Ups & Downs

Friday night was pretty much shot because I felt so ill all day. I spent the night on the couch ignoring my messy house.

Saturday morning Tom cam by to pick up Rawley. He wanted to take him to a horse show at ThinderBird Stadium where some of the horses from the stables where he works were competing. Rawley also got to see Tom's work and feed the miniature horses.

Someone had given them a tip that there was a fair in town and Rawley obviously thought it was a great idea. So the two of them went to the fair. Only after Tom called and asked for permission to take Rawley. What a sweetheart.

~The Fair~

~Rawley's skull bear he won at the dart toss~

~The big slide~

~Rawley & Tom on the train..I think~

Ryan and I took this time do some stroller/carseat shopping and to have lunch alone in peace. It was wonderful. We went to Red Robins and looked through our honeymoon pictures (that I finally got developed 7 months after the trip). We also found a stroller carseat combination at Zellers that we really liked. So we bought that too. Once Rawley returned we got his room ready for Grandma & Grandpa's visit.

Sunday was a blurr of me waking up on the wrong side of the bed, being stressed, cleaning, yelling and so forth. Every time we have company coming I get into this state of crazy stress and anger. Mind you the house does get a good clean each time so it isn't all bad. The boys just need to learn to shut up and help or flee the house.

By Sunday night I was feeling pretty calm, We went for dinner at Bamboo Palace with Tom & Jeannine and it was nice to be out of the house and spending time with friends.

Ryan's mom & dad get here tomorrow at 1:15. So we have one more night of final cleaning and tidying, then I will give up and let it be.

I need to take some pictures of the Stroller; then I will post more about it.

Thank You Dad!

Last night we had my dad over for dinner, which we try to do every Thursday. Ryan had made yummy Ranch Shake n' Bake chicken and started the potatoes. I mashed potatoes when I got home and started the veggies. Dad brought pies; one pumpkin & one cherry. It is nice to have him over on Thursday nights. Rawley especially enjoys having Papa over.

We have had to cancel out last few dinners because we have had plans or dad has been busy, but I have been saving a job for him. The beautiful bassinet that Ryan and I bought second hand off Craigslist had stopped working. It has a little light on it, vibrations and a few songs that it plays which all worked the day we bought it. I was so happy because they bassinet is $160 new and we got it for $60 used but in great condition. Last month sometime I put new batteries in it and it wouldn't work. We have had the thing apart a couple times, Ryan has tried fixing it but nothing we did worked. Last night I asked dad to have a look at it, but he couldn't get it to work either.

Last night my dad also stayed with Rawley after dinner so Ryan and I could go shopping. We had some baby stuff to look at and started a registry at Sears. I was really excited about a night out shopping without Rawley. We had already done a baby registry at Babies R'Us and Rawley was there for that. He had a ton of fun and was the sole operator of the scanner. I think we did pretty well at Babies R'Us but it was still exhausting to try to make desicions with Rawley there. Although Rawley did pick out half the stuff and it was all very cute, I was looking forward to doing it alone with Ryan this time at Sears.

Trouble was we didn't really find too much stuff we liked at Sears. They have a lot of stuff online but once you are in their store they do not have much. The options for things was quite small. So we did a little here and there and then just kind of gave up. The main reason we were there was to buy a CarSeat Stroller combo anyway. I had one picked out already from their website but upon actually seeing it, touching it, and trying it out I changed my mind. So we looked at a few of the other ones, but there was nothing that I liked enough to spend more than $300 on. We left without one.

I was not going to buy one in the first place, I was just going to buy a carseat and get a stroller second hand. Now I am not sure what we are going to do. It was kind of a bummer of a night. We had money and a mission and ended up coming home empty handed and exhausted. I still enjoyed my time out of the house shopping alone with Ryan though, but it would have been nice to find something we liked.

Upon arriving home Rawley yelled from his room, "Papa & I fixed the thing". Dad had fixed the bassinet after all. In the words of Rawley this is how it went.
"Papa tried to fix the thing again, and it just was not working at all, so he got mad. He slammed it down on the table and said, "what a stupid device". Then all of a sudden it started working. So we took the electric thing and put it back in the bassinet and guess what? It didn't work. So I said some magic words and we tried again, and tada...now it works. Isn't that great? Papa and I fixed it!"

After putting the electronic part back in the bassinet it wouldn't work again so dad smacked it. Then it started working. He took it part once more and all he can figure is when it was squished closed two of the wires touched and it shorted out. He pushed one of the wires out of the way and now it is working. Yay.

