Rachel and John

Thoughts from the Week

2012-01-27T09:16:00.001-07:00

1) I'm only doing Fitness Friday every other week. Still haven't gotten my workout DVDs in the mail. BOO

2) No one has seen or heard the Coyotes since last Sunday so I think they are gone. I'm going to venture back outside with the pup and babe this afternoon.

3) Henry has been so clumsy this week! Now that he can crawl forwards, his lack of coordination is causing him problems. I have been trying really hard to let him bump his head so that he learns...you know? But it's so hard to watch! Don't worry, there have been no injuries.

4) My new favorite app for my iPhone is the Starbucks app. Not only does it find you the nearest Starbucks, but it also lets you save your favorite drinks and your friend's drinks...which is helpful to me because I can never remember my friend's drinks. Right Alison? Now I won't have to ask all the time!

5) I kinda have a thing for breakfast sandwiches in the late afternoon. McDonalds and Tim Horton's don't serve them in the afternoons...but Starbucks does. Yum

6)We cut our cable down to a more basic package. The channels that we lost were mainly mine...like TLC and the W network. I missed them for about a week but now I'm over it. And I want to get rid of cable all together! John won't let me but I'm going to keep trying.

7) Henry turns 9 months old tomorrow! How did that happen??

Terrified to leave my house

2012-01-24T09:21:00.000-07:00

Why?
Coyotes.

5 Coyotes to be exact.

5 Coyotes that, in broad daylight, attacked a dog in my neighbour's FENCED backyard.

By neighbour I mean someone who lives down the street from me. Their backyard backs out onto a park. The same park that is right beside our house.

Monday morning I got a text message from our friend who also lives on the street, telling me about the attack. The owner let their dog outside to do it's business and suddenly there were 2 coyotes in her backyard attacking her dog, while 3 others sat outside the fence and watched. She ran out and scared them away. Brave Lady. The dog was fine. Covered in coyotes saliva, but not bit or cut at all. Because she was there and saved him!

So we have coyotes in the area. It's not a new thing. We see them in farmers fields around our area all the time. But NEVER in a pack, and never in OUR NEIGHBOURHOOD!

John figures that the recent cold snap (-45 with the wind chill? remember?), has made it difficult for them to find food. So they have banded together (out of necessity) and come into the neighborhood looking for food. Apparently they will eat anything smaller than themselves...including PETS AND SMALL CHILDREN.

I have pets and a small child.

I usually take my pet and small child for a walk through the park that is now coyote infested every day (when it isn't -45 degrees). Could I keep 5 coyotes away from my dog and baby? No. The thought scares me. So until it is safe again, I'm not leaving my house... except by car since it's in the garage and getting to it doesn't involve going outside.

Animal control has been contacted...but how do I know when it's safe again?

Fitness Friday

2012-01-20T09:42:00.001-07:00

So I totally forgot about Fitness Friday last week. So this is a 2 week update.

The bottom line: I lost 2 pounds

The details: Not from working out :(

When I originally decided to do FF, I didn't give myself a weight number as a goal, because I'm happy with my current weight. I just want to be in better shape. Yes, this might mean my weight goes up (from muscle) or down (like it did). But I don't want to focus on that. So what did I do?

Week 1
Activity: I really increased my activity. We went outside everyday and I power walked, while pulling a 100 pound dog and pushing a stroller. It was great.

Food: I didn't change my eating habits at all. I did start logging my food again in My Fitness Pal, but since we make most of our food from scratch (including bread!), it's hard to do. I don't know the nutrient value of the bread I bake.

Work Out: I was all ready to do it once, but our Wii wasn't working and after I fiddled around with it for almost an hour...Henry started to get fussy. I should have just given up and put on a DVD. Lesson learned.
I did take Henry to swimming lessons and bounced up and down in the water for 30 minutes straight which KILLED my legs. And I'd LIKE to count that but I'm not going to.

Week 2
Activity: Almost none. It was FREEZING and I didn't go outside unless I had to. And I certainly wasn't going to take Henry out in what felt like -45 degrees. I'm not exaggerating. With the wind chill that is what the temperature was.

Food: I stopped logging my food because it was so time consuming. I stopped going back for second helpings. If I was still hungry, I made a salad. Also? We are all out of Christmas Chocolate. Thank goodness for that!

Work Outs: None. No attempts. John went in the pool with Henry this week for Swimming Lessons.

So where does that leave me? Oddly, 2 pounds lighter. I ordered another work out DVD. Hopefully having a new one will motivate me to use it. The weather is supposed to be above freezing for at least the beginning of next week so that should be good for my activity.

