I'm One of Those Moms

I knew it was going to happen one day sooner or later...I would be the mom of a child throwing a full out tantrum in the middle of a store and have to try and carry them out kicking and screaming. A few days ago was my day, except I had 2 screaming kids to carry out. And yes, I did have my wits about me to be thankful it wasn't 3.

I took the kids to the playland at a mall to meet my friends Tara and Desta and their crew. It was probably a sign to stay home when Mitchell threw a fit while putting his jacket and boots on but I went anyway. If we stayed home every time someone did that we'd be hermits. Him and Maggie cried until we were a minute from the mall. Casey, Maggie and I walked in, Mitchell wanted to be carried. We met the girls and Mitchell refused once again to take his jacket and boots off until the minute we were leaving. Maggie was saying she wanted to walk, but she wouldn't walk, she wanted her jacket on, but she didn't want it on, etc, etc, etc. Outside the playland the boys crawled into a play car, train and truck which was fine until it was time to let other kids have a turn, meanwhile Maggie was rolling around on the floor of the mall. Tara and Desta were taking the kids to look at the fish pond but none of us (except Casey) were in the mood for that. So I grabbed Maggie and Mitchell who were now having total meltdowns and made a bee line for the exit through the food court area where I'm sure all of Saskatoon were there having coffee. Thankfully Tara came with me and walked with Casey and Desta stayed with the 5 other kids. As I was trying to get a jacket on wet noodle Maggie a nice older lady poked her head around my shoulder and said, "Do you need help dear?". It was a very nice offer but it wouldn't have helped at that point.

The drama continued on in the van for a while after but we all made it home safely. I've never looked forward to nap time as much as I did that day.

I used to get comments about how well behaved the kids were when I took them out shopping in the stroller. I think we've reached that ripe age of 2 and those days could very well be behind us for a few years.

Although I could have sold 2 of our 3 that day, they are still sweethearts.

We had a bit of the flu go through the house last week. Mitchell got sick to his stomach once and was down and out for a few days. Both Maggie and Casey had a day or two of not feeling well but thankfully they didn't get it as bad as Mitchell did. I took these pictures on a day that Casey wasn't feeling well. All he wanted to do was snuggle up to the shelves.




Puppy and baby were saying "cheese" for the camera.


It was good to have Mitchell back to his normal self again.

Busy, Busy Weekend

This past weekend was a busy one. Saturday we took the kids to the SPOTTO, Saskatoon twin and triplet club, Christmas party at the Fun Factory. It took Mitchell an extra 15 minutes of watching all of the kids play before he agreed on his terms to take his jacket and boots off. I know that this strong will of his will come handy someday, someday (sorry, I'm just repeating this to myself over and over). Once he was in he was fine and all of the kids had a great time.




Casey's favorite spot was the ball pit. I got him in mid jump as you can tell from his curls flying up.

Maggie discovered a new found love...ketchup chips! She couldn't get enough and she had the red proof on her white dress to prove it).


Oh and she also polished off a few cookies too.

Sunday morning we went to a double 2nd birthday party for our little buddies Nathan and Reid. We went out tobogganing for the first time. The kids all went down with Daniel once. Mitchell giggled the whole way down, Maggie wasn't as excited and Casey liked it but got a face full of snow. The boys went down a second time but once was enough for Maggie.



The wind was quite cold so Maggie and I headed back to the house while the boys stayed out for a little longer.


Later that afternoon my parents and I went to Hague to watch Daniel play hockey. It was good once again to have a 1:1 adult to kid ratio but I was actually surprised at how well they sat (or at least didn't try and run away) through the game. Maggie sat on Grandpa's lap for a good part of the game but perked up once she ate almost an entire serving of large fries by herself. After the game the team got together for pizza which was right up Maggie's alley. She would have a few bites, go off and run around then come back for some more until she finished one and a half pieces. A few of the guys on the team were quite impressed with her pizza eating ability.

Casey got the prized possession....daddy's Mariner's hat.

