The Great Clothing Swap!

The magic of a Clothing Swap is that you arrive with the a bag of clothes you could kick to the curb, but you leave with a bag that is going to completely revive your wardrobe!  Ta-da!  Amazing!  

My amazing girlfriends have once again pulled off the bi-annual Clothing Swap.  This one was epic - with a record number of swappers!  There were close to 30 of us surveying the goods as we sorted out our own bags of undesirables on the appropriate tables.  

Waiting, watching, recalling where you saw something you thought you might like...1, 2, 3...go!  

Getting ready for a clothing swap can be just as great of a rush as the anticipation the night of.  I recently read the first chapter in a book that I have called "Secrets of Simplicity : learn to live better with less" by Mary Carlomagno.  It gives you a few questions to ask yourself about your clothes:

1.  Does it fit?

2.  Is it worn or torn?

3.  Is it out of fashion?

4.  When was the last time I wore it?

5.  Will I wear it again?

Argh, you gotta be truthful to these questions to get the benefits of simplification!  So I tossed out the red sparkly strapless dress that I wore to Kevin's corporate Christmas party in 2001, and the GAP lime green waffle top that I am wearing in the photos of my belly when I was 6 months pregnant with Kamille, the jeans that I am pretty sure that I got for my birthday when I was in university and even a few items that I had picked up at the last swap.  By the end of my clean out, I had a big box - more than would fit in a garbage bag.  WOW!  

I had some pangs of guilt as I was laying out some of the items on the tables tonight, but I know that its just stuff - clothing - I am not giving away the experience or memory of it!  

And in doing my closet "clean out" in preparation for this event, I really thought about what I would need and what my strategy would be to improve my existing wardrobe.  I needed shirts.  

And so, on the count of 3, I headed straight for the tables piled with shirts - long sleeves, tanks, tees, blouses - ALL FOR FREE!  

Although you might think that 30 women sifting through free clothes might lead to a cat fight, it was as tame as 30 women having an afternoon tea party with polite suggestions to others, consulting on 'the look' and "oh sorry, no you take it" when two hands reached for the same item.  

In the end, I have walked away with 10 new tops, a pair of TNA comfy pants and a pair of jeans. 

*Smiles*

I did good.  

All that for $30 (the cost of my babysitter for the night!). 

And in the spirit of Women and Clothes, we packed up 10 garbage bag of leftovers to be dropped off at the local Second-Hand clothing store that is owned and operated by our local Women's Centre. 

They will financially benefit from the goods.  

Daycare Days

I am so very lucky to be able to have two full days a week with my Karis while Kamille is at preschool.

Initially these two days were my life line.  They were the days when I could sit on the couch all. day. long. and watch TV with my new baby who was sleeping or eating while in my arms.  I am pretty sure that I thought I would live on my couch for the full year back then.   Thankfully that stage passed and now I am up and enjoying all the great things that 1:1 time with my wee girl brings.

Today my "daycare days," as I call them, are the days when I get that 'maternity leave' feel and the opportunity to do all those mom and baby activities with Karis -because she deserves to have those times with me too.  We've bonded during Mom and Baby Yoga classes and read books together at Books for Babies, we take long walks to the grocery store or drive into the city for a day of shopping.

Best of all, during each Daycare Day we get to look into each others eyes and 'chat' without any interruptions.
I am creating memories of our time together.

Today had one of those times to remember.   It was a gorgeous spring day.  The sun was shining, there was a slight breeze.  Karis and I found ourselves lying on my bed under the bright light that the window and the two skylights were letting in.

I nursed Karis while we lay there.  She fell asleep all curled up beside me, I contemplated getting up to do things, but then decided to be fully present in the moment.  I soon found myself drifting into a mid-afternoon nap while listening to the trees in the wind.  Just so calm and perfect.  When I opened my eyes I saw this...

 and this is why I stayed in the moment.  (but i had to grab my camera to capture this yumminess!).  

 And then when she woke up, I saw this....

And we decided to hang out on the bed some more.  Because its fun to hang out on a bed and look at each other.

    (cute little story in those photos, eh!?)

Karis decided to go for my camera. 

   I'm surprised I can't see all the little tiny finger prints on my lense in this photo.  

We love Daycare Days together.  

But we also love it when big sis Kamille comes home.  Today I surprised her with a new little sum'in, sum'in that I picked up and thought she might like in her wardrobe.....

 just as i would expect!

And then once the novelty of the new skirt wore off, Kamille had time for her sister and they got to some serious rolling around on the carpet - the other great place to be today.  

I overheard Kamille say to Karis "I am your best friend Karis."  Nearly melted, so I ran to grab my camera, of course. 

I don't want to forget this either.  

 And the last thing that I don't want to forget about today was our time reading our Edward the Emu and Edwina the Emu (by Sheena Knowles) books right before bed.  We love them!  And tonight while we were all lying down beside each other in Kamille's tiny bed, Karis in the middle, I read these books for the millionth time.  And because I know them so well, I don't have to read the words anymore and so I watched my girl's eyes as the stories unfolded.  

