Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Is it Friday yet?

Today was another nothing day. Back to work never really means a lot of fun though.

Nana spent the day with Oliver, hoping that the appliance repair men would show, but they didn't. Big shock. I got home and made some fantastic pulled pork (I made the homemade BBQ sauce for it last night), and served it with curly fries, buns, rolls and garlic bread rolls (fantastic). Papa stopped in on his way back to the cottage from work in order to eat with us, so Oliver was happy to have all the company.

After dinner we cleaned up and headed upstairs. Oliver fell asleep early for us, so Bo and I headed to bed too. I tried to talk to him a bit last night, but it just took a turn for the worse with nothing getting solved and me left wondering if Bo even really wants to be here right now. This blows.

What weekend

This weekend was rough, and not in a good way. It went by far too quickly, and we did absolutely nothing. I've decided that this is a terrible way to spend your only two days off.

Saturday was Bo's day to sleep in. And he did, until 11 o'clock (lucky bastard, we were in bed by ten last night!). Oliver and I got up and had pancakes for breakfast (it's our thing), and then we just spent the next two hours playing with toys, reading books, and finally taking a little nap. Before I cooked breakfast I filled up his little pool though, so that it could get warm for him for the afternoon.

Oliver woke up from his nap just before 11, then wanted to walk, so I gave him my hand and we ventured into the hall. He went straight to our bedroom door and started banging on it again.

Side note: Earlier this morning, around 8am, Oliver decided to go for for a cruise on his own. He went from the kitchen to the main stairs, up the stairs (by himself), and to our bedroom door, where he banged on it twice, said "Daddy" and then sat there waiting for Daddy to open the door. I scooped him up and took him quietly into our room. We sat on the bed right beside Dad so that Oliver could see him sleeping, then we snuck back out to play some more.

Ok, back to 11am though, I opened the door and let Oliver walk in. Bo was already up, just laying in bed, so good timing on our part. Oliver played in our room for about a half hour, then Bo carried him out because he thought that he looked tired. I did not think this, but I took advantage of Bo occupying Oliver and I napped on and off on the chaise.

Oliver kept fussing though, and Bo forgot that it was lunch time, so eventually I got up to get him some food. He hasn't been eating well at all for the last few days, and today was no exception. So, up, out of the bouncer and into his bathing suit. Bo jumped in the bath and tried to rush to come see Oliver in his pool, but it wasn't to be. The first thing Oliver learned how to do is push the sides down so that the water rushes out and onto the grass. Good for our new grass, bad for keeping water in the pool. Oliver had all but an inch emptied out within five minutes, then he just wanted to walk around the lawn. The wind started to kick up though, and Oliver wasn't thrilled about the cold, wet clothes being pushed up against his skin, so we headed inside just as Bo was walking out of our bedroom to come downstairs.

With nothing else to do, we headed out to do our grocery shopping on a very limited budget this week. Completely my own fault as per usual. Once home Bo took Oliver upstairs to give him a bottle, and they both napped again. This is turning into a habit of sorts! I used this time to have a nice and relaxing bath, the first one in a long time. Then I made my pie, which was delicious! Then tackled dinner. Tonight was chevapi, nice and easy, and the most unhealthy fries you could ever eat. I was flipping through the pages of my Cooks Country cookbook and saw a picture of delicious looking potato wedges. I had to try them before I even read the recipe and realized that they were double dusted and fried. Horrible, delicious, but horrible.

Oliver fell asleep fairly early so Bo and I put in The Informant (ok, but barely). I ran onto the computer and got upset when Bo's email opened and I realized he'd told a little white lie. I then turned this into a huge thing, getting upset that he had time to email people answering questions at his old job (which he hated), but no time to write back to me when I tried opening up to him a week ago. This meant that I couldn't sleep though, so once I finally convinced Bo to go to bed, I stayed on the computer, waiting time, until almost three am.

Sunday morning Oliver woke up at 5am, and it was Bo's turn to get up, thank god. I ended up sleeping in until 11:30, then went and spent some time with Oliver. He didn't feel like napping so we all went to the park for an hour, then we ordered pizza hut for dinner and headed out to pick it up. Nana got there around 9:30, amidst the worst storm of the year (she was literally soaked just from walking from the car to the door). Oliver wasn't ready for bed yet though, but we finally got him into his crib at 10:30, then went to bed ourselves.

