An Apple a Day

Last week I saw on FB that a friend of mine took her kids apple picking.  I usually dismiss those "fall" type photos as I really don't want to remind myself that winter is just around the corner but the word Gala caught my eye.  I love Gala apples (and Fujis)!  Now I know for a fact that Mar Mar loves picking apples and we haven't gone in ages, so I suggested we go this weekend.  As I guessed, she was totally excited!  Especially since there is no admission fee (just the admission fee alone for nearby orchards for four of us would have been enough to purchase half a bushel of apples - and that's a lot of apples).  Only drawback is: the orchard is in Bowmanville.  Which I thought wasn't that far.  Well, it's not that far.  Only forty minutes east on the 401.  East of Oshawa.  Ooooops.  Haha~!  We went anyway!

The day started off really gloomy (and rainy) but good thing by the time we got there the rain had stopped.  The sun came out just as we were leaving so the weather was actually perfect for us!  A little muddy, but very comfortable.

My faves - Royal Galas

The rain on the apples just make them look THAT much fresher!

The farm was picking McIntosh, Cortland, Empire, Gala apples and just started the Red and Golden Delicious ones this week.  Mom and I aren't fans of tart apples, so we skipped the Macs, etc and went straight for the Goldens first, then the Galas and finally the Reds.  Unfortunately, the Galas were the only ones that were ripe enough to be really sweet and we found the Red Delicious' to be a little tasteless still.  Mom thinks they need a few more weeks on the tree.

We ended up with mostly Galas (I'm not complaining) and loaded up a whole bushel worth of apples.  All was fine and dandy until one of the bags broke and our perfectly fresh apples are now either brutally bruised or injured!  Noooooooooo!!!  We can't possibly eat so many at once!  Especially since we "sampled" close to a dozen and a half of them already while picking.

I had a feeling it would be a bad idea to bring the stroller for CLM so we brought the carrier.  It was great since CLM kept me warm for the most part.  But of course, since he was also warm and fuzzy, he slept through most of the apple picking.  Oh well, next year!

Crazy sleep patterns again this week.  Yup, broken record, I know.

It has really started getting cold this week.  I get up for my morning shower and have the "OMG it feels like winter" chills so I know it's time to pack away the summer clothes and bring out the sweaters and long sleeves.  文生's friend gave CLM a gift cert for Jacadi so we decided to use it since it was a whopping $100 one.  Little did we know that a freaking onesie costs $79!  I absolutely refuse to spend that kind of money for something that CLM will wear for only 2-3 months!  So we ended up getting a sleep sack...OMG we still had to pay $76 extra.  That place is so expensive... maybe we should have just given the gift cert to someone else...

肉都赤埋...

Broken Record

By now I must sound like a broken record.  Sigh.  Tonight my dear CLM woke up at 2am, nursed for 20 minutes and here I am thinking he'd go right back to sleep... only to get under my ducky and hear him whimper and wake up again.  I go to him, pat him back to sleep, walk away, he's awake again. Did that like 3 times more and I finally said eff it.  Then he threw up on my bed!  Not much, but enough to warrant doing laundry at 3am.  Now it's 4:15am and he's still wide awake, sitting in my lap and watching me finger peck my way through this post.

I can't even wish for CLM to fall asleep on his own.  I'm told babies his age sleep through the night, blah blah blah, but all I want is for him to sleep his 12 hours!  Yes, he should be sleeping more like 15, but 12 is all I wish for!  Including naps!  That's how bad a sleeper CLM is.  Poor thing has dark circles forming under his eyes already.  I'm lost.  I really don't know what else to do to get him sleeping better.  I just keep telling myself this phase will pass... they grow up too quickly, so enjoy it now...

Did I forget to mention last night?  He was up every hour until after 4am, then was a good boy and gave me a little more than 2 hours before waking for the day at 7am.  So...here I am, running on fumes again and I gotta tackle a big Excel project in 6 hours.

Dear CLM, why don't you just sleep?

Office-less

I head to the office on Monday last week and after a short lunch hour meeting, I lost my office!  In the span of just a mere 10 minutes we've decided to make it into a "preview" sales office, take down walls, remake the kitchen, redo the flooring, replace the ceiling and lights, get new furniture... all to be done within 4 weeks.  Basically an Extreme Office Makeover that can be featured on HDTV, lol.  It's so noisy and dusty here!

