Date Night Ridiculousness

Crazy fun date night. We both arranged babysitters and headed to Winnipeg around 4. A quick trip to Michaels for me to get some cake supplies (and glow sticks) then we were off to Montana's for supper. Chris was very excited for the "All you can eat ribs" event. He polished off 3 plates of ribs, with a little help from Shelly who was pretty much drooling on the table.

Then, we went blacklight minigolfing. Some of us were sticklers for rules, and some of us were just there to have a good time.

It got a touch ridiculous with a few clam heads....

some dinosaur kissing...

and some dolphin caressing...

There were two "hole in one" miracles.

It was a great time. I recommend this place to anyone. We had fun. After this though, we decided to go watch a movie. It started at 9:40 p.m. Sounded like a good idea at the time, but when Chris and I didn't get home until 1:40, we realized it probably wasn't the smartest idea ever. Thanks for a great night!

Twenty nine

So, I'm now officially 29. Life is pretty sweet. I keep trying to write 29 things about me and my life, but it's all stuff you've heard before, so I won't. :P Instead, I'll just do a random post.

- Gavin is getting much better at walking. He can take about 4-5 steps when he wants to. When he doesn't want to though, he's really good at holding his legs up in the air so that you can't get him to stand.

- I'm loving celery lately, which is weird because up until a few months ago, I hated it. Pair it with Kraft's 3 cheese ranch and I'm in heaven.

- Parenting a 3 year old is hard. I don't think we're doing that great of a job. Tantrums, tears, timeouts.... Sigh. I miss my sweet baby.

- I'm having a hard time back at work. I don't know where I fit anymore. It feels like I never left, but to everyone else, I've been gone for a year. I've been replaced and life goes on. I don't know where I belong especially because right now, I'm "teaching music" and when I come back in September, I'm teaching grade 3/4 in the afternoon. I can't wrap my head around that one yet.

- I gotta go. Lunchtime!

Birthday Party Extravaganza!

We started off party day with streamers and balloons hung by mommy and daddy and a great big balloon bouquet from Grandma Pat and Grandpa Jerry. We were a little confused by the "Congratulations!" balloons though. Maybe those ones were for us - "Congratulations! You survived year one."

Saturday morning, we had a little party for our playgroup friends. We had cute little cupcakes! Gavin was a little unsure of the flaming cupcake.

But, he quickly understood what needed to be done.

He didn't really enjoy opening presents at all, but his big sister sure did!

Here's a picture of Gavin on his new toy. It looks like he's holding on for dear life on a bucking bronco, but really, his little legs are just a bit too short for this one still.

And.. on to party #2. This party was a friends of the family party. We had 4 families over. 23 people in total. Thank goodness it was nice enough outside that most of the kids played outside! We made a whole whack of kabobs, pasta salad, caesar salad, veggies and dip, fruit and a cake!

If you haven't checked it out over on my cake blog, I urge you to go over there. This cake is definitely one of my top 5 favourites!

This is pretty much the only picture I have of Gavin with his cake. Chris was in charge of photos and they didn't turn out at all. That makes me really sad. They are all so washed out, but I had to put this one in anyways.

It was sooo cute watching the kids crowd around and call out which animals they wanted to eat. They all had manners except my little piggie. She ate a bumblebee and a spider before we even started to serve the cake!

Monkey, anyone? The cake was vanilla with chocolate chips and chocolate pudding. Note to self, next time, add way more chocolate chips!

And... onto party #3. This was just a simple one after church for Chris's parents and brother's family to come over. It was great to use up the leftovers from party #2. I quickly whipped up a cake on Saturday.

This time, he was an old pro at the cake eating part.

So glad we were able to take the time to celebrate Gavin this weekend. Tomorrow is his actual birthday, with mine following on Thursday. It's going to be a busy week as I start back at work bright and early tomorrow morning!

Getting ready for the big one!

Amanda did not nurse her baby today.

