I was nervous

Last night our church had a service to celebrate the fact that we'd been around for 70 years. It was an awesome service. We must have sung at least 17 songs from all different eras - some I haven't sung in eons. I thought it was really a great service. About a week ago Helen asked me if I would give testimony as to what was going on from 1987 to 2000 with my Dad. So we went up and talked about our church joining with Burnett and what that was like...about building the church on 123rd...about various memories, etc. I was so nervous about it all day yesterday. I basically typed up what I wanted to say and had butterflies for hours. But once I got up there it was all good. It was fun to reminicse about so many different things. I couldn't believe how many things I remembered. In the end I was glad I said yes that I would speak, but I didn't tell many people I was going to do it because I was scared I would back out at the last minute.

Anyways, Jericho is crying for his Mama, so I'll talk to y'all later.

A busy day makes for a tired mama

This past week my husband was only able to have one day off. Generally he's off Thursday-Saturday, but this week he needed to be at work for Thursday & Friday. That left Saturday. Every week we try and have "Family Day". We try and make it fun, but the point is just to be together - the three of us. I'd been seeing commercials on TV for " Eat Vancouver" and told Nate I thought it might be fun for us to go. In the meantime, he had found a bike trailer for us to cart Jericho around in on craigslist (I LOVE CRAIG AND HIS LIST!). So we decided to leave at 11 am yesterday and head in to pick up the trailer and go to the food show. The trailer was perfect so we stuffed it in our car with the child and his stroller and diaper bag. The car was full, but not overly. Then we headed to BC Place and enjoyed sample after sample of some really good food. We had parmesean reggiano, blueberry juice, smoked salmon, kiwi smoothie, ravioli, cheese, kettle chips made in MR, gelato, pizza, etc. etc. etc. I ate alot!! Which wasn't good for my diet, but most samples were so small and I was walking so much that I excused it. Tsk tsk. But we also got free samples - about 8 bags of rice and a razor each. Not sure what razors have to do with food - but I'm excited to use mine.

We hung around there for about 3 hours and headed home. On the way, I suggested to Nate that maybe we could bike to church. Seeing as we had this great new bike trailer all we needed was a bike for me...and a helmet...and a gel seat...and locks....So we went to Canadian Tire with our little VW filled with baby, trailer, rice samples, stroller, etc. So we bought me a bike. It's cute and red and a got a helmet to match - YAY! And we managed to stuff everything in our car. The poor baby just would stare at everything around him... mostly wheels.

We basically got home, unloaded everything and while I got Jericho changed and dressed and packed his bag... Nate got the bikes road ready. Church is about 12 kms away so it was a great ride, it just took me awhile to get used to the gears and the hills and how to use them both together properly. But we did make it in time, and we even rode home too.

THEN, when we got home, our friends Cam & Nikki were there waiting for us! We hadn't seen them since before I was pregnant, but they are good friends who just live far away. Now Nikki is expecting and looks glowing! We put our bikes away and chatted for awhile before we headed to Red Robin for a late dinner.

It was a fabulous day and I think we made up for Nate only having the one day off. Now I think I'll go back to sleep seeing as the babe was up every hour after 3 am. Doesn't he know how tired Mommy is?

Weight Loss Update

I'm posting this to keep myself accountable and to let people like MIL know how I'm doing. I've lost 1 lb this week and 1 " around my waist. Other inches were lost in other areas, but that was the one area I'm the most concerned about. Wish me luck! I'll be really focused on this for 6 weeks and we'll see how it goes.

Jericho Saying "dada"

Too lazy to think of a title.

Yesterday I had high hopes. I was excited, beyond excited, to go to the gym with Megan. Nate was home, but we were both going to take our babies. She had some trouble with Riley and with leaving on time as he sometimes takes longer to feed than she would like. No problem. I wasn't going anywhere. She got here and we left all worked up to work out. We walk in and the two ladies behind the counter just kinda smiled funny and addressed Megan, "You like know we don't have kid care after 1 right?" No, we didn't know that and that's why we're carting in our two small babies to work up a sweat with us. I'll be honest, it bugged me. I'm a young mom with a child who is trying to work out once in awhile to get back in shape. I honestly never paid attention to the hours of the childcare... just thought for many reasons it would be open all the time. It's a women's only gym, there must be single mothers out there who would love to come work out at the gym and have there be someone there to watch their kids for an hour.

I didn't even feel like taking the babies back home for Nate to watch while we went back to the gym. I felt like my thunder had been stolen from me. It's not a big deal, but I was frustrated.

Anyways.... on to happier things... Nate and I go to our chiropractor twice a month. I've been going for longer than he has and today was my 100th visit. I didn't completely think it was a big deal, but my chiropractor did. He gave me this exact replica of a spine keychain. No word of a lie. It's the ugliest thing ever, but very appro-po I think.

Tonight we're going to D & R's to hang out with Tahnee for one last time before she moves back to NYC. I'm sad, but I'll probably be communicating with her more once she leaves. I didn't really get to see her as much as I wanted while she was here, but last Friday sure made up for it. hehe.

Well, I should go help my wonderful husband make some din-din. My son has started to say both Mama and Dada now. Super cute.

