Woo! I'm back! Two entries in one day? What the heck is going on? Answer: my little babe is actually napping and has been for almost two hours. This is a little more than a small victory. I've been able to shower, eat, get down with my hubby, and enjoy some tea all undisturbed. I'm at the point where I'm open to her waking up anytime now. I know that when she does she's going to be very unhappy and need boob immediately.

So one thing I wanted to write about in my last post was that I found us some wood for the stove yesterday. I took a walk into town, got to say hi to a couple of horses on the way, and was just about to the coffee shop where I was going to enjoy a bevvy while nursing H. I glanced over to the gas station where we've been told multiple times to check out for firewood and lo and behold there was a truck full of wood. I scrapped the coffee idea and went over to check it out. Now, we've been looking for wood since the beginning of November. We've made multiple phone calls in which only ONE was returned and even posted a wanted ad on the Salt Spring Exchange website (a craigslist for exclusively for Salt Spring). Nothing. I had resigned to the idea that we wouldn't get to use the wood stove this winter that it was going to be electric heat from here on out. I was bummed about it. I'd look at the cold, dark stove in the corner longingly and imagine a fire burning. I even looked up through the skylight and pined for smoking coming out of the chimney.

Anyway, I decided it would be a better conversation with N if I had the information first. I talked to the guy and found out the truck was over a cord and they were asking $400 for it. It was Arbutus, which is a premium grade wood as it burns slower than other types. It's also a bitch to cut because the grain isn't straight, but I suppose with a chainsaw you can cut anything. There was a Jeep with less an a cord that they were asking $100 for as well, but when I talked to N he decided we should just take the truck's worth of wood. He knew it was kind of too much, but we were at the point where we didn't really care. Wood was wood and we had found some!

So now we have at least a cord of premium, seasoned, and dry firewood. I am in wood stove heaven AND I can crack the windows and let in some fresh air now too. N didn't want me leaving windows open with the electric heat because he saw it as wasting money when we could just turn the heat off or down. This is true, but I like to get some air flow going and be warm. Fortunately, burning a fire lets me have the best of both worlds.

I like cleaning. It's therapeutic and I can revel in the cleanliness of a space afterwards. Sadly it doesn't last long here. Pine needles and dirt are constantly being tracked in from the outside, mostly by N. This is a "problem" I'm not used to dealing with this since not only being in the city, but also living in an apartment keeps your floors a heck of a lot cleaner longer. That being said, despite my desperately missing the city, I like the fact that we're living in a spot where such things can be tracked into the house at all.

Let me just get one thing straight about how I feel about moving here. I have a love/hate relationship with this island. What I love about it is: the outdoors, the fresh air, my own laundry (and, therefore, being able to use my own cloth diapers for H), the rain on the roof, the fire place, the deer coming through our yard, having a car, looking at greenery not buildings. What I hate about it here is: the quieter lifestyle, feeling bored, feeling like a don't belong knowing this is temporary (and feels like a waste of time), not having friends here, having limited resources, no Starbucks (I know that one sounds really lame, but if I had a Starbucks that I could hang out at a few times a week I'd probably feel a little closer to home), no malls so I could just get out and be around people when I get cabin fever.

So yeah, it's the little things that make me like it here. I don't think it's the winter gloominess that will get me this winter. I think it will be the lack of social interaction. Honestly I'm liking the weather here. I like the rain on our roof (as I mentioned) and I like taking a walk and seeing the clouds hanging low in the trees. It creates a mood and I think it looks cool. The city in gloom just looks depressing.

Woo...mellow day today. I was going to take H to the pool, but I got her down for a proper nap. Naps trump anything, especially when said napper is stubborn and refuses to nap more often than not. I even managed to get her in the crib.

Right now I have a hankering for mulled wine. Being away from all the Christmas hustle and bustle is making me crave it. My friends went to the Vancouver Christmas Market today and I so wish I could have gone with them. I would have brought Hannah and everything...another reason to feel sad about living here. I'd check out the local Christmas fairs here, but the idea of going by myself with just Hannah depresses me. N wouldn't go because he's such a Scrooge.

I'm really starting to miss our friends and I feel like I can't even talk to N about it because he would just tell me to go out and make new ones. It's not the same. I'm not even sure why, but I have no desire to get out and meet people here. Maybe it's because I'm more desperate to move away than I'm willing to admit. I'm trying so hard to stay positive and enjoy my time here, but I'm getting lonely and yet I have zero interest in trying to make any friends in order to change that. Hmm...no I don't think the winter weather is going to kick my ass like I thought, I think it's the lack friends and wholesome adult interaction that's going to get me.

I've been considering putting my reservations aside and going to the mom and baby group. Actually, there's a couple, but it's just a matter of getting up early enough and going. This is going to sound REALLY dumb, but if only my hair was long then I wouldn't have shower every morning to make it look nice. I could shower the night before, throw it up in a pony tail or bun and just run out the door. This showering in the morning only business has become inconvenient. It slows me down SO much now that my time is preoccupied with the little one.

Now that I think about it these programs might be over for the year since Christmas is fast approaching.

Feeling better now that H is down for the night and N stopped working and took her for me for a bit.

It's almost 11 and I probably won't be going to sleep until after midnight. I just always manage to find things to take up my time, but it's actually the best time to get some things done like tidying up so that I don't have to wake up to it. I could try to shift H's sleep schedule to earlier, but honestly I like getting up around 8 rather than 6. It's still dark at 6 and it doesn't feel right to be starting my day when it's still dark I know every other person who works a normal day is getting up around that time, but I have the fortuitous privilege of a sleeping baby I'm going to take advantage of it. Frankly, I like our routine and I'm not keen on breaking it unless H decides to do so whether it be from maturing or something else. I kept hearing about the fourth month sleep regression and that didn't shake her sleep schedule at all. I had one night where I was up around 4, but that's mostly because she got out of her swaddle and woke herself up. She is starting to teethe, but it doesn't seem to affect her sleep (knock on wood). I am so lucky and I'm grateful to get regular sleep