It's hard to believe it, but today is Emma's 3rd birthday.  Time passes so quickly when you have kids.  I've been thinking alot lately about the time I spent being pregnant with her.  It was such a tough pregnancy.  I threw up multiple times everyday while continuing to get bigger and bigger.  By the time I was six months pregnant, strangers would come up to me and say "You must be due anyday now!".  Yes, I really was that big.

The last couple months I didn't see my feet at all and it seemed like all I could do was sleep and cry.  When she was finally born 3 years ago today, she was 11 days past her due date.  She weighed a crazy 11lbs 5oz at birth and make all the other newborns look premature.  The labour lasted nearly 24 hours and was absolutely excruciating.  I had two epidurals, neither of which worked.  I begged them to give me a C-section but was told that I could do it.  I was a proven birther as I had given birth to a large baby (9lbs 7oz) 12 years previously.  Which, by the way, was much, much easier!

I ended up with post-partum depression, an awful tear in places that are not supposed to be torn and flashbacks of the labour for over a year.  But the truth is, I wouldn't change it or her one bit.  She's perfect and absolutely 100% worth it.  I'll never be the same as before I had her either physically, psychologically or emotionally but she's made me into a stronger woman and a better mother.  She's funny, outspoken, talkative, friendly, clever, witty, cheerful and often giggles even in her sleep!  I love her so much.  Happy Birthday baby girl.  3 is a big one.  She's officially no longer a "baby" even though she'll always be my baby girl.  Wiping tears, away. lol

I've got two kids -- one's 14 and the other is 3.  Unfortunately (for me at least), I'm currently teaching them both how to drive.  Our oldest got his license last summer but is only really starting to get behind the wheel right now.  It's scary as heck -- for both of us as well as other drivers, pedestrians, trees, etc.  We just gave our 3 year old a Power Wheels Barbie Jeep for her birthday so we're having to teach her how to drive as well.  So far she's only ran over the dog once, so that's good news!  I'm wondering how high our insurance bills are going to go now that they're both "behind the wheel".

I should do a poll of the top 10 auto insurance companies to see who will give me the lowest quote! lol  We're going to need some serious coverage for the power wheels as well as for our car.  And maybe some more anti-anxiety medications for Mom too!

I just finished rocking Emma to sleep. I know, I know 2 1/2years old is a bit old to still be rocking her to sleep. The thing is, I like it, she likes it and it works! It's like our own special quiet cuddle at the end of the day. Like nursing her but not. Anyways, she listens to the radio to fall asleep by. It doesn't matter what channel or what's on. She just loves music and noise. We're all settled all cozy in the rocking chair, my feet are up on the ottoman and I push the giant star that starts the tunes. It's playing "I Feel Good" by James Brown. Great song! Normally I sing to what ever's playing because for some reason she likes my singing. I wonder if she's tone deaf...Anyways, how the heck do you sit still listening to I Feel Good? I stop singing realizing that it's not going to help lull her to sleep. I Feel Goooood I feel Nice! I can feel her little bum start moving in my arms as she starts to bust out the moves to the music and shake her thang! This is definitely not working. Thankfully, the song ends and "Crazy" by Blue Rodeo comes on. Perfect to fall asleep to. She does and I come down to write this. Guess what's playing now? La Bamba! She's probably jumping up and down and shaking what her mama gave her right now! Sigh. Okay, never mind. Apparently my boring Blue Rodeo rendition was enough to send her to sleepy land. Another day over!!! I need to change the radio station now it's Don't Hand Me No Lines and Keep Your Hands to Yourself. Even I'm dancing!!! Sleep tight everyone.

We watched a couple of movies last week. Kris and Mark watched Indiana Jones. Well, okay, Emma and I watched it as well. I don't think that we liked it in the same way that they did though. I mean it was alright, I guess. There was everything you'd expect from an Indiana Jones movie -- gross animals (ants and snakes, of course), an archaeological treasure (Crystal skull which is given away in the title itself), bad guys, good guys (Indy and company), and lots of action. I've seen all the Indiana Jones movies and this one is just another.

