One More (Last) Adventure

We're officially going to Mexico. We've been talking about it for so long, but I hadn't really looked at any deals or booked anything, so it didn't really seem real. Till now. I booked it on Tuesday night and we leave on Wednesday. Yikes. So much to do in such a short amount of time. Christien will be home for one whole day before we ship out again. We were planning on going to Puerto Vallarta. Thought something new might be fun. I just couldn't find a really good deal, nor a good hotel with good reviews to go with any of the packages I was coming up with. So the Mayan Riviera started to pop up again on my searches. We had such a good time the last time that we were there, and that was only a few years ago, so we thought we might as well go back. We've got a cute little eco hotel about 45 minutes from the airport. Cute and little don't really describe it as I feel that it's going to be quite a large hotel. Comparable to our hotel in Cuba. There is a whole kids area that just opened up with... 17 water slides I think it said. Hopefully there will be some wee ones that we can take Reid down. I think he'll like that. And he loves the ocean. I think that we might even hop the ferry to Cozumel this time. Not sure how long the trip is, but you can see Cozumel from Playa del Carmen, so it might be a fun day trip.

I wish it would just warm up in Calgary for a few minutes for me so that I can get some errands done. I don't like bundling Reid up and getting him in and out of the car in this weather. He hates hats and he hates his mitts even more. So getting him to keep those on when it's -21 is proving to be a bit of a challenge. And I'd rather he not get frost bitten. With that being said, Mexico is coming at the best time. Get us out of this cold and snow.

The New Year

Well, it has indeed been a busy month. The time seemed to fly by once we got back from Cuba. Bernie, I promise I'll get some Cuba pictures up here for you soon. We had loads to do the week before Christien went back to work to get ready for Christmas. Got the tree, did some shopping, started making some "to do" lists. Then he was off again. I managed to stay really busy while he was gone, trying to get a few things ticked off my list everyday. You have to be much more planned out when you are doing errands with a baby, I find. There's no way I can do 5 or 6 stops with the little guy. He's done after two stops. We did our best, and got a lot of things done.

Christien was back only a few days before the grandparents showed up. Cleo's flight arrived early Christmas Eve morning. I have a feeling she was pretty excited to see Reid. The last time she had been here to see him, he was only four weeks old. He's sure changed a lot since then, and turned into his own little man for sure. He definitely kept her laughing while she was here. My parents arrived just before lunch. Although they get to see Reid quite often, they are still always very excited to see him again, and again, and again. It was great having all those grandparents under one roof. Lots of people willing and wanting to hold, rock, feed and clean the baby.

Christmas morning was one for the record books. Reid was hilarious. He had no clue what was going on but he was sure excited by all the commotion. We got everyone up so that they could be there to see his little face when he came down to see what Santa had left. He was kind of weirded out when he first came down with Christien cause everyone was just standing there looking at him. Christien put him down, and he looked at the tree and the presents and went crazy. He jumped at Gerome, his giraffe. And hugged him, and jumped up and down, and squealed. He loves that crazy giraffe. It took us ALL morning to open presents. Reid had no real interest in actually opening anything, and he had the lion's share of what was under the tree. His interest was all over the place. He'd take a shining to a few presents and ignore the rest, then he'd turn his attention to a few other new things once he figured it out. He does love his Mega Blocks and his tunnel. He also loves all the stacking blocks. He just loves to knock them over. And he loves all his bouncy balls. We've sorted the toys upstairs, main floor and down stairs, and put away a lot of his "old" toys so that we aren't overwhelmed. And the house is still over flowing. But they keep him entertained. He also loves all his new books. Sometimes I'll be in the kitchen and it'll get really quiet and I'll go into the living room to look for him, and he'll just be sitting there, by the tree flipping his book open and closed. Looking at the pictures and feeling the pages. Not only is he handsome and cute, but he's also going to be super smart :)

We had our regular "open house" for Boxing day. Didn't have a big turnout this year. A lot of people were out of town, and those that were going to be coming had the flu. Still the friends and family who were here made it totally worthwhile. It's too bad that Davis wanted to go home so early :)

The flu ended up hitting the Short household just before New Year's Eve. I came down with an intense bout on the Wednesday night. And I was 100% out of commission the next day. I'm so lucky that I have such an amazing husband who was able to keep Reid away for the day. Unfortunately Reid and Christien both caught it too. I think that I might have had the worst of it, which was good, cause if Christien were any sicker, I would have thought he was for real dying. So dramatic. Reid is still feeling a bit gross. Today is the first day he's worn real clothes. He's been in his jammies for a week now.

