Last week I officially had to start looking for a daycare for Addison. I have been so blessed that my dad has been able to watch Addie while I've been working for the past 6 months while he's been looking for a new job, but it's now time for my dad to go back to work, and for Addison to go to daycare. It's kind of cute that they are both starting new chapters in their lives at the same time, especially since they have developed a very sweet and strong bond while it's been just the two of them during the day. However, it is the scariest thing I have ever done trying to find someone I trust enough to take care of Addie while I'm at work.
I started out trying to figure out what family member was available to watch her, but soon realized that everyone I knew was also working and no one I trusted in the family was going to be able to do it.
Then I looked into public daycare centers. Because most mothers in Canada take advantage of having the whole year off with their babies, daycare centers have adapted to that and most of them only take babies a minimum of a year old. That makes it very difficult for mothers like me (who wanted to start my own business on mat leave) to find a provider for thier babies. There are only a couple of daycare centers in Barrie that take babies and the prices are literally comparable to most mortgage payments. I would have actually paid the price to have Addison in one of these daycare centers though since they treat them very well, they are held to very high standards, the babies programs are really good, and they even have webcams set up so you can check on your child throughout the day as you please. However, the wait lists are ridiculous and I need a daycare NOW.
My next step was deciding to drop my career and start my own home daycare center so I could raise my own daughter and still make a little income on the side. I love kids, they don't need to be mine for me to enjoy them, so this was an option.... for like a day, until I realized my house would never be the same and the money really sucked. If Ryan and I want to be able to provide some of the nicer things in life for our Addison, and any other children we may have, then this was not a real option. But I just couldn't bring myself to leave my precious baby with a complete stranger that I would never completely trust.
Onto the next step, which was asking everyone I knew for the name and number of a reliable home daycare provider. That failed too. Everyone that was good was already full. So that left me with my final option: looking to the internet.
I was REALLY weary about finding daycare online, but I ended up finding a website run by the city that rates home daycare centers on a whole list of criteria, and also has a section for parents to rate them and leave comments as well. So obviously I called the daycares with the highest ratings. The one that I really liked was full until May, and that just wasn't going to work, but she gave me the name and number of her friend accross the street from her that was just getting back into the home daycare swing of things after taking a few years off to raise her own children. I decided to give her a chance and found out that she has a degree in child development, an early childhood education diploma and you can tell she really LOVES kids. I took my mom with me for an initial interview, and we both liked her, but I was still unsure (I don't know anyone who wouldn't be with a complete stranger) so I took Ryan back a few days later to meet her too. Her kids were there the second time and they were really sweet kids. The 4 yr old even asked if Addie could sleep in her room while she was there and wanted to share all her toys with her. It was especially adorable when she offered Addie tea from her little tea set.
The second visit went over really well and I was happy with the answers to my hundreds of questions, with how clean her house was and how carefully she picked up Addison when I asked her to hold her (Addie will let me know what she thinks of everyone very quickly!). Addison was fine with her and was especially excited by her new puppy. Good thing I'm not opposed to some germs here and there since Addie could'nt get enough of the puppy licking her hands.
So we thought it over, called and asked even more questions, and decided to give this daycare a try. I am still incredibly nervous, but I feel confident that I did my best in finding quality care for my baby girl. She starts next monday, so all I can do is wait and see now. I am not looking forward to having to drop her off and leave her the first few times.
Wish us luck...
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Dear Addison, 9 months old
Dear Addison,
You turned nine months old over the weekend! My goodness you have had a busy month! I have loved watching you learn so much this month. First you learned how to clap, and boy do you LOVE to clap, and love it when other people clap with you. Then, you started rolling a lot and just last week you learned how to crawl!! Right now, it's more like a cross between a lunge and the worm, but you are mobile and you are so excited to be able to get where you want to go and do what you want to do. Daddy and I are going to have to go out and get some baby gates this weekend since you are already pulling your knees up and sticking your bum in the air. It won't be long before you are doing the text book crawl and we are all running all over the house after you.
This month you tried yogurt and fingerfoods. You absolutely love yogurt and I've been giving it to you every day for lunch. You eat a whole minigo for lunch every day and you can't get enough. You tried Arrowroot cookies this month and it did't take you long to figure out what to do with those. You goober them up quite well and know to suck on them to soften them up before you swallow. You've been eating your Gerber banana flavoured puffs and I was so surprised to see you pick them up one by one before you ate them. You know to chew one at a time, and the dexterity in your fingers is really well developed. There isn't much food that you can't have now, and so far you are not a picky eater. The only things you don't like are peas, white potatoes, and vegetable medley's that have beef in them.
You are saying Mamama and Dadada a lot, and you do a lot of babbling and yelling. You can really get your jumperoo going, but I don't think it will be too long before you outgrow it. You are almost into 12 month clothes, but almost into 18 month sleepers. You know how to take your hats and shoes off and I can't even put them on your head or feet anymore because you take them off immediately.
