Today my little girl advised me she had to go for a “Big Poo Poo”.  She always says a big one, because she still hopes to get a treat for a big accomplishment.  She sat there for a long time, stalling to take a nap, straining to produce something “big”.  She decides to wipe her own bum (which, for a 3 year old, only involves dropping the tissue in the toilet, there is no wiping involved).

I go to wipe her bum for her, to ensure no messes occur, and to make sure she is properly cleaned.  My daughter proudly exclaims, “See mommy, its a big poo poo.  Its a real BIG ONE”.  I look down in the toilet but I see nothing but the tissue she dropped in.  I say, “Its hard to see with the toilet paper in there”.  As I am looking down, wiping her bum, concentrating on cleanliness….

She dips her hand in the toilet bowl to move away the toilet paper so that I could see her big poo poo.  Stiring her hand with a mission.  I happen to look….”Ahhhhh, get your hand out of there”, only to hear her reply, “See mommy, its a big one.  Can I have a chocolate egg?”.

Sometimes its just easier to agree.  It saves an argument and its less messy.

Glad to know that someone out there appreciates the work that stay at home moms do.  A study on Salary.com researched the work of a stay at home mom and averaged out her salary by comparing her day to day work with similar professions (such as daycare centre teacher, laundry operater, cook, psychologist, etc).  They found for all of the hours a stay at home mom works, she should be getting paid a whopping $134, 121 annually.   They found working moms would make an average of $84,000 or so.

Now, if only this was real I wouldn’t have to agonize about going back to work, and attempting to find somebody I trust to watch my beautiful girls.  At least it gives me some satisfaction that what I am doing at home would give me fat compensation for it in the work world if it was ever kept track of.

Just think of that big salary for a moment, and imagine the possibilities…..hmmm I wonder if you had more kids if the salary would double?

Okay, so my beef today is wondering why men make such a big deal about the much feared Vasectomy.  A lot of my couple friends now have two children, so I am hearing a lot of men I know talking about getting the procedure done.  They make it sound like its a loss of their manhood or something.

Lets see, lets think of us women for a second.  We have terrible mood swings when we are PMSing, we have that terrible week of menstration.  We have to buy midol, sanitary products, you name it.  We deal with this from about age 12 or 13 to age 55 or so.  Then we have pregnancy…..we puke for 4 months, or some women the whole time, some women not at all.  We refrain from alcholic beverages, eating only healthy things for our growing baby.  We get stretch marks, spider veins, varicose veins, widened hips, excess pounds that we have to lose, multiple hours of labour, the risk of an epidural,  all to push out something the size of a watermelon out of our vagae-vagae that certainly isn’t the size of a watermelon.  With our legs spread open and many eyes down where you never imagined so many eyes would go.  Then we are up through the night, every night breastfeeding the baby, giving them their nourishment for life, as we think about how we are going to lose all of the weight it took us 9 months to gain.

Next time you men think about you little doctor’s office visit where you have a little snip-snip done, and then you walk out that same hour, don’t forget everything your wife goes through to get you to the point of wanting a vasectomy.

I had these for dinner the other night, and they were a huge hit.  Everybody loves pizza and they are a healthier alternative.  Also, I am always trying of new ways to give my preschooler enough vegetables, so this is a nice way to give them some.

Lay out pita pockets whole, on a cookie sheet.  Brush with a mixture of olive oil, oregano, and parsley.  Add the remaining oil to tomato paste, add more seasoning to taste.  Add water to the paste if you wish it to be smoother.  I also add a bit of sugar to my tomato paste mix because my husband finds that cuts the acidity.

Add desired toppings, meat first.  I like the salami/pepperoni mix.    You could even add some ground beef.  Add desired veggies ( sauteed green peppers, zuchinni squash, mushrooms, tomatoes, etc).  My husband also loves to add some canned pineapple.  Add grated cheese on top and stick in the oven at 375 degrees for approx 10 minutes.  Serve with cut raw veggies and dip.  Supper is done in no time! 

I love this meal idea because it is healthy, you can customize each pizza to suit everyone’s taste, and its fast.  Mealtime is so hectic, its so nice to make it a little more simple, without comprimising your families nutritional needs.

My oldest daughter got off her naps about 6 months ago because I found she was staying up until 10:30pm or 11pm every night after having a nap.  She would yell “Momeeeee”, “I don’t want to go to sleep”, “I want OUT!!!!”, and so on.  I said, forget this and omitted the nap.  Since then she goes to bed at 7 or 7:30pm and is out like a light until 7:30 or 8am.  Needless to say, it makes my day very busy because you constantly have to think of different crafts, games, puzzles, activites, outdoor play, etc to keep them occupied.  However, by late afternoon she becomes very cranky because she is tired.

Recently, Natara came down with a fever and I told her that she had to have a nap because it would help her feel better.  Now she is better and she is telling her daddy she goes for a nap, she goes willingly.  Thank you Lord!!!

I put both kids down and I am able to go on the computer, put my feet up, watch my taped soap operas, or just listen to calm silence.  Its fantastic.  I just hope this stays because now that I have a taste of it….I want more.

Check out www.child-works.com for family sleep solutions.

Okay, so I spent about 2 weeks with a lingering virus.  I finally started to feel better around friday or so, and now I have a teething baby and a 3 year old running a fever.  Lots of fun!  Needless to say, it does catch up with you after a while, and sometimes you just need a little more sleep.

After a fun-filled day consisting of a lot of cuddling and medication, the kids were tucked in their bed.  I decided to curl up in my bed at 8:00pm or so.  I was just drifting off into dreamland when someone rudely shakes me,

“You asleep?”

“Yes”, I reply.

“Can you help me empty the fridge for garbage night?”.

“Leave me alone and do it yourself”.

Okay, SERIOUSLY!!!!!! Who does that?  When you are tucked into bed with your eyes closed, who shakes you to wake you up?  I am sure my husband can handle reading expiry dates for himself and chucking the food in the garbage bag.  Unless the baby needs breastfeeding, the preschooler has nightmares, the house is burning down, or you are puking, LET ME SLEEP!!!!!

Regardless, after that I ended up sleeping until 6:30am, a good 10 hours of sleep straight!  Now I feel rejuvenated.

Sleep is the stepping stone to success.

You always hear how important reading is for your child, but you probably didn’t know that it has so many benefits.  In an age where technology is so abundant, it is so nice to go back to the simple things in life that we grew up with.  No fancy learning gadgets, just back to basics.

You are recommended to start reading to your child as early as you want.  Babies are constantly learning, and even though they don’t comprehend what you are saying, you are still introducing words to them, different tones in your voice, and promoting bonding between parent and child.  It is recommended that you read 20 minutes a day to your child.  However, this can be broken up to 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there. 

Reading to your child largely increases their potential for academic success in the future.  It builds your child’s vocabulary and is important in language development.  Children love to read; so its fun for them.  It promotes communication between you and your child, and brings you even closer together. 

Other benefits include increased confidence to ask questions, it increases the child’s attention span which will be important for school, and it fosters a child’s curiosity.  It is a wonderful teaching opportunity for you to help them learn about various things such as animals, alphabet, shapes, numbers, colours, life lessons, etc.  The possibilities are endless.

I think my favourite book that I enjoy reading to the girls is “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle.  When my oldest gets to the pages where there is an assortment of food, she begins to lick the pages.  Thank goodness for board books.

Open a book today with your child.  It will help shape your child for future success.

I have been spending my time trying to avoid any situation where I would come in contact with a sick person, just because I don’t want my children to get sick.  I am a little paranoid that way.  Maybe its because my baby has had 5 colds in her short 8 months of existence. 

When I am sick or one of my children are sick, I usually keep them home for the first 48 hours of their illness, usually when they are at their most contagious period.  Why?  Because I really don’t want to infect some other innocent child, or adult for that matter.  Its different when you don’t know you are coming down with something.  I have had that happen before, when I thought it was my allergies starting up, and then I gave my friend and her son the nasty cold.  I just felt so awful and guilty, but I would never intentionally do that.

Why is stay home????  BECAUSE…….your child does not have a lot of energy when they are very ill.  They just want to be cuddled and lay around.  They are tired.  Would you feel like going out on the town with a fever?  Also, because they are contagious!!!  Why infect another innocent child?  And furthermore…a child will recover much faster if he/she gets the rest and fluids their body needs to recuperate.

Stay home when your child is sick, your child and the other moms will thankyou.

So I have spent the last week being sick with a nasty virus.  My hands are chapped to the max from washing them every 2 minutes, in hopes my children will not get sick.  But alas, my baby has now gotten my cold/virus so I am defeated.

Friday I spent my day with a wicked fever, unable to breathe and a sinus headache.  Sexy!  Gone are the days where I used to lie in my bed, watch my soap operas, a box of kleenex beside me, ginerale, and chicken noodle soup.  The days included lots of rest and relaxation to recuperate the body.

My day was spent nursing the baby, making bubbles, playing in the sand, playing ball, pushing my kids in the swing, wiping faces, wiping bums, consoling cries, tidying up toys, feeding kids and finally when my husband comes home after many hours as I am feeding the baby….

I think to myself…..”Oh, I hope he gives me a break so that I can eat my supper and rest”.

My husband pours himself a beer, serves himself a plate and digs in.  Finally when he finishes, I tell him “thanks a lot.  You knew I was sick, no sympathy”.

He says, “Well, you should have asked if you wanted help”.

Now I really think the writer of Men are from Mars, and Women are from Venus had something there.  I really think my husband is wired differently than me.  If it was me, I would say “Dear, let me do that so you can have a break”.  I guess sometimes members of the opposite sex think differently.

Its not easy being sick and having to do your mommy-duties, especially if you have no family around to help.  You should take care of yourself, because a healthy mommy is a happy, energetic mommy.

There are lots of things that can be reused for kids.  Instead of chucking them in your recycling box, consider these options:

 1.  Plastic Containers:  I am talking about margarine containers, sour cream containers, big yogurt containers, small, hard plastic fruit cup containers, etc.  These containers are great to use in the summer for sand castles.  You can build different shapes and sizes of castles.  Also, at the water park, you can bring them for the kids to fill up with water.  You are probably thinking, why would I bother?  The dollar store has many sand buckets, however; you put a hundred kids in a water park and you see how long you have your buckets.  Then, if you lose them, who cares?    They are also really handy to keep arts and crafts stuff in (sparkly, cut out shapes, etc).

 2.  Baby Jars:  These are great to use for painting with your little one.  You can put tempra paint in there, or water, and your child can stick there paint brush in there.  You can keep reusing them over and over.

 3.  Coffee Tins:  These are great for keeping things in.  They also make great man-made drums.  They are fun to decorate the outside of them, and you can start your own band with the neighbourhood kids.

 4.  Wrapping Paper, Tissue Paper, Cards:  Used wrapping paper or tissue paper can either be reused to wrap other gifts, or if it is ripped, you can use it with your child’s arts and crafts.  You can cut little shapes out of the wrapping paper, twist the tissue paper into little flowers, or cut out the graphics from the cards to make some decorative arts and crafts with your child.

Fun doesn’t have to cost a lot; its the time you spend together that is priceless.