Big Things, Little Things

I've held off on writing this post because I wanted to be sure it was for real. But now, it's pretty close to being real, so here goes...

We're moving to Ontario. I think it's pretty obvious to my readers that I very much want to live closer to my family, and we've decided to make that happen. Having the support of my parents, my sister, my extended family and P's family is so important, especially with this 3rd baby coming. I struggled hard after Colm was born. Reading back over my private journal from the last year, I was barely keeping it together. Things will (hopefully) be so much easier after this babe is born. 

We've been staying at my parents since November, with the exception of two weeks in Costa Rica and a little time with P's family here and there. I'm so grateful to my mom and dad for welcoming us into their home and letting us disrupt their lives. We've got another month and a half here and then we should be moving into our own house not far away. 

It's been stressful, trying to pull this mortgage together. I'm into the last trimester of my pregnancy and the exhaustion is suddenly hitting me hard. The cold weather has kept us all a bit housebound, which is not fun with an energetic 3 year old. But soon the sun will warm the air, the snow will melt...we'll be into a new house, this baby will be born, and we'll be launched into the next chapter of this life.

I've decided to put Up the Dempster to bed. I'm working on a new blog layout, and I will post a link to it here once I've started posting there. I hope you'll follow me there, where I'll write honestly about family life and mothering and maybe eventually some travel...but if you don't, I understand. The Yukon has been a huge part of my life for the last decade, and I know we're not done with it yet (we do still have a business to run there, after all) but it will be a much smaller part of things for the time being. 

So, there you have it. Doing the thing I said I'd never do...moving back to southwestern Ontario!

Walkin' and Talkin'

I have been meaning to sit down and write about little Collie for at least a month now. I'm awful at filling out the baby books (I think I've written Colm's name in his, so we're off to a good start) so the least I can do is keep track of milestones here.

So, what is he up to these days, almost 16 months old?

Colm is walking now, he started in early January I guess. He's got a cute little wiggle in his walk. He's determined to master the stairs, too, and usually insists going both up and down by himself.




He has also started using a few words in the last couple of weeks. He's a master at "Daddy" and he's also working on "ball" and "boat". He barks whenever he sees a dog, so I figure that's sort of like saying the word.

Colm is finally eating! I remember when my milk first started to diminish, after getting pregnant, being so worried that Colm was going to starve. He was probably 10 months old before he took more than a passing interest in solid food, and well over a year before he started eating significant amounts. His favourites right now include dill pickles, raisins, chicken, and potatoes. His tastes are so different from Aedan's...he doesn't really seem to enjoy fruit very much, though he will occasionally eat berries, a few bites of banana, or a clementine.




His eczema is fairly well controlled now, nothing like it was last winter. He is still very sensitive and gets a rash easily, but if we keep eggs, wheat and dairy out of his diet, he does okay. He's had several severe food reactions requiring epinephrine, and we have a visit with an allergist coming up to try and figure out what is causing the reaction. I suspect either dairy or some food additive. Unfortunately each time it happened, we were not in our own home, so he was eating food that was more processed than we would normally have. The ingredient lists were long, or unknown in one case, so it's a bit of a guessing game at this point.

Colm finally takes a decent nap on his own, without needing to be in my arms or have me right beside him. I am so relieved! It reminds me that all things will pass eventually. I try to keep this in mind with Aedan, who continues to be a challenge. But that is for another post I suppose!