Wardrobe Malfunction

I am wearing what I thought was a simple outfit today, a blue wrap dress with a banjo. I tried to find a picture of a banjo - but now I am doubting that is what they are called since the only photos that came up were of the instrument. Essentially it is a tank top but it only covers your chest. Like a tube top from back in the day but these are specifically made to wear underneath things. I have 2 - one in white and one in black. I love them! But not so much today....

The first incident happened before I left the house thankfully. I started off wearing the white banjo under my dress. And a black bra. I was just about to put my jacket on and walk out the door when I caught a glimpse of my self in the entrance mirror. The dress has a tendency to gape a bit in the front given it is a faux wrap and not adjustable. So when I looked in the mirror, I could clearly see said black bra through the white banjo. Arghhh.

Since I had my boots on, I sent James upstairs to get the black one as I knew exactly where it was. Even though I told him exactly where it was, he still had to shout from our closet asking again....

He promptly appears downstairs with banjo in hand and I do a quick banjo change in the entrance. Ahhhh much better. And off I go.

I arrive at work in said revised outfit and all is well..... until I go to the washroom at 9am and again glance in the mirror in passing and I can see skin under the banjo. I stop and look again. My dress is gaping so much in the front that I am exposing my midriff. At work. O.M.G. Thankfully it was only about the size of a quarter and I am not sure if it was just the way I adjusted the dress when I stood or what. You can imagine how I quickly retraced my steps that day and how many people had seen me and my potential wardrobe malfunction. Thankfully the number is low and I did not see my boss during that time.

I quickly walked to my coworkers office to see if she had a safety pin I could borrow. She strikes me as the type of person who has everything in her desk as she has been at the company so long. She did. Crisis averted.

March 26, 2005

5 years ago today Friday (I had good intentions of posting Friday it just didn't happen), James proposed to me. We had been dating over 3 years. I had been waiting for those four little words for well over a year. I wasn't sure it was ever going to happen. It wasn't that James had commitment issues, we were living together. I just think his concept of marriage was that it equaled ball and chains. Usually once a month for that entire year I would try to tell him that our lives would not change and the only difference would be my name change and the legality of it. His argument would always be if it wasn't going to change than what was the rush? These 'discussions' usually ended with me and tears and extremely frustrated.

When we moved in together in May 2004, it was because it was important to James. I would ahve prefered to not live together before being engaged because I was sure that it would just postpone the engagement. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? He was adament that someone he knew moved in with his girlfriend and they nearly broke up they fought so much. He wanted to be sure we were house compatible. So I said I would not live with him longer than a year. I move in and things went really well. No big fights. No incompatibility. No big issues. Over 10 months later I was still waiting.....

I remember wandering what I was going to do when the year mark came and went. I couldn't threaten to move out because I had no intention of actually doing it. I contemplated sleeping in the spare room but decided he might actually like that as James and I did not sleep well in our queen - he is a bed hog. We have since upgraded to a king which is great! So I just waited and hoped he would not let me down.... And he didn't.

I still remember how we spent March 25th, 2005 (the day before the proposal). We went to James parents and painted Easter eggs like we did every year on Easter weekend. What I more specifically remember is laying in bed that night and having a great talk with James. Just one of those intense talks about the future and reminicing about our pasts. I also remember what I was thinking at the time - Should I or should I not bring up getting married. I pondered it and decided against it. Afterall, our talk was going so great, I knew that our converstion would end sourly had I brought it up. After the fact, James told me he laid there hoping I didn't bring it up. Not sure if we would have gotten engaged that next day if I had. Must have been woman's instinct for me to keep my mouth shut that night.

I had plans to go shopping for some new spring clothes that day and we had reservations at our favorite itallian restaurant in kensington. I was gone a few hours and when I returned there was a scavenger hunt set up for me. I was so excited I started to shake - could there possibly be a ring at the end of this scavenger hunt?? I had hoped so many times I had to shake off the excitement and remind myself that it was just so sweet for James to put something like this together for me. I followed the directions which involved finding a certain number off eggs in each room. Then I came upstairs where the good stuff was :)

Yes, This is in the bathroom. Yes, the eggs are held up in shooter glasses. Yes, the eggs were hand painted the day before. Yes, I said Yes.

I couldn't have asked for a more romantic proposal. Was it worth the wait? Yes - but I still wish he would have proposed like a year earlier!

We stopped at James' parents that night between dinner and the movie to show them the bling on my finger. Here is the picture they took for us.

