Lolo

Today was a struggle; Little E was sick and although it's nothing too serious, she was having a harder time with it than ever before.
She was up a number of times last night, and today would hardly allow me to put her down for more than a minute. It felt like the old days when she would just nurse and nurse, me in front of the TV dying for a pee but too afraid to wake her.

We did manage to spend some time outside for a walk and a play at the park. It was unusual being one of only 2 babies at the park. The little boy we were playing with was very sweet and really wanted to make a connection with Little E. At one point when his Uncle was trying to get him to leave the little boy said "no, I don't want to leave my best friend". So cute.

Tonight when Daddy C was taking her to her room for a book and bed she said "lolo" - translation, I love you. Ahhh

Baby Lunch Idea

Daddy C had his first overnight weekend alone with Little E. It sounds like they had a fantastic time. He took her shoe shopping - can you believe it? Lucky girl! They also went tire shopping just to keep the stereotypes at bay.

Auntie Soph and I spent the weekend in Whistler with our choir, rehearsing and of course having a Saturday night out on the town. When we arrived home on Sunday afternoon our men had arranged a birthday dinner for Sophie - Daddy C had even baked a cake! So impressed.

It was appropriate then, that Little E's favourite book of the moment was King Kangaroo - with the climax of the book including a boisterous round of Happy Birthday. At which point Little E chants Biday Biday and instigates another go. We have extended Aunty's name to Auntie Sophie because Little E started calling her Oaf. She now says Opie, much cuter.

Oh yes, and here is a fantastic idea for an easy and tasty lunch for the wee ones:

A package of Annies noodles and cheese (kind of a healthy Kraft Dinner? I hope)

Add some snipped broccoli florets (use kitchen scissors to trim off the tops)

Add a pinch or more of dill, to taste 

Add some canned salmon

Add some peas 

Here are some photos of Little E's weekend with Daddy.

Friday Debaucles

Holy Cow!! I can't believe it's Friday already!

We are in the middle of house discussions...I'll tell you more later.

Anyway, today brought a different kind of drama. We woke up this morning at a very civilized 6:30am! Ohhh it feels good to sleep in. I don't want to say anything, but could the later rising be due to a move to only one nap during the day? Keep it up Little E.

We headed off to music class after a delicious and rewarding end of week chocolate croissant, coffee and raspberry muffin. Once we'd sung, danced and hugged with almost everyone there we were making our way back to the exit when Little E had a scary run in with the elevator. Right away I'll let you know she wasn't seriously injured - just scared when her little hand got stuck in the middle of the elevator door as it was opening. It was pulling her along as I dove down and popped her out rather abruptly. Of course the tears came on strong then, and I had to fight back my own as I found myself shaking and thoroughly shocked.

We were walking it off though with a chunk of muffin along the sidewalk back to the car when one right after the other, two pigeons dive bombed Little E! She is a tasty looking little morsel, but come on!!

The rest of the day should shape up a little less eventfully, but if anything major happens I will let you know.

Strong Start

It's hard to write with screaming and crying in the background, but I'm just going to have to get on with it.
I gave in at 4:15 this morning after trying to soothe Little E and put her back in her crib 3 times, each time ending in a screaming episode unlike any normal fussing. Finally I just picked her up and let her sleep/rustle around on my chest. Teething again? Wow!!! I wish her darn teeth would just come in already.

I took the girls to Strong Start this morning. It's a program put on by the school board for children younger than preschool age to introduce them to a school environment. Really cool! Just a whole lot of areas to play and read, with a really nice teacher there to facilitate and make coffee for the strung out parents. Yup, two cups later I rushed out the door forgetting the sweaters I didn't actually need for the girls, stuffing blueberries and tofu in their mouths trying to get them home for a "nap" that apparently is not working anyway.

GAWD!!!

Ice Cream, You Scream

It was a busy afternoon of keeping Little E entertained out of a melt down. With only a half hour nap under her belt it was a Jekyll and Hyde dance until about 6:30 when she was out cold en route to her bed.
Whew.
I noticed she found the inside of her nose today too. She got her little finger right up there and seemed to realize that it fit quite nicely. I'm telling myself it's a natural progression and not a result of Daddy C showing her what he looks like with a grape in each nostril.

We devoured a piece of Daddy C's chocolate zucchini birthday cake tonight with a dollop of delicious homemade vanilla ice cream on top. I bought him a Cuisinart ice cream maker for his birthday and can't wait to sample a variety of different flavours. mmmm

Onesie for Willa and a Yellow House

I haven't written the past couple of days because I have been tired, crabby and irritable. Yes, I had my period, whatever. Little E also chose to get up at 4:00am yesterday and spend the day on attack - poor little Parker, and me for that matter playing referee.

