I love days like today. Not at first always, but they get good.

We had to be in the city by 10:45am. I know this is late to lots of people, but not us. Its early. I hate mornings, as a rule. But this one went ok. I didn’t leave myself much time to get ready for the day but felt decent when I left.

The weather is helping too. I LOVE that its somewhat mild outside. Mild enough that we have to plan our day around when we can pick up ice cream and not have it melt before we get home. But I’ll talk about that more later.

Anyway, we had to meet some people at 10:45am, and then I had something I was going to pick up from someone’s house off of one of those Facebook garage sale things, but she couldn’t meet us until 5:30pm. That is a LOT of daytime to kill. We hit up Costco for lunch, mostly since we desperately needed our tires rotated and balanced. We left with a mondo-sized bag of mini eggs, granola bars, and a ridiculous amount of AA batteries. Good haul. We left Costco around 2:30 and headed to go meet another friend. Really quick meeting (Brady getting a form for doing taxes) and, just for fun, we decided to hit up the new Value Village.

Two things: I know lots of people don’t see that as fun, but I love it there! And I know its not a new location anymore, but we’ve only been there once before. So its newER anyway. It doesn’t smell as funky, and there are just better things there! Crystal dishes and higher quality clothes. Literally, I pull apart two pairs of pants on a rack, and one of the pairs of pants were Lululemon. You almost NEVER find lulu at the older location. So I bought myself a few new tops, and then found a few awesome gems!!!

I just think this little windbreaker is super adorable. The color isn’t great here but its a bright Rider green, and its soft and fuzzy inside.

Who knew I would find a rain stick at Value Village of all places, for $4?! If you’re not familiar with this, its a percussion instrument that sounds like rain. Its gorgeous, and Dekker loves it. They’re not necessarily easy to come by. Not for so cheap anyway. Its in great shape!

My FAVORITE purchase of the day!! I know, they’re kind of kitchy, but I love them. Small stacking bowls with weirdo non-matching designs. Seriously, I have an unnatural desire to buy mixing bowls every chance I get, and this VV was LOADED with great vintage Pyrex bowls, but I had just never seen anything like these! Right?! Or am I nuts? Whatever, I think they’re cool 🙂 And I couldn’t justify buying the three sets I wanted. See me practice restraint?

We called my mom late afternoon to say hi and let her know we were gonna drop by really quick on our way home and she invited us over for dinner! I love her. So we went to buy our ice cream (SUCH a great deal at Co-op!) and drove over for a visit. We spent the evening with my mom just talking and catching up. I feel like I haven’t spent good time with my mom in months, even though we dated just a few days ago. Life sure fills up, and theres lots to talk about I guess!

Long story…long, I was nervous that today was just going to be a fussy baby being hauled from place to place for hours, bored. But it was sooo much better! There were things we didn’t even get to because we had such great luck at Value Village and places to be.

A great day for this fam! Now, to the bath!!!

Today did not go as planned. Does it ever, really? Not so much. But this morning was crazy.

I woke up this morning wildly dizzy. Every time I would shift my head, even just a little, the room would spin. I historically have low blood pressure, so dizzy spells are not uncommon for me. This morning, I just closed my eyes and waited for it to be over. It took over two minutes for me to get my bearings back. I woke Brady and told him what was happening. He didn’t really know what to do with me, and frankly neither did I. So I made my common mistake and called the health line.

I should say, there are some lovely nurses that take calls! Some of them are super helpful and compassionate and I feel good when we hang up. And then you get the ones like the one I had. She went straight to me most likely having fluid or sediment in my ears that is most likely having an effect on my balance and I need to go to the doctor right away so they can do an MRI on my head. Um…seriously?! Instead, I chose to lay still until my head stopped spinning. Unfortunately, I had to pee. It took me several minutes to even get into a sitting position on the side of the bed. When I could finally open my eyes a bit, Brady got me up and limped me over to our bathroom. By the time I got there, everything was spinning so bad I thought I might throw up. Being beautiful like always, Brady waited while I did what I needed to do, and then carried me back to bed, where I stayed until after noon. Even after that my head felt funny, but I could get by. It was wild. I have no idea what happened, but we’re going to the city tomorrow and if I still feel like crap, I think we’ll hit up a walk in and see what a doctor says.

