Well it wasn’t really what I might have envisioned my 24^th wedding anniversary celebration to be but it was a happy time anyway.  At one point I wanted to run for the laptop to blog but I resisted that urge.

I worked all day as planned and messaged my loverboy a time or two and discussed plans. It was yucky weather and I knew going out to eat that evening would be miserable because my hair would be a frizzy mess of curls (go ahead and say it – how vain!) I also thought my mom needed the evening off after having kids all day and getting a sitter is another story that I will tell some day. Go out some other time and stay in tonight – that was my plan.

Corey (usually known as Papa) took it upon himself to pick a few things up on the way home while I was in charge of picking up children after work. When I arrived home I was chased out of the kitchen a few times even though it appeared that there wasn’t much happening there. I fed kids. He had everything under control – I know he’s quite capable but it’s not every day that he makes the meals. I don’t even care that he had help from M & M’s! It was nice to sit and enjoy a hot meal without ….oh wait there were interruptions. Sorry, got carried away with the day dreaming there.

I guess the important part wasn’t that he cooked, or that I didn’t have to …we were hanging out together with two little people who adore being with us. It doesn’t matter that there was a potty celebration in the middle of our anniversary dinner or that we then had to do the jammie routine and tuck everyone in. We are in a different stage of life than we expected right now but we are doing what we do well…. we balance each other and work well as a team. Yes we have our ups and downs and our irritable moments or our overtired days when we need to step back and breath but I am really happy I’m doing all this with the man I love. I can’t imagine doing life (and all it has involved) with anyone else. Papa’s the best…the kids are onto something! That’s right Dija, I’m Papa’s girl too. 

Seriously, what are the odds??

Our new neighbors have a 3 yr old boy and a 2 yr old girl. Who would have imagined that could even happen?

Our last neighbors were, um… I’ll say stand offish and kept to themeslves. That’s fine but I like to be just a little personable with neighbors and give a friendly wave or a hello now and then. I don’t want to live with them but friendly is good.

Let’s say I’m elated with the prospect of having the kids next door but to find that they have friendly parents as well – bonus!

The truck unloaded them after I left for work this morning at 9am. I never saw the truck. I got a message from Nana at noontime saying “I met your new neighbors” and I found it odd because I took the kids to her this morning and she wasn’t at my house. Puzzled, I asked for more information. “Well we went to feed the ducks at the park and this 3 yr old boy came over and chatted so his mom came over and explained how they were just getting the truck unloaded….” and on the story went. The kids were introduced and played and fed ducks. So Nana gave me names and as soon as I had a moment I rushed over to do the welcome to the hood greeting. Seems like both of our backyards just grew in size and the kids have playmates real handy. Adults will enjoy peaceful evenings on patios.

Is it totally selfish of me to think that they bought the house because of us? Well not because they knew of us or anything…I just think this is too big to be just a coincidence. Some things just work out way too well to think it was by chance. Nana doesn’t go to the duck pond every day either…hhhmmm.

I feel like I’ve just been given a gift – friendly neighbors with the right size kids. What an exciting day!

“No No Dija” is a name we called little Dija for about a month because she seemed to say “No” to everything… even if she meant yes. Time to use that name again! This past weekend it seemed to really start as if she was warming up for the big “2” – Dija has always been very well behaved and didn’t get into a lot of trouble. Well we’re beyond that phase now. The day went like this…

Dija get off the table

Dija get down from there

Dija you can’t have that

Dija get out of the fridge

Dija that is not yours

Dija put that back

Dija where are you now?

Dija you don’t turn 2 til Tuesday!

I guess most of it was just funny and she was looking for new adventures but it was a whole new phase and she just woke up in it. What happened to the gradual development that I was expecting? I didn’t pull my hair out but let’s just say this is not my natual colour!

Yesterday She had her birthday and Nana hosted a little party while I was out of town on a mission. The pictures are adorable and we’ll do it all over again on the weekend with more family at home (including me).

So why did I miss the cupcakes and presents yesterday? What could drag me away from that?

I was shopping for a wedding dress! Yes, I’m already married but our son Justin is engaged to the lovely Astrid and yesterday she had the day off so we were on a mission. It was a long day. No dress was purchased or ordered but she has until August 22 so what’s the rush? I have to say I’m glad that Nana made my dress 24 years ago.

Now I know this is straying from the topic but it did happen on Dija’s birthday so I feel compelled to share some tips for retailers.

1. Never assume that I want to purchase anything from you – please be kind and offer what you have.

2. Just because I’m in your store do not think I’ve signed a contract to purchase from you – I will walk out if I’m not enjoying the experience (this was a beautiful moment Astrid and I think I love you even more since then).

3. If anyone is behind a closed curtain please announce your arrival before flinging curtain and sneaking a peak.

Yesterday was a fun day with the girls and an interesting experience with retailers – some fantastic and others who will never see us again.

