Last Day of Daycare

It's Reid last day of daycare today. I'm going back and forth on this. Are we making the right decision? I know that we are, but then I question myself sometimes. Am I being selfish by wanting to stay at home with him? That doesn't make any sense. All I want to do is raise my son, instead of having someone else do it. Is he going to miss all his friends? He seems so happy when I drop him off. Running and laughing and holding hands with his buddies. Will he be socialized enough when it's just the two of us? The ladies at daycare are going to miss him so much, and that's all that I've heard over these past weeks when I pick him up. And then I start to feel guilty for wanting to take him out of daycare to stay home with me. We're going to have so much fun together. I've got so many things researched and lined up for him and I to do together. Plus it's summer and a lot of my friends from baby class are teachers so they have the summer off. So there will be play dates. I know that it's the right thing to do for him, and for us. And then sometimes I think that I'm robbing him of this opportunity.. to be in daycare... Agh. I guess it's just cause it was such a big decision to make and there were a lot of pros and very minimal cons. I am very excited to start this next chapter in our lives and I vow to do right by Reid and be the best stay at home mum that I can be.

Counting Kisses

One of my most favorite things of Reid's, as of late, is his kisses. It's just the sweetest thing. He started off blowing kisses, and how can that not melt your heart. He'd blow kisses to me when I dropped him off at daycare, blow kisses to the daycare ladies when I picked him up, blows kisses to grandma and grandpa when we are on Skype. It's just so cute. From there he progressed to, coming right at ya, mouth open, suck on your face kisses. Gross, I know, but also so sweet. We were in Lethbridge a few weeks ago, and the three of us were laying down trying to have a nap. Reid in the middle, and he kept going from Christien to me, with big wet kisses. Actually, come to think of it, that's when his kisses started coming a bit more under control. Now he's give little becks. That's the best word I can think of to describe it. He can make the kissey smacking sound and as he makes that sound he bounces off you. It's so cute. He kisses Franklin, and the dog next door (Chewy) and the cat next door. And me, and his dada. He's one sweet little boy. Two more days of daycare and then it's just the two of us....

Another Week

It's Reid's last week at daycare next week. The ladies are already going on about how sad they are that he's leaving and how much they are going to miss him. I feel bad that I'm taking him from all the ladies at daycare and his friends, but like everyone I know who has kids, I want to raise him, and spend time with him. I'm excited. I don't have much of a plan of attack list for next week. A few things need to be cleaned out still, and I might start either making meals and freezing them, or at least getting a meal plan done for a couple of weeks out so that it'll be easier, and more productive when I do grocery shopping.

I've got a few things lined up for when he's done daycare and it's just the two of us. Art classes, music classes, swimming lessons, and gymnastics (I'm still waiting for some information of those classes from my friend... hint hint...).

We went to a great splash park that's real close to our house today. It was so nice out and Reid loved it. I could have used an extra pair of hands, cause he needs to be followed and monitored at all times. Even with me right with him, he still had a couple of spills on the slippery ground. He loved it there. And there is a great park right there as well. He almost fell asleep in the swing. So tuckered out.

One more week then Christien's back! Yay! Then we get to finalized our plans for our week long trip to the Okanagan. Can't wait.

Four Years and Counting

It was Christien and my four year anniversary yesterday. We didn't get to spend it together, again, as he was working. We did celebrate a bit before he left with a nice dinner and some bubbly. We always try to get each other traditional wedding gifts. I'm so glad that we've decided to make that a tradition because it always results in some cool ideas. Last year was leather and I got a beautiful bracelet, that I still get compliments about and Christien got a new strap for his guitar. This year the traditional theme was "flowers and fruit" and the modern take on it was "china, silk and appliances". I got Christien an edible arrangement. For those of you that don't know what those are, they are big fruit "baskets" that are shaped to look like a bouquet. As well as a little, single burner camp stove. Funny though, he was going on and on about us needing this stove for our camping trip. I thought that we would do fine without it. Then I was shopping for food for the trip and found this little one burner for a fairly good price, so I picked it up for him. Not realizing that it was a good fit for the modern aspect of our gift giving. So that worked perfectly (as a gift and for our camping trip). Christien gave me a beautiful tea mug with flowers on it (creative) and a Gordon Ramsey electric tea kettle. I love it. I hated that old, ugly tea kettle that we had on the stove. And this one works amazing. The box said that they are "appliances you can swear by". Ha ha ha. I also love Gordon Ramsey. I'm addicted to Hell's Kitchen and MasterChef. We also enjoy Kitchen Nightmares.
We also got two beautiful bouquets of flowers from my parents. Dad cooked for me last night. Made my favorite dinner and we shared a really nice bottle of wine. We look at my parents, who have just celebrated their 40th anniversary and think, wow... they've been married 10 times longer then us. I can't wait to get there. It's been a great, wonderful, loving, sometimes hard, but mostly superb 4 years. I look forward to the future with my husband and our family. I love you Christien.

