Ok, so it’s been a while. But I’m back on the wagon and ready to go. So let’s catch up….

Sophie is 2 ½ years old now and has developed quite an imagination. She often talks to her ‘friends’ and names them. There are a variety of them – crocodiles, Swiper (the fox from Dora), Sara (???), and on and on. She likes to have them follow her around the house and eat cookies or cook with her. She has also been waking frequently at night for about 5 months and we wonder if this is all related. I get up (yep, she doesn’t want Benoit) every night 1-4+ times. Usually she wakes at 1am/3am or 3am/5am. But some nights it’s every couple of hours. This week, I have slept 1 night with only 1 waking. So I’m a little zombie-ish, but making it. We are trying a new nap routine starting today and hoping it will help. She has not been taking a nap for the last 2 months b/c we have so much trouble getting her to sleep at night. Now she zonks right out, which is amazing b/c we have our evenings back starting at 8pm but then wakes several times at night. So we wonder if she’s overtired. Today, she had a 30 min quiet time (she fell asleep after 15 and I let her sleep for 30) and then a movie while Audrey finished her nap. So crossing my fingers for a new/better routine with better night sleep.

Audrey is 14 months and is more verbal every day! She is signing a ton of words, mostly animal related and usually accompanied by noise. She can sign dog (see below), more, light, milk, bye, blow a kiss, bird, gorilla, elephant, giraffe, monkey, pig, hot, and please. Her first verbal word besides mama/dada was two weeks ago and she said ‘peees’ when she signed please. New verbal words include bye, yuck (when we change her diaper), ball, bath, and uh-oh. She is so pleased with herself when she communicates with me and I’m so proud of her for saying so many words. She has not said any French words yet, but last week, Benoit asked her to bring him his bike helmet in French and she did. She is super smart and just a joy to be around.

As for me and Benoit, we are doing great. Just getting the family back from Vermont to visit Brad and Emily (Mom got to come too!). Benoit is feeling much better but having setbacks occasionally. He has gained back 15 pounds and actually wants to lose 5 again. I think he looks great but he wants to get down to his goal weight and stay there. I can totally understand! I’m focused on getting Sophie ready for school in a couple of weeks and deciding how Audrey and I will spend our time, other than running errands. I’m considering a gym class for her or pool time. But I want to maintain a good schedule that will be fun and challenging for her while giving us some good mommy/daughter time.

For visual interest, I’ve added a few of my fave photos from our vacation below. I’m still waiting to see if my photos I accidentally deleted can be recovered, so I’ll add more another time.

Audrey making her dog sign while sitting on a dog.

The view from our back patio at 'The Swallow's Nest'.
Nana and her girls!

Brad and me in giant chair, awesome.

Home Improvements

Happy Summer! I've been in the redecorating mood lately and just finished new pillows for the living room (photos not uploaded yet). Thanks so much to my mom for my Mother's Day gift card, with which I bought some gret fabric for new curtains in the dining area. Don't you love it? I do. here is a close up and wide shot.

I love summertime, even in the Texas heat! So we spruced up our back patio and we're ready for some summer grilling. Woo hoo! Note my new herb garden (ok, it's a pot, but it's a start) which I'm super pumped about.

How is it possible?

How is it possible that I'm planning a first birthday party for Audrey? I am amazed how fast year one goes by. It's bittersweet...I'm so proud of my walking, talking bundle of love but I'm also so sad that she's growing up so quickly. It's hard to even imagine how little she was and it really wasn't that long ago. Here are five things I know (and love) about my little Audrey.

1. 
   
   She loves the sandbox. And sometimes, she just can't resist having a taste test.


2. 
   
   She snuggles up on her side with her baby blanket in her arms to fall asleep, and she is an amazing sleeper. She falls asleep quickly and hardly ever wakes during the night. What a wonderful treat for this sleep-addicted mommy.


3. 
   
   She loves Cody. For the longest time, she would crawl to wherever he was just to pet him and smile and giggle the whole time Poor thing, each time she made it to him after all that hard work, he would just walk away.


4. 
   
   She's a climber. She started climbing about a month ago onto Sophie's bed. Then Sophie's little rocking chair. Onto the ottoman and into the chair. From the laundry basket onto the couch. She's a brave one.


5. 
   
   She points like a gunslinger with both her pointer finger and her thumb. And she grunts at whatever has caught her attention 'guh, guh'. She's starting to sign and communicate with us, which is so much fun. So far, she's signing 'more', 'fan', 'bye', 'hi'. And she saying 'mama' (love!), and 'dada'. Fun!

Lastly, here is a proof of the adorable birthday party invitation for Audrey. We're having a very small get-together and hoping for a intimate, special day for our youngest. Sweet, sweet moments....

Try and Try Again

All month I've been trying to get a cute picture of Audrey with her '8 month old' sign and have had little luck. She is so squirmy and I can't get her to sit still long enough to get a photo. Here are the best of the crop so far!

In this session, she just kept trying to crawl towards me.
Here she kept making funny faces or wanted to grab the sign.

Yummy!

This is the best one I got....But if you look close, you'll notice she has a black eye...her first shiner! Darn you, bathtub!

A Winter Day

After church last Sunday, we came home and took some quick photos with the girls in our Sunday best. It was super cold and we had on winter clothes, which is hard to imagine now that it's 75 degrees outside! Can you believe it's February? I'll have to add my 'spring' pictures soon...but I'll save that for another day. Enjoy!

