Is it just me who likes to cover up a bit?

So last Saturday night, I had the unfortunate task of having to find myself a new bathing suit for my trip to Florida.
Now, I'm not a svelte, love-my-figure-and-want-to-show-it-off kind of gal. In fact, since giving birth, I've never been less so. With the exception of a brief stint with thinness during my undergrad (a time when I was going to the gym 4-5 times per week and had a stomach so sculpted that I came THIS close to piercing my belly button...), I've never worn two piece bathing suits. I'm just more comfortable in one-piece suits and I look better in them too. So, as I went out searching for the perfect pool outfit, I knew I was looking for a suit with....errr....ample coverage. If there were a religious Muslim bathing suit store, I would've started the search there. Alas, there wasn't, so I started out looking at Bikini Village. Not surprisingly, the majority of their swimsuits are two piece suits, as per the name of the store. You can't really blame them, can you? They pretty much tell you that much in their name.

Still hopeful, I continued on to the mall's sports store (can't recall the exact name, but you know the kind). Again, not surprisingly, they didn't have exactly what I was looking for. The majority of bathing suits, again, were two piece suits, and the rest were really athletic looking. Nothing 'pretty'...just a lot of racer-back Speedos. Nothing wrong with that, just not what I'm interested in right now. Next year, when I enter the Ironman triathlon, I'll definitely go back to that store to get my suit.

Anyway, I continued onto the large Department store at the mall - The Bay. They had a pretty nice selection of suits - Everything from bikinis to tankinis, one-pieces to swimsuit dresses. Suits with thong bottoms, short bottoms, regular panty-style bottoms, and even ones with little skirts. Ahhh....finally, a little selection. They had plenty of one-piece suits and plenty of 'pretty' styles that definitely fit the bill of what I was looking for.

Immediately, I eliminated about 2/3 of the suits, just by looking at the colours and patterns. You see, I like my bathing suits to say "I'm here at the pool. I'd rather be fully clothed, but that's not an option right now. I've dressed in the most conservative, flattering and modest suit I could find. So if you could please avert your eyes for the rest of my visit, that would be much appreciated". Instead, many of the suits said things like "Woo Hoo!!! I'm in a bathing suit! Check me out!!! Look at my bosom and my tight little bottom! I got implants last summer and I'm loving every minute of them!! Glad to be here".

The remaining suits (there were about 8) were black, black and white stripes, black with ruffles, black with a tummy tucker, black with a cover-your-butt skirt, and black with little white diamonds and metal sequins. Perfect!

I tried them all on and decided that there was only one - a Simon Chang suit - that looked OK on me. Then I saw the price. Ugh...SO expensive. A hundred bucks for a bathing suit?! I must've picked the most expensive one! As I rummaged through the pile of rejected suits on the floor, I realized that $100 was a mid-range price! Feeling that I had no other option, I just took it to the cash, swallowed my pain and purchased the suit.

As much as I dislike the process of buying a bathing suit, I always feel a little better (and a little more excited about my trip) once the task is complete.

Anyway, so it was done. I had a bathing suit. I should've been ready to leave the mall. But, of course, I didn't. Even though my bathing suit was, of course, non-returnable, I decided to continue searching the mall to see what I missed. Yes, I'm a bit of a masochist like that. I know.

Anyway, I walked through and the say Additionelle, the plus-sized women's store that sells clothes from sizes 14 to, like, 34...and sometimes as small as 12, I've heard. Now, I wear a size 14, so I thought "hmmm...maybe I could've found something nice and modest at Additionelle. I've never really bought anything from the store, but maybe this would've been a good place to check for the swimsuit". I walked in and immediately saw the bright bathing suits at the back of the store.

And here's the surprising part. Additionelle - a store that caters to large women, a store that caters to women with weight problems, carries 20 bathing suits. Seventeen of them are bikinis/tankinis. What - Is - Wrong - With - This - Picture?!?!

