Parenthood | Amy Scott's Thoughts

Late to the Game May 17, 2014

Filed under: Parenthood — Amy Scott @ 4:12 pm

Owen has been late to the rolling game. I blame it on the fact that he hates tummy time. Anything having to do with his tummy usually leads to unhappiness. Owen has long been able to roll from side to side while laying on his back. Jeremy and I decided that he was intentionally not going all the way over because he knew he wouldn’t like the result. In the last week, he has decided to just go for it and roll over anyway. This does lead to some discontentment. The main reason is he can’t figure out what to do with his arm and is unable to roll back. Anyway, I’ve been frustrated for months because I had a kid that couldn’t roll over. It seemed so basic. All the other babies were doing it, but Owen wasn’t giving into peer pressure. This was a good experience for me because eventually I just let go of worrying about it. I couldn’t make him do anything and he if was late to the game, oh well. He might be this way with all forms of mobility. Maybe he’ll be late to crawl or walk… While I was concerned that Owen wasn’t “textbook”, the bright side is we haven’t had to worry about him getting places we didn’t want. As I speak he just rolled over on the floor beside me in an attempt to grab Toby. Now he is stuck. And… frustrated. Poor kid. Growing up can be trying!

How did I get here?

Scowling at his yogurt bites. He is still not a fan of texture!

Great parenting skills: Letting your kid play with your candy wrapper!

Breakfast with Daddy

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7th Months! May 9, 2014

Filed under: Amy's Bookshelf,Parenthood — Amy Scott @ 7:03 pm

7 months old!

This last month has gone by faster than any other month of Owen’s life so far. We had our biggest outreach event of the year, a conference, and a bad cold bug. That about sums the month up. Owen has had a particularly rough time with his cold over the last week or so. The loose and messy diapers have been abundant. I’ve used a lot of stain remover, changed a lot of sheets, washed the seat in his jumper multiple times and applied a lot of Desitin to Owen’s diaper rashed booty. Good times. Good times… I would love to say that we’re out of the woods, but Owen is still pooping more than usual and his nose is still runny. Both Jeremy and I have bugs of our own that are holding on as well. After 5 tissues boxes, I will be grateful for the day that I don’t have to blow my nose. I’m so done with snot.

I’ve been wracking my brain trying to think of things to share in this 7 month update, but there isn’t too much new to report. Owen loves to “walk” (with his hands being held, of course). He is quite the explorer and wants to touch everything he can get his hands on. He is not crawling yet so our house is still safe. Owen also continues to be a massive talker. This baby loves to chat. It’s fun because I can say some baby talk sounds to him and he’ll respond and then pause. I’ll talk and then he’ll talk. We’re having conversations, but I have no clue what we’re talking about. Owen and Toby have spent more time being aware of each other. Owen will scream at Toby and Toby will respond by barking at Owen. This interaction gets really loud, really fast. We’ve been trying more food options now that Owen is on to stage 2 baby foods. I will admit that I’m disappointed he didn’t take an instant likely to his meal of mac & cheese. Owen seems to be partial to fruits and orange veggies. So far green veggies have not been met with much success (in this regard, he is more like me). Tonight he tried a meat puree of apples and chicken and ate the whole container. Go Owen! One last thing, we purchased a new baby carrier so now we have a backpack option. Owen and Jeremy put it to good use this week so that way Owen could go do outdoor chores with Jeremy. Our hope is to use it on a beach outing in the near(ish) future.

Since there isn’t too much news in the Owen department, I thought I would share a few things that have been going on around our house. Jeremy surprised me by upgrading my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Despite my illness, I’ve managed to use it a few times in the last week and I love it! The bowl is so big compared to my Classic mixer. When I’ve had down time, I’ve been reading books on my iPad. I got Daring Greatly by Brene Brown from the local library. It’s a well researched book on shame and vulnerability. It encouraged me to be present and engaged with those I love. It’s about not hiding and not keeping yourself guarded and walled off. It’s a very good read. I also downloaded Sarah Bessey’s new ebook called My Practices of Mothering. This book is a compilation of blog posts she wrote a few years ago. I love getting her perspective on parenting and why she does what she does. It gave me some food for thought and reminded me that overall most of us mamas’ are doing pretty good. We care and we are trying and that makes us good moms’. It’s a message that I appreciate hearing. Right now I’m re-reading The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery. It was only a dollar on Amazon, so I couldn’t pass it up. It’s one of my favorite novels by LM Montgomery and I’m excited to have it be a permanent part of my collection!

