GET. CANDY.

In honour of Halloween...ya gotta love this Seinfeld clip.

commercial lover

If you didn't know it about me...I love good commercials. Whether they are witty, funny, sad, sweet...if it's well done, I actually don't mind commercials.
I'm in the middle of watching So You Think You Can Dance and this commercial came on:

The hilarity of it PLUS Michael Bolton's raspy voice had me literally laughing out loud.

I love soup!

Soup season is upon us and along with some old favourites I'm going to try some new and delicious looking soups this year.

Here are two I've made before and will DEFINITELY be making again:

Butternut Squash Soup and African Yam and Peanut Soup with ginger and pineapple soup.

I'm also going to try recipes I found for Tomato Bisque, White Bean and Ham Soup, and Italian Ground Beef and Veggie Soup.

Question for all your foodies/soup makers…does it make a huge difference (other than to the fat content and creaminess) if I DON'T use higher fat milks like whipping cream/heavy cream/half and half instead of say 2% milk in some of the cream-based soups?

 

neglected

I've really been wanting to blog more but just haven't found the time.
I've been going through a lot of things lately - some blogable, some not (shocking, I know) but the lack of sleep and busyness of life has ended up leaving this poor blog neglected. But I will get back into the swing of things!
A few things have happened (ha! I'm so sleep deprived that I initially wrote "Nappened" instead of "Happened") lately:
1. I turned 28! No biggie. It was nice and low key. Jamie and I went to a restaurant in Guelph that I went to once, exactly 2 years ago for my 26th birthday when I was pregnant with Noah. I absolutely loved it and have been wanting to go back ever since but for some reason kept forgetting about it. So we went. It was relaxing and delicious and Jamie and I had such good conversation...it was really nice. Like in the good old days. :)
2. I have a 12 week old baby as of today!
3. As of Sunday I'll have a 2 year old - although you'd think by looking at him and watching his behaviour that I already HAD a 2 year old.
4. I got a YMCA membership. I've been a few times. I'd like to get there more often. We'll see.

Much more to come...

Somebody to Love

If this doesn't give you goose bumps I don't know what will. Seriously. I had full on goose bumps within seconds of the song starting and the hair on my arms was standing straight up by the end.
So. Good.



Man, I love Queen.

on breastfeeding...

There. Now those of you who are squeamish at the thought can skip this post and go on with your lives.
So I've been thinking about breastfeeding for awhile - long enough to blog about it.
I've never been one of those women who adore breastfeeding, who love breastfeeding, who gush about what a bonding experience it is to breastfeed your child. I've also never been entirely eager to whip out the boob. That being said I'm way more free second time around. If I'm around family and Jude needs to eat, the boob comes out. Otherwise I'm armed with my trusty Hooter Hider (that's its actual name!) nursing cover.
But my reasons for breastfeeding are simple:
1. It's free. Formula is so expensive. I remember gasping in shock when I purchased a tin of it as I started weaning Noah off the boob. So expensive! And especially now as newborns eat so much and so often I can't imagine all the formula I'd go through. Which leads to my next point...
2. It's easy (in a matter of speaking). It's easy in that I don't have to prepare a bottle, measure out formula, boil water and let it come to room temperature and then clean it all out (which can be particularly pesky with all the little parts bottles come with these days). Sure it's not "easy" at first getting the technique and getting baby to latch properly but if you stick with it long enough it is easy.
So...while everyone knows "breast is best" for baby and all the stuff you hear...I'm not going to push it on any mother for the wonderful experience because you can have that experience when you bottle feed your child.
Sure I loved doing the "dream feed" with Noah at around 10pm every night - he was so sweetly sleeping and he could eat in his sleep (something Jude has not mastered quite yet...almost, but not quite) and I always looked forward to seeing what position he'd be lying in or what his facial expression would be. It was a sweet experience, but not exclusive to breastfeeding by any means.
Anyway...I just wanted to put that out there for the blogosphere to know. I breastfeed, but purely for practical reasons.
I'm lazy and I'm cheap.
And there you have it, folks.

lured

It's 11:48pm and do you know where your children are?

I know where mine are.
In bed.
Asleep.
Where I should be.

Dang. Why is it that I am lured by the siren call of the internet? So much to read, catch up on, social media stuff (uh...anyone tweet me yet?) and oh yes...blogging. I officially have no time to blog during the day time and evenings are when Jamie and I hang out/catch up/have "dates" so when is there left to blog? Nights.

