Christmas Tree Lighting

I love everything to do with Christmas, but Hubby isn't as much of a keener. Don't get me wrong, he's a big fan of Christmas, *especially* the warm indoor activities. That is why I was blown away when he suggested taking the Munchkin to the Christmas Tree lighting down town. I've lived in this town for 9 years now, and have never been. Hubby has lived here his entire life, and thinks he may have been once or twice. We figured it might be something we could do with the Munchkin every year it's fun.

As you can see from the picture... it was cooold. Fun, sure, but mostly cold. A bunch of the downtown businesses had free hot chocolate and coffee, but the lineups were ridiculous. There were things going on all afternoon, but we just showed up with enough time to meet some friends and watch the switch flip. It was a little crazy weaving through the crowds with a stroller, but it was manageable. We will likely try again next year when he's old enough to understand what's going on a little me, then decide if it's a tradition in the making.

Two more sleeps until Christmas!!

Swimming Lessons

As a kid, I was a water rat. I looooved swimming, in the pool, in the lake, even in the ocean. We used to go camping for 2 weeks every summer, and I spent the entire 2 weeks in the water. Hubby hates the water now, but as a teen he was the star of the swim team. The love of water must be in the Munchkin's blood. He enjoyed bath time from day one, and splashes like a champ. Our local rec center has swimming lessons for babies starting at 4 months old, so he was registered for the first set of lessons that started after he was 4 months. I was a little anxious on his behalf. Pools are super bright and loud, so you never know how he will react.

He loved it! The Munchkin was a little tentative at the beginning, but was calm the whole time. The lessons are great too. A lot of it is teaching the parents what to do, how to hold them, how to get in and out of the pool with a baby, baby CPR, lots of good stuff. They also had 'games' to help with their motor skills and build their comfort level in the water. Yesterday was our last lesson :( He has to be 18 months to move up to the next level, but we'll do this level again in the spring. I really want to keep him in the water as much as possible. Both Hubby and I want to make sure he is comfortable in the water and learns to swim ASAP. My parents have a summer place on the lake, and we stay there for a few weeks every year so it's important that he learn to swim.

I didn't get any pictures at the pool, maybe I'll remember when we go to the pool to 'practice' our swimming after Christmas.

Christmas Cookie Exchange

I love to bake, I'm sure I've told you that before. I've always wanted to do a Christmas Cookie exchange but have never had enough time. It's a lot of work making 6+ dozen cookies. This year, being on maternity leave, I knew I'd be able to get some baking done, so I put the offer out there and had 8 people interested! A few people had to back out due to some reason or other, but in the end there was 6 of us in the exchange. We all did our baking and then met at my house Sunday afternoon to hang out and munch on some cheese dip (unbelievable dip mmMmm).
At the end of the day we each took home 6 dozen amazing cookies! No bake chocolate peanut butter oatmeal, chocolate peppermint sandwiches, sugar cookies (those were mine!), lemon wreaths, carrot apple shortbread and black forest cookies. Sooooo good!

5 Months!

5 Months old! How did that happen? It feels like just last week I was getting up every 2 hours to feed him...oh wait.. that was last week. This has been an interesting month. It started with a Doctors appointment for the nasty eczema on his cheeks. He got a prescription for hydro cortisone cream that helped for a few days, and then seemed to do nothing. At about the same time he stopped sleeping through the night. (*sob*) He had been doing so well, it was a bit of a shock to my system to be getting up every few hours again.

On the plus side, he's sitting up for longer periods of time, but not long enough that we'd leave him without his backup pillow. He's still teething with nothing to show for it, but can put the teething ring in his own mouth now. He's still a happy little guy, even though he's only pooping every couple of weeks. Just a week or so ago we had to move him up a size in clothes. He is growing out of everything fast and furious!


17 Pounds 26.5 Inches.

Oh Christmas Tree.

I love decorating for Christmas. Unfortunately my budget has never really had room for any quality decorations. Our tree, for example, is a hand-me-down. My first year on my own, my manager had brought her old tree to work with her to throw in the dumpster. Her family had just bought a great big new one that came with the lights already in it. When she found out that I wouldn't be getting a tree that year, she gave me the dumpster bound tree.

Growing up, we had a real tree every year. I was so disappointed that I wouldn't be able to have my own real tree, but at least I had a tree! In the years since I acquired the dumpster tree it had managed to stick around. I just haven't been able to justify buying a new fake tree when I had one that did the trick. This year may just be the last year though. It's looking pretty sad.



It curves to the right, and has some pretty substantial bare spots. Plus, in only holds about a quarter of the decorations I have for it :P Maybe next year when the Munchkin is old enough to appreciate it, we'll get a nice big one. With the light already on it.

Bath and Body Works

I have an affinity for soaps and lotions and all things that smell pretty. We have 3 bathrooms in our house, and every one of them has a pretty smelling hand soap. I have a couple of different ones in the bath for bubble baths and showering. I have a bottle of lotion next to my bed, my computer, and on the coffee table. I have 3 different perfumes in my medicine cabinet, and a dozen more in the linen closet. Each one of these is a different scent.

One of the stores that always makes me spend the most money is Bath and Body Works. They have everything all in one place! Lotion, bubble bath, soaps, hand sanitizer that actually smells good, perfumes, and sooo much more! The closest one to me used to me across the border, so I could only get there every once in a while. I'd stock up pretty well of course, but when I ran out sometimes it was like going through withdrawal until I could get across the line. Recently the built one about an hour away! But even better......it's in the same building as my mom's office! Now I just have to go online, make a little list of what I would like, e-mail it to my mother, and it's at my house by the next weekend! Sure she's here to see the Munchkin and not deliver my crack ( ahem ) I mean goodies, but it sure feels like my birthday every time.