Anyway, enough with the excuses.
I finished the other part of a homemade gift for my friend Melissa and her baby Willa today. I made a mini diaper bag to fit inside her purse. In it I will put a change pad, some wipes and a little onesie that I painted...see below.

I have also been really excited to show you pictures of our newly yellow house!
Cheerful Benjamin Moore colours: Hawthorne Yellow with Simply White trim and Rockport Grey steps and accents. We are waiting for a new door and will probably stain it something dark. Oh, and we'll hang up the clematis "beard" as soon as the deck dries...

And last but definitely not least...here is a picture of Little E playing one of her favourite games...peak-a-boo curtain edition.

I Love the Weekend

What a couple of days!!!

Yesterday was a do-it-yourself extravaganza - smoking salmon and making dill pickles. We spent the day in our back yard with some good friends being productive, eating and drinking and talking about life. How very Little House on the Prairie I felt.

Saturday evening I repaid a dear friend with a night of babysitting. Good old babysitting swaps! It allows Daddy C and I a date night and then me a movie night on someone else's couch.


Today I woke up (after getting up once already) to Little E yelling "poo poo" (not uncommon). It's great because she now lets us know that she has gone in her diaper. This time though, was different. We must have had a little too much fun yesterday because we had forgotten to put the diaper that came off outside into the bin. I looked over just as Daddy C was coming out of the bathroom to see Little E pointing at a small log on the floor with great fervour and pride exclaiming her discovery.
Later, it was a return to our Sunday brunch tradition with Grandpa (who's title Little E proudly proclaims as she's reaching for a hug). Then dinner in the back yard with Auntie Soph and Uncle Russ. I may stay up late enough to watch the new show Pan Am at 10:00pm, but I doubt it.

For all of that excitement and activity you'd think I would have documented at least a moment on "film". But alas, no. Next time??!!

My Little Light

It is nearly dark at 8:10pm...uh oh.

Here are a few little rays of sunshine to sustain the evening...

1. When Little E sneezes she says mmNee at the end so that each little convulsion sounds like a very eloquent "chimney"
2. Today at breakfast Little E decided to relieve an itch with her spoon. She quietly realized that it was covered in porridge and that it was an interesting sensation, so she promptly scooped up more and fed it to her eye
3. She likes to play bumper cars with her little doll stroller, luckily no dolls were injured in this process. Sadly this is not Parker's favourite
4. She will climb just about anything
5. She chats very loudly in a language all her own
...to be continued...

The Great Return

I think this is the longest I have left it without writing since I started blogging in February. It's not for lack of content over the past week, that is for sure!!
We just got so busy and wrapped up in our adventures (stretching late into most evenings) that I just didn't have the energy (or the privacy quite frankly) to write.

We spent what felt like an eternity on Vancouver Island and beyond, visiting old friends and both of our families. The circumstances were so special though...I will try to document it with photos...although I'm missing some from the end of the trip (I hope to have more later).

We started in Courtenay with a reunion of my girlfriends and our families (20 adults and 11 kids I think?) bar-b-queing at my girlfriend Hayley's house 3 weeks post partum! Little E was very interested in the new arrival when Mackenzie had her - a completely different monster when it was my turn...wow, look out sibling.

We spent a couple of days waiting for Daddy C to arrive and then drove up to Port McNeill on the North End of Vancouver Island and took a small ferry over to Cormorant Island and Alert Bay. We spent a few days there with Daddy C's mom and stepdad and his stepbro and fiance at their beautiful houses. With a deck out over the ocean we couldn't get much closer to nature...whales, eagles, fishing boats. We explored the Island and landed some free salmon - it was a wild and charming town all at once, not at all what I expected.

When we arrived back in Courtenay, we spent the afternoon at Daddy C's sisters house picking blackberries. I think we had 3 separate blackberry crumbles over the holiday, and I wanted more. They are officially Little E's new fave. The doggies were a highlight though, snorting and chasing apples.

Unbelievably, I have no photos on this camera of the Denman Island portion of this trip!!! Despite the fact that long lost Auntie Char was home for a visit, 10 of us invaded my mom's house dressed to the nines for a Deities and God/Goddesses party at the Hall, went swimming every day at Chickadee lake, and more culture at the annual Blackberry fair. If any of my delightful Denman sidekicks have photos to share I will put them up posthaste. Otherwise, until next time my dears...and there will be a next time!!