Thanksgiving in Autumn

Autumn.

This might just be my favourite time of the year.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE summer but, there's something about Autumn that beats it by a hair. 

Maybe it's the crisp breeze in the warm sun. 

Or the colours. 

Or quite possibly the cozy sweaters I can finally take out of the closet. 

Either way, I find myself slowing down during this season. Breathing a little deeper and slower. 

Thanksgiving is also one of the reasons I enjoy the Autumn months. It brings family and friends together in a way no other holiday does. And this Thanksgiving was truly one for the books. 

This thanksgiving I'm thankfull for:

HEALTH. Because without it I wouldn't be able to enjoy the blessings God has given me over the year

PAUL. Without his love and support I would be lost in the hustle and bustle of life

PAULY and RILEY. Who each hold a piece of my heart. I live for them.  And only hope that over the years I will have left them with loving memories to last their lifetime. 

OPERTUNITY for the future. Over the last two years I have grown in an outstanding way. I am grateful for the knowledge and trust people have placed in me. 

TOMORROW. As I close one door and open another I know my family and friends will be there to catch me if I stumble, and watch as I work towards a better future.

So right now I'm going to say good bye to the busy days of summer. 

Good bye to the backyard BBQ's and drive-ins.

I'll see it all again next year. 

It's The End of the Summer...

Dear Blogosphere,

I know I have been absent for quite some time now.  I'm sorry for that.  

I have been a busy mom enjoying the summer with my family.  I know you'll understand when I say that sitting in front of a computer ends up being the last thing I have time for, even though I do enjoy sharing with you all.

As I sit here and try to remember all the sensational events that came about this summer, my mind begins to wander.  I start thinking about what I want to do before the days get shorter, nights longer, and the winter chill cripples my sense of outdoor adventure.

Carpe Diem.  Not always easy to accomplish but in the process of trying, I've definitely become more self aware and appreciative (you can read my posts about it here and here).

So, when I'm tired and it seems like the day will never be done, I try to remember what the poet Horace writes in his famous ode:

Ask not - we cannot know - what ends the gods have set.

How much better to endure whatever comes, 

wether Jupiter grants us additional winters

or wether this is our last.

Be wise, and since life is brief,

Seize the day! putting as little trust as possible in tomorrow.

So here's some of what my family and I did this summer... in no particular order:

-went to the drive-in

-saw our first "Movies in the Park"

-checked out the Halton Radial Railway

-went swimming at the beach

-went apple picking

-visited the Science Centre

-ate lots of ice cream

-went for walks and bike rides

-had a great time at Sky Zone Indoor Trampoline Park

-celebrated birthdays

-watched the Canada Day fireworks

-cooled off in the splash pad

-visited the Acton Fall Fair

And although many of you have already seen pics of our fabulous adventures, here's a few more that I just can't keep to myself.

Thanks for sticking with me,

Sandra

 

 

 

Home Improvement

Awhile back I wrote about our bathroom reno. Since then we've done some more work to it and I thought it might be time for a quick update.

When I left you last we had a working toilet, a tub frame and some drywall on the walls.

We now have a fully dry walled bathroom. Complete with primer and paint. Wall and floor tiles are done (and I LOVE them). The tub is fully functional even though we don't have a shower curtain yet. Paul built our custom vanity. It's painted and there is a working sink. The pot lights are done and there's a light fixture over the vanity too!  My built ins have shelves but still need doors.

I'm so excited to see it almost done. Here's what's left to do:
- Possibly pick different paint (neither of us are thrilled with the current colour)
- Install doors for the built-in
- Find an awesome shower curtain
- Find an awesome mirror
- Trim
- Add necessary accessories (toilet paper holder, towel rack etc.)

It's a short and tedious list but I can see the finish line :)

Pictures to follow...eventually. 

On The Outside Looking In

When Riley was born, Pauly was only 15 months old.  A mere baby some would say.  But at the time I didn't think "baby" was the best word to describe him.  He'd always been fascinated by little children and when Riley showed up, his attitude never changed.  He was never jealous or unkind towards her.  It was exactly the opposite.  He loved his little sister to bits and would want her to "play" with him even though she lacked the skills to do so.

