11 Months

One short month away from my baby's first birthday. I can hardly believe it. It seems like all of a sudden, this month, he just started changing at lightning speed from baby to toddler.

- He simultaneously cut 4 top teeth.. and is in the throws of a nasty cold right now :(

- He pulls up on anything and everything! He'll walk behind push toys and even stood for a brief second on his own this morning. 

- Won't sit still. Gone are the days of strapping him into a rocker chair or an exersaucer. On the plus side - I can get my act together and start getting rid of the accumulation of baby contraptions sitting in my living room currently.

- Still nurses once at night before I go to bed and occasionally wakes in the middle of the night for a feed. Morning feeds aren't as common anymore. 

- He has become a babbler extraordinaire. We're starting to discern some word-like sounds like da-da and ma-ma but otherwise just a whole lot of baby talk. 

- Eats almost everything we eat now only I'll give some things a quick blend in the food processor and spoon feed him so I know how much is going in his belly rather than in his high chair or to the dog below. His pincer grasp has dramatically improved. As has his ability to manage larger bites of food.

Finally, he learned to wave (it's the cutest!) and will fight and protest for toys his brothers are playing with now. 

10 Months

Budding outdoorsman just like his brothers

This post is super late in that Noah will be 11 months old in just a few short days but better late than never, right?

I usually try to jot a few notes down throughout the month on my Notes application on my iPhone. I'm really happy I've continued to do this. With the other boys I was more sporadic in recording updates and didn't do too many with N at all.

Here are my notes on Noah at 10 months:

- Nurses 2x/day - morning and at night just before I go to bed I'll get him out of the crib and nurse him while he is half asleep. I love the cuddle time and his sweet smell. Each night I marvel at how big he is getting.
- Crawling! Everywhere.. and at lightning speed.
- Pulling himself to standing - in his crib too.
- Eating nearly everything. He can take manageable bites off of larger foods now and I don't have to worry as much about him choking.
- Started protesting naps or fussing in a big way when he doesn't get what he wants
- Loves baths and splashes non-stop
- Started expressing some shyness around strangers

February (Return to Monthly Goals)

Fearless

Over the past year I've tended to focus on the baby in this space. It is a really odd feeling having 3 kids at completely different and equally awesome and challenging stages. I love that it always feels like we're celebrating someone's milestone or latest accomplishment. Yesterday my biggest boy spent most of the afternoon building a ramp for snowboarding and tobogganing in the backyard. I watched out the window as he hesitated at the top with his board and then finally decided to go for it and he did it..flawlessly on the first try. I couldn't help myself, I opened the door and yelled out "Woohoo! You did it! That was so awesome!". It was so crazy watching my 6 year old do something I probably couldn't pull off and something that took guts. I haven't actually felt that overwhelmed with joy in a long time. It was such a good feeling.  

Last month I really felt motivated to get things done with my 2015 goals fresh in mind. I haven't done a monthly goals post in a very long time but I love how doing them makes me feel more accountable. Here is what I accomplished related to my 2015 goals in January: 

Marriage

- We had two couples over for dinner (we all went to university together). The group went tobogganing with the big boys while I prepped dinner at home with the baby and then we got to spend some quality adult time once the boys were in bed. It was a ton of fun and we realized that rather than getting together with friends separately always that we should try to get together with a few at a time every once in a while. Maybe even push the envelope and bring friends together that don't know each other very well! 

- I made an effort to show more appreciation and tried to be more positive in general. It feels really easy to vent about things to a partner. I don't think I have been doing a very good job of balancing the negative with the positive so it is something I'm trying to work on.

Getting back to myself

- I started reading chapter books with B at night. We began Charlotte's Web. 

- I made plans with my three best girlfriends. I booked a vacation day mid-week in February to spend with one who will be back from Edmonton.  I started planning a long weekend girls trip for this Fall with another that has been about 6 years overdue since I've either been pregnant, nursing, or didn't have the money..and I got together for a coffee on my lunch hour with another that I hadn't seen in about 6 months. 

- I got my eyebrows waxed and bought some new clothes. I ended up returning a pair of pants that didn't quite fit perfectly after trying them on a few times at home. I felt really good about my decision to return them since I ended up saving $50 and probably wouldn't have worn them too often. I also made a list of the gaps in my wardrobe so I could be more purposeful in my spending in that area over the next year.

Health 

- I booked a half day off of work for next month and scheduled several medical appointments for that morning. 