Dang. I promised myself I'd get to bed earlier and I will pay for it tomorrow. Or tonight.

OR MAYBE

Jude will sleep through the night tonight!!!!

Yeah.
maybe.

Yes. I just spent the last (I can't do math this late) 4 minutes blogging this when I could have been brushing my teeth before hopping into bed.

being a sick mommy

The other day I took a call from a co-worker of Jamie's.
She asked how my weekend was and I told her that it was okay but not great because I had got a cold. She then said she could totally relate. Part of me wanted to stop her right there and tell her she likely could NOT relate but I thought that would be rude and she proceeded to tell me how she too had come down with some sort of sickness and spent Saturday sleeping. That same part of me (the rude part) then wanted to say something to the effect of, "And that is the difference between those who have kids and those who don't." Spending Saturday in bed (sick or not) sounds amazing right about now.
Is there really a better way to spend your day than in bed?!?!
In my current sleep-deprived state, I think not.

Anyway, the rude part of me did not say those things (my filter still works at this point) and we commiserated about how rough it is to be sick.
But...that's one of the downsides of being a Mom. And I guess I just need to suck it up. Because there are a lot of upsides. :)

full

As I look forward to this next year I'm so excited!
Who knew my life could be so full and exciting?!

Here are some things I'm excited about both little and big (in chronological order):
1. October 2-4 - I'll be up North in beautiful Haliburton with my boys and about 200 university students on a C4C retreat. I love it at this time of year - the air is so fresh, the leaves are gorgeous and the lake is so relaxing. I'm sure Noah will love tromping around outside.
2. October 5th? - or around this time I hope to go to Chudleigh's apple farm with our friends and their kids. It's nice to just be outside, picking apples and seeing Noah discover and enjoy new things. We did this last year and it was so much fun! Plus...eating apples off the tree...priceless.
3. Thanksgiving! Love it.
4. My birthday! October 21st. I don't have anything planned yet...not sure if I will or not, but birthdays are always fun.
5. Noah's birthday! He turns 2 on October 25th. I can't believe I'll have a 2 year old! I want to make these for him.
6. Jamie's birthday! He turns 28 on November 6th. Maybe we'll do something fun! :)
7. Christmas! Although I do enjoy Christmas it has lately become busy and slightly stressful. I'd like to take more time this year to enjoy it and prepare my heart more this year as I build into my boys the true meaning of Christmas.
8. My sister's wedding! She gets married on February 27th and I'm the maid (okay, so I'm really a matron...but whatever) of honour! What a privilege and a blessing.
9. Panama!!! Jamie and I will be taking the boys and going to Panama for a missions trip in May & June and I'm actually pretty excited about it. I've always loved traveling and now that I've done it a bit more with kids, I think it'll be fun! Well, the being there will likely be more fun than the GETTING there, but...yay!
10. My bestie's wedding!!! My beautiful friend Tamsin is getting married in July and she's asked me to be her maid (yes, yes...whatever on the matron) of honour - and she's getting married in ENGLAND! So likely I'll be taking Jude with me while Jamie goes to a work conference and Noah stays with Grandma for the week.

Anyway, with 2 boys and all this coming up it surely is a full and blessed life.
Now...how to keep the main thing the main thing? I guess that's another post for another time.

the lucky one

Despite the sleep deprivation, I am one lucky Mama.

tired

What I wouldn't give for some more sleep. In fact, a dream weekend for me would be to sleep for the entire duration of it.
Last night I got Jude to bed before the 10pm feed but then when I tried to get him to feed at around 10:30pm he wouldn't wake up and he wouldn't eat in his sleep.
So I went to bed and Jude woke up at 12:30am. Grunting, farting but not eating. It was really frustrating and I felt like I was going to drop from exhaustion.
So I put him back down after a few sips at the boob since he didn't seem interested.
He woke up at around 3am I think - same thing happened.
Woke up at 5:30am - lather, rinse, repeat.

Sigh.

I am tired. I want more sleep. And I would like it right now.

We are forgoing church this morning as Jamie's working on campus all day today and I just don't have it in me to take 2 little ones by myself (and likely end up in Noah's classroom for the whole service anyway).

