Your captions for the last post were superb. They had me laughing. The only thing I could come up with was “STUPIFY!” I’ve been reading a lot of Harry Potter lately, can you tell?

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?

*~*~*
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
*~*~*

Filed under: Kaylie, Liliana, Preston, friends, milestones
8 Comments »

I took a bazillion photos of these two baby boys today, they were just so fun. For some reason, in the photo below, Kesler kind of looks unhappy, but if you’ll believe me, he was anything but. He was all smiles and jokes all day. It seems to me, though, that this photo is in need of a caption.

So, go for it. I’m sure you guys have better ideas than I do.

Filed under: photography
8 Comments »

I’m lying in my bed. I’m covered by five blankets and a sheet. And I could go for another blanket or two. I like blankets. I like being warm. There are times in the middle of the night when I wake up freezing cold because the blankets have left my side of the bed and gone to live in the Pacific. Or they’ve been pushed down into Never Neverland and I have to pull all of them back up, one by one, so they are even with each other, and then fold the top of the sheet over the top of the five blankets because heaven forbid a blanket should touch my chin without the protection of a sheet.

I’m quite particular about my blankets. Noah teases me constantly about my Blanket OCD. They have to come up to my chin. If they do not, I will tug at them until they do. If they will not budge, I will scootch down, pulling my pillow with me, until the blankets are at my chin. This is a benefit of being short.

When I was in the place of having a bed — and therefore all the blankets — to myself, I would wrap myself up like a taco. I’d pull the blankets under my feet (I cannot sleep unless my feet are covered) and toss and turn until I was wrapped up tight. I miss doing that. Yes, I will be one of those old people who shares a two-twin-beds room with her husband.

I once brought up the topic of separate blankets with Noah, but he did not like the idea. He who can fall asleep instantly anywhere any time with or without blankets. He who does not have Blanket OCD.

I need my blankets. I cannot sleep without them. I need them to be heavy and weighted and in the summer I struggle because I cannot sleep with nothing on me but just having a sheet is just not heavy enough but at the same time I’m roasting because our summers are so hot — which I love, because winters are so long — and I miss my five heavy blankets and the cozy winter nights in which I use them.

I could swear that my bedroom has no insulation. It is the coldest room in the house. There is a very noticeable temperature difference when I walk through my bedroom door, something that does not happen when walking into any other room in my house, especially the (one and only) bathroom, which is about five degrees warmer than the rest of the house and the room you want to be in if you are cold, except that it is a bathroom and there is a limited number of things one can do while in there, and that’s not counting the fact that the second one of my girls hears the bathroom door close (or the shower start to run), they remember that they have to use the bathroom RIGHT NOW and there goes my moment of peace, which is now a moment of hurried panic for fear of having to clean up a puddle.

But we were talking about blankets, weren’t we? Right. My cold bedroom supports my blanket addiction. It also makes me pile the blankets on my son, who also shares a room (but not a bed) with me. (Have I mentioned I cannot stand co-sleeping? DO NOT TOUCH ME WHILE I AM SLEEPING. OR FACE THE WRATH.)(I am such a treat to be married to.) I am one of those parents who, when she is cold, assumes her children are also cold. Twelve blankets for everyone! And this is why my baby sleeps in a thick fuzzy footy sleeper, because he likes to sleep on top of his blankets, rather than under them.

And now, the blankets are calling my name and I have written a bazillion words, not one of them having any point whatsoever other than to say I’d like to find a place to buy the world’s thickest, fluffiest, heaviest blanket, please. I’ll take two.

Filed under: this post has no point
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Preston took his first steps on Valentine’s Day, but I haven’t been able to get it on video until now. Because babies only do things when they want to do them. BABIES!

He’s up to about 20 or so steps in a row now and he is so happy with himself.

Babies are so unboring.

Filed under: Preston, milestones, videos
7 Comments »

Liliana’s pre-K class had a parent-involvement reading thingamajig on Tuesday. The email and the newsletter both said to show up at 11:00 and that the kids could not participate unless a parent was present, and since things like this have happened before — her school starting at a different time than usual — I assumed that it meant that Liliana was to show up, with me, at 11:00. So we did. And I was wrong.

I heard about it for the rest of the day. “Mom, I was late and I missed snack and play time and I WAS LATE FOR SCHOOL and why did you make me late for school? I wanted to be on time! And you didn’t bring me on time and I WAS LATE AND I MISSED SNACK!”

My girl is a Guilt Trip Queen.

Anyway, during this parents-have-to-be-there thing, the kids were read to by the librarian, and then they made animal masks, a craft led by a couple nursing students from the university. Liliana received the supplies to make a giraffe mask and asked, upon seeing the completed example mask, what the two little sticks in the middle of the giraffe’s head, between its ears, are called.

The nursing students looked at each other, bewildered, and told Liliana that they were sorry, but they did not know. One of Lili’s teachers tried to look it up in the animal books (we were in the library), but didn’t find anything useful. So I took out my phone and turned to Google.

Those little stick things? They’re called ossicones. They’re not horns, and they’re not antlers. They’re hardened cartilage. Females have a tuft of fur on theirs, males do not. Now you know. You’re welcome.

When I picked Liliana up from school today, Kaylie was with me. Liliana was telling Kaylie about her school day and showed Kaylie the giraffe mask that was now dry and ready to send home. Liliana asked me to tell Kaylie what the horn-things were called so I told her. She asked a couple questions about them and then said in a bewildered and impressed tone, “You sure know a lot about giraffes!”

That’s right. I am a giraffe expert. Ask me anything. I know it all. ALL THE GIRAFFE THINGS.

Filed under: I'm a nerd, Kaylie, Liliana
5 Comments »