Birthday Time

I'm glad that we celebrate birthdays.  I'm glad (generally) that there are such things as celebrations.  I love seeing friends and having happy fun!  Today we celebrated Darby's 3rd birthday and Ciaran's 3rd birthday.  I'm so glad that it worked out for us to go to both parties.  Fun times were had by all!

 

Eating Sand

I felt well enough that I kept the girls home with me yesterday and today.  The only thing preventing me from being happy about going back to work on Monday (not counting being away from my girls) is the prospect of having to do up my pants.  The bruising is YUCKY!

Today was lovely.  We played outside, we played inside, and we played outside some more.  When we played outside this morning I told Alice repeatedly not to eat the sand... this afternoon I gave in and just photographed her instead.  Someday she might be mad or maybe just grossed out.  I remember my brother Jon eating a popsicle that had fallen in the dirt under the swingset, and it had ants on it.  Kids eat gross things.

And then there's Kate bathing in the water part of the sand/water table - which really just means the mud table!  I've also given up trying to prevent them from mixing the sand with the water.  If I didn't want them to mix the sand and the water, I shouldn't have bought this table!  (The girls were bathed tonight so they both went to bed clean - yay!)

We have so many pretty flowers in our garden.  I'm so glad that the previous owners of the house planted so many perennials.  Anyone know what the flowers are here?

Kate picks Forget-Me-Nots for me.  It's pretty cute because of all the confusion with pronouns she calls them I-Forget-It-Nots.

Sometimes Kate has a hard time being a big sister.  Kate is often taking toys away from Alice, or yelling at her for something, but thankfully there are also cute moments.  They were playing at the cottage window - some sort of peek-a-boo and they were both laughing.  I should have made a video - it was so cute!

Today made me excited for the summer.  I'm so looking forward to being with my girls all day everyday!

Alice is Fifteen Months Old and other Victoria Day Related Fun

ALICE!!  I think of Alice and I think fun and busy.  She does stop moving, now I'm trying to picture when that is?  Today she stopped moving when she went to sleep and when she was strapped into her car seat and that was about it!  She is all about walking now, no more crawling for her.  She even wants to walk down the stairs the crazy kid.  I love my Allie-Boo!

Princess Kate!  Today in honour of Queen Victoria's 193rd birthday, Kate wore a crown and pearls.  It was kind of funny.

Cutie sisters!

Mom and Dad are in Collingwood this week and they invited us up for the day.  I wasn't sure how I would feel but I'm feeling pretty good and I can sit around in Collingwood and in the car the same as I can sit around at home.  Well mostly the same, the seat belt pressed a little uncomfortably from time to time.  It was a beautiful day, and after a quick trip to Walmart because we forgot to bring the bathing suits with us, Kate went swimming with her Grandma.

Kate played at the little park before and after her swim, and Alice played too but I didn't chase them around the whole time - well to be honest I didn't really do any chasing, mostly standing and sitting, but I only brought the camera out the once and that was while Alice was sleeping.

Conference Thoughts

 

The first presidency - Thomas S. Monson - prophet, and his counsellors - Henry B. Eyring and Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

Adjusting to a new normal, trying to figure out when to do things with children, well, let's just say I'm a little slow to get organized?  Is three and a half years considered slower than slow?  I can't remember when in my adult life I started watching all of the sessions (except Priesthood) of General Conference (the twice yearly church conference from Salt Lake City), but at some point I did.  I would watch all the sessions and I would take notes.  I like taking notes.

The first General Conference after Kate was the same as always - I watched all the sessions, made my notes and then made my summary sheet afterwards.  And then, Kate got older.  Each session of General Conference is two hours long.  There are five sessions spread over Saturday and Sunday, the first weekend in April and the first weekend in October.  Watching all the sessions as an adult can be a challenge - it's a lot to take in.  As a child, well, it's just too much to ask.  It's a challenge trying to balance my needs with the needs of my children and sometimes I get very frustrated.  The last time I watched all of conference was April 2009.  This past April I was determined that I would watch ALL of conference, that I would make notes and make my summary sheet to hang up in my room to read and remember.

This morning, while Ken and the girls are at church and I'm at home continuing to recover from surgery, I finished watching the last two speakers of the Sunday afternoon session.  And I've just finished reading through my notes and making my summary list for me.  I feel happy.  This list is my personal list, it's the things that stood out to me, the things I need to work on.  I am grateful for a loving Father in Heaven that knows me, knows my needs and speaks to me through the Holy Ghost.  I am grateful for the atonement of my Savior Jesus Christ. 