Thanks dad (and Rawley) for fixing by bassinet. I was so upset out that the bassinet was broken, then our shopping was unsuccessful.. so it really made my night.

Chilliwack Bruins

Yesterday at 3pm we received 3 free tickets to the Chilliwack Bruins game last night. When Rawley found out he was so excited. A few years ago we went to quite a few games. That was back when we were living with my dad. We didn't have to pay rent then or make my new car payments. We don't get to do much stuff like this anymore unless we win tickets or have nice people give them to us. So last night was a treat.

~ The guys warming up before the game~

~My cute little man in his Bruins T-shirt~

~Bruiser~

~Rawley sitting off by himself (we are not cool anymore)~


~Picture Rawley took~

~Rawley hanging out with all his new buddies~

The game was pretty bad for the most part. Bruins were not playing all that great. By the third period they it was 3-1 for Tri-City. With 5 minutes left a lot of people started to leave. I always hate it when people do that. If you bought the tickets you are wasting your money walking out before it is over. If you received the tickets free then you appear very ungrateful. I have and will never leave a game before it is over. Anyway, too bad for them. With 2 minutes left the bruins pulled their goalie but couldn't make anything happen. With 43 second left n the clock they called a time out. I turned to Ryan and said, "what is the point? they are not going to score twice in 43 seconds" I was wrong, they did. The arena was so loud it was hard to tell that 1/2 the fans had already left. Rawley and his little group of friends at the glass went nuts. They were so cute; all yelling and high fiving each other.

It was a great night and Rawley had so much fun. Thank you for the tickets!!!!!

On nights when Rawley is going to be out late we have tried giving him another 1/2 pill around 4:30-5pm. He usually has half at 7am, half around 11am or 12pm and then nothing for the rest of the day or he will not be able to sleep. Because his pills are a four hour release, by about 4pm he is not having such an easy time with control of his body. This is hard for us because we only see him during his worst time of the day. We first tried this 1/2 pill thing when we were in Seattle and having late nights with lots of outings. Then we tried it when he went to the Canuck's game last week with Uncle Dustin and we could not believe how good Rawley was. So, did it again last night and it is like being out with a totally different child. He is still spunky and fun loving, but controlled. We could see the difference in him. He was able to sit and watch the game without fiddling, getting up, kicking his legs, flailing his arms, spewing things out of his mouth before thinking. He was having a great time while not being overly obnoxious. Then we could actually see the transformation right at the four hour mark. He could not longer sit down, he was flailing his arms everywhere, raising his voice, speaking without thinking, not keeping his hands to himself, being the in your face type kid that has no control.

My one view of this is sad because it is so obviously clear how reliant he is on medication to be socially successful. On the other hand I am happy we have discovered this because it lets us know that we don't always have to cower at the thought of taking him out at night. We don't have to miss out on evening activities anymore, we just have to plan his medication around them. It usually means Rawley will not fall asleep any where close to 8pm, but by the time we get home he is tired and if he still struggles he can take a little bit of melatonin to assist his sleep.

Having a child with ADHD is a learning process everyday.

Of All The Things She Taught Me.......

....today this is my favorite:

French Fries dipped in Ice-Cream.

When I was 13 Bonnie and I were early to catch a bus. We were at the bus stop outside of Dairy Queen in Fleetwood so Bonnie suggested we get a snack while we wait. We left Dairy Queen with a large fry and a large ice-cream. And that was the first time I had French Fries dipped in ice-cream. It certainly has not been the last. Although Ryan finds this gross Rawley will share this simple pleasure with me occasionally.

That is what I hate for lunch today.

Thanks Bonnie!!!


Just for the record I had trail mix and a sandwich bag full or baby carrots for snack....just so you don't judge me too much. :)

Better Days Are Coming

The later part of my day was definitely better than the first half yesterday. Rawley & Ryan came to visit me at work. Ryan fixed the shelf in the photocopy room and Rawley sat at my desk and wrote me love note. With each love note he added a little word jumble for me. Later that night he learned that 'loves' does not have an apostrophe in it. I love my little notes and besides moving the one from in front of my keyboard I have left them up.

Rawley brought his report card with him yesterday when he came to see me. I was pretty happy with it. He got all threes & fours. Three is meets expectations and four is surpasses expectations. He did receive four twos though and they were all in behaviour related categories. This is an area of his life where he will always struggle and have to work hard. His reading is a little behind. I think he reads great but they say he reads a at an October level and he needs to be at a March level. I guess we will be working on that.

Last night I dyed my hair then watched Hockey and Curling with Ryan. Loungo did not impress me much but Jennifer Jones did. Go Jennifer! She has won all 7 of her games so far in the worlds. Top team right now.

