Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Holiday. Cody's Dad came here on the 20th, and then Cody's brother Josh, his wife Kat, and their daughter Mara arrived on the 24th. It was great to have them all here!

(Grandpa and his Mini-Me, Levi! Don't they look the same!)

Christmas Eve was just spent hanging out.

(Three of the Vogel Grandkids all clean after their baths)

Christmas morning Spudder was up at about 6:30, so he and I hung out for awhile...Kayla and Daddy spent the morning sleeping until I got a little excited....and...woke her up. Mean, I know, but I was sooooo excited to see her face, on the 1st Christmas that she "truly" understands. So I woke her up. She forgave me....her Daddy, not so easily, since he was up until 2 AM with the "boyz".

Anyway, she was as excited as I had hoped, and kept everyone laughing and in the Christmas spirit all day. Spudder didn't really get it, but certainly learned how to open a present rather quickly!!

(Spud in his Jammies)

(Sweeter showing her excitment)

(Spud and his new Car)

The rest of my family came over for breakfast. And the kids got another go 'round with present opening. They were extremly spoiled. Stinkin' spoiled.

(Tinkerbell!)

(Tonka driving Spud)

Cody and his Dad took over turkey duty, and we had a great supper Christmas Day, and as per usual had much, much, much to much food.

Cody's Dad headed out on Boxing day, and the rest a couple days later. It was super nice to see them all, and Spudder and Mara became really good buddies!

The last few days have been spent just hanging out, playing with the new train set we got the kids (Spud's favourite)

(This was their reaction to it on Christmas Day. We had it all set up downstairs, and they were sooo excited when they saw it!!!!)

 Watching Cars. Over and Over and Over, reading books,

Watching the Junior Hockey Games (Spud in his new jersey...watching "ockey" with Daddy)

and just being together. Mmmmm I love vacation time :)

Dayhome is done

I am officially done with the Dayhome. Today was my final day. I am excited, and sad at the same time. I really do think this is the best decision for us, but that doesn't mean I won't miss the dayhome kids, and of course, my kids.

But, I refuse to think of what-ifs right now, instead, I am going to relax. Enjoy the holidays. Hang with my kids. And look forward to the future, whatever it may bring!

Boys will be Boys

This small man....

Although his height can be deceiving....

Is quickly growing up....

And reminding me daily....

That boys will be.....

Boys!!!

Not Me Monday!!

It's been awhile since I did one of these, should be fun! Remember to head on over to http://www.mckmama.com/ to see what other people have "not" been up to!

This week, I most certainly did not allow my children to eat "puppy chow" (Crispix cereal, covered in peanut butter and chocolate, then coated with icing sugar, so it looks like "puppy chow") for breakfast. And they didn't looove it.

Nor have I been allowing the Spudmiester to walk around with his "tuckie" (AKA suckie in adult speak) in his mouth. Since I hate that. And always wonder why other parents allow their kids to do it. Ha. Karma's come back to haunt me, for now I have become one of them. And I am cool with it. No more judging from this Mama.

And lastly, I have not thought of the multiple Christmas presents piled up in my house waiting to be wrapped many times, and simply decided to ignore them in hopes the "wrapping fairy" will come do her thing. For the record, she must be busy, as she has not made a stop at Vogelville yet.

That's all folks! Have a great Monday!!!

Deck the Halls!!

Just a few pics from the night we decorated the tree.

Christmas Clean up!

Today was the day of the clean.

Some of our Christmas company arrived to day (Cody's dad) so it was a good excuse to do a full clean, but man does it ever tire me out, plus I have to maintain it, as we have company staying til after th Holidays.

Although it means more cleaning work, I am totally excited that Cody's family has chosen to make the trip out our way for the Holidays. It means alot to us! Although it does mean I will have to learn how to cook a turkey and all the trimmings, which I have never attempted, hopefully it turns out OK.

And I have also noticed that I have been slacking on the pictures, I think just because I have been so busy/worried about starting a job, quitting the dayhome, Christmas, and all that jazz. Hopefully as things calm down I will get back at it, so stay tuned! I may have to post some Tree trimming pics...late, as we have had our tree up since the beginning of the month, but better late than never.

Love

We had such a busy great day today!

Went to my grandma's 83rd birthday this morning, Happy Birthday Grandma!!! Although we weren't there long, it was great to catch up with my extended family, especially since we won't see most of them at Christmas.

Afterwards, we headed over to a hill in town to meet some friends and do a little Sledding. The girls had such a great time! Spud went a couple times too, but he was mostly content to just be held, allowing the huge snowflakes that were falling to get stuck in his eyelashes, and letting out enthusiastic WOAH's as he watched everyone go down the hill.

When the girls got chilly we went to our friend's house, and had a little lunch, and then made it home for nap time! Both kids napped, and we had to wake them up to go see Santa at the mall this afternoon. I was preparing myself for a fail when it came to Santa pics, but we got a decent one...the kids look a little stunned, but hey, there is no tears, so I count that as a win!

