Out With Dad

Yesterday Nialle took the day off of work to nurse a sore foot. It was a real treat for the kids to have dad around for the whole day and they decided to take him to C.H.I.P.S. (an indoor playground). We actually haven't been to CHIPS that often, but we should try to make it a habit because Liam just loves it and I find it's a fun excuse to get out of the house.

Liam really likes this motorbike...

...here Nialle is teaching Liam how to pedal. He can go backwards really well, but has yet to pedal forwards!

Liam demonstrates one of the many ways children strengthen their immune systems - by sucking on germ infested steering wheels.

Making me a batch of chocolate chip cookies. My kid knows me well!
Spinning in the saucer. Seeing him wobble around after he got out was pretty hilarious!

Whee!
There was lots for Ada to do as well...
She loves to play with balls!
She likes to goof off for the camera too!

Such a pretty little red head!

After CHIPS it was off to the library for some new books. The rest of my day was wonderful because Nialle helped me with the kids cooked a fabulous dinner: perhaps the best chicken I've had in quite some time - he cooked the spices under the skin! Along with the chicken was Nialle's famous twice baked potatoes stuffed with Berkshire bacon and cheese. Yum!

Who knew sick days could be so much fun?

Nialle also made me a great dinner on Saturday night. We had some Berkshire tenderloin in our freezer (a Christmas gift from my parents) that Nialle butterflied, stuffed and served with a Dijon reduction. Amazing. Here's the recipe for the Stuffed and Rolled Pork Tenderloin with Dijon Pan Jus.

Growing Triumphs and Pains

We haven't been up to much lately other than the regular routine, but, regardless, life just seems to be passing by at breakneck speed. Both kids are growing up before my eyes and seem to learn something new skill each day. There's new challenges to be had and with each challenge there is the opportunity for a new triumph.


Ada is developing at a ferocious rate. Since last Wednesday, she has learned to clap her hands and is now officially mobile, doing the commando crawl around the house. At 7 1/2 months she is even (heaven help me) trying to pull herself up. It just feels too sudden and too fast for her to be doing these things! Where's my baby girl going?

Here Ada proves that diamonds are a girl's best friend as she crawls for my ring.

Ada is also proving to be quite the party animal, preferring to socialize rather than take naps. Liam, at this age, had two naps a day lasting anywhere from 2 -3 hours. Ada, on the other hand, has only one nap a day that lasts 2 or 3 hours (yesterday her nap was only 1 1/2 hours long!!) This leaves me wondering if she might cut out her naps even earlier than Liam did. If that's the case, you can bet we won't be having any more kids for a long, long time. I'm exhausted from trying to keep up with the two I have.

Ada is now a seasoned pro at sitting up. Her favourite pastime is to sit in front of our toy bin, taking toys out one by one, looking them over and then tasting them before finally moving on to the next toy.

Here she looking pretty in the midst of the toys that have been strewn all over the floor.

I've wryly concluded that I would be a much better mother if Liam would only nap...and not get up before 7 in the morning. The combination of early risings and long days without naps can be miserable. Most mornings go well, but around 3pm, things kind of get crazy around here. At that time of the day, Liam frequently bursts into tears over the smallest of things and often becomes very defiant. More often than not, I find it hard to keep my cool and miss my opportunity to gently train Liam in a godly fashion.

Thankfully, I recently read a copy of Dr. Kevin Leman's book Bringing Up Kids Without Tearing Them Down which has really helped to calm things down around the house. It's given me some strategies to use with Liam so that we aren't constantly in a battle of wills. Dr. Leman is refreshingly practical and simple in his approach to child rearing and his book is one that I'm sure I'll read again and again.

Sometimes motherhood feels like a broken record because you're doing the same things day after day. Other days motherhood feels like a marathon race; you just hope to have the endurance to make it to the end. Some days you feel like a failure and other days like the best mom in the world. At any rate, I'm glad I have two snugamuffins like Liam and Ada and a great dad like Nialle along for the ride with me.

My Kinda Valentine

This Valentine's, I had to laugh at how much Nialle and I have changed since we have had kids. Back in the 'old days' we would have thought it a disappointment to stay home on Valentine's Day - as though we weren't having a meaningful celebration if we weren't out at some interesting restaurant.

But times have changed and, thankfully, so have our attitudes. Since I'm still nursing Ada and she's only had the bottle...um...three times (and I'm too much of a wimp to leave her), Nialle and I rarely get out alone these days. But, I'm a homebody by nature, so I really don't mind staying in. I think both Nialle and I are grateful for any uninterrupted time alone, no matter where it happens.

Needless to say, we decided to have supper at home this Valentine's Day and splurge a bit on some ingredients for a tasty dish. Both Nialle and I were excited for our "just for mommy and daddy meal". We made Liam a simple supper of eggs and toast and then put both kids to bed early. Nialle started on dinner, I lit some candles and then we sat down to our own romantic dinner without children.

You know, with the quiet house and the candlelit dinner, our meal reminded me of one we had before we were married. Nialle took me to a little place called Hemingways on 109 ave in Edmonton. The restaurant was an old house that had been converted into a restaurant. The whole place only had about 10 or 15 tables which made for a really cozy atmosphere. I remember the food being really great too...I think I had pork.

Nialle's a wonderful cook and this meal was just as good as the one at Hemingways. We had a pasta dish with roasted red peppers and onions topped with sausage and fresh parmesan cheese. Simple and delicious.

We had some of my mom's homemade herbed butter on a french roll.

Egads, can my mom make good butter!

The wine was really interesting, if not for the taste, but for the bottle. It had been made to look like an old dusty bottle from a pirate ship - very cool.

We don't get out as much as we used to, but having our special Valentine's dinner gave us the idea to try and make such a dinner a regular weekly occurance. Sort of like a mini-date night at home!

Morning:Noon:Night

Morning:Noon:Night

Catching Up...

Why not make yourself a cup of tea and visit for a while? I know that I've been neglecting the blog lately, so today is another "catch up" post where I try and relate everything that's been happening over the last month...

ADA

Ada is 7 months old and continues to blossom into a pretty little girl. She can sit up on her own now and is very interested in playing with all of her toys. I know I've mentioned this before, but this is one happy little girl! Ada has also started to learn new consonants (like the 'd' sound) and babbles happily to herself while she plays.

But don't let her cuteness fool you; this girl likes to get her own way. She lets out a horrific scream any time Liam takes one of her toys away and if you set her down on the floor when she'd rather be carried, she lets you know!

Ada is now onto fruits and vegetables. Her current favourites are pears and apples with peas finishing a dead last. We'll keep working at getting her to like those peas!

LIAM

Poor Liam is sick of been cooped up all day in the house. We've had some warm weather lately, so I let him out to ride his bike around on the sidewalk. I sit by the window with a tea and watch Liam play in the snow - doesn't he look like Elmer Fudd in that hat?



Last week, Liam spent a day at the farm and Grandpa and Grandma Farm took him skating for the first time. Way to go, Liam!

Liam is now fully potty trained. He even can pee standing up "just like daddy". He's pretty proud of himself.

AROUND THE HOUSE

I have become a lean, mean bagel making machine. Unfortunately, none of my subsequent batches have ever turned out as good as the first! At any rate, we're really enjoying homemade bagels for breakfast these days.

My mom also passed on some sourdough starter to me and I have been experimenting with sourdough baking. I love it, love it, love it! Here is my starter that I feed 1 c of flour and 3/4 of water everyday.

There are many sourdough recipes out there to try and my mom has posted some of them on her new website. By far, sourdough waffles are the best waffles I have ever tried.

I'm ready for spring and have put in my order for this year's seeds. I've been looking through my usual gardening books - here's my favourite.



It has great vintage photos, but even better, it's a really great resource for those who want to garden organically. This book taught me all about crop rotation in the garden.

And it inspired me to garden in my Sunday best...

...if only I looked that good in the garden...

This year I hope to can some of my veggies. I've tried canning before, but with limited success...I prefer to blanch and freeze veggies for winter storage. However, I'm hoping to can things like spaghetti sauce, relishes, chutneys and jam this year. Who knows, maybe some of these items will turn up in your christmas stocking!

Nialle's great aunt and uncle own an acreage near Devon and are planting potatoes, tomatoes, squash and carrots for me in exchange for my labour. I will go out and help them in their massive garden about once a week and get to take home extra veg that I can't grow in our yard. I'm pretty excited about this and am looking forward to learning new things from some gardening masters.

I've been very unmotivated to knit these days. I think trying to do a handmade christmas this year really burnt me out. But I've tried to remain disciplined and have managed to knit the body and sleeve of a new sweater.

...here's the back of the sweater...lots of texture that feels great under your fingertips...

It's green. I'm really nervous about knitting with colour...I prefer more muted, natural tones, but this was the only colour I could really find locally that suited this pattern.

I've also been spinning a bit, experimenting with bamboo...

and some merino from a flock belonging to a couple that goes to our church...

I've also designed and knit a simple pair of leggings for Ada to wear. The free pattern is over here.

Liam doesn't like to wear sweaters of any kind, so I don't think I'll be doing much knitting for him this year. Thankfully, Ada's too young to complain about wool yet, so I'll be keep busy knitting for her (if I ever feel motivated to knit again).

