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Weekend Delirium

I have been having a lot of vivid weird dreams, but some have been kind of creepy. For example the one where I look out of the dining room window and see a young woman with long brown curls walking in our side driveway area and opening the gate to our yard. The next day, I notice that our gate is open.

In the early morning hours of Friday, I vaguely remembered somebody walking into my room. But that's all I can remember. I woke up before the kids and went to the washroom. The box that I keep the medications in is normally stored on the highest shelf and it was sitting beside the tub. Then Patrick woke up and wheezed out, "So what am I doing today?" I asked him, "What is going on? Are you sick?"
"Yeah, I'm sick, don't you know that? I already told you that?"
"Did you come into my room in the night?"
"Yes, and you got up and came to the bathroom and gave me medicine."
"Did I give you the right medicine? What did I give you?"
"Yes, you gave me my blue puffer and told me to take my orange puffer in 15 minutes."
"Oh, that was good advice."

Thankfully I did the right thing, but I am disturbed by the fact that I am "sleep-parenting".

So I kept Patrick home from school, but he had to come with me to Damon's hockey tournament. When we got to the tournament, I was shocked to see that the majority of team siblings had taken the day off of school! Including the Campbell's teacher's children! Of course Campbell and his teacher were both at school. The families on this team have great team spirit and the siblings make a great cheerleading squad.

Damon's team lost 7-2.

Patrick had team photos that day, so despite his difficulty breathing, he suited up for photos. Then he undressed and watched the team practice and rested his lungs. Of course this was a "fun practice", both times he has missed practice it has been the 2 times the coaches have taken it easy on the team.

Matt took Damon to the tournament on Satuday. They lost their first game 7-2 again, and then they won their next game 15-0! Damon would not believe either of us when we told him that his team would not be playing in the semi-finals. "But Mom, we scored FIFTEEN goals, why wouldn't that count?"

The girls and I took Campbell and Patrick to Campbell's practice. Matt is an assistant coach for Campbell's team, so when Matt is away, Patrick goes on the ice to help the kids who are having difficulty with the drills. He is a very patient and compassionate boy. He has an amazing gift for working with children younger than him.

Kira plays with her "boyfriend", the youngest son of Campbell's coach, but this day she was not being very nice to him. She would only let him colour in Campbell's colouring books, not in any of hers. When she bought chips, she wouldn't let him have any and threw a tantrum when I insisted that she share with him. I talked to her about sharing, and pointed out how badly he must have felt when she treated him like that.

After a quick lunch, we were back at the arena for Patrick's AAA game. They played the second place team and they were winning until the last few minutes of the third period. Normally, our team is totally dominated by this other team. That wasn't the case this time. Patrick played a really great game. I was in awe of his grace and strength. I knew that he was having trouble with his asthma during the game, but it really didn't affect his play.

Kira played with an older girl, another sister from the team. She said that the girl was her best friend, and they had a great time. Eventually another sister from the team joined them and Kira came stomping over to me. "Why does J have to play with that SUUUPID girl? She's my best friend, why is she playing with that SUUUPID girl."

Patrick came home and changed and rushed off to a birthday party for one of his teammates. These boys are on the ice together 5 or more times a week. So what do you think they would do for fun? Of course, they played hockey. The parents rented a party room at an arena and the last half of the party was spent on the ice. Patrick had fun, but was very tired at the end of the day.

When I woke up this morning, the furnace was not working. It wasn't too cold in the house yet, but with the temperatures as low as they have been recently, you cannot go too long without a properly working furnace.

On Sunday morning, I made poached eggs on toast. Damon was thrilled when one of his eggs had a double yolk. He felt very lucky. I had never seen that before and figured it was a rare fluke. Then Campbell and Kira wanted seconds, I cracked open Campbell's egg and found another double yolk! And then Kira's was another double yolk! Damon wanted more eggs after that. He figured that at some point we'd come across triplets. To his disappointment, the rest of the eggs were singletons. So I googled "double yolk" and found that there are many superstitions about double yolks. Some say it is a bad omen, others say it is a sign of fertility. It seems like something from one of my strange dreams. All I know for certain is that the kids sure enjoyed their eggs.

