Weekly Update: Tacky Sweaters, A New Couch and Real Estate Revisited

CCO Pink Girls Night
Last week CCO had a girls night (the baby was the only boy lol). The theme was pink, we all wore pink and they had pink flowers, pink napkins and cups, pink drinks, pink cookies and even pink rice crispy squares

We played ‘the best game ever’ which is a paper version of telephone. Each person writes a sentence at the top of a piece of paper and passes it. The next person has to draw the sentence as best they can, then thy fold the sentence back so the next person sees only the drawing. That person has to write what sentence they think the drawing might be, and so it goes. Some of them were pretty far off, it all depends on the person’s drawing mostly. I don’t know if it is really ‘the best game ever’, these people like to say that about a lot of games They also had rockband. To make it pink the band members all had to wear pink feather boas and tiaras I’d never played so eventually I gave it a shot but we weren’t very good, we only made it all the way through one song (if you’re really bad it’s game over). Also I learned playing guitar is really hard on the wrists…

New Couch

Last week the in-laws bought a new couch. At first I was very reluctant to see the old one go because I had discovered it was the perfect for nursing, better than a bed because it dipped down in back making the perfect angle. The new one also converted to a bed, and thus dipped down in back. It is just as good, and it looks much more stylish to boot. Plus now DH can sleep on an actual bed when he ’sleeps on the couch’ (he old one was no good).

Summit at the Gathering
‘The Gathering’ is CCO’s weekly mass and fellowship event. Last week this consisted of a time fo adoration after mass, similar to the summit. I was nice to have it in the bigger more ornate church, and it was an opportunity for some other non-CCO people to enjoy as well. One lady who was not with us had a powerful experience before the Lord. She asked us to pray for her ick husband, and mentioned how nice it was to experience something like this. She especially mentioned the music and wanting to share it with her husband, and since I felt exactly the same the first time I went to the Summit, I just hope that she can find us again.

Real Estate and Budgeting
The other day the in-laws had a realtor in to re-assess their house should they want to sell it. DMIL wanted a new quote after the upgrades she had made. After they discussed things we talked about what we (DH and I) were looking for for a house. He gave us a website and we filled out a profile to receive house listings that fit our criteria by email, but we didn’t get anything yet. I expect it takes a while to get into the system etc, someone would have to read over our input and probably enter it manually into their database. He also said that the best time to buy is the spring, because that’s when most people list their homes and we would have the greatest choice. Since we’re looking at a fairly small market (homes under 100k and not in a trailer park) this is probably the way to go, which means we’re looking at buying 6 months sooner than we had planned (unless we wait till the following spring and I’m not sure any of us want to do that.

Given this shorter time line, I think we’ve got to get a bit more serious about saving up some money. We should have money to put away each month but it seems it’s all disappearing. I took a bit of a look at things and while some of it has been Christmas presents it seems a chunk of it is going to Walmart I usually go with DMIL when she goes shopping because it’s nice to get out of the house but I always end up buying things I didn’t know I needed, so I really have to watch that.

On Spending Time with my Toddler
As I mentioned I’ve been working on spending time with my toddler. I started out great then I don’t know what happened, but it hadn’t happened since… I guess I’ve just gotten engrossed with photos again, because they pile up and I try to keep on top of it. However, someday far from now when I look back on these years, I’m not going to wish I spent more time going through photos on my computer. I have to try to really keep this in mind. (This prompted the walk in the rain).

On Taking Walks with a Toddler:
After our walk in the rain I realized that I should really take him out more often (it had been a week). For one thing he isn’t nearly as much trouble when he’s outside, there’s somehow less for him to get into, (or these things are just farther apart). Also, while walking the same place gets boring, going for a walk with a toddler never gets old, because they are always finding new things to discover. They see the world differently, it’s always an adventure. So, I should take him walking every day!!!

This was my thinking yesterday, but when I took him for a walk today it was kind of boring. It wasn’t raining and the puddles had mostly dried up, and not enough had changed overnight, everything was pretty much the same as the day before. We did find a worm but I didn’t want him to hurt it, so after letting him touch it I returned it to the safety of the grass. It doesn’t help we pretty much walked the same path, next time we should go up the road. But I’m not entirely wrong about each walk being something new, he was on someones doorstep and playing with the doormat, which until he caused me to look at I had ignored, but which was actually quite interesting.

Tacky Sweater Shopping
Saturday I went shopping for a tacky Christmas sweater for a party. There was nothing at Value Village but I found 3 options at Frenchy’s
Tacky Sweaters (this is not me)

Recent Photos
And here’s some other recent photos:

The Day After the First Snow

Walking on the Trail

Toddler on the Trail

Mini burger

Baby

Toddler in the Rain

It has been raining all week, just for the record. Today I took my toddler out for his first walk in the rain. We found a big puddle at the end of the neighbor’s driveway, and he sloshed back and forth through it several times with a grin on his face.

