Easter Memories; Past and Present

I know Easter is next weekend, but on my side of the family some are traveling next weekend so we've decided to celebrate Easter with Lynden and Alyssa's cousins a week early.

When I think of Easter I think of a family dinner and egg hunts of course.  I remember one Easter we spent on the island with some family friends.  It was a lot of fun!  It was one of the coolest egg hunts we've ever done.  There were 3 of us and the front yard was FULL of eggs.  We also tried to capture the Easter Bunny by setting up a basic trap; the box with the stick holding it up.  I don't know why we thought it would work since there was nothing really to knock the stick down, the Easter Bunny would be too smart to knock the stick out.  And isn't he big?  He would never have fit in the box we used.  But when you're a kid you don't think about that stuff.  You're so caught up in the excitement of the Easter Bunny and thinking about All that chocolate.

Some of my favourite Easter memories are colouring eggs with my grandparents.  I can still picture the kitchen table pulled into the middle of the kitchen, a massive plastic sheet under it (some years newspaper), and colours everywhere.  It was usually my sister, cousin and I, and it was always a matter of coming up with cooler eggs than the other 2.  I remember dipping half the egg in one colour and the other half in another so we had true multi coloured eggs.  I can still picture those paper rings so our fingers didn't get messy, not that it mattered since we were covered in food colouring by the end of it.  I also remember HAVING to show grandpa each and every egg. 

Me colouring eggs as a child

Unlike most people, the Easter Bunny didn't come to our house over night, like he did that Easter on the Island.  He would come in the morning, after we were awake.  He'd knock at the front door, he and my grandparents would talk and then my sister and I would have to go upstairs and wait for him to hide our "pretty" eggs and chocolate.  I never understood why Santa could make it around the world in a whole night but the Easter Bunny needed a full day to hide the eggs.  Maybe it was because Santa just needs to put presents under the tree and the Easter Bunny needs to actually hide stuff.


This year was Lynden's first year at colouring Easter Eggs.  He had  a great time and I hope that one day he will look back on this tradition and have as fond of memories of it as I do. 

We coloured eggs with one of Lynden's cousins who is a year younger than Lynden.  They did Surprisingly well.  We were all expecting a huge mess and a bunch of brown eggs.  Yes, there was a mess - poor Lynden barely got to use any blue since his sweet lil cousin keep dumping it all over the table, but the eggs they made were Beautiful.

One of my favourite moments of the day was when Lynden discovered one of the "magic eggs" had a smiley face on it.  The smile on his face was worth the mess :-)

For any parents out there colouring eggs, the best way to clean hands of dye, use warm water and dry dishwasher soap.  Came off wonderfully.  

Getting ready

Colouring eggs

 

Messy hands

"Magic Egg"

Lynden's egg

The final eggs

Potty Training: Not for Dummies

When Lynden was a newborn I was relying on a book "On Becoming Babywise" that my sister-in-law had lent me when I was pregnant.  It was a fairly easy concept to get and the benefits seem to be great.  The basic premise was from as early as possible set up a routine of eat, awake time followed by sleep time.  According to the book 95% of babies on this routine would start to sleep through the night (about 5-7hrs) as early as 7 weeks, with 98% of babies by 12 weeks. 

Lynden took to the feeding schedule beautifully, but the sleeping schedule.... not so much.  We had a hard time getting him to sleep through the night.  It was long after 12 weeks, maybe around 5 or 6 months.  At one point I had to give the book back because I was SO frustrated with the fact Lynden was in the other 2-5% of babies and the book offered no solutions to help us.  It didn't help that the brood of other babies born around the time we had Lynden were sleeping through the night much earlier. 

Lynden has never been one to follow to norm.  I've said from very early on that he won't do something unless he knows he can do it.  Which is why I believe he didn't roll until he was almost 6 months (at least it's what I tell myself to feel better).  When he learned to walk he refused to stand unsupported and we had to trick him into taking his first 3 steps.  About 2 days later he pulled himself up on one couch and saw a ball in the middle of the living room, took 13 steps and sat down at the ball.  Just like that he could walk.

So, trying to potty train him has been an interesting adventure.  We read up on the subject and chose the best, we felt, from many and started on our way.  On Sunday March 20th we took Lynden out of his diaper and sat him on the potty.  That first day was... awful.  We had accident after accident after accident.  Around dinner time my husband and I both thought "maybe it's too soon".  At 7:30 Lynden, who was still bare bummed, walked over to the potty, which was sitting in the living room, sat down and peed.  We were thrilled! 

The next morning we had 2 back to back accidents and then no accidents for almost 3 days.  My husband and I both thought "he's got it".  Then we had a bad accident... Lynden pooped in his underwear and by the time I got his underwear off he was covered in it from the waist down.  Into the shower he went and was hosed down - thankfully we have a detachable shower head.  For the next 2 days we had more and more accidents, to the point I was washing his underwear at the end of each day because there were no more clean underwear for the next day. 

Now, we still have our days when there are a lot of accidents and then days where he can get through the day in one or 2 pairs of underwear.  He's a bit of a way from being accident free all the time.  But I feel confident enough to say he's got pee down pat, we've just got to work on going #2.  He realizes when it's coming but he does not like going on the potty.  And to be fair, a lot of his accidents are from when a) he's trying not to poop or b) he's having too much fun playing that he doesn't want to stop to go. 

It's been just under a month and we think he's done very well.  I think he has learned a lot about himself (he's Fascinated with his pee pee, but what boy isn't?) and I know we've learned a lot about patience, because let me tell you it takes patience.  There was even one day, late last week, where I broke a big potty training rule - I was tired of washing underwear and pants day after day, so I asked him what he wanted to do: wear underwear or diapers.  If he had said diapers I was ready to give up and put him back in a diaper.  Thankfully, he said he wanted to wear underwear and that night he woke during the night to tell us he had to go pee.  BIG success.  For the next 3 nights he would wake us in the night to tell us he had to pee, and his night-only diapers would be dry in the morning.

I am looking forward to potty training to be done and grateful we don't have to do it again for at least 2 years, although I think we'll start earlier with Alyssa.

My only words of wisdom I have for those venturing down this path is be consistent.  Whatever your potty training routine is stick with it.  During our bad days I'm reminded of something my mom was told while she was potty training us: "no kid goes to Kindergarten with a diaper in their lunchbox".

Lynden's potty reward jar

Bucket List

Yesterday I talked about following through on my Bucket List.  I had to re-vamp it a bit since the list I made in High School was a bit outdated and I cheated by putting "meet so-and-so" for about 60 of the 100.  Here is my Top 25 Bucket List (although they are numbered it's not listed in priority)

Bucket List:

1. Visit Machu Picchu:
   This has been a dream of mine since Grade 7 when we learned about the Mayans.  Recently a friend of mine went and I was so jealous.  It's something I would love to do with my kids, but I think I want to be selfish and go without them the first time. 
2. See the Pyramids: I think this is on most people's Bucket Lists.  I find it fascinating the Egyptians were able to build such amazing structures without today's technology. 
3. Learn to Surf: I mentioned this is yesterday's post as something I was going to do in my 23rd year of life.  Instead my then-boyfried-now-husband and I decided to have a baby, so it got put on the back burner.  Look for me to learn to surf before the end of 2012!
4. Learn to Scuba Dive: Ok, so  this is a cheater list item, but when my husband and I were talking about my Bucket List he said "Scuba Diving better be on there", so it's on here.  My husband officially got a job as a diving instructor yesterday (I say "officially" because he worked for them the day before), so he plans on teaching me to dive.  I think it's going to be a very cool experience and I truly hope I enjoy it (for many reasons).  I say I hope I enjoy it because I don't swim in places I cannot see the bottom of; I don't know what I'm afraid of but I can't do it.  My grandparents took my sister and I houseboating many many years ago and each day they'd stop in the middle of Shuswap Lake so the kids could go swimming.  I tried once, freaked out and didn't do it again.  So, scuba diving could be an interesting thing.  Thankfully, my husband knows about this and has agreed to wait until the ocean gets warmer and the visibility is better (according to him on Sunday it was about 4ft of visability).  Look for me to check this one off my list by the end of this summer!
   Check it out here
5. Go to Rome: This is another one that came from my Grade 7 class.  To see the Collesium, Pompeii (I know it's not in Rome), The Forum, and The Parthenon would be something else.
6. See the art in the Louvre: I am not an art enthusiast, but I have talked to many people who have been to the Louvre and they have all said there is something about the art that moves you.  I had a co-worker of mine tell me that she was actually quite bored walking around but came across a famous painting (I wish I could remember which one) and she found herself crying because of the beauty of it. 
7. Walk on the Great Wall of China: To walk on the structure that can be seen from space would be cool.
8. Take my kids to Disney Land: We went to Disney Land when I was 10, my sister was 8, and it truly is a magical place.  I tried to convince my husband to go a few years ago but he didn't think he would enjoy it without kids, little does he know that when you go you become a kid again.  I want to take our kids so they can experience that kind of magic that I did when I was a kid. 
9. Go to the Canucks Stanley Cup Parade: This may happen sooner rather than later.  *keep my fingers and toes crossed*
10. Meet Trevor Linden: I have been a fan of Trevor Linden's since I was 4.  I even named my son Lynden.  2 years ago he was doing a signing at the Future Shop in White Rock when we happened to be down here.  My husband agreed to delay our trip home by a few hours so we could stay in a Massive line-up to try to meet him (and get our son's jersey signed).  We stood in line for 4+ hours and didn't make it in.  Although, I did see the back of his head :-)
11. See the Northern Lights: When I was 10 I visited my grandma who lived in Terrace.  One night she asked me if I wanted to see the Northern Lights, which I did.  She said she had seen them the night before around 11pm and I could stay up to see them if I wanted.  I stayed up until just after 10, as long as my eyelids could stay open, but I did not see them.  She told me the next morning she didn't see them that night, but she would wake me next time she saw them so I could.  They didn't happen again that summer I was there.  To this day I have not seen them. 
12. Do a Road Trip across Canada: This is something I think everyone should do.  I have been to Manitoba when I was about 2, spent 4 hours in Jasper when I was 10 (a stop on the train ride to Terrace that summer) and went to Toronto for a few days 3 years ago (my husband and I went to the Winter Classic in Buffalo in 2008).  That's all I have travelled out into this fantastic country of ours in my 26 years.  I would love to make a summer of it with our kids and see our lovely country. 
13. Read all 100 books from the BBC list:
    This has recently been a Facebook favourite, but I saw this list a few years ago and thought it would be nice to be able to say I've read all of them.  In case you haven't seen the list BBC Top 100 Books  Now, some of them I have already read.
    Jayne Eyre - Grade 9 reading
    To Kill A Mockingbird - Grade 10 reading
    1984 - read after high school, what a messed up read. 
    Romeo and Juliet - Grade 9 reading
    The Great Gatsby - Grade 10 reading - Too much symbolism in that book
    Hitchhikers's Guide to the Galaxy - I am currently reading... look for a review when I finish it
    The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - I will be re-reading this one as my dad read it to us when we were little.
    Winnie the Pooh - I'll be re-reading this one as I read it to Lynden
    Da Vinci Code - Great read, although I'm one of those odd balls that liked Angels and Demons better
    One Hundred Years of Solitude - One of my favourite books.  Read in Grade 11 or 12 and fell in love with it.  I re-read it every 3-5 years (I finished it, again, about 2 weeks ago).
    Anne of Green Gables  - read when I was younger
    Handmaid's Tale - Grade 9 reading, not an enjoyable read at the time.
    Life of Pi - read this a few years ago and I always give a book 100 pages before I'll give up on it.  Life of Pi was a hard read for the first 90 or so pages and then it got good.
    The Secret Garden - read when I was little
    Charlotte's Web - great book.  I'll be reading this to Lynden and Alyssa
    Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - read when I was in elementary school.  I'll read it to the kids
14. Skydive: I don't know why jumping out of a plane sounds like fun, but to me it does.  On the fip side, bungy jumping?!?  Are you nuts!?! 
15. Visit Prague: I have heard that Prague is an incredibly beautiful place to visit.
16. Learn to Snowboard: I know how to ski, but not snowboard.  I was going to learn when I was 14, but I had back-to-back knee injuries which stopped that.  I still want to learn.
17. See Billy Joel Live in Concert: My very first concert was Elton John, and wow!  What a show.  But I've always enjoyed Billy Joel more and would love to see him live.  About 2 months after my mom and I saw Elton John, she went to the Face to Face tour which was Elton John and Billy Joel playing together.  Billy Joel was in a mood play and the concert ended around 2am, after that he went back to the hotel he was staying at, went down to the lobby and played piano in the lobby for a few more hours.  Can you imI dagine????
18. Get a Tattoo: I don't know what I want to get or where I want to get it, but one day I will.  My most recent thought it getting those Sweatheart Candies you get at Valentines with my kids names on each Sweetheart. 
19. Go to Big Day Out in Australia:
    Big Day Out is a Massive outdoor concert that's held in Australia every year.  There is something about being outside with Thousands of other music lovers enjoying music that send shivers down my spine. 
20. See a Live Panda Bear: My grandma assigned animals to people, and Amanda Panda was mine.  Every birthday and Christmas I received something Panda related from her.  I have managed to shrink my collection over the years to the items that have sentimental value to me.  But, seeing a live Panda would be so neat. 
21. Hold a Spider: Ok... so.... I am TERRIFIED of spiders.  Yes, those small 8 legged creatures that run Stupidly fast!  They give me the hebie-jebies!  I'm shuttering thinking about them.  But!  I am determined to hold one just so I can say I did it.  Having said this, we are going to a Bug Zoo over Easter weekend and there will be spiders there, and I've been told you can hold bugs at the Bug Zoo.  So, if I don't pee myself and can hold it long enough for 1 quick picture (don't be shocked if my eyes are closed) I may be able to cross this one off next weekend. 
    If my sister decides to come with us I'm challenging her to hold one too.  And maybe a ladybug...I did it!  Check it out here
22. Swim with a Dolphin: This would be so cool!  My 2 sister-in-laws swam with dolphins on thier recent trip and it looked like a blast.  This is something that is also on my husband's Bucket List.  Maybe when we take the kids to Disney Land we'll see if we can do this too.
23. Own a TV or Movie Prop: Preferably something recognizable, but since I don't have millions of dollars I may have to settle.  It would be a conversation starter for sure.  On a side note: I am 175% jealous that Lady Gaga got the Original Ruby Red Slippers from The Wizard of Oz as a birthday gift.
24. Go on a Cruise (through the Panama Canal and an Alaskan Cruise): Something about sitting on a relaxing boat is appealing.  I think this will need to be a kid-free event tho'.  I'd be willing to take them on a Disney Cruise AFTER I get one of these cruises done.  The Panama Canal would be so interesting to go through it watching the system they have for boats.
    Check out this site if you don't know: Panama Canal
25. Build my dream house: There are certain things I love about certain houses.  I love a balcony in the front that wraps around the site.  I love the turret corners of a house - I've always imagined having a den or workspace in there.  I love open concept designs.  Along with many other things.  So, one day, I would love to be in a position where I am able to build my dream house with all the features I love (and by build, I mean pay someone else to do it). 

