First "Fruits"

Yesterday I was lucky enough to harvest the first "fruits" of my garden. I planted 6 snow pea plants to see if they'd have any luck, and here is the harvest from the plants.

They were pretty tasty! Now I know for next year that peas would do well in my garden! Can't wait for the tomatoes!!! :)

For Tim on his Birthday...

Today is my husband's birthday, and sometimes with the busy-ness of life and the craziness of parenthood, I don't get to quite express how much he means to me. I thought instead of getting him a sappy birthday card, I'd write him a sappy blog entry....for all the world to see. :)

I love how you make me laugh and go out of your way to cheer me up on days I'm tired/stressed/grumpy.

I love that you are adventurous and encourage me to be adventurous along with you.

I am proud of how hard you work and how passionate you are about doing a good job.

It makes me smile when you unload the dishwasher and put things away in random spots. But it doesn't matter, because you are helping. :)

I love watching you with Sam. You are a great father. He loves you so much: I can see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice when he says "Papa".

I love the way you hold me.

I love the way you dance with me.

I love the way you laugh and your eyes crinkle up in the corners.

I love you.

Happy Birthday.

Stewed Rhubarb: An Early Summer Treat

It's the time of year where rhubarb is fresh and ready to be harvested. I love rhubarb because it grows so easily in your own back yard. Really, it's as low maintenance as it gets! I have already pulled out several stalks from the patch in our backyard and have also received it for the last two weeks in our veggie basket.

There are lots of ways to prepare rhubarb - in pies, in baked goods (made some yummy rhubarb muffins yesterday!) - but my personal favorite is stewed rhubarb. With a little bit of sugar it's tart and just a hint of sweet - which goes well on its own, on ice cream or even over a freshly sliced banana. Sam loves stewed rhubarb, which makes it even more versatile. Here is how we prepare stewed rhubarb in our house:

1. Wash and trim rhubarb stalks. Chop up desired amount of rhubarb (let's say in this case it's 4 cups).
2. Place chopped rhubarb in glass dish (that is microwave safe).
3. Add ~1/8th of the glass dish's volume in water. So if in this case you had 4 cups of rhubarb in a 4 cup measuring cup, you would add enough water to fill up to the 1/2 cup mark (with the rhubarb already in the container!) *You have to eyeball this one and experiment a little bit, some people prefer runnier or thicker stewed rhubarb. Adjust water accordingly.
4. Place the glass dish in the microwave uncovered. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Add some sugar/honey/maple syrup to obtain your desired sweetness. If you use honey or maple syrup, decrease the water slightly to compensate for the liquid nature of the sweetener.
6. Cook for another 4-5 minutes until the chunks have cooked down and the mixture has reached a boil. Stir at least once.
7. Let cool. Enjoy!

What are your favorite early summer recipes?

Veggie Venture

I like gardening. There's something very peaceful about digging in the dirt. There's a certain amount of satisfaction in helping to create something out of a mound of soil and a small helpless-looking plant. I am useless when it comes to keeping plants alive indoors, but when it comes to an outdoor garden, where mother nature does the watering (most of the time) and all I have to do is pull some weeds and add a little nutrients now and then, I do well enough. :)

When I left my first job, one of my wonderful coworkers gave me a great book called "Basic Gardening: A Guide for the Horticulturally Helpless" by Yvonne Cunnington. It has been an excellent tool for learning in my gardens. I am by no means an expert, but it gave me the confidence to try things out with some trial and error. We've had some wins and some losses but thankfully no tears.

