Forts

A little tape, a table and some chairs makes for a very entertaining hour or more. Sometimes a little change of the normal makes for a lot of fun. The boys loved it. Rayna did too. She was ready to make it a home and Emmitt and Everett were just so excited to be under the table. Mom even joined them which made it more exciting. Think we might need some tylenol before nap time but was worth it.

A Mother of 5 Now!

I am now the mother of 5.  Our fifth and final child, Brynn was born on Feb. 16.  She is a beautiful little girl. I would have to say I never thought I was going to have 5 children.  My husband and I had planned and talked about having 4.  Peyton was born over the summer of 2005 a year after we were married.  Rayna came two years later.  We were surprised with our third pregnancy that we were having twins.  We thought it was going to be a lot of work but we will have our 4 kids.  Emmitt and Everett were born in 2010.  I think life figured that we the girls were a little out numbered because we were blessed with a little girl almost 2 years after the boys were born.  It was unexpected but she is wonderful. 
I never thought I was going to be the homemaker and a stay at home mom but I am.  I love being at home with the kids.  I think that when the kids are older I will sub.  I think that going back to teaching with 5 kids would be a challenge and with Eldon already a teacher maybe too much.  I do get to teach everyday even though I am not in a classroom.  The boys, Emmitt and Everett are learning their colours.  Peyton is in grade one and I love doing his work with him at night.  He is such a good reader.  Rayna is ready for Kindergarten to start in the fall.  She is spelling her name.  We need to work on some letters but does it pretty good.  Being to a new life with 5 children.  It is going to be an adventure.

Monday, November 8

So I am not going to get excited because this has happened before. The boys got up at 7 am and then went down for their first nap at 9 am. Crossing my fingers and hoping that they have a good long sleep but know that it may not happen. They feel asleep nicely too. It was not a lot of crying a little fussing and that was nice. The fussing to sleep kind which means they were ready for a nap and happy to go to sleep.

Saturday November 6 (Almost 7 months)

Emmitt and Everett are almost 7 months old and they are still so on and off. We did the whole sleep training thing over the summer after they were 3 months old. We laid them down and let them learn how to self soothe and fall asleep without us. I don't know if it is because they go from one cold to another or if it is because they are not good sleepers or if it is something we are doing.

My problem is when we lay them down and for how long they sleep. Sometimes they go to sleep right away and then other times they cry for 5 - 20 sometimes very rare 40 minutes and then fall a sleep. There does not seem to be any consistency. We lay them down when they seem tired which is usually after 1 and 1/2 hours and we try to push it to 2 hours but sometimes don't make it. They are happy sometimes when they wake up and sometimes they are crying. One usually wakes up before the other and we usually only get about 1 hour... sometimes (very rarely they sleep or one sleeps for 1 and 1/2 hours). If they don't sleep for one hour I would say the other 40 percent of the time they sleep for 45 minutes. I wouldn't mind if they were cat nappers but then they get very fussy sooner because they didn't not have a good sleep. We don't go and get them right away... we always wait a little to see if they go back to sleep but if we let it go it usually turns into an all out scream fest and they are so worked up when we finally go get them that they have to be nursed or they won't calm down.

As for nights they go okay...we have had some really good ones where they go until 5 am and then they go and get sick again and start waking up more. They only have really bad nights every once and a while when they wake every 3 hours most times they only wake twice or three times in 12 hours. I don't think this is tooooo bad. I don't know if people think that I am just focusing on the bad but I am going to record how they go to sleep and what we are doing so I can keep track of what is going on.

Emmitt and Everett Days Old 009

Bad Pizza Delivery

My husband and I were just recently in Edmonton, Alberta attending a Wiggles concert at Rexall Place with our 2 kids. We had a great time at the Wiggles but had horrible service from Pizza Hut. I had called Pizza Hut to have some food delivered before the concert and we had just enough time to eat, get ready and head to the concert. Our pizza and wings arrived on time but we did not get our pop that came with. I had already signed the receipt before realizing that we didn't have our pop. I caught the delivery guy before he entered the elevator and told him we did not recieve our pop. He checked the bill and said that he didn't have any pop and would have to go back to get some. My husbands first responses was he will not be back. He is going to screw us out of some pop. We didn't have an option of waiting or complaining at that time since we had to go to the Wiggles Concert. It was awesome,, but in the back of my mind I was thinking about the pop. Did the driver come back with the pop like he said and leave it at the front desk. I had told the front desk at our hotel before we had left for the concert. When we arrived home after the concert of course no pop. I didn't have time to complain at that time either because we had two young kids to put to bed in a hotel which is always a struggle.

