Excersaucer
Isaac has started ’standing’ in our laps and thinks it’s THE best thing EVER! So I thought it was time to try the excersaucer. He really enjoyed it, but only for about 10 minutes.
I love October
And not only because it’s my birth month. Because of Halloween it is the easiest month to come up with cheap ideas of stuff Bobbie-Jo and I can do together. We’ve already visited the haunted Fort Fright, made this project for her front door and we’re going to make Halloween sugar cookies on Monday (it’s a pro-D day and there is no school) and carve our pumpkins on Tuesday.
Mouse in the House
Nope, not Dr. Seuss….real life drama. Well okay not drama, but it felt like it last night. Thursday night is the night we place our recycling out and this week it was paper and cardboard. Due to the house showings the recycling box which usually resides in the corner of the dining room has been stored in the garage. Jason brought the boxes in to sort last night and a mouse jumped out (at me). Well the at me is debatable, I think so, Jason doesn’t agree. We both agree that I screamed like a little girl, including the jumping up and down.
So below are the pictures of how we tore the house apart trying to catch this mouse. Because of course we had a showing the next day and I could just imagine the little guy darting across the floor over the next potential buyers foot. We tried to enlist the cats to help, but Mickey was scared of the moved kitchen appliances and Abbey ran up stairs…….
Isaac wasn’t fazed. He slept through it all.
The Difference 5 minutes can make…
… we all know time is precious and that there is never enough of it in a day. And I’m pretty sure we’ve all had days where 5 minutes would have made a world of difference; even if it’s just 5 more minutes of sleep. Today was one of those days, but it had nothing to do with sleep.
Jason is posted to Winnipeg and will move sometime in Dec/Jan time frame, all signs point to me being posted to Winnipeg too, but we don’t have the message in hand yet. Regardless, we’re not that concern as barring any unforeseen high end operational need, I will be posted to the same city as my husband…life is good. Now we need to sell the house. We’ve had three showings so far and due to the nature of real estate and work schedules I’ve had to prepare the house for all of the showings while being the sole caregiver for a 4 month old. All I can say is thank goodness he’s getting better at self entertaining and can actually be put down every once and a while.
We had a showing today, it was suppose to be between 11h00 and 12h00. Usually I just take the dog and babe for a walk but today it was raining cats and dogs so we decided we’d meet Jason downtown for lunch. It was 10h45 and I was 5 minutes from being out the door. I just had to dress Isaac and pop him in the car seat and we would have been gone, not to be seen again until 12h00 (to meet the furnace repair guy because apparently our furnace/AC system is a lemon!). Well the Realtor showed up early, shit…the house was clean, the pets were out, Bailey was safely stowed in the car ready to go. But the baby was wet, half naked and on the kitchen floor. I apologized for not being gone and ran up stairs to grab some clothes for Isaac and a couple of diapers. I had to meet the people looking at the house (I HATE that!!!) as I grabbed my car keys. I get the car packed and open the garage door to see the Realtor’s Saab totally blocking my way. I run through the options in my head and decide to close the garage door so I don’t have to see them leave. I figure since we’re not going anywhere (as I have NO intention of asking the Realtor to move her car) I should feed Isaac, but in case the people decide to look in the garage I decide the front seat of the car is not a good place. Maybe in the back with Bailey? that way if they do look in the garage they won’t even see us (the back windows are tinted) I open the hatch and remember the dog is wet and smelly because he was out back in the rain. Option two in the back seat…beside the new HUGE car seat. I’m about to step into the car and the garage door opens…I hear the Realtor say ‘oh she’s in here’ I try to tell her she is blocking me but the door closes. Now I’m really stumped on what to do. I’m trapped in my garage with a baby and a smelly dog, it’s pouring out so we can’t just grab the stroller and run since I left in a rush and we don’t have any of our rain gear. I don’t want to feed with the doors open in case they decide to look at the garage just before they leave and the people looking at my house think I’m some sort of freak who is spying on them and pretending to leave because I opened and closed the garage door.
In the end I squeezed into the back and fed Isaac (who is getting cold in just his onsie) and hid like a scared child in a horror movie in constant fear the door to the house would open they’d flick on the lights and get an eye full of infant feeding. I only hope that when they left they had the where-with-all to put two and two together and realize the only reason I didn’t leave was that their car was blocking mine. Needless to say I’m not expecting an offer from this one.
Five more minutes and I would have been out the door with a dressed child, rain gear in hand and had a nice leisurely lunch with my husband, before returning home to an imacculatley clean house…oh well, nothing to do but laugh…but forgive me if I wait until after I’ve made lunch.
