Far too long...

I know, I know. It's been a while. No worries - spring break is mere hours away and I will blog again.

For now, check out what daddy let Chelsea do the other day. This was pretty much the day that I decided that supper time with Chelsea was out of control. Chris thought it was more important that she eats her food than how she eats her food. She was being a puppy. Cute, but not appropriate for supper time!!

Anyways, it's time for bed! Until next time...

Mud puddles...

Today was a FABULOUS day. I love warm weather. It makes such a difference in how I feel. This morning, Chris and I cleaned the house and then one of my students came and played with Chelsea for 2 hours because she needed to pass the babysitters course. This worked out well for me! Chelsea was awesome and they played downstairs for the whole two hours!

Then I went shopping and when Chelsea woke up we all headed out for a walk. I kept laughing that she looked like a mismatched hobo with her pink hat, mittens, and scarf, purple jacket, green splash pants and her new rainboots, but whatever, she was warm and happy.

After the walk, Chelsea discovered the true joy of mud puddles...

We came inside, played some more, ate supper, and made some cookies.

Then, bath time and good night. What a great day. I can't wait to stay home all the time.

Then and now...

Another week without blogging - bad, I know. It's been crazy - marking, writing reports, surviving... I always question my decision to be a teacher during report card/parent-teacher week, especially parent-teacher. Last time was the best set of conferences I've had, so please pray that these ones will go well too. It's my last set for at least another year and a half, so that makes me happy! :D

Chelsea is amazing. Man, oh man, how I love that little girl. Today she decided she wanted to not wear her diaper and wear undies. Good times. She wore a diaper for nap, and went swimming with daddy, but other than that, just peed once on the floor. Not too shabby. She didn't really pee on the potty though, so not sure if I'd say it was successful or not. lol. Either way, it was a fun day.

The other day, she was doing her favourite activity - crawling into the dog kennel. She still fits!

I can't believe last year at this time, we were so excited to see her standing and attempting those first steps. Man, time flies!

Alright, that's enough for now. Hopefully life will resume to normal soon!

great weekend

Good, busy weekend after a yucky, sick week. I stayed home from work on Monday with Chelsea because she still was not well. Tuesday and Wednesday I went to work and then Thursday, I wound up staying home with the same gross bug that Chelsea had.

Friday was a professional development day. Instead of going to the general motivational speaker, I chose to take in the technology sessions. They were great and I really enjoyed my day, when usually I find the PD sessions kind of... well boring. I had a great day and then we dropped Chelsea off grandma's for a night, and we went into the city. We had fun shopping and then going to Mongo's Grill for a late supper. We bought another 100lb bag of icing sugar, a ton of supplies at Michael's, a few outfits for baby boy, and a CUTE dress for Chelsea. I found some pants and answered many questions about how large I am, how I'm sure it's not twins, and yes, my due date is correct. Fun times.

Saturday, we took advantage of Chelsea being at Grandma's and we went out for breakfast just the two of us, then we picked up our girl, put her down for a nap and I headed off to school. I did all the marking that I had, but still didn't start report cards. Sigh. I hate report cards, but no where near as much as I hate parent-teacher interviews, and those are looming just around the corner. Yuck. Anyways, then we went out for a hectic, crazy supper with friends - BP is not a good choice when you have young kids. It just takes far too long.

Today, we headed to church, then I went to a Norwex party with my favourite Norwex consultant, and then out for another yummy supper with friends. This time, we went with the DiFrans for some yummy Chinese and then we all came back here to hang out, and be rockstars. It was good times. Now that I've wasted some time blogging, my goal is to crank out some report cards and then have an early bedtime.

Weekend.

First off, let me start by saying that I'm impressed with all the comments. I love comments. I love posting pictures on my cakeblog and on facebook, because I love the comments. So thank you to those of you who posted a comment on my last post.

This weekend has flown by. My weekend in point form:

• My parents came out Friday night. It was an awesome visit. Awesome.
• Here, Chelsea was helping Grandma do dishes. It was fun watching mom trying to get things accomplished, while C was totally in the way.
• We had a great meal at Szutu's. Chelsea ate an enormous amount of chicken balls.


• Chelsea was so excited to see Grandma and Grandma (she can't figure out that it's GrandPA, but we're working on it.) She brought most of her toys up from downstairs to show them off. She was crazy excited. It was so much fun to watch.


• Chris and I worked on the Road of Life cake while my parents entertained themselves.
• Saturday morning, I slept in, then we went grocery shopping, then I slept some more and finished the cake. It made me smile. I like when cakes turn out better than I could hope!


