Category: Family

And On and On and On it goes

one handed typing again….baby nursing…

it’s been a bit of a frustrating day.  siah’s been sleeping in 5 minute increments and it’s getting old.  he really really likes to be held and not so much with the putting down business.  i’ll nurse him.  he’ll fall asleep and then wake up the instant i try to lay him down. gaaaaaaaaaaawk!

soooooooooo annoying. 

new years pics are up – click through on the top menu bar……sorry no videos or story yet….it’s coming, maybe?

in good news…..siah was only awake for 20 minutes last night when jon got up with him. see, i’ve not been sleeping well cause the boy likes to have a boob in his mouth all freaking night long. – one handed typing makes it difficult to properly emote while i’m typing, so pretend that was all in caps with bold and periods in between each word….pretend i’m shouting it and flailing my hands wildly around….that would about capture it right…….anyway, jon’s been getting up with him so as to try and train him to sleep through the night without nursing…if i get up and rock him, he can smell me and well……then we’re in for screamfest 2008 – which none of us really want to deal with, so it took jon an hour on monday night, an hour and 40 minutes on tuesday night and… are you ready for it…….

20 minutes last night.

i know that some of you are thinking that being up for 20 minutes somewhere between 2-3am is insane, but’s better than monday night and waaaaaaaaay better than tuesday night and we’re hoping that by the end of the week, he’ll just sleep all the way through…….wouldn’t that be amazing? ::said with soft dreamy look on face::

anyway, he’s asleep now, and i’m gonna go and see if i can finally get this little dude down into his bed so i can have my arms to myself…..even just for half an hour would be nice.

oh, and guess what else…he started blowing raspberries today – too, too cute!

Reflecting

Great Title, eh? 

Sounds like this should be a great inspiring post, full of all the wonders of 2007.  Maybe it might include some of the struggles and hardships that have been overcome or worked through…….NOPE!

I’m justnot feeling that deep this morning.

The kids are GONE! back in school, and my house is quiet, and except for the 4am fight that Jon and I had last night….all is well in my world.

I just realized that all I mention is when we fight….and well, it’s not as bad as it sounds. 

Please realize that we have a 5 month old who is not sleeping through the night, yet; so we are both over tired and on edge.  The fight last night was a stupid one.  Jon had got up to try to get the baby back to sleep (’cause if he smells me then he wants to nurse, and he really doesn’t need the middle of the night feeds anymore, so if he can learn to sleep through, then we’ll all be happier).  So, I was saying….Jon had gotten up at 3am to put the baby back to sleep, and by 4:15am – I couldn’t handle it any more. Jon was agitated, the baby was agitated, and I wasn’t sleeping anyway and I was agitated.  I just figured that an hour and 15 minutes was a good shot, and I’d nurse the baby and be done with it.  I know that’s just teaching him to wait it out, but with no one sleeping in our house, today and tonight should be fun times…wanna come over?

Anyway, Jon was annoyed and the Baby was crying and we were all tired, and some nasty things were said, and it was not a good time.  For some reason, after we had our little fight, the baby went to sleep and slept until almost 7am.

Middle of the night is not a good time to try and work anything out, so we both went to sleep, and now we still have to deal with the rubble of last night.  Not fun!

Moving on, ’cause that had nothing to do with what I originally planned to write out……ha ha HA HA HA!  That makes it sound like I had a plan when I sat down here in front of my computer.  There was no plan.  Which is why this ends up rambling……that’s something I want to stop doing.  I’m planning to have a plan…..see how tired I am….

Any way, I’ll just stop there and continue on down here.

We had a great Christmas holiday time, and you can check out the pics if you so desire.

Our Christmas Eve…….we found out that Taco Time is pretty simple and basic as ingredients if you are looking for a fast food.  Although the hard shells are corn, and some need to stay away from corn….but we were thrilled to find something that had no wheat, dairy or eggs in them….YAH!….oh, we skipped the cheese, and sour cream……that’s how they were “okay”.

I love this shot of me and ‘Siah……not cause it’s an okay shot of me, but mostly ’cause EVERY TIME he sees it, he stops whatever he is doing and smiles HUGE.

I also love this one of the 4 kids…….

…..to go to any of the “sets” just click on the pics, and it’ll take you there.

Then we had Christms morning with just the 6 of us, and it was so amazing. We usually have those mini cereal boxes, but we just bought 2 sugar cereals that we knew had no dairy in them…..but had WAY too much sugar in them.  The kids did pretty good considering they’ve been off sugar for a while now.

