I had high expectations for today. Ok, maybe not high, but good. It was our first day back from our holiday. The kids and I were going to run a quick errand in the city, and then be home and lazy for the rest of the day. I thought we could maybe even do a movie afternoon and watch musicals like we do once in a while, do laundry slowly, and then eat really, really yummy food for supper. I know how badly the kids need a normal day.

Before we left for the the city, the kids were in pretty good shape. I mean, I could tell they were overtired so there was that, but really not bad at all. Laela was strumming the return air vent and cut her finger a little, but didn’t even cry. I gave her a wipe to play with and she pretty much cleaned herself up.

Unfortunately, our few hours in the city were terrible for me. I won’t go into detail, but I was pretty shaken up. The kids were fine, it was just me. I’d share more if I didn’t already know I was being irrational. Anyway, I was sooo relieved when the littles slept the whole drive home.

We got home around 12:30 and I got them fed and comfy in the basement. I was unsure what our schedule for the day would look like since they had each had a half hour sleep in the van but thankfully, right around 2:00, they were both whooped and ready for bed.

They ended up sleeping most of the afternoon, which was exactly what I needed. I used that time to cry my face off and blubber and then doze, and then cry some more. Brady and I talked on the phone a bit and I texted some friends, so I was busy enough. But ya, I was sad and emotional and it was sucky.

I was completely unmotivated to do laundry, or any kind of tidying, and I had no appetite for supper either. Lucky for us, the kids were ready for bed on time, so we’ll be in the tub and to bed earlier than usual.

Sorry for the vague and pessimistic post. It was not a shining day for me. But once again, I’m hoping for bigger and better tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll get a few things done, eat more, and cry less. I’m sure I’m not the only one who just completely loses touch with reality once in a while. Right?? Oh gosh, pleeeaaase don’t let me be the only one!

Driving home today, Dekker and I had this beauty of a conversation:

Dekker, is it smelly in here.
Yup!
What does it smell like?
Smells like…. strawberries.
Hmmm. I don’t think so. I think it smells more stinky.
Uh… no.
Ya, I think it does. What does stinky smell like?
Detter!

At least he knows! The nerve of a kid to poop on a travel day. Such is life. The drive was otherwise uneventful. We were all feeling quite tired, and I’ll be the first to admit, I was one of the whiners. I love a good road trip, and the trip was a definite success! But upon arriving home, I flopped down on the bed and barely lifted my head until it was time to get the kids to bed.

Kidlets were happy to be home for sure, and played their fair share in the living room before becoming very sad when the dreaded (and much anticipated) 8:00pm came.

All this said, I am sleepy and want a bath. So I leave you with pictures of our trip!! They are mostly of my children and food. Enjoy! I sure did.

For the first time ever, we could NOT keep Dekker out of the water! Not even long enough to get him into swim stuff!

Swimming with Uncle Stefan aka Stefit.

Hahaha! Conveniently censored picture 🙂 I’m pretty sure Dekker is pouring a watering can over his little man parts, lol!

Lounging Laela

While visiting with some of our dear friends, their seven year old son befriended Dekker. He had the BEST Dekker radar we’ve ever seen, and gave him tons of space, ever so slowly engaging him. By the time we left, Nick had showed Dekker his room and all of his toys, read to him, and played trucks with him. It melted my heart to hear them conversing and sharing. Best. Kids. Ever.

The kind of snacks we were fed day in and day out. The fanciest kind of crackers and cheese ever. Who would have ever put jalapeño cheese and strawberry jam together?!

Auntie Caity keeping Laela company during her lunch

These two 🙂 I adore them. Check out Dekker’s tongue and Laela’s toes. They did great together.

She looks sooo much like my mom here!! See it, mom? She has grandma Jeanne written all over her!

Considerably less fancy but equally as delicious food. Pretzelman, why aren’t you here with me always?!

Hahaha, lunch with Caity 🙂 Deliciously bad food.

