Innocence and sticky popsicle juice

2011-06-08T02:56:00.000-07:00

I am now in the process of closing this blog, if anyone can help me figure out how to redirect anyone that comes here it would be much appreciated.
Please continue to read about our new journey at our new blog.

evanandmel.blogspot.com

Thanks everyone who read my blog and I am looking forward to seeing you at the new space!

New Blog

2011-05-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

Here is the URL to our new family blog with all the juicy details about our leaving the country!

Check it out!

http://evanandmel.blogspot.com

2011-05-10T07:18:00.000-07:00

So many of you have been asking for the details of our upcoming move to Kinshasa Congo. I promise I will be getting around to doing that post, I haven't forgotten!
Between finishing with Goodlife, packing and helping Evan renovate a basement we are 100% tapped for time.
We will be starting a brand new blog for this adventure so as soon as I get it up and running I will post the link here and the whole story will start to unfold!

Hope you will all stay posted!

Big Changes

2011-04-18T21:06:00.000-07:00

I have decided to bring the Schellenberg family blog up to speed for one main reason. Evan and I are moving us and our kids across the Country and would love to keep friends and family updated with our lives.
On May 22nd we will be flying out of Calgary to start a new chapter in life, life in Kinshasa Congo!
Up you heard right, we are moving to Africa and not as missionaries!
Both Evan and I have found jobs and we have enrolled the kids in an American public school.

Please keep following us to see where this journey leads us, I will write a post in the next couples days to fill everyone in one how this process got started and how we are doing with getting ready.

Evan and Mel

A new beginning?

2010-11-30T06:35:00.000-08:00

As I stumble back upon my blog I wonder if it is time to start back up, my last post of over a year ago.
So much has changed in the last year, so many good changes!

Hmmmmmmm, always something to think about!

Season

2009-11-19T15:11:00.000-08:00

Well, I think this season is done in my life. Time to retire the Schellenberg family blog, yup you heard it right folks. It is not that I don't have anything to say I just don't have the time to sit down and write it. Between working mornings and 3 evenings a week plus Saturdays, taking care of the kiddos and the house blogging has become so low on my priority list that it is sad.

hopefully in the future I will start one again and actually keep it up to date a little better then this last one.

On a side note, life is definitely looking brighter and more promising. Evan and I had some really big struggles after he returned from San Fransisco but it made us deal with them head on and things are looking a lot better.

I will still be popping in our your blogs from time to time.

thanks everyone for the comments and support over the last three years.

much to say

2009-08-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

I keep forming a post in my head but more stuff (exciting stuff) keeps popping up so I put the post on hold for the next couple days.

For now we are enjoying the last couple days of summer before Emmanuel starts grade one on Thursday. Man I feel like my kids are growing in leaps and bounds lately. I am excited for the changes in them but it slightly saddens me at the same time.
We have spent a couple more days at the water park with friends and have also hit the beach twice in the last week, we love the outdoors and sun in this house! :)

In my big update post I will have pictures from Micah's birthday and from our last couple days of summer.

Now off to meet a friend and school shopping this afternoon.

Little Girl

2009-08-11T12:03:00.000-07:00

By the way my little girl turns 4 tomorrow. I don't have babies anymore.

** SOB **

Unsure

2009-08-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

Do you ever want to post about life but feel like the time in your life in not that upbeat? I have been wanting to post for a couple weeks already, my first "excuse" is that my work is all consuming sometimes, Evan has been gone for 12 days ( got home last night) and I just don't have great things to say.
I feel like I am in a season that life keeps throwing crap my way, I have been standing tall and catching everything until last night. Now I feel like I am falling apart, my heart is broken.

Evan got home from San Fransisco last night at 9:00 p.m, I was excited until I picked him up we barely got a hello out and we were fighting. Long story short, I looked at him last night and realized that I barely know the man I love. It is heart breaking to realize that I was happier then I have been in a long time when he was gone, the kids drove me crazy and I was stressed but happy. I think this trip just brought to the surface the emotions and thought we both felt but didn't verbalize, this isn't a new problem just a new realization. We have been struggling since we lost our baby in March, we are in such different places in life right now and with out personal spiritual journeys we just don't know how to connect.

There is so much more to this story and so much that has added up to it and I feeling like I am drowning, every time I catch a breath of fresh air something comes up and I am down again. I am so not used to this, I am a strong person who hates being weak.

Okay that is my rant for right now, you want to hear about some good stuff?

I had an incredible time with my kids while Evan was gone, I told evan that is he gets to go away I take on a "holiday" attitdue with the kids for the time he is gone. I still had to go to work so that added so structure to my days but we just let loose. I spent 4 days at the spray park with my kids, packed food, sunscreen and toys and we didn't even look at the time we just played. It is so nice to really let loose sometimes.

Micah with her Monkey

Computer is not letting up upload more images, I will need to do them a different time.

I also found out this week that I passed my BodyStep video, It was a really hard discipline to train in a stretched me really far but I passed and now I will put it behind me. I don't enjoy the program enough to teach it a lot so I will stick to subbing for now.

Okay back to my week, in throwing out our schedule I think I gained 5 pounds at least and I was teaching at least twice a day. We ate Ice cream for supper, Chocolate anytime of the day, McDonalds ( only once, I can't stomach more)and so much other junk.
We also spent an evening with one of my good friends and her kids, I think we got home at 12:15 that night, so worth every moment they stayed up past their bedtime.

Anyway, small glimpse into my life, hopefully I will post soon with more pictures.

2009-07-13T10:50:00.000-07:00

It is about time

2009-07-12T15:22:00.000-07:00

I have so much to say but really little time to write and my head is completely spinning.

As a fitness instructor for Goodlife we are required to learn, memorize and teach new releases every 3 months. New releases are new Choreography that we get from head office to show our classes. Sounds easy right? Not exactly, while we are learning our new stuff for release week we are required to still teach our regular classes, prep for those classes, attend team practices and be ready to release.
When we have our release week, you have a couple instructors teaching each class to make it really special. I normally teach 10 times a week ( from Tuesday-Saturday, I have Monday and Sunday off), this week I only have Sunday off and I will be teaching/releasing a total of 17 classes.

I am hoping to get back into blogging really soon, this is just not the week to do it. I have so many topic I want to talk about, so much updating but I am thinking it will have to wait.

hopefully there are still some people out there.

2009-04-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

I am still here and still alive.
Nothing really new to report or talk about, I am happy with my life being on the boring side right now.
I am leaving my family this afternoon for the next 2 days to head to Toronto for Step training this weekend. I am going to miss my family but I am looking forward to learning something new and occupying my thoughts and mind for the next little while.

Hopefully I will have the energy and drive to post again after I return, no one hole their breath. I am returning right before our release weeks at Goodlife and will be running full swing. Oh to torture the body, wouldn't want my job any different.

2009-03-25T21:19:00.000-07:00

I have decided that I will not stop blogging. I don't want to leave my blog on the depressing note down swing that it has been on lately.
I have no news to share, no feelings to talk about, and nothing in general to share.

I am just trying to live life one day at a time.
I will be back when I have something upbeat and interesting to say.

update

2009-03-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning I needed to go in for an ultrasound because my doctor didn't think that my uterus was totally cleared out. I got a call from my doctor's office yesterday afternoon to find out that not everything is gone but is right at the edge of my uterus and looks like it will makes it's way out really soon. As for right now I don not need a D&C ( * insert happy dance, or as happy as I get), I am supposed to wait it out for a couple more weeks to see what happens.

Thank you for every one's thoughts, everyday is hard, everyday presents new challenges all I can do is keep breathing.

New Post

2009-03-08T21:48:00.000-07:00

I have not posted since the beginning of January, do I have things to say? So many things, so little drive to actually sit down and write. I wounder what is the point, why put my feelings into words, what does it really matter?
Right now as I sit here I wonder if this is a new beginning post to kick off more entrees on the blog or is it a farewell post to let everyone know what has been going on and say my good byes?

Anyone have any ideas?

My life in a nut shell - January to present

I have completed my Newbody and BodyAttack training, I have sent in my video on both and passed both. I am now a certified instructor with Goodlife fitness.
On Dec 27- Jan 1 we were in Las Vegas with Evan's family for Christmas. It was busy, crazy, relaxing and wonderful all at the same time. It was great to spend time with family catching up and letting our children play together.

On January 4th Evan and I found out that we were expecting our third baby, due on September 15 2009. We were excited and nervous at the same time. I was approved by my doctor to keep teaching right up until my due date. I had a very rough go in the first couple weeks, very nauseous and teaching was interesting. I was exhausted all the time and huffing and puffing by the end of the warm up in my classes. Lets just say the members knew what was going on very soon. I think it was out by the time I hit 8 weeks, I was also starting to show a little bit. Slightly bummed out for showing so soon but my doctor said that it was because I was lean and have lower body fat. Also all women show at different times.

On the last Monday in February I was teaching a class with another instructor and had crazy energy, she looked at me and all she had to say was welcome back. I was 12 weeks at that point and thought that I was seeing the end of my morning sickness and intense fatigue. Sunday March 1 I started bleeding really badly and went to the ER, after a long wait and an even longer wait in a room every inch of me was checked. I was told my hormone levels were great and all looked okay, I was sent home after 10 hours and told to come back early Monday morning for an ultra sound.
On Monday morning Evan and I said good bye to our little baby at 12 weeks 5 days.
I am not going to get into feelings or emotions an I am also not going to get into what we have been through this week. I would never want to do it again and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. No one should have to take medication to put there bodies into labor at 13 weeks and deliver your baby. NO ONE.
I don't have a lot to say on losing our baby, I know that I will one day just not right now.

Hopefully this will not be my last post but no promises, we will have to see what happens.

things to say

2009-01-06T11:14:00.000-08:00

I really do have a lot of stuff to say, from my work to new disciplines I am studying, things we did over Christmas, our trip to Las Vegas and many other things. Biggest problem I have little to no time to blog and when I do have time I want to sit on my rear end and watch t.v.

