Miss Tweedle

Juliet Turns TWO

2018-04-19T15:12:00.001-06:00

It's hard to believe that our little Julietty is TWO and in a matter of weeks we will have another newborn in the house. It's all so daunting right now, but one thing I know for sure is that Juliet will most likely handle it like a champ! Here's all the things I can say about my little doll at TWO!

1. A day in the life of Juliet, the two-year-old goes like this: wake up in her bottom bunk with Nora about 6:30-7 and come running into our room yelling "I waked up! It's morning time!" We go downstairs and the girls have TV and a morning snack of milk and apples on the couch until about 8 and then we eat breakfast. On a day when they are going to daycare or Nora has preschool this get cuts a little short and we are usually out the door between 7:45-8:15 depending. When we're home we usually get dressed, tidy, play etc until about 9:30-10:30 and then then girls have their morning snack time. Often we go out to do something like the library story time, visit friends, errands etc. until about 11:30-12. 12 is lunch and then Juliet goes down for a nap from about 12:30-3. They have another snack time around 3:30 and we usually plan an outside activity for after nap like the park or a walk. 5 is supper time and after supper the girls play while I clean up until about 6:15 when we go upstairs for a bath. After bath they have stories in our bed together and then both go into their bunk beds for the night around 7. Lately they've been taking a little while to fall asleep, chatting and giggling and filling around until about 7:30-7:45 but at least they stay in their rooms and eventually fall asleep!

2. Juliet the cuddle bug! Juliet has always been our little cuddler. She loves to sit on my lap and snuggle and will often ask many times throughout the day for me to sit down and "cuddle me". Its such a sweet little gesture and it always reminds me how fleeting this time is with her at this age and stage. I love it when she asks because I have to give in to her and take the time to just sit and do nothing but snuggle her. Over the last year her cuteness factor has absolutely exploded and more than ever, she is simply adorable. She is so happy all the time and laughs or smiles at everything. Her adorable little chubby cheeks are so kissable and that curly blonde mop of hair just tops it all off. I look at her so many times throughout the day and just can't get enough of her cuteness!

3. Juliet's favourite things are her pink blankie ("nanee"- she has called it this since she could talk) which she is super attached to. She needs it to fall asleep and whenever she sees it, no matter what she is doing, she grabs it and cuddles it and starts sucking her thumb. If she is upset about anything, her nanee will calm her in an instant. It's hard to get it out of her sight to wash it! She also has a little pink flamingo stuffy that she sleeps with ("my fingo!"). She is more into playing with baby dolls than Nora ever was and also loves to pack things into bags and purses and carry them around. She plays in the play kitchen more than Nora does now but mostly just does whatever Nora comes up with. She follows her around like crazy and just wants to join in with her at all times. They love to be outside and explore around the backyard together. If Nora is colouring or doing some kind of craft, Juliet will be right beside her. However, I think her favourite game/activity of all time is water play. Since she could climb the kitchen stool, she has figured out how to turn the kitchen sink on and will stand there for a really long time "washing" dishes and turning the water on and off. She does this almost daily and it keeps her occupied while I am tidying or cooking.

4. Speaking of playing with Nora, they really are the best of friends. One of them misses the other dearly even when they aren't together for an hour or so. Juliet is lost without Nora to follow around and she asks about her constantly when she isn't here. Nora is really good with her too, always making up games they can play together and including her in almost everything she does. Of course, they have their little squabbles, but it never lasts more than a minute and most of the time they really get along. Juliet has the funniest way of saying "Nooooowwa!" when she does something she doesn't like! A few months ago I had a babysitter come for Juliet while I took Nora to a birthday party and Nora was so concerned about Juliet the whole time. She kept asking me throughout the party if I thought Juliet was OK and if she'd be missing us. On her birthday, Nora gave her a big hug and said to her "I just love my little birthday girl so much!" and she was just vibrating with excitement at seeing Juliet open the gift she picked out for her- a little rainbow coloured dog stuffy that was also a purse for her to carry around. I just love that they care so much about each other and I hope it always stays like that!

5. Juliet's vocabulary has exploded in the last month or so and she talks in sentences more often than not now. She is stringing 4-5 words together all the time which is so much fun. One of the things she says most often is "me come too?!" or "and me?!" just to make sure she will be included in whatever we are talking about or planning. We hardly ever do anything as a family and leave her behind, so we aren't sure where she got the idea that she isn't coming, but she really wants to make darn sure she'll be with us all the time! Some of her other cute sayings are "that's bugging' me!", "what's that thing?!" (another CONSTANT question) and "mommy do it" or "Nora did it". She basically gives a running commentary all day long of what is going on and what everyone is doing. It can be slightly exhausting sometimes, but it's also adorable. She tells us she loves things all the time which is so funny. She will see a picture in a book and point to one of the objects and say "I love that thing!" no matter what it is. She knows so many names and obscure words like sleeve, nail clippers, chin, etc.- words that I wouldn't think she would come out with. I just love it when she says her own name because she refers to herself as "Julietty!" She also completely gets how to say things in order to be funny or sarcastic or to sound mad. She will raise her eyebrows in such a cute and funny way and say things like "That Daddy!!!" when Tom leaves the toilet seat up for example. She also uses her manners most of the time which is always awesome to hear the little "Thank you Mommy" without being prompted. I just can't wait for all the stories she is going to tell me from now on!

6. We always thought Nora was such a genius child, but now that I have Juliet I think she is just as smart! (Maybe that's just how kids are... but of course I think they are exceptional!) At two, she knows all of her colours which surprises me. She can count to 10 and recognizes numbers wherever we go. At the pool she noticed the difference between numbers and words on the pool deck which completely floored me. She also knows several songs like twinkle, twinkle and baa baa black sheep, and loves to sing along with us. She can sing the entire alphabet correctly and consistently picks out the letter J in books and on papers Nora has written. Seeing the wheels turn and their brains in action has to be one of my favourite things to witness as a parent.

7. Juliet has always loved food, like the rest of us! But she is much more of a treat girl (like her mama) than Nora. Nora will leave sweets and cookies and not touch them over fruit or veg, but Juliet is highly motivated by desserts and cookies and candies. She also eats quite healthily but it's funny to me how different their tastes can be. Juliet much prefers carbs more than Nora and will go for the crackers, pretzels, pancakes, pasta etc. first and eat her fruit and veg last. She LOVES all kinds of dip and if she can dip something, she will eat it- hummus, ranch, ketchup, dippy eggs, tzatziki, you name it! She is also a more adventurous eater than Nora is now. She loves all kinds of salad no matter the dressing. She gobbled up a sesame noodle salad I made the other night and she loves yogurt and granola or overnight oats with everything included- nuts, berries, hemp hearts, chia seeds etc. Her favourite foods are probably apples, watermelon, berries, crackers/chips and pizza, but she really will try/eat almost anything.

8. We are starting to see glimpses of the terrible twos coming out in her a little bit. She wants to do things herself and is less easily distracted by things if she has her mind set on something. I can't just offer her a different kind/colour if she had her heart set on a certain thing. She gets into mischief a little bit, but we have yet to discipline her much. The latest thing is that she wants to always climb into her car seat herself and gets so mad if someone lifts her in. I have started counting to 3 to make her climb in faster and if I get to 3 before she does, I grab her and put her in and she throws a tantrum. I am much better at riding out her tantrums and not giving into them or giving them much attention with Juliet than I was with Nora. I know more about their little power struggles than I did when Nora was this age and I think it has made it much easier to handle. It's all just part of her developmental age and I think she does try and test me a little, but it's really just not in her personality to do so very often. Thank god!

9. We have started potty training Juliet! I never expected or planned on doing it before the baby came, but it was Nora who went down to the basement and brought out the little potty one day and decided Juliet should try it. Almost constantly, Nora asks Juliet to use the potty and she has done it lots! So we are running with it because she seems pretty motivated. We've only just started in the last week or so, but overall it's been pretty successful and she does go almost every time she sits on it, so we will see if it's easier than it was with Nora! Fingers crossed and then we won't have 2 kids in diapers!

10. My whole experience as Juliet's mother has been so different than my experience as Nora's mother. I am so much more laid back with her and I really think her personality and easy-going nature is both as a result and to blame for it. I have always said she is the easiest child to be around, always happy, always going with the flow, never causing a fuss and constantly rolling with the punches. Like Nora, she is a little Mama's girl (both of them prefer me to help them and do things with them and for them over Tom which can be exhausting) but she is just so sweet and laid back I don't mind. A typical example of their personalities was when we took Juliet skiing for the first time a few weeks ago, she just LOVED every minute- she fell in the snow, her skis got twisted, she did things that were completely unfamiliar to her and not once did she wipe the smile off her face or fuss or whine or cry. She was just glad to be a part of the fun and the action. (All while Nora whimpered and whined and questioned every move we made the entire time!)

I could never say which of my children I love more, of course, but my love for Juliet has always been so easy and natural and uncomplicated and pure. I felt such an instant connection to her from the second I laid eyes on her and smiled so wide every time I looked at her from the time she was born. (My fears and anxieties as a first time mother with Nora hindered this a little when I had her). There has always been less drama and less stress and less questioning on my part in my relationship with Juliet that I think she is lucky that way. In a way, she does live in Nora's shadow as the first born "gets" more attention and trial and error than the second a lot of the time, but I am just not worried about her like I am about Nora. She is my little sunshine, my doll and hands down the sweetest most adorable little thing I have ever seen. I have no doubt she will handle big sister status like a champ and continue to impress me and make me proud for the rest of her life. We love you, Julietty!

Four Years of Nora June

2017-08-24T21:43:00.000-06:00

My Baby Tweedle turned four at the beginning of August and I am finally writing the post I have been thinking about writing since then! I know this is so cliche and everyone always says this, but she is growing up so fast before my eyes! I cannot even believe we have one more year of her at home and that this time next year she will be off to kindergarten!

As promised, I'm going to write a "10 Things" obout each of the girls on their birthdays, so without further adieu....

