I went to a club called NRG!!). We went to Club 54 - it was my first and [possibly last time there. It was tonnes of fun dancing and hanging out with the Barley clan, but really not my thing anymore - the music was really loud! Was it always that loud??!! :) If they had been playing current music - a little J.Timberlake, Nelly Furtado or anything like that it would have been better.

My grandma (Nanny Mitzi) flew in from North Dakota - she is doing pretty well! It was so nice to visit with her - we miss her alot. My friend TT and her sister Nicki came over with their kids to see Nanny. We all grew up together, so Nanny is kinda their grandma too since their extended family is all in South Africa. Mom, Nanny and I went to see the movie Queen on 24th. Good movie - Helen Mirren was great. But really quite wierd that they were able to make a whole 2 hr movie out of the reaction of the Queen after Diana's death.

Was sooooo happy to get my baby back on the 25th! Missed him tonnes. We had everyone over to my house for Xmas Eve dinner - can't wait to get into my new house in July - more space!! I made a roast, baked potatoes, asparagus, and salad. It was nice...then after cleaning up, E put out cookies & milk for santa and carrotts for Rudolfe. He went to bed really well (was still getting over his strep throat from week before). In the moring he woke me up at 6:40am saying that he thinks Santa was here and lets go see what presents he left! We went downstairs and sure enough cookies, milk and carrotts were gone and E's stocking was filled and Santa left two wrapped presents for him. He got the Thomas the Tank Engine flashlight he's been asking for and a "Cars" shake n go car. We then got dressed and headed over to Grammie and Boppie's house for the festivities! So spoiled we all are!! I made the Land of Nod cinnamon buns - they are to die for. Recipe is in the Best of the Best of Bridge... highly recommend! Also had the Xmas Wife Saver (in same cookbook). It was a great day! So glad Nanny Mitzi was there with us...

Tonight E and I are going over to Barbie's house for early dinner with their friends and then will just come home put E to bed and see if there is a good movie on. Was invited a few other places, but just feel like staying home this year!

My last post for 2006!! How fast this year has gone by .... Wishing you all a very happy, healthy & safe New Year!!

Lets see...resolutions for 2007? hmmmmmm....of course loose weight. I've been going to the gym 3-4 times a week, so keep that up....how 'bout you??!! Any resolutions?

Santa

E and Santa....oh, and I had a reading done with a psychic last night...when I get a few minutes I will write a bit more about it! It was very interesting and she was bang on with quite a few things that has really left me feeling a bit freaked out!

Christmas Muuumic

Muuuumic = Music (the way E pronounces it!)

I bought a cute CD at Fortinos that is kids singing christmas songs. E thinks it's great! He does the cutest thing - he gets my throw pillows from my bed, and puts his "friends" (myriad of stuffed animals - mostly dogs) on top of the pillows. Then, turns the cd on - the first song is Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Then he gets his Rudolph stuffed animal and has him "act out" the song for his "friends" that are watching!! it is very cute (of course)!

Yesterday I was at dentist as they re-did a root canal. That was fun. But what makes it worse is that I picked up pink eye on Sunday - E and I were at a friends bday party at an indoor playland. Just imagine all the germs. YUCK! E had a fantastic time as usual, but I came home with pink eye. So, this morning I discovered it was now in both eyes. Eyes are all puffy , red and goopy. Attractive.

Christmas Buzz

First off - Happy Bday to my cousins Jen & Kristi - they are sisters born exactly 2 yrs apart. "Irish Twins" Nov 22 and happy bday to my friend Louise in L.A. Nov 21!!

So, I'm suffering from my 3rd cold in 6 weeks. Argh. Today, I Lysol'd the entire office, vaccuumed it and bought an air purifyer. Hoping that all this helps, as I am sick and tired of getting sick and tired!! I know that E is bringing home all kinds of germs from daycare, but you would think after him being in daycare for almost 3 yrs, I would have built up some kind of immunity to it!

I've been getting to the gym 3-4 times a week - started my old routine from '97 back before annoying ex husband and before kid! Hoping that my body will remember what it used to look like and start transforming itself. E and I are going to Florida in Feb to meet up with my parents (they have rented a condo down there), so want to be in better shape for swimsuit weather!

Everybody has got the Christmas buzz! I'm working on getting my xmas cards ordered online. E and I are joining the Trimble family on Dec 9th for our now annual Christmas Tree Chopping day. We actually go to a farm and hunt down the perfect tree and "Uncle Ross" (tarryn's husband) chops it down for us. Instead of going to the Dairy Queen parking lot and buying one!!! We had fun with them last year, so hoping it won't be too cold this year! I bought garland for the post on our front porch and the cutest polar bear - its white and at night lights up with tonnes of lights - so cute! Been wanting to buy it for a couple of years! http://www.canadiantire.ca/browse/product_detail.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=1408474396673356&bmUID=1164315137890&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524443284344&assortment=primary&fromSearch=true

My builder called last week to advise that my move in date has been changed. It was supposed to be Feb 28th. I didn't think it would be done then - maybe March or April. She said it would be ready July 3rd. Rats! I was hoping that we would be in earlier. More time to save money for all the extra stuff like driveway, landscaping, patio in backyard etc. Still a bit disappointed tho.

