Ethan had a wonderful birthday. Thanks so much for all the well wishes! He is still enjoying his new toys greatly and throughly enjoyed his ice cream cake! The kid is so cute.

As some of you are aware, 2 days after Ethan’s birthday is my birthday. I turned 34 this year. I am in awe of that number. It seems like a mere moment ago I was in my 20’s. Yet I am in a really good place at 34. We have our home, an awesome car, three fantastic kids, a husband whom I adore (and he adores me), I am healthy and content.

When we were trying to get pregnant with Ethan, I vowed that by the time I was 35 I would be in the best shape of my life. Now I am not talking 16 years skinny, I am talking best physical shape. Now granted I had no plans to have a third child in the meantime, so I was thwarted a little there. However I am on a good track to realizing that goal.

I am running 5 km now. It feels awesome to get that! Now I just need to get my butt outside and run.

We headed out of town for a mini-vacation. It was AMAZING. All the kids were awesome. We all had a fabulous time. If you are ever in New Brunswick, be sure to check out Crystal Palace. Becca had an amazing time. Ethan was a tad young for most of the rides but still had fun. The pool at the hotel was a HUGE hit. It had a water slide that the kids loved (although Ethan needed J to go down with him).

We seriously need to head out of town at least once a year. It was great to just be together.

Did you have a nice weekend?

This weekend we did nothing in particular. Which allowed for spontaneous fridge cleaning, sudden trips to the yarn store and a lot of time just together. Ethan and Becca played ALL morning Saturday. Not once did they argue, whine, collide or annoy one another.  After two weeks of holidays I think they missed each other something fierce. It was cute and by Sunday eve they were bickering like brothers and sisters do. Meanwhile Cordi watched all the action while enjoying her new sitting action.

Since I feel renewed this week, I have been able to tackle some of the clutter that has been building. Who knew school would send home soooo much paper. What an amazing waste.

I was also able to work up to running 3k this weekend. It felt AWESOME to achieve that. I have also been trying to take a pictures everyday. Capture the moment and all that jazz. I missed Sunday, somehow that day escaped me and my camera.

How was your weekend?

I had mislead myself to believe before I started that by going to bed early I wouldn’t feel like crap starting this new lifestyle. I was wrong. This week I have been tired (despite going to bed early which I have to say is quite discouraging), sore and a little down.

I had hoped to feel energized and motivated by the end of the first week. I am sticking with it, but I tell you it is so not easy to want to. I know I should feel great that I stuck with it and that should be enough, but I would have really liked to see a difference on the scale too I am lamely obsessed about it.

Alas, I am heading into week 2 a little bummed but still dedicated to the commitment. Hope I perk up soon.

Cordi is indeed sitting on her own! She topples over randomly so one still needs to be there in case but she amazes me with her strength and determination.

We are settling into our school routine. We walked everyday this week as the weather was mild. Ethan enjoys walking through our neighborhood and Cordi enjoys riding in the backpack.

Becca is enjoying seeing her friends everyday at school. She seems to play with everyone, where the girls in her class are very set not to play with the boys. Becca very bestest friends have all been boys so she really cannot commit to such segregation.

What are your plans for the weekend? We are lying low, cleaning, organizing that sort of thing.

Today was one of those magical days, filled with snowmen (even a snowcat), baked cookies, hot chocolate and time well spent together.

We had a snow storm last night that left us with just enough snow, of the sticky sort to roll some snowmen! Our neighbor had started before we headed out this morning and the kids had a blast playing with her. She has to be the coolest 12 year old ever! She always plays and entertains the kids with her amazing ideas.

Cordelia even came out, riding on my back. Hurray for babywearing! She was all comfy and cozy, giggling like crazy at the kids and the neighbor’s dog that came out to play. It was fun to be able to include her.

This afternoon, as I stitched like mad to finish up some Christmas presents we are delivering tomorrow to friends, J & Becca baked up some cookies for us to share. Ethan and Cordelia kept me company and I finally completed the handmade gifts. I hope the kids like them. I get so nervous! Hopefully before we head out tomorrow I can take some pictures (’cause you know I still have to wrap them!)

It was truly a great day.

Tomorrow we head to friends and J escapes to work for a few hours. I am so excited for Christmas this year. We have our three amazing children, each other, a great house and so so much love.

Are you ready for the holidays? Enjoying the time so far?

Can you believe it? Already! The girl is growing up way too fast for my liking. Thankfully she takes after her big sister and the tooth appeared without pain and suffering (unlike her older brother, he was tortured by teething!) It is the right tooth on the bottom that has broken threw but not up yet.

It is cold here. -20 C with the wind chill (and that so totally counts when walking to school!) I am so excited that today was the last day of school! YAY Christmas holidays.

