Father's Day

It's Father's Day today. 

I have to say that I have the greatest dad in the world.

Well, I have the best dad, and I'm also married to another pretty fantastic dad too.

This blog is dedicated to two pretty awesome guys!

My dad:

Thanks dad, for being the first man to love me and care for me. You showed me what a real man is. The way you loved mum and how you loved and raised Simon and I. You, along with mum, gave us a home where we always felt comfortable, safe and happy. I remember you reading my bed time stories, chit chits and telling me that vinegar was "secret sauce" that would make everything taste better. Turns out, it really does. You're a man of great integrity and I am proud to call myself your daughter. Thanks for all the lessons, I really was listening, even when it probably felt like I wasn't. I love you, daddy!

My husband:

Cuinn, you are an amazing father to our beautiful daughter. All the love you gave to me, you have doubled and now give to me AND our baby girl. I love watching you play with her, and change her bum, and cuddle with her. I always knew you would be a great dad, but you have even surpassed all of my expectations. Thank you for being right beside me through this parenting journey.Thank you for taking over when I feel like I'm failing. Thank you for the pep talks when all I want to do is cry myself. Thank you for letting me have a bath to feel like a real human being again. Thank you for being the kind of man I need and want in my life. Thank you for being you. I'm so glad that I get to do this with my best friend. Aislynn sure is lucky to have you as her daddy. I love you, Cuinn.

To all the other dad's out there who are equal parents with their partners. Keep doing what you're doing. All the help you give us mummies really is appreciated. Even if we don't show it all the time. Thank you for helping and being there for us when we need you the most. We wouldn't be able to do it without help, and your help is the best. 

For all the daddy's out there.

We love you.

Thank you.

 My wonderful parents

Proud Grandpa

Daddy/Daughter time

Happy Father's Day!

Parenting...

Let's talk about parenting for a minute. Do you realize, that right now, whatever kind of parent you have decided to be, is wrong? Yep. You are wrong. Every choice you have made is wrong and you are harming your baby. In fact, your child is going to grow up to be either a murderer, or they will just be dead because of all the unsafe choices you have made.

Seem a little harsh?

Yeah.

Seems harsh to me too.

Why is it, that every single choice you make as a parent, someone HAS to tell you that it's wrong and dangerous? Every single thing you do! Putting them in their crib causes abandonment issues, but having them sleep in your room causes clingy children. Feeding them solids before their 6 months gives them allergies, but if you don't feed them until their 6 months you're not giving them the proper nutrients. Breast is best and only breast is the only way to go (according to the breast nazi's, oh I mean lactation specialist), but giving formula is better because then your baby will love both parents equally as oppose to favoring mommy. Also, breast feeding in public is basically a hanging offense. 

Those are just a couple examples of what I've been told.

And this is being told to me by public health nurses and doctors. 

Then I started going to MotherCare and Early Years.

Where there are other mothers.

Who live in the real world.

They are much more forgiving for all the terrible things I do. 

Such as:

Co-sleeping

Baby wearing

Breast feeding in public (shock horror. I know.)

Baby Led Weaning

Picking my baby up when she cries

No "Baby Training"

Why is it that people think that they always know what is best for your child? It bugs me! It makes me want to look them in the eye and say, "Look lady," (and it's almost always ladies. I'm not being sexist, I'm being honest) "My kid. My rules. If I deem it acceptable for my kid to run around naked and sleep on the lawn and pee in the bushes, then that's my choice. MY CHOICE!!"

Look, I might not be the best parent in the world. I make mistakes. That's ok though, because I'm not the worst parent in the world either! The choices Cuinn and I have made as parents for our daughter works for our lives. It may not work for you and that's ok. We are all very unique, which means we all need different parenting styles, you know what? My parenting style with Aislynn is probably going to be different with my next kid, because everyone needs something different.

I know this blog seems to be a little ranty, and I'm sorry for you having to read my venting. But if you could just take one thing from this, I hope that it would be this.

Please remember that how you parent is going to be different from how I parent. I will always respect your decisions, I may not agree with them, I may think you're crazy, but I will respect that it's your choice. I just ask that you respect my choices too.