Wish me Luck.

11 Random Things

2012-01-18T14:04:00.000-07:00

Leigh tagged me in the 11 random things survey!

Here are the rules:
1. Post these rules
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer
5. Go to their blog and tell them you've tagged them
6. You legitimately have to tag 11 people

11 Random Things About Me:
1) I love pizza and could eat it every single day, for every meal, for the rest of my life.
2) I have trouble looking people in the eyes when I talk to them. Isn't that weird? I have to really work at it or else I end up looking all around.
3) I really like folding laundry, but I hate putting it away.
4) I play the piano. I have my grade 6 certificate and wish I would have gone all the way (to grade 8).
5) I have really great oral hygiene. I used to work at a dentist office and I think that's why.
6) I can't eat runny eggs (like sunny side up or over easy) because it gives me a stomach ache. I have to eat my eggs fully cooked...and a little crispy.
7) I am slowly painting my entire house grey. I started with the nursery and now I've added the powder room. I want to do more rooms!
8) I ski but I have no one to go with in Calgary, since John doesn't. Which is a shame since the mountains are so close to us!
9) Our kitchen junk drawer is over flowing. And instead of cleaning it out, we just started another one.
10) I honestly love love love being a mom.
11) I really miss being pregnant.

Leigh's questions:
1. if you could be any superhero, which would you be? Superwoman.
2. if you could be on any TV show, which one would it be? Modern Family
3. if you had to take either a calculus or physics class, which one would it be? Physics. I have taken a few already. Same with Calculus but I remember hating it!
4. what is your favorite and must have beauty product? oh Geez. I'm not good with beauty products. I'll go with a good pair of tweezers.
5. do you burp or fart in front of your significant other? Yes
6. who said I love you first in your relationship? John did!
7. if you could change one thing about your wedding, what would it be? (if you are married of course!) More time for photos.
8. who is your blogging idol? Pioneer Woman. Not only does she post like 3 times a day, but she lives on a ranch in the middle of nowhere and homeschools. That's like my dream life.
9. if you could do anything better, what would it be? (ie: run faster, become a better cook or baker, etc) Be a better friend.
10. have you ever peed in the shower? Yes.
11. do you get embarrassed really easily? Oh ya.

My Questions:
1) What is your go to dinner menu?
2) What is your biggest pet peeve?
3) If you HAD to change your name, what would you change it to?
4) What is the first thing you do when you get up every morning?
5) What is the last thing you do before you go to bed at night?
6) What is your shopping weakness?
7) How many kids would you like to have in total?
8) What is your favourite thing in your entire house (not people)?
9) How do you sleep? Back, front, side?
10) What is your favourite take out food?
11) What book are you currently reading?

I tag:
Natalie at Extraordinary Love
Vanessa at Matt and Vanessa
Tami at Little Moments Like This
Lyndsey at The Loflands
Cait at The Blessed Life
Kelley at Daily Sips
Micaela at Kent and Micaela
Emily at Lived a Charmed Life
Katherine Anne at Medical School Mrs.
Amanda at My Life in the Making
Lindsay at The Berteau Life

Blogging with one hand= lots of pictures

2012-01-17T13:05:00.000-07:00

Lately we've been bowling:

Vanessa and Henry. Henry LOVED to watch everyone bowl.

Henry likes church so much that he doesn't want to nap:

John rocking Henry to sleep in the dark storage room

We went to my brother's condo for a big Sunday lunch: Roast beef

Henry was more interested in the rug than his toys.

Henry has discovered the dishwasher, he tries to eat it:

And these two are still loving each other:

The Last Few Days...

2012-01-10T21:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Tuesday!

I hope everyone had a good weekend. On Saturday we went to the eye doctor's to pick up our new glasses. Did I mention we went to the eye doctor on Thursday?

Did you know babies need an eye appointment at 6 months old to make sure their eyes are developing correctly? Yup. They do. So I figured it was about time to get a new eye doctor so we could take our 8 month old Henry in. Conveniently there is one around the corner from our house. They were great with Henry. His eyes are developing wonderfully and equally. He doesn't need to go back until he is 3. My eyes are a little worse. And John needed glasses for the first time in his life. I think he was rather excited about it. He even picked out prescription sunglasses! Says it will help his golf game.....ya right. I couldn't find a new pair of glasses I liked, so I kept my old frames. I'm picky about my glasses.

This is the only picture I took of John wearing his new glasses.

