typealice

Oh thank, BabyCenter, for telling me where my kid is supposed to be developmentally. Judging him as a 6.5 month old, the following is how Ash ranks. The bold items are things he cannot do yet:

I don’t think I have anything to worry about. He’s crawling already (though he prefers the army crawl), he’s been rolling over since he was three months old, he’s been sitting up since he was five months old. He can easily get from sitting position to crawling (not vice versa though). He hasn’t been mam-ma-ma-ing since his birthday (he really only did it for a few days) and is back to the whining, which is AWESOME. Not. I miss the talking! I like that he’s doing some stuff that’s listed on the eight-month chart.

Also: mmmm, organic carrots!

It’s strange how your friends change once you have a baby. I’m constantly amazed at how SOCIAL I’ve become. I have no social anxiety whereas before Ash was born I wouldn’t have dreamed of signing up for activities that involved other people. I was far too shy.

Suddenly now I have something in common with anyone and everyone who’s ever had a baby. For the past few months I’ve been going to an Infant Massage class once a week. Ash has become disinterested in it and wants to eat the mat and touch other babies rather than be sung to while having his legs and belly touched. So, in enrolled us in a Babies’ First Books class at one of the local libraries instead and we went for the first time last Friday. He LOVED it. Even though the class is very short, he gets to crawl around with babies more his age and play with new toys and hear me sing along to rhymes with a bunch of other parents and their children.

In less than two weeks we’ll be taking a swim class together and my biggest concern isn’t the social aspect but where in the hell do I buy a one-piece bathing suit? A year ago I’d have been panicked about who I’d have to interact with, what would I ever have to talk about, maybe enrolling in something like this was a terrible idea, man I’m an idiot, I shouldn’t even try, this is going to be so awkward I’m not even going to have fun, I think I should cancel my membership I wonder if I can get a reimbursement, this definitely isn’t something I’m going to do, no sir. And I likely wouldn’t have.

Now, I feel unstoppable. Today we went to a breastfeeding class in the morning, home for an hour, and then out again to a babywearing/infant massage class designed for pregnant women and new moms. I went with a couple of mommy friends because I love talking about new babies and pregnancy and I also wanted to try to sell slings (success!) for three hours. Then we got a visit from my mom and step-dad for an hour, so Ash and I really only had a couple hours of downtime today, and I feel exhausted. I try to get out every single day and do something, even if it’s just to the grocery store, and I usually succeed. I figure I’ll be crazy active once the summer comes. I can’t wait.

I still value my friendships with my old friends, but they’re off gallivanting around the world and I’m here (and SO happy to be here) and I find we have less and less in common every day. Partially because of the distance, partially because having a child completely changes everything about your life, your goals and your Self.

I swear I’m not feeding him battery acid, despite the look on his face.

Ash loves butternut squash and brown rice cereal. He’s not fond of apples and refuses pears. Next up: organic carrots. They smell delicious!

Ash is mobile, doing this cross between an army crawl and actually crawling. We were at a read-along program the other day at a local library and the leader asked how old he was and I said, “six and a half months old,” to which she responded, “Oh my god!” and I stopped her there and said, “I KNOW, you don’t even need to say it, I know.” She looked at him with amazement and at me with pity. Life is so much more difficult now. Wonderful, but difficult. He loves the blue bag full of recycling, crawling under his exersaucer, the Wii and will even come to me when I sit on the floor and call him over.

Today he ate organic butternut squash for the first time. When I took it away from him (he’s only allowed a small amount of any food the first time he tries it in case he’s allergic) he cried. You can see an orange smear on the corner of his mouth in the picture, heh.

Today he laughed his head off while we danced to Daft Punk. What a great kid.

We’re planning a small wedding. I’ve made our guest list into a spreadsheet, and there are 34 lines, and generally about two people per line. Most of the people on our invitation we do not expect to come. A lot of the people we’re inviting simply because we feel we have to (a lot of Clive’s family, for example). The friends that we’re inviting are those that are, or have been, very important to us, and even a lot of them we don’t expect to be able to come. Nova Scotia is far away for a lot of people and going to a wedding can be very expensive, and well, unless you plan on vacationing in NS before or after our wedding, it might not be worth it.

Our wedding will be fun! Emphasis is being placed on fun! more than romantic, actually. So, if you are invited, I do recommend you come- especially if you like the idea of camping for free in the empty lot beside the cottage we’re renting.

I am not inviting my aunt and uncle on my mother’s side. I am, however, inviting my grandparents. This part is the tricky part: My aunt lives with my grandparents. She’s actually never left home. She’s 50ish and works at Zellers and (sorry mom, even though I know you agree), is a bit of a loser. I do like her, despite her being a bit odd, but she’s socially awkward and uncomfortable to be around. I still do not know how I’m going to invite my grandparents but not her. I do not want to invite my uncle and his wife because they’re even more socially awkward and I’ve had no relationship with them, well, ever, and my uncle is (embarassingly) missing several teeth and I don’t… I just don’t want them there for a multitude of reasons.

My mom threw a “Welcome Ash!” party when he was two weeks old and all of my awkward family attended that, and it was SO. VERY. UNCOMFORTABLE. I just don’t really want them around. I said it. I’m sorry. I feel like a horrible person. But this is our wedding day and I want to have fun, and being uncomfortable doesn’t equal a whole lot of fun.