Father's Day

So I've been freaking out a little about father's day this year. I was 100%, absolutely certain that it was THIS weekend. I was freaking out because I have an idea for Cuinn's first Father's Day, it's super cool, super useable and super cheap. All of which is what Cuinn said he wanted his gift to be. The only thing is, it's takes a little work. I only got the idea late last night and I didn't have enough time to pull it all together. I was really disappointed because I LOVE the idea. (Sorry, no hints. Cuinn reads my blog.) (I hope) Then, when I was at my Rhyme Time with Baby class this afternoon I was asking my friend what she had planned for Father's Day this weekend. She looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Father's Day is next week Sarah. Right? I'm not ready yet." I was so happy when she said that. Now I still have time to make his gift!! Weee!!!

I really don't have anything else to blog today. I just really wanted to brag about how I have the best idea ever for Father's Day. BEST IDEA EVER!!! 

Oh yeah, I guess I do have something to talk about. We're getting new windows. But I think the construction team is having a nap or something. They took out our windows, frames and all, and now we have giant holes in the walls. It's been about 2 hours. They haven't put the new windows in. Lucky it's a breezy day today, or I'd be pretty annoyed. Well, more annoyed than I am at this moment. I'm happy about new windows and all, but I'm not happy about the mess. And people walking in my house in their dirty work shoes. Grr. They are all really nice guys, very friendly, telling me my baby is gorgeous, one of them checking me out, making me feel good. But I don't want a hole in my wall anymore.

Cuinn is also getting super annoyed. Muttering under his breath. Pretty sure it's going to get ugly. Cuinn only stays polite for so long. Then the angry man comes out. I can see it in his eyes.

It's getting closer.

Don't worry.

I'll post pictures if it gets interesting.

In the kitchen...

I love to be in the kitchen. I love cooking and baking and finding new recipes to try out on Cuinn. Most of the time they work. Some of the time they don't. I'm lucky though, my test subject will eat pretty much anything I put in front of him. So it's pretty good for my self esteem because he usually says it's good. I love it when I see in his eyes that something is REALLY good though. Like dinner tonight. I made some chicken on a stick, which was delicious. I steamed some very yummy (and very local, which is always awesome!) asparagus, brussel sprouts and mushrooms. I also made some fancy rice. Which isn't really all that fancy. It's just rice, some of that hot paste type thing that you find at chinese food restaurants, jamaican salt and pepper, a bit of marg and soya sauce. Pretty simple. I just looked what was in the cupboards, threw some of this in and some of that in and Voila! A meal fit for my husband. While we were eating din dins I was thinking about how I haven't baked anything in a long time. Not since moving to our tiny town anyway. So I was thinking about what was in the cupboards, and if I had enough to make anything yummylicious. I did! I had (almost) all the ingredients to make cupcakes and icing. All from scratch I might add. Here's the recipe if you want to try it!

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cup (130 grams) granulated white sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Zest of 1 large lemon(outer yellow skin)

1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup (60 ml) milk

ButtercreamFrosting:

2 cups (230 grams) confectioners sugar (icing or powdered sugar), sifted

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk or light cream

Assorted food colors(if desired)

Vanilla Cupcakes:Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest. 

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 17 -20 minutesor just until set and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Let ‘em cool, then frost ‘em!

Buttercream Frosting:In an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter until smooth and well blended. Add the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the milk and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes). Add a little more milk or sugar, if needed. Tint the frosting with desired food color (I use the paste food coloring that is available at cake decorating stores and party stores).

I didn't have butter, I used marg. I didn't have food coloring so I just added sprinkles to make them colorful and lovely. I didn't have enough lemon zest so I just left it out. Also, I don't do the alternating thing with the "flour mixture". I think that's a waste of time. I just dump it all in at once. Maybe there is a reason for doing it that way, but I don't know it. Also, I don't add the eggs in one at a time. Again, I don't understand why recipes tell you to do that. I think it just makes extra work, I just do it all at once. They turned out fantastic. Cuinn had a big grin on his face when he was licking the bowl clean. So I'm happy. 