What still baffles me is why James waited over a year to propose when that night over dinner we discussed timing of our wedding and there was no postponing from him. I suggested Sept 2006 and he said 'why wait' and wanted to get married Sept 2005 - less than 6 months later! So that is what we did. I wasn't going to be the one that delayed our getting married!

Grandparent Suite

Check out our new Grandparent suite! Our basement is now fully developped and well equipped to handle grandparents and friends and family who find themselves drifting through Calgary. What was the motivation for you ask? To put the guests more than one floor away from us! Just kidding Mom!

Check out the progress of the basement at the picassa link on the side or by clicking here.

Weekend Getaway!

Today I am exhausted. Exhausted for a great cause. Not because I woke up before 6am all weekend and not because I was busy cleaning, cooking, or organizing. I did none of that this weekend. Instead, I packed my bags and hopped on a plane to Vancouver to spend the weekend with my bestest friends Deena, Carmen, and Candace.

This was our 5th annual girls trip where we usually drive to Edmonton for the weekend and shop, eat, gossip, vent, bond, and unwind from the usual hustle and bustle of life. For our 5th year we decided to do something different and better and moved our location to sunny Vancouver.

Here is Carmen. Not really sure where this picture was taken exactly. But I am sure it was somewhere tres cool. Carmen had never been to Vancouver and was excited for all that the city had to offer.

We had a sightseeing day where we took the sky train downtown, and then hopped on the aqua bus (See picture below of Candace) to Granville Island to eat lunch. Carmen hated the birds. And there were lots of birds!

Here is Candace. She is enjoying the view from the aqua bus and likely reminiscing about the last time she was at Granville island and Mike proposed. We made sure to capture the moment and sit and eat our desserts where she first got engaged.

Here is Deena on our horse drawn carriage ride around Stanley Park. She is 6 months pregnant and was happy to be seeing the sites from the seated position rather than walking. We even got to see the Olympic rings and torch burning as the para-Olympics didn't end until yesterday! It was a great way to see the park in an hour before we rushed off to the spa!

It was such a great weekend. I feel now that I have a family I appreciate these weekends even more. We reminisce about our crazy days and always come to the conclusion we wouldn't go back. We tell old stories and laugh until we cry. Literally. More than once. That is what friendship is about.

The break away from the responsibility of being a wife and parent is fantastic and makes you that much more excited to see your husband and child upon your return. I value my friendship with these girls more than they will ever know.

We missed you Sara, Alynne, and Gina! Let the planning begin for next year!

Avatar

I am not going to lie. I was anti-Avatar from the get go. Aliens just aren't my thing. I would rather clean my house than watch a sci-fi movie. That is how much I did not want to see Avatar. James, on the other hand, talked about this movie from the day it was released. He really wanted to see it and tried convincing me. It didn't work. At first.

Unless you are living under a rock you have heard someone rave about the movie. It was nominated for many Oscars. It even surpassed Titanic (which I loved by the way)by becoming the top-grossing worldwide release of all time. If more people wanted to see Avatar then Titanic, then mabye this was a movie I wanted needed to see. Just to be a part of history.

My mom came to visit this weekend and James convinced me this was the weekend we were going to see the movie since we had a live in babysitter. Still a little apprehensive of comitting to this 3 hour movie, I was on my way to the theater. Worst case scenario, I got to have a little nap.

All I will say is it is much better than I expected. It was a love story. I repeat - love story. I would like to tell James Cameron that he marketed this movie all wrong. No sane woman wants to see a sci-fi movie, we want romance. Had I known of the love story within the alien story, I may have been convinced much earlier.

The 3D was cool for the first 15 minutes, but after that I kinda forgot about it except for certain scenes where I actually did feel like I could reach out and touch the plants. The little boy beside me actually did reach out for them!

My biggest complaint was the length. It reminded me of the movie Braveheart with Mel Gibson. After the first 1.5 hours and a won battle, I assumed (incorrectly) that the movie was done. Wrong. It last at least another hour after that. Avatar had that effect on me. I expected it to end much sooner than it did.

In conclusion, I give the movie a 'B' because I didn't fall asleep, it had a love story, and it was much better than I expected. But would I watch it again. Not in a million years!

Work with me... Please?

Over the past few weeks we have been struggling with sleep. Again. Our son still thinks sleep is for the weak and he doesn't need it. What Grady does not understand is that his mommy and daddy do!

Every morning for the past 2 weeks I wake up to Grady instead of my alarm. Normally waking up to Grady would be what I prefer - but not when it happens before my alarm goes off. Like my own personal alarm clock, Grady lets out a cry somewhere between 5 and 545. Then the question is does he go back to sleep or not. The closer to 5am it is the more likely I am to roll over and turn the monitor off and make him stay in the crib until 6am. I am not asking for much here. Lots of babies sleep past 7 or even 8. Me? I am asking for 6am. I just can't take waking up in the 5's for much longer.

