Masthead header
10.14.10

Day 153 – Bravery

Bravery is not one of my strong suits.  Turns out though, that the apple can fall far from the tree.

On the weekend, we went to a birthday party.  Jaia’s little buddy turned 4.  The theme was ‘animals’ and the entertainment included a visit from Little Ray’s Reptiles.  The kids were ecstatic.  The adults, mostly less so.  We get creeped out way easier than our littles.

Snakes and lizards don’t phase me.  I basically grew up with them.  My uncle Dave always had pythons and boas at his place and they were often out of their cages and around his shoulders.  He also had a handful of lizards, including 6 foot iguanas that had their own room in the house.   All were just pets.

But I drew the line at his tarantulas.  No way, not cool.

On Saturday, Little Ray began to presentation with an awesome big ole iguana.  The kids were a bit weirded out at first and only a few wanted to pet him.  The Black Rat Snake was a bit more popular.  Most of the kids thought he was cool looking and wanted to hold him.

I’m not sure if it was watching the older girls or if she just really wanted to check ’em out, but she suddenly wanted in:

Then came the frog:

And the scorpion.  Yes, I’m serious.

I couldn’t believe how brave she was.  I never expected it.  Even some of the adults approached me saying they couldn’t believe she was only 3.  And nothing would stop her.  No matter how creepy the critter, my girl just wasn’t afraid.

I sat beside her the whole time but I drew the line at the tarantula.  No way, not cool.

Jaia disagreed.  She wanted to hold him.  And rather than running and hiding like I wanted to do, I stepped away, pretending I could get a better picture from a different angle.  Truth was, I was PETRIFIED.  I don’t care that tarantula venom has never killed a human being (as per Little Ray), I wanted nothing to do with it.  But I never let on.  Why should Jaia believe there’s something to be afraid of just because her mom is afraid?  and by afraid, I mean PETRIFIED.

So out came her hand…

and on it crept…

I still get the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.  Having the pictures don’t help.  What didn’t give me the heebie jeebies was this little dude:

and Kyler and jaia agreed.  The last couple of reptiles were also awesome.  An enormous albino python and a sweet land turtle that had them all oohing and ahhing.

This was the greatest little kid party I’ve ever been to.  It was brilliant.  The kids were amazed.  And my little bean loved every second.  I’d like to say that I’ll throw a party like this when my own little guy turns 4, but I may have to have one for my brave, brave little lady long before that.

Filed in: Birthdays | Jaia | Photo of the Day | Wes
comment
October 15, 2010 - 11:16 am

contributor mark - Is she still afraid of spiders? Because that would make no sense.

10.13.10

Day 152 – Five.

I had grand plans to post this yesterday.  And then I fell asleep.  I’m exhausted.  My 5 month old is still nowhere near sleeping through the night.  At this point I’d settle for 4 or 5 hours in a row, but I’m lucky if I get 2.

But seriously, that’s the only complaint I have.  My boy is awesome.  He’s happy.  So very happy.  He smiles and laughs much of the day (and night – hence the paragraph above), a stark contrast to what he did for the first three months of his life.  So we are soaking it in and loving every single smile.  And his laugh, well, it knocks the wind out of me.

He’s been rolling over and hard to contain for over a month now.  Since then he’s been plotting his escape by inching his way from point A to point B.  Not crawling yet, but he’s hellbent on figuring it out.  He’s been working on a lot, actually…

My sweet Wes is 5 months old today.  Contrary to the ‘how to’ books, I rocked my boy to sleep this afternoon.  He goes down easily into his crib for naps, but I chose to rock him.  His sister was off at school and the house was quiet.  He fell asleep in my arms and while I could have (should have) put him down and gotten busy crossing some things off my to-do list, I didn’t.  I sat there and watched him sleep.  I memorized his tiny nose and his eyelashes that go on for miles.  I listened to the rhythm of his breathing and snuggled him close.

By next month he’ll be bigger.  He’ll be sitting up and maybe crawling.  He’ll be eating solids.  He’ll be half a year old and he just won’t be so little anymore.  As I complained this morning, a very good friend reminded me not to wish this away.  I may want to sleep more – and that will come – but I will never get to enjoy these sweet moments the same way ever again.

And I’m off to do just that.  See you tomorrow…

Filed in: Big events | Photo of the Day | Wes
comment
October 14, 2010 - 5:55 am

Dominik - Shannen, thanks for this post. It really made my day !!!

