Memorabilia

This weekend was a heavy one. 

     They have recently decided to tear down my old high school with plans to rebuild a bigger conglomerate school to house students from two of the high schools in my hometown. This may not seem like a big deal to some, but after coming from a fairly strict private elementary school where every single move we made was monitored and scrutinized, going to this high school and really being able to spread my wings on my own terms (with an appropriate amount of support) was a hugely shaping experience in my life. So many life skills I now consider my strong suits were developed and nurtured in that environment by amazing teachers who knew just how much to push and how much to let me figure out for myself. I met some amazing people (teachers, students, and staff alike) who have impacted many of my life decisions in a big way. And so it saddens me that this place where so many special memories were created will no longer exist. Of course, I will carry the memories with me, but if yesterday's school closing event was any indication, many of them will eventually be lost until they have a stimulus to revive them, and with the school building no longer there, I'm afraid a lot of them may be lost for good. I'm so glad I made the effort to attend.
    Since I was six years old, my mom has sung with a group run by one of the (now former) teachers, and I attended many a practice of theirs in that building. I was also involved with the high school group's productions (in the kids' chorus) from a young age, so I probably know a larger range of students than most. When the time came for me to go to high school I made an effort to get very involved in extracurriculars, something that I feel made all the difference in my high school experience. From soccer to badminton to cheerleading in grade nine, I started expanding relationships and making my footprint. I ended up continuing with cheerleading all the way through, something that really grew my leadership skills as I ended up taking on a strong leadership role on the team. I did well academically, as well, and had a good relationship with most of the teachers there. There were several to make a lasting impression on me whether from their quirky antics or from their compassionate, mentoring nature.
     Anyway, yesterday, students and teachers from 52 years of our high school's history got together one last time to relive memories and chat with old friends. The speeches at the closing ceremonies were emotional and touching. I am so glad I went and was able to see people - some for the first time in ten years since we'd graduated! While some trophies and awards were being saved to be displayed at the new school, many things were being auctioned off. I was fortunate to win a pair of pom poms as a tribute to my cheerleading career, and since two of my main bases were also in attendance, we busted out one last cheerleading stunt (nothing major since, believe it or not, I'm not 110 pounds anymore). ;)

My ex-highschool sweetheart and one of my best friends since kindergarten
(neither of which I have seen in over five years)

Mel and I in front of the school's mascot mural in the gym

Me (and the girls) in front of my grade 12 locker

Watching former students from a range of graduating years all reunite for a 'band jam' 

♥ Thanks for the memories ♥ 

  While I try not to be a hoarder, I often do rely on physical things to bring back memories, so they are important to me in that manner. I still have several of my own memorabilia from when I graduated (year books from all four years, my student of the month plaques and MVP awards, my day planner from grade 12 with all the ridiculous notes in it, and even some class notes I found tonight), so I will still have those (along with my pom poms now) to be able to look back and remember. I had the time of my life for those four years, and it will certainly be sad when the school is torn down, but I hope that the new school will be able to bring as much to it's new students as mine did for me.

P.S. Here is a blurb I wrote on the facebook page for the event (just so I have a copy of it somewhere):

Although I have been back to visit several times since I graduated, yesterday will still hold a special place for me. It was so great to see so many former students and staff and to celebrate the school and what it meant to everyone collectively. 

Teachers that had a special influence on me: 

Mrs. Neal - among just being generally 'the cool, new, young teacher' I have many fond memories of you. I remember in grade 11(?) drama we were working on something and were falling behind schedule and you made a disclaimer one day that you were now going to be "a ..... think of another word, think of another word.... SUPER MEAN LADY" until we got through whatever it was we were working on. hahaha ♥ I also remember you lending your ear while I sat in your classroom one day way after school and totally unloaded on you about my parents, while I am sure you had better things to be doing. But these are things that set you apart. ♥

Mrs. Nelsons - amiable and friendly. Will never forget her advice while we were complaining about our marks not being high enough to be able to get into our university of choice to "just go to the University of Timbuctoo for basketweaving, or whatever, and apply for a transfer the following year." So sensible. ;) That, and her love of candy Rockets. 

