A page from the book of Elle

On our way into the library the other day Elle was doing her usual 2 year old routine. Stopping to look at anything on the ground, playing in the melting snow with her boots, Stopping in the middle of the parking lot to look at some construction going on. As with most two year olds she is not concerned with moving very fast and has no sense of urgency. I on the other hand was holding Olivia in one arm; who is now by the way 19 pounds and wanting to also play in the puddles, and on my other arm was my oversized purse that overflows with spare diapers and wipes and all the other essentials that we mothers carry around in case of an emergency. (which by the way never happens until the one day we decide to leave it all at home because we won't need it!) Needless to say I was not as interested in all the seemingly fascinating things that were going on as we walked into the library.
I said something to the effect of "Elle let's get a move on, you can't just stop in the middle of the road there could be cars coming" That got her to look up at me as she made her scared face and shouted "Ahhhhh mommy cars, cars and ran to catch up. We finally made it to the sidewalk. We were approaching the doors... correction Olivia and I were approaching the doors. Elle was still lagging behind looking all around at some construction going on. Impatiently, I said something like "If you want to go to the library you need to hurry up, just stop looking all around and let's go." I turn back towards the doors and heard Elle say a few seconds later, "Mommy, I am not looking around anymore" I turn back around and see Elle walking with her hands covering her eyes, she is walking towards me without looking. I burst out laughing and attracted some attention from some people passing by. We both started laughing hysterically. For the rest of the day we went just as fast as Elle's legs would go! I think I will pack the stroller next time!
From the Olivia page: She began crawling on Jaunary 16th. She has not stopped moving since. I forgot about all the things that Elle liked to get into when she started to crawl. For example my plant that Elle liked to have for a snack Olivia also enjoys as well! What a mess.

Lately

It never ceases to amaze me how fast babies grow up. Olivia is sitting up and can now eat with us at mealtimes instead of watching us in awe.


So far her favorite meal has been broccoli mixed with sweet potato. She laughs and giggles and loves attention from her big sister who, to her is the funniest person on the planet.. She is getting to be less and less of a mommy's girl and by that I mean she will actually let other people hold her without mom being right beside her.

She just made it through the arrival of her first 2 little bottom teeth. I can't speak for her but I know I almost didn't survive it! Elle is such a chatterbox these days she loves talking on the phone and asking me lots of questions to which she usually already knows the answers.


She is very dramatic and can change her expressions from happy to sad at the drop of a hat. Usually when she is sad or upset you can just ask to see her happy face and it will automaticaly appear! Curtis continues to be very busy at work and I have now gotten into a normal weekly routine with the Day-home. I have been able to reserve most Mondays and Tuesdays just for me and my girls apart from the kids we have before and after school. This is so great because it gives us time for appointments and grocery shopping and some one on one time with Mommy. I am back at my piano lessons once a week and enjoying it. It is a challenge some weeks to find the time for practice but I am managing so far. I am no longer a teacher in Young Womens. I am still the ward camp director and I was called as the Personal progress specialist, which means I help the girls get all their goals checked off and i'm in charge of planning two big events a year, one of which is coming up in less than a month, "In Excellence" where we celebrate the girls who have moved out of the YW program. There is certainly never a dull moment around here and always something to keep me busy that's for sure. I have added pictures of what we have been up to over the past few months. Curtis,Olivia and I travelled to Las Vegas for my brother Nathan's wedding.

It was soooo hot in fact 10 degrees hotter than normal for September there, so we roasted. Elle stayed home with her Nana which was very fun and exciting for her. We also visited the Calgary Corn maze, had a cabin trip in there and caught Olivia enjoying her first foods. Other than that just some fun family time at home together.

Growing like weeds

My little girls are getting bigger by the day.



It reminds me to enjoy every moment and not get too annoyed when Elle finds her way to my bed in the middle of the night. She's not going to want to snuggle with her mom forever!



Olivia is soon going to be less dependant on me as well.



2 more months and we get to start the fun of solid foods. Her daddy has let her suck on a couple of different fruits and she liked it way too much so we won't try that again until she is old enough to really enjoy it.



We had an awesome photo shoot with our photographer and I can't believe how much smaller both girls look in these photos from just a couple months ago.

A day with my Girls!

There are only a few more weeks until School starts and when it does I am back in full swing with the Day-home. I will not have Mondays and Fridays off anymore. I have been trying to make the best of this time I have that's just for Olivia, Elle and I during the week. Today we had a really great day in the sunshine. We went down to Prince's Island Park and saw the ducks and geese and the WAWER(water)as Elle calls it.



We walked over to Eau Clair Market and Elle loved playing in the water pools with the sprayers and on the playground there. We didn't bring her swimsuit so she just jumped in fully clothed.





We had lunch inside and there is a really big and fun playground inside by the food court which Elle had a blast on. I can't wait for Olivia to be old enough to play with her big sister, I think that will be so fun to watch.





Our drive home was long with stops for diaper changes and consoling for Olivia who had a sore tummy. We don't have any plans to go anywhere for the long weekend which will be a change for us. There is a Fringe Festival and some other things that are going on this weekend for Heritage Day, so I am sure we will have fun at home. Curtis has been working like crazy for the past 3 weeks with the hail storm that we had in Calgary. There have been lots of late nights and weekends at work so we are happy to have him all to ourselves for three whole days.