I was running low on hand soaps so last week I 'put in my order' with my mom. My all time favorite scent from Bath and Body is Country Apple. The name has changed over the years, but the luscious scent has stayed the same. I still have at least one of those in reserve, so I thought I'd live dangerously and skip it this order. Instead I got the seasonal apple scents :P
And then a wonderful citrus scent.
Another Christmas one.

And the last one is a total random one for me. I usually can't stand floral scents. I find them way too overpowering, and not at all fresh. However, my mom has this one in her bathroom at home, and I love it!

MMmmmm. I want to go wash my hands now.

Kids Parties

Now that we have a kid apparently we qualify for kiddie parties. When we were DINKs (Double Income No Kids), we were never invited to kids parties.

Having a baby is like involuntarily becoming part of a not-so-secret society. Suddenly it's acceptable to make plans in the middle of the day, as long as there are tiny humans present. The friends with kids that always said they wanted to make plans but didn't really mean it, actually mean it now. You know, because you have kids too. Every old person on the face of the planet feels entitled to touch your baby, and occasionally you too. People everywhere talk to you, and share way too much information on the texture and consistency of their child's bowel movements.

It's kind of great.

Last Sunday we were invited to our first ever kids party. One of Hubby's co-workers invited us to his son's birthday party. I go to a play group with his wife, so I know his kids pretty well. Having a baby opens you up to a whole new group of friends. Bring on the parties!

Picture with Santa!

On Wednesday last week we decided to head to the mall for The Munchkin's first picture with Santa. My parents took Roller Auntie and I to see Santa every year since I was born. My mother has kept all the pictures and has made them a part of her decorations. This is a tradition that I am more than happy to carry on.

The Munchkin and I go to a play group on Wednesday mornings. We left a little early so that he would still be in a good mood by the time we got to the mall. We would have gone fist thing in the morning when the Munchkin is usually adorable and chatty, but Santa sleeps in apparently. The Munchkin fell asleep in the car, so we wandered the mall until he woke up and had a snack. I was determined not to get a picture of him crying with Santa. There were only a few people ahead of us, so we didn't have to wait long. I was surprised it wasn't busier, but I guess December 1st isn't as significant as I thought it would be. I make it a rule to wait until December first before I do anything for Christmas.

He did great! The Santa looked a little sketchy, but the Munchkin had no problem hanging out with him. Mrs. Clause was really good at making him smile, so we got a great picture! I'm so proud of my little man :)

Imagine Kids Book

For the year before The Munchkin was born I worked at a photography studio. They are unbelievable artists, and I love what they do. I was the admin assistant, although I should have been called the production assistant. I did all the printing, framing etc, with a little but of answering phone call and e-mails. Shortly after I started they came up with a fabulous project. They do amazing child photography, and decided to make a book dedicated to it. All the session fees were donated to Matthew's House . Each child had a page in the book, and were invited to the book release party as VIP's.

The book release party was this past weekend and the Munchkin and I were invited to go. There was a red carpet for all the VIP's, and each child had their picture taken with their page in the book. It was so much fun to meet all the kids who's pictures I had worked with all year.

The Munchkin was pretty cute too.

The Nutcracker

I was lucky enough last week to have a night off of mommy duty to go see one of my favorite girls in The Nutcracker. She is a beautiful ballerina! Her dance company performs The Nutcracker every Christmas season, hiring a pair of professional dancers to play the lead roles. I was able to see her perform two years ago, and it was my first time seeing the ballet. This year I was even more amazed. She has grown like crazy into an amazing dancer. With the amount of time she dedicates to it I shouldn't be surprised.




While I was relaxing and enjoying myself in the theater, The Munchkin was at home with Hubby. It was his first time putting the Munchkin to bed by himself.. and I was a little anxious for him. He wasn't worried at all, but it's a mommy's job to worry. He made me take a picture of everything he needed to do and then text it to him with instructions so that all he'd have to do is check his phone to make sure he was doing everything right. It worked out pretty well! I called during intermission, and everything had worked like a charm! The only thing that didn't go so well was the bottle. The Munchkin is a boob man and has never really taken a bottle before. We've tried, but he usually just chews on it. Apparently he ate a little, but then just wanted to sleep. At least I know I can take off again for an evening if I need a night off :)

American Thanksgiving

Nana is American, so we get to celebrate both Canadian and American Thanksgivings! I'm not a huge fan of turkey, but a plate full of stuffing keeps me smiling. And Hubby loooves a big traditional dinner like that. I'm sure it will be even better when The Munchkin is older and has half a dozen cousins to play with.

Also a tradition with my Mother in Law was the last minute invite ;) Thursday came and went so we assumed she had decided against it this year. WRONG. Saturday evening I got a phone call inviting us to Thanksgiving dinner Sunday night. When I told her we thought she wasn't doing it this year, she couldn't figure out why. Even though Thanksgiving was on Thursday, and we hadn't heard from her all week, I should have known she would be doing it at some point that weekend. Funny enough we kind of did. We just figured she would call Thursday afternoon with the invite for that evening. We were off by a few days, and she by our standards was a day early!

My family is the complete opposite. We know at least a month in advance when we are doing our holiday dinners, who is hosting, what time we should be there, and who's turn it is to bring the desserts.

I think it's good for me that my in-laws are more spontaneous, it's a regular lesson in flexibility :)

Shopping with Grandma

My mom loves to spoil her only grandchild...that's a lie, she loves to spoil all of us! She single-handedly furnished the Munchkin's bedroom, and did most of the painting.

