tiffany's spot

Tennyson takes great interest in the potty. Jordan's always on it, we're always talking about it (to Jordan) and it just seems to be a thing of fascination to Tennyson. Lately he wants to sit on it. He gets naked for his bath and I'll catch him perched on the toilet - doing nothing. We'll change his diaper and he'll say "potty potty" so we'll take him, and he sits there for about two seconds and then tenses up to hop off, so we let him off, diaper him up and go about our merry way. Today at lunch he was in his high chair making the poo face and saying "poop." "You poopin '?" I ask. "Yeah." After he finished his lunch I took him to his room to change his diaper and put him to bed. "Poop, poop," he chants. I plop him on the potty. Two seconds later, he tries to hop back down. I know I'm supposed to have all this "Mommy patience" (ha), but this whole thing kind of annoys me. I shove him back on th

Breakfast is over, and Jordan is heading down the hall to pick out clothes. I free Tennyson from his high chair and he runs after her yelling “Jojo wait! Jojo wait!.” We get to his room where I help him put his clothes on. Jordan grabs another shirt from Tennyson's drawer and throws it on the floor. “Jordan, put that back,” I scold. Tennyson looks at her and leans forward for emphasis as he demands “Back. Now! Back. Now!” He actually has a huge vocabulary. Not that he says everything properly. Noodles are neenees, banana is nana, bath is bass, Cinderella is WellaWella. At this point, every Disney princess is WellaWella. I suppose if you have a favorite you may as well work with it! The other night we were at a family function. Steven's Oma and Opa's 56th wedding anniversary to be exact. Happy Anniversary! As usual, the kids were playing under the table and the baby was being passed around. Mitchell was cooing like crazy and endearing himself to the masses. Someone said to M

I went to Diaper Gym on Monday. It was nice. Steven and I, and five other mommies, sat around a table and chit-chatted while the half dozen kids ran amok and stole each others toys and snacks. Jordan hit it off right away with another little girl and they stuck like glue to each other the entire time. Only one kid had a really good cry. No, it wasn't my kid and no, she didn't cause it. I have this habit when I hear a kid scream, to look over and see where Jordan is. It's a relief when she's nowhere near the scene of the crime. She was a very good girl and didn't fight with anyone. She did however, steal a number of snacks that I'm pretty sure I didn't come with. Apparently it happens all the time and the kids' snacks end up being more of a snack buffet. I'd still prefer if she ate what I brought. I'll know for next time to bring more exciting stuff than a banana. You should have seen the look on her face when the other kids hauled out their Ritz

. . . is that it is delicious! Mmmm, scrumptious in every way. I used to think it was just for chicken fingers, but did you know that you can pour it all over your fries too? Watch it as it trickles over the pile of fries, puddling in the low spots for extra dipping. The other night I went out for dinner with Steven, the kids and a bunch of relatives for an anniversary celebration. I ordered chicken fingers and fries for the kids to share. When they didn't eat their sauce, I used it to soak my french fries in. Then I ate their leftover chicken fingers. It was not my fault, it was the honey dill sauce's fault. It's making me seriously think about scrapping the diet for tonight and ordering in . . .

Remember when I challenged everyone to put their New Year's Resolutions out for the world to see? I didn't actually expect anyone to come back weeks later and nudge us for results - Candice! But since you asked for it, here they are... 1. Learn to play the piano. Kind of convenient that I got lessons for Christmas. Well, I am in piano lessons. The trick now is to carve out time to practice. I do like it though, when I get a moment. 2. Limit the TV that the kids watch. This is not so that I can watch more. I want it off, kids and parents included! Depends on the day. There are many days that I don't let them turn it on until well after lunch. Since they're up at 7:30, I figure this is pretty good. However, after a frustrating kids-tearing-the-house-up day, I set up a TV in the basement so that I can watch Ellen while feeding Mitchell, and force the kids to play down there instead of in my kitchen cupboards. The result? They sneak off downstairs and flip the TV on. I'

