The 43 mistakes I made taking my toddler to the Toronto Zoo.

One of our favourite gifts we received for Kale's birthday was tickets to the Toronto Zoo (thanks Shelly, Dave & Ben!). Since the tickets were good for a year, we were originally planning to go next summer when we knew Kale would be a little more into it. However, Kris's parents had tickets to the zoo and theirs expired at the end of July and so they invited us and Kris's brother and girlfriend to all go on Sunday. Since it was supposed to be a beautiful day we decided to go and enjoy some family time (plus - there are African Penguins there now!).

Let's just say that deciding to go was our first mistake.

Our second mistake was not looking at the traffic report before we left. We ended up in a traffic jam on the highway as workers removed a bridge which meant that a normal one hour drive took us close to two and a half. We thought Kale would sleep on the way down, but he didn't (mistake #3 - never count on them sleeping when you want them to sleep. NEVER.). Kale actually did ok in the car, with only 30 minutes of screaming (otherwise known as torture). Kale did eventually pass out - when we saw the sign that said "Zoo - 800 metres." Awesome.

When we got there we decided to take the stroller since Kale was sleeping. This was my big mistake #4. I don't know why I agreed that this was a good idea. I knew that Kale would sleep longer if I wore him and knew that once he woke up he wouldn't want to be in the stroller. Twenty minutes after arriving at the zoo, Kale woke up, wanted out the stroller, I put him in the sling, and we spent the rest of the trip lugging a stroller full of "stuff" (where does this stuff come from????).

Kale announcing he's done with the stroller.

Much happier being worn. 

Catching a ride with Papa. 

For the most part, the zoo was fun. Kale got a kick out of looking at the animals, but was equally (if not more) interested in people watching. His favourite part of the zoo was the giant sandbox in the kid's area and the fake beaver damn.

"I want to live with the beavers!!!"

Around 4pm Kale was starting to get cranky and so we decided to call it a day and cross our fingers that he would sleep on the way home (remember mistake #3??).

This is when things got interesting.

After being on the road for 10 minutes Kale started freaking out. We stopped for gas and I gave him some water and took him out of his seat and tried nursing him, hoping he'd fall asleep. As soon as he was out of his car seat he was all smiles and babbles. We put him back in and started driving again. After another twenty minutes of losing his mind, I told Kris to get off the highway ("I don't care where! HERE! Anywhere" - I was also losing my mind). We ended up pulling off the highway into an Ikea so we decided to go in and walk around - CONVINCED that Kale would fall asleep.

Then Ikea closed.

There was a few restaurants and a hotel surrounding a field and so we all took our shoes off and ran around in the grass for awhile. None of us wanted to get back in that car if it meant listening to Kale scream. So we played. We changed diapers. We changed Kale's clothes. Kris practiced throwing dirty diapers from the field to the garbage bin. And then for no good reason, Kris threw the car keys in the air and they landed on my head.

The entire time Kale refused to fall asleep.

We contemplated checking into the hotel and raiding the mini fridge. We took the cheaper route and ordered some pints from one of the restaurants and got some take-out. We got back in the car, we buckled Kale in, we fed him grilled cheese. And three hours after leaving the zoo and halfway through a grilled cheese....

That night, after we got Kale tucked into bed, Kris and I enjoyed a good laugh about the whole day. Yes, it was incredibly long and the parts with Kale freaking out were awful - but there were lots of fun parts too. We got to spend time together as a family, in a random field, enjoying the moment - and this made all the mistakes worth it.

update on childcare.

First of all, I want to send out a big (belated) thank you go everyone who gave me advice after my post about our childcare situation. I've been hesitant to give an update because I didn't want to jinx anything, but after a couple of amazing weeks with the nanny, I'm pretty confident that we've moved past the difficulties.

What REALLY helped the situation was a change in weather. We had a very rainy spring that made getting outside really difficult. As the weather has warmed and cleared up, the nanny was able to start taking Kale outside more. Since Kale has a serious obsession with the outdoors, he could care less who is taking him out, as long as he's out there. That solved some of the struggles that were happening throughout the day, but Kale was still getting super upset when it was time for me go.

The nanny told me that Kale cries way longer when he see's me go upstairs to my office opposed to when I actually leave out the front door, so we tried a new strategy. When she arrived, the three of us would spend a bit of time together and then I would say goodbye, head out for a coffee and by the time I got back, they would be out at the park. This worked really well - except for the fact that I was having to do this twice a day (once in the morning and then once after lunch) and each time it took about 30 minutes for me to say goodbye, get the coffee, come home and settle back in at my desk. Which meant that I was pretty much paying the nanny for an hour where I wasn't getting any work done. Since I shorten my workday when she's here, losing an hour was pretty significant.

Regardless, we stuck with it for a couple weeks and it seemed to make the goodbye's easier on everyone. As the nanny got more comfortable with Kale she started taking him more places. She would take him to the library for a toddler program and to the Early Years Centre. Kale was loving the adventures and he started to associate her showing up with good times.

After a few good days, I tried slipping away to my office upstairs without saying goodbye or leaving out the front door. Magically, there were no tears. Despite every book telling me to make sure that Kale watches me leave and that we keep a consistent goodbye routine, he really didn't seem bothered by me slipping away.

