I realized I haven't gotten the photos off my iPhone in eons!!
The boys at lunch at St Laurent.
Let me out!
The day before their first birthday.
I think this bunny lives in our lawn.
I will SCHMOOSH my face through this screen if you don't LET US OUT!!
My favourite colours are green AND blue!
Feeding the ducks
I've been wanting to have a garden for years. I talk about it and never do it. This year, I was determined. I picked this little area in our backyard (oooh, sad fence, you will be dealt with another year)
Really, that was way too big. I dug out a part of it. Yes, that's the pile of grass I dug up, I haven't even moved it yet. one step at a time, right?
The bonus here is that I have a keen little helper who is out there watering daily!
These three whole cucumber plants. You're impressed, I can tell!
But today I am going to go and buy some more soil, and some seeds, and a couple of tomato plants. I've decided the tomatoes are going to live in pots instead of going into the the ground. In the garden we are going to plant some carrots and maybe a pumpkin!!
Wish me luck!
I went to the Garden Centre yesterday afternoon and got some soil and some plants. I planted some strawberries, mini tomatoes and a red pepper plant. I also got two tomato plants to plant into pots. I'm also going to buy some seeds to plant some carrots and peas and I'm thinking there isn't enough room for a pumpkin. I think it looks better already!
Julie and Lynn took part in the wedding dress blog tour started by Shasher and I decided I needed to take part too!
My wedding dress was nothing like what I thought I would get. I imagined something with colour embroidered all through it, and definitely not strapless. But in the end this was the dress that felt right and I loved it. The biggest mistake I made was cheaping out on getting the dress hemmed. The woman I bought the dress for suggested I could wear slightly taller heels and a slightly larger crinoline and not have to hem the dress. I went for it and could barely sit down in that crinoline and my feet were killing me. Just have the dress hemmed ;)
On the other had, should Juliette want to wear it one day, there's lots of extra dress to hem off to get all the dirt and grass stains off since I never got around to having it dry cleaned. oops. :)
Our wedding was out at Eagle Creek in Dunrobin. I think they stopped doing weddings after this one trial year, although I'm not sure. We were married on September 10, 2005, right on the course and it was a perfect day in an incredibly picturesque spot. My great aunt gave me one of the best compliments when she said it was like one of the weddings you saw on tv!
Now, just as a quick aside... a co-worker's wife is a makeup artist. She offered to do my makeup and all my bridesmaids for free. We had no trial. She gave me blue eyeshadow and I felt bad saying I didn't like it. To this day, I can't believe I had blue eye shadow on at my wedding!!
This shows the details of the dress off a bit better. And how I calmed down a bit right before the ceremony ;)
This is my favourite photo of the day.
I never considered selling it, I just felt too attached to it (I AM a packrat, after all) so it is currently in my parents' cedar closet. My goal is to one day be thin enough again to wear it (I was pregnant with Kiernan within months of getting married) and maybe have one of those wedding dress/bridesmaid dress parties. That would make for a really great photo op!
What about you? I want to hear about your dresses! :)
Officially, I have two cousins. But really, I don't have any cousins. I never even met one of them, and the other I met once, when I was six. So... none to speak of really.
My kids have three cousins. And they're really lucky, because all six of the kids were born in just over 5 years, so they're all really close in age. And they love each other. And I love to watch them.
Roanen and Kiernan are only 8 months apart in age and I think they may always be the closest. I can't wait to watch and see.
The last few weeks have been some of the hardest I can recall. Not necessarily because things have been worse than they ever have but because I just haven't had the energy/ability to get through them well. We seem to have passed through (knock on wood) the worst of it as the plague has mostly left our house (mostly), so I'm hoping to get back on track.
Until then here is a photo I love from our trip to the Biodome this past weekend, despite that old and weird looking arm ;)
And here is a list of posts I haven't forgotten that I have to write:
- House update : wtf
- Behold the amazing playstructure
- The babies turn one!
I'll get them written eventually :)
He's the biggest, at least by his age, of all 3, but I think he may be the biggest softy.
He cuddles on a good day, but this past week, while he's been sick, he has given the strongest most intense hugs I may have ever felt. The kind of hug you love to give back and are in no hurry to ever let go of.
It's tulip time!
And check out week 5 of the ABC Challenge over at Kids in the Capital!
I love my kids every day, all the time. They love me every day, all the time. I always feel loved and appreciated - I never doubt how my family feels about me.
But I think it's nice to have these "assigned" days of honouring. A day when people are reminded to take the extra time to give moms a break and a give them a thank you. And I am exactly at the stage of mothering that needs a break and an extra thank you. The stage where mothering is amazing a million times a day, but also the stage where it is almost all encompassing with no room for anything else.
And a mother does need to have something else sometimes. And a mother needs to hear how appreciated they are.
All my momma friends out there, I hope you felt appreciated today and had the kind of day that made you happy.
I did :)
So apparently I suck at this challenge thing ;) I flossed every day, but I only made one loaf of the two I promised, I only unpacked 2 of the 5 boxes I promised, and I didn't even manage to blog on Sunday like I should have. Aie aie aie.
