Enough People

I am tired of everyone complaining about Christmas and Holiday decorations being out and up before Dec 1st.
Just stop.
What does it matter if the stores have out Christmas stuff before Halloween is even over, or if your neighbours put lights up. It is pretty. It makes people happy when it can be a pretty dressing time of year.
Here in Canada November can be so depressing. Fall is pretty much over, no more yellow/orange/red leafs. Just bare trees and dead grass. It's grey and cold and wet.
If you walk into a store and it smells like Cinnamon and you see red all over and holiday jolly music playing softly in the background do this... close your eyes. Take a deep breath and remember what this season is about.
Family
Joy
Giving Back
Love
Happiness

When I see my neighbour putting lights up I think "oh smart, this will be the last warm weekend we have till Spring next year, good call buddy."
Not "Ugh it's not even Dec, what a dick for putting pretty lights out that make everything look like a wonderland!"

STOP BEING SO NEGATIVE.
We are very lucky people, whom ever is reading this. You can go to the store and get food/clothing, you have a home/place to live that is not a tent or box, you can turn on a tap and drink the water, you can see a doctor, you can chose your schools to send your offspring.
WE ARE LUCKY.

So please. Before you complain about Holiday decorations or anything inane like that take a look at your life, pause ... and be grateful.


Or I will send the Grinch to go pee on your car handle.

Been forever! (new House, Ryan update)

I am such a slacker. Really should try to NOT start each post with that!
So after being homeless for a month, going on an awesome cruise with my husband and kid (more on that in another post) and visiting family in Florida, staying at Robin and Christians place for a week while Neil traveled (taking care of a sick 2 1/2 year old and a dog is NOT fun alone) and then back to Rita and Tim's for a few days.... we moved into our new place and I LOVE IT.
I think Neil agrees with me on that one. Its perfect. Well if it had a dishwasher it would be perfect but its pretty damn close. We are settled in now that we have been there for 6 weeks and it feels like we have been there always.
I do miss things about the old place. I miss being so close to Rita and Tim and Gabi and Sandor. And I miss our huge window room with the amazing view. However the upside to the new house (town home) is we have a yard and a basement and garage and SO MUCH ROOM. So much storage. So much everything. Ryan loves it too. As a bonus the stairs keep me a little more active too.
I know in the spring and summer its going to be amazing but even in the late fall I love it. Winter will rock because of the fireplace. A FIREPLACE. Love.

Ryan is so grown up so much. He remembers stuff we told him weeks ago.
He moved over at school to the preschool class. I knew it was a matter of time since he was about to be 2 1/2. We don't like it as much. The girls are very nice but we both felt for the money we were spending he should be learning more. So we signed him up for Montessori school. The switch over will happen after new years.
That being said we started the party training for real. No half assing. Last Saturday, after soccer, I put him in underwear. He wet himself almost right away. We talked about it and put new underwear on. The true test was taking him to Ikea and picking up our buddy on the way. Ryan pee'd in the toilet at Ikea (there is where sanitizing wipes are super handy!!!)
I wiped down the potty and had him hop on. Another thing I wish I would have known, SKIP THE POTTY SEAT. Kids can hold themselves up. He did so great. Trick is put them on the potty nonstop every 30-60 minutes. Now we don't really use a potty seat at home anymore. He always says he wants to hold himself up. Another tip is even if your kids is still in diapers if you see underwear on sale BUY IT. In Canada underwear is super expensive. Like $12 for 3 pairs. Just beyond silly. I found a deal at Costco for 6 pairs for $8 of Calvin Klein so right now Ryan is wearing nicer underwear then me. hahaha

OH also Ryan got his flu shot on a Thursday and by the end of the day he was in pain with his arm. Some tylonal fixed that but the next day his arm was red, hot, swollen and in pain. I didnt know but that can be a side effect. He was not himself for Friday and Saturday. By Monday it was back to normal but it was a little scary.

I need to right a post about Halloween and the cruise. Maybe I will do that tonight if I have the energy (still sick)

Response to Emily and other topics/ramblings.

