Safeway vs. Price Smart
Holy crap Safeway is expensive! How in the world do people actually afford to do their weekly grocery shopping at this place?? As a loyal Price Smart shopper (no, I'm not anti-union, nor am I pro-union, nor do I neccesarily love Jimmy Pattison, they just have better prices and us being on a single income it's the bottom line that counts) I was really shocked! I shop at Price Smart (Save-On for years prior to the closer Price Smart location that opened this past year) and can get a whole heck-of-alot more food there than I did at Safeway. We all have preferences on where we shop; my sister-in-law only shops at Safeway as well as one of Greg's aunts because they deliver, my sister goes to Ralph's Market, my mom shops at Superstore and anyplace else that has sales (she has a very small car and the gas wasted to go to 15 diffferent locations is minor compared to my gas-guzzling truck), so I guess we just get used to a certain place. And I have to admit that I don't buy my meat at Price Smart because I happen to like the meat better from Costco, and I try to get to Two E's as much as possible because the produce is so fresh and cheap, but the weekly shop for the regular stuff is always done at Price Smart.

This year Greg recieved a $50 gift card for Safeway from his work for Christmas again, and today I decided I would buy a few groceries with it. We didn't really need alot of stuff; a little fruit & veggies, some sandwhich meat and bread. I figured the gift card should more than cover the total (it would have at Price Smart!) but it was twice as much! My total was $105 and change! Now I know my prices at PS and I can guarantee that almost everything I picked up today at Safeway was close to $1.00 more. One example is the Eggo Fibre waffles that I buy for Benjamin - at Price Smart they are usually around $2.69 (which I personally think is too much, but any opportunity to get extra fibre into my kid is never overlooked!) unless they are on sale, and today at Safeway they were $3.50 per box! Two boxes for $7.00 if you wanted. I just about cried buying one box, but Ben loves them and we're all out. That's almost a whole buck extra. Now, if we had 2 incomes, I wouldn't give any of this rant a second thought, but holy cow - that's highway robbery!

Aww, come on, who am I kidding? I know that when I do go back to work, having that extra income will not mean I'll be going to Safeway. My truck knows the way to Price Smart without me even having to steer and that's where we'll continue to go.

Short & sweet

I love the build up and all that goes with the holiday season; shopping, baking, visiting family and friends, festive music everywhere, eggnog lattes and in the end, yes, just a little, even the gift wrapping. But then it's all over so darn quick. One minute you're writing your letter to Santa, then you're leaving out milk & cookies on Christmas Eve, then the big guy delivers and now here it is Boxing Day and Christmas is so yesterday. Literally.

Ah well, at least we can begin the countdown for next year.......

Our little family had such a nice Christmas; Ben wrote a letter to Santa and Santa wrote back - he was over the moon about that! Yay for Canada Post and their letter writing program! We made a gingerbread train, and some glittery tree decorations and counted down to Christmas with an advent calendar (I found this great wooden calendar truck with drawers; I put a little gift in each box for each day. It was pretty cool and it's going to be a wonderful family tradition). Benjamin was totally spoiled and I don't even care! It was definately all about him, and in my books, that's what Christmas should be about - the kids.

I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas and I wish you all the Best for 2008!

Ben's letter from Santa

Advent calendar

Christmas Eve at our place (l-r) My mom, Greg, Lil, me, Ben, Aunty Jenn, Cousin Kinsey, Uncle Steve

Leaving goodies for Santa (milk & cookies) and the reindeer (carrot & apple juice). Ben made sure to leave the fireplace door open so Santa could get in! Working on the gingerbread train Finished product....minus several candies that disappeared into Ben's tummy! Christmas morning.....My mom trying her hand at Benjamin's remote controlled loader Ben and his favorite gift - the crane that he asked Santa for! Christmas Day at mom's

Other stuff.....