Next we found a drainspout with a solid stream of water rushing out. Next to it was a squeegee, the kind people use to wash their car windows at gas stations. I think that was his favorite thing to see etc because he carried it around the neighborhood, until we were done and I returned it.

Splashing in the Puddle

Drainspout

Squeegee

One of These Things is Not Like the Other

Tree

Over Eager Neighbours

Walking in the Rain

SH Christmas Fair

Yesterday my friend and I took the kids to my old High School Christmas Fair. First we went to the toy room where we found an awesome push car, the same idea as what I’d considered buying new-in-store. I was really excited but my friend was more realistic -”Is that going to fit in your car with the stroller?” The answer to that was no, the only free space was in the backseat beside the car seats, but I was confident it would fit there, especially with the handle taken off. My friend was less optimistic, and I could tell she was rolling her eyes when I bought it.

Then we had lunch. My toddler kept running off on me (especially waiting in line). My friend and I each got the sandwich basket because we remembered it was good last time. It was good this time as well. We each got a drink and dessert as well. I got a piece of carrot cake and a piece of lemon cake. The lemon cake was bery good, except I didn’t care for the icing. Then we went through the main room with the baked goods, crafts and gifts, and silent auction. A lot fo the usual items, but this was new:

Last I checked it was fetching over $300.

After we went through the rest of the fair we went up to the kids room. This was in the new boys wing. Just past the Dean of Student’s office was a second gym, and what was in the far corner of the games room? A bouncy castle.
My toddler had soo much fun on it, he had the biggest grin. I got to go on too, because he was so little, and I bounced him up and down.


He started to cry when it was time to get off so I was going to buy more tickets but the girl said we could stay, so we got to go on a second time.

I wasn’t able to take the handle off the car so I was going to find a strong man to do it for me, but it’s just as well I didn’t because it would have been much harder to carry the car than the umbrella stroller which folds up – so walking back to the car I pushed my toddler in the toy instead. Then came the moment of truth. My friend asked me what I would do if I couldn’t fit it in, and honestly I had no idea. Even if the handle had been off, the steering wheel stuck out as well and the space I had to work with seemed smaller than I pictured. But I was determined (read stubborn). I tried the car 4 different ways before I finally got it in just enough to shut the door. I want to say ’score one for Mummy’ but pride comes before a fall, so we’ll just say I trusted God all along that there was a way, and was not being foolish when I bought it!

Tada!

7 Quick Takes – Summer in November

The thing I was writing about for my first Quick Take got too long and needed to be a separate post in/of it’s own right. The post I was going to replace it with also got too long, so I had to come up with something else. In addition the replacement post merged with another post and I’m still short something so you just get to see a couple extra photos

1. Here’s a few recent photos:

And of the kids:

2. Last week I started using 2 baby things, and it has made ALL the difference. First we started using the sookie on the baby even though he’s nowhere near 6 weeks yet. I wanted to see if he really was hungry all the time, because he wouldn’t always stay on when I tried to nurse him. I’m not sure if he really isn’t often as hungry as it seems, but the sookie in between has helped keep him calm and lets me not nurse him for 30 minutes straight every time. He does seem to be nursing a bit better but he still has trouble sometimes.

The other thing is the baby carrier. I had it for my older son but never put him in it this little, and by the time I started using it for him, he had gotten to heavy for me to carry comfortably. I’m starting this baby in it young, and it’s especially good because this one hates to be put down (unless he’s too asleep to notice) so when he needs to be held I can still do things

3. I have had a CRAZY appetite lately. I know I’ve been hungrier since baby came and I started nursing but some days it seems ridiculous! One day I had a bowl of soup, milk, 2 full tuna sandwiches and 4 chicken wings for lunch. I was still hungry so I had some banana and 2 cookies and an ice cream bar. I took a break for a bit but an hour later I polished off a big bowl of grapes. My typical breakfast is 5 pancakes, but most days I have a second breakfast a few hours later, and I typically have a second lunch or supper as well. If not I end up snacking (one day I ate half a box of cookies in one afternoon but they were healthy cookies). My appetite is starting to rival my brothers (who is an adolescent male and runs 70 miles/week in peak season, requiring 8000 calories).

