Halloween!

I honestly do not know how many times I was asked "Mama, when Halloween coming?" this year. I think I lost count after about 100. I'm not joking. My kid was extremely excited about Halloween. I don't know how since we don't really put too much focus on the holiday. I don't go all out decorating. The only decorations were little window decals that my mother picked up for Emilie at the dollar store (that may or may not still be on the front door...). Even our door decoration is fall focused instead of some witch or goblin.

Regardless we had one very excited little girl on our hands. All she could talk about was going trick or treating, getting treats and getting dressed up like Rapunzel.

Here is a picture  of Emilie on the big night:

Yeah, not so much with the Rapunzel. She had a meltdown when I dared to make her wear a pair of pants and a jacket under the dress. The nerve!

So as a last resort she ended up wearing her cupcake costume from last year. Thankfully it still fit, and bonus it has a matching fleece hat and pants so she was super cozy.

But lets rewind a bit.

We had originally bought two pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. Two big ones. One started to decompose all over the back patio, so that left us with one.

This was the first year that she actually wanted to help us clean it out.

That was until she realized that she would get dirty while cleaning it out.

I had fears that she would want an elaborate Disney Princess based design. Her request? A happy face. She chose the shape of the eyes, nose and mouth and we got to carving. She helped to poke out the pieces.

She loved her pumpkin.

The day before Halloween she went to our friend Bev's house while we were at work. While she was with "Bevie" they carved me a pumpkin. She was so excited to bring her other little pumpkin home with her. Here are our two happy pumpkins.

On Halloween she was so excited. Then it came time to get ready. She is used to wearing her Rapunzel costume just as a dress so she was not impressed that she needed to wear an outfit underneath, but we live in Canada and it gets cold on Halloween.

After refusing to wear a costume at all Andre suggested her cupcake costume from last year. Thankfully it still fit so she got dressed and we were ready to go!

It had threatened a downpour of rain that day but thankfully it was just misting and she really enjoyed herself. About halfway through trick or treating she kept asking to go to Bevie's house so we walked over and Bev had a special little treat just for her. Emilie's favourite a Kinder Egg (for those in the States it's a hollow chocolate egg filled with a plastic egg with a little toy inside). She gave Bevie a hug and then we were off to walk down the street to her daycare.

On the way back Emilie told me that she had too much candy, and wanted to go home and have her "Kindergarten Egg" and some milk. So we walked home and she did just that :)

I hope everyone else had a great Halloween!

From the Archives: Easter in our house

**After publishing the post on the Pumpkin Patch I found this post that I had written months ago about Easter, but never published, so here you go!**

Before we knew it, it was Easter. This year is flying by!

Last year a friend of mine invited us to join her and her family for her town's Easter Egg Hunt. We went and even though the girls didn't really get the hunt, they had fun. This year everyone was a year older, and they definitely knew what was going on. My sister and her family went to the hunt this year as well as more friends of ours. It was a lot of fun for all the kids, young and not so young. 

Emilie's cheese face.

Emilie and Josh, partners in crime.

Someone got a little camera shy while Papa snapped some pictures of us together.

Showing Papa her haul.

She needed to sit in the middle of the field and taste test.

Thankfully this year I was feeling much better than last year so I was able to actually snap some pictures. Andre and I really try our best with each holiday to really get across the true meaning of the holiday. We have quite a few books about Christmas, which Emilie loves, but I was at a loss about how to handle Easter. I just felt that explaining the Crucifixion of Christ was just a little too much for a three year old to handle. So we decided to let Sunday School handle that issue this year and just focus on the fun aspect this year. Next year I plan on doing a little more research and try to find some age appropriate stories/activities at home as well. Anyone have any suggestions?

The Easter Bunny left Emilie's little basket in the livingroom and also some chocolate eggs hidden around the house for Emilie to find. It was so funny to see her run out in the hall and see the trail of eggs on the stairs. She thought the Easter Bunny was very silly!