Then Matt came home from work (yes, he was working on a Sunday to finish a project that is leaving tomorrow) and picked up Patrick to take him to an away game. We had high hopes that they would end the regular season with a win against a team they have beaten before, but the game ended in a tie.

In the meantime, I took Campbell to his last regular season game. I told him that it is his last chance to score any more goals this season. Based on his performance when it was his turn to play goalie, he has been chosen to play as goalie for the playoffs. I think he was having a difficult time focusing on goal-scoring, his focus was already on playing in net next weekend! His team lost 8-2, and Campbell was given credit for one of our goals. Everybody was hacking away at it, and Campbell insists that in the end the other team knocked it in.

When Kira first saw her "boyfriend' at the game, she asked his mom if she could hold his hand. He refused and clenched both hands together. Then she asked if he would colour with her. He politely declined. She asked him to come and sit with her, he preferred the company of some older boys. The little man was giving her some of her own medicine. Finally when she bought a bag of chips, she was very eager to share them with him, and he was ready to forgive her. All was forgiven over a bag of RINGOLOS.

I should tell you that during all of this hockey, Hanna is having a great time. She loves sitting on my lap and she watches the game. Very much like her brother Patrick at the same age, she turns her head and follows the play down the ice. She stops watching only to flash her dimples and coo for the moms who fuss over her.

When we got home from hockey, the furnace seemed to be working again. What a huge relief. We ate some lunch and waited for Matt and Patrick to arrive. They arrived and got ready to leave again. It was time for the Timbits Jamboree immediately following a local AHL game. Matt and all three boys went.

Us girls stayed home. The plan was to bake muffins and cookies, but in the morning's excitement over double yolked eggs, they were used up and I forgot to pick up more. So we made haystack cookies instead (sugar, margarine, cocoa & oats). Around this time, I noticed that the furnace was not working again. So the girls and I went upstairs to snuggle up and watch "Maggie and the Ferocious Beast". Puck slipped away, and I assumed that he was just going to get a sip from his water dish. I went down to the kitchen to find that he had eaten 3/4s of the haystack cookies off of the kithcen counter. BAD dog!

The boys returned with their arms full of signed souvenirs. The highlight was that Campbell had insisted that Matt needed to buy him the team's goalie's rookie card, and later on they met the goalie and Campbell whipped out the card and had him sign it! Cool! A few of the players signed Campbell's hockey stick too. They all got hockey cards and some life-sized Sidney Crosby posters. (Scratch under they eye is courtesy of Kira. Campbell thinks it makes him look tough.)

I let Matt know about the furnace's status and what the troubleshooting guides said to do next. At Patrick's game, he had talked to one of the parents from Patrick's team who owned a heating and cooling company and he had told him something to try. He followed the advice and it worked. At least for now.

I'm still waiting to wake up from this dream.

Size is relative

The girls went for a doctor's appointment today.

Hanna is much better. She is 24 1/4 inches long and weighs 11 lbs 7 oz, which means she is a long and lean little lady. She cried for her needles. She has been pretty cranky, a bit feverish and flushed. Nothing a bit of Tylenol won't help.

Kira had her 3 year check up. She is a gigantic 3 foot 3 inches and weighs 33 lbs. Patrick had EXACTLY the same stats at 3 years old, and at the time I thought he was so skinny. Kira seems beefy by comparison. The difference is probably that at that time I had a 10 month old 29 lb Damon in my arms, rather than my dainty little Hanna. The appointment came to an end when the doctor used her "Magical Fairy Dust" to help make Kira's "nipple" (wart) on her hand disappear.

