Fashionable Ch-Ch-Changes

So just to continue with the changes in our household, Elly got her first haircut today at my neighbour Michelle's house.  A local mum does haircuts in the home and since Michelle was getting Cooper's hair done, I jumped on the haircut train and asked if Leona could do Will and Owen at the same time.  And of course once we there, I looked at my Mullet Queen and decided it was time to clean her up. 

Michelle kindly took some photos of the grand event.  Elly looks totally unimpressed, but she was so, SO good, not a peep out of her and is quite happy with the result (which to be honest, still looks like a mullet, its just a tidier mullet).

Oh yeah, this is SO much fun! 

Doesn't she look thrilled?

Of course, I kept some of her hair in the Tinkerbell baggie that Michelle provided.

Ch-Ch-Changes

It was a pretty busy weekend here at PJ Central.  Elly's boyfriend Miles has gone and turned two years old, and as such he is in need of a big boy bed.  Luckily for him, William and Owen are in need of even bigger boy beds, so we made a trip to IKEA (where else?  Our whole house is an IKEA catalogue, it would seem), loaded up on beds, headboards and mattresses and then started on the work.

First, we had to take apart the big boy beds to be taken to Miles (and eventually to Caleb, when he tells his folks he's ready for the other one).  The boys love IKEA projects because they get to show off their allen key skills.

 

Of course, Mlle had to be involved too.  See how helpfully she's sitting in Daddy's lap so he can't actually do much?  Also see how Elly and Daddy are dressed similarly in short sleeve t-shirts over long sleeves?  Yup, Daddy was in charge of clothing today.  Too bad for all of us that he didn't decide to rock his stripey leggings to match El.

  

 Then it was time to clean up all the frightening stuff we found under the beds.

This wasn't too much of a hardship as the boys were quite excited to use the vacuum.  Weirdos.

The CN Tower needed a bit of a polish too, apparently.

Finally it was time to start assembling the bigger boy beds.  A pantless assistant = invaluable.

A pantless assistant who gets herself built into the new headboards = comedic genius.

Ah Elliot.  Anything for a laugh.  Wonder who she gets that from?

 

And voila!  Only a whole day's worth of work, but so worth it. Much bigger beds, but they look great, have lots of storage and even have secret pull out shelves....(Its the ODDA series, if you're interested)

 

Meanwhile, over in Elly's room, we decided some changes needed to be made as well.  Namely that our almost-two-year-old needed to actually sleep in her bed rather than use it as a place to store discarded clothes.  I'm not sure what tipped the scales for me, but I finally decided last night that it was time to sleep train her.  For realsies this time.  No half-hearted attempts that slumped off into nothing after the first sign of tears.  No giving up after two nights just because I couldn't be bothered getting out of bed again and gosh-darn-it at least we'll all sleep a little if she's in our bed.  Nope, last night I decided it was time to get serious, so I got out my sleep training book, skim read the chapters again and set up a plan to be implemented the following morning.

The first thing that needed to be done was to once and for all get rid of the soothers.  My sleep training book said that the first step in getting a child to sleep through the night is to get rid of any props they use to soothe themselves to sleep.  So anything like a bottle, a soother, etc.  Babies and toddlers apparently need to learn how to soothe themselves back to sleep without the assistance of other things.  Which makes sense to me.  If Elly can go to sleep at bedtime and fall back asleep in the middle of the night without me having to come in and pop a misplaced soother back in her mouth then great!  But that did mean getting rid of all the soothers today.  Sigh.  

So when we got up, I found two of her four soothers and cut holes in the top.  Some of you may recall that I did this to the boys as well when they were three.  It seemed to work well enough with them so I did it again.  Then I waited for Elly to ask for her beloved "foof".  Two minutes later she came into the kitchen requesting said "foof".  I handed it over and waited, not breathing, to see what she would do. She popped it into her mouth and sauntered to the stairs.  Elly paused at the top and slowly turned to look at me.  Uh-oh. Busted.  But she just smiled and went down the stairs to see her brothers. Really?  That's it?  Maybe I didn't cut the holes big enough?  And then she started yelling from the basement - "MAMA!  MAM! Boken!  Foof BOKEN!"  And here we go!

