A "Nazi" To Our Schedule

Happy Friday everyone! I hope that your week has gone as quickly or slowly as you wished it.

As a lot of my friends and family know, I’m a very punctual person and I like to stick pretty closely to a schedule. My brother joked with me when I was pregnant that my punctual ways were about to be ruined. He said it will be hilarious to see what will happen when the baby turns our lives upside down. I agree, bringing a baby home does change your life tremendously but I would say it made my scheduling ways WORSE!

I am so thankful to live so close to my brother and his family. I get the pleasure of watching my niece and nephews grow up! I get to be apart of their daily lives! Part of this experience is some down time at the pool on hot summer evenings.

The other night both their family and ours were enjoying the pool. It was almost 6:30 and while Jared’s family announced it was time to go home for supper, I announced it was time for Sam to start getting ready for bed. My older nephew was horrified and questioned why I was making Sam go get ready for bed so early! My brother jokingly jumped in and answered “because Ti-ti is a Nazi”.

Now you have to understand my brothers sense of humor to know that he didn’t mean that in a malicious way. And I certainly didn’t take any insult to it because there is actually some truth to it.

Around 9 months of age, I noticed Sam was a much happier baby when we stuck to the same bedtime routine every night at the same time. He would sleep better (longer) and was an overall content boy. We have always stuck to this schedule and it is nice to be able to predict exactly when things are going to happen. Milk, bath, Pjs’, story, song and prayers. 

Ryan and I are not night owls and Sam naturally followed suit going to bed early. The latest he would stay up is 7:30 but most nights after a busy day of playing at Daycare his goes to bed around 6:30-7. Of course I'd love him to stay up longer so I could spend extra time with him but he loves his sleep. 

If for some reason bedtime is not going according to routine, Sam knows that something is off and he isn't a happy kid. If we stick to the early bedtime and schedule, getting Sam to sleep at the end of the day is a breeze. He is happy to go to bed and doesn't even cry when he lay him down. 

I also stick VERY closely to Sam's daycare schedule. Meals and daytime naps are always at the same time! This way there isn't any "getting back" on schedule period come Monday morning. 

Being super strict with a schedule is not everyone's cup of tea but it is what works for our family right now. We will change as our boy changes but for the most part we like to live our lives in a predictable scheduled way. I don't like to "throw caution to the wind" or "go with the flow", that's not the type of personality I have, in fact the thought of no schedule would make me anxious. 

What type of personality are you? Go with the flow or stick to a schedule? 

xo  

The Post Breastfeeding Body

Happy Wednesday everyone! I feel like I am kind of in a bit of a funk this week. I feel like I want to go into hibernation this week! Here’s hoping that the week goes by a little fast!

As you read on Monday, we had an awesome Sunday School Picnic at our place which include some swimming! I love hanging out in the pool and Ryan and I are really trying to get Sam in the pool as much as possible so that he likes it.

On Sunday I wore a newer (got it this Spring) tankini top with black bottoms (Old navy, my favourites!) and got a comment about officially wearing a “mom” bathing suit. I could only laugh at how true that statement was!


While most Moms consider their stretch-marked stomach to be the issue and reason to cover up with a more modest swim suit, that isn’t my reason. My stomach is full of semi-faded stretch marks but it actually doesn’t bother me. But I can say that my bikini wearing days are LONG over!

2008 - Jamaica (TAKE ME BACK TO THE BEACH)

Now - 

 For one, I am a lot more modest than I use to be. You rarely catch me without a tank top under my shirt in case when I bend down, my cleavage is visible. Another thing that greatly altered my wardrobe is breastfeeding my baby for a year.

Breastfeeding for a year was hugely rewarding to me but it did a number on my body! So often you read articles talking about the post-partum bodies but not very often you read one about what happens once you are done nursing.

While you are nursing you have larger than normal and perky bust. Your clothing has to be adjusted accordingly. Nursing tops and bras. You expect to be able to fit into your normal pre-pregnancy clothing afterwards but once you are done weaning you get a huge surprise….nothing fits right.

No matter if you lost all your baby weight or not, your bust line is affected negatively by gravity after a year of nursing. EVERY thing fits weird. Dresses needed extra support, not 1 bra I owned fit, bath suits (tops) didn’t fit, and any shirt that was in my closet hung funny now that my bust line has changed. I was SO looking forward to this summer so that I could wear clothes that were in my closet, that I didn’t want to wear last year because it wasn’t easy access for breastfeeding. But now, I feel like my closet is more limited than ever!