I don't know if anyone is reading but I will come back.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and a happy new year.

Curious Minds

2008-10-12T00:29:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post as I should be in bed. This is for anyone who might be remotely curious about what I do at the gym sometimes for hours on end, until my joints hurt and my feet don't want to support my body anymore ( sorry it is release week and I am swamped).

Who knows if my career as a fitness Instructor just doesn't do it for me in the next couple years, maybe I will try the circus.
I am prepping for my NewBody certification video that I am filming on Monday, October 13. I will blog again with an update very soon after that, for right now I have a one track mind and that is how it is going to stay.
Off to bed with an ice pack...fun filled Saturday night :)

New Stage

2008-09-25T22:36:00.000-07:00

I have just recently started a new journey in my career as a fitness instructor.
I have been teaching for almost 6 months now and I am just getting my feet wet. Last Friday I completed my NewBody training, NewBody is a program exclusive to Goodlife Fitness. Training was difficult to say the least, I spent 12 hours in the gym and most of the time we were moving. NewBody is my first discipline that I am training for. In the next couple weeks I will be flying to Toronto for a weekend of Attack training and a weekend of combat training. These trainings are so intense that you don't eat all weekend and you live off of power aid or some other supplement drink. I am totally physiced for the Attack training, it is so up my ally. Attack is super high cardio, I wore my heart rate monitor last week to class and worked so hard that I took my body from a aerobic workout to an anaerobic workout. Anaerobic doesn't burn as many calories but builds muscle, it all has to do with your heart rate. At one point my heart rate was at 101 % ( which is possible, it means that for my age and size my peak heart rate is 190 beats per minute, I was above that for a time being).

Going back to NewBody, I don't think anyone realizes what fitness instructors do to get ready for there classes. I am in the process of getting my video ready to become totally certified. I eat, sleep and breath NewBody right now. I team teach as many classes as I possibly can and have spent countless hours in front of the video at home.
A couple nights ago I woke Evan at 2:00 a.m. just to practice, lets just say he wasn't to happy with me at the time.
All I think about is NewBody, which is good at the moment but it worries me for the next couple weeks. My Attack and combat training are only two weeks apart and they are far more intense then the NewBody training.
At this time I am also running a skipping program on Friday evenings and I teach anywhere from 4-8 time per week, starting to feel stretched a little thin.
At the moment I am thinking about dropping the skipping program and just focusing on my disciplines at least until after Christmas.

I don't think this post is going anywhere I just needed to write and get things out of my head. It is also midnight and I am team teaching tomorrow morning so have about an hour of work to do yet tonight.

I love my job and wouldn't ever want to change anything, I need to figure out how to structure my life better. My family has eaten out for the last 3 night because I haven't had time to cook. We pride ourselves on eating healthy so this week has been a huge blow. My house also looks like a bomb went off in it, no time to clean and when Evan gets home in the evening I leave and he takes care of the kids. Evan works extremely hard at his job and I totally understand why all he wants to do is lay down on the couch.
If anyone has any suggestions about how to better stream line my house please let me know, I am open to anything right now.

Pictures as promised

2008-09-15T14:33:00.001-07:00

Emmanuel getting ready to leave the house ( above)

Trying to get a hug in ( above)

Standing in line waiting to go in with the teacher ( above)

Having story time on the special squares ( above)

Totally couldn't resist putting this one of Micah, sleeping with her hand down her panties.
She doesn't I took this picture! Love her.

What life is like

2008-09-15T11:35:00.000-07:00

Many times I have caught myself wondering if my life is turning out the way I wanted it to. Did I want to have kids young, did/do I want to be a stay at home mom, am I married to the man of my dreams, did I want to live in Calgary, am I happy as a fitness instructor.
I don't have all the answers for the way my life is turning out but I would never take anything back good or bad. As a adult you need to learn to deal with what you have been given and make the best of it. So much that happens in life is out of our control and in God's hands, and I would not want it any other way.
We do have choices in our life though, I feel like I am struggling with many of those choices right now.
I know that I made the right choice to start working as a fitness instructor, I am a happier person and a better mom. I knew before I had kids that I wanted to work after the first year and I took on small jobs here and there. I was never fulfilled still, I felt smothered and resentful towards my family. Now that I am with Goodlife I am gone approximately 16 hours per week, that is not even like working 3 full days and I have never been happier. Because I am happier my family is happier, I am healthier and way more confident.
Starting to work has brought on more choices with my life, do I want to work more, am I over doing it, do I need to give my body a rest, etc.
I am so happy as a fitness instructor but wasn't prepared for everything that goes along with it. Some weeks depending on how much I teach I am taking pain killers just to get through the next class then there are weeks that I don't teach very much at all and I feel like I need to get in to the gym to get a hard workout.
Another issue is body image, I am a great weight and healthy but deep inside I feel like it isn't enough, I can lose a couple more pounds, teach a couple more cardio classes or run a couple more miles. This isn't an issue that I am alone in, it is through out the entire fitness industry.

* please don't judge me, I just need to be honest. I would love to hear your comments, please keep them kind.

update on Emmanuel starting school.
Emmanuel is one his 2 full week of school and is loving it. He has adjusted so well to going to school every morning. This morning when I walked him to the school he took off running to his friends on the play ground and only came back to where I was standing to get his backpack. After he got his backpack he went and lined up and didn't look back.
When I go and pick him up from school he walks out of the doors gives his teacher a high-five throws me his backpack and takes off running with 4 other kindergarten boys. This group is inseparable, so cute.
Hopefully I can post some pictures in a couple days of his first day at kindergarten.
Micah is also loving her mornings at home. We are home Monday, Thursday and Friday morning. The other mornings I am teaching so Micah is in play group. We have spent many hours coloring, playing barbies and painting her nails, she is such a little girl.

HRM

2008-09-12T12:19:00.000-07:00

I just found the best heart rate monitor on line today. My mentor at the gym also works for Sport Check as a writer and she lead me in the right direction.
I am starting a class in two weeks, it is a skipping class. I have been told that if you skip for 1 hour you will burn 1000 calories but we wont be skipping for a full hour so I want to be able to say we just burnt xxxx calories in one hour skipping, running and boxing.
This heart rate monitor counts calories, keeps track of your heart rate, counts laps and so much more. these things are totally awesome.

So much more has happened in life including Emmanuel going to Kindergarten and me starting some new classes. I am also heading out for more training in the next couple weeks so I will be busy.
I am going to be starting a moms and babies fitness class in October, this class totally rules. It will be done with the babies in Snuggli's and well as floor work.
I just need to find a snuggli and something that replicates a baby ( don't look at my uterus... nothing is coming out of there anytime soon)!

Will post more soon, off to by me the heart rate monitor.

update

2008-08-28T13:25:00.000-07:00

So I have decided that after 4 weeks of silence it is time to post again. Summer is coming to a close and it has been way to short.
My parents came out for 10 days in visit, we did a lot of sight seeing, hanging out a home and playing with the kids. My mom even got to see me teach a class or two so that was awesome. We also had Micah's third birthday party ( my babies are growing up, more about that later).
Micah's special chair

The cupcakes I made from scratch ( so proud!)

We have also spent a lot of time at the lake which has been way more fun this year than any other, I think that is because the kids are older and able to do more for them selves.
We have also had company over the summer keeping us hoping!

I was able to fly out to Winnipeg recently and spend two days with my family as well as Josh and Holly's new baby. While in Manitoba I caught Strep throat which put me out of commission for about 6 days, not ideal when you are a fitness instructor! My first class back I didn't think I would actually make it through.

That is all for now, my mind is consumed with the fact that Emmanuel is headed to kindergarten on Tuesday!
Hopefully will post more in depth later, not holding my breath though.

2008-07-29T06:52:00.000-07:00

I thought I would give an update on how things went on Saturday. I took until about now to be able to actually form into words what I felt and saw that morning at the walk for the cure.
We arrived at the Round up Center in Calgary at about 6:25 a.m thinking we would have time to run though a few things before we started. It took forever to find the right person to talk to and when we did find her she was so busy she pointed in the direction of the "stage" and ran off again.
We found someone else and asked where to set up our music and that is when they informed us that we couldn't use our own music they had some pre-selected, huge blow!
After everything was figured out and it was time to go on, we were terrified. The stage was very small and very high up, we didn't hear the music until we were standing on the stage so we had no idea how fast it was or how many beats per minute it was ( that is huge for a fitness Instructor), and we had no idea what we were going to do because the routine was to our music so we wung it.

It turned out amazing, we had one girl figuring out what to do and the rest followed. Everything that possible felt like it was going wrong was all washed away when you looked out into a sea of a thousand smiling faces and remembered that reason we were there.
At one point we were doing a side step movement and all I could see was a mass of pink moving from side to side, It took all my will power to hold it together at that moment. Between all the people in pink, the music, seeing runners carrying the running shoes of runners from past years who have past away, and the genuine energy it was so over whelming but perfect.

My parents are out for the week so I will post more next week.

A good cause

2008-07-24T07:32:00.000-07:00

I have been given probably what I consider the greatest opportunity, Calgary has the walk for the cure this weekend. It is a 60 km walk for Breast Cancer, the participants walk 35 km on Saturday and do the remaining 25 on Sunday. Goodlife Fitness has been asked to be in Charge of warming up the participants on Saturday morning. Myself along with 3 of the other instructors will be heading to the Round up center for 6:30 a.m to lead a mass of people in a warm up.

When I found out I was going to be involved I was speechless, I feel so blessed and honored to be involved in such an event.
God has been doing so much wonderful things in my life, I have spent the last day just thanking him because I feel like I have no words to express how I truly feel.

I feel like I have the opportunity to use my passion for encourage and help others, I never want to look past that or lose it.

Hope everyone enjoys there weekend.

I will be back

2008-07-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

I will come out and say it, I am boring and have nothing of importance to say.
Do I bore everyone out of there minds talking about my job at the gym, what classes I am teaching and what percent body fat I am at? I already have very few readers left I think that would scare away the rest.
I hope everyone is enjoying there summer, and I promise that I will be returning so please don't stop checking just give me a week or so.

