Make me an offer

Today is the day the offer goes firm on the sale of our condo in Parkdale. Last night we saw a property in Willow Park that we really like. We went back today to take another look and put a offer on it. The place is vacant (sort of) and is listed for possession of 10 days. It kinda all works out, if it all works out...

...which it didn't. Turns out that the guy wasn't that interested in selling. He could make more money renting. Bastard.



I'm trying my best not to get my hopes up or get excited/nervous.

We've been on the road pretty much all day so naps have been a lost cause. Despite it all though, Owen has been in great form. He was slightly whiney when we were signing papers, but that's about it. He's slept a bit in the car.





What a trooper.

Step one, sell the condo

I'll start this post by saying two things:

1. We listed our condo about a month ago... we are bursting at the seams. Owen needs space to roam around and his toys aren't getting any smaller. We've had a handful of showings, but I didn't expect much last weekend... in the midst of packing for the trip I got a call that there would be a showing. Hence why we didn't leave town until about 3pm.
2. There is no cell service in Yoho... anywhere. Off the grid.

On the drive back into town, around Lake Louise, I figured I should check my messages. I had 2 voicemails and a text from Dave, our realtor. "We are getting an offer. Call me. Dave." I felt sick and excited and scared at the same time. The offer was for $387 900. Our list price was $399 800. We countered with $399 400, figuring they'd meed us a bit and end up somewhere around $398 000. They took our counter, but with a posession date of August 19. Wow!

As an aside, last August 19th, I was standing in the Indian takeout resturant picking up my birthday dinner when my water broke. Ran down my leg and onto the floor. Owen was born the next day.

Tuesday we looked at 9 properties in Kingsland, Haysboro and Chinook Park. Two were nice, but neither had everything we really want. We have decided not to settle, just because we're on a tight timeline. We can rent an apartment close to downtown for $1000 a month and store our stuff with a mover for $50. A small price to pay to get the home we will raise our kids in.

Tomorrow we are going to see a bunch more homes in Willow Park, Maple Ridge, and Lakeview... there are a couple in there we are really excited about. They look really nice in the pictures.

Owen started sitting up from his crawling position today. He's done it about 3 times so far.

Weekend Camping and Hike in Yoho

We organized a weekend camping trip to Yoho National Park last weekend. We left town at about 3 pm with hopes to get a spot at the main campground, Kicking Horse. When we got there, of course it was full. The back up plan, to go to walk in sites at Takkakaw Falls was also a bust.  We ended up finding a site 20 km further down the road at Chancelor Peak at about 8:30. At least there was a fire pit, which many sites in Yoho don't have. Owen really had a tough time getting to sleep, mostly because he fell asleep in the car on the journey to our campsite. He cried for over an hour.

He woke up at 2:30 am and was inconsolable. I rubbed his back and whispered for him to go back to sleep but nothing seemed to work. Had I brought a soother, I would have used it but I left them at home for that very reason. It felt like the whole campground could hear him. Not to mention that there was a young black bear in the area, which we were now advertising ourselves to. After probably a good 45 minutes, I brought him into the sleeping bag with me. Still pretty upset, I gave him a breast, which he happily took and then fell back asleep. He slept between Kris and I for the rest of the night. The next morning, when I saw Kris wrapped up in his sleeping bag like it was a cocoon, and saw that the ceiling vent was wide open, I realized why he was so upset. Cold. Probably freezing, actually.

The hike we planned was to Twin Falls, where there is a CPR chalet built in the early 1900's. Reading online, the hike was about 6 km one way. Considerably longer than our last one, but still totally do-able. When we got to the trailhead, signage told us that the falls were 6.2 km, but the chalet was 7.9 km. Oops, oh well, we were there, and somewhat committed. Still, 16 km round trip shouldn't be too bad, right? The hike was spectacular. Lots of amazing sights - stunning waterfalls,

 
roaring whitewaters,

and glacier topped mountains.

