2015, a love letter

Dear 2015,

Phew. What a ride! This is meant to be a love letter, so I’ll be nice.

Thank you for teaching me that I am strong, that I can get knocked down and rise wiser and kinder. I bow to the lessons. Thank you for giving me the strength to keep going and for showing me that I am not alone.

And thank you for reminding me of how truly blessed I am! This life – wow.

Thank you for helping me to see that I am a good mom and that I have a great kid. He is my guru, my sage, and the littlest love of my life. Thank you for giving me the strength to wake up at all hours of the night, for being patient during his tantrums (sometimes), and for the magic he’s showing me in the world. Thank you for answering all of my prayers with that kid!

Thank you for the original love of my life – the kid’s dad and my partner in crime. I’m still not sure how I got to be so darn lucky… thank you!

Thank you for this home! When I was a little girl, I dreamt of a home like this – beautiful and serene, somewhere to live forever and always, a fireplace with stockings, and lots of rooms to fill with memories. Now I live here and I am in awe.

Thank you for the adventures and travels, for friends near and far, for chocolate and wine and lattes, for morning snuggles in bed and five seasons of Scandal.

Thank you for showing me that there is still so much to come. Thank you.

2016, hi.

With love,
mxo

soakuplove

:: inspired by a Note of Gratitude by my dearest, Nikki Belcher and Love Letter by the ever-awesome, Elena Brower.

 

mommy days…

I often get asked what I do all day now that I’m a mommy on mat leave. Here goes:

Ry and I had an awesome day planned – first, a play date and then some shopping for mommy. Neither happened.

After Ryan conveniently slept through his play date, we packed up and decided to hit the road for another adventure.

We ended up at Capital Espresso, owned and barista-ed by an old friend of mine. One delicious cappuccino and blueberry muffin later, we wandered around Queen for a bit, got my rings cleaned, and picked up these cute puppies at Made You Look:

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That brings us to 11:00ish. We hit the road for Sherway. The kid has recently taken to HATING the car so we didn’t quite make it.

About half way, I decided my shopping adventure just wasn’t worth the amount of bloody-murder screaming we’d both have to endure. So we made a turn and, for the first time in YEARS, got “lost” in Toronto (as lost as you can get with a nav system in your car and a smartphone handy).

So we drove back home. Ryan had organic apples, spinach, kiwi, and broccoli with quinoa for lunch. It came out of a green pouch. I ate out of random tupperware containers with a fork.

1:00pm. The nap attempt begins.

1:45pm. The nap begins.

2:15pm. The nap ends.

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Kid was awfully cranky at this point (tooth numero dos is coming in) but daddy, who was thankfully working from home, took him for a few minutes. I went to Timmy’s to get daddy a coffee.

With still so many hours left in the day, we packed up yet again and headed for a looooooooong walk. Over 8km later, the kid took his third nap. I waited in the stroller line-up for this bad boy:

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We walked through the zoo at High Park and I bought cookies from some kids running a lemonade stand up the street (are those things still legal?). I think they thought my impromptu math test was pretty lame.

5pm. Almost dinner time. We did our exercises in the basement (kid in the Exersaucer, momma picked up some weights). Then dinner: Ryan ate organic apples, sweet potatoes, carrots and blueberries, this time from an orange pouch. I don’t remember what I ate.

I won’t lie, I started the bath 15 minutes early because solo parenting during dinner, bath and bedtime make for a looooooooooong day. Mercifully, the kid fell asleep instantly. I think he was pretty sick of me.

Plus, the kitchen, living room, and everywhere else still had to be put back together.

It’s now 8:00pm and there’s a rather large glass of wine in front of me. I’m eating the cookies I bought from the lemonade stand kids and I’m in my pajamas. I kind of miss the kid already.

In the words of my good friend, Mags:

“next time, just ask me what i’ve been watching on netflix. then we’ll actually have something to talk about.”

Happy Friday!
mxo

in-betweens….

The in-betweens are unsettling at first. Nothing to do, nowhere to go… eep! But if you can sit through the initial panic, and then through the momentary boredom, the magic creeps in. 

Dates with great friends at Good Neighbour today. Despite the hiccups with our order, ‘twas lovely indeed.

And Relish’s broiled grapefruit with maple syrup, ginger and mint…

AND new glasses. Pink! 

I’m a lucky girl.

mxo