Welcoming the holidays . . .

My parents were visiting this weekend from Nova Scotia. Normally we alternate each Christmas between Toronto or Nova Scotia. It's really hard for us to be traveling every single December, and with two little ones this year we decided it was best for us to just stay in Ottawa and celebrate our own Christmas as a family together! I'm really excited to be here. We've done lots of decorating and I've started lots of baking too. The only strange thing is the weather - unseasonably warm here. No snow, no ice, not even cold weather! I guess I'm a Canadian girl at heart, I want my snow on Christmas Eve!!! I guess I still have a week to wait . . .

So the grandparents came to visit, hang out with the boys and drop off Christmas presents from themselves and my sister and her husband. While mom and dad were visiting we took Peter to see Max and Ruby at a live show. It went very well, although the show was a bit slow moving and it was hard to keep a lot of the kids there entertained and happy. Pete did very well, considering he has a bad cold and is cutting a big two year old molar - OUCH! He was tired too as he didn't get a nap. He really had a lot of fun. My mom (his nana) got far better pictures than I did, so I'll post some of hers later on when she sends them to me.

Here are Max and Ruby (big bunnies, brother and sister, for those of you who don't have a toddler and don't have your TV constantly tuned to Treehouse):

Peter sitting with nana and granny, enjoying a sucker before the show:

Pete thought his seat was very cool, esp. since it kept flipping up b/c his butt wasn't heavy enough to hold it down!!!

Mommy and Peter before the show . . . yes I took that myself. The grandmas were too busy wit their own digital cameras! Oh, how times have changed, huh?

David will be fourteen months soon. His new favourite thing is emptying the toy baskets and climbing in them. You can see our dog Rudy at the bottom of the photo, inspecting this whole scenario carefully.

Dad says enough is enough and David is removed from the basket!

Paul caught me in an off moment, in my pjs with my morning coffee, reindeer antlers and all. The boys are watching a DVD. Can't live without my crocs, I'm telling you!!!! Comfort with a captial CCCCCCCCCCC!

I went crazy with the Christmas decorations since we will be home this year!! Here is our mantle over the fireplace:

Our beautiful tree that Paul chopped down himself last weekend in FREEZING cold weather, way before our warm spell hit! I had to take the boys back to the van and sit there with the heat blasting while poor Paul trudged around looking for our tree. It was worth it!!! What a looker this thing is! I took a few pics at night with all the gorgeous white lights glowing, for some reason none of them turned up on my camera.


Here are a few more on top of our bookshelf. Notice a theme here - everything high up where the kids can't touch them???? By some miracle the tree has remained unscathed. David touched a couple ornaments today lightly but got pricked by a needle and seemed to stay away from it again. One week down, no holiday casualities with a 14 month old and a 33 month old running around my house!

Grandad reads to David:

Nana reads to David!:

Pete completes his skating course

I've been a busy girl again lately and not up to date in my blogging. I'm sure things will slow down again after the holidays. Later today my parents are arriving for a few days to visit with the boys and bring them up their Christmas presents. The boys have colds so I hope it goes smoothly. David is much better, but still kind of hanging on to this cough he's had forever. Pete is coughing now too and has a runny nose - not too fun!

Well almost a year of growing my hair is slowly starting to pay off. I got it cut this week and here is my new style . . . I'm getting very anxious for it to fit in a ponytail and I'm almost there!
I haven't had my hair in a ponytail since high school - and let me tell you, that was a LONG time ago!
Pete finished his ten weeks of skating classes. He did exceptionally well I thought, for a two year old! The last day he really made strides and was shuffling all over the ice by himself. I was really proud. So he's completed the City of Ottawa Frosty Blades program. Here are a few pics:

Pete trying desperately to figure out where the zamboni went . . .

Hey look at me! I'm really doing it by myself!!!

Wait a minute, maybe this isn't so fun after all . . .

And down he went . . .

After Christmas we start gymnastics . . .

Update - neglectful blogger

I've been a slightly neglectful blogger as of late. Life and laziness truly got in the way. My boys and I have been busy living our little lives. I went away from them for the first time over the weekend of the 18-19th. Some girlfriends and I went to Syracuse, NY to shop, talk, eat and by merry. We hit local outets, the Carousel Mall (thank goodness for Victoria Secret, I mean, seriously I need all the help I can get as a mommy who breastfed her two boys each for a year), ToyRUs (Santa is going to be *totally* loved around here come Christmas morning), WalMart and of course, every Canadian's unfulfilled shopping dream, TARGET.