PS - Sophie is in the den telling her baby dolls to go to timeout right now. I keep hearing 'No ma'am! Go timeout! Go timeout right now!' lol

Me and my girls.
Mommy and Audrey snuggling.

Sophie posing for the camera...a little model in the making.There is that model pout. She practices a lot.

Benoit and Audrey being quite adorable together.

Woo Hoo! Sophie's Two!

How do I suddenly have a two year old? It seems like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant for the first time and now here I am with two precious little girls. What a blessing. I thought Sophie would enjoy a Winter Carnival with her friends and so a theme was born. Snowman invitations, blue/white/silver everywhere, and tons of 'carni' games to boot. We had a snowball toss, photo booth, hockey shootout, guess how many gummy bears, go fish, tattoo parlor, penguin pickup, and polar bear knock down. Everyone got tickets and a goodie bag to collect all their hard earned prizes, also winter themed. I think all the kids had a blast and I know Sophie enjoyed the party. She especially enjoyed her cake...we've been hearing about cupcakes all week long! She has definitely formed an association between birthday and cupcakes, I assume from preschool. And she's always pandering for one. But she is the birthday girl, after all, so why not.

~

Though she will not likely remember this party, I hope she remembers that she has friends who care about her and parents who are proud of her and love her endlessly. She's an amazing little girl full of feisty fire, sweet snuggles, and great giggles. How much fun to watch her grow up!

Front door sign...super cute!Sophie's birthday plate!Getting ready for the cake - she seemed to know just what to do.Yum! She really liked her cake.Family picture - it was a great day!Sophie playing at the 'photo booth' with her friend, Levi.Enjoying the 'hockey shoot out' game.

The Day That Wouldn't End

Three a.m. That's 30 minutes before the alarm...Audrey wakes up with a dirty diaper and hungry, Sophie wakes up with a dirty diaper and ready to play. Quickly get ready and in the car by 3:45a.m. and on our way to Toronto, 15 min before we planned to leave. Maybe this trip will be relatively smooth. Rookie thinking.

Sophie's awake until 5:45a.m. in the car. Audrey sleeps or plays quietly all the way to Toronto. Sophie takes a 2 hour nap and then plays calmly in the backseat. So far, going ok. But don't get ahead of yourself.

Arrive at Sheraton to drop off rental car. Called ahead for taxi to drop us directly at our terminal instead of the shuttle drop to save some time. Very smart. Feed Audrey in Sheraton lobby and get lots of looks. PS - Breastfeeding women don't want to talk to you about how fast your kids grew up. No time to change Sophie, only Audrey. So Sophie goes to the airport in her pajamas. At least they are cute. But she has crazy hair and won't let me touch it. We look like hillbillies all day.

Get to airport and check in. But only 1 child is listed so we have to go from Air Canada counter to United to pay tax for additional child. Thirty minutes later we get ticket from Air Canada. But large bag 55 lbs = $75 fee. Try three times to get under 52 lbs to avoid fee. Success. Get to customs to discover ridiculously huge line. Have 1 hour until flight and line will take at least 50 minutes. Against all odds, the kids are reasonably happy. But Benoit and I are not.

Make it to bag drop off and security line with 10 minutes to spare. Have to toss my fraise and bluet syrup I bought as my souvenir. Was really looking forward to using it on waffles from my new waffle maker Santa brought me. Now I'm running (or at least jogging) with 2 girls in a double stroller and a really heavy diaper bag. Pass a lady who exclaims "Look at that girl's hair!". Hillbillies we are. Make it to gate, which is the last gate down the terminal and get in line behind 4 people. We're the last ones on the plane. But we made it!

Flight is not bad, relatively empty and we got four seats to ourselves. Girls do really well and we make it to Dallas just fine. Even get to split a chicken wrap and pringles for $10. Then we discover that although we made our flight, our luggage did not. No biggie since we are coming home. Except that the car seats didn't make it either.

No Air Canada baggage claim desk. No Air Canada ticket agents upstairs. Only an 800 number, which is not helpful at all. They say to come back to the airport for the 9pm flight from Toronto (which Benoit is doing right now) to get our bags. Desperate and stressed, we head to the parking spot. On the shuttle, Benoit asks another mom what she would do in our situation. How do you take two kids home with no car seat? She and her husband suggest buying one for Audrey and just strapping Sophie in and driving slow. But after a few minutes, she offers to let us borrow an extra car seat they have in their car. Amazing. We take them up on this incredible offer and use the borrowed seat for Audrey. We put Sophie in the backseat with me and just strapped her in as if she were a big kid. Don't judge. We feel terrible about doing it, but had very few options at this point. She pitched a royal fit and it took all I could muster to keep her in her seat. She fell asleep about 5 minutes after we left...she had not slept since her short nap that morning. Try to call Luigi's to order a pizza and have the number programmed in my phone incorrectly. Give up and use 411.

Wake Sophie to come inside to eat. She explodes into a tantrum. Can't blame her because I know she's tired, but could really use a break at this point. Audrey is a peach, so that's nice. Eat in near silence...only Dora singing in the background. Bathtime begins only to find that Benoit had turned down the water heater to conserve energy while we were away (I'm sure that saved us $5) and there is no hot water for baths. After 3 rounds of boiling water on the stove and 2 pitchers from the microwave, we have a bath warm enough for the girls. Everyone is finally off to bed and the house is quiet. Benoit is off to pick up the luggage. I had hoped for a bath but that's not in the cards for tonight. So, I'm about to settle in with a Blue Moon winter ale (worth a try if you're looking for something new) and I'll call it a day. Maybe tomorrow will be a better one.