:(

This is a sad weekend for me. I'm literally on the verge of tears constantly. I am so sad to go back to work on Monday. Yes, I realize it's only for 2 weeks and 3 days. I know this. But I also know that that's 2 weeks and 3 days that I'm away from my kids. My Chelsea, who throughout the day gives me hugs and kisses and tells me that I'm "the best mommy ever" and that she "missed me so long". My Gavin - my baby who turns one on Monday. One whole year. One. Where did the time go?? I feel like I've missed it. And I'm going to miss them so much on Monday.

Plus, I've been slowly weaning the boob man. I slowly got him down to morning and evening bedtime nursing, with sometimes missing the evening nursing. He's never had a bottle. We never offered formula and I was too lazy to pump, so little man has gotten very attached (pardon the pun). I nursed Chelsea for 15 months, until I got an ear infection and needed to go on stronger antibiotics. Plus, I needed to stop nursing in order for things to happen so we could have baby #2.

With Gavin, I feel like I'm weaning him too early. We don't do bottles or sippy cups of milk. He doesn't take it (Chelsea never did either). He doesn't have a favourite stuffy or blanket. He doesn't take a soother. I don't know how to comfort him without boob! He apparently gave the sitters a hard time going to bed tonight, which is unlike him.

I hate weaning. I can't cuddle him right now because he wants to nurse when I do. I'm uncomfortable and he's not happy. The reason we're weaning now is that in a month, Chris and I are going away for a few days by ourselves and we want to be sure that he's completely weaned and not missing it then. I know it's only for a few days, but not nursing my baby plus a weekend of celebrating his birthday, plus going back to work - it's too much! It's a huge reality check that he's growing up.

He's such a little man.

(and yes, we're still dealing with the rash on his chin, for my facebook friends. The flash in this picture minimizes how bad it is. It looks a lot worse in person. The doctor and the allergist both think it is something that he got into, rather than a reaction or allergy, but we are clueless as to what it was for sure. It's aggravated by the fact that he's teething and constantly drooling and so any ointment we put on, literally is washed away in minutes, and his chin is left wet and raw. I just want it healed already!)

So yeah, there's my post. I didn't mean for it to be all about nursing and weaning, so if it offended you... shush. I'm talking to you, anonymous commenter!

Hot stuff!

Yesterday, we took a trip to the city to take the kids for allergy tests. For lunch, we went to the Olive Garden. There was a 10 - 15 minute wait, so we were waiting in the area at the front of the restaurant. There was a group of ladies there, ranging in age from 30-40, waiting as well. It started out as three ladies, but eventually all 8 of them arrived and were waiting.

At first, I noticed one lady kept glancing over at Chris. I thought at first it was because he was playing with Gavin and she was either a) admiring how cute Gavin was or b) trying to figure out what kind of rash that cute baby had on his face.

Then, she nudged her friend who started looking at Chris. They started whispering. Then they told another lady to look and because she had her back towards Chris, she actually had to turn around and take a few steps to get a look at him. At this point, I interrupted them and asked them what was so interesting.

A few of them started to blush and one lady outright said, "You are so handsome." Another one chirped that Chris looked like he was a model and someone else said that he looked like a dad from the day care that they worked at. The one lady though just kept going on and on about how handsome he was and something about a modelling career. Another lady said to stop, that they were embarrassing him (he was about 17 shades of red by now), but that one lady just kept going on and on. Luckily our buzzer for our table started vibrating so Chris could make his escape.

When leaving the restaraunt we had to pass by their table again and although Chris refused to look at them, I gave a little wave and said "Bye, ladies!"

Next time you see my hottie of a husband,be sure to tell that big ol' hunk of man meat how handsome he is. He'll love it. ;)

Hair Day

Today was a big hair day in the H-house. We went from a wispy haired baby boy...

...to a short haired little man!

Me and my little man. Two weeks until he turns one. Ack!

Voila!

Before.After.

I love it. Nice and dark and I opted for bangs again. I might regret it, but right now, I like it!

When did she grow up?

It's too fast. She's too old. She's sweet. She's caring. She smothers me with hugs and kisses.

Despite her tantrum today that ended in her crying so hard she threw up, I love her to bits. I do.

I really do.

No, really. I do.

I DO!

(Just reminding myself in case we have another day like today, tomorrow.)

Buddy.

Ritz anyone?

