Christmas Eve

Happy holidays to one and all. SO it is Christmas eve and we are in Taber Alberta where Ryan's family lives. Currently the rest of the family is over at Ryan's aunts doing their traditional get together and white elephant game. I Am home with a scik sleeping baby, enjoying some peace and quiet that has been hard to find these last couple days. COhen has som enasty cold,chest cough and has had it for about 2 weeks. He was so tired to day that he went to sleep at 4 30 and hasn't woken it up and it is now 7 30. He may be down for the night. Maci is flying around like a bat out of hell, no really she is very cute and is soooo excited she can barely stand it. I just finished hiding her present from the "snowman" is the freezer. Ever since I was a little girl the "snow man" has come and brought us pj's on christmas eve. I even went so far as going out to the little pile of old dirty snow in the back yard, almost freezing my fingers off and dug some snow out and put it in a zip lock baggie and also put it in the freezer with the presents,just for proof that the snowman was really here. She is just soo beleiving right now.. Maci tried to quote the peter pan quote about every time some one says they don't believe in fairies, a fairy dies but instead she said" every time someone says they don't believe in fairies, a fairy kills itself" right mom?? I had to correct that fairies don't commit suicide. The other day she was wondering who she was going to marry and she told me that first she had to grow her husband in her tummy. Anyway, just thought I would check in as it has been a while. We are off to Florida on Wednesday!!. love meg

"Everytime you say you don't believe in faires, a fairy dies"-Peter Pan

So my sister is starring as Wendy in Peter Pan. She works for a community theatre in Memphis Tennessee. Maci, my mom and I are going on New Years Eve to see her in the production. Maci is soooo pumped!!!!!!We are really proud of her and want to show her off a bit, so check out her . websitehttp://www.playhouseonthesquare.org/0607/peterpan.html If this address doesn't work, then go to it through my links. She is the red headed girls in the pinkish night gown.

EDAMAME WARNING!!!!!!!!!!

So a few weeks ago, we bought a box of Edamame( Peggy's premium brand) at Costco. They come in packages of 8. Today we were eating #4. I like to put the whole bean in my mouth and slide them out with my teeth, never actually seeing the beans that come out. Ryan is a bit more meticulous and shells each one individually. Anyway, we are all eating them(except Cohen obviously) when out pops a lovely little worm out of Ryan's bean. I felt instantly queasy as I had just downed a bunch and am sure I can feel little wigglers in my gut now. I called Costco and and they said they had just pulled the product from their shelves this morning for a similar incident in Eastern Canada. Needles to say, we can take it in for a refund. Uhmm so is you have them in your freezer.... don't eat them unless you are feeling like playing a game from Fear Factor or Survivor. I don't have much of an appetite anymore.......... meg

Another Maci moment

just a quickie.... yesterday my cuz, Lyndsi and her hubby Bryce and their kids stooped over for a visit. They have a new baby girl and a 2 yr old boy. Maci was bugging Braxton( 2 year old) to go on a treasure hunt with her and he didn't want to, he was actually confused as to what she was asking him to do. So I said, Maci I don't think he understands what you want him to do and she goes " of course he doesn't mom, he is still a toddler". We were like OK..... She is barely 1 year older then him but has somehow decided that she is not a toddler any more... Not sure when that decision was made in her little brain? Love those moments..........

more random thoughts and news

So here I am again, sunday evening, both kids asleep YEAH!!!!!!!!!! I thought I would sit down and update my blog that I have been slacking on lately. So Ryan is in the thick of finals, which always proves to be a interesting time around our house( that's all I will say on that subject=)!! We are going home to southern AB on the 19th and spening half the time with my dad and Lesley and the other half with Ryan's family. On the 27th, we are flying to Orlando Florida to be with my mom and Joe. We will be going to a beach house in St. Augestine and then to Orlando. Maci will get the whole Disny World experience which she is already driving me crazy about. I hear the lines are preaty horrible there but I don't think Cinderella's castle and spinning tea cups and dumbo rides are what they are talking about when you have to wait so I am sure we will be fine. My mom ,Maci and I will then fly to Memphis Tenn, for 2 days to see my sister, Bronwyn in Peter Pan. She is playing Wendy in a community theater production she is working for and then back to Florida again. It should be a busy holiday but a fun one. Cohen is such a little joy and SUCH a Mama's boy. Ryan laughs at him cause if I am in the same room as Cohen and he hears my voice , he wiggles all over and cranes his neck to find me, and then once he does, he gives me about a 5 second window of time to smile at him and if I don't he starts sobbing. His new things is to stroke my face and pull on my nose and lips when I feed him. It is soo cute!!! He is sitting up and rolling around so hopefully a little more physical activity will help him slim down a bit!! I am doing the same old thing, working out is my thing I live for 5 days/week. I have had so much more energy lately and love the break from everyone and everything(mainly KIDS!!!) WE are starting to think about moving to Toronto a bit more seriously now and have just started talking to a realator about listing our house and trying to figure out what part of Toronto we want to go to. Well that's it for now, love to hear from any of ya!! Meg

