both the boys have problems with stuffy noses. their noses are clogged with “boogies” all the time. thankfully, they’ve gotten used to the constant wiping, the use of the snot-sucker, and mom picking their noses all day long.

Zander learned how to blow his nose at a fairly young age. by the time he was about 18 months old, we could hold a tissue to his nose and ask him to blow, and he’d blow like a pro…which made our job a lot easier. now, at 2.5, he’ll even say “i need a tissue please!”.

and then there is Logan. oh, Logan. Logan has super-chronic nose stuffage and, unlike his brother, he can’t blow his nose…into a tissue, that is.

he has now learned to blow his nose….into his hand or onto his arm/sleeve. he lets ‘er rip, and blows boogielicious gunk all over his hand and arm. and then…and this is my favourite part….he wipes his filth-muck covered hand and arm all over his face and through his hair. he inevitably gets a boogie or two in his eye, his cheeks are slimed, and his hair is stiff and sticky from snot.

and thus begins our job of de-sliming him. at least he gets it out of his nose. plus…he’s pretty cute, right? i mean, how can you not forgive this adorable snotface?

the absolutely wonderifically wicked-awesome JJ! from Dirty Laundry gave me some love yesterday.

she said some amazing things about me that had my head inflating like a balloon me blushing for hours!

so now, i will pass this one on. this is the tough part. first of all, if i could, i would give it right back to JJ ’cause she rocks. secondly, all of my bloggies deserve this award! JJ gave this to three people, but i am going to pick five….’cause i’m a rule breaker. ya…i’m cool like that.

Natalie is such a funny, warm, strong and amazing woman. she (as well as her blog) is open, honest and real. love ya, Nat!

Wineymomma is amazing.  she was reading my blog and leaving such supportive comments even before she had a blog of her own.  now she has a blog, and i regret that i only have time to skim through my blog reads right now so i don’t leave many comments.  i’m hoping that after the move, i will be able to be as good a blog-friend to her as she has been to me.

Janet rocks. i love her! i “met” her a few months ago, and it’s like we’ve been friends forever! she always makes me laugh, and is there with heartfelt words and emails when i’m down.

Jennifer is one of the first bloggers that i “met”, and she’s still one of my faves. she’s hysterically funny, and so friendly. she’s been there for me when i needed advice concerning my boys, and when i needed cheering up. we have so much in common, she’s a real mom, and she totally rocks!

and last but not least, there’s Kimberly. when i first “met” her, i knew she was someone i would be friends with IRL. she’s warm, funny, kind, generous. she’s always there for me no matter what. i hope one day we will be able to have that playdate…girl, you constantly make me wish we lived in the same part of the country!

***on a more serious note, Whymommy is having her surgery today. if you haven’t been to her blog, you should go. she is such an amazingly strong woman, and an inspiration. please send your thoughts and words of support her way…Whymommy and her family could use them now.

when i was looking through my archives for something to post for Scrolling Saturday, i saw this post and new it was the one. it’s the perfect post to follow yesterday’s haiku about how serious my blog has been lately. enjoy!

*** the following post was originally published on July 12th, 2007. ***

After all of the doom and gloom posts of late, what with all the shit that’s been going on here, I thought it was time for some much needed comic relief…and my son Zander was more than happy to oblige.

Allow me to set the scene. It was bath time last night. Carlos had already run the bath, and everything was ready. As usual, we brought both of the boys upstairs into Zander’s room to strip them down for their bath. Zander was stripped down first. Then it was Logan’s turn. That’s when our noses were hit with something so foul…and that foulness was Logan’s diaper.

Carlos: Aw, man! Logan! How can someone so cute smell so bad?

Logan: A ba da….pfpfpfpfpfpfp (I’m not sure how to translate this, but as far as I can tell it means something like “Ha! That’s what you get for feeding me turkey stew for dinner, old man!”)

Carlos: [cough] [weeze] [cough] Maybe we should put a diaper on Zander until Logan is ready for the bath…??? [cough] This might take a while to clean up…..[choke]

Me: He should be okay….Zander…do you have to go pee?

