In The Wrong Decade

Either I have feelings and issues related to a past life OR I really am that old fashioned. My friends don’t understand why I stay at home with Abby while Nick earns all the money. I was bought up in the 1980’s where there was a huge push to send mothers back to work after having a baby- not the old-fashioned ways of staying at home and raising the kids yourself. I on the other hand, LOVE LOVE LOVE being a stay-at-home Mom and I get to do lots of cool stuff with Abby while interacting with her and teaching her stuff. It feels a little weird when she goes to preschool because I’m so used to having her around the house with me, helping me with stuff. I’ll even go as far as saying I would love to home school Abby, BUT I am not a teacher and I really don’t have that much patience half the time. Teaching Sunday School this fall will be a huge test for me, I hope I can do it. 

But it’s not just being a stay at home Mom that makes me think I’m in the wrong decade. I love to cook, I love to clean and keep house (even if I don’t do a very good job of it half the time!). I love all the stuff that’s been outlawed over the years (like playground games and equipment) and I love spending time with my family-especially my husband. Sure, we fight a lot and we make each other see red- but I wouldn’t be myself if I wasn’t with him. We complete each other, and I know that sounds cheesy but it’s true. If we didn’t fight it wouldn’t be normal, and sometimes it’s good to fight because then it helps you to learn from your mistakes. 

These days, people don’t think anything wrong of divorce or not spending much time with your kids- but our family isn’t like that. We love each other and we drive each other crazy sometimes, but that’s what families are supposed to do

Whooped by a Three Year Old!

I had a meeting at the church tonight with the youth leader, as I had agreed to help lead Sunday School for the preschool class this year (after one of the teachers has gone inexplicably missing) and so we quickly wolfed down dinner and walked down to the church so I could get there on time. I meet the youth leader there and we have our meeting and afterwards I decide that I could use a glass of water. Abby asks for one too, so we dash up to the gathering space to use one of the drinking glasses on the side for a quick drink. 

As we get up there, I see that one of the members has lent us his Wii for Rally Day this coming Sunday. They forgot to bring the Wii Sports disc with, so we’re playing on Wii Play- which was alright I guess, pretty simple games designed for older or younger folk than I. There was a couple of games on there that were kind of fun and Abby really liked a fishing game- which I helped her with a little bit and she proceeded to whoop the butt of the church’s community leader (who’s idea it was to get the Wii in the first place). Not only is the Wii for use on Rally Day, but I also heard that it’s a test run to see if the older folks will play it and we can nudge the trustee board to buy one for the church- as we’re planning on starting up a Family Game Night every Friday during the winter when there isn’t a lot to do. 

It was fun and it was so much fun to watch Abby playing on the Wii and her eyes were just like saucers- she was so entranced it was the most adorable thing. I guess I know what she wants to play on come Sunday :p

Preschool Start

So this morning was the start of preschool for Abby. Nick stayed up and took us so he could check the place out for himself, so we got Abby up and dressed and then we set out for church. We got there on the dot and luckily people came after us too, so we weren’t the last people in through the door. Abby already knows her way around the rooms, because we also use the rooms for Sunday School during the fall/winter season every Sunday morning. 

Things got started and they played with the toys and Abby found the stash of Little People. There was another little girl there with her parents, and Abby played with her while Nick and I introduced ourselves to her parents. Turns out that the dad was from England too, but from a little north of my home town- Newcastle. He had no accent anymore but it was still really fun to talk to someone about familiar topics. It’s hard to be so far from home and it’s really nice to have a friend who understands what it’s like to live so far away from home and family. 

All in all, Abby really enjoyed herself and seemed to get on well with the other kids so I guess we’ll see how things pan out on Monday when she has her first full day.

Preschool Madness

I have my reasons for not posting a whole lot this month, Abby is starting preschool next week and we’ve all been running around trying to get her ready for it. She seems excited to go and I am looking forward to the break in the morning. She’ll be there on Mondays and Wednesdays, so Mondays me and Nick are going out for breakfast and Wednesdays will be my day to clean house and do stuff I actually like to do like watching stuff on tv that I can’t while Abby is around. There’s only so much Spongebob I can take in a week. 

