You will LIVE Amelia!

Amelia and Roman were in the tub last night and Amelia bumped against the wall and hurt her lip. She was CRYING!!! I said to Roman to ask her if she was ok and if he could do something to make it better. I was trying make him stop and notice someone in pain & to help them especially since they are siblings. He stopped and looked at her and said, "You will LIVE Amelia!" He then proceeded to pick his nose and offer her his bugger! I guess he kind of got the point of it, and she was being VERY dramatic. When he offered her his bugger she did calm down and thankfully she did not accept it!

"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." Mark Twain

Amelia is definitely learning & developing her story telling skills. Yesterday, Amelia gave in to the temptation to color on Dana's dining room table. This is really strange for Amelia to do something like this, and my only thought is that she has been battling the cold the other two have been & she was out of sorts. Well, she then proceeded to go and get my sister and point out the coloring & said "look at what Everett did!" Her only error in this statement was that Everett was not home to do it. My sister asked her she was lying and Amelia quite skillfully looked her in the eye & said she didn't that Everett did. My sister asked her one more time & she confessed! Thankfully, she did reveal the truth, but I think she is trying to see how far she can push it.

BUCKET LIST

I got this e-mail from Mika.... this is MY BUCKET LIST ...the Items in BOLD GREEN are things I have done so far... the others... not yet!

Gone on a blind date
Skipped school

Watched someone die

Been to Canada

Been to Europe

Been to Mexico

Been to Florida

Been on a plane

Been lost

Been on the opposite side of the country

Gone to Washington , DC

Swam in the ocean

Cried yourself to sleep

Played cops and robber or cowboys and Indians

Recently colored with crayons

Sang Karaoke

Paid for a meal with coins only

Done something you told yourself you wouldn't

Made prank phone calls

Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose

Caught a snowflake on your tongue

Danced your heart out

Written a letter to Santa Claus

Been kissed under the mistletoe

Watched the sunrise with someone

Blown bubbles

Gone ice-skating

Been skinny dipping outdoors

Gone to the movies

Sat outside in the rain

Lived one of your dreams

1. Any nickname? Lean, LBC, Helena Marina Batina, Granny Goose, Honey, Momma, Mom

2. Mother's name? Cela
3. Father's name ? John Roger
4. Favorite drink? Diet Coke
5. Body Piercings? 4 - Ears

6. What animal would you be if you could choose one? Dolphin
7. Favorite song? Amazing Grace
8. Favorite vacation spot? Hawaii
10. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? Of Course

11. Ever been on TV? Yes
12. Ever steal any traffic signs? No

13. Ever been in a car accident? Yes

14. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? 4-Door

15. Favorite brand of body wash? Soap
16. Favorite TV show? Oprah
17. Favorite movie? A Walk to Remember
18. Favorite holiday? Thanksgiving
19. Favorite dessert? Rice Pudding
20. Favorite food? Potatoe Chips

21. Favorite day of the week? Friday
22. Name something you love. Husband & Kids
23. Favorite toothpaste? Aqua Fresh
24. Favorite smell? Cookies Baking

25.Name something you do to relax? Deep Breaths
26. How do you see yourself in 10 years? 45 with my kids smarter than me

Sick Day

Well, Borys, Roman and Annelise are all sick! Fevers, runny nose (or bloody nose as Roman calls it) and CRANKINESS! So, I decided I would work from home today. I figured they needed mommy time and Borys although sick had to go to work, but he is the one who started this illness chain to begin with, and thus he has subjected me to the illness. However, I am determined to stay healthy!! I have to admit I like being home with them on sick days - it is the trying to work from home that I hate. However, I decided today that I am not going to stress about trying to work or worry about staying home with sick kids because they are my first priority and worrying about it won't change the fact that they are home sick. It is life. I found out though today after I picked up Amelia from school that she went to the nurses office because she said she was sick. The front office looked at her had her lay down for a bit and then she returned to class. When she told me about this, I wondered if she has found a way to skip class and then I realized that she simply wanted to be home with me because she knew that I was home with her sick siblings. She is a pretty crafty kid. So, it confirms for me not to worry about work, I am focusing on what is important...the kids.