4.This whole week the weather has been really nice, sunny and unseasonably warm for November (yesterday was over 15 degrees!) so on Monday DH AND I took my toddler biking. He rides in a trailer on the back of DH’s bike. I hadn’t gone biking all year cause I wasn’t up to it what with carrying a baby around and all, but I really enjoyed getting out together in the nice weather. I wasn’t able to go as far as I would have liked though, my legs are really out of shape for it!

5. This week I have been working on spending more time with my older son. I decided if I couldn’t spend time with him inside, that I would take him outside, so I instituted a mini self-policy to take him for a walk each day (and if nothing else this would also be a time for God).

So on Wednesday I bundled up my son and we went outside. At first he didn’t want to walk, but once he saw some other kids out walking he decided he was ok with it. I decided we should head down the road instead of up, towards the big construction trucks.

We spent a bit of time beside one of these and then we walked on down and around the corner to where they were fixing the road. They had dumptrucks, an asphalt spreader and several steam rollers, the whole 9 yards and heaven to a little boy.

Now he can’t talk yet and for a while he just sat watching in silence, but eventually he started babbling happily and clapping his hands. He walked pretty much the whole way there so I promised I’d carry him back, it was quite a distance, and I did, just with a couple stops to rest. I love being able to do things!

6. The next day I took my toddler out for a walk again. This time he still kept wanting to be carried, but once he found a place he wanted to go he went. I decided to just follow him where he wanted. As a result we covered much less distance, but got to see some of the neighboring porches up close We also visited with a neighbor and his 2 1/2 yr old son, and got to play in the back of a U-haul truck.

Then later that afternoon DMIL asked if I wanted to go walking on the trail with her, so we took both kids. She pushed my toddler in the umbrella stroller while baby was in the carrier. It was a lovely afternoon for it and amazingly I actually found it hot on the trail. How often do people up here get to say THAT about November!

7. In addition yesterday DMIL was mostly doing other things and they were out in the evening so I had to entertain my toddler (or I would have to chase after him and remove him from things he shouldn’t be in…) I seem to have succeeded, it’s amazing that simply giggling for no reason really gets a kid that age going!

Walmart Portrait Studio – A Commentary

I dropped the resume off Saturday and they said they would call, but not before/not until Tuesday or Wednesday, but it’s now Friday. People in this house are trying to tell me they aren’t going to call but when they said they would it was like a sure thing (like ‘the sky is blue’ not ‘don’t call us, we’ll call you’). For the most part I’ve tried to be home when they would be calling (12-4).

We went to get the kids’ portraits done at Walmart today. I insisted we go to the one where I left my resume, so I could see what’s up…

Once again I was reminded of all the things I dislike about the process, things that probably wouldn’t bother me if I wasn’t a photographer. Instead of shooting portraits like I do, taking shot after shot of each pose, they try to get everything perfect and then they take 1 shot. If they see someone’s eyes are closed they’ll retake it. Then at the end you have about 10 photos to choose from. When you have gotten several different poses you are lucky to have even 2 takes of a pose to choose from. As a result I have to decline the only shot of a really cute pose, because the facial expressions just aren’t right and it seems such a shame.

In addition, for whatever reason they don’t seem able to take shots back to back. DMIL would just say ‘1 more’ as she put him back next to the baby, but the photographer wouldn’t be ready and by the time he was my toddler wasn’t and the moments were lost. She didn’t seem to understand to wait until the shot was ready before putting him into it.

I’m sure I will get more sympathy and understanding of this process and why the camera isn’t ready if I get the privilege of working there, but I will tell people not to put the last kid in etc until the camera is ready to take the shot, because the moments are fleeting with kids that age.

Update on the portrait studio job:
The sign was gone from the door so I worried they had already filled the positions. When I inquired they said they have been super busy, and haven’t gotten to calling everyone yet (so the sign was gone because they just didn’t want any MORE applicants ). On the one hand it’s good to know that they didn’t forget about me but on the other hand it sounds like I’m going to have some competition…

Summit Gratitude (Baby #2’s First Time Going)

On Friday there was another summit but it was a different priest this time. I sat in my usual spot right at the front, this time with a carseat and a tiny baby next to me. The priest chose to talk (a bit) about surrendering, and he had his own example to personalize the story: his sister was currently in the hospital in labor with her first child. When he mentioned this kind of surrender etc our eyes met knowingly/we shared a moment (it was obvious I had a very new baby with me and had recently gone through the very thing he was talking about). Nothing compares to that moment when all of a sudden you hear your baby crying and it’s all over.

