Tired....

So not impressed....
My darling husband was snoring last night (refer to past post....guess where he'll be sleeping if that continues...). I was in such a wonderful sleep but was rudely disrupted by his noises. I was roused enough to hear him but didn't want to move and hit him; I was enjoying the half asleep sensation. Then I heard it, the beep. I knew instantly what it was, I just hoped that I was wrong. At that point I decided to give him a swift jab in the ribs, hoping to end the snorts on the other side of the bed. I also decided to break the news that we had a job to do. The smoke detector batteries were low and it decided to give us fair warning. The rude little contraption didn't care that it was 4:00 in the morning.
James was not impressed and blamed me for the whole thing. (Still not sure how it's my fault...) We went into the hallway where he literally ripped the smoke detector from the ceiling. (Thankfully in once piece, I'd hate to see our security deposit diminish due to a smoke detector.) We brought it back into our room only to be dismayed when we heard the beep again but it wasn't coming from the detector in our hands. Shoot.
We headed back down the hallway where we heard the irritating beep coming from Jameson's room. The stupid detector (truly, I realize it's not stupid and very life-saving, we're just not on the best of terms right now) was right above Jameson crib, right above his head. Oh man! James tried to get it while trying to remain quiet due to the fact that Jameson was sleeping in the crib. He couldn't quite reach it so we got the step stool from the washroom. He was then able to rip the thing off the ceiling but it was still connected with wires. Darn it! I'm used to the battery operated type. Now what?!?! The last thing we wanted was to wake Jameson up. I headed back to our bedroom. James came shortly thereafter and we decided just to leave it. He managed to pull out the battery but it still beeped. Oh great.
Our dear little trooper Jameson slept through the entire ordeal. I'm sure I was finally able to fall asleep again some time after 5. So lovely that the boys woke up at 6:30. :(
Thankfully my mother in law watched the boys in the morning so James and I could get a bit more sleep. Still tired...
Darn it, I forgot to get new batteries. I hope it doesn't beep tonight....
Need sleep.....
Goodnight.

Ooops

"Mommy, I need to pee."
OK, that means we have a little bit of time, he usually gives us a bit of notice.
"Mommy, I really need to pee."
"OK honey, we'll be home shortly."
"Mommmeeeee, I neeeeed to peeeeee."
"Hang on, we'll be right there."
"Mommy, I just peed."
Darn it.
"Honey, it's OK, it was just an accident. Can you please tell us a bit earlier next time?"
Oh man....

Train Ride

We wanted to do something special with the boys while my mother in law was in town so we decided to head out to Allaire State Park to see the historic trains. It was overcast and rainy but we decided to make the hour trip and see what there was to do. My mother in law realized she forgot to wear her running shoes, she was wearing her heels. Unfortunately she didn't realize this until we were already at the park. Uh oh.

When we got there it was barely sprinkling. We bought our tickets and waited for the 12 o'clock departure. We were the only people waiting. In fact, we were the only people on the train. A bit lonely but a great way to get a personalized train ride. Our tour guide was very friendly and extremely informative. He said that Thomas the Tank Engine was the best thing to ever happen to railroads to re-ignite the interest in young kids. The boys loved it. We were able to walk around 2 different train cars and even go into the caboose and engine. They were ecstatic. The tour guide even let Jameson switch the tracks. So thrilling.

It was definitely a trip well worth it. I'm sure it's a place we will be visiting again during our time here.

Sandbox Park

I took the kids to the sandbox park, even though it is quite barren these days (thanks to whoever threw out all the toys). I brought their own toys so they would have something to play with. As soon as we got to the park there was a kid who made a bee-line for our toys. I have no problem sharing our toys, it's just that the boys didn't even have a chance to warm up to the park before there was a kid who was already in their faces. The little boy took a car that Jameson was wanting to play with. Not a problem, it was a great learning opportunity. The only problem was that the boy snatched it from Jameson. His mother was sitting on the other side of the sand box telling her son to give the toy back. Uh yeah, a lot of help that does from way over there. Jameson let the boy have the toy which he promptly took with him back to the other side of the sandbox. Nice.
A short while later a nanny/au pair (I have no idea the difference between the two) came with a boy about Jameson's age. She let him play in the sand while she sat on the side and clipped her nails into the sand box. DISGUSTING!!! I couldn't believe my eyes. I wanted to puke! After she clipped her nails she proceeded to talk on her cell phone, endlessly. In the meantime the kid kept playing, pretty much unsupervised. What a great way to make a living?! You get to "watch" someone else's kids in a new country and you get paid to do it, all the while spending inordinate amounts of time on your cell phone. Nice.
The toy-snatching boy came back for more toys, this time yanking a toy out of Jameson's hand. Again, the mother tried to discipline from afar off but to no avail. Jameson reluctantly handed the toy over. So proud. :)
Jameson needed to pee but there was no washroom so we headed out onto the trail for him to pee. He looked for a hole in the tree but there was none so he became quite upset. I finally convinced him to pee by telling him to make the leaves at the bottom of the tree dance. Whatever works. :)
We went back to the sandbox, collected our toys from the various kids who borrowed them and then headed out. I much preferred the community toys; it definitely kept my van cleaner. :)

