December Rewind
Jessica Glaze • Jan 04, 2015
December was crazy!
Words that describe Demeber 2014…
Fun, Snowy, Cold, Busy, Stressful, Anxious, Depressing, Devastating, Humbling, Joyful, Exciting, New.
Between all of those emotions, there was very little time for blogging, so here is an overview of our December.
I started December with pretty severe anxiety. If I could climb out of bed at all, I couldn’t do much more than that. One day it started snowing and it didn’t stop for about 12 hours. The result was stunning. At that moment I decided not to let irrational anxiety take away precious moment. So I put Roe down for a nap, Carter and I put on our warmest winter gear (which for me included 15 year old snowboard pants), and we headed out to play. In a few months, I’ll forget what I was even anxious about but I will never forget the first time I played in the snow with my daughter.
I also headed home to Chicago for a couple of days before Christmas. It was really nice to spend time with family and my parents but it was especially nice because my sister was also visiting from San Diego. She missed the kids and the kids missed her and they were able to reconnected after months apart. During our time home, I watched my sister experience a great loss and that was devastating but I am glad I was there with her to share in her pain.
Christmas of course brought a lot of joy and excitement. It was the first year Carter understood Santa and presents but it was also the first year we could really teach her about Jesus. On Christmas Eve, a friend kindly invited us to join their family for dinner. We also tried out a new church. It was really a great Christmas.
Squeezed between Christmas and New Years Eve is Carter Maxine’s birthday. It was a little heart breaking because she kept asking for her friends to come to her party but of course that wasn’t possible. She also asked if we could rent a bounce house but again not possible in zero degree Celcius weather. But, I did my best to plan a party fit for a threenager and I think I was successful. We went to an indoor playground with a bounce house during the day and then at night we partied. We had a bunch of family, new friends, good food, pink cupcakes, and princess dresses. What else could you need?
Finally, it was time to ring in the new year. I hosted my mom and her family and my dad and his family. It was the first time I’ve spent New Years Eve with both of my parents in at least 27 years. It was so much fun! We walked around downtown Toronto, ate homemade mexican food, played board games, and forced our eyes to stay open until midnight. It really was a blast. A time I will never forget.
Thank you God for such an amazing year. Even through the lowest times, I know you were there. I’m excited to see what You have waiting for us in 2015.
Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.
Four kids, I have four kids! Sometimes (well, every day if I’m being honest) I have to remind myself that I have FOUR kids to be responsible for. If I’m not forgetting to keep an eye on my mischievous 2-year-old, then I’m walking out the door for dinner without dropping a jar of baby food into my bag. (Fries for dinner never hurt anyone, right? That’s what Mr. August survives on once a week at least.) Life as a parent can be chaotic sometimes. #thisisparenthood Thank God my two older kiddos are basically self-sufficient otherwise we would never be able to leave the house. Being responsible for four other human beings (Sometimes five if my husband is in town, am I right ladies?) is so hard!
It’s no secret that I am no fan of winter. If you live up north like we do now, you know just how cold, cold is and I can barely survive the frozen temperatures. Even though I would happily leave behind the cold, but there is nothing I love more than Thanksgiving and Christmas! Best holidays of the year, hands down!
It has been three years since we left behind our life in California. Three years since we made the announcement that we were moving to Canada. Three years since we started a new adventures as immigrants in a country that is so close to home, yet so very different. And now, after three life changing years, we are on to our next adventure.
Eli is 5.5 months old, rolling left to right and every other which way, so that means it’s time to ditch the swaddle. *Que the ugly cry.* If you didn’t know, we love swaddling in our home. Rusty and I can count the number of times we have ever had to wake up more than twice a night with one of the three kiddos on our fingers and we thank swaddling for that luck. We start swaddling from day one and we use that as a basis to establish great sleep habits from the beginning that last forever. Sadly, once the skill of rolling is learned, it is no longer safe to swaddling and the transition from swaddled to un-swaddled can be rough. Thankfully, we found the Nested Bean sleep sack this time around and the swaddled/un-swaddled transition has gone perfectly smooth.
The Glaze Brigade spent the second to last official weekend of summer (which is kind of a joke because summer never actually arrived here in the GTA) at Center Island and we loved it! I’m actually a little bummed that we have lived here for 3 years and only just decided to make the trip on the ferry over to the island.
We are just three weeks away from the start of the next school year and I am so not ready! There is nothing I love more than the freedom of summer. No school schedules to follow, flexible bedtimes, endless weekend adventures, and daily trips to wherever we can get some sunshine. Sadly, all of that is about to end and I am already planning our next summer.
Since moving to Toronto, the best part of summer is getting outside. Our days are usually filled with trips to the playground, our near by amusement park, riding our scooters around the neighborhood, or taking a fun road trip, but even in the summer, there are days we are stuck inside. Sometimes we spend those rainy days cuddled on the couch, watching a movie and eating junk food, but another fun rainy day activity we enjoy is visiting our local mall.
I was just a little surprised to learn that Carter would be starting kindergarten, at the ripe old age of 3, just a few months after moving to Canada. I considered putting her in a preschool a few days a week, but never did I think I would be sending her to an all day, every day, kindergarten class in a school that holds kids up to the 8th grade. Cue the mommy freak out. Of course, Carter loved it and I had nothing to do worry about.
My middle child, Monroe, was born with a severe tongue tie, it was actually so severe that he couldn’t swallow. For the first week of his life, we had no idea that his entire tongue was attached to the bottom of his mouth (behind his bottom gums), but over and over again he would choke and sometimes even turn blue. Rusty or I or a nurse would have to suction his airway to get things cleared out. It was the scariest time for me as a parent.
Facebook is filled with groups of moms complaining about the lack of help they get from their husbands. Either dad has never changed a diaper, he doesn’t help pick up toys, dad doesn’t help discipline, or he flat out cannot keep the kids alive if he is left alone. I understand that it can be completely frustrating to get no help from the one person that should be helping you the most, so I am going to share with you a few tips that I’ve used to encourage my husband to be a hands on dad.