Grateful
Briony got sick on Saturday - nothing life-threatening or earth-shattering, just a typical January cold.
Having a sick baby is never fun, but it took a turn for the SUCK this weekend when Geoff was scheduled to work nights on Sunday and I got *just* sick enough to have all my fibro symptoms seriously flare up last night. Briony + I had a rough night and a rough (early) morning, and I was just about in tears thinking about how we would manage today.
Then Geoff stopped and got the groceries I needed on his way home from work this morning.
Then Katie offered to come and play with Briony for a couple of hours.
Then Amber agreed to stop by after work to help me with Briony's dinner + bedtime.
It's still a difficult day, but I am completely overwhelmed by how our little family is blessed with people who love us and help us function. It's the only way to successfully parent with a chronic illness. I actually think it's the only way to successfully parent PERIOD.
It's definitely taking a village over here. And our little village ROCKS.
Labels: Amber, Arthritis/Fibromyalgia, Briony, Katie, Mommy Stuff, My Friends, The Boy
Awesome Day
The snow outside when Briony finished her nap today was GORGEOUS. She was so excited, standing by the window and watching it come down. I blew her mind when I suggested that we could go outside and play in it (guess I've been sick for a while now... we've been spending an awful lot of time just snuggling on the couch inside).
It took most of the energy I had left. But it was *so* worth it. LOOK AT THAT SMILE.
We came inside and resumed our positions on the couch, Briony with 'hot chocolate' in hand (warm milk with a microscopic amount of hot chocolate mix) and babbling away about her awesome day.
It really kind of was.
At the end of it, I'm exhausted and in pain, but you know what? I was exhausted and in pain at the beginning of it anyway.
Labels: Arthritis/Fibromyalgia, Briony, Mommy Stuff, Photos
More Quiet
I woke up this morning and realized that it was NOT going to be a good idea to take Briony to dance class today. I'm still feeling terrible. And now I'm feeling like a terribly bad mommy because she LOVES dance class and has been asking about it all week (especially because I finally found some dance shoes in her size). One of the prices she pays for having a sick mommy, and I HATE IT. It breaks my heart, even though I fully understand that she's two and she's already over it.
It's going to be a quiet day, but I hope it will still be a good one. I'm sure we can manage to make a memory or two in spite of the pain. I'm going to make sure that it happens.
Labels: Arthritis/Fibromyalgia, Briony, Mommy Stuff
Cleaning House
So I finally dropped off my first bin for consignment at the Baby Bin Boutique on Corydon. I've been meaning to try it out since Briony was born, but - well - you know. We'll see how it goes! Our little princess has been fairly well dressed, and it would be cool to get a little bit of money back on all the shopping we've done for her (so that we can do more shopping for her, of course). In any case, it felt awesome to clear my house of things we aren't using anymore.
And in that spirit, I finally got around to posting
last year's snow gear on Kijiji. I thought I'd mention it on here in case anyone's interested!
Oh, and I have a few lingering maternity pieces here - a pair of grey shorts, a black knee-length cotton skirt, a bathing suit, and two Bravado nursing tanks. I don't need them! But if you do (or if you know someone who does), let me know and I'm sure we can work something out.
There. That's my sales pitch. Thanks for indulging me :)
Labels: Buy and Sell, Great Baby Stuff, Mommy Stuff
On Love
When I was 15, I honestly thought that I understood love.
Over the next decade of my life, I encountered people and situations that caused me to laugh at what I'd called 'love' before, increasingly certain that NOW I understood.
Then I met Geoff, and we got married... We made a baby together and welcomed our beautiful Briony Evangeline into the world. That's capital letters LOVE. (Right?)
I am learning that love is full of layers and levels. I am learning that it is impossible to understand. I am learning that it is everywhere.
And love in its purest expression looks like this: caring for your sick family when you are also sick.
Labels: Married Stuff, Mommy Stuff, The Boy
One Moment With Briony
REINDEER = RAINBOW DEER in our house this holiday season.
She's started correcting herself, which breaks my heart because 'wainbow deer' is pretty much the cutest thing ever ever ever.
-
Yesterday, I was trying to make dinner and Briony kept bringing me her little animal puppets from the living room. She came cruising in with a little shark puppet on her finger and said, 'Look Mama! It's a SARK!'
I pretended to be scared and she looked at me with total disdain. 'Mama... IT'S NOT REAL.'
Thanks for clearing that up.
-
Briony loves Hello Kitty. I won't lie... It's one of her interests that we encourage a little just because Geoff + I happen to like Hello Kitty stuff vs most other things for little girls.