But back to the weekend! We went to pick up our glasses, then to the grocery store. Saturday evening we went out to our church's appreciation dinner. We didn't think we could bring Henry so my brother babysat him. My brother is awesome with Henry...except that he had never changed a diaper, and never put any baby to sleep before. We would only be gone about 2 hours so we knew they would be fine together. And they were! Henry even got a bottle, a diaper change and a 15 minute nap.

Sunday after church we finally took our very dead Christmas Tree down. OK, it wasn't dead looking...it just stopped taking up water so I assumed it was dead. I un-decorated it last weekend (Jan. 2 to be exact) but John was busy and I can't carry it myself. So it sat, naked, in what needs to be the Toy corner all week long. I was happy to see it go. Then we rented The Help and had a nice relaxing evening.

The Toy Corner! We still need storage.

Yesterday (Monday) I worked on cleaning the house. I thought if I could get it REALLY clean on Monday each week, then I would just have to tidy it everyday instead of cleaning cleaning. If that makes sense. Trying to get rid of my reasons not to exercise. Then today (Tuesday), I got all ready to do a Wii workout and our controllers wouldn't connect. We have 3 and NONE worked. I even changed the batteries. By the time I gave up on it and just decided to do the 30 day shred, Henry was getting fussy. I was so close! Stupid Wii! But seriously...does anyone know how to fix it?

Fitness Friday

2012-01-06T15:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday,

It being the new year and all, I know a lot of people want to work on their health and fitness. I am one of those people. Although I successfully lost all my pregnancy weight (woo hoo!) a few months ago, my body looks different than it did before and I'd like to change that. I'd actually like to get it looking better than it did before because honestly it wasn't that great.

Let's talk about my before baby self shall we? I was on a bit of a fitness kick when I got pregnant. I was walking the dog almost every day and doing the 30 Day Shred at least 3 times a week for over 30 days. We had just hiked up a mountain carrying a weekend worth of stuff on our backs when I found out I was pregnant. For me, that's good. When I was pregnant I was terrified of loosing the baby and basically stopped all work outs (except walking the dog). Then, I was writing my thesis and studying for my thesis defense, which meant I was basically on modified bed rest. I sat around all day studying and other than walking the dog and going to teach, I didn't do anything. ANYTHING. Just study. So glad those days are behind me!

Then I had an incredibly easy labour. I birthed Henry without drugs or interventions of any kind. After it was over, I jumped out of bed, had a shower and walked to my hospital room that was way across from my delivery room. 2 weeks later I was out in the mountains again, not hiking but strolling.

I had good intentions to get active as soon as the doctor told me I could. But that was June and with visitors and summer vacations...I just never started. Until my mom and baby yoga class last fall, which was awesome but now it's over.

Here are my problems:

1) I feel guilty if I ignore Henry (when he is happily playing alone) to work out. I will start something and then stop to go play with him. I need to stop that.

2) I feel guilty for spending money on a work out class, DVD, or gym membership for myself since I currently have no income.

3) I need a buddy. I need someone to hold me accountable.

4) I can't seem to keep my house clean. I can't work out in a messy home. If I have time to work out, I should be cleaning!

So my goal this week is to GET OVER all those things and work out 2 times. Every Friday I'm going to post about how I did the previous week, to hold myself accountable.

How do you motivate yourselves to stay active?

Henry-8 Months

2012-01-05T22:49:00.000-07:00

Just after Christmas Henry turned 8 months old!

Woo 8 months!

Stats:

I tried to weigh him on our home scale and it said 20 pounds...which would be a gain of over 2 pounds in 1 month and it seems unlikely. So I guess somewhere between 18 and 20 pounds.

Milestones:

-Backwards crawling!

-Downward dog (hands and feet on the floor, bum in the air). He actually goes up on his tiptoes

-2 more teeth (4 total now). So we have a little beaver with his 4 front teeth.

-Loves finger food: Small pieces of toast and bread, puffs

- Babbling so much now! And he uses different tones based on his mood (SO CUTE!)

Schedule:

For the last month we have been having trouble with sleeping thanks to teething. He's always been a good sleeper, since Day 2 at home. Hopefully we can get back there!

Generally our schedule is:

Sleep 8pm-9am (with 3-6 wake ups...blah) nurse, diaper, play, solid breakfast (fruit or egg yolk)

Nap at 11-12, nurse, diaper, play, solid lunch (cereal and a veggie)

Nap at 2-3, nurse diaper, play, solid snack (Mum mum or puffs)

Nap at 4:30-5:15, nurse, diaper, play solid dinner (some variation of what we are eating)

Around 7 we change him into PJs, cover him in kisses, do some baby yoga and then he nurses. Shortly after he falls asleep and I try to put him into his crib which he protests and eventually we end up co-sleeping. I kinda love co-sleeping. I didn't see that happening but it has.

Other things to remember:

-Using the big kid car seat now, still rear-facing

-New 3 wheel stroller that is awesome in the snow. It faces out and Henry LOVES it.
-Henry must eat when we are eating now. Even if he JUST ate.
-Gives the best cuddles
-Would rather sleep with us, instead of in his crib

I think life with Henry just keeps getting better and better. He's so interactive now. All I have to do is look at him and he smiles SO big at me. He is content and loving. He cuddles. He gives you a kiss and then rests his sweet little head on your chest. When I carry him he pats me on the back. Every little thing that he does makes my heart melt into a giant puddle of mush, and as soon as I put it back together he does something else. I spent most of this month being so thankful. And laughing. Because Henry can carry on a conversation by himself with all different levels. He has a high voice and a low voice. It's SO DARN CUTE. I could go on and on and on but you get the picture. Life is perfect. Henry is perfect. I'm so blessed.

Happy Post Holiday Week!

2012-01-02T21:39:00.000-07:00

Hi All!

How was your Christmas and New Years celebrations? We had an awesome Christmas week. And now that it's over I find myself in a rush to un-decorate. That's a new one for me. I usually try to leave my decorations up as long as possible. I think it's because this year the baby toys and accessories plus the Christmas decorations make me feel extra cluttered. The new baby toys need to find a home. I think that home is going to be in the corner of the living room that currently holds our tree.

It used to hold the sewing table but I don't sew enough for it to be set up all year round. So off to IKEA I'll go sometime soon to get some storage.

But not until my new license plate stickers arrive in about 10 days.

Because even though we got our notice to renew about 2 months ago, I only did it tonight...online.

I'm too scared to drive to the renewal place, with expired plates, to do it in person and get my stickers immediately. Am I the only one?

So if you need me I'll be trapped at home (during John's work hours), un-decorating, looking through the IKEA catalogue and dreaming of storage + organization. Don't feel sorry for me. I have this cute guy to distract me. He's so good at it that this time next week I may still be un-decorating.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-26T21:41:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a great Christmas! We sure did. Henry was spoiled, and not by us! We only bought him one present. You've got to start small!

Yes, this photo is blurry. But John bought me a new camera! So this will never happen again! YAY!

I probably won't be blogging until the new year because John's parents are visiting. So Happy New Year!

What I learned this weekend

2011-12-19T07:33:00.000-07:00

1) You can't juice a banana.

2) 16 Tablespoons= 1 Cup. Glad I googled that before measuring out 16 individual Tablespoons of butter.

3) It only takes me 2 days to eat an entire "pot of gold" box of chocolates. Over the weekend we accumulated 5 boxes. Well, 4 boxes now...

4) Sometimes the mail comes on Sunday...Weird right? That's what I thought when the doorbell rang at 1pm Sunday afternoon and it was Canada Post with a package for me! Too bad we can't open it until Christmas!

5) If you don't empty the laundry baskets, they won't empty themselves. Dang.

Wednesday Love

2011-12-14T06:00:00.002-07:00

1) I'm loving these two and their budding relationship. I could watch them interact all day long, it's SO DANG CUTE.

Christmas Card Out Take

2) These recipes I found on Pinterest. I've been making all sorts of new meals and I love it. I think John loves it too.

Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Soup (I doubled the Tortellini)

Photo and Recipe Found here

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos (I used normal red salsa)

Photo and Recipe found here

Crispy Cheddar Chicken (I used Cream of Mushroom soup for the sauce)

Photo and Recipe Found here

3) Christmas Cards. I love getting Christmas Cards in the mail, especially the ones with photos. And I'm glad I can finally say that I have mailed all of ours! WOO. I'll show you guys after I know all the family has received them. They are faithful blog readers and I don't want to spoil the surprise.

4) Our first Christmas Dinner is this weekend! We are cooking a HUGE meal for our church youth. We are having a Turkey with all the fixin's. It's actually our only Turkey Christmas dinner this year, which I'm so happy about because I can only eat so much turkey.

Henry-7 Months

2011-12-11T07:00:00.001-07:00

Henry turned 7 months old back at the end of November. And like every month he has changed so much! The biggest change is Henry not wanting to lay on his back...at all. Especially for his monthly photos. See:

Not Impressed at all.