I really, really wanted to buy Abby a backpack for school but they’re all so HUGE! So I found her a small one that’s plain because the little kid backpacks had Dora and Diego on them- and the two of them are banned from this household (purely because they are so friggin annoying!) I had my heart set on getting her a My Little Pony backpack (since that is her new obsession) but I can’t find a little kid one. Heck they didn’t have any back to school stuff with My Little Pony on it at Target…but they did have Hello Kitty. I am tempted to go back today and buy HK stuff to add to my collection. 

The one thing I saw yesterday at Target was the My Little Pony section and there’s one pony I can’t get out of my mind- Toola Roola. She has a different coloured mane to her tail and she looks so awesome! For $6, I can easily afford it

My Little Ponies

I used to collect My Little Ponies when I was a kid and I loved them so much. Me, my best friend and our neighbour collected them all together and our combined collection was huge! Unfortunately, I wish that I could go back in time to remember all the ones we had…because I can’t remember over half of them. I have two of the ones I do remember, I got them off eBay a couple of years ago. I’m after a complete version of the Pretty Parlour because Vicky had that and it came with a pony called Peachy. 

There’s a point to this story, I swear. So, Sunday rolls around and we head off for church as usual and afterwards there’s this huge rummage sale happening across the street. I see lots of kids stuff, so I head across with a friend to check it out and Abby is in tow. I’m looking at a rack of clothes and I turn my back to ask Abby if she likes this piece of clothing that I have my eye on for her and she’s not there. So automatic panic sets in, until I see her on the other side of the sale playing with a basket of guess what? My Little Ponies! Fortunately for her, they weren’t the G1 (Generation 1) ponies I collect

  

- they were the more recent variety and she was having so much fun with them. So I checked the price on them and they were 50c a piece with 8 in the basket. I originally bought two and we went home. Abby had so much fun with them at home, that while she was napping I ran back to scoop up the rest. 

They were all a little bedraggled looking when I got them home, but you could tell that they were well-loved ponies. I hadn’t a clue on the name, so I set about on Google looking for a database or something that could tell me. I came across a forum called the My Little Pony Arena and it was an amazing community full of answers and collectors just like myself. Through there I learned how to clean up the ponies that I found at the rummage sale and now they look almost new again! 

EBay is my new best friend, I’m now back for looking at G1 ponies. This is going to cost me, I can tell :p

Ewwww….

So I got up at my usual time of 7am this morning and the first thing I do is wake Abby up. So I open the door and I see her cute smiley face, only there’s a problem. She tells me she’s all icky and then I notice the dried-on sick all over her left side. In her hair, on her face and all down her arm. I look at the bed and it’s all by her pillow and all over it too. So to me it looks like she was sick in her sleep, Abby was lucky that she didn’t choke on it. 

So before I had even sat down to any breakfast or my morning dose of caffeine, I put the sheets from the bed in the wash, given Abby a shower to get her cleaned up and cleaned the carpet in her bedroom to get the sick out of it. I used to be so grossed out by sick, but Abby has thrown up so many times now (app. about 5/6) that I’m actually getting used to sick. Still can’t stomach looking at diarrhea though.

Abby is currently watching Charlie and Lola with her favourite soft toy and her favourite blanket. I asked her if she wanted anything to eat, but she told me no so I just gave her some water to at least get rid of the nasty taste in her mouth. I should probably brush her teeth too.

Go Pack Go!!

So after dinner tonight, I decided that I was going to see my neighbour who I had been neglecting a little recently. I decided that I would stop over for about fifteen minutes, just to stop by and say hi. Turns out that the Packers game was on and he had a few munchies going on. So I watched the first quarter of the game and then I realised that I had to stop back home to put Abby to bed. 

Nick was still on the couch when I got home, and he had the game on too. Abby was still in her room for throwing half of her dinner on the floor. So I went in there and she was playing with her toy giraffes, I scooped her up for a big hug and then we went to the bathroom so she could use the bathroom and we could brush her teeth (she really tries to do it herself, but I always have to finish it for her).

