The Daily Hailey

Writing the title to today’s post, I realize that I thought yesterday was Friday. It was nice of none of you to point that out 😉 im not very organized. 

Today was equally as nice as the day before. It was louder, as the kids were more comfortable with their auntie and uncle, and it was happier. Rowan slept aaaaall the way thru the night, which was both unexpected and appreciated. Eleven hours. I’m so thankful for that. 

Breakfast was muffins and fruit. Lunch was snacks. Naps were long. Playtime was loud and happy again. Supper was delicious and hot and contained enough barbecue sauce to keep Dekker happy. Cooked carrots are also always a win for the kids.

Rowan is growing like mad this weekend, and slept almost all day. I’m a bit nervous for the night but i can hope for a repeat of last night anyway. When he was awake, he was eating like a horse or sleeping on someone’s shoulder. I have some nice pictures I’ll try to put up on here soon of Rowan getting acquainted and comfortable with his extended family. 

The kids are finally asleep, and it’s now our turn. I’ve had such nice relaxed days but I’m so ready to turn in and get some shut eye. After playing Phase 10 for the last hour, I like to think I’ve earned it. 

As I sit in my parents living room, watching Brady and my brother in law, Stefan, play wii golf, I’m very grateful for this long weekend 🙂 We are lucky enough to see some of my siblings yet again, and are spending the nights here with everyone. 

The kids are tucked away and are finally asleep. While I’m not holding my breath, Rowan slept thru the night last night and I would sooooo love a repeat of that!  We could all use a nice long sleep in, as it is a long weekend. 

No big riveting plans tho. It’s windy and blustery out, but if the weather stills, we have runners, sweaters, and our big stroller along, just waiting to be taken out and walked to the park. 

But first, nighttime. Next, splitting up a bit tomorrow so our siblings can see some of the members from the other side of their family. Tomorrow evening promises delicious food, food company, lots of laughs and tickles with the kids, and likely a bit of Mario Kart.

This is peons it my favourite way to spend long weekends 🙂

I went to Walmart this evening. Brady took the kids to grab a few things on our list while I waited in line at the courtesy desk to return dreaded parcel #1. If you don’t remember, well over half of my order was either damaged or wrong.

It was a crazy day for the location we picked. For some reason, very few tills were open and the lines were long. As in Christmas long. It was pretty brutal, but what can you do, right? Everyone is short staffed once in a while.

I was third in line at customer service. The woman who was currently being helped had brought back a grocery bag full of clothing. The employee was trying to put the return through, and was having some difficulty. She explained to the customer that the codes on the receipt, while similar, were different than the codes on the items. While I would assume that most stores would turn her away, she rather said that she would absolutely put the return through, but the refund would have to be on a gift card rather than cash. Well, the customer was FURIOUS, and LOUD about it. She began chucking stuff back in her bag and saying she’d find someone else who could help her, and saying the employee just wouldn’t help her because there was a lineup. And she stomped off.

The next person in line (the woman before me) went up to put through her return, and I made eye contact with the person behind me. We both rolled our eyes and, no word of a lie, in unison, we said “I guess you can’t please everyone!” We agreed that she would get over it, and that maybe she should be embarrassed by her behaviour.

When I got up to the desk for my turn, I noticed that the employee was crying. She was trying really hard to blow past it, but as she looked at my receipt, her tears were dripping on it. I quietly reassured her that no one else in the line was upset, and she had been unreasonable in her response. She tried to smile at me, but couldn’t even muster it. She finally said “I could have helped her if she hadn’t stormed off like that!” I fully agreed with her, and told her as much. I figured it was actually generous for her to help our someone whose receipt didn’t match her items! Anyway, I returned my stuff and went to find the fam.

The reality of the lines being quite so long was pretty brutal, so we snuck past them and actually went back to customer service to ring our order through. I know, its kind of cheating, but it was already past the kids bedtime so I figured this one time it would be ok. We were maybe second or third in line again, which was so much better than thirtieth. However, we couldn’t line up right away, as a crazed woman had stepped into the customer service area and was waving her arms around, screaming abut how backed up everything was and how they needed to get some supervisors out there. She stormed off after throwing a sufficient amount of curse words at the two customer services reps. I’m sorry, I don’t want to put anyones job down, but did she really think they had any authority to assign anyone to go anywhere? At all?!?! I’m thinking not so much. Once she left, we lined up and Laela charmed the customer who entered the line behind us, as she always does. Moments later, the crazyface woman was back, screaming for their attention. She pushed her cart of dog food and flowers up to the desk and yelled “When you have time, put this away.” Once again, the people in line all looked around at each other and agreed that people were nuts.