Stats

17.9 lbs and 28 inches long. He's in the 50th percentile for both, which surprised us because he's longer than most babies we know. He wears all sorts of clothes still 3-6 months, 6-9 months, 6-12 months and 12 months.

I let him sit up and he was much happier!

Milestones:

- Rolling across the floor but not too quickly. It's so casual.

-Getting up on his hands and knees. He moves one knee and then looses his balance.

- He got 2 teeth! Both are on the bottom in the middle.

-Tons of solid food: rice cereal, oat cereal, squash, pumpkin, green beans, peas, sweet potato, banana, apple, avocado... and I think that is it?

Love his profile!

Schedule:

Oh geesh. Teething has thrown us for a loop over here. Henry is back to waking up multiple times in the night and he's in pain so even though I know he isn't hungry, I nurse him for comfort (and give him Tylenol). He still takes 3 naps a day. He eats a solid breakfast at 10am and dinner at 6pm. He goes to bed at 8pm.

Other things to remember:

- We've said good bye to his bouncy seat and bumbo

-We have his big kid car seat but we haven't installed it yet. It needs to happen soon!

-He can pull his bibs and his hats off

It's hard to believe that 7 months went by already! Henry is such a happy, easy going baby. Our dog Rudy is still Henry's favourite thing of all. Even if we aren't with the dog, if we mention his name Henry gets a big goofy grin on his face. He still loves to jump, stand (supported), and march. The only thing he doesn't like is getting his face wiped, and those pesky teeth cutting through his poor gums.

I know I say this every month, but Henry is a joy. He makes me so happy. I can't imagine doing anything else other than being his mom. I seriously LOVE this baby. Words won't do it justice.

Two Pink Peas in a Pod Winner

2011-12-08T12:06:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Kristy! She just happens to be my new mom friend that I blogged about here

I will send your email address to Melissa and she will contact you shortly!'

Favourite Things Christmas Swap

2011-12-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

I was so excited a few months back when Leigh posted that she would be organizing a Canadian Christmas Swap. As a Canadian it makes me so sad when swaps and giveaway are for US residents only. I feel so left out. So it was nice to find a swap that I could participate in!

Lindsay (she blogs HERE) got me in the swap and I received her package last week. Isn't it so exciting to get big packages in the mail? Here is what was inside:

A cloth book for Henry, Christmas Cupcake liners, bathscrub+lip balm+body lotion kit, glade "pine" scented oil candles, a Christmas ornament and some of her favourite recipes!

She gave me so many things! Thanks Lindsay! Henry loves his cloth book and I've been burning the scented oil candles constantly since I received the package. I can't wait to make some of her recipes and add the Christmas ornament to my collection! And that bath scrub seriously calls my name every day.

Henry loving the book! He prefers to eat it...

The scented oil candle on our mantel! Smells SO GOOD.

Thanks again Lindsay!

My swap partner was Ashley (she blogs HERE), head on over and check out what I sent her!

Saturday Stuff

2011-12-03T21:49:00.000-07:00

Happy Saturday!

We've had a great day and we hope you have too. Henry and I slept in and woke up to the smell of bacon cooking. John made us a lovely breakfast. Afterwards my brother Josh came over. The 3 of us went to pick out a Christmas Tree while John ran some errands. Errands like taking back a garage full of recycling. We really love recycling but our town doesn't have a recycling program so we have to drive our recycling back into Calgary to drop it off. It's a PAIN. Which is why we had a garage full.

We really wanted to take Henry out to the mountains to cut down our own Christmas tree this year (and every year from here on out). But the crazy wind lately, combined with the snow forecast and our very long "to do before Christmas" list (which included getting rid of our recycling before we add tons of Christmas boxes to it) made us choose the quicker, less driving involved option of picking up a pre-cut tree. BUT next year and every year after that we WILL cut one done. We made a promise.

This year we just went to IKEA. $20 for a tree plus a $20 coupon to IKEA? Sounds like a good deal to me. Especially since there is a Starbucks right next to the IKEA.

Once John got home we (being John and Josh) set up our real tree in the living room, our fake tree in the front hall and our real in a pot mini tree (that lives in our house all year round) in the Kitchen. The real tree in the pot usually lives in the front hall, but I like the bigger fake tree to go there at Christmas so lights shine through our front window. Does that make me the crazy Christmas tree lady? Moving real trees to replace with fake ones?

Real tree in a pot, now living in the Kitchen.

Our main Christmas tree in the living room. We're letting it fall out over night since it was all tied up when we bought it.

Fake tree in the front hall. That's where the tree in a pot usually lives.