- I made a point of eating more and reminding myself to stop what I was doing. Usually I'd think to myself.. yeah I should really eat and then I'd focus on getting the boys something to eat and then get sidetracked and end up getting back into whatever I was doing and before I knew it a number of hours had passed and I never actually did eat or get that drink. I think just forcing myself to stop what I was doing led to me actually eating more.

Home

- I loosely followed the 52-Week challenge and tackled kitchen cleaning and organization this month. I rearranged stuff to more logical locations in the kitchen, created a dedicated pantry cupboard, and also stocked up on groceries. 

- I went through every last corner of our basement and did a huge purge. I gave some books away to friends who I thought would be interested and investigated where I could get rid of things like my wedding dress or old electronics for a good cause. I have a few piles of things that still need to be taken and dropped off at various places but it was a huge undertaking and I feel really good about all I got done.

- I took my maternity clothes and some baby clothes to the consignment store as well as posted a bunch of baby gear on Kijiji. 

Debt

- We created a new budget for 2015 taking into consideration all of the things we'd like to do this year that have financial implications (post to come!). 

- I tracked all of our spending this month and R and I went over it so we got a clear picture of where we were going over and could make adjustments accordingly. 

- I got a President's Choice Financial Master Card since I only ever shop at participating stores for our household and grocery purchases so I figured I might as well be reaping the rewards points. I also started using the PC Plus program and gained some significant rewards just for grocery shopping as usual. 

February Goals

Marriage

- Get dressed on weekends! I'm embarrassed to say that most weekends I stay in my pyjamas doing housework and cooking before showering later on in the day and putting on some clean..pyjamas or sweat pants. It's bad because I always stress about someone showing up at the door and though I don't feel like I should have to always be put together, even just running a brush through my hair and putting on some clothes takes all of a couple of minutes in the morning before I go downstairs and should be a priority. 

- Go on a date. My birthday is this month so it is the perfect excuse.  

Getting back to myself

- Hang out with one of my best gals (at least twice) while she is back from Edmonton. 

- Compete in a skating competition(!). My team skates in a competition this month. My personal goal is to go out there and do my best and have a clean skate. It has been half a lifetime since I was actually in a competition.  

Health

- Book my annual physical appointment (which hasn't been so annual lately)

- Find a new naturopath and book an appointment. My goal with this is to have some updated food allergy testing so I don't have to stress or worry over eating certain foods. 

- Make time for a bath at least once/week. 

Home

- Keep on following the 52-Week Challenge - recipes, garbage/recycling, coupons, meal planning/grocery shopping

- Finish purging the baby stuff.

- Give the basement a good clean. We set up a TV area in the basement that the big boys regularly use now. Eliminating the dust would go a long way in helping their allergies.

Debt

- Continue tracking all expenses.
- Have a budget "meeting" once/week.

Noah @ 9 Months

With each day that passes we are getting more and more glimpses of Noah's growing personality. He is so into his big brothers now and the cutest thing is hearing all 3 of them laughing together.

Some highlights from this month:

- No new teeth. Still just 2 little bottom teeth.

- Texture! Noah now eats mostly non-pureed foods. His brothers liked seeing him eat a few plain goldfish crackers this month. We've been offering him whatever we have been eating where we can. 

- He is SO close to being mobile. He still scoots around on his bum most of the time but loves to stand at the couch or walk with you holding his fingers. He much prefers to stand and will stiffen his little body when you try to sit him down. Otherwise, he does get up on all fours but doesn't quite get the crawl yet. He can also sit up now from lying down. 

- Down to nursing 2-3 times/day. I stopped coming home from work at lunch this past week. He wasn't always interested in nursing at lunchtime anymore. It felt really weird at first and I miss him but have been enjoying having that time to do errands. He is unphased! 

Here he is in action:

$25 per month iPhone

In December we re-evaluated our budget and decided to make cuts to our cable package and cell phones. For the past couple of YEARS I’ve been investigating cell phone alternatives but service providers other than the two main providers Bell or Rogers either didn’t have good service range,  weren’t compatible with the iPhone, or data was expensive so I stuck with the status quo. In December I did some more investigating and cancelled my plan and switched to a pre-paid account with the same provider. I wanted to wait until I had used the service for a month before reporting on the switch but, in short, I’m saving a ridiculous amount of money and I’m kind of bummed I didn’t make the switch sooner.

Here is a summary of what I use my cell phone for:

Checking Facebook and Instagram Accounts

Checking my personal email

Texting (a lot!..mostly R during the day)

Taking photos. Can’t remember the last time I used our camera.

Calling people. Rarely – only if I’m going to be late somewhere or have to get in touch with someone immediately.