I'm not saying that heavy women should be limited to one type of full coverage bathing suit. Hey, if a heavy woman wants to wear a bikini to the beach, more power to her. Go right ahead. No judgements. But c'mon! Am I wrong to think that many of the patrons of this store might want a suit with a little more coverage? a little more modesty? a little more....fabric?!?!
If you can't get a one-piece bathing suit from Additionnelle, where the heck can you get one?!

Glad that's done!

This morning I finally worked up the courage to call my manager/boss and tell him that I'd like to take an additional 6 weeks of leave after my intended return to work date. He took it well!

I feel a great deal of relief now that I know that I can be home with the Munchkin until our nanny has arrived from Hong Kong and is properly trained to take good care of her.

I'm sure this will add to the enjoyment of the remainder of my maternity leave.

Almost 9 months old

A few photos because I'm too lazy to write anything at the moment...

Nighttime sledding!

Tonight we took the Munchkin sledding for the very first time and she loved it! Adam bought her a cute little baby sled. After her bath and dinner, we bundled her all up, smacked some vaseline on her wind-burned cheeks, and put her baklava/balaklava (can't remember which...) on her head to keep her head and ears warm, and took her out into this snowy winter night.

We walked through knee-deep snow to get to the park and then we pushed her on the baby swings! What a nice little outing for our family! I'll post some pictures when I get them off Adam's phone.

We introduce Mia to a new life experience almost every day (be it grated apples this morning, sledding this evening, or just the sight of snow last week!), and I'm always amazed that she seems entirely unfazed by the experiences. She doesn't even know enough to be surprised that, for instance, the world is blanketed in freezing white powder that wasn't there the previous day! Her mind is completely blank, open, pure and available for learning. What a great responsibility!

I feel so isolated

I knew this would happen. The last 8 months, I've always thought to myself "Having a small baby who naps two to three times a day (in her crib), is pretty isolating, because I have to be at home so often. I can't even imagine how isolated I'll feel in the dead of winter...".

Here we are, only three days into the snowy weather, and I'm already tearing my hair out. I had one crying episode today (it was only momentarily, but still...). I've started trying to organize myself so that I make it through this season emotionally intact, so hopefully I'll have some success gearing all my friends up for daily (or even twice daily) playgroups and, on decent weather days, outings. I hate days when I can't get out of the house. They make my skin crawl. I get very upset and I do irrational things, like willingly go out driving in blizzards, just to escape for a while.

Part of organizing myself to not be bored and indoors all day requires me to open my house, as often as possible, to friends so that they can come over and play with their kids. I LOVE having people over. I even love it when people drop in unannounced. It shows that they feel comfortable enough with our friendship to do so. It's great. But the only thing is that I'm starting to feel a little self-conscious about the state of my home on such visits. It's kind of a mess around here. I mean, it's not the end of the world messy, but I've noticed that many of my friends have these really modern-style homes with minimalist decor, clean lines and clear surfaces. My husband and I subscribe a more "proudly display all of your worldly possessions" kind of philosophy. We have bookshelves stuffed with books, mantles covered in photos and frames, coffee tables covered with newspapers and coffee table books, side tables with statues and plants, and toy boxes FULL of toys. I'm not saying our house is a pig sty, but make no mistake...you can tell people live here! You won't wonder if a home magazine shoot is about to take place!

And another thing is that some of my friends have bemoaned the absolutely "crazy messy" state of their homes before inviting me in, only for me to later realize that their "crazy mess" looks better than my home does right after my cleaning lady leaves. Sigh...

I think I'll have to try and do better. I'll let you know if I succeed!

I'm reading a "good book"

Last night, after a wonderful Shabbat dinner, my husband and I put the baby to bed and then sat on our couch in the living room and talked. I love nights like that. We just talk and talk and talk about life, religion, jobs, the baby, our family, our joys, our problems, money, the future, our dreams, our dreads...and everything in between. It's fabulous. It's the reason I got married.

Anyway our conversation veered, as it often does, toward the fact that I am a relatively religious person who has almost no religious education background. I go through the motions (religious ritual, rules, laws) often without knowledge of the history behind them. And I'm not comfortable or content with that, but I know how much work it's going to take to change that. Sometimes it's paralyzing just to think about educating myself on this matter. But it should be, because I genuinely enjoy learning about the Jewish religion and Jewish history.

