Runs on Coffee and Cream

Spring is here. But not really. We got dumped on with snow again a couple of days ago. Our world looked like a snow globe all day. I think Emma was the only one thrilled about this turn of events in our household. Oh, and I guess the dog too. 

It's been a while since I sat down and wrote anything. September is in full swing and it feels like fall is around the corner. The weather has cooled significantly and the stores are filled with all things pumpkin.

The summer flew by with visits to Hamilton and having company come up to stay with us. It was an exceptionally hot summer. There were heat warnings almost weekly. So both Emma and myself spent a lot of days in light cotton, bare minimal clothing while we hung out at home. I didn't want to overheat her and because she's still too young for sunscreen, we can only spend so much time at the beach.

I originally thought we'd spend a ton of time outside this summer. It was the first summer with Emma and the first summer in this house. I had fantasies of kiddie pools and dinners at a patio table. But again, too hot and Emma is still too young for sunscreen and to sit by herself. We still had fun though and spent some time outside in small intervals.


If anything, I felt like I had gotten into quite the routine and flow with Emma. Things felt 'easy' the past couple of months, if you will. But this month has brought on a new challenge... it's time to introduce her to solid foods. So far it's been a fun process but I feel like I'm doing way more research than I should have to about foods and purees and recipes, etc. Once we have her 6 month check up, I'm hoping to feel better when I can ask the doctor some questions.



As usual I've embraced fall with open arms. A break from the heat plus pumpkin spice lattes make fall such a lovely welcome.

I've been busy baking pumpkin things already and I've had more pumpkin spice lattes than I care to count (I'm making up for last year when I was pregnant...). It's our first fall with Emma but what do you do with a 6-8 month old in the fall? She's too young for pumpkin picking and to eat a Thanksgiving meal. Besides dressing her up for Halloween and some fall walks, I can't think of anything else we can do as a family for the fall season.


I'll be sure to share my successful pumpkin recipes on here. And if you don't follow me on Instagram already, you can see random pics of cats and babies and sweets @sparklegirljen since I post more regularly on there.


Have a great day!
xo Jen

Yesterday was my birthday. How old? I'll never tell...


It's weird that I hit my birthday slump this year. The last few years my birthdays haven't been anything crazy but I always looked forward to the day and whatever plans I had with Adam. Last year my birthday was extra special because we had just found I was pregnant with Emma. This year, even though we now have Emma, I just didn't care about my birthday.

Maybe next year it'll be different again. Emma will be older and will understand the celebration part a bit more... she'll be able to eat cake and be more active if we have another beach celebration.


I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way about their birthday. I know a few people who'd rather not make a big deal about it. It just feels weird to be apart of that club now.

We ended up having a beach day a day before my birthday due to Adam's work schedule. Well, a beach afternoon anyways. We bought a shade tent on clearance a couple of summers ago and I'm so happy we did. It works well and allows us to hide in shade in between dips in the lake to protect Emma's skin. We dipped her legs in the lake water while we were there and surprisingly she didn't hate it. The water was still quite cold but she just kicked her legs, which is how she typically responds to water.

Because the afternoon went so well and Emma was content splashing in the water and then lounging in the shaded tent, I'm hoping to do a few more beach days this summer. I forgot how much I love being there. The feeling that comes over me swimming in the lake, drying off on the sandy beach and hearing kids play and the food building's oldies music; it brings me back to childhood and a calm washes over me. It's basically an anti-depressant for me. It warms my soul.



And since it is still my birthday weekend and I have errands to run today, I might treat myself to an iced coffee to get me through this hot day.

xo Jen

One of the things I love about being off work? I can attend all those weekend events that happen around the city. Working retail typically means you work all weekend, every weekend. There's always local craft shows I want to check out but I'm at work.

Not anymore!

