I really loved today 😀 My body hurts in that solid accomplished kind of way.

Starting with last night, Brady and I felt super off and disconnected from each other. I think it was because we spent the evening together at home but doing activities completely separate from each other. I don’t know for sure, but it felt weird. And I was nervous going from that into today, knowing we would be apart pretty much all day, even though he had worked butt off to have the day free. However, it was a really awesome day.

In the morning, Brady went to the city to help a woman disassemble a bed frame for Dekker that we bought off of a Facebook sale page. It was an unbelievable deal, and I’m sooo thrilled that I have a handy, wililng, muscly husband and a van to haul it home in. He went straight from that house to my hometown, where he did another pick up for me. This time, it was a huge collection of Family Circus books, and Melissa and Doug letter magnets. As soon as that exchange had been made, he went to my former high school and gave two presentations at their career day. They were based around being a finishing carpenter, as well as a small business owner. He was asked a while ago, and was pretty hesitant for a while, but came home afterwards very, very happy. A lovely teacher (you know who you are) encouraged him in between his presentations that he was indeed keeping people’s attention and that his information was interesting and well put together. I think that was a huge boost for him 🙂 I believe he said the words “The ice is broken” to me afterwards. Its cool to see this side of him encouraged!

Pretty much right when he got home, though, I left. I had spent the morning with the kids, who were sooo sweet and considerably more agreeable than the day before, but it was time that I headed off to run my errands. I needed to buy Brady’s Christmas gifts, among a few other things for a few other people, and a couple of appointments. I had a super enjoyable day in the city on my own. I completed all but ONE thing off of my list, which is pretty much incredible. People were nice and traffic was good, and I got good parking pretty much everywhere. I went to see Dr. Mike and he said I’m holding up surprisingly well, which is great to hear! I hadn’t seen him in around six weeks, and to see that it hasn’t set me back too far is such a relief!

My big event today was going in for my glucose test. I don’t hate that test as much as so many people do. Ya, its kind of nasty and the wait is long, but it doesn’t make me sick and I didn’t have the kids with me, so it wasn’t a bother. However, the clinic I always go to, that is always very quiet and laid back, was full to bursting with people. I sat for over a half hour before I was even registered. Of course, by that time, the clinic was closing in less than an hour, and I was supposed to drink a drink, wait an hour, pee in a cup, and get my blood taken. But the nurse quietly said it would be fine, brought me to the back, and ever so politely asked me to chug that filthy drink back as fast as I could. Which I did. I sat in the waiting room while everyone around me gradually petered out. I was eventually called up to the desk again and asked if I could “now make urines.” I made urines, and went back out to wait in the waiting room. She came after me though, and offered that I could just come sit in the back instead. I thanked her, and hung out in the back for a few minutes while my hour finished up. As she came and was taking my blood, I apologized for coming so late, and admitted that I thought they closed an hour earlier than they actually did. She was incredibly kind and said that we all have to fit stuff in when we can, and that she understood. Like I said, people were so nice today!

Once that was all over and done with, I dropped into a nearby grocery store for milk and napkins, then picked up an ungodly amount of burgers, and went home. My kids were in bed, and my husband was hungry. Now, the burgers are gone, and we are ready for some tv and bed. Tomorrow is likely another city day!

So Dekker recently learned about “not feeling well.” I’ve talked about it on here before, and have wondered how unwell he actually feels. After a bit of digging and weeks of observation, I’ve decided that he really doesn’t likely feel well, but that maybe that means a different thing to him. He is really working through a hard stage, and I think he feels unhappy sometimes. He also doesn’t feel well when he’s hungry, or sleepy, or when he needs time away from his sister. We all have times that we don’t feel 100% and I think this is just his way of expressing it.

This morning, I woke up around 9:00am. Laela was awake and talking, and I could see that Dekker was awake too, but he wasn’t up moving around or initiating games with Laela like usual. I gave them some time to wake up more, as Dekker has never liked being retrieved before he is wide awake, but nothing really changed. Laela was ready to get up, but Dekker was pretty unmoving. When I went into their room, Dekker sat up in bed and said “I feel sick.” Not that he didn’t feel well, but he felt sick. I put out my arms for a hug, and he came and just plopped himself in my lap for his hug. So I snuggled him for a few minutes on the floor of their room before I sort of did my warp-speed-mom-check. You guys know what I mean. Feeling for temperatures, looking at skin colors, checking fingers and toes for hairs or fibres cutting off circulation, stuff like that. His feet were freezing and his torso was warm, so I checked him with a thermometer but it checked out fine. Other than that, he just had a wet diaper. So I changed that up while he lay limp on the floor. I won’t lie. I was pretty thankful for the lack of fight, and I am always thankful that Laela is sooo patient when Dekker is struggling. She just stood in her crib and watched. Yes, I could have freed her, but I know that it often agitates Dekker how close she’ll stand to his face while he’s laying down. So she waited patiently, and then Dekker waited the same way while I changed Laela. Everything was very quiet.

