Me, E, and Baby Makes Three

18(.5) week bumpdate

2012-01-30T13:03:00.001-05:00

Here we are, just past the 18 mark, and I thought it was about time to do another little bumpdate. This pregnancy is flying by. Faster than I ever thought possible. I can’t even believe that we are nearing the halfway mark.

Overall, I’m feeling generally good. I still wake up feeling nauseous and throw up every morning, and, tiring as it may be, I know it could be worse. Trust me. I know. Because it was worse. Much worse, with baby number 1. Occasionally, like yesterday, I have a day that surprises me, where I feel like I’ve been plopped right back into the first trimester and feel the sickies all day. Mostly though, I feel fine by the time I’ve been up and hour or two.

They aren’t kidding when they say everything happens faster the second time around. Specifically, the aches and pains. My tailbone and hips are making me feel like I should be the grandmother, not the mother. And some days I feel like I can hardly bend over. Yowch. Baby needs to go easy on me.

I’ve been sleeping fairly well. I don’t usually have to wake up to go pee, although if I do wake up for any reason, I usually find I’m more comfortable after a trip to the potty.

Speaking of wiggles, I’m feeling quite a bit of movement. Usually I feel him/her at least once during the day, sometimes more. It’s still the fishy squirmy feeling, and not distinct kicks but I know it’s coming.

I have(had?) been craving chicken and eggplant parm like whoa. I ordered eggplant parm a few weeks ago, made chicken parm twice last week (plus ate it twice as leftovers – for a total of 4 meals) and then ordered it again on Saturday night. But, unfortunately, yesterday was one of those first trimester’ish days and I spent a majority of the late evening bent over the toilet. In other words, no more eggplant parm. Ever.

Other than that I haven’t had many aversions or cravings, although I have been eating my fair share of fresh popped popcorn. With real butter, because I can.

And to move on to the exciting stuff – maybe #2 has some fabulous news to share! S/he is going to be a BIG COUSIN x 2. Both my sister and my sister-in-law are expecting in August, which means the Nana is going to be busy. All three of her babies are having babies within 6 weeks of each other. We’ll be doubling the number of grandkids and couldn’t be more excited. Babies are the best.

We are gearing up and excited for the big anatomy scan on Thursday. I cannot wait to see this little one wiggling around in there. I had an ultrasound at 7 weeks, but s/he was just a little bean then. I so look forward to seeing those tiny fingers and toes and I’ll be back at the end of the week with an update on how that goes.

And they strike again…

2012-01-26T13:31:00.001-05:00

I’ve blogged about our chickens a time or two. You may remember when we first got them, when Ev built the coop, when I had to chase one around the barn and take it back to safety, and when my husband was away and I almost froze to death rescuing them from the cold. If you follow me on twitter, you may remember days when afternoon nap was spent looking at this…

Yup. That chicken stayed there for three hours. Knocking on the door. Begging to come in.

You may remember that that very same night, the husband so graciously brought said chicken into the bathroom, where I was enjoying a relaxing bubble bath, and threatened to deposit the crazy thing in the tub with me.

Yes. He did that. And yes, I still cook his meals and do his laundry. Lucky man, right? (Little does he know, I may or may not have bare butt farted on his pillow later that night…)

Well, despite my ~~hatred~~ dislike for these feathery creatures, I do think it’s rather cute how much Evalyn enjoys them.

Every time we go outside or pull into the driveway, she’s immediately asking for the “cheechins’. Her love is so deep, that she said “cheechin” before she ever said Mama.

Many times in the morning during breakfast she asks about the “cheechins”. “Cheechins bed? Cheechins seep?”

Yes, honey, the chickens are in bed. The chickens are sleeping.

She has no fear around the chickens. None. She has no hesitation to wander into the coop. I’m sure she’d try to pick them up if they let her.

And the other day, Tuesday, in fact, this lack of fear around the chickens became an issue when she came face to face with this guy.

The rooster. The mean, grouchy rooster.

I had a friend over with her two littles, who wanted to see the chickens before they left. So, of course, Evalyn was happy to show them off. The other two kids stuck close to Mama, but my girl? No way. She was off. Chasing them. Pointing to them. Trying to pet them. I was standing just off to the side and Evan was filling up their food and water dishes.

I guess I wasn’t paying as much attention as I should have been, because normally, I’d notice if she was getting close to the rooster. In fact, normally he’s no where around when we’re out there.

But, suddenly, I saw her standing face to face with the him. And then? She reached out and tried to touch him. Next thing I knew, he was standing on her head.

Yes, friends, that’s right.

The rooster was standing on my daughter’s head.

(It’s okay, you are allowed to laugh if this strikes you as funny. I laughed, too. Until I realized that Eva wasn’t entirely pumped about the situation.)

It knocked her onto her bum and girlfriend was ticked.

He didn’t seem to hurt her and of course, Evan had some “words” with the rooster (read: I don’t think he will be going near my baby again) but I think the shock of it scared her. And even more so, I think he hurt her feelings. She reacted the same way she did when she was about 9 months old and one of the chickens pecked her finger.

“HEY! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE MY BEST FRIEND. WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO ME? HOW COULD YOU?”

She calmed down quickly and then, in the end, was more upset that we had to say night night to the chickens and put them in their house. Even when she was crying it would go like this, “Wahh. Hiiiiiii. Wahh. Cheeeeeeee. Wahh. Chinnnnnn. Wahh".

Thankfully, the experience hasn’t scarred her. She’s just as in love with the chickens as she was before. But man oh man. This is my life. I never thought I’d see the day where I would say my kid got attacked by a rooster.

My mom said I’ll need to start a weekly feature called “Trauma Tuesdays” since last Tuesday she fell out of her crib and this Tuesday she had a run in with a chicken. What will next Tuesday bring?

Yi ie ie.

The adventures are just beginning.

Messy Mom Monday

2012-01-23T13:46:00.001-05:00

Today I’m linking up with Brittany and Jess for Messy Mom Monday. They had the genius idea of doing a link up where we can all show off just what our houses really look like on a Monday morning. Because here’s the truth. Kids are messy. They make houses messy. And as moms, sometimes we forget that every other mom is in the same boat.

So here’s we go. I’m coming clean. Or, um, messy.

First up, we’ve got the blankets that are constantly strewn from the blanket box in an effort to make a bed for the babies. If you look closely, you may see one baby sleeping on the blankets. If I had of timed the picture better, you may have even been able to see a busy toddler having a rest in the blanket box, itself. Next, the kitchen counter. Oh, the counter. At any given time there are clean dishes waiting to be put away, piles of recyclables waiting to get carried to the garage and possibly dirty dishes waiting to be washed. Our dishwasher is broken right now, so the dirty dishes appear more regularly than often. And then, the “toy room”. Which should be more accurately described as the “toy corner”, which is located in the dining room. You might look at the photo and think it doesn’t look so bad but let me assure you, this is CLEAN. I took this photo at 8:30 a.m., before she had time to totally destroy everything. By 8:35 a.m.? Totally different story. And yes, Daddy’s lunch box is in the toy corner. Why? Who knows.

Moving on, we’ve got the Christmas decorations. Uh huh. That’s right. I put all of my Christmas stuff away on December 30th. Except, apparently, these two angels and a sleigh full of potpourri on the back of the toilet. And I didn’t even notice until earlier this week. And yes, they’re still out.

And now. The dresser. Oh my goodness. The dresser. My dresser always used to be clean. And tidy. Without random books, bags, paperwork, lonely socks, pants that need to be hemmed, birthday cards and other random junk haphazardly tossed there, only to be forgotten and ignored for months. But, those days disappeared. Long ago. Right about the time when the spare room/office was transformed into a nursery, to be exact. Because now? There is just no where else to stash this stuff. No where. So there it sits. Forever.

And finally, the piece du resistance: the pantry and fridge top. I have been ‘meaning’ to clean out and organize the pantry for weeks. You know. Good intentions. The good thing about using an iPhone to-do list app is how easy it is to send something on today’s to-do list to tomorrow’s to-do list. The bad thing about using an iPhone to-do list app is how easy it is to send something on today’s to-do list to tomorrow’s to-do list. The worst thing about using an iPhoe to-do list app is how easy it is to delete it all together, sit down on the couch and watch Friday Night Lights. So, basically, what I’m saying is, the next time this pantry gets cleaned out and organized will probably be when I’m packing up to move. As Brittany so kindly pointed out, that’s why pantry’s have doors!

There, there. I know you’re all surprised. You thought I was perfect and my house was immaculate. I’m sorry to burst your bubble. Now go on, link up with your own dirty little secrets!

She knows the good stuff

2012-01-20T13:26:00.001-05:00

Since we’ve transitioned to one afternoon nap a day, I’ve been trying my best to find things to do in the morning to keep us busy. If not? Mornings can be difficult. Until we figure out this new routine, getting from wake-up until after lunch without a nap can be tough for both of us. Since it’s winter and the weather is less than stellar, finding things to keep us busy can also be tough. Thankfully, three mornings a week are taken care of. Mondays we have library, Tuesday and Wednesday she goes to day care. That leaves Thursday and Friday. So, yesterday, in an attempt to keep us busy and distracted for a few hours, we headed to the mall for some quick shopping.

It was sidewalk days and we found some great deals. Hello, new boots for Mama! It was getting close to lunch time when we finished our shopping so I decided to indulge myself in my most sinfully delicious pregnancy craving – New York Fries Poutine and a fountain Pepsi.

(um, who am I kidding? I get this every time I’m at the mall, pregnant or not)

I got mine to go, since you know, despite the disgusting stuff I will put in my body, I still like to feed my toddler relatively healthy. By the time we got home, Eva had started falling asleep in the car seat so I wanted to get her lunch and put her down as soon as possible.

I rushed into the house, covered in blustery snow, dropped my food and ~~liquid gold~~ Pepsi on the table, got our coats and boots off and headed to the kitchen to fix some lunch for the little.

A few seconds later, I heard a little commotion. I turned around and didn’t my little lady have that fountain pop right in her hands, slurping Pepsi from the straw like it was her job?

I was kind of stunned.

I mean, I forget that she’s tall enough to reach things off the table if they’re too close to the edge. I was also pretty amazed that she managed to get the cup into her hands without spilling it on the floor. Which is a darn good thing. Because as my dear girl Crystal said, it would be a shame if I had to teach her how to slurp the good stuff up off the floor at such a young age.

Because you better believe I would have. Ain’t gonna let a single drip of Pepsi go to waste.

I admit, for a second, I had an internal debate going on in my head between snatching the cup out of her hands as quickly as possible and snatching my camera for a quick snapshot. I ended up going with the first option. Mostly because I didn’t want to share my Pepsi. If you know me at all, you know that I have an affinity for Pepsi. Okay, fine. I am a hopeless addict. It’s my lifeline. It’s my best friend.

And, apparently, I passed that on to my daughter.

Because when I snatched the cup away from her and told her that it was Mommy’s cup and she couldn’t have it?

She laughed. Hysterically.

And she said, “MMM! CUP! MO! PEAS!”

And then laughed some more.

At least she knows how to distinguish the good stuff.

The Great Fall of 2012

2012-01-18T13:04:00.001-05:00

Last night was quite the night around here. Quite the night, indeed. My mom was visiting and when I asked Evalyn if she wanted to read the bible before bed, she said “Nana Bi-bo”. So, Nana came in, read the bible, said the prayers, sang the songs and put her in bed. This normally wouldn’t be an issue but it seems that she’s going through a little bit of a separation anxiety, Mama-only stage. I’m sure if I had been out of the house, she would have been fine. But, she knew I was right there and when she realized saying, “Nana bi-bo” meant Mommy wouldn’t be putting her to bed, she wasn’t impressed.

I could tell as soon as my mom came out of the room that Evalyn was not pumped. The cry wasn’t the normal fussing herself to sleep cry. I went in right away because I knew she wouldn’t calm down and also, I was worried about her falling out of the crib since I have found her attempting to climb out a few times over the past week. She was standing up, but wasn’t trying to climb out this time. I scooped her up, rocked, sang, and laid her back down. As usual. She said “night night” and kissed me just like normal, and snuggled with her lovey, so I thought she’d be fine. I walked out, shut the door, and a second later heard a big cry. Then a thump. Then another big cry.

I ran in and found her on her hands and knees on the floor beside the crib. It was obvious that she wasn’t hurt, because she calmed down fairly quickly once we were snuggling in the rocking chair, but she was obviously scared and shaken up over the ordeal. And, you know, so was I. My mom called Evan in from the shop, so he came in to deal with his two babies, who were both crying. He took her and tried to get her calmed down and back to bed while I whimpered in the corner, but she wanted Mama. So we brought her out of her room to the couch for a while to cool down. Clearly she was okay, because as soon as she heard the train outside, she stopped crying, said “Oh train!” and laughed. Once she seemed to be settled, Ev took her back into her room and read the bible, starting bedtime routine from the start.

It took her a little longer than normal to get herself settled and to sleep, but she definitely was much calmer and the cries were normal, fussing herself to sleep, cries. Once she fell asleep, about 45 minutes or an hour later than normal, I snuck in and arranged a few soft, cushy blankets on the floor around the crib – just in case. Thankfully, she slept the entire night without a peep. This morning, she seemed to be the one person in the house who forgot about the incident.

Of course, I was shaken up and upset about it. These kind of things hurt the Mama heart. Although, thanks to the trusty twitter, I was reassured that she’d be fine and so many of the other Mamas told me that their kids have pulled the same kind of stunts and have been okay. After she fell out, I thought about setting up the pack and play, so she couldn’t climb out. Evan thought we should stick to her crib, and trust that the scare of the fall would be enough to keep her from trying it again. So, hopefully he’s right. If not, the big girl bed may be closer in our future than we anticipated.

Oops. I wrote a weekend re-cap

2012-01-15T20:25:00.001-05:00

This weekend was good. Just oh so good. I don’t normally do weekend recaps but here I am, 8:20 on Sunday evening, with my husband snoring his face off on the couch, and I can’t help but think that so much good happened this weekend. Nothing overly spectacular, but just good. It started out with a quick, impromptu trip across the border with my two favourite people – the hubby and the child. And let me tell you, successful trip indeed. We picked up the first year photo book that I put a ton of time into making for Evalyn. I had been so anxious to get my hands on it. And? I am so, so happy. It turned out so well that I may or may not have cried when looking through it for the first time. And second time. And hundredth time.

After that, the night got even better as I scarfed my face with my beloved Chipotle. It’s probably a good thing that this chain doesn’t exist in my country. That, my friends, could be bad news. Pass the guacamole!

Once I had my fill of chips and guacmole, I rolled myself two doors down to Carter’s where I totally scored some sweet deals on Evalyn’s wardrobe for next fall/winter. I realize I am so lucky that I have been able to fairly accurately predict her sizes for upcoming seasons. Because, 12 pairs of leggings, 6 PJs, a skirt, a poncho, 2 sweaters and 3 tops for $96? THAT is a darn good deal.

We finished the night off with a quick trip to Target. Considering I only get to go there once every few months, it was kind of a flop. But, what can you do when your shopping partner is having a meltdown and whining to go home? (Oh, and Evalyn was ready to leave, too). I did snag myself a lovely, much needed, new pair of maternity jeans.

When a weekend starts like that, with a trip to the states with zero wait at the border, delicious food, and great deals? You know it’s gonna be a good one.

Saturday got even better. We had a quiet day at home and Evalyn and I played, and played, and played. We found out that my mom is planning to make a quick visit down here this week, so that added to the loveliness of the day. I caught up on paper work at the beginning of her nap and then climbed on in bed with my newest read: Divergent. (Read it? No. Go. Now. Start).

Saturday night is where it got really good. Our BFF’s Bigg Burd and C-Biscuit came over for dinner with their sweet little five week old William (or, Me-ooo, as Evalyn calls him) and I got me some newborn baby snuggles. When we spend time with them it makes me even more excited about the arrival of #2. Also, a little more nervous as the pre-bedtime portion of the evening was spent with me saying, “Oh. Be soft. His eyes are special. Don’t poke his eyes! No, honey, don’t sit on the baby’s face. Oh no, Eva, that ball is too big for William to play with. Don’t put it on him”. At least we’ve got lots of time for her practice and make him her guinea pig so she won’t do any real damage to her own baby. Kidding. Despite the craziness of trying to wrangle her off him the entire evening, once she went to bed, I got to spend hours laying on the couch, breathing in his sweet newborn smell, while he dozed and we watched movies.

And the best part? The very, very, very best part?

While we were snuggling, Baby C #2 seemed to get a lil’ jealous because I felt him/her move! Like crazy. I have been anxiously awaiting feeling movement since I know how amazing it is. I didn’t feel Evalyn until close to 22 weeks because of anterior placenta so I knew it could still be a while but I was hopeful that this one’s squirms would show up sooner. And looks as though my hope came true.

Today was church and lunch followed by a glorious three and a half hour nap for the babe while I snuggled in bed and polished off the last few chapters of Divergent. It was just all together a restful, enjoyable, satisfying weekend.

It’s these kind of weekends just make me feel all kinds of full heart happy.

Those Things She Does

2012-01-13T07:47:00.001-05:00

Evalyn is at a particularly fun stage right now. Sure, she’s also at a stage that makes me particularly crazy, but for the most part? She is hilarious. I’ve always thought about how this blog will be a great place to document the hilarious things my kids say as they grow. People always say “Oh, you’ll have to write that down”, and this is just where I’ll do that. She’s not quite to the stage where she comes out with very many hilarious verbiages since she basically says only one or two words at time but still, she does some

This week she’s been especially, um, creative in her thinking and so I wanted to quickly jot down a few of the funny things we’ve experienced.

~ The other day I asked her to come lay down so I could change her diaper. She put her hands up in front of her head and said “HIDING”.

~Yesterday, she was quite cranky in the morning and went into her room and asked to get in “bed”. I plopped her in her crib and she pointed to a bin of stuffed animals and said “Toys”. I gave them to her and let her be. She was happy to sit in there and play with them. A few minutes later I popped my head into her room to see what she was up to. And? Girlfriend was attempting to climb out of her crib. Ie yi yi. Later in the day, she wanted to play in her crib again but this time, I wasn’t fast enough, I guess, because when I went to get her, she had both feet up on the bottom rail and was trying to climb in herself.

~ I was eating a bowl of Lucky Charms (no judgies) and she came over, pointed to my bowl and said “Dis” (this). I gave her a bite, cereal only, and she looked at me, plunged her hand straight into the bowl of milk, grabbed a marshmellow, shoved it in her mouth and said “No DIS”. I guess she knows where it’s at.

~ We were tidying up her toys, putting the stuffed animals all back into the bin. I’d tell her to go get the “sheep” and put it away. She went and picked up each one individually, but before putting them in the bin, both she and I had to give each and every one of them a nice big kiss.

~ She was playing with my hair and kept saying a word I couldn’t quite understand. After her saying it multiple times and me listening closely, I figured out she was touching my ponytail and saying “tail”. Now? If I need to get her to sit still to do her hair, all I have to say is, “Do you want Mommy to give you a tail like Nika?” Winning.

I just love watching her creativity and problem solving skills develop, even when it means she’s going to give me gray hair. These are the things I want to remember, always.

Okay, pregnancy brain! You win. I give up.

2012-01-12T08:53:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a completely normal day. Evalyn and I did what we do and when Evan got home, we had dinner, ran into town to do a few errands, had a snack, did bath time, and put Evalyn to bed. Evan was doing some work in his shop, so I cuddled up in my clean bed (yay for clean sheets day) and did some blogging, some research for work and some real estate perusing. He had to go to work at his side job around 10, so when he came in to say goodbye, I figured it was time to go to sleep.

Off I drifted into dreamland until about 11:30 when I was woke with a start to hear some high pitched, shrill shrieking from my girl. It only last a second or two and then she was silent again. Just enough to wake me up. And suddenly, as I was laying there awake, I got to thinking …

“What day is it again?”

Since I’m not back to my regular work schedule just yet, I feel like the days blend into each other and I’m never quite sure exactly what day of the week or month it is. I knew we would be going out for dinner with my family to celebrate some special events on Saturday. Which was going to be January 14th. And I was pretty sure this was Wednesday. Which probably meant it was January 11th.

My big sissy’s birthday.

The sister that I had had three or four text conversations with throughout the day.

The sister who I had never wished a Happy Birthday to.

How this is possible? I’m not sure. I thought that with the help of my EC Life Planner and Facebook I would never forget a birthday again. But I did.

Which is totally lame since I already have talked about thought about her birthday and know that we’re going to celebrate on Saturday. It’s not like I didn’t know it was coming. It just totally jumped out of my mind. Pregnancy brain, right?

I immediately texted her and told her I woke up and realized it was her birthday and that I’d never said anything and felt so bad. She’s pregnant, too, so I was kind of hoping she had forgotten her own birthday, too. But no such luck.

This morning, she texted me back and said it was no big deal, her husband forgot, too.

At least I can pull the pregnancy brain card. What’s his excuse?

Happy Birthday, Kris!

Mom-munity

2012-01-11T19:45:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I find myself feeling down about the judgement that moms pass on other moms. We all know it happens. We all know the issues. Natural birth versus medicated birth. Breastfeeding versus formula feeding. Co-sleeping versus sleep training. Purees versus baby led weaning. Immunizations versus delayed or no immunizations. Working versus staying home. And the list goes on. And on, and on, and on. These are only the issues that I’ve come face to face with in my short 15 and a bit months of parenting. I’m sure these things won’t stop once we enter early childhood years, and middle childhood years, and then (gulp), the teen years.

And, let me be straight up here. I’m not innocent. Admittedly, but unfortunately, I am guilty of passing judgements on other mother’s based on the decisions they are making for their children. It’s not cool, but it’s reality. I’m not trying to play off like I’m blameless.

But, there’s another side to the story as well. I’ve had so many experiences lately where I realize that I am so lucky and so blessed to have found myself a place in this community – or mom-munity, perhaps – where I have support, encouragement and friendship with other mothers.

This mom-munity has been blessing me tremendously lately. From excitement and care regarding our next baby being born, to prayers for health when we’ve been sick, to blog friends sending me maternity clothes to borrow and just all around friendship encouragement. A while back I wrote a post about feelings of guilt I’ve struggled with since becoming pregnant with #2, then just last week, I wrote a post about weaning my baby girl. Both raw, honest, difficult posts to write. And the response and support I got through comments, twitter and e-mails? So encouraging. Knowing that all of you other Mamas care about the struggles I’m facing, and that I’m not alone, that you’ve been where I am right now? These things remind me just how wonderful this mom-munity can be.

You can lead a kid to mealtime but you can’t make her eat

2012-01-10T20:36:00.001-05:00

So. Here’s the thing. Food issues with a toddler suck. Mealtimes and nutrition are most definitely, without a doubt, our biggest struggle with Evalyn right now. Apparently, thanks to the wonderful world of twitter, I know that I’m not alone in this.

I guess it’s normal for kids to love something one day and then shudder and shake and spit it out as if it’s poison the next. I guess it’s normal for kids to eat nothing but 1/2 a banana in a day. I guess it’s normal for kids to throw their food on the floor, push your hands away when trying to feed them, and say “All done, thank you” after two bites.

But guess what? Even if it’s “normal”? It sucks. It’s frustrating. It’s stressful. And it’s annoying.