This week when she came, Kale was still a bit shy but warmed to her quickly. One morning I had to leave for a meeting and he walked me to the door and happily waved goodbye. Amazing, right? Today when I got home the two of them were napping on the couch with Kale sprawled on top of her. Melted my heart.

Today when she was leaving she commented that things had been really good that week and he hadn't cried at all. I could sense her relief and I'm sure she could sense mine. I am so happy that things turned around and worked out for us.

"My name is Kale and I survived the transition to childcare."

obsessed.

Kale is obsessed with the outdoors.

Don't get me wrong - it's a much better obsession than something like The Wiggles (how do I even know what that show is?!) or picking his nose (which I'm sure will happen in due time). However (!!!), sometimes Kris and I and his caregivers like to do inside things - like use the bathroom and sleeping on a bed. Kale does not understand this. The only thing he understands is that outside is awesome and therefore we should never be inside. This is the reasoning of a 13 month old. 

The second he wakes up, he grabs our hand and drags us to the front door. When we walk by the front door without going out it, he melts to the ground and releases sounds of utter anguish that I was not expecting to hear for at least another year. 

Kale does not want to eat unless it involves a picnic blanket and the sunshine pouring down. He doesn't want to sleep unless the wind is blowing through his hair. I would not be surprised if he started holding his breath while indoors as a form of protest. 

Inside, he tests our patience with near constant whining, clinging and crying. Outside, he is happy, content and a total joy. Even though we slather him with sunscreen a hundred times a day and always make sure he's wearing a hat and in the shade as much as possible, he's already got a better tan than me and the sun has bleached his hair a thousand shades of blond. 

Clearly we need to move to South America, because the kid is never going to make it through another Canadian winter. 

Happy Father's Day

Kale's first birthday (round 1)

Remember when I said that I would alternate upcoming posts to reflect equally on Kale's three first birthday celebrations and our every day life? Yeah, me too. Except I've yet to write a single birthday post and I'm already starting to forget the details!!! Let's not even talk about the fact that I failed to write a 12-month update and he turned 13 months last week! And now Kris is going away for two more days for work (seriously, shoot me) and so posting will inevitably take a backseat to climbing stairs over and over and over again, along with chasing the cat, and throwing pretty much anything. 

So. I should just stop procrastinating and write, right? Right.

Except I have the memory of a hamster and already forget what we did on Kale's first birthday. I know we woke up, did something special (????), took a nap, and then packed up and met our friends Stuart & Michelle and their brand new baby Audrey at our favourite lunch spot. We got sandwiches to go and sat in one of our favourite parks, because it was finally a beautiful spring day and we were all a little bit more than desperate for some fresh air. Kale had so much fun showing off his walking skills (which kicked into high gear over that very weekend) and playing with Stuart & Michelle's dog, Ollie.

We headed home in the afternoon since my parents were coming down for dinner. They hadn't seen Kale since Christmas and so it was pretty exciting for them to see a walking, talking, eating machine. We had a simple dinner of burgers and chicken and salads and watched Kale play with the trucks my parents had brought him.

Before dinner my parents and I went to pick up the groceries while Kale napped. My mom wanted to get a cake for Kale but I was kind of against it (I know - worst mom ever, right?). But when I told her that I saw her heart break into little pieces and so I caved and told her to pick up the smallest one she could find. Of course she picked out a triple-fudge-more-sugar-than-any-other-cake-in-the-world small cake. I thought for sure that I was going to have a sugar-buzzed one year old on my hands all night, but Kale was not totally into the cake, and opted for fruit instead (that's my boy!).


My parents left around 7pm and Kale crashed pretty shortly after that. I rocked him for an extra long time that night. Around 9:30pm Kris and I got into bed with Kale - in the very spot that he was born one year before. The silence in the room was so different from the noises in the room a year before and I breathed in the silence and the short, even breaths of my baby. That morning I woke up next to my baby and at 9:40pm, I whispered happy birthday in Kale's ear, closed my eyes, and fell asleep with my toddler.

Nana E & Kale

The triple-fudge chocolate cake.

a day in the life.

Kris left this morning to go to a stag party at a cottage for the weekend, so once again it was just Kale and I. It was overcast and dreary all day and Kris had the car, so we were pretty much stuck indoors. We bummed around in our pj's most of the day, took naps on the couch, and did some other stuff:

Put on a concert:

Ate some quiche:

Took some naps:

And got into more trouble than you can imagine....

flashback friday: a day at the park.

I'm not sure if something that happened less than a week ago qualifies as a "flashback," but I've been wanting to post these pictures since the weekend. It's been a very slow process of getting all my pictures from my old computer uploaded to flickr and then trying to figure out how to upload, edit and organize new photo's on my mac. Sadly,  I've been neglecting my camera for the past while as well with all that has been going on (the move, Kris being away, work being busy, blah, blah, blah) and so my past few posts have been kind of heavy on the text and non-existant on the photos. Well - last Sunday was a beautiful day and we finally had a weekend without any major events. So we hopped on our bikes, picked up some lunch, and headed to the part for a picnic.

