Snow Day!

We spend the night at Brad's parents last night, knowing that a snow storm was going to hit us. When we woke up at the crack of dawn (does 6:30am count as dawn, or is that too early?!), we went downstairs still half asleep and started on breakfast. Zander doesn't ever wake up this early so it took a good hour before Brad or I actually had our eyes open enough to do anything :P

After breakfast I took a look outside. Brad had knee surgery nearly 2 weeks ago, and with his parents vacationing in Cuba this week, I volunteered to shovel the sidewalk. We got hit with quite a bit of snow! Roughly about 15 cm over night id say. We have had 1 other snow storm before this one a couple weeks ago and that was much worse.
Once I got all dressed and got Zander all bundled up to come outside with me, I came to realize that the kind neighbours had snow plowed the sidewalks for us (score!). So since I already had Zander bundled up, we headed to the backyard with his sled.

 

 

 

 

Zander was sooo excited to play in the snow. I let him explore as much as he wanted, and yes, I even let him eat some snow (white of course, not yellow or brown).

 

 

Okay, so ever since Christmas, Zander has been obsessed with snowmen. Every time he sees one he goes crazy. So naturally, we made his first snowman. Right, let me rephrase that...I made Zander a snowman, and he decorated it and admired him. Either way you look at it, it was so worth it to see his smiles and the enjoyment he got from it :)

 



During our time outside we found mini hills to slide down, threw snowballs in the air, and I tried (key word tried) to teach Zander to make a snow angel. It's kind of hard to teach him when I wasn't exactly dressed properly, oh well! We still had so much fun!

We spent about an hour outside before it started to get a little too cold outside. Since my son is such a lover of the snow, I really had to bribe him to go inside. Hot chocolate! I swear it works every time!

 

 It was a fun morning and we both really enjoyed ourselves, but we plan on spending the rest of the day indoors and playing our little hearts out.

Rebecca

Quebec bound

We left for Quebec today! In my words, the land of french! I dont have any pictures to share from today but i promise you didnt miss much.
From where we live it takes about 7 hours to get here. Its not too bad when you consider the fact that we stopped every 2-3 hours to strech our legs, change diapers, get snacks, etc.
We left home at 11am and we drove until about 1pm to stop for lunch and give Zander some running around time. Once we finished up we went back on the road where Zander struggled to fall asleep. He eventually did but not only did he cry, he only slept for about 15 min. After his nap he was a total crankasaurous!! Nothing kept him happy. He was throwing toys, he didnt want to watch movies, he didnt know what to do with himself. Around 5:30 we stopped and bought some snacks and drinks. I set the dvd player up and filled his cup holders in his car seat full of popcorn. Lets just say he was a happy boy the rest of the trip.
At 7pm we finally arrived at the great grandparents house. Not only were we all done with being in the car, but when Zander seen all the free space he was able to freely run around in, he made a run for it! I got some stinkin cute pictures on my canon rebel that i may just have to share with you at a later date :)
Anyways, we ate amazing Quebec pizza made with the best cheese around and real bacon. Dinner wasnt much of a deal for Zander since he was stuffed with popcorn, but he did have a ton of fun running around the house making himself at home.
Finally bedtime came along at 8:30 and Zander was pooped! Since he doesnt sleep in a crib anymore, we didnt expect him to sleep in a playpen here. So we are co-sleeping for the weekend and let me tell you, it takes Zander about an hour to get to sleep. We have to lay with him and pretend we are sleeping as well. Its such a long process but he is passed right out and will sleep until morning.
So that about wrapps up our day. We spent most of it in the car and we are all looking forward to a car free day tomorrow.
What are your "must haves" when traveling with your toddler?

Happy Birthday "Ampa"