Tomorrow we plan to decorate completely and put snow tires on John's truck. So I'll be decorating while John puts his tires on. Henry will be helping. So far he doesn't seem to care about the Christmas tree, but there aren't lights and sparkling decorations on it yet. I'm excited to see if he reacts at all!

Two Pink Peas in a Pod -Giveaway!

2011-11-30T06:00:00.001-07:00

Today I'm hosting another giveaway from Melissa at Two Pink Peas in a Pod. The first time I did a giveaway from her shop, she only made girl items like head bands, clips and tutus. But I am SO happy to announce that she now makes pacifier clips and mitten clips as well. Which means I can finally use her merchandise with Henry.

After telling Melissa how excited I was, she kindly sent me a free pacifier clip and I am LOVING it. We never had any pacifier clips before. I couldn't find one that was long enough. Henry likes to play with his pacifier pulling it in and out of his mouth and passing it from hand to hand. With a shorter clip, he wasn't able to do that and he would get frustrated. So we never used one and we were always loosing pacifiers, having to clean them multiple times in a row because they were dropped and having car meltdowns because Henry would loose his pacifier and I couldn't reach it while driving.

I've got to say we love the pacifier clip, especially in the car. Now I can just tug on the ribbon and put his pacifier back in his mouth! Lovely!

Bear suit...in Banff!

Melissa is letting the winner of this giveaway choose between four products in her shop. I've posted photos of them below, but you can choose any colour so make sure you check out what she has in stock!

Hair clips:

Head band (she sells thicker head bands too):

Personalized Mitten Clips (I can't wait to get some of these next year!):

Pacifier clip! (this one is named the Henry...how cute!):

To Enter:
1) Comment on this post telling me what you would pick if you won
2) Follow Melissa's new blog here
3) Heart her shop on Etsy: Two Pink Peas in a Pod.
4) Like Two Pink Peas in a Pod on Facebook
5) Buy something from her shop

Please make sure you leave a separate comment for each entry. If your email is not linked to your account please leave it in your comment. If I can't reach you I will choose another winner. Contest is open until Wednesday December 6th.

Teething + a killer cold= zombie mom

2011-11-29T09:58:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone!

I hope you all had a good weekend. We had John's Christmas Work Party on Friday night. Vanessa came over to stay with Henry. We had such a great time but decided to leave when the band started. It was 8:30pm. John said to me "Was the music at these things always this loud?" We are definitely over that stage of our lives!

We spent all day Saturday at church getting our youth ready for a Choral Program in the evening. Henry certainly enjoyed all the attention. The youth did an excellent job with the program and I'm so proud of them!

The next morning (Sunday) I woke up feeling awful. I've come down with the mother of all colds. The cold combined with a lack of sleep due to poor Henry's new teeth have made me a zombie. John took Henry to church and I was able to get 3 straight hours of sleep. They were glorious. And I think I would have slept longer if the crazy wind hadn't woken me up. Our bed was shaking because the wall was shaking from the wind. I found out later that buildings downtown were falling apart, like glass was falling off and they had to close the area. All from a little wind! Craziness! When John got home he made me soup and the most amazing beer rosemary bread. I am one lucky lady to have snagged him. We spent the evening watching a movie and eating soup in front of our fireplace. Then when we started chatting about how we wish we had dessert, the doorbell rang and a boy scout was delivering the candy coated popcorn we ordered a month ago. It was great timing.

Monday we spent laying around. Henry seems to be congested too now and I hope it's from teething and not from my infectious germs.

Today we're off to the doctor's for Henry's super late 6 month check up (he turned 7 months yesterday). My fault entirely but he did see the public health nurse at 6 months for his vaccinations and they checked him over so I don't feel too bad about it.

Have a great day everyone!

That time I graduated....

2011-11-20T22:22:00.001-07:00

Remember THIS post, when I finished my thesis, then I passed my exam and just had to do thesis corrections and re-submit it?

Well I didn't get my corrections approved until April 28th....which is the day Henry was born. So I wasn't exactly running to re-submit it. Which means that I missed the deadline to graduate in June. Then I was too busy being head over heels in love with my baby to even remember that I hadn't handed it in until one day I got a reminder email stating that if I didn't hand it in before Friday (which was 4 days after I received the email) then I would have to pay another term of tuition even though I was NOT attending school.

Ya, I wasn't going to have any of that. So in May with my less than 1 month old baby I went to the University and handed it in...on the deadline day. I'm all last minute like that. Also? People judged me for being on campus and having a baby. Also? The University of Calgary campus is NOT wheel chair accessible. Which means it isn't stroller accessible. It was quite the day.