The next morning we went for a swim to get the use out of the pool before we had to check out at 11am. I phoned Pizza Hut after we got back from the swim and got ready and packed up so we could leave. The person on the phone wanted to get us our pop. My problem with the whole thing is that he kept saying if you come here I will give it to you. Is that not beside the point? We ordered delivery for a reason we didn't want to pick it up. He also want us to wait until 11am when the restaurant actually opened and send us the pop. I informed him that we were checking out at 11am. After more complaining on my part and actually get a little upset with the bad service he had decided to send us some pop before 11am. Well we checked out and no pop. So I not very happy with Pizza Hut and I am not going to order or get food from Pizza Hut until I get my pop.

I guess what really upsets me is that they lied 3 or more time to me about my order, my pop and they didn't seem to be really concerned about satisfy their customers.

Pizza Hut rating for service is horrible. Never Again. I want my pop.

Parenting

I just finished reading one of the best articles about parenting. I was reading an article from Today's Parent one of Canada's parenting magazines. I have been getting the magazine ever since I was pregnant with my first, Peyton, who is 4 years old now. The article was called Words of Wisdom by John Hoffman. I really enjoyed the sense that he speaks about in his article. I really find he speaks a lot about how I parent and how I feel about parenting as a whole.

He talks about expert advice and says this "Experts are not experts on your kids. YOU ARE!" This is exactly right. Parenting is not an exact science that you can say well just sleep train them, put them in timeout, don't spank, don't co-sleep, don't hold them too much, and whatever you do listen to what I am saying. With saying all of that I have strong beliefs about certain ways I do things but this is the way I do them not everyone else. I don't think there is one way to do things, each child is unique and requires you to do things different and being the first, second or even third child plays and roll in how you parent too. I also don't want to discourage parents from reading and learning more and more about what parenting advice is out there because you may use some of what they are saying or use nothing but being open to learning about what else is out there makes and helps make you a better parent.

I also find that not just experts make us questions or feel guilty about how we parent but family, friends and even complete strangers. Someone always knows how to fix your problems with you and your baby or child. I remember being a first time parent and feeling all the pressure and advice coming from everywhere and how overwhelming it is and how much you just want to scream and say "This is our child and we are going to do what we want to do." Now I find that I really empathize with new parents and don't ever want to be that person who tells them how to do it. I find when I hear someone else saying well I think they shouldn't hold the baby to much or just critising how they are doing things I will often say....... "It is really hard being a first time parent and not everything is easy and we don't know everything. If they make mistakes they will be their mistakes which is the way it should be." My mom and my sister and I all parent different and we are different and I do what suits me and my sister does what suits her. We don't agree on some parenting but we do agree that we all do things the way we think they should go, the best we know how and the best for our kids.

I like to read Today's Parent because I find it informational, hilarious, helpful, and encouraging. I want to keep informed about today's parenting practices and use or not use what I read about. I hope you keep being informed. I know you do know what you are doing because if I was to ask anyone about your kids you would be the expert.

Why does death tear families apart?

We all get older as we do we find that we are faced with many of our loved ones passing. I have been to too many funerals in the past year and have found that during and after someones passing some families really come together and cherish the time they had with that person and some have difficultly because of past problems. I understand that families have problems and fights.... wow... who doesn't. Life is not perfect are we are definitely not. I know that my sister and I still fight and have had many fights but she is my sister and we forgive each other because we are family.

I often find that some family members get greedy, selfish and can't forget the past. Why when someone passes do we worry about money expect to make sure we have enough to cover the funeral and past debts. Now I worry about money when I pass because I want my children to be taken care of but when my kids have kids of their own and so on... I am not worrying anymore. With all the deaths this past year my sister and I have talked a lot and well... I know that I was jealous of my sister and the time and money my parents spent on her. As I get older I think why would have my parents not done the same for me well.... I think about it and realize... my sister and I are different. When we raise our kids we treat them fairly not equal because every kid has different needs. My son has fever seizures. When he is sick my husband and I are watching him and really worried about his next seizure. As for my daughter when she is sick we worry but not to the same extent or degree. Are we bad parents for doing this no because Rayna will have her own things that we do for her and not for Peyton.

I guess what I am trying to say is that when someone you love passes think about all the things they did with you and how much they added to your life. Try not to focus on who gets what and realize that you all are grieving and have compassion for one another because each person is affected differently. Why should you be mad because one family member got the piano and you got a locket or an old house to clean up. Whomever passed away did it that way for a reason.... remember they did things differently because of how each of you are different. Get over it..... Life does go on and how you are remember when you pass will be reflected on how you are in your life.

What is Twitter?

