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.

Bacon

Last weekend, Anomantia and her dad were downstairs making breakfast while I was getting dressed.  Laurence called up to me to hurry up because Anomantia was hungry and wanted food NOW!  While I was putting on my socks, Laurence was feeding Anomantia some bacon.  After breakfast, she decided that it was time to nurse some more.  While nursing, she unlatched looked at her dad (now sitting at the table next to us) and said "BACON".  It was very clear and that was followed by "dad dad dad".   She really loves bacon and her beef jerky.  I am still waiting for her to say mum, or mama or any variation of that, instead I get Bacon.  I think it is a great "first-ish" word.

I'm not old YET...

About a month or so ago, Laurence and I were in bed discussing aging and what is classified as old. He made some quirky remark and quickly reminded him that he is a dinosaur compared to me (even though he is only 3 years, 4 months and 17 days older than I am). He promptly turned to me and said "I'm not a dinosaur, I'm a carbon dated pineapple" with a straight face. I couldn't help but laugh.  Since then whenever he brings up the subject of age, the carbon dated pineapple is always quoted.  Saturday, I will be 29.  The last of my twenties has arrived.  This year seems to make me more uneasy than any other before.  I think that it has to do with my maternity leave coming to an end and the fact that I am feeling older.  I met several other mums at the local baby time at the library and I really felt old.  The fact is that in my area people seem to procreate a lot younger that I realised.  I spoke with a couple of other mums and they had 2-3 kids and we still not as old as I am (more in the 22-25 age group).  I have also observed that these mums tend to be quite clique-y like they are still in high school.  I found that quite disturbing.  One woman made some random comments about diapering and how cloth diapering would be a waste of time because it would cost so much more when you factor in water and energy costs to clean them.  In the long run, I believe that the narrow-mindedness of these other people just drives me crazy.  Yet again I am finding myself isolated as a parent.  I have tried local play groups and the other community organised activities to find other parents who have children around the same age as Anomantia but finally after 9 months of trying to fit in, I have given up! I am destined to be a social outcast as I was through the years of my education and in 9 days time, I will be back where I fit in... at work, in the dirt and metal shavings with Elise and the rest of the guys.  I am not willing to sacrifice who I am and what I stand for in order to fit in with a few superficial mums at some group.  So for the time being, I am going to age gracefully and live my life with my amazing husband, as the carbon dated pineapples that we are, and raising our beautiful daughter to be a strong independent individual.  

Biting

This picture was taken September 8th, she has one tooth in and 2 days later #2 surfaced... finally! She figured out how to tear her food apart using what few teeth she does have as well as biting while nursing. I had to laugh this afternoon as she bit her own tongue for the first time. I thought it was funny seeing as she has left holes in my nipples from biting. It hurts lots and it obviously startled her when she bit her tongue as she cried and didn't want anymore to eat afterwards. I think she figured it out pretty quick though. Today she turned 9 months old and is as stubborn as a mule. I love every minute of everything that I have left with her.

The end is nigh

This month marks the end of several things for me. First, the end of my maternity leave, going back to work was a distant thought until the beginning of this month when I realised that it is a not so distant thought anymore. Second, the end of my twenties. In a little over two weeks I will turn 29 years old. Ack I'm aging... I realised this morning that I have a lot of obligations in life: I am some one's wife and some one's mother. My life has taken a few turns in directions of which I may not entirely be proud and has thrown me many a curve ball, but being a wife and mother are a couple of the best things going for me now. My home is in a state of constant renovation with a semi-mobile soon-to-be 9 month old around, Life is oh-so-interesting and busy. With the commute to work looming in the near future, I am busy trying to find a daycare/day home for Anomantia while I am at work. This is proving to be a difficult task as I will be going back to shift work and how do you find someone willing to take a baby at 5 in the morning or someone willing to work overnight. So much to sort out and so little time. On a lighter note, I ordered my work boots last week and hopefully they will arrive before I start work. My old ones were in such a state, I don't think that they are even legal anymore because they are so worn out. I can't believe that they still carry the same brand of boot that I have been wearing for the past 3 years. I love them!!! They have to order my size because I haven't bought a pair in a little over 2 years and why would anyone carry an 8 inch welder boot in a size 4D?

My birthday wish this year is to have a happy and healthy family with a smooth transition to my new work schedule. Next month, we are looking forward to introducing our Halloween traditions to Anomantia. Halloween has always been our favourite holiday and for the last 3 years, we have had the spooky house on the block. Every year is different and the crowd of kids and parents gets bigger. We have become somewhat of an attraction in our area.

Anomantia Update:

Anomantia has mastered saying "dad" now and is much more aware of people and things. She babbles tons and has discovered being shy and not smiling for everyone anymore, she saves the smiles for us. She likes to dance to music (looks like she is humping the air) and sometimes if we are lucky "ahhh" along with the songs. Her hair is getting longer and has finally grown over her bald spot in the back. She loves her monkey from Wendy, it sleeps with her almost every night and during the day she packs her mooses from Roger and Claire around by the antlers occasionally stopping to kiss them. It is adorable and she stops to see if anyone is watching then smiles and goes back to kissing her stuffed animals. Her favourite snack right now is papaya spears from the health food store and anything covered in BBQ sauce. I am going to have her weighed and measured again at the end of the month so no new updates for that right now.

Teeth and words

For the last few weeks we have been living in teething hell. There is no other way to put it other than that because my life consists of drool, crying and biting. Anomantia has discovered how to bite down with the one razor sharp tooth that she does have and has managed to tear my nipples up. Needless to say, she is still trying to breastfeed more because of her constantly sore mouth. As of this afternoon, she has one tooth surfaced, one breaking through and two more just below the surface. I just hope they all surface and SOON! (not likely going to happen)

Anomantia is starting to babble more and more but the words she is starting to form are fairly strange. She says "Hi-yah" (like in a cheesy kung-fu movie) "ahh ahh ahh" (at maximum volume) and is starting to say "ad ad ad" (as in dad). I am still home for another 28 days before I have to return to work, but already Anomantia has switched over and become a "daddy's girl". First thing in the morning, she is looking for her dad and as soon as he gets home from work, she is all grins. Today she was in my arms when her dad came in the door and she nearly leaped out of my arms to him, so excited that he was home.

This month is yet again another busy one, I hope to be able to post more pictures and comments soon.