What did you do for dinner tonight?

Our weekend

Goodbye to another fantastic weekend, hello to a busy week.

Saturday was a Aislynn and mummy day since Cuinn was working. We woke up pretty early, for us. 8ish, because of the big thunderstorm we had here. The thunder was very big and loud and Aislynn thought it was the greatest thing in the entire world. Every time it cracked, she laughed so loud and kept looking at me, waiting for me to make it crack again. It was the greatest thing I've ever heard. Since it was very stormy outside it was in indoor day, and since the skies were very dark, we stayed in bed a little longer than usual. Just hanging out, cuddling, listening to the rain and thunder. I love mornings like that. I wish it was like that every morning. We love the rain here in the Simpson house and we love the storms even more!

Not much else happened on Saturday, we just had a relaxing day at home. It was so lovely.

Sunday morning we got up, put on our Sunday dresses (Well, Cuinn wasn't wearing a dress, but Aislynn and I were.), and headed out to try another church. We're still "Church Shopping", trying to find our new church home. We tried out a baptist church this time. I don't think I've ever been to a baptist church before. We're a little torn on whether to go there or not. We really enjoyed the service, Pastor Mike and his wife Sarah (yay!) are so friendly and even invited us to their house for dinner soon, the other people were so friendly too. Much friendlier and welcoming than any of the other churches so far, there are a lot of young families so definite new friends potential. The church is very family orientated. Those are all the good things. The not so good things? They don't have Sunday School. And that is a choice that they've made. All the kids just go to the back of the sanctuary and there are coloring sheets, but the children are encouraged to stay with their parents, so that the children can see their parents worship and also learn that there are times when kids need to be quiet. Wait, what? I'm not sure that I agree with that. I don't think that a 4 year old needs to stay during the "boring parts". I really think that Sunday School is important for kids, how else are they going to learn about Noah and the ark? Or Zacheus and how he was a "wee little man"? Or what about all the Sunday School Sundays when they sing songs for all us adults which makes me cry? It's disappointing to me. I really, really loved the service and the people, but I really need to think about my baby girl and whether or not it's going to be a good church family for her. Cuinn and I were talking in the car and thought maybe if we did keep going there it would be a good opportunity for me to maybe step up and help organize a Sunday School. I'm not really sure if that's the right thing either. I grew up in the Salvation Army. I'm not a Baptist. I'm not entirely sure what the differences are yet, but shouldn't that say something? Would I want to take on the responsibility of teaching children about God when I'm not even from the same denomination? So basically, we have no idea what we're doing. It is so frustrating not having a S.A. here. I always feel more secure when I have a church family, and I just feel all out of sorts not being a part of that community. So we'll see what happens.

Anyway, after church, it was such a beautiful day I didn't want to just stay at home. So Cuinn set about finding something for our family to do and we found out that one of the cities close to us has a baby pool! So we packed up the car and headed out to the pool! Oh we had so much fun! It was our first time in the family change room, which freaked Cuinn out (which made me laugh. Sorry baby). We don't have those baby swimmer diapers things, which I thought was a stupid invention anyway. Aren't they just diapers with a different name? I figured a regular diaper would be just fine. So she had her diaper on, she had her bathing suit on and we were ready to get in the water. As soon as we got in the pool, Aislynn was a happy little camper. She loved it! Her tongue was out for pretty much the whole time, trying to drink the water, which was so cute. We took her on rounds around the baby pool (Which is a pee pool. Don't kid yourself), one way on her tummy, one way on her back. She was giggling and it was great. There was a lifeguarding class going on, I think they were on their last class doing the test or whatever, so we saw a bunch of pretend accidents. And all those 16 year old girls thought Aislynn was just too cute. Aislynn knew she was getting lots of attention so she hammed it up. Sticking her tongue out at the girls, giggling, basically being a cutie pie. Which is natural for her. After about 30 minutes(ish), Aislynn was getting pretty heavy and we figure it was time to head out. Why was she getting so heavy? Remember how I thought those swimmer diapers were stupid? I think I might be the stupid one. Her regular diaper was FULL!! I'm serious, it was probably about 10 pounds heavy!!! Cuinn was so embarrassed that her diaper was so huge, I just thought it was hilarious. When we got back to the change room, and Cuinn took the diaper off, we just had to laugh. It was so heavy, I wish we had taken a picture. Now we know. We need to get some swimmer diapers for her.

