Oh Doggie!

Cooper & Charly

These are my doggies.  Charly is on the right and she is 7 years old and an awesome dog - gentle, smart, and fluffy!  Cooper is on the left.  He's 1 1/2 years old and a holy terror.  He does have his good moments and is very gentle too but there have been many a moment that we wondered what we were thinking when we got him!

Well, in all honesty, I know why we got him....cause he looked like this:

Yes - he was tiny and a sweetheart.  He went right up to my son's big running shoe and tried to chew on it - That should have been our warning!  But we got sucked in by our love of all things cute and tiny and we came home with Cooper.

Today I decided that Cooper should have been named Hoover....or Bissell......or Dyson.  You get the picture.  He eats everything.

Now sometimes it benefits us like when he finds dust bunnies floating around the house and he traps and eats them.  Gross.

Today as I was walking in to family room with the baby I noticed a piece of paper that looked like a torn corner from a magazine.  I suspect it fell out of my 16 year old's pocket when he unloaded heaps of junk onto the coffee table.  Being a good house wife  I should have picked it up immediately, but of course I didn't.  Three minutes later I glanced over to the paper to find Cooper standing over the spot where the paper no longer was and Cooper was licking his chops like he'd just had a steak.

Later on I was throwing out the empty package of sweet'n'low from my coffee, and dropped the top piece in front of the garbage.  Before I could get to it, Cooper, who was trailing along beside me, swooped in and gobbled it up in seconds.  He then turned to look at me standing there completely exasperated and I *swear* he smiled at me, as if to say "Thanks, I needed that!"

Weigh In Wednesdays

This week I am starting with a group of girls to do Weigh In Wednesdays to help us lose baby weight. (Don't worry, I won't be posting my weigh ins here!)

I am normally pretty disciplined and eat healthy, but being at home all of the time makes it very hard not to snack, or to choose the wrong snack (those rice krispie squares are looking awfully tasty right now!)

When I was working every day outside of the home, I packed a very healthy lunch with fruit, veggies, yogurt, soup.....basically healthy stuff. 

I have been trying to get back into my healthy habits, but having spent nine months with very little appetite, and eating whatever I could to get some calories in is a hard habit to break!  As well, we are in the dead of winter so getting outside (where I long to be) with a baby is tough some days!

This brings us to Weigh In Wednesdays.  So, wish me luck along my journey as I work towards my goal of losing weight and being healthy.

Budgets and Money and Crying, Oh My

Well, okay, no crying but the afternoon activity at my house was Budgeting.  Are ya jealous?  Don't ya wish you were doing the same thing???

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

The Hubby and I started a budget several years ago.  We were struggling financially, and always thought that it would help if I got a better paying job (since I had a job that paid very little).  I applied for and got a job earning 10K per year more than I had been making and we thought we were home free.  Not.

Unfortunately we continued to spend every last penny and then some every month.  We tried budgeting several times but it took us a few tries to find something that worked well for both of us.  Finally the Hubby designed an awesome, amazing, wonderful spreadsheet and we decided to just spend 'normally' the first month and record everything we bought or spent money on.  Everything.  It was shocking to say the least to find out that we spent almost $1000 that month on what we considered 'household' items.  Holy cow!  We had thought that we only spent about $300 in that area so it was an eye-opener.

After the shock dissipated, we had the motivation we needed and spent the first few months "meeting" weekly to input our numbers and review our budget.  It was awesome to feel so in control of our money.  I no longer had to feel guilty about buying anything because we budgeted for things.  (It had gotten to the point where I felt guilty buying groceries!)

After a couple of years we stopped scrutinizing our numbers so much.  Our spending habits had become, well, habits and we were doing just fine.  Then came some life changes - We got married, got pregnant, bought a house, kept a home for rental property, moved and I went on maternity leave, slashing my income in half.  For the last six months I feel out of control - I again feel guilty for every dollar I spend and really need to get back into better money management habits again.

After some procrastination (this was supposed to be my New Year's Resolution) we are back on track for March 1st - back to tracking and reviewing our spending and generally feeling more in control.  It's kind of like when you realize you haven't cleaned your fridge in a loooooong time but the thought of digging into those dark containers at the very back with green fur growing up the sides is not very appealing.  You put it off for awhile, but every time you open the fridge the guilt hits you and finally you bite the bullet, have a couple of glasses of wine and clean the fridge out.  The wonderful feeling afterwards makes it all worthwhile (even if you decided to just cut your losses and throw out the tupperware).

So now we have our budget - it'll be a work in progress as we figure out how much we actually spend on things like diapers (an insane amount!) and utilities (bigger house means more!) but we're headed in the right direction!

I Have Super Powers!

The title says it all.  I realized today that I have Super Powers.  I have the power of ...wait for it...Invisibility!  


Those of you with teenagers will get it...those with smaller children, stop reading now.  Really.  I don't want to ruin the surprise for you!


So for those that kept reading, you obviously have or have had teenagers, those half grown creatures that only slink out of bed as the sun is changing courses from east to west, and spend what seems like four hour stretches in the bathroom only emerging as the sun sets, ready to start their day night.


Last night I dropped my half grown boy off at the local hockey rink at 9:00pm (yes, my bedtime).  Along the way we collected another half grown boy/man.  I proceeded to attempt conversation with the two half-men...nothing.  You know the sound crickets make...well it's winter and there're no crickets.  They just sat there in the car, itching to get out of the company of someone older than 25.


