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

Can I just say that this has been the most glorious and beautiful fall that I think I have ever experienced? For a so-called “rainy city,” we sure haven’t seen very much rain. Most days are crisp, sunny, and warm. The leaves are gorgeous. We’ve been enjoying it all!

You probably heard that I was in a Subway commercial! You can see it HERE!

Tim is still very happy at work and feels very good about his choice to take this new job. I can tell that he is a million times less stressed, and that alone seems completely worthwhile. (Now we’re just trying to convince them that Tim needs to take business trips to Japan, HA HA. The company’s headquarters is in Osaka... So maybe?)

We celebrated our little Thanksgiving at home and it was really nice and low-key. We made an entire turkey dinner and it was delicious!

Two turkeys.

Post-Thanksgiving hike in Deep Cove!

All three of us have a family doctor!! It’s a Christmas miracle!!! We were NEVER able to get a doctor in Montreal and in Vancouver it was very easy. We all got flu shots and were not affected adversely by it at all. And I’m on birth control again! I decided to go the pill route instead of the IUD. The reason for this is that once I’m finished breastfeeding (which might only be for 3-6 more months, my goal is to get Archie to at least one year and see what happens after that) I’ll be able to go back onto the Evra patch, which I greatly enjoyed for many years. I can’t believe that I’ve been off of birth control for like a year and a half now. I also still do not have my period and have been without one for the same amount of time. Having a baby is such an ordeal. So anyway, I got the Movisse pill which is a progesterone-only one. So I have to take it super strictly, but this isn’t a problem for me.

So the long term plan... Take this pill for the remainder of breastfeeding and then get back onto the patch after that. Then bang out a second child (get pregnant in 2019 - which we recently pushed out a year, because hell no). Then Tim immediately gets a vasectomy. Like the same day that the baby is born. Then move on with my freakin’ life. :P

I finally got to do goat yoga, which every person that I know has been posting on my wall/tagging me in for like two years now. It was everything that I dreamed it would be.

Plus Archie got to meet and love goats too!!

Our apartment is now finally completely unpacked, set up, and cleaned. Thank goodness! It feels like home. We have made the decision to hire house cleaners on a monthly basis. I have always wanted this (because who likes cleaning??) but Tim has always said “no.” But now that we have Archie, cleaning the house is pretty much the last thing that we want to worry about. Plus the cleaners do a way better, more thorough job than we would do anyway.

Tim celebrated his 34th birthday! We didn’t make that big of a deal about it and he seemed really happy with exactly what it was. We would be so lost without him. ♥

Birthday boy!

Going out to birthday dinner!

Hanging out with this one...

I was very excited to get to attend a special workshop at my yoga studio called Unf’withable, lead by a yogi hero of mine, Kathryn Budig. It was so amazing.

We went to a pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins for Halloween! It was very cute.

Halloween was SO MUCH FUN!!! Archie dressed up as a monkey because we call him “monkey” as a nickname all the time. (We also call him “potato,” but that seemed like a less good costume, ha ha.) We took him trick or treating for about an hour and he really seemed to enjoy it. Our neighbourhood was really, really good, with many of the houses going all-out with decorations and tons of kids were trick or treating in the streets. It was the most perfect, idyllic atmosphere! Has Halloween always been this good??

Tim's pumpkin (left) and my pumpkin (right).

BABY MONKEY!!

Family onesies! We were saying that we'll try harder next year to do a really creative family costume.

Archie's FIRST trick or treat house EVER!

Life with Archie:

Archie turned NINE MONTHS old!

His interests include: Crawling absolutely everywhere, laughing & smiling, and popping out teeth!

Archie is average in weight, but tall. He got his first and second teeth, his right and left lower central incisors. He’s a bit crabbier than usual because of the teething, but he’s still sleeping well, so it’s not that big of a deal.

First tooth!

Sadly, I think that our days of Mom & Baby yoga are coming to an end. :( The classes are tailored to smaller babies who aren’t able to move around as much, and now that Archie is full-on crawling, his only desire is to go off wherever he pleases. This makes participating in the class pretty difficult. I’ll have to find new activities for us to do that are more suited to his age/activity level. We do also attend “Babytime” at the library where we sing songs and read stories, and he likes that. Do you guys have any other suggestions for good daytime activities with a crawler?? I’d like for him to be able to get some exercise and have some fun.

Archie’s current favourite thing is to pull himself up and be standing. All the time! He’s still in the process of learning that he can’t actually walk, and therefore, he can’t just “let go and run off.” I foresee him figuring out the walking part soon.

Archie has now been OUT for as long as he was IN! 40 weeks and 4 days!

So things are good! I feel like we’re settling in well and we still feel very fortunate just to be here. Some days are hard, stressful and annoying, living this Mom life. But other days feel like I’ve totally got this. I’m just trying to give what I can to each day and to do it with love.

November is full of a bunch of fun activities.

On Sunday we’re having family photography done. Very excited! Can’t wait to share the pics with you!

I’m going to go see a Pelvic Physiotherapist to try and deal with my ongoing pee-pants problem. Ugh. This needs to be addressed and solved.

We’re going to go see a comedian that we love, John Mulaney! And a nice dinner first! Date night!! Archie is spending the night with Uncle Dustin, ha ha!

It should be a fairly quiet month with more opportunities to explore our new city!

I LOVE ALL OF YOU GUYS AND THINK OF YOU ALL OFTEN!!! Sometimes I feel like I’m trapped in a bit of a “Mom hole,” but I assure you that I am alive down in this hole and that I still care about everything that is going on in your life. You’re a priority to me, no matter what. ♥

THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!:

November 9th is Erin Anderson’s 30th birthday!

Dirty thirty!!!! I love that I live down the block from you and that I run into you randomly on the street. Did you ever think that this day would come?! Having a friend like you so close by is one of the best things ever. I hope that you have an incredible birthday and let me know when I can take you out for a birthday lunch!! Love you! ♥

November 10th is Sarah Swalm’s 35th birthday!

I miss you so much!! I hope that your day is wonderful and that Adam spoils you tons! I’m looking forward to coming to Regina next month so that we can get together! I need to catch up with you guys and hear everything. Love you tons! ♥

November 20th is Carrie Schill’s 29th birthday!

I love everything that our friendship has been. So much fun and adventure. Please let’s plan somewhere else for us to go soon! Please get married somewhere exotic and invite me! You’re my favourite little sister yogi!! I hope that Andy spoils you like crazy on your special day and I will be missing you and thinking of you like crazy! Love you so much! ♥