The Journey up north

We recently bought a house north of where we've lived most of our lives. The decision was both an easy and difficult one; difficult in the sense that we weren't sure where in the GTA we wanted to live, and easy in the sense that when we broke it down to what we really want for our lives and our family, this place was it.

So right now, we're still in the process of settling in. I used to love moving. Love love love. The idea of such a big change excited me; packing up my life only to unpack it in a new place, where my life would take a new turn. This time around, though, is a little more of a challenge. Or well, it's really tiring. It's not just about my life -- it's about our life, which involves four separate lives, with four sets of things to pack and unpack and find homes for. Add to that two little boys, full of energy, who, in this new space, want time to play with you. So many things to do, so many things I want to do, but also so many things I need to do. If only I had more time and energy!

Don't get me wrong though. There is still plenty of excitement there. It's exciting to see my husband putting together furniture and the satisfaction in his face when he finishes piece after piece. Every time I open a box that I haven't opened in two years, it's like Christmas all over again. When I finish unpacking a box and putting the stuff in their new homes, I get excited at the result of the love and care I put into making it all work, especially when it looks so neat and organized and makes sense!

When I see the boys screaming with excitement at the idea of so many toys in one space, I remember that this is exactly what I have been hoping to see. For the first few weeks that we lived in the house, we let them make a HUGE mess of the toys. All the bins were opened, empty, and their contents scattered on the floor. It was a big mess, but it was a happy mess. What kid doesn't want to see a mess of toys in their new rooms?

And so, in the bitter cold of winter, we settle in, and stay inside, with eager anticipation for the warmer weather, when we can go out, play with the neighbours, explore the neighbourhood, and enjoy the sun!

Hope you're all keeping warm! Brrrr....

20121101

I am grateful for daylight savings time, of the falling back kind.

I'm going back to sleep. For an hour. 

Nails

My hands are a disaster right now. My skin is so try, it feels like velcro. As do my heels. I think my hands might feel worse than my heels do. We've been quite busy in the past few weeks and so the skin on my hands and feet have not been my first priority...nor high up there on the list.

Anyway, when summer packed up its things and went on vacation, my pretty nails, fingers and toes, packed up and went for some R&R. They have been polishless since, and have been given some time to breathe. Much needed, if you ask me, judging from how they looked after self-mani/pedicure after self-mani/pedicure. (Who has the time and money to keep going to get these things done? Not me!)

And so now, after Thanksgiving weekend and cooking up a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with my family, which also included even more hand washing, I'm staring at my hands, both dry, and now still a bit covered with butternut squash juices (you know how it sticks to your hands like glue, only it doesn't peel off), and wishing that my nails were pretty. But then again, my nail broke last week, pretty low down, and nothing, NOTHING, can make it look pretty. So, I'm waiting for that to grow back and my hands to feel moisture again.

My feet? Well, who knows if I'll ever let those guys see the light of day anymore. Just kidding. I'm working on it.

20120916

I am grateful for Jesus and Christianity. That, unto itself, deserves a whole other post, a whole other blog, on a whole other internet, in a whole other world.

WyGuy was baptised today. It was a beautiful ceremony, following Sunday morning mass. The actual baptism itself went well -- WyGuy was asleep until he jerked at the feeling of the water on his head and some of the water went up his nose and he yelped. Oopsies. He was fine though, and just has some pretty holy nasal cavities. 

I am also very very grateful for understanding friends. It's just always nice to have friends who understand. You don't really owe them any explanation, but you give one anyway, and they understand and tell you there was no explanation needed. I love that.

Being grateful - 20120717

I am grateful for co-parenting.

There are many, many, many reasons I am grateful I am married to and am a co-parent with Mr.S. Today, we really needed each other when disciplining D-nut.

D-nut is the King of not finishing his food if he wants something else to eat. We'll be eating and he'll decide midway through the meal that he wants to eat something else (usually junk food, sometimes fruit though!) and will not eat what he's supposed to be eating. So, we tell him that he can have that other thing, but only if he finishes his actual meal first.

Tonight, he was eating pizza for dinner. He had one small piece left and decided he didn't want to eat it. He wanted to eat Smartfood. So, we told him to finish the last piece and he could have some. The boy cried and cried. He wanted Poppa to finish his last piece. So we told him if Poppa eats the last piece, Poppa eats his popcorn too. He cried and cried.

D-nut is also the King of attempted distraction. In such situations, he tries to bring up something else in an attempt to get us to forget what we just said. It never works. Maybe he got this from us -- he's easily distracted, like most kids, so we use distraction when we need him to forget about something.

So, what did he do while crying? "GASP! Where's the broccoli? I can't see the broccoli!!!!" His hand on his forehead, like he was looking for the treelike vegetable in the far-off distance on a sunny day...only his palm was facing upward.

We did not have broccoli AT ALL for dinner. I have no idea where this was coming from.

Mr.S tried to get him to stop it, but then started laughing. And then I jumped in to try to get him to stop it (and also corrected his hand - palm down) and told him if he wanted broccoli, we could find him some...and then I started laughing. Both of us had to put our heads down on the table and hide our laughing. It was horrible. He tried this again a few minutes later, looking for green grapes. We did not have green grapes either. And this time, we didn't laugh, since we got our giggles out already.

Excuse my hiatus...

I've been on Pinterest for a month.

Seriously.

But not seriously, I've been up to other things too, like parenting an evergrowing infant, putting together birth announcements, finally putting together albums for our wedding and honeymoon and family yearbooks, dealing with a broken computer now being repaired, toilet training, etc., etc.

I am, however, catching up on my Grateful posts and drafting my 30s posts and whatever other posts I've been meaning to write but never got to. I'll be back, I promise!!

Being grateful - 20120606

I am grateful for survival.

The boys each had shots today. And Mr.S was volunteering so I was tackling this on my own. Heaven help me. And Heaven did!

Being grateful - 20120601

I am grateful for dim sum and umbrellas. With some siblings off work today, the boys and i met up with many, many members of my family for dim sum. We do dim sum well, I think. Our Chinese ancestors would be proud.

Anyway, it was pouring out. As I drove to the restaurant my mind raced all over, worrying about how I was gonna rush the boys in in the heavy rain. As I parked, I remembered how silly worrying was as my brothers ran over to rescue us with umbrellas and muscles in tow.

And we returned the favour, helping my sister and her family in the rain after dim sum. That's just what families do.

Being grateful - 20120527

I am grateful for birthday celebrations with friends.

I finally celebrated my 30th birthday with friends today. It was nice to have so many there together and celebrate, well, me. Hahahahahaah! No really, it was nice to be able to do that with the people I've been closest to since I was in my teens. Here's what I wrote to them after we got home.


Hi everyone!

Thank you all so much for coming out tonight for dinner. And those who weren’t able to make it, thank you for thinking of me! [Mr.S], thanks for bringing everyone together!!

I know it’s been three weeks since my birthday, during which time many of you celebrated your own birthdays, but thank you all for your wishes over that time and today. Thank you for coming out on a Sunday night when many of you have to get up early tomorrow morning for work. Thank you for coming out to a family restaurant, to celebrate my thirtieth birthday, instead of a hip joint downtown with drinks and gourmet cuisine, and so, showing that you understand and embrace that my lifestyle is quite different from most thirty-year-olds (i.e. you guys)! I’ve been meaning to tell you guys this for a long time, but I’m so grateful that, despite how busy our lives have been and how much they’ve changed over the past few years with becoming parents to one and then two boys, our friendships with you all have never changed, never wavered, and that the only real difference has been that we just haven’t seen each other as often. You’re all such amazing aunts and uncles to our boys, and the love and care you extend to our kids makes us so happy.

That said, thank you most of all for being the most amazing friends anyone could ask for. We turned out alright, didn’t we? I’m so happy I got to celebrate turning thirty with my best friends, people I’ve grown up with, people I’ve grown to love and cherish, people who have been constants in my life for as long as I’ve known them. I am so, so blessed to have you all in my life. I love you all so much! Onward to FORTY! ;)

xo,
Treeh

Here are some pics from the night. We didn't manage to get everyone in, but I think most of us are here!

