Wow, here today....gone tomorrow.

Labor day party at Uncle Daves

Mckenna's first tube ride with Mommy and Daddy

Enjoying the sunset on the beach

Having fun at Nina and Papa's!!

It always seems that as soon as the school year is back in, Mother Nature decides that she's had enough of the hot summer heat and throws a huge damper on the summer memories in an instant. It has been beautiful weather though, just my kind of liking. Nice and warm during the day, and cool if not cold at night. They are actually calling for frost tonight.... as my dad says 'Bring it on and get rid of the ragweed'

I got laid off on August 22nd and am enjoying my time off with the girls and getting some much needed rest and recovery from all the busy hours of working. It is why I chose to go back to electrical for this reason, that I can work for 3-4 months, make some money and then take some time with the girls and collect unemployment. It is a nice break to have and I consider myself lucky.

The girls are awesome and are loving mama home, although I have our nanny Andrea come over at least once a week to play with the girls and keep their bond strong.

Mckenna is amazing, and smart and funny and just blows us away with her thinking strategies. She sings continually and is really getting into watching Robots and Cinderella. I don't know why, but she is enthralled with robots. She makes tea for me every morning in her toy room and watches my face to see how much I like it, even though she knows it's pretend. She plays well with her sister and loves to teach her new things like emptying all the toys out of the toy box and hiding in it. We laugh all the time at them and cherish them so much.

Caili celebrated her first birthday on August 11th and we had a big family party on the 10th. She took her first steps 2 sundays' ago though continues to enjoy her crawling much better as she does it at lightning speed. She goes up and down the stairs, crawls up on everything, and even loves riding Mckenna's three wheeler up and down the sidewalk. Her third tooth just popped through (finally!) as she has been very cranky and keeping me up at all hours of the night.

Caili's Birthday Party!!

I'll have to load pictures of the Elmo cake later....she loved it

Her hair is finally growing in long and blonde and curly like Mckenna's.


Ryan and I just celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary and heading up to Haliburton for 3 days back to where we went for our honeymoon. It was awesome and such a great time for the two of us to re-connect. We went fishing, and canoeing, and......ate dinner and just has a great time. It was a nice break from the kids and I enjoyed sleeping in until whenever I felt like rolling out of bed.

I am still running and run about 5 miles 3 times a week, hoping to reach marathon length before the spring so I can run either a half marathon or a full marathon before my 30th birthday. It's amazing how far I've come already in 2 months, although I can no longer run in the morning at 4:30 as it is too dark. I run when Ryan gets home so that I can get my 'me' time in. It truly is exhilerating and unexplainable as to how amazing it is to feel your muscles thank you while you run.

So, I can load some photos today, hope you enjoy and I'll try and write again soon!


Ally

Summer is here!!

The dog days of summer have finally arrived and the weather is great. HOT but great and as much as I hate working in the heat, it's a welcome change to the long, long winter I had at home. Things are wonderful and this is my 4th weekend off work now, so I am enjoying work even better now that I have time with the girls and Ryan on the weekend.
Mckenna is growing quickly and after seeing a picture of her from last year at this time, I can't believe how much she has changed. Her baby face is gone, and she is turning into such a beautiful little girl. Her conversations with us are continuous and we have to laugh all the time at all the adult things she says without even realizing it. She sings song after song and carries a tune very well. Music is her passion, just like her mama's and she adores her sister Caili and told me the other day that they are best friends. It melted my heart, even as I looked out of the corner of my eye to see her whip a toy out of Caili's hands and try to thwack her in the head with her blanket. Let the sibling rivalry begin. Ryan and I keep telling Mckenna to watch out because Caili is going to be bigger than her and will eventually get back at her.
There are those moments in life that nothing else seems to matter and you wish you could freeze time, and the other night, as I lay down with Mckenna before bed, I had one. I was tickling her back and she was singing softly to me "Hush little baby" and I was almost asleep. I could feel Mckenna watching me and all of a sudden she just wrapped her arms around me, snuggled in as tight as she could and said "I love you too mama" and patted my hair. Those are the moments that I hold onto and try to remember in the midst of one of her meltdowns. Those are the moments a mother remembers for life and brings tears to her eyes whenever she recalls them.