A conversation with Grandpa

Dear Grandpa Bob,

Kira really enjoyed your visit yesterday.

Do you remember the other day when Kira put Hanna on the phone to talk to you? Well here she is listening to your voice.

We also thought you would like to see Hanna moments later when Kira took the phone away from her.

So even though she may not add much to the conversation, we know that you would want to know that Hanna really does enjoy "talking" to you.

Love,

Kira, Hanna and their Mom

Memo for Kira

Dear Kira,

Sock puppets are great, and sock puppet shows are fun. I don't mind you using your big brothers' socks, they are so big they make great puppets, but from now on please find your "puppets" from the clean laundry pile.

Thank you.

I love you,

Mommy

An update

Things have been hectic around here. I've had lots of appointments lately and I haven't had time to sit down and nurse Hanna in front of the computer until now.

We were offline for a while because Matt wanted me to install a wireless router so that he can have access to the internet on his laptop too. Well with a house full of sick kids and hockey, I had to install and configure it all in small steps. It took many days, but finally we are online.

We have all been fighting off a cold virus. On Friday, Hanna started with it, she had an awful post-nasal drip and gaggy cough. Saturday, Kira spiked a high fever and bad cough. On Sunday, I tried to decide whether she needed to be seen by a doctor or not. On Monday morning, I called our family doctor, but they were all booked up. By Monday afternoon, she had a low fever, and by the evening she was coughing so hard she couldn't catch her breath. We rushed to the E.R. and after 5 1/2 hours there, the pediatrician said it was RSV, but that she was doing well enough to be cared for at home.

She is such a doll. Despite how lousy she must have felt, she tried really hard to be social with the nurses and doctors. When the staff pediatrician finally came to see her, he leaned over her, cupped her head in his hands and "talked" to her. He has a wonderful way with babies. She responded by gurgling and cooing and flashing her dimpled smile at him.

She is dealing with it well, especially for one so young.

Campbell and Damon were really excited about the Primary Division from school going on a series of skating trips. They got to show off their prowess on the ice. Damon really enjoyed giving lessons to the other kids.

On Tuesday night, Patrick's team won their 4th game this year. That doesn't sound great to most people, but it's all relative. They won 1 last year, so 4 seems like winning the Stanley Cup to these kids. The final score was 4-1. Patrick really contributed to the win, he played amazingly on defense and got 2 assists!

In other news, Damon has been assessed for dyslexia. I had a pretty good idea going into it that he was dyslexic, so the results were not much of a surprise to me. Damon had been struggling with reading, despite being obviously bright. When I stumbled across some websites (like this one) about dyslexia, I was struck by how closely he fit the profile of a dyslexic. So many of the stories I read were just like Damon's, it was as if it was scripted. Dyslexia, while it hinders reading, is also an amazing gift. Many of the worlds great thinkers were also dyslexic, and this is no coincidence, a fact that thrills Damon. Dyslexia is the most common cause of reading difficulty and it is estimated that 1 in 6 people deal with some degree of dyslexia. Damon said something very prophetic during his testing, before he began a spelling test, he told the tester, "I have trouble reading because I never know what the vowels are going to say." (That explains why many of his spelling tests at school came back with NO vowels, but the consonants were perfect. For example, 'chalkboard' was spelled 'chlkbrd', 'ruler' was 'rlr'.) Damon was measured in three areas, dysphonetic, dyseidetic and dysgraphic. His results indicated that he is mildly dysgraphic, moderately dyseidetic and markedly dysphonetic. This is good news as this is the type that responds most quickly to the type of program that he is now doing at the dyslexia centre. Damon is also receiving extra help at the school, unfortunately it is not the type of program that is recommended to remedy dyslexia, which is upsetting considering how many dyslexic children, who are less fortunate than Damon, could be helped to succeed. (stepping down from the soapbox for now)

Number of t-shirts tried on and discarded onto bedroom floor: 7
Jars of texturizing hair product: 2
Blasts of hairspray: 9
Minutes spent singing into the mirror: 13
Minutes late for school: 4
Finally getting a "Civies/Crazy Hair Day" - Priceless

Happy Birthday Damon!

