Cupcake bender....WARNING...pictures look delicious.

Enough about soccer. CUPCAKES!!!!

I went on a cupcake baking bender last week. A good way to deal with my post-nationals depression.....as long as I don't get too depressed and end up eating them all. Pumpkin Spice with Cream Cheese Buttercream, Chocolate with Mocha Buttercream and Cookies n' Cream.

To be sung to the tune of Natasha Beddingfield's Pocket Full of Sunshine: (which I hate)

I gotta freezer gotta freezer full of cupcakes, I gotta freezer gotta freezer full of cupcakes I gotta freezer gotta freezer full of cupcakes whooooooooooaaa ohh ohh ohhhhhhhhhhhh.

Take them away! Oh sweet escape! Take them away! Oh sweet escape!

Anyway, I love baking cupcakes. Not just the finished product but I actually LOVE the process. Such....a.....loser.

The only thing on my Christmas list this year is this:

http://www.kitchenaid.ca/flash.cmd?/#/en/product/KSM150PSER/

It is absurd that I bake so many cupcakes and don't own one already. I think I may have to purchase it myself and put it under the tree from Santa though.....it might be out of the Christmas budget and it is definitely out of the maternity leave budget. I should have put it on my wedding registry when I got married but I didn't know then that I would become a cupcake fiend.

Sorry blog...

It's been a while.

I have kind of been in a funk in the past week. Most likely due to soccer withdrawal and nationals disappointment. All I have wanted to do is lay on the couch and watch TV. So now that I have caught up on all my shows, I need to find something else to fill my time. I mean Lucas takes up a lot of it, but he also naps lots too.

We came in 4th at nationals, which was kind of bittersweet. A blizzard decided to move in that weekend, and our team was kind of pumped about it. We usually have an advantage over other teams in crazy weather, but apparently playing in a blizzard can be dangerous or something (icy field, zero visibility, white ball to match the snow....I fail to see the problem....). So thankfully as it turns out, we headed indoors on the turf field all weekend. Which turned out to be great because the games then were shortened to 60 minutes instead of the usual 90....we would have died playing four 90 minute games in four days.....and also we had way more fans out than if it would have been outside. First game against BC we played really well and ended up tieing them 0-0. Could have won that one, lost opportunites, etc. Second game we beat Ontario 1-0. That was huge. No Saskatchewan team has EVER beat Ontario in a national competition. HUGE. I remember playing provincial team back when I was younger....in my prime....just kidding I don't think I had a prime....and we would lose upwards of 8-0 to Ontario. So a huge accomplishment. All we had to do was beat Manitoba to move on to the final. THE FINAL. Toba? Should be no problem. Too bad they were playing a flat back 11. For you non-soccer types, that means they pretty much sat back and defended all game so we couldn't penetrate into their half, got a few breaks on us and scored 2 goals to win the game 2-0. Soooooooooo disappointing for us. But alright, bronze medal game against Nova Scotia, as long as we come out with a medal that would be more than a Saskatchewan team has ever accomplished. Lost 1-0 to Scotia. Terrible.

Siiiiiiiiiiiiigggggggggggggggghhhhhhh.

The good news is I now don't have to get up at 5 am to train and the bad news is I no longer have to get up at 5 am to train and play soccer with my friends. Soccer withdrawal. When does indoor start?????

SICK!

Terry and I keep saying how lucky we are to have such a healthy, happy baby. Why just yesterday I told Terry how glad I was that Lucas hasn't really been sick yet. I think I forgot to knock on wood because last night all that changed. Three baths, four pairs of pyjamas, a lot of tears (mine) and three sheet changes later and I think we might be through the woods.

Lucas had some salmon, rice and peas for supper, same as Terry and I, which he has had before but this time I guess it didn't agree with him. He went to bed fine as always and then I heard him stirring a bit before we went to bed. I peeked in his room to check on him before I went to sleep and found him on his belly, covered in puke. Gross!! Ahhhh!! So Terry and I stripped the bed, gave him a bath and changed his pyjamas. He seemed to be his normal, happy self through all of it....and kept looking at us like "What is the big deal? Why do I get to be up so late? This is fun!" Not fun Lucas.

And then he did that 3 more times before finally falling asleep. It was so so so hard to see him sick. He's so helpless and innocent and has no idea what's going on and all you want is for him to stop throwing up and feel better and have a good sleep. I was so upset seeing him like that. It's funny how you think you know how you will react to a certain situation and then when it actually happens your reaction is the complete opposite of what you thought. I am finding that especially true with Lucas, and that I am not nearly as tough as I think I am. A big wuss inside apparently. I know kids get sick, it's inevitable, it happens. I thought that when the time came and Lucas wasn't feeling well I would have been able to deal with it a lot better. Just wasn't the case last night. Just like his immunizations, I thought I was Ms. Tough Guy....nope....to borrow a nickname from one of my soccer friends, really I am "Little Miss Sissy Puss". Quote.

