Spring!

Today is officially the first day of Spring and what a beautiful day it was! It has felt amazing to have such warm sunny days over the past week. I have a sense of relief that I actually made it through the winter that I haven't felt before - maybe it was being pregnant, the sleepless nights with a new born or just starting to go stir crazy spending so much time at home as opposed to going out to work every day - but it has felt like the longest winter ever.

The spring weather has brought with it long walks with the baby and dog while Alan chases Ewan on his bike, afternoons spent at the park, play dates, ice cream in the evenings and today even using the bbq for dinner! It is the most perfect way to spend the last week of Alan's leave from work and my second last week away from A Gym Tale. The spring has also brought about a new routine as I am gearing up to go back to work and with all of the spring session registrations to keep Ewan busy now that he does not spend 3 days a week at A Gym Tale! I am very excited to be coming back to A Gym Tale part time to run the spring Music & Gym classes. I cannot wait to meet so many new families and to catch up with families that have been doing the past several sessions of play classes. I am also very excited to get the chance to see Ewan participate in his own classes (ones that I am not running!). Since Ewan is turning 3 years old early May I have been able to enrol him in swimming and gymnastics classes that he will do on his own now. This feels like a major milestone to me - I am really going to miss doing the classes together  (although we do have a music class we will do together), but it is also so exciting to see my little boy growing up before my eyes. I do not think he will have any trouble going on his own - he is a pretty confident and outgoing little guy - but I am still so nervous for him! 

For anyone looking to add an activity to their Spring routine, I believe there are still a few spaces in the New Magic, Wee Wonders & Gym Stars programs. I will look forward to seeing everyone in a few weeks and I hope you are all getting a chance to enjoy the beautiful weather!

Creating a daily / weekly rhythm

Now that I am at home 7 days a week I am having a hard time creating a structure to our day and I am the type of person that does need structure to feel organized.


When I was working Ewan's schedule of where he goes was the same every week, but I think a lot for him to remember as no two days were ever the same. Our schedule before Isla's arrival: Monday's he comes to work with me from 8:30-11:30 and then my mom picks him up and takes him back to my home until I get there at 4pm. Tuesday's he is dropped off at my mother in law's and I pick him up at 1pm. Wednesday is again work with me and then picked up at 11:30 by my mother in law until I pick him up at 4pm. Thursday's my dad goes straight to my home, so they can have a morning together and I get home at 1pm. Friday's he is at work with me and we both leave at 11:30. Saturday's are gymnastics with dad until I finish work at 11am, and Sunday's we try to do nothing at all but spend a quiet day at home. It has been a busy schedule for him to keep track of! I am very lucky that I have so much family so involved and to be honest it also saves on having to make the time to visit everyone as they are all a part of my son's week. 


But now that I am home all day I do want to create a regular routine for us. The only structure currently set up for the week is that Ewan will still visit his Gran on Tuesday mornings when Alan goes to work, gymnastics on Wednesday mornings with dad and skating with his Grandpa on Thursday mornings. But quite often I find that we are struggling to even make it downstairs by 9am for breakfast - how I ever made it to work for 7:15am every morning I really don't know! I would like to have a regular flow to our days, but every day still seems to be all over the place. And is Ewan ever a handful when we do not have a plan for the day! Even when I am back to work part time in April, we will still have a lot of time together at home, so I am looking to find a routine that we can keep from now until September really.


So how do you structure your daily or weekly routines? Is each day more or less the same structure or do you just go with the flow? 

Isla already adores her big brother!

Family Time!

It has been a little while since I have written - we are all still surviving! In fact everything over the past month has been going quite smoothly.