This year I am trying something different. I have for several years now wanted to grow a vegetable garden but for one reason or another have not had the time or the motivation to maintain it. I decided instead of buying a whole bunch of annuals that look beautiful but then die in the fall, why shouldn't I try planting some vegetables instead and see what happens? It's a fun idea, and if I get some vegetables out of it, then bonus! I'll learn a bit about gardening in the process, and maybe I'll get to make some salsa or something out of my peppers if they manage to grow. We'll see. :)

Little Changes Big Changes

It amazes me how time flies when you are working and looking after a child and just living every-day life. Here it is already the middle of May, Sam is growing before my eyes, and there's a hint of summer in the air. Life's changing nature is never more keen than in the spring, and this spring especially seems even moreso. My son seems to surprise me every day with new words, new skills, new humour....he is unbelievable.

As we do every April, we went to Hatteras Island NC (part of the Outer Banks) for a week of holiday-ing and relaxing. The house we stayed in had several flights of stairs to which Sam had unlimited supervised access. He mastered climbing up and down the stairs that week. He also mastered the words "apple", "en haut" (up in french, although it sounds more like uh-oh), and putting a great effort towards the word "turtle". More recently Sam has added the words "hat", "hot", "flower/fleur", "tree/arbre", "juice/jus", "wow" and "yay" to his ever-growing vocabulary. He is a very communicative little guy. :) He LOVES music and singing, I swear he would be happy to listen to me sing "twinkle twinkle little star" over and over and over again.

He also took his first few steps while in Hatteras but hadn't taken any since. That is until last night. It had been a good month since Sam attempted to take any steps, and then out of nowhere, after his bath last night he just started walking between Tim and I. Tim took some video, but Sam was completely naked, so it won't be going up here. However, I did manage to get a few clips of Sam walking today. We were halfway through a diaper change and he decided it was time to walk instead. He would go behind his closet door, peek out and then walk towards me. Enjoy! :)

Baby blue

Sometimes being a mom can be hard. I feel like I pour so much of myself into Sam that there isn't anything left for me. At the same time, it doesn't particularly bother me - other than when I'm feeling a bit run down. Lately I have been feeling a bit burnt out, like there is just so much going on and I can't seem to keep up with it all. It can be hard to keep my patience when Sam is wailing constantly or getting into things that he shouldn't be. However all it takes is for him to flash his baby blues, to give me a big smile, to giggle....and it seems to make everything better. I think God must have made babies so cute, otherwise they wouldn't last long. :P

Things Sam Says These Days

• Mama - this is what he calls me
• Papa - this is what he calls Tim
• Chat/cat - he calls any small fuzzy animal "chat" or occasionally "cat"
• Pa-pee - When I go to the washroom I leave the door slightly ajar, and commonly Sam will push it open and crawl on in. When I tell him "Je fais pee-pee" (I am going pee-pee), he'll respond "pa-pee". :)
• Up - Sam says this when he goes up the stairs, when we close the dishwasher door and then sometimes just randomly.
• Hi - he'll say this greeting inconsistently, but appropriately when people arrive to our home or call on the phone. He's more likely to greet them by blowing them a kiss.
• Baby/Bebe - he has started saying this occasionally to refer to himself, especially when he wants something he will say "bebe bebe bebe".
• Mememe - I don't think he knows what this means yet, he just says it.
  

He's also starting to make the "s" sound and the "t" sound. It's quite exciting!

Sam's Latest Accomplishment

Here's a little video Tim helped put together of Sam's latest and greatest accomplishment! Enjoy. :)

A reflection...

The past couple of weeks have flown by. I've been missing the time that I often have to sit down and express what I'm feeling or what is going on in a blog post. Sam has been sick quite a bit, and last Friday (March 11th) my grandmother passed away. She had been ill for quite a while, and it wasn't completely unexpected. But death is still never easy. Sunday night I was at home alone with Sam (Tim happened to be away for 10 days when this happened) and I found myself sitting in front of the computer, just thinking. Words just started flowing from me, so I started typing them out. Here it is....take a read....

A Tribute to Gramma

Nothing quite compares to the love of a mother, although the love of a grandmother comes close. Grandmas evoke a certain delight, a sense of fun that cannot be created by another. They can be your confidante, share secrets, get into mischief in a way that a parent never can. There is something very special about the relationship between child and grandparent. Something very special indeed.