This is what our family looks like at 30.

Being grateful - 20120513

I am grateful for beautiful days on beautiful days.

Happy Mother's Day, Mothers! I love Mother's Day. I think it's partially because I love being a mother, and partially because I like having a day a week or so after my birthday where I get more presents. Just kidding about that last part.

Wasn't it such a nice day out today, for you Torontonians/GTAers? It was a beauty.

I got to do things like this...

It was so cute. We woke up D and told him he could have some popcorn, and after, blow some bubbles. There was so much open area around for him to chase after the bubbles. He was so excited, and even made some friends with people sitting around or people walking their dogs.

Pinch little guys like this...

Argh, isn't he so scrumptious?!?!? Sometimes I find myself pinching his cheeks so hard, he ends up with marks on his face. I know, bad momma, bad momma, but I can't help myself.

 And eat cold, sweet things like this...

....from a sweet thang like this! Hahahaha!

I hope your Mother's Day was a beautiful one!

Being grateful - 20120505

I am grateful for my twenties.

My twenties were really good to me. A lot happened in my twenties. I accomplished a lot, all of which I'm proud of. I actively set out goals for almost every year of my twenties and I was able to meet almost all of them, which makes me really proud. I'm not sure I'm going to do the same for my thirties -- we'll see. As I've gotten older, I've found that having several goals/projects, small and large, is just as fulfilling as having one really big one. I plan to write a series of posts with thoughts and insights on various important aspects of my life as I've gone through them in my twenties. It'll be nice to look back on those posts in another ten years and see what more I've learned.

To my dear Twenties,

Thank you for getting me to my thirties. It has been a wonderful ride. Thank you for getting me through university, as much as I had no idea what I was doing and what I was doing it for, and for ultimately getting me through to my degree. Thank you for years of adventurous dating with my now-husband. Thank you for seeing me through my courage and confidence to move out on my own, despite how tight my parents wanted to hold on to me. Thank you for accompanying me to my first job and the jobs that followed. Thank you for bringing me to several fundraisers for various causes close to my heart, and for being there when I grew and then chopped off a foot of my hair and later found out the shape of my head is pretty nice when I shaved my hair off for the cure. Thank you for witnessing one of the most romantic times of my life -- being engaged to my then-fiance-now-husband and then all the wedding plans. Thank you for sharing that special day when we got married, changing my life forever and fulfilling one of my lifelong dreams -- becoming a wife to an amazing man. Thank you for not laughing at me as I trained for my first marathon, a half marathon and countless other races and showing me that youth isn't confined to age, but to ability and outlook on life. Thank you for being there when I was pregnant with and the birth of our firstborn, who is constantly rewarding and challenging me, while enriching every moment of my life. Thank you for coming with me on travels to foreign places, places I've never been before, near and far. Thank you for being there when I was pregnant with and the birth of our secondborn, who is growing bigger and more and more quickly every day, and continues to teach us something new about life and so many other important things, even though it's only been a bit over a month. Thank you for sticking around through all the lessons, all the experiences, everything. You've been so good to me and now we say goodbye. You were an amazing set of years, and now I move on to my thirties, which will, no doubt, be at least as good to me as you've been.

Love,
Treeh

Being grateful - 20120503

I am grateful for disassembly of child products.

D-nut threw up in the car today. He was having one of his terrible two fits (ugh!!!) and was crying/screaming to the point where he was gagging and BLINK! He had vomit all over himself and his car seat.

NOT COOL.

Luckily we were on our way home (and if we weren't, we would be on our way home) and the extra clothes we always have on hand were quite handy.

We got home and I bathed him right away, while Mr.S took his car seat out of the car and cleaned up whatever mess might have lurked there (luckily very very little).

After cleaning up D, I tackled the car seat. All the pieces that needed to be washed came off, and I washed all the nastiness off. Ick.