Kitchen Aids are beautiful!

Chore time

Jeremy made a new friend in the backyard

Checking out some new toys at Grandma’s house

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Annual Conference 2014 May 1, 2014

Filed under: Parenthood,Travels,Women in Ministry — Amy Scott @ 10:21 pm

Breaking the hotel room in!

Every year our network of Assemblies of God ministers meets to encourage each other and take care of some business. The location moves around each year which keeps things interesting. This year it was in our neck of the woods in Vancouver, WA. The hour drive was a nice change after the six hour drive from last year when it was in Coeur d’Alene, ID. Of course, Owen made the trek to Annual Conference with us. I’m fairly positive he will not be attending with us next year. I have lived and I learned. For starters, Owen isn’t too keen on the nursery. He lasted an hour the first day, forty-five minutes the second day and twenty minutes the third day. The nice thing was Jeremy is the one that got paged when Owen melted down. Often I’m on my own with Owen in church settings so it was a change to share the weight. A nice change. Jeremy took Owen so I could enjoy a few of the sessions. Another highlight for me was hanging out with our staff. I’m often in the office at random hours so I don’t see everyone together anymore. It was good to reconnect with the team vibe and mentality for a while.

Sleeping through the first session

This was our second overnight trip with Owen. He did so good in Canada that I had high hopes for this trip as well. The first night went well, but the second night didn’t… I felt horrible because our hotel was book full of people attending the same conference as us. I’m sure they heard Owen’s distress quite well through the thin walls. I felt terrible that our family might be keeping others up into the night. Wednesday morning, Owen had gotten up multiple times and he wouldn’t go back down in the Pack’N’Play so I laid him down on our bed. We’re not a co-sleeping family, but Owen proceeded to fall into a hard deep sleep in our bed. At this point both Jeremy and I were very awake and Owen was a bed hog so Jeremy got up and got breakfast and I moved to the second queen bed in our room. Owen is well acquainted with Murphy and his law because Owen then slept super long and hard at a point when Jeremy and I couldn’t sleep. Ideally a happy family all sleeps at the same time…

Looking cute

Overall, the conference had many highlights and good moments. It also had it’s rough moments because a baby doesn’t really follow a conference schedule all that well. Naps and feedings were hard to fit into the schedule and Owen was not interested in the nursery. It was interesting to see the difference in perspective between Jeremy and I. Despite the challenges with Owen, Jeremy was all jazzed to spend time with Owen and I away from the office. I, on the other hand, kept thinking about how much easier things would have been if we had just stayed home. It’s a hard tension. Yes, I love spending time with my husband and I would have missed him if he had gone to the conference without me. But… like I said, Owen and the conference schedule didn’t jive too well. Some things are worth trying just so you can say you tried and gave it our all. This was one of those experiences. Not all the moments were bad. The nursery staff were tickled to see Owen’s reaction to being picked up. Owen could be screaming his head off with them but he would instantly quiet and snuggle with Jeremy and smile. He can be quite the charmer when he wants to be. Owen also got lots of snuggles in with staff members and other pastor friends. I think they really appreciated us bringing him. They smiled and laughed at all his baby noises even when they interrupted the services. Owen did bring one souvenir home from Annual Conference – a head cold. Yep. Our poor baby has a stuffy nose that is keeping him from eating, breathing, and sleeping. I will admit that this feels like the icing on the cake of a tiring week. Oh well. Here are some cute pictures from Annual Conference to end on a happier note.

Bed hog – fast asleep while Mom & Dad get ready for the day

They said label everything you bring into the nursery!