Maci's Ultimate Revenge.

Ok so today I was in the bathroom and I look down at the garbage can to see one of my nice black shoes in the garbage can. Immediately I call Maci over to the room and ask her why she threw my shoe in the garbage. The conversation goes -Mom: Maci, why is my shoe in the garbage? -Maci: Oops sorry mom , I thought that was daddy's shoe? -Mom: Maci, why would you want to throw daddy's shoe in the garbage? -Maci: well, because daddy always throws away my things in the garbage so it is only fair that I throw his things away. -Mom- Turn my head and laugh to myself-turn and face Maci. Maci we don't throw any ones shoes in the garbage. Maci scampers off........... OK there is history to this.......... Ryan and Maci are very similar in many ways but this little issue shows where they are VERY different. Ryan is a neat freak and hates clutter, Maci on the other hand is a bit of a pack rat and can't stand to part with any random toy, piece of paper with one scribble on it or even some food wrappers because she says she is using them for a tea party or that they belong to Gaga Nana or Lala ( imaginary friends). At least once a day, Maci nd Ryan have a garbage war, where Ryan runs around the house picking up things he thinks belong in the trash(the whole time threatening her to clean up her stuff), while she runs behind him fishing through the garbage( tears rolling down her cheeks) begging for her "very important piece of ripped paper with a scribble on it" back. It frustrates Ryan to no end. I have told him time and time again that kids come with a little mess and we can't squash her creativity by just junking anything that he doesn't see as serving a direct purpose. When was the last time he set up a tea party with important imaginary friends?? I told Ryan that Maci is going to have some psychological damage from all these wars,I can just see her as a 90 year old women with a classic case of "hoarding" which will all stem from these garbage wars. Just another classic moment in the Clements' home, meg

Random little tidbits

So before I get into my latest Maci story, I must say that I have been plagued by a case of blogger apathy. I just haven't been into it this week. Cohen has been extremely cranky this week and tired( 6 month growth spurt) and we have been busy with other random things) anyway I will try to be better.My sister in law, Kristen Holst had a baby boy last Tuesday, the 21st and he was 10pds 4 oz!!!! Yikes. She is a super star!! She had to have him by csection after a long day of labour. So that makes us 3 for 3, myself and my two Clements sister in laws all had baby boys this year and all had C-sections( the other 2 were breeches). Ok. I just have to add that last night we went to the Keg for our friend, Brandy Palmer's bday. I had the YUMMIEST dish I think I have ever had. It was a steak(medium rare)mix between a rib eye and Fillet Mignon, with heaping scoops of fresh crab meat on top, all cooked in a mushroom sauce and then veggies like asparagus, peppers ,mushrooms...of it was to die for!!!!. Anyway, that's my weekly update. Love to hear what anyone is up to, anything cool??

Bob the Builder Exhibit/Underwater Lego Adventure

HI Y'ALL, this post will only be of interest to my local edmontonian friends with kids( or those who like to relive their childhood). Anyway, The Royal Alberta Museum is doing a Bob the Builder Exhibit and a Lego Underwater exhibit. Wondering if anyone has gone or knows if it is worth taking the kids too. It sounds fun and Maci is obsessing about it cause she keeps seeing the commercial on t.v. So if anyone has gone,or know anyone who has, let me know. Meg

Sharp Move Meghann !!!! Someone please help me feel not so ridiculous and tell me about some classic mishaps you have been responsible for