2008-06-18T07:37:00.000-07:00

Still to busy to post very much, wondering if I should shut down the blog, I just can't see to keep up.
Last night I opened my big mouth and said some things that I shouldn't have, it wasn't mean or hurtful things just something that didn't need to be said. I have lost many hours of sleep last night over this incident.
Anyone else out there feel like they have put there foot in there mouth at the wrong place and wrong time?

Today I am feeling like a huge A**

Hope everyone has a great day

2008-06-09T12:36:00.001-07:00

Just found out a couple hours ago that I passed my exam, ready to move on to the second phase of this journey.

2008-06-08T08:11:00.001-07:00

The classes are done, the exam has been written and the first fitness Instructors class has been taught. I will come back to this blog soon, for right now I am working on material for my classes, waiting for my exam marks and trying to pick up the pieces of our life. The last couple weeks have been crazy but so worth it.
Thank you so much to Evan's mom for coming to stay with us last week, you were a life savor. I really couldn't have done it without you.

If anyone still reads this blog I have a question, I am in the gym 5 days a week and will be getting some more of my own classes in the next week or so. I need a really good deodorant, no white residue, smells decent and not an antiperspirant. Anyone with ideas please let me know.

Breaking the silence

2008-05-26T12:35:00.000-07:00

Just wanted everyone to know that I will be breaking the silence on the blog as soon as possible.

I will be writing my exam on Thursday, June 5 and my life will be a lot less hectic. As for right now I spend all my free time at the gym on studying, my house is a disaster, my dishes are not done and my bathroom looks like a bomb went off in it.

On a happy note, my kids are doing great with all things considered and the amount of studying I do.
I also will be heading to Edmonton for the weekend for some classes. This will be the first time I was away for night since my kids have been born other then going to the hospital to have Micah. This will not be a vacation by any stretch of the imagination but It is getting away. I will have 29 hours of classes in 2 1/2 days, hurray for my brain.

I will definitely be posting when I return home.

2008-05-07T07:26:00.000-07:00

It is 8:30 in the morning and I am sitting at the computer while my kids are running around playing, I am trying to wrap my head around the events of the past week in this house.
All the craziness started on Saturday morning when I received a call from Calgary E.M.S at 4:00a.m, Nathan had been out with one of his friends for the night and they had been in a car accident. I arrived at Foothills Hospital at 4:40 in the morning only to have to wait about 20 minutes to see him.
Not going into any details I spent most of the day at the hospital with Nathan and his friend trying to make sure that they were okay and trying to be a voice for them. They were treated very poorly by the hospital, I left for my gym class at 9:00 a.m and returned at 12:00 and they still hadn't been feed or given anything to drink. A couple hours later they were both discharged into my care, Nathan's friend is from B.C so the hospital left him in my care and he stayed with us until Monday night. So I spent the weekend taking care of 2 very sore and in rough shape boys, they first 24 hrs was the hardest because I was on concussion watch but after that it got easier.
On Monday morning I headed out to the airport to pick up my mom who came out to help. My mom spent 2 days with us her and left this morning. She was a God send, even if she didn't do much for Nathan she gave me a much needed break by taking care of the kids and helping with house work. So mom if you are reading THANK YOU very much for your time and help.

Now we are back to "normal" life and I am starting to panic because my Exam is in 3 weeks and I need 5 weeks to study, I am still not past the first page.

If anyone has any advice on how to get back in the grove of studying please let me know. I graduated 8 years ago and feel like I am a fish out of water with the whole studying concept.

What a week

2008-04-25T11:21:00.000-07:00

I don't remember the last time I have had a crazy week like this last one. All of our adventures started last week Friday Morning. Evan's sister had flown out from Manitoba to pack up their house in Invermere before the movers came to get the boxes on Monday. We originally were going to pick her up at the airport and she was going to take a bus to Invermere in the afternoon with my brother. It started to snow and we heard word that the bus might be canceled so Evan and Nathan took off work and we decided to drive up ourselves and help pack.
We left our house at 10:30 and the snow was just starting to fall, by the time we hit Banff it was snowing full force and we were debating turning around. As we pressed on the weather was getting worse, at 20 km Evan couldn't see anything all he could do was follow the car ahead of us. We ended up making it to Invermere 4 1/2 hrs later as well as about 20 cars in the ditch and 5 plus on their roof.
Evan and I stayed in Invermere for 1 hour and decided to head back. The park rangers wouldn't let us back through the pass, we had to take a 6 hour detour through Crow's Nest Pass. Anyway 24 hrs later 2 more blizzards in Crow's Nest and hotel room we made it home.
That Saturday morning at 5:00 a.m. I got up to check the weather as I got out of bed I wrenched my left Knee, I hobbled to the window and realized that I was storming and took my sore knee back to bed.
At 7:00 a.m. we realized that we had to go our be stuck at the hotel for at least another day or two, so we left.

I spent the next couple days on the couch with an ice pack and medication nursing my knee ( aside from a couple lower impact classes at the gym). On Wednesday my knee started to feel better and I came down with a cold, I almost never get sick and this has been a bad one. On Wednesday I was doing some studying on pregnant women exercising and there heart rates and realized that I wasn't comprehending anything. I was definitely in a fog. On Thursday I went back and reread the chapter and is was so straight forward it made me embarrassed. All it was taking about is that if a pregnant mothers heart rate goes above 140 it starts to have an effect on the babies oxygen and blood supply.

Anyway long and the short of it is that it has been a long weekend, on top of everything Evan has worked until 1:00 a.m every morning so I have been on my own for the most part.
All I can say is that I am looking forward to the weekend, I have a couple classes at the gym on Saturday and Sunday will be the first day we have seen Evan since that Saturday. Hurray for good times.

If anyone has any idea where to get really good quality yoga pants and tank tops please let me know. I am not very happy with my current top ( brand is Matrix)

My Morning

2008-04-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

This morning I decided that I would bake muffins with my kids. We usually have lots of fun baking and the kids love mixing the batter and eating it.
As I was getting all the different ingredients out I noticed that the house was quiet but I didn't think to much of it. After all the ingredients were on the table I called the kids to come help me, Emmanuel called back that they were busy playing and would come in a minute. I thought that they were in Emmanuel's room which happens to be right across from the bathroom.
I left them for a couple more minutes and then decided to find out what they were "playing", so I called out and asked. Emmanuel's answer was nothing and about 5 seconds later I hear a little voice say " Emmanuel that's pretty, Mommy look Emmanuel made my hair pretty." This was followed by a very quick Micah BE QUIET. Lets just say I went running and running fast.
When I walked into the bathroom, this is what I found,
beside the sink I found a very proud Micah and a sheepish looking Emmanuel.

Micah's hair was beautiful, it is white blond and curly. When I would brush it it would go well beyond the middle of her back then bounce up to her shoulder blades with her curls.
Thankfully I used to be a hair dresser and could save it a little bit. Now Micah looks like this,
View from the back.

View from the front.

The nice part is some of the piece that were cut are very close to her scalp and they just happen to be right on top of her ears and behind them, very easy to cover up.
I guess Emmanuel has been watching me more then I thought when I cut hair.

Kids will be Kids.

Turning back the clock

2008-04-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

First of all I what to say thank you to the people who have left comments, they have been a sense of encouragement through this hard time. I would love to say that my life has figured itself out and I am happy but I am just not there yet.
I have come to the conclusion that a lot of what I am battling has come from exhaustion and stress. the last 1 1/2 years I have pretty much raised my kid by myself, moving to Calgary was hard financially and it sent us spiraling into survival mode. Evan would work during the day and the evening only to come home and fall into bed. It has been a lot better over the last couple months nut I still wasn't taking anytime for myself. Evan and I were talking and realized that he had been gone from us for 3 plus months over the last 4 1/2 years.
I have been away for 1 night on a youth retreat with 20 youth, some how that just doesn't add up.

Evan had been to Las Vegas on "business" ( he had 2 meetings in 5 days). He goes to concerts, had the house to himself for countless weeks while I visit my parents. He also spent 2 months in Calgary working and hanging out with my brother while I was with the kids in MB trying to tie up lose ends.

well times are going to change, I am heading back to school. Starting May 30 I will be studying to become a fitness Instructor. I have theory classes in Edmonton for a weekend and then practical classes in either Toronto or Ottawa in late summer. I will be training in two disiplines, Body Flow ( yoga, tai chi and Pilates) as well as Body Combat. I am super excited and can't wait to start. It is the perfect job, it will only be a couple hours a week and if my classes are during the day the kids get free babysitting right at the gym. I am hoping to teach 4-5 classes a week, hopefully some days of back to back classes. My schedule won't change very much from what it is now because I already spent two hours on Tuesday and Wednesday night at the gym as well as two hours Saturday morning.

I am hoping through working again I will be able to find myself and my many passions in life.

Lost #2

2008-04-09T20:31:00.000-07:00

After Body Combat tonight I did some soul searching to try and find out what is causing my funk.

I have decided to enlighten everyone on how I am really feeling, but please keep in mind that they are feelings and neither right nor wrong. I feel like I have been having panic attacks in the last couple days. These have come with the feel like I am going to be a parent for the rest of my life, What did we get ourselves into. I am not sure why it has taken me almost 5 years to realize it to this depth. For the last 5 years I have always thought that I am glad that I am a young mom, imagine what I can still do when my kids are older. I will be 41 when Emmanuel turns 20. We didn't plan to have kids nearly as early as we did but I have always worked with it and thought it turned out great.
Please don't misunderstand me I love my kids so much and I wouldn't want my life another way I just have been wondering what life would have been if we waited to have our children. I miss the freedom and spontaneity of when we were first married.
I have been doing some soul searching and plan to do a lot more, I will also keep up with my classes as they have been really good for my heart and my body.

