Monday, February 28, 2011

Walk inbetween the weather

It was beautiful this morning, so I took the kids to Mill Lake for a play and walk around the park, which was fabulous. It was even hot and sunny. The wind was cold, but it was still nice. The second I got the the kids back into the truck and shut my door it began to hail and then snow. I smiled and felt so happy that I cheated the weather. The kids were so tired after we got home and ate lunch, they crashed. Sometimes I wish I was still 20 months old.
I can't wait until spring.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Pregnant and worn out

Feeling worn out. How does a working mother do it? I stay at home with my little one and I am about to have another. I am starting up a home business that I should be excited for, but instead I just feel overwhelmed. What can a mother do? With you family living close by I don't get any breaks. I love having my 20month old sit on my lap drawing on paper is a blessing, he makes me slow down and just enjoy... somehow the work all just gets done.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Renos

I need at least 2 baby free days just to get reno's done... new classes being in March... had to push back classes twice... grrr... oh well... decided to do a Saturday class for working parents... hope that goes over well.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Self Napper

Got home from Music Class today and little Geran sat on the bed and read his nightime book to his new Cookie Monster stuffy. Grabbed his blanket and didn't give me a chance to climb in with him. He said, "All Done," shut his book, climbed down from the bed with blankie and Monster and walked to his crib saying, "Night, Night," to everything around him. Then gave mommy a hug and kiss and said, "Weeeee," as I put him into his crib. 5min later, he was out like a light. What a super cutie!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Stil Learning Signing

I can't believe that my son at 20 months is still learning sign. Even though he is talking so much, he is still interested in new signs. He makes up a sign for new things and then looks at me for clarification, luckily I know a lot of sign, so I am able to give him the right sign and then he copies it. He loves to learn. I hope he never looses that desire. So cool!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Business and Babies

It is hard enough for parents to juggle household chores and babies, but add a home business and you're asking for a full on stress meltdown. Feeling the weight of pregnancy today while doing 3 hour workshop on financial training for my business... now I feel burnt out and want to take baby outside, couldn't image walking right now, let alone playtime at the park... ug. Think I'll do some rest and relaxation first. Body doesn't match the mind. Any other mothers feel this way?

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Cuddles in bed with kids

Nothing better than cuddling with your baby in bed after dark. Geran lied down in my arms after his bottle tonight, staring at the night sky out our bedroom window. Just lying there, not talking. Giving kisses once in a while and cuddling in. Had to kiss pregnant tummy baby night night too. So sweet... for like 40 minutes. Then said, "night Night" and wanted to go to his bed. So amazing. I love him so much.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Best Date

James and I had the best date last night. It seems when you have children, dogs, a mortgage etc... you seem to appreciate date night a lot more than you use to, at least we did. It was really nice to have our friend, Mima, watch Geran so we could dress up and get ready for a real date.

We started out hanging out at Blockbuster wasting time and being silly, waiting for our table. Finally, we had a separate room at Ebisu Sushi House. We ordered the love boat, complete with tuna, salmon, tempura, teraki chicken, sushi rolls, miso soup, sunomono salad and more... It was so good, probably the best Sushi we have had in a long time. After dinner, we exchanged gifts. We haven't done that in years. James finally new who I was and got me specialty scrapbooking paper and stamps. I got him coffee goodies.

After Dinner, we decided to take a stroll down memory lane and went to Castle Fun Park. We went there when we were first 'flirting' years ago before I moved here. It was pretty neat, 15 years later.. here we were again, married with our second child on the way. We are still so much in love, so nice. We had a lot of fun, playing old video games and of course Skeet Ball.

It was a great night, with lots of laughter and fun.

Amanda

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

After Valentine's Blues

Does anyone get the after Valentine's Blues? I know it happens after Christmas, but I wondered about the people that woke up with a cold empty bed beside them and how it felt? Or maybe there honey was there beside them, but they were disappointed on how the day before went. How many people invest that day to have their 'lover, husband, wife, partner, what-have-you,' show them how much they care and then are disappointed on the outcome? I wonder what the stats are on breakups on the day After Valentine's Day. Does the pressure of showing love decrease the heart behind the gesture? If Valentine's by a different day...

