And so it ends as it began

Our little girl turns one on Friday. Hard to believe. I'll save my best mushy stuff for her actual birthday. For now, I feel a need to comment on the symmetry of this year.

For those of you who don't know -- I had a wicked case of the stomach flu when Abner was born. It started the day before I went into labour, hit its peak sometime during early labour and continued for about the first week of Abner's life.

I distinctly remember laying awake on the couch at 4 am, about six hours into the whole ordeal, thinking I would have to be the unluckiest person alive if I went into labour that day.

Well, I didn't go into labour that day...I went into labour that evening. Meaning, no matter what I did, I was going to have to deliver this baby after two sleepless nights in a row and an entire day of being too nauseous to eat.

Turns out, it wasn't that bad. The birthing experience comes with a whole slew of hormones and adrenaline that help you through the fatigue and the hospital comes with a whole slew of drugs that help you through the nausea. The pain meds I took following the birth even helped keep my fever at bay, so I was kind of lucky in some weird way.

Lest you should think I suffered alone, TDSH was kind enough to share in the misery and joined in the fun the day we came home from the hospital. Obviously, Abner doesn't remember it, but some of the first 'sounds of home' she heard were those of her father praying to the porcelain Gods. The two of us spent our first week as parents downing shots of Pepto Bismol from his and her plastic shot glasses in the bathroom [I actually still have those shot glasses marked with our names in black sharpie pen].

And now, here we are, almost a full year later...and guess what? I have another case of the stomach flu. If I weren't feeling so ill, I might be able to appreciate the beauty in coming full circle.

Hudsonny gnomes: paper style

My friend Miranda's little guy had his first birthday over the weekend. Miranda, you may recall, is the talent behind Hudsonny - the fantastic, somewhat newish Etsy shop and blog that are taking the craft world by storm. She is also gaining a new nickname as the Gnome Lady (sorry Miranda, I heard a few people call you that at one of the recent shows).

Once the idea popped into my head, I couldn't help but whip up this little number to go on the birthday boy's wall.

To see the original gnomes in their more traditional softie state, check out Miranda's shop.

Back at work: Yes and No

Yes...
I am back at work now.

It is exhausting (I have to do this for the rest of my life?!?!? Really?).

Abner still cries every morning at daycare (every morning people!).

No...

Returning to work is not as bad as I was expecting.

I do not have time to do everything I want in a day (though I really try most days).

I have not cried yet (but I reserve the right to cry at any moment).

The work thing has been going better than I ever hoped, but it doesn't leave much time for fun when you are up at 6:30 to clean self, feed self, make lunches, pretty self up, dress child, feed child and dress self to be out the door before 8:00. Work all day. Back at daycare by 4:30 before heading home to make dinner, do dishes, sort laundry, write grocery list, play with child, bathe child, feed child, feed self and husband and put child to bed before 7:00. Thankfully, my commute is extremely short and TDSH and I managed to divide up our various duties remarkably evenly (how the hell do single parents do it?).

So if you haven't heard from me in a while...that's why.

For no particular reason other than they are damn cute photos, here are some adorable shots of Abner this week:

How I spent my last day of freedom

Dear milkybeer readers,

It is with exceedingly saddened heart that I inform you that after 374 days of maternity leave, I am returning to work tomorrow morning. Condolences may be sent via the comments section located at the bottom of the page.

In exactly 12 hours and 45 minutes, my my ass-numbing office chair will once again be moulding itself to my rather doughy-than-before-baby bottom. Sigh.

So how did I spend my last day of freedom?

TDSH kindly took over most of the early morning preparations and got Abner ready for daycare, allowing me to stay in bed just a wee bit longer [I don't call him The Dear Sweet Husband for nothing!] Continuing to earn his title, he even handled the hand-off at daycare. Watching this transaction from the car is just as heartbreaking as it is in-person. When The Daycare Lady took Abner from TDSH's arms it looked a bit like those scenes in horror movies where a monster reaches out and drags a victim into the depths of its lair - you can't really see the monster, just the victim's arms and legs reaching out as they are dragged off screaming. Poor girl probably thought she was off to do something fun this morning because both mommy and daddy were in the car...little did she know.

