Leaf Fun

Snowflakes were falling this morning. It's time to accept the fact that warm fall days are over.

 

But speaking of warm fall days, Remembrance Day was fantastic. We went out for a ceremony which my kids did spectacularly at, I must add, and then we simply enjoyed the sunshine & its warmth while playing in the leaves.

The kids had a fantastic time.  Benjamin likes to walk through the pile, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

Helena likes to run and jump!

I know every parent feels this way about their children, but it must be said anyways.  I'm so lucky to have these two kids as mine.

The iRobot Scooba

Our neighbors were gone for the last 10 days, and while they were gone, they let us borrow this beautiful machine:

The iRobot Scooba

This version of the iRobot doesn't sweep and doesn't vacuum - it MOPS!  Plus, it really works.  Could there be anything more glorious?  Our floors haven't felt this good ever.

Shopping as a Fam

One thing I was amazed at when I became a mom was the amount of shopping suddenly required of me.  No longer was it just grocery shopping and occasional household item shopping, with the fun clothing expedition thrown into the mix.  It still included those things, and more often, but it also includes clothes, shoes, and miscellaneous items for the kids too.

I remember talking to my mom when Helena was 9 months old, and saying I felt like I was shopping every single week for Helena!  Her response: "Get used to it, Charlotte."

Helena asked to have her photo taken here with her friends.  Can you find her?

And I have.  But over the holiday break, I was treated to a very fun shopping expedition with my family.  When it's -20 outside in the city, where do you go to help your little girl get some energy out?  We - including John! - spent a day at the mall.

Surprisingly, we all had a lot of fun.  I've learned a trick for shopping with John & kids - have lots of snacks available :)  And it wasn't really meant to be a day of shopping, but we did get some shopping done too.

Life continues, that's for sure.

It's funny how life works - so not how you plan it.  See, with this pregnancy I had a good bit of nesting going on.  So our place was clean before Benjamin was born.  There'd be no extra housework to be done after his birth.  BUT we happened to bring one bed bug home with us from either the hospital or the taxi...which meant 30+ loads of laundry to do before the exterminators came in.

Like I said, not at all what I had planned.  Thank the Lord for my mom's presence and all her time spent in the laundry room.  Thank the Lord for our living in an apartment building so we had multiple washers and dryers available to us.  Thank the Lord that we don't have to pay for the exterminators.  And, while I absolutely hate the one, thank the Lord there was only one bed bug.

When I look back on the last 2 weeks, it's so easy for me to be negative about the time lost during my mom's visit and during Benjamin's first few weeks, and how much work had to be done because of one stupid bug. But last night I spent an hour putting pictures on our computer and I realized how much fun we've had since my mom and my dad AND OF COURSE BENJAMIN arrived!

We've all fallen in love with our little man.  He loves looking towards light, whether it be from a lamp we leave on in the middle of the night so he'll be calm and we can sleep or whether it's just coming through the window.  His first nickname is the King of Poop - this man is going through lots of diapers.  He is a charmer - smiles so regularly that we're convinced they can't all be from gas.  He is such a good eater that he was only 68 grams away from his birth weight at 4 days old.  Since he eats well, he's already getting big!

His big sister goes in and out with her interest in him.  She likes to read books to him and tell people his name and sometimes even share her most precious possession (her napping blanket).

Benjamin has already found his thumb (only took him 3 days to do so).  This does not thrill his parents, despite their love for his thumb-sucking sister, but it is cute.  Still, we are doing soother research!

We've used our new "mini-van" multiple times, a necessity when you have 2 kids in the city.

We gave Helena her own baby carrier, and it's been getting some good use...

 

...sometimes with a doll and other times with a crayfish.  My mom brought this twenty-nine cent toy from the south in order to show us how they ate them.  She had no idea it would be Helena's best bud for a week.

Benjamin is our little pod, sleeping all zipped up in his Swaddlepod.

 

 The bed bug-related work was mostly done by the time Papa arrived, so there was lots of time for fun and naps.

My dad loves little kids' feet.  He's always checking them to make sure there are no calluses yet.

I love every body part on my kids - big surprise, huh?  I'm so glad we can take pictures and videos but I wish there was a way to keep the little lip kisses, the softness of Benjamin's skin, his wonderful smell, and the snuggles we get from him.

A few hours after we put my parents on the subway for the airport, Helena said "I want Nani to be back."  We had such a wonderful time with you Mom/Nani and Dad/Papa.  Thank you for coming!

A Go-to Meal

What do you make when you have little time before dinner or little food in the fridge?

(the pic was a quick one, just like the meal!)

