I Rock

Somedays I just kinda feel like I rock. And today, was one of those days!
You know the feeling that you get when you make, fresh from scratch Corn Salad and then when you are done you CLEAN THE KITCHEN, all while your child is napping?

No? You don't know that feeling? Well I do know that feeling, and today, right this min, I feel like I rock.

This is going to be quick, my to-do list is waiting...

in this case of course, the to-do list mainly consists of Donovan waking up from his nap, and well the time between "hi I'm awake" to "COME AND GET ME RIGHT THIS INSISTENT MOTHER" is well, limited.

The rest of the to-do list? The get house ready to be sold, and get selves ready to travel across the country, is actually down to a manageable level. Which is good, because we leave on Friday.

So I don't really have a lot of exciting news to share with you all, unless you count things like:

- In washing the walls, I made an interesting correlation, Donovan is approximately two feet tall, and ALL dirt grim and finger prints, are approximately in the bottom two feet of wall space... humm.... makes you wonder!

- Putting the oven on "self clean" is only really useful if you actually WIPE OUT the over AFTER self clean is over. However, if the next day, you still have not wiped out said oven, and then say, cook a pizza and it over flows, well you will have to clean the oven all over again.

- Cleaning the house while the above mentioned two year old is awake, well it usually ends up dirtier then when you started cleaning in the first place.

Ok, that's it for now. I probably won't get to post while we are away, but rest assured, there will be pictures when I return.

Vrooommm Vrrrrooomm!!

I know I've said this a lot lately, but seriously, I cannot believe the changes in Donovan lately, he really is becoming a big kid.

Yesterday we got the package in the mail from Uncle Kurt and Auntie Shawna, and it was "Cars" themed. There was the movie (which he loves) and a car and then a package of Big Boy Underwear.

Today Donovan asked to put them on, so I told him that if he wore them he had to pee in the toilet (which he has been doing off and on for about 4 or 5 months now). So he put them on, and he looked down and saw the "Car" picture on his crotch, and well, what's a little boy to do but grab his crotch and say "VRROOOOM VROOOM!!" It was absolutely hilarious.

Of course, once he realized how "fun" one pair was, he had to have the other two that came in the pack put on too! So he then ran around with three pairs of underwear on!

And I am happy to report, that after the evening in nothing but big boy underwear, we are accident free! He went to the toilet twice!

Woooowhoooo!!! I think we are on the right track here!

There should be pictures with this post, but then I would have to go to the other computer...

So you may or may not be aware of this, but I have a two year old! How the heck did THAT happen?

We had Donovan's birthday party yesterday (Monday) and it was a great time. The weather was actually perfect, I was hoping for it to be warmer outside, but it turned out it was the perfect temperature, that we were able to keep the backdoor open, and the outside and inside temperatures were about the same!

We kept his party small this year, with only a few friends and family invited. It was great, it was a long day, and a busy day but great.

Last year I was "super mom" and made his cake from scratch (it was an elephant) and we bbq'ed burgers and hot dogs, and made salads, and well, did everything. This year, as we were flying home from Arizona, I was talking to Jamie about all that we had to get done in the next three weeks (the deadline being when we leave for PEI). We are putting the house up for sale, so we have all the work to do in order to get it ready for that, we are finalizing plans with the bank and the builder, and getting all that ready, so there are no delays to the start of construction, we are packing and getting ready for our trip, oh ya, and I'm still working both jobs and taking care of Donovan. So ya, we were going to be busy. Add in his party and Jamie said, "why don't you just order a cake for him this year?" and I thought, well that wasn't such a bad idea. Next I thought, "well if we are ordering cake, why not pizza too?"

So that's what we did. Bought a couple bags of chips for the table, ordered the cake (a super cute, and CHEAP race car cake, which Donovan LOVED) and ordered Pizza. It was easy, no stress, and most importantly, Donovan had a mom and dad "present" at his party and not stressed out about everything they had to "do".

