New Lawnmower

We got a new lawnmower today. Chris asked what I thought of it and wasn't it nice and couldn't I just see myself mowing with that baby. I gripped the handle speculatively, looking at him, and said, 'I don't do lawns.'
'I know,' he replied. 'Stop touching it.'

When it Rains, It Pours

When it rains all day and your wee one is used to going outside every day, it is inevitable that she will become a Wee Beastie from all that excess energy. So what's a momma to do but slap some rubber boots on that girl and go outside.

This, by the way, is the grass in my backyard. Apparently our backyard lays a little on the low side. Also, apparently I should own rubber boots. This was cold! Ballet flats are not practical puddlesplashin gear!

I tried to capture a picture of our feet together. But all I could get was my feet and then a red blur streaking through while she ran in circles around me, delighted that I was joining in. So I splashed instead, and look what I captured for my enraptured audience??? SPARKLES! THAT'S WHAT! And then I gave up on being in pictures and I just raced back and forth across the yard, turning to snap a picture of her as she chased me.

She was delighted. We chased this down by trotting around the neighbourhood splashing in all the puddles and waving at the trees yelling hi, and then chortling with excitement when the trees 'waved back' in the wind. And then Nicole got embarassed and dragged me home. Just kidding, not for a few years yet. She was the chortler, and I was the one who eventually dragged her home.

Then a nice warm bath and off to bed! On that note... We are suddenly dealing with a little girl who creeps into our bed in the middle of the night! And she is a wee bit of a bed hog! I'm half tempted to lock her in her room, but I'm pretty sure that is a fire hazard. How do I nip this in the bud? She just sneakacreeps into our bed quietly in the middle of then night. If she tromps on me, I notice. Sometimes she lays on the end of the bed like a little puppy, and then only my husband notices, because he is 6'5" and he notices things at the end of the bed.

Halp???

Boojiboo Flirty Apron GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Boojiboo Flirty Apron GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!
I cannot express how much in love I am with that cupcake apron. It is just TOO CUTE. I can totally picture myself flitting around my kitchen whipping up tasty treats in that baby. So gorgeous. And hey, a Grosgrain giveaway for something that I can actually wear myself and look cute in?!??! COUNT ME IN!

Models, Idols, and Sexy (man)Legs

OK, so when I was gone for a while b/c Chris' Opa was sick and passing, I did some sewing. I did most of this sweater, which started off as a larger sweater that was mostly the same as this which I bought for $1 in a thriftstore for just this purpose. I was drawn to the cartoony stormy fabric. :) Anywhoo, I didn't bring along one of the cuffs (I had everything cut and just needed to sew at my friends' place) and I didn't have my zipper handy either. So today I quickly finished, and then made this sundress for DD as well. Then off we went to model them.
This sweater is definitely not my best work. But I was working with shoddy materials... I was just too in love with the pattern to care. :)

I love her in bright colours. Muted tones are so pretty, but bright colours really fit this girl and her vibrant personality.

I was beyond tickled when she took off the sweater and flung it over her shoulder to stare off in the distance. Model in training, yes? If she doesn't do well on Canadian Idol in fourteen years. We'll see. What do you think? Surefire winner, right?

The dress is basically a skirt that was too 'young' for me to bother to wear (terrycloth and bright, cute but not me anymore) and I sewed down the sides and created a casing with a drawstring. Ideally I would have done two little buttonholes for the drawstring, but the machine tried to eat the terrycloth when I suggested that, so I cut a hole and used antifray stuff instead. This is just a beach coverup, I wasn't gonna sweat it. If anyone wants a tutorial to do this with a cotton skirt refashion, though, say the word. I'm sure I can dig up a better skirt to do this to.

Boy, that girl has a bit of a tanline, hey? Speaking of tanlines.... (pretty slick transition there, eh?) (and yes, if I can say it, I can write it. Pretty cool, eh?)

Lastly, let's admire for a moment my husband's sexy legs. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I love it. This, my friends, is a sign that a construction worker is putting in some serious Hours. (Chris is a foreman on a construction crew. A two-man crew. Which consists of him and his brother. And those boys bang off jobs just as quick as most five-man crews.)