Evan believes that a lot off this is due to hormones, my hormones have been wacky the last couple weeks. Evan and I have been trying to have our third and last baby for a number of months already with no success yet. Evan thinks the stress of it is showing in different ways and my panic about the future is one way. This will be the last time that I talk about trying to conceive until we are pregnant as I don't want to turn this chapter in our life completely public. I just wanted to let everyone in on what I have been dealing with.

I know I will get through this and the funk will clear and things will look brighter. I need to keep trusting in God and relying on him.
I hope no one thinks of me or my opinions as I don't love my children, I love them dearly and just needed to vent and get somethings out of my head. Just typing what I am feeling in an honest way have relived stress already.

Lost

2008-04-09T14:57:00.000-07:00

Ever get the feeling like you are wondering with no where to go and nothing to do? It is such a disorienting feeling, there is no drive or purpose to push you to accomplish anything.
This is how I have been feeling for the past 2 days. Except I have many places to go and many things I should be doing.
I still go through the motions, taking care of the kids, cleaning, making meals and going to the gym but I feel nothing. This is not like me at all. Especially at the gym I am driving to fight a little harder, to sweat a little more to dance with more beat. As of yesterday in my body Jam class we were doing Hip Hop and reggae and reggae is my all time favorite yet I still felt like my feet had no bounce, no lift in my heart or spirit.
Tonight I have body Combat and I am going to try and punch and kick this feeling out of me.
Hopefully I will feel better soon, I have been losing weight and I got a new hair cut so things were looking up and I can't even point out what has caused my hazy feeling.

On a better note Evan and I invested in Bikes for ourselves and a bike trailer. I have started biking to the gym instead for driving the 3 minutes. Evan comes an hour or two later with the kids in the trailer and then we bike home together. This is the best way we could have spent our money, I have a feeling we will get lots of wear and tear out of them this summer.

Butt Kicking

2008-04-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

I have officially had my butt kicked yesterday at my Body Combat class. When I was told to try the class the person told me it was just like Tae-boo with Billy Banks, I used to do these videos in high school. Well they were wrong, I have been doing high impact dance classes for 3 weeks and today is the first time I fell like I was run over by a truck. I was finished after 15 minutes in the class and still had 45 more to go. I am now on a personal mission that I will make it through the class without feeling like I want to die. The funny part is my Body Jam instructor said that her class is the hardest and if we can do body jam we can do any class, boy was she mislead :).

On a different note my brother has officially moved in with us. It is great to have him around and see him more often, he will be working with Evan doing Commercial concrete.
All we have to do is find him a bed. We had a bed for him that we found on line, it came with box spring, mattress. headboard and dresser. Evan was bringing the stuff home on the van when the tie down straps broke and sent the mattress and box spring flying off the top of the van. The mattress and box spring didn't hit any car but caused two different accidents, let just say Evan has been super frustrated since then.

anyway that is all for now I am going to go and sit on the couch and pretend that my body doesn't hurt every time I move.

What a wonderful week

2008-03-31T07:54:00.000-07:00

As a stay at home mom I can get really tired of not leaving the house. Sometimes I have the car and then I try and pack as much as I can into the day and it ends up feeling to full and I have to deal with cranky kids.

I am super pumped about my week ahead of me. Today is a house cleaning day, dishes need to be done, the bathroom needs cleaning and the basement. On Tuesday I have the car, I have a meeting with the Kindergarten teacher at the last school in our district and I have my Body Jam class in the evening. Wednesday My brother is moving in with us, we are super pumped about that. Also on Wednesday I have my Body Combat class in the evening.
Thursday I am at home and Friday we have our small group meeting in the evening.
I know this must be a boring post but it feels great to have something to look forward to during the week.

I hope everyone had a great weekend.

The new class

2008-03-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

I have spent the last 6 months trying to revise my eating habits and how much I work out. In November it was recommended by the doctor that I stop eating wheat, anything with Gluten and starchy foods. I was told to go on this diet to see if it makes my I.B.S any better.
Let me tell you I feel like a new person, my stomach used to look like I was 5 months pregnant everyday ( no, I am NOT joking) and I had the worse stomach pain.
I know have a smaller stomach with just a little baby flab. I also started biking in December every night for 1 hour, I lost 15 pounds by the end of February.
I stopped biking the end of February due to physical and emotional circumstances and have been trying to get back to doing physical exercise.
Well, I did it I joined a womens gym called Goodlife. I do a couple classes they offer one is called Body Jam and I love it. It is high energy dancing for an hour, anything for Salsa to Hip Hop to Line dancing with tons of pelvic thrusting and bumping and grinding ( SO fun). So yeah for me and now that everyone knows I can't slack off, time to shed some of my excess body fat.

1 st time on the Gondola in Baniff

2008-03-25T07:38:00.000-07:00

a couple weeks ago after an especially long and hard week Evan and I decided to take the kids to Baniff on a Sunday afternoon. When we got there we discovered that it was a lot cooler in Baniff then it was in Calgary, and Evan and I were only in Spring Jackets, we brought the kids winter jackets.
Instead of taking a couple hours to hike some of the path ways we paid the HIGH price to ride the Gondola. I have to say that it was the best money we have spent on our family in a long time.
It takes about 10 minutes to get up to the top of the mountain and then you need to get out. We spent time walking around the store at the top of the mountain and walking outside on the walk way. The outside walk was awesome but we only lasted about 10 minutes before being to cold.

after spending about 1 hour with the Gondola we drove back into Baniff and took the kids to the candy shop. We love the candy shop there, it is filled with candy and only candy.
After our kids had picked some candy we spent about 1 1/2 hrs walking around the main street. Baniff has the best stores, we wouldn't be able to afford things but it is great just to look around.

Update on our school situation: I have yet to chose a kindergarten school for Emmanuel. I still haven't had an opportunity to see the last school in our zone, but I am leaning toward the Catholic school. I am hoping to be able to get to the other school later this week and I will make a more informed decision.

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend and is enjoying the warmer weather.

*** We are selling our double jogging stroller, if anyone is interested around the Calgary area or Manitoba ( I am coming out in May) be write us an e-mail at echo_mtn@telus.net
We are asking $75.00 o.b.o It is navy blue with black trim, with 2 large baskets under each seat.
both seats recline individually and it has a 5 point harness system.
I will post a picture this afternoon when it is warmer outside.

2008-03-17T08:29:00.001-07:00

Lots to say just no time to sit down and write. maybe I should make it a bigger priority in my life.
New entry to come when the dishes are done, hopefully tonight.
Sorry for the prolonged silence.

September is coming

2008-02-21T11:30:00.000-08:00

I have been very busy over the last couples days due to the new stage of life we are entering. We are in the process of looking for a Kindergarten school for Emmanuel. We have two schools close to our house that I decided to check out today, you think that would be an easy process. The first one has a great play ground which drew Emmanuel there, as I walked in I was greeted by the principal.
She asked Emmanuel his name and shook his hand before even addressing me, Huge brownie points!
After talking for a couple minutes she asked if I realized that it was a Catholic school, I of course had no idea. Emmanuel would still be accepted if we were not Catholic. We had a tour of the school and she even brought us into classrooms that were in session. She was open and welcoming, Emmanuel held her hand while we walked around in the kindergarten classroom ( that is a huge step forward for him). I LOVE the school and some of the teachers I meet, Emmanuel loved the school, the big thing I am concerned about is confusing him. I love the fact that they say the Lord's prayer but they also say other ones and have Catholic practices. ( I am in no way against the Catholic Religion, it is just not for us.)
I thanked her for the tour and asked if there were any other kindergarten schools in the area, she said there was one across the street.

Onward I went.

As I approached the school school I had a deep sinking feeling. There were very few windows, and the windows they had were covered in a mesh like cage. The outside of the school was very unwelcoming and cold.
I walked in and no one addressed me or Emmanuel, we found our way to the office and asked if we could have information on Kindergarten program. The lady looked at me like I was stupid and said they have an open house in May and I could get all the information then.
So I asked if I could see the school as she was like, "NOW?"
I said if it wasn't a problem and she was like sorry we don't do that. The biggest problem I have is the school has a no religion policy, no Lord's prayer, no religion classes, and no Christmas concert ( they have a celebrate the seasons concert) NOTHING.
That bothers me so much, I would like to be met half way at least. So now I am back to the drawing board, there is one more school in our district that I am going to check out, I would have to drive Emmanuel or he would need to take the bus. I f that doesn't pan out I am going to look at Christian schools and see what our options are.

Please if anyone has advice let me know. I really just want the best for my child and if I don't feel comfortable with the school I don't think I should send him there.

Hurray for Vanishing spots

2008-02-16T16:03:00.000-08:00

Micah is now over the fever that has plagued her since Tuesday at noon. After my last post Micah had spots over most of her body and couple hours later she started to sweat and then the spots disappeared as well as her fever. I thought she was fine and proceeded with the plan to go out. Right before we left Micah's fever was back up , we decided to try and still go out. Skip ahead a couple hours to a child who is inconsolable and hot, when we returned home Micah's fever was at 105.7, I called health links and was told to keep her home unless it stayed that high for 2 straight hours. They also said the rash was most likely due to the high fever as well as the blisters in her mouth. Micah stayed with a fever anywhere between 102.1-104.5 for the next 24 hours. Her fever broke Thursday around 2 a.m and has not returned. There has been many time I wished it was back because she is now a bear, instead for having a pathetic cry and staring into space. She cries all the time and doesn't sleep, last night I finally climbed into bed at 4:30 a.m.
So we are on the mend, She has a stuffed nose and the blisters in her mouth are almost healed.
So after all this trouble my daughter just had a really bad head cold.
I am just hoping that she is better tomorrow, we are taking part in the baby dedication in our church tomorrow morning.
Hopefully I will be able to post pictures of my children all dressed up for church, we bought Micah and jean skirt from once upon a child for $3.50, can't go wrong with a price like that.

