Speed Trials

Angelo and I weren’t going to exchange presents this Christmas, but a recent trip to our local second-hand shop yielded a pair of skates that were in really good condition and just my size.  To my great worry and fear, Angelo bought them for me and had them sharpened before wrapping them and sticking them under the tree.

Yesterday we dropped Nico off at my mom’s place, and headed out to Tom Brown Arena for a little skate around the rink.

Background: As a kid, of course I knew how to skate, and I even patrolled the Rideau Canal during Winterlude looking for lost children. (one of the best volunteering experiences ever. Who doesn’t love comforting a small child who has lost his/her parents – not to mention all the hot chocolate you can drink!). But at some point in my late teens/early twenties I completely lost the ability to ice skate. My knees would wobble, my ankles would turn in, my balance was off, I fell hard and often. Instead of persevering, I just stopped skating altogether.

Until now. Though truthfully, I was only doing this for Angelo, who is so looking forward to many years of skating with Nico as a family. Angelo is a really good skater, and he’ll probably do most of the work when it comes to teaching Nico how to skate, but still, I didn’t want to be relegated to the sidelines whenever the boys felt like lacing up.

I was REALLY nervous putting on my skates at the arena. There were lots of people there, and I really didn’t want to make a big fool out of myself.

I put on my game face (and helmet) and we headed out onto the ice.

I was a little shaky at first, and I asked Angelo to hold my hand. But after a few warm up laps, I started to gain a bit of confidence. I’m sure that my years in roller derby helped a lot too, since both activities are closely related. In fact, at one point as I was turning I instinctively did a crossover, without even thinking about it. Just goes to show that muscles have a memory of their own. My legs knew what to do, I just had to let them do it!

pretty humbling when little kids whiz past me!

We didn’t stay very long (about 40 minutes) but it was a wonderful re-introduction to skating, and while I’m sure I wasn’t winning any style points out there (there really is nothing more awkward than a beginner skater’s stance) I feel like I’ll be able to conquer my fear of skating soon.

Remember a couple of weeks ago about my total inability to decide on a training watch?? I was torn between keeping my Suunto T3c and adding the foot pod, or going with the Garmin Forerunner 110 that my mom bought me for my birthday.

I just couldn’t decide which option would be best for me. I even went to MEC to talk to the salesclerk and get their opinion, but sadly, the guy who served me was unwilling to share which HE thought was best. He was great at listing out the pros and cons of each watch, but wouldn’t give me his personal take on which one he thought was better. So I was back to where I started.

I can’t believe it’s taken me an entire MONTH (my birthday was on November 28) to finally decide, but here it is:

The winner in the end is the Garmin. Not that it blows the Suunto away or anything. The Suunto has treated me really well these past couple of years, and I think that’s why it’s so hard to let it go. But in the end the GPS swayed me. With the Garmin I’ll be able to track not only my runs, but also bike rides, and swims or canoe excursions on the lake. And I like the idea of having just one piece of equipment instead of two. I don’t know how well the foot pod would handle regular wear and tear, and I don’t want to regret giving up the Garmin if in the end I’m not satisfied with the Suunto foot pod.

(btw, I still love my Suunto so much that I’m going to continue using it as my watch. I just can’t give it up cold turkey!)

So anyway, yesterday I pretty much had to force myself to go for a run. Despite battling this persistent cold, I knew I had to get out there. The weather was mild, and there was a snowfall warning for later on that evening, so it was a now-or-never situation. I was not motivated to run, but the thought of using a new gadget sure did help.

Until I opened the Garmin and realized it needed to be charged.  What a run fail!

So I strapped on my trusty Suunto and went out on one final run with it. I had no expectations for this run. I just needed to move one foot in front of the other. I ended up running a familiar route, that ends with a long slow incline. It was tough, but I did feel better after the run. I ran about 3k in 18:00. And at the end of it, I looked like this:

That’s a sweaty forehead AND a wicked toque mark. Gotta love winter running!!

Nico’s first Christmas went pretty well, considering we were dealing with a three-month old and there was A LOT of family to get through. It really does go to show how much a newborn needs a routine. He had some late nights that lead to some real tantrums and his sleep pattern was all over the place. Oh well, it only happens once a year…

Christmas Eve:

We drove down to Almonte to celebrate with Angelo’s family. It was lovely to hang out with his parents, brothers, auntie Mel and cousin Rio.

We ate and opened presents.

Angelo’s dad loved the car model I got him, and I received a wicked Fisheye lens camera from Angelo’s brother Richard. We gave Rio and Nico matching shirts, and Nico received a retro Fisher Price record player. Do you remember playing with this as a kid? I sure do!!

Then at around 5pm we left Almonte and drove back into town to celebrate with my father’s side of the family. This party is always off the charts. Anytime you get 40+ French Canadians together, add food and booze, it’s bound to get rowdy!

My dad plays Santa Claus every year, and this year he got to play Santa to his own grandson. Nico got a Bunnykins set, and my dad gave us two Back Jack chairs, which are so comfortable and perfect for breastfeeding.  We also played a gift exchange game that involves stealing gifts, etc. which is always lots of fun. We stayed there till about 10:30pm – by then Nico was almost delirious from the noise and lack of sleep. He slept really badly that night, waking multiple times throughout the night, but it’s nothing that a good feeding couldn’t fix.

