Stanley

I've gotta give credit where credit is due and right now I give credit to our cat, Stanley. Most people know that I'm not exactly fond of our feline. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've used the words, "hate" and "utterly despise" in reference to him. Anyway, when we went to Africa in April we left Stanley with my mother-in-law and she graciously kept him until mid-August when we were done our summer travels. I was NOT looking forward to getting him back for a few reasons:
a) on our way TO my mother-in-law's place, Stanley vomited in his cat carrier and I was so disgusted I could have thrown up. Sick.
b) he sheds so much and I was getting used to a cat fur-free existence.
c) I didn't want him to be running in and out of Noah's room (in fact, he was taught to NEVER go in Noah's room and I had no idea if he'd remember or not).
d) I didn't want him to act out against Noah and potentially hurt him.
e) and lastly that I just plain don't enjoy having him around.
BUT on our way back home with him he didn't utter a sound and was calm (unlike Noah who wailed the entire way home).
I've also invested in the Furminator (it's pretty much amazing) and it definitely has reduced the amount of fur he sheds. LARGELY. It's incredible.
He NEVER even shows an interest in going in or near Noah's room. Before he left he would peek into the room with longing. But no longer. It's amazing.
Noah absolutely LOVES him and it's Stanley that is running away from Noah's grabbing, hitting and "gentle" petting.
I can't say that I like him any more than I did, but I do appreciate him fitting back into our home better than he ever has.
So, here's to you, Stanley. Props.

Weezer

I've gotta say, I am LOVING the new Weezer album. It's fun, funny and a bit strange sometimes. My pick of the day right now is "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" because it's such a mishmash of song styles. Apparently taken from an old Quaker Hymn, Weezer starts off the song with cheering fans and a delicate little piano solo and then a blazing police siren wails and EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. Jamie and I listen to it in the car, Jamie whips his head around looking for the cop car that is undoubtedly pulling us over. And every single time I laugh. Good times.
My love of Weezer stems from my first introduction to them in highschool. A friend of mine made me a tape (wow I'm old) and I listened to it whenever he gave me a ride in his car. The first music video I saw of theirs was Buddy Holly and because it's a take on Happy Days I actually thought this was an old band. (Now I'm showing how gullible and ditzy I am). I'm not entirely sure how long it took me to realize they aren't from the 60's. Probably when the Green Album came out.
Gulp.
Enjoy.

SHOPPING!

Today while shopping in Buffalo I came across a jewelery stand. FINALLY. I have been searching high and low for some way to hang my earrings so they don't get all tangled up AND so I can see my selection.
I stumbled across Urban Outfitters and found a plethora of earring stands. I almost couldn't decide.
But I'm thrilled with my choice and am excited for my new found organization of accessories.
Oh and I got a hat too.
And stocked up on Bath & Body Works hand soap. PS They're opening up one here in Guelph!

I love shopping in the States!

neglect

Today I was catching up on some blogs I read and on one of the blogs I read, this article was linked. I cried and cried.
It's about a feral child (severely neglected child) who is now progressing and has found love in her new family.
My heart absolutely aches that neglect like this and even not to this extent but that neglect PERIOD happens every day and children are not receiving love and attention, hugs and kisses, warmth and cleanliness - basic things that EVERYONE deserves.
Go and hug a child today.

home

"I never realize how much I like being home unless I've been somewhere really different for a while." - Juno Macguff

Such a good quote and I immediately liked it as soon as I heard it.
I must say, it's great to be back home. I like to travel and be doing things, going places and seeing people but it sure is wonderful to be back home.
One thing I hate about coming home after a long trip is unpacking. Usually our house looks like it's innards have been gutted and strewn about haphazardly. This can last for up to a few weeks. It's pretty much my least favourite thing about traveling. So far all rooms are cleaned except for our bedroom which is emitting something that physically repels me from doing anything in it except for sleeping. The longer I leave it, the less motivation I have to clean it up. *sigh* But it needs to get done so likely will happen on Monday.

5 days

I can't believe we're leaving for Tanzania in...5 days.
I am not packed.
But I have a list.
I am actually quite excited. A teeny bit anxious, but MOSTLY excited. Probably a 10:1 ratio of excited to anxious.
Noah continues to show me and Jamie how adaptable he really is. I would never kibosh our schedule for him since it really does serve me and definitely helps Noah. But the little cutie continues to show me that he can stay up an extra hour or miss a nap or go down for the evening at a friend's house and then get driven home and put to bed at home and NOT be a hysterical mess. He's a good little guy who has just woken up from his nap as I type this.
We're off to the doctor's office this morning for his 6 month check up. Another adventure awaits.

Super Dad

As a follow up of my post "cinnamon spread" I'd like to update the poop situation in our home.
After that incident I determined in my heart that Jamie would be able to change these wretched (let's not joke around...these diapers are pretty bad) diapers without me even being around. So the next time Noah pooped I made him stand beside me and watch the whole thing. At first he had to leave so I waited (Noah was not so patient and started kicking) until he came back. He had to put his nose in his shirt, but he was there for the whole thing.
The next time he changed the whole thing by himself with me standing there.
So I would like to announce that Jamie is conquering the diaper. Bit by bit. Wipe by wipe.
Woot!

addicted

I am totally addicted to Jon & Kate Plus 8 - a show on TLC. It's about a family that has a set of twins and sextuplets. 8 kids! It's hilarious and oh-so cute!
Here's a clip from an episode where they take each kid on their own special day. This episode featured one of the sextuplets, Alexis going to a reptile zoo place because she loves reptiles.