But Hello Kitty has been discussed A LOT in our house lately - and now Briony will occasionally refer to her stuffed animals as 'Hello Turtle' or 'Hello Giraffe' or 'Hello Squirrel'... You get the picture.
It's kind of hilarious and kind of impossible to explain to her.
Labels: Briony, Mommy Stuff, One Moment With Briony
Umbrellas in the Sunshine
Why is it that the things you look for never come when you want them?
I was presented with yet another opportunity to work full-time in a big girl office today... I swear, these offers have been JUMPING out of the freaking woodwork since I decided not to return to a traditional 9 to 5 job after my mat leave. It makes me happy to know that I'm still employable. But it also makes me really want to kick something because I truly wish that I could pursue these opportunities... I love what I do. And I loved doing it full-time. I just can't even wrap my head around not spending this time with Briony right now.
Labels: Mommy Stuff, Working Girl
Reality Bites
Nothing kills all tiny little remnants of a vacation-induced afterglow quite like REALITY. Geoff went back to work last night - his first shift after vacation and, more notably, his first shift in two months because of his knee injury back in October. And today was my first day back at the office since our trip.
Of course, Briony chose not to have a nap yesterday afternoon and instead ended up hanging out with me (so of course, no work got done and she was just kind of generally clingy and miserable).
Of course, Briony was looking borderline sick all day yesterday.
Of course, Geoff and I were feeling borderline sick all day yesterday too.
Of course, Geoff ended up having a lousy night sick at work.
Of course, Briony + I ended up having a lousy night sick at home.
Of course, I couldn't take any good cold meds because I was home alone with B and needed to be alert-ish when she woke up and needed me.
Of course, I slept through my alarm this morning and then felt icky and sluggish and then couldn't find anything I needed to get ready because I haven't put on makeup, left the house, or didn't make it into work until almost 11.
Of course, I made myself pretty(ish) and dragged myself in for what appears to be NO GOOD REASON WHATSOEVER.
Of course, the pay machine in the lot where I usually park wouldn't read my credit card. I was so fed up at that point that I just scribbled a note that the machine was broken and left it under my wiper on my windshield. So of course, I can expect a ticket later :)
*sigh*
I'm determined that it's not too late to turn today around... I'm just not quite sure exactly how I'll accomplish that.
Labels: Bitching About Nothing, Briony, Mommy Stuff, My Life, The Boy, Working Girl
Normal
I am sipping coffee, returning client emails, answering the phone, meal planning, making lists, listening to Elmo in the background... It's absolutely incredible how everything can go right back to normal in the blink of an eye :)
Labels: Briony, Mommy Stuff, My Life, Working Girl
New Pet Peeve
WHY oh WHY would you bring your child along to your hair appointment? It really ruins it for the other moms in the salon who arranged for childcare and intended to use the afternoon as ME TIME (nevermind the people who don't have kids). It's just not okay.
Labels: Mommy Stuff, One of Lindsay's Rants
Easy Homemade Advent Calendar
So I ended up making the easiest homemade advent 'calendar' in the history of homemade advent calendars, and I am SUPER excited to start tomorrow! This is something I really wanted to start doing for Briony this year and while I suspect we may someday upgrade to a fancier + prettier system, I'm loving the SPIRIT of this one (and really, isn't that the most important thing?).
I found a colourful festive paperboard box that we already had in our house. Every morning at breakfast, Briony will get to open the box and there will be a note that describes something we'll do together as a family that day. No treats. Just quality time and memories. The few tiny presents I've included are all things for us to do together (and all less than $1.50... thank you again, Dollarama). All the notecards, stickers, markers, and packaging stuff were things we had on hand. I spent *very* little money making it, and I'm excited to see how it turns out!
The best part is that - because my health can be so very unpredictable - this plan is super adaptable. I can choose our activity the night before (or even the morning of) based on how I'm feeling. We've included a mix of high-energy and super-low-energy ideas, and I even kept a few blank cards on hand in case we come up with new ideas as we go. Of course, this would work well for ANY family because of schedules and weather and kids' moods and a million other perfectly normal variables.
Here's a sneak peek...
*You can check out a similar - but prettier - idea
here (I copied some of the wording).
Labels: Briony, Holiday Awesomeness, Mommy Stuff
One Moment With Briony
Oh, Briony... One thing I hope we'll remember when you're all grown up and super embarrassed about this kind of thing is the fact that you were hilarious when you slept.
I'm honestly terrified to ever move her to a big girl bed because she practices some serious tai chi in her sleep. When Geoff and I check on her after she's asleep, we sometimes can't contain our laughter over the uncomfortable positions we find her in... And she is ALL over the place. We used to wonder what her dreams were about, but now that she's acquired the vocabulary to be able to tell us about it in the morning, we know that she's spent the night swimming with dolphins... hehe.