Forgettful is my...wait...what

Days disappear from my mind far too quickly it seems. I used to be much better at updating this daily. Then every other day I'd do two posts, and now it's more like twice a week. Which is horrible because I can never remember what happened.

Friday at work was pretty normal, nothing exciting or crazy. Bo dropped Oliver off at daycare and picked him up (as per usual Friday routine). We're having chicken bites for dinner tonight, but I didn't have enough chicken at home for leftovers tomorrow so on my way I stopped at Sobeys to grab two more breasts.

When I got home Bo and Oliver were both sound asleep, so after a quick change into some comfortable clothes I got to cleaning the kitchen and making dinner. I also made some pie crust dough for tomorrow, when I'll make my Grandma's recipe for rhubarb custard pie. Yum yum yum yum yum. For the life of me I can't remember what I made for a side, though I'm convinced there was something. Unless I just bought some bread from the grocery store. Yeah, I probably just bought bread.

Thankfully Bo woke up when I carried some of the stuff for dinner up (by woke up I mean that I woke him up when I loudly put the dishes onto the coffee table, oops). Oh well, he's up right, he can help me carry shit upstairs, lol.

After dinner we just played with Oliver and then headed to bed. I think.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Bad Mommy Day

Arugh. These days are the worst.

It started off normal enough. Bo dropped Oliver off at Lindsay's (and I got to see him in the morning, Woot!) and I headed off to work. I had a fairly busy day that was slightly interrupted by a horrific headache, but what can you do. Bo and I did spend a fun couple of hours texting while he was between meetings in London. It helps the time go by :)

I headed home in a rush because I had Oliver all to myself all night, and I miss that time we used to have during the day (so selfish, I know). I picked him up and Lindsay said that he had been fantastic the entire time, sleeping for over two hours with the other kids and just being his normal self (she finally got to see).

This is when everything starts going horribly wrong.

Lindsay grabbed the bottle out of the fridge and gave it to me, so I let Oliver finish it off in the car. Once we were home I got the sprinklers going and then filled up Oliver's water table so that he could play for a while.




We spent about a half hour playing outside, then it was time for dinner. I made Oliver a grilled cheese and filled up another bottle for him to drink while I cooked. He ate three quarters of his sandwich, then I noticed that where he had drank from his bottle, there were little flakes. So I took a sip, and is was sour. Like, really sour. I'd been giving Oliver spoiled milk all day, and the little bugger didn't complain AT ALL.

I am, the worst, mom.

So, off we ran to Sobeys for fresh milk, where I ran into Lindsay. At least I was able to explain it to her, and it turns out that she had the same problem with her milk (different brand, weird), and that was why she was there two.

That should be the worst of it, right. Right? Wrong.

Once back home I made my 5 minute pineapple pie for the weekend, then Oliver and I headed out for a walk to the park. Here's where I made my mistake. I told Oliver that he could walk to the park instead of going in his stroller. You know, because he knows the difference. Right out the door we saw our neighbour and talked to them for a little while, then we continued on to the park. We were doing great, Oliver was walking like a champ and life we good. We made it all the way around the corner and were standing on the sidewalk directly across the street from the park. I don't even know what happened. Oliver twisted some home, and while still holding onto my hand did a total face plant onto the sidewalk/driveway we were on. He ended up with a few scrapes down the side of his head and cheek, and a big cut on his forehead.

Oliver screamed bloody murder for about 5 minutes, but between each scream he just pointed at the park. He had seen the swings, and that's what he wanted. I was so torn. I didn't know what the right "Mom" thing was to do. Do I bring him to the park so he can have a bit of fun and forget about his cut. Do I bring him straight home and make sure the cut is disinfected? I choose to stay at the park. I'm still not sure if that was the best decision, but it made Oliver smile and laugh, and that made my heart hurt a little less.

I pushed him on the swings for five or ten minutes, then took him down the slide half a dozen times. After that though I started to worry about his head, so I picked him up to carry him home. Oliver was REALLY unhappy with this decision. He screamed for half of the walk, pointing back to the park and doing everything possible to get out of my arms. I felt like a monster, but I wanted to make sure the dirt was out before it started to close up. Back home, I took him straight up to the bath, then slipped him into his pjs and we headed to the couch. Oliver was asleep within twenty minutes, and I headed downstairs to order pizza for Bo and I, he was just about home, just shy of 9pm.

