Creating a Person

I am a worrier. If I'm not completely rested, relaxed, fed, and hydrated, I turn into a stressball when things get a little intense. This is my normal, so you can imagine how that amped up after I found out I was pregnant with the little Blastocyst that was Noah. (No Lindsay, I am not pregnant again) I have not been worry-free since.

The concerns constantly change and evolve, at first you worry about things like taking the right prenatal vitamins for your unborn child. Later you worry if they're getting enough to eat each time you nurse. Then you worry about your baby hitting all the milestones, if they're rolling over when they should be, sitting up when they should be, and talking when they should be.

Once you've successfully passed each stage they always seem easy and simple in hindsight, and the next set of hurdles look even bigger and more challenging. Right now we're in the "OMG if we don't get this right he could turn into a bad person" stage. I am almost certainly overreacting, but it's pretty evident that we're at a point where our actions definitely have a consequence on his behaviour. The way we react and what we react to are shaping him, and the things he sees us do daily are influencing him.

It's both scary and incredible. Our Small Human copies everything we do and he's a little 17 month old! I am constantly underestimating him and what he can understand because his brain is growing faster than I can comprehend, apparently.

So far he is shaping up to be a great housekeeper. He knows how to put his toys away, he throws things in the garbage (like my stray hair), he mops up spills with a paper towel, loves to vacuum, and wants to "cook" so badly! Of course he has also learned to wag his finger at me and give me a stern look while shaking his head. What do you expect, when you live with a mimic?

The lesson I have learned is that worrying is exhausting, and I have lots of things in a day to exhaust me already, might as well cut the worry out. Now excuse me while I do one million things now that Noah's asleep. Enjoy your Thursday.

Showing me how to file nails

Oot and OOTD

A really interesting thing about Small Human's upbringing is that he is being raised in America by two Canadians. I don't see this turning him into something drastically different from his friends, but it is sure to add a different flavour.

Noah's latest words are "milk" and "out". He pronounces it "mak" and "owt" or "ott". The word "out" is particularly hilarious for us because it's one of our stereotypical Canadian identifier words. Allegedly we sound like we are saying "oot", but really we're just saying it the right way. ;)

I am curious to see how Noah's accent turns out if we stay in Seattle. Part of me hopes he sounds Canadian forever but I know that will disappear once he goes to school. Still, I was raised by Filipino parents and there are a handful of words that I pronounce like them.

Different cultures and influences are so beautiful and awesome, and one more step towards bringing down unnecessary boundaries and prejudices. Stay cool and happy, folks. I predict it will get to 90 degrees (32 Celsius) in our apartment today, yikes!

Noah's Outfit of the Day: Paddington Bear and the Toronto Blue Jays!

Momie Weekend

The last weekend of June was Brendan's weekend, and so this past weekend was mine. What this means is we each get baby-free time. I have been feeling really burned out the last two weeks, I was tired of my beautiful son. It doesn't matter how much you love your children, you need to get away from them and have time for yourself. This weekend hasn't been 100% baby-free, but it was a solid 65%.

As long as I'm not reading Dr. Seuss aloud on loop, salvaging a lip balm that Noah mashed into the dining table, or dealing with a day of non stop whining, I'm good. I love helping Small Human learn all about life but I'm not a mommy machine, and I am physically incapable of keeping it up 24/7.

So what did I get up to? I baked cupcakes for a 4th of July party on Friday; went for a massage on Saturday and went on a nice, quiet coffee date with myself; relaxed at home then went for a seriously lovely dinner date with a mommy friend; On Sunday I went to the hair salon for some balayage, girl chat and tea detox; then painted my toes in the afternoon on the balcony while Noah napped.

It's a bit less fun having to clean up after taking some time off for a few Mommy Days, (I found a scary old cheese string stuck in between the couch cushions) but it's better than the alternative! All in all, it was a great weekend with mostly good weather, and I feel more equipped to take on the new week. We're kicking it off with some playground and wading pool fun first thing in the AM. Happy Monday, stay safe in that summer sun!

