Archives for All About me category
Posted on Mar 18th, 10 at
1:42 pm under Family Life, My Life
18
Mar
Last week, Wilhelmina met her great-grandmothers. Last Wednesday, I picked up my father and went over to the nursing home his mom lives in to have lunch and spend a bit of time.
At 91 years old, she is a good shape physically, but with Alzheimer’s, her memory is slowly fading, but it isn’t gone yet. Being in the nursing home has helped her immensely these last few years.
My father didn’t tell her we were coming, so she was very happily surprised when we showed up in the dining hall… We ate lunch and then went up to her room and talked I was happy to see her and bring a smile to her face.
my dad was also very happy to meet his new granddaughter…
A few days later, on Sunday, my mom came to visit with her mom…
The last time my grandmother had come here was just before her surgery for stomach Cancer last November.The surgery went well, they took out 3/4 of her stomach and she has been recuperating since… she has lost weight and had pneumonia last month but is feeling better and is trying to gain her weight back…
She was very excited to meet her great-granddaughter…
My grandmother and my mom…
One thing that we wanted to do was to get a picture with the four generations of Women. We had a similar picture taken when I was a baby in my great-grandmother’s arms with my mom on one side and my grandmother on the other…
Then I asked the boys to come in the picture with us and surprisingly they all came without hesitation…
A picture I will always cherish…
I had a very special relationship with my great-grandmother when I was a child and a young teen. She was an amazing woman and I loved being with her and went to see her as often as I could, which was almost everyday in the year before she died. I am so grateful that my grandmothers are both still around, and I hope that as my children grow they will know their “greats” and have a relationship with them that they can remember also…
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Posted on Jan 28th, 10 at
11:55 pm under Breastfeeding, EC (Elimination communication), My Life
28
Jan
Wow… I am in love…
Not only do I love my new little girl, but seeing her brothers love just makes my heart melt. The boys are completely amazed and enamored by her… they want to kiss her, hold her, touch her…
Xavier spent at least an hour holding her hand and looking at her while she slept the day she was born..
Colin had to come kiss her at least once every 15 min..
Khéna is just in awe and wants to stay close and always wants to hold her…
Khéna is also adapting to being a big brother amazingly well… I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about how he was going to take not being the baby of the family anymore… having to share mama with someone who needs her more, losing his coveted place in the family bed in front of mama… having to share his “Maju”… but he showing me that I was wrong to be nervous… he is taking it better than I would have hoped for, he is so proud to be a big brother!
My mom came by today to bring me a chicken she cooked this morning so we can make some sandwiches with and she left with Colin and Xavier and brought them to where she is saying near the cabin for two nights… the boys wer excited to go and honestly having the house be a bit more quiet will be nice… Khéna would have wanted to go also but it isn’t the best time, so instead he is doing special things with Daddy alone which he thinks is a great alternative…
As for life with baby… she is amazing… her first night was a bit rough until she had a big poop at around 2am and then finally she relaxed and slept… nursing about every 3 hours or so until morning and then throughout the day… she reminds me so much of Colin as a baby.. she looks like him also, the resemblance is quite amazing..
It was because of Colin that I tried EC for the first time.. he hated being wet, even for a second and would get worked up inconsolably… so letting him potty somewhere else than a diaper was exactly what he wanted and needed…
With Khéna we started when he was 4 days old…when the meconium poos were finished… this time I was hesitating on doing the same, but after seeing her reaction to having a BM and being in it for a few minutes, it reminded me so much of Colin that I decided to try right away… and she has been dry all day… she gives a clear signal that she needs to go and the within a few seconds of putting her over the potty bowl she eliminates… she does cry for a few seconds before going but once she lets go, she stops crying immediately and is quiet and content again… though I have seen it before, it is amazing to see how natural it comes…
I have also fell in love with the prefold belt that I bought… and I am going to be sewing up some of my own very soon… it is such a simple concept but makes things so much easier and it looks so much more comfortable than any newborn diaper cover or diaper that I have tried on my babies…
Wilhelmina is also an amazing nurser… her latch was perfect from the start and she is efficient and just so easy to nurse… my milk is coming in also and it amazing to hear her gulp and drink and be content…
As for me, I lost a little more blood than I would have liked yesterday but I am feeling better today… still a little weak, but better… I am also in pain all over my body… my SPD is better but labour was rough and my body is definately feeling the consequences of that… All I can tell myself is that everything will be better soon…
And Simon… well he is still tired from the night I laboured and is doing so much for everyone and is being an amazing husband and father… I think he is feeling a bit overwhelmed and stretched out but he is taking it in stride… I think that having the older boys with my mom for the two nights will make things easier for him also.. he is also happy to be starting his paternity leave which gives him until August before returning to work…
So, yes, we are all in love and enjoying life with a newborn… It is amazing… she is amazing…
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Posted on Sep 15th, 09 at
9:55 am under My Life, Pregnancy and Birth
15
Sep
Things around here have been quiet…
The summer was busy, but not too much but it feels good to start back into a normal routine again… My aversions seem to be going away and though there are still a lot of things that don’t look appetizing, I can eat more meals that I make, which in turn gives me a little more inspiration to cook. Lately I have been going through the freezer and using the food that we have in our meal plans…
I am trying to get our food costs down but I find it hard. I can spend a lot less for a week or two but then have to spend a lot more the next week in order to replenish a lot of our staples. So basically things spending the same amount when you make the average.