1. A day in the life of a four year old Nora looks a little something like this: 7:00 wake up, TV and breakfast until about 8, play/plan the day, 9-11:30 go on an outing to the park, see friends, beach, visit family, etc. 12 lunch, 12:30 Juliet naps and Nora watches TV again until about 1:30, 1:30-3 quiet colouring, puzzles, reading, one on one time with me... 3-4:30/5 more outings, playtime, errands, etc. 5-6 suppertime, 7:00 bedtime and asleep immediately! When school starts again and I am back at work, she will go to school 2 mornings a week and a day home once a week. The other 4 days she will be at home on the same schedule. What a life!

2. Our little crafter continues to be OBSESSED with making things. Her new thing is making people a "list". Like, she had to make a "list" of things Juliet does for the day home to know, and a list of things to pack for camping. Sometimes she makes "lists" which are totally not lists, like a "list" to tell daddy not to leave his coffee cup around the house! "Posters" are also really popular right now too. She makes "posters" all the time which are pictures that she tapes onto things in order to label them. She made a poster of Juliet and put it on the fridge because "Juliet likes food"... Ha Ha!!! It drives me a tad crazy to CONSTANTLY be putting random pieces of paper and scraps away and felts and scissors and glue with no lids and and and..... BUT... really... she comes by it honestly!

3. I don't know if she is smarter than the average child, but I am going with YES, because remember, my blog, my bragging rights? She can recognize almost all the letters in the alphabet and she is starting ask quite frequently what sound they make. At just 4 years old, I feel like that is quite sophisticated, being a Kindergarten teacher and all.... to even make the connections that letters make sounds and words is a huge accomplishment. We play a game where she asks me how to "say" (spell) a word and I sound it out and she guesses the letters. Like, "how do you say Juliet?" and I sound out J-U-L-I-E-T and she guesses. She is getting better and definitely knows about 5-10 letter sounds which is crazy! She knows her numbers too and can almost count to 20. She loves learning and playing around with letters and numbers. If anything, being a teacher I was more relaxed about her knowing these things, because I didn't want to be that mom that was pressuring her before she was ready... so I really give ALL credit to her and her desire to learn it all.

4. And on the lines of being a genius... Nora's memory is out of control! Sometimes in a bad way! Things I hope she forgets, she remembers!! But really. How does she remember the colour of the building on a restaurant we went to when she was 2?! I really don't get it! She comes out with things like that ALL the time and I can't believe it. She completely remembers the most minuscule details about so many things it blows our minds almost daily.

5. She is SUCH a wordsmith who loves to rhyme and play around with sayings. A chip off the old Gammy block ;) Actually, my whole family is very literary, my mom, dad, grandma, me, my auntie.... and we all have a similar sense of clever/witty humour. On the night before Nora's birthday, we said, "See you in the morning!" and without even thinking, she said "NO! See you in the FOUR-ning! Get it?! Because I'll be four in the morning!" WHAT THREE-turning-FOUR year old says this stuff?! Also overheard: "Juliet, give that back you GALL!" Me: "Gall?" and her reply: "Yeah, like a seagull, because she always steals stuff like a seagull." She looovvveessssss rhyming and notices and repeats rhymes everywhere all the time. She will often say things like "Oh yeah! Gotta get my shoes boos on!" Or she will randomly say something like "time for a lime and a dime!" and then laugh hysterically. I LOVE it!

6. She is still super tall for her age and looks like she should be starting Kindergarten. It is both an advantage a pain. It's annoying because people expect more from her behaviour that she is ready for. They see her and think she is 5 or 6 and when she mispronounces words or whines or cries easily, they wonder. But it is an advantage in that she is so tall and strong for her age! She took gymnastics and swimming lessons this spring/summer and both instructors were impressed with her abilities for her age. I think she has really good hand/eye coordination for throwing and catching and kicking (of course comparing her with kids in K that I teach... oops!)

7. Her favourite toys at age 4 are still her "guys" (little people and animal figures). She often sets up elaborate scenes with them around the living room recreating TV shows or stories. She still loves Paw Patrol and Curious George and right now is into Doc McStuffins too. She also plays Duplo a lot, but really prefers crafts and reading to any toys. We have been outside a lot so it's hard for me to even think about what she has been doing around the house this summer.

8. She still loves eating and has a crazy appetite. She surprises me all the time what she can eat. She definitely takes after Tom with her fast metabolism and problem of getting HANGRY suddenly! She is really affected by low blood sugar. I can watch her mood change in an instant. If she is suddenly hungry, she needs to be fed instantly or she will go into complete meltdown mode. Within minutes of eating, she is back to her happy self again. It has taken me 4 years to completely figure this out. I worry about her at school and day care, etc when snack and mealtimes are more set times. She pretty much eats about 5-6 full meals a day and I make sure to feed her things that will fill her up at each one. A typical breakfast is a whole piece of toast, a cup of milk, an egg, and about a cup of fresh fruit. About 1.5-2 hours later she eats a snack which is usually crackers and cheese and more fruit or veg. She will eat a whole sandwich and fresh veg for lunch and then ask for a snack while she watches TV and I give her about another cup or fresh veg, cheese, turkey breast/ham and a cookie or a treat on the side. She eats an afternoon snack at 3 when Juliet gets up and then supper with a few random snacks thrown in too!

9. Watching her become a sister to Juliet over the past year and seeing her finally learn to love and accept her as her little bestie as been awesome. The adjustment of having Juliet around was really tough for Nora and it took a good 6 months for her sleep and tantrums to subside back to a pre-Juliet state. Now, she really really loves her and wants to take care of her and laughs with her and plays with her and it's seriously the best.

10. Of course, I have to mention that she is 4, but she is still my Baby Tweedle. My little baby Nora June. There will always be a special place in my heart for her and I love her differently that I do Juliet (not more... just differently!) I think she one of the most beautiful children I have ever seen. I look at her in wonder as to where she came from and how she got so grown up and where she got her looks and her brains from. She amazes me and teaches me and I am happier and better because she is here. We play this game where she says "I love you" and then I say "No, I love you" and then she says "No, I love you" and we go back and forth and she laughs and laughs!! But really, I love her so much it actually hurts me to think about. The older she gets and the more she mellows out, the more I see our relationship grow and change into a friendship. I hope she always wants to squeeze me around the neck and talk to me for hours and give me butterfly kisses. She will always be my baby, forever and ever.

One Whole Year of Juliet!

2017-04-07T21:05:00.002-06:00

I just spent over an hour reading my old posts and wishing I had been more diligent about writing here. It was such a great family journal and fun documentation of our life when I was doing it more regularly! Maybe I'll pick it up again. Or I'll just post a few times a year when I big milestone happens. I had it in mind that I wanted to write an update on Juliet, one year old, for her baby book, and wasn't even going to post it here because I have neglected the blog so much, but I thought it seemed appropriate to add it into the ol' Miss Tweedle vault.

Our little Juliet. Where do I begin?! Let's start a new birthday tradition of 10 THINGS every birthday!

10 Things About Juliet, 12 Months Old

1. Our little happy girl! It's not a secret that Juliet has been a very content and easygoing baby from very early on. She continues to be such a happy, smiley little thing, but is definitely pretty attached to me and beginning to really make strange a lot. It's hard on everyone else that wants to hold her, but I secretly love that she is my little sidekick and happiest in my arms. What mama wouldn't?!

2. The squeak is currently her favourite noise and the only thing that's a guarantee to make her laugh! She loves it when Nora makes a high pitched squeak sound and then they do it back and forth to each other for a few minutes and she giggles away!

3. Words! She is starting to say a few words and really communicating SO MUCH. She says Mama, Dada, Boo!, Night Night and neigh (for horse). She also understands so much more. We were playing on our deck the other night and I said, "why don't you go to the playground?" and she looked right at it and crawled over. She is doing things like tugging on her feet or patting her head when she hears me say "socks" or "hat" and she knows where her ears, nose, mouth, teeth and eyes are. She can also blow kisses, wave, dance to music and say HI. And surprisingly and thankfully, she responds quite well to the word NO!

4. The eyelash batting is the cutest ever! For a few months now, she makes the funniest little coy look and bats her eyeslashes at us often when she is eating. She points her head down and looks up at us and gives a half smile and blinks her eyes. I DIE!

5. She pushes a chair around but isn't walking yet! I thought maybe she would walk by her birthday, but I think we are still a ways off. She is getting more confident with pushing chairs and cruising on furniture and walls every day, but she rarely lets go to stand on her own, if ever. I try and stand her up and make her balance, but she gets really mad at me and sits down and whines and cries when I try.

6. She is beginning the mischief stage BIGTIME. Current favourites of hers are beelining for the stairs at all times (baby gates are us!), escaping into the bathroom when I forget to close the door and splashing in the toilet water, unrolling the TP and/or eating the TP, opening kitchen drawers and emptying them- namely the oil and vinegar bottle storage drawer and eating the chalk from Nora's art easel!!! And I know it's only going to get worse!!

7. She still loves her SLEEP! We are so thankful for our little sleeper, especially the napping part. She sleeps through the night (and has on and off since she was about 3 months with a few blips along the way). She also still takes 2 naps per day, an early morning one from about 8:30-10 and a longer afternoon nap from 12:30-3 most days. She loves her blank and needs it for sleep, too. It's actually a pink swaddle blankie I had for Nora and she adopted it as her own and now she JUST loves it. She motions to go in her crib close to nap time just to cuddle her blanket and suck her thumb!

8. She also still loves to eat! She feeds herself every meal and eats just as much as Nora, if not more. She isn't a picky eater at all, which is great. The only thing I have found that she doesn't like and won't eat at all are bananas and recently, tomatoes. She also won't drink regular milk yet, so I am trying different ways to get her drinking it so I can wean her from breastfeeding entirely. She still nurses first thing in the morning and before bed at night.

9. Books! She has just started to really love books and flipping pages. She often sits in front of her the bookcase in her room pulling each one off the shelf one by one and turning the pages and pointing to things. I love watching this so much. We read stories before her naps and it's one of my favourite things. I can't wait until both girls will sit and listen to stories with me on the couch.

