Wait! It's New Year's Eve?!?

Wow, glad I read Pamela's blog today or we would have been wondering what all the fuss was about at midnight. Yup. We totally forgot.

I feel like I'm lacking in the wrap-up-the-year in memorable words and with great wisdom postings... There's always next year I guess.

Tom could tell I was sad that I missed making fun food and planning something neat for us to do at home to amuse ourselves until midnight... So he offered to have our own New Year's Eve tomorrow instead.

He's so cute.

And mistaken.

To Dos

The past few months have been so much fun, so out of the ordinary, and so not routine. Come January (next week!) Tom heads back to wok (sniff!) and it will be time to buckle down, settle in, and routine it up. Problem is.. I bore easily and can't help but think that I'll get a little stir crazy staying home by myself with baby trying to respect a sleep schedule. Staying put... routines...? Not exactly my strong suits. (Oh, I should probably mention here that we've decided I'll be staying home with Jay and not working from home anymore. There. Now you know.)

So I have an idea. It's not like I plan on having a whole lot of free time or anything, but I want to make the most of the time I will have. I have this nasty tendency to waddle away free time wading through threads on Baby Center, surfing through friends' blogs (repeatedly), and trolling Kijiji. Not exactly productive behaviours nor something you can put your finger on at the end of the day and say that's what else I've done today.

So I have this idea. I've started making a to do list of things that interest me and I've always wanted to do, but haven't prioritized doing. I don't need to complete something everyday, but at least work on a project everyday. Feel free to hold me accountable.

• Sew something. Anything. Read about it, try it, complete something, then decide if sewing is for me.
• Finish fixing up the white photo frames for Jay's room, print pictures for frames, hang frames. You know, like before his first birthday.
  
• Hang polka-dot mirrors in Jay's room
  
• Photograph Jay's room once everything is done. Post on blog for world to see.
• Bake homemade bread. Often. I received the mother-of-all bread machines for Christmas and if I use it half as much as my blender it will wish someone else received it for Christmas.
  
• Make and bake a loaf of artisan bread. My MIL gave me a book on it a while back and I'm been meaning to do it for a while. This may be tricky considering the mother-of-all-bread machines is heading my way from amazon.ca
  
• Try another smoke photography project. This should probably happen when someone else is watching Jay.
  
• Complete first year of Jonathan's baby book
• Continue to do monthly photoshoots of Jay

In addition to home grown projects, I'd love to set some goals for getting out of the house.

• The awesome, awesome mom's meetup place I used to hang out at and get my mama (and cappuccino) fix has closed :( So I need to find something similar. Diaper Gym in Portage is just too far to go...
  
• The local library (about 2 blocks from our place) has mom/baby hours and activities on Wednesday mornings. I need to get over my fear of being the only anglophone in the room and just attend already. I wonder if they have any sewing books in English...
  
• La Leche League meets in our neighborhood the first Wednesday morning of the month. It's free, close, topical, and a great way to meet like-minded mamas. I've met lovely ladies there before, I should really go catch up with them again.
• Take a photography course. It's time.

How about you? How do you keep things fresh while leading a life of leisure staying at home playing and and napping all day??

Baby's first Christmas

Precious moments earrrrrrly Christmas morning.

Love this kid.

Merry Christmas eve

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

unpack, pack

On Thursday in the wee hours of the morning, we made it home. Yay!

The laundry machine has been getting a workout as we wash up from our CR trip and start preparing for Manitoba. Nope, don't bother putting away those suitcases just yet...

Other happenings:

• Christmas gift. A rather large package was waiting for me when we got home... Studio lights!!! GAH! So exciting! Poor Jay, he'll be taking some serious damage on the retinas I'm sure.

• Christmas decorating. Tom said he felt scrooge-y because we didn't have a tree or anything this year, so I headed over to our town's thrift store and got some fantastic deals. For $9 I now have garland and white lights wrapped around the staircase banister to upstairs as well as garland and exterior white lights hanging on the front porch. Not bad for $9, eh? Tom said, "Wow, you decked the halls!" Very funny.