I was at the summit for the first time with the new baby, and I had forgotten to bring the diaper bag. I’d heard some ominous noises down below and I was imagining all sorts of horrible mess underneath his sleeper (he wears a onsie and pants underneath to keep his clothes clean and to keep him warm). I was wondering what I was going to do if I ended up with a big mess on my hands such that I HAD to change him because I had nothing clean to put on him and no diapers! The only hope I had was that the other new mom would show up, but we were already over 30 minutes in, so I wasn’t sure she was even coming. Finally I decided I at least had to go back and LOOK to see what the state of affairs was, and just as I was walking to the back of the church she came in and I was able to get a clean diaper and borrow her wipes. All I could think as I breathed a bi sigh of relief was God is just too good!

Just a few other things that stood out for me:

Suffering is how we work out our salvation.

All (good) things come to an end, suffering will end as well and when it does something beyond all our imagining awaits.

After the priest spoke one of the CCO staff shared their own personal story (there is also a small possibility that I heard this at the previous summit instead). He talked about finding God/Jesus for the first time. He said for the first time he felt fully alive. This I can relate to, I get what he’s saying because it’s a better way of expressing how I’ve felt in the past. Additionally he had a hangover, still feeling fully alive the next morning, instead of half dead. This I can also relate to, because after I went to the summit for the first time, I too had a hangover the next morning, and it lasted for a full week! (This was actually how I thought of it as well, before he described it that way).

I had a moment during adoration where I glanced down and saw the ring on my finger resting on the baby in my arms, and I was felt grateful. They represent the best things in my life, my husband and my kids

I also had a moment during one of the songs. The other couple with a little baby had come up with their candles and instead of going back to their seats had sat up in the front row to my right. The other father (who’s wife and little girl I have not seen since the end of august) came up the aisle with his candle and knelt down on my left. All of us were singing, and I could make out the other voices, and because we’re all connected as parents it was special to me. I felt such joy during that moment as our voices joined as one, in praise of the Father.

Lastly, when I went to confession, the priest’s advice also stood out to me: He told me I had very high standards (in a tone that indicated he didn’t think this would be news to me), and as a result he spoke about God’s perfect unconditional love, how He will love and forgive us no matter what we do, we don’t have to be perfect. This is something I thought I knew so his words really surprised me! Still, I believe God was speaking to me directly through the priest, so that was what I needed to hear.

7 Quick Takes – My dream job?

Getting back on track, here is this week’s Quick Takes, better late than never! (photos to follow).

1. Last Saturday evening I had a moment with the in-laws where we were just enjoying each others company, laughing over something that we thought was funnier than it probably really was (’soo slooow’). Every time I think back on that moment though I smile, proof that I can learn to get along with them afterall lol.

2. These past 2 week I’ve been adjusting to having 2 kids. My toddler is really cute with the baby but we have to keep a close eye on him because he tries to pick the baby up, doesn’t notice when he’s climbing on him and he tried to feed him fruit loops.

Of course the new baby has provded me with lots of new phtoo opportunities. I’ve been playing with my photo editor, here’s another artsy baby shot:

3. The day after we came home from the hospital was Halloween. I didn’t have too much planned for the new baby’s costume because I thought he’d be part of mine so I made a trip to Walmart that day and picked up a Santa suit for him and my toddler was a pumpkin. That afternoon I took baby’s hand and foot prints, 3 days old just like his brother. hen that night we took the kids trick or treating (feels good to be able to say that, like I finally have a family ) to visit the Superintendent at our old apartment and then around my mom’s neighborhood.

Then the next day I took baby to church for the first time and we had fun showing off a 4 day old baby! Then as usual we went to my mom’s for lunch.

Handprints

Possible pumpkin costume

Santa Costume

Pumpkin Toddler

Pumpkin

Baby’s first trip to church, 4 days old

Church


Fridge Magnet

4. My toddler has developed a bit of an interest in photography. He’s always been fascinated with my camera and after seeing him help out some relatives with taking a picture I decided I’d let him play with my point and shoot (the little silver one not my good one).

Helping Relatives

Here’s the first photo he ever took:

These photos show his perspective on the world,

My high chair

Living room

and lastly, a self portrait:

He’s not great at it, but some of his shots aren’t bad. He really has to learn to look at the screen to see what the picture will look like – and not to put the flash on cause it kills the batteries faster!

5. Wed I was home with the kids by myself for the first time. I decided on bruschetta for lunch since I had things that needed to be used up. I put the bread in to toast and a few minutes later I looked over and smoke was pouring out. There was also a good sized flame inside, but it was safely contained. I knew to unplug it and leave the door closed because there was a note on our toaster oven, and the flames did go away after 5 minutes, but not before setting off the smoke alarm twice. Somehow my toddler stayed asleep through it.

When the smoke cleared my lunch looked like bits of moon rock.