Thank goodness it was just something he ate (I think and hope) because he seems to be feeling good today, just super tired from wretching and being up all night I bet. Normal happy Lucas is the best kind. Proof is in the photo I took after his 3rd bath in 24 hours (this morning).

Mrs. No Fun - Playground Adventures #2

Lucas and I stopped by the park today for a quick swing before going to get a few groceries. It was lunchtime at school so the playground was kind of busy with kids, but Lucas likes that so no worries. Some older girls were swinging on the swings beside us when this teacher came marching over and yelled "ONLY KINDERGARTEN TO GRADE FOUR ON THE SWINGS, HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO MAKE THAT CLEAR?!?!".

It's not like anyone else was waiting to use the swings, and you could tell by the way she talked to the kids that she is one of those teachers who likes to tell kids what to do and be in control and bossy. So these girls got off the swings and went and played in the shade. They were making a human pyramid (fun!) and again the teacher marches over and tells them that what they are doing is too dangerous. OK lady, there were only like 5 girls, so this pyramid is nowhere near too tall. Sheesh. I get it that kids need to be safe on the playground and that is why there is a teacher there but let them have a bit of fun. Geez. She was walking by me as I pushed Lucas on the swing and I was afraid she was going to tell me that Lucas was too little, only kindergarten to grade four on the swings.

After the kids went inside this little boy came out of his house across the street in a Batman costume and was doing Batman moves all over the playground equipment. Hilarious. Lucas thought so too.

Two more weeks until nationals. Gulp. Crunch time. Kathryn and I did some sprints yesterday and just about died. Just wait until I have to do 10 sprints in a row with a BC striker breathing down my throat. Can't wait. All kidding aside, it will be awesome that week playing at such a competitive level again, I missed it and I didn't know how much. All the training that comes along with it though, I definitely didn't miss. Come out and see us play:

Thursday October 8th vs. Ontario 6 pm @ Umea E
Friday October 9th vs. BC 4 pm @ Umea W
Sunday October 11th vs. Manitoba 4 pm @ Sasktel E

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

I may be trying to do too much....

and it is starting to catch up with me.

Turns out training and practicing for nationals takes up a lot of time. And a lot of that time is time I could be sleeping. It also doesn't help that Lucas is no longer sleeping through the night. We are trying to do a bit of sleep training with him, but I am not doing a good job at this either. He gets up at 3:30 and I know that if I just feed him he will go back to bed, but therein lies the problem. I have to stop feeding him at night so that he knows there is nothing to eat at night time and night time is for sleeping. But that's hard to remember when it is 4:00 am and there is no sign of him going back to sleep or settling down and I have to be up in an hour for practice. You can see how I might be tempted to just feed him and go back to sleep.

Lack of sleep puts me on edge. Things that normally wouldn't bother me drive me crazy. It's not like I haven't gone without sleep before, but this is going on a bit long and I thought that maybe there was hope of me sleeping again by now. When Lucas was very little getting no sleep didn't really bother me because I think that's what I expected. Now that I expect him to sleep I'm finding it really hard when he doesn't.

OK...to remedy this situation I should sleep when I can during the day and forget that my house is slowly turning into a disaster zone. It would also help if I didn't have to shower but then I think I would have a whole new set of problems. Maybe being on the computer a bit less wouldn't hurt either....

Time for a nap.

Fun at the park.

Do I have enough time to blog and then shower while Lucas is napping? Let's find out.....

Lucas new favorite activity is the swings at the park. Last week we were out garage sale-ing (scoring some great deals!) I spotted a baby swing at a park in Erindale and stopped to give Lucas a bit of a break from the car. It was about 5 minutes to noon, and I totally forgot that school was back in session. The noon bell rang shortly after and a ton of kids burst out of the school doors and came running for the playground. Eeep!

Lucas loved it though, he loves watching kids play at the park. When he had enough of the swing I took him out and we sat on a bench and just watched the kids. These two little grade 2 girls came over and sat right beside us. Hilarity ensued:

Girl: Your baby is cute.

Me: Thank you, he really likes the park.

Girl: My mom's cousin's wife has a baby. He is a boy too but they thought he was going to be a girl but then he was a boy.

Me: Oh? I thought he was going to be a girl too, but nope, he's a boy.