Memory Lane...when I grew up in the 70's

IF YOU WERE A LITTLE GIRL IN THE 70'S......
You had that Fisher Price Doctor's Kit with a stethoscope that actually worked.
You owned a bicycle with a banana seat and a plastic basket with flowers on it.
You learned to skate with actual skates (not roller blades) that had metal wheels.
You thought Gopher from Love Boat was cute (admit it!)
You had nightmares after watching Fantasy Island
You had either a 'bowl cut' or 'pixie', not to mention the 'Dorothy Hamill'. People sometimes thought you were a boy.
You had rubber boots for rainy days and Moon boots for snowy days. YEAH!
You owned a 'Slip-n-Slide', on which you injured yourself on a sprinkler head more than once. Your Holly Hobbie sleeping bag was your most prized possession.
You wore a poncho, gauchos, and knickers.
You begged Santa for the electronic game, Simon.
You had the Donnie and Marie dolls with those pink and purple satiny shredded outfits.
You spent hours in your backyard on your metal swing set with the trapeze. The swing set tipped over at least once.
You had homemade ribbon barrettes in every imaginable color.
You had a pair of Doctor Scholl's sandals (the ones with hard sole & the buckle).
You wanted to be Laura Ingalls Wilder really bad; you wore that Little House on the Prairie-inspired plaid, ruffle shirt with the high neck in at least one school picture; and you despised Nellie Oleson!
You wanted your first kiss to be at a roller rink!
PONG! ('video tennis' ) was the most remarkable futuristic game you've ever heard of!
Your hairstyle was described as having 'wings' or 'feathers' and you kept it 'pretty' with the comb you kept in your back pocket. When you walked, the 'wings' flapped up and down, looked like you were gonna 'take off'
You know who Strawberry Shortcake is, as well as her friends, Blueberry Muffin and Huckleberry Pie.
You carried a Muppets lunch box to school and it was metal, not plastic. With the thermos inside some were glass inside and broke the first time you dropped them.
You and your girlfriends would fight over which of the Dukes of Hazzard was your boyfriend. YOU had Star Wars action figures, too!
It was a big event in your household each year when the 'Wizard of Oz' would come on TV. Your mom would break out the popcorn and sleeping bags!
You often asked your Magic-8 ball the question: 'Who will I marry. Shaun Cassidy, Leif Garrett, or David Cassidy?'
You completely wore out your Grease, Saturday Night Fever, and Fame soundtrack record album.
You tried to do lots of arts and crafts, like yarn and Popsicle-stick God's eyes, decoupage, or those weird potholders made on a plastic loom. Y
ou made Shrinky-Dinks and put iron-on kittens on your t-shirts!
You used to tape record songs off the radio by holding your portable tape player up to the speaker.
You had subscriptions to Dynamite and Tiger Beat.
You learned everything you nee ded to know about girl issues from Judy Blume books. (Are you there God, It's me, Margaret.)
You thought Olivia Newton John's song 'Physical' was about aerobics. (?? its not??)
You wore friendship pins on your tennis shoes, or shoelaces with hearts or rainbow designs. Y
ou wanted to be a Solid Gold dancer.
You drowned yourself in Love's Baby Soft - which was the first 'real' perfume you ever owned. You glopped your lips in Strawberry Roll-on lip-gloss till it almost dripped off.

Time in a Bottle...well, coffee can

Where were we?

The thought of being home on MLK day with the kids and then with the inauguration of Barack Obama on January 20th, I thought it would be interesting for the kids to put together a time capsule. My mom did one with me when I was a kid, and we recently found it. It is so interesting. Anyways, Dana & I took the kids to McDonalds for lunch and let them play & then we did a little lesson about the inaugugration so the kids would get an idea of what was happening. They actually understood & knew more about it than we expected. It is fascinating because when you think about it, my kids will not truly understand the signfigance of Obama’s presidency they will just know of a world where an African American man was President and that is a great thing. So, we worked on the time capsule, actually Dana & I did most of it. However, in 30 years it will be interesting to see what they remember from this time, where we are then, and what lies ahead.