Mr. Wylie - While trying to teach us how the voting system works in Civics class, attempted to illustrate the ridings in Ontario on the blackboard. The drawing ended up looking much more like a penis than the province when he was done, and we were all snickering. He finally turns around and demands to know what was so funny, takes a step back from the board and realizes. The best part was that he went along with it, and laughing, said, "Oh so, I guess I should add two more ridings down here?" adding two somewhat circular ridings underneath. ;)

Mr. Winchester - caught Jaimie McAffee and me "roaming" the halls (aka going to the bathroom) when we were supposed to be in grade 9 tech class, and proceeded to tell us that there was a closer bathroom to our classroom we should have been using. We told him there was never any soap in that bathroom, which is why we had chosen the next closest one (all true), and later he came back to our class to inform us that he had a custodian check and there indeed WAS soap in that bathroom. 

Mr. Graham - lots of memories of just his happy face around the school, but also: The Parabola Dance. And one day when I was back for a visit, I introduced my then-boyfriend-now-husband and he said, "Hi, I'm her boyfriend, Dave!" 

Mr. Munday - his perfect blackboard writing and super uptightness on lab days. baha.

Mr. Bolger - quizzes every. single. day. in "OAC colouring" 
(aka Kinesiology and the muscle/ bone colouring pages)

Mr. Wilson - always in Spandex and known to break out in song mid 'O Canada'

Mr. Wilkins - grade 11 & 12 biology... SPROOOONNNNNGGGGG (tertiary enzyme formation?) But also inspiring me to pursue my love of biology in university. :)

Mrs. McKelvey - had her for 3 out of 4 years of English, and was so grateful as I always felt her teaching style was so much more organized and easier to follow for my math/science-brained self than the other English teachers I'd had. I also loved when she'd tell us stories about her kids, made her so much more personable. :)

Mrs. Sinclair - loved the food class she taught - use many of the things I learned in that class on a daily/ weekly basis. And while it didn't get me ahead academically per se, some of my favourite/ useful classes I took in high school and through university were the humanities. Hooray for life-relevant classes!

Thank you for an amazing four life-shaping years, even with all the ups and downs, I wouldn't change a thing. ♥ 

A Year With Two

     As of last week, a whole year has passed since we became parents of two. Leading up to Rachel's birth, we were nervous as to how we would handle having two children to care for. You know, at the same time. And then at first it was really easy. Newborns sleep a lot. I guess I had forgotten about that. The first month was really a breeze (and subsequently a confidence booster). But, around six weeks it got much harder. Rachel got fussy. Josh was not coping well. It makes it very hard when you are still a hormonal train wreck and your rock has turned to sand. Luckily that only lasted a few weeks, though they were difficult. Rachel's fussy period only lasted a little while, and Josh and I talked out many of the problems that we needed to deal with. After Josh went back to work, I had to get the hang of feeding three people meals simultaneously: baby on the boob, alternate spoonfuls of cereal between my mouth and toddler's mouth. Easy, right? I got the hang of it.
     Thankfully, Rachel is generally pretty low maintenance, and this past year has been much easier than it could have been, I'm sure. We have certainly had our ups and downs, moments-we'd-like-to-forget, and moments-to-remember. Laura has gone through phases of being an amazing big sister, and being... less-than-an-amazing big sister. We've gone through phases of being amazing parents, and being... less-than-amazing parents. Sometimes I feel like I could do this on my own (though I wouldn't want to), and very often it feels like having two parents isn't even enough. Would I change any of it? No. I love my life and my family more than anything, and am beyond grateful that I have been able to reach my goals and live my dream.

A small part of me still wishes we could expand our family by one more, but I'm very blessed to have what I already have.

Spring Blossom

     Last year when I went into labour with Rachel, everything was in bloom. I remember taking walks outside the hospital trying to induce consistent contractions, and the thing that stands out in my mind was how beautiful that week was, with all the blossoms and warm, sunny weather. This is where my inspiration came from for her first birthday party. (Laura's first birthday party was pretty girly, so I figured it was only fair to throw a girly first birthday party for Rachel, too.) ;)

Invites:

Where has the time gone? The year has just flown,

And how our sweet baby has blossomed and grown.

We'd like you to join in the celebration;

Because Rachel Marie is going to be one!

all folded up and ready to mail

Set up

the spread

strawberries n' cream cupcakes and 'cherry blossom' cupcakes filled with custard and cherry preserves

Pink 'cherry blossom' popcorn

Raspberry Almond 'blossoms'

decorations and presents 

pink and white balloons

Party dress made by Grandma, in part
(picture of a picture, sorry for low quality)

Of course today would be the day she decides to take her nap 3 hours later than usual.
Birthday Girl finally wakes up and is ready to party!

