16 posts tagged “gus”
Thumbs Down:
- That sticky, sweaty feeling after a workout. And the fact that my face looks like a tomato, too.
- Finding new ways of serving spinach.
- Postage costs.
- Rockin' workout - so good that I felt sick afterward. And yes, that is a good thing for me.
- Friends who come by bearing vanilla lattes from Cowboy's. Anytime, girls, anytime.
- Peaches and Gus doing the nap thing really well = me getting time to read, journal and pray.
- Oh, and watch the latest Grey's.
- If I'd ever wondered if Peaches would ever climb stairs, I can stop wondering. (But seriously, folks - she's only 8 months old! Gah!)
- Three Cups of Tea and In Defense of Food.
- Water. (I did just have a workout!)
- My bible study group. Good times.
Thumbs Up
- Slowly starting to see people again. Slowly.
- Working out. Finding my way back to doing weights more methodically. It's nice to watch that leg press weight
climb, though it's only a fraction of my former glory. ;)
- Road trip! Back to the Island for a week. More friends, family and the ocean side. Lovely.
- That postpartum depression specter I was worried about is growing dim. Yep, had a good week last week.
- I think we've met a major parenting goal: Gus is potty trained! At least during the day - diapers only for naps and nighttime. (Probably road trips, too! ;)
- Still crafting when I can. Still liking it.
- Feeling good about darning Gus's blanket. (Knitters out there will appreciate this.) Managed to bring back up 3 consecutive stitches over about 30 rows. It' not perfect, but it's no longer a raggedy hole!
Thumbs Down
- Why do I find it so hard to post these days? Lots of stuff floating in my head and even written out... just not quite how I want it. Yet.
- Having to choose between getting to the gym during the day (which is far more convenient for me and the kidlets) and getting out to see people.
- Road trip = driving on roads, including a couple mountain passes, in the winter. Prayers, please. Yes for our safety, but mostly for my anxiety.
- The domestic diva has left the building. Sighs. Hoping for a quick return.
Celebrate! Peaches is half a year old!
I'm here at the computer with Gus on the floor behind me playing with his cars and blocks. He's singing/talking to himself which, when he does it, he does quietly, like he's whispering to himself.
The song de jour?
"Take me, take me to the riot."
My son has good taste in music.
p.s. - Yes, I know it's not exactly a lovely video to watch; it's all about the music. :)
p.p.s. - If anyone can tell me how to put youtube into a post, I'd like to know. Merci.
Negatives
- Gus has a cold and, I believe, the croup to go along with it. Poor boy.
- This means I can't go to the gym today, since Gus is not welcome (and understandably so) at playcare.
- The result of not going to the gym means we might go a bit squirrely today. Perhaps the outing to get a humidifier will help!
Positives
- Despite the croup, Gus is in a pretty good mood - so far.
- Peaches went back to a 6 hour sleep last night after a week or more hiatus, reverting back to her infant ways where I get up about 3-5 times a night.
- Friends coming over for dinner tonight. You know what this means: dessert!
- Having a meal plan for the week.
- Going to the gym FIVE times last week. Still pumped about that
- Having a stack of books I'd like to read.
Dis-Liking:
- That Harper can't deal with a minority government and tosses his own fixed-date election law before we even get to that first date. [See Steve, the thing is, the way things went down in the last election should indicate to you that the people don't fully trust a majority conservative gov't. We want you guys to all, oh, what's the term?... GET ALONG.]
- Not allowing Elizabeth May to speak at the federal leader's debate. [So the Green MP is a turncoat. Remember Emerson, Steve-o?]
- When my keyboard randomly won't allow me to use certain keys, like brackets, the number eight, and the exclamation mark.
Liking:
- That Gus asks for hugs. Exclamation mark. Yay. Exclamation mark. He's always been so 'whatever' about them before.
- Grapes. Especially when they are on sale.
- Peaches - the fruit. Ditto.
- Peaches - the daughter - is getting chubby. According to the doc, she's in the 50th percentile for her height and weight. Good to know all that eating is doing what it's supposed to! (ah! the exclamation mark magically returns.) Ah - same with brackets!!!!! yay!!! Told you it was random.)))
- Gus going to daycare one day a week. We both like Tuesdays.
- Voting. Yeah, even though I'm kind of ticked off that an election was called, I do love going to the polls. And the next several months will see me getting to vote for all three levels: municipal, provincial and federal.
Things I'm Not Loving:
- Cluster feeds at night.
- Being tired.
- The non-return to school. Feels strange not to go back with everyone else yesterday. I'm a bit melancholy about it. I didn't feel this way with Gus, but I think this time it's because I actually have a specific school and my own specific job and, well, I'm not there. Don't get me wrong - I'm not ready to rush back or anything. This just feels strange...