As Riley got older and learned to sit, crawl and finally walk, their interactions became more involved.  It sometimes resulted in tears because one had swiped a toy from the other but this was always quickly resolved.  Pauly had learned (with constant reminders from mom and dad) that if he was going to take a toy, he had to give one back.

Fast forward to now.  Pauly is just over 2.5 years old and Riley is 17 months old.  

Pauly has learned to share even when he really doesn't want to.

Riley knows that if she takes without asking she will have to give it back - and she does!

They both have learned to say I'm sorry, please and thank you.

They feed off each other but also rely on each other.

When one is sleeping, the other wants to wake them up.

When one is hurt, the other offers a hug.

If one needs help, the other is there to lend a hand.

They talk to each other and laugh with each other.

It's amazing to watch.  

I'm not sure if it's because they are so close in age or because they have great personalities.

Either way, I often find myself observing them.  Listening in on their conversation.

It fills my heart with the kind of unconditional love that only a parent can feel.

A love that aches and makes your eyes water.

Sheer joy in that moment - and there are lots of them.

A friend once told me that there is no greater love in life than children.

He was right.

Thank you God for Blessing me.

For these once in a lifetime moments.

Thank you for making me a mom.

Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

It's been a while since I've tuned into myself and my thoughts. Since being back to work I find the days passing me by without a hint of slowing down. There's just not enough hours in the day to achieve all I would like (which truly is no surprise).

So as I make time for myself, I find my thoughts racing in every direction. Work, home and the never ending to do list. Each bringing emotions that are sometimes overwhelming.

The biggest hurdle in this chapter has been adjusting to my new job.  This has definitely not been easy. Almost every part of it has been unchartered territory and I've never had such a big learning curve to overcome. The fact that I didn't receive proper training was also a contributor to that sinking feeling. To be brutally honest - there were days when I just wanted to crawl under my desk and wait for it all to be over.
Sad, I know. It took a lot of self motivation and persistence to gain my confidence back. But the good news is... I did it. I've still got a lot to learn but I'm well on my way. The confusion that plagued me has turned into confidence and that's such a good feeling.

Home life has also done a 360. My nights include a 75 minute drive home, picking up the kids from daycare, feeding them and myself, 30 minutes of play and then we start the bedtime routine.  Once the kiddies are snuggly tucked in I start the clean up process.  Dishes, the table and chairs, toys all over the place.  After that, I can pack my lunch for the next day and finally take a shower.

Then it all starts over again the next day.  Monday to Friday.

But there is hope.  And it comes in the form of a weekend.  This two day "vacation" from work can sometimes be hard to navigate.  I find myself looking for the balance between what needs to get done and what really needs to get done.
There's always chores to do but my children need me more than I need to scrub the toilettes. But then again, how long is too long when pushing aside my domestic duties?  So I've come up with a plan and started putting it into action.  I get the kids to help.

Now, I know this is going to take a while before it really catches on, but I can see it taking shape.  This past weekend I was in real need of vacuuming.  The kids were not making this easy for me as they kept bringing out more toys as I was trying to clear a path for the vacuum.  The solution was for me to "plow" through it all.  And Pauly did not like this.  I think maybe he was unsure if his toys were going to get sucked up and be lost forever.  So I asked him nicely to move them all before the vacuum got too hungry.  Eurika!  He was helping me clean.  Then when it came time to mop, I made exaggerated movements with sound effects.  Yet agin he found this to look like fun so, I offered him the mop.  And he used it!
So for the last few days I've been trying to come up with chores for him.  Small, non essential things that could possibly set up the basis for accomplishing helpful tasks.  He is distracted easily, doesn't always listen and proclaims NO quite often.  But sometimes I do get "Pauly do it."

Hurray!

9 to 5

I had an older friend who once told me that she and her husband had agreed to not have children if it wasn't possible for her to be a stay at home mom.  They both came from large families so there were always plenty of nieces and nephews to love as their own.  And this worked for them.

