The Boisvert Life

My windows have been driving me nuts lately. We’re getting less and less light in our house because it’s winter first of all, but the fact that the windows were so dirty that it constantly looked foggy outside couldn’t have helped!

I finally broke down this weekend and cleaned and squeegeed all of the windows I could reach, including the skylights (which Barney actually cleaned for me!) which were covered with a layer of nasty green slime, and pine needles. I was absolutely amazed at what a difference it made! Even driving up to the house I noticed it made the whole place look a little better.

Anyways, onto the terrible consequences of wanting clean windows.

Barney and Lindsay and I were all playing around in the living room this morning when I see something heading right for us out of the corner of my eye! We then hear two very loud “smacks” and I look out of my previously crystal clear windows to see bird feathers and bird grease on the pristine glass! Standing up and peering out a little further, I see two poor little birds lying on my deck!

One was the epitome of death, laying on his back with his little legs sticking staight up in the air, and the other didn’t look so happy either, laying on his stomach with his wimgs stretched out to the side! I thought for sure they had killed themselves because of how hard they hit, but, taking a closer look, I noticed that they were blinking and still breathing. Poor little things were in complete shock.

They finally got up and one flew away immediately, but the one who looked dead for sure just kind of sat there looking around. He finally flew up to a tree right behind our house, but he just sat there, facing the tree, not moving, for almost three hours. When we checked on him just a bit ago, he was gone. I’m really hoping he flew away, and that he’s not actually in a heap at the bottom of the tree! I don’t have the guts to look.

So, just a warning…save the birds…don’t clean your windows.

As Barney’s earlier post mentioned, we added some more pictures to the October gallery, as well as adding a new gallery for all of the Halloween pictures we’re taking. I’ll be adding even more pictures, probably on Sunday after all of our Halloween festivities are over and done with.

As you can see in the Halloween Gallery, I made Lindsay a little kitty costume because we’re too cheap to spend $30-$40 on a costume she’ll get to wear a total of three hours! But I think it turned out pretty cute anyway. The pictures of her in her costume were taken at the MOMS Club pumpkin painting party we had today. I painted two little pumpkins for Lindsay since she was more interested in eating the brushes and googly eyes! I was absolutely amazed that she actually left the kitty ears alone! I was sure she would pull them off right away, but she was such a good girl, and everyone loved her costume.

Also in the gallery are pictures of our annual trip to the corn maze and pumpkin patch out in Portland. Let’s see…who went…Me, Lindsay, Barney, Chloe, Stuart, Patrick, Chad(a good family friend), Korissa(Patrick’s sister), and Deontay(Patrick and Chloe’s nephew). Incredibly we didn’t get rained on.

The place we go to every year is an awesome little farm where you can do a corn maze (or a hay-bale maze for the toddlers), and you get a prize when you complete it. Lindsay absolutely loved the little prizes she got (a scary rattle and a little clacker/noisemaker thing) and hasn’t put the clacker down since she got it! In fact, I think you can see her holding it in some of the pictures. After you do the maze, you go over to the pumpkin patch to pick out your pumpkin. You can either take a little boat over there that floats past themed objects, a la Universal Studios type rides, or take a ride on the miniature train to get there. The kids absolutely love it, and it’s fun every year.

When we got home, we ate pizza and had a pumpkin carving party. Lindsay was lucky enough to get to see her Memere and Pepere, who stopped by the party to say a quick hello. That was a very nice treat for all of us. I think our pumpkins turned out very well again this year. The picture’s a little fuzzy because I don’t know enough about my camera to help it take a good picture in such low light, but you at least get the idea.
We’ll see if Barney elects to once again tattoo his pumpkin design onto his skin. No, I’m not joking.

Another quick but wonderful weekend in the Boisvert Life.

Ya, I know, it was only a week.

That’s all it took for me to quickly realize that , no matter how much I liked baby Stephen, or how much I wanted to make his mom’s life easier, it just wasn’t worth the money, or Lindsay getting so much less attention and play time, for me to watch him every day.

When Barney and I began discussing starting our family, we both knew that we wanted me to stay home with our children, and raise them myself (ourselves) rather than having some stranger doing it. We figured, why have kids just to see them at dinner and to put them to bed after we get home from work. Now I know, many people aren’t willing to stay home with their kids, and the subject can get quite controversial, but this is just my humble opinion. Don’t have kids until you’re ready to make them your priority.

So, when I then decided to help my friend out by watching her child so close to home, I rationalized to myself that it would be nice to have some extra income, that it really wouldn’t take very much time away from my “Lindsay time”, and that it would be good for her to learn to “share mommy” so that she’s ready for it when we have our next baby.

I was way off base.

It’s amazing how quickly you forget just how demanding infants are. Even just a few months makes a world of difference in terms of how much attention you have to give them vs. them entertaining themselves to a degree. I started feeling bad for Lindsay, as she would try to crawl into my lap while I was holding Stephen, and then go sit in the corner by herself when all attempts failed. While I realize she is going to have to share me when I do have another child, I think the timing could be better. Better to let her figure it out when she’s 2, and a little more independant, than right now when she’s so young, and looking for comfort because of her teething, and going through her clingy phase. I’d like to just focus on her for this next year, while I can give her all of my attention.

So, there ends the long tale of the short career in childcare.