A Little Post on My Little Buddy

So I haven't posted on my little man yet! What the heck Rach!!! I guess I'm just too busy lovin' on him to write about it! He is seriously SUCH a doll - so much less dramatic than his sister already! haha. He has been a dream from day one. Naps all on his own (Pyper would wake up the SECOND I would set her down), plays on the floor (not an option for Pyper), rarely cries (hm...). Wait, I'm making Pyper sound like a horrible baby and I ADORED her as a baby! She was WONDERFUL, he's just a boy, and she is a girl. Anyways, I am just loving being a mom of two. Pyper and Logan adore each other and I love watching them interact. Pyper calls him her buddy and he just grins whenever she comes anywhere near him. It is so much fun!!! Anywho, here are a few pictures of him as a newborn and then a couple from later. He has changed SO much, and I have a love/hate relationship with that. Kids are just so much fun (I was going to write work and then cross it out but I guess blogger is smarter than me. Oh well, I laughed out loud at my own joke).

I Just Wanna Cry!!!

What a little stinker my 3 year old is! The drama!!! Sometimes gets a little grumpy (usually when I haven't put her down for a nap that day...What? She goes to be like 1000 times better if I don't!). Tonight was one of those nights. She was just crying for apparently no reason, clinging to my legs "howd you mommy!" (for some reason we got hold you instead of hold me, but I love it...). So I told her in my most patient voice that she if she wanted to cry she needed to go into the living room if she wanted to cry, so off she goes and Mark and I were kind of giggling in the kitchen (I know, mean parents. If she didn't do this like all the time, we might be more sympathetic...) She finally comes back into the kitchen, still crying of course, and climbs up on the stool next to Mark. Mark turns to her and says "Pyper, you need to stop crying". She looks over at him and says "Dad, I just WANT to cry. Mommy, tell Daddy I just wanna cry" Ha!

Mark's Aunt Kathy said to me once that girls start crying at age two and never stop. So far she is right.

And so it begins....

Letters on the Fridge

I have been rolling this post around in my brain for the last long while. As I sat in the kitchen one night I glanced over at my fridge and took note at what was on it at that particular time: a couple of cards reminding me about dentist appointments, a picture of Pyper, numerous nursery pictures coloured in her own special way, and some magnet letters arranged according to colour. I don't know why they struck me so hard, I must have looked at them a million times, but I got a little teary. My baby girl is already going to be three years old in just two short months. I realized how full and beautiful my life is because of things like letters on the fridge, finding rocks in my pyjama drawer, multiple dance parties in the basement with the help of a special snow white costume. It occurred to me that when I find a belt that she has wrapped around her waist in the basement (one that I would definately have been looking for the night before), or my pilates band in the upstairs bathroom, I need to thank God that I have this beautiful, wonderful, brilliant little girl in my life. I need to be thankful that I GET to pick up after her, I GET to listen to the tantrums, I GET to the attitude, and I also GET the kisses, the "I just love you mommy", the "I'n such a good helper, right mom?", the excersize partner, the little best friend. Most of all, I'm so grateful that I'm the one she calls Mommy. 

The Last Few Months

I know it's been a few months so this can be a comprehensive post with little explanations for each picture. First off, in February we were going crazy with all the snow so we just decided to take off and head for Vegas and a visit with my dad and his sweet wife Joanne. We stayed with them for a couple nights (and didn't take a SINGLE picture!!!) and then headed off for Vegas. We stayed in a great hotel, the Aria (thanks Hotwire!). It was crazy because everything in our room was automated, from the curtains in our room to the tv and lights, and all controlled by our alarm clock, which explains why I turned the tv on in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, and then couldn't figure out how to turn it off, subsequently having to turn the lights on and opening the blinds by accident. Pyper just loved the huge windows in our room and spent the majority of the time on this chair staring out at the pool and other hotels. We also got to see our good friends, Brian and Sarah Bonnet, who also happen to be our step-siblings! How fun is that!

Pyper thought this dragon was Toothless off "How to Train Your Dragon" and kept going up to it and scratching it hoping it would fall over.

Pyper in front of the neat waterfall that went pretty much all the way around the hotel.

Just chillin watching one of like 18 movies we entertained her with on the way there and back from Vegas - yes, we drove. Yes, we're crazy.

