So I guess I am ready for a change in weather. Since we moved here in 2006, our winters have been relatively mild. This winter, feels incredibly long and cold. Our snow base is more than we have had in five winters. Really I am ready for the two and half feet of snow to melt and for the sun to shine once again. It has been grey here, really grey and all I really want to do is hang my laundry on the clothesline and air my stuffy house out. I want to get the saw out of the entrance way and finish off all the renos and have the house put back together sooner rather than later. But I know better than to get my hopes up because something always gets in the way. I can't wait to plant my garden and for the local farmer's market to start up again. I always love the beginning of spring. When the white snow melts away and the green starts to come back. And being able to walk around the ponds again looking for the pussy willows and buds on the trees. I am looking forward to sewing Anomantia's Easter dress and getting ready for family visits. With all the work to do around our home, it keeps me ever so busy but not too busy to enjoy the little things. I am enjoying all that I can on my days off, unfortunately I still have to work four days per week.
This weekend, Laurence had to be out for work, so Anomantia and I travelled with him. We also got the opportunity to go to a couple of pet stores. Anomantia LOVES animals and gets so excited when she gets the chance to see them upclose. She even got to hold an albino bunny. It was so cute. She loves cats and dogs and horses and pretty much anything that is fuzzy and makes noises. With all of Laurence's allergies, we are not able to have pets in our home and we feel our yard is too small to accomodate an animal, plus the weather in the winter is far too cold for a cat or dog to survive strictly outdoors. As much as I would love to get a dog for Anomantia, this will NOT happen. Our home will remain animal-less until we can afford to move to a larger property with a barn for animals. I am starting to get impatient for the spring to come so that I can take Anomantia to the zoo either north or south of Gurneyland but it all depends on how work is going.
Lately I have been suffering from severely stiff hands and joints. I am hoping that this is a temporary thing but it has been two weeks of barely being able to hold a pencil and getting white knuckled from only a few minutes of operating my grinder. My GP wants me to see the surgeon to have scar tissue removed from the middle of my hand but this would result in lost time from work (not what I want right now). I have kind of lost faith in him and his decisions since Anomantia's birth and since he decided to put me on medication with which I couldn't breastfeed anymore. I stopped taking the meds after four days and gave it a few days to clear out of my system, then tried to get Anomantia to breastfeed again, but she wouldn't. She weened herself, even when I wasn't ready for her to do so. I am still suffering from engorgement and really unhappy that I was pressured into taking meds even when I didn't want to. If I could change doctors at this point I would but the doctors here won't take a new patient unless they are without a current doctor. Back to my chores and renos.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Family Day Weekend
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This weekend flew by in a blur, I feel like we spent the whole weekend in the kitchen playing on the floor. Saturday, we did all of our errands, including Anomantia's 1yr immunizations and running around so that we could spend 2 full days as a family at home or doing activities that we enjoy. Sunday we started our day off with our usual waffles and bacon breakfast only this week to mix it up with Blueberry waffles and ham instead of bacon. Anomantia spent the better part of my preparing breakfast sitting on the floor next to where I was working eating frozen blueberries. By the time she was done eating breakfast, her face was covered with blueberries. (pictures1,2,3).
After breakfast, we cleaned up and played a bit before Anomantia went down for a nap. While she was napping, Laurence and I managed to finally get the casing around our living room window installed. One window down five more to go. After her nap, Laurence made Anomantia a new toy because she kept on stealing the potatoes I was trying to peel for Sunday evening's dinner. (picture 4). Meet our new addition, Beaver the potato head. We are oh so creative with names in our house, her toys are all like: Bear, Monkey, other Monkey, Moose with calf, you get the point. She doesn't really play with dolls, she prefers her trucks and trains and cars better.
Sunday evening after dinner, we decided to make cookies. Anomantia wanted to help, so I let her be my tester. (pictures 5,6). By the time is was bedtime, she had Blueberries and chocolate all over my kitchen floor and walls and cabinets, on the fridge, the front of the dishwasher and oven door. I am still finding little sticky hand prints all over the place. By Sunday night, I felt like I had spent the entire day in the kitchen.