A few weeks before Easter Emilie had gone shopping at Target with Carrie and my mom. We love checking out the dollar and $5 sections and this trip was no different. Emilie came home talking about this Doc McStuffins camera and how she wanted the Easter Bunny to bring it for her. I had totally forgotten about it until shopping the Thursday before Easter and I saw it. I figured why not, and bought it for her basket.

On Easter morning Emilie came running into our room, sat on the bed and let out a long sigh. "Welp (her way of say welllll). I don't think the bunny will bring my camera. ::sigh:: He bring it next time"

We went downstairs and she was so happy to find the camera in her Easter basket. Mom Easter Bunny for the win! She had to line up all of her new jammies on the floor and snap pictures of everything with her "camera".

We finished off the day with a big Easter dinner at our place. The weather was so beautiful and sunny that afternoon. Emilie's favourite part of the dinner was the ham. Our girl get not get enough of it.

It was a long day full of activity (and chocolate) and the night ended with me having to rock her to sleep.

Emilie's Birthday!

As with Emilie's previous birthdays I decided to take the day off work to spend the day with her on her birthday. There is only one more birthday I can do this before school will consume her birthday, so I am going to take advantage of this for as long as I possibly can. I can't help but feel that her special day is a special day for both of us. Not only do I celebrate the day that she entered this world, but I celebrate that day since it was the day she made me a mother.

We decided that we would make the day low key. We've started a tradition last year that we would have her gifts ready to give her in the morning as soon as Andre got home from work. She loves Doc McStuffins so we got her a stuffed Lambie and a doctor bag. She loved it and continues to give everyone "check ups" long after getting the gift.

Andre had to work late that night, so he wouldn't be home for dinner, so we had my mom and grandmother over for dinner and then Carrie, Darren, and Josh came over afterwards for birthday cake. We've found that we really like a low key celebration on the actual day and then we do her birthday party for her and her friends afterwards.

Andre and I really hadn't decided what we wanted to do for her birthday party, but back in January Emilie started to talk about her party from last year and how she wanted to go back to the same Indoor Playground and how she loved the homemade Elmo birthday cake. The one thing I knew for sure was that I was buying a cake this year. I was NOT making another one. The bonus for having her birthday party at the same place is that we knew the routine by now,  and we knew the kids would have a blast, so we booked it.

As predicted Emilie and her friends had a blast at the Indoor Playground. We went with Little Goobers, just like last year. They are one of the only ones in our area that does a true private birthday party. Since the majority of the party goers were between the ages of 1 and 4, we didn't want the stress of having to hover the entire morning making sure some rambunctious 10 year old was going to mow them over. They can run around the entire place and we can sit back and drink our coffee knowing that they are safe. It's really a win, win.

 We opted to wait until we got home to open gifts because having to round up all the kids to watch Emilie open gifts just seemed like more work than it was worth, and we only had the place for 2 hours, so we wanted them to have as much play time as possible. Emilie loved all of her gifts, she is a blessed little girl.

Dear Emilie

I'm sitting here tonight in a silent house. Both you and your Papa are sound asleep. The only sounds are the sound of the dishwasher and the air of the video monitor that is sitting beside me.

You are snuggled so cozy in your bed. You were so tired tonight. You refused to have a nap for your Papa while I was at work today even though you were up earlier than usual this morning and needed one. You were so excited to be going over to your Great Baba's house for a couple hours this afternoon while Papa and I were at work, that you just couldn't sleep.

I'm sitting here at the computer with tears in my eyes. There are so many feelings that I want to write down, to record for you, but my thoughts are just one huge jumble. I don't know which one to record first, and how to fully articulate others. I just don't know where to start.

I think about you, and all that you do now. You are so independent, and yet such a Mama's girl all at the same time. You are so outgoing and bubbly, and yet shy and introverted as well. You are so goofy and silly and yet so serious too. Everyday you surprise us with something new that you do or say. Sometimes it's like a 13 year old is talking to us and not a toddler.

