THE GOODS BLOG: Erika's Precious Little Life - August Edition

I’m pretty sure that summer is going to be over before I even wrap my head around the fact that it has begun. It has been unusually hot in Vancouver. I’ve been trying my best to get us out of the house and doing things as much as possible! This is challenging sometimes with all of the sun and the heat.

July was a very fun month full of a lot of great stuff. Prepare for plenty of photos!

First of all, we got our photography back from the anniversary shoot that we did in Jasper and the photos look amazing. I’m so glad that we’ve found a great way to maximize the use of our wedding attire!! I cannot wait to see this project grow. Plus having the motivation to fit into my wedding dress forever is awesome! (I was 109lbs on my wedding day so... GOALS!) Next time (year 10) I think I’ll have my hair and makeup done professionally because it was such a hassle to do it myself this time.

My neighbourhood’s big summer fest happened; the Khatsahlano Street Party. I loved having the party right outside my front door and wish that it would take place for longer than just one day!

My yoga studio put on some contests at the street party and I entered one of them. It was a Tree Pose challenge where whoever could hold the pose the longest would win a $100 Jade yoga mat. I wanted this!!! I was deadly serious about winning. I ended up holding the pose for 25 minutes (!!!!) and I WON! I had no idea that I had the ability to hold it for that long. I’d obviously never tried. It was really hard!! I was able to pull it off by “going away” into a similar zone like I did when I was in labour. Just focus and breath. HOORAY!

We fixed up our guest room / office / storage room. It was a disaster and we hated it. So we went through every single box and got rid of about half of the stuff. It feels great! Now it’s a much more pleasant space for our guests! That means YOU!! We currently don’t have any planned visitors for the fall and we’re taking bookings! :P

YOUR picture is on the wall in here. It's true. Like actually.

Basically running an Airbnb that you get to enjoy for free. :P

Melanie came to visit from Toronto and we had an amazing time together! It was the best! We enjoyed so many of the great things that Vancouver has to offer. (Granville Island, sunset and swimming at the beach, walking around Gastown and Coal Harbour, the Night Market, POKE!)

Melanie got to meet Archie for the first time! <3

Archie turned one and a half! He’s more and more of a little boy every day. ♥

Then Lacey came to visit from Canmore and it was yet another amazingly great time! So much Vancouver fun to be had! (The aquarium, outdoor movie in the park, sushi and night ice cream, POKE!)

We’ve been trying to embrace summertime fun as much as possible. Hands down, Archie’s favourite part of the entire summer has been swimming. Swimming in the ocean, pools, lake, kiddie pools... He adores it all! He turns into a crazy splash monster! He loves the water so much that he dives straight in, even though he obviously doesn’t know how to swim. We’ve really got to keep an eye on him! (His inevitable future as a surfer boy?)

Then we went off on our summer vacation to Ontario! Archie’s total flight count is now 11!

First we started in Muskoka where Tim’s family has the family cottage. It was nice spending time with the whole Golem crew, including all five of the kids. I have so many nieces! It was so great to have Archie spending time with his cousins. It was even relaxing sometimes. Lake of Bays feels like such a familiar place to me now.

All 15 of us!

I got to meet my newest niece Evelyn for the first time! She's four months old. <3

We brought a whole 7lb, wild-caught Sockeye salmon from Vancouver for dinner! We named him Bruce and he was delicious!

The cutest kiddie dinner party enjoying their salmon.

My very favourite water activity, standup paddleboarding. I would love to own my own board someday.

Baby's first SUP!

Me and my Sister-in-Laws!! <3

Tim with his brother and sisters... And all five of their kids!

Ice cream!!!

I dream of this refreshing jump.

The biggest Muskoka chair!

Perfect summertime family fun. <3

My prediction for how many nieces/nephews we’ll end up with? Jeff & Mya will probably have one more. Angela & Greg are DONE, Greg has had a vasectomy. Emily & Matt will probably have 1-2 more. And Tim & I might have one more... But we also just as likely won’t.

There are 5 kids already and I think that we’ll land at 7-9 in total in the end. That’s a lot of ‘em and they’ll all be born within the same few years. (Where will we put them?)

After Muskoka we went down to Toronto to spend time with my BFFs there! Toronto, of course, always feels like home. Tim and I certainly mused about moving there a bit, but I’m not sure if we ever actually would. It would be a very easy place for us to live, that’s for sure.

Being with Sarah & Colen always just feels right. :) THIRTY YEARS of friendship this year. (Did you guys realize that it’s legit 30 years this year?? I feel like we should do something to commemorate this.) ;)

Sarah & Colen. <3

We went to the Toronto Zoo!

