Left Coast Mama » hope

Farewell 2011, Hello 2012

Gwen — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 07:14:30 +0000

Like the last few years December has gotten away from me. I was so busy writing Advent letters and planning for surprises and trying to get something that might actually be a surprise for Anthony that it left me with little other time to write. Of course we have also had two bouts of intestinal illness go through the family as well.

Christmas was wonderful in many different ways. The best was Quinlan’s reaction to Christmas morning. He got up pretty early but we managed to keep him in our room for a few minutes so we could get upstairs with him and give the surprise guest a few seconds to get up as well. When the boys saw Grandpa sitting at the dining room table they were thrilled. When Quinlan saw the cookie that Santa took a big bit out of he was absolutely flabbergasted. I tell you I wish I had been awake enough to have my camera set up for his reaction as it was classic. He had the biggest round eyes and open mouth, and the hand to the cheek as he exclaimed “Santa ate the cookie!” Once Quinlan saw the presents under the tree there was absolutely no turning back. It was all we could do to open our own presents. I have never seen anyone open presents so fast in all my life. He was so excited that he even “helped” Aidan with the opening of Aidan’s presents.

Having Grandpa John come to stay for 5 days was fun, but went really quickly. We were able to have a small family get together on the 27th, and I am so glad we decided to have the turkey then and not on Christmas day.

There have been a lot of great things about 2011. The start of preschool for Quinlan has been a highlight. He loves school, and ballet and swimming. Aidan is growing up so very much. He is getting so grown up and he is so interested in learning about everything. It was especially acute during our road trip. Aidan was so interested in figuring out about everything. He found out about so many of the parks and their geological features. He got to look at the night sky and actually see stars.

This new year I am hoping to keep up with all the boys activities including theatre, swimming, skating, piano and ballet. I am also hoping to keep up with writing and photography for me. We want to keep up with our geocaching and keep going to events like the few that we took in this year. The Geo-monster ball and the best of the bad events were fantastic and really helped to give us the best caching year ever.

In 2012 I am going to try to get to Blogher in NY again. I won a conference ticket and as soon as I get the confirmation I plan to figure out the rest like hotel and airfare. I also want us to take the boys camping this year, it is about time we used the tent.

Those are my goals, simple and easy. No worries about losing weight or being a better person. I like who I am and I think that I will be much happier if I stop trying to change myself. All I want is to be happy.

© 2011 Left Coast Mama | Permalink | One comment
Related: Aidan, family, Family Time, goals, Gwen, Holidays, hope, My Boys, New Year, Quinlan.

Sometimes the Crying Doesn’t Stop

Gwen — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 05:43:50 +0000

There is nothing so frustrating as the parent of a newborn, than the crying that is so loud and just won’t stop. On top of the sleep deprivation, hormonal stresses, breastfeeding woes and all the other baggage that goes along with parenting a newborn, a baby who cannot be comforted can be what pushes you over the edge.

With both my boys there were periods where almost everyone in the house was crying. The babies because sometimes they just cry and are inconsolable, the siblings because their baby is crying and you aren’t paying enough attention to the sibling, and you because you are just so tired and hormonal.

There is no worse feeling in the world than hearing your baby cry and not be able to comfort them. I know that it a biological imperative to keep the human race alive, but in the throes it puts your stomach in your throat.

I am an incredibly lucky woman, neither of my boys had colic and I had an incredible support system in my husband. Even with that support I still sometimes found myself wanting to hide under the bed. It is so easy to go from coping to not and it can happen in an instant. That is why this PURPLE cap campaign is so important. So many times it is easier to cope if you know that other people are going through the same thing.

Sometimes you do need to hide under the bed, or go for a walk. Sometimes you need to call a friend to look after the baby while you go and get a cup of tea or take a nap. It is not a failure to admit that this squalling infant is kicking your butt and your temper and you need to get some air and some perspective. If you can’t call a friend or family member, putting the baby in the bassinet or crib and shutting yourself in the bathroom for a few minutes until you are calm is perfectly valid and healthy, for both you and the baby.

Remember: This too shall pass.

***

The PURPLE Cap “Knit-in”

November 22, 2010 at 10:30 am

at BC Children’s Hospital

Join volunteers, moms, students and knitters for a public knit–in to raise awareness for the Period of PURPLE Crying: A New Way to Understand Your Baby’s Crying, a shaken baby prevention program.

We are amazed by the support for the PURPLE Cap campaign and hope you will join us in a celebration to sort, tag and organize the over 3,000 beautiful hand-knit caps.

These caps will be distributed to new parents in B.C.’s 50 birthing hospitals along with the Period of PURPLE Crying education and information package during the week of November 22 in celebration of National Child Day, which takes place November 20.

We need volunteers to:
• Knit bring your purple wool and knitting sticks
• Sort over 3,000 purple caps for distribution across B.C.
• Tag the caps
• Talk to media about why you got involved (if interested)

THE DETAILS

Date: Monday, November 22, 2010

Time: 10:30 am – 12:00 pm

Location: BC Children’s Hospital
Chieng Family Atrium at the Child & Family Research Institute
938 West 28th Avenue
Main Floor, Lobby Area
Vancouver, BC

There will be people and purple balloons to guide you

Parking: We hope to have parking set aside for the event

RSVP: Harriet: harriet@limelitepr.com or
Claire: cyambao@cw.bc.ca, 604-875-2000, ext. 5100

Confessions

Gwen — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 21:10:00 +0000

I am not so sure that babysitting/caring for my friend’s child is working out for me. I am not sure I want to be a care-giver. I am sure that I am not looking forward to September when it goes from 3 days a week to 5 full days a week.

Does this make me a bad person? I hope not. But my friend’s child is driving me crazy. He is a few months younger than my son Aidan and can be very clingy. It isn’t that Aidan can’t be that way, but he is my child and usually a few minutes of cuddling and maybe a couple of minutes of breastfeeding and he is good to go. Of course this isn’t possible with my friend’s child. (Well the cuddling is, but that doesn’t seem to work as well as it does for Aidan.)

He is also a thrower of things. I am pretty sure this is because my friend and her husband taught the boy to throw a ball early on. No rolling the ball for them. Throwing. Now this means that now he throws balls, toys, anything that he can pick up. I have tried really hard with Aidan to not throw things. Even balls. Especially since very soon they will be told in no uncertain terms “Don’t play with that basketball/baseball/soccerball in the house, you will break something!” I have been trying to be a little subtle with the different rules that they have for their son, but I am thinking that I will have to be clear very soon that throwing things is one of my absolutely not rules.

Now don’t get me wrong about this, I really like the boy. I am just not ready to have two little boys so close in age, but on totally different schedules, in my house almost full time. There are times when they are playing along side each other and my son isn’t taking the toys from my friend’s child that I think this may not be so bad. Then there are times like today when it is now 1:15 and I might be able to get some breakfast. {sigh.} I guess that I just have to hope that the bilingual daycare has a spot that opens up in January. (That is the earliest age that they would take my friend’s son.) Though maybe in a few weeks I will have them on a similar schedule and we can start doing things again, then things might be good, great even.

In the meantime, please tell me I am not a bad person, and that there is hope for things to get better.

Tags: Day Care, Children, Rules, Hope