Reflections

2011...aren't we suppose to be vacationing easily to mars now and driving water fueled hover cars? Sheesh...

Anyway, we have IPhones, netflix and Justin Bieber so I guess it will still be a cool year.

In reflection on the lightening fast blur that was 2010 I can think of the main highlight that dominated much of this year. He came in a darling little 8 pound package of sweetness that we called after 2 minutes of deliberation and tossing the moniker he had adorned as a fetus; Jacob...and it fit (he is so Jake (y) ). I laid in bed with him four days and fell totally in love, it was awesome. Then I thought I wanted to move to the country for a bit so there was the months of quick mini renovations and paint jobs and packed boxes...only to be unpacked into a house we discovered rejuvenated love for. I was a vegan(ish) for six months until I ate a big mac in lui of running down a wild turkey on the side of the road and thus ended that phase. Then I gave Jon a break over Christmas and didn't start anything radical...now I am in full creative swing again and signed up for soap making, building a cob oven, sewing wool diaper covers and wheat grass growing classes. Fun Fun... you know so I can be useful when we go off the grid (can you still get netflix...and Dominoes pizza delivery off grid...hmmmm).

I suppose I should resolve to be more resolute since I don't have a lot of ideas this year. I think I have come into a really comfortable place where I am satisfied more than wanting. I think sometimes about the books I want to read...and write, the classes I want to take, the organizations I want to join, the projects I want to start (and finish) but only fleetingly. I have fully recognized that I am in a unique and all encompassing time of my life right now that can be so joyous and rewarding beyond dreams so long as I don't try to balance it with anything else. I am really enjoying my family right now and I just want to do more of that this year. I want to do more things that matter with them and less things that pass time. I want to have more conversations (now that I have a child who converses..and well..and hilariously...) and make more memories.
On another note, I want to give up totally on my pot cupboard. It is never going to be organized, and every meal forever will consist of me slamming around in there and banging pot lids on the ground. I am at peace with this. It is a good place.
I hope to be more conscious of my footprint...leave things a little nicer than I found them; trade my van in on a civic...hang dry more clothes, grow a garden that actually yields produce, compost...use the farmers market, maybe join a farm co op. Hmmmm...I want to keep learning to bake and cook new things, especially with Ben's help. He is a great little cook, although you have to watch him because he eats everything along the way...him and batters...I just don't know...plan less (is this already breaking that resolution?) and toilet train Ben. He will not turn 4 in diapers. No. No. No. Yes, I should add "stop trying to put my children on an arbitrary developmental time line" on the list but seriously...4...in diapers, when he has been perfectly capable of independent elimination for almost 2 years now...it is his smug desire to drive his Mother batty that overwhelms the urge to pee unfortunately, that is the problem. Oh and he is adorable and indulged (that sounds less character reflective than "spoiled" doesn't it?) and I am bad at consistency. So lets end on that note shall we? I will be more "consistent" in 2011.

Happy Christmas Boys!

Plenty of Christmas merriment was had by all...but I am too exhausted to write about it right now. These good boys had a good Christmas and I think by the end they thought that gifts were just falling from the sky they were coming from everywhere!

11 Months Old!

(No picture today...Mommy broke her laptop...let's not talk about it...)

1- Jake is growing hair...and we thought it wouldn't happen...
2- he has 8 teeth and 4 more that just popped!
3-He is trying to walk all the time
4-His favorite colour is red and likes walks on the beech (I am pretty sure...we should go to Florida to be sure)
5-He is sort of sleeping better...but not yet in the running for any major awards there.
6-He should win a major reward for cutest baby in existence though...he would win that for sure!
7-Jake loves dogs and Christmas trees, he goes crazy for both...every time we go upstairs and see our tree he giggles and bounces like it is the first time every time!)
8- He is sick right now and I interpret his whines to mean hurry it up mom and pick me up!
9-He is not happy when he is sick.
10- Not at all.
11- But we are still, of course, crazy about him!

I can't wait to celebrate your first fabulous year with you Jakey! We adore you!

The Week Before Christmas...

Ahhhh...this is such a stressful time of year for me... and all the other type A, anally rentative, control freaks out there who also feel my pain. The stress of creating the perfect freakin' (In my head I didn't say "freakin"...sorry Grammie...I didn't.) Christmas every single year! THIS year I went with simple...but even that is hard work, I am continuously swimming against the consumerism tide and in my efforts to downsize and use less as more and maximize moments and all that jazz I feel like there is a fine line between seasonal simplicity and Scrooge, how far do you back up before you are missing out?