Monday, was a statutory holiday for us here in Gurneyland. Meaning NO WORK! Yahoo! For Family Day, our community organisation (we are on the board of directors) had planned their annual Sleigh ride in the park. We lucked out with the weather as it warmed up to -5ºC for the afternoon but it is supposed to cool off to -20ºC again tomorrow. (sigh!) With all the warm then cold weather we've been having, I am ready for spring and for the 2 to 3 feet of snow in my yard to melt.
This evening, we made red berry syrup for our ice cream dessert. It came our very similar to Danish rødgrød med fløde only we didn't thicken it as much. Anomantia loved it! (pictures 9,10,11,12) She spent the first part of dessert walking back and forth between Laurence and I eating out of her bowl and finishing off most of Laurence's too. Finally she sat down in front of the fridge and finished off her bowl full. I think she wore most of it, but at least she enjoyed it.
This weekend Anomantia let me look in her mouth and not just probe it with her toothbrush, she now has 2 molars on her left hand side and the top right hand one is ready to break through, the bottom one still looks like it will be awhile though. She also demonstrated her vocabulary to us by taking a clean sock from the laundry bin and handing it to me and said "sock" and then again tonight she handed it to me and said "chausette" (which is french for sock). She is ever changing and growing. As of Saturday morning, she was 30.5 inches long and 22lbs 8oz. She has gone down in weight since we last weighed her, but she has also started crawling and walking since her last weigh in too (I think). I am a little confused with her weight issue as she weighed 22lbs at 8 months old and here we are 6 months later and she is back to 22lbs after being weighed in at almost 30lbs a little under 3 months ago. I guess I will have to talk to her doctor about all of this because the public health nurse was unsure about it all. Any how it will be another early morning tomorrow so I am off to sleep. I hope everyone had as good of a weekend as I did and that you all enjoy your week. Good Night.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
picture update
Anomantia's excited face on Christmas morning. We all had bad colds and were feeling pretty crappy that morning too.
Flirting with anyone who will spare her a glance at the Wellness Centre this morning. (Feb 12th)
I am still trying to get all the pictures in order of the few hundred that I have taken over the last few months, these are my favourites of the ones we have. Anomantia is always on the go climbing up and down stairs now and starting to run, she is fearless and very independent. She has been keeping us on our toes and ever learning new things. She sits there and studies your every move then will repeat it. This weekend, we have made Valentine's day cupcakes with Pink (I wanted a pastel pink but had a mishap with the food colouring, and ended up with a there is no other way to put it other than Barbie Pink colour instead) icing. I have been feeling crafty again lately and after discussing with Laurence, we have decided to challenge ourselves to create gifts for our friends and loved ones this entire year. I have most of my Christmas gifts already mapped out and some are already done, but this way come the holiday season, we won't be stressed out about finding that perfect gift for each and everyone on our lists. Everything will be that much more personal. All in all we are content with our life in Gurneyland and will try to keep pace with the world around us, sometimes you just have to slow it down and stop to smell the flowers and enjoy the little things in life. Today was one of those days for me. We got our errands out of the way for the week in the morning and it left the afternoon for baking and hanging out in the kitchen with my little cinnamon heart thief. Tomorrow is another day of fun filled activities and hopefully a trip to the swimming pool, we will see where the day takes us. I am just looking forward to our Sunday morning ritual: Wake up, make waffles and bacon in our pyjamas, eat as a family (one of the few meals we all eat together), clean up, wash up, get dressed and then the day begins. I look forward to that time where we are all together in the same room, for a brief moment, I feel complete. Life as a working mum is no easy task, every moment when I am not at work or en route to work, I want to spend with my husband and daughter. I feel guilty for being away for so long every week, but I have my three day weekends to keep me going through the push for more production, better quality, and faster turn over rates, there are days where my family is the only thing that keeps me going. Knowing that they will always be there when I get home. I love seeing them all cuddled up and asleep when I get in the door from work. I do miss taking part in bedtime, and not being home for dinner, but I know I always have my weekends. And every week presents a new challenge and new changes, but if it were always the same thing would it be worth doing? Right now, I am ready for an early bedtime for me tonight and enjoying the little things that make my world spin.
