Judith's To Do List

Today I was making up a big to-do list to try once again to start getting the house organized and de-cluttered. Of course Judith was orbiting me the entire time, as usual. Then she decided that she needed to come up with her own to-do list. She dictated her list to me and asked me to write it down. Here it is:

~Do an experiment with purple cabbage.

~Find out which things sink or float.

~Draw pictures that are THE BEST.

~Mommy have 10 more babies.

~Paint pictures that are also THE BEST.

~Draw a picture of our family.

~Make paper flowers.

~Paint a very cool picture that is purple with Gideon and Mommy.

~Make paper birdies.

~Learn about different birds and colour them.

~Make lots of new stuff.

~Make paper food.

~Dance with Tiergan another day.

~Make paper horses today and go ride real horses another day.

~Colour fishes and stuff.

~Catch and eat a gingerbread man. (<- That one had me in tears from laughing so hard!)

~Mix oil and water.

~Count the days until summer.

~Find out what is at the center of the earth, but don't touch it. Actually, let's just look it up on the internet.

~Draw a picture of My Little Pony and a frisbee.

~Play X's and O's.

She seriously came up with those things one right after another and I could barely keep up writing them down! The only reason she stopped was to play X's and O's with me right away, and then we never got back to her list.

It was too awesome not to post!

She Knows What She Wants

Here is a great birth video I was watching the other day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgb7AL7kFbg
The midwife didn't make it in time, and the baby needed resuscitation, but mom knew what to do and everything was fine.

Judith heard the grunting and came running downstairs. She stopped at the landing and asked "What is that noise?" (She knew what it was though)

I said it was a birth video, and then she ran the rest of the way down and looked very eagerly around the corner to see the screen. Then she said "Phew! There's a tub. I was scared that she wouldn't be in water. I am definitely having my babies ın water." Then we sat and watched it together. =)

Well, That Explains It!

Judith came up to me with Ruthie's Blankie tied around her neck like a cape, and announced that she was a super hero.

She asked me if there was anything I was missing that she could find or "save" for me.

I automatically responded with "My brain."

And she excitedly told me "OH! I saw a brain behind a tree in the jungle, and it had the name KELLY on it!" Then she ran off, to the rescue.

Unfortunately, the super hero got distracted by some toy ponies along the way, then Ruthie reclaimed her Blankie, and there was no more super hero.

At least I know my brain is out there... somewhere...

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas, New Years, and all that jazz! Thanks to all of our friends and family for being there for us in 2010!









Blessings for 2011!

9 & 12 Month Comparisons

Better late than never, right?

9 Months

Judith



Gideon



Ruthie



12 Months

Judith



Gideon



Ruthie



I think I make cute babies!

The Dance!

I finally got the DVD of Judith's dance performance. Judith is the one on the right, the taller of the blonde girls. This is a video of a video, so the quality is quite poor, but you get the idea.



EDIT - Sorry, Blogger seems to crop my videos and so Judith got cut out a lot in the video above! You can go HERE to see the full video.

4 & 6 Months

Whoops, I kind of missed a couple comparison shot posts!

I managed to get family portraits done when each baby was 4 months old.

April 2006



August 2008



April 2010



Awwww, we're so cute.

Now, here are the 6 month shots of each bebe.

Judith



Gideon



Ruthie



Such sweet sweetness!

Camping!

A few weeks ago we went camping (we hope to go a few more times before the summer is over, we love it! And by 'we' I mean all but Ruthie, but she is out-voted so too bad).

Eating in the tent the first night due to rain.



Yummy food cooked with fire!



Mmmm, breakfast!



Beach wasn't all that fun in the rain.



We had to keep the princess dry.



We gave up on the outdoors and hung out in the van for a while.



Then went into town and found some treats.



Then played some mini-golf.



Finally the rain stopped so we could make s'mores!





The next day was finally beautiful! So we got up bright and early.



And headed to the beach while Daddy and Ruthie packed up to go home (I hear Ruthie deemed herself foreman, so she just watched and then ordered him around now and then).



