What we did today! SImple as that.

Well, Dave was a bit stressed out that he didn’t have anything to blog about today! As most of you may know, he has been trying to blog everyday this summer.  http://apartment1004.blogspot.ca   I’m not sure how he came to that conclusion.  He went into work this morning, took a bike ride this afternoon, hung out with the fam for dinner, and is now off to worship team practice.  However- I told him I would blog about the uneventful day and so he needn’t worry about it!

This morning, Dave headed off to school to get some September prep work done.  We had the Mamens over for a playdate bright and early, and Sarah, Tryne and Soren arrived with smiles at 8:30.  It was an overcast wet feeling morning, so a good one to spend inside with friends.  Sarah has to be one of my best friends in Ottawa.  Her kids are about the same age as mine, and while Jesse and Tryne don’t always see eye to eye, a good part of the playdate is about the momma’s anyways!  It’s so nice to have another adult to chat with while keeping an eye on the kids.  Sarah is a pretty awesome, friend, too.    She is genuine, fun, and relaxed.  She is a GREAT cook, and AMAZING baker.  She always brings me gluten filled delicacies that are amazing.  I remember each set of things she has made, particularly the best chocolate cookies I have ever had.  I ate almost a dozen of them in one sitting and went into labor with Janna that same night!   Sarah and her husband Chris are also inspirational in the things they tackle with their 1 and (almost) 3 year old.  They hike, ski, run races, climb mountains, all with kids in tow.  In fact, they are going camping in NY this weekend, and outside of Ottawa next weekend.  Chris is taking Tryne on a 2 day canoeing trip with his very athletic brothers and dad over the labor day weekend, as well.  They are fearless, and I love it!

After our friends took off,  I took the kids out front to play.  Sure enough, the second we stepped out of the door it started to rain.  It was pretty light and warm, and so I thought, “whatever- we will play in the rain.”  Janna didn’t seem to even notice it, and went about her favorite activity of locating the neighbors bike helmets, which are always littered somewhere across the lawns, and buckling them up.  Jesse decided that after 5 minutes on his bike it was too rainy and he wanted to go in.  Janna was having a great time so I pressed on 5 more minutes before Jesse really started to melt down to take them in.  Well, poor Janna was DEVESTATED.  She sobbed and sobbed and called out “mama,” through tears and frustrated swats to the air.

I set Jesse up with his magnet game and set about making some lunch.  I found this at toys-r-us on sale for 8 bucks.  This has been the BEST activity for Jesse.  He asks to play this at least once a day and will sit down making all the faces by himself for a good 20-30 minutes at a time.  Sometimes twice a day.  I know all kids like different toys- but if you are looking for a fun thing to occupy a 3 year old- this has been incredible for Jesse.  

While Jesse happily arranged his faces, Janna cried at me a lot.  I feel like she is a bit of a different kid over the past couple months.  SO much fussier and up and down than before.  I’m not sure if it’s just her age and stage or something more.  The docs have been keeping a close eye on her weight as she dropped from the third percentile off the charts around 9 months.   She was making tiny gains here and there, but this week we found out she LOST over a pound this past month.  She eats like a champ and has no developmental delays,  so has been referred onto a pediatrician who will hopefully get some blood work done that would test for celiac.  I really want to take her off gluten to see if there is any noticeable difference- but an individual needs to be on it for a month before a blood test reads accurate.   SO, for now I keep feeding her bread every morning feeling very guilty that it may be causing her stomach pain every day.   I would feel bad if one of my kids got this and not the other!  We’ll see.  She has been cutting many teeth the past few months, which always throws her into a bit of a loop, so could just be that as well.   

Is she happy or sad??? She doesn't even know these days...

After lunch was downed, I decided to take the kids upstairs for a change of scenery. It’s amazing how a different room can brighten spirits.  And sure enough my kids were in much better moods. However- I noticed a bit of a dust build up and toy pile up, and decided to do some cleaning.  I have been getting Jesse more involved with contributing around the house- so enlisted his help.  I want all of my kids to end up as capable individuals in the kitchen and in household chores.  He was not too keen on helping out, but when he realized it wasn’t a choice- he was a superstar helper.  On the other hand, Janna was all too keen to help mama when she heard the clean up song and saw us get to work.  Her contributions involved using clean laundry out of drawers to “dust” random things, pulling bedding off and into random areas of the room, and dumping toys out of bins and into new ones.   It took us about one hour to get 15 minutes worth of work done, but it pulled us through to nap time.

This summer, I have been trying to take the kids nap time to genuinely relax.  During the school year, I usually have cleaning up to do and supper prep, and random other important things.  However- with Dave’s help there is more time and hands available when the kids are up to tackle those things.  So, I spent today doing a very quick clean up, sleeping for 30 minutes, sending a few emails, and reading a book with a cup of tea.   Dave arrived home from work and he relaxed for a while, then took off for an hour long bike ride.

Dave had  a goal at the start of the summer to put back on about 15 pounds of the 20 he lost during the school year.   I have been very supportive as he was a few pounds lighter than me 5 weeks ago.  So, I have been baking lots for him, keeping lots of high protein stuff around for breakfast and lunches, and making sure there is lots of meat at supper.  I have even bought junk like chips for him to snack on in the evening instead of my preferred hummus or fruit based snacks.   It seems, all my work has paid off, and he is up 10 pounds!  Passing my ever gaining baby weight by 3 pounds. Woot!  However- I think he has realized the tendency his weight has to clump on his stomach- hence the biking J

When the kids woke up, Dave hung out with them while I prepared another pretty high fat dense supper.  I found an alfredo sauce that was extra buttery and creamy and got to work on a pasta dish.  I made a few omissions to make it more kid-friendly- at the expense of taste in my opinion.  However- I HATE when I sit down for dinner and the kids don’t like what has been made.  It is so frustrating. Don’t you find?  Tonight, I was sure they would be just fine with it- but they both started crying and fussing after trying a bite.  Seriously?  I was even more frustrated that I had tried to alter the recipe for them and they didn’t like it.  I had no energy to get up and make them something else (a habit we try very hard not to succumb to), but no energy to fight with them to eat it.  So, we just let them fuss as we enjoyed ours.  Half way through the meal, Jesse noticed that Janna’s pasta was larger than his.  I had given her some gluten-free penne noodles to match Dave, and Jesse and I were using up some leftover wheat spagettini noodles.  Jesse told me he wanted the “big boy” noodles.  SO, I switched their bowls.  Well- you’d think it was different food.  They both lapped up their new noodle shape (same sauce) with a good amount of enthusiasm.  Oh children...sometimes I just don’t understand you.

Dave gave the kids a quick bath while I did some mopping and cleaning up and then had to take off early for his practice.  This has brought me to this point.  I put on a movie for Jesse, and Janna is wandering around making a mess, and I am just not even worrying about it.   Bed time soon!

Another day with it’s sweet and sour moments.   Wouldn’t trade it for anything!    Thanks for reading! I’m out.