Now & Then

Pin It Now! I have been being nostalgic lately - maybe it's because one of my besties is moving halfway across the world (literally - to South Africa!) but it's re-enforced to me how lucky I am to have these ladies in my life.

I remember watching the movie Now and Then when it came out and hoping that me and my girlfriends would stay friends all those years later - we were 14 when the movie came out, and as hopeful as I was it also did seem so far away.  Now - 17 years later we are woman.  Closer in age to the parents in the movie then the kids....eek.  Hard to believe, but true.

This pic recently resurfaced as we were gathering images for a book to give to Em before she goes away - I remember this day so clearly, it was our last big outing just before we all left for University.  We were 18/19 and leaving each other seemed like the worst thing ever.  We would spend every day together, by our lockers, going out for lunch, going tanning at lunch (yuck!) and having lattes and bagels together.  It was pre-Facebook, pre-internet really...most of our evenings of high school were spent on the phone with each other (a landline) for hours on end.  Analyzing, gossiping, talking about what we did that day (even though we were always all together).  It was such a familiar routine.  

Fast forward 12 years and this is us now.  So far there are 4 kids, 4 dogs, 4 husbands and 6 significant others.  We each have our own lives - independent of one another, our own careers, homes, lifestyles.  We don't see each other every day anymore.  But we do stay in touch.  There are little ways we integrate into each others everyday lives.  Through texting, or Facebook, or emails throughout the day, visits when we can swing it.  Remarkably I think we'd all agree that we are closer than ever.  Any pettiness or cattiness that plagued us throughout high school is gone - washed away by girls that have grown together into supportive women.  What's left is a strong group of woman who I'm so proud to call my friends.  

I love that these girls that I grew up with be known by my kids as their Aunties.  So special.

Upside-down

Pin It Now! Our lives right now are upside-down -- not in a bad way, but just in a nutty way!  We made kind of a rash decision that we would do some reno's to our house before baby #2 makes his way here and are now scrambling like mad to get everything done.  Between that and work and family time it's left little time for anything else.
My scrapbooking stuff is stashed away but it will be worth it in the end - part of our renos include finishing our basement with a dedicated craft area - woot!

We have had a great start to 2012 - we visited my parents in Naples - I haven't had a chance to download the pics yet but there are some great ones.  This layout is from our visit prior just before I finished up mat leave.
Jonah is such a funny boy these days - he's starting to really get into playing with toys and figure out how things work.  He also LOVES to eat - tonight we went for sushi and he ate an entire bowl of rice, an entire serving of edamame, some chicken teriyaki and some udon noodles.  Cute boy.
In other news I am obsessed with Pinterest lately - going to add a follow button here on my blog.
Have a great day!

So long 2011

Pin It Now! I am a bad blogger.  Since returning to work full time it has just fallen off my radar.  I'm a bit sad about it becuase it is a great way to chronicle the everyday - but one of the challenges of being back to work is that I feel like I barely have time to catch my breath let alone pause for a few minutes and reflect.

In all honesty - being back at work and being a parent full time is not as bad as I was expecting.  I love seeing my friends again every day.  I love using my head and thinking, problem solving beyond domestic duties.  But it does come at a cost - I miss my little man.  We see eachother during the week for such a short period of time.  It's such sweet time, but it is short.  By the time we're back at home after work/daycare it's 5:30 and he's wiped from a long day so he's in bed most nights by 6:30.

We have been taking advantage of weekends together and had a lovely December full of fun.  Not that it will be chronicled in my December Daily layout because I have no idea when we did what - (going to save that for next year I guess!) but we had a fun month filled with horse rides with Santa, visits with friends, trips to the city and pancake breakfasts at a new spot close to home.

To say Jonah is thriving at daycare would be an understatement.  He is LOVING it - and absorbing like a little sponge.  He's learned lots of new tricks since he started including clapping his hands and going up and down stairs like a pro.

This past week we were all off together on vacation and savoured our time together.  We have one day left and then go back on Tuesday.  We have already packed away all of our Christmas stuff until next year - the biggest hit this year was our Elf on the Shelf (Clive Bigsby) - I kind of thought Jonah was too young to enjoy it and it would be more for Kirk and I but he LOVED him - would find him most mornings on his own and squeal with delight.

This year was a big one for our family.  As much as we became a family in 2010 I feel like we really earned the title in 2011.  We had to learn to work together, to lean on one another, to say sorry when we fell down, to pick ourselves back up, to be compassionate and kind, generous and selfless.  It was a wonderful year full of firsts.

I do miss scrapbooking regularly.  When I was off and on the Scrapping Turtle design team it was the perfect way to scrap a bit each week.  That has definitely fallen to the wayside a bit but I want to get back at it - and also start sharing more regularly on here with what projects I do have on the go.

 Here's one layout I did back in the fall when I went away for the weekend to scrap.

Look at this little guy - almost walking!  Still has "spaghetti legs" if we let go though - its cute!

December Daily 2011

Pin It Now! So I love the idea of an entire book devoted to documenting all of the holiday magic of December - check out Ali Edward's December Daily if you haven't already - but realistically with going back to work tomorrow (eek!) I just knew I wouldn't be able to commit to an entire album.

This month at The Scrapping Turtle we are working with Christmas papers - I got Bazzil Basics Holiday Style, I love the mix of bright colours with traditional Christmas colours - I also don't have a ton of Christmas photos and can't seem to find our Santa pic from last year - so I decided to do a December Daily two page layout instead - the hope is I'll have something to jot down each day - I left the weekend dates big circles because I'm sure that's where the bulk of the activity will take place.

