Writing life

I've been working on my master of fine arts degree for the past two years now, and I've recently discovered how much I enjoy writing for children. During my undergrad, poetry was my main subject area, and although I adore writing poetry, I've always wanted to write fiction too. Now it seems that I've found a genre that I'm good at writing in and that I also really enjoy.

In September I started a writing for children class with writer Maggie Devries. Not only is she an excellent instructor, but she gives such great feedback on our writing. I started out the year writing my first two picture books for children, and recently started writing a children's novel. On Wednesday I have my next submission due, so I've begun a new series of what I intend to be picture books, but I've based them all around the same imaginary family, the Littlebees. The main character's name is Edmund, and he has three older brothers and three younger sisters.

Here is an excerpt from my first story, entitled "Hiccup", about a boy named Jack, whose new baby sister can't stop hiccuping. His parents have tried everything to get rid of her hiccups, so it's up to big brother Jack to save the day.

HICCUP!

Jack's baby sister was born with the hiccups.
It was the first sound she made when the doctor placed her in her mum's arms.
Jack's mum wasn't surprised. The baby had been hiccupping in her tummy for days.

"What's that noise?" asked Jack, when he walked into the hospital room.
"Looks like she's got the hiccups," said the doctor.
"Hiccup," said the baby.
"Those are big hiccups for a little girl," said the nurse.
"HICCUP," said the baby, a little louder this time.
Jack wasn't sure he wanted a sister who hiccupped all the time.

So far, I've been having a lot of fun coming up with ideas for stories that children would enjoy. I have a dream that one day I can dedicate myself to writing full time. Mike agrees that once my student loan is paid off and I have finished my MFA, that I could take a year off work and stay at home with Audrey and write full time. It sounds wonderful, but for now I'm enjoying the few hours that I get to spend online with other writers each week.

Books of 2011

I used to do this on my old blog. It's an idea I got from Leah, at My joy-filled Life

These are the books I read last year...at least the ones I can remember. They are arranged from least favourite, to most favourite. Many are book club books, some are books I read for the Creative Writing class I'm taking right now. To be honest, I think I'm probably missing some books from this list, as most of these are books I read this summer when I was really pregnant and all I did was lie on the patio swing and read, while simultaneously throwing the ball for the dogs. Last winter seems like such a long time ago now that I can't remember reading anything, although I'm sure I probably did. Anyways, clearly these were the most memorable! I would recommend the top 7 for sure, but I actually enjoyed reading all of these books. I put Mockingjay near the bottom only because I felt a bit let down since I enjoyed the first two books in the series so much more.

14.The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
13.The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, A. Bradley (book club)
12. Mockingjay, S. Collins
11. One Day, D. Nicholls (book club)
10. Secret Daughter, S. Gowda (book club)
9. Midwives, Chris Bojhalian (bc)
8. House Rules, J. Piccoult (bc)
7. My Name is Memory, A. Brashares (bc)
6. Love that Dog, S. Creech
5. Catching Fire, S. Collins
4. Room, E. Donoghue (bc)
3. Water for Elephants, S. Gruen (bc)
2.The Hunger Games, S.Collins
1. The Help, K. Stockett (bc)

Wow, 9 book club books...we seem to have read a lot as a group last year!
My first book of 2012 will be: Cutting Stone, by Abraham Verghese.

Dominican December

Another month gone by! Ack....only 2 left until I'm back at work again. I wish it were longer, but I'm determined to enjoy the final two months of my leave as much as possible. Now that Audrey is a bit older, and I'm better at our routine, it's much easier to leave the house and explore Dawson Creek together. The spring like weather we've been having has helped that too! Yesterday I took her downtown in my Ergo carrier and didn't even need a coat. In January.




December was an exciting month for us. We took Audrey on her first long drive (to Edmonton), her first trip across Canada by airplane (to Toronto) and to her first foreign country (the Dominican Republic).

We left on the 16th and arrived late on the 17th. My family converged on the Toronto airport, everyone excitedly fighting over who got to hold Audrey first. She slept through the entire thing. Then we began our 7 night adventure in Punta Cana. There were 19 of us there in total to attend my sister's wedding. The first few days were relaxing, although we had one rainy day where we missed heading out to the beach. Thankfully, a group of my relatives and Mike headed out on dune buggies for an excursion, while my sister, her maid of honour and I got pedicures! Even when it is pouring rain, being in a tropical country is still fantastic. I sat on the balcony and breastfed Audrey while watching the palm trees sway. I ate as much as I wanted without ever doing dishes or cooking. A wonderful lady cleaned my entire room and organized my things every day while I gorged myself on the breakfast buffet. It really was fabulous. And I got to swim every day! In December!

Swimming is by far my favourite summer activity, so getting to enjoy outdoor swimming in the dead of winter was amazing. The Dreams Resort where we stayed has the largest pool in the DR, which was great. It was nice and cool,too, whereas some pools are too warm.

The best part of the trip (besides the actual wedding of course), was getting to introduce Audrey to my family. She loved spending time with her Aunties. She was also an excellent traveler. She slept on the plane, in the car and at the airport. She rarely cried and was happy to play with everyone at the wedding.

