Another day with dad...

Huge has been home with Callan the last two days and to say I'm jealous is an understatement. I mean, really, look at this face. So much better than that tps report...

Lunch!

Eating lunch with Adelia. I love how happy he is -that's pretty much how I feel too.

Opening his first present

Merry Christmas everyone. I'm hoping to do a comprehensive post about Christmas, but for now here's a video of Callan opening his first Christmas present from Santa! (It's a little boring, but I needed to take it for posterities sake).

Merry Christmas! Hope Santa was good to you and that you are spending this day with people you love.

Crazy Eights!

Dear Callan-
You are now 8 months old. Holy cow, how did that happen? This year has flown by at an incredible speed and I know it only goes faster from here. You had an amazing month, as you do most months, and each day is more fun than the last. You're at this point where you definitely aren't a baby and not quite a toddler, but you have tons of personality.

Your personality is so fun and I love imagining what it is you're thinking sometimes. You are so curious. Everyone comments on that -you hear noises and you'll immediately perk up and try to figure out where it's coming from. You see a speck on the floor and you need to investigate. A new texture or anything out of "place" you need to figure out. It's nice to know that you have good hearing and excellent eyesight, but does your exploration always have to conclude with you putting it in your mouth?!? You are definitely very tactile and love touching things, but why does the touching have to extend to your tongue? I try to tell myself you're just building your immune system, but when you tried to hoover the bottom of your tub to figure out what that blue spot was at the bottom (spoiler alert, it's the temperature gauge) I just thank my lucky stars that your dirty bath water was already drained.

You are a mover and a shaker and will.not.sit.still. Changing you used to be a quick and easy process, but now you are not content to just lie there. You need to sit, stand, crawl, pull up, roll over, really anything other than relax. You've been like this for awhile, but I was really hoping it was a phase. On the floor you love crawling your peg-legged crawl and you are such a boy and will crawl over, around and on top of anything in your way. You also love standing and trying to let go to stand on your own, but you're not quite there yet. You cruise on the furniture and on the gate, but you are a little cautious and it's funny to watch you try to determine the distance you can reach out with your other hand. There's such intense concentration that you can almost see the wheels turning in your brain -if only there were thought bubbles so we could see exactly what you are thinking. It's funny that you're cautious about that, because for everything else, you are a daredevil and have no fear. Given the opportunity you'd be willing to crawl right off the side of the bed, couch, changing table or anything where you could fall. Most babies love "flying", but your favorite part is when you fly and then the person pretends to drop you. Or when people scare you.. you will jump a little and you can tell you got scared, but then you'll start laughing.

Speaking of laughing, you are one of the smiliest, giggliest babies I know and I love that about you. Even when you're having a crummy day you still are able to let out a few laughs and smiles. It makes me feel like I'm doing something right. This past month has been crazy for me at work and I sometimes only get home to see you to bed, but those snuggles you give out are amazing and I hope you never get too old to do that. You've also learned to wave hello and good bye (we think) and you always wave with a smile. I love that. We're also trying to teach you to kiss and you sometimes will when prompted, but often times it's a messy slobbery kiss -we'll have to work on that! One of the funniest things you'll do is try to kiss someone through the slats of your crib or through the gate. I told your dad that it'll be a good skill to know when you're in jail, but he didn't think that was funny.

You're also talking/babbling a lot this month. You definitely have "mama" down and we think you're using it correctly as you'll often scream for me and once I'm there, you'll calm down. I guess that separation anxiety kicked in this month because you will fuss a bit when I leave you or walk away. I do know it is short lived because once I'm out of sight, you're ok. It's still tough for your dad to put you to bed at night or to comfort you when you wake up because you will scream for your mama and will not be happy until I arrive. You did manage to say "dada"a few times, but you're not saying it with the same consistency as "mama". You should really throw your dad a bone and start saying it more often.

Eating has been about the same. We consistently do dinner with you and you love food, especially finger foods. Given the choice between oatmeal/applesauce/yogurt or finger foods, you will pick finger foods every time. I think after Christmas you'll start doing lunch with Adelia because Luke will be starting lunch and I know you won't tolerate being excluded from the fun.

This month you got to see Santa. You are obviously too young to understand Christmas and the hoopla around Santa, but you were a good baby and we got your first picture. You had just woken up from your nap and you weren't up for smiling quite yet, but you didn't cry and you were definitely more fascinated with this guy with a beard. This year's picture was definitely more for mom (and the grandparents) than it was for you, but I'm glad we got it since I sometimes feel like we miss out on doing those typical "first" things.

I can't believe 2011 is almost over and that you're already 8 months old. Looking back on the past year, we (as a family) have been blessed with many things, but the one most obvious blessing has been you. You are a complete joy and it has been fun to watch you grow and develop, to see your dad be a dad and to see us grow as a family.

