getting my life in order

I'm a stay at home mom (SAHM). I think thats been made pretty obvious from all my posts. However, I don't think its clear that I am unable to work. Not yet. I am waiting for the canadian immigration office to allow me to. There's no clear cut time this will happen. It's a waiting game.

I am allowed to apply for work...and I have. However, it seems like wherever I apply there is the dreaded check yes or no box that asks "are you legally entitled to work in Canada", and there is not a "no, but let me explain" box to check. Its frustrating.

Its not that I don't enjoy staying home with Liv. I do...its quite the blessing. I can admit that much. But, I am in a new place with no friends of my own. How do I meet people? I feel like I'm not an outgoing enough person to make friends at a play group or somewhere like that. I just can't picture it happening...not saying I'm not willing to.

So I have a few goals set for myself.

First: Start using my gym membership more regularly. Which I have started...and I'm feeling the effort.

Second: Find a class/play area for Liv and I to attend together. I took her swimming yesterday!

Third: Re-style 2 old dresses. I have one dress that I bought for $6 on a target clearance rack and another I got from Dani...I found them and decided I could really make them into something. I need to use my sewing machine and this is a great way to get going.

Fourth: I'd like for Pat and I to start a date night. It would be nice to do something as a couple on a regular basis.

Fifth: Keep up with laundry....there's 3 of us and I feel like I constantly have 2 loads in the basket.

So there it is, It may not sound like much...but for me, it will definitley make the weekdays fly by a quick faster than what they are at the moment.

liv wearing some vintage pearls, which she insisted upon, and a clippie made by me!

oh elmo, you've stolen her heart.

tiny dancer

My mom sent Liv a ballerina outfit...not to be confused with a princess dress, which I mistakenly referred to it as to my mom. So it is an, ahem, ballerina outfit. I obviously took pictures of Liv in it. Pictures where I put my hands up over my head like a ballerina and said "LOOK LIV, LOOK WHAT MOMMY IS DOING!!!" and she quickly followed and I scrambled like a klutz that I am to get the picture. I am talented. The pictures really didn't turn out that great. Liv is cute though and they look vintagey...which Dani informed me wasn't all that great of a thing because usually vintage photos aren't that great because they didn't have the tools we have today....but lets just say I'm trendy...and vintage.

miscellany monday

1. twenty six

I turned twenty six on Sunday. I feel no differently...I never do. I will most likely forget to tell people that I'm 26 for half of the year. I made sure to emphasize to Pat that he's still going to be 29 in May and I'm still a young buck compared to his aging self :). I'm a good wife, what can I say.

2. Melmo

Liv is obsessed with Elmo...referred to her as "melmo". Her uncle ryan and aunt leslie came home from brunch with an elmo hoodie and elmo jammies. Liv is in love and it makes getting dressed a little easier bc she's putting her friend melmo on.

3. early morning wake-up call

Every.single.monday. Liv wakes up around 5am. I put her in bed with us and luckily today she slept for an hour or so and then watched sesame street. But really, how does she know to wake up early every monday when I have high expectations of starting my week out with a trip to the gym.

4. crocpot

I know I mentioned that I asked for a steam mop for my birthday and received it, but I also received a crocpot! I am officially the geekiest person alive when it comes to birthday wishes. I surprisingly don't care though.

in honor of dani and my birthday....here is a picture of us as toddlers. I am the one standing on the left.

mall rats

Its hard to find things to do in the winter. It gets pretty boring and monotonous. Sometimes we spice it up and do something crazy...like going to the mall. We didn't do any shopping but somehow managed to burn 2+ hours of time. I love when we can do something that Liv enjoys and also helps her burn off some steam because god knows how much steam my baby has. I also like to have an excuse to dress my girl up.

sprinting

they have a few play areas in the mall...we like to make an appearance

birthday presents

I have been bugging Pat for over a month now to please please please buy me a shark steam mop for my birthday. I told him my stories of watching them late at night when liv was a newborn and would wake up at 3am. I may be a sucker, but I really really wanted this one. I was willing to settle for a different brand because the shark steam mop runs somewhere around $200.

With my birthday coming up on Sunday, my dream came true today when Pat went to costco.

Bissell steam mop, come to mama!

I already used it. It was ahhmazing and everything I had hoped for. I may be a geek, but seriously, when you have a toddler and slight ocd, the thought of not having to fill a sink of bleach water and using a dirty old mop, just appeals to me.