Where: mostly at home, sometimes at work, occasionally while out and about to check directions, coordinate plans or appointments, or to pass time when I’m waiting for appointments

For 2 years I paid $55/month (3-year contract – including cost of cell phone – iPhone4S). This is actually a really good deal from what I hear. I had unlimited social media, My10 (free unlimited Canada-wide calling with 10 contacts), 200 local calling minutes, unlimited local calling evening and weekends, and 1GB of data. No voicemail or caller ID. I almost never had additional charges. R uses his cell phone much more than I do so had an $80/month plan with unlimited Canada-wide calling and text, 2GB of data, and caller ID, voicemail. He wasn’t locked into his plan since we bought his iPhone 5 outright so he decided to try to cut back on his usage and take over the remainder of my plan to avoid early cancellation fees.

With my new pre-paid account, I pay $20.75/month and get unlimited text messaging including photo and video, caller ID, voicemail, 100MB Data, and pay $0.25/minute for local calls.  The extra $5 covered additional data and a few phone calls I made. Since I have caller ID, I can answer urgent calls and otherwise return calls from our home phone or my work phone as needed.

My only issue this month was using up all of my data in the first 2 weeks. This was mainly due to iMessaging. I never knew about iMessaging but it uses data to send messages to other iPhone users. So there I was making full use of my “unlimited” photo and video text messaging and it was using my data since it was through iMessaging rather than regular text messaging. Also other silly things like the Stocks App used up some of my data so I figured out how to turn the data off for applications like those. Generally I’ve been keeping my cellular data turned off so my phone only connects to wi-fi when it is available (at home we have unlimited internet).  I love having the ability to use data though when I’m out and about to look addresses up, etc. and now that I’ve figured out the data settings on my phone, I think the data included will suffice. A bonus is that I find myself not checking my phone as often at work or when I’m out.

By switching to pre-paid I’m saving $30/month with minimal impact to my use or enjoyment of my cell phone and with the savings from R switching over to my old plan, we’re saving $55/month combined on our cell phones.

Do you have a really good cell phone plan or do you pay an arm and a leg? Can you manage to avoid additional charges without it becoming too inconvenient?

Hello 2015!

In past years, most of my goals have focused around establishing my career (finishing school, finding a job), getting our finances in check (paying off debt, buying a house, cars, etc.), and balancing family life (including growing our family). Now that I've accomplished a lot of those goals, I can definitely pull back on efforts in those areas and refocus on other areas of life that haven't had as much attention.  This year, most of my goals are focused on myself but I hope that by working on myself, the positivity will radiate out into other areas. My goals for 2015 are:

Nurture my marriage.

Now that we're getting past the first exhausting year of babyhood with Noah and nearing having two school aged children this September, I feel like we can really focus a little more on our relationship as a couple. I have so much admiration and respect for couples who don't seem to let other priorities like kids and work get in the way. It can be so tough. This year I'd like to start prioritizing time together without the kids, pursuing collective and individual interests (we used to be fun people and we used to do fun things together and apart and it made for good conversations!), and pay more attention to physical appearance. I notice a huge boost in my confidence when I feel good about my appearance. Good fitting clothing, a nice haircut, and feeling up on personal grooming, I think, will have a positive impact on my marriage as well as likely have other benefits like feeling more professional at work. This will involve spending some time and a bit of money.

Getting back to myself.

Since I started skating again, I began to think about all of the other things I used to enjoy doing growing up and into university that over the years had been put on the back burner as I started to have more responsibilities. I used to love reading, watching movies, rollerblading, riding my bike, going to the ski hill with friends, going to interesting lectures or talks (for fun!), playing frisbee on the beach in the summer with friends, and the list goes on! This year I'm going to try to find ways to work these things back into my life. They may look a bit different now - for instance, I can start re-reading the books I loved as a child with B at night and my love of interesting lectures and talks might be more limited to seizing professional development/continuous learning opportunities but it's definitely a start. I'll also need to simplify things at home as much as I can to allow for time for these things in my life.

Focus on making emotional and physical health a priority.  

We're incredibly lucky to have health benefits through both of our work places. I can also take paid time off work to attend medical appointments etc. but we've never taken full advantage of these benefits. This year I want to prioritize health by booking and attending regular medical appointments, eating and drinking better, getting more sleep, more time to myself to relax, and staying physically active. Low weight has been something that I've struggled with for the past 5 years and I want to deal with it this year. While I am "skinny", I don't feel strong or healthy. Getting back into skating last year really made a huge difference in how I felt and I actually felt much stronger.

