Three Beautiful Things

1. Artwork from my youngest. Our cat "Orange".

2. More artwork . Zombie cat. Also Orange.
I'm sensing a theme here.

3. The artist himself. Strangely not in his favorite color. I'll let you guess what it is. 

Three beautiful things

1. My pumpkin carvers

2. My babies sleeping

3. My bean with her glasses. She picked out the frames!

Three beautiful things

1. My baby in pigtails.

2. My creative mastermind.

3. Old soul. Loving companion.

Three Beautiful Things

Three beautiful things from today : 

1. My sons smile as he washes dishes. What a great kid I have! 

#2. My babies smile as she plays peek a boo in the kitchen cabinets . 

#3. The view from my bed. 

Three Beautiful Things

1. Chestnuts. YUM!
2. Faxing in my LAST homework assignment! HIP HIP HOORAY!
3. Snuggling with my baby.

Three Beautiful Things

It has only been a week since I was with all my family for my sisters wedding and I think I am still enjoying the "glow" of it. Today is also my sister's birthday... Happy Birthday Jill!

Three beautiful things for me today are all family:

#1. My beautiful inquisitive nephew looking into the bush because there was a hole in it.

"Just sticks" is what he said when I asked what he was looking at.



 #2. My cousins taking my camera and taking self portraits.

 3. The beautiful bride.

Three Beautiful Things

1. Our great dane puppy. He is 11 months old now and I love him. He is such a baby in so many ways, but he is a great protector of his family. A contractor came to the house today and Hugo didn't leave my side the whole time and made sure the contractor knew who was boss! In our small community in a house with two women and two boys I am happy that we will have a reputation for having a ferocious dog - even if he isn't.
(And by the way - he barks at EVERY person that ever comes into our house or yard and he didn't bark ONCE at my mom!)

2. My sons imagination. I looked after the boys over my lunch hour in my office the other day so Shel could go to the Doctor without them. I have in the office a large size game of Jenga which Max started to play with. I told him he had built a magnificent road, to which he replied - "It's not a road mom, it's a sidewalk." We live way out in the country on an acreage and there are no sidewalks. Where did he learn about sidewalks? In any case, I love him and his imagination.

3. My spouse.  My spouse is beautiful for many reasons, but today she is beautiful because she took Max to school and took the baby with her and so I was able to sleep. GLORIOUS SLEEP.
So beautiful.

Three beautiful things

1.I know I have mentioned it here before, but I absolutely LOVE when the swans return. Watching the swans around our home is a beautiful thing. They are only here twice a year for a very short time and everytime I see them I am happy.

2. We have had the opportunity to relax and read some novels. I can't remember the last time I had uninterrupted days on end to just read. I have already finished two books and am beginning a third tonight. Reading is a beautiful thing. I have a feeling this might be the last time I get to do this until my thesis is finished which makes it more beautiful to me.

3. I have a week off from work. That is a beautiful thing. I am going to do my best to stay away (THAT will be a miraculous thing). Don't get me wrong. I know the place will survive without me, I just don't think I will survive without work. I am pretty sure I inherited this disease from my workaholic parents.

Three Beautiful Things

THREE BEAUTIFUL THINGS


1. The weather was nice enough today that we were all outside picking up and enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. I could have SWORN that we spent a lot of time outside in the fall cleaning up the yard, where did all this junk come from? It is beautiful to be outside again.

2. Is is Easter weekend and as per tradition we visit Dame to drop some treats off for him. This year we gave everything to his mom so he really doesn't know it is from us but we don't care that he knows where it comes from, as long as he has something. He is ALWAYS excited to see us and get into "HIS" van. (He insists it is HIS). Here are my beautiful boys.

3. While I am typing there are two little boys in the bedroom with my spouse just LAUGHING at the top of their lungs, playing peek a boo. The laughter is a beautiful sound.

three beautiful things

1. My curious and exploring 2.5 year old son. I think today I head my spouse exclaim that she found a banana in the soup can cupboard. Though all his curiosity can be tiresome it is beautiful to me how he is exploring his world and that he feels "safe" doing it. In the tub he has been exploring how cups can fit on his feet. This made me laugh out loud because I very specifically remember members of my immediate family doing the exact same things growing up!


