Things I love…

Dawson’s airplane mobile:

 

I’m not sure what it is about airplanes, they make me happy. When we were kids my brother and I could recite Top Gun word for word {even the bad ones :) } I always thought a boys room should have airplanes in it. I’m trying not to make his room too themed, because I know kids have a tendency to collect and display disparate objects in their rooms, but the airplanes make me happy.

 

My New Kitchen Counters and Sink

OK… I really, really need to paint that moulding…

…and the ugly honey oak cabinets are still there. And this looks NOTHING like the tile I thought we might put down on the counters… I changed my mind. I’m a woman, it’s my perogative. Since this is not the forever house we compromised and decided that new cabinets were not in the budget. I contemplated painting them, talked to a few people who informed me that because the sides are just a piece of oak laminate that painting them would be a mistake. I surrendered to the oak in this house, but the new counters make them look better {if that’s at all possible} And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my new sink!

This Fabric:

These Boys:

Even all covered in mud!

“Boys are found everywhere – on top of, underneath, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around, or jumping to… A boy is truth with dirt on its face, Beauty with a cut on its finger, Wisdom with bubble gum in it’s hair, and the Hope of the future with a frog in it’s pocket”

- Alan Marshall Beck

Dog Days of Summer

Sadly, we had to put Zoey down. The house seems so empty without her in it. Her food bowls are still in the kitchen and her pillow still in the living room. I can't seem to bear to move them. The boys want a new puppy, and I have to admit I do too. It's not that I am trying to replace her, she's irreplaceable. It's just that we're dog people.

We've settled on a completely different breed, Georgian Bay Sporting Dogs, GBSD for short. They are a cross between Weimeraner and Lab. Our little gal is black, or slate gray as I suppose they call her. She will be arriving in about a month from Ontario. I don't have any pictures of her yet, but she looks just like this...

Image Courtesy of  Black Bear Farm

The boys are so excited, as am I. We can't wait until the middle of August! It almost reminds me of being pregnant and having to wait for the arrival of the boys... oh the agony of waiting!

She's been a good dog...

Dogs leave pawprints on our hearts Forever

Zoey is sick. The vet believes she has cancer. We have her on antibiotics and anti-inflamatories, in case it is a serious infection instead of lymphoma, as we didn't get the biopsy done. She's severely anemic, which led him to believe that it was in fact cancer and not an infection, but we're going this route first just in case. She's a fighter. She still wants to eat carrots and all the droppings from the kids. She still follows me everywhere. I hate to get my hopes up, but they are up a little.

Cancer wreaks havoc on their poor little bodies and shows no mercy. We will have to put her down, I cannot bear to see her suffer. Everytime I look at her, my eyes well up with tears. She's been a good dog. she's been my loyal friend from the very beginning.

Dawson is too young to really understand, he just knows that Zoey is sick. Dylan understands to a point, and is quite sad. I know it probably won't hit any of us completely until she is gone.

She always loved those orange balls, and would have chased them until her legs fell off. She was a sweet, gentle dog. We will never forget you Zoey.

"No matter how little money, and how few possessions you own, having a dog makes you rich."

 - Louis Sabin

If...

Ramblings…

“Motherhood brings as much joy as ever, but it still brings boredom, exhaustion, and sorrow too. Nothing else ever will make you as happy or as sad, as proud or as tired, for nothing is quite as hard as helping a person develop his own individuality especially while you struggle to keep your own.”--Marguerite Kelly and Elia Parsons

1. My kids will fight, no matter how hard I try to convince them to play nicely. They are polar opposites. Oil and water. Gasoline and a match! They get along best when they are conspiring against me!

2. Since becoming a Mom I found out just how scary this world really is. I make my both boys sit in a cart when we are at stores because I am afraid if I take my eyes of either one of them, even for a moment, they might not be there when I turn back around.

3. I always find it interesting how two people can be saying the same thing, and one sounds self-righteous and judgemental, while the other sounds inspirational. Reminds me that often how I say things is more important than what I am saying.

4. I love to read. I hope the boys will always love books. When Dylan was born my parents gifted all the books we has as children to him. Now reading with the boys brings back memories of my Dad reading to me. I especially love to see my Dad reading to the boys!

Happy Friday!

Jacquelyn

What I've learned about being a Mom...

I remember the day I found out I was pregnant with Dylan, I was 25. We had just moved into this fixer-upper that needed a whole lot of fixing up. More than we could possibly do in 8 months... there was no way my house was going to be ready for a baby.

I was scared, and thrilled at the same time. For a girl who had been told that she didn't ovulate and would never conceive children this was a miracle. I knew a little about babies, the kind of stuff you learn from babysitting. I was terrified of labor and delivery. I wanted absolutely no part of breastfeeding. I was obsessed with buying my baby a crib, no matter that I had no nursery to put it in or that my mom gave me a perfectly good basinette that she assured me the baby could sleep in for 3 or 4 months, I HAD TO HAVE A CRIB.

When Dylan was first born I felt so inadequate. I had no idea what I was doing, I was exhausted and felt like I might never understand this little creature that was bestowed upon me. I spent two nights in the hospital after he was born, I couldn't wait to get out of there, away from these nurses who made me feel like the worst mother ever, even though I know they were trying to help as best as they knew how. My Mom stayed with me for a week after he was born, she helped me in ways I'm not sure she knows. She helped me with the cooking and cleaning, but more importantly she stood by and allowed me to come into my own as a mother. She assured me that I had a clue. That I was doing a good job.

I cried when she left to go back home, I might have been a grown woman, amother myself, but I have never felt closer to my Mom. I never felt as though I needed her more. I felt a bond with my Mom I have never experienced before. She gave me a big hug, and told me I could handle it. She was only a phone call away.

In the 4 years that have passed I realized that she was right, I could handle it. I did call, I did consult, I did ask for advice. I did watch her interact with my boys, and learn from her ways. I find myself becoming a little more like my mother each day. :)

My boys too have taught me many, many things.

Before you have kids everyone tells you that you won't understand the kind of love a mother has for her child until you have one of your own. So true. These boys amaze me, and my heart grows more everyday to hold the love I have for them.

Kisses and band-aids fix just about everything.

Boys destroy things. They enjoy it. Huh? ( I didn't say I understood everything they've taught me)

I could clean all day, and within 5 minutes it can look as though no one has vacuumed or mopped or tidied in weeks. As Phylis Diller said "Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shovelling the walk before it stops snowing"

On the flip side, the kids won't remember that Mommy had the cleanest house on the block, or the best decor, they'll remember the puzzles put together in the middle of the living room, the art they made that Mommy put on the wall. They'll remember the painting I let them do on my dining room table, and the picnics in the yard. A house that is too clean just might mean no one is having any fun.

Boys need wide open spaces. As their mother I have no choice but to learn to like the outdoors.

It really is the little things that make the biggest impact. To kids love is spelled T-I-M-E.

As Dylan informed me today, "Mothers are important you know..."

Thank you Mom. Thank you boys. Thank you for letting me learn from you.

Happy Mothers Day!

I think I finally convinced him...

I think maybe I finally convinced the hubby to paint the cabinets... the very dated oak cabinets that I have been trying to change since we moved in 5 years ago. This was my inspiration, the counters that very closely resemble the quartz tile we have...

I am terrified to paint them, while I know the oak is dated and I know that kitchens and bathrooms sell houses, I am actually afraid of making them look worse...

If we had soid oak cabinets I don't think  I would worry, but mine are not. They're cheap, builder grade, 70's oak cabinets. You know the ones... do I really have to put a picture on here?? OK...

Wouldn't those look so much better painted white?!