As Moms, our children’s nutrition is always at the forefront of our radar. They are dependant on us for their nutrition. It is up to us to ensure that we set them up with the foundation for a lifetime of healthy eating. No pressure, right?

So, since a lot of talk about toddler eating habits (or lack of eating habits, rather) has been floating around blog land, I thought it may be helpful to toss some ideas out to each other. What do your toddlers love? Hate? Creative ideas? It seems pretty common that lunch is the most difficult meal for moms to be creative with, so maybe you have some great ideas. Do you have any tricks up your sleeve to help mealtime be a happy time instead of a “please get me a strong drink NOW” time? I admit, I do things I said I’d never do. I bribe. How many times I tell her she can have a bite of a chip if she eats another bite of supper is almost shameful. And yes, on average, we watch a cartoon with our meal at least once a day, just to keep her distracted enough to shovel some food in her mouth. Heck, today? I actually encouraged her to toss bits of her food to Nika, who was casually chillin’ at the foot of her high chair, because she thought it was fun to eat together. Mom fail, FTW!

There are so many things she won’t touch that she used to love. Carrots? Nuhuh. Unless they are in soup. I even tried making the most delicious carrots with apples, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon. She refused. Except if they were dipped in French onion sour cream dip. Um, sick? Beets, squash, avocado (except if it’s guacamole on a chip) are other things she used to love but won’t touch now. Lately, she won’t eat meat. From about 9-12 months, she was a carnivore. Now we’re lucky if she eats one bite of meat a day. I can sometimes trick her into a bit of meat on a sandwich or wrap but usually she figures it out and spits it out. She used to gobble up meat like it was her job. No longer.

Because I know that I am always stumped for new ideas, I’ve tried to list a few of our go to meals and snacks in hopes that they may spark some inspiration for you. I like to limit the amount of processed food we eat, although I’m not saying my child has never had a french fry or chicken nugget. For the most part, though, I like to see her eating fresh and mostly homemade foods. Of course, as you’re reading this list, remember that sometimes she loves them, sometimes she hates them. Sometimes she eats 3 eggs, sometimes eggs are disgusting. Every single thing on this list has, at some point, been tossed on the floor. But for the most part, they are quick, easy and mostly healthy suggestions, that we have at least had some luck with in the past.

Breakfast

- yogurt, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, pancakes (make a huge batch and stock them in the freezer for a quick morning), toast with butter and/or peanut butter, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, bananas, dry cheerios/other cereal, french toast or waffle sticks, muffins.

Lunch

- cottage cheese mixed with chopped spinach (this is our #1 go to and makes an appearance in our home multiple times per week), cheesy scrambled eggs, soup/stew/chilli/other dinner leftovers, brown rice and beans, whole wheat tortilla roll ups with flavoured cream cheese, sliced ham, finely chopped tomatoes and cucumber, steamed veggies (most often peas, broccoli or green beans), quinoa with sauteed peppers, mushrooms, onions and (if I’m lucky), some meat, grilled cheese (although she’s learned the art of licking off the ketchup and chucking the sandwich), peanut butter sandwiches, hardboiled eggs (it’s so great to boil up a few at the beginning of the week so they are there and ready), chicken salad sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, omelettes.

Dinner

We try to feed Evalyn what we’re eating. The types of meals she will eat are lasagne, spaghetti, soups, stews, chilli, pot pie and a few others. But often, I make a meal and she just won’t have it. Also, she usually starts to get hungry and fussy just a few minutes before we’re ready to eat. Because of this, most of the time I have quick and easy things on hand that I can toss on her tray. Some of her favourites are: black beans, chick peas, peas, steamed broccoli (which she normally loves and gobbles up but currently will only eat it if it has ‘dip’ or hummus), green beans, shredded cheese, fruit (always fruit), bread with butter, applesauce.

Daytime Snacks

- these muffins (with a variety of add ins), often with peanut butter, fruit (specifically: kiwi, berries, pears, clementines and bananas are her favourites), crackers, hummus on cucumber, pitas or crackers, cheese strings (although girlfriend is super iffy with cheese lately), applesauce, black beans, raisins (all.the.time. These never, ever, ever fail).

Bedtime Snacks

- cereal with milk, yogurt, fruit, muffins, English muffins, toast, apple sauce. Sometimes if she had a crappy dinner, we’ll even toss an egg in.

Now, I want to hear from you. What meals or snacks have you found that your toddler will gobble up? Any great feeding tricks? Is duct tape and cookies the only solution? (Kidding. Sort of). Help a mama out!

15 Month Evalyn

2012-01-09T20:37:00.001-05:00

22.5 lbs, 31.25 inches. 18-24 month clothing. Avid book worm. Crazy dancer. Loves to hug, kiss, hide and pray. Learning new words all the time. Transitioning to one nap per day. Sleeping (usually) 12 hours at night. Had fun with cousins at Christmas. 12 teeth. 4 new molars. Lover of animals. Chicken feeder. Puppy petter. Mama’s girl. Weaned. Mickey Mouse and Barney junkie. Fruit lover. Meat hater. All around weirdo when it comes to food. Loves to skype with Nana, talk on the phone and play with the “compu”. Plays with Little People Zoo, blocks, tools and shapes. Go Dog Go. Says, “Hi Mama. Hi Dad-ji”. Sings songs all day long. Steals my heart every day.

Plans

2012-01-06T09:45:00.001-05:00

Today I had plans to write a 15(.5) month update to document my girl’s stats since we had her check up yesterday. I had plans to make a trip to Walmart to do some returns and pick up a few necessities. I had plans to do some research for work. Plans to head outside for a walk. To do some house cleaning. To make a nice dinner for my family. To do some work on the books for the business.

But then last night happened.

And as we were up every 1-1.5 hours, with a lovely stretch of awake screamy time from 2:30-5, I was reminded that my 15 month old still has the ability to take my plans and squash them right beneath her tiny little feet.

So instead of all of those wonderful, productive things I had planned for today? Instead, I will stay in my PJs all day and prop my eyelids open with toothpicks. I will wish that my pregnant tummy could stomach coffee. I will continuously wonder how it’s possible that Evalyn can shake her booty like there’s no tomorrow while I struggle to stay upright. I will let her call the shots. I will cuddle on the couch. I will watch cartoons. I will wipe a trillion gallons of snot on the sleeve of my hoodie. I will (try to) nap when she naps.

Today, thanks to the little creature who spent most of the night sprawled across my bed saying “Hi Dada. Hi Mama”? Today, I will laugh in the face of my plans. And be thankful I have the flexibility to do so.

15 weeks

2012-01-05T07:00:00.000-05:00

Dear Baby,

We’re 15 weeks today. You’re growing like a weed in there, as is evidenced by Mama’s ever protruding tummy. I already feel, and look. like I’m one hundred months pregnant, so we’ll see what happens as the weeks progress.

You’re still making your Mama feel sick sometimes. Most days, it’s just first thing in the morning. If I get a good puke in, we’re good to go for the rest of the day. Other days, like yesterday, if I’m not careful about what and when I eat, then sometimes the nasties come crawling back throughout the day. Overall, though, you have been much easier on me than your big sister ever was, so I hope you keep that up.

For a while, I had a hunch that you were a little lady in there. But I think that was only because I had my heart set on your girl name and I just didn’t know what I’d call you if you were a boy. Now that we’ve found a boy name that we both love (I think) my suspicions have gone away and I don’t really feel strongly one way or the other. I guess we’ll find out in about 25 weeks, won’t we?

Speaking of your name, your Daddy is a stubborn brat! Getting him to discuss names is like pulling teeth and anytime he does, he just makes jokes. It won’t be long before you get to know how much of a joker your daddy is. Regardless, I think we’ve settled on your first name but we’re still working on the middle name(s).

You’re still making me crave salad, but now that the sickies have subsided a little bit, I’ve been able to broaden my horizons and start to enjoy food once again. I had been dying for eggplant parm for weeks and finally Daddy took Evalyn and I to Johnny Rocco’s the other night and my craving was satisfied. I’m still not overly pumped about red meat, coffee, and broccoli, but mostly everything else is in the clear now.

I’m anticipating feeling your first little flutters sometime in the next few weeks. I cannot wait to have that connection with you. I daydream about you all the time and am starting to think about the (many, many, many) steps that need to be taken to prepare for your arrival. I know that even though it seems like it’s in the distant future, you’ll be here before we know it. And we can’t wait!

Love you, you crazy kid!

Mama

Here I am – 13 weeks and 15 weeks

And just for comparison sake, here I am with Evalyn at 13 and 15 weeks. Whadya think?

My Word

2012-01-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

It’s a new year. 2012. Time to make resolutions. To start fresh. I’ve never been much of a resolution person. Maybe because I don’t trust myself enough to stick with them. Although, in 2009, I did resolve to make every single one of our bread products for an entire year from scratch, and I managed to uphold that one. But for the most part, I don’t usually make resolutions.

That being said, I do think there is great value in being reflective as we enter a new year. In past years, and this year especially, I’ve seen some talk of a “word for the year” floating around blog land, twitter and face book. I had never put much thought into that concept before now, but this year, every time I’ve seen a post reflecting on a “word” for the year, a specific word comes to mind: Push. At first, I kind of laughed it off, but the more I thought about it, the more it makes sense.

In 2012 I want to:

Push myself to be a better mother. Push myself to be more focused, hands on, and present in my interactions with my daughter. Push myself to be more organized in our home. Push myself to show my husband more love, more respect and more honour everyday. Push myself to be the mother my children deserve and the wife my husband deserves. Push our family to achieving the goals we’ve set for ourselves. Push myself out of my comfort zone to get involved in some new activities. Push myself to be more active. Push a baby out. Push myself to a new and deeper relationship with my Saviour. Push myself to live with intention and fully enjoy the moment.

In 2012, I will Push.

Fifteen Months, Eight Days

2012-01-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

Fifteen months, eight days marks the ending of my journey breastfeeding my firstborn baby. When Evalyn was born, it was my goal to breastfeed her for 12 months. When we got to her birthday, we were still going strong and neither of us was showing any desire to stop. So, we kept on keeping on. I started to think that it would be okay if we went to 18 months. Maybe even 2 years.

Then we decided to try to have another baby. And we succeeded. When I found out I was pregnant, I decided it was time to start weaning Evalyn. I knew I didn’t want to tandem nurse, although I know a number of women who do, and love it. I wanted to be sure to give Evalyn enough time to adjust to not being nursed before the baby arrived, to cut back on potential issues of regression, jealousy and so on. And, as I alluded to in my post on mama guilt, this decision was difficult. And caused me a lot of mama guilt.

I’m not sure why I felt so guilty. I know there was no reason to. I nursed her well past the initial goal I had set for us. I gave her what I felt was best for her for over a year of her life. But still, I had so many days where I felt like weaning was a selfish decision. Plus, I absolutely loved nursing that sweet girl, which meant the decision wasn’t just about taking something away from her. It was taking something away from me, too.

At the time we began weaning, Evalyn was nursing four times per day on a normal day. I started by gradually cutting out the two daytime feeds. When she woke from her naps, she would normally nurse, but instead I offered her a cup of milk. If she refused the cup and asked to nurse, I nursed her. For both day time feedings, however, it only took 3-5 days until she stopped asking. We then spent the next few months nursing right away in the morning and just before bed. It was amazing to me how quickly she completely forgot about nursing during the day, but still loved to at those two times. And, let me tell you, those two sessions were the hardest to fathom giving up. They were our still, quiet, peaceful moments together. Those moments don’t happen much with a busy toddler.

I told myself that I would start by cutting out the morning session first, at the beginning of December. It took me until about December 10th to actually take the leap and do it. When I did, it was the same, I offered her a cup instead of nursing and it only took two mornings until she stopped asking me to nurse when she got up.

The next few weeks, we enjoyed bedtime nursing. I knew by this point she wasn’t getting much milk from me but we were both still enjoying the few moments of quiet connectedness that we shared at the end of each day. Then, a few nights after we got home from our holidays, we were going through the bedtime routine, and it just happened. She had a bath. I put her PJs on. We sat down to read the bible. We prayed. I stood up to turn out the light. But, she didn’t ask for milk. And so I didn’t offer. I walked to her crib. Rocked her. Sang a few songs and laid her down as usual. Not a peep.

I came out of her room and immediately broke down and started to bawl. Honestly, I was doing the ugly face cry for about two hours. And I ate a lot of ice cream. This was the only time I hadn’t planned to cut out a session and it just happened on its own. I told Evan I felt like I hadn’t cherished the night before enough because I didn’t realize it would be my last. I wasn’t entirely sure why I was so emotional about it. It was my choice to wean and I had set January as my goal to be completely done. Yet, still, the ending of this journey was a difficult one to face.

Despite the fact we made it 15 months, despite the fact I will get to nurse another baby in a few months, despite the fact weaning was easy and she handled it like champ – the hurt was still there while I sat there and realized that I would never again nurse this child. She is growing up. It is natural. It is normal. It is part of life. But that doesn’t mean it has to be easy or without emotion. I felt like I needed to mourn the ending of this era. Yet, after my few hours of ugly crying, I felt like it was okay. I was okay with being done. I was ready to be done. The tears were behind me (until I sat down to write this post, of course).

I think the biggest difficulty lies in getting past the irrational thinking that because I’m done nursing, she no longer specifically needs me. I know how untrue this is. But after going through so many months of nursing, the only thing that was shared only between her and I, it’s sometimes hard to remember that the other ways I care for her are just as important, as well. She does still need me. She does still want me.

When she woke up that next morning, Evan got her from her crib and she immediately said “Mama”. He brought her into our room where I was still laying in bed. She saw me, laughed, clapped her hands and reached for me. When he handed her to me, she laid down on me, hugged me, kissed me and cuddled for (what felt like) longer than she ever had before. And that moment brought a lot of healing to my heart.

Christmas in Short Form

2012-01-02T13:10:00.001-05:00

As evidenced by the lack of posting over the past two weeks, it’s safe to say that we’ve been enjoying our holidays. We really, really have. Despite the fact that traveling exhausts our wee family and we’ve been battling a few different types of sickies over the past month, we did our best to soak up this holiday season. Having time off from work has rejuvenated me so much. I’ve read an entire book series, finished and ordered Evalyn’s first year photo book, done some much needed reorganization around the house, and napped. A lot. It’s been wonderful. And since the holiday season has flown by without so much as a single blog post from me, I decided to just write a little quicky to sum up the last three weeks of our lives.

I spent so much of my time savouring the moments and the details that I found I was left with relatively few photos. But that’s okay. Because I was there, in the moments, always.

We kicked off our holiday season by traveling to visit Evan’s family. We played with cousins. We ate. We danced. We decorated Nana’s tree. We opened our Christmas PJs and book. We opened our stockings. We didn’t sleep, at all. We cut our first two molars. We opened gifts. We played outside on the sled. We had fun.

We then came home for almost a week before heading to my parent’s cottage in the Muskokas for Christmas weekend. While we were there, we played. Hard. We didn’t sleep, at all, again. We got two more molars. We had a cold. Mama had a cold. Daddy was getting over the flu. We rode a reindeer. We decorated the most Charlie Brown’ish tree that you ever did see. It was perfect. We got a kitchen and some play food. We walked in the snow. We loved on our Nana. We kissed our Uncle. We played. We played. And we played some more.

We came home on the 27th, a day earlier than we had planned, because sleeping was not happening and we were all too exhausted. Despite that, though, we had a good time. The past week at home has been spent enjoying lazy days. Cleaning up from the chaos of Christmas. Ringing in the New Year with good friends.

This week, Evan is back to his regular schedule and Evalyn and I are working on getting back to ours. She goes back to daycare tomorrow, and I have work to do to tie up last term and get ready for the new term to begin next week. We’ve enjoyed our small break from reality, but I’m ready to get back to normal.

Welcome, 2012! Here’s to a great year.

The Distraction

2011-12-28T08:37:00.001-05:00

It’s not my fault I haven’t bee posting lately. Really, it’s not. I take no responsibility for the lack of Christmas updates, bumpdates and toddler updates.

Why?

This is why….

(source)

My brother-in-law gifted me with all three books in the Hunger Games series the weekend before Christmas when we got together with Ev’s family. And ever since? I am dead to the world. I am hooked. I am sucked in.

So, give me a few ~~hours~~ days. I have 250 pages left in Mockingjay. And then I’ll be back. With Christmas photos and stories, updates on the pregnancy and some funny stories about my wild and crazy 15 month old beauty.

Until then? Why don’t you join me and grab a book! Trust me. You won’t regret it.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T07:20:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas from our family to yours. May your holiday season be filled with peace, joy, and the love of Christ!

Brought To You By…

2011-12-20T21:07:00.000-05:00

This first trimester has been brought to you by:

- 7:30 bedtimes

- 58382 episodes of Barney and Friends – A Christmas Star

- Fruit smoothies

- Ruby red grapefruit juice loaded with ice

- Salad with caesar vinaigrette dressing

- My barf bucket

- Diclectin

- A very compassionate and patient husband (who is especially compassionate and patient between the hours of 6:30-7:45 a.m.)

- My barf bucket. Oh wait, did I say that already?

So long first trimester. Miss you, I will not.

Dear Baby – 12 weeks

2011-12-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

Dear Baby,

Here we are! At 12 weeks already. In so many ways, this pregnancy seems to be flying by. I haven’t been so great at keeping my documentation up to date but I’m going to fix that ASAP, because I don’t want to miss a thing with you my precious babe.

The last few weeks have involved a lot of exhaustion and sickness. Being pregnant is hard work, baby. Someday you better appreciate this. Thankfully you haven’t been making me as sick as I was with your big sister (knock on wood), but there have still been some pretty rough days. You make me run to the washroom first thing every morning to toss the cookies and then I feel rough for a bit but after a few hours, the rest of the day is usually fairly manageable as long as I keep whole wheat soda crackers and ruby red grapefruit juice in my tummy. Everyone says I should start feeling better soon and the queasys will go away, but guess what baby, just between you and I? I don’t believe them. I don’t foresee feeling better for a while yet, but if you want to ease up on me a little, I’d be okay with that.

For a few weeks, you were making me so super duper tired that I could hardly stay awake through the day. I did much more napping than I’m accustomed to and some nights, I went to bed at 7:30 right after Evalyn was asleep. Thankfully, the exhaustion has eased up a bit and I’m feeling more like myself in that way.

You are certainly making your presence known! When I was about 9 weeks, you suddenly popped out of no where and everyone could tell there was a baby in my tummy. I guess you didn’t want to stay a secret for much longer.

Today we had our first midwife appointment and, oh baby! That sound is the sweetest sound to my ears. I was anticipating hearing your heartbeat so much and so I was very excited when you cooperated since it’s still early enough that it would be iffy to be able to catch it. That swoosh, swoosh, swoosh sound is one that I will never tire of hearing (well, okay, until I’m about 38 weeks and I’m ready to boot you out!)

You have been making Mama want salad! Salad! Salad! And I am a-okay with this craving … you can keep it up. Much better than the fish and chips I devoured when I was pregnant with your big sissy. I just cannot get enough of leafy greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, feta cheese and strong, acidic dressings. Bring on the Italian, Greek and Caesar vinaigrettes! Don’t tell anyone, but I can also take care of a bag of chips pretty quickly, as well. And cinnamon toast crunch. But, let’s just keep focused on the salad.

We’re off to a great start, kiddo. I can’t wait to see your sweet face but I’ll savour these months when I have you all to myself.

My love is yours,

Mama

As an update, here is the long awaited progression of my little bump so far. 8 weeks, 9 weeks, 10 weeks, 12 weeks.

Mama Guilt

2011-12-12T14:02:00.001-05:00

As Moms we all have them – moments where we feel guilty for our decisions, our actions, and our thoughts pertaining to motherhood. Most of the time, these guilty feelings are unwarranted. Most of the time, the things we feel guilty about are no big deal. But, we still have them. Always.

I have been thinking about writing this post since the day I found out I was pregnant with Baby #2. On that day? It was so unexpected but, whoa. Mama guilt swept over me in a way I’ve never experienced it before. And I’m not even really sure why. I guess the torrent of emotions and hormones probably played a part. But it was still hard to understand.

We planned for this baby. We prayed for this baby. We hoped for this baby. But when this baby become a reality? I thought, “What the heck have I done?”

I remember being so overjoyed as soon as I saw that positive test. I snapped a picture of it and then I quickly scooped Evalyn up in my arms and excitedly told her that she was going to be a big sister. Of course, her one day shy of 13-months old self had no idea what that meant. But she laughed and hugged me. Because she could tell something happy and exciting was happening.

A few hours passed and it was time for her nap. I changed her diaper, read her stories, and started rocking her and singing to her, as usual. And that’s when it hit me.

Never, ever, ever again will it be just Mommy and Evalyn. Not even once. Not even for a second. From now on, I will always have to share my heart, my body, my time, and my thoughts between her and another child. Even though I knew I still had over 7 months until this child would be born, a piece of myself now belonged to him or her and that was final. There was no reversing that. Never would it be just her and I. Never again. So, as I stood there rocking and singing, tears started gushing. I held her a little longer. I promised her I loved her so much. And I wondered if I’ve done enough, loved her enough in the time that we had – just the two of us.

When naptime was over, I rescued her from her crib and we snuggled in the chair in her room for our normal nursing session. And that’s when another thought hit me – what will I do about nursing? I had always hoped to make it to one year. And that we did. And then after we crossed that milestone, I decided we’d keep going. She still wanted it. I still loved it. I decided I’d let her take the lead and go with the flow. But, now I was pregnant. Would I still want to nurse while pregnant? What if she didn’t wean herself before the baby arrived? I knew I didn’t want to tandem nurse. So, what?

After a few days of consideration I decided I was going to actively start the weaning process. I didn’t want to tandem nurse and I also didn’t want the battle of weaning a toddler at the same time as welcoming a newborn. I wanted to be sure that I would have enough time between her weaning and the new baby arriving that she would hopefully forget about it and not try to revert. So, enter more guilty feelings. Am I being selfish for making these decisions when it was clear she was still content nursing? Maybe. Is that okay? Yes. Does it still make me feel guilty? At times.

These two examples are just a few. I won’t even get into the guilt I’ve felt through this crappy first trimester as I’ve laid myself on the floor and let Evalyn ~~destroy everything in her path~~ play by herself while I barely manage to keep myself awake. I won’t mention the guilt I have felt when I think about how I will be able to give the newborn enough time, energy and love when I am also chasing a 21 month old toddler around all the time. I won’t mention the guilt I’ve felt when I’ve sat Evalyn in her high chair with her breakfast, turned on Barney and raced back and forth between the toilet and my bed almost every single morning for the past month.

The truth is, I know, know, know in my heart that the benefits of giving Evalyn a sibling are gifts that far outweigh anything that having a sibling may take away from her. Both Evan and I grew up with siblings, we both love our siblings and we both know that we want that for our children. But still, the guilt creeps in because the love a mother has for her children just isn’t always logical.

How is it possible that having two children doesn’t mean I have to split my heart 50/50 between them? How is possible that my heart will have the capacity to expand to provide enough for both? How is it possible that I will be able to be and give 100% to each of them at the same time? It doesn’t make sense. It isn’t logical. But, somehow, it is. These are the mysteries of motherhood.

The One Where My Husband Owes Me. Like WHOA.

2011-12-06T09:18:00.001-05:00

So. My husband is away right now. Up in his hometown hunting at his cabin. Eva and I were supposed to go with him, to visit my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and Eva’s cousins, but the cousins have the chicken pox so we decided to steer clear.

Yesterday, it poured rain all.day.long. Like, poured. As in, feet getting soaked because of the deep puddles on the driveway in the potholes.

Around 8:30 p.m., my sweet husband sent me a hey tell saying that he just realized he forgot to lock the chickens up in the coop before he left and could I please go out there and make sure they were inside, and shut the door?

A little background information – we live on a farm and we have chickens. Some for eggs, some for meat. These are the husband’s domain. I will cook and eat the eggs and the meat but I will not take care of the chickens. I do not feed them, I do not go in the coop, I do not collect the eggs. Heck, if I can help them, I don’t even look at them. I am not in with the birds. I dislike birds. A lot. They give me the creeps. So, my relationship with the chickens goes only so far as seeing the evidence of them once they are brought into the house in the form of eggs or roasting chickens.

Needless to say, I wasn’t very happy with his request. I made every excuse in the book why I wouldn’t be able to go out there to check them. It’s dark. It’s raining. I’ll get cold. Hello! I AM WITH CHILD! Finally, he convinced me it had to be done. So, I bundled up in his coat, a pair of my boots and a flashlight and headed back to the chicken coop. He promised me I wouldn’t even need the flashlight because the motion censor light would come on once I got back there. It didn’t.

And I was greeted by flooded grass. As in, 2-3 inches of water sitting on top of the lawn. And my boots were not waterproof. So I went back inside, called him and told him I just couldn’t make my way back to the coop. I’d never survive. He told me to put on my big girl panties, put on rubber boots in the garage and go back out. At this point, I had run out of excuses. So, I donned some boots that were about 32 sizes too big and trudged my way back again. And into the nasty, stinky, chicken poop infested coop.

And what did I find? A LOT OF CHICKENS WERE NOT INSIDE.

We just got new chickens on the weekend, so I guess they don’t know the place well enough to know where they were supposed to go to find shelter and get inside, so instead of walking into the warm, cozy coop and cuddling up with their neighbours, ten or so of them were huddled together on a pile of cinder blocks in the back corner of the outside of the pen. Right against the wall of the coop. But, the opposite wall of where the door is to get inside. They were wet and shivering and squawking. I tried to herd them off the cinder blocks and chase them into the coop so I could shut the door. No way. These guys were not moving.

So, I did what I had to do. And to this moment, I’ll never know how it was possible.

I picked them up, one by one, WITH MY BARE, SOAKING, FREEZING COLD HANDS, and carried the little buggers to safety.

It was disgusting and creepy and scary. But I had no choice. I couldn’t leave them out there in the freezing cold rain to die? Well, they probably wouldn’t have died, that’s a bit over dramatic, but still … it would have been heartless to leave them.

Needless to say, my husband quickly got an angry text, that may or may not have included one or two words I’m not overly proud of, telling him that he is LUCKY I SAVED HIS CHICKENS and that he owes me big time. I believe my exact words were, “My wish is your command for like a YEAR”.

I wish I had photos to give documented proof of this expedition (and trust me, you wish I did, too) but you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Old McLucy is back. In full action.

Things on Monday

2011-12-05T09:52:00.001-05:00

A mindless post for Monday.

Things that make me happy…Christmas decorations, puppy chow and peanut butter balls.

Things that don’t make me happy…Eva’s Sunday switch from a 7 am wake up time to a 5:30 am wake up time, morning sickness, barf buckets.

Things that are cute…Watching Eva do the actions to “Who Made the Fishies Swim” and hearing her ask me to replace “Fishies swim” with all of the other words she knows.

Things that are funny…watching Evalyn “shake her booty”.

Things that are not funny…Telling your wife you forgot to pick up your daughter on her first day of day care.

Things that I am anticipating…Hearing sweet baby #2s heartbeat next week.

Things that I am dreading…The next two weeks of grading to get a few much needed weeks of holidays.

Jolly Old St. Nick

2011-12-02T09:40:00.001-05:00

If you are around these parts this time last year, you may remember that Evalyn had a grand old time visiting Mr. Claus at the mall.

It was definitely hard to beat last year’s photo, but this year she had just as great of a time. As soon as she saw him she asked me to get out of her stroller and kept saying “Ho, ho, ho peas. Ho, ho peas”. She had no hesitation going to sit on his knee and started saying “Cheeeee” for the camera right away.

What a difference a year makes! (Excuse the quality of this year’s photo, it’s a picture of a picture since I didn’t get digital copies yet and haven't been able to scan it).

Let the holiday season begin.

Dear Baby

2011-12-01T07:00:00.000-05:00

Today is October 21, 2011. This morning, I became your Mama. Your Daddy and I are so thrilled, overjoyed and excited at the prospect of meeting your sweet face this summer. I have prayed for you. Your big sister is going to love you so, so much. This family will welcome you with open arms and will fall so deep in love with you. You will be ours and we will be yours.

Logically, it just doesn’t make sense but I know that with your presence, more love will enter our hearts. We won’t have to split ourselves in two between your big sister and you – you will bring more love to us and you will make our hearts expand.

I am bursting today. Just bursting.

I anticipate feeling you move inside me. And then seeing your face. Naming you. Watching you grow, and learn, and develop. I have no idea who you will be or what you will become but I do know this: I will love you in each and every moment. The depth I feel for you goes beyond words.

You, my second child, are my heart.

I love you,

Mama

The Story

2011-11-30T09:44:00.001-05:00

Evan and I have always knew that we wanted kids. Emphasis on the “s”. And, we always thought we wanted to have them close together. Then, when Evalyn, who was a great big giant wonderful surprise, came along, we weren’t sure what would happen with the spacing between our kids.

When she was an infant, I started to think I wanted to wait a few years until we added any more to the mix. Evan, on the other hand, was ready to get going when she was around six months old.

The problem was (is) the apartment we live in really isn’t big enough for another. I wanted to wait until we for sure had a house to move into before we started trying so we didn’t have the time pressure. He didn’t care so much.

But, right around her first birthday, I started getting the itch. We started discussing. Eventually, he convinced me that if we tried, and were successful, that we would figure it out. God would provide. He’s always provided for us up until now, we can trust that He will do the same as we continue.

So, we threw the pills out the window and as each day passed, I hoped more and more and more that we would be able to have another baby. Because of my work contract, and the rules of maternity leave in Canada, we had a very limited window to get pregnant in, or else we’d likely want to wait another year.

I wasn’t sure what to expect since, you know, “things” haven’t been quite the same since Eva was born. Needless to say, after a week or more of going between “I think I must be pregnant” to “No way, I’m definitely not pregnant” and seeing a number of negative tests, I finally saw, clear as day, what I’d been waiting for.

On Friday, October 21, my heart became Mama to two babies. And what a day that was. I am certain I experienced every emotion under the sun. From elation, to guilt, to fear, to joy, to anxiety, to uncertainty, to more joy, to more excitement and the lists continues (all of that for another post, another day).

Since I totally failed on my hopes to break the news to Evan in a special way when I found out about Evalyn, I decided to try to make up for it this time. So off we want to find the perfect way to tell Daddy. Apparently, around here, I’m a few years too early because the only Big Sister shirts I could find started at size 4T. So, we went a different route.

Evalyn got a brand new book and we stopped in at Daddy’s work to tell him our big news. Although he knew the ups and downs of the week and that I had been testing like a crazy person, I think he was still surprised to find out it was actually true.

I called him and told him to come meet me outside of his job site because I’d made something for him. He expected cookies.

What he got was a whole lot more.

Expansion

2011-11-28T07:00:00.000-05:00

Explanation

2011-11-23T12:53:00.001-05:00

In yesterday’s post, I talked about how bad I felt over not having any photos to document the last month of Evalyn’s life. Well, now, I stand corrected. Because when I plugged my camera into the computer yesterday, there were a few waiting that had not been uploaded.

So, instead of zero pictures from November, I have two.

And here they are:

I believe these photos stand as a perfect explanation as to why I have no photos. How am I expected to have time to snap pics when I’m spending my days doing damage control for this little rip?

Happy Wednesday, friends!

14 Months

2011-11-22T10:17:00.001-05:00

I have been the most horrible of all horrible bloggers over the past few months. Right now, life is just too much. I’m having trouble juggling my work responsibilities, with my mothering, housekeeping, wifing, friending, familying and other responsibilities. Add in the approaching holiday season and I’m about done. I realized this morning how horrible I have been at letting life slip past me unnoticed when I realized that it’s November 22nd and I don’t even have a “November 2011” folder in my pictures. Which means? I have taken no photos this month. None.

I don’t want life to slip by unnoticed. I don’t want to forget the details. So, even though when 13 months rolled around I decided not to keep up with monthly posts, I decided to do one today for 14 months. It’s a strange milestone to celebrate, but I haven’t been focusing enough on the things my girl has been doing lately, and I know that with her 15 monther coming a few days before Christmas, it will get lost in the hustle bustle.

So, here we are. My sweet angel, you are 14 months old today. You are such a little rip. You are mischievous, and funny, and a smart alec, but you have such a sweet, tender side as well. Those moments when you climb up onto my lap, and say “Mama” while hugging me and kissing me, or when you ask to “cudd-o” with me? Those moments melt my heart.

You are getting so, so, so big. I’m not sure where you are for weight but you’re wearing 12 and 18 month clothes. And you are such a little girl. You love your clothes. A few weeks ago, I picked up a few clearance items for next fall/winter and when you saw them come out of the bag, you reached for them and say “Oh! Coat! Thank you!” Everything is either a coat or a hat.

Your vocabulary is expanding daily. You try to repeat words we say, you know most people’s names, and you are starting to show some interest in stringing together words to communicate your ideas. You will say “boo peaaas” (book please) or “mo mi” (more milk) or “Dada go?” You are really starting to learn the context of manners and say please and thank you at appropriate times. Right now, my very favourite thing you say is “Iknow” when you mean to say, “I don’t know”.

You love your books. As always. Almost daily, when I start to get suspicious about the silence coming from your bedroom, I find you on your rocking chair, or more recently, up on MY rocking chair, reading your books. Your favourite is “Go Dog, Go” (Gah, Do, Go) and the bible.

You love to sing songs. Especially Ba Ba Black Sheep, Jesus Loves Me, Who Made the Fishies Swim and the ABCs. You love Barney, Mickey Mouse and Tigger. We saw Tigger in the mall last weekend and I thought you’d be scared of him. But, no. As soon as you spotted him you yelled “Tiiii-taaaa” and signed/said “please” asking to go see him. You went right up to him and held his hand and everything. Hopefully you have just as favourable of a reaction to Santa in a few weeks.

You also love to dance. You shake your booty like your Mama. That means, you have no rhythm and look like you’re going to seriously injure yourself or someone else while you’re dancing.

You still haven’t learned the art of being sneaky when you’re up to no good. Whenever you get into something you’re not supposed to (which is only about 490280483 times per day) you do so while saying, “No, no, no, no”. I’m sure you’ll figure out that this isn’t in your best interest pretty soon.

Our sweet Evalyn, you add so much joy to our lives every single day. Our hearts belong to you. Daddy and I laugh about the silly things you do every day and are so thankful for the gift you are to us.

My sweet girl. My baby. You’re the best sidekick I could ask for.

Love you, Mama

Family Photos

2011-11-14T09:27:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago, we ventured off to spend the day with my brother and his wife. We had a yummy lunch, my dude put together a quote for their kitchen renovation, and then we headed off to the park for some photos before going out for dinner.

I have said it so many times, but I’ll say it again – I’m so lucky to have a bro who enjoys photography. He’s done us so many favours, doing family photos, newborn photos, maternity photos and the list goes on…

So, I’ll let the photos do the talking. Here are some shots from our day.

Despite what these photos suggest, Evalyn is not a fan of sitting in the leaves. As soon as I put her down in them she looked up at me and starting saying/signing “Help. Help. Help”.

Her face. Kills me.

Duckies in the park.

My heart.

Randoms for Monday

2011-11-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

* I do not understand daylight savings time. I had to ask Evan approximately 4902882 times if it meant Eva would sleep in later, get up earlier, go to bed later, or go to bed later. “So, when she goes to bed at 7, it will feel like 6? Or 8? Or what?” Sorry but my brain haz a tiny.

* Thankfully, even though E did try to wake up hours early on Sunday morning, I was able to trick her back to sleep and we all ended up enjoying that extra hour to the fullest.

* This weekend I spent Saturday morning at a baby shower. I put Eva down for a nap before I left and when she got up, Evan told me she said “Oh dada. Mama go?” See? She does miss me when I’m gone.

* We got to enjoy a super last minute impromptu (childless) double date with our good friends on Saturday night. Let me tell you, that night out? Was needed. What a great time. And I would be lying if I said that live in baby sitters weren’t the most awesome thing on the planet.

* The weather has been beautiful lately. We’re enjoying fall to the max. Trying not to think about what’s around the corner.

* Cinnamon Pastry K-Cups? Yes please.

* My mom is here for a visit. We look forward to these days so, so, so much. Spending time with Nana is good for the soul.

Happy Monday, Friends!

Jeeta, Jeeta and Other Little Tidbits

2011-11-02T21:15:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago, I posted a random list of little details – things I don’t want to forget about Evalyn. So, here I am again. A few new things that I never ever ever ever want to forget.

Evalyn loves to sing. Her favourite songs are Jesus Loves Me, Happy And You Know It, Head and Shoulders, and the ABCs (see also: I have got to get her “singing” the ABCs on video). Recently, I’ve started singing a Clean Up song that I had tucked up my sleeve from my preschool teaching days as well as a Bible Story song as part of our nightly routine.

The other day, she and Evan were playing together and she kept saying “Jeeta” over and over again. We were so confused. The funny thing is, “Jeeta” is a name that our nephew, H, used to call his little sister. But? We knew Evalyn had never known Baby A as “Jeeta” so she wasn’t saying her name. We just figured she was babbling.

Then, that night at bedtime I said, “Okay sweetie. It’s almost time for bed. Let’s clean up your toys”.

And what did she do?

She hustled over to her toy box, started putting things in it and chanting “Jeeta, Jeeta, da da da da da da da” – “Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere”.

And then today, she spent a good 30 minutes sitting with two laundry baskets beside her, putting toys in one, taking them out, and putting them in the other, singing “Jeeta, Jeeta” the whole time.

So apparently Jeeta = clean up in Evalynese.

Also? I am cherishing this time in her life where she thinks that cleaning up is the! coolest! game! ever!

***

She is on a photo kick. She has recently started paying attention to the framed photos in our house and wants to go up to each one to see who it is. Usually, she can pick out Dada, Mama, Nana, Eva (Eeeeena), Uncle (Unco), Hunter (Hunta) and Aunt Logi (Gogi). If she doesn’t know who it is, it’s “this” or “baby” (bayyyyyy). Learning and saying and repeating people’s names is also on the top of her list of fun things to do lately.

She constantly wants to know where people went. Especially her Uncle Evan. Girlfriend is obsessed with that guy. Multiple times a day, she will walk around our house with her arms in the air saying, “Unco go? Unco go?” She loves him.

***

She is a Daddy’s girl, through and through. She goes nuts when she sees him and in the morning, as soon as she’s done at the milk bar, it’s all “Dada? Dada? Dada? Go?”

Yesterday she stood at the patio door repeating “Dada. Go. Dada. Hat. Go. Car. Dada. Coat. Dada. Go”. Think she wanted to see her Daddy?

***

She calls me Mama, unprompted, almost all the time now. And even though I’m used to hearing it? My heart still bursts. For so long she thought it was hilarious to joke with me and say Dada every time I told her to say Mama. Now, she says Mama all the time. And, just between you and me, I was feeling pretty good about myself when Evan got her out of her crib the other morning and she immediately started asking for Mama.

***

She doesn’t watch much TV – simply because we don’t have cable so anything we watch has to be on the laptop or on DVD. I got a DVD a few weeks ago that has 6 different kids shows on it. So far, we’ve stuck mostly to Barney but I decided to try Bob the Builder yesterday. And? LOVE. “Bob. Bob. Tractor. Truck. Bob”. When I said, “Look at Bob. He’s working hard!” She said “Bob. Dada”. Apparently she’s caught on that Daddy goes to work.

***

She has a miniature rocking chair in her room that she spends a good deal of time ~~climbing~~ sitting on. Yesterday, I watched her push the chair up to her crib, stand on it and try to climb into her crib. Yi ie ie. Today? She opened the bottom drawer on my potato and onion bin, stood in it, and opened the “potato” portion, which actually houses my extra baking supplies, and helped herself to a bag of chocolate chips. Thankfully, she couldn’t get it open. I’m not sure how, but she hasn’t figured out that she can climb on the couches yet. I am hoping she doesn’t make that discovery for at least 7 more years.

***

She’s figured out how to get her sippy cups closed. She works and works and works until she flips the top over and the straw disappears. And then? She SHOUTS “HELP” until I open it for her. Makes for some longgggg car rides when I can’t reach back to open it back up for her.

***

In the bath tub the other night, I put a turtle toy inside the cup I used to pour water over her hair and said, “Where’d the turtle go? There he is!” And, wowza, wasn’t that the best thing ever? Every night since then she has spent her entire bath time, putting the turtle in the cup, saying, “Tutu go?” and then pulling him out and yelling “Hi Tutu!”. Amusing.

***

Watching a toddler utilize problem solving skills may very well be the funniest thing ever. Like, how can I get inside this laundry basket without letting go of the 72 toys that I have in my hand? How can I get my magnets that are all shoved under the fridge? How can I put this shoe back on my foot? How can I sneak into the pantry and take the baking powder into my room without my mother seeing me, especially considering I can’t do anything I’m not allowed to do without saying “no, no, no, no” over and over again, evidently giving myself away?

***

And the best one? A few days after I posted the video of her saying bible and God, we were at my friend’s house, doing some organizing in her (soon to be born) baby boy’s room. Evalyn asked to get up in the rocking chair with the new baby’s bible. She was rocking bath and forth, chattering to herself, ahem, I mean, reading the bible, and then she signed/said “Thank you God”. Melt my heart.

***

That’s all for now. Enjoy the moments.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T08:37:00.001-04:00

Happy Halloween from the cutest little peacock you ever did see!

I took her out for her very first trick or treating adventure on Saturday, since I have to work Mondays. And girlfriend rolled in the goodies! Her bag was full of bubble bath, raisins, chocolate, sour candy, and of course – apples! Don’t worry, I took care of the chocolate and sour candy right away so she wouldn’t get into it. But, thanks to Uncle Big Burdd and Auntie Marica, Evalyn now knows the beauty of Sour Patch Kids and Caramilk bars.

How many Halloweens do you think we’ll get where she chooses the apple over the candy?

Happy Halloween!

Winners

2011-10-27T14:50:00.001-04:00

Thanks to the help of the most wonderful random.org, I was able to select the winners for the codes for 25 free Shutterfly photo cards.

So, without further adieu I give you:

1. The ever lovely Ashley from the Thames Trio.

2. The newly engaged, and beautiful, Jenna from Twenty Something Granny, who just so happens to be the IRL friend who created the lovely die cuts for Evalyn’s birthday banner.

3. And lastly, the sweet and talented, I might add, Jennifer, from Life in the Green House.

Thanks to everyone who entered. Winners, I’ll e-mail your codes to you shortly!

BIG words

2011-10-25T07:00:00.000-04:00

One of the best parts of being a parent is watching your child learn new things. And for me? Witnessing Evalyn pick up new words and add to her vocabulary has been such a blast.

Over the weekend, we found out that she has figured out three very important words. Two are great. One … not so much.

On Friday night, Evalyn and I spent the evening at home together, just the two of us. Now that it gets dark earlier and the weather isn’t always spectacular our evenings are spent inside more often than not. And, as I’m sure most of you can relate, evening can sometimes be long. For me, the hour to hour and a half between dinner time and bedtime can sometimes be the longest portion of my day. To ease some of this, I’ve tried to incorporate a longer bedtime ritual, so that we have something to guide our time. Up until now, it’s always just been a quick bath, nurse and bedtime. Now, I’ve started implementing tooth brushing time, bible story time, song time, bath time, nursing and then bed. This makes the bedtime stuff take 30-40 minutes instead of 15.

It was getting to be that time of night and I sang a song about bible story time and led Evalyn into her room for the story. Sometimes she sits still on my lap while I read it and sometimes she doesn’t. This time? She didn’t.

She was playing around with her stuffed animals while I was reading but she was obviously listening to the story because when I got to a line that had the word “God” in it, she pointed her finger to the air and said “Gog”. Then, when we were done our story she said “mo bibo” (aka more bible).

This video was taken right after. I was so shocked that she knew to point up to heaven and say “Gog”. I know that they are working on this in Sunday school class, and I know she hears me sing songs and do actions but I’ve never really prompted her to do it.

Let me just say, it made my heart burst.

But, then, of course, on Sunday, she was quick to remind me that gaining new words and new understandings is not always so sweet and precious when she demonstrated her understanding of the “N” word.

Yes, that’s right, my sweet angel who asks for “mo bibo” and points to heaven saying “Gog” now has a fully established knowledge of the power of “No”.

We were at her auntie’s house on Sunday afternoon when I said, “Evalyn, come here so Mama can change your bum”. Girlfriend looked at me, said “No”, shook her head and walked away.

We heard her say “No no no” a number of other times throughout the day and ever since, she’s been walking around the house, going up to all of the things she knows she’s not allowed to touch and saying “No, no, no”.

I guess it was bound to happen someday.Welcome to the world of No.

Pumpkin Patch: Take Two

2011-10-24T07:00:00.000-04:00

Remember a few weeks ago when I had the great pumpkin patch fail of 2011? Well, I figured with the month coming to an end we better hurry up and remedy the situation.

So yesterday (right after the hubster returned home with a pumpkin spice latte for yours truly) we headed out to a cute little pumpkin patch for the afternoon and definitely had better luck this time around. I mean, there were actually pumpkins – so that right there was 100% better.

Part way through our visit we ran into Eva’s buddy Lyla from church. We confused the heck out of the kids by making them sit on a pile of squash and attempted to get a good picture of them. Well, we failed. At least in the 15 shots I had, we didn’t have a good one. Then we went on a hay ride on the tractor. Evalyn thought this was nothing short of amazing since she is all about tractors lately. As soon as she saw it coming around the corner to pick us up she started pointing and yelling, “Tacta tacta”. She sat still on her daddy’s lap and pointed at the trees and other kids the whole time.

We saw the animals in the barn – a cow, a goat, some pigs, some chickens and some other gross looking birds – and she quickly discovered that cows? WAY scarier in real life than in her animal books.

We took a (quick) stroll through the corn maze but the amount of mud quickly deterred us so we spent the rest of the time snapping photos and checking out all the different kinds of squash and pumpkins that they had kickin’ around. Or, should I say, all the “apples” that were everywhere.

Middle photo? “Wait, you are trying to tell me that this is not an apple?”