You have just started sleeping better. You go to sleep at 7pm and you wake up at 11pm and 4am to eat, but you go right back to sleep and don't get up for the day until 7am.
One of my favorite things you are doing right now is exploring texture. You examine everything you can reach and scratch your fingers accross every surface. The look on your face when you are doing it is priceless, like you are investigating with all your concentration. You are getting so involved when you play now too, and you play so hard, especially when you get together with friends. Your best friend is Xavier, you get very excited when you see him, and he gets just as excited to see you too.
I am looking for daycare for you right now, and it is breaking my heart thinking that I will have to trust someone I don't know to take care of you all day. I promise I will do my best to make sure you go somewhere fun, and somewhere that you feel comfortable, and where you will be adored and safe.
My dear girl, no matter what we do, Daddy and I can't find a good way for you to travel. You despise your car seat and you scream and scream until you get out of it. I know it is worse right now because you have to wear a coat, but I don't think you will start liking it until you are front facing, and that means you still have about a year to be miserable back there. I really hope you get over it soon, I hate hearing you cry because you're lonely or uncomfortable.
Your eyes have changed from blue to a beautiful steel gray colour, and your hair is really starting to come in now too. I can see little teeth under your gums on the bottom, and I suspect you will probably have a couple teeth before your first birthday. Speaking of your birthday.. I have already started planning your first birthday party! I cannot wait to see you in your birthday outfit and see what you think of your first piece of cake.
Sweet baby girl, I cannot ever tell you how much you are loved and how much you are enjoyed in our lives. Daddy and I tell you every single day how much we love you, and are fascinated every day how we manage to fall deeper and deeper in love with you every day. Your little personality is so strong and you are so much fun! We feel utterly blessed to have you in our lives.
I love you so much Addison.
I will always be in awe of you.
Love always and forever,
Your Mama
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
You turned nine months old over the weekend! My goodness you have had a busy month! I have loved watching you learn so much this month. First you learned how to clap, and boy do you LOVE to clap, and love it when other people clap with you. Then, you started rolling a lot and just last week you learned how to crawl!! Right now, it's more like a cross between a lunge and the worm, but you are mobile and you are so excited to be able to get where you want to go and do what you want to do. Daddy and I are going to have to go out and get some baby gates this weekend since you are already pulling your knees up and sticking your bum in the air. It won't be long before you are doing the text book crawl and we are all running all over the house after you.
This month you tried yogurt and fingerfoods. You absolutely love yogurt and I've been giving it to you every day for lunch. You eat a whole minigo for lunch every day and you can't get enough. You tried Arrowroot cookies this month and it did't take you long to figure out what to do with those. You goober them up quite well and know to suck on them to soften them up before you swallow. You've been eating your Gerber banana flavoured puffs and I was so surprised to see you pick them up one by one before you ate them. You know to chew one at a time, and the dexterity in your fingers is really well developed. There isn't much food that you can't have now, and so far you are not a picky eater. The only things you don't like are peas, white potatoes, and vegetable medley's that have beef in them.
You are saying Mamama and Dadada a lot, and you do a lot of babbling and yelling. You can really get your jumperoo going, but I don't think it will be too long before you outgrow it. You are almost into 12 month clothes, but almost into 18 month sleepers. You know how to take your hats and shoes off and I can't even put them on your head or feet anymore because you take them off immediately.
You have just started sleeping better. You go to sleep at 7pm and you wake up at 11pm and 4am to eat, but you go right back to sleep and don't get up for the day until 7am.
One of my favorite things you are doing right now is exploring texture. You examine everything you can reach and scratch your fingers accross every surface. The look on your face when you are doing it is priceless, like you are investigating with all your concentration. You are getting so involved when you play now too, and you play so hard, especially when you get together with friends. Your best friend is Xavier, you get very excited when you see him, and he gets just as excited to see you too.
I am looking for daycare for you right now, and it is breaking my heart thinking that I will have to trust someone I don't know to take care of you all day. I promise I will do my best to make sure you go somewhere fun, and somewhere that you feel comfortable, and where you will be adored and safe.
My dear girl, no matter what we do, Daddy and I can't find a good way for you to travel. You despise your car seat and you scream and scream until you get out of it. I know it is worse right now because you have to wear a coat, but I don't think you will start liking it until you are front facing, and that means you still have about a year to be miserable back there. I really hope you get over it soon, I hate hearing you cry because you're lonely or uncomfortable.
Your eyes have changed from blue to a beautiful steel gray colour, and your hair is really starting to come in now too. I can see little teeth under your gums on the bottom, and I suspect you will probably have a couple teeth before your first birthday. Speaking of your birthday.. I have already started planning your first birthday party! I cannot wait to see you in your birthday outfit and see what you think of your first piece of cake.
