More pics

Oh I did take 3 pictures when my family was here :-P Here they are:





Dylan found Auntie Becca's cheesies! :-P Miriam decided to join him and eat some too :-)

Family Visits from MB!

Yay!! My parents came down with Sherene and Aaron - unfortunately for me they were coming down to take Becca home :-( But we had a good visit with them while they were here! Here are a few pics of those few days :-) I didn't end up taking any pictures so these are all from Sherene's camera :-)
On Saturday night Dylan came out of the hospital. (if you wanna know why he was at the hospital you can read the story on the previous blog post).
Sunday we went to the in-laws for coffee/supper
Monday we went skating at Hawrelak park (my parents went up to GP for a night)
Tuesday We just hung out I think... I don't remember what we did on Tuesday.
Wednesday we went to Ikea, met Henry and Marie at timmies for a quick coffee, and we went out for supper to Chianti's with everyone. Everyone = Nate, Lin, Josh, Shannon, Grandma, Grandpa, Rachel, Aaron, Sherene, Becca, Diana, Opa, Nana, Matthew, Lorelle, Miriam and Dylan. :-)





Sunday: We had coffee/Supper at the in-laws :-)



Family day Monday - Becca, Miriam, Lorelle, Aaron, Sherene and Rachel went skating at Hawrelak park :-)






Quality time with Uncle Aaron :-) Dylan LOVED playing hockey with you! :-)


Quality time with Auntie Rachel! :-)


Sherene did a mini photo shoot with Miriam and Dylan! :-) Miriam didn't really want to do to so she only got one good pic of her :-P But Dylan loved the attention!! :-P
















Hangin' out with auntie Becca! :-P


Another funny pic Sherene took - she did a photo shoot with Becca and Diana too!
Thanks for coming out for supper with us Diana! Was a Blast! :-)




Thanks for the great time everyone!!!
We will REALLY MISS BECCA!! COME BACK SOON!!! Miriam and Dylan were already wondering why they didn't see you yesterday (Sunday) :-) I wish I had a cell so I could text you tons of texts just to annoy you! :-P
Love you Becca!!!

Dylan had pneumonia

We've been pretty busy around here for the last week and a bit since my last post. I'll start with last Thursday. :-)

Last Thursday I called the Dr. office to book an appt. for Dylan, he was breathing quickly and was pretty sick. The receptionist said she had a cancellation at 11:30am so she could fit us in there. We headed to the Dr. and Becca Babysat Miriam and Madison. (So nice to have family right here so I didn't have to take all the kids to the Dr. office :-) )
Dylan and I got into the Dr's office at 12ish and the Dr. looked him over, weighed him etc. Then she checked his O2 levels on his finger, she then checked them on his toe, and then left the room. She came back with another O2 tester and tested his finger again. Then she said she would be right back. After about 5mins or so she came back and told me she was going to call the ambulance :-O I went into a semi shock state :-S I didn't realize his O2 levels were so low! (Does anyone know if I can get an at home O2 tester?)
The paramedics showed up, got us all set up in the ambulance and gave Dylan some oxygen right away. When we got to the Stollery Childrens Hospital we waited for a bit and then got a room in the emerg. I called Matthew then and let him know what was happening and he talked to Becca and let her know that I wouldn't be home anytime soon.
Dylan got some blood taken and a chest x-ray, (those aren't fun for little kids) :-( ! he also had an O2 tube in his nose, an IV and an O2 sensor on his toe - he couldn't really move around cuz of the tubes etc. but he wasn't really running around at that point anyway. He was a VERY good boy! I felt so bad for him, but he rarely even whined as all dr.s and nurses and training paramedics(?) poked and prodded him and asked the same questions over and over.
As I was at the hospital Becca took care of Miriam and Madison. Miriam had a fever - before I had left to the dr. with Dylan she had tried to convince me that she was also sick but she didn't have a fever yet so I told her to lay down and Auntie Becca would get her some juice :-). Becca also swept and washed my floor (even under the stove - I don't think under the stove had been done in 2-3 years :-S) and My MIL vacuumed, dusted(?) (I think cuz I rarely dust and my house is not very dusty right now) she cleaned my bathroom, and with Rachel (sil) finished my laundry :-) I probably missed something but
THANK-YOU!!! For all your help!

