Happy 2nd Birthday Adriana!!

I can't believe it's here!! Adriana is finally two years old and its more than I had hoped for. All week I've been trying to explain its her birthday soon but all she kept saying was "Happy Holidays, Mommy!" As cute as that was, I really wanted to separate her birthday from Christmas as much as possible.

Adriana  had amazing Christmas, no doubt, but her birthday just put her over the top on the excitement scale. What kid doesn't love Chuck E Cheese? Yeah that's right....we went to the craziest place for kids!! I had to do something to keep her and a few kiddies entertained for a few hours without having to clean up the mess. That was key.

Each kid got pizza and juice plus we brought a cupcake-cake! It was much easier to hand out as cupcakes - chocolate cupcakes of course. They also each got a bunch of tokens to play all the games with. Adriana was all over this game where you move the basket to catch the balls randomly popping up. She road a mechanically horse, took a ride in a monster truck with her cousin and tried to take a picture with Mommy and Daddy.

Although it was a bit crazy with another 5 or 6 birthdays happening at the same time, I think the kids had fun! The people who did come to her birthday she absolutely loves seeing. Her cousins, Aunts and Uncles, Nana and of course Gran and Gradad - plus her few friends she does have. I'm sure when she goes to school in another few years there will be more kids than adults, but for now I appreciate the smaller costs!! It was worth every penny to just watch her blow out her candles.

Adriana is a very lucky girl in every single way. She has a great support system - surrounded by people who truly love her! Christmas was just a starter for her  - spoiled as usual - then a short 10days later she is spoiled again on her birthday party. She got tons of clothes (which she really needed because she grows like a weed!!) puzzles, books, dolls, and a tricycle!!

She may be a little young still for a tricycle but she has to learn somewhere! She reaches the peddles nicely but needs to work on her leg muscles in order to really push off. So far we've let her "ride" it around the living room and her bedroom. She clearly picked up her first passenger in the back basket - her new Aurora doll! She really wants to ride it and I'd like to start teaching her this Spring so we can go for bike rides together. Of course, I will have to get a bike as well once she's had a lot of practice! Until then we can ride down to the park and let her go along the path by herself.

I have to admit that all weekend I was a bit emotional. Seems fairly reasonable since my baby girl is ANOTHER year old now. Two years have gone by since we were first blessed on that cold Thursday morning. I never forget the range of emotions that filled me over the first few days....weeks.....months....and now years. Adriana is truly a unique child to me. I have babysat several kids of all ages and been around friends babies and cousins. I know that she is above average and perhaps she will plateau with other children's learning ability. Perhaps she will continue to surpass my expectations.

Its been an amazing adventure with Adriana! She is talking so much and clearer every day. She understands concepts and even reminds me of the ones we have mentioned before to her. She remembers a lot and is just a happy kid!

Today - her officially birthday - we went up to Starbucks for tea and a cookie. We continued down the street to the store and we saw a little boy walking towards us. I pointed out that he was another big kid like her because she's not a baby anymore. She corrected me and said he was a little boy and she was a little girl. How very true she was! Its moments like that which make me smiles - she gets it....she gets so much more than we realize!!

My Dear Adriana,
        Mommy and Daddy love you so much!!! You are a very special little girl who has absolutely changed our lives in every way. Your sweetness shines through your constant hugs and kisses. Your thank-yous, pleases, and I love yous totally make our day. Although you're high energy and girly squeals may give Mommy/Daddy a headache

WE ABSOLUTELY LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU!!

Happy Birthday Adriana! To many more years of celebrating, many more hugs and kisses and never ending love!!!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or Whatever

However you say it.....its holiday Season everywhere! Snow on the ground, decorations hanging, and sales all over the place. How could you NOT be in the mood? oh right, work.....always gets ya through the holidays. Everyone is working for those dollars, which are immediately spent on the weekend for Christmas gifts, more decorations and of course FOOD!

