"Wordless Wednesday" - A Message from my son

(I hope so too, sweet boy, Mommy hopes so too...)

(And that is indeed happy new "ear" ... courtesy of his sister )

A very happy, healthy New Year to all of you and "see" you in 2009.

Weekly Winners #51 - Glimpses of Joy

Hangin' with the big cousins

Rolling with the little cousins

Score!!

Let's hear her talk

She works! (Potty training again, I know .... what the hell was I thinking?)

Nature's Teardrops

(Thanks to you for your kind thoughts and prayers. They mean a lot. Our family is going through a rough patch right now. We're mired in a medical system that needs improvement, and quoting my mom's often used phrase, things are "moving like molasses going uphill." It doesn't help that it's holiday season either. So your words are giving me much needed strength. Love to you all.)

For other winners, visit the home of the lovely LOTUS.

Cryptic

Tears...

of despair

of joy

of fear

of helplessness

of anger

of hope

of love

and apparently of endless supply.

Happy Holidays

From my straight-laced, stand-at-attention, little lady and gentleman...

Who am I kidding, they're a laugh-riot and out-to-have-a-good-time, laidback twosome...

(At least, when they're not harassing each other)

The next few days will be busy, and there's a lot going on right now.

I just wanted to get this out there while I can, and wish all of you a wonderful holiday season with your family. Hug your loved ones tight, and let them know how much you love them.

1234

ONE

A busy girl from day one, exploring and always on the run...

TWO

A party girl, loving the pretty frocks, fancy hats and Dora-do

THREE

You love your jammies and your special bedfellows (especially Daddy and Me)

FOUR

Our special girl, who continues to bring love to our lives

and joy to our hearts,

with a smile that tells us that there's just so much more in store...

We love you Princess G.

Happy, happy birthday!

A Happy song for my happy girl...

Weekly Winners #50 - What a Week

It's been quite the week. Here are highlights from the girlie's perspective.

And thank heaven for little girls...

"I'm glad Mommy had the energy to take me to the gingerbread house decorating class. My favourite part was the icing glue. Yum."

My birthday party - look at me, I'm queen of the world!!

"Yay, big bro made it!!! Just in time for the singing and the cake!"

My family photo at the party. I'm playing shy, Mommy and Lboy have their commercial smiles on, and Daddy looks like he's ready to go skiing or do something else...

Back at home, opened presents and found a cupcake icing machine! Yum, strawberry frosting...

Chocolate cupcake ready to be frosted...

Ta-da! End to the perfect birthday party day!

For other winners, visit LOTUS.

Saturday Saccharine

"We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
And a Happy New Ear"

Although a part of me hated to do it, I just felt the need to point it out to her.

"Sweetie, I think that might be a happy new Year."

"No mommy, it sounds like 'EAR' ... that's how the song goes!"

"So how many ears do you have? Do you think anyone might need a new one?"

"I have two ears. No, you only need two! That's silly!..." (well, duh, Mommy...).

So for anyone who might just need a replacement,

"We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
And a Happy New Ear!!"

*****

As I was straightening up the stockings on the fireplace mantle, I noted aloud that we only had one for each of the kids. I said to the little G that perhaps I should get another two, one for her Daddy and one for Mommy. She didn't think that was necessary:

"That's OK Mommy, Goh-goh and I will share our candy with you".

*****

I am in the midst of last minute preparations for the little G's 4th birthday party happening this afternoon. At 12:30 PM, fifteen preschoolers and toddlers will descend upon the indoor playground for two hours of runaround play. And my family, and most importantly, my father, will be there to celebrate with us.

My thanks to you, all of my internet pals, for your thoughts and prayers. We're still in an anxious waiting period, but at least my father is home. I am doing my utmost to stay positive, and this birthday celebration will be a happy one. Whatever tears of worry I have will be shed on the inside... and hopefully all for naught.

Fragile world

This past Sunday's experience with cholecystitis made a couple things abundantly clear to me.

First up, the fragility of the human body. You don't know how fragile you are until something goes awry. Luckily for me, this was the very first time I had ever been admitted into an Emergency Department. The only other times I'd ever been to hospital were all related to my pregnancies - all very positive pain experiences (if you can call any pain positive). The pain with this gall bladder attack was just unbelievable. And I felt so helpless having to reach out to someone to help me. Helpless is not a word I like to associate with myself, not at all.

Before deciding that I needed treatment, as I was desperately using the heating pad over my convulsing abdomen, while trying to use all of my brain power to somehow will away the pain, the only thing I could think of was, "I cannot go to the hospital. I don't want the kids there and I don't want to wake Mom and Dad up at this ungodly hour. I've got to just wait this out a while longer and lick it. L boy will go ballistic if he finds out his Mommy is in hospital."

