books

there are lots of books in our house:

books in bookshelves, baskets, on bed side tables....

this year, i've put our winter books into a black basket by our fireplace. it is where sophie goes to pick our our nighttime story. some of the books are traditional santa/christmas books, others are about winter.

her latest winter books are some Caldecott medal winners, Owl Moon, White Snow, Bright Snow (1947) and The Snow Day.

stocking hung by the fire...

okay, not quite ready for hanging yet, but here is Fynn's stocking that I stitched up today. i just need to add some white fleece trim along the top and a little hook to hang it up.

i made sophie's a few years back, so now they each have one.

holiday traditions

as a kid, my mom did a great job of ensuring we had enduring traditions (big and small).

some things that are on my tradition list for us to do this year:

- go for a drive and look at the lights followed by a stop at Tim Hortons for coffee/hot chocolate.

- visit Santa at the mall (sophie has already been asking about this)

- listen to Christmas music at home (i need to buy a new CD)

- we visited some friends over the weekend for an early Xmas open house. likely will be doing some more visiting in the coming weeks.

- our annual holiday restaurant dinner with Bryan and Patti.

- sophie unwrapping new flannel pjs on Christmas Eve

- opening an Advent calendar

- going into the office and delivering my handmade cards to my coworkers (just the 3 ladies in my dept).

- working on my Christmas Journal

decluttering

why is decluttering so energizing?

when i decide to do it, i become obsessive about purging. it's not necessarily easy. i can get really sentimental about some stuff (photos, certain pieces of clothing, even old magazines).

over the past few days i have been decluttering one area at a time. first the drawer in the kitchen, then the cupboard under the bathroom sink, then my underwear drawer (i tend to hang on to bras because i'm so small, when i find one that fits, i keep it forever) and finally the drawer in the kitchen that holds the tea towels, placemats, etc. i swear we have had some placemats since the early years of our marriage. gone to the thrift store!

projects

i've signed up for this little project - it starts Dec 1 and I'm excited! i've ordered a 7gypsies little folder book that i'll be using for my Christmas journal.

here is a layout i did last night for fynn's album.

my little man

at 6 weeks, you are:

- waking up once a night (about 4am)
- sleeping in our bed
- nursing several times a day
- almost smiling :)
- starting to get used to your carseat
- filling out your newborn sleepers nicely
- LOVED by us all

10 for Tuesday

-We went to this movie on Sunday. Sophie's first. Not sure why they needed Oprah to lend her voice to the judge?? Didn't really do anything for the part.

- Sophie made it through another skating lesson (and so did I, but this time with my skates on too). My skates from Grade 8 still work/fit.

- Fynn is up to 9lbs.

- Vic competed in a swim meet on Sunday and he did well (can't remember his standing, but it was good).

- eye appointments for Sophie and I today. I swear, my eyes have gotten worse with this last pregnancy. Maybe 40 is catching up with me.

That's it for now....5 more later.

Okay ...back at it...

- Oprah's Favourite Things show was on today. Did not like her "comfy" outfit.. Eew!

- Tim Horton's finally has one of these.

- Sophie and my eyes are fine. My prescription has changed a tad, and it is optional if I want to get new glasses. Sophie's vision is fine, although she has very little pigment in her retina. Not a concerning problem, however it explains why she finds it hard to be without sunglasses when it is bright out (just like her dad).

- library night tonight. i need a new library book bag. Lands End has a durable tote bag (Santa, are you listening?).

- reading this right now (a birthday gift).

that's 10.

what 40 looks like

on the night of my 40th....me and my sweet potatoes, and the friends who helped me celebrate at my surprise birthday dinner.

whew

Catching my breath a little bit.
A busy day again. Went into work for a meeting, followed by another meeting with the woman who is covering my mat leave. Things at the office are fine, but it always takes me longer than I planned whenever I go in. I bring Fynn in with me, and someone always happily volunteers to snuggle with him.

After my morning at work, I picked Sophie up at daycare for her first official playdate at her friend's Abby's house. I was a little nervous about finding the house, since it is out in the country and I'm hopeless with directions but I found it no problem. They played for almosts 2 hours and her mom and I chatted. Nice.

My mistake in the day happened when I dropped into the postoffice to pick up my parcel (a new album for Fynn). Between carrying Fynn who was hungry (and letting me know it) and Sophie who decided this would be the day that she would insist upon not sitting in her carseat (sorry kiddo, it's the law), plus trying to squeeze my body between our car and the nit-wit who parked too close to me, my nerves were just about shot.

We made it home, thankfully. In time for a snack and for Sophie to "dictate" her letter to me to Santa (very cute). Tonight is Vic's night to swim, so I always find it a challenge to juggle Fynn's cluster feeds with Sophie's bedtime routine. Thankfully he is home now, and I have some time to chill.

5 weeks old

my to-do lists

Each day of this week, I've tried to tick something else off of my today list.
Without being at work (since I'm on mat leave), I like setting myself little organizational challenges. So this week, I:

- got Sophie and I into the Health Unit for our flu shots. They were free since we have an infant in the house.

- got Fynn's RESP set up (better start early for his education, right?)

- download photos from my camera and ordered them online through London Drugs

- bought Sophie and I tickets to a Mother / Daughter night at our local drug store (make up, nail demos, etc).

- bought yarn for my kniting project (a scarf for Sophie)

- cleaned out the junk drawer in our kitchen (the drawer everyone has that contains receipts, stamps, address books, etc)

my sanity

Sophie and I have been going to the library every Tuesday night for a couple of years.

Trying to do the same outing with an almost 4 week old baby who goes by the nickname "starvin marvin" leave little to the imagination. The fact that Fynn is a handsome lad who attracts much attention, especially from kindly librarians is a good thing. I can only do so much with 2 hands, so having someone take him while I juggle a book bag stuffed full of sophie's books, coats, purse and library card is appreciated. It still didn't help that he had worked himself into a lather over something ?? and resulted in that new baby cry that is hard to ignore.

sophie also took this trip as her chance to test the boundaries of my tolerance. While I agreed to let her wear her tutu to the library, our deal was that she had to wear her shirt and coat. They both came off in the library - and she didn't want to put them back on when we were leaving. There are some things I don't argue about -- this was one of them. If she is cold, she'll know better for next time.

Two good things from the trip: I received a $28 credit (from the library no less) for a book that they thought I had lost, but turns out they did (and subsequently found it), and this book happened to be in.

home

my online friend Nadine asked to see some more photos of our home.

here they are:

randomness on a sunday night

I think I'm becoming slightly addicted to this site.

Fynn is starting to be nudging towards more "alert" periods which is so nice. We get to see his beautiful eyes.

I have been wearing the same pair of GAP maternity pants for 3 weeks. Can't wait for some of the belly swelling to subside and a few more pounds to drop off.

We walked for 15 minutes today. My first real walk since the c-section. It felt so good.

a princess and a pumpkin

Halloween 2007