Then November came and so did my graduation day. My dad, step-mom, step-sister and step-aunt came all the way from Ontario to see me get my degree. How awesome is that?

My dad

Our little Family! Henry was so well behaved.

I was so glad he was there!

The Degree. So worth every painful minute spent earning it.

Henry-6 months

2011-11-06T23:17:00.000-07:00

~~Last week~~ Almost two weeks ago (now) Henry celebrated the "6 month anniversary of his birth" as John calls it! So our sweet baby is half a year old which seems crazy. Unlike most moms I hear from, I'm not sad about it. Sure I miss my little tiny baby but having a 6 month old is actually amazing. So many milestones, so much development, so much solid food! I can't be sad about it because there is something exciting and new happening ALL the time!

"I just woke up mom, why are you pointing that thing at me?"

Stats:

16 lbs 15 oz. (1 oz away from 17 pounds!) 26.5 inches long.

He wears all sizes in clothes. Honestly! He has one 0-3 month shirt that he still wears, yet he also wears 12 month clothes which is crazy. Baby companies need to get together and make all the sizes the same.

"Because I'm 6 months old now? YAY!"

Milestones:

- Rolling from back to tummy (so now he can roll both ways but he still doesn't roll across the floor)

-When I say "UP" he reaches towards me. This is my favourite thing of all.

- Sit unsupported for a limited time. He gets excited and leans back too far or he reaches for a toy and ends up on his belly.

-Imitates us. SO CUTE.

-Solid Food! Started eating rice cereal and then pureed squash.

"Hey, where is that puppy? Why is he outside?"

Schedule:

I can tell he is currently changing his schedule, maybe because of the addition of solid food. He goes to bed between 7:30 and 10pm depending on if we are home or out and about. He still wakes up to eat around 3:30am but that last few nights it's been 5:30am which is lovely! Then he goes back to bed until 9-9:30am. He sometimes has 1 or 2 morning naps...and sometimes he doesn't take one. He is never grumpy about it. He takes a long afternoon nap (2 -3 hours) starting about 2:30-3pm. He eats his solid food dinner at 6pm and sometimes naps after it. He still nurses 6-8 times a day.

Other Things To Remember:
-I think we have a mommy's boy. He gives me kisses all the time, but rarely gives them to John. He loves John, just won't kiss him.
-He will sleep unswaddled IF he has something in both hands...usually a blanket. But because I'm terrified of him suffocating I won't leave the room if he has a blanket. So we still swaddle.
- He will fake cough to get your attention. Where did he learn that?
-He's getting hair!

Here's where I gush about my love for Henry. I know I do it every month but I just LOVE this baby so much. A crazy, indescribable amount. I still cover him in kisses all day long. I still choose to hold him while he naps because I can't get enough of him. I still insist on bringing him with me everywhere. He's our baby. He's so happy and loving and the most perfect human being that ever was. I get to spend every single moment of every day with him and there is no way I could be any happier than I am right now. No way. And that's the truth.

The day I didn't let get me.

2011-11-03T15:55:00.001-06:00

Lately Henry has been sleeping in really late. At first it was just until 9:30 but yesterday he was still sleeping at 10:30 so I woke him up (nicely). It's great that I get to sleep in with him, but at the same time, the day is half over by the time we get ready and decide to do anything.

Today I decided I would set my alarm for the first time since beginning my maternity leave and wake up at the early-for-us hour of 8am. Since it was still dark out (arggggg) it was hard to wake up, but I did it. And I guess my movement woke up Henry because he pulled his pacifier out of his mouth and started talking to it. Which started my day out on a good note.

I went to change him and dress him and I realised I didn't do his laundry last night like I needed to. He had no clean socks or undershirts. Annoyed at myself, I fished socks and an undershirt from his "too small" pile and squeezed them on him. He didn't seem to mind and started laughing at my squeeze sound. (I make sound effects for him basically all day long)

We had Mom and Baby Yoga at 10:45 and since we were up so early I decided we would leave early and stop to get coffee/breakfast. I ordered Decaf because I'm nursing and I like to save the little bit of caffeine I allow myself for when I reallllllly need it. I get to the drive-thru window and the lady hands me normal coffee. Why? Because the decaf was just brewing and would be 4 more minutes. Gee THANKS FOR ASKING. I complained but took the coffee since the line behind me was so long and I didn't want to wreck my morning.

We were up early, ready, in the car and had coffee. I had no reason to be upset.