Gavin really needs to start walking soon. He gets so annoyed with the grass and gravel touching his knees that he's started to crawl like this.

Just stand up, buddy! Stand up!

And yes, he's getting his hair cut on Tuesday. I can't wait any longer!

Goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

We didn't have plans to go anywhere this May long. We wanted to just stay close to home, do a few things outside and just hang out.

We decided to skip church and take the kids to the zoo on Sunday. We got there at about 11:15. It was a perfect day - sunshine, a bit of a breeze, but nice and warm.

We hit a few exhibits before having lunch. I had packed a lunch for myself and Gavin, and Chris ate at the zoo, despite it being ridiculously expensive. He ordered a chicken burger, chili fries, a hot dog and a drink and it was $20! Throw in his bag of mini donuts and you have the picture of perfect eating, right there.

We opted to just take the regular stroller, instead of the sit'n'stand, because I knew I'd be the one pushing it for the most part and that thing is a beast. So stroller and daddy were our modes of transportation.

When we were looking at the camels, they put a harness on one and took it for a walk down the path right beside us. Chelsea got a little excited because she thought she'd get to ride the camel, but had to settle for riding the ponies instead.

The highlight of the zoo for this girl was not any of the animals in the exhibits. Nope. Those are boring. She loved the prairie dogs. She was feeding them G's popcorn twists and at one point in time had 8 of them all around her, waiting to be fed. People were stopping and taking pictures. It was a paparazzi moment for sure.

We left the zoo around 3:30. Perfect timing. As we were leaving, the lines to get into the zoo were sooooo long and it was starting to get HOT! The only problem with going to the zoo during naptime is that all the animals were sleeping and my kids were not. They didn't even sleep on the way home, which made for an early bedtime. Not a bad thing at all!

Saturday night.

Double date night. Supper at Mulligan's. Mmmm... oven roasted chicken and veggies. So good.

Then, the new Robin Hood movie. I don't remember all that much except tons of killing. I had to pee and didn't want to interrupt the people sitting in our row.

Then we went to Smitty's for coffee and wings, and gross, burnt sweet potato fries.

We went with Shelly and Shawn. Who knew giving away our dog would create such a bond between old owners and new? These two guys...

... are peas in a pod. One and the same. Shelly and I are always amazed at the similarities in these two guys. We are pretty sure we married the same man.

The cute couple. Honestly, he was impressed to be hanging out with us. He's just hiding his excitement well.

The other cute couple. Dang. We're a good looking set. Although, this picture is definitely making me consider shorter bangs. Holy forehead, crazy eyes, Batman!

Oh wait. Crazy eyes... pretty sure these ones win!

Great night, guys!

Oh, Mr. SUN!

Sunshine. Glorious sunshine! The past two days have been amazing. I've been so scared that this weather won't last that I have tried to jam pack as many activities into these past two days as possible. On Friday, we walked to the park, with a shovel and bucket to play in the stones.

Here's an action shot of G. Check out the drool!

I absolutely love his baby soft pudge. I could just keep squishing him all day long.

I've been busy working in my flower garden. I planted a ton of perennials so hopefully next year, spring will be a bit more exciting as I watch what will grow year after year. My method of gardening is "plant and pray". I don't pay much attention to the instructions of planting in full sun/part shade, etc. It's fun being able to do my own garden. Last year, my mom did pretty much my whole flowerbed because I looked like this.

(Was it really that much of a surprise that my son was over 10 pounds??) So grateful to have this summer to run and play outside and enjoy summer without a newborn. Last summer was a tough one, having to stay in out of the wind and heat and having to stay in to nurse and nurse and nurse.

Today we also got ready to put rock under our front deck, and Chris worked hard all afternoon doing things like digging in our new firepit, straightening our fence, and digging out our sandbox, while I made and decorated a cake for my nephew. We then had some friends over for a meal of lasagna, caesar salad and garlic toast. They even helped us get the first chunk of the playstructure standing. Woo hoo!! Soon, we'll be hauling in a bunch of sand and then there will be no more mud in our back yard! I can't wait!

So please sun, stay. Stay and play. I love you. I love being outside and feeling warm. Loves.