Caili or Caili the Explorer as we all refer to her as, is just hillarious and frustrating all at the same time. She wants to be so independant like her sister, but is just too tiny to do most of it. She already climbs the stairs, walks all over the house as long as she has something to hold her up, wants to feed herself everything and trys to imitate anything and everything Mckenna does. Even helping me to put the dishes away when Mckenna does. She is very determined and gets frusterated when she can't do what she wants. She is so dang smart, almost too smart for her own good and gets bored very easily when she figures something out. She blows me out of the water as to how much further advanced she is than Mckenna was at her age. She understands so much that I say to her or ask her to do and knows when I say no, I mean no. Her smile is as contagious as the flu and her dimples are something else. Her and Mckenna tend to get silly together at the dinner table, and all Ryan and I can do is try to keep a straight face. They have a bond that I guess only sisters know of and I love watching them both learn from one another.
Caili still only has her two bottom teeth, though her hair is growing in quite blonde and curly when its humid or damp. She has to be close to 20lbs and loves food, (as long as she is feeding
herself) I can't believe she will be a year old in a few weeks.
I think back a year ago and remember just moving into our new house, trying to get everything ready for her arrival and being so tired, I never thought I would get through the pregnancy. Here I am one year later, already back working, settled into the house and raising two beautiful girls. Things have changed quite a bit in my life. I found myself putting so much pressure on my self to be what I thought a mother should do all the time, that the guilt of not being able to do it all was wearing me down. I decided that keeping up on the kids journal, and tracking every moment of their life on paper, isn't what makes me a good mother. It's being able to let things go, to play with my kids, to be there for them, to listen to them, to reason with them and to just be comfortable in the role as parent. Not to worry about what everybody else thinks, and just realizing that making memories is what makes a good childhood. I would rather tell the kids about stories of them growing up, than having them read them all in a book.
Time to 'me' is limited and I have started getting up at 4:30am to go jogging or to work out before I go to work. Some people think I'm crazy, but I'm more crazy when I don't make time to myself, so I've made it a priority to take care of me. It has made me much more happy and a much better mother because of it.
I will add photo's next time, as my mom hasn't loaded her camera photos on yet, and my camera is not here at the moment.
Enjoy the summer, sit back and let the laundry pile up. There is always tomorrow (or the next day too!)

Back to Work.....

All messy after supper, and with her Papa!

Miah and Mckenna at the end of
April spending time together at the lake.

So I officially began back to work on May 8th for what was supposed to be a 4 day call at the casino. It has turned into EVERY day, including Saturday and Sundays until today where I have an afternoon off and the entire weekend. The girls have adjusted better than I could have hoped for and Ryan has done wonderfully in taking over watching the girls on the weekends and when I'm not around. It has been very difficult but very fulfilling in many ways. I enjoy my job and it has been a much needed return to myself and what I enjoy doing.

Caili is growing like a weed, crawling everywhere and babbling away saying 'dada', 'baba' and crawls over to me when I ask her to. She is pretty close to walking and pulls up on anything and everything she can. Her giggles are getting so hilarious that I can't wait until bed time so we can have our tickle time. She laughs and laughs when I get her ready for bed (as long as she has already had her bottle, otherwise....LOOKOUT!!)

Mckenna is amazing and is such a little mommy. She always has her eye out to make sure Caili isn't getting into something that she shouldn't. She has a tendency to take things out of Caili's hands when she's playing just so she can say 'no,no, no Caili!. That turns Caili into a sobbing little mess and then Mckenna gets to act like the hero and give her the toy back. Then she'll look at me and say 'See Mama, Caykee happy!'

Ry has had some overtime this week, but has enjoyed his shorter hours at work, especially since the nice weather has arrived. It has been beautiful the last few days, but very hot in the city at work. The breeze off the water at night is just amazing.