Gideon kept making little mounds of dirt, then calling them "Thomas!"



I'm glad that all the kids love road trips and adventures (I'm sure Ruthie will get over sleeping in a tent eventually).



So the moral of the story is: Even though sometimes trying to do stuff with kids, especially with bad weather thrown in, can be a pain in the butt, just have a good attitude and be willing to go with the flow and VOILA! Super fun family times. Honestly I think it's good when things get tough, because it's an opportunity to show our kids how to react properly, and also that in life, things don't always go our way, but we can still make the best of it and we don't have to give up. I want my kids to know that things aren't always easy, and that's ok. I can't see an easy life being a very fulfilling one.

P.S. I almost forgot to post the great video I got of Gideon telling his joke while we were camping!

No More Mrs. Soccer Mom

Phew! I survived. Honestly, I didn't know what I was doing the whole time. I still find sports in general kind of intimidating. But I lived! And the kids were so cute. I mostly kept them from running away or killing each other (kid skills I do have!), and the other coach did the actual soccer stuff. Oh, and I also kept track of time and rotating the kids on the field (we just played 3 on 3 plus goalies, so all the kids got to touch the ball more). So hopefully that made me important enough. Judith had a blast, and I guess in the end that's all that matters. She is sad that her soccer season is over, and wants to play next year. Hopefully there are more volunteers next year for coaches, I don't really want to do it again, although I am sometimes a sucker when people ask for volunteers...

Anyway, here are some photos from our season, and year-end wind-up party:





Judith was #3.





She was very excited to get a medal, face paint, tattoos, and a popsicle!

My Little Dancing Queen

Judith has been going to her dance class every Saturday since September, and she loves it. It's totally her "thing". She's actually quite upset that it doesn't run over the summer.



On June 18, her dance studio put on a performance downtown, at a big, professional theatre. She was so excited to dance in front of so many people! And she did so well. She had the hugest smile on her face the whole time! We weren't allowed any cameras of any kind in there, unfortunately. But I did order the DVD, so hopefully once I get that (apparently in August?!?!), I can somehow post at least her dance. I was so proud of her, I totally cried.

Here are some photos of her at home after her big performance:

Her roses, that she broke by accident.



Her trophy (all the little kids got one).



The next day, to celebrate Judith wanted sushi, seaweed, and ice cream.





Very happy times indeed.

Nice Try...

Judith called me downstairs last night, excitedly telling me that she had cleaned up the ENTIRE BASEMENT.

I was surprised to see this:



Then, laughed when I turned around and saw this:



I love how Gideon was totally chillin' on the pile, haha!

A Few Things

-> We had a great visit with my mom and grandma this past week! We weren't able to do much, because of the weather, but we had fun anyway!

-> Dave finally went back to work today after being off since Feb. 9 due to his hernia, and subsequent surgery. I no longer have someone to hold the baby for me all day. Showers and housework may be things of the past. No big loss I guess! I will miss being able to run errands by myself during the day, though. And having someone to talk to.

-> The sun is finally out today after a long hiatus involving snow. I think we may plant some carrots to celebrate! I think my tomatoes and cucumbers may be dead...

-> The house is a disaster already. Le sigh.

-> Our oven is broken. Hopefully someone will come to look at it soon (we told the landlord 2 days ago). Although that makes me feel kind of bad about the point above...

-> Judith has taken up skateboarding. She's actually pretty good. Although there are a few huge dents in the kitchen walls now from it... We need to find some pavement for her. I would also love to get her into parkour. I think she would rock that too.

-> I have had to get up at 6:30 the last 3 days. My kids normally sleep until about 9, FYI. I will probably be getting up early indefinitely now, because Dave is back at work and it is kind of nice getting up and having coffee with him. And because it gets light out so early, the sun helps to convince me that wakefulness isn't, in fact, the devil.

-> Ruthie is 6 months old today! I can't believe it. We let her try some "solids" last week. So far she has had water, banana, potato, and avocado. She loves it all, and is very good at eating. She doesn't really push the food out with her tongue like the other kids did. She always eats it all up and wants more. She is still going strong with breastfeeding, of course, and hopefully will for another year and a half or so.