There were a few steep parts, but lots of flatter sections too so it wasn't too strenuous. Plus, we knew there was some juice or tea or something waiting for us at the top.

We sat inside for a while and relaxed. The lemonade (Country Time Crystals... way too sweet) was awesome.

The guys who served us told us there was a different way down, which Kris was particularly happy to do. He's always happier to do a loop than an up-and-back style because you get to see different things. It was only one more kilometer (so now we're up to 17 km round trip...) and took us through an old avalanche area. Very cool, but mentally challenging. 

It would not do well to break an ankle in there, which was when we realized we didn't have an emergency blanket, or a first aid kit. Foolish.

After the rocky traverse, there was a T-intersection of trails, and we took a left, just like the kids up top told us to... never mind that there was a sign that the trail wasn't maintained. Secretly, I shook my fist at the boys. Didn't they see we had a baby? The trail was supposed to get us back to laughing falls, a pretty big falls we saw on the way up. We heard the water and thought it wouldn't be that far. The sound got quieter, and then louder as we walked. After about 30 minutes, and through a few areas of treefall, where Kris and I both scraped our legs, we came to a bit of a clearing and saw... twin falls! We had been going the wrong way!
Thankfully we had the sense to turn back and got back on the right trail and made our way down. Owen was very upset though. He'd been stuck in that carrier all day and, though he is a pretty patient baby, this was just too much. Plus, I'm pretty sure he felt our stress mounting as we got more and more lost and the sun got deeper and deeper in the sky.

It was an adventure... about 21 km in all after the twists and turns. Not a choice I'd make with a baby, but it all worked out.

Salsa dancing

Today, Owen and I started "Salsa Babies". It was super fun. Owen sat in the baby carrier, the same one we used during our trip to Europe. He got a maraca and then we danced. We danced the merengue, the cha cha, salsa, and another I don't remember the name of.

I'm sort of paying for it now. I went to the gym yesterday and did an all core workout. The sexy dancing is also pretty hard on the core. I ache. But in a good way.

At home today, Owen set a new record for standing at the coffee table. He stood on his tip-toes and bounced and smiled...




and tried to eat the table. Cute.

New Haircut

Today Owen got his first haircut. He needed it (who knew!).

Kris made him an appointment at Beaners. It's pretty cool. They had a highchair for Owen to sit in that looked like a tractor seat, complete with steering wheel. Owen loved it.

The stylist was really good, despite Owen moving his head all the time to try to see what she was up to. She had a tin full of beads for him to look at and shake. Of course, he wanted his own comb to play with too. It ended up in his mouth a few times. Mmmm... Barbicide.

What a handsome devil. Owen that is... hehe

The First Stampede

We went to your third Stampede breakfast today. It was yummy. Owen ate another whole pancake, some sausage and a bunch of hash browns. I know, deluxe Stampede Breakfast. Our MLA. Who happens to be the leader of the Alberta Liberal Party. He needs all the help he can get.

Owen started his first Stampede asleep. We cruised the midway and all the noise and sirens woe him up. Go figure.

Owen went on two rides, one with Mom and one with Dad. I think he had fun. He "oohed" a couple of times. I think he even cracked a smile.

We also took him to the Agri-dome to see the cows, baby pigs and baby chicks. He did his little high pitched "huh". Like he does when he sees Maya. It was cute.

On the soother front, he fell asleep tonight after only a half hour of crying. And the crying wasn't that bad. I'm trying to see the positive.


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Sans soother, day two

I guess it was silly of me to think that this would be easy. I mean, he frikkin' loves that thing! So today when he went down for his nap and cried for 45 minutes straight, I gave in. He was out in less than 30 seconds.

Well I probably didn't do him any favors in the end because when we put him down for the night things didn't go so well then either. He cried pretty solid for 10 minutes, which turned into 20, and then 30, 40, 50, and 60. I felt awful and went in after about 45 minutes, which only made it worse.

He'd start to sound like he was settling down, and id start to feel relieved for him, and then it seemed to start all over again. After an hour, Kris made me go out on the patio so I didn't have to listen to him cry any more. It was breaking my heart. He stopped crying shortly after.

