So what career are you changing to??

As some of you know, I'm fulfilling a lifelong dream and finally taking a cake decorating course. Yes, I know, it's not a major, life-altering accomplishment, but it's something I've always wanted to try. It's fun and I get to lick icing off my fingers during class. How great is that?

Tonight, the woman who sits across the table from me during our cake decorating class each week asked me what I do. When she asked this, my heart skipped a beat. I had been dreading this moment for some time -- the first time a stranger asked me what I do for a living.

I had always wondered how I would react when someone asked me this. Would I beam, "I'm a stay-at-home mom and I love it!!" (which is the truth) or would I act nervous and embarrassed because I still worry how my new "job" looks to other working women?

Tonight I got my answer and I'm ashamed to say it was the latter. I stammered back to her, "What do I do? As in work?? Oh, I'm a stay-at-home mom." But then I felt the need to qualify my statement with "I just left my job a few months ago to make a career change," as if she would think better of me because, until recently, I was like her...I had a REAL job.

She then replied, "oh, so what career are you changing to?" She actually asked me this twice, because she didn't seem to understand that my new career WAS being a stay-at-home mom.

The entire exchange left me annoyed -- annoyed with myself that I'm still so worried about how other people perceive me and my decision to stay home with my child. Since when do I care about other people's view of me? All that matters is my daughter and how this is the best decision I could make for her and our family, right now.

I know I'm going to face this same situation again many times in the future. And it's still going to be tough for me to answer, at least the first few times. But I'm determined to give a better answer. I'll just muster up my confidence, stick close to my values, and try again to proudly announce, "I'm a stay-at-home mom!"

I think I'll also add, "And I like decorating cakes!!"

A fairytale morning in Storybook Gardens

When I was a little girl, no summer was complete without a family trip to Storybook Gardens, a "theme park" here in London. Storybook isn't an amusement park by any means, it's a theme park - the theme of which is fairy tales and children's stories. It's changed a lot since I was little. The Hickory Dickory Dock clock is gone, as is the Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee cutouts (if you don't know what I'm talking about, sorry, but just trust me, they're gone). The park also seems a LOT smaller. But I guess it's me who has grown.

Anyway, I digress. Now that I live here in London, I get to visit Storybook Gardens as often as I want!! And even better, I get to take my own little girl. We had our first visit to Storybook Gardens this past Sunday. It was a beautiful day for what I'm sure is just the first of many trips to the park.

Kaylin loved chasing the ducks and peacocks around. (She's like a dog, that way.) She also liked the giant frogs. As for me, I just loved seeing my baby girl enjoy the same sights and scenes I too enjoyed as a child.

Chez Kaylin, now with 50% less garbage!

If you've been to our house and looked out into what will one day be our backyard, you would have noticed an inordinate amount of debris and garbage. It appears that the men who built our house (I'm sorry, but no woman would litter like this) decided to toss whatever was left in their hands at the end of their last shift into our yards. Things like nails, caulking guns, coffee cups, chunks of brick and large 30-foot pieces of tubing. Needless to say, our "yard" wasn't a place I let Kaylin venture into.

But excitement of excitements, the debris was cleaned up (or buried under, I'm still not sure) and our topsoil was delivered to our lot this week! It may not sound exciting to you, but we no longer feel like we live in the town dump. And it also means that our sod is just around the corner. Woohoo.

It also meant that Kaylin made some new friends this week. She got a big kick out of watching the backhoe and other dirt-pushing-machine-thingy push dirt onto our lot. (I, however, did not enjoy having a backhoe unexpectedly appear in my living room window, so close that I could see the colour of the driver's eyes, as I sat in my pajamas one morning!) She especially liked it when the men driving the machines spotted her watching them, and waved and honked their horns at her. We call them her "dirt friends." She even parked her chair in front of the door at one point, so she could oversee the whole operation...and of course wave at her dirt friends.

In other thrilling construction-zone-hell news, the builder has moved their "command centre" from directly across the street from us to the end of the street. That means the view from my front door no longer includes a portapotty. Yayy.

Something for Deb and Jen

Here's a little something for our old friends Deb and Jen from My School (sorry Jen, if you see this - your "message" got cut off a bit!).

New look for I Heart Baby Toes

So what do you think? Oh, you didn't even notice? Well I chose a new template for this site. I tried several very different looks before going with one that was basically the same layout as the old version, but with new colours and a little font variation. Blogger has limited choice when it comes to design, and I have limited design skills, to boot. The result? You're looking at it!

Down at the pond

Just a few pics of Kay-Kay picking flowers and chasing geese down at our pond.

You'll notice she's only wearing a sweater in some shots - that's how warm it was that day. Now the ground is covered in snow! Easter snow - it's just not right!!

Congratulations Auntie Sharon!!

Kaylin is proud to announce that her Auntie Sharon (aka "Sha", as Kaylin calls her) has been awarded second prize by the Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada!! Auntie Sharon won second place in the Reference category for her stunning design of Piano, Piano, Pieno, a cookbook she designed on the job at Harper Collins.

Congratulations Auntie Sharon! We know that project was particularly stressful at times, but look what came out of it! We're so proud of you!!