Nothing taste sweeter over the holidays than food. Seriously. The amount of times we make the same jigs dinner throughout the year and its just never the same as at Christmas. Turkey, ham, salt beef, potatoes, carrots, turnip, cabbage, peas pudding, and stuffing (my favourite!!). This year we had such a big turkey - we had to name him. Jeff (that's what we named him) sat at just over 32lbs - probably one of the bigger turkeys we've had in a long while! It wouldn't be Christmas (or Boxing Day) without Turkey dinner for lunch and dinner; its always better the second day!

Adriana absolutely loved Christmas!! She's starting to understand the whole Santa comes with presents and we eat lots of food. She was definitely spoiled again this year. I seriously have to make room for all the toys she got plus clean out her dresser to make room for the clothes! Toys will take more time as I have to figure out which ones she doesn't need anymore - probably all of them lol I want to put a bookshelf in her room instead of the massive toy storage she has right now. The baskets are handy for things but half the unit isn't being utilized proper.

It was nice to have Kim and Tim back for Christmas! Feel the love <3

It was Loni and Chris' first Christmas with the Decker;s too

 

 Adriana is Grandad's sookie girl!

The boyfriend and I

Adriana all decked out in her Princess Sofia outfit with Aunt Loni

This is Jeff and he weighed over 32lbs!!

I must admit that the days leading up to Christmas day wasn't as festive as I had hoped. Saturday the boyfriend and I gave our time to hand out turkeys to the less fortunate. It was an unreal feeling to see the amount of people who were grateful for a decent size turkey for the holidays. There was no specific age or gender or size of family - we saw it all! From older people to young families who trekked out to pick up their turkey in the cold rain. For the entire day week I was very emotional. It was my first time volunteering with this turkey drive and I hope to continue helping out - even include Adriana next year or the year after.

If you haven't heard on he news about the Toronto Ice Storm December 2013 then you may not know there were hundreds of thousands of homes without power. We were one of those homes. The ice storm hit Saturday night and continued overnight - by morning there was no power. We were actually at my parents house keeping the dog company. The boyfriend had come home to let Tyson out, feed him, shower and shave. Well he made it through half of the shaving part before the power was gone. We obviously couldn't stay here with Adriana - not power means no heat! We stayed at my parents house for the night where it was warm and had lights at least. More than half of our street ended up getting power back late on Sunday night but we were not one of them. We carried on thinking it will be on my the next day - nope.

It was a hard day at work because I couldn't stop thinking about our house with no power. At this rate there was a possibility of not spending Christmas at our home. During the day, The boyfriend was back and forth between our house and his moms (she lives down the street and had power) On the way home from work, I cried. The ice was all over the tree branches which had weighed down so much they broke off. Some landed on the ground but others landed on houses, cars, or signs. It turned our beautiful neighbourhood upside down. The picture isn't even the more recent ones.....a lot more branches are down and some are still stuck on other branches. This happened 5mins after bringing Tyson inside - we turned around and watched 5 big branches fall. Scary to think if we had left him out for a few minutes longer what would happen. We are all okay - very thankful for family close by and the space to take us in on short notice. We weren't the only ones without power - Kim and Tim who at least had a real fireplace to keep warm for the night. As well as Loni and Chris who had to climb the stairs to their 19th floor apartment with their dog!

Christmas has always been about spending time with family and friends. This year more than ever we felt the true meaning of Christmas. Family was around and very grateful to share that time. We don't see each other every day so the few days we did have (and didn't have to work) was very nice. We shared drinks, ate food, snuggled to watch movies and just relax. I thought of those who still didn't have power on Christmas day and my heart definitely went out to them. Not everyone is as lucky as we are to have family around. Despite the damage, the spoiled food or the lack of heat - it was a beautiful Christmas. Thank you.

Happy (Mo) November

Can you believe its already November? Where has the year gone! This is still one of my favourite time of the year. Right after Halloween and just before Christmas. Its a good chunk of time to appreciate other things without getting caught up in a mile long list of things to do. I am a huge fan of Christmas - this I do not hide. Although the quietness of the stores are nice. I try to start Christmas shopping about this time every year and usually by December I actually buy things!! Lol I prefer to make a list of everyone that I need to buy for first, then I group the couple gifts that I can get away with (essentially those who need a Date Night - get one!) I jot down a few gift ideas - this takes a toll on my memory since I have to remember if they mentioned something they might need. If I'm really stuck then I will flat out ask the person for ideas. People change their minds or they already got that thing they said they needed. I believe in giving a useful gift - something they need or wanted, instead of a "thoughtful" gift.