This past weekend she was going to forgo spending Saturday with the Munchkin so that she could get some of her Christmas shopping done. She was getting pretty anxious about it because she hadn't bought anything yet, and Christmas is fast approaching. Little did she know, I have become Super Shopper Woman! I offered to meet her half way between our two cities at a fairly decent mall and help her find something. Instead she drove all the way out here, and then we drove back to the mall in the middle to do our shopping. She had some twisted logic for that, so I didn't argue.

We estimated that we would be gone for about 2 hours......almost 5 hours later she was in her car heading home. We started out at a strip mall a few blocks away from the 'big' mall planning to quickly check out the new Carters * Osh Kosh store. I'm pretty sure we spent almost an hour there! It wasn't even that big of a store! Grandma decided she wanted to buy the Munchkin a Christmas outfit. I thought is was a pretty good idea, and he could wear it in his pictures with Santa. Well, one outfit turned into a Christmas outfit, and a backup for Christmas dinner on Boxing Day with hubby's family. Then those 2 turned into 4 and a hoodie. Spoiled Rotten!

We spent another hour in the same strip mall at the Hallmark store and Home Outfitters, with a short trip through Old Navy. We were all starving by this point including the Munchkin, so we headed to the mall for lunch in the food court. Grandma had gotten a huge chunk of her shopping done (you're welcome) so she wasn't as panicked after lunch. I made the mistake of letter Grandma into Babies R Us. We walked out of there an hour later with a few new toys and a try for the Munchkin's Bumboo. I hadn't spent a cent yet, but then we passed by my weakness... The Children's Place. I managed to get in and out in 15 minuted with only 2 outfits, both of which were on sale. (I told you I'm the Super Shopper!) We finished our trip around the mall, picked up something to go along with Hubby's gift, and finally headed home. The Munchkin was more than overdue for a nap, but he was still in a pretty good mood.

We got home, put the Munchkin to bed, and sorted through all our goodies!

Library Time

Our local library does something called 'Cuddle time for Babies', and The Munchkin and I went for our second series this month. Monday was the last one until January and I can't wait for it to start up again. The Munchkin absolutely loves listening to the librarian read the stories.

Usually we sit in a circle with all the other mommies and their babies and do a name song to learn who everyone is. Then the librarian teaches the mommies some fun songs and rhymes to do with our babies at home. Then we do some fun group songs and dance around the circle a little bit. Finally the librarian reads a short story before we sing the goodbye song.

We started the first series in October, and the Librarian was great! She was super engaging, and the Munchkin loved listening to her read, he was enthralled with the sound of her voice. All the rhymes turned into fun songs with her, and none of the babies cried or fussed at all! The November session had a new librarian leading the baby time, and she wasn't nearly as good. It was still lots of fun, and I had a great time getting to know some of the other mommies. This librarian didn't sing, she just said all the rhymes. When she did attempt to sing, the tune would change half way through! It was pretty comical.

I feel like we're going to go through withdrawal in December without our library time! But I guess December is a pretty busy month, so I'm sure we'll manage.

Bad Grandma

I've always loved visiting my parents for the weekend. We have a pack n play for The Munchkin, and he has his own room at their house so we thought we'd try staying there for the weekend. Normally I think this would have worked. This weekend, however, Grandma was misbehaving.

The Munchkin followed his usual bedtime routine, bath and all. He was in bed by 9, and fell asleep right away. He usually sleeps until 5am or later, eats, and then goes back down for another few hours. He'll wake up throughout the night, but put himself right back to sleep. Grandma and Grandpa got home from an evening out just as I was heading to bed. Grandma followed me in when I went to check and make sure The Munchkin hadn't kicked his blankets off. He was awake but had his thumb in his mouth and was drifting off again. But Grandma took those open eyes as an opportunity to spend time with her grandson. She started talking to him in an animated voice until he opened his eyes to look at her. I kept shushing her and asked her to stop, so she did. At this point he was awake, but we hadn't passed the point of no return. I escorted Grandma out of the room so he could go back to sleep and I could get ready for bed. She was worried about him not going back to sleep (suure, now she worries) and I told her that he would be fine, and if he wasn't I would feed him and put him back to bed. I went into the bathroom to get ready, and she turned the hall light on so she could peek in and see if he was falling back asleep. Seriously?! Of course he was going to be awake now! All the lights on, and Grandma standing in the doorways smiling and talking to him. At some point in the 5 minutes I was in the bathroom she decided that he was awake, so she might as well pick him up while he waited for me to come and feed him. So now not only is he awake, but he's hanging out in the hallway with all the lights on bouncing around with Grandma.

I was hooped. I managed to wrangle him away from Grandma, send her to bed, and get him to settle down enough to eat. He was wired. He ate and the continued to tell me stories from his play pen. For TWO HOURS! He was wide awake and happy screaming from his room, so loud I was sure the neighbors could hear him. It was after 3am when he finally got cranky and hungry again. He ate again and then went to sleep until 8am.

After all that....Grandma slept through the whole thing!

I had to go to a crazy busy baby shower with half a dozen kids on less than 5 hours of sleep. As punishment Grandma was in charge of the cranky baby that didn't get enough sleep the night before during the baby shower.

Weekend Adventure.

Apparently I forgot to blog about our adventure to Grandma and Grandpa's house last weekend. The Munchkin and I headed out to visit Grandma and Grandpa for the weekend so that I could go to my cousins baby shower. It also gave Hubby the opportunity to have some time to himself and, as his co-worker put it, "nerd it up" with his brother. They stayed home and played computer games until 5am, while I stayed at my parents :)

We dropped Hubby off at work on Saturday (poor guy) and started our 45 minute drive to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We hung out for a bit and then I put the little mad down for a nap while Roller Auntie and I went out for some amazing sushi. Sushi is the one thing I really missed being pregnant. Well that...and wine. This place was a little different than I had ever had before. In my Philadelphia roll, instead of the usual avocado and cucumber this one had a bean and red pepper. The bean was super crunchy, but I poked the red pepper out with my chop stick.

