The girls had an extra-special playdate yesterday. Noah’s parents’ billeted Watoto kids came over for a couple hours and had a total blast. The girls asked over and over and over, “Are the Watoto kids here yet? When are they coming? Are they almost here? WHY AREN’T THEY HERE YET?” All four girls went straight out to the trampoline and giggled and giggled.

Preston, Sharon, Maria, Liliana, Kaylie

When they were done, they tried to ride bikes. The Watoto kids hadn’t ridden bikes before, but they are incredibly curious, energetic, and brave.

It took them a bit to learn how the pedals worked and I pushed each girl on a bike for over half an hour. That doesn’t sound like a long time, but one girl wanted to ride Noah’s bike, which is too big for even me, and I just couldn’t say no to her so I held on to the back of the seat and the handlebar and ran around and around and around the trampoline. I tried to tell the one girl that I was tired (and ready to pass out), but she pointed to the seat and said, “Push!” So push I did. Every once in a while she’d say, “Leave!” and I’d let go and she’d fall over. But she got right back up and wanted to go again. I’m pretty sure that if they’d stayed the entire day, both of them would be riding without training wheels no problem.

Both girls thought Preston was just the greatest. They packed him around and put him on their shoulders and passed him back and forth.

One girl came inside to use the washroom and didn’t go back outside. She was checking things out and discovered an xbox controller. She turned it over and over and pressed all the buttons. Noah turned on the xbox, showed her how it worked, and let her play Kung Fu Panda for a couple minutes. Liliana “helped”, too. “No, that way! Follow the green dot! Press A! No, PRESS A!”

When it was time for the girls to go, both of them ran up to Sue with their index fingers pointing, “One more! One more minute! Two more … five more minutes!” They wanted to go back on the trampoline.

They were allowed to and afterward we went to have dinner at the in-laws’ place.

I’ve seen three or four of the Watoto choirs and they are a blessing every time.

And also, these kids have 4,386 times more energy than I do.

So the children don’t have parents? Why don’t they have parents?

Their parents died.

Oh. Can I go on stage?

No, only the African kids get to go on stage.

And their parents died?

Yes.

And then they get to go on stage?

Yes.

I want you to die. So that I can go on stage.

!!!

Uh, yea. So. Apparently being on stage means a LOT to my kid. As we watched the choir perform, Liliana asked again if she could go on stage, as she wanted to dance with the kids. Lucky for Liliana, they did a giveaway. The first kid to go up on stage and dance got a book. Guess who the first kid up on stage was?

Do you recognize that little girl? Here’s a super-blurry close-up:

There were many laughs from people from our church who know Liliana and were therefore not surprised that she was the one up there.

She was supposed to go up, get the book, and go back down (they were kidding about the dancing), but she wanted to stay with Pastor Stephen. She was an angel up there, so well-behaved. I was shocked. Afterward, she told me that she was very disappointed that she did not get to dance. In front of 650 people. I’m not sure whose kid she is, because there is no way I’d want to be in front of 650 people, much less dance in front of them. She’s a special one, that kid.

When Liliana went to talk to Big Papi and Miss Sue after the show, the leader of Watoto was there and he asked to give Liliana a hug. Well, you know Liliana. Of course she was into it.

I did a little interview with Liliana on our way to the van. I figured some things were better if you heard them from her yourself.

We’ve been spending a ton of time outside these last couple weeks. The trampoline is set up, the soccer field is set up, and we’ve had 20°C+ (68°F+) weather. It’s been incredible. These last two days have been a bit cooler, but we’re in the season of warmer weather and it’s FANTASTIC. And plus, rain means less allergy symptoms and that is always a bonus.

Liliana had an incredible birthday on Wednesday. She loved all the attention and specialness she received in the morning. I let her wear the flower girl dress (that Kaylie wore to our wedding) to school, which totally made her day because she got even more attention at school.

On the drive between Kaylie’s school and her school, she was quite upset that Kaylie got to be my first baby and that she was never going to be as old as Kaylie. She was also confused as to why she is my second baby girl and not my third baby girl. She didn’t understand that I only have two baby girls.

She had a big smile on her face as I read her the post I wrote to her and by the time I was at the end, she asked, “Is it done yet? Can I watch my show now?” I read her the comments on it and Facebook and she’s quite stoked that so many people said Happy Birthday to her.

