I think I might be weird.

Ok, I had to post about this cause I think it's really funny slash weird and I want to know if it happens to anyone else.

I wake up laughing.

It happens like, often. I asked Neil how often he thinks it happens and he replied with, "It's a common occurrence." The funniest part about it is that it is ALWAYS when I am dreaming about my BFF Sharlee. Seriously, every. single. time. Somewhere in my subconscious I obviously think Sharlee is the funniest person I know (and she actually pretty much is) and I just kill myself laughing at her in my sleep. It's been happening since probably junior high, maybe earlier, and I just wake myself up laughing- uncontrollably laughing out loud. I'm glad I'm apparently so happy but I think it's kinda strange, no?

Does this happen to you?

Labor of love

I am trying to not just have another terrible day due to the fact that my beautiful basement is under rising waters and the news from home keeps going from bad to worse. I decided I needed to pick myself up and focus on the good things going on, cause there are many. First of which is my beautiful newly recovered double stroller. (If you want to skip the story and just see pictures click here, but come on, it's a good read!)

When we got to Edmonton it quickly became very apparent that if I wanted to leave my house with my 2 children I needed somewhere to put them! I found this double stroller on Kijiji for a reasonable price, especially considering the gal only used it for one summer. It was in great condition but the fact of the matter is it was HIDEOUS! (I thought about apologizing to any of you that may have the same one but honestly, I'm not going to, the thing was ugly.) I loved having it and found all of it's features to be wonderfully convenient but couldn't get over the fact that it was shamefully unattractive. My friend Laura has been on a bit of a project marathon and I decided I would bring up the idea of recovering it with her. (She can do anything!) We agreed that when I was home at the end of the month we would work on it and give the stroller a much needed make-over. I was almost positive it was going to be impossible but again, she's amazing and convinced me we could do it. When I decided to not go home for as long she selflessly agreed to still do the stroller for me and was confident it could be done in that time frame (I'm pretty sure she regrets it, haha!) Anyway, long story short, and not so short for Laura as I know there were late nights and no breaks to finish it for me, she did and it looks AMAZING! When I said thank you she responded with "I love you," and she really does. She's my longest and dearest friend and I love her more than most everything! I love my stroller and I'm so excited to push my cute boys around in it all summer.

THANK YOU LAURA!!

I haven't taken pictures of it yet but she did a wonderful job documenting the before and after so go check it out here and please be sure to tell her what a fantastic job she did and what a pal she is for doing it for me, seriously what a girl!

Michelle and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

I went home to Lethbridge for a few days this past week. It was my plan to play outside, go for walks and picnics and just let Porter roam and enjoy himself. But it rained. We still had a great time and it was fun to stay at Vicky's (thanks Vik!) and have Porter play with his cousins inside. I felt so bad for Vicky because her basement had water in it and the cracks had to be toweled up every 20 minutes or so. My heart just broke for her to see all that water coming in her basement.

Well yesterday morning we got a phone call from Pat (the lady renting our place for the summer) to say that we had water in OUR basement too. I went over there to see how bad it was, assuming it was just a little like last year. I was wrong. Along every wall of the perimeter of the house it was wet, like REALLY wet. If I stamped my feet it would splash - THAT wet. It came out about 2 feet in most places so everything had to be moved and pushed to the middle of the rooms. So instead of going to hang out with Laura (who was doing a MAJOR project for me, which I'll post about later, I LOVE YOU LAURA!) all morning like I really wanted to I was stuck having to deal with this. My in-laws have a wet vac so I called to see if I could borrow it. I went out to my van to go get it just to open the door and see that my van had been broken into, everything scattered everywhere and our GPS was stolen. ARE YOU SERIOUS? The change in our cupholder (and my temple bag for that too) was stolen - I hope you enjoy your 12 dollars! Ugh. So, my wonderful in laws came over with the vac and I started vacuuming the water but it really was a futile attempt, it was just so soaking wet I couldn't make a difference. My father in law pulled the carpet and underlay up from the edges to hopefully give it a chance to dry out. Oh, my cute basement. There was really nothing I could do about any of it and I only had a couple hours until I had to leave to go back to Edmonton anyway. I talked to Pat, apologized up and down and told her I'd send people over to take care of it. THANK GOODNESS for wonderful friends and family!