My memories of gramma mommy (this is what we affectionately called her) are happy, full of fun and laughter. I can remember relishing going to her home as a child, looking forward to playing in her big yard with the apple tree and swing, bubble baths in her soaker tub, snuggling up with her under the covers. I remember sitting at the table in her kitchen watching her make lunch and I distinctly remember, actually tangibly, playing with the Tupperware salt and pepper shakers that sat on her kitchen table. I remember long walks in her neighbourhood – stopping so she could chat with neighbours about their gardens or the weather or whatever. I can still see the long, tree-lined street that she used to live on.

I loved playing in her garden and being full of awe at the beauty of the roses and the grapes that she grew every year. I have memories of more than one occasion helping gramma weed her garden, and although I didn’t really enjoy the weeding, she never made me do it long, and there was always a refreshing drink after the work.

Summers were very special because Gramma would come up to our house for a week and take all us kids out to the cottage while my parents worked. There was one summer in particular that sticks out in my mind – a week where we spent most of our time floating out on the water with the Steve Miller band blasting from the stereo over and over and over. Gramma didn’t complain, but she did hide the tape so that we couldn’t play it in the car on the way home. J

There were many warm summer afternoons spent cleaning fruit – whether it was peaches at grammas house or strawberries at ours. We’d make jam, can fruit, sneak some juicy pieces of fruit on the side – I loved these summer days.

As time passed and we grew older, I went to school and gramma moved to an apartment. The visits were less frequent, but still full of joy when we met. Gramma would send me letters of encouragement, something that always seemed to arrive right when I needed it. She was a silent partner, a prayer warrior, a cheerleader for each of us as we set out on our endeavors in life.

Although I never realized it at the time, each moment I spent with Gramma helped shape the woman that I am today. Gramma was an exceptionally strong woman – strong in her will and strong in her faith. She endured many challenges in her life but never lost faith and never stopped smiling. When I think about the life that she led and the legacy that she has left, it makes me smile. Her legacy is this: grandchildren that know that they are loved and cherished; who have learned that hard work and perseverance are key in reaching your goals. But most of all, her legacy is of a faith so strong, that no matter what life throws your way, if you turn to Christ, He will help you weather the storm.

Answer to the Riddle...

So, it appears my friends that you do a good job at solving riddles. :)

The answer to yesterday's riddle is this:

I went to work with the car seat in my car. Tim didn't realize this until he went to get Sam and had no car seat. I was oblivious until Tim sent me that email. Oops.


Rachel, Sam's daycare worker said she'd ask me next Wednesday if I had the car seat, and if so, I could leave it there. Good. Hopefully someone will be on top of things! :P

Oops

I got an email from my husband this evening, it was his night to pick Sam up from daycare as I worked late. He had sent me a riddle. Here it is:

Solve for Y:

Car + Daycare Pickup - Y = (winter jog) x (daddy + son)

Can you figure out the riddle?

another year older...

I don't spend much time looking at myself in the mirror these days. I'm so busy with life, work, playing with Sam - that the occasional passing glance to make sure there's no food in my teeth is about the best I get. When I stop for a minute and take a long hard look, I look the same and yet somehow different....

There are lines lurking where once was smoothness...a sign of smiles, and thinking hard, laughing and even the occasional tear.

The "highlights" in my hair are completely natural and "light" but they are not blond....
There are stretch marks worn as battle scars across my belly and thighs....signs of a baby carried and grown.
My hips have widened....a sign of a baby birthed.

Symbols of change. Symbols of strength. Symbols of courage. Symbols of womanhood..... :)

The Sorter

Lately Sam seems to be learning things faster than I notice them. One minute he can't do something, the next he's learned to do that thing plus five others. He never ceases to amaze me.

His favourite thing to do these days is "put things away" - he'll be sitting playing with his blocks, look up, see a laundry basket, crawl over with a few blocks and put them in the basket. Then he will proceed to put more blocks, cars, railroad tracks, whatever is around really into the basket. Or take my kitchen for instance. He likes crawling up to the cupboards, opening doors, pulling out items, putting them back on different shelves. Or putting them in drawers. He loves playing in my drawer full of plastic containers (Tupperware, Ziploc etc) - rearranging the containers and also relocating them to various places. It's so cute to watch. I wish I knew what was going through his head, because it looks like he's trying to sort the items. In fact, this afternoon I was washing out the base of my fridge and I had one of the crisper drawers on the floor. There were various veggies in the crisper, so Sam started moving the veggies around, putting them in the cupboard drawer, in his electrasol tub (yes my son plays with an empty electrasol can!), but eventually he put them back in the crisper. He had even put some toys in the crisper, but then eventually again he took them out and put them elsewhere.

It's so funny.

Typical work week

Life seems to be slipping in to somewhat of a routine....

• Mondays, Sammy and I hang out and play in the early morning, then mid-morning we head to the gym. Sam plays in the childcare room, I work out, then we come home. Lunch, followed by a nap - I try to get a few things done around the house while he naps (or I nap myself) and then he's up again to play. He eats dinner, he plays a bit more, then he goes to bed.
• Tuesday we're up early, he goes to daycare, I go to work. Pick him up around 5, home for dinner, a little play time, and then off to bed.
• Wednesday Sammy and I play in the early morning, then I drop him off at daycare around 10, I go to the gym, come home, shower, have lunch, go to work. Tim picks him up in the evening, feeds him, gets him ready for bed, and I get home in time to help tuck him in.
• Thursday is much the same as Tuesday.
• Friday is much the same as Monday.

I find myself missing the sporadic randomness of being home every day. I miss being able to meet up with a friend at 2 in the afternoon and have "coffee" while our babies sleep in the stroller...or bounce on our knees....or wail while we try to frantically sip our drinks and keep them happy. I miss long afternoons of laying on the floor, playing blocks with Sam or chasing him around the house as he explores on his hands and knees.

I mean we still get to play, but it's not quite the same. Much of it is in snippets, little moments between dinner and bed when his stomach is full and he can happily play until sleepy time hits. I find my Mondays and Fridays aren't as laid back because there are errands to run, play dates to attend (which I thoroughly enjoy!), food to be made...there's not as much down time as before I went back to work.

Sam is adjusting well - he still has his clingy moments, moments where he's being particular and only wants mommy or only wants daddy, moments where he refuses to eat anything. But he doesn't cry when he gets dropped off at daycare anymore. He actually knows Rachel, and smiles when he sees her, and points at all the toys as if to say "look mom, those are the cars I play with."

I think I'm having the hard time adjusting. I miss him. Work is good, but on moments when I'm not busy, I find myself wondering how Sam is, what he is up to....and wishing I was with him. What a difference a year can make. :)

Cute things

Cute things Sam has done in the past few days:

1. Thursday morning Sam wasn't quite himself and seemed a bit warm, so I took his temperature. Thankfully, he didn't have a fever, just the high end of normal. Anyway, I went to the bathroom to wash my hands and the thermometer and left him to play for a minute or two. At first he was talking and playing and then he went silent. At this point, I had meandered into my room to get dressed for work. He was sitting just out of view, quietly doing something, and I could hear a faint smacking sound...like he was eating something. I walked into the room, and found him sitting with the tub of vaseline in his lap, the lid off, and BOTH hands covered in vaseline, along with it smeared all over his face...GAH! Needless to say, I won't be making THAT mistake again.

2. On Thursday we get our weekly vegetable basket from our CSA. I was getting dinner ready and the full basket of veggies was sitting on the floor waiting to be put away. Sam crawled into the room, right up to the basket, reached in and pulled out an apple. He looked up at me and then proceeded to try and take a big bite out of it. His teeth weren't quite strong enough to break through the skin, so I peeled it and he proceeded to eat the whole thing!!

3. Sam discovered Tim's djembe (African drum) which is sitting at the edge of the couch at the top of the stairs. Regularly he will crawl over to it, pull himself up on the rail, and then proceed to bang out a tune on the drum! He's actually better at it than I am! :)

What a guy

Recent Shenanigans by Sam

AKA Funny things Sam does these days....

• When he doesn't want to nap: he stands up in his crib, talks to himself & his stuffed animals, bangs on the walls, pulls on the window blind, waves at you if you peek in through the TINY crack in the door, throws his stuffed animals out of the crib (he can get some pretty good distance!)
• These days Sam is crawling around, but he seems to get tired of crawling fairly quickly, and when he does, he stops, flops his belly down (but he's still up on his arms...), throws his head back and "howls" :P
• He is extremely interested in both cats, but especially Edwin because Ed doesn't want anything to do with Sam. Anytime Sam sees Ed, he'll giggle and take off after him in hopes of catching him...
• He waves at the cats any time they enter the room he's in
• These days Sam is calling any male that is special in his life "Papa" (so Tim, Grandpa B, Grampy R, Uncle T)
• Any time that I ask Sam if he wants to nurse, he starts to giggle this maniacal little laugh (quite funny actually!)
• Sam's current favorite thing to do is crawl into the bathroom, pull himself up on the tub, and push anything that is on the side of the tub into the tub. Sometimes he'll even pick things up off the floor (i.e. a washcloth) and throw them into the tub
• Another favorite thing to do is go into the bathroom, close the door, play with the door stop and keep his feet up against the door so mommy and/or daddy can't get in...

He's so much fun. :P

Da Flu

So Sam had his first bout of stomach flu over the weekend. It started on Friday morning, Sam seemed more cuddly than usual, and then he had two bouts of diarrhea. Nasty stuff. In the afternoon, I put Sam down for a nap and was in the process of finishing up packing for the weekend. We were getting ready to head down to Belleville to visit all of Tim's extended family to celebrate his grandma's (we call her Babi) 80thBirthday. We were also going to celebrate Sam's first birthday on the Sunday. Anyway, about 30 minutes after Sam went down for his nap, he started fussing. Which is odd, because he usually sleeps at least an hour in the afternoon. So I went in to check on him. I don't know what it was, whether he looked a little lethargic, or what, but I stroked his brow and said "You don't feel well do you?"...and moments after I said that, Sam vomited everywhere. Literally. It was in his crib, down the sides of the crib, on the carpet, in his little toy basket...what a mess.

Needless to say, we did not go down to Belleville. We did not get to do any celebrating. But we did get to share lots of cuddles over the next 4 days while he was sick. It's the only time he ever cuddles. And the exciting part is Grandpa and Grandma will be coming down to visit this weekend, bringing with them the extremely cool Sofie la Giraffe cake that they got specially made for Sam. Can't wait!

It wasn't so bad...

My first week back to work is over. Sam survived daycare, in fact on Thursday Rachel (his daycare worker) said that he seemed to be getting used to the place. He was even exploring and was being quite talkative. Yay Sam! I am so proud of you! :) He came home with several adorable crafts, my favorite of which was a penguin that Rachel helped him make and for which the wings were traced cut-outs of his hands. It is so cute!

All in all, Sam did fairly well. He would cry when I dropped him off, but Rachel said he never cried long, and when I went to pick him up, he was always happy to see me. I think I was the one who had the harder time. When I was busy, I was ok. But any time I had a lull in clients, or when someone asked about Sam, I would miss him all over again. I found myself thinking about him, hoping he was ok, wondering what he was doing...it was hard.

