Stories

It seems that Instagram is in some trouble for scaring the pants of its users this week (concerns about selling users' photos without payment or consultation), but I'm not frightened. Yet. Like today I want to share some photos and a little about our past week, but it's December and there are birthdays and Hanukkah and Christmas and opening a doula business and I can barely find the time to breathe. I like how Instagram feels like story, and I'm sharing these with you here even though I've already shared them there. Are you on Instagram? Tell me how to find you!

So this is us this week. In between all the crazy we're making a lot of crafts (including that scarf Alyce is sporting above) and beginning to bundle up for winter. Here's to the crazy this month, and here's to all those moments in between, the pre-dawn colouring sessions, the hugs, the walking to school to pick up older sisters, and the naps (oh, how I wish there were more naps). I'll be around here a lot this week, but in the meantime, here's a little of our story.

What's your story this week?

Welcome back, Monday!

I need to catch my breath. Could anyone else use a moment, too? I'll wait.

September is my new year (in many ways). Even before becoming a parent of a school-age child, my 456 years in school have trained my senses to know a proper new year when they meet one. I feel September all the way down to my toes, toes that ought to be sporting brand new back to school shoes. Even in the first year of my PhD I bought back to school shoes, beautiful red leather Mary Janes, in celebration of the new year. Now, of course, I have new September rituals, but the feelings are the same. There is so much potential (which I adore) in September's air, but more than that there is action. A lot of action.

I guess it has to do with the beginningness of September, but there are just so many things to be done this month. No other season begins so abruptly as fall does in September, and no other time when I rush out to accomplish so many tasks. Of course I love buying summer sandals as much as the next shoe enthusiast, and I often find myself craving the early summer harvest of asparagus and strawberries months in advance. And as much as I love winter, there isn't a single moment that defines the beginning of winter for me (Thanksgiving in Canada happens far too early to help usher in winter. It is firmly a fall holiday). No, it is September's suggestion of fall that gets me every time. Time to get moving.

Needless to say, the first week of September has been a busy one. First the girls and I joined some friends at the Toronto Zoo to mark the last day of summer vacation. Then there was the baking of the night-before-senior kindergarten macaroni and cheese along with the first-day-of-senior kindergarten chocolate chip cookies (make sure you use the really good salt). Next we welcomed a new routine of Matt walking Alyce to school while Shira and I waited for the afternoon to roll around so we could pick her up. Every morning we had to remember to pack her backpack with her lunch, snacks, and water, and then remember to walk to school an hour later to drop off the things we had forgotten. There were after schools snacks (that's where the cookies came in handy) with glasses of milk big enough for dunking. In between all of this there were dinner parties with old (for Matt) and new (for me) friends, a birthday party for another friend (perhaps the most impressive forty year old I've ever met), and a week filled with cooking, something I haven't felt like doing in a long time. I'm exhausted just writing it all down.

And now we get to get started all over again! But since I'm such a nerd for Mondays, I don't even mind at all. I've decided that since I'm not quite busy enough that I'll add a few extra posts into my rotation again. It's feels like months since I've posted regularly and I miss writing here, especially the opportunity to capture my days right now. I hope to see you back here again, too. Maybe you'll tell me what your week looks like?

On Instagram? Follow me @mostdaysiwin and let me know where I can find you!

My weekend

I was about to ask about how your weekend was, past tense, until I realized that the weekend isn't over yet. There are still a few hours left with great possibility, like that episode of True Blood that is recording at this very moment in the other room. Or those cookies that are still warm, waiting for some visitors we're expecting tomorrow, visitors of the best friend variety (Alyce's best friend, that is). I think in honour of the weekend I should have at least one more. Maybe two.

Speaking of cookie baking, have I mentioned to you how foreign my oven is to me still? I just can't figure this new oven (or stove, for that matter) out. It runs what seems to be a million degrees (give or take) hotter than the temperature I set it to, with the obvious result that I am over-backing everything. Yes, I realize the answer is as simple as buying an oven thermometer to catch it in the act and to make the necessary readjustments, and I will. But I feel as though we are in a fight, me and my oven, and I'm feeling a little stubborn (my husband knows nothing of this approach of mine, nothing of my unbudgingness). Soon I will grow tired of overdone cookies and muffins and make a peace offering in my new kitchen.

But back to the weekend. It was filled with so many different emotions. There was the constant breastfeeding demands from Shira that made me think about, for the very first time, how I might be ready to end our nursing before she's ready. I hope to write about that later this week. For now, it's too fresh, too wrapped up in feelings of sadness over the end of this particular relationship with Shira, feelings of relief that I might just (finally) make a decision, and amazement that Shira has grown so much that we're here even having this conversation. No matter how I'm feeling I can assure you that Shira is not keen to make any changes. We'll see how this goes.

My weekend also included time with a good friend, someone I've missed dearly all these years we've spent away from Toronto. We wandered together downtown, shopping and snacking (a great combination if you ask me). Did I mention the girls were at home with their Papa? Sneaking away with good friends is reason 3,487 I'm happy to be back in Toronto. (You might want to visit, you know. Maybe this will inspire you further.) Today I spent time with another favourite girl, this time my Alyce. We adventured along the bus and subway in order to meet up with other good friends for a movie and some lunch. A weekend like this reminds me that I am rich in friends.

How was your weekend? I always ask and I always mean it: how did you spend your time? 

Have a great week!

(Follow me on Instagram! @mostdaysiwin)

Soon

In two weeks we'll be living in our new apartment.  We'll have been living her at my mum's for eight months. Add to that the two months me and the girls lived here while Matt was teaching in Europe, and that makes a long year for everyone. Can I just say an enormous thank you to my mother and stepfather? Thank you. We're a lot to handle some days, I know. We're loud, always in the kitchen, go through laundry at warp speed, and, the toys. But they have welcomed us unconditionally this past year and that has made my heart feel so much better.

We're ready to move (at least mentally, because, well, packing). Me and the girls have spent approximately 346, 234 hours in this house together, mostly while everyone else is at work. I can't lie, it's been a challenge some days. We're without a car while Matt is communting and in the suburbs that means you mostly hang out at home. We're only a few minutes away from Alyce's school and a twenty minute walk (an hour, kid-walk speed) from the library, so we're by no means stranded. But we aren't wandering around a city the way I'd like to be. Parents come in all shapes and sizes, but my preference is to keep moving, adventuring if you will. Alyce and Shira are excellent tag-alongs on an adventure, as long as I keep them in snacks and flower-picking breaks. We do best near water, in parks, museums, friends houses (can we come over?), and anywhere near good food. And while I haven't taken them to an outdoor music festival, I think their natural rhythm and near-constant urge to dance would make them feel right at home.

Now don't get me wrong. I love home. I love my mum's home and I'll love our new home in Toronto. I love slow mornings, hiding in bed reading books, or spending hours in the kitchen. Home is a good, good place. But you and I both know that feeling trapped in one place can challenge even the most homebody of homebodies. So we're getting set for some changes. We're packing. We're making plans. And I'm creating a very long list of adventures we'll take once we're back on the mothership in the city.
 

But for two more weeks we'll make our own fun here.

Because then you'll never miss these

Are you on Instagram for iPhone or iPad? I'm probably the millionth person to say this, but it's amazing. Instagram lets you steal parts of your day and share them with others: good parts, hard parts, or any parts you like. You can follow me @mostdaysiwin.

P.S. Since we're talking about following, you can also find me on Pinterest. If you need an invite to Pinterest, send me an email and I'll forward one your way.