So this was the grumpiest Walmart day I’ve ever witnessed. Yes, it was frustratingly backed up, and understaffed, and its right before the long weekend and people are rushing. But that doesn’t make it ok to just humiliate people by screaming at them in public about things they have no control over! The likelihood that it will get you what you want is almost nonexistent, you’ll look ridiculous, and make someone feel really dumb, and really really small.

Don’t be that person. Appreciate people who are solely there to help you with your grievances. Its a really hard job.

Or just appreciate people in general. Be nice to people.

Today is not a day for blogging, I’m just going to say it up front. I’ve had highs and lows. Lots of highs, and lots of lows. So the day was not a loss, but I’m struggling to know what to write about, so I’m going to sort of just leave it alone for the day.

Instead, I’ll leave you with a pretty picture of Rowan. He and I took a bit of a rest together while Brady and the other kids had supper. It was peace and bliss and a tummy ache all rolled into one.

This was the perfect rest. My eyes ache to cry just looking at this picture. Maybe to everyone else, it just looks like a crummy quality picture of a sleeping baby. Not set up nicely, or arranged to look a certain way, but here, I found rest, just for a half hour or so. But it was perfect.

I know everyone has different feelings about the amount of physical affection practiced in a home. As I’ve stated on here before, we’re big on showing affection that way around here. We all kiss on the lips and so lots of hugging and cuddling. I assure you that, if our kids didn’t care for it, that would be fine and we would change stuff up. But they love it too 🙂 Whew! I’d be so sad to stop!

This morning, I brought Rowan into their room while I got them up and ready for the day. I put him over to the side on the carpet so he wouldn’t get trampled, but out broke an argument about who got to lay beside him on the floor. So needless to say, I immediately shuffled him into the middle of the floor and both Dekker and Laela cuddled up next to him. Usually, while I change diapers, the kids and I talk about their night, and the plan for the day. Today, I just watched and listened. Dekker and Laela, as if by instinct, each took one of Rowans arms and kissed his hands. Laela half rolled onto him and rested her head on his tummy. That is how she “hugs” sometimes. Dekker just nuzzled his with his nose and said how sweet and soft he was. Best of all, none of this was for my benefit. No one looked at me for affirmation or praise. They just loved on their brother.

Its laundry day. While I was switching loads out at one point, Laela came and dragged in the next hamper full of clothes. Once it was successfully next to the machine, she came over patted my leg before leaving. When I came back into the main room to be with the kids, it continued. I can’t count how many times Laela lay her head on me, or kissed my arms, legs, or whatever was closest to her at the moment. Dekker went as far as trying to kiss my feet. It was never even the situation where one saw the other giving me a kiss, so they came to do the same. It was all on their own, each time.

So many hugs and kisses and cuddles were shared today between the kids and I. It turns out a person doesn’t have to be told your love language, but if they want to know it, they can just figure it out. Because MY GOODNESS! I certainly feel the love in my home today <3

We’re 80% of the way through getting our mad amount of parcels, and I’m SOOO excited that these are the ones that came today! Our last parcel is probably still two weeks away. Kind of a bummer. I ordered something that had a GREAT shipping price, but turns out its from Australia. Nothing against the Australian postage system, but I think I’m going to be waiting for quite some time still. Merp.

Before I talk more about the parcels, look at what is joining me in the kitchen while I write this post.

I love these kids. They’re just too much. I can’t even.

Parcel #3 I didn’t take pictures of, but its some clothes for the kids from Superstore. I have never ordered from Joe Fresh before, but shipping was reasonable, and the clothes were darling. Rowan got two muscle shirts. My favorite of the two says “Its pineapple time” on it. I love pineapple things. Laela got two rompers. Those were actually what motivated the order. She lived in them last year and for some reason, it hadn’t crossed my mind yet to buy her some for this summer! WHen I saw the chevron one, I knew it had to be done. So she has a chevron one, and a pink one with flamingos on it. Dekker got a pair of sweat shorts (which he will LOVE!) and two tshirts. The shirts were just perfect for him! One says ” Sand castles and ice cream” on it, and the other simply says “Cowabunga” on it. As I said, perfect. They are just basic, super soft tshirts for my boy who loves to be comfortable.