• Saturday night, I made an awesome meal of S&S sausage (thanks Andrea!) then baked some cakes.
• Chelsea started throwing up Saturday night. I was glad my mom was here to help with the clean up. I hate feeling so helpless, watching Chelsea feeling so miserable. Here's her cute self drinking some gingerale at 4 a.m. watching Dora, waiting for the next round of puking.
  
  
• Sunday we just stayed home and relaxed. Chelsea still wasn't feeling great and was very cuddly and whiny.

There. A post. A post with pictures.

la la la...

So I totally blog for comments. I have an unwritten, but I think it's been spoken, agreement with my sister that she needs to comment on my blog so I always know I'm going to get at least one comment. If I wanted to blog privately or for myself, I'd journal. But I don't. I am envious of the people who regularly get more than 4 comments on their posts.

However, that being said, I'm a bad commenter. This has gotten worse since using a blog readers. I read everyone's posts, but then forget to comment. I tell myself that I'll go back and comment later, but I forget. I'm trying to change this. I'm making a point of commenting, even on people's journals that I normally lurk on. Perhaps this will inspire more comments on my entries.

Anyways, now that that's out of the way... What else can I say? I had fun today with my big girl. I love Chelsea's hair cut. She's just so dang cute.

She looks like she's ready for kindergarten. Okay, well not quite - but close!

Now, in hopes of inspiring comments, I'm going to ask a question that I want you to answer.

What is one hobby that you don't have, but you really wish you did? I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I really wished that I was a scrapbooker. It just looks like so much fun and oh the creativity...

I'm a big girl now.

Some big milestones today. We took the crib and, with the help of Chelsea of course, moved the crib into Baby Boy's room. She's had lots of great nights and naps in her bed, so crib is gone now. Here's Chelsea this morning, happily blowing bubbles with bendy straws. Then, at 4:00, we had the big hair cut. Chelsea's hair is out of control. Here's her before picture. (Need I remind you that she is not yet 2? Look at all that hair! She's 22 months tomorrow.)

Here she is during the hair cut. It took one and a half suckers and a smattering of M&Ms to keep her happy in that chair.
And tada! With a mouth full of M&Ms, may I present the big girl Chelsea.

Now, I'm not sure what this hair will look like after a bath, as I will confess and say the hairdresser did use a straightening iron, and I'm not sure I'll be doing that too often with Chelsea. Man, it's short and cute though!

And here are a few pictures of the new 'do, playing at home.

Belly pics

Yes, that's right. If you are someone who doesn't believe in showing off the belly, avert your eyes. It's my blog and I'm posting pics of me right now.

I love being pregnant and haven't talked that much about this baby. I've been measuring 8 weeks ahead now for the past 2 months. The big debate at my midwife appointment today was whether my due date is June 3, or May 24th. There's not much of a difference there, but we are curious as to why I am so big! I've had 3 ultrasounds, so we know it's not twins! What's going on? Oh well, it doesn't matter as long as baby is healthy.

I am having a hard time with the weight gain, as it does seem out of control. I've gained 46 pounds already. Wowzers. Can you say "hold the fries?" Oh well. What can you do??

So here's some pics of me today - at 24 weeks (with a June 3rd due date).

(In this pic, I put on the same outfit that I always wore to take pictures when I was pregnant with Chelsea.)

And so just to give a little comparison as to the "then and now" shall we say... Here's a picture comparing me at 33 weeks with Chelsea, and me at 24 weeks now with Baby Boy.
Yeah, baby.

Update on the bed...

Chelsea had a great night! She went to sleep right away without a problem. Around 4:00 am I heard a thump in the baby monitor and I was at her door, waiting to hear the cry I thought would come, but instead it was the little monkey trying to play with a toy and open the door! I told her to go back to sleep and she wanted into her crib, so I transferred her blankets and toys into her crib, only to transfer them back 20 minutes later when she asked to go back into her bed.

She slept until 8:15 when I had to wake her up. Not too bad for the first night!

Big girl bed...

So long crib... hello big girl bed.

(Sorry the pics are kind of blurry.)
After discovering that she had climbed out of her crib today, we decided that tonight was the night for sleeping in her bed. At daycare, she's been climbing out of her playpen, so she's been having her naps on the couch. I figured this was a good start to sleeping in a bed. We're hoping to move the crib into the new baby's room for a while so C realizes that it's not hers anymore.
She loved her bed and climbed right in. She's been sleeping fine so far, only asking that we leave her light on, so we put it on dim, closed the door and we haven't heard a peep. Here's hoping the transition goes smoothly!