As for me, I don't think I could have made that decision.  To chose between having or not having children based on who was caring for them during the day would have broken my heart.  I would have loved it if I could stay home but I know Paul and I would be better able to provide for them if I went back to work.  So Monday was my first day back.

Let's face it, even if you live on the bare necessities, it still costs a lot to keep food on the table and a roof over your head.  Then toss in some children and it becomes a whole new ball game.  Although daycare is't free, most families would agree that it still makes more financial sense for both parents to work.

Of course it's not all about money.  There's the social aspect of it.  Pauly loves playing with other kids and now has another little boy his own age to play with every day.  Riley was a little more timid and very attached to me and has adapted surprisingly well over the last two weeks.  She has definitely come out of her shell.

Then there's routine, which wasn't always the case while I was home.  Snack time, lunch and naps were pretty much on schedule, but there were days where I had too much to catch up on so the outings and fun activities were almost non-existent.  At daycare there's always a theme and corresponding activities, indoors and out.

So as the days go by I'm left reminiscing.  No more afternoon naps (when I got a chance), no more lounging in PJ's on rainy days and no more walks in the park on sunny afternoons.

Epilogue

I wanted my next post to be about Riley's 1st birthday but since I haven't gotten around to downloading pictures off my camera, I'm going to share some great news I got early last week. NO...I'm not pregnant.

 I thought October 9th would be my first day back at work. I was mentally preparing for it but as it turns out, that day will come later rather than sooner. Yay! And you may be wondering how I managed more time off but it really wasn't me. Not entirely anyways. I knew I had 3 weeks of vacation left once I went back to work. I was planning on taking some of it during Christmas but I was told this wasn't going to happen as all the available spots had been taken. That left me with two options.
1. Keep my vacation for emergencies and take the payout if I didn't use it by the end of the year. Or,
2. Tack it onto the end of my maternity leave.

 As I've said before, sometimes money isn't worth more than time. Luckily I now get to have my cake and eat it too. An extra 3 week at home with my babies, and a full paycheck.

 So now my official first day of work will be October 29th. I can hope and pray there will be another excuse for me to stay home longer but, I won't be holding my breath.

The Final Chapter

As Canadians, we are lucky to be able to spend the first year of our children's lives as a stay at home parent. Of course our unemployment benefits could always use some improvement but often, time is worth more than money. So as Riley's first birthday approaches, my time as a stay at home mom is coming to an end. And what a journey's it's been.

Over the last two years my life has changed so much. With two children you really learn to slow down and enjoy the moment. Even simple tasks like washing dishes may not get done all at once. With one child pulling at your legs and the other asking you to help build his train track, chores are no longer the priority. Somewhere along the road of life your focus shifts from doing things that make you happy to what "needs" to be done. Albeit not everything in life is miserable but when was the last time you pulled out a box of crayons and just scribbled? My kids love to get messy with crayons, paint, food and dirt and as long as they're safe doing it, why not?

So as my last few weeks of maternity leave are approaching, I'm sad to think that I won't be here for them all day, every day. I will have to take on the roll of a working mom like so many others have done. Daycare will be a new chapter for our family, and although I'm completely happy with the home daycare we chose, I have to admit that it makes me a little weepy. Mornings together will be short and the little time I have before putting my children to bed will be cherished. The days of working volentary overtime are over. No one can pay me enough to give that up.

Potty Training

About 3 weeks after Pauly turned two I decided it was time for me to give potty training a try. I had read up on it a little and was quite confident that the little man was ready. I only had doubts about myself.

It would be a new experience for the both of us but I wanted to be sure I wouldn't set the little guy up for failure. I decided to ditch the pull ups (for now) and go straight for the briefs. So here's how it went:

DAY ONE - Put on his undies with an excited voice explaining he was a big boy now and we'd be ditching the diapers. I made sure to buy ones that had prints on them so he would want to wear them. Success! And he wore nothing else that day so he could actually see and feel what was going on. Then every 5-10 minutes I tried to convince him to sit on either the little potty, or on the big potty which had a child seat on it. He would happily come with me most of the time, and we did get a few "catches" but I spent the majority of the day cleaning up after him. Which was OK because I had placed towels over every rug in the house in anticipation. When it was nap time I wrestled with the idea of a diaper but decided against it. For me it was all or nothing. I just ended up placing a towel under him for easy clean up.