It wasn't necessarily an exciting day to most, but it was a fabulous day to me. Filled with love, from both my friends, and my family, there isn't much else that matters.

You know you have a boy....

When....he develops a massive obsession for the "Cars" movie, we're talking HAS to be on 24/7.

When...he loves all books that involve tractors, trucks, and all thing with wheels.

Most importantly....you know you have a boy when they start laughing when they fart. At 18 months. Yep. He's a boy!

Changes in Vogelville

Life is changing here in Vogelville.

You see, I have decided to go back to work. As of January, I am quitting the dayhome, and I will be "employed" again.

I am very excited about the change. While I have loooooved being home for an extra 6 months with my kids, I have found that having the dayhome has been hard on me, and hard on my family. It seems like I have no real "quality" time to spend with my kids. During the day, I am preoccupied with being a referee, cleaning, cooking, changing bums etc., so I dont really "see" them then, and then in the evenings I am so done with kids, that I just count the minutes til bedtime.

So, after much soul searching, and thinking, I started job searching.

And I got one.

And so life will be changing here.

I know that the kids will do fine, I have found a dayhome for the monkeys, and I know they will be well taken care of, and I know Sweeter will be fine. I must admit that I am little worried about my small man. He is a bit of a Mama's Boy (which I love :) but I know after an adjustment period he will be fine, and thrive too.

While I do feel alot of guilt about leaving my kids when I technically could be home with them, I really do think this will be a good change for us. Crossing my fingers that I am right.

Procrastination

I am procrastinating.

I could be baking. Since we will have guests this Christmas, it would probably be the thing to do. And I know that I should. I just can't get motivated.

I could be cleaning. My house looks like a tornado has hit. Blech. Although lets be honest, with 5 kids running around here daily I am truly fighting a losing battle. I clean, and then I turn around for 2 seconds and BOOM mess again.

I could be making a list of Christmas gifts left to buy. I am pretty sure I have everyone figured out. I just can't manage to get my butt out to the store and finish.

Yeah. There is alot of things I could should be doing. But I am not. Instead I am thinking about eating the baking, sitting amid a disaster zone that is also known as my living room. And allowing Christmas shopping to be just a thought.

Oh well. There is always tomorrow to be productive, right?

Spud's words

Just a quick post to list the words the little man has now:

Car
Truck
Up
Down
No
Yay
Juice
Cup
Cracker
Popcorn
Suckie
Crunchy
Mooo
Kitty
Fishy
Mama
Daddy
Sadie (a little girl I watch)
Night Night
Bye Bye
Ow
Coat
Side (outside)
Nana
Papa
Annie
Yes
Please
Thank you
Sit Down
Light
Cheese
Tractor
Door
Whats that
Ball
Hot
Nose
Tub time (for bath time)
Poop
Bum up
Kayla
Peyton (a boy I watch)
No No No (with finger wagging)
Chip
Gone
Uh Oh
Wow
Baby

I have 49 words here, and there could be more I am forgetting! Pretty crazy, since most of these were learned in the last month or so!

100 posts!

Well, this will be 101. Wow. Seems like alot of talk about...well not much ;)

Anyway, on to other things. The little man has come through all the surgery just fantastically. He slept pretty well last night. No worse than normal....today has been pretty well like any other day. He did have a morning nap instead of an afternoon one, but other wise, all's well.

We seem to be rasing another Cars addict. Sweeter went through a Cars addiction phase too, and now her little bro is following in her footsteps. Not suprising, since he looooves all things with wheels!

Today is just a relax day. Both Cody and I took the day off, and so we have just been hanging out as a family. We rented some movies, and seeing as the weather is less than Stellar, it looks like we will just be having a cozy evening inside, I baked Yay for Levi! Cupcakes, we made some deviled eggs (odd, I know, but we had a craving :) so we will just hang out and stuff ourselves full of junky food, and be together. Couldn't ask for much more!

It's OVER!!!

We are home!

Spud did absolutely FANTASTIC. We were up at 4:30 this morning, got a few last minute things ready, and then got the little man out of his crib and in the car at 4:45. He did great on the trip up, hardly made a sound. We got to the Stollery at about 6:10, and checked in. A few minutes later, we were taken to the prep area, and Spud was weighed, given Tylenol, and had numbing cream put on his hands for the IV. He got to wear some cute little yellow & white striped jammies too. He looked adorable!

We were taken to the back, and Dr El Hakim (fabulous Dr!) met us, as well as the anesthesiologist (How do you spell that??). I was able to go with Spud to the OR, where they put the IV in, and gave him the drugs to put him out. That was the worst part. It all happened soooo fast. One second he was awake, and then he coughed a little bit, and his eyes kinda rolled back, and he was out. I wanted to touch him, and kiss him, but before I could even think they were putting a mask over his mouth and whisking me out. It was pretty tough.