Christmas Day:

We woke up early and headed down the street to my mother’s house for breakfast. It’s a tradition to have a crêpe breakfast before we open presents.

The stockings are THE thing at my mom’s place; they’re always filled with great gifts. My mom gave a huge jolt to my owl collection, as I got an owl necklace, key chain, cup, and statue. I love me some owls!! Everyone was really thoughtful with their gifts, and it was a great morning.

Then we headed off to Angelo’s Nonna’s house for Christmas dinner. Nico was a big hit with all of Angelo’s cousins, and the meal was top notch, as usual. The Tirimasu was especially delicious this year!

We actually cut the night short because Nico was majorly overstimulated after two solid days of visiting. Angelo and I were exhausted too. We crashed hard on Christmas night, after a meek attempt at putting away all our Christmas loot.

Boxing Day:

The day started out really quiet and lovely, and Angelo and I took Nico on a long walk around the neighbourhood. The weather was super mild and sunny, and we fell in love even more with our ‘hood.

Then we headed back to my mom’s house for Christmas dinner. We also watched the World Junior Championship (Canada dominated over Finland).

Throughout all of this, Nico had been suffering through his first cold.  We used a saline nasal spray to help clear his little nose, but still, it made feedings a little trickier. I also got sick (we pretty much share everything) and by Boxing Day I was feeling really achy and bad (and apparently in no mood to take pictures…). So when we hit the pillow on that night, I was more than ready for the holidays to be over.

Today has been all about returning to our routine. Nico had his bath at his regular time, and fell asleep at a more reasonable 9pm. I’m hoping that it’ll take just a few more days for us to kick our cold and get back to our normal selves.

I’m sorry, I’ve been neglecting you… In fact, there are some days where I don’t think about the blog at all. Not even once…

Maybe it’s because I’ve been struggling to get back into running. Maybe it’s because I’ve been eating way too many Christmas goodies and way not enough green stuffs. Maybe it’s because breastfeeding is still my all-consuming priority and Nico has been extra fussy this week.

Whatever it is, I’m only going to deal with it in the new year. Until then, I’m giving myself the opportunity to just get through the holidays, even if that means subsisting on shortbread and Lindt chocolates, even if it means doubling my efforts come January to get ready for the Winterman 10k.

In the meantime, here are some sights of the season. Merry Christmas everyone!!

December 20 means Nico is exactly three months old. That’s a whole season! Crazy to think that I was wearing tank tops and flip flops when we got discharged from the hospital, and now we’re toting him around in a snowsuit!!

Nico and I had a weird week. As I was recovering from Mastitis, our feeding schedule was sort of all over the place, which meant the return of green poop. In case you’re wondering what’s the big deal with green poop, it’s that it usually accompanies extra gas and bloating, more spitting up, and a generally grumpier demeanor. Nico has done a lot of back arching after feeds, which is another sign that he’s got stomach cramps and gas.

But he’s also had some major breakthroughs this week, too. I mentioned last week that he hit a milestone and can hold himself up a lot more than ever before. He’s on the brink of turning over, and he continues to develop his ability to grab things. He’s also becoming a pro at turning pages of his books.

Angelo decided to set up Nico’s Jolly Jumper two nights ago, and to our great relief, Nico LOVED it!! It’s no secret that Nico likes to be held. It’s hard to put him down for a long period of time, but he was content to stay in his Jolly Jumper for a good 20 minutes before wanting to be in my arms.

The other big development is that I started to do EC with Nico. I’ll do a more detailed post on it later on, once we’ve had more practice at it, but basically for the last 6 days, I’ve been undressing Nico and placing him over the toilet whenever I had an inkling that he needed to go. I didn’t overthink it, and really, I don’t know if I’m doing it “right”, but I just thought I’d start doing it and see how it goes. Let me tell you, it’s been AMAZING. Nico has really taken to it, and he can sometimes hold it until I bring him to the toilet. And if I bring him to the toilet and he doesn’t have to go, he will actually squirm and cry out in a very distinctive way, so I know it’s not the time. I’m really impressed with how well we’ve both taken to it overall (there’s been some misses to be sure, but I try not to dwell on those). For something that I once thought was really crazy and unmanageable, it’s really been a positive experience for us.

Nico smiles so easily now, and he’s been giggling from time to time as well. He’s also been loving his father lately. He stares up at Angelo and no one is better at making Nico laugh. Now that we’ve been at this for three whole months, we’re really starting to feel more like a family of three, instead of two babysitters and a newborn (does that make sense?). Life these days consists of more than just trying to keep Nico alive – in all our interactions in the day-to-day, there’s a sense of love that flows both ways. Whenever I lean in to give my boy kisses, he takes my face into his hands and smiles and coos. He brings me closer to him and lets me kiss his face. Our Mother-Son relationship has become reciprocal, and it’s really made these days the golden age of Nico’s life to date.

I love you Nico!