Wordful Wednesday: Well, Hello, Fall.

It's official: fall has arrived, and with it, the wet weather that Vancouver is famous for.  Summer gave us one last hurrah on Saturday, but Sunday brought buckets of rain and a cool, crisp breeze that decided to set up camp and has been hanging around ever since.  I felt that old familiar damp chill in my bones that I still haven't gotten entirely used to, though I have now lived on the West Coast for 14 years.

It's no secret that I am a huge fan of summer.  But it's not all doom and gloom, this autumn thing.  It has its redeeming qualities.  Like visits to the pumpkin patch, steamed soy milk with caramel drizzled on top, and Thanksgiving turkey with all the trimmings.  And cranberry apple crisp and falling leaves and cozy sweaters.  Hey, this list could go on forever, now that I'm on a roll.

Sometimes, when the rain has been falling for what feels like months on end, it can be rather depressing.  My first winter in Vancouver was a doozy, and I spent a disproportionate amount of time in my bed.  But that was back in my student days when I had the luxury of a whole lot of free time.  Obviously things are a little different now.  Besides, Lilah has made me see the good in rainy days.  Such is her power over me. 

You see, the rain isn't all bad.  With it comes puddle jumping,

And gorgeous blond curls that turn to ringlets-on-steroids in the damp weather,  

And random trampolines that magically appear in our courtyard for the sole purpose of amusing the little ones.



(Okay, not strictly fall-related, but I couldn't resist.)



Also: an adorable ladybug umbrella which of course the independent two-year-old insists on carrying herself, though she finds it unruly and it smacks her in the head from time to time.  (I'll get a picture of her carrying it one of these days. Promise.)  It is quite the sight, and I have heard many a chuckle escape from the lips of passersby upon watching her struggle with it.

Tell me something good about fall weather and/or rain - I need to stock up on positives to see me through till next spring!

Swingin' In the Rain(boots)

The only thing better than an afternoon at the park is sharing it with a friend.


Unfortunately, Lilah also shared her hand, foot, and mouth virus with this cutie and his second birthday party had to be postponed!

(Sorry, buddy.)

Still, they do make quite the adorable duo, don't you think?

Window Shopping

Lately I've been admiring this stunning dress in a store window I frequently walk in our neighbourhood:

The photos were snapped quickly on my iPhone as I raced home to get Lilah down for a much-needed nap, so the quality isn't great, and there is a lot of reflection off the window, but take my word for it, this dress is a.ma.zing.  So amazing that I briefly considered throwing a black tie event just so I could buy it and have somewhere to wear it.  But since neither are in the budget, I'll have to make do with lusting after it through the shop window.

On a totally unrelated note, if anyone wants to invite me to a red carpet event or formal party of any kind, my calendar is wide open.  Have your people call my people.

Lilah recently experienced some window shopping lust of her own when this dollhouse caught her eye:

 

They're going to need to some extra-strength Windex to shine up that window: I'm pretty sure she left more than just fingerprints, since she had her face mashed up against the glass and may even have licked it. (Like me, she is passionate about her window shopping. Can you blame her?) Also, she may or may not have had a runny nose that day.  But that's neither here nor there. 

Luckily for both of us, these two shops are within three blocks of our home, so we pass them often and can pay the objects of our affection a visit whenever we feel the need.

Done any good window shopping lately?

Wordless Wednesday: Kid in a Box

A Touch of Sun

Playing around with the late afternoon light... I love me some sun flare!

This photo was entered into the I Heart Faces photo challenge - http://www.iheartfaces.com/

On Being an Adult

We've had a pretty rough few days chez Lilahbility.  Lilah brought a little something extra home from daycare the other day, and it turned out to be hand, foot, and mouth disease.  A couple days of fever followed by a blistery rash on the hands and feet and in and around the mouth.  While it is never fun to have a  sick child on one's hands, I have to say (without hyperbole) that Thursday was one of the most difficult days in my two-year parenting career so far.  I'm talking challenging and intense in the same way the newborn days are, and it followed a near-sleepless night, so it felt all too similar.

