THE GOODS BLOG: Erika's Precious Little Life - June Edition
Updated: Jun 18, 2021
HI FRIENDS!!! I am feeling pretty good these days. I feel like myself. The nicer weather and being able to go for walks outside every day has made a huge difference. I’ve been getting out to yoga class 4-5 times a week. Archie sleeps a solid 8-9 hours every single night (now in his own room!) so I feel very well-rested. And more and more I’m seeing that the things that I love in life don’t need to change that much after having a baby. Things are good.
At the beginning of May we had a family cottage weekend in Muskoka. The cottage is a 6.5 hour drive away for us (plus with stops to feed Archie) and he seems to deal with the road trip relatively well. I’m hoping that by taking long car trips like this every few months, he’ll just grow up used to it.
This was the first time that ALL of the Golem babies were together for the first time! Archie got to hang out with all of his cousins!
It’s incredibly important to us that Archie gets to grow up with all of his cousins. This was a major consideration for us when we were deciding to move. We are committing to attending the July Muskoka cottage weekend every year. (We have a July one every year and it’s always the best one because it’s the warmest.) Plus we will always go to London at Christmas every year. So knowing that Archie will get to see all of the Golem side of the family at least every six months (not counting if/when any of them come to visit us) makes us feel pretty good about things.
Archie’s passport arrived! So now he’s ready to see the world! We’re hoping to get a bunch of travel in while he still flies for free!! We’ve been talking about going back to Japan pretty much on the daily...
I celebrated my very first Mother’s Day! We went out for a nice brunch and there were mimosas. It was perfect.
Getting dressed up and going out is my favourite thing these days! I appreciate it so much more than I used to!
Also, Tim and I had sex for the first time since having Archie! It had been about four months!! It took so long because at first, obviously, my vagina was a disaster and off limits. But then later we were always just exhausted due to baby stuff all day, plus Archie was sleeping in our room which did not help the mood. Now that he’s out of our room, our room feels like an adult haven again. My first question for Tim was whether my vag felt different, ha ha. He said that it did not. So that was good news!! I’m back, baby! :P
On this note, I still have not gotten my period back yet. But I am looking for advice on birth control, which I should probably deal with. I’m breastfeeding, so I can’t go back on the patch, which is what I used before. I’m very skeptical of having an IUD put in because I’ve heard so many mixed reviews - more bad than good. What should I do? We do intend to have a second child and Tim will be getting a vasectomy after that one is here!! I need something for the next year and a half or so...
Then I went to Las Vegas!
Tim’s Mom came to Montreal from London to help out while I was away, which was really nice. I surprised myself by getting all choked up saying goodbye to Archie (I guess I love a baby?!), but once I was in the airport I felt really good. It felt like a big part of my life had been on hiatus and that I was getting to be myself again.
I loved getting to have adult fun for a few days and not having to worry about a baby. But it wasn’t entirely responsibility-free because I did have to continuously pump my breastmilk in place of when I would normally feed Archie. This lead to a lot of pumping in random bathrooms and even at the dinner table in a fancy restaurant, ha ha.
Our group of girls was a ton of fun; me, Sarah, Nadine, Katie, Carmelle, and Corinne. We ate tons of good food, saw three different shows, I took a yoga class, hung out by the pool, and plenty of wandering the strip. This was my third trip to Las Vegas, and probably the most tame. But not in a bad way! I hope that Sarah had a totally amazing time!!!
It felt nice to come back home refreshed and ready to get back to being a Mom!
My neighbourhood had a cute street fest called Mile End en Fleurs and my yoga studio hosted a little family yoga class. Archie love his yoga! (He does his baby yoga about three times a week.) I will miss this community a lot.
Our house is officially SOLD! It was only on the market for about a week, so it was all quite painless. We left for Muskoka for the weekend and had about five showings while we were away, and had gotten an offer before we even returned home! We literally had to pull over on the side of the highway on the drive home to sign electronic paperwork. Crazier still is that Hawksley Workman and his wife are the people who bought our place. This is his most popular song which you probably know. They have a home in Huntsville, Ontario (Muskoka) on 50 acres of land which they are keeping, but they want an apartment in Montreal as well. They get possession of the place at the end of July. This makes me feel nervous and homeless since we don’t have a new place lined up yet.
We have now decided that we will be renting in Vancouver. Because this:
Instead of rushing in and buying whatever we can afford (although this worked amazingly well for us in Montreal) we feel that this time it would serve us better to put more time into it. We would like to save up a bit more money, pay off debt, and spend more time looking at different neighbourhoods before buying. So this means that we are going to rent for a while. The major plus side to this is that now we can live in one of the cool urban neighbourhoods that we love (and that we could never afford to buy anything in). I’m very excited to get to have that type of Vancouver living experience!
Life with Archie:
Archie turned FOUR MONTHS old!
His interests include: Laughing a real laugh, blowing bubbles, and putting everything in his mouth.
As of his most recent weigh-in, he is now at 14lbs.
Archie is so much easier now! More than ever! He just seems more reasonable somehow and we generally understand him way better. He doesn’t cry very much, and when he does it’s usually pretty easy to solve it. He sleeps all the way through the night every single night. He now rolls over both ways (front to back & back to front) and enjoys being allowed to sleep on his stomach. We can hand him objects which he takes with his hands, and he is discovering his feet. He loves splashing in the bath. He had his second round of vaccinations and only cried for like ten seconds! We’re feeling very fortunate with him. I hope that our easy-going attitude is rubbing off on him. It seems that it is.
June is full of lots of neat activities going on in Montreal. I’m looking forward to going out to various events around town!
We’re going to Toronto mid-month to hang out with all of our Toronto friends before heading west. I’m super looking forward to it!! We’re also going to stop in Kingston on the way home to do the Kingston Penitentiary Tour (Canada’s oldest maximum security prison) which I have badly wanted to do ever since they started offering tours!!
It’ll be a good month to continue to get our ducks in a row and to enjoy Montreal while we’re still here.
THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!:
June 14th is Amy Bull’s 9th wedding anniversary!
I am disturbed that it has been so long, ha ha! We all used to be a bunch of wacky kids!!! You and Ray should have a special night out at O’Byrne’s to celebrate! Drink many a beer! ;D
June 20th is Laura Young’s 2nd wedding anniversary!
Seriously, your hair was ridiculous on this day, Laura. Ridiculously good. I hope that this anniversary is extra special for you and Matt!
June 24th is Sarah Turnbull’s 35th birthday!
I am SO EXCITED for you right now!!! I hope that you are currently loving every minute of life and taking in every ounce of your amazing celebrations. You deserve every bit of it. Make sure that Shane spoils you for your birthday, your last unmarried one! It’s the summer of SARAH!!! I love you with all of my heart! ♥
June 30th is MY 4th wedding anniversary!
Seeing him as a Dad makes me love him more than ever. Mark my words, we will be celebrating our 5th anniversary next year right where it all happened - in Jasper!! (And I may or may not be planning for us to do a photo shoot wearing our wedding clothes! And with Archie wearing a tiny matching tuxedo!)
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