We Have to Work On Our Santa Skills

This year's visit with Santa was pretty much the exact opposite as last year's. Last year the kids sat on his lap with no problems, this year there were meltdowns. Maggie eventually sat with him alone but for the boys I sat on the floor with them in front of Santa. We had them done at the new CIBC that opened in our neighbourhood. It was actually a nice morning except for the screaming at Santa. They had a cookie decorating station where we spent a fair bit of time.

Maggie was counting and hoarding all of her chocolate coins.

Casey was very into the cookie decorating but of course didn't like when he got icing on his fingers.

Mitchell had the most fun smashing his face up against the windows.

After the kids were done with that they did some sprints throughout the bank. I think by that time all of the sugar from the cookies, icing, candies and juice had kicked in. They made us promise to come back with the kids so we'll do that when we go pick up the Santa pictures. I think we'll give the whole Santa thing one more try this year and see if we can get all 5 of us in the picture....probably wishful thinking.

Our Christmas tree is up and has stayed standing for a week now. Actually the kids have been really good about not touching it. We told them right from the start that the lights were hot so they needed to stay back and not touch. And it's worked! Tonight Casey held his puppy right up to the tree and yelled, "No puppy stay back, tree hot!" We do have some reinforcement just in case...

Christmas Cards and Goofing Around

As I was trying to get these sent out this past week,


I was listening to what has become a common thing around here...3 little monsters not napping. I heard some strange noises coming from their room, something that sounded like their music box being thrown repeatedly into the wall and then 3 giggles right after. Before even going in I knew it was Mitchell that was out of his crib, but I didn't think that this is how he got out...


Daniel fixed Mitchells' crib so he can't do that again!

I am desperate to get our napping babies back! For the past month or two they have not been napping well at all. They used to nap for around 3 hours in the afternoon and then sleep 12 hours at night, which I know is awesome! But lately they've only been napping about every 4th day. They still go into their cribs and hang out in there for quite some time talking and goofing around with each other, but this cumulative lack of sleep is really taking it's toll on our usually happy kids (and mommy, daddy and nanny Amber too).

I've re-read parts of what I call my "sleep bible" and it talks about them skipping naps and then becoming so overtired they are just too wound up to nap. The lack of sleep starts to add up after the weeks and months go by and then they really start to have troubles. So taking the advice in the book, we've started putting them down earlier at night (7:00pm, but we could actually try even earlier) and bumping their nap back a half hour to hour later in the afternoon. And it seems to be starting to work - they have napped the past 3 days in a row! They still have had grouchy days but hopefully that will get better once they get caught up on some sleep.

If you have any suggestions, please share!

Hockey Time

With just about anything we do in this house, the kids love to announce what time it is. By that I mean if they're having milk, putting on jammies, playing with their play food, it's "milk time", "jammie time" or "foodie time", etc. So Sunday when I told the kids we were going to watch daddy play hockey I heard that it was "hockey time" the whole 30 minutes it took to get there. We were late getting there but once we did they sat really well through the last half of the game. They had a lot of snacks and went up and down 3 rows of bleachers between grandpa, grandma and myself but at least they weren't trying to run around. They seemed a lot more interested in actually watching some of the game compared to last year.

Mealtime in our house has gotten so much better since we started the no throwing rule. If they throw anything (plates, utensils or food) they come straight out of their chair and have to just hang out while the other two finish their meal. And then whoever eats without throwing gets "3 cheers/hip-hip, hoorays" when they're done. It may be silly, but it really works - they get upset when they don't get their hoorays. And now whoever is out first really gets into the cheering, here it's the boys cheering for Maggie.


Last Saturday we were going to take the kids out to the children's museum, but Mr. Casey decided to have a ginormous tantrum and instead he stayed home with daddy while Mitchell, Maggie and I went out. Instead of going to the museum we went to Tim Horton's and then to the grocery store. With only 2 kiddos they both got to ride in the grocery cart (without having to have another person along for a second cart).

It seemed like a bit of a break with only two! Haha!

Take a Deep Breath

I have told myself this many times in these past 2 + years and have actually become a much more patient person. With 3 babies who were sometimes all needing us at the same time you really can't do anything but be patient and just do things as fast as you can. You accept that there will be times when everyone will be upset all at once but you get through it and it really doesn't hurt them to cry a little.