Sweet baby girl, I cannot ever tell you how much you are loved and how much you are enjoyed in our lives. Daddy and I tell you every single day how much we love you, and are fascinated every day how we manage to fall deeper and deeper in love with you every day. Your little personality is so strong and you are so much fun! We feel utterly blessed to have you in our lives.
I love you so much Addison.
I will always be in awe of you.
Love always and forever,
Your Mama
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Y3W: A Home Tour!
Y3W: A HOME TOUR!
I'm posting my three words a day early since this is a long post and I don't think I'll have time to do it on Friday.
I know everyone loves a home tour, so here's what we have so far....
Here is the house from the outside. Yes, it is a small lot, but it looks REALLY small from the front because they pushed the house forward to get more space in the backyard. This was okay with us because there is a park in the backyard (see the view from the kitchen). Oh, and the bobcat in the driveway doesn't come with the house. We were going to try to write it into the offer, but Ryan figured it would be too hard on fuel during the commute to Toronto every day. It does make the house look really small. The house is 1850sqft, which isn't huge, but it is a nice size house. The bobcat even makes the double car garage look like a single.
To give some perspective, the upstairs windows from left to right are: #1 goes up from the foyer like a skylight type deal, #2/#3 are both Addison's room (yep her room is huge 14.5 x 12.5, and when we are ready to have a third child, whatever we have two of will be sharing that room. So Addie could potentially get kicked out eventually if she ends up with two brothers.
This is what you see from the foyer. I took pictures of everything except for the foyer, so here is what you see from the foyer. The room Ryan and Addie are standing in is the livingroom. To their right, the door you see is the walk in closet (which will be great for hiding carseats and strollers). If you keep going, there is a powder room and the door to the basement. The stairs you see go upstairs.
If there was a foyer picture, you would see that the door to the garage is in the foyer. We were surprised to find out that the garage was finished, but happy since it is under Addie's room and means her room will be warm.
This is the view from the kitchen and diningroom. I love that the park is there and we will never have neighbours looking into our yard, and that when Addison is bigger, she can play at the park and I can watch from the kitchen window.
Here is our kitchen! We ordered espresso cupboards, with ivory marble looking ceramic tiles. The countertop is laminate (maybe we can afford the granite in the 2nd house) and matches the floor tiles. We also went with black appliances instead of white, so hopefully it all looks good together. It's hard to choose from one cupboard door, a handle and a chip of a tile!
This is the eat-in portion of the kitchen and the adjoining diningroom. We don't even have a kitchen table yet, so the diningroom will be a playroom until we can afford to put some real furniture in there.
Hmmm this picture should be moved up, but I'm too lazy, so here's what you're missing from where Ryan was standing in the livingroom above. You can now see the stairs, and the door to the powder room.
Some of these pictures could have been in a better order, but you'll get the picture. This is the second bedroom. It's a nice size room, but I only took one picture because this will be the office for now until we turn it into the next nursery (oh ya, I already have plans for either a girl or a boy nursery).
This is the laundry room. Yep, it is upstairs!!! This will save me so much time and two flights of stairs every time I need to wash something. 
Here is Addison's room. We'll be doing Addison's room in the same way we did her room in our rental, so I'll need to get her another matching valence for the extra window. Since it will be ours though, we are also going to add wainscotting and crown moulding to her room as well.
This is Addison's closet. Much more room for all the clothes Grammie keeps buying her!
This is the master bedroom! The door to the right is the walk in closet, and the door to the left is the ensuite. I love that there is a window in the ensuite, I would put windows everywhere if I could to get as much natural light as possible.
This is the view from the top of the stairs. To the right is the door to Addison's bathroom, and to the master beyond that. Looking ahead, the linen closet is right in front. The door to the second bedroom is hard to see, but is to the right of the linen closet. To the left of the linen closet is the laundry room, and to the left of that, is Addison's room.
This is just the view of the stairway from the door to the master bedroom.
Here is the set of stairs in the basement. I think we should build a fort under the stairs, but Ryan wants to build storage... By the time we finish the basement, Addie will be able to vote. I'm guessing she'll vote fort too.
Here is the other side of the basement. The big windows really make the basement bright. We didn't have any lights on at all when we were down there. Around the other side of the furnace will eventually be my office (when the upstairs office gets converted to a nursery) and the rest will be a family room. I was standing at the bottom of the stairs when I took the picture, and there is a cold cellar behind me there too.
So there it is! Our new home! When we move in, I'll do another tour so you can see what it looks like finished. Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Happy 1st Valentine's Day!
Happy First Valentine's Day Baby girl!!
