It's a Neighbourly Day in this Beauty-Wood

Our neighbour across the street is a sweet old lady, recently widowed (her husband was literally the nicest man you'd ever meet. He passed away not quite a year and a half ago. We wish we had gotten to know him better.) She's always doing sweet old lady things like inviting us to pick apples off her tree and mailing our Christmas card when we live right across the street. The other day there was a an uber-sweet/sad message on our answering machine from her. It was something to this effect: "I'm so sorry that you will be moving. I have enjoyed having you as neighbours. Please keep in touch, as I would like to keep track of Baby over the years. When I saw them put up the Sold sign on your house I could've just cried." She actually said that, "I could've just cried". How sweet. (Now this week I have been trying to go over to visit her but she has had overnight company and they seem to be gone in the afternoons.) People can be so wonderful.

A couple of weeks ago we were in town meeting with our Realtor and we decided to go out for supper, so we went to Dairy Queen. At the next table there were three old ladies having coffee. Baby was crying and squirming as we tried to eat and one of the ladies at the next table offered to hold him so we could eat. He happily flirted with three gray haired ladies while we ate our food. Only in rural Manitoba could this happen, I think. Lovely.



(It was snowing again this morning. Our yard had melted almost completely. Soon, soon it will really be spring. With things growing and everything.)

No Hickeys Please

Warning: This Post contains the word Nipple

Baby is very much in the Oral Fixation Stage. Everything goes in his mouth, and if he can't put it in his mouth, he puts his mouth on it. Some interesting things he has mouthed recently:

-bathroom mirror
-towel rack
-piano keys

He also likes to put various parts of Mommy in his mouth. And not just the parts you would expect, namely her fingers and her nipples. No, he likes variety - hair, forehead, shoulder, collarbone. And chin. He especially likes my chin. The other day he had my chin in his mouth and his lips sealed around it as he began to suck. I removed him and kindly explained that not even Daddy is allowed to give Mommy hickeys...



ps. House Update: Our buyer's financing went through, so our house is now officially sold. with a sold sign and everything.

Making a Stink

We went house shopping on Monday morning. Husband took half a day off work and we drove to town to meet our Realtor. I elected to stay in the car with Baby while Husband went inside to tell the Realtor we were there. So I climbed into the back seat of the car and... ugh...was overwhelmed by a familiar smell. Baby poop. So, I went into the Real Estate office to find a place to change him. Our Realtor kindly let me use the table in his office. Okay.

So, I take off Baby's snowsuit etc. and discover the biggest, messiest poop you have ever seen. I am serious. He has had messy poops before, but nothing like this. He might as well not have been wearing a diaper for all the good it did. I am talking soiled undershirt, soiled shirt, soiled pants, soiled snowsuit. Aack. And I only had one baby wipe in my bag! I could not believe it. Luckily I am at least smart enough to keep a change of clothes in my bag for him. So he got an entire change of clothes and we spent the morning with a VERY VERY stinky diaper bag. (Note: Baby is breastfed. This means that his poops are way less stinky than if he were formula fed. If that were the case, I may have just thrown the clothes out...) All I can hope is that I didn't leave too much poop residue on the Realtor's table.

So, as I was saying, we were going house shopping. Long story short...we made an offer on a house and it was accepted! We are just waiting for a) our buyer's financing to go through and b) our financing to go through. So, say a little prayer, or cross your fingers, or do your Ancestral House Buying Dance in the hopes that nothing goes wonky at this point. We didn't actually think we would find a house on our first official looking session, but it was just right. We are very excited. I told my brother today, who recently moved back to MB, and he was jealous. We looked at four houses. He looked at 33!

So that is the news at our house. Also, it was melting again today and the outlook is quite warm for the next few days. happy spring. or should I say, happy vern...

A Lenten Update

So I thought it was about time for an update on my Lenten efforts...

1. No chocolate. This has not been a problem, except once. I went to a friend's house for a "play date" (read: our babies laid on the floor beside each other) and she had made banana chocolate chip muffins. I carefully weighed the options - - break my Lent pledge or refuse snacks prepared fresh that afternoon before my arrival. I decided it would be worse to refuse the snack. You may or may not agree that it was the right choice, but, frankly, I don't care.

2. Floss my teeth everyday. I have to admit I have missed a couple of days, when we have been out late. But I did buy a new thing of minty floss, so I think I am doing well.

3. Only check email once per day. No dice. I just can't do it. Being at home all day in the boonies, blogs and email are my only connection to the outside world. I am using things like "There might be an email from our Realtor" as excuses to check more than once. I will continue to work on this, through Lent and beyond.

* * * * *

We set up Baby's stroller today, and he has been riding around the house in it all afternoon. We haven't used a stroller yet, due to it being Winter. But now he is be enough for the stroller (it is not for infants younger than six months. He is not six months yet, but he is big enough and sits up well enough.) and it is getting nice out side. It is a Quinny Zapp, which is, I believe, the "smallest buggy in the world". We like to call the crazy big strollers, "SUV Strollers". If that is the case, the Zapp is the "Smart Car Stroller." We love it. We feel very European. Fun times.

* * * * *

We are going to look at houses tomorrow. Wish us luck. Hopefully it will be fun and we'll get a good idea of the market. We are very much looking forward to this next step in the whole process. Weeeeee.

Have a good week.


ps It is SNOWING again. Stop it. Really.

It's the Beginning of the End

Wow. What an eventful few days. Around here it is the beginning of the end of...

1. Winter. Things are starting to melt. And though the temperatures have cooled off a bit, it is feeling like spring. The sun is so strong, even though we are a few days away from the vernal equinox. (I would like to know why we don't call "spring" "vern". The autumnal equinox indicates the start of autumn, why doesn't the vernal equinox start vern? Huh? Tell me.)

2. Our time in this little White Kirk. That's right. We have accepted an offer on our house, with the condition of financing. So, barring any trouble at the buyer's bank, we are good to go. The possession date is June 1. So now we will begin looking in earnest for a new house. Let the fun begin...

3. Baby's sweet innocent babyhood. We fed him his first SOLID FOOD today. Talk about a milestone. Yup. I mashed up some banana and he had at it. He seemed to really like it. Although, he was equally happy to put the plate in his mouth. So it begins. I wonder what we will feed him next?...


What fun we are having around here. Have a good night! (or day, depending when you are reading this.)

xoxo

Melty Melty

Ha Ha! It is melting! Hooray!

Daylight Savings Time is weird. It really throws me. I have just felt odd for the last two days. What does the sun think it is doing still shining in our windows at supper time? It is like I am forced to suddenly switch seasons. Not that I don't want it to be spring, but I feel a bit jarred. Baby doesn't know that it is DST. We will work to switch him over, but if he stays an hour out it is not the end of the world. He is in bed now, so, so far so good. I do love the feeling of strong spring sun when the air is still cool. It brings back spring memories. Getting to wear rubber boots instead of snow boots for the first time. Writing papers in the University library by a huge bank of south facing windows.

We watched a movie on the weekend. Stranger Than Fiction. I'm no film critic, but I thought it was pretty good. An interesting story. It was lacking something though, I'm not sure what. Anytime I watch a clever movie or read a fabulous book I think "Hey, I could do that." I've always thought of myself as the creative type. So it should be easy to come up with an original idea for a story. But as you all know from reading my blog, I'm not as creative as I like to think I am. Or, at least not in that way. My Grandma is a published author. I have an Aunt who is a high school English teacher. My dad is an eloquent public speaker (as evidenced by his speech at my wedding. He claims that we didn't tell mom and him that they were supposed to say something at the reception. Yet when they spoke it sounded witty and polished.) So you would think that some of this "way with words" would have found its way to me. No dice. I sit down to write a blog post and my mind goes blank. I haven't written a story in years. And though I describe myself as a "fledgling songwriter" my note book with songs in it sits, untouched, in my bedside table. Hmmm. I'll keep trying.

Happy almost Spring everybody!

on being late

I was late for a La Leche League meeting last night. This caused me no little anxiety. Some people are chronically late, I am chronically early. Deep inside I feel that if I am not early, then I am late. This becomes a problem when you add other people into the equation. My best friend in High School was chronically late (sorry SD, if you're reading this. Love ya'). It got to the point where if she was supposed to pick me up at 7:15 I would tell her 7:00. It's not that she meant to be late, she just moves at a different pace. (Maybe that pace has increased living in the big city...) Now I am married to a man, who though wonderful in almost every way, has a similar inner clock to that high school friend. This is not a problem in most cases, but I have to admit, I do stress out a bit when we are trying to get out the door on time. Someone once told me that a family is only as fast as its slowest member. It's true. I can stand at the door waiting all I want, it isn't going to make anyone else move more quickly. So it seems that I am destined to go through life waiting at the door. Maybe I should learn from my slower paced loved ones and take it easy. On the other hand, maybe they should learn from me and BE ON TIME!

So, I was late last night. Although it was really no one's fault. A combination of a delayed supper and a baby who wanted to nurse longer caused me to leave later (I could have been less late by cutting the dramatics and just skipping the whole "Now I'm late I shouldn't even go" routine.) But I got there eventually and that's all that counts. I think.


In other news, we have been stood up twice by people coming to look at our house. Well, not actually stood up, because they did call to cancel. We were supposed to have someone come yesterday at 3pm and today at 1pm. Ugh.

I always think I have lots to say, but I really don't.
Ta Ta Fir Noo

ps Like the new colour scheme?