I am SLOWLY getting smaller.

On Monday, Megan and I started to cut certain things out of our diet so we can jumpstart some serious weight loss. I've cut out anything deep fried - chips, fries, fast food... plus any really sugary things like cookies, cake, ice cream, etc. And I've just invested a bunch of money into a lot of veggies. So it's day 3. So far so good. I haven't cheated once. But I was tempted when Nina brought over cheesecake today. CHEESECAKE! I LOVE cheesecake. And yesterday Matthew offered to buy pizza. How is it as soon as you start cutting out stuff, that's when all the yummies show up?

Wish me luck. I just wish Nate hadn't taken the camera to work because we put both babies in Jericho's crib and they were so cute!

Week of the Grandparents

This week has gone by relatively fast. My in-laws have been staying with us for only the second time in Jericho's life. He's at the perfect age to really enjoy. We've been having fun feeding him oatmeal, veggies, and giving him some fun firsts - like his first swing ride! He's been such a good baby this week, hardly fussing when we go on shopping trips, sleeping really well, etc.

And we, the grown-ups, have been working a lot on the garden. Nate and his dad were able to build me a planter box just for strawberries! It looks amazing. Marie and I were able to plant all the flowers I seeded weeks ago. Hopefully our front yard will be awash in pink soon. I don't pick plants for good reasons, I only pick then for their colour. Lame. But co-ordinated.

And how about this gorgeous weather? Hopefully I'll be able to enjoy my first Mothers Day in it. Almost thought I would be a mother twice over already...but that's a whole other story. Enjoy the pics, they are some of my favorites!

One more thing, the other morning my son was waking up and started to fuss. He said "Mommee mom". And lately he says "Mama" when he's sad. I think that was the highlight of my week, even if he doesn't really know what it means, it's still pretty cool to hear.

Weddings and Cinco de Mayo

I think Phil might be hurt that NOT ONE person commented on his poem below.. I still think it's very well written and I'm proud! We went to a Cinco De Mayo party tonight - which was great fun, thanks KARIN!!! And Joel & Nicole watched Jericho for us. They were at a wedding, but I thought that was ok... so he just hung out there. Apparently the Mother of the Bride (I think) discovered him a fell in love. They said she had him for over an hour and he was dancing to Michael Jackson and he loved it! Wow. I'm glad my kid had fun, I looked in on him sleeping just now and he looks like he'll sleep til 11 am tomorrow. THANKS NICOLE!!! Kisses everyone!

Moment

I have my little brother Philip's permission to print a poem he wrote the day after our uncle died. Today is the service, so I thought it was fitting to post it. Think of us at 2 pm as we joyfully say goodbye and remember him. Also, Jericho is 6 months today...time is sure flying...anyways - here goes:

Moment

Do you remember that moment? That moment in your life when everything around you that used to be real to you doesn’t make sense anymore? The instant that you feel something is missing from your life and you don’t know what it is exactly? That burning in your brain and the gnawing in your heart start to be more than unbearable? You think you know what it is but you’re not entirely sure. The moment passes and you wonder about the feeling you had. You wonder at whether it actually happened. Your mind starts flying at a mile a minute. You start to question yourself and your decisions in life. You start saying to yourself “Why do I say those things to my parents?” or “Why do I have such a short fuse?” or “When will I ever grow up?” Integrity is defined in Webster’s dictionary as “Moral soundness”. In that moment you will also question your integrity and your longing for something more. You can’t control your curiosity when you’re in this moment. Your mind goes wild with possibilities like “did I do the right thing?” or “am I not giving enough to people?” or “there must me more than this”. Your thoughts turn into a churning abyss of confusion, the waves bringing a new thought every time. However, the confusion comes down to one thought. This thought is “Why? Why am I here? What am I here for?” Then not long after you think that thought, that person comes. The person that cares about you, this person just swoops in and notices you’re down. This person can always see your distress, he hears your cry. He will never leave you in this moment. You never notice him until this moment, the moment in which you are in deepest pain. His love seeps in and transforms the pain and suffering. It turns into something else entirely, something more powerful than anything else. An understanding in the pain, a hope in the pain, a whole other meaning to the pain that you are experiencing. He helps you realize your worth and how incomplete you are without him. His love is so great you will never know its worth and greatness. You will never be without the love, and you must realize this. Nothing you do will ever change his love for you, ever.

- Philip Robinson

Soggy Mail Much

We have our new tenant moving in today. Our old tenants were here until at least 11:30 last night moving the last of their stuff. We had promised the new tenant we would shampoo the carpets so Nate was up at 5 am to make sure it got dried in time for them to move in on clean, dry carpets. We also wanted to wash the floor and do some other cleaning this morning... and in the big rush a lot of the cleaning supplies are still sitting downstairs in our foyer. Including a mop bucket filled with dirty Mr. Clean water.

That being said, we are some of the lucky few who have mail delivered to our door. None of this using a key down the road, every morning it makes a big noise as it's dumped into the little slot. Well, this morning it made a big SPLASH as it fell into the lovely bucket of mop water. Good thing our income tax refund arrived yesterday.