On the 21st, we celebrated my sister's wedding. It was a beautiful day, and we had fun getting ready together in her honeymoon suite. The photographer took amazing photos, and the wedding gazebo was gorgeous. The weather held out and we took outdoor photos in the tropical garden and at the beach. We finished off the night with dinner on an outdoor terrace, games, a toast and dancing. My sister and Billy looked beautiful and I was so happy for them to finally have their special day. Mike did the toast to the bride and groom and their MC came all the way from Ireland! A grand time was had by all.

For the last 3 days, we hung out as a family by the pool as the beach was super windy, reading our books, swimming, tanning and playing volleyball in the pool. The weather was perfect, sunny and blue sky and I didn't want to leave when Christmas Eve finally came around.

Now we're home and Audrey is officially 4 months old! In the past month she has had many firsts, including learning to roll over from back to front. She had lots of practice in our King sized bed in the Dominican! She slept in her crib last night and made it through the night--a full ten hours. Mommy really enjoyed that.

She's growing up so fast, it breaks my heart. I'm always looking forward to the next milestone, but at the same time each new step she takes makes me miss the Audrey I knew a week ago, a month ago. She's developing her own little personality full of giggles and sweet smiles. Happy four month Birthday Audrey!

Audrey's 3 month birthday!

Three months ago today I was taking a much needed shower and trying to figure out how to stand normally without the giant baby belly getting in the way. I can remember soaking in the hot shower while my Doula, Chvonne, passed me the things I needed and helped me to dry off and get dressed. It felt so weird to look down and see all the extra skin and no baby in it. I felt like I might fall over. Changing your center of gravity so suddenly is a strange feeling indeed. I also remember feeling such relief that I could go to bed and hold my new baby. At the same time I was terrified. I really needed to pee. All you ladies out there who have had babies know what I mean.

Now my little girl is no longer a newborn. She's got a brand new personality all her own. I must say, I'm enjoying having someone who enjoys my singing. Today we listened to Michael Bublé Christmas while driving around town. It was delightful. Audrey must have enjoyed it because she fell asleep. I think she's going to love Christmas. We decorated our tree on Saturday night and when we were done I laid her in her bassinet and she just looked up at the lights in awe. We do have a beautiful tree.

And, although we will be headed to Punta Cana for the week before Christmas, I'm still hoping to make it back to Dawson on Christmas day in time to have a white Christmas. Although I just about had a heart attack when I got in the Rav this evening and discovered it was a balmy ten degrees out! It was warmer than the island! It's December 5th and I went out without a jacket. I never thought that would happen up here. I do kind of miss the snow though. Although I hate it by January 2nd, it's enjoyable leading up to Christmas. Hopefully we get some more soon.


Here is our fabulous tree!

Guinness World Record

In June my leadership class and I attempted to beat a Guinness World Record. It was something we planned as an end of the year event and we spent a lot of time researching the best record to try and beat. We ended up choosing the "world's largest game of hide and seek". The record had previously been set in Japan, with 189 players.

On the big day we set up at the local Pioneer Village and started out with over 270 players. Due to a sudden downpour and bad weather we had a few people leave, but finished at the end of one hour with 253 players.

It was a lot of work to plan out and even more work collecting all of the evidence. I had local news reporters write articles and take photos, which I then sent in to Guinness, along with letters written by independent witnesses. Then I waited several months to hear back from them.

A few days ago, they wrote back! I received an email congratulating me on achieving the record for the World's Largest Game of Hide and Seek. I have to say, it's kind of a cool feeling being able to say that you are a Guinness World Record Holder. But I couldn't have done it without the 252 players who joined me in the pouring rain on June 17th. Nor could I have accomplished it without all the people who volunteered to be witnesses and to help out with the event. We also were able to make a donation to the Salvation Army food bank as we charged 1$ for each person who came to play. I hope that we might be able to make it a leadership class tradition and perhaps try to beat our own record again next year!

Audrey is 2 months old

Another month gone by! Wow, that was fast. I can't believe in just 4 months I will be back at work again. When Audrey was 4 weeks old I thought she was so big and grown-up and I wanted the little one week old back. Now that she is a full 9 weeks old I wish I could go back to 4 weeks. It makes me realize how important it is to enjoy every sleep-deprived, exhausting day. When she wakes up at 3am to eat, I am so tired but then I remind myself that this won't last long and soon I will be missing her cute little milk-drunk smile once she falls back to sleep.

A few weeks ago she learned how to smile and most recently has discovered her hand. She likes to hold it in front of her and coo and stare at it. My favourite thing is when she first wakes up. She gets super smiley as soon as I peek over the side of her bassinette.

Our most recent adventure was a trip to Grande Prairie to apply for her first Passport. We are heading to the Dominican for one week before Christmas for my sister's wedding. We will be staying at the Dreams Punta Cana and I'm super excited. I've got a big pile of summer dresses for Audrey and I can't wait to go swimming with her in the pool in her itsy bitsy teeny weenie yellow polka dot bikini (thanks to Auntie Meg).







Here are a few recent photos of our little sweetheart.

Parisian Brunch Photos

Been meaning to add these photos for a while now. These are the lovely ladies who threw the party and the gorgeous decorations. Isn't the table centerpiece amazing? Anyone know how to rotate them so they aren't sideways?