Good Night
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Chaos
So this week has been crazy busy for all of us here in Gurneyland. Anomantia has discovered how to fill her bowl when it is empty. Sunday afternoon, we were eating dill pickle chips (the new baked ones...so good!) in the living room. I gave Anomantia a few in one of her bowls, she ate them all, then walked over and was eating them out of the bag on the coffee table. I went into the kitchen to get us some water, returned to find her dumping the bag of chips into her bowl, most of which ended up on the floor. She is a very observant girl and studies things lots before doing it. She also has learned to pick her nose. I got a text from Laurence the other night saying that she had a bloody nose and he had no idea how she got blood all over her face. The next morning, I caught her red fingered. She shoves her little index finger up her nostril, actually it is pretty gross. She has learned the use of uh-uh (while shaking her head no) and uses it in appropriate context now. It is quite cute but can be irritating at times now that she resists things. I guess seeing as it is so early in the morning and I have to get up with Anomantia when she wakes, I should end it here.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Relief
Today we were given the wonderful news that Anomantia's acetabular portion of her hip has in fact formed properly (yay!). It was such a relief to hear this news and actually see the x-rays as proof that she will be able to run and play with her friends as she gets older, however it does still put her in a higher risk bracket for needed a hip replacement at an earlier age. Still something we have to keep an eye on but at least there will be no surgery for now. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and that I can finally take a breath, I have been waiting for months to hear those words from the doctor. She hated getting x-rayed and had to be strapped down on a spine board so she wouldn't move but was rewarded afterwards with her beloved Smarties. She will do anything for a Smarties treat, including climbing up and down the stairs several times trying to get just one. Today I am just grateful that she decided that her car seat was a great place to sleep, she napped the whole drive to the Children's Hospital and back home again (almost 2 hours each way). So by the time we got back home, she was wired and ready to tear the place apart even more.... I think my living room should declare a state of emergency, Hurricane Anomantia has struck for the last 4 days in a row! I have some major clean up to do in there, so I am hoping for a 3 hour long morning nap tomorrow (technically today but I still haven't slept, so it is still yesterday to me, if that makes any sense?!?). On that note, I am off to bed and just thought that I would share my happy news of not having to get my toddler operated on, mechanically she works-Yahoo!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Happy New Year...very late! and a new Update.
Well it has been a busy New Year, off to a sickly start for the whole lot of us. We had a bunch of colds and a flu that went through all three of us. Finally we pulled through and are enjoying the strange weather we have had. It was beautiful and warm, followed by a big snowstorm and freezing weather (-30ºC to-50ºC) for a week and a bit and then warm again followed by freezing again and now we are finally back to unseasonably warm weather again. This year, Laurence and I have decided to bust out the bucket lists and conquer a few items each. A few weeks back his guy friends invited him out for a guys day on the lake, ice fishing, drinking and sledding. I was so envious because ice fishing is on my bucket list. It has always interested me and seeing as I have gone almost every other type of fishing I figured I might as well cross that one off my list too. So the following weekend, we went out as a family to the lake to go ice fishing. We didn't catch anything that day but at least we are equipped now with an auger and ice fishing poles we can do it again sometime and hopefully catch something. Anomantia spent most of her time terrorizing the front seat of the Jeep. She was too cold, and seeing as we don't have an ice fishing tent yet, she was in the wind outside.