2. My sleeping (spoiled) 8 month old baby. He is struggling right now to get comfortable as he sleeps because he is teething and HATES to take any kind of medicine that would give him relief. We hold him to put him to sleep (SPOILED!) but once he is asleep he wants to stay that way! He is so cute as we manipulate him around, change his diaper etc. and he fights to stay asleep.

3. The sun. We are getting more and more sun daily. In a month or two it will barely dip below the horizon and we will only get "semi-darkness" for a while, but the days are already getting longer and it is truly a beautiful thing. Tonight it was still light at 9pm.

three beautiful things

1. The sun is finally coming out. This means that SOON the road will not only be free of ice and snow, but it will be DRY and free of mud. hip hip hooray!

2. We had a meeting tonight at work and I went with the HOPES that there would be some kind of letter of intent letting us know what was happening with the transition. Of course there was absolutely NOTHING new shared in the meeting, but what I have found in the situation that is beautiful is the fact that every day that passes brings this whole thing closer to an inevitable end. It HAS to be complete by June 30th. (They did say "next week or the week after" we would hear something).

3. There HAS been a close to the arbitration we have been going through with the union and our current employer. That means we will get back pay for TWO years! I am trying to remind myself that this is beautiful (and pretend that something is better than nothing - because I know the government will take more than 50 percent of it).

three beautiful things

My three beautiful things for the night:

1. Max was "helping" me today. My spouse got me to work on the door that we need to hang and I ACTUALLY got out the drill and everything and even worked on it until we realized I need to buy wood screws that are shorter. My Main Man Max "helped" me. He is completely fascinated with all things related to tools. He had the hammer at one point and was hammering the door. I took the hammer from him and offered him the plastic hammer we bought for him a while ago. He looked at me with the most incredulous look on his face as I offered him a "FAKE" hammer. He does not speak, but he has absolutely NO problem communicating. I laughed out loud at the look he gave me. He ended up deciding a fake hammer was better than no hammer so he came back and got it. His help and his face are beautiful to me.

2. C-note is jabbering up a storm. He babbles and sticks out his tongue constantly. He has started to say "da da da da". My spouse is trying to convince him that I am his da-da. She thinks it is very funny. We laughed tonight together, laughing together is beautiful.

3. This afternoon things came together for a few minutes and we were able to join forces and get some things done that it takes both of us to do. Usually we are going in complete opposite directions and so the things that require us both tend to get neglected for long periods of time. We both felt great with what we got done and it is possible to begin to see small improvements in our environment. Working together is beautiful.

He tires me out / Three Beautiful Things

I love my sons with all my heart. My two year old is wearing me out. He doesn't speak yet, which bothers me mildly, but not as much as what he does INSTEAD of speaking - which is whining.
I am baffled because he doesn't do it with others, only at home. He CAN communicate what he needs without whining, but when he is in my presence he does nothing BUT whine. I love him. I love to play with him, I love to laugh with him, I love to hang out with him, and I am going to sear out my eye balls with burning hot tweezers if he DOES NOT STOP WHINING.

So because my spouse reminds me to look for the beautiful things, I am going to try and ease the pain in my brain by attempting to focus on three beautiful things. Here are my attempts, I hope they are not completely lame:

1. The current temperature is NOT minus 30 Celsius, which it has been for too long. It is a balmy -5.

2. Peanut and Jelly Sandwiches. My spouse made me one the other day and it was best thing I have tasted in AGES. I think I need to go and make myself one.

3. Tomorrow is my mom's birthday. I love my mom. She is beautiful to me. Here is a picture of me and my mom and my son (in the days before he WHINED)!

Three Beautiful Things.

This weekend we have had a respite. I think this is the first time in 8 months that we have had a "break". We intended to clear our plates of everything and rest for as long as we felt we needed it before diving into any projects.
So far we have slept, read, slept, watched some t.v., checked out the Internet, and slept some more. So far I am not feeling any more inclined to dive into projects. I have more sleeping to do.

My three beautiful things for this weekend are:

1. Sleeping until I woke "naturally" - which unfortunately was when the dog stuck her nose in my face, but at least it wasn't a crying baby!

