Born 'n Bred Country Girl

We had a visit from my husbands dad and his two sons a little while back. They brought with them a hand-me down bed for my son which meant we moved his old bed into my daughter's room for when she would be graduating to the next stage.

Poor guy reacts really badly to bug bites. I thought he may have grown out of it this year but no such luck. Weirdest part is the bite occurred way back in his hair above his ear. His whole side of his head swelled up and then spread to his eye. These pictures were taken at the end of day two. When he woke up in the morning he couldn't open it at all. Poor guy. Looks like the allergy medicine will be taking up permanent residence in the baby bag again this summer.

We had our pre-scheduled dental cleaning and check up a week and a half ago. But I copped out. I decided I probably wouldn't be able to handle the smell of all the cleaning stuff . I also decided I didn't feel like holding my mouth open for that long. And I also decided that in case I was sick that the dental hygienist probably wouldn't appreciate being vomited on. I thought I was being pretty considerate.

So I made my son take my place instead. He did great for his first time ever.
The hygienist started to do all the baby talk but it was making matters worse. We'd been preparing him all morning for what to expect. So we told her just to just go at it and we'd make sure he was good.
Plus we've been watching lots of the "Berenstain Bears Go to the Dentist". My son was a pro. It was a proud moment.

Ok so here I am again. The kids are in bed and I thought since I have already promised to write more i'd get you all up to speed on my ultrasound experience.

I had my first ultrasound two weeks and a bit ago now at a local diagnostics center. I chose to schedule there because they could fit me in right away compared to the hospital that was booked right up to mid-June. Since I haven't had an official period, we wanted to get an idea of how far along I was.

So the center was interesting. I was greeted by a Hungarian looking man and a Pakistan looking man. Both of whom could not find my papers anywhere. Meanwhile, out walks this huge, tall, very white skinned, blonde haired, blue eyed German guy who then asks in his thick accent "is dis my patient?". Pointing at me. Yikes.

"yes" I said sheepishly.

I was a little thrown back. First of all by just the lack of organization this place seemed to be running under. And secondly by this huge technician. Plus I have never had a male do my ultrasounds before. Just weird.

After a lot of ruffling of papers, they couldn't find my requisition anywhere. So I called my midwife whom I couldn't reach. So then I tried another midwife's pager and got her. So she thankfully was able to re-fax the requisition so that I wouldn't have to rebook, go home and then find childcare for my kids a second time (which was not easy I might add in a town where we are still getting to know people).

So eventually it was my turn. My German technician acted very friendly and had some questions. So we chatted a bit. Once the ultrasound started he made a couple of other comments to which I went to respond to but was rudely CUT off when he said "uhh, just let me do my job" (imagine the accent).

Very odd man.

To add to the weirdness of this place, the room we were in was super small and wasn't like any hospital ultrasound room i've ever been in. There was just the one screen for the German technician and that was it. I couldn't see a thing. So I spent the next 15 minutes or so (oh and he was strangely fast) straining my neck trying to see something....anything. But nothing but some fuzz.

At the very end, after hearing him clicking and printing out some photos, he finally turns the monitor and shows me my baby. Very tiny. But we could see the heartbeat which is always a good thing. He then proceeds to tell me that he "thinks" i am around 8 weeks (which is what I thought and was hoping for) but that he's not sure " 'cause its my firrst time here at dis cliniq and i vill do the calculations laterr with da calculator".

what??? the calculator?? what in tarnations kind of technician are you??? (these are the thoughts going on in my head)

I politely thank him and b-line it out of there. No pictures. No concrete answers. Nothing. I left praying that my midwife would have the results by my appointment and that everything was normal and fine with the baby. Which I am sure it is. But it's always nice to hear those words. Even if they would be from some scary German technician.

So this past week, I had been gearing up for my visit with my midwife which happened on Thursday. BUT Tuesday I received a phone call from the diagnostics center asking me to schedule a second ultrasound because "They need more pictures". Whatever that means.

I got my midwife to call and find out what was going on. Turns out (like I had suspected) my German technician had done a lousy job and the radiologist was ordering a repeat ultrasound.

So I get to go back there.

This Friday.

Pray for me. Especially that I get a different technician.

Maybe i'll actually get some pictures this time.


Oh and just so you know after this I am NEVER going back.

Well it's been quite some time since I last posted. Rather since I have felt motivated to post. I've just had no drive to get on here and hash out the day/week's activities.

But here I am....i've decided this week I am going to try and get on here and get you all caught up on what's been happening in our neck of the woods.