What's on your Bucket List?

5 things

So, as I learn how to blog and find topics to blog about (I have ideas but need to do the action behind the ideas so I have something to write about, so stay tuned for them) I am going to borrow some ideas from some sites I found. 

This one comes from pinaywifespeaks.com and her 50 personal blog ideas.

#26: Name 5 things you want to change in yourself

First off, I chose this question because it will help explain my goals for starting this blog. 

1. To get out more.  I am a home-body, I always have been (not as an "oh, woe is me" story but I was horribly bullied as a kid and we lived in a complex where a lot of the kids who picked on me lived, so I wouldn't go outside unless I had to, now I'm just used to it).  Now that I have kids I know it's not good for me or for them to stay home all day every day.  I plan on using this blog as an "excuse" (for lack of a better term) to get out more and experience the world around us.
One weekly blog I plan on doing is called "Around Town" where every week I'll blog about an outting the family does.  I'll be looking for different things to go to so you don't read about the same trip to the park every week :-)

2.   Find a hobby.  I am not an artistic person (I can't draw a stick person LOL) by any means, I enjoy to cook and bake but I don't have the natural knack that others have (I follow a recipe to the T the first 3 times before I am confident enough to change it) and don't venture far from what I'm used to.  I'm very envious of people who are artistic and creative; for example, my friend Kerry can make pretty much anything out of anything.  to me it's mind blowing that she can look at left over bits of fabric and make worry dolls.  To me I see scraps of fabric and see a mess. 
Danny often tells me I need to find a hobby so that my life isn't 99% mommy-hood, as wonderful as it is... at time ;-).  So, I am planning on trying different things to find a hobby - so keep an eye out for my trial runs at various possible hobby ideas.  If you have any suggestions, I'm open to ideas, or if you wish to join me, let me know!