- Forgetting to eat more fruit and veggies.
Things I am Loving:
- My husband: C. does most all of the cooking, pretty much all the cleaning, gets Gus out for chunks of time during the day (and Gus has been going through a two-year-old can't-make-up-his-mind-on-anything episode which requires infinite patience) and will be the one to get up with Peaches to burp her or generally settle her down during the night. Talk about loving and serving!
- Visitors from afar: my mom, my in-laws, my sister and brother-in-law, my best friend and her husband. Yay!
- Frozen casseroles in my freezer and homemade pizza coming on Friday. Are our friends taking care of us, or what?! Blessings indeed.
- Gus's return to daycare (he'll be going one day a week) after his summer hiatus went so smoothly much to my relief.
- My new pajama bottoms.
- Peaches's increased level of alertness during the day. She loves looking around, almost too much... "ok, time for sleeping, kiddo!"
- That our camera is not broken, after all.
... I became a mom.
Weird.
Now he's two!
And the growing continues.
A Few of My Favourite Things:
(right now, anyway.)
- Friends coming to town to visit.
- Blueberries and strawberries with cream.
- A good sleep through the night.
- Dinner ideas for the next few nights.
- Cooler weather.
- Nap time.
That said, I'm also tired and feeling emotional. I'm totally blaming those last stage pregnancy hormones on this one, mostly.
I've also got a "trying-to-discern-God's-will" thing going on. It's been going on for months; at times it can be emotionally and mentally draining and, just recently, it's started to show in relationships. I am so very, very glad that C. and I are on the same page with this one... we just don't know exactly what page that is! And as to the next step, I think it's be a tough haul no matter what happens. I think it may just come down to one of those things where God says, "Hey, I love you and I'm with you wherever you go. Now make a decision." You know what I mean?
[sighs]
To finish on an upper: In order to allow him some stall-time before nap-time, Gus and I have taken to having 'cuddle time' on the couch. Usually this means he lies on his end of the couch and me on mine, but it can be fun. And here's some shots to prove it.
Here's the scene:
It's 9 am. I'm still in my housecoat, but Gus is begging for his shoes to be put on. This means he wants to be outside. I put on his shoes (then take them off again, because when I thought he was saying 'car', he was really saying 'socks', meaning, he wanted a different pair on, so we took off the shoes and socks and re-shod him), found his coat and toque (is is only 2 degrees! which is just barely above freezing for the non-Celsius folks) which he gleefully donned. I opened the back door which leads to our fully enclosed backyard, he walked out and said 'bye-bye' and proceeded to play.
Just like that - my son is out on his own. Did I mention he's only 20 months old? This boy is loving independence.
But I still won't open the front gate. ;)
I'm in the middle of a battle right now.
Gus is not keen on the whole wearing clothes thing. At least we've got his diaper on him and he keeps it on... for now.
The thing is, is that we've always said 'no breakfast before your clothes are on.' Sometimes he's bucked it for a bit, but we've always been able to tag team it. So once C. has tried, a few minutes later I'd just say something like "Hey Gus, bring me your pants" and - ta-dah! - we're clothed and slamming back some yogurt.
But I'm single parenting it today. Tomorrow, too, just like yesterday. Thank you God, it will end tomorrow. (C. is off on their annual regional conference, which includes, among all the meetings, team building activities which often seem to happen late in the evening and look and sound an awful lot like a house party :) but I digress).
So here sits Gus, not yet eating; at first he cried, then he'd roll around on the floor with his blanket partaking in what looked like a pity party, and now he's moved on to playing with old baby toys. We'll have to leave the house in about half an hour. Right now, it's looking like I'll pack some extra food and he can eat at daycare. By then, he'll have clothes on! He'll but up a fight but I'm bigger and stronger.
I just wish it wasn't a fight. In these last couple months as he's developed his own mind about things, we've had to pick and choose our battles. And once that's been done, we've had to figure out how to fight the battles we've chosen. Last months was "No, sitting on Mom's lap is not where you will eat dinner every night." We had to try a lot of things, and today he still has 3 other options for eating dinner. But I did not want to start the dining-on-my-lap routine. So we fought that battle. And now there's another one.
I know some are probably thinking - what's the big deal? Eat in the nude! And yeah, I'm wondering a bit, too. Except that we've got morning routines, and things to do, and in this climate, I can't just take him out in a diaper. *sighs*
So, pray for me, my friends. After dealing with this soon-to-be-clad young'un, I must go off and deal with 16 year olds who often act in a similar fashion when having to do something, like, say, write a paragraph. :)