10. She is still very much by little baby! This year flew by so fast and I didn't have as much time to sit and stare at her all the time. However, the good thing is that I never really felt guilty about it. I always felt like I had lots of time with her because I was never afraid of her growing up and changing so fast like I was with Nora. I knew that even after she turned one, she would still be my baby and there were always going to be new and exciting stages around every corner.

I also knew she was getting just as much love, if not more than baby Nora did, because she has 3 people around every day to love on her instead of 2! I felt such a strong connection to her from the moment she was born that was so different than it was when I had Nora. I think that I knew so much more about motherhood and the rollercoaster of emotions and overwhelming love and joy that it started earlier than it did when I had Nora. It's hard to put into words what I am trying to say without sounding weird about it. But the love I have for each of my girls is different and special in it's own way, just like they are. It still makes my eyes well with tears when I think about how lucky I am to have two healthy, beautiful and smart little girls.

What a year with my little Juliet! When I hear the nickname "chubbs" I will always be reminded of those sweet michelin arms and thighs that I could never get enough of and that adorable gummy grin smiling at me! Juliet Vera, I can't wait to write this list a year from now and every year after that and put into words forever all the things I love about you! Happy first birthday to our little doll.

Juliet, 6 Months Old

2016-10-04T21:29:00.001-06:00

Our Juliet Vera, 6 Months Old already! She is the happiest, most content little chubby-pants that there ever was! Seriously, one could not ask for a baby that was easier to be around. Not to say I wouldn't love her just as much if she was a little terror, but it sure has made our transition to 2 kids a breeze.

I won't bore you with all of the details, but instead I have been making a list of things in my head of things that I never want to forget about my little Juliet at this stage. The second time you realize how fast (Hello - 6 months?!!!!!) time really does fly and how easy it is to pass every day without stopping to really look and enjoy these fleeting stages and moments. I try so hard not to compare her with Nora, but I guess it's only natural to do that all the time. Even though, as you know, I kept a diary of almost every moment in Nora's life for the first year, I have STILL forgotten so much, because really, the first year is SO just the beginning and it always makes me so excited to know that I get to experience all the fun I have with Nora all over again with Juliet.

But at 6 Months, here are the things I LOVE about Juliet:

The way she sucks her thumb and uses her other hand to hold her sucking arm to her mouth. After I nurse her in the evenings before bed, she looks up at me and casually slips her thumb into her mouth and then frantically grasps her arm to hold it in place as if it might fall out if she doesn't.

That giant gummy grin that greets me first thing in the morning and after naps and pretty much whenever I look at her!

The arm rolls, oh, the rolls! Girlfriend has some seriously cute chub, rolls for days! We are JUST now getting a glimpse of her neck which has been hiding behind her 7 chins for the last 6 months! Her arm and leg rolls are really going strong though with no signs of slowing down as she is weighing in at a whopping 19lbs 1oz at my latest appointment.

That proud little smile every time she sits up and the hilarious look of fear when she falls backwards accidentally!

The hungry pant she gets going when she knows its time to nurse. She grabs furiously at me and sinks her little fingernails into the back of my neck. When she finally does latch on, she stops for a minute just to look up and me and smile and then dives happily back in.

The way she watches her sister intently all the time. It makes me so excited to see them play and equally as scared and sad to witness the sister squabbles that are about to commence!

When everyone else is quiet (a rare occurrence) within minutes you can bet Juliet will start up with the babbles and when she gets going, it's really something!

The two handed wave she has mastered in the last week when we try and get her to wave hi and bye. I just love seeing the wheels turn on her face and how excited she gets when she realizes that she has done what we want! It's the first time she has really communicated to us that she gets what we are saying!

The way she shovels food into her mouth! So far she only wants to feed herself and doesn't like food on a spoon!

She loves to be outside and is ALWAYS calm when we're on walks or she is being carried around the yard. If she is overtired, I just walk outside with her and she relaxes instantly.

Her newest "funny face" in which she squints her eyes and frowns while sucking on her bottom lip. We kill ourselves laughing when she makes it and she will even do it on command if the mood is right! We have called her the "little old man" since she was a newborn because so often her resting face looked like a wrinkled little old man with dentures (in a good way!)... this funny face just adds to that nickname even more!

She has the most kissable cheeks and laughs EVERY time I tickle her. She also smiles even through tears when I make a kissing sound in the air and even though she is so easygoing, I know she loves having my undivided attention when I get to play with her without Nora around.

The best thing so far about having a second child is that you get how much better and more exciting things get as time goes on. With Nora I was always sad when she turned another month older because I was scared she was going to grow up too fast. I could never picture the next stage or age. But with Juliet, I know how fun it is to watch them learn to walk and talk and play and how many new and exciting things there is to experience and how much better it gets and how your love for them just continues to grow. I also know that the baby stage actually lasts much longer than a year and I have lots of time left with Juliet, the baby.

She is our little pumpkin, chubbs, stinker, monkey, little blue eyes, happy girl, smiley and Juliet Drooliet! I just can't get enough of those big round blue eyes and giant chubby cheeks!

Happy 6 Months to our little doll.

Nora, 3 YEARS OLD!

2016-08-09T20:26:00.002-06:00

My little Baby Tweedle turned 3 years old on the weekend. I could cry thinking of all the amazing things we have done together over the last three years as well as how many new and exciting adventures we still get to embark on together. She is (one of) the lights of my life and always my little sunshine. I just love her so much, you guys!

Here are 10 awesome things about AGE THREE! (I still can't believe it!)

1. Her growing vocabulary never ceases to amaze me. She comes out with such big words in perfect context all the time, when often she has only heard them once before. She uses words like amazing, terrible, impressed, rather, direction, hilarious, wonderful, promise and awful. I can have real conversations with her all the time and the more she grows up, the more it's like having a best friend around all the time. She even uses similies quite often which is just mind blowing- she said after the towel came out of the dryer "this towel is as warm as a wooly lamb" (!!?!)

2. Her newfound love for board games and puzzles, both favourite pastimes of mine, too! For her birthday, she got several new games and I love that she will sit with me while Juliet naps and play a board game. She is really good at the card game Go Fish, beginning to understand Memory games and is really learning her numbers rolling dice and counting on Snakes and Ladders. Every time I win on a turn she says "good shot!" and if I don't score, she walks around to me and pats me on the back and says "that's ok, mom".

3. Her reading and literacy skills are improving by the minute. She still loves reading books and we take weekly trips to library and bring home a big stack of books each time. We spend a lot of time reading stories together on the couch. It is always my go-to activity when she is tired or cranky. She is getting so good at pointing out letters she knows and already recognizes about a dozen letters. She even sees letters in abstract objects- She told me that a pretzel makes an 8 or a B and when you bite it off even more, it can be a D.

4. She loves to make crafts which of course, you know, I love too! We do some kind of arts and craft activity every day. Her recent fave is using the glue stick, so I often just cut small shapes out of paper and she will sit and glue them onto a picture for quite a while. She LOVES the show on TV "Mister Maker" where a guy does kids crafts. We get ideas from there and try to recreate them, but really she is happy with her own creations with whatever material I pull out. We made all her own third birthday party decor together which was really fun for me. I cut out cardboard 3's and she painted them and then she painted a big piece of craft paper and after it dried, I cut out a paper bunting banner from it.

5. She makes me laugh so much. She comes out with some hilarious comments on the daily and no matter what is happening, there is always a silver lining and a funny three year old around to put things in perspective. She used the phrase "no worries" with me the other day which made me chuckle and of course, always has funny things to say about Juliet. I tell her I have to drink lots of water to help me make milk for the baby. She chugs water and then says "Mom, I'm trying to get a boob for milk, but I don't have a boob, I only have nipples!"

6. She has such good manners. Yes, one might say it's because Tom and I are just the most polite people ever, but I really think that a lot of it is her personality. I almost never have to remind her to say please and thank you when we are at home, although as with many kids, she gets shy when we're out and about and gets a little stunned in stores, etc. It surprises me every day how often she says Thank you or Thanks, mom. Today I said, would you like to watch a show for a little while and her response was yes, thanks mom. It's just so darn cute.

7. She is still a GREAT eater which makes life so easy. She LOVES fruit and will take it over any treat any day. We go though so many apples every week because we all eat at least one a day. She eats raw veggies, cooked veggies, meat, cheese, you name it.

8. She has started to sort and organize things all the time. This makes me laugh because it is JUST.LIKE.ME. The other night she was stalling before the bath and when I went into her room to see what she was doing, she had every nightie laid out on her floor perfectly and was just looking at them trying to decide which one she was going to wear. I have also walked into to her playing duplo in which she has sorted all the pieces by size or colour all on her own, or lined up every little people guy she has perfectly in a line. It just cracks me up because I have never suggested these activities before.

9. That little brain is constantly firing! We have to be careful what we talk about in front of her now because she remembers such obscure details about things now. She will hold onto a comment we make in passing and keep bringing it up and asking about for days. She is very empathetic and gets sad and cries if she hears about someone getting hurt or mad. She is always thinking about something and will often ask me about a small detail in a book hours after we have read it. She is so good at inferring what is going on in pictures or real life now. Tom and I were commenting on a sign that was newly posted on the lawn of the church next door to our house. She says "I think it might say 'don't drive on that grass'"- totally makes sense- they have just planted grass over there. We were reading once of her favourite Mother Goose books and she studies every picture in great detail and at Rockabye Baby she says "The mice are putting pillows under the baby in the tree because the wind is going to blow and the baby will fall down, so the mice are helping." She says to me "Mom, dogs can't talk." and I said, "No, not in real life" and she answers "no, only in pretend life, right mom?" I think she is just the smartest little three year old around.

10. Even though she is growing up, she is still my baby. I still sing her lullabies and tickle her and pick her up and cuddle her and carry her out of the tub all wrapped up cozy in a towel. I still kiss her cheeks a million times a day and squeeze her and hold her in my lap and don't let her go. It's easy now that Juliet is around to try and make Nora do so many more big kid things, and so she should as she isn't really a baby anymore. But she will always be my baby, my sweet little Nora June. I will never think of her as anything but my beautiful little baby girl.