Because of the way I woke up, today was suuuper lazy. I lay in bed while Dekker and Brady ate breakfast and while Dekker played toys in the living room. I missed the whole morning with them, and Dekker went for a nap. I barely saw them in the afternoon either. It was kind of a nutty day. When it was time for Dekker to go down for night, he was playing toys and had fallen down and was wailing. And not really pain wailing, but more like the fall had just pushed him over the edge and he was tired. But WOW did he fight it! He started really throwing a tantrum and throwing toys and flailing. So I picked him up to bring him to his room and he slapped my face. Yes, he was very worked up and was freaking out a bit, but that is something we have zero tolerance for in our house. We really push respect in our house, and obviously hitting isn’t respecting another person. Plus, Dekker is very strong and he can really hurt someone. So in amongst him being so sad and tired and after barely seeing him all day, I had to reprimand him. It felt awful. I left to get his milk ready. Brady brought him over and fed him his milk next to me. When it came time for our cuddles, there was no hesitation. He came right over and cuddled his head into my neck. I felt so warm and loved.

I started to tell him how much I loved him and how I was sorry that the evening played out the way it did, even though he did need to listen to me, and blah blah blah. All of a sudden he perked right up, putting his face directly into my face, and he started giggling and shaking his head. So I shook my head back at him and he flopped over laughing. So began a solid five minutes of head and body shaking and ridiculous laughter. I am so touched by these moments with him. He really missed playing with me today! And he showed it in the best way 🙂 Who cares if my bedtime cuddles aren’t cuddly?! They’re perfect any way I can get them!

Gotta love the funny boy.

My boy is getting smarter.

I often cuddle up in a blanket when Dekker and I go downstairs to play. Now that its getting a bit warmer outside, our house is doing that thing where its temperature confused. You know, where the house is way colder than usual because its confused? Well, I don’t know how to better explain it but its happening, and my basement that is warm all winter is now colder than upstairs. So I cuddle up.

Often, I bring a snack. Crackers, popcorn, something like that. I don’t claim to be a healthy eater, I’m being honest. I had Doritos for breakfast this morning. I brought them downstairs and Dekker just eyed them up. I hid them under the blanket and pretended they weren’t there. I have always been one who believe that kids know a lot more than we give them credit for, but seriously, now long can Dekker really remember such a small detail? Apparently a while. And the worst part about it is that he’s sooo cute!

So picture it. I have a bag of chips tucked under a blanket to my left. I don’t even eat when he’s looking, but he knows. Every once in a while, he comes up to me, puts a hand on my leg, and waits. Kind of like a puppy begging. I smile at him and tell him how sweet he is, and don’t let on to anything for fear that I’ll give away my secret and have to share. He wears this little half-grin, and he kind of leans forward just a little, and looks towards where I’ve hidden the chips. I try and make it into a form of peek a boo around my knees, but he just smiles knowingly and stands still, eyeballs darting to my left. Finally he gives the blanket a little tug in his final effort to uncover the snack he KNOWS I’m hiding from him. He glances from me to the hidden chips to me to the hidden chips. He is not buying my evasive game.

But then who he is really comes through. He kind of gives me an “ok mom” smile and heads back to his toys. No fuss, no complaining, no tantrum. He just goes with it because mommy says. I love his character.

I should add here, if I’m having crackers or cereal or fruit or a sandwich or really almost anything, of course I share with him! But not chips, and not popcorn yet either. If he’s not going to need it yet, or even be super interested in it, I’m not going to specifically encourage it. I think we are pretty relaxed in the way of his eating. We’re not afraid of a little sugar or trying new things. But I’m sure not going to introduce him if he would be just as happy playing toys. Just a disclaimer I guess.

Moral of the story: I love my obedient son. He is the cutest, and sooo well mannered! What we did to deserve such a boy I’ll never know, but I am forever grateful.

I was really looking forward to today, and it finally came!

Brady did our taxes today. We always use the program called UFile, probably mostly because my parents buy it every year so we share it. I’m glad to have that behind us. It always feels good to get the number of what we owe in taxes and to know that we did, in fact, save enough. Thank you Lord! Besides the fact that he did our taxes today, he also watched Dekker. Which left my mom and I to our own devices.

So we went shopping. We shopped an antire mall, and then Preston Crossing before we were both tired and ready to call it quits. We didn’t come out of our trip with too many items at all, but we had a really wonderful time. And while I am always more than happy to have my little charmer on my arm, it was nice to be Dekker-free for an afternoon. We could go out for lunch and just order for us, and not have to share! We hit up Red Lobster, always a treat for the two of us. They used to have this amazing bottomless soup and salad deal. Sadly, that deal is long gone, but they have a lunch item that is soup in a bun bowl, and salad with grilled shrimp in it. Its actually super delicious and the perfect size! I guess it really is better to not overeat, but something about Red Lobster soup always leaves me wanting more! Either way, lunch and shopping was awesome.

We met back up with Brady at my parents house, had supper, and went home. Sometimes short evenings are great, and necessary. My legs are super tired and ready for a bath. And dessert.

Picture time! With captions. Ooh la la, I know.

 

Thats really all we took for pictures. We didn’t go outside, and I know some people might have been totally bored just sitting inside, but we were completely occupied with our little boy the entire time. We had a complete blast. Brady and I have both said this was probably our most enjoyable anniversary trip yet! It was awesome, truly awesome. I see many, many more of these in our future 🙂

Today was really great 🙂 We didn’t really accomplish anything, yet it felt better than just a lazy, laying around kind of day. We had cinnamon buns for breakfast as played toys with Dekker until he went down for a nap. We tried very specifically to keep him awake until he was exhausted so as to not bug out neighbours with his crying. When he sleeps in new places, Dekker sometimes has a harder time falling asleep. However, he was tired at all his usual times an went to be like a champ. When he did fuss a little, we reminded ourselves that it was the middle of the day and a little crying shouldn’t hurt anyone too much. Brady ad lounged in the jacuzzi while Dekker napped.
We got dressed up a bit and went down for supper at 6. We made a reservation but I guess she listed it on the wrong day. Luckily it was early enough and the dining room hadnt filled yet. I ordered a pizza and Brady ordered a steak. As soon as our food came, out came Dekker’s angry side. He wailed and fought and cried. He wouldn’t sit it his chair, be held, or go down. He wouldn’t eat anything we offered him. Brady did everything he could, taking him out if the restaurant, finding him toys, to no avail. I could tell they were both getting progressively more frustrated so I convinced Brady to trade me off and eat some of his steak. And Dekker calmed as soon as I had him in my arms 🙂 I wouldn’t normally share a story like this because I don’t want Brady to feel bad. He did amazing! But Dekker opts for Brady everyday. He almost never chooses me over his dad. But today, he needed mommy. And it felt awesome! I rocked him and he cuddled and quieted and rested and stared at the other tables filled with people who could finally eat in peace. I could finally sit down and eat a little bit with him on my lap. Any offering of food I gave was whole heartedly rejected. Finally I stuck a piece of chicken on the fork he was playing with and just left it on the plate. And he picked it up and ate it, no questions asked. Jaws dropped. Of all ridiculous things. Sigh. So we did get him to eat, it just was a bit more dramatic than usual.
Back upstairs, we watched a bit of tv and I went back down to the restaurant to grab some cheesecake. One of the servers pulled me aside and said a few of the ladies had been talking about us. Apparently the people in the suite next door to ours are a large group of girls on a stagette. The ladies with the hotel were concerned for our sleep and actually gave us keys to another room in case we chose to move. I thought that was pretty awesome 🙂
When I got back to our room, Dekker was completely out if sorts. We had plans to keep him up for quite some time so that he would be good and tired in time for bed, but he was more than ready to sleep! And hey, if our neighbours are loud a little bit of baby fussing won’t bug.
After some hilarious cuddles and tickles with my freshly Jammied and hydrated boy, he is talking in his playpen and there is a jacuzzi, movie, and piece of cake waiting for me. Have a great night!