Dekker was completely enamoured with “Puppy Maybe” and by the end, he wanted to see her close up. He never did work up the courage to touch her, but her threw her ball a few times and watched her lick Laela.

On the way home!!! While everyone was still happy, lol! YAY!

As I mentioned earlier, I just wanted to lay in bed upon getting home. While I was being a big baby, Dekker came over and climbed into bed with me. I took advantage of the photo opportunity, obviously, and just after this, Deks leaned over, gave me a kiss, and then left. Cute little boy lifted my mood. I knew he was extra tired too, but if he could pull out some smiles, so could I!

Even knowing I should have a good attitude, we did arrive home to no hot water, so thats a bit of a bummer 🙁 Hopefully the water heater resets in enough time for me to have my long awaited bubble bath!!

Sleep deep, all! Until next time.

No, I did not search to purchase a new sister today. In fact, after a big breakfast and getting ready, my very own sister and I went shopping for the afternoon. Our lovely men kept the kids occupied and alive while we entertained ourselves and hit the box stores, and then a mall.

I won’t lie. Our first few places were pretty sad and unsuccessful. I say “sad” completely loosely, mostly because I can’t think of the right word. I would say “disappointing” but we were having lots of fun being together and it didn’t feel like a loss or anything.

I finally found a few things, and Caity found one perfect shirt. I had a really fun shop at Lululemon and picked up a few things that I think will last for a good long while. We also treated ourselves to soft pretzels and cheese sauce, and some frozen lemonade. I can’t tell you why, but the soft pretzel market has not been tapped in Saskatoon. Therefore, every time we’re in Winnipeg, I anticipate a soft pretzel, covered in butter and chunky salt, dipped in cheese. I wish I could have them more often, but I appreciate them a lot when their time comes!

We had some delicious Chinese take out for supper, and put the kids down a bit after their bedtime. Dekker proceeded to talk about cars and racing an Barney and who knows what else for a solid hour, if not two. He had a loaded day as well, playing in the pool on the deck with Laela, playing basketball, and making sure “Puppy Maybe” was always watching. Best kids ever.

After several Mario Kart cups, and a big helping of queso, it is definitely time for bed. Or at least a bit of Netflix. We have to be grown ups and travel home tomorrow. And then Brady really has to be a grown up and go back to work!!! Better get some rest! Looking forward to a photo post either tomorrow or the next day 🙂

Sleep deep, all! Sorry for all the super late posts. Thems the family time!

The four of us visited with our dear friends, Cody and Jessica, this morning, as well as their two boys. We had never met the younger one before, and after a bit of a rocky start, Dekker took to him beautifully!! Us adults could catch up a bit while The boys shared an arm chair and Nick read Dekker books. He also showed Dekker around his room and shared his trucks with him. We have so rarely had another child take the time to let Dekker warm up the way he did. For a first meeting, he had a great radar for Dekker, and they got along incredibly well. On the drive home, Dekker slept for about five minutes before popping up and announcing “Detter having fun play with Nit. See Nit gain!” It was a HUGE win! What a great morning!

The kids were wiped out though, and needed naps. Since they had both dozed a bit on the drive home, it was a rough go getting them down. Dekker finally gave in, but Laela fought pretty hard. I don’t think she ever slept. So eventually she joined us adults outside on the deck for happy hour. Drinks, tanning, and wading pools 🙂 Once I’m home, I’ll make a photo post. There are lots of good pictures of the fun we had, the sun we got, and the snacks we devoured. One thing we can always count on when we come here is fancy cheese. Sooo delicious.

Another thing I can always count on is white short. I mean the shorty little white shorts that come when you sunburn your legs sooo badly while wearing booty short bathing suit bottoms. I will own them, though. I always know they’re coming, and I make less than zero effort to prevent them. I am paper white 360 days of the year, so I dream of having color on my skin. But I always leave myself in the sun too long, past the point of no return. Luckily, as of right now, I’m not in any pain, so hopefully I didn’t actually burn burn, but just got subtly toasty.

