Beyond Baby

This year, 2014, my baby will be starting full day Kindergarten.  It seems so hard to believe that this precious baby that came into my life such a short time ago is going to be off to school, the start of her building her own life independent of me.

Before Sydney was born I had a very happy and full life.  I had a job I loved, great friends, a wonderful relationship with Paul and the world by the tail.  I knew that having a baby would both change and complete my world, which she did.  When she was born I gave up my job to stay at home with her full time and she really has become my sole focus in life over these past four years.

The challenge is, I feel as though I've lost a bit of myself in this whole motherhood thing.  The woman that I was before becoming a Mom has been shelved away for a greater purpose but I have the feeling as this year unfolds that I'll need to find her again and dust her off as I get a good chunk of my own life back.

One of the blogs that I read on a regular basis is called 'The Happiest Home.'  I so enjoy reading this blog on a daily basis and Megan, a Mom of four children who are now almost all of school age, has started a program called "Beyond Baby" for Moms just like me who are feeling a little out of sorts trying to figure ourselves out outside of our children and identity in being a Mom.

Every week Megan sends an e-mail out with some homework and reading.  One of the things that she asked us to do was to get ourselves a journal so that we could write and explore our thoughts, feelings and dreams on paper.

So I got myself this beautiful purple leather bound journal to kick off this new little project, I'm excited to see what unfolds from it all.

This week Sydney went for her Kindergarten assessment at York House School where we have applied for her to go to Kindergarten.  She was quite reluctant to leave me at first but once she got settled she had a great time, she even said to me at the end of it all: "I had the best time EVER at York House!"  It was very sweet.  She left the assessment with a beautiful picture that she'd coloured and a sticker on her hand, not a bad morning!

We had Sydney's first art class of the season this week too at the 4 Cats art studio in Kerrisdale.  Syd had the best time painting her canvas and in the end abandoned her brush all together and just painted with her hands!

Sydney and Daddy have a fun tradition of building forts together in the living room out of the couch cushions and blankets and pillows.  Last night over dinner Sydney was begging Paul to build her a fort, he told her he would after dinner but then we got busy cleaning up and getting Syd off to bed and totally forgot about building her a fort.

So this morning Sydney and I woke up to find something special made by Daddy:

Along with a note:

Syd was thrilled, she actually gasped as she came down the stairs and saw what Daddy had done.  I gave her a flashlight and let her sit inside the fort to have her breakfast. 

What a fun and fantastic way to start the day!

Little Swimmer

Today was Sydney's first day back to preschool and her first swimming lesson of 2014 at Aquaventures Swim Centre, where she has been taking lessons since she was six months old.  She has just graduated into the Turtle class so today she had a new instructor and group of kids in her class.

Anything new or different is always a little bit challenging for Sydney.  She is very cautious by nature and takes a long time to warm up to new people, activities or things in general.  I wasn't sure how today was going to go at Sydney's lesson.

We sat on the sidelines watching the classes before us finish up for a few minutes then her new instructor Nikki called her into the pool.  She cautiously moved towards the pool and sat down next to another kid in the class.  So far so good....

I quickly settled myself into a seat so I could watch her lesson when I suddenly heard a familiar cry and Sydney yelling: "Mommy, I'm tired!"  Sydney says this often for a variety of reasons, usually when she's unsure about something or doesn't want me to leave her somewhere.

I chose to stay seated while I watched Daniela, one of her past instructors that she knew well, come up to her and say a few reassuring words and then my brave little girl swam off with her class.

I was so proud of her, I could tell it was hard for her to push past what she was feeling but she did it and without any help from Mom.  My girl is growing up!

She had a great lesson and I think she is really going to enjoy the new challenges that this level brings.

My little swimmer!

A Clean House and A Playdate

Sydney and I spent her last day of vacation snuggled up together at home today.  We made birthday cards for her buddies who are celebrating birthdays in January, sorted through heaps of paper piled high on my desk, had snacks and played Candyland.  And all of this while our house was being cleaned top to bottom by Nena, our lovely housekeeper.  She makes me so happy as she mops my floors and shines my sinks and the house smells so clean when she's done.  Cleaning day is one of my favourite days of the week!

This afternoon Sarah and Emma came over for a visit.  After almost a month since we had last seen them, we had lots to catch up on! 

Sarah brought me the most bright and cheery mini daffodil plant, I just love the little pop of colour in my kitchen!

Emma brought Syd a special gift, a hairbrush that she had her Mom order off the shopping channel for both she and Syd that is supposed to help the tangles and make brushing less painful.  Syd was pretty happy with it, she brushed her hair out and then asked me to feel how soft it was. 

I loved watching she and Emma play in her bedroom, they dumped out her jewellery box and tried on all of her things and put a dozen hair clips in each other's hair.  It was super cute!

They each painted a little masterpiece too:

By Ms. Sydney Monet

By Ms. Emma Picasso

Tomorrow is back to school, Syd is super excited and Mom is pretty stoked too.  Here we go, head first into 2014!

Seussical

Today was our last long and lazy day together before we hit the ground running tomorrow.  It was another beautiful, sunny day but super cold so we hunkered down in my sun drenched office and worked on a little recipe scrapbooking project that has been four years in the making.  Since Sydney's been born I've been ripping recipes that look good out of magazines and newspapers and printing them off the net and stashing them in a bulging blue folder.