She got a bunch of Happy Birthday phone calls and talked the ear off of each caller, especially telling them how “MAMA FORGOT TO BRING ME CUPCAKES AT SCHOOL”. I’d actually meant to bring cupcakes to school that day, but I burned them the night before and I hadn’t told her I was bringing cupcakes, so I figured it was okay. IT WAS NOT. I made up some more cupcakes the day of her birthday.

Miss Sue came over after dinner and Liliana got to open her presents and eat cupcakes. She said it was a great party. We didn’t do anything super-special, but we did everything she wanted to do. It was simple, and perfect in her eyes.

On Thursday I brought the aforementioned cupcakes to school, since it was “still” Liliana’s birthday. Her teacher laughed when she saw me. She’d said to me the morning of Liliana’s birthday, “I said to Mrs. T, ‘It’s Liliana’s birthday today. She’s going to come in higher than a kite!’” And yes, she was. On her birthday and her cupcake-day.

Wednesday was the highlight to the week and Monday was the low-light. Both Preston and Liliana got shots, three one-year shots and one pre-school shot respectively. Both kids were up most of the night. Noah finally took Preston to the couch at about 4am where they both fell asleep and Liliana asked to come in our bed and I let her because who can say no to a sad, sore, and hurting almost-birthday girl? Tuesday night was much better and both kids were good to go by the time Wednesday came along.

Oh, and in running news, I just signed Liliana up for the Queen City (Mini) Marathon, because she is now five and can therefore now participate. She is beyond excited. Noah will most likely run with her — Kaylie and I will be running our own races at the same time, she the 3k in a different category, and I the half — but it’s “only” 3k, so hopefully he’ll manage. And hopefully I can find someone to hang out with Preston during that time, which I do not imagine will be difficult.

I think that’s all I had to tell you, but here are a couple links.

My Canadian Family post: 5 Must-Have Crib Accessories

LINKS FROM NOAH: a few of the cool things Noah has shown me this week.

Pictureless Pinterest – Someone started a picture-less Pinterest Twitter account and lo, it is hilarious.

35 great secret passageways – I don’t often let myself dream of owning my own house, but sometimes I do and I want it to have a secret passageway.

Guy steals ball from kid and makes kid cry – Noah watches a lot of baseball. A lot. He subscribes to this MLBtv thing so that he can watch ALL THE BASEBALL. (Sorry, Ali.) He showed me a clip last night of a ball that was caught by a fan … stolen from a kid, making the kid cry. Noah was angry. Who steals a ball from a kid? A few minutes later, Noah showed me another clip, this time of a ball being thrown from the Rangers dugout to the kid the original ball had been stolen from. And that guy totally got called out on national television. The moral of this story? Some people are JERKS to kids and the Rangers are awesome.

Zerg Rush. I can’t link to this because you have to do it yourself because it is too awesome. Go to google.com (oh, there’s a link) and type “zerg rush” (without the quotation marks, obviously). Then click on the Os. You’ll know what I mean.

Today you turn five years old. You have been looking forward to your birthday every single day since your last birthday, asking how many more months, how many more days. You love attention and you love to celebrate. You have more self confidence than anyone I have ever met.

Your birth day was such a great day, the best day your Daddy and I ever had up to that point. You were born nine days past your estimated due date, at 10:31pm, weighing eight pounds and seven ounces. Your Daddy and your Grannie were there to witness your birth. Your Daddy was so excited to meet you that he was literally jumping up and down when Dr. A said “Ten centimetres, time to push!”

You came out and Dr. A put you on my chest. I loved you immediately. You let out a cry and I almost did, too. You were perfect.

Big Papi and Miss Sue and Pappa and Auntie Erica came to see you before we’d even left the delivery room.

I was so glad your Grannie was there to help us and to photograph your first hours.

Your big sister was sleeping when you were born, so she came to visit you the next morning. She was so excited to meet you.

When I was pregnant with you, I told Kaylie that she was going to be your very favorite person in the whole world, and she is. You love to be everywhere Kaylie is and you love to do everything Kaylie is doing.

You are a sensitive girl, Liliana. You do not like to have anyone mad at you or raise their voice at you. You are stubborn and you like your own way, though, so sometimes things get a little messy around here. You don’t like to see other people hurting, and you are quick to give someone a hug or a snuggle.

