Dr. Bella, I presume???

Last night I had to take Isabella into Misericordia urgent care as she has a fever that came out of nowhere, and shot up really high.
She went from a totally active, happy two year old to a feverish, lethargic, exhausted kid in a matter of a couple of hours! She didn't even want to eat and you know Bella has gotta be sick if she won't eat!

Anyway, once we finally got to triage, the nurse checked her blood pressure, her temperature and then put her hand on Bella's tummy while she kept time on her watch.
Bella watched what she was doing, and then piped up, "I sink you need a step-a-scope!"

The nurse couldn't believe it! She blushed and said she had actually lost her stethoscope and couldn't find it. Bella was right! She did need her stethoscope, the nurse said most two year olds can't even SAY "step-o-scope", and Bella even knew what it was for!

Yup! My little Dr. Bella made her first diagnosis.

(By the way, as it turned out, her fever was due to TWO ear infections! Poor thing!)

Rebecca's Birthday...

Blogger has been giving me some ATTITUDE!
I haven't been able to post anything new for the last few days.

(Just in case anyone was wondering why I would post a picture of my shoes, but not pictures of my daughter's birthday party!!!)

She was so happy, to have all her friends attend was a HUGE thrill for her. She was excited that she got to be the birthday girl, and spend time with her friends. She had a perma-grin all day!

My New Shoes Rock!!!

I bought a new pair of running shoes and they totally rock!

Aren't they beautiful????

Yesterday I did a test run, and I ran 5.2 km but because of my awesome shoes, it only felt like I ran about 3.7 km. Now THAT is some QUALITY SHOE!!!

A G.F.G.F. to You Too...

When I was a little girl, I hated attending church at this time of year. Most Sundays the big people talked about being good to each other, love one another and sing a happy song...sounded good to me, I could handle that!

Good Friday and Easter was a different tune all together. Every year the same sad, somber melody reached my little ears and made my heart ache.

"There was a man who was good and perfect. For no apparent reason, some bad people that the man loved, got together and tortured and murdered him."

The message was always the same with variation on the gruesomness of the detail, depending on the preacher. Every year the point was the same, why should something so horrible happen to such a good man? For me. This thought did not bring me joy or freedom. Reading the somber, guilty faces of the big people around me, guilt and shame seemed the most appropriate response to this scenario.

What a horrible notion! I had caused the unimaginably grotesque demise of someone who only wanted to love me... why would I do such a thing? Like any good Christian girl, I allowed myself to be overwhelmed with the proper combination of guilt and gratitude. Every year, the same sad story, and every year I would listen again, and every year I would grip myself for the heart wrenching emotional response that would follow...more guilt, grief and shame.

This year is the first year, that something is completely different for me!
As I listened to Carmen's song "This Blood is For You" the other day, I felt an overwhelming peace and joy come over me. Same story, different response. Hmmmmmm....
Could it be the music in the background?
I listened again.
Nope! Somber music. Gruesome detail in the song. What is going on here?

After listening a few more times, I realized something inside me had changed. I was FREED from the "appropriate response" of my childhood perception. That human response was replaced with a response that matched up with the more mature understanding of my adult mind. In my adult understanding I knew that my sin was the purpose and not the cause of Jesus' death. (My childhood perception did not make this differentiation) He could have jumped off the cross at any time but chose to stay because He loved me more than He hated what was happening to Him.
He chose me, and He's not sorry that He did SO guilt is an inappropriate response to the cross!

Suddenly, my dread of church at this time of year melted away, and I actually wanted to hear the story again. Now I want to hear it again, with a new mind and a new response.

Its not the somber durge that I heard as a child, its a love song! Even better, its a love song about me! My lover would go through unimaginable adversity just to meet me! Its a Cinderella love song, my favorite kind of love song.

So this Easter, I want to wish you all a Guilt-Free Good Friday!
If you go to church this weekend and hear a somber durge that fills you with shame and guilt, take a moment and listen.
There is an underlying melody of love song being sung for you, if you quiet your thoughts and really listen, you will hear it too.

