The Long Road

by Holly on January 26, 2012

If there’s one thing I’ve always been passionate about, it’s horses. Although the specific career changed frequently (from jockey to Olympic show jumper to coach to horse trainer to touring North America with the Lipizzan stallions …) – I knew I wanted to spend my life with horses.

When I graduated from high school, I applied to the Equine Science program at Kemptville College (University of Guelph) in Ontario – and got accepted. I was ecstatic! I would get spend every day learning about horses and have the opportunity to ride with some of the best coaches in the country!

Unfortunately … it didn’t work out. Horse schools are expensive – and student loans only go so far. My parents didn’t have the money to make up the difference – so when I was offered a full scholarship at a university near my hometown – I accepted it, figuring I could still ride on the weekends, and I could save my money and apply to Kemptville again in the future.

I’ts been a long road.

Since that time – I’ve been accepted to the Equine Science Degree program at Lake Erie College (which I couldn’t attend for financial reasons, even though I had a pretty significant scholarship!), and the Equine Science program at Olds College (which was why I originally moved to Alberta, but which I dropped out of after three weeks – which is a story in itself!).

I’ve always known I would study horses – it’s just that the timing was never quite right.

Then Nathan and I got married.

If there’s one person in the world who has always wholeheartedly supported my horsey dreams – it’s Nathan. He’s the one who decided to move Ariel here from New Brunswick (even though he really had no idea what he was getting himself into!), he’s the one who encouraged me to find a good barn (even though he had no idea how expensive that would be!), and he’s the one who found my coach, Kim (who eventually became his coach, too! He had no idea he’d become a rider!). He knew I wanted to pursue the Equine Science idea – and he encouraged me to look into online classes. I started my first one in 2009. Nathan helped me with my homework, watched equine birthing videos with me, helped with my quizzes, entertained Topher so I could work on my papers … I couldn’t have done it without him! I finished my last this past December, right before Christmas.

This lovely piece of paper arrived in the mail yesterday:

And it means a whole lot more to me than my Economics degree.

At this point – I’m not sure what the future holds. My plan is to get back into riding in the not-too-distant future – with a new horse (that I’m still searching for!) – and to finish up my rider levels so I can start working towards my coaching certification. The certification process will likely take years, with the amount of time I’m able to devote to it as a working mom (most coaching applicants are working students who spend 12+ hours a day at the barn) – but that’s okay. I’ve always been one to take the scenic route :)

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Date Night

by Holly on January 24, 2012

When Nathan and I first got married, we tried to go out at least once a month, just the two of us. It didn’t matter what we were doing – sometimes we went out for a nice dinner, sometimes we went to a movie, and sometimes we even went glow in the dark mini golfing! Even though we lived in the same house and saw each other every single day, it was nice to step away from all the distractions and have some quality time to just focus on each other.

Since we’ve become parents – our version of “Date Night” looks a little bit different. We do still try to get out, just the two of us, every couple of months or so – but it’s a lot harder now than it was before. Topher doesn’t like being babysat and will only go to bed if Mommy and/or Daddy are home to perform his nightly ritual of reading at least 6 stories and singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider and Soft Kitty multiple times before praying for him and tucking him in. We’ve tried leaving him with Nathan’s parents but if he wakes up and discovers that Nathan and I aren’t there it takes several hours to calm him down and at least two weeks before he’ll sleep through the night without waking up every hour or two to check and see if we’re still home.

Instead of going out, we stay in. Tuesday night is Date Night in our house – we camp out in front of the TV with snacks and watch the Biggest Loser :D Sometimes we even splurge and have Big Macs with bacon while we watch. Mmmm …

If you have a significant other – what do you do for date night?

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Lately …

by Holly on January 19, 2012

  • It’s been so cold in my city this past week (average temperatures around -30, in the mid -40s to -50s with windchill!) that I’ve switched into hibernation mode. As soon as I get home from work I pull on sweat pants and a hoodie and I count down the minutes until Topher is tucked into bed and I can curl up on the couch with a warm blanket and a good book. (Current read: Secret Daughter). The past few nights I’ve been able to convince him to curl up with me – I think half of the books from the shelf in his room now live on our coffee table!
  • I’ve been stressing myself out with to-do lists. I get home from work in the evenings and have so much I want to get done – but once supper is over, the dishes are done, and Topher’s had his bath – I’m done. I keep telling myself I’m exhausted because I’m getting over yet another cold – but lately I’ve started to wonder whether the problem is that I put such high expectations on myself that I can’t possibly live up to them. I’m slowly learning to live with a less than perfect house (that’s a much nicer way to say “messy”, don’t you think?), less than gourmet meals (I think everything I’ve cooked in the past three weeks has been a one-dish meal, like pasta or a casserole or a stir fry!), and less than productive evenings every now and then.
  • I’ve been avoiding the computer at home. It’s a piece of garbage that doesn’t work – the fan overheats and the stupid thing shuts down after approximately ten minutes of use. Dell computers are crap but I haven’t been successful in convincing Nathan to switch to a Mac (yet!). I can’t comment on half of the blogs in my reader without the computer freezing and having to re-start multiple times – and a lot of sites are blocked on my computer at work. All that to say – I’m still reading!
  • I’ve been grateful for the fact that Topher has finally accepted the fact that Mommy works – and that there are usually no tears when I leave in the morning. While he’s eating breakfast he usually asks “Mommy – work?” and when I say yes – he offers his cheek and says “Kiss?” I’ve still been dreading going to work in the mornings, though, because it’s so busy. The clinical consultants are working weekends and overtime during the week but our department doesn’t have the money to hire additional staff (we’re actually supposed to lose two people to layoffs) so we can’t keep up. The doctors and CCs we work with are used to getting their work right away so having to wait (within 2 or 3 hours, although we’re only required to have jobs turned around within 22 hours) is making them all grumpy – which stresses us out and makes us grumpy. Ugh.
  • I’ve been working on a writing project I designed for myself. I’m not sure whether or not I’ll share it here yet, but it’s been a lot of fun to plan – and sitting down to write has always been therapeutic for me. I’ve missed writing – it’s definitely something I need to carve out the time for more often!


