I'm blogging.
My jaw is aching.
The boys are sleeping.
Our new dog  is snug in her new doghouse.
We're listening to The Hobbit via audio book.
My Darjeeling tea is cooling.
We're playing Skip-Bo.
It's our anniversary.

his and hers: evening style

Joey and I may be husband and wife, but that doesn't mean we do every. single. thing. the same. His & Hers is a fun little weekly highlight on the differences between him & her!

This week's faves

Here are my favourite pictures from the plethora of pictures I took this week. Enjoy!

Benjamin lovingly adorned in blankets and pillows, thanks to Judah

this smile just gets me

the Incredible Journey (take two)

 Bum chin!

Best Buds

The Pussy Willow

a Lone Sheep

thankful thursday

I am starting a new “thing” here on this blog, only this “thing” isn’t a new idea at all. I’ve seen many different friends/bloggers do it before, and I am finally willing to join the bandwagon. Every Thursday I want to make an effort to post some of the things I am thankful for. The reason for this is to simply rejoice in the blessings of life and draw my mind out of the funk of the moment. It is a good thing to make it a habit to step back and look at all the reasons you have to thank God! So, that being said, I begin.
Today, I am thankful for…

• antibiotics to fight off the infection around one of my wisdom teeth
• medical attention when I need it, simply a phone call (and a 30 minute drive) away
• the health that our family has been blessed with lately – no colds, no fevers, no illness!
• my husband’s job, which doesn’t even require that he uses a vehicle to get there
• the church body of which we are now official members
• the carpentry skills of my husband – he built a doghouse for the furry friend we’re going to bring home on Tuesday!
• the money to purchase an excellent photo editing program

There you have it! How have you been blessed this week?

wordless wednesday

a brief note on dentistry

Today is momentous. It is a day of reckoning, a day to right some wrongs.

Today is the day, friends, that I actually look forward to going to the dentist.

One of my wisdom teeth has brought this on. It's been doing the "come up, go down, come up, go down" dance for eight years now. Yesterday it got worse. I was counting down the minutes until I could take another Advil. Then, in the night, the pain was multiplied ten-fold and I was in tears as I waited for the Advil to kick in and take the edge off. As of this morning I decided that I needed to find relief. I made one quick phone call and got an appointment for 3:30 PM today.

This little incident has made me think about how blessed we are in Canada to have such good health care. Yes, we may have to pay out of pocket to get our teeth looked after (unless you have dental coverage), but we STILL have the ability to get a tooth looked after when we need it!

I can't imagine living somewhere where there is no dental care available - at least to the majority of society. If I lived in such a society, I would be having to put up with this extreme pain with no hope of relief. I would have to take the risk that infection could form and could get into the bloodstream. OR, I would have to endure the pain of someone cutting a tooth out of my head without anesthetic. 

::photo source::

Self, you are blessed.

and then the dog house fell on my head

Do you ever have those moments when the world is ending?

Those baby-blowout-in-Walmart moments?

Those can't-find-anything-to-wear-for-church moments?

Those arms-full-of-groceries-can't-find-your-keys-and-it's-minus-thirty moments?

Yeah. Me too.

Today's went like this:

While I was feeding Benjamin, Judah snuck up to the counter and grabbed a bottle of Advil, opened it, and proceeded to chew on one. I know that bottle shouldn't have been there... this was the first day in a year that it's even been sitting out. I panicked, he spit it out, and I was still shaking when Joey came home and asked me to help him lift the dog house (newly built!) off of the sleigh. When I went to put it down, I *kind of* dropped it, forgetting that its roof had an overhang and that sharp tin was sticking off the edge. It hit me on the way down and scraped my head. I ran inside and burst into fits of tears. Oh, and during all of this, one of my wisdom teeth was sending bursts of pain down the left side of my jaw.

photo is unedited. :(

The world most certainly ended this afternoon.

And, you know what? Everyone survived. 

this guy

I love this little guy.

I love the way the tips of his ears stick out.

I love how his forehead wrinkles.

I love the minimal peach fuzz on his baby-soft head.

I love that his eyebrows are still not visible.

I love his little neck rolls.

I love his chubby cheeks.

I love his dimpled chin.

I love the colour of his stony eyes.

I love him through and through.

Spilling.