Both the girls love being outside and it is always a sport just trying to get Mckenna to come in for the night. She loves making mud pies in her outdoor kitchen and enjoys watching the many species of birds we have nesting in our many bird houses.

So, all in all, returning to work has been a blessing in disguise as I feel a little more like myself and have learned ( or am slowly learning) that the cleaning can come later....whenever that is!

Enjoy the photos!!
I wanted to post more but ran out of time.....will do next time.
Ally

Spring has Sprung!!

What a difference just a couple of weeks make. It has just been beautiful this week and all my tulips and daffodils (about 200!) in my pond garden are starting to open. It is our first spring in our new house, so I get to see the garden develop for the first time. It is gorgeous.

We have been playing outside most of the time, either here or at Uncle Dave's place on the beach as he has more than us. Mckenna loves being outside and hates coming in, so I have to trick her to get her inside with a snack. We've been taking many walks when Daddy comes home as he is home by 3:30 right now, so it gives us lots of time together. The nature trail at the end of our beach is just beautiful and budding with birds, flowers and the bull frogs mating. We love listening to them. Just the other morning, we were all sitting at the table for breakfast watching the water and the bald headed eagles came and landed in our trees. They are remarkable creatures and huge. I couldn't believe that the branches would hold them. They were around for a few hours and then took off again. Their nest is somewhere around here, but we haven't found it yet. Then the next day, Nina and Papa came over to help around the yard and went to take Mckenna to my brothers and in the field accross our yard was a giant snapping turtle. It was so cool, as I have never seen one, and to watch the excitement in Mckenna's face as it bit on the stick my dad held was priceless. Do I miss the city?......How could I? Nature is my back door.

Caili is wonderful. Crawling backwards and gets wherever she wants. She is waving, clapping, signing 'more', kissing, and babbling loudly. She loves dancing to music and sways back and forth or rocks back and forth on her knees. She is on 3 meals a day now with milk in between and sleeping wonderfully from 7:30pm until 6:00am, then back to sleep after her feed until 8am. Mckenna can't wait to get into the crib with her and play once she wakes up. I love watching them play together and make each other laugh.

We took them both out on the boat the other night. We let Mckenna put her fishing pole in the water and Ryan had put a minnow on it to catch a fish. So we told Mckenna to real up and when she saw the minnow she was sssooo excited. She thought she had caught it, so we just let her believe it.

I've had the nanny working with us 2 days a week and things are going great. It is hard for her to do her job when I'm at home, so I try to get out of the house and do things. She is wonderful and very patient with Mckenna and Mckenna just loves her. It is only a matter of time before I go back full time, so I am soaking up every last minute with my girls.

Well, I hope to be in the city this weekend and can upload some new photos as this dial up internet is terrible to anything except paying bills and updating my blog.

Take care and enjoy the beautiful spring around you.

I'm a grandma!!

I thought it was funny when Mckenna started breastfeeding her babies before bed, but she has taken it one step further. The other night while I was getting her ready for bed, she was lying on our bed and I asked her to pull her legs back while I slid her diaper under her bum. Much to my surprise....she started counting.....1,2,3...8,9, 10 then I heard 'Yay, the baby come mama!' I was so shocked I asked her to tell me again. Once again, she held onto her feet and proceeded to count to 10 and then told me the baby came out her belly. I died laughing! You see, she loves watching a Baby Story off TLC and asks me everyday to put it on. She gets all excited when the baby is born and cheers and claps. Little did I realize how much of the show she was actually picking up, until I watched her hold her legs back and count. Unbelievable! I had to call my mom right away and congratulate her on being a great grandmother. We had a huge laugh over it. I'm happy that she has the love of babies that I do, but what a shock it was. Thought you might get a laugh out of it.