    • What have you been up to lately?

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    Quoted

    by Holly on January 13, 2012

    Now that Topher’s starting to string words together to make sentences, I decided it’s about time I start documenting some of the sillier things he says!

    Some of his more memorable phrases of late:

    While playing in the tub one night, he made the following discovery:
    “Tubby – fart – bubbles!”

    One morning I was complaining about my cramps.
    Me (Moaning…): “Mommy has death cramps, Topher …”
    Topher (smiling): “Sorry Mommy.” And then, after a long pause … “Topher have cramps too!” (And he announced that fact over and over and over to anyone who would listen …)

    When my sister was visiting in December, I told Topher there was a baby in her tummy (she’s due January 19th!) Since then, he’s been randomly coming up to me and patting my tummy, saying “Baby coming? Baby coming?” – in the most awkward moments. Like when I’m trying to talk to someone at church.

    I can’t get over how much he actually understands, and how he’s putting things together so well. Nathan tripped while carrying Topher yesterday and Topher’s response? “Careful, Daddy!” He’s even making up his own little songs: He has the words to “Soft Kitty” (as heard on Big Bang Theory!) memorized, but lately he’s been changing things up a little bit. He’ll start rubbing his head and then sing, “Soft Tophey – warm Tophey – little ball of fur … Happy Tophey – Sleepy Tophey – Purr, purr, YAWN!” And then he giggles :)

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    Just A Thought …

    by Holly on January 11, 2012

    Last week I made a list in my journal of “Good Things That Happened in 2011” and the first item on that list? Having a closer relationship with my mom.

    Looking back, I think it all started in 2010, when I was on maternity leave and decided to replace my cell phone with a land line, since I was home all day and really had no need for the cell. With the land line came a better long distance plan – which meant I could call my mom every single day if I wanted to.

    Funny, how much a little bit of time – sometimes as little as five or ten minutes a day – can impact a relationship.

    At first I called with questions about parenting – “What does this cry mean?” I’d ask, holding the phone out over Topher’s crib. Or “He hasn’t pooped in two days – what do I give him?” Eventually it turned into part of our daily routine – something I think we both look forward to. Now the conversation usually starts with Topher (if he’s around, he’s usually trying to pry the phone out of my hand to “Talk Grammy!”) but then turns to deeper topics – Marriage. Faith. Family.

    Which got me thinking … how much would taking a little bit of time – sometimes as little as five or ten minutes a day – impact my relationship with God?

    Confession: I haven’t been very good at spending time with God for … well, quite awhile now. At first I blamed it on being a new mom – quiet time? With a new baby? Puh-lease!!! But those first few weeks turned into months …

    Back in December, Megan sent out a tweet, asking her if anybody wanted to join her in reading the Bible through in a year. I immediately replied with a yes! I’ve done reading plans with friends in the past (it helps me stay accountable!) but regular Bible reading fell by the wayside after Topher was born. It’s sad, how something that used to be so basic – and such a necessity – in my life turned into something I consciously had to carve out time for. Something I had to add to my daily to-do list, or I’d completely forget about!

    Signing up for the reading plan has been great in helping me get back in the groove, and my reading time – like my daily phone chat with my mom – has now become one of the parts of the day I look forward to the most. :D

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    January Intentions

    by Holly on January 9, 2012

    Last year I had the brilliant idea of setting monthly goals for myself instead of year-long resolutions. I figured I would be setting myself up for success with only two or three goals each month that I could reevaluate and change (or drop!) as I saw fit. I did really well with that method – until September, at least. That’s when I completely forgot about the whole idea – partly due to the busy-ness of life in general, and partly due to laziness on my part. I’ve decided to try monthly goals again this year:

    January Intention: Focus on my health.

    Goal #1: Start taking prenatal vitamins. NO, I’m not pregnant – but Nathan and I have been talking about the possibility of adding to our family, and I want to be prepared whenever that happens. Prenatal vitamins make me feel sick so I stopped taking them as soon as I stopped breastfeeding. I’m not looking forward to taking them again, but my doctor gave me a tip: Take one right before bed, in a scoop of ice cream. I’ll be taking vitamins – and eating something that has a tendency to help me gain weight :D

    Goal #2: Be intentional about exercising. Nathan and I are both starting the 30 Day Shred this month – we probably won’t do it every day, but 3 times/week would be nice. I also plan to run 3 times/week to prepare for the 5k I’m running in March.

    Goal #3: Purge the house of junk food. We ate SO MUCH over Christmas – I went to a cookie exchange a few weeks before the holidays started and brought home 6 dozen cookies, then I made another 2 dozen cookies and 2 batches of fudge. Topher developed quite the sweet tooth, between his Advent Calendar, two birthday cakes, the cookies and fudge, and the jelly beans and chocolate bars people gave him for Christmas. If he sees us eating something, he wants some too – and I figure the easiest way to keep the junk food from him is to keep it away from us, and that means OUT OF THE HOUSE. This month I want to find recipes for healthier versions of some of the things we eat on a regular basis – like cookies and granola bars. We also eat a lot of meals that are quick – and cheap – but not exactly healthy. I think I need to purge our recipe binder of those so I don’t even have the option of making them anymore!

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