You are so grown up now. You can get dressed all on your own, and love to choose your own clothes. You are potty trained during the day, and sleep in a big girl bed. Almost all the "baby" things have left this house. Instead you have your own babies. All of their names are Baby, you won't give them a name of their own. As sad as I am to see all the baby stuff leave the house I continue to be amazed by you and the amazing person you are becoming.

You love helping me with everything I do around the house, from cooking and the laundry, to vacuuming the carpet and making the beds. You are always right by my side wanting to help. Most of the time it means that particular job will then take even longer, but I love to see how excited you get to help me do something completely mundane like moving wet socks and towels from the washing machine to the dryer.

A lot of the time as I'm watching you I pray for a pause button. I've always said that I would never wish for a stop button, but I wish some days that I could slow time just a little bit. I wish I could stay in that moment for just a little bit longer with you. I've joked with people a lot lately that time has passed so quickly, that somehow I blinked and you went from this tiny little squish in my arms to this big girl.

Tonight when I put you to bed, I put to bed a two year old. Tomorrow when you wake up, probably a little too early for me, chanting "Maaaaama, Maaaaaama" from your bed you will be a three year old.

When I go up to sleep tonight I will slowly creep into your bedroom to check on your like I do every night. I will cover you up if you have kicked off your blankets, and just stare at you resisting the urge to pick you up. Which is ironic because just hours ago I was tip toeing down the stairs praying to God you would fall asleep quickly.

Sleep tight my little one. Who knows what new adventures life has in store for us tomorrow.

Love,

Mama

"Mama, I still your baby"

This has been something Emilie has been saying a lot lately. It's almost like the more she asserts her independence and becomes more like a big girl she needs to reassure both of us that she is still my baby.

My little big girl will be three years old in just two weeks. THREE years old!! Where did the time go? Where is my pause button?

About a month after her second birthday she decided enough was enough with the cloth diapers and wanted to wear her big girl underwear. That went great and she basically potty trained herself in one day. To be honest I miss the diapers. I never minded the two extra loads of laundry a week and always thought her fluffy little bum was so adorable. Not to mention it helped to keep Emilie's pants from falling down! I loved seeing all the bright colours and designs drying on the clothesline in the summer, and I loved that I could reuse them and not have to throw them out. It kills me every time I have to buy yet another box of Dora Easy Ups for Emilie to wear overnight. She will only wear disposables now since her cloth diapers are too thick for her now that she's used to underwear.

Over the last few months nap time has become less and less. "Mama, I no need a nap" and "Mama, I just sit on my bed. I not tired." are things I hear on an almost daily basis. Those rare days when she does nap are a special treat for Andre and I.

On New Years Day we converted Emilie's crib to a toddler bed. The potty training had lead to what we referred to as "Poop Emergencies". All I will say was there was poopy pull ups being hurled out of the crib. I will leave the rest to your imaginations. After the first incident we started talking to her about changing her crib to a big girl bed. After the third emergency I took the front off. Surprisingly Emilie was all for it. She offered to get the screwdriver and hammer and help! From the first night she was excellent in what she now refers to as her "big girl crib". She will occasionally get out of her bed to play when she should be sleeping, but overall the transition has been great. Much better than we expected.

With all of these new firsts have come regressions. Some days she will speak in baby talk instead of using her big girl words. Others she wants to be with me everywhere I go. She will have weeks where instead of getting out of her big girl crib to use her little potty during nap time she will go in her pull up instead. Most of all this has meant cuddles. Lots and lots of cuddles. I guess every stage has a silver lining right?

Some days these regressions are hard, and add another struggle to our routine. Others I'm more than happy to put down whatever I'm doing and cuddle with my little girl.

Christmas 2013 Recap

Ever since Andre and I started dating all the way back in 2003 Christmas has always seemed like a little bit of a juggling act. Balancing the Us with Them. I remember our first Christmas which seemed like a race versus a celebration. A feat of time management and making sure that we made sure to visit everyone, making them happy and pushing us to the side. I was miserable that year. All I remember was visiting from beginning to end, and sitting in the car.