We ate and then headed to bed, all of us exhausted for a variety of reasons.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Back to the grind

It was hard to go back to work this week. For one, after only a month I feel like I've hit a wall. Already. Even though I didn't want to go back to work, the first few weeks were ok, actually better then I expected. Then Oliver got sick, and fussy every night, and now it's killing me. Every day is a struggle now to get my ass out the door in the morning. I really wish I could just quit and stay home for good. I can't wait.

Work was normal, and really the next three days were all pretty much the same. My Mom stayed at the house to watch Oliver because of our daycare situation, so at least he had some quality one on one time and fun.

Monday night we had turkey parm for dinner, and Tuesday was porcupine balls, so not very exciting.

Wednesday night (blah) Mom headed home and Bo and I played with Oliver while dinner cooked (roast chicken, carrots, onions, celery and potatoes, awesome with the accompanying gravy!). We actually had a blast with Oliver tonight, him walking all over the place, diving into his ball pit and crashing, horrifically, into his farm play house. That bruise will not look going going to daycare tomorrow!

I made it to bed at 9:30 Wednesday, which was totally awesome, though I fear one good night isn't going to make up for how exhausted I am.

Only two more days until another movie night on the couch, I can't wait!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Catch up

Well, life has been crazy this last week, so I'm about to do something I hate: a weeks worth of updates in one post. Here's hoping it doesn't get too long.

Tuesday it was back to work as usual for us, nothing exciting except for the fact that I was exhausted for no reason, and kinda starting to some down with a cold.

Wednesday was the same as Tuesday, only I was even more tired and now officially with cold. Ok, not exactly the same as it was my birthday, lol, I have a terrible memory! I ran home after work and picked up Oliver then the two of us headed back to the city to meet Bo and Baton Rouge for dinner. I was really not feeling well, suffering from a terribly upset stomach. On top of that Oliver was so much fussier then he's ever been. Because of this I didn't eat nearly as much as I wanted to or normally would, and we headed home fairly quickly. I felt terrible for ruining a great dinner that Bo was trying to give me. Once back home my boys spoiled me terribly with an incredible 8" Sony digital picture frame, and a 32GB (you read that correctly, 32GB) high speed card for my camera. I can't wait to bust into those!

Thursday I drove all the way to work, then right back home. I was exhausted and just couldn't function any more. I had to sleep. All of the past weeks with the change back to working and what not had finally caught up with me. I was back home around 9:30 after a quick stop at Loblaws for something that I can't remember now, and then straight into bed. I slept all the way to 3:00 and it was blissful. Once I woke up I tidied up the kitchen, gathered the garbage, and then went and picked up Oliver like normal. Bo was a little bit late getting home because he was desperate for a hair cut, but then we just chilled on the couch for the rest of the night.

Friday was back to normal, and back to work, which now officially totally sucks. I do not want to be here. I want to be home with my son, cleaning house, baking goodies, and personally raising our boy. C'est la vie. For now.

Friday night Bo and I did something for the first time ever though! Well, first we started off with a trip to Newmarket for supplies. Stop one was Best Buy where I ran in to purchase "Kick Ass", second stop was Home Sense for a Whirley Pop popcorn maker, and movie theater popcorn. A huge bonus to this was that I checked the kids section. There was a painting (reprinted on canvas) that I had fallen in love with a month ago and wanted for Oliver's room. It has an animal painted for each letter of the alphabet, and it's not girly or too childish, it's just cool. We didn't have money though at the time (it was $50), so I went back to the store every day to try and hid it at the back of the other paintings, but two weeks ago it was gone, the only one sold, and I was devastated. Today though, there it was, a perfect one without a scratch or mark or anything one it. I was just SO happy. After that we picked up a couple of pizza's and headed home.

Here's where the first comes in; once Oliver was asleep and in his crib Bo and I watched a movie. As in, we watched a new movie all the way through without either of us falling asleep (and while eating some delectable popcorn!). I absolutely loved doing this, and I'm thinking that we just may need to make a habit of it, even though it meant we didn't get to bed until midnight. Still, it was totally worth it, and Kick Ass was fantastic!

Saturday morning I got up with Oliver and made him some pancakes for breakfast, which he loved as usual. He ate two on his own, but once I put some nutella on a third he couldn't resist, lol. Oliver and I had to run out and buy some milk because we were just about out and I hadn't noticed (bad Mommy), and once we were back Bo got up and helped me clean up the house (he vacuumed everything for me, all I did was tidy up, he's awesome!). Diana, Marty, Ben, Jen, Alex and Miles all came by for a couple of hours to visit Oliver. Diana and Marty brought this adorable little Dog puppet and Jenny and Alex brought him an INCREDIBLE Hippo stuffed animal straight from the cobble stoned streets of Paris. Honestly, I want one for myself.

