Catching Up On Life

It seems that while taking a break from writing assignments and papers, my mind has taken a break from writing in general.  I had big plans to catch up on blogging and to churn out posts every other day, however I am not with the flow of writing these days.  I have struggled to do that last two posts. 

I should say that my days have been spent feeling relaxed with my girls and my nights have been spent drinking wine and watching movies while catching up on emails or flipping through my backlog of Today's Parent magazine.  Promises were made that I would catch up on my sleep, however midnight always seems to come too fast in my busy little world of multi-tasking.

I've got a list of things to do that I am attempting to cram into these weeks off, like sell stuff on Craigslist, sort through the girls clothes, do a master menu plan, go on a date with Kevin, clean out my 3 email inboxes, clean off my hard drive, transfer videos to my external hard drive, dust the entire house from top to bottom, sort through my photos and read my photography book.  I haven't done it all, but I've ticked a lot of boxes off over the past 10 days or so.  Its a good feeling. 

Tonight, I've got nothin' spilling out onto my laptop keyboard tonight, but I do have a wack of photos from the past month that are going to do that "talking" for me. 

Earlier in February.....
My Kamille is nuts about TV lately.  She's allowed to watch TV while I am getting dinner ready.  It keeps her occupied and out of my way while I'm working in the kitchen.  Karis however is interested for about 2 minutes, then she's outta there and at my feet.  She usually sits on the kitchen counter while I get dinner sorted.  Its funny, I can recall Kamille watching Baby Einstein movies when she was little and really loving them.  Not Karis.  She's never been one for watching anything longer than a couple minutes. 

karis refused to take off her jacket and hat this day when she returned home from from daycare.  she's funny like that. 

We went though a pretty nasty cold/flu spell in February.  The girls each ended up staying home from daycare with fevers.   Didn't help much that it seemed to be raining all the time at that time.

However, rainy days call for fun indoor play.  Tea party anyone?

The Tea Party in Kamille's room

Kamille was such a great hostess!

"Lana"

"Ashley"

 We also took a Saturday morning trip to the library during all that rain.

Yep, she loooooves to read.

No, Kevin thought it would be funny to introduce her to the dictionary

This was when Karis wasn't feeling so great.  She had other things going on for her.  

You know how I mentioned that Kamille loved TV?  Well, on the day that Kamille had to stay home from daycare because of a fever, Kevin was working from home and so I was able to go to work.  Kevin decided to set up Kamille in front of the TV and showed her how to work Apple TV and Netflix all by herself so that he wasn't getting up every 20 minutes following one of her shows.  Well, knowing my girl she picked it up immediately and has since become the master of the remote.  Now I am dealing with her telling me, "Mom, I'm just going to watch and episode of...." while she's setting herself up rather than asking me to watch TV.  Its  bit of a concern, but we're working on it. 

Glued to her hand!

on this particular day she was "allowed" to be watching at this time.  i just had to capture her "zoned out" experience.  yikes!

Total TV daze! 

What is neat about Kamille's remote savy-ness is that we have access to thousands of radio stations through Apple TV and we've gotten onto a bit of a jazz music kick lately.  We mostly just listen to it in the morning or during dinner, but it has become her "job" to select a station to listen to and set us up with some jazz. 

With that being said, we are dancing more again.  Kam and Karis love to 'giv'er' on the carpet.  We're working on another CD compilation like the one we gave to Kamille's birthday guests.
So far we've got two more songs that we love.  A slow one by Christine Perri to which Kamille does her best ballet inspired moves which are fantastic to watch.  And a fast one by Katy Perry that I can't resist jumping around to!   I look forward to adding more inspiring music to our spring season dancing!  

One more thing I am looking forward to is spring/summer shopping.   We had to run a few errands in the city this past weekend and it was just a taste of what is to come for warmer, sunnier (is sunnier even a word?) days!  Kamille has grown so much and will certainly need a bunch of new clothes.   Shopping for her is always more exciting for me!