My go-to meal is a German Pancake.

It's a one-bowl, one-pan dish.  It can be served with simply syrup or something a little more time-consuming like yogurt and fruit.  Plus, for all the hungry ones around your feet, it's fun to watch while it cooks, because it grows up along the edges of the pan.

German Pancake

4-6 Tbsp. butter
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 Cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
powdered sugar

Heat oven to 425.  Melt butter in 9x13 pan in oven.  Mix eggs, milk, flour and salt just to blend.  Pour batter into hot butter.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Cut into squares and serve with yogurt, fruit or syrup.

What is your go-to meal?  I'd love to know!

Twins

At church last Sunday we were unplanned twins: jeans, sweaters, black shoes, and green purses.

Helena loved it - and admittedly, so did I.

My observations on kids, especially my own

1) Kids like to sit on laps.  Let's say there are two kids and one adult reading.  If one of them is sitting on the adult's lap, the other kid feels like it is crucial for her to also sit on that lap.  The interesting thing is that "lap" can be loosely defined.  If the adult's legs are crossed pretzel style, then the lap is made up of any section of his legs.  If the adult's legs are spread out to form a v, the lap is constrained to the legs and any/all of the area between the legs.

2) Kids are tough.  We all know it - if you make a big deal out of a kid's fall, then the kid thinks it was a big terrible fall.  If you don't and haven't in the past, the kid is fine unless it was a terrible fall.  But really, have you ever thought about all the falls and bumps and hits they take?  Cement, pavement, table legs, doors, steps, metal floors, and so on.  And then have you thought about the number of all of those that they experience?  Really, if it were an adult who experienced that much in one day, I don't think that adult would get out of bed the next day.

3) Kids eat strange things.  As I've said before, Helena loves condiments.  If she has sour cream (or ketchup) on her plate, she will use her spoon to eat it.  She loves it.  Or if a kid's mouth is really full, he may spit out the food, look at it on his plate, and then pick it up and eat it.  It's like he had to make sure he wanted his mouth to be extremely full of that food.  (Now I haven't observed my kid doing this but...no, wait, this very accurately describes my child.)

4) Kids sometimes latch onto something and do it over and over and over again, and then suddenly never do it again.  One day Helena put her hand on her head and one of her parents said, "Oh no!"  Boy, did she dissolve into giggles.  She kept doing it all day long and when we said "Oh no", her laughter would ring through the apartment.  The next morning all fun & joy in that activity was gone.  She'd put her hand on her head, we'd say "Oh no" and she'd walk away.  It was over.

Now here's a video of a behavior she started doing yesterday and then didn't do again until she kissed us good night tonight.  Oh how I do hope she continues doing it!

More than a Mommy's Girl

This morning John made pancakes, and one big pancake and one little pancake stuck together.  He gave it to me, saying "This is like you and Helena - attached at the hip."  Helena is definitely a Mommy's girl much of the time, and I don't mind.  

But she's not only interested in her mom.  A few days ago I came across her looking at this card that her grandma sent to us.

Each square is a picture of one of Helena's many facial expressions - she has a lot of them.  She was looking at the pictures and giggling and giggling!

So I got closer and saw who she was looking at.  Her dad!  Or the half of his face that was in the photo.

Yeah, she likes her mom a lot, but she likes her dad a lot too.

Helena & baths: a completely honest post

Over the last few days I've been working on a scrapbook of Helena's first year.  I've found myself referencing this blog numerous times, and it's been so much fun to think back on all those times with John & Helena.  So I am recommitting myself to blogging more often (something most bloggers seem to do numerous times!), and about all different parts of life involving parenting Helena and residing in Canada.  

So here's my first post after I made my resolution.  Yes, it includes pictures of me in a swimsuit, with morning hair.  So be it.

Helena has not been a fan of baths since halfway through our time in Oregon.  She cries and screams when she sees the water in the bathtub.  It was okay for awhile, but eventually one has to bathe, even if that one is only 14 months.  So two nights ago John & I put on our swimsuits and played in the bath tub while Helena watched from her Bumbo.  She smiled and watched.  After quite awhile she was wanting to play with the toys, so she tentatively stood up and came closer.  Eventually, after a bit of crying, she let me pick her up and hold her in my lap.  That was the bath for that night - basically just her bum and legs getting wet.

The next morning I played in the tub while Helena watched and John got ready for school.  

Slowly but surely she made her way across the room and into the tub to play with me.

Then she let me wash her entire body.  Success!