Zander: No!

Me: Are you sure?

Zander: No pee pee….

Me: Do you want to go on the potty?

Zander: Pott’! No no pee pee….

Me: Okay….but tell mommy if you have to pee on the potty.

Carlos: I can hardly breathe…this is so nasty! Yak!

Me: Do you need help?

Carlos: No…I got it…

Me: Good…’cause I didn’t really want to help you anyway! [smirk]

Carlos: Ummm…..honey? What’s that sound?

Me: (I turn around to find the source of said sound) Why that’s your son peeing into the heating vent, dear!

Zander: Pee! Pee! I pee pee!

Me: Yes, Zander…you peed…all over the floor and in the vent…

Zander: I wet!

Me: Yes, Zander…you’re wet…and so is the floor….and the heating ducts….

Carlos: Here’s a receiving blanket…use this….(he throws it over to me)

I start wiping it up….

Zander: (he takes a step back to watch me clean up his mess….and starts to pee again) Pee pee!

Me: (laughing hysterically) Yes, Zander….you’re peeing….

Zander: (nodding in agreement) I PEE!

We all had a good laugh. We needed that…

I am so thankful that there are wood floors in his room, and that a warm bath was waiting for them just a few feet down the hallway!

been all doom and gloom
my writing so serious
it’s just not like me

my loyal readers
i’m sure you’ve been wondering
where’d the funny go?

this blog has been so serious….nothing but serious. all kinds of downer posts. granted, sometimes life is not so funny. especially here in the monkey house. and it is cathartic to write down everything that’s been happening, and everything i’ve been feeling. but come on! funny things happen here all the time…i’ve got two toddler boys! how could there not be funny things happening?

it’s like when the funny stuff is going on, i don’t have time or the chance to write about it. and then some doom-’n-gloom comes along, and that’s what i end up posting.

and i’m funny dammit! right? it’s not just me that thinks i’m funny, is it? i can be funny! what happened to all the funny posts i used to write? huh?

never fear, my blogland friends. i will be searching for my funny-bone high and low this weekend. and by gosh and by golly i’m gonna post something funny next week.

what…you don’t think i’ll do it? oh, just you watch me!

this post brought to you by late-night caffeine and lack of sleep

something happened at breakfast this morning that hasn’t happened in a long time.  Zander threw up.

this used to be a regular occurrence.  so regular, that it was daily for a while.  just the hint of texture in his food would send him gagging, and he would eventually throw up his entire meal.   Zander would be crying from fright, i would be crying from sheer frustration, sadness, and fear that my little boy would never grow because he couldn’t/wouldn’t eat.

this morning was a bit different.  sure, he gagged at some texture and ended up losing his breakfast.  but it was because we have finally been able to move him off of the pureed-to-nothingness jarred baby food fruit to normal pureed fruit cups.  you know…the kind that you and i might eat as a snack.  not only are they so much cheaper, they also offer the same (if not better) nutritional value of the baby food with a bit more texture.  and he’s been really good at eating it, as long as we are spoon-feeding him.  i think there’s a comfort thing there, and we (as well as his Psychologist) are okay with the spoon feeding thing…’cause he’s eating!  i guess the texture was just a bit much for him this morning.
so when he started gagging, i calmly told him it was okay.  when he threw up, i still kept my calm (i’m amazed at myself for that!) and told him it was alright.  he didn’t cry, probably because i didn’t cry.  the only thing he was worried about was getting the puke off him, and i don’t blame him.

whether because of my meds for my ppd, the twice-a-month meetings with Zander’s Psychologist (who has been amazingly supportive and reassuring), or because of the progress he’s made, i was able to handle this morning’s breakfast incident with out trauma to myself or my son.  looking back, i realize how much progress we have made in these past few months.

this time last year, Zander would only drink milk…no solid food whatsoever.  the simple action of bringing a spoonful of pureed fruit or veggies would send him gagging and throwing up what little bit of milk was in his tiny tummy.  he was almost 2 years old and a mere 20 pounds…the same weight he was just after he turned a year old.

