Tuesday, November 30, 2010

To Purge or Not To Purge

I decided it’s time for a good closet purge. I started with mine of course, and found a lot of oldies that will become someone else’s goodies. I also found a lot of maternity clothes which forced me to think… Am I going to need them again? I mean maternity clothes aren’t cheap; should I be storing them away for future use or should they go in a bag to good will with the rest of my stuff?

I get the question all the time, ‘Do you think you’ll have another one?’ and I never know what to say. Before Evan came along, when I thought about having a family, that family always consisted of at least two children. Now I’m not so sure. My first 6 months as a mother has been amazing and inspiring, but it's also been very challenging and difficult at times. I think since becoming a mother I have experienced a whole new realm of emotions I didn’t even know I could feel. Maybe when Evan’s two the tough stuff will be a distant memory and all I’ll think about is how wonderful it felt to have a newborn in my arms. Or maybe not. My motto is never say never so I won’t, but right now I’m quite happy with my one beautiful little baby... Then again as I look at the pile of maternity clothes sitting on my bed I still can't seem to make a decision on what to do with them. Perhaps this is one of those examples where actions speak louder than words.

Friday, November 26, 2010

My Best Attempt At An Update

I have lots and nothing at all to talk about. I mean a lot has gone on here in the last couple of weeks. Evan started rice cereal (he loves it). He turned 6 months old (crazy)! He got his second haircut to date (he looks like he’s about 5 now). We’re working on weaning him off night feeds, oh and we’ve started our Christmas decorating (thought I would throw that in there)! So ya, lots going on and at the same time I haven’t felt very inspired lately to write… What’s up with that? As always at this time of year I’m blaming my lack of motivation on the change of season. The fact that it’s colder now and dark at 5pm is just so yucky. It makes me lethargic, anyone else? Today however I'm feeling pretty good, despite the fact that Evan had another bad night last night and it's freezing rain outside. I think I'm happy it's Friday, I need this weekend!

Speaking of weekends, last sunday John and I decided we would take Evan to his first ever Christmas parade here in Barrhaven to get him in the Christmas spirit. We bundled him up and made our way to the parade route. Only problem was we were at the end of the route and the parade itself didn’t start until 5:30pm. By the time 5:40pm rolled around we realized it was far too cold and was going to be far too late by the time the parade got to us so we packed up, pretended like we saw the parade, convinced Evan it was the best thing ever and went home. Ha!

This year for Christmas both my family and John’s family have agreed to simplify things. Instead of all of us buying presents for everyone we’re drawing names! Yes, I’m a big fan of this! Not only does it make Christmas shopping less hectic, but now we can spend good money on one gift instead of stretching our dollar on gifts that our family members probably don’t really need or might not even want. Evan and I are going to get busy shopping next week! Can’t wait!

The Christmas spirit is definitely running through my veins. Last weekend I finished my Christmas potters which I love (see pic below)! And next weekend (maybe even this weekend) I’m going to get busy decorating inside! Yay! I’m really looking forward to this Christmas, and future Christmas’ with Evan. I look forward to starting our own family traditions. John and I have started a whole new chapter, and the best part is we’re writing it. Our future can be whatever we want it to be! How is that for optimism at this yucky time of year?!

Potter before...


Potter now...


All bundled up for the Christmas parade we didn't end up watching...


As you can see Evan loves his rice cereal...


Bananas not so much...


Evan getting his second haircut to date...


Doesn't he look like a big boy with his new haircut and awesome Adidas track outfit...

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Fever Alert!

I started the process of weaning Evan off his night time feeds this past weekend. It was going well until last night when I went in to find my little guy burning up. He was so hot to the touch it startled me. I instantly went in and woke up John. He got the thermometer and we took his temperature. Luckily he wasn’t in any kind of danger zone as far as his temperature went, but I was still upset. Yes, I was upset, never mind Evan, let’s talk about how his fever made me feel. The fever has now gone down, and for the most part he’s okay. A little more fussy than normal, oh, and he’s pooped three times in the last 24 hours so I’m assuming he’s about to cut his first tooth. This is exciting, but also nerve-racking. I wonder what kind of night we’re in store for tonight.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Making Friends

As a grown up there are a few places you can meet new friends. First and foremost I would say you meet new friends through your partner. You usually attempt to befriend the people that matter to the guy or girl you’re dating so there’s that. Then there are the friends you make through work, but beyond that how do we as adults make new friends? If you’re into sports, or yoga, or any other group activities you can meet friends that way, but how about just picking up new friends in say, the grocery store? I attempted this one day months ago and apparently it didn’t go that well.

