This will re-direct to our new word press site Knee High To A Ladybug!

In just a short moment....

Ignoring is bliss

So some big changes happening around here with me starting a part time job on Wednesday. I wasn't really planning on going back to work until the summer (part time) leading into full time in September, but I happened upon a great opportunity that I just couldn't pass up. I'm actually really excited about the idea of working again, and 2 days is perfect. The one thing that I am having a bit of trouble with is the idea of leaving my small person. We desperately scoured all our sources to find a home daycare to take us through until we get into our actual daycare. Day care in this city is nuts, the waiting lists are out of control, the price tag is not cheap, but then in my mind daycare is like tattoos, why does everyone always want to find the cheapest tattoo artist? These are the times when quality is much more important than price.

Thankfully Babi is going to watch her on my first day and Erin is going to help us ease her into daycare by watching her in the first weeks. We actually found a woman that I like and I think it's going to be good, but Eeeeeeks. How much do I wish I could go to sleep and wake up in a month when this transition is all over? I have been kind of trying to ignore it, but it appears to be happening just the same.

We went to visit the Papa at work last Thursday and here are pics of that. M loved catching up with her old friend Pilates ball which makes me think I should dig ours out and blow it up again.

She also greatly enjoys that Visualizer screen saver thing-a-majigger.

We had planned to go see the cherry blossoms in High Park yesterday for Earth day, but it was cold and we were tired and walked the entire Junction path to go pick up my bike from the shop. We will soon be geared up with our Wike for day care drop offs and weekend bike trips. That is if it stops wet snowing on us for Odin's sake!

Tie one on

We were at MEC last weekend and happened upon this cute little ladybug back pack with an "ahem" line (I am avoiding the word leash) attached to it.

I have to admit I had been toying with the idea of getting something like this for her for a couple of weeks. The thing is, girl is independent with a capital I and when I try to walk with her by holding her hand it always ends with her ripping her hand away, me feeling slightly offended and her laughing gleefully at her sweet sweet freedom. In M's perfect world she runs free as a bird with nothing holding her back. In my perfect world this wouldn't be a problem, also I would have a Pegasus Unicorn.

Exhibits A and B

 Escaping the constraints of her stroller at the One of a Kind show last month...

Chasing after random white dog with luxurious hair at the park last week.

I want her to be able to explore the world and learn from her mistakes, but I also want to not worry about her running into the street and being hit by a car when she sees a bunny (I saw one on the corner last night). Once she is able to talk I think it won't be necessary, but until then do I leash? It's a hotly debated topic on the old internets with some extreme opinions. I have to admit I tried it today and felt like a crazy dork supreme. Also I was walking Pepper at the time so it really added to the whole walking your child like a dog scenario. Also trying to get these two maniacs to walk together while pushing a stroller? Crazy train that generally looked something like this;

One going North, one going South.  I do feel like everyone was staring at me and I usually don't care that much about what people think, but maybe my paranoia says something about how I feel about this. At the very least the back pack is really cute and now she can carry her own dang MumMums. My pockets/purses/car/stroller is filled with wrappers.

Bump watch 2012

I'm super excited that 2 of our very best friends are expecting and due this September. I swear to god everywhere I look are pregnant ladies and it kind of almost makes me want to do it again, which is funny because this baby still doesn't sleep through the night! I loved being pregnant, I loved the big stomach and feeling your baby move, and sleeping and laying on the couch eating rice cream, people feed you non stop when you are pregnant which I enjoy greatly.

Here is Kristen in all her striped pregnant glory;

 Dudes, I can't wait to meet your baby this fall!

Sidebar: I saw Cabin in The Woods last night and it was SO good. If you have the chance I highly recommend this movie, classic Joss Whedon at his very best! And I'm not saying this because it is the only movie I have seen in the theatre so far this year!

Tiny Tots

We have moved on from Guardian Swim to Tiny Tots, which I love, mostly because I like the word tot. Perhaps it comes from  my childhood love of Jelly Tots? For those of you not in the know, Tiny Tots consists of me taking M to the pool and leaving her with an instructor for 15 minutes. This is our 3rd class. The first one was great, second was iffy and today was the worst of all. Apparently going to swim with a random stranger without me while breaking new teeth ranks very low on M's to do list. I could hear her crying for about 9 minutes before I rescued her.

Here is a before picture;

This episode only adds to the stress of trying to figure out a daycare situation, I think of all the things we have done together, this might be the hardest one. It is impossible to find care in this city and if/when you do it is super expensive.