And I must say that there have been SUNNIER days lately.  The temperature has been rising from day to day and the 'green' is starting to emerge.  We spent nearly nearly our entire Sunday outside.  In the morning the girls and I did our first bike ride of the season with them in the Chariot and in the afternoon, I planted myself at the end of my driveway for some much needed socializing with neighbours and watching kids play.  Kevin spent the day outside as well getting our small yard and landscaping prepped for the new season!  It was awesome for us both just a taste of what's to come!

Kevin was also busy making a trail from our backyard to the trails behind our home.  Pretty soon our view of mountains through the naked trees will be replaced by a thick lush wall of green leaves.  Not a bad trade at all really.  

the forest ground behind our home will be entirely covered by a blanket of these plants.  its awesome to watch it happen.

you can just barely see the bits of green shooting through in the lower left of this photo.  it won't be long before this entire scene is GREEN! 

Now I've come to earlier tonight...  

We had another pre-bath dance party.  My girls, just like any other kids, love to be nudie!  At Kamille's request, they had their nudie dance party downstairs.  Damn was it ever cute!  

They crack me up! 
I just love the sisterly fun that they've been having together!

Alright, I'm at a loss for words for now.

My Baby, My Girl

My baby is 18 months.  These days there are so many things to remember about my girls Karis.  This time in her life is incredible.  The changes, the growing up, my little baby is becoming a little girl.  I am constantly trying to remember everything, but it seems nearly impossible to jot down all that I notice.

However the things that stay with me about my sweet Karis at 18 months are easily recalled when I look back at the past month's photos of her.....

You love the bath.  You crawl upstairs with excitement and stand in front of the tub watching it fill up.  You love to play with the buckets and face clothes.  

Your super funny face! 

Your hair is getting to the length that begs for barrettes and ponytails, but you just don't like it.  I try to sneak something in while you are distracted by eating your breakfast, but shortly after you notice and yank it out.  Two ridiculously little ponytails in your hair are so cute, but they don't last long.  Bummer.  

What you do love is your blue MEC suit.  Its a hand me down from Kamille that is too big for you, but if you could wear it every day yo would.  If you spot it, you beg to have it.

Doing up your "gack" (jacket)

I love genuine smiles!  

And while you were wearing your blue suit, I managed to capture your latest expression...not 100% it, but the best capture so far.  Its the palms up, questioning gesture, with a look of curiosity and interest on your face.  I love it!  If I say "oh, what's that?" with a lot of curious expression, you might copy me with this expression.  

Wha ???

And a sure sign of you growing up is that you sometimes sit with crossed legs.  No more straight out baby legs.  When I saw your crossed legs I couldn't figure out what it was that that made me want to photograph it, but then I realized its because you looked like a such a big girl sitting there.  

You were concentrating so hard on your own activity.  Just look at your concentration face, with your double chin and pouty lip lips.  I love it.

Not sure what happened, but there were tears soon after.  Sad faces are priceless at this age.  Definitely worth capturing.  A couple days ago, Kamille and I were watching some old home videos and in one of them we heard you crying.  The sound of your cry has changed so much, yet your baby cry is distinctively yours as it sounds today.  

You don't cry a lot though.  You frustrate when you can't have what you want or can't communicate because you don't have the words to tell me what you need.  Sometimes the guessing game can get you really upset.  Just this morning you buried your face in your hands and put your head in the corner of the kitchen because you were so frustrated.  Turns out you were just trying to tell me how much you wanted Cheerios for breakfast.  Oh, its heart-breaking.