Damon is growing up much too quickly! Where did my cuddly baby boy go? As much as I want to slow down the hands of time, I must say that he is growing into a really fascinating person. Damon is a strong and active boy on the outside with a sensitive and generous soul. He has a vast memory for facts. He is very artistic, besides being a great artist, he has an eye for art in every day life. And he has an amazing understanding and passion for wildlife. I can't wait to know the man that he will become!

Yesterday, Damon turned 9. We had a very busy day. After dropping the boys off at school we did grocery shopping. Then we picked up Damon and his friend from school and took them out for lunch at a local diner. After lunch, Kira and I made cupcakes at home for Damon's hockey team. We picked up the boys, came home for snacks. Damon had a few minutes to open a package full of goodies from Aunt Gayle and Uncle Lynn.

Then we were off to Damon's hockey practice. He had a great practice and was serenaded by his coaches and teammates in the dressing room. The "music" could be heard down the hallways of the arena complex. Yet another birthday spent at a hockey rink!

Damon really wanted to eat dinner out, and no takeout Swiss Chalet would do. We waited for Matt to get home and at 9:00 we were finally ready to go out for dinner at Montana's. He really wanted to wear the horns, but the singing wasn't as exciting as normal, because by that time at night there was only one waiter working. Damon was satisfied with his solo though.


Then we went home to sing 'Happy Birthday' and let him blow out a candle on his birthday. As you can see from the photo, it had been a long day by then!

Happy Birthday Damon!

Animal School

This movie, while a little bit silly, struck a chord for me.

Winter finally arrived!

I woke extra early today to watch our local news and it's "stormwatch" coverage. By 7 am, bus service for our schoolboard was cancelled, and since I consider myself to be driving a bus, I went back to sleep, thinking I would drive the kids in later once the road crews had a chance to clean up the roads. Patrick woke up at 8 am and turned the news back on. By then the school board had decided to close all schools. YAY! I forbid him from waking everybody up, but by 8:30 they were all awake.

Ice is covering everything, I'm glad we didn't have to drive in this at 8:30 am.

The kids were finally able to build a snowman with what little snow we got on Sunday. Kira calls it a "Snow Kira". Her contribution is the "hair" on the top of the Snow Kira's head. Every good Snow Kira has to have "Kira hair"

Kira Hair

We were getting ready to go to the hockey rink for a couple of the boys games. I was brushing Kira's hair and putting it into a ponytail.

Kira: "I don't like that, I want it to be Kira hair."
Mom: "What is Kira hair? Does that mean you want it down and curly?"
Kira: "Yes."
Mom: "Okay, but I still need to brush it, right?"
Kira: "No! Kira hair is MESSY hair."

Happy Birthday Kira Jane!

It was 3 years ago today that Kira made her grand entrance into the world. She has since proven to be a very determined girl. She can flip from being a living doll, to a tantrumming monster, and then back again, all within 5 minutes. She is alarmingly smart. Her latest phrase is "Thanks Mom, you're da best." which she now says whenever I do anything for her.

As per Kira's orders, she spent the morning shopping at Toys'R'Us. I tried to talk her into many different toys. I was sure she would want a Little Tikes Kitchen, but she said, "Oh, no, that is too big for me!" She selected a small stuffed Dora doll, a carseat for her babydolls, and told me, "I think I already have enough toys, I don't need any more." I asked her if I could buy her a "Birthday Girl" t-shirt from the Gymboree across the road, and she said, "No thank you, I think I already have enough shirts, I don't need any more."

Grandpa Bob called to wish Kira a happy birthday and she sais, "Thank you, happy birthday to you too!"

