What is this, ME time thing I keep hearing about?

It's Friday - and Friday before I leave for a whole week off from work so today, we're blogging in colour!!!

OK, so here's my problem - well maybe not problem, but here's my thing for today. I will not wake to the sounds of a blaring alarm next to me head for the next 9 mornings in a row, I will not drag my ass out of bed, into the shower and then squeeze into my "work" clothes and I will not walk the 8 minute walk to the bus and wait and curse as the cars fly by with no site of my bus anywhere. I will not do any of these things and I'm afraid that without this routine I'm going to be bored!

That's right, I said it, BORED!!

Now, before you roll your eyes and start yelling obscenities at me for rubbing in the fact that I'm on vacation all next week I must explain. I haven't had a week to myself where I didn't have to do favours for someone, have specific tasks to complete or people to take care of in I really can't remember how long and I don't know what to do with myself. I'm hoping to convince myself to go for a jog at least 5 of those days and I want to get a pedicure and of course we will do some sort of fun, family-type day trips to places within Ontario but that's only going to fill so much time!

When I was on Mat leave, I got really good at finding ways to fill the days. Going for really long walks, playing for hours at the park (in the early days, playing meant me sitting in the park reading while Bum-bum slept peacefully in his stroller!) Those days I'm afraid are over for now and I don't know if I want to get back into that mode. At least not yet, and not only for 1 week! Baby number two probably isn't that far off so I'll have plenty of time to relive those glory days.

So, I need help. I need ideas for ways to keep myself busy next week that doesn't include me cleaning my house, doing laundry, grocery shopping or anything that's really, really domestic. Fire away friends cause I'm open to just about anything. In fact, I'm even considering one of these options....

Bedroom Games

To party, or not to party, I can't believe that's even a question!

OK, so since we've moved to the village, our expenses for yearly birthday parties has at least tripled. Everyone on the court is very friendly and sociable and are constantly attempting to include us in all of the events - backyard barbecues, pool parties, court birthday parties...The list goes on! While I cannot even begin to express how much I appreciate the sentiments of being made to feel like we fit in and are a part of the "family" I also wonder how we would be perceived by the group if we were to decline the invitations.

As a matter of fact, the weekend after we first moved into the house, we were invited to the neighbours four year-old's birthday party. Now, sure, if we'd lived here for years and knew the history of all the kids on the court it probably would have been good times. Here's the problem though, CJ and I are both notoriously terrible with names and could barely remember the parent's names let alone which kid was which and who belonged to who. We decided against going and thankfully bum-bum really was not feeling well, nor were either of us but really, the main reason we decided against going was because the activities, although designed for pre-schoolers, were still too old for our little man.

We have a 17 month old (it was his 17 month-aversary yesterday by the way!) He is the youngest on the court and obviously when we attend these kinds of things he is always the baby of the group. That means the rest of the parents are sitting around drinking and enjoying themselves while we are busy running after bum-bum making sure that he's not either getting run over by the bigger kids or literally shooting his eye out with one of their toys.

Our neighbours have all been awesome, but especially the ones to the East of us. They have a garage full of things that mommy neighbour isn't ready to part with yet, but she is more than happy to share while the boys are all out playing (apparently it's the joke around here that no one seems capable of producing a girl - out of 8 houses there is only 1 girl.) Bum-bum is in absolute awe of the big kids - he wants to do everything they do but sometimes when we're at these functions I just feel bad for him. I feel like we're the odd ones out as well because I don't get to sit and socialize with them - if we were all in our backyard where I know that bum-bum isn't going to drown in a pool, or fall down a steep slide or off a high ladder I wouldn't worry so much.

How does everyone else deal with the birthday party for an older child syndrome? Am I out on my own here??

I always thought that we could fit into any situation - that we would always find something that we could feed the bum, and we could always find something that would keep him occupied. I guess what I'm learning now, is that there really are some situations that just aren't appropriate for a small man - if only because it's not fair to keep running after him and keeping him from doing the things that he sees all the bigger kids doing. Why dangle the carrot from the branch if you're never going to cut it down and give it to them, right?

