life according to the iphone

We went to the beach on Monday and rented paddle boards.  I just loved it!  It was so peaceful out their on the morning water and so soothing to just glide and watch the lake floor slip by beneath me.      

I just read Bringing Up Bebe on the iPad and really enjoyed it.  It was quick and entertaining.  I found it interesting to see how infant care is viewed as more of a cultural responsibility and that infants are regarded as rational beings, instead of tiny helpless blobs.  I didn't find it controversial or feel offended (there are many "right" ways to do this parenting thing).  I appreciated the importance of balance in the book and found that setting boundaries, and establishing regular sleep patterns matched our own parenting style.  It left me wanting to start a ritual of baking with my kids every weekend and to work a lot harder on getting Jake greet people with a polite *hello.

(*bonjour is considered a magic word, along with please and thank you.  Why!?  "It acknowledges the other person's humanity".  How true).

lately

Jake 25 months + Avery 1 week

Lately Jake has been saying cute things like "holy mackerel", "bonne idée", "hello sweetie pie" and not so cute things like "I WANT IT!".  He also likes to tell everyone we meet "Baby Avery throw-up, pees and poop everywhere" because there were a couple such incidents that he obviously feels are pretty noteworthy.

He still reads and reads (and reads...) until Billy and I finally say we need a little break.  Often, I overhear him reciting various lines from some of his books.  He also loves big diggers, building bridges with duplo, playing golf and is going through a big play doh phase.

He loves hummus and havarti sandwiches for lunch as well as avocados, almonds, cottage cheese, sushi rolls and fruit smoothies.  The other day while grocery shopping he says "Mom forgot feta cheese. Good idea Jake!"  He also has a thing for croutons and would probably eat them by the bagful, if he were allowed.  

He is a sweet big brother.  He likes to hold Avery's hand (and sometimes her feet too), kisses the top of her head and then giggles when her hair tickles him, tries to give her a soother, reminds me to give her vitamin D, picks out outfits and sings to her his favourite songs.

When he wants to be picked up he squeals "up, up and away" and when we pull into our driveway he says "home again, home again jiggidy jig".  He is always making us smile.

... 

Avery 2 months

Avery usually only wakes once at night to eat and is quick to fall back asleep on her own. Lately she has been sleeping in until eight o'clock.  Her pre-bedtime fuss is getting shorter and on a few occasions, she has skipped it altogether.  Hooray.

She smiles and smiles and smiles.

She is interested in her play gym and mobile.  She's holding up her head really well and likes to sit on my lap and watch Jake play hockey.  Her wobbly head follows him back and forth as he runs with the ball.  Jake likes this too.

...

hi from avery

Right now she loves to...

 smile, play with her hair, coo at the fish mobile in her swing, blow spit bubbles, hold up her head, spit-up when I dress her in something that matches, smile some more and try to use those wobbly little legs of hers.

She is completely adorable and such a happy little baby. 

goose egg

Jake's first goose egg definitely came as a shock to him.  The result of some vigorous spinning, followed by a face-on collision with the wall.  And voila, a big purple bump on the forehead and a few big tears too.

In Jake's own words, and in his most serious tone of voice: "that was a big doozie of a wipe out".  Ha!  It sure was.

You'll have to ignore all that dirt, that's a story for another day.  One that involves the garden and two curious and busy toddlers.  Definitely a recipe for a little mess (and a good scrub down in the bathtub).   

tomatoes season

Our tomatoes are going wild.  When they surpassed Billy in height and we couldn't stake them up any higher we had to start regularly trimming the tops off them.  They are so heavy with tomatoes, they keep falling over when the wind picks up.  We also have two tumbler tomato baskets that have hundreds of little tomatoes ripening.  It's unbelievable really.  Especially since my dad started them all from seed.  So thanks dad!  We are happily enjoying the fruits of your labour.

They tower over Jake!  He loves to help water them.  On a hot, hot day each plant is taking 8 litres of water! 

twenty-one things

I came across a list of "things you should say to your children"
and I couldn't agree more...

To me, it's a lot of things you unconsciously do as parents, but reading through the list is such a positive reminder of how your words can shape your children.  

1. I love you! There is nothing that will make me stop loving you. Nothing you could do or say or think will ever change that.

2. You are amazing! I look at you with wonder! Not just at what you can do, but who you are. There is no one like you. No one!

3. It’s all right to cry. People cry for all kinds of reasons: when they are hurt, sad, glad, or worried; when they are angry, afraid, or lonely. Big people cry too. I do.

4. You’ve made a mistake. That was wrong. People make mistakes. I do. Is it something we can fix? What can we do? It’s all over. You can start fresh. I know you are sorry. I forgive you.

5. You did the right thing. That was scary or hard. Even though it wasn’t easy, you did it. I am proud of you; you should be too.

6. I’m sorry. Forgive me. I made a mistake.

7. You can change your mind. It’s good to decide, but it is also fine to change.

8. What a great idea! You were really thinking! How did you come up with that? Tell me more. Your mind is clever!

9. That was kind. You did something helpful and thoughtful for that person. That must make you feel good inside. Thank you!

10. I have a surprise for you. It’s not your birthday. It’s for no reason at all. Just a surprise, a little one, but a surprise.

11. I can wait. We have time. You don’t have to hurry this time.

12. What would you like to do? It’s your turn to pick. You have great ideas. It’s important to follow your special interests.