Every evening when I picked Sam up from daycare, he would look at me, smile and say so sweetly "mama". I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful boy. :)

Good last day

Sam and I had a wonderful day today. We played, we ate, I chased him, he chased me, more eating, more playing, more eating, throwing food on the floor, more playing with mom and dad....a bath before bed, nursing, a story, and then he went to bed. It was a good day. I only cried a very little.

Ironically, I realized this afternoon that I'm actually going back to work a week early....I actually have one week left of maternity leave (this current week I could still be off!) because I worked right up to my due date. Sigh. Such is life, I will just have to deal with the fact that I am going back to work. Life is still good, I am blessed with a wonderful, fantastic son and a great husband. I have wonderful family and friends. And I am only going back to work three days a week. I need to just keep reminding myself of these facts. And I'll be ok.

And besides, I had a wonderful day to "send me off" back into the working world. I loved every minute of it.

A day to go...

Tomorrow is my last day of maternity leave....on Tuesday I go back to work and we start a whole new routine in life. I feel like I want to hold onto every precious moment with Sam, snuggle him in (although he's still not a snuggler!), smell his head, ruffle his hair, chase him around the room as he slowly crawls away trying to escape, wrestling him to the ground...it makes me smile just thinking about all the fun we have had in the last year.

It's funny how I relish every moment with Sam and yet also enjoy every moment I have to myself. The rare "me time" throughout the day is quite enjoyable. I'm hoping that being at work will mimic that kind of experience, that I will enjoy the "adult time" and getting to do something different during the day.....to be honest though, I have a feeling I'm just going to be thinking about him the whole time. Transition is hard...I know it will get easier, but right now, with one day left, my heart is fighting it with every ounce I've got.

I am supposed to be cleaning up from dinner, while my husband changes Sam's diaper. I just finished wiping up the floor around where Sam eats (man! I can't believe how much food he can get on the floor in one feeding - it would supply a small nation...) and now I'm supposed to be loading the dishwasher. But the sounds of Sam struggling with diaper change and Tim doing all that he can to keep him occupied has distracted me.

He's making funny noises at Sam through a paper towel roll - one of Sam's favorite things during diaper change - which is really funny to listen to from another room. Got me thinking about the crazy things we do as parents to amuse our children. Just a couple hours ago I was dancing a crazy dance with Sam in my arms to some fun song that came on the stereo. And I looked out the window, just to see a woman standing on the sidewalk, watching me, obviously amused. :) I guess we get to be kids all over again.

Tim has just come out of the bedroom and said "What are you doing?" (aka you're supposed to be cleaning up! That was the deal...). Better get back to work.

One more day

Tomorrow is Sam's first day at daycare. It's only half a day, but to me, it's the end of a year that's been really special. I am afraid of how our lives will change. I am afraid I won't have enough time to spend with Sam. I am afraid I won't have enough time to spend with Tim. I am afraid my own time will suffer. I am afraid that I won't be able to keep cooking the way I want to - that we will slip back into patterns of quick, easy, less nutritious meals. I am afraid I won't have time to get to the gym, to go running, to exercise. I am afraid I will take on too much and have a break down. Fail. Drop the ball.

How do women do it? Balancing a career, and their families, and their own interests. I am approaching this hurdle with trepidation. I'm going to eat some chocolate.

Working woman...

I go back to work in just over a week. This week Sam will be starting half days at his new daycare on Tuesday and Thursday in anticipation of my schedule that starts the following week, Tues/Wed/Thurs. I am not complaining, because I recognize how lucky I am to only have to go back three days a week. But I can't help this aching feeling I have in my heart. I just don't want to have to leave him with someone else, I don't want to miss a single moment of his day. I love just sitting on the floor, playing with him, watching him discover something new and exciting about one of his toys. The look of wonder on his face; his completely trusting, innocent eyes; the way he looks at you with love - no advancement in a career can compare to any of these.