Cody and I went and got a muffin, and coffee, wandered for a few minutes, and then headed back to the Dayward, not 10 minutes later they called us, and we got to meet Small Boy in recovery. He was just chillin' on the bed, whining a little, and still managing to charm the nurses! He lost it a bit when he saw me, but after 10 or so minutes of snuggling, he was good. He was pretty groggy for an hour, but after that we had to struggle to hold him. He wanted to GO GO GO, but thats hard to do when you are connected to an IV! After about 2.5 hrs we were Outta There! We grabbed McD's on the way home, Spudder obviously was feeling better as he packed back 1/2 of a SuperSize fry on the way home! He stayed awake for the whole ride, and went down for a nap, he slept for an hour and then woke up, Cody took him to watch some TV downstairs, but he fell right asleep, so he brought him back up to our bed, where I was napping, and the little man and I napped together for another hour and a half! It was great.

He woke up feeling great, chowed down on some crackers and juice, ran around like normal. He powered out at about 7 tonight, so a little early, but I am so thrilled with how well it has gone. Such a relief!! He is such a tough, amazing little man. I am so proud of him, and so so so happy this is over, and he can get HEALTHY!!!

Tomorrow

Is Spud's surgery. We are to be at the Hospital @ 6:15AM, and he will be 1st in.

I am nervous.

Ready for this to be done.

Spud is no worse for wear...right now he is chillin' on the Loveseat, watching Cars. Such a boy!

Anyway, I will update with how it went as soon as I can.

Counting down

Until Spud's surgery is over. Tomorrow I call in and get his surgery time, and then we have to be there 2 hours early. The poor little dude can't eat from Midnight on, so I am hoping that the surgery is early, and that by some miracle my bottomless pit of an eater forgets that he should have food in the morning. Uuuuugh. It could be a loooooong drive to the city.

I am actually not as anxious about it as I thought I would be, I just want it over. For him to feel better, to hear better, and maybe, possibly...hopefully SLEEP better.

Tomorrow will be a busy day of packing for all of us (Cody, Spud and I will spend the night in the city after surgery and Kayla is off to Nana and Papa's.) Then Miss Sweeter has to get her dance on at ballet class, I will be giving in and waking one small boy at midnight for a bottle of milk (his last one EVER I hope), and trying to get some sleep before the big day.

Pics...Part 2

Weekend photo shoot pics

I took some family & kid pics for the Trautman Family this weekend, the kids were fantastic, we got some great shots! I am going to share a few now, although I ma only about 1/2 way done editing, so there is probably more to come!!

What do you think?? Are they good? Would you pay me to take pics like this of you?

My son NEEDS these!!!!!!!

They are called Smittens, and are made in Canada by January baby, http://www.januarybaby.ca/ His hands go in the darker blue pocket, and then they go around his back, and then you put a jacket on. The key, is that the pocket actually go up to his elbows so he absolutely cannot get them off! They are a NO ESCAPE MITTEN!!!!

Yep. My son neeeeeeds these!

Offer free photos....

And they will come! I put the word out on facebook that I would do free photo shoots for a limited time to grow my portfolio, and get some practice.

I had the shoot last Saturday, one this Saturday, Monday, and next weekend, plus I have one more that I need to set up once the snow comes! I am really excited (and a little nervous) about all of these. I am hoping I fufill everyone's expectations....including my own! Wish me luck!!!!

Photoshoot pics

I did a photoshoot on the weekend for a friend, and wanted to share my favourite pics

Aaaand I'm BACK!

Finally. Finally. FINALLY!!!! I am feeling good! Not 100%, but hey after the last month, I will take it!

In case you haven't followed my illness saga, here is a recap...I had hives...BAD, that turned into a cold, which turned into a sinus infection, and then last weekend I ended up feeling sick, and having "flu like symptoms". GRRREAT. I finally made a 2nd trip to the Walk in and was given meds for the sinuses, and I feel soooo much better. thank goodness. I have no idea what it was, although given how sick I was, and the length that it lasted, I wouldn't be suprised if it was the much feared H1N1. Ahh well. Whatever. As long as I feel better, what it was doesn't matter.

So other than illness, I can't really say there was much exciting going on here. Could be because I was in such a haze of illness, I can't remember, or perhaps we are really THAT boring!

Spud has had an explosion of language in the last few weeks, he now says Hi, Bye, Cup, Car, Truck, Oh Wow, No, That, This, Whats that, Crunchy (his fav monkey), juice, and probably more I can't remember. Pretty good considering at the beginning of the month he really only had a couple words. His surgery is quickly approaching, thank goodness, as he is currently on yet another round of meds. Hopefully this is our last go at it for quite some time!!!

Sweeter is doing great, on Monday they had healthy eating day at playschool, and the teacher told me that she was a great partcipant in the discussion, so cute.

And in case anyone is interested, here are my submissions for the last 2 weeks of my photo course

Parent as Prop Assignment:

Cody was helping Spud up into the treehouse. I love how his hand looks so big compared to my Small Boy!

Sweeter was standing on her Daddy's feet and they were walking together

And, my fav of the week! I looove this pic, I may have to blow it up and hang it in the house somewhere...

Natural Lighting Assignment: