Monday, May 13, 2013

New Blog

Hi Folks,

I am changing over to a new blog site. I have been having endless problems with Blogger and getting photos to upload. So my new blog can be found through Wordpress.com. It's titled "The Life and Times of the SSB".

Hope to see you there!

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Living in Mud

For the last hour I have been fighting with my computer. Trying to upload some recent pictures of the kids has been proving difficult. I'm not sure if this is an issue with Blogger itself, my computer or my own tech skills (or lack thereof).

So, for now I will skip the snaps. I'm warning you Blogger, if it is indeed you giving me a hard time, I may have to change over to WordPress. Yikes!

With the sun shining outside, and my sandals calling to me from the front door, I am stuck here waiting for my little prince to wake up from his nap. He has morphed his two daily naps into one big nap. That is great, except that this new nap time falls right over lunch time and well into the afternoon. It means that, for today anyways, that mama is going to have to wait to get outside and soak in some sun. By that time, Daddy will almost be home from work and can perhaps join us at the park. :)

Living in a construction site has been a challenge for us. In the winter, everything was icy and muddy. In the spring, it's REALLY muddy. Now that the weather is nice, there is no grass out back for the kiddos to go play on and the complex playground hasn't been constructed yet. It's DUSTY, which means that I don't have to bother paying for car washes.

Are we happy with our house? Yes. Definitely. Are we happy living in a construction zone? Definitely not. Grayson is loving the daily exposure to trucks of all types. His favourite truck is the street cleaner that comes through every evening to pressure wash the roads. The street cleaner makes no difference in the cleanliness of our neighbourhood, but it does wonders for my little guy's interest in all things on wheels!! His face lights up when he sees it over and over again, as it makes laps through our neighbhourhood. He squeals and shouts at it.

This morning we woke up to an excavator trampling through our backyard. Loud? Yes. Definitely. Did it seem to bother Grayson and Mira? Definitely not. They were enthralled. So I will put up with the bad and try to remember the good while we are stuck in this mud pit.


Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Ah....spring (?)

It's the end of April and by now, we've had at least a handful of days that allow us the freedom to choose between pants and shorts without fear of looking crazy.

So far, we've had MAYBE one. That MAYBE is that I think we had the freedom of choosing between a heavy sweater or a lightweight sweater. No shorts (except for 2 hours on Thursday night where is suddenly skyrocketed up to 25 degrees to suddenly drop back down to 10 degrees only hours later).

So am I disappointed in spring so far? Yes, but I'm also making most of what sunshine we do get. I get Grayson out in the stroller for a walk to downtown Georgetown, which is only a ten minute walk away. Grayson loves watching the cars go by and squeals with excitement when we go down the hill.

We wander around, taking in the sunshine. I grab a coffee from my favourite little cafe and we enjoy the sights. Am I wearing my sandals and sundresses yet? Definitely not, but it's not stopping me from enjoying what I can.

I spent most of last summer still wearing a lot of my maternity stuff as I regained my figure after Grayson so I am excited to be able to make the most of my favourite tanks, shorts and skirts!! C'mon summer!!!

Friday, April 12, 2013

Snow Day

 Today we had a "snow day". Really it was a "freezing rain day". I woke up this morning to an email from the school board saying that all the buses were cancelled today.

I love having Mira home on these days. I chose not to drive her into school today, anticipating that come time to pick her up in the afternoon (when the freezing rain storm was to be at it's worst), the roads would be very treacherous. Considering she gets bussed to the other end of town for her french immersion, this was not something I wanted to do.

Instead, I kept Mira home from some mother-daughter-son-brother time.

It left me with the question: what to do on a freezing day. Well, we did make the most of it. We walked to the kidsignment store (consignment store of kids stuff) and the kids got to play in the toy section. I don't mind shelling out a few bucks for a toy they may fall in love with in there.
 After the consignment store, we went over to the libary. The new Georgetown library is beautiful. It has a huge kids section filled with an area for group story time and computers. They also have a space for younger kids (Grayson's age and up) where they can play with puzzles and other toys. It was perfect.

Mira sat in her bean bag chair and read about a million books. Grayson exhausted himself by crawling all over the library in search of the perfect toy.

Oh I am coming appreciate freezing rain/snow days :)

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Two Months to Go

I have about two months before I have to go back to work. I have until June 17th off with my little man and my little girl. It will be tough transitioning back to work after having a year off to be a stay at home mom.

I have mixed emotions about returning to work. I hate leaving my kids at home, in the care of someone else other than me. I will hate not being able to schedule play dates for mid-day, mid-week. The perks are that I will be making money again, which will allow us to do a lot more for and with our kids. We can travel. We can put them in activities (soccer, etc) and it will afford us some luxuries like having new reliable cars. It will allow us the occasional date night or dinner out at a restaurant.

I am lucky that this time around, I will be returning to work in a very "kid friendly" position. I will be home for bed each and every night. I will be home for dinner with the kids each and every night.

I will also have some time to work on some of my goals outside of the home. Work is a great place to be for me. I do enjoy the people I work with and I love my job. I am lucky that I enjoy what I do. It makes it more fulfilling for me and it makes it easier to justify spending some time away from my kids.

I will make the most of the rest of my year off before re-joining the workforce. Back to the reality of the two-income family, which seems to be necessary to live in the GTA.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Chocolate....chocolate and more chocolate.....

Easter is a time of pastel colours, tulips, daffodils, pretty dresses and little handsome dress shirts. It is a time of going to church and spending time with family gorging on turkey and all the fixings. It is ANOTHER time of year when the kids get to stuff their faces full of chocolate and spend the rest of the weekend going berserk as the sugar takes over the mind and body of our little cherubs.

Ah Easter. How I love you as a holiday and how I loathe you.

I loathe the piles of chocolate that tempt me every.single.minute.of.the.day. It's not even the good chocolate. It's the crappy chocolate foiled eggs. It's not good chocolate, but somehow, the pretty little foil wrappers make them DELICIOUS. The giant solid bunnies with the blank look in their candy eyes make it less torturous to break off an ear, leg or tail and chow down. I especially love the chocolate bunnies with nuts or rice crispies in them. Glorious.

I am a sucker for chocolate. I love it. I could eat a ton of it everyday if I had no will power. Any dessert I eat, I much prefer to it to be as stuffed full of chocolate as possible. Brownies. Chocolate mousse. Chocolate fudge smothered in chocolate syrup.

This year, I decided to fight my own desire to buy $80 worth of the brown goodness for my kiddos (one of which can only look at it anyways) and buy more practical, fun toys. Toys that won't cause my daughter to fall into a sugar coma and turn her into a defiant little being (too much sugar and junk causes her to seriously act out).

Oh, but how I will dream about the chocolate that could have been.....

Monday, March 25, 2013

Nine Months

 Our little guy is 9 months old!! Here are some recent pictures of Grayson scooting around the coffee table. The expressions on his face were priceless.

Happy 9 months baby boy!




Monday, March 18, 2013

Blue Mountain Escape

Our March break plans to go to Ottawa were put on hold so we wanted to come up with a fun little getaway for the kids (and us of course) to a place we have always loved to go.

I had a credit on a room at Blue Mountain and so we packed up the kids and headed to Collingwood for some Blue Mountain Village fun.

The conditions were not great for skiing. It was mild and rainy, but that didn't stop us from having a great time.  Mira joined in the dance party that broke out in the centre of the village. We shopped (they have 50% off kids outerwear!) and we enjoyed the hot tub.

 I cannot wait for the day where both kids will be old enough to ski and we can start going on more adventurous ski trips (hello Vermont, NH and Whistler) but until then, there is plenty for us to do as a family at places like Blue Mountain.

We were going to do some pottery painting, but the pieces we paint weren't available to pick up until we were back home. Mira came up with the brilliant idea that the people in Blue Mountain could DRIVE the pottery piece down to Georgetown for us. Um, not sure they would be up for that drive. So we put off pottery painting until our next trip up there.
 While we were in Collingwood, we dropped in to see our friends Dillon and Jodi who have opened up their Crossfit gym in Wasaga Beach. Crossfit Indestri Beach is now open and ready for some hard core workouts and "machine building" for those interested ;)

It would be a dream for us to live up in Collingwood. It has everything we would want for ourselves and our children. It would provide the perfect outdoorsy outlet in all seasons. The kids could become avid skiiers or snowboarders. They could take up golf and mountain biking in the summer.
We could have beautiful views of the "mountains" in our day to day and the downtown Collingwood area is beautiful and charming. One day perhaps that dream will come true. Until then, we love our Georgetown and all it has to offer us and our little growing family. It is home to us and will be for quite a while. Luckily, Collingwood will always been a short drive away for us.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Girls Night Out

Here I am at the age of 34. Once again, as it does every year (as of recent history), it snuck up on me and without fully realizing, I turned another year older. I am another year deeper into my 30's.

What do you do for your birthday when all you really want is to spend some quality time with your best friends, drinking some wine (or beverage of choice.....like say....Red Bull) and doing something RELAXING.

Rather than hitting up a bar or club, I opted to try something that involved working at a much slower pace that most of my friends and I are used to. We all have some major stressors on our plates and many of us have kids that can limit the activities we can partake in (without disaster and destruction). 

So, for this year, we all trekked out (and I mean TREK) to the Alton Mill Art Centre (in, you guessed it, Alton) where there is a painter by the name of Mark Grice. Mark teaches you how to paint. He teaches you to paint one of several pictures (your choice) and you spent 3 hours, wine (beer, coffee, red bull...) in hand, painting. You paint and you forget about the diapers and the feedings. You forget about the stressful jobs or the bills that need to be paid. You just paint.

A group of  my closest girlfriends came out and it was exactly the birthday I had hoped for. Spending time with those that mean the most to me. Another year older, but another year richer. I am a lucky girl to be so rich in friends that are incredibly good to me. Love all of you ladies who make life fun and memorable. Cheers!


Saturday, March 2, 2013

The Making of Simple

I am here, on my laptop, taking a break from planning. I am taking a break from all the research that needs to go into planning a wedding.

The wedding we have envisioned will be fun, intimate and simple. We do not want over the top. We want to focus on what is most important to us and our family. To spend extravagant amounts of money on one day just seems to unnecessary and often times, the copious dollars and cents are spent by brides and grooms who treat their wedding day like a coronation. The money spent on these lavish affairs could be better put towards a house down payment, a car (if needed), an education fund for your children or that lifelong dream trip to Hawaii.

These all seem like better ways to spend money....in my opinion. Everyone is entitled to spend their money how they wish and have the weddings that they wish. For me, I have never been a high maintenance person, why start now?

Weddings are beautiful and very significant. They are very meaningful and they are the start of a life with someone that you love and can't imagine living another day without. However, it doesn't mean that the more money you spend, the happier you will be together, nor does it mean that your guests will have a better time.

We have opted for a destination wedding so that we ensure some stuff can be kept minimal, all of the frill if you will. It's all the frill that can cause the most stress. So, I have opted to cut it out and keep our focus on what really matters......marrying Geoff, making our little family official. That is what is important to me. I would rather do that in the midst of our friends and their families making some pretty special moments of their own. Our kids can have fun with their kids. It's those things that we remember and cherish. Not the fact that we spent $800 on a cake or $300 on a pair of shoes. Nobody will remember that. They will remember the quality time spent with those they love.

So here is a toast to the simple pleasures in life and how they are truly what matter. Long live simplicity! 




Saturday, February 23, 2013

Littlest Hockey Fan

It's no secret that Geoff is a big fan of hockey. He loves talking hockey, watching hockey and he especially loves playing hockey. Geoff traditionally plays on two teams. One team is a work team and the other is a group of guys that he has been friends with for years and they play out of Oakville.

Mira used to go and watch Geoff play on Fridays with work hockey since she was only in Kindergarten and would be in school every other friday. It was the day of the week that she looked forward to. Now that she is grade 1, however, it means that she can only go watch him on PD days. :(

Grayson, however, has now taken over the job of cheering squad when it comes to his Daddy's hockey games.

Here are some pictures of him watching his Daddy play :) Priceless.


Thursday, February 14, 2013

The Surprise of Parenting

When you are expecting your first child, there are a lot of things that you expect. You expect that you will fall in love your kids. You expect a lot of diaper changes and you expect to be tired because you have been up all night with a hungry newborn. You expect the inability to sleep in for at least 10 years.

Despite all of these expectations, however, there were still a few surprises.

I fell in love with my daughter about 2 hours after I gave birth to her. I'm not afraid to admit that I wasn't sure how I felt about her until a couple of hours after I had her. The reason was that I had been in labour for 3 days (very brutal labour) and I was so exhausted that I could barely stay conscious, let alone recognize emotions of any kind. It didn't take long for me (after finally getting some food in me) and for the morphine to wear off to lay my eyes on her and fall apart with my intense sense of love and
loyalty to this person. That intensity is what surprised me.

With Grayson, the feeling was just as intense. For months, I worried that I wouldn't love Grayson as much as Mira. Not because I'm unloving, but because I wasn't sure there was enough room in my heart to love 2 people as much as I loved my Mira.

Right as soon as Grayson appeared in that hospital room though, I was madly in love. Just as intense with Mira. I wasn't drugged or as foggy as I was with Mira so the feelings of love enveloped me immediately.

Of course the first few months of having a baby is tiring. Not only is your body recovering, but you are not getting consistent sleep. If you are breastfeeding, that is exhausting. It is constantly draining energy from your body to make food for your little one.

The most surprising part of parenting came when Mira was about a year old. She had been sleeping really well through the night for the better part of a year and I was no longer breast feeding. I was still exhausted. I had  my iron levels and thyroid checked. All normal.

I was worried. How was I so tired even with proper sleep, diet and my health was in check? Even as Mira got older and was able to get up and get her own breakfast and entertain herself while I caught an extra hour of sleep, I was tired.

Then it dawned on me. It wasn't anything physical that was making me tired. It was mental.

Most minutes of everyday are consumed with either worrying or thinking about my children. I am always thinking about what they need to eat, how much food do I have left to feed the baby, what am I going to pack for Mira's lunch, when am I going to fit in that playdate with Mira's best friend, when can I get Grayson signed up for swimming lessons, when can I get Mira signed up for soccer. Then I think about Mira and worry about her losing her mittens (again!) and how will I deal with it this time. I worry about whether or not I'm spending enough one on one time with Mira, especially since Grayson was born. I worry about whether I am parenting my children in the way that will allow them to be happy and fulfilled adults. I worry. I worry all the time.

It's this constant mental devotion to my children that is exhausting. I have now realized that I will be in some state of "tired" every single day of the rest of my life as I will always think about my children and worry about them. The things I will worry about will change as they grow older. There will be some days where I will worry less and others where I will worry more.

As a parent, we worry because we care. We care about what happens to our children. We care about how we are perceived in the eyes of our children (can my kids trust me, can they be open with me and honest, do they know how much I love them). We care about what foods they eat and if they are healthy. All of these little things, thrown on top of the much bigger stressors in life (death, job, moving, etc) and I now understand.

This was not the part of parenting that I expected. I did not expect the mental requirements (separate from emotional). I love thinking about my kids. I love doing things for my kids. I love that I can be the mother that I am to them. It has been a pleasant surprise all this planning, worrying, thinking, theorizing, contemplating and justifying that has been happening. It means the love runs deep. Deeper than I ever imagined it could.

Happy Valentine's Day to my beloved children and the wonderful man that I get to share them with. You are my everything. I love you all and I am so lucky to be a part of your everyday. xoxoxo

Friday, February 8, 2013

Snow Day

 Outside the weather is atrocious. It has been snowing hard since last night and it isn't showing any signs of stopping. Schools were cancelled today (we anticipated they would be) and I have found myself cooped up inside with two sickies (Grayson and Geoff have the stomach flu) and a little 6 year old girl who is trying to make the most of a day home from school.

Unfortunately, we live in the middle of a construction zone right now, which means that throwing Mira's snow pants and snow boots on and sending her outside is not an option. Way too many hazards for my liking.

The roads are too cruddy to travel anywhere, and even if they were somewhat maneuverable, two of us are housebound with the pukes.


This meant that I had to find someway of entertaining Mira. Luckily for me, she loves crafts and I am even luckier that she got a ton of craft stuff for Christmas and her birthday.

We started out by making a sock monkey. "We" is a term I use very loosely here folks. It started out with Mira stuffing one of the monkey's ears and a leg. It ended with me sewing for 5 hours. Stuffing each of the limbs, ears, mouth, tail and then sewing them onto the little monkey body. I then had to sew on the button eyes. My sock monkey looks a little lopsided in the face (unintentional), but it makes it look like it's smirking.

We then moved onto making some really pretty party lights with a party light making kit. It involved some colouring and some light insertions, but they came out really well.

Other things we have done, trying to make the most of the indoors:
-planned a few aspects of the wedding
-made some baby food
-laundry
-cleaned up baby puke
-shoveled out the truck

Some of those things are not exactly what I call enjoyable, but at least some stuff is done so that tomorrow we can get out and make the most of our day outside of the house.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Sicklet

My little baby G and I have been battling the stomach flu this weekend. Friday I got taken out by the flu, hard. I had to call Geoff home from work to come and help me out. I was feeling like I was going to pass out and couldn't keep my food down.

Poor Mira had to have her play date cancelled and she had to watch movies on the couch instead. Geoff, not wanting Mira to be too disappointed in her PD Day, took her out to McDonalds for a treat of a happy meal and time in the playland while I got to sleep.

I felt better as of Saturday night but this morning, as I am feeding Grayson breakfast and planning my day trip to London to see my Mom and brother, he barfed up all his homemade mango and raspberries. Projectile. My kitchen floor was neon.

Luckily for me, he has been a trooper and he has kept up his happy little spirit during his illness. Instead of a road trip to London, we have stayed in. We have napped, we have played. He ate a little applesauce and it stayed down okay (so far...fingers crossed).

I am hoping that Mira dodges the flu. If not...we'll manage to get through it. Such is the constant battle with kiddos.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Re-location

 On January 22nd, a little over a week ago, we took possession of our new home. It is a little bigger, newer and in a location that will allow us to enjoy the old historic part of our town. It is approximately 500m from the old strip with all of the shops and markets that we love. The old churches and buildings are beautiful to look at when taking the kids for a walk.The fairgrounds are right nearby so we can easily enjoy all the fairs, festivals and events without having to park our car.

I am looking forward to finding new running routes, but still close enough that I can still jump onto my old running path should I choose.

The kids love their new house. Mira has loved decorating her new room and having her own washroom (finally!!). Grayson loves looking out the window at all of the machines and trucks that are building the remaining units in our complex.

We are looking forward to having our friends and family over to help us enjoy our new space. With all of the stress and difficulties we've been facing recently, it's nice to have something shiny and new to keep us positive and family-focused.  It's time for a fresh start.....as a family....in a beautiful place that Geoff and I chose together. 


Grayson watching the construction from the new couch
Mira playing the part of construction worker

Monday, January 28, 2013

Loss

On January 15, we lost Geoff's mother, Joyce, suddenly and unexpectedly.

Nothing can prepare you for the loss of a parent. The family has been devestated by the loss of this wonderful woman who loved her family so much.

In time, we will not miss her any less, the pain will not subside, but rather we learn to cope with the pain that we experience as a result of her not being here with us.

She was a tremendous grandmother, not only to Grayson, but to Mira as well. She treated them both with equal love and affection. She was an amazing mother. A strong woman who remained committed and unconditionally loving to her husband and her children, no matter what obstacles they faced as a family.

She was a socially active woman. She loved visiting with friends near and far. Every other weekend it seemed that her and Geoff's father were off on some new adventure. 

She made the world's best Bailey's. Everyone wanted to come over to the Seymour house to enjoy Joyce's company and sip some of her heavenly Irish Cream. 

As a friend said to me, it's time that we put our lives back together after such a loss. The hard part is putting it back together, but in a slightly different order.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

6 months, 6 years

 Just a few photos of the kiddos at 6 years and 6 1/2 months old. I love how much they love eachother!






Juggling Act

I am here, sipping coffee, surrounded by glowing scented candles and soaking in a sunbeam. The candles are to counteract the smell of my oven, which is currently self-cleaning away, preparing for the new tenant. I am also surrounded by boxes. Lots and lots of cardboard boxes. Boxes filled with all of our photos and memories. They are packed and ready to move on to our new house.

I have been doing quite the balancing act between our 6 1/2 month old son, 6 year old daughter, getting the house ready for the move, and getting our venue and date picked for the wedding. It's a lot on my plate, but I'm enjoying every minute of it. It will be nice to be in our new house, unpacked and settled. It is hard to have a little 6 month old boy who is going through a bit of a needy phase (clingy) so I just make sure that when he needs the attention, he gets it and I take advantage of his nap times.

All of this hard work and coordination will pay off when we are in our new home and when we have had a fabulous destination wedding!

Grayson is growing fast and is such a happy little guy. He does not discriminate when it comes to giving smiles and affection. He is a champ when it comes to eating. He is now becoming a champ when it comes to sleeping too. He sleeps from 7pm-5:30am, gets up for a feed and then falls back to sleep until 7:30am. Mama has welcomed the long sleeps with open arms and a sigh of relief!

Mira is loving her school and is doing well in the french immersion program. She is still loving her karate and piano. I think that will be the only extracurricular activities for her until the chaos of the move is over. Too much on our plates to take anything else on at this point!

I am enjoying my yoga and running but I have recently included a new activity- Circafit! It's basically a gym where they put together circuits (levels 1-4) and you go and do these very challenging circuits. It's great motivation to do some strength work (my weakness).

I wish everyone a wonderful start to their new year and all the best in their own juggling acts, whether it be fitness, businesses, work, children, trips, or family challenges. 2013 is going to be a great year. I am looking forward to it and so far it has started with a BANG! :)