He also bought me a Sandra Brown book, because he knows I'm a sucker for Sandra Brown. He couldn't understand how someone would want a bissell steam mop for their birthday. I'm going to go lie in bed and read my Sandra Brown book and happily think about my sparkly kitchen floor.

miscellany monday

1. my new camera

So pat got a giftcard to future shop for Christmas. For all of you non-canadians, future shop is a lot like best buy. Well since Pat gave me all of his giftcards, I decided I was buying a camera because my dslr doesn't take video. My first mistake was that I went on boxing day...it was pure mayhem. I was so excited to actually have someone helping me that when the first 2 cameras I picked were sold out...I said yes to the first the salesman suggested bc he mentioned hd video. UMMM I have had a hell of a time downloading any videos on my computer. I won't give you details of the problem, but the panasonic lumix leaves a bit to be desired. Hours later and updates to my previous post....I have it figured out. phew.

2. winter blues

I am sooo sick of winter. So is Liv. I'm used to winter...I've dealt with it my entire life, but winter with a toddler really blows. I am craving a nice long walk to the park to play. We could definitley go for walks and bring her sled....except that its been absolutely freezing. Not really walk weather. I informed pat yesterday that I plan on moving south in our future.

3. speaking of snow

Liv loves to eat it. I have resorted to freezing gogurts because she loves to chew on ice and snow. She is a bit of a freak about the whole thing.

4. wedding goals

I ordered my dress last week. I'll take pictures in it when it comes. We are STILL waiting on the contract from our reception venue. So, my goals for this week are to bug them, book our dj, and possibly work on some more fabric flowers. I would also like to get my guest list going.

Have a great week!

a little chat with liv

ponytail

I have been waiting to put liv's hair in a reall ponytail. The one that sits more in the back of her head than directly on top. I sort of got what I wanted the other day. It took a few clips and a bobby pin to keep the extra strands out of her face, but she looked pretty cute.

a little messy but a pony nonetheless

not into the pony and the pictures

bugging her uncle

wedding edition

So all of my wedding plans are slowly falling into place. By slowly, I mean verry slowly.

We are waiting on the contract from our location. We need to make sure the price is what we want before we make any final decisions. Other than that, I booked a photographer and also tents, and a dance floor.

I guess I should get on my to-do list which includes invites, dj, and hair appointments. Oh yeah...I haven't ordered my dress yet either! I will be doing that tomorrow though...I think.

I am trying to do a lot of DIY projects as I can for the reception. My sister is creating our invites and I have taken it upon myself to make the flowers for the reception. I do however, withhold the right to change my mind if something disastrous happens.

So off I trotted to the fabric store today to look for some materials.

This is a little sneak peak of what is to come. I can't say that I'm completely happy with it. It will be a little trial and error. I am going to pick 3 flower types that are simple in design and make a statement.

this picture doesn't do the colors justice like the below ones, but the yellow is a canvas material and the others are chiffon-like in texture.

I was very happy with the yellow poppy, but not with the gray

a little more experimenting is all i need

the post in which i ask for help

I need help. I have anxiety over this. I don't know why...but probably because if I don't get sleep I feel like a complete monster. Sometimes I pretend to be easy going and laid back about it all...but I'm not. Not in the least.

Here goes. Some weeks, Liv sleeps all night with no problem. Other weeks she wakes up randomly, sometimes at 4:30am and sometimes at 1am. My problem is, what do I do with my toddler in the middle of the night. Without giving her a bottle. We are trying to wean her from a bottle and this isn't exactly the technique I want to use to put her back to sleep.

What I'm doing right now is putting her into bed with me. Which sounds lovely, but neither of us sleep well like that. I do it as a quick fix and either regret it all night or end up giving her 3oz of formula and putting her back in her crib after an hour.Its bad...there is always a little mommy abuse going on.

What I would do in a perfect world is walk into her room, change her diaper, give her a hug, tuck her in with her blankies, sucky, and seahorse, say I love her and walk out. Doesn't that sound lovely?

As of right now I do let her cry for a bit before I go get her. I time her for 10 minutes, sometimes 15 if I'm feeling extra patient. I have also read an idea of possibly giving her a bottle with water in it. I just think Liv would be royally pissed right off with that option.

Oh...and sometimes, when I put her back in her crib without a bottle...I have to be feeling fearless in this instance, well she screams bloody murder. Repeatedly and its because she wants the eff out of her crib and she knows if she screams like that long enough I am going to come get her. Because, really, who wants to hear their child scream like someone is torturing them.

I need a plan. If I don't have a plan, I cave in the middle of the night when I'm at my most vulnerable and sleepy condition. All the help I could get would be appreciated :).

little cavemen

I started reading the book "The Happiest Toddler on the block". I picked it up a few days ago and have gotten about half way through the first chapter.

The first thing that caught my eye and grabbed my attention was when the author referred to toddlers as little cavemen/neanderthals. Yes it put a smile on my face too.

