Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Picture Post
I've been yapping a lot lately, how about some pictures...


Eva was singing "Old MacDonald" and repeated the "Moo Moo Here" part over and over. I had to take a picture, because I think it's cute how she exaggerates her lips so much for the Mooing.



She totally listens when I ask her to smile for the camera.


Eva loves to crawl in the play gym with Kaitlyn.


And she also loves surrounding Kaitlyn with toys to "play" with. What a
good Big Sister.



Nich and I before our Date Night on Saturday. I know it's a bad picture- but I took about 500, and his eyes were closed in every single one except the one he had his tongue hanging out of. Sigh.

We have almost NO pictures of us together, and it makes me sad. I think I'm going to get a Professional Photographer to take lots of family pics for us in the Fall.

And that's all for now. It's errand day- I have to go to the bank, in to town to get our mail, make Kaitlyn's 4-month Dr. appointment, and (drumroll please) tonight I am going to join the fitness club!





 
posted by Teresa at 7:59 AM | Permalink | 6 comments
Monday, July 28, 2008
Meal Plan Monday
Ever since I got married, I've meal-planned for the week. It makes for an easy, breezy week, and minimal return trips to the grocery store.

I figured since I meal plan anyways, I should post them weekly on my blog (like Jen used to do). And then, a couple months from now, when I'm having trouble coming up with meals for the week, I can look back at my blog for inspiration. And, Jen (or any other bloggers out there), if you feel like posting your meal plans again- I love getting new ideas :)

So, without further ado, the meal plan for the week:

Sloppy Jos, Fruit Salad
Salmon, Green Beans, Rice
Pork, Leftover Rice, Green Beans
Rigatoni Balsamica (my favourite meal made by Nich, who saw the recipe made on a cooking show)
Shrimp Kebabs, Slow Cooked Taters

I never know what day I'll be making the meals on. It all depends on the mood I'm in, how much cooking I feel like doing, and the weather. You know?

And on a side note, we're learning more and more about how buying local is better, and how where my meat comes from, isn't always the best (Nich told me yesterday that chicken farmers keep the chickens in a barn, they never see the light of day, feed them lots of steroids so they grow fast, and then kill them for food after one month. Eek)

So, I checked out the prices of meat from our local Ladybug Organics store, and holy wow, not so affordable. So, we might be cooking more vegetarian meals. Any recipes for me? I'm going to Chapters this morning to see if I can score a Vegetarian Recipes book.
 
posted by Teresa at 8:57 AM | Permalink | 6 comments
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Update
-Eva was well-behaved all day yesterday. And she even ate her dinner! What a relief.

-Kaitlyn went to bed at 8:15. Woke up at 8:45, 10:25, 11:30...and I stopped looking at the clock after that.

-She's back eating every 2.5-3 hours. I feel human again.

-Eva is back using the potty 80% of the time now. She has almost completed her first sticker chart- and will be getting a Kinder Surprise egg as a reward. She is very excited.

-Kaitlyn slept almost the entire day yesterday. I should probably work on that- maybe she would wake less at night, and sleep in longer than 6am.

-My house is now clean- laundry is done, bathrooms are scrubbed, floors are mopped and vacuumed...it's a good feeling.
 
posted by Teresa at 8:05 AM | Permalink | 4 comments
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The not so fun stuff
Tuesdays are so much better than Mondays. Everything is crazy on Mondays. The kids are always grumpy, my house is a mess, laundry has piled up and I cant ever stay on top of it all. If you talk to me on Mondays- I am sorry. I don't mean to be a whiny, blubbery mess, but I just can't help it.

Tuesdays may not always be better than Mondays, but I have better perspective. By Tuesday, I decide that it's ok that the kids are grumpy, my house is a mess, laundry has piled up, and I can't stay on top of it all. Nich gave me a good pep talk last night that was quite encouraging. It was good to hear from him that he doesn't expect everything to be perfect either. Our kids are young right now, and they need us. And there just is not enough energy or time in the day to get everything done.

I feel like I am at a low point in my parenting career right now. Eva has regressed in her potty training (i think the stress of being away from home for almost a week threw her over the edge), she is not eating (not exactly new- but she now uses 2-year old force), and she is rude, tantrumy and defiant. Probably all normal Terrible Two stuff, but tiring nonetheless.