We celebrated my birthday this evening with my meal of choice – mashed potatoes and barbecued chicken. I love that meal. The kids went to bed fairly quickly after supper, and we ate a raspberry cheesecake trifle outside by the fire. Unbelievable, right?? It was awesome, and very quickly, it was 1:00am. So, sorry about the late post, but I am cramming in as much family time as I can get my hands on!

Tomorrow – shopping and take out!!! Can’t wait!

Today was unlike any other for Mr. Dekker Thomas. He found his niche out here. And that just happens to be in the dogs paddling pool, on the deck, naked.

I believe I’ve mentioned in the past that Dekker likes neither water nor being naked. However, a beautiful white shade was set up on the deck, with a pool and toys nearby. We didn’t think he’d ever actually get in the water, but thought he might play with the toys from beside the pool. However, he was intrigued and kept asking. Brady asked my thoughts and I said he could get undressed and check it out if he wanted to, but not to worry about a swim diaper or anything, since he would never get in.

And the next thing I knew, I saw my little boy completely in the nude, sitting in the pool playing. He had no concept of fear or discomfort. Stefan had filled the pool with nice warm water instead of icy cold like paddling pools tend to have, and he had boats and shovels and a water gun and all kinds of things to play with!!! The boys hung out (lol) outside while Caity and I made roll kuchen for lunch. It was my first time rolling it out and actually preparing it, and it really turned out, if I can be so bold!! Two of my cousins came over to enjoy lunch with us on the deck as well. Dekker had donned shorts and a swim diaper by that point, but ate a few roll kuchen before thanking Caity for lunch and asking to go back to the toys. Laela even ate a roll kuchen! I wish I had pictures. It was delicious and sunny and wet and fun. What a great afternoon!

I see much of the same happening tomorrow in the evening, if weather permits. We’re going to visit our very good friends in the morning/early afternoon, and will likely spend the rest of the day on the deck in the yard, giggling at Dekkers freedom and then immediate fear of Laelas mobility. Its really quite a sight.

We have arrived!!! We left home around 8:30 this morning at made it to my sister and brother in laws acreage around 6:00, or 7:00 their time. We had the perfect supper together of macaroni and chicken fingers, which made Dekker very, very happy. The kids spread the toys out and made themselves comfortable, while the rest of us visited and caught up and settled in.
The kids went down pretty hard, but finally sleep won, and the four of us could enjoy ourselves out on the deck with dessert and drinks. It was a great evening, and were all already tired and ready to tuck in.
I hope you all enjoy your weeks doing whatever you’re doing. For your sakes, I hope you’re all in birthday trips, because they are awesome!!

I can’t remember the last time I spent time with my other half 😉 but my Hailey came over for the day. We had SO much to catch up on too! She leads a very full life, and while my posts are often boring and fairly uneventful, I have a lot that goes on that I don’t share on here, but that I do share with friends, so we had lots and lots of chatting ahead of us.

Dekker was pretty shy but everyone warmed up enough in their own time, and played while we visited our faces off. Best of all, they went down together for a nap and slept forever!! Laela woke up around 5:00, which is a full three hour nap for her! And Dekker slept until around 6:30!! I have no idea why they were so tired but I will take it! It gave Hailey and I lots of time to talk and update and fill each other in. We are busy, busy Haileys!

I totally slacked and didn’t make supper, so Brady picked up Subway on his way home, and we ate it in the semi-coolness of our basement. I am absolutely sweating in this house. I am most definitely typing this post in my underwear. No, I’m not trying to be sexy or icky, but honest. It is absolutely sweltering in here. BUT!, I will take this over being frozen any day of the week.

Now that Dekkers in bed for the night, and Laelas on her way out, we are getting ready to pack. Hmmm. Did I not mention my surprise birthday trip??