Kale's face kills me here. "What's going on? I was trying to eat this apricot, minding my own business, and now I'm squished up between you two???" 

I'm not sure how Kris managed to snap this picture of me looking so still and relaxed because....

....this is pretty much what I did the entire time. 

I can barely throw this kid in the air anymore - he's so heavy!!

Don't forget to vote! I really appreciate it :) 

meeting mama bloggers online

One of the hardest things I deal with as part of about being a full-time working mom is finding time to spend with other parents and kids. Most of the playgroups and classes are scheduled during the day when I'm at work and when we get to the park in the evening, most have packed it in and headed home. I'm glad that Kale's nanny and nana take him to the park almost every day and this week the nanny even took him to a toddler class at the library. As for me, I get to talk to other mama's at my office, but it's not the same as talking to a good friend. It is hard to schedule visits with my real life mama friends (the few of them I have) - one of our kids is always about to take a nap or they're heading to the pool when I feel like curling up with a cup of tea and having a good chat.

I started this blog for the same reason that most start baby blogs - to capture the memories and keep family and friends up to date. But something else kind of unexpected happened - I met other mama bloggers and they became my very good friends. I can't count how many times I wished that Bianca or Kaleigh lived on my street so we could hold each other up through the sleep deprivation, or how many times I wish I could go over to Sara's for dinner. Even Meg and Andrea in Toronto are too far away! Even though my blog has a small following of readers, I'm pretty sure they're the best.

And yes, this is a really long way of telling you that I've met some awesome friends through this blog and through Top Baby Blogs. And yes, they just reset their votes so I would really appreciate if you could vote for me so that I can be ranked and other cool mom's will find me and want to be my friend.

after the storm.

Kris has skipped town for a few days for work. I mean, he said it was for work - but I wouldn't be surprised if he was sleeping in a tent down the street just so he could get a solid 6 hours of rest. I don't blame him - I just wish I would have thought of it first.

I'm not going to lie - I was a little bit worried how I would handle the nights alone. Waking up with Kale a few times a night is manageable when you have someone to alternate with, but I wasn't convinced I could handle it alone and keep my sanity. Thankfully Kale slept really well last night. He even slept through a super intense storm! This morning we took an early morning walk to survey the damage:

Tonight when I got home from work Kale and I went over to Kris's parents for the first swim of the season in their pool. Kale had such a good time splashing around in the water! It was nice to cool off since we had to come home to the melting pot we call home. I love our new house - but miss the a/c we had at our old place!!!

I know that I said I would alternate posts with birthday updates, but all of my pictures are still on my old computer and with Kris away, there is very little chance that I'm going to find the time to load them on to my new one so I can include them in my posts. I'll get to it....soon. Kris is also away this weekend at a stag so until he's back and things settle down around here, posts will continue to be sporadic.

Wish us luck on another good night of sleep!!!

a pretty awesome day.

Before Kale turned one, I was mildly stressed about how we would celebrate. A big part of me (like 95%) wanted to spend the day with just Kris, Kale and I, doing some of Kale's favourite things, but I knew our families wouldn't let us get away with keeping it that simple. As it turned out, we celebrated Kale turning one on three separate occasions - each of which were equally awesome and a thousand times better than I imagined. As much as I want to get back to capturing the day to day on this blog, I also want to make sure that I write and post pictures about each of the three celebrations before the memories start to fade. So for the next week or so I'll alternate - a post about the day to day and then a post about a party (and repeat) until I've covered all three.

And to start - a post about today. As much as I loved all the parties, today kind of blew them out of the water. To start, the weather was AMAZING. Lots of sunshine and a nice cool breeze. After 576 days of freezing temperatures followed by a ridiculously hot Tuesday, the nice weather was much needed. Kris had the day off work (lucky guy) and so we tucked Kale into the bike trailer and they rode with me to work.

I actually didn't mind working today since I'm working on a project that I really enjoy. The morning went by quickly and then Kris and Kale biked to my work again and met me for lunch. Kris packed up the new picnic blanket we got from our awesome friends Emily & Steve and brought some sausage, cheese, berries and cake (aka - leftover party food from the weekend that we're still eating). We sprawled out in the park and Kale had a great time "woof-ing" at the dogs and grazing on lunch, while Kris and I took in the fresh air and soaked in some sun. I wish lunch break could be like this everyday.

After work I had a nice bike ride home. Even though it's only 10 minutes, it's enough time for me to process the day and shift out of work mode (something I have a hard time doing in the 3 minute car ride home). When I got home Kale was in an amazing mood since he'd napped really well all day and got to hang out with his papa. His favourite thing to do lately is be chased and hide behind the furniture, so we did this while Kris fired up the BBQ. After dinner the boys went to watch a soccer game which means I got some much needed free time to spend with my new mac. Oh, I didn't mention that I got a new MacBook Pro this week?? Cha-ching!

Soon Kris and Kale will be back and I imagine that Kale's going to be ready to pack it in for the night and I have plans for Kris and I that involve a bottle of wine and chillin' on the front porch.... (here's hoping the mosquito's decide to take a night off).

wordless wednesday.