Being Thankful

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada. I was washing the dishes thinking of everything I am thankful for. I'm always thankful for dishes because they are a great stress-relief tool for me, but I was doubly thankful today because it means I have food to eat, and a home to prepare that food in and keep me and my family safe from the elements.

Though it is not a complete list, here are a few of the things I am especially thankful for.

1) My husband - the Lord blessed me with a life partner that couldn't be more perfectly suited to me.
2) My son - the newest and brightest light in my life. As far as babies go, I think he's perfect.
3) My family - both the one I didn't choose and the one that I did. They are all a bunch of nuts and I wouldn't have it any other way.
4) My community - I'm surrounded by family and friends (some who are both). We live in this gorgeous corner of the world, nestled in among the trees and fields of gold. It's quiet, yet busy; peaceful yet ever-changing. If you're going to live in the country, it's just about the most perfect place to live.
4) My friends - the far-flung ones who have been friends since birth, and have helped shape me. Plus, who would have I have to stay with or visit when I travel? The near ones who provide a little extra spice in life, keep me from being a homebody, and are excellent parenting examples.
5) My job - I am so thankful I have a job. One that I love and could return to after such a long absence.
6) My church family - See community and friends. I'm not sure there are many places in the world where your immediate neighbours are your family/friends, and fellow believers.
7) The weather - it may seem silly to some, but here, the weather is paramount to everything. The last few years and months have been a challenge for everyone. But we've finally been blessed with a steady stretch of warm, sunny, windy weather so that the field work and harvest can go ahead. There is still lots to do, so we all need to pray for a little more.

Pumpkin Update

I guess "helping" my pumpkins along really did work. I was cleaning up my garden this afternoon, harvesting, pruning and pulling plants up and found 9 large pumpkins and 11 small pumpkins. Not sure what I'm going to do with so many after I've taken one year pictures, but at least I have a bunch to work with!

A Word on Pumpkins

I decided to grow pumpkins this year. I had an October baby, so it seemed fitting to try to grow them. And I really want to take baby & pumpkin pictures for his first birthday.

So I picked up a couple of seedlings this spring at the local greenhouse. With the promise that they would grow 8 feet each. For weeks they were the only plants in my garden so I diligently watered them and planned photo shoots in my head. Then they froze during the May Long weekend and the nighttime temperatures hovered around freezing for over a week. I covered the little pumpkins, hoping to save them, but a week later when the weather finally turned around and I uncovered them, they were in a very, very sad state. Just to see if they would bounce back, I left them in the garden, but went out and bought another plant. One that was already half a metre in size.

The new plant thrived and quickly doubled, then tripled its size. And then the frozen pumpkins started to grow again! I was thrilled at the thought of so many more pumpkins. Soon they started to flower and tiny little pumpkins were popping up everywhere. I was telling my mom of all the pumpkins that were growing and she informed me that I would likely have to help them along. Bringing the male flowers to visit the female flowers to make sure the flowers were properly fertilized. "Yeah right. As if I'm going to do that. There are enough bees around to do the job." I was so not going to help them along.

The ones that froze. Each 8 feet in diameter now.

The "newer" one that stretches over 12 feet, with 6 feet taking up grass.

Though the plants were taking more and more of my garden over, my crop of tiny little pumpkins never grew and started to rot. In telling my mother-in-law about the pumpkins, she also said I was going to have to "pimp" them or risk not getting any pumpkins. Every morning for the last 2 weeks I've been going out to "check" on my pumpkins and help them along. The first time I felt awful. Dirty. But it got easier and easier to the point where I didn't even feel bad about chucking the used male flowers over the fence when I was done with them. The best part is my work has paid off. I have several pumpkins that are growing like mad.

About the size of a mini watermelon

The size of a grapefruit

Of course, this has led me to wonder how pumpkins have survived over the many thousands of years if they couldn't get the job done on their own.

Little Sea Turtle

Hooray! Gauge passed his swimming lessons. Good thing as I would have no idea how to tell him he didn't and would have to take the same level next year ;)

Front Float

Trying to catch a wave like Auntie Shannon S

Auntie Pam came to his last day and we spent the rest of the day on the beach soaking up some vitamin D, drinking lake water and visiting. It was such a great success that I'm tempted to take the same 2 weeks off from work next year so we can do it again. Maybe the whole month of July... I'm loving this free time too much.