My very favourite is that even in the photos were you can’t see her face, you can still see her lips enough to be able to tell that she’s in the middle of saying “Oh” or “apple”. She was more than excited when she finally found a tiny ~~apple~~ pumpkin that was just her size. I kept trying to lead her back to the big pile of pumpkins to get some pics but she was determined to carry this one around.

It was the most beautiful fall day to spend at the pumpkin patch with my little family. So long pumpkin patch, see you in 2012!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

2011-10-20T19:51:00.002-04:00

Well, it’s that time of year once again. Time for posts about Shutterfly Christmas cards to clog up everyone’s reader. So, guess what? I’m doing it, too.

Last year, I was so excited when I had the chance at 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly.

The one I picked turned out so great. I was so happy with the quality and we got many, many compliments on it. I must say, it set the bar high for future Christmas cards from the Cramp family.

Look at our Little Miss, making her debut on her very first Christmas card.

And then in the summer, I had the opportunity for another set of free photo cards just in time to order thank you cards – which were designed by the ever talented Katie – for Evalyn’s birthday.

Are you a blogger? Want a chance at 25 free cards this holiday season? Register here: http://goo.gl/DDw7Q

And, if you’re not a blogger, or you are a blogger but want a chance at MORE free cards, Shutterfly has provided me with three codes to give to three of my lucky readers for 25 free cards.

All you have to do? Head over and check out Shutterfly’s selection of photo cards and let me know what you’ll choose if you’re the winner.

**Winners will be randomly selected on Thursday OCTOBER 27th** (Updated: my crazy brain made me write the wrong month. The truth is, the winners will be selected THIS week).

Help a mama out. I’ve got cloth dipey questions

2011-10-18T08:56:00.001-04:00

Cloth diaper Mamas? Are you out there? I have a few questions and I need some opinions.

First of all, if you use cloth wipes and make your own solution, what is your favourite recipe? Up until now, I have always use Punkin Booty Bits which are an all natural chunk of baby wipe solution in concentrate that you dissolve in boiling water. I love them. The solution is not too soapy, doesn’t leave a residue, smells yummy and lasts a long time (as in, I was gifted 2 packages and just ran out for the first time in 12+ months of CDing). Of course, I could buy more, but the store that carries them is 30+ minutes away and I just haven’t had a chance to get up there. So I figured I’d see what I could do without them.

I’ve been cruising around the internet trying to find something I like, but haven’t yet. I tried one solution that was 4 parts water, 1 part baby oil and 1 part baby wash. Um, no. It was SO soapy. I had to wipe her bum with a second wipe every time to get the soap off. Not cool. I tried diluting it more but it didn’t help. I know lots of people just use straight up water … I can’t. She will get a rash. So, any suggestions? Or should I just head up to Peekaboo’s and get my Punkin Booty Bits? Sometimes, maybe, you just shouldn’t mess with a good thing.

Secondly, over the past week or two, the diaper pail has a strong chemical/disinfectant type odour. I don’t know what it’s from. I didn’t clean the diaper pail with anything other than dish detergent, which is what I have always used and I didn’t switch my cloth diaper detergent. I thought maybe it would go away but it seems to be getting stronger. Like, almost burn your nose strong. Anyone have any experience with this and have a suggestion for what I could do?

Mama needs help.

Baby Signing For Dummies

2011-10-15T21:53:00.001-04:00

Before Evalyn was born, I knew that I wanted to do baby signing with her. I had seen so many of my friends and family members teach their babies to sign and I was always amazed at how well some babies could communicate even before they spoke their first word.

We started doing basic signs with her when she was about 7 months old. I started with eat, milk, all done, and puppy. As time went on and she started to show that she was beginning to understand some of the signs, we began incorporating more. Now, our most common signs are: eat, milk, cup, more, all done, help, thank you, please, puppy, and birdie.

After these few months of signing, I thought I would share what I’ve learned. Of course, I’m not an expert. I haven’t taken any classes, read any books or really, done a whole lot of research. I’m just an everyday mom that has found it helpful to teach my kiddo signs. So, maybe what I have to say will be helpful to someone. And then again, maybe not.

First of all, don’t get frustrated when your baby doesn’t sign back right away. Some babies may start signing as early as 7-8 months and some may take quite a bit longer. Aside from puppy, which she started signing around 8 months, it took her until around her first birthday to really take off with the signs. And I was getting frustrated - wondering if she would ever learn these dang signs. She did show recognition of the signs a lot earlier than when she started to sign back to me. When I signed eat, she would smack her lips and move towards her highchair, when I signed milk she would do a funny laugh/cry until she got her milk (which she still does and I have got to catch on video), and so on. We could tell she was starting to understand the signs but wasn’t quite ready to sign to us.

And then right around her birthday, at the same time I noticed she was beginning to comprehend our language so much better, she exploded with signs. At first, she started to only sign words that she could also “say”. By say, I mean, words that she could make some kind of sound that resembled the word. Over the past two months, this was another reason we have been so glad that we taught her signs. If we hadn’t, we may have had no idea what she needed when she would walk around the house, whining and saying, “meee meee”. But, since she pairs it with the sign for milk? I know exactly what she is saying. Soon after this, she started consistently doing other signs, even if she couldn’t say the word, like please and thank you. Now, she sometimes attempts to say these words with the sign, but mostly just uses her hands. All of her other signs she also says, or tries to say, the word to go with it.

I try to consistently sign every single time I say any of these words to her so that she will learn how to use them in context. So far, thank you has never been used unprompted but please has. She is starting to pick up that if she wants me to do something for her or give her something that I will expect her to say please. She also has figured out how to use help in context. As I wrote in my post last week, she will sit in front of the fridge and push all of her fridge magnets underneath and then come to me and sign for help so I will get them out. She also signs and calls for help when she’s trying to get into her little rocking chair, or picking up something heavy or playing with a toy that needs to be turned on. Can’t tell me she doesn’t know what that one means!

My second piece of advice (if you can even call it that) is: Roll with it. Your baby may make up her own signs. She may adapt the signs that you show her to become something that is easier for her to sign. And that is great. Like I mentioned earlier, when Evalyn started recognizing the sign for eat, she would smack her lips together and move towards her high chair. So, we went with it. When I asked her if she wanted to eat, I would interchange smacking my lips together and doing the actual sign for eat. Now, she flips back and forth between these two, as well. Most often she does her made up sign but when she really wants something to eat, or when prompted, she knows how to do the proper sign.

Also, when I started signing I differentiated between cup/drink and milk. I wanted these two signs to be different so we could draw a distinction between nursing and having a cup of milk or water. So, I did the sign where you hold your hand in a C and tip it towards your mouth for cup/drink and I did the sign where you squeeze your hand together for milk. Despite my attempts to distinguish between these two, she hasn’t done so. She uses the milk sign to signal nursing and having a cup. At first she would sign it and say, “Meee” when she wanted to nurse and “cup” when she wanted her cup. Now that we’ve somewhat started the weaning process and she doesn’t nurse as often as she used to, she seems to interchange the words milk and cup pretty regularly, too. But either way, it works. She knows how to ask for a drink with her hands and with a word. That’s the bottom line to me.

Next, don’t worry if you are unsure if you’re doing the sign exactly right. I know there is controversy about this point. Some people have different opinions. I know some people think it’s important to be sure that their babies are learning proper ASL signs. For me, that wasn’t as important. If I had a family member of close friend who used ASL to communicate, I would likely be more picky about this. But at this point in her life, Evalyn doesn’t have anyone close to her who relies on sign to communicate. So, I am pretty lax. If she is able to get her point across to me with less frustration than what would happen without her signs, then I am happy.

For example, her sign for help and her sign for more are very similar but she sometimes pairs more with a “mo” sound and help with a “hep” sound so I can differentiate. When she does a sign incorrectly or makes up her own sign, I do always follow up with the correct sign, though (like I mentioned with her version of eat). I know this seems to go against what I just said about being lax about her signing so let me explain.

What I mean is that I don’t stress the issue but I try to encourage her to do the correct sign, mostly for other people’s sake. Most people who are around her on a regular basis will recognize the basic signs that she does such as more, please, thank you, eat, and all done. But, these people aren’t with her as often as I am and may not know the made up signs, or how to differentiate when two of her signs look the same – considering her words are not very clear yet. So, I keep working on them so there will be a better chance that other people can understand and communicate with her if I’m not around.

Lastly, remember that it doesn’t have to be complex. Like I said, I didn’t take any classes or read books, I just chose basic signs that I felt would be helpful for our day to day life and rolled with it. Now, you definitely have the option to be more extensive if you want. One of my good friends did a baby sign language course with her little one and absolutely loved learning new signs and enjoyed the instruction. I know lots of Mamas who have read books and use online video tutorials to learn signs and gain tips for teaching their babes. And all of that is great if you are interested in it and want to teach your baby lots of things or learn the best ways to go about signing. But, all I’m saying is that you don’t have to invest that much into it if you don’t want to. It can still be extremely effective.

To finish up, here’s Evalyn showing you a few of her signs. I’ve been trying and trying and trying to get a good video of her signing but, well … she’s not always cooperative. And now that she’s picking up more and more words, she almost always pairs her word with her sign.

Did you sign with your baby? What are your favourite signs? What did you find the most useful? What did I miss?

It’s happening to me…

2011-10-14T13:25:00.001-04:00

I’ve come to the realization that it’s happening. It is really and truly happening.

I am becoming my mother.

You see, my sweet Mama is notorious for .. hm, let’s see, how should I put this? She is notorious for lacking necessary observation skills while shopping for retail purchases including, but not limited to, food and drink, household supplies, and gifts.

She is the one to purchase pumpkin pie filling instead of straight up pumpkin, Windex instead of toilet bowl cleaner, or an extra extra extra large print bible for my sister who has excellent vision.

And I don’t say this to make fun or belittle my Mama. She’s not an unintelligent person. She just, you know, forgets to read the labels. It’s an innocent mistake. She is a busy woman. Often in a hurry and sometimes this means she accidentally grabs the wrong thing.

And, well. Apparently, so do I.

A few weeks ago, my mother and I visited the US to do some shopping. At Target, they had basic long sleeved T’s on for $10 a pop. A girl can never have too many long sleeved Ts so I tried on a few, figured out which size I needed (medium, for the record) and grabbed five. All the basics and a few for fun. Black, white, grey, black/grey stripe and teal. I got home, stuck them in my drawer to wait for cooler days to arrive and thought nothing of it. Until a few weeks later when I started to need long sleeves. I put the teal one on and realized it felt kind of snug. I took it off, looked at the tag. And? Extra Small. Remember, I needed medium? I dug the other four out and guess what? Of the five I purchased? ONLY TWO WERE THE CORRECT SIZE. I came home with an extra small, small, two mediums and a large. I don’t know if the size on the hangers didn’t match the size on the shirt or what. But regardless, I pulled a Mama.

Then last week, I did it again. I was out shopping and I found something that was perfect for my mom (huh, coincidental) for a Christmas gift. Something I knew she’d appreciate. I can’t tell you what it is since my mom reads this blog (Hi, Mom! Don’t hate me for making fun of you in this post. I love you. I really do) and I don’t want to spoil the surprise. But, I will tell you that it’s something really nice and it was significantly marked down. So much so that I decided I should get two. I grabbed them and off I went. Then, at the last minute, I decided I had changed my mind about the colour. I headed back to the section of the store and made the switch. Paid for them and away I went. That night when I got home I was showing Evan the sweet deal I had scored when I noticed, can you guess? When I switched the colour I got the wrong size. Which was clearly marked in pretty large letters on the item. Thankfully, I was able to do an exchange and ended up gaining $14 in the process (another story for another day…).

So here I am: admitting that it’s happening to me.

I’m becoming my Mama.

Which, really, isn’t such a bad thing at all aside from the occasional retail inconvenience.

The only difference between she and I? I noticed my mistake before I wrapped it up and gave it to her on Christmas morning. So, I guess I still have a little bit of my sanity left.

It’s in the details

2011-10-13T08:52:00.001-04:00

You know how parents always tell stories about the funny things their kids do? And then people say, you’ll have to remember that one. But then, two months later they don’t remember anymore? It’s true. It happens. You think you’ll remember every single detail about your child’s life but you don’t. The next month comes and brings it with more development, more fun, more memories – and some of the details that you promised yourself you’d always remember fade away.

Lately, we’ve had a few of those. And I don’t want to forget. I really, really don’t. So I’m about to risk writing a post that no one else will care about – where I rhyme off a bunch of cute/funny/silly/memorable things that my kid has done lately. My blog. My memories. So, here we go. These will undoubtedly be funnier, more amusing and way cuter to me than any of you, but whatever.

Lately, every single thing that Evalyn can find that might possibly resemble a hat goes on her head. She walks around saying “hat, hat, hat”. Actually, it doesn’t even have to resemble a hat. The other day, half a meatball was placed on top of her head at dinner time as she proudly shouted out, “HAT!”

She is really into pretending to sleep and loves pillows, blankets and beds. She loves to climb in our bed with us, flop like a fish and lay down and pretend to sleep. She even makes a snoring noise. She also thinks it’s hilarious to wake us up if we’re pretending to sleep.

A few nights ago, when I was putting her to bed, she was laying on her change table as I was getting her PJs on and she tooted. I giggled and said “Evalyn, say excuse me! You tooted”. Then, she tooted again. And again, I said, “Oh, you tooted”. Then, her face got really red and I could tell she was pushing. Nothing came out. So, she made a toot sound with her mouth, laughed, and said “toot”. Now, if we say, “Did you toot?” she toots with her mouth. We are so proud. So, so proud. Important life lessons, here.

The other day, we were at Wayford and Wilma’s for Thanksgiving dinner and I was putting her in her PJs to bring her straight home to bed. When I laid the change matt from the diaper bag on the floor, she immediately knew that somehow, she was supposed to lay down on it. I’m not sure if she wanted to pretend it was a bed or if she was just trying to help me out, but girlfriend rolled around and did somersaults on that thing for forever. She looked like a dog trying to get comfy in his bed – you know how they always turn in circles over and over again in the exact same spot? Yeah. That.

That same night, she was sitting in her travel booster seat at the table to eat dinner. Lately, she’s been doing a lot of the chucking stuff on the ground while eating. She doesn’t get that if she doesn’t want another drink, she can just set her cup on the side of the tray and keep eating. Nope. On the floor it goes. So, I was quite pleased when I saw that following her sip of milk, she decided to reach as far as she could in front of her, over her high chair tray, and set her cup on the main table. I said, “Oh good girl. That’s a nice place to put your cup”. And, you know what the good girl did? Picked every single piece of food off her tray and stretched her little arms forward to put it on the table.

Yesterday, my good friend Cindy was over, and of course, brought with her a bag of kettle corn. While I was putting Evalyn down for her nap, she got our snack ready. She put mine in a large round tupperware container. When Evalyn woke up, of course, I had eaten everything and it was empty. She pointed to it and said “Hat”. (Are we surprised?) There were still a few crumbs and kernels in the bottom, so I cleaned it out for her to wear as a hat. I licked my finger, ran it around the bottom of the container to pick up all the little crumbs and then, ya know, licked my finger again. Evalyn watched me do this. And then, she ran her finger all around the inside of the tupperware, lifted it up, looked at it for a second. And then took the index finger on her other hand and put it in my mouth. Monkey see, monkey do.

Speaking of monkeys. Monkeys say “heehee”, puppies say “mmmMmmm”, cows say “Mooo”, and well, so does everything else.

Recently Evalyn has taken a huge leap in baby signing (there’s a post coming all about this early next week). One of my favourite, and what I thought most helpful, signs that she has figured out is “help”. She does the sign, although her version looks quite similar to “more” and says, “hep”. At first, she only did it if I asked her if she needed help. And then one day, she was trying to get on her toy car, walked over to me, and signed/said help. I praised her for this and over the next few days a LOT of tantrums and screaming was avoided by her ability to ask for help. And then, one morning, she laid on her tummy in front of the fridge, pushed all her fridge magnets under the fridge and then came to me and asked for help. I got them out from under the fridge. And then she did it again. And again. And again. You can see where this is going. She rolls balls under furniture, gets herself stuck under chairs, tries to carry heavy things. All just so she can ask for help. Now? “Help” is the most annoying form of communication she has.

Lastly, and the very best, in my opinion, is that Evalyn says I love you all the time. We always do “I” (point to our eyes), “love” (point to our hearts), “YOU” (point to her). Over the last few weeks, she has started pointing to her eye and saying “IIIIIIIII” when we do this. And sometimes? She does it umprompted. Walks up to me, points to her eye, and says “IIII”, followed by a hug. And everytime? I melt.

These are the details that life is made of. The details I never want to forget.

Facelift

2011-10-11T07:41:00.001-04:00

Notice anything different around here? Are you hiding away there, tucked behind the comfort of your google reader? If so, you had bettah click on over to check out the fabulous blog makeover that my sweet girl Katie did for me over the weekend.

Mustard and grey is just the perfect combo. And I lurveeeeee it. Of course, there are a few bits and pieces that still need to be updated. Read: I need to find some new photos. One where I’m not sporting post partum fat face and where my little lady doesn’t look like a squishy little gremlin. Let’s face it, the picture of Ev? Will probably stay. It may be over two years old, but finding opportunities to snap photos of him where he’s not wearing cut off jean shorts and crocs with socks? Next to impossible.

If you’re looking for a new blog design – customized so specifically to make your blog exactly YOU – Katie is your girl. She has done my last two blog designs and I have been so so so happy with them. She’s crazy talented and will work with you to find something that is just for you. As our mutual friend, Gina, once said, Katie has more creativity in her pinky than I have in my entire body. So head over, and check out her blog design page. Now.

Happy Tuesday, my friends!

Let’s call this The Great Pumpkin Patch Fail of 2011

2011-10-10T10:09:00.001-04:00

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving! I know many of you reading are from the country to the south, and are not celebrating Thanksgiving today. But in Canada, we are. Unfortunately, this year, we’re unable to be with our families for Thanksgiving because of Evan’s work commitments. Last year we missed Thanksgiving too, because we had a brand new babe and had to travel the weekend following Thanksgiving so decided to stay home. But, both years, friends who are like family to us took us under their wings and ensured that we would get to celebrate Thanksgiving properly. So we’re looking forward to a feast with all the fixings later today, thanks to the gracious invitation extended to us by Wilma.

Now that the wee babe that entered our life last autumn is now a wee toddler, it’s time to start creating some seasonal traditions and making memories. Of course, heading to the pumpkin patch has to be one of them. This year, we decided we’d try to skip out on the formal pumpkin patch experience and do it at home. There is a field at the very back of the property that, in past years, has been rented out and planted with pumpkins. I figured Evalyn would enjoy this experience just as much as the real deal. And I would save myself a few bucks that could be better spent ~~on pumpkin spice lattes~~.

We, like many places, have been experiencing weather that is uncharacteristic for this time of year. Basically, it’s summer. Which is nice. Kind of. I’m all for great weather, but at the same time, we love us some fall around here so I kind of feel like we’re missing out. I want to dress her in cute fall clothes. I want to feel the tip of my nose getting rosy when we’re walking outside. I want to drink apple cider and bake pumpkin stuff. But anyway. I digress. I knew the weather man was calling for another roaster today so if I wanted to do the pumpkin patch thing in fall clothing, we’d have to go out in the morning. When the ground is covered in dew. So, I grabbed a blanket to keep her dry. Which I’m sure was a fabulous idea since my child hasn’t stayed in one spot for more than .562 seconds in about five months.

So, there I was at 8:45 this morning, with my child dressed in clothing that was far too warm for the weather, my running shoes on, sweat pants rolled up in hopes of staying somewhat dry. I loaded her up in the stroller with a dolly, my camera, some tissues (hello, runny nose season is back) and a blanket. I was smart enough to take the stroller with me because a) I would need a way to get the pumpkins back, b) I didn’t want her to get soaked and dirty on the way out and c) I didn’t want it to take fifty hours to walk to the back of the property.

We started the trek – which was quite a trek, I might add as my faithful Graco doesn’t do so well on the bumpy terrain – through the orchard to find the pumpkin patch. We were singing. We were chatting. We were pointing to everything we saw and saying “ball”. Along the way, we did find a ball. Or a giant mushroom, rather. Even though I have small’ish feet, the comparison still shows that this guy was a honker. Of course, Evalyn was none too happy when I continued on our journey without letting her touch, hold, smell, or eat this “ball”. (Sidenote: anyone want to guess her favourite word right now?)

By this point, my feet were soaked. My rolled up sweatpants had come unrolled and were also soaked. I was sweating. Dolly had dropped to the ground multiple times and was covered in dew and grass. But, we were almost there. And it would be so worth it. Because the end result would be amazingly cute photos of my sweet daughter frolicking in the pumpkin patch. Running around to her heart’s delight. Selecting the very best pumpkin to bring home to show Daddy this evening and carve up in time for Halloween.

And then we got there.

And found this.

The “pumpkin patch”.

Apparently I should have sent the Daddy out ahead of us to scope out the situation. Because “the pumpkin patch” was nothing of the sort. It was more like, the ridiculously unkempt field of some type of creepy crawling plant. See those fines in the top right hand corner of the photo? That is the only evidence that there is, in fact, anything planted in this field. But upon closer inspection, I discovered they weren’t even pumpkins anyway,but some kind of squash.

So, fail.

At least we had fun. Or something.

Any locals know of the best pumpkin patch to visit with a little one?

it makes it okay.

2011-10-03T09:45:00.001-04:00

It’s been about a month since I began the transition from full time SAHM to part time working mom. Funny how when this happens, you don’t suddenly become a part time mom. Rather, you are still a full time mom and you just have to figure out how and where to add employment into your life, fitting it around your duties as wife/mom as best you can.

I’ll have to admit, in the weeks leading up to my return to work, I was scurrrrrrred. I had no idea how I’d find the balance between work life and home life. I didn’t know how I would feel about leaving Evalyn with someone. I didn’t know how Evalyn would do away from me. If you read my ~~whiny~~ posts, you’ll know that I was struggling. Of course, just like any situation in my life that I worry about, looking back I realize there wasn’t much to worry about. So far, the transition has gone very well. I’m thankful that my work load has increased (and will continue to increase) gradually. I was able to dip my toes in and slowly wade in rather than taking a huge belly flop of the high dive.

What I’ve learned is that there are some things that have made my transition to work okay. Some things that have really, really helped and, believe it or not, even made me look forward to and enjoy the challenge.

I mean, first of all, and obviously, having a second income has been a definite bonus. But that’s not what I’m talking about. There are other things that make it okay.

I have loved, absolutely loved, getting to choose real person clothes to wear to work every day. I don’t have a dress code at work. I can wear sweat pants and a tshirt if I want. But I choose to look a little better than that because it’s one of the few times that I can. I don’t usually do dress pants, often jeans, but I like to make myself look (somewhat) put together. It’s fun being able to pick out outfits that I don’t have to worry if I can nurse discreetly in, or if the snot that Evalyn wipes on my shoulder will show up, or if she’ll strangle me when she pulls on my necklace 45825 times in the first three minutes after I put it on. It’s nice to be excited about style.

Another thing that makes it okay is having a kid who has done so very well with the transition. She hasn’t gotten upset when I leave her yet. She has napped well almost every time she’s been away from me. She goes to bed just fine for Evan, my mom, her aunties, the girls upstairs – no one has ever had an issue putting her to bed. She flips back and forth from sippy cup of cow’s milk to nursing like it’s no big deal. My worries about how she would do without me? Ha. Enough said.