Although my family never had much money growing up - my parents always made sure to give us the best Christmas ever. We always had lots of presents to open, a huge stocking to filter through and tons of food to eat all in the company of family and friends. The tradition has changed a bit over the years but essentially its the same. We may have lost Jill and Pat for the holidays this year but gained Loni and Chris for the first time ever. Kim and Tim are back too! This Christmas is going to be just as good as any year before. Adriana seems to be understanding the holidays more than before - Halloween really stood out for her. Christmas will just put her over the moon! I truly cannot wait.

We are coming close to the end of her swimming lessons. She officially has one more class left and she's on to the next one! We are thinking of starting again in February but we'll see what the New Year brings first. I am more excited now than ever. We had to move from the normal area in the Kiddie pool to the full size pool. Adriana wasn't even afraid of the bigger pool - actually, she ran and jumped in with her life jacket on! Clear signs shes ready for the next big thing. Hopefully her instructors see that and suggest her for Preschool classes.We will continue to take her swimming and get her used to swimming by herself a little more.

I must admit that only being able to do stuff with Adriana on the weekends really make them more special. Monday - Friday are pretty straight forward and leave little time for playing and more time for talking. This past weekend I had a ton of fun with her - it was our first trip together to Starbucks for a snack. Adriana had some tea (Zen tea!) and got a snowman cookie too! I love my local Starbucks. The ladies that work there are fabulous and just adored Adriana! I've talked about her many times but this was the first time they had met her in person. She just melted their hearts with her Thank yous and Pleases. I found it to be an appropriate place considering how well she behaves!! After an hour there we headed over to see the ducks again. Did I mention Adriana walked the entire time?? Love it.

I think Adriana is going through a growth spurt again. Every time I talk to her she's hungry! This is only day 2 but I think its happening again. Shes out growing her 2T clothes - which I knew would happen before Christmas anyways - but didnt think it would happen this soon. We bought her a fancy new winter coat in Size 3years and I think I have to exchange it because its a big snug! This weekend I will have to go buy her some bigger pants but I run into the problem that it doesn't fit in the waist! She has to wear skinny jeans or leggings mostly since regular jeans don't always fit her. Most have that elastic band to tighten but some don't! I also need to start thinking of a Christmas dress - do you remember Adriana with Santa last year? Oh lord she did NOT like him - classic. Hopefully this year is a bit different!



Have you started making your Christmas lists? Shopping?
Do you have your lights up? Tree out?
Are you traveling for Christmas? To where?
Do you want a White Christmas this year?

Bon Vayage

The past few weeks have been an emotional roller coaster for me! The amount of bittersweet moments in this short time is more than ever in my life. First we celebrated the long awaited return of my sister and soon to be brother in law. Now we are "celebrating" a new chapter for my other sister and her husband. My use of quotation marks is because its not really a celebration. Although I'm happy for her and her husband to start this new journey, I'm sad to see her leave.

Jill has been a great help with Adriana. Picking her up from daycare when we needed her, watching her so we can have a date night, and even just playing with her to give us a short break! It was nice to have her close by too - Newfoundland isn't so close. This will be an interesting journey for them though. I think Jill always felt more "at home" there since we visited one summer in highschool. I remember her saying that she was coming back for sure. Of course we didn't believe her but after 4years of university she returned home. I thought that was good enough until she continued to go back every year in the summer since then.

This past summer's vacation with Adriana must have been eye opening for her. She did more sightseeing than normal and I guess it made her realize that Newfoundland really was home for her. A little while after our trip, she told me she wants to move there. I wasn't that surprised but wasn't sure if her husband would make the big move. A few weeks later she told me her house was going on the market, he was transferring his job and they were going to move to NFLD, officially.