There is so much competition among mothers out there to plan the perfect party, to make everything from scratch, and you better not ask for help. And you know what? None of it matters! Did anyone care that I wasn't the one to make the cake? Nope, not one of them! In fact everyone asked me where I ordered it from, so they could get their next cake there too! (Sobey's by the way, in case you were wondering) and the pizza, well I didn't hear any complaints, and there was only a couple pieces left over, so I guess that went over well too!

What matters most, is that we got to celebrate another year with Donovan. Another year together as a family, and look forward to the next year together. What mattered is the time we spent together.

Happy Birthday Little Man, I feel so blessed to be your mom, and can't wait to watch you grow over the next year!!

And by the way, the only thing terrible about two, is how terribly GREAT it is!

Phoenix

So, you may have noticed my absence last week? No? It's ok, my blogging hasn't been exactly regular these last few months (although I have been making an effort to blog more regularly, so you know, when you make the effort to click over here, there will actually be something new to check out).

Anyway.... last week Jamie, Donovan and I, took what would be his last free flight down to Phoenix (more specificlly Fountain Hills), Arizona to visit my parents at the vacation home they reciently purchased.

They bought this home last summer, and yes, it took them THIS long to convince us to go down there. You see, Phoenix was never on my "must go see list". For some reason I never really understood the big excitement about it. I thought it would be much better to go to Mexico for a week and relax at an all inclusive, or go to I don't know, there are a number of places Jamie and I have talked about, and Phoenix was never one of them.

That all changed when we got off the plane a couple Thursdays ago (my birthday actually) and felt that Hot Hot air on our skin (Jamie and I are both hot weather people), saw all the catus' and the rest of the beautiful environment, walked into my parents beautiful home, and then stumbled into the backyard to see this:

Of course, shortly after seeing that, we did this:

And we sat back, relaxed, enjoyed ourselves, and well, life was good.

And people, I am not lying when I tell you this, I am a Phoenix Convert. I LOVE Phoenix, and I can't wait until our next trip down there!

First a word or two about the weather. People, it was HOT, I'm talking +44'C (or 118'F) hot. And it was beautiful! The pool heater was turned off (obviously) and from just the heat of the sun, never dipped below 88' and most days stayed around 92' (one day it even got as hot as 97'). And it was WONDERFUL. We were in the pool, at least twice a day, and the first dip usually being somewhere between 6 and 8am, depending on what time Donovan got us up at, and how quickly we ate breakfast.

We spent most of our time around the house, which was perfect, as the intention of this trip was to relax and unwind. Jamie and I like to travel with no schedule, to get up in the morning and decide what to do that day. That by the way, drives my dad NUTS, and I think it almost killed him to not have a plan. So for his benift, we did make a tentive schedule, and would even go as far as to suggest what we might be doing the next day.

And on Sunday, that ment Jamie and I taking off in the morning on a little adventure.

(please note, these next few pictures are over exposed. Donovan dropped my camera onto the tile floor while we were down there. On inital inspection I thought just the UV lens had cracked, but after using the camera for about a day and a half, I realized there was some pretty serious damage done to the lens, which resulted in my loosing the last 35mm of the lens (it would no longer focus at that range) and also the sever over exposure of my pictures. I think a mechanisim jammed somewhere that caused the apature to be stuck at a wide open setting. Anyway, I really wanted to get this post up before things got too busy around here, so I haven't had a chance to photoshop these pictures into a better image. Also, after relaizing what had happened to my lens, I got a new one, so you won't have to put up with the crappy pictures for long).

Of course, we had to get a little shopping in, and I have been dying to get to a Carters Childerns outlet store for, well how old is Donovan? Two? Yes, well that's right, two years then! Being down in Phoenix, we finally had the oppertunity, and we made it to this one in Scottsdale. And people, it did NOT disapoint! Jamie and I had to practice some real restraint in this store, and even had to ban ourselves from the little girls section after getting our niece a couple shirts, had we kept looking, well she would have got an enitre new waredrobe.