Kaitlyn is back to wanting to eat every 2 hours (ahhhH!), and is waking up more often to eat at night. She takes short catnaps all day long- which may sound nice, but it's hard to get her to go to sleep- it takes a lot of time and energy. And more time away from Eva, means an unhappier Eva.

Sigh, I am exhausted.

Sometimes I just want to fast-forward a few months. I know in theory I will miss a lot of neat things, but I want this phase to be over. I'm not having any fun. Parenting really sucks sometimes.

Yesterday, I was completely down and out about it all. And today, well, I'm not pleased, but I'm not fighting it anymore. I have put Eva in Pull-ups again (except during naptime and at night, cuz she knows how to hold it, she just is missing the potty while she's awake. How backwards is that?) And, whatever, I'll just feed Kaitlyn when she's hungry, even though it seems like nursing is all I ever do. And night-wakings, well, hopefully that will get better with time.

I want to enjoy my kids. They are so terribly cute when they are all good and behaving-like. Eva loves to sing all sorts of songs (ABC's, Old McDonald, BaaBaa Black Sheep, Jesus Loves Me etc). And, yesterday, she walked around strumming her little guitar while singing her favourites.

Kaitlyn is a smiley, gurgly girl- when she's actually awake. Here she is during tummy time this morning...


She's bringing back Eva's trademark Mexx hat. I think she wore it every day for about 5 months. I miss it! Glad it's back in action.

I don't really know how to wrap up this post. Let's see here: parenting is hard, terrible two's suck, kids are sure cute, so I guess it's all worth it. The end.
 
posted by Teresa at 1:09 PM | Permalink | 11 comments
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Vacation Part 2
Woowee! Who's idea was it to take a tantruming 2-year old and a nursing-every-2.5-hours baby on a 11 1/2 hour road trip anyways? What a gong show.

But, we survived, and dare I say, even enjoyed ourselves quite a bit. Canmore is awesome! Nich and I fell in love with the quaint mountain village, and were wishing we had an excuse to move there. It is gorgeous! And so many outdoor activities to do, and fun little shops. And sooo much new construction being built- and lots of high-end houses too, which Nich wants to build some day. Anyways, exciting stuff.

Our first day there, we found the local Starbucks (of course!), went walking along a boardwalk...





found the HooDoos...


And enjoyed the pool and hot tub at the Condo. Kaitlyn sported Liliana's itsy-bitsy, adorable swimsuit, and sat in her baby floaty.


The second day there, we met up with Jen and her family. The girls had lots of fun together.
Eva was so excited to hang out with her cousin Kaylie- when she wasn't around, she would ask "Where's my Kaylie?" So cute.

Anyhow, we drove into Banff, attempted to go to the hot pools- but thunder and lightning kept that from happening. Eva and Kaylie seriously bummed, but a trip to McD's quickly put smiles back on their faces. Then, I drug everyone (Nich, Eva, Kaitlyn, Jen, Noah, Kaylie and Liliana) to LuLuLemon. And they patiently waited as I tried on 25 different outfits- all of which did NOT fit. Stupid LuluLemon. Whatever, Walmart workout clothes will work just as well. I guess.

Quick side note- I am going to join a fitness club! Yay me! A month after I had Kaitlyn I was 1 pound away from my pre-preg weight. Then, it just starting piling back on, pound after pound, and now I am 10 pounds away. Apparently, my metabolism has finally slowed down, and I am now a normal person who has to workout and watch what I eat.

Back to the vacation- we headed back to Canmore after our Banff excursion. Eva actually fell asleep in the car, and amazingly went back to sleep after it took forever to sort out getting into our new condo room (we had to move down the hall). It was SO good that she napped, although it turned out to still not be a long enough nap, since she woke up for dinner grumpy, and stayed grumpy until bed-time. Sigh, 2-year olds.

But, we all still had fun. Jen came over to our condo that evening, and we had a blast trying out her BeautiControl stuff. Kaylie and I tried out a lip mask...



and lots of other great products. One day, when I am rich, I will buy it all.

