Edgar's First Trip to Vancouver

I have been meaning to type up a post about our recent trip to Vancouver, but just haven't had the motivation to do it each time I sit at the computer. Right now, Edgar's been napping for over an hour and a half, so I suppose I have no excuse but to give it a go!

Our flight out to Vancouver was a bit of an ordeal. The day of our flight out, I recieved a call around 3:00pm saying that our 8:00pm flight to Abbotsford was cancelled due to "maintenance" and that we could fly out the next morning at 8:30am, a flight that they had already moved us to without even asking. Not cool. We managed to get a 9:45pm flight to the main Vancouver airport. Okay. We thought we were okay.

We got to the airport, and the self check-in won't work for us. Great. We had to stand in line for an hour with Edgar because they only had one staff member on regular check-in (which now applied to us because we moved our flight already) and were not able to print out our baggage tags. Other parents with infants were assisted, but no one came to help us. When we finally got to the front, they gave us was a $20 meal voucher as an apology. We scarfed down some fast food, paid for with our voucher. After all that, our flight was delayed another 30 minutes. Around the 20-minute mark, they told us we were delayed ANOTHER 20 minutes.

I ended up sending the airline a complaint about our check-in experience and they gave us a generous flight credit as an apology. I'm glad I did that even though I'm normally not one to send in complaints. That airline is usually known for such good customer service anyway, so I'm glad to fly with them again.

The first week was spent visiting family and close friends. It was super busy. Our first day was spent with DH's mother and sister. We went out for lunch and then spent time at DH's sister's house. After that, we had planned for DH and I to go out to a movie and my parents had offered to babysit Edgar. We were just too tired, though, so we spent the evening relaxing and went to bed early.

The next day, we went to my best friend's house for lunch. Her youngest boy was born only 6 weeks before I had Edgar. It was so neat for them to meet for the first time.

From giddy graduates to proud mamas! Back then in 2007, and now today in 2014.

We went to my aunt's house for a family dinner that evening. It was nice to spend time with family and introduce Edgar to them for the first time.

Day three, my grandmother and auntie Coby came over to my parents' house to celebrate me and my sister's belated birthdays. My grandmother also was able to meet Edgar for the first time. It felt so special to be able to sit on a couch with all 4 generations together for the first time.

That night was Chinese New Year dinner at DH's mother's house, where DH's mom's side of the family met Edgar for the first time. It went relatively well, except that Edgar ended up getting over-tired by the end of it.

The fourth day, we went to the retirement home where DH's Poh Poh (grandmother) is now staying. We enjoyed a fairly relaxing time there with DH's dad's side of the family. Edgar even napped in his carseat for a little while there!

That evening was spent at the Fowler's house with DH's best friend and his sister. It was so lovely to be able to see them again. I even was able to have some beer and then dump my milk afterward until it was tested as clear to drink (one of the few benefits of exclusively pumping my breastmilk).

The fifth day was spent with just DH and I going out for lunch with Edgar and then relaxing for the rest of the day. Edgar was so worn out by this point, and I think it was so necessary for him to feel some sense of normalcy. After that relaxing day, we went out for the evening to see a The Hobbit while my parents babysat Edgar. It was nice to feel like a couple for the first time since Edgar was born... it almost felt a little weird without Edgar, though!

The next day was another fairly relaxing day. I kind of forget what happened that day. I think we might have met up with DH's mom again, but I'm not sure. That night, DH flew back to Calgary, as he needed to go back to work. I stayed with my family for another 4 days before flying back.

The next few days were relaxing and I only did a few things with some people. The last day we were in Vancouver, my family and DH's family went out for dim sum together.

Happy Poh Poh (grandmother) feeding Edgar at dim sum!

Edgar with his Taikoo (auntie) and cousins at dim sum!

That evening, Edgar and I flew back to Calgary. I was sad to say goodbye to everyone again, but it really was time for us to go; Edgar just wasn't himself after such a huge change of scenery, and I was starting to feel really tired out. Our flight back was uneventful, thankfully, and much easier than the flight to Vancouver.

And now, here we are. I miss our family back in Vancouver, but I am glad to be home and back into some sort of routine again.

Shingles and Sleep Reversion

This past week has been a bit tougher than usual. Nothing unmanageable, but still difficult. DH left Vancouver with a nasty cold, and then a few days after Edgar and I arrived back in Calgary DH had developed a rash. I took one look at it and thought, "Well, he's had a cold, and now he has a rash... I don't like it" and demanded that we see the doctor the next day. Edgar had also started developing some eczema on his cheeks thanks to the copious amounts of drool that has just been a steady fountain from his mouth thanks to teething, so I wanted to go in and get that checked anyway.

As someone who has had eczema a lot throughout childhood, pro tip: Get it checked early. Don't look at a rash and think, "Hmmm. This might be eczema. Let's wait and see." It goes away much more easily with a good hydrocortisone cream if it's caught nice and early. I went to the walk-in the very next day after I noticed Edgar's eczema starting, and it was completely gone after two days of applying the prescription cream.

Anywho. DH has some medicine to take for his shingles now, and he's pretty uncomfortable. It hasn't helped that Edgar's been going through a sleep regression. I was really enjoying my sleep, but I guess sleeping through the night wasn't meant to last forever! Edgar now wakes up around midnight to eat and then again at around 4:00AM, and then he's finally up for the day around 8:00AM.