Financially, it doesn’t make sense to purchase a whole new wardrobe this summer. So I stuck to the basics…1 new bathing suit top with EXTRA support, a few new bras which are a new size and type, and a few new shirts that are in constant rotation. Most of the time if I do wear one of my pre-pregnancy shirts, I wear a jean jacket or cardigan to help disguise what I consider my problem area.

If I had known that this would have been an issue, would I have chosen to breastfeed my baby for a full year? Probably. However, I might have been more mentally prepared to face these body issues and wardrobe problems (I know, First World problems). I can never go back even if I wanted to so I might as well embrace my new mommy style and change things in my closet accordingly. Good excuse to go shopping at least!  :)

Mom’s out there, how has your style changed since you had a baby?

xo

A Weekend With TWO Picnic's!

Happy Monday everyone! I hope that you got out to get out and enjoy the beautiful weekend! I can say that we had an amazing weekend where neither of us had to work and got to spend the whole time together as a family! We spent SOOO much time outside enjoying the beautiful weekend! It was awesome! 

The weekend started out by a quiet Friday Pizza night and then movie night in Beechgrove! We use to watch Netflix through our Wii but we were having an awful time with it freezing! We spent the $40 on a HDMI cable on a whim one day and it is the best money we have spent! We now use our Netflix so much more because it never freezes! We watched Django on Friday and it was pretty good but it's a LONG movie! 

Saturday morning we were up, fed and ready to hit the road right before Sam's morning nap. We headed to the city for glasses and haircuts! Sam HATED getting his haircut this time around! Ryan and I literally had to hold him down. We decided instead of eating out for lunch, we would have a picnic! I packed some watermelon, sandwiches, homemade rice crispies and veggies with dip! We drove a little piece to a city park and enjoyed our meal! After our lunch we headed into the park and let Sam loose! He's a little young for some of the play structures but he LOVES the slide. 

We got home in time for Sam's afternoon nap which gave Ryan and I some time outside to prepare for the Sunday School Picnic. We actually got everything done off our checklist and spent a little time rocking on the porch. Sam woke up and we went for a swim and then headed in for bed. While Sam was in bed we had another movie night! This time watching Snitch! We really liked it! 

Sunday morning it was up and at it! It was time for the Sunday School Picnic. The hard thing about having a party outside is that most of the prep has to be last minute. Our dirt roads make everything so dusty and everything has to be wiped down that morning. The Ergo was the PERFECT thing to help me multitask! Look after a pre-nap toddler and get things ready! 

Sam went down for a morning nap while we finished the last of the to-do list and then sat back to relax before the picnic! It's ALWAYS my goal to be done 1 hour before the start time because I love those last few minutes to relax. I hate the feeling of scrambling around. 

It was Sunday School Picnic time so we all gathered for a church service in our garage and then had a BBQ and potluck lunch! There was SO much yummy food! The pool was open and was well used! There were 29 children this year at the picnic! Love that our church is thriving with people of all ages and love that Sam will grow up around a wonderful church family. 

Sam even got in for a "swim" before nap time (best way to clean off sticky hands and faces!). Thanks Kerry for the picture! 

It's great having the picnic at our place because while Sam was napping we got to watch the monitor outside and continue the visit! As you already know we stick really firm to Sams schedule and so it was nice to be able to still enjoy the rest of the picnic even though he had to go down to sleep. 

After everyone was gone we spent a few minutes cleaning up and putting stuff away but there wasn't a lot to do. So we enjoyed a cold drink by the pool with my parents until Sam woke up. Once he was awake we headed back outside for more play time! He was in a very silly mood! He got this little four-wheeler from a close friend and neighbor and he LOVES it! 

I was not in the mood for cooking so we brought out some leftovers to re-heat and a buffet style supper of random food. Sam actually loved it and devoured his meal and half of mine! 

After supper we went for a drive around the farm and had more time playing inside with Silly Sam! He was really being a Ham and loved showing off for us! ha ha! 

We spent so much time together this weekend and spent so much of that time outside enjoying the beautiful weather. I even mentioned at one point how sad I'll be this winter to not be able to spend as much time outside (I know, it's not even July yet! ha ha!). I can't wait to soak up more fun weekends with my boys! 

How was your weekend? 

xo 

Year of Dates 2015 - May

Happy Friday everyone! Thank goodness the weekend is almost here! I think we will actually get to have a weekend off together as a family! It's going to be a treat to spend this extra time together! 