Turns out my posts this weekend will be via iPhone. Please forgive any super lame autocorrects. It’s either this or go use the somewhat ok wifi in the hotel lobby, and that isn’t worth waking up Dekker.
We left Saskatoon a little later than expected. In the past couple of days, Dekker’s toes have been breaking they the feet of his sleeper. We figured it was important to move up a size and we had very few, so we hit Costco in out way out for sleepers. Four sleepers and a hotdog later, we were on the road.
Dekker wailed for about twenty minutes. He is usually awesome in the car! We had some music going, so we turned it down, up, and off. No results. We gave him snacks, water, toys, to no avail. I took his bunnyhug off and then his shoes. Nothing. Then his blanket, to see if he just needed a little help falling asleep. BIG crocodile tears. I was about ready to tear my hair out but remembered what worked when he was much newer. I changed the music to Marianas Trench. Would you believe that it worked?! Not a peep for the rest of the trip!
We stopped in PA to feed Dekker and ourselves, and to pick up a few things we were short on at home. Cheese and fruit, and milk in small containers to fit in the mini fridge.
Basically, the drive turned out to be a success. Dekker is down for the night now and our jacuzzi tub is filling. Poor Dekker isn’t used to this room and cried before he fell asleep. I don’t want the neighbours to hate us, but at least it’s not late. 9:30 seem reasonable to hear a kid cry for a few minutes right?
The main curse of the phone post is that I’m not totally sure if or how I can add pictures so photo posts will have to be when we get back. Until then, sleep tight. AND watch the hilarious video of Dekker I put up on Facebook. It was from our trip today 🙂 Hes basically hilarious and amazing.
Sleep tight!

Today was going to be a lazy day at home, slowly planning and packing for the weekend. However, Brady and I were both feeling super sore in our backs and necks. Not wanting to be away for our anniversary aching like old people, we opted for a visit to the chiropractor. Without a whole lot more that we needed to do, I requested Value Village. I know some people hate Value Village for one reason or another, but I always find amazing stuff! I didn’t completely stock up this time or anything, but I got a cute shirt/dress thing for myself for summer! We also found Dekker a red tshirt with a hotdog on it, and a super preppy zip-up sweater from Mexx. And in the housewares, I found a fabulous pottery bowl for $0.99. If you know my family, my mom is all about pottery. The china cabinet is filled with pottery. And we used it! Pottery serving dishes, teapots, bowls, all kinds of things. I remember my Home Ec teacher in high school asking us what kinds of dishes were microwave safe and when I suggested pottery, she just laughed at me and said people don’t actually use pottery for food. But we did. So the bowl I found was adorable and small and deep. Perfect for serving a condiment, or maybe a sugar bowl or candy dish. Its perfect. A SUPER find!

Back-pedalling just a tad, on our drive to Saskatoon I spoke to my mom on the phone and she invited us over for dinner. She makes this amazing pork chop golden mushroom thing in the crock pot, served on potatoes. Sooo good! We accepted the invitation and feasted like royalty. And as if that wasn’t enough, she had bought us a six pack of cinnamon buns for our weekend away! Ok, I know homemade stuff is always awesome, but my goodness, the cinnamon buns from Safeway with the cream cheese icing on the top almost beat homemade ones! They are completely delectable! Seriously, try them. Next time you have company maybe, or a lazy weekend. A. Mazing. And again, if that wasn’t enough, they snuck us a wonderful monetary gift so we could go out for a meal while at Waskesiu. We go to the same hotel almost every year and never can quite justify going to the restaurant there. But this year, we can 🙂 So, in this evening alone, we likely have all of Saturdays food taken care of. Wow. We are truly blessed by family.

A little tip regarding this picture. If you want Dekker to like you, read him this book about the caterpillar turning into a butterfly. If you can make it past the page where the caterpillar is always eating leaves, you’re golden.

We got home quite a bit after Dekkers bedtime, so he was pretty spent. After his milk, he came over for cuddles and Brady left to fill his humidifier and open the mail to give us a few cuddle minutes. Dekker’s breathing slowed and got kind of growly, like snoring. He was completely unmoving, except for a few tiny involuntary twitches. My heart was warm. When was the last time Dekker fell asleep on me?! Can’t remember. I closed my eyes and just rested in the comforting feeling we both obviously had. And then Brady came in to take a picture.

Sigh. Oh well, I can have my moment either way right? It was still soft and lovely, just quirky, just like us.

Such a nice day. Definitely not loving the idea of packing tonight, as its already 11:00. Maybe tomorrow. Whats the rush, right?