I knit a pair of Bella Mittens for Ms B, Becca’s teacher. I hope the mittens will keep her hands toasty! I am still in the process of knitting, sewing and the like for Christmas. I am so not leaving it this late next year.

Ethan has not been feeling well as of late. He is very clingy, sensitive and teeters on the edge of crying a lot. It is so not like him. I am hoping it will pass soon.

The kids are beyond excited for Christmas. I can hardly wait to have everyone home, celebrating the season together. Times seems so precious.

Well I do have have my movie ticket for New Moon. My BFF & I are heading out Tuesday night. I have two more days to get all giddy like a school girl! hehe

Silliness is good for the soul.

We totally hauled a$$ or rather wood, and moved all the split wood to our wood shed. The 50 year old maple in our yard that fell, we kept the fallen tree. We have a fireplace insert in our basement to help supplement our heat in the winter. So when the tree fell, J saw the opportunity for wood (next year after the wood has dried out or seasoned). We had no clue what we were signing up for.

Luckily we had a friend come by with a chain saw and a wood splitter (splits the logs into burn-able size), to help us out. We worked all Wednesday after to split most of it. We still have these massive pieces of wood that I am not totally sure what we are going to do with.

So today we cleared that all out. Not an easy feat. I was ill most of last night, getting very little sleep. Just keep pushing forward.  The kids loved spending the afternoon outside (well Cordi merely put up with it). I am loving the cool but livable weather!

How was your weekend?

So I did cut a good 7 inches off my hair. It is shoulder length and I like it. I miss the dramatic length but I know this will be easier to maintain at the moment.

My tummy is still way upset but I just keep ignoring it and moving forward. Plus my arm has had a terrible reaction to the vaccination. It is all swollen, hot to the touch and very sore. Not fun.

Still one more day of the weekend. I hope to relax a little more tomorrow. J had to go into work today to give a tour & demonstration to parents and prospective students, so I was solo for a while.

The weather here is fabulous, the kids are finally in recovery mode and we were able to enjoy Becca’s day home from school.

We spent the entire morning outside. I knitted feverishly, completing a project that will be on it’s way to New Zealand, along with some Canadian/North American candy and chocolate!  I have to say this is the best exchange ever! I get CANDY!

Once I finished knitting, the kids and I ran around the yard, playing hide and seek, tag and rolling about in our damp grass and leaves. The giggles echoed through our neighborhood, filling my heart.

After nap time, we all got ready, pick up J from work and headed to a park to take pictures for our Christmas card. I received a groovy remote for my camera on our anniversary, so we were all able to be in the picture for a change! Once the photos were taken, the five of us once again ran about, playing hide and seek, enjoying the warm weather.

I so needed a good day. I so needed an evening curled up with my five year old reading to me. I so needed to watch my two year old run free. I so needed to cuddle our 3 month old as we hide behind the car, waiting to be discovered.

I needed to be free of illness. To be carefree. Today.

I love to play computer games. I used to be an online gamer (when I had oodles and oodles of time) and still consider myself a gamer at heart. To keep a game fresh, developers are constantly adding extensions, different levels and patching the game to make it more challenging.

On Monday, as I helped my sick kids through the day, I couldn’t help comparing parenting to a game.

When we had Becca, every milestone, every growth spurt was documented, celebrated and was a new challenge. We became champions of level one, then moved onto the next level. Total newbies to having two children we had to work through the stages.

It is easy to forget how hard those stages are at the beginning. You look at the level you are at and feel like you were Master Mom, highest level of wizard for like, ever. In reality, we work towards that comfort zone.

This summer I became the mother to three gorgeous kids. At first it didn’t feel like that big of a jump, then my oldest started school a mere month later. My head was spinning. However I got up each morning prepared three children, walked to school and accomplished that levels goals.

Last week, I feel like it all came crashing down upon me. Far from mastering this new level, the game changed adding a new challenge. I know I am a tad spoiled, but my kids rarely get hard core sick. Sure we suffer with colds, for what seems the entire winter, but that is nothing compared to really being sick.

I felt like being a mother of three was built upon a house of cards, the illness was the last card my mothering could hold up. It all came crashing down.

I am fortunate that my parenting game is a two player, although the majority of this gig is on me. Much more now than ever before. I find that very overwhelming at times, especially being so isolated here.

So as I work through these new challenges, I wonder what rewards are on this ever changing level. I get to witness Becca find her groove with school, enjoy Ethan’s ever expanding vocabulary and watch Cordelia grow, becoming more and more aware of her surroundings.

I obviously have way too much time to think of all these analogies to say, Parenting is a tough gig, ever changing, yet so rewarding.

Are the master of your level of parenting or a newbie trying to figure out when you leveled up to this new craziness?