Today is your very first Valentine's day Addison, and Daddy and I have been arguring over who gets to be your valentine. Daddy says it can't be a girl, so he gets to be your Valentine, but I think that since it's you and me spending the day together, I get to be your Valentine. Maybe you should just have two, and we can all be each other's Valentine's today.
You've only been awake for two hours, but already you have been practicing your crawling, rolling and turning. You are almost there sweet girl! If you aren't crawling by the end of the week, I will be very surprised! We don't usually celebrate much for Valentine's day since Daddy and I believe that love should be celebrated every single day, but it would be a very nice gift to see you crawl today Addie girl.
I certainly don't need a reminder to love you Addison, but since it is Valentine's day, I think I should hold you, rock you, hug you and kiss you just a little bit longer today.
I love you bigger than the sky,
Happy First Valentine's Day Addison Grace!
XOXOOXOXOXO
Today is your very first Valentine's day Addison, and Daddy and I have been arguring over who gets to be your valentine. Daddy says it can't be a girl, so he gets to be your Valentine, but I think that since it's you and me spending the day together, I get to be your Valentine. Maybe you should just have two, and we can all be each other's Valentine's today.
You've only been awake for two hours, but already you have been practicing your crawling, rolling and turning. You are almost there sweet girl! If you aren't crawling by the end of the week, I will be very surprised! We don't usually celebrate much for Valentine's day since Daddy and I believe that love should be celebrated every single day, but it would be a very nice gift to see you crawl today Addie girl.
I certainly don't need a reminder to love you Addison, but since it is Valentine's day, I think I should hold you, rock you, hug you and kiss you just a little bit longer today.
I love you bigger than the sky,
Happy First Valentine's Day Addison Grace!
XOXOOXOXOXO
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Top ten Addisonisms
Top 10 Addisonisms at this age:
(In no particular order)
The way she clasps her hands together when she`s tired
The way she gets cuter and cuter every minute past her bedtime, like she knows what she`s doing
The way she puts up her arms when she wants me to pick her up
The way she laughs when I tickle her under her chin
Her gorgeous smile
The way she lifts her arms and wiggles when she's trying to figure out how to crawl
The way she sqeals with joy when she sees Elmo
The way she still fits in my arms when I rock her to sleep
The way she snorts when she gets babyfood up her nose
How hard she plays all day, especially with Daddy
and one more: Her laugh...It fills me with so much joy!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Our new computer
I have been M.I.A over the past week because my computer crashed.
Let me tell you about our computer. When we were first married, we were using my computer from college. That was fine until it crashed and I was still doing some online classes that I needed to complete to get my degree. When that computer broke, we were so poor that the only thing we could do was save up for a couple weeks and find a (very old) refurbished (and enormous) computer. I think we paid somewhere around $200 for it. Well it actually served us pretty well for almost 4 years until we moved. Since my parents use wireless signals for their laptops, I bought a wireless drive for our computer and it didn`t work. When Ryan called technical support, the guy on the phone very nicely told us our computer was just too old and would`nt work with the drive. Okay, onto plan B. Ryan bought an ethernet cable (which is not so easy to find anymore) and we hooked up the computer striaght to the modem. That didn`t work either. At that point, the computer completely failed us and refused to even turn on in less than 20 minutes.
I use the computer a lot. I need it for work, and I enjoy blogging and shopping online. So yesterday we finally decided it was time to join the rest of the modern world and we bought a new computer. We bought a new laptop and it is beautiful, and so fast!! I am in love! On the downside, we were not planning on putting out so much money for `stuff`right now as we still have to finish paying for our new house, but at least now we don`t have to worry about buying a new desk for the new house! That`s good enough for me. Computer justified.
Let me tell you about our computer. When we were first married, we were using my computer from college. That was fine until it crashed and I was still doing some online classes that I needed to complete to get my degree. When that computer broke, we were so poor that the only thing we could do was save up for a couple weeks and find a (very old) refurbished (and enormous) computer. I think we paid somewhere around $200 for it. Well it actually served us pretty well for almost 4 years until we moved. Since my parents use wireless signals for their laptops, I bought a wireless drive for our computer and it didn`t work. When Ryan called technical support, the guy on the phone very nicely told us our computer was just too old and would`nt work with the drive. Okay, onto plan B. Ryan bought an ethernet cable (which is not so easy to find anymore) and we hooked up the computer striaght to the modem. That didn`t work either. At that point, the computer completely failed us and refused to even turn on in less than 20 minutes.
I use the computer a lot. I need it for work, and I enjoy blogging and shopping online. So yesterday we finally decided it was time to join the rest of the modern world and we bought a new computer. We bought a new laptop and it is beautiful, and so fast!! I am in love! On the downside, we were not planning on putting out so much money for `stuff`right now as we still have to finish paying for our new house, but at least now we don`t have to worry about buying a new desk for the new house! That`s good enough for me. Computer justified.
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