A couple of Saturdays ago I did errands in the city with Emma. We made our way downtown and hit up the Makers North: The Spring Show late in the afternoon. Going to the event with a stroller made me realize I'd probably be a pain in the butt taking over a lot of space. So I figured going later in the day made the most sense since craft shows die off towards the end. There'd be more space for me!


I wanted to buy from pretty much every vendor. I think if it was closer to Christmas and I had gifts to buy for, I would have walked out with a lot more than I did. There were amazing smelling soy candles, personalized wine glasses and wool socks, adorable prints for the wall, handmade jewelry, and baby clothes.


The items I bought were ones I was eyeing up prior to the event. Things that I spotted on Instagram and Facebook.

The first was a pillow from Penny Goods. I had been eyeing up the dinosaur pillow before the event but after seeing pictures of their set up from the start of The Spring Show, I'm kicking myself I didn't go earlier. I clearly needed to buy Emma the big orange cat pillow. But luckily, I can just watch for them to do another local craft show and buy her another pillow!




I also bought a couple of hair bows from Alfie + Iris. I completely fell in love with them when I found their Instagram. Their bows are so pretty. And the material... ugh! As a fellow fabric addict, I want all the hair bows because of the fabric! They use gorgeous vintage-looking fabrics. I'm a little mad I didn't pick up their new Malibu Barbie-looking print bow. But again, maybe at their next show.


And because I was hungry and they actually had product left, I went home with 2 donuts from Beards Bakery! We try to visit their bakery regularly to try new things and they were set up at the show across from a friend's booth, so it was fate!


Whether I apply for future Makers North shows this year or not, I'll definitely attend them to do some shopping and to check out the local vendors. The feeling at these shows is so energetic and they inspire the crap out of me. I leave them with creativity bursting from me. It helps keep me in check when preparing for my own craft shows that I'm vending at.

Speaking of which, I'm off to cut out some new projects for my next show!

xo Jen

It's hard to believe it's June already. I'm not too sure where the time has gone, but here we are.

May

May was a great month. We went to Hamilton for the first time since Emma was born. It was a successful visit and the 5 hour drive there and back went well. Emma slept for most of the drive and we had interesting adventures at rest stops changing diapers and feeding her. We also had my mom up for a longer than normal visit which was nice. There was no rushing. Just hanging out and enjoying ourselves.

We played many games of Catan in May.

Matcha Lemonade season!

Lunch at Twiggs.

The summer heat showed up this month. My walks around the neighbourhood with Emma were now sunny and hot walks. I officially have tank top tan lines. We also went to Bell Park a couple of times. The most recent time was somewhat of a picnic with friends. Too bad their were a gazillion (I'm not kidding) tent caterpillars at the park trying to join us. It was a little annoying.



We ended May with Paramedic Week here in the city. We attended the proclamation last Monday to start off Paramedic week so of course I took a ton of photos of Emma and Adam with the ambulance since this was the first time Emma was at Daddy's work.

Sitting in an ambulance.

June

Source

June only just started but so far it's been a rainy month. I'd really like for the sun to come back now! We have a lot of fun plans for this month. Graphic-con is this Saturday, which is my first craft show of the year. I've been able to sew a bit with Emma around so I have faith that I'll be able to get back into sewing more and more as she gets older. There's two weekends that family is coming to visit us, Father's Day, our wedding anniversary, and the month ends with a friend's wedding. So it looks like it'll be another busy month.

Can you believe this cutie is 3 months old?!

I'm pumped for the summer with Emma. I have so many things I want to do with her. If you follow me on Instagram, I apologize in advance for all the adorable baby pics! I've been trying to keep them separate in a private account on Instagram. But they keep leaking back into my main account. Whoops!

xo Jen

I wrote this post about a month ago. I needed to express my frustrations and typing them out helped. After re-reading what I wrote, I still feel so many of these things. They've lessened a bit as we get into a bit more of a routine, or as I get more comfortable in my new role. Plus, we've been heading outside more to soak in sunshine and it has helped so much. I know everyone's experience with having a baby is different, but this is my experience. 