Our Pet, Juliet- 7 Weeks Old

2016-05-20T12:05:00.004-06:00

I am so much happier than I was when I wrote last! Things are getting easier and easier each day that goes by and last week, a switch seemed to have flipped on Nora and she is back to being much happier and flexible again. She still has her moments, like any 2.5 year old, but she is mostly back to her old self. It could also be that I am learning better strategies to deal with her. It's all about constant forethought on my part- what can I get her busy with before a feeding? When was the last time she had a snack? How can I spin things to make them her idea/more fun for her? How can I constantly keep her involved with what I am doing with Juliet? It can be exhausting on my part, but the end result is less tantrums and whining and more enjoyment for all of us.

Juliet is the sweetest little thing in the whole world! I find that I am more in love with every day. I remember the same thing with Nora, the first few weeks you're kind of in shock as to what has just happened to your life and super worried about whether the baby is OK, etc. and as you get the hang of things, you just start connecting with that baby more and more. She is such an easy baby, I hardly even want to say it out loud. She really NEVER cries, other than the odd little squawk if she is hungry or has to wait for me to pick her up. She is so content all the time and the gummy grins are ridiculous now! I rush over to her crib in the mornings or after naps and can't wait to look over the edge and see that little face smiling back at me.

I remember really trying to force a routine with Nora at this age and it just didn't work. This time, I am far more laid back and if we are home, she naps in her crib, but if we have things to do, she naps in the stroller or car seat. I can't make things hard on Nora and make her stay cooped up at home all day just because Juliet needs a nap, especially when she will sleep anywhere at this point. I do make sure she takes at least one nap a day at home so she gets used to napping in her crib. I put her down awake for naps and sometimes she cries a bit, sometimes a lot and sometimes not at all. When she does cry, I go in every 5 mins or so and settle her down, say "time to sleep, time for a nap" and then leave again until she falls asleep. So far it is working quite well. She is also going to bed between 7-7:30 already which is amazing. I love having my evenings back! She wakes up once a night, anywhere between 2-5 for a feed and then sleeps until about 8:00 every morning. One thing that really helps is understanding that her "wake time" is about an hour, so no matter where we are, I make sure to lull her sleep after an hour of being awake so she doesn't get overtired.

We got out the play mat for Juliet this week and she loves to lay under there and kick while Nora surrounds her (buries her!) with toys and stuffies. It is seriously cute and so fun to watch her look around and play.

As Nora gets closer to three than two, I can really see her play changing. Just in the last few weeks, she will finally make up her own games and set up elaborate story lines and imaginative scenes with her little people and teddies. She is really into the show Paw Patrol and she often plays that she is rescuing people or "ready to roll!" She also likes Curious George and replays the predicaments George gets himself into. Her vocabulary expands by the minute which never ceases to amaze me. She uses the words "rather" and "awful" and "amazing" and "impressed" and uses such descriptive language with justifications, comparing and contrasting things, connecting books to her life, always commenting on things she sees and later describing them in great detail. We walked past our friend Holly's house the other day and she says, "there's Holly's, mom, and she doesn't have the sign in her window anymore!" Never once had I remembered commenting or pointing out that sign to her, she noticed all on her own. It's such a joy to see her so enamoured and in awe of her surroundings all the time.

I feel like I am finally falling into a groove of being back at home with these two littles again and so thankful that I get to be with them all the time.

I'm alive! Barely...

2016-05-05T10:38:00.002-06:00

Sorry to leave you all hanging, but I think insta-blogging (updates via instagram) is going to be my new reality for a few more months. I vastly underestimated the amount of "free time" I would have with two kids, especially now that Nora is no longer napping, EVER.

Our little doll, Juliet Vera Niddrie arrived on March 29th at 7:44pm. The labour was faster than Nora's birth, but not any less painful, challenging, mind-blowing or overwhelming! I was induced that morning as my water broke two days prior and I still hadn't gone into labour. It took a while for things to get going, but when they did, they went fast and furious! So fast that I didn't have time for the coveted epidural which I was begging for! However, I conquered another labour and delivery and all is well with Nora's baby sister, Juliet.

The transition to having two kids has been tough on us all. I forgot how sore and hormonal I was going to be during those first few weeks. I have said to several people- if women truly remembered the agony of labour, the first week anxiety, the postpartum healing and the postpartum hormonal crying phase, I think the human race would have ended by now! It sucks! Yet somehow, we look back on those first few weeks with wonder and amazement and nothing but joy over that little sleepy little newborn snoozing away on Daddy's chest and decide it's a good idea to do it all over again! I'm not saying it was a mistake, but if there is a next time for us, I hope to be more mentally prepared for it!

Thankfully I am through the hardest part and Juliet is already "sleeping through the night", which at this age is 7-8 hours at a time. She went through a few weeks of being up for hours in the night, when I was convinced that both my children were slowly trying to kill me, as Nora was also waking up in the night and/or getting up at an ungodly hour when I had just been awake for 3 hours bouncing and feeding a fussy baby. However, we are entering into some kind of normalcy now, with more sleep and baby smiles!

Nora has had a really hard time with the new baby as well, which breaks my heart. She has been waking several times in the night screaming for me, which I know is some sort of subconscious insecurity about Juliet, as annoying as it is for me. She will have nothing to do with Tom and only wants me to come and tuck her in again, hug her and sing her a song and she goes back to sleep. One night this week, this happened 4-5 times in the night! She used to be so easy to parent, hardly ever acting up, and in the last month I have raised my voice with her many times which brought tears to my eyes, because I couldn't believe I was speaking to my perfect little baby like that. But she has to learn boundaries when it comes to my attention and Juliet's needs as hard as it is for all of us. She does silly things like throw food on the floor or spit milk out of her mouth, or rub her dirty feet in my face while I'm nursing or insist I carry her from one room to another and if I don't, throws herself on the floor screaming and kicking. It has been so challenging and I'm really struggling about how to deal with her. I give time outs, but I also give her more than enough hugs, kisses and reassurance that I'm not going anywhere and I still love her more than anything.

But, enough with the doom and gloom and complaining! I am so excited to have two adorable, beautiful, healthy baby girls! Juliet has been a much easier and less demanding newborn than Nora was. Tending to her needs have been so smooth. From the beginning she has been feeding really well and gaining weight just as she should be. She is growing like a weed and her big, dark blue eyes have started to dart around the room and focus on things now which is so exciting to watch. She is 5 weeks old and smiling at us, mostly first thing in the morning. When she is awake, she happily sits in her little bouncy chair in our kitchen and watch what's going on. She has finally started to going to bed a little earlier, so Tom and I have our evenings back and can have some kind of a conversation again, or in my case, I can stare blankly at the TV and NOT TALK for an hour before passing out with exhaustion! One thing has been different is the amount of gas and spit up this baby has! It has improved slightly, but at least once a day, I get covered in giant spit ups! We can recognize the look on her face when a big one is coming, and if I don't have a burp cloth or a towel nearby, it's new outfits for everyone. It's uncharted territory for us, because Nora hardly every spit up. I know it's normal, but I did begin to wonder at first, because the amount seemed so great.

We can't decide who Juliet looks like! She is not a ringer for her sister, or either of us. But we thought that about Nora at first too. When Juliet was first born, her nose and cheeks were so swollen that we all thought she would have this GIANT squishy nose! Within a week or so, it had turned into a cute little button nose, but still a very different shape than Nora's. Her hair is much lighter than Nora's was and her eyes quite a bit darker, although still blue like the rest of us. I think she looks like Tom when I see his newborn pics, but we will see! When I look back at Nora's photos from the first 3 months, I can't even tell that it's her comparing her to now. She turned out looking so different as the months went on. We will see what happens with Juliet.

I know each stage goes by so fast and Nora will adjust eventually. She won't even remember life without Juliet and seeing other siblings together, lifelong playmates, makes me realize it is a good decision to bless your children with siblings. I can't wait until Juliet can interact with Nora a bit more as I think that will make it easier for Nora to form a relationship with her. Until then, we forge ahead in the parenting trenches! Thank you for all your support and well wishes!

Baby Season is here!

2016-03-13T10:53:00.001-06:00

It has been on my list to update you all for weeks now and I finally had minute to sit down and write. I have just been trying to coast into the finish of work and the start of spring, finishing up several projects at both school and home. As usual, there is never a dull moment around here and between everything going on, our little monkey continues to get in on all the fun!

I finished work a week ago and it is so nice to put my feet up a little bit and have only family to focus on. I finished a week earlier than I had originally planned, but it was the right thing to do, because getting there every day was becoming a huge chore. Last week, I had 2 uninterrupted days of bliss when Tom was working and Nora was in daycare and I did WHATEVER I WANTED! I actually worked on some hoops, ate my weight in mini eggs and had big naps each day. It was so nice!

The nursery is officially done (pictures to come soon!), down to the diapers in the drawer, the baby is over 38 weeks now and we are ready for it to come. I feel like I really want it out now. It's hard to look after Nora while I'm this pregnant and overall, I feel like a whale, waddling around. I am getting up to pee a lot in the night and my hips are really sore when I try to sleep. Everything is loosening up in the pelvic region so there are lots of aches and pains and moaning and groaning! I am also really out of breath all the time, which is annoying because I go up and down the stairs about a million times a day and each time I have to stand at the top and catch my breath. When I sit down in the chair to read stories to Nora at bedtime, the effort it takes me to give her a bath, get PJs on and tidy up her room, bending over to pick up clothes and towels, etc causes me to pant for a couple of minutes before I can start reading. I hate it!