My parents and Sherene and Aaron were coming on Friday morn sometime and well I'm a bit of a procrastinator and well.... I figured I could do all that housework on Thursday and Friday morn. :-S
My parents, Aaron and Sherene, Becca, my MIL and Rachel also helped out on Friday and Saturday :-) Rachel even gave Miriam a bath :-) On Friday I wasn't able to babysit Madison so her grandma took care of her on Friday :-)

Matthew came to visit Matthew and I at the hospital and we worked out a plan to get the van from the dr. office to the hospital so if Dylan was allowed to go home on Friday I would be able to leave. Matthew called his parents and they helped with that. :-)
Dylan and I stayed in emerg over night. The admitted us but there were no rooms upstairs for us. They brought us upstairs on Friday at around noonish to a VERY nice room! I had my own shower, bed, and Dylan had his own TV, cable was paid for and we had lots of space. We had our own room because the dr's weren't sure if the Pneumonia was Bacterial or Viral. Dylan wasn't allowed to go into any other rooms because of this and the dr's etc. that came in wore a mask, gloves, and a gown.
Matthew and Miriam came with supper on Friday night - Dylan was starting to try climb out of his crib and getting back to his normal monkey self :-P so Miriam and Dylan were very happy to see each other and ate a few fries and had some juice. :-)
Saturday was a bit crazy. Dylan was off his O2 for a bit on Friday but on Friday night they had to put it back in :-( there was also a bit of a problem with his iv cuz the nurse, being a good nurse, didn't want Dylan to strangle himself while he was sleeping so she put a plastic rod thing on the iv tube and well Dylan didn't really like that a whole lot and while he was sleeping managed to pull it out a bit. the nurse came in at 2am to give him his iv antibiotics and she noticed it was a bit out :-( so she tried for 5mins or so to get it back in but she couldn't seem to get it so she pulled it out and went to go see if she could just give him oral stuff from now on. So from hen on it was oral stuff instead of through the iv :-) YAY! no more iv!
Saturday morning came and went - Dylan was off of the oxygen again, the dr. said if he was off for 8hrs then we could go home :-) Because Dylan didn't have his iv in anymore or his O2 they unhooked his O2 sensor off so he could walk around.... Well he was back to his old self again!!! climbing up to medical supplies that are supposed to be too high to reach, opening drawers and closets, sneaking into the bathroom so he could flush the toilet, spinning the garbage can lid... I was running after him all day! And the room was fairly empty! :-P
He had a nap in the afternoon and his O2 levels stayed good, then he ran around the room most of the afternoon. I still wasn't sure if we were going to be able to leave soon cuz the dr. hadn't told the nurses that if he was off O2 for 8hrs then he could go home, and the nurse said the dr would most likely come by around supper time but supper came and went but no dr. ...... So I put Dylan to bed. My parents and Matthew arrived to visit and just before they got there I had talked to the dr. and he said they just needed to fill out the paperwork and we would be out of there!! YAY!! I was so glad to go home! I had to wake Dylan up then and he was very cranky :-( first time he did this since we got to the hospital. Dylan was very quiet the ride home but when we got home and he seen Miriam he ran up to her and gave her a HUGE hug! He missed her! Then they ran around for a while and visited with Opa, Nana, Auntie Sherene, Uncle Aaron, Auntie Rachel, Auntie Becca, Grandma and Grandpa!

Dylan is doing way better now! Hopefully we don't end up at the hospital next time he gets the flu! :-S

Still sick :-(

Dylan is still sick. I hate it when my kids are sick! :-(

Sick boy :-(

We have a sick little boy in this house :-( His fever started on Monday afternoon. On Tuesday when he woke up he was getting into everything again and feeling fine, so we headed to Mya's bday party, then 1/2hr after arriving at the party his temperature was up again and he just sat on the couch looking into space :-( He was sick for the rest of the day. Last night was a bit rough, but this morning he doesn't have a fever, he still has a bad cough and looks pretty sick. I'm hoping he gets better soon.