Lucky for me, we decided our Valentine's Day was today... the day after... taking BACK the right to choose when WE want to love each other. Not to mention the great deals on flowers and chocolates the day after.

Smiles.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Valentine's Day

So excited, I get to hear new Sweet Pea's heartbeat at the doctors today for Valentines!

Too COOL!

Amanda

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Routine Routine

What is to be said about routine? We decided to try and put Geran down and fed him his bottle and then placed him to bed. He chatted a bit and then started to cry and fuss. We left it a bit, cause he sometimes does that. But it wasn't stopping. For about 45 minutes, we tried changing diaper, giving a bottle, rubbing his back... nothing worked. Then my hubby said, "we didn't do the routine tonight did we?" I thought about it and realized we missed some parts.
So after 1 hour, we went and got Geran out of bed and started the routine over again... minus the book we already read earlier. I fed him a bit of a bottle on the rocker... we talked about going to sleep, shut the lights off in the house. I carried him to say goodnight to the moon, trees and daddy... then we shut the fish light off and said goodnight to the fish and I layed him down in his crib and said night night. To my amazement, he said night night and we didn't hear a peep out of him.

There is something to say about routine. The psychological ramifications of this were pretty cool to think about. So simple was the routine, and we just missed it, in a hurry to paint our den... but if we took that extra 5 min and did the routine, he probably would have crashed without problems relieving all of our stress and his. Poor little guy. I kept asking what was wrong, but all he could answer was "ma ma, ma ma." He just didn't have the sign to say mommy, I want my routine. Maybe he didn't even know he needed it.

Well, we learned a lesson and now he can sleep easy.

Smile.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Three toddlers

Nothing cuter than three toddlers baking Valentine's cookies. One eating dough, the other running away with the cookie cutters and the other pressing the cookies with a cutter while grunting at the effort. Geran had his two little friends over to bake cookies yesterday, and it was so fun. They giggled and ran around the kitchen table most of the time, taking breaks to 'help' with the baking parts. Geran liked rolling the dough out and running off with the butterfly cutter.. 'flying' it around the kitchen. My favourite part was having all three up to the sink washing their hands in a sink full of bubbles. They loved washing their hands so much, they cried when I finally had to say, ok, your hands are washed.... they all had to wave bye bye to the water. I love the joy of the simple things seen through the eyes of a child.

When the cookies were in the oven, I showed the kids how to 'watch them bake' by turning the light on. Geran sat right in front of the oven crossed legged and said, "cool!" That is his new favourite word.
Later, during 'eat the cookie time,' I asked Geran which cookie he wanted... the butterfly, the elephant, the flamingo, the heart... He kept 'talking and pointing', but since I didn't understand what he was saying, I simply asked, "sign it to me Geran." And he immediately signed, "Elephant." I love how signing with my baby has made our relationship so easy going. I probably would have been able to show him each one, until he grabbed for the one he wanted, but in one second, I just asked and he told me. There's something to say about empowering our children and giving them the self confidence at this young age.

Geran's talking so much now, I hope to keep the signing up for new little Sweet Pea. That way, Geran can teach new baby. I am so excited about watching for this.

Ta ta for now,

Amanda

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

budget

Budgeting is not about a good savings plan, or a great way to save up for a vacation etc... it is really about moving money around to make sure all the vultures get fed.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Service Industry

Who has ever left a store and went wow, they were so unhappy, or disinterested in me. Sure, they say, "how are you?" but do they mean it? I mean, if we are expected to be polite and smile at strangers as customers, what is expected of the people who are paid to serve us? Not much now-a-days. I remember a time, where customer service mattered and I am only in my 30's. But this is getting ridiculous. How many times this month have you gone home and went wow, that was excellent service, they were so polite and went out of there way for me? Can you count them on one hand? Has our service industry gone so far by the waste side that we are generally surprised when a company calls a week after service asking how their business was. I am shocked when my dentist calls me 'personally' and asks how my teeth are after a filing or root canal. But isn't the service we should expect? Most service people I bump into look so miserable, or barley say what is 'necessary' to me and nothing more. The eye contact is miminal if best. I try to engage them sometimes, just to wake them up. Prompting the cashier with questions about her day, but usually it ends with them complaining about something, as if to justify why they looked miserable in the first place.