So Ryan thinks I need to put this on the blog because it was such a classic and ridiculous Meghann thing to do.... So today was just a regular day like any other, Maci running around the house inviting everyone to her tea party, Cohen amused by everything she was doing, Ryan studying, I had just got back from working out and was getting the family out the door to Maci's hair cut. I was running out of time and trying to do too many things at once. I noticed Maci's fly was undone as she was standing by the coffee table, so WITHOUT THINKING, I sat down on our Glass coffee table to do up her pants, about 1/2 a second went by before I felt myself plummeting toward the ground surrounded by shards of glass everywhere. I landed on my bum in the middle of what once was our coffee table with my legs dangling over the edge. What shocks me the most is that although there were hundreds of shards and jagged pieces of glass surrounding me, I did not get one scrape!!! Maci watched the whole thing with wide and amused eyes and began to tell me how if Daddy wouldn't have been home to help me, she would have called 911. The funny thing about that coffee table is that I always regretted buying it because duhhh , you shouldn't have glass tables around little kids,ha the joke was on me. In almost 4 years I have never thought to sit on that table, the glass is held up with 4 little things about 1 inch long. The other thing that really creeps me out is that Cohen is often on a blanket on the floor by the table luckily he happened to be napping already in his car seat. So we clean up the mess and head out to our appt, Me and the kids then go visit a friend in Sherwood Park, and then go pick up Ryan at Chapters(studying) and then go to Costco. When we get home, we are putting kids to bed and Maci starts picking at my pants in the upper thigh area, I look down to see this gigantic hole in my pants. I walked around all day with the huge hole, people probably found it quite amusing I am sure. The other crazy thing is that the glass ripped my pants but did not cut my skin!! Anyway, it was such a ridiculous moment I thought you all could find some humour in it. I also believe if you can't laugh at yourself then you are in for a long boring life. Meg

Favorite Quotes

Hey, I am looking for your favorite quotes. They can be quirky, serious, random or whatever... I want to change around my quotes on the blog every few days so give me some goodies!!! meg

Rwanda Genocide

So I read the book "Left to tell" by Immaculee Ilibagiza( i mentioned in the last blog)it was one of those books that I read in two days, I just went into a zone.I went to bed thinking about it, woke up thinking about it and during the day when I wasn't reading it , I was counting down the minutes till I could get to it again. It was an extremely graphic description of the author's experience of surviving the genocide while the rest of other siblings and the other 800, 000 fellow Rwandans( except one brother who was out of the country at school) were gruesomely murdered by the Hutu extremists over 100 days from April 6 to mid July 1994. I am not going to recount the historical facts about the genocide, I figure that if you want to know more about it, you can find info on it all over the Internet as to why it happened and so forth. My big issue is obviously the lack of involvement of the UN,and the countries that usually run around policing the world(you know who you are) decided to turn a blind eye to it. Canada did have a peace keeping mission going over there, led by Romeo Dallaire that was horribly underfunded and understaffed( but at least they were there which is more that we can say for the rest of them that were WAY too busy worrying about OJ Simpson, the glove and "if he did it". My beef is also with the media and their complete lack of coverage. Oh excuse me, how could I forget, the the western world really needed to see OJ's SUV speeding away from his Brentwood California home for the hundreth time. To me, this is just another perfect example of the ongoing love affair between the government and the media.( a whole other huge topic I won't delve into right now) I was telling my mom the other day that I feel anger directly towards the media. They get a big fat 'F" in my books for not doing their jobs, they failed us. I was 15 at the time and as a 15 year old girl, I was of course wrapped up in my own adolescent drama, but I was also an informed youth. I was aware of my world and what was happening(or so I thought) I grew up in a family where knowledge is power, books surrounded our walls, my parents are all teachers, yet somehow I was never told about the genocide until I was 28 years old. I hold the media first and foremost responsible. OJ brought about such a media frenzy that I bet if you asked just about anyone what they were doing on the day that OJ was found "not guilty" they would be able to tell you, same goes for when princess Diana was killed, JFK assasinated, and when 911 happened.I remember I was sitting in our high school library studying and an announcement came over the loud speakers announcing OJ's verdict. I bet you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would be able to tell you what they were doing on the day the Rwandan Genocide began or ended.(oh but only 800,00 innocent Tutsi's lost their lives). Anyways, I will wrap it up for now, to those of you who have made it this far, I ask you to take a moment, do some research of the Rwanda genocide, give the victims of Rwanda some respect and a moment of your time to educate yourself so you can pass on this information to those you are responsible for(children, students etc...)Say a prayer in your heart for those who lost their lives and read this book "Left to Tell" Meg

