A Break

I have decided to take some time away from the internet for a while to personally regroup and reorganize my life and priorities. I will not be online for the month of December. I will write up some posts this weekend and post-date them so that there will still be one post a week, not that it really matters, but I want this blog to still seem somewhat alive. However I will not be reading any other blogs or be able to reply to any comments until January. Sorry for any inconvenience (LOL!).

Lately I have just been spending too much time online and not enough time with my family and taking care of my house. The internet is my "escape" from life, my drug of choice, if you will. I have been going through some difficult times personally this week, and I just need some serious introspection time to figure out where some of the issues that have been coming up in me are coming from. I need to force myself to deal with my issues instead of just escaping to the computer. I also need to eliminate this distraction so I can get my life and house in order.

I need a new game plan for my life. I need to find some sort of routine that works and doesn't just fall apart after a month or so. I need to find a way to meet my own needs that are currently being neglected, so that I can be a better wife, mother and friend.

I will be back in January, hopefully refreshed and full of great ideas and funny stories for you. I know I need to continue writing, and blogging seems to be the only way I can consistently do it.

Thank you for reading! I hope everyone has a wonderful December, a lovely Christmas, a happy New Year, and I will see you on the flip side!

Turkey!

Soooo.... I know today is Thanksgiving for many of you. I am a big fan of Thanksgiving, so even though we celebrated back in October, I decided to make turkey today to celebrate alongside my American friends. And because I found a slow-cooker recipe I wanted to try. = )

Here it is:

Slow-Cooker Turkey Breast with Orange Sauce

1 Large Onion, Chopped
3 Cloves Garlic, Minced (I used half a big bulb, I love garlic)
1 tsp Dried Rosemary (I never measure, I just pour until it looks right)
1/2 tsp Black Pepper (again, I just shake until I'm happy)
1 Boneless, Skinless, Turkey Breast (2-3 pounds/0.9-1.4 kg)
1 1/2 cups Orange Juice

1. Place chopped onion in 4.5 (or +) quart slow-cooker.

2. Combine garlic, rosemary and pepper in a small bowl, set aside.

3. Cut slices about 3/4 of the way through the turkey breast at 2 inch intervals. Rub garlic mixture between slices (and I sprinkled the remainder on top of the breast).

4. Place turkey, cut side up, in the slow-cooker on top of the onions.

5. Slowly pour the orange juice over the turkey (so that all surface area, including in the slices is covered, but the garlic mixture is not washed away).

6. Cook on low 7-8 hours. Serve sauce from slow cooker with the sliced turkey.

Makes 4-6 servings.

I hope it turns out well! It's cooking right now and smells SO good! My landlords upstairs must hate me, I always make such good-smelling food. I am also going to make garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing (from a box, don't get too excited), gravy (from a package again...) and vegetables. Mmmm.

Breakthrough Discovery!

Look! A genuine mountain man in his natural habitat. It has been recently discovered that mountain men often wear their young. After extensive observation, it is believed that this practice serves a dual purpose. It is partly to relieve his mate, and allow her to chase after older children, while also hauling precious sustenance in the form of hot chocolate and cookies. It also causes the female to continue to be exceedingly attracted to him, thus ensuring the continual production of offspring. This is a fascinating discovery, that is sure to impact other species of men as they realize the immense benefits of the practice.

Happy Birthday Judith!

Happy Birthday to the beautiful little girl who made me a mama.

A sneak peak from the inside (18ish weeks I think?).



A couple weeks before she was born (in Australia).



Freshly squeezed out.



A few days old.





One month old, Christmas day!



Two months old.



Three months old, and feeling 'cold' for the first time, as we moved back to Canada.



Six months old.



Eight months old.



One year old! She started walking exactly on her first birthday.



Eighteen months old.



Two years old!



Two and a half, hanging out with her new brother.



THREE YEARS OLD!





You can read Judith's birth story here, if you like.