That same day we decided to try to check out a boxing gym that was near by in Tempe. Unfortunatly the gym was closed, but since we had made the trip all the way over there, we thought we would drive around and check things out a bit. And we were THRILLED to find that ASU was mear blocks away from the gym!

We had a great time looking around the campus (or what we could see from it), only wish we weren't there on a Sunday, so a few of the buildings (read gift shop) would have been open!

Donovan took the liberty of learning how to swim while we were down there, which simply amazed us! I can't believe what a great water kid he is! I guess taking him to the pool when he was 9 weeks old started something! Becuase he absoultly LOVES the water. Every day he was larning something new, from just floating on his own, to doing the doggy paddle from one end of the pool to the other, to putting his head down and trying to swim (with eyes open under the water I might add) to LEAPING into the pool, he was absoultly GLOWING around the pool (and not just because we kept him covered in a layer of SPF70 sunscreen!)

Jamie and I also took another trip on our own to try to go to a boxing gym, that was, well you know, OPEN. And we were lucky enough to find the best gym in Phoenix, Central Boxing. It was a dream come true for Jamie to walk into the gym, and I almost had to drag him out by his ear to leave. It was the perfect boxing gym, both Professional and Amature boxers trained there, and Jamie was able to watch them train for a bit, to talk to the coach and Ms. Margret (who LOVED us) and to make some contacts. He is hoping to get down there to fight in the near future.

It was a wonderful week over all, and we can't wait to get down there again. Although somewhere along the line our baby turned into a little boy...

and I couldn't be more proud!

(also, I got to look at this all week, which wasn't so bad either....) ;)

(sorry, I just HAD to share that, lol)

Two Years

Two years ago today we became a family when Donovan was born.

Two years ago I learned that my heart could hold more love then I ever thought possible.

In two short years, he is growing up to be such a big boy. Swimming on his own.

Jumping into the water (sorry about the over exposed picture, my camera was dropped and the lens got jammed, and I haven't had a chance to photoshop yet).

And making our lives happier then we ever thought possible.

Happy Birthday Donovan! Love you and am SO proud of you!!!

Thunder Rolls

As I sit here typing this, Ruby the Brave is laying next to me, since the storm started about an hour and a half ago, she hasn't left my side.

Ok, that's not completely true. When the storm was rolling in (literally, you could see the front of the clouds rolling through) ((pic taken by a friend of mine of the storm tonight)

anyway, when the storm started to roll in, and I first heard the thunder, I left Donovan to splash in the bath, and walked over to the window (relax, he was in the bathroom that is attached to the bedroom, and the window was in the bedroom, so I could still see and hear him the whole time, it's not like I left him to bath alone and wondered away for hours) Ruby, walked in the opposite direction and curled up next to Donovan in the bathtub.

As I watched the first of the lightening strikes, the really scary kind, where there is sheet lightening mixed in with fork lightening (is it called fork lightening when it doesn't actually fork, but just goes STRAIGHT DOWN! ?) I realized the bath tub was probably not the best place for Donovan to be.

Much to Donovan's dismay, I scooped him out of the tub, (he tried to protest, that he wasn't done playing yet, of course he didn't actually SAY that, as you know, he still doesn't have many words) and I wrapped him in a towel. As I was wrapping him, a loud clap of thunder was heard over head and he perked up, "waszzz thaaa???" he asked as he looked around.

So sans diaper, I took my still somewhat damp boy over to the window so we could watch the storm unfold in front of us.

Donovan looked at the lightening and "ooooed" and then jumped to attention every time the thunder clapped with a big "wazzz thaaaa?" and we watched the storm together. He then looked at me like, "why have I never seen this before?" and I smiled.