Lemonade Stand

I was the type of mother I hope to be...well, for a few hours at least. On Saturday, Amelia found a bag of suckers and proceeded to tell me they were for sale. I decided to buy two from her and then it took off…the idea of a lemonade stand. She quickly realized she could make a quick buck or two or three. However, she also decided to sell a rather interesting collection of her toys, books, and bracelets. I encouraged her to set-up her business and with the help of her brother, she did pretty well. She made $10 actually, thanks to the help of family & friends that I called & begged to come over to help with the effort. I encouraged her to yell when cars drove by or when neighbors walked by…Lemonade for Sale! Roman had the best set of lungs for that task & was not timid at all whereas Amelia was; however, once her first cup was sold she was good to go. Around noon when all the lemonade was sold and it was getting too hot, they decided to pack it up. It was really cute though and I am glad that I encouraged it.

I want YOU to pick me up!

I have been really struggling lately. I feel like I am running in circles and doing everything a little subpar....I am late for work nearly every morning, but I try to take the kids to school, I am late getting home even thou I leave work early to get home and Amelia & Roman want me to pick them up from school. If they only could understand that I would have to leave work at 1pm to pick them up...and that is only a few hours after I get there because remember I am late getting there. I ask myself what is the point of this? Work? Commuting? I don't mind work. Actually, I enjoy it - I get up put on my makeup, put on something with a zipper (although frustrating), and have time to drink a full commuter cup of coffee. I mean I do like the time I have to pay bills while I am at work, call a friend, wrote a post, do some work, go pump, do some more work, have lunch, little bit more work, pump again, one more phone call, little bit more work and head home. I don't mind my job. I work with fun people, good friends actually. However, as I get connected to my breast pump for the second time of the day and try to figure out how I will convince the kids to pick out their clothes for the next day because I was sure that is why I was a half hour late. As I sit in some vacant office trying to remember if I locked the door before I turned on this life sucking machine, I tell myself that I am ok, the kids are ok, there are other mothers who can volunteer in the classroom, I am setting an example for my girls, women fought hard for this opportunity I have, if Borys walked out on me tomorrow like Jeff did to my sister, I would be able to survive. Every woman should have their own money - that is what my mom tells me - I do. Good thing - right? I guess. However, then I think of how I felt when I was in Elementary School....my mom was home.

I left work early today...to pick Amelia and Roman up. I surprised them. It was a special treat. I do know that if I stayed home with them all the time I am not as focused on them - strange, but for now I will just have to leave work early a few times a week. It is worth it because the look on their faces was priceless!

It is all about TIMING!

Last night Amelia decided that she wants a.....BUNNY! She asked me if she could get one and I said it was a family decision and needed to be decided on as a family. I tried to get out of it with the typical questions of who will take care of it, will she clean up after it, feed it. She proceeded to tell me that we can get a box for the bunny's poops and she would definitely feed it. She is so persistent so I said what I have been saying a lot lately..."you will have to ask your dad" I thought I was in the clear because her dad was at the Red Wings Game....I was WRONG she got her phone and proceeded to call him. I tried to explain to her that asking him when he was at the hockey game was the wrong idea. I said she might be more successful if she asked him when they are snuggling watching television or after a day at the park.
It rang and rang...voicemail...."Daddy, I need to talk to you about a bunny!"
Good he didn't answer...I am safe I thought, well...he called back a half hour later. Amelia answered the phone and said she had to talk to him...."Daddy, I have to ask you a question? Can I get a bunny?" I could hear the noise in the background and I was holding my breath that he would not say YES just because he couldn't hear...thankfully, they didn't' score at that moment and thankfully, he said NO. She actually thought she could get a quick YES out of him. She is so smart. After he said NO, he said "you have pets Amelia you have fish" She said that she doesn't like fish because she can't cuddle with them. At least, she knows what her likes & dislikes are....well, then Roman decided that he wants a lion! I finally got them off of the phone by telling them that we could eat the rabbit that it just tastes like chicken...that comment led her to full tears. Oops, it was just a joke! I said maybe we could get a dog...these are my kids....they said NO we are scared of dogs! I was so relieved that I averted the bunny conversation for another week or so, last month she wanted a cat! Thank you, honey for not saying YES to the bunny, but I have to hand it to Amelia she was persistent.

Happy 9th Birthday Grant!