I'm interested to see how other people deal with the awkward age situtation....

Dictator in the how-se!

You know that little thread of hope that we all hold onto after we have kids that one day, maybe not in the near future, but one day we - the parents - will take back the position of head of the household? Well, I think today I finally resigned as person trying to be in charge and accepted my fate that I will never again be the one who calls the shots in the village household.

As we sat in our local village restaurant trying to enjoy a nice dinner tonight, it dawned on me that ever since becoming a parent I don't really enjoy my food anymore. I don't take those small bites and savour the flavours as they mingle and blend on my tongue, it's more like an inhalation process really. I don't get to experiment with the finest of wines anymore either - there once was a story about a girl who used to get taken out for dinner to really fine restaurants where the bottles of wine to be enjoyed that evening would be picked based on which ones were the most expensive. That was a nice fariytale!

Now, we select our restaurants based on how clean the high chairs are and how many other families with small children are sitting in the dining room so that the sometimes glass crackling exclamations that often come out of bum-bums mouth these days might just blend in with the others around us.

CJ said to me tonight, "We've become the people that we used to hate." You know what, it's true. It's funny how before you even have kids you can be so critical and such an expert, a canner if you will about something that you know NOTHING about(the subject for another blog all on it's own and one of my biggest pet peeves!) But it's true, I've learned one important thing since becoming a mother (other than the fact that I am no longer in the driver's seat of this household) and that is that you truly cannot criticise others for the way they do something - whether it's what time they put their kids to bed, or how clean a person's house is until you live through a day with a 17 month old who has more energy than an ADD 6-year old that's just had 6 litres of blue Kool-aid and 5 packages of watermelon hubba bubba!

The word no - something else I said I would never use - has come out of my mouth more times in the 3 hours that I've been home with bum-bum tonight than it did my entire day at work today. And I said NO A LOT today!

So here's the ironic thing, I love the little man to death but what I'm coming to realize more and more is that being back at work, and being away from him all day makes me realize just how much I love him and miss him when I'm not with him and it makes me want to spend absolutely every moment I can watching him, laughing with him and his newest trick - singing with him! So, while I hope to be able to stay home after the next one, I know that I'll need to do something - anything really - to make sure that I do get out of the house maybe not every single day but mommy's gonna need some sain time!

The dictator is destroying my house - is it too early in my mommy career for nanny 9-1-1?

Time, shmime!

When I first decided to post a blog I thought I would ocassionally post something here. Things that were happening in the village world - things that perplex me as a person. I never really thought that I'd have to actually find time to think about the kinds of things that I wanted to post. Every day stuff happens. Everyday Bum-bum does something hysterical and Captain Jack usually does something that's noteworthy - I didn't say it was always good, although for the most part it is! I wonder though does anyone else have the same problem? Do you ever sit down and think I really want to post something - something profound and amazing but just don't seem to come up with anything? Oh, btw, in case anyone was wondering the post that is titled "}! was Alex's handywork - apparently he wants to be a part of this blog too!
I find time to be a very stressful issue for me now. Finding time to spend with all of my friends and family - or the lack there of. Finding time to keep my house organized and clean is a battle that I really seem to be losing. On the weekend, I swear I am constantly picking up the exact same things over and over again. Sometimes I think I'm Bill Murray trapped in Pucksatony (I totally made the spelling of that up, but I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about!) Seriously though, does anyone else ever just say forget it and walk away from the weebles scattered all over the floor? I think that June Cleaver is not someone for us to look up to and admire, I think she's someone that we should abolish from the minds of others for forever. I'm no super-mom and I don't pretend to be either. I'm not going to lie to you, if you came to my house without giving me at least 45 minutes notice (which I absolutely have no problem with...) I can't promise you that there wouldn't be dishes in the sink, a bit of dog hair here and there and potentially a full layer of toys covering the floor plan of my house! I refuse to spend my precious time doing stuff that I don't even enjoy except when I absolutely have to.

