HI!!!!

Welcome to the new design! I hope you like it as much as I do. I have been working on the design on and off for over a month. I hand coded it all, using examples when I had to, but mostly tutorials. It is by far the most amazing work I have ever done. It feels awesome to have it complete and live. If you encounter any difficulties please let me know. I have checked it across all browsers (IE 6 displays my navigation menu like poo so please upgrade if you are still using IE, thanks).

It amazes me what a few weeks will change. I blogged about my confusion concerning running. I didn’t get it. Well while J was gone, I couldn’t get out there and run. I was mopey and totally bummed at the loss of that time. This week I got back at it, plus I took a book out from the library about running. Now I feel like a runner. I am still not able to run the entire time, but I am getting there. It is this amazing elated feeling when you reach your running goal. It is filling me with confidence. It is so COOL.

This confidence is spilling over to the rest of my life. I want this so bad. I want to run. I want to be in good shape, be a good role model for my kids and feel excellent about me. I want this BAD. It feels so amazing to just do it. I am totally sticking with it too. So proud of me. w00t me! hehe.

I am so loving the feedback from you all this week. I wanted to touch on a couple points.

Preschool. We are not anti-preschool. Far from it. In the Fall, Becca will be signed up for a couple city run preschool programs that focus on fun interaction with a side of French and ABC’s.

I just do not want to feel so exasperated I have no choice but to send her to preschool full time. I want to be able to work through these stages with her, grow with her and learn with her. Plus, in a year she will be preparing for school. This is our chance to really bond together. Ethan, Becca and myself (with a side of Daddy of course) have a year to explore this city and enjoy our three-ness. Once Becca starts Primary, it is full time, five days a week. Plus, even the city programs cost money. Does my family benefit more from a museum pass for the year or a month in preschool? Choices.

SAHM vs the World. By no means was my implication that what I do is better or worse than any other choice. I excel in our choice. I may not always be good at parenting, cleaning, organizing, etc but I am a better person staying at home at this point. I have grown as a woman, as a wife and as a mother in the four years that I have been blessed to stay at home with my child(ren).

Staying at home is a rough gig. It is not a choice everyone should make, however it is a CHOICE. I stay at home, not because I am lazy (working would be much easier than this), but because as a family we CHOSE to life this lifestyle. It ain’t easy not having two incomes to make our dreams of owning a home, and other material goodies a reality faster.

I cringe when people say they have no choice, they have to work. Poor people. I know that we are fortunate to have nothing, so we do not miss the second income as much as families that are more established. There are moms that would rock the stay at home gig, and you see the sadness in their eyes, yet still return to work. They truly believe they have no choice.

We all have choices. In Canada, especially, a family can live within their means and raise their family, in my humble opinion. There are families that the Moms are AMAZING at their careers and truly are benefiting by returning to work. That rocks. I never scoff, grunt, snicker or roll my eyes at the working mom. The balance they must maintain leaves me in awe.

Choice. Don’t knock mine.

I do use a Mac … I (heart) my Apple computers. They are amazing tools I use to express my inner creativity in ways I have desired for, like forever. Lately, the Wordless Wednesdays have been fun. I have been working through some designing tutorials and learning a lot.

I have also been working on a new design for this blog. I wanted to give you guys a heads up that the format will change, as well as the colours and overall feel. My blog is forever evolving with my life and it is time for a change. When I started blogging four years ago, my designs changed monthly, as I tried on new looks and challenged myself to code and design beyond my skills. Presently, I do not have the time or energy to change that often.

So watch for a change. Honour your choices. Oh and most importantly, keep coming back and sharing your thoughts!

In my haze of illness, barely conscious, Ethan, sick too, having troubles falling asleep, I glance over at my laptop … Gmail staring back at me. Oh look an email from another blogger, how nice … start reading email … glance down at what she is sharing with me …

OH FOR THE LOVE OF HUMANITY!

I have been hacked. #*^$#&*^$#%$&*A@)# <— me swearing, like bad. humph.

It is a geek ego thing. I knew better. In fact, I emailed others about it. You know one of those friendly reminders to upgrade your blogging software. Yet I did not make the time to do it myself. Oh no. Instead I am flaunting PORN in my RSS archives. STUPID GIRL. grrr. UGH. I feel like poo. Monkey poo in fact. Not only am I sick but my wanna-be-geek ego is bruised. hrrumph.

Blogging Lesson # 12 - Always Upgrade your software (Especially when there are published security issues). If you have a Wordpress Blog, please be SURE that you have the latest version. I spent much needed sleep time, upgrading last night.

*sigh*

So if you have been bombarded with links to porn in your RSS feeder, I am SO SORRY. I really really was not promoting porn. I figure if it is your thang, you’ll find it on your own. Hackers are mean. I have gone through and attempted to erase all links however, with close to 900 publishes posts that is difficult.

In other news, I spent yesterday moaning, miserable and feeling awful. In fact at one point I hear Becca tell her baby brother “Don’t worry Ethan she’ll be better tomorrow, I can teach you to colour right now”. And she did! I gathered up enough strength to take a few photographs.