I do really like the voting on the sidebar for post of the week. So I'm revamping. I'm deciding none of you really cared about the 3 things anyways, but I will continue having a post of the week. I will write the post about the house this week, and you can vote for the newly updated poll on the sidebar that will be up for the next week.
I'm running out of ideas so I'm afraid old ideas that didn't get chosen in a given week will probably keep showing back up. But I will gladly take suggestions for posts in the comments. Please, suggest :)
With a year of being a twin mama almost under my belt I thought I'd try to come up with some advice and comments for twin mamas to be. Here's a list, all the other twin moms who read, please chime in in the comments with anything you think I missed :)
1. Get help for the early months. I had someone with me almost constantly for the first two months and I'm sure I couldn't have breastfed otherwise. Anyone who has twins without help (and with an older sibling at home!) astounds me. I barely was functional with all the help that I had.
2. Lower your expectations of cleanliness for your house. My house was never all that tidy to begin with so now it's borderline horrific. If you are a tidy person, you probably only just need to expect a bit of chaos ;)
3. Be ready to expect the unexpected. My plan of action changed constantly. From the idea of two babies sleeping in one crib (ha!) to separate cribs, to all of us sleeping in the living room, to buying a house so everyone could have their own room so I didn't have to sleep in the stairwell any more.... be ready to go with the flow and do what it takes to figure out what works.
4. Be ready to be a celebrity. People talk to you. People ask you inappropriate questions. And people tell you that you have your hands full. BOY do they tell you that you have your hands full a lot!
5. Take lots of pictures and try to write down lots of how things feel in the first couple of months. You likely won't remember them very well.
6. Mother's helpers are awesome. All you need is an extra set of hands. A teenager fits the bill perfectly.
7. Having a room that is baby proofed that you can dump the babies in once they are moving and know they are safe is a really nice thing to have. We didn't have room in the old house, but that's what our living room became in the new house. If you have a room you can spare - do it.
8. It gets easier.
9. Watching your twins bond and play together from a much younger age than singletons do is a very special thing.
10. As slow as every day may feel in the beginning - time disappears in a flash. And suddenly you went from this:
to this:
and you can't believe it.
When I was a teenager I had a poster on the back of my door similar to the one below. In retrospect, I am relatively certain that I was probably more under the impression I *should* like having a poster like that on my door more than I actually enjoyed having it there. Ahhh Chippendales, was that a late 80s early 90s thing or just me and my friends? ;)
If I were a teenager right now, let me tell you, Edward, and even Jacob, would be adorning my walls. (I asked Eric if we could get a poster for our room but he said no. le sigh)
And I would really like a shirt like this one:
Because I'm totally a Twihard. I read the first book in a night and totally ignored my family to do it. When it was done, I started it over again. I've read the entire series at least 4 times. And I don't apologize for it - I love them.
I know there is a lot of criticism out there about the books because they create an unrealistic expectation of love and a normal relationship. At first I scoffed - really? People know this is fiction. But I do realize that some people throw themselves into a story a bit more than I do.
I have never thought "sigh... I wish *I* could be with someone like Edward". Because really, there are many reasons I would NOT want to be with Edward:
- He's way too intense
- He's all "I'm your protector" and stuff and that would drive me up the wall. Don't do things for my own good without telling me, give me a little more credit than that PLEASE. Or forbid me from doing something - I don't care how dangerous you think it is. You don't get to do that.
- His "I am going to kill myself if you die because I can't live in a world without you". Oh spare me the drama. That's exactly I would want in a mate, someone that was so dependent on me that they would kill themselves if I died. Except not at all.
Rinse and repeat over and over.
These are not really what I would consider good character traits for someone in a healthy relationship, at least not for me.
Their story caught me. I love to read about them. I can't even describe what it is about the story that I love so much other than that I really believe in Edward's love of Bella. But for all the girls out there who think they're going to find that, and be happy with it, I feel sorry. That's not what real life and love is about.
And I certainly hope that I will be able to teach Juliette that. You need to be happy loving yourself. You need to feel equal to your partner. Love is amazing, but it should never be your entire world.
Oh, and "don't date vampires"
"or werewolves"
(thanks to everyone who voted to have me write this post this week - it's been in my head for months. Don't forget to vote for what I write next week on the side bar!)
I give myself a 9/10 grade on my first week's challenge.
Granola bars - CHECK (they were good, but crumbly. They need hours to cool before you can cut in to them)
A week of green smoothies - I had one every day but yesterday and made up for it by having one today. They were good. They did not make me feel better, nor did they make my skin feel nicer, nor did I get any skinnier. I may continue to make them since they are healthy, but I'm far from sold or hooked on the green smoothie idea.
Empty 3 boxes - I'm emptied 2.5. I'm such a lazy ass. I will try to empty at least another half box before bed ;)
Poll - 17 votes, not bad. The Twilight post came out WAYYY ahead so I'll be writing that one this week. Keep your eyes open.
This week's challenge
- floss every day (I mean, I totally already do that)
- Bake 2 new kinds of bread in the break maker
- Empty 5 boxes
And check out the sidebar for a new vote for a post for next week!
