Monday, September 20, 2010

Owen the Model

A couple of weeks ago, a girl that I went to high school with contacted me about Owen modelling for her. How cool is that?!
She's branching out and starting a photography business, so we were happy to make the trek to her farm to help her develop her portfolio.
Gorgeous venue, and amazing pictures!!
Happy Monday!

Our beautiful boy...


LOVE this picture...and his dark locks
Happy 3months, baby boy!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Graduating

Now that Owen's hit the 3month mark, we're starting to look at things around the house and consider all of the things that we're going to need relatively soon. And by soon, I mean practically now! First on the list, an infant/child carseat!

He's a big kiddo....14lbs+ at this point, and 26" as of last week. The restrictions on our carseat are 22lbs and 29"...He's going to be out of that by Christmas!

So right now, we're looking at the next phase in carseats. I'm really not sure even where to begin. I'd like an infant/child carseat so that once we hit the rear-facing maximum, we can turn it around to the forward facing seat.

These are the ones that I'm considering...

The First Years True Fit Convertible Carseat - Urban Life $149
Cheap and cheerful, and the safety ratings are great. Thankfully in Canada, all carseats have to meet a certain Transport Canada standard to even be in the stores. The reviews are also really great...It's also apparently good for smaller cars, which is awesome for our Elantra. The only con, really, is that it's on backorder right now so I'm not even sure when it would be instock.

Rear facing to 30lbs, forward facing to 65lbs.




The First Years True Fit Rebound Carseat - Retro Geo $249
Again, a great carseat with great reviews. The price is a little much to swallow, if you ask me, and it's definitely bigger in size so I'm not even sure that it would fit in our car. I do like that it has an attachable headrest and kickboard, which certainly would come in handy with our little drummer boy!

Rear facing to 35lbs., forward to 65lbs.




Britax marathon Convertible Carseat - Onyx $299
I have heard nothing but amazing reviews for everything that Britax makes. It's super pricey though, so I'm not sure it's the route that we'll go...but I thought I'd throw it in there for comparison.

Rear facing to 30lbs., forward to 65lbs.






What are you using as your next carseat? Given the options above, which would you choose? Or...would you choose something different all together?

Friday, September 17, 2010

Your Three Words



This morning I was waiting for the homecare visitor from our health unit, Sue (long story short, we had the times mixed up. I had 9:30, she had 1:30....so the visit didn't happen) so I plunked Owen in his bouncy chair in front of the TV for a little bit to see if he'd even watch it while I folded laudnry, moved ethernet cables and cords, and cleaned up toys.

WOW! He was amused for sure! He sat and watched a few short programs, kicekd and giggled through Thomas and Friends, and then fell asleep for a little while as well.

Happy Friday!!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Mornings with Owen

This is what we wake up to in the morning's now...no more sleeping in for us!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

I Hate Halloween

As I sit here listening to my Monster snoring up a storm...I'm thinking about Halloween and the holidays that are right on our doorstep.

Now, I titled this "A Sad Post..." because I'm going to get heavy here in a minute and explain why I have such mixed emotions about Halloween.

Halloween is such a fun time of year...actually, GodMomma's favourite time of year. Everyone is asking us what we're dressing Owen up as this year, and to be quite honest...he's going to be a baby. I have a little long sleeved onesie that he'll wear with jeans, that says Mommy's Little Pumpkin but...we're not dressing him up as anything.

Next year...all bets are off! I'd like to dress him up as a duck (Bonnie Toggs has a super cute costumer and I'm tempted to buy it now), or perhaps Batman, C's favourite superhero. Either way, he'll be cute as a button and able to walk up to people's houses to knock on the door and say "Trick of treat!"

Here's the heavy part...I hate Halloween, and I think I have a very good reason to. (Turn back now if you can't handle heavy emotion, I'm going to be bawling writing this, so I'm sure you'll shed a few tears too)

My Dad passed away October 29, 2005. GodMomma, her then-bf, C and I were in Waterloo at his big costume ball. I had made C and my costumes (Barney and Betty Rubble....corny, but super cute) and had just gone across the stage for "best couple" for people to vote for us.

I remember the TV Personality saying my name and asking me to go to the front lobby. My heart fell. I went through the list of options in my head...did our Jeep get broken into? Our apartment?