So much easier said than done, however. In then end, of course, I succumbed. But the other thing that was crystal clear - it is not about me anymore. I know it ceased being about me the day that I had the boy. However, this innate concern for them first, amidst excruciating pain and massive hypotension ... all I could think of was "who's going to look after my babies?"

Amazing isn't it? And luckily for me, my parents were able to be here for them.

I know for a fact that every time Ian phoned home, L was the first to pick it up to get news. According to my mother, he was asking about me every 10 minutes, looking out the window every 5. He was so anxious, just as I knew he would be. The girlie, well, she's still too young to understand, so I didn't take it personally that she didn't ask for updates. When I finally got home after over 14 hours, I could see the boy's red-rimmed eyes when he literally flew up to give me a big hug. I asked if he'd been crying, but he wouldn't admit it. The girlie came up excitedly too, but it was as if I'd just returned from a weekend in NYC.

I'm sure my boy's vivid imagination was coming up with all sorts of scenarios and he was just so relieved to have me back. His safety net restored, his world back in order now that Mommy was home.

*****

My father was admitted into emergency yesterday for some pain that he's had for a couple of weeks now. At first I thought it might be similar to what I had (although it's highly unlikely that gall bladder disease is infectious, just a bad coincidence). However, he stayed overnight in hospital to have a more comprehensive scan this morning. And now he's waiting for news from a specialist ... in oncology. Ugh.

I am sitting worriedly by the phone now. Waiting apprehensively for the updates on my father, my Daddy. And hoping that the news will be good so that my world order will be back in place.

(Edited to add: at the time of this posting, he's been in hospital for two nights. I suppose it's better that he's having all the tests done now, without delay before the craziness of the holidays. I'm hoping that it'll all be good...)

"Wordless" Wednesday - Mom's got some explainin' to do...

(I come from a family of packrats. The above are the contents of an old box pencil case that my sister used in elementary then high school and I'm assuming university.
She passed it onto my son and now my 4 year old girlie is also using it.
This is what I saw the other day when checking for dull pencils.

OOPS!!!)

Other Wordless here.

Weekly Winners #49 - Oh, the gall

Apologies for the late posting, and you'll have to excuse the few exhibits we have this weekend. I did a little bit too much partying with a close friend of mine who hadn't previously made his intimate intentions known. There was writhing from 11:30PM until 5 AM in the morning; there were cool drugs, we even ended up checking out a happening venue called "the Emerg" by 6 AM.

That's right, I spent the last 14 hours at the hospital suffering from a gut-wrenching gall bladder attack. Not fun, people. I was feeling the euphoria so much that my blood pressure went to 77/44. It felt like I was undergoing labour again, only this time there was no cute baby at the end of that rainbow. Thank goodness I had my understanding hubby with me to hold my hand.

So will I have to get the bugger out? That will be the next decision, but for now I'm just happy to be home.

Onward to the pleasantries ...

O Tannenbaum

Girl took this picture of her brother...

Boy took this picture of his sister...

For other winners, visit LOTUS.

When two worlds collide

What do you do when "real life" meets "art"? Well, I wouldn't necessarily call my blog art, unless you're talking about my kids' masterpieces, which are the one exception. But if nothing else, blogging has certainly become one of my passions, and better yet, something I discovered in recent times, during my middle years as it were. Uh, yeah ... sigh...

I entered this blogging world full of naive glee. What better way to capture the goings-on in my day to day life, to further explore my love of writing while at the same time creating my own memory book of childhood. My kids' childhood, which is passing by so quickly that at times it seems as if it will just float way and disappear like a helium balloon into the sky ... unless I ground it somehow with words. So I can still feel it in my grasp at the click of a button, as it threatens to fade with each additional inch of height, each new glance of attitude or offhand remark that reminds me that these little people of mine, they won't stay kids forever.

And the wonderful blogging community that I found was so totally unexpected. That anyone would actually read this and come back?! It's become a conversation with a whole lot of really cool people, something this geek-gone-wild would have never imagined in a thousand years.

You guys all know me as one Karen, though. I blog under a pseudonym, albeit a fairly transparent one.

Not that I'm all that different in real life. But only a very few of my real life friends and relatives know about this little place. I've preferred it that way. The freedom of relative anonymity is something sacred.

What do you do when the lines touch?