After lunch, a parcel arrived from Aunt Gayle and Uncle Lynn. Kira loves her Furby and is telling them thank you in this photo. She was delighted with the coins taped to her card too and immediately said, "Oh, great, now I can buy my own treats at the hockey rink."

We picked the boys up from school and Kira had a little nap. Then we dropped Patrick off at a teammate's house to be driven out of town for an away game. Then the other kids and I took Damon to his team practice. Once again, Kira spent a birthday at the hockey rink.
Finally at 8:30 we got home and met up with Grandma Sue. The kids unwound to Dora the Explorer's Fiesta music.

Kira loves soup and asks for soup many times a day. It was no surprise when she asked for Chicken soup for dinner, so we made a Chicken Stew in the crockpot. I made some dumplings (which didn't turn out so great in a crockpot). For dessert we had a much requested "Strawberry Cake", which was a cake and icing made with strawberry puree. It was full of strawberry sweetness, and I'm having a hard time keeping Damon out of the extra frosting. It didn't turn out as great as I would have liked, but Kira was pleased with it and loved blowing out her candles.

She is looking forward to her family party with her cousins. We are having a birthday FIESTA!

Feliz cumpleaños a ti

Feliz cumpleaños a ti

Feliz cumpleaños Kira

Feliz cumpleaños a ti.

I hate school!

Why? I have to look at these sleeping beauties, knowing that I have to wake them up to drive their brothers to school.

This whole "education" thing had better be worth it. LOL

All of us

Here we all are with Grandpa Bob and Grandmama (Great-Grandmother).

Happy Girls!

Hanna is enjoying her visit with her great grandmother.

Puppy love

They make my heart melt. They are both so angelic when they are sleeping.

December 27th

At 7 am, Matt and I (not to mention the 3 little ones piled in there too) were lying in bed talking, when we heard a smashing sound. I ran downstairs to see what had happened and when I looked toward the living room, I saw Charlie make a dash out of the room and then I saw this:


Sadly some of our favourite ornaments were broken, namely the 2 glass balls with Patrick and Kira's names on them. I normally leave the tree and decorations up until after the Epiphany. But since Bob was here and was driving home that morning, I took the opportunity to pack up all of my ornaments and send them home with Bob. We are trying to get any excess stuff out of here before we put our house on the market, and I'd like to keep the breakables at Bob's house instead of in a trailer in the back of Matt's shop.

Boxing Day

Here are the kids with their cousins and their Aunt Marni. Aunt Liz just handed out "candy kebabs" and the kids are pretty excited. Thanks Liz!

Christmas Day

The boys woke up before Kira, Hanna, Daddy and I, so they waited patiently until 8 am when we let them wake up Kira too. Patrick was the most excited kid in the house!

Kira woke up in no mood for stockings.

Surrounded by opened stockings and gifts, here is our tree on Christmas morning.

Campbell couldn't wait until it was late enough to call Grandma and get her to come over and watch Jack Sparrow with him.

Happy First Christmas Baby Hanna! And look at the beautiful quilt that my friend Kathy made for her. It is so soft and warm.

Hanna and Grandpa enjoy some quiet time amidst the chaos.

Kira fell asleep before the Christmas dinner was served.

Campbell looks on as Grandpa tries to set the watch that Aunt Gayle gave him.

Cameras, glitter and lights! Puck loves Christmas.

Christmas Eve

The girls are ready to go to Grandma's house.

Patrick is admiring the heap of presents under Grandma's tree.

Here are Campbell and Kira with Cousin P waiting for presents to be opened.

Trying to pose 8 children in a group shot - SCARY!

This is as good as it gets. Hopefully Mike got a better one that he can e-mail me.

Hanna is sick of the constant media attention.


Kira loves her mermaid doll.

Damon opening his gifts.

Cousin P snuggling with Hanna.

Campbell and Cousin T jump in for a group shot.

After getting their pjs on, Hanna gets some hugs from Cousin M too.