What Can Happen In Two Minutes? (aka DIRT EXPLOSION)

The Moms that read by blog are probably already chuckling to themselves, or saying, "uh-oh", or tsking, whatever, just from reading that title. Oh, you know, don't you. You know what can happen in two minutes. ANYTHING. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN TWO MINUTES. Which is why really good mommies probably only take one minute to pee. So I could hear them giggling right beside the door and considered that a good sign. The more experienced mommies are smiling in a placid virgin-mary sort of way and gently shaking thier heads. They know. They know it's never a good sign when the kids are giggling. (for clarification, I'll mention that this is Nicole and Little Friend. If you're new, Nicole is the one in green acting like she is Large And In Charge.)

I wasn't there, but I'd be willing to bet that Nicole was the mastermind behind this dirt fight. Little Friend is not the type to start a dirt fight. I'm pretty sure it went something like this:

Nicole : throws dirt on ground

Little Friend : giggles and copies

Nicole: giggles and throws dirt at Little Friend

Little Friend : giggles and throws LOTS of dirt at Nicole

I figure it this way because Nicole is just COVERED in dirt, and Little Friend just has a smidge on her shoulder. It could be that Nicole just had bad aim. Regardless, she was loving it. She is unabashedly mischievous. When I came outside (and, admittedly, cussed a little cuss out of shock. Nothing that would have gotten you grounded, but your mom would have given you a dirty look for sure.) Little Friend turned to Nicole and went "Nicole!!!! No!!! Bad!!!" in a way that sounded like she had also just stumbled upon this fiasco and was rather shocked. I was like, "You know, Little Friend, it's pretty obvious Nicole did not get this dirty by herself, so don't pretend like you weren't involved. Your hands are covered in dirt."

I have to say, I am often at a loss when it comes to my daughter and the fact that she will do what she does regardless of my presence. But I have to say, I think I prefer it to the whole 'pretend you are innocent' thing that Little Friend does. We'll pretend it is honesty and not 'Oh, mommy, you're about as scary as a soggy noodle' that motivates my child.

So what did I do, you ask? (Aside from snapping lots of pictures?) Well, I wasn't about to let them in the house like this. Not when it's thirty degrees (celcious) outside. (Why yes, it was so cold we needed jackets three weeks ago. Thanks for asking. WE LIVE IN A WIERD WIERD PLACE. This is normal here. Maybe later I'll tell you about our current plague of locusts cankerworms)

I stripped them both down butt-nekkid in the backyard and hosed those hooligans off. (hallelujah for totally fenced, private backyards. It's what makes city living doable for us, personally.)

Little Friend frowned. Nicole screamed bloody murder. Mommy curtly informed Nicole that if she didn't play in the dirt, she wouldn't get hosed off in the backyard.

I don't know why I haven't been posting this week. I have a few things to blog about. Cankerworms, cloth diapers, and sandbox-wars. Get on it, lorchick! I'll smarten up. And I'll leave you with two tips for this week. Aside from Pee Faster, if you're a mom.

Tip #1: Make friends with a hairdresser, preferably a good one. Then they can come to your house and cut the hair of you and your daughter for only $30.

Tip #2: When it is too nice to be inside, but you have like six loads of clean laundry that have been waiting to get folded for nearly a week by now (please say that is not just me) ... bring the laundry outside! Put a tablecloth on the picnic table and fold it there! Or bring a table outside, if one is not readily available to you. Then you can tan, watch the kiddo/kiddos in the pool, AND fold laundry. HOORAH.

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!

Grab your lunches and run! There's a giant on the loose!!! Thankfully for me, my DD can occasionally fend for herself on the entertainment front. I like to organize toys into containers, like Little People Zoo (this), Kitchen Stuff, MegaBlocks, etc. Then I make the container dissapear for a while, and then I bring it out like "TADAA!" and it's magically entertaining again, where it would have been eternally dull had it been available all along. Kids are funny that way... (she says hypocritically, being equally guilty of getting excited over my own Stuff when I 'find it back' from storage somewhere.)
So, aside from going off on tangents, what have I been up to in the last two sun-drenched days? Well, I did lots yesterday, and then pretty much curled up in the fetal position on the couch watching TLC today. I have a cold, which I can handle, but then I was having some stomach cramps so I totally wimped out.