I love my little girl! The last 3 years have gone by so quickly. Thank you, Judith, for teaching me how to be a mama, and showing me who I really am.

Back (Car)Seat Driver

Today on the way to the naturopath I ended up behind a big truck on the highway that was going kind of slow, so the cars in the other lanes were whizzing past us, and Judith kept telling me "Go faster, Mommy! We gotta catch those cars!"

Then we hit construction, of course, and she asked "Are we stuck???" After a few minutes of being basically parked in traffic, Judith started whining and wanted out of her carseat. I asked her why, and she replied "I'M GOING TO WALK!!!!"

Road rage starts early, I guess.

I Heart My Slow Cooker

I got a recipe book for slow cookers last Sunday when we had a big outing to the mall, and it has made my week wonderful. I have been SO busy this week, but my dinners have been AWESOME and it's nice not having to rush around in the afternoon and try to get supper together on time while dealing with the kids' issues and my own tiredness. I have more time in the mornings anyway, and it's less stressful doing food prep then. My landlords upstairs must hate me though, jealous of all the wonderful smells that flood the entire house all day as it cooks. It is so great coming home from a long day out and smelling dinner already cooking though!

I am so feeling the slow cooker love!

Oh Wheeeere is my Chop Chop?

Last week one night I had this weird feeling that something was wrong. Judith was already asleep, and Gideon was fine. But where was Chop Chop? The house was completely trashed, because it was when I had the flu, so he could have been anywhere. It made me nervous, thinking that he might be hiding under something and accidentally get stepped on. Dave assured me that he was fine and was probably sleeping somewhere. I looked around a little bit before I went to bed, but then gave up and hoped that Dave was right. I put some food in his dish in case he woke up in the night.

The next morning I got up, and was so unbelievably stiff from being sick! But I couldn't stop thinking about the cat. I noticed that Chop Chop's food was untouched, and alarm bells were definitely going off in my head. I started going through everything. I completely tore apart Judith's room. But he was nowhere to be found. Then I started going through things in the living room, trying not to freak out. I was calling him, and finally heard a little mew. "At least he's alive!" I thought. I could not, for the life of me, find him though! I was getting really frustrated. The sound was coming from Judith's room I was almost certain, but I had looked through everything, even the closet!

I finally got Judith to be quiet enough so I could pinpoint the location of the meowing. I opened Judith's sock drawer... and there he was. Poor thing! I was SO mad at Judith! Chop Chop had been in there for 12-15 hours! As if she would put him in there and leave him! Fortunately, he hadn't peed or pooped. But boy was he hungry! He was also in a really bad mood for a while, understandably. Judith got quite the talking to, but I don't know if she really understands.

It seems as though Chop Chop has forgiven Judith though, he is currently cuddling with her on the couch.

Big Prospects

As I was getting Gideon dressed the other morning, Judith asked me if she could watch Dora. I am not a huge fan of The Dora, so I often try and suggest something else. This was our conversation...

J: Mommy, I need to watch Dora!
K: Wouldn't you rather conquer the world instead?
J: Yeah!
(pause)
J: Can I bring my juice box?

Ah, the mind of a child.

Then she proceeded to get dressed, got her boots on and was raring to go. Whoops. She settled for colouring at least. It's best to make detailed plans before embarking on such an expedition anyway, right? I felt bad, but honestly I just wasn't up for world domination.

The next day I guess Judith was getting cabin fever (from me being sick), so she came up to me while I was on the computer and said:

J: Mommy, get some regular pants on! (I was wearing my pj bottoms).
K: Why?
J: So we can go to the van!
K: Why?
J: So we can go on an ADVENTURE!!!!
K: Where?
J: To....... an ADVENTURE!

She was so sweet and eager, so I told her that after Daddy came home and we had supper we'd go on an adventure (she must have still been set on conquering the world). So we conquered the grocery store. Baby steps...