It is occasions like these (and sometimes random occasions as well) when I can hardly believe that I am really an adult; that I am old enough and responsible enough to be in charge of another person, let alone a small child who is ill and relying on me for her every need.  In my mind, I am still 18, just barely an adult.

But somehow I was trusted with the responsibility of taking my prenatal vitamins, growing a small human inside of me, getting her out safely (with a little help, obviously), nourishing her, nurturing her, keeping her warm and safe, and providing her with opportunities to learn and grow. 

And now here I am; the parent, the one in charge, trying to pacify a cranky toddler with a nasty virus and failing miserably.  And just for a moment, that sneaky "How did I get here?" feeling creeps up, bringing with it the self-doubt, the feeling that I might not be able to handle this, that maybe someone else would do a much better job, be more patient, hold it together better.

But the truth is, we got through it.  We always get through it.  And I helped get her through it.  I administered medications, fed her, made sure she drank enough fluids, rocked her, read to her, and restrained myself from strangling her when she sent her bowl of applesauce sailing past my head.  Because I'm her mom, and that's what moms do.


Oh yeah, forgot to mention - I also let her have a creamsicle in the bath.
And the bruise on her forehead?  I did NOT cause that.
In one of her illness-induced rages, she slipped and banged her head on a sharp corner.
Talk about adding insult to injury!



Still, when Lilah has woken for the fifth time in one night screaming, "I WANT MY MOMMY!!!" at top of her lungs, I will admit to sometimes thinking, "You and me both, kid, you and me both."

Wednesday of Few Words: We Get By With a Little Help From Our Friends

Sunday was...how do I put this?  Ummm, let's go with "interesting."  The Hubs was battling a bad cold, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and then developed a terrible headache, and Lilah was wearing her crankiest cranky pants.  (Even though she was wearing a dress.)  To say we were in a funk would be a drastic understatement.

Thankfully, as we were headed out to the park to fill the post-nap gap, we had the good fortune to run into this little guy:

(And his parents, of whom we are also quite fond.)

We were able to convince them to come to the park with us, and their presence pretty much saved the day. 

Well, that and the park's drinking fountain.

It started out innocently enough.

But it wasn't long before the water fountain became a makeshift spray park.

Which resulted in a whole lot more of this:

Yep, that's a smile.  Suddenly, my headache was gone and we were all in a much better mood.  Funny how quickly spending time with friends can turn things around.

And how do you make a great afternoon park date with friends even better?  By carrying it over into dinner and ordering sushi!

Of course, kids (messily) eating dinner together just screams for a shared bath and story time.  Which inevitably leads to goodnight snuggles.

Wishing a happy Wednesday to all of friends, near and far.

10 Reasons to Have Kids (Apart from the Obvious)

Are you on the fence about having kids?  Not sure if you want your lifestyle and routines upset by some pint-sized maniac?  Well, sit back and allow me to fill you in on why you should add at least one child to your life.

Top Ten Reasons To Have Kids

(Apart from the Obvious, of course)

10.  You can wave frantically at the fire fighters driving by in a fire truck without looking like a total lunatic.  Bonus: if they're not rushing to a burning building, the hot one might just wave back!

9.  No one blames you for napping during the day.  In fact, it's totally encouraged.  Everyone's all, "sleep when the baby sleeps."  They don't need to know if you're still napping when your baby is 19.

8. If you accidentally let one rip, you can easily pin it on your kid(s).  This works especially well if they are still in diapers.

7.  If you act insane, just blame it on that deadliest of cocktails: hormones + sleep deprivation + mommy brain.

6.  You are more than justified in eating table scraps.  Kids waste a lot of food, and in the interest of being green, it is your duty to keep their uneaten food out of the already overflowing landfill.

5. You will rid yourself of all squeamishness and any tendency towards becoming embarassed in public.  Your dignity will follow suit.