You have long blond hair and you do not want to get it cut at all because you do not want to have no hair like Daddy. I tried to convince you that we’d only get it cut a little bit, because you cry every time I brush it, but you want to keep it long and that is just fine with me. You have beautiful bouncy curls and I’d be sad if they were gone.

one year

You love peanut butter sandwiches. You’d rather have a peanut butter sandwich than anything else we could offer you. You don’t like tomatoes, and you don’t like potatoes because “potatoes” sounds like “tomatoes”.

You say the most hilarious things. I try to write it all down, but I only catch a fraction of your hilarity. Your Pre-K teacher, Mrs. R, told me that you have more personality in your pinky finger than ten adults combined. You are outgoing and friendly and you make friends quickly. If someone is around that is your age, they are automatically your friend.

two years

You love to take care of people, especially your little brother. You’re working hard on learning to be gentle and you love to babysit Preston while I cook dinner or if I have to leave the room for a minute.

You are smart. You are already reading quite a bit without us teaching you at all. You love to read and you love to be read to. You love to be read to even more than you love your DS, which right now, is quite a lot. You catch on quickly and you have an incredible memory. You love school and you are very sad whenever there is a holiday on a school day.

three years

You love to be pretty. Every single day you want to wear a skirt or a dress so that you can be pretty. I try to explain to you that you are pretty even if you wear pants, but you will hear none of it. You also like to dress up, most often like a princess. And speaking of princesses, for the longest time you were convinced that your name was Liliana Wilson Pony Princess, and that is how you would introduce yourself.

You love to swim, you love to be outside, and you love ballet. You want to dance all the time, especially if someone is watching you. You want to be involved in anything anyone else is doing. There is never a dull moment with you around.

four years

Last night I spent quite a few hours blowing up balloons and decorating the house with them, because you love balloons and your birthday is a Big Deal to you. You surveyed the house and loved your balloons and then said to me, “Mama, did you forget the party hats?” You then asked if I was ever going to sing Happy Birthday to you, which I was planning on doing, but you’d gotten up 30 seconds earlier and I just hadn’t had the chance yet. You say what is on your mind and I love that about you.

I asked you what you’d like for your birthday dinner and you said, “Peanut butter sandwiches. But something different for lunch.” Well, little girl, you can have a peanut butter sandwich for dinner. That is just fine with me.

five years

Happy 5th Birthday, baby girl.

ps. You are a goober.

*~* Miss Liliana lost her first tooth yesterday, on Preston’s first birthday. It’s been loose for weeks and yesterday when I saw that her new tooth was growing in, I was determined to pull her loose one out. I don’t want the new one growing in crooked. I tugged on it a bit and it was hurting her. Liliana has a very low threshold for pain and she was FREAKING OUT. So I bribed her. I told her if she let me pull her tooth out, I would give her a present. It took a while for me to convince her.

I’d picked up a new Twilight Sparkle pony for her a couple weeks back when her tooth was first loose and intended to use it as a Tooth Fairy gift. But, instead I used it as bribery. (She got a Twilight Sparkle about a year ago for Christmas and she lost it recently and she has missed it. I did what I said I wouldn’t do and I bought her a new one. You only lose your first tooth once, right?) I sat on the couch and laid her head on my lap. I got a little piece of paper towel, gripped her tooth the best I could, and pulled hard and fast. And it came out! Liliana cried for a bit and was grossed out by the blood, but quickly she was VERY excited and got to show Big Papi when he came to get Kaylie for a lunch date.

Tooth-losing doesn’t bother me a bit. The wiggling, the pulling, the blood, meh. No big deal. The big deal is remembering to do the whole Tooth Fairy Thing. Kaylie’s tooth fairy forgot often and sometimes she felt really bad and gave up more cash than is necessary for a little tooth. Liliana’s tooth fairy was a little more on top of it and left her about fifty cents. Liliana was ECSTATIC because she got MONEY. Liliana loves money and is constantly asking for MONEY and WHY CAN’T I HAVE ANY MONEY, MAMA?! (We’re working on her.)

*~* Related to the whole tooth fairy thing, here is today’s Canadian Family post: Does Your Tooth Fairy Have a Pillow?

*~* Sleep-training hasn’t gone too well the last couple nights. Preston’s got a very stuffy nose and I took pity on him and fed him at his 10pm wakening for Night Five and Night Six. He’s still sniffly tonight, so we’ll see how it goes.