I watched Karis' eyes bounce all over the page as each turn showed her something new and interesting to look at.  Her face was expressionless, but her eyes were taking it in.  She was thinking about it all.  Kamille's eyes light up as she spots her favorite things like the lion that looks like our old dog Buddy and the lady with the biggest nose standing in the bus line up.  

Watching their eyes .... priceless. 

Girlfriends

I have been so lucky to have always been surrounded by amazing girlfriends throughout my life.

And the best thing about my girlfriends is that I usually keep them around for a long, long, long time.  Deciding to be my good friend means that I am pretty much gonna touch base with you for the rest of my life.
I think my 30 year friendship with Erin is a true reflection of that.  30 years of travelling down two different paths, but never losing sight of the bond that we share as 'bestest friends.'  It just seems easy.

I have really great girlfriends from all ages and stages of my life.  Girlfriends that I can go months without seeing or talking to, but then sit down and have an amazing conversation with or exchange a lengthy email with and we are back to knowing each other up and down, inside and out until the next chat.  I LOVE it.

I 100% rely on my girlfriends to get by in life.  My girlfriends inspire me, challenge me, excite me, calm me, amaze me and top me up!  I am so grateful to have such quality relationships in my life.

I have just come home from a 'date' with my Stacey.  Stacey is my 'everyday-I-need-to-talk-to-you' friend and because of Easter and other commitments we just haven't had a good catch up in what seems like forever.
So tonight we were THOSE girls sitting at the Burrow, face to face, yammering on and on and on, only taking a breath when the other person gets their turn to talk.  Its pretty much a blow by blow recap on all the minutes missed in the past few days....and I wouldn't have it any other way.  I come home fully topped up on girlfriend goodness and just feel so loved and appreciated.  (Thanks Stacey!)

How I have been this fortunate to have such AMAZING girls in my life, I'm not sure.

I see Kamille and the relationships that she has with her little girly friends and I can't help but think that I can help to nurture the same type of relationships that I have.  After all, I was just one year older than Kamille when I met Erin - 30 years ago!

there is definitely something special between these two girls

Kamille's bestest friend Xanadu came over this week and I just love sitting in the room with them and watching them 'go off.'  They just love each other and have such a great time together.  

I suppose it starts out as simple as a play date arranged by us Moms.  

Only time will tell the rest of their story - it looks promising to me!

Becoming 'Mom'

I recently got a new book.  Its called called "Love, Mommy : Writing Love Letters To Your Baby" by Judy Siblin-Librach and I learned about it from this great gal in one of her postings.  She writes AMAZING notes to her girls!

I absolutely love writing to my girls and I look forward to using this book to spring board me into old memories that I can make note of and highlight the everyday things that might mean so much to me and my girls in the future.

Only seven pages in and I am quickly taken back to an amazing memory of my wee Kamille after reading this question that the author poses - 'What was the moment when you knew you had become a mother for sure and there was no going back'?

For me, I instantly think of a particular moment and I dare myself not to challenge my instinctual thoughts about it because I know the moment was so raw in all the "newness" of being a mom.  It defined my entry into motherhood and also redefined my commitment to Kevin and our role as parents to our brand new baby girl, Kamille.

In the week that Kamille was born, mom had come to visit.  She was helping me to navigate this whole new experience of being a mom.  With this new experience, as every new mom will tell you, came a wack of hormones that constantly swept me off my feet and I suddenly found myself emotional and sensitive over  just about anything.

And as if this wasn't tough enough for me to handle on my own, but I also had Kevin who was sitting on the sidelines of it all thinking "what the heck is going on?"  I know he was patient with me, I know he was confused, I know he felt useless.    

On this particular night, Kamille was crying.   It was one of those "witching hour crys" that seemed to last forever and seemed hopeless to ever end.   It was the kind of cry that got me all tense and frustrated at anything around because I just could not do anything about it.  Kevin was with me as I was attempting to console her, but all I had for Kevin was a big nasty attitude.  I know that we were fumbling over trying to be a solid team for a wee baby girl and nothing seemed to be going right.  And we were trying to do all of this quietly so that my mom, who was downstairs, didn't think that we had lost it.  STRESS!  

I had decided that I wanted to have a bath with my girl - thinking it would stop the crying.  And since it was our first bath together, of course we would capture it on camera.  It likely annoyed Kevin that I asked him to get my camera and then asked him to capture the moment while I was in the tub.   Actually, because I had just torn a strip out of him and was holding a crying baby, I was likely demanding and not actually sweetly asking this of him.  

So there we were, camera in his hand, bathtub fill of warm water, and a crying baby starting to settle.  But it still wasn't right between Kevin and I.  Boo.  My sweet little girl had got us both rattled.  

Kevin snapped a photo....

    i remember everything about this moment, before it and after it.  (oh yes, she was jaundice!)

When Kamille was calm, I decided that we were ready to get out.  Kevin got a towel ready and I picked up my girl and I was just about ready lay her into that towel when it happened.....

Kamille pooped - actually she spray pooped - all over my chest and into the bathtub.  