Since I last wrote, the baby did a couple more somersaults in there, so the last month has been wrought with anxiety and appointments and the unknown of whether it will stay put in the head down position or not. At 36.5 weeks we had an ultrasound which confirmed the baby was finally in the head down position and has stayed there since. Fingers crossed it doesn't flip again. I am now on pins and needles wondering if it's a boy or a girl. The name game has proven to be more difficult this time, especially boy names. We keep changing our minds and names that we liked all along, suddenly I'm not so sure about. I also just can't picture myself with another of either gender. It all seems so daunting having two kids to look after. It's so different waiting for it to come this time, because I know what to expect now. I KNOW how much labour hurts, and I KNOW how hard breastfeeding can be and I KNOW how much it sucks to get up in the night a million times and all of these things seem that much more scary when I'll have Nora around too. I am also more worried about the baby this time because I KNOW how much you end up loving and caring for them and what that feels like this time and it just seems like there is so much more at stake this time around.

I am really glad we waited a little longer between each child though, because Nora gets more and more helpful and independent as the weeks pass. She can now dress herself entirely and like everything, girlfriend is a chip off the old block, she comes to me and asks me if her clothes match before she puts them on... "this is pink, and this is DARK pink, this match, mom?!" She is FINALLY completely potty trained during the day with few accidents, but still wears a diaper to sleep in. She said the funniest thing the other day- she pooped in her little toilet and looked in and said "It looks like a totem pole!" Ahaha! I laughed so hard! So Canadian of her! However, the worst part of her growing up, is that she has pretty well quit her nap. It is was saddest thing in the whole world! She still naps at daycare and at my parents house because they both have cribs for her to be trapped in, but at home, she trashes her room for about 40 mins and then comes out and says she's done napping :) I am still putting her in there in hopes maybe this is just a blip in her sleep habits, but it's been about a month now since she has napped at home. I'm hoping she will at least continue "playing" in her room alone quietly for a while longer.

As I brag about her being more independent, it doesn't come without its challenges either. I DO IT MYSELF has become a common phrase around here, even when she thinks she can cook us a full meal! This is her new favourite thing. She calls herself a "chef"- "I'm a chef!" and whenever we set foot in the kitchen, she gets her stool right away and insists on "helping" with everything. Usually I don't mind, but when patience is wearing thin, sometimes I just want to do it MY OWN SELF! The other night I was making a salad and I just let her have at it too. She stood there and ripped lettuce and "chopped" tomatoes with a play kitchen knife (aka. made a total squishy tomato mess) and dumped the cucumber peels into a bowl she had. She has also gotten really into "getting ready" in the mornings with me and loves to do the same things I do. She pretends to put on the deodorant, blush, lip gloss, lotion, etc. Makeup is not something I would like to encourage her to be interested at such a young age, but I am all about picking battles these days.

I am planning to update you with nursery pics soon and other than that, hopefully the next time you hear from me is to announce the arrival of Baby Tweedle the second!

Here's a little bonnet I knit for baby!

Playing on our deck in the sunshine! You can see what a mess our muddy yard is though... we plan to plant grass and do a fence this spring.

Playing doctor is a favourite!

Bathroom break on the way to Cranbrook!

Always up to mischief, this one- lipstick EVERYWHERE!

Me at 37 weeks last week. As you can see, one of us is better at hiding our emotions than the other! ;)

Savouring my lazy morning in bed with my monkey!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2016-02-11T13:18:00.001-07:00

Nora collecting the neighbour's eggs with Gran and Papa.

It is already February! Yay! It has been so nice to have some warmer weather and sunshine here in the last week, as well as reaching the 34 week mark tomorrow with Baby Tweedle the second! I have been in "baby turning mode" the last 2 weeks as at my last doctor's appointment I found out that the baby STILL hadn't turned into the head-down position. I sprang into immediate action, googling everything in sight about breech babies and talking obsessively to everyone and anyone I knew who had a breech baby. I was not happy about the idea of the c section and was willing to do almost anything to get the baby to turn. I visited the chiropractor twice, osteopath, spent every evening doing my baby turning exercises and even went to the pool and did handstands in the water! I just found out that IT TURNED! YAY! I had thought it might have, but due to the many odd positions everyone who felt my belly, was feeling the baby in, I wasn't sure until my appointment today. I am so happy! However, it's not 100% sure that it will stay this way, and I go to see an OBGYN next week to confirm and discuss options if it turns back. For now, I can stop poking and prodding at the poor baby all day every day to try and feel where its head is!

I have been feeling pretty good, although starting to get that heavy feeling I had forgotten about. The second trimester is where it's at... no nausea, lots of energy, feeling good... and then you hit that third trimester and little things like putting on socks and bending over to pick up things off the floor become SUPER uncomfortable. The Kindergarten snowsuits are going to be the death of me!!! Some days I feel like telling them to tuck their own $%&!-ing snow pants into their boots!

Cleaning the windows for me! aka- making a total mess with water streaks and puddles everywhere! She loves helping me do whatever I am doing all the time- cooking, laundry, bathrooms, sweeping...

Even though her eyes are closed, I still love this picture! My little dress up girl!

A lot of TV, popsicles, juice and cuddles happened while she was sick!

Nora is our happy little monkey who is now talking in full sentences all the time, which somehow seemed to happen overnight. She had a bad bout of strep throat and a high fever that lasted 3 days a few weeks ago, but other than that, she is on the go and the countdown to the baby too! She talks about it all the time now and calls it "that big baby!" because my tummy is in the way of her lap sitting routines these days. I don't think she really gets the difference between brother and sister, and doesn't seem to have a preference or any inclination what sex the baby will be, like the rest of us. I really have no idea at all yet either. We are stuck on names as well. I like so many girls names, but boy names have been a lot harder for us both to come up with. Everyone that sees me thinks I am having a boy, but symptoms and "wive's tales" all point in the direction of a girl, so who knows! We will find out in 6 weeks or so!

Toddler antics in full swing! I came home from work and walked right into this! She was quite happy to clean it up and had her first real "time out" for this one. Thankfully it hasn't happened since!

Cupcakes after swimming in our SUNNY, BRIGHT kitchen!

We are slowly plugging away at the organizing and unpacking in our house. It has been nice to have all the baby stuff and not have to research and/or buy everything all over again. However, I am still asking around for tips with baby gear for number 2- anything you mama's loved having for the second? We have decided not to buy a double stroller for now. Nora doesn't really sit in the stroller for long walks anymore. Although that was my favourite thing to do with her when she was a baby, I realize that I'll have to save those long walks for times when Nora is not coming. We can walk easily to the store, park, beach and to get the mail from our house and she can walk most of the way, and if not, hitch a ride on the single stroller somehow. I am hoping this baby will like to be in a carrier or wrap, as Nora didn't. However, I didn't push it too hard being I had no other children around to attend to!

My little pretty girl!- I posted this on instagram this week with a caption-- how am I ever going to give her as much love and attention as I do now, with a new baby around?!

Report card season is coming up at school and after that, it will be smooth sailing until spring break and baby's arrival! Cross your fingers that baby decides to stay put now that it's turned in the "right" way!

Home at last!

2016-01-16T14:49:00.002-07:00

Happy New Year!

I am so glad to report that we are officially living in the new house and aside from a few minor details, it is completely finished, down to the last towel rack and baseboard! We got our occupancy permits on December 23 and finalized our mortgage on the 24th. Coming in on budget and having it FINISHED had to have been the best Christmas present ever!

House errands at Ikea in December!

We moved in on December 28th and have been enjoying the space since then. It's taking a while to organize and unpack everything, but feels good to do some purging as we go. Of course I have a long list of things to shop for and we are planning to buy a few new pieces of furniture. We are still eating from our uncomfortable bar stools that have always been too high for the counter. When I envisioned the living room when we were planning the house, it had a large comfy sectional couch in it, which is also on our list to buy and I'd like an area rug for the living room as well just to tie everything together. Hopefully we can get to the city to shop for some of these things soon!

The thing that we love most about the new house is the light! It's the first time in 10 years that we can sit in the living room and look out the window, or be able to tell what the weather is before actually stepping outside. It's so nice and bright everywhere in the house! The kitchen is also a highlight. It's HUGE! I've unpacked every piece of kitchenware that we own, even stuff that was in storage since our wedding and I still have one full upper cabinet and one full lower cabinet that are empty! Yay for storage, storage and more storage space!

Nora's room, day 1- still need to hang the art!

Baby's room progress- I am doing black and white with pops of colour. I love how the vintage green chair looks in there! And, did you notice I finally got my white poufs?!

Nora has done really well with the transition over here. She pretty much didn't miss a beat when we moved her room over. I didn't know how the first night would go, but she slept better here than she did in her old room. About mid-november we decided to switch her out of her crib and into a toddler bed. It went horribly. As you know, she has always been a champion sleeper and it all went out the window when she moved into her own bed. It couldn't have come at a worse time, as I was run off my feet with report cards at school, finishing our house (painting every night), being pregnant and trying to prep for Christmas. She was up multiple times in a night, sometimes for almost an hour, thinking it was morning and/or having a tantrum about something, wanting me to sing to her, needing a new diaper, etc. It was always something. It was also taking us until almost 9:00 some nights to get her to go to sleep because she just kept coming out of her room. And then she was waking up at 4:50-5:15 for the day every morning! The same thing would happen most days for naps and I was beginning to think she would never nap again. We were both overtired and cranky constantly, I cried almost every day with exhaustion and I figured I would never sleep again! We tried locking her in her room with a child door lock, but she could get the door open and after several nights of battling with her, we ended up tying a rope to her door and anchoring it to something in the bathroom so that she couldn't get out! It was crazy!

The one and only Christmas activity I had time for this year....

However, somehow, moving into the new house made all the difference. For one, she can't get the door on her new room open on her own, and for two, we bought a special clock for toddlers that shows a sun when they can get up and come out of their room and stars and a moon when it's time to sleep. The clock has done wonders! She now sleeps until 6-6:30 every morning, goes to bed at 7:00 and naps her regular 2-3 hours every afternoon. I feel like a new person with the house being finished and getting decent sleep again... I'll enjoy it until another one comes along to terrorize me in the night in a couple of months!