DAY TWO - Exactly like day one with a little tweak. I thought I'd add a treat every time Pauly got on the potty, in hopes that he'd start asking to go. So if we got to the potty without any hesitation, he got one Reese's Pieces for trying. If we got a pee in the potty, he got two Reese's Pieces. If we got a poo in the potty, he got three Reese's Pieces.

DAY THREE - Surprisingly there were only half as many accidents. I was still asking Pauly if he had to go every 20 minutes or so but it was sooooo much easier than the day before.

DAY FOUR - There was only 2 or 3 accidents this day. I really couldn't believe how well this was going. And now Pauly was asking to use the potty. It just seemed to good to be true.

DAY FIVE - I figured Pauly was now ready for pants. So he was fully dressed 5 days into his training. I had to work a little quicker to get him to the potty on time but there was no doubt he was getting the hang of things. I decided it was time to go for a ride. So I took a 30 minute car ride to my mom's, hoping he would arrive without incident. Success again!

DAY SIX - Fully dressed and making great progress, Pauly seemed to be having no problem with peeing in the potty. But we had hit a bump in the road. His only struggle was having a bowel movement. He would only have one every 2 or 3 days, which made things a little difficult when the time finally arrived. I knew I had to act quickly because the last thing I wanted for him was to be in pain when he pooped.

So a couple days later, after seeking some advice, I started giving Pauly a small amount of stool softener. It worked wonders. In the begining he was still only going every other day but it was no longer difficult. As time went by, he got more comfortable with pooping and stopped holding it in.

Now (2 months later), Pauly is officially day time potty trained. I no longer have to use a stool softener and he is asking to go #1 and #2. Nap time is always dry and there aren't any wet pants after a car ride. Next up - night time training.

Losing IT

Pregnancy is usually the time in your life where you look forward to seeing your belly get bigger.  I can remember when I first found out I was pregnant with Pauly, the excitment and joy took over.  And with that came the frequent checking to see if I was "showing" yet.  As the weeks and months passed, my bump got bigger...and so did everything else.

Shopping for maternity clothes was fun. And as always, there were those few pieces that I loved wearing. Then at about 30 weeks things got a little complicated. My favourite pair of jeans started getting a little too snug around the hips and thighs. Shirts were now too short and I had to start buying bras in specialty shops.  I really thought the clothes I bought at the beginning would get me through to the end.  So, reluctantly I headed back out to buy enough clothes to last me 10 more weeks.

After Pauly was born I lost some weight. Then after about a month I gained some of it back.  It was only a few pounds but of course I could only blame myself.  I choose napping for an hour over preparing a meal. So I found myself eating caned and boxed food most of the time.  Not to mention the shamefully frequent junk food binge.  I think Pauly was about 4 months old when I decided I'd had enough.  I slowly stared using the elliptical and started cutting out the junk food. It took a while before the first few pounds came off but I was headed in the right direction.

When Paul and I decided to have another baby, I kinda gave up on the elliptical. It all happened way sooner than we thought but before I knew it, my baby bump (and the weight) were back. I can proudly say that I didn't gain as much weight while pregnant with Riley. But since I had started out bigger, I was exactly where I'd left off when Riley was born.

There was a period of adjustment for me. Caring for two children was a lot different than just one. But after that, I was back into my old routine of quick fixes for food. As the new year came and went I tried to find ways to exercise but there was just no time or I was just too tired. It was a vicious circle; the extra weight was making me lazy but I had no energy to do anything about it.

