Pull-up Perspective
By Dixie | July 3, 2008
I’m sure I double checked the boxes at Costco, but somehow we came away a week ago with a giant box of size 2-3 Pull-ups instead of the size 4-5. Frustrating to say the least, since we so rarely go to Saskatoon these days.
But, you say, “Luke is only barely 3! Shouldn’t he fit the size 2-3s?” Well, let me put it in perspective. The 2-3 Pull-ups are presumably for children ages 2 and 3. On the box it says for kids 18 to 34 pounds… Luke was in that weight category between the ages of 3 months and 18 months.
Ya. So if anyone is going to Saskatoon, let me know okay? Or, since he’s doing so well with the potty-training, if anyone wants to buy these off of me at the amazing Costco sale price, let me know that, too.
Topics: Kids | No Comments »
Bills, bills, bills
By Dixie | July 3, 2008
Apparently in the past I’ve been almost happy about the July bills. But not this month.
Today Marc went down to our insurance brokers and paid our van license, package policy, and house insurance. Wham. Bam. Thank-you, Mam. I know in the end we save by not doing the monthly payment thing, but it sure is a good way to make a girl feel poor. And why do these bills (well, all the bills) and our property tax, and everything go up and up every year?
Ugh… I’m going to bed.
And even if I don’t get a big cheque in the mail like I did in 2006, I can be glad that I actually have a bed to sleep on and enough money to pay all the bills.
Goodnight, then.
Topics: Finances | No Comments »
Our Canada Day
By Dixie | July 1, 2008
Was spent at Batoche, even though we were only going to stay there for a few hours and then maybe hit the beach or get the kids playing in their pool (which we filled with a huge volume of costly water the other day and which they then did not go in and instead started taking pails of water from there to the wheelbarrow).
Anyway, I will not go into all the details, because even my best description would not relate to you the comedy of errors and irritations that we experienced at Batoche between 12:30pm and 3pm. At least our first two hours there were good. And the following pictures are from those first two hours… Marc didn’t snap me in tears and cursing as we drove out of the parking lot in the afternoon, thankfully. (Marc also uploaded a few more of the good, good pictures of Olivia which you can even click on and see in a larger size there.)
This face means, “Happy Canada Day… I’m starting to get cranky…”
And, finally, the shot that needs to go in a magazine:
Topics: Family | 2 Comments »
The tale of last night.
By Dixie | June 30, 2008
Hot (because it was 30 degrees outside) young wife climbs into bed. She grabs her hot young husband and pulls him close, grabs his chest, and starts kissing his face.
Hot young husband: “What is that smell?”
Immediate break in mood — the mood that didn’t really get a chance to be created.
Hot young wife: “Um… I put tea tree oil on this zit on my chin.”
Hot young husband: “It smells like…”
Hot young wife: “It smells li –”
Hot young husband: “No. Give me a minute.”
Thinking. Thinking. Anticipation increases. But not the anticipation the wife was going for.
Hot young husband: “It smells like sod! … Or an old barn. You know, like a really old, musty barn or cabin.”
And yet even being told that she smells like sod and an old barn will not deter hot young wife…
Topics: Marriage | 3 Comments »
Beauty 2008
By Dixie | June 29, 2008
The tradition continues… pictures in the garden in the early summer. These were taken in the front yard today after church. I’m really enjoying the kids this summer and the stages they’re at. But looking back at the garden pictures from 2007 and 2006 really reminds me of how fast these years go and how quickly the kids change and grow. Yet there’s beauty in all of it. Enjoy.
(P.S. In this year’s pictures Luke is the same age as Madeline in 2006’s pictures, and Olivia today is just 6 weeks younger than Luke was in 2006. I guess what I’m trying to point out is: Luke was and continue to be a big kid!)
Topics: Kids, Family | 6 Comments »
Growing
By Dixie | June 27, 2008
Today I invited my mom over to watch Enchanted with Madeline and me. At one point when there was talk of kissing, Madeline got very obviously (but very cutely) awkward and uncomfortable. Then when the dad and daughter were saying good-bye to Giselle outside of the apartment building, Madeline quietly said, “These stupid tears snuck up on me!” And, sure enough, she was crying at the sad moment in the movie. (I was much older when I cried for the first time in a movie. I’ll never forget it: I was 10 or 11, sitting in the corner of the sectional couch in the family room. I was trying so hard not to cry, but the story was so sad I just couldn’t hold it in (though I did hide it very well).)