As to the 1-2-3 discipline thing, it's still working amazing! I still recommend it! :-) If you think - 'that sounds too easy, it'll never work', or 'I've tried counting before, it doesn't work.' I say, READ THE BOOK! I've counted before too but this is different! I've also had the comment "well they (kids) should just listen the FIRST time I say something. Umm.... I don't even listen the first time I'm told to do something and I'm 24! I'm positive you don't either! READ THE BOOK, TRY IT! I'm sure you'll be surprised!!

1-2-3 Day 2

Ok so, yesterday was testing day! :-S The kids were pretty good early morning, I only had to put them on the chair once or twice.
At 9am I packed all three kids in the van and headed out for Bible study. I was babysitting so I was curious how the kids would act. Miriam never had to sit on the chair the whole time we were out. Although she was counted to 2 a few times. She also didn't get her candy in the van because she decided to run down the church hallway while I was searching for Dylan's boots. (Other children seem to think Dylan's boots are toys. They are rarely where I put them when I took them off. :-P Moral of this little story. Just buy plain boots).
Dylan on the other hand.... I lost count how many times he sat on the chair. He LOVES sitting in the baby swings and bouncers and he is way to big for them, so every time I wasn't looking for a few seconds he would jump in one. He already knows very well he's not allowed in those so that was an automatic 3.
When we got home the kids were pretty good. They both sat on the chair a few times but not too crazy, and there was no yelling or fits :-) yay!!!
Then the worst time of the day came around..... Making supper time..... Usually when I take out any kind of food the kids will cry, whine, and hang on me until they get something to eat :-( If I ignore them (or at least try to) then they will whine, cry, and hang on me until supper time.... I did not like making supper for that reason! Yesterday was a massive improvement!!!! I took out the food, they both did the norm - whine, cry, hang - It went a little like this:
Miriam in a whining voice "Can I have something to eat?"
Me: No, we will have supper when Daddy comes home."
"I'm hungry"
"1"
Miriam runs away and plays!!!!!!!!!!! ahhhh!!!!!!!! WEIRD!!!!!!!!
Dylan was counted to 2 and then he ran away and played too :-) YAY! (We had homemade soup and homemade bread for supper :-) mmmmm)!
Since Miriam has started eating by herself, supper has been kinda chaotic some days and peaceful others. Last night was one of those chaotic suppers, in the end she finished her supper! She didn't even go to bed early. (Unfortunately for us the bad suppers are usually when she is tired and then she actually asks to go to bed "Mom can I eat this tomorrow and go to bed now, I'm tired." Seriously this is what she'd say! She wasn't kidding, she would go to bed willingly and stay there till morning)!
Bedtime for Dylan is usually a challenge... oh, he gets his pj's on willingly, hops in bed, prays with me/Matthew, pops his soother in his mouth, grabs his doggie and lays down happy. Then we shut the door. He then promptly jumps out of bed and bangs on the door. We open the door, he runs back to his bed with a smile on his face happy to be chased back to bed. We tried talking sternly to him through the door "Go Back To Bed Dylan!" and it sounded like he would go run back to bed and be out again within the next 2 mins, sometimes this would go on for an hour (NO exaggeration)! :-( So last night we ignored him, he cried at his door for about 5mins, then Matthew said through the door in a normal, non threatening voice, "go back to bed Dylan" and he went back to bed. Done. WHAT? I always thought if you put a threatening deep tone to your voice the kid will listen. Well this works better :-P When Miriam went to bed a 1/2 hour later Dylan was still awake but in his bed. After Matthew had tucked Miriam in, Dylan did climb up the ladder and tried to bug Miriam. (Miriam just continued to try to go to sleep)! Matthew went in the room, removed the ladder, put Dylan in his own bed and walked out. TADAA peace :-)
It's getting easier not to get mad or frustrated and the kids are playing nicer both independently and together :-)
Ok I have to go now. As I type Dylan is taking the potatoes out of the potato bin and whacking them around the kitchen with his hockey stick. He always thinks of new mischievous things to do! :-S......................5mins later - With only a little prompting Dylan put the 4 potatoes and one onion back in their appropriate bins (although one potato somehow made it into the onion bin :-P) He also picked up all the onion skins and put them in the garbage :-) All I had to say was "Dylan please put those potatoes back" and "Please put these in the garbage" and all he said was "I will" and did :-)