It makes me smile because - after housing her inside of me for nine (almost ten) months - those movements are as familiar to me as breathing and it's really no surprise at all :)
Labels: Mommy Stuff, One Moment With Briony
One Moment With Briony
Last night, I had one of those mommy moments that is difficult to put into words.
When Geoff, Emily, Paul, and I got back to our place after dinner yesterday, Briony wasn't quite sleeping. Her sixth sense kicked in and she started fussing the second I was swapped in for Grandma + Grandpa.
I went upstairs and scooped her up out of her crib, and we sat down together in the rocking chair in her room. She immediately cuddled up against me and made one of those super awesome completely-content-and-falling-asleep baby noises, patting me with her hand as she nodded off.
I couldn't move.
Rather, I didn't want to move.
We sat and rocked for a long, long time - Briony sleeping and Mama soaking in every single moment because I am painfully aware that my baby is not really a baby anymore. I just sat there looking down at her eyelashes and smelling her hair and listening to her breathe.
It was one of those moments that was extraordinary in its ordinary-ness, that you know you'll remember forever.
Labels: Mommy Stuff, One Moment With Briony
Things No One Warned Me About: Straws
Cleaning sippy cup straws to my satisfaction has become the bane of my existence in the last year or so. There is seriously no good way to do it, and I'm constantly worrying about what's growing inside (but hesitant to give 'em the toss because it seems so freaking wasteful).
Enter the most obvious solution in the world. So obvious that I hesitate to mention it here, but I will - just in case I'm not the absolute LAST mom in the world to figure it out :)
Michaels (and probably a million other places for a lot cheaper) sells pipe cleaners. But not just any pipe cleaners. GIANT pipe cleaners. 15mm pipe cleaners, to be exact (normal ones are 6mm, in case you're curious). And when run through a straw that's been soaking in hot soapy water, they work LIKE A CHARM.
WARNING: They're so furry that it feels exactly like you're bathing a Muppet.
It's working for us right now. But I hate tossing them every time (and I really feel I need to, because all that fur is just screaming Ideal Habitat For Disgusting Germs).
I recently saw in a magazine that some mom in the States invented - and is now selling - a cleaner similar to bottle/nipple cleaning brushes, but for all types of straws. Has anyone seen such a thing in Canada?
Labels: Mommy Stuff, Things No One Warned Me About
Soapbox
Saw
this article today about the dramatic rise in whooping cough cases in southern Manitoba, and it made me *so* sad. I don't usually believe in forcing my opinions and ideas on others - but this one gets me super upset. Make rational decisions about your children's health that are based on science. Please. The idea of kids in first world countries dying of PREVENTABLE diseases makes me sick.
Labels: Current Events, Mommy Stuff, Stuff I Read
What A Difference
Oh, what a difference a day makes.
Last night's bedtime went really well (after we let her cry off-and-on for 20 minutes). This morning around 9 am (!), we were greeted by a surprise visitor to our home: one Briony Evangeline Wright, in all her giggly awesomeness. WELCOME HOME, BRIONY. Oh, how we've missed you. She spent half an hour before breakfast cruising around the house with the biggest grin in the world on her face because she'd discovered a ladybug in our house. 'Look, Mama! A ladybug! HE'S SO CUTE. And Briony's very cute.'
We had a totally successful naptime this afternoon and a totally successful bedtime tonight.
And Geoff got out of the house for the first time in a week (if you count the trip from the hospital to our house... or 11 days if you don't). Nerds that we are, the excursion was to get out and vote - and the weather was HORRIFIC - but I think he was just happy to breathe fresh air and see people who he's not related to. It was a big milestone.
Oh, and we made some arrangements this afternoon to keep Libby locked in our basement for four extra days - so she'll be staying until next week Wednesday. YAY.
No magic involved, but I'm definitely feeling a *glimmer* of optimism - and normalcy - again. We're going to figure this out.
Labels: Briony, Libby, Mommy Stuff, The Boy, The Great Knee Catastrophe of 2010
Things No One Warned Me About: Crying It Out
Are there parents who sail through bouts of crying it out? This is very foreign territory to us, in a house with a single toddler who's been a good sleeper since she was tiny - right up until this week.
I'm pretty sure that 20 minutes of on-and-off crying is nothing to be blogging about. I'm also pretty sure we're supposed to leave her crying for waaaaay longer in between check-ins than we do.
But I am so very on edge, I could snap. This is horrible. I just want to cuddle her all night and whisper in her ear that I'm not going anywhere at all. Ever.