My rambunctious Sunday lunch date

Repetition

My threshold for reading the same book over and over again for an hour is very, very low. I never thought I would feel like killing myself over reading Dr. Seuss too many times in one day. The same Dr. Seuss book, that is, on never ending loop. It's so bad that I dreamed in rhyme last night.

I have a bad case of the repetitions. It was a relief to find out on Wednesday though, that I'm not the only one. The other mamas in my mommy & baby group who have known each other since our toddlers were little beans, all had the same gripe. There's just something comforting about knowing that there are a bunch of other people in the exact same boat as you, and that you're not actually insane.

Toddlers brains are hardwired for taking in a lot of information, and part of the way they can do this is learning through repetition. This is all fine and dandy, but what about the sanity of the person who gets saddled with this job? I felt really guilty because I actually hid "There's A Wocket In My Pocket" today. I hid it under one of the couch cushions because I was going to cry if my beautiful soul of a boy asked me to read it to him 40 more times today like we did yesterday.

It's silly and truthfully, very embarrassing that a book can give me such weird anxiety. I think that Wocket is going to have to go to that special pocket were no Wocket ever comes back from, but we'll see.

Happy 4th and happy weekend everybody!

On The Ball

It doesn't really happen very often anymore, but I just love those days when I'm on the ball. I feel powerful and awesome, and like I can do anything because I'm good at everything. You know the days that I'm talking about, when you get most things done despite a screaming, whining little person following you around. When you manage to do all your chores, the house is clean, the sheets and towels are all fresh, there's food in the fridge and pantry, plenty of clean clothes and baby supplies well stocked. You've fed yourself, you've fed your child, naps go as planned, play dates and classes go off without a hitch (or many hitches), you look good and are clean and well rested, and you've got a tired, happy Little who's successfully explored their world.

Like I said, it's so rare, but you just wanna congratulate yourself and high five somebody for being so freaking amazing at life. If you're still keeping up with your accomplishments list and you feel like you've accomplished way more than 5 things in your day, then by all means step it up and list all of your achievements. You have earned it and more than deserve it, so congratulations, revel in it, and go You!

Here's to being a great parent and knowing it! Happy Thursday. :)

Baby Labour

Yesterday evening I was trying to get the last of Noah's energy out of his system so that I could start to wind him down for bath time, story time, and bedtime. I thought I would try to achieve this by enticing him to go outside and check the mail with me. He loves checking the mail because I always give him the junk mail envelopes and tell him that they are "his". Also, to get to our mail room you have to go down the hall, down the stairs, down a hill and around through the big driveway past our car, and then presumably back again. That is a long way for a toddler! I know because it was a long way for very pregnant Lilibeth too.

That night though, I also had a bag of recycling to take down but Noah was very interested in it and decided to take over for me. He wouldn't let me help him or even touch the bag, he wanted to do it all by himself. Since it wasn't too heavy or filled with anything sharp or pokey, I just let him. It was oddly very liberating, and I can't wait until he's old enough to do chores! I can't believe this is the same kid who was just barely sitting up by himself a year ago.

Naturally, since it was the most adorable thing I had ever seen, I took pictures. He gets extra points for doing it with no pants too.

At the top of the hill

At the bottom of the hill

Dear Canada

My dearest Canada,

Happy Canada Day! Today, we celebrate you and the culture and people that I hold close to my heart. You are never far from my thoughts, thinking of you always makes me feel proud to be a Canadian. Even though I have lived in the US for nearly four years now, I still honour this day and my continuing usage of the letter "u" where it should be.

Happy 147 years old! We know that you are much older and that this is just your official birthday as a country and not separate British colonies, but we won't tell the rest of the world. ;)

We miss you so much that we made you another Canadian. (He's also American, I hope that's ok)

Love, Lilibeth