CLM is still not sleeping as well as I like him to.  I think I've finally just accepted the fact that he's just like that.  No use to try and change it as it probably won't.  At least not with a lot of tears (mostly from me, lol).  I get a couple of weeks of decent sleep (average 3.5 hour wakings and yes, that is good sleep already) and then get struck with a few consecutive days of hourly wakings (like last night).  There is really no reason to get mad anymore, not worth it since the cycle resumes itself anyway.  Plus the poor dude can finally figure out if I'm mad or not.  Now I know to be careful because I can freak him out easily.  I love how I can giggle for no reason and he'll laugh with me though.  So sweet.  The other night he woke up at 4am and just stared at me and smiled (then giggled)... I freakin melted!!!  Despite being so sleep deprived, I couldn't help but hug him tightly and smile back.  Well, then he kept himself up until way after 5am...

Why does this boy not sleep?!?

Poor Mushu... so violated, LOL~!

On Thursday I finally received my long-awaited mbna rewards World Elite Mastercard.  I recently found this card to be the perfect supplement to my Smartcash card that gives me 3% cash back on gas and groceries which I've been using for a few years now.  The new card looks awesome, gives me 2% cash back (so now I can get 2% instead of 1% on everything else I buy besides gas/groceries), has no annual fee, all the perks of my other card, plus purchase protection and concierge service.  SWEET!  Not to mention I got $100 as a bonus just for getting the card.  I'm totally digging the look!  So prestigious looking, lol.

New Skills

Everyday, as CLM learns new things, I'm amazed at how these new "skills" are just magically discovered without anyone particularly teaching him.  Last week, just out of the blue, he started to "boo" 口水; lately he learned how to make high-pitched noises; over the weekend, we heard him say either 抱抱 or 婆婆 a few times; and today he kept babbling "baba".  Beebee, what happened to "mama"?

At the same time we've noticed that he has a strong fascination for fabric/clothes tags.  He's always reaching for them to "read", lol.  What's really funny is how he always wants to spin around when he's held, making it difficult for us to hold him since he's always wanting to do 360's.  As soon as we spin him around to face one way, he twists his body so it faces the other.  Rinse and then repeat.  LOL.

A week full of CLM!  The most CLM-dominated page ever...

As usual, CLM is extremely nosy and needs to be part of everything.  Which is good in a way because we know he's interested in the world and is eager to learn from it.

Thing Just Can't Get Any Worse

Or can it?

Here's night two again of every other hour waking, but tonight we have a twist!  Okay not really, an old habit if you may.  CLM woke up at 3:50am and refused to go back to sleep.  Hardly anything new.  So after two brutally tiring hours of trying to keep him entertained (ie not crying), he's finally dosing off.  I'm completely lost.  I thought things were going to get better.  Seven and a half months later, CLM's sleep habits have still not gotten anywhere.  He's had all of only 5 or 6 nights in which he slept longer than 4 hours and I've only benefitted from two of those nights.  Meaning I've slept no longer than 4 hours on any given night in the past 7.5 months (save and except those 2 nights).

It doesn't help at all when my back is killing me once again and all CLM wants to do is NOT sleep! Sigh.

I suppose things CAN get worse from here, with my luck he could start waking up every hour...

UPDATE: So it can...CLM woke up 10 minutes later, 6:10am, then "napped" until 6:40am, then up until 11am...

Summer's Over!

I can't believe it's September already.  I recall writing about how quickly the summer's flying by but as soon as CNE comes and goes, it signals the end of the summer.  Well, it's Labour Day already and it's back to school tomorrow for many.  Sigh.  Time, can't you just slow down a teeny bit?  I think keeping up with P365 make it seem like the weeks go by even faster since I'm constantly doing the layouts.

CLM looking kinda "inch" LOL~!

I was so upset my iPod fell out of my purse the other day and the screen shattered so I had to get it replaced.  Fifty five freaking dollars!  That, or pay $170 for a refurb replacement from Apple.  Of course I chose the former.  Sigh, 無啦啦破財.

Wait, I just remembered, I started blogging around the time of CNE which means.... my blog is four years old!!  Wah!

Another Allergy

Poor CLM!  Broke out in hives tonight after 3 baby spoonfuls of wheat cereal with mixed fruit.  Weird thing is, he's had an entire box of wheat cereal (the add milk kind) already so he is either allergic to the milk powder or the fruit that's in this box (the add water kind).  What's even weirder is that he's eaten the new box for a whole week already!  What da...

So I thought maybe it's the barley that he's allergic to since it's a new thing that we started him on this week but he was fine all day up to the mere seconds after eating the cereal.  The rash started around his mouth, then his face, spread to behind his ears, neck.  Then the hives kicked in on his back, legs, arms....OMG poor Curtasee!  I hate seeing him so miserable!  So far, it's been 3.5 hours and the hives are still visible on his arms and legs but the rash on his face is pretty much gone.

I still recall my own hives episodes *shudder so I know how nasty it is to have them.  I FEEL HORRIBLE!!  Good thing they don't seem to be bothering him very much so I haven't resorted to giving him Benedryl yet.  For sure if the hives aren't gone by morning that I'm grabbing the medicine dropper!!