I made out with my spraypaint for a while. I'm pretty sure that's what you do on dates, right? And this must have been a date because there were nonliteral sparks like crazy. This baby is a glossy white. Yummm. This grungy frame from a homemade bulletin board that was too ugly for my parents not to pass onto me is now The Shit.

And then of course, I covered the bulletin board itself with the crispest, freshest thing I could find in my stash. Originally this was supposed to be for me, but since I could not resist using that particular fabric, this will go in DD's room now, since it will look a little 'HEY LOOK AT ME. I DONT MATCH BUT I'M HANGING HERE JUST FOR THE SAKE OF HANGING HERE!' anywhere else. Speaking of DD, she was not supposed to be in this shot, but she got jealous of the bulletin board (admit it, you wish you were as fly as that board, too. i know i do.) So she jumped in front of it and yelled CHEESE! That skirt, by the way, was recieved in a swap.

Speaking of swaps... I made this little cutie for a swap and then totally forgot to take pictures. So these are taken by the recipient, not my poor scattered self. This is my first bag! From no pattern at all, just kinda whipped it out! I'm sure had I actually planned it out I would have had a little more 'speed' and a little less 'seam ripper', but whatevs. This is my idea of crazy and adventurous, okay? Like white-water rafting is for people who leave thier neighbourhoods once in a while. (see the cute little box pleat, by the way? This this is puffy and pleated and all that jazz. and I used almost the last of that pretty fabric. that's SACRIFICE, people.)

And the inside, with some goodies. Because she sent me some, plus this 'clutch' turned out more like a 'makeup bag' for size, so I had to compensate. lol.


Oh, and if you're a regular reader and thinking to yourself, "wow, isn't Lor just doing so great with the coffee thing, I can't believe she drank lemonade instead of coffee yesterday." Well, let me tell you, that only lasted until the evening. When I had to be civil company to my husband, too, it got to be too much for me. I drank half a pot. Bite me.

Thankful Thursdays - Lemonade

Today I am thankful for fresh-squeezed lemonade. I got my recipe here, at Our Best Bites. (brilliant blog, by the way.)

You know those nights where you're like, "Man, in the good old days, they'd just give thier kid some whiskey and the little booger would just shut right up and go to sleep."
As a disclaimer, I would never deliberatly give my child booze. (She's taken off with rum balls in the past, hence the 'deliberatly'.)
However, sometimes it's almost nearly not-quite but-wouldn't-it-be-nice temptingish.

My little blessing was up until 10:30 last night. For a while, I nicely sipped some fresh-squeezed lemonade while reading blog feeds. Ahhh, relaxing. Almost can't hear the screamingly indignant child off in the background noise.

However, my beloved Chris is not quite the cold-blooded Evil Mastermind Parent that I am. Eventually, she always gets to him. I'm pretty sure if I had kept ignoring her, she would have either given up and gone to sleep, or settled in to play dollies until she conked over. Sleep, regardless. I put her in bed at 8 last night, for goodness sakes.

Regardless, she finally fell asleep (with daddy, in mommy and daddy's bed. Hoorah for bad habits that might come back and bite him... no, probably me... in the bum.) I went to bed at 11 thinking, "Ahhh, I can sleep in until 8 tomorrow morning." (I'm pretty wild sometimes, I know.)

Well, no, no I did not sleep in until 8. Guess. Guess how late I slept until. No, earlier. Earlier yet. Earlier even than that. YES, FIVE FREAKIN THIRTY. Am I the only one who needs sleep around here? And my "caring" (to use the term loosely) doctor has ordered me to cut down on coffee, and I'm down to a cup a day, so I don't dare consume the full pot I'm direly in need of or I'll go right back up again. And let's be honest here, I'm a Coffeemate French Vanilla person, and I'm pretty sure 90% off my butt is made of Coffeemate French Vanilla, which is probably the biggest reason I finally actuall cut down.