Parcel #4 is what I have been itching to receive. Makeup brushes!!! Now before you think I have an illness or an addiction, know that I purchased these off of one of those sketchy websites that sell things for stupid cheap but claim to be top quality. The difference here is that all of the reviews (ALL!) are positive. People can’t seem to say enough about these things! So I ordered a couple of different sets, and figured I’d just send them back if they sucked. On top of that, I figured if the whole thing was a scam and they stole my money, they really wouldn’t get very much. I was willing to risk it. And I’m sooo glad I did!

I am SOOO excited about these! The first set claims to be their “professional” set, probably just because its the biggest. But the brushes are unbelievably soft and full and pretty! My single disappointment with this set is that I had read that these 24-piece sets have the name/use of each brush on the handle. Mine do not. While that would have been handy, I’m pretty sure I can figure it out on my own. I can use them for whatever I want, really, whether its the “right” or “wrong” way.

The second set is apparently the bamboo set. Its also very soft and very pretty. I’m not sure what to do with the really really short nubbin brush (to use a technical term) as in where to store it, but I love the flat top brush, so I’m happy to have two, despite their height. Run on sentence much?!

The last brush is just an additional foundation brush that I threw onto the order to qualify for free shipping. I think I was less than a dollar over 🙂 Win!! Yes, the color is ugly but I don’t care. Its nice to identify it in amongst the other brushes. And my goodness, other brushes there are!!!

I officially have NO reason to buy any brushes anytime in the near future!! But this was a lot of fun 🙂

Whew! Ok, I’m done unwrapping brushes for the day. Onto icing cookies!!

I like to blog in the afternoon, but when the kids went down for their naps this afternoon, and I set up to write, I had nothing of even minimal interest to talk about! Its not a secret that I have a fairly low standard for that, so this is truly saying something.

I decided to wait, and do something in the evening. The only thing that is really on my list for this week is that I’m going to bake. Some family is coming out this weekend, and I offered to bring dessert. However, besides the sweets I am planning on bringing, I found a lot of baking just waiting to be done. Literally.

FIRST! Laela’s crazy hair. Isn’t it beautiful?

In my fridge was an obscene amount of dough.

First was a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough that we made simply for snacking on. We did once or twice and lost interest. So this evening, I rolled it up into balls so I can bake it soon and very, very easily. Just not tonight.

I also have an entire batch of sugar cookie dough. I had plans for it recently but, as per usual, lost the time I needed and now it sits. I’ve been telling myself that its ok, because sugar cookie dough needs to cool. *eye roll* Not for three days it doesn’t! So I rolled it out and cut it into shapes (mostly hearts) and got them on parchment paper on a pan. Hopefully we’ll bake those once the kids are down for night. However, I think the baked cookies will go straight into the freezer for somewhere down the line when I feel like icing them and having yummy cookies ready much quicker than I would if I hadn’t done all the prep.

Once all of that was done, I actually got down to the baking I was planning on doing! Homemade oreos. It is the worlds easiest recipe, and I think it is for that reason that, every single time I make them, I’m convinced I’m going to mess them up. And they always surprise me and turn out perfect. Yay! So I came out with 48 cookies. In the next day or two, I will make the cream cheese icing centre and they will become 24 big delectable cookies. Nom nom nom.

I had a moment of feeling overwhelmed when I saw how much dough was floating around in my fridge, and how much work it was going to be to get it all prepared/baked/whatever else, but it made for a really fun evening. The kids stood on chairs at the counter and watched it all go down. There was less scrapping, lots of learning, and the promise of cookies tomorrow! I’m so glad we got in the groove and got all three batches to the points that they’re at.

Feeling successful and like the day wasn’t completely wasted like it almost was. Cookies, anyone?

Today, I decided that “Happy Mothers Day” isn’t so much a greeting or a well-wish, as it is the title for the day. My mom and I are both happy mothers, so it was only reasonable to spend the day together 🙂 We blew off church, our husbands, my kids, and our responsibilities, and had a FABULOUS day, just the two of us.

First, I made fun of my mom for wanting to take a selfie with her massive DSLR camera. She was offended.

But not really. We still love each other.

We shopped our first store with GREAT success, finding my mom her ideal pair of jeans. They had them in the wrong color, but the promise of them being held in another location made it a wonderful way to spend our first hour-ish. Also, we bought matching hats, but I’ll show you those in a bit.

We had lunch next. I’ll tell you right now, there is no way to take a picture of a person eating a corn dog that isn’t both filthy and hysterical.

Yup, we knew it was bad as we were taking it.

We shopped a bit right downtown after lunch, and had a bit of success, but nothing too crazy. I did get my first shot at Victoria’s Secret since its come to the city, and I have to say a big WOW to their quality as compared to La Senza. I bought the most beautiful, well-fitted bra I’ve ever owned. Big win there! But we were way more eager to get back to the other Reitmans location to grab her those jeans, so we didn’t doddle too much.