Make our house a home. 

Yep...still on here. I saw this 52 week complete home organization schedule floating around and I thought this was perfect for helping me to stay focused on this goal and to also tackle some of the home decor stuff at the same time as the organization.

Continue to pay off debt but not let it become stressful.

Ideally, I'd like to automate debt repayment and be able to forget about it this year. Paying off debt while having expenses like daycare still is difficult. I'd like to check in with our budget periodically to see where we can make improvements and reinstitute spending money into our budget to help cover the financial implications of some of my other goals like skating fees, dates, and new clothes.

Closing the book on 2014

Big boys with the best gift of 2014

Reflecting on 2014, it was a pretty big year for us. It was definitely a year of transition in terms of my career and completing our family. It was wonderful. It was hard. I didn't get to blog nearly as much as I would've liked and when I did I couldn't seem to find the right words to describe what was going on in our world.

This year my goals were to:

- Find secure and meaningful employment

- Pay off debt (at least $10K)

- Take a family vacation 

- Making our house a home 

- Make an effort to be healthy - specifically, deliver a healthy full-term baby, allow myself to recover from birth, successfully breastfeed, get back to pre pregnancy weight through healthy eating and light-moderate exercise. 

- Visit more often with family

Here is how I did:

I landed a job I absolutely love, close to home (same distance as my previous job), and I have job security! I had so many mixed emotions about leaving my old job so I'm so happy that I finally feel at home in my new job. I feel so incredibly fortunate to have a job which is challenging and fulfilling and where there is opportunity for growth.I have amazing co-workers that I can actually call friends and my boss wants to set up meetings to do things like talk about my professional interests so that he can assign tasks in line with my interests and strengths. No job is perfect but I feel like I've come pretty close and the pay is decent, especially considering it doesn't feel like "work" at all. 

Paying off debt really took a spot on the back burner this year with the change in job (lower starting pay) and transition to being a family of 5 and all of the additional budget implications that had. I had hoped to pay off at least 10K. Good news is that we didn't take on any more significant debt in 2014 even with a new baby, time off work, and a career change, but we're really no further ahead that we were at the end of last year. This fall I was able to take out an unsecured line of credit on my own to pay off my student line of credit which was co-signed by my mom. That felt like a big step in terms of financial independence. We are now making bi-monthly principal + interest payments on that loan rather than interest only. Baby steps. 

Family vacation time was pretty low key this year. At the beginning of the year, R took the big boys skiing for the weekend with friends while I relaxed at home since I was in my third trimester. We didn't get up to the trailer nearly as much as we wanted to this summer and when we did, it felt a little crazy and was not very relaxing with a newborn and adjusting to being back at work 5 days/week. We did manage to get up to Temagami to R's family cottage in August with friends of ours and their two boys. The boys had a ton of fun together. 

Making our house a home. This year we redecorated the nursery for Noah's arrival and finally made some progress in the kitchen with a new countertop and dishwasher. Over the holidays I also had the opportunity to give our living room a mini facelift with couch covers and new throw pillows. For a Christmas present, I had my graduate degree and certificate framed since they had just been sitting in the top of my closet. I'm excited to finally get some stuff up on the walls.  

2014 was a rocky year health-wise for me, yet strangely I still managed to accomplish all of my written goals. I had set out to make more of an effort to be healthy. I delivered a healthy 39 week baby and allowed myself to recover from a very difficult birth and complications. I was able to successfully breastfeed even after some hurdles like being re-admitted to the hospital, undergoing a couple of surgeries, and going back to work when Noah was 12 weeks old. I am happily still nursing although not exclusively but I'm totally okay with that. I got back to my pre pregnancy weight through somewhat healthy eating and exercise (I surprised myself by joining an adult synchronized skating team after being off the ice for nearly 15 years and it was one of my best decisions of 2014!).

One goal that went, by and large, unaccomplished this year was visiting more often with family. Being rather pregnant in the early part of the year made travelling inconvenient. R worked a lot of weekends this year too so there weren't many opportunities on the weekends when we weren't at the trailer. One thing that really surprised me was how little family and friends made a fuss over Noah's arrival. We have family members that we usually see a few times a year that only just met Noah at Christmas. There were many times this year where I felt very isolated and lonely, especially in Noah's first 12 weeks before I went to work. A few friends did reach out during that difficult time and I will never forget that. Apart from them I really felt that I only had R and my sister. Moving forward I will be more aware and try to be there in whatever capacity, big or small, for my friends and family when they are going through things - good and bad. I won't wait for an invitation. 

Here's to 2015!