I am already feeling so Christmasy! We have all of our decorations up inside and out and I have Christmas music streaming all the time.

Jingle Jangle!

One

Pin It Now! This is the eve of Jonah's birthday, tomorrow we've got a full day planned of fun things to do.  Last year at this time I was big as a house, knowing I'd be headed to the hospital early the next morning to be induced.

One year ago tomorrow we welcomed Jonah into our lives.

It's hard to know where to even start - to begin documenting this year in our lives.  How much Jonah has changed.  How much we've all changed.

Jonah is a bright and happy 1 year old.  He is all of the sudden super BUSY, all the time.  There were a few months between colic and now where he was content to just sit on the floor and entertain himself but it's like in the last few weeks he's discovered there's more to life - and wants to know what I've been hiding from him.  So he loves to be carried around. To point at things, to try to touch everything.  I think part of it is also that he's been going to daycare in prep for me going back to work so he's probably realizing that I'm not a permanent fixture, that breaks my heart a bit - I can't lie.  I know it's good in the long run but he still is just a baby after all.

And so at ONE year Jonah....

Has gotten to be a pickier eater but mostly in the sense that he wants to self feed, and to also feed me.  I would say he's gotten pickier but whenever I take him places people comment what a good eater he is so I think for him he's gotten a bit pickier but still overall good.  Yesterday I was birdie feeding him at the mall (chewing up some food for him - ;)) - and the man beside me commented on what a great eater he was.  I sort of wanted to apologize for what he may have seen but I was trying to be discreet so just let it slide and acted like it was totally normal to chew up food and spit it out and feed it to your child at the mall.

LOVES to search for our elf on the shelf every morning.  When he finds him (Clive Bigsby) he will shriek and try to grab him and wave frantically at him.  He tends to find him a LOT sooner than I would expect.

Has 10 teeth and more poking through, including 2 molars.  Poor lamb - I think that's contributed to some of the fussiness of late.  That and his sleep schedule seems to be shifting....I think he's outgrowing two long naps but one just doesn't seem to be enough - still finding our groove there.

Still doesn't seem too interested in walking - will use the walker for a bit but is such a speedy crawler I think he just prefers that for now.

Weighs 23lbs, about the same as he did at 10 months.  I think it's just because he's on the GO all the time now so he's just moving a lot more.

Is a real babbler - has his own little language and will just chatter away with me all day.  I just answer like I know what he's saying.

Loved Halloween and I think he will love Christmas too - we decorated this past weekend and he's enamored by the tree.

Loves to be pulled around in a plastic toy box with a frisbee as a steering wheel and play "car" with me.

Is our darling little big grinned sweetie pie.

We love you so much little man xoxo

11 months

Pin It Now! Jonah turned 11 months last week - this has been an amazing month with our little guy.

He offically said his first word - "again" - he says it mostly when he wants his dog Scout to sing another song...sounds more like "a-ga"...took me a while to realize that he was saying and meaning it but it is pretty consistent now and so cute.  The other words he says pretty regularly are: Baba, Mama and Dada but he uses those pretty interchangeably - "again" seems to be the first one he's using in the correct context all the time.

He is a mean crawler - can cross a room in the blink of an eye, literally.

He pulls up and will walk with the walker for a bit but not overly interested in that part.  More interested in the toys on the walker.

Has started getting into everything this month.  Figured out somehow how to open the baby gate (what the heck?!!?? - it MUST not have been closed properly...but still!), also got into his first real "mess" - knocked over a candle in a jar and it shattered EVERYWHERE....my fault for leaving it where he could reach, thankfully nobody was hurt.

Started eating a bit more solids, seems back on track after being sick earlier this month - likes to feed himself peas and pancakes.

Got a nasty cold that lasted the better part of a few weeks, but was such a little toughie, would barely complain except for doing this little pitiful cry.  Aw, poor dude.

Had a good first "real test" at daycare, was happy as a clam there with the other kiddies and he loves his daycare provider.  She makes homemade soup and I was nervous he wouldn't eat it so packed his own lunch but he gobbled it all up. Good boy.

Almost ready for a second haircut!

Headed to my in-laws this weekend with Kirk while I get my scrap on with some girlfriends.

Got SKINNY on us - I think being sick had something to do with it but all of the sudden the 12 month pants that I thought I was going to have to pack away fit.  Still has those chubbo litttle cheeks though.  Love them and love him.

A little news

Pin It Now! We're on our way to crazy town - expecting a new baby April 5th.  We are thrilled obviously, blessed beyond belief.  But if I'm being honest....nervous too!  Two kids under a year and a half? Ha! That will be nuts.  In a good way nuts but nuts none the less.  

If any of you have kids close in age any advice is welcome ;) - I know it will be great to have them so close in age but it's the logistics that are making me scratch my head.  I guess I'll just live it and see right?  

I am going to go back to work this fall until the spring - Jonah will go to daycare and then stay there the first few months the new baby is here which I think will be good for everyone.  We'll find out the gender in about 6 weeks time....this time around I honestly don't have a gut feeling.  With J at first I thought girl but then was SURE boy.  

My brother and sister in law are expecting Jan 30th (a boy) so our kids will be SO close in age.  I love that.  My brother and I are 8 years apart and his kids are 7 and 4 so I just assumed they were done....so glad they went for a third.  

Can't believe we're gonna have another one of these around: 

Makes my heart hurt a little less to think that he's already almost a year old

Life is good.