Playing on the floor during the annual business meeting

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Thoughts on Family, Charter Members and Staying in One Place a Really Long Time April 26, 2014

Filed under: Family Time,Parenthood,Women in Ministry — Amy Scott @ 12:05 pm

Enjoying dinner out on a Friday night!

This Thursday, I had the honor and privilege to attend a memorial service for one of the charter members of Bethel Church. There are very few of these charter members left. It’s hard to imagine what it must have been like to start Bethel Church in 1940. Back then it was a church plant from Centralia to Chehalis. Eventually the congregation out grew their downtown Chehalis location so the church moved down the freeway to a large piece of property that would accommodate expansion and a growing church. Our church has a great history. As hard as it is to say good-bye to one of our founding members, I am so grateful for the legacy that he has left in Lewis County. I am friends with his daughters and many of his grandchildren. Shorty Ames was a man of few words, but my life has been touched by his faithfulness to love his family well.

Memorial services always get me thinking. They are a time to examine my own life. I am so inspired by the stories I heard on Thursday and the love that was shared. I was once again reminded at how important these days are. One after another. We never know how many we have. Shorty had almost 95 years of them. I was thinking about not only the changes he saw in our church family, but in Lewis County as a whole. I wonder if he ever drove through downtown Chehalis and had flashbacks to 1940. I’ve been a Lewis County resident since 1998. I will have lived here 16 years come August. Of course, I never know how long I will be here, but what if I’m here another 50 years? What if… I’m sure the landscape will change drastically and I’ll have flashbacks to 1998. Remember when there was no Starbucks? No Dutch Brothers? Remember when the Walmart wasn’t a Supercenter or remember when Walmart was the ONLY place to shop and you always ran into 4o people you knew while there? Good times.

Yesterday was my favorite day of the week – FRIDAY! It’s the one day that Jeremy isn’t down at the church. One family day to just be us and do what we want. Fridays are the best. I love spending time with my husband and son and little dog. There was a mixture of productivity and resting. Jeremy and I each got stuff on our to-do list done, but we also spent time together. It’s days like yesterday that remind me that family is the best thing I can invest myself in. There are lots of worthwhile causes to give myself to, but I think family is the best. Time with my family is unparalleled. There is no match. Jeremy decided that we should go out to dinner rather spur of the moment and then this decision led to a mini-adventure! We had a good time and just enjoyed the time together. It was one of those days where I would just like to slow time and stay in those moments a little while longer.

My time is precious and how I invest it is important. Shorty’s memorial service was just another reminder of how family is worth the time and investment. I admire the longevity he had to one location and to one church. It seems like people are all over the place these days. They move here and there and everywhere. If they don’t like a church then they go find a new one. Church hopping happens often. Bethel Church was the church we settled on when we moved here in 1998 and it’s the church I still serve at today. I hope that I can have the same longevity Shorty shared. I want to stay through it all. Through the ups and downs. I want to be faithful (a word that was used multiple times to describe Shorty’s life). I want my family to know that they are loved in word and action. I want to be a wife and a mother that is engaged and present. I want to make a difference and leave this world a better place. I know people seem saint like after they die… It’s the nice part of memorial services. I know that my chances of being saint like are slim. I am human after all. But I want to try. I want to give myself away every day. I want to leave that kind of legacy.

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Easter Weekend April 21, 2014

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Family Time,Parenthood — Amy Scott @ 1:50 pm