Dekker sat quietly at the breakfast table while I got his cereal. Normally I give him his options and he can pick, but today I opted for Cheerios, which is the most boring but least flavorful or sugary. Before I even poured it, I heard Dekker politely ask for Cheerios with milk. Perfect! He ate a great big bowl of Cheerios and asked for more. While the kids are their Cheerios, I puttered in the kitchen and unpacked the dishwasher from the night before. Ya, I do my dishes now. Kind of a big deal over here.  But I’m always on mom alert, so maybe 15% of me was paying attention to the dishes while the other 85% was on the kids. And I observed Dekker giving Laela bites of his cereal, talking to her, and playing peekaboo. When Laela takes a drink of her milk, she often moves her cup to the table off of her tray, but then forgets about it and doesn’t drink any more. I observed Dekker putting her milk back on her tray every few minutes so she would remember to take a drink.

At one point during breakfast, Dekker suggested I get a hot drink and come sit down with them 🙂 I love that. It always brings me back down to earth and reminds me that my kids are waaay more important than my dishes. So I did just that. I let him pick my drink (thanks for the tea, Dekker!) and I sat down at the table with the littles for the rest of breakfast. While we were sitting together, Dekker said something about not feeling well again. I confirmed “You still don’t feel well?” He thought about it and said “I not not feel well.” I asked him what he meant, and he said “I feel ok.” I made a big deal of how I was so happy that he felt well, and he confirmed that maybe the food had helped. It was a good breakfast.

However, the morning wasn’t smooth, and Dekker still seemed quite off. When I knew I was right around the corner from losing my cool completely, I told him that they would need to go down for their nap early, and Dekker was fully on board! So now they’re tucked away, and while I can see Dekker isn’t sleeping, he is welcoming the quiet time. It would appear that my biggest little truly isn’t feeling well today. Poor boy.

While the kids rest, I’m in bed, blogging and eating dried pineapple. Hopefully we can all feel 100% soon 🙂

I passed 27 weeks of pregnancy on Sunday, which my What to Expect app tells me means I’m officially in the third trimester!! I never quite know when one is officially into the next trimester, since 40 weeks doesn’t exactly divide into three parts evenly. However, anyone who has been pregnant knows that a pregnancy isn’t counted from the actual date of conception, and the whole 40 week thing is kind of made up. Aaaaanyway, this is unimportant. If my app hadn’t told me this Sunday, I would have said it by next Sunday for sure anyway. Yay third trimester!

On that note, certain things are changing, and I figured I’d note them here, if anyone was interested.

Weight. No, I’m not complaining about gaining weight, or saying one should or shouldn’t more or less. BUT I can tell my body is putting more on. With Dekker, I gained a belly and nothing else. With Laela, I gained a belly and boobs, and that was also pretty much it, but after her, I kept on about ten pounds. I’m actually pretty ok with those ten pounds. I felt I was at a healthier weight at that point. But therefore, I started a bit higher in weight this time around, and I can tell my body is bigger now that it was at this point with the other kids. I’m rocking more love handles this time around, but definitely trying to embrace it all! I definitely look pregnant now, which I’m very happy about 🙂

Pregnancy brain. I am graced with pregnancy brain pretty much out of the gate. I have a vivid memory of being pregnant with Dekker in the very early stages, where I went downstairs to get something, and forgot what it was. We’ve all done it, right? So I came back up, remembered it, went back down, got it, and barely made it back up the stairs before I was too tired to move. A lot goes on in a persons body when they’re building a person! Anyway, I’ve had this the whole way along, but this morning, I lost our cups. Like, the glasses. In our kitchen cupboard. The same cupboard they’ve been in for five years or so. I couldn’t locate them. I opened every door on that side of the kitchen before that one. Not my best moment.

