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!!