Water Baby

I've heard of very young babies being able to swim. Like being swaddled, they seem to find comfort in water, having spent the previous 9 months in a watery place. That's why we wanted to start Gauge early so he would develop a love and healthy appreciation for water. Lakes in particular, as we are not pool people.

I think Gauge is a water baby now. Today was day 8 of swimming lessons and the second day of lifejacket lessons. He wasn't quite sure what to think yesterday when I strapped him into his lifejacket, but he loved "jumping" into the deep water and that sensation of floating. Today was even better. He was eager to jump off the dock, splashed his arms and even kicked his legs when he was front floating. I couldn't help but have the biggest smile on my face the whole lesson. The greatest moment yet though was when he kept trying to blow bubbles in the water like the other kids. If I didn't hold him high enough above the water, he would put his entire face, mouth open, and come up sputtering but happy.

Swimming Lessons

I've become one of those parents that does crazy things to (for?) their kids. At only 8 1/2 months old, I enrolled my boy in swimming lessons for 2 weeks. At the lake. Most people who have kids in swimming lessons stay in campers at the lake for the 2 weeks. We don't have one, and you generally have to spend hours on the phone on March 1st to try and get a site... so I'm driving about 80 km round trip every day.
Obviously I've been more excited about going to the lake every day than Gauge, but I think he's catching on.
The first day was a bit of a no-go. I was told that his lesson would be around noon. So I showed up 10 mins. before noon only to find out that he should have been there at 11:30. Oops. I guess there is a list posted at the lake of when the lessons are, but I didn't know to check it beforehand. So we played in the lake a little bit then went home.
Day 2 was cold and cloudy, and we stayed home.
We showed up for day 3 really early and played on the beach and walked on the sand and tried to keep the sand out of someone's mouth. The water was still a little cool from the day before so we didn't make it too far in. Gauge desperately wanted to go and play with the other kids in his class but with each step that took him deeper, he would cringe and squeal a little. We spent a total of 5 mins in the water.

Day 4 was great. We were on time, walked down the beach and up to his chest before he started to make any protest. Being only 8 months, it's hard to get him to do any the things the teacher is teaching, or even play the games. But he loved being in the water and so close to the other kids.
Today is day 5. I think I'm going to try and get him to do some floats and maybe blow bubbles. He's so good at it out of water he should be able to in water right?

Baby Gauge, Pea. Eye.

It's raining, trying to snow really, and I don't feel like cleaning my house any more after playing hostess to over 100 people this weekend, so I'm going to post cute baby pictures.

See, all done!

My mom doesn't feed me enough, so I have to eat my toes.

"I don't know, what do you think of the plight of farmers?"

Ole Stuff

Beautiful rusty old lanterns. I'll hang the little one outside and the big one in the kitchen. New flowerbed in the background...

Future flowerpot cream can - can't decide whether to leave it or buff and paint it.

Errol's toy barn

De-worming powder

Gopher poison. On the shelf for at least the last 70 years.

Make it Look Pretty

On the topic of having Errol's cousin break ground and till some flowerbeds around the house.

Angela: I'm going to get him to work the grass up around the house so I don't have to do it by hand.
Errol: Ok.

Errol: You know I just had him work it up a few years ago so I could seed the grass and make it look nice.
Angela: Yeahbut I want him to work it up again so that I can plant flowers and make it look pretty.

Errol: Yeahbuts live in the bush. Pretty was what I was afraid of.
Angela: Too bad. I'll plant some "nice" shrubs for you.

Stuff

We're having a reunion here during the May Long Weekend. Over 100 people are expected, including a couple of relatives from Norway. To prepare, we decided to clean the yard. If you're not familiar with prairie farms and the farmer mentality, you NEVER throw anything, I mean anything, away. As soon as you do, you'll need it. So it was a big deal for Errol and his dad to decide a MAJOR cleanup was necessary. I'm super excited about the clean-up because it's getting rid of over 80 years of junk that we won't have to deal with in the future. That's right, 80 years.