So today, today I am thankful for lemonade. Chilly, a bit nippy, a kick to it to wake me up. And no caffiene. And let's pretend there's no sugar in there, maybe my butt won't notice.

twofer

I already posted today, but today can be a twoferone!
My sister has a Sweet Camera, so here are a few candids from my DD Nicole's sleepover at Grandma & Grandpa's farm this past friday-saturday. Nicole loves these sleepovers, because she lived at grandma and grandpa's house for the first nine months of her life while we waited on possession of our house. (long wait, but worth the amazing deal with got... we paid 20,000 less than the value of our house was estimated at the day we moved in!) My hubby and I love it, too, because it gives us a night to ourselves once in a while, which we thoroughly enjoyed after such a hectic couple of weeks! (thoroughly as in candles and booze, baby.) And my three youngest siblings, aged 12-16 (the 16yr old being my sister) love it b/c they live at home (obviously) and really enjoy having thier only niece for the weekend!
This is her in her 'house', a barn-shaped little shed that was turned into a shack for the skating rink last year. She has declared it 'my howse!' and grandpa, being the marshmallow that he is for his babygirl, is probably gong to wind up installing a window and a doorhandle so it can be just that.

Concentration face! There is deep thinking afoot.

Big smiles and crazy hair. My sweetie. (Speaking of my sweetie, guess who dug around in the planters and then wiped herself clean on my white slipcovers today? Children are a blessing!)

she's a little motionblur, she is! Even in bright lighting with a DSLR! lol.

She kept offering this dandelion to everyone, but sadly, not even the dog wanted it. One girl's flower is another's weed, i guess!

Apparently she was walking around singing, "Flower, flower! Flower, flower!"

Nicole with Murphey, aka Fat Black Pug. This dog has the funniest walk... like an upside down horseshoe has been inserted into her legs/behind. LOL.

Nicole taking Fat Black Pug for walkies... she LOVES animals. She's more than a little wary of the geese, which is GREAT, because they guard the pond and she wouldn't even THINK about crossing them by wandering in that direction.

Here I Am!

Hi all, I'm still here! lol. Just sort of getting back into the groove after the last few weeks. Funny how it takes a bit to get back into everything after your life is upside down for a week... takes another week just to catch up! Above is my current WIP, still that dresser, nicely painted white, and oh, look closely... scribbled on! The paint had not even dried, I went inside to bag the brush and put it in the fridge... and my Precious Beloved Child was scribbling all over it when I got back out! THE PAINT WASN'T EVEN DRY YET. ....CHILDREN ARE A BLESSING. ahem.

Here are some of the things we did this weekend (aside from a spectacular trip to Canadian Tire... there are big seagrass baskets on sale from $14.99 to $4.99 - GO NOW!)

Played in the pool! Only where I live will you manage to have the heat on and the AC on in the same week. Sweaters on Monday, bikinis next Sunday! That's us! (Not me. I could be ten sizes smaller and I'd still never wear a bikini. Let's just say, stretchmark cream did NOTHING for me.)

DD and DH played together for ages! I couldn't have been happier - summer is a hectic time for him, so he doesn't really get to spend a lot of time with her during the summer. Which means it has to really be quality, as far as I'm concerned!

Why, yes, that is exactly what you think it is. Last year's pool inside of this year's pool (which was from my parents, they bought a real Swimming Pool and gave us this one! Thanks guys!) because of course you need to sit on a floatie. (that was sarcasm, I thought it was ridiculous)

You know what they say though, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em! And join'em I did. I'm not scowly about it, that's the sun in my eyes.

Here we go. See? Mommy has fun. It was actually super comfortable. Mocking dismissed.

Since I don't actually have tons of actual useful info to share, I'll share the blog I'm currently scoping out like mad... Smart Bottom Enterprises. The name just slays me, for one. For two, adorable projects and children and stuff like that. Go take a peek-a-boo. I wanted to do the button, but it wouldn't work for me, maybe it's just blogger being a bum, it's been one lately. (sadface)

Speaking of faces, mine is nothing but happy now that my new laundry line is up! It is retractable! Obviously it has it's restrictions, but for somebody who doesn't want to commit to having a laundry line strung against her yard 24/7, it's fabulous! It's also just under $23. I know, right?! Go get one. I will get another one in the fall when it gets too cold to dry the clothes outside and mount it in the basement.

Hopscotch Camis GIVEAWAY!!!!

Hopscotch Camis GIVEAWAY!!!!
Egad! Grosgrain does it again! This woman always manages to make me stop and stare.