I have to keep telling myself that this is the best thing for him. It's devastating in the moment but after its over he won't even remember what a soother is.

Sans soother, day one

I didn't wake up this morning thinking, "This is it! No more soother." Nope. Those who know me know I'm a terrible procrastinator. So even though I've been thinking about getting rid of the thing since just before Italy I was no closer to actually doing it. I worried terribly about how bad the crying would be, especially for Kris, who I felt couldn't afford to loose sleep during the week, and selfishly not wanting to loose sleep on the weekend myself. But, (perhaps even more selfishly) I don't want to have to negotiate the soother away from him when he's old enough to be sad for the loss and mad at me for causing his pain. So I knew it had to be done.

Lately Kris has been bringing the soother in with Owen in the mornings because he's been cranky after the morning feed.

Yea, Kris gets up every morning and brings Owen to our bed for me to breastfeed. It's very sweet I think.

Anyway, Owen sucks on the thing for a bit and then likes to:
-take it out,
-look a it from all angles,
-bite the sucky part while pulling it out of his mouth,
-try to stick the whole thing in his mouth (which I watched him do with more success than I think was safe),
-and shake it like a rattle in his hand.

It was during that last part that the soother flew out of his hand and fell through the rungs on our headboard. Well, it is an absolute disaster under our bed so I didn't want to get it right then.

By the time nap time rolled around I still hadn't managed to get up the courage to brave the underneath, so I just put him to bed without the soother. Everything else I kept the same - his story, closing the blinds and saying "Night, night" to the sunshine, just no soother.

I left like I always do, closed the door a bit and listened to him wail like he was possessed by a demon for the next 25 minutes. I went in there to watch him and try to reassure him that he could fall asleep like a big boy. It was pretty futile. He writhed around from front to back, back to front all over his bed, grabbing at the rungs of the crib. I felt pain in the pit of my stomach and also felt like laughing. It was so awful it was comical, like some James T. Kirk emoting wannabe. I couldn't take it anymore so I left his room.

And then, it stopped. Five minutes later I went in and he was sleeping. And he slept for almost the next three hours. I honestly thought he'd cry for an hour the first time without his soother and I wasn't sure I could take it for that long.

Later, we went down to Stampede to meet Grandma Chris. We saw the dream home, ate dinner and walked the exhibits. We didn't leave until 8. I drove my mom home so naturally Owen fell asleep in he carseat. Probably not the most ideal situation in which to continue this experiment, but hey, go hard or go home. I assumed if there was 20 minutes of wailing today that there'd be maybe 10 tonight. Nope. Wrong again. He hummed to himself for about 15 minutes and then he was asleep. It's now 11:15 and I've heard him stir slightly once.

I am blessed with the best baby in the world. At least for now.

Is it too gross?

Is it too gross to blog about Owen's poo?

I have often bragged, astounded, and worried here about the amount of food Owen consumes at a sitting (let alone in a day), but I don't think I've said anything about the result of all this eating. Today, that changes.

Owen had the most monumental, half-digested pea filled, disgusting poo of his life. I thanked God, the gods, and anyone else who would listen that I've stuck with the cloth diapers. No pampers or huggies could have stood up the force of this mess. I'm pleased to report that although the diaper and cover were completely covered, there wasn't a pea to be found on any of his clothes. Yuck!

Ye haw!

It's officially Stampede. Uncle Chet's in town and the little cowpoke is excited to do some ranchin'

First Stampede Breakfast

Owen and I went to the Stampede Breakfast at CBC this morning. I've always meant to go but could never get up early enough. Somehow that's no longer a problem for me. So off we went.

When we got there the line wasn't too bad. I'd kinda cut Owen's breakfast short and brought it with us figuring I could just feed him in the line. As I went to grab the Tupperware I saw some guy out of the corner of my eye who I thought looked familiar. Then I saw this man's wife follow behind him, an Asian woman. And then it clicked. It was Jack Leighton.