We all went into the lobby, and saw the police officers standing there. I took one look at them and thought "Dad's at hockey...it's not very well lit out there" and immediately assumed that my Dad had been in a car accident and that we were about to be taken to the hospital back home.

The officers asked to take us to somewhere more private and started leading us down a hall way to talk behind closed doors. GodMomma and her bf stayed behind, and I kept asking the officers to stop and tell me what the eff was going on. I remember stopping once we got to a particular hallway by the bathrooms and refusing to continue until they told me what had happened.

I remember screaming when they said the dreaded words that my Dad had had a massive heart attack at the arena, and looking back toward GodMomma (who's really more of a sister than my best friend) and starting to bawl. I remember C trying to hold me up, and I remember saying "no" over...and over...and over.

I remember talking to my Mom briefly on the phone, and to my brother briefly as well, before listening to my minister say that there was nothing I could do, so to get back to town when I could, but it wasn't important that I get back that night.

I remember riding in a police car with C back to our apartment, and GodMomma packing a bag while I sat on the floor. I remember sitting on the front step in C's sweatpants and shirt, waiting for her parents to come and pick us up. I remember her Dad giving me the biggest hug I've probably gotten in my entire life, and I remember crying the entire way home, and getting to my parents house where things would never feel the same again.

I hate Halloween. I hate it with a very very large passion and it hurts my heart to think that it's going to impact how I interact with Owen at what should be a really fun time of the year.

I feel so lost, but I can't help but hate Halloween.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

I Went a Walkin....

As you all know, I participated in the Winners Walk of Hope this past sunday. I'll start this post with the positives...
I did it! I raised more than my fundraising goal of $500, and I walked 6km...

IN 45 MINUTES!

I had set a goal of 5km in 48minutes as per what the monitor on the treadmill tells me at the gym, and was so happy to have squashed that time....with an additional km, and two bathroom breaks!

Now to the negative...

The event was most definitely the worst organized event that I've ever participated in. Here's the rundown of the inefficiencies...

- Registration was to begin at 9:00am, the walk at 10:00am. I showed up at about 9:20am to register, at a table with no signage, no organization and was given no information as to how the event was going to work (starting line, finish line, route markers etc.)

- Tshirts for the mini-walks were in limited supply, so if you wanted one (which I did...) you had to come early. There was no mention of tshirts at registration, and while I was walking I noticed a plethora of dogs and small children (like I'm talking under the age of 5) with adult Winners Walk of Hope tshirts on...

- By about 9:30am, I was wondering what the heck was going on and wandered over to the registration table to ask. Apparently...people were already out on the course, and were almost finished! You're supposed to register and just start walking..."Go left and then left at the balloons, and then right at the Pool..." Uhm...thanks?

- There were no balloons! There were no route markers, no defined start and finish line with a banner, no volunteers out of the course...no nothing!

- At around 9:35, I received a bbm from C saying that a cheque presentation had just occurred...$4, 000 was raised in total online. I raised about $600 of that, and certainly would have liked to have seen the cheque presentation
- While I was out on the course, I noticed teams that were walking for someone that they lost, walking with a survivor and others like me, who were just walking for the cause as a whole. My heart fell heavy when I saw the teams...knowing that they missed the cheque presentation, and that they received no recognition for their own personal reasons for being there. A moment of silence before everyone went out walking would have been nice...
- After the first loop, I met up with C and Owen, who came out for the second loop. It was a disheartening sight when I came back in...the volunteers had cleared up the registration table...and were leaving! There were still two teams out on the course, and about 20 individual walkers who'd yet to finish, and some who had just started!

Needless to say, it was incredibly poorly run. I felt horrible for those who were walking for someone they lost, or with a survivor who beat this disease.

Given how poorly it was run, I'm hesitant to do the walk next year...which really sucks considering the amazing cause that I was walking for, and I'm be shocked if I wasn't the only one who was reconsidering their involvement. And you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be making my disappointment known...I don't want the cause to suffer in the future because of poor organization!
Owen waiting for Mommy to finish her walk
Finishing the first loop...then we went out as a family

Monday, September 13, 2010

Happy Anniversary!

Today is going to be a picture post of sorts...celebrating 2 years of marriage, and 6 total years with the (first) love of my life, C.

Happy Anniversary babe!
Dating - in NYC, September 2007
Engaged - October 2007
Married - September 13, 2008
Expecting - September 2009-June2010
Parents - June 16, 2010 (photo taken when Owen was 3weeks old)