Rwanda 1994

HI Guys I don't have tons of time today but tommorow I have a new post coming regarding Rwanda Genocide in 1994, it is triggered by a book I just read"Left to tell" by Immaculee Ilibagiza. A women who survived the genocide by hiding in a very small bathroom with 8 other women for 91 days. I just watched the documentary" Shaking hands with the devil" last night regarding the UN's involvmeent( or lack thereof) in the genocide. I haven't been able to get this issue of my mind since I finished the book a few weeks ago. There is more to it that I wll talk about tommorow, just wanted to get you thinking about it. Meg

Book Ideas Anyone

Hi everyobody something else I wish to add to our blog is a list of recommended reading. I often go into the bookstores looking for a good book but end up leaving somewhat frustrated b/c I have spent the last hour reading the backs of a bunch of diff books, wondering if it is really worth my time. So I would like your recommendations on any books you have recently read that you would suggest. Don't tell me what I can already read on the back cover, tell me why it is worth one's time.

Middle of the night infomercials-Can anything good really come from it?? Help me convince Ryan!!

Hi again so a few weeks ago, i was up at 4 am feeding Cohen, and I decided to watch tv to help keep myself awake, so the first channel I see is the infomercial with Kenny Rogers advertising 150 of Country's Classic Hits( 1950-1970's I know I wasn't even born yet) like Johny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings , Dolly and sooo much more........ I have seen the infomercial before( in the light of day)and i have always thought that I would love that collection of music. I have always thought ordering things off tv was risky and didn't think anyone in their right mind really did it. Well that particular night, plagued by chronic sleep deprivation and sheer curiosity, I order the stupid cd's. I am embarrassed to admit that I spent $150 on them and it is not like we are rolling in dough, we are still in school but my free spirit and tired fingers dialed that silly 1 800 #. I regretted it as soon as I told the lady I wanted to order it but I was already in to deep, so i ordered them and then sat up for another hour wondering how I was going to tell Ryan. Anyways, I am asking all of you to post on here about anything that you have ordered off infomercials that have been a big success and worth your money.. That way I can build a case against my "in house" lawyer-haha

Nobody likes a Shrub-Dixie Chicks Concert and Bob Schnieder-

Ryan and I went to the Dixie Chicks concert on Nov 6, 2006 in Calgary.There opening act was a guy from Texas, Bob Schnieder. We had never heard of him before but figured if he opening for th chicks that he must be alright, well we were blown away, he was amazing. He is kind of a "fusion" of blues, rock, folk and country.Ryan calls him a mix of Jack Johnson, Johnny Cash and Dave Matthews Band. I haven't figured out how to put clips of music on the blog, but I will shortly. One of my foavorites is called "The Other Side". He also does,"If I only had a brain".-Wiz. of Oz As I am typing, we are listening to to the Brain song and Maci, Ryan and Cohen are having a dance party to the song. Ayway, the concert was obviously amazing but my personal favorite part of it was the overt political refrences and jabs that were made at Bush. For ex, when the Chicks came on stage they played"hail to the chief". Natalie also told us of some very funny posters that people had at the other concerts mocking Bush. They also played the trailer to their new documentary. When she played her" Not ready to make nice" song, she recieved a standing ovation from everyone in the saddle dome, I was suprised and sooo pleased with this reponse form southern albertans, not known to be overly political and definately not anti-bushish . I feel silly admitting this but it brought 3 little tears to my eyes when that happened.