Rawley and I did start out 'Thankful Books' last night. I have discovered it is very time consuming to have Rawley think of 10 things and write them down. Last night he did 6 and it took an hour. Tonight maybe I will write them down for him. Or he can write the first 2 then I will help. Two things that Rawley wrote that i really liked:

1. "I was not the one who threw the block today, I was the one that got hit"
This is sad for me because he got hit pretty hard and had to go to the medical room and get iced, but it is happy for me because it shows that Rawley is learning. He did not throw the block nor did he retaliate. It has been a long time that Rawley seem to always be in trouble. So for him to feel happy that he was not the one in the wrong shows he is learning. I am proud.

2. "Mom had a good day"
He did not know I didn't have a good at at work, as I didn't talk about it at all, but I let him read my list to help him get some ideas of how detailed or vague our lists could be. I wanted him to see what made me happy and that might help him find what made him happy. I love that what made him happy was that I had a good day. I felt the love!!!!!

Those were my 2 favorite ones, other included:
I got to play wii this morning with Jake
It was a gym day and I had fun
The Oilers are beating the Canucks...(that one hurts a bit)

Anyway, I think if we keep this up it may be a really good thing.

How Much Exercise Is Too Much?

Friday night I realized that it has become a chore just for me to walk to the video store and back. This is a walk we have done a lot, usually also going to the mall which is another 2 city blocks away. By the time we got home from renting videos I wasn't sure I had enough energy to stay up and watch one.
Rawley watched Pokemon till it was bedtime then Ryan and I watched The Informant. It was....weird. That's about all I can say..oh and it was long too.

Saturday morning I had a great idea that we should somehow figure out how to jam all our bikes in my trunk and head to Stanley Park. We tried and failed. My car is just too small and out bikes are just too big. When we first got bikes I looked into getting a bike rack, but they are so expensive ($100+), then I thought about asking for one for Christmas or my birthday, but it was cold and wet through winter and a bike rack was not the first thing on my mind.

Rawley was heart broken we were not going to go anywhere to ride but around Abbotsford. I know this because he whined about it all the way to Wal-mart. "This sucks", "We always ride in Abbotsford", "There is no where cool to go", "I don't even want to go." It was about this time I told him to be quiet or we will not do anything and he can spend the day in his room.

While at Wal-mart finding shirts that fit over my growing belly and a bike seat pad for Ryan's tender bum, we decided to look and see what they sell bike racks for. Hmm $39.00 on sale. After much humming and hawing over it we bought the bike rack, went home to get our bikes, packed our lunches and off we went to Stanley Park.

~Ryan, finishing off installation of rack & bikes~

We knew it would be busy at Stanley Park as it was Saturday, but it was the busiest I have ever seen it. There was no parking all the way around. We were directed into the middle of the park to get a spot. In total we rode about 11kms. I almost gave up twice. Bike riding is not the same when you are 6 months pregnant. You know how you when normal people pedal their legs pump up and down. Well I had the luxury of pedalling out then up & down. Which I mean is not so bad until you have to climb a hill. It is way easier to push hard when your knees are in line with your body not hanging out to the side like your are riding a horse.

~Olympics Rings~

~Beautiful Cherry Blossoms~


~Huge Ship passing under Lions Gate Bridge~

We did pack a lunch as to not spend anymore money, but I was hungry by the time we got to Second Beach so we shared a large order of Fries before Rawley went off to play at the park.

~waiting for Fries~

~The crazy thin slide at the park~

~Resting~

~going under the tunnel~

~more Cherry Blossoms~

~Another tunnel, Rawley's favorite part~

On our way home we stopped in to say 'Hi' to my grandma & grandpa. When we were in the states we bought grandma some PayDay chocolate bars. The peanut & Caramel ones have no chocolate in them so they are a treat for her because she is allergic to chocolate.

Sunday was more of a responsible boring day. Grocery shopping & Cleaning. Rawley had to clean his room. Ryan had take out garbage and recycling and I got to scrub the boys bathroom. Ryan's parents are coming to stay with us next week and I would rather die than have them see the boy's bathroom. It is clean enough now you can eat off the floor behind the toilet (yeah, that clean)... The boys have been threatened to keep it that way for at least 2 weeks or else......

Rounding Out

It appears that my belly is not the only thing getting rounder....my face had taken on a new much rounder form..

I guess I should just be happy that my bum has remained the same size and my hands and feet are not swollen.

We will be in our 3rd trimester by the end of this week and Nudge will be 13 inches long and weigh 2 pounds.