Baby Pelvis. Doctors have this beautiful term for a pelvis in a second (or whatever consecutive) pregnancy. A tried pelvis. Sounds flattering, right? Its not. My body is “tried.” But tried, tested, and true, I do declare! Its worked out, which is a HUGE blessing! My first time around, I had a bit of pelvic pain right at the end, and just toughed it out. With Laela, she basically tried to kill me, and all the good stuff holding my pelvis together loosened really, really early. I rocked a fancy pants belt around my hips to try and keep my body together in one piece from about 23 weeks on, if I remember right. This time around, my body feels considerably more normal. As in not quite so painful. I can feel my body slip out of place once in a while on really big, busy days, but not in my regular day to day stuff. Christmas shopping day was HUGE and by the end of it, I was feeling good and sore, but not even close to the pain I felt in my second pregnancy! I could still enjoy the rest of the day. Like it was more of a rewarding pain, haha! Does that make sense? On the note of body changes though, my tummy is pulling on my back quite a bit already, since my abs can only do so much anymore. So Dr. Mike is still a necessity in this family!!

All things in, I feel pretty good! Part of me actually feels like this pregnancy is going fairly slowly. I still have three whole months to go! Yet, Christmas is upon us! And after New Years, its only two more months!!! I suspect those may whip by, haha! I’ll take them. Whatever I’ve got to do to get baby Jim in my arms!

Ok, not too soon though. We’ll leave him to cook in there a little longer 😉

It was sooo nice to spend some time with Jerilee today, for the first time in what feels like forever! She got up early, brought coffee, and graced us with her presence shortly after breakfast. We haven’t seen each other for an extended period of time in two weeks since we helped her move, and it was probably two weeks before that when she actually was over for a day. So this was really necessary and long awaited.

Turns out we’ve both had lots going on, and we easily filled the day with conversation. I love her. She’ll cross the basement rec room and go lay on the floor to play with Laela while we visit. The kids love that about her two, and while Laela often takes AT LEAST a few minutes to settle in with a newish person in the house, they were instantly friends. It was also fun to watch Jerilee’s reaction to Laelas walking. The last time we were all together, we were still at the point where we would count Laela’s steps. Step counting is long gone, as Laela walks everywhere now. She still bowls over occasionally, but not a whole lot more than I do, and I’m quite a bit older than her, so I think we’re well on our way.

With Jerilee’s visit, she also brought me a recent “order” I put in at Bath &  Body Works. Its nice to have a personal shopper 🙂 So considering that, I think I can juuust about say I have all my Christmas shopping done. I still have to buy for Brady, but some of that is getting done tomorrow (thank you, secret elf. You know who you are!) and the rest I’ll likely do on Thursday afternoon, after Bradys career day. I think Thursday should clear it aaaaall up! I’m so excited for that!

Brady brought some of my favorite pizza home, and we shared a quick supper before Jerilee was off to her regular Monday evening plans. Sadly, Dekker was having a total meltdown/time out as she was leaving, and he asked about her the rest of the evening. But such is life. Laela was sad and ready for her nighttime bottle a bit earlier than usual, which motivated Dekker to inquire about our regular routine a bit sooner than normal. “Dekker clean up toys soon?” So we went with it and got the kids in bed about fifteen minutes early, which is always nice. Now for a downtime evening. Brady and I are both feeling sluggish and tired, so he’s going to go have a nice hot shower and I’m going to catch up on some YouTube videos that I fell behind in when we were without a laptop. Last night, we made up for our recent lack of laptop by online shopping and buying our kids new jammies. Sadly, Cyber Monday wasn’t good to us and didn’t offer us any wonderful sales on the few more pricey items we were hoping to purchase: an infant car seat, a twin mattress, and a bed frame for the mattress. But oh well! We’ll just pick them up somewhere along the way!

It was a good day, and will hopefully be a good night!

I’m sad there aren’t more pictures to share today. I thought I took way more but I obviously did more running around than photographing the sweeties. We took more mental pictures, I guess. But here the few I have to offer, anyway.

This is the part of the day when we took Laela’s mitts off in the van and she promptly pulled off her toque. And then she worked on learning how to put it on herself for the rest of the drive. This was her very first attempt, and truthfully, probably the closest she ever got. But she was sure adorable trying!

