Time of year

I'm of two minds when it comes to this time of year.
I love it! I love getting the presents, picking out things that I know people want and will love. I love seeing my sons face when he opens his gifts and gets exactly what he wants (and that took me hours of shopping to find). I love watching the baby stare at the lights on the tree and the presents, knowing that next year he'll be old enough to get excited for it all. I love the anticipation, up until Christmas morning, for everything to happen. I like the huge Christmas dinner that everyone is there for (never done on Christmas day though, usually boxing day). I like going out shopping on boxing day, since I've never been to the States for black friday, this is as close as I'll get lol. All that fun stuff.

I don't like the greed though. The stupid ignorant old people who get right in the middle of the asile at the store and stop because they think they own the world. (Anyone who says the younger generation have no manners needs to live in a town where the majority is over 65 and they'll quickly see who's worse). I don't like fact that theres always something the wrecks Christmas morning, someone is sick, or someone is out of it, or someone is cranky... suck it up people (I know being sick can't be helped but still). I really don't like the fact that once 11am rolls around, we're done everything and there's nothing to do. My family goes to a movie christmas day, but I'll be at home with D-man because at 4 months he's much too little to see Tron lol.

Another thing I don't like, and this is just for this year, is how freaking hard it is to find a big stuffed elephant. You would think, since you can find Tigers, Bears, Dogs, Cows, Pigs ect in big stuffed form that an elephant would be easy.
Mister M wanted an elephant like he got last year and lost. I looked in tons and tons of stores, both where I live and in Toronto, and I couldn't find anything. Finally I found one online, for a reasonable price and it's pretty awesome looking. But even that took 3 solid hours of searching. Three hours sitting on the computer trying to find an elephant (I did end up ordering a couple other neat things online though, but thats not the point). I didn't think it would get here in time though, I ordered it on Dec 2, the place took the money from my credit card on Dec 3, and then didn't ship it out until the 17th. It was coming from the states, and got held up at customs, so I had to call the company, call UPS and call customs to finally track it down. It got delivered yesterday, I'm just so happy it got here.

Clean house? Yeah right...

I need a maid... it's crazy how I can spend hours cleaning, and the second my back is turned it's a mess again.
Take today for example, toys all over the living room, Christmas decoration boxes scattered, and for some reason 7 of Mister M's socks. Pick it all up, vaccum, tidy the things that are supposed to be in the living room, finished.
Go to buy stuff for dinner and meet up with a friend for lunch and by the time I come back, the cat has puked right in the middle of the room, there are toys on the floor again, and another 2 socks.
I just want a clean living room so I can look at my tree and enjoy Christmas morning without a mess (and to look good in pictures). Well for now, at least, its nice.

Onto more exciting news... D-man has found his toes! He's thrilled, and likes to grab them during every diaper change, it is so cute. He talks to them too.

Mister M has passed his second level of swimming lessons, and will be starting the third level and an art class in the new year. Hopefully he'll love it as much as I think he will. I think I'm going to sign him up for some form of martial arts too, he loves to try out new moves and that on his own, I think a class will be exciting for him.

Christmas Pictures

I love taking pictures at Christmas time, of the tree, of my kids, of the pile of presents I've spent hours wrapping, even of the snow lol.

Ever since Mister M was born we've gone for professional picture around Christmas to send out with our cards. I love doing it because I can see how he's grown each year, and now with D-man the tradition can carry on. I'm not sure how much they'll want to do it when they're older but for now it's something I love doing and having.
This years pictures turned out wonderful (the family one is a little meh... but the one of just the boys is beautiful).

I never thought of how hard it would be to get everyone together, looking at the camera, smiling and looking pleasant. My parents used to do it with us (4 kids, the oldest and the youngest only 5 years apart) all the time and I never appreciated how hard it must have been. I know at the end of our little session I was exhausted, frustrated and sick of the whole idea... and it really didn't go badly at all.
No one was screaming, both boys were in a good mood, it was still hard. But totally worth it in the end for sure :)

I had to write an actual letter today, with pen and paper. It was so strange to do it, I think the last thing like that I ever had to write was a note in highschool to my best friend talking about boys we we're dating, or seeing lol. I wrote it to my mom's dad and his wife. My mom doesn't talk to her dad, long story but it's been that way for years. But when I was living in Toronto I got back into contact with them, and last Christmas we even went out for the day together and did some shopping. I never told them about D-man though and I haven't spoken to them since last Christmas season, since I'm terrible at keeping in touch with people, and they didn't really put all that much effort into it either. But I thought it would be considerate to write them and let them know about my newest addition, since the last time I saw them I had probably just gotten pregnant (or it happened shortly after) so they would have had no idea. And just sending them a card with pictures but no explanation would be a bit crass. So I've written a full page letter, we'll see how it goes.

On a side note, I need to stop baking all the time, I'm going to gain tons of weight if I keep making cookies and brownies and then eating them lol. I love baking, especially for the holidays but really, I've got to stop making things I really like so much lol, it's not good for my figure. I am using whole wheat flour this year though, I actually like baking with it, the finished products are tasty and have nice texture... the batter isn't all that great though with the grainy texture lol. I guess it will make me eat less batter as I'm baking though, which is good.

Christmas Preparations

So I guess it all comes part and parcel with being the eldest daughter in a family, but I'm finding that more and more of my Christmas preparations aren't even mine.