Yes, Isla is one month old already - I think time flies even faster the second time around. We have been spending time at home as a family just relaxing and getting to know our new baby girl as well as trying to keep Ewan in some sort of a routine. Ewan is loving his sister and we really have not seen any jealousy issues, but we do have a lot of family members around that are being a wonderful help by giving him undivided attention, unfortunately not really leaving them much time to hold the baby! We have also had it very easy with cooking - I had prepared quite a few frozen meals before Isla's arrival and my mom and mother in law also brought over an abundance of frozen meals - in fact we have 5 weeks worth of meals, which means that this will be our last week of not cooking and I will have to start getting myself organized to actually make meals again! Sleeping is also going quite well - I have just found a cloth diaper combination that will keep Isla dry all night, so no more 4am diaper changes, just a couple feedings that can be done from the comfort of my bed! As always I am struggling with going to bed earlier than midnight to compensate for the night feedings, but I am trying. Everything really is so much more relaxed this time around!

It has been really nice having the flexibility to get together with friends for play dates as well. With not working I am really missing the socializing that was part of my everyday - as is Ewan. We have also enjoyed dropping in to A Gym Tale to introduce Isla to the many children and families that we have gotten to know so well.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Family Day weekend and has the opportunity to spend some quality time enjoying their family. We are looking forward to spending the morning at A Gym Tale on Family Day from 9-12 and playing with all of your families as well!


My new favourite picture from our new born photo shoot - I think it really captures Ewan's energy and excitement!

Isla Wyllie's Birth Story

On Thursday, January 19th Isla Kalelle Wyllie made her grand entrance at 10:44pm weighing 7lbs 4oz. This came as a surprise to everyone as she was 2 weeks early and so I just kept thinking the contractions would stop - which led us to a home birth!

It began the previous night when I didn’t sleep well and had some contractions. They continued off and on throughout Thursday – but nothing strong or regular. The same thing happened for 2 weeks with Ewan, so I was not expecting anything to actually come of them. I even saw the midwife that morning and she agreed that they probably did not mean much. Then by 3pm I called my mom because my back was killing me and Ewan was being a handful and Alan was going to be working late that evening building a treadmill with a friend in our basement– so she came by and amused Ewan, made dinner and gave him his bath. 


By dinner time the contractions were still there but again not painful at all. By 7pm they were becoming more painful – I could still talk but had to stop walking. So I called our doula and the midwife just to let them know that I might be in early labour – the midwife said she would come by to assess me and if it was early give me gravol to try and get a good night sleep. Apparently a snow storm also started around this time which delayed the midwives and doula's arrival. By 8:30pm Alan and I began to think that the baby may in fact be coming - I was in the bath tub and in full on labour. The midwives and doula arrived around 9pm and did my assessment and to everyone's surprise I was at 9cm!!! The options were then to call an ambulance because of weather or continue to labor at home  as I was doing well and so was baby. At that point there wasn’t a chance I was going to be strapped to a bed in an ambulance while in active labour. So, we continued labouring at home and at 10:44 Isla was born!!! 

It was a fantastic experience and I am so happy that it turned out the way that it did. It was wonderful having my mom and Ewan in the house (Ewan unfortunately fell asleep 15 minutes before Isla was born), but the two of them kept busy with Mickey Mouse and baking a birthday cake for Isla.


During the pregnancy I had read a lot of books on home births and natural births as I had wanted to create a very different experience than what I had with Ewan - an emergency c-section. However, Alan and I agreed that a hospital birth would be the safer option in the event that emergency circumstances presented themselves again. But once we heard that I was already 9 cm's - past the point where things went wrong with Ewan, and I was still feeling strong and confident in my body's ability to know what to do - the decision to stay home was easy. It also helped that I was very comfortable with my midwife and trusted her opinion and that my doula was a good friend who was experienced, calm and confident in my ability to give birth to this baby. It really was a life changing experience and I am proud of myself for trusting my instincts and of how Alan and I really worked together through the whole labour - except early on when he thought building a treadmill was the priority! I could not have asked for a more supportive team or a better birth experience. 