We celebrated Grant's (my nephew & the kids' cousin) 9th birthday on Sunday night. We had a great time and Grant enjoyed celebrating with his friend from his cab to school, Daniel. It was so nice to see Grant being social and interactive even thou he ran to his room after everyone sang Happy Birthday. Grant is high-functioning autistic and simple things to some are a challenge to Grant. However, Grant is doing well, and the fact that he had a friend he made at school at his party was wonderful. It struck me as so funny when Grant asked to hold Annelise and to show her to Daniel's brother and he was asking him if he thought she was cute? However, then out of the blue Grant says "I am allergic to cats!" I guess Annelise reminded him of a cat or something, but it cracked me up!
Daniel has become a good friend to Grant. They ride in the cab together and Daniel is in the 7th grade. They both have an interest in DS Nintendo Games and Poke-mon. Grant has come a long way in the past year. I was amazed the other night when he was in his room with the door closed and when I knocked he said "come in". It was a moment when you think wow, that wouldn't have happened before. Anyways, it was a fun night of birthday wishes!

Annelise is 4 months, 3 weeks - we have started her on cereal. She is so anxious to sit up and start playing with the big kids. I am looking forward to when she can sit up and she grows out a bit of her fussiness. However, I will always miss those cubby cheeks and big baby blues!

Can your kid do this?

Borys happen to have taken this picture of Roman & no, it was not Halloween he we just wearing the costume around the house. He definitely has a sense of humor and often tries to get people to laugh. Roman definitely knows how to manipulate his mommy and Amelia is the brain behind a lot of their little plans to tug at my heart strings. They both amaze me daily and Amelia has blossomed lately. She has her own phone...yes, I can't believe that we did it, but we got her a phone...correction...Santa got the phone with a phone book and know we can be surprised by her phone calls....14 of them actually the day she got it. She called her Aunt Dana & cousin Helena 14 times in 20 minutes with several updates about her day. I have since instructed her that she needs to ask me when she wants to call people and so I can check that it ends up back on the hook. However, she is great with numbers now & has most people's phone numbers memorized...then again, it might be due to the fact that she has placed high frequency of calls.

We had a great Uki Christmas in Palm Desert, I stopped by to see dear old friend, Jason St. John. I have not seen in him in at least 14 years. I was great and the kids had fun playing with Drew...possibly a little too much fun. Drew ended up needing a cast on his foot after jumping to Momma Mia with Amelia & Roman. Poor little guy - who knew that Momma Mia was so dangerous, maybe it is just my kids that are?

New Year - New Era

Happy New Year! I can't believe it is 2009 - it feels like it was just yesterday that we were celebrating the arrival of Y2K and 2000. Since that time so much has changed in my life, it is entirely different than what I had planned...marriage, divorces, births, deaths, tears, fears, grins, giggles, and three children to keep Borys & me busy. However, we are blessed with our families who has helped us with surprise of illnesses, surgeries, divorces, job changes and a lot of guidance to assist us with our three little munchkins, Amelia (5), Roman (3) and Annelise (4 months).

I have decided that it is important to keep this journal because I don't want to look back & say I wish I did so at the age of 35, a new year, a new baby, and the inspiration of some of my old friends (Shayla, Pam, Tracie) I have decided I can do this....We will see how it goes!

Let me just catch you up on the past year since that is the easiest year for me to remember because it was a memorable one...my sister, Dana, who lives across the street with her three kids Grant (8), Helena (5) and Everett (2) has lived through the worst year ever...she has fought breast cancer, endured divorce proceedings with no child or spousal support. However, there is an angel in our lives now we welcomed Annelise Antonia Kohut to our klan on August 20, 2008 and she has been a blessing of joy after we endured a loss the year prior. She was born at 8:07am at 8 lbs. 3oz. and 19 inches - I had forgotten how small they are when they are newborns....Amelia & Roman were both the same size - 7 lbs. 14 oz. 21 inches and it just seemed long ago when they were born. Amelia started kindergarten when I was home on maternity leave and Roman started pre-school and is finally potty-trained. They both love Annelise and have their moments of fighting with one another so I'm sure they will add her to the mix when she can hold her own.

We are headed to Palm Desert tomorrow to celebrate Uki Christmas with Tassia & Andy, Drew, Steve & Roma and Yuri & Robert. So, there will be a lot more to come in the year ahead....let's see what happens.....