Today that folder finally got emptied and the recipes properly clipped and ready to be added to my recipe binders.  Felt so good to finally get it done!

This afternoon Sydney and I went to Waterfront Theatre to take in their closing performance of Seussical at the Carousel Theatre for Young People.

What a great show featuring some of my most beloved Dr. Seuss characters with tons of singing and dancing which held Sydney's interest the entire time.  It's really quite amazing how much Sydney's attention span for shows has increased over the past few months.  I am so looking forward to taking her to more things like this in the months and years to come!

Shabbat Dinner

I'm not one to make too many New Year's resolutions, mostly because I feel as though I'm setting myself up for disappointment when I inevitably don't keep them.  Many years ago my friend Kim told me that instead of making resolutions she chooses a theme for the year to focus on and I really loved that idea.  This year my theme is self-care.  I am going to take good care of myself so that I can be there for the people who love and depend on me.  This will hopefully mean buckling down to a consistent exercise regime, eating well, spending time doing things I love and trying new things.


Since we were in the air coming home from Hawaii on New Year's Eve I didn't get the chance to toast the new year in, so I popped a bottle of bubbly on New Year's Day and toasted in all that 2014 will bring.  I am excited to see the year unfold.

One of my resolutions from last year was to start having Shabbat dinners on Friday night, something that Sydney had long asked me to do and that I knew would be good for us as a family.  I always had good intentions of doing it but never did get around to it.

So last night, on the first Friday of 2014 we made it happen.  I made a challah, Syd and I baked a pudding cake and Paul made some amazing steaks on the grill for us and we lit the candles, said the blessing and shared a glass of wine (not kiddush but we're working on it!)

What a lovely tradition this is going to be, I love how it marks the end of a week and the beginning of a new one and gives us some time to slow down and spend an evening around the table together as a family.

Sydney was thrilled that we finally had the chance to use the challah cover and kiddush cup that she had made at preschool for our Shabbat dinner.

She even made place cards for each of our settings at the table!

My friend Andrea stopped by today with a lovely little surprise gift to say happy new year, a gorgeous succulent plant in a beautiful planter.  What fun to come home after running errands to find it waiting on our front porch.

Sydney has been keeping herself busy painting some new masterpieces, here's her first of 2014:

It was another beautiful, sunny cold day in Vancouver today so we took advantage of the weather and went to the park for a little play time this afternoon.

What a nice start to a new year!

Maui 2013

We have been home for three full days after two glorious weeks in Maui for our annual sun vacation.  I keep meaning to upload my pictures and post to my blog but have so been enjoying these precious few days together all relaxed and without a schedule.  It's been lovely and surprisingly productive as I've been straightening up and doing some new year's cleaning around the house after a very hectic fall!

Maui is always such a perfect vacation.  There are a million things that I love about it.  I find myself often daydreaming about it during the year, the sound of the waves crashing onto the shore, the smell of the air all heavy and humid, the birds chirping early in the morning and beautiful flowers blooming everywhere you look.

Here are a few highlights from our time away because pictures can always tell a way better story than I can:

Beach time...hours and hours of our day was spent lounging on the beach in the sun.  Sheer perfection!

Our complex was completely decked out for Christmas, they even had giant ornaments hanging in all the trees, Sydney thought it was so cool!

I brought a kite with us for Sydney to use and we spent many a windy afternoon in the park flying it, it was terrific!

We always enjoy a trip to the Maui Ocean Centre, this year we got a weekly pass and went a few times.

 I just love the flowers in Hawaii, Bird of Paradise and Hibiscus are two of my favourites!

Sydney and I are always on the hunt for sea glass on the beach to add to my sister's collection.  We were amazed to see this huge pile that a lady had collected at a craft fair.  She takes the glass and makes beautiful pieces of jewellery to sell.  I got myself a gorgeous pair of light blue sea glass earrings, love them!

Syd spent many an afternoon bobbing around the swimming pool.

Took a little afternoon trip to Lahaina, even discovered some newly opened factory outlets there!  Just when I thought I couldn't love Maui any more....

We spent a day with our friends Ryan, Christina and Jack in Kapalua.  Syd and Jack had so much fun playing together on the beach. It was so cute to see how excited they were to see each other!

Syd loved collecting flowers everyday on our morning walk and making bouquets for us.

Just loved that she wanted to take her Abby Caddaby doll for walks in the little stroller.

Sunset is one of our favourite times of day...

Syd would often do her yoga, a complete sun salutation while we were watching the sun set.

And Mommy and Daddy would enjoy a glass of wine.

Sydney's passion on the beach this year was collecting treasures, shells, coral and sea glass.  Everyday she would fill a pail with things and bring them home to rinse off and lay out to dry.

More fun times in the park playing soccer with Daddy.

Love this shot of her pensively looking at the water during sunset while perched on the lava rocks high above the ocean. 

We always love connecting with nature while we're there.  This year we saw tons of Humpback whales jumping and breaching in the water and a turtle swam right by Paul and Syd while they were in the ocean, it was magical!

We are soaking up a few days together at home before life resumes to normal next week, loving the slow and easy moments that our post-holiday time brings!