Word on the Street with Stephanie

While my daughter naps I am sitting here trying to decide what to do on this beautiful Friday afternoon. September is apple-picking season and I have settled on a farm that is close to home and doesn't cost anything to go. They give you free reign of the orchard and we will only pay for the apples we pick.  It is a sunny, 25-degree day and I can't think of a better way to spend it! I hope you are all enjoying this glorious day. I know that the cold weather is approaching so I will be making the most of these warm, sunny days! Have a blessed weekend!

My husband and I are getting ready to list our first home. It is a townhouse and we are looking to buy a detached home as our family grows and our needs change. We are feeling so many different emotions: stressed at the thought of packing up our home and keeping it in perfect condition since prospective buyers will be coming through with very little notice, excited because we are moving forward with our plans for our family, nostalgic because this is the first home we bought as a couple and began to build our life in. This is also the home we brought our first child into. These walls hold all of our married life memories, as well as our daughter's first words, steps, gestures. I have been looking forward to purchasing a new home for so long that I'm surprising myself with how sad I feel. I will just have to keep reminding myself of all the new memories we will make in our next home. I've got plenty of work to do in the next few weeks to keep my mind occupied!

I have come to accept that life with a baby means I can no longer run into stores like Costco for "just a couple of things". I will always spend at least $100. My most recent trip began with me convincing myself that I would stock up on toilet paper and baby wipes, as well as my husband's favourite cheese that is a much better price at Costco than the regular grocery store. However, to get to the cheese and toilet paper (which are conveniently located at the back of the store), I had to walk by the clothes. So I grabbed a t-shirt for my hard-working husband and then noticed some really cute children's pj's and picked up one of those. I finally made it to the grocery section where I found the items I needed and made my way towards the cash. Since my daughter was born I always make a point to check the price of diapers and sure enough, they were on sale. I didn't need them just yet but I knew that when I did there wouldn't be a sale (Murphy's Law), so ...

My husband and I decided that yesterday was a good time to take our 14-month-old to Canada's Wonderland. It is a long weekend so I knew it would be busy but it was too beautiful of a day to pass up. We had dinner at home and left in the early evening. I have not been to Wonderland in several years but boy is it expensive! It went something like this: Parking attendant: "That'll be $20 for regular parking or $25 for premium parking". Me: Wide-eyed expression "Really? Just to park? What's premium parking?" Parking attendant: "Premium parking is a designated area that is closer to the gate" Me: "Right, ok just regular parking. We'll walk" Parking Attendant: "Sure, $20 please" Me: Mumbling, hands over money. I was surprised they didn't also ask for my firstborn. It was already after 6 and the park was only open until 10! My husband gently reminded me that we knew it would be expensive and to let it go. S...

This Spring/Summer my daughter has been lucky enough to have gone swimming more than a few times. We first noticed that she was a water baby during bath time. She gleefully splashed about (and made a mess of the bathroom) and would sit and play for a few minutes after her bath. We signed her up for parented swimming lessons and she thrived. She loved being dunked and jumping off the edge of the pool into Daddy's arms. We are also lucky enough to know a few people with a pool so she has been in the water quite a bit this summer. To keep the momentum going, I decided to sign her up for private swimming lessons so that she would be able to benefit from some one-on-one time with an instructor. We showed up the first day excited and ready to go and... she screamed her little head off the entire time. I felt so bad for the instructor who had to listen to her crying in his ear the whole lesson. It got so bad it was suggested to me that she might do better if I wasn't around. So I spen...

It seems like every time I ask a parent what their child's first word was, they tell me "dada and shortly after, mama". I was so excited to hear my daughter call me Mama and practiced every chance I got (ok so I still do that). The thing is, no one told me that not all babies follow this pattern and I naively assumed mine would. She is almost 14 months old and in addition to nonsensical baby babble, this is her list of spoken words: Go Doggy Hi Zia That last one kills me. Zia is Italian for Aunt and, naturally, I can thank my sisters for this one. It was one of her first words (I honestly can't remember if it was "Go" or "Zia") and even though she pronounces it like "eeeyyaaa", she definitely associates the word with my sisters. However, I must have gone horribly wrong somewhere because she also calls me "eeeyyaaa". I have tried everything to correct her. I say, "I'm Mama" and point to myself, I do not address...

Our much anticipated weekend getaway was...successful! The only thing I forgot was a hairbrush for myself so I had to comb my hair with my fingers for two days-not a big deal. We went on a boat cruise, had lunch and dinner in restaurants and enjoyed every single minute. Don't get me wrong, it was still hard work. Trying to think of everything we would need for ourselves and baby was stressful but if I forgot something, it wouldn't have been too hard to go to a store and get whatever we needed. Nighttime was especially interesting. Our daughter loves her crib and has been sleeping through the night for some time. She was so confused as to why we were all in the same room and thought it was party time rather than bedtime and was not happy about having to sleep in her playpen which was 3 feet away from our bed. My final verdict is that I would do it again because the memories my family created exceeded any stress I had to endure while I was preparing. We had a blast and are loo...