Feelings-Nothing More Than Feelings

We are learning quickly the Cohen, also known as co co, co co puff, cokie, hokey pokey, toot bum, my man, mr meem beam(maci's name) has real and very sensitive little feelings, and has established a very clear idea of what roles mom and dad play in his life. I found ths out a few days ago when Cohen and I wee working on our animal sounds, everything was going great until I got to the cow sound,I gave him a good old fashioned MOOOOOOOOO in a low and very convincing voice, cause who has ever heard a mooo sound in a high femalish voice. As soon as I did it, his little laughing smile went instantly into a perfect upside down U frown,( a trait both my kids have inherited ) quivering chin and then he began to sob, sob , sob ,sob and sob. It took me a good 10 minutes to calm him down.I learned quickly that Cohen sees his mom as his gentle, high pitched protector who in no way can lower her voice for any reason and must speak to him at all times with a smile plasterd on her face. Later that day we tested it out with Ryan, he mooo'd at him numerous times in a very low voice and Cohen just smiled and laughed, I did it again and he cried really hard again. Here are some pics to show before I moo'd and after I moo'd. I don't tease him about it anymore, cause I don't want to create emotional"issues" .

Back to Normal

Hello friends, family, random surfers and spies this is my first effort at blogging, I am not sure if it will become a habit or a passing phase for me but time will tell. So our life is truly getting back to normal after a summer of craziness and every range of emotion imaginable. I will tell those who don't already know that our darling little boy, Cohen Mark Clements was born on May 31, 2006 in Montreal and had numerous health problems, the main one being severe infant hypoglycemia, to the point that he was having to be fed every 2-3 hours to keep his blood sugar from going to low. He was hospitalized for the first 3 months of his life as a result.I know most of you know his story and quite frankly I am not in the mood to go into details as it is a memory I don't like to dig up too often, we are thriiled to report that he has been home for 2 months now and coming home was his best medicine. He is growing like crazy( a little too much growing- he is 20 pds and only 5 months old yikes!!. He is developmentally on par with other kids his age and is a happy and peaceful little soul, some have called him on "old soul" and I tend to agree. Maci is almost 3 and a half and is an inquisitive, smart and stubborn(hmm I wonder where she gets that from) little girl. She is in preschool and just eats it up.She is learning about so many fun little things like dinosours and ladybugs. The other day she came home from school and told me in such a simple and darling way her understanding of what happened to the dinosours when they got "eggsticnt" she told me very matter of factly that the sun got too hot and melted all of their food and then they all starved. In her little 3 year old world, she was able to put to rest a mystery that has plagued generations of scientist and scholars alike. She is so in touch with her little emotions, the other day we were driving and I heard her starting to whimper in the back seat, I asked what was wrong and I looked back. She had her perfect upside down U shaped frown, and she said mom I think I am going to cry becuase this song is so beautiful, it was the song" a whole new world " from Aladdin and one more cute thing, tonight in her night time prayers she thanked all the nice soldiers for protecting us( today is Nov 11th). I know I sound like a bragging mom but my kids and ryan are the best thing that ever happened to me. Ryan is in his last of law school and then we are off to Toronto to start his articling year at a big corporate firm on Bay st.( Davies, Ward ,Phillips, and Vineburg). We will be moving out there in May. I am on mat. leave from my job as a crisis worker with Alberta Children's Services, I work a little here and there just to keep my foot in the ever revolving and evolving field of social work.My days are filled with the regular mom duties, spa lady to work out, volunteering once a week at Maci's school, reading - I have been into political non fiction- mainly autobiographies/biographies of women who have been right in the middle of political unrest. I just finished a book," Left to Tell " by Immaculee Ilibagiza a survivor of the 1993-94 Rwandan holocaust, mass genocide of the Tutsi people,probably the most disturbing yet beautiful book I have ever read. We have a great group of friends here who we do stuff with once in a while and lots of family stuff too. Wow, anazing what you can get accomplishe when the kids are in bed!!!!!!!! Tonight Ryan and I got take out from OPM-Asian Infusion and had quite yummy food, don't know why I shared that but oh well. anyway, I would love to hear from you guys and feel free to share any ideas for our blog or anything really. love from Meghann Clements

More Pictures

Cohen and Maci - Sunday June 25th, 2006

Maci and Cohen

Some more pictures

More Pictures

Cohen's new haircut is from the IV that they put in his head.

More Pictures

Here are some more pictures

Cohen Mark Clements

On May 31st a new edition arrived in the Clements family. Cohen Mark Clements was born at 11:10 am weighing 5 pounds 11 ounces. Despite a post partum stay in the intensive care and the Montreal Children's hospital his health is getting better by the day and we are just so happy to have him in our lives.