We got two plates and two juice boxes. Owen got one pancake, no sausage, no syrup. I got two pancakes, a sausage and lots of syrup. Owen ate the whole thing and loved it.






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Nice dinner with me ma

So the original plan was for mom to come over today and hang out with Owen and I. We would do some running around - cuz I know she loves it- and then home for Owen's nap. While he slept, we would make some food for him. Still loving the food, so much that the freezer is bare (for him, at least). Sadly - though not for her - she got a job and it started today. I did still manage to make a few things while he napped. A delicious turkey and veg medley, an apple parsnip carrot finger salad, and a red lentil rice and veg mix. Last time I made lentils they were yellow and he didn't care for them unless they were mixed with something. Hopefully he will like the red and mixed.

He's been doing a lot better at a few things, even since the weekend. His forward motion is crazy fast. Still commando style but man can he motor. And he's also much better at getting from sitting to crawling.

His walking is also much better. Now before you get all crazy thinking he's walking, he's not except when you hold him up. But he now willingly puts one foot in front of the other, which he didn't consistently do before.

I'm tired from chasing him around today. I really can't leave him alone for a second. He is fixated on the doors, opening and closing them, which is great except i've had to take off all the plastic ends so he doesn't try to eat them/choke on them. So the door is getting sorta wrecked. To be honest though, I can't be bothered to stop him. He's so into discovering how the door works that I cant bring myself to take him away from it.

He also continues to be enthralled with the lamp. Ive discovered that he cant actually tip the lamp over because the cord's too taut. The speaker stand however, is easy to topple and much heavier. He's brought it down on himself 3 or 4 times today. Thankfully, he didn't hurt himself too badly, bit it's just a matter of time.

I must admit I'm torn as to what to do in these sorts of situations. I've been experimenting with a little discipline: a firm "NO" and a redirect, but he doesn't seem to be getting the message. I can't tell whether he is trying to see if I mean it or is too young to understand. A small part of me thinks that if he hurts himself he'll learn his lesson. But I wonder if that's bordering on negligence. I hope I can walk the line.

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While standing on the couch this morning, Owen took one hand off and calmly placed it on the coffee table. He stood there for about 20 seconds and then fell back on his ass. I thought for sure he would cry, especially when I heard myself gasp, but he just turned to one side, twisted his legs around and commando crawled away.

Who needs a baby gate when you have no stairs?

Owen tried to eat Maya's food today. And he would have been successful if he'd had about 10 seconds more. He actually had 2 kibbles in his mouth and one in his hand when I caught him. He must have thought they were cherrios.

He's been crawling about for a couple of days now... not actual 4 point crawling, but rather commando style, like he's some guerilla army guy. And wow, can he motor!

I've been racking my brain for another - higher - place for her food, but there really isn't one. And I don't want to encourage her to get up on the countertops any more than she already does. We tried to put her food in the pantry, but she flat out refused to go in there and eat. I think it's because the pantry is also her toilet. I can hardly blame her. No matter how clean my bathroom was, I wouldn't want to eat in there either.

So today I went on Kijiji to search for a gate.

Canada Day Hike

In years past, Kris and I have done hikes on Canada Day, the most memorable being an 18 km one in Waterton. This one was a lot less ambitious, only 5 km round trip, but it was Owen's first hike in the Rockies. The hike is called Grassi Lakes and is just west of Canmore. Grassi is named for a man named Lawrence Grassi, a stonecutter and trail maker who lived from 1890 - 1980. And he was an Italian! which I didn't know until I read the sign along the trail. There was a beautiful waterfall



and two lovely blue-green lakes.




At the top, there were lots of rock climbers.



Kris wore Owen on his back, which he didn't mind too much. After a while, he settled in to looking at the sights and listening to the sound of the water.



On the way down, he had a nap. So cute.

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Europe 2010

I finally found a bit of time to post some select pictures from our trip... ones that I couldn't post with my phone when we were away. To enjoy, click on the picture.