Seeing Madeline experience new emotions like these is a very strange experience for me. I remember all of those awkward feelings — not understanding why you’re feeling something, yet you can’t control the feeling. Kids seem to come by some feelings naturally — anger, disappointment, certain types of love. But there are new realms of experience on Madeline’s horizon: empathy, compassion, and (dare I say it?!) romantic love.
Sometimes I still feel like an idiot when I look back at myself as a child or a teenager. But seeing Madeline grow into these things… well… it gives me a bit of grace for myself. That I was not an idiot. Just growing up. And those emotions and feelings that are so confusing? They are just part of the process of growing up, and experiencing the world in all of its complicated, contradictory beauty.
So, instead of being embarrassed of myself in the past, and instead of being scared that Madeline is now venturing into new realms of life, I want to recognize and nurture the wonder and mystery of it all. And what does that mean for me as a parent?
I have no idea.
Topics: Motherhood, Parenting, Kids | 3 Comments »
Friday Morning
By Dixie | June 27, 2008
The kids are happily playing with some homemade play-dough we just made (even if I only had enough salt for a half a batch). Olivia is quietly putting dominoes in a playing card box (actually, now she’s eating the dominoes). I’m organizing the basement.
It’s a good day for a rainy day.
An hour and a half later: The decluttering of all of the spaces that had piles of stuff continues. If only we could get our little computer desk under control, the basement may actually look good. Within 5 minutes of that last post, the kids were off doing other things — playing in the playroom, setting up the tent for a campout, and Luke commenting that the bed in the playroom (which is our guestroom) is “opa’s bed”. I read Olivia a book and then put her down for a nap. The kids played more and then I put Bambi II on for them. In the middle of my cleaning I ran across a basket of markers. The kids ran to the craft room to start colouring. I gave Madeline the Princess colouring book and Luke the Muppet Babies book. I then remembered running across a Bambi II colouring book by one of the bookshelves. In the 10 seconds it took me to get that book, the kids had already switched books, and Luke was finding a nice Cinderella picture to colour.
Here a few pictures to show you a little of the Vanderhome, and where we’ve spent our morning:
The craft room (actually a sewing room) off the bathroom in our basement. I love that they can just have all of their crafty crap out. And there’s lots of shelving in there too, and a chalkboard on the other wall that we got from my brother and sister-in-law. That’s the barbie house to the left, too.
Our guestroom is really big so the kids have a big space to play when we don’t have company. (I’ve also been known to do Tae Bo on that blue carpet.) The little tv/vcr is usually on the tv stand by the wall, but was moved upstairs so the kids wouldn’t wake up oma and opa every morning by coming to the basement to watch Treehouse.
And the forever-messy computer desk. At least we have the mouse pad there again. For a while we only had 3 inches of space to maneuver around the interweb.
Topics: Kids, Family | 2 Comments »
For Lauralea
By Dixie | June 26, 2008
So, any of you who are friends with me on Facebook may have seen my status the other day where I said, “Dixie is wearing a $91 bra.” After we dropped Marc’s folks off at the airport on Tuesday, I finally got a bra fitting and had the money to buy a bra that would fit me. I was a few weeks pregnant with Madeline the last time (and the first time) I had a bra fitting. The good thing about getting the two fittings 6 years apart is that, since my size didn’t change in the six years of the-most-breast-shape/size-fluctuation-possible, I’m pretty sure that the size is going to be okay for the next several years.
I must say that it was rather strange to walk into a store, have the clerk introduce herself, me introduce myself, and within 30 seconds be standing in the fitting room in front of her in my bra. Just like that. But she is a trained professional. And she was very good. And I think I found a bra that will keep things where they’re supposed to be. (Fun fact: did you know that your breasts are supposed to stick out from the mid-point between your shoulder and your elbow? So, apparently mine aren’t that saggy after all — well, at least with a bra on.)