Being Okay with Infertility

Note: When I wrote this, we had our eldest daughter, who we hadn't thought we'd be blessed with, and then a 3 year gap where we really wanted more children. After the gap we were blessed with 3 pregnancies in a 4 year period! Olivia and Jackson are 20 months apart, and we will have another baby after Jackson turns two. When you're in this situation - wanting a child badly - it hurts your heart so badly and can become all you can think about. I pray for those who know exactly what I mean. 

I've seen Thankful Thursdays done on many blogs, and I really like the idea. I think I will take it up. And we will start up with what I think is the biggest and most obvious thing I am thankful for... one of the little things. My little DD, Nicole. I am thankful for her joyful spirit, I am thankful she was a fairly easy baby, I am thankful she is so very smart (even if it's terrifying that she can find the right key and start the truck, at 20 months) and thankful she is so very loving.

I'd almost say I'm more thankful than some moms for my child, but I won't, because I honestly have no idea. I wouldn't know what it feels like to assume you will never have problems conceiving with your spouse. I knew from the start. We'd only been dating a month or two when he told me that according to doctors, he would never have children. I cried about it, but decided I was okay with that. I married him with the understanding that I would go back to school (I'm trained as a graphics designer, but decided that for me it sucked the joy out of creating.) the fall of '07. (married august '06). However, October '06, just four months after the wedding, I got pregnant! We have often referred to Nicole as our wedding gift from God. It changed our plans, especially mine, dramatically. But I wouldn't trade it for the world.

You see, I could have spent the other day cheerfully blowing dandelions by myself in the backyard, theoretically. But I doubt it... why would I have even been sitting in the grass on a weekday afternoon if I wasn't a stay at home mom? I wouldn't be having these simple moments. Not to say that I would have been incomplete if I had never had Nicole. I would have gone on blissfully, thinking it would be nice, but hey. I would have been a complete person had I never had a child. I am just a different complete person now.

When I simply faced with infertility 100%, no baby no way, I was fine. In fact, I didn't find out I was pregnant until about 7 weeks, I thought I was just PMSing really long and hard, because I wasn't looking for the signs of pregnancy.

After I had Nicole, I was obsessed with whether or not we would have more children. I was so thankful for her, and relished every moment spent with her, smelling her hair and cuddling for hours. But there was a definite tinge of desperation to it all. I would walk past a mother with a double stroller, her infant and toddler in them, and I would start to cry, wondering if I could conceive again or not. (There was definite some post-partum hormonal stuff involved that level of sensitivity, though.)

When my husband was told in his teens he would never conceive, he did what every hormone-driven smalltown boy would do. A lot of wild oats were sowed, with 'no consequences' on the brain. (my DH grew up in the church, left it for five years, and by the grace of God returned to His flock. That's where I met him - in church, when he joined mine. Because every girl wants to meet the fresh meat new guy.) So odds were that Nicole was just what we felt she was - a bit of a miracle.

After 'trying' for baby#2 for 10 months, we had tests done. (Normally you have to wait a year, but my doctor knew there was background here.) The odds we were given of getting pregnant again are about 8%. For me, that tortured me. I would have handled 0% better.

Truth be told, I can't handle 'maybe' well. For my DH it gives him hope, but for me, it drives me crazy. I went through a phase where I'd start to bawl over some TLC special and pee on twelve sticks a month just in case because I am kind of bloated and felt a twinge and y'know, I sneezed yesterday, and that could mean I'm pregnant?!!?!! I was tracking my cycles and my CM and all that jazz, and the rollercoaster just made me so depressed.

Finally one day, I stopped praying 'Lord, please let me get pregnant this month.' and started praying 'Lord, please let me be at peace with this, whatever your will is.' When I prayed the right prayer, He answered my request! I stopped obsessing.

I still have to change the channel when Baby Story comes on, and when I'm two weeks late for no reason I literally go insane. I get so deeply depressed when I feel hope and it's for nothing. But for my regular, my day to day, I am happy, I am okay. I am grateful. I 'tried' for more than a year. Now I have stopped trying to get pregnant and I am just living my life as God gives it to me. Instead of living in this 'maybe' zone and not daring to move forwards in case my plans change, I am making plans and living my life. When Nicole goes to kindergarten in three years or so, I will go on to get my B. Ed, and I will continue to live my life.