Today wasn't exactly event filled, we didn't work on any crafts (other then his colouring book) and we never made it to the park, but today was a success, because today, today I got to experience a Thunder Storm with Donovan for the first time. And let me tell you, when you watch a thunder storm with an almost two year old, well you can't help but stop and realize how neat they really are.

"wazzz thaaaa????"

The World of Art

Yesterday, in a fit of what can only be described as insanity, I took Donovan to the art supply store to buy some "kid friendly" (ie, none toxic and WASHABLE) paint and supplies.

Today, to further illustrate that I am slightly delusional, I took my not quite 2 year old outside, and said, "Ok Buddy, LET'S PAINT!!" at which point he looked at me like I was crazy, but decided to stick around and tag along for the ride.

It didn't take very long before Donovan figured out what this whole "painting thing" was about, and well, I'm no art critic, but for a not quite 2 year old, I think he did pretty darn good!

(ok, he's not excatly smiling in these two pictures, but trust me, he had a great time!)

I of course had to include the picture of him back in the house, still covered in (now dry, thank goodness) paint, and much to busy to stop and take a bath, because he had to stop and well PLAY on the way up!

It was a great morning, and I had a ton of fun! Although the cement pad in the backyard, well the paint hasn't exactly washed off of that yet ;)

Also, if anyone is out there reading this and thinking about trying painting with a toddler, a few helpful hints...

1 - buy the pre-pressed canvas's. They cost a little more then paper, but if you get them on sale and stoke up, it will be well worth it. First, they are hard and stiff, and stay in place while the child is painting (unlike paper that just crinkles and floats away) and second, they are easy to store (don't crinkle) and make a great gift for grandparents, aunts, and uncles.

2 - buy the cheap brushes. Your kid isn't Vango, and they will treat the brushes terribly, so the cheap ones are all you need.

3 - make sure you get the washable paint... trust me, you will be happy you did.

4 - don't leave your camera unattended while you go put away the "masterpieces" because when you come back, your toddle will have his still wet and covered with paint hands all over your camera saying cute things like "cheese!" and trying to take a picture. And well, then you will have to clean up the camera and pray there was no permanent damage done!

5 - do it, go insane, buy the paints and have fun! It will be worth the mess!

Sunday Review

Friday marked two weeks since I got my tattoo, which meant I had the all clear to start "soaking" and "swimming" again. So Donovan and I took full advantage and went to the swimming pool today. It was a lot of fun, the two of us haven't been there in AGES, so it was a nice change to our routine. The only thing is, poor Donovan wants to be bigger then he is. He had a good time in the kiddie pool, but really wanted to go into the big wave pool (the waves weren't on yet though, which was too bad, because he LOVES the waves). The only problem with the big pool? Well Donovan didn't want to be held, he wanted to be able to walk around like he could in the kiddie pool. So it was a battle of wills, before I finally let go of him, and let his head go underwater (at which point I picked him back up!) that he realized he couldn't touch. We did get to the edge of the pool where he was contented to walk around at chest height (the kiddie pool only goes up to his waist when he is standing). But I could tell he REALLY REALLY wanted to dive right into the deep water with the bigger kids. I can tell this is going to be a trend with him, wanting to do things before he is physically big enough to, well you know, DO them.

We also stopped at the store to buy some finger paints, which I hope to try out tomorrow. I'll post the pictures, and let you know if we have success or not!

After his nap today we went to my sisters house, and walked to the park near by. The park itself was a little "big" for what Donovan could do. But he did enjoy sitting with me and my sister on the teter-tauter. But the really fun part, was the running around in the trees and grass. In the area of town that we live in, well there aren't many trees, and if there are trees, well they aren't that much bigger then Donovan, so to be in an area that had BIG HUGE mature trees, will Donovan thought that was just great.

So my favorite part of the day was watching Donovan run around in the grass, he is just so full of spunk and life and energy it is truly mind blowing.

Eight

The UV index was 8 today, which is crazy high. The actually temperature, well I'm not sure, but with an index like that, well it was HOT out.

