Over the weekend, my cute 3 year old front load washer threw a tantrum.  It began beeping and blinking a repair code of "TE", which I'm convinced means "Terribly Expensive" repair ahead.  I tried to call Customer Service, but of course, they only work Monday to Friday.  I emailed them from their website and got the following message:

Yes, thanks so much.

So bright and early Monday morning, I prepared to call.  I put the kids through the potty room and then I set them up with their favorite DVD about Thomas Train.  In backup, I set out their favorite puzzles on the table.  I had the Lincoln logs in reserve that I only get out rarely.  I explained carefully that I had an important phone call to make and that I needed them to sit quietly.  The kids all nodded somberly.

As soon as I started dialing, the couch magically transformed into a trampoline and of course my 2 year old fell of and bonked his nose.  So, the TV got shut off, kids were guided to the puzzles, talked to sternly and this Momma hit redial.

I got to the menu system and the kids started throwing wooden puzzle pieces at each other.  We did a time out and then cleaned up.  I got them set up with the Lincoln Logs and redialed again. I got through the menu system.  I was listening to hold music. The 5 year old took all the best big logs to himself and his 3 year old sister started to wail like a banshee about it (with real tears even!).  The 2 year old just started running in circles at this point making the scene look like a 3-ring circus.   

Just as customer service answered, I was hanging up the phone!  This time, the kids got sent to separate rooms with separate toys and strict orders to play alone quietly.  I waited a minute before redialing and sure enough they started trying to throw toys through the doorways at each other.  I called for a quick end to the flying toys trapeze act and planted myself firmly between their bedrooms.

Then I dialed for the fourth time and I was feeling in high spirits as I could even mostly understand the outsourced-to-India customer service representative.  My 2 year old walked up to me silently, but with totally wet pants.

How do you get your kids behave while you are on the phone?

Wow.  Must see video covering very similar oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico 31 years ago.

Finally got my garden dug and planted for the year- it is about 3 times smaller than I had hoped for, but at the rate things were going, I'm glad to have gotten anything in at all.  It is that tiny stretch of dirt next to the ugly shed summing up only about 7 feet by 12 feet of the yard.  But oh the sweat and tears shed while digging that sucker!  Every 10 seconds or so, I had to stop and untangle one riding car from a bike, stop a death match over a soccer ball, or kiss a skinned knee. 

Next year, I won't be running the family daycare and my 3 kids will be that much older and hopefully can help more in the process.  So for now, I'll just pray the cat doesn't dig up the carrots and spinach and other precious seeds I've planted!  I guess if nothing grows we can still harvest those stubborn yellow weeds my kids love.  Dandelions actually are chock full of vitamins and are especially high in Vitamin A & K.  Who knew?!

Getting even a token garden in this year was a priority for me.  Many of us moms have been turning to organics due to worries about pesticides on produce.  But research is starting to show benefits of growing your own food that lie outside the topic of organics.  Christopher Lowry of the the University of Colorado has been studying the effects of mycobacteria found in the soil and how it stimulates the immune system and release serotonin in mice.  Maybe playing in dirt shouldn't just be left to little kids?

If you have a garden, I'd love to hear about what you grow- post a picture of your garden plot or gardening containers on your blog and leave me a comment about it so I can go look!  Happy growing!

I've always been hesitant to blog on the topic of menstruation, details of infertility, you know, the whole womb and related issues.  Why should this be such a uncomfortable subject? After all, half the population has a womb!  In my early days of fertility struggles, I actually had a doctor ask, "How are your Lady Issues?"

I've finally gotten to the point of accepting my monthly annoyance that comes for no good reason as my womb just won't be used.  But my silly womb, it won't just sit in there and be quiet so I can forget about it.  I've got a softball worth of fibroids growing in there making my uterus as big as a 4 month pregnancy.  I'm struggling with anemia and my doctor is sending me to a specialist.  I've been researching the options like

• Surgery
• Drugs
• Medicated IUD
• High-intensity focused ultrasound 

I don't want surgery. Who does?!  But one option that isn't mentioned on all the medical reference sites is an enzyme called Nattokinase that helps dissolve the fibroids.  I decided to try the Fibrovan version of this.   It has been 3 weeks and my appointment with the specialist is mid-June.  We'll see what they have to say about it all.

In the meantime, how are your "Lady Issues?"

I don't know what it is about five little sunhats in sandbox that just makes my heart melt.  It is moments like this that remind me I really do like providing childcare as my occupation and parts of me look forward to just being a mom for awhile. The past few months, this adoption has been so over-the-top insane with the constant judgment and scrutiny from my dayhome agency visitor, dayhome parent and the adoption social worker that I've really had a hard time savouring any moments at all. 

I really look forward to when there won't be any more daily judgements and commentary on my parenting skills to my new children and when there won't be dayhome agency visitors and social workers coming by and stirring up old feelings of insecurity in my children.  Maybe I'll want to come back to providing childcare after a while, I dunno.  But I do know I'm sure ready for the end of June to get here and the dayhome to close.  And I'm ready for the legal side of the adoption to complete and start living life just as a Mom. 

