it's all fun and games

nate and his tools

chris was finishing up some deets in the loft/playroom. when chris would drop the drill, nate would grab it and run. see above pic. i have noticed as of late most pics i get of mr. man are quite blurry:)

i remembered a tool set that i bought nathaniel to go with his tool bench. so i decided to bring it out, even tho nate won't be getting the tool bench thingy until his birthday or christmas or when ever :)

ohh what's that

i know how to use it, and away he went. drilling into the floor,walls , tables...

we decided that safety is very important and put the glasses/goggles on him.

which he took off right away, he had to inspect them first :)

the loft/playroom is done! i will get some pic's up asap. i love it. it's so much easier to use and watch nate. i can work away, while he is playing away. the treadmill is in there for now, until the basement is finished. nathaniel likes to climb on it.

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Posted by mel at 12:21 PM

fun mitts and mommied out

nate got these fun mitts from his aunty sarah and uncle rudy (which i am sure was really the one who went shopping, picked them out and bought them :) for christmas. first off they fit perfectly, they don't come off and they are water proof...there seems to be a connection with swiss made stuff= excellent quality. anyways. i tried to get a close up to show what they say. these cute little toddler mitts say

"one day when you go to switzerland you must be prepared to see very funny....people" ha. it makes me giggle every time i put them on nate.

so last week chris went to toronto for training. poor guy spent a week at the delta on young street. poor,poor guy had to walk by those cool shops and eat different, fun food everyday. poor guy had to pass china town everyday on his way to work. i feel his pain.

me however spent the week running from one mommy group to play date. i had a fun, filled week. i learned so much talking with other mom's. i got some great tips on how to wean nate from his nap/night bottle. which i started yesterday. he freaked out last night. the crying went on for hours. then today at nap, he only cried for about 15 mins, tonight less than 5. now i need to know how to help nate get over his toilet fear.....good thing i have more groups planned for this week :)

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Posted by mel at 7:12 PM

the pain of motherhood

i am working on teaching nate to feed himself. it's going well don't ya think? haha

so. it's been 2 days since my heart was torn apart. why? the emotional connection that you have with your child, is so strong. so painful. so wonderful-good. something i did not expect.

let me explain.

having worked with kids for a while now you learn to separate your emotional side from your 'teacher' side. esp when we were out west. you had to. there was no way i could handle the pain and hurts of the kids with out doing so. one thing i have always done was to remind myself this- "that boy or girl is some one's child" even when the child is driving. me. up. the. wall. i still remind myself that that is some one's baby.

yesterday morning i joined a mom's group (that alone is whole other story) and i left nate in the toddler nursery at a church that we don't go to. actually, i have never been to before. when i went in to get him 2 hrs later. i was informed that he did not settle in the toddler nursery (prob bec their were only 2 large, strange MEN working and no ladies) nate was then taken to the baby nursery to fend for himself.

when i finally tracked him down (that again, is a whole other story) i had to wait in line to get him. i was the 3rd mom in line. as i stood in line, i heard him cry.

i waited about 30 seconds and pushed the other 2 mom's out of the way. when i got to the front, i saw my boy.

oh, it was sad. so heart breaking. i actually felt my eyes water up. i saw my little man. alone. pacing back and forth, looking lost, scared and afraid. there was huge tears on his cheeks and he was sobbing. i did what any other mom would do.

i firmly reached over the door and let my self in the nursery( mom's are not allowed in) i pushed the worker out of the way, as she told me "mom's are not allowed in the room" i very politely ignored her. i crouched down and yelled "nathaniel" as soon as he heard my voice, he turned and ran into my arms. he sobbed. he climbed on me. my heart was so broken.

i can not get the picture out of my mind. why was it bothering me so much? why? i asked god to show me what bothered me so much. he showed me this.

that i can not protect me son from life. he will be hurt, he will be picked at, on, he will be shoved. kids are cruel. kids are mean. my boy will be hurt. i can't stop it from happening. as much as i want to, i can't protect him from hurt, pain, sorrow. i will see it happen...as much as i want to stop it and protect my boy. i am just beginning to understand the deep emotional connection that you have with your children.

so now the tough job is to trust god. trust him for wisdom, protection, safely. trust god with nathainel's life. that is true trust. i am now opening a new level of trust. oh, it's the hardest one yet.

on a deeper level. how in the world did mary hold it together as she watched with her own eyes as her son was beat, humiliated, laughed at and then killed. right in front of her. the pain that woman carried. i can't even imagine it.

so, tonight as i go to bed. i will pray over my son once more and ask god to help me trust him more.

the pain of motherhood. oh, how it hurts.