What is twitter? Well I am not the an expert but it is a great way to keep in touch and follow what people are doing and well have people follow and want to know what you are doing. My husband finds lots of education and information links through his followers and who he follows. I am trying to convince my father to go on twitter and keep up with the now. The video above is on the Ellen show today where she talked about twitter and was hilarious. When my husband first talked about going on twitter and tweeting it sounded very funny. We had a few chuckles about it. We are often on the computer at the same time and tweeting each other. I would like to find more moms to follow and follow me on twitter but still looking and hoping. My twitter name is germannjaime.

Understanding Death

How do we teach our kids what death is?

My grandma of 93 years passed away February 1st. We will all miss her very much and know that she lived a very full life. I am very blessed that both my kids were able to meet and spend time with their Great-Grandma. Peyton and Rayna are quite blessed. They have two sets of Grandparents, two Great-Grandma's, one Great-Grandpa and one Great-Great Grandpa who is 105.

I was trying to explain to Peyton, who is 31/2 years old, that his great-grandma, my grandma, had passed away . He either didn't have the attention span to listen to what I was saying or had no understanding of what I was trying to tell him.

I am noticing now in the last couple weeks since the passing of my Grandma that Peyton has been using the word die... a lot. He uses it so freely and doesn't quite understand the meaning of the word die or dead. I would like to find some way to help him understand or maybe he is just to young.

My cousin has a boy the same age as my son and her son seems to definitely understand the meaning of death. This maybe because his Grandpa passed away two years ago and his passing has had a direct impact on his life since he spent a lot of time with his Grandma and Grandpa.

Maybe Peyton can't understand it because Grandma's death doesn't really relate to him. He had spent some time with her but only about 3 - 5 times a year. I am trying my best to help to understand but most of the time he just makes me laugh because he is soooooo not listening to what I have to say. The craziness that comes out of his mouth has nothing to do with dieing or understanding death at all.

I was explaining the dangers of balloons to him today and how putting them in your mouth is not safe at all. I was telling him that he can't put them in his mouth because he could swallow the balloon and choke on it. I was trying to explain that Mom and Dad would be very scared and he could die from choking. I don't know if his lack of understanding and silliness is because he is trying to avoid and get out of the conversation or he really doesn't have the capabilities to understand what I am trying to explain to him.

Is my son ready to understand what death is?
Does he not want to talk about it and tries to be silly to avoid the conversation?
Should I want him to understand what death is or try to keep his innocence for longer?
Does the understanding of heaven make it easier for kids to understand what death is?
How do you teach about death but not scare them?

Autism and Immunizations

I just recently watched an episode of Private Practice on television and was quite taken with the content. The episode was about a young boy who contacted measles. His older brother has Autism and he had not been immunized because his mother felt that immunizing in some part caused her oldest son's Autism. I will not spoil the story for you but I had tears. As a parent, I never questioned getting my children immunized. I thought to myself I am not a doctor or nurse they know more about that kind of stuff than I would. How many parents choose not to give their children immunizations? I am one of the people who choose to give my children vaccinations. I would like to here from other parents and how they fill on this issue.

1. Should we vaccinate our kids?
2. Is the risk of not getting vaccinated way worse than the alternative?
3. Is there a link between vaccination and autism?
4. Should it be mandated that we all are immunized?

I have done some searching and found a lot of information on the web. Here are the first I searched and briefly scanned.

1. An article at CTV.ca supporting the issue that autism is not caused by immunizations.
2. A site in which parents of autistic children discuss their change in their children after immunizations called Think Twice.

Before seeing this episode on Private Practice I also have seen Jenny McCarthy on several television shows speaking about her son's autism. She speaks out about her struggle with parenting and autism.

I don't know what my final decision is on this matter but I am interested to hear what other parents have to say about it.

I put out a message on Twitter and received two messages back. Thank you for sending back some links.
1. Vaccination News or Age of Autism - Website based on the Autism Epidemic.
After skimming over the site it seems to me that I should try to become more informed since my son Peyton has had 10 febrile seizures starting just before his first birthday. I am glad to say that his seizures have caused him no known affects as we can see right now.

Play Your Guitar With Murray!

Eldon and I spent a good day and a half making this spiderman guitar for Peyton. Of course Rayna would love it too but not able to ask for it. The Wiggles have a song called Play Your Guitar With Murray and Peyton really wanted to have a guitar to play with soooo of course, we had to make it. We were just as excited about making it as Peyton was about playing it. I hope you enjoy the slideshow and love the wiggles as much as we do.

