Snowed IN

The city has received ovwer 400 cm of snow this winter....

it is good for us that we have had two melts before the gigantic dump last week.

Before each melt the snow was creepy up to the level of our baywindow.

One of the melts actually allowed me to discover that racking pine needle is much easier when the ground is frozen...

I can only imagine how high the snow banks would actually be...

The streets, especially the side streets, remind me of our trip to Regina...

Here are some pictures of what we are facing...

During the storm, just before we went to bed.

The is a two step to the ground... but not anymore.

In the morning....

Why do they call these Storm doors...

we just can't get this door opened anymore due to the amount of snow.

Thank God, that in the summer when I decided to take the "storm door" off the front doorway and didn't get around to putting back on.

Thank you Joey for shoveling us out.

Jesus may be our "SuperHero" but you are definetely our Amazing Hero. Love you.

stickers

Kim and whom ever else is interested.

Here is what I started with Jacob a little while ago.

Basically, I wanted a way to deal with all the bad habits we adapted while I was on bed rest with the twin pregancy and the time when the babies were very little.

I do time outs for physical hurts to other (hitting, pulling hairs, smacking on the head,...) and for obvious not listening. (this means when we remind him of a rule, bu looking him in the eyes and saying "Jacob we don't draw on the wall" ... he says oh! and then he does it again in the next 5 minutes.

Some times when we do a time out (sitting by himself on the couch, or arm chair - sitting near him, holding him spot, or looking at him reinforced his behaviour. hence he is by himself and we go on with other things) he gets up before we tell him he can, we tell him to sit back down, if he gets up a second time , he gets brought upstairs to his room, I close the door... he cries and cries after 1 minute i go to him and hug him, reassure him that I love him, but didn't like what he did. I make him say sorry. (at first that was a real battle... if you want more on this let me know)

Basically you have to figure out what is so horrible for your child that it will motive them not to do that bad thing. And not to over use this thing. For Jacob not being able to do what he wants is bad, but being in his room by himself and knowing that I am upset at his behavior is horrible.

We tries all sorts of things before this one, and we were thinking nothing would work and he would continue to hurt his baby twins forever. But finally wisdom came to us. It might not be the best or what phychiatrist recommend but it is what works for us.

As you see from the pictures, we decided to deal with the bad habits or the habits we wanted to instill in Jacob by rewarding with stickers. You can get great stickers at the dollars store. We use simple smiles, stars, cars, Thomas the tank engine, Dora,... what ever we get that we think he would like. I sit him down a few times trought the day and go throught the list of what we did and didn't do.... "DID you wake up in your own bed this morning?" Yes, oh great you can choose a sticker... he then puts his sticker in that spot, sometimes he wants me to put on the sheet, Then we go "DId you wash your hands before breakfast?" No, on well no sticker for that one, maybe we can get one for this tomorrow, I will put a sad face on this to know we will work on this tomorrow" and so on. If there is something on the sticker sheet that for some reason could not of happened Ex: snack at the table, and we were outside for snack time, then I put a bar through that, so that I know it's not anyones fault that it didn't happen.

Make sure to put some things on the sheet that are easy for Melody (or your child) to do, so that they see/ understand how it works and it encourages them.

As you also see,

Jacob can save his stickers for things that motive him.

This is working so, so.

He does know that if he gest lots of stickers in the day we get to go to the park all of us together , he loves that. It has however meant that we have at the park, in the dark,... but my days are going a lot better.

We have used sheets on t he wall but are thinking to swithchinh to a scrap book format so it is portable, and he can save the stickers for longer.

Some days we miss it, and that is ok. This way he does get dependent on this.

Any othe questions, let me know.

All the best

The other tricks that have help the jelasie (sp?) are:

-make sure she/he knows they have special time with just you.

(first thing in the morning, playing a short but fun game together, having a tickle fight, a cuddle in bed, or a bath/ shower together. This way there I want/ need mommy / daddy tank is filled up atlest a little bit. hgaving time throught the day to give a hug here and there, really helped Jacob, as well as knowing that on the days that i have help he will get alone time with me just before nap. We have also done dates with Jacob. Just mommy and Jacob go to the musuem, or just daddy and jacob go for ice cream, or a real treat just mommy and daddy go with Jacob for sushi - his favorite food. when money is an issue... daddy and Jacob play in the back yard or Mommy and jacob play in the basement and the other are on the main floor.)