The transition of being on maternity leave to being a working mum has been a hard one for me and I am finally getting the help I need in order to survive. Unfortunately it comes at a cost, I have to stop breastfeeding as the medication will leach through breast milk. I have spent a lot of time thinking about it and crying by myself because I feel like I have in someway failed my daughter, but in order to help her better, I have to help myself. This past month I have contemplated changing jobs, changing companies, going back to school and lots of other things but I think more than anything, I have decided it is best to stay put even if it means being away from home for 13 hours a day, 4 days per week. I have also decided to take a few courses online to upgrade my certification. Anomantia is in good capable hands with her dad. And has also displayed to him that she can talk when she wants to and what she wants to. Her vocabulary now includes: wake up, debout, oh-no, uh-uh (shaking her head no), what (with lots of attitude), maman, dad, bye, night night, Oh Shit, and Sonofabitch. As well as the standard: ya, yeah, up, milk, jus, juice, lait, and dog (which is a cat to her). She tries to boc like a chicken but it comes out toc-a toc-a and she makes wookie noises if you show her a picture of anything Star Wars related (including cartoon Ewoks). She hates hats and anything on her head and doesn't like cow's milk, so we are trying to come up with some creative ways of getting enough calcium and vitamin A in her diet. She now walks independently and loves it, she is starting to run and is always on the go. This morning, I came home from work to find her asleep on my pyjamas with her dad's keys in one hand and one boot on, the living room is a disaster zone due to hurricane Anomantia, I can tell they had a lot of fun. I am so envious that they get to play and hang out in the afternoons and evenings, I see Anomantia and Laurence only for a few hours on the days that I work as they are both usually asleep when I get home from work.
All in all things in Gurneyland are busy as always and with Anomantia walking now, we are constantly on the go. February brings great adventures for us including Family Day long weekend, the last trip to the paediatric orthopaedic specialist (knock on wood that everything is still ok with Anomantia's hips), more ice fishing, skating and anything else we can cram into an already packed month. It is hard to believe that January has passed us by already, at least I have a start on my Christmas presents for next year! We are doing a homemade year this coming year, hence the early start. And yet again the question looms as to when we will be heading West again... This year the answer is sorry but we are going to stay put, we have no plans of travel at the moment, I don't have any holiday time from work because of being sick over the yule season and from only being back to work almost 4 months, I am back at the bottom of the line when it comes to holidays. And with all that I should head off to bed, another long day tomorrow. Picture update soon, I promise!
The transition of being on maternity leave to being a working mum has been a hard one for me and I am finally getting the help I need in order to survive. Unfortunately it comes at a cost, I have to stop breastfeeding as the medication will leach through breast milk. I have spent a lot of time thinking about it and crying by myself because I feel like I have in someway failed my daughter, but in order to help her better, I have to help myself. This past month I have contemplated changing jobs, changing companies, going back to school and lots of other things but I think more than anything, I have decided it is best to stay put even if it means being away from home for 13 hours a day, 4 days per week. I have also decided to take a few courses online to upgrade my certification. Anomantia is in good capable hands with her dad. And has also displayed to him that she can talk when she wants to and what she wants to. Her vocabulary now includes: wake up, debout, oh-no, uh-uh (shaking her head no), what (with lots of attitude), maman, dad, bye, night night, Oh Shit, and Sonofabitch. As well as the standard: ya, yeah, up, milk, jus, juice, lait, and dog (which is a cat to her). She tries to boc like a chicken but it comes out toc-a toc-a and she makes wookie noises if you show her a picture of anything Star Wars related (including cartoon Ewoks). She hates hats and anything on her head and doesn't like cow's milk, so we are trying to come up with some creative ways of getting enough calcium and vitamin A in her diet. She now walks independently and loves it, she is starting to run and is always on the go. This morning, I came home from work to find her asleep on my pyjamas with her dad's keys in one hand and one boot on, the living room is a disaster zone due to hurricane Anomantia, I can tell they had a lot of fun. I am so envious that they get to play and hang out in the afternoons and evenings, I see Anomantia and Laurence only for a few hours on the days that I work as they are both usually asleep when I get home from work.
All in all things in Gurneyland are busy as always and with Anomantia walking now, we are constantly on the go. February brings great adventures for us including Family Day long weekend, the last trip to the paediatric orthopaedic specialist (knock on wood that everything is still ok with Anomantia's hips), more ice fishing, skating and anything else we can cram into an already packed month. It is hard to believe that January has passed us by already, at least I have a start on my Christmas presents for next year! We are doing a homemade year this coming year, hence the early start. And yet again the question looms as to when we will be heading West again... This year the answer is sorry but we are going to stay put, we have no plans of travel at the moment, I don't have any holiday time from work because of being sick over the yule season and from only being back to work almost 4 months, I am back at the bottom of the line when it comes to holidays. And with all that I should head off to bed, another long day tomorrow. Picture update soon, I promise!
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