I can't remember what exactly was said in that part of our conversation, but there was a point at which I realized that I didn't know the details of the story of Joseph (the one with the coat). I knew some of the basics, but even those were foggy. At one point, I found myself humming some tunes from the Broadway play "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat" in an effort to try and 'remember' some of the other details. Oy. What an embarrassment!

I decided right then and there that I needed to learn more. I need to know more. I WANT to know more. I've been recently inspired by some of the things I've read on the blogs of some Christian SAHMs. The way that religious Christians know the Bible, the way they read it, the way they memorize portions and apply it to their everyday lives is really quite something. And yet here I am, leading a religious life...and I've never read the Bible! It's something I need to fix.

So last night, after our chat, I started reading the Bible. And I'm loving it. I'm loving it a lot. And I'm learning a lot too!
Did you know that the term "to babble" (as in, to speak without purpose or direction) is from the Bible? Yeah, that's right. It's from the story of the Tower of Babel, in which the people decided to build a tower that would reach the heavens. What hubris!
God punished the people by dispersing them in the lands and giving them different languages so that they wouldn't be able to understand one another. Hence the term "to babble" (taken from "Babel"), which means to speak in such a way as to not make oneself understood.

So this is one of my new missions...to read the Bible. Cover to cover. It might take me a while because I'm reading it with the commentaries, which are longer than the actual text. But I'll read it. And it'll probably show up from time to time on my blog.
Hope y'all don't mind!

Mmm Mmm Good

I'm making a nicer dinner tonight that I have made in a while. Got a little inspired to cook some nice dishes (I adore cooking. I just haven't had the desire, time...or functional kitchen in a long time to pull something half decent together).

So here's the menu for our Shabbat (Sabbath) dinner:

*Hummus and Challah Bread
*Wheat berry salad with toasted almonds, peppers and dried cranberries
*Gefilte fish
*Coleslaw

*Chicken & vegetable soup

*Roasted Chicken with white wine sauce
*Sauteed rappini with garlic
*Potato latkes (baked, not fried, in honor of Chanukah) - three varieties: Vegetable, sweet potato and zuchinni.

I can't wait! I'm already starved.

The system worked!

Today I ventured downtown with the Munchkin (by the way...I'm "The Munch", and "The Munchkin" is the baby, just so as not to confuse you). I had to go and renew my license and my health card. I worried that, having to go to a government office, I might be stuck there all day. But shock of shockers...I was in and out in no time! I managed to get both documents renewed and be out the door...in twenty-five minutes!!

Isn't that unheard of? The system really worked! The workers were quick, efficient and relatively friendly too, except the health card guy, who was very unfriendly.

We paid hubby a visit at his nearby office after we were finished. He loved showing off the Munchkin to everyone at the firm. And she was especially cute today because she recently discovered shyness. Now, when someone smiles at her, she smiles and immediately buries her face in our shoulder. Very adorable.

They liked it!

I'm back from 'teaching' the three classes on Chanukah to a local elementary school class, and it went really well!
Not only did I manage to tell the story of Chanukah (in French) to a bunch of students who barely speak French (and they seemed to understand!), but I also managed to get myself re-interested in improving my French skills again. Being immersed in French for just half a day made me realize that my ability to speak French fluently (although extremely rusty right now) is a real gift that I need to nurture a bit, or else lose it forever. It's been about a year (since leaving my job on mat leave) since I've spoken French and now I'm just itching to improve.

I've decided to organize my own French conversation group in my home once a week. I'm trying to get a few people to join. Hopefully it won't take too long to arrange and I'll be able to get some practice before returning to work.

Anyway, I digress. The class: The kids were sweet and interested in what I had to say. And the craft I did with them (building popsicle stick menorahs) was a real hit. All grades taught (2, 3, 4 & 5) were interested in the activity and most of them finished with pretty good results! One of the cutest moments was when one of the boys came and asked me whether I'd be willing to write down my chanukah cupcake recipe for him. Embarassed, I whispered that it was a Betty Crocker cake mix and Duncan Hines icing. "Good", he said, "so will you write down the recipe for me?". Too cute. I had to explain to him that his mom could just buy the cake mix from the store, but he didn't seem to understand.