No Snow November Slide Show

Karaoke Germann Style

I love my kids! We have too much fun together. Eldon and I set up the Karaoke Machine and let the kids sing their hearts out. We encouraged them and well tried to have the tame it down a little bit. Rayna was very sensitive about everything and Peyton was a little too expressive with his singing. Rayna has the dance moves of a future pop singer and Peyton is a true rocker. Eldon fixed up the video and edited it. Sometimes it is a little crazy on the vocals but it is very entertaining. If you love to rock out to the ABC song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star watch this video.

Peyton's Camera Pics

My kids are addicted to dip.

I love dips and my husband loves dips and we have two kids that love to dip too. At first it started out trying to get Peyton to eat chicken or some other kind of meat. I have found that pretty much everything is dipped now. He will even dip his mashed potatoes in ranch dressing. I find if we don't give him the dip right away he will eat his potatoes and vegetables without dip (of course not all the time). We have even named the dips Spiderman, Buzz, and even Jessy. We did this to convince Peyton to eat his meat. We have convinced Peyton to eat his supper several times using lots of different techniques. As for my daughter, Rayna, I think she just started because she saw Peyton had some. She is convinced that whatever big brother does she has to do to. I don't think that I have to take all dips away but we do try to limit them. Sometimes, we even try not to give them.

I love to dip and my husband loves to dip so I can understand why our kids love to dip. We are just a dipping family. If I can say just this..... We at least dip together.

Kids and Pets Are Too Funny

My daughter loves to chase our cat Catty around. It is quite hilarious. Catty is getting much better at dealing with kids. At first he really didn't like kids. He now allows Rayna and Peyton to play and pet him. He definitely doesn't let them maul him. He has his boundaries. I love the fact that my cat is interacting more with our kids now and hope that this teaches them to respect and love all animals.

Soother or Not?

The question is out there as parents do you give your child a soother or not. We have many questions as parents but this is a very simple one for myself since both my kids did not want soothers. As for my future children I guess we will see what they choose.

Peyton(boy) is three years old and never wanted a soother. I think he took it 3 or 4 times for a short amount of time. He either gagged or pushed it out right away. My little girl, Rayna, is one and she sucks her thumb. We tried a soother on and off but she would also gag and push it out. She would rather have her thumb.

It is very obvious that babies love to suck, it is soothing for them. I breast feed both my babies for one year. I sometimes would let them use me as a soother for soothing them at night or during the day when they were having a fussy time. Some people don't agree with doing this but it was a great way to soothe them and comfort them. I also found that I enjoyed that bonding time. Maybe this is also why my kids did not take a soother since I was that for them. I was there comfort instead of a soother.

I wonder what the ratio of kids that have soothers to who don't is. Take my survey.

I have found that Rayna sucking her thumb has made it easier to lay down to go to sleep than what Peyton was. He was a lot of work. I have noticed with friends and family that kids that have soothers do tend to lay down easier and fall asleep easier too. This is totally understandable since they have that soothing sucking which they have loved since they were babies.
I have also noticed that when the first born has a soother usually the second will too. Now is this because parents have got used to the first having a soother it is just natural to give the second one too or is it just genetics that they both love the soother or is it just coincident.

My findings are not true to everyone since these are only my experiences with babies, soothers, and sleep. Please let me know about your experiences and feelings on this issue as parents. Please take the survey?

More Info Febrile Seizures

On the Huggies Happy Baby there was an article about Febrile Seizures that might interest some of you. I did noticed that with Peyton, my son, having 4 seizures within 24 hours it puts him at a greater risk of developing epilepsy. I am finding that with every year that passes the more and more information comes out about febrile seizures and they change. We are trying to keep up with the new info. We try also to keep our families and friends informed since they are around Peyton and may have to witness or even deal with a seizure without us. I hope that this helps to info others who have little ones with febrile seizures .

My Husband Is Turning Into My Father In Law

Just a question out there. Do we all turn into our parents? In the last year I have noticed my husband is turning into his dad. I have known for sometime that I am like my mom in soooo many ways. I also find I am like my father. I have also noticed that we often recognize these traits or traits in others because they are often negative traits. I am stubborn like my father and start conversations halfway through like my mother. My husband on the other hand has become a complainer like his dad. I guess not really a complainer but more upset with stupidity. Do we inherit these traits at birth or do they slowly seep into us the older we get? I do noticed that have a lot of good qualities from my mom and dad which we usually don't talk about as much.

This blog is not to hurt anyones feelings or make people mad but to make them think. I do know that I have bad or negative traits that I am sure will be passed on to my kids. I can just see it now my daughters husband will look at her and say..... You are just like your mother... You never want to admit when you are wrong.... hehehehee. Yes this is one of my bad traits. Anyways... for all you married or people in relationships take a good look at the mom and dad on the other side... yes sometime you will noticed that your other half is becoming his or her parents.