Micah's Fever

2008-02-13T12:33:00.000-08:00

Well all good things must come to an end, Micah's temp is back up to 104.1. She has also developed a rash on the trunk of her body and has blisters in her mouth. I have called health links and they said she should be seen if she gets worse nut if not it is okay to keep her home. Health links said that it sounded like she was getting measles and only time will tell. I am glad not to take her to the doctors but sad to see her so sick. Needless to say I think tonight is officially canceled, I think we will be celebrating Valentines day at home like the other years. There is always next year :).

Mystery Fever

2008-02-13T07:46:00.000-08:00

I think my daughter is now over the mystery fever that has been bothering her, at one point her temp was at 103.1. For the last couple days she hasn't been herself, cranky, not sleeping during the day or at night, not eating much and just not happy. I have averaged about 3 hours of sleep a night since Friday night.
She didn't complain of a stomach ache, no cold symptoms and she said her mouth DIDN'T hurt. Hopefully she stay fever free now, especially since Evan and I are going out of Valentines day tonight. It will be our first date in a couple months, we are trying a restaurant called Newport Grill, it is right on a lake. Not holding my breath that we will be able to see anything, our reservation in at 6:30 and it is dark by then. We decided to celebrate today because tomorrow is Evan's birthday and we are busy this weekend. I am not complaining I think it will be fun, the kids are going to spend the evening with our close friends who also have two kids. There youngest is 5 months and Micah loves "taking care of her".

Just wondering what is everyone else doing for Valentines day?
This is our first year celebrating outside of our home since Emmanuel was born so I am pretty excited. Every other year we have ordered food after the kids have gone to bed and watched a movie, which I also really enjoy.

Blog Design

2008-02-11T09:27:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the new Innocence and Sticky Popsicles juice site, Thank you so much to Lena for creating a new lay out for me. I really love the work you do.
Hopefully the new layout is like a new beginning for my blog, hopefully I will have more to say and more updates.
Thank you again Lena.

update

2008-02-08T13:51:00.000-08:00

I think that Micah is over the hardest part of giving up her soother. She still asks for it all the time but accepts it when we tell her that we don't have one and she doesn't need it anymore.
It is weird not have Micah on a soother, I feel like she is not a baby anymore. We don't need a diaper bag anymore, I have nothing to carry in it. No more kids in diapers and no need for soothers, I just keep snacks in the car for when we go out. What a freeing stage of life to be in, now if we decide to have more children it will be a rude awakening of carrying a bag around again.

On more exciting news Evan and I are going away for a couple days by ourselves for the first time since Emmanuel has been born. We will be heading to Canmore for 3 days of sleeping in, eating out and exploring the town. SO EXCITED.
It is going to be nice to get away, Evan has been working tons and I am tired after being home with the kids 24/7. Evan is tired too, it is hard to start work at 7:00 a.m and get home around midnight 6 days a week.

hopefully I can post more later, no promises I suck at this type of thing

growing up

2008-02-04T11:58:00.000-08:00

My children our officially growing up. Emmanuel will be starting Kindergarten in the fall and Micah has gotten rid of her soother.
I contemplated making the title of this post Going crazy! Micah is driving me up the wall, we took her soother away during the day about 3 weeks ago and now we are doing nights and nap time.
We are working on day 3 with little sleep and a cranky over tired 2 1/2 year old. She was fine when we took the soother away during the day but at night it is a different story, she is always asking for it ( day and night), looking for it and either whining or crying.
I am glad we took the soother away it was getting old watching my toddler walking around with a soother in her mouth. She is also very good at talking but it is almost impossible to understand with the mouth plugged up.
Anyway I will keep plugging away because this to will come to an end and we will be free of soothers.

Ring Sling

2008-01-30T13:42:00.000-08:00

Today I was over at Drea blog and saw a contest on a ring sling. I would love to use one if we were to expand our family any time soon and if not it would make a great baby gift.

Hopefully I win.

2008-01-10T15:17:00.000-08:00

We are back from our Ski holiday with Evan's Family. We had an awesome time full of laughs, food and very sore muscles. I went snowboarding for the first time, had a blast. I did spend most of my time on my rear end so I was very sore for the couple days after.
We spent tons of time out side playing in the snow or sitting in the Hot springs. In the evenings after the kids had gone to bed we would play games or talk or watch T.V. And the place we were staying in was amazing, so very nice. In the room Evan and I were sharing with our kids had it own T.V, private bathroom with heated floors and a Jacuzzi tub.
I have tons of pictures and will post them when I find the camera, It is easier to explain what happened when you have pictures to look at.

Micah's appointment was super long but really encouraging, the doctor was really nice. Micah doesn't need glasses, she has a pretty rare condition where her eyes are overly sensitive. The doctor said that most kids grow out of it and I f they don't they have to learn to cope with it. We are hoping that Micah will grow out of it, it seems to be really annoying for her.

I will try and post a more detailed description of our holidays when I have the pictures down loaded.

Breaking the silence

2008-01-02T16:38:00.000-08:00

I have decided it is time to break the silence, I have been so slack with blogging. Nothing to exciting has happened around here lately. Sooner or later I will get around to posting pictures of Christmas and our ski trip. Evan's family is going skiing for a week, we leave on Friday for Radium.

This evening as I was sitting at the table with the kids writing on a paper my kids were coloring and Micah started to complain about her eyes. This is a normal when she is coloring, watching T.V or Reading. I decide to tell her about her appointment with the ophthalmologist on Friday. After telling her about the appointment she started asking questions like will it hurt and is the doctor nice.

After all questions were answer she composed this song which she is still singing.

" Doctor wont hurt me, because...
he is a nice guy."
" I want to go to the hospital, because...
He is a nice guy.
" I want to go to the hospital, because...
To get glasses."
" Doctor wont hurt me, because
My eyes are burning and hes a nice guy."

That is as much as I can remember and you get the idea.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a great new year. I will post an update about Micah's appointment on Friday either before we leave for the resort of when we return home.

I hope people are still checking this blog.

Nothing to write about

2007-11-26T17:39:00.000-08:00

I noticed today that I haven't posted for awhile. I really have nothing to talk about, nothing to exciting. I have a little girl down with a fever and we are starting to prepare to go to Manitoba for a couple days. We will be leaving around the 6th of December. I found this questionnaire while I was reading Tara's blog

1. What kind of soap is in your bathtub right now? Dove body wash, L'oreal shampoo for kids.

2. Do you have any watermelon in your refrigerator? Not at the moment, I would love some though.

3. What would you change about your living room? I wouldn't be living in a rental house, I would be back in Manitoba in the house we owned with the red walls.

4. Are the dishes in your dishwasher clean or dirty? Clean, but that doesn't say anything about the state of my dishes on the counter.

5. What is in your fridge? Milk, lot's of fresh fruit and veggies, yogurt, left over homemade chicken noodle soup.

6. White or wheat bread? Whole wheat.

7. What is on top of your refrigerator? A ton of junk.

8. What color or design is on your shower curtain? Clear plastic one on the outside, solid blue on the inside.

9. How many plants are in your home? Zero.

10. Is your bed made right now? Nope.

11. Comet or Soft Scrub? Neither...

12. Is your closet organized? Not at the moment.

13. Can you describe your flashlight? Large black heavy duty one. We used it when we were assistant directors at Beaver Creek Bible camp.

14. Do you drink out of glass or plastic more at home? Evan and I Glass and Emmanuel and Micah have plastic.

15. Do you have iced tea made in a pitcher right now? Nope

16. If you have garage, is it cluttered? No garage, our office/playroom is cluttered.

17. Curtains or blinds? blinds...I bought curtains for our living room but wrecked them before i put them up...

18. How many pillows do you sleep with? 1 regular and sometimes a body pillow.

19. Do you sleep with any lights on at night? one small light in the bathroom.

20. How often do you vacuum? Maybe once a week

21. Standard toothbrush or electric? Standard medium toothbrush.

22. What color is your toothbrush? Pink and Blue

23. Do you have welcome mat on your front porch? Not a welcome mat, just a plan mat to catch water.

24. What is in your oven right now? Oven racks

25. Is there anything under your bed? Dust, odds and ends that the kids push under there.

26. Chore you hate the most? Dishes and bathrooms

27. What retro items are in your home? Everything, of course

28. Do you have separate room you use an an office? Nope. Our office and playroom are together.

29. How many mirrors are in your home? One in the bathroom and one in our bedroom.

30. Do you have any hidden emergency money around your home? Change Emmanuel hunts for in the couch cushions.

31. What color are your walls? A Pinkish, yellowish, white color. Very disturbing, but out landlord LOVES them.

32. What does your home smell like right now? Soup we had for supper.

33. Favorite candle scent? Vanilla

34. What kind of pickles are in your refrigerator right now? None, we don't buy pickles.

35. Ever been on your roof? Not this one but our home in Arborg.

36. Do you own a stereo? Only the computer.

37. How many TV’s do you have? One in the living room.

38. How many phones? 1 landline and 1 cell phone

39. Do you have a housekeeper? Only me.

40. What style do you decorate in? anything cheap or free.

41. Do you like solid colors in furniture or prints?I prefer solid but whatever is cheap.

42. Is there a smoke detector in your home? 2 of em, actually

Our Trip to Banff

2007-11-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

2 weeks ago we took the kids to Banff on a Sunday afternoon. It is soon nice to be that close, you drive 1 1/2 hrs and feel like you are nice a completely different province. I love the town of Banff and if ever Evan and I were rich we would move there.
We took the kids for a quick stop at the candy shop and walked around the main street for awhile. After the kids were tried of walking we went to a small museum and looked around at animals that had been killed and stuffed.
Last Christmas Evan and I hit a moose in the mountains and then I thought it was huge but seeing that moose close up is pretty freaky.
After the mountains we took the kids to a place call Cave and Basin. It is klms of trails that take you to the marsh and to a look out point to see birds. We also climbed many flights of stairs to some other trail that takes you to natural hot springs.
Some of these springs are so far in the ground that you have to lean of the fence as far as you can to see the water in the ground.
It was such a great thing for the kids to experience and it was soon nice to get out of the city. I am starting to feel cluster phobic in Calgary,I am not sure if I am ever going to get used to how big it is.