10.10.10

Day 149 – 10.10.10

October 10, 2010.  Tenth day of the tenth month of the tenth year.

I thought it appropriate to acknowledge the day with a top 1o list.  And seeing as it is Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, I thought it even more appropriate to list the top 10 things I am thankful for at this very minute.  I warn you, I’m pretty thankful lately, so it may be mushy.

1.  Wesley and Jaia – together and separately.  These two kids amaze me every day.  They are happy and healthy and wonderful littles.  I adore how much Wesley lights up when he sees his sister and I love that Jaia calls Wes, “her prince”.  I knew I would love being a mom of two, but I didn’t have any idea that it would be this good.

2.  Dan – My husband cooks, cleans, gives baths, feeds, does hair, dresses (sometimes poorly), drives, encourages, hugs, tells bedtime stories and most of all, he loves.  I may not tell him as often as I should, but I never let a day go by without taking a few minutes to remind myself how lucky I am to have him and that I could not do any of this without him.

3.  Family – We have a big family.  A HUGE extended family.  They are spread out between two countries and are mostly much too far away for my liking.  But despite the distance, our family has our back.  Any time we’ve needed help with absolutely anything, they have hopped in a car, on a plane or picked up the phone and were there for us in any way they could be as soon as they could be.   I’m so very thankful for all of them.

4.  Friends – Obvious, yes.  Typical, no.  I am still friends – best friends – with some of the people who signed my yearbook in grade 7 and used ‘BFF’ before using BFF was trendy.  Some of us are going on 24 years.  Together we’ve been through bad clothes, worse hair, braces, true love, broken hearts, hangovers, weddings and funerals and now babies.  These girls love me for who I am and only sometimes remind me of it.  😉  But I’m doubly lucky because not only do I have them, I have met some people later in life who I feel very lucky to also call my friends.  Whether I’ve known them almost a quarter century (wow, that makes me feel old) or just a few months, my friends mean the world to me.   I’m very thankful for each of them.

5.  Health – We have our health.  Beyond the odd cold or flu here and there, Dan, the kids and I are genuinely healthy and I couldn’t be happier about it.

6.  Caffeine – In September 2009 I gave up tea and coffee when i learned I was pregnant.  I didn’t have any throughout the pregnancy and since I made it that long, I decided not to bother starting again.  A few months after Wes was born and we still weren’t sleeping, I played with the idea of starting again but didn’t.  When October rolled around and I realized it had been over a year, I patted myself on the back for being so strong and then immediately threw in the towel.  My first cup was divine.  And every cup since has put a small smile on my face.  I am much, much happier with caffeine in my life.

7.  Job/Maternity leave – In Canada we get a year of maternity leave.  Other countries get as little as a few weeks to a few months.  For the first 365 days of my boy’s life, I get to wake up and spend the day with him.  I am very, very thankful for that – especially since that same little boy still wakes up 2-3 times per night and if I had to go to work in the morning, I’d be a zombie.  Notice ‘sleep’ does not appear on this list – I am still not getting any.

8.  Long weekends – Seriously.  The only thing that improves a long weekend is weather warm enough to enjoy some of it outside.  And that’s all we did over the past few days.  And oh man, does it get prettier than this?

9.  Photography – I was never very good at drawing, or writing.  I never took music lessons and my drama skills are non-existant.  I sort of thought the art gene passed me by.  That is, until I discovered photography.  I love that feeling I get when I take a great shot.  And now, since I started visuelle photography, when someone I’ve taken pictures of write or calls to tell me how happy I’ve made them, I just beam.  I hope to always enjoy it this much.

10.  A waistline – I’m not gonna lie.  Last year at this time my waistline had already started to expand and as much as I love my boy, I’m thrilled to be wearing my normal sized clothes again.  Hello pre-pregnancy jeans!  Welcome back.  Make yourself at home and please, stay as long as you can.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Eat up.  You only get to have a feast like this a few times a year…so you might as well enjoy it.

Filed in: Family | Friends | Jaia | Life | Photo of the Day | Wes
comment
October 12, 2010 - 6:57 am

Auntie Kris - Such a great post and AMAZING photos! I’m going to get into mine tonight…those trees are spectacular and Jaia was a great little model. 😉

October 13, 2010 - 7:28 am

Carole - I teared up at #2….so much to be thankful for indeed. I love that you put caffeine on the list. It makes me smile every day..:o)