I keep wanting to plan ahead for the future.  Figure out what I'm going to be, what I'm going to do after remodeling our house a this summer.  But I think what I really need is just some peace in my life before I make any decisions about the future. Don't we all need a little peace?

Gogreen has a good post about buying rice and beans and the message is being met the inevitable mix of supporters and naysayers. Three years ago, when we moved to Canada, our families and friends were very vocal about how they thought we were crazy to leave the US.  Now that the housing bubble collapsed, there has been a major uptick in unemployment, and a financial recession, people have conveniently forgotten they were against our move.  I hope that Gogreen continues to share their opinions and isn't discouraged by some of the negativity.

Canada had a little downturn, but fortunately they have bounced back fairly quickly in the short-term. I do not really see a rosy forecast for the US, and this is going to have a heavy impact on Canada as the two countries are such heavy trading partners.  We made our decision to come here based on a whole slew of factors from the state of the economy and politics all the way to family and work cultural values.

However, we know that Canada is not all candy and lollipops. After a couple of rough starts as we tried to get our feet under ourselves in this new place, I think we are finally on a path toward balancing a satisfying everyday lifestyle with our children while preparing for a less than rosy economic outlook.

Our largest stumbling block is a weak support network.  Our closest family is an 80 year old grandma 8 hours away in Regina.   The hubby and I both work from home, we are rather shy people with geeky interests and so we only really have a couple of connections here.  One of those families is moving to Regina next month.  Unfortunately, Regina is not an option for us because hubby is a computer guy and there is no computer tech sector there.  Workwise, he needs to be in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa or Toronto in case of work turnover.

Unless I go back to school, my psych/soc degrees and choppy work history are not going to be bread winning.  Going back to school is definitely an option for me, but not until the kids are all in school due to the cost of daycare.

So we'll see.  For the short-term, I'm focusing on getting the house fixed up, cultivating some gardening skills and cooking skills and learning to be a more thrifty mom.  What kinds of things are you doing to prepare for your future?

 In the after-Easter sales, I bought a chocolate McQueen.  I knew I wanted to do something with "Cars" for "Batman's" 5th birthday.  Then his birthday came and I didn't like any of the pre-fab cakes.  I'm too cheap to custom order cakes for little kids, so I got a cheapo cake at Save-On.  I slapped some Smarties (Like M&Ms) on it for color & viola.  Ultimate little boy dream cake.

As you can see, the cake was enjoyed by all.

After all, in birthday parties, it is not the cake, it is not the presents... it is the FUN that matters.

The only flowers in my yard.

Everyone expects me to be in bliss now that I've adopted three children and finally become a mother.  For infertile mothers, adoption is considered the ultimate achievement of dreams.   Yes, I've always wanted children.  Infertility is a difficult road, full of years of hopeful moments and monthly disappointments.  So, yes, I'm happy to finally have joined the ranks of motherhood.  I love my children, I'm thankful for them as each of them is adorable and lovely in their own right.

People who knew me as that nice-lady-who-hasn't-been-able-to-have-kids, ask me now, "How are you doing Mommy?  Don't you feel fulfilled?  Isn't it nice to have completed your family?"  But is motherhood the ultimate achievement of my lifelong dreams?  No.  I'm just mostly happy, a little tired and lot more normal now, thanks.

The lifelong dreams shindig.... that's still to come. Does Motherhood fullfill you? What are your dreams?

I had today all planned out.  I was going to get groceries and shopping done first thing while the stores are quiet.  I planned to do laundry and cleaning during naptime.  And then I planned to hit the eco-station this afternoon and see if they had an recycled paint I could use on the shed this afternoon and evening.  I was hoping to surprise Daddy with a clean house, chores done and shed painted when he gets in from Phoenix at mid-night.  (He is at his brother's university graduation.)

However, when we got up this morning, the oldest "Batman" reported that his ears had itched all night and so he stayed up all night scratching them.   "Why didn't you come tell me?" I asked.  "Because I thought I could scratch the itch away."  Argh.

So, instead of being all productive today, we spent the morning in the doctor's office.  He is having a reaction to the sunscreen we used yesterday.  Batman goes in for more root canals on Monday, so I wanted to make sure we weren't doing any allergy medicine that would interfere with that.  His gums and mouth are still irritated from last weeks dental visit and now he's got this allergy thing to boot.  He's not exactly Mr. Tough Guy.  He screams like a banshee if he stubs his toe, so you can imagine what a miserable mess he is.  And then the other two pick up on his antics and are half crying all day too pretending this or that thing hurts on them for attention.

Now I'm totally pooped from trying to wrangle three kids through the doctor's office and pharmacy. I'm gonna take a nap with the kids and see if I can get the energy back to at least get the groceries done.  Phew.