So I left for Edmonton, with no GPS, my van a MESS, my house a DISASTER and my nerves pretty well shot. *whimper, whimper.* The drive was very uneventful, my boys did wonderful and we made it home to Neil safe and in good time. I've got my house to deal with from here but I know I have help, I just feel bad for being so dependent on them. UGH, what a day!

Stupid shots

Rigby had his 2 month vaccinations on Wednesday morning. He was his usual calm, cheery self all day and most of the day Thursday (even when I hauled him through Galaxyland ALL day), BUT today he has been miserable, poor guy! If you have ever met Rigby you know he is a perfect baby. Haha, seriously he is. He doesn't cry except for when he's hungry and he makes this little yelp when he's tired and that means he wants his soother and to be wrapped up and put to bed. When you lay him down he just lays there quietly until he goes to sleep. He's so perfect it's really quite sickening honestly. So today when he actually demanded some attention I was kind of unprepared for it! He spent a lot of the day fussing and crying and just wanted to be held. I managed to get a few things done while Porter bounced him in his bouncy chair (and you can imagine what I mean by 'bounce') but the rest of the day was spent rocking and soothing my poor baby. I was able to have a lot of patience with him because it's so unlike him and I really just feel bad for the little guy, those darn shots! I've just put him down for bed and I'm hoping he's back to himself tomorrow. He really is perfect and I'm so in love with him, even after I've listened to him cry all day.

Free Passes

All the wives in our office got THREE MONTH passes to West Edmonton Mall! How FUN is that?! This means that we can get in for FREE to any attraction, any day. We can go to Galaxyland, the huge pool, the ice rink, the sea lion show, mini golf, the submarine ride, bowling... everything... FOR FREE! We went today and Porter had an awesome time riding rides (his favorite was the balloon ride... very exciting let me tell you, haha!) and playing at Galaxyland.

It's going to be a FUN summer! :)

Happy Mother's Day!

These are the 2 reasons I am so happy (ok and the other boy in our house too!) I am so grateful to be a mother and feel so blessed to be trusted with these precious spirits. Porter is my cheeky little tease that keeps me laughing and Rigby is my sweetheart with the most calm and peaceful nature. I can't wait to see what the years bring with these boys.



I want to say Happy Mother's Day to my momma too! She is my mom and my friend and I have learned love, patience and charity from her. I wish we lived closer because we always have so much fun together and I would love to do it more often. She is an awesome grandma and my boys just love her (even if Porter won't talk to her on the phone). She truly encompasses what it means to be a mother - someone you can turn to, someone to show you unconditional love, and someone to teach and guide you. I am so grateful for her example. I love you!

Rit Dye

As a solution to my hoodie issue it was suggested to me to use Rit Dye. The thought had actually crossed my mind but I was wary of how well the dye would cover the bleach spots and if I would get an all over even color if I dyed the entire hoodie. Has anyone ever used the stuff, especially on something that's been bleached? I don't have the hoodie here in Edmonton (it's in a box at home, I told you I don't even want to look at the thing!) so I won't be trying it until the fall but if anyone has any tips or suggestions I'd appreciate it.

My funny boy

Porter is always saying things to crack me up. Here are a couple of my favorites lately:

When we got to Edmonton and Neil started going to work every day we knew it was going to be a change for Porter. He left on the first day and we told Porter, "daddy is off to work!" On the second day when Neil was getting ready to leave Porter asked where he was going. We said "daddy is going to work," and Porter said, "but he already did!!" Haha! That pretty much sums up the last few months. Too cute.

The other night when I was putting Porter to bed I was singing the song "I'm trying to be like Jesus." It ends with the line "...and these are the things Jesus taught." I sang the song and ended "...and these are the things Jesus taught," and Porter looked at me and said "Jesus Todd? Like, Grandpa Todd?" I laughed and said "no, Jesus TAUGHT." I don't think he believed me cause he said it again matter of factly "yup, Jesus Todd."