We are less than 3 weeks away from the babies' first birthday and it's had me looking back on this crazy year a lot. Twins has been a crazy ride, one that I haven't had a lot of time to record as much as I wished I could have. So before they get any older I thought that I would try to put some of my thoughts on twin down on screen through a series of twin posts.
Part 1
Twins first or Twins second?
It seems almost a pointless question - nobody gets to choose if they are going to have twins during a first pregnancy or during a subsequent pregnancy, but it is a frequent topic of discussion: is it easier to have twins first or second?
There are arguments to both sides, of course. If you have twins first then you don't know any different. If you have twins first then you don't have any older children to try to wrangle and take care of as well.
My feeling is that having twins after a singleton is far easier. Because you have experience to draw on. All the things that made you nervous the first time around aren't quite so daunting the second time. To me, that made the world of difference.
We had particular circumstances with tummy issues that really made this the case though. If we hadn't been through Kiernan we wouldn't have known that milk and soy were issues for our kids. I can't even imagine how I would have survived if I had had two babies who were as needy as Kiernan. Because I knew to look for problems and try to avoid them, I went off dairy and soy before they were born and was at the doctor's for reflux medication before anything got out of control. Without that knowledge, since they DID have problems, life would have been almost unbearable.
Other things that I think went more easily because I had previous experience include breastfeeding, babywearing and my ability to cart them both around without fears of them being breakable.
We were lucky. We were able to keep Kiernan in full time daycare when the babies were born. I am sure our experience would have been somewhat different if that weren't the case. But nonetheless, I maintain that the experience from first time parenthood makes parenting multiples a bit easier than it would have been otherwise. There were countless times that Eric and I said "thank God we didn't have twins first"
Then again, my friend who had twins first says she constantly thought to herself "Oh my god, thank God I don't have an older child to deal with right now too!" So it's all perspective. :)
Lately a lot of days are hard. I'm tired. The babies are teething and up a lot at night and often won't easily go back down.
After a year, I just don't have the reserves to not be cranky the next day. I am longing for days, weeks, months... by myself.
But, there are so many joys at the same time:
- watching Juliette's hair turn this gorgeous shade of auburn and start to curl. Oh but she has pretty hair.
- watching Quinn figure things out. Everything is a mystery he is ready to try to solve.
- watching Kiernan develop his language skills and ability to interact with others as a kid instead of "baby". The stories and jokes that kid tells - hilarious!
- watching them play together, explore together, and enjoy each other.
- watching them learn and discover at every turn.
- the hugs, the kisses, and the love.
It's all so worth it. Imagine how much I would be enjoying it all with a few extra hours of a sleep a night!
We've gone through a bit of a scared phase. Suddenly we were too scared to go down slides and be pushed on swings. "Does that go fast? I don't like to go fast."
But a few weeks into park season and we're overcoming the fears.
There is just too much fun to be had!
"Now push me as high as the SKY!"
I've started a photo challenge over at Kids in the Capital and I like that I have a scheduled post with a scheduled topic once a week. So I'm starting a weekly post here, with a vaguer purpose but it will have a similar format every week.
I can't believe we are less than a month away from these babies turning one. Because seriously - woah!
That being said, we've come a long way!
Quinn
- now has 6 teeth cutting his 6th tooth on his 11 month birthday. He's well on his way to catching up to Juliette now in the teeth department
- can pull himself up in his crib (and gnaw on the sidebars - awesomeness) but can't get himself back down. this is a pain.
- crawls. like properly. like I've heard babies crawl. Kind of neat to see. And he's fast!
- Still a cuddler and a bit of a mama's boy - but way less so now that there's so much to see and do. He is on the verge of being able to stand on his own, but doesn't seem interested in walking even with us helping.
- loves to drink water
- Wearing clothing Kiernan wore when he was 2 - 2.5 years old
- dances by shaking his head back and forth like he's saying no. It's hilarious and must make him dizzy
- Will allow daddy to rock him to sleep (or me too. essentially, he does not NEED to nurse to sleep)
- likes to pull stuff down off shelves and rip down safety guards
- loves his stuffed bear
- LOVES the remote. but only the cable remote, not one that we don't care if he touches.
- points at everything
Juliette
- Can say maymay (that's mommy) and mmmmmo(more) and AH! AH! AH! (which means "look at me" or "yes!" or "I'm happy"
- loves to dance and does it whenever she is happy (when she sees mommy or daddy she immediately yells ah! ah! and then dances)
- will NOT allow anyone to rock her to sleep. Two options exist: nurse or scream to sleep (although there are the rare exceptions to this rule)
- still has 8 teeth
- pulls herself up on everything and gets back down by dropping (hard) to her bum. She isn't really walking along things but will pull herself up on toys that slide across the floor and push. Otherwise it's up and down and up and down with her army crawl between.
- is on the verge of standing on her own
- eats really well
- drinks water out of a sippy on her own
- loves to grab whatever her brother is holding
- likes to join Kiernan in whatever he is doing. Much to Kiernan's dismay
- likes to pull stuff down off shelves and rip down safety guards
Get us out of here!!
This is my brother Kiernan. He is fun to point at and/or harass by trying to take over what he is doing.