The presents part of Christmas was fun, as always.  My parents went overboard, and totally blessed the kids with stuff that they actually needed, and maybe a few things that they didn’t need.  I think the the highlight of Jeremy’s Christmas, though, was the stacking cups that he got.

He’s played those things non-stop since he got them…..everybody’s played those things non-stop since we got them.  I’ll post a video or two hopefully tomorrow.  It’s pretty funny to see grown men challenging each other over “those stupid cups”….even funnier to show them the links to the “pros” and to watch how fast they really can stack those things.  

Jon’s parents came over for the rest of the day.  We had so much fun playing games and eating dinner and opening presents and just spending some quiet time with each other.  It was a very nice Christmas with them.  But it was a little different ’cause ha;f of our fmaily is on the other side of the world…..missed you guys!

Then, on Boxing Day…..are you tired yet?  I know I was, and we’re not even done yet?…….my family got together at my sister’s house to celebrate Christmas.  We had another good time.  The kids all got the play together and the adults all got to play together, and we ate some good food, and well….it was just a lot of fun.  Too bad Xani couldn’t keep her eyes open…I guess the day just wiped her right out.

THEN………the next day, Jon and I headed back to Debbie and Denver’s house to meet up with these guys.  We had such a fun time.  We showed up around 6pm, and then we finally looked at the time, and it was midnight…..it’s true that time flies when you’re having fun.  I just wish they didn’t live so far away. 

We had the 28th off and on the 29th we headed to another friends house for a evening of fellowship, fun and FONDUE!  It was a blast, and there were so many of my old friends that I hadn’t seen in a while, BUT……I stupidly forgot my camera.  Oh well! 

The 30th was Jon’s birthday, and we had a big lunch time breakfast for him, and then we did NOTHING on the 31st, and then we had…….you’ll have to check back tomorrow to check out what we did on NEW YEARS DAY!  Mean, aren’t I?

Anyway,  I don’t really have any NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS, but if I did….and I don’t……I’d be working towards being 175 pounds…..that’s my first goal…I seem to be sitting right now between 178 and 181lbs. and I’d like to drop a few more instead of just sitting here stagnant.

AND……… I want to start posting more…..like every other day, for sure, I hope, I’d like or whatever……..

How was your holiday’s?

Have Some Christmas Cheer

Going along with how behind we’ve been this Christmas…….

We are headed out to the stores right now.  It is 9:30am on the Saturday befoe Christmas, and if that weren’t bad enough….it’s snowing.  We are going to have some seriously grumpy people in the malls today, people, and we have our 4 kids and a stroller with us.  Fortunately, I don’t think we actually have to hit the Mall, but we do have to make a dollar store run, and to go to Superstore and the Veggie Market. 

Somone “facebooked” me (is that a verb now) a suggestion about what to get for my dad, and I think it was a GREAT suggestion and I think we’ll be doing that today as well.

To kick it all off, I have a headache and we haven’t even gone anywhere today.  I’m not sure why I have a headache, but I’m wondering if it’s something I ate ’cause not only do I have a headache, but Josiah is a wicked rash on his head.  He hasn’t had one in a while, and so I’m wondering if I ate something that had dairy or dairy protiens in it……..if that’s the case then that’s brutal.

Or, they could be totally unrelated and I couyld have a headache ’cause Jon and I had our second fight within a week.  Nothing brutal, but when you’ve not had any fights at all, and then you have two…..well, have we just not been communicating and now we are doing a bit more and so there is more opportunity to disagree or clash or is it because we have some issues that we need to resolve.  Who knows….it’s not a HUGE life altering fight, but you know….we just need to work through a few things….doesn’t everyone have issues sooner or later.  We might need to talk through a few things in front of a counsellor or something.

It’s always a good idea to work on your marriage and realtionships, and therapy or counselling is great as a preventative measure…….Doens’t it make more sense to work on “things” before they become a MAJOR issue?  That makes perfect sense to me.  To put in an other way….it makes more sense to exercise and eat healthy so that you don’t have a heart attack ’cause it’s easier to get healthy before you have a problem and WAY harder to come back from a Heart Attack and get healthy…….Which would you rather choose?

Do you believe in preventative and/or ongoing counselling or therapy to work on yourself and/or your marriage?  Do you go for a “tune up” once in a while?

Few and Far Between

I had really good intentions of posting before now, but hey, based on my recent track record…..twice in one week ain’t all that bad now, is it?