Re-Juvenating....

Lately I've noticed the word "re-juvenating" in many commercials for beauty products. The implication behind the advertisements is that younger is better, prettier, sexier and more successful.

I disagree. I don't want to go back to my teen years, regardless of how my skin looked. Being younger was a disaster! I still haven't forgotten the insecurities, fears, and the agonizing search for identity that accompanied my teen years. Adolescence is full of hormones, uncontrollable highs and irrational lows. As they say, "depressing teenagers is like shooting fish in a barrel!" and I wouldn't want to go back there for anything!

I'm glad I'm in my 20s! This is an amazing time of life! I'm so much wiser now! I wouldn't go back to the instability of being a teenager for anything! I'm sure I'll feel the same way about my 20s when I'm in my 30s. (Which, BTW is still a loooooooooong way off......a looooooooong way!)

When I'm in my 30s I'll say, "I'm glad my 20s are over! I'm so much wiser now! I worked too hard trying to do it all and be perfect, and ended up tired all the time. I'm wise enough to slow down, observe and enjoy life more. I'm glad I don't have little babies anymore, they are hard work! Now I'm wise enough to see all the stupid mistakes I made raising my kids in my 20s!"

Yes, I realize that I'm currently making lots of mistakes raising my daughters. But that is what mutual funds are for....I put money away now and eventually it will be enough to pay for therapy or bail, depending on how badly I'm messing up right now!

When I'm in my 40s I'll say, "I'm glad my 30s are over! I'm so much wiser now! I was such fitness freak, those velour work out suits I wore were hideous and I ate WAY too much salad. Seeing my girls through puberty gave me more wrinkles than the tanning salon during my mid-life crisis! Phew! I'm glad I'm in my 40s!"

When I'm in my 50s I'll say, "I'm glad my 40s are over! I'm so much wiser now! Planning two weddings, and dealing with my husband's mid-life crisis was far too stressful! No one should take THAT much valium! Now that the weddings are over, I can focus on learning to do the things I never had time for when I was young. I can knit baby-booties and send them to my daughters so they will get the hint and produce cute grandbabies for me!"

When I'm in my 60s I'll say, "I'm glad my 50s are over! I'm so much wiser now! I don't know how I ever got things done when I had to work all the time. Thank goodness I have time to travel, shop and re-decorate my house (again). Now where did I put that chocolate bar I bought for the baby?"

When I'm in my 70s I'll say, "I'm glad my 60s are over! I'm so much wiser now! No one should have to eat THAT much bran! Now that I'm older and wiser, I will embrace the enema! Its time to join the purple hat society and throw caution to the wind! "

When I'm in my 80s I'll say, "YES! This is my FOURTH marguerita! So what? I'm an 80 year old woman, I can do whatever I want! Have some respect for your elders you little punk! Oh, and hand grandma my slippers, okay sweetie?"

Kute Kids Kwotes....

Rebecca loves to wear her "ballet dances" (dresses) all the time but due to winter conditions, she must wear long pants underneath them. I explained that its winter, that bare legs would freeze outside so she has to wear long pants under her dresses in the winter. Her comeback?
"Yeah, but Michelle Kwan wears short dresses and there is ice!"
(Huh? How does she know who Michelle Kwan is?)

Isabella put on her backpack yesterday so she could go to "pretend school". She told me to wave as she was leaving (going into the basement). I said good-bye, and she yelled back over her shoulder, "Bye mommy! Wish me love!"
hee hee hee

Slippery, Slidy, Saturday Story...

On a mild March Manitoba afternoon, what could be better than playing in the snow?

This past Saturday, we bundled up the girls and hit the slope. (Well...bump in our park.)

We got as far as the back gate before we hit the first snag. The back gate was frozen to the ground. In hearty, prairie style my husband got out the ice chisel and shovel and hacked away while the kids sat on their sled and chanted, "Let's go!"

