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

Hello! Hi! I can't believe the difference a month makes. We'd been having a really warm and sunny fall... And now the snow has dumped and it feels like winter. So I'm just trying to stay warm and cozy. So many warm beverages to drink and so little time... I stopped having "pandemic chats" in the blog because there wasn't anything else to say. However, I wanted to mention that this month Tim and I got our 4th vaccine and it was the new Pfizer Bivalent one that protects against the current Omicron variants. Archie also got his 3rd vaccine. Plus we actually HAD Covid back in June. So our super immunity is now at an all-time high. Speaking of the current cases, they had gone up a bit in the early fall but seem to be coming back down again. I absolutely love living in a world where all of this seems to be finally behind us. We had our annual family photography done at the beginning of the month and I am eagerly awaiting the results! Here's a peek at my look that day.

We got a brand new dishwasher, which is basically the most exciting thing to happen! Our old dishwasher was complete trash and it was amazing to upgrade to a fancy KitchenAid one. I love it soooo much!

Then it was Thanksgiving! We had a delicious feast at home, just the three of us, and it was really nice. Our food was super tasty and it was great to enjoy the day together. My family are the people that I'm truly the most thankful for. <3

Like I mentioned earlier, the fall had been really beautiful this year and we took full advantage by spending a lot of it outside. It was a magical season.

And then we were off to Montreal! We spent five days there and it really pulled on our heart strings. We were reminded of how much we loved and miss living there. It's a really special place. It was also great being in Montreal with Archie now that he's a bit older, too. We loved staying in our old neighbourhood and "moving back in" to our old life for a few days. And most of all, we loved EATING. The food in Montreal is the absolute best! We love visiting all of our old homes.

A very special thing that we did while we were there is visit the Maison de Naissance Jeanne Mance, which is where Archie was born. I expected that maybe we could go into the reception area and that would be it. But no! They let us go right upstairs and right into the actual room where I gave birth! And my midwife was there and we got to see her and it was so nice! Till this day I am beyond grateful for the beautiful birth experience that I got to have. It was really nice getting to show Archie where he was born - right down to the exact bed!

We also celebrated Tim's birthday while we were in Montreal and I think that he enjoyed his day! We had dinner at his favourite restaurant in Canada, so he was pleased.

Then it was Halloween! First we went to SONiC's Halloweenie Roast, which is something that I always used to love. It was really great getting to see a bunch of my old co-workers again. Breakfast hotdogs are a time honoured tradition! (Lauren is dressed as an Edmonton LRT cracked concrete pillar, which is a very funny Edmonton joke.)

We carved pumpkins, dressed up as skeletons, and we had a super fun night going out Trick or Treating with Archie. It was a blast! We even found a "wine house" in our neighbourhood, which was an excellent discovery, ha ha.

Another exciting month in the bag! Life with Archie: This month involved a bit of drama, actually. Firstly, Archie got his very first haircut. Ever! It wasn't anything shocking or drastic. We like the longer hair look on him. But after nearly six years it was good to clean up his style and give it more of a shape.

Archie also had picture day at school and ended up with a pretty cute photo! (Apparently they don't take the class photo until the spring, which surprised me. When I was a kid we always did individual and class photos on the same day.)

Archie has his very first loose tooth! It's been wiggly for a few weeks now and still hasn't fallen out. We are waiting for the Tooth Fairy's first visit! Then one day I noticed that Archie was scratching his head a lot. So we checked, and sure enough, we discovered that he had lice!!! *Cue horrified face.* I have no idea where he got it from. There was never any alert about lice being in his class at school. (I emailed his teacher about it and she said that she was unaware of any other cases.) Unfortunately, we found them in my hair as well, which I clearly got from Archie. Tim did not have them. Of course we treated all of our hair immediately with the special shampoo (in fact, we did two rounds of it) and thankfully we got rid of the problem. It was actually surprisingly easy to treat. So THAT was a whole thing.

Archie got his Beavers uniform and is now very cute and official when he attends his Beavers meetings. He is really enjoying being a Beaver!

Archie's class went on another field trip and he continues to have a great time at school.

Our trip to Montreal marked Archie's 36th and 37th flights!

Archie loved our trip to Montreal and had a lot of fun! He was excited to get to use the French words that he has learned at school. His favourite food is poutine, so we went to the right place. He got to try our top two favourite poutines in the city! He also got to attend a kids yoga class at my old studio, which I loved.

Here is Archie with Nathalie, the midwife who delivered him! <3

Archie ended up getting FIVE vaccines this month, which he was not trilled about. Three were routine childhood vaccines, one was for Covid, and one was the flu shot. He's very ready to not need anymore vaccines. Archie absolutely loved Halloween, of course, and was very serious about being a skeleton this year. He got to go Trick or Treating with his neighbourhood friend Brendan and came home with a huge haul of candy!

And there was a comeback of the themed snack for school. So that was fun!

What's up November! I can't believe that you're already here but I'm kinda excited to see you! The main big thing that is happening this month is that I am going to Mexico!!! This is a 40th birthday trip with most of my Regina friends (who all turned 40 this year). It's me, Sarah, Candice, Heather, Nadine, Enobong, and Crystal. SEVEN of us! I'm honestly impressed that we managed to organize seven entire ladies, who all live in different cities across the country, all have children, and all have busy lives. But we did! (We took a similar trip to California the year we all turned 30 but only had four of us attend that one.) Needless to say, we are very excited. We are staying at an adult-only all-inclusive resort called El Dorado Royale near Playa del Carmen, which is south of Cancun. I have been to Mexico once before but stayed on the west coast. So the fact that I'll be on the east coast this time will be a great new experience. Can you believe?! Seven of us ladies on a beach with cocktails for a week??! It's going to be a TOTAL BLAST. Yeeeeeeeee!!!!!!! (Tim will obviously be at home with Archie, taking care of things at home. I am very grateful for him.) After I get back it's basically going to be the start of the Christmas season, which is actually bonkers. We have BioWare's kids Christmas party called "A Holiday in Wonderland" and I am very, very excited that real life, in person Christmas parties are back this year. It will be so nice to celebrate the season the way that we used to! Plus we'll be putting up our Christmas tree and kicking off the whole season at home too. (It's a day that I love.) So that's it! The fun don't quit! THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!: November 9th is Erin Anderson’s 35th birthday!

Wishing you a most wonderful day and celebration. You always take the most fun birthday trips and I hope that this year is no different! I miss you very much and wish I could see you more often. I'm still so sad that I didn't get to see you in the spring because of stupid Covid. I enjoy that you are taking care of Young Craig. Sending so much love your way! <3 November 10th is Sarah Swalm’s 40th birthday!

I miss you very much and hope that I can see you soon! Wishing you the MOST fabulous big 40! I hope that you get completely spoiled and celebrated, which is what you absolutely deserve. I love you very much always. <3 November 20th is Carrie Schill’s 34th birthday!

I LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!! You are so special to me and I love our bond. I am so proud of the awesome life that you have built in Vancouver and everything that you have accomplished. I hope that you celebrate your day in style! I can't wait to see you soon. We should take another vacation with Dustin but without Tim. You're an honourary Domanski for life! <3