WOW this is cool. Thank you Angieh. I feel honored to be chosen and if I was not sitting on my chair I'd be taking an accepting bow and slightly blushing. And I'd also like to thank Rachel, clay and Matt for the great job they have done putting this place together. Keep up the good work...

Ok well most of you know me as Jessgore, and you can call me jess if you like. It feels kind of weird using my full name. I have two kids, My son Francis who just turned two last week, and his sister from another mother Camille who is 11. She is currently at that age in between still wanting to play with kids toys yet does not want anyone to know because she does not want anyone to think she is still a kid.. And loves to skateboard. I don't often say to much about her because we don't see her as often as we like, but I love her as if she was mine with out crossing that invisible stepmother line.

How did I get onto Minti? Chelinkal put me onto minti and I have been here practically every night since. Except on those occations when Francis has been ill, or we have had people over for dinner, and we have been away on holidays. :)

My favorite thing about Minti is that it has always been there when I needed it and I have been able to help some people when they needed it. I have met some great people on here as well. And not having friends with kids the same age as mine if I ask a question I don’t have to wait to long for an answer and some great support

My favorite thing about being a parent. Hmm so many things. I love the unasked for hugs and kisses, the excitement on my sons face when he has not seen me for most of the day (which is not very often but I just love it when he runs to me!), watching milestones, and hearing each new word, there is so much I guess I really can’t pick a favorite. And my favorite thing about being a step parent, was the day that Camille realized that I was not that bad and we started to connect and that she gives me the same respect that she would give either of her parents... We have an different relationship to that of Francis and I and she understands that. But no matter what I love her as much as I do Francis and she knows that, and it means a lot to me that she does.

My biggest challenge has been when Francis was sick for the first time, I mean really sick and it lasted for a week, I was upset, tired and confused as to how to deal with it. There was nothing I could do but let it run it's course and it really upset me to see him so little and not understand why he was so upset.
And the second is to listening to some people who tell you how you SHOULD do things, and being able to smile and say thank you… I know sometimes they are very well meaning and don’t mean to upset you, so you just have to try an smile and let it go.

My biggest parenting worry wow, it would have to be schooling. My step daughter has a lot of trouble is school and because it is all in French I can’t help her at all when she needs it, and I am afraid that the same thing might happen with my son. I was never really good in Math or other subjects either. But the French thing really has me worried. Thankfully the hubby has said he’d do the homework thing (Mind you my son has a few years to go before he goes to school). But I am afraid that he might be just like me at school. I am hoping he takes after his dad there…

The best advice ever given to me was…. “YOU ARE HIS MOTHER NO ONE ELSE”. This has helped me to smile when I needed every time some one tells me this is what you SHOULD be doing. I smile say thank you then continue doing it my way. (yes the hubby actually has a say too. Thankfully he agrees with me most of the time..

I think Francis first words were Papa, but he was saying a lot of sounds so it could have been maman. But I do believe it was papa.

Nelly the Elephant is my favorite song. It always reminds me of our trip to Australia and Francis. Every time I play in the house he recognizes it and starts screaming and running around the dining room table having so much fun.

What is the funniest thing you or your child or significant other has done or said, hmm hard one as there have been so many from both of them.. So I'll just pick one out of a hat for each. Francis's dancing. It makes me laugh every time. His dance is cross between Elvis and Elaine off the show Seinfeld. And the more we laugh the harder he dances. It is just very very comical. And the funniest thing Camille has ever done is give my mother a french lesson... My mother discovered one day when Camille was four years old that the F word in English is pronounced the same way as the word Seal in French... They went into a tourist store and Camille at the top of her lungs said the F word.. The look of shock on my mothers face made Camille laugh so hard that she kept repeating it until mum could not keep her quite my hubby explained that the phoque is said exactly the same as the english F word but means Seal. After a few minutes when my mothers heart started beating at a normal rate she was able to laugh.

