flying...no sweat

Matty and are now in Georgia!!!

I woke up this morning at 5:30 and got ready. I packed the car and feared having to travel with such a heavy bag (oof). We left for the airport at 6:30 and I rushed around trying to get to the gate. Poor Dave (sorry hunny) had to chase me there and barely got a goodbye kiss since I was so scared I would miss my flight. I got to the gate and I was the last one to arrive. It was practically empty and Matty and I had a whole row to ourselves. We took off anf Matty was a happy boy the whole time. He smiled and played and smiled some more. As we landed, he didnt notice a thing. It was an answer to prayer.

Once in Toronto I descovered that I had to get my bag back, go through security AGAIN! and then re-check the bag. I was not impressed. Once that was done, it was easy to find my next gate and waitedfor about 30 minutes before we boarded again. It turned out that Matty and I had a whole row to ourselves again ( good choices Dave) and once again, Matty was an awsome passenger, He slept on me from take off for about 20 minutes and then played until it was time to land. The flight had a lot of turbulance and I must admi, I was pretty scared.

Once I left that plane, I was on an adventure. I really do not like the Atlanta airport. I couldnt figure out where to go or what to do next... I got lost and turned around until FINALLY I found my bag (after asking millions of airport people) and accidentally walked past Grace who saw me and admitted she was starting to get nervous.

Then it was homeward boud (home being Grace's place for the next while). Matty played and ate peas ( he liked them, believe it or not) and he went to bed at 7:45. Now, it's tv time and I think I will do some cross stitching.

I'll be sure to let you know what's going on with me when I get the chance.

Forgive Me

Setting: Im outside the back of a brick building that houses several tenants in a very beautiful neighbourhood. It is a sunny, spring day and I have Matty in my arms. I stand knocking on my grandmothers door.

Grandma: Hello?
She answers uncertain of who it is that is standing in front of her.

Me: Hi Grandma!

Grandma: Oh, I didnt recognize you. Come in.
Her face has a giant smile on it but it is still clear that she can't place my name or even my face...all she knows is that she is my grandma.

Me: This is Matthew.

Grandma: How old is he?

Me: He's six months.
I'm ashamed that this is their first introduction and he is already so old. How come I waited so long?

Grandma: Only? He looks so big.

Me: He's tall, like his dad.

Grandma: Is he my...?
She makes a gesture of a little child and points to herself. She wants to know if my husband is her son.

Me: No, your son is my father. Donny is your son and I am his daughter.

Grandma: Oh yes... what day is it today?

Me: Its Tuesday today.

Grandma: Oh, it always feels like Saturday since I am home.

Me: I know, I feel that way too.

Grandma: Can I get him a cookie?

Me: Oh, no. He can't eat them yet.

Grandma: How old is he?

Me: He is six months.

Grandma: wow, he's big. Can he have a cookie?

Me: I dont think he can eat them yet.

Grandma: of course. What day is it today?

Me: Its Tuesday today.

Grandma: oh, It feels like Saturday.
She stands up and heads to the kitchen. She grabs a cookie and before I can stop her she hands it to Matty. He puts it in his mouth right away. I watch very carefully. It crumbles, he breaks it in his mouth, I have to pull it out of his mouth as he gags on the piece that started to go down.

Me: Do you still go out walking around here?

Grandma: No. It's too cold.
She opens the freezer door.
Do you have butter at home? I have six pounds here. I forgot.

Me: I would love some butter.

Grandma: Can he have a cookie? Here's a cookie.
I repeat the entire process of watching, grabbing and hiding the cookie. Eventually I say my goodbyes. She gives Matty another cookie and hands me the whole package. She tells me to give him some on the way home. I leave and tell her I will be back next week.

End Scene.

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This is a summary of my visit. Many of the things here were repeated more and more and I continued to reply as though she hadn't yet asked it.

I haven't visited in over a year. I live a 15 minute walk away. I am home all day. She had never met this great grandchild and he had never met her. Why? Am I afraid of confusing her? Am I just not willing to go through the trouble? Am I scared? I think I am all of these and more.

" Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion in to practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandpparents, for this is pleasing to God...If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his emmidiate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." 1 Tim 5:3-8

I read this passage a long time back. It made me mourn my behaviour to my grandmother. I didnt act upon it, however. I made excuses. "She won't remember me." "I'll just cause her more confusion."