Four Months
Isaac,
Four months!!! Were does the time go?!? You are still a superstar and the center of attention, which conveniently is just how you like it. You’ve developed your own opinion on some things already and I both anticipate and fear the time when you can put all your opinions into words. It’s amazing what a little man you’ve already become. I hesitate to say you’re teething as there are no tooth buds on the horizon, but you are drooling up a storm and chewing on anything you can get you chubby little hands on. You have preferred teethers and you let me know when I’ve brought the wrong one. While you can entertain yourself now for up to an hour at a time, you prefer to play for an audience and will call us over if we’ve left you for too long. As soon as someone is in view your cries turn instantly to smiles and coos; that is assuming of course that we’ve responded in due time, otherwise a cuddle is also required to bring back the smiles. The same can be said for your swing and car seat, you start to fuss and cry when you’ve decided that you’ve had enough, but as soon as you know you’ve gotten your way (i.e the car stops or I start pushing buttons on the swing) you are instantly smiles…what can I say kid, you certainly come by it honestly 
You continue to charm and or amaze all who meet you. “He’s only four months old?…and…how much does he weigh?” are common questions when we’re out and about as you are a healthy little boy. We’re already onto size Large diaper covers and are quickly running out of room in your medium fitted diapers. Just when we think you must be about to hit a plateau you grow over night. I’m not sure what you weigh (our four month appointment is next Monday and I’ll make note then), but I measured you the other day and you’re 26.5 inches long!
Sleep is what it is. Some days you do some days you don’t, the same could be said for nights. We seem to be doing alright so I’m confident that we can persevere the long nights knowing there will be good ones ahead. You are still not a big fan of your stroller, but seem to like it better when I prop you up in it so you can see what is going on around you. You love all of your carriers which is nice and very convenient when I have to get something done and you don’t want to be put down.
You discovered your dog Bailey this month and think he is the funniest thing going. Your laugh is adorable and your Papa and I make fools of ourselves (and the dog) trying to get you to giggle. While you are still a champion eater, you are getting more distracted when we feed in public and have left me exposed on more than one occasion when something shiny has caught your little eye. You are starting to get frustrated with the limitations of your little body. Your hands don’t always do what you want them too and sometimes you smack yourself pretty good with a toy you’re trying to put into your mouth. Thankfully all you need is a little cuddle or a kind word and you’re back to playing again. Overall you are a pretty happy kid, although I’d definitely tag you as a morning person so far (that you don’t come by so honestly…must be a recessive gene). You continue to be the sun that brightens our lives on a daily basis and are truly loved.
Veg Head *
* this is not meant as an insult or derogatory remark towards all my vegetarian friends; rather it is a call for recipes.
Before we moved to Ontario about 50% of our meals were vegetarian. When we lived in the valley we did a sort of rotating dinner party for awhile and there were vegetarians in the group so we were introduced to several different vegetarian recipes. We had almost completely eliminated beef for a while, but it came back with full force when I got severely anemic while pregnant with Isaac. Now that we don’t have any local vegetarian friends it seems like the ratio has slipped closer to 80/20, and veggies are not in the lead. In fact in the last week and a half we’ve eaten mostly beef and pork, both of which we use to rarely eat. We are in a food funk and need some good healthy recipes (yes I know beef and pork can be considered healthy, but not the way we’ve been cooking them). It’s just too easy to do the same old meal plan and the usual grocery shop, we need some ideas people. I’d like to make 50% of our meals vegetarian again so I’m putting out a call for your favorite vegetarian meal. If you don’t ‘do that‘ feel free to share another type of recipe, but please for the love of my postpartum waistline no desserts.
Fall Flavours
As I mentioned before fall has definitely arrived and seems to have taken hold over this past weekend. The leaves are turning and the groceries stores are full of local winter squash.
Colourful Local Winter Squash
The really great part is that each varitey of squash has a different recipe on it so we’ve tried some new ones. In keeping with the season we’ve had some yummy fall meals lately (which to me means warm fatty yummy comfort foods) such as Rosemary Chicken
(this includes bacon), and stuffed dumpling squash, soups and stews.
Here is one of the recipes off of the sweet dumpling squash (the green and cream one).
Stuffed Dumpling
Cut out stem end of squash and remove seeds. Fill cavity with diced potatoes, onions, hamburger, salt/pepper. Fill with milk. Set in roaster pan with 2 cm of water. Bake 1 hr or until squash is soft. Top with cheese before removing from oven. ( I cooked the hamburger first).
So what are some of your favourite fall meals?
100 things
1. I have a wicked sweet tooth.
2. I wonder how long it will be before my kid realized his parents are not cool.
3. I like to think we’ll have until kindergarten.
4. I think that might be wishful thinking.
5. I’m cheap. Nothing I like more than getting a good deal (or even better free)
6. I hate to pay for parking…I’ll park blocks away from my destination just to get free parking (see #5)
7. I’m bossy. Maybe that’s why I was drawn to air traffic control.
8. Air traffic controller was not my first trade choice.
9. I wanted to be a pilot, but failed aircrew selection because of my eyesight.
10. I’m very glad I’m not a pilot.
11. I am logical…sometimes to an annoying fault…but to me it only makes sense.
12. I am very loyal.
13. When bottles of toiletries (lotion, shampoo, facewash) are too empty to pump, I cut them open and scoop the last 1/8th of the bottle into a new one (again see #5)
14. I usually wait until the area under the sink (where I place said, almost empty bottles) is full before I do this. That usually means an assortment of at least eight bottles.
15. I kept my last name when Jason and I got married; I like my name, I’ve had it since birth.
16. I have one brother.
17. I went to catholic school from grade 1 through 12.
18. We originally made the switch because we weren’t allowed to take our lunch to the public school, we lived too close and had to go home for lunch but both my parents worked.