I'm tired.

victory

Last night my sister got engaged and some family and friends were going to meet at a restaurant and surprise my sister there post-proposal. However, the meeting time wasn't until after 8pm (and I was guessing at least after 8:30pm by the time my sister and her fiance were to show up).
So I weighed my options...
Do we bring Noah and Jude? Just Jude? Do we go at all?
Oh yes, and this was in downtown Toronto - so about...an hour+ away from home for us.
I really wanted to be there for my sister and felt bad leaving one or both boys with Jamie so I decided we should go for it. I had no idea how Noah would do being up so late, but we were going to be flexible and that was that.
Well the surprise was surprising for my sister and lovely and wonderful and I'm so glad I could be there for it all!
Noah was a sweetie pie and wanted to cuddle up in my arms a few times with a blanket and his soother - he knew it was past his bedtime but was very sweet and didn't act out at all. At one point he was playing under the table and started clapping and saying "Yay!" when everyone cheered for my sister and her fiance. In all, he was up about 3 hours past his bedtime! Jude slept through the entire thing (shouting and "yay"ing and clapping and everything) and both boys were great.
I used to think I was a very laid back person pre-kids and was shocked after Noah was born to find out that I, indeed did appreciate (and often NEEDED) structure and predictability to my days - it was at least SOMETHING I could count on to happen if nothing else did.
Now that our routine has been solidified for many, many months now it's nice to break from it all every now and then and the fact that both boys slept through the whole ride home and Jude was even able to stretch the time between feedings to about 3.5 hrs (instead of 2.5 or 3!) was simply a wonderful (if not hoped for) bonus.
In my quest to be "flexible" I am victorious.

bye bye

It is the end of an era.

Last night as I was brushing my teeth, my tongue stud fell out. Well, okay, the entire thing did not fall out, but the ball on the top had become unscrewed and when I spit in the sink, it came out and down the drain it went.
I have many other little fasteners (can I just write "balls"?) for the top of my tongue stud, but I stood there and debated - to leave out or not to leave out the tongue stud?

I decided to leave it out.

I am not defined by my tongue stud. I am past the phase where I hoped that when people realized I had a tongue stud, they'd think I was so cool. Tongue stud or not, I think I can be pretty cool. (When I'm not so sleep deprived?)

Anyway, 9 years ago I got my tongue stud (in New Zealand of all places!).

Last night I took it out. (Or rather decided to leave it out.)

I don't regret it. I don't think.

music

So even in my new Mom/hermit-like state, I am managing to hear (everybody cheer for the internet on the count of three...) about fantastic music - namely, Grizzly Bear's Two Weeks. This song is so epic it inspires fans to make amazing videos. Take this one for example:

Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear from Gabe Askew on Vimeo.

Or how about this one:



Amazing.

Such a good song. I think I'll have to investigate this band called Grizzly Bear. I don't think I have enough credit on iTunes anymore to purchase the entire album but at the very least, I may just purchase this song.

8 things

8 Things I’m Looking Forward To:

1. getting more than 3 hrs of sleep in a row
2. going out on Friday for Starbucks with Jen
3. autumn
4. fitting into my pre-pregnancy clothes
5. being at full support
6. seeing Noah & Jude play together one day
7. getting a haircut
8. going on a date with Jamie some day soon

8 Things I Did Yesterday:

1. nursed Jude (numerous times)
2. napped
3. ate some amazing shishkabobs & peach pie (courtesy of Amanda!)
4. took pictures of Jude
5. went to the library
6. went on Facebook
7. played with Noah
8. visited with Beth & Dorrie

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. Sleep for more than 3 hrs at a time
2. lose weight more quickly
3. resist sweets
4. go on a vacation
5. sing really well
6. act in a musical/play
7. Not have bags under my eyes
8. sit outside and not sweat to death with all this humidity

8 Shows I Watch:

1.How I Met Your Mother
2. 24
3. Smallville
4. LOST
5. Heroes
6. The Office
7. Beverly Hills 90210 (on DVD)
8. Prison Break

8 Favorite Fruits:

1. Strawberries
2. Blackberries
3. Apples
4. Raspberries
5. Bananas (but only before they get too ripe)
6. Clementine Oranges
7. Mangos
8. Pineapple

8 Places I’d Like To Travel To:

1. Greece
2. New Zealand (again)
3. Fiji
4. French Polynesia
5. Italy
6. England (to visit my friend living there)
7. Thailand
8. France

8 Places I’ve Lived:

1. Toronto, ON
2. Kitchener, ON
3. Guelph, ON
4. Cambridge, NZ
5. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (but only for a few months at a time)
6. That's it...unless you count the times I've moved IN Guelph
7.
8.

Only do it if you want to!