*~* I really hate birthday parties. I hate throwing them, and I hate having them for myself. I blame my mother. (Hi, Mom!) The first one I had for Kaylie was when she was in Grade One. It was stressful. So were the ones after that. Last year, for her 10th birthday, I told her that if she invited just one friend, she could do any two things she wanted. (She chose a movie and Fuddruckers.) So, for Preston’s first birthday, it was mostly just like any other day. But with cake. And lots of people saying Happy Birthday to him.

(video is silent)

click here if you cannot see the video

Preston had a bath immediately following that cake.

Liliana’s birthday is in 13 sleeps, and that day will be a little more elaborate. I’m thinking I might actually do some of those things I pinned with rainbow balloons and such. Something inexpensive that she will love. Since the guy at the Fido booth told her that he couldn’t decorate the entire mall for her birthday. A one-year-old doesn’t understand it’s his birthday, whereas a certain almost-five-year-old has been looking forward to her fifth birthday since the day after her fourth birthday. Literally.

And now it is almost 9pm and I’m about to crawl into some freshly-laundered sheets. Is there anything better than clean sheets? I think not. (Well, besides going to bed at 9pm.)

So. Night Three. It … was. Preston went to bed at about 7:30pm, which is kind of late for him, but we were celebrating my father-in-law’s 55th birthday and Preston was enjoying some delicious house plants chocolate cake. Chocolate cake and birthdays are much better than going to bed on time. Presto-puff woke for the first time just after 10pm and I had him back to sleep in his own bed in eight (8!) minutes. I was all happy about it and even tweeted about it. AND THEN I SLAPPED MYSELF ACROSS THE FACE AND TOLD MYSELF NEVER TO BRAG ABOUT SLEEP EVER AGAIN. He was up 10 minutes later and then an hour later and then an hour after that.

I had planned to not feed him until 2am, after two nights of making it to midnight without too much problem, but I changed my mind and decided to move up an hour at a time instead of two. I fed him just after 1am. He was up again at 2:30am. He woke just before 6am and I brought him to bed to nurse him and figured he’d be up for the day but then I woke with a start at 6:45 and realized we’d both fallen back asleep.

The sucky part was that I was feeling crappy and had gone to bed at 8pm and wasn’t able to fall asleep until 1am. Lame-o. So the night kind of sucked, but that’s alright. We’re fighting the good fight.

In other news, I completed all seven seasons of Buffy. In only a couple weeks. ADDICT. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Nathan Fillion made an appearance in the last half of Season 7 and that he was a villain. I’ve never seen him play a villain role (that I can remember) so it was kind of neat. And in the series finale I watched last night they referenced Trogdor the Burninator and that was pretty rad. And also, I might have a crush on Spike.

My phone rang as I was on my way to the church on Thursday night for the Good Friday rehearsal (I did video stuff). I (pulled over and then) answered it. “Who’s this?” said the voice on the other end. “Who’s this?” I asked back. Do not call me (on MY phone) and ask who I am. I AM ME THIS IS MY PHONE. The voice on the other end told me his name and asked if my daughter was there. Kaylie. My daughter Kaylie. THERE WAS A BOY ON THE OTHER END OF THE PHONE ASKING TO TALK TO MY 10-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER. I told Mr. C that Kaylie was not with me and that I’d tell her that he had called. And then I locked Kaylie in the basement and told her she could come out when she was 21.

Before I got the dreaded phone call, I’d dropped Liliana and Preston off with their Big Papi and Miss Sue. Liliana and I saw the most incredible rainbow on the way to their house. It was bright and we saw it from beginning to end, the entire arc. I told Liliana about Noah and the Ark and about the flood and that the rainbow is God’s promise to us that he will never flood the whole earth ever again. Liliana had one very important question.

“Was there a hole in the ark?”

“No, I do not think so. And if so, it got sealed up. Everyone in the ark was fine.”

“Oh, well that’s good.”

I love the way her mind works.

Today is the first day of the girls’ Spring Break (or Easter Break, whatever) and … it’s not going all that well. Kaylie’s got an Attitude (CAPITAL ‘A’), Liliana’s got a bad life, and the babies have been crying for what feels like all day. They took very short morning naps and decided to do the same to their afternoon naps. They are over-reacting under-slept little boys and I did the horrible parent/babysitter thing this afternoon and turned on The Backyardigans. TV is bad for babies, yes, BUT IT IS GOOD FOR PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS.