19. I had my first child in June 2008
20. Labour and delivery was everything I hoped for and more.
21. I like to sew.
22. I particularly like to make quilts.
23. Since I got pregnant I branched out to sewing other baby related paraphernalia.
24. I buy and sell stuff on Kijiji.
25. I’ve never bought anything off of E Bay.
26. I freecycle.
27. I use cloth diapers with my son.
28. I do laundry every day.
29. I like hanging laundry on the line.
30. I dream about retiring to a cabin on a lake where I have to drive into town once a week for groceries.
31. I love to travel.
32. I grew up in Northern Alberta.
33. It was a great place to grow up and we lived right across the street from extensive wooded paths.
34. When I first moved to Ontario I wondered where the trees went.
35. I love to swim.
36. It’s even better when you can swim naked in a mountain lake.
37. I like to walk.
38. I don’t enjoy running until I’m finished.
39. In 2007 I went to the Netherlands with work to participate in a 160 km walk over a four day period.
40. I can’t play hockey.
41. I don’t even know how to hold the stick right.
42. I can be sarcastic at times.
43. I took both my degrees at the same school.
44. My first degree was engineering
45. My second degree was Physics
46. If I do a PhD I want it to be in Education.
47. I volunteer.
48. I have trouble saying ‘no’.
49. I found I had to work harder on my trade course (air traffic control) than for either of my degrees.
50. My lowest mark in University was geography.
51. I hated reading as a child.
52. I didn’t discover the joy of recreational reading until university (when I was suppose to be doing other things)
53. I’m a great procrastinator.
54. Until I had my son I never took any pictures.
55. Now I take at least one a day.
56. I wanted my son to have a unique name.
57. I am happy with the name we chose, although I don’t think it’s unique.
58. I know how to lay tile.
59.I’ve actually done lots of renos on all our houses ( generally with Jason, but tiling is all me) and learn something new with each project.
60. I have retained all my high school friendships.
61. Our lives have all gone in different directions but no matter how long it has been we can always pick up as if we’ve just spoken.
62. I’m rather pleased that my son has blue eyes.
63. I didn’t think he would since my eyes are green and my husbands are brown; but I always kind of hoped he would.
64. I learned to like wine in University (the first time around).
65. One night I drank six bottles of wine (someone must have helped me because I lived)
66. Once I started controlling there were strict rules about drinking which I followed dutifully.
67. As a result I don’t drink much anymore at all, just the occasional glass of wine with dinner.
68. I no longer enjoy hard liquor at all.
69. My son’s name is a family name from my side of the family.
70. His middle name is from Jason’s side of the family.
71. I don’t know my left from my right.
72. I’m horrible with directions.
73. Just because I made it somewhere doesn’t mean I can make it back to where I came from.
74. I’m a horrible speller.
75. Actually, my grammar and punctuation leave something to be desired too.
76. In fact I have a relatively weak grasp on the English language, so I suck at madlibs…. what’s an adverb again?
77. My French isn’t much better, although I’m considered functionally bilingual.
78. Did I mention I like math and numbers?
79. I hope to send my children to French immersion.
80. I like cheese
81. a lot.
82. I gave up milk, cheese and yogurts made with cows milk because I think it was bothering Isaac’s stomach when I ate it while breastfeeding.
83. I still buy goat cheese.
84. My favorite colours are blue and green.
85. I wrote this in installments. So while it may seem that the train of thought jumps from here to there than back to here, it made perfect sense when I wrote it.
86. Really.
87. I had never mowed a lawn until this year.
88. I hate to vacuum.
89. I always spell vacuum wrong on my first try.
90. Anything with an ie or ei in it too.
91. I can never remember if the sun rises in the East or the West; total mental block for some strange reason.
92. I enjoy clutter.
93. Especially paper clutter.
94. I have all of my pay statements from when I joined the military in 1997 until they went digital and stopped sending me paper copies.
95. I enjoy grocery shopping, but sometimes have trouble finding time to do it.
96. I read other peoples 100 things list again to get ideas for what to write in this list.
97. I tried not to repeat anything from my ’41 things’ list.
98. I don’t know if I succeeded.
99. I never thought I’d hit my 100th post this early.
100. I never thought I’d come up with 100 things.
Carriers and more
Here are a few (albeit bad) shots of two of our other carriers. The first is our Mei Tai Baby (MTB) and the second some poorly lit shots of my BB Slen Blueberry wrap (it really is a gorgeous colour in real life or good light).
Please note, he could be wrapped better in the blueberry, but we’re still working on perfecting that one as the material is thicker and softer than my Gypsy Mama Bali Breeze wrap. We’re still not loving the Ergo so he’s never in it for more than 5 to 10 minutes. I’m not sure if we’re just not use to it yet, or if he’s still a little too young. He is a big and tall boy, but I still feel the Ergo forces his little legs too wide right now to get around my body.
To make up for the previous bad shots I thought I’d add a few cute pics of Isaac whose new favorite past time is trying to get all of his toys in his mouth.