We prevailed against the ice, and pushed onward through the massive 3 foot drifts in the park that lead to the hill. My husband pulled the sled. With each step his foot sank into two feet of snow. He trudged inch by inch as his knees cracked and buckled. The girls shouted, "Faster daddy! Wheeeee!" and he tried to speed up in order to maintain his hero status. In between, their cheers I could make out his mumbles, "I thought I was in better shape than this" or "whose idea was this".

While D.J. heroically struggled on, I had a challenge of my own. There is thick layer of hard snow which covers the drifts. Trying to avoid the massive cardio workout (and subsequent cardiac arrest) which engaged D.J's efforts, I stepped gingerly across the top of the drifts. Testing my weight with each step, I slowly made my way through the park. The challenge became a battle between the drift, and me. I tried to think airy thoughts, "I'm a cloud, I'm weightless, I'm a feather.." With each successful step, I would celebrate my hard work at the gym in keeping slight enough to delicately glide across the drifts, until I heard it. Crunch.

The sound of defeat that pierced my elegant thoughts a split second before my foot plunged down into the drift. "Dang! That extra burger was a bad idea!"
I recovered my confidence, lifted my ginormous thigh out of the snow and tried again. After a few more tentative, successful steps...Crunch. Another foot, knee deep in the snow. "Crap! No more chocolate bars after 9pm!" I told myself.

As we approached the hill, D.J. stopped for a breath so the girls jumped out of the sled, running ever so delicately across the tops of the drifts at lightening speed.
Their laughter roused me from my self-esteem Russian roulette.

The girls ran up the hill, with their exhausted parents dragging their crackly knees as fast as possible. Red cheeked, snotty-nosed smiling from ear to ear, they rode down the hill with squeals of delight. Each ride was a whirlwind thrill, that ended with an instant cry, "Again! Let's do that AGAIN!"

A quick jaunt up the hill, and off they went, zooming down as fast as they could! Their laughter was contagious, and the thrilling looks of exhilaration made each ride a thrill to watch.

Eventually, two tired parents found themselves laughing, effortlessly chasing two angelic imps and taking turns sliding down. Suddenly, the air was crisp not cold, the running was exhilarating, not exhausting and how much a person weighed was irrelevant. All that mattered was sharing the experience and riding ONE MORE TIME!

On the slow walk home, after the "I have to pee" announcement, we were all smiling, snotty noses and all. The joy of family, shared experience, sacrifice, and fun in the snapshot of a Saturday afternoon. There is an inexplicable contentment that rushes over when I hear my daughters laugh that makes every hardship, joyful.
It must be love.

Slippery, Slidy, Saturday Fun....

Say that ten times fast!





Here are some pics of Saturday afternoon....story to follow....

The Letter of Law....

Isabella is a GENIUS when it comes to obeying exactly what you say.
However, this is not necessarily the reflection of an obedient heart.

She'll skirt around the issue, and do everything EXCEPT for the "sin" that will get her a "consequence."

Here is yesterday's example of an "evil genius"!!! :)

D.J. bought the girls Burger King for lunch. Bella got to hold the bag of food but was instructed not to eat anything until we got home. "Okay, Daddy" she says as she takes the fries out of the bag.
"What are you doing," asks D.J.
"Just cooling them off daddy." she replies.
"Don't eat them Bella."
"Okay daddy", she says as she takes out a few fries and begins to sniff them.
"You're not eating those fries are you Bella?" he repeats.
"No, daddy I'm just sniffing them." She says, as she takes a fry and brings it up to her mouth and licks it, "See daddy, I'm just licking it, I'm not eating it."

She never did eat even one fry until we got home, but she did as much as she could without getting in trouble.

So here's my philosophical question for you:
Was she obedient?

Its Gonna Hurt.....

"This is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you."
"Yeah RIGHT!"

I'm not sure that any child believes this statement until they become a parent. As it turns out, its quite true.

The whining and crying that follows NOT getting the treat is WAY harder on the parent (the whinee) than it is on the kid (the whiner).

This discipline thing is hard.
That's all have to say about that.