But, we are using more things up which is good.
My energy is also seeming to come a back a bit… I swam a bit last week and would like to go again tonight… Swimming normally (crawl) feels great but only if I don’t use my legs much… when kick with my legs I get contractions and it doesn’t make swimming that comfortable. Having more energy also means that again, cooking is easier, making bread on a regular basis and getting some more cleaning done in the house… Simon has been working a lot on the downstairs lately. We have a bit of a mold problem, it is not in the walls or black mold but looks more like a grey dust on the walls and on a few pieces of furniture. We bought a dehumidifier and that seems to help with the humidity and Simon has been taking everything out and cleaning it, moving furniture etc and a lot of things are not going back were they were before… instead being bagged and either headed to the garbage, recycling or for donation.
Last week I made a new friend… I feel like a kid when I think about it… she just opened a little Maternity store in town where she sells motly local baby products including cloth diapers and soon wraps and slings etc… though she doesn’t homeschool we have so many other things in common and it feels great to be able to meet and talk to someone in the area…
I have also made a decision about the local group and will not be going back. A few things happened and were said at the last meeting that were the last straw for me. I might still do a few activities on the outside with the group but I won’t do much more than that… I will try though to go with the other further groups a bit more often.
So life continues… the leaves are changing and fall is arriving and soon things will start going faster as January approaches… It is still a bit of a shock to think that we will be adding another little life to our brood… scary and exciting at the same time…
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Posted on May 11th, 09 at
5:11 pm under My Life
11
May
My mom has been here and it has been a real challenge to just do things that I am used to doing… and I feel that I can’t even get away and be alone because she is staying in my sewing room which is “my” space… when ever I start to write at the computer she talks and I can’t write or even concentrate…. so I haven’t been able to write the last few days and it is crazy because I feel that I have so many things to write about…
The Orgasmic Birth Viewing that I went to last week that was amazing…
Recipes I have tried…
update on my vanilla…
and the new bike that I am getting (tonight!!!)…
Anyway… I will be back soon to write more… she should be leaving tomorrow…
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Posted on May 10th, 09 at
6:30 pm under My Life
10
May
So, Simon and I went out for a date night for the first time in many years and I have to say that it was a lot of fun to eat without being interupted… We left home by Taxi at about 5:45 for our 6pm reservation at one of my favourite restaurants in our area.
An Entrée….
and a great supper to share…
and of course great company…
After supper we went to my other favourite place to eat which also serves desserts and special coffees….
Then we headed out for a walk… it was supposed to rain but it turned out to be a beautiful evening and we were able to see the sun set on the St-Laurent River…
By 9:30 we were ready to head home… though we were not out for long it was long enough for us…
When we got home, Khéna was sleeping and Colin and Xavier were still up… I nursed Colin and he fell asleep soon after a Xavier hung out with Simon for while until he fell asleep…
Though it was great (and a bit calmer) to be out and alone with Simon, I have to say that it wasn’t more special then when we have a date home at night when the kids are asleep or even when we go out as a family… It might have been years since we hadn’t gone out but there was nothing that we were missing…
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Posted on May 8th, 09 at
11:25 am under My Life
8
May
I got married…May 8th 1999… what an amazing day…
I can’t believe that it has already been 10 years… Simon and I met at a BBS GT (Bulletin Board System Get Together) in the park… we had never really exchanged words on the BBS but when we met something special formed…
I invited him to my birthday (I was turning 18!!!) at a pub I liked to hang out at with friends and found out that he had come from far away so I offered our pull out bed for him to sleep on that night… the next day we hung out all day at the old port on Montreal… forgoing food… just talking for about 10 hours until he had to head home…
Soon after we became a couple and never looked back… The next year I headed off to school in Brandon, Manitoba and I came back after one semester to be with Simon again… and a few months later we were getting married..
I had never wanted to get married when I was young but when I met Simon and fell in love I knew that I wanted nothing less…
My mom is here from BC, I went and got her on Tuesday night and she will be watching the boys tonight while we have our first date night in almost 7 years… the first time we leave the 3 boys and head out together…
wow… 10 years… I can’t believe it!