-In stead of saving give me a minute over abd over again, set a timer for the amount oftim you need, or says when this basket is all empty we can do that. Make sure to follow throught even if he or she is now playinh independently, otherwise it will not work next time.

-when your busy with the toddler (changing a diaper, or cleaning up a mess) and the baby or babies cry out for you, reassure the baby that you will be there soon and point out to the toddler that "See, daniel has to wait for mommy, because mommy is busy with you."

-when the babies nap -sometimes at the same time, Ioccassionaly try to turn a blind eye to the state of the house and the undone chores and play with Jacob. It is amazing what 5 minutes of unnterrupted with mommy can do.

-Also, just bending down to his level and saying I love you, works great too.

anyhow, this is what is workinh for us now... with Jacob.. who knows for the twins.

Come to Family Camp June 20 to 23, 2008

Come celebrate the center of our faith with us.

While many of us cannot attend the 49th Internation Eucharist Congress in Quebec City, We can attend a family camping retreat on the same weekend as the Congress. What a great way to celebrate jointly with the Church.

We will be gathering on Friday, June 20th, 2008 to Sunday, June 23rd, 2008 at on a spacious lot in Aston, ON (about 30 minutes from the center of Ottawa) to camp, eat, share, have fun all while deepening our faith and knowledge of the Eucharist.

Our last family camp was themed on the "Armor of God". It was a great success. All of us, from the 2 month old to the oldest adults had lots of fun, and grew stonger in their faith. Never the lest to say that strong friendships were formed.

As before, lots of spaces will be provided for people to set up their tents, camper trailers or motor homes. Camping over is encouraged but not necessairy.

More to come later.

Paul Family update

I can hardly belive that my last entry was Sept 21st

We are now well into the advent season....
The kids are all doing amazingly well, and are awaiting the birth of Christ....

Jacob totally gets the concept that Mary has a baby in her belly,... I wonder if he thinks that she has two like I did, or that if baby Jesus will be a real baby coming to stay with us!
He keeps on growing taller and taller. He grew 1/2" in a two week period!!! He is now 36 lbs and 39" tall. His language skills are developing with please being added onto the no and yes. It is so hard to stay firm with him when he keeps saying "no, pleeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaseeeeee! no, plllllllllleeeeeeeeeeesaaaaaaaasssssssse!" over and over again. He is on the waiting list for a speech assement at the Childretn's Hopsital of Estearn Ontario (CHEO) as there are a few concerns but with the sign language and speech he has those close to him can understangd him.
He will also be visiting CHEO for a day surgery on in mid January. Please keep him and especially Maman's nerves during this period of time.
Jacob has adjusted to the role of big brother, and is a great source of amazament and joy to his brother and sister. The tough part is to remember who likes being bounced in the jolly jumper and who hates it.


Daniel is sitting up, and loving it. He is now 26 3/8" tall and weighes more then 16 lbs. (he is probably closer to 17 1/2 now). He has a contagious smile and laugh - some say he had my laugh. He actually goes into full giggles... oh how fun life is. He is totally in the "oh! Maman I am in love with you" mode that only an baby can be and I am eating it all up.

Esther is beautiful,... she continuusly reminds me that calm and relax is beautiful. She is also 26 3/8 " and over 16 lbs. (probably closer to 17 1/2 as well). Her hair is still growing very beautifly. She is rolling over from back to front and lifting up her head and trying to get her knees under her.... oh no!!! I can just image two crawlers in the house at the same time.
She also has a beautiful smile and laugh. She seems to have been gifted the voice of angels as she is singing.

Joey's work is going well. We just had his annual Christmas party which was a great time of dinner with friends / collegues and dancing. Grandpa and Grandma took the challenge of having all three children for a sleep over. Thank you, Thank you and Thank you. It was very rejuvanating time.


I am adjusting to being a mom of 3 little children and I have decided that I am not a stay at home mom but a home maker. This all started with Jacob learning the word home and loving it. I started contemplating what home was.... then I was watching deleted scened of "The incredible" and Elastica girl says she is a home maker. Humm..... Yes, what I do all day is making a home for my family.... A home is so important.... You can live in any house, but how precious is your HOME.... anyhow it goes deper then that but... I have to run... as I have an opportunity this evening to go pray in my children's future school.


