5k Run

A friend of mine arranged a 5k run for our branch in Lloydminster.  She did a great job.  It was a good challenge for me and we all had fun.  I definitely need to continue to shape up.... but it was easier then I thought it would be (especially with forgetting my inhaler).  Ian kept up a good pace as well and was ahead of me into the 4th lap (don't worry, I beat him :).  I look forward to doing it again next year and plan to improve on my time (which was not great so I am not divulging it).

Cora also came for the weekend and did all the work pushing the girls around the course.  It was fun to have Hailey cheering me on when I ran into the finish!

it's just hard!

I have a really hard time listening to people say things are 'so easy' when I find them SO hard! 

Our life experiences are all so different.  No 2 people experience this life exactly the same as another and we also have all come to this Earth with different skills, talents and abilities.  I remind myself of this everytime I hear about someone experiencing things really easy, or really hard.  I hear daily of families struggling with loss, illness, accidents and evils inflicted by others.  My heart breaks for them.... and I know I couldn't even begin to cope with such tragedies (though I know I can't escape them forever).

I'm sure my 'issues' with hearing of others 'easy going' lives all have to do with pride (or most likely jealousy).  I'm working on it.  I'll try not to hate you for your happiness ;)

Potty Training

Uhg....

You're right!  Keeping Hailey is diapers was easier ;)  Potty training is NO fun....

Hailey is fairly co-operative and has been pretty good 'training'.  She has wanted to go potty and wear panties and (once she was ready) hasn't refused to go.  Yes there have been accidents of both varieties (which I would rather clean up than puke) but that isn’t the frustrating part.

It is the constant back and forth to the toilet, no matter what you were in the middle of.  It is the waiting and checking and reading and waiting.  It is the running out of the bathroom with poop on her bum/hands telling me that she pooped and I should come see…. Most of all it is the new ‘excuse’ to get out of bed that I can’t refuse her because she is learning to control her body (even if she really doesn’t have to go and just wants out of bed).  That is what makes me snap!

I am so proud of Hailey!  She tells me when she needs to go (most of the time), she stays dry through naps and nighttime and she loves her big girl panties!

We aren’t past accidents yet and that is okay.  She will get there and in the meantime I am trying my best to remain patient with the 300% increase in daily bowel movements.

Photo Challenge

April Week 3 - Easter

Our Easter was pretty hap-hazard this year.  Our family was all sick, both the girls had croup and I had whatever they would call the adult version of the same thing!!!  We were in Edmonton visiting my parents for the holiday and we ended up with our baby Quinn at the Children's Hospital in emergency.  She was really struggling to breathe Saturday night and needed some immediate assistance.  Luckily we didn't have to wait at all (5am) as the emergency was empty.  We got in quick but were there for 6 hours as Quinn recieved steriods and a couple breathing treatments.  Amidst it all we did manage a little easter egg hunt for Hailey (of which I snapped some really lame 'egg hunt' pictures) and made Hailey's first snowman ever (with Edmonton's most recent dump of snow).  I was still glad we went.... if for no other reason but to be able to take Quinn to a Children's Hospital instead of the Lloydminster Emergency.

Here is our snow family!  I'm apparently the large chested one with the pink scarf looking the other direction (it is a very false representation now since I stopped nursing a few weeks ago).

Photo Challenge

April Week 2 - Dad and kids

I'm a bit behind so I will post 2 today.

Ian loves to be out working in the garden (he gets this from his Mom).  Since it is only April and we won't be planting our garden till it's warm enough (May long weekend probably) he has started from seed some tomatoes and zucchini's in the house.  They have been growing crazy fast and have already been re-potted 3 times.  Hailey just loves to help out and care for the plants.  "More growing" she says.

Quinn desperately wants to be a part of everything but is still too young for planting.

Chariot

The weather has turned and spring is here, or within sight ;)  We have no snow left on the ground but that doesn't mean we are done with the white stuff.  'Spring' in Alberta is such a tease... really I would say we don't really have spring.  It generally goes from winter straight to.... okay, maybe we don't have summer and we just get spring really late.  It is all so unpredictable.  Whatever the weather we have begun to emerge from our home and get outside to play.  It has been so rejuvenating.

We purchased a used chariot last weekend and have already used it numerous times (though we have yet to strap it to a bike).  It is so easy to push around even with both girls in it.  A huge improvement from our ‘tank’ of a double stroller.

