Newness!

I have decided to become a scrapbooker! I'm a complete and utter failure at keeping baby books updated with all the facts and dates. So after doing some research I think the best way for me to keep track of all the memories that matter most is to scrap them and journal them. I've just started getting my first couple of pages done. When I finish I'll post some pictures for sure!
In other news we've got teeth! Both Mister M and D-Man have been working on the bottom front two teeth, and I'm pleased to say they have come through! D-Man is still grouchy though so I'm thinking he's getting the top two teeth too, we'll see.

We're going to be pretty busy this spring. Mister M is taking two swimming lessons, an art class, a dance class and T-Ball, and D-Man and I are starting Mommy and me lessons every Saturday. It should be fun, the past couple of weeks while Mister M is in his lessons we've been getting close to the water to watch, and D-Man is loving it. He's a huge fan of splashing in the bath so this should be pretty fun for him.
While bathing suit shopping though I came to the realization that I need to get my butt in gear and drop the rest of the pregnancy pounds, and get into shape. So I've signed up for Weight Watchers Online (I'd never go to a meeting), I'm on day two and so far I've stuck to my points, only going 2 over (we had doughnuts...) but I made them up with cleaning my house and playing with my boys, so it's all good. Hopefully I'll be able to lose the weight fast enough that I don't get discouraged. I'd like to be able to buy new jeans that fit right and don't look like mom jeans lol. I'll keep updating on my progress as I go. Now just to get back into doing my workout... Wish me luck!

Shopping!

I love shopping, the thrill of the hunt, the finding of awesome deals, the getting out of the house and interacting with other adults.
I'm not addicted or anything, but I do enjoy it. Even grocery shopping. I also hate shopping alone, I bring both the boys with me whenever possible, it makes it more fun for us all.

(The boys in the Nursing Room at our Mall)

Lately I've been doing a lot of online shopping, I have a credit card, a student one with a limit of $1000.00 CAD. It's perfect for me, I don't ever need to spend more than a grand at one time and even though my bank keeps pestering me to increase the limit I'm content where I am. I go to the usual online sites Chapters (to get things they don't have in stores, I love going to the store though), Toys and Babies R Us (the closest one is 40+ minutes away and I don't have my car yet) Cheeky Monkey (a super awesome site based in London Ontario http://www.cheekymonkey.ca/) and Mister M's online games, Lego Universe, Jumpstart and Wizard 101.

Then I discovered deal of the day sites (Babysteals, Kidsteals, Babyheist, Ecobabybuys and Mamabargans) let me just say, they're awesome! Deals on baby and kid stuff up to 80% less than retail price, and they usually have popular items. I got an ERGO baby carrier for less than $75 CAD including shipping, a JuJuBe mini clutch diaper bag for $12 CAD including shipping, and thats just starting out.
It's very exciting! I can't wait to see if I can find other items that I wouldn't dream of buying at full price, in my modest range. :)

Randomness

Well it's been quite a while since I've posted on here. I've got several things to talk about though so over the next few days I'll hopefully have a couple new blogs.

Today is all about the random stuff that's been happening in our lives. D-Man is 6 months old today!!! We're going to try solids for the first time at dinner and see how that goes. I'm excited, it'll be nice to be able to give him a baby mummum when he's fussing while we're out, instead of having to nurse right away. I'm still going to be breastfeeding though. I nursed Mister M for 19.5 months and I'm going to try to at least go to 18 months with D-Man.
Mister M has lost his two bottom teeth! It's exciting to see him so proud of his new grown-up teeth. He's been showing everyone he meets. D-Man is getting his first tooth too, it's finally broken through the gum, and now you can almost see it, you sure can feel it though.

Mister M went on a field trip the other day to Camp Kawartha, they did all kinds of outdoor activities, learned about the water cycle and pretended to be squirrels, he had a blast. I didn't go with him because I was at home with D-Man, but I feel bad, I never had my mom or dad with me on trips because they we're at home with my younger siblings or working (well just my dad, my mom was a SAHM until I was 13). I can remember wanting them there and I didn't have that, I'm hoping that next year I'll be able to do a couple of trips because D-Man will be in daycare and I'll be back in school so I won't be busy all day (and I'm totally willing to play hookie to go on a field trip lol).

Mister M's swimming lessons are going well, he's getting better each time, I'm thinking of putting him in two times a week starting next session (so early March) it'll cost me a bit more, but I think he'll really like it. I'm also signing D-Man and I up for baby and me swimming lessons. It'll be nice to get him used to the pool early and hopefully by the summer he'll be excited to have his own kiddy pool in the backyard. Now all I have to do is find a bathing suit that fits and, more importantly, doesn't make me look like I'm still pregnant.... eek.

I've been trying to lose weight, get in shape that kind of thing. So far I've lost 5lbs... which is okay, but since I've been sick (we all got the cold thats been going around) I haven't been doing my workouts, so I'm not progressing as well as I should be. But starting this week I'm going to get back into it, D-Man is starting to take a 30 min nap every morning, so I'm going to do the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred during that time, because start to finish it's 30 minutes. Hopefully I'll see some results soon! Or win the lottery and screw working out, tummy tuck and lipo it all away lol.

Teeth teeth and no teeth?

Who actually likes going to the Dentist? Other than the Dentist?
I have pretty good teeth, never had a cavity, haven't needed any work done, other than cosmetic reasons I don't need braces or anything. I don't even have wisdom teeth to bother me. Mister M doesn't have my teeth.

We went in December for a regular cleaning, checkup appointment, I knew he had one cavity because I could see it. They did x-rays and found four... four whole cavities. He was so upset, he brushes his teeth at least twice a day, and I help him at night to make sure he gets it clean. We'll even do the oreo test... eat an oreo and about 5 minutes later brush and if theres any black stuff left in the teeth you're not brusing right. The dentist said that he has unusually deep molars and thats what's causing the issue. So we needed to get fillings.

I live in Ontario Canada, we have OHIP (ontario health insurance program) but it doesn't cover dental work. I don't have coverage through work or school so I need to pay out of pocket for anything. I paid $78.00 for the appointment and x-rays alone, they told me that the four fillings would cost me a grand total of $530.00. I don't have that kind of money just kicking around. I would have had to dip into my get a car fund, and into my household budget for the next couple of months to cover it. I've seen adds on the subway and at the Dr's office for emergency dental care for youths 17 and under so I figured I'd check it out. Went to the health units web-site and found the contact information for the dental assistance and made an appointment. When I got there Ann the wonderful worker was able to advise me on the program, but even better she was able to help me out.

Apparantly in October 2010 the government brought out a new dental benefit program for low income families with children. The income of the family has to be below $20000/year, they can't have benefits through work/school ect. Already Ontario Works (welfare) and ODSP (disability) provide dental benefits so people in those programs are exempt from the new one. What it does is provide dental care, checkups, x-rays, fillings, extractions (anything that isn't considered cosmetic or braces) for all of the children in the family under 18 years of age.
I qualified for the program and was able to get Mister M's teeth fixed at no cost to me!! And I don't have to worry about getting the money together for appointments anymore either, which is nice because $50.00 can buy a lot of groceries (or some new toys!). I'm hoping we don't have to use the program for anything more than check-ups but we'll have to wait and see.

Mister M has also lost his first tooth! It fell out while he was playing on the computer on the 13th. He put it under his pillow that night and the tooth fairy brought him $2.00, he's now working on his second one, which should be out in a week or so. D-man is starting to show signs of teething too, he's drooling a lot, everything is going into his mouth and his sleep patterns have been out of whack. Mister M got his first tooth at 6 months, and D-man will be 6 months on February 19 so I'm thinking we'll be seeing teeth any time now! Until then it's gummy smiles all the way!

Decisions

I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up.
It's strange, I'm almost 23 (this March), I've been to college, and I'm a mother of two and I don't know what I want to do.
I know the basics of what I want from my career... money, security, amazing benefits and coverage, and to at least like my job. I've got two kids that I support entirely on my own so I need the first three things for sure. The last is just something I'm hoping for.
So far I've worked in jobs I don't like (call centres... ick) and gone to school for something it turns out I don't enjoy. So now I'm at a cross roads. What to do when D-Man turns 1...
My options are as follows: Go back to school for nursing, go back to school for business, go back to school to be a pharmacy technician, find a job and work for a year to figure out what I want to do, or win the lottery.
I'm leaning towards the pharmacy tech course, because it sounds like it would be something I would enjoy doing. The salary isn't shabby either, and I could possibly work towards becoming a pharmacist in my spare time over the next several years if it's something I enjoy. But still, I'm not totally passionate about it, its just the best out of several unsatisfactory options.
I think what I'm going to do is wait and see the acceptance letters before I worry too much. Whatever will support my boys, and give us a half decent life style will be my first priority.