I guess you could call our parenting style pseudo-attachment parenting. Both DH and I made a commitment to follow Edgar's cues for everything and to never force him to eat or sleep unless he was already cueing that he needed to, so we're just going with the flow right now. We also decided to let him outgrow things that some parents would call "bad habits" on his own. For example, rocking him to sleep. We've done that from the beginning, and just the past few days, Edgar has decided that he doesn't need as much rocking. There's even been a few times where Edgar didn't want to be rocked at all and fell asleep on his own once set down in his crib! It's probably a little more difficult than setting our own agenda and forcing him to follow it, but hey -- is my own time really that valuable? Edgar will only be a baby for so long, and we will never be able to go back and redo these moments. He's happy and healthy, and that's what matters to us.

Almost 2 Years of Marriage

As Cyrus and I do not celebrate Valentine's Day, I'd rather post about another day in February close to our hearts. On a very cold and blustery day in February almost two years ago, Cyrus (DH) and I exchanged vows in front of our families and a few friends. It's hard to believe that around five and a half years ago we started dating, and here we are now; married for almost two years with a beautiful baby boy.

This is the story of us...

It's funny, but us dating really started off in a bit of a weird way. I had just gotten out of a relationship a few weeks earlier, and Cyrus had been single for about eight years. I was only 18 years old, and Cyrus was already about to turn 27. We both realized after an anime convention that we attended with friends at the end of August 2008 that we kind of liked each other, and after three nights of talking over MSN until 3 o'clock in the morning, on August 28, 2008, we decided to just give it a go. Cyrus needed a girlfriend and I needed a rebound... Why not? What's the worst that could happen?

One of the first photos of us together as a couple. This was at my first Donison/Fowler/Jaggard Thanksgiving.

On our first date, we realized that we were actually a good fit for each other -- neither of us wanted the date to end! And so began our relationship...

On our one-year dating anniversary, Cyrus proposed. I knew that it was coming, but he still managed to surprise me. Of course, I said yes!

The ring! I was able to pick it out. I am no longer able to wear it, unfortunately, but maybe someday I'll get it re-sized and soldered to my wedding band.

One of our engagement photos.

We started our long engagement. Both of us were still in university at that point, and did not feel a need to rush into a wedding that we, frankly, could not afford at that time. We decided to wait so that we could have the wedding that we wanted.

Two years together and one year of engagement anniversary, August 28, 2010.

We enjoyed the time of being engaged until we decided to finally set a date. February 25, 2012 was to be our wedding day. At the time that we decided, it was still a year and a half away. Boy, how that time flew. Before we knew it, we had come up to our wedding day!

The day had arrived -- our wedding day. We decided to be traditional and not see each other until we were at the altar.

It was a very cold day. The temperature hovered around zero degrees celsius while we were having our photos done.

Our wedding party, from left to right: Scott, Hung, Craig, Julia, Jessica, Gillian, Crystal Ann, and Kaitlyn.

It was also super windy!

Really. I mean it.

VERY windy!

 

The dance floor was busy right up until we decided to wind it down for the night.

Quite the party was had.

It truly was the best wedding we could have hoped for; even with all the little quirks:

• Before photos, our first stop with the bridal party in the limo was the liquor store for vodka and champagne. Yes, our bridal party went into the liquor store all dressed up (Cyrus and I stayed in the limo, though). We were even treated to a hobo in a wheelchair coming up to the limo to congratulate us!
• Most of us got a little tipsy in the limo, especially my middle sister. Cy's cousin just kept on offering to fill her glass! I will say, though, it probably helped us to ignore how cold it was outside for the photos.
• Our bridal party took off somewhere else while we were taking photos of just Cyrus and I at Q.E. park, leaving us with the photographers in the freezing cold while we waited for them to come back with the limo.
• Scott, Cyrus' cousin, had the best scone of his life that day, apparently. If you ask him what he remembers from that day, he'll fondly recall that amazing pastry.
• Cyrus' sister's speech was one to remember!
• We were the last ones to leave the wedding hall that night. Even though we had a long drive back to our hotel in Cloverdale, Cyrus insisted on making sure that everything was okay and all cleaned up before we left.
• We hit every red light all the way back to our hotel, which we arrived at about 2AM and we had to be up the next morning at 7AM to return Cy's brother-in-law's car before a planned breakfast with family.

A month after our wedding, Cyrus' grandmother had a fall and was hospitalized. Cyrus' second cousin passed away a few days later. A few months later, we both found ourselves laid off from our jobs and moving out to Calgary, away from the city we both knew and grew up in. Not long after then, my grandmother passed away. That same weekend, it was discovered that my sister's boyfriend's brother had passed away. It was a stressful and painful first year of marriage.

Then, just two weeks before our first anniversary, we found out that we were expecting! We spent the next nine months excitedly awaiting the arrival of our darling not-so-little boy.

Me, at only 30 weeks, at Edgar's baby shower.

Edgar, only a few days old.

Edgar today, at 3 months and 8 days old.

The past year has just flown by; the second year of marriage has been, by far, much easier and more uneventful than our first. I look forward to seeing what the next years bring!