It will be interesting to see where she ends up in life.

Cute Video

I hope Judith comes up with fun stories like this some day.


Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.


Judith does like to make up stories with her toys, but usually it's only one or two scenarios that she plays over and over... And she often just copies scenes from her favourite shows, which makes me cringe. I read an article in the latest Mothering magazine about preschools in Europe that are completely outdoors, no matter what the weather, and how the kids have a better true creative ability when they are able to play in the forest all day as opposed to watching videos and being bombarded with familiar characters all the time. It breaks my heart because I can see that it's true. But it's so hard in our culture to avoid it. The tv is almost always on in my house, and it's usually for Judith. We have a small apartment, and sometimes it's all I can do for my sanity. Judith doesn't seem to be able to just play on her own.

I wish we at least had a back yard where she could play outside. We go to the park, but it's hard for me to hold Gideon and try to play with her, and also to simply keep her away from the roads. I go because Judith needs it, but it is stressful for me and takes a lot of effort. I grew up out in the country surrounded by forest, and I did have a wonderful imagination. Not that you HAVE to have a forest to be creative, but honestly it helps. Any little tidbit of nature helps, I think. I used to play outside a lot. I wish I could give my children that same kind of environment to grow up in...

Sick...

The last two days have been so horrible for me! Judith had the flu Friday night and Saturday, and then yesterday around 1pm I got it full-force. I am only just now starting to feel better. Last night I was in so much pain I honestly thought I was going to die. It was way worse than childbirth! I was only able to sleep for about 5 minutes at a time, and probably got no more than 2-3 hours total. I was throwing up several times an hour, and on the toilet every 15-20 minutes. I would not wish that on anyone!

All I wanted to do today was sleep, but of course the kids wouldn't let me. I tried napping several times, only to have one or both kids "desperately" need me. It is so hard being a sick mama!

It didn't help that Judith was really excited to watch me puke every time as well. Friday night was the first time she had ever thrown up, and she got good at using the bucket. So then when it was my turn, she would stand over me and watch and cheer me on, saying "You spit like me, Mommy!" What a special child...

When Dave got home from work today he let me nap for about 3 hours, and kept the kids away. He even did the dishes for me! I really hope he doesn't get sick...

Free Rice

Support the UN World Food Program by playing this educational game! Every correct answer provides 20 grains of rice to a starving person.

www.freerice.com

Vote!

I'm sure everyone is sick of the word "vote" by now and is glad this whole election business is over (or am I the only one?). But I have something totally different for you to exercise your voting abilities on, since you're all warmed up.

I recently submitted my breastfeeding story (the one I posted a little while back) to a collection in-the-making and it was selected to be a part of the book ‘Just Call Me Daisy: A Breastfeeding Mothers Story’. It would be really cool if the book got published, I think this kind of book would be helpful to new and prospective mamas. It would also be really awesome for me personally to know that words I have written would be sitting on a bookshelf somewhere.

The book was created through webook.com, and you can go here (http://www.webook.com/vote) to vote. The top 10% of book proposals based on the voting will be published. I think you need to have an account to vote, but it's simple to sign up and it's actually a really cool little writer's community. The book my story is in is currently on the 4th page, again it's called ‘Just Call Me Daisy: A Breastfeeding Mothers Story’. Please vote for us! = ) Or if you don't like it please leave constructive criticism. It could always be edited and resubmitted later for voting again. Some of the other books up for voting on are pretty cool too.

Thanks!

And Then There Were Two...

Teeth!

Toothie #2 popped through on Monday. Gideon is officially no longer allowed to chew on my finger. He had better behave as far as nursing goes! Especially when the top teeth come in too...

He's pretty proud of his teeth, I guess it's one step closer to getting that steak he's been fantasizing about...

Chop Chop

So, Judith decided to name the kitten Chop Chop. Although depending on her mood, she also calls him Kitty and Squishy.



She always did like Chinese food...