3-Year Old Portraits

We got Darcy's pictures taken last night in celebration of her 3rd birthday. She was really distracted by all the camera equipment and the toys that were in the studio to really focus on getting her picture taken. It was really hard to get her to sit still and look at the camera.

I wasn't thrilled with the choices we had, but I think we got three good pictures. What do you think?

For comparison's sake, here is one of her two-year portraits.

Thanks!

I just want to say thank you to the genius who called our house this morning at 3:30. It's important to make phone calls at that time of day. No one has anything important to do, you know, like SLEEP! It's really thoughtful. It's especially great if one of the recipients of that phone call is pregnant and has trouble falling asleep anyway, because then you know for sure she's not going to and she'll be useless the whole next day. Thanks a lot!

I'm so exhausted! I really feel like I'm barely functioning today.

Because Nick has been away for several days we decided that we'd go out for lunch together today. There's a Chinese place near our house that we've been meaning to try all four years we've lived in our house. So we walked down there to discover they're only open for supper. Excellent. So we went to the little breakfast place next door. We've been there a few times, but I wouldn't call us regulars. Yet when the waitress came over to us she said, "Hey, where's your little girl?" Apparently that's our claim to fame: parents of the cute kid. Could be worse, I guess!

Monday Morning Recap

Well, Nick is back from Bermuda and his parents are back in Montreal. Life is back to normal for a few days, until we leave for our vacation on Thursday. We can't wait!

Nick apparently had a great time, judging by the pictures, the sunburn and the few minutes we were able to spend together this morning. He arrived home around 5:20 a.m. so Darcy and I weren't waiting for him at the door, to say the least! We'll get all the details tonight at supper. We did have time to get presents though, and Darcy even had enough time to break one of hers already. Nick bought her a really cute little dolphin and turtle beaded necklace and bracelet set. She loved it. The bracelet has already fallen apart though. We think we've got most, if not all of the beads and we should be able to fix it. She was broken-hearted over breaking it, so I really hope we can.

She had a rough day on Saturday. It started with falling out of bed. Grandmaman went to get her out of bed and Darcy, in her excitement, managed to take a tumble while getting out. She recovered pretty quickly. Over the course of the day she got new play sandals which she then wore to the mall to get her haircut. While walking back through the mall she fell again. She banged up her mouth pretty well. There's a mark on the outside of her lip and her gum was bleeding. I thought there might be damage to the tooth, but it's not loose and there's no discolouration. She managed to eat corn on the cob that night at supper without flinching, so I think she's OK. Grandmaman and Papa had just bought popsicles, so we opened one of those to help fight off any swelling and to soothe her a little. Seemed to work like a charm.

She also went for a little walk with Grandmaman before supper on Saturday night. She fell again and scraped up her knee. She didn't cry over that one, but needed a bandaid when she got home. So she's still got the mark on her lip and the scraped up knee. Did I mention we've got her 3-year old portraits booked for tomorrow night? At least she'll look like a normal, active 3-year old. I hope her dress is long enough to cover the knee. I think the mouth will be OK.

We have a Vietnamese congregation that meets in our church on Sunday afternoons. Yesterday they had a lunch that they wanted to share with members of our congregation too. Yummy! I had a noodle dish that was absolutely amazing. I realized afterwards that I hadn't found out the name of the dish, so if I'm ever given the chance to eat it again I won't know how to identifiy it. Anyway, it was amazing. Darcy wasn't a fan of the noodles.

That's about it for now.

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If you're interested in seeing some recent pictures of Darcy, check out my in-laws Flickr page for some of the ones they took on their trip here.

Slow Week

There hasn't been much to report on this week. It's been really busy, but nothing interesting enough to write about!

Nick is in Bermuda, the slacker. One thing that gives me comfort is the fact that it is currently 31 degrees in Windsor and 20 in Bermuda. Ha ha.

Of course, it is 31 degrees and I've had a space heater on in my office most of the day. That's what I get for wearing capris.

Darcy and I are at home, expecting his parents back tonight on their way home from Chicago. A few bonus days with Grandmaman and Papa before we head to Montreal next week!

Great Weekend!

Here it is, Tuesday morning after the long weekend. We had a great time!

We spent Friday night with our best friends. That doesn't sound like much, but we've all been so busy lately that we haven't spent any serious time together for over a month. It was long overdue!

Nick's parents arrived on Saturday evening, so we had a great visit with them for the rest of the weekend. We did some shopping (I got great new sandals and a pair of brown heels for $16 on clearance!). Gigi and I stayed so long at the Shoe Company that they needed to unlock the doors for us to get out. Good deals though.