You do have a lot of words coming though.  In your own way you are saying new words all the time.  You get excited about pointing out your baby dolls and saying "bebe", or pointing to my coffee mug and say "ka-ka."  You so get that its a special drink for your mama!
You say "shu" and for quite some time you have had an obsession with shoes.  Your daycare teachers tell me that after nap time you would bring all of the other kids their shoes.  You would know whos are whos and happily pass them out to the other kids in the room.  At home you bring my shoes or slippers to me and insist that I put them on.

saying "shu" (in the left photo)

You also say "pee" and have started to tell me when you have gone pee.  Its adorable and crazy to think that we are nearly at this stage already.  I think watching your big sister has been inspiring.  Sometimes you insist on sitting on the toilet and then washing your hands and you smile through the entire process as though you know its a special big girl activity!  

"pee" in your "ba-peh"

So we brought out the potty seat and let you have a try at the real thing.  I think that we might find ourself buying toilet paper more often in the next few months.  I used the 3 Day Potty Training method with Kamille and it was an amazing experience.  Literally cold turkey from all diapers and straight into big girl undies day and night.  We didn't do it until Kamille was 2.5 years but it does recommends that kids may be ready to train at 22 months.  At this rate, I think we might be headed that way!  Wow!  

It wasn't until recently that I thought to give you a cup.  Needess to say, you surprised yourself and me when you found out that you could drink from it.   You are certainly one for getting your own cup or bowl for a "nak" these days.  You are obsessed with snack time.  You get so excited, sifting through the kids' plastics looking for just the right bowl to hold your "nak", whatever that might be.   

Speaking of growing more independent, you are starting to have your own ideas about what you wear and you can easily pick out your "Doe-ah" socks (I can't believe you know Dora, and you also know "Ebpho" or Elmo) from a lower drawer in your room.  You also pick out your pyjamas and say "na-na" for nigh nighs at bedtime.  I love listening to you tell me what you know.  You are so proud!  

Your absolute "must" bedtime routine involves your big white knit blanket knit by Nana, your Cheshire Cat from Daddy and Goodnight Moon.  You are obsessed with finding the mouse on each coloured page.  You quickly turn past the black and white pages so that you can point out the mouse to me on all the coloured pages.  I love it.  I remember that Kamille loved to point out the kittens.  I love that our copy of Goodnight Moon is so well loved.   You also love Baby Beluga.  Not as much as Kam did, but you certainly "sing" Baby Beluga in your own way and to your own tune when you pick up the book.  It sounds like "Ba-yay"as you sway and bounce your body.  

 You've also started to cover your own bum when you find the chance.

 On this particular day, you noticed Cashew, our neighbour.

 And Cashew noticed you...

However, when Cashew wanted to say hello to you......

You didn't like it that much.  

Its certainly not the clearest photo, but it certainly tells the story.  I keep forgetting that Kamille grew up with our golden retriever Buddy and she didn't really ever express fear with dogs because he was always there.  However we had to put our Buddy dog down a couple months before you came along and so I always forget that dogs are strange to you.

Some other random thoughts of you.....

You sleep so well.  You always have and for that I am tremendously grateful.  When you wake up in the morning or after a nap, you play so content in your crib.  Sometimes I can listen to you for a while before you start to call on me.  I love how easy going you are in this way.

I love scooping your up into my arms and kissing you all over.  You are still small enough (22lbs to be exact) to throw you around and hold in my arms.  I love it.  Recently you've started to give kisses back.  You are more likely to do closed lip touches which are gentle as you subtly lean into me,  but sometimes you approach me with a big wide open mouth and a smile and I will ALWAYS take one of those kisses straight on.  It makes you giggle.

You love it when I puff my cheeks full or air and then you put your hands on my cheek and push them in.  I blow a big puff of air into your face.  You will do it over and over.  The bigger the puff, the more excited you get.

And Karis you just love to dance.  When I put music on you and Kamille turn the carpet into a dance floor and you tear it up!  You bounce your head up and down and put your hands in the air.  I just love it.

So many things to remember about you at 18 months.  The 12 months between one and two years old are incredible and so full of change.  These thoughts just capture a snap shot of your beautiful personality that is emerging and I look forward to seeing how much you will change and grow.