I am addicted to the little flossing things that look like crooked slingshots. I can floss with one hand while I feed Benjamin before bed. This is nothing short of a miracle.

Joey and I will become members of our church on Sunday. This means that I have to share my testimony in front of the church. I love sharing what God has done, but WOW does it make me nervous to do so.

Our third anniversary is less than two weeks away. Really? Has it already been three years? (Really? Has it only been three years?)

Judah's favourite word is currently "Hallelujah", only it sounds more like "Happy-you-yah", and occasionally "Happy Judah". It kind of melts my heart.

Benjamin is almost consistently sleeping through the night now. Some may say that 5.5 months is a little late for this development, but I think it is just right for him. And for us.

Joey is working on building a dog house. He is trying very hard to make it smaller than giant size. He has a tendency to do that, you know. Just go to his parents and take a look at the bench in their front entry, or visit the spare room and check out the desk. But, guess what? I love him anyways. 

I am amazed at how many times I have to say "No, we don't poke eyes" to Judah in a day.

Closets and cupboards that barely see the light of day have gotten makeovers in the last two days. No, I am not nesting. Well, maybe I am, but it's not for a new baby bird.

Judah's second birthday is coming up in a month and a half. I don't think we're going to make a big deal of it. But, still. OH MY WORD I HAVE A TWO YEAR OLD.

Sharing is a hard concept to teach. On one hand it's, "Let Benjamin play with your toys", and on the other it's "Those are Benjamin's toys, and those are Judah's toys. The two shall not intermingle." 

Knitting is my best friend lately. 

It's cold outside.

The End.

furbaby

We went to see a puppy yesterday. And by "puppy", I mean dog. She's a 1.5 year old border collie (with no herding instinct, thank you). She absolutely L.O.V.E.S. people to death. She is so extremely gentle that it kind of makes you want to scoop her up and snuggle with her all day long.

Yes, I may have fallen in love.

Yes, it looks like we'll be taking her as our pet.

This is nearly the perfect situation because the current owner has told us that if, for some unforeseen reason, she does not adjust well to our family (or if we don't adjust well to her), she will always take her back.

I am very excited! I'm like a little girl that asks for a puppy every Christmas & birthday. What I'm most looking forward to, however, is seeing my boys fall in love with her, too!

happiness is a warm puppy

Judah likes to pretend he's a SuperDog around Benjamin. He comes up to him while he's lying on the ground and "hops" over, usually with a big STOMP STOMP and a giggle. Benjamin, of course, is enthralled by it all. He adores his brother, even if his brother treats him a bit rougher than is befit a five month old. I am not in the habit of encouraging such behaviour (surely you must know that), and "be gentle with the BEEEEEHBEEEEEH" is a daily mantra.

Ah, but it is a hard lesson.

With the stellar results at Benji's last weigh-in (off the charts for the win!), we've decided that it is OK to attempt to swaddle Ben back to sleep when he wakes up a'hollerin' at 4:30 AM. So far we have been successful, and little Bean wakes up at 7:30 AM all smiles and no worse for wear. He is even so gracious as to let me do vital things (i.e. pee) before I get him up - providing he has some poor crinkle toy to nom to death in the meantime.

The Cuteness is obsessed with puppies. If you are making small talk with him, you can most certainly expect the conversation to take that turn. "Shaun the sheeep? Orange (pronounced "hork", obvs.)? PUPPY?!?" He runs to the windows several times a day looking for the neighbor's dog. Little does he know that said dog is no longer here. Even so, nothing is able to dissuade the hope, elation, and happiness to be found in the Canines. 

How fortunate for him, then, that we are going to be looking at a puppy on Saturday! It's one of those random connections that happen a lot 'round these parts (A talked to B who talked to C who told B about D. B told A. A phoned D. D did not know who B or C was, but invited A over anyways). Truth be told, getting a dog so soon was not in our forecast... but because we actually get to speak with the owner about the temperament of the dog, we're tempted to call this a deal. 

SuperDogs. Life lessons. Baby rolls. Swaddles. Puppies. No matter what happens, it always comes down to dogs in the end in this house. 

on getting things done with needles

Mommy was a big girl today and took the boys to get their immunization shots. Okay, the boys were pretty brave, too. (More than brave. Barely even cried brave. Were more annoyed at having to get their winter clothes on than getting stabbed brave.) I have been a bit... ahem... behind in getting them immunized. Today was the big day for me to right my wrongs and get the deed done. 