I am so thankful for my daughter. If I only ever have her, that will make me a bit sad, but no less thankful for her. She is all I need, and if I am given more I will be ever so grateful and ever so blessed. But she is all I need, and for that I am thankful.

There is one important thing I want to say to all the women out there struggling with infertility:

It is okay to be okay!

Tip Junkie's dotcom birthday bash@

GO. NOW.

Okay, not now. Go June 15-19. Whatever. You know what I mean! :D

Grobaby

OK, so if you are a follower of Tip Junkie like me, you might have cloth diapers on the brain. I've been thinking of doing the switch. I know DD is nearly two, but I'd like her to notice that she's rolling around in her own filth, it might help prep her for potty training. But I've never tried them before!

I'd love to try Grobaby diapers! They're having a giveaway right now, actually. Gimme gimme! (lol) My friend got one and she's recommending them, and she's used cloths for her little DS's whole life! (she normally uses BumGenious and is a bit of a Diapey Connoisseur, so I gotta trust the woman)

http://www.thenaturalbabyco.com/grobaby%E2...2-ic-11_16.html

Funeral Speech

We just got back from the funeral for my hubby's Opa. DH did the speech from the family. He wrote it and I polished it up a bit for him. Obviously it's not SUPER polished, as there isn't a lot of time involved in planning a funeral, and there's a lot to do, so it was written the night before and 'edited' a few hours before. The speech assumes a piece of knowledge that I'll add here: my DH's Oma died two years ago after five years of slowly getting nearer and nearer to death. Her husband was by her side faithfully tending to her, even going so far as to sell thier home and minimize thier possessions into a condo so he could focus completely on her instead of maintenence.
Here is my husband's speech, a beautiful one in my opinion:

Today is a day of sorrow, but moreso one of celebration. It is Opa's third day in heaven with Oma and, more importantly, his Heavenly Father. The sorrow is reserved for us here, that we don't have the priveledge of Opa's company anymore.

I'll touch briefly on Opa's history and how he wound up in our lives in (town in MB). He was born Dec 17, 1927 in Langezaag, Nederlanden. On July 16, 1952 he married Oma, and then he immigrated to Canada in November of 1952. In Oakville, Ontario, Opa and Oma were blessed with two children - Ann and Harry. After years Burlington, Opa and Oma moved to (town in), MB in June 1994 to be close to Ann and to thier grandkids.

Opa was one of those people that accepted everyone as friend or family. I remember countless times that I, just as many others, would just talk and talk with Opa, and he always knew just when to listen and just when to offer advice. He was a simple man with a very straight and narrow path and one goal, to serve the Lord to the best of his ability. Whether that was by handing out turkey at Christmas or volunteering at the local school as a shop teacher. Aside from his one true passion of serving the Lord, his other passions including woodworking, landscaping, and most of all, his wife.

We all know with how much dedication he cared for Oma in her last few years. He loved her so much; in these last few days with Opa there was nothing he talked about more than how he wanted to be with her and with his Heavenly Father. While this at first made us all feel deeply sad, we then as a family came to realize that this is a blessing. All our lives we strive to teach our children the way of the Lord, and when it's our turn we can only hope to teach them again by showing that same enthusiasm. As we sat with Opa, helping him and praying with him, trying to offer him comfort, he was as usual comforting us, reminding us how much he had to look forwards to; he was so excited to see his Martha again!

As with most areas of his life, Opa took time and care in handling wood. He would patiently and lovingly coax simple wood into beautiful, intricate pieces, as you can see with this clock here. (beautiful clock Opa made on display in the front) He loved it.

We should remember that the Lord did the same with Opa. He lovingly coaxed and patiently crafted Opa into a beautiful creation, and He loved Opa.
We as family, friends, and brothers and sisters in Christ should take all of this we know from Opa and remember how little time we really must be on this earth before we too can shed our earthly bodies and take up our heavenly bodies as perfect creations. When we can spend all of eternity singing, praising, and glorifying the Lord in heaven, these few moments on this earth will be as nothing. And we can all look forwards with as much enthusiasm to when we have our turn, to join Opa and Oma and see them again as we bow down before our heavenly Father.