General Conference Thoughts

April 2012

·        President Monson

·         Nothing can stop the truth of God from filling the earth

·         Our Heavenly Father is mindful of each of us and our needs

·         KINDNESS

·         Everyone is in a hurry; do we pause for moments of meditation? 

·         What is most precious?

·         Come Unto Jesus

·         May your homes be filled with love and courtesy

·         Ponder the truths you’ve heard

·         Be better than you were before conference began

o   Family time is sacred

o   Baptism preparation – one on one time the months before a child is baptized (Dad time) teaching for understanding

o   The gospel and the church are not the same thing, but we need both

o   Nurture others throughout your life

o   Sacrifice – home and visiting teaching, temple service, church service, FAMILY

o   Acting even on a “twig” of faith allows God to grow it, it is never too late to build faith in Jesus Christ

o   Be kind, it’s a happy way to live

o   We need to prepare ourselves to receive the sacrament, we need to make room for the Holy Ghost and ponder on our Savior’s sufferings

o   Make a quiet book based on this talk (Robert D. Hales – second session)

o   President George Albert Smith, repeating counsel from his grandfather, once said: “There is a line of demarcation well defined between the Lord’s territory and the devil’s territory. If you will stay on the Lord’s side of the line you will be under his influence and will have no desire to do wrong; but if you cross to the devil’s side of that line one inch you are in the tempter’s power and if he is successful, you will not be able to think or even reason properly because you will have lost the Spirit of the Lord” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: George Albert Smith [2011], 191).

o   Therefore, our daily question must be, “Do my actions place me in the Lord’s or in the enemy’s territory?”

o   Save things from the friend (stop/go)

o   President Monson – rescue those who have fallen away, those who have not yet tasted gospel fruit, do NOT judge

o   Example speaks so loudly children might not hear what we say

o   We need to read the Book of Mormon as a family

o   Don’t let emotions make decisions – can’t be influenced by the spirit

o   Don’t judge me because I sin differently than you (I need to stop judging my neighbours)

o   How do I help (When appropriate, ACT, don’t ASK)

o   Relief Society is not a trifling thing

o   FAMILY

o   Don’t deprive children of the opportunity to learn

o   Help children establish their own connection to heaven

o   Our missionary experiences have to be current

o   Reflect and record encounters of the spirit

o   Gratitude – confess the Lord in all things

o   Sometimes we might feel vulnerable and feel like we need another witness – Did I not speak peace to your mind? Remember sacred encounters

o   Am I a hypocrite?

o   What thinks Christ of me?

Goodbye Gall Bladder

The surgery was Wednesday.  Let's see, perhaps that isn't where to story begins though.  When I was pregnant with Alice I had these bouts of illness.  They would start with feeling off which would turn into feeling intense upper abdominal pain which would turn into a barf fest which would end with two more days of being horizontal.  I knew it wasn't pregnancy related - or at least I knew it was something more than just being pregnant.  It took a while to figure out that there was a pattern, and me being really slow to look after things sometimes, kept forgetting to mention it to my ob.  When I finally did mention it - at the end of my pregnancy he said, oh, that sounds like your gall bladder.

After Alice was born I had an ultra-sound which confirmed that I did in fact have gall stones.  When I went for the follow up with my family doctor she said, would you like me to schedule surgery now?  I was so taken back by her question.  I talked to a few friends and did a little bit of online reading and it seemed that surgery was in fact the only option, but I had a new baby and had no desire to have my gall bladder out right away.  I figured I'd wait a year and have it out. 

So here I am more than a year later post surgery.  I'm not feeling too badly really.  The incision below my navel is the most annoying and twinges here and there.  The gas pain is as uncomfortable as they said it would be and is unfortunately lasting longer than they said it would.  Discomfort aside I am so grateful for our health care system.  I know it doesn't always work perfectly, and hospital experiences aren't always good, but I am grateful.  I am grateful for doctors and nurses who do their jobs well.  I am grateful for nurses that work so hard to make us feel good.  I am grateful for a caregiver who goes above and beyond, who loves my kids and my family.  I am grateful for a ward family that has brought us meals and meals and more meals.  I am grateful for phone calls and emails and facebook messages from concerned friends and family.  I am so grateful for a supportive husband who is stepping up and doing it all while I'm recovering.

I thought about looking for a picture of a diseased gall bladder, or gall stones, or maybe even a still from a laparoscopic surgery, but I didn't!