I need to make a very important aside here. We've left Oliver's picture downstairs and he makes us walk over to it with him fifty times a day already (I'm so thrilled that he loves it!). So, this morning I sat with Oliver on my lap, and we he pointed to an animal I'd tell him what animal it was and what letter it started with. Well, my genius son (and he is totally a genius), pointed to the dog when I asked him where the doggy was, and then proceeded to say dog (ok, so it's more like da-ga, but that's close enough for me!). This isn't a fluke either, he gets it right 100% of the time and  has since added monkey to the repertoire (pointing, not saying).

After all the family left Bo and I packed Oliver up and headed to the cottage. We had to carry their new bathtub upstairs (thankfully not quite as bad as we thought it might be). After that Nana and Papa watched Oliver while Bo and I ran out for dinner and a movie. We ate at Kelsey's but it was the worst meal we'd had in a long time (although a Kristen Wigg doppelganger was our waitress), then we want to see The Other Guys (a last minute mistake switch from Dinner With Schmucks). The movie was SO bad. We kept turning to each other and asking if this was some kind of a joke. Well, it turns out it was, it was a spoof on cop buddy movies but we didn't know. Maybe the movie is great if you know that going in, we'll never know.

After the movie we headed to the cottage to grab Oliver, then home to bed.

Sunday was an average Sunday for us. I got to sleep in today, and did until 10:30. Then I jumped in the bath and made a split second decision to cut my hair. As in myself. I'm starting to wonder if I'm a little bi-polar on top of that slight OCD. I'm actually really happy with it though, and I don't think I took too much off after all (even though it was a good 3 inches). Bo wasn't feeling great to he tried to take a thirty minute nap, but the shock of my hair seemed to ruin that for him. After that we went to do our running. First we went to Home Depot for some toilet parts and storage tubs (they were sold out though). Then we went to Kelsey's again for lunch, which was fantastic this time. After that it was off to Costco and Loblaws for grocery's, then back home. My mom got there around 8 because she's watching Oliver for the next couple of days, and we had a late dinner of KFC (Oliver had his dinner earlier) then headed off to bed.

The rest of the weekend

The best day of a long weekend has to be Sunday. You're mind wakes up thinking that it's the last day before heading back to work, but then you remind yourself that you have the next day off as well, and you just lay there smiling. The. Best.

We didn't do much of anything for the rest of the weekend. We spent a lot of time inside playing with Oliver, and outside playing with Oliver. Clearly, there was lots of playing with Oliver. Sunday we did our grocery shopping for the week, then took Oliver to the park that night for an hour. We met our neighbour there and it was nice to just stand around and talk while our boys were on the swing. I really love living up here. Anyway, here are some park pictures!

















Monday was pretty much more of the same. We just tried to spend some time enjoying each other and relaxing. For once it actually felt like it was a long weekend! Oliver did have two new experiences though. First, he tried Nutella and absolutly LOVED it (but who doesn't, right?).








Second, he painted with Daddy. Really, he taught Daddy how to paint! Dad was a little nervous about the whole situation, and it'll probably take a few more lessons before he learns to just let go and enjoy the moment; worry about the clean-up after!


Monday, August 9, 2010

Zoo day!

Today was just a fantastic day!

We all got up early to nice bright sunshine and headed out to the zoo by 9am to meet Tash and Josh. The weather was almost perfect (just a little too hot for me at times in the sun), with the slightest breeze and a few clouds at times.

We beat Tash and Josh there by about ten minutes, enough time for me to drop off my photos for the contest and then line-up to take Oliver on the carousel. He wasn't too thrilled with Mommy's pick of the dragonfly so we moved to the monkey beside it. When he wanted to switch again to the parrot I put my foot down, lol.

Oliver was having none of being put into his stroller, instead demanding to walk pretty much the entire zoo. After 4 hours all us adults were exhausted but Oliver, he just kept on trucking. That's my boy! Pictures are better then words, so I'll let them do the rest of the talking. Let's just say Oliver's favourite animal is officially the hippo! At least for now.












Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Chevapi and Crostini

This is an absolute favourite of Bo's, being that he's Croatian/Serbian it's basically a staple. There's a little butcher shop about a 45 minute drive from here that you can get them at, but they aren't hard at all to make, it just comes down to how lazy I'm feeling, lol.

Chevapi

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs ground pork
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 lb ground lamb (or ground pork if you can't find lamb)
1 egg
4 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tbl Vegeta (a Serbian jarred spice mix, optional)

Directions:

1. Pre-heat your grill (if using)

2. Add all ingredients to a large bowl and mix with your hands until well combined.

3. Roll into rectangular mini sausages, 3" long and 3/4" in wide.

4. Place all of the chevapi in a single layer in a disposable foil baking pan and place onto your preheated grill on med-high heat. You can also cook these on a griddle, or in a large frying pan in a couple of batches (try to cook them all at once though, because it takes a bit of time). Turn the chevapi about every 7 or 8 minutes, once that side is well browned and has a slight crust. Be careful not to over cook though.

Note: These are fantastic on there own, but equally good dipped into ketchup or tzatziki sauce. Bo likes to load a bunch into a bun sometimes too for a sand which of sorts.

Make Ahead: After you've formed the chevapi you and just wrap them as a batch in plastic wrap, then put them in a zip-lock bag and freeze them for later. I like to do this on a weekend, make a huge batch of them then just pop them out of the freezer whenever we want!



Crostini

This is the easiest way to make brilliant little toasts to accompany a dinner

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Bakes Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 6 - 8

Ingredients:

1 baguette or Parisian loaf
olive oil
Fleur de sel (or sea salt)

Directions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees

2. Slice your baguette into 3/8" think (1cm) slices and place on a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet

3. Drizzle lightly with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt.

4. Bake for 10 minutes and removing from the baking sheet immediately.

Hello long weekend!

Fridays are always fantastic, but the Friday of a long weekend? It really doesn't get better!

The morning went off without a hitch, and they tend to do now, but for the fifth day in a row I didn't get to see Oliver before I left. I think he's settled into a new routine and this may just be the way it is. I had a nice and easy day at work, there were no major deadlines to meet, really just getting everything organized for next week. The kicker? My boss closed the office at 3, so I got to jump out an hour earlier then normal and beat the worst of the traffic!

We had our appraisal today on our house so that we can *hopefully* consolidate all of our debt onto our mortgage. This all depends on how much the house is appraised at, and this is a little dicey because it's a new home (new construction) and we've only been in it a year. We put a TON on money into it, which contributed to the debt because most of it is on visas and a line of credit. We were stupid and wanted to to do most of the big stuff off the bat, and save the small things for down the road. This meas that we bought a house for $400k, then put $100k into it with upgrades and appliances. With our down payment and the stuff we've already paid off, we have just under $50k that we would like to consolidate, but the way our mortgage insurance is set up we need an approval of $500k to have a mortgage of $450k.

This is way to confusing...my head is already hurting.

Anyway, I was home by 4:30 after picking Oliver up, and Bo had beat me there (I love that he gets home early on Fridays, yet another reason that they're fantastic!). Hank, the appraiser, got there around 5:30 and was long gone by 6 (I had no idea how fast these were). He told us not to worry about the last two bathrooms not being tiled (Oliver's and the master bath, not important at all right, lol). Apparently he thought that there was nothing in there, no toilets or anything, so he said that because it's just the tile missing we won't lose much at all. WOOT!

After Hank left Bo occupied Oliver while I made a FANTASTIC dinner, chevapi, corn (from a can for Bo, it's how he prefers it, lol) and crostini, my favourite! We ate dinner in front of the tv tonight, terrible for Oliver, I know, but we enjoyed the change. After dinner we brought Oliver in to change into his pj's, when he started to choke a little on a piece of meat that he must have been storing in his cheek. It wasn't really a big deal, we stood him up and he coughed and it popped out. I knew better though. Oliver looked right at me, I turned my head a little to the left and said "he's going to throw up on me", and then he did. It was in my nose, my hair all over my clothes and down my shirt, curdled milk, chevapi and canned corn. Arugh, so gross, not to mention how covered Oliver was, poor kid! I cuddled with him while Bo got his bath running, and as soon as I had um undressed and cleaned up enough to hand off to Bo I ran to our bathroom to clean up too. SO gross.

After that we just cuddled with Oliver on the couch, gave him another bottle, then headed to bed.