Today I visited. She doesnt really know who I am but she was so happy. A part of her day was filled with company and it chased away the loneliness she feels most of the time. I regret that I took so long. She is confused, she repeats everything multiple times, she needs patience, love and companionship.

How beautiful is this moment right here? Such joy and love.

Forgive me, Father. I haven't cared for my family.

How I Stay Motivated

I dont know about you, but when it comes to getting things done around my house, or with my own self, I tend to be lazy at times and really find it hard to get motivated to work. This really hit me when I stood on the scale at my sisters house and saw the number... 10 pounds higher than I thought I was and that number was already too high. I came home and Decided it was finally time to do something about it.

Immediately, I got out a notebook and wrote how I was feeling and why I was writing. Then, I decided to use this journal everyday to record what I do (in point form) and my goals for the next day. I decided I would avoid eating any sugar that isnt natural (ex. fruit) and would start running.

I have to say, this is the best idea I have ever had, at least for me. Im sure this isnt even a new idea but it is new to me. I will record my weight every two weeks so as not to get too discouraged when I see no change and it ensures I do my bible reading and cleaning.

Some days are easier than others but all in all I am happy with how I am doing. Try it out if you are struggling with motivation. Its almost as thought you are competeing against yourself.

Six Months Old

Wow! We have reacehed the half way mark already. Actually, we have already gone over it. CRAZY! It goes so fast.

Matty still hasn't got any teeth but we can see them coming closer and closer. Grammie (my mom) even pointed out where she thought they were coming through. They are SO CLOSE! He is currently chewing on one of his shoes and puts everything in his mouth.

He is sitting up now. He still falls over but mostly because he is leaning way to far forward or to the side and just can't stay up any longer. He actually even almost crawls. He gets on his tummy, uses his legs to push him forward but his arms get in the way. He has to learn to get up on his hands and use them as well. He usually ends up planting his face on the floor and trying to push himself forward. Very funny!

He still hates food. He is stubborn like his mom and dad. Sometimes I succeed in getting one mouth full in before he refuses to open his mouth. He looks at me, closes his mouth tight and turns his head away from me. Very obvious decision to say no to food and to mommy. I think I might have to move to more drastic measures and not feed him until he is so hungry he will eat from a bottle or some cereal. Is that ok do you think?

He loves to talk. Mostly his noises are "guh", "Duh", "Wuh" and others that range in that area.

His favourite toys are Sophie, his plastic book, his knot toy from Tante Melissa and Uncle Chris and his toothbrush. They all go very nicely in his mouth.

Here he is with his plastic book and his great Oma.

Here he is with Great Opa and his plastic book.

Here he is with some of his pals. Heidi and Henry

And here he is being goofy in his beaver outfit from Aunty Jo and Aunty Karin.

Matthew still rolls over well from his stomach to his back but lacks the practice from his back to his stomach. We still have trouble with nap time and him fliping over. I tried putting him down on his back today but he is still crying... not sure if it is going to work out.

We believe he is 19 pounds but will find out exactly how much tomorrow at his six month appointment. He is a big boy and he is growing up so fast. sniff sniff.

My Newest Challenge

The roll.

Matthew is now an expert at rolling over from his front to his back. This was exciting at first but then I realized why so many parents also dread it. Its not even that I can no longer leave him lying anywhere high. I had to stop doing that a while ago after I let him fall (oops!). What is the worst of it is that he sleeps on his tummy. I put him down awake and he flings himself onto his back and screams and screams and screams. I then have to walk into the room, turn him over, walk away and this makes him even angrier. It took me an hour and a half to put him to sleep last night when it normally takes a few seconds.

This morning, I put him down for his nap but this time I wrapped up two blankets and shoved them next to him on either side. This ensured he couldn't roll over but I don't know how long it will work. I also have to go into the room afterward and pull those blankets out of the way so they are not a cause of suffocation or anything.

I do think it is pretty special that he is now rolling. How could I not? I was actually a bit worried he wasn't doing it sooner. Just a new adjustment to make.

We have a few other things we are working on:

Sitting up

He still isn't very good at it and he gets very frustrated because he wants to sit up. So Dave solved our problem. We put him in the jolly jumper but at a setting just low enough for him to sit. He wobbles from side to side but he doesn't fall over.

And
Eating cereal in his new chair

Here he is in his new chair. He really loves it. He can sit up and be comfy...

And here he is with his favourite part of eating: chewing the spoon.