*then i look up and i see the pic's of my little stinker and i forget the pain and smile*

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Posted by mel at 11:27 PM

breaky with jon and jess

yeah baby

chilling on uncle jon's lap

we met up with jon and jess for some long over due talking and breaky. nate loves uncle jon and aunt jess, he was a total wild man when we got back to their place. i have renamed uncle jon to uncle fun.

jess asked me to hide her wedding dress at my place until the big day (no date yet, still trying to figure out where and when) i said of course only if you let me peek at it first.....not only did i look at it, i tried it on and swirled and swirled. jess is one cool chick. how many other brides to be will humor their soon-to-be- sis and let her try the dress on! ha. i love her dress and it's exactly what i thought she would get!

my v-day heart felt lesson:

so, last week we got this phone call from our wonderful pastor gerry. he wanted to know if i would sport a huge, red heart with white lace in church on sunday, to advertise for the up and coming v-day banquet.

to which i promptly and firmly said NO FRICKING WAY. a few seconds later, i felt that quite annoying tug at my heart. you know the one that tried to talk to your heart but you pretend you have no clue what it is....so you can keep on living the way you want....kinda feeling...yeah, that's what happened. so i did what any other girl would try to do to get out of it. i tried to make a deal with the big guy upstairs...

working with kids, i have no problem looking,acting and feeling silly. working with kids takes you wayyyyy out of your comfy zone. that is one thing. but to look like a total and complete idiot in front of the church...on purpose is another.

i just said...why god, why??? my heart heard the following words. i ask other people to get involved with children's ministry and when i do, i am asking them to get out of their comfort zone. how can i ask it of others if i am not willing to do it myself.

fine and dandy. i went and wore that big red, stupid looking frilly heart on sunday. i even wore a smile, i even jumped around and waved my arms around. i had many comments. most of them were "man, you look silly" "couldn't pay me to do that" "good sport" "ha sucka" all the while i was simply smiling and thinking.....just wait until i ask you to come on board with JUMP. ha. you sow what you reap right? ha.

which leads me to another point. i am so beyond stoked for the next year with JUMP. i found the most amazing books to use with the kids for our mid-week service. i am so excited about it and i know it will work...so excited that i am dragging nate (there is no nursery yet on wed nights) out with me just so i can teach. working with kids is so much fun. so much work but again, so much fun! stay tuned for more details.

*there will be no pictures of me wearing the stupid heart, i have my limits people

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Posted by mel at 3:35 PM

a visit from the inlaws

chris's parents from ontario came for a visit, they stayed just shy of 2 weeks. they spent a whole lotta time reading books to nate.

grosi and nate sharing yet another book :)

oh look, it's vati's turn to read.

ohh whatcha got gross-vati? ( i know the proper way to spell it is grossvati but i wanted to make it look canadian ha)

why it's nate on camera.

chris's parents from Ontario joined us for a visit. nate loved the company and new readers to entertain him for hours on end. we had a great time catching up, relaxing and spending some time with each other. now it's back to real life.

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Posted by mel at 9:20 PM

this t.v thing

so, i tried again to get nate to watch some t.v watching. i even tried a new video. he went and got chris a book.

and sat on chris's lap the entire time the video played, right in front of him and all he cared about was the book.

i mean really, how many parents have to force their kids into watching a little of the tube?

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Posted by mel at 3:47 PM

hairy scary boy

so, i caved. i cut nate's hair. i was trying to grow it out, he has this lovely, curly, thick hair and nathaniel looks so much like chris with his longerish hair. anyways, i decided that it was to long and out of control so i scalped him. again. it's cute :) this time i gave him a banana to play with.