That is why, on the Eighth Day, God created Netflix.

I’m coming up for air from my Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathon. I have this thing where if I start a TV series, I can’t stop until I finish it. I hadn’t seen a single episode of Buffy until a couple weeks ago, and now I’m hooked. I think I’m on Episode #111. Season 6, I think. I’ve lost track, what with just clicking “next episode” all the time. Thank you, Netflix.

In other, more interesting non-Buffy news, it’s warm here. Spring warm. Going-outside-without-a-sweater warm. Blue sky warm. I-can-see-my-whole-lawn warm. It’s wonderful, is what I’m saying. Kaylie had a friend over on Saturday and all six of us went outside to play soccer/ride bikes/bask in the general loveliness that is grass.

Liliana would spend all her time outside if we let her. She loves and needs to run around. And around and around and around.

This girl has her first wiggly tooth and she is SO excited. She tells me that Kaylie is an adult now because Kaylie just lost her last baby tooth.

See that little thing on his forehead? I did that. With my nail. I always feel so wonderful when I wound one of my children.

Saturday was also my due date with Preston, one year ago. It seems like forever ago, but it also doesn’t feel like an entire year has passed. And also I can’t imagine life without Preston in it. It’s a weird group of feelings.

It’s incredible the difference spring has made with my depression. It’s like a veil has been lifted. I’m hoping this euphoria lasts. It’s quite wonderful to not be plagued by a big black cloud all the time. Running is helping, too. Especially when I find $10 on the ground, like I did on my Saturday morning run.

Spring. SPRING! We actually had an incredible winter, weather-wise, but it was no spring.

I hope it’s been good to you, too.

FaceTime’ing with Dad last weekend

My boy is feeling better today. Hooray! He went a couple days last week with a high fever, eating nothing, just nursing. He whimpered and he was extremely snuggly and sensitive. If someone looked the wrong way at him, he cried. Today is better. He’s eating again and he only cried when his buddy Kesler came near him. My boy has a big personal bubble.

Both girls had Friday off from school. Liliana always has Fridays off, but Kaylie had it off for … something. It seems as though she has at least one day a week off. It sure didn’t feel like, when I was a kid, we had as many days off as she has. Usually on days I don’t have to leave the house, we have a pajama day and don’t do much. This past Friday, however, my friend Chris suggested we hang out and since her son Nathanael (Liliana’s four-year-old friend) was coming with her, I let Kaylie have a play date, too. (Is it still called a play date when kids are 10-going-on-11?)

I’m not really a fan of play dates. I mean, having kids over when their parents are also over is fine, but the kids of people I don’t know? School friends and such? Not a fan. I just … I don’t know what it is. I’d just rather avoid them. Because, as Liliana always tells me, I’m a bad parent. But, I’d rather Kaylie have a friend over than have her go to a place where I don’t know the parents (and I don’t like meeting parents)(I HAVE ISSUES, OKAY?).

Chris and I spent the day baking, and you’d think we’d have had a lot to show by the end of the day, but I ate six muffins and the brownies kind of disappeared and the cookies were just really tasty. It’s all gone already, is what I’m saying. It’s a good thing I made that coffee cake yesterday so I’d have something to eat for breakfast today.

Noah suggested that Chris and I have a girls’ night, so we did. Chris’s husband came for dinner and then took their son home, Noah went to hang out with his mom (and subject her to Centre Ice hockey), and the three of us (I let Kaylie stay up) watched Runaway Bride and ate popcorn and chocolate. Oh, and I fell asleep and stayed asleep through most of the movie. Whoops.

Saturday morning was the usual gymnastics/ballet/Tim Hortons (it kills me that there is no apostrophe in Tim Hortons)(related: I have issues) shenanigans and after lunch we headed to my favorite one-year-old boy’s birthday party. I didn’t pay too much attention to the address on the FB invite and just assumed it was at Kesler’s house. Except nobody was there. So I checked the invite, apologized to my family, and typed the address into google maps. I forgot to put in a teeny tiny letter and we ended up at the wrong house. Again. Whoops. So this time I double AND TRIPLE checked that I had the address right and we showed up at the party an hour late. But we were right on time for cake, so I’ll call it a WIN.