13. Tell me about it. I’d like to hear more. And then what happened? I’ll listen.

14. I’m right here. I won’t leave without saying good-bye. I am watching you. I am listening to you.

15. Please and Thank You. These are important words. If I forget to use them, will you remind me?

16. I missed you. I think about you when we are not together!

17. Just try. A little bit. One taste, one step. You might like it. Let’s see. I’ll help you if you need it. I think you can do it.

18. I’ll help you. I heard you call me, here I am. How can I help you? If we both work together, we can get this done. I know you can do it by yourself, but I’m glad to help since you asked.

19. What do you wish for? Even if it’s not yet time for birthday candles and we don’t have a wishbone, it’s still fun to hear about what you wish for, hope for, and dream about.

20. I love being your Mom.  You bring me so much happiness.

21. You can be ANYTHING! Think big; dream big. We believe in you, always

...

Note: I don't know where this originated from.  I cut and copied it long ago and added a couple of things.    

our weekend

We had a lazy weekend...  

enjoyed pizza, a barbecue and an evening swim in the pool.  It was too hot to get much of anything done.  We did however manage to take a few pictures before my parents left. 

At this point Jake is "all done"

He decides to do some sweeping instead

Since Avery can't object, we continue on while Jake cleans-up

We don't have many more lazy weekends ahead of us.  Billy starts work in a few short weeks and then we are going to make good use of these two precious days!  But it will be pretty nice having two consecutive days off, that almost never happens in hockey.  In fact, there have often been times where every single day of the week was devoted to hockey, so I think we will adjust just fine to this new schedule.  

celebrating two months

Two months old today!

You are full of smiles.  All day long.  Flashing those gums of yours and we just melt every time. You also have the very loudest cry I've ever heard.  Ever.  It's shocking, so we're really lucky that you only test it out a little before bed.

Getting to know you over the past two months 

               has brought us such great joy.                  

12 pounds 1 1/2 ounces
25 1/2 inches

family photos

Here is Avery at one week old.  

What a little bundle! 

The fact that it took me this long to post a few of her newborn photos shows that a) we're keeping pretty busy here and b) I've mastered the art of procrastination.  A+

life according to the iphone

Summer is here and boy oh boy, is it HOT. Some nights we are even skipping our evening walk because the heat is just too much.  It doesn't cool down much before the kids bedtime (and some nights, not much at all).   

We've tried some summer beers - a grapefruit ale and apricot weizen.  Billy said they were good but "girly"

Have you read The Lion and The Mouse?  It's a wordless picture book and the illustrations are stunning.  But if Jake were to choose, he would tell you he would rather read Corduroy.  There is just something about that sweet little bear in the green overalls that he loves.

I've been so lazy about trying out new recipes lately!  So I think I may try this Tomato, Corn and Avocado Salad (with a little added goat cheese) over the weekend.  Looks like a great summer salad, especially with some fresh tomatoes from our deck.    

on staying home

It is strange to think that last year on this day, we were settling into our apartment in Amiens.  Or maybe we were en route, or sleeping off the jet lag or cleaning said apartment top-to-bottom in order to make it feel just a little more like home... it's all a blur.  At any rate, we were in the midst of starting another season.  My tenth one with Billy.  Fast forward to today, the first day of training camp begins, without Bill.  It is a sad feeling.   

I'm still feeling so conflicted about it all (even though I've had the entire summer to mull it over. Talk about slow to embrace change) and hope we like our life here as much as we did abroad.  There is a whole lot of evidence suggesting that this new chapter in our lives will be a big success.  But oh France, how I will miss you.  I know everyone is getting really tired of me lamenting (on and on and on...) about France but look at these pictures!  How could I possibly not feel nostalgic?!

How dreamy!  

And I catch myself thinking of all the things I could be doing and experience there.  And all the things I wont ever do again.  And all of the little everyday things I still miss (the sound of church bells and trains passing through the night, cobblestones, walking downtown among fountains and statues, watching Bill play hockey, hearing the crowd chant his name, seeing Jake light-up at the rink, eating fresh pastries, buying 4 euro bottles of wine...).  And let me tell you, this line of thinking is extremely counterproductive.

However...  

despite the many things I am missing about hockey, France and Europe the packing and unpacking is definitely not one of them.  And I'm happy to have my family close by to listen to me lament about it all :) 

All images via this is glamorous .com

a funny thing happened

The other night a strange thing happened, I heard a little voice in the middle of the night.  "Mom, mom".  This is rather unusual.  So I investigated and this is what transpired...

Jake:  m o m m y...

Me:  jake, sweetie, what's the matter?

Jake:  mommy, my diaper fell off.

Me:  ??? (speechless. I was tired and this was unexpected)

And sure enough, I find a little diaper-less butt up in the air.  Jake's diaper did indeed "fall off".  H-m-m?!  So we quickly fixed the problem, returned him to bed and the moment his head hit the pillow he was back asleep.

Parenthood is so full of funny little moments, that even in the dead-of-night bring a little smile to my face.

orchards and picnics

We met up with my parents in Vernon at Davidson's Orchard.  They were picking up a few crates of transparent apples for apple sauce making and we figured Jake would enjoy the petting farm (It was a big hit last year).  The orchard did not disappoint. 

We started off with a tractor/train tour of the orchard and a little history on growing apples.  As you can see, Jake really liked the tractor.  

Then we spent some time with the animals.  Despite being pretty frightened by the rooster's absurdly loud cock-a-doodle-doing, Jake really liked feeding the animals.  He is still talking about the goats, donkey and sheep days later.  

And finally, we headed to the park for a picnic.  While Jake was off playing, Avery stretched out and we thoroughly enjoyed relaxing in the shade.