Category Archives: Thoughts

Pure Joy… well, I’m working on it.

Heading to Seattle for a girls’ weekend tomorrow. I’m sure Samuel won’t look like this while I’m gone, but I’m pretty sure I’ll have a smile on my face after a few cocktails and a night on the town.

I’ll miss my boys…but every mama needs some girl time. And it’s well timed after the week I’ve had. While I don’t expect to return refreshed (it takes much more than one night away to do that), I do hope to come back with a renewed appreciation for the fun parts of life. Sometimes work takes control of my emotions. This weekend is about getting them back to where they need to be.

Oh and Thomas knows just how to cheer me up. I was telling Kei a story in the car on our way to dinner about something that happened at work today – something that was not my fault, but that really upset me. Thomas kept trying to interrupt to tell me something, but I kept telling him to wait and be patient. He interrupted about 3 or 4 times and each time I told him to wait – each time a little more forcefully.

Finally I had a break in the conversation and I turned to Thomas and told him he could tell me his story now. Without a beat he replied “I want to get some roller skates”.

I have no idea where it came from – I didn’t even know Thomas knew what roller skates were – but the comment was so random and unexpected that it made me laugh and completely lifted me out of the funk.

Talk about bringing me back to the true priorities in life…

Keeping my head above water…

…barely.

Our guests left on Monday morning and I feel out of control busy. It doesn’t help that this is the first week that I have gone back to five days of work. I have been working four x 10 hour days since Thomas was born and it worked well for a long time. It seems, though, that the addition of a second child can shake up the schedule and suddenly getting home at 6:30 for a 7:00 bedtime just wasn’t an ideal situation. Work also asked me to change my schedule but, to be honest, I was leaning towards it anyway. It did speed up the process though, and would have preferred to have waited until September when Thomas starts pre-school.

Oh yes – Thomas was accepted to pre-school. We literally won the lottery on that one – the school lottery anyway. I’m still waiting for my real lottery dream to become a reality.

So today was my first Wednesday in the office for some time and it was tough. With my flexible schedule, I enjoyed the break in my week, the chance to spend some time with my boys and the extra time to get things done around the house. Apparently my house falls to pieces by Tuesday night and, until now, only my Wednesday at home was keeping it all together. And don’t even get me started on the laundry.

I admit that it may be worse than usual this week. Our guests just left on Monday morning and half of the laundry pile is towels and sheets from their visit. Still, I miss my catch up day. This is a big change for my family and a large part of me is in mourning for the small amount of flexibility that I once had.

Maybe next week will be better. Ooops – childcare issue next week mean I’ll be juggling work from home and nannies.

Maybe the week after next will be better…

…just need to keep my priorities straight.

Alive

I have not dropped off the face of the earth – it just feels like the earth is spinning faster and faster. We have just been so incredibly busy lately that this blog has taken a back seat.

But I have so many photos and stories to share that I promise I’ll be back on track in the next few days… just as soon as I get a chance to read all the email that poured into my mail box while I was out of the office last week.

A week off was great, but there’s always catch up.

In the meantime, I’ll share a photo of my one year old (I remain in denial).

One.

I’m not sure how this happened.

From this…

To this…

Happy birthday to my funny, sweet, dramatic, demanding, active, wriggly and adorable little boy.

 

…Little Boy. I am really not ready for this.

Snags – April 20th, 2009

Dusting off the BBQ for the first time this year… and quickly realizing how badly we need a new one…and a yard that we can sit in…and an umbrella…and the list goes on and on. How easy it is to push those things out of your mind when the weather is damp and dreary. Suddenly the sun peeks through the clouds for a couple of blissful days, and these things become urgent. How will we survive all summer without garden furniture and play equipment? How did we survive for the last three years?

My Addiction – April 16th 2009

I drink a LOT of fizzy water. At least a liter or two a day. It’s become a bit of a joke at work because my desk always has at least 4 or 5 empty cans of Talking Rain sitting on it by the end of the day. Free soda (or fizzy water) is possibly my only work perk. Good thing I make the most of it.

Classic – April 2nd 2009

We have a claw foot tub that doubles as a shower. Our house was built in 1923 and the claw foot tub fits the style of the house and I love its size and depth. It also doubles as a shower and, until we completed renovations last year, this was the only shower in the house. As someone who loves her shower, I can honestly say that using this shower was one of the least pleasant experiences in my day. It had a shower curtain – actually three shower curtains – that wrapped around the entire bath. The curtains had to hang inside to stop the water from dripping on the floor and when the heat came on, the air pressure would force the curtains to move in and stick against my body. It was claustrophobic and uncomfortable and only became more and more of a problem as I grew more and more pregnant.

Now we have a beautiful shower upstairs, fully tiled with a single pane of glass acting as a shower screen and no shower door. It’s like heaven.

The only question in my mind right now is where should our guests shower? My brother and his fiancee are visiting in a few weeks and I am trying to work out the living arrangements. Do I give them the entire bathroom downstairs so they have their own space, shower curtains and all? Or should they use our shower which is directly off our bedroom and a little less private but a much more pleasant showering experience?

These are the questions that are keeping me up at night. Not the economy or the war in Iraq – it’s all about bathroom usage.

SELF SUFFICIENT – FEBRUARY 22ND, 2009

I still feel terrible about the fact that I no longer nurse my baby. I miss the cuddles, the quiet time between the two of us, the convenience of having a food source attached to me wherever I go and the fact that nursing is much much cheaper than formula.

… but I do appreciate the fact that Samuel can now hold his own bottle. It comes in very handy during car rides, grocery store outings and other times where I need two hands and where it would not be deemed appropriate to whip out a boob.

A BIG DAY FOR PANTS – FEBRUARY 13TH, 2009

I am torn. I don’t know whether to be appalled that Thomas is so influenced by TV characters or grateful. The latest example is his sudden desire to wear jeans. Thomas has many pairs of jeans in his dresser, most of which are unworn. These are cute jeans. Gymboree Jeans. But the problem until recently is that Jeans do not fall under the category of “Soft Pants”.

Soft pants is code for anything in the sweat pant family. Not all sweat pants mind you, only those that are genuinely soft. Soft on the inside? No good. They have to be soft on the inside AND outside. This has not been a problem as far as daycare is concerned – sweat pants are perfect for daycare – but we go to a party or somewhere nice and the battle over attire becomes a problem. (One small success was the “party pants” trick. “You have to wear your party pants!” said with enthusiasm worked for about four birthday parties last summer).

So why the sudden change? A newly rediscovered love of Blues Clues. Yes, Steve wears jeans so suddenly it’s OK to wear jeans and I am ecstatic. I was beginning to hope that Samuel would be obsessed with wearing jeans just so they would have some use in the distant future. But no, Steve saved the jeans and suddenly it seems as though we may be able to put together a party outfit without a tantrum.

Oh one more thing… Steve wears striped shirts. Anyone know where I can purchase a large supply of cute striped shirts?

STANDING – FEBRUARY 5TH 2009

This is Samuel’s favourite position. It seemed that as soon as he learned how to crawl, all he wanted to do is stand. When Samuel is not crawling all over the house trying to find new cords to chew or dust bunnies to eat, you can find him in the living room standing up by the ottoman and occasionally trying to move over to the couch. Instead of relaxing in the bath, he chooses to stand and hold onto the edge (and possibly risk injury in the process).

I know this kid is going to be walking in no time and he’s not even nine months old. Lord help me.