Project Green: August

We're going green, but change takes time!  The Hubs and I are challenging ourselves to make our household and lifestyle more environmentally friendly by taking on one green project each month.  In June, I made my own laundry detergent.  In July, we started composting.  Here's what we did in August:

Okay, so I slacked off a little in August and now I owe the blogosphere two green projects.  I assure you, I have not been shirking my environmental responsibilities - it's only writing about it that is falling by the wayside.

This summer, we ate a lot of sockeye salmon.  Everyone knows that salmon is a great source of omega-3, along with other important vitamins and minerals, and helps fight cancer, reduce the risk of obesity, and promote a healthy heart.  And it makes you smart. At least, it will probably make Lilah smart (or, I should say, smarter, if that's even possible) - it's probably too late for me and the Hubs!

Great, so what does eating salmon have to do with being friendly to the earth?  Well, we bought a quarter share in our local community supported fishery, which is recommended by the Vancouver Aquarium as Ocean Wise, meaning that the fishing is done in as sustainable a manner as possible.  So we can bite into our delicious salmon dinner knowing that we are doing our small part to help preserve the health of our oceans.  I wanted to tell you how it works, but Skipper Otto (or at least his website) says it best, so here's a direct quote:

A “Community Supported Fishery” is inspired by the very successful model of “Community Supported Agriculture” (CSA) which seeks to link consumers to family businesses that produce local, organic, sustainable, fairly traded food. In a CSF, as in a CSA, consumers purchase a share in the business. They share in the benefits and joys of the fishery as well as the risks. In exchange, the consumer receives a share of the best of what is produced that year. As with CSAs, CSFs help ensure that independent, small scale harvesters remain in an industry which is rapidly becoming dominated by big business and aquaculture.



By investing a sum at the start of the season, customers guarantee that we have enough money to operate our fishing business for the season. In exchange, customers will receive a bounty of wild, fresh, northern salmon.

So, we were already feeling pretty smug about our salmon consumption.  And then, and then! this year turned out to be a mammoth year for salmon runs.  So much so that Skipper Otto hosted a barbecue in August with a free fish for all the CSF members who showed up.  Ours was so big we had to invite our neighbours over to help us eat it!  If you'll believe it, I think it tasted even better when it was free!

Stay tuned for September's project coming tomorrow...

Wordless Wednesday: A Trip to the Vancouver Aquarium

Conspiracy Theory

I am convinced that the kind-hearted, generous, wonderful people I work with have deliberately set out to sabotage my latest fitness project, Operation: Get Healthy & Fit into my Pants.

It is a well-known fact that I have zero will power.  Unlike my lovely co-workers, who seem to be able to restrain themselves, I cannot have just one cookie/doughnut/slice of delicious, moist, mouth-watering, ooey-gooey chocolate cake (or whatever).  I have to have about 15.  And then I have to undo the top button of my already tight pants and hang my head in shame.

I refuse to spend good money on new pants.  I have considered digging out my maternity pants so I can sit down and breathe at the same time, but that seems too much like accepting defeat for my liking.  However, I do have this to say to my dear colleagues: if I end up having to wear my bathrobe to work, you'll have only  yourselves and your irresistible treats to blame.  Consider yourselves warned!

Wordless Wednesday



All dressed up for her cousin's birthday party,
watching the big kids do gymnastics.



Filled with Glee

A new season of Glee kicks off tonight and I don't think I have ever been more excited for a TV show premiere in my life!  So, to honour this momentous occasion, it is with great pride that I present you to you...

The Lilahbility's Tribute to Sue Sylvester:



Copy Cat

We have a copy cat in our midst.  These days, we can rarely get away with anything without seeing our own actions reflected back at us by way of a tiny mirror.

Toilet paper:  When she follows me into the bathroom, Lilah just has to have a square of toilet paper.  Usually she just wrinkles her nose and makes a sniffing sound while placing the square of TP in the general vicinity of her nose, but the other day she copied exactly what I was doing and wiped between her legs.  This gives me hope that someday she will sit on the toilet, too!

