All About me – Page 29 – a hippie with a minivan

A few Ramblings…..

Well… the holidays are officially over for us…

Sob…. Simon went back to work this morning… It felt really good having him here for almost two weeks…

The week before new years was taken to lounge around and be lazy all day for a few days which just made me relax and got a lot of stress out finally… Colin is growing up so fast and changing so much… over the holidays we have seen a remarkable change… he went from baby to toddler completely… We have almost no more need for the gate at the top of the stairs because he goes down them with no problem… Keeping the gate open also makes it great when we both (Simon and I) wan to do things on different floors…. now the kids can just freely go between us which also means that they play more knowing that they can get to us whenever they want to…. It feels now that the gate is shifting from being a safety device to a way to restrict movement which doesn’t feel right…. I just can’t believe that this time has come so fast….

Colin has also been eating everything lately and trying everything!! Recently we found out he LOVES black olives, escargots and Wakame (Seaweed Salad with spicy Chile-Sesame dressing)
Colin can also get on a chair and sit at the table with us which is another big change… hre are some pics of how big he is now…

Eating Wakame (note the green tinged tongue)

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New Years also brought old friends…

New years eve we made the gingerbread house that we had put off for a few weeks… Not that we didn’t have the time to do it but we didn’t take the time to do it… When we did got to it though we had a lot of fun and Xavier showed off his talents… It was great!

We had two friends come over for new years eve… Yan, a good friend of ours and who has taken a kind of “godfather” role for Xavier and Martine, a childhood friend of Simon’s that has become a good friend of mine… Martine has been in Equador for some time now for her thesis and found love there, so she is now just visiting to to turn in her thesis in and see family… She is one of those friends that you can’t not love… she is sweet, fun, honest and you just feel comfortable with her… one of those people that you don’t feel the need to entertain them all of the time… you can just be yourself…. So, it was great when we found out that the stay would be a bit longer then we expected… it will be sad for all of us to see her go tomorrow…

Here are some more pics…

Martine and Colin in the Ellaroo

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And well…. here are some more pics to share…. (I feel I have neglected Xavier in this post 😉 )

Xavier with the Hobberman ball….

And IN the Hobberman ball

and to finish….

a self portrait….

I can't believe that I forgot about this…

When Colin was at the hospital and I was anxious to get home I mentioned to the doctor that I had another nursling at home and she dared to comment on it!
She at first looked surprised and then asked how old he was and I told her that he was just about 3 and a half…
she then said it was time to wean him !!!!
OK… First I was already stressed and on edge cause I wanted them to get him of the Serum but that just hit me like a ton of bricks… but I am proud of myself… Everything came out perfectly and without a thought… every little reason she gave I responded without skipping a beat and I am actually happy that we did have the conversation in a way…
It went a bit like this….

Dr: You should wean him!
Me: Why?
Dr: He is 3.5… that’s too old?
Me: Actually 3.5 is young in my opinion…
Dr: But he is too old to be nursing still.
Me: Actually, the natural weaning age is between 2.5 and 7 years old, so he is still near the beginning… and I don’t believe in premature weaning.
Dr: But it must drain your energy.
Me: Why would that happen?
Dr: But he has teeth…
Me: So!… sometimes a 4 month old has teeth… would you advise the mom to wean because of that?
Dr: No… that’s true… you’re just the first person I have met that has nursed this long…

A bit later she heard me talking, saying that I have to go to Montreal to see our family doctor for the kids and she offered to be their ped (this is also after she found out that I am not vaxing)