Mother's Day

I would love to write something about Mother's Day that is both witty and profound.  One that reassures all the Mommies out there that they're doing a great job - that it's okay to do things your own way.  A post that will go viral because it so perfectly encapsulates what it means to be a mother in today's modern age.  But that would take time, energy, creativity and mental clarity.  And right now all of (well most of) my time, energy and creativity is reserved for my beautiful, busy girls.  (I'm not really sure there's ever any mental clarity.) 

I'm grateful for the wonderful Mom that raised me and the wonderful Mom that raised my sweet Ken.  And I am so grateful to be a Mom to my two girls.  Below are our best attempts at a Mother's Day photo.  I wanted one of the three of us together but between Alice squirming off my lap and Kate lifting her dress over her face, it was just not meant to be... kind of like the profundity of this post!

Alice's Nursery Rhymes #1

Allie-boo, Allie-boo sits in a chair.

 Allie-boo, Allie boo climbs up the stairs.

Allie-boo, Allie-boo where to go next?

 Allie-boo, Allie-boo learning to text

(Incidentally, she doesn't know how to text but she's placed three phone calls, that I know of, in the last week!)

The McMichael Gallery

CRAZY!  I just looked at the pictures from when we last went to the McMichael Gallery - March 2010, when Kate was 14 months old.  I almost put Alice in the exact same outfit this morning, and not because I looked at the pictures ahead of time.  Now I wish I'd gone with the first outfit idea, oh well!  The other fun thing is that I never blogged about the last trip - I included one sentence and one photo, so I've got an extra excuse to post a picture of Kate from 2010.

Here is Kate in March 2010.  The only thing I really remember about that day is that when we finally found the play area Kate was asleep. 

When you go to the gallery you can start on the left side or the right side.  I always go left and so the kiddie area is the last place we see, but it means that whatever the current exhibition is, you end up seeing it backwards.  Perhaps one day I'll go right to left, but probably not!

Weekends... I think I've finally got the weekdays down.  I go to work, the girls aren't with me, but we're all okay and this past week I actually felt happy, but the weekends, they still need work.  It's ridiculous that I waste time being sad on the weekend and I wish I could just snap myself out of it, but there it is.  I feel sad because I want them to last forever and with all the busy-ness of small people weekends almost feel over before they start.  It doesn't help either that we all move slowly on Saturday mornings because we can.  The reason for this long ramble is to say that we went to the gallery today and we had an enjoyable time, but we didn't get there until lunch time and we kind of ate but didn't, and Alice kind of napped but didn't and I almost started to let myself think the day was ruined, but I didn't and it wasn't, so maybe I'm figuring out weekends after all.

I LOVE the McMichael Gallery.  It is beautiful.  The art is beautiful and it is home.  I remember the first time Ken and I went there I couldn't believe he was Canadian and he hadn't heard of the Group of Seven.  I've never taken an art appreciation/art history/art anything course, but I feel like I've always known and loved the group of seven - and friends.  I love that so much of the art - so many of the scenes are of Ontario and it just feels like home.  If you want to read more about the history of the gallery, go here.  One of the reasons I love the gallery is because of it's size.  It's small but not tiny and totally manageable with small children.

I didn't get to pause and enjoy too many things, but I left with one impression.  Mermaids - or the Goddess of the Sea - I never knew that the idea of a Mermaid existed in Inuit mythology and now I want to know more.  I want a story.

So here's 14 month old Alice in the same window as Kate.

And because you don't take photographs in an art gallery (well not usually), here are the girls playing in the kiddie area.  Kate loved the dress-up box of hats.

I managed a quick pick of my moving target before she threw the hat on the floor.  I think she enjoyed watching Kate try on the hats more than trying them on herself.

The kiddie area isn't very large but it has lots of fun stuff.  My favourite things were all the board books - Barbara Reid and this cool series of books featuring works of the masters - Monet, Van Gogh, and Degas.  I kind of want them, but I kind of want lots of books.  I love owning books.  

Ken tried on a hat - doesn't he look pretty?

 Is it wrong that I think it was funny that Kate was hitting the outdoor sculptures of wolves with a stick?  (Not the actual hitting part, the hitting ART part.  Wait, that doesn't actually sound any better.)

I just want to hug and kiss this cute baby all day, but I'd have to catch her and hold her down and mostly she doesn't like that.

After the gallery we headed over to Mom and Dad's and had a nice visit.  Ken took Mom shopping for a tablet and Liz stopped in.  It was a full day.  I love weekends.  I love my family.

(P.S.  This is this second blog post in a row that I'm actually posting on the day it says instead of back dating.  Fun!  Now I really must do some school work!)