On another note, I'm happy to report that I am beginning to feel a bit better during the day and evenings. My mornings are still a little rough. I am keeping food down better now. I just snack pretty much all day long and it seems to be helping. I also have noticed a small increase in energy. So that's exciting.

That's it for now. Will post again soon.

Mother's day was celebrated early around here. My husband worked this weekend so we decided to celebrate on Thursday night by going out to a local fancy restaurant with the kids. My husband had also scored us a gift certificate there so it was an easy pick.

While we were waiting for our food to arrive my son decided that this night would be the night to try out some new colorful language he apparently, but not surprisingly, had picked up from some boys that play out front of our condo. Lo and behold, "stupid butt" was what he had picked up. Surprised, shocked and almost abhorred at what had just come out of his mouth, both my husband and I were like "WHAT did you JUST say??". Sure enough our ears had not failed us.

We found ourselves going from mystified to partially angry at the corruption that had just occurred to clueless as to how to handle this situation. I wasn't expecting to encounter this kind of thing until he had started school. So we attempted the whole explaining thing. That we don't use those words. That those words are rude and not good manners (manners is a big thing in our house that my son understands). That those words are dirty talk.

Having felt like we handled it pretty well we went on and enjoyed our evening only to be equally surprised when my son decided that he was going to push the issue further and try whispering his choice words to see if we were listening.

Again not entirely sure how to handle the situation. Torn between the possibility of ignoring it and hoping it will go away OR dealing with it now and setting the precedent for any other choice words he may pick up in the years to come. So we re-explained.

Friday was another day of testing for him. I decided that I was going to start threatening the bar of soap. Adding to our explanation that if he was going to talk like that, that I would have no choice but to wash his mouth of his dirty talk. That night while I was folding laundry, my son, who I might add has also REALLY been testing limits lately, decided to look me straight in the eye and test my soap threat!

With a smug little smile on his face he seemed quite pleased to accept his consequence of having his mouth washed out. So I got out the bar of Ivory and lathered it up real good. I stuck it in his mouth and worked it around. All the while this smug grin remaining. UNTIL he moved his tongue!

Words can not describe the priceless look of disgust on his face and the spitting that followed. I inquired if he would like me to wash it out some more. His head was very quick to indicate no. So I told him to take some water and rinse his mouth. So he took a big gulp and.....swallowed. No joke when I tell you that what followed was near convulsions as he worked to spit out the residue in his mouth.

Finally, he got that he shouldn't swallow the water. We did a little debriefing that seems to have driven home the point that we won't tolerate that kind of talk in our house. About 20 minutes later he came to me and told me he needed more water. I sent him to the bathroom to use the cup there and when I went to check up on him I found him gulping big mouthfuls of water and spitting them out.

Since then, I've heard him a couple of times saying "no stupid butt". It didn't seem to be directed to anyone. But i've been interjecting with "what happens if you say that?" He remembers.

Tonight though, we went to the park for a little bit and I heard him say it to some kids that were there. As much as I wanted to fly home and wash his mouth out again, I waited. Every one of the kids there were shocked that he said that and told him that what he said wasn't nice (they were older kids). I'm hoping that it might help that older peers have indicated to him that his words weren't nice.

So mother's day has been interesting to say the least. Just keeping me on my toes. Kids do say the darn'dest things I suppose. I remember my mom washing our mouths out with dish soap when we were younger. It seemed to have worked for me. Maybe not so much for my siblings but 1 out of 3's not so bad right? I'll have to adjust my tactics for the next ones.

I've been finding it so hard to blog every day lately. I have been plagued with fatigue and nausea like no tomorrow this past week. It seems to come and go, the nausea that is, but I have yet to go a day without vomiting. Oh the joys of growing a child.

This weeks was like most other normal weeks around here. I decided I was going to live at playgroup since I woke up most mornings super tired and sick. So we were there everyday except Wednesday and Friday. I love playgroup. Sigh. The staff are wonderful and helpful and completely sympathetic. The organization also supplies snack so that's a big bonus and less work for me. Plus, most importantly, the kids love going. My son has made some good buddies there and looks forward to his big boy play time. My daughter does her usual rounds. She likes the puzzles, the blocks, the big pasta bin (which is every mother's nightmare), and she LOVES the crayons. We're working on keeping them out of her mouth but for the most part she just likes to tote them around and occasionally make a mark on some person's artwork that was left on the easel.

