A year in the making

Oh dear, I have such good intentions to maintain the updates and then that plan falls apart. I completed two more courses last year with kept me busy until the new school year started. The courses result in me getting writing fatigue. I can go for a month without turning my computer on.

I loved being back in the schools. I was very lucky to have employment from the first day of the school year. I started at the Catholic Board but then I was provided with the opportunity to go to the same school every day for the remainder of the year as a supply teacher. This was a huge relief because it made me feel more settled and allowed me to have some routine and structure to my day. The year then ended off on the best note with the birth of my little treasure.

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Paige has been a surprise in her truly delightful personality. She has made adapting to parenthood very smooth. Many would-be horrified but she still sleeps in our bed which may be the reason she has been easy. She does not have long wake windows, instead, she has a nibble and goes straight back to sleep. She also does not do early starts regularly, however, this morning was a 5:30 am wake up. She did go back to sleep an hour later until 8 am.

February was an exciting month. Mom realized we would not be able to visit as expected for Easter due to Canada going MAD about Covid. We had such a special visit with her and I will always cherish this time with her because I could just chill with her and do things we haven’t had time to do together. We built a puzzle that we had been meaning to build for 3 years. We now need to get around to having it framed. Mom taught me how to sew on Tara’s old Elna. Duncan then bought me a sewing machine for my birthday. I haven’t done as much as I would have like to. I have made two outfits and mended a few items. I have had a dress that’s needed mending for a year that I remembered to do today. Mom and I then had fun visiting places we didn’t get to the last time she was here and also had fun shopping up a storm for the siblings.

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Duncan also bought me 6 vanilla pods and a bottle of vodka to make my own vanilla extract. I will probably only try it in a few months. Once I start using it I will top it up with more vodka to keep it going. Slide the bar to see the comparison between day 1 and today. Mom bought me the recipe book Dessert person by Claire Saffitz. I have admired her for years. Her recipes test my confidence in the kitchen, therefore it’s not an everyday book. She may even be my spirit animal. My favourite recipe thus far is St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake. You can see the recipe here. Claire makes her own vanilla. This is what motivated me to want to try this, especially since vanilla is my favourite scent. Paige almost had it as her middle name.

For Christmas, we gifted Fjord the first three books in the Wheel Of Time series. This is a series Duncan highly recommended. He has been trying to convince me to read it for years. I have been too occupied by my own series. I finished the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Mass. This series I am recommending to Duncan because it’s similar in style to the Wheel Of Time, which I didn’t realize previously. Fjord and I both started it while mom was visiting. It has been really lovely having something I can connect with Fjord about. We speak weekly about what we have read and speculating about what is going to happen next or the significance of a chapter/character. There are 15 books in the series which will probably take us a few years to read. He is about to finish book 3 and I am halfway through it. I will need to pick up my pace because he is whizzing further and further ahead. This series is in the production stages for an Amazon television series that will be released in November

Back to Paige :-P. She is now 7.5 months and getting busier by the day. Daddy’s little girl cries if he walks past her without giving her snuggles. She will hold onto him and refuse to let go more often than she will do that with me. Time will tell but I am sure she will start trying to take steps in the next month. She is flying around on her knees and will stand up every chance she gets. We are following the BLW principles, which means that she does not eat only pureed foods. She had two roast potatoes, strawberry, and frozen fruit puree cubes a few nights ago.

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We went out to the museum of Nature and then dinner last night with Ann, Margo, Ben, Marg, and Tara yesterday. Paige loved the fish in the tank and really wanted to try to reach the arctic fox in the one display. At dinner, she ate an entire pickle slice. We then ended the day meeting up with Ann and the twins at 10 pm to watch the Perseid meteor shower.

This upcoming week Duncan has taken a week off. We are going on our first holiday as a family of three. We are staying at the Hôtel Palace Royal in Quebec City. I chose a hotel that has a swimming pool as summer has hit its peak late. We are looking forward to wondering the old streets and taking in the history of the city.