when his iron deficiency was diagnosed, we had to resort to force feeding.  i would sit on the couch with Zander on my lap and pry his mouth open while hubby would spoonfeed him a concoction of pureed fruits or veggies spiked with iron-fortified cereals.  he would sputter and gag.  we had to hold his mouth closed so he didn’t spit it out, and i would rock him and sing to him to keep him calm until he swallowed each spoonful.  i cried with almost every meal.  i felt nauseous before every meal, not knowing what horror lay ahead of us this time.

looking back, it is easy to see how far he’s come. instead of force feeding, screaming, gagging and vomiting, our meals have become much more relaxed.  sure, it’s still difficult to get him to eat.  he’s not eating much whole food…most of it’s still pureed.  but i honestly can’t remember when the last time he gagged and threw up was.  he has more energy.  he’s happier and less cranky.  he’s gained weight (he’s up to 29 pounds y’all!).  we can count on him eating something at each meal, which used to seem like an unattainable goal.

i’m so proud of my boy, and what he’s struggle through to get where he is now.  after dealing with this eating disorder for over 2 years, i still can’t imagine what it’s like for him.  can you imagine being scared of food, one of the very things you need to survive? i can’t fathom what that must be like, and that’s probably a good thing.

but he’s slowly but steadily overcome his fear more and more.  on top of his purees, he can now eat small chunks of cheese and toast.  he’ll eat pizza, french fries and potato chips…not super nutritious, but it’s the texture that counts right now.  he’s even started to eat pieces of whole banana!  i never thought i would see the day….

i’m beaming with pride for my 2.5 year old little boy…one of the bravest and strongest little men i know!

last night when dinner was done, Zander told us he had to “go pee pee on da toilet!”.  this has actually, to our happy surprise, become a regular occurrence over the last few days.

some of you (those who followed me over from my first blog) may remember that we attempted to get Zander into the whole potty thing.  he thought it was pretty neat at first, peeing in it a few times and enjoying the accolades he received when he did his thing.  then the novelty wore off, and he didn’t want to have anything to do with it.

fast forward 7 months.  on Friday afternoon we asked him if he wanted to sit on the potty and pee.  he said yes (which surprised me since i’ve been asking him every once in a while for the past few months and the answer was always no), so we asked if he wanted to sit on the big toilet or the potty.  big-boy-wannabe that he is, he wanted to sit on the toilet with his Diego toilet seat.

so off hubby and Zander go to the bathroom while i played with Logan.  to be honest, i wasn’t expecting anything.  in the past the only thing he has done on the toilet is waste play with the toilet paper.  suddenly i hear hubby cheering, so i race to the bathroom to see big smiles on both their faces.   Zander, brimming with pride, said “a peed on da toilet, mummy!”.  even though he had peed on the potty before, this was different.  i could tell he really understood what he had done this time…i could see it in his face and hear it in his voice.

later, after dinner, he said he had to pee on the potty, so we put him on the potty and within 30 seconds he peed.  just like that.  and Saturday morning, as soon as we got him out of bed, he said he had to go pee on the toilet, and he did.  this has been going on since Friday.  he knows he has to pee, he asks to go on the toilet or potty, and he goes.  not every time, of course.  the kid is so busy in Zander-world most of the day that it will take a while for him to use the potty full-time, but this is definitely an excellent start!.

what happened yesterday, however, was completely unexpected.  he was sitting on the potty in front of the TV (don’t judge ;-)) after dinner.  he had already had a little pee, but i knew a bigger one was coming, so i asked him to sit on it a little while longer.  then he turned to look at me and said “a pooped mummy”…so matter of fact, like this was an everyday occurrence.  i checked, and sure enough my son had pooped for the first time in the potty.

i have heard so many horror stories from friends and family about trying to get kids to poop on the toilet or the potty.  my cousin’s daughter was so scared to do it, and later they found out that she thought her “insides” were falling out…how awful!  i was just expecting….i don’t know what i was expecting, but i didn’t expecting him just to poop!

anyway, i’m realistic enough to know that he might not want to poop on the potty again for a while.  but the fact that there was no trauma or anything gives me hope that it won’t be too hard.

plus he didn’t pick his poop out of the potty to show me…that’s a bonus, right?