Ever have “one of those days?” I don't know if you noticed, but I was a little grumpy the other day. Okay, a lot grumpy. I wasn't all sad or anything, just grumpy, so no worries! Not that I minded Candice flattering me on her blog to cheer me up. Who doesn't love that sort of thing? The last couple days – pretty good. I went to my piano lesson the other day. Seriously, I'm so nervous playing in front of her. I feel like an eight year old. I know I have to get over it, but when I hear someone playing pretty darn good (and with two hands) and then a ten year old comes out of the room holding a heap of books I can only wish to play, I feel a little self-conscious hugging my book of easy songs. I feel like everyone in the waiting room is watching me and thinking – “hey, she was my substitute teacher once. She teaches piano too? Oh no, wait, she's taking lessons. And she sucks!” At home I actually have stuff figured out, and then I get into that little room and I ca

My name is Tiffany Lynnette Verwey I was born on September 9, 1980 I am 5'9” tall I wear a size 9 or 10 shoe, depending on the shoe. My favorite shows are Grey's Anatomy, House and Biggest Loser My favorite author right now is Janet Evanovich . Specifically her Stephanie Plum series. I highly recommend it to anyone. I have a crush on both Joe and Ranger. I don't blame Stephanie one bit. My favorite movies include Ever After and the Princess Bride. I always knew my first baby would be a girl. I was the first born, my mom was the first born and my grandma was the first born. It only made sense that my first born would be a girl too. I settled on the name Jordan Patricia when I was 16 years old. My favorite movie at the time was G.I. Jane. Demi's character was named Jordan. I was sold. Patricia is for my maternal grandma. I've always adored her, even if I don't tell her very often. My boy names were both Aiden and Connor. Steven vetoed those. That's okay. A

I'm feeling somewhat frustrated today, for a few reasons. 1. I have a piano lesson in less than an hour. I didn't actually learn the song. I barely know how to play it with one hand. She gave me a few to work on. Should be interesting. Also - anytime I do sit down to play, my family finds ways to interrupt it. I'm not sure how to get the practice in besides doing it at nine at night, and by then I really don't feel like it. 2. I decided to go to a 5:30pm aerobics class at the gym. Then, from 6:30 to 7:15 I was going to run on the treadmill, at 7:15 I was going to shower and get ready and head over to piano. I packed all my piano stuff, gym stuff, shower stuff, etc. and headed over to the gym. I pulled in and stopped the van and realized that I forgot my shoes. Royally annoyed at that one. I turned around and headed home. Step aerobics with no shoes is not something that I was looking forward to. 3. I'll be fat forever. Stupid ticker. I think in another life I could

It's true. I check your blogs about 18 times a day, desperately hoping that you've blogged something new. Sometimes when you haven't (ahem), I try and amuse myself in other ways on the computer (don't be thinking dirty thoughts) instead of going and reading a book, practicing piano, parenting my kids, etc. Tonight I perused some of my own previous blog posts. See what you've reduced me to? Get blogging! I'm thinking of starting a favorites tab, for the ones that people particularly like. One of mine is this . It's funnier now than when I first wrote it. You'll know why when you check it out.

If you haven't read my "100 excuses" post, go read it. It took me a long time! If you only got to #18 or so and then gave up, only pretending you read it, go back and finish! Tennyson is so funny. He knows new words every day, words that I don't actually realize I've taught him until he repeats it. The other day he was repeating over and over "ip, ip, ip" while staring at my drink. Apparently, it means "sip." No prompting. He just remembers stuff. His memory never ceases to amaze me. The thing though, that got me thinking of him just now is this - Jordan is bossing him around in the other room, trying to get him to help her carry something. He's so compliant with her sometimes. He's a very eager to please kid, taking dishes to the counter for me, or throwing something in the garbage. He itches to help me with the laundry (not always so helpful), the sweeping, the bathroom cleaning. It's cute, if not a little frustrating! Back to t

I don't have my 100 things done. What I do have is 100 reasons why not: I find the idea of sharing 100 things about myself, however personal or impersonal, a little daunting. My fingers cramp after a few dozen entries Nobody really wants to know, you're all just bored! My kids are probably throwing laundry soap around right now. My kids are likely going to crawl around underneath the computer and unplug something, and all my things about myself will be lost, and after having spent so much time on it only to lose it, I'll fall into a self-imposed, depressed slump that'll take me months to snap out of. You wouldn't want me to do that to my kids would you? I can't find the “s” key. There's no way I can continue. Mine won't be as interesting as yours. I'll spend all this time getting to 100, and you'll get even more bored than you already were, and close the window. Then next time I talk to you I'll refer to something that I assume you know, onl

It seems as though I've set some sort of precedence with all this "challenging" nonsense, and now Candice is challenging everyone to share 100 things about themselves. I'll do it, but it'll take me a day or two. I'm going to give some excuses - um - it's the weekend and Steven is home, the kids are busy, my house is a disaster . . . There, that should suffice!

