Christmas Two Years Ago....

The first few flakes of winter hit our yard and the city of Toronto this weekend and we are not sure how long they will stay.  But after almost 10 years of living somewhere that doesn't have really snowy winters starting in November, it was a tiny bit magical.  We spent the weekend quietly at home watching the flurries cavort around the yard in the strong winds and then pool at the edges of fences and sidewalks.  We hibernated.  Reading, baking, cooking and catching up on sleep after finishing our third round of colds (and starting what looks like a fourth.  Sigh).  But it was nice to be still.

And it meant that I spent a little bit of time looking through some old pictures from a couple of years ago.  I found a few gems from pre-Christmas two years ago when I was pregnant with Gabriel and although I am, with great discipline holding off on doing any Christmas decorating before December first, just thought I would share a few in festive spirit.

Winter two years ago, we were graced with a few mornings of shimmering hoar-frost on the trees, grasses and mosses along the beach by the river close to our house in BC where we would walk the dog.  And if you got up early enough, you could catch the sunlight shimmering through the iced branches in glistening beads of light.  We spent a few mornings down there by the beach with Jordan throwing rocks and blocks of ice across frozen pools of water where they would ricochet and shatter the thin layer ice sending a reverberation of loud springy echoes in the valley.  They could have happily done this for hours.

I remember getting so excited for Christmas that year, knowing that merely a year from then, our baby (who we were yet to meet) would be almost one and crawling around indiscriminately tearing open presents.  But that didn't stop us from picking up a few presents for baby-to-be!  This was to be our last "quiet" Christmas for a long time and we were excited about the upcoming changes. 

Now, two years later, I find myself in the almost the same situation--holding a little life within me once again: A beautiful present from above, arriving just shortly after Christmas.

You might also like: 

• A Christmas Filled with the Joy of a Little Boy.
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• This time last year.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Here we are--so young!  It's been a beautiful thing, these past eight years, being married to my best friend, going on grand adventures and starting our little family.  Can't imagine life without you.  Happy Anniversary Husband!

Apologies for the poor picture quality.  We had a million photos taken that day, all of which were much better quality, but for some reason, this is one of my favorites, that candid moment just after the pronouncement and before we went down the aisle.  A little, "Oh hi there husband." :)

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Ticks, Web MD and Re-blogs

Our Sunday morning got hijacked today when I went to give our dog Abe a morning snuggle only to find, buried beneath all that fluffy white hair, a yucky. Ugly. Engorged. Tick.  Ok, so for those of you that don't own a dog and live in the Eastern United States, perhaps you are not up on exactly how harmful a tick here can be.  Well, here, we are in "the know" on deer ticks which often carry Lyme disease here--quite debilitating for humans, of which we know three people now and one dog (who has a slight limp and a hazy right eye).

So when we discovered, not one but two ticks (one, headless, on the carpet) and the other buried in Abe, my panic button went off.  I tried to contact two neighbors for rubbing alcohol at 8:30 in the morning and I just about pulled Jordan out of the shower.  Together, rubber-gloved and tweezers in hand, we held Abe down and tried to carefully extract the tick.   After much confusion (thanks to the Internet) as to HOW one goes about the task of tick removal, the tick's body was removed. Unfortunately, despite following the best advice we encountered, we weren't able to get the tick's head out. 

Today we visited the vet who assured us that the tick was not the evil, loathed deer tick and that we did in fact get the entire thing, head and all (after some digging around in Abe's wound).  We go back in a month for screening just in case, especially given his other eye-health conditions.

Anyway, in my jumping to conclusions about all the possibilities (likely enhanced by Web MD), a friend sent me a message reminding me of this funny post I sent out last year about what I thought was a disastrous worm infestation: 


It's 11:00 pm. And I am wide awake.

(Fortunately the worms ended up being moth larvae, which is totally normal and not invasive).  But just a little reminder to me of the futility of Web-MD and self-diagnosis (and paranoia).  Today we breathe a sigh of relief.

And for the record:  Ticks. Are. Disgusting.

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• A boy and his dog 
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Reblog: It's 11:00 pm. And I am wide awake.

Written and published last summer on "Our Little Bloob."  Reblogged here for your entertainment. 
 
So, it's 11:00pm.

I just had a party of people over this evening but at the end of the evening when people have left, I look down on the blanket on the lawn and discover a worm, ok, maybe two worms.  Not any ordinary worm.  A bad, bad, bad worm.  It's one that looks like it does not belong there or anywhere.  It looks like a round worm or a tape worm or a ring worm.  I don't know.  (Later, I'll google them.  But they all look the same).

I immediately freak out in my head.  I quickly examine my dress.  The rest of the blanket, my hair.  All while trying to look inconspicuous.  I think about how Gabriel was just laying on the blanket.  And his friend Noah.  What if he touched one.  What if one got in his mouth??  I think back on the day, when he was laying on the blanket with his toy playing.  What if he was grabbing the grass and then he touched a worm or an egg and ingested one?  What if I got one?  My stomach gurgles.  What if Abe is laying in our room and he has them and they are crawling all over the floor? 

I open my laptop.  Google.  I don't even know what I am googling.  I contact the "Green Clean" company via email for a lawn consultation.  I look at the floors.  I need to vacuum. What if they are getting into the carpet and I can't even see them? 

What if Noah gets them?  How will I let my friend Stephanie know that, yeah, that time she brought her son Noah over to play, he got worms.  Oh. my.  I don't want them to have worms.  I don't want to be the house where you bring your kids and they get worms.  But most importantly, I don't want them to have worms.