4.  You can eat dinner while the early bird specials are still on.  Your dining companions may be a little long in the tooth and blue in the hair, and they will probably give you dirty looks for "allowing" your kid(s) to climb all over the restaurant, but at least you'll save money on the specials.

3.  New clothes.  Let's face it, that last 10 lbs of baby weight may never come off.  And even if it does, your hips/boobs/tummy will never be quite the same. But don't worry, that means you get to buy a whole new wardrobe!

2.  No more pesky indecisiveness!  You will no longer have time to hem and haw in the fruit aisle of the grocery store while searching for the perfect mango.  And you'd be surprised at how quickly you can pick out that brand new wardrobe when you only have a 30 minute window in which to shop.

1.  Ummm... blog fodder, duh!

Okay, okay, you caught me.  This right here?  This is the real reason to have kids.

Wordless Wednesday: Soaking It Up.

Soaking up the last rays of the Labour Day long weekend at our local outdoor pool...

  



I'm Not Really a Runner

I'm not really a runner.

But on October 2nd, I will strap on my running shoes, hit the play button on my iPod, and join thousands of other women and men in the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation's CIBC Run for the Cure. 

And when my feet hit the pavement, my thoughts will turn to the women in whose honour I am running. 

As my heart hammers, arms pump, sweat pours, and legs fill with lead, I will think about my mother's mother; my grandmother, who died of metastasized breast cancer at the age of sixty.

I will think about my dad's sister; my aunt, who is a survivor, and thankfully, has been cancer-free for many years. 

I will think about my dad's second wife; my step-mother, who finally succumbed to the disease after two long years and left behind a 16-year-old son, my brother.

I will think about my friend Kate, who is my age, mother to a doll-faced toddler and, I am positive, will soon be joining the list of breast cancer survivors.  She graciously, bravely, and honestly writes about her journey through the Big C at The Adventures of OBB.

These are the women who have inspired me to participate in the Run for the Cure, this year and in years past.

But as I run, my thoughts will turn to other women as well.  I will think about my mother, my sister, and myself.  Most of all, I will be thinking about my daughter.  I will be dreaming of her future, a future that includes a cure for breast cancer.  That is my wish for Lilah and her generation.

I'm not really a runner.

But on October 2nd, I will run for a cure.  And that will be enough.

Monthly Recap: What I learned in August 2011

This is part of Amber Strocel's monthly "What I learned" link-up. Go check it out!

1.  When you go on vacation and you are planning to take a lot of pictures on your Digital SLR, it's a good idea to bring the charger for the battery.  And if you forget it on the other side of the country, you'd better hope your neighbours are as fantastic as mine!

2.  Just because your toddler was very well-behaved on the two flights it took to get across the country, does not mean she will behave similarly well on the flight home.

3.  The Hubs may need a tutorial on how to work a girl's bathing suit, lest we end up with another wardrobe malfunction...

4.  Did you know there's a real, bona fide zoo in the middle of rural Nova Scotia? Nope, neither did I.  But there is, and it's pretty great.  It is surprisingly inexpensive, and it has every animal you could hope to see at a zoo, and then some.  (These photos aren't fantastic, because they were taken on my iPhone - see charger-related learning, above.)

5.  Tic Tacs are a brilliant method of bribery for potty use.

6.  As much as I love being on vacation and spending time with family, at a certain point, it's just good to come home.

7.  The water at Granville Island water park is really, really cold.  Like bone-chillingly, mind-numbingly cold:

8.  The car buying process is stressful and it is highly unlikely that you will end up sticking to your original budget.

9.  "Naps are like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you're gonna get."  (This really isn't new learning, I mean, I've been around the block a few times in my almost 26 months as a parent- but my wise older sister came up with this gem earlier in the month, and I just had to share.)

10.  It's actually kind of great when your birthday falls on a weekday.  All the more excuse to celebrate a birthday week rather than just a day!

What did you learn in August?  Please share!