Painting!

It was a lazy Sunday morning, just my boy and I.  Sawyer and I stayed home from church, I am suffering my second cold in as many months.  When Sawyer came to me with a little container of paint in his hands and "asked" me if he could paint I complied.  His sister is usually rather dominating with activities like that so Sawyer doesn't get to express his own creativity as much or often as I believe he would like.  

He had a great time!  

Yes there was a mess created alongside the artwork, but nothing that I couldn't clean up.  Crayola paints are the best; they wash off of and out of practically everything and anything.  I love them!  If it weren't for the ease of cleanup there would be no painting in this house by kids!

 

 

  

 

Of course a bath was necessary afterwards!

Nearly Half My Life

A friend recently commented how birthdays come every year whether we want them to or not, and no matter what we do.  There is no way to avoid them or prevent them from happening (aside from the obvious reason of course).  Many people celebrate birthdays religiously year after year (like us!) even though the majority of the time little effort was needed to reach said birthday. Wedding anniversaries, on the other hand, do not come about with quite as much "ease".  Achieving yet another year of marriage on one's docket generally requires effort, commitment, and a deliberate choice by two people. This friend noted that anniversaries especially need to celebrated because they do require work to get to.

As I write this Trevor and just marked our fourteenth anniversary.  We are going out this evening to celebrate.  I mentioned our anniversary on my Facebook status and I had 11 comments and 24 "likes"!!!!  I'm not sure I've ever had that good a response to a status.  It is hard to believe that it has already been as long as it has.  I met Trevor when I was 17, I am now 34 so I have known him for nearly half of my life.  To be so lucky!

I truly feel very fortunate and blessed to have such a great husband and friend in Trevor.  I can honestly say we are a team and soul mates.  We get along fantastically well and agree on most things without argument.  He is a really good Dad to our two kids and it shows in how they respond to him.  He is a hard worker and is not afraid to tackle new projects.  He loves to have a good time and we have fun together and with others.  He puts up with me!  He respects me.  He is loyal.  We rarely argue or fight yet we have the freedom and comfort to disagree with each other.
He loves God.

I could go on but then things might turn sappy!  We wouldn't want that.

In short, we are awesome together and we have a pretty darn good marriage.  Sure, we've had our share of challenges and hard times but we've worked through them. God knew what he was doing when he brought us to each other and I hope and pray there are many more years of  "us"!
 

Who's Who?

 Age 4

These photos were taken nearly 30 years apart.

Sawyer looked at the one of me and immediately declared it to be Sierra.

Most of the time I don't see such intense similarity between us but then pictures like this are set side by side and there is no doubt.  I have a mini me!

Fruitless Friday

I've had a gloriously unproductive day and don't feel a bit guilty for it!

I let the kids watch a little more TV this morning than usual while I browsed Pintrist.

We went and had coffee with my dad.

Then it was a bit more TV followed by lunch.

After lunch Sierra allowed me to have a 45 minute nap. 

She and I painted our nails.

I worked out for 45 minutes to offset the nap.

The workout will justify the pizza (store bought) and beer or wine (well, not the kids!) we're having for supper.

There were some cuddles with Sawyer while he fully woke up from his long nap. 

I had a shower, Sawyer is now having a bath. 

This evening...maybe a walk with the kids.  I should really clean up the kitchen and sweep the floor....

But that might ruin the non-productiveness of the day!

A Little Catch Up

I seem to suck at blogging lately so here's basically what we've been up to:

Nothing like a little cross-border retail therapy, missing a spring snowstorm in the process and returning to wonderful summery weather to rejuvenate a person.  That person, of course, being me!

We journeyed down to Great Falls, Montana this past weekend, we being our family and my parents.  We really had no major purpose beyond getting away and checking out the shopping.  It was more about taking the time to actually shop and browse around to see what's out there then buying. (although we managed our share of that!)  All I get for shopping these days are mad dashes through Walmart and Costco with two monkey's to keep in line.   The sales down south weren't super fantastic or anything, which was probably good because then we would have spent even more money!  We did score our usual purchase of Tillamook cheese.  It was on sale $4.99 for the first two and the $5.99 - for A TWO POUND BLOCK!!!!  No way, no how can we get cheese that cheap here.  We might get it for $10 if we're lucky.  Oh, and our cheese sucks in taste by comparison.

As I mention, I got to go to Calgary for a weekend work convention a week and a half ago. I have never gone away on anything like that nor left my kids without my husband being with me.  Clearly I survived because I'm still here!  I enjoyed listened to interesting key-note speakers, playing a wacky rendition of a relay they likened to the Amazing Race (It included a beer chugging portion! Water was an option too.) and hanging out with my employers and co-workers.  I also won a $50 gift card to Starbucks!