Girl: He looks like a girl. Just his face though.

Hahaha kids are awesome. She told me more stuff about her mom's cousin's wife's baby and how she likes to see all her friends and school and then they had to go to go see another friend. Bye girls.

I kind of felt like a creep just sitting on a park bench watching the kids play, but I had Lucas with me so the teachers didn't think I was a total weirdo.

Went out on the greatest date Saturday night. Supper at The Ivy, (500) Days of Summer, fireworks at River Landing, and to top it off a rickshaw ride back to our car. I have never had a bad meal at The Ivy and it definitely didn't disappoint this time, and I would highly suggest (500) Days of Summer...I want to see it again in fact. Dates are awesome, that should be a weekly event. Maybe monthly is more realistic.

Doctor, Doctor gimmie the news

I hate that song.

Lucas and I went for his 9 month check up today. No needles this time so no reason to be anxious. Lucas hasn't gained much weight since last time, which I guess is normal for breastfed babies. The good news is we got the go-ahead to feed Lucas all he likes. I brought up the fact that I was worried about him overeating sometimes, because he never really seems to get full and eats a lot of food for a 9-month old. But apparently he can eat and eat and eat and that's A-OK. As long as he's not spitting it all up mind you, but that has never happened. License to get chubby.

Next time someone I know is pregnant/has a baby, I will be purchasing the book "The Yummy Mummy Manifesto" for them. It is written by an older (40-is?) bohemian-hippie-type mom with a lot of good advice. It is very well written with short little chapters and I have almost read it from cover to cover. It talks about everything from not worrying about the state of your house or the mini-tantrum your child is throwing in public, to the isolation that comes with being at home all day and the resentment that is felt between partners over the sharing of housework/parenting. While I think some of her ideas are a little too hippie-ish for me (she doesn't let any toys into her house that light up or sing the alphabet.....both features on Lucas' new favorite toy, his activity table), most chapters were a great read and very informative and enlightening.

Went for our daily trip to the park and swings this afternoon. Lucas still finds the swings just as exciting and fun as the day before and he loves watching the other kids play in the park. The only thing about the park is that it doesn't take long enough so the afternoons lately are beginning to drag. So we extended our trip today with a stop for a slurpee and a stroll through the mall. Turned out to be a 2 hour outing and Lucas lasted the whole time. He was great today. He is great all days, I guess I should say he was very well behaved today.

Lucas and I have been watching Sesame Street in the mornings and I find it very funny. This probably means I am slowly going crazy....

On a completely unrelated note, I want to make my house look much more stylish but I do not have the funds to do so. I would love to be able to collect vintage teapots, pottery and enamelware to sit on my kitchen shelves, or an amazing wood desk for my computer with lots of drawers for electronic junk. Terry and I have taken to creating our own works of art to hang on our walls, which is fine for small bedroom and bathroom prints, but I would love to purchase a few large prints from an actual artist or photographer. I saw some beautiful prints on canvas by this dude at a craft fair at River Landing this summer that I loved:

http://www.extraordinarylight.com/gallerylinks/Scenic.htm

Again, art is expensive and totally not a necessity right now. Also, our bathroom upstairs is an ugly shade of yellowish-cream and in need of a mini-makeover. I want to do a lavender/chocolate brown/cream palette but I am scared to paint the walls light purple. Purple walls? I don't know if that is going to work and I am no interior designer. Might just go for it and see what happens.

Back to work in three short months....eeeep!

Ahhh the 3 hour nap

I was cursing life when I got up this morning....so incredibly tired...and vowed that I was going to have the most fantastic nap this afternoon during Lucas' nap. Well I am too excited/nervous for my soccer game to nap so I got a lot of stuff done instead.

I was outside weeding the garden (don't worry I wore sunscreen and appropriate clothing this time!) and then came inside to get my soccer stuff together and relax. I even had time to give myself a soccer pedicure (nails cut as short as possible, holding on to each callus for dear life to protect my feet, and a coat of polish to cover up my uggggly big toenails that have fallen out too many times from soccer) oh and of course shave my legs....you know...so that I am faster on the field. Riggght....

And now I even have time to blog!! 3 hour naps are the best.

Lucas is an eating machine. We picked up his Grandma this morning and went to Wal Mart and then McDonald's for lunch to try their new salads (very yummy). My mom convinced me to order a hamburger for Lucas. Funniest thing ever. He must have heard me when I said that we won't be coming to McDonalds too often and he probably won't come back for a long time. He gobble-gobbled up almost the whole burger. What a little porker. All the excitement/eating must have tired him out.