Day 2 of 123:
I still recommend reading this book :-) But don't just go by what I'm saying here in this blog and try this stuff out, read the book first, I may have missed things or forgotten to write them out. :-)

1-2-3 Magic :-) Day 1

I took bunch of books on parenting/kids out of the library about a week ago because I really wanted to see if there was something I could change, the past few weeks have been awful and I feel like I'm yelling at my kids all day long! Then at the end of the day I'm so frustrated!
Anyway, I tried to read one of them but only read about 1/2 of it, I didn't really agree with it, so I started reading 1-2-3 Magic for Christian Parents, Effective discipline for children 2-12.
I thought hmm interesting, fairly simple, and looks pretty easy, so Matthew and I decided to try it. Yesterday was the first day - WOW! this is crazy, I am so confused why this works so well! Why? How? The basic thing about this book is disciplining without emotion. THIS IS VERY HARD TO DO! For me anyway! That means NO yelling things like "DON'T TOUCH THAT" or "WHY DON'T YOU LISTEN TO ME?" etc. It also really stresses not to argue with your kids, and not to talk to them like little adults.
Example:

Arguing like you are talking to a little adult....

"Can I have a cookie?"
"No dear"
"Why not"
" cuz we are eating supper right away"
"But I want one"
"I just told you you couldn't have one"
" I never get anything"
" What are you talking about? Did you eat yet today? Are you in a warm house? am I feeding you supper?!"
" You gave Jake one a little while ago"
"Are you your brother? And it doesn't matter he eats his supper, you don't!"
" I promise I'll eat my supper"
"Don't give me this promise, promise, promise stuff little lady! I gave you one yesterday and you didn't eat ANY supper!"
" THEN I'M GOING TO RUN AWAY FROM HOME!"
"GO AHEAD! I'M SICK AND TIRED OF THIS!"


Mother using 1-2-3

"Can I have a cookie?"
"No, dear"
"Why not?"
"Because we are having supper right away"
"But I want one"
"That's 1"
"I never get anything"
"That's 2"
"THEN I'M RUNNING AWAY FROM HOME!"
"That's 3 - Time out

Mother using 1-2-3 for a few days...

"Can I have a cookie?"
"No, dear"
"Why not?'
"Because we are having supper right away"
"But I want one"
"That's one"
"..... Oh ok" walks away grumpy.

Bazinga! That's it! :-) Yay!!!!!

Miriam and Dylan both understood very quickly that 3 ment they are getting a time out. For a time out spot I use a chair in the kitchen. The author recommends using a bedroom as a time out spot but we don't have the room for that, so we chose to use a chair instead. They have to sit and fold their arms - if they unfold their arms or get off before the timer beeps then I calmly walk over put them back on the chair and fold their arms, there is no yelling "GET BACK ON THE CHAIR" or "IF YOU UNFOLD YOUR ARMS ONE MORE TIME I'M GONNA..." I just put them back.
Miriam has to sit for 3 mins and Dylan for 2. First think I thought was "ya right, like my kids gonna sit there" but oddly enough they did :-S weird! After a few times Dylan kinda touched his toe to the ground and looked at me, then he put his foot on the floor, then I got up put him back on the chair and walked away - THIS IS VERY HARD TO DO! lol I didn't realize how much training this would be for ME! :-P By mid afternoon both kids were behaving and playing nicely....wait for it.... TOGETHER! Weird! Not normal in this house! Supper went very smoothly and Miriam even asked yes I said ASKED for more potatoes!!!! WHAT?? I'm still VERY confused, but a happy, contented kind of confused! :-)


So after day 1 - I REALLY recommend this book - but I'm not sure if I should get my hopes up just yet... We'll see if this can really go this well for 10 days. ;-)
I gave an example in this blog post, but I would recommend that you read the book before trying this and giving up, or saying "That won't work with my kids" The book is well written, easy to understand, simple, and has lots of tips and examples in it. The original author also has another book written for teens.