New Year

Here's a nice photo we took of all of us on New Years Eve. (Katie and Sam's Rockin Bed at 7:00 New Years Eve) This may be one of the only photos I can think of with all 4 of us in it.
And a picture of the girls.
How are you? We are good.

It's the Big Birthday Weekend...Sam is a year old on Sunday and I'll be about...30 years older than her on Monday.

We found another new tooth on Sam yesterday...on the bottom right. That's 7 total now! She does have a cold and so we thought her fussy lately because of that but now that we see the tooth it makes even more sense. She's SO close to walking. She can take one, sometimes two quick steps to grab onto someone or something, but really wants to grab. She was walking along the couch yesterday evening so fast it was almost like she was running! I even wonder if she's walked more when we're not looking. It's an exciting time!

Katie's getting bigger and more wonderfully eloquent all the time. I'm always amazed at the sentences and observations that come out of her mouth. Things have been a little less stressful lately (this week...don't ask about last week!). For a few days there Katie seemed so uncooperative. So I decided to do a few things to hopefully make life easier. Such as giving ourselves an hour to get ready to go instead of the usual half hour. This way, if Katie takes forever to put her boots on (by herself!) or balks at putting socks on, I have time to wait it out. Of course, when I did this yesterday, we ended up being a half hour earlier at strollercize than I really wanted...so it's not a foolproof plan. I'm such an on time/early person that I get really irritated when I'm running late or even just FEEL like I'm running late. Not a great thing to be when you live with an adorable toddler.

We still strollercize three times a week. Katie loves running around before and after and Sam loves trying to push the Chariot...she thinks it's another of her walking toys. (I should clarify...I don't really let her walk with it...she only tries to push it with teh brakes on) Ben and I have signed up to run a half marathon in late April, so we run by ourselves on Sunday mornings, enlisting grandparents as babysitters...it's an arrangement that I think everyone enjoys!

We went sledding for the first time a couple of weeks ago (I'm behind on uploading the pics) and Katie had a ton of fun. I have some great pictures to share. We also tried going to a gymnastics place (is there a name for it? A gymnastics gym?) for their drop in time. I dragged Gram along with us, which was super helpful when we arrived at 11:20...40 minutes earlier that the noon start time for drop in. I got the time wrong! We stuck it out and actually Katie did really well and enjoyed watching the kids that were in class...some about her age. Sam was sleepy but managed not to be too fussy. When it was our turn, Katie had all kinds of fun running and jumping. Even went on some trampolines! She did insist on doing all her trampoline bouncing on her knees. (except for once or twice when she stood up on her feet and grabbed onto my legs) I think it'll be a fun place for a play date with other friends.

I plan on posting again tomorrow to celebrate our birthday girl, so see you soon!

Some old...

Pictures...from over the holidays. Typing one handed today, nothing in order.

The end of the Christmas tree:Katie painting.
The girls in new clothes playing with new toys.
Sam, Christmas day at Gram and Grandpa's.
Sam with Auntie Alli.
Katie Xmas day playing with a new favorite farm set...pieces too small for Sam, it's an "at the table only" toy. And a "Don't Drop the Tiny Carrots!!" toy. =)
Dad and Katie reading our new favorite book...Big Words for Little People by Jamie Lee Curtis. She has some awesome books. (I'm Gonna Like Me, is another good one of hers.)
Sam eating a great new Giraffe.
Sam at Gram and Papas Christmas Eve.
Katie playing with a new old toy...another new fave.
The girls hugging.
Nice Hugs!

Dance Party...and a Banana Story.

Well, Banana Story first.

Yesterday morning Ben woke up early to swim before work so I was alone on breakfast duty with the girls.

Sam has baby cereal, Katie eats a bowl of cheerios. After Katie eats her cheerios, she has a banana. Almost every day. Kind of repetitive, but that's a toddler for you.

So, I get her a banana, peel it and notice it's a pretty big one, so I bite a bit off the end. When I bring it to her, she gets all upset, which I really should have foreseen and so, without argument, I go back to the kitchen to get her another banana.

I peel it and as I'm throwing the peel in the garbage...I take a bite of the banana. WHAT!? What was I thinking? I apparently take banana bites more often than I realized...so often that I did it automatically.

I spit the banana chunk out immediately and place it gently on top of the banana...maybe she won't notice? I'm cringing inside.

Back at the table I hand it to her and the banana chunk falls to the floor right away. She looks at it with big eyes and starts guffawing in amazement...I could see her thinking "How did THAT happen!?!"...I giggled hysterically along with her, obviously for slightly different reasons. Sam was laughing too. We laughed for a good 15 minutes. A nice way to start the morning.