My buddy Emily has a new blog. (newish mom!)
 She wrote this post and I was writing a reply and then realized my reply was longer then her post. Figured I would just post in my blog since its been way too long.
http://minkflamingos.com/2012/10/20/im-in-your-relationship-dropping-bombs


Wonderful post. And all very very true. As you (most of you) know Ryan was a breast feed baby. I was very adamant about that, we both were. So those first few days are so hard. Then the first few weeks. Neil would work all day, come home and help me, and then make us dinner and even feed me while I tried to feed Ryan. It's really about a united front, still is and I think always will be.

Couples that are on the verge of splitting and have a baby really confuse the shit out of me. Really?! You think having a completely dependent being is going to keep you together. BULLSHIT. When neither of you get sleep for 3 weeks and you find yourself arguing over who got more sleep last night that is the reality of having a kid.
"I was up at 1am feeding the baby and you were snoring, I remember, I put it in my iPhone app. It was so annoying and hard to not kill you."
"Really because I was up at 1:15 when Ryan cried and you were sleeping away and you were farting in your sleep." Then I would pull out my iPhone and open my "what to expect" app and show him exactly when I feed ryan, on what boob and when he went back to sleep.
Yes I was a freak those first few months. No surprise there.

You get shit on, literally, barfed on, sore nipples, blisters, not wanting to eat, not being able to eat enough, zombie like brain function, pissed you ran out of wipes and it's just when the kid took a huge dump and it's everywhere, mad you are home with the baby and hubby gets to escape to work, mad the wife gets to nap during the day, try to keep the house somewhat cleanish, make sure you are feed too, oh is that barf on your shirt? Well it's just one or two spots so it's clean enough, wash your hair every 3 days because you rather try to sleep... and so on. All the while bleeding, healing stitches and dealing with crazy hormones. (not to mention being aware you are crazy and feeling guilt over that.)

One thing I should mention, my son is 18 months old. (1 1/2 to you non-parents). And it's AWESOME. Yes we have a whole new bundle of issues, you always will. (NO HITTING RYAN!) But it's so awesome when he says "whatisthat mama?" (always wanting to learn) or when I get him from day care and he comes RUNNING when he sees me. The hugs, the dancing together, colouring on a piece of paper, him stealing all my food and I don't give a crap cause he is eating, laughing and then him laughing at me laughing and back and forth, running in circles cause is fun, hide and seek, tickling each other... it's amazing. Nothing like it in the world. I can not express completely how it makes you feel.

One thing to take away from this is; always ask how the dad is doing. No one ever asks the father "Hey man, how you holding up?" It's hard when a baby is breast feed and the dad can't really help they just see the mom going crazy (what happened to my wife?!). It's hard when you are up all night with a kid and then have to work and then come home to watch the kid (you can't feed) so your wife can nap or shower or just take a poop. Then said baby screams at you cause YOU do not have boobs and they just want mom and you just want everyone to be happy and to sleep. Dads are always under-appreciated.

When I was in labor I remembered hearing that, no one every worries about the husband/male. I did. I asked Neil how he was doing. I knew it was exciting/stressful/joyous/worried time for him. Being that Ryan was not our first birth I knew he was a little worried. We knew what was at risk. Watching the heart rate on the baby drop so low he was worried, seeing the crash cart and the always slight risk he might lose me, maybe both of us, I knew my husband was worried. The feeling of helplessness. Nothing he could do but stand by my side, hold my leg up and NOT LOOK DOWN THERE. Smile at me and tell me it was going to be alright. I had to ask if he was okay. I remember him laughing, the nurse and doctor being shocked I was worried about him. Why wouldn't I be? He is my best friend and this was something we were embarking on together.


Hmmmmm looks like two glasses of German wine makes me chatty and full of nostalgia. Chalk it up to wine, turning 35 next month and wine.
Oh I already said wine.

heh.

In unrelated news. I took my Canadian Citizenship test Friday. I am pretty sure I missed three questions. One I know for sure I missed. Oh well I can miss up to five and still pass. I should get a letter in 3-5 months. I will keep my US so I will be dual citizenship. Very exciting.
A HUGE step in securing my family since my husband is Canadian and my son is Canadian born.