Birthday girl in the middle of all the present chaos

Strawberry smash cake and icing flavoured with real strawberries

After a slight mishap burning her finger on the candles, she enjoys some icing.

She seemed to enjoy the lollipop favours that were for the kids much more than the cake smash

flower lollipop favours for the kids
(they were arranged in a bouquet, but apparently I forgot to take a pic)

Since there were mostly adults in attendance, we gave potted strawberry plants for favours

      This party has been brought to you by (Pinterest and) the birthday girl's family, including but not limited to: Mommy, both Grandmas, Daddy and Grandpa! As usual, thank you for all your help! And not to mention special thanks to all the guests who came to celebrate with us!

     Hope you enjoyed your party, Baby Girl! I know we did! Happy Birthday!

Rachel: 1 year old!

     Rachel turned one today!

  As I watch Rachel pick her ear with her toe while she's nursing, I can't believe it's been a whole year since she came into our lives. She has made many more significant accomplishments this month:

• she is finally starting to fit into 12 - 18 month clothes 
• she can now sign "more" 
• she blows spit bubbles (intentionally)
• she squeals whenever she sees dogs :)
• she claps (which she especially loves doing for herself, and it's becoming more and more obvious that she is a Ham) 
• she loves to eat green stuff: broccoli, asparagus, beans, and especially peas!
• she can point to things with one finger
• she gives kisses
• she's down to nursing 3-4 times a day, and usually two bottles at night. I would describe our nursing relationship as 'fragile', now. :/
• she shakes her head 'no' (she has been able to do this for a while, but only recently she started doing it on a daily (hourly?) basis, and accompanying it with the word 'no') 
• she can go down the metal slide at the park by herself
• and I've even heard her a few times trying to carry a tune 

Clever Bee. Probably her most notable accomplishment though, was that she took her first steps today!! I was fairly determined for her to walk before she turned one, as she was so close and so ready, so we were practicing today and she finally did it! Four big steps from Daddy's arms to Mommy's. <3
     Someone once told me that babies usually tend to either develop stronger language skills or physical skills first, and from what I can tell so far, it seems to ring true. While Laura was my early walker (and somewhat lacked in language), Rachel seems to be doing very well language-wise (she probably has about ten words already), but is a little slower on the walking. Lots of other babies I know are the same way.

Anyway, here is a 4-minute recap of Rache's first year. The slideshow is set to the song 'Baby Mine' because when I was pregnant with her, Laura was on a stint of watching Dumbo every day, and every day I would bawl my eyes out when that song came on. So, I figured it was appropriate to be 'Rachel's Song', and, to date, we sing it to her when she needs calming. Josh and I recorded this cover of it to go with the slideshow:

http://www.youtube.com/edit?ns=1&feature=vm&video_id=cgAm9PgGLiU

(I don't know why, but it won't let me embed the slideshow)

ETA: Rachel had her 12 month check up today (Monday) and weighed in at 17 pounds 12 ounces and 28 inches. :)

Magic

     I haven't posted much lately, mostly because we've been kind of miserable and tired, and who wants to read about that? Laura has had this ridiculous spell (for weeks!) of staying up until Josh and I go to bed, leaving us exhausted and frustrated with no adult time, not to mention her exhaustion, too. I think she is having an especially hard time at the moment with separation anxiety (bedtime, school, gymnastics, etc) for one reason or another. Either way, we are all exhausted.

     Anyway, I went to see our naturopath last week, and among other things, I mentioned this weird phase Laura is going through. I swear, this woman has a remedy for everything! She gave me a homeopathic concoction designed to help relax/ induce sleep. We have been giving it to Laura for several nights now, and it seems to consistently do the trick! Josh and I are so happy to have our evenings back now (especially with all the projects I am working on for Rachel's upcoming birthday party), and Laura is better rested.

     I must admit, I was pretty skeptical of the whole homeopathic notion to begin with, but this stuff really works. Laura has no idea what it is we are giving her, so it can't be attributed to a placebo effect. Our naturopath has also given me remedies that she intended to do one thing, but did another, so again, can't be attributed to placebo. I know this isn't the type of thing for everyone, but I am very happy to have found a way for our family to work through some issues sans medication.