On to funner things, D-Man has learned how to scream, the three of us went out for lunch after Mister M's swimming lessons and art class, and he spent the entire time screaming, squealing, yelling, and eating his toes. It was pretty cute, although he screamed into my ear a few times which wasn't pleasant.
Mister M loves his art class, I'm so glad because I wasn't sure when I signed him up for it if he would be too old for it (preschool doodle at the YMCA), or if he would be the only boy (there's 1 other boy and they're the same age!). I've still got to get him signed up for martial arts, I just have to get around to it, and fit it into D-Man's nap schedule.
I'm thinking of signing up for a class at the Y for myself and D-Man on days Mister M is in school, it's for mom's under 25 on limited income, and it's an hour exercise and than two hours in the pool with the babies. Daycare is provided for the first hour, I'm thinking that it will be good for us. Get me out of the house, meet some other moms close to my age, get back into pre-pregnancy shape (pre first pregnancy if I'm being honest), and get D-man used to being in a daycare setting, because he'll need to start daycare in September when I go back to school.

Schedule? Whats that?

So, I'm terrible at organizing my life. I mean, I make it to appointments on time (or within 10 minutes because of the baby). I get myself and my son to school on the days we need to go, at the time we need to be there (mostly... 8am classes can kiss my behind). But I don't know how to get a better schedule for just every day things.
Mister M is going through a very sensitive phase right now. Part of that is the adjustment to his brother, after being the centre of the universe for almost 5 years a new baby is quite a change, no matter how much you may love him. Part of that is his age, 5 is a big change, a lot of things happen this year. And part of that is he is just a more sensitive person that I am, or will ever be, and that's not a bad thing at all.

He's also got a temper, one of the only things he got from his bio father, the other being blood type lol. And can have quite the attitude. So I figure that getting him on a better schedule at home will help with that. But I don't know where to start.
Bedtime is a major issue, he's just like me and would willingly be up half of the night and sleep until 10am, but with school, swimming, art class and all that it isn't an option. I'm trying to get him to bed earlier than we have been, but it seems like whatever I do he's still not getting to sleep until after 10pm. D-Man isn't getting down until 12am on good days (he will go down at 10, but be back up at 1130 for another feed, and then up again at 3, 5, 7 and than again for the day between 8 and 9).
I want Mister M in bed and asleep by 9, and D-Man by 8. I've been trying different things, so far no success but I've heard of a few books so since I read a new book almost every day anyways I figure I'll grab them and try it out... the worst that can happen is everything stays the same... hopefully.
I need to start now though, because once I'm back in school full time I can't afford to be fighting with M over bed, and trying to break D's bad habits. I'm pretty good at sticking to my budget that I write down for the month so maybe if I write a schedule down I'll be better at sticking with it than just thinking about it.
I don't know... I'll read the books, do a bit more research online and see how it goes... wish me luck!

Back to the grind

So the holidays are officially over, Mister M is back to school and D-Man and I are back to our normal bedtime schedule.
It's nice for the most part, although on days when M has school I have to get up at 730am, and D-Man doesn't go down completly for the night until 12-1am, so I don't get as much sleep as I would like.

Some pretty awful news came our way last week, my sisters friend, who I went to highschool with, suffered the loss of her 6 month old baby boy to SIDS.
It really hits hard when it's someone you know, especially since they were both young parents (she is 21 and he is 23ish), the baby was breastfed, slept on his back in a non cluttered crib and everything.
He was born a bit early which apparantly puts them more at risk but still. It's terrible, I look at D-Man, so chubby and happy, and perfect and Mister M all big and strong and smart and I just want to squeeze them and never let them go.
(visit http://www.sidscanada.org/ for more information)
This whole being a parent thing is hard.
Not just the stresses of finances, housing, schooling, training, teaching, discipline ect, but the stresses that come from love.
Kids break your heart. Even without meaning to, just by growing up and living their own life. Your heart breaks when theirs do, it breaks when they get to big to hold your hand walking to school, it breaks when they're too old to kiss you goodnight, it breaks when they get hurt. Even the happy things can be hard on the poor heart, it swells up so much that it's almost hard to take. But for every stretch mark, crack or break of that poor heart, kids sure know how to fill it back up.