Since that year I have been trying to find more of a balance. Making sure that our family unit had time to develop our own memories and traditions, while still making sure that we take time to visit and create memories with our extended families. I think every year we're getting closer and closer, and this past year when looking back I think of the travelling and visiting, but also the fun, excitement, and quiet moments we were able to spend as a family of three at home together.

So here is a recap of Christmas 2013!

The last few years Andre's parents have preferred not to travel, not that I can blame them both being over 80! So that means that on Christmas Eve we go up to visit and celebrate with them. The last two years we have gone up in the mid afternoon and had dinner together, but this year we decided to do lunch instead so we would have more time for visiting, and not have to rush out the door so we could get Emilie to bed at a reasonable hour.

I don't know about Andre, but I liked this MUCH better!

 

 I wish that this one was clearer, but I'm still learning how to use my DSLR, and Emilie moves too much. She had gotten a box set of Dora videos from her Nana and Grandpa and she loved them so much. She started chanting "Dora, Dora!" which sounds more like "Dara, Dara!" and running around.

We had an early dinner/late lunch with Andre's parents, did some visiting and then were on our way home. To tell you the truth I was so excited to be at home on Christmas Eve evening. We've never had a relaxing evening at home on Christmas Eve just the three of us. It's always the rush out the door to get our cranky, overtired toddler home to bed.

One tradition that we started this year was to let Emilie open one Christmas gift on Christmas Eve. We wrapped up a new movie, Christmas pj's and a new cozy blanket for her and this was the gift she unwrapped. She loved her new Santa jammies and immediately stripped off her clothes so she could change. I had figured she would do this so I had washed everything before wrapping it up.

That night the three of us just snuggled together and watched Bubble Guppies before she went to bed. It was the perfect thing before all the toy assembling "fun" began!

Emilie decided Santa needed some candies as well as chocolate cookies.

Santa came!

Our tree all ready for Christmas morning.

Christmas morning we slept in until around 7:30 which was great because Andre and I were so tired after wrapping some last minute gifts. Emilie loved going through her stocking and playing with her new Princesses in their castle.

There had been one gift that Andre and I were so excited to get her. Emilie has been obsessed with her infant car seat for months. It had been in storage in our basement, but Emilie would see it and want it upstairs so her babies could go "shopping" so it would end up in our living room, and our living room is not that big. It would drive Andre and I banana's so we decided to get her a baby car seat made just for her babies.

It even comes complete with a three point harness so her babies can be buckled up and safe just like Emilie is in her own car seat. For $12 this was one of the cheapest gifts that we purchased and one of her favourites. Another favourite was a $10 Aquadoodle accessory kit that she plays with several times a week. Sometimes you don't have to break the bank to make your toddler happy.

We had some breakfast at home and then it was off to my parents house to open even more gifts and see what Santa had left at their house.

Enjoying her new Dara chair that Santa brought while checking out her stocking.

My mom always makes bacon and eggs for breakfast on Christmas morning so Emilie decided that she needed some more food!

Our afternoon was pretty quiet since Emilie decided to give Andre and I a Christmas gift and actually have a good nap that afternoon. It was such a treat to shower and get ready all on my own without my little helper.

We always have Christmas dinner at my parents house and this year was no exception. Emilie looked so pretty in her little jumper. She had nicknamed it her "Christmas dress" and she looked so cute it in.

Emilie and her Pepere before dinner.

True to form Emilie crashed around 6:30 and we came home and put her to bed. I think two days in a row of gifts and visiting is our little girls maximum and she let us know!

Andre and I left everything in the living room that night and just sat back and watched a holiday movie that night. It was a great way to end a chaotic day!