Right now, she’s spending most of my work days with one of my best friends. Can I tell you how much more at ease I am knowing that she in the hands of someone who I would trust with my own life? I know that C knows Evalyn’s schedule, habits, likes, dislikes, and habits almost as well as I do. She has spent a lot of time with her since we see her multiple times per week, even before she started watching her. She knows when to put her down early, or keep her up a bit longer. She knows just how much fussing is okay before going in to check her. She knows her favourite toys, songs and games. She just knows her. And that? That makes leaving her 100% easier.

And, of course, the last thing that I’ve found that makes it okay is getting to experience the excitement Evalyn shows when I pick her up. Before I started working, I was rarely away from her during the day. Most of the time when I , went out, it was in the evening. Either after she went to bed or for dinner or what not, which meant she’d be sleeping when I got home. And, you know, by morning time, she doesn’t remember that I was away the night before. Now? When I get to C’s to pick her up, she remembers that she missed me. I get a little taste of the excitement she shows when Evan gets home from work each night. She smiles, laughs, sometimes claps her hand and boogies her little tooshie over to me to give me a hug and cling to me like I am the most prized possession in the world. And that feeling? It makes it okay.

silent sunday: an apple a day

2011-10-02T07:04:00.000-04:00

Reason #48282 why we love where we live: apple picking the backyard.

things that are awesome

2011-09-30T07:00:00.000-04:00

Today is Friday. That is one thing that is awesome. That means Evalyn and I survived the week without Daddy. Wait, I didn’t tell you? He’s been gone since last Friday. He had a moose hunting trip planned and was actually supposed to be gone for almost two weeks, but left later than anticipated due to Gram’s funeral. Evalyn and I filled our week with tons of stuff so it flew by. But, even so, we are ready for Daddy to come home. More than ready.

So, aside from it being Friday, what else is awesome? I’m going to tell you.

Shopping with my mom is awesome. Has there ever been a better shopping partner? I think not. Having a baby who does well while shopping and acts like an angel even when you tote her all over God’s green earth? Also awesome.

Along the same lines, having small feet that fit into kids shoes is awesome. When we were shopping I was searching for boots. I searched high and low and found nothing I liked. I wandered into the kid’s section at Target to look for shoes for my little, and whatddya know? I found myself some boots. That fit. And are comfy. And were $22. Three pairs of boots for under $70? Um, yes, that is awesome.

Bonefish Grill is awesome. I’ve been waiting over two years to try that place. There is one in the mall where I often go shopping in the states, but the problem is that it’s only open for dinner and I am usually there during the day. When I ~~drag my child around the state of New York~~ take Evalyn shopping in that states, it usually works out to being too long of a day for her if we try to stay over until dinnertime. So, no Bonefish Grill. But? On Sundays? Dinner starts at 3pm. 3pm is not too long of a day, especially since Eva took an hour and a half nap in the Walmart parking lot {fear not, I stayed in the car while my mom shopped and then we swapped}. We had a light snack for lunch and an early dinner at Bonefish. And I was not disappointed. Not even a little bit. I will be returning. Even if it takes me another two years.

Having a baby who says HI to literally every single person whom we pass in the grocery store, mall, library, or street is awesome. Especially when she says it over and over again, louder and louder each time if they don’t respond.

This is awesome:

Having a tight knit family is awesome. Both Evan and I come from large families that are very close. Siblings, nieces, nephews, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents – the whole shabang. I’ve been reminded of the blessing that a tight knit, supportive family is a few times in the past two weeks. Family is awesome.

And, good friends are awesome. I’m sure I’ve said it before, but I will definitely say it again: I have amazing friends. Not just decent friends. Amazing friends. Friends who will babysit my kid at the drop of a hat, friends who give me a gift card for a massage on my daughter’s birthday because they want to spoil me, friend’s who call me unexpectedly just to chat, friend’s who love my kid like she is their own. Those kind of friends. Seriously, awesome.

Having a baby who walks up to me, hugs me and says “Mama” is awesome. Actually, it’s even more than awesome.

Having a nightmare about getting chased through a very odd apartment building with my girl Crystal and waking myself up at 3am when I yell “HURRY, open the door” and then laughing at myself when I realize the stupidity of it all is awesome.

Pepsi is awesome. Chips and salsa are awesome.

And, once again, Friday is awesome.

12 months

2011-09-29T07:00:00.000-04:00

I got all the sentimental, sappy stuff out of the way last week, on your actual birthday, so today, I’m just going to show off some cutie pictures of you and take some time to brag about what you’ve been up to.

You are growing so big. You weigh 19 pounds 8 ounces and are 29 inches long. You wear 12 and some 18 month clothes and your hair is getting longer and longer – and the curls! Oh, the curls! You get more beautiful each and every day.

You’ve done a lot this month. Right after you turned 11 months, you took off walking and you haven’t stopped since. I’m amazed at how quickly you became steady on your feet. You motor around everywhere now – sometimes too quickly for your own good. Your favourite thing to do is to play “chase” where you run, laughing hysterically, and I “chase” you and say “I’m coming to get you”.

Over the past month, we have been spending as much time outside as possible. I know our outdoor days are limited and I want to be sure we get as much fresh air as possible before you-know-what arrives and we’re cooped up. You love to play outside where you can run free. Although, even when I take out to the big field, you always turn around and run back to the driveway. You are obsessed with the rocks. You also love to go the raspberry bushes and pick raspberries to eat for dessert almost every night. Of course, you also love going for walks around the block, seeing your puppies run and play and watching the chickens.

You loved “helping” us in the garden (ahem: green pepper picture?) and would pick (and eat) anything you saw. This month your temper showed up few times, you traveled to your Nana and Papa’s cottage, you had your birthday party and you traveled to Nana and Grandpa’s to attend Great Grandma C’s funeral and you’ve done great adjusting to being at Auntie Crystal’s house when Mommy is at work.

You have been picking up new words almost every day. It’s so fun to watch you learning to communicate. Some of your favourite words are: Mama (finally), Dada, Nana, Papa, up, cup, all done, out, go, car, more (mo), shoe, bath, baby (bay), please (pee), ball, puppy, help, hat, duck, moo, hot dog, what happened (hap?), and I love you (iiiiii).

You have also started signing a lot more over the past week (which I guess technically shouldn’t be included in this update since I’m a week late). But anyhow, you sign milk, all done, up, cup, please, thank you, help and more. Most of the words you sign you also try to say the word when signing.

You love to sing songs, especially “Round and Round the Garden”, point and things and say “Oh”, clap your hands, blow your nose, shake your head and dance. Your moves are something else, that’s for sure. Books and babies are your favourite things to play with. You will sit and read – alone or with Mommy or Daddy for 20 or 30 minutes at a time. You are starting to learn to identify features – such as Mommy’s nose, your eyes, your ears and your toes. You are still obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and laugh every time you hear the Hot Dog song.

You are still nursing numerous times per day and also drink cow’s milk from a sippy cup at meal time and when you are away from me. You eat three good meals a day, and while it’s sometimes frustrating, you have been doing pretty good with eating lately. I can’t complain. You still nap twice a day, usually an hour and a half both morning and afternoon and have been sleeping 10-12 hours at night. Finally. I have waited so long for this. As of last week, you now have eight little chompers in there. And it’s a good thing, because, girlfriend, you love steak.

Every day you do new, funny, and amazing things – how can I possibly remember them all to include in this update? I can’t. All I know is that this month has been the best one yet. We’ve had so much fun.

Stay sweet, little love.

Mama.

I vote YES

2011-09-28T07:03:00.000-04:00

Teething sucks.

It’s that simple.

It sucks.

It takes your normal, happy go lucky baby and turns her into a cranky, clingy, grouchy, refuses to eat monster.

I became well seasoned to the crappiness of teething pretty quickly. Eva cut her first two teeth at 6.5 months. And they were bad, but not that bad, as I quickly found out. About a month later she decided to bust out four teeth within two weeks. And it was torture. Absolute torture. For all of us.

She was cranky. She did not sleep. And she refused to eat.

That meant I was cranky. I did not sleep. And, well, I probably ate way more than I should have.

After that bout of four teeth, she took a month off and then tooth number 7 showed up on our first night of vacation in July. And let me tell you … that tooth was from the devil. She had such a difficult time with it. It was as if her teething issues were getting worse and worse and worse with each subsequent tooth.

During these bouts of teething related discomfort, I have to admit, I gave her more doses of Tylenol than I was comfortable with. More than I ever expected I would give her. It’s just not like me to give my child medicine flippantly. But I had to. There was no other choice. It was unbearable without it. And, I’m not against medication. Not in the least. I just felt like I was giving it to her too much. There had to be another way.

After tooth #7, I remembered some of my friend’s talking about amber teething necklaces. So I started asking around. A few twitter gals told me that they had them and thought they were great. After some encouragement from Erin I went ahead and checked out Hazel Aid and ordered one. It was under $20 so I figured it was definitely worth a shot. Even if it didn’t work, it was pretty cute.

Let me point out that before those torturous days I thought the idea of a necklace that emitted some kind of resin to help relieve pain was kind of hokey. It seemed like witchcraft to me. But I was desperate. And, in desperation, Mamas will do crazy things.

A few days after ordering, the necklace arrived and Eva started wearing it 24/7, except while in the bath. Since she started wearing it, I’ve had to answer a lot of questions. Mostly: Why is your baby wearing a necklace? and Does it work?

I could always answer the first one but I had trouble answering the second one. I had no idea if it worked because she took a long break from teething and didn’t seem to be working on any new teeth over the next few months. I figured when it was time to teeth again, I’d start seeing the signs and at that point, I’d use my judgement to see if I felt like the necklace was easing her pain at all – compared to the struggles she had with teething before the necklace.

Well, folks, I vote yes. The necklace does help. It is working.

How do I know?

I was feeling around in Eva’s mouth last week, a few days before her first birthday, just to see if there was any sign of anything happening, and know what I found?

Tooth #8. There it was. All sharp and pointy. And I had no clue it was coming. My baby had slept 12 hours the night before. Why hadn’t she been up every half hour for the past three nights if she was teething? I can only assume it’s because she wasn’t uncomfortable. And I can only assume that her lack of discomfort was because of the necklace.

So, I’ll say it again. I vote yes. Best darn twenty bucks I’ve ever spent.

A Bushel and a Peck Birthday

2011-09-27T10:31:00.001-04:00

I started thinking about Evalyn’s birthday party a few months ago. I was racking my brain trying to think of a creative, personal, cute theme that we could center her party around. We were out for a walk one day and I was looking around our farm and the area surrounding it and thought that it would be fun to play on the fact that we live in the country and her birthday is in the fall. My first thought was to do a pumpkin patch or harvest party. But, I just wasn’t feeling it. A few days later, she and I were playing together and I started singing, “I love you a bushel and a peck, a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck…”

And I knew. THAT would be the most perfect theme. I even knew that I already had a dress for her to wear that would fit so well.

The next few months were full of ideas and planning and craft and, you know, LOTS of list making. And in the end, I was so happy with the result. I loved her party. It was absolutely perfect. A day where we were gathered with our friends and family, celebrating the first year of this sweet angel’s life.

Most of the decorations were handmade, whether by me or someone else. A friend of mine from church used her die cut machine to cut out the letters and apples and I made the two sided banner using coordinating scrapbook paper and jute. It turned out 195893 times better than I pictured. The photo display was made using a frame that Ev built, painted and distressed. I printed her monthly monkey photos in sepia with a white border and used small apple die cuts, with brown letter stickers to mark the months. (And, um, yea, both the banner and the photo display are still hanging. And will be for a while). The beautiful painted canvas was a very special gift from my dear friend Gina. This was the first decoration that I had, and so, everything else was centered around it. And I love it. The tin flower pots were bought at Ikea and, again, I used a small apple die cut and brown stickers to personalize them a bit.

For the guestbook, I got a copy of the kid’s book version of the “Bushel and a Peck” song. I stuck some yellow cardstock inside the covers, and had it sitting out with pens so everyone could leave a message for the lady. I also used her first birthday portrait, caramels and other little apple decorations to put finishing touches on the decor.

The centrepieces were made with miniature bushel baskets from Michaels, filled with fall mums and handmade tags, done by me. There were four of them. I love you. A Bushel and a Peck. A Hug Around the Neck. A Barrel and a Heap. I gave these away as the prizes for the people who got the most points on the All About Evalyn quiz.

For the favours, my girlfriends and I busted our butts making beautiful, delicious caramel and chocolate apples. We used peanuts, skor bits, and reese pieces as the toppings. Yum. Tied them up with cellophane, coordinating thank you tags and jute – and there you have it. I also had brown paper bags filled with sweet and salty kettle corn – as that stuff, thanks to my friends, helped me survive the first year of motherhood. They were stamped with a small apple stamp, tied with jute and had a thank you tag as well.

The (gorgeous) smash cake was made for Evalyn by her ever so talented Auntie Caley. And the cupcakes were made by my mom and myself.

Now let’s move on to the party itself. Evalyn was surrounded by her cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and friends as we celebrated her life. What a fun day! The weather was gorgeous. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day.

Tons (read: way too much) yummy food.

And a snoopy girl who wanted to dig into the gifts.

A few photos of the birthday girl and my family on party day.

She had so much fun opening her presents and definitely had some help from her cousins. The singing Mickey Mouse card? Highlight of her life. The chair she is sitting in so proudly was her birthday gift from her daddy – built with his own two hands.

Watching her smash her cake was hilarious, since she hates to have anything messy on her hands. She wasn’t so pumped. She would grab a chunk of icing and then shake it off her hand as fast as she could. Girlfriend doesn’t know what she’s missing.

It was such a special, perfect day.

I’m not here. I’m there. Or something.

2011-09-23T08:00:00.000-04:00

Thanks again for all of the prayers being offered on behalf of our family. We greatly appreciate them and they are truly being felt. Thank you also for all of the happy birthday wishes for my little lady yesterday.

I won’t be around here today but you can head over to Loves of Life where one of my very besties, Katie, writes and listen to me spout off about all the things I wish I knew about becoming a parent. Now that I have an entire year under my belt, I figured I might have some wisdom to share. Or not.

Katie is witty, and funny, and real – and definitely one of the best writers I know. I’m honoured that she’s given me the chance to invade her space while she’s off enjoying fun in the sun with her husband – sans baby. Hello, jealous!

So, go on. What are you waiting for? Head on over.

One

2011-09-22T07:00:00.000-04:00

My Evalyn,

Today you are one. How quickly you have changed, right before my eyes.

From the most beautiful newborn that I have ever seen

to my sweet, spunky little girl.

I cannot think of you without having my heart swell with pride, love and joy. I will get to all of your stats and fun things you’re doing another day. Today, I just want to dwell on you.

You have captured my heart in ways I could never imagine. From your first breath, I loved you more than I ever thought possible. I will never forget those very first moments, when your Daddy placed you in my arms and my eyes met my first born daughter for the first time. I remember praising Jesus for bringing you to me safely. I remember speaking to you, calling you by name for the first time, and smothering you with kisses. I remember looking at your Daddy and seeing the exact same expression of love that I felt in my heart. In that moment, I knew that we had been blessed with the greatest gift we could have ever asked for.

On that day, you made us a family. Just when I thought I couldn’t love your Daddy anymore, I witnessed him become your father. You have created a bond and a connection between us that is deeper than anything we’ve ever known. You are the very best thing we’ve ever done together.

Over the past year as I have watched you grow, I have become a different person myself. I have become fully and completely your mother. All things are different to me now. All things are for you.

Your laughter is what I look forward to each morning. I anticipate seeing you learn and grow and change every day. You are just so much fun to me. I cherish you.

Because of you, I now know a different kind of love. A love so whole and so real and so complete that it can never be replaced or taken away. I will love you unconditionally for the rest of my life.

Happy Birthday to you, my baby.

Love, Mumma

Home

2011-09-21T09:08:00.001-04:00

Thank you all for the prayers for Evan’s grandmother and his family after my post yesterday. Just touching base to let you know that she went home to be with her Lord through the night last night.

While we are saddened by the loss we will experience here on earth, in this family, we rejoice over a life well lived and are thankful for the peace we have in Christ.

Continued prayers for our family, especially Grandpa, are so greatly appreciated.

All About Eva

2011-09-20T10:52:00.001-04:00

I wasn’t able to get the full birthday party recap post that I had planned to do ready for today because I worked last night and there is a lot going on in our family right now. If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know that Evan’s grandma is in very poor condition in the hospital and so that is occupying our thoughts right now. If you are the praying type, and you feel so inclined, we’d appreciate prayers for his family. Especially his Grandpa and Grandma.

Since I wasn’t able to get the recap post done (I haven’t even had a chance to sort through my hundreds of photos), I thought I’d give you something else today to keep in the spirit of birthday week. At the party, I put together a little quiz about Evalyn for the guests to complete. Apparently, I made it a wee bit too difficult because her father failed even after knowing the questions ahead of time, and everything. Two of her honorary Aunties did super well and won, getting 14 out of a possible 16 points. The Nana’s and a few other Aunties were close behind.

Anyway, I thought I’d share the quiz and see if any of you think you know Evalyn as well as we do! Feel free to leave your guesses in the comments if you want. Maybe there will be a prize. I haven’t decided, since sharing this is so spur of the moment.

So here goes … all about Evalyn:

All About Evalyn

1. What was Eva’s weight and length at birth? (2 pts)

2. Eva was born at:

a. 1:36 pm b. 1:26 pm c. 3:46 am d. 4:55 pm

3. Where is Eva’s most distinguishing birth mark located?

a. Forehead b. Left butt cheek c. Right butt cheek d. Shin

4. Evalyn has two middle names. Who is she named after?

5. When did Evalyn begin crawling?

6. When did Evalyn begin sleeping through the night?

a. 6 weeks b. 3 months c. 8.5 months d. HAHA! SLEEP? WHAT IS THAT?

7. Which of the following is not one of Eva’s first words?

a. Dada b. Hot Dog c. Fish d. Up e. Puppy

8. What were the names of the midwives who delivered Eva? (Hint: There were 3 of them, one point each).

9. Where was Eva born? (Be specific, 3 possible points)

10. What is Eva’s favourite song?

You’re Invited!

2011-09-19T08:29:00.001-04:00

My house is a disaster. My baby has an awfully runny nose (but bless her heart, is still as happy as can be) and I have to work later today, but I’m taking a quick second to pop in to share with you the invitations from Evalyn’s big birthday party – which was absolutely perfect, I might add! I’ll be back tomorrow with more details, photos and a recap of the day.

A few months ago, one of my very favourite bloggy Mommas, Liz, decided to open an etsy shop featuring her customized birth announcements. When I checked them out, I wished she had been around when Evalyn was born to do her announcement.

But, once it got to be time to start thinking about birthday party stuff, I knew that it would be a great idea to discuss my ideas with Liz. And I was right. She worked so hard and so diligently to create something that fit exactly what I had in my mind – even though exactly what I had in my mind changed four hundred and seventy two times over the course of three days.

And then, when circumstances required a last minute date change for the party, she got a new one made up and ordered ASAP so that I would be sure to have it in time to send out and give our guests enough notice about the party.

Liz helped bring the theme of the party to life with this gorgeous invitation.

If you are looking for customized birth announcements or birthday party invitations, be sure to check out Super Cute Cards – you won’t be disappointed.

Silent Sunday: It’s HERE!

2011-09-18T07:00:00.000-04:00

The decorations are made. The menu is planned. The guests are on their way.The day is finally here.

This afternoon, we’ll be kicking it autumn style with our family and friends as we celebrate the big FIRST BIRTHDAY of our Evalyn.

Stay tuned next week for a whole line up of birthday posts. I’m going to tell you about the theme, the dress, the inspiration, the invitations, the food, the decorations, the guests, the planning, the games, and on and on and on. I’m going to over do it. I’m going to annoy you. I’m going cherish the last week that my first child is a baby. I’m going to celebrate her life to the max. What can I say? My firstborn will only turn one once. Can you really blame me?

Crazy Kitchen Cooker

2011-09-14T11:03:00.001-04:00

Lately I’ve had a bunch of opportunities to chat it up with my internet besties about some of my favourite recipes. I’ve received a few e-mails from sweet readers telling me that they miss my little ol’ recipe blog. And guess what? I miss it, too. I really do.

I never intended for it to go by the wayside. I never sat down and decided that I would stop posting recipes and keeping up with that little corner of the interweb. But, life happened. More specifically, Evalyn happened. After she was born, I had a break from cooking. We had my mother here for the first week, Evan’s mother here for the second week and my church brought meals for us the third week. Not to mention I had stocked up enough frozen meals to sustain a small country – which meant I didn’t really have to do a whole lot of cooking for the first 2-3 months of motherhood.

Which, I might add, was ah-may-zing.

By around the 6-8 week mark, though, I was ready to start getting back into my kitchen, so I gradually did. And since then, I have been cooking. Much to your surprise, I’m sure. I cook and/or bake on an almost daily basis and I do my best to try a new recipe or two every week or so.

But? The thought of snapping photos, writing up recipes and steps, and keeping track of what I’ve posted and haven’t posted? Daunting. Absolutely daunting. My meal prep is often done in the morning while Evalyn naps and the rest of the cooking is done here and there throughout the day whenever I get a chance. To remember to grab my camera for a shot of every step? Impossible. And, heck, I hardly find the time, energy, or motivation to keep up with this blog, that I just don't see myself getting back to Lucy’s Kitchen anytime in the near future. But, I do miss it.

Which is why I have decided, that after Evalyn’s birthday is over with and once I get myself settled into our new routine, I am going to try my darndest to start a weekly recipe feature here. On this blog.

Posting one recipe a week certainly doesn’t seem as daunting as keeping up with a regular, every day cooking blog. Besides? If I have nothing new to share, I will dig from my archives and pull out some of the old faithfuls.

So, friends, keep your eyes peeled – because this Crazy Kitchen Cooker is comin’ back at ya.

Interruption

2011-09-08T08:20:00.001-04:00

Just stopping in to say hi. Please excuse the interruption in the next few weeks. I’m buried in birthday party fun, crafting, baking, cleaning, menu planning and the list goes on… There’s really nothing else to post about, but at the same time, I don’t want to write about birthday party stuff until after the fact.

So, I don’t know if I’ll be around here at all in the next little while, but I will most definitely be back in full swing after the 18th – with a whole bunch of posts celebrating BIRTHDAY WEEK!

Hello, fall.

2011-09-06T14:03:00.001-04:00

This past weekend marks the official end-of-summer-beginning-of-fall weekend for me, and so I wasn’t the least bit disappointed to see that the weekend brought fall weather with it.

We spent the past few days up north in the Muskokas at my parents new cottage. Which, I might add, is very quickly going to become my favourite place on earth, I believe.

My whole family was together – an event that becomes more and more rare as the years go by – and also one that I cherish more and more as the years go by. I celebrated my 25th birthday while we were up there and we also celebrated my brother-in-law’s 29th. There was fishing, boating, board game playing, eating, movie watching, and lounging. It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend – a great way to end off summer 2011.