Its Complicated......

So my sweet princess Rebecca is really and truly a girl, with all the complexities of a lady!
She is so sweet and feminine, desiring to be our lovely princess.

As her birthday is approaching, we went shopping yesterday for her birthday invitations.
The store only had about 15 different options, and "none of them were good."
"Mommy, maybe we should try a different store, they didn't even have anything with Princesses on them or anything with Disney Princess or Cindererlla" was the complaint.

I told her we would go to a different store today and we did. This store had about twenty options, including the various princess options. Her eyes got HUGE and she exclaimed, "Oh Mom! Its PERFECT!!! THOSE are the ones I want right there!"

She pointed up to the shelf and I couldn't believe it....well, just look for yourself....
This is the perfect one for her! You see a princess is strong and can fight the bad guys! Its just the right ones.

After trying to explain, the HULK is not about princesses, she was undeterred. The Hulk is the invitations she wanted and they were just perfect. So Hulk it is.

From now on, my Rebecca Princess will be known as Xena, Warrior Princess!

A Pound of Flesh.....

This morning after leaving the pool area at the Y, I gave into temptation and hopped on the scale. I'm always a little curious about the magical numbers the scale will come up with.

Its all a conspiracy, you know. Those numbers don't actually mean anything. They are randomly selected by the little fairy people who live inside the platform we stand on.

If the stars are aligned and the fairy people are pleased, they will send out little, happy numbers. If you have told a lie in the last 24 hours, and forgot to throw salt over your shoulder, the fairy people below the scale platform become angry with you and the numbers they spew out are very large and frightening.

Its all very scientific and I haven't got time to explain it all right now.
However, I stopped getting on the scale at all about 3 monthes ago. Apparently, I had done something to anger the fairy people and they were putting very LARGE numbers onto the scale. Through no fault of my own (its the tiny people I tell you!) the numbers kept going up, even as I exercised more and more...it was a cruel and vicious cycle and I was TRAPPED!!!! TRAPPED I say!

No matter what scale I stepped on, the same LARGE numbers kept popping up. Those fairy people have an intricate system of communication, and they would always be one step ahead of me.

Anyway, today I thought I would take my chances after 3 monthes of ignorance regarding the magical numbers. Well, I stepped on the scale, and I looked and I looked again. With my shocked look of disbelief I began to fidget with the dials, when 3 other women in the change room noticed my panicked state!

All three women spoke at the same time, "Yeah, that thing did the same thing to me. Its way off! You can't trust THAT scale. Totally off!"

See my point? Every single woman lives in a fantasy world when it comes to the scale. Those things are completely arbitrary, and they spew out random numbers. They are not to be trusted. At least my fantasy was theatrical and interesting. I didn't just come out and call the piece of machinery a liar!

I did the mature thing and blamed it on the fairy people!

More Boo...

This morning my husband was trying to keep the girls from disturbing me as I still feel very sick and needed to sleep. Isabella kept trying to crawl on me and hug me while I slept. D.J. told her again to leave mommy alone.

She replied, "But daaaa-ddy! I jess wanna tell her how boo-ti-ful her is."

How sweet is that? That's a cavity waiting to happen, that's what that is! Swwwwwweeet!

My Sweet Boo...

Isabella a.k.a. Boo-boo bear is such a sweet little girl. Her heart is bent on making people happy and getting people to laugh. This tender-hearted kid hates to see anyone hurt, and this morning she made me smile once again.


I have this awful cold that's going around, so I was lazing in bed this morning. She came to me and asked why I wasn't "waked up". I told her mommy has an owie head. She said, "Okay I'll be right back."

She went to her room and returned with her disney princess phone. She made a quick call to Jesus for her mom. Apparently, He said He has a band-aid for mommy's head!
She's so sweet!

Double Vision????

When my daughters were younger we would get asked everytime we went out in public, "are they twins?"
I am not exaggerating, every third person who saw the girls would ask if they were twins.

