The Pains of Letting Go...even for money! :)

Since yesterday I've started going through all of our things, trying to organize the keep from the toss from the sell. I also started to post some of our items up on used Victoria. I have to say I've gotten a great response to all of our items. Maybe that's a sign I'm not selling them for enough? lol but at this point I think the goal is just to get rid of most of it as quickly as possible. I have to say it's rediculously hard to part with some of these pieces, but we just wont have the room to store unused items, especially all of our baby things. I've posted many items including our bassinet and some playmats. I made James promise that if I sold them he'd buy me new ones if and when we have more babies. I think he's hoping that won't happen so he's saying yes just to make me through this part and hoping I get over the baby fever sooner rather than later. BTW James, that's not going to happen :). Maybe I was hoping they wouldn't sell and then I'd have an excuse to keep them, but so far everything has been spoken for. At least I'll have some extra pocket money, and less to move. Though, it's still hard....

WOW! I think it might actually have been forever since I've made a post. So much has changed in the past few months, I think we owe our grand events the privillage to be written down.

Of course we've had the general kids are growing, and learning events. Both kids are learning their ABCs and we've managed to get up to G officially! David can sing all the words, while doing the actions to Head and Sholders. I think that's pretty big, coordination and memory:) I'm very pleased with him. And Hannah, although very vocal with all of her emotions, is turning into a very sweet and beautiful little angel. We just adore these kids!

If anyone of you has payed our family much attention in the last three years, you would know that we have a very strange and disruptive habbit of moving, all the time! And yet again this Greenwood family will be packing up, and moving. Hopfully this time we can get rid of a large amount of our CRAP! I hate that word, but let's face it, that's what it is. We have almost officially bought our own house! We are turning James' parents house into a duplex and have purchased from them the rights to half. The house has been remortgaged (of which we are paying approx 82% so this is fair!), have lowerd mom and dads bills and mortgage payments, and somehow still manage to save us money as well. And now, the renovations begin. James has been over there all weekend trying to get things started. I think it's going slower than he had hoped. When you live in a house for 20 some odd years you collect allot of junk simply by nature. Now mom and dad are trying to go through it and I think it's harder on them then they thought. To us it may just be garbage, but to them it was a huge part of their lives. We must pay credit to that. But in all fairness it's hard to renovate when you're constantly tripping over things. Hopfully everything will start to move smoother in the next few days. James wants us in there by Dec 1. It's the 18th, he's taken three days off from work and has as an end result built a wall. I'm not feeling very confidant about this deadline, but I'm excited for the end result. I guess this means I better start packing. I mean it this time when I say we're not taking our junk. Now how do I sort between what's worth keeping and whats not? How many Christmas boxes are too many? And baby clothes? I haven't gotten rid of a single item my kids have worn. We have endless boxes of clothes in their closets. And now, where to start? I usually start with books, and leave out the toys till last. I guess it's time to start making some lists. Any organizational tips would be so very apreciated:)

Where will they now be safe to play?

I had an interesting encounter yesterday that I feel compelled to share.

Early in the morning, around 10:30, David was at preschool and I was trying to entertain Hannah, and I had a few minutes to kill before 11 and our Mommy lunchin at Corrinas. I thought it the perfect opportunity to get in some one on one park time with her. She's always sharing the spotlight, and I knew she'd love to go to our favorite place to play and have me all to herself.

As we rolled up to the park, we had to go a bit of a ways to get parking there were so many cars, but it being a nice day and the end of September that wasn't surprising. What was surprising was however the mother with her babe in arms, practically running from the park. She took one look at me as she buckled her little one into the car seat and left without a word. I didn't think much of it at the time, people are always running to and fro, maybe she was late, or was out of diapers. Who knows. I then took Hannah out of the car and together we walked over to the park. Hannah is now walking, has been for a few weeks, and loves to get practice in whenever she can. I placed her on the ground and she immeidatly toddled over to the swings. We played there for some time, watching as other people walked their dogs or biked by. An older gentleman in a bright orange hat made his way towards the play ground and took a seat on one of the far benches. This is not an uncommon occurance at Centennial park, families will often come to the area and older members will take rests on the benches. However at this time, having heard of the high-risk Sexual Offender living out in Sidney, who prays on young girls newborn to early teens, it can be a little nerve racking. Thankfully for my nerves, other families joined us at the playground and eventually he left. As our time there came to a close, I walked with Hannah back to our car, and placed her in the car seat as I noticed a police car making its way through the little inset road we had parked on. He flashed his lights and drove off, which I found strange.

