Three Little Monkeys

We had an action packed day today.

We played outside in the water bucket, went for 2 walks, stopped in at the library, and had a grand old time jumping on the couch at our neighbourhood coffee shop.

Here is a little snippet care of my friend Julia (her little boy Cole is on the right).

Welcome Back Parker

We had our little Parker back with us again today.

Little E was so excited, and Parks was too! It was so much fun to watch them chase each other around and play side by side. I really think they enjoy each other.

Their nap schedule was off kilter today so our great plans of visiting Maplewood farms were dashed by the snores and squawks of little babes. We may try again tomorrow or Wednesday depending on weather.

Other than that, I discovered something pretty cool online today: 8 Tracks.

A site where you can create and listen to mix music compilations; just like the old days of making mix tapes! My intro to this site came from HERE.

Salmon Smoking

I think perhaps I may need to explain my last post. We were feeling a little euphoric at the time. I'd had a visit with my pregnant step sister during the day, and Daddy C and I had been on the Friday night party train. If you're now expecting a second child to pop out within the next 9 months you will be sorely disappointed.

I was merely saying that I finally feel ready to start thinking about the possibility of creating a sibling for Little E...

Anyway.

Today was grand. We had a wonderful visit with Little E's paternal Grandpa and Granny. We went out for brunch, I bought a second hand mad men style dress for a stagette in July, and we hung out in the back yard smoking salmon, drinking beer and watching Little E play in her pool. So much more, but not enough room!!

Happy sunshine.

Philosophically-ooo

Tonights post is a vessel for my indulgent Friday night thoughts.

If you are expecting photos of a cute little baby you may be disappointed.
Tonight is the first time I have felt really excited and ready to embark on the conception - literally - of a second little D family sprite.

Daddy C and I had some kitchen talk tonight (and then some back yard banter) about gender rendering and good old reproduction (see a wicked New York Times article here). If male sperm swim faster, but female sperm live longer can you have some input into the sex of your baby? Well, I suppose if I had my period then there could be some experimentation. But since I don't see Little E spurning her breast milk experience any time soon we will just have to start trying... (post 4 year wedding anniversary, end of July, on Hornby, at a wedding sans baby, OH YEAH).

Obviously we are in the baby making mood...
Oh, and here is our first baby...

Cast Me!

Little E and I went to our first casting interview today (together that is).
It's a healthy living commercial and that's all I know so far...

I had a super impromptu one at a bar in Whistler when I lived there ages ago. The back of my head ended up getting a small part in a coffee commercial ("hugga-mugga" ring a bell?) and got a $500 paycheque for about 2 hours of filming and a day of eating food. I suppose there would have been more if the commercial aired - or maybe it did and I was too naive to realize that I could be paid for that too.

Anyway, this experience was unexpected too. We sent in our photo last minute at the suggestion of an email I received on Sunday. We were told to come "as we are in everyday life" and to bring our personalities. I'm pretty sure I brought mine (maybe a little too much) but I'm not sure who's personality Little E brought. Perhaps the evil tooth fairy. Since she seems to be getting all of her teeth but the five she already has and hasn't slept but 45 minutes today, her stage presence was lacking.

But, it did make me proud when Dan the casting guy looked at her and said "perfect".
I think so. We'll see.

What a fabulous time we had in Whistler!
It had been years since I was up there, and wow it had changed. It was really neat to see all of the new developments as a result of the Olympics, and brought me back to watching the events on TV.

One thing that has not changed in Whistler is the decadence of the cinnamon buns that I tried to resist when living there 10 years ago. The name of the cafe has changed, but not those beautiful buns! (Can't actually remember the name now, but it's across from the Chateau Whistler)...worth hunting down!

We went up there to take advantage of a discounted spa visit at the Scandinave Spa. It consists of a variety of baths and pools, showers, a steam room and a sauna beautifully set amongst the mountains and some high end (and high priced no doubt) foliage. It was incredibly relaxing and invigorating moving from hot to cold, shocking my body like that - sounds crazy but it felt great!

Three words came to mind while I was chilling out between plunges in the solarium: creativity (was how I felt at the moment staring at the negative space of an abstract tree) restraint (was what I had to practice in order to abide by the no talking rule) and darn it, I forget the last one...rats.

It was an all around great weekend with great food and awesome friends.
Here are a few shots to prove it...

