Monday, September 21, 2015

First days


It's happened. My little boy has started school. I didn't actually feel overly emotional about it because he was so excited to hop on that bus and begin a new adventure. And of  course, he loves it. Loves the bus, loves his teachers, loves the playground, his classmates, music class, gym class, assemblies, bringing his own lunch...everything. He is 100% ready to take his Primary class at Champlain Elementary by storm!
First day shot. He said 'wow, I look like a man going to work!'
And first day pose (taught to him by Aly and Ava)
Odin has also had some big firsts this month. He spent a wonderful 2 weeks at home with Alan which went so much better than I could have imagined. Turns out he doesn't need his mama 24 hours a day after all! Who knew?! Everyone except me, it seems! They had such a great time together going for walks, playing tons of music, taking a few naps and getting in lots of quality father and son bonding time. The bigger challenge, in my mind at least, was getting a new sitter to come in and watch Odin now that Alan is off to California on tour. Childcare has proven to be a very tricky scenario for us in Annapolis Royal. The only daycare in town doesn't start taking kids until they are 18 months and after a few home care options fell through, I was left scrambling to find someone to watch Odin during the weeks when Alan is away this fall.

Our first sitter is in the middle of a 5 day stint with Odie and it has gone so well! I can hardly believe how adaptable, happy and independent my little baby is. But I guess that is just it, he is no longer my little baby. He is turning into a toddler and he loves people, stimulation, BOOKS and TOYS! As long as he has his hands in a basket of toys or is flipping through a stack of books, he is completely content. So, the sitter experience has been great and I'm able to work without feeling guilty or feeling like I'm breaking a little boys heart by being away. It is great to get home at the end of each day, and I am hilariously greeted by Odin smiling at me and making the 'milk' sign. He is ready to jump into my arms, cuddle and nurse for a minute. It's a nice way to reconnect after being apart, even if it does feel like he thinks my name is 'milk'!

The next few weeks will be a rotation of family members, Alan and hopefully a steady babysitter beginning in November. Whew, it is exhausting, but somehow once again, with tons of help, we are going to be able to find a way to make things work.

And now for a quick update about my other child - Sunny!

Lydia and I have been making plans for months to do a moms camping trip together, and this weekend turned out to be the perfect time for us to get away. The weather was glorious and Sunny was ready to roll. This was my first 'solo' trip in Sunny without Alan to take care of the campsite set-up, but I am proud to say that I figured everything out and we had an amazing time. We even managed to get the kids asleep so Lydia and I could have some much needed one on one time by the fire in the evening. Oh Sunny, still keeping our summer adventures alive!

And we are off. Baby Mia is usually the calmest baby in the world, so it was unfortunate (and a tad hilarious) that she was so upset in this picture. She quickly recovered and was amazingly content for the rest of the trip!
2 moms, 4 kids and 1 RV!
PJ party in the morning while Odin is possibly eating a rock. 

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

The Summer of Sunny

End of summer family gathering at Teresa's farm. It was wonderful to have so many cousins, aunts and uncles all in one place for a few days. 
With September upon us, I am able to reflect on what will surely be remembered as one of the best summers of my life. I thought I'd recap some of the highs (and a few of the lows) of our time wandering like a family of gypsies through the Maritimes. And what a time we had.

In total, the four of us have spent 22 nights together sleeping in Sunny. There have been probably an additional 10 nights where 1 or more of us have spent the night, but as a family - 22 nights is a number that I'm quite proud of! With me being back to work, it will be hard for us to beat this record, but I feel like we knew how precious this summer was and we were all set on making the absolute most of it. 

We have been through the 3 maritime provinces, to 5 music festivals, in several campgrounds and even in a few driveways. I love the outdoor lifestyle that camping literally brings to your doorstep. I have gone swimming more this summer that probably the last 5 summers combined. Ocean, lakes, rivers and pools - we have done it all, and as often as possible. We have had too many campfires, outdoor meals, hikes and card games too count and I'm proud to say that Caleb didn't mention tv or video games once! We rarely had to rush, so we enjoyed the back roads, we snuck in some extra, unplanned nights on the road and really took time to enjoy our surroundings. The best part, and what I will definitely miss the most, is just the time together. Time as a family to be together, talk, laugh, play games, explore...what we were doing didn't really matter as much as the fact that we were all doing it together.

Putting our cooler to good use on a hot day at the farm!
We did have a few bumps along the road, however. For being a 1986 motorhome, Sunny held up amazingly well, although we did have a few scares. The first one was when we ran out of gas on our way to our very first festival of the year. Everything works very well in Sunny, except for a practical little piece of gear known as the gas gauge. At first glance, Sunny has a full tank ready to go. The problem is she ALWAYS shows a full tank and it took some trial and error to figure out just how big that tank was. We puttered to a stop on the side of the highway near Middleton, about 30 minutes from Annapolis Royal, unsure of just what the problem could be. Did we just run out of gas, or was it something much more serious. Turns out, through Alan's extensive bluegrass network that runs deep around rural Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, we were able to call a friend, who called a friend, who showed up with a jerry can of gas within 15 minutes. We filled Sunny up and were off on our way with relief and gratitude in our hearts! 

