Thursday, September 27, 2012

A Day in My Life...


Ali over at A Planned Life had a great post about her day to day routine with her precious son, Isaac. I loved reading how she plans & spends her day & decided to copy her idea & post my own “Day in the Life”…once I typed it all out though, I realized I have it pretty easy…pretty easy? WAY EASY! So much so that I almost didn’t post this but then thought, “Why not?” So here it is…please don’t hate me J

 Same as Ali, this is just weekdays…

 5:00am – My Mom comes down & crawls into bed with Elena & I get up for the day

 5:05–5:30am – “Workout” – I put that in quotes because I just use the Wii & do free step while watching TV

5:30-6am – Shower, do hair, apply makeup

 6:00-6:30am – Get dressed while watching TV, plus check emails & blogs

 6:30am – Grab lunch bag & head to work

 7:20ish – Arrive at work

 12:30ish – Eat lunch, most often at my desk while reading blogs

 4:20ish – Leave work & head home

 5:15ish – Arrive home to the best welcome a Mom could hope for – Elena generally squeals with delight & babbles away telling me about her day.

 5:30pm – Sit down for dinner…which my Mom has prepared…I told you I had it way easy…please don’t hate me

 6:30pm – Playtime with Elena

 7:00pm – Start getting ready for bed – bath, brush teeth, etc

 7:30pm – Snuggle on the bed & read a book…usually numerous times at Elena’s insistence, “A-den!!”

 7:45pm – Lights out…Elena gives the illusion she will go to sleep herself in her own bed

 8:00pm – After 15 minutes of Elena rolling around & playing games, we move to the rocking chair & I snuggle her to sleep

 8:30pm – Transfer Elena to the bed

 8:30-9pm – Straighten up, get my lunch bag prepared for the next day

 9:00-10:00pm – Relax, watch TV, read blogs, return emails…recently I’ve started working on Elena’s 1st Year Scrapbook…

 10:00pm – Off to bed!

 How about the rest of you? What do your routines look like?

 

 

 

 

P.S. Please don’t hate me J

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Organized Fun


It’s been a big week for Elena…she has started 2 new programs, Baby Stars Gymnastics & Movers & Shakers Music Appreciation. I was nervous because neither class is cheap so if she didn’t enjoy going it would be money down the drain that we can’t afford to lose. Thankfully she has taken to both classes & genuinely enjoys them.

My Mom takes her to the Movers & Shakers class. The 1st part of the class is set aside for free play & the kids are allowed almost unrestricted access to a myriad of instruments. I love that! Then the instruments are put away & they participate in singing & dancing & rhythmic movement. The teacher sounds truly passionate about music & passing that passion onto the kids.

I get to take Elena to gymnastics & it is so much fun! Basically there’s a circuit of obstacles like balance mats, foam wedges for somersaults, a slide, a horizontal bar & small blocks to “vault”…basically all mini gymnastics stuff. Elena just squeals with delight at being able to run & jump & climb & roll around. It is so much fun to watch her in such a state of pure innocent enjoyment! She also takes great interest in watching the older girls’ classes.

It was important to me to get Elena involved in some activities for a few reasons. With the colder weather coming, it will be challenging for my Mom to have Elena cooped up indoors since currently they spend the better part of every day outside. Between her music class, swimming & play group at my Mom’s church they have somewhere to go 3 out of 5 days.

It is also important for Elena to be around other kids since we don’t know many kids…I often joke, since Elena isn’t talking yet, that when she does it’ll be to discuss Taxes, Retirement Savings & the price of gas since she’s predominantly around adults. Giving her a chance to interact & socialize is very necessary. She needs to learn to share & wait her turn & all those things that kids in daycare learn early. I am deeply grateful that I have my Mom to look after Elena while I’m at work but I’m also aware of the things she misses by not being in daycare too. Hopefully these programs can make up for that.

In other news, Elena started something very entertaining…I have been lucky that, although Elena will shake her head to indicate her refusal of things, I have been spared the evil “NO!”…she has however, along with her head shake, added a definite, “NEIN!”…where she picked this up from, I have no idea! It’s hilarious tho! If you’re doing something Elena doesn’t want you to do, she’ll shake her head saying, “Nein, nein, nein…” I wish I could get it on video!
My Little Gymnist...don't mind the
mess behind...a bed-maker I am not!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Half Birthday Brag Post


Elena is 18 months old today…it’s strange to me that it’s only been a year & a half since Elena was born…I almost can’t remember what life was like before her…I feel like I am where I always should have been…& not being a summer person, this has been the best summer of my life! These last few months have been my favourite phase of Elena…as challenging as she can be sometimes, I just love seeing & encouraging her personality to emerge & develop.

 

I worry that she’s not talking yet but I’m reminded that even tho she’s not saying words how they’re supposed to sound, she has a pretty good vocabulary…she doesn’t exactly say words but has sounds for words & she uses these sounds consistently & appropriately…like “please”, “milk”, “cheese” & she has a myriad of grunts & groans in order to make her wants & needs known. She clearly says “all done”, hiya, Gramma & Momma although you really have to listen closely to tell the difference between Momma & Gramma.

 

What Elena lacks in verbal skills she more than makes up for in motor skills…she climbs on EVERYTHING, she walks up & down stairs properly holding the railing & she is obsessed with how things work. She will sit & study the inner workings of toys to try to figure out how it works but she also gets frustrated very quickly…the girl definitely needs to learn patience!

 

Speaking of toys…she’s not all that interested in them…she would rather explore what she’s told not to…seriously tho, she doesn’t show a lot of interest in many toys for too long a period…except books, she loves looking at books & having them read to her. She just loves going for walks & has charmed all our neighbours…tho she runs more than she walks. My Aunt comments that she never really just walks, she runs, skips, trots but rarely just walks. What she likes most is helping with whatever my Mom or I are doing…she loves to help water the flowers outside, she helps me unload the dishwasher, she helps me with laundry, she pushes the recycle bins down to the curb on garbage day, she’s already got her chores…& she gets very upset if you do one of her jobs, like when I grabbed the laundry basket from our room, that is HER job!!

 

Elena’s absolute favourite activity this summer has by far been swimming! She has come so far! She’s even graduated to swimming with just water wings!! She just loves water & even when it’s cold, she still jumps right in! I love this because I love swimming & wanted this to be something we could do together without her being afraid. Starting her so early (5 months) has certainly paid off!

 

September holds some exciting new activities for Elena…aside from her swimming lessons, I have signed her up for a Music Appreciation class, Movers & Shakers…with how much she loves music already & so active, I know this class will really engage her. I’m just sorry I won’t be taking her since it’s during the week. I spoke to the teacher on the phone this week & got a really good vibe from her. She sounds very passionate about her classes & the children.

 

I have also signed Elena up for Gymnastics classes…another class that is sure to engage her with all its activity & the bonus is that it’s Saturday mornings so I get to take her!! I’m really excited to see how she takes to it.

 

It’s not surprising with all her activity, she’s a great little eater too…well except for veggies, can’t seem to convince her to eat any but she comes by that honestly since most of my family refuses to eat most veggies…but she eats just about any fruit which is better than me since I don’t like many fruits. She eats pretty much whatever we’re having for dinner & this has inspired my Mom & I to eat more healthily…Her favourite by far is yogurt! She’d have it 3-4 times a day if I let her…oh & ice cream, she gets so excited when you mention it or if she sees the container!

 

She’s doing pretty great with feeding herself. It’s driving me nuts since she’s so messing & it gets so sticky but I have to keep reminding myself that it’s ok, she has to learn…but she won’t even let me help her most times & I become very anxious at how messy it gets.

 

It absolutely amazes me how big she’s getting! She is now 34 ½ inches tall & 30 lbs!! She’s grown 2 ½ inches in the last 3 months!! She has the longest legs but her torso is starting to catch up…you can tell when she’s hitting a growth spurt as she’s more restless during the night & will cry out in her pain cry.

 

Speaking of sleeping, she’s doing well in that department too. She’ll fight bedtime but if I allow enough time for her games & delay tactics (like needing to hug Gramma3+ times, etc) she does fine…she still naps in the afternoon but it’s imperative she sleep until no later than 3pm (2 or 2:30 is ideal) & no more than 2 hours (although she usually wakes on her own after about 1 ½ hrs).

 

We still rock Elena to sleep for her naps & bedtime…I know what you’re going to say, “She’s never going to learn to put herself to sleep” & maybe that’s the case for some kids but it’s a load of crock as far as we’re concerned. This time when we rock to sleep is so precious & I feel like we get these precious moments to reconnect. When Elena rouses in the night, she soothes herself & goes back to sleep. I know she is partly comforted by my presence but I don’t have to do anything to get her back to sleep…sometimes she’ll cuddle up to me, sometimes she’ll roll over into her bed but she always gets herself back to sleep. I was actually waking her when I tried to comfort her back to sleep. If I just leave her be, she always settles on her own.

 

That’s all I can think of in the way of updates & bragging. I’m sure there’s something I’m forgetting but for the most part, life here is really great…we have our challenges & bumps in the road but we roll along figuring things out as we go…wow, 18 months! Still blows my mind!