• I am officially a cloth diaper expert(ish). A while ago I was approached by a Canadian cloth diapering blog to be a reviewer for different types of cloth diapers. In exchange, I get to keep the diapers they send to me to review. Not a bad deal AT ALL! I received my first one (from a Canadian company!) and am hard at work. I'm so indescribably pumped!

• Jay thinks pushing one tooth at a time is for wussies. He's up to 8 teeth that are through and I can see 2 more nearly here. Yikes! He's also working on mastering pulling up and standing. Standing is his favorite pastime these days. Well that and unloading stuff: all books out of the bookshelf, all clothes out of a drawer, all mega lego out of the box, etc. If he can stand while unloading something? He's over the moon.
  

Jaco beach

Although highly distracted

by the waves

by the seagulls

by the sand

and by daddy's hat

JayJay thought the beach and beach town were pretty cool.

CR: Day 5,6,7&8

I should probably quit naming these posts by days, it's not like I'm posting every day or anything :)
But here's a bit of a recap, in photos. Enjoy!
















Tonight is our last night with our Costa Rican family :(
Tomorrow morning we are heading out early to hit the coast by the afternoon :) Here we come pacific ocean!!!!

Then Wednesday is the trek home. Oiy, it's been a wonderful time here, but it will be great to be home again.




Oh, and mom, I finally caught a pic of a banana truck!

CR: day 2,3,4...

YES, we made it!

YES, we are having a great time!! It's so great to be back... Just don't have a lot of time for internet stuff.

The weather is absolutely beautiful, it's wonderful being reunited with our Costa Rican family (and friends), and it's been indescribably fabulous to have our own car.

Jonathan has been a trooper and is really enjoying himself, not to mention how much everyone is enjoying him :)

Oh CR, how I've missed you!!!

CR: day 1

Yes mom, we stayed at La Sabana hotel last night.
Yes dad, of course we ordered in from Rosti Pollos for dinner.

And yes, the continental breakfast was just as fabulous this time :)


Miss you guys!

1st leg complete!

Today we successfully got up at an awful early hour, flew to Toronto, had a delay for a few hours, flew to San Jose, found (ALL!) our luggage and car rental dude, got our car and headed to our hotel for the night. And now we're here.

Lag 1 complete!

Phew... Am I tired!

Jay was INCREDIBLE for the journey. That kid rocks at traveling! Sleeping during the night while traveling? Often not so much. But hey, I'd rather a kid that traveled well and needed more help at night than a nightmare traveler that slept well.

Tomorrow's journey includes a bit of shopping then heading out to Tuis de Turrialba. Yes, we will be reunited with our Costa Rican family tomorrow! For me it's been just over a year since I've seen them. My friend and I came for a visit last October. For Tom, however, it's been nearly 20 months. It is going to be so great to see them and so many others we share fond memories with!

Hasta luego!

9 months

On December 1st, our little man turned 9 months old.

This week has been a big one for him.

First, he has now officially been 'out' longer than he was 'in'.

Second, he waves bye-bye.

Third, he says mama...

sometimes even in reference to me :)

flyboy

Today was try number two for Tom to take his birthday flight...
And he did!

He did so well on the flight training/simulator that the pilot let him take off, fly, AND land the plane!!!

HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!

I'm so glad he really enjoyed himself, he deserves it, especially after having to wait over 4 months to cash in on his birthday gift!

I was very happy with my experience purchasing and booking through TryThat. Between their great customer service and the awesome experience Tom had today I would definitely recommend them!

it's great to be home

Leaving Winnipeg was tough. Being there for so long led to deepening of relationships and rekindling of old ones. We are so appreciative for the time we were able to spend there for those very reasons. Oh yeah, and Jay got to spend a lot of time with the fams :)

The road home was a bit rough at first, then we settled into a grove and the rest of the trip went swimmingly. Which is really cool considering there was an infant in the car.

