Posts tagged under Relationship. Show all posts.
Amy sits in the passenger seat as Baxter sleeps during the majority of the long ride back to Toronto from Maine. I’ve become a chauffeur. As a new dad, I’m noticing countless, minute occurrences that I would never have considered before, like when your wife gets into the backseat while you’re left in the front alone (without a black cap). Fortunately, for the majority of our last day’s drive, I had the pleasure of sharing the sights with Amy while she rode up front with me.
While driving together, we discussed the possibility of growing our family. Our friend, Stephanie, whom we had stayed with in Maine, was pregnant with her second child faster than either she or her husband could say, ‘perhaps we should try for a second’. By their calendar, Baxter would be on the fast track to having a sibling in a few months!
As the youngest of three in my family, I am the one who got away with murder and enjoyed the breakdown of family rules when the chaos became difficult to control. Amy is senior to her brother. Both of them were brought up with strict morals but benefitted from the lessons only siblings can teach each other such as the art of negotiation and communication (read: arguing), defensive and offensive combat skills, and the granddaddy of them all, sharing. Sure parents can teach all these things to a singleton, but not with the impatience, imprudence and immaturity of a sibling.
So before Baxter’s arrival, Amy and I decided there would be another Bond, something that could not have been further from our minds until this visit with Stephanie in Maine and seeing 18 month-old Amos casually poke his brother, the innocent, 4 month-old Obi, for two days. Beyond the competition for attention was a simple, sweet love and affection, a kind of abusive adoration.
As we return home, oblivious to the fact that Baxter will soon SCREAM during the ride from the Toronto suburb of Pickering to Queen Street, downtown, we’re once again thrown back into the blinding ignorance of that fraternity we barely feel valid to claim membership to, parenthood.
We ran a fun poll the last few weeks about love. We asked our readers what love song best described their marriage? Here were the choices:
We’re happy to report that our readers by and large seem to be happy in their marriages with only 10% stating that they can’t get no satisfaction and 3% saying it was all a Rush, Rush (I’m taking the rush, rush thing to be a negative—not a positive).
A truly, madly and deeply in love 33% is pretty high when you consider that roughly 50% of marriages end in divorce these days, and then a whopping 40% say that love will keep them together.
Let’s hope that the Captain and Tennille are right. I think it’s fair to say that SavvyMoms have a lot of love, are happily married and listen to some pretty cheesy music!
Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day with your beloved and the rest of your friends and family.
Rock on, young lovers.
I’m not an outdoorsman, but I’ve held my fair share of fish on a line. You need to be quick and certain to take hold and remove the hook.
My boyhood friend had a pet salamander. My goal that year was to simply get the thing in my hand. It never happened.
And now that I am grown up and married with a baby, I find myself faced with the same task but with new circumstances. Keeping an eye on Baxter is a new game. In seconds, he could be anywhere. It seems like anything can happen. He’s a loose cannon on a steep hill.
It’s the day-to-day maintenance of this mobile newbie that requires skills I don’t quite possess. Re-enter the diaper. I used to be good with the diaper change. I have fast hands, long fingers, and nimble, tactile agility, all of which are perfectly useless if your baby has bizarre eastern-European strength and a desire to be anywhere but on his back. Combine this with his insatiable appetite to find the nearest toy (or remote) and introduce it to his recently freed Willie, and I’m left at the losing end of the wrestling match.
It does, however, make for great photography (it would be better if Amy wasn’t laughing so hard).
It’s just plain rude to go to Florida and not shop. At least in my family it is—and I was raised to be a very polite young lady indeed. So when I went shopping in Florida over March Break (with my mother who taught me all about shopping and rudeness), we hit all the discount, high-end, malls and grocery stores there were. We love it all. If I can’t find what I want when I’m in the states, I order online and it comes in mere days, before I go home. If I don’t like it, I send it back easily. Customer service is such an important part of the retail experience and in most cases, it shows.
It’s not always like that at home. I know there are some good online retailers but it’s a fragmented marketplace. I always wished we could have one destination that would take care of most of our shopping needs in one place—with great customer service. Don’t you?
Enter SHOP.CA. I’m excited that we’re partnering with this amazing new online retailer, launching in just a few weeks (mid-May), because they have millions of products in 26 categories and a commitment to the customer that can’t be found anywhere else. They are already offering rewards just for signing up early (like $10 off your first purchase of $100, and five times the reward points).
Great customer service, free shipping and returns, plus a rewards program based on how much you share the site with your friends, and of course, how much you shop. They are the Canadian shopping revolution we’ve been waiting for.
I signed up and haven’t bought anything yet, but they already love me. That’s a relationship I like.
Normally my visits to the dentist are not worth sharing. A little wait, a little gas, a rugged cleaning, and I’m out.
This season, the Bonds made a jaunt of it—through Baxter’s naptime no less. Like a German automotive plant, we had the plan down to a ‘T’. I dropped Amy off at the front door at Young and Bloor, and then BB and I parked. BB explored the nooks and crannies of Yorkville, as well as the main drag of Bloor. His smiles, chirps and yodels were virtually snubbed by all the well-to-dos. He was beginning to give up hope with the region’s population until we reached the 19th floor for my appointment and the hand off.
Baxter entered in his stroller and the whole office lit up. Six beautiful women took turns complimenting and encouraging little B. I haven’t seen more beaming since the Academy Awards. Baxter thought he had died and gone to heaven. He was passed from one woman to the next, with eyes like pizza pies and a smile that could split his head. He was pampered, primped, pranced and paraded throughout the office. I apologize to those patients trying to suffer in peace; it’s no place for banter, chortling and full-on merriment.
At this moment, I’m not sure who was more entertained—all the ladies in spiffy uniforms (shout out to Melissa, Vanessa, Tammy, Gina, Shannon and Mara), or my little boy. In the end, it was I. I was proud as a peacock and loved sharing the feeling that comes when a happy baby enters a room and takes over. I really had a blast at the dentist today. And look mom, no cavities!
Comments
Thanks for sharing your thoughts :) Can’t wait to see your holiday pictures and see the BRB!