I had a great time. More importantly, the boys had a great time with Paul, behaved well, didn't fuss or miss me too much, coped better than I had expected, and had a blast. They even seemed happy to see me when they woke up Monday morning. We went out for dinner on Saturday night to a fun restaurant after a hard day of shopping and had some drinks. Nancy and I actually got free drinks b/c one of the waiters dropped our meals. We got to watch as everyone else ate their meals, but thankfully we could sip our drinks while we waited for the next round of food to come out.

I was thrilled to get the presents I wanted for Peter at Toys R Us. I couldn't believe they don't carry them anywhere in Canada. I got the Fisher Price Fun2Learn Laughtop (laptop) and the Fisher Price Fun2Learn Preschool Center. I was sooooooo happy and even got the last laptop at that store!!! I got some great deals on clothes and shoes too, lots of stuff for the kids and my neice Reese too. Of course a few things for me too - I mean, come on!!!

Life after my big weekend is good. The boys are pretty active. They're both healthy again and our colds seem to be behind us. David is growing up every day, trying more and more to be like his big brother who he idolizes so much. It's wonderful to watch. Pete's doing better and seems to be going through a good patch developmentally, although his eating still sucks. David started Gymboree classes every Wednesday morning, so it's nice for him and I to have a special activity together (since Pete and I do skating on Thursdays). The Gymboree teacher LOVES David and his sparkling personality and inviting smile. He won her over the first day, I think. He loves it there and climbs, runs, jumps and plays to his heart's content. Not a big fan of the giant parachute though!!

The boys got into the tupperware cupboard the other night before bed . . . . hmmmmmm:

I hit a point where I realized they might as well just continue and I would treat this as a welcome opportunity to pull a little re-org:

Starting to look a little guilty . . .

David got this Diego push car for his birthday, however, he likes to lift the seat up and get INSIDE the car:
Pete saw opportunity knock:

And jumped on the opportunity to taxi his younger bro around the house:

Boys had their check ups

We took a trip to the doctor last week and David had his 12 month check up and Pete had his 30 month check up. David only weighs 19 lbs 6 oz. I really thought it was more. It means he hasn't gained all that much weight in the past six months or so. I'm chalking it up to him crawling and walking so early. He's a very active, energetic little guy so I think he burns off a lot of energy. The dr wasn't too worried but wants to check him again in a couple months. I couldn't handle having weight problems with another child.

As for Pete, he is just over 26 lbs. I talked to the dr about his picky eating habits. And I mean PICKY. When I chat with other moms they always say "oh yeah, my son/daughter is picky too". Trust me, it's nothing like we're dealing with here. Pete eats next to nothing and hasn't tried a new food in months. He seems to be developing strange aversions to certain colours, textures and types of food. He eats triscuit crackers with peanut butter, green apple if peeled and sliced, rasberries (although today he wouldn't eat them b/c they were *wet*), carrots with ketchup (gag me, I know), occasionally bacon, pepperoni pizza (and only a few bites of that and only if it's ordered from the *right* pizza shop). Of course he'll eat junk food or cookies until the cows come home. The bottom line is she feels he is still healthy and is developmentally doing excellent (was ahead in most things actually, especially language . . . that kid can talk himself out of anything!).

She recommended we see a developmental pediatrician b/c he does have some anxious tendancies. Separation anxiety is still a major problem for him. He is not able to be away from me unless he is with his granny or daddy. We were kicked out of - err, asked politely to leave, I should say - a local preschool program called Duffer Doo b/c Pete just couldn't calm down after I left him there. It was disturbing enough to the other children that after 5 weeks, that suggested we leave and come back in January and "try again". I worry A LOT, but I try to tell myself he's just a normal little boy and this will all go away. We all want the best for our children. We all want them to be the best they can be. So for now, we're working on it. Other than that he got a clean bill of health!

David was not thrilled when I tried to take a picture of him in this sweater that my mom made for Peter when he was the same age. It looks very cute on him and is getting cold enough lately to wear wool sweaters. You can notice that David is starting to get a wee tiny bit of hair on that bald head of his. No more cue ball for him :-)

Ok, this one is a bit better.
David is finally getting to be as big into books as Peter is. He loves being read to! We don't have his attention for a long time, but we can get in a few quickie books. Paul was reading to both boys the other day. And notice our new coffee coloured walls!!! After three long years of living here with the white walls, we finally joined the rest of the coloured world out there. We're totally enjoying it, it makes such a big difference in the house. Now we're on a search for new curtains for our huge window . . .