We had a nice relaxing day today as it was rainy and yucky. Today during craft time, Mckenna wanted to make a card for Nina and Papa, which turned out well. Then we built a fort out of all our blankets and played it there for an hour or so. It was almost nap time for Mckenna so, I let her lie in the tent and watch t.v while I got some things done. I checked on her a short bit later and she was lying on the couch in the fort fast asleep. I kept it up all day and left it so daddy could play with her in it. She loves it so much, I think I'll keep it up until tomorrow.

Have a great night!

PIcture updates!!

Our Ice Fishing Trip at the end of February....what a blast!

Pictures from the weekend my parents had the girls when we went away!

I call this the Many Faces of Caili, taken seconds apart....She is hillarious

Easter Pics from the morning....Not sure where the rest are that my mom took at her house. I will add them next update.

So I am at my parents today and am able to upload some recent photos.. Hope you enjoy!!

April Fools!!!

Where is the spring weather? All this snow and cold weather is really starting to get bothersome and usually by today, I am in such great spirits with all the nice warm air and budding flowers, however, I think Mother Nature is definitely playing an april fools joke on us this year. It is a little warmer today, about 55, however, very ugly, cloudy and rainy. Makes a good day for crafts and cuddling.
This past month has been an emotional roller coaster for me and making my decision to go back to work, but as it approaches I get more and more excited. I miss work and I sometimes feel like I worked so hard for my apprenticeship that I deserve to be working and I know that it will make me a better mother as the time that I have with my girls will be just as special. The good thing about my trade is that it is not steady work and I could work for 6 months and make enough money to stay off for another 3-4 months.
I have found a full time live out nanny who seems wonderful and Mckenna took to her very quickly during our interview. I haven't completely decided on her yet, as I have another interview on thursday, but my gut instinct is telling me yes and so is Mckenna, which makes me feel much better.
Mckenna is doing wonderful and still increases her vocabulary on a daily basis. She is 100% potty trained during the day and now only wears her big girl undies and a diaper or pull up to bed. She is really into taking care of her baby right now and playing house. She will play in her toy room all by herself, talking to her dolls and baking cookies in her oven for them. She has about 5 dolls that are all her babies, and when they are hungry, she lifts up her top and proceeds to give them mama numnums (aka: breastfeeding!) I couldn't be prouder! I have talked a lot about me going back to work and she is getting quite ready for the idea, probably more than I am.
Caili is almost crawling, she waves and gives kisses and eats two meals plus the breastmilk per day. I can't believe the difference in the amount she eats compared to what Mckenna used to eat. Caili will eat 4-5 tablespoons of cereal with 1/2 jar of fruit for breakfast, and for dinner, 1 whole jar of food, 1/2 jar of veggies and 1/2 jar of fruit. She is growing longer which is good or I would have one pudgy little girl on my hands. She is very happy, sleeping better this week and loves playing with Mckenna and I on the floor. She dances anytime I sing to her and almost claps alongs with us, just hasn't learned to open her fists yet.
Ryan celebrated his 30th birthday on Easter weekend....still doesn't look a day older than 25 in my eyes. Still sexy as ever....even 20 pounds lighter than last year. Must be doing something right. His hours just got cut back at work which will allow him more time with us at home for the first time in a long time. Perfect timing for me to get back to work. If the nanny isn't trained or ready by the time I get called, Ry's boss said he'd have no problem if he wanted to take some paternity leave with the girls. I think it would be great for him to bond with them (and to see the many tasks that are completed on a daily basis that goes unnoticed!)
I am now using an iMac computer that was graciously donated to me by my brother so my pictures have to get transfered from my old computer and I only have dialup for now,so I probably can't even upload photos to the site, will have to do that from my parents house. My moms camera take better photos anyways.
So till tomorrow......I'll be in town and will try to upload some photos'!!

To Work or Not to Work?.....

Caili's First Food!! BANANAS!!!

Mckenna Playing with the Camera with Nina!