We aren't traveling to Boston or Montreal this year (for the first time) and although that makes me sad, I'm excited to start our own family traditions. They say Christmas is better when you have kids, and I know for sure my Christmas is better this year because of you.

Merry Christmas and happy 8 months bubs. You are the best and I love you. I can't wait to see what 2012 brings.

Love,
Mama

Who needs pants?

Not this guy. It's pantless Thursday!

Who

Who was more excited to see Santa?

Guess this is why overalls are so popular

Callan has an atypical crawl where instead if using both knees he used one knee and one foot. This doesn't pose any problem for him and he is surprisingly mobile for someone with essentially a limp. However, recently he's been crawling out of his pants and he doesn't seem to mind in the slightest. I guess this is why overalls are so popular with the kiddos.

Best Picture

Huge took this picture today and I don't know what makes me laugh more, the picture itself or the caption Huge put on the picture.  Man these boys are cute (but seriously, how big is Callan? These boys are only 10 days apart!).

In my head, it's as if the two of them are up to no good and they just got caught red-handed. Luke is thinking to himself "oh shit" while Callan grabs his hand and thinks "okay, whatever you do, don't tell them."

Yum, yum

Having some broccoli and pasta for dinner.

Fighting the funk...

Recently I have subtly been fighting the funk (although if you ask Huge it probably hasn’t been so subtle because the poor guy has been getting the brunt of it). Things at work aren’t the greatest and I just feel like my life is a mess (in a disorganized kind of way). Work is "messy", my house is "messy" (although that one probably doesn’t need quotes, it actually IS a mess) and therefore my life seems messy. Nothing is actually wrong, it’s just been little things that have been building up and causing me to stress and feel out of balance.

For those of you that know me, I’m not one to stress about things. One of my strong suits (in my opinion) is my ability to stay pretty level headed and pragmatic, but somehow this snuck up on me and it all came to a head last night. I was in a BAD mood –I was stuck at work later than I wanted to be (again), I felt like I was not getting what I need to be getting done at work but I am also unwilling to work 12 hour days and my frustration level hit its peak. I ended up yelling at poor Huge and I realized that something has to give. Part of the problem is that I’m still trying to find that work/life balance. I thought I would be better at it by now, but I have to realize that I’ve only been back to work for 4 months and I need to cut myself some slack. I also need to find a way to make work more manageable because, like I said before, I’m not willing to work 12+ hour days and to be honest, I would love a 9-5, but I’ll settle for a 9-10 hour day and maybe I just need to manage my expectations more.

On top of the stress of work, I’m also subconsciously stressed about the upcoming year. As excited as I am for Huge’s new venture, it also scares me. I’ve always been the "bread winner" in our relationship and although I am more than happy to relinquish that title (anytime now), I’m ok with it. But with Huge starting his own business, it makes my responsibility that much greater (and if you refer to what I said earlier, that area of my life isn’t going the smoothest). So I think we just need to get on the same page about what our plans are (financially) for the upcoming year and how he envisions his schedule to be. I’ve never been real co-dependent on Huge, probably due to our extended long-distance relationship, but I do enjoy spending time with him and would love to have some family time. So although the traveling aspect of his job doesn’t bother me too much, I’m worried about the time he’ll be spending on projects while he’s home now that he won’t have regular business hours.

I realize that there are a lot of variables that I can’t control now and instead need to focus on those aspects I can. I need to find more balance in my life and to declutter the mess and the best way to do that is to make a plan of attack, and a list! (I love lists.) First, I need to figure out some time to exercise. I haven’t done hot yoga in a long time, but I remember how much I loved it. It was hard, but after class I always remember how I felt detoxed, relaxed and accomplished. There’s a studio near the house that does evening classes at either 7:30 or 8:30 and if I can commit to going once a week, I think that will do a lot in terms of getting my balance back. I also should get back to running, but I think for now I’m just going to commit to a once weekly yoga class. Second, I made a date with Huge to sit down and make a plan in regards to our finances and our plan for next year. And then finally, I’m going to get into the Christmas spirit. I love the holidays and all the hoopla that surrounds them (the lights, the music, the food, family/friends, etc) and for some reason I haven’t embraced it this year. But, I’m going to. We have plans to decorate on Sunday and we put together a last minute Christmas Open House… so gosh darn it, I’m going to get in the holiday spirit!

Now I’ve acknowledged the funk and made a plan to fight it, I already feel a thousand times better. Now if only those knots in my neck and back would disappear as well… I should take a page out of this kid's book. Look how relaxed he is –he fell asleep on the swing!