Brady and I are packing up the kids and everything we possibly own, and are driving to Winnipeg tomorrow 🙂 We’re staying with my sister and brother in law for a few nights, and seeing as many people as possible. My girlfriend Jessica lives in Winnipeg, plus my grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. I’m a bit nervous, since usually the whole family is a package deal, and I know how overwhelmed Dekker gets in crowds :/ So we’ll see if we can fit everyone in.

But this evening, WE PACK! For everything. I’m not sure if we’ll tan on the deck the whole time, or be out and about and busy, or what mix of the two, but I am so ready for a trip. Wish us well! We haven’t taken both kids to Winnipeg yet so we’re really looking forward to seeing what kind of trouble we can get ourselves into 🙂

Who is going where for the long weekend?

I arranged our nap routine a little differently today for a couple of reasons. Number one is that Dekker is in an incredibly whiny stage right now, and I couldn’t bear to push him to stay up any longer when he was so clearly ready for a nap. Number two is that I had an leg wax appointment in the city at 4:45, with us needing to leave shortly before 4:00, which would mess with naps. Yes, Dekker naps into the late afternoon and still sleeps at night.

So as soon as Laela woke up from her morning nap, I put Dekker down. Normally I hold him off and they go down together at 2:00pm, but it sometimes takes Laela a while to fall asleep, so I figured she could stay up and sleep in the van. It worked for the most part, though Laela was quite exhausted by the time we left, and I still ended up having to wake Dekker, which he wasn’t impressed about. I digress.

While just Laela and I were downstairs, I gave her a bottle, which she didn’t finish. She did ok, but definitely not a full feeding. She wouldn’t take more, but she was still seemingly frustrated and unsettled. So I brought down a little ziploc container of cheerios and asked if she was hungry.

“Laela, would you like a Cheerio?”
*nods*

I had to laugh, because Laela nods at the funniest things. “Are you a goober?” “Do you think daddy is crazy town?” “Do you want to build a snowman?” All yeses.

She would chomp away at her Cheerio and then eye the container suspiciously. I’d ask her again. “Laela, would you like a Cheerio?” And she’s nod. I tested this out for probably the next half hour or so.

If I would offer too soon, she would stare at me blankly. If I still tried to feed her a Cheerio, she’d bat at my hand. But as soon as that Cheerio was completely gone out of her mouth, she’d stare down that container. “Laela, would you like a Cheerio?” And she’d nod!

Another scenario is based on me not paying attention. If I wasn’t offering her a Cheerio when she wanted one, she would crawl onto my legs or wherever she could get her hands on me, catch my eye, and nod. “Oh,” I’d say, “did you want a Cheerio?” Wide-eyed nodding. Crazy little girl! She’s already communicating so well!!!

By the end of our snack date, she was sooo tired, and if her mouth wasn’t gumming a Cheerio, it was hanging open, crying itself hoarse. Poor dude. So we ended up leaving the house early. Getting to my appointment early. Getting in early (Love my waxing girl, Jenn! She’s always ahead of schedule!) and getting home early 🙂

We had fried perogies in sour cream for supper which was divine, and now the kids are in bed and we are running a cool bath to save our ridiculously warm selves from our 30C house; Poor us. Don’t worry!! I don’t want snow! I’m not complaining about the heat! Just a little stinky in here…

Guesswhatitsmybirthday!!! See what I did there? I made it seem like I said those words really excitedly, where in real life, I’m not particularly thrilled with turning twenty six. I know I’m not old, but I still remember high school well enough to feel like I just left there. Yet, in the years since, I have went to college, moved to Winnipeg and back, gotten married, and produced two fabulous kids. I have filled my years, and I’m happy with my life. But still…

Brady is younger than me. Did you guys know that? Just by a little. He was born mid-October, so its like two and a half months, but I remember when I turned twenty and he was still a teenager. Gross, right? And then I was in my twenties while he was still only twenty. I hit mid-twenties first, and now I’m passing mid-twenties without him!!! Not ok with me. He’s so young and carefree. Sigh. To be young again.