The little boys were the MOST freakin' adorbs.

Tim and I went to dinner downtown at Alo, the #1 restaurant in Canada! I was SO EXCITED about this!!!

They only do a tasting menu (there is no menu) and every dish was incredible. This was the best piece of beef (Wagyu) that I've ever had in my life (bottom left).

I did another photo recreation on the driveway of my childhood home in Scarborough! (I very much just want the owners to let me come inside already.)

ABC: Archie, Brayden and Cole!

We've recreated ourselves as little boys. Because that's what friends who met when they were six do, right? (Except we're about nine in this photo.)

Melanie was there too!! This is my Toronto family. <3

What a great vacation! It felt like a real holiday!

Life with Archie:

This month felt a bit tough. He’s a year and a half old (18 months) and I don’t really feel as if anything has gotten much easier. I don’t even actually know what “easier” means. Things change and are different but are also just as difficult in new ways. I’m more and more convinced that maybe one child is enough for me.

He’s a magical little being and I love him so much. I love watching him learn new things every day. He’s got 15 teeth now. He can stand up from the ground without holding onto anything... But still no steps. He loves picking out books and coming to sit on our laps to read them. He can say “blue” and can usually point out when something is blue. He still eats everything and especially loves sushi. He loves buses, trucks, motorcycles and airplanes. He also loves all animals!

Everything was great until he had his 18 month doctor check-up and that’s when things went off the rails. He’s growing really well and has gone up into a higher section of the growth chart, which is great! But the fact that he isn’t walking yet is apparently an issue. He should also be spending more time with other kids, which he barely does. (This is another reason why our trip to Ontario was so great. It was all kids, all the time. He seemed to respond really well to it.) Archie now has an appointment with the Infant Development Program, which our doctor referred him to... And I basically bawled for two days straight. Rationally, I know that our doctor was being totally nice and chill about it all, but all that I could hear was that I’m a terrible mother who is ruining this bright, beautiful little creature. I felt like he deserves so much more than what he is getting from me. It was rough. I had a total meltdown and Tim didn’t know what to do. I kept saying that I feel trapped and unhappy as a parent and that my life is ruined and now I’m ruining Archie’s perfect little life too. It even got to the point where Tim suggested that if it was what I wanted, we could get divorced and he could take custody of Archie so that I could go off and be free (among many other suggestions). This broke my heart because it is NOT what I want. What do I have if I don’t have Tim and Archie? I have nothing. So yeah. You can imagine the scale of how rough things were and how large this meltdown was. Motherhood is HARD and negotiating a satisfying life balance is even harder.

Things are much better now and are peaceful again. I see now that I was being pretty hard on myself. I don’t think that I’m a bad mother, I’m just not as natural at it as some people are. It doesn’t fulfill me the way that it fulfills some people. I wish that I could be more like them. (Or do I? It’s just not who I am.) The Ontario trip helped to chill things out a lot. Tim and I were able to relax and be happy. I got a break from the grind of having Archie all day, every day. Commiserating with other moms that I actually care about was helpful. Plus seeing Archie having a great time with all the other kids and standing up a lot made us feel very hopeful.

We’re okay and everything is okay. Things get hard sometimes. I know that this is not unique to just us.

So yeah. One kid is enough maybe??

Just take the damn steps already!

And now it’s August.

My Mom and Dad are coming to visit tomorrow! They’ll be in Vancouver for over a week! This will be their second visit to the city and we’ve got lots of fun things planned for them!

Otherwise, it’s a fairly quiet month.

At the very end of the month we’re going camping for three nights on Vancouver Island. (Real camping! In a tent!) I’m super excited to take Archie camping for his first time!!

THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!:

It’s official wedding month, apparently!

August 5th is Krystie Coutu’s 6th wedding anniversary!

I hope that you and Trevor have a marvelous celebration! Will you be doing so in DisneyLand as a homage to your honeymoon?!

August 5th is Sarah Turnbull’s 1st wedding anniversary!

One year down!! You and Shane made it through the first one! I hope that this very first anniversary is extra special in every way. Maybe I’ll put on my bridesmaid dress to celebrate! :P

August 8th is Lacey Suttie’s 9th wedding anniversary!

I hope that you and Dallas are able to have some time to yourselves to celebrate. Do it now while the kids are gone!!

August 11th is Crystal Maffenbeier’s 11th wedding anniversary!

You guys are crushing the lengthy marriage game! Out of all of my friends, you and Jared have been married the longest!

August 15th is Enobong Anstey’s 3rd wedding anniversary!

I hope that you and Ian enjoy your second preggo anniversary! Have Ian make you steak and lobster!!