If I thought I needed a lot more patience up until this point, I had no idea what life would be like 3 two year olds. These past few months in our house have been frustrating and crazy at times. The kids can be stubborn, unpredictable and wild when they want to be but are also SO much fun! They make us laugh everyday and it's really nice to see them interacting with each other more.

Casey is still our smiley, happy, goofball, however, he has become quiet defiant lately. He will repeatedly do something he knows he's not supposed to regardless of whether we've just told him no a second earlier or have already told him 5 times. Or he will snatch something out of Maggie and Mitchell's hands and take off running, then of course not thinking that he should have to give it back. He's also started hitting and pulling hair which he really hasn't done much of until recently. He doesn't have tantrums often but when he does, wow, does he ever make up for lost time! Casey is always chattering about something - he's definitely the most talkative.

Maggie gets a little more dramatic as the days go by. Some days it seems like if a wind blows her the wrong way she's coming to get her finger, arm, head, etc. kissed better. And if she gets upset with the biys or with us she stomps, jumps and throws herself down. She is my little helper and likes to be in the kitchen or folding laundry with me. Maggie has a whole entourage that follows her around and she is very protective over each one of them. A lot of times when she is getting changed she will want to have everyone line up on the window sill and then they have to be covered up with her blankie. There is little puppy, bunny, doctor girl, baby and puppy. Carrying her plus all of her buddies can be quite the armful.


Mitchell, Mitchell, Mitchell. Oh lordy this little boy is feisty! I have a picture of the kids at work and at least 10 people on different occasions have looked at Mitchell and made some kind of comment along the lines of, "He looks like he's the one that gets into the most mischief." They all say they can see it in his eyes and they are absolutely right. If he knows the you want him to do something he digs his heels right in and is dead set on doing the opposite. We've realized that it's all about making him think things are his done on his terms. Another thing that usually works with him is giving him 2 options, you can do.... or you can do.... Sometimes it works, sometimes nothing works. Mitchell is our smartie pants. He can name any animal along with sound effects and actions, almost an object and is really good at colors too. He loves to build "super, super high" towers (as he calls them) out of mega blocks. He still plays great by himself.

Timeouts are a regular occurrence in our house and even baby has had one.

Like I mentioned before, even through all of the frustrating and challenging times we're still having a blast!



I know that we'll look back one day and miss these wild and crazy times so much.

Grey Cup Party

We had a bunch of friends over to watch the Grey Cup on Sunday. It was a full and noisy house but it was fun! There were 13 kids ages 1-5 (and 2 babies) and can you believe that everyone actually sat down for about 10 minutes and ate supper? Any Saskatchewan fans out there know that the outcome of the game wasn't good, same as last year, but it was nice to get together with everyone.

I went away for the first time without hubby or kids this past weekend. Myself and 7 friends had a great time at Elkridge Resort where we rented a cabin, sat in the hot tub, had a spa treatment and just had a great time visiting. It was a much needed and great getaway but it was also really nice to get home to everyone. Daniel and the kids had a good time, the weather warmed up enough for him to take the kids outside a few times. As much of a challenge as it can be to get everyone bundled up and out the door, he also got them wearing ski pants too! Way to go daddy! They were eating snow and can see from the pictures that Maggie wasn't too impressed with it.

Mitchell on the other hand was eating it from his hands and then went onto sticking his whole face in the snow giving himself a face wash.


Casey ate his fair share of snow too.




They had fun pulling each other around on the toboggans too.




They even got hot (warm) chocolate when they came in.


On the potty front, Maggie went #2 on the potty! It was a bit of a fluke, but it happened none the less. Daniel caught on that she was going so he put her on the potty and she finished in there. Everyone was quite impressed with her. Another first was Casey sitting on there with no diaper, that was the first time for him. Our plan is to just continue with putting them on casually and see what happens. If it's like many other things that we want them to do but they don't want to, it could turn into quite the production. I don't want it to become a struggle between us and them so we'll wait until they're ready.