Pictures (recent and not so recent)

It has been a while since I have posted pictures of family so here is a mostly photo entry for you (truth be told, I havent been taking pictures lately).

Monday was Family Day so the Millar family spent the evening together eating and celebrating Winterlude. We walked down the canal to the sculptures only to find out that they werent letting people in to see them. Who does that on a holiday evening during a festival? It was only 7:00pm! The walk was still gorgious and I snapped a few pictures.

Here is Aidan carrying Isaiah on his back and pulling the other three kids in a sleigh behind him.

Caelah was having fun being silly. She walked most of the way though (fortunately for Aidan)

Here's Dave with Matty. Can you tell it's Matty? He hates the wind in his face so we covered him up very well.

Our two little starfish. They lay like this for about a minute before they even realized the other one was there. They really couldnt move. (Matty in blue, Isaiah in yellow)

The next day, Ness and I went out to run some errands and afterwards we had two very tired boys. Both fast asleep and dreaming of... who kows what.

Here are some older pictures of Matty playing or discovering.

"Daddy, do you really have to make me look so silly?"

"So this is what TOYS are for."

Matthew finally discovered his toes. For days he just pu ttoys down and went for the feet. There was one day where his pants were too constraining and he couldnt get his toes no matter how hard he tried. It was cute.

Matty and Henry fighting over toys. Matty had the egg beater then Henry grabbed it and I think Matty stole it back a little while longer. Cousins being cousins.

Allergic To Wet

Right now Dave, Matty and I are suppose to be down in Georgia for the week visiting family. We even left on Thursday at 10:30 am to get to our first stop early and spend some time with Dave's sister and family. We should have arrived at 3:30 pm. Instead we rolled in at 11:00pm.

We made it about an hour and a half into our trip when all of a sudden, the car started to bump and thump and stop. Dave worked some of his magic to get the car to keep going but it only lasted a short while. We chugged and puffed for a while until we could get off the highway and into a garage. They were too busy to take a good look at the car but agreed to look at it breifly. After testing some of the plugs in the engine, they determined that two of them werent working and would need to be replaced. Dave tried explaining an electric problem but they were certain it was the plugs, so we headed to the Canadian Tire to buy some new plugs. We replaced them and were on our way again (this took about an hour and a half). We drove a little while longer and our car acted up again. This time we were near Napanee. So, we worked the car to the exit and came to a GM dealership. We figured they might have a diagnostic test for the Golf and if not, they might see the problem. In we went and were told we would have wait ahead of us. They were right! We were there for at least three hours waiting for some results. They couldnt do the test since our car isnt one of their makes and they werent sure what the problem was but they thought it might be the ignition coil. We had to wait for one to be delivered from a neighbouring town. Once it arrived, they replaced it, tested it and found that the car still acted up. So, we were charged $300 for the work and they told us they had knocked off a bunch of the expenses. We decided we should at least try to get to Chris and Melissa's to rest and decide what to do next so we braved the car once more. Believe it or not, we made it the rest of the way with no hassle. We were so surprised. Was the car really better???

Initially we were going to leave on Friday morning for Georgia but because of our late night and crazy day, we decided to spend the day with Melissa and Chris. We went into St. Catherines and went to the book depot and tried to get a part for the car that we thought could help the mysterious issue but they didnt have one. It as a very nice day and the car seemed to be cured. So, at 3:00 am on Valentines day we set out for Georgia hopeful to get through the boarder and have no more troubles. We made it so close to the border (after 2 hours of driving) when the car died again. I guess it wasnt the ignition coil. $300 for nothing. We turned around and went as far as we could, taking rests where the car died to let it sit until we made it to London. In London we attempted to find a garage but nothing was open. So, we just tried to get home. Guess what? We made it home without an issue. Apparently as we headed South, the car got angry and said "umm, no, I want to go home!" and we broke down.

Matty was so fantastic. We were traveling for 26 hours total and Matthew didnt make an unhappy peep until we were about 30 minutes away from home. And even then, it was barely a whine.

We also realized that every time we broke down it was wet outside. It was pouring rain on Thursday and when the car got too wet, it broke down. Once we were finished in Napanee, the weather had changed and it was dry. near the boarder it had started to snow and the car got wet and once we got to London, it was sunny and dry and everything had dried up in the car.

So, we had a very unsuccessful attempt at a vacation and found out that our car is allergic to the wet. Should be interesting in the next couple of days since it is calling for snow. I might be stuck at home for the rest of the week. Better than in the car I must admit.