One word to describe Minti, there are so many to chose from but I'll go with Useful. I could have said fantastic, wonderful, and addictive but I'll stick with useful.. :)

The best bit of advice I got from Minti was about brushing teeth. Although it is not working now but at the time I was trying to get my son to allow me to brush his teeth. And someone suggested singing… And it worked. Now he just likes to suck the paste off the brush.. There are lots of other things I have found here too that have helped. But that is the one that sticks out right now..

How did I deal with my Minti addiction. That was easy. I gave into it. I did not really have to deal with it. The minute Francis started sleeping through the night I was down here on the computer from the sign he was asleep. During the day when I had nothing to do and he was taking a nap. On the computer. I am not as addicted to it as I used to be because I have discovered that the house needs to be cleaned from time to time and if you don't do your washing you may have to wear your underwear inside out, and then backwards.

Last but not least how did my family deal with my addiction! Having a Minti addiction is so easy to have when you have a gaming husband and two computers. It never effected the kids because I always waited until they were asleep although I was constantly thinking of advice that I might be able to write during the day. Then at night I would come down to my computer and my hubby to his. It was our quite time together. And still is but now that he just brought the new Wii, he has a new addiction. Oh and winning a Roomba also helped.. The hubby loves it... :)

Once again I'd like to say thank you to Angieh for thinking of me as a featured member, and the rest of minti admin for a grate site...
And to my family whom with out I would have no reason to be here in the first place.. :)
PS: I forgot to mention my friends here as well.. You know who you are...
If I have forgotten anyone just let me know... I am getting the wind down time to go to commercial.....

i'm sitting in my lounge as i write this. It is so cool i am on my big screen television with the new Wii. It is not as fast to type but it awesome fun. It is not as quick to scroll down pages either but it guesses what word i am wanting to write. can`t upload picks but yeah. i thought i was going too bed but i think i will play here a little longer. gotta love the new wii. Also I can watch my youtube vids of Francis on the big screen now. Now I am not upset with the hubby for buying yet another gaming toy. LOL

My cousin Michael is ill again.. Poor little bugger... And on his birthday too.  He is Robynm's little boy.
I know she won't get a chance to see this message for awhile if at all.
But I am wishing you the best.
I am not entirely sure what the problem is, but my mother told me it included a trip to the hospital and I am not sure if he is still there. I hope not...

Love you Michael. And A/Robyn & U/Ricky I hope your hanging in there and I am sure he'll be fine. He made it this far...

WOW, it is raining cats and dogs outside...
My hubby of course left the house on his motorbike before the rain started then he got drenched in it. I was following him in the car with the kids... He was on his way to his mates house for the night, and I was dropping Camille off home after her weekend with us.. Hubby got very wet...

But when Francis and I got home that is when the fun began. I think it must have been the first time that Francis has really been outside in heavy rain before because he had his jacket on in the car and I pulled his hood over his head. We ran up to the steps and he said "Again"... I was not sure what he wanted but I ran to the car and stood in the pouring rain for about five seconds and back up the steps to the front door again... He says "Again".. So out in the rain I go again, and stood for half a minute... He of course was dressed for it but how could I deny my son the touch of the rain. He loved it he laughed when he looked up and his face got wet. It was so cute, he looked amazed at it....  But eventually I was so wet we had no choice but to go inside.. Maybe I will buy him some gumboots to go play out in it next time....

Well it was about this time two years ago that I was pushing.. Still another 45 minutes or so before we can actually say Francis entered the world.

For the past week I have been wondering being that it was his birthday and that I was not working should I or shouldn't I send him to day care.  In the end I sent him off this morning to Day Care.  For a couple of reasons. 1 being that I have neglected every thing for the past two weeks and had soooo much to catch up on at the house. If I did not do any washing we would have had to turned out underwear inside out and wear them backwards, and 2nd Nat always throws a little party for the kids when ever there is a birthday.  I believe that he had more fun there then he would of had he stayed home with me. I still went up for the little party he had and I had lunch with him and his friends. When I was watching him and he had not noticed me standing there he was so happy  having fun. All the kids were stripped down to their diapers (nappies) and they were all running through the sprinkler. They were having so much fun. And when Francis spotted me he came and gave me a really big wet hug. NICE......