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Posted on Apr 26th, 09 at
6:18 pm under My Life, Unschooling
26
Apr
Yesterday was the AQED/QAHBE (Quebec Association for Home-Based Education) Symposium…
I had avoided going the last years because there was not much that interested me in the presentations that were offered, but this year I decided to take a chance and go. I am happy that I did so…
We left in the morning at about 6am and got there at about 7:15 and we were in the first arrivals… there was an intro and then the presentations started…
The first I went to was called “Eco-Education” and was basically about the language around homeschooling and about how the word “homeschooling” misrepresents the act by giving the impression that it is “school at home” when it is so much more (or even not close at all to that model in the case of unschooling). The words of “Eco-Education” in this situation doesn’t take on the meaning of ecological (though they can be intertwined) but takes on the meaning of “eco” as representing our “habitat”… our environment etc…
The second one was on “unschooling”… lol… I actually ended up taking a bit and I am glad I did… I had mentioned when I presented myself that I was an unschooler and that I was there to mingle with other unschoolers… and soon after we left the room I was aproached by a woman who presented herself and her partner and we ended up talking for an hour or two about unschooling and eating lunch together… it was really great to meet them and I hope that we can keep in touch because they were great people whom I would love to know more… Sadly they live far away but I hope that there will be other ways to keep in touch…
I also met a cool homeschooling mama that came all the way from NB to meet other French homeschoolers…
After lunch there was a seminar but I ended up ditching it and talking with another couple that are in the other homeschooling group that I go to at times and we ended up talking for another hour about unschooling and kids and family life etc…
It was really refreshing to be around so many like-minded people…
In the afternoon I went to two other presentations…
One was on Waldorf and I kind of regret going to that one… though I went to a walforf school when I was young, I did not see it at all in the same way as was described…
The last one was on a theory called Parent-Guide, Parent-Complice, which turned out to be a really cool presentation about parenting… many of the things presented in the book reminds me about a little bit of “Hold onto your kids” mixed in with “Playful Parenting” with a little bit of “NVC” thrown in… among other ideas that seemed pretty interesting…
After, I met with my friends and we headed out for supper and we had a great time eating and sharing before finally heading home at about 9pm…
Anyway… I am really happy to have been there and I had a lot of fun and I am honestly looking forward to next year…
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Posted on Mar 15th, 09 at
10:18 am under My Life
15
Mar
We got to sleep in this morning… the boys were up a bit before us but Simon and I got to stay in bed and sleep for a little while longer… though I would like another little one one day I am really enjoying that they are growing up and are able to take care of themselves a bit more… even if it just gives us an hour more of sleep….
The last few days have been busy…
Thursday was Simon’s birthday… so I cleaned… made Burrito’s and baked a cake and helped the boys make cards etc…
On friday, Simon took the day off and I decided to go do some shopping in Montreal and to make things easier for Simon and have a little one on one time I brought Xavier with me…
First stop was to find a tripod, then we walked around a bit and I bought some PJ’s and a new sweater… then we headed to a little comic book/figurine store and Xavier picked something out for himself and I picked somthing out for Colin…
I was so mad when I got back to the car and I had gotten a parking ticket… I will be contesting it because I was really not at fault… I was parked in space 351, I had paid for space 351 and I still had an hour left… and I got a ticket for space 350… ( I had my camera on me so I took pics and I have the receipt)… It seems that the city of Montreal is really looking for money…
After, we got in the car and headed out for lunch.. I couldn’t find a space near the restaurant I wanted to go to so we headed to Shwartz’s for the best smoked meat you could ever eat… Xavier had having a blast…
After that we went to a little deli next store and picked up some sausages, cheeses and some hot sauce for Simon… and then headed to my friend Gen’s house to see her and the babes and bring some Leftover vegetable korma that I had…The babies are getting so big and Gen is looking great!
After that we headed back off Island and I headed to Ares Kitchen supplies… I hadn’t known that there was one right near the mall I usually go to but saw it when I visited their site… OMG… it is like the Toys R Us of kitchen supplies… I found exactly what I needed and saw many more things I wanted… that place is going to be dangerous!
It was late, so we picked up a bagel and headed home…
Then yesterday we woke up to Khéna vomiting… then we cleaned the house a bit then I went out for groceries and Simon’s mom, sister and a friend came over for the afternoon… we ordered Pizza and talked and played the Wii… it turned out to be a better visit then I would have thought..
Khéna is still sick though… throwing up and now diarrhoea…
Anyway… today we are all relaxing, the housework is pretty much done and we are just crossing our fingers that it doesn’t spread…
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