christmas 2011

Christmas 2011 was a success! While I wish I had more pictures....I was trying to enjoy the moment and not be stuck behind the camera. Liv had a blast. She was so excited with everything she opened and all of the parties we went to. She is exhausted and her and I are having a relaxing day today. Well, she is...I am cleaning the up after the hurricane that destroyed our apartment. It is a disaster.

Some Christmas highlights:
- Skating! We did a lot of ice skating. We even did a little sledding. Liv isn't currently ready to play in the NHL, but give her a few years ;).

-Christmas Eve was spent at Great Grandma Doreen's house. It's the tradition and we had appetizers and opened gifts, all while enjoying each other's company.

-Christmas morning we had a big breakfast here: including red velvet pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, hashbrowns, cinnamon rolls, and of course some mimosas and coffee with bailey's. It was perfect and hopefully can be the new tradition!

-Christmas Day we had a nap, did some more skating, and then headed over to Grandma Carolyn's for food, drinks and visiting. Also, another tradition and is great to see everyone.

-Boxing day Pat took liv to the Mac's midget tournament, she was so excited. She had her new backpack from santa stuffed with stuff to do and snacks and headed out for 4 hours of hockey excitement. I did a little boxing day shopping and we had a nap together when they got home and headed over to Auntie Donna's for a "cousin's get together". This is another place that we look forward to because we get to see family we don't see very often.

Needless to say, all of us our exhausted. Liv had a few naps where I thought she would have slept all night if I let her and she did not want to wake up. Poor girl. I think she would agree though that it was worth it :).

and onto the pictures!

at GG Doreen's opening some gifts.

wondering what to do with this? (she got a leap pad for xmas :)

playing us some christmas tunes, Thanks auntie Dani for the dress!

christmas morning!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas 2011!!!

sleep

We've had a little improvement in the sleep department.

Here's a re-cap of our sleeping timeline:
-moved into our new apartment early October.
-didn't bring the crib, so straight to the toddler bed.
-went home for 3 week, where liv slept in a pack and play
-came back and liv had a month of doing well at bedtime, sleeping all night in her bed.
-then came huge tantrums at bedtime which had me sitting on her floor until she fell asleep.
-got the tantrums under control and not sitting on the floor, but have to keep her door open.
-but now we are having issues with liv getting up randomly to come into our bed in the middle of the night.


Letting Liv sleep with us would be the easy thing, but honestly...none of us sleep well. Multiple wake-ups occur and coaxing ensues to get her back to sleep. So, last night at 1:30am I  was woken up by Liv, took a deep breath and pulled myself out of bed to put her back in her room. It was unpleasant but it worked. She came back in my room around 6:10am, but slept soundly with me until 7:20. I consider it a success!

The main thing for Liv right now is having her door open. It's not necessarily a problem if it's just us in the apartment, which usually it is...but obviously if something else was going on, i.e. setting up for xmas morning, it might become one.

If Liv wakes up and her door is closed, she gets up and cries to tell me she wants it open...once I get the waking up thing under control I might attempt to close it once she's sleeping again. Baby steps. I originally tried to fight her freak-outs and do a little nanny 911, which is basically telling her its bedtime once and after that, just putting her back in her bed with no words. Well, that escalated the situation to a point where she was SO upset I thought she'd throw up. It also lasted 2 + hours. I'm not willing to do that every night, so we are taking the baby step approach. So far it's working and I can only hope that if I'm consistent with putting her back in her bed that she'll eventually stop coming in our room.

My friend, Krysta, asked me to post about our sleep situation. It's definitely not perfect, but for now it's working and will ::fingers crossed:: keep evolving.

a month

With the anticipation of Pat finallyyy coming home today, today being a day short of him being gone for a month, I kept Liv and I busy. We did errands all morning, she got to visit with her gaga carolyn and auntie leslie and uncle ryan and baby jax, then we went home for a nap. She napped and weirdly enough I was excited enough to clean the house and do some laundry.

Then came the dreaded "I can't come home until tomorrow" call. So, now I can say "pat has been gone for a month", because tomorrow marks a month. I know how odd it sounds that my husband has been gone for a month, but thats the life we live. Its not often, but it can happen. We deal. I deal with extra glasses of wine at the end of the night/early evening, but deal I do.

While on our errand run today I got Liv some princess body wash an a cinderella loofa, Liv refers to it as a "foofa". Even though it wasn't bath night, we indulged ourselves. She polished herself clean with her "foofa" and extra squirts of princess body wash (which obviously makes you more princess-like) and practiced our back floats and front floats from swim class. I have to say that if swim class does anything for Liv, it will probably allow me to wash her hair like a normal human being in the bath tub! She is over her bath hating phase now...the fight continues to drag her out of the tub.

bath time baby.

back float!

