Remembrance Day 2010

This morning, I woke up after only 3 hours of sleep to go to the local Remembrance Day ceremony at the arena. Anomantia and I watched from the stands while Laurence participated in the ceremony.  We were seated next to some very nice people.  Anomantia was all over the place and was squealing with joy throughout the ceremony.  She however did stay quiet for the moment of silence.  After the ceremony was over, I had a few veterans approach me and tell me that Anomantia was very well behaved throughout and that it was nice to see the younger generation starting to take an interest in the events.  Just before the ceremony started, in the stands next to where I was sitting, an elderly woman went into cardiac arrest.  Paramedics and the ambulance were called and it looked like she was going to be alright.  The highlight of the whole morning for me was after the ceremony had concluded, the veterans take a lap of the arena while the pipe band plays.  One veteran, threw his cane off to the side and was waving and saluting with an ear to ear grin.  This totally made my day.  So far it has been a really nice day aside from it being freezing cold out, but at least the sun is shining. 

Busy Life

 My little girl is getting so big.  This photo was taken this morning before nap and after she decided that she needed to be holding my cell phone.  She has started trying to walk but is more or less just wandering between pieces of furniture.  She is also the master of funny faces and big smiles, the second a camera is out, out come the devil horns.

 If Anomantia had her way, every meal would consist of crackers.  She has 4 teeth that are in and 2 more on the way.  She bites everything including the glass top on the coffee tables and scrapes the varnish off her crib railing.  It has gotten to the point where we have a surveillance camera in her bedroom that way we can get to her before she starts to chew on the top railing again. 

 October- was a month of adjustment.  Anomantia got a SAHD and a working mum.  I went from day shift to a permanent afternoon shift which allows me to be at home with her during the mornings and working until middle of the night.  I think the hardest part of working an afternoon shift is that I am not getting enough sleep which in the long run is going to affect my performance at work.  We had an awesome Halloween again this year.  We had our neighbours over for a Halloween party on the Saturday and then Sunday evening, I took her out Trick-or-Treating with some of the neighbours' kids.  She was dressed as a frog and was really cute.  When we got to peoples' houses, she would start to babble.  She ate a box of smarties (box and all) before we even got to the fourth house.  She lasted about an hour and a half outside before it was time to return home to see her dad.  We really lucked out this year with the weather, it was really mild in comparison to last years sleet. 

Bouncy, Bouncy Baby!  Anomantia has finally figured out how to jump.  She loves her jolly jumper and music combined.

All in all life has become more and more busy with being back at work and juggling being a wife and mother.   I am hoping that I will eventually find the balance of energies and it will all work out in the end.  I am still hoping that in the new year, I will be able to return to the college for a few courses to expand my knowledge and to see where that will take me.  A Blue Seal perhaps and maybe even to more education in the long run.  I know that welding isn't my end all be all career, just a mere stepping stone towards my future.  It allows me to provide a comfortable life for my daughter and husband, but I still dream of something more.  Who knows what that might be but for now, I must be content with what I am.  And with that I am hoping the balance as to who I am might return.   Being a working mum changes everything for me.  Everyone asked me IF I was going to return to work, but for me the question has never been IF but WHEN.  I dreaded going back to work after Anomantia was born, and even when I did return, I found the adjustment mentally, physically and emotionally challenging.  Over the past month, I have found myself sinking again.  There is no other way to put it.  I feel like the worst person in the world having to go back to work and leaving my daughter for 12 hours at a time.  My only peace of mind comes with my loving husband and that I know he is a capable father to our little monster.  With the breastfeeding, I try to express as much as I can, but my milk supply has dwindled down to next to nothing.  Anomantia will be soon out of the frozen stocks as I can't keep up with the rate she is consuming.  She is starting to drop her morning naps and is much fussier in the afternoons, I know this makes life for Laurence a little harder.  I feel like a funk has fallen over Gurneyland and that it will take all I've got to chase it away.  I guess that only time will tell... and for now I have laundry to wash, dry and put away, a kitchen full of dirty dishes to be cleaned and some endless renovations that require my attention, hence the lack of posts over the last little while.  On a brighter note, I have decided that it is time to get a new tattoo.  I have yet to find the right artist but I know what I want, I just need to find the right person to draw it up for me.  Winter is approaching fast and in ten days time my little adventurist will be 11 months old... Crap, a year has almost passed me by!  She is climbing everything in sight including the stairs.  I was worried that she would fall down the stairs to the basement but instead, she ignores them.  She loves the stairs up to her room.  She will be in the kitchen one minute and the next at the top of the stairs playing with the air intake to the furnace.  Or screaming for someone to come and get her down.  She will only go up the stairs and not down.  So I guess that we will have to baby gate the bottom of the stairs instead of the the top.  I gotta run the chores are a callin', but for now life in Gurneyland will still remain in a constant state of adventure to keep us all busy and on the go. 
Take Care,
C.