This is the part of the day when Laela napped for roughly ten minutes. The kids were total champs, being nap-free. They were pleasant and friendly and Dekker was so much braver than usual! I’m sure Laela’s cat nap helped a little 😉

NEW YORK FRIES!! French fries make both of our kids very happy. Growing up, my family would go Christmas shopping as a group, and we’d always get big orders of New York Fries, dump them out on a napkin-lined tray, and have that as our lunch. Every single Christmas. We haven’t specifically made it our goal to carry that through, but with the way these kids love fries, it only makes sense right now. We shared the largest order of fries, got some cheese to dip in (Dekker opted for ketchup though) and ended the lunch with Booster Juice.

Laela participated in her own way. She was terribly cute, eating fries and doing tricks.

Sadly, thats all I have for photos!!! I can’t believe it, because I could have sworn that I took way more, but obviously the day is just nice and fresh in my mind still, and thats good too. I’d take pictures of everything we picked up but most it, I can’t. BUT here are the super cool mugs I was telling you guys about!

I know, they were on Facebook and Instagram already, but I love them! I love that the travel mugs topper is gold, and they’re both so detailed and cute. Win!

Lastly, I’ll quickly recap today. Brady and I pretty much had tidied up from our big shop all last night, so this morning we had a yummy eggs and toast breakfast, and spent the day doing a bit of laundry, dishes, and not a whole lot else. Over nap time, we watched a bit of The Office on our laptop that FINALLY has a working disc drive, which was actually really nice to finally have back! The kids woke up and played Pants for a while before we went in and retrieved them. (The kids, and the pants.)

How Laela got her pants off, I do not know.

Perogies for dinner, and kids in bed on time. Brady and I did a bit more work on my homemade Christmas gift for family, and now we’re putting some info together for his talks that he’ll be giving in an upcoming career day. Yes, I know, he’s kind of a big deal out here.

Today was waaay better than I could have expected! Like I really had pessimistically expected the worst. Crying kids in the van, Brady angry at the traffic, not finding anything we came for, things like that. But instead, it was a huge success!
Unfortunately, I can’t upload the beautiful pictures I have of the kids from today, but thankfully, that is because Brady is currently setting up our new MacBook!!! That’ll have to be tomorrow 🙂 worth the wait though, I promise.
After we got the kid dressed and fed, we headed straight for our preferred Apple retailer. We got great parking, and were met with a surprisingly empty store. Someone came to greet us right away, and I have to say, he was probably the best salesman I’ve ever been served by. And not because he sold me a ton of stuff, but he listened to what we wanted, didn’t try to up sell us at all, answered all of our questions, and didn’t push us to get any added warranties or anything. He just trusted us that we knew what we wanted, and we did. The entire transaction took maybe ten minutes, and the van was still warm when we got back. Best of all, the kids waited patiently and didn’t get upset when the attention was put on them. We celebrated and bought Dekker a bagel.
I can’t divulge full details on the day, since the main focus of the trip was presents, but we had a lot of success in a few different places. Besides Christmas gifts, I got some makeup and a new coral maternity sweater. I also finally got a maternity hoodie, as well as the elusive white tank top I’ve been searching for. We got a nice big set of cutlery, which we’ve been needing for a while, and it was probably the best set I’ve ever seen. Not necessarily the best quality in the world, but it came with eight of everything: forks, salad forks, tablespoons, teaspoons, eight extra teaspoons, bitty spoons, and then butter knives that actually have a bit of an edge rathe than just being smooth. I’m so pleased, considering we use way more spoons than anything else and they tend to go missing fastest.
Also unrelated to gifts, we got a wonderful snow shovel that will likely last us a solid twenty years 🙂 I got Brady and I some new mugs from Starbucks as well, just because it feels fancy and it’s fun getting new things. We got three mower boxes of the unbelievably biscotti I told you guys about from costco, and a really pretty wreath to hang on our door. I’ve always wanted a wreath.
I’m sure I’m missing a ton of stuff here, but I am totally thrilled to have juuust about everything taken care of for Christmas knowing we still have $600 of our savings left over! That will cover my gifts for Brady and his for me, and then probably a few other things, such as travel expenses and stuff like that.
Amongst all of the shopping, our kids were absolute rockstars!!! Granted, we fed them treats all day, but especially Dekker KNEW it was an important day. He didn’t have one meltdown, or even a need for an attitude adjustment. He had so much fun in all the busyness. He smiled at strangers, and wanted to run and hop, to a point where I had to chase him down and remind him to stay close. But right afterwards, I decided to just run with him instead. It was awesome. He and Laela loved each other, and shared and were friendly. If and when we had to say no to things, no fight was put up. Everything was fun today.
And PARKING!!! We got rockstar parking everywhere we went, no word of a lie! In the one mall, the underground parkade was marked with a sign saying it closed, and full to capacity. We drove around the upper parking lot for a while, but within a few minutes, someone came and opened the bottom one up! We got in line, knowing they would only let in so many vehicles, and we were so thankful to be one of them! We didn’t have to bring coats in or anything! A few less things to haul around 🙂
After all of the shopping and treats and activity, we met my parents at a nearby Wendy’s for supper. Dekker was so excited, he barely ate. He just wanted to run circles, literally. Luckily, it wasn’t full at all, and my mom happily obliged and ran with him. No wonder he hit it hard on the drive home, hahaha! Slept the whole way!!
Sooo many wonderful things worked out today. Guess what guys! I don’t feel wildly overwhelmed!!! I feel organized and super excited to get our tree up, with gifts wrapped underneath it. I’m excited to get some baking in. I’m excited to remember that I’m pregnant, and celebrate that a bit more than I’ve been doing recently. I’m excited to take the kids out for walks in the sled.
I’m excited for Christmas!!!
But first, tea and biscotti in the tub.