I have all of our pictures from that day on my face book account if anyone is interested in viewing the rest.

Anyway off to clean the house before the weekend, the task that never seems to be done or even close to done.

Emmanuel's 4th Birthday.

2007-10-23T14:23:00.000-07:00

Emmanuel turned 4 on October 17th. I can't believe how fast the last 4 years have gone. I still remember the day he was born and the many sleepless days, weeks, months following.

We had a party with friends from our church, it kind of got out of hand and turned into 26 people in our home. 14 of those people were kids. This year defiantly made me look forward to next year where we will invite a couple boys from his kindergarten class ( AHHHH Kindergarten, that is a whole other post).

All in All the party was a blast, Emmanuel had a Lightening McQueen birthday cake and homemade pizza (8 pizzas).
He received great gifts, manly from the cars movie and is seeming older already. One gift from Evan and I was a bicycle helmet so now Emmanuel is allowed to ride his bike on the side walk. I write this post with a lump in my throat and watery eyes thinking about yesterday when I took him to ride outside. Me having to run after him to keep up. He was gone and there was no looking back ( until he couldn't turn with out help :) ).
I will end this post with one last sentence ad many pictures, my first born is growing up.

* Having problem posting pictures, will try again later.

Life

2007-10-22T09:55:00.000-07:00

Our life this past month in a nut shell is birthday, broken bones and cleaning.

First things first, about 2 weeks ago, Micah was running in our friends living room when she slipped and fell into a window sill. I was out for supper at the time when Evan called me frantically on the phone. When I returned to our friend house I found my daughter looking like this,

The picture doesn't show everything, but Micah's nose was instantly swollen and turning color, she couldn't breath through her nose and was crying uncontrollably. Evan and I rushed her into the Red Deer hospital. By the time we got there her nose was huge and starting to look like a banana.
We left the hospital 2 hours later with a daughter full of pain medication and a freshly broken nose. The doctor said it was only crooked because of the swelling and they didn't need to set her nose. Here are a couple pictures of the next couple days.

Day 2, swelling is going down, her nose is getting straighter and the bruising is getting darker.

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

After this point things have been progressively getting better. I will have more posts later today or tomorrow about the rest of out life.

Micah's Appointment

2007-10-03T08:08:00.000-07:00

I was wrong my last post, Micah's appointment was with her new pediatrician and not the ophthalmologist. Micah has her appointment with the eye doctor in a couple weeks.
The moment the Dr. walked into the room I fell in love with her. The doctor is in her upper forties super upbeat and very caring (qualities that are hard to find in a Calgary Doctor). It was nice to have a fresh opinion of Micah and it was the first Doctor that told us that Micah's crying many not be due to something physically wrong with her it may just be her temperament.
We were sent for more blood work to rule some different things out and also a x-ray of her hips. This doctor is the first one to take me seriously about Micah's odd running gait. Micah's left hip seizes up when she runs, it makes her look like she is running side ways and leaning forward. It is incredibly cute, the doctor was having a hard time not laughing. She was also the first doctor to make Micah run and watch what is going on.
All in all it was a great appointment.

Well, I have to start baking, Evan and I are having about 20 people here on Sunday for Thanks giving and I work Friday night as well as a 12 hr shift on Saturday.

Stay at home Mom

2007-10-01T14:43:00.000-07:00

I was reading Carissa's Blog today and it really hit home for me. I have a working Mom for the last straight year. At one point I was working nights at Tim Horton's on weekends, delivering papers and babysitting 2 days a week as well as caring for my home and children. This lasted for about 2 weeks and the burn out happened. I have been at Smuggler's Inn for just about a year and have loved every minute of it. Last weekend I handed in my official 2 week notice letter, and I have mixed feelings. I would love to stay but the commute is to long especially in rush hour and to this day the kids aren't dealing well with me working. Micah screams while I am at work and Emmanuel acts up the entire day after I get off. I only worked Fridays and Saturdays so Emmanuel would always act up on Sunday.
At this point I need to do what is best for my family, if I don't work Saturdays then Evan can work them making triple the money I would make and then he would be home in the evenings.
Seems like a no brainer decision, to my heart not a easy executed plan. At home I cook , clean, run errrands and take care of the kids with little to no affirmation or thanks. At work you are constantly being affirmed, thanks for doing this, thanks for doing that, etc. It is really nice to feel needed and wanted, I know I am needed and wanted at home but no one verbally tells you that.
Anyway, I am happy about my decision to go back to being a stay at home mom and it will be SO nice to have Evan home in the evenings, I feel like we are on the road to start feeling like a family again. I just wanted to share some of my thoughts and feelings.

On a completely different note Micah has one of her specialist appointments tomorrow morning, this one is with an pediatric ophthalmologist. I will post info when when we return from the doctors office.

Life as we know it.

2007-09-28T09:52:00.000-07:00

Our life has been anything but normal or slow in the past couple weeks.
I have been home with the kids during the week and working during the weekend. Evan has been working 16 hours days for the past 2 weeks, it was crazy. Evan was doing a taping job in the evenings as well as working his day job. That is all over and we will temporarily return to life. I have 2 more weeks left of work and then I am done, I love my job but driving 25 mins one way for 15 hrs a week is not worth it. On Friday nights I spend 1 hour in the car for a 3 hour shift. I am going to say out of the work force for a couple months and then after Christmas I am hoping to find the same kind of Job just closer to home.
Evan will be working normal hours for the next week and a half and then he is off to Red Deer to work with one of our friends for 6 days. That is going to be a long week for me at home.

Hopefully I can think of something more Interesting to post in the near future.

Contest

2007-09-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

I am not one to sign up for contests, I am not sure why but when I was reading Stacy's blog I knew I couldn't pass up this chance. Maybe I will get addicted to signing up for contests.
I love the Idea of a nursing bracelet, when I was nursing either of my two kids I would always forget what side was last and what time ( and who wants to feel there breasts in public to see which is fuller). I also checked out Amy May's sight and really like a lot of things she is offering, I will definitely be shopping there IF there are more children in the picture for us.

hope everyone is having a wonderful week.

The things we teach our Children

2007-09-07T10:25:00.000-07:00

I have always known that our kids listen and hang on to every word we say. There have been many embarrassing moments when Emmanuel has repeated something we have said in the privacy of our own home. Today I saw the fun side.
I was playing kitchen with the kids , we were making food for the kids stuffed animals and we were having a blast. Emmanuel then decides that he wants to play house, he tells me that he is the dad and Micah will be the mom. I am thinking okay great maybe I can sneak away and get some dishes done, when I am torn from my thought to hear Emmanuel stating that Micah needs to stay in the Kitchen because she is the mom and he will go to work.
I thought it was very cute and funny.

2007-09-04T08:11:00.000-07:00

We just came off of a wonderful week. My parents were out from Manitoba and we had a blast.

We spent the days hanging out, going to the mall or the Zoo. They left on Sunday and it felt way to early. It was a perfect balance of spending time with them, my parents spending time with the Kids and Evan and I having our own time with the kids.

I have been so thankful from the visiting that we could do with both of our parents in the last couple weeks.

I will post more later with Pictures.

2007-08-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

I am sitting at the computer in absolute bliss, my house is silent. Micah is sleeping and Emmanuel is watching cartoons, and for the moment all company is gone. We had Evan's parents out from Saturday at 8:30 a.m until last night. We had a wonderful time with them but it is nice to have my home back. I have a week to get things in order then my parent will be coming out.
On Sunday Micah had her 2nd birthday and we had a party, what a wild day. The house was full and lively, it was great.
Micah feel in love with the 4 princesses cake at superstore and then we found the same design at Dairy Queen. So we went with both, not on purpose of course. I ordered the cake from Superstore a week ahead of time and on Saturday Evan and I found the Ice cream cake and Dairy Queen said they could have it done on time so we order one. Long store short Evan thought I would cancel the order from superstore and I thought he did it, it didn't get done so we ended up with 2 cakes.

Evan and I bought Micah a Kitchen and she received lost of things that go along with it, She also got a little leap pad book reader, a cabbage patch kid and tons of other things. We appreciated everyone that could be there is person or thought.

On a completely different note I saw our family doctor today to get Micah's blood test results. These test where taken a couple weeks ago by her cardiologist.
The good news is that all test came back normal. The not so good news is Evan and I are starting to feel like we are living the mystery Diagnosis show on TLC. Micah weight has only drop a little bit more which is good but her attitude isn't changing. Her doctor now has passed her case on to a pediatrician and we are been sent to a support group for parents with chronically unhappy or strong willed children. He isn't sure is the group will help Micah because they aren't sure what is wrong yet but he is more concerned about Mine, Evans and Emmanuel's well being. We have been listening to crying for a long time already.
we will keep everyone up to date as everything unfolds. We are still praying that Micah just out grows it, but it also would be nice to know what is going on and how to make things better for her.

Full swinging summer

2007-08-07T20:54:00.000-07:00

Life is crazy and is about to get crazier for our family. We seem to always be busy at home or on the run, summer is in full swing. During the week Evan works from 6:30-6:00 and every Tuesday and Thursday from 6:30-11:00 and I am at home with the kids. On Fridays and Saturdays I work out of the home at a restaurant. Sunday is our only free day and we always manage to double book us.
We have not seen a free weekend this summer and will not see one for a very long time. Up until this point we have had family over on the weekends but this Saturday Evan 's parents are coming out and after they leave my parents will be out. I am super excited to have family come to visit, This is the kind of busyness that is welcome.
Emmanuel has been loving the time he has spent with his uncles recently, we have spent some time with my brothers in the last little while.
Micah though timid has also been enjoying the extra attention, as for myself I have have been trying to relax and not think about when the house is quiet of visitors and all I can hear is "Mommy play with me" repeated over and over again. I can say with great confidence that I have accomplished very little around the house this summer, the kids and I have taken up permanent residence at the playground or water park.
We also will be getting some news on Micah's test blood test results taken 2 weeks ago. Her doctor called to set up an appointment to discuss something with us, I tried to find out what it was on the phone but the nurse was not aloud to disclose that information to me. I guess I will have to wait.