Family Supper

Sunday was the monthly family supper at church. This meant that we went home immediately after morning services and then came back for dinner and a special evening service. We spent the afternoon at Paul and Amy's house where the boys found a toy paradise. Lewis and Jake had a Thomas train set. Jameson and Stellan literally played for over an hour without any fights or problems. Ah, how lovely. When Stellan went to bed he insisted on taking Thomas to bed with him. Problem, there wasn't an actual Thomas train. I gave him James thinking he didn't actually know what he was talking about, he just wanted a train in general. Uh, sure. He wanted Thomas, no fooling him with silly old James. I thought I might be able to pull it off if I gave him a blue train instead. I came back with Gordon and that seemed to do the trick. Whew. Amy said we could use the train set while we lived here since her boys were no longer interested in it. Jameson and Stellan were ecstatic. They each brought a train into church with them and carried them around the entire time. So cute.
James was able to play his cello at church on Sunday evening. He played beautifully. Too bad the kids were too busy throwing beaded necklaces (Jameson) and running around with toys that they didn't actually get to see Daddy play. They did have special front row seats while James practiced on Saturday though. :)

Mattress Shopping.....again

It was time to buy a new mattress. James's mother was coming in for a visit and we had to get a mattress for her to sleep on. Since our last mattress buying expedition was one filled with much stress and crazy mattress-jumping kids, I decided to venture out on my own. It wasn't so important that we both tried it out since neither of us would be sleeping on it. (Although, if James starts snoring he'll get a good chance to try it out....) Since I had a bit of time I decided to do some shopping for myself as well. Ah, what a nice treat! It was so good to be able to go down the aisles without worrying about what might be pulled down off the shelves. It was such a treat that I decided to go down aisles that didn't even have anything of interest; just enjoyed the peace and quiet. After a few purchases I finally made it back to Sleepy's, the same store where we bought our mattress. The same guy, Rich, was there and he helped me out again. I told him of our mattress drama, he had a good laugh. Yeah, only because he didn't have to sleep on the sagging mattress. Anyway, I picked out a mattress that seemed to be quite suitable and then reminded him of his promise to give me a free Tempurpedic pillow since I gave him more business. In his typical salesman act, he pretended like I was robbing them since I was getting everything for such a good deal. Yeah, whatever, just give me the pillow. Well, I got it and can honestly say that I love it. Not sure if I would spend $125 on it but since it was free I can say it suits me just fine.

I got home and had to make 2 pumpkin pies; one for dinner at a friend's house and one for church the next day. I ended up slicing my middle finger on the cinnamon container. Seems strange but it happened. The kids loved the fact that mommy had to wear a band-aid and insisted on wearing them as well. I knew that the oven was not trustworthy so I had purchased an oven thermometer to see how much it was off. It was off a whopping 75 degrees!!! That's insane!!! No wonder I was left with charred muffins when I tried baking them a few weeks ago! I'm thinking this must be a fire hazard....

We went to Kim and George's where the boys have their friends Hanna (4) and Aida (1). They have a ton of fun playing together, especially with the train set. The three oldest kids were having a blast watching the train go down the hill. They laughed so loudly that it echoed throughout the entire house filled with vaulted ceilings. The volume of their laughter/screaming was quite entertaining in itself so they kept doing it. It was literally impossible to hear another person talking at the dinner table. Whatever, they were having fun.

I just remembered....

I just thought of something funny Jameson said a while back. We were discussing Stellan's sore penis and Jameson came up with some thoughtful insight.
"Mommy, does Stellan's penis hurt?"
"Yes sweetie."
"Are we going to get Stellan a new penis?"
WHAT?!?! How do I answer that?!?!
"Uh, no. We can't get Stellan a new penis. Can you take off your penis and switch it for a new one?"
"No."
"Stellan can't either. His medicine will make him feel better."
"OK. Can I have some medicine too?"
"Does your penis hurt?"
"Uh, yeah. Yeah, my penis hurts mommy."
Strange kid. :)