I leave you with this, what will you do tomorrow to spread a little cheer, a little love, a message of kindness... and not to strangers, but to the ones we love and care about. With such crappy customer service, why not try to bring some joy into the world... maybe it will spill out to the people we don't know.

Today, I got a note in the mail from a friend. It wasn't my birthday, or valentines or anything special. It was in a simple envelope with a simple small note paper that said, "...as you undergo the many transistions in your life, know that you are loved, supported and admired..." It was signed, 'I love ya, happily yours'... and had a cute sticker on it. That's it. It wasn't anything termendous or earth shaking, but it rocked my whole day and gave me such a great feeling of love and happiness... I felt the need to spread my joy to anyone I met in my day.

Next time you feel like being 'grumpy' at work, or just out of 'gas' remember, your smile and kind words, your extra minute of attention, your kind thought or words, can truly change someone's day.

Take care,

Amanda

Monday, February 7, 2011

Baby Shower Trade Show

I am in the Baby Shower Trade Show through Welcome Wagon. So for the next month, it will all be about this Trade Show. I am a little nervous. I don't want to spend 200 bucks and not advertise or present well. It won't be worth the money then. I am so glad I have this government grant from the SE program to be able to jump on opportunities like this. I wouldn't have done it otherwise. Plus, I get first dibs on each show presented there now. It is in Abbotsford and so my clientele will be my target market. That is good news.

Amanda

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Rain Saturday

Three words.... Reno's Reno's Reno's

James is working on the drywall and I am working on painting, in between taking care of baby and puppy.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Baby Sign Language

Would I have known how smart Geran is without sign? I think not. He shows me everyday, what he wants, what he is thinking about and how he plays... most through sign. He reads in sign and talks with sign. He pretend plays and uses sign. It is so natural for our family to communicate. It keeps peace within the family. There isn't a lot of crying, yelling, or frustration because what is the need? All the babies needs are met because he can ask for what he wants and needs.

We grow closer together because of sign. Geran can ly in the bed between daddy and I. He looks out the window and signs airplane, moon, trees, owl... whatever he is thinking about or hearing or seeing. We have whole conversations about it. What an enriched life he has. The advance vocabulary and discussions we have WITH him, not around him or at him, will make help him in his future. I am sure of it.

Amanda

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Days Like This

I am so blessed with such a lovely family. Geran is starting the sign words for things he doesn't have signs for. He is eager to learn new signs for everything now. Plus, he is trying to say everything. Each day is a new word, signed and or said. Today was hockey. He tries everything we teach. We are working on the alphabet now. I of course sign all the letters and he tries to copy me... so cute, while saying the letters.

So sweet.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Baby Sign Language

I am pushing hard to get my classroom reno'd and up and running for my first set of classes in February. I am a littler nervous that I won't have enough people joined up for then. But as long as I am up and running for my March Trade Show Baby Shower with Welcome Wagon on March 2nd.

I am overwhelmed and going crazy right now with deadlines in mind, financial crunches etc...

All I want to do is play with babies and perhaps scrapbook and write kids books...

A friend of mine set me up with my own website address... www.stickyhands.ca

I am very excited. He rigged it so it will forward to my existing website, until I have time to create my own, I am using the one provided by Baby Signs®.

Got to go eat while babies sleep.

Ciao for now,

Amanda

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Survived

I survived the self employment version of the Dragon's Den. Which wasn't at all like the den. Yes, I did have to pitch my idea to a panel of business men, hand in my business plan and convince them I knew what I was doing and my business idea was lucrative; but they were SUPER nice and helpful. They told me where to put my advertising money and more important where not to.
They believed in my company and agreed that baby sign language is not only a great business idea, but that it has great importance to the babies growing up in our society. It was so great having them back me up and having them avocate for me.

My loving husband made these stainless steal mugs with baby signs logo on it to give them for gifts. I went into the room looking totally pro and fun. They really liked the way I positioned myself in my business plan and thought this niche on the market was perfect timing.

I got great reviews from my advisers and from the business men. So overall... it was a great experience!

Got to go moonlight my other job, full time mom.

Amanda