The swimming knocked her out and she was asleep before we were out of the parking lot. We headed home and I made some chicken burgers, corn, and ceasar salad. Aislynn slept for pretty much all dinner and a while longer, so Cuinn and I watched a couple episodes of Tudors. Ahh, perfect weekend.

And now we have a busy week.

We've had a lot going on in our lives the last couple weeks, personal stuff, family health concerns, money. (Always money. Money money money. I hate it.) I've been feeling really down. Missing my parents a lot, feeling like I'm alone here in our tiny town. Cuinn's been pushing me to get out to the Early Years Center while he's at work. It's only about a 10 minute walk, but since I've been feeling so yucky I've been putting it off and just not going. Well, after the fantastic day I had yesterday I decided to give it a go. I'm so glad I did. I made a friend, who lives just down the street! We're even going together to another mommy group tomorrow morning together! Then on Thursday I'm heading back to the OEYC with Cuinn for another group. I really enjoyed getting together with other mommies. So Monday afternoons, you will find Aislynn and I at the OEYC for the "New Parents" group. It really gave me quite the lift. Aislynn liked it too. It was pretty over whelming for her though. I mean, there were about 8 other babies, a couple of them crying quite loudly, Aislynn kept looking at the criers and you could see in her face she was thinking, "What the heck are ya crying for?" I stayed right to the end and by then Aislynn was pretty tired and cranky, so I put her back in her stroller and she was out like a light. It was a fantastic day, again. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow and hanging out with me new friend and her 7 week old baby. Future friend for Aislynn? He is a cutie. ;)

Not much to say..

It's been a very stressful week and I don't really have much to say. So I'm going to make a list of things that make me happy in the hopes that I can force myself to think positively. 

This morning with Aislynn

Know how some kids are terrified of thunder and lightening? Not my kid. Every time there was a crack of thunder (and there were some loud and scary ones.), she would giggle and squeal with delight. Then when it stopped, she would look at me as if to say, "Mummy! Again! Again, again, again, again!!" Which would then make me laugh and we would lay in bed laughing. It was hilarious.

This awesome blog

This woman inspires me to make this apartment into a home. I can't even put into words how awesome I think this person is and I don't even know her. I think she's pretty cool and you should all head over to her blog and tell her who sent ya. 

My blog

Starting this blog, I didn't really know what to expect. I'm really enjoying it though. I kind of like having my thoughts all in one place. I never had a diary growing up. Wait, that's not true. I started about 20 diaries growing up, but then I would get bored of it and give up to start the next project. I've always got some kind of project in my mind that I want to start and it's always the kind of thing that when I tell Cuinn, he cringes. Because it's expensive, or it's going to be a huge undertaking. Or it's because he know me to well and knows that I'm kind of a scatterbrain and get bored very easily. Which means I'll drop it mid-project to start another huge project. He still loves me though. Right, Cuinn? Right?

A cold glass of milk

Man. If I could only drink one thing for the rest of my life it would be an ice cold glass of milk. On the other hand, if someone wanted to be cruel to me, all they'd have to do is hand me a glass of milk that was not ice cold. The ONLY way I can drink it is if it is so cold it almost hurts your teeth. But it's sooooo worth it. 

Trying something different (in the kitchen) for my husband

I love making up recipes with what I have in the kitchen. For instance, I'm making enchilada's tonight for dinner. The recipe has a whole bunch of things in it that I don't like, so I don't have it in my kitchen, and since money is tight, I'm just going to make do with what I've got. My mum used to tell me when I was younger, "If I don't have it in the kitchen, I make something different." When I was a kid I thought that meant she would just change the recipe, later on I realized it meant she made a completely different meal. Well, I'm very stubborn. And when I feel like making enchilada's for dinner, I'm having enchilada's for dinner. Even if I don't have all the ingredients. I'll make it up as a go along. 