Wednesday my husband was off work (yeah!) so we went grocery shopping. We also discovered/tried for the first time a little chip stand next to the grocery store. My husband and I both grew up near a town that is primarily Francophone. For those of you who have yet to experience French Quebecoise style cuisine, well you don't know what you are missing. One of these such platters being a true Poutine (pronounced 'puh-tsin' not 'poo-teen' -a pet peeve of mine). Every place we have moved we search out the local eateries and chip stands for the closest thing to what we know back home as the true poutine (it's a thing we do- don't ask). Anyways, back to the grocery store chip stand. We think we have found it. THE place to get a good quality perfectly cooked french fry with real cheese curds and a very tasty dark gravy. Oh and quantity! HMMMMMM. We have tried several places over the course of the past year and none has come close.

Friday we made a playdate with my friend Pam (the one with the son who has the same name as ours) at the park. The boys are hilarious. They talk and ask about each other all the time but because they are 3 they just have no clue about how to play together. One minute they're happy sliding together and the next minute they're throwing rocks at each other. They also imitate everything pretty much that the other does....even peeing. Out of the blue, Pam says to me "oh my goodness look at your son". Here he's dropped his pants to his ankles and was standing there in the middle of the park creating a perfect arc of pee for all to see. Next thing you know her son has dropped his pants and is straining to imitate my son irregardless of having to go or not. Crazy kids. I see we're going to have to work on getting my son to be a little more discreet when there's no bathrooms around.

Friday afternoon was also my ultrasound. I left the kids with some other friends who have 4 boys of their own. My son loves playing there. I'll share more on my experience there but for the most part everything appears to be normal. The technician was super vague and said he was going to do all the calculations later. But it looks like i'm about 8 weeks along which is what I was really praying for. I guess we'll be having a December baby. Here's hoping i'll be looking somewhat back like myself by Christmas.

And today was a normal saturday for the most part. I took the kids out garage saling. I just love looking at other peoples stuff even if I don't buy anything. My son found a gun that makes a grinding noise that a man gave him for free. I found a veggie tales placemat and a cute shelf for my daughter's room. It was a fun morning. We ended up at the same park that we had visited yesterday. Pam was there with her mother-in-law and husband so we joined them for a bit while the boys once again tried to sort out their issues. One day they'll get it.

Hope everyone has a good Mother's day tomorrow!

All week we've been gearing up for today- my son's 3rd birthday. We had the countdown going on and everything. Monday we went to mom's and tots to give my husband some time to recover from pulling a double shift. So that day went by quickly enough (plus we had bible study that night so my son got some play time with his friends). Tuesday we hung out with my husband and I took off in the afternoon with my daughter for a walk with a friend also to take advantage of Ben & Jerry's free ice cream cone day at the mall. So that day went by pretty fast. Wednesday we froze at the park with some friends but it still made the day go by. And yesterday we went to playgroup to again make the day go by.

Last night my husband's friend arrived. My son calls him Uncle Bo-Bo. This began what we told our son, was his birthday celebrations. You see when Uncle Bo-Bo comes to visit he brings his X-Box which my son is ALL over. He would live and breath any and all things electronic or video game related if you let him. Which I might add is part of the reason we don't own any of those things.....yet.

So when Uncle Bo-Bo went to park his truck after unloading all of his things (X-box, computer, electronics etc) onto our front steps, my son was left drooling in the doorway. I just happened to be in earshot when I heard a very excited and elaborate "WOWWWW!............(pause)......I ...so....Happy!".

"You're happy?" I say.

Without peeling his eyes off the merchandise he replies "*sigh* I - I-Games.......so...Happy". Poor guy was without further words.

So Uncle Bo-Bo has helped to make the start of his birthday very complete.

Today, my son of course rose early begging to go downstairs and play games. But we managed to tide him off because Uncle Bo-Bo is NOT an early riser. My husband had agreed to fix a friends vehicle this morning so he was taking my son out with him for some father-son time. When they opened the door, we found a package that the UPS guy must of dropped off while we were still in bed from Grandma S. (my husband's mom).

Here he sports his new hat and Lightning McQueen glow in the dark underwear. Thanks Grandma S.!

Thanks also to everyone that phoned to wish him a Happy Birthday. He was a little phoned out tonight for the last couple of calls. But for those of you he didn't talk long to he still jumped at the sound of the phone asking if it was for him. You guys made him feel special.

After helping Daddy outside, I took Liam to playgroup while my husband finished up and while my daughter napped. Uncle Bo-Bo was finally awake by the time we came back. It was game time. That's pretty much what he did for the rest of the day. Of course we forced him to eat and nap in there.

We did the big birthday supper thing for him this evening. He got to open his gift from us and of course do the cake thing. He was super happy. I love the following pictures:


I can hardly believe its been three years already. My favorite firstborn son!