Thank you swim class!

cinderella foofa!

baby bum

"takin' a break mama"

the girls of the hour.

happy after her bath.

princess pose.

can't forget about my other princess :)

ohhh lily ha!

poop strike

Potty training is going fairly well. Liv can wear panties all day and doesn't pee her pants. However, pooping is a whole other story. She continues to poop her pants, even with constant reminders.

So anyways, the other day she pooped her pants twice. I was livid after the second time. I try to talk to her and say "liv you can't poop in your panties, you need to tell mommy when you have to poop so you can poop in the potty". The second time though...I lost it. She went in time out, she got in big trouble. She knew mama was mad.

What does a two year old who won't poop in the potty do when she gets in trouble for pooping in her pants?? Goes on a poop strike thats what!

Liv is quite...regular. So 2 days with no poop was a bit of a concern for me. I knew what she was doing. So tonight she kept going into the bathroom and shutting the door. I would go in and she would come out. Then finally I heard her mumbling something about pooping. I followed her and said "liv do you have to go poop?". She said yes and she wanted to sit on the big potty (she only does this when she poops). And she did! She got down and said "whoa mom, thats a big poop!". Seriously, so proud.

I'll disregard the fact that she didn't exactly finish in the potty and I ended up cleaning undies anyways, but its the fact that she tried. Go Liv!

life lately

Life has been interesting lately. Poor Pat has been out of town for about 3 weeks. He came home on Tuesday for about 10 hours, but then was called back out of town. So, by interesting I mean stressful.

Liv decided that when Pat left she would be waking up and coming into my room. Of course the night Pat was home she slept all night in her room...so I'm hoping that her little habit is due to little disruption in her life. Obviously to her, its not such a little disruption.

I did do some Christmas Shopping this week, which is a relief. I hadn't done any. I don't want to go overboard, so I'd say I'm almost finished. Just a few more things here and there. Speaking of Christmas, I'm thinking Liv is going to have a repeat of her performance last year when it comes to sitting on Santa's lap. Which will include an all out tantrum...I fear for Santa's safety.

I've been a little off lately. Life has just been weird around here without Pat around. That is what I'm blaming this on...a little story. So, I bought a winter jacket from value village. I had tried it on and when I brought it home I washed it immediately. When I took it out of the dryer I tried it on again...and I realized the zipper was broken! I looked for the bottom piece and couldn't find it anywhere. I was mad at myself, but figured since I only paid $13 for the jacket, I could afford to get it fixed. The next day I brought it to the seamstress down the hill. Fast forward to today when I went to pick it up. Let's just say it was free. Free because the zipper was intact, it was a double zipper and the top part was up by the top and I guess I just....well, I overlooked it? It was a wee bit embarrassing.

With that little life update, I'll leave you with some pictures...

a re-decorated with some re-painted vintage platters.

a little holiday doily banner via Mandy's blog

new wall decal in liv's room

re-painted vintage frame with adhesive chalkboard (easiest thing ever!)

liv's updated picture wall...it's coming along

and liv and her new obsession, which includes filling bags up with toys and toting them around. This always results in a mess, of course.

antagonizing lily

the only good pic I have of my other re-decorated wall.

spinning.

whoa.

a little wind in the hair.

some turkey noodle soup from leftover turkey...we had thanksgiving dinner at our place, but of course I failed to get any pictures. Pat has been asking for this, so I obliged. Here is the recipe. I omitted the celery, because cooked celery is moogy and grosses me out. I also thought the addition of soy sauce was odd, but it tastes good!

judge me

Do you ever feel like you are being judged?

For example, if I'm out in public, I feel overly aware of how I'm reacting to Liv. Such as, she's throwing a tantrum on the floor, do I do what I want to do, which is walk away from her and leave her there (in the aisle, not the store...obviously) or will people look at me and think "well she could have handled that a bit better".

Its not so much that I care what people think, because I know I'm a good mom, but it angers me that someone thinks they could do a better job. Especially if you aren't a mom or dad. If you have never woke up in the middle of the night (multiple times), been pee'd and pooped on, rocked and cradled a baby, watched them grow and learn, loved someone so much that you couldn't live without them, If you have never been the most important person in the world to someone, someone that calls you mama (or dada) and is the most loveable, frustrating and beautiful person you'll ever know...then shut it.