2. READING a book from beginning to end in one sitting. WOW. I feel human again.

3. Strawberries and whipped cream.

three beautiful things

Three Beautiful Things:

1. This morning as I left for work (early because I have to drop the boy at daycare on the way) there was a full moon sinking low onto the horizon. The sky was beautiful and clear, the van was warm (because today I remembered to turn on the heater when I started it early), and the moon was beautiful. I stopped for a minute at the end of the driveway and showed it to Max. It is fun to show him things now because he actually LOOKS where I am pointing.

2. Picking up Max from daycare today he was around the corner and didn't see me come in. The lady said "Max, look whose here for you!" and he came around the corner. His face just broke into a HUGE grin and he RAN to me. It made me so happy because although he is usually excited to see me he wants to show me things and doesn't ever really run to me.

3. Driving to work when it is light out and driving home when it is light out is beautiful to me. It means there is an end to the darkness and the cold. I feel as though I may slowly come out of hibernation myself.

Three Beautiful Things

1. My boys approach life completely differently from one another. Max wants to have breathing treatments not because he likes them, but because C-note still gets them. This is the only time of day he will sit still and though he is still far from "melting" into me, the fact he will put his head back onto my shoulder is beautiful to me.
2. C-note takes everything in stride. Sit here? Ok. Wear this on my face? Ok.
Look at the camera? Ok. He is so laid back and so happy. I can even get him to smile with this mask on. This photo breaks my heart, my beautiful boy.

3. My boys getting better is beautiful.

Three Beautiful Things

1. My boy with a haircut. He is beautiful without a haircut also and I have to admit I was a little sad to get his beautiful long hair cut off, but he is incredibly handsome with a "big boy" hair do.

2. My boy teasing me. He has an insane sense of humor and I love to watch him learn more and more about what it is to "be funny". Last night I took him up to bed as is our ritual and he was complaining about having to go to bed. He was trying to use stalling techniques and told me he needed a diaper change. I reminded him I had only just changed his diaper before we came upstairs and when he realized he was "busted" he burst into peals of laughter.

3. The boys in new pajamas.

three beautiful things

You can check out more beautiful things here: link

1. A cool bedroom to sleep in on a hot night
2. chocolate ice-cream
3. Afternoon naps

Three beautiful things

1. We have a new baby in our home right now. He is not even five pounds and his little fingers and toes are beautiful. Last night while I was feeding him I was playing with his feet. (I undress him in the night to feed him because if I didn't he would just fall back to sleep with the bottle in his mouth and feeding time would last longer than I can stay awake for). He was not impressed with me tickling his feet and he grunted the cutest little baby grunt to let me know of his displeasure - even his grunt was beautiful!

2. We have been dog sitting some dogs for a friend while she was on vacation. Her two dogs are very sweet. Our dogs love having the extra playmates and they appear to love the visit to the country as they play and run and swim in the dugout all the live long day. They have been with us for almost 2 weeks and last night I took them home to their mommy. Although we love having them, being back in our home with just our brood was beautifully silent and CALM. All the cats came out (the young puppy visitor has no kitty manners and chases our feline family members).

3. Sleep. Sleep is a beautiful thing which I love at the best of times, but having a new baby in the house and a two year old who for some reason the last week has decided he would rather scream and throw everything out of his crib than go to bed.... after the 5am feed this morning I fell DEEPLY asleep and was late for work. The late for work part wasn't the beautiful part, the sleep from 5:30 am to 7:30 am was beautiful.

Three Beautiful Things

Our newborn foster baby. My Spousal Unit picked him up from the hospital just over a week ago when they called to say he was ready to be discharged. As with every foster child we have ever had, the information known about the situation is scant. The babe was 2 days old when we picked him up and weighed just over 4 pounds. We were shocked to know he was able to be released at that weight - it seemed very small to us, but we took him home. He has been a GREAT baby, I love the smell of his little (and I mean TEENY) head. Of course when we went for his one week checkup our family doctor said no WAY should he have been released and immediately put him in an ambulance to be transported to another area hospital. I met him there and spent the night with him. I am amazed after having him in our home for just one week, how he responds to the sound of my voice and my touch. Though I HATE to see him in pain as they draw blood repeatedly from his teeny body, the fact that he calms down when I touch and speak to him is a beautiful thing.

Hearing my friends voice after too many months with no contact.

Four tired out and sleeping dogs (two of ours and two of my friends who we are babysitting)