I’M OBVIOUSLY KIDDING! No, I’m not thrilled with aging, but I know I’m at a good place at a young age still. I spent the day with the cuties that are my kids…

 

And my cute mom. I just don’t have a picture of her from today :/ Oops! We had a super delicious lunch of soup and grilled cheese (isn’t that always yummy every day of the week?) and then played and played with the kids until they were positively droopy. It was perfect actually, because Laela didn’t have a morning nap, so they were both equally wiped and slept for a really long time. My mom and I visited in the living room pretty much the whole time, which was exactly what I wanted. I know we are blessed to live close and see each other often, but it doesn’t always feel like we get time to just sit. We’re always doing stuff! So this was perfect. She even told me my birth story. As I kid, I vaguely remember rolling my eyes jokingly and laughing at the stereotype of the emotinoal mother blubbering her way through the birth story, but I love hearing it now. I have more questions and want to see how we can relate. I learned that my first cries sounded a lot like Laela’s big cries. I like knowing that.

Once the boys started making their way home, supper began to come together. I requested barbecued chicken, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole with the yummy mushroom sauce and crunchy onions. Everything was sooo good! I ate my body weight, I swear. My mom had prepared a yummy lemon birthday cake for me as well, which is an obvious favorite, if you know anything about me. LEMON! Delish. My parents gave me some cashola that I now have to be smart with and decide what to buy!!, and Brady gave me…drumroll please…the Naked3 palette! Beautiful eye shadow that I’ve been drooling over for months and months and was planning to buy with my birthday money originally, so I couldn’t be happier with that 🙂 Hopefully I’m good at it!

A couple other notable things about today are all actually centred around Laela, but I have to share. Firstly, this happened…

Yup. Thats poop. Aaaaall up her back. We had no idea what to do with her, as this was our first real blowout ever! But honestly, I know the fact that we’re three years in and have only had one blowout means that no one will have any compassion for us. So we wiped her up with blankets as best as we could, and Brady washed her off in the tub while my mom ran all the poop covered garments through the wash. Thanks guys, for not making me participate too much in the poop touching on my birthday!!

The other exciting Laela news is that she can climb stairs. Lets recap. Two weeks ago, she started crawling. One week later, she was pulling up. And now she does stairs. It would appear she is incredibly eager to keep up!! I love her. She is fantastic and exciting and I can’t wait to experience her childhood with her.

Ok, the end. I am still full to the brim from supper, and my hair hurts from being pinned up all day. Time to let myself down now. Tomorrow brings lists, potentially laundry, and finally getting my legs waxed! Should be a good day, busy with things I can pretty much do out of the comfort of my cool basement, with an outing at the end.

Anyway, happy birthday to meeeee! Thank you for all the Facebook love as well. I feel it <3

I think a vast majority of people appreciate summer heat, since it tends to come and go around here. I know I do, anyway. But part of the reason I love it even more this year is because I have a bitty little girlie who wears soft little dresses and gets curls in her hair when she’s warm.

Can you see why?

We ran some errands in the city today, and finally got a few things accomplished. Not everything, but some. The kids were sooo tired and slept on the drive home. Not nearly long enough though. They were both crabby and upset once we got home, so we put them down for…

the most useless nap there ever was!!! Not one moment of silence. Dekker was crawling around his bed, hanging his legs over the side, standing up and bugging Laela, who then got up went all around her crib, grabbing the rail and bouncing and bouncing and bouncing. It was hilarious to watch, but it did precede a fairly long evening.

Dekker went down shortly after 7:30 and Laela is just going down now after her bottle. Deks is already fast asleep. Weirdly enough, she handles her fatigue quite a bit better than Dekker does, and will sooner just sit in one place and rub her eyes, while Dekker gets louder and louder the more tired he gets.

Our evening was hands on enough that Brady and I will only get supper after the kids are both tucked in, and I’m looking forward to leftover pasta! That was sooo good the first time, and I have nigh hopes for the leftovers. Yum! Supper and The Bachelorette sounds like the perfect end to this day. I hope you all have a great evening as well!