Having examined the soothers with her, decided they were indeed broken, we put them away on the counter.  She was okay about it, but asked for them a couple more times that morning.  Each time, we would talk about them being broken, have her try them again and then put them on the counter.  Naptime was no rougher than other days, she was a little upset without her foof, but fell asleep for an hour, so I consider that a success.  She was definitely quicker to cry all day, but it kind of showed me just how much we shushed her up with her soothers.  You're crying?  Quick, shove this in your mouth.

But the real success came after naptime when I somehow convinced her to throw her soothers out in the garbage!  I even got video footage:

And here she is watching the video over and over and over again. Not sure if she's obsessed with herself and her crazy outfit or if she just wanted one last glimpse at her soothers.

 Bedtime itself was a little longer, took us about an hour, but I think it went well too.  The big changes fro Elly, apart from not having her beloved soother, were that we moved her bed away from the wall since it was absolutely freezing when we lay her down at night and that I won't lie next to her while she falls asleep.  Instead I will now be sitting on the floor next to her, or in a chair by her bed for the first three or four nights, then move to the middle of the room for a couple more and then finally for the last two or three nights (I hope) be by the door, until finally I can just put her down to bed and leave the room with no tears from El.  Not sure what she really thinks of the new setup, she looked a little weirded out by the new bed position, asked and cried for her soother a bit, but mostly chatted at me ("what daddy do?  Owen say Daddy? Kitty-cat dere."), sang to herself and finally fell asleep.  Fingers crossed it will all be over in a week and we can all get a better night's sleep.

The new bed position 

I kind of wondered if this was the wrong weekend to be doing all of this sleep training with Elly as we've been having some separation anxiety issues with Owen.  Since we came back from the holidays, my little guy has been pretty...anxious.  He's my constant shadow at home, asking me where I am and what I'm doing to the point where I want to scream for some alone time. He pleads with Mark and I to stay upstairs at night rather than go down to the basement to watch tv because he "wants a grown-up nearby".  Last week Owen stayed up an hour and a half past his bedtime refusing to sleep unless we came upstairs.  And the biggest issue has been that he's been sobbing his heart out every morning as I drop him off at school.  He worries I'll forget to pick him up at school (I've never done this, so I have no idea where its coming from), that we'll leave the house in the night without him, that he'll be left behind somehow.  Its gotten to the point where he asks to be taken out of the car first in case I accidentally forget to unstrap him and leave him in there.  Its very hard to watch, hard to find the words to comfort him and perhaps hardest of all to stay patient.  He went through similar issues last January, although I don't remember it being so extreme at home.  But in the end, he came out the other side and started enjoying school again.  I hope we'll get to that point again soon, and just remind myself to stay calm for his sake. 

But all of this to say that knowing I would be spending more time in Elly's room at night for the next little while, where he wasn't allowed to come in case he wakes her up, well I knew that could prove to be a problem.  And it was to a certain extent tonight - Owie did come in after I had told him not to, he did wake Elly up just as she was dropping off to sleep, and I did get angry.  But then I calmed down, went into his room and we had a little chat.  He was clearly anxious, didn't want to go to sleep unless we were in the room with him, he said, and worried that we would "break a window and leave the house".  Huh?!  I convinced him we had no intention of doing any such thing and then I wracked my brains to think of how to get him to relax and fall asleep.  I stretched the truth a little and told him that my yoga instructor gave me some breathing exercises to try at night when I needed to relax and that she told me that firefighters use these exercises to help themselves relax and go to sleep...I guess these were the magic words, because I got him to inhale deeply through his nose and then breathe out slowly through his mouth saying the words "munya, munya, munya".  Try it, its quite relaxing.  My mum used to get me to do the same thing when I was a kid and was stressing over things (yes, yes, he gets it from me, the epitome of a worry wart, I know this).  I went back to Elly to finish getting her to bed and I guess my firefighter breathing did the trick because we didn't hear a peep out of him after that.  