I almost forgot about our date in May. We did it so early in the month that it feels SO long ago! But it was our first full date that didn't involve Sam! It was weird at first not having with him with us but it's amazing all that you can do when you don't have to worry about a baby and his schedule. Again, we are SO thankful for amazing grandparents that offer to keep him, no questions asked! They are excited to keep him and we know he will be taken care of! 

We started our day pretty early by dropping Sam off and then heading to Le Nordik Spa! This place is like heaven on earth! It is so beautiful and relaxing. With a pass for the baths, we got to enjoy any of their pools and saunas! We were there right when it opened and the place was still quiet. So we got to go to whatever we wanted without worrying about crowds. This was Ryan's first time and I think he really enjoyed it! 

We got to use the facilities showers to get ready for the next portion of our date. We hit the road after lunch (by the way, the restaurant there is SOOO good!) and actually hit up a kids sale. The place was DEAD and we got to shift through it. Sam was in desperate need of daycare summer clothes, mostly t-shirts! We picked up the essentials! It was great going when there was no one else there. 

We had some time to kill before supper and although this wasn't originally part of the date, we went to the nearby mini-putt and played a couple of rounds! It ended up being SO fun and a highlight of the day! Sometimes it's those unexpected plans that end up being the most fun. 

We certainly worked up an appetite and headed over to our favorite restaurant, THE KEG! YUM! We love to go, sip on a drink and spend the time chatting and eating some yummy steak! We even went to the location that was the same one we went to almost 3 years ago on our honeymoon! 

We were STUFFED and a little tired from our other activities but the night wasn't over! We are young and we didn't have a baby to go home to so we decided to also go to a movie! Ryan has been DYING to see Fast 5 and thankfully it was still playing in theaters. The movie was pretty good but my favorite part was the tribute to Paul Walker at the end! 

We were SO TIRED by the end of our big day but it was so great to have a FULL date with just Ryan. We really appreciated the time together. And the next morning sleeping in a little and not having to worry about a toddler was a huge treat! 

May 2015 will was a memorable one! 

Hope you have a great weekend! 

xo 

Work and Baseball

Happy Monday everyone! I hope that you all got to enjoy a fun weekend! The end of our week was a little rough. On Wednesday night Sam went to bed with a fever and I just had a feeling we were facing some more sickness. 

Oh boy, daycare germs sure do make busy summer work difficult. Because of a high fever on Thursday and Friday, Sam had to stay home and I had to stay with him. Ryan and I both had very busy work days on the road for Thursday but Ryan couldn't switch so he had to work. The only good thing was that I got A LOT of snuggles! We basically just sat and watched cartoons. Sam wasn't even interested in playing! 

 Thankfully, late Friday morning Sams fever broke and he was back to normal. It was like having a long weekend. I even got a snack of take out that the girls were ordered at the office for lunch! 

We spent a lot of Friday afternoon playing outside so that it could wear off some energy! Friday night Ryan was playing in a baseball tournament so I had to stay home. It was unfortunate because I was suppose to have a book club meeting. 

Saturday morning I was up early and got ready for work. Ryan and I both had to work in the morning so we decided it would be best to try our hands at a non-family member babysitter. It was the ideal situation since she was local and we were just right across the road if she needed help. I think Sam had a great time playing with the babysitter and everything worked out well. Ryan and I only had to work till lunch time which was even better. 

Sams nap schedule was a little off on Saturday so we decided to take a drive to the city. Ryan is in the market for a new bike so we drove to a couple places to check them out. All the while Sam never slept a wink ALL afternoon but was in such a good mood. We stopped for supper at East Side Mario's and it was one of the most fun meals out we have had in a LONG time. Sam was so happy to sit and dance to the music, "talk" with us and eat. 

That night Ryan had ball again which meant I was at home. But I put a Netflix movie on and made the best of my night alone! 

Sunday morning Sam and I were going to head to church but then Ryan mentioned that he had a semi-finals game. We never go to watch Ryan's games anymore because they usually interfere with Sams sleep schedule. But this one was at 10:30 which meant that we could go! Last minute we decided to opt out of church and head to the ball field as a family. 

I was a little nervous at first about keeping Sam happy throughout the whole game but a few snacks and it was great. He loved yelling, "dada" when he saw Ryan out in the field. 

We grabbed a quick chip-stand lunch and headed home just in time to put Sam down for his afternoon nap. While he slept Ryan and I worked away at "Spring" cleaning the garage to get it ready for hosting the Sunday School Picnic next week. It actually didn't take as long as we expected. Sam was still sleeping so we actually grabbed our golf clubs and spent an hour practicing our swings. We also enjoyed some quiet time at the pool with a drink. 

Sam had an AMAZING nap on Sunday and eventually I had to wake him up! We had some BBQ for supper and then loaded on the side-by-side for a drive to check out around the farm. 

The weekend FLEW by and after being at home with Sam since Thursday, I am actually kind of ready to get back to our routine of work. Between work and Ryan's sports, I feel as though I have been getting a little bit of cabin fever. Ryan and I don't like the idea of getting a baby sitter too often. We prefer to try to work out our schedules so that one of us can be with Sam. Lately though, it's always been me. I have some things planned this week and I can't wait to get out for a bit! 

How was your weekend? 

xo 

Why I'm Not Making A Summer Bucket List

Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope that you are getting to enjoy some of this beautiful week! It’s my kind of weather! It’s a little bit cooler at night which means the bugs are away! It’s so nice to be outside once Sam goes to bed and not have to be swatting at annoying mosquitos.

I don’t think that I have ever met someone who does not like summer. It seems that the season is full of fun things to do! BBQ’s, swimming, camping, wedding season and the list can go on and on!

Summer is also a very busy time for those who are in the farming industry. We have a constant struggle with wanting to do all the fun activities and yet still get our work that has to be done when the weather is as beautiful as it is. We have early mornings and long days, just so that we can get everything done in the short season. "Make hay when the sun shines"

I have seen on many blogs and Pinterest boards, Summer Bucket lists. I think it’s a great idea to list all the fun things that a family wants to do in a summer but for my family, it’s not realistic.

I don’t want to list things that we hope to do that summer and then end up disappointed when something fun does not get crossed off the list. I live my life around lists for work and for life. Work to-do's, house list, grocery list, there are just so many lists already! I don’t want another list looming over my head, with items that need to get crossed off.

To me, Summer is about being laid back and enjoying the weather. It’s about random trips for ice cream, dips in the pool on a hot day and marshmallows over the fire for dessert one night. Are there things and activates that I hope to do this summer? YES! But I also don’t want to beat myself up (or be reminded) of all the things that we couldn’t do.


So here's to enjoying the season as it comes day by day!

xo

Highlights From The Weekend

Happy Monday everyone! It was a rainy weekend around here but we enjoyed it despite the nasty weather. This weather is not just good for ducks, it’s also good for these little seedlings that we are hoping will sprout soon for a new bent grass field!

After a long week on Friday, I was hoping to get Sam home and spend some time with him before bed. We enjoyed pizza for supper and Ryan got to have a quick bite to eat too before heading back to work. Once Sam was in bed, I put on a Netflix documentary (my favourite) snacked on a few chips and a Crystal Light. It was a quiet night but I knew I had to get up the next morning for work.

Saturday morning I got up and got ready for work while my boys slept in. It was a busy Saturday, everyone coming before any rain that I actually ran out of sod. There was no one else around so Ryan had to go cut sod while Sam stayed with me and served customers. To say it was chaos would be an understatement. He wants to run around but it’s not safe because of the stairs but hates the being held for long. I was the only one in the office so it was interesting answering phones and helping customers all with an almost 14 month old in my arms.

Thankfully, Ryan was super quick at cutting sod and came back to get Sam. The morning continued to be crazy as I loaded sod roll after roll. By the end I was filthy and ready for a quick dip in the pool to clean off before lunch.

When I got home, Ryan took off to the Bristolview Fair truck pull. Sam went down for a nap and the storms started! So much rain! I puttered away inside the house at laundry, dinners, breakfast sandwiches, and even managed a little nap! Sam slept till 4 (!!!) and was in a fun mood when he got up!

Ryan got home in time for supper and then after we went for a drive around the farm to look at all the fields. This is one of Sam’s newest favourite things, he loves to “drive”.

Sunday morning we were up again and off to work but the good news was that Sam got to come with us! We worked all morning and got home just in time for lunch and to put Sam down for his afternoon nap.

While Sam slept Ryan and I worked outside on our own property. Laying sod (finally) around my garden, whipper snipping and picking weeds! It’s nice to be able to get things done on our own property.

When Sam was awake, we all got in our swim suits and Sam went for his first swim of 2015! He LOVED it and was giggling away at splashing the water. It was a little chilly so we didn’t stay out long. Ryan continued working outside while I made supper. Sam wanted to go outside with his Daddy and I turn around to find him like this!! When did my baby get so tall?! He was even able to wiggle the door nob. Yikes!

It was a busy weekend with lots of work but that’s what life is like this time of year. At least we still get to spend most of it with our boy!

How was your weekend?


xo