We got home early this morning and Eva and I have been having a lazy day at home, doing laundry, playing and going for walks (bundled in a blanket, I might add). I’m actually quite excited to dig out the boots, sweaters, pashminas and blankets. Today I have a fall candle burning. The scent is called “Welcome Home” and it’s filling my kitchen with the delicious smell of autumn. Although I love summer and the fun that it brings with it, I always find myself ready for fall. I find it refreshing. It’s the best time of year around this home, for many different reasons.

I have a feeling summer hasn’t had it’s last hoorah, though. Something tells me we’ll see a few more scorchers. But for now, I’m cuddling up in a blanket with a hot chocolate and I’m welcoming fall.

Brain Fart Friday

2011-09-02T07:38:00.000-04:00

Here’s what’s flying around my head on this Friday…

My iPhone won’t stop autocorrecting in to I’n. I don’t get this. I’n isn’t even close to being a real word. No matter how many times I change I’n back to in, it keeps happening. Frustration.

Something pretty spectacular is going down in two sleeps. I won’t say what. Just trust me. It’s pretty amazing.

Less than a week until I go back to work. The thought of this is starting to make me a little twitchy. Prayers would be mucho appreciated.

I cannot believe summer is coming to a close. This is the last “official” weekend. We’re heading to my parent’s new cottage and I’m crossing my fingers for great weather.

I’m counting down the days until Eva’s birthday party. It’s going to be so fun. I’m so excited to celebrate the first year of her life with those closest to us.

Speaking of her birthday, she’s going to be one in less than three weeks. Say what?!

I plan on getting my autumn decorations out next week. Too soon? I don’t care. Once labour day passes, all is fair.

I’ve been up to my eyeballs in canning and preserving stuff from my garden. I’ve done salsa (twice), peaches (twice), hot peppers, BBQ sauce, peach salsa and pasta sauce. That’s it for a while. After the birthday, I’ll do apple sauce and pears but for now, I’m taking a break.

That’s about all there is to say today. Happy Friday!

Diva By Day, Farm Girl By Night

2011-08-31T21:01:00.001-04:00

Having a mother like me and a father like Evan, Evalyn gets to experience many sides of life. I do my very best to ensure that she is a girly girl through and through while Evan does his best to ensure that she’s not.

Thankfully, so far, it seems like the combination of the two of us keeps her perfectly well balanced. She knows how to sport many different hats, and looks cute all the while.

Girlfriend is a diva by day and a farm girl by night.

With me, she gets to shop till she drops. Clothes make her excited. A shopping bag on her arm? Perfection. See for yourself…

And with her Daddy, she’s not afraid to get a little dirt under her finger nails. Or, you know, in her mouth, as she takes a huge chunk out of a freshly dug potato.

And while these photos are cute and fun and silly – I love what they signify. I want my daughter to grow up knowing she can be what she wants, and enjoy what she enjoys. She doesn’t have to fit into any mould. If she wants to play with her dollies in the morning and then ride on the tractor with Evan in the afternoon and finish off the day jumping in mud puddles before getting her toenails painted? So be it. She doesn’t have to be a frilly princess. But she can if she wants. She doesn’t have to be a tomboy. But she can if she wants. She can be both. She can be neither.

I want her to experience a variety of hobbies and interests and pastimes – and I want her to discover what it is that she loves. And then when she does? I want her to do her best and try her hardest at whatever it is.

Even if it does mean she chooses to feed the chickens. Ick.

Rapid Fire

2011-08-28T14:10:00.001-04:00

I know I’ve said it before, I know we all say it – everyone talks about how quickly these babies grow and change – and it’s so true, they do. Can I just tell you that the past few weeks have seemed like a rapid fire of change for the kid that I birthed?

Two weeks ago she wasn’t walking. Now? She is. And every day, every minute, she gets more and more confident.

Two weeks ago, I don’t think she understood much of what we said to her. Now? When I say, “Go give your baby a hug”, she finds her baby, picks it up, hugs it and says “Awww” while patting her on the back. She knows everyone’s names, what different toys are called, and is starting to understand simple instructions.

Two weeks ago she didn’t dance to music, she didn’t say very many meaningful words, she didn’t know how to eat from her snack trap. And suddenly she does all of these things.

I know none of this is profound but…

…holy smokes, my baby is a person.

She sniffs the flowers, says “Oh” all the time, and tries to repeat words we say to her.

Of course all of this change tugs at my mom heart as I wah wah and long for my squishy little baybee but at the same time, I swell with pride every time she learns something new and can’t wait for the next thing she comes up with.

Each day is new and exciting and fun. Every stage just gets better and better and better. As well as faster and faster and faster. So now? I’m off to glue my eyelids open because I’m afraid if I blink, she’ll be packing her bags for college…

**Thanks to Auntie M and Auntie L for these sweet photos that I stole from facebook. ;)

Sometimes all you need…

2011-08-26T07:00:00.000-04:00

… is to stop and smell the flowers.

Happy Friday, my friends.

I Rock

2011-08-25T15:03:00.001-04:00

Sometimes I find myself wandering around the internet – checking out blogs, looking at people’s pins, reading tweets – and I find myself feeling inadequate. Because I can’t do what she does. Or I don’t look as pretty as she does. Or I’m not as talented as she is. Today that happened. I was fiddling around with some things for Eva’s first year photo book and birthday party and I flipped. I had an idea in my head but I could not seem to figure out how to execute said idea. So, instead of being rational and taking a breath, trying again, or perhaps asking for help. I just quit. I deleted what I had been working on and quit. Because I couldn’t do it. Sure, what I was trying to do may have been easy for you or you or you. But it wasn’t easy for me and that made me feel like crap and made me feel jealous of people who are “better” than me.

But, after getting my booty smacked by a few good friends and an unexpected, encouraging text from my hubby telling me how good the cobbler I baked last night was – I realized it’s time to turn this around. Who cares if I’m not good at x,y or z? God gave me talents, skills and abilities. Some of them I appreciate but unfortunately, many of them I don’t.

I wish I was athletic. I wish I could sing. I wish I was more artistic and creative. I wish I was more talented on the computer. I wish, I wish, I wish. But enough wishing. It’s time to stop. Because? I rock.

I rock at cooking. I feed my family good meals most nights of the week. Sometimes we get take out. Sometimes I make chicken fingers. But mostly? We eat good, homemade meals.

I rock at baking. I can make a mean apple pie. My pastry is probably better than anything you’ve ever tasted in your life. My brownies? You’ll die if you eat them. My husband makes sure to keep this talent of mine well-tuned.

I rock at organization and efficiency. I thrive on to-do lists. I think about what needs to be done on any given day and I do it.

I rock at memorization. I have the world’s most ridiculous memory. I can remember bizarre details about events – such as the clothes someone was wearing, the food we were eating or the exact words of a conversation. Sometimes my husband wishes I didn’t have this kind of memory, but it serves me well.

I rock at research and learning. I exceled in my undergrad and graduate programs.Sometimes I forget it, but I am a well-educated woman with a Masters degree in a research field. I have two completed theses under my belt.

I rock at keeping my house. It may not be absolutely spotless at all times, but it’s tidy, it’s comfortable and it’s our home.

I rock at making my bed every single morning.

I rock at changing cloth diapers. I can get that girl’s diaper off, booty wiped, new dipe on, cover on, clothes back on, diaper rinsed and in the diaper pail faster than you can say POOP.

I rock at singing The Little Birdie song, doing stinky feet and playing with the shape sorter.

I rock at being Eva’s mom.

So, there. I said it. I rock. I may not rock in all the ways I wish I could but I rock in the ways God intended me to. And that’s what matters.

So, come on. Spill it.

What do you rock at?

Off she goes…

2011-08-24T10:52:00.001-04:00

Ever since Eva took her first real steps last Thursday she has been walking more and more every hour. Literally. My jaw is dropped in amazement at how quickly this development has happened.

For the first few days, she would walk mostly only if we coaxed her and held out something really enticing to walk to. A few steps here and there. Then, she started letting go of furniture on her own a little more and a little more. Every once in a while, I’d noticed that she had moved from toy box to counter or something – with no sign of returning to a crawl. And yesterday, through the afternoon I really noticed that she started getting braver and braver and braver.

While she isn’t entirely steady on her feet and there is an awful lotta tumbling going on around here it seems that she is starting to choose and prefer walking. Yesterday evening, we were playing out on the grass while her daddy was cutting the lawn and she was bound and determined to walk to me. The ground was uneven and she was unsteady – toppling over after every single step, yet she insisted on getting back up and walking to me one step at a time.

Starting on Sunday or Monday she started to work on getting herself to standing on her own without holding onto something. Often, if she has something in her hand, she seems to be able to stand up and balance better. Is this common? It was the same when she started standing unassisted. As long as she had something in her hands, it was like she forgot she wasn’t holding onto something to keep her steady.

Now, after a few days of practice, girlfriend has perfected her method of standing up. Interesting. But it works.

At the rate she’s going, she will be running by the weekend.

Hold me.

Tuesday Tidbits

2011-08-23T20:03:00.001-04:00

You may have noticed that aside from Eva’s monthly update, I haven’t posted in over a week. No? You didn’t notice? Well, let’s pretend that you did so that I feel popular. Mkay? Anyhow… I just thought I’d stop in with a totally random post to let you know what I’ve been up to that has been keeping me away from blogland.

Last week, canning fest 2011 began when I spent the day with two of my girlfriends canning close to 40 pints of peaches. This was the same day that Eva decided that sitting on the door of the dishwasher and carrying a Coach purse on her shoulder were her favourite pastimes.

On the weekend, we zipped over to the states to pick up a parcel (yay, birthday party stuff) and do some shopping. I’m on the hunt for a new handbag and wallet for my birthday. Since I’m going back to work, I figured it was time. I haven’t really carried a purse other than a few hours here and there since Eva was born and I started toting my mom bag around. I found one that I loved at JC Penny but it was the first one I saw in the first store I looked so I figured I shouldn’t jump the gun. Then, Eva got tired and we decided we needed to hurry up and head back home, so we left. And I didn’t look in anymore stores. More on the purse fiasco in a bit.

On Sunday, my Mom was here when we got home from church. This was the first time that Eva, mom and I have had a chance to spend a few days together in nearly 6 months. It was well overdue. It was almost exactly a year ago that I wrote this post about spending time with my mom. Looking back, I remember those feelings so well. But now, spending time together is even more fun because I get to see how much Eva loves her Nana and vice versa. They acted crazy together and spent the last few days laughing non stop. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the fact that I got a little teary saying goodbye.

While Mom was here, we did a bunch of canning. Hot peppers, BBQ onion sauce, salsa and more peaches. We also left E and E at home and went shopping and out for Sushi. You know how when you’re window shopping with no money you always find a billion and seven things to buy but when you are shopping with a purpose (like, you know, to buy a new purse for your birthday) you CANNOT FIND ANYTHING? It was that kind of night. I looked in every.single.store that carries handbags but all I could think every time I picked one up? Not as good as that first one I saw in Penny’s. Rip snort. Why didn’t I buy it? I guess my love will just have to take me on another US shopping spree.

We were eating breakfast on Monday morning and I asked Eva if she wanted to watch Mickey Mouse Hot Dog song. She looked at me and clear as day, said, “Haa Dog”. My mom and I about died. And, of course, because we laughed, Eva thought it was the best thing ever. So she laughed. And said it again. And again. And again. And has basically been saying Hot Dog ever since. I must admit. I am less than proud that one of my daughter’s first words is hot dog. Ah well. Mickey Mouse wins.

That basically sums up what’s been going on around these parts. The tomatoes are starting to ripen, so I’ll be elbow deep in canning for the next few weeks, for sure. Grab your Tostitos and head on over because we’ll have salsa coming out our ears.

Oh yeah, one last thing. My baby walks now. A lot.

Eleven months? What?

2011-08-22T07:24:00.000-04:00

Dear Baby Girl,

Baby girl? Can I even call you that anymore? In so many ways, you aren’t a baby anymore. You have become such a big girl right before my eyes. But I don’t care, you’re still my baby. I am finding myself in shock that this is the very last letter I’ll write to you until we get to your big first birthday. I am so excited to celebrate this milestone with you.

For now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Sweet girl, just like always, you are the light of my life. My absolute joy. Your personality shines more and more with each passing day. You are stubborn, determined, and hot-tempered just like your father (okay, and maybe your Mama, too). You get your mind set on something and when you do – it has to be done. I’m hoping Daddy and I can figure out how to channel this fierce determination into a positive trait!

Your hair and your tan have certainly transformed your looks into those of a toddler. Here’s how you’ve looked this month:

You’ve been up to so much this month but the biggest progress has been in your motor skills and your words.

You took your very first unassisted steps on August 4th. I saw you take three steps on two separate occasions. And then, you didn’t walk again for exactly two weeks. Then, last Thursday, you took seven unassisted steps to your Auntie Marcia. That night and the next day you continued to take a few steps here and there. Most of the time, it’s only when we coax and encourage you, but sometimes, you stand up and walk on your own. For the past month or so, you have loved to walk around holding our hands, and quite frankly, you don’t need to be holding anything. Your confidence has been building and you have been getting braver and braver. Not too long and you’ll be running. I’m trying not to pressure you to walk fully too much because I know you’ll do it when you’re ready. For now, you’re mostly happy to crawl and scoot. And can I blame you? Why would you want to walk all wobbly like and fall down when you can get what you want in 3.2 seconds when crawling?

You have been picking up new words at a rapid speed. Right now your favourites are: Dada (or Dad), Nika (Ka), Chicken (CheeChin), Up, Cup (Up itch), Papa, Nananana, Mama (but you mostly only say it to cookies) Uh Oh, Ta Da, Puppy (Pa Pee) and All Done. You are starting to try to mimic and repeat our words. You sign eat (by smacking your lips together), all done, puppy and more. You love to clap your hands, wave and blow kisses and point your finger.

Speaking of kisses, your hugs and kisses have been the funniest thing lately. You are a fan of the open mouth kiss and are willing to kiss just about anyone. You love to kiss Nika as well as your dolls and stuffed animals and the faces of babies or animals in your books. One day, I saw you playing with Daddy’s hunting magazines and you kissed each deer on the face and then signed “Puppy”. And a few weeks later, you were kissing Auntie Julia’s coach purse. You got good taste, girl. You also love to give hugs. For a while, I was the only recipient but you’ve started to be a little more generous with the hugs lately. You lay your head down on the shoulder of the person you are hugging, pat their back and say “Awwww”. Every time you crawl onto my lap to give me a spontaneous hug, it melts my heart into a puddle of mush.

You are a little monkey and love to get into things. The other day, I caught you sitting on the door of the dishwasher. Then a few hours later, you were in the blanket box. You love to play on the bed and couch. You flop like a fishy out of water and love pillow fights. You love your Baby Doll. You love to make whisper sounds in my ear. It makes you laugh like crazy. You love to play “how big”, skype with your Nana and be tickled. You love to be outside, especially if you are watching the chickens. You also love to play fall down – where I say “Eva fall down and go boom” and you fall on your butt.

You still nurse 4-5 times a day but also love your solid food and your sippy of water. You’ve started having little tastes of cow’s milk here and there. Early in the month you started sharing your food with everyone. You always hold out your hand with your food and expect whoever is feeding you to “take a bite”. What a sweet girl you are to share your slobbery mush with everyone.

We’ve been enjoying our summer by spending time at the park, the beach and in the pool. You went camping for the first time this month and had a blast! I can’t wait to enjoy the last stretch of summer with you as we make our way to the big one year.

I love you my sweet baby,

Mama.

This one’s for you…

2011-08-15T07:00:00.000-04:00

A few years ago, if anyone had told me about this crazy thing called Twitter, I would have laughed in their face and told them I’d never get sucked up in something so stupid. Who would care if I had grilled cheese for lunch or if I peed three times in one hour or if I stubbed my toe on the side of my bed?

But then I got pregnant and I started “meeting” more and more Mommy bloggers as well as a bunch of non-Mommy bloggers who raved about the Twitter so I decided to check it out. While I was pregnant I asked a lot of questions to my twitter friends (who will be referred to as my "tweeps” from here on in). They eased my worries when I was unsure of something, they got excited with me when I felt the first little kicks, they tossed around baby names with me and they eagerly anticipated the birth of my babe right along with me.

And then, after I gave birth to Evalyn, my tweeps became even more important to me. I remember signing on shortly after her birth and seeing the many, many, many messages wishing me luck and cheering me on throughout the day as people started to notice I wasn’t around and figured out that I was in labour. I remember the congratulations when I introduced my little girl to the twitter world. I remember the help I got through the difficult days of the baby blues, how I had boobie cheerleaders supporting me and encouraging me when breastfeeding was difficult, how I had people help keep me sane and overcome many sleepless nights and how I have had an unending support system through every single challenge I have faced as a parent.

My tweeps, I thank you. We’re creeping up on the one year mark since I became a Mama. And I don’t think I could have done it without you. I’m not sure I would have survived the year without you. Maybe Eva wouldn’t have either. Some of you I’ve ‘known’ since long before I got pregnant with Eva, and I can remember sharing my big news with you. Some of you I got to know during my pregnancy. Maybe we were pregnant together. Maybe you already had a little (or two, or three, or four…) and I was looking ahead to what was in store for me through your experiences. Some of you I didn’t meet until my little girl had already arrived. Many of you I have picked up along the way.

But all of you? All of you have helped me, given me advice, eased my worries, celebrated my joys, and laughed at (some) of my jokes. I have made friends who have babies who were born within days of my own. Babies who have an identical wardrobe to my kid. Heck, I’ve even found a few prospects for future son-in-laws.

People outside the Twitterverse don’t understand what it’s all about. They don’t get how people can form a connection by sending 140 character messages back and forth. But they can. So many days during the past year were spent without seeing or speaking to another human being that weighed more than 20 pounds. On those days, my tweeps have been my lifeline. A connection to the outside world, if you will.

You have all been there with me as I have watched my baby girl transform so quickly from a teeny, squishy newborn to a spunky, determined, energetic little girl. And, likewise, I have watched your babies grow and learn and be so super cute all along the way. I have been filled with excitement over pregnancy announcements. I have checked in incessantly when I know a twitter baby is being born. I have cried happy tears when your babies turned 1. I have mourned over loss and heartache with you. I have congratulated you and been proud of you for accomplishments in your work and academic fields. I have prayed for you and you have prayed for me.

So, my tweeps, my friends – this one’s for you.

Five

2011-08-12T07:00:00.000-04:00

Today marks five years since I became yours. How do I sum up five amazing, fun filled, adventuresome, roller-coaster years in one measly blog post? Wasn’t it just yesterday that I walked down the aisle and took your hand?

You are the one I laugh with, fight with, work with, grow with, and live for. You are living proof that a girl’s dreams can come true. You have made me a wife and a mother. You have made us a family.

You rock my world, ECPC.

Love 2 you. Here’s to the next five…

xoxo, Luc

No. You….

2011-08-11T16:47:00.001-04:00

No. You poured the crumbs from the bottom of the Tostitos bag into the salsa bowl, stirred it up and ate it with a spoon so none of the chips went to waste.

No. You bought your kid amazing insulated no-spill straw sippy cups and then had to google and download the assembly instructions after you washed them because you could not figure out how to put the darn things back together.

No. You ordered your kid’s first birthday invitations and then had to re-order them and plan a special trip across the border to pick them up from a US post box so you will have them in time because the date of the party had to get switched.

No. You didn’t have time to go play at the park and get home in time to get dinner in the oven so you just went to McDonald’s and got a $1 vanilla iced coffee instead.

No. You picked 45228472 peppers from your garden and didn’t have a clue what to do with them all.

No. You lost sleep because you were worrying about how you’re possibly going to have time to can all of the tomatoes and salsa and beets now that you have a little Mini-you running around your house like a wild woman.

No. You took a 3 minute video of your baby motoring around the house on her feet, pushing her little car around before you realized that you had not pressed record.

No. You watched your child pull her ponytail out of her hair and swallow the tiny little elastic as your husband quickly pulled over and you frantically jumped into the backseat in an attempt to stop her.

No. You discovered that it takes approximately 45 hours for said tiny little elastic to pass through a little person’s system. Ahem.

No. You used to a flashlight to light up the laundry room for 5 days after the light bulb burnt out instead of driving yourself to the hardware store to get a new bulb.

That’s right. You did all those things. Because I certainly did not.

Getting it together…

2011-08-09T07:00:00.000-04:00

In one month from today, I will relinquish my title as full time SAHM. I’m going back to my position as a teaching assistant and marker grader in the department where I completed my undergrad and graduate degrees. I will be working part time, and a good deal of my work will be able to be done from home, yet it is still going to require some adjusting.

Back in January, when Eva was 3.5 months old, I took a very very part time position. At that point, I was responsible for leading 2 seminars, which worked out to about 10 hours per week. This year, I will have 5 seminars under my charge and will be the marker grader for 3 other courses. My contract will be for 25-30 hours a week. Some weeks I will have much less work than that, and some weeks, more. The way it works is that my contract is spread out evenly over the academic year, so I am paid the same amount each week, no matter how heavy the load is at that particular time during the semester. Near the beginning, all I will have is prep work and actually leading the seminars. As the semester progresses, the grading will start coming in and things will be b.u.s.y.

I am blessed because our child care arrangements have worked out better than I ever imagined. To begin, Evalyn is going to be staying with my girlfriend, C-Biscuit, who is expecting her own little one in December. This means that the adjustment will take place with someone Eva is already comfortable with, she’ll be at a house she’s familiar with, and my worries will be eased. Once C-Biscuit feels as though she is too, ahem, rotund, to continue caring for my baby (who will be a gigantic toddler by then!!), and/or when I reach a busy point in the semester where I need childcare more often than just when I have to be in seminar, we’ll make the switch to day care. At first I thought it would be a breeze to find childcare for just a few hours a week. But, since we don’t really have any family in the area who is able to help during the day, it actually made it more difficult because keeping a kid for just a few hours a week isn’t really worth it for most daycare providers. Thankfully, I found a daycare that is, literally, two minutes away from our house, which is run by a girl I went to high school with. She is very relaxed so I am able to take Eva as little or as much as possible, depending on the amount of work I need to do each given week. Some weeks, I’ll only need her to go for two half days. Some weeks, I’ll probably need three full days. It’s not often you find a place with that flexibility. What a blessing!

All of this is to say that in the next month, I need to get my act together as we prepare for these changes in our family. I’ve been a bit nervous about how I am going to manage splitting my time between work and home/family – especially since the two will overlap quite a bit. How will I get all my work done without taking away from the time that Evalyn needs me? How will I manage the housework, the work work, the mom work, the wife work, the secretary work and so on? It’s not like any of the responsibilities I have right now will disappear. I’ve had a few moments of slight panic attacks and my dear husband attempts to calm me – reminding me that I tend to thrive under pressure and stress and that when I’m busy, I’m productive. He is certain that I will quickly get into a groove and settle into a new normal. That being said, he also knows that he will have to pick up some of my slack around the house, take on a little more of the childcare, and become more organized in terms of time and communication.

And I know the areas I need to make changes in. I need to become more organized with menu planning and grocery shopping. Some mealtimes will be rushed. Some evenings I won’t be home to cook or eat or clean up, or all of the above. Menus will need to be planned accordingly and groceries will need to be bought efficiently to avoid 68 unnecessary trips throughout the week and weekly take out. Of course, there will be times when it just has to happen, but for the most part, a little planning can avoid this and help me feel way less stressed on a week to week basis.