Mr. Kesler will have to share the title of favorite one-year-old boy in 16 days (!!!), so we had to celebrate. Kesler downed his birthday cupcake in record time. It was quite awesome to watch. Especially since I didn’t have to clean him up.

Oh, and Saturday was also the first day of the spring run of 7 Days.

I missed the winter run, so I was looking forward to this one. And here’s Sunday’s shot:

Sunday I went for my first run in three weeks. I let my head/neck/shoulder pain take over the last couple weeks, but through the magic of muscle relaxants, I could finally move again. Woot. It always takes me forever to get my butt out the door to go running. I’m a professional staller/procrastinator. And I’m quite lazy. But, when I get back, I’m always glad I went. And then I fall down dead in my couch groove from the overabundance of physical activity.

We have dinner at the in-laws with Taygan every Sunday evening, and since Sue had just gotten back from vacation a couple days before, we had her, Taygan, and Andrew at our place instead, which means that we had people for dinner twice in three days, which is very weird for us hermits. It gave me an excuse to cook, though, which was quite nice because I haven’t been doing much of that lately.

It’s weird how time just disappears. Every time I turn my back, it’s the weekend again (which is not a bad thing) and then it’s Monday and then the end of March and then HOLY CRAP MY BABY IS ALMOST ONE. I’m way behind on blog reading (sorry about that), there are a bazillion shows piled up on our DVR, and there is some shrimp in my fridge that should really be thrown out already. And both Noah and I went to bed at 8:30 last night. Well, he fell asleep on the couch until 2am and I went to bed intending to go to sleep but fell down a Facebook wormhole and then couldn’t sleep until almost midnight. Lame.

Am I caught up now? Oh, right, here’s my Canadian Family post from last Thursday. It’s about thermometers. Alrighty. I think that’s it now.

Happy Monday!

Liliana to Chris: “My daddy has parents, but my mommy doesn’t.”

Chris: “I’m pretty sure your mommy has parents.”

Liliana: “Mama, do you have parents?”

Me: “Yes, I do.”

Liliana: “Who are your parents?”

Me: “Pappa and Grannie.”

Liliana: “Those are your parents?“

Noah told me Monday night that we were expected to receive many inches of snow. I didn’t think too much of it, as the weather man is nearly always wrong, but Tuesday morning he called me after his morning Bible study and suggested that the kids and I stay home because the predicted snow did come and the roads were very dangerous. I was on-board completely, and called the girls’ schools to tell them that they would be Wilson-kid free today. While the girls watched the Sound of Music (I lifted Liliana’s TV ban for the morning, as she was very disappointed about missing school), I caught up on photo editing. I’ve been using my Canon a lot more recently, and I sure missed it.

The snow is so pretty. I’m not a big fan of bitterly cold temperatures (which we’ve mostly avoided this year, thankfully) or winter driving, but I am a fan of having lots of snow — it’s so beautiful.

I spent most of Saturday and Sunday switching the girls’ rooms around. I’d had the idea of having one bedroom and one playroom for a while, but was waiting for Kaylie to be on board with it. The girls had been sleeping in the same room anyway, as neither likes to sleep alone. I hadn’t asked Kaylie about it for a couple months, but on Saturday she was excited about it.

Preston “helped” and was stoked to be where he’s usually not allowed.

I didn’t know exactly how I wanted the rooms to look, so I just dove in and hoped for the best. I knew I wanted to have somewhere for Kaylie to put her special things, out of reach of Liliana, and I wanted a place for Liliana’s special things as well. When we lived in the two-bedroom apartment in Regina, I stacked their dressers so that they’d still have space to play. I decided to do the same again, not to save space, but to have a higher shelf for Kaylie.

I moved a bookshelf from Kaylie’s (former) room to the master bedroom, for Noah’s books. I’m all about getting rid of stuff instead of making room for more stuff — except when it comes to books. You can never have took many books. I’m probably going to be one of the last people in the world to get a kindle or nook or whatever kind of digital book reader thingy. I prefer the real thing. I’m pretty sure Noah feels the same way since getting new books is pretty much his favourite thing, so much so that he needs a bookshelf all to himself.