The highlight of the day for me was when my friend (the teacher) pointed out one very quiet boy and told me that he was a new immigrant from Israel. She said that he barely spoke any English, let alone French! I approached him and asked (in my totally limited and pathetic Hebrew) "Do you speak Hebrew?". You should have seen the look on his face. It was priceless. He was so shocked and happy that someone spoke Hebrew! It looked like a weight had instantaneously been lifted off his shoulders. Poor boy. The next thing I said to him in my very broken Hebrew was "I'm sorry, I don't speak my Hebrew. But my name is Elana. What's yours?". "David", he said.

Welcome to Canada, David.

My Hero

It's nice to feel loved. And it's nice to feel like part of a 'traditional' marriage.
This morning, as I got dressed for my Chanukah presentations at the elementary schools, my husband rolled out of bed and checked to make sure that the cars and driveway were all "Munchie-ready" for me. He heard that we were getting more snow overnight and wanted to make sure I wouldn't have any problems getting one of our cars out. What a nice guy!

Then, at 6:40am, well before he had to actually get out of bed to begin his daily duties (he's working from home this morning to care for Mia while I do my presentations), he threw on some clothes and ran outside to shovel the driveway because the snow plows had created a small mountain of snow at the end of it.

It's so nice that I get to sit here and blog while my husband weathers the storm outside. I just need to remember this feeling next time he's on the couch watching Star Trek and I'm tending to a sink full of dishes.

Tomorrow I teach

Tomorrow morning I've been invited to teach three classes at a local public school. I'm doing basic lessons and crafts related to the Jewish holiday called Chanukah. 

Of course, I'm not a teacher (I'm a communications advisor to Canada's Department of National Defence), but I've spent my life surrounded by teachers and have done enough of it on the side to know a thing or two about how fun it can be.

I'm looking forward to the lessons we'll be doing. Of course, the one problem that keeps coming to mind as I dream about this little break from my everyday mommying duties, is the fact that I only get about 35 minutes with each class. How much can I impart in 35 minutes? How much can I impart in 35 minutes to 7 year olds? How much can I impart in 35 minutes to 7 year olds in their second language (French)? Oy. I hope I can leave them with at least the basics. 

I baked them some mini Chanukah cupcakes, because I figure that everyone's heart is won through cupcakes. And I even sprinkled them with blue and white candy star of Davids. Between that and the popsicle stick menorahs we'll be building, I figure they should all be about ready to take on their own pulpit positions after our class.

As much as I'm sure I'll enjoy the few hours I'll spend at the local elementary school, this is what will be waiting for me when I come home.

Now that's what I call a sweet treat!

A new beginning

I recently became interested in parenting blogs and realized that, while I always considered my day to day 'mommying' job to be mundane and unworthy of 'blogumentation', the everyday joys, struggles and lessons that I go through with my munchkin Mia, are interesting because they-make-up-my-life.

There is comfort in reading that others are experiencing the same trials, tribulations and day-to-day hilarity as you, and as I've taken such comfort from reading about the lives of others, so to do I wish to hopefully help someone else through my blog - a lofty goal, I admit.

And, more than anything, I hope that by documenting our daily activities, laughter, troubles and photos, I might also become more attuned to how great my life is, how normal we are, and well we're all doing. And I like to show off pictures of my kid. That too.

I've become quite interested in parenting issues, such as discipline, childhood nutrition and health, education and general family life. I hope to not only share my own personal experiences with you, but to open up the comments to hear about your own experiences. And I hope to link to interesting parenting articles that I find online.

And lastly, you'll likely (hopefully) read a lot about gratitude, because I'm focussing on being more aware of the blessings in my life. It's not that I'm not grateful or aware of the blessings....I am...always...I just want to write them down in the hopes that documenting them will make them more real to me.

So that's all for now, dear friends. Thanks for reading. God Bless.