Happy Father's Day

What a fabulous weekend!!!
More on that later...for now the big reveal - Little E's present for her daddy.

I took her to Cowboys and Angels, a toy store with a ceramic painting corral. She donned an apron with nothing underneath (hmm I'm getting some birthday ideas, but perhaps not bloggable) and took out her creative juices on a bowl and a mug. It was adorable, and I got a couple of really cute photos of Little E with the same look of concentration that her daddy gets during his projects.

A very happy Father's Day to all you Daddy's out there - I'm sure proud of Little E's.

 

A Kiss is Still a Kiss

First off, I just have to say what a crazy night last night ended up to be. It's so sad that the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup, but even more upsetting that the hooligans downtown lost control and abused our beautiful city.
I am so glad that Daddy C decided not to venture down there to take part in history with 150,000 people considering it turned so sour. Mind you, he may have been able to score some more diapers, we're dangerously low.

Little E is so affectionate these days.
We had a lovely, impromptu lunch with our dear friends Kiki and Esa - thanks to my porridge brain, I thought today was our Naturopath appointment and loaded us into the van only to realize it's next week. Anyway, lucky we did because we had a great visit and some delicious food from Solly's.

Perhaps I've mentioned before that Little E is a kisser.
At least she treats it like a proper salutation and gets eye contact first. She gets down on her hands and knees and cranes her head around so that she can see eye to eye with her target then she moves in and plants it with a mwah!  Adorable.
p.s. we're going to Whistler tomorrow for the weekend, so I will have some adventures to share on Sunday...

We had a delicious, easy, comfort food dinner tonight - a shepherd's pie with fish instead of ground beef - idea thanks to my marvellous mom.
I used the left over potato filling from the perogies I made the other day.
And for the rest here goes...(measurements approximate)

Poach
Some Halibut or Snapper or Tilapia (any white fish really)

Sauté
1 small organic cauliflower
1/2 yellow bell pepper
1 shallot
3 celery stalks

Mix in the fish and one jar of Classico mushroom alfredo sauce.

Bring it to a simmer in the pan that you sautéed the vegetables.

Add lots of fresh parsley and dill, a little garlic powder and some salt and pepper.
Spread it on the bottom of a casserole dish and top with the mashed potato mix (it had chives, onion powder and cheddar cheese).
Bake in the oven at 350 till bubbling (about 15 mins).

Mini Lou

This morning was wrought with screaming, crying, falling, grabbing and kicking – thankfully no biting.

Little E is back on the sleep training. We started last night with no nursing, just the Sleep Lady Shuffle which meant sitting beside her crib at 2:30am shhhing her back to sleep. It actually went very well. She only cried for about 10 minutes, then tossed and turned for 20 more before falling asleep and staying that way until a blessed 5:30am!

Her nap was not as successful. Parker had arrived which was a major distraction, and Little E was not at all impressed with being shhhed to sleep when nursing was going amazingly well for her and her pal was eating blueberry porridge right outside her door. We missed the first try entirely.

Poor little Parker needed to be held off her nap for an upsetting family matter that involved travel. So, needless to say things got a little messy around here.

Luckily the mantra I chant in these types of situations “this too shall pass” was once again true. Little E went off to sleep smoothly at about 10:30 and slept until 12:15 (that of course was it for the day), and Parker got a cuddle and story time before her mommy picked her up and hit the road.

I won’t say much more (I will leave out the rocking chair upside-down incident and the pack and play-results-in-rug-burned-nose incident) but I do have to mention mini Louongo at Glen Park today. The Dickens Annex let out and the kids flooded the playground. Parents were waiting with toys for sand play and snacks for hungry kidlets. The cutest thing we saw though was the little boy, playing goal for his big brother and friends in a game of cement hockey (played on a basketball court). He was a pint size participant complete with a mini hockey stick, full-face mask/helmet and an efficient, orange life preserver as body armour.

Here is a random photo of Little E admiring a bike (complete with her bike courier look).

Epic

This has felt more like a week than a weekend.
It has flown by and I can hardly remember what happened yesterday morning. This makes me realize that I have to write on the day if I want to document it; and I do!!

Having my mom in town this weekend turned out to be perfect timing for giving her a glimpse into the life events of her daughters and granddaughter - here is a recap of the last two days...