Me and my shadow

During the freak snow storm Horsin' around A visit to Aunty Teresa's house

My husband rocks......
Can I just say that I love my husband? I mean, it's more than the obvious. Women all love their husbands (or at least they should!), but there are times when I really appreciate mine more than I remember to tell him.
Like on the days when I am sick (which luckily are few and far between) and he comes home from a hectic day at work and just takes Benjamin off my hands for awhile so that I can maybe have a short nap.
Like on those cold, (sometimes snowy) winter mornings when he leaves for work just a little earlier to chisel away the ice from the windows of my truck.
Like on the days when we're all heading out somewhere and he (always!) remembers to bring 2 bottled waters that we both love to drink after we've stopped at Timmy's and have had our coffee & tea. The list goes on, really.
But today, when, with this cold spell we've had recently, our house is colder than ever (god bless this drafty old house!), and because we're renovating the upstairs bathroom and have to shower downstairs, Greg did the kindest thing; he took our floor heater downstairs and "primed" the bathroom for me. When I went down to have my shower in the usual ice-box, the bathroom was instead all toasty and warm. And I when I emerged from my steamy shower, I didn't freeze my butt off. I mean, it was just a simple gesture, and I'm not saying that my husband is the only guy in the world that does these kinds of things for his wife, but boy, did it ever mean the world to me.
That's only one of the many reasons that I love my husband.
He's definately a keeper.

It's HOW long before Christmas???

I'd imagine that jolly old St. Nick is probably starting to get ready to load up the sleigh and make his way to our chimney. At least the kid in me thinks so! It's hard to believe Christmas will be here in just a matter of weeks. Weeks! Can you believe it? I am, however, ready. As I'm going to be. My Christmas cards may not be out yet (grrrr....I usually have them mailed by yesterday!), but my shopping is done (except for those little last minute things that always seem to make their way into breaking the budget) and I just have to get motivated to wrap everything. You'd think that would be the fun part, but for me, not really. It just takes sooooo long. But I do like to sit back and look at the completed job once it's finished. Kind of like looking back at a masterpiece of sorts. I do that too, when I've finished decorating the tree. I like to turn off all the lights and just have the tree lights on......it's mezmerizing and I could stare at it for hours and hours.

Renovations 101

Well we finished Benjamin's room! I'm really proud of the job we did; I want to move into it myself. It's just such a fun room and Ben loves it; he's always talks about his "big boy room".

I know it might seem like there is too much blue in the room, but there really isn't. It's a very inviting shade. The room just needs drapes and I've been having a hard time finding navy blue ones to tie in with the comforter. But I will perservere.......... On the days when I crawl into bed with Ben for a morning snuggle, I like to just look around at our handywork.

This lamp was my sweet find on ebay! Had to have the plane to go with the border.

The bathroom reno's are coming along at a slow and steady pace. Greg has been working very hard on it; he comes home from work and puts in a couple hours and then puts in a couple more right after dinner. Then on the weekends he goes and goes like the Energizer bunny. But, alas, even though he's been at it so hard, it doesn't look like we'll have it done before Christmas. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours available to complete it, especially with the holiday season upon us. I'm hoping to be able to do some priming this weekend and maybe paint early next week, depending if the last of the sanding has been done. The new bathtub has been in for a few weeks and Greg might be able to install the tub liner in the next couple days. I sure hope so, it would be nice to restore some sort of order as far as baths and showers go. Ben has been such a trooper - he's been bathing in the kitchen sink, which he kind of likes even though he can't quite get both legs in the water. And I'll be happy to no longer haul my basket of toiletries up and down the stairs for showers!

That's a new window and frame - yippee!!!

Miscellaneous fun

And we wonder where Benjamin gets his ideas to move the furniture all over the place?

Ben got to hang out with Officer Steve! Such fun!

A little bit of fun in the snow

Fall Fun

Most of the leaves have fallen, Greg has a couple more rakings to go, and we made it through Halloween again. Thomas the Train (a.k.a Benjamin) trick or treated his friend Liam's entire complex. It took us about an hour and mommy and daddy got alot of candy. There is something to be said for "pimping" out your kid for candy! Ha Ha

Here are a few pictures from the pumpkin patch and Halloween.

Finding just the right pumpkin can be exhausting!

The hayride back from the pumpkin patch

Ben checking to make sure the scarecrow isn't ripping us off

.......the token petting zoo photo.....

Now THAT'S what I call a pumpkin!

Thomas the Train getting ready to go out. Looks like he was caught in a blink!