As for the past 11 days, we have been enjoying lots of quiet family time as well as visits from family and friends. Ewan is doing quite well with Isla - he adores her, and as long as I am within view he is fine keeping busy with dad, grandpa or grandma. Isla is also sleeping quite well so far, so I am feeling very well rested at this point. 


We are so excited to welcome Isla into our family!


Also, for anyone that is curious, Isla is pronounced like Island (but without the 'nd') and Kalelle was chosen as a middle name by Alan because it is Superman's Kryptonian name and he felt her middle name had to be able to compete with Ewan's (Xavier (for superhero Professor X) Braveheart (from scottish movie)).

Maternity Photo Shoot

Last weekend I had my maternity photo shoot, along with some family pictures, with Elizabeth Fulton Photography. Elizabeth had done our family pictures at our home this past summer and she did wonderful work and was wonderful to work with - especially with a non-cooperative 2 year old. I had really wanted family pictures of just the 3 of us before I began to show that I was pregnant - and the pictures that we have are beautiful. Afterwards, I had decided that I would also like some maternity photos since I really did not have any but a handful from when I was pregnant with Ewan. And last weekends session gave us better pictures than I could have even hoped for. Here is a sample of some of the pictures -

Thank you Elizabeth we are so happy with the memories we have of this special time in our lives. And you have also sparked a love of photography in Ewan who has had us posing and saying 'picture' all week long (and no longer with the plastic camera, but with my point and shoot camera!)

Taking my leave now

This morning is the first morning that I am off while the rest of the regular Before School and Nursery School programming is up and running (I did have a few days off over the winter break - but I usually take some time off during camp times, so it doesn't really count). It has defintely been wonderful taking my time with Ewan getting ready, eating our breakfast sitting together nice and slow, and letting Ewan stay in his pj's while he plays with his trains. And I am sitting in the kitchen, sipping my decaf coffee and browsing the internet. I also cannot help looking at the clock and wondering every so often how snack time is going at this moment, or are the kids getting their snowsuits on for the bus? I know everyone will not only survive without me, but probably thrive given the freedom to use their own creativity (I think I can sometimes be a little controlling!) I guess it will take a little time gettting used to - or the arrival of baby to keep me busy - which I am now 37 weeks, so can be anytime!

After initially planning on running the play classes right through January, I am finally giving in / giving up? and taking a few weeks off early. Partially due to it now becoming difficult to be on my feet moving for 3 hours straight and also painful to even walk with this baby sitting so low as well as sheer exhaustion and wanting to spend just a little more time with Ewan - just him and I before the craziness sets in. So I have made my decision to finish the play classes this week (tomorrow and Saturday) and then to hand the classes over to Megan and Chrissy - who I am confident will do a wonderful job and be a lot more capable of moving around and being active than I am at this point.

So it is with sadness and excitement that I am saying my goodbyes to everyone currently in the programs for the winter. I very much look forward to coming in and visiting as well as being
back in the Spring time!

But don't worry I will keep on blogging, updating facebook (on both A Gym Tale news and baby news) as well as myself or Alan responding to emails.

The preparations have begun..

The holiday break has been wonderful. I have been into A Gym Tale a few times, but I have also had so much time to relax and spend with Ewan, it really has been great. We had several pyjama days, play dates with friends, a trip to the children's museum (which was a fantastic morning out) and then wrapped it all up this weekend with organizing and cleaning the house - and finally putting the Christmas decorations away!

I have taken today to go on an organizing and laundry spree of all things related to baby #2. I have now more or less put everything through the laundry that can be put through. I have also actually finished all of the folding and put everything away in drawers, including all items of clothing, bedding, my slings and wraps and all face cloths, blankets, diapers etc. Change table is ready and car seat is out - still needs to be installed, but I think I am actually all prepared.

It is funny some days I can barely get off the couch and other days I can be on my feet all day and get so much accomplished. So baby #2, you are considered full term this week and we are ready for your arrival any time!