The New Year always seems to bring with it a punch of reality. Not only are all the festivities of Christmas and New Year's over, but you're looking at a long stretch before there is a holiday at all. And a long, cold stretch, filled with snow. It's doubly worse for me this year, cause I've got to start back at work in a month and a half. Some days I'm OK with it, and others it just makes me want to puke. We've got Reid registered in a day care. It's not our #1 choice, but he's close and it's much cheaper then bringing him downtown. He's still on the wait list at our first choice, and nothing seems to be changing his status on that list, so we needed a back up plan. That's a relief. And I'm sure once I get back to work, and into the swing of things it'll be just great. It's going to be interesting how the two weeks that Christien is away goes. With me working, dropping Reid off at day care and picking him up... I was saying to Christien that I'm going to leave him there till 5:30 or 6:00 every day. Even though I'm off work at 4. It will just give me a few hours to get some errands done. Even get dinner started. Or to go for drinks after work. Kidding!!

In order to alleviate some of this depressing reality, we've decided to head to Mexico for a week. Might as well get some sun and sand before I'm back from my year long "vacation". Reid was great in Cuba so I'm sure he'll be just as good in Mexico. Shorter flight too, which is a total bonus. Not that he was bad during the flight, but holding him for the two 4 hour flights was hard on the old back. So that pretty much reminds me that I should get back to looking for deals to Mexico. We knew we were just going to last minute this trip. We know when Christien is off, so here's to hoping that some hotel, somewhere in Mexico will have the availability for us to stay for a week.

Much love to you all in the New Year!

Cuba Beach Baby

We had an amazing time in Cuba. It was so much fun, and so very relaxing. Usually when you go on vacation you feel like you need another vacation when you get home, to recoup from it. Not this time. This time I felt relaxed when I got home. Mind you, Christien and I both found ourselves suffering through vacation depression. It's hard to come back to reality, when your reality for a week was getting up, eating breakfast in an open air restaurant, heading to the beach by 10 and filling up your mug with rum before you've even hit the beach. Ahhh... if only life were all inclusive.

It was great to have mum, dad, Ty and Stacey there with us. Lots of hands to help with little Reid. Even if that meant rocking him to sleep on the beach, like grandma did for the first few days, or taking him for a walk down the beach, or burying him in the sand (thanks uncle Ty). Reid loved all of it. He loved the sand. And loved the sea. The first few days he seemed to be a bit scared of the ocean and the waves. Even though he would go crazy with excitement when he would see it. He would hold on pretty tight when you were actually in the water with him. By the weekend he was a pro. He liked getting hit by the waves and being in the water. He liked to play in the surf on the beach too.

We basically just relaxed the whole time that we were there. Christien is starting to get weirded out by all the guys at work commenting on his tan. He did come back pretty tanned though. That's what you get for laying out on the beach or body surfing for 7 days. We did go into Havana with Ty and Stacey one day. Mum and dad watched Reid for us. I think that he managed to tire them out pretty well. Havana is a beautiful city full of history. It's too bad that our tour guide didn't know any of the history to share with us. We were a bit disappointed by the tour itself. They didn't give us nearly enough time at the stops. For example, we spent 45 minutes in the cigar store, but only 10 minutes in downtown Havana. That didn't make any sense. The four of us wish that we would have hitched a ride into Havana and then ditched on the tour and done it ourselves. Oh well. Live and learn. We did have fun at the market though. Bought some cool new instruments for the instrument trunk that we are going to have to make. Reid thought that they were pretty cool when we played them for him the next morning.

I have loads of pictures. I'll go through them and upload more soon!! Stay tuned. All in all it was a great time, and Reid proved to be a pretty good traveller. He powered through the long and late night flights like a champ. Poor guy is so messed up with his sleep now. However, this has solidified our desire to head to Mexico in January. One last trip before I head back to work in February.