I'm glad she's doing what makes her happy!! I think the lifestyle in NFLD is more her style instead of the big city life. She likes to work and relax - that's it. Nothing wrong with that either! She will be more at ease in that environment and maybe really settle down with a family next! I wish her and her husband all the best and a safe road trip. Can't wait for Skype dates!!

On another note, I think I might either be going crazy or things are getting real with Adriana! I haven't quite figured it out whether she's talking more clearly or I'm understanding her gibberish more. I'd like to say the latter was a joke but seriously.....at 21mths old she is saying full sentences!! The other day she said as clearly as anything "Auntie Kimmy, what are you doing?" I had to stop and stare at her for a moment before I repeated and answered her question. Impressive if you ask me!

I've read all the guidelines for a toddler and she is definitely above the average. Honestly, we don't do anything different than most parents. We read to her, colour, sing, dance, and watch TV with her. She seems to grasp things more easily now too; repeating people a lot. So watch what you say around Adriana - 9 times out of 10 she will repeat it! *yikes*

I'm jumping ahead a little - all the way to Christmas. I cannot wait!! She is going to love Christmas just like I always did as a kid. I started a Toys R Us Wish List under her name to keep track of some ideas I find for her. I will have to make room for toys in her room too. Looks like I will donate them to a charity or the Thrift store in town. I would never just throw out toys!! I always try to see if friends need them first since I'd rather them go to someone I know and needs it. However, I am big on donating and wish there was a toybank that would come pick up this stuff!! I don't get rid of everything though. I try to keep certain things that have a meaning to us. Her books will most likely never go anywhere.

We always talked about having a good library for her to read whenever she wanted. Reading feeds the mind and creates imagination. It is possibly the best thing you can do for your child. We are also a bit old fashioned when it comes to reading - we prefer the actual books instead of ebooks. Of course she knows how to use a tablet, but its much better for her to sit and actually flip the pages of a good book! When she's old enough, I would love her to read my absolutely favourite classic book: Little Women.

Yes, Christmas shopping has commenced. Don't judge me. Working full time means I don't have time to go to the mall whenever I want anymore lol So I've started some online shopping! Mostly ordering clothes for Adriana and will put away until the big day. I will have more room in the storage when the tree is up! Ohhh I can't wait!!


What is your favourite holiday?
How will you be spending it this year?
Do you think we will have a white Christmas?
When do you start shopping and why?

Fall is Officially Here

October is just around the corner this coming week! This is exciting for me because its my birthday. It is not a milestone year but another year indeed. I look forward to my birthday regardless of how many years it is - age really is just a number. I feel much younger most days! My birthday is a clear indication that the Fall Season is here.

The weather gets a little bit cooler, the days get shorter, Pumpkin Spice Lattes (haha!), sweaters and boots are out in full force. Fall is a beautiful season - probably my favourite. We have 3 huge beautiful trees in our backyard that I absolutely love to watch shed their leaves. When you're walking up our street these trees stick out just above the houses - just beautiful. I will definitely post pictures soon because most of the trees are starting to change already!

Adriana and I have started to leave the stroller at home again! She is really enjoying the walking everywhere thing and I want to encourage her to do it. She may go through phases so I will let it ride while its still going! Adriana loves being able to sit in the regular seats and not confined to her stroller. Big girl growing up!! We are fortunate to have a child who listens most of the time and understands the concept of the bus system. She is a people person so its actually entertaining on the bus with her. She tries to say "Hello Everybody" but it comes out as "Hello Buddy" Lol kills me every time.

This week is fairly low key - with the small exception of working on Adriana's Halloween costume! I am very excited to get started on my first ever homemade costume. Sorry folks but I won't be sharing what it will be until closer to Halloween! I promise to take lots of pics for those of you who wouldn't mind attempting it. I can't wait!! I promise its going to be worth the wait. It is not a typical girl costume :)

I promised myself last year that I wasn't going to wait until the last minute to start Christmas shopping. Yes I'm already putting the C-word out and its not even Halloween yet. C'mon give me some credit that I'm being proactive! I have a good storage area and will take advantage of buying a little at a time until the big day comes. Then I will only have to worry about wrapping and filling Adriana's stocking when December comes! Go me.