Happy Easter

Easter weekend has come and gone and we survived! Hurray! Easter weekend is always a massive endeavor and you add a baby to the mix and things get a little nutty. Owen decided to be anti-nap this weekend which led to him having a sparkling personality most of the time. There were moments where I was on the brink of insanity. I had joked about checking myself into the locked psych ward at the hospital to get some rest. Thankfully that wasn’t necessary, but I was close. Thursday and Friday were big prep days for Easter Eggstravaganza. On Friday, I had to put an SOS call out to my mom. I was working on filling prize eggs at home and Owen didn’t like the fact that I was multitasking. Thankfully my mom came to the rescue and alternated between filling eggs with me and keeping Owen occupied. Saturday was the big egg hunt day. The weather was not very nice. There was much rain and wind. However, we live in Washington and no one seemed phased by the wild weather. We had record attendance which was quite mind blowing. Owen and I made it to the first egg hunt. He ended up sleeping through his egg hunt. Since it was pouring down rain, I didn’t really plan on setting him in his field just to sit in a puddle. Next year he will be mobile and able to participate. This year Easter Eggstravaganza was a spectators sport for Owen. My family worked at the hot dog booth so Owen and I crowded under their pop-up canopy to take in the sights from a somewhat dry location. After the first hunt, we found Jeremy to say hi and greet the volunteers. After that it was off to home for a supposed nap that never happened. Saturday night was our evening Easter gathering at church. Sunday morning were two more Easter gatherings and two family gatherings. That about sums up the weekend. Busy, busy. We loved seeing our families and spending some time catching up with them.

Today, we are grateful for a day off around the house! I have been sorting baby clothes and boxing things up. Owen is now transitioning to 9 month clothes and the next box of diapers I buy will be size 3! Crazy! Owen has enjoyed two solid food meals already today as I start the routine of breakfast, lunch and dinner with him. Jeremy has been in the kitchen baking and cooking. I’ve been keeping the washer and dryer busy and working on updating my pictures. I’ve also had some time to tidy the house and Jeremy has gone outside for a bit. We took a family walk and this is all before 2:00pm! It’s amazing what you can get done with two parents and a day around the house! Owen is also back to a more regular nap schedule today and I am thankful. Despite the craziness of Easter weekend, I’ve been reflecting a lot on what the true meaning of the weekend is all about. I am beyond grateful for a Savior who loved me enough to die for me. I am amazed and humbled at the power of the cross and the fact that death couldn’t hold Jesus down. I serve a RISEN Savior who is alive and active in my life. In some of the zaniest moments of this weekend, I called out to him and knew that I never alone. He is risen! He is risen, indeed!

Owen enjoying Eggstravaganza!

Ducky

This doesn’t taste good!

Reading his new book

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Stats & Snapshots April 17, 2014

Filed under: Parenthood — Amy Scott @ 11:21 am

Today was Owen’s six month appointment. Our little guy is weighing in at 17lbs and 6oz which puts him in the 62nd percentile for weight. He is the 52nd percentile for length and his head is still in the 90th percentile! That’s our big headed boy! Like father, like son! Owen is doing great and is a healthy boy. We’ve been experimenting with solid foods for the last two months, but now Owen is going to get serious about food. Three meals a day is the new plan and introducing table foods in the next few months. Looks like family meal time is going to get exciting in our house. It’s a big weekend for our family as we prepare for Easter Eggstravaganza. 70,000 candy filled eggs, 2 giant egg hunts, pony rides, petting zoo, animal shows and much more. So much stuff to plan and prepare for! I’m sure I’ll have all sorts of fun updates after this Easter weekend. Since it’s a crazy busy time for us, I’ll wrap this blog up with some recent photos!

How does this thing work?

All 5 cousins together!

Play date with Neymar!

First swing ride!

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Half a Year April 8, 2014

Filed under: Parenthood — Amy Scott @ 2:48 pm

6 months!

Owen is half a year old today. We have hit the 6 month milestone. 6 months is a big deal in my mind because it is the tipping point for the year. From now on he will be closer to age one than to being a newborn. So crazy. Owen has changed so much in the last month and really even in the last week. Jeremy had his first overnight commitment since Owen was born this last weekend. I wasn’t quite ready to be on my own with Owen for 33+ hours so I invited my sister over to join me. In just that short overnight period, Owen mastered sitting up unsupported, jumping in his jumperoo and babbling. It was an incredible change all in the blink of an eye!

Owen loves to play with toys. He especially loves to sit and play with them. Jeremy got him a new activity cube that he can use to play and support himself. The cube has been a fun addition to the toy rotation. Owen loves his toes as well. He is often grabbing them and rolling from side to side. He loves to pull off his socks and suck on them.