Emma and I had a girl's movie night and rented Tinkerbell. She's always been my favorite -- Tinkerbell that is. I've always wanted to know more about her. Fairies fill little girl's minds with charming images of painting flowers and leaves, dancing around mushrooms and a tiny world filled with tiny treasures. I didn't even bother asking the boys if they wanted to watch it.

It really makes you think about the differences between boys and girls, men and women. I've been raising both a boy and a girl and have noticed several differences between the two genders seemingly from birth. I tried to make things as gender neutral as I could for both of them -- dolls for my son and trucks for my daughter. But it has never seemed to work.

Emma has only one princess movie, Snow White. She loves it and has to watch it with her stuffed snow white. She is constantly getting me to turn it on and then leaving the room. I'm probably watching it more than she is. It's one of my favourites even though it's totally sexist. Snow White is a classic that is unchangeable. So what if it makes her want to clean -- that's good news for me!

Mark registered Emma for a winter session of ballet! I'm super excited for the class to start. I took baby ballet when I was a kid too and kept it up until I was about 8 or 9. Emma loves dancing like a ballerina around the house already so I can't imagine what she'll be like when her class actually starts. She'll be almost as excited as me, I hope! Don't worry, we'll post lots of pictures!!!

Dale is the heavily involved with the Calgary International Blues Festival (i.e. he is on the board and Mobiltex is a sponser).  As a result, we have been lucky enough to get tickets to it for the last few years.  Today we saw Southern Thunderbird, The Ian Stewart Band and the Sherman Dousette Band.  It was great!  Personally, I really liked Sherman Dousette Band, who were very John Lee Hooker inspired, but they were all good.


Kris is at that age where he is to old to be a kid and to young to appreciate the blues, so he decided to stay home this year.  As usual, Emma attracted quite a bit of attention when she danced and we got lots of good comments about her.  Overall, while I think that she enjoyed it, her favorite thing was probably the sprinklers and face painting in the children's areas.  Sorry Dale, we are working on her music appreciation though!


Unfortunatly with everything else going on, we had to miss a few other really great bands like The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Canned Heat, and Buckwheat Zydeco.  Oh well, maybe next time.


Anyways, thanks Dale!  We had a great day!

Kris is doing his best to play as much computer games as possible this summer and is really working at relaxing. For his birthday, he got an XBox 360 and several games and he has been playing on the XBox, playing on the PC, watching movies (he got several Monty Python movies for his birthday) and reading books. Doreen is talking about taking Kris out to Buck Lake to hang with Uncle Don and do some fishing for a few days. That should be really nice for him. Emma is asserting herself more and more and constantly changing and picking up new things. She is becoming more and more a little girl and often dances around like a ballarina and sings (both her version of real songs and ones that she makes up). Her favorite phrase is "I do it!". There is a lady with two little Yorkies who lets Emma walk one around the park when we see her. Emma loves it! Paula and I are slowly getting better. Some days are better than others.

The other day we found a great workbench at a garage sale (way nicer than Dad's!) and this weekend I finally got it into the workroom. It is adorable! I also gave her several of my first tools and my very old Winnie The Pooh apron (from my Grandma Bentley I think) to play with so she was in there sawing and hammering for quite a while. We had a good time!

On Wednesday night, we had to go grocery shopping. We gave Emmy a bath and put her to bed. Kris offered to "watch" her so we could run out and grab some groceries. He's never done this before. It's not that he's not old enough. It's not that he's not mature enough. It's the diapers. He doesn't want to change them. Actually, he absolutely refuses to have anything to do with diapers. He completely freaks out if you start changing a poopy bum in front of him -- not that I can blame him, it's not my favourite activity either, especially pregnant! If I could find a way to avoid it, I would too! Anyways, when we got back home from the store after about half an hour, the whole house was quiet. I poked my head around the corner to peek into the living room. Kris was sitting there in the chair watching his baby sister on the video monitor! Too cute! I think he was a little more worried about it than he let on. I told him it was okay to watch tv or do something when she was sleeping. He claimed nothing was on. I think he was probably afraid he'd miss something. He's such a good kid! Sometimes we give him a hard time about being messy or lazy or having an attitude. But when you get right down to it, he's a great son and an absolutely fantastic big brother!