We got to Yoga nice and early. There was a parking spot right in front! I leisurely got our stuff and took a sleeping Henry out of the car. As I was closing the door I double checked to make sure I had my keys and realised I didn't. Just as the door clicked shut.

I locked my keys in my car.

I thought to call CAA (road side assistance) but I didn't want to miss our class waiting for them to show up. So I left the keys in the car, sitting beside Henry's car seat base, and hoped that no one would break in and steal my car while I was in Yoga.

They didn't.

When class ended I called CAA. After making sure I hadn't locked my baby in the car with the keys (thank goodness I didn't!) they told me it might be awhile since it's not an emergency. They told me I would be bumped to the end of the list if something more important came up. It didn't sound promising but since I had an extra diaper and unlimited Henry food, I tried not to let it bother me. Within 2 minutes I got a call that the CAA guy was at my car. He had it unlocked in no time.

Now, I can be an emotional mess sometimes. Those three tiny problems on a bad day would have left me a crying heap in the yoga parking lot. But for some reason this morning I decided to not let things bother me. And it worked. If only I could do that every morning!

Mom friends, Blog friends and Snow.

2011-11-01T12:02:00.000-06:00

-We don't celebrate Halloween. Now for all of you that do, would you ring the door bell of a house with all the lights off and no decorations? Because I was surprised at the number of times people rang the doorbell. Should I put a sign out next year? There were still people ringing the bell at 10pm! Isn't that a little late?

-Yesterday it snowed. SNOWED. In October.

-The whole "days getting shorter" thing sucks. I took that photo at 8:30am and it was still dark out. The time change will make it worse. I'm not a fan of daylight savings and I never have been.

- I'm getting together with a new friend that is a MOM on Wednesday. I am overly excited about it. It's a big deal to have a friend who (a) can hang out during the day and (b) will always let me bring Henry.

Now as a new mom I am totally OK with going out with friends baby-free from time to time but I need people to be 100% honest. All invites should say "bring child" or "get babysitter" on them because I just can't seem to judge the situation myself! Am I the only one?

-That being said, I had an awesome time hanging out with Leigh, Alison and Nicole (blogger friends!) on Friday night WITH Henry and our husbands. We went out to dinner for Leigh's birthday! So nice to have friends that love your baby.

Apparently we were standing under the art display lights....bad call by us.

Featured!

2011-10-27T13:44:00.001-06:00

I'm featured today over on Callie's blog!

Head over and check it out!

Pumpkin Baby!

2011-10-23T21:53:00.000-06:00

I just saw my first Christmas commercial this weekend...and last week I may have listened to the Glee Christmas CD on repeat for 3 hours. So I wanted to make sure I wrote all the fall posts I had planned before I get too involved with Christmas. It's getting harder to resist!

At the corn maze, they have a pumpkin patch. Henry was asleep by the time we made it there but we bought 3 pumpkins anyways. 2 small ones (to make pie) and a big one for photos!

Of course I found these two photos as inspiration (1) (2)

So we took it home, then we cut the top off, and took out the seeds. Then we put Henry inside...naked. OK he wasn't naked, he had a diaper and socks on. AND we put a plastic bag inside so he wouldn't get slimy.

And then he tried to eat it. Which was our sign to start him on solid foods the following day.

I love me a Pumpkin Baby.

Happy Monday!

2011-10-17T09:06:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday everyone! I have so many bits of information I want to share, but they aren't really post worthy....so I'm combining them.

1) I started a new volunteer position with an organization called Let's Talk Science. From their website:

Let’s Talk Science is an award-winning, national, charitable organization. We deliver science learning programs and services that turn children and youth on to science, keep them engaged in learning and develop their potential to become 21^stcentury citizens, innovators and stewards.

I asked to be more involved with the planning side, so I could do it from home with Henry and no babysitter. But I did go to a high school to teach a workshop on DNA once, and just on Friday Henry and I went to help out at a workshop at the university. So far I'm loving it! Especially since they love Henry and let me bring him sometimes.

Here's the DNA kit for the workshop I taught.

2) We deep fried an entire chicken. Actually 2 chickens and they were sooooo good. Has anyone ever tried that?

3) Sometimes at night when I get out of bed to go to the bathroom....this happens:

Rudy steals my spot to keep watch over sleeping Henry.

4) Henry discovers that he likes beer....well really just the beer can. I think because he's teething and it's nice and cold.

5) My mom is here visiting for 10 days. We have a few small house projects planned and I'm excited

6) I'm linking up with Carissa