Josiah is sorta doing better.  When I have a bit more emotionl energy to actually talk about what’s really been going on – I will.  I’m not really holding anything back, per se; but you’ve just heard the bare bones of it all and as I’m sure you’re aware – I can be a lot more long winded and verbose about it all.  There are probably details that might help you to understand things  a bit better but for now – He’s doing a bit better.

We are almost ready for Christmas.  I have a hard time believeing that I’m saying that.  I haven’t left things this close to Christmas in quite a while.  It’s hard to not be on top of things, but this Christmas I almost don’t even care.  It really doesn’t even feel like Christmas.  I’ve not done any decorating except the tree and that means that I’ll have nothing to tear down except the tree…….and that’s the way it stands this year.  I have no Christmas baking because no one here can eat it, and that’s kinda hard, ’cause I LOOOOOOVE baking.  I have pulled off a few recipes, and I made vegan Oatmeal Cookies, but substituted Kamut for Oatmeal ’cause Xan and me are not supposed to have oatmeal……and I made vegan Gingersnaps and they were pretty good also…actually they were delicious, but Xan took the majority of them to her class party and so we were left with only 8 to split between the 5 of us. 

I think that I’ll ramble for a bit about everything and nothing.  I have seen the left side of 180 pounds a few times……I’m hovering weight wise right around 180…..178 – 181 – 179 – 180 – 179……I’ve been watching my weight creep down over the last 2 months and it’s been pretty cool to see those 170’s in there.  I was almost 180 when I got married and so to be at that weight is pretty exciting…….(whispers outta the side of her mouth) although I’m in no where near the same same as I was back then…..Oh to have that body back, but that would require some gravity defying surgery as “things” have sagged and fallen to lower levels and I’m not just talking about my butt or my under arm skin…….

We are trying to get back into some semblance of order here in the Culley house.  Jon’s been doing an amazing job of getting up with the kids and getting them off to school,then usually ends up putting them to bed ’cause I’m nursing Josiah…

The kids know that he’s nicer than I am and have stretched out the evening schedule to an hour and a half.  RIDICULOUS!!!! Not only that, but they continue to get out of their beds even after that, and I can’t handle it ANYMORE.  So, I’ve laid the “SMACKDOWN” on them all, and we are on a freaking rigid schedule that will not be mucked with on pain of death…….we are eating dinner at 5pm, cleaning up as soon as we are finished, and tidying the house if necessary (and you know it’s always necessary) then if that’s all done by 6:30 we’ll play a family game (either a board game or card game or puzzle or something) and then at 7pm they have 5 minutes to get jammies on and brush teeth and if that happens then Jon is reading to them until 7:30pm and then it’s on bed and Lights out for Jeremy and the girls get to read until 8pm UNLESS they’ve been rude or cheeky or disobedient……then they go to bed at 7:30 as well.

I’m not even getting angry or upset with them…..we are talking a lot about choices over here right now…if they make bad choices, then they end up with negative consequences and good choices result in positive consequences…….they may not always know what the consequence may be, but they are constantly making choices and their choices ALWAYS have a consequence……It’s been a week, and already I’ve seen a positive change in behavior and attitude….although they are still balking a bit at HAVING to tidy up EVERY NIGHT……things are still more positive than negative and so we are headed in the right direction.

One thing that I still need help with, I want to get something for my Dad…….and I’m STUCK!  I have no clue as to what to get him.  What do you get someone who can buy anything he wants.  I got him a gift certificate to a outdoorsman store for his birthday, but that just seems so…..so…..thoughtless…..What would you get for someone like that?  Surely some of you have to buy stuff for someone who can get whatever they want………What you you suggest?

Snow Days

We just had a HUGE dump of snow, and then immediately had some freaky warm weather.  The temps went from -5 degrees to 13 degrees from one day to the next.

It started snowing on Saturday, and came down in HUGE FLUFFY GIANT FLAKES!  And it snowed off and on until Sunday Evening when it started to rain, and by Monday the snow was mostly gone, and you didn’t even need a jacket outside it was so warm.

 WEIRD!

Anyway, on Sunday Afternoon Jon went outside to play with the 3 older kids.  I figured they’d be back in fairly soon ’cause IT WAS COLD…and Jon hates being cold.  If there is anything that he hates more than being cold – it’s being wet and cold. 

Three Hours Later, everyone comes in yelling for the camera.  Apparently they needed to take pictures of this:

Igloo
If you click on the picture you can see the other pictures of the igloo.  The kids had a blast.  You just use an ice cream bucket and start building up around yourself.  Jon helped them and they made it big enough that 3 kids could sit comfortably inside, and tall enough that Jeremy could stand up.

