Busy Fall

Where does the time go? I can't believe it's already the middle of the November. Thank goodness we don't have any snow yet.

A lot has happened since the last time I posted.

October was very busy with Thanksgiving, returning to work, and of course, Master K's 1st birthday. It was a whirlwind month. I was sleep deprived for most of the month with a temporary case of insomnia; Master K was teething again and figuring out how to stand on his own and take his first steps...but we managed to get through the month.

Master K's birthday was a blast. We had quite a few people over: Master K's friends (with moms), my parents, and a few close friends. Malcolm played, opened gifts and smashed cake in his face. It was the perfect day.

I've been back a work for a few weeks now, and it's been good so far. The first couple of weeks I was only part-time and it was a tad boring because no one was in the office. But once I started full-time, things were back into swing and I'm feeling a bit busier now. We are looking and reorganizing our department and some roles and responsibilities, so it's an exciting time for me to come back. My year off has brought with it a new and fresh perspective, and now I feel like I want to 'change the world' at work. I guess after being away for a whole year, you aren't caught up in the day to day life of work, and you can see things in a different way or see completely new opportunities. I just hope my colleagues don't tire of my enthusiasm.

Nothing too exciting is happening in November. Master K currently has a pretty terrible cold and is teething once again. He continues to practice his walking every day now, taking more and more steps each day. Hopefully he'll be a pro by Christmas time.

We are off to Miami to celebrate Christmas with Mr. J's dad and wife. We'll be gone for 10 days, and I can't wait. Not only do I need a vacation, it'll be great to spend more time with my father-in-law and celebrate the holidays. I don't hink Mr. J has celebrated Christmas with his dad since he was a kid. Plus, it'll be warm. I plan on basking in the sun and wearing my bathing suit as much as possible.

The Happy Side of Tears

There have only been a few times (that clearly stand out) that I have cried from sheer happiness and joy. It is a completely different feeling than crying from sadness. When crying from sadness, my body quivers/shakes, I whimper, I usually have heartache. However, when overjoyed to the extend that I come to tears, well, let's just say that ecstasy consumes me and washes over me at the specific moment. Almost like you've experienced so much pleasure, the only release there is, is crying.

#1: The moment I heard Malcolm's heartbeat. I was 10 weeks pregnant and Mr. J was unable to come to the appointment. It was my first real pre-natal appointment and I really didn't know what to expect. I surely wasn't expecting the Dr. to check for the baby's heartbeat. Because it was still fairly early, she warned me that we probably wouldn't hear it. After a couple of minutes of her sliding the fetal doppler over my belly, we heard the heartbeat loud and clear and strong. I instantly became overwhelmed with emotion and began to cry. Still, after this long, I get emotional when I speak of it.

#2: October 23, 2009, the birth of our son, Master K. Upon seeing my son for the 1st time, I was completely taken over by happiness and awesomeness. To finally see, in the flesh, this perfect little person Mr. J and I had created, the little person we had waited so long to meet, it was beyond my imagination; beyond words.

#3: October 3, 2010, Master K looked at me and said 'Mama' as clear as can be. I welled up with tears and hugged him tight. I can't even begin to explain my feelings.

I'm sure I will have many more happy tears in years to come. Sadly, I will likely have sad tears when it comes to Master K. I can only imagine how I will feel when he goes to the dayhome in a few weeks, when he starts kindergarten, says his first mean word to me or leaves home a grown man.

One day at a time. Enjoying every moment happy or sad.

A Trip to Wine Country

Every few years, my girlfriends and I like to take a 'girls trip.' We've all been friends for over 20 years and make a point to continually stay connected with each other.

We had many impromptu trips in our 20's, but since we hit our 30's, we are making more of an effort to plan a fun trip, usually some distance away.

Three and a half years ago, we went to Las Vegas. It was absolutely wonderful, and was just what I needed at the time, considering my 11 year relationship was falling apart.

This years trip was planned many moons ago when my BFF and I decided we wanted to go somewhere special on the 30th year anniversary of our friendship. We started planning it almost 8 months ago and decided, WINE COUNTRY.

We knew the hubbies wouldn't want to come, so we decided to invite our other 3 girlfriends and make it our 'every 2-3 years Girls Trip.'

We stayed at the beautiful River Terrace Inn in Napa, California for 5 days and 4 nights.

We visited the spectacular Castello di Amorosa winery. Enjoyed many fine wines, and purchased many bottles.

We rode the Napa Valley Wine Train and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the valley, as well as a fantastic 4 course meal.

We shopped, ate, drank wine, and relaxed on our last day in Napa at the Greenhaus European Day Spa.

It was a perfect vacation, and a nice break from my busy life as a mom.