The kids slept until 9:15 this morning, which was completely awesome! I, however, woke up shortly before that in tears thanks to some unbelievably vivid dreams based around being rejected. Rejection dreams are just the worst. Luckily, they weren’t about people who are important to me now, like my husband or best friends, but more so reliving parts of my life where I was brutally rejected, or new made up experiences where people who actually were good to me years ago rejected me. It was a really painful dream, and took a lot out of me.
I’m incredibly thankful for kids who run to me when I enter their room, or just jump up and down in anticipation of being lifted up by me. It sure helped this morning.
Sadly, today wasn’t a great day. I know I’m in for years and years of my kids a scrapping and being at each other, but today was long, as they were both temperamental towards one another. It was a challenge. But we got in good cuddles where we could and cried a bit when we couldn’t. I anticipated their nap time.
When they did go down, I again whined a bit inwardly about not having my laptop and the convenience that came with it. However, I channeled my energy into making some calls, so I know where I can purchase the laptop were looking for. Tomorrow! We’re adding “buy new laptop” to our list of things to do tomorrow, on Christmas shopping day!!! Can’t wait for that actually 🙂 I know it will be a zoo but I’m really looking forward to getting a ton of stuff done, and having a family day. Feels like it’s been a while.
When the kids woke up, we opted for an easy mac and cheese supper. Unfortunately, Dekker screamed uncontrollably for a solid twenty minutes from his room while we ate. He was put in for a time out before supper was served and just refused to quit. It took a bit but he eventually made it to the table and enjoyed his favourite meal. Laela loves it too, and always eats way more than we expect her to.
Thanks to Dekker’s insane meltdown, they’re wasn’t much time left between supper and bedtime. We went downstairs and had some good cuddles before we cleaned up toys and headed upstairs. It wasn’t the happiest bedtime we’ve ever had but it also wasn’t the worst. I think Deks knows how finished we all were.
Now that the littles are down, Brady is shovelling the driveway so we can actually get out of it in the morning. I have psycho-planned our day, so if we can’t get out of our driveway, were hitch hiking!!!

