Toronto Summer 2014

I applied for Gus' passport shortly after he was born so we could get to Canada as soon as possible for a visit. His first flight was an international one, so he is to be commended on that. He did so well on the plane- I was so relieved. This trip was the first plane ride in an epic summer of travel and I have to say, he was an excellent sport with all the jet-lag and long hours. Well done Gus Gus! We went to visit my mom and Lindsay and Maddie (and Gertie) and of course were thrilled to see lots of good friends while we were at it. I felt so nostalgic for the days that I lived in Leslieville! Wish I had pictures of everyone we saw while were there but these will have to do:)

Below is Gus on his first flight!

Below is Gus with his aunt Pooch and cousin Mads...

Below Miss Madds is drawing a picture of her uncle Calvin as a clown. See how he's juggling?

Meeting my beautiful friend and former colleague Cindy at Lee Anne's place! Why don't I have a picture of him with Lee Anne??

Gus and Grandma with her broken leg

Gus with the lovely Briony followed by Gus with the lovely Sarah

View of my sister being a mom! (putting little shoes on little feet)

Photos of marms' place

Just some of the delicious food we ate. Homemade fresh pita bread with roasted veggies and falafel. Too good!

And of course, it was so wonderful to catch up with dear Lindsay B!

Not pictured: wonderful Beaches ward friends, Ariane and Ellery!, the Danforth and much more. Was so nice to be home in Toronto for a while. Thanks for treating me and Gus so well.

New born Gus Gus photo-shoot at the hospital

We decided to allow the photographer at the hospital do a shoot with us and Gus on his second day of life because I adore the photo my former supervisor has of her little guy that was snapped in the hospital. Here are the photos we got! Blanket was made by Gus' aunt Rachel. It was awesome to have Rachel, Micah and baby Rosy visit us the day Gus was born and my mom arrived the next day!

What I'm listening to

Do you listen to music on purpose? Like play it at home- not just when the radio is on in the grocery store? I've always benefitted from listening to music that people around me have collected and curated but have never been great at curating my own collection. Tonight Calvin took a bunch of records to a used record store and brought me home a surprise album with the store credit he accrued! He said it's to listen to when I feel blue because it's one of my all time favourite albums! My sister Lindsay introduced it to me when we lived in Toronto and I always feel warm and fuzzy inside when I hear it now. I owe most of my musical taste to my sisters Lindsay and Nita, my aunt Vicki and my Dad. But our mum gets credit for enriching our lives with Christine Lavin and the album, "Momnipotent!" 

Thanks Calvin! I love it!

Baby's book shelf

We received so many thoughtful gifts while I was pregnant with Gus. One of them was the book, "The read-aloud handbook" by Jim Trelease. Our friend who is a librarian brought it to one of my baby showers and Calvin and I have both read it and loved it. It has so many ideas on how to help your kids to love reading, book suggestions for different ages and explains why reading is so important developmentally. 

Calvin and I are readers and can both credit our parents for turning us on to books. My Dad is a talented story teller (and a top notch Toast Master!) and a big reader. My mum has worked in publishing for 25 plus years and was always bringing home boxes full of books and comics and magazines that my sisters and I and our friends would devour! Our house was lined with book shelves and we took trips to the library often. I didn't always read high brow books ("Chort" anyone? Or that series about a teenage girl country band where the first line was "Whoa baby and yowza!") but I developed a love of reading early on. And according to Trelease, that is what's important! 

Growing up Calvin would occasionally get to break his 8 pm bedtime and stay up as late as he wanted, all night even, as long as he was reading. Isn't his mom so smart?? 

We hope Gus will grow up to love reading as much as we do. 

Salad for breakfast

Do you ever eat salad for breakfast? Can't remember where I got the idea but I think it was from A.J. Jacob's book about becoming the healthiest human alive:). I recently saw a post about breakfast salads on my favourite magazine blog (a cup of Jo) so you can imagine how righteous I felt when I remembered these photos were already on my phone:

All it is is a 6 minute egg served on a bed of arugula dressed in lime infused olive oil. To make a six minute egg, boil a pot of water, use a slotted spoon to dip the cold egg in several times before gently letting it sit at the bottom of the pot and then boil it for 6 minutes. I truly believe that six minutes creates the perfect runny yolk. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Bon appetit! 

Happy Birthday to my boys!

On August 20 we celebrated Calvin's 360 month birthday and Gus' 5 month birthday! Calvin wanted to just have a low key family dinner so I cooked his favourite meal, tortilla soup and baked a homemade German chocolate cake. 

It was Calvin's first week back in dental school after our long summer break so he was able to surprise us and come home early. I had walked to the grocery store with Gus when Calvin met up with us. Gus already acts so happy to see his Dad and loves being with both of us. Pretty cute.

Chocolate cake recipe I used is SO yummy. You can find it at http://cherilitchfield.blogspot.com/2011/07/dark-chocolate-cake.html I used her frosting recipe but added a bunch of unsweetened coconut flakes and pecans.