Please dear Universe, send me an amazing care provider that works out perfectly. Yours truly, Mama Neveu.

15 Months

It is Good Friday today and 15 months birthday also. It actually was good because the Papa had the last two days off and other than going to Home Depot to pick up more reno supplies (which is our part time job these days) we just did normal stuff. We walked the dog and got lunch and went to the park and made dinner and ate it all together as a family. We slacked, yes and it felt good! We even went down to  the the EC to eat at urban Herbivore, and let me tell you the people at the corner of Dundas and Yonge are very concerned with what the true meaning of Easter is.  Double Easter celebrations coming up this weekend, hope you all are eating ham or chocolate or bunnies or eggs or what-have-you.

Operation Insect Irradicator

So it looks like I can add a new skill to my resume, ant murdalizer! Ever since the nice weather, we have been invaded by ants. I know it could be worse, and actually I kind of like ants. People always call bees busy, but have you seen ants in action? those guys are completing tasks left right and centre, and we all know how much I like projects.

It was just getting too much though, they were everywhere and when I saw one walking across the counter towards the food I was making the babe, I had to end it. So I used the tried and true (according to the internets) Borax and sugar method and lo and behold a mere 24 hours later we are down to one ant that was looking pretty rough as it tried to walk across the floor. Do I feel bad?  Kind of, I hate killing things, am I happy they are gone? A thousand times yes!

And then it was April...

I went up to my parents on Friday so the Papa could have some time to get started on one of the medium sized reno projects in the house; building walls so M can have an actual room. In our minds it is the answer to better sleep for all, and as usual any project takes about four times as long as you think it will!

We are about halfway there which is really exciting and should have them up and finished by the end of this weekend. No pictures of this because half made walls look really boring according to the camera on my phone.

I do have a pic of M wearing an old barrette of mine that I found on one of my childhood dolls.

She made my dad read her that book like a thousand times and let me tell you, counting to 10 a thousand times isn't all it's cracked up to be. Must bring more books up next time.

Whenever we are gone I always think about how Pepper is going to luxuriate on the couch without the impending threat of little hands grabbing her and how they will sleep in and hog the whole bed and stretch and rejoice, but generally when I am gone Pepper whiles away the hours shivering and worrying that she is being abandoned. Here it is Monday again and April already and back to business as usual.

Little style

So it looks like the DVF for baby Gap stuff is out. It is cute, but dang it's kind of pricey. I really like this Fred Flintsone-ish T-shirt dress, but it's $43 and I think my $43 would be better spent on some salt water sandals that she will wear every day and I can save for (still TBD) future baby.

What is it about kid's clothes that are so tempting? I never buy stuff for myself anymore, I could basically leave my house in a gunny sack these days, but putting M in cute outfits delights me. My mom got her this pair of Neon Chartreuse skinny jeans that made me squeal with delight. I squealed. Out loud. Upon taking them out of the dryer. I tried to get a picture of her in them, but she was more interested in throwing my phone around and rolling in the duvet that was on the floor.

We're not going to win any photo contests with that one, but you get my drift.

My guilty pleasure these days is going through the clothes I have saved (from thrifting, hand me downs, etc.) for her as she grows and just laying them out and then refolding them and putting them away. When me and my sister were littles, my mom's aunt who was a seamstress in Vienna would send us clothes she had made for our dolls. I wonder if this is where my love of hand crafted apparel comes from?

The Hat that won't be worn...

It has been so crazy hot this last week (hello sunburned neck I received when walking home from the Duff the other day) so I figured I better get going on making M a summer hat. The thing is, she hates wearing hats, like hates it, pulls them off right away. Is this all toddlers? I have surely seen other tots in the park with sunhats on. It is extra sad because I have an unholy love of hats.

Anyways I digress, I decided to make the same one I made last summer for her from the Sewn With Love book by Fiona Bell.

I really love this book, I made some stuff from the baby section for her last summer and I am super excited that I can finally make all the cute things for toddlers in there!

This is the third time I've made it and I'm kind of a pro at it now which feels nice. I had to make the pattern bigger since she is too big for the baby version, but it worked out just fine. It lasted on her head about 23 seconds before it was yanked off, I did manage to grab a shot of the front and the back for our viewing pleasure.

I made it pink so that people can stop calling her a boy. I heard people in Ikea the other day talking about her and the daughter was saying to her father, no la nina, la nina and pointing at her pink shoes. I like pink as much as the next guy, but feel no need to drape her it just because she is a girl.

Next up for sewing projects? The vintage inspired pyjamas from the same book....feels good to be making things again, I missed you sewing machine!