Poor lambie.  I must try to be more patient with him.

Here he is working hard on a paint by numbers that his Auntie Karen and Uncle Dwayne gave him for Christmas.  It was a huge hit with the boys today - I couldn't believe how hard they worked on the paintings, and I think we'll do some more this week.  Talk about quiet concentration!  He looks so much like Mark here.  

See the bracelet on his wrist?  That's another one of my attempts to keep him from getting worked up about school.  I made both him and William friendship bracelets in their favorite colours and then made myself two more to match.  These are their "Mummy Love" bracelets as Owen calls them, and if they feel sad at school, they can look at their wrists and know that I made them with love, that I have them on my wrist too (and I told Owen I will see them and it will be yet another reminder not to forget to pick them up from school).  I think they look pretty cool too, so bonus points there I think.

Here's Will working away.  He hasn't been in the least bit bothered about going back to school, but is my ally in calming Owen down (except on the days when he looses patience with the whole thing and sighs in disgust - "Mum, Owen's crying.  Again.").  Sometimes I can hear them at night when I'm putting Elly to bed and Will is telling him not to be sad, to remember that I'm just in the other room and "do you want my teddy to keep you company?" 

The arteests. Great gift KJ and Dwayne!

Anyway, this has now become the world's longest, most rambling post, but I thought you might like to have a proper update.  I'll try to write more this week about how the sleep training is going, as well as all that fireman breathing.  In the meantime, deep breath in, hold it and...munya, munya, munya.

To Quote Owen

Just some stuff Owen shared with me over the past 48 hours...

"Hey mum? How come you don't get to go to work?"

*

"Oh look, mum...Hollow Kitty."

*

"MOM! MO-OM! Elly put the pink toothpaste in her hair. And she has a poopy bum."

*

"hey mum, I just saw Elly put the whole toilet roll into the toilet. And she did it before I could flush away my poop."

*

"Can I have some vegetables in my wrap please, mummy?"

*

"Mum? Mum? Mum? Mummy? Mum? Muuuuum! MOM! Well, when will you be off the phone?!"

*

"I don't know why she's crying. I didn't do anything to her. Well okay, I tried to jump over her but it didn't work. I guess that could be it."

Skiers!

Gran and Grandpa gave the boys a wonderful gift for Christmas - ski lessons at the cottage's local ski hill.  They went to the hill (about 20mins away) every day for 5 days and had lessons for 2 hours with the wonderful Caroline, a 16 year old full of energy and fun.  Just what the boy needed.  I went over one day with Mark (who took them everyday, thank you Spark!) and managed to video them on their last run of the morning.  I should add that it was a bone-chilling -22 C, but with the wind it felt more like -27.  It was so cold out there!  And my brave little guys gamely went up and down the hill.  So impressed!  The video below is a little shakey because it was so cold and my bare hands could hardly hold the camera (my mitts were too big to film with), so I kept changing hands and putting one in my pocket to warm up.

Goal!

I don't have resolutions for the upcoming year, just goals.  Somehow the latter feels better than the former. It seems that resolutions are made and forgotten, broken or just not made at all.  There's a guilt associated with resolutions, the knowledge that you'll say "I WILL do it!" as you drink your champagne on the 31st, but in your heart you know its just something you say, that once the New Year loses its shiny newness, you'll have shrugged it off, pushed it aside like too many turkey leftovers.

But a goal seems to be something to strive for, to work at, to mould and adapt as you see fit.  Your goals will grow with you as the year takes shape around you, fill you with pride as you rise to each challenge and see your efforts pay off.  They are your guide to the changing year, your map to the road ahead as you navigate the days and months to come.  Goals are good. 

