Carousel and Hockey Practice

A week before Christmas, Christine and I took Reid and Cash to the mall. To get out of the house and to ride the carousel. The boys loved it. Cash was a bit weary of getting on the horse, but he had a blast riding in the sleigh with Christine. Reid thought it was the coolest. He just said "horse, horse, horse" over and over again the whole time he was on it. Mid-way through the ride he was pushing my hand away from his back. He could do it himself, apparently.

A couple days after Christien got home, we took Cash and Reid to a Flames practice. Christien had researched it the last time that he was home, and it's a free practice, open to the public.We even got to park for free, which was great. Thought that we'd take Cash off Christine's hands for a bit in the morning, so that she could chill out with Chelsea. The boys had a blast, and half an hour is basically their attention span. That might have even been too long, but we still eeked it out for the 30 minutes. If they were interested, we could have stayed and watched the other team practice. When the Oilers come to town, I think that we'll take them again. But for the second half of the practice and we'll all wear our jerseys. Ha ha. It was totally dead when we were there, but looking back, that kinda makes sense. It was a Tuesday, in the middle of the day. Most people are working, I suppose.

Mama's Little Helper

I started my Christmas baking last week. And who knew I had such a keen little helper on my hands. Cleo brought up Christien's apron, hat and oven mitts that he used to wear when he was little, last Christmas. So we pulled them out, and he was all about it. Especially when I put on my Christmas apron. What a blast we had. He was so helpful, and loves helping! Now, every time I take out the mix master, he gets so excited. And he can't stop with the "Num! Num!". He helps to dump and turn the mixer one. It did take me one try to realize that he can't turn it on full blast after I've added the dry ingredients. We had a little mishap, but it was still pretty funny. What a great little guy.

Mama's Night Out

Christien and I went to the Lullabye League mixer in October and found us a couple babysitter possibilities. One of the girls came over and met Reid back in October and I haven't really needed a sitter. Till tonite!! Shannon scored tickets to the Oilers/Flames game and she's bringing me! So excited. I haven't been to a hockey game in so long. And just to get away for one night, without Reid, is going to be so fantastic. I love him to death, but this new screamfest (and waking up at all hours of the night) has just got me worn out. This date with Shannon couldn't have come at a better time. We'll see how the babysitter makes out. She's a bit older, and has lots of experience with kids, so I really hope that Reid doesn't scare her off. When she came over to meet Reid he really seemed to take to her. That was a few months ago, so I hope it'll be the same thing tonite. And then if it's all good, when Christien comes home and is going to school, maybe we'll even use her again, and go out together. Just the two of us. Dinner and a movie? Sounds fabulous. Drinks with friends? Don't mind if I do. For now I'm just really excited about tonite and really hoping that she makes out ok with the little devil! Good luck Amanda!

Big Boy Bed

November 29, 2011. The day we put Reid into a big boy bed. We just couldn't keep him in his crib anymore. He was always crawling out of it and thinking that it was the funniest thing ever. It just wasn't safe anymore. So we went out, and finally tracked down a rail for the convertible crib that we have. The first few days were great. Naps were a different story, but they always are. So I knew that they were going to be as tough, if not tougher then they had been before. We lucked out the first few days with naps. He was actually tired enough to be rocked to sleep. Sleep time is my new hell. We have a routine that we've had for months, and it's always worked. Teeth brushed, book, bottle, rock, bedtime. Now as soon as I lay him in his crib he SCREAMS his lungs out. Over and over and over again. Forty five minutes is my limit. I can't handle it after that and I just leave him to scream it out. I'm sure that I should leave him before that, but I can't take the screaming and the kicking at the door. I've tried everything. It's been so bad that I'm considering turning his bed back into a crib. I don't know what to do. Why does everything with this child have to be at one end of the spectrum or the other. Either he's sweet and wonderful, or he's just the devil. There has to be something that I can do to stop the screaming. Right now I just try to do what I can for 45 minutes and then cry until he stops screaming at the top of his lungs.

Gymnastics

Reid had his last gymnastics class last week. It was a family day, so Christien and I both went with him and played around the gym with him. Christien even got to jump on the trampoline with Reid. He got a little certificate at the end, and I think that he had a really, really good time with mama and dada. Sad that it's over. Now we just have swimming and playdates to keep us busy till Christmas rolls around. Reid is quite the little dare devil thanks to gymnastics. I still blame gymnastics for the reason that he started flipping out of his crib.

Balance beam action shot

Dominican Republic 2011

What a vacation. Sun, sand, surf and beach. What more could you ask for? It was awesome to get away from the impending winter. We had a blast. It was, however, very hard to be on a beachy, relaxation vacation by myself with Reid. I had massive help from my family. Ty, Stacey and my dad played with him in the waves all the time. And my mum took him for loads of walks and put him to bed so many nights for me. It was so helpful, but at the end of the day, it was still me responsible for Reid. If he was fussing, or crying for me, or causing a fit, then I was the one to take care of him. And if you take a baby out of his element for a week, you are bound to get some of those scenarios. It was wonderfully fantastic though. Just missing dada while we were away, that's all. Ty, Stacey and I took a horseback ride as our outing of choice while we were there. It was great. None of us had been on a horse in years. It was right along the beach. Through the water. Took us an hour and 45 to get to the top view, and then 15 minutes to gallop back. It was super fun. SO SORE though. Holy smokes. Didn't think I'd be able to bend my knees once he helped me off the horse. Needless to say, Stacey and I took the next two days off from our workouts.Reid LOVED the waves. They were much bigger then they were in Cuba. On the first day, and the first time that he ventured into the water, he kinda veered away from the surf a bit. By the time he set his feet in there the second time, it was like he was a pro. He would lay, belly down, just past the smallest swell. Once a wave would break, he'd ready himself and then let the wave take him. He totally learned to keep his head up when the wave was pushing him towards the beach. We had to have two people with him at most times. One to make sure that he didn't flip too much by being washed up shore, and the other to make sure that the current didn't tug him out into open waters. He was crazed for the water. People who were walking along the beach would stop and watch him. He was so crazy.There was also a little turtle pond that he loved to visit. It was right at the end of our walkway towards the beach/pool/restaurants/bar. He even learned to say turtle on Day 1 when we were there. One day I went up to get his stroller to take him on a walk/nap and when I got back to the beach he was wearing a turtle necklace. Give to him by a vendor. They loved him on the beach. They were taking pictures of him and chatting with him all the time.

We had a great time with poppa and baba, and Tyyyyyyyyy and aunty Zouzou. Was glad to get home to see Christien, not glad to leave paradise.