Nat (day care owner and friend) brought him a little remote control car, and Toni the other lady I work with brought him a magic doodle thingy, which both he loves. Although he likes to push the car other then use the remote...  And a client of my husbands asked if he we would give him the honor of buying a birthday cake for Francis. How could you refuse an offer like that. He was so sweet about it.    And of course he got lots of other stuff too.

It was sooo funny to watch him blow out his candle on the cake...

I mowed the lawn, did the washing, cleaned the floors.  And when I went and picked him up all we had to do was play. It took me almost 45 minutes to leave the day care because he did not want to come home today.. LOL

Well thats it for now.. Chat soon xxxx

PS: Happy birthday also to my cousin Michael... ROBYNM's little boy.

Ok it was not that bad really.. But my friend went home today...   SO SAD... My next mobile phone bill is going to be way over the limit with Text messages to her.. OH HOW I MISS HER ALREADY...

We had a great time, blah blah blah can't be bothered writing much right now. I have stuff that needs to be done, and am not in the mood for it. I sent the hubby out on a bike ride so I could have some me time, because he would just fuss over me if he was here, which is nice but I am not even in the mood for fuss. So I am just going to sit here with my  cup of coffee in my "My mommy is the best" Mug I got for mothers day... LOL I cried when I got it because hubby remembered me saying that I could not wait to get one. He has a my papa is the best mug from Camille and I had made the comment that I can't wait to get a mummy mug.... LOL that was two years ago...

We brought Francis's birthday presents and soooo can't wait to give them to him..
Anyway that is it from me for now. Hope all is well speak soon xxx

WOW my car broke down.. Well not completly but a little check engin light came on so I rang my dealership and they were not able to get the car in for another week. Which would mean leaving the hubby with out a car as I would for sure need his to take my friend places around and we were planing on a trip to Quebec City which is about 3 hours up North....  

So I was a little distressed... So I rang another place who is a mate of ours, well actually a mate of my father in-laws who owns a lets fix your broken car for you.... Any way while I was stressing about getting the car to the mechanics, the little light went off so I thouht I might get lucky... When I rang and made the apointment for my car I did not say who I was just gave my last name (which is different from my hubby). When I arrived and he saw me he realized who I was and put my car in for a check up straight away.  I did not ask for special treatment but I was grateful for it.   Any turns out the car would not have made it to Quebec city. It may have but it would not have made it back...  So he did me an even bigger favor he put my car in to be fixed and said he would have it ready by the end of the day... And what do you know he did. Still out of pocket but that would have happened anyway and was expected. What I did not expect was to have my car ready and running smoothly like new and ready for tomorrow....I was soooooooo grateful.  And he even gave me the gift of a new wiper as the other one was almost falling off... :)

You know what they say some times it's not what you know but who you know.  I would have quite happly taken my husbands car, and left him with the motorbike except that it has decided to drop down 20 degrees and may possibly snow tonight so leaving him with out his car would not have been nice..

Having a fantastic time with my friend and am looking forward to tomorrow... xxxxx

Chat soon all... xxxxx

After the month I have, I am sitting here in my basement trying not to bite my nails... My heart is racing, and if I was standing up I'd be pacing the house. In fact i should do that and finish up the last touches around the house... LOL

I will be leaving in an hour to go and pick my friend up from the airport.. I am sooooo excited... I almost thought about going to wake up Francis so that it will give me something else to think about while I play the waiting game.. It is driving me crazy... LOL

This friend is the best friend that every one ever hopes for.. You know if you only had one friend in the world and no one else it would be ok... because you had someone like her...     I am sooo excited.. Did I say that already...