Reading

I am lucky to have a man who will look after our daughter for an hour so I can read. It's because he's lucky enough to have a woman who will look after our daughter for an hour so he can play video games. We've got a nice little compromise going here. I love curling up in our bed, shutting the door and entering my secret world of books. 

Watching our daughter figure things out

She's in her exersaucer right now. I love watching her actually PLAYING with the toys and not just hitting them accidentally. She is, for real, spinning the toys and figuring out what each one does. That is so cool! I love watching how happy she is when she realizes, "Oh, hey, if I move my feet like this, I can turn around and play with a different toy!" She's so smart!

Cuinn

Yup. I love him. He's a pretty cool guy. The best part though? He loves me right back.

Here's a couple pictures I love.

Isn't he super hot?

Isn't she super cute?

Don't we look super happy?

My Thursday Thoughts

I got my hair cut today.

In case you are new, or you just plain forgot, we just moved to this tiny town a month ago.

In case you're a boy, or you just don't care about your hair as much as I do, being new means you don't know where to get your hair cut.

I went to the wrong place.

I hate it. I hate my new summer hair. A lot. I came home and was nearly in tears. It didn't turn out at all how I wanted, which means that now not only am I super self conscious about my post baby bod, I am super self conscious about my hair. Which I take such pride in. I love my hair. I love that it's the one part of ME that I'm almost always proud of how it looks. I know how to style my hair, I know what looks good and what looks not so good. 

This new hair?

Not so good.

I came home and complained about it right away to Cuinn. He does get extra credit for being the best husband ever and telling me he really likes it and that I look beautiful. I basically just shrugged it off, jumped in the shower, then tried to make my hair look like something I could be proud of.

I just got more frustrated.

Later on, I went on the computer and checked my dailies and I was reading a very sad story about a little girl on one of the blogs I follow. (I won't be sharing what blog because it's a private blog. Sorry folks.) The story was about a little girl who was born with a heart defect 6 months ago and her parents were told she wouldn't last the night. She did make it through the night, but unfortunately she had a heart attack 3 days later and she wasn't strong enough and she passed away. We all would understand it if the parents retreated into their grief and became angry at God, the world, everything else. Instead the mother wrote such a touching blog about how although the time was short with their daughter, and she would now carry this loss with her the rest of her life, she wouldn't have it any other way. She went on to say that God's plan was not always clear, but that there was obviously a reason for this and she just needed to wait and see what it was.

I looked down at my own daughter who was lying in my arms asleep at the time and counted my blessings. Was I really so shallow that 2 hours ago I was complaining about my hair? When I have a husband who loves me unconditionally, a daughter who is the pride and joy of my life, family who is always there for me and friends who I can always count on? 

It's easy to get wrapped up in the stupid things of everyday life that annoy us. The fact that my car has a black door but the rest of it is green, I rent an apartment instead of owning a house, I can't afford to go on the vacation when I want to, my hair isn't perfect nor is my body. Sometimes, though, you need to take a step back and look at your life and the things you DO have. I have a roof over my head, I have food on the table, I have people who love me and a God who provides for my every need. My friend reminded me today that our life plan is not necessarily God's plan, and when it doesn't work out the way you expected it too it can suck. It doesn't matter though because it's not OUR plan. It's His. And it'll all work out in the end. Usually better than the plan we had for ourselves anyway.

Oh, and about my friend who's daughter passed away?

She's pregnant again. 

Her and her husband are so excited, as well as apprehensive.

Please keep her in your prayers.

Also, my grandma needs a few of your prayers as well.

She has become ill and we're hoping it gets better. The reason my mum and dad moved back to the UK was to be closer to their elderly mother's who aren't in the greatest condition, health wise, so fortunately my mum is able to get to her mum a lot easier now. There is so much more on my mind about my family right now, but it's just to much to process right now and it would all come out in a jumble of word confusion. 

Send us your good thoughts/prayers/happy vibes/happy chakras or whatever floats your boat.