A Parent Birthday

There's a famous family story that is always told on my birthday - and it has nothing to do with me [the shame :)]. My mom was having a schedule c-section, so she couldn't eat anything. Despite my mom's necessary fast, my Nana brought a dozen donuts into the waiting room, and she & my dad cruelly enjoyed the donuts while my mom watched. I didn't know until this year that Nana also brought donuts to my older siblings! But this year my sister had an interesting insight into the donut story. Twenty-two years later, I married a donut lover! Coincidence - who knows?!?

Please notice the sweater Helena's wearing - I wore it when I was little -
and not all the candles on the chocolate cheesecake!

Anyways, I had a birthday this past week. As a parent, my birthday involved my child a lot: who I shared my breakfast in bed with, who I spent the day with, who was the biggest factor when it came to choosing a place for dinner, who "blew" my candles out with me, who opened my presents and who played with my presents. And it was SO MUCH FUN.

Putting in and taking out - a great use for a silicon muffin pan!

The Passing of Time for Parents

When you have a baby, almost every parent that you come into contact with tells you, "Enjoy this as the time goes so fast."

It's true. I feel like it was only a couple weeks ago that Helena & I would lie on the bed and just look at each other, me because I was mesmerized and her because she couldn't get away from me if she wanted. She used to hold onto the dresser handles to help hold herself in a standing position, but now she stands in front of an open dresser drawer and pulls all the clothes out. Time does goes by quickly.

But nobody tells you how it also creeps by.

Like when your daughter has a fever for 5 days. The doctors say it's just a virus, nothing to be concerned about, but you can't help but be concerned the entire time. Those 5 days are very long. Or when she's supposed to be drinking cow's milk but nothing you do will entice her to take a sip. For days your mom mind is postulating that she'll never drink milk and she'll have weak bones and teeth and...suddenly she decides to drink the milk if you heat it so it's really good and warm.

So the time actually goes by quickly and slowly, but it doesn't matter which one it is at the time, in the end you wish you had that time back.

A Morning Date

Dates seem almost more important now that we are parents than before. So this morning a friend babysat and John & I headed to the Hockey Hall of Fame. This was definitely a date chosen with John in mind and he loved it, so it was good for me too.

Standing with the Stanley Cup Trophy

But let me just say being in this museum is hilarious. It is basically room after room of glassed-in displays of clothes (hockey jerseys) and there are men taking pictures everywhere. Then in the museum store there are more clothes and the men are the ones taking them off the racks and talking about how great they are. Just observing all of that may have been the best part of the museum for me.

Photos dealing with hockey below - I tried to pick only the somewhat interesting ones!


Remember that grocery store we visited a few days ago? Well, the above trophy has that same building right on it - when it was the hockey arena!


Sadly there were only two Vancouver Canucks jerseys in the entire museum - one in the franchise section and then this one, found in the Fan Favorite section. As the Canucks created a fan in me, I had to get my picture with it!


Do you recognize this guy? I remember the day after the Olympic Gold Medal game I went into work and was asked "Charlotte, who is this guy?" while pointing at her computer. I had no idea. It was Sidney Crosby, the player who scored the winning goal. According to my hockey lover of a co-worker, every Canadian will know who he is for the next 20 years.

The only college team jerseys to be found in the entire museum?
One from Wisconsin and one from Minnesota.
That's right.

525,600 Minutes

[Sung to the tune of Seasons of Love from the musical Rent]

525,600 minutes
525,000 moments held dear
525,600 minutes
How do you measure, measure one year?



In feedings, in laundry,


In nap times, in dirty diapers.


In inches, in pounds, in kisses, in hugs.



In 525,600 minutes - how do you measure a year of her life?
How about love?
How about love?
How about love?
Measure in love. A year full of love.


525,600 minutes.
525,000 moments of joy.
525,600 minutes - how can you measure one year with Helena Ann?

In tricks that she learned or in times that she smiled.

In food that she threw - oh, it's all been worthwhile!

Two Parts

Part One: It's been a long 10 days. We're almost done with being sick. John is good, Helena is pretty good, and I have sinusitis. Medicine should start working in a few days...

But let me just say being sick is hard when you're a mom. You can rest every chance you get, but you're still not resting as much as you really should. It's just another one of those things you don't appreciate enough about your mom until you become one. Thanks Mom!


















Part Two: In those same ten days, Helena has become quite the hugger. She loves hugging her mom and her dad, and we pretty much melt in her arms every time. But she also loves hugging her stuffed animals and her dolls with a good close hug like a mom would give. Here's the evidence:


















See what I mean?



















Such a good hugger of her baby...




















until she decides to shake the baby while only holding onto her hat! She's got a ways to go in her motherhood training...