Out and About: All Over

It's been a hectic week for us.  Play group and Story Time on Tuesday with my mom's group, Park on Thursday with my sister and a friend of mine, Playdate on Friday with a fellow mommy blogger and her kids, and Parade on Saturday with my sister in law and most of her kids.  And for some Crazy reason I want to take Lynden to the Kids zone at the Cloverdale Rodeo this weekend as well as family picnic, if the sun should decide to come out again or else we'll visit some family instead.  Since we've been getting up around 6am most of the week I'm too pooped to write.  Enjoy some pictures from out week.



Cousins



Lynden & Aunty

Oh no!  Look out for the bear

Hugs



Lynden "riding" a bike



Lynden & Ethan riding together



Cousins



Lynden waving to the floats

The coolest float. An antique steam engine from 1918



First of many horses

Don't remember what it was for but still cool

Arg!

We saw this pirate boat on our way to our spot and Lynden
kept asking where the pirate boat was

Alyssa & Aunty



Lynden & Daddy watching the parade (in the rain)





Clowns



Jack the Giant.  Lynden recognized him

Too many rainy pictures, let's go back to the sunshine
LOVE this shot of me and my Wonderful son

Start The Day With An Emergency Trip To The Doctor's

I am the more laid back parent when it comes to medical stuff for the kids.  Danny, more with Lynden, would want to take him to the doctor right away whenever something was wrong with Lynden.  I, surprisingly, am the one to say "let's wait and see what it's like in the morning" and most of the time it clears up over night and we don't need to bother the doctor. 


But, when it comes to Lynden's boy parts I panic.  Since I don't have the same parts as him I don't know what's "normal" and what's not, so I rely on Danny's reaction to my questions to decide if I really should be worried about a redness/bump/etc or not.  This is also why I let Danny make the decision about circumcising him or not (I figure we should pair off with the child with the same parts when making decisions and worrying about things). 

But, when I pulled off Lynden's "night underwear" (AKA pull up) for his morning pee to discover blood in it I panicked.  When Lynden started to cry because of the pain when peeing I panicked.  When I saw it was bright red and swollen I panicked.  My natural reaction was to call Danny but it was 7:30. Danny had started work already and can't answer his phone or answer his texts, so I called the next best person - my sister in law.  I figure a) she's got 5 boys, b) she's awake (she's got 6 kids!) c) she lives next door, literally and d) works in a medical office.  She was surprised I was calling so early and confused when I asked her to come over, but when I explained why she came over and took a look at Lynden's owie.  She told me to keep an eye on it and if it wasn't better in the morning, or if he was bleeding some more to take him to the doctor. 

My mind went to a bunch of what if scenarios, the worst being what if we have to get him circumcised at 3?!?  Not something I ever want to put him through. 

After more painful pee trips to the potty I decided to not wait til tomorrow to see the doctor.  So, I called my grandma, who has a spare car seat in her car since ours is in our car and Danny has the car at work, to see if she can come and watch Alyssa while I run Lynden to the clinic.  She was able to and so off to the doctor we went. 


Thankfully, it turned out to be nothing serious, just a flare up from his eczema.   Some cream and he'll be good to go.

Looking Forward To Better Weeks

It's been a bad week for me.  Felt like I was bring buried alive by the amount of laundry needing to be done, didn't get a handle on the house chores at all, and between a worried mommy about Lynden's pee pee, a fussy baby that did not want to sleep (she actually slept one day for a grand total of 35 minutes between noon and 10pm) and wanted to be held at bedtime making it impossible for me to fold said laundry, a toddler who wouldn't take "no" as an acceptable answer for anything and was waking up WAY too early for me I wasn't motivated to do much.  Then my cell phone died, Danny's, literally, fell apart the next day (the only thing holding it together is a ribbon inside the phone and now some tape), and we needed to go grocery shopping only to lose the bank card, which we later found, the day I was able to take the car to do it.  And now my darned car is acting up again.... sigh... it has not been a good week for me. 

Although I learned Lynden listens to the microwave.  He was bugging me to paint one afternoon after his nap and I wasn't ready to start so I showed him the timer on the microwave and set it for 5 minutes and told him when it beeped we'd paint.  He said ok and went and played in his playroom by himself, something he very rarely does, for the 5 minutes.  When the microwave beeped he came running out "microwave went beep beep".  Now any time I set the timer he goes and plays quietly by himself in his playroom until it beeps.  Needless to say I love my microwave timer at the moment. 