And last, but definitely not least, is our new front door. Paul has commented that the boys need only take a poop (he used more expletive language, of course) to get their faces plastered on this blog, yet he works round the clock in the cold weather installing new front and back doors and no mention is made of it on the crafty mom's blog. I explained it's "a crafty mom's" blog, not a "handy husband's" blog. Nonetheless, here is our new and expertly-installed front door, courtesy of the crafty mom's husband :-)

I will post more pictures when the frame and trim is up, and I'll include the back door then too. I couldn't get a good picture of it lately b/c it's been dark and rainy for days.

Check out this chair

David received the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Musical Chair for his birthday from his granny. He loves it. He plays with it all the time - it's so cute. He can sit and flip through the book, listen to music, turn on the lamp. He loves to start grooving to the music when he turns it on. It was a cool gift. Yes, I know about the recall.


My cousin Brenda (my mother's first cousin, actually) came to visit the boys last weekend. She hadn't seen David since he was a wee little thing so she had a great time catching up with them.

The boys aren't really new to wheelchairs so they got a big kick out of her chair. Pete tried to push her around the living room!

The boys dive into some leftover chips from the birthday party. ~~~SIGH~~~
Why can't they *dive* into a big bowl of carrots?????

The monster and the pumpkin

I'm a little late with the Halloween pictures because I've had a bad cold this week and my head's been a little "foggy"! (As if it isn't all the time!). We had a rough start to Halloween, two crying kids who didn't want to put costumes on. After a lengthy explanation to Pete, that, YES, you have to wear the costume to each house to trick or treat, he got the picture. No costume, no candy. And for a guy who thrives on sweets like his mommy does, he knew what he had to do.

Thankfully after some pretty nasty cold, wet weather, the skies cleared and we had a mild 10 degree (Celsius for you non-metrics) night for trick or treating. Pete was so funny, at every house he said "trick or treating" no matter how many times we explained that he was to drop the "ing" at the end and just say "trick or treat". Must of worked high on the cute factor, our neighbours were throwing candy at the kid.

But first things first. Daddy was not coming home from work as early as planned so we had to do a quickie job of carving the pumpkin ourselves.

Pete *helps*. . .

The finished project. Don't laugh, it seriously only took me five minutes. I'll set my goals a little higher next year ;-)

Our little pumpkin's first Halloween as a trick or treater:

And the big scary monster. Pete told everyone, quite willingly, that his mommy got his costumer off the internet. Yeppers, this is an e-bay special - $3.00 . . .well, plus shipping.

Hey look what I got!

Too cute for words . . .

I'm pretty sure David is eyeing Pete's sucker with real envy . . .

Video - a neck breaker!

I took this stupid video sideways - sorry!!!! Here's David after he opened his presents:

Happy First Birthday David!

Whew. I'm exhausted. Planning and pulling off a party - even a small one - is a lot of work. Clean house, have food ready, pick up helium balloons, pick up food tray, decorate house, have costumes ready - YIKES! Thankfully it's over and was a great success. And my little baby is one now - I can hardly believe it. 12 mere months ago I gave birth to David!!! Being so close to Halloween we had a costume theme party. A lot of the photos I got were after some kids took their costumes off. But they all looked super adorable. Pete - being a typical two year old, decided to assert his independence today by not wearing his monster costume. I guess he's saving it for the big day . . .

Anyway, thanks to friends and family who came to our party and especially for the wonderful birthday presents. A huge thanks to my cousin Stacey who made David's great birthday cake! I ordered a fantastic deli and meat tray from a nearby bagel shop - it was delicious and I think everyone loved it. For once I had enough food and not too little and not too much! The little tikes ate grilled cheese sandwiches - YUM!!!!

Here's my little pumpkin David and mommy the witch.
Samantha takes a break from the festivities to play . . .

Here's her brother Ryan who is 6 weeks younger than David but who has significantly more hair!
Nicholas takes a good look at David's toys . . .

Stacey's daughter Emily enjoys lunch . . .

And her puppy dog brother Michael digs grilled cheese too!

Cousin Stephanie holds David for a bit before lunch!

Taylor has a nice snack - what a little lady!

Here's the yummy spooky cake!

"There's no way she's gonna see me sneak a taste of this orange stuff . . . "

"What's goin' on? Is something big going to happen next?"

"Wow! This is really fun and everyone's singing to me!!!"

"I've got to get me some more of that stuff they call cake!"
Pete thought this was the best part of the party.

"Hey, first cake, now presents - this really *is* cool!"

"What does this thing do . . . ?"

Luckily the older guys helped David open his gifts! He wasn't into the whole wrapping paper thing quite yet - maybe Christmas!