Once the warm wether showed up I'd had enough (again!). Riley was finally sleeping through the night and I was feeling a little more like myself. I wanted out of this rut and had made up my mind to just get moving. The best time for me was after breakfast. The kids were happy and I had energy to waste. Instead of cleaning up the breakfast dishes and toys that had been tossed around the house that morning, I stuck the kids in the double stroller and started walking.

This wasn't an every day routine but I had to start somewhere. It felt good to get out but at the same time I knew it wasn't going to be enough. I found myself constantly thinking about my health, and life in general. It's not that I was unhappy, but I just wanted to get as much out of life that I could. This was when I adopted the Carpe Diem philosophy.

So I set some goals and reevaluated my eating and activity habits. I started looking for ways to cut fat and refined sugar from my diet. Then I came across an app that I can no longer live without. My Fitness Pal has really helped me make better food choices and keep my portion sizes in check. It took some getting used to and I still have a long way to go but, I think I'm doing well. I still indulge in the sweet and savory every now and again but not like I used to.

It's been 5 weeks using My Fitness Pal, and 2 months since I started my "lifestyle change" and you're probably wondering exactly how well I'm doing. I'm very happy to announce (insert drum roll here) I've lost 10 lbs. A small step but at least I'm getting there, slowly and steadily. My ultimate goal is to be back to my prepregnancy weight by next summer or sooner. And now that I've put it to (cyber) paper, I'll hopefully stick with it.

Joyous July

This past month has really tested my newly adapted Carpe Diem philosophy. And in my opinion, I've kicked ass. There's always room for improvement but so far we've played in sandboxes, watched the train while enjoying watermelon (always an outside snack in my house!), traveled to Wasaga and Midland, gone fishing, swam in a pool and enjoyed the beach, and of course there's the classic play place, the park. What's next on the agenda? I'm thinking the Toronto zoo, the Streetcar Museum, and possibly Sandbanks Park.

So as the summer continues I'm sure our tans will get darker, which I guess is why they call it sunscreen, and not sunblock. But what's cuter than a 2 year old running naked through the house with a pale bum? Not much in my opinion.

Car Seat Safety & Extended Rear Facing

Car seats are one of those baby items that you absolutely can not do without. And like every parent, I wanted to keep my little ones as safe as possible. I quickly became passionate about car seat safety while researching for a replacement for Pauly's infant carrier. At the time I knew nothing about convertible car seats which led me to countless hours of on-line learning. I can't remember exactly when I stumbled upon extended rear facing but, I do remember wondering why I'd never heard of it before. I had been certain that Pauly's first birthday would mark the milestone where he would ride facing forward but I quickly decided against it. Here's why:

Keeping children rear facing passed the recommended 20lbs. and one year of age keeps them five times safer then when they are forward facing. FIVE TIMES SAFER! I couldn't believe it at first. Then I went digging even further and found that the American Academy of Pediratics published a new policy in March of 2011 that recommends children be rear facing until the age of two or even longer, if they are still within the weight and height of the seat. I started wondering why it was only a recommendation and not part of the child seat laws. Then came the question of "what exactly are they testing for and how are they doing it?". I was a little surprised at what I found but you can read about Transport Canada's rear facing infant seat testing and research here.

Now, how exactly does a rear facing seat keep a child safer? Physics.
Newton's first law of motion states that "An object in motion continues in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an external force". This external force is what causes the occupants to be thrown towards the front of the vehicle in a head-on collision.
When a child is rear facing, he will move towards the back of the seat and gently slide up. This keeps the child's head, neck and spine in a straight line and lets the chair absorb most of the force.
In a forward facing seat, the child (or adult) is held in place by the safety belt but the head whips forward until it touches the chin then back again. As an adult you can endure this whiplash motion because the weight of your head is only 6% of your body mass. A child's head is 25% of it's body mass which means it will pull away from the body with a force 4 times greater than that of an adults. Science has shown that even though a childs' spinal colum can stretch up to 2 inches, the spinal cord will only stretch a 1/4 of an inch, causing it to snap.  This violent movement could internally decapitate a child leaving them paralyzed.
This video will help put things a little more into perspective.