Lynden has also had a great potty week.  When we bought his night underwear (AKA pull ups) we said when it ran out he was going to start wearing regular underwear to bed.  We had 1 wet pull up since we bought that pack (and it was the day when his neck was really sore and he could barely move so it was understandable) and we're down to the last 6.  Alyssa has also improved her hand skills this week.  She's really good about grasping what she's looking at and can now shake a rattle like no one's business as well as hold her toes - so cute.  She's also discovered that "other baby" in the mirror and loves smiling at her. 

As bad as this week was for me it's been nice to not be out and about too much as we have some really crazy weeks ahead of us.  We're making play group and story time on Tuesdays our regular thing and we've got playdates, the Cloverdale Rodeo, Surrey Kids Festival, Thomas in Squamish, the Aquarium, and another mom meet n greet (all in the next 3 weeks).  Danny's also talking about starting to teach me and his mom how to scuba dive in June (yay!) so I'm also looking into taking the kids to the pool on a regular basis too. 

Guess I better get used to getting up at 6am to drive Danny to work.

What's Cooking: Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Yesterday was Danny's birthday and we've come up with a plan that allows me to not have to think of that Fantastic gift to give him every year - he gets dinner of his choice (usually a great steak and lobster) and homemade strawberry rhubarb pie (his all time favourite dessert).  We also do a BBQ for him, which is when he gets his dinner, but he asks for his pie on his actual birthday so he doesn't have to share the pie with anyone but me.  You're laughing but it's the honest truth.  Every year I ask him when he wants me to make his pie, for the BBQ or on his actual birthday and he says birthday "so I don't have to share" or "this way I can have it all".  He jokes that he's not going to share with me, but I think know he's secretly hoping I'll say "ok, you can have the whole pie".  Not going to happen.

So, here's the recipe for this deliciously yummy, yet surprisingly easy, dessert.  (I don't remember where I found it but chances are allrecipes.com)

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie:

2 pints strawberries
1 lb. rhubarb
2 pie crusts (I don't make my own, I mean to learn so I can)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
2 tbsp butter
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp sugar
small bowl of water

1. Cut strawberries (I cut into quarters) and rhubarb (1" cubes).  Toss with flour and sugar.  Let sit for 30 minutes

2. Place filling into pie crust and top with other crust.  Seal edges with water.  Coat top crust with egg yolk, dot with butter and sprinkle with sugar.

3. Bake at 400 for 35 minutes

Enjoy! 

Yes, that's it.  Simply easy and I honestly think you cannot screw this recipe up. 

I always have left over filling so this year I bought tart shells and filled them with the remaining strawberry rhubarb goodness.  I put them in the oven next to the pie and cooked for the same time.  They're delicious too - more proof you can't mess this up.  Next year I might to a loaf too - I'll work my way up each year until I find Danny's breaking point, not that I think there is one.

First Mommy Meetup

I should start this and say Lynden is not as bad as my last post made him out to be.  I was having a BAD day and so my post came across a lot more harsh then it was meant to.  He's a good kid, he really is, just yesterday was a really bad day.  He usually has a bad moment every so often (yesterday it was more and I was tired and Alyssa decided she really didn't want to nap even though we both needed her to).

Today's been better, despite getting up at 6:15 to drive Danny to work (only to have him call me after I pulled away to say he forgot his work boots at home and needed me to get them and come back).  Once we got home it was a rush to get the kids fed, dressed and get Lynden to go #2 on the potty before we had to leave for our first mommy meetup at the play area at Guilford Mall and then story time at the library.

As I've posted before I don't like walking into preformed groups, they're hard to get involved in since everyone knows everyone already, but I want and need to get out there and meet new people.  It was good.  Lynden played shy and didn't want to play with any of the other kids, although I tricked him a few times by saying "can you catch them?" or after he handed me back his juice "ok, go play now".  I'm hoping he'll get a little more comfortable the more we go.  The other mom's were quick to introduce themselves (I think I've forgotten everyone's names already) and start a quick conversation.  But it was hard to talk much with Lynden attached to my side and wanting me to play with him and not talk to the other moms.  At one point I had to tell Lynden it was time for me to go and talk to the other mommies and I went and sat down and started a conversation with... umm... ya... her daughter's a month older than Alyssa but I can't remember her name (there were about 10 moms with 1-2 kids each).   

We then went off to the library and did story time.  Sadly, Lynden was getting tired and was done about 5 minutes into it.  I managed to get him to stay for the whole thing and he loved the stickers at the end of it.  He said he had a good time and would like to go again, so we'll go again next Tuesday and work on our friend making skills :-)