Winter at home activities and December Kiwi Crate review

Quite recently we had a cold snap. Not as cold as some places in Canada (as us Ontarians were reminded over and over) but cold for us. For us this meant that if we didn't have to leave our nice warm house we just didn't. This also meant that on my day off I had to think of what I was going to do to keep little Miss Emilie and myself occupied for the entire day. Not so bad when she was consistently napping for at least an hour and half to two hours every afternoon, but harder on those more frequent days when she decides she doesn't need a nap (hahahaha).

It was so cold here (-40 with the windchill) that the condensation on the inside of our windows FROZE. Craziness.

 

This particularly arctic day just happened to be a day that Andre wasn't home during this split shift at work so it was just Emilie and I for the day. I decided that we would bake some cookies in the morning. I had done some cleaning and purging of our cupboards the week before and discovered a dry cookie mix that needed to be used up before it expired, so I thought Emilie and I could bake some cookies. She loves to help me bake, so she loved this activity.

Later that afternoon after her hour of calling for me repeatedly while telling me she's not tired nap, I decided to bust out December's Kiwi Crate. After talking to a friend about how she liked Kiwi Crate with her kids, I decided to bite the bullet and get a 6 month subscription for Emilie back in October. We have loved it so far, but this month proved to be a little "old" for Emilie. I knew that this was bound to happen since all of the activities are for ages 3+, but we had lucked out with the previous two boxes. 

The theme of this month was "Polar Expedition". For anyone that has never heard of Kiwi Crate before it is a subscription box that is delivered to your home every month filled with 2 crafts with a theme every month. All of the crafts come with everything that you need. You do not need to purchase anything. I love this since I get to do something fun with Emilie but do not need to think of anything!

The first activity in the box was a ball toss game. Emilie wanted nothing to do with sewing up the mittens even though she had been getting some practice with her animal boards lately. So I ended up doing this. She did love putting all the velcro dots on the ball and making up the little "paws" on the mittens. This activity was definitely more Emilie friendly and she still plays with this almost two weeks later.

The second activity in the box was homemade window clings. I had received an e-mail from Kiwi Crate before getting the box in the mail so I knew that some other users had some issues with the materials for this craft. Even after being prepared with paper clips to unclog the paint and kneading the paint and glue before using them, the paint was still clogging repeatedly, and at one point the top popped off and paint went everywhere. I was not impressed. We did end up getting two clings complete though, one together, and one that I made on my own.

OURS

MINE

After drying the window clings out of reach of little hands for 24 hours, they were complete, and Emilie decided that they should go in her playroom.

Two out of the last three boxes have come with a little "bonus" activity along with some ideas in their monthly magazine. This month was a little snowflake cookie cutter that she loves to use with her play dough.

Overall Decembers box was not my favourite, but Emilie still had a lot of fun working with all of the different materials and it was nice to have some new activities to do while we were home bound. I can't wait to see what surprises will be in our January box!

If you are thinking of making an order, you are welcome to use my referral code for $10 off your order:
http://www.kiwicrate.com/Refer?i=JennaM7

Our week in pictures

Changes are coming

Hello everyone!

Long time no talk type? I have decided that one of my New Years resolution was to blog more often. For real this time. So I thought that a change was in order.

First change: A new blog name. You will see that Our Little One is gone. Let's be honest a big part of this blog will still be Emilie. She is the centre of our life, and if you give me a minute I will talk your ear off about her latest adventure. I wanted this blog to be more than just Emilie. I wanted it to be about my LIFE. With the change to the title comes the.....

Second change: Different content! Now I will start this by saying there will be plenty about Emilie, but there will also be recipes, updates on changes to the house, products that I love (or not) and anything else that pops into my mind. I wanted this blog to be a little well rounded. It may just end up being an online journal of sorts that no one reads, and that is okay.

Third change: A new photo banner! I am currently in love with some professional photos that we had done this fall, and I really wanted to put them out there for everyone to see.

So there you have it, some of the changes in store!

Weekly photo dump

As I mentioned in my previous entry, I tend to take the majority of our pictures on my phone. It's just so convenient. So here are a small collection of the pictures I have taken over the last few weeks.