Our time in Elkhart was very insightful. I am looking forward to seeing how God leads from here. We're all ears!

But being home? Being home has been WONDERFUL! Here's a few things that I'm really digging about being back:

• Apparently I own more than the 4 shirts!
• Being able to sleep in my own bed.
  
• Getting to make a mess and not feel guilty that I made a mess in someone else' place.
  
• Not being so concerned that Jay will out grow ALL of his clothes. I now realize we have buckets of larger sized clothes. Before we were limited to what was in the suitcase.
• Getting to wear warmer clothes. When we left it was beautiful (+25!) out and although I tried to pack appropriate gear, space was tight to cover summer, fall, AND winter.
  
• Getting to use my new winter coat. I snagged this awesome down-filled long winter jacket at a garage sale this past summer for $5. Problem is, the weather is too nice right now to sport it. Soon enough I'm sure, right?
  
• Jay gets to sleep in HIS room! It was during the trip that we started putting him to bed in a separate room from ours, so this is the first time he's sleeping in his very own room. I love his room and it warms my heart to see him using it. I think I should post a pic...
  
• Making dinner. I love to cook for my family and I get to again.
• Montreal's Kijiji. There's something about a population of 3 million that leads to some great deals.
  
• Our church family. It was so nice to see (most) everyone again this past Sunday.
  

Home

Sweet home :)

homeward bound

Today is the last lag of our journey. It's been over 10 weeks and 10 thousand kilometers and we could be happier to have taken this trip.

We are so thankful the Lord orchestrated all the details for it to happen, for keeping us safe along he way, and for teaching us lessons we needed to learn. We are also so thankful that home is nearly in sight :)

Updated Christmas wish list

If anyone cares to know ;)

It's here.

With links for your viewing pleasure!

Back in Canada, but not for long

Crossed the border into Canada from Detroit to Windsor last night. We are making really good time. Going to be home a day early at this rate!

Today we have a few meetings in Cambridge, going to stay the night there with friends then head home to Montreal tomorrow. It will be a loooong day of driving, but we may make it all the way if Jonathan continues to be the trooper he has been in the car. Yay Johnny!

Thankfully he adjusted well to being on the road. The first two nights weren't so hot, at all, but it's been drastically better ever since. I think it was more us that needed to adjust to his needs while on the road. Thank goodness we've figured it out a bit, because the traveling isn't going to end soon. December will be a busy month for us. With Tom returning to work in January and a plan for our future beginning to take shape, we realize that this may one of our last opportunities to visit our friends in Costa Rica. Yes, we are returning. And soon. We fly in less than 2 weeks!

GULP!

In Elkhart

Chicago was fantastic! And for those of you who thought the museum was an odd choice for us, you need to know that it was all about an umbrella. An umbrella that was a long time in the making. I'll tell ya all about sometime. Just not tonight. I'm tired.

Goodnight!

Day 3 - Southern bound and lovin' it

The weather has been dramatically better now that we're heading south. Thank goodness! That stormy stuff is awful to drive through.

Currently we're in the car (big surprise, I know) about 2 hours outside Chicago. We loved Chicago last time we were through and are really looking forward to the next few days in the area. We are ahead of schedule road-trip wise, so we get to slow down and take it relatively easy today and tomorrow and still get to Elkhart on schedule (we have meetings there throughout Tuesday and Wednesday).

We have big plans for today in the Windy City. First up: The Museum of Contemporary Art. Hey!! Why are you so surprised?

Day 2 on the road, bleary-eyed and stormy

I'm glad I basked in Johnny's awesomeness yesterday, because I sure wasn't last night. I'm also really glad we got a good night's rest before hitting the road, because we sure didn't last night.

It's also storming. Blah!

So far I can say with certainty that road trips in late September are far better than road trips late November.