Another big milestone is Owen is now a crib baby. For the last four months, he has been sleeping in his Pack’N’Play in his room. This wasn’t ideal, but he slept so well in it that we just kept him in it. I was going to make the big crib transition after our Canada trip, but I wanted sleep so badly that I just let him keep on sleeping in the Pack’N’Play. I told Jeremy that no matter what, come 6 months, Owen was going to move to his crib. Last night went better than expected. We did have a rough hour between 12:45-1:45am, but things could have been worse. I’m hoping that he’ll continue to get comfortable with his own crib and soon he’ll get back to old ways of sleeping through the night. Progress is being made!

It’s fun to listen to Owen babble now. He really likes saying “a-da”. He is well on his way to saying “Da da”. Jeremy should be thrilled about that. While, I’m sure he didn’t mean to, I’m positive that Owen said “no” this last week! Jeremy heard him say something close to “hi” this weekend. It will be fun to see his vocabulary develop soon.

So far no teeth have made an appearance. I’m kind of a okay with that. Owen still chews on his thumb like it’s the best thing ever. He also licks everything he can get his hands on! We tried finger foods for the first time yesterday because Owen has been so interested in our food. He has the pinching part of finger foods down, but he isn’t quite sure what to do with the food once he has it in his hand. He certainly makes a face when it hits his tongue. Owen is getting really good at drinking out of a cup. He really loves to drink like a big boy. As you see, never a dull moment. Owen is growing, developing and changing quickly. It makes life one big adventure. Each day is full of snuggles, love and fun, for sure!

Carrot face!

Playing in the jumperoo

Activity cube fun

This is what happens when Jeremy goes out of town!

Helping Daddy in Children’s Church

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March So Far March 21, 2014

Filed under: Amy's Bookshelf,Family Time,Parenthood — Amy Scott @ 10:41 am

Somebody loves to stand!

March has been a month for sickness in our household. We had our first cycle of family sharing when it comes to germs. Jeremy got a cold and he gave it to Owen and Owen gave it to me. Being sick was never “fun” before, but now as a parent it’s certainly not. Before I could nap whenever I wanted and just lay around watching TV. Those days are long gone and I missed them this last week. Jeremy came home one day so I could rest and he ended up coming down with a bad flu bug. A very bad flu bug. Later that weekend I got a touch of a tummy bug as well. However, this last week has been pretty good for us health wise. I think we are coming out of the germ filled hazed and we are ready for spring! Jeremy has been out and about in the yard. He’s mowed a couple of a times and have planted flowers again our front beds. The yard seems to be coming to back to life. The tree in our front yard is starting to show it’s pink blossoms. After months of gray, it’s great to see some color popping up.

Owen continues to grow and change daily. He loves to stand up now (with support, of course). He also enjoys sitting up and playing with this toys. He doesn’t quite have his independence yet in the sitting the department, but he is close. Owen continues to be a mystery in the world of naps. While I was sick, I tired to take a nap while he took a nap numerous times. Without fail, I would lay down and he would wake up in about 10 minutes of me falling asleep. When I couldn’t take a nap or didn’t take a nap for some reason, he would sleep for 2+ hours. Oh the mind games babies can play!

Trying to keep the play mat interesting!

Owen continues to be a thrasher in the bathtub. I have decided giving Owen a bath is a like sitting in the splash zone at Sea World. Ponchos might be necessary! In our ever constant quest to keep Owen a happy camper, we have made a couple of exciting purchases this month. First, would be a set of black-out blinds for his room. It seems that Owen wakes with the sun and that will continue to get earlier as we move toward summer. We’ve had two days so far of him sleeping in later than usual and today he was back to a more normal get up time. We also added a new baby contraption to our front room. Owen is now the proud owner of a jumperoo. He was getting bored with his play mat and with his new love of standing, it seemed like time. He really loves the noise and lights on the jumperoo. He can barely touch the floor right so he tilts and stands on one foot. I’m sure once he really can jump around, he’ll love it even more.

New toy!