Then it was time to head home, get The Munchkin and go see Cousin Auntie Gourmet. She is an amazing cook, so we went over to make dinner and try out a new recipe. She has a food blog with her cousin, and they try all sorts of great things. We made bacon and tomato carbonara, and it was so good I made it again for Hubby a few days later.

The Munchkin fell asleep while we were cooking, so Maggie took the opportunity to checkout the tiny loud human. After dinner Auntie Gourmet, soon to by Uncle K ( who needs a better name), the Munchkin and I went back to Grandma and Grandpa's to hang out, eat some more food that's probably bad for us and watch a movie. Grandma and Grandpa were out for the evening so we had the run of the place. Roller Auntie decided to join us after her plans to watch the hockey game fell through. We ate far to much junk, including the best brownies ever... and addicting cheese, and then watched possibly one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I had hear good things too, but I should have known that with Zeffron as the star it was bound to be pretty horrible.
We had a good time talking through all the 'touching moments' and making our own ridiculous predictions. All in all it was a pretty good evening. That is until Grandma got home... but I'll tell you that story later.

Going to the Gym

Hubby and I are feeling lazy. We figure it's about time we get back to our healthy lifestyle. Hubby and I are pretty much polar opposites physically. I'm short and fairly round, whereas Hubby is taaalll and thin. I've always enjoyed swimming, so we are looking for a gym with a pool. There is a new gym opening in our neighborhood so we decided to go for the 'virtual tour'. Apparently they have great rates! Opening specials! Join now! Ha!

We went in on Friday to do our tour and chat with one of their trainers. We'd looked at the website (which shows all these great facilities, but gives no details) so we had some idea going in when the tour would look like. Here is our list of 'needs' when it comes to a gym.
1. I want a pool! ( Have have bursitis in my hips so I can't run or bike for cardio)
2. Childcare ( Nana is close by, but who knows how often we'll be going)
3. Tanning (Hubby is fair and needs to bronze a little before the summer starts to avoid heat stroke)
4. A Ladies only zone. (Lighter weights for me!)
5. Later hours (Hubby gets off work at 6:30)
6. Maybe personal training? ( Once I lose a little weight I might be interested in toning a little)
7. AFFORDABLE!! ( and no super long contract!)

So lets see how this gym measures up! Well, even though the website shows a pool....there isn't one on site....but some of the franchises back east have them....like that matters. They have childcare! But only 2 days a week, and only in the morning, oh, and you have to pay for a membership for your child too if you want to have them in childcare. So... not going to happen. Tanning! guess what? Costs extra. ladies only area? yay! They have that! But if you want to participate in any of the classes... you guessed it, extra $. They do have one thing going for them, they are open until 10-no extra fees :P How about personal training? Drum roll please......Extra $$. So I guess all that answers the last question. Affordable? I think not. Oh, and to get any of the "low introductory rates", it's a 2 year contract. And those introductory rates, not so low. Pretty much the same as all the other gyms we've been to. Makes me wonder what they will go up to after the 'introductory period".

We considered going to the public rec center- but ew. And no chance of childcare. Finally after some searching online I convinced Hubby to check out this one last place. He had vetoed it originally because it is one of the oldest ones in town, 30ish years. But after checking it out online, and calling their new member rep, he agreed to check it out with me.

First thing, they have a private pool that is balanced twice daily. No extra cost. Childcare is free for the first 3 months, and after that you can pay a reasonable monthly fee for an unlimited package, or just pay a drop in rate (on the days Nana isn't available). Tanning, also free for the first three months, and then there are also packages and drop in rates that are pretty decent. The ladies only zone is great, with a monitor that shows the nursery so you can watch your kid while you work out. All the classes are included, Woo! This place is open until 11 on weeknights, and 10 on weekends, so hubby will have lots of time to go after work. You meet with the personal trainer when you join, and they teach you how to use all the machines, and if you want to meet with them again to set up a workout plan for yourself it's a one time fee that's pretty reasonable. And finally, it's totally affordable! The first person pays the regular rate, which it the same as every other gym in town, and the second person gets a discounted rate. Oh, and you can pay month to month, or sign a contract for 6 months, 1 or 2 years, and get an even better rate.

Guess where we're going? :P

4 Months

So I'm a little bit late on this one. 4 months, wow.

The Munchkin is an amazing sleeper! He's going to bed at 9pm, and usually wakes up between 5-7am to eat, and then goes back to sleep until 9am. His nap schedule is still a little sporadic, but he always goes down at noon for at least an hour and a half, and sometimes up to three hours!

He is sitting all on his own now for a few seconds at a time. He starts to wobble and falls back onto the pillow when we practice. Pretty soon he'll be sitting for real! He still HATES tummy time. I'm a little worried that he hasn't even made an attempt to roll over yet, but he'll do it when he's ready I guess.

He did great at his 4 month immunizations. A little cry and then he was smiling for the nurse within a couple of minutes.



He has really bad eczema on his face. It got so bad that we had to see the doctor to get some prescription cream for it.

He's still a pretty happy baby, except for those days where he's trying to poop.....today is one of those days. We're still going 8+ days between poops....

So, at 4 months the Munchkin is 16 Pounds and 26 Inches long!

Halloween

It was the Munchkins first Halloween and he was a Dinosaur! We decided to go over to Nana and Granddad's for dinner and candy dispersion. Uncle Red manned the door and ooohed and aahhed at all the trick or treaters. Grandma and Grandpa stopped by to see the Munchkin in his costume and chat it up with Hubby's parents for a little bit.