And I have some good goals for 2012.  I've been thinking about them over the past few weeks, deliberating on how I want the year to proceed, what I think I can handle and where I need to push myself further.  They may change over the coming months, but at the moment, here's what I've been deliberating:

Training and Running The Niagara Half Marathon
I love running, but its something that has been neglected this past year.  I was really strong in January of 2010, had some wonderful 10km runs on sunny Sunday mornings, but then it all seemed to fall to the wayside. Part of it was that Elly got fed up of being pushed around in the running stroller, and walking back home for 5 km in the snow with her in my arms wasn't much fun.  But I think a big part of it was that I didn't set myself any goals.  I had a mini-goal to look somewhat presentable in a swimsuit in February when we went down to Florida, but once that was over, I got lazy and used Elly's stroller-angst as an excuse not to keep going.  Basically, I got lazy. 

But this year, my mum has decided she wants to run a half marathon in October to mark her 60th birthday.  I can't think of a better goal than to be able to run that race by her side.  I once thought that 21km was the perfect running distance and I hope that I get back into that groove and rediscover all that I love about running. 

There will definitely be some challenges with this goal - Elly being one of them, my sore feet (two pregnancies have not been kind to them, and I've had a lot of metatarsal issues) being another - but ten months is a long time to deal with them and find ways around them.  I'd like to run at least one 5km race and my brother and sister-in-law, Dwayne and Karen, are already talking about doing the Ottawa National Capital 10km race in May with me. Dwayne and I have spent the last couple of days talking about training schedules, clothing and equipment (I'm obsessed with getting an iphone just so I can use an app to calculate and chart my distances and progress), and I've been creating the ultimate playlist to get my feet going.  So I'm excited to start and see what my body can do!  As one Iron-Man facebook friend wrote, Merry Fitness & Happy New Rear!

Organized Eating
I asked for and received Michele Borboa's book Make-Ahead Meals Made Healthy for Christmas and I'm hoping it helps get dinners back on track in our house.  I love cooking meals, but as you can imagine, with three children, two of whom are happily involved in after-school swimming and skating lessons and one of whom loves nothing more than to hang off my hip like some newfangled accessory, it can be hard to find the time to make healthy meals.  Even worse trying to make ones they don't deem "vomitrocious", but that's a whole other issue. 

My goal here is to create healthy, tasty meals that I can make on the weekend, freeze and then reheat on our busy days.  I'd love to see my freezer full of nicely stacked tupperware containers, labelled with things like Good For You Mu Shu Pork, Quick Turkey Sausage and Broccoli Rabe Calzones, Red Lentil and Couscous Veggie Burgers (Mark is probably rolling his eyes and muttering at that one) and Family Friendly Chicken & Wild Rice Bake.  Or how about some Banana Coconut Muffins, Whole Grain Parmesan Herb Twists, Bake Ahead Fig & Brie Tartlets or best of all, Decadent Dark Chocolate Mint Cake?  I'm definitely looking forward to trying out all these recipes and more, and hopefully my guinea-pigs will be happy to eat them.  Of course there will be days when I resort to take-out, but I'd like to keep them to a minimum. 

I'd also like to see how the kids handle their own snack drawer.  One of my biggest pet peeves is the kids constantly asking "Can we have a snack?".  We have a pantry with an easy-to-access lower drawer that I'd like to use to place various individual snack servings.  I've seen some good ideas online like this and this and now I just need to see if its something we can implement with Owen, Will and Elly.  My concern is that when faced with as many snacks as they want, they'll go nuts and eat everything in sight and not have an appetite for dinner.  But I think I have to hand that responsibility over to them and see how they manage.  If it works in the pantry, perhaps I can put other snacks that need to be refrigerated in the basement fridge, near the playroom.  I guess the worst that can happen is they eat us out of house and home within a week, but at least they'll have done it by themselves and I won't have to get up every five minutes to get it for them!

Time For The Kids
I spend too much time on the internet.  I know this.  I spend a lot of time on facebook and on silly gossip sites.  I say to my children, "yes, yes, just a minute, I'll be there in a minute. Go play together", when really I should be playing games with them and doing crafts and baking and all sort of other wonderful bonding things.  Of course, as any parent will tell you (well, perhaps they'll tell you if they're feeling honest) there are days when the last thing you want to do is play Candyland or pretend to be a firefighter.  But really, kids are just so ridiculously happy when you do that it seems mean to refuse. 