Booo! Scarey jack-o-lanterns......if you look close you can see Benjamin to the right

Veggies and more veggies......
One thing that we've never really had a problem with in our house is Benjamin eating vegetables. He has always liked them; raw or cooked (except potatoes, unless they are in the form of french fries or recently, scalloped). In fact his first two solid vegatables I gave him were broccolli and beets (I later read that they are both extremely "gassy" veggies and can cause stomach aches! Oops! But, he survived with no belly aches or anything). I also realize how lucky I am that he eats vegetables so readily.
Usually when I'm preparing dinner, if he's not up at the counter "helping" me peel something or other, he'll ask for some frozen corn to munch on until chow time. So I give him a little bowl of it and off he goes. Sometimes its frozen peas or maybe blueberries (I hope I froze enough over the summer!). Today he didn't want corn or peas or blueberries. He wanted some of the "fluffy clouds" (cauliflower) and "broccolli trees" that I was cleaning to put into the steamer. He just casually came up and asked for some. So I loaded him up a plate and he happily munched probably close to a cup full (sans dip, I must proudly add). So when we sat down to dinner I didn't think he'd want anymore veggies and I wasn't going to push the issue. But, yes - he wanted more fluffy clouds and broccolli trees with his chicken and rice.
.......guess I'm doing something right with his diet after all.
In the words of that SNL character Stuart Smally: I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggonit - my son likes vegetables! Yay me!

That's my boy!

Can I just say how unbelieveably proud I am of my son? Benjamin continues to make me the proudest mamma on the planet.

Recently we were at a friend's surprise 40th birthday party, and the theme was Halloween. The house was decked out like I've never seen before (they don't "do" Christmas, but Halloween - now that's their holiday! It was quite impressive!). We actually got there late because of nap time, so we missed the whole "surprise" element of the party, but never-the-less we did get there in time to have some nibblies and birthday cake. After Benjamin had a few munchies it was dessert time, so on his plate I gave him (to keep up with the rest of the kids that were there - why I don't know, I'm not really the "keepin' up with the Jones's" kind of gal) a black incing-ed cupcake with a vampire marshmallow candy on top, some candy corn, gummy worms and some other assorted sugary crap. Immediately Benjamin removes the marshmallow (he didn't like the feel of it) and digs into the cupcake. He emerged with black all over his mouth and surrounding area - definately a Kodak moment - and naturally I didn't have a camera.

Then I offer him a candy corn (my childhood favorite - who doesn't like wax, after all - ha ha) and he just says "yuck" and spits it out. So then we go for the gummy worm and I dare him to take a bite. He does and his whole little body shakes with the wiggly heebie jeebies. Keep in mind that the only candy he ever gets is a lollipop when he gets his hair cut. We just don't eat it in our house (honestly! it's shocking, I know!). He says he doesn't want anymore cupcake or candy and could he please have a piece of birthday cake instead? Of course. So he eats it up without a word and then ....now here's where I beam with pride....he asks for more vegetables!!! VEGETABLES!! And - *gasp* - he eats them!

For a split second I was a little sad because, well, I don't know why, really, other than maybe he should have candy once in awhile???? Is that a right of passage for a 3 year old? Is he missing out because he doesn't get it? Another mom that was there was utterly shocked that he refused the candy and asked for veggies. She said she couldn't believe it and I almost felt obligated to help her pick her jaw up off the floor. It was really the tone of her voice that probably got me thinkin' I was a failure. Like my kid was some sort of freak or something because he doesn't eat candy! What a mean mommy I am! Anyway, the feeling quickly passed as Greg convinced me that it's not ME who's the weirdo.
Rock on, my little veggie lover! The candy will be here soon enough.

By George, he's got it!

Woohoo! It finally happened a week ago! Benjamin is no longer in diapers!! And yes, anyone who wants to, can say "I told you so". Heck, I even told myself so! I persuaded my stubborn son into the pullups by running out of diapers (he happened to be there when I bought the last box that was on the shelf, so that became the last box of diapers - ever). I had him do a count down each time we needed more from the closet. It worked, and when they were all gone, getting into the pullups was a no-brainer for him. Plus the fact that he watched one of his little friends pee standing up - once he saw someone other than daddy doing it that way, the rest was history! And he's doing such a good job going to the bathroom - sometimes he even insists on "privacy, please, mommy" and I have to close the door - I know the transition into underwear when the package of pullups runs out should be a breeze since I'm going to use the same tactic I did with the diapers. Why not - it worked! Yay!
Thanks to daddy for helping me along in my journey from toilet hell to potty heaven!
Hmmmmm.........what are the odds that the extra grey hairs that appeared during this trying time will disappear?


