Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Birthdays

Cody celebrated his first birthday on the 13th, and I recognized my 30th birthday on the 23rd. The celebrations have been spread out, starting in June and another to come in August... It's always been tricky having a birthday smack dab in the middle of summer! Here are a few pics. And an apology for the recent lack of pictures (I personally enjoy blogs with lots of photos). Our camera's memory card was full and suddenly felt photographically paralyzed. A little trip south of the border to pick up another cheap card solved that problem.










Sunday, July 18, 2010

Drama, Drama, Drama

Sundays used to be a great day for Monte & I, pre-kids. We lived out in Surrey and chose to attend church in White Rock, at Peace Portal Alliance. They would offer the same morning service in the evening on Sundays, and so we enjoyed sleeping in and took the day at whatever pace we wanted until 6pm when the service started. We should have enjoyed more the "leisurely-ness" of those weekends... Of those laid-back Sundays that went according to our plan, to our schedule and we did what we felt like whenever we felt like it.

Sundays these days around our house are nothing but drama. Nate's copping an attitude that's difficult to deal with, especially when we're trying so hard to get out the door on time. He suddenly decides he doesn't want to go to church, and completely shuts down. He won't go to church, and therefore he won't go to the bathroom before we go. He fights the kids' church sign-in when we get there, and outright refuses to enter the room where a dozen other preschoolers are playing with toys (how dare us, evil parents, subject our son to such fun and play!). And then occasionally Cody concludes that the nursery is not the ideal place to spend an hour and a half, and so whenever I'm not trying to coerce Nate into kids' church I'm consoling Cody, attempting to calm him down enough to leave him under someone else's care so I can get in just a few minutes of grown-up time in the service. It makes me wonder if Sundays are even worth the effort right now. You know, when you're yelling at your little one to hurry up and get ready to go worship the Lord? Or sitting outside on the church curb with him during an extra long time-out? Sometimes I feel like I'm just relocating my work from home to church; it's frustrating to not get that break that I tend to expect out of Sunday church. However, being a parent has taught me that expectations are cause for disappointment, and my experiences as a mother are much more gratifying when I look for the joy in the circumstances. Now I just need to figure out how to do that... with grace.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

My Angry List

I'm the queen of to-do lists. I usually have two or three going at a time. Monte often makes fun of me and my lists. The thing about a to-do list is that during times in my life when I just don't have time to get it all done, the to-do list helps me prioritize. I get overwhelmed by the endless tasks that need to be done and jotting them down on a notepad makes me feel like I've got it under control. Today, however, my to-do list turned into my angry list. I no longer felt satisfied by gathering my weekly tasks with a pen and paper; this time I needed to write down the unfinished tasks that made me feel mad! And it was just as satisfying. From tripping over things in our cluttered garage to the forgotten leftovers rotting at the back of the fridge to the mail/papers that always seem to accumulate on the dining room table. I can't handle it anymore! Let's hope my anger will fuel a desire to see these tasks completed.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Trashed Toe

Canada Day was supposed to be a quiet day at home, just me and Cody, while Monte and Nate took his parents to the airport and spent a good part of the day out together. I was really looking forward to it; there's something so relaxing to me about enjoying my own space in peace and quiet. So I put Cody down for his morning nap, and take Bailey outside before sitting down to enjoy a fresh cup of coffee all by myself. But as Bailey and I come back into the house I can hear Cody playing with his mobile in his crib and I remembered that should he pull the entire mobile apart, a small piece holding it all together could easily find it's way into Cody's mouth and he would choke on it. So I spring into action, running up the two stairs from the living room to Cody's room down the hall. Bailey must've had the same concern, as she also ran up the stairs just under my feet and I bail, landing funny on my left foot. It hurt pretty bad, so I look down at the toe that's pulsing with pain and it's definitely curved out of it's usual shape. But sometimes the little toes get squished up on each other, so I try bending it back and immediately regret touching it at all. I've never broken a bone in my life, but I had a suspicion that that's what had just happened. Since I was home on my own with Cody, I tried to ignore it and went on with my day (after all, there's not a whole lot you can do for a broken toe, right?). Well, by the time Monte got home, the top of my foot had turned purple and the pain was hard to ignore. So I agreed to Monte's persistent advice and sought out medical attention. Mental note: Canada Day is THE day to go to a walk-in clinic or to the hospital. I was the only one at both the walk-in and in the x-ray department at the hospital. They figured it's a fracture, but my doctor won't get the results until next week. So for the next few weeks I'm hobbling around on one and a half feet with a white bandage up to my ankle. Who knew one little toe could be so high-maintenance? The real disappointment in this mishap is that we had to cancel (or at least postpone) our 7th wedding anniversary plans, since we were going to hang out in Seattle for the day and that would include a lot of walking.