Notes from the Editor...

Here are some pics from our week. It seemed to take forever for the weekend to come and now sadly it has gone. We have been having some amazing sunny days which means hanging out in the windows when we are inside and in the parks when we are outside.

  We managed to finish off a few house projects in the last couple of weeks that helped say good bye to the last of the boxes. Here's a pic of our new shelves that we did last weekend. (we still have to get the rest of our books from Babi's so it looks a little spare).

and I finished the window seat cushion and curtains too!

Now if I only had time to lay there and read....one of these years it'll happen.  AND we got this amazing new plant that I am in love with. We locked eyes across the Home Depot Hot house and I knew I wasn't leaving without it. Here it is with the red balloon Kristen and Kyle brought over for Maude to replace her yellow friend. I kind of think maybe balloons should always be a part of everyone's life....balloons can solve all our problems you guys, and if they can't, they can at least brighten up the corner of a room. Hope you all had an amazing weekend!

Mickey and Maude

The Papa has been working day and night on a project at work so it has been me vs baby+dog around here for the last 3 days and I think we are all feeling the affects. I've got to hand it to single moms, ladies I don't know how you do this by yourself all the time.

In good news the weather has been AMAZOID lately and we hit up the park with one of Maude's first friend's Mickey. Mickey is exactly 2 years and 1 day older than Maude and they are frickin cute together.  M has met swings before, but this was her first slide experience and I think it was most agreeable. As usual I dressed both of us completely inaccurately for the weather, I mean I know it's been nice, but it's still winter, why do I think jackets are no longer needed. Good thing I happened to have her Scottish Rastafarian tam in the stroller basket!

Looks like we have some more teeth coming in up top, where in Zeus's name is the rest of her bottom teeth? Still holding at 2.

This whole "Spring" thing is really hitting the spot right about now. I think we made it dudes....long live Spring (well Summer, but Spring will do for now)!

14 months

I forgot to post this last week, we are still without car and am knee deep in laundry piles. We did manage to finish making our wall of shelves this weekend which makes me SO happy! Bit by bit we are getting things done around here. I also managed to hang out with some good friends and eat amazing home made pizza, which was my last hurrah to gluten for awhile. Life is going to be pretty sad without bread OR cheese in it. If you need me I will be eating rice alone in the corner for the next little while.

when it rains, it pours...

What a crazy day! It started out good, I went all the way up to Don Mills and Lawrence to see if these fabric thingies were on sale at Anthro because I want to make a cushion for the bench seat out of them and Anthro always has great sales.

They were, success...until the car didn't start right away....and the check engine light came on....and then smoke started coming out of the hood in a serious way. Long story short, we got towed back downtown then I took 2 streetcars and a bus in the rain and when I got off the bus, my umbrella stroller was broken so I carried a 25 lb toddler, two bags and a stroller all the way home. What a crazy adventure, so glad to be home with a steaming cup of Krakus right now.

I have no pictures of this adventure since my hands were more than full, here is a stock photo of someone else on a different adventure.

fin

The balloon got closer and closer to the ground and was still loved....

until we got home from a walk and it was lying at ground level. Her love turned to hate as she tried to stomp it to an early death. This is how I like to remember Yellow Balloon in the Autumn of it's life.

Not sad and greasy with twisted string lying on the kitchen floor.

It continues....

The Balloon is operating at about 50% right now...hopefully the bloom of their love wears out before the bloom of it's youth does....

the love affair continues...

M rolled out of bed this morning and promptly got her new best friend yellow balloon. SO we woke up to this;

Good thing the camera was so close. Have you ever seen such unadulterated adoration? She cackled with delight as she double fisted breakfast and balloon.

I snuck us out the door to go to swimming sans balloon, but they reconnected as soon as we got home. I fear the balloon will not last the week....

It's all about the balloon

We braved the sub zero temps to go out to the Musket for Schnitzel with Babi tonight.  M fell asleep in the car and woke up at 6pm in the restaurant. The rare 5 pm nap that happens never ends well. She always wakes up grumpy at that time and it means we are looking at a 10pm bedtime bare minimum.

Our only saving grace was this lone yellow balloon she found in a dark corner of the restaurant. She clung to that thing like it was gelfling essence all through dinner, all the way home, switching hands only to take her jacket off. It was freezing when we got home so we decided to throw the whole family into a hot bath. She wouldn't even let go of the balloon in the bath...

Or while drying....

After putting on jammies, she just kind of lay in bed staring at it's yellow beauty...

When will this love affair end?