It's really good he makes me laugh cause there are some days that's the only reason I keep him! :)

Wesley

We just received the news that our little friend Wesley has passed away. We were somewhat prepared for it as the little guy was 6 years old and ferrets have a life span of 6-8 years so we knew he was elderly. As a tribute to Wes I just wanted to share a few of my favorite memories about him.

Wesley loved feet! He loved playing with dirty socks, nibbling on toes, hiding in shoes (and dragging shoes under the bed) and trying to climb up EVERYONE'S pant legs.

Wesley had a little spot on the side of his jaw that when you rubbed it would make him yawn. So cute!

If you held Wes up to your face he would give you kisses, little licks on your nose.

He had an adorable little squeak when he got excited.

I loved the way he kinda walked sideways like the front and back half of his body weren't really connected.

I loved finding Wesley all snuggled up in our laundry basket. He loved sleeping in our dirty clothes - anything that smelled like us.

We'd find Wesley in the funniest places when we weren't expecting it. All of the sudden you'd come across something warm and fuzzy and it would freak you right out until you thought, "oh, it's just Wes!"

Wesley had a serious snoring problem. I loved to sit and sew and listen to him snore behind me. It was so cute to walk into a room and have Wesley give himself away to where he was hiding asleep because you could hear him snoring!

Some of the funnest years of Wesley's life was the time spent with Niles. A cat and a ferret make a funny pair and we spent LOTS of time laughing at those two!

Wesley spent time as a registered volunteer at St. Michael's Health Centre. He had a little name badge and everything! I would regularly take him and walk him around and let the residents hold him and play with him. A few of them really got attached to him and he was always so good with the seniors.

Wesley loved to play in the snow. We liked to let him play in the yard or sometimes we'd put buckets of snow in the tub and let him burrow and play.

Upon one visit to my Granny in Kelowna Wesley found a way to get inside her couch. We had to literally cut the bottom of her couch open to get him out!

Wesley was very gentle and sweet, he was so good with kids and endured lots of kids picking him up and dragging him around.

Wesley didn't really care for toys but he had one bear that he absolutely loved. It had little beads in the bum and feet and I think that's what drew him to it. He would drag that little bear everywhere and if you got a hold of it he'd come and take it from you and hide it where you couldn't get it. He loved that thing!

I will miss having him around.

Benign Neonatal Sleep Myoclonus

No mother wants to find out that something is wrong with her brand new baby. When Neil and I noticed that Rigby was doing something out of the ordinary I tried not to assume the worst. Neil told me one evening that Rigby had been twitching in his sleep and that it kind of concerned him. I hadn't noticed and figured it was the type of jerking that all babies do - we've seen them flail their arms and wake themselves up, they all do it. That night as I lay in bed with Rigby asleep on my chest I experienced what Neil was talking about. In his sleep Rigby would twitch and jerk for minutes at a time. It's difficult to explain unless you see it. In the dark of the night I lay there sick to my stomach wondering what could be wrong with my baby. We noticed it off and on over the next few days and it really concerned me. At our next doctor's appointment I asked about it and the doctor asked me questions back, trying to rule out seizures and other conditions. He told me signs to watch for and to keep an eye on it. Having the inquiring (and worrying) mind that I do I started to do a little research on my own and that's when I learned about Benign Neonatal Sleep Myoclonus - basically a very long term for a baby that has an immature nervous system and twitches and jerks in it's sleep. I didn't want to self diagnose but as Neil and I researched it more and more it so perfectly and exactly described what Rigby was doing that there was no doubt in either of our minds that that is exactly what he was experiencing, it has very specific manifestations. The research we gathered assured us that these twitches have zero affect on the baby's brain or system in any way and that they typically outgrow them by 2 months. I am so happy to say that over the past few weeks he has had these episodes less and less and within the last 2 weeks I haven't seen him do it at all.

I wanted to post about this as we have learned that Benign Neonatal Sleep Myoclonus is an under-diagnosed condition and often goes misdiagnosed which can lead to unnecessary testing and medication. I wanted to share what I had learned to maybe help other mothers who see the same thing in their little ones and worry about it as I did. I am so grateful it was nothing to worry about and that Rigby has already outgrown this condition.