5 of us started yesterday morning, working around the big shop, barn, granaries, chicken coop and a storage garage. In 8 hours we filled the dump truck 4 times, and loaded all sorts of scrap metal onto a trailer. And we're not done yet. Most of what we've removed has been junk, but there have been a few treasures. I found a cream can in great condition that Errol's grandmother used to take to town to sell cream, with her name on it. Two beautiful, rusty oil lanterns that will find a home in my kitchen. Old machinery, including a mower that I sat on and got bucked off of. A toy barn that used to be Errol's that we plan to repair and give to Gauge. I think my favourite were never-opened, old cans of gopher poison called "Gopher Cop". They've been on the shelves since Errol's dad was a kid, some 70+ years. Like I said, alot of old junk.

Maybe it's Not Always Adorable...

Remember how I said learning was adorable? Most of the time it is. It is, however, not very adorable at 2am when it goes on for almost 2 hours. Last night Gauge woke up and decided he needed to practice rolling from side to side, trying to flip onto his tummy. He managed to get stuck width wise in his crib, spun around 360 degrees several times, got tangled in his covers, discovered that the bars on his crib make great noise when he kicked them and so on and so forth. Despite all of his attempts, he never did flip over onto his tummy. At least not that I know of.
But, he has started sleeping on his side, mouth hanging open, which is really cute!

Stop, You're Making Me Bust My Stitches

Sunday night we were at volleyball when a friend who had recently had jaw reconstruction surgery shuffled in carrying a teddy bear and "Get Well Soon" balloon. He had come to visit. With Gauge.

Gauge eyed up this brightly coloured, floating orb, keeping it in his sight while visiting and volleyball went on around him. Then his dad got the brilliant idea to start kicking and head-butting it into the air. Well... if that wasn't just the best idea ever, Gauge thought. He giggled and laughed so loud that everyone on the court could hear him above the volleyball noises.

Finally our friend says between laughs,  "Stop, you're making me bust my stitches."

At the end of the evening, he gave Gauge the balloon to bring home. Such a thoughtful kid!

Learning is ADORABLE

Sure babies are cute, but when they are learning things for the first time ever, they are down right adorable. You can just see their minds working, processing, figuring out, trying, failing, and trying again until it is just perfect. I think we can all learn from the tenacity of infants to try, try again when "it" doesn't work the first time.
Gauge has learned so much in the last few weeks that it amazes me. I wish I could capture it all on film or video and keep it for eternity on my computer rather than in my memory. But I think he would develop a complex if I constantly had a camera on him, as that is what would be required.

He talks all the time, trying out new sounds and mouth movements. The beginnings of speech. Every once in a while he even scares himself with the sounds that he's making.
He's started to roll front to back. But only when he's in a good mood, and only when he has no clothes on. He seems to think that clothes will only impede his perfection of this new skill. He also sticks his tongue when he's concentrating which I love.

He's also figured out how to move himself. When he practices rolling, he moves. Even on the floor playing, he's learned how to rotate his body 180 degrees to reach a far away toy.
He's learning that things have dimensions. Yesterday he spent 20 minutes trying to pick up, then eat the frog on my shirt. He finally gave up, hopefully figuring out that it is only 2-dimensional and can't be picked up or eaten. I was left with a big wet spot.
Food fascinates him. He's always trying to grab our food, wanting a piece of whatever it is that we put in our mouths. Guess it's soon time to start solids.

On the Road Again

With our 3 month old (what?!?!? already?) in tow, we traveled to Toon Town this weekend to visit grandparents, uncle, fake aunties, church people and work people. Likely the last time before calving starts in March.
Yesterday, Gauge showed his best side to many offering lots of smiles. What a trooper. His whole routine was off, but he still had smiles to offer before a little scream session. Helped remind me that babies are true creatures of habit. He then spent most of the afternoon and evening sleeping, and slept all night... oh to be like a baby and sleep all the hard work of visiting away

Words of Wisdom

Have you seen this?


If you are planning on having children, replace whatever soft, squishy flooring plans you have for the nursery with some sort of easy-to-clean flooring. Seriously. You'll thank me, especially if you have a boy. We put in parquet, and every day I am thankful we did. A receiving blanket or paper towel is all you need to clean up anything.
Typical boy... it doesn't seem to matter what I do to keep "it" under control, he takes great pleasure in seeing how far his stream will go. Gauge's "fountain" reached a good 5 feet this morning. Splashing the wooden frame of the ottoman 5 feet from his change table. Ok... maybe it's only 3 feet, but when you're scrambling to cover, it's seems a great distance further.