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.