I need to become more strict with our budget. Once I start bringing in an income, I need to make sure we’re not letting things slip. Am I the only one who feels like it’s easier to stay on track with the budget when you have less money? I mean, when there’s no money, it’s simple – you can’t buy stuff. But when there is “extra” money (ha, extra?) it’s easy to let loose here and there, and before you know it, you’re living to an entirely new standard. That is exactly what we’re trying to avoid as we don’t want to get too comfortable with the extra income.

I’m going to have to become more efficient with housework. I am considering formulating some kind of weekly routine, where I do a little bit each day. I’ve always been a “housecleaning day” type person – where I spend a day doing the cleaning, but that just may not be possible anymore. In order to avoid going through an entire month before I realize I haven’t cleaned my house, I think I’ll need to set up a chore chart. Eva should be able to start scrubbing toilets or something pretty soon, right?

And the biggest area where I will need to become more efficient and organized, obviously, is with my time. Specifically, naptime and after bedtime. At this point, Eva is still taking 2 solid naps per day. That may start to decrease as we progress through the school year, but for now, I count on that. I tend to get a lot of my stuff done when she’s sleeping. It’s just easier. I can unload the dishwasher in 4 minutes while she’s sleeping but it takes me 40 if she’s tugging on my legs. That being said, though, I do give myself quite a bit of downtime during naps and after she goes to bed in the evening. Especially in the evening … usually I just finish cleaning up the kitchen if it hasn’t been done, put together Evan’s lunch (which I slack on all.the.time) and maybe do a little bit of work out in the garden or something… but usually, I spend a good few hours in the evening on my booty.

I don’t want to get to the point where I am not having any down time – that’s just not healthy – but realistically, I need to accept the fact that naptimes and evenings will have to be productive if I’m going to stay on top of things. Grading, prep work, chores, paperwork for Evan’s business, cooking and so on will need to be done. And done efficiently at that. I have a feeling when September rolls around I will be relying on my trusty list making system more than I ever have before. Organization and efficiency are what makes me tick and I’m counting on those skills to help me out.

What Life is Made of

2011-08-08T10:28:00.001-04:00

Forgive me in advance as I’m about to embark on the sappiest of all sappy posts. But? I just can’t help it. My heart is just so full. So deal with it.

It’s Monday morning. Usually Monday mornings are filled with rumbles and grumbles about starting a new week. But not today. Today, I’m eager to get things accomplished and have a great week. That’s what happens when you have an amazing weekend that fills you up with energy and life. (See? Uber sap. Don’t say I didn’t warn you).

On Saturday night, Evan and I got to spend the evening out together celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary. The actual anniversary is not until the 12th (so no worries, you still have time to get those presents in the mail), but we celebrated early because of other commitments next weekend. I got dressed up. I (gasp) did my hair and makeup. We dropped the kiddo off at her auntie’s midafternoon and headed out. We ~~scarfed down~~ enjoyed a delicious Italian meal. Salad, Italian wedding soup, rice balls, calamari, crispy ravioli, surf and turf ravioli and penne rustica followed by – are you ready for this – a dessert pizza smothered with nutella, strawberries, bananas and whipped cream. Could there be anything better? I think not.

After dinner, we waddled back to the truck and headed to the movie theatre. Seeing a movie wouldn’t be our traditional anniversary date – I always want to do something a little more interactive, but now that we have a kiddo? Seeing a movie? Bliss. Especially when that movie is the final instalment of Harry Potter … a love that we’ve shared since the beginning of our relationship.

We’ve come to appreciate nights out so much now that we have a baby. Obviously. No screaming to control during dinner, no one throwing food on the floor, no faces to wipe (well, except mine, since Evan pointed out that I had managed to get sauce all over my forehead), no butts to wipe. Just us. Me and him.

The best part of a date night is coming home and finding out that the kiddo was an angel for her aunties. No fussing. No trouble. No acknowledgment that mommy and daddy were even missing. That makes the date even better.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the weekend got even better. On Sunday, we packed a picnic and headed to Happy Rolph’s Petting Zoo after church. Evalyn fell asleep on the way and snoozed through half of the picnic but woke up just in time to see all the fun animals.

At first she wasn’t sure about the goats, but quickly got excited. We saw baby goats, sheep, pigs, llama llama red pajamas, donkeys, a cow, a horse and chickens. She was pumped. Although, as you can see in the middle right photo, she thought those chickens were old news!

Our weekend finished off with an afternoon and evening spent with our best friends. The boys did work, and the girls watched some Wiggles (keep your eyes peeled for a supah cute video of girlfriend getting down to the Wiggles), we ate Chinese food, went for a ride on the swing and enjoyed our day.

After weekends like this, I realize how blessed I am. To have family and friends to enjoy life with? There’s nothing better.

Just a little blip…

2011-08-02T20:23:00.001-04:00

A few of the days last week and weekend were very trying for me. Nothing in particular. Just trying. It’s not like I was cooped up, or the days were extra long or anything … in fact, we had my SIL for a few days and spent the weekend BBQing and sitting around the campfire with our best friends, so if anything, the days were more exciting and the time flew by faster. But Eva has started into this annoying screamy stage lately and it’s so so exhausting. Like I mentioned in a post last week, meal time is getting a little ridiculous. And this new cry/scream has weaseled its way into other (read: all) areas of her life, as well. The older she gets, the more ideas, opinions, thoughts and feelings she seems to have (the nerve!) and without an ability to clearly communicate these things to me, she goes from zero to screamy in 2.0 seconds flat.

Saturday morning was particularly difficult and screamy. Evan left the house super early in order to try to be home earlier, and I was finding myself nearing the end of my rope too quickly. By 9:00 I was wondering if it was bedtime yet. And this was 9:00 in the morning, people. I was feeling down on myself and had to pull back tears more than once. We went for an early morning walk and I found myself pleading with God to give me what I would need to get through the day without losing my ever loving mind. It was one of those days where I got to feeling like I’m just not patient enough, not strong enough, not selfless enough, not equipped enough – just all together not enough for this crazy thing we call parenting.

By Sunday morning I was spent. But thankfully, a morning of worship (which included a great sermon that I was actually able to listen to thanks to the wonderful nursery workers at church), an early afternoon nap, a few hours out running errands with my family (Costco, say what?) and a movie night snuggled up on the couch with my hubby was enough to cure my woes. I must say, that part of the cure was definitely having Ev tell me that I could do whatever I wanted for the afternoon and he would be on baby duty if I needed to get away.

As I crawled into bed that night – knowing that when I woke up it would be a new week, and a new month, in fact – I thought to myself how this stage that seems difficult to deal with is just a tiny blip in the big picture.

Soon, I’ll forget about this challenge and will be faced with entirely new, equally, or perhaps more difficult challenges.

I’ll forget about this. Just like how I’ve already forgotten what it felt like to be uncomfortably pregnant in the heat of the summer. And how it felt to be covered in baby spit up while nursing a newborn around the clock. What it felt like to have a gassy baby who just couldn’t get comfortable. How it felt to walk and bounce and shush and walk and bounce and shush during the witching hours of the evening. Each stage goes by so quickly. And I forget so quickly.

The days can be so long. The difficulties can make feel insignificant and ill equipped. Being a mom can wear me down until I am raw. And, sometimes, it feels like forever. But it’s not. It’s just a blip. A blip that I’ll look back at and long for.

August

2011-08-01T08:32:00.001-04:00

When I went to bed last night, it was July. The first full month of summer. The beginning. When I woke up this morning, it was August. The last full month of summer. The end.

August brings with it many things. The last full month until my sweet baby turns ONE. The last full month of me being a full time SAHM. The last month until my 25th birthday. The month of our 5th wedding anniversary. It’s also (hopefully) the last full month of sweltering heat and humidity. The last full month of pool and beach days.

The last month of summer.

So please excuse us while we go enjoy the last bit of our first summer together.

This and That…

2011-07-29T14:09:00.001-04:00

A few random tidbits to end the week off…

Eva and I were lucky enough to spend the last few days with her Aunt Logi, my sister-in-law, while my brother is in India for business. We swam, played, walked, shopped and had an intense game of Mexican Train. What fun! Eva is definitely starting to know and remember people which I love. So much fun to see her recognizing her family members and other special people.

We finally got around to doing some baby proofing. I always said, Oh, I’ll do it soon. I’ll do it soon. And then, suddenly, here we are, and I should have “baby proofed” 3 months ago. But really, there’s not a lot that needed to be done. It was mostly just the kitchen cabinets. I always said I’d never lock them … I’d just teach her she can’t go in them. HA! Girlfriend was obsessed with getting into them and it was just getting ridiculous (and a little unsafe) for her to be constantly pulling things, like you know, the food processor, out. So, they are locked and this morning I waited anxiously for her to make this discovery and of course, she waited until well after morning nap to even really bother with them. And let me say, once she did figure out that she can’t get in them anymore, she was not such a happy camper. BUT once she realized she couldn’t get at them, she ended up sitting and playing with her TOYS (gasp!) for 30 minutes straight.

Mealtime has become somewhat horrible. Lately, when I put her in her chair with her meal, she starts devouring whatever is in front of her for about 3-5 minutes and then suddenly, it’s like a switch is flipped and she starts freaking. Not just whining and complaining. It’s more like, raging, someone is ripping my limbs off type screaming. As far as I can tell, it’s not that she doesn’t like the food, because she eats it and mmms and smacks her lips at first and it’s not that she’s full, because she sometimes calms down and just keeps eating and if she doesn’t, when she gets down and finished ScreamFest 2011, she smacks her lips and signs for food again. She rarely lets me spoon feed her – except yogurt and fruit in the morning as long as there is some pancake, toast or cracker on her tray that she can eat with her hands while I sneak the spoon in between her bites. But at lunch or dinner? Very little spoon feeding happening.

So what’s the deal? Is she bored? Does she want something different to eat? Does she just want to be a brat? Any advice?

We have chickens in the coop again. Evalyn loves them. She will stand outside the coop and watch them and squeal forever. And, much to my dismay, she even wants to go inside the coop with them (um, hello, gross. There’s POOP in there kid). I keep telling her she should want to go shopping and get her nails done and do girly things but I’m afraid Evan might get his way and have a little tomboy. Sidenote: The rage-filled limbs being ripped off screams often happen when we peel her away from her chickens, too.

I’ve officially begun thinking about first birthday stuff. How is it even possible that this is on my mind? Less than 2 months and we’ll be celebrating her first year! I’ve already made a few small first birthday party purchases and have a ton of ideas floating around in my head. Eek. Exciting.

Evan was in a car accident the Saturday before we left for Ottawa. No one was hurt but his truck needed to have some repairs. So, it was in the shop all week until last night. On Wednesday, my car started making a bizarre rattling noise that Evan was unsure of, so as of today, my car is in the shop. Aren’t car troubles just the best?

Happy Friday, friends! Love you all.

First Family Vacation

2011-07-26T07:00:00.000-04:00

We’re home. We had a blast. I want to be on vacation with my family forever. Except, in that forever, I’d like my baby to sleep at night while we are away. Because, honestly, aside from the fact that she did NOT sleep at night while we were away, it was perfect. We walked miles and miles, seeing sights, shopping, picnicking in the parks – and just all together having a good time. A good, good time. Just the three of us.

Now that we’re home, I feel like Evalyn and I are going through a Daddy withdrawal. We got so used to having him with us all day for 5 days straight that life is kind of boring now that it’s just the two of us again.

I’m normally not a huge fan of vacation recap posts but for the sake of memories, I’m about to do just that. As I mentioned last week, we made a quick change of plans – very last minute – and headed to our capital city, Ottawa, instead of going camping. And lemmetellyou, we are glad that we did. Thanks to Jen, we found an amazing deal on travel zoo for a suite with a full kitchen and living/dining area. This meant that we could still keep our vacation relatively cheap by eating most of our food at the hotel and also, we could sleep more comfortably by putting up the playpen in the corner of the living room area instead of right beside our bed. Although, in the end, that part of the arrangement was kind of pointless since she ended up in our bed a good portion of the time anyway.

We left around 9 on Wednesday morning, stopping for a quick McD’s breakfast and iced coffee on the way out of town. We stopped for about an hour for lunch and to stretch our legs (okay, and to buy some new shirts at Old Navy for Evan) and then continued on. The trip took much less time than I expected and we were pulling into the hotel parking lot just before 3.

We settled in, had a quick snack and then headed out for the evening. We wandered around the By-ward market for a few hours. I stopped at Lush to pick up a few bath fizzies (yum) and we stopped at a nice little Pub to have some dinner. After dinner, we walked a little more and then headed back to the hotel around 7. Eva went to bed and Evan and I ate junk food and watched a movie in the room.

Let me tell you, traveling sure is different with a baby in tow. Normally, when seeing a new city, I would leave my hotel at 8 am and not return until well after dark, in an attempt to see every single thing there was to see in two days. That’s just not possible anymore. But, that’s okay. We just decided to relax. Take in a few things and not over do it. We stuck to places we could go that were within walking distance from the hotel and quite honestly, those were the most important places to see anyway. Neither Evan or I had been to Ottawa since middle school so it was all new to us again.

On Friday morning, we all slept in until past 8 (although, sleeping in takes on a different meaning when you were up all.freaking.night) and woke up to find that tooth #7 had decided to join us for our vacation. We made a big breakfast in the room and then headed to the pool for a swim. I put the babe down, and we got ready for the day, packed a picnic lunch and relaxed a bit.

Once she was up, we were off to Parliament Hill. We wandered around there, seeing all the statues and buildings and had a picnic lunch with Sir John A MacDonald. In the collage below, my very favourite picture is the one of Eva and I in front of the “Women are Persons” monument. This monument honours the famous 5 – five women who worked hard (and were successful) in securing a place for women in the senate. Many freedoms my daughter will enjoy are a result of the work of these ladies.

After seeing Parliament, we walked through the mall a bit and headed back for nap #2. After the nap, we decided to stay inside for a while since it was balls hot so we went swimming again and cooked an early dinner in the room. The evening was spent wandering more of the market and eating ice cream. Eva was more than happy to share her first ice cream cone with her Daddy. We also walked along the river and Eva had a chance to dip her toes in the canal.

On Friday morning, we got up early, made breakfast and went for a walk in Major’s Hill Park. It was a beautiful, cool morning – just perfect.

We packed up while Eva napped, checked out and were ready to go. Except we had one more stop to make. Because they only took cash and we didn’t have any the night before, I hadn’t had a chance to get my beloved Beaver Tail yet. So, yes, I had to stop for one on the way out of the city (you can see me stuffing my face in one of the photos above). I also stopped at one of the shops I’d been in earlier to grab a few souvenirs and off we went. We went to Dow’s Lake for a picnic lunch and a walk and then headed off to Cornwall for the next step on our journey.

Evan’s sister, Amy, got married on Saturday so the last portion of our trip was full of wedding fun. We got to the hotel in Cornwall in time for a swim and a nap before the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. And on Saturday, we enjoyed celebrating as Amy and Stuart committed their lives to each other in an extremely beautiful wedding ceremony. Unfortunately, I don’t have very many photos from the wedding. With a husband in the wedding party and a crazy 10 month old scooting around, I didn’t have an extra hand to snap photos. But here are a few of my wee family from throughout the day.

The wedding reception was so much fun and thanks to Auntie Marcia and Auntie Linda, I was able to put the baby to bed and enjoy some time partying it up on the dance floor sans baby.

Sunday came quickly and after enjoying a delicious brunch (waffles, yum), we packed up and hit the road. Again, we stopped for lunch and a leg stretch and made it home just before 3.

We were all amazingly tired when we got home. Five busy days with not a lot of sleep will do that to you. Evalyn went to bed around 6:40 and, to be honest, we followed shortly after. Ev fell asleep on the couch at 7 and finally managed to make his way to bed to go to sleep for good at 8:30 and I crashed then, too. And at last, we slept for longer than 2 hours at a time.

Although this vacation was short – it was so special. We’ll always look back and remember it as our first family vacation. My heart is so full.

Ten Months!

2011-07-25T10:32:00.001-04:00

Dear Sunshine Baby,

Last Friday, while we were on vacation you turned 10 months old. How can it be? You are such a little girl now. Each day you are becoming less and less of a baby and more and more of a little girl. And I’m loving it. You are so fun. You’re personality, attitude, temper, stubborn nature, and humour shines all the time. You are really learning how to communicate, how to be funny, and how to be a little stinker.

You have started to look so different this month. Your hair is getting thicker, longer and lighter. The best part of the month was when I was able to start putting your hair in pigtails. And, girlfriend, your skin is SO tan. I don’t think it’s fair. I slather you up with SPF 60 sunscreen and you are still more tan than I. Here’s how you’ve looked this month:

You are fitting well into most 9 and 12 month clothes. I’m guessing you’re sitting somewhere between 18.5-19 pounds. You wear size 3 or 4 diapers and are still wearing size medium cloth diaper covers.

This month you’ve started pointing at everything and have just recently started pairing the point with “dis” “dis” “dis”. You are also saying Da-Da a lot and I think you’re starting to connect the word to your Daddy. You still say Nika (Ka) quite a bit and sometimes say Hi. You love to wave and give (slobbery) kisses. The other day, I told you to blow kisses and you just puckered your lips and said Mmmm.

For a while at the beginning of this month, you got really sucky for your Mama and sometimes, Daddy couldn’t even take you. That seems to have died down now, and you will generally be happy with anyone – just as long as they are doing what you want them to do.

You love to walk around holding onto our hands. A few months ago we put bets on when you’d start walking and I have to admit – we thought we’d have a walker by now. But that’s okay … take your time, little lady. Sometimes you get brave and will walk holding onto only one hand but you’re usually looking for something to grab with your empty hand. You’ve started to stand unassisted, and it will last anywhere from 10-30 seconds … until you realize you aren’t holding onto anything and then you go kaboom.

This month has been an adventure in new foods. Aside from nuts, chocolate and seafood – you eat everything that we eat. You love pancakes, eggs, spaghetti, lasagna, perogies, mango, peaches, cherries, strawberries and raspberries (only if I let you have it whole), and much much more. You are in the midst of a real, “let me do it myself” stage when it comes to eating and rarely let me feed anything to you. You nurse 4-5 times a day and usually eat 3 solid meals, and a snack here or there. Sometimes you want no food and all milk and some days you want all food and no milk. If there’s one thing for certain, it’s that there’s no making you eat what/when you don’t want to eat.

For the most part, you have started sleeping quite a bit better over the past month. We’ve had a number of 12+ hour nights which make your Mama very very happy. You’re still napping twice a day, usually for 1.5-2 hours each. You go to bed around 7-7:30 and we usually start our day anywhere between 6:45-8am. You cut your 7th tooth (3rd bottom tooth) the day before you turned 10 months old. You had a rough couple weeks with your teeth so I am hoping there are a few more shortly behind it to explain the extent of your pain. It’s sometimes hard to tell when you have a new tooth coming in because you don’t let me look or feel inside your mouth very easily, at all.

We’ve spent a lot of time at the pool, with your cousins, walking, and out at the garden. You traveled up north to the Vine family reunion and did wonderfully in the car and at the camp. You didn’t sleep great there, but the rest was awesome. You also went to the zoo to celebrate Little H’s birthday and took a trip to Ottawa. You’ve been a busy girl! You are also a busy girl at home – you get into e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. The kitchen cupboards are your newest favourite.

Evalyn, your Daddy and I are enjoying you oh so much. You are the very best part of us. We love you to the moon and back.

Mama

Vacation!

2011-07-21T16:40:00.001-04:00

Here I am, just checking in to let you know that I’m on vacaaaaaaaaa! Months ago, we had planned to go camping for our family vacation. We had booked a site at one of Ontario’s nicest provincial parks and had borrowed a pop up trailer from some friends of ours. We were set to leave on Wednesday morning around 9. It was Tuesday evening and we were basically all packed up and ready to go when Eva started getting really fussy about an hour before bedtime. We were in the midst of the hottest week of summer and it was only supposed to get hotter. To add to that, the past two weeks Eva has been going through her most difficult bout of teething yet. She has been in rare form.

Just as I was getting ready to put Eva in a shower to cool down before bed, Evan and I kind of just looked at each other and said, “What the heck are we doing?”

Isn’t the point of vacation to have a good time? The point is not to be miserable the whole time as you’re trying to entertain a hot, teething, unhappy baby, who likely wouldn’t even sleep. We figured we’d end up driving around through the night to avoid waking up other campers in the surrounding campsites.

So, within a matter of 10 minutes, we cancelled our campsite and booked a hotel suite in Ottawa for the two nights (thanks to my friend Jen for finding us such a great teal from Travel Zoo).

We’ve been here in our capital city for just over 24 hour and are having a really, really enjoyable time.

And? The fact that I was up half the night with a shrieking baby who woke up this morning with a brand new tooth was more than enough proof to me that we made the right decision and that the extra money spent on the hotel was worth it. Dealing with that in a private, air conditioned hotel room is bad enough. I don’t even want to think about what our time would have been like dealing with it at the campsite.

We’ve been swimming, walking, touring, shopping, and eating and having a blast! This is, really, our first official family vacation. The first time we’ve gone away anywhere – just the three of us.

Tomorrow we’ll head off to to our next adventure as we celebrate with Evan’s sister as she marries the love of her life. We’ll be back next week with pictures and stories to document our vacation.

At least there was fried pastry…

2011-07-18T14:04:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, we had plans to go to the Toronto Metro Zoo with my family to celebrate Little H’s 3rd birthday. Because of work, Evan wasn’t able to go with us. I wasn’t overly happy about that – both because I hate driving and because I wanted him to be there with the family, but you do what you have to do. I was nervous about driving myself there. I am not a huge fan of driving, especially in busy and unfamiliar places. But, I wanted to be a part of Little H’s birthday celebration and I didn’t want to give up the opportunity to take my girl to the zoo for the first time, so I put on my big girl panties, wrote down my directions (yes, I said WROTE DOWN MY DIRECTIONS. I am the last person on the planet to not own a GPS thanks to my old-soul husband who believes in the value of the good old days where people used a map), packed a picnic lunch and off we went.

I made sure that Eva and I were up on the earlier end of normal, so that if I left a bit before nap time, she’d hopefully still fall asleep for part of the drive. Apparently that was a good plan because girlfriend was asleep before I even got to McDonald’s to stop for my iced coffee.

By the time I got my coffee and was pulling onto the highway it was exactly 9:00 … thirty minutes earlier than I had planned to get away. It was a good start to the day.

About 25 minutes into the drive, I saw a sea of dreaded brake lights ahead of me. And just like that, we were in stand still traffic. We came to a stop right at an exit and many cars made the last minute decision to get out of there, but I stuck with the highway since I didn’t know where to go if I got off and hello, no GPS for me. After sitting there for fifteen minutes and only moving a few inches, I started to notice that I was sweating a wee bit more than normal. Clearly because I was on edge about being stuck in traffic. Or not. I was actually sweating because my air conditioner was no longer blowing out cold air, but rather, hot hot hot air. So, down went the windows. But you know, rolling the windows down only provides minimal relief when it’s 4892877583 degrees outside.