For two weeks, I am going to just enjoy our time together because I have no idea when we will get the chance to do it again.. We have been lucky, she was here this time last year as well, and I saw her at Christmas when I went back to Australia and she got the chance to come back again.. But after that who knows....  She is like family to me...
And right now I need family....  I AM SOOOOO EXCITED...
Ok off to bite my nails again. Maybe even pace the floor a bit.. If I did not have the roomba I should put a broom in my hand and sweep or something...

Is it just me or does it seem like the year 2007 (and we have not even hit the half way mark yet) is going to the dogs. I mean every where I look someone is in trouble. I get an e-mail, something bad has happened. I get a phone call something bad has happened.  I get a knock on the door and something bad has happened.

If my friend was not arriving from Australia tomorrow I would lock the door and go back to bed for the rest of the year.. But alas my friend arriving will be my savor for at least two weeks.  She is in New York and will be catching the plane tomorrow.. So I hope when I go and pick her up nothing bad has happened.

I am really excited about that.  We finally managed to get a baby sitter for the day yesterday so that the hubby and I could get a little us time and go for a ride on his motorbike.. Just as I got home from dropping Francis off at Grandma's and hubby is getting the bike ready the phone rings..> SOMETHING BAD HAS HAPPENED. So hubby had to go out and do some damage control leaving me at  home, which is ok there was a friend in need.. But I so needed to destress from a post that I did a couple of days ago...

Oh well my mate arrives tomorrow and we are going to have sooooo much fun....
Night

Ok so it is only Thursday here, LOL and still a few sleeps until Tuesday but I am so excited... For Tuesday my mate will be touching down at the airport and Francis and I will be there to pick her up. And she will be spending a full two weeks with us...

I have done a deal with my day care lady where I work, so that I can get some time off and still have Francis spend the days there, not every day just his usual ones, but a couple of days he will have to stay there a little later because my hubby will have to pick him up after work...  And we have plans also to take the kids places... It is going to be soooo much fun...

YIPPPEEEEEEE.. And the new BBQ arrives tomorrow so steaks it is, but I might try something different because it has a hot plate as well where as the old one just had a grill...

Normally when I take a shower my son sits in his bouncer. I don’t really like putting him in the bouncer now as he is getting a bit big for it, and I am sure it won’t be long before he’ll be getting himself out of it. But at present I need to stick him in there for fear of him running off or flushing the toilet while I am in the shower.

 But today when I said I was going to take a shower he showed more interest then normal. He practically ran up the stairs and started pointing at the shower and kept repeating the word over and over again (Only in French). 

 So I decided to try something different. I have one of those showers massage shower things attached to the end of a hose type thing. So I decided Francis was going to join me in the shower because I discovered that part of his Porridge was stuck in his hair, so why not take the opportunity to show him what the shower is like… J

 So I turned on the shower so he could see the water coming down.  And in we got.   I gave him the shower head, and he sprayed every thing but himself of course.

 He even helped me was my hair. I am lucky that my shower is big enough for me to squat down in or he would have had some trouble. I got some big soapy bubbles happening and covered him in them and he took delight in watching them wash off his body… His hair was a little harder to do, but it only took a matter of seconds because I used the shower head and not the bucket. So he was happy with that..

 But then it came time to get out.  Well I told him he was finished and he screamed at me… I wondered how with minimal water damage was I going to get him out of the shower.. I decided to get out first and let him continue playing in the water for a bit while I quickly got dressed. While I got dressed I was watching him through the glass spraying the glass on the windows of the shower as the dog tried to catch the spray of the water. Of course he could not because the doors were closed. But Francis had so much fun….  Dog was a little upset he could not get the water though…

 I would just like to apologize for the waist of water, but really the shower was not that long at all.  Just long enough to wash my hair (with a little help from bub)and of course Francis, and for me to get dressed… Then I turned the taps off… Even in Canada we need to save water… J  I need to think of an easier way to give him a shower. It is so much quicker then a bath.. Ok baths are more fun, but I needed a quicker solution this morning…