I’m dying

I was feeling really sick the other day. After work Tyler and I were supposed to go to his work event on the way there I decided it probably wasn’t the best idea to go. He was very sweet by taking me to his house and cooking me dinner, but since I was feeling sick I didn’t want to eat. He forced me anyway. Then he took me back home.

I basically got into bed at 8pm and only woke up the next morning for work, unfortunately not feeling any better. I had a fever, my throat was sore and I felt dizzy. (This story is slightly funny at the end…I promise.)

Dave asked me how I slept and how I was feeling. I told him I wasn’t feeling well, when he asked me what was wrong the fastest (flawed) response I could think of was “I feel like I’m dying.”

This would have been okay if Dave was the only one who had heard this. Unfortunately the kids were in the kitchen too, so as I walked out the room Braden said, “Daddy, help ra-ra, she is dying.” Then Finn asked “Is ra-ra going to die?” And there were many more death comments and questions throughout the morning, AJ even came to check on me and give me her teddy bear to make me better so I didn’t die. Lesson learnt, kids are more dramatic than adults…

Flower neck brace

My friend Nina brought me a flower (Orchid) for my birthday (note: this is never a good idea, flowers come to my care to die…not live.) I try to look after my flower and water (not over water) it. Give it a little sun and fresh air and I even try saying nice things to it (my mom is convinced this works.) It worked for a while but after a while I noticed the flower was turning a brownish gray. I double checked and noticed the stem had a huge tear in it; someone set me up for failure.

But no fears I found some sticky tape and taped it back together, Tyler walked in at that exact moment with a confused look on his face. I tried to explain my theory that I was fixing the plant, like you put a neck brace on if someone fractures their neck. That’s how it works, right?

Apparently not, my precious plant still died L

My poor flower and it's neck brace

It blows my mind that Sue can have such a green thumb, and Robyn has a death thumb… (meanie!) I can attest that she tries, sometimes too hard (see above neck brace comment)… this however does give me a very good excuse to never have to buy flowers… I mean you all read the above right? So I am covered? You guys will all defend me on this one… right?

Payback for my mom…

You know when you have to tell your mom she is right? Or when you do something you realize is exactly what your mother would do?

Weeeeell, since the boys have figured out how to open the bathroom door. I know understand why my mom would get so annoyed with us children when we walked in/knocked on the door or shouted through the door. Finn and Braden will stand outside the door and ask me questions loud enough that I can hear something, but soft enough that I’m not sure what they are asking. This leads me to the conclusion that if I don’t answer they are going to do whatever it is (this could be very bad) or they will enter to seek their answer…neither of these sound too appealing to me.

So I have to try rush-pee, which is not fun. Just when I think I’m in the clear I hear the twisting of the handle which either means I need to wipe, stand up and button up in lightening speed or face the Spanish inquisition. Didn’t quite make it? Now you are face with “ra-ra what are you doing?” “You have blue underwear like me” and “ra-ra can I wipe for you?” (After he tears off half a square of toilet paper…)

Now I’m faced with the problem of trying to convince (usually Finn) to leave the bathroom so I can finish my business. Ugh, officially saying sorry to my mom for all those torturous bathroom visits…

Kids and their funny stuff…

Braden commented the other after I put his backpack on that “My bag is hurting my ankles.” I was extremely confused and asked him if he was okay. He started rubbing his shoulder and told me his bag was too heavy and made his ankles sore. I then had to explain the difference between his shoulders and his ankles (without laughing…impossible!)

Braden at swimming lessons

Finn, who loves all things blue, is particularly fond of his blue Superman shirt. I wash this shirt every Monday (since he wears it over the weekend) and every Wednesday (since he wears it on Tuesdays.) The boys are at home with me on Mondays and I usually do the laundry while they sleep, get it folded and take it up to their room once they awake up from their nap. So, every Monday they see what I have washed. Finn of course asking me “Did you wash my superman shirt?” every Monday. (Braden occasionally asks about his red Phillies Baseball shirt.) When he sees I have washed it, he remarks, “You washed my Superman shirt?! You do love me ra-ra!” As if there was any question!

