Homeward Bound

Had a great weekend in Ottawa visiting my parents last weekend. It was amazing to see the exhibit at Carleton University and get to hear my mum speak about the collection. After almost 40 years, it's very special to see the result of their efforts being recognized. Trying to collect images and recordings that the curator pulled together so that I can archive it for our family.

And also trying to convince bill and babs to write a book about their time in Africa!
Great to have Andy and the kids in the house I grew up in. We spent a few hours on Monday just going through old photo albums and showing Conor pics of me as a kid...think he was a little thrown off by the whole thing. The weather was terrible so we didn't have a chance to do all the things I had imagined doing with the little man...skating on the canal and then hot chocolate and beaver tails, museum of civilization...
Thanks for a great weekend Mum and Dad!

New Fireplace Mantle

Slowly but surely we're putting our stamp on this house. The fireplace in our family room drove me crazy--I felt like it was made for a ski lodge--so I designed a very simple mantle to work with the existing gas fireplace and tile surround. We have a great carpenter who helps us with smaller projects around the house and here's the before and after. In the before, they'd already started pulling the mantle off. Also note that I moved the outlets from the front of the wall to the side (since we'll never put a tv up there) and painted the wall the same color as the rest of the room (accent wall had been a good idea in theory.)

Will Work for Food

Just out of reach thereby forcing a little hard work...

Note the mohawk that just won't go away.

M is finally getting a tooth on top so she'll have four on the bottom and one on top.

Picture In My Mind

There are little moments throughout my day that I just want to take a picture of and hold on to forever...
...walking in from work and seeing conor tear down the hall toward me with a huge smile
...sadie snoring on the couch
...conor and andy lying in bed reading books together at night
...madeleine crawling toward an outlet, stopping and then looking up with a mischievous little grin on her face
...conor yelling downstairs in the sweetest, most curious little voice: hey, guys, what are you doing? don't forget i'm up here.

They're just these fleeting moments, but each one is so special and I get these weird overwhelming feelings sometimes that my kids are going to grow up and I'm going to forget about all the wonderful things I get to see every day.

The other day I ran out to the car to grab some groceries, leaving conor and madeleine in the house together. When I came back, conor was rocking madeleine in her carseat singing "You Are My Sunshine" -- about the sweetest thing ever.

Date Day

Yesterday was President's Day so we did a flip and Jennie took Conor and Olivia for a special day that included the movies. Jennie sent me this pic:

Well of course I zero in on the humongous bag of popcorn in C's hands. He's always wanted to try popcorn and we've had a rule "not until you're five." So, the little guy gets home and I ask him how the movies were. Answer: "I had popcorn." (Cheeky smile spreads across his face.)

We also were lucky enough to have a mini burst of spring at the end of last week. Nothing like Carrie's pics of her kids at the beach in January but good enough for a trip to the park without eighty layers. Andy was traveling so I dragged two kids and a dog to the park twice on Friday just because I was so thrilled to get out of the house. Madeleine's first time on a swing...which I forgot, swung her too hard and she burst into tears. Conor also insisted on being in the baby swing...

What's My Name?

During story time tonight.
Me: Conor, this is a T. Who's name starts with a T?
Conor: I don't know.
Me: Think about it. What does Daddy call me?
Conor: Ummmmm...Get off your iPhone??
Bad sign, but so not fair. Conor says that to Andy all the time, not me!

Happy Feeling

It's been a great week. Conor went a full day without a freak out yesterday--huge!; work hasn't been insane (knock on wood now!); Andy has been home all week (although leaves tomorrow :( ) and the weather has warmed up (did they really say 55 for tomorrow?!). Two other things happened that have made it a happy week.
First, I volunteered at Conor's school Valentine's Day party. A quick back story on that. I told the room parents that I would bring a craft for the kids to do. So, in typical Tessa fashion, it was Sunday afternoon and I was running from Michael's, to Target, to Walgreen's looking for something with hearts on it that these kids could decorate Vday card bags. But, I swear, these suburban parents are insane...nary a heart to be found. Not even a red pen. Now, you would have thought I'd learned my lesson last Halloween when Andy warmed me in August: "Remember, this is different than the city...you can't wait until the week before Halloween and then expect to get a great costume at half price. Don't have Conor wearing a weird pseudo alien/monster fluorescent green number two sizes too big again this year." Nope, didn't heed his advice and the day before Halloween I was running from store to store trying to save my child from sure shame at the school concert. And hey, it worked out...a perfectly-sized dinosaur costume at half price! Yippee! So, of course I thought I'd wait until the day before to get all the Valentine's decor for my craft project and therefore get it all at half price (was actually hoping for 75% off!) Didn't work out this time. I've learned my lesson. Next time, I'll try two weeks out and hope for 30% off. :) Anyway, managed to find some random heart cookie cutters, some red glitter (not necessarily a smart choice for three year olds I later learned) and had Jennie cut hearts off wire garland for a good half hour.
Had a great time with the kids and Conor loved having me there. It was interesting to see how different they all were in their approach to the project. Some kids, would wait for me to help them draw a perfect heart, then they'd lay the glue around the edges and perfectly line up each heart. Conor was the opposite. He just start scribbling, dumping glitter, sticking random hearts. Hilarious.