The time is flying by me quicker than I like to realize and some big decisions have to be made soon about whether or not I will return to work full time or part time or at all. I have a lot of options, not that really appeal to the betterment of my children ( or so I think) I would love to stay home with the kids as I know this is the most important and influential part of their lives, however, I also love my job and love to work (Yes, money isn't bad either) So I am completely torn on what to do. My ideal would be to work part time as an electrician 3 days a week through the union, however, I don't know if that is feasible or even allowed through our union hall. I will be looking into it with in the next week or so. I have to decide with in the next 5-6 weeks as I have an available nanny at the next beach down from us. She is amazing and comes from a family of 11 kids. She is now taking care of two kids and the mother is due for her third any day. I would love to take advantage of her and Mckenna really likes her. Oh, if these answers could just sort themselves out so that I may return to getting some sleep. Any ideas??
Ryan went to Toronto this weekend with his Dad and Nana to go to a Toronto Maple Leafs game, so the girls and I stayed at my parents last night. Dave and I went out together downtown with a few of his friends and I must say that I really enjoyed myself. It was great having the adult conversations and also seeing the same people hanging out at the bars that were their 6-7 years ago. Some people never change...... It was a great night for bro and sis to hang out and I think the last time we were out together just the two of us was in Berlin, Germany when we were backpacking. My brother is an awesome man and I am very proud of him and how far he has come this past months. He is a terrific uncle to Mckenna and Caili and loves them like they are his own.
Caili has now started solids and has only had rice cereal, but seems to enjoy it. She had her 6 month appointment and is 26" long and 15.7 lbs. Mckenna had her two year check up and is 26 lbs and 33" tall. Growing well and growing fast!

*****EDIT***** Today is Feb 21 & they are allowing ph0to uploads today hopefully!! Enjoy!

The big 2!! Happy Birthday Mckenna!

Pictures from our New Years Day get-together at all of our houses on the lake.

Caili and Einstein, my brothers dog.

We spent last weekend at my parents as I had my first 'girls night out' for the first time in a long time. It was great to spend time together with my mom and nana. We went out for Dinner and to the show to see 27 dresses. It was like a mini-vacation and the men stayed at my parents and had a great steak dinner. That's Mckenna drinking tea out of her new teacup in front of my parents fireplace.

Wow, a month gone already and now Mckenna is 2 today!! We had a wonderful birthday for her yesterday with all the family out at our place. She was so excited and was such a wonderful gift opener (if there ever was a title) She was very good about opening all the cards first and would exclaim in over excitement 'huaaah, look mama......2!' about her cards. When she opened the gift it would become even louder and funnier. For over a month I'd talk to her about her birthday and why it was so special. When I asked her what kind of cake she thought she would like back at Christmas, she told me a purple cake. So I explained to her that 'purple is a color' and that mom could make her any kind of purple cake. So she told me she wanted a purple 'Pooh' cake. So that was it from then on in, all she would talk about was turning 2 and her 'purple pooh' cake. She was so excited to go to the Bulk Barn to get the cake tin that I rented. Then today we had to return it and she said 'tank oo pooh, bye bye' when I gave it to the lady. It was touching.

Opening her fishing pole from Papa R

The Purple Pooh cake ( I dyed the mix purple for her!)
I was very impressed with myself I must say, it turned out awesome and she was so excited.

It is hard to believe that 2 years ago today, in less than a half an hour, my wish came true and my beautiful baby girl was born. It truly is a miracle and I thank god daily for the wonderful joy she and Caili bring to our lives. She is ssooo independent and at the same time still such a little baby. Her vocabulary is growing each day and I love watching her as she thinks before she says something as you can almost see the wheels spinning in her head as she figures out which words to put together. Her humor and confidence in herself is amazing. She is now completely potty trained during the day while at home. If we go out, she wears a pull up, but always tells me when she has to go to the bathroom. She loves watching herself in the mirror and has become such a little mother to Caili. She watches over her like a hawk and if we are in a store, she makes sure that if someone talks to her, they say hi to Caili as well.