While us Canadians have already celebrated thanksgiving back on October, it’s good to be thankful everyday! Today I was thankful for hot chocolate with egg nog in it, jammies, and when both kids want to sit on my lap without getting angry at the other. That makes for a sweet morning for sure!
Dekker always brings his dishes to the kitchen after he’s done eating. He’s done it for months but probably every other day, he puts up a bit of a fuss about it. He’ll still do it, he just wants us to know he doesn’t like it. This morning, he didn’t whine. He made his trips back and forth from the table to the sink, but in the middle of a trip, he spotted a toy under the table that he was excited about. He excitedly grabbed it and brought it over to show me. “Mommy? I found a baseball!” Always having to be the bearer of bad news, I told him that a great find, and that once he was done taking his dishes to the kitchen, he should play with it. He regarded me quizzically for a second before slowly backing up and replacing the baseball to its spot under the table. Then he finished up his trips and raced for it, happy as a clam. I was very thankful for that!!!
After yesterday’s post, our laptop died. As in died died, probably never to be used again. So my usual routine of putting my feet up and watching some YouTube and doing computer stuff once the kids were in bed was sort of shot. So instead, I listed for this weekend. The man who Brady was going to do a private job for during the Saturdays leading up to Christmas recently called Brady up and said he felt badly about the timeline they had discussed and said he’d be just as happy with January. Brady jumped at his offer, which I was also thrilled about, and we can officially Christmas shop!
On the craziest day to Christmas shop. Probably one of the busiest weekends. But I’ll take it! So I got all good and organized and have our whole trip planned out. It’s a bit more specific and neurotic seeming than I would like, but we don’t have a lot of time, and I’m thankful for any time at all!
Not only with Saturday be Christmas shopping day, but it will also be potentially the day we buy a new laptop, and hypothetically a new infant car seat. Only if it’s on sale tho. I feel pretty frivolous wanting a new car seat since ours doesn’t expire for another year or two, and would definitely last us another baby, but our car seat SUCKS. It’s sooo hard to buckle a kid in there, the straps are brutal to adjust constantly, and I swear it weighs a hundred pounds. We just want a nicer one. Is that selfish?
So lots and lots of planning went into the afternoon while the kids slept. Brady and I made soup and grilled cheese for supper, which was actually perfect. The kids ate a ton. Dekker had two full sandwiches. Which is way more than we bargained for, leaving me with only one! But hey, snacks in the bath make everything better. The kids are down now, and Brady and I have done some “maintenance” on a homemade gift I’m making for my brother in law. I have to fuss with it every night, and Brady helps it go so much faster. I’d tell you guys what it is but he can’t know, so maybe in the new year.
Ok, enough for today. I do not like trying to type this out on the iPad, tho I’m thankful we have it! But it’s making my shoulders hurt because of the weird way I’m sitting. Merp.
Happy thanksgiving, all! Don’t forget to be thankful at least twice a year 😉

I was going for a Bohemian Rhapsody type of title there, in case you didn’t figure it out… because it didn’t actually make sense.

My mom came over today! We haven’t spent a day together at my house for a good few weeks, and it was sooo nice! I’ve discovered that I’m a bit of a show-and-tell type of person, and I was super excited to show her all the mad progress we have made around this place. She humored me all over the house, and ooed and awed over my furnace room, pantry, and closet. It actually felt pretty awesome to have it confirmed that in fact our house does look pretty awesome and “together” right now. Yay!

We had egg salad and apples for lunch before putting the kids down. Dekker was pretty sad to go down but it worked out, and my mom and I hung out in the basement and caught up on life. She is a busy lady, and has been going and going, so it was good to be comfy and relaxed together.

When the kids got up and Brady got home, we made an unbelievably yummy supper, if I do say so myself! Basa fish fillets, rice, and a broccoli salad with all the yummies in it. I honestly could have finished my meal, and then done it all over again. Not because I was hungry, but because it was delicious and I was sad it was over.

We played a bit of toys and spent a bit more time with the kids, but it was soon bedtime. Both kids were pretty ticked, but they recovered and went to bed relatively happy. Of course, they stayed awake talking forever, but that seems to be how they like to rock their evenings. While they did that, Brady, my mom, and I got some hot drinks and biscotti and brought it downstairs so we could visit just a little bit more before my mom had to get on the road. I don’t know if I’ve marvelled about it on here yet, but guys, salted caramel biscotti from Costco. Its unreasonably delicious. Salted top, chocolate bottom, and ribbons of caramel throughout. Go buy some. Tomorrow.

Moms on her way home now, and Brady and I are getting into our usual evening routine of running a bath, Brady making his lunch, and me blogging. (Did you guys know I write a blog?!?!) I’m pretty sure I’m too full for a snack tonight though. Well ok, I could probably be talked into one…

I’m not sure everyone will agree that I deserve an attaboy but I’m taking one!

When I went to get the kids up this morning, I noticed that Dekker’s hands were sticky. Oily, maybe. I pointed it out to him and asked what it was. “Dekker not member.” That tends to be his answer when he figures he’s in trouble. He wasn’t at all, but this was new. I knew he had gotten into some kind of product. In their change table, there is a cupboard that holds all kinds of bum creams, medications, and random products. It may sound unsafe, but not only is everything important sealed off with a childproof lid, but Dekker is not a mischievous kid and I’ve never had to worry about him messing around with stuff like that. Upon checking the cupboard, I found a pump bottle of lotion. We’ve been using it on Laela’s tummy and neck recently, since her poor skin has really been suffering from the winter dryness. Dekker always wants to help, so I figured he had helped himself to a pump. I noticed some grease spots on his shirt, and even some on Laela’s shirt, so it all added up. Not a big deal at all. The lotion was usually up a little higher, but Dekker probably cleaned it up after its last use and we didn’t notice it go into the cupboard. At least it was just lotion, right?

I changed Laela’s diaper and set her free while I got Dekker lined up for his. I was chatting with Dekker when I heard Laela splashing. In a puddle. On their floor. There was a solid puddle of something that was not lotion on their floor. As I scanned the rest of the floor, I saw greasy little footprints all over the floor. I’m sure they’re in the carpet as well. I asked Dekker if he knew what was on the floor. “Oh, water” he replied. I looked up at his water cup, but it was definitely out of his reach. I asked where the water came from, and he told me “The bottle.” Huh. So I asked if he could show me which bottle, and he immediately “didn’t remember” which I didn’t buy for a second.

Here’s my attaboy. Or I guess my attagirl? As you guys know, Dekker has tried my patience and my general ability to exist in a home with him the last few weeks. We have more bad days than good right now, and this was not a smooth start. However, I urged him calmly to show me the bottle that had the mysterious water in it. He finally went into the cupboard and pulled out an ancient bottle that once contained a vitamin D liquid that is meant for newborns to take while they are nursing. As many of you know, I nursed Dekker for a very short period of time and didn’t nurse Laela, so that bottle was a solid three years old. Why its still in our home, I have no idea. But it was almost empty, and was covered in a sticky substance. In that second, I decided not to freak on him. I do that so much these days, and really, it is my job as his parent to keep him out of arms reach of things like medications, or just things I really don’t want him to have! So I gave him a big hug for answering my question and telling me where he had gotten the water, I moved it up higher, and finished up diapers. Not ONCE did I show any of the frustration that was boiling up, or the fatigue I was already feeling towards the situation.

After getting the kids settled with their breakfasts, I went back to their room and soaked up as much of the mess as I could. Then I sprayed the crap out of the floor with vinegar, and wiped and wiped. I can safely say it looks quite a bit better, but its still sticky under my feet. Not much, but a bit. However, I assessed the situation and decided that the longer I spent on it, the more angry I would potentially become, so I have left it for the time being. I’ll likely do another round of vinegar, or maybe blue dawn and hot water when they wake up, but for now, I was finished in there. Next, I threw every product/medication into a box, and scoured the house for every other baby product I could find. The worst they could do now in there is spread out the diapers. Be my guest, guys.

After breakfast, I brought the box downstairs with me and sorted through it. I actually found it interesting to look through everything! Kind of like the time I dug through my recycling stuff, it took me back and reminded me of where we’d been in the last couple of years. I found an amazing amount of diaper creams that we had bought and tried for the YEAR that Dekker suffered from a rash. I found a handful of half-used bottles of saline for the many colds the kids had before we discovered the nose sucker thing. I found unopened boxes of medications that will last us for quite some time, I think! I found whats left from Dekkers last box of patches. I think I need to keep a couple to go in his baby book, but I’m hoping to give the rest to friends of ours who still have kids in patches. Our time may come again, but for now, I want them out of my house and into the hands/onto the faces of those who can use them. Patches are surprisingly expensive, if you didn’t know. A box of 50 is about $45 if you want the ones that don’t tear your kids skin straight off of their face, and we used two every day. It adds up fast. Anyway, we found that box, as well as the tiny little eye dropper and ointment tube of the antibiotics we had to put in Dekkers eyes after his surgery. That choked me up a bit. Yet I couldn’t throw them out. We’re at about ten months post-op and still looking good, from what I can see. We’ve come a long way.

I enjoyed the task of digging through all the kids stuff, actually. I liked seeing back, and also purging a bit. I chucked out all the diaper creams that we tried/started, since Dekker’s yeast was so bad and if I ever double dipped my finger, there could be remnants in there. But I have a couple of unopened ones if anyones in need! And I also feel good being able to look back at my morning and see that I do, in fact, have the ability to not completely lose it. Instead, I’ll do the more loving parental thing and instead remove the possibility that this could happen again. A good move, I’d say.

Ok, no more bragging myself up. Time to put my feet up and eat a Christmas orange or two. If you haven’t jumped on that bandwagon yet, Costco is the place to be! Haven’t had a sour one yet, two boxes in!