Hailey has been really enjoying the freedom she now has, running a bit further from Mom and playing in the backyard by herself as I watch from the window.  She wants to do everything by herself.  I am trying to be patient as that means everything takes a million years longer ;)  She has gotten so grown up, so fast.  With only her third birthday coming this summer I feel like she is already 5 years old (with the attitude and all), but she really is such a sweet girl.  She may not always like to share her toys with her sister… and she may not always poop in the toilet but she is so full of love.  She looks out for Quinn constantly and loves to laugh with her.  She sets the table for us and says the most beautiful prayers.  I cry every time she speaks her sweet words to our Heavenly Father.  She brings the spirit into our home and reminds me daily that I need to be a better Mom.

Quinn is crawling all over the place.  She has abandoned the army crawl for the more efficient hand/knee crawling.  She is trying to climb up on everything and has the funniest personality.  When we tell her ‘no’ she looks up at us with her chin raised really high and her bottom lip out in a huge pout…. She waits till we laugh (because it is seriously so cute and I can’t help but laugh) and then laughs herself and tries to do what we told her she couldn’t again.  She is such a charmer!  She is super tolerant of everything and has been from the start.  She could wait so long to eat before she got upset and can take a good knock without getting upset.  She says ‘dad’, ‘baa baa’ and ‘uh uh’ (uh oh).  We just love her to bits.  I can’t believe she will be 1 in just 5 weeks.

Ian and I are off to Las Vegas in May for our 5^th anniversary.  It is the first trip away without the girls and we are both SUPER excited.  I know I will miss my girls but I also won’t miss them :)  It is definitely time for a break.  I don’t know how anyone can have children closer together than 21 months apart.  It has been ‘all baby’ for the last 2.5 years and it was hard with a non-sleeper and really sick pregnancies.  I’m looking forward to our planned ‘break’ and hope that no ‘surprises’ pop up in the next 2 years!

*Mom you are seriously amazing to have had 6 kids when you were my age… good heavens, that would have killed me!

We are so blessed and need to show our gratitude more everyday.  It is a constant struggle to truly be a ‘good person’ (at least for me – I can’t speak for Ian).

Photo Challenge

My friend Rhonda introduced me to this project (that one of her friends started), to take a new photo each week of a different aspect of our life.  The main goal of these photos is to show what our life is really like.... this means no cleaning up, dressing children or wiping dirty faces before clicking away.
 

Week one is a room in your house (or today your 'home away from home')

April Week One - Grandma's House

This is actually Grandma's backyard.... and that is Grandpa with Hailey!  We traveled to my parents for Easter this past weekend.  The girls love it and Hailey is a huge 'Grandma addict'.  As usual the girls both got sick right before we went (they are sick EVERY single time we go there - my brother doesn't believe they are ever healthy). This time it was croup.... and both got pretty bad.  Quinn had strider (narrowed airway with great difficulty breathing) which scared me pretty badly and we took her to the Stollery Children's Hospital to help her breathe easier.  Steriods, 2 breathing treatments and 6 hours later we were released.  Hailey's fever returned the same day and I am pretty sure she has an ear infection as well (these happen far too often, I am seriously considering tubes in her ears).  We are off to the Dr. this afternoon to check that out.

In the midst of the illnesses there were some fun moments.  Hailey had another uncontested Easter Egg hunt (she will have to fight Quinn off next year).  Ian and myself went to see Hunger Games... I'm not sure yet how I feel about it  (I have not read any of the books) and Hailey built her FIRST snowman.  Yes it may be a little sad that this is her 3rd winter and she had yet to build a snowman, go sledding or skating.  We will do the sledding and skating next year.... but it is pretty obvious I am not a winter person and even the thought of bundeling them all up, dragging them through the snow for 5 minutes before Hailey is already crying is not my idea of enjoyable.  I will be happy to take her out to play when she can walk through the snow by herself and pull her own sled!  (thank heaven it is spring).

We did have both girls out a few times this weekend for the cold air to help their croup.  Now we are back home in Lloydminster, I am sick with a  sore throat and sinus congestion, Ian is 'in charge' at work as both of his bosses are gone on vacation and the girls are frequently resting to pass by yet another illness.


When is nap time?