August, An Anniversary & Alternate Plans

August 2020

Like nearly everyone, we changed our plans for our summer vacation. Despite not doing what we had originally thought, (Climbing in Colorado for Chris, Dollywood and Tennessee adventures for Melissa and the boys), we were able to have a great time!

We started off the month celebrating British Columbia Day. Most holidays are similar to the ones we celebrated in the states except for a few such as BC Day, Victoria Day, Remembrance Day and of course Canada Day.

We joined some friends for a day at the pool and BBQing. A positive side of COVID-19 means that there is less capacity at pools to allow for social distancing. This was Nash's first time in the water and he enjoyed himself quite a bit. As did Nolan. Zero entry pools are a major plus for littles!

I started a daily preschool program with Nolan at home. "Playing Preschool" is a great resource to create some structure and add some fun back into our days. This month we learned about colours, nursery rhymes and clothing. Next month we'll be learning about apples and food. We will definitely plan a trip to an apple orchard. 

Taking full advantage of Chris being off for the month we went on several more adventures. 

We spent a morning at Kidtropolis. Kidtropolis is an indoor pretend city that is kid-sized. It's part children museum, part playground. We had a blast!

On August 11th, we celebrated 10 years since our first date! We always celebrate this milestone every year and probably because our wedding anniversary is a few weeks after Christmas, we tend to celebrate this anniversary more. 

To celebrate a decade of being together, we headed up to Whistler for a family vacation. Although as moms know, "family vacation" is an oxymoron. There is no vacation with two kids under two. For any parent really. 

It was nice not having to deal with the stress of flying on an airplane and just having a two hour drive to handle instead. We also discovered being used to flying made us very efficient packers.  

The trip was definitely not all roses and rainbows, I felt overwhelmed at first. The kids didn't sleep well the first night in a new place and I remember telling Chris, "Why are we doing this? I can just be tired at home."

Thankfully we all slept better the last few nights and made some great memories. 

We loved our little AirBnB, ate lots of yummy ice cream from COWs, enjoyed seeing Nolan loving the playground and just being together. A change of scenery was exactly what I needed.

A funny story on our last day, Chris was picking up toys to pack and saw a creature under the couch. It was a plastic lizard from a previous guest. It certainly gave us a laugh and I was really glad it was only plastic!

Some big news from our little guy....he started solid food this month! 

Family Update First Half 2020

Nash Preston Wilson arrived in his own time on March 6th. Despite being a week late, he arrived in a prompt one hour and 52 minutes. We were so thankful for the healthy and safe arrival of our little boy.

Fun fact: Both of my boys were born at night and on Fridays. And as Chris reminds me, the Lakers were playing both nights too.

We had a great week and a half of getting settled in to being a family of four when the world turned upside down. Amazon ran out of our favourite brand of diapers, we were running low of paper towels, all the online grocery pickup times were full. 

I thought I had everything planned for welcoming a second baby into the world. 

Not so fast, said COVID-19. 

As if dealing with a global pandemic, a toddler and a newborn was not hard enough, Nolan broke his foot and was in a cast for two weeks in April. We were terrified to take him to the ER but all four of us went and we couldn’t have had a better experience at Burnaby General. How did he break it? 

Going down a slide without shoes on. Literally the one time I didn't make him put shoes on, he came down the slide, landed wrong, and boom. Fractured foot. Funny thing is we bought the slide for Nolan to make quarantine easier. But I'm happy to report after the slide accident we went back down soon after (holding onto mama of course.) 

But I’ve seen enough of Burnaby General this year and hope to not go back.

Having a toddler in a cast and a five week old was crazy town. For the first few days, Nolan couldn’t walk on his cast and I carried him in my Tula on my back. One morning he fell asleep back there and Nash fell asleep in my arms. 

I felt like Wonder Woman. A very exhausted Wonder Woman that this.

In happier news, we celebrated birthdays in quarantine. All four of our birthdays are within one month of each other. March 6, March 9, April 8 and April 11th. Nolan's and Nash's birthdays are just three days apart. I see lots of birthday fun ahead for them getting to celebrate together. 

Lots of birthdays means a lot of cake. I was a little bummed to not get my typical ice cream cake from Dairy Queen since they were closed but I really enjoyed a special “Mini Egg” cake from a local place called “Rocky Point Ice Cream.”

So did Nolan. 

Weekly (some times more) trips to the Starbucks drive thru became our excitement for the week. 

It helped having something to look forward to and a reason to get out of the house.

You may have seen these viral videos online but a cool trend started in Vancouver with the 7pm Cheers for Healthcare workers.

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/touching-photos-show-vancouver-hospital-workers-pausing-to-acknowledge-cheers-1.4884245

 Every night at 7pm, we could hear clapping and a cow bell. In the midst of so much anxiety and fear, the noise brought out a smile.

Chris rescued me and crossed the border for my double stroller. We live 30 minutes from the US border. Once a month, pre-COVID, I would cross the border into Washington state for Target, Trader Joe’s and to pick up any packages. Some companies don’t ship to Canada. And some things are cheaper.

Being citizens of both countries we were unsure of what “essential” travel meant. I knew getting out to stroll the boys was essential to my postpartum mental health and thankfully my great husband agreed and went to get it. After re-entering Canada, he had to  quarantine for 14 days. The police came to make sure he was home. Canada takes this seriously.

Earlier this month, playgrounds reopened and we’ve enjoyed getting out with the boys.

Chris is taking some time off after finishing Thunderforce starring Melissa McCarthy, Octavia Spencer & Jason Bateman. He has been working from home since April. 

We’re excited to spend some time together as a family.