After dropping TDSH back at home to take part in the family's annual play-off hockey pool, I ran a few errands before meeting back up with him to do a little pre-birthday celebrating in the form of brunch at De Dutch Pannekoek House. I love that place, mostly because pancakes the size of serving platters are just awesome, but also because they always seem to be situated in random, obscure locations. The one in our neighbourhood is hidden away under a bike shop and is accessible only from a back alley facing a golf course.

Our carefree day also took us to Main Street where we attempted to get a few things for Abner's upcoming birthday. Toy shopping isn't as fun as you'd think - especially when two parents can't seem to agree on what to get. We wound up selecting a tub of wooden blocks (things that can be stacked up and knocked over generally go over well in this house) and a bouncy ball (the fact that it is sparkly and purple was all my doing, not TDSH's). I'm still hoping to get a few more things before the big day, but this was a good start.

Next up on our day of reckless abandon was a stop at Burgoo for some beer and cheese fondue - two items I am VERY fond of. We had been looking for a pub to go to...you know, to take advantage of our baby-free status [seriously...I have been kicked out of more pubs this year than me and all my friends way back in first year university ever did]...but I insisted on hitting Burgoo when I remembered they have fondue on the menu. Despite TDSH's protests that fondue was the last thing he wanted, he managed to put a sizable dent in it with me.

From there we headed back to our neck of the woods where we picked up Abner a bit early, TDSH took her to the park and I snuck in one last nap [for posterity's sake]. All in all, it was a very nice day.

I'm not sure how these first few days back at work are going to go, so I may not be able to post for a little while. With that in mind, I will leave you with a few pics from our Easter adventures this weekend. Hopefully these will tide you over for a while.

Playing a little house with a friend at Good Friday brunch. This was before we were all treated to a hilarious puppet show rendition of The Three Little Pigs - in French! Too fun!

Looking for a flat, straight, noisy walk that smells of sewage? Have I got a walk for you! Iona Beach park - 4 km of walkable sewage pipeline straight into the ocean. Conveniently located right next to the airport so you can take your mind off the sewage smell by watching planes take off and land.

Abner did not seem to be bothered by the sewage smell. She napped the whole way out and was happy as a clam when she woke up. Parents should note that it is a bit difficult to tell if your child needs a diaper change while in the vacinity of this park.

The warmer weather lately has finally brought out the cherry blossoms. Abner was quite tickled by the flowers when TDSH lifted her up to smell them - she also got unceremoniously drenched in water lingering on the branches!

The cousins in their Easter finery. This was also Abner's first time in 'big girl' shoes. They really are a bit big for her still, but will be so, so, so cute once she grows into them.

All ready for her first Easter egg hunt. Note that the dress and big girl shoes didn't last too long! We neglected to pick up an Easter basket for her, so she had to make due with one of Grandma's bread baskets.

This concludes today's post. Wish me luck tomorrow! I'll need it.

Abner lately

Your craft supplies will be jealous of my craft supplies

***WARNING: the following post was written by someone who gets overly excited about organizing. If you do not share this love for organizing, you may want to skip this post and instead click here to watch a highly entertaining video of Jian Ghomeshi attempting to interview Billy Bob Thornton.***

I got tired of having my crafting and sewing supplies stashed in every nook and cranny in our apartment so I went out and picked up the mother of all portable storage bins at Crappy Tire this week. Behold my new Mastercraft Vertical Rolling Toolbox...aka my kickass new craft box!

That yellow pouch on the side is the perfect spot for my label maker. [Yes, folks -- I have my very own label maker.] And those little drawers on the top house my collection of buttons, zippers and embroidery floss. I finally have a place to store all of my patterns too - in the top section which can be snapped off to reveal a huge storage space where I keep my WIP [that would be Work In Progress in case you don't know]. Check it out...there is a spot for EVERYTHING!

The middle drawer comes right out and is ideal for stashing even more buttons and all of my threads. Who knew that a box designed for tool parts would be the exact size needed to fit a spool of thread?

I keep the items I need most often [scissors, rotary cutter, stitch ripper, etc.] in the removable tray that nests inside the top portion of the box.

I also bought an extra little parts box for all the attachments and gadgets for my sewing machine. It's like it was made specifically for my stuff.

The best part is that it's on wheels, so the next time I get invited to a crafternoon session, I can bring the whole thing along with me. I might even be able to fit my sewing machine on top. Sigh...isn't it awesome!?!?

