This is my second day of being officially unemployed, and it’s really not bad so far. The days are getting longer and the weather is getting better, so that helps. Except for the occasional screaming fit from teething pain, Justin’s been pretty good, although I’m still leery about the upcoming toddler years. My baby turns a year old next week — where does the time go?

There are exciting things to look forward to: my parents and both my brothers are coming to Kelowna for Easter, so that’ll be cool. Family visits are so much easier when we’re at home and Justin has his own crib, toys, stroller, etc. We should be golfing by then too.

My mom and I are off to London for a week this fall, which is really cool. I had suggested this trip without really expecting it to work out — I didn’t think Chris would be willing to stay behind, nor did I think Mom would be willing to take off with me when she could be here with Justin. But it seems Mom figures this is her only chance to see Europe, since Dad is not at all interested. This’ll be my third trip to London and there’s still a ton of stuff I haven’t seen. It’s one of my favorite cities in the whole world — this’ll be awesome!

I quit my job today. Well, technically I just told them I’m quitting as of March 1, but same difference. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel once the deed was actually done, but my world hasn’t crumbled beneath me or anything. I might even do some contract work for the company, so in the end I feel pretty good.

I wanted to get that over and done with before we left for our holiday — now I can just relax and enjoy. Only three days to go!

Eleven days until we leave for our Caribbean cruise! I know we’ll miss Justin, but I’m just really looking forward to having a holiday where I can do what I want (perhaps even sleep past 6:30 a.m.) without worrying about him. The fact that he is absolutely not a cuddler actually works in our favor — I think that may be part of why he never shows any signs of stranger anxiety. He’s an independent type.

I turned 29 last Thursday and the celebrations went on for about four days, which was nice. I went out for dinner with a couple girlfriends on Friday, one of whom is due to have a baby in about three weeks, so the conversation mainly focused on all things pregnancy- and baby-related. The people around us probably lost their appetites, but oh, well. It was fun.

I realized last week that we hadn’t taken a single picture since Christmas, so we finally got a couple shots of Justin crawling around. Enjoy!

We were starting to think Justin was going to have his adorable toothless grin forever, but last night we noticed a bit of pearly white showing through his gums. He’s 10 months old, so it’s about time. That plus the fact that he’s getting over a cold might explain why he’s had a few fussy evenings lately. But things are looking up!

Our holiday in Saskatoon went pretty well overall. Justin handled both the travelling and the hordes of relatives way better than his dad or I did, and naturally he was pleased to get a whole load of new toys. He was even more pleased that there was always someone (Grandma, Grandpa, an uncle) around to do his bidding.

For me, the “holiday” felt like a whole lot of work, and I wasn’t even hosting. I didn’t sleep well the whole week, which didn’t help, and the parade of relatives got to be pretty exhausting. There were some fun times, though: going to a movie with Rob, Janet, Dave and Chris; going watersliding; playing mini golf, etc. It just would’ve been nice to have more time to chill.

It’s just over a month until we leave for our Caribbean cruise — I can’t wait!

Thanks to the fact that he has grandparents in two different cities, Justin gets to have two Christmases, the first of which was yesterday at Grandma and Grandpa Lee’s. He seemed to enjoy the festivities (he especially liked the wrapping paper with snowmen on it). He ate well, played lots and entertained everyone — in short, he was an angel.

We leave for Saskatoon on Friday. I’m looking forward to the trip, although I have doubts about whether Justin will manage to nap on the plane. Whatever was bothering him last week appears to have vanished — no more unexplained vomiting or early morning wakeups — so life seems to be back to normal. He’s still toothless, however, and we’re crossing our fingers that he doesn’t start cutting his first tooth the minute we get on the plane. Nothing like sharing the misery with a few hundred other people along the way, hey?

Happy holidays everybody!

Two items to add to the list of Things Justin Has Never Done Before And With Any Luck Will Never Do Again:

1. At a friend’s potluck dinner on Saturday, Chris was holding Justin and we were all standing around in the dining room chatting when out of the blue, Justin threw up most of what he’d eaten that day. Chris took the biggest hit, but it was all over Justin’s clothes and the floor as well. The thing is, he didn’t cry or fuss either before or after. It was like it never happened. Bizarre.

2. He woke up screaming at 4:45 this morning. Chris and I both went in to calm him down and none of the usual tactics worked, so finally I sat with him in the rocking chair for a few minutes, and that seemed to relax him. I got him back to sleep at 5:00, thinking he’d likely sleep in after the interruption. Nope. He screamed again at 5:45 (this time I just had to rub his back a bit) and then again at 6:15. It’s gonna be a long day.

I finally had to give in and set up the gate at the top of the stairs today. Justin is three days from his nine-month birthday and technically he isn’t crawling, but he does get around pretty well just by pulling himself with his arms, and I was tired of trying to make sure he didn’t take a header down the stairs. He’s already discovered the forbidden electrical wires behind the TV and pulled over a large plant (artificial, thankfully) in the living room, so the mischief is underway.

A couple weeks ago I did a happy dance when I realized I’m back to my pre-pregnancy weight (that’s still heavier than I was when I got married, but we won’t dwell on that). I guess that’s what happens when you spend your days lugging a 22-pound infant around.

I have plenty of pictures to post but our hard drive died (again) yesterday, so those of you waiting for more baby photos (yes, Grandma, that means you) will just have to wait until Chris gets everything straightened out.

Justin was so cute during his swimming lessons that I really wanted to get some photos of him in the water, but I only have two arms. So Dad came along today as our photographer. The pool opened right around the time that Justin should’ve been ready for a nap, but he always perks up for swimming, and I figured he’d have a good long nap afterwards. I was right: he was out for two and a half hours. Gotta love that.