I finally got to see my BFF McKenzie at gymnastics this week after missing her for four weeks while she was at Disney and we had our gymnastics break!
He said
As will happen when I have a glorious four-day weekend off with my ladies last week to celebrate our wedding anniversary—after I spent Monday off at home with Danielle—on Tuesday was the start of a six-day stretch at work that ended today having worked straight through the weekend. I had an upset girl up with me this morning as I was getting ready for work who was ripping at my heartstrings, upset that she didn’t get to spend the day with me. And I couldn’t say I disagreed. All I could tell her as I left was I didn’t like it either but that I had to work and then remind her about her about our weekend together last week.
Wednesday after work, we had to head over to Greg & Testza’s to pick up Danielle’s house key as Greg was Gord-sitting while we were away, and I finally got my chance to hold baby Zoe! Up until this point, when I took Emelia to meet her for the first time, she wouldn’t let go of Zoe, and then, the next night Danielle & Emelia went to meet Zoe as I wasn’t quite home from work when they left. Even then Danielle’s time was minimized so that Emelia could get even more Zoe time. This week before and while we were heading over we had to have plenty of prefatory conversations with Emelia to let her know she got to go last so that Daddy could have his first time. And I did get it, for sure! She is so tiny, so beautiful and we’re so delighted to have this new member to our heard. And suffice it to say, Emelia is over the moon about her.
Friday I had requested the early shift so that I would be done in time for a special evening for Danielle and I. Poppa was set to pickup Emelia from her gymnastics (which has now moved to Monday’s & Fridays) and as soon as I got home, Danielle and I were headed over to our friend Tim’s house as he was hosting a house concert for our mutual friend and musician, Jim Bryson. We had just seen Jim and his family last weekend at Sandbanks Music Festival but excited to see him again in our home town and in our friend Tim’s beautiful, new (to him) century-old home. I was out of work, home, had dinner and Danielle & I were over to Tim’s in under an hour, ready for a great night.
And what a night it was! There was potluck nibblers, wine and friends and fans of music alike there to take in the night of wonderful music and more importantly banter. This was our first time seeing Tim’s house since he moved in this summer and it is a beautiful home with tons of space and in a great neighbourhood very close to ours, closer to downtown. And even though we had just seen Jim and his family last week, it was really great to see him again so soon. And for a touring musician plying his trade on the road, I am sure just as delightful for him to be among friends.
One of the things I absolutely adore about Jim’s shows has always been his banter. I have often said that I would pay money just to hear him talk for an hour. As much as I love the songs he makes, he is just hilarious and never disappoints. This night was one of those nights for the ages I think, as I would bet money that his playing time and talking time were the same if not slanted to the banter side. But, he had the room in stitches and Danielle & I in tears laughing on a couple of occasions. The show went almost to midnight, and as much as we wanted to stay later, with me having to work the next morning at 8:00am, we had to be Cinderella and flee the ball. But, what a great night to stick in the middle of the work week.
The bummer about that show was it was the same night as Uncle Matthew (my brother’s) band The Dirty Sharps, playing as part of the The London Beatles Festival. We had committed to Jim’s show long before this one was a reality, and it didn’t even dawn on me the night conflict until this week when I looked at the calendar. The good news was despite missing them, as I was leaving work on Saturday, I quickly checked my Facebook and it turned out they were playing another show as part of the festival – this one was downtown, outside and all ages. As soon as I got home, after quickly grabbing another whirlwind dinner, all three of us were downtown to see Uncle Matthew’s band! We had a good time and they sounded really great despite our obvious bias. I am really excited to see them play some more shows and to get the songs they’ve been working on recording out there.
So, it despite being a very busy week work-wise and having an upset girl who still hasn’t gotten a lot of Daddy-time, we did manage to do some fun things — and they were mostly live music related with friends and family no less. But, it’s time to put my pencil down and give Emelia some time with me, since I have been missing my time with her too!
She said
The week as John said was quite a busy one but for Emelia’s activies it was quiet in comparison to our upcoming weeks. Emelia has really come out of her shell and has become a girl who loves to be involved in sports, arts, and learn as much as she can. This year with a fair bit of planning I was able to get her into a fair bit of actitives really filling up our evenings. She is so excited and it really keeps us active with the winter just a few months away.
This week was her return to gymnastics training. This is was her first week officially on the competitive team for her gym and they are already in competition mode learning all the routines for the competitions in the spring. She is so excited and is just loving being back with her gymnastics team and is even more excited that there was changes done since the summer and a few of her friends have been moved around and two of her close friends from last years team are now part of her training team. The girls are thrilled. This week was also the return for her back to swim classes, and once again she didn’t miss a beat and is back like a fish swimming laps and flying through the levels there as well.
Along with gymnastics and swim Emelia is also doing her training for the school cross country team. She is really loving being back on the team this year and is determined to beat her times of last year. She and I have even done some running in the hopes of getting her some training together with getting her mommy back into running shape again. Her first meets are coming up this week
Speaking of running, this week I finally got back into routine myself with the gym. It had been far too long since I made it there and one of the big advantages of Emelia’s activity schedules is that it gives me time to get some exercise in for me, even just a week back in the routine I feel so much better. I love being back in the weight room and hope that I can get back to my old strength levels quickly.
Next week we start up more activities but these ones are with two of her closest friends Anna and Grace and they are all super excited. Both are on Tuesday and through spectrum and happen to be at the girls school so super convenient. Tuesday she will have a very busy day with her first cross country race in the day and at night volleyball followed by her new art class. I love what all these activiies have given Emelia, it has given her real confidence but also kept her super active. We could not be happier for her.
By the end of the week we were certainly ready for some adult time just John and I. After John was done work we quickly made our way over to our friend Tim’s place and had an amazing time visiting with other music loving people and hearing our good friend Jim Bryson play. He is an incredible musician and hilarious story teller so we love seeing him play. It was a great night. And it was really nice to finally see Tim’s wonderful new house. We will be looking forward to seeing more house concerts there!
The next day John had to go to work and once I got some work done around the house I went over to get Emelia so I could bring her to her swim class. After swim she had been graciously invited by her Uncle Greg to go with he and Vaughan to Comicon held at the Wester Fair here in London. She had a great time. She even dressed up in her Hermione costume for Halloween and met other Harry Potter fans there!
The whole weekend was great, we got to spend time seeing music we loved, she and I got to spend lots of time together. We missed having John with us as always but I do cherish these one on one days with her because she is growing up so fast and there will be a day soon that she won’t want to spend her days with me. So until then I will soak in every moment I can.