Sibling Rivalry

     For the first four or five months after Rachel was born, she was pretty laid back and low maintenance. This seemed to resonate well with Laura. But after all the shenanigans Rachel and I have endured from the time she was about six months (re: nursing/ milk supply, etc), she has really found her "voice" in letting us know when she needs us. I am not saying she is a needy or high maintenance baby, but she has definitely learned how to demand our attention when needed.
     Lately, Laura has been demonstrating her dislike for the attention that Rachel gets (which, let's be honest, is still less than the attention that Laura gets) in the form of "violent affection". Laura, too, certainly knows how to get our attention when she wants it. Although it is getting a little better now, the last couple of weeks have been especially rough. Whenever Rachel is out crawling and cruising, Laura will go over and give her a 'headlock' kiss or hug, which more often than not ends in Rachel falling over and/ or hurting herself. This enrages me because Rachel is too little to defend herself, and that's not fair. Laura knows she is being too rough. She knows Rachel doesn't like it. And she knows how to show affection nicely. So, I am concluding that she is doing this because she is taking out her frustrations of not having 100% of my attention all the time on the person who is depriving her of that. Because it gets her (negative) attention when she does do it. I've tried being enraged. I've tried asking her nicely to stop. I've tried time outs. I've tried ignoring her and focusing on Rachel in these situations. None of these things have worked to decrease the behaviour. The only thing that seems to work is to give Laura more attention. But, realistically, she already gets a lot of my attention (as I said before, way more than Rachel gets) and I can't give her my attention 100% of the time. I have things to do, another child, etc. And it is not healthy for either of us for her to have so much of my attention. I am resentful that I can't spend more time with Rachel, or for myself, or on things that need to get done, and she needs to learn to share her mommy and how to entertain herself when I'm busy.
     And so, I'm not entirely sure what to do. I really want them to get along and be best friends since there will only ever be the two of them. And I think parenting can play a huge role in how that relationship develops. We aspire to a 'gentle' parenting approach, and try to see and understand things from the child's point of view because they are human too. We attempt to model mutual respect because children learn from what they see, not what they are told to do. So, I'm open to trying any gentle parenting suggestions you may have!

Rachel: 11 Months

 Rachie is 11 months today! I can't believe she is almost 1! :) :(
Birthday preparations are in full swing. :)

In the past month, Rache has finally popped through some teeth (her bottom two, about two weeks ago.) She has also avidly been practicing her diaper-changing contortionism. It's somewhat akin to wrestling a crocodile (or so I imagine), more often than not covered in poo. Good times. And to fuel all the poo she makes, she continues to eat well, often more than her three year old sister. For example, at breakfast it is not uncommon for her to down an entire banana, a whole piece of bread, along with a bowl of yogurt, or something else. I'm sure we'll hit the Picky-Eating Toddler wall soon enough, though I'm currently waiting for a growth spurt, as she has been having hiccups a lot lately (anyone else notice that correlation?).
We are still struggling along with nursing. I am taking two fenugreek capsules a day and sometimes a cup of nursing tea, which allows me to make enough milk for about six feedings: usually upon waking, before morning nap, after lunch, late afternoon, before bed, and one middle of the night. She also usually takes one bottle still either when she goes to bed or when we go to bed. I would rather her not have formula at all, but apparently my body has other plans, and I place far too much of my perceived self-worth in my ability to produce milk. :( I am still planning to nurse her until she is at least two, as long as she wants to continue. I could see her weaning before then, though, as she is not an overly cuddly kid/ does not seem to derive a lot of comfort from nursing. I guess we'll see.
She is down to one nap most days now, and takes them fairly early (usually from around 10:00 until 11:30 or so). The odd day she will need an afternoon nap as well, but not that often anymore. I was kind of hoping she would take a good 2 - 3 hour nap when she went down to one like Laura did, but I guess not.
She is cruising around the furniture more and more, though still prefers crawling to get around. I'm sure it won't be too much longer until she walks, though! She is also standing up unassisted for longer and longer periods now, and she has even climbed down off the bed and the couch a few times all by herself. She continues to love bopping along to music with her 'neck dance', but also by bouncing her legs now. So cute.
One of her new loves are Touch 'n Feel books. One of her new hates is the bath. She screams bloody murder the whole time, so we only do them every other day and as quickly as possible.
She has started saying more words this month, too. She can now say: bath, dog, bye, yum, MUAH, and maybe one or two more I can't remember right now. She also says MOM MOM MOM and DAD DAD DAD very regularly now, and in context.