Labels: Mommy Stuff, Things No One Warned Me About
Manic Tuesday
I'm having my Monday on Tuesday this week.
Yesterday was a pretty good day. Actually, now that I stop and really think about it, the morning was TERRIBLE - so it must say something about the rest of the day that I just labelled it 'pretty good,' don't you think? Either that, or I've seriously changed my definitions of 'good' and 'bad' days given recent events... :)
Sunday night was one of the worst nights our little family has had in a long, long time. Briony went to bed super late (not for a lack of trying) and then was up twice during the night and then decided that 6 am was morning. It was beyond UGH. And have I mentioned that I'm sleeping on the couch? It just doesn't work for both Geoff + I to be in bed right now with his stupid messed up leg, so I've been on the couch for almost a week now. It sucks. My body is SCREAMING at me, but there's really no better option - and we all know it's super temporary. Anyway. I digress. Fortunately, Geoff + Libby were up around 8 am and sent me back to bed (my REAL bed) until 10 am. Briony + Libby + I ventured out then for a couple of hours of shopping.
That might have been the worst mommy mistake I've made so far.
Briony was in a foul mood and we had our first-ever Screaming Toddler Throwing a Tantrum in Public Experience. I know it's a right of passage, but I was reeeeally hoping to avoid it altogether just by being an awesome mom.
HA.
Anyway. The good news is that we made it home, fed her some lunch, and then she had a perfectly uneventful afternoon nap. I managed to shower and get some client work done. Libby did a Starbucks run and delivered a Pumpkin Spice Latte to calm my nerves. And the rest of the day was actually pretty great. I ended it off with a Girls Night Out - Pizzeria Gusto and
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at MTC - with my mom and her two sisters. Lovely. I may have even had a smile on my face when I got home.
I had a super hard time falling asleep, but when I did, I slept until 9.30 am. So did Briony. OH GLORIOUS SLEEP. Except for the part where I'd been planning to be at work for 10 am today.
So maybe scratch all that. I'm having TWO Mondays this week.
After my abrupt realization that I really should have set my alarm, I rushed around getting ready this morning, and my hair looks like shit in this ridiculously humid weather (totally one of those rare days when I curse myself for getting rid all my hair because just throwing it up used to be an awesome option on days like this). I ran into Starbucks and witnessed what I presume was a freelance client interviewing someone new (and suspiciously writer-looking... I totally walked up and said hi because I'm a little bit bitchy like that). I then drove downtown in the pouring rain, parked, and navigated the area of Portage + Main with an umbrella in one hand and a coffee in the other on my way to the office (an Olympic feat if there ever was one, and also probably how
Mary Poppins started). My day has been a mix of interesting meetings + surly coworkers, but I know I get to leave before 2 pm for a massage today.
It's really almost impossible to be grumpy when you know you're less than two hours away from a massage appointment. And that's what I'm clinging to today.
Labels: Arthritis/Fibromyalgia, Briony, Family, Libby, Mommy Stuff, So Dramatic, The Boy, The Great Knee Catastrophe of 2010, Working Girl
The Weekend of Almost
So, I *almost* got to go out twice this weekend. We had some pretty cool stuff on the agenda, including an epic 30th birthday costume party and a social for two of Geoff's coworkers who are getting married next summer.
The reality? I've logged a lot of couch time watching TV and eating too much crap as we enter into Week Two of life with a sick toddler.
If you're looking for sound effects, I'd personally go with a deep, long SIGH right about here.
Here's hoping the 'banana juice' she started on Thursday decides to start working, and that we can start injecting tiny little pieces of fun back into our life again sometime very, very soon.
Labels: Bitching About Nothing, Mommy Stuff, My Life
Briony The Terrible
So we got Briony The Terrible on antibiotics today.
That sounds so simple, doesn't it? But the road to antibiotics was wrought with tears (mostly mine). She's been sick since Saturday, and Geoff's been working a lot - mostly nights - so this mommy was FINISHED days ago. I know it's not about me at all, but parenting with chronic illness is something special... Of course, I'll keep giving her everything she needs, but it's been costing me more than I can afford.
Yesterday, I realized that WE NEEDED HELP. And her doctor today confirmed what I had suspected: her throat and both ears were looking pretty painful.
As an aside, there is something incredibly satisfying as a mom to know that your kid was sick and that you identified it correctly - you brought them in to the doctor exactly when you were supposed to, when they were sick enough that you weren't being a psycho hypochondriac mom but before they were seriously ill.
Here's praying that Briony will be feeling more Briony-like very, very soon. Because I hate seeing her unhappy. And because I can't work on getting myself better until she is.
Labels: Arthritis/Fibromyalgia, Briony, Mommy Stuff