Hats: This kid loves talking about, wearing, and hoarding hats of all kinds.  In fact, anything that can be worn on or near the head is fair game.  Sunglasses, bibs, goggles, scarves, and hats are all of great interest at the moment.  Lilah never fails to notice (and "comment") when one of us is wearing a hat or sunglasses on our head, and more often than not, she will find a way to get her hands on said accessory.

Cell phones:  Phones are coveted items over here at Chez Lilahbility.  Since I have a smart phone coming to me as a belated birthday present from the Hubs, I don't mind her playing with my ancient Motorola beater.  Her favourite activity is flipping it open, jabbing her fingers at the buttons, and putting it to her ear while greeting her fictional caller with a casual "'Lo?"  In the case that no cell phone is immediately available, any other object can be used as a stand-in for this game, including but not limited to the following: TV remote, banana, shoe, sidewalk chalk, baby monitor, water bottle, thermometer, etc...

Food:  It used to be that we could sneak our own food while Lilah was busy working on something baby-appropriate, but these days, the second an adult plate becomes visible to her, she has to try what's on it.  This kid is persistent, so it's either share my cookie with her right off the bat or wait until the pointing and grunting become too urgent, loud, and/or high-pitched to ignore.  The Hubs has developed his own strategy for dealing with this, and that is to wolf down his share with unrivalled speed.

Cleaning: Lilah has recently started to show an interest in wiping surfaces clean after eating.  Yesterday she used her tortilla as a cloth to wipe up the water and uneaten bits of lunch sitting on the table in front of her.  Now that's resourceful, don't you think?

Swearing:  Don't worry, I'm just kidding!  But if there ever was a perfect time to clean up our potty mouths, now would be it. It won't be long before our little copy cat is able to imitate our every word!

Baby Space

At my six week post partum doctor's appointment, I was presented by my doctor with this question:

"So, what are you thinking in terms of baby space?"

And my response:  "S'nuh?"

Doctor:  "You know, baby space, the length of time you want to have between babies...?"

*Apparently I wasn't up on the lingo, because I thought she was asking me about our nursery decor or something.  Which goes to show what a state my brain was in at six weeks post partum.  Now it's clear to me that this line of questioning was meant to be the opener for "the birth control conversation."

Me: "Oh, um, I don't know, I haven't really thought about it since Lilah was born, but I guess we always thought about two years?"

Since then, I have fielded this question in some form or another several times, and more frequently since Lilah turned one.  And I have to say that my expectations have changed.  If we wanted another child to arrive around the time that Lilah turns two, we'd have to get cracking... ummmm.... yesterday.  And it's about the furthest thing from my mind at the moment.  I really can't imagine dealing with the exhaustion and nausea that accompanied my first trimester all over again while also chasing an extremely active and needy toddler around!  How do people do it?  Not to mention then having a newborn and a toddler.  I guess I have a longer memory than many moms, because I still remember quite clearly how difficult those early days with Lilah were; how stressed and sleep-deprived I was, and how difficult I found it to ask for help.  The memories are not yet hazy and I haven't yet managed to romanticize the newborn days.  Those were some challenging times, and neither the Hubs nor I are ready to re-live any of that.  Yet.

**I do realize that I am in an extremely fortunate position to have the luxury of assuming that a second child would come along roughly when we want, and according to our plans.  I also know it's not outside the realm of possibility that we could experience challenges in the future.  Having experienced a loss in the past, I know better than to count my babies before they are hatched.  But we are talking ideal baby space, people.

And if I'm being completely honest - and isn't that what oversharing on the internet is all about?- I still have days that make me question my ability to properly raise one child - what makes me think I could handle two?  I'm sure this is my inner control freak talking, but I don't think I'm so on top of things that I could imagine upping the ante to that extent, essentially going all in on a total bluff.