We have a friend that lived fairly close to Nana and Granddad, so the Munchkin got to go trick or treating for the first time. I can't wait until he's older and can enjoy it! We looked forward to Halloween for months. Maybe that's because it's my mom's second favorite holiday. Our house had almost as many decorations at Halloween as at Christmas. I always had the best costumes too. My mother was a master seamstress, so anything I wanted to be was turned into a reality.



Isn't he an adorable Dino?

I promised Hubby I'd keep his face out of this blog, so expect more blank squares in the future.

Pumpkin carving!

The Munchkins fist pumpkin carving!
He started out pretty good, sitting in his Bumboo and watching all the action. After a while though he started to get a little cranky, so we put him down for a quick nap and he woke up as our happy little boy again. Hubby and I haven't carved pumpkins together since we were dating! We had a great time, even though he wouldn't let me peek at his until he was totally finished. I have to say, I was impressed with the end result!

And then with the lights off. OoooOoooo

Christmas gifts for Baby?

Shopping for a baby is ridiculous! Getting some big expensive gift is silly, he'll only be 5 1/2 months old. At the same time, I still want to get him something he'll love.

So far I've decided to get something we were already planning on buying. He'll be the perfect age for an exersaucer, so that's going to be his 'big' gift for the year. It was either that, or the high chair, but the high chair is no fun. I really wish he'd be able to remember these early years, because everyone else is so stinkin' excited for his first Christmas.

I went to Costco this morning and bought a 4 pack of stockings. We plan on having one more little one, so this way we'll have a matching set of stockings for the whole family. There's a place in the mall that does embroidery, so I'll take them there and get our names put on them. It's just barely the end of October, and I'm getting so excited for Christmas. Maybe I'm seeing it through the eyes of a child all over again. I do have a rule in my house, no decorating until December 1st. If I do it too soon, I get sick of all the music and extra 'clutter' around the house. It will be interesting to figure out where to put everything in the new house.

Shoot, what about stocking stuffers for the Munchkin? He's not old enough for candy and other treats Hubby's family puts in the stockings (my family does socks, underwear, toothpaste etc.) Anybody have any ideas for little things to put in the Munchkins stocking?

One of them.

I've turned into one of those moms. You know, with the ridiculous schedule for everything. Especially meals, that's what started this whole thing. I've been struggling with coming up with things to make for dinner that don't either take forever to make, or we haven't made a bazillion times already this month.

I typed out everything I make from frozen pizza to roast beef dinner and the list is pretty long! Why is it that when I have to start cooking something, none of these 30 items come to mind? That's where the list is going to come in. Now at the beginning of every week I sit down at the computer and scroll through that magical list and decide what to have for every meal that week. Then I make a shopping list and get the groceries for those meals I have planned for. So far (1 Week in) it's been going great!

I'm still afraid that I'm going to get tired of my list, so I've become a member of one of those recipe sites, and I get a recipe of the day. If it's good, I save the recipe and add it to The List. The first new recipe we're going to try:
Broccoli, Ham and Cheese Quiche! I read about it on another bloggers' site, and it sounded pretty good. I'll let you know how it turns out.

What to do for Halloween

I'm curious to know what other people with babies are doing for Halloween. We live in an area with a lot of kids, so giving out candy will be lots of fun! But what about when it's bed time for the Munchkin? We could just turn out the light and hope the little goblins and ghosts stop ringing the the doorbell.

We're also thinking about taking the Munchkin to 'trick or treat' and Nana and Grandpop's house. Maybe we could just stick around there and put him to sleep until the door bells have stopped ringing. Somebody needs to see how cute he is in his costume.

I'm looking forward to the day after Halloween. That's when all the candy goes on sale ;)

Solo Shopping

The Munchkin is in high demand! Being the first grand-baby, everyone wants their own time with our little man, and I don't mind at all. I had a bunch of errands to run the other day, and as much as he's an easy baby, I hate having to haul him in and out of the car and stroller. So I had a genius idea! I called Nana to see if she wouldn't mind if I dropped the munchkin off for an hour or so while I went grocery shopping and ran errands. She was more than happy to snuggle him for a while, and ended up having a lovely little photo shoot ( now we know where Cool Auntie gets it from :P).

I was amazed at how much faster it was to go shopping solo. I hadn't even realized it was taking me longer to do things. At least now I know how to get it done all at once and speedy!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Wow, what a crazy weekend. We spent Sunday with Hubby's family. It was great, and fairly low-key. We spent Monday with my family, and it was CRAZY! Everyone wants a piece of The Munchkin, which I think is adorable, but it gets a little stressful after a while. We got up and had a little time to ourselves before we had to take off. Then it was my mom's side of the family for lunch and snuggle the baby time so it was a 45 minute drive to get to Grandmas'. A bunch of the family was out of town or had other commitments so it wasn't too hectic. The Munchkin was great for the first hour or so, but then a switch flipped and he was DONE. Take me home. We went and snuggled in 'the kids room' (my Grandma has always had a bedroom for us kids), and he calmed down and decided to be human again.

Mid afternoon we headed out to my Aunts' for dinner with my Dads' side of the family. It was another 45 minutes in the car and The Munchkin had a great snooze. This is where it gets a little nutty. I have 3 cousins on that side of the family, my sister and I are the youngest by at least 5 years. Two of those cousins have two kids each, and the third is preggo. There were small people everywhere. The twins are almost 3, so they are into everything. The little girl wanted to touch The Munchkin, squish his cheeks, give him kisses, hold his hand. My poor mother was having a minor heart attack. She's a little more 'protective' than I am. I figure that if it bothers him, he'll let us know pretty quickly. Which he did after a few minuted of being smothered by little fingers. All 4 of the other kids are talking now, so there was no shortage of noise. I'm not surprised, but impressed that The Munchkin was able to have an hour and a half long nap in the midst of everything while taking turns snuggling with Grandma and Grandpa.