No matter how many things I read, how many stories I heard from people, or listened to the advice from my doctors, I wasn't prepared for the postpartum part of my journey.

The pain and restrictions from having a c-section was horrible. The swelling was even more ridiculous than what I experienced in third trimester and breastfeeding was incredibly frustrating. It took about two weeks for the insane swelling to go down, three weeks to sleep in my own bed again, and about five weeks for the pain in my lower abdomen to disappear (though, not completely). I'm still dealing with leftover healing issues from my c-section incision (still! 12 weeks later!), but I'm on the path to recovery.

It's been a struggle and when you add in first-time mom anxieties, a newborn, and sleep deprivation, you end up an oversensitive, exhausted zombie. Outside of Emma, my patience is nil. Then there's my eating habits. Some days I'm super healthy in my eating routine and other days I could throw back an entire cake for every meal. I can tell my hormones are changing and my body is heading back to... normal? Pre-pregnancy? Sort of, but still changed and different.


Maybe I was naive, but I honestly didn't expect to feel these things physically, mentally and emotionally.

Then you take the new baby.... my heart fills when she looks at me, when she grins, when she cries and snuggles into my neck when I hold her.

Talk about a whirlwind of emotions.


I believe the biggest help I've had is having people check in on me regularly. To have people to 'chat' with daily even if by text or social media. Adam's been pushing me to get outside and we've been making the most of leaving the house for doctor's appointments by adding in other fun aspects (lunch out, walk at the park).

Honestly, my biggest struggle right now is taking care of myself physically. I feel like living in sweat pants, hair in a bun, and living off coffee. I've been trying to make a point of filling my water bottle and telling myself to drink 3 of them during the day. Or to switch a cup of coffee with a green tea. This goes well some days and other days, when I've had 5 hours of sleep, not so much.

I know it's just a phase and things will (or should) get easier. Summer is coming up which means more sunshine and opportunities to be outside. Just being out of the house and getting some exercise and Vitamin D should help me recover.

Trying to practice self-care.

It's been almost a year since I found out I was pregnant, and if you talked to me during this time, thank you. Thank you for being around to chat with, no matter how fluffy the conversation. It's been months and months of emotional, physical and mental craziness. I appreciate all of you.

xo Jen

I wanted to be a mom for a very long time. Luckily, being in Canada, I have a year off to stay home with my baby. No one really knows what to expect when their baby shows up. Plus every baby is different, including their personalities and habits. I've lucked out with a good baby; she sleeps well, she's not too fussy and we haven't experienced colic. However, she still prefers our arms than a bouncer or swing. But we both get decent sleep (her more than me. I'm functioning though. Most days. With multiple cups of coffee).


I figured after we got into a routine I'd be back to sewing and baking. In my head I was so going to nail this staying at home with the baby. I also had plans to meal prep, scrub the house from top to bottom weekly, start working out... this is so not the case.

Quickly you realize how much you need to and want to entertain your baby and show her the world around her. I've taken to making animal noises, singing to her, and pointing out colours and shapes around the house. Yep, she definitely thinks her Mom is a professional singer with how much I sing to her. Then there's tummy time, the multiple feedings each day, and the never-ending diaper changing. Because she's reached the age where she 'talks' a lot now too, I also feel like I shouldn't watch TV as much. I need to interact with her and have silly conversations.


Don't take this as complaining. Watching her face - her eyes lighting up, her mouth copying my mouth, the sounds she makes - are all worth every single moment I spend away from cleaning, cooking, and even trying to eat (my meals all seem to get postponed due to Emma time).


I know things should get easier (and harder in a sense) once she can hold up her own head, hang out in her exersaucer, hold her own bottle, etc. I should be able to multi-task a bit better. Hopefully. That's the plan. But who cares? As long as she's happy, I'm happy. We'll make this work. 

xo Jen