E did not want to wear what I was putting on him this morning. (read MAJOR 3 yr old tantrum). Trying not to yell and be frustrated as we were already late, I said ok, you pick out what you want to wear and put it on. So, in he goes to his room, which he said I was not allowed into! Mommy, you stay out there, I'm getting dressed. Well, then, allright kid! He put on his undies (took off his pull ups that I put on him cause he hasn't mastered the pooping in the toilet yet!), socks his orange and black "bat halloween" shirt and jeans. He looked pretty good. He said, throwing his arms up in the air "All done mommy". Sigh. so cute.

pics from trip

Trip to North Dakota

E, Grammie and I left for our trip to North Dakota bright and early on Friday Oct 13th. Yes, Friday the 13th. AND this is not the first time I've flown on a Friday the 13th. Went to Ireland in Aug '04 for Julie P's wedding! Anyways, a bit of a bumpy ride landing in Winnipeg, but nothing major! We found out why it was so bumpy landing once we exited the terminal to get our rental car though! The WIND was incredible. and COLD!
We made it to Grand Forks in one piece and met Nanny Mitzi at her apartment. She has a very nice place and seems quite happy there! We then went over to Auntie Jeanne & Uncle Dick's house where we stayed the weekend. We enjoyed some great food, company and walks to the neighbourhood park! E even made a friend at the park "hey buddy, hey buddy, you wanna race cars?".
Auntie Bobbie met us at Jean's and Nanny Mitzi, Grammie, E and I headed to Bemidji, MN to see Bobbie & Jon's new cottage. It was beautiful! E especially enjoyed the toy room.
The next day back in the car to go to Fargo, ND. E and I stayed at Jennie & Jai's house. E had a great time playing with cuzzie Jacob. They raced cars, tortured poor Baxter (dog who weighs about 5lbs), told Michael he wasn't allowed playing with their stuff, watched Wonder Pets, read books, had lunch and games at Space Aliens, in general, had a great time together!! Jen and I had a shopping day together - no kids! the Grammie and Nana babysat for us while we checked out Target, the mall, and party store (see my next post for E's Halloween costume) and lunch at a really fab Italian restaurant! It was so nice to be able to shop in peace!
The last night there, Nanny Mitzi, Bobbie, Grammie, Jen and I went out for a deluxe, delish dinner in downtown Fargo! Yummy! Poor Jai was left at home with the children. But, he handled it well, they all seemed to go to bed without any major problems!
Thanks guys for having us ! Remember, next time it's your turn!!

Thanksgiving /Last Weekend at the cottage 2006

This past weekend was our (Canadian) Thanksgiving. The weather was gorgeous all weekend. 20c! E was with his dad from Tuesday till Sunday when he dropped him off at the cottage. So, had a bit of time to myself this week. E enjoyed rolling around in the leaves...Uncle Scott took us for the last boatride of the year. We did a bit of fishing off the boat and got a HUGE....................log. Scott is determined to catch a fish in our lake. Especially since our neighbours have caught many pretty big fish right off the end of their dock. I of course, got the hook stuck in my finger. Fisherman, I am not.
This friday E, Grammie and I are off to the motherland. Fly to Winnipeg and then drive down to ND to visit with my Grandma (Nanny Mitzi), Auntie Jeanne & Uncle Dick and then Auntie Bobbie (silver haired fox as my friend Rick calls her - Yes Rick, we will say a special hello to Auntie Bobbie for you!), Uncle Jon and my cousin Jennie, her husband Jai and their two boys J (4 days older than E) and baby M. We are very much looking forward to it - E will have fun with his cuzzies! and I will have fun at Target of course!! LOL.

Reunion

During my last 2 yrs of university, I had 3 housemates. Kerry, Liz and Margie. Since graduation in '94 (gulp), some of us stayed in touch and others not so much. But, in the last year or so we've all been in touch alot more. Kerry lived out in BC and moved back to ON I think 4 yrs ago...anyways, she got into the insurance biz (poor girl)and has moved closer to where the rest of us are located. We decided to have a reunion of sorts this past weekend at Kerry's townhouse she just bought last year in Waterloo. Margie, Liz and I drove up there on Saturday morning. We spent the afternoon shopping in St.Jacobs...its a quainty type/ mennonite type/cutesy shops kinda town. Highly enjoyable. OH, did I mention this was sans kids? Liz has 2 daughters 3 yr old and 2 yr old and is married to my ex's best friend. Margie is on the verge of being engaged (that is if Jones gets his act together, mans up and goes to Tiffany's soon!!), Kerry is single and of course I am the token divorcee with a son.