Caili is growing and growing. She is starting to babble, rolls over and over, sits up almost by herself and just laughs and laughs at Mckenna. Thank goodness for good naturedness (word?)
as busy is definitely the word to describe our days. She loves her jolly jumper and will watch Baby Einsteins First signs video from start to finish, jumping the whole time. She is just beautiful and her dimples can help but make your heart melt. She is a very easy going baby and loves to look at things. Her alertness is amazing and she can almost turn her head 360 degrees to look at something.

In the beginning of January, Mckenna, Caili and Ryan all got the flu....very bad. I was caregiver for over a week and cleaned up more vomit and diarrhea than I'd like to admit. It was terrible to watch my two children (sorry, three!) vomit over and over knowing there was nothing I could do to bring it up any easier. I definitely used Tele-health Ontario my fare share that week. But we got through it and they are much healthier now. I was blessed not to get it, but I know I fought it hard one night as I had the chills and everything just for a few hours...then it miraculously vanished. We had my family out for dinner the day after Mckenna had it as we thought it was just a bout of food poisoning. Then Ryan and Caili got it on Monday, my nana and brother on tuesday, my mom on Wednesday and friends of there's on Thursday. It was the gift that kept on giving......only it really wasn't a gift.

The night the flu took over our lives and the family came for dinner, pictures my mom took of some of my Christmas decorating.

On a very positive note, I now am proud to say that I am no longer sleep deprived!! I didn't even know I was, until I bought the book ' The sleep easy solution'. Caili was always a good sleeper from birth, but around 4.5 months, she started to get to used to me putting her to sleep and when she would wake up in the middle of the night, I would rush in and give her her soother or feed her so that she wouldn't wake up Mckenna. Well, that got her into a bad habit and she never really learned how to put herself or soothe herself to sleep. Mckenna was also starting to rely too much on her baba's to go to sleep and when she woke up in the middle of the night, I would sometimes get her a bottle and just bring her into our bed. So I read the book, told Ryan what to expect for the first couple of nights, but promised it would all be over soon. By the THIRD night, Caili was sleeping 11 hours!!! I couldn't believe it. We worked on her first while Mckenna slept in our room in the playpen. Then after Caili was all set, I told Mckenna that I talked to the sleep Doctor and she told me that the baba's isn't helping her sleep anymore and that she shouldn't have it at bed time. I was expecting a huge uproar, but only got a soft ' kay mama' That night she slept right through almost and when she woke up in the morning, she didn't even ask for a baba. So now they are both sleeping 11 hours through the night and we have also worked on the naps with Caili. What a difference it has made in ME! You can never explain sleep deprivation to anyone, unless they are experiencing it too, or have experienced it. This book had one part on sleep deprivation and one of the examples had happened to me just 2 days before I bought the book. I feel so much better, am much more clear headed and happier and it truly has made me a much better mother as I am not so short fused. So, if you know anyone with little ones and they aren't getting much sleep, I 100% recommend this book.

Ryan and I are planning an ice-fishing trip with friends of ours at the end of January. The kids are staying with my parents and I know it will be tough for me to leave them for 4 days, but it will be a much needed vacation for Ryan and I. We had a blast last year and I was pregnant then, however this year, I will really be able to join in on the fun. We stay in a hut on the ice over night that is heated and eat and eat and eat (well of course there is drinking too!) This year we are going up to Lake Nippising and are staying in a different place that has a T.V and a VCR. Now what would we possibly need that for, unless we end up catching all the fish in the lake!

Ryan's work is still very busy and he is working around 54-56 hours per week. I am so appreciate of all his hard work he does to allow me to stay home with the kids. Maternity leave payments are next to nothing and if he didn't have such a strong work ethic, we wouldn't be where we are today. I think he is starting to enjoy me being home more as I have become quite a 'domestic goddess' as I once heard a home-maker called. I don't know how I could possibly work full time and take care of the house all at once with my husband working such crazy long hours. Kudos to all the families who make it work as I don't think I could. Ryan is just so amazing and I am blessed to have such a wonderful best friend and husband who continues to make me smile and laugh often, even when I've had a rough day.

I am leaving you with some photos to enjoy!!