Well, I cleaned up. That's really all I can say. I managed to get one garbage bag of junk out of that big old room, but there is still SO much in there! I'm really kind of overwhelmed and depressed about it now. I really don't know how to make it more organized. I will definitely have to choose a few things from the pile to bring to our parents' houses. That will help. I just don't know what to pick. I need Steven to do it with me, he may feel slightly less guilt. Guilt, you ask? About what? Lots of guilt. I feel guilty that I'm deciding the fate of toys that aren't mine. There I said it. I know that Jordan and Tennyson probably won't notice that I scurry some of it away. Then there's the fact that most of these toys were gifts from people who are not us. Aunties, Grandmas and Grandpas gave these things to our kids. I know that making boxes of stuff to leave elsewhere is not the same as taking it to a thrift store or tossing it out, but I feel bad ab

You guys totally owe me. I have been blogging quite a bit lately, and spilling some pretty good stuff if I do say so myself. I think there aught to be a quota. I've added the label "confessions" to this blog. I have so many things to confess, and so few that I actually will! Today's confession is about the mess in my basement. I'll admit it, it's a bit of a disaster. Our basement is broken into multiple "areas." Half the basement is a wide open, carpeted rec-room. It's perfect for the kids. We put plug-in guards in the outlets and a lock on the door leading to the less savory half of the basement where the laundry room and storage areas are. Now, I'm going to scatter the blame a little. Our kids are the only grand kids, niece and nephews of both sides of our family. This means that they end up getting really really spoiled when birthdays and Christmas and other holidays (or non-holidays) come around. All these toys have to go somewhere right?

Do you remember Baby Alive? When I was a kid I was jealous because Ange had a Baby Alive. Baby Alive was cool – she came with plastic diapers that turned either brown or yellow inside when you fed her a bottle of water. I don't know what it is with girls and their diaper dirtying dolls, but pooping babies and their imitators seem to be a timeless favorite of little girls wanting to do what Mommy does. Jordan got a Baby Alive for Christmas. Over the last 20 years, Baby Alive has morphed into Cyborg Baby Alive. She blinks, laughs, tells you she loves you, sings songs, sniffs the air and informs you that she made a stinky. The entire time her rubberized face contorts to add depth to her emotions. The thing that has remained the same about Baby Alive is that she pees and poops. Except, unlike Baby Alive of the past, she actually passes the food through her to end up, poop-like, in her diaper. Jordan calls Baby Alive her poopin' doll. Today I finally made time to let Jordan fee

The aftermath is upon me. Christmas is over. I have waded through mounds of gift wrap and tinsel, I have conquered and buried the tree to the dismay of a blond, wet-eyed little girl. I survived meal after delicious, gravy-dripping meal, for days on end. My children are somewhat caught up on their sleep. Aside from the expanded heap of toys in the basement there is little evidence to suggest that this home and family have just made their way through a major holiday. I have helped to clear away this evidence. I peeled Santas off the windows, I put stockings back in the box for next year. I packed up my Christmas tree candle holders, my collectible Christmas beanie babies and tossed the leftover candy canes into the treat bucket. However, in the wake of Christmas and its overindulgences they linger: the holiday goodies. I have tried to find ways to get rid of them. I tell myself that I'll wait until we have guests and then I'll share them. I pulled all the leftover dainties from v

It's New Year's Resolution time again! I think that in honour of the blog-world, we should all post a resolution or two. I'm calling out Ange, Lyla, Tom, Candice, Heather, Sonya and Steven on this one. Pretty much everyone who has a blog that I read! Let's have some rules, or at least one main one. NOBODY is allowed to put "I resolve to lose a bunch of weight, therefore making myself slimmer, sexier and somehow a better person." Seriously, losing weight does not make our lives better so let's not list that okay?? Personally, I don't read all your blogs hoping against hope that you'll just slim down a little so that you're more interesting! We're all fantastic as we are. Wow, what a pep talk! My resolutions: Learn to play the piano. Kind of convenient that I got lessons for Christmas. Limit the tv that the kids watch. This is not so that I can watch more. I want it off, kids and parents included! Set aside time each day to do something with