3. To become more patient.    I am not too sure how this will help with this, but it is something I want, and need, to change in myself.  I get frustrated with things very quickly (and it's one of my husband's biggest pet peeves about me).  I've tried the counting to 10 and deep breaths... it doesn't work for me, I'm worse when I'm done (granted, I don't get to do it in a quiet room, since I have a toddler and his favourite thing to do is follow me around from room to room, and if I close a door he cries as loud as possible).  It's my hope I can write about the frustrating incident later and see the humour in it. 

4. To become more social.  This goes hand in hand with the first item on my list, but it's not quite the same.  My "Around Town" will be a family oriented day.  I need to become more social as me, not as a mom, or a wife, but as just me.  I am not the best at meeting new people, I'm not the person who walks into a room and starts a conversation with a random person.  I'm the person sitting and watching everyone until I find someone I feel I can approach.  Hey, it works.

Side story: 6 years ago I decided to go to leave BCIT and go to a school that specialized in the Music Industry, as I wanted to work in the field.  The school had a 3 semester year and you could start at the beginning of any semester, so I started in the May semester.  Me and 1 other person started that semester, and he was absent the first week of classes.  So, here I am, walking into a class where the 10 or so other students have been together for at least the previous 4 months.   On my first day when I got to the school there was no one in the classroom, so I sat outside and waited for someone to arrive.  3 guys showed up about 5 minutes later, greeted me and walked in.  I followed them into the classroom, introduced myself and found a place to sit.   By the end of the first class I had found "the weak link" - the person who I knew was going to be my way into getting into the tightly knit group the class had become.  Turned out I was right, I got to know the "weak link" and made some fantastic friends from that class.  Long story short, I married that "weak link" :-)

5. To follow through.  We all have our Bucket Lists (check back later for mine) and we all say we're going to all the items on it, but how many do?  When I turned 23, which I had decided would be the best year of my life as it was my Champagne Birthday (for those of you who have never heard of it, it's when you turn the age of the date you were born on), I had a list of goals I was going to accomplish in that year.  I didn't follow through on any of them, granted learning to surf when you're pregnant is not the best idea, even though it was the best year of my life - Lynden was born, we bought our first home, and were incredibly happy that year. I still want to learn to surf, so what's stopping me?  I don't follow through.  But, now I have you (all 7 of you, HAHA) to be on my case about it.

There ya have it.  The 5 things I want to change about myself.

Truly Blessed

Yesterday our family threw a baby shower for our sweet lil girl.  And, as my first blog I was going to wirte about it but as I think about our wonderful day I'm drawn into thinking about our amazing family and friends. 

Many people don't realize how hard our lives have been in the last 6 months.  With Danny moving back down to the coast in late September for work while Lynden and I, 5 months pregnant, in a lot of pain and working full time, still in the Okanagan was overwhelmingly difficult, to say the least.  Our family, the majority living 4+ hours away, and friends helped us every chance they could to get us through it. 

My fantastic co-workers were Huge in getting me through those months.  They made me smile daily and listened when I needed to complain about anything.  Even my manager's wife, who lived about 5 minutes from work, watched Lynden through December so I didn't have to drive to and from Vernon everyday in the snow and the dark.  I know I would not have made it through my last few months at work without them. 

On January 14th our sweet daughter graced us with her presence (as painful as it was for me) and with her arrival meant our departure from the Okanagan.  My sister, who flew up the night before Alyssa's birth, and husband spent the next week cleaning and packing our house.  7 days after Alyssa's arrival we were on the road back to the coast.  What a move...

In the almost 2 months we've been back on the coast our family has been even more supportive than we thought possible.  Alyssa's has been handed down more clothes than I have owned in my lifetime, Lynden has had many outtings with various grandparents, and our kids get to grow up with their Large number of their cousins.

And if everything they have done wasn't enough, they threw Alyssa an amazing baby shower.  Yes, she got spoiled.  But, more importantly, it was so nice to see a lot of family and friends, new and old, celebrate our daughter's birth (and our arrival back to the coast). 

We are so blessed to have them in our lives.

the guest of honour

the cake

the cousins now

the cousins then