In addition to some shopping we also spent a lot of time yesterday at Colasanti's, one of our favourite local sites. Nick had worked all night so we cleared out of the house to let him sleep. Darcy and I rode the caterpillar ride, we all went in the petting zoo, we looked for a lilac tree for my backyard and we had a great lunch. Darcy liked most of the petting zoo but was not a fan of the goats. While she and Papa were crouched down looking at some bunnies, some goats tried to say hello to them. The goats started climbing on them (Papa's pants have a hoof print to show for it!) and Darcy started to scream! In Papa's haste to get her up and away from the goat he nearly fell over backwards! We finally got her away from all the goats and calm enough to pet one of the deer. She also loved all the roosters. She looked and one and said, "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" He looked right at her and said it back. She was thrilled. I wasn't thrilled with the snakes, but what can you do? They were in glass cabinets.

There are some great pictures on Papa's camera so unfortunately you'll have to wait until they get back to Montreal next weekend to see them. Trust me, the one of her eating a hamburger as big as her face is worth the wait!

Grandmaman and Papa left this morning for Chicago. They'll spend a few days there and then a couple more days with us on the way home while slacker Nick is in Bermuda.

Happy birthday Papa!

It Happened

The moment I've been fearing has happened. This was Darcy's suggestion tonight at supper,

"I think my new sister should be named Dora. Like the Dora the Explorer."

Well, it's a good thing you don't get a vote!

Then after supper she got to eat some more Easter chocolate. She got so much of it she's still eating it on May 17th. She's working on the last one now, a Dora the Explorer from my parents. I broke off a piece for her and it happened to be Dora's face. She ate it happily, but when she was done she looked at the box and said, "I'm sorry, Dora. I just ate your face."

Blech

It was 31 degrees earlier in the week. The last couple of days have been miserable. It is currently 10 degrees at 4:15, the warmest it has been all day. It also can't decide if it wants to rain or not. It's just miserable.

As a result of the raininess, or constant threat of rain, the concrete has not yet been poured on our new driveway. It's looking good for tomorrow.

Also, I've been working at my job for 10 years. My office has been in the same hallway the whole time. You'd think I'd be familiar with it. Oh no. On a routine (very routine) trip to the bathroom I just walked straight into a wall! I nearly broke my wrist.

To top it off, Nick is confused about what day it is because of his shift work. He just told Darcy that we're going to our friends' house tonight for dinner. We are invited to their house on Friday. Now Darcy is all excited about going, and we're not going anywhere. Hopefully we can distract her from that.

A wonderful rainy Thursday afternoon.

Memory

We knew yesterday was going to be warm so when Nick got Darcy dressed yesterday he got out a t-shirt from last summer.

As soon as Darcy saw it she said, "I wore that shirt to the park with Grandmaman and Papa when we played in the water. I got really wet and they took my clothes off. Then they wrapped me in a towel."

This event happened nearly one year ago! We went to Montreal in July last summer just after Darcy had turned two. There is a park near Grandmaman and Papa's house which has a little splash pad for kids to play in. Darcy loves it. I just didn't expect her to be able to recall so many details about an event that happened such a long time ago, right down to the shirt she had worn. She even rememebered that the towel she had been wrapped in was green! Nick asked her who carried her home from the park and she said she went in the stroller. Also true. Amazing.

Mommy Day

We had a great Mommy Day at our house yesterday. It started off with breakfast in bed, which was quickly followed by the following questions,

"Mommy, can I have a bite of your apple?"
"Mommy, can I have a bite of your toast?"

You get the picture. Nick took her downstairs for her own breakfast so I could at least have some leftover for myself. I also got a beautiful potted daisy plant. It was in the kitchen on Saturday but I was told I didn't see it.

Then we went to church, which I had to lead, so it was pretty stressful, but everything went really well so I was pleased. Home for a quick lunch and then some good naps for the girls. We went out for supper to Kelsey's. Darcy was starting to get cranky by this time. I don't think she was used to having someone else be the centre of attention for that long. She did ask when Darcy's Day was going to be. She and Nick went to bed at 8:00 (Nick's on midnights right now), so I had a couple of hours to relax on my own. Had a good chat on the phone with Lynette and then watched A Mighty Wind on TV. I love how that movie can still make me laugh out loud even after countless viewings. Note to self: must check for For Your Consideration at the library.

All in all a great day. Today we've got concrete guys starting on our new driveway. I'm pretty excited about that. Our focus this spring is on the front of the house. The new steps are done, now the driveway. It should look great when it's all done.

Happy Mother's Day to all the other Mommies out there.

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I forgot to mention that I was also given a gift certificate to the Shoe Company to get myself some much-needed new sandals. Thanks Nick & Darcy.

10,000

At some point this week I hit 10,000 hits on this blog. Wow! That's pretty cool.

Thanks to all 5 of my loyal readers who have visited 2,000 times each.

Pictures of the Weekend

I haven't had a lot of time to get the pictures uploaded. Darcy and I are at home today because she's sick (ear infection) so I finally got them done this morning. Here are some of my favourites.