The next slight issue we encountered was driving from Grand Manan to Fundy Park in mid-August. Luckily, I was driving the car as we were heading back to Nova Scotia following our August tour. I got a call from Alan and Caleb near Rothesay saying that Sunny was stuck in first gear so Alan couldn't drive faster than 40 km/hr.  I turned back to find them and figure out what we could do late on a Saturday afternoon when we were supposed to be in Fundy that evening. Once again, Alan's bluegrass connections were called and help was on the way, spare part in hand. Unfortunately, the part wasn't what we needed and we ended up having to leave Sunny in Sussex for the weekend. But karma turned out to be on our side again, because thankfully we had the car with us so we weren't stranded and we were able to stay in an 'O-tentik' in Fundy for 2 nights. We jumped in the car with a handful of clothes, made it to Alan's gig and still had plenty of time to enjoy the park. We headed back to Sussex to find out Sunny's fate, definitely fearing the worst and scrambling to come up with back up plans in case Sunny was unable to continue the road trip with us. Miraculously, the mechanic managed to fix the broken part in 40 minutes first thing Monday morning and we suddenly found ourselves back on the road!! It was amazing to have our 'home' back and to be able to continue our planned adventure! The greatest part was how positive we were all able to stay. Caleb held back tears at first, but then we set out to make the best of a bad situation, and we ended up having a great weekend and getting Sunny back on the road for the rest of our summer adventures. 

An unimpressed Caleb watching while Sunny was raised on lift at the garage. See our poor girl in the background?!?
Odin kept his spirits up, even while we spent 5 hours in a Canadian Tire parking lot trying to sort out our mechanical issues. Odin was handing out 'high fives' , making us laugh and helping us keep things in perspective. He was particularly impressed when he received an entire plate full of pickles from the A+W across from Canadian Tire. How could anyone be sad after that? 
So thank you for the memories, Sunny. And thank you Alan, Caleb and Odin. I couldn't have asked for better travel companions. Now we need to figure out a way for me to have every summer off work so we can do it all again next year!

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Happy Birthday!

One!
My little fella turns one today. Happy Birthday to our amazing little man, Odin Alistair Jeffries. I love your smile, your laugh and even your heartbreakingly adorable pout. I love how you stare, completely transfixed at strangers until they can't help but smile. You love being in the middle of the action, surrounded by people, sights and sounds. You have learned to cuddle and you love to share your hugs and kisses with your family. You are totally taken with your big brother. He will be your best friend and partner in crime for life. I especially love how you have made our little family feel complete. Here is a post dedicated just to you!


All about Odin at age 1:

Eyes: hazel, with more green than brown on most days
Hair: brown and curly! Yay!
Teeth: 12 (including 4 molars)
Favourite food: blueberries and bacon. Basically he would be very happy eating only fruit and meat all day
Favourite toys: No one real favourite yet, but he loves playing with rocks (and taking an occasional taste test),  instruments, emptying and refilling the toy basket and he shows a very keen interest in just about anything Caleb is playing with
Interests: Music and dogs. He can't seem to stop himself from clapping and dancing when music hits his ears, and he is completely fascinated with dogs. He will bark and shout until he gets our attention and we agree to take him over to say hello.
Words: Mama, dada and bop!
Signing: He is really getting the hang of sign language these days and consistently signs for 'more', 'drink', 'all done' and he'll throw out the 'dog' sign once in awhile
Mobility: Not walking yet, but he is starting to 'cruise' around on his feet by holding onto chairs and couches. He has mastered a high speed crawl and has very recently discovered stairs. He is fearless and determined to climb over everything in his path. I forgot how exciting and terrifying this stage can be!
Sleeping: Still co-sleeping with his mama, but now that we are home and getting settled back into the real world, we are working towards longer stretches in the crib. I must admit, I will miss having him in my arms at night, but I think the time has come for both of us. It's been a good run, buddy.
Daycare: Alan is on daddy daycare duty until mid-Sept when he heads off on tour. Odie will then go into home care with a friend of ours until he is 18 months and gets a full time spot at our local daycare.  He just spent his first full day without me and I am extremely happy to report that despite my fears, he was perfect. Not one tear was shed by either of us. I guess he really is growing up.

We love you so much, Odin. I can't wait to share my life with you and watch you as you grow. Your first year was one of the happiest years of my entire life. Thank you.
Signing for more carrot cake on his early birthday party at Greg and Linda's in mid-August
Family fun in Fundy Park

Sporting a new leather birthday jacket from Grampie John!
Camping in Sunny at Rogersville - his 5th festival of the summer!

Amazing shot by Aunt Sarah at Teresa's farm.
And now for a short birthday video: