Time for a change?!

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New Year's is upon us, as we come to and end of a year and the start of a new one...is it time for a change?! How do we decide what changes to make?

Life is a whirlwind, so we need to take time to slow down to even decide what changes we want to make for the new year. Wait...maybe that should be on my list...slowing down!

First I need to clear the table, so that I can sit down and think clearly.  Wait...maybe I should add getting rid of clutter to my list.

Let's make a snack while we decide.  Oooooh, let's add some ways that I can lose weight.

Maybe I should phone a friend and ask their advice.  But I haven't talked to some of them in such a long time. I should reconnect with old friends.

Well that was easy, but haven't I been adding those to my list every year?  Maybe I should be more specific.  Maybe I shouldn't be trying to do all these things at the same time.  What's the trick to making these changes?

If you have any advice on making positive changes...let me know. Happy 2012 everyone!

Oh no!! I've dropped my baby!

Yes, I finally did it!  The infamous "dropping of the baby" that every new parent does.  Lucky boy, he was almost one before it happened.  Just to clarify, it wasn't so much a dropping of the baby, but rather carelessly allowing him to fall off the change table.  :(

I had heard all the stories from other mom's, variations of dropping, falling, and knocking the baby's head on something.  I remember one mom telling me that the day after she got home from the hospital, the public nurse stopped by to see how they were doing.  And as she rounded the corner to greet the nurse, she banged her baby's head on the edge of the wall.

When my son fell, unfortunately it was a lot more preventable.  He had started standing up on the change table to look at the shelf next to it.  I leaned over to place something in the closet next to the change table, when I heard a noise and turned to see him falling off the table.  Luckily, he slowed his fall by grabbing the change table on the way down and landing on a small rug.  Unfortunately, as he landed he fell back and hit his head on the hardwood floor. 

Well my heart stopped!  I was trying to figure out what to do.  I waited to see what my son would do.  He then proceeded to do the “silent” cry, where it takes (what feels like an hour!) for him to make a sound.  I couldn’t believe that I had let him fall!

But within a minute, he was fine...I hadn't broken my baby!  These little guys really are tougher than they seem.  :)

Domesticity at it's finest!

Is domesticity a word?  It is, it is...and I'm gonna use it!!

Well, domesticity was never my strong suit.  I was a career minded woman, who was much too busy to be domestic.  But having a baby has "slowed" things down.  And yes "slowed" is said with tongue in cheek.  Maybe I should say that having a baby has made me "live in the moment" more.  All those things I was too busy for in the past, seem so much more important now and appreciated. 

I was always a little intimidated by the domestic things in life, thanks to a few friends to help me along the way...and I have become a machine! A canning machine! When I was expecting, this was my version of nesting.  We moved into a house with lots of fruit trees and they bore way more fruit than what we could eat, so canning made so much sense. 

Then I decided to take a cake decorating class.  I had started baking a couple of years before, but now I had to make the baking look pretty for many of the upcoming birthdays I have to look forward too.  I'm no pro...but practice makes perfect (I hope!).  And as you can see by the picture...I need a lot of practice! 

And my latest foray has been into sewing.  Believe it or not, but I have never sewn a stitch on a sewing machine.  And now with the help of a friend...I made a sleep sack!!  Yay!!! The world is my oyster now! I can finally fix those leggings that I had to wear with boots because they lost their hem. 

Thanks PM, CE, and SD for helping me travel down this road of domesticity. (There! I used the word one more time!)

This blog can also be seen on Okanagan4Kids.

Little Steps, Big Steps

Watching the growth of our son has been amazing.  Slowly he has been developing into the little person that he is, that is until 2 weeks ago!  Then things really speeded up! That is when he pulled himself to standing for the first time. Since then, he has continued to amaze us with new milestones nearly every day. The last couple of weeks he has surprised us with waving, clapping to a song, saying "more" in sign language, crawling, and many more wonderful moments.  How lucky we are to be able to spend the rest of our lives experiencing beautiful milestones!

Mother's Day...being a late joiner, things are a little different.

Mother's Day was here last week, my first one.  My husband made sure that it was special, not only for me as a new mother, but also as a tribute to my mother. 

I woke up that morning to breakfast in bed, a beautiful home made tshirt, and a "mom" crown. Woohoo, way to go honey, well done!  Then he came back with a tray with some beautiful flowers, two cups of tea, and a picture of my Mom (she left us in 2007).  My lovely husband made sure that we remembered my mom as well, on this special day. 

