A friend

Lots of stress these days. My back has been in knots for almost two months. One of the many things we're struggling with is our friend Boonie's diagnosis of a malignant brain tumour in mid-January. The past year had been awful and hard for his family all ready. Just today, his wife's dad died from cancer. Their daughter is only three years old. It's crushing.

Every single day I think about what they're going through. And what is to come. In the week before Boonie was rushed to the hospital, Chris said he wasn't looking well so I sent him lunch with Chris. In my head I'd been planning other lunches he might like that I could send along so that would be one less thing for him to worry about... It all shoots me back exactly eleven years ago because it's exactly the same thing at exactly the same time of year except my dad was 53 and Boonie is only 40. I have an over-abundance of empathy.

We met Boonie in about 2000 after a Unisource event. Chris started working with him at FCC in 2003, always just a few feet from each other for the last ten years. He is the most easy-going, jovial guy you could meet.

I swear the thing I miss most these days is having Chris come home and tell me what he and Boonie talked about that day. The loss Chris is feeling is obviously much more.

Feeling helpless, I made him my first adult-sized quilt. The kids tried it out and it looks like it will work. Those hospitals can be cold.

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2013! Haven't made a resolution to blog more, so don't expect much. Pinterest has made a huge dent in my life (mostly at work) and when I'm not there, I try to really be here. With Chris. With the kids. Doing stuff. I only have a few more months working part-time, then it gets hard. While I know that's how most everyone has to do it these days and we, poor graphic designers, just can't afford not to no matter how much we cut out, I think it's absolutely tragic that we end up having to contract out our lives (daycare, housekeeping, food) because we're so busy working that we just don't have the time or energy. And the time we do and will have is short and harried.

So, I suppose what I'm saying is that I propose all maternity leaves last 5 years or until your child starts kindergarten.

I wish.

No one said a girl can't dream.

Until then, I'll continually be posting pictures on Flickr so that's the easiest way to keep up with what we've been keeping up to. Here's a few in case you missed them. Happy New Year!

Bigger

My kids have gotten bigger. Way bigger.

Finn decided that he was ready to pee on the potty a couple weeks ago. Today he even put a "baby" on the potty today and talked for her, "I peed!" before clapping her hands together, then saying, "I'm so proud of you!" He's so funny. He's big into rhyming, especially our names. Mommy Bummy. Nana Banana. All day we sang songs. His fave was Five Little Monkeys, but Wheels on the Bus will always be a hit.

He's kinda rotten at the same time, though I think that naturally comes with being two and a half. We went to the library at the mall this morning. Not only was he not in sight most of the time, he ran from one corner of Safeway to the furthest corner as fast as he could get away. Then he ran away from me in the parking lot. He spent some time getting some negative energy out in the backyard when we got home. And even though he whines incessantly, he is so easy to make laugh. And his laugh makes my heart grow.

And Lily. Oh my. While she bailed on her last potential sleepover at Carly's, she's excited for an upcoming Brownie's science centre/pizza party/sleepover in a few weeks. Carly will have to be right by her side, but it's a step. Brownie's has been good for her. Glad we coerced her into it. More cookie sales. A food bank drive. Being on the Santa parade float coming up. And badges.

She's gotten so independent in the last month or so. She will walk home from school by herself at lunch and after school. She doesn't wake me when she has to pee in the middle of the night or even when she gets up and we're just downstairs watching t.v. She came home from Carly's the other day; Finn, Chris and I were all upstairs napping in bed. She didn't even come looking for us. Just went downstairs to play Barbie games online. These things are huge.

She's still painfully shy, but she spends more time at Carly's and from what we hear, even answers her parents questions. Out loud. I assume she's fine when we're not around, though I can't vouch for that. Even with us, trying to get something that's bugging her out of her mouth is like playing (four hundred and) 20 questions. Trying to keep all dialogue open, so hopefully someday she'll come around.

Gotta pick out clothes for tomorrow. Big kid clothes.

Buddy

Last night Finn said, "You're my best friend, Mom." He's pretty fantastic himself.

Big day!

Lily and I are heading up to Saskatoon after lunch for the Justin Bieber concert. As if we needed to sweeten the pot, Carly Rae Jepsen is opening. I don't know if I'll be able to wipe that grin off her face today.

Super busy crazy fun times

Shall I pull out my list of awesome things we've been doing? I think shortly after we got back from Minot we realized Finn had ringworm. Not a big deal, just a traumatic trip to the doctor's office.

That was followed by two Saturdays of birthday parties that Lily was invited to attend – and they were for boys in Lily's class. The first was Kylo's bowling birthday party, and right afterwards we hit the road to Grandma and Grandpa's for the weekend. Jet skiing, boating, tubing, throwing sand out of the sandbox, hot tub action, a day at the beach. It was that jam-packed.

Did a short day trip down to Weyburn to finally meet Khrystine's daugther, Ana, and her soon-to-be stepson, Eric. Tried to picnic but it was so hot we almost died. The following weekend was a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party, but this time Lily was the only girl so it wasn't as fun. On Aug. 1, Chris took the day and took Lily to the Queen City Ex. A perfect activity for the pair. They spent over eight hours there, a feat I was lucky to avoid.

For the August long weekend, we headed up to Shell Lake for the Hood/Flora family reunion. Stayed over at Grandma and Grandpa's and got to see Ryan and Leslie before we headed out the next morning. We camped. Not my first choice, but there were actually no other options. It wasn't so bad – until the first night. A thunderstorm kept me awake most of the night, the constant pelting of raindrops sounded like small explosions over and over and over... The second night we were so cold that we had to all sleep with our heads covered. Got to see everyone, hold frogs, hit the beach and park. Finn rode his bike constantly, impressing everyone with his moves. We were all glad to get home, if only to be inside again.

Spent the following week readying for Lily's birthday party, which we had on Aug. 12. It was super old-school. Musical chairs, scavenger hunt, random playing in the yard, a weiner roast, then cake. Ta da, over. Lily was very satisfied, though, exclaiming that this was the awesomest party ever.

Then this past weekend, Grandma and Grandpa so kindly came down for the weekend so they could watch the kids for us while we attended a co-worker's wedding. Of course, on Saturday the kids got sick. Chris and I followed a couple days later. On Tuesday, I hurt my back so bad I had to lay down all day. Then at supper Lily said, "My head is itchy." An hour of flashlight searching over her scalp until we found the little bugger that would ruin the rest of our evening. Chris and Finn immediately left to get lice shampoo. We did all of our heads so Lily wouldn't be alone; she was so upset. Took hours to strip the beds, rid our rooms of dirty clothes and towels, throw toys in the freezer, pillows in the dryer, re-dress the beds. Poor kids weren't asleep until 10:15 p.m. Chris stayed home since we're moving on Friday at work and I had to go in and pack. It all kinda went to hell and I ended up having to come home early anyway. Back at daycare today, but they're shutting down tomorrow since they found four more cases of lice, including Jack and Carly. Gonna do a thorough clean, though nothing makes me feel NOT itchy right now.

No time for including photos, but see our Flickr pics to get the full effect of this awesome narrative.