Dog days of Summer.

The days are winding down, our upcoming move is happening in four weeks and although the ducks are in some sort of row- I don’t feel ready. I never thought Halifax would be my forever home, but the months turned into years and acquaintances turned into friends. I know Ottawa will have the same effect, days will quickly come and go and we’ll find our way- but right now it is definitely bittersweet. He starts daycare in just over 6 weeks… wow. Now taking all advice on how to deal with that please. But really- what are the things I’m going to forget? How do I make it easy?

To be brutally honest, I feel like a better mother since I’ve been at work. I have a better sense of self, I have more energy and when I get to see Lincoln I’m so excited, hands on and much more engaged. I savour my minutes with him and I am much more apt to really being active with our time together each day. I mean, I always cared, but when I was home I lost myself, I was happy but not fulfilled and I felt my days dragging on. I’m certain there are tons of stay at home parents who are just crushing it- but I wasn’t one of them. So if you feel any sort of pity about it- don’t. We’re not all the same, and not all meant to take on the same tasks that are ‘normal’. We’re all great parents in our own way.

As Lincoln gets older, he gets more curious and playful. Luckily for us he seems to be a physically late bloomer. He isn’t crawling, or teething, but boy is he FULL of energy. His personality is ENORMOUS and his laugh is still the best in the world. He wants to play with everything, eat every person’s food and go on every adventure. With this came the thought of ‘oh yeah- we need things for him to play with’. When he was younger, making faces and playing with our hands was all he needed. Now that he will sit and play on his own he wants his own items he can hold. The old tried and true method of don’t spend money on toys has really come in handy. An old ziploc box is number 1 right now. He can put his stuffed animals in and out of their new ‘home’, bang it around and his favourite- play boxhead with himself. 

The second best toy right now is a green box for your groceries, it’s like his own little car and he loves it. (the look of pure joy). He sits in there with his blanket, a stuffy and some tinfoil crumpled up and just loves that he can lounge in it and rest his arms on the top. It’s pretty hilarious how happy he is in it. So this will be the new idea for right now, making toys out of leftover stuff in our home or putting things together to make them more exciting.

Also with age, came food. Lincoln will eat it all, and all the time. He inherited his dads stomach, and for those of you that know Zack, well that means we better be making a ton of money to afford our impending grocery bill. The weirdest moment… when his poop became turds. woah. so gross, so weird. I mean honestly, my thoughts were/are, I hope this doesn’t hurt his butt hole, I mean they’re pretty big & hard. Just another magical phase of parenthood.
Summer days have been the best, we bought this awesome lion sun tent from Canadian Tire that pops up & folds in, and it’s perfect for the beach or just hanging out outside. Linc still needs to wear off his energy during the day so Zack and him are always on the go at the library, chocolate lake, point pleasant park or just on our back deck. It’s still really wonderful seeing the two of them sharing such a bond and creating everlasting memories- well that’s probably not true, Linc will definitely not remember these moments, but hey any excuse for a day at the beach right?

Are there any other need to do’s in the summer before it’s over?? Anyone have any connections in Ottawa…not joking… 🙂 babysitters, friends, networks – I’m open. Especially to the babysitter one, really looking!

I hope you’re all having a wonderful summer with the fam!

xo