I should've never left the house this morning. I was rushing out of the house with dog and child in tow, to get into the car and go to Abbotsford. I was going to drop Eddie off at my parents, and feed their dog, 'cause they're away for the day. As I was backing out of my garage, I heard a sickening thud. I stopped the car and looked over, to see my passenger mirror hanging lifelessly from the side of my vehicle. I couldn't believe it. Crap!!!!! Our garage has 2 doors going into it, so they're a lot narrower than the norm. There's litterally an inch on either side of my car when I back out. I've always been careful, but I guess I need to be more careful! I drove back into the garage to assess the damage. The whole mirror was torn right off. I managed to pull half of it off, unroll my window and stick the mirror's motor back into the car. I didn't want it hanging out as I drove around town. I continued on to my parents house, figuring there was nothing I could really do about the situation. Once I got there I let Eddie out, and I decided to take Ryken into the house so I could phone a few repair shops. As I'm looking throught the yellow pages, I trip my parents house alarm. Awesome. Thank goodness I know the code, because the alarm company called. Finally make it out of the house and to the body shop, where I learn my new mirror will cost me a pretty $250.00. Get back home after running around town, go upstairs, and see that I have left my back door open. Not just unlocked...Open. Seriously, what is wrong with me??? We're going to a friends house tonight. I think I'll let Rob drive. My mirror will be fixed tomorrow. Hmmm... wonder if Rob will notice.

Yesterday morning, I woke up at 7:45am. To the sound of ...nothing. Absolute peace and quiet. Which in our house is not normal, ecspecially after 7:00am. On an average day, (every day) I usually awaken to the lovely sounds of my son yelling "MOM...MOM...UP MOM!!!!" Today was not one of those days. Maybe it was his Valentines gift to me. I got up, got dressed, put the coffee on, then went in his room around 8:20. He was laying in his crib, eyes wide open, just chillin'. This has never happened to me. I can honestly say that I've never seen Ryken wake up in his crib, and be content to just lay there for awhile. He's usually immediatley up and ready to go. He was happy to see me, he got up, had his milk, and we watched the Berenstein Bears together. It was a great morning.

"Cars! Broom, broom!!!" This is usually the first thing that Ryken says to me in the morning. We bought the Disney Cars DVD a week ago, and he loves it! I have to limit his TV time as it is, and right now this is the only one of his movies that he wants to watch. Do you know how hard it is to find the diecast cars? I've been looking everywhere for them! I've been phoning every store that I think might carry them, but they're all out. "New shipments may be coming...but we' don't know."
I just ordered these super cute wall stickers from Avon. All the Cars characters that can stick right on the wall, peel off, and re-stick. Boys and their cars. Man, it starts young! Disney cars is definately going to be a great theme for Ryken's 2nd birthday. Not that far off...when did he get so big?

So excited! I'm actually on my computer again! This whole time, I've had to wait for Rob to come home, so I could use his laptop. My cousins husband just fixed our computer for us. Sweet! Yesterday was our last day of swimming lessons, and Ryken passed! He is officialy a starfish. I didn't think he would pass, because he has refused to blow bubbles in the pool. Tub? no problem. There's just something about putting his face in that big pool with all those kids watching. Then when the lessons were over we went to play in the shallow end. Just me and him. He leans over, puts his whole face in, and blew the biggest bubbles ever! I got all excited for him and he looked up at me with the biggest grin, and did it again! He probably did it about 10 times and had so much fun doing it. From now on, I'll be doing the teaching. We did have a lot of fun though, and he was really proud to show his dad his swimming ribbon. Definately something to scrapbook.

Here's Ryken hard at work. He's so innocent looking, but I'm running out of ideas on how to manage this child. He is constant 24/7 attention. He always wants me to carry him, screams if I take something away from him, falls to the ground if I want him to walk somewhere, and it's driving me crazy! We've been consistant with the naughty spot, but it doesn't seem to have any long term effects. I've tried hitting his hand if he does something wrong, but he doesn't cry. Instead he looks at me and starts hitting himself. Weird, right? I'm not sure what to do anymore. If I spanked him for every wrong thing he did, he'd be getting 10 spanks a day! Any suggestions from all you moms? He understands so much for his age, and can say a lot of words. But he still can't completely explain himself, which is pobably why he gets frustrated. He is so strong willed and stubborn, but at the same time he can be so fun. I don't want you to think he's some awful child, he can be so gentle and sweet. The way he hugs you makes you melt, and he makes sure to say uv-ouu before going to bed. I absolutely love my child. I need to make sure that I do the best I can in raising him the right way. Any solutions or ideas?