Two year old Dija will be the flowergirl at the big event in August…and she will do her best to steal the show. Maybe we`ll get Nana to make her a dress!

 I had a little help with this entry. Special content sometimes requires permission to post and I did ask first. I asked Nana about the part she contributed. When she told me the story I made it clear that if she continued telling me the story it becomes blog material and I hoped she didn’t mind – I guess I didn’t ask so much as warn. Tears in eyes…a problem inherited from Nana when we laugh too hard.
Tre wanted to shop today because I dressed him nice and that indicated that he gets to go public and not just play in the “back ard”. So since Nana was on duty she decided to take the two kids out shopping and pick up a few birthday gifts for the upcoming events later this month. She instructed Tre that he is to pee before leaving and Nana was going to brush her teeth. Well… have you guess it yet? I know my eyes got big when she told me just that much. You see I grew up seeing Nana brush that lovely set while she holds them in her hand! Tre had not seen this before – holy smokes Nana is MAGIC! Tre sat on the potty trying to pull his teeth out.

After nap time later today Tre once again has the potty run to make… “Nana you gonna take out your teef again?”

I just wish I had seen the look on his face. I think I can imagine it because I have seen the look before. Papa and Uncle Justin are magic too. They can eat toys and poop them out right there in front of Tre! It’s really a little slight of hand that Papa initiated when he pretended to eat a ball one day then made it reappear in a special way. (I didn’t warn him about this but he knows better than to do silly things and expect it to remain a secret!) So now Uncle Justin eats bunnies and Papa can swallow a flashlight – it’s crazy!

I’m the sensible Neenee who can not remove her teeth or swallow household appliances so I’ve not had requests to do these magic acts.

 Celebrations are great and I know its immportant to celebrate little things. You see, when you have experienced a child who just never reaches average milestones it means a lot to see even minor developments. When initial consonants all of a sudden just happen without speech therapy it’s huge! When you realize you didn’t work at it and they learned it anyway it seems miraculous.

I’ve mentioned how understanding and patient we’ve been about toilet training. Well I will still take a little credit for a successful poop in the appropriate place today. Brief negotiations convinced Tré that ditching the diaper and surprising Papa (and eating ice cream) would be the mature thing to do. Papa wasn’t due home immediately so I thought a phone call to an important person would be in order as well. So Nana was out working in her garden again…no help there. Justin’s cell went to message and Turd Turd’s apartment line had no answer….. Auntie Tanya knows the drill so we called her at work to make the announcement and she responded accordingly (thanks Tan). Then we scooped the ice cream and added chocolate sauce. When Papa arrived home the golden boy was sitting eating his treat… it only took a few seconds for the pieces of the picture to make sense to Papa. Cheering again. Eventually we got Nana on the phone – more cheering. Throughout the evening each phone call had to be handed to Tré so he could share his news.

Dija was very good about eating supper while Tré had his treat… wasn’t quite sure what to do here but since we’re trying to get her to use a potty I figured it was lesson time. She will need to earn her treat. I believe bribbery is fair play in this situation.

If anyone wishes to send me ice cream I’ll stop with the poopy blogs!

 Somehow the kids think that every time we walk out the door we are going to work. It is a daily thing at our house to announce who goes to work and who stays with kids and then after lunch visits it’s announced all over again. So when Nana babysits at our house she leaves to go home and the kids think she is now going to work. I understand how difficult it is for the little minds to figure it all out. They seem quite content with all three of us and it doesn’t matter who is home or at work as long as one of us is there with them.

We often ask the kids “where does Nana work?” because they accuse her of working. Some days she works at our house and other days she works at Nana’s house in the garden in the “back ard”… he’s onto something there. Nana likes to work. Right now she’s in her element. We need her to work. So her job right now is to care for the kids while we work but she takes it very seriously. This means she needs to bake pumkin bread and cook a roast for dinner and make muffins and have laundry on the line before I drop kids off at 8:45am. So I drop off the kids and ask if she’d like more laundry to hang out on the line because I just happened to have a basket of wet kids clothes in the van! I took a chance on that but I knew she could handle it.

When I call to chack on how everything is going I catch Nana on the cordless phone in the “back ard”. The laundry is all on the line and they are tackling the woodpile. Yes she works the kids too! They love to help and I’m guessing that’s how I learned to do so many useful things when I was younger – cooking, sewing, soldering, changing a flat tire, check the oil, use power tools… Nana taught me to be industrious. Now I’m beginning to see this happen in a new generation.

To see Tré follow Papa with his own measuring tape or watch little Dija throw tiny firewood into the pile simply makes me smile. They are more content to be working beside us than to sit by a television or play with a silly toy. Some days I know I need to slow my chores down a bit so they can help out…I know that sometimes the process of working at it together is more important than how much I accomplish. I’m learning…I’ll just keep watching Nana.