I love making these kinds of memories with the kids.

What are your memories from winter or Christmas time from when you were a kid?

Family Is Amazing! November 25th

Back in the summer before he was even born, my cousins had told me that they were going to plan a baby shower for me and Josiah.

I felt kinda goofy ’cause he wasn’t our first, but they said that they were going to do it, and I just needed to come and enjoy myself.

They called me up a couple of weeks ago, and said that late was better than never, and would we be free on November 25th.

They arranged for our families to come and for enough food for us all, and even games.

It was so much fun.

We showed up and hung around until everyone who could make it showed up. Then we ate and ate and ate – if there’s one thing my family can do – it’s eat….and there was some good food….Aunty Hope’s Dill chip dip and Aunty Ruth’s Jelly Salad….MMMMmmmm…along with everything else that everyone brought.  It was all good!

Then Janelle and Carissa started whispering about somthing and a few mintues later they came out with some poker chips gave everyone 7 and we all played a game called “I never”.  We all took a turn and said something baby related that we’d never done….like “I’ve never had a baby barf in my mouth.”  If you could agree with the statement then you were safe, but if that thing had happened to you then you had to toss one of your chips into the buckets in the center of the room whoever had the most chips left once we had all had a turn won.  I think that Ben or Jeremy or Geli won…..not a lot of life experience with babies….how fair is that?

Then Janelle asked for three volunteers….we volunteered Dad and Jon offerred himself up and then Ben wanted to play.  Janelle brought out 3 bottles and well, see for yourselves…….

The bottles had orange punch in them and the pulp got stuck in the nipple, but because Dad couldn’t have the juice, he got water, and it made it easier for him…..too funny! 

We had tons of fun!  Darryl and Janelle had even managed to borrow a Wii and the kids had a blast down in the basement playing with the different games…..even the big boys had a ton of fun….



But apparently Chris, sitting down and even after having a show-down with a semi can still play tennis beter than Jon can.

It was so much fun and I LOVED getting together with my family. Thanks guys for planning this speacial day to celebrate Josiah’s life. I really appreciated it. Pics of the party here.

His Very Own Hockey Man – Nov 24th

Tim & the KidsMy brohter Tim plays hockey, and actually plays quite well.

He plays with an Athlete’s in Action Team here in the Lower Mainland or Fraser Valley or wherever the heck it is that they are based out of.

Typically, the games are not at great times for Jeremy to get to go and see his Uncle (the athlete) in action (ha ha ha – get it??  I know, I know – it was bad, but when you have as many things that you are trying to get caught up on as I have – you really need to find the joy in the little things.)

Anyway, Tim called up and said that he was going to be out at the rink just up the street from our house and the game was at 8pm.

It was later than we normally have the kids out, but…….exceptions can be made for the special people in your life, and especially for family.

The kids loved seeing Tim play, and were a little disappointed that there wasn’t a fight. 

American Thanksgiving – November 22nd

So, We are lucky enough to get to celebrate two Thanksgivings every year.

Obviously, we celebrate the “normal” Thanksgiving in October, but then every year we get a second opportunity to eat waaaaaay to much of an amazing Turkey dinner, and if you are particularly lucky, then someone else makes it, and you get to enjoy it without any effort……that’s the best.

This year has felt a bit like an “off year” and while it’s been a wonderful year, full of amazing blessings like Josiah and Leanna, things just haven’t seemed like “normal.”

Seeing as Jon holds an American Passport (and a Canadian and New Zealand – just in case you wanted to know) and his father was a Naval Gazer Officer in the US NAVY (in case you didn’t get all that – I just wanted to make it extra clear), we celebrate American Thanksgiving every year with Jon’s family.

This year, however, Mum C. is over in Lebanon with David and Liliane (they moved there in June) meeting her newest Grandaughter for the first time.

So, our normal family gathering of 12 (which this year would have been 14 with the two new babies) consisted of our 6, and Papa!  We still managed to have an awesome time, and I think I have the best Father in law in the whol entire world.

He found a place that will make you a complete Turkey dinner, gravy, stuffing, potaotes, and veggies……all you do it pick it up and then you are good to go.

Jon ‘s dad brought the dinner and it was SUCH A BLESSING to not have to cook a HUGE meal for the 7 of us.

You’re an amazing man, Dad C.  Thanks for making this Thanksgiving a very thankful one.  You can see the whole picture set here!