Okay, enough about me.
The kids are rapidly growing! Sierra is getting longer everywhere but not wider.  We've hit a frustrating clothes stage, especially with pants/shorts as they all gape at her waist and if they are cinchable then they often bunch horribly.  Poor kid!  She finally weights 35lbs.  5 more to get to booster seat stage, and with her luck by the time she gets there they'll have changed the regulations again! 
I bought her her first pair of heeled shoes.  She clops around them all day.
5-6yr-olds playing soccer is absolutely hilarious!  At one point Sierra and another girl were comparing shoes.
Sierra can ride her bike without training wheels.  It took her two days.  Starting and stopping is still an issue but "the going is good."

  I bought Sawyer size 8 (size 8!!!) shoes this past weekend and noticed his pants that were way too long a few weeks ago are starting to fit.  It's a good thing shorts don't matter because I purchased a huge used clothes lot locally and it would suck if he grew out of those before he could wear them!  Sawyer is starting to talk up a storm.  Unless you can interpret what he's saying it mostly sounds like Chinese but it's not.  Really!
He's developed an obsession with stickers.  I am constantly peeling them off the floor even though most of them stay in the book.
Sawyer is starting to play more and more and Sierra is happy to take him under her wing.
Sawyer has discovered that Nutella is the best thing and eats it daily, along with his sister. 
He has become fiercely independent and does everything by himself: getting in and out of his car seat and high chair, removing various clothing, trying to put on clothing, taking off his diaper (!), and more.

  
The weather is nice.  The war on the weeds had begun as has the motivation to work play outside.  We're off to a park this morning so I can let the kids run while visiting with a friend.

Until next time....

Tummy Trouble

I wrote a long while back about Sierra complaining about stomach pain on a daily basis.  

It was consistently in the morning, "Mommy, my tummy hurts!", but seemed to be okay after she ate.  If if was later in the day it was nearly always preceding a BM.  When it first started she was also expressing distress over every little bump or ache or pain throughout the day.  It was then, too, that she had her frequent urination problem.  We blamed it all on Sierra's way of reacting to Trevor's RA.  Consequently Trevor and I ignored the stomach pain remarks with every thing else going on.

Gradually all the other issues ebbed yet the tummy aches remained.  Then she began saying her "back bum" was hurting her, particularly in the evening before bed.  Huh?

Hmmmm.

I took her to our family doctor who suggested Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) since all the symptoms pointed to that.  (yes including a sore bum, with IBS as the body relaxes in the evening those particular muscles will often contract and cause pain)  She was put on a probiotic drop and I was given a few simple dietary suggestions.  Sierra's symptoms improved a little but as soon as anything 'exciting'  (Christmas/Palm Springs) was coming up her problems worsened again.

We ended up seeing a pediatrician who said that IBS is a common 'catch all' diagnosis but in reality very rare with kids.  After a lengthy, in-depth conversation she suggested that constipation may be the problem.  Not a pleasant topic so all I'll say is that her system seemed to be normal and ago as far as I could tell.  I learned that constipation doesn't always manifest itself in the obvious way.  Stomach X-rays were ordered and Sierra was put on a mild laxative and asked to return in six weeks.

Last Friday was six weeks.

We have noticed an significant improvement in Sierra's tummy aches in that time; she complains far less. 

The doctor said that the X-ray did indeed show a significant amount of stool in her system.

 So it seems that constipation is/was the culprit.  

  Constipation is not a major issue but sure can be if not dealt with.  

I am thankful it appears to be nothing more.  We will still be watchful and aware of her tummy complaints. Other than a three month follow-up check with our family doctor we are good to go for now!

About How I Get To Go Away For Two Days

I get to go away this weekend.  

No, not a romantic getaway with Trevor.  I'm going to Calgary for an optical convention for work.  We (my co-workers and I) get to stay downtown in the fancy Westin Hotel.  There are various seminars and a pseudo Amazing Race type activity and a banquet Saturday night.  It should be fun.  Although it will be work related it will be a nice break to have to not clean or tidy constantly, have someone else prepare my food and hang out with the good people I am fortunate to work for and with. 

But this is the first time I'm leaving my entire family.  Trevor and I have left he kids but it's never been just me.  It feels kinda weird.  I'm not concerned about it at all, it's just that I've never done it.  Trevor`s an awesome dad and does fabulous on the home front when I`m not around.   My mom and dad are taking the kids for one night so Trevor can get some chores done on a rental house we own and have a bit of a break himself. 

I know it`s only a weekend but I'm still going to miss them because, you see, I rather like them!