I must admit that when Lucas wakes me up at 630 am and has been up 3 times that night, when I go to pick him up I am thinking "Lucas we are totally not buddies right now do not even try to look all cute at me". It takes me until I am eating breakfast and he is looking up at me with his new crinkly-nose smile and then we are buddies again. I'm sure babies have built in cuteness as a survival feature. That and the fact that they need more sleep than their parents.....keeps everyone from going crazy.

I am reading this book that I got from the library (Terry must be rubbing off on me, I haven't borrowed a book from the library since I was in elementary school) called 'The Yummy Mummy Manifesto' that I would highly recommend to anyone who is expecting or recently had a baby. It would make a really nice gift. It's kind of an advice-type book but with a very laid back approach.

Soccer!

Things are starting to get a bit crazy around here. Soccer is really starting to take over my life right now. Provincials are coming up this weekend so our team is gearing up for that. We have to win provincials in order to compete in nationals which Saskatoon is hosting this Thanksgiving. We should win with no problem, but there is always that added stress/pressure just in case we don't.

My body is not what it used to be. I blame Lucas. I hurt in places that I never hurt before. But at the same time it is awesome playing really competitively again. I forgot how much I love it. I am playing an entirely new position so my head has to be on a swivel at every moment or else I will be in big trouble. Soccer soccer soccer. I think about the mistakes I make in our games before I go to bed. Consuming my brain right now.

Lucas just fell asleep for his morning nap on his own, no feeding or crying. Wahoo!!! I used to be really good about putting him down this way, but kind of got into a bad habit of always feeding him before he went to sleep. Which totally worked to put him to bed, but I was starting to worry that he was becoming dependent on it to sleep. Got to get back into good habits or else. Or else what you ask? Or else I might be up 3 times a night for the rest of eternity. Had one night like that this past week and that was enough.

Lucas is totally not interested in learning to crawl. He sees a toy out of his reach and then goes for something closer. Oh well, the less moving the less chance of him hurting himself. Soon enough he'll be motoring all over causing all kinds of trouble. Off to shower while Lucas is napping and hopefully blow dry my hair for the first time in about a week. What a treat to be able to get ready uninterrupted. Picture of Lucas watching Sesame Street.

Summer Holidays

I have heard that in order to write a "successful" blog you should stick to one topic and make frequent, brief and well-written entries. My last entry was probably over two weeks ago, I blog about lots of things and I did not take journalism/web publishing in school. Turns out I am doomed to be a blog failure.

Alas....

I finally feel like I am on holidays. I know, I have been on holidays for about 8 months now, but these past couple of weeks finally feel like mat leave should. Maybe because Terry was on holidays to enjoy some time off together, or maybe because the weather is finally awesome. For the first week of Terry's holidays he was crazy busy painting the interior of our house, something that was long overdue. It looks amazing, what a difference paint makes. So much work for one person though, poor Terry.

Then we headed to Calgary for our "summer vacation" to visit Terry's brother and his wife. Vacations with babies are stressful. Especially teething ones. At least Lucas cut his second tooth, so we have something to show for those couple of days of crankiness. This was around about the time that Lucas also turned into a big suck. He screamed whenever I would try to hand him off to someone else and is starting to turn into quite the mama's-boy. It was cute for probably the first two times, but now I just want a minute to maybe eat some supper or get dressed.

I never know what to do when someone else is holding him and he starts to fuss. Do I offer to take him back because no one probably wants to hold a crying baby? Or does that seem like 'ok give me my baby back now, you clearly have no idea what you're doing'? I was explaining to Terry one day that hearing Lucas cry makes me feel like someone is running their fingernails down a chalkboard inside me and all I want is for him to stop. I am a bundle of nerves inside until he calms down. And he doesn't even cry that much or that loudly, so I'm not sure why I feel that way. Must be an instinct or something.

The highlight of our Calgary trip for me, was pushing Lucas in the baby swing at the park. He loved loved loved it. So funny. I guess that is one of the joys of having kids, seeing how something so simple can make them so happy.

Amy is here visiting for a week, which is super awesome and another reason why I feel like I'm on holidays. Lots of visiting and family. My Grandpa's 90th birthday was this past weekend and my Mom's whole family came home for it. It was so great to see everyone and we had a lot of fun in Harris at the party. Going back to Harris brought back a lot of childhood memories of visiting Grandma and Grandpa Stevens. Grandma would always slip us some money and tell us to go down to the cafe for some fries and a Tahiti Treat. And I remember Grandpa taking us for rides in the truck through the sandhills at dusk to see the whitetail deer. I probably won't be back again for a long time, if ever.