Since there was now space on the living room bookshelf, I moved all the girls’ books out there. I cleaned out Kaylie’s closet and moved all her and Preston’s clothes into Liliana’s closet. Thankfully, the closets in this house are quite spacious, although I really hate the closet doors. They slide back and forth and prevent the closet from being fully open. It’s quite annoying. #FirstWorldProblem #DiamondShoes

Eventually I will move Preston into the kids’ bedroom as well, but not until he sleeps for longer than two-hour stretches. (Something we will be working on during the girls’ Easter break, when I don’t have to be anywhere at any set time.) (And when he isn’t pushing through two molars, like he is right now.)

The girls kept themselves occupied, excitedly watching me switch stuff from room to room.

Liliana had a bunk bed in her room, where she was sleeping on the top bunk. She wanted to switch to the bottom, which was completely fine with Kaylie who wanted the top anyway. We’ve played musical beds many times in the last four years that switching beds wasn’t anything abnormal to them.

Once in a while, the girls exceed my expectations in how well they can get along. Kaylie let Liliana up on her bunk to play and it was huge to Liliana. Even though hours earlier the top bunk had been hers, the fact that it was now Kaylie’s and she was allowed up there totally made Liliana’s day.

I’m mostly done with the rooms, and I’ll post photos when they are completely completed. So far, the room sharing is going well, except that the girls don’t go to sleep until later than usual. The best part is that both rooms have been kept clean all week — the girls have been cleaning up after themselves (with a little prompting). It’s a March Miracle.

I started my new job this past week — carer of Kesler. It’s going really well so far. Mr. K is a mere 20 days older than Mr. P, and they’re nearly identical in regards to milestones. It’s funny how having double the babies makes quadruple the work. It’s fun, though. Kesler is a total ham. The hardest part is getting them to and from the van. In the morning, Kaylie helps me by taking one baby there, and then when we pick her up, she helps by taking one baby back inside. I only have to do it a couple times by myself, and I will not be sad when the boys start walking outside. You try unlocking a vehicle door the old-fashioned way while carrying 25lbs of baby boy on each hip.

They’ve been napping at almost the same time every day, which is pretty rad. Preston’s crib is still in my room, and I set up a pack-n-play for Kesler in the girls’ room — there are two walls and two doors separating them, and so far, they have not woken each other up.

Preston is quite the mama’s boy (just like his daddy) and does not like it when I am holding Kesler. He starts to cry and then crawls or walks over to me to be held, too.

Both girls absolutely love playing with the babies, but Liliana is still working on being gentle. She totally body-slammed Preston today. On purpose. She wasn’t looking to hurt him, but she doesn’t yet understand that babies are BABIES.

I don’t regret for a moment quitting my job(s) to stay home and hang out with babies all day. There is nothing else I’d rather do. Although a day at a poop-free spa might be nice once in a while.

Mid-morning on Tuesday, the snow day, the girls asked to go outside. The wind was still a bit blowy, but I bundled them up tight and sent them out. There’s no way I’m saying no to a kid who wants to play outside (unless it is really unsafe). They’ve been inside so much lately that they need to expel some energy somehow. I went out to take photos of their snow playing, but the snow was up to my knees and I was in capri sweats and winter boots, and, well, I’m a wimp and I didn’t like the feeling of snow coming into my boots. I took a few photos and ran back inside. Had I not a baby who needed looking after, I would have bundled up more and played out there with them. I love huge snowfalls (when I don’t have to leave the house).

They were covered in snow, but so happy when they finally came inside. They had so much fun that they went out again when Noah came home, to “help” him shovel the driveway.

I had a couple birthday cheques I was saving for a new lens and I finally cashed them a bit ago because I finally found a fun affordable lens. (Sorry, family members who finally saw that on their bank statements.)

I got this one from Photojojo. I opened the box from the bottom (the shipping label was on top covered in thick annoying plastic), and out popped a dinosaur. I thought it was odd, and also kind of cool. I didn’t notice until afterward that there was this sticker on the side of the box:

Photojojo is awesome.

Liliana saw the dinosaur when she got home from school and accused me of stealing one of her dinosaurs. I showed her the sticker on the box and tried to get her to say stow-away-asaurus. I’m not sure yet if she believed me or not that I didn’t steal one of her dinosaurs. Oh well. I steal dinosaurs from four-year-olds for kicks.

I even went so far as to take a self-portrait with my fancy new lens, just so that you know that I exist and I’m not making all this stuff up.

Or am I?

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Oh, and if you’re interested, here is my Canadian Family post from this week:
How to Cut Diapering Costs: The Case for Going Cloth
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