Please, go be the best parent you can be, when you are a parent...I'm sure you'll be better than the rest of us. If only we could take a peek into our future and see all the things that we thought mattered that didn't matter much at all in the end.

I'll never look at a child again and think "well her mother didn't put much thought into what her child was wearing" or "poor kids, her mom didn't wash her face", because now I think "It's amazing that she got the child out of the house, through the grocery store and the child is still smiling". Being a parent really changes your perspective on things.

xmas pictures

Liv and I had a photo shoot today. We haven't had once since she was a year old (with just us), and I know why now. I had to use bribery...usually my dancing, voice, funny faces work. Oh well, candy is much more exciting these days.

I took the pictures in my room, thinking the window would be enough light...it wasn't, so I broke out the 'ol light scoop. It actually worked out really well. I was surprised. I did a little editing, but then sent them on over to the master (Dani). Not quite sure what we will do with them. They are christmas inspired, so I think Dani will create us a christmas card. If you want to check out my sister's work, you can go to her website: Tutte Belle Photography. Pictures of Liv are scattered all over :).

Here's our photoshoot.

edited by Dani

couldn't forget Lily

edited by Dani

Extracurricular

Liv is quite the busy bee lately. She has been in dance class for a few months now. Her Grandma Carolyn brings her. It's once a week, and It started off a little rocky because what two year old likes to be told what to do, but it's getting better. Liv really enjoys it. She loves music and dancing so it's right up her alley.

Liv has really gotten into swimming lately too. Pat and Carolyn have both brought her swimming a handful of times and Liv says "I a mermaid now". So this Monday I signed her up for a parent & tot swim. Liv was a bit weary about it at first. We spent a lot of time in water that was over her head, but I think just like dance, she will get more comfortable as time goes.

I think its important to introduce your children to as many activities as you can. Whether it be organized or simply in your backyard. I enjoy liv being in an organized setting because, as of now, she is at home with me every day. So, its good for her to be around other kids and to follow directions given by someone other than her mom.

My parents put me in every activity imaginable. I was in ballet, jazz, hip hop (thats a story for another time, it involves daisy dukes and wedgie picking), gymnastics, softball...the list goes on. My mom was really rooting for gymnastics because she was a gymnast. Sadly though, It was not our forte.

Along came Fifth Grade and basketball. I started and never looked back. Track was also a favorite of mine. I played throughout Grade School, Middle School, and High School. I don't have a preference of what Liv does, but in my experience, sports kept me focused and on a good path. I wasn't a drinker, never went to parties, and I can only hope that my daughter takes after me a little bit.

I get teased because I was sort of a geek, seeing I didn't have a drink of alcohol until I was 18, but having a daughter now...I want that for her. Don't get me wrong, I had my fun in college...maybe too much at times, but I want my daughter to hold onto her childhood as long as possible.

So. Whether it be dance, choir, drama, team sports, individual sports, chess, or god forbid hockey (pat is crossing his fingers), I just want her to find something she loves and throw her heart into it.

Who knows, maybe she'll be a model? ;) Your future is bright my dear.

sunday update

Ashley left today. For those of you who don't know Ashley, she has been one of my best friends since middle school. She met her fiance in the Sault (our hometown) and moved to Edmonton, which is 3 hours North of Calgary. Isn't it ironic that she met a good 'ol Canadian boy and moved to Canada also?

Lucky me though, because she just spent 4 days with us! We had fun. A lot of mellow "old lady" fun, but thats our style. We did some crafting, thrifting, cooking, and visiting....lots of visiting. 

My sister told me today that my mom called her and said "Did you know that Ashley and Desi spent their Saturday night crafting?". You know it's bad when your mom is making fun of you :). I assure you we had some wine with our crafts, because if anything is better than crafting, it's crafting when you are drinking wine.

We did have one small glitch in our Saturday night though. Her name is Liv. It took me 2 hours to put her to bed. I'm not sure what was up with her, but it was a struggle. She usually stays in her bed when I put her there and doesn't come out. Not last night though, she was on her worst bedtime behavior for Ashley. She tried to pull it on me again tonight but I nipped it in the bud right away. 

I'll be flying solo this week with Liv because Pat had to go out of town for work and will be gone for around a week. Not exactly sure how long yet. My goal is to keep us busy. I'm going to try to sign Liv up for swim class tomorrow so that should start our week off right.

Our last activity with Ashley was the coldest walk I've been on in a long time...but I have some pictures to share. I'll call this compilation: Liv and Lily, a Love/Hate Relationship.