THE GOODS BLOG: Erika's Precious Little Life - December Edition
Updated: Jun 18, 2021
I think that this is the first time in my life that I’ve made it to December without seeing a single flake of snow or going into negative temperatures. And I love it!!! This climate is totally for me. And if I want snow, I know where to find it. It’s only a short drive away into the mountains.
In other news: HOW IS IT ALREADY DECEMBER. What was this year??!
This year was simultaneously the longest and fastest year that I’ve ever experienced. I don’t even understand it. Thinking back to this time a year ago feels like another life entirely (pregnant, no baby yet, living in Montreal).
November was pretty low-key and the fall was absolutely gorgeous.
We had some family photography done (can’t wait to share ASAP!) and it was really nice for me to get all done up! This is me, as a mom, at my best. We should all feel strong and confident and good about ourselves!
Tim and I got to have our first real date night alone since Archie was born. We definitely would have done it way sooner (it’s not like we have a problem with leaving him), but with moving and everything we haven’t had a lot of time to sort out childcare. So finally, we did it! (And now we plan to do it regularly.) It was the best time, we went out for a nice dinner and to see a comedian that we like. It felt like a little glimpse of what our life once was.
And on that note, we found a babysitter!! When we were out trick or treating we visited a house where a youngish women (around our age) offered to babysit Archie. Her name is Nicole and she’s a teacher and she babysits as a side hustle. So we took her name and phone number. We then got references for her and called them... And she’s AWESOME! So we’re going to have her babysit for us 1-3 times a month so that Tim and I can have adult time away for ourselves. Which is so important! I cannot wait to eat adult meals in nice restaurants and not spend the whole time looking at a baby!! Or to go to an actual movie in a theater again!
Otherwise last month, I’ve mostly just been spending my time hanging out with Archie. I took a lot of you guys’ suggestions and looked into tons of programs around the city. Thank you for all of the great activity ideas for me to do with him! We tried a lot of different things and now we have a more interesting weekly “schedule” of the activities that we liked:
Wednesdays: Babytime ~ Kitsilano Library (songs & stories, and it’s free)
Thursdays: Tip n' Tumbles ~ TumbleTown (gymnastics, by far our favourite)
Fridays: Signing Babies ~ YogaButtons (baby sign language)
Saturdays: Parent & Tot Swim ~ Robert Lee YMCA (swimming lessons)
We likely won’t hit every program every week, but it’s nice to have options. We also got a membership to the Vancouver Aquarium, which is a great way to spend a few hours.
Sometimes it starts to feel like my sole purpose is to take care of Archie... And sometimes that feels okay and other times it doesn’t. I’m trying my best to establish some balance.
We’ve started to get ready for Christmas and have decorated our home! It’s been a lot of fun making Archie a part of everything, even if he doesn’t really “get it.” He does seem to know that something special and different is going on, and I love that.
Life with Archie:
Archie turned TEN MONTHS old!
His interests include: Standing up & walking along the furniture, clapping his hands, and he now has six teeth!
Archie’s whole life at the moment is standing. Standing all the time as much as possible and walking along the furniture. At first he wasn’t so good at getting back down, but now he has totally figured it out. He loves clapping his hands. He also says “mom,” “mama” and “dada,” but we aren’t entirely sure if he knows what he’s talking about yet. Sometimes it seems purposeful, but most of the time it just seems like babbling (which he does tons of). He has SIX teeth! The top four all came in at the same time, which caused a couple of stressful weeks and bad sleeps and lots of baby Tylenol. Overall, he’s a very sweet and happy boy who loves his family.
I have a few questions for all of you moms this month. Hopefully you’ve got some insight for me!! HELP!
1. For those of you who breastfed: How long did it take for your periods to return? Did it only come back once breastfeeding was finished? Or did it return while you were still breastfeeding? Just trying to get an idea of when I might see that thing again. Not that I miss it or anything.
2. Now that Archie has all of these teeth, he has started biting quite a bit while breastfeeding. I’m not sure how to get him to stop. I say “no” sternly and put my breast away... But he doesn’t really seem to care. Obviously this cannot continue.
3. Our biggest sleep problem these days is that when Archie wakes up during the night, he often stands up in his crib. Once he’s standing, he’ll scream and cry while holding onto the bars and will absolutely not climb back down and go back to sleep on his own. Even when left for an hour. We used to do “the pause” where we would let him cry a bit and he would often put himself back to sleep. But now that standing is a part of it, our old tricks don’t work anymore. Did any of you deal with this and how did you solve it?
4. What would you say is the best toy for an (almost) one year old who isn’t walking yet? (But who loves to move.) What did you find to be the most worthwhile and beneficial for this stage?
I’m so excited for December and everything that it entails!!
We’re planning to visit various holiday events and activities every weekend and eat all sorts of festive things!
I’m going to see The Killers live next week, which I’m totally pumped about.
And then we have Tim’s Capcom holiday party. It’ll be interesting to see how this compares to BioWare’s parties, which were INSANE. I’m sure it’ll be a much smaller scale, but still a ton of fun. And it’ll probably have an open bar which I plan to take full advantage of, ha ha. Very excited to get all dressed up for that!
Capcom is also doing a “Breakfast with Santa” for the employee’s kids, which should be super cute.
We’re going to celebrate our own little family Christmas at home in Vancouver before we leave for the holidays. When I was growing up, we always went to Montreal for Christmas. (Every year until we moved to Regina.) But my immediate family would have an early Christmas at our house in Toronto beforehand. My parents just told us that Santa was making a special early trip to our house and we completely bought it. (And I believed in Santa until I was in like junior high, ha ha, so clearly it worked.) Anyway, we’re going to do the same thing with Archie. An early special trip to our house from Santa the weekend before we leave town each year.
Then we leave for Regina on the 20th! We’ll be there for six full days and I can’t wait to see my family and to see as many of you guys as possible as well!! We’re having a Regina friends party and I hope that everyone can come!
And then we leave for London on the 27th! We’ll be there for six full days as well and are doing an entire Christmas there as well. I can’t wait for Archie to be with his cousins again because I think he’ll actually play with them now. (Also! We found out that Emily is having a GIRL!! It seems mathematically impossible, but I’ll have FOUR nieces... And Archie. The only boy!) We’ll be in London for New Year’s as well and returning home on the 3rd.
I’m just super excited to go somewhere. Anywhere! I need to go to an airport already!!
Don’t forget to read this!: I really want to wish all of you the most warm and special Christmas this year. You have no idea how much your support has meant to me, this year especially. I feel like I’ve been on a roller coaster of ups and downs, and have faced so many new challenges. Just knowing that I have all of you guys in my corner has given me so much strength. You lift me up. I need you to know that I’m so grateful for you. ♥
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