Mommies of the world unite!

I'll take mine black thank you!

When I was little, I could never understand the appeal of coffee. I couldn't grasp why anyone would want to drink that foul, steaming black stew that filled my parents mugs every morning - and all day long on the weekends. Slowly as I got older, I learned to first appreciate the smell of coffee, then the idea of coffee and finally, or maybe at last I've learned to appreciate - even savour - the taste of coffee.
For me, my love of coffee is equatable to that of my appreciation for wine. As a little girl, my parents would never stop me or my siblings from sneaking a sip of beer or wine - in fact I think that my mom thought that by giving us a taste of alcohol at home that we wouldn't go out looking for it elsewhere. I hated wine when I first started drinking. I thought it smelled bad and tasted even worse. Slowly however, I grew to truly appreciate a good bottle of wine and even more so with a superb meal!

The same was true for coffee. Once we hit our early teens, if we wanted a cup of coffee, we could have it although there would definitely be commentary from one of the critics. If it wasn't either of my parents, then it was surely going to come from one of the sibs. It wasn't however, until I moved out to go to U of T that I really began to drink coffee - more for it's ability to make my eyes peel open in the morning than for any sort of real enjoyement. The more I drank of it the more it grew on me. Now of course it could have had something to do with the fact that there was really more sugar and cream than there was coffee, but that's beside the point really!

About half-way through my pregnancy, once food didn't repulse me so much anymore, I found myself really, really missing coffee. I think however that I missed the ritual of coffee. I missed getting up in the morning, pressing that button and having the kitchen fill with the delightful smell of morning - of fresh brewed coffee. I think it was at that same time that I realized that really, coffee drinking is something like smoking. It's as much an actual need to fulfill the morning or the weekend ritual as it is about actually liking what's in your mug. How many people get up on the weekend, pour a cup of coffee and curl up with the paper? OK, I don't get to read a real paper anymore, but I do get to have the coffee and I usually get to look at a couple of flyers while bumbum rushes around us trying to rip the the papers right out of our hands.

But I get to have my coffee and now and I understand why my parents enjoyed their mugs of black sludge. It wasn't necessarily the taste (I hope!) or the smell or the delicious warmth of the mug on a snowy Saturday in November but it was about the ritual and I'm sure that the caffine jolt didn't go unnoticed either! And now, in the world of lattes and non-fat tazo chai drinks, I think that I appreciate a good cup of coffee even more. In fact, Fridays are my treat day where not only do I get to have my morning coffee, but I get to buy a delicious latte from Second Cup as well. Life doesn't get much better than that!

Friday, here I come!

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The not so secret diary...

Wow - I've never done this before nor do I really know why I'm doing this now other than so many people I know have blogs and I really like reading their postings. I think it's a really cool opportunity to truly get to know people that you see on a regular basis, but maybe don't have the opportunity to REALLY get to know.

I hope to use this as a place to post thoughts about being the Village Mama (the Village because we just recently moved to the Pickering Village in Ajax) and how life has changed for me and for Captain Jack (as the hubby would like to be refered to - I guess it's better than Titanium Man!) Plus, there's the other man in my life - our soon-to-be 17 mth old who I most frequently refer to as bum-bum. Not sure where that one came from, but it's the one that seems to come out the most! He is the light of our life and every day he amazes me and CJ with his discoveries and naked awe of the world around him. I never knew that a twig with a few leaves on it could be so absolutely amazing until I sat with bum-bum for 25 minutes one day just looking at it - touching the leaves and feeling the roughness of the "bark" on the stem. It's amazing how soon we become oblivious about the wonder all around us. In our house, grass is the coolest thing ever!

I hope that people will visit - and leave thoughts, comments, recipies - whatever you want!! I hope that I can publish something half as wonderful as some of the other sites I've been to!