The plus side about having your babies get needles is that you get to learn what percentile they are in for weight and height. I was absolutely shocked and appalled to learn that Benjamin is OFF the charts for weight (18lb 4oz) and in the 90th percentile for height (27 inches long (he grew SEVEN whole inches in five months!)). Judah, on the other hand, although nearly equal to Ben in his weight percentile (95th), was only in the 25th percentile for height (35 inches). Alas, I have discovered (yet again) how truly unique my boys are - in nearly every area.

In other news:

I finished another knitting project! This is super-duper exciting because I am TERRIBLE at finishing knitting projects. If I was doing this to feed my family, they'd be starving. Come to think of it, if I was knitting for so noble a cause, I might actually devote myself to it a bit more than I do at present.

Let my words cease! Behold!

I used the Woman's Dimple Hat pattern from one of the greatest knitting blogs ever, the purl bee. I did not use cashmere yarn (I wish!), and I used 4.00 mm needles instead of 3.75 mm, which is perfect for my big head. I has a big noggin. This is true. 

ANYWAYS... the resulting hat is spectacular and I couldn't be happier with it! 

I am out of completely unrelated topics to add to this post. Thus, it concludes. 

that's not where I left my baby

::can you guess where he started?::

it felt like an intellectual moment

The Scene: It is late evening. Both children are in bed for the night (more or less), and Joey and Andrea are both sitting in a warmly-lit family room. Andrea is devoting much (too much) attention to a Sudoku puzzle. Joey is reading a book about Israel. Classical piano music fills the air.

Andrea (looking up in shock): What's this? You actually chose to play classical music?

Joey (in a high-pitched, self-protecting tone) : You were playing Sudoku, I was reading... it felt like an intellectual moment!

Andrea (rolls eyes): You're a dork.

Joey (fake whimpering): What?! 

Andrea (laughing): But a very cute dork!

The two tease each other for a few more minutes (the subject of which is not worthy of mention). Strange noises proceed from Joey. Andrea laughs/cries in shock and disbelief. A moment later, similar noises proceed from her. Cue explosive laughter.

Joey: The music definitely can NOT make this an intellectual moment anymore!

End Scene.

good morning from the Littles!

the Cuteness eats a cookie

::click the image to open picture link, then click again to enlarge::

I fully intend to start him young

at long last...

... I have completed Joey's scarf! I started it almost two years ago, then promptly had a baby. Two months ago, I decided to pick it up again as a Christmas present for the husby. Some unexpected delays (namely not being able to find the same yarn in stores and having to order it online and wait a MONTH to get it in the mail) meant that it was a little bit late... but I'm SUPER proud that I finished it only a week after Christmas! 

As you can see, the husby is thrilled.

hello, new year

A new year has dawned, and it's back to the grind for this family. Joey is back at work today, but now he has a new boss. I know this is what's right for camp (and us) at this time, but I'm regarding the rest of winter with a bit of apprehension. I know that Joey's going to be very busy running the hill - once there is enough snow to do so, of course. He is such a hard worker, and sometimes I fear that he works too hard.

I am also back to life as usual. It's kind of hard to go back to caring for my boys alone when I've had nine days of other people being around to help with them. At the same time, I am happy that life is less hectic now. Judah is happily playing with his toys (I feared he would forget how to entertain himself!), and it's just a really mellow, quiet morning. Ben's even still in bed! Although, he did wake up for first breakfast around 6:30. 

I didn't make any official resolutions that are worth sharing here. I'm extremely bad with keeping my resolutions. Declaring that I! Will! Change! Something! by my own willpower is commendable, but unrealistic. If I did make resolutions, they would be something like this: Lose 40 pounds, read the Bible twice this year, etc. The problem with these resolutions is that I focus on the end result and forget about the MANY little steps between now and then. Instead of having these goals (and failing), I'm going to make small lifestyle changes that will bring me closer to the end result that I would like to achieve. It's not about keeping up to a deadline; it's about making use of the time I have been given right at this moment. 

Welcome, 2012. I have no idea what kind of events you'll see or if there will be any reason to even remember you at all, but I look forward to meeting you nonetheless.