What's all the fuss about?

Put up your Dukes!!
I am feeling so beat up these days! Kinda like I've been in an emotional boxing ring with a pint sized Mohamed Ali. Benjamin fights me on every single thing, ever single day. Every SINGLE day. Seriously! Not physically, of course, but everything I say to him, everything I ask of him, everything I tell him to do, etc, becomes a big fight and I end up raising my voice more than I like to. Not yelling, but raising my voice so loud that I may as well be yelling. What is the deal with that????? And how in all that is holy do you stop the insanity???? I could certainly yell (and I know I would feel better for all of about 1 second) but I sooooo don't want to be that mother! I swear I don't! I just cringe when I see/hear those women who lose it and just scream at their kids. It makes me feel physically sick. And even I know, coming from a somewhat "loud" upbringing myself, that yelling really serves no purpose.

Just for an example: I'll say something simple like "Hey Benjamin, let's get our shoes on and go outside for awhile" he'll say "No, not yet, mommy, in 5 minutes". Ok, I wait. I'll ask this, oh, say about 5 more times, and the answer is always the same. So then I'll just say "Ok, I guess we'll just stay inside then", and then he'll say "I'm ready to go now". Before we end up going anywhere, I'll usually have to change his diaper or put a sweater on him or put on socks that don't happen to be blue because all the blue ones are dirty because that's all he wants to wear - you get the picture? - and that becomes a whole new fight that always seems to end up with him crying, being plain defiant, and with me pissed off and wanting so bad to YELL. YELL - YELL - YELL - YELL - YELL!! That actually feels a little better ;) I am aware that it's a power struggle going on here, but I don't want to be a part of it. I'm tired of negotiating all day, every day. Some days I just want to voice the command and *poof* it's done. With no struggle......*sigh* I guess we're battling the "terrible twos" with a 3 year old :(

Today eating lunch, after we'd had some rather loud discussion because he had to - god forbid! - wash his hands before eating, and I had to inform him that he could get the the play-doh out AFTER he ate lunch, Ben says to me in a tiny little voice "Mommy, are you mad at me?". Oh my god, my heart broke and I burst into tears right there. He shouldn't have to feel that at this age, for cryin' in a bucket! I just went to him and wrapped him in my arms. Then he took my face in his little hands and he said "Mommy, can I make you happy?" (when he's crying, he asks me to "make him happy" by giving him a kiss and hug) and he gave me the most tender kiss and hug. How is it possible to get so frustratetd with a little being that is so sensitive to me? It causes me much guilt and at times, great heartache.
My girlfriend Aniek (who is the wisest mom I know and should, in all seriousness, be dispensing parenting advice for more money than Dr. Phil) hit the nail on the head when she said to me that I need to have way more "me" time than I currently have. She's right; I know this to be true, but I just don't seem to do it. It's me giving me lip service. Greg is always encouraging me to get out and do things on my own, but truth be told: I don't quite know what to do with myself that isn't somehow Benjamin-related. How sad and pathetic is that?

So from now on, I'm making a promise to myself to really try and get out more often - sans child. And not grocery shopping or the occasional daytime lunch or coffee, but actual night time getting out - movies, dinners, girl talk, shopping (for ME!) etc.

Hopefully it will help restore some of what's left of my sanity......

It ain't the articles!

It's official! If a boy tells you that he reads Playboy for the "articles" he's full of you-know-what. It appears that my husband (who is quite literate) has a problem reading my blog because recently I haven't been adding any pictures.

Me: "Honey, have you read my recent post?"

Him: "Are there any pictures?"

Me: "No"

Him: "Then no"

Me: "Do you plan on reading it?"

Him: "Do you plan on adding any pictures?"

Me: "No"

Him: "Again, no"

Well, there you have it. Articles, shmarticles........it's all about the pictures.

So here's to you, honey - pictures - most with captions and everything!

Ben and Greg at "work"

Helping Aunty Karen set up her tent at Lac Le Jeune Ben & Aunty Karen


Ben & Aunty Teresa Breakin' bread with Lee Greg dirt biking at Tunkwa Lake (nice pink helmet!)
In the attic checking the roof for leaks after the recent freak rain storm (no leaks - yay!)
Always ready & willing to help out Daddy

You've met Murphy, right?