I am feeling a little better today, still not up to snuff. Spring better bring us better health. I still hope that it is partially due to being new to this area and not exposed to all these germs before.

You may have seen some minor changes on the blog. Michelle was the first to notice that I have changed my blog name. I will go onto more details about the change once the rest of the changes are live and in place. My plans for the weekend are to tweak some blog stuff, continue the spring cleaning I started earlier this week and stop being a single parent just in time to be royally spoiled on Mother’s Day!

What are your plans for the weekend?

I went from a nothing weekend to crazy busy-ness. How can it still only be Tuesday?

I have been (on top of our regularly schedule) spring cleaning. One might assume that since we moved here a mere six months ago, that there would be little clutter. Ha! Double that. Ha! Ha! Ethan is quickly growing out of the “baby gear” and quite content to harass play with Becca & her toys. In fact give the toddler a play silk an an empty vitamin bottle and he is set for the morning! hehe

Yes I said toddler. ugh. Why do they grow up so fast? Ethan is a full on walker. Never does he resort to the act of crawling (unless of course to go underneath something). It amazes me how quickly he went from zombie walk to arms at his sides. Running is a fraction of time away.

Yesterday I did the unthinkable. I attend a local MOPS meeting once a month with the kids. I have gone 3 or 4 times always bolstering Ethan in my sling. He was always content to fall asleep to the chatter of mothers. Since he is now refusing to nap in the mornings, opting for a long afternoon nap, I was worried how our MOPS meeting would go. So I took a deep breath and left him in the extremely capable hands of the ladies in the nursery. Oh he CRIED. I let them know that I was absolutely willing to take him back if he could not calm himself. I watch the door. Begging silently for my baby to NEED me. They did not bring him out. GASP. Ethan doesn’t NEED ME anymore.

Golly, he sure does WANT me though! I went in to get him and there he was, as I left him. Snuggled in the caregivers arms waiting for his Mommy to return. He sniffed and groaned at me then clung to me like a monkey. In fact he really hasn’t let go since. Even at the library this morning, a place he is very comfortable with and plays at twice a week, he dared not to let go of my leg, arm, any part he could hold. The caregiver at the nursery said that he stopped crying but never let go of her. Opted to rest her head on her shoulder and wait. What a boy! How I love him.

Becca is not feeling very well. In fact for over a week now she has lost her mind. She is spacey, unable to concentrate, cannot complete daily tasks without full supervision and is having potty accidents almost daily. I have no idea what is up with her. Last week we thought it may be due to the fact that J was leaving early for work everyday. This week, she has continued to be “off”. It is strange and I am trying to be patient…Last night she woke up crying, saying she was sick, but would not be consoled at all. Finally I picked her up and rocked her till she calmed down and she willingly returned to bed. I have never had to do something like that for her. I am so hoping whatever is up will disappear soon. Life has become unpredictable and frustrating for all of us.

I have been knitting a little. Just enough to keep a project going. Not knitting makes me cranky but I do not have the time to commit to anything specific. Maybe I should knit a blanket, something huge and mindless. I did complete another bear for a friend in California that had an adorable baby boy. Bears are fun to knit. I was not a huge fan of the pattern I used even though it was in the round this time. The stitches ended up messy.

Web designs have been completed and have gone live lately too. Some of you have seen Much More Than a Mom and The Opinionated Parent,both redesigns were fun to work on and turned out pretty good (if I do say so myself! hehe). I also finished up a blog design for MomEcentric, that turned out wonderful once we conquered hosting issues and other oddities. I feel so giddy when I see designs that I have created live. I hope the recipients are just as happy with the work. Working form home is such a major challenge, but I love creating so much it is worth the imbalance for short bursts. Maybe someday I can work part time from home designing blogs. A girl can dream.

See crazy busy-ness. Crazy.

Things have been going by as usual around here. Wordless Wednesday was true. Becca has *only* broken her glasses once before this, so we figure her track record was acceptable. Becca and I were both surprised to learn that a new arm for her glasses would cost the same as a new bike (something she desperately wants for her birthday). Luckily we had her old pair, put the old smaller arm on one side and the eye-glass tech worked magic on them to make them fit.

Ethan is cruising around everywhere. He is a pro walker now and is attempting to run (especially after his sister), nothing is not a potential climber and he is only napping once a day. He is not sleeping well at night. Where do the days and time go. It seems like a fraction in time that he was an itty bitty infant!

Becca has been drawing and “writing” up a storm. I have never seen her this into the creative process. It is really fun to watch her drawing skills develop and her pictures turn into more than circles and scratches.

I do not have a lot to say really. Things are busy yet nothing is going on. It is odd, yet peaceful. I have been trying to walk each evening once J arrives home. My butt and muscles hurts from trekking up and down hills, my feeble attempt to loss this extra weight I am carrying. I have been working on some designs for others. It is gratifying to create something and in return get compensation for it

The weekend is upon us once again. We are trying to lie low and save money but that is not quite as fun as going out and exploring. The price of gas is a huge downer. I am extremely thankful that gas prices were a lot lower when we were in California. What are your plans for the weekend?