We decided to remain in our home and not move to a bigger house. But make this house more efficient in space.
Hence, We are in full renovations at the house. We are almost done finishing the garage which we will use as a mud room (lots of space to take on and off boots, coats, mitts, hats, ect....) and a great place for the exercise equipment. We will wait for the spring to mud the drywall and paint, but otherwise, it should be done by the end of this coming weekend.
We will be doing the basement renovations over the Christmas break. Please pray for my sanity as 1/3 of the content of our home is merge with the remaing 2/3 as we redo the basement.
To top it off, I am still trying to finish the main floor bathroom. It is functioning but needs some mudding and painting. AH! and those kitchen cabinets still need to be finished painting....
Like we are not busy enough with the 3 children under 2 1/2 yrs. of age.... I tell Joey that when we will look over this period of time in our lifes we will wonder how we ever pulled it all off.
With God's help!!!

OH! for all of you in town, our small community (prayer group) is hosting a Family Pot luck, Adoration and Benediction evening on New Years eve. Mass is at 5 pm, dinner at 6pm and adoration at 7:30 pm... see you there. (Please make pot luck contribution nut free, as some of the children have severe nut allergies. Thank you.)

with love,
Roxanne

Hopefully I will be back before another 2 1/2 months expires.
If you want pictures of the children e-mail me and I will send some to you.

adoration

Well... it's been a while...
Things are crazy.
Joey and I have decided to hire out some help.
We have been blessed with a new community of women in our parish. They are living of God's providence and seeking 10-15 hours of employment a week. Hence, one of them will be starting with our family for a 3 hours a day/ 3 days a week. (yes, it's a little less then what they were seeking, but it's what we can afford for now.) I am really excited about finally getting help. Maybe, now I get kick off this infection and flu like feeling.
Everyone, except Esther are sick. Joey is starting to feel better, but Daniel and Jacob have a terrible cough but only a night.
and the big news is......

you guessed it from the title...
the kids and I actually made it out to 9 am daily mass today and stayed for some time in adoration. We walked in late,... but that was due to traffic not because of not leaving on time.
Jacob did so well. God provided an amazing lady to help feed the babies, and another to help sooth a baby while we packed up.

I remembered that when Jacob was a baby, I would bring a blanket and lay it on the ground just in front of the first pews. (Adoration at our church on Friday mornings is held in the actually church as the chapel is being cleaned.) This allowed me to lie him or later sit him up on the blanket with a few quiet toys and I could pray. I rule was that he was allowed to move around on the blanket but not off the blanket. Well... he remembered that. I had not done that in nearly a year. But I laid a big blanket that could fit all four of us down, and he nearly jump on it, prostrated (layed on his belly) looked up a Jesus,... wow. He moved around on the blanket, but stayed on their even when I would get up to attend to the babies!! I actually got a few minutes to pray, while all three kids were quiet. Thank you God.

I just had to share that one.... and oh yes... Jacob has finally .... done that sign of the cross as we prayed tonight. I am so proud of him. It has been a long time coming, but he's doing it.

Love,
Roxanne

bye bye to pictures

Hi all,
I am being obedient to God... I have removed all pictures of the children from my blog.
I really don't know why God has asked this of me other then he has been pestering me about it for days... and something to do with the line of work I used to be in.... and protection.
All I do know, is that I trust him and when he tells me to do something that directly,... and I disobey him, I end up regretting it, ... hence, I know obey.
If you really miss seeing pictures of the children... e-mail me and I will tell you how you can get some.
I will still post thought and things going on, especially as God is moving in our lives in exciting ways at the present.... more to come later, as the adventure unfolds for us all.
Love and God bless you,
Roxanne

Surviving and triving

Joey is gone back to work, and I am home alone with the three kids.

One minute things are wonderful and I think this is a lot easier then I thought it was. I find myself wondering what was I worried about???

Then the other minute arrives and I am pulling my hair out as my toddler is pointing at the babies and on the verge of a melt down himself because he cannot stand hearing them crying anymore and he wonders why his mom can't do anything about it.

YEap !!! this is reality.

But today....

We actually managed a outing to the musuem just me and the kids. We had a great time and we learned that maman is much happier out and about then at home seeing all the things that should be getting down that jsut can't be down. I also learned that when Jacob is busy playing with buttons at the Science and Tech musuem, I can cuddle, kiss and enjoy the smell of my little babies. Hurray.

Praise God for the revelations that are allowing me to survive and even enjoy this time and phase.

Thank you for your prayers.