Well I've definately met him, and I'm darn sure he (and his "law") is just around the corner.
You see we've decided to do a little renovating in our very old, very much loved, very humble abode. We've talked about doing it for, oh-I-don't-know, maybe 7 or 8 years, but it's only been lip service, really. I like to blame it on my "frugal" husband, but the actual reason is that when this property sells, the house will be torn down and be replaced by townhouses (of course, that's after it's been rented out to grow-op dirtbags - trust me, it's been happening in our neighborhood for about 3 years now!). So doing anything always seemed like a big fat waste of money. Don't get me wrong, we have done some minor decorating (painting) and we did design the nursery (exit, stage-left the pink paint and doves/hearts/flowers wallpaper that adorned the walls since 1965), so we're not living in swill or anything! Ha Ha!

The roof needs to be replaced (also circa 1965) which costs a bloody fortune these days, but for the last couple of years Greg has been able to take care of any minor leaks that have happened. So we decided that instead of putting money into the roof, we're going to be gutting the bathroom as well as turning Ben's room into an actual "big boy" room!!! I am sooooo excited to get this show on the road!!! Mostly about doing Ben's room, the bathroom; not so much. There will be much arguing, complaining, bickering (on my part mostly) about it, but I'm so glad it's going to finally get done that I'm going to do my best to be happy and smiley all the live-long day! By gutting I literally mean gutting - the rotten window frame and ledge are already out and has revealed (surprise, surprise) rotten gyprock (is that how you spell it?) underneath. I can only imagine what's behind the bath and shower stall considering that there are cracks all through the entire enclosure!!, the flooring is going (along with the probably some-what rotten floorboards), the vanity is going, the horrid institutional beige paint (the original owners painted over hair and dust- eeeww!!) is going, the ceiling is being fixed, the list goes on forever, really. Thank god our own personal handy-man (Greg) can do all of it himself or we might be reconsidering replacing the roof instead! It would probably be cheaper! Oooooh, it's gonna be gooooood!

We bought a captain's bed for Ben and I'm going to paint it blue to match his new blue planes, trains & trucks themed room. I actually went out today and bought all the supplies to get started! The whole room is being built around this awesome border I bought from an online store (yes, eBay, I still dabble a little!) and I'm totally pshyched!

But - I know as soon as we're smack-dab in the middle of reno's, when we can see a light at the end of the tunnel, as soon as I'm dreaming of long bubble baths in my new bathtub, (*POP* my bubble just burst) a realtor is going to present us the offer of a lifetime for our property, and all of our hard work will be for nothing.

Honestly, a very small part of me hopes this will happen, but the rest of me truly hopes we'll be staying here for a few more years so Ben can go to the new school, continue to enjoy the yard, play in his new room and clean up in the new bathroom. Is this too much to ask? Is it too good to be true?

Seriously, though, I can't help but wonder if Murphy might have other plans...........

The things we do for love.....

No, I don't mean the song by 10CC, I mean what we won't do for our children.

We went away camping this past weekend (weather could have been a little better, but overall, a fun time was had by all) and on the last night, and probably the coldest, our main propane tank ran out of propane. No propane means no furnace in the camper. Which means c-c-c-old!

We always have 2 tanks at the ready, and Greg wanted to go outside and hook up the other one, but I said not to bother because it was after midnight for crying out loud. I couldn't ask him to get out of our warm bed and do that. Once we're asleep, we won't notice the cold I said. Remember - he offered.

NEWSFLASH: Hindsight is 20-20.

Being the somewhat paranoid parent that I am, and not afraid to admit to it, I decided that I should sleep on the lower bunk with Benjamin to keep him warm and to be there should (heaven forbid!) his covers inch their way off of him. He sleeps in the coldest part of the camper because we get the upper bunkhead.

So I crawled into bed with Ben but before I did, I had the forethought to layer up because the only blanket I had was this fleece thing that is so thin it doesn't deserve to be called fleece. I lay there in my thermal long sleeved shirt, my flannel pj bottoms tucked into my sox and my fleece camping jacket. At first I'm pretty warm and I'm thinking "this will be just fine". Benjamin is curled up warm under his quilt and hardly moves at all so not even his little feet will get cold.