Melissa from Such Simple Pleasures and Coleen from Manners and Moxie have started something called “Scrolling Saturday“. basically, you re-publish a post from the past. as Melissa put it, “All you do is, take an archived post, one that was shown no love…back when you were just writing for yourselves and had the random family member reading. And…repost it. It will get the love and appreciation that it was so entitled to!!!”

to join in the re-posting fun, go to the website and sign in with Mr. Linky! and now, on with the show!

*** “the search for Carl” was originally published on February 22, 2007 at my first blog, “A Beautiful Life”. Zander was 22 months old.

Zander has never said mommy or daddy. And it’s always bothered us. Other toddlers say it! Why doesn’t our toddler say it? It’s something we have longed to hear.

A few weeks ago I realized that whenever Zander was crying and asking for us, it sounded like he was saying “Carl”. And who is Carl, you ask? I wasn’t sure.

I kept listening for “Carl”, to try to find a pattern to when he said it. And it seemed that it was always when he wanted daddy. Who’s name is Carlos.

Yes, that’s right. My son is calling his father by his name! Shortly after, we realized that when he says “cat”, sometimes he means cat, sometimes he means me. Interesting.

I told my mother, who started to laugh. Apparently this runs in the family.

When I was around 14 months old, I started saying “nonny” (pronounced like Donny). My mother was so happy that I was finally starting to call her mommy. What she found odd, though, was that I would go to the window and yell “nonny! nonny!” whenever I could hear my father coming home on the tractor (I’m a farm girl, you see). And then it dawned on her. I was trying to say “honey”, which incidentally is what my mother calls my father. That’s when they started calling each other mommy and daddy in front of my brother and I.

So Carlos and I try to remember to call each other mommy and daddy in front of the boys. Which can seem awkward at times, and downright funny at others. Especially depending on the situation and whomever may be witness.

I find the whole thing funny, and rather cute. My husband does not. I’m not quite sure why he can’t find the humour in it. I think he may feel as if his son was calling for him without him knowing. But even if Zander was calling for Harold, Carlos would still go running to him. That’s just the type of father he is.

Zander has finally started to say dad. He calls Carlos dad and he calls me dad.

But that’s better than “Carl” and “cat”, I guess!

Zander & Daddy (a.k.a. Carl)

there’s one thing i know
this comes from experience
when it rains it pours

we have no money
the move has drained our accounts
so over budget

of course this would be
perfect time for rain to pour
it’s raining shit here

seriously. the shit is pouring down, and i’m knee-high in it. there’s a law that goes along with Murphey’s. it’s called Cate’s Law. Cate’s Law deems that if something bad/wrong can happen, it will. but this bad will wait to happen until the worst possible time, and bring some of it’s bad friends along for the ride.

hubby was driving to his sister’s house on Tuesday night…which is 40 minutes across town….which is why we are moving to that end of the city. anyway, the car started acting funny on the way there, and completely died as he pulled into their driveway. like died. dead. gone. deader than a kipper on a cracker. no salvation.

so, his plans were ruined (he was going to go to his sister’s store Supperworks and prepare some meals…awesome place!), and the rest of his night was controlled by CAA (Canadian Auto Association), and the whims of the dude that they sent to help him. Three hours later, he was still waiting for mr. dude. to make a long story short, mr. dude finally got there, boosted the car, left, the car died again and hubby couldn’t start it, called mr. dude back, mr. dude said he’d be right back, mr. dude took his sweet-ass time getting there…like 40 minutes, even though he’d just left. when mr. dude finally got back, the car could not be revived. so while mr. dude towed the car to the Canadian Tire near our place, my wonderful sister-in-law drove hubby home….at 1am.

hubby not happy.