In other March news, I’ve been back to reading and I love it. I just finished The Poisonwood Bible. It was an intense read. I’m not sure that I enjoyed it, but I wanted to find out how it ended so I kept reading. Books like this frustrate me because while the family were “missionaries”, I felt like they had no real relationship with Jesus. Their struggles were only intensified by the fact that they really didn’t seem to know the God they were claiming to bring to Africa. The book is very political and goes into great depth on the government changes in the Congo. I like historical fiction for the most part because it opens my eyes to an era gone by.

Other than reading, another highlight for me this month, was making my first Pioneer Woman recipe. I made her baked French toast for MOPS and it was super tasty. Jeremy and I were already talking about ways we would tweak the recipe, so I’ll have to make it again for sure. We also purchased Frozen this month and have been singing the songs throughout the day! So much fun stuff going on as you can tell! March isn’t over though and there is still a lot of fun yet to be had. Jeremy is taking a group of kids up an awesome kid’s conference tomorrow. It promises to be quite the event. Jeremy’s birthday is coming up next week and I’m excited to celebrate another year of my amazing husband. March as certainly been full and is certainly flying by!!!

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5 months of Owen March 8, 2014

Filed under: Parenthood — Amy Scott @ 11:46 am

5 months old!

Owen is officially 5 months old today. It’s strange to think that in just another month he will already be half a year old. I always felt like time was racing by me and the addition of Owen to my life only seems to add to that feeling. Every time I blink I feel like he is bigger. There are some mornings where I pick him up out of his bed and ask him if he grew in the night.

Owen has been exploring the world of solids food over the last month. He has tasted squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, prunes, rice cereal, peas, green beans and applesauce. I think that carrots and sweet potatoes are winning in the favorite category. I now have the joy of cleaning baby food off of bibs and outfits. Rice cereal makes everything so crusty! Owen is getting baths almost daily thanks to solid foods.

The whole purpose behind starting solid foods was so that Owen would have something to eat while I was away at work. Bottles are long gone in our house. Owen will have nothing to do with them. Solids have given my mom an option while she watches him, but sadly, this hasn’t solved our “Owen needs Mommy” situation. It seems that Owen can handle about 3 hours away from me before his mood takes a drop into unhappiness. I would be lying if I said the situation didn’t frustrate me. After some consideration, Jeremy and I have decided to change my work schedule. Instead of working in the mornings, I am going to try afternoons and see if that makes a difference. Right now, Owen wakes up and I feed him and leave all in about 20 minutes of time. Our hope is that by having more mom time in the mornings, he’ll be better with being left in the afternoons. I have no clue if this will work, but I am willing to try tweaking things to find something that works better for Owen.

I never expected to have a mama’s boy. I assumed that by having a son I would be the odd one out while Jeremy and Owen shared some special manly bond. Maybe that is still yet to come. While I love Owen dearly, the constant attachment has been draining and flustering. I’ve been told by a few close friends and family members that I am a perfectionist and that I have unrealistic expectations on myself right now. I had my life organized in such a way that I knew what I wanted each day to look like and what the timeline should be. Owen has his own agenda and it doesn’t always match up with mine. I’m definitely being stretched right now. My prayer is that God uses this difficult time to grow my character and make me a better person than I was before. I don’t want to waste this season. I want to grow in it.

When people ask me if Owen is a good baby, I want to say yes, of course, because I honestly think he is the best baby ever. But just saying yes to that statement doesn’t feel like the whole story. There is a whole lot more to Owen than just being good. I was rereading Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist a few weeks ago and I came across this great quote about her children – “…They are very real, very normal children, not angels or devils, just children – difficult and sweet and exhausting and wonderful in the same moment, all the time.” That sums up Owen! He isn’t an angel or a devil. He is just a baby boy figuring out this crazy world he lives in. He is difficult and sweet and exhausting and wonderful. This quote took the pressure off me to have a good baby because in mind that means a perfect baby and Owen is not perfect. None of us are.