About an hour goes by and I'm now thinking "um.....yah....it's a little chilly in here", so I tuck my feet into Greg's hoodie that is laying at the foot of the bed. Then around 3:30am I wake up almost completely numb from the waist down, except for an ache in my hips, legs and feet like I've never felt before, and shivering. Plus I have to pee. Like a racehorse. But I'm going to hold it because the cold air outside of my cocoon will surely make my body shatter and I can't really feel my feet anyway. What a conundrum I am in. So I just lay there, trying as hard as I could to take my mind off the fact that I have to pee, and hey - I could pee myself and not know it because I can't feel anything! This thought made me giggle to myself a little. I try to sleep, but of course my attempt is futile. I think about crawling back into bed with Greg who seems to be as snug as a bug in a rug to get warm (which I found out later that morning he was not) and to ask if he could go outside and change the tank. But I didn't want to admit that I was a wuss and couldn't handle the cold. So instead I reached around to find my little man, all toasty and warm in his own little cocoon, his sweet early morning breath stinkin' up the joint (or was that mine?!) sleeping peacefully, completely unaware that I have sacrificed sleep, the lower half of my body and my bladder to keep him warm. Confirmation that I am so in love with him washes over me and I just smile in the dark.

These really are the things we do for love.

CAN I SCREAM?!?!?!?!?!

Ok, for the record - toilet training will most certainly be the death of me!! I'm not even remotely kidding.
How in the h-e double hockey sticks is this supposed to work?
Awhile back we were having some success and then all good things came to an abrupt halt (for reasons known only unto Benjamin!)
I've tried everything I can think of/read about/gotten advice about (seriously!):
1) Rewards for peeing (stamp on one hand, big kisses and hugs, dancing around, etc.)
2) Rewards for pooping (stamps on both hands, big kissess and hugs, dancing around, etc.)
3) Plain old kisses and hugs, dancing around, etc.
4) Whooping and hollering; more of the "you peed on the potty!" dance, song, etc.
5) Stickers for even trying to go either pee or poop
6) Once, and I'm not proud of this, I even bribed him with a sucker if he'd go (he did). This method will not be repeated as it is most certainly a trap that I don't want to get caught in!
7) He has the Royal Potty, which plays music when pee passes over a sensor. Weird, I know, but he has now refused to use it, and wants to only go on the big toilet. No problem.
8) I bought him Bob the Builder and Diego underwear.
9) I bought a really cool portable fold-up Blues Clues toilet seat (which, unfortunately recently pinched his hiney so I immediately bought a new Diego soft toilet seat to prevent another stall (so far, so good!).
10) I read him no less than eighteen hundred and forty seven books until he goes (potty books included). This makes me very sleepy ;)
11) A couple times I ran the tap water, but stopped because I don't want him to only be able to go if he hears trickling water or babbling brooks.


In his defense, we have had major success this time around, and he has no problems doing either job once he's on the toilet. It's getting him onto the toilet that's the problem. Some days he'll go with only a little convincing, other days he runs to the toilet (go figure), but most days it's WWIII.
Believe me when I say he is not receptive to the whole "you're a big boy now", "diapers are for babies", etc, etc, because his reply is always "I'm not a big boy now" and "I want to be a baby". It's more frustrating than I can say. I try to stay calm and remember the "it will happen when he's ready" mantra, but I'm almost pulling my hair out over it. Not the fact that he's not going, because he is, but because I can't seem to get him to go with any regularity. I seem to be failing at the whole training thing. He says no ALL THE TIME!! And I refuse to drag him there kicking and screaming, because, really, what point is there in that? It's already a major battle to get him onto the toilet more often than not and I'm just getting soooooo darn tired of the fight!! I just don't want to do it anymore..............UNCLE! I know I'm not the only mother who has gone through this, but please, shoot me now because that would be better :)
Maybe I'll use the tactic that a couple of my friends have used (which seems to have worked): "Gee Benjamin, it looks like we ran out of diapers. Guess you'll have to wear underwear now" (here's the thing - I said it to him today for a joke and he promptly ran to the closet and pointed out that yes mommy, we do indeed, have more diapers........*sigh*)
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.....................but now that I come to think of it, Ben and I have had a very long day........things probably aren't as bad as they seem, right?