I do hope that my attitude will change sometime in the next couple of years, since we hope to one day add one more to our brood (and of course the Hubs has his fingers tightly crossed for some boy bits, or "twig and berries," as he sometimes refers to them, somewhere in our future).  But at the moment I'm settling back into work, Lilah is getting accustomed to daycare, she's still nursing a few times a day, and I'm still trying to find some kind of life balance.

What's your ideal "baby space?"  Please share your thoughts!

Run For the Cure

On Sunday, October 3 I'll be participating (read: running/walking/hobbling/crawling) in the CIBC Run for the Cure to raise money for breast cancer research.

I've done the run twice in years past, but had gotten lazy in the past few years and neglected to register, so when a co-worker asked if I'd be interested in running this year I thought, "Hells, yeah!"  It was just the motivation I needed to get off the couch, raise some money, and get some much-needed exercise.

We all know someone, or are someone, whose life has been affected by breast cancer.  It's a disease that gets a lot of air time, and I've even heard people say they are tired of hearing about it.  True, there are many other worthy causes out there.  But this is one that is particularly near and dear to my heart.  Breast cancer has struck women on both sides of my family.  My dad's sister is a survivor, and my mother's mother was a casualty.  I also watched my stepmother battle the disease for several years, ultimately losing her battle the day before my birthday 23rd birthday.  Breast cancer is a biatch, and she needs to be taken down.

No pressure, but if you'd like to donate, leave me a comment with your email address and I'll send you more information on how you can help.  I have a generous sponsor who has promised to match others' pledges up to $300, so if you do decide to pitch in, you will actually be generating double the dollar amount of your donation!

Wordless Wednesday: Creative Genius?

What do you think, internet art critics?  Does my daughter have a brilliant future as an artiste?
And, more importantly, will this photo, as her first documented piece, one day be worth millions?

Wordless Wednesday Worthy

For lack of any recent photos worthy of Wordless Wednesday,

here is one that was taken on September 8, 2009

Besties

A spontaneous moment of BFF love caught on video

on a recent outing to Science World.

August 2010 Recap

Amber Strocel does a monthly recap and has invited others to play along and link up. So here's what I learned in August:

1. Air travel with a toddler is infinitely more difficult than air travel with an infant.  Also, when your tiny infant screams on a flight, people look at you with sympathy.  When your toddler screams on a flight, people look at you with disdain.  Except other people with toddlers.  They're too busy trying to keep their own toddler from screaming to bother looking at you.

2. An ERGObaby carrier is worth its weight in gold.  The only way I could get Lilah to take a much-needed nap during our five hour flights to and from Ontario was to go the back of the plane and bounce up and down and shush until she finally nodded off.  Hard work, but completely worth it for a few minutes of peace.

3. Food, family, friends, and fun are the main ingredients for an awesome vacation.

Having fun with my sister on our family vacation.

4. Motherly love can get you into some totally ridiculous situations.  If you don't find a way to laugh about it, you will probably lose your marbles.

5.a) I enjoy taking photos of other people's babies.  5. b) Lilah could stand to learn a modeling tip or two from her adorable little buddies.

6.  The transition to daycare didn't kill us afterall.  Lilah seems genuinely happy at her daycare, eating unprecedented quantities of her lunch, napping quite well, making new friends, and adjusting more quickly than expected.

7.  Date nights are so refreshing.  The Hubs and I need to do them more often and not always wait for special occasions like our anniversary.

Anniversary date night self-portrait

8.  I really need to get my act together on my green projects.  August went by so quickly that I didn't get a chance to change any habits, let alone blog about them.  I'll have to do a double-header for September.

9.  Turning 31 on the 31st is a great excuse for champagne.  Yum!

My birthday meal (made by one wonderful Hubs), complete with champagne.

10.  Watching your baby learn to give hugs and kisses is so adorable it makes your heart ache.

(Sorta) Wordless Wednesday

A rare moment of calm had me thinking I should let Lilah "read" my

(embarassingly trashy) magazines more often.

But the aftermath reminded me why I don't!

*In my defense, this particular magazine was purchased for the plane ride back from Ontario.