Lame-o buffet needs a facelift

Around the time Abner started cruising through the apartment on hands and knees, I picked up this rather...how shall we say...'understated' pine buffet from JYSK [I like to think of it as the Danish cousin to all of my Swedish furniture]. It's sole purpose in life is to contain or elevate all of the miscellaneous crap that Abner likes to mess about with. We've even installed a rather crafty hair tie baby proofing device on two of the doors!

I'm not a huge fan of plain old pine so I'd like to do something to jazz it up a bit. Got any ideas? I think I can change the feet and knobs easily enough which is a good start, but what else!?!?! Please send me links, pics, or descriptions of what I can possibly do to make this look a little less lame. If I go with your suggestion, you'll win my undying gratitude [eh? eh? good prize don't you think?]

In hind sight...I probably should have started this more than a week before the end of mat leave. D'oh!

One Little Owl...literally

A little while ago I mentioned that I am opening an Etsy shop called OneLittleOwl. Today, I got started on that little endeavour by making this little guy...

So, OneLittleOwl is getting started with literally - one little owl. I must admit that I was a bit surprised at just how small the little guy wound up being - he's less than two inches tall - but, he is oh so cute!

This little hootie patootie was whipped up using a pattern I snagged from another Etsy seller, buttons scooped up from my mom's "antique" button collection and the pretty linen on the belly was scored from a recent fabric scrap sale I went to.

I can't wait to get a whole family of hootie patooties cranked out. I hope you like them as much as I do!

Daycare: Day one

The day that none of us have been looking forward to finally arrived: the first day of daycare.

Since I am not actually returning to work until the 14th, my plan is to ease Abner into the whole being-cared-for-by-someone-who-is-not-mommy concept very slowly. Today we started with only two hours; we'll add an hour each day until we hit full time late next week.

First off, let me tell you...daycare requires a tonne of crap. Regulations require you provide a number of items for emergency purposes, plus the usual accoutrements and "just in case" items for the day. So, as I headed down to the car this morning, I was toting:

• 1 20 lb baby girl
• 1 sack of diapers
• 1 box of wipes
• 1 tin of bum cream
• 1 winter outfit (for emergency kit)
• 1 summer outfit (for emergency kit)
• 1 pair extra socks (for emergency kit)
• 1 bottle sun screen (certainly not for today - it snowed for Pete's sake)
• 1 family picture (for emergency kit)
• 2 blankets (one for emergency kit, the other for nap time)
• 1 pile of paper work
• 1 spare outfit for the day
• snacks for the day
• 1 water bottle
• 1 spoon
• 1 rain suit
• 1 winter hat
• 1 toy (for emergency kit)

...and I still forgot a few items (like a bib and food for the emergency kit).

Within moments of arriving, Abner settled in to play with all the new toys that greeted her. One of the things I really like about this daycare is that The Daycare Lady only takes a few kids at a time (rather than the seven she's legally allowed to have). Today's group included her grandson Jabir (age 2), a cutie pie named Mandalay (almost 2) and a 4-year-old girl with the same name as Abner (we call them Big and Little Abner). I stuck around for 10-15 minutes to go through the paperwork and ask a few questions, but managed to tear myself away just after 9 am.

So what did I do with my two hours of freedom? I went for a run. Yes, you heard me right. I went for a 45 minute run - in the snow...and it felt pretty good. I also had time to run through the mall to buy a new toaster oven (our old one mysteriously melted this morning).

To my disappointment, the kids were watching TV when I returned to pick Abner up. The Daycare Lady did tell me she turned the TV on for lunch and after 5 pm, but since the movie ended while I was waiting for Abner to wake up from her nap, it had definitely been on for quite a while. I guess there's not much I can do about it.

I also couldn't believe that The Daycare Lady put Abner to sleep on a big bed - not in a crib or playpen. She insists that normally she wouldn't put her in bed, but she needed to lay down with her to get her to sleep, so she couldn't go in the crib. Admittedly, the bed wasn't very high, but when I went in to pick her up once she finally woke up, she was standing up and could have toppled over at any moment. Perhaps I'm just being paranoid, but Abner's head has taken a few bumps lately (can of beans, falling off a couch at a friend's house, and taking a header down two stairs at Grandma and Grandpa's) so I am a little leery of risking further bumps. I'll have to have a talk with The Daycare Lady tomorrow morning. She might not have needed to lay down with her if she'd just used the soother I'd brought.

All things considered...there were no tears shed by either party and Abner seemed happy the rest of the day, so I think the first day was a success.