Today was Brads Dads Birthday. We went over to his parents house yesterday where we celebrated a day early with all the kids. By kids I mean Brad, his sister Bri, Tim (Bri's boyfriend), myself, Zander, and of course their mom. It was a great get together. We laughed, shared some stories and had cake and ice cream. But today was his actual birthday and since we planned on making another visit, I wanted Zander to give his Grandpa something special. So we sat down at the table and made Grandpa a homemade birthday card. Zander was sooo proud. I had explained to him that it was for Grandpa and he was walking around with it afterwards saying "Ampa! Ampa! Ampa!". The cutest thing of life.
After making his card we took a quick snack break where he had some apple chunks and water. It's been so hot here than anything else sounded unappetizing. We finished snack and then got to work on his gift. A plack with a dragonfly that you could paint. Grandparents go crazy over homemade stuff since it comes straight from the heart, so I knew he would love it.
Once Brad got home from work we left for his parents house. Thankfully their place is air conditioned so it's always so nice to be there in the summer. Zander held Grandpas gift from the car all the way till we found him. They both were so proud and of course Grandpa loved it!
The rest of the evening pretty much consisted of chinese food, toddler talk, and watching an episode of Barney over, and over, and over again.
Around 7pm we headed out to my moms place to ask her if she could cat sit this weekend. We are going to Quebec to visit Brads Grandparents, so my mom agreed if we brought the cat to her place that she would watch her :).
We headed home about 8pm and Zander and Brad were in bed by 8:30pm. Brad has to get up at 4:30am for work on the weekdays so I always have the evenings to myself. It's kid of nice but some nights it would be nice to have him up for some company. It also doesnt help that I'm a night time cleaner and that when I want to clean our room I can't because Brad is sleeping. So tonight I settled on feeding my sweet kitty (shes actually 11yrs old), doing the dishes and mopping the kitchen floor. I have the H2O mop by Rubbermaid but I'm not totally happy with it. We have half tile floors and half hardwood and I feel like it just doesn't get our tiles clean. What mop do you use?

Bath Toys

The thing about bath toys is I never felt the need to clean them. They go in the bath tub with your child and get loaded with just about as much soap as your child does. So why clean them?

I was cleaning the bathroom today when I noticed a ton of hard water build up all over Zander's bath toys. So just for the heck of it I tugged them out to the kitchen sink and washed them with some dish soap and extremelly hot water. Next I took my cloth and i scrubbed the crap out of them and rinsed as good as I could. Before I knew if the water was discusting! And we don't even have that many bath toys.

Here is a picture of what the water looked like

Gross right!?

For the drying process I just pulled out a drying towel and tipped some upside town and others I just made sure were squeezed out really well.

Here, take a look for yourself

Lastly I washed the bin where we store the toys and once they were dry I put them back in the bin and headed off to put the in the bathroom.

So there you have it. Even though they get a bath at the same time as your child, I guess even these toys need a good cleaning once in a while!





Passing on childhood memories

Take a look at this adorable cup.

It's dark green, has realistic features, his tail is a straw, he is dark green, and a little beaten up. And in the case of how many memories this cup holds, it's absolutely perfect.

This dinosaur cup isn't just your regular sippy cup. It's a sippy cup from Brad's childhood.

When Brad's Mom took this cup out from WAY back of her cupboard, I think my jaw just about fell. I'm going to be honest, when she took it out, I was thinking "what the hell...". I wasn't weirded out that she kept it (some people just like to hold onto special items), I was weirded out that she didn't ever pack it away! But after the shock of it all, I came to realize just how adorable this cup really is. It's something special that Brad has good memories of and was happy to pass this along to Zander.

With that being said, Zander has been drinking out of this dinosaur sippy cup for about 2 weeks. It's a cup that stays at Grandma and Grandpa's and he really loves it. He loves the shape, the colour, and he gets a big kick out of the fact that his head turns and pops off.

Now, take a look at this adorable cup!

Zander's Auntie and Uncle were out shopping a few days ago, and just so happened to stumble upon this! She found it in a place where it was all alone and needed someone to to love him and drink from him, so she bought it for her favourite Nephew ever!

I think it's so cool that now Zander can have a dinosaur cup of his own and that it will always have a special meaning to it because his Daddy had one just like it!

Don't they look so cute together?!

What childhood items will you pass on to your kids?

Surrogacy or Baby #2

I remeber at the age of 14-15 years old that I would always tell my older sister if she couldn't get pregnant on her own that I would carry her baby for her. I also remember telling a friend of mine the exact same thing at the age of 18 and again at 21.
I have always had this thing of wanting to help couples grow their family. I never really thought of it too much, just kind of threw the idea out there to close loved ones. But recently I have really been thinking about it. It's a big deal and a lot to think about. I need to think about myself, my family, have Brad's support (and hopfully other family support), and think about all that is involved in the process (especially how Zander will react).
Looking up about how to become a Surrogacy Mother and how to apply is the easy part. There is a long list of things you must have/be/done in order to even be considered for acceptance. The first one is of course that you must have had a child aleady, and another one is to be in somewhat good shape. Well, I'm just going to say right away that I am not in good shape..so it's something I need to work on if I choose to become a Surrogacy Mother. Not just for that, but for my health too of course. I think it would be good for me to loose a good amount of weight, strengthen my body, and then once my body is physically ready again I would be ok to carry a baby for 9 months.
So my goal is to loose 50lbs, strengthen and tone my body (maybe join a gym and attend some biking classes? Or maybe do some kickboxing?), go on a detox to clean out my system, and maybe even start taking more vitamins to keep my body as healthy as can be. Those are just some of the things I would like to accomplish before even applying to become a Surrogacy Mother.