Update; 11pm

Also of note...

So when you become a mom you stop having time for a lot of things in your life. It starts with personal activities like yoga and movie watching as well as personal hygiene. Who has time to shower/cut your nails/pluck eyebrows?  Well for the last few days, weeks maybe I have been noticing that my foot has been hurting and today I looked at it and found a piece of glass was stuck in it. I have now become a person that doesn't have time to remove shards of glass from my body. I hope my head doesn't get cut off this weekend....it might take me a few days to notice.

What a world...what a world...

We experienced a true toddler meltdown yesterday at Ikea. To be fair it was a whole day of car seats and strollers and one missed nap. How much fun is doing errands and shopping for a 1.16 year old? 0% fun.

I always thought I would have one of those babies that was super chilled out. I have heard through the grapevine that I was a "good" baby and Ivan is super laid back. M is what they call Precocious I guess. Here are some questionable signs I have noticed as of late; she sometimes likes to hit her own head into the wall over and over,  she growls when she doesn't like what is happening, she likes to harass my person and then cackle like a she demon from the netherworlds. One thing is for sure, life with you dear Maude will never be boring.

Here she is in the back seat with Ollie...we managed to fit 2 adult humans, 2 babies with car seats, 2 giant strollers, lots of vintage loot and some Ikea plants into our little red car. They are hamming it up for the camera and pretending they don't hate car seats!

Sunday Stuff

We decided to not do anything major on the house this weekend after the bathroom vanity fiasco of last weekend (which turned into a week long process) and I woke up Sunday morning to a sunlight filled room. It almost felt like summer up here and let me tell you, it was swell. I'm sure almost everyone is feeling those end of winter blues creep in and we haven't even had a bad winter this year.

Never the less, March is almost here and Spring feels like it is right around the corner and for that I say Huzzah!

Some pics of our lazy morning;

This is the amazing vintage find I made on my b-day, $14.99 for this wool rug! It's the vintage find of 2012 so far...

Sometime H&M gets it so right. I am obsessed with this tank top onesie!

What can I say? The girl's got moves!

Thanks Sunny Sunday, you really came through! Today is about as grey as can be and it is the Papa's birthday. Unfortunately he had to roll out of bed extra early and rush off to be on set for a shoot. Here at the ol' homestead we are wishing him the best day filled with delicious burritos and on set food. Thanks for being the absolute best Papa, hubs, pal for life. We love you and all you do for us!

Grand Theft

We got home from a day out yesterday to find a little surprise. M secreted some toys from the Storefront into our bag. I guess she just couldn't live without this elephant and piece of tube in her life. She already stays up way past curfew, what's next? Planning a dance with the new boy in town to overthrow the religious anti rock music regime?

Birfday

So yeah, it's my birthday today. 35....there I said it. 35....wow, I still felt 19 like 4 years ago, I still call myself a girl, but lets face it I am a woman, with a child. Nothing like having a baby to make you feel old, just compare my old tired un-manicured hands next to mini fresh hands over there, don't even get me started on my face!

But really, it's ok, it's good. I'm content, ...had a great day, scored an amazing woven wool rug vintage for $14.99, got a new hand product (they are almost comparable to mini fresh's now), had baby milk breathe laughed all over my face, dog walks, ate too much chocolate and talked on the phone to an old pal, ate amazing Vegan food with amazing husband, drank wine, got new boots and delicious lip balm presents AND finished it off with a pancake!

So many birthday wishes from good old friends, I've kind of been over birthdays the last few years, but this one has renewed them for me. Long live the birthday!!!


ps many thanks to aunty Kathryn for giving the best gift of all, dinner out alone as a couple without baby for the first time in over a year!

Super Mama moment

I just took both dogs and the baby for a walk in the snrain. Here is photo eveidence;

I'm no stranger to juggling multiple tasks on a wheeled vehicle, there was this one time in Taiwan that I drove home on my scooter with a giant palm tree, sadly I have no photo evidence of this event, but it was epic. Don't even get me started on my career as a bicycle doubler.

I came home feeling all awesome and powerful only to find Mitzi got her wet dirty paw prints all over my new couch while Pepper ran up and down the hall barking and waking up the baby. Thanks jerks, Happy Valentines day.

13 month photo...only 8 days late!

Things have been busy, we are working like madmen trying to get the new place in shape so we can go back to normal life as soon as possible, but I think we are at a place where we can relax, just a little. We have baby gates, we have a fridge, we have painted some walls and not painted others. Some walls need to be built and it kind of feels like we are camping out on the third floor here, but it's good!