Speaking of Baby Tweedle the second.... I am now 30 weeks along and counting myself into the home stretch. I had an ultrasound last week which showed that the baby's head is still up and the bum is right down at the bottom so I hope it decides to flip around soon! I am feeling pretty good overall aside from a few minor pregnancy ailments, but really looking forward to being finished work. Although that won't be for another 6-8 weeks. I have no inclination at all whether the baby is a girl or a boy, but I also have no preference at all! It would be fun for Nora to have either a brother or a sister- sisters would be pretty cool, but experiencing having a son would also be pretty exciting for both of us, so I guess we will just have to wait and see!

I am sorry to report that my goal of having Nora potty trained by the end of 2015 didn't happen! She is part way there. She does very well going pee on the potty, but poop is a different story and there is just no convincing her or bribing her to do something she doesn't want to do. I haven't fully taken diapers away, just because she spends so much time with different care givers throughout the week that have different expectations and daily routines that I think it will be easier to just wait and go cold turkey when I am off work if she doesn't decide to do it on her own before then. At least she is getting the hang of it!

As usual there are so many funny things she says and does now. One of the funniest ones that we laugh at so often is her expression "you genius!"-- she says this to either Tom or I all the time and we don't know where she got it from! We don't remember having called her a genius to her face before, but she uses it for us all the time. It's usually not in the right context which makes it even funnier. Tom will say, "I'm going out to shovel the driveway now" (or something like that) and she will reply with, "Dad, You GENUS!" (she pronounces it "genus"). She also tells us she is "too cranky" to do certain things, which is pretty funny and quite often will say she wants to try something "when I'm a little bit older". She wouldn't stop stealing the candy canes off the Christmas tree at my sister's house the christmas, but exclaimed that she wouldn't eat them "until I'm a little older!" One afternoon I picked her up from daycare and told her we had to go home and see Nana because she had a cold and wasn't feeling well. When we walked in the door, Nana was up sitting at the table and Nora says "She looks good" very matter of factly, like "whats the big deal, she doesn't look sick to me!" It was too funny! She peed on the floor at her Gran and Papa's house and then blamed it on the dog- "Garmin just peed a little over there, Gran!" Ha ha!

Lastly, we went to church just before Christmas and there was a reading about the coming of the Lord. She listened intently and then when it was over, looked around and exclaimed loudly "Where is the lord?!"

I cannot wait to spend every day all day with my little genius! It will be here in no time! In the meantime, you can keep up with our antics on instagram! Thanks again for reading and Happy 2016!

The circus act continues...!

2015-11-02T20:46:00.001-07:00

I have too many funny things I just need to record about Nora that I just had to write. Plus, I do miss this even though it took me about 30 minutes to choose and upload the 8 photos I am including in this post! Seriously... there has got to be a better way! I have been thinking about writing here again and I am planning to do more regular posting again, mostly because it is just such a fun way to record our lives and I love to scroll back and look at the pictures and entries. For the time being it will likely be very sporadic, but in the new year I MAY have more time to write weekly.

If you follow me on instagram, you have likely seen all my snippets of updates and Nora things. You have likely heard our big news, too-- Baby number 2 will be arriving in March! That is part of the reason I had to stop writing in the first place- I felt so terrible for most of August and into September that I just couldn't do anything than what was absolutely necessary. I napped every day when Nora napped, which used to be my etsy and blogging time, and was in bed shortly after she was every night. I was nauseous, had migraines, had no appetite, stopped exercising, was extremely tired and I just didn't know how I would get through it... but thankfully about the middle of September, I came out alive and well and am now almost 20 weeks along!

At 18 weeks- feeling way bigger than I was last time at 18 weeks!

I have many different feelings about the new baby. Of course, feelings of joy and gratitude and excitement are the first things that spring to mind! But, I think a lot about how it will affect Nora. I never had a sibling growing up- I had step siblings who came into my life when I was 8 years old and I refer to them as my real sisters now, as it seems they have always been there now and they are both such a big part of my life. But as a little girl, I remember spending a lot of time with adults and all the attention I used to get. I got A LOT of adult attention, much like Nora does now. I spent a lot of time crying over her pending lack of adult attention and things I may not be able to do with her anymore once the baby comes. And then I realized that she is going to love the baby just as much as we do and she will have a lifelong playmate, something I never really had. Miss bossy pants is going to be so excited to have someone to lead around and call her own. It will be so special to see them together and of course, my baby will always be my baby, I'll just have two instead of one!

My life feels like it is in constant fast forward right now. I have always been really organized and good at time management, total type A personality, as you know. You have no idea how hard it is to feel like I can never get organized or caught up and never quite put in enough time to things that are important to me. I haven't done anything creative in the last 3 months, I have barely cooked, unless it is a fried egg, canned soup or grilled cheese sandwich, and I am not getting enough sleep. My week consists of working 5 days, shuffling Nora to her various childcare places, prepping for the next day, and trying to make inspired and educated decisions about our new house interior while grabbing bare necessities for groceries somewhere along the way. It is mayhem. Well, it's my mayhem, anyway. I am a total homebody and introvert and I can't STAND not having "me time", even if that means one hour in the evenings where I have nothing to do. "Nothing to do" is not a phrase I have used in the last 3 months. It's quite the opposite and it's been really, really hard.

However, Tom and Nora keep me going and of course, the thought of being in our brand new house with a new baby and my sweet Nora June, with a whole year of maternity leave, in a matter of months is enough to light a fire under my ass and get me off to work every morning to continue the circus act that is life right now! If you were thinking of building a house, teaching kindergarten full time (FOR THE FIRST TIME) and being pregnant with a 2 year old at home and a husband who is away 4 nights a week, I'm not going to lie to you and say it will be a breeze.

When I need a pick me up, I look at this picture, or just go and stand in there and I feel instantly better- look at all that cabinet space!!!! And it's BRIGHT! It's not a basement!

Anyway, on to the more uplifting things and the whole reason I wanted to write here in the first place- NORA! She is so funny right now, you guys! I am so lucky that she makes me laugh so much because at least I have that. I don't even know where to begin. She is talking up a storm and the things she says are so funny and smart, I just can't believe it. Tonight she was trying to put on her own pants and she says "Help me! Ayudame!" (which is "help me" in SPANISH?!) I guess Dora is good for something! I laughed and laughed! She played a whole game that she was heading off to work and first she put on one of Tom's work shirts, a swimsuit, some pointy flats of mine, her puffy vest and a toque and says, "Bye! I go to Lake Louise!" (where Tom works). Then she sat on the floor distracted by her books for a little while and when she got up, she says "I came home from work!" We said "how was your day?" And she said "Good. I did crafts."

A chip off the old block, that one, she LOVES crafts! She goes to daycare once a week and the daycare told me they can't keep enough craft projects on hand for when Nora is there. She could sit and paint, glue, cut, stick, colour, ALL DAY. It's so cute to see all the fun things they send home with her. She loves colouring, although the "only colour on paper" phrase that I say about 1000 times a day hasn't quite stuck into that terrible two year old brain of hers and we somehow have pencil, pen, felt, stickers... all over everything in sight, even Tom's back when he took his shirt off last night!

Speaking of terrible twos, although she is adorable and funny and smart as a whip, it doesn't come with out its challenges either. She can drive me mental at the end of a long day (or the start of one!) with the typical "I want water, no not in that cup, I pick the cup, I pull them all out of the drawer, I spill the water all over my shirt, I need a new shirt, no don't wipe up the water, I wipe the water, oops I wiped it with your coat, now I need a new coat, now we both need new outfits, no not that outfit!, now I want toast, I'm not leaving until I have toast...." I could go on and on! She is also not yet potty trained. I think she could be potty trained by now if I really had the time to devote to helping her. Isn't that bad? I am too busy to try and help my own child use the bathroom!? Honestly, I am getting really sick of the diapers, but the thought of weeks of constant accidents and remembering to ask her every five minutes to use the toilet might send me over the edge right now. I have made myself a promise that she will be potty trained before the end of 2015. She has a potty and uses it on her own occasionally. She will do it at daycare because she likes doing what the other kids are doing and they have a sticker reward chart for using the potty which motivates her. She likes running around with no diaper on, but has yet to let us know when she is about to go (although she always knows when she has a diaper on...) and often waits to go until she has a diaper back on instead of using the potty we have at home. It's just a matter of cutting off diapers all together and actually making the commitment to doing it. Soon...

She LOVES music and singing and knows so many songs now, it's adorable. We have some Raffi CDs which I love too, they totally bring me back to my childhood and still know all the words to them and it makes me so happy to hear her little voice bellowing out the chorus to those songs. She can sing "you are my sunshine" from beginning to end and I die every time she does because it's just so cute. She can also sing the whole song of the ABCs and Twinkle Twinkle. And on the topic of the alphabet, she is pretty much a genius because she already knows 4 letters and the sound they make and many words that start with the same letter! She sees an N and says, N N N Nora! N for Nora and nice and nose and noodles! She often comes up with new N words on her own. She also knows M for mommy, D for daddy and dog and G for Gammy and Gran. She spots them everywhere! Yesterday we were at the pool and she pointed out the D and the N's in the NO DIVING sign on the pool deck!

What fun we had for her first time Trick or Treating on the weekend. She figured out pretty quickly what was going on when her bucket was filling up with candy by the minute! We all dressed up at clowns this year, just like our real life little clown we deal with every day. I have to say, she was the cutest clown I have ever seen, even though the costumes were pretty thrown together and half assed. She said "trick or treat" and "thank you" at every house and even though 10 houses was plenty for us, she could have kept going all night!

Some more of her favourite phrases are "please don't, excuse me!, oopsie doopsie!, that's FUNNY!, probably...., maybe go XXX?, help me!, I waked up! (as she is supposed to be falling asleep in the first place) and silly xxx! (referring to whoever is teasing her)". There are a million more that I can't do any justice out of context.

Needless to say, I am counting the minutes until I have more time to spend with her and devote back to my hobbies and "me time". Even with a newborn, I will feel more sane than I do now, right?!

Until next time.... Thank you for all your support and for keeping with us on instagram!

Overwhelmed!

2015-08-21T11:30:00.001-06:00

I am overwhelmed by so many things right now!