As we drove off, the happenings at the park quickly left my thoughts as we stopped in at the mommy lunch, and then left to pick up David from preschool.

However as I tried to sleep that night, I couldn't get the image of that man out of my mind. I couldn't shake the eery feeling he had given, and I started to wonder. Could this have been that man who I knew not his name or his face but had thought, Saanichton is farenough away from Sidney that we should be ok. This morning, just to cure my thoughts I looked up the newpaper article, and the photo of that man looked very much like the man in the orange hat.

It makes me wonder could it have been? And if it was, did that woman know? Why didn't say say anything. We need to ban together as a community, protect not only ourselfs but the others around us. We need to make smart choices and educate ourselfs.

http://www.theprovince.com/High+risk+sexual+offender+living+Sidney+RCMP/1988099/story.html

War Wounds

Last Friday David had his first encounter with stitches. The poor little man was just trying to be helpful when he took the broom from me and said "my turn to sweep". Somehow along the way, whilst I was distracted picking up toys and crayons from the floor, David lodged the broom into his big barn. At this point he must've somehow fallen into it, where he managed to badly cut his nose. After three rounds of anesthetic (no surprise that they had a hard time knocking him out) my beautiful boy was then sporting his first stitches, 5 eyelash stitches. Yesterday he got them out, and after that ordeal recieved the "big dinosaur" that he picked out earlier. It was a heart breaking ordeal, but he's lived through the other end of it, and we're so pleased with our brave little boy who has officially been made a Greenwood.

First Day of School

My baby is growing up! David started his first day of school last week. I think the transition was more traumatic for us than for him. I wanted to sit outside the classroom the whole time crying my eyes out. But I held it together, and left with the other parents. I came half an hour early to pick him up though, and sat outside. I've been doing that every day. I love to sit and listen to them singing. I can always hear David laughing. So far he's played moraccas, loves the toy annimals, dancing and siging, and has even used the urinal. He drew a purple elephant, which I look forward to seeing. Yesterday he said to me, "mama, I made bubbles today". He loves preschool. And I love his teachers. David is such a special guy, and so easily lovable. How could you not with that beautiful little face and his twinkling smile.

Bike trip and icecream?

So we come together yesterday with a few friends for a bike ride. We ended up having to turn back halfway, somthing about handlebars?. I don't know, but we ended up going 9.5k. Not bad considering I'm pulling the kids and the trailer. At the end though the others suggested stopping for ice cream. I personally indulged in a salad with low cal dressing. I figure, I've just worked out, Im not going to ruin that by eating ice cream. Well we shall see if it did me any good, still no results on the scale. This truly is torture....

diets and celebration DON'T mix

So the diet where I ate practically nothing seemed to be working out. Along with two bike rides during the day I had lost a couple of lbs in my first week. Not to bad. Then we went to a wedding reception. Darn you Meghan and your amazingly spread array of food. I have to say that the food was so good I don't even care that I gained back all my weight from eating it. But now I have to get back on my diet and work extra hard. Today we are biking to Matticks farm from Saanichton...yikes!!! I just hope I'll see some results on the scale.

Life...in general

I heard a quote today "The first half of our lives if ruined by our parents, the second by our children". I have to disagree. The first half of our lives is or should be enriched by our parents, and the second blessed by our children. Family is the most valuable aspect of life, precious and wonderful. Nothing short of a perfect blessing. Yes the people in it may not always reach the highest of their expectations, but maybe we should be asking not why are they falling short, but how can we reach higher...