My Aunt got all the kids little pumpkins according to their size and tried to get them all together in a picture. It was a gong show, but still pretty cute. My preggo cousin is due in January, so I can only imagine how crazy this will be next holiday season. I didn't get any pictures, but everyone else did. Hopefully they will be passed on soon and I will post them!

Baking Success!!

I love to bake, and most importantly I love to try new things when I bake. Every Christmas is an experiment in all things sweet... and sometimes salty. Some things intimidate me though. Like baked cheesecake. I'm down with the no-bake kind, they always turn out amazing, but the kind you have to bake taunt me by threatening to crack! The other big one that scares me is meringue. I make lemon pies and tarts on a regular basis, but I often 'forget' to put the meringue on. I know it's not difficult, but I'm always afraid I won't get the peaks stiff enough, or that if I DO get them to stand up they will burn.

Today I took my fist step toward facing that fear. I made Lemon Meringue Pie! And it looks good!

Ebay Addict

Hi, my name is Jacki, and I'm an eBay-aholic.

I discovered eBay a few years ago and it fueled my ever expanding shoe collection. I would go on every so often and scroll through the cool heels and sneakers to see if there was anything unique in my size. (Obviously I ALWAYS found something).

Now eBay has become the very best way to shop for The Munchkin. I mean they have everything! I loooove Paul Frank stuff, but find it really hard to find in Canada. If I do find it, it costs an arm and a leg! Not so on eBay! And Jeans! In store baby jeans cost more than mine do! Not so with eBay! Baby shoes are lame, and the fun ones are hard to find. Not so on eBay! You get the idea.

Another plus with shopping on eBay... I get packages in the mail ;)

3 Months

The Munchkin is 3 months old today. Wow, these last three months have flown by. I expected things to be difficult and stressful, but they have been fantastic!

So far I have been impressed with his strength. He was able to hold up his head within a couple of weeks, but by 3 months he can stand on his own with our support to balance him. He'd rather be sitting than lying down, and standing rather than sitting. He has started teething, but doesn't quite have the ability to hold the teething ring in his mouth on his own. His favorite toy is his soft zebra rattle (Zach), but loves to talk to the Giraffe (George) and the Elephant (Lumpy) on his tummy time mat. This past month he started sleeping through the night a couple times a week. I'm getting at least 6 solid hours of sleep each night, and it is Beeeeautiful.

He is now just over 15 pounds and 26 inches long! Our Big boy!

Toys

We're getting to the point now that The Munchkin actually needs things to be entertained. It was amazing how just looking around a room could entertain him for as long as he could stay awake. Then Mommy or Daddy's face did the trick for a while. His tummy time mat lasted quite a while, but now it's putting him to sleep :P So we're moving on to stuff. Great Grandma got him a Jolly Jumper:
And he LOVES it! He hasn't quite figured out the 'jumping' part quite yet, but loves being able to stand on his own and wiggle around. The only rooms in our house that have a door frame to hang it on are the bedroom and bathrooms, so we're going to be hanging out upstairs a lot more.

Any ideas for the next fun thing to play with?

Mall Rat

I have become a mall rat. Most mornings I drop Hubby off at work and take The Munchkin for a stroll through the mall. It wouldn't be so bad if I weren't so tempted to buy things every trip. Usually anything I buy is for Munchkin, but this can't be healthy for our bank account. I am getting good at finding sales though, passing by the same stores everyday I notice when things are different.

One thing I have been keeping my eyes on in the iPhone 4. Both Hubby and I are looking for them. We are with different carriers, and there are a few stores of each in the area in different strip malls. So every week while on my little stroll I stop by the different stores and ask again and AGAIN. The other day I got lucky! Well, for Hubby anyway. One of the stores I have harassed relentlessly just happened to have one in stock. I overheard the salesman tell the person he was talking to on the phone that they were all out of the iPhone. Apparently when he saw me, he decided that this was the opportunity to get rid of me!

I purchased the phone and then took it to Hubby's work. I put the phone in The Munchkins' stroller and then told Hubby that I had been trying to reach him all morning, but his phone wasn't working. I tried to call him again from my phone while he was holding his 5 year old piece or crap and the stroller started to ring instead. I said that The Munchkin stole his phone so that was why I couldn't reach him. He didn't get it. It wasn't until I made him look in the stroller that he FINALLY figured out what was going on. Yay! Totally made his week :)

So proud

My sister, Roller Auntie, has been terrified of The Munchkin. Babies freak her out. I don't blame her, babies are unpredictable and cry. She came over to hang out and rescue me from my week day boredom the other day and I tricked her into holding him.

My aunt is planning a big thanksgiving thing so the the rest of the family can meet him. It's going to be a gong show, but so much fun. He's going to be passed around like a new toy, it's a good thing he's an easy baby. He's fairly content with just about anyone holding him. Let's hope it stays that way, especially when it come time for babysitters!

Shopping Spree!

It was my birthday just over a month ago, and I got some birthday money with the strict instructions not to spend it on Hubby or The Munchkin. Hard to do, yes, but I managed! Cool Auntie and I took The Munchkin for a day with the girls. We drove half an hour away to the nearest not-so-lame mall and wandered aimlessly for a while. I'm between sizes at the moment. I used to be just barely in plus sizes, but since The Munchkin has come into the world I've lost a bunch of weight and the plus size section does not work anymore. The average store in the mall carries my size, however they aren't exactly flattering to the new 'mommy shape'. Cool Auntie was looking for nice jeans, a never ending search.

We stopped for lunch and then left the mall empty handed. Sad face. But all hope was not lost! We still had Old Navy to rummage through. I pink puffy heart Old Navy. I always seem to find something, no matter what size I am. I was a kid in a candy store. And even though Auntie Cool was suuure she wouldn't find anything.... *cue angels singing* Jeans were procured! They were the most perfect jeans ever.

Oh, and I found a plethora of things. Jeans, hoodies, a waffle shirt, some nice cami's... and I snuck in a couple shirts for the Munchkin! I feel spoiled and I kind of like it! My favorite purchase. It is so warm, bring on the cold!

7 days

7 days, and no baby poop. Totally freaked me out, but apparently its normal. I figured his insides were probably bursting, but when it finally made it's way out it was average volume. Great way to start a post huh?

Confession time. I'm addicted to TV. I LOVE MY PVR! I'm not ashamed to admit it, embarrassed maybe, but not ashamed. As soon as they start announcing all the new fall shows, I starting making an excel spreadsheet to track when everything is on. We get the eastern time feed so I can watch everything three hours early, and record more shows during the later showing. It always makes me sad when they end up canceling shows I like. See! Obsessed! Anyone else obsessed with TV? Favorite shows?

I love, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Fringe, NCIS, NCIS:LA, Glee! House, How I Met Your Mother, Criminal Minds, The Mentalist.....and so many more.

Bringing baby home.

Bringing the Munchkin home wasn't nearly as terrifying as I thought it would be. Before my own I had held one baby, and it was not a newborn. Everything came fairly naturally, and what didn't Hubby and I figured out together.

Sleep became a luxury, and pj's became clothing. Hubby had the first two weeks off, so I had full time help. He was amazing! He did all the cooking and cleaning. He woke up early every morning and took the Munchkin downstairs for a few hours so I could get some solid sleep. I think it was really good for their bonding too.

Hubby was the first recipient of a poosplosion. It came out the legs and up the front and back of Munchkins' diaper. I laughed, but was initiated into the club a few days later. You can hear them happen from across the room. It sounds like pudding being forced through a garden hose sprayer at top speed. Surprisingly, neither of us has tossed our cookies yet. I'm sure there is still time.

It's a Boy!

The following is not suitable to all readers, reader discretion is advised.

8:00pm
No drugs. After a moment of panic it was time to go! My Dr. broke my water with the lovely hook thing and it was the most disgusting feeling ever! Baby was apparently ready to go, because he had already pooped. This isn't the best thing, so the nurse tried to hook me up to a fetal heart monitor. It's like a tensor bandage that wraps around your belly and has little sensors running through. She asks me mid-contraction to please arch my back so that she can put the monitor around me. I told her to screw off. My Dr. laughed. She got Hubby to help reach under me and pull the monitor through so I could concentrate on my now continuous contraction.

Time to push! Hallelujah! Pushing was the best thing ever! Every push took the pain away just a little more, even if it was just because I was too busy concentrating on something else to notice the pain. Every time I would push, the baby's heart rate would drop. Dr. figured it was just the heart monitor not registering properly, but to be safe she attached an internal one to the baby's head. He was moving really fast, so his head was already visible. A couple more pushes and the heart rate kept dropping with every push. The Dr. reached in and discovered the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck.

Within about a minute my room went from 4 people to 10. The pediatric specialist and his team just happened to be in the hospital, so they were called in. My Dr. decides that baby needs to come out NOW. She get the vacuum suction apparatus and starts telling me what it does. I interrupted her and told her to just get him OUT. She sticks the suction cup to his head, tells me to push and starts pulling as hard as she can. Hubby tells me she was pulling so hard her arms were shaking. Two pushes and he was out at 8:44pm and handed over to the pediatric team. He had swallowed some of his own poop, so on top of having the cord around his neck, his stomach and lungs had to be drained.

The pain just stopped, and I was a space cadet. It took me a few seconds to even realize they had taken the baby to the other side of the room. He was breathing and squirming so I started to take an inventory of myself. The Dr. was checking things out down below, and they weren't good. Things happened so fast that the lady parts didn't have time to stretch on their own. It ended up being so bad, a gynecological surgeon had to be called in. FINALLY I got some drugs!

Baby is all cleaned up and gets passed on to me. I'm still 'hanging out' on the table with people coming in and out checking me out. I'm hanging out like this until 45 minutes later when the surgeon comes in. It takes him anther 45 to sew me up, while hubby bonds with the baby. He was hilarious, I think, it may have been the drugs. I get cleaned up and covered up and it's time for the family to meet the munchkin!

It's time!

Born Monday July 12, 8:44 pm weighing 9 pounds 4 ounces! 21.5 inches long, he takes after daddy.

So here's the story. Sunday night Hubby and I are playing computer games and I started feeling a little icky. I hadn't had any of the usual signs that labor was coming, so I assumed I was just feeling off. We went to bed and I couldn't sleep at all. I laid there until 3 or 4am and was getting more and more uncomfortable. Finally I got up and tried to watch some TV, but by 6am I was starting to realize that these pains were actually contractions so I woke up Hubby to time them for me. They were 2-3 minutes apart by 8am, so we headed to the hospital.

TMI ahead

At the hospital they reviewed my file and sent me to pee in a cup. When I was seen by the nurse, she attempted to reach for my throat through my girly parts and then told be to go home. Apparently you have to be dilated to stay. She told be to come back when they were 1 minute long and 1 minute apart. So we go home and Hubby goes to work while I sit and squirm in pain. By noon I'm going insane and can't handle the pain, so Hubby comes home and starts timing again. We go back to the hospital at 1 and get the throat grabbing treatment once again and they get ready to drug me up and send me home once again. I get a shot of morphine and they tell me to hang out for 20 minutes until it kicks in, the go home for 2-3 hours. Yeah, so the morphine? It doesn't kick in. Aparently I am immune! An hour and a half later they decide it's best to admit me. A nurse comes in and takes my blood while I am still hanging out in the triage area, and then I lay there a while longer. Finally a nurse from the maternity ward comes to get me and I slowly make my way to my room. The reason it took so long is because they went out of their way to get me into one of the two tub rooms. I will be forever grateful for this shortly.

