Does This Baby

Hubby and I decided a while back, that 2012 was the year we were going to concentrate on adding to our family. My birthday was in January and I didn't want to limit my wine intake, so we decided to start in February. We got pregnant in February. It's a shock, and such a blessing that it happened for us right away. We wanted to wait to tell everyone until the 3 month mark, but by 6 weeks I was already showing. Remember my 30 for 30 challenge that I quit? I was getting so big I couldn't do up my pants or skirts. So I'm having baby due November 4th. The pregnancy has been hard, colds, flu, nausea, a bladder infection and just plain tiredness. My second pregnancy is way harder then my first. Of course, recently I realized that the first time I didn't have a 3 year old to chase after. Now I'm finally starting to feel good. My only problem now is how can anybody be cuter than this?

Not really. I just want to see how many people google that. If you got here because you searched that, please remind yourself that children keep a family together, especially when one can't find a babysitter. I remember the days when I could hang out in my closet for hours trying on different outfits. I remember making last minute plans to see a pal at a new restaurant, coffee shop. I remember walking aimlessly in boutiques, staring for hours at all the pretty new clothes. I remember when I could pee without someone barging in the room asking what I was doing. Those days are long gone. They've been replaced with a little girl that wants to try on my dresses, even though they're huge on her. Last minute plans have been replaced by strategic (at least we try), play dates at kid friendly cafes. I rarely get the chance to walk aimlessly in a pretty boutique. I now follow Elle around aimlessly in Build a Bear. It's a new life, and it's pretty sweet.

By posting about it on this blog, I hereby commit to a 2012 Shopping Diet. Here's the deal. I have a shit load of clothes. So many that I always feel the need to purge items. However, every time I purge, I rationalize that I can buy something new, since there is now more room in my closet, or dresser. So it's a stupid cycle of clearing my clutter, adding more shit, clearing more, adding more. I'm stopping that right now. Why? Why not? I've been playing with the idea doing a wardrobe challenge for a few weeks now. Maybe something like a Capsule Challenge, like my friend Shelia did. She only had 5 pieces of clothing to wear for 7 days. Then I thought, go big, or go home. "Aim for the moon, even if you miss you end up in the stars". I've been really digging that quote lately. So that's what I'm going to do. Realistically if I can make it until Summer 2012 I'll feel really good. My goal is to actually get more creative with my current closet. ...

On our way home from Grandma's birthday dinner, me, hubby, grandma, and Elle were in the car, I drove. While at an intersection I started to take my foot off the brake as I saw the light turn green. Of course the car in front of me hadn't started moving yet so hubby yells at me to stop the car. Elle, from the backseat yells, "Mom keep your eyes on the road!" She turns 3 in about a month. Precious, isn't she?

My friend Beth FINALLY got pictures from our weekend getaway off her camera. This was the first time since Elle was born that I did a night away from her. I've gone out, and come home late, but I've never actually left her for more than 12 hours. I left her with hubby for 2 whole days. It was a big deal. We all survived. Of course I spent most of the time wondering what they were doing, and if they missed me as much as I missed them. Pathetic I know! None the less, I will definitely go away again with the girls. It was a simple trip, bed and breakfast, beach combing, pub food, wine, and hot tub. I think we painted our nails and fell asleep by 10pm. Here are a few pictures of goofy fun at the beach.

 On October 10th hubby, and I will celebrate 10 years of being together. Throughout our relationship he's always said that he wants us to be a camping family. I said yeah OK, but never thought we'd actually do it.  However, in the last year we have gone camping 3 times. I've gone to bed in the same underwear as the day before,  I've gone 3 days without a shower, I've slept in a tent, I've gotten up to pee at midnight behind my tent, I've cooked over an open fire, I've pooped in an out house, I've stumbled drunk into my tent, and I've liked it.  On our last trip Elle unzips the tent door, looks around the forest, and exclaims, "Mom, it's so beautiful here." I'm totally convinced we can be a camping family.

Three weeks ago I put Elle to bed. When she reached for my nipple I whispered to her, "Sorry babe, no more mommy milk. You drank it all." She signed, "Oh no" closed her eyes, and went to to sleep. FREEDOM!!! It worked. At two and a half years old, I finally got her off my boob. I thought about weaning her at a year, when I went back to work, but I liked the closeness of breastfeeding at the end of a long day apart. It's always been manageable for the most part, so it didn't bother me too much that she was still on the boob at two years old. Even though other moms, my own mother, and women without kids were telling me that I needed to get her off. The worse part about breastfeeding was everyone else's opinion about how long I should breastfeed for. You'd think they'd be in awe of my steady milk production. Sometimes I'd want to snide back, "I can't help that I have such a young, and fertile body". I'll never, ever, ev...

I started writing this blog on a regular basis during my mat leave, two and a half years ago... whoa! The purpose was to share my learning's about motherhood , and document some of Eloise's milestones. Of course I dreamed my blog would take off, like so many mommy bloggers before me, and I'd make thousands of dollars writing articles for parenting magazines, and websites, but no such luck. It turns out I don't really care about parenting trends, educational trends, or coupons, or saving money (though I should, I REALLY should). I just want to talk about me and my daughter. So here are some pictures of Elle. I'm a little disappointed in myself for taking so long to get them up. First Hair Cut Whistler BC Being Beautiful Playing with the neighbors ferret Being a cheese ball

My 30th birthday came, and went like a fart in the wind, as my friend Sabrina would say. It was a little bit of a joke, but I wanted to have dinner at the Sandbar, notorious cougar joint , also one of the best places for Seafood in Vancouver. What a perfect place to launch my new era. Dinner was fab, drinks were good, DJ was cool, and the people watching, amazing. Everyone went home drunk and sound. I woke up with a cold, but I wouldn't have changed a thing.

I found the poem I wrote when I turned 26. Saturday is my 30th birthday.  26 years of laughter Art and design Aiming to please Trying to impress Breaking hearts Putting my foot in my mouth Loving and cuddling Building and learning Stopping to take note Dancing with friends Dancing alone Puking too much fun

We were driving around today, me, hubby and Elle, looking for something to eat. Hubby said to Elle that he needed some "daddy snacks". She shouted back with enthusiasm, "Daddy snacks!". Only it didn't sound like "snacks", it sounded more like "sucks". Imagine how many times I got her to say, "Daddy sucks".

I've spoken about this before. There are many things I vowed I wouldn't do as a mom, but now find myself eating those words. I promised myself I'd never, ever, ever brag about my daughter. How lame is it when you're at a dinner party and some asshole corners you, and starts talking about their kid. Who the f*ck cares. Ya, kids are cute. I'm sure yours is great, but seriously shut up and pass me a sausage roll. Well, let me tell you what Elle did the other day. Remember she turns two in December. She's not even two years old yet! Amongst me, hubby, three aunts and an uncle she started counting the polka dots on a new step stool, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!" Ten! My baby counted to ten. How cool is that? Isn't she awesome? I see a mathlete in my future.

People tell me all the time, "They grow up so fast." Yeah, yeah, I know. But every once in a while I look at my baby, and she's matured, 1000% times more since the day before. With her new maturity, comes an interesting new rationale. She refused lunch from her Auntie yesterday. Simply pushed the food aside, and sweetly smiled, "No. Ice-cream?"

I joked that if I had a daughter, I would call her Lil' Kim (my name is Kim btw, I don't know if I've mentioned that). Well, my dream came true, and I have created a little diva in my own image. Her name is Eloise. She likes everything her way, she insists on doing it herself (whatever it is, she can do it, thank you very much!), she loves hugs, her daddy, and wearing high heeled shoes.

Eloise has had a steadily growing vocabulary for the last month. I am so proud. She's really good with "B" words, ball, bee, baby, bye-bye, and my favorite, boobies. I know, I know, teaching my child such a silly word, what kind of mother am I? Easily amused, that's what.

All of sudden, Eloise's language skills have just taken off. At 18 months she can sign cracker, milk, bird, more, thank you, please, and of course, hat. She can say daddy, kitty, bubbles, bye, ball, Buddha, bath, roar, and my favorite, mum. It is so sweet to hear her say mum. Her mouth curls at the sides trying to hide her smile. There's a twinkle in her eye, like she knows it makes me so happy.

In less than a month, we will be moving to the suburbs. The house is about 30 years old, but the people that own it, took great care of it, so it's move in ready. We don't even need to repaint the walls. There's a huge backyard for Eloise to run around in. She pretty much picked the house. The first time we entered it, she just started walking around the place, like it was her own. She usually needs half an hour, to get comfortable in a new setting. When we took her into the backyard, we were ready to make an offer. Eloise ran up and down the lawn, pointing out flowers, and rocks, and giggling. I'm super psyched about it and can't wait to blog about Eloise's adventures there.

Other than reading my own witty banter, I thought a blog would be great to record some of Eloise's milestones. So here's a list of her favorite things in her life so far. Dogs - She loves dogs. Watching them run, barking at them, and petting them. It's cutest thing to watch her smile as soon as she spots one. Finger Food - She loves feeding herself. If she can hold it, there's a likelihood she'll eat more of it. Sausages, perogies, crackers, cookies (don't tell dad), chicken nuggets, an apple core (I leave tons of apple attached, it's easier for her to handle an apple if I shave it down a bit), and berries. She's a berry monster, but out of all the things a kid could love eating, I pretty psyched that her vice is berries. Pointing out my nose - Every morning for the last week I've woken up to her poking me in the nose smiling and asking, "Wuztha?". Saying Daddy - I would normally have a jealous outraged comment for this, but today when...

Over a year ago, I was an urban mom, pushing my urban baby, in my urban stroller, through hip and trendy Vancouver. I was so, Sex and The City Mom. This weekend I'm looking forward to house hunting in the suburbs. OMG, yeah tell me about it. My baby needs a yard, and our money can only buy us something good out in the burbs. We've thought about all the different ways to buy a home in Vancouver, but when it comes down to it, we want a house, we want dirt, a plot of land of our very own, to do whatever the hell we want on it, without needing permission from any strata. So high ho, high ho, it's off to the burbs we go. Luckily, the mall out there is home to the new Sephora, and an H&M.

Eloise has been taking Sign Language classes since she was about 9 months old. I did the first session with her while I was still on Mat Leave, and my sister/nanny just finished another session with her recently. There are many studies that suggest Sign Language is a great tool for babies to communicate with before they start taking. Basic signs for milk, eat, sleep, and more show up in a lot of the kiddie programing on TV. So image how proud I was, when Eloise started using her first sign.... hat. Yup, hat. She doesn't tell me if she wants milk, or more, or if she's tired, but she'll tell me, by patting her head, that she sees a hat. Probably, the most useless sign for her to pick up but I don't care. That's my girl!