Once that issue was dealt with, I noticed something else going on. I had to pee. Like whoa. Funny how I can go for hours and hours and hours without peeing at home when my bathroom is right beside me, but stick me in a car with my baby for an hour long trip and I’m doing the pee pee dance as soon as I find myself stuck on the highway with no escape.

I had no idea how long it would be until we got through the construction that was causing the delay, nor how long it would be until the next exit, so I had my legs a-crossed. (Side note: it is physically impossible to navigate a manual transmission vehicle through stop and go traffic with your legs crossed.)

Thankfully, it was only a few kilometers of construction, so we were out of it within about 25 minutes. I quickly zoomed off the highway and got myself to the closest Tim Horton’s I could find. Eva was still asleep in the backseat and apparently, it’s been a long time since I’ve driven any distance with her by myself, because I realized that I no idea how to get myself into the washroom without waking her up, because apparently, you’re not allowed to leave your sleeping baby in the car alone on a hot day. I thanked my lucky stars that we hadn’t put away her infant seat the day before like we talked about as I carried her, seat and all, and set her down into the stall with me. Of course, she didn’t stay asleep, but that’s beside the point. I had to pee. This made me wonder what I’ll do when I do switch her to the next car seat. Moms, what do you do? Do you have to put your baby on the dirty floor of the public washroom?

A few minutes later and we were back on the road. But remember? The air conditioning konked out when we were stuck in traffic? It still wasn’t working. So now I had a grumpy, fussing baby, who would rather still be asleep, trying to find a comfortable position in the hot car with the hot wind blowing in her face. She went back and forth between fussing and ‘singing’ for the next leg of the trip until we were about 10 minutes from the zoo, when she finally fell back to sleep.

We pulled into the zoo parking lot just before 10:30, which was actually still 30 minutes earlier than I expected to be there, thanks to the early departure and the over estimation of how long my drive would be. I unloaded my stuff, put the baby in the trunk (what? you don’t do that?) to change her diaper and sunscreen her up and off we went.

We quickly met up with the rest of the gang and proceeded to have a fun (HOT) day at the zoo. Let’s just say there was time spent at the splash pad. Eva basically didn’t even notice any of the animals except some mountain goats but she did fall asleep in the stroller for the second time in her entire life, so that was a miracle. I forgot my camera, but I’m hoping to scoop photos that my brother took.

Despite the semi-stressful and chaotic start to the day and the extreme heat, it was a fun day. And of course, I made sure to get myself a Beaver Tail while I was there. Because what trip to the Toronto Zoo would be complete with some delicious fried pastry?

Happy 3rd Birthday to Little H! Thank you for letting us celebrate your big day with you.

Our Moments

2011-07-14T14:13:00.001-04:00

It’s no secret that I love nursing my baby girl. When she was born, I had it in my mind that I would try to nurse her for the first year of her life. And I remember, many times, feeling as though that year was going to be f.o.r.e.v.e.r. When we started out, nursing sucked. It was painful, uncomfortable, unnatural, demanding and non-stop.

But then it got better. And it became easy and comfortable and special.

For me, this isn’t about the breast versus bottle debate. I know some people choose not to nurse or are unable to nurse. And that is fine. As women, and mothers, it’s our right to do what’s best for us and our babies. For me, it’s something deeper than breast versus bottle. It’s about figuring out what works for Evalyn and I and sticking with it. And, for us, what works is nursing.

For the first five or six months of her life, my breast milk was the sole source of nutrition for this tiny little person. And that fact, at times, made breastfeeding stressful. There were the constant questions of whether or not she was getting enough, if my body was continuing to meet her growing needs, if she was nursing often enough, or too often, and so on. Yet at the same time, providing her sole nutrition from my body gave me a sense of pride as well. When we went to the doctor and she got weighed, I swelled, knowing that I did that. I was taking care of her and providing for her in the best way I knew how.

Then, around six months, she started exploring the world of solids and adding some other forms of nutrition into her diet. It was around this age that our nursing relationship and my attitude towards breast feeding started to shift.

Instead of thinking that I would never get my body back or that my breasts would never be the same, I started to think about how much longer I’d have the opportunity to provide for her this way. I stopped looking at it as a chore and began viewing it as a gift.

For me, nursing is a gift – it is the gift of time, and quiet, and connection, and relationship, and nurturing and bonding – all shared solely between Evalyn and I. No one else has that connection with her.

Over the past little while, I’ve started to realize how much I value my nursing experience – above and beyond it being a way of feeding my child. When she nurses, we’re close. We’re quiet. We’re still. We look at each other. We giggle. I sing. I pray. I hold her. We are connected. While I used to feel like I was nursing non-stop and my days were filled with nothing but breastfeeding, now I look forward to the four or five times a day where we get to snuggle up in a chair together and just be. It’s relaxing. And it’s calm. Just me and my child.

Each day, we’re creeping closer and closer to that big one year mark. I am excited and sad about it all at the same time. Each time I nurse my babe, I find myself wondering how many more of these moments we’ll share. How long until she’ll decide it’s time to stop? How long until I’ll decide it’s time to stop? How will I know? While at one point I felt like I would be nursing forever, I now feel like that forever is getting too close. I know a lot can change in the next few months, and I’ll follow her cues, but at this point, I hope we keep going until at least a year. And beyond that? I don’t know. I don’t know how long I’ll nurse for. What I do know, is that for now, I will treasure our moments because I know, oh how I know, that they are fleeting.

(Thank you to my sweet sister-in-law, Logi, for these precious photos!)

B to the a-c-k

2011-07-11T19:38:00.001-04:00

Remember me?

I’ve been on vacation for the past week and a bit. Well, to be honest, I’ve actually been home from vacation for over 72 hours but I’m struggling to pull myself out of vacation mode and back into reality mode.

The beautiful thing about returning from vacation on Friday evening is that you have the weekend to pretend your still on holidays. The not so beautiful thing is that at some point, you have to put your foot down and remember that life must go on as per usual.

We enjoyed an amazing week in Northern Ontario with my mom’s side of the family. My days were spent lounging by the lake and it was fabulous. Eva napped like a champ while we were there – giving me the opportunity to put my feet up, get a bit of a tan, drink too much Pepsi and crush a few good books.

Too much happened to write a recap so I’ll just let the photos do the talking.

The weather was fab, the food was delicious and the company was unbeatable.

Cherry Berry

2011-07-01T07:56:00.001-04:00

Every mom has certain “firsts” that they look forward to. Of course, there are the obvious: first smile, first step, first word… but I think there are also firsts that may only be special to us and no one else. For me, living on a cherry farm, one of those firsts that I looked forward to was the day that I would get to pick and share a bowl of cherries with my girl.

July 1st is the big official opening day for Pick Your Own Cherries around here, so yesterday, before things got busy, I took advantage of the ripe cherries. We picked, washed and pitted a few and then headed outside with a blanket, some wipes and a baby stripped down to nothin’ but her gitches. I put her in a disposable so we wouldn’t have to worry about getting any stains on her diaper covers and away we went. The only thing I forgot was to get myself into nothing but a diaper – sure, she escape the stains, but I didn’t.

I set her down and let her start exploring the wonderful world of sweet cherries.

Within 2.3 seconds, the scene looked like. Who needs a hat? Forget the bowl! This is serious business.

She played around with them, squashing them between her fingers for a few minutes, until finally, she ventured to taking a bite.

That bite was quickly followed by an, “Mmm” as she reached down and tried to grab ~~the rest of the pile~~ another cherry.

I’m pretty sure more of the cherries ended up between her fingers and dripping down her chin than in her tummy, but who cares? We had fun.

If she thinks this is good, just wait until next week when she gets to try her Momma’s homemade chocolate cherry chip ice cream.

Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians! And Happy Independence Day to those of you south of the border. Enjoy your holiday weekend!

We’re off…

A Picnic and the Park

2011-06-29T07:00:00.000-04:00

Eva has two Nanas who love her very much and spoil her rotten when they are around. Unfortunately, one of them lives an hour and a half away and the other one lives three hours away. This means she only gets to see them every now and again. But, regardless of her Nanas being far away, Eva is a lucky duck because she also has some Aunties who live just down the road and love to hang out with her.

Last Friday, Evalyn and I met Auntie Marcia down at the beach for a picnic. Sadly, Auntie Linda couldn’t join us, but there’s always next time. The sky threatened to rain, but luckily, it just sprinkled while we ate our lunch of cheese, crackers, salami, veggies, hummus and pitas, fruit and yogurt under the pavilion and then stopped all together when we were done so we could enjoy a little walk along the boardwalk.

And last night was just another fun time spent with the Aunties. I took spaghetti, garlic bread and salad over for dinner since Evan is working there right now and after dinner, us girlies headed to the park.

Evalyn loved playing peek-a-boo with Auntie Marcia and trying to catch Linda’s fingers through the holes on the bottom of the jungle gym. And, Little Miss decided to show me that she can climb steps as she quickly scooted from one level of the playground to the next. She hasn’t quite grasped the concept of the slide yet, but I’m sure she’ll figure it out before too long.

I foresee many, many more picnics and park days in our future because she’s at a super duper fun age to enjoy all the goodness of summer. Thanks, Aunties, for all the good times. And here’s to many, many more.

(There, Marcia, now you can stop complaining that the picnic didn’t make it onto the blog. Sheesh. Happy now?).

The day I’d been waiting for…

2011-06-28T07:18:00.000-04:00

Once upon a time, before I was a mother, I was an aunt. For a long time, before Litlte H and Baby Char Char came along, I was an aunt to girls only. Sometimes, I would try to do their hair. It always looked like crap. It was crooked, uneven and all together bad. But, I’d try.

And then I’d always say, “See? This is why I’m going to have little boys. Because I don’t know how to do all this girly stuff.”

Fast forward a few years later – I was pregnant. I was sure I was having the little boy I always dreamed of. I wanted a baby girl, too, of course, I just always imagined that we’d have a son first. In fact, I always imagined we’d have five little boys followed by a little girl. One princess with five big brothers. I thought every little girl needed a big brother. I also wanted a boy because I thought I liked the boy clothes better. I hated pink.

Throughout my pregnancy, I always referred to the baby as “he”. We didn’t know what we were having, despite what some people thought because of the certainty with which I would declare my baby a “he” baby. I just didn’t like saying “it” or “the baby” all the time, and besides, it was obviously going to be a boy.

Somewhere between 7-8 months into my pregnancy, something shifted. I started sifting through the little girl’s dresses in baby stores, picking up frilly socks and floral sleepers. And one day, I knew. I was having a little girl. I was sure of it. Just as quickly as I had jumped to calling my unborn baby “he”, I started saying, “she”. I just knew.

On September 22, 2010 at 1:26 p.m. when I held my slimy little child for the first time and took a peek at the “goods” to see what I got, I was not the least bit surprised to find I had a little lady. In fact, I would have been utterly shocked to find myself looking at little boy parts.

Immediately, I was captivated by my Little Princess. In no time at all, I realized that I could not imagine life without teensy tiny dresses (hokey smokes – they’re not all pink!), I could not imagine seeing my husband with any baby other than his little girl, and of course, I could not imagine not having fun hair accessories.

Evalyn has had a headband in her hair almost daily since she was born. And recently, we’ve ventured into the world of clippies as well, since her hair has suddenly grown like whoa.

And yesterday? Yesterday was the day we’ve been waiting for. Aside from her birth, this was the most exciting day of my life. Kidding. Sort of. Okay, I’m not.

Because now? Girlfriend can wear piggys.

Her Garden Grows

2011-06-27T10:10:00.001-04:00

Due to the prolific amount of baby-related posts, you may think that I’ve completely forgotten how to think, say, or do anything that doesn’t have to do with my kid. And, I mostly have. But, thanks to my dear husband, we’re back into the swing of gardening. Our garden has been planted for about a month, but it’s taken me this long to finally snap some pics and get a post together. Forgive the quality of these photos, all I had with me was hubby’s iPhone.

Due to the extremely rainy and cold spring (if you can even call it spring), we were pretty late getting things planted. Most years things are quite a bit ahead of where they are now and we’re usually already eating lettuce. But, such is the way with gardening. Things will catch up. I’m already astounded at how quickly everything’s growing.

So, here you have it. Our 2011 garden. The garden itself is no bigger than it was last year, but we ended up planting the zucchini, squash and cucumber - crawling plants that take a ton of room – in a different area to leave more space the main garden.

That sexy, shirtless garden boy that you can just barely see in the corner? He comes with the garden.

First up we’ve got potted herbs (oregano, chives and basil), radish, beets, onions, lettuce, carrots, turnips, leeks, and strawberries. And holy – talk about strawberries. So far, we’ve picked upwards of 25 qts of berries. We’ve been eating them like crazy, C and I made a ton of jam, I’ve made/eaten/frozen strawberry pies, and also frozen a bunch of bags of whole berries. I’m actually kind of getting sick of them. Gasp.

Below we have …. Top left: potatoes. Bottom left: green beans. Center/top right: tomatoes (many varieties). Middle right: red and green pepper. Bottom right: okra. We were given a bunch of starter tomato plants and weren’t sure of all the labels so also bought a few plants to ensure we had what we’ll need for salsa and canning. And, um, we now have like 30 tomato plants. So, locals, prepare yourself for tomato-palooza 2011 when they get ripe. I’ll be forcing them down your throats. Heck, maybe even the non locals should get prepared. Tomatoes would hold up well in the mail, wouldn’t they?

We planted enough for 70-80 lbs of potatoes, so get ready for those, too. This is the first year we’ve planted okra from seeds because I couldn’t find any starter plants so my fingers are crossed. Me needs fried okra all summer long!

Like I said, we planted our crawlers in a different area. The first row of orchard by the garden (um, hello, cherry farm!) has had a number of trees taken out, so there are a few strips of open ground. This year Evan turned up some of that area to do some more planting. Two rows of sweet corn, acorn, butternut, buttercup and spaghetti squash, zucchini, and cucumber. These plants are doing amazingly well so far.

And of course, I can’t leave my first garden post of the year without showcasing the cherries. Of course, they aren’t in the garden, and they don’t even belong to us, but we love them nonetheless. They aren’t quite ripe but if you look closely you may find a couple on a tree that are ready. Last night, I enjoyed my first two the season.

As always, I’m looking forward to a season chalk full of fresh produce, baking, canning and preserving. I’m pretty sure I’ll have to ship Evalyn off and devote the entire month of August to taking care of all of this.

Bring on the salsa!

Nine Months

2011-06-22T17:51:00.001-04:00

Dear Eva Bean,

Today, you are 9 months old. You know what that means, right? You’ve now been a part of the world for as long as you were in my tummy. That is unreal to me.

You are becoming more and more beautiful, fun, mischievous, adventurous and sweet with every passing moment. You have changed ever so much this month. Your hair has gotten quite bit longer and thicker and now that you have a mouth full of pearly whites, your looks are really changing. You are becoming more and more like a little girl and less and less like a baby every time I look at you.

You now weigh 18 pounds 1 ounce and are 27 inches long. You are wearing 9 and 12 month clothes. All of your 9 month things still fit you well but most of your summer clothes are 12 month and you can get away with wearing them just fine, too. You are wearing size 3 diapers and are just about too big for your size Medium cloth diaper covers.

Mommy has declared this past month the month of the teeth. You are now sporting SIX teeth. Four on top and two on the bottom. All four top teeth came in within a few weeks of each other. Your first top tooth came in just before you turned 8 months old and then it’s partner followed shortly behind, showing up on May 29th. Then within the next two weeks, tooth #5 (beside top left) and tooth #6 (beside top right) showed up. So far, there are no signs of any more coming anytime soon but maybe they will surprise us.

Now that you are becoming more and more steady on your feet, standing is your favourite thing to do. You stood up in your crib all by yourself for the first time on your 8 month birthday. Now, you pull up on anything and everything – sometimes things that aren’t very safe, life your car seat – and are quickly mastering the art of cruising. Near the beginning of the month you loved to walk along holding onto my hands but you aren’t very interested in that anymore. You’d much rather get yourself where you want to go, so you favour crawling and cruising. You are a speed crawler. You can get from A to B in two seconds, sometimes before I even notice that you’re moving. Although you’re not standing by yourself yet, you have stood solo for up to 10 seconds at a time, but you are still too wobbly. If I get you standing you’re fine until you realize you’re standing, and then you fall down. You are an adventurous daredevil like your father. You seem to have no fear when it comes to climbing, crawling, and exploring. Ey ie ie. I’m in for it.

As a fair trade for all of the standing you’ve been doing, you are also very generous with giving out hugs and kisses. The kisses go to mostly anyone, but the hugs seem to be reserved for Mama so far. You are very cuddly right before and right after naptime, or when you’re upset, but other than that, you’re on the move.

You’ve also started saying a few “words” this month. Near the end of May you started signing “puppy” when I would see her, hear her name or hear the word puppy. Shortly after, you started saying, “Ka” quite often. Although it was a coincidence, we encouraged you to say NIKA every time we heard that sound and within a few days, you started saying “Ee KA” when you saw your puppy or heard her name. At the beginning of June, you started saying Da Da. Although you haven’t connected it to Daddy yet, you babble da da da all day long and say it when prompted. You also say, “Ga”, “Ba”, and “Hiiiii”. Although, aside from Nika, I don’t think you’ve made any connection between and sounds and words. I’m still waiting on Mama. Any time now, okay, kiddo?

I noticed you putting your hand to your mouth before eating fairly often, and just the other day, you clearly signed Eat. I haven’t seen it as clearly again, but I know you’re getting it. When I sign Eat to you, you often smack your lips and motor to your high chair.

Speaking of food, you are eating like a champ. You nurse 4-5 times per day and eat 3 solid meals, and often a snack. Other than fruit purees that get mixed with yogurt for breakfast and the occasional pouch of baby food on the go, your diet consists entirely of table food. Some of your new favourites are toast, whole wheat pasta, rice, beef, tomato sauce, strawberries, raspberries, black beans, kidney beans, pork chops, cheese (which was accompanied by clapping and squealing when you first tasted it), yogurt and much much more. Most of the time you are able to eat what we are eating. You loved cabbage rolls and perogies the best. You are getting very good at picking up food and self feeding. For a long time it seemed you didn’t want to do this and then one day, you just started picking it up. And you haven’t stopped.

We’ve been spending a lot of time outside, which you love. Most of the time, you cry when I bring you inside. You love to go for walks, play in the pool, and play on the grass. Speaking of grass, it has also been a large part of your diet this month. You love to put that stuff in your mouth! Yikes. You always make me laugh when we’re outside because you scrunch up your face like the sun is in your eyes all.the.time. No matter what, if we’re outside, your face is scrunched. It’s so cute.

This month you went for a ride on the tractor with your Daddy and you loved playing with both Nika and Delilah (the landlord’s puppy).

You have learned so many fun things this month. You clap your hands, do some kind of weird snorty breath while squishing up your face, and are starting to sometimes blow kisses. When you are upset, you blow raspberries with your mouth and make bubbles. It is so hard not to laugh at you.

This month has been a blast, my girl. You are so much fun and you make my life more interesting than I ever could have imagined. We’re getting dangerously close to a year, though, so let’s slow down, m’kay? I want to keep these moments forever.

I love you so much that I’m afraid my heart is going to burst.

Always yours,

Mama

New Things

2011-06-17T09:10:00.001-04:00

I don’t care if this makes me one of “those” parents but … I love and am completely and utterly amazed by watching my kiddo learn new things. It seems the past month has been full of discovery and realizations. She is learning how to express herself and how to communicate. Here she is becoming this little person with her own thoughts, attitudes and ideas right under my nose. And? It is fun.

She’s learned to clap, as you may have seen in the video the other day. She claps when she’s excited, when she’s saying hi, when she’s saying bye, when she’s happy, when she’s sad … basically, whenever she feels like it.

I gave her cheese for the first time the other day and she clapped and squealed, like it was the best thing ever. Which, well, it is.

She’s starting to understand my words.When I say, “Where’s your puppy? Where’s Nika?” she stops what she’s doing, looks around, and if she doesn’t see her, starts slapping her leg (the sign for puppy). If she does see her, she motors on over and starts poking her.

We skype with my mom almost every morning over breakfast. When she hears the skype ring, she starts clapping and squealing. And then lately, shuts up and is absolutely quiet the entire time we’re chatting. If we aren’t skyping, she will sometimes look over at the laptop and holler at me. Like, “Hey Mom, where’s Nana?”

If we’re outside when Evan pulls in the driveway at the end of the day, she starts kicking her feet and squealing with excitement. She loves her “Dadadada”.

Speaking of “Dadadada”, when I prompt her to say Mama, she grins up at me and says “Da Da”. When I prompt her to say Dada, she grins up at me and says “Ee Ka” (Nika). When I tell her to say Nika, she grins up at me and says “Ga” or “Ba”.

When she’s ticked, she blows raspberries with her mouth until she’s at the point of sending bubbles of spit flying all over the place. It’s so hard not to laugh.

When she’s hungry, or sees us eating, she starts smacking her lips together and saying “MMM MMM MMM”. And yesterday, for the first time, she signed food.

She’s pulling up on everything and is getting pretty steady on her legs. She’s starting to cruise and has this insanely cute, somewhat guilty, totally cocky smile that she beams up at me when she figures out how to get herself standing up somewhere she shouldn’t be – like on my shelf in the kitchen, ready to pull down all my cookbooks.

No matter what area you put her in, she immediately searches out the most dangerous, most inappropriate thing to do – and does it. Take for example:

Everyone always says, “Just you wait …”, “Your life’s about to get crazy”, and all that jazz when talking about babies becoming mobile. But honestly? I’m loving it. Sure, she keeps me on my toes. But hasn’t she always? The only difference now she’s on her own toes, too.

Mobility has brought with it a newfound freedom, independence and confidence and has helped rid us of the frustrations she experienced when she wanted to get here and there but couldn’t do it on her own. Maybe some of my opinions will change when she’s up and walking on her own, but I’m not sure. At this point, she already figures out how to get anywhere she wants to be (and pretty quickly with the super crawl), so will it be much different if she’s on her hands and knees or on her feet? We’ll see.

I’m not sure how much longer we have until I’m chasing a little walker all around but for now? I’m just loving her up and enjoying each and every fun discovery she makes.

Wordless Wednesday (on a Thursday)

2011-06-16T11:06:00.001-04:00

I had this all set to go yesterday but then swapped it out for my mom’s birthday post. So, pretend it’s Wednesday, mkay?

No words. Just crazy Mom singing and some precious hand clapping.

Happy Birthday to the N-A-N-A

2011-06-15T10:57:00.001-04:00

Today, we wish my mom, her Nana, the happiest of happy birthdays.

You’ve been there from the very beginning and have been a help and support to me each step of the way. Not just since I welcomed Eva into my life, but since you welcomed me into your life.

A few weeks ago, I had a moment where I needed my Mumma. The tears were flowing and I was down. And, of course, my Mumma was there – with open arms and encouraging words. And I couldn’t help but think that I only hope I will be the same kind of Mom to Eva 25 years down the road that you are to me. One that is a friend. And a supporter. And, quite frankly, the best shopping partner that anyone could ever find.

Thank you for all that you do for us.

We love you!

Happy Birthday.