Overwhelmed that my baby is now 2, talking in full sentences and not so much a baby anymore at all,

Overwhelmed with denial that I have to go back to work full time in 2 weeks

Overwhelmed with sadness that I'll be missing Nora so much while I'm working

Overwhelmed with happiness that she has grandparents to take care of her and love on her as much as we do

Overwhelmed with joy over the pay cheque I'll be getting after 2 long years of much less moolah coming in!

Overwhelmed with excitement that we will be moving into our new house in a few months

Overwhelmed with decisions we have to make about our house finishings

Overwhelmed with the enormous task of trying to finish painting ALL the siding for our new house with Nora running around

Overwhelmed with disbelief that my Etsy shop got too popular for me to handle-- it is closed temporarily while we deal with all the other things going on right now

Overwhelmed with disappointment that I haven't kept up with this blog and have left you all hanging for the last month, like I said I wasn't going to do!

Overwhelmed daily by the number of things I seem to have on my plate and looking forward to just starting new routines so I can stop worrying about them all!

Overwhelmed with gratitude for all of you that have stuck with me and this blog for as long as you have. THANK YOU!

I am signing off for a while, a few months, perhaps. I am not sure when I will find the time to feel motivated and devoted to writing here again regularly, but I hope this isn't goodbye forever.

Thank you again for keeping up with it all this time!

Nora June, 23 Months

2015-07-08T03:00:00.001-06:00

One month until she is 2! How did that happen?!

My favourite comedian does and says so many funny and interesting things all the time.

Here are the Top 10 from this week:

1. Swam with me to the dock at our local beach and slid down the big waterslide with me into the deep lake!

2. Ran through the sprinkler saying to herself "rain, rain, go 'wayyyyy!"

3. Exclaimed "THUNNNNERRRR!" and hid under a blanket whenever she heard even the smallest thump like a cupboard door or footsteps.

4. Repeated "OH GOD" several times after hearing me say it when we made a wrong turn in traffic. (Oops!)

5. POXCLE! POXCLE! on repeat all day every day.

6. Made a concerned face and furrowed brow saying "OH NO! Heavvvyyy!" as she watched me haul 5 bags of toys, towels and snacks out of the car to the beach. When I asked her to carry her life jacket, she said "NO, too heavy!!"

7. Recited her entire Mother Goose Nursery Rhyme book to herself on a long car ride (in toddler language, of course, and ridiculously cute!)

8. Counted to 14!!! I heard her counting her "guys" (little people) and she went all the way to 14 without skipping a beat!

9. 'TICKER!-- she loves stickers right now!

10. And her favourite word of all- MOMMY! All different expressions, emotions and tones... ALLTHETIME. If I had a dollar for the number of times she has said that word... oh boy!

With her buddies Findlay and Luca on Canada Day

Checking up on the house building

Watching Daddy ride in the Calgary Stampede Parade

Beach day with my beach bum!

Weekly Nora- Summer Lovin'

2015-07-01T03:00:00.001-06:00

Summer is here and it feels so good to have a whole 2 months off with my little monkey! We spent the weekend at our friend's cabin at Premier Lake and it was HOT HOT HOT. Luckily the little swimmer didn't want to get out of the water!

Happy Canada Day!

This week in pictures

2015-06-24T03:00:00.001-06:00

You guys! She is becoming a big girl before my very eyes! You should hear her talk. And she sits at the table like a REAL person now! And licks ice cream from a cone! And GROCERY SHOPS!

The sub floor is on our house! Did I tell you we were building a house? Well, we are. Today is my last day of school for SUMMER and I am hoping to do some more blogging about our house while I'm "off" for the summer! Stay tuned and thanks for reading!

Nora, 22 Months Old

2015-06-10T03:00:00.001-06:00

At 22 months, Nora is still our going concern. She says so many more words and phrases now, it’s awesome to have her communicate with us in a new way. She can actually ask what she wants or tell us what hurts, or why she is crying. It opens up a whole new level of understanding for all of us. Plus the fact that it is incredibly cute and funny!

She is such a little character, it’s hard not to smile and laugh at absolutely everything she does. I hate to be “that mom” that thinks their child is the funniest and laughs at everything they do and then tells you about it a million times, but I think I am? Sorry, I can’t help it!

Some of our favourites include:

the Dora dance- at the end of the show, Dora and Boots dance to this song saying “we did it, we did it!” after they finish their little trip they go on each show. Nora LOVES that dance and she twists her body back and forth yelling and singing “did it! did it!” She bends down really low and goes way faster than the actual beat, of course!
“GET UP!”- she has started to tell us to “get up” if we are sitting in a chair and she wants something or if one of us is still in bed in the mornings.
“Pay DOH”- She loves play doh these days and she will sit in her high chair with the play doh and cutters for about 30 minutes quietly playing with it. I love watching her because she talks to herself and makes up little stories to herself. She will say, “sqqqiiiishhh!” or “cut cut cut” or name all of the cookie cutters and then all of the words she associates with those cutters.
“Scaaaaeeeddddd!” for Scared- she is beginning to actually know the meaning of different feelings now, which is really interesting. I especially like that she can express them in words too! She will say scared, sad, mad, funny, goofy, silly, crazy, laughing, hugs and love.
“Oh no!” which she exclaims several times throughout the day for various reasons!

This little monkey fell off the bed and bumped her head! (see the black eye!?!)

She has been really into baby dolls right now too. I two cute little cradles and some new doll clothes at the thrift store and garage sales on the weekend and she LOVES wrapping them up in blankies and carrying them around. She just wraps them and unwraps them, puts them in the bed and out, on the coffee table, and then on the floor. I actually saw her lift one up above her head, swing it down again and then kiss it! Too cute!

She LOVES singing and music and is always demanding me to “SING!” I have sung to her before bed and naps since she was born and now as soon as it’s nap or bed, she states in a matter of factly voice- SING! She also sings to herself and I love, love, love listening to her. She can sing Twinkle, Twinkle and No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. They sound a little off, of course, but she gets the gist of it!

Nora has also learned a few colours and numbers! She can count to 4 and knows red, blue, green and pink. Our car is “RED!!!” and the chair in the backyard is “BOOOO!” She doesn’t pronounce her F’s all the time, so “four” and “floor” sound like “hore” (translate also to a bad word! lol) She was pointing to a little princess toy she had saying, “pincess, hore!” Bahaha! When she counts to four, it’s “one, two, three, hore!”

She still eats anything and everything, but she has her favourites- waffles, watermelon, apples, berries, mango (which she mixes up the word “Dingo” with, a character in one of her books). We are still giving her a bottle at night and in the mornings. I tried to break the habit and switch to a sip cup and she quit drinking the milk! So, I am sticking with the bottle for now. She isn’t even two yet and what’s the harm, really?

She is our shining star and I often wonder if I will always look and her and think about how wonderful she is and how much joy she brings us. Does that feeling every wear off?

Weekly Nora

2015-06-03T03:00:00.001-06:00

Sorry for the lack of writing this week! It's report card season and I have a million hoops to finish this week! I'll post more updates next week when Nora turns 22 months old!

Weekly Nora

2015-05-27T03:00:00.001-06:00

This is her face when I tell her to smile! She is such a ham, although in this case, I'm pretty sure she thinks she is smiling!

She looks like such a big girl in this pic! And she is still GROWING so fast it's INSANE! She is still a giant and growing out of clothes every week/month. I haven't weighed her in a long time, but I am sure she is well over 30 lbs now. She is also taller than all kids her age.

There's that "smile" again!

It has been so hot here, that we've spent a few days at the splash park! "plassss parkkkk!" Nora has a ball there and it's a really fun and stress free way to kill an afternoon!

I just had to take this picture because Nora'a grandparents bought her this pretty sweet water and sand table brand new, but the monkey goes straight for the box of garage sale books and plops herself down to read instead! Books are THE ONLY thing that makes her sit still. It's pretty awesome :)

Mother's Day Weekend

2015-05-13T03:00:00.001-06:00

Nora at 21 Months

2015-05-06T03:00:00.001-06:00

21 months today! A year ago Nora was turning 9 months, which seemed insane and now I wonder how on earth she is almost 2?!

She does so many funny and entertaining things these days, it's like I have my own personal comedy show all hours of the day! Although, her toddler shenanigans aren't always funny at the time, they are always hilarious in retrospect!

She has just started to string a couple of words together instead of just saying single words, but still mostly just blabbers in one-wording all day long! A typical scene is her going outside and saying the following: park, slide, boom!, swing, swing, swing, swing!, guys, truck, digger, windyyyyy!, dirt, sand, water, water, water!!!!, guys, SWING!!!, RUN!, rocks, dirt, clouds, sky, MOON!, sun, bright!!!!, dark? moon?.....

I could go on and on! She often comes out with all these crazy things that I can't believe she remembers. She loves to bring up the story lines she sees on her shows, mostly Curious George. This week she has been all about the kite episode. George holds a boy's kite and get swooped up in the air holding onto the string. She reenacts this almost daily, running and swooping and rolling around on the floor as if she is holding onto a kite in the air. All the while, shouting KITE! GEORGE! It's just too funny!

She is so full of beans all the time, it's exhausting just watching her sometimes. I have taken her to Strong Start a few times lately, a program for toddlers to expose them to friends, pre school activities and new play routines. She LOVES it. And that is an understatement. The gym is by far her favourite part. They let all the toddlers loose in the gym and take out every ball, hoola hoop and mat and it's a free for all! There are fabric tunnels and big mats to jump and she goes absolutely nuts! I have said it before, but she is not shy one bit and definitely doesn't hang by her mama!

As of tonight, she has finally finished cutting her first big molar. There are no signs of anymore coming right now, but I'm sure they're not far behind. It looked so sore, I wish we could have just gotten them all over with at once. She scared me on the weekend by refusing to nap one day. I panicked thinking maybe she was beginning to cut off her nap, because in the last 6 months, she has been a champion napper, with no fuss going down at all. It was so unusual for her to skip a nap, I freaked out! But of course, the next day was back to normal and has been since then. She just likes to keep me on my toes!