Being grateful - 20120429

I am grateful for moments that remind you how amazing you have it.

Being grateful - 20120425

I am grateful for little hands learning to do things and random run-ins.

I was watching D-nut's hands today as he fed himself. It's amazing how much he has learned and you only remember how far he's come when you realize how little he used to be able to do. Gotta love the human body and mind. I love watching his little hands do things. And I love watching him think. He's so bright, that one.

Later we went to pick up Mr.S and ran into one of my bffs who was running errands before her vacation. We then ran into our other bff and her love and just like that, like old times, we were hanging out at the mall.

Being grateful - 20120420

I am grateful for turn arounds.

Let me explain what this is first. You're having a bad day, and you purposefully and willfully turn it around into a good day. It's an active choice and decision and it's hard to do at first, but when you've done it enough times and have had good practice and results, it's easy to do.

I had a long To Do list today, where all the items were past due. For example, I went to apply for a new passport today. My last one expired...in OCTOBER. Anyway, I needed to apply, not renew, because I wanted to update my last name on it.

Because of all the things on my mind about all the things I had to do today, my mind was everywhere. That caused me to make trips back home while on the road because of things I forgot and also caused Brother, my guarantor on my application, to go back home to give me his passport number because I forgot to put it on the form...in NOVEMBER, even after asking him for it several times. I had just deleted the text he sent with that info from NOVEMBER because I thought I should clear out some space on my phone. Anyway, after many, many wrongs, I found myself crying twice in public, once where a man was doing that try-not-to-look-but-can't-help-it-because-he-feels-bad thing. Ugh.

Anyway, it turned around. Mr.S reminded me that I could do that. People were no longer walking through the handicapped doors and instead were pressing the button for me and W in stroller. Lines weren't too long. D was okay and having a fun time with my parents. There were no issues with my passport application. W's hearing was fine. Chatted with random strangers. I finally changed my address on my license.

I got things done today. It was nice.

Look at how fun...

...this looks!!

Being grateful - 20120418

I am grateful for Tylenol.

I had some funk going through my body today. It felt like the flu and a migraine met, hooked up and impregnated me with their child. Horrible. And sudden too. What sluts. Anyway, that's how it felt. It settled in yesterday night actually, and then in the middle of the night, I was freeeeezing and covered myself with layers and blankets and then woke up in the middle of the night sweaty but with chills. Don't you hate that feeling? We didn't have any Tylenol other than what the hospital gave me after I delivered so I popped some of those after realizing I couldn't "tough it out". Phew, thank goodness. I don't think I could have survived the day, especially with two little ones. I kept thinking about how I felt like I was living a Tylenol commercial today. Seriously.

I would like to introduce you to...

...the newest addition to our growing family:

Isn't he sweet?

We're still in the process of finding his "web name", but for now, we'll just stick with W.

More details (and a wonderfully long blog post, I'm sure) to come.

Thinking about this...

...and wondering if I can find out some more about it at work. Hmmmm....

Scientists Cure Cancer, But No One Takes Notice

Being grateful - 20120312

I am grateful for cuteness.

After showing D-nut the video of himself thanking everyone for wishing him happy birthday, we ended up watching other videos we had of him, all the way back to one when he was just about 2 months old that I sent to my sister and family who live in the US. We sat there for 2 minutes, Mr.S and I trying our hardest not to cry nor pinch the monitor because of how cute and tiny he was. With the laptop on the bed, D-nut heard us and all our, "OMG, he's so small!" "Oh, he's so cute!" and kept pointing at the screen saying, "Baby! Look at the baby!" When we told him that it was actually him, he giggled and then started doing this thing.

I wish I took a picture.


He sat beside the laptop, with his arm resting along the top like it was his buddy, and just smiled at us, looking at the monitor, then at us, then at the monitor, then at us, with an expression that said, "Hey guys, see that cutie over on the monitor here? That's me. And guess what? I'm still cute."

After practically falling off the bed from laughing at him, he laughed too, and then said,

"Funny D! Silly Billy!"