6. I had a sort of epiphany Thursday evening: I realized sometime since moving in with the in-laws my older son started to seem like a burden rather than a blessing. At least once a day it has felt like all I’m doing is telling him what not to do again and again, and it gets exasperating. A part of this has been that I was spending some time at my computer, but I am learning to strike a balance. Another part of it was that I just didn’t know what to do with him. I find it difficult to come up with fun (free) activities to do as a family etc, let alone coming up with a new toddler-stimulating activity every 5 minutes! I just felt I didn’t know how to play with him, and I think the reason I felt this way was because all I was doing was telling him off. The same as with my husband, I need to remember to see into my toddler’s world, to see things through his eyes. I spent so much time telling him off that I had completely lost that ability. Further more it’s been a vicious circle because I think the main reason he was getting into trouble so often was because he wasn’t getting enough attention… Now I have to work on spending more time in his world.

7. Friday I went shopping with DMIL. I managed to buy $50+ worth of stuff I didn’t know I needed (but now the kids both have stockings!). When I went to develop 1 more photo for the baby book something caught my eye. There was a sign on the door of the photo place that they were hiring portrait studio staff. I have been wanting a job for over a year (I had the TAing thing but even before that) and the thought had occurred to me that I might like working in a place like that, but I figured I’d need some type of photography qualification, like past work or maybe some kind of arts degree. All the same I was compelled so I asked for an application, and then asked about qualifications: turns out the only qualifications are that you’ve completed grade 12 and are over 18. Check and check. They are looking for 3 people just until Dec 18th, but they will want one to stay on after. And the fact that I have some photography experience should definitely be an asset. I’ve always wanted to be paid to take pictures! I loved working at McDonalds for over a year, but this, I think I would absolutely love this job, taking pics of cute kids all day

First Snowfall

Friday we had our first snow of the season. When I glanced out the window that morning I was excited to see the trees coated in snow, so much so that I let out a spontaneous squeal and woke my toddler up

After breakfast we bundled my toddler up to go outside, while the baby stayed inside with Nanna where it was warm.

However, my son couldn’t move in his snowsuit (he just fell over) so instead we dressed him in 2 layers of pants. Then he was happier outside; Daddy threw snowballs at him which seemed to amuse him, and then he tried to help daddy shovel before he sat in a puddle and it was time to come in

Because we had the first real snow it is time for me to start my winter photo folder for the year. I organize my non-kid photos by season. However, after a few days the snow melted and since then we’ve been having lovely fall weather again. I don’t want to put sunny fall photos into the winter folder, but I don’t want to file the snow photos in the fall folder either, so I’ve decided the snow photos will head off the winter folder, but then it will be on hold again until the snow comes back.

Note: I have decided to stop linking the big version of the photos here. If you want a copy of one just post a comment etc…

5 Minutes to Chaos

This is just a little glimpse into life as a mom, and how much can happen in just 5 minutes.

Today I was at my mom’s to work on the baby book and I did get photos on a few more pages… but between 2 kids I didn’t get as much as I’d like done. Anyway, my mom and brother were outside putting a tarp on the wood pile and I had both kids inside for a bit. Here’s what happened:

The baby was telling me he was hungry, so I was going to lay down and feed him, but before I picked him up my big kid stepped on his head with his shoes and baby started to cry. I picked him up to comfort him, but didn’t get to nurse him yet, because my big kid was reaching for the spot in the diaper bag where his bottle is kept, his way of telling me that he wants one now. I hadn’t brought any because I was only there for a few hours, and we keep a bottle at my mom’s house. So, I went to the kitchen cupboard to get a bottle, but forgot that I was supposed to leave one on Sunday to replace the one we took 2 weeks ago. Long story short, there was no bottle, so I picked up the sippy cup off the floor, poured the rest of the orange juice into my glass and rinsed the cup. Then I opened the fridge to get the milk but when I shut it again my toddler had the lid from the orange juice container. I poured the milk into the cup and gave it to him to drink. Then I went to lie down and feed baby but the second I hit the couch the phone rang (DMIL was calling to ask about her toaster oven ). Then while I was on the phone my toddler dropped the sippy cup of milk on the floor, causing the lid to come off slightly and milk to spatter around, on the floor and on the orange juice lid (which now would have to be washed before it could be put back). And that’s when my brother and mom came back inside.

More photos from the hospital

These are some of the artsy shots I took while I was in the hospital.

My older sun looking exceptionally sweet

Neapolitan cheesecake from the bake sale Thursday

diaper bag with bottle and hat

DSIL’s friend’s color coordination made me happy

Sweet Dreams

’south park’

One of baby’s many uncles

Daddy

Artsy Baby Shots