Dress Rehersal

Last weekend was Riley's first dress rehearsal for her upcoming recital on May 8th. The production is Peter Pan and Riley's class is the mermaids from Neverland.

I needed to get her make up. MAKE UP. Let me say that again, MAKE UP. This isn't new to me I danced my entire life, but it was weird taking my 5 year old out to buy her make up. Riley didn't share my same feelings. She was over the moon excited about it. Here she is....in make up...





She was posing for the camera and Coop needed to get into the action too.



This dress rehearsal was held at her dance studio. Our little mermaid.



The mermaids dancing their hearts out.






I have always hoped that she would share my love for dance and especially my love for ballet. I am so thrilled that she loves it. It was so fabulous sitting and watching her dance. It brought back so many memories..... and I may or may not have cried...a little. Just a little.

15 Months

Cooper,

It's me Mama, late again. I'm about 2 weeks late on each one of these monthly posts so let's start calling them month and a half posts.

It's been a month of changes for you and I. Me going back to work has been hard on you. When I'm home with you you hang off me, which is at times hard on me. Don't get me wrong, I love the snuggles, the crazy amounts of kisses and when you say "hi baby" to me when I walk in the door. Just sometimes, a girl has to pee with out someone sitting on her lap.

This past month has made a huge difference in the amount of words you can say. You are even able to put 2 words together now. My all time favourite is when you are doing something that you shouldn't be doing and I say "NO" and you respond "Oh, Yeah."



I guess I can kinda say you are finally sleeping through the night. Sorta. Kinda. Most nights now you are in bed by 7:30 and sleep until around 5:00 when you wake for a feed and go back down until about 6:30. You have broken the Hubbard family sorta, kinda, sleep through the night record. It took Riley 18 months and well Simon....he's still working on that sleep through the night thing. Maybe you can have a little chat with him?



You are Mr. Independent, never wanting anyones help. You are also Mr. Into Everything and Mr. Determination. I guess when I sit back and think of those qualities they are great qualities for you to have as you grow into a young man. I hope you always keep your sense of independance, determination and the need to be into everything....as long as it's a productive and not destructive everything.



We love you Coopy with all our hearts. Our life is now complete...we think....errr, I think....hmmmm.....is it possible to feel completely content yet still feel like someone is missing?

Love,
Mama

My poor sweet Coop

The image plays over and over in my head. The sound will never be forgotten. The guilt I feel is huge.

Saturday evening I was bathing all three kids while Jason was making dinner. They had a long day of playing outside and needed a good scrub. While I was helping Riley and Simon into our bathtub, Cooper walked into the shower. I turned to get him out, he took one step toward me and fell. HARD. Out of the shower. His chin smacked down onto the ceramic floor. Screams (his, mine and Simon's). Blood, lots of blood. I grabbed him, told Riley and Simon to get out of the bath and ran downstairs with Coop to get Jason. We needed to go to the hospital. We loaded everyone in and headed to Collingwood (I will never go to the hospital in Barrie again). The doctor said that it wasn't too bad, it hadn't broken all the way through the skin. he decided to glue it anyway to help with healing and scaring. Coop needed to be held down. That is NOT my department. Jason and a nurse helped out while I tried to stop Riley from crying. It took seconds, a little glue and few terry strips and he was all fixed up.

The guilt. I know deep down inside that it wasn't my fault BUT the guilt is huge. My poor sweet boy.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

We are hoping and praying that all the stars will align, that is what we need for our plan to work for us.

Big changes are in the works. For this to work out, we will need a small miracle, but we are going for it. It feels right. It feels like now is the time.

Our beautiful home is for sale.


On one hand it saddens me, on the other it's exciting.

We have been working like crazy around here to get things in order. To have the house spotless for showings.




We have put a conditional offer on this piece of land.


It is a large lot in the south east end of Barrie. This is the view from our backyard.



This is what the exterior of our new home will look like....IF, we can sell our house.




We love this home because the builder allowed us to redesign a lot of the home. We will now have a triple size shower in our ensuite along with double sinks and the toilet in a separate room, Riley will have her own ensuite, Simon and Cooper will share a jack and jill bathroom with double sinks and the toilet in another room, the laundry room is on the second floor. We increased the kitchen island, there will be a nice sized mudroom with entry from the garage and the backyard, and the list goes on....

There are several reasons for us to want to change homes, the biggest one is to be closer to Toronto. Living at that end of Barrie will cut 30 plus minutes off Jason's drive each way. There are handfuls of other reasons but I will not bore you with them.




The other changes in the works right now is, I have applied for a transfer to the school you can see in the picture past the environmentally protected area. The chances of this happening are quiet slim because of the state of education. We are facing a declining enrollment and teachers are being laid off or declared surplus at rapid rates. Because of these surpluses the chances of getting transferred is slim. Riley and Simon would also be coming with me to that school if I get transferred.

Think about it, right now we are trying to sell our house, dealing with all the work that comes with building a new home (banks, lawyers, builders etc..), I'm trying to change my job, the school the kids will go to in September is up in the air. Not to mention having three kids, five and under, I just returned back to work, all the kids activities, Jason working his full time teaching job plus part time coaching the Quest for Gold Athletes. I have (lots of) grey hair now, (big) dark circles, a (huge) cold sore and this process has just begun.

Wish us luck. We need every bit we can get.

Move over Vangogh

Riley is participating in an art show at her school. She decided that she wanted to get a canvas and paint "like a real painter." She preplanned her painting and then went for it.





Of course, Simon has to get into the action too.

All this.....

for 10 bucks! We love Teachers Day at the Toronto Zoo.

How to Train Your Dragon: Take One and Two

Saturday afternoon Riley, Simon and I set out to see the movie "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3D. We arrived in plenty of time to the theatre to find out that there were only 5 seats left. You can imagine the disappointment. The next show was 2 hours and 45 minutes later. I couldn't let my little people be sad so we bought our tickets for the next show and headed over to Retro Planet (it's similar to a Dave and Busters) for dinner and games.


Riding the roller coaster


The wind up for Whack-A-Shark


We did make it to the next the show. Riley and Simon were scared of a few parts of the movie. Simon watched the entire movie out of focus because he wouldn't wear his 3D glasses. All in all it was a cute movie and a really fun night.

Cooper Speak

I have been doing a really bad job of keeping track of Coop's words and all of a sudden he seems to have a ton. I'm going to try to get them all down here....

Mama
Dada
Riley
Simon
Up
Dog Dog
Birdie
No
Yeah
More
Play
Hot
Hockey
Nee Nee
Papa
Grandpa
Help
Down
On
Off
All Done
Cheese
Toes
Nose
Mouth
Ears
Ouch
Out
Hat
Hi
Bye Bye
Please
Thank you
Water
Hippo
Zebra
Wow
Diaper
Milk
Ketchup
Bum
Ball
Puck
Hop
Cooper
Turtle


We know there are more but I can't seem to recall anymore right now. YEAH COOP!!!

You think he has a lot to say, you should see him text.

Remembering The Loss

These two little dishes represent so much loss to us. They represent a very difficult time in our lives, in our marriage. They are two of fifteen lost embryos and one lost baby. They also represent love, determination, perseverance, and the willingness to keep moving on. We think of those times in our lives often. We talk of what life would have been like now if it worked the first time, the second time, the third time....

We will always remember those days. They are part of who we are as people, as husbands, as wives, as parents. For that I am thankful.

Purging

We have been purging....over 20 bags to the Goodwill



and organizing (look Paula, I did it too).


Coop has been enjoying the empty bins.




And Simon, has been enjoying Riley's 12-18 month Santa dress???????