Now this is the tough part...

Do I REALLY want to have a baby for someone else first, or do I want to have baby #2 first?

I am seriously concerned about making the wrong decision.

Brad and I have been having baby fever for the past 4 months now, but the stage Zander is at right now is so fun and amazing that we haven't had time to really sit down and talk about considering having another baby right now.

So what do I do? What's going to be the best choice for us right now? These are the kinds of things we need to consider as a family before making any big decisions. I mean, looking back at all the pictures of when Zander was so tiny, and looking at all his newborn clothes really makes us want another, but are we REALLY ready for another right now? I personally think I am in a bit of a rush to have another baby because there are a few things I regret doing when Zander was little that I wish I could do over. A big one is breastfeeding. I only did it for 3 weeks and then stopped due to clogged milk ducts. After doing research about it, I really wish I would have sucked it up because other than that, breastfeeding was going great for us. Regrets, that's just one of them.

Something that I do miss was being prengnat. From the moment I found out I was expecting, I loved knowing a little person was growing in my belly. From a little tiny fertellized egg, all the way to a full-term baby. It really amazes me all the steps an unborn baby goes through. The first time the heart beats, growing fingers, toes, eyes, even finger nails! It's a miracle that you are growing inside you and something about that just puts a huge smile on my face. Now I will admitt, being 3 weeks over due with Zander, and the insane heat wave that summer made enjoying being pregnant a little harder, but at night when he would kick and I was able to identify body parts, made the swollen feet and squished lungs completely worth it.

Like I said, I don't know what I want right now. I want both for sure, but the BIG question is which one do I want first? Do I want to just have the enjoyment of being pregnant but no stress of having another infant to look after? Or do I want to be pregnant and be responsiable for another infant? It's a big decision that both Brad and I need to decide on together.

Until then, I will be working on weight loss and body strengthening/toning.

38 Weeks Pregnant with Zander :)

Being a SAHM is a job!

Recently I have become a SAHM. If your not sure what that stands for, it means a stay at home mom. It's been a huge change for Brad, Zander, and myself. But, it's been a great change! Sure I will admitt, money is tighter than it used to be but in all honesty, the money I make would have gone straight to daycare anyways. So in reality, the money issue would have been just the same wether I was working or not.
I find there is a lot of negativity when you tell someone you are a SAHM. In my case, people in my life think it's because I'm too lazy to work. That's not it at all, and truthfully, it really makes me mader than mad when people assume that.
Being a SAHM is a job. A full time job that your not being paid for, there are no breaks, no time to think, and no time for yourself. Whoever says otherwise clearly doesn't have kids and doesn't know anything about being a parent.
I chose to be a SAHM for a few reasons. Firstly, as mentioned above, the money I would have made if I was working would have gone directly to daycare. Why waist my money when I can stay at home with my son and take of him the way his father and I want him to be taken care of?! Some may argue this and be offended, and others (family members) would offer to babysit for free. Well, as much as a love my family, if it came down to free babysitter or daycare, I would choose daycare. It's pretty simple why actually. Socialization. So, I probably have you a little lost now. Your thinking, you want him in daycare for socialization, but your keeping him at home to care for him the way you are comfortable with, but if he is at home how can he socialize? Well, I have plans through the week. Now that the weather has been so nice we have been to the park once or twice a day, for up to 2 hours at a time. The park is loaded with kids and it's perfect for meeting new friends and interacting with others his age. In the winter and on rainy days we go to indoor playgrounds.
My other reason for wanting to stay home with Zander was also mentioned above. Zander will be cared for in a way Brad and I are comfortable with. I can teach him his colours, letters, numbers, etc. all in ways that I know he will respond to best. Zander is a stubborn child when it comes to teaching and at daycares they only teach it a certain way. Since every child learns differently it's not always the best theory for each child. With Zander being at home, I can try many different theory's out and see exactly which one he responds to the best.

So, maybe you still don't agree with me being a SAHM, or maybe you think my reasons are weird, but this is what Brad and I have chosen to be best for Zander. At least for now :)

If your a SAHM, how do your friends and family react? And how do you keep them socialized?