After successfully purchasing the treasured jeans, we hit up Value Village. I’m not sure whether my mom wanted to actually shop, or just watch me do it! It was kind of funny, but we had a great time. We each bought a handful of things, and then headed to Tony Romas for supper.

We love riblings. I could eat them on a regular basis, but then I wouldn’t be able to afford shopping, so I guess going once in while will have to do. We ate our body weight in ribs and shrimp, and then walked it off in Walmart. I bought concealer and underwear with pineapples on it, because I’m cool like that.

After taking one last selfie, we drove home to our husbands. I think we’ll both sleep very well tonight. We ran around a lot today, but my feet and legs are SO happy to be a bit sore. There couldn’t have been a better way to spend today than with my mom.

I <3 MOM

Parcel #2 was worlds apart more exciting than parcel #1. In this box came our baby announcements!! Now, we didn’t plan things out especially well, and we ordered them to write our thank yous out on. We didn’t consider that maybe other people would want in, and only ordered a handful of extras to make a multiple of ten! So, oops. But anyway, THEY CAME! And they look great 🙂 It helps that Rowan is super adorable, but the colors are great, the quality is nice and beefy, and the back is even a bright blue chevron, which is always a selling feature for me. So parcel #2 was a big win. Perhaps I’ll actually write out my thank you cards while I wait for parcels #3-5.

We spent our day shopping around garage sales in my hometown. We made Jerilee come with us, and we traipsed around town for actually a pretty solid number of hours before the kids (and the adults, lets be honest) were finished. In the past years, we’ve come home with our van FULL of stuff, and I’m happy to report than we didn’t spend a crazy amount of money and found some really nice stuff 🙂 We found a few Pampered Chef products, a music stand, a couple items of clothing for Rowan, a great jacket for Brady, and a few other randoms. We found a BEAUTIFUL gift for the next person we know to have a baby girl, and probably my favorite thing – one of those old school chairs that have the flip down stairs to help a kid climb up. It was only $5! The older lady that sold us that threw in a carving knife and twi pronged fork set for slicing up turkey or whatever else. It’ll be nice not to use our big bright kitchen knives, but something a bit nicer.

It was a total success, and we were all pretty happy with our purchases. But now, my feet hurt and I’m feeling pretty wildly hormonal, if I can just put it out there. For some reason, I’m quite overwhelmed, so Brady gave me a bit of kid-free time to blog and rest upstairs while they’re being all comfy and overtired together downstairs. Its really nice for me.

I’m anticipating an early night for the kids, and hopefully for us too. As long as Rowan cooperates, I plan to sleep fairly early tonight, because tomorrow is a very special day that I’m spending with my mom 🙂 I’m a pretty big fan of her, if you hadn’t grasped that in the past, so I’m really looking forward to our date!

It was a good day. My sore feet are accomplished sore, not angsty sore. Successful sore.

In conversation with my mom yesterday, I realized I am waiting for FIVE PARCELS to come in the mail right now!! I may have a shopping problem. Its possible, anyway. When Brady arrived home today (YAY for a short day!!) he brought in a box that had been left outside of our door. Our first parcel.

This one was from Walmart. I recently discovered some amazing jeggings they sell that fit me sooo perfectly! I haven’t bought pants from Walmart in years, but these are awesome. I own a light wash pair of them, but haven’t been able to find my size in the dark wash. So I started looking online and discovered they have my size in all of the colors! So I started putting together a cart, with the dark jeans, and some pink capris. I discovered soon afterwards that Walmarts shipping policy has changed and I needed to sped $50 in order to get free shipping. Luckily, there were a few other things I was going to buy at Walmart in the near future anyway. I filled up my cart with sliced pineapple, alfredo sauce, and a wax pot thing I want to try out so I can maybe start waxing my pits. Anyway, I put the cart together so recently, and was thrilled with how fast everything came!!

And then was sorely disappointed.

What do you know, another pair of my light wash jeans. Sigh. So those will need to be returned.

And some pink capris with ink stains. Also wonderful.

My wax, ripped to shreds. I wouldn’t care if this were the only issue. The product is still fine. But COME ON!

And what the heck, whats one more thing destroyed.

All that survived this order was a few jars of sauce, and two cans of soup. I’m SO disappointed with parcel #1. I hope the others prove to be a lot more fun and that at least 50% of their contents are usable.

Bummer.