so on Wednesday, we were without a car. hubby worked from home, while i had to cancel a doctor’s appointment for that morning. an appointment that i’d already had to cancel in December because of a snow storm. an appointment that i’ve been waiting for. an appointment that was supposed to be all about how i’m doing on my latest anti-depressants, if they are working, how my ppd is, and also to check up on some blood work to find out if my thyroid has gone cuckoo and flown the coop. ya, now i have to wait again…until the middle of February. if i have cancel that one too, i’m going to lose it…my doc goes on maternity leave starting the end of February.

cate not happy.

on Wednesday afternoon, we get a call from Canadian Tire. it’s the alternator. it’s dead. it needs to be replace. for the very reasonable, low low price of $800.

cate and hubby not happy.

later on Wednesday afternoon, hubby went over to the living room window to see what Zander was looking at. hubby mumbles one of his favourite profanities. i go over. the windstorm that had been threatening to rip the windows out of the house had knocked down part of the fence between us and our neighbours. the fence was lying in our backyard. flat on the ground. this is the fence that we sold along with the house in July. which means we need to put even more cash into this damn house, even though it won’t be ours in 6 weeks.

cate and hubby really not happy.

did i mention the splitting migraine that started in my right eye on Wednesday night, and by yesterday morning was a big ball of head pain? hmmm…i wonder what brought that on.

you may have noticed i haven’t been posting much for the past couple of months. allow me to explain.

when i first started blogging, it was kinda sporadic. but then i really got into it, and developed a flow…a groove, if you will. this groove made it easy for me to write my blog on a regular basis. and it was good.

then i lost my groove, and everything went to shit. allow me to elaborate.

first, there was NaBloPoMo. wow…that was tougher than i’d expected. i wrote whenever i had time about whatever…it was mostly drivel. and most of the bloggers in my reader were a part of NaBloPoMo too, so i was drowning in unread posts. i just couldn’t keep up. i had promised myself i would take a break at the start of December, and it’s been tough to get back into it since.

then there is my laptop battery. my iBook G4 is one of my best friends….but the battery? not so much. i usually write my blog posts a bit at a time during the day…whenever i have a spare 10 seconds, but this is becoming impossible. the battery has been not-so-slowly losing charge capacity, until the point where i turn it on and have about 10 minutes at most to get done what i need to do before it dies. some of you are probably thinking “so just use the power adapter”, and that would be the easiest thing to do. unfortunately, i have two toddler boys. i won’t mention any names, but one of them Zander likes to yank and fiddle with and accidentally unplug the cord make sure that all cords are untangled, plugged in tight, not twisted, plugged in tight, lying straight, plugged in tight, and all buttons are pressed….repeatedly, and the other Logan has a strange vendetta against all cords and computer/electronic equipment, and does his best to destroy them all. now, if my laptop is running on the battery, it’s fairly easy to keep it out of harm’s way. if i’m sitting on the couch with it, i can lift it up or run off with it (oooh…that sounds so mature, no?), or i can use it at the kitchen counter or where ever. but if i need to use the adapter, i am chained to one corner of the couch without much cord length, and no chance for any speedy get-aways (we don’t have a computer desk on the main floor of our house…that would just be asking for trouble!). needless to say, this pretty much means no computer time for mommy when the boys are awake. and when the boys are napping, mommy is cleaning up…and sometimes napping.

then there were the holidays. i think everyone agrees they put a festive halt to daily posts for most of us. we were all too busy with parties and get-togethers, vacations, recovering relaxing after the holidays….hubby had a week and a half off work, so we’ve been enjoying the time together, and he’s been loving the extra time playing with the boys.

and then, there’s iPhoto. i’ve been using iPhoto to crop and resize photos for my blog, and i love it. hubby upgraded to iPhoto 8, and it was good. so many new features. but i can’t get the damn thing to resize! i looked online and found a tutorial with screen captures, and it’s like part of the menu is missing on our install….wtf? there have been so many posts i’ve had brewing in my head that need photo accompaniment…and i can’t publish them until i can resize the stupid fracking pictures!

all these things have been messing with my flow….my blog-writing groove. i’ve recovered from NaBloPoMo and the holidays are over, so there’s two down. only two to go!

i will try harder to get posting more often again. until then, please refer to the above post for my excuses.