cinnamon spread

I will be laughing about this for quite some time.
So apparently I do pretty much all the diaper changes in this house. It just worked out that way since Noah usually needs a diaper change post-feeding. And most of the times it's just me around to feed him. SO...
Today Jamie was playing with Noah (it was actually so ridiculously sweet to watch) on the couch and Noah was just chillin' on his Dad's chest and then Jamie says, "Oh. He pooped."
At which point he launched into about 5 minutes of trying to get ME to change it because HE didn't like the smell. He did this by getting Noah to look all cute and excited and smiley while saying, "Mommy! You get to change my diaper now! Yay!"
I didn't fall for it.
BUT I was convinced into coming WITH him while he changed Noah.
He opened the diaper and almost jumped back and hid his nose in his shirt while making "uh. ew. uhh. sick. gross." noises. I had to grab Noah's legs or else they would have fallen in the open diaper. So I'm standing there, holding Noah's legs and Jamie's trying to come back to change the diaper and says, "I'm going to be sick" and runs to the bathroom. He doesn't actually vomit but come back and takes another look only to run back to the bathroom to throw up into the toilet. I'm laughing so hard it starts to worry Noah (he sometimes gets concerned when people laugh really hard for some reason) and so I end up cleaning up the dirty diaper and Jamie ventures back into the nursery all the while commenting about how bad it smells. He puts the CLEAN diaper on and we're done.
I laughed so hard. I couldn't (and still can't) believe he threw up.
I asked him later on if it was the smell or the consistency. He said both. He said the poop looked like cinnamon spread and when I said that cinnamon spread is delicious he said, "Not when it comes out of our baby's butt."
So funny.
He actually threw up.
So we're going to work on getting Jamie accustomed to changing poopy diapers. Because they're only going to get worse as we continue to introduce more and more solids.
Good thing Noah only poops once a day (for the most part...either that or once every couple days).
Oh man. I bet you're never going to look at cinnamon spread the same now.

musical genius

I rarely sit through a 10 minute video on YouTube but I was totally and completely captivated by this 10 minute video (Part 1 of 3) of a 26 year old Englishman who has severe autism and yet is literally a musical genius recalling every song he's ever heard and able to play it on the piano.
It's incredible!
I encourage you to check it out.
I'm going to watch Part 2 and 3 now.

Spring Lover

I absolutely love the spring. I once said that out of all the seasons, I liked Spring the least. I take it back. I love the Spring. Sure the grass is brown and nothing is blooming yet. So the roads are covered in dirt and salt.
BUT IT'S 15 DEGREES OUT RIGHT NOW!
I'm so loving it. Noah and I went for an outing this afternoon. I had to mail a couple letters/packages and so while we were at the plaza we went into this little store I had been wanting to go into. Candies of Merritt or something like that. It was filled with little trinkets, loose leaf tea and CHOCOLATE. Fudge, truffles and other delightful little morsels of cocoa bean goodness. I couldn't resist and bought some fudge. I didn't buy the Don Cherry Fudge, though. Not a huge fan of cherries. But it was a cute idea. I ended up going with Caramel Pecan and Rocky Road. I'm looking forward to a sampling later on.
Noah was all smiles and coy looks for the lady at the till. It was cute.
Then we moved onto the pet shop and Noah stared at the fish, kittens and birds. He was really captivated by those squawking ... parakeets I think. After I imitated them he broke into a smile (since they were quite loud I wasn't sure how he'd react). It was cute.
It was a really fun outing and something I had pictured myself doing as a Mom. Going on outings, looking at animals, talking to strangers about babies and hearing about their kids/grandkids/nephews and nieces. It was nice.
I love the spring.
Love.It.

one-liners

I was watching "Return to Me" with David Duchovny and Minnie Driver and there's this one line that gets me every time. David Duchovny's character Bob, has lost his wife (Elizabeth) to a car accident and ends up falling in love with Minnie Driver's character, Grace.
At one point he says,
"I miss Elizabeth. I'll always miss Elizabeth. But I ache for Grace."
And now my heart is lying on the floor pooling around my feet.
If you want a good sappy chick flick, check out "Return to Me".

Like it, or leave it.

For those who actually still read my blog you probably have noticed that my posting frequency is getting less and less. I have been thinking about this for quite some time and these are my conclusions:
1. My life is all about being a Mom right now.
2. For some reason when I thought about all my entries being "Mom"- related I couldn't bring myself to post them. It was like...it didn't "GO" with my blog.
3. Then I thought, (and realized with Kirsten and Jen) that being a Mom is my life right now and my blog is about my life, hence my blog CAN be filled with Mom-related things.
4. And then I told myself, "Well, if people don't like it, they don't have to read it."
I'm a Mom.
This is my blog.
Like it, or leave it.

talking to myself

You know you're a stay at home Mom with no one to talk to when you start having a conversation with yourself - AND YOU HAVE A GUEST OVER.
Today my friend came over and we were talking on the couch when I started to have a conversation with myself. I can't remember what it was about, but I think I was trying to remember something correctly so I was asking myself "No. That can't be it. Can it? I don't know...maybe." etc. etc. I shortly realized what I was doing and pointed it out to her. She laughed and said she had just noticed the same thing.
Oh well.

Fun stuff

If you have pictures on Flickr you can make a free photo cube with HP. Check out this link for more info: http://www.tabblo.com/partners/flickr
Pretty cool!