Those Juicy Crustaceans

Here are a couple of pictures of us on New Year's Eve. The baby is in bed and we are enjoying a quiet night in with a pair of critters and a little glass of good champagne. And yes, I am in my PJs.

One Heck of a Year

Can you believe that it was one year ago today that we found out about little Rowan? I can't. Even if my pregnancy seemed to drag on and I wished the year away every day just to speed up his arrival, I am still floored by the fact that a full 365 days have gone by since I saw those two little pink lines on the stick. But they have, and this year, unlike all years past, I have a growing yard stick to measure how the year went. Imagine, it only took 39 weeks+1 day to grow a perfect little human being, and he is here. I mean, *really* here.

It's hard not to reflect on years past as this year comes to a close. 2006 and 2007 stick out in my mind because I know how rough they were on me. But looking back now, I find it difficult to remember exactly how bad they really were. Finding John and having Rowan has almost erased the memories of having my life turned completely upside down. Thoughts of my old life do come to me from time-to-time but instead of causing a knot in my stomach now, the thoughts remind me of how far I have come in such a short time. They help me to not forget how truly blessed I am to have made it out of that life and into this one. Don't get me wrong, there was happiness in Vernon but there was also a lot of worry and emptiness. Now, where there was constant uncertainty, frustration, and loss, I have comfort, joy and a love that can't be matched. 2008 was the best year of my life and that's amazing to me because it wasn't too long ago that it felt like everything was wrong. Now everything couldn't be more right. I think that is worth a sip of champagne or two and a big fat juicy lobster...

p.s. this picture is of Rowan wearing the onesie I bought in anticipation of getting pregnant. I gave it to J as a way to tell him that he was going to be a daddy.

What Did Santa Put in My Stocking?

I finished Rowan's stocking on time for Santa to fill it with lots of goodies including this rattle and cute hat.

Christmas Present

Holidays are hard on a baby. They are equally hard on a baby's parents. Or at least they can be. The only way that I survived the lead up to Christmas, Christmas itself and the days following was by just "going with the flow" so to speak. Oddly enough and contrary to what I thought possible, being a mom has been teaching me to relax where the little things in life are concerned. Yes, I am still an obsessive worrier and still check for life-signs when Rowan sleeps through his 3am feeding but I think (and maybe I am wrong here and my family will surely correct me) I am able to let go of things that really don't have much significance. For example, we missed Christmas mass and I didn't lose my mind! Imagine that...

That reminds me, this Christmas, much like a lot of the past 4 months was filled with a bunch of "firsts" worth mentioning. This was the first Christmas:

• for our baby Rowan of course
• where I didn't have all of the shopping done at least a week before the big day (in fact, I picked up a few more gifts after the holidays were over!)
• where I just gave up on finding the right gifts because of time or because I was flat out of ideas in some cases
• we spent Christmas in Ottawa
• we missed mass (as mentioned earlier but worth mentioning again because this should have been a bigger deal than it was!)
• we didn't cook our own turkey dinner
• we didn't have mashed potatoes or turnip and survived
• where my father only ate about a cup of food at Christmas dinner instead of his normal 2 plates full (I ate his share instead)
• we had with Gramma R in a very long time (possibly 15 years?)
• that I didn't nap the days away
• that I threw a hissy fit in the parking lot jumping up and down like a spoiled child (I pray the neighbours didn't witness my breakdown)
• that I didn't eat a pound of chocolate before lunch on Christmas day

Our Christmas-day-gift-opening-extravaganza was as it always has been. We started opening presents at about 7:30am and didn't finish until close to 1pm. Rowan had a couple of naps between gifts which did extend the event slightly, but I would say that we had a solid 5 hours of gift-opening. As sick and over-the-top as this may sound, we are known for wrapping everything up even if it is just a pair of socks and we each take our turn which, I have to say, is a lot more fun than having all our gifts in front of us and ripping them open all at once. I like watching the surprise on everyone's face when they open their gifts and well, that's lost when everyone is opening what they got all at the same time. I still don't know what Lila, Pauline and Hanan got for Christmas because of the mayhem that went on at the Bejjani's on Christmas night. I prefer the Richardson way and I always will. Rowan received more gifts than I could keep track of. They came from everywhere! People love babies. It never ceases to amaze me. He seems to like Tad the best at this point. Mind you, he is too small for about 90% of the toys he received. He falls asleep to the frog singing. His dad and I hate the thing, but I am pretty sure that parental hate is inversely proportional to toy success. That means the cute Animalz that I found in England are likely going to flop big time regardless if they were rated as one of CoolMom's top 10 toys of the year. He will also probably ignore the handmade bunny I found on the street in Cardiff. The lucky little boy got a lot of cute clothing too. He needed it. Especially the long sleeved onesies and the pjs. I loved opening the gifts J found for him because I didn't know what they were going to be. I think we'll continue to buy gifts for the little tadpole independently because it makes for more fun and I am all about the fun. I am really looking forward to Christmases where Rowan is aware of what is going on and is able to participate. I remember not being able to sleep on Christmas Eve because I was both excited and terrified that Santa was coming. I want that for him. I want him to grow up with traditions that he'll miss when they are broken or skipped like the things that I missed this year-- like the sparkle of Christmas mass, the singing and the sound of christmas night which is the muffled sound of snow crunching beneath my feet (and the weird silence of snow falling), the smell of turkey cooking, my mother's gravy, turnip, my grandparents, boxing day with bestfriends... Here a few photos of the Richardson Christmas morning madness. I will post a few of my favourite photos taken over the holiday in another blog.

A New Tradition

One of the things that I have been looking forward to has been the opportunity to start new traditions with Rowan while holding on to the many old ones that we have in our family. Christmas is full of tradition and so I guess it is only natural that our "first" new tradition happened on Christmas Eve. Much to John's delight, he got to be center stage for the event-- Here he is reading "The Night Before Christmas" to the babies in the family just before bedtime. He insisted on providing a commentary after every line which stressed me out because I could see that baby Rowan was growing impatient and needed to hit the sac. I guess Daddy will have to learn to read his crowd a little better in the years to come. Someday the commentary will be appreciated but this year, let's just say the babes were too young to understand his cleverness.

A Good Boy I have Been. I Swear.

Auntie Nicole and Uncle Darren bought Rowan the cutest Christmas onesie out there to be had this year. The only bad thing about it is that it won't fit next year! He wore it to the cookie exchange and of course, he was even sweeter than the goodies that were traded that day.

Cookie, Cookie, Cookie...Good Enough For Everyone But Me

I held a Christmas Cookie Exchange this year. It was a success although I won't be able to eat any of the goodies that were brought by my 12 guests. They probably all contain that nasty stuff called soy. why does God have to be so cruel and put soy in chocolate (and flip the canoe)? What I wouldn't do for just a little taste...Actually, hurt my baby is what I wouldn't do, but the cookies sure did look good.

Here is a picture or two of Rowan learning to bake.