Hello, where have you been?

The last few weeks I’ve let my blog writing slip. There’s no excuse but there you have it.


I’ve been back to work now for a little over a month and it’s been good. I’ve expressed my concerns about my job description vs. my actual duties with my very understanding boss. There will be some changes in our department in the next few months so nothing drastic has changed. At least we’ve had a conversation about it and she’s aware of the unbalanced load between me and my colleague and has made an effort to balance it out.

Shihan Bill has finally convinced me to take up Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, or BJJ as it is referred to in the dojo. It’s pretty similar to the traditional Japanese style our dojo is famous for, but there seems to be a LOT more focus on grappling. The bonus is my Tuesday and Thursday night training has now been extended by 45 minutes and I love the “me time” I have to get in shape, to do something I really enjoy and seem to be pretty good at. At least Shihan sees potential in me and that’s quite reassuring.

This past weekend was my 31st birthday. The family all chipped in together to get me my long awaited ukulele! That was a really great surprise. Dad took me to the Ottawa Folklore Centre to pick one out the eve of my birthday and I got to bring it home with me cause he was doing other errands on the bus – safety first I always say (for the uke!). I promised to learn a song for my birthday brunch Sunday and chose “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah (here I am at Camp Granada)”, a song I used to sing with my muddah and faddah when I was young. It was a hit!

For my birthday dinner, Morgan took me out for a really nice meal at a bistro called Petit Bills, on Wellington Street. The meal we had was quite nice but had I known the menu consisted of mainly seafood I would have chosen someplace different. Thanks Smac for babysitting! I can’t wait to use my gift certificate to Hummingbird Medi Spa for a relaxing massage and manicure!

Robyn is a walking and running machine! She has two new teeth up top, totalling four all together. Her vocabulary is developing quite well, although she doesn’t say much more than “mama”, “dada”, “Oh, oh!”, “bay-yer” (which I think is bear), “day-ya” (which I think is Dave) and “CAT!” (which she can only scream), she understands what we’re saying to her pretty well. She loves music and to dance and clap her hands – it’s really fun to watch her bounce up and down to the beat. She has pretty good rhythm too. It’s time to invest in some new clothes for this little one as she’s starting to be too big for most of her clothes – hooray, Boomerang and Value Village here I come!!

A short reflection

On January 16th I was reflecting:

I'm going back to work on Monday and I'm actually looking forward to it. Easing Robyn into daycare over the last few weeks has been a smart choice, making the transition less of a shock to the both of us.

This time last year I was rearranging furniture in the nursery, folding ridiculously small and adorable baby clothes into neat piles, rolling receiving blankets so not only do they look good they fit well in baskets, daydreaming of how wonderful it will be to have a baby, planning all sorts of "mommy and me" activities... Oh, how sweet and innocent I was. It's not like I didn't have friends telling me "don't be so naive - you won't have time to do anything, let alone sleep, eat, shower, do laundry..." - I did, they did, I didn't... at least for the first few months, before I got things under relative control and started venturing out in the world with my little bundle of joy.

All in all, the last year was a wonderful experience and I'm proud of our choices we made raising Robyn, even if we didn't get as much sleep as we may have with a little more discipline putting her down and letting her cry it out. I'm especially glad I chose to breastfeed for as long as I could - sending Robyn to daycare was the only reason I would have ever considered giving her formula.

Thinking back on so many wonderful memories is a bit overwhelming... tears of joy fill my eyes.

To be continued...

Two days old.

11 months old

Adventures with Bynny Volume 3

REPOST - This version actually has sound. Had to remove soundtrack due to copy write infringement.

Christmas Eve 2010

It's Christmas Eve and it's going to be Robyn's first Christmas tomorrow. We didn't decorate this year, but luckily Tara, mom and dad, Curtis and Joanne... and just about everyone else in the world did, so I don't feel so bad. At least Robyn won't remember how lazy we were this year... unless she reads this post when she's older.

Chris moved to Barrie a few months ago so he's missed spending as much time as he'd like with us. We are lucky that his new truck driving job allowed him to have this week off and he's in town visiting over Christmas. He sweetly asked to have a special play day with Robyn and suggested we go to Cosmic Adventure. We went this morning and it was so much fun. Robyn was a bit shy at first and not too sure where we brought her but she soon settled in by watching the other kids. She loved the ball pit and crawling all around the toddler jungle gym.

Well, I'm home waiting for Morgan, Jes and our secret guest to arrive for our own special second annual Auntie-Christmas night. We have wine, snacks and exchange small gifts. Robyn had to go to bed... if they don't get here soon, so will I.

At least It's a Wonderful Life is on. ("hey you look good, that's some dress you got on there") "Oh, this old thing? I only wear it when I don't care what I look like!" - great line.

Merry Christmas to all, and all a good night.

Rub a dub dub, baby in the... sink?

Morgan, with no guilt trip from me at all, decided to give Robyn her bath this evening. He's too big to get in the tub with her and our tub's too tall to lean over for an extended period of time, so I suggested he use the kitchen sink.

It was really sweet to watch, Morgan was singing washing-up songs and playing little games, Robyn was giggling and actually cooperating quite well.

Not as witty as the one I lost but oh well...

A cup of coffee placed on a knee high book shelf...

A distracted mother turns her back for a moment to check Facebook...

A curious baby finds the coffee mug...

A frantic mother zooms to the other room to get a towel...

A free-range baby finds a basket full of diapers...

A kicking-herself mother reminds herself "not to cry over spilt (coffee) (diapers) (milk)"

Adventures with Bynny Volume 2

Over the past couple months Bynny has taken great "strides" towards walking all on her own. From pulling herself up on the coffee table, where we had some control over what she could get her hands on, to keeping a constant eye on her to ensure she's not getting into too much trouble. This video is a compilation of snippets from our days playing together at our condo and a little nostalgic music for me and those of you who grew up listening to Raffi.