Anyways…Even though I am OK with the conversation I can’t believe that a doctor would have the gall to actually comment on breastfeeding…. I know I hear others that rant about their awful, misinformed doctors but I am lucky that I never had experienced it until now…
The problem is that to be a breastfeeding counsellor we have to have to go through the Training that is put in place for Unicef’s “Baby-Friendly Initiative”
The nurses and Doctors at the hospitals that are working to become”Baby-Friendly” also have to go through the same training.
The Big problem is that that doctors are the ones that are most often not doing the training and hindering the hospitals. These know-it-alls actually know nothing about breastfeeding and they are the ones that have the most weight in the minds of most parents… and when they are given the chance to learn they don’t even want to do it!
How can people put all of their trust in these people?
Another thing that Irks me is parenting advice… Why the HECK do people take parenting advice from doctors! Why is the opinion of one person better then the instincts of a parent? Besides… in most cases with the hours that doctors are away from their homes and away from their children how can you expect them to know what they are talking about… I know there are some good docs out there that do have good parenting advice but I don’t think that a doctor’s office is the place to exchange that advice…

What I love about my Family Doc in Montreal is that he is always eager to learn. We don’t always agree but when it happens he rather exchange info then just try to convince me. He never gives advice that is out of the medical realm. He has never talked about sleep, feeding, potty-training etc… He doesn’t believe that parenting advice should be part of the doctor/ patient-parent relationship…

However, I find Montreal to be far away if I have a sick child to bring in… It’s a good hour drive, mostly highway, pretty rough stretches in the winter and about 30$ worth of gas… so I am debating whether to take this doc as a Ped. for the kids (not even 10 mins away)… even if she dared to say something about my nursing relationship, and I would keep the family doc anyways.

My head is spinning…

Well… I am still working on my new website… slowly but surely it is starting to become complete…
It is still a work in Progress…but I have published it to see if what is done is working OK… so if you want to check it out please do and give me some feedback…

The first page is www.paxye.com (which isn’t linked to anything yet)
The rest is at www.paxye.com/en …. (there are still some blank pages though)

X-mas 2005

Well X-mas has come and gone and it was really not that bad… My mom and Alain arrived at about 6pm, my dad arrived at about 7:30, we all talked, laughed and there was no tension at all.. I think the situation was a bit awkward for Alain when my dad arrived but they hit it off pretty fast and the awkwardness left quickly… Xavier, before going to bed, wanted to leave cookies and milk out like in the Santa Story… so Simon helped him do that… The kids went to bed by about 8:30 and then our super started….
We had an entrée of cheese and freshly baked bread (I made 3 loaves of sourdough) , Lobster and escargots and then fondue with a side of my spinach salad with Maggi dressing (garlic, maggi, oil, vinegar, pepper) bean sprouts and cashews…
By the time that we were done we were too full for dessert… (I had made an Apple Crumble)
My dad went to bed first, then Simon and I, then my mom and Alain. Before going to bed Alain places the half eaten Cookies and empty glass of milk, left out by Xavier next to the tree so that he would see it in the morning.
In the morning, Colin woke first and we stayed in bed until Xavier woke up and came into the room… then we quickly headed out to see the presents under the tree…
One of the presents, the Thomas Train, was set up under the tree by Simon the night before, and that got Xavier’s attention more then the other presents. We all sat down, coffee in hand, to watch them open their presents and Xavier wasn’t even ready to start, happily playing with his Thomas Train. We asked him to look at the presents and to give them to the person to whom they belonged… It was very surprising when he got to a present that had my name on it… examined it a few seconds and then said…
“dats… um…dis is for mi-si-sa (Melissa)” and handed me the present… We all couldn’t believe it… he recognized my name!! He also recognized his name and Colin’s name… and the presents that didn’t have a name he knew were for Simon…
I love the way that my kids open presents… unlike other kids that I know that just rip into them, Xavier takes the time to open each present slowly and gently, plays a bit with the new toy and then goes to the next present. Sometimes, he didn’t even want to go to the next present to busy playing with the ones he opened previously.
The kids got tons of toys from us, clothes from my mom and grandma. Simon got cologne, a 1.2 Kilo container of Cashews, 2 DVD’s (that he bought as a present from me 😉 ), Chocolates, 2 shirts and a sweater. I bought my mom her Pajama (every year we buy each other Pajamas). I got my pajama, chocolates, a “Roll O Puzzle”and a Sony Flash 1GB MP3 player that Simon won at work…
X-mas day was a lazy day, my Dad left first, then my mom and Alain, needing to get ready for their trip to see his family in “Les Iles de la Madelaine”
We ate the leftover fondue from the night before like we do every year… the kids got to have fondue also which was a hit with Xavier for at least 20 minutes…
I made escargots for myself and Colin wanted some and loved them… so he ate at least 4 of them… Simon and Xavier wouldn’t even taste…
By 10pm we were ready to go to bed and decided to tape the 6 feet Under episode…
Well…here are some pics…