As we pulled up I asked my half man/boy if he had his phone so he could call for a ride home.  The response - "hm".  What the heck does "hm" mean?  Apparently it means "yes".  (I *think* that means I also speak another language).  I said "Have fun" and they got out of the car.  I said "See you in awhile" and the doors slammed.  I suddenly realized I might be invisible.


I could see myself in the rearview mirror (I checked) so I knew I wasn't a vampire.  Just invisible!  The thoughts tumbled through my head - what can I do with this new-found power?  I could hang out near my son and find out all the teenage gossip, I could look over the Hubby's shoulder to find out all of his computer passwords, OR...I could make myself invisible when the baby cried so someone else would go and tend to her at 4am!  


Muuhuuhahahaha  I am so excited!




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While we are on the subject of half grown people - why is it okay to leave the water filter in the fridge when it is *this* empty?

Learned Something New

 Today I poured a glass of water that looked like this   

Yuck.  It seems to happen more often lately, so, fearing cholera or some extinct bug disease, I looked it up on the internet.  It turns out that the cloudiness is air bubbles. 

"Cloudy water, also known as white water, is caused by air bubbles in the water. It is completely harmless.

It usually happens when it is very cold outside because the solubility of air in water increases as water pressure increases and/or water temperature decreases.

Cold water holds more air than warm water.

In the winter, water travels from the reservoir which is very cold and warms up during its travel to your tap. The air that is present is no longer soluble, and comes out of solution."

I still don't want to drink it.

Date Night!

Ha Ha - No we did not go to McD's!  We did have a fabulous dinner and then went to play some pool.  I won one game and the Hubby won three...that's when I knew it would be good to cut my losses and get the heck out of there!  The bartender at the pool place was pretty sketchy (okay the whole place was sketchy) - she was wearing an oversized grey sweatshirt and track pants, and the DJ looked likea white Don King.  We had fun though!

Thanks a million to great friends who watched Little Miss - we knew she was in great hands.  We have to admit we giggled a bit though when we got her up this morning and found this...

I do love these fold over bottoms but this one just isn't folding over anymore!  Too funny!

Technology Schmecnology

When I was pregnant a good friend loaned us a Fisher Price baby bathtub, but when I went to use it it just seemed awkward.  Maybe I was doing it wrong...but really - how many ways are there to place a baby in a tub?!

Sooo, off to Babies R Us to buy a new bath seat.  We've been using it but it makes Little Miss sit up so high that we have to pretty much fill the tub - now there's a waste of water.  Really, how dirty can a five month old get?  (I just know the Hubby is reading this thinking fondly of all the poopsplosions we use to have, but that's a story for another day!)  I also have to keep a warm cloth on her belly or else it just seems like water torture. 

I told a friend of mine that Little Miss may not be too thrilled with bath time since she is almost entirely out of the water and lays there like a small tree stump.  My friend told me that when her son was little, she just rolled up a towel and put it in the tub with her baby's head on it - he then laid on the bottm of the tub for his bath and it worked just fine.

It seemed entirely too simple to me...and inexpensive to boot!  Two days ago we tried the "towel apparatus" and low and behold, it worked like a charm...AND...Little Miss had a ball!  She was splashing and wiggling and looked like she was ready to swim away.  The Hubby and I got soaked (the first of many bathroom soakings to come I'm sure) but it was so much fun watching Little Miss kicking and squealing as she discovered what this "bathtub thing" is really all about!

Who needs all the fancy bathtubs and bath seats when you have a closet full of towels at your disposal? :)

Steamed Brownies Anyone?

I admit it.  I can be a bit obsessive.  Recently I decided to buy a steamer so I could steam, process and freeze my own baby food.  Within a day of buying said steamer, I have a giant bag each of frozen ice cube sized servings of sweet potato, green beans, peaches and applesauce.  Sounds healthy right?

Except now I want to steam and mash everything.  Everything.  I find myself looking around the kitchen to find things to steam and mash...rice - sure, lasagna - perhaps not the steaming part, brownies....maybe not.

I just can't get enough!  In order for me to feed my new addiction, dinner tonight will be steamed broccoli, steamed cauliflower, steamed rice and steamed steaks...not sure how the hubby will feel about that one!

Why Oh Why???

Why do you tempt me, sweet Nanaimo bar?  You know I am trying to lose baby weight, and yet you call out to me from your perch on the back of the counter.  I try to look away, I try to leave the room, but your persistent calls and whispers have permeated my mind..."Staceroo.....come and get me....if you don't, someone else will".

Sigh.

Alright.

You win.

My Newest Addition

This is my little princess. We hadn't originally planned on more kids since hubby (DH) has two boys aged 22 and 18 and I have one aged 16...we were almost home free! We could have travelled, we could have renovated, we could have slept in every single Saturday and Sunday until the day we died...and then...we decided to try for one more, together.
A year and a half later this little bean arrived and she was perfect. She had huge, bright blue eyes, the longest fingers I have ever seen on a baby and a perfect button nose.


Life as we know it has changed...a lot! DH is wrapped tightly around his little girl's finger, and I am so in love with her it's crazy! We will have to wait a couple of extra years to travel to Europe as we'd planned but Europe will still be there.

And we wouldn't have it any other way!

Well Here I Go!

This is my second attempt at blogging. The first was over a year ago and I lasted about 2 weeks. I then forgot I had a blog for several months and it seemed to be too much work to try to remember to blog! So...here I go again!

I apologize now if I blabber on and on about some mundane topic - it's my blog and I'm allowed! LOL Seriously - I am currently on maternity leave and some days the most exciting thing is watching my dogs wrestle in the backyard. I sooo need to get out!

So, thanks for reading and I'll catch you later!