It then made me think, that one disadvantage of being a "mellow" mama, is that often, we don't have our own mama's around. Unfortunately my mom never got to meet my husband, see me get married, or be there when my son was born.  Although, I do know that she is always "present" in our lives, I wish she was really here. 

We are trying to keep her memory alive with my son by showing him pictures.  I know my sister has done an incredible job with my nieces.  They were only 6 weeks old when she passed away, but if they see a picture, they know who Oma is. I wonder what other things I can do to keep her memory alive for my family?

So while there are a lot of wonderful things about being an older mother, unfortunately this isn't one of those things. 




This blog post is featured on Okanagan4Kids.

As seen on the streets of Kelowna....

Walking Down Memory Lane

 

We had dinner with some friends on the weekend. And we started talking about a trip we took over 12 years ago together.  As we were walking down memory lane, several things occurred to me. 

First, I have a really bad memory!  My girlfriend was amazing, reminding me of the great time that we had on this trip during our misspent youth...especially the adventures that we encountered. She even had a photo album of the trip. Our big adventure on this trip was that we had been running late on our last day of our trip (don't you usually sleep in when you are a little hung over?! remember this was our misspent youth!).  So we were already a little bit delayed heading to the airport.  And then our taxi got a flat tire on the way there!!  I remembered that there wasn't the sense of urgency from our cab driver that we expected. And it took us a little bit to come to terms with that.  I guess people are a little more laid back in Mexico. But all in all, it worked out!  And we arrived home safe and sound.

Second, that I actually look better now than I did back then (now that's a switch isn't it).  I have lost weight, and was in better shape.  At least I think I am, and I'm still not anywhere where I would like to be, I'm still trying to get rid of some of that baby weight I'm carrying around.  But I'm working on it!

Third, I hadn't forgotten everything!  While I had a tough time with some of the specifics, I still had some very wonderful memories of this trip.  And I wasn't the only one!  Here was someone else who shared these lovely memories.  Someone else that I don't see often enough.  Someone else's life who I had touched in someway, as they had touched mine.

It made me realize that every day we may do something or say something that will affect people that you interact with.  That my life has more meaning in this world than I thought.  And that the really important goals in life should not be the high powered career, the big money, and all the stuff. But rather how you touch people, how they remember you, and how you have impacted their lives.

Thanks my friend for the great dinner and the wonderful walk down memory lane...

Today's blog is featured on Okanagan4Kids.

Easter and Family Traditions

 Happy Easter Everyone! 

Easter was never a big thing in my family growing up (it was more of a religious holiday for us). It's a big thing for my husband.

Now that I have a family of my own, I would love to create some cool family traditions. One that only includes a little chocolate! Aside from the traditional coloring of the Easter eggs, Easter Egg Hunt and Easter ham, any special ideas on what we can do?

A surprise getaway...Day 3

A Surprise Getaway...Day 2

A Surprise Getaway! Day 1...

In the Moment Mondays...do you know your neighbours?!

This weekend, the weather was beautiful!  So I took advantage of the great weather and checked out my neighbourhood.  I went to a couple of local businesses and visited two garage sales.  And as I went around, I met my neighbours.

We moved in to this neighbourhood about 10 months ago.  I was 8 months pregnant at the time and with the rush of moving in, we only got to meet the neighbours on our block.

Now, not only did I meet 3 sets of neighbours.  These are the things I discovered...

1. One of my neighbours plays a mean guitar and serenaded me with "Country Roads".
2. You can't see into our back yard from a house up the hill.
3. I need to always check out the garage sale of another neighbour, as they own a party supply company and get rid of some cool stuff!
4. Another neighbour uses only organic sprays on his orchard, so no need to keep the little one indoors when they are spraying.
5. I was invited to join the neighbourhood Diva's!

Well worth the exploration...don't you think?!  I'm really digging this neighbourhood!

In the Moment Mondays...Spring is in the air!

Spring is not just blue skies, new sprouting flowers, and warm days.  For many of us this means spring cleaning.  An opportunity to get rid of some of the old stuff and re-discover what we do have! 

Some of the things we own:


Seven Jerry Cans!



A spare truck tire (I hope it fits on our truck).



A red SuperPerson's cape (don't ask!).



In the Moment Mondays



Those chubby, chubby hands.