So my goal here is to try harder.  To show the children that when they ask me to come and play, they are so important to me that I will stop surfing and say "Sure!"  I have a great book called 501 TV-Free Activities For Kids - a great resource for crafts, games, science projects and family fun.  I used it a little bit this summer at the cottage, but I'd really like to take it out on a Sunday night, mark a few ideas for the week ahead and try to incorporate them into our afternoons.  I find that when I have these things planned out, it helps reduce those afternoons when the boys are antsy and saying "we're booooored!  Can we watch tv now?"  A little effort ahead of time means way less hair-pulling and gnashing of mummy teeth down the road. 

Time For Mark
Poor Mark.  He's so neglected.  He comes home from his 12 hours at the office (seriously.  He leaves at 6:30am and on a good day he comes home at 6:30pm) and I throw the kids at him, or hand him a list of things that need to be done, or he eats dinner in front of the computer to put in another few hours of work.  He rarely has time to do things just for him. I'd love for him to have time to go for a run, or hang out with his friends more.  But mostly I just want him and I to hang out more in a kid-free environment.  We rarely go out alone anymore for dinner and I can't remember the last time we went to the movies (although this might have more to do with the fact that we think the movies are overpriced and its waaaay comfier to watch movies on our couch at home.  No rude strangers shoving your elbows out of the way, no lineups, no...okay, yes, we're old fogeys).  I always thought the sound of "date-night" sounded corny for married couples, but now I think it sounds kind of nice. 

My plan is to get a regular babysitter and then get out!  We're always saying we don't use our city enough, I think its time Mark and I discover Toronto again.

Time For Friends
And lastly, but by no means least, I want to see my friends.  I want to be Pascale and not MummaBumma (or Mean Mumma, as Elly has taken to calling me.  Its delightful).  I want to hang out and laugh and have a couple of glasses of wine and talk about life and books and the kids and our husbands and where did you get that cute top and our kids and that person at work who always does that weird thing with his eye and our kids and laugh some more.  I love my friends dearly.  I owe at least three of them a dinner date (Dee-Ann, this most definitely includes you!) and I don't want to go another year saying "We really need to get together more often" or "I miss hanging out with you". 

At the beginning of December I had a craft night at my house with seven of my girlfriends.  It was awesome.  My online buddy Jen has gotten me addicted to pinterest.com (warning:  this is a black hole site...you might not emerge for a few hours/weeks if you click on this link) and its sparked a creative fever that is still burning hot.  At our craft night, we made this and these and I made two of these for the boys' teachers and one for my mother-in-law.  Amber started making something like this and will hopefully finish it this year ;).  But it was so much fun hanging out with those ladies, so great to sit and gab and make and drink that I'd like to make it a monthly event, and maybe more friends will want to come too.  I'm already looking forward to planning the next one.

So.  Those are my goals to date.  I know they're not earth shattering, not going to get me on the shortlist for any Nobel prizes, but they're good for me right now.  I'm sure they will change and grow over time and more will emerge as the year progresses.  For now, I'm setting my sights on these five and looking forward to what tomorrow brings. 

Merry Christmas To You!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  I hope 2012 brings you much joy and happiness and that the year ahead is full of love and laughter.

(Thanks Jen/Brazenlilly for the awesome card design!)

Your Wish Is My Command

In case you needed it, here's more proof that Elliot rules our roost...

First off, she shows us all that a good firefighter knows how to accessorize.

And at lunch, she pulls off her sock, then demands that Woah-Woah put it back on again.

It has to be just right for Her Ladyship

Then she promptly pulls it back off....

 And demands that Oh-Oh now resocks her precious toesies.

 "Like this, madam?"

 She's pointing at Daddy to tell him he's next....

Ah precious children.  Love it when they play nicely together and/or submit to Elly's will.

I know I've been pretty absent from the blog, but its not on purpose.  Life keeps getting in the way somehow.  I'm hoping I have some time over the holidays to sit down and write about such things as the tooth fairy, parental temper tantrums and just how ineffective they are, my feelings about a potential future being someone other than "mumma" and many more photos, including this year's Christmas Photo...Stay tuned!