Anyway been loving the sun and summer but it is supposed to rain tomorrow so I will welcome confining the children and tackling my laundry and dishes.

crossing the finish line and starting a new race

2007-07-27T15:52:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much to everyone who thought of us and prayed for Micah yesterday during her appointment with the cardiologist.
First off, Micah was weighed and she has dropped another 1/2 pound. That puts her at 22 pounds even.
The hole in Micah's heart is still there as well as one of the valves in still floppy. The hole in 3 mm, which means it has not grown since our last visit. Micah's Cardiologist said that her heart is not enlarged anymore and it physically has no signs of having trouble coping.
He doesn't believe surgery will ever be necessary and Micah "should" have no symptoms. This leads us to the questions why is she losing weight and is so tired. We have finished the race with her cardiologist and will not need to go back to see him unless she get seriously ill.
Now for our new race we have started, after the appointment with the cardiologist we were sent over the the children's hospital for MANY tests. They are testing her liver function, kidney function, thyroid, cell counts and everything else under the sun. So we will continue in the stage of have no idea what is going on and will keep praying for answers and treatment.

We are very thankful for the answer to our prayers about her heart and are so glad to close that chapter in our lives, God has been truly faithful through the whole thing. Our plan is to keep looking to God with this next path we are taking to finding health for our daughter.

Nearing the finish line, hopefullly.

2007-07-25T09:34:00.000-07:00

Due to the drop in Micah's weight over the last 2 weeks she has been rushed in to see her cardiologist. Normally it would take 2 months to get in with the doctor but Micah was given an appointment in 5 days ( that was last week). Micah's appointment is tomorrow morning at 8:10.
I am hoping that we are nearing the finish line, 2 years is a long time to be living in question, running to the doctor with a cold, monitoring her color, breathing and heart rate.

I am scared that the doctor is going to tell us to wait another 6 months and we will check again, we have heard that so many time. Along with, she needs to gain more weight and she wont be nearly as cranky when she learns to fall asleep on her own. By the way she has been falling asleep on her own for 6 months and the irritability is getting worse. I was starting to wonder if it was just the fact that she was almost 2 but it is a different cry then when she is trying to get her way or is mad.
It is almost like a sad and painful cry mixed together. I have gotten to the point that sometime I just walk away because nothing help.

I feel like we are at the point were I need to fight for my daughter. I don't want her to have the pain of surgery but I want her to have the results.

I am walking into the doctors office with my lists of symptoms and other weird quirks of her, I am going to fight this fight and get the ball rolling.

We will update everyone tomorrow or Friday.

One step forward two steps back

2007-07-19T18:30:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday Micah went for her 12 month and 18 month Immunization. She needed to get a total of 5 needles. so the gave her 4 last time, the last needle was just a poke they hit a vein so they had to pull the needle out right away. Today she got the last two, boy did she remember that place, she was already screaming when they were weighing her. Last Thursday Micah was 23 pounds 1 ounce, today she is 22 pounds 10 ounces. They weighed her twice just to make sure it was right. It feels discouraging when she hit her target weight and is now back down. Her Cardiologist doesn't look to fondly on dropped weight.
Right now we need to just pray and trust God that all will be fine in the end.

On a happier note, Emmanuel went to his first birthday party today. our neighbors son turned 5 and had a party at Build-a-Bear. It was a lot of fun minus Micah screaming due to her immunization and Emmanuel not letting me out of his sight. Emmanuel tends to get really shy when he is around a lot of people.
So Emmanuel and Micah both return home to show there Daddy there brand new bears.

First Night

2007-07-16T07:12:00.000-07:00

Last night was Micah's first night in her new bed. We kept the bedtime routine the same and kept everything low key. Micah cried for about 30 seconds, by the time I walked out of the room she was talking to Emmanuel and her Cat.

she got out of bed once and came to the door, Evan just asked her to go back to bed and she did. Micah was up about every one to two hours last night. It seemed like she just needed a little bit of reassurance and then went back to sleep. She stayed in her bed until 7:30 in the morning.

I have to say it was a good night and I am hoping things get better.

Water Guns and Big Girl Beds

2007-07-15T20:02:00.000-07:00

We have had a wonderful weekend, full of some great family time. On Friday I worked until 10:30 at night and on Saturday I worked until only 5:00. That was the first Saturday in about a month where I didn't work a double. Saturday night Evan and I took the kids roller blading in the double stroller along the bow river, we went about 5 miles and had such a blast. After our work out we decided that we deserved some Gelato, we are crazy about that stuff.
Evan and I have been looking for a toddler bed for Micah for quite a while now, everything we have found that is good quality is very expensive. While I was at work on Saturday Evan went on line at a Calgary web site and found an Ikea toddler bed for only $50.00. It is an expandable bed so it converts into a twin bed. Micah is sleeping in it for the first time tonight.
Sunday we went to church and listen to an amazing service about feeling like God has forsaken us and is not there. It put a lot of things in perspective for me.
After lunch we went and picked up Micah's bed and headed out on a search. I was looking for washable training pants for Micah, pull ups are way too expensive and i feel like Micah is relying on them. When ever she is running around naked she doesn't have accidents but with pull ups she is always wetting them.
I only bought one but I am looking for more, the same or different as long as they do the same thing. I f anyone has any ideas please let me know.
We also found Emmanuel his first water gun, all the neighbor kid have water guns and Emmanuel is left out. He is super proud of his water gun and can't wait to use it on the neighborhood kids.

Evan and I have also made a commitment to no T.V in the evenings that we are both home after the kids go to bed. We have had some great talks, It has definitely been great to re-connect with each other.

23 pounds and counting

2007-07-10T11:52:00.000-07:00

Today Micah had her 18 month immunization ( only 6 months to late). She was weighted as has hit 23 pounds, that is 23 pounds and 1 ounce to be exact. She has moved from the 3rd percentile to the 4 th percentile. We are taking baby steps!
Hopefully this slight weight gain will give her cardiologist hope that she is growing a developing well. we will find out more about her heart in Aug and will let everyone know then what is going on.

We had a crazy weekend, spent it working and at the stampede with Nathan and Cheryl. I will blog and set up pictures after the kids go to bed

Mel

Our Crazy and Wonderful long weekend

2007-07-04T21:26:00.002-07:00

We had a crazy but great weekend. I worked from 5:30 - 10:30 on Friday night and then 11:00a.m-10:30p.m. on Saturday night, I was exhausted. After Evan picked me up from work on Saturday we needed to go and pick up a waffle iron for Sunday. We saw some pretty good fireworks on way home. Sunday I was up at 6:30 in the morning with Micah and in the kitchen by 7:00. we were having 7 people over for breakfast at 8:30. I made homemade waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, bacon and tons of fresh fruit. We also had Ethan, Dave and Kendra's son for a couple hours that morning while they had brunch at smuggler's inn.
Emmanuel with his uncle Adam and Adam's girlfriend Charlie

My brother Nathan and Sister- in - Law Cheryl

After everyone left we gave the kids some lunch and sat down to debate whether I wanted to take a shower or have a much needed rest. At 1:30 I laid down with Micah and Evan lay down with Emmanuel. We all feel asleep ( Emmanuel never falls asleep during the day) and only woke up 3 hours later. What a huge answer to prayer, I desperately needed that rest.
We then rushed to get dressed and were out of the house 15 mins later. We had supper with Jeremy and Jaclyn and spent the evening at the park.
At 11:00 p.m. Evan and I packed up the kids and headed into the city center to watch the fireworks, we all had a blast.

Monday, was my favorite day. Evan and I took the kids to Elbow falls. We went with Dave and Kendra and Ethan. We spent the day walking along paths that wind along the falls. The kids throw rock, sticks, flowers and leaves into the water, watching them flow with the current and over the rapids. It was a very relaxing and peaceful day. You can't help but stand in awe of God's wonders and marvelous creations.

2007-07-04T15:03:00.000-07:00

Scattegories

Another tag! It's like the game...use my first name initial to fill in the answers to the rest...Add up your points and win a prize!

Your Name: Mel

1. Famous singer/band: Metalica
2. 4 letter word: Mesh
3. Street name: Marlborough drive
4. Color: Metallic
5. Gifts/presents: Magnadoodle
6. Vehicle: Mazda
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Mugs
8. Boy Name: Matthew
9. Girl Name: Matilda
10. Movie Title: My big fat Greek wedding
11. Drink: Mocha
12. Occupation: Mid-wife
13. Flower: Magnolia
14. Celebrity: Matthew Perry
15. Magazine: Maire Claire
16. City: Milwaukee
17. Pro Sports Team: Montreal Alouettes
18. Fruit: Melon
19. Reason for Being Late for Work:Menopause
20. Something You Throw Away:
21. Things You Shout: Mercy
22. Cartoon Character: Mighty Mouse

I got all 22.
at least my blog inst boring anymore.

Questions and Life

2007-06-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

I tend to wonder why about a lot of things in life, things that I may not ever get an answer to, things that are completely out of my control. These are questions that are at times all consuming.
I have had lots of times that I have struggled with the fact that we moved away from Steinbach 5 years ago, why we left our families, why we left so of the best friends you could ask for. Last year I began to question why we left Arborg, the first house we bought ( that is still ours), the place where both our children were born. i have realized that life has many ups and down and eventually you will make a new home and find new friends. Evan and i spent the first year in Calgary dealing with many hurts, when Evan was promised a job out here I wouldn't need to work and we wouldn't need to worry about money. We lost a lot of money when his first boss went on drugs, Evan had two horrible job after that, at one point I was babysitting out of my home, working night shift at Tim Horton's ( Friday and Saturday), and delivering papers every morning. We were always wondering if we would have enough money for food, we always ate, even if we have to get food hampers . God was so gracious to us, we are starting to see why we stuck it out and are starting to reap lots of benefits. We have found a wonderful church, Evan has a great job, I have a great job ( only Friday evening and Saturday during the day), we have made some wonderful friends and re connected with some old friends.
To sum it up, I am truly thankful for my life, for old and new friends and new beginnings.
Sorry about the rambling, it feels good to realize how thankful I am for my life and I just wanted to share that.