And since dear Lauralea got to see my new bra tonight and since she has an obscure bra-size just like me, here’s the link to Pinktree where said bra was purchased. It’s just north of and across the street from Earl’s on 2nd Ave N. Tell them the drummer sent you. :) (I mean, those are the kinds of things they need to know– that you’re going to be flailing your arms around on a regular basis…) (I was going to insert a random “mammories” joke here, but I’ll refrain and just go to bed.)
Topics: Random | 4 Comments »
It’s official.
By Dixie | June 26, 2008
Madeline will be making her way proudly to a grade 1 classroom when the school year begins again. Not that I ever doubted that should would; it’s just that now it’s official. We went to pick up her report card today and she got all 1s (”excelling”), except for one 2 in “correctly copies printed word”.
And so my first summer with a school-aged child begins. What do I do now? The days are precious few, so you want to make the most of them. But what does that mean, anyway? I think the plan is for fun, lazy days playing in the yard, at the park, and in the house, having friends over, going to the beach, and getting away for a week in July for rural adventures in the south of the province. Simple fun.Sometimes life with kids seems so complicated, yet so simple. I think everyday I just need to ask for a little more love and a little more energy.
Anyway… for right now, I’m proud of my little girl, even if she is my biggest girl, and I’m looking forward to the summer with her around everyday.
(On her last day of school, last Friday. Notice that she still doesn’t like me to comb her hair, and that she’s all casual in the picture, like “it’s no big deal. this is my last day of school before I start going everyday and my life will begin to speed out of control until I leave you and dad in 12 years. whatever…” And look how much she’s changed since her first day!)
Topics: Kids, Family | 4 Comments »
Here we go again.
By Dixie | June 23, 2008
It’s summertime again. Yesterday we had our first, of many, visits to the beach. And I’m again struck with the awful feeling that I am going to have to get as good as naked with everyone who is sitting at our beach of choice. Yuck. I’m just so conscious of every smooshy, bloated part of my body that I drive myself crazy every year. (Never mind the fact that every year there are a few more smooshy, bloated parts!)
What was funny yesterday was the difference between morning and afternoon. At church a couple of people commented about how I looked slim (one, embarassingly, was in front of the entire foyer of church-goers before the service). So in the morning I was thinking “maybe I do look a little more fit these days”. Of course, that’s with clothes on. In a bathing suit you can’t really hide much.
If you were here last year, you’ll recall my pleasure in finding a bathing suit that seemed to help my very-newly post-partum body. This year I am neither post-partum nor pregnant (which makes me feel like I’m without excuse for my body), but I feel like I have less options for bathing suits (precisely because I can’t make an excuse for how I look in them).
The other day I tried on the three bathing suits I own (one from after Madeline was born, one after Luke, and on after Olivia). (Of course, I still own the famous grade 12 Nike bikini that was donned proudly as my header for a few years, but I only keep that for nostalgia’s-sake). Here is my dilemma with those bathing suits. The one after Madeline was born has zero bust support so it really isn’t an option — plus it’s too big, because I didn’t realize that you should be bathing suits that cling to your body until last year. The one after Luke was born lifts up the girls but has a tankini and a bikini top which really makes me look hippy (which I am). The one I wore yesterday sucks in my hips, but it also sucks in my chest (which was obviously not a problem last year since I had some fine,oversized nursing boobs), and so it makes my stomach look bigger.
Of course, I want to go and find a bathing suit that suits my body the way it is now. But Marc doesn’t. (He even told his mom that I looked beautiful when I was out in the water with the kids yesterday. — a single tear rolls down my cheek as I type this.) :) He thinks I will never find a bathing suit that will make me feel comfortable or happy in my body. And maybe he’s right. But certainly I can find a more flattering style, now that my body has undergone its eighth shape-change since we’ve been married. (Which Marc, of course, doesn’t understand, because all he has to do is tighten or loosen the string on his trunks depending on how much weight he’s gained or lost that year.)
I think at least I’m going to look around for something that will lift the right things and suck in and hide the other bits. And maybe it won’t help anything. But maybe it will. Or maybe it was just because we took too many pictures yesterday. And I need a tan. And a change of attitude.
Topics: Motherhood, Life | 7 Comments »