I realized on the 6th that the Nikon was still packed, and once found I realized the batteries were dead and the charger was packed, not to mention the cord to get them all off the camera and onto the computer. Once all was found, M came down with a horrible flu bug and we were in Barfsville for 24 hours, not a thing was left vomit free in our home. Luckily it only lasted 2 days, but then of course, I got it! So glad it was a Sunday that I was sequestered on the couch watching Degrassi Junior High on Netflix, don't know how I would've done mama duty alone!

Anyhoot, it's been a rough couple of weeks around here for small person as 3 teeth come in. Getting a happy shot of her sitting in a chair (and not attached to my boob where she currently resides 85% of the time) was not easy. I think this one sums up her feelings of late.

Not even Brown Bear can heal the pain...

Down the rabbit hole

It feels like forever since I posted last, I can't believe we only moved just over a week ago. I can barely remember what trust fund baby cologne smells like. We didn't have internet for almost a whole week and in a way it was a blessing in disguise as I'd become quite the little internet addict. But I'm back dear fellow internet junkies.

The move weekend was pretty intense, we realized the night before that we were very much not packed completely and had to stay up throwing things into boxes and Ikea bags. Thanks to our amazing friends that showed up on Sunday morning to haul our belongings to the new place. Finch, Jared, Colin, Clint, Mom and Dad you guys brang it. We owe you.

It's been hectic, we have been painting, babygating, we have cut new teeth, we are still waiting for a fridge and have been using the windowsill as a cooler, but really, it is great here. We are so happy to be in a neighbourhood again. People here say hi to each other and smile at you. It is so very nice to be out of the Liberty Village bubble and this old house just has this familiar feeling. It's like we belong here.  Both M and P are enjoying this new thing called a hallway...novel thing that. Did I mention we have a window seat now? It's amazing, why was I being such a house Grinch?

I've been stuck inside this box shaped box for a week

It's been a busy couple of weeks as we gear up for the move. In all honesty I am exhausted and I've been a mega grouch lately. It seems like we just moved in here and everything is so nice and done and organized. I am having some real problems dealing with the chaos of regular life these days. I can't help it, I love organization. It makes me so happy. I am one of those people that think organizing your sock drawer is a good time and it is way not organized around here, big time! I am going to try VERY hard to go with the flow and try to not let moving into a new space with all sorts of things to get done bug me. I used to love a project and an adventure...maybe that was before I spent a whole year without one good nights sleep.

The one good thing about this is it gives me a chance to get rid of stuff we don't need. Purging junk is the highest form of organization. "Have nothing in your home you know not to be useful or feel is not beautiful" Words to live by....

I dream of Gene-ie

My number one favorite thing about meeting new babies is finding out their names. I consider myself a freelance name-ologist and I find the study of naming trends to be really interesting. Next best is looking at babies and kids and figuring out what parts of their parents they look like. Genetics is fascinating! I love when a kid looks so much like one parent and not at all like the other.
Check out these two;

talk about Mega genes Sandler!
Strangers always tell me that Maude is a mini me, but I really think she is starting to look a lot like Ivan, I have some photo records that really don't support my claims at all.

Here is  a photo of me when I am two with Grandma Lydia (Maude's middlename sake).

And here is Ivan when he was probably around the same age. I realize the sunglasses aren't that helpful, but this is the only photo we have of him!

I realize we kind of have the same hair and eyes, but look at those chubby arms, also I think she has Ivan's nose and mouth and eyebrows (thank the gods!).  Oh genetics magic 8 ball, what does the future hold? Only time will tell my friends, only time will tell.

Love Angel Music Baby

Maude now has an entourage. They seem to care about her as a person, but where were Naima and Barbara when Maude was rolling around on the floor with a screw in her mouth? Sometimes I get the feeling they are just in it for the fame and fancy cars.

The After Party

The dust is finally settling after the holiday/birthday rush. The party was great, but of course I spent too much time hosting and not enough time photo taking. We played some games and learned that Leah and kathryn can pin a mean tail on a Donkey, Branko is a shape sorting wizard, Erin knows her celeb babies and Annie knows every fact about babies in general. What a world wind (as Ivan always says). Good food, vegan cake, and amazing amazing presents by all our thoughtful and talented friends. A big mega thanks goes to Babi for hosting and helping us until midnight on Saturday and all day Sunday. You are an amazing Mom and Grandma! My Mom said to me before she left "you have really nice friends" and she's right. Thanks dudes for being a part of our life, I know little M will learn something great from each of you in her lifetime, I know I have!