I used to think, they look alike but not that much.
I was looking through pictures of the girls the other day and I stand corrected!
Whoa! Did they ever look alike!!! It looks like two of the same kid!

I guess see how different they are in personality which make them look so different to me,
but seeing the pictures, man, they could have easily been twins.
Well...see for yourself....

I'm like...responsible and stuff....

Yesterday I went about my day quite normally, pre-school, gym, shopping etc...
As I was thinking about what to make for supper, I thought maybe I'd leave the house
at 3:30 to pick up my hubby from work. Hmmm....what day is it today...the thoughts went on....

RED FLAG!! RED FLAG!! RED FLAG!!! Suddenly my brain kicked in....Tuesday 3:30...assimilating information.....Crap! A few weeks ago, I told a friend I would run her program on Tuesday night while she was on holiday from....3:30-7:30!!!!! Yikes!

I comppletely forgot! So I quickly made phone calls, got childcare arranged (thank goodness for my in-laws) and threw together the information I was supposed to be presenting. I got there at 3:20pm and they were none the wiser that I had completely forgotten about them!
I can't believe I did that.

P.s. Anyone who is going to comment that I need an organizer, I already have one...I need to use my organizer!

*note* anyone considering employing me for anything, please don't read the post above, because I'm like, totally responsible and stuff and I can like, remember stuff and write it down and I am like totally competent dude!!!!

Backspace, backspace, backspace....

My typing skills are not as fabulous as I thought they were.
I can type fairly quickly on a regular keyboard, and if I don't always use the
correct positions for my fingers...oh, well it gets the job done and its close enough.

Apparently, I was farrrrrrrrr from close!!! My husband bought an ergonomic keyboard this weekend which is apparently better for your wrists. However, it requires that you are using
the correct finger positioning for typing.

This post just took me FOUR HOURS!!!! Okay, maybe that's exxxxxagggggerating a little but it takes way longer as I have to backspace and correct my errors every few minutes.
Now I have to practise my typing skills.....oh man!

Icky-Sicky...

Last night I came home feeling like caa-caa-poo-poo! The sinus cold finally caught up with me, living with three sickly ones for the last few weeks, I thought I was the one that got away.

Well, I went to bed at 8:30pm last night and this morning my husband got up with the kids, so I didn't even wake up until when he brought me my lunch in bed. After eating I went back to sleep and I finally got out of bed at 3:45pm! Wow!

(All the single people reading are saying, "And....." while all the moms are saying, "Wow! That's paradise.....")

I feel much better now, all I needed was 19 hours sleep! Its the cure-all!!!

Hot Date....

Last night I took my husband out on a surprise date while my wonderful sister babysat the girls.

He thinks I'm hot! I think he's hot!

And that's all I'm going to say about that!!!

Veggie???

Is popcorn a vegetable?

Mission Accomplished!!!

I've been trying for 6 monthes now to get past the WALL with my running.
I've never been able to run farther than 3.3 km and my goal is 5 km.

Tonight I did it! Hooray!
I ran 5.3 km which exceeded my goal!!!! I'm so happy!

Celebrate with me!!! Yeeeee-hah!

Shaker, but Not a Mover....

As spring approaches, the for-sale signs have been popping up all over the place. As the signs go up, so does my curiousity.

I've felt like we're outgrowing our house for awhile, as stuff starts stacking up the ceiling.

Each home I've checked into, doesn't have enough space for the price they are asking, or the backyard is tiny. Some places aren't situated near enough to a park. The basements aren't finished, or its great but the price is ridiculous.
What's my point????

There are no houses in my area that have the space we have for the price we paid, with a finished basement, a lovely backyard that backs onto a park! My point is...our house is PERFECT!!!! We have a great house....there's nothing better out there!!! I LOVE my house!
I'm really blessed with the home we have, and our only problem?
We have too much stuff, that we can't fit it all in!

Here's a thought, instead of a bigger house...why don't I get rid of some stuff????
Genius! Pure Genius!

I am so blessed! An awesome house and too much stuff! I am content!