Sleep tight, big girl!

Quick Cheese.

Just a quick blog. I know there's a few people wanting more pictures of Chelsea, but she's not at a good photographing age right now. As soon as I try to take a picture, she throws a fit because she wants to play with the camera. It's frustrating! Plus, her eye teeth are FINALLY coming in, so she's either got a soother or her fingers shoved into her mouth and this doesn't make for the prettiest pictures. Here she is last week, saying "Cheese" for the camera.

She talks so much and is so fun to listen to. My new favourite word of hers is motorcycle. It just sounds too cute when she says it. But I'm out of blogging time for the moment, as I need to go partake in my Sunday nap. I've been so busy with cakes lately, I feel like I never get to sleep!

I'll leave you with one last picture of Chelsea. I really don't have any better ones, so this better do, Aunty Jen!

25 Things - copied from my Facebook...

I was tagged and wrote out 25 things, so I figured I'd cheat, paste it in here, and call it a night.

1. I've blogged many random things the past few times I've blogged, so I'm running out of creative things to say about me.

2. I have two blogs - http://amanda-and-chris.blogspot.com/ and http://amandascreativecakes.blogspot.com/ I love blogging and writing. I'm often curious as to who actually reads my blog.

3. I used to blog under the name "thegrrrl" using Livejournal in university. I still use thegrrrl often as a username.

4. I never used to, but lately I have begun to care deeply about what others think of me. I don't like how this affects (effects?) me. (I always get those mixed up.)

5. I love anything to do with my feet - footrubs, pedicures... I find it relaxing.

6. I fall asleep anytime I'm in the dentist chair.

7. I have a fear of going deaf.

8. I love just sitting around a fire. There's nothing like it.

9. I have a serious addiction to Diet Coke. I like having one first thing in the morning and if I don't, I feel as though something is missing all day.

10. I often miss a friend of mine who moved to a far away land called Ontario. We don't get to visit or chat often enough. I miss her. She understood me in a way that no one else did.

11. I often wonder what our life would look like if we would have stayed in Winnipeg instead of moving to Winkler.

12. My favourite book of all times is "Where The Red Fern Grows." Now I have the priviledge of teaching it to my students.

13. Since getting pregnant, I've stopped eating healthy. This irritates me because now is the time I should be eating the healthiest!!

14. I get annoyed when people say that they'll try. No - you either will or you won't.

15. I wish I could scrapbook. It seems like such an awesome hobby and it lends itself to community well. Unfortunately, I am not creative enough.

16. People think I'm creative because of my cakes. I'm not. I copy 95% of my cakes from pictures!

17. Being a mom has changed my life. I cannot imagine life without my amazing little daughter.

18. Growing up with the family I did taught me that family has nothing to do with bloodlines.

19. After having Chelsea, I switched doctors. I love my new doctor. He rocks.

20. I had no friends in grades 7 and 8. These were horrible years. I hid in the bathroom during recess times.

21. I loved how good I felt a few months ago when I had almost reached my goal weight and was running like a mad mama every night. I feel so sluggish and huge already and I'm only just over half done!

22. I am allergic to cats. I pet them and I get hives.

23. I've been thinking a lot lately about a good friend I had when I was in highschool. I wonder what he's up to, where he is and how his life has turned out. I wish I knew how to get ahold of him.

24. I often wonder if people from my past remember/think about/miss me.

25. I mourn our wedding photo experience. They turned out horrible, slightly out of focus and they aren't at all what I wanted. I wish I could go back and retake those photos.

Photos a la C.

Chelsea loves taking pictures. Unfortunately, the camera needs to face her, so the flash goes into her eyes. I thought I'd share some of her latest masterpieces.

Isn't she beautiful? ;)

Letting Go...

Sometimes as a parent, you just have to let go. No matter how busy you are, or how long your to-do list is, there are sometimes when you need to put yourself aside and put your children's happiness first. It's times like these when you ignore the dirty dishes, the messy kitchen, the livingroom that needs to be picked up, the vaccuming that needs to be done, or whatever pressing matter is at hand. You put all that aside to do a Thomas puzzle for the hundredth time, to read a Winnie the Pooh story for the 73rd time that day, to play Jump-jump, or to sing Itsy, bitsy yet again and again and again. It's worth it though, to see their smiles and hear their "love you's".