This year I'm doing all the shopping for myself, my brother (which I've done every year for years so not a huge deal) and my mom. I'm also decorating the house, cleaning the house, doing all the baking, sending out my own Christmas cards, and sending out my parent's cards, because my mother "doesn't feel like it" this year, and my father thinks it is super important to do them but he's "too busy".

Argh, it's just frustrating. I've got two kids to take care of, one of whom is a breastfeeding 4 month old, school work to do and also trying to keep some form of income coming in. On top of regular things like keeping the house clean and keeping my kids happy I'm becomming the matriarch of my family, and I'm totally not ready for that...

The one thing I do love though is wrapping presents. I wrap almost everyone's gifts, and have since I was little. Even the gifts they got for me (just put them in a different box and I won't peek).

I can't understand people who would ruin their holiday by peeking at their presents before they get them. Sure 9 times out of 10 I don't get what I want, or ask for or even need lol but it's still fun trying to guess what it is and then being suprised on Christmas morning.

I'm pretty much done everything now, just waiting on a few deliveries (hopefully Mister M's big gift from Santa gets here on time... it's been 2 weeks and still waiting...) I can't wait until everyone sees what I've gotten them, that's the best part of the whole thing for sure.

Stupid Winter

I hate winter. The End.

No seriously I can't stand the half hour getting everyone ready, getting angry with stupid boot linings, and snowpant straps, fighting with hats and mits and then being outside for 10 minutes and freezing anyways.
I walk Mister M to school every other day (he's in the Mon/Wed classes) and its brutal. By the time we get out the door we're both angry after getting everything on and fighting with clothes that our walks are him whining and me grumping.
At least in the spring and fall it's nice enough out that if we're running a little late it doesn't matter all that much because we just have to throw on some shoes and head out the door.

Now with the little D-man it's even harder, he hates his hat, hates the stroller, hates not being able to see but also hates not being ablet to breathe in the wind, lol I just can't win.

To be fair though, winter can be fun. I love watching their faces when they see the snow falling. I love having snowball fights and making forts and angels with Mister M. This year we'll finally get to use the toboggan that he got for Christmas last year and never got to use. I love coming in from the cold and having homemade cookies and hot chocolate, and I love love love love love kissing cold cheekies, I just love it!!!

I guess it isn't all that bad (I'd still rather be a snow bird and head to the south of Italy for the winter though.... I'd also love to win the lottery lol).

Mia Famiglia

Well this is my first blog (that I've ever bothered to finish writing at least). So I figured I'd give some information on me, my boys, who we are, what we do... the works.

I'm L, 22 years old, at the moment I'm a full time mom, part time student and thinking of trying to start my baking business back up. I've been a single mom since I was 17, but luckily I have a big family and lots of support so it hasn't been that hard. I read a lot, I sing fairly well, I don't have anywhere near as much patience as I need but I'm trying. I'm okay with being single, sometimes I wonder if I'll ever meet someone, but since I'm not willing to settle it might never happen and I'm okay with that. I love my boys like crazy, I have a few close friends, tons of acquaintances and I'm pretty close with my family. I'm white... lol glow in the dark white (Italian, French and Irish background), with blue eyes and nutmeg brown hair that's pretty long. I'm 5'8" and could stand to tone up, I don't need to lose much weight luckily but I'm not in awesome shape (actually started going to the gym after my little one was born so we'll see how that goes).

Mister M is my oldest son, he's 5 years old, in French Immersion SK, loves to swim, dance, sing, fight in imaginary battles, and pratcise his martial arts. He's a sweet loving boy, can be a bit over sensitive at times but I'd rather that than no feelings at all. He loves his brother and his cat Tootsie, and he's wonderful with them. He makes me so proud to see what a man he's becoming. He looks a lot like me but his background is pretty diverse, he's part Italian, French, Irish and Ojibway.

D-man is my baby, he's almost 4 months old and he's adorable. He was colicky at first, he's almost over it now, still gets fussy at night but nothing like he used to be. He's a very loud talky baby. He just started to laugh recently, and his favourite thing in the world is to watch his brother entertain him. He so far doesn't look much like anyone other than himself, he's got a diverse background just like his brother, part Italian, French and Irish and half Jamaican.

Both of my boys live with me full time. They don't know their fathers which is a long story that I might get into one day, but for now the most important thing is my boys are surrounded by love, they have good male and female infuences in their lives (male being my grandpa, dad and brother, female being my nan, grandma, mom, me, my sister and my other sister) and they know that there will always be someone there for them.

For this year I've moved back in with my family. Theres a lot of us in the house, but it makes it easier on me, Mister M has people to play with, a computer to use and his own room (which I will post picures of later because it rocks!), so I don't feel as guilty being with D-man all the time, he's breastfed so it takes a lot of my attention.

I've breastfed/am breastfeeding both of my boys, I'm not one to pontificate but it's something I enjoy doing, it's come easy to me and it's healthy (my kids are tanks lol). I make homemade food as much as I can (mainly because it's cheaper, and tasty) and try to live on a strict budget, right now we're pretty poor, but once I'm done school hopefully that will change.

Thats about it for now, hopefully it wasn't too boring, and now that you have some insight into who we are you'll want to keep reading!!!

Ciao