Happy New Years!!

I remember when New Years used to be such an important event in my social calendar. Where to go? What to wear? Who will be there?

This New Years, I am sitting at home alone, Karter is sound asleep, and I am watching the World Junior hockey game. And you know what, I could not be more content. I am warm, snuggling on the couch with my Ryder, and will wake up with no hangover. Love it... Obviously it would be better if Mark was here.

Today I have been reflecting on what a wonderful year it has been. The birth of our beautiful son. I never could have imagined the true joy and love this little man has brought to our lives. I am so thankful for a wonderful fiance. Not only does he treat me with the utmost respect and love, I could not have asked for a better father for our son. Additional hightlights this year include getting to know my future in-laws better, I feel very fortunate for having such a wonderful and loving family-to-be. I also enjoyed spending time with great friends and the little boys club. Yes, I have a great life.

Oh, and Canada won in a shoot out!! So intense.

Engaged!!!

I am truly happy to be writing this post. Mark and I got engaged on our anniversary, December 26th. It was an ordinary day for us, and I wanted to go for drinks for our anniversary. We decided to go to Maguires, where we met. I truly had no idea that he would get down on one knee at the bar. It was a great surprise. His family met us afterwards for some drinks and we celebrated our engagement.

The last couple of days have been great sharing our news with friends and family and feeling the overwhelming support. Mark's niece and nephews even made us congratulation cards.

I feel very blessed to be getting married to the man of my dreams and spending a wonderful life together.

We are working on a date ... hopefully some time in September!!

Grandma's China

About four years ago my mom and Grandma lived with me. My Grandma had a beautiful set of china that she received when she got married, which we displayed in the house. I was honored when she wanted me to have them!! I thought this would be a great heirloom that I could give to my daughter one day.

Well ... when I moved to Saskatoon Grandma's china went missing. The last couple months I have been sifting through all the boxes in our basement. I was truly sad when I did not find these treasured heirlooms. Not sure what could have happened to them I kept replaying the move that took place three years ago. Did the movers lose these boxes, did I accidently donate them? I was so sad as these dishes hold a lot of sentimental value to me, especially since my Grandmother past away this year.

Tonight I was going through the last section of the basement and came across two unopened boxes. OMG, I screamed in delight when I opened the first one and realized it was the long lost china.

I am so excited for the day we move into a new house and I can display these beautiful dishes that remind me of my sweet Grandma.

These Boots are Made for Walking

Today I dropped Karter off at Mark's parents house and headed out for some Christmas shopping. Well my little man must have been pretty excited to see me when I returned. He was standing at the edge of the couch, and took two steps (unassisted) into my arms!! I was so proud of him. Who knows, maybe Grandma is right and he will be walking by Christmas!!

Daycare Day 1 - Success

I woke up this morning and thought to myself today is the day. How did it come so quickly, it seems like yesterday Mark and I finalized our daycare.

On the drive over it really sunk in, and emotions took over and I started crying. But this soon stopped as I got lost. Like seriously, I think I need a GPS. Anyway, we arrived and as Kathy greeted us my anxiety and sadness was calmed. We chatted for a bit then it was time for me to go. Kathy said give mom a kiss, and I started crying again. Like seriously, I cry way too easy these days.

So, I filled my day with an eye exam and picking out new glasses, as well as strolling through the mall. I thought about Karter a lot. I knew he was in good hands, but just hoped that he was happy and having fun. I wanted to call, but Mark reassured me that if there was a problem Kathy would call. So I DID NOT call, so proud of myself.

The anticipation was killing me as I drove to pick Karter up. I DID NOT get lost this time. I was greeted by a happy little boy. Kathy said everything went well, really well. And I could tell she was being sincere. She said he only cried for 5 minutes when she put him to bed, he loved playing with the toys and that he is a good eater. I felt so proud of my little man!! The funny thing was that when I was putting his jacket on, he didn`t want me, he wanted Kathy. She held him as I put on my shoes, and he just stared at her and smiled. Like, Hello, I only left you for 4 hours, you can`t fall in love with your babysitter that quickly. Lol, it was really great to see he is smitten for her.

So we will continue daycare once a week in December. It works out really well because Kathy has no kids on Tuesdays so she can focus on Karter. Then in January we can mix him in with the other kids.

All in all a successful day!!

Ouch!!

I always end up having funny things happen to me. For example, a previous post about how I flushed my cell phone down the toilet. And then there was a time that a crow stuck to my car and I was driving around Saskatoon with people honking and waving at me, trying to tell me that I had a big fat crow on my car. Like I did not KNOW!!

Well, today I get to add to my funny stories:

Karter and I love going shopping. It is a win win situation, I get to spend money (well Marks money ... thanks hun) and he gets to people watch and flirt with all the ladies. Today, we ventured out to one of our favorite stores, good ol' Walmart. But todays adventure started like no other.

I grabbed Karter from his car seat and grabbed a cart. Karter was a little fussy so I was not paying attention as I put the plastic seat down on the cart. I wish I would have because I got my finger stuck as the plastic snapped into place. So my finger is throbbing as I am troubleshooting how to get it out... My stuck hand isn't strong enough to open up the plastic seat, Karter is in my other hand and I can't reach far enough to put him down. I was STUCK, literally. I could see my finger starting to turn purple and my eyes are filling with tears from the pain. I keep pulling at my finger and it's starts bleeding. WTF am I gonna do?? Should I call 911?? Should I cut off my finger?? Well I could not do either of these as I had no free hands. It hurt too much to push the cart to go get help as it pinched my finger even more. So my last option was to yell, yes, yell for help like a mad woman. Finally, a man came up and rescued me. Wow, thank goodness for strangers!!