Saturday:
Market at Trout Lake
Communal birthday / BBQ for Little E and her buddies
Mama G cut off her locks (we managed to get a little tipsy at Is Salon since they so fashionably serve wine and trashy magazines throughout the experience)
Mama G and Daddy C went on a date! (Out for dinner and a walk at the Olympic Village - which of course was why I didn't write last night)

Sunday:
Visit with girlfriends and Little E's buddies (ate Solly's cinnamon buns thanks to Shannon - the best ever!)
Skype with Auntie Char in London
Book Club - I just have to take a moment to brag about the food we have at our meetings. Always in the theme of the book, this time it was Slovak or Eastern European. And despite having 2 vegetarians in our midst we managed to make a feast out of cabbage, dough and otherwise not commonly exciting ingredients. It was also the first time Little E went to bed without breastfeeding first. Whoopie!

Love Child

We have this big beautiful camera and I always forget to bring it places.

It's not like I can sherpa around like I used to. Now we travel prepared. So many security measures just naturally taken, it has become like a song. You put the snack in here, the extra shoes go there, here a toy, there a phone, the stroller holds it all though.

Anyway, I digress. Today would have been the perfect time to use it. My mom was in town and we kicked off an action packed weekend with music class and a trip to our favourite (apparent along with the rest of Vancouver) nail spa - Orchid.

Digression again... Little E is such a cuddly little baby. Now I know what Donna means by a kiss leads to a bite. It's almost like Little E wants to snuggle up or else. She nuzzles in, and unless she can get a proper hug, she bites. At music class she had a gorgeous cuddle with our little friend Casey.  And then today, after handing out shoes like the inspiration in Don't Cry for Me Argentina, Eva Peron, she had to have a moment of appreciation with Madeline. Little E hung out with my dear friend Tami and her super cute girls. Here is the proof...
p.s. (I would like to thank Tami for some fabulous metaphors, titles and anecdotes in the last two posts - her blog coming soon)

 

Don't Cry for Me Argentina

Robbed by the Dog

We had a lovely, breezy June-uary picnic at the park today with our little (real) twin friends from around the corner (their super fun mommy and daddy came along too).

We set up a couple of blankets, got out the food assortment and settled in for a lunch time scramble. All of a sudden from across the park came a bouncing out of control Labradoodle. Scary, I know.
Actually I was kind of worried that Jake would take the dog out. He gets protective. Not over the babies, he gets protective over the food we have on us at all times.

Instead, my momma bear instincts came out and with one arm (Parker was on my lap) I hurled the dog off the blanket and pinned it beside us. Growling to protect the tiny bit of coleslaw I had managed to save for myself.

I was a little embarrassed afterwards, but I think my friends were on board with my display.

Here is our tribute to our Canucks - despite their upsetting loss again tonight...

Bird Song

Perhaps the only things that should be stirring at 4:30am are the birds - and quietly.
Little E has taken on the feather-brained idea that the early bird takes the worm and she is poised and ready.

Needless to say this is wearing Daddy C and I down sufficiently (considering the nightly waking as well) just enough to skirt my eagle eye and get in another chomp on poor little Parker. This biting is not a proud moment for me, I'm really hoping the teething has the most to do with it. Her mouth has been really bothering her lately.

And, other than all of that our little songbird is a real little chatterbox. When she's not talking to us, she's singing. Now that does make me proud.
Here are a couple of my favourite old photos; one in honour of our early mornings.

Where for Art Thou?

It has been far too long since I have written!
I don't know what came over me...was it the fact that I hadn't taken enough photos lately, or that we had some very late nights and early mornings? Just excuses, come on!! Lazy G.

The long and short of the weekend - eventful.
We had a Trout Lake Farmer's Market day on Saturday, then a fortieth birthday party and a game night at a friend's house. Today we went for an early morning coffee at Bean Around the World where Little E impressed some patrons with her walking and chatting while Daddy C and I sat with a pal and sipped coffee trying to regain our bearings and return to the land of the living. (A rough night last night).

Thursday night Daddy C and I were treated to a fine dinner with dear friends while Aunty Soph babysat and Friday night I went out with some mommy friends and saw the movie Bridesmaids - so hilarious!! It was an all around winner of a weekend and now that I have had a chance to reflect, there will be some Deep Thoughts coming your way - if you can bear it...

Proud Little E developments as follows: handing things to us (not just showing anymore - actually letting go), signing Thank You, saying This and That...if I think of more I'll let you know.

Here are some shots of Little E at the market yesterday.