Loulou's views

Today was my son's first time participating in show and tell at his school. Can I just say, 'we've come a long way, baby!' My once shy little boy has most certainly come out of his shell at school. He talks to me about his day, and when I ask him questions about what he did at school, he answers and tells me stories. I love hearing the things he says. I love that he is no longer as shy as he once was, and that he woke up at the crack of dawn, excited about school. Today was an extra special day for him - not only was it his turn to do show-and-tell, he was also the 'friend of the day', AND - the best part of all? My mom was the invited guest at the school. She read from the book she recently illustrated , talked about her career as an artist, and did a painting demonstration for the children, from kindergarten to grade 3. Christos brought in some of his crystal and rock collection, and talked to his classmates about why he loves collecting them and where they ca...

Edited to add: Congrats to lucky number 17, Carabee , for winning! Once you have a baby, you will spend a LOT of time taking pictures. I couldn't put my camera down once I had a baby - everyday, I try to capture the perfect shot. As you all know, it can be quite difficult to get your infant to look at the camera, and sometimes, we go through great lengths to get our child to look at the camera. From singing songs, to jumping up and down and waving our hands in the air - yes, we try it all! I was recently given the Shutter-Buddy to review and I think it would make a great gift for any new mom. All you have to do is attach the black and white patterned material around your camera, and bingo - your baby will not want to look away from the black and white pattern! I'm giving the Shutter-Buddy away to one of my readers... if you want to win, all you have to do is leave me a comment telling me who you'd give this to, or if you'd keep it for yourself, and why! The contest i...

Everyday our children do things to us that test our patience, time and time again. Yet, we survive. We survive on very few hours of sleep, we survive having our hair pulled, we survive cleaning up vomit from the back seat of a car, and we survive having food thrown around the house. We break up fights, we clean markers off the couch, and we act like clowns to get our babies to eat. All these things are more or less daily occurances, things that are now part of the 'new' way of living, right? Isn't it amazing, how every single day, we solve epic battles in a house filled with... children? We are basically every profession, rolled up into one. Please, tell me - is there a harder job than that of a mom? I think not. Friends, we have now officially entered the tantrum stage with our otherwise perfect and oh-so-well-behaved 2 year old. It just happened one day - he woke up, and decided to make life a little more difficult for his mommy. Anything will set him off. Although, to b...

I can't believe it. My baby boy, my youngest child, is now two years old. Wow. My baby... is two! Two years ago today, I was in the hospital getting induced, as I was 10 days late. My darling baby boy, it seems, was very happy to stay inside me for as long as possible. That day, I was exicted to finally meet my baby boy, and nervous, because I going to spend a night away from my oldest son. Except for my 45 minute epidural experience, which I'll save for a later post, giving birth to Dimitry was pretty easy for me. Since I had already given birth before, feeding, burping and holding my newborn was much more relaxing this time around. My baby was born at 6:24 p.m., and I remember looking at him, thinking he was just so beautiful, with such bright eyes. He had a lot less hair than his older brother, too! Since the day my baby was born, he's been nothing but a ray of sunshine. I've woken up beside him for two years now, and he always greets me with a smile this big first...

I'm back! Back from our beautiful vacation to sunny south Florida. It was our third time staying at the Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa , and I have to say, I love it more each time we go - so do my children! Despite the fact that Florida was going through some less than seasonal weather, for us, it was amazing! We were able to walk on the beach, and listen to the sounds of the weaves crashing on the shore, while wearing flip flops and little sweaters... instead of boots, coats, neck warmers, gloves and hats! By Wednesday, the weather was HOT. Well, hot for Canadians, anyway! We enjoyed swimming in the beautiful pools, and spending a lot of time ON the beach, of course, looking for seashells - we came home with a bag full! We built sand castles, too, although nothing as good as this one we saw! It was funny to see Floridians wearing scarves and mittens when we arrived - I guess it really was cold for them! If that was my winter? I'd be very happy, indeed. Travell...

It's no secret that I'm not a huge fan of winter. In fact, there is very little I like about winter. To be honest, the only thing I like about winter is Christmas. Now that Christmas is over, I'm ready for winter to be over, too. I know, you must think I'm crazy, because it is only January and this, folks, is just the beginning. I have many more mornings left of waking up to de-ice my car, cursing under my breath the entire time. And of course, there will be many more snowstorms to get through before April arrives, when we can finally rejoice in spring! For now, I'm trying to make the most of it. By going to Florida! I just have to see something other than snow! Despite that fact that Florida is going through some really cold temperatures, it is still going to be far, far better than the weather we have here . I just want to walk on the beach, build sand castles with my boys, enjoy one of my favourite resorts, SHOP, eat at some great restaurants, SHOP, and sit ...

Growing up, I spent many weekends on the ski hills with friends, and aside from the always entertaining ride up on the chair lift, my favourite part of the day was going to the chalet to eat and to warm up. I'm just not cut out for sports, or for the cold. Well, I was a really fast runner in school, and I'm still a great swimmer - so that has to count for something, right? But skiing... it just wasn't my thing. Truly, the only fun part about skiing for me was the cute outfits and ski goggles and the rides up on the chair lift. My friends and I would play a game where we'd have to finish singing American Pie on each ride up before we got out. It got to be really stressful, and we'd laugh and sing the entire way up. I was always scared I'd forget to get off and have to go back down again. Even after a few years of skiing lessons, I was never brave enough to venture off the bunny hills. One day, while skiing with my friends on a new hill, I felt confident. I was do...

Last year, my husband captured this picture of my children, holding my Christmas gift, a week before Christmas. He emailed it to me at work, where I proceeded to squeal with joy, because that's what I do every time I see a little blue box. And oh, yeah - because my boys are just so darn cute in the picture! This year, on Christmas Eve, after our festivities at my parent's house, we hung out around our tree before putting the boys to bed. My boys gave me a little blue box to open up, and excited as I was, I wanted to 're-capture' the great picture that was taken last year. For some reason, my youngest son wasn't in a very co-operative mood, almost refusing to sit with brother for the picture. I had no idea why, until later... you can see in the picture for yourself why he was so uncomfortable - in the rush to leave my parents house, in all the excitement on Christmas Eve, we forgot to put a diaper back on our baby. Oops. I discovered this when I brought him upstairs ...