I asked for drugs and they laughed. Apparently you have to be more dilated than I was to get drugged. I began sensing a theme. I am not very dilated! I waddled over to the tub and Hubby filled it with the hottest water I could handle. I spent the next 3 hours there, and I'm pretty sure I asked for drugs every 10 minutes or so. Around 5 I thought I was going to die so the nurse brought me the laughing gas, and guess what? I'm immune to that too! It just made me feel nauseous and dizzy. Finally at 6:30 they agreed to consider drugs. But I had to get the nether regions checked out again before they would give me anything. Yeah, so I was at 4cm and they wanted me to be at 5 before I could get anything. So we tried all these awkward positions in the shower until I couldn't handle it, which was fairly quickly, and went back into the newly filled tub.

Now the nurses switch over, and my helpful awesome nurse gets traded in for awkward nurse. Awkward nurse 'forgets' that I want drugs. I send hubby to ask AGAIN. She tells me to wait because I am progressing slowly. I fight her. When I said before that I thought I was going to die, at this point I knew I was was going to die. At 8pm she finally agrees to check me again to see if I am at 5cm yet. So she checks and tells me that I am fully dilated and she needs to go get my Dr. Um... 6cm in and hour and a half!

My Dr. is awesome and I love her. She comes in and confirms that, yes, I am fully dilated and it's time to get things started. Woo!

Oh, she says, but it's too late for drugs.

I looked her in the eye and said, I HATE YOU.

She laughed.

To be continued.....

7 Months preggo

And I get laid off. Yup, they laid off a pregnant woman! So my last day was April 30, which was super disappointing because it meant I couldn't finish out the school year with my kids. I was really lucky in that I had some amazing youth leaders that were willing to step up and take over, but I really wanted to be the one to do it!

I went into the EI office to figure out what my next step should be, because the church assured me that I could start my mat leave up to 11 weeks early. Which would have been okay, except for the fact that it means I have to go back to work 11 weeks early! I was given a different story when I went to the EI office which sounded too good to be true involving going on unemployment first and then Mat leave. Turns out, I still have to go back to work 11 weeks early, and the person I talked to was a crazy. Fast forward a couple months, 2 bills for benefits I received but apparently shouldn't have, 10 phone calls to discover that I WAS entitled to those benefits, 1 more bill and one more phone call to sort out the crazies later... I still have to go back to work in May.

Now the dilemma is what to do come May! Do I go back to work and put my 8 month old in day care? Part time? Full Time? Do I stay at home until he's a year and forfeit the income? Oh, wait. Can't do that cause we are now an extra 50 000 in debt. (more on that later).

What to do, what to do?

First thing first

April 2009 my job was cut in half. Yup, it sucked. Hubby and I decided that it was a sign we should start a family. So we started trying. Summer came and went and no + signs on the stick. I was offered a second job at an amazing photography studio that would be ridiculous to pass up, so I took it. I was still working at the church, only I was working 20+ hours instead of 60.

Fast forward to October. Pee on the stick, and it's a +! So at this point we are living in a 400 sqft basement suite. Yes it was a 2 bedroom, but it was not big enough to house a baby and all the STUFF that comes with it. We start looking for a townhouse that we can purchase with the down payment we had been putting away when I was still working full time with a pretty good salary. I had been obsessing over houses and townhouses online for months already so I had a pretty good idea what we were going to be looking at. We contacted a realtor on Friday, and had an accepted offer by Tuesday. I'm a fairly decisive person. We knew exactly what we were looking for so we thought it would take waaaay longer to find something to meet our expectations. 3 level, 3 bedrooms, 2+ bathrooms, rec room on lowest level, bedrooms on 3 floor. Not picky at all.

So the house we chose was HILARIOUS! This old lady had been living there for 30 years, and it looked like it. Observe:

This is the kitchen, and yes, she hand painted the black dots on the while squares of linoleum.
This is the 'powder room'. Please note the playing card wall paper covering every square inch of the room. *Not shown in this picture is the decorative wall plate (also playing card themed) on the wall beside the toilet, and the mug (you guessed it, playing cards!) on the counter.* Love the old lady toilet seat.
The living room overlooking the dining room. In the dining room you can see the awkwardly placed pictures in frames, and the lovely zebra painted wall hanging (Which she left for us...how nice). What you can't see is the spoon collection. There were at least 20 plaques of spoons covering the lower portion of all walls.

The living room. Let me draw your attention to the doll on a swing hanging from the ceiling in the upper right corner. These were all over the house. It was creepy. The wall behind the could was a really neat textured wall paper that we considered keeping until we moved the couch and saw that her cat had used it as a scratching post.
This is our amazingly HUGE master bedroom. We LOVE how big it is. What we did not love was the faux bamboo wallpaper on the two walls you can see. Again, it wouldn't have been too bad if it weren't 100 years old with rips and stains. The other two walls were white, and had a hand painted border of multicolored diamonds with dots in the middle. No two diamonds were the same. Oh, and all the bedrooms had curtains that matched the bedspread AAAAND the light switch cover! They were precious.

That's all you get for now! We've done massive renovations, and one of these days I'll post the before and after photos!

Testing

So it's been months since my last post, and a lot has changed. Small things like having a baby, buying a house and getting laid off. No biggie. I'm afraid I'm going to forget all the details so I'm going to make a renewed attempt at blogging. At the very least I'll have a place to put up pictures for my family. So here goes!