Pyper thought it was really fun to sit behind me on the ball while I worked on the computer. Definately some bouncing going on!!!

Pyper in the tent that Mark made for her. She was overly obsessed with tents at this point in time and so this was a life saver for me. I can't tell you how much time I spent under a blanket on the couch with this kid!

We had Michelle and Neil out for dinner one night and Pyper was delighted with Porter. They watched a movie, had popcorn and just played together so well. Yes, she thinks she's smiling.

Round about March we finally had a good melt. I had just bought Pyper some gum boots and she was just itching to go out and puddle-jump. I was still not feeling well with my pregnancy but just couldn't say no! She had a BLAST! She got soaked and it was so worth it.

To be continued...





Pyper's Second Birthday!!!

I know this post is about a month overdue but nevertheless here it is! My baby turned two on January 11th! I still can't believe I have a two year old. She is the joy of our lives. She knows all her letters and the majority of the sounds they make. The loves to make tents and is very good at entertaining herself. She thinks she is the funniest thing on the planet, and she kind of is. She's a little bit bossy with a bit of a 'tude, but has the sweetest disposition and spirit. We are so excited to watch her with this new little baby, she adores babies and is always mothering her puppies, dolls and other stuffed animals. She loves her daddy to death, and he adores her right back. As for her mommy, I can't help but feel what an immense privilege it is to be her mother. She is my little best friend and I LOVE being with her all day. While I was sick she honestly kept me going, and she continues to give daily life variety and joy. I am so grateful for her.

For her birthday we had Mark's mom and dad, my mom and brother, Chance, my sister Kenzie and her boyfriend, Tom over for dinner. Then we had the Leishman's and the Keogler's over for ice cream and cake and playtime. Pyper had a blast. It is so fun to watch her learn to interact with other kids. She has so much fun playing with them and very rarely has problems sharing (so far!)

She is a wonderful little girl and I just don't know how we ever got along without her. I know we couldn't now.

I LOVE this kid!!!

After Ontario...

While we were in Ontario something glorious and terrible happened... our house sold. My dream house which I had foolishly convinced my husband it was time to build even though he had no long-term means of employment. It was glorious because it was the only house that sold in Magrath in two months, but terrible because I DID NOT want to let it go. We had put an offer on a house in Pincher Creek which had fallen through when another family made an offer on it and our house still hadn't sold. So, rather than move back into our house for two weeks, get all attached to it again, and move on out, we just went straight out to Mountain View until we could find a suitable house (suitable meaning completely done, which left us like two options). We finally settled on a really cute house that is over 100 years old, but had been completely redone. It's cute, and convenient, but not my house. I'm sure I'll grow to love it (?) but I'm looking forward to the day when we can build again - it won't be for a LONG time... Here's a few pictures of the "old" house... sniff sniff.

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Where do I even begin?

Well, it has been so long since I did an actual post about what we are up to I am SO far behind. It's going to take me a while to catch up but I'll do my best! We didn't really keep anyone posted while we were in Ontario so I'll start there (even though it was MONTHS ago!). We stayed in a really cute apartment with a crazy landlord and really ended up having a great time. Mark and I spent the majority of our time at the Tim Horton's Training Center. Here we are in our very attractive bakers uniforms.

The training center is so well run and we had a great experience there. But we were able to do a few other things while in Ontario.

We were able to spend the day with my cousin, Kaycee, who I hadn't seen since my wedding eight years before! It didn't feel like we'd been apart at all, though. We grew up together and we just settled right back into our friendship. It was so fun to see her cute kids, Hazel and Nigel (I know! Cutest names right!!??) and Pyper just loved them. We met up at a great free zoo/spray park/playground area about halfway between us (we were about 4 hours apart). We had a great time!

We had some ducks that lived in a pond just right across the street from our apartment so we spent A LOT of time there feeding and enjoying them. Pyper especially loved them.

We also took Pyper to her first movie - Toy Story 3. She loved it, but we could have used the fast forward button a couple of times! ("I cared - change it!!)

We also were able to get to know one of our trainers who's little girls, Alexis had been born on the same day as Pyper! Stacie, Alexis' mom, is now expecting another baby about five days before we are! Crazy!

All in all, we had a great experience but we were really glad to come home!!!