“Caption This”………and other crap

I took this picture last night while Jon and ‘Siah were playing on the TV room floor.   Everytime I look at it I see another “caption” , so I thought we’d play a little game.

What would YOU caption this picture with?

And now for the “other crap………..”

Xandra’s glasses just popped off her head last Saturday and threw themselves onto the kitchen floor in a fit of rage.  So we had to make an “emergency trip” into Langley to the nearest “Lenscrafters” and picked up these beauties.

 Just in case you can’t tellthe difference between these ones and her other ones…. (don’t you all pay close attention to the eyeware of my second child?!?!?!?!)

Her last pair was red, and rectangular.  These ones are black on the outside, pink on the inside, and more oval-ish than rectangular……She’s just so cute, and thanks to the Healthy Kids program – the glasses only cost us $45 dollars.  Amazing, eh?

I’m totally jealous as I’ve had the same pair of glasses in the time she’s run through 4 pairs, but I’m hoping that I’ll be getting a new pair in the spring after I have my next eye exam.  Sounds thrilling, doesn’t it?  Aren’t you glad I shared that sweet bit of info with you.

 And one last bit of crap to throw at you (ha ha ha ha ha, I crack myself up.  I’m easily amused, can’t you tell?)

Do you have any idea what happens when you put a bar of Ivory soap into the microwave?

No?

I didn’t either until Monday afternoon.

I’ve been looking into health(y)ier alternative’s to chemical cleaners for both the house and body.  There is a lot you can do with baking or washing soda and vinegar….both very safe, and quite cheap…..and I LOVE ME SOME CHEAPNESS!

I came across this recipe for liquid hand soap.

It calls for a bar of Ivory soap (I believe it’s the smaller bars) and 3 cups of water, a pot and some essential oils.

I only had a larger bar of Ivory, but  figured “What the heck!  More is better, right?”

I also figured that instead of “shaving it” to melt it down like it says to, that I’d just leave it in one lump and……

……instead of cooking it on a pot in the stove, I figured that I’d just huck it in a measuing cup with some water in it, to melt it down.

I wasn’t following the recipe AT ALL………so basically I was following a recipe for a disaster.

I put the measuring cup with 3 cups of water in it, and the large bar of Ivory soap into the microwave, and turned it on maximum power for 5 minutes.  I figured that I’d check on it after a few minutes, as give it a quick stir or flip the bar over or something…..’cause seriously, what could go wrong.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!  Famous Last Words.  This is what I opened up the door to after 3 1/2 minutes.

At least it didn’t all blow up inside the microwave….It foamed up hard, and crawled up and over the edge of the measuring cup and over and down on to the plate, and kept on going. 

The kids were thrilled with my science experiment, and Jeremy wanted to stick it back in and make it foam some more.  I wasn’t sure it could be salvaged, so I didn’t want to put it back in anymore.It was hard, and crumbled easily so I dumped the water and what was left of the soap bar  into a larger container, and then crumbled the foam into the bowl.

Long story short, IT WORKED!I have enough mixture for 2 containers of liquid hand soap that smells like lavender Ivory soap.  It’s quite thick, and works wonderfully. 

So, that’s enough with the rambling for now….don’t forget to caption the picture of Josiah.

ps. Sorry if you got a million copy’s of this post.  I was having some “issues” with spacing and kept trying to fix them…all the while thinking that I would be annoying some of you….if you were annoyed – I’m terribly sorry, and if you have no clue what I’m talking about……..just go on with your day and have a nice life.

Abandonment

I’ve not abandoned you all.  I promise.

I’ve got to get on here and update you all on Halloween and our decision to “make” costumes this year, as well as talk about Josiah turning 12 weeks last Saturday, and 3 months old on Sunday and having his 2 month appointment today and how FREAKIN’ ENORMOUS he is…….

AND, I’m struggling with trying to be SUPERMOM.

I’m not super mom and I know it, just in case you thought I was really that misguided, but I am feeling utterly overhwhelmed.  Not to the point that I’m diving off the edge of a cliff or rocking in a corner with my hands over my ears singing, “na na na na na na” over and over.

I just need to STOP and MAKE SOME TIME to figure out the priorities in my life.  BUTI’MSOBUSYTRYINGTODOEVERYTHING,THATTOSTOPANDFIGUREIT
ALLOUT ….would mean that I’d have to actually “STOP” and figure it all out…..and who has time for that, really?

I’m working on it………sort of!

Go look at my pictures over at Flickr and see how cute the kiddo’s were.

And Josiah…..isn’t he a doll?