My favorite weekend of the year!

Observation #20: A cottage trip is a MUST at least once a year. 

Starting from last summer (2011), my favorite weekend of the year is no longer Christmas or Thanksgiving or any other holiday for that matter (though I do love all the presents and good food) but is now what is becoming an "annual couples cottage trip weekend". We had our second one this year up in Georgina with four other of my fave couple friends. Chloe and Justis are as of yet the only kids but Han Jr. is currently growing in Mama Sarah's belly, so next year there will be three kids! The plan is to add one kid each year. ;)

This year it was definitely a bit chillier than the last trip so there was less outdoorsy stuff but that just meant more time for my FAVORITE word games - taboo and bananagrams! Oh my, was I ever into it! I had so much fun - possibly the most out of the group. I am totally not athletic but make up for competitiveness when it comes to word games...

But the best part of our cottage trip was not the games or the amazing food (Korean BBQ, fried pork belly, hot dogs and burgers, fresh baked brownies), or the fact that the lake was right in our backyard, but the sharing we always get to do as couples. It was great being able to talk late into the night about the ups and downs of marriage and whatever else is going on in our lives. It's almost like a couples retreat, the amount of open discussion we can have (some venting going on as well) without feeling defensive or worried about being judged. It's wonderful and I know at the end of it all, we are all so encouraged and inspired to make our relationships even stronger. And it's funny to see the unique dynamics we have in our relationships, some people more like others (I apparently have a lot in common with some of the husbands!).

So, thank you friends for another amazing cottage trip. Looking forward to our third one next year!

(Missing in the pic: Sarah, Will and Hugh. I will have to figure out how to photoshop you guys in....)

Little pockets of free time

Observation #19: You have to savor the little pockets of free time...

I would say one of the biggest changes in my life right now is that I am pretty much at the beck and call of my newborn, meaning if he has to feed, then I have to drop what I am doing and feed him; if he needs to be held, then the longest I (or Kevin) can ignore him is probably about 2 minutes - until his whimpering turns into a full out cry; if I hear the rumble(s) of poop coming from his direction, then my conscience won't let me go too long without changing his diaper. This will hopefully change in a few weeks, or maybe a few months, but for now, Justis is only a month old so I can't blame him for being so needy.

And of course there's the 2-year old...

So free time (meaning just time for myself to do stuff unrelated to baby/toddler/cooking/cleaning) is obviously rare and when it comes, often short. Case in point, it has taken me a span of 3 days to reply to a friend's email. Each day I have gotten about a paragraph and a half in. Another example: I started doing Jillian Michael's 30-day Shred, which is a 20-minute workout program, and it took me 3 tries to finish the video today because I kept getting interrupted. Right now I am having an unusually longer pocket of free time (hence the blogging), and I am trying to remind myself to savor this time. And just even enjoy doing nothing, instead of trying to fill it with more to-do's.

So I will keep this entry short and just relax....... until Justis cries for me.

Welcome to the world, little Justis!

It was exactly a week ago that I gave birth to our second little one, Justis Juho Lee, on July 21, 2012 at 1:00 p.m., Credit Valley Hospital, with the help of a team of midwives and my wonderful husband. He was born 7 lbs 2 oz, a good pound and a half heavier than his older sister.

And wow, what a week it has been since. The theme word for the week would most definitely have to be gratitude. Gratitude for the relatively easy labour and delivery (relative in the sense that labour is never easy), gratitude for the health of Justis, gratitude for the love and support we have gotten from our friends and family (thank you for the visits and the gifts!), gratitude for Chloe’s instant love for her brother (one week has passed and she hasn’t shown any signs of jealousy yet!), gratitude for power naps and moments of silence to myself, gratitude for a speedy recovery, gratitude for our parents who have provided help in any way they can, gratitude for my husband who has been my best cheerleader, and gratitude for the confidence of being a mother the second time around…

Not that it’s all been a walk in the park (my brain felt fried on night 2 and 3 with a total lack of sleep between the wee hours of 1:00 and 6:00 am, baby attached to me the whole time... thankfully the cluster feeding ended by night 4 and on *cross my fingers*), but so much of what I thought might be really hard has proved not to be so. I.e. I thought Chloe would have a really hard time transitioning and that we’d have to very wisely divide our attention between them, pretending to not really care for Justis, but as it turns out, Chloe actually wants me to feed Justis and hold him when he’s crying and is so excited to wake up to see her brother each morning. Or, I was worried that one kid would wake up the other kid during his/her nap and that I’d never get a solid block of time to myself, but so far Chloe’s naps have gone unscathed…

…Well, at least for this week. Who knows what the next few days or weeks or months hold, but right now, I want to focus on the goodness of this past week. And I want to intentionally direct all of this gratitude to our God, who I know has been by my side through every moment. Even if this week sucked, I know I would have so much reason to thank Him, but all the more so because it has been full of unexpected treats. Like my neighbour offering to babysit Chloe for an hour while I nap, or being able to go for an aromatherapy massage today (heavenly!). Thank you, Lord!

And welcome to the world, little Justis!