Finn at the playground

Annabel it seems is a fountain of good advice. We were talking about something the other day and suddenly she looks at me and says, “There’s always good stuff to the bad stuff, Robyn can you just trust me about this?” Indeed I can…

AJ (in the spotty dress) at her school concert

During this coming Summer break the Hehir/Shillingford family is heading to Cape Cod for 2 weeks. Tyler and I are heading on a ridiculously long road trip. So the kids keep telling me they are going on a plane to the beach and asking if I’m coming with. When I tell them no, they all comment that they will miss me. So, I told them that it will be nice for them cos then they can spend time with their family…wait for it…

Annabel said “but ra-ra, you are part of our family.” Cute right, almost tears streaming at this tender moment…ya right…Braden had to break this tender moment by saying, “Yeah, youour family cos you don’t have a mom and a dad…”

So, there I was in the kitchen flipping through my facebook pictures to prove to a pair of three year olds that I do indeed have a mom and a dad…life is hard…

After a "hard" day of raking leaves

Kids see stuff the way most adults don’t so I am constantly intrigued by things they say. They started telling which friends in their class are boys and which are girls. So I asked them what I am. Braden said “you’re a girl”, and Finn said, “No, you’re a lady”, to which Annabel added, “An adult lady.” I asked them what their mom was. They informed me she was an adult lady too. So I asked what their dad was (interested to see if they see boy or man) instead they surprised me by saying, “ra-ra he’s a doctor.”

I have to say this has backfired once or twice actually. Braden hurt himself the other and usually I ask them if I need to take them to hospital or if we should call the doctor. This usually results in laughter and “no ra-ra you’re silly,” And tears stops flowing. However since Braden has figured out this whole doctor thing this no longer works since when I use this tactic Braden now says, “my dad is a doctor ra-ra,” and I’m left speechless, no tears flowing though.

School results

Second school semester done and I have great news… I’m a straight A student, again J Which means my GPA (Grade Point Average) is an awesome 4.0. Below is an explain of the America GPA system (I had to look it up since 4 seems like such a strange number.)

http://inquiry.princetonreview.com/leadgentemplate/GPA_popup.asp

http://www.collegeboard.com/html/academicTracker-howtoconvert.html

Just to add a side note, I am not too familiar with how GPA works in different countries, I can only imagine that like most other things we probably do it different from everyone, that being said we can’t even come to a consensus here in our own country, some places use the 4.0 scale, but my high school (and many others), used a 5.0 scale… which makes applying for colleges tricky because you have to convert it and it often times isn’t just a simple conversion depending on classes… its wonderful… NOT.

Big boy beds

This post will be short and sweet. The tiny twin boys I originally came over to watch are now potty trained, super talkative BIG BOYS! Now they are sleeping in big boy beds, which they occasionally jump on but mainly nap/sleep in. They have transitioned pretty well. I walked upstairs minutes after the beds were put together and just stared at the space their small cribs used to occupy that were now housing big beds (covered in Curious George and Lightening McQueen linen) Dave assured me that they are big boys now. HAHA. It’s crazy to think about that.

Moving, fans and boyfriends mother…

Tyler recently moved into a new apartment which means not only can he stop blaming his roommate for their messy apartment BUT it also means it’s a 4 minute drive (20 minute walk or 8 minute bike ride.) Which makes this girl very happy since previously it was a 40 minute drive (and of course I never tried to walk it.)

I offered to help which I immediately regretted when I was poked awake on Saturday morning by Tyler saying time to help me move. UGH! Really? It’s 7am!

Being a good girlfriend (or pretending to be) I woke up and got ready. We drove to his mom’s house where I was put to work directing the ladies to his new residence, where we were meant to clean before the boys packed up his apartment and moved all the stuff over. We did this pretty well with only a few interesting stories…

Firstly Tyler’s Gran was stationed at the house with us, Mary (his mom) and I decided he needed a carpet or two, so we headed to Home Depot. Mary’s instruction’s to her mom before we left? No climbing on any surfaces to clean up too high!

Which means when we arrived back, guess who had to climb on high surfaces to clean cupboard tops and windows…yip this ninja!

We realized that once the boys arrived to move everything they would probably combust from the heat in the apartment. We had been avoiding turning on the fans and had opened all the windows instead since the fan was totally gross! Completely covered in dust and way to high up for anyone to reach. So, Mary had the wonderful idea to give me a piggy back ride and I could clean them. Once we realized I was basically the same height as her when on her back, we reassessed. I would have to climb on her (my boyfriend’s mom *blush*) shoulders. This worked like a charm, we were able to turn on the fans…but have never spoken of this moment since…

After Mary and I instructed the boys to move things around, and around and one last time to make sure it looked just right and we fed them the house looked amazing and Tyler was ready for a few small extras. Like glasses and packing the cupboards. And lastly was a pesky piece of fabric wrapped around a branch outside his kitchen window. So, yes I had to ninja that away to. (By climbing out the kitchen window, onto a roof outside and hanging onto everything and anything I could…not because I was scared but because my boyfriend kept nagging me to be careful.)

I think Robyn described the highlights of this event pretty well, hard to make moving exciting, however with the help of many friends and some special ladies I am all moved and settled in and it looks amazing… I wish I had some photos, but you will have to take my word for it. I cannot thank those that helped me enough, its always great to know you have friends and family that will pitch in and help!