Darcy on the slide.

Playing on the seal.

Lynn with Laura and Lucas on the slide.

Walking home from the park. The girls did this on their own. How sweet!

Lynn brought a bag of some of Laura's old clothes for Darcy. Both of these hats were in there and she couldn't decide which one she liked better so she settled on both!

Demo on the old steps.

The finished new steps.

Gross!

Sometimes sharing a meal with a toddler can be the least appetizing experience one can encounter.

Take today's lunch for example. Darcy took the baloney off her sandwich, wrapped it around her cucumber slices and ate it that way.

Nasty.

Really Tired!

We had a wonderful weekend with my brother, sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew visiting. Exhausting, but great.

The kids just love being together so much (and the grown-ups don't mind it either). Darcy just loves Laura and wants to be a big girl just like her. Laura was still on our front steps on Friday night when Darcy stood right in front of her and asked, "Laura, how's school?" She kept asking her the same question repeatedly. Finally Laura looked at Lynn and said, "Why does she keep asking me that?" Funny stuff.

Nick and Steve worked incredibly hard most of Saturday to replace our rickety old front steps. We've now got a sturdy set of great looking stairs to welcome you to our home, if you're ever in the neighbourhood! I'm so happy about that.

If you're looking for a fairly cheap, family-friendly place to have dinner with several kids with you, we'd highly recommend Pizza Hut. We got a family feast there for $40 which included 2 pizzas, a bowl of pasta, salad and garlic bread. Pretty sweet deal.

We went to a couple of different parks to let the kids play. Nick barbecued some delicious steaks on Sunday afternoon (the kids had hot dogs). Good times all around.

After everyone left last night, the three of us had a quiet family dinner (leftover Pizza Hut, of course). Halfway through dinner Darcy said, "Hey, look at that little fellow!" Her chair gives her a good view of the backyard so we both turned expecting to see a squirrel or a bird in the backyard. There was nothing there. We asked her what she meant and she said, "Right there, on the pretend TV." Hey! I thought we had a no TV at dinner time rule.

We've got lots of pictures from the weekend but we didn't get them uploaded last night. Maybe tonight.

My Little Girl is Growing Up...

One of the first songs Darcy learned to sing was Cookie Monster's "C is for Cookie". She loves to sing that song. As a result of that, C was the first letter she learned to recognize on sight.

Lately she's been trying to figure out what other words start with C, especially things she likes to eat. She likes that she can also make the letter C out of cucumber slices, just like a cookie.

But to show how her tastes are maturing, we were walking through the grocery store last night and I heard a little song rising up beside me...

"C is for chocolate, that's good enough for me!"

Note to Lynn: It doesn't matter what I think, there's no way that child is going to bed tonight before Laura gets here so I don't think I'm going to fight it!

What I Found on Facebook

Nick posted his thoughts on Facebook here today. I've also been enjoying finding people from my past. It's a pretty cool site.

I decided today to check out another high school in Cambridge today to see if any of the kids I went to grade school with had signed up there for our graduating year. This is what I learned...

People who graduated high school the same year I did are old!!!!

Another Great Day

Darcy had another accident-free day at the babysitter's yesterday so we stopped at the library on the way home. They've got a great area there for kids to play so I let her go nuts for half an hour. She was the only kid there, so she had the run of the place.

She included some of you in her play time, so I thought I'd let you know. There were coloured blocks there so she set one out for Laura, Lucas, Uncle Steve, Auntie Lynn and Laura's Marc. She's so interestd in the fact that she and Laura both have Uncle Marc's, but that they're not the same guy.

Then when she was playing in the toy kitchen she heard the phone ring. The first time it was Daddy and she told him to come home from work and play. The next time it was Auntie Stef and the conversation went a little like this:

"Hi Auntie Stef, it's me, Darcy. Ummm, we're just playing at the library. Do you want to come over? You do? That's a great idea."

Then she hung up the phone and said it would ring again and it would be Uncle Eric. Then she got caught up doing something else and when we were leaving the library she said, "But Uncle Eric didn't call!" Maybe next time.

Potty Party

Well after a rough start yesterday, I ended up having a pretty great day.

We've been having a lot of problems yesterday with Darcy's potty training. At home, she's perfect, we haven't had an accident since March but at the babysitter's we've been having constant accidents. Well both Friday and Monday were accident-free!

I made a spontaneous decision last night to turn yesterday's success into an excuse for a party. We had hot dogs and french fries (some of her favourites) for supper, followed by ice cream sandwiches. Then she got to pick a favourite Dora episode to watch cuddled on the couch with Mommy. She loved it. She knew she had accomplished something big and was really proud of herself. We had a fantastic night.

I hope the positive reinforcement worked. She went to the babysitter's this morning excited about having another accident-free day. Today's reward will be a trip to the library where she can get three books and a DVD.

I hope we're on to something here...