So after everything was said and done, I went back to my neighbour’s and there was a decent bunch of us by that point all sitting around the tv. The game was good, sure Favre aint playing anymore…but Rodgers showed a lot of promise and I have a lot of faith in the guy. I was never a Favre fan in the slightest, he always seemed slightly arrogant to me, I’m a pretty good judge of character. And this whole ‘Favregate’ thing just showed his true colours in my opinion. 

So go Rodgers!! And I hope the Madden curse bites you in your arrogant ass Favre!

Feeling Sick

So as you know, I went out on the boat this afternoon again. Unfortunately for me, it wasn’t the most fun time as it was pretty choppy out on the lake. And it was like riding a rollercoaster for part of it…until I threw up overboard. It was not fun at all, because I pretty much splattered the back of the boat. 

That was a few hours ago now, and I don’t feel queasy anymore…just not hungry. I ate a small amount of mac n cheese for dinner and I’ll probably eat something else later if I feel like it. I really want to just go to bed and sleep it all off, but I currently have the neighbour’s kid here playing with Abby while my neighbours have gone to the movies. They’d do the same for me, so it’s only fair I do the same for them. She’s been pretty good so far and that’s a huge contrast because Abby is behaving like a spoiled brat because she won’t share. Cannot wait until bedtime.

Birthday Parties

So today was Colton’s birthday party. He’s a member of our family and he was 4 today. He’s obsessed with Thomas The Tank Engine and so the majority of his gifts were something to do with that. He even had his party in that theme. 

We got there late, because Nick was slow to get moving after he got out of bed. Then we ended up taking the long way round and it took us a little longer. So we got there about two hours into the party and we said hi to everyone. People were starting to leave at that point so we looked a little silly, but we were there to see the birthday boy and Abby was happy to see him too. Nick sat outside and smoked cigarettes with his cousin Jackie and I pretty much propped up the snack bar. They had spinach dip! I can’t leave a party without trying the spinach dip and boy was it good! So I ate the rest of it. 

The party itself was pretty uneventful and it’s pretty much all I’ve done today. I’m attempting to level on WoW at the moment and tomorrow I’m going sailing with my friends again

Something Cute

I found this on someone else’s WordPress blog. I’ll give you a link back when I can find your blog again- I’m so dense! Feel free to fill it in on your own blog

1. What’s your favorite Dr. Seuss book? Green Eggs and Ham- who doesn’t like that book?

2. If you could live in any home on a T.V. series, what would it be? Why? Leave It To Beaver. I have secret dreams about being Mrs Cleaver. Failing that, Reba- her whole house looks so cosy.

3. What is the longest you’ve ever gone without sleep? Two days, I was like a zombie.

4. Who’s your favorite Muppet? Miss Piggy. I have no clue why.

5. What is the habit that you are proudest of breaking? Biting my nails. I bit them since when I can remember and it took getting pregnant for me to stop.

6. Who’s your favorite DAYTIME television show? ( can be a talk show, just whatever) Rachael Ray. Her talk show is amazing and better than anything else on at that time of the morning.

7. What is your most recent trip of more than 50 miles? I’d have to say O’Hare International Airport. We don’t go beyond 50 miles very often because our poor car can’t handle it.

8. When you order out for dinner, what do you order? Something meatless? I have problems finding decent vegetarian entrees on a menu, unless we’re going out to a vegetarian or organic restaurant. I’d rather cook at home and save myself the stress.

In other news today, Abby has been lost in her own little world. She’s been talking to her favourite stuffed animal, which is a orange tabby cat from Build-A-Bear. It’s name is Peanut (after her real cat, which looks nothing like the stuffed version) and I’m sure it knows more things about my own daughter than either myself or Nick know. I don’t think she minds being an only child for the time being because she seems to be quite happy with her toys and being by herself. Abby sees other kids on a regular basis, but she always seems quite happy to just come home and hang out in her bedroom with her stuffed animals.

This morning, Abby and Peanut were looking for buried treasure while pretending to be pirates. She was walking around the house saying “ARRRGH!” every five minutes and pretending to dig…all with Peanut tucked firmly under her arm. At one point, she settled on a drawer to find ‘treasure’ in, so while she was lost in her own world I took some pictures. They’re not the best quality because of the lousy amount of light in our apartment…but at least I managed to get something.