If you'd still like to read more about car seat safety, here's a great article I found on parenting.com

So, armed with the above information, I set out to buy a car seat that would allow me to rear face as long as possible. My choice was a Britax.
Since the 1970's they have been recognized as the top selling car seat in Europe, England and Australlia. Now in the USA, Britax has been the top rated car seat for safety, durability and reliability. Enough said...but I still had to know more. So if you would also like to know about Britax's integrated steel bars, SafeCell Technology, Versa Tether or other features that make this seat an awesome choice, you can read about it here.

Riley is now 9 months old, but most importantly, she is reaching the 22 lbs. limit of her infant carrier. That means it's time for me to start putting some extra money aside so I can buy my absolute fave Britax seat. The only question is, do I buy it in pink?

Boring to Busy

Life has been quite busy these last couple weeks. There have been a few noteworthy events and I've also been trying to catch up on a few loose ends.

As I've stated before, I tend to procrastinate. So it won't be a surprise when I tell you I spent an hour on the phone with three different customer service reps for three different reasons. I'll have to admit that two of the three calls went fairly well, but the third left me scratching my head.

The first call was to Phillips. We bought a Phillips Avent monitor when Pauly was born and I loved it but, after 9 or 10 months of use the rechargeable battery wouldn't keep a charge for more than 3 hours. The low battery beeping would wake me in the middle of the night so I stopped using it. I wanted to purchase a replacement but every store I went to didn't sell one. They all advised me to contact Phillips to get it. I had every intention of doing it but after a week this task was left on the back burner. Then Riley was born and when she started sleeping in her own crib it was just easier to borrow my sisters. Here's where things get frustrating. No matter where I plugged in her monitor, there was always static. Apparently she never had a problem with it so I took it as a sign to get off my ass and get mine fixed. Competing with static when your trying to sleep or watch TV is nerve wracking. So I finally called Phillips and told them what I needed. They didn't have any batteries in stock but my monitor was still under warranty so they went and shipped me a whole new monitor! It's just as good as the last and now I can watch Grey's Anatomy without background noise :)

The second call was made to Bell. It was an easy fix to my bill but one that shouldn't have happened. We'll see how things go next month.

The third was a call to Apple. I've only had my phone for 2 months but for some reason my USB cable stopped working. They were going to replace it at no cost but it took them three attempts to get it right. The first part was the wall adapter that the cable plugs into. The second was a USB video cable. Then finally after a third phone call I got the regular USB. Now I don't have to share one cable between my iPhone and iPad.

When I was about 8 months pregnant with Riley I was having my usual dental check up. My Hygenist noticed something peculiar and asked me to come back ASAP after the baby was born so she could take some x-rays. I did and the culpurate was two impacted wisdom teeth (I only had two btw). Since I wasn't in any discomfort and there were no cavities, we both agreed to wait a while before proceeding. So about a month ago I had my consult and two weeks after that I went in for the surgery. I was a little nervous since I'd never been under general anesthesia but it went surprisingly well. I think the worst part of it was getting the IV. When I woke up I wasn't in any pain. I wasn't groggy, sleepy or quezzy in any way. I was sent home with antibiotics and Tylenol #3. I took the Tylenol for the rest of that day since I wasn't able to nurse for 8 hours following. The next day my face was swollen but the pain was minimal. I resorted to ibuprofen twice a day for two days then didn't need anything after that. As of now my jaw is a little tender but I'm able to eat and drink normally without pain.

The second event that deserves recognition is the fact that Riley has started crawling. She was exactly 9 months old when it happened. Unlike her brother, she started on her hands and knees but you can tell she just wants to get up and walk. In the last five days she's learned to move around on her hands and feet which is amusing to watch.

And finally...Pauly turned 2!  On his actual birthday we took him to Chuck e Cheese but this past weekend we celebrated with family and friends and it was a blast. We started off at the splash pad and then made our way back home for lunch, presents and cake. There wasn't a rain cloud in the sky and it wasn't too hot. Just perfect.

Fun at Chuck E Cheese

     

Riley getting ready to party 

Splash pad fun