I had someone the other day write on my Facebook wall that she hoped I wasn’t getting married before she comes back to Nova Scotia because otherwise she couldn’t “crash my wedding.” Um, sorry? I haven’t seen you since high school and I used to like you quite a lot back then but we haven’t exactly kept in touch so, well, you’re not invited. I guess that’s the meaning of “crashing,” but it really would be like crashing because I haven’t seen her in ten years. But how do I say, “Please don’t crash my wedding. If I wanted you there, you’d be invited.”

Now, I’m all for reuniting before the wedding and IF we get along really well and she turns out to be a great friend and we hang out all the time and she likes Clive and loves Ash, of course I’ll invite her to the wedding. But right now, it’s invite only and those invites are VERY hard to come by. She did send me a bunch of fabric so I can make slings, which is awesome and totally appreciated and unexpected, so we’re on our way to being friends again, but who knows.

But I’m really being picky with who I invite partially because of money (I want to meet my $2500-$3000 budget) and partially because of space at the location and partially just because that’s the kind of wedding I want to have. I don’t like huge weddings. They make me uncomfortable, especially- I am only imagining here- if I’m hosting it.

My friend Geoff got married last summer and I only got to see him for a few minutes because it was His Wedding, and duh, he can’t spend hours catching up with me like I REALLY wanted to, and I was so sad! We hadn’t seen each other since The Gambia and I longed for just one single hour to say, “dude! Remember when!?” and all of that good stuff. Maybe if he comes to my wedding we’ll have that chance.

Please don’t be offended if you’re not invited. Unless you’re my aunt and uncle and then you have all the right in the world to be offended. Sorry.

Well, after several grueling days of designing invitations, I finished them last night. I walked to the print shop today to see if I could get my proof printed (while I waited, preferably, though unlikely) but they were closed. I’m not going to share it with the online public, at least until I get them completed and sent out. We went with a dark chocolate brown and blue. They’ll be a little over $1.30 each, including postage (within Canada). Breaks down like this:

-One sheet of brown cardstock = two invites ($0.25/invite)
-One sheet of decorative paper in place of tricky ribbon = five invites ($0.12/invite)
-One sheet of paper with invite wording and decoration = four invites ($0.25/invite)
-One envelope (out of pack of 50 purchased on eBay) = one invite ($0.18/invite)

I’m not sure I saved any money by doing it myself, but at least we got the invitation we wanted. If we went for a cheaper solution, we’d have had to sacrifice a lot because cheap invites tend to be uggg-ly.

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Life has been hectic here since Ash started army crawling a week ago. What’s even harder to deal with is that we’re catsitting for my sister who is supposed to be catsitting for someone else, and Ash LOVES (oh man, you should hear him squeal like a pig anytime Rufus - the cat - comes near) this animal and chases him around the room. Ash even crawled through the bottom disc of his exersaucer today. God forbid I turn my back for two seconds (ie to make something to eat), because Ash heads right for the cat dish full of squishy catfood. Wouldn’t it be a shame for him to break veg already, only a week into eating solids. And what a horrible taste it would be in comparison to the whole grain, organic brown rice cereal or avacado he’s been experimenting with.

There is no time for me to do anything while Ash is up and around. If it’s not the catfood dish, it’s the Wii in the next room (I think he’s attracted to the little light on the top, because if he can get near it, his mouth goes right around the light) which Clive brought home the other night without my permission [I say "permission" only because one of my responsibilities is Money, and um, we have none, which is why Clive has had a second job since before xmas and we're both slowly burning out- me faster than him].

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This Wednesday my sister, mom and I are going wedding dress shopping. It’ll be my first time trying on any kind of gown, and we’re all looking forward to it. I have no intention of actually buying a dress at any of the shops we visit unless they can compete with the $200 price tag on a lot of the custom made dresses that people sell on eBay. We’re also buying our rings on eBay (after getting our fingers sized at a local jewlery store), maybe my veil (I have one that someone gave me when Clive and I first got engaged), and whatever else we can find.

Lately it’s been taking me the better part of an hour to fall asleep because all I can think about are the designs for our wedding invitations.

Yes, folks, it’s true, we’re still getting married. We actually even set a date (mentioned in my last entry, I know). Sunday, July 27!

Yesterday I mailed the contract and a deposit to the people that we’re renting the cottage from (see the picture). Last weekend we took the trek out into the middle of nowhere with my folks to look at a couple of different places. The first one we looked at is the one we chose. The Hummingbird’s Nest is the location of our wedding. The runner up offered a bigger cottage (nice in case of rain- GOD FORBID), but the grounds weren’t as nice and there was a neighbour right next door, and I’d like to have our wedding party as discrete as possible.

The cottage sleeps six, and it’s fine with us if a few particular people want to sleep inside the cottage, just not on the wedding night for OBVIOUS reasons. There’s an empty lot beside the cottage where people can pitch tents.

Today I’m off to buy cardstock to start making our invitations. I’m so excited that the ball is finally rolling, after two years of being engaged.

Three years ago today, Clive and I shared our first kiss. On July 27, 2008 we will be married, just like I knew we would be within the first 24 hours of meeting him. These past three years have been the best of my life.

Clive thinks I’m crazy for caring, but I really hope that new moms and future moms who are reading this breastfeed. It can be difficult at the beginning, but it’s so worth it in the end. I was a a breastfeeding meeting the other day and learned that in Nova Scotia about 90% of women try to breastfeed and within the first month or two the statistic falls to a mere 20% that stick with it. I nearly cried. Poor babies.