Poor blog has been neglected. I had such high hopes for this new blog. Just having created it was supposed to inspire me. Oh well. Busy living life, I guess.Well, I just finished posting the last of my photos of our trip to France (which happened in August) -- so I thought I'd write an entry about it. We spent two weeks there visiting family. The first week we stayed with my aunt, Martine, and uncle, Allard at their house just south of Paris. The second week we went to my family's beach house in Brittany, on the west coast. We got to see lots of family members and Sophie got to meet her French great-grandmother, Mannick. It was a wonderful trip. Everyone was so welcoming and Scott even made a huge effort to learn and speak some French with them. Sophie was a sweetheart, as usual (although the red-eye flight over there was a bit challenging). We took a million pictures (1500 to be exact) so it took me nearly two months to get around to editing and posting them. Enjoy the slideshow!
Actually, since I got home from the hospital I've lost 35 lbs. But since I started really trying to lose weight, I've lost 25 lbs. It took me 5 months of doing Weight Watchers but I finally reached my ultimate weight goal. The craziest thing is that it really wasn't that difficult, thanks to Weight Watchers and to breastfeeding -- your body burns 500 extra calories a day just to make the milk. That's the equivalent of an hour on the treadmill. Weight Watchers was great because really it's not about dieting... it's more about, well, watching your weight... watching what you eat and tracking it. Portion sizes, healthy eating, and not depriving yourself of anything. I still had my occasional piece of chocolate, glass(es) of wine and cheeseburger, just not as often as before. I feel great. Physically and mentally. I can't remember being this weight - ever - I don't even think I was back in high school. So you can imagine I feel pretty good, especially considering I just had a baby. So, not to toot my own horn but I am damn proud of myself. Go Weight Watchers!
I am officially working again (part-time)... and have been for the past month. My mom is watching Sophie in the afternoons while I head over to a nearby coffee shop, set up my laptop and get to work. I've picked up a couple new projects and am really enjoying working again. It is a challenge to balance running my own business with being a mom, but I think I've finally got a handle on things. The first couple weeks were a bit rough - I bit off more than I could chew and was pretty stressed out - but things have settled down now. I'm enjoying the few hours a day that I get to focus on something other than Sophie: being creative, working with clients, writing up contracts, getting paid :)
Also, I feel like I'm more inclined to make the time that I spend with Sophie (mornings, evenings and weekends) quality time. We've been going to swimming classes, baby and me yoga, and this week we start a music class. In the evenings, when I'm not sneaking away to yoga class, Scott, Sophie, Peanut and I enjoy family time: going for a walk around the neighborhood, playing in the big empty room (that would be our living/dining room if we had any furniture) and taking a bath before bedtime (believe it or not, all 3 of us fit in the tub, pretty comfortably too!).
I guess I feel like my life is more balanced since I've started working again. I also feel extremely fortunate that I can pick and choose how much work I want to take on. Freelance is the greatest when you're a parent.
Also, I feel like I'm more inclined to make the time that I spend with Sophie (mornings, evenings and weekends) quality time. We've been going to swimming classes, baby and me yoga, and this week we start a music class. In the evenings, when I'm not sneaking away to yoga class, Scott, Sophie, Peanut and I enjoy family time: going for a walk around the neighborhood, playing in the big empty room (that would be our living/dining room if we had any furniture) and taking a bath before bedtime (believe it or not, all 3 of us fit in the tub, pretty comfortably too!).
I guess I feel like my life is more balanced since I've started working again. I also feel extremely fortunate that I can pick and choose how much work I want to take on. Freelance is the greatest when you're a parent.
Well, Scott beat me to writing a blog entry on our family blog about it being our anniversary... and it was so sweet that I really can't compete. So I thought I would do a quick posting here and illustrate it with a couple photos.We did celebrate with lots of nice plans: dinner out, a night of camping, a picnic at the botanic gardens -- and all the while appreciating each other and being grateful for this wonderful marriage that we share together. We left Sophie with my mom -- our first time leaving her overnight -- and that went smoothly. We didn't miss her too much, but we were happy to see her the next morning. My mom took lots of pictures which served as a documentary of the great night that they had while Scott and I were away. Emilie came by and got to feed her some mashed peas. She only just started eating solids a couple weeks ago and she loves her veggies!