Adventures in Weight Loss

Ok, so it's been nearly a year since Hannah was born, shouldn't I have lost some weight by now? We've recently been introduced to the world of biking, and I've been taking the kids out on average once or twice a day. It's been three weeks, I haven't lost any weight. So I am now officially on a diet...we'll see how that goes!...rice, beans, tofu and water. Of course there's always room for acceptions, like Chris Halls yummy chocolate and peanut butter cupcakes (I'll be dreaming of those for a while).

A Lesson in Service

About a month ago, one of the super women in my ward gave a lesson in Relief Society. I know all of you who might read this post will know her, so I won't mention names. But to know her is to know how amazing she really truly is. This woman has inspired me, guided me, lifted me when I was low. In my mind, she can do all things. She amazes me. The lesson, that she so heartfelty prepared, was on service. I have to say, that it was a lesson I perhaps needed to hear. And I did. I started thinking to myself about those around me who in some small way help me, and I began to think of the saying "by their fruits, ye shall know them". I started to wonder about the fruits I have to offer. If I am to say "I am a mormon, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ" what am I doing to show my worth, my value, my commitment to said statement. I also started thinking of a woman who has recently befriended me. I have to say, in all honesty at first I never thought I would call her "friend", but since coming to know her and her sweet spirit, I don't think there could be a better word. This woman is plagued with a serious illness, we know it as MS. In her own small ways, she is a support for me, and all of the people who are a part of her life. I was watching her as she was selflessly helping others with all she had to offer, and I knew that the fruit of this woman was good. I had to ask myself if someone were to look at me, would they think the same? I know in my heart that the answer would have been no. I also learned through speculation that service doesn't have to crippling to the server, the sacrifice doesn't always have to hurt. I relised that I can be helping in every day ways.

Since starting my small acts of kindness and service, we also were taught about sacrifice, and how to make it REALLY count, it has to hurt. We have to sacrifice, to give, until it physically hurts, until we can give no more. I always joke that the place we are living in now is like a waiting room. There are all these families coming together, waiting for something better, and then moving on. Our neighbours, who we had come to know, had started their move onto something much better. Their little girl, who is 5, happens to be friends with David. For almost a whole week, I took Courtney from 8 in the morning until often after dinner. It was like suddenly having a third child, and the sacrifice of my time, energy and efforts was not only wearing but in the end painful. I handed her back early on the last day because I had nothing left to give to this energetic and demanding child. Out of the service and the sacrifice though came a great blessing. As the family was packing up their things, Courtney decided she wanted on our park outing, not in our buggy or by walking, but in her stroller. In the efforts her parents made to set up the stroller, ther realised they had no need for it, or want, and generously gave it to us for free. The words I can use to describe my feelings were greatful, blessed, extatic and flabbergasted. We now have the bike trailer we were so desperatly wanting, a mode of transportation, an environmentally friendly set of wheels, an excercise machine and a source of entertainment for the whole family. It may have been a physical example of our rewards for service and sacrifice, but in simple terms, I get it.

Age is a state of mind

Abraham Lincoln said "and in the end, it's not the years of your life that count. It's the life in your years."

I was reminded yesterday that I infact am not old. It may be surprising to some to think that I, at the age of 23, feel old. I was speaking to a 42 year old woman who couldn't have looked a day past 30. She was talking of her families sail boat, their beautiful home. The lands she's journeyd and the experiances she's had. I feel sometimes that I've lost some of my life, the prime if you would, due to late night feedings and diaper changes. I've been told that "it will come", by many a voice. But my fear is that I will look at my photos of me in our new kitchen, or standing in front of the eiffel tower and look old. I have this vision of me at 40 with inch deep wrinkles and a balding head. Seeing this beautiful woman made me realise that age can truly only be in numbers; that my life isn't passing me by. I can only hope that when I reach the age of 42 I will be as youthful and vibrant as this woman. Perhaps I will even be as fortunate to have the wisdom and experiance that comes with those numbers, and that my face and body won't show it :)

First post ever!!

I officially have a blog! whoohooo!! Now all I have to do is come up with something interesting to say...and maybe figure out how to customize my layout. Me and computers - not a good mix.