It was perhaps the BEST thing that could have happened at that moment.  There we were, barely talking, stressed, tense, trying to make sense of it all, wondering if this rollercoaster could ever end and what was going on with our new baby girl and all it took was a big poop to deflate it all.  We both laughed, and laughed good and hard!  

In this moment, I learned that being a mom is tough, its emotional, your relationships get stressed and you can feel defeated.  I learned that my girl, all of 7 lbs at the time, turned our "no-good-very-bad-experience"into an amazing experience.  I learned that babies and kids are AMAZING at this.  

This was motherhood and there was no turning back.  Kevin and I were in it for good and it was just going to be one heck of a ride for us both.  So when I talk to my friends or those who are just about to join the 'motherhood club', I always say "Welcome to the Rollercoaster."  Because it is the best rollercoaster out there, but you gotta hang on tight.  Its the kind of ride that you don't get off of, but rather sit back, enjoy the smooth parts and when it gets crazy throw your hands up high in the air, let your hair blow back in the wind and give a good scream.  Just let it out!

There are parents all around us riding this same crazy coaster!  When my friend Stacey and I feel a good ride coming, on we make this "ch-ch-ch-ch" sound to accompany the situations we are discussing.  You know, "ch-ch-ch", the sound that a rollercoaster makes as it clicks slowly UP the track.
We just never know what to expect at the top.

So now I'm 3 years into this motherhood gig and yes, shit still happens but I've still got my Kevin and we've got our girls and we get through it.  Yep, we sure do.  

Best Friends and the Easter Bunny

We had visitors this Easter.  So exciting for us.  We love house guests!

Erin and Cameron and their boy Ian and little gal Alexa came for 3 nights!

Erin and I have been friends since we met in our Junior Kindergarden classroom.  We were 4 years old at the time.   That was 30 years ago -  30. Years.  - and when you've been friends with someone that long, they definitely deserve to be called a Bestest Friend.

For us, its great to watch Ian and Kamille get along fabulously and it will only be a matter of time until Karis and Lexie are hangin' out in a corner together during our family get-togethers.

Unfortunately, Erin and her crew left a perfectly stellar and warm weekend back home in Toronto to come out here and hang out in the rain.  Boo.  So, while the Daddy's went up to higher grounds (where the rain was coming down as snow) to do some skiing, Erin and I corralled up the kids and made our best effort to keep everyone entertained and happy.  Good fun included going outside for some splashing through puddles, and we all got even more wet with an indoor swim at the rec centre.

And Easter weekend just wouldn't be Easter Weekend without coloured easter eggs.  I was instantly reminded of my childhood when I smelled the vinegary smell of the multicoloured dyes.

That night, while everyone was sleeping, the Easter Bunny crept into our home a night earlier than his usual "big night" and laid out an egg hunt for Ian and Kamille so that they could share the experience together.  He left Kamille and Karis a note and appropriately included a new toothbrush and toothpaste for the post-Easter teeth cleaning that will be in order.  That is one smart Bunny!

And with just a degree more of difficulty in this hunt over last year's, the eggs were snatched up by Ian and Kam in a fury of excitement.  Kamille needing just a bit more clues to spot the coloured eggs around the room.

No big family gathering can go without some great "kid" shots - the type that Erin and I will look at in 20 years and reminisce about when our kids were little and full of chocolate energy!  You know at this age a good shot with everyone looking is nearly impossible.

And almost worse is trying to get a good "mom and kids" shot.  But we gave it our best effort.

As much as we miss out on celebrating Easter with our families back 'home', we certainly enjoy when our bestest friends come to visit because they are our family during the holidays.  After all, I have known Erin just one year shy of how long I have known my own brother!



Our Easter weekend continued with the annual Easter Egg Hunt at the local recreation centre.  Last year we arrived like rockstar parents - late and pushing our girl through the crowds just to find one measly chocolate egg that might have been missed.  This year we made it just in time.  Kamille has literally been talking about this darn Easter Bunny since last year and you could see her scanning the crowd to catch a glimpse of him.  Turns out he doesn't come out until after the hunt.

So on she went, into the crowds of 0-3 year olds, surrounded by bright tinfoil covered Easter eggs at her feet.  She was very slow to react, occasionally picking up one her and there, so not even looking interested at all.  I stepped away to get a few good shots at my perplexed little girl in the crowd.

Once it looked like she was completely lost, I approached her again to find that my girl was very particular about her eggs and was only on the hunt for pink ones.  Of course.

little did I know when i took this, but this would have been a jackpot handful for her!  all pink!

I congratulated her on a job well done and she was now on the hunt for the Bunny who would be arriving at any minute.   

Turns out that that Bunny isn't so funny when you do find him.  Once she caught glimpse of him she was on me.  No way was she going to get some eggs from him without me.   However,  Kamille found the the courage to approach the Easter Bunny once she knew she had her friend Liv by her side!

And just like that, this concluded our Easter celebration.  No other events to attend, no special dinner planned.   Just a house full of chocolate and one happy 3 year old who met the Bunny once again.