Our trip back today went pretty smooth. We got up at 6 am (Alberta time) and got home around 6 pm (BC time). We stopped at McD's for lunch (Eva's new favourite restaurant, where she only eats Ketchup and ice cream)

and then had one minor back-seat meltdown when we were 1-hour from home. It only lasted 10 minutes, and ended with both of them sound asleep until we pulled into our driveway.

Vacation is fun, but it's so good to be home :)
 
posted by Teresa at 8:07 PM | Permalink | 7 comments
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Vacation Part 1
We enjoyed a visit to the States, getting to see lots of relatives, new baby Ethan, my brother, and some good friends. And to Eva's joy and amazement, there was a pool at our hotel. It was a blast watching her swim with her Daddy-o in the new blow-up giraffe I bought her.

More adventures to come, as we are leaving for Banff at 5am tomorrow morning.
 
posted by Teresa at 9:14 PM | Permalink | 5 comments
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Summer Break
Braam summer vacation starts in 19 hours. This will be Nich's first whole week off since our summer break in Mexico last year.

Yee-haw!

I'm a little excited. We're starting off with a trip to the States for a couple days. On Sunday, I'll be doing a little (or a lot) of shopping at the Outlets, visiting my awesome Grandma, and then off to Nate & Christi's Baby shower. I'm just a little excited to see my brother on his break from serving in Afghanistan.

Monday, we're going to enjoy a pancake breakfast and then we're going to have a Graveside Memorial Service for my Grandpa that passed away a few months ago. Both my brother and I weren't able to make it to the Memorial Service (he was overseas, and I was about to have a baby), so it will be a nice way to remember him.

Then, on Thursday, we're heading off to Banff for our first ever family vacation as a family of four. And, we're meeting Nich's sister and her fam there too. Eva's super excited to hang out with her cool cousins again. And I'm super excited to hang out with Jen, and maybe just maybe sneak in a little Spa time to get my annual facial.


And, in photo fun- can you guess who each Eeyore is?






 
posted by Teresa at 8:31 PM | Permalink | 11 comments
Monday, July 07, 2008
Redwood Park
We packed a picnic, loaded up the car and drove to beautiful Redwood park yesterday afternoon. I'd love to write more, but as usual, I have a baby in my arms. So, here are some pictures to tell the story.




















I was pretty snap-happy, and got a couple good close-ups of the girls...





I love pictures and picnics and summer! It was a good weekend.

 
posted by Teresa at 7:57 AM | Permalink | 4 comments
Friday, July 04, 2008
Jumperoo
My friends from the States brought up a Jumperoo for Kaitlyn to use awhile back. I figure since she enjoys looking at toys and standing up- what a perfect time to break out the super-toy.

And she loves it!



She happily swayed and jiggled while she looked at each of the toys. She only lasted about 10 minutes before becoming completely overstimulated. But, hey, those were a joyful 10 minutes.

In hair news, for the first time in my life I have a hair routine. And it is SO easy. No blow-drying or flat ironing or major amount of product involved. Daily, I just wash my hair, towel-dry, scrunch curl-enhancer mousse in it, comb my bangs, and let it air-dry.

This is what it looks like with that minimal effort:


My new hairdresser rocks. I think it's all the layers she added that makes it so wavy and nice. And the best thing? Her salon is in her house, which is a 4-minute walk away from my house. And she says I can drop in anytime, while I'm out for a walk, for a quick trim of the bangs. What a gal.
 
posted by Teresa at 2:48 PM | Permalink | 6 comments
Baby Ethan is here!
I have a new nephew!! Baby Ethan Isaac was born yesterday at 4:59am, and weighed 7lbs exactly.

We made record trip time (1 hr 50 min including gas and coffee fill-up in Bellingham) and went to visit Mom and baby last night. He is so precious, and can you believe I forgot to take pictures?

Check out Christi's blog for a few shots.
 
posted by Teresa at 8:20 AM | Permalink | 1 comments
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Haircut
I got my hair cut today (first one in almost a year...) And it's just a little different. How about a before and after shot.

Before (boring ponytail):




After:



I got bangs. Weeeee, I've always wanted bangs, and finally got the guts to take the plunge. Now, the question on the table is: to highlight or not to highlight?
 
posted by Teresa at 7:52 PM | Permalink | 5 comments