I remember a conversation I had with my husband about two years ago, around this time I started reading about pregnancy and having children. And I remember very distinctly telling Tim that I didn't want to sacrifice my career for a child. That I would not be a stay at home mom. I remember being very concerned, that I didn't want to be pressured to stay at home with a child when I was ready to go back to work (not that Tim would EVER do that kind of thing, it was just an irrational fear). I look back at that discussion, and at those early fears, and laugh. If I could go back and make myself eat those words, I definitely would.

Beautiful Winter Afternoon

Cross country skiing really is an under appreciated sport. It's great exercise, it works all the muscles in the body, and even at a moderate pace, you can keep up a conversation with your companion. Or the nice people you meet on the trail. That say hello to you and comment on the baby on your husband's back. Yes, you read that right. We went cross country skiing this afternoon and Tim carried Sam the whole time on his back in our moby wrap. We used the "hike hold" (this link is to another blog that has the directions on how to apply the wrap for this hold. For some reason the Moby website doesn't list this hold anymore...). It was so nice to get outside, to have fun while exercising (I checked a calorie calculator, and for 1 hour 20 minutes of moderate skiing, I burned ~650 calories!) and to spend some time with my two favorite guys. We even took some video, which my husband put together to document the occasion. Enjoy!

Get out and enjoy the outdoors! It's free, it's environmentally-friendly and it's good for you! :)

Christmas Hiatus

The past few weeks have zoomed by in a blur. The Christmas season with an infant is an entirely different experience. Besides keeping up with the everyday tasks like cooking, cleaning, running errands etc, Christmas adds to those responsibilities: Christmas shopping, gift wrapping, baking (because who can resist a yummy shortbread cookie!?) and all of the other activities associated with Christmas. It was a challenging experience. Here are some of the things I learned this year:

1. You can't do everything, so prioritize. Usually I have the Christmas tree up as soon as December rolls around, this year our tree went up on the 23rd (it was a constant thought in my mind, but not a high priority). I also only put up a few select decorations to minimize set-up and clean up time.

2. Most of the gifts we gave this year came in gift bags - they're just a faster form of wrapping, and more environmentally friendly!

3. If you're inclined to bake, make cookies that require simple ingredients (i.e. butter, flour, eggs) and make as much ahead of time and freeze them. Give cookies in a reusable tin or Christmas container to help minimize the plastic going into landfills.

4. Space out travel time. We wanted to be able to see all of our family over the holidays, but people are spread across the province. So we visited one side of the family the week before Christmas, and one family over the actual holiday.

5. Make time for yourself as a family. Tim and I have never had more than a long weekend at home, we are typically traveling for our holidays to one family's place or another. This year we made a conscious effort to have a good chunk of time as a family, just the three of us, in our own home. It was great. We hung out as a family, cleaned, put away most of the Christmas stuff, and just relaxed. We even were able to host some of our siblings here on the weekend! It was great. :)

6. If you're going to take family Christmas photos, book them early. I called our photo centre of choice (Zehrs!) back in early November and they were almost already completely booked up until Christmas. Yikes!

7. This is your child's first Christmas. If they are under a year old, they may take little or no interest in the Christmas festivities. Enjoy whatever they take interest in, even if it's just staring at the tree lights.

8. Be prepared for anything, especially if you are spending Christmas at someone else's home. Don't forget to bring all of the basics you would need if you were at home (i.e. infant tylenol, a thermometer) because you never know what may come up. Our son was extremely ill for most of the Christmas holidays, in fact we spent 6 hours in the ER on Christmas day. Definitely not what we had envisioned his first Christmas would be like, but definitely a memorable one!

9. Accept that you can't do everything. As I said in #1, you need to prioritize. Some things I wanted to bake didn't get baked, a lot of days I didn't get any formal exercise (other than playing with Sam), I really didn't get to make any entries on this blog, although I often thought of it. We are all human and can't beat ourselves up for what doesn't get done. The beauty of the season is that it borders on a new year, and what a great time for new starts. :)

Hope you all had a wonderful, healthy, safe holiday season.