We had a fun time catching up, reliving the days at 196 Huron St in London. and of course the days at Brescia College (affiliate of Western - think we all transfered to main campus after 1st yr. Maybe Margie didn't?) Now, Brescia College is the ONLY college/uni of its type that is still in operation in North America. It is a girls only college (although some guys do take courses there - I think they like the odds of 10-1 female to male ratio). It is run by nuns. Each floor in the residence has a nun that lives there to "look after" the girls. Our nun was Sister Lorretta. She ran the whole residence, so therefore hand picked the girls she wanted to live on her floor > the quietest/most studious girls. Yes, I was on the nerd floor. Hard to believe given my vivacious/wild animal personality. I think Liz, Kerry, Margie,Jen Thrasher (Margie's roommate)& I were the wildest girls on the floor. Translation: we actually went out and had fun and didn't just study all the time! Oh and men/boys were not allowed in the residence AT ALL except for one sunday a month from 1:30pm-5:30pm. This included fathers, brothers, cousins etc. I KNOW!! It was a very odd place. Every Sunday morning at 9am poor Margie and Thrasher were awoken by the tolling of the church bells since their room was next to the bell tower. Wierdly, you did not have to be catholic to go to this school. Because I of course am a 'non religious' type. I'm sure enrollment has been down since the oh, I don't know 1960's! So they have to take all kinds to survive!! LOL. As you can imagine, many many funny stories to recall from living in the Nunnery. (as main campus people called us).

We had a great time shopping, then enjoyed a delish Thai meal at a local restaurant. Exhausted from shopping, we went back to Kerry's for a movie. Not a drop of alcohol was consumed. In bed by midnight. How things have changed since 1991!!

Thanks Kerry for being the hostess with the mostess!

Pink Eye strikes!

Phone call at 2pm on Monday : Hi Stephanie, it's Tanya from E's daycare, we need to you to come pick up E because we think he might have pink eye. Ugh. Then there was 1.5 hr of "waiting" (read of trying to keep a very active 3 yr old occupied in the waiting room without pissing off sick people waiting to see the dr.),at the clinic. When we finally got to the dr, he simply glanced at E and said, oh ya, thats pink eye allright. Then the 1/2 hr wait at Walmart for the prescription. E took off his shoes and socks and threw them out of the buggy. Good freakin God. Finally got home and after a time out in his bedroom for poor behaviour in Walmart that made mommy very upset, I put the drops in his eyes. 2 drops each eye 3 x a day for 7 days. The only way to get the eye drop job done is to lie him on the ground, put his head inbetween my legs, pin his arms under my legs and pry open his eyes which he has firmly closed. Of course he is screammmmming and kicking his legs around. Not even the promise of smarties can persuade this boy to let me put the drops in. Yeah, this is definitely going to mean 5 yrs of therapy for him as an adult!

His father picked him up at noon so I could go to work and tackle my 2 foot high paperwork. Insurance biz definitely is not paper friendly. Honestly, there is a tree worth of paper delievered to our office on a daily basis. I called E after work to see how he was> this was the conversation : "Hi E, Hi mommy, how are you baby, Good, mommy. What you doing mommy? I'm at work E, What you doing at work mommy? I'm processing policies. Why? Because people bought insurance from mommy. Coooool!!, mommy." Heh. if he only knew how uncool insurance was! But, at least I got a "cool" about my work. All I hear about is trains, trains, trains. His father is a conductor for CN Rail. And, to a little boy I guess that is the coolest job.

My eyes are itchy.....hope this is just 'sympathy' itch.

Bye Bye Summer?

E on the Labour Day weekend at the cottage. The weather was great on the friday, but was icky the rest of the weekend. :(
Went out last night for a friend of a friend's stagette. I didn't get picked up till 10:30pm! I almost didn't go out...I was so comfy in my jammies! Usually in bed by 10:30 , not going out at that time!! But, it was fun. As stagettes always are! We ended up at Joe Dog's on Brant St. They actually asked us for ID! We were all so happy. Most of the cliente were born in the 80's. GAWD. But, we were there kickn'er down till 1:30am!
E spend most of the afternoon throwing up. ick. Poor little guy...my poor couch. Yep, barfed ALL over it. I consulted a few people, then discovered the original invoice and ah ha! the "protection plan" for the couch! So, I called in a claim and they are going to send me a new cover for the one cushion in 8-12 weeks. After chatting with my neighbour Christiane, she advised she has a similar couch and had thrown the cushion cover in the wash on gentle after potty training incident years ago and it came out ok...Unable to stand the stench that was wafting in my family room from trying to "air out" the cushion, I threw the sucker in the wash. Looks ok now...just hang drying it. Fingers and toes crossed. Will see how it looks in the morning.
I have my bedroom and E's bedroom all rigged up with puke proofing. Towels on floors, mattresses covered with extra sheets. Hopefully, he sleeps thru the night without incident.
Oh, forgot to mention that I am 'babysitting' Jasper my parents black toy poodle. I think the babysitting is going to turn permanent tho as he doesn't seem to like his new digs at parents new highrise condo they just moved into downtown Burlington. soooo, after E threw up dirty Jazzy was in there eating it. GAWD. the smell was horrible I was near tears and almost threw up myself. Quite the scene.
I will leave you with that pleasant thought! Sweet dreams.

P.S E has said he wants to be a ghost for hallowe'en...any costume ideas? Besides the standard white sheet over kid.