we bought a house!

It is a 1960's bungalow. It still has the original kitchen with original stove, recirculating hood fan and single sink. The basement is original too. Wood paneling, orange carpet, orange bar. Oh ya, baby, there's a bar!

And it's perfect :)

Well, okay, maybe not "perfect". But I get to redecorate, which I am loving!


Since it's a mid-century home we are thinking about going (wait for it...) mid-century modern.

Aren't we original?

The best part? I get to do another nursery! And since we now know that the sprout is a boy it won't be yellow and green. I'm thinking robot, rocket ship...

Feel free to suggest your favorite mid-century modern design websites. I need ideas!

sometimes life just takes over...

Or it doesn't, actually.

Sometimes life ends.

This happened to be the case of one great grandmother recently. A lady who truly understood what it meant to live through hard times. A lady who was a survivor. A lady who fought so hard for all the things she loved.

She lost this last battle to cancer. And the sprout will never know his great grandma. Sure, he's met her and spent time with her. But being only one, he will not carry these memories with him.

Instead he will hear of how she survived the war in France.

He will learn that she once hemmed pants for Picasso, who offered to pay her in art. But she was so poor that she asked for money instead.

He will hear about how she came to Canada to have a better life for daughters, only to be swindled, left penniless and alone, with her daughters back home.

He will find out that grandpa lent her the money to bring them together. The same man who sat in the front row at her funeral and could not stand because he was crying so much.

He will learn that she had trouble pronouncing names and it took her years to say daddy's name, called mummy "brawny-winny" for the longest time and never quite got your name.

She was a woman who continued to love after life took away so much, and everything indicated that she should be defeated.

But she never was.


We will miss you, grandma.

A party would have been too obvious

We decided we weren't going to throw a 1st birthday party for the sprout. I didn't feel like inviting a bunch of people over so the sprout could take a nap.

And I eat far too much cake anyways. I don't need another occasion to have more cake.

Besides, I have a hard enough time keeping my house clean. Now that we are selling I haven't gotten any better. Ugh.

So, what do you think a science major and a math major do with their first born for his first birthday?

Well, first we took a trip on a steam engine.


But the sprout decided we were going too slow, so he drove instead.


Then, he flew us up to the moon in a rocket ship.


On the way back to earth we stopped off at the space station to operate the Canadarm.


To end the day we traveled really fast down some optic wires, just like data traveling from one point to another.


And after all that, the sprout passed out.


Yes, he actually sleeps like that quite regularly. It helps amplifies the farting which is especially nice when he has his ass right next to your head.

You too can have an awesome, out-of-this-world birthday experience! Just go here!

happy birthday!

Happy birthday, little man!

uh... you missed a spot

My child loves the broom.

Okay, that sounds like a euphemism for...

Well, we aren't going to go there.

But, seriously, the sprout loves the broom. Literally.

We've all been working hard getting our place ready for sale. Which has involved giving the sprout a lot of piggy backs in the Beco. (Oh, god... that sound like a euphemism too...) If I need to get something done, like, say, sweep the floors and the sprout wants to, say, cruise the furniture and put lots of sweaty footprints all over the nice floor I am trying to clean, it is just easier to hoist him on to my back. Where he can chat and drool on mummy's head and point and tell me I am doing it all wrong.

He always giggles when I sweep. It is by far the funniest thing I've done lately. Apparently, I suck at cleaning the floor. I suck so much that it reduces my child to a giggling lunatic.

I guess the sprout thought I needed a lesson in how it's done.
Can you see the dust that he's swept up? Genius child. I wonder if I can whore him out to cleaning companies and make some extra cash have more money to put into his RESP.

Oh wait, there is something against child labour, isn't there?

No child labour laws were broken during the writing of this blog post.

so apparently we aren't too cool

For crawling, that is.

The sprout has never shown an interest in crawling. Standing and cruising is far more interesting.

Until recently.

Hello angry crawl.

You. big. meanie. You. have. put. me. on. my. ass. in. the. middle. of. the. floor. Well. screw. you. I. want. to. cruise.

So far he's only figured out how to crawl to the couch to pull himself up to stand. He hasn't figured out that cruising is a mode of transport. I haven't enlightened him to this fact.

He doesn't need to know, does he?

thump, cry, pause, WAIL

You know that saying, the one about the forest and the tree falling?

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, will it still make a sound?

Ya, that one.

Obviously, it will. The impact of the tree hitting the ground is going to cause some vibrations and sound is just vibrations.

But I digress.

What happens when the baby falls over?

This has been happening a lot lately. Someone wants to move faster than his feet will take him. Or he changes direction mid step and trips himself. Or he decides that he doesn't need to hold on who-cares-that-he-can't-balance-on-his-own-yet.

Thump.

Usually he falls on his ass. Sometimes on his side. Frequently on his head.

Cry.

It's like he's just testing to see if you are going to come to the rescue.

Pause.

If he is just falling over for attention, there is no pause. He'll keep crying till you pick him up.

But when you look over and his mouth is open like he's trying to scream but no sound is coming out and 5 seconds go by and then another 5 and you start to think, okay, little sprout, breathe. Just breathe.

Wail.

Full on screamfest. OH MY GOD! It's the end of the freakin' world. But maybe if I point over there at that contraband non-toy you'll give it to me to make me feel better. Really, your computer would make me feel much much better, mummy. Or the camera. Or daddy's fancy chopping knife in the kitchen. It's shiny...

Or, you know, boob would be lovely too.

So, what happens if the baby falls over and no one is around to hear it?

You'll never believe it.

The baby still makes a sound.

Thump, cry, pause...

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

At least he hasn't figured out how to fall out of his crib yet. I dread to hear that.

happy mother's day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you mama's out there.

Let's celebrate by... playing in the snow!

The dude is making me blueberry pancakes and bacon for breakfast :) The sprout is cruising the furniture. And I am sitting here thinking I should really clean up my house relaxing.

It's mother's day AND my birthday. I don't think I should have to do anything today. In fact, I think I'll go back to bed!

Oh, wait, no. Breakfast's ready!

Enjoy your day and indulge a little :)

Image via Getty Images