I do realize, I was lucky to escape unscathed by a serious toddler tantrum.

Must drink coffee before offering the banana in the future. =)

Today we had a dance party...Katie loves dancing and Sam has started bopping along whenever there's music too. (especially when she's standing up, which she isn't in the following video). My only wish is that they had a better dance teacher. =)

Untitled from BabyLuch on Vimeo.

Onions...

Why is it that the past two days I have made some excellent dinners (pasta carbonara and this Salmon dish, but with orange juice instead of apple cider) that did not need any onions, went grocery shopping yesterday and didn't realize I needed to buy onions and now every possible dinner I can think of (including our planned meal, Pulled Pork) requires onions?

Why Why Why?!

Now I am paralyzed with indecision...what in my million recipe books can I find that's yummy and doesn't require onions (or anything else I don't have)? Should I really take the girls out shopping when it's -20C out and we have no other need to go out today? It's not impossible but also not desirable.

Tell me this kind of thing happens to you all too. =)

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone (and now Happy New Year too)!
A post in bullet format, or it'll never get done!

- The above is the best "together" picture I've gotten lately. With Sam crawling and cruising everywhere, she's not easy to get in one place and Katie either turns her head like she doesn't want her picture taken or tries to grab the camera to take some pictures of her own. Taken Dec. 23rd at Home Depot.

- Sam got her 5th tooth on Christmas Day...which explains (I think) her fussiness during Xmas Eve mass and Xmas morning (nap struggle).

- Katie did lots of Christmas baking

- Lots of evenings out! Lots of generous gifts!

- We listened to Fred Penner and Anne Murray CONSTANTLY.

- We made gingerbread houses with Jo-Anne and her girls G and C. They have a very cool trampoline, some dress-up clothes and Sam's first time crawling up stairs.

- Auntie Alli came home for a few days!

- Sam loves Peek a Boo.

- Katie fell asleep in teh car lots but still won't really nap.

- We walked a few blocks through Candy Cane Lane (lots of Christmas lights) and Ben and Katie caught snow on their tongues. Afterwards we went to a nearby church and looked at their (somewhat legendary) display of nativity sets/creches.

- Both girls had Christmas dresses.

- Sam practiced walking A LOT...she can walk with a walker toy now and cruises along walls as well as furniture. Gets up and down with ease...is fast fast fast.

Had a lovely holiday...busy with lots of fun and family. Many more pictures are coming. And more "bullets" if I can remember them. =)

See you soon (and hopefully more often) in this new year.

Cute...

I'm in the kitchen doing dishes and Katie comes in, not wearing pants because she took them off earlier. I'm ok with that since though it's -20C outside, it's quite nice inside. (Pick Your Battles)

She says "Hey mom, you stay here ok, I'm going to go pee all by myself!" (wagging her finger at me the whole time).

Cute things like this happen all day long.

Also...Sam is now comfortably pulling herself up to standing on whatever is nearby. And walking from couch to chair or person etc. if she's holding on to something. Kind of scary, but a wonderful sign of independence. Make no mistake, I mean wonderful for her, not for me. Seriously, we have come to the conclusion that we had no idea what childproofing was with Katie. I'll need that cloning thing they talk about to get through this upcoming toddlerhood.

(Katie's also a bit like my spy...she tells me when Sam starts to eat something off the floor...I love it!)

ALSO...while I'm here (doing this 2 second update) Sam officially grew her 4th tooth the other day! Yay! (or did I mention this already?). Back to the dishes!

A nice thing...

I have another blog post started with various minor things that are maybe a bit tough lately...but wanted to post about this instead:

Currently, part of our "go to bed" routine includes me nursing Sam on our bed, while Ben gives Katie a glass of milk in the living room and brushes her teeth. Most often Sam's still nursing when Katie finishes and they stop by the room and Katie stands by the door and says a variation of the same thing. Always "I love you", usually "I love Sam" and "Sam loves you too" (as I had said this back to her when she first started doing this). I'm not sure how much Ben prompts her as they walk to the door, but lately she's also been saying "I love you reading, I love you feeding Sam, I love books, I love you playing, I love you when we paint"...and maybe a few others that I've already forgotten. It's funny because you never quite know what she's going to say and sweet because you do sense true feelings (I think!).

And no matter what time we're waking up in the morning (4 or 5am), how much we don't like washing our hands or getting dressed to go out in -20C, how much we're falling on the floor... That goodnight always makes me smile.