First Family Camping Trip

We went on our first camping trip this weekend. Took the family to Two Jack Lake out in Banff. We weren't sure if we were going to go for one or two days. Christien was initially leaning towards one night, so that's kind of what we were planning for. We got out to the entrance to Banff and started talking to the lady about camping at Two Jack. She asked us if we had a reservation, which we didn't cause you can't make reservations out there. So we took our chances. We got out to Two Jack LAKESIDE and it was full. There were no real signs indicating that there was another site, Two Jack MAIN that was, definitely, not full. We drove down the road anyways, and ask the girl at the counter and she said that they never fill up and that they have 300 campsites. We went from depressed to relieved!! We got it, set up camp and then headed out for a hike at Stewart Canyon. We borrowed a walking backpack to throw Reid in and it worked out great. He loved being in it. And carrying a 26lb baby on your back is definitely more of a workout then the hike itself... We spent the rest of the afternoon around camp. Reid loved running around in the woods. He learned that fire it hot (new word). I think that he had a great time. We put him to bed at his regular bedtime and he did not want to go. However, I just left him in the tent, and he cried for about 3 minutes then he was out. So much fresh air. He woke up in the middle of the night screaming and crying. It was hard to get him back down. And then we were up at 6:30, but that really wasn't all that bad.
Setting up the tentCar campingFirst hike We did decided to pack up and head home that day. We were going to go on another hike but after the two that we did the previous day, my ankle was really bothering me and pretty swollen, so we scraped that plan. Instead we drove into Banff and went to the hot springs. Reid said he's never seen a bathtub that big. He loved splashing around in it. He liked to crawl out and then jump back in. He had us running around like mad making sure we were there to catch him. Then we hit up a little lunch and the candy store - Welsh's. He yammered on in the car for a bit and then boom, was out like a light. Didn't wake up till we pulled into our street. This baby loves it outside. We would have liked to stay for another night but a) we only packed enough food for one night and b) Christien has to go back to work today, so coming home on Sunday and doing everything that we did on Saturday just would have been too rushed. It was nice to be able to have that extra flex day before he heads back to work.

NKOTBSB

We went to NKOTBSB last night!!! What a fun, fun, fun, super fun time. I went with two of my uber good friends, Christine and Shannon and another three girls!! We had a super great time. We were all so excited about the concert, we've had out tickets for months, it was amazing. I was telling the girls how funny it was, to hear the generational gap when it came to this concert. I was definitely going to see New Kids, and when I was on the train on the way to the concert, I heard a girl on the phone telling her friend that she had an extra ticket to Backstreet Boys. Too funny. Don't get me wrong, I knew them both, but it was NKOTB that I "grew up" with while I was in (gulp) junior high. Either way, I don't even know why they had seats in that place, cause I know that I definitely didn't use mine. I belted my heart out to about 98% of all their songs (there were a few new ones that I had to clue about). I loved it!!! I danced, danced and danced some more. What a great night. I stole the play list from my friends blog.. Enjoy!!

Single / The One (Mash-up) – NKOTBSB
Summertime – NKOTB
The Call – BSBDirty Dancing – NKOTB
Bye Bye Love – BSB
The Right Stuff – NKOTB
Larger Than Life – NKOTBSB
Blow Your Mind – NKOTB
Valentine Girl – NKOTB
If You Go Away – NKOTB
Please Don’t Go Girl – NKOTB
Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely – BSB
10,000 Promises – BSB
I’ll Never Break Your Heart – BSB
Inconsolable – BSB
Drowning – BSB
Incomplete – BSB
Step By Step – NKOTB
Cover Girl – NKOTB
My Favorite Girl – NKOTB
Games – NKOTB
Click Click Click – NKOTB
Tonight – NKOTB
Shape of My Heart – BSB
As Long As You Love Me – BSB
All I Have To Give – BSB
If You Stay – BSB
Quit Playing Games (With My Heart) –BSB
I’ll Be Loving You Forever – NKOTB
I Want It That Way – BSB
Don’t Turn Out the Lights – NKOTBSBENCORE
Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) – BSB
Hangin’ Tough / We Will Rock You (Mash-up) – NKOTB
Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) / Hangin’ Tough (Mash-up) - NKOTBSB

We are going camping tomorrow for the weekend! Our plan is for the weekend, but we'll see how the weather and our son cooperates with us. We borrowed a hiking baby backpack for tomorrow and Christien tried it out on Reid the other day and he LOVES it. He cried when we took him out and cried even harder when we wouldn't let him back in. We're all set up (even have a child sleeping bag for the babe). I'm super excited to hike and hang out and maybe even hit up the hot springs in Banff this weekend. Wish us luck!

Run and Roll

We took Reid out for a run and roll last night. Seeing as I can't run anymore cause of this dang knee, Christien suggested that I dust off the old roller blades and I can take him in the running stroller when Christien's isn't around, but we can also go out together when he is home. The rain stopped for a bit last night and we hit the pavement. Did about 3.5 kms so it wasn't half bad. Reid was mesmerized by my weird shoes. And it just felt good to get outside and do some exercise.

We also took Reid to a Stampede Breakfast yesterday morning at Hull House. It was great. Reid loved the petting zoo. He was the star of the show making everyone laugh and going crazy with petting and hugging the lambs and goats. It was too cute. This kid loves animals. There was balloons and horses. And then the Stars Ambulance and the Police Hawk helicopter started circling around, getting lower and lower till they finally landed amongst the crowd. Reid was captivated by it. Chrisitien and I thought that it was pretty cool that the pilots of the Stars helicopter were girls!! It was a great first Stampede breakfast. Well, second if you count his breakfast at daycare on Monday, which was cute too.

Career Change

As of today, I am officially, a stay at home mum. I'm very excited and nervous about this change. I have had a job since was 14 years old, and even though I was on maternity leave last year, I didn't really feel unemployed. However, I am so grateful that I have this opportunity to stay at home with Reid. I know that he likes daycare, and that the socialization is good for him, but he's still so young, and I think that being at home together is going to be the best for all of us. I already have major plans for us. Gymnastics, music lessons, swimming, play dates... It's going to be a great and wonderful time and I'm so happy that I get to do this with Reid.

Mr and Mrs Lockhart

We were off to Castlegar this past weekend. Such a fun trip. We took off on Thursday after Christien got back from work. Headed to Fernie, for a hard night - Reid was totally freaked out by how dark the room was, it was impossible to settle him down. When we finally figured it out, he was up. Like wide awake and up at em... So we only got a few hours of sleep that night then we were off to Castlegar in the morning. Was a pretty good trip. Rolled into Dale and Kristin's to see how things were going and to chill out. Met the parents, hung in the yard, dipped into the wine early. Then we were back that night for a BBQ with their friends and family.

The next day we went on a long, long walk in the hot, hot sun. Found a park and played some frisbee and some football. Was a nice way to spend the afternoon before the wedding.

The wedding was fabulous. Just a nice, intimate ceremony with family and close friends. And back to the hotel to have a party!! Reid was a bit on the outs that day. He napped like a crazy person, but it was so hot! He was up from his second nap at 5 and I thought that would keep him up later that night, but by 8 he was over it. We had to bring him to bed and didn't really have a plan. So Christien and I just took 30 minute shifts watching him. Closer to the end of the night, Dave and Kelsey were heading to bed and I forced them to go and get Christien :) They ended up passing out on our bed and letting Christien and I party for a little bit together. All in all it was a great weekend. British Columbia.. So beautiful. Why do we not live there?