Cuba in Three Sleeps!!

I can't believe our trip is almost here. We've been looking forward to this for almost a year now. I've spent the last two weeks compiling and checking things off of lists to make sure that I wasn't leaving anything to the last minute. I believe that I have everything that I need, now it's just a matter of packing them into suitcases. Have Christien's and Reid's preliminary packed (I'm such a spazz). Just have to see what needs to go in still before I can officially zip them up. Still have to do all my packing, but that can wait till tomorrow or Sunday even. Then it's off to pick Christien up on Monday. He managed to get an earlier flight in from camp, so that's a relief. Even if something does go wrong and the flight is delayed, then at least he's got some leeway now. Fingers crossed that it's all good and we're picking him up from the airport at 4:30. Then it's Reid's first flight! At midnight to boot. I have a feeling we are going to be very tired when we hit Toronto and very happy to see Ty and Stacey. It's going to be a Reid hand off. Mum and dad have been in Cuba since Monday, so they'll be waiting for us at the hotel. Another Reid hand off while we get checked into our rooms. Dad has already volunteered to be our waiter as the lobby bar is right beside the front desk. I cannot wait. This is going to be so much fun!!

Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year. It was a lot of fun with Reid, dressing him up and all. He was the cutest spider you ever did see. Chrsitien and I didn't dress up again this year. We always have such great ideas and then just leave them to the last minute and they never get executed. Next year Christine said she's having a Halloween party where costumes are mandatory. I'm so holding her to that. Will be so much fun.

The Thursday before Halloween we went to Christine's to carve pumpkins. Well, Christien and I carved ours before we got there. There is usually so many people, and so many pumpkins, that it was easier to do it beforehand. We carved a baby Reid pumpkin. Two teeth on top, two teeth on the bottom. So cute.

The Saturday before Halloween we just did our regular day, but I dressed Reid up in his cute Halloween shirt. I know that he looks freaked out in this picture. And contrary to popular belief, I am not in a scary costume on the other end of this...

For Halloween a friend from our baby class had a party with all the babies and their families. It was beyond cute to see them all dressed up in their costumes. We had monkeys, spiders, donkeys, dinosaurs, frogs and a princess Leia. They were too cute.

We stayed at home that night and just handed out candy to the kids. I feel that trick or treating with a baby who can't talk, or even eat the candy is a bit weird, so we'll save that for next year. All in all it was a really fun Halloween.

I went away this past weekend. Overnight!! Without the baby. Went to Canmore with a bunch of my girlfriends. We went to the spa during the day and shopped. And then had a great condo rented where we just had dinner and drank wine and chatted all night. It was so nice to get away (and have a great sleep), but not be too far, or gone for too long. Reid and Christien had a blast while I was gone. They went swimming and out to the big mall Christmas shopping. They even had a pretty good overnight together. I always knew that they would be great, but after them spending the night together, I'm even more sure.

Cash and Reid

A couple of shots from my baby sitting gig yesterday. Playing side by side like best buddies.

Wow. Christien has been back for almost a week and it's just flown by. As sad as it is to say, I think that, a year later, we're finally getting into the swing of things with this two weeks on, two weeks off. We still do a ton of things together, but we have our moments where we do our own thing. Christien went to a movie with Mike this week. He's going out jamming with his buddy this weekend and making plans for getting together with a buddy he works with next week (hello Christine... Play date?? Krisin too??? Also Jasmine... And Candice?? Party at my place???). I'm going to Canmore next weekend for the night with my friends. So excited for that. Just a night away. A night with the girls. I hope that I'm not craving my baby too much!

I babysat Reid and Cash today for about an hour. It was a fun little hour. Twins would be impossible. Ha ha ha. Those two are getting so much better together. It's like they almost have a little language together. When Cash starts chatting Reid listens, and chats and laughs back. It's just the cutest. They have also started playing together. Side by side. It's very sweet. They are going to be best buds. Christine thinks that we should move into the same neighbourhood cause that would make going to school so much easier on them when they go with their best buddy. They are the cutest boys ever!!