 

 

I talk fairly often about having cabin fever. This summer was crazy hard on me for this reason. While I could be outside more than I feel I can in winter, I didn’t go anywhere. Ever. Usually summer is synonymous with camping, road trips, and barbecue. It wasn’t in 2012. Brady and I had a couple of nice opportunities to go on weekend trips but never according to our plan. They would either be cut short by a changed work schedule or we would go somewhere because I was just that low that I needed to be somewhere else.

I’m feeling that way again. I’m biting my nails again. I’m not eating very well. My house is a complete mess. Its time. I’m sooo ready for a weekend away in a couple of days! Waskesiu, here we come! I’m hoping we get a lot of comfy downtime, and some solid outside time, playing in the snow. Our room has a jacuzzi in it, and last time we had a jacuzzi room, Brady, Dekker, and I all piled in and it was kind of a hoot! So hopefully that’ll play out similarly this time. I know Dekker hates baths right now, but maybe with tons of bubbles and deeper water, it’ll be more fun. Yikes! Gotta remember to put bath toys on the packing list!!

One of my favorite parts of our Waskesiu anniversary trips is the food. And not because its amazing! Nothing is open in town except the hotels restaurant, which is sooo expensive! And our room doesn’t have a kitchenette. So we always end up bringing ridiculous appliances, like our electric frying pan, hot pot, sandwich maker, etc. and we cook bare minimum food. Delicious, guilty pleasure comfort food. Of course, we stuff the mini fridge full of fruit and milk, and have all sorts of snacks strewn around the room. Its a good set up 🙂 Kind of chaotic. One year, we brought pancake stuff and no whisk. I know, use a fork. But ours were tiny little picnic forks. So we went and asked for a whisk at the restaurant and they gave us this HUGE industrial sized thing! Good laugh 🙂

Our time away will be quirky and comfy. I am more than ready to be somewhere else for a few days!

Brady had a full week and a half off of work. Today was really the only day we made plans to spend the day with friends, and Brady got called to work this morning 🙁 It was disappointing, but it was just for a few hours, so he joined us for brunch, and the at the end of the afternoon for dinner and the evening.

We started at Cora’s. Completely worth the wait. The servers were super friendly with us and Dekker, and gave him some milk and bananas free of charge. I’m always so touched when people who don’t know us or anything take an interest in Dekker and show him love. Our server got down to his level and talked with him. He would fuss when she left 🙂 We ate like royalty. It was sooo good! From there, Brady left to work and we hit the GAP outlet store. I had never been in there, since I can’t really ever afford to shop at the Gap. But the keyword here is “outlet.” Everything was on awesome sale! I bought Dekker a long sleeved tshirt and an orange and while checkered button down for $11 even. There was sooo much more but the little boy would not be put down and I could only carry so much. Kind of hectic, but a total success.

We moved on to Old Navy, and then to the mall. None of us felt like we were exactly rolling in money so we really just window shopped. There are not a lot of friends that you can do this with! It was awesome. We did get Starbucks, but that was it for the most part. Just walked, chatted, and I’ll admit we killed TONS of time in the Bay laughing at really ugly clothes. No, I don’t hate everything at the bay, but I do hate a lot of things at the Bay.

Before Brady joined us, Dekker was very tired and clingy and needing to be held by only me. Which is an honor and a hassle. Especially in his winter gear, he is wildly heavy and awkward to carry. Its a challenge for sure. But at one point when one of our friends was trying on clothes, we were sitting on a bench and he was laying his head on my shoulder, and I asked for a kiss. Dekker doesn’t usually kiss. I call it a kiss if he doesn’t turn away and I actually get his lips, but thats it. Today, I got my first real one. It was kind of an open mouthed kiss, haha, but when I went to kiss his top lip, both of his lips closed on mine 🙂 I know, it sounds weird when I describe it, but it was so very special. And yes, wet and slobbery and babyish, but perfect. I asked for another and he gave it.

For the last week and a half, Brady has been home, and while that has been completely amazing, I have had less time with Dekker. Again, this is awesome, because Brady helps out so much! But I’ve been worried a little bit that Dekker will miss his dad so much when he goes back to work and maybe he won’t want me as much.

Turns out he does still want me 🙂