A Day In The Life Of A Single Mom

Karen here.

Matt left Thursday night for a week long getaway with his best buds from his MBA. They all met in sunny Argentina! So I've had the pleasure of being a single mom for a few days.

As an FYI, this post is mostly to Matt so I can keep him up to date on our goings-on back home (alternatively, I could have said this post is to remind him that even though it's cold and snowy here, a sharp contrast from his lows of 22 degrees in Argentina, there are a few things here that might convince him to come back!).

Today being Saturday, Magnus and I spent the day doing chores. Groceries and laundry mostly. In the last few weeks, Magnus has taken to helping us unload the groceries. It's true! We didn't even have to ask! Look at how good of a helper he can be.

Yeah, I hope you caught my sarcasm there. He loves to take things out of bags a stack them. That's why God invented cans.

We also managed to get outside for some fresh air today.

Silly Matt basking in the sun called us as we were leaving the park. Hope your burns don't give you too much grief tonight! ;)

Camera Preoccupation

Karen here.

I haven't blogged in a while. And there's good reason for it.

1) I started back to work! Ugh! It doesn't completely suck. I actually really enjoy what I do for a living and probably am lucky to say I have fun at my job. However, after spending 14 months at home with my baby, it was hard to leave him all day with a stranger. Now, it has gotten easier. Afterall, it's been a month so we're all kind of in a groove, mornings and evenings. Weekends are especially nice, if not busier than ever. But it's a few evenings a week that I find hard. See, Matt and I are alternating drop-offs and pick-ups so that we can alternate nights we get to the gym. In theory, it works. In reality, it mostly works. What sucks is the nights I get home from the gym - Magnus is already in bed. True, Matt has his head down in the kitchen making dinner and lunches and I slide in beside him to help. But I don't get to hug or kiss my little guy. Rather, I only see him for an hour in the morning, if that. So not being able to say goodnight is hard, but we all seem to be doing well. Magnus sleeps well, and he eats well, and he seems to really like the daycare lady.

2) I'm pregnant.

So when you combine 1 & 2, you get TIRED!

3) But the biggest reason I haven't blogged in a while is because Magnus has discovered the camera. But he doesn't completely understand it. His favourite thing in the entire world is to sit on my lap and watch videos of himself on my phone. Adorable? Yes. But anytime the camera is out, he wants to watch it. And he gets really upset when he can't. So whenever I whip the camera out to record him doing something fun, or silly or goofy, he runs right at me to see what I'm watching. Needless to say, it's been rather difficult getting any good footage in the last month. For example, the following videos demonstrate what I deal with.

The only way we've been able to catch a video of Magnus is to preoccupy him. Here he is being pushed by his cousin Davin.

And here he is stuffing his face with pasta.

That's it. That's all we've gotten in the past month. So, we will continue to TRY to capture the little man doing what he does best - being a curious 15 month old.  :)

Karma

Matt here.

I thought I would try to squeeze in a quick post while Magnus has his morning breakfast.  This Saturday morning, while we were trying to catch up on Season 7 of Magnum PI, Magnus decided to interrupt the peaceful tranquility and contemplative meditation that comes naturally when looking at Thomas Magnum's mustache by doing what he has done for every morning since December 26: going for his blocks.  

I have titled this post, "Karma", for a specific reason.  8 or 9 years ago, while Christmas shopping for my nieces and nephew, I had found gifts for all of them with the exception of Charlotte, who would have been around 1 or 2 years old.  I found myself returning to the same area of  the toy store, looking at a box of coloured wooden blocks.  A woman beside me noticed and said, "Oh, we have those and they're awful.  My daughter loves them but they are all over the house and we are always stepping on them and tripping over them."  I thanked her for her warnings and took the box directly to the cash!  

Fast forward to Christmas 2014 and one of Grandpa Ross's gifts:

Of course, I never thought that my past goals of getting nieces and nephews the loudest and most adult annoying toys would come back to bite me.  I believe that Ross's blocks come in a respectable 3rd place behind the noisy hand-me-downs from Jud & Jill (a combined 2nd place) 
 

With one of his many hand-me-downs

and Magnus's Aunt Mary Beth's toy remote control (now forever hidden at the base of the toy box), which Magnus carried around for months and unofficially wins the most annoying toy of 2014.  Congrats Mary Beth!  

Mags and his remote

An honourable mention goes to my mom, who gave Magnus a snow man for Xmas that sang some sort of mind torturing tune when you pressed its hand.  Even when hidden behind Xmas cards on the mantle Magnus would see it and scream for it.  I'm sure whichever family finds it at Goodwill next year will treasure it for years to come.

Parenting 102

Matt here.

Back in March, 2014, we posted a blog called Parenting 101.  It involved Karen posting a video of Magnus hitting himself in the head with a rattle. Rather than consoling him when he started to cry, she kept laughing and filming.  

Well, we think such parenting toughened him up!  So much so that he now loves risking everything for a thrill.  Here he is on the slide at the school across the street.  

Luckily for Mags, it seems like we might be helping him risk it all.  

I have started to learn my lesson.  Smaller, slower sides, for now:

 Either way, helmets might be on the way.

A little eager

Matt here.  

It is Christmas Eve and I keep catching Magnus standing in front of the Xmas tree, just staring and pointing.  By the time I get my phone to take a pic of the perfect scene, he has moved on to checking out the gifts.  Here he is, trying to escape once caught in the act:

Fleeing the scene

We hope that everyone's Christmas season has started off well.  Looking forward to seeing those who we can.

Just For Fun

Karen here.

Well, just for fun, I wanted to post a few videos of our dear Magnus doing what he does best... being a goofy baby. :)

I came upon him one day as he was discovering a fly.

Magnus's new favourite thing to do is to throw anything and everything down the stairs. Yes, he is at the stage where everything is an experiment, so we have given him quite a bit of leeway. But geeze. When, more than anything else for some reason, I repeatedly find my feminine products on the stairs (or in the bathtub), I'm getting kinda tired of it. I managed to capture him in the act while at my mum's this past weekend (thankfully not with feminine products!).

Also while at my mum's, Magnus decided to surprise us with this.

It's a little unnerving that he can get down the stairs. He's no pro yet, but he thinks he is. More trouble to add to my list!

Snowsuit Woes

Karen here.

We are incredibly fortunate that Magnus has older cousins who give him their hand-me-downs. Rarely do we have to buy him clothes, although I had to get him 3-5 yr old socks last week. And even with these on they still leave sock indentations on his ankles! "Magnitude" indeed (my brother's nick name for Magnus).

Jud and Jill gave us a few snowsuits that their boys had grown out of. So one day last week I threw Magnus in the first one on the pile. Here he is stomping around like the Marshmallow Man.

Obviously, it's still a bit big. Be it the snowsuit, or wearing boots for the first time, but the poor guy had a hard time getting around.

No, as you can tell from the video, I didn't go help him. I wanted him to try to figure it out. And try he did, but figure it out he didn't.

Guess we should try the smaller snowsuit.