The problem is when he lets that one cry (or many) out at 5am, I can't fall back asleep. I have been going to bed sometime after 9 to compensate for the 5am wake up time. So at 5am my body thinks it has had enough sleep and refuses to cooperate for just one more hour.

I've had comments from those without kids that think it is no big deal getting up at 5am - it isn't much earlier than the 6:00 they get up. I can understand that. IF he slept in on the weekend. Which he does not. So the constant early wake up time is really doing a number on me and my ability to do anything in the evening. You know, clean the house, talk to my husband, watch Grey's Anatomy - you know the important stuff :)

With the impending time change this weekend, I am hoping we will see some changes. You see his usual 5am cry will suddenly 'spring forward' and happen at 6am. This is in an ideal world of course. The biggest factor supporting why this may not work well is that I want to keep his bed time the same.

Right now he goes to bed at 8pm and I have 1 to 2 glorious hours of laying on the couch in my messy house catching up on TV and doing whatever I want. I don't want Grady to stay up until 9 - then my nearly 2 year old son and I will have the same bedtime. That is sad.

So keep your fingers crossed for me and my sanity and seeing the 6's on Sunday morning instead of 5's.

Happy Friday!

Rough Start...

Grady got up at 5:50am today. No, this is not the rough part. We contemplated turning the monitor off but know our son enough to know he was up. I got him up and brought him back to our bed hoping he may drift back to sleep. After a few minutes it was obvious this was not hapening. I picked Grady back up and we headed downstairs. As we were leaving the very dark room I could hear what I though was snot being smeared across his face. I was wrong. Any guesses?

We get downstairs and I turn on the first light of the morning. Grady face is covered in blood. Covered. He has a nose bleed. My first instinct is to start yelling for James. He doesn't hear me because the fan is on in our room. In the winter. But that is another story. I continue to call his name as I go back upstairs. I just didn't know where to start.....

It is still before 6am and I am sitting in the bathroom, James is wiping Grady's face which is caked with dry blood and his nose is still leaking new blood. Thankfully after a few minutes the bleeding subsieded. We checked his crib and sure enough it has a big blood spot on it. Thankfully our pillow case in the bedroom was spared. Still not quite sure how.

Our best guess is he hit his face on the crib. A good reason for us to start getting his big boy room ready. We have a paint color picked - but that is as far as we have gotten. I guess it is hard to move forward on a room that is filled with our basement junk. One more week until our basement will be finished and we can start moving all our stuff back downstairs. What a relief.

After all this excitement - James went back to bed and Grady and I continued on with our day. This is one way to wake you up on a Sunday morning... but not the best way!

Enjoy your day!

Excuse our House

Some houses try to hide the fact

That children shelter there,

Ours boasts it quite openly,

The signs are everywhere.

For smears are on the windows,

Little smudges are on the doors.

I should apologize, I guess,

For toys strewn on the floor.

But I sat down with my children

And we played and laughed and read.

And if the doorbell doesn't shine,

Their eyes will shine instead.

For when at times I'm forced to choose

The one job or the other,

I'd like to cook and clean and scrub,

But first I'll be a mother.

Author Unknown

Not to mention the outdoor toys in the backyard that never got picked up before it snowed. Yes, we are that house....

He likes what???

***NEWS FLASH***

Grady likes the stroller. He likes it alot!

It was no secret that Grady didn't like the stroller and the car when he was a young lad. The car situation improved substantially when we added a TV to the mix when Grady was merely 5 months. We just couldn't find anything that made him want to go in the stroller. Don't most babies love strollers? Don't they usually fall asleep on long walks? Not mine.

This simple fact made my maternity much different than I expected to be. Every mom-to-be pictures her days of leisure once the babe arives. Long walks in nice weather. Trips to the mall. Strolls at the zoo. Not us. Not even close to us. We didn't go for walks. We didn't go to the mall. We didn't go to the zoo. We had playdates and stayed close to home (or someone elses) in the event of a melt down when confronted with the stroller.

Fast forward 20 months and this is what you will see a few times a week:



A happy Grady and Mommy walking around the neighbourhood. In the winter. Somedays when we get home from work/daycare he rushes over to the stroller and points to get in. So I change my shoes and in my work clothes head out for a quick walk around the block. This is what I expected all those months ago. However, I did picture it being much nicer out.....



I cannot wait to see if he still likes the stroller this much come summer. I can already picture the morning runs and walks to second cup.........