To lose someone

To lose someone is a hard thing to go through. Whether it is to do with a break-up, family rifts, hurt feelings, or death-there is a mourning period that everyone goes through. The extent of the mourning is different for each individual based on the situation and the relationship.

Now I've had a few loses to speak of in my past-and significant ones-yet, this one is by far the one which has affected (& will continue to) me the most.

I lost my Gramma.

She was my last living grandparent and the one I was closest to. See, I was her only granddaughter. That in and of itself created a special relationship between the two of us. She had no daughters of her own, so I'm sure she felt quite blessed when I came along.

We spent a lot of time together when I was younger. In fact I would spend a week here and there with her and Grampa in the summers-just the 3 of us. We visited a lot and spent almost every Christmas eve together, celebrating Norwegian style.

When I got older, we lived in the same city. I spent many days visiting with gramma, taking her shopping, or just going out for lunch.

We tried to talk often on the phone, but sometimes too much time passed between phone calls.

When I moved away - I missed her. I was the one grandchild that spent a lot of time with her and took her places and now I was leaving. I knew I was really going to miss our time together.

She did have a chance to see our new place-twice. Got to see me pregnant, and if course, meet her 6th great-grandchild. There weren't many visits with Master K, but she did see him shortly before she passed.

It was hard to say goodbye.

I remember telling her I loved her and watched her hug and kiss Malcolm. I knew I would probably not see her again.

I miss her lots.

Sometimes I just pretend like nothing has changed, and I'm just far away and we haven't talked in awhile.

I just saw you yesterday

It was a whirlwind long weekend, with a trip back to Saskatchewan to visit family and friends.

The grandparents had requested a visit, since it had been over 2 months since they saw Master K. Mr. J and I didn't have anything planned for the long weekend, so we decided to make the long trip back for a visit.

Coincidentally, our California friends TUO & R:tAG were in town for a wedding, so we arranged to meet up with them. We hadn't seen them since Suz & Jer's wedding, when I was 'as big as a house' (according to R:tAG) and I figured they'd want to meet Master K.

It was a wonderful visit at the Broadway Roastery, with many additional friends visiting as well: AJ, J-Bra, Al, cenobyte & family.

With everyone spread out across provinces and countries, we don't see each other as often as we did 10 years ago. But it's nice to know that when we do get together, it's like no time has passed at all and feels like we just saw everyone yesterday. I love that about my friends.

Master K made quite an impression, as usual, and was smiley as ever. He was fascinated with TUO's shirt buttons and necklace and couldn't stop eying up cenobyte's bountiful 'buffet'.

I would have liked to see some more people, but with carting Master K around all day, it becomes difficult. My parents need to move into the city, so we don't have to waste time driving in and out. It would make visiting friends and family a lot more convenient.

Of course, no trip to Saskatoon is complete without a stop at Dragon's Den and 8th St. Books and Comics....oh, and a Venice House pizza.

It was a busy and tiring weekend, so I'm glad to be home.

Poops, Pees, Spits - A Mother's Father's Life!

I fully expected to be the recipient of most of Master K's 'accidents', yet somehow I've missed out on most of them - not that I'm sad about that, just a little surprised. Luckily, Mr. J seems to be on the receiving end.

We had an unfortunate puking 'accident' a few weeks back - of course, Mr. J was playing with him shortly after he ate and somehow, was unaware that bouncing and jostling Master K around may result in some spit up. It did...and it was unpleasant. I missed the said 'accident', so I heard about it later.

Master K hasn't done a lot of peeing on either myself or Mr. J, yet when it has happened, Mr. J has gotten the brunt of it.

And just the other night, during Master K's nightly bath, he decided to poop in the tub. It happened to be Mr. J's turn at the nighttime routine, but I helped 'Daddy' out. As I was cleaning out the tub, Master K found it timely to pee on Mr. J. I just giggled.

There are many more years to come, so I'm sure Master K and I will have our share of 'accidents' together.

Catching Up

We saw an old friend yesterday. He was in town visiting his grandparents.

It was great to see BB, even though I'd only seen him a couple of months ago. He'd never been to visit me(us), and I gave him a tour of the house, we visited and had a wonderful supper out.

Back in the day, when I still lived in Toon Town, him and I hung out all the time. We'd watch TBP, go wall climbing at the university, work-out at the gym, go for coffee, partied together, he'd fix my computer and I'd back him cookies in return. We were best buds.

Sadly, things change when you move and way, get married and have a family. Although I make a point to constantly stay in touch and visit as much as possible. I would hate a little distance to change too many things about our friendship.

Now that he's back in Toon Town for awhile, perhaps we'll see him more when we're back visiting the family.