After going to the park with Donovan an my sister, and him running around like a mad man, it was time to go home. On the way we stopped at the local deli to pick up some freshly stuffed chicken breasts, and well what do you know? They have a slush machine there, and we were ALL dying of thirst.

So I bought myself and my sister and slush, and got an extra straw for Donovan, with the intention of "scooping" him some slush on the walk home to tide him over.

And in what can only be classified as a "remember a couple years ago, when you said, I will NEVER let MY kid do THAT" moment, Donovan ended up walking home with his own slush, and Mommy? Well Mommy was happy to be granted the privilege of a sip every now and again.


************in other completely unrelated news:

It was a pretty good day over all, went to the gym this morning, and after the coke I just finished this evening, I have re-committed to my healthy eating plan. Summer is so hard for me not to snack, the hot weather makes me crave coke, and the long evenings just scream "eat eat eat". So tonight, I've declared to once again cut back on the snacking.

What I've Been Up To?

Friday I finally got my Mothers Day Gift. I've been talking about wanting a tattoo for over a year now, and this year for Mothers Day, Jamie got me an appointment (with in my opinion the best artist in town) and Friday was the day!

I was so pumped to get this tattoo, it means a lot more to me then just a flower tattoo. One of the meanings is that there are three flowers on the tattoo, each represents the three members of our family (me, Jamie and Donovan). The background bud represents the background of our lives, Ruby, and also the baby that we lost. For those of you that don't know, I had a very early miscarriage before we got pregnant with Donovan.

It also represents Strength. The past year I have come to realize how much inner strength I actually have, so this tattoo represents that to me as well. The strength is also a reminder to me because of where I got it. The ribs are one of the most painful places to get a tattoo, and sitting (laying) for this one for 3.5 hours definitely took every ounce of strength that I had.

So thank you Jamie for this amazing gift, I absolutely LOVE it! Can't wait for it to heal and I can start wearing a bra again! ;)

On the Go

A couple months ago I got a new cell phone, one of those fancy schmancy ones that lets you take pictures and upload them and stuff.

I thought I would share a few of the pictures we've taken while out and about.


Playing in the backyard. Donovan thought the bucket over his head was the funniest thing ever, walked around like that and everything!

While driving to Calgary we got behind this truck, kinda felt like there was a bunch of nuclear war heads in front of us
The other morning I woke up to a flat tire. The local tire place (at least the one that was closest to my house and I was able to get to) is inside a Sears. So these are the pictures I took while waiting for the tire to be changed.

Who says you have to BUY the toys to play with them?

Really? Is THAT many different colours of playdoh necessary? When I was a kid, we had four colours, red, blue, green and yellow, and we managed just fine. I'm just wondering what 3 year old, needs THAT many different colours to make a snake?

I'm thinking On the Go might be a new thing here, where every couple of weeks I will share a few of the photo's I take while life is happening.

Walking

Donovan and I took a walk around the block this afternoon, and then later this evening (after supper) we walked to the park.

Walking with an almost 2 year old, is well, very interesting. If you aren't the type of person that normally stops and smells the roses, well, you will be if you walk with a 1 year old.

Things we discovered today:

If you have rocks in your front/side yard instead of grass, you might as well have a sign that says "Please come and play in my yard". Or at least that's the way Donovan sees things.

Ants, are fascinating. Although you must be careful not to follow them onto the street!!

Rocks are even more fun when they are BIGGER. Watching Donovan try to pick up a bigger rock then he can carry, is very entertaining.

Little knees will get skinned, and there is nothing that a mommy can do about it. Well except for polysporn and bandaids before bed (and only before bed, because otherwise little fingers will pick off bandaids).

Just about everyone driving by, will wave, if a smiley toddler is waving at them (and Donovan waves at just about everyone).

Going down the slide is worthy of a standing ovation. A lot of standing ovations to kids at the park today. ;)