I couldn't agree more. I told Pat today that I feel like I spend all day, every day, doing things to avoid tantrums. I pack snacks so that I can preoccupy my child. I hide things that might trigger a meltdown and I try to use the nicest calmest tone when talking to her in hopes that my calmness will resonate with her. Its all great in theory yet its kind of exhausting. Especially when you get the young girl at the counter of shopper's drugmart staring at you because your kid just wants her damn puffs open and is going ape shit.

I'm hoping that this book gives me some good ways of dealing with my little cavewoman. I have heard good things about  "The Happiest Baby on the Block" book. So here's to hoping.

this is my cavewoman, rawrr

For months, Liv wouldn't say the words yes and no, but she knew what they meant and if I asked her something she would shake her head yes or no.

Fast forward to a few days ago....I hear the word 'no' all day.

Liv come here. 'no'
Liv lets change your dipe. 'no'
Liv do you want go night night. 'no'
Lets put all your toys away. 'no'
Liv wanna brush your teeth? 'yeshhhhh' (little legs running towards the bahtroom)

Get the picture? She knows what she likes and isn't afraid to tell me what she doesn't want to do. Both cute and frustrating at the same time. She's a little ball of fire. Now I just have to teach her that when mommy asks her to do something, 'no' isn't an appropriate response. Wish me luck ha.

17 Months

I forgot to do Liv's 17 month post. I was all excited about it...and then I forgot. Between New Years and Pat being home, I let the 2nd slip by without any acknowledgement that another month had passed. Oh well, I'm over it and I am pretty sure Liv could care less.

Let's see little Livi, what are you doing these days? The better question is what are you not doing. I generally put Liv down for at least one nap a day, sometimes she has a little "rest", as I like to call it, in the morning. The rest is more for mommy to hop in the shower and drink a cup of coffee though. How do mom's shower unless their child is napping? I'd love to hear some ideas. I think I'm way too paranoid to trust Liv to not hurt herself if I jumped in the shower.

back to napping though...if Liv didn't take a nap, it wouldn't bother her one bit. She is busy and has lots of things to do, so not napping doesn't phase her. I end up having a veryy long day, but its happened and we've gotten through it.

I'm slightly sad we don't have Dr. Mackie to go visit next month, because I would love to call him up today and say "what the heck am I supposed to do with my bottle dependent baby?". We have started weaning Liv off her bottles. This week she is down to 3 oz., next week is 2oz, and so on. I wanted to give them up cold turkey, but Pat didn't agree and with much debate we decided to wean. I'm a little bitter that I lost the battle, but in all honesty, I kind of gave in....choose your battles wisely ladies.

Liv hasn't really noticed that we took 3 oz. away from her bottles. Which is promising and my plan if she totally loses her shit when I take all the milk away is to give her some water in her bottle. Not that she'll be any happier, but my mom pointed out that it will be more of her decision if she doesn't want it then.

Liv really started talking more between month 16 and 17. She tries a lot of the things we ask her to say...she has a habit of saying the first part of words and not finishing them up. She is starting to understand how to tell us what she wants.
She readily says "up" and "down" (dowwww).
She will says yes (yeshhhh) and no.
She says a handful of animal names (puppy, ducky, kitty kitty) sometimes she decides that the noises they make is more fun to say than their actual names
She will say Lily (yiyi)
She loves to say buh bye and nigh nigh
uh-oh is pretty popular and so is cheering when a show is on that she gets into
Sucky is a pretty popular word...as is Cookie :)

She says more, but these are the words she uses constantly. I should keep track of what she's saying...but I probably won't :).

She has an appointment on February 2nd, for her 18 month appointment. In Canada they don't have a 15 month appointment and the person I talked to wouldn't tell me whether we'd need to make an additional appointment because of that. I'm not sure if she's ahead or behind on vaccines when compared to Canada. She also informed me that Liv would need the chicken pox immunization. Should be a fun visit.

Tonight we'll be over at grandma carolyn's, dressed in our Canada gear watching Canada play in the World Juniors. I have never before watched the World Juniors, but apparently its the cool thing to do here and since the US lost to Canada on monday, my new moto is "if you can't beat them, join them"...call me a follower if you'd like!

she gets excited watching hockey...

working

very serious business

a great way to end the day

When liv is having a rough day she likes to turn to her addiction...her sucky. However, we have taken the leeway away from when we give Liv her sucky. No more suckies unless she is going "nigh nigh". I think we may have found a new alternative in which to calm her nerves.

that is 30 plus pounds of swaddled baby...I'm thinking I may have stumbled upon something here.

she sat here for a good 20 minutes...genius.