Happy and sad at the same time

Ben turned 3 in June! Yup, he sure did. He's three years old. That's 36 months. 1095 days and counting......

My baby is no more. And honestly, that makes me more than a little sad.

But now he's this amazing little person and he's so cool! You can have actual conversations with him, and he tells you about things, and he discusses his day at the dinner table, and he seems to understand humor so he makes little jokes (he's quite funny, really), he plays hide and seek and actually "gets" the concept, he likes to play "I Spy", and the list goes on and on. This is all really cool stuff, and I am sooooo proud of him, and my heart melts when I hear this little boy, my little baby, say "I love you mommy" for no reason followed by the biggest kiss and hug on the planet. As incredible as it all is, I want to cry knowing that those baby days I long for are so very far away now.

Another sign that we now have a big boy on our hands is that Benjamin no longer sleeps in a crib! The transition was extremely smooth and easy (thanks in part to my mom's handywork in sewing him a pillow and quilt with Bob the Builder on them, which we built up that he'd get to have when he moved into his "big boy bed", plus the fact that he helped daddy dismantle his crib, screwdriver and all), but I worried about it nonetheless. I was sooooo worried that he would fall out of bed - which he did, numerous times, and surprise - he survived; imagine that! - that I had this massive safety net of pillows and quilts surrounding him, and looking back now, it was rather silly on my part. Thanks to Greg's gentle persuasion, I finally relented to having just one blanket on the floor, temporarily of course, for the spills. Hey - stop laughing! I'm a first time mom!!

Soother - be gone!

Benjamin has given up the soo-soo! Yahoo! He only had it for nap and bed time anyway, and was never one of those kids that is always "plugged" in. And it was easier to give up than I thought it would be too. He is always surprising us. I had cut it in 1/2 several months ago to take away any sucking ability, but he still somehow sucked on it. And then I kept trimming it little by little till eventually there was just barely a nub left. On the night the lights went out for the soo-soo, he put it in his mouth, flipped it around several times with a serious frown on his face, took it out and promptly declared that it was too small and could I please make it bigger. I actually laughed out loud at this request and had to blame the cat for tickling my feet (I'm such a quick thinker!). Naturally, as any good mother would do, I took the opportunity to tie it in with the whole you're a "big boy" now, sleeping in the big boy bed, and that the soother must have become too small for you now, yadda, yadda, yadda - you get the picture. So he (yes! he!) decided to throw it in the garbage himself and we haven't looked back. Well, he actually asked for it for the first time on this past camping trip......maybe the great outdoors made him temporarily delirious or something.

Now for that darn potty training.................

We've been on a few camping trips so far this summer, but I don't want to bore anyone with the details (more importantly, I really don't feel like typing them), so here are a whole whack of pictures from those trips and other stuff too. I'm not kidding - there really is a WHACK of photos below.......*sigh* .....I really have to update this more often.

Happy Birthday Benjamin!

Grammy hard at work on the Bob the Builder paraphernalia for the big boy bed

Hairy daddy and Ben saying goodbye to the crib

Ta-Da!!! I'm a big boy now!!

And here it is.....he did fall out of bed ......but stayed asleep!

My sister is so talented; her beautiful Easter centerpiece

My boys hammin' it up as usual

My little pea in his pod!

With visions of hockey dancing in their heads.......Greg, Benjamin and Liam

That's my baby!

Ben & Aunty Teresa

A bunch of photos at Watch Lake, just outside of 100 Mile House

Ben & Riley

Maiden voyage sleeping in the lower bunk all by himself .....no problem

Ben collecting his fishing derby prize

So silly!

Consumer Alert!! Watch out for those child-eating couches!!!! Ours came with 1/2 a kid!

Ben "helping" bake cookies.....soooooooo busted!!!

Some pictures at McDonald Beach, near Nakusp

At Englishman Falls, outside of Parksville

At Miracle Beach

Our "catch"

Ben's waterslide from Grammy

At Riley's birthday party - they look so cute in their party hats!

Ben pinning the nose on the Elmo

At the Surrey Children's Festival

Ben and cousin Kinsey

At the Bob the Builder show

Mommy had fun too!

Last day at pre-preschool class

At mom's 75th birthday party with her siblings

At the park

The new version of "tail-gating" - Riley, Ben, Liam, Abby

The new Maddox Jolie-Pitt??