We Have Liftoff!

Smiling in the car, on our way home after first day of daycare.

Today was Orion's first morning at the in-home daycare. I was truly dreading this day for the last few days and feeling anxiety and stress, despite this morning's daycare session only being for 4 hours. I didn't want him to go and have other young ones potentially be rough and hurt him. This morning I got up early (before the crack of dawn) to pack his things, make his bottle and get him ready. He woke up in a great mood so it made things a bit easier. Then we were off and when we got there, I begrudgingly handed him over and said I'd call in an hour to check-up on him. He was smiling but did give me that puzzled look of, "Dad, where are you going? What is happening?" When I called an hour later, he was just fine. He napped, drank his bottle and was interacting with the other kids. Then she dropped his binky/soother and he started to cry on the phone lol. When I went to pick him up, he was happy to see me but I did get a few smacks and scratches to the face out of revenge, I'm sure. I feel a bit better now about going back for our second time on Thursday morning. I'm so proud of him.



Thumbs up, dad!

Forever Young

Blinded by the light... not posing, I swear!

The days are getting longer, Spring and Summer are just around the corner and that means... that I'll soon be going back to work. Nooooo! If it was up to me, it would be just me and Orion spending every day together as life passes us by. Me going back to work is also a milestone for Orion... it means he'll be going to an in-home daycare 1-2 days a week while his Grannie and Opa look after him 1-2 days and his Grandfather 1-2 days. I found an in-home daycare for Orion to go to and coincidentally, the caregiver is someone I went to school with when we were younger. We never connected back then but I did know who she was. While I've been feeling anxiety and stress the last couple of weeks in coming to terms of having Orion go to daycare, I'm a bit more comforted that I know this individual and my parent intuition tells me to be at ease. It will also be healthy for Orion in terms of his social skills and development to be with other young children (which he loves) in an in-home bilingual setting on a consistent basis. He is definitely a social baby as I've seen already at playgroups, play dates with friends, etc. Tomorrow we'll be going to visit the in-home daycare and see if it's a right fit for us.

I still have about 3 months before I go back to work and I'll be milking every day to the last second... just the two of us.

Maybe I'm A Lion

Orion the lion likes to roar in his jolly jumper for fun... or maybe it's because the jumper jock strap wrap thing is too tight o_O

Orion & Dad

Orion,

This evening, as I do so often, I was thinking back to those first moments when I saw you for the first time ever. You were squirming on that little table while your Grannie was sobbing like a baby and I was just looking at you with a feeling of complete awe. That feeling, I still get every morning when I see you for the first time, at night when I'm holding you in my arms, rocking you to sleep and all the minutes in between.



Just hangin... having fun watching ourselves via the front-facing camera on the iPhone 4S.



SUP. Just chillin.

Recently, Orion went for his six month check-up. He weighs 20 pounds and is in the 80th percentile for growth and development. No wonder my arms hurt every morning when I wake up. They're getting quite the work out from Orion every day!

We've also been taking advantage of the milder than normal winter here *knocks on wood* by going outdoors and getting as much fresh air as we can.



Orion in his sled that he got from Santa for Christmas.

That's it for now... see you in a bit!

JUMP!

*cue Van Halen track from the 80s*

Look at how happy the little guy is in his jolly jumper. I can't imagine life without him!

All For Orion

My little man all dressed up.

Yesterday was Orion's 6 month birthday! It was also a special day as he was dedicated at our church. It was very emotional for me as my faith and my family were what kept me going at some of the low points in my journey.

He's getting so big now, the last 6 months have been so special and on one hand I'm dreading having to go back to work in May/June. On the other hand I'll enjoy getting back into the swing of things with my career but when you're with such a little person for 24/7 for almost a year, it's going to be tough being apart from him. I know I've been fortunate to have that time off from work to be with him and thankfully we're all settled in our new house now so we have a great place for him to grow up!

Takes Our Breath Away

...that is, winter and the month of January! Aside from being really cold the last few days, January has been and will be so busy. Tonight is Orion's last night in this house. This townhouse is where the journey started but this week we will start a new chapter in our lives together as we move to a new, bigger detached house. It's in the neighbourhood where I grew up and now where Orion will grow up too. It's a nice house, you can see the river right from our driveway and easily a 5 minute walk. It will be fun to take Orion there and watch the sailboats in the summer, I honestly can't wait! The city just built a new park and splash pad nearby so we'll definitely be frequenting that as well. Orion's school is also a 5 minute walk so no school bus commutes... everything is nearby.

We'll see you from the new house!