I was recently interviewed for a piece in a newspaper, a very benign article, but it would be featured nationally (and of course be accessible to the world). I was even willing to be photographed for it. And although I agreed to use my real name, the reporter had contacted me via the blogging community (yes, my blogger friend is so popular that I consider her a community unto herself now ). So I asked whether it would be mentioned that I was a blogger ... and then I had to think long and hard as to whether or not to let her use my kids' names in the article.

There was a part of me that went, "Squeeeeee!!!!! This will be the BEST blog fodder! I can link and this will drive more people to my blog, there will be more bloggy friends, more comments, wow, this will be the most wonderful thing!!!"

But the other part of me went, "Ugh, where am I going with this?"

Because in the real world, I am a consultant in a very, very conservative sector. I really don't need potential, current and past clients reading about my kids' poop, my flat ass or my obsession with BodyJam. Or about my somewhat eclectic take on music, my addiction to blue nailpolish, BCBG, anthropologie, and anything related to shopping. Or especially how peculiar I looked as a brace-faced teen.

So after several frantic phone calls and e:mails to my husband (why, oh why do I stress myself out like this)... I made the decision to ask the reporter not mention the blog, nor my husband, nor the kids' names.

But I'd still be happy to pose for a picture if she wanted. Passive-aggressive attention whore that I am.

In the end, she didn't mention that anyone interviewed was a blogger. And she kept my kids' names out (although in hindsight, that wouldn't have been a huge deal considering my blog was kept out of the equation). And she understood completely the reason for my reticence, even agreeing that it was prudent to keep the two worlds apart, given my situation. After all, Google is indeed one powerful machine.

This little thing, just blown way out of proportion due to my internal neuroses.

So now I'm sure you bloggy geniuses have figured out who I am in real life. Just don't tell anyone, okay?

Oh my crap, here we go again...

Thursday Thirteen: Trying to feel a lot like Christmas

I don't know about you, but with all the stresses with the Christmas preparations, the icy wet weather, and the fact that both pairs of winter boots I bought last year have holes in them and are leaking (BOTH!!!) ... I've been having a tough time getting into the Christmas Cheer.

So I thought about what might help, and if there's something that I love it's a good Christmas movie.

Here are 13 movies that I love to watch around Christmas, none of which I have seen as yet this year. I think I need to.

1. Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer. As a kid, no other TV show got me more excited about Christmas than this TV special. It seemed so high-tech with the special effects way back when. When we watched this last year with the kids, the boy was bored; but the girlie still loved the cute puppetlike animation.

2. It's a Wonderful Life. This classic is on this list because that's what it is, a classic. I only wish they wouldn't show it so late at night at Christmas time, as usually I'm too tired to watch the whole thing. Maybe I should consider a DVD, you think?

3. Gigi. This one is not a regular holiday favourite, I know, but it brings me right back to Christmas time when I was a teen. You know how during the holidays they bring out many of the old Hollywood classics, late at night? I remember helping my mother get ready for her big Christmas Eve bash, rolling the egg rolls that I would be deep-frying the next day, and tidying up the house and cleaning up all the dinnerware and cutlery. It was one of those rare moments as a teen when I actually got along with my mother rather than resent her for not letting me go out as frequently as I wanted. One such evening, they were playing Gigi around midnight. My mother shared some of her own memories of when the movie originally came out in theatres, and what her life was like at that time. Precious moments between mother and daughter.

4. The Sound of Music. I don't know why they always seem to play this movie on TV during the Christmas holidays. I still think that Julie Andrews was the most gorgeous actress, and Christopher Plummer, wasn't he just wonderfully dashing? Actually, the stage musical is playing as we speak, maybe I should try to get tickets to the theatre version in the new year ... hmmmm.

5. The Family Man. This was the first movie that Hubs and I went to see in the cinema after baby number 1 was born. Yup, we were new parents - how ironic!!! It took us almost 8 months to get out! I thought Nic Cage and Tea Leoni were just wonderful in this film about the "what if's" in life. Just a great film.

6. Christmas Vacation What would Christmas be without the Griswolds, and those lights, those lights! Just hilarious!

7. Elf. I just fell in love with Will Ferrell in this role. No one else could capture the innocence, naivete and hilarity as this big goof could in green tights. I couldn't think of any better casting than James Caan either, as the bad boy grown up who really has a heart.

8. Polar Express. I took the boy to this movie while I was waaaaay pregnant with the girl. It was a little more intense for a 4 year old than I thought it would be (especially in a dark theatre), but ultimately we both absolutely loved it.

9. Love Actually. Who could NOT love this movie? So many different love stories, all about different types of love, with the backdrop of Christmas.

10. Home Alone. Macauley was cute, cute, cute!!! And I just loved Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern as the villains.