What if Gabriel already has them from spending the whole week outside on the front lawn?  I think back.  I would know if he had them.  They would be in his diaper.  I could see them.  I crawl into his room and grab the diaper bag.  I pull out all the diapers one by one.  It's 10:30 pm.  I open them.  No poop, no poop, no poop.... When did he poop last?  Oh no.  He hasn't pooped in a couple of days?  Maybe that is because he has worms?  Finally, I get to one.  I examine carefully.  What is that?  It that a worm?  Nope.  Weird colour.  I examine my "What to Expect in the First Year" looking for the page where they talk about poop colours.  I go back and forth from the index to the TOTALLY UNCATEGORIZED chapters.  Categorized by age, but not by topic.  Can't they have chapters that are topics??? Like "Poop--what you need to know." Finally found it.  Okay.  Everything is normal.

What do I do now?  Do I wait?  Do I take him to the clinic in the morning?  Wasn't he acting weird tonight before bed?  I flip on the monitor and watch.  He is still sleeping.  A bit restless.  Do kids with worms sleep?  Have a fever?  When will I know he's ok?  Should I call the nurses?  Should I call Jordan?  It's midnight in Calgary.  Who do I talk to?  Everyone all over the world is sleeping and I am on the computer googling....  Self-diagnosing, problem-solving, questioning.   "How do I know my child has worms?"  "Bad worms in lawns." "How to get rid of worms." And I don't like what I see.  My skin is literally crawling. How will I EVER sleep now.

I laugh in spite of myself.  Is this motherhood?  I see a worm and panic.  I have a feeling that I will never stop worrying.  And that right now the "threats" or "problems" aren't even real.  (Well, that remains to be seen).  Yet, here I am.  I. AM. AWAKE. Tomorrow, I am washing everything.

First Signs of Spring?

Yesterday surprised us with its warm rays of sunshine and we just couldn't be outside enough--a long dog walk in the morning along the trails sprouting with crocuses and the promise of daffodils followed by an afternoon spent outside with Abe roaming the property and Gabriel pushing his Tonka truck up and down the hills, over the little steps and through the grass.

As I sat watching the boys, Abe meandering, and Gabriel on his mission, I couldn't help but wax nostalgic for our little patch of green earth we call our own in BC--the flowers, the sun-warmed grass, our veggie bed and shaded alcoves.  My heart ached a little.  On days like yesterday I want nothing more than to dig my hands into the earth and pull up weeds (I know, who likes wedding?), to free the new buds from vines that wrap around them, to put new soil in, to see life grow.  I longed for the contentment that comes from a hard days' labour outside in the sunshine, the cool evenings when I wander around and admire it long after Gabriel has gone to sleep.

And so, here are just a few pictures from our home in BC.

But for now, I love this place too.  So I'll sit on the front stoop having little conversations with the little neighbor girl next door, and maybe get myself a glowing pot of annuals, a little chair, don my sunhat and sundress and sip lemonade.  Anyone want to join me?

Ps. Today we were hit with a snowstorm, known as "Saturn."  Apparently, we are naming snowstorms now--a snowstorm that resulted in not much of anything... except very wet coats and shoes and essentially a federal holiday.  I think Mother Weather is a little conflicted about whether or not spring is actually coming but we are hopeful!   

Fostering a love for cooking: Baking with my one year old

Laurie Colwin once said, “No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers.”

I remember when I was very little watching my grandmother,"Grammy" cook at their old house that was part of the hardware store--pot roasts and cranberry pudding with caramel sauce.  The kitchen was a place we spent a lot of time in: talking, waiting for food, socializing or just passing through on our way somewhere else.  It was the center of that old house.  And my parent's home was much the same way.  It's the first place you go to congregate, to wait for coffee, to bake cookies in, but mostly it's a place to spend time in the company of family.

 

In our house now, even though the kitchen isn't very big, it's a place all parties like to happen--Abe waiting for the latest droppings and Gabriel stirring his bowl of "key soup."  Our little kitchen too, seems to be the place to congregate.  And I guess I'm ok with that, even if the kitchen is a total disaster or I feel like I am constantly tripping over pots and pans and smaller bodies (did I mention that I've started using the "baby prison" I put in the kitchen)--it seems to foster of love of fine cuisine and of our little kitchen community.

When I got married and moved away, I took with me a little folder of recipes to which I have added a collection of recipes from all sides of the family, along with recipes of my own and ones I have found over the past few years.  Perhaps someday I will get creative and create an actual little book of them to give to Gabriel when he moves out of the house in a... very.... long... time....  But for now, I like the open-endedness of it, the fact that I can add new recipes to it anytime.  It leaves the possibilities of new recipes to be found and many more hours spent in the kitchen with my boys.

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Two little clips from Gabriel's Birthday

Just two little clips from Gabriel's Birthday that I meant to post a long time ago.  Sorry you had to wait so long!!  Some videos for our family and friends who wanted to be at Gabriel's birthday party but couldn't be there.  Of course a little birthday song, led by Fizey on the guitar and then a little chowing down.  And I gotta say that our little man made us very proud by knowing exactly what to do.  He ate the WHOLE thing. 

There.  Now maybe you feel like you were there! :)

This time last year....

This time last year, Jordan and I were anxiously awaiting Gabriel's arrival.  This time in my life was so beautiful to me, so I am glad we captured it on camera.  I felt so full of hope and promise of new life, I could barely contain myself.  Carrying Gabriel changed everything for me and brought my life into perspective.  There is something about the slow growing of a little body, the mystery of his little personality and reality of what new life means that makes you slow down, breathe, and give pause for thought at the enormity of it all.

Thank you Mike Barry for taking these amazing photos.  He's the best photographer in Squamish, BC.  March Seven Photography