Yikes! Long post...and there's still more I could write about. But your cup of tea is probably done now, so I'll save other news for another day!

Six Months Old

Ada Babes is about to turn six months old. I can't believe that half a year has flown by already. I know it's cliche, but it seems like just yesterday I gave birth to our baby girl.

Ada is bright and sunny: full of laughs, smiles and snuggles. She is definitely the apple of her Daddy's eye and has him wrapped around her little finger.

We started solids on Monday and Ada is taking just fine to her rice cereal. She tries to 'nurse' the spoon, but isn't having any problems swallowing the pablum. I'm looking forward to introducing her to some nummy fruit in the months ahead.



Our little girl has discovered her hands and is reaching out and grabbing for things. Anything, really. Glasses, hair, noses, forks and cat tails are all fair game and go immediately into her mouth. But the best thing about Ada learning to use her hands is that she'll gently touch our faces when we hold her, or she'll play with my hair and rub my arm while she nurses. I remember Liam did the same thing when he was this age...it was heart melting.

Ada is becoming more mobile. When put on her tummy, she can push herself around in a circle with her hands. She can also push herself backwards too. I didn't think she could move as well as she could until I felt her gnawing on my pant leg while I was making lunch today. She had moved half way across the kitchen floor to where I was standing!

Ada's two favourite things are still her brother and her cat; seeing either will send her into spasms of laughter.

I am truly blessed to have great kids and a happy home. Here's to the next six months ahead. Cheers!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

This morning, Liam was watching a Bobcat clear the parking lot across the street. When the bobcat had been loaded up onto the trailer and driven away, he asked, "Mommy, where'd the bobcat go?"

"Well, Liam, he probably had to go to another parking lot to clear the snow there. A bobcat has a lot of hard work to do."

"Yeah," Liam responded with a serious look on his face, "but it sure does impress the girls."



I just about died laughing.

Nap Time?

Nap Time is a rather loosely used term around here. Liam rarely, if ever, takes naps anymore. His nap time consists of playing quietly in his room for about an hour after lunch. This quiet time is more for my sanity's sake than for his rest.

Ada, however can sleep like a machine during the day (the nights are a whole 'nother story). When she starts to fuss I can just lay her down in the play pen and walk away. No nursing or rocking her to sleep needed. I lay her down, she wiggles around under the covers, gives a smile and promptly falls asleep.

So imagine my surprise when I laid Ada down for a nap today and didn't hear her quiet snores, but instead heard her giggling and squealing.

Can you guess what I found when I went to investigate?

Apparently, Big Brother doesn't think Ada needs naps either. They were having so much fun together, I had to take a video of it...

Ada, thankfully, still took a good nap once I finally got her brother out of there.

Hmmmm, what could this be?

See that? Looks like a pretty bad rash on the small of Liam's back, doesn't it? Well, it's not a rash.

Nope. That's from the cat.

Liam is forever bugging our cat, Otto. When Liam was younger the cat would just sit and take whatever assault came his way, but now that Liam is getting older, the cat clearly is starting to fight back.

Look out Liam, I think you've met your match.

Oops...has a month really gone by? Let's see if I can remember what new and exciting things have been happening around here lately.

Liam and Ada are now taking baths together. Liam has a great time showing off to his sister how he can 'swim' in the tub. Ada, as always, is quite enamored with her older brother and is more than thrilled to take a bath with him.


Ada shows her love for the water by constantly kicking her legs and pumping her arms when she's in the tub. She now sits in a tub ring, which supports her perfectly.

Our Ada Babes turned 5 months old last week and is turning into quite the wiggle meister. She enjoys rolling around on the floor and is learning how to use her jolly jumper. Her love affair with the swing isn't anywhere close to being over. She could sit in that thing all day if I'd let her.

Just a short update. I promise to be more diligent with posting. Should be lots to write about now that it's almost Christmas.

Sick Days

Liam and I have been pretty sick since Saturday. Ada, thankfully is feeling OK besides an occasional runny nose. We've all been stuck at home in our pajamas for quite some time now, but that doesn't mean we haven't been goofing off a bit in between sniffles.

Ada is getting very good at holding her head up now.

Brother and Sister each think the other one is pretty cool.

I dressed Ada up in a bonnet. I love bonnets...probably because I read Little House on the Prairie over and over and over again when I was younger.


By this point Ada was tired of posing for the camera.



This picture really cracks me up!

We're slowly working on getting better. Liam is off to the farm today so that I can get a chance to take a nap and try to shake off this cold. I have to go grocery shopping today and I'm looking forward to it. It's Wednesday now and today will be the first time I'll have left the house since Friday!