11. White Christmas. Oh, another classic in here. But the music was just phenomenal ("Sisters, sisters...; White Christmas...) Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney, just flawless. And honestly, they just don't make movies like that anymore.

12. Die Hard. Bruce Willis, as an action star? That was a strange concept at first, but look how far he's come? That movie was just stellar, and what talent it had for their villain (Alan Rickman) and the slimy office guy (the still-gorgeous Hart Bochner).

13. A Christmas Story. This is my all time favourite Christmas movie. And I know I am not alone. Apparently that leg lamp is a hot seller even to this day. And look, they've got the original house set up as a tourist attraction now! So, a Christmas dinner of Chinese cuisine -- what's so unusual about that? Ra-ra-ra-ra-ra...ra-ra-ra-ra!!!

Wordless Wednesday

(yeah, it's here. Brrrrrr.....)

Weekly Winners #48 - A weekend in the Big Apple

A Weekly Winners WITHOUT snaps of kids?! Here?! Who woulda thunk?!

Here's a pictorial tour of our whirlwind weekend in NYC:

A Room with a View

Times Square by Day

Times Square by Night


Here's our attempt at a vlog:




(and no disrespect to New Yorkers, actually we encountered the friendliest people there. It was just the Times Square, touristy comment. It was the tourists not saying "hello". )


Greenwich Village


Soho


Nolita


Irony


Grand Central and Chrysler Building


Park Avenue


Dinner at Gramercy Tavern:


Museum of Modern Art:

Picasso


Christina's World


Klimt


Warhol


Funny


A drink at Les Halles just past noon, complete with Moules Mariniere of course
(we love Anthony Bourdain...)

And then there was more amazing food at La Bottega (black pasta with octopus in spicy tomato sauce... mmm), scrumptious snacks at Dean & Deluca ...

And of course shopping and more shopping.

The kids want to come with us next time. They can't believe we didn't visit Toys R Us again.

We cannot disappoint, right? (Next time cannot come soon enough.)

For other winners, visit LOTUS.

Friday Flashback - Geek

I'll let you in on a secret.

I was a homely kid. Oh I know, I know, you don't believe me ...the gorgeousness that is me, there is no bloody way, right? (all of this coming to you tongue-in-cheek in a MOST sarcastic tone...).

It wasn't so bad here:

But to go from there, to the following in a couple of short years???

Glasses? Check.

Bad hair cut? Check.

Acne at 9 years of age? Check.

No bra required? Check (well, still checking as we speak).

Braces? Well of course -- Check.

Scrawny, skinny, shy ... Checkmate.

Brace yourself:

(don't know why I'm smiling so much in this shot, maybe the braces were coming off soon? It could NOT have been because I was loving my peasant outfit or how my hair flipped just so, maybe I was just in a fog because I couldn't see without my glasses on...)

I thank my lucky stars all the time that my grandparents emigrated to Canada and that my father had good health and dental insurance plans for us while growing up. Because if I were still in China, I would be a lonely old maid right now. Absolutely no doubt about that.

And kids, we all know how cruel they can be.

Fortunately, our boy seems to have taken after his father and appears to be fairly popular, at least at this stage of his childhood. His Dad was the kid with the long hair and tight painter-pants, who knew all the cool music, but would still chat with you on the schoolbus even if you wore homemade clothes (a quote from an old friend of his who likes to tease him...).

Not that being popular is the be all and end all, but it certainly doesn't hurt.

The one thing our boy also inherited, unfortunately for him, are his parents' sets of large chompers. Very large teeth, in a small jaw, means major overcrowding, and nowhere for the adult teeth to go. He's got a cross-bite and over-bite ... two for the price of one. As we both needed orthodontic work, we knew braces were in the future for him (and likely his sister) but I wasn't expecting it to come so soon. He's not even 9 years old.

I brought him to the dentist today for the extraction of his two baby eye teeth. Oooff. Those roots were big. But he did so well, the laughing gas didn't hurt, and he was such a trooper. I was so proud of him. These days they do things preventatively, before the bones harden. So rather than waiting until he's older, like when I was a teen, they're trying to shape things going forward.
He's taking it easy now, after playing Wii fit for about 20 minutes (you CAN'T keep an 8 year old down). And he's warned me, apparently the going rate for the tooth fairy for these mega eye teeth is $20 per tooth!!!!

Uh, I don't think so. Wishful thinking, little guy. The $9.99 Polar Bear Webkinz is gonna have to do, buddy!

For more flashbacks, check out my gal pal at Mommy Always Wins...

Wordless Wednesday - Christmas Decorating 101

(Leave this guy out ALL YEAR LONG...)