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BTW… this is a great article about Santa and how to keep the magic of Santa without Lying… and this is what we have decided to do…
However, as much as we talk about the story of Santa, Xavier is convinced that Santa exists… so I feel good that we are not lying to him and he is the one using his imagination…

The day of the eve…

Well… it’s the 24th today and we are having our traditional Fondue supper tonight. Simon’s Mom and Sister won’t be here for the first time in a few years because of work schedules but will be here new years day instead. So originally it would have been just my mom and her new boyfriend… however… this week my dad called me (biological dad) and asked what our plans were inquiring if we were going away or not… So I invited him too… I don’t think my mom was too happy but she didn’t say anything, she was about to but I interrupted her saying that I didn’t think she would mind especially since she had invited him in the past when we used to do this fondue supper at her house… I really don’t think that she as a problem with it herself but I think it will make her new boyfriend a bit uncomfortable. Honestly, I don’t care at all… and I think that she knows that that is not a valid excuse for me… especially since I rather that he not even be here (of course she doesn’t know that)…
It will be weird though having both my mom and dad here though… it is not often that I have seen them together, especially for more then just a few minutes.
But, with my Dad here I have some real help in the kitchen… My dad is a professional cook and makes the most amazing food… nothing fancy but very tasty… he has worked in lodges, restaurants, bars…doing short order stuff and more…
I used to think that my mom was the best cook and she is pretty good but everything that she makes has the same flavour… it’s not like it’s bland or anything… she has always been good on giving foods great taste and she makes the best Spaghetti sauce… but all of her other food is always “a la mexicaine” which is good for a few things but after a while you get tired of the same flavours and spices and her spices are also old and taste it… I mean I think that some of the spices in her kitchen are older then me!
Anyways…it’s been a while now that she doesn’t help at all when she comes over anyways… she will make drinks and she makes an amazing Caesar but she’d rather drink them and she does.. and wine and a few tokes and well just isn’t able to help anymore…
Anyway… we are broke this year but the kids are getting tons of presents… I went bargain shopping at a local thrift store… they get toy donations all year long but only take the toys out before x-mas so there are tons and they are really cheap…They put out new toys on Tuesdays and Fridays which happened to be the days that I brought Xavier to daycare..
Here are some things that picked up…

Puzzles: 25 cents each ,
Puzzle Book with 6 puzzles (block pieces) 1$
3 Playmobile construction trucks with people 3$,
Playmobil Pirate ship +all of the pieces +pieces for other sets (a BIG bag) 4$,
Cabbage Patch baby that goes in the Bath 2$,
Cloth Big top circus with wooden animals and pieces 75 cents
Two different themed (same company) Train sets with all of their pieces 2$ each
One Battery operated Thomas train set 3$ (had a pull back and go Thomas in the bag too)
A Rain stick .75 cents
A Vintage Fisher Price Circus Train 1$
Hot Wheels grand stand and track 1$
PlayDough Dentist set (you make the teeth and then be the dentist) 2$
Big Bag of Playdough Toys (Deserted Island theme) 3$
Fisher Price Plane 1$
Hobberan sphere 1$
Musical instruments (vintage Fisher price stuff) 2$
View Master with slides 1$
2 String Puppets 2$

And more!!!!

So, the boys are getting one “new’ gift each and the rest is all stuff that I got there, and there are even too many things that there are gifts for other occasions also…

Well… I need to get the house clean… Happy holidays for those who celebrate in the days to come… I’ll have pics tomorrow….