Daycare Finalized

I am very happy to post that we have found a wonderful daycare for Karter ... finally. After all of my searching and interviews, we met with a perfect match that met all my criteria. She resides in the Silverspring area and has two cute little girls - 5 and 7. Her numbers are small, with a girl Karters age and a little boy in kindergarten. Her home is clean, there is a big play area for Karter and a big, fenced backyard. She has previous experience of working/supervising in a daycare, has her first aid and CPR and some sort of daycare course. Her hours are very flexible - 7am till really whenever. Which will work well when I have to stay a bit late at work.

The interview went really well. Karter felt at ease within a few minutes of us arriving, and was crawling around and chasing one of the little girls. You can tell she is a great person. I know her personality will work well with Karters and I truly believe she will take great care of our son. When we left, I felt excitement and relief. Mark and I both knew she is the one for us!!

Trip to Lloyd

This trip brought new challenges. First of all, it was the first time I travelled with Karter by myself. He did amazing, he even slept the whole way home!!

Second, we were staying in a hotel. I was concerned about this as we have worked so hard for Karter to put himself to sleep and was not sure how that would go in a foreign room and with me in it. Well, Karter HATED the crib. I did not blame him, it looked like he was in a jail cell. The first night did not go so well, but by the second night he only cried for 15 minutes!! The next issue surrounding this, what was I going to do once Karter was asleep. Well, I brought my headphones and worked on my professional hours on the computer.

Third, Mark was working nights so that meant we needed to make sure he had a decent sleep during the day. Mark did not mind us being in the hotel room when he was sleeping, but we all know how loud babies can be. So I made it a point to venture out for four or five hours a day. The hotel had a pool, which Karter loved! We also hit up the mall and Walmart. Everywhere we went Karter made new friends. I had people offering to babysit him, one lady wanted to be his grandma, and another wanted to take him home. My boy is becoming such a social butterfly. The one day I fed him in the mall and he smiled at every person who walked by. It was so cute!!

The highlight of the trip was a visit to Mark's rig. It was so nice to get the visual of how things work. I definitely have a new appreciation for my boyfriend and his job. Not going to lie, the rig is a bit intimidating. Very loud and dangerous!!

So, all in all it was a great trip. I am so proud of Karter, he was a true joy to be around and adapted very well.

The only downfall to the trip was arriving home without Mark. I can't express how much I truly miss and love him. I can't wait for him to come home!!!

Daycare Update

We met with two daycares yesterday. The first one we really like the ladies running it, but the daycare is run out of a duplex and is very small. I also did not like the location and that they are just starting the daycare.

The second interview went well, she has ten years experience and a lovely home. Only concern is that she is having a baby in a month!! She did mention her husband is going to be taking minimum four months off to help her out, but I am still a bit uneasy about that situation.

Carmen has given me hope and hooked me up with a lady in Arbor Creek. Perfect location, perfect hours, and she seems very nice. She just has to inquire with one of the moms about an infants hours then get back to me. So I am keeping my fingers crossed that there will be space for Karter. Thanks again Carmen!!

Today I counted how many daycares I have contacted since I started this process. A total of 55!! Is that not crazy!! Hopefully the end is near and I find a perfect "home away from home" for my sweet little man.

Daycare

Ugh. The thought of sending my sweet Karter off to daycare makes me sick. I am such an overprotective mom and am really struggling with finding the right daycare for him. My plan is to start daycare beginning of January so I can transition him and ME before I go back to work in February. I have been searching for months now, mainly on Kijiji. Which has been quite disappointing. A lot of the ads posted are filled with spelling mistakes. Do you really think I am going to send my child to a place where the caregiver can't even spell a simple sentence correctly. Am I really suppose to trust you to take care of my pride and joy!!

So, we have a couple interviews set up for next week. The homes seem promising, and my mommy instinct will definitely be out. I think I will be excited for Karter to go to daycare once I find that special place for him. I believe he will learn so much and make great little friends. I also think the daycare will be lucky to take Karter. He is so much fun to be around and loves to smile and laugh.

I will keep you all posted on how the interviews go.

Shopping!!!

I love shopping!! I used to shop all the time before I had Karter. But due to time constraints and lack of income, I have only purchased two tops and a jacket since Karter was born.

Well today we ventured to the mall and I bought a winter jacket from Lulu. I love it. But, my most exciting purchase was "The Bumpit". It is amazing, gives you volume in minutes!! You get three bumpits in a package; small, medium and large. I will never use the large one, but have included a picture of how much volume you can get. It took me back to the 80's!! The pic with my hair up is with the medium one and will work great!!! Thanks to Mark and Karter for being patient and coming into all the girlie stores.

I love shopping!!

Blogging at last ...

Hmmm ... my first post!! What to write about ...

Well, I think I will start off with an oldie but a gooder:

One night I was cleaning away in the bathroom and finished off with scrubbing the toilet. I simultaneously flushed the toilet and grabbed my cell phone. Unfortunately, my cell phone slipped out of my hand and before I could say F*ck, it flushed down the toilet. In a state of panic, I grabbed the house phone to call Mark to explain what happened. But before I could start explaining he had a beep. You will never guess who it was. My cell phone was calling him from inside the toilet. Not only did it call him once, it continued to call him approximately 20 times and filled up his voicemail with gurgles and whooshes!!