-> We have some caterpillars in a jar that will hopefully grow then turn to butterflies! Judith is really excited, but refuses to name them for some reason.

-> Gideon is talking so much. In complete sentences. He says new things every day. I can't believe how big he is getting! We paused potty training while our visitors were here, and I'm kind of reluctant to start again since I just shampooed the carpets...

-> Today is a beautiful day, I should probably go do something with it.

My Kids Rock!

Judith and Gideon giving Ruthie a ride on the rocking chair.



I love Judith's question towards the end of the video. Where does she come up with this stuff?

Ruthie's Raspberries

Judith and Ruthie were being silly before bed tonight. By the end we were all covered in spit... But FYI, I was not making any of the noises in the background, those were all Judith!



I'm so happy that my girls get along so well, I hope they always do. <3

Judith Making Ruthie Laugh

Sorry that I have been MIA yet again. SOME day I will get back on the posting-consistently bandwagon. You know, when life calms down and gets easy again, haha.

Anyway, here is a cute video we took a couple weeks ago. We took it on the iMac webcam, that's my excuse for looking like a dork staring at the camera, I was actually watching it on the screen.

Enjoy!

Blurrrrr

Sorry that I haven't been around much since we got back from our trip. Things have been... busy. I didn't realize how hard this was going to be. Not only do I have all 3 kids to take care of 100% by myself 24/7, but I also have to take care of Dave, making him food, keeping the kids from jumping on him, putting on his socks... Sometimes I forget about him as I'm preoccupied with everything else, then I feel bad. They had to open him right up for the surgery, and staple him back together. It's like he's healing from a c-section! I guess this is good doula practice. Although he actually gets to sleep and doesn't have to breastfeed.





Our trip went fairly well. I had a lot of fun at the ranch and it was great to see my friend Jen (and have her to help with the kids, I don't think I would have survived the first 24 hours post-surgery without her)! Judith suffered a minor (but seemed like major at the time) injury, stretching me to my limits, but we survived. She managed to scrape all of the skin off the top of her toe under a door, it was nasty. But it was nice to be out in the country, and see TREES! The kids loved the horses, and the other kids who lived at the ranch. The drive down, and half of the drive back, was great, I love driving out of the city, I find it therapeutic. The kids slept most of the drive too. On the way home it got stressful though, we drove into very strong winds and rain, making it hard to see and control the van. The temperature also dropped 20 degrees (Celsius) in a really short time. But we made it. My poor nerves, hands and shoulders were the only casualties.





Friday I attempted to go out with the 3 kids, but it was a big fail. I cried a lot. Sunday I tried again and succeeded though! But it was exhausting. Everything has been kind of a blur since we got back, honestly.

The house has been a disaster since we got home, I haven't been getting much sleep, and haven't been eating much/well. I've been really frustrated and short-tempered. Judith's behaviour has actually been ok since we got back, thankfully, she has been really hard to deal with since she turned 4 but during and since the trip she has been better. Well, until today.

Today everything just really got to me. The kids were incessant and would not leave me alone, I could barely think or function. Let's just say, I had a very bad Mommy day. I feel terrible. It takes a lot to get me to openly freak out, but my kids have skillz. I finally kicked the kids outside against their will (I would have rather just physically kicked them, but this seemed like a healthier alternative), then organized and took out the garbage and recycling. I started to cool down, feeling better having finally gotten something done, then I heard a scream, and opened the door to see this...



Seriously, if anyone here needs a facial, it's ME! I was ready to wave the white flag, but instead I tried to laugh and I took a pic. Then ran the bath. Then Gideon and I had cookies (Judith lost cookie priviliges because of the mud thing). Then Judith offered to help me clean up the kitchen and living room (they were disasterous, a major contributor to my stress), so that's what we did. Now the place looks normal again, Judith is making popsicle-stick puppets, Gideon is playing with his puzzles, Ruthie is nursing, and I am finally getting a chance to go online. So I am trying to breathe, while I can.