NEW Beginnings.

Micah at 22 1/2 months has decided that she doesn't want diapers any more, so we are potty training.
Hurray for us, It has not been as easy this time as it was for Emmanuel. well see how it goes.

runs in the family

2007-06-19T22:04:00.001-07:00

Just thought i would share this picture of the kids. They are starting young following Evan and I in our motorcycle obsession. Micah also walks around the house looking for pens. If she finds one she will try to "tattoo" her arm( no joke ). One sure fire way of avoiding a temper tantrum with Micah is letting her look at my tattoo magazines. We definably have some things running in our family.

I've been tagged

2007-06-19T21:36:00.000-07:00

			As I sit here and wonder what is interesting about my life that I can blog about I realize that I have been tagged Carissa for a meme. So here it goes, I hope it is slightly less boring for you then how it feels in my brain. What were you doing 10 years ago? Well, I was only 14. I was most likely babysitting, wishing I could drive, and hoping for the day I would be cool. The sad part was it took reaching high school and my group of friends went from 2 to no less then 20. What were you doing 1 year ago? My husband had moved to Calgary 2 months earlier and I was at home with a 2 1/2 year old and a 10 month old. I was trying to find renters for our home or sell it ( what ever came first), clean the house, start packing, take care of my two kids and not miss my husband to much ( the kids and I moved to Calgary to join Evan the second week of July. Last May - September were months that I truly would like to pretend never happened. Five Snacks you enjoy Frozen Yogurt anytime of the day Fruit salad Original Lays Chips Smarties Watermelon Five Songs which you know all the words A little drop of rain -Lullaby I started singing when Emmanuel was born. Evan's mom sang it to him when he was a baby. Shine On-Barlow Girl Suddenly I see-KT Tunstall I'm Broken-Evanessence and Seether I've always loved you-Third Day Five things you would do if you were a millionaire? I would go to an all inclusive resort with my hubby at least once a year. Take our family on vacations. I would defiantly put away enough money so Evan could get his teaching degree, we could retire and travel and our kids could pick any post secondary school they wanted and not worry. Anything left over would go to an Orphanage in Congo. That is more then five but what does it matter. Five Bad Habits I worry way to much. Especially about things out of my control. I play with my hair all the time, more so when I am nervous. I am stubborn and hard headed. If I want it my way or think I am right I wont listen to anyone else. I really should change that. I stay up way to late. I let my dishes sit for sometime a week. One last thing, I always need to feel in control. Five things you like doing Playing with Emmanuel and Micah, swimming ( watersides), rock climbing, spending time with my hubby and a good movie. There is so much more I could say , I also really love my job. Five things you will never wear again Bubble gum jeans, neon colors, bikini or anything that shows my baby belly and stretch marks, stick on nails, slouch socks. Five Favorite toys Our digital camera, a volleyball, my kids little people sets, any kind of Car tracks, and cabbage patch babies

Our Family Vacation

2007-06-17T23:26:00.000-07:00

Evan, Emmanuel, Micah and I just spent the weekend in Edmonton. Evan and I had decided that after 4 years it was time for a family vacation. We had planned on going camping all weekend but after hearing the forecast we were quick to change our minds ( what are you going to do in a tent all weekend with a 3 1/2 yr old and a 1 1/2 yr old). We chose the next best thing, spending the weekend in a hotel with continental breakfast and a pool. No cooking or cleaning for the entire weekend, only pure relaxation ha ha. Sorry had to laugh the kids had a totally different plan. After looking past all the tears, I want to go homes, sleepless nights (Micah) and general craziness we had a great time.

walking down the stairs of our hotel to Breakfast. We spent the entire weekend eating out the least we could do was take the stairs.

Evan with the kids at the Sea Caverns in West Edmonton Mall. There are crocodiles in the tank behind them.

The kids and I petting Sting Rays. So cool

Evan playing in the pool with the kids. We had a great time in the hot tub but the other pool was far to cold.

This is last last picture I will share on this blog( more will come later). I wanted to show Micah's little head twist to the side. Almost every time we bring the camera out she cranks her head to the side, It is almost like she is saying Everyone look at me, I know exactly how beautiful I am. Super cute.

We had a blast, I throughly enjoyed my time with Evan and the kids and I defiantly learnt a lesson. Just because it is call a vacation , with kids around doesn't mean you get a break :)

More stories and pictures to come.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

2007-06-14T13:25:00.000-07:00

I aways thought that life when Emmanuel was two was on the best of days hard and trying. Who wants to be saying no all day long.
Well, now I have a 3 1/2 year old and a 22 month old. I love my kids more then words can describe but to hear "Mommy play with me" all day long gets incredibly tiring. If Emmanuel is not begging me to play with him he is off torturing his sister.
While Emmanuel is being the boy God created him to be I am trying to deal with a 22 month old that has a attitude the size of a13 year old and the body the size of a 12 month old ( we just hit 22 pounds :) )
Now that all the explaining is done, fast forward to today. I write this as I hang my head in exhaustion.
I just got over a nasty flu on Tuesday, the symptoms are gone and the exhaustion is raging in full force. On top of that we are leaving for Holidays tomorrow and I have done NOTHING. Evan also works long hours so he isn't much of a help at the moment.
7:00a.m Emmanuel jumps on me, all I can hear is Mommy play with me. My response Waiting until after breakfast.
8:00 Micah please eat your cereal NO. We do this until the bowl gets dumped on the floor. Micah has a time out and screams like it is the end of the world.
9:30 Micah is screaming from the play room, "Emmanuel Hit me" Emmanuel's response No I didn't. Emmanuel goes for a time out. When I ask him why he hit her his answer was " Because I wanted to".
10:00 Micah throws herself on the floor screaming, what brought it on? I haven't a clue.
10:30 Micah throws herself on the floor screaming, what brought it on? I haven't a clue.
11:00 Mommy come play with me. I was just playing with Emmanuel but it is never enough time for him.
12:00 Micah eat your lunch NO. Plate of food and cup of juice on the floor. Micah has a time out and screams like it is the end of the world.
2:00 Micah is sleeping and Emmanuel is watching Tree House, the house is quiet and I am ready for a nap.

We won't talk about the water that was poured on the floor, the biting and the tears that took place between 12:00 and 2:00. I LOVE nap time.

I can imagine how many moms are out there right now totally understanding what type of day I have had today and sadly that thought is not making me feel better.
What does make me feel better is knowing that everyday is not like this and getting huge hugs a wet kiss for my two wonderful children.
Sorry that I have been all over the place with this post, just trying to get my thoughts out.
I will try and Blog when we return from our holidays on Monday.

Mel's Latest body Art

2007-06-11T16:12:00.000-07:00

Evan and the Kids surprised me with a tattoo for mother's day. I have had an idea for a long time but never would have gotten it done because of the money it would cost. Evan decieded it would be a great mother's day gift.
I took a couple picture with our web cam, when the total tattoo is finished I will take better pictures and post them.

There are 5 cherry blossoms, one for Evan and I and the kids. On the inside of my forearm there is one closed cherry blossoms for a baby we lost. I am super excited and can't wait for it to be all colored in.

Family Update

2007-06-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the recent silence over on our end. Life just keeps moving and I am constantly running about 3 steps behind. Evan is keeping busy with working and also his side business, He does framing, dry walling and mudding with Jer Hiebert. I am work at Smuggler's Inn on Fridays and Saturdays. I also Clean the house, make meals and run after 2 kids.
We are now settled into our new house and loving it. We have so much more space for the kids to play.

Emmanuel is a typical pre-schooler who loves to torment his younger sister. He also thinks that it is very funny to take credit when Micah farts :)
Micah is just about 2 and is entering the terrible two's stage. If we tell her not to do something she will look us in the eyes and say NO, then proceed to do it while looking at us. She always keeps us on our toes. Micah will have an apt. with her Cardiologist in the beginning of Aug, this will determine if and when she will have her heart surgery. Micah is also having problem's with her eyes that started about 3 months ago. When are waiting to hear from a pediatric Ophthalmologist, her family doctor is concerned about the intensity of her eye pain and the wait to get in to see a specialist that he is recommending that we take her into Emergency and the process will speed up.

That is a very quick update on our family, I will be more diligent at updating the blog every couple of days.

Schellenbergs have now join the 21st century

2007-05-07T14:14:00.001-07:00

Sorry about the delay since the last blog. About an hour ago we finally got our phone and computer set up.
I love our new home. It is a duplex like the last one but it has 3 bedrooms and all the bedrooms are on the main floor. We have moved up in the world, Instead of living in a dump we are living in the lap of luxury( according to us :) ).

When I figure out how to post pictures I will get some of our house and new ones of our family up.

I am heading out to work so I will blog more tomorrow during quiet time.

Mel

Schellenbergs have now join the 21st century

2007-05-07T14:14:00.000-07:00

Official last night in our house

2007-04-30T18:27:00.000-07:00

It is the last night in our home. We will be moving tomorrow evening around 6:30.
Our new house is in the North West of Calgary a lot closer to Evan's work and our Church. It will be about 15 mins further for me to go to work.

We will be moving up in the world from our tiny 2 bedroom to almost double the space and three bedrooms. It also has a unfinished basement for the Kids to play. The kids are super excited about the new house and the fact that they will have a play room.
Tonight will be my first time seeing the house, every time that Evan went to look at it I was working. So I will blog again on my first impressions of the house either tomorrow or the next day.

My mom came out on Saturday and will be staying until Wednesday morning. It is really nice to see her and be able to spend some quality time together. She also came out to help us pack and move.

Good Night
Mel

The Schellenberg Family is online

2007-04-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

We, Like many others have decided to start a blog.
This is for the purpose of updating our friends and family on our lives.