The second thing that made me really happy this week was that Madeleine clearly said "Mama." Tonight when I was feeding her before bed, she looked up at me, touched my chin and said it! Complete love.

One last thing tonight. A special birthday wish to Nonna who celebrated yesterday!

Basketball Diaries

Conor started basketball class a few weeks ago. It's for three and four year olds, but apparently the "coach" isn't really catering to the wandering minds of that age group. Conor is also one of the youngest. Every week when Andy and Conor come home and I ask how things went, there's this moment of hesitation from Andy and a "Well, um, Conor might be a little young...he's having a hard time focusing, dribbling needs some work...we might want to stick to swimming..."
Last week one of the girls in the class passed Conor the ball and he wasn't paying attention so he got his finger jammed. Now he's obsessed with it and was worried about it when he was getting ready this morning. So, before they left for "practice" Andy gave Conor a pep talk. He told him that he needs to always keep his eye on the ball. Then he put it into Conor's current animal-obsessed mindset: "Buddy, you're like an eagle watching a mouse. Always keep your eye on that mouse and when he gets close grab it!"
Conor's little face lit up and Andy was all psyched he'd found a way to get it across to his distracted little three year old. Then Conor answered: "But, Daddy, I'm not an hawk. Last night, I turned into a harpy eagle."
Andy just picked him up and headed to the car saying great, great. I'm still wondering what a harpy eagle is.

On a separate note, last night Andy and I decided that we are no longer eating out with the kids. We are continuously convincing ourselves that this time will be different, that somehow Conor will behave, that somehow we can get through a meal without food flying and a meltdown happening, but it never changes. So, last night we toasted the official end to the Bediz family dinner out era. Thinking we'll reevaluate on an annual basis.

SnowThunder? ThunderSnow?

Whatever it was the other night, it was ridiculous. Heavy snow, wind and somewhere in there bouts of lightning and thunder...very bizarre. Luckily, we were all cozy in our beds. Unfortunately, in the biggest storm in more than tens years, there were hundreds of people stuck on lakeshore drive basically encased in their cars. After 20 inches or so, school was canceled for two days (I now know the true meaning of "bouncing off the walls.") On Wednesday, we were able to get out enjoy the snow or "The Blizzard of 2011" (duh, duh, duh, duhhhhhh....).

Animal Instincts

Want a great excuse for any kind of bad behavior? Blame an animal. That's Conor's latest maneuver. This morning's examples:
"No, Mummy, I didn't hit Madeleine, that was a hawk flapping its wings."
"What?!? I didn't kick Daddy...hyenas kick and punch and freak out, not me."
And sometimes he just makes it plain obvious that he's using an animal as a front like he did at lunch today:
"I'm going to step on you, but it won't actually be me, it will an elephant trampling you..."

Or, an update from tonight. Me: Conor, please stop head butting me. Conor: Oh, no, that's the wildabeast fighting the lion.

Madeleine Crawling?

Almost getting there...

Rip It Off

Obviously it's been a while since I've updated the blog. So, I'm going to just rip off the bandaid...no peeling it back bit by bit (in other words trying to update everything from the last two months) but rather just tear that baby off, dive back in with a quick post and hope that it serves as the catalyst to get me writing again. That being said, there are a few things I promise to go back and update. December and January have been wonderful and sad and fun and challenging. So, maybe this weekend I'll get some photos organized, edit the videos, etc. and give a proper update on the last two months.

Conor has a nickname for his little sister: Madalee. "Hello, Madalee." "I'm squeezing your cheeks, Madalee." "Look how I'm sitting on Madalee, Mummy." In return little Madalee gives her brother huge smiles and complete adoration.

The other night I dropped the kids off in the house and ran back to the car for some groceries. As I left I heard C say to M as she was crying in her carseat: It's ok, I'm here with you. Mummy will go quickly. When I came back in the house, he was sitting in front of her, rocking the carseat and singing You Are My Sunshine. It was such a sweet moment--I just hung in the doorway and watched, trying to take a picture in my mind that I hope never to forget. I've filed it away and when they're teenagers yelling at one another I can dig it up.

On a separate note, Congratulations to Buffy and Preston on the birth of little Turner Norman Onstad...beautiful little brother for Keller.