I was sick at the start of the month, followed by Ben and today, wouldn't you know it, Jakey wakes up gracing us with a piping hot forehead. So my advent activities became one big TV fest of 1960's rudolf, frosty and Charley brown. I am sick of cartoons...and whinny children... I know. That is horrible of me to say. All I want for Christmas is my empathy back...and a fresh coat of patience on my nerves (No I don't Jon...I still want presents too, k?) but we didn't get to do any of my advent activities (and this was the REALLY fun week!) and Jake stripped the tree 1000 (00000) times and we didn't leave the house for three full days and Ben was coughing so hard that he was throwing up, and then crying and then coughing again and he kept asking me to make him better and I couldn't. That sucked.
Wrapping presents felt like a chore and two batches of gingerbread didn't work for reasons I am still not sure of (the third did...) and my attitude stunk because I can get so wrapped up in how things are SUPPOSE to be (says me) that I am unable to enjoy things how they ARE.
Bah humbug.

And then You Tube came to my rescue again with this.



I watched it. Then I watched it again. Then I cried.

Because I have it all wrong. Christmas isn't about anything but THIS. That is exactly the way it is SUPPOSE to be.

...And you're right Jakey...the ornaments are way more fun OFF the tree.

Where Will We Go Today?

To the naked eye this looks like Ben is simply sitting in a pile of toys and odds and ends. Not so, however. This was a painstaking project that took a very long time. Each item selected just so. The final product is a rocket ship. Ben is very interested lately in building "machines". The budding engineer is enraptured with how parts to together to make a whole. This project specifically impressed me as you can't see either in the photo but he is holding the television remote in his hand and when he started pressing the buttons on his "control pad" he asked if I could see the lights light up (of course I could...) and then as he began the countdown he wiggled the blanket behind him (under which held a CARS "Mater" toy that makes car noises when you shake it) to make the engine sound until lift off when he jumped in the air and blew the back off (like when the fuel tank separates during a real launch (he watches You Tube videos of launches...) . I was really really impressed. And relieved that the boob tube hasn't rotted his brain afterall.

In the sink he discovered that a plastic straw from his reusable water bottle fits perfectly on the reverse osmosis water tap on the sink. He hooks that up and then piles different types of containers underneath it to make an assortment of "fountains"...bath time allows for even more elaborate water experiments.

I am googling Mensa now.

Earning His Keep

Ben has helped me clean since he could walk...and now, I tell ya, he is pretty handy to have around. He handwashed the living room floor the other day with a bucket he filled himself with soap and water. He did a darn good job too! Then if I wasn't impressed enough he got Jacob a snack of (washed!) grapes and rice cakes...with no prompting from me...so on that note, Mr. Ben, while you seem to be able to hold down the fort just fine, don't mind your Father and I as we scoot off to the movies for a couple of hours, the milk is the fridge and bedtime is at...oh well, you know.

In Progress...

It seems once a year we put our house up for sale. We decide we want to save more money, live in the country, a small town, a bigger home, a smaller home, an older home, a different home....

We looked at different houses all over for four months (when fortunately our house didn't sell!) we would come away thinking. "the backyard isn't as nice" "too many stairs" "too big" "too small" "too far away" "I would miss x x x x x about our house"...

Finally we agreed that the house we are looking for is right under our feet. Sometimes (or annually for me...) we need a reminder of this. Some of the things I love about our house is the openness of the main floor. I can see everything from the kitchen. I love our second floor great room. Jon and I relax up there in the evenings in front of the fire and a good book or our favorite shows and when the kids need us they are only a few stairs away. I love our walkout basement and our beautiful backyard. The ponds that house our ducks in the spring and ice rink in the winter. The forest that counts down the seasons in its fullness, colour or nakedness and animals that visit our deck as a result. The patio...the deck...the large driveway...the over sized garage...the walking distance we are to shops, parks, community center, restaurants and work and church just around the corner. The floors and paint that we chose to our taste...my "new" kitchen...the memories we have made here... Why were we leaving??? I love this house!

We are starting to work away on our projects (by "our" I mean mine of course...so for good measure, a reminder that Jon is wonderfully accommodating to my every wish and whim...and some kind of paint prodegy...he can paint a room like a professional, but he hates it, don't ask him...don't even bother it will take you four years of begging).
Our super duper playroom (the name it shall now and forever more be known as) is underway...hopefully it will be done before Christmas. The carpet, fingers crossed, should arrive next week!
Here is what it currently looks like...
And now let's pretend that time, energy, budget and Jon were of no concern...









Those stairs had me at "slide"...