It all started with Evan’s first doctor’s appointment. John and I started chatting with this woman who was there with her daughter. She was a lovely woman and our friendly banter made our waiting time go by quickly. That same week we bumped into her while we were out and about on a Saturday and once again we exchanged friendly conversation. I said to John afterwards that if we saw her again I was going to ask her to exchange numbers or something because she seemed really cool and I thought maybe we could hang out while I was on maternity leave. Her children are older (6 and 10 or something like that) and she’s a stay at home mom so I figured she could share some of her motherly wisdom with me. Then came the third run-in at our local grocery store no less. Turns out she lives just minutes from where John and I live. We laughed about how funny it was that we had bumped into each other again and that’s when I did it! I said we should hang out; I wrote down my name, number, and email address and gave it to her. I didn’t end up asking for her information in case she felt uncomfortable, I just said if she ever wanted to have coffee or something to give me a call. That call never came. And coincidentally I haven’t bumped into her since. Maybe she’s spotted me in the grocery store and hid until the coast was clear, who knows.

I used to say I don’t need any more friends because I was quite happy with the ones I already had. Then of course I met some fabulous women who have become very dear to me and I realized that was a stupid thing to think. Why would I not be open to bringing more wonderful people into my life, to learn from them, laugh with them?! True, John and I have a hard time juggling quality time with the friends we’ve got, but that’s no reason to shut out potential new friends.

So I gave it a shot and was shot down, no biggie. It was a social experiment and I didn’t die of embarrassment so I’d give it another whirl if the opportunity presented itself. Watch out, I could be coming for you next!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Welcome Back… Not Really

She left for a while, a long while actually... 15 months to be exact and I didn’t miss her one bit! Now she’s back, and making up for lost time.

A gold star to the first person who guesses who, or rather what I’m talking about!

*See comments below

You ladies crack me up! Gold stars to all of you!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Child Care

I was supposed to head back to work next week! However, I decided to take more time. It just feels too soon. I’m so happy I made the choice to extend my time at home and I’m so fortunate that I work for a company that values family and understands that its employees need to put family first.

That being said I am looking for a nanny for when I do go back into the office in January. So far I haven’t had much luck. John and I decided to go with a nanny instead of daycare simply because we feel Evan is still so young and doesn’t have a set schedule yet so we would prefer for him to stay in the comfort of his own home.

I have to admit I’m getting a little nervous that I’m not going to find someone in time. If any of you have any suggestions for me on how to find a good nanny I would really appreciate it.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

City Slicker

Yesterday Evan and I were running errands around town and he was being so great. He was in the back, taking in the scenery when all of a sudden I smelt something foul. I was actually on my way into work to pay a little visit and I honestly thought about turning around. I was sure Evan had just had a massive poop explosion! The smell was overwhelming. I was having visions of what I was going to find when I lifted him out of his car seat. Was this going to be another mess worthy of cutting his outfit off and throwing it out? Then, I casually turned my head and noticed a tractor in the field we were passing spreading manure. I was relieved, but I also felt like a bit of an idiot. When I told my dad the story he told me I have officially become a city slicker (I grew up in the country) since I couldn’t differentiate my sons ‘brand’ from manure. I swear though, I think Evan’s brand does smell a bit like manure. Ha! Sorry, I should have warned you at the beginning of this post that there was a high gross factor.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Time Change

I remember when the change back to standard time was awesome because it meant an extra hour of drinking in the bar. Oh how times have changed. This Saturday night was lovely, but it was a far cry from a raging party in one of my favourite downtown establishments. Instead I was with my most wonderful girlfriends in my home town of Almonte. We made personalized mini-pizza’s, I enjoyed two glasses of wine and we were all at home, in bed by 11pm. Unfortunately the extra hour didn’t even mean an extra hour of sleep because Evan was very awake at 6:21am which meant I had to be at least moderately awake as well (he was also up through the night at 11:20pm, 1:30am and 3:30am). Now it’s 8:19pm on Sunday and I’m in bed ready to shut my eyes, hopefully for at least two full hours before Evan’s cry from down the hall pulls me out from underneath my sweet duvet.

I’m glad I spent my teen years sleeping in until 2 in the afternoon. Perhaps that’s how I’m managing to function now, I’m using the sleep I banked as a 16 year old. Note to self, remember this when Evan’s a teenager… don’t be too cruel pulling him out of bed on weekends, he’ll only be that age once and he’ll have responsibilities that will tear him out of bed for most of his life.

Times change, and so far I’ve enjoyed them all, from the wild nights out, to the cozy gatherings, to sleeping the days away and now early mornings with my son. It’s hard to believe sometimes that I’ve been living this life of mine for 31 years. A lot has happened, I’ve been through a lot of time changes, and I look forward to many, many more.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Evan's First Halloween

Inspired by the tremendous will of the Chilean miners Evan told us he wanted to be one for Halloween... Who were we to argue with him?