Some of the other funny things she says are:

Supup- syrup
EIEI- farmer
Do that!- let's do that!
Oh ya!
Hopit- helmet
hop hop- bunny
oh wow!

There are so many more that I can't think of right now! We have to really watch what we say now because she has repeated a few less than desirable words the last few weeks! Oops! Tom said "dammit!" the other day and before we knew it, everything was "dammit!" And "tu-pid!" was another one! Thankfully she has forgotten about those now!

Until next week, the toddler life continues... No big deal, just "phoning" her friends, Opie, Ga-Pa and Cinda!

Weekly Nora

2015-04-29T03:00:00.001-06:00

Off to do our errands on a sunny morning! Nora still loves riding in the backpack... although as soon as she saw something she wanted on the floor of a store, it was "backpack, DONE, backpack, DONE!"

Tasting cotton candy for the first time at the traveling carnival that was in town this weekend!

Throwing rocks at the lake. Her fave!

Minutes after this pic was taken she was in the nude "swimming" in the pool-- rolling around in the water! It was no where near warm enough for me to get in there, but Nora was all over it! Any mention of her friends Alex and Isaac now, she says "pool!!!!!"

Lovin' the spring!

2015-04-21T22:11:00.001-06:00

Nora June, 20 Months!

2015-04-08T06:58:00.001-06:00

I'm sorry I don't have our vacation video as promised! I am still working on it. I spent a lot of time with family over the Easter weekend as well as worked on several new hoop orders I had come in!

Life with Nora continues to get better and better. In the last 2 weeks her vocabulary has increased immensely and there almost isn't anything she won't say now. She comes out with words we didn't even know she would have heard before, which amazes up daily. She isn't speaking any sentences or phrases yet, but the number of words she knows is crazy! I can't get enough of her running around yelling and pointing with real words!

When I think about how much vocabulary she has to acquire in a matter of months, it's mind boggling. She is so fun to watch and listen to and I can almost see the light bulbs going off in her brain all the time. When we are reading, it takes a while to get through any story now as she is always seeing things in the book that remind her of something else, which she either has to go find in the house, point to out the window or say the word a million times. Sometimes I think she even surprises herself with the words she says, because she will say something, and then say it again surprised, and then again louder and then again with another word and so on, just trying out the sound of it coming from her own mouth.

I wish I could just record her talking all day long and show you all because telling you doesn't do it justice. It's so darn cute!

She has two of her "own" words that she has been saying for quite a while and I FINALLY figured out what the exact translation is: "So-wee" is "excuse me" and "Da-toe" is "that one". Now that I realized when she is actually using these words and how, it makes it that much funnier to hear her say them. She was trying to move a chair past the table and saying over and over "so-wee! so-wee!, like EXCUSE ME, move!!!! Also, this week, she was trying to get Tom's attention and she was saying, "da, da, dada, TOM!!! TOM!!!" We almost died laughing!

Our typical day when I am home (and mostly when she is with her grandmothers) involves reading lots of books, going to the park or outside, a walk in the stroller, maybe some errands in town, nap from 12-3ish, several snacks and a smoothie, a big lunch, playing with her dolls, moving things around the house and back again, drawing or colouring (she is just gaining interest in this!), helping me clean and wipe things up (she loves cloths- "cooooooth"! and always needs one at some point during every activity she is doing), visiting Nana upstairs and being a clever little stinker 24/7!

She is still drinking whole milk from a bottle first thing in the morning and before bed at night. She LOVES her bottle. It wasn't my intention to get her attached to a bottle and she doesn't ask for it throughout the day, but at bedtime, she feverishly pants and grunts in anticipation for it and then grabs it in her chubby little hands with a death grip until she sucks it dry! We are starting to think about weaning her from the bottle (we still hold her like a baby and feed it to her), but the routine is just so easy right now, I hate to switch it up!

We have also gotten in to the habit of a few morning cartoons. It's nice for me, because Mr. Tweeds is often away when I am getting ready for work in the mornings and it gives me a chance to shower and get dressed without my demanding little friend waiting for a story! The three shows that happen to be on right around when she wakes up are Sesame Street ("Elmo!"), Dora and The Backyardigans. She quite likes all three and usually watches and play simultaneously throughout all of them. All those kids shows have portions where the kids have to talk back at them or do an action and it's too funny to watch her actually play along with it. She watches 1-2 shows in the mornings depending on how motivated we are to get the day going. We had made a deal with ourselves not to allow any TV for her before the age of 2, but it just didn't happen. When 5:30 am wake ups happen, sometimes you just throw on the TV in a fit of hazy sleepiness and it turns into a habit. I don't think it's doing her any harm and really, she went 18 months without seeing a single cartoon or the dreaded screen time, so I think that's pretty good.

This is what she did when we asked her what she did with the Easter eggs!

When I think back to Nora as a baby, I think about how every stage had it's challenges but also so many special things to be amazed about. Every stage has been my favourite and I wouldn't go back and freeze her in a certain age just yet. Maybe that will come! Since having her, my heart has grown a million times in size. No matter how she behaves or misbehaves she always brightens my day and puts a smile on my face. Hearing her say "mommy" with a smile and a giggle has to be the best sound in the whole world.

Nora's Beach Holiday!

2015-04-01T03:00:00.001-06:00

We are back from our relaxing Mexican holiday! I am working on a video of our trip to share with you and a lot more details about traveling with our little busy body... I hope to have it all ready for next week! But until then... here are some pics!

Thanks and stay tuned for more next week!

Big Ol' Nora Update

2015-03-18T03:00:00.001-06:00

It has been a while since I have written a nice detailed post about all the developments and new things Nora is doing these days. I looked back on my posts from when I was on maternity leave and then I felt bad for neglecting you all over these last few months! Life is busy when you're working with kids!!

Sometimes I feel like I am being repetitive week after week saying the same things over and over- "now she eats XXX, now she has teeth, now she says mommy" etc. Maybe it's not all that exciting?! But then I imagine that I am writing this blog for Nora and not actually for the readers (sorry, everyone) and I realize that she will love it. What a detailed picture I have painted of what life is like for her and all the things she experiences. So many times I have thought about shutting the blog down due to time constraints, but then I'll have to explain to her one day why all these weekly pictures and stories just stopped! It's not like she just stopped doing things, I have to keep it going!!!!

Nora is officially the tallest 19 month old that ever lived. She is as tall, and sometimes taller than most two year olds, two and a half year olds and even some three year olds! It is crazy! I forget that she is abnormally tall until we see another little kid her age and they look like a tiny baby compared to her. I mentioned that the health nurse told us she is likely to be 6 ft. tall as an adult. I don't know how I feel about that! She won't be able to date! She won't be able to find pants easily! These are two very important things that plague girls, you know! I was lamenting these points to a friend the other day and her husband piped in and said, "yeah, but she'll be able to dunk a basketball! She'll get any guy if she can do that!" Silver linings!

Lately Nora has loved to dress up in anything she can find to put on. She even balances her toys on her head and says "hat!" She LOVES socks, but cries in frustration when she can't put them on herself. She is a stubborn one, because she will sit there trying and trying to stretch her little socks over her feet and I can sense that she is becoming agitated. When I ask if she needs help, she wails and throws herself on the floor in defeat and still doesn't let me help her. She is always coming out of our bedroom with an article of either mine or Tom's clothing on in some creative way. She had Tom's boxers around her neck the other day!

She has started counting things which is hilarious because she counts "two, two, two" as many times as it takes to finish. We have been TRYING in vain to teach her other numbers, but I guess "two" will do for now. She also knows several letters now, but they are hit and miss. I have not forced this at all, as you know she loves books and reading and she has many alphabet books that she reads all the time. Any letter in general is "E!" when she sees a letter on a sign, t-shirt, etc. But she actually often points correctly to A, I, E, P and B.

She has started to say "No, Dad" and "Mommy!" which are both super funny. She says "No, Dad" to Tom in a concerned voice, but she also says it to other people too when she wants to disagree. She had never said Ma, Mama or Mommy much at all up until recently. It was usually just Da all the time. However, she started with "mom" which she said continuously for about 2 weeks and finally switched to "Mommy" which is pretty cute! Everything is "mommy" now. She calls me from her bedroom in the mornings and if Tom goes in instead, it's a frantic "mommmmyyyyy" repeatedly! She has also learned "mommy, teacher" which I was QUITE impressed with! She has a few books with teachers in them and she points to that teacher and then to me and says it.

She says her own name too now which is also seriously cute. Any little baby or kid she sees a picture of is "Nora", pronounced more like "Nowa". One specific Little People figures is "Nowa" and the little figure that is actually Belle from Beauty and the Beast is "mommy"! :) She says some of her grandparents names too- Opa is is "Okie" which we all think is pretty funny and she will also say "Papa" but the grandmothers have to wait a little longer!

She is a BUSY girl. I really think she is more so than some of the other kids I know. When we are out and about, she is GONE. She doesn't stick by our sides at all. She can easily run out of my sight as I am grabbing something off the shelf at the grocery store and she often does this. It is near impossible to take her anywhere and plan to browse or have her sit in the cart still and quiet and look around anymore. She is on the go all the time and/or chomping at the bit to get going somewhere! She doesn't like to sit back and watch anything ever, she always wants to be right in the action, hands on! Her favourite place is the park right across from our house and she would go there on her own if we let her out of our sights. The second she gets out the door to play outside, she is yelling "park! park!" and she is off running towards the park. I have to bribe her into the stroller for walks now with snacks and "other parks" (that we mysteriously never end up at!) which is unfortunate because walking with her in the stroller was one of my favourite things to do.

Obviously, I love her little active and curious personality. I love coming home to her after work and seeing her eyes light up and of course hearing her little voice say "Mommy!" And I love waking up to entire days where all we do is attempt the grocery store circus act and go to the park a million times. A day without her, although really wasn't that long ago, seems so hard to imagine now. I often wonder what on EARTH I used to do to fill my time back then?!