Here are few more random things about Owen before closing this blog. Owen is snugly fitting into 6 month clothing. I might have waited a little long to transition from 3 months to 6 months. I already have 3 boxes of baby clothes packed up in his closet. These boxes are another indicator that Owen is growing and changing quickly. Owen loves playing with his toys and grabbing his feet. His thumb/fist is often in his mouth. Teeth have yet to make an appearance, but my guess is they will soon. Owen still loves bath time and he is a great splasher. Each month with Owen brings new memories and exciting experiences. It’s been such a joy to watch this little guy grow and daily discover things about himself and his world. Life with Owen is certainly an adventure.

Skunk jammies for our little stinker!

Tummy time can tucker a baby out

Watching a movie with Auntie and sucking his thumb

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O Canada! March 2, 2014

Filed under: Family Time,Parenthood,Travels — Amy Scott @ 1:57 pm

I’ve been wanting to visit Canada for a while now. It’s been a decade since I’d been out of the country and I was getting the itch for some international travel. Since I live in Washington State, the Canadian border is about 5 hours away and with my enhanced driver’s license, I didn’t need a passport to cross. Jeremy surprised me for my birthday with a trip booked for Vancouver BC. I went to Vancouver when I was almost 5 months old for the World’s Fair in 1986. Now I got to take my son when he was about 5 months old to Vancouver. Weird timing or what? This was first time spending the night away from home with Owen. Most people might pick a laid back vacation for their first trip with a baby, but Jeremy and I chose a 5+ hour car ride, a border crossing into a different country and a big city to explore. I had my doubts about how the trip would go, but it went great. Owen is a great travel. He slept a lot of the car ride. We made a couple of stops along the way so he could eat and have some time out of the car seat. We got to our very fancy hotel in downtown and then we took it over instantly with baby stuff! We set up Owen’s Pack’N’Play and made the breakfast table a diaper station. We laid a blanket out on the floor for play time. We seriously moved on in. I brought less stuff than I originally planned on packing, but I still ended up over packing. I brought too many clothes for myself and Owen. I figured he could spit up or poop on multiple outfits a day. Better safe than sorry. However, he was a relatively clean kid for most of the trip and the extras weren’t needed.

Jeremy and I are the masters of the Thursday through Saturday trip. These long weekends fit around our church schedule really well. Thursday we got into the hotel and set up camp. We roamed around downtown and I realized that Vancouver BC is a lot bigger than I thought. For dinner we went a little shack on the water called Go Fish. We ate the best fish & chips outside under a heater with the city view at sunset. Friday, we drove out to Steveston where our favorite show “Once Upon a Time” is filmed. It was so cool to see buildings that I recognized from television in person. We explored a few filming sites before heading back to the hotel to regroup. Back at the hotel, Owen and Jeremy hit the pool. This was Owen’s first time in a pool so it was a bit of a big deal to us. Owen enjoyed it a lot! We spent our Friday evening at one of the largest malls Jeremy and I have ever been to. It had over 400 stores on 3 levels. We spent 2 solid hours there just walking around and we still missed about half of it. On Saturday we went to the public market and had brunch at a place called Edible Canada. It was all fresh local foods. I had the most amazing waffles with a mascarpone cream, blackberry sauce and ground hazelnuts. Jeremy had a crab cake and eggs benedict. It was very fancy food and felt like a splurge! After we explored the market, it was time to head home.

This trip was truly an adventure. I didn’t realize that I would feel so “out of the country”. I assumed that BC would just feel like the northwest, but it really felt like we were in a different country. They said things a little differently, the money was different, the metric system was fun to navigate, we tried new brands, things are spelled differently (example: centre, colourful, busses). Our doorman asked us if we were on “holiday”. Because of roaming charges, we couldn’t use our phones unless we were at the hotel on their wi-fi. That was strange! It made me realize how attached I am to my phone. We are used to using it for GPS, so Jeremy had to breakdown and actually buy a map to get around! We commented on how often we would have googled something, but it wasn’t an option! It was fun and crazy to get out of the country especially for our first time away with Owen, but it was a great trip and I glad we took the chance on doing something a little out of the ordinary!