Well yesterday, I put it all aside and did just that. I was busy doing dishes after a day in the kitchen and all of a sudden I had a little girl pull up a chair beside me and repeat, "water, water, water..." I tried to let her play in the water, while I finished dishes next to her but that didn't work for long. I was getting too wet and frustrated that I wasn't getting much done. So I stepped aside and let her just play and play and play. I got out the mop and would occassionally just mop around her knowing it was messy, but she was having fun. I finished doing so much other work and she was blissfully happy just playing in the sink. Chris walked into the kitchen and commented on the mess, and I said I'd take care of it. Mopping the floors and doing a bit of extra laundry was well worth how happy she was. Here's a few pictures of my "letting go".

Kinda like 16 things, only more random.

Sometime I think in facebook statuses (statusi?) and because I can't change my status every ten seconds to reflect my true thoughts, I present to you:

Amanda is...

- blogging in bed. Should be sleeping - it's late and there's school tomorrow and I've done nothing to prepare, but I've got too much going on in my head and I'm hoping writing down some thoughts will make room for sleep.
- still feeling very unsure of who she really is. There has been a lot going on lately and for some reason, my self esteem has taken a huge hit and I just can't seem to bounce back. I'm my own worst critic but I feel that's how the world is looking at me right now too. I feel awkward and unsure a lot, and that's not who I am. Where did Amanda go?
- done with winter. I can only handle being holed up inside for so long. I miss the freedom of going outside. The days and evenings with a toddler are so long when you must be inside.
- wishing I wouldn't have checked the weather for tomorrow. -43 gets my hopes up, even though I know, without fail, we will have school tomorrow.
- envious of her friend's perfectly round, basketball baby belly. My baby seems to have made friends with my lovehandles and invited some extras over for a big party and I'm just along for the ride.
- craving Big Macs all the time. I've only had 3 this pregnancy, but I would eat them everyday if I weren't afraid of the lovehandle-party taking over.
- annoyed that Chelsea picked keys off her keyboard. Most of them have been fixed and reattached, but 'v' doesn't work very well and I have to press the spacebar harder. It really slows down the typing.
- wants gel nails in the worst way. I think people with gel nails always look so put together. Normally I have nice nails (at least I think so) but lately they've been breaking. I really want pretty gel nails but for some reason I'm not sure I'm a "put-together, gel-nail" kinda girl.
- wondering why on Earth I agreed to make 4 cakes in 4 days this week?? Seriously - what was I thinking??
- desperately needing a hair cut and colour, but isn't sure she wants to pay for one right now. I'm cheap and I know it.
- needing shoes. I have one pair of boots and one pair of shoes. Despite what others may think about said shoes, I love them. I've had them for years and I love them. I love wearing them and I know they aren't cute, but I like 'em! I'm hesitant to buy new shoes because with Chelsea my feet swelled so much and then after I was done my pregnancy, I had to get rid of all my shoes because they no longer fit. I don't like wasting like that, so I keep holding off on shoes. Hopefully flip-flop season is just around the corner. Oh and I have terribly wide feet so finding shoes is virtually impossible anyways.
- sad that Chelsea is sick again. Her cough is so bad and she isn't sleeping well, so we aren't sleeping well. It doesn't make for a happy household.
- finds smells overpowering right now. Today in church, I could barely hold it together because I could smell body odor on someone in front of me. It was so bad, I apparently had a grimace on my face for most of the service. Of course, this is the one time I didn't have any scented lotion or lipgloss in my purse. It was horrible. I barely heard the message because I was trying to figure out how to survive.
- just noticed that Chelsea took all her bath toys out of the bathroom and put them in the hallway but I'm too tired to go pick them up. How much you want to bet that I regret this later and trip on them during the night?
- loves having an ensuite bathroom. LOVE. 'nuff said.
- burnt her arm while baking a cake tonight. Little burns and cuts always hurt more than big ones!
- wishes she could wear comfy pants and barefeet to teach in. Life would be so much happier then.
- sad that my family lives so far away. The idea of having a new baby and Chelsea would be much easier if I knew my family lived close and could help out.
- excited about a photo-wall I'm putting my house. Now if only I had the time to complete it.
- thinking the fanny pack was such a great invention. I wish more people would wear them. No having to worry about purse straps or setting your purse down and forgetting to pick it up. Everything right at your fingertips. And they came in such an assortment of colors too. ;) Okay I'm just teasing. It's time for bed now. G'night.