Ramblings of a Stay-at-Home Mom

Reading nothing this week. Not sure why, but just haven’t gotten around to reading, except with Violet at bedtime. Then it’s Green Eggs and Ham. Every. Single. Night. Playing a bit too much Farm Heroes Saga on my iPhone. Watching lots of My Little Pony with Violet. Trying to keep on working on Violet’s knit blanket. It’s slowly coming along. Cooking more freezer meals. Eating lots of chocolate chip cookies. And anything pumpkin. Drinking Earl Grey tea, Pumpkin Spice Brulee tea and water. Doing lots of catch-up journaling again. How did I fall almost a month behind again? Going for more walks in the evenings with Keith and the girls. Loving the Fall weather that has come to Manitoba. Love the trees turning colour and the cool air. Hating that Fall gives way to Winter. Can’t it just stay Fall until Spring? Discovering pure and simple joy again, such as watching Violet ride her tricycle to the park all by herself the other day. Proud mama heart here. Enjoying my quiet morning

 Dear Dominique: Oh my girl, 5 months old already?! You still amaze me with how much you’ve grown in the past month and continue to grow and learn. You’ve mastered the rolling around everywhere routine and just love it when I leave you in one spot in the living room and when I come back a couple minutes later, you’re a couple feet away from where I left you. Luckily your big sister Violet is very watchful over you and makes sure that you’re OK when you’re rolling around.  You also like taking naps with Mommy in the big bed when we’re having a rough day and enjoy the cuddles that you get from everyone. We also just started you on pureed foods (so far avocado and banana), and you love it! You gobbled it down in no time and I’m starting to get scared for the future grocery bills. Love you to the Moon and back Baby Girl. Love, Mommy

* photo dump warning in effect :) * I guess we can say that Summer 2014 is done now, with kids back in school, cooler weather and shorter days. I do like summer, don't get me wrong, but I'm not a big fan of the heat (and we have bad humidity here in Manitoba, Canada), so the cooler months of fall are very welcome for me.  Although Violet doesn't care about the weather, as long as we can get out to play, she's fine with whatever weather there is. And I'm thinking that Dominique is the same way. Oh well. At least they want to be outside instead of sitting inside, watching TV all the time. This summer was a busy one, that's for sure. A almost 3-year-old who is constantly on the go, and a brand new baby definitely made this summer interesting. But well worth it. And what did we do this summer? Hmmm.... Let's take a look. We visited the Assiniboine Zoo for the day and got kissed by a camel. Played soccer with Great-Pepere Lots of Splash Park fun Even Dominique en

Reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Watching Dominique master her rolling over both ways. Eeek! Trying to keep my grocery list under budget, but failing. We ran out of EVERYTHING this week. Cooking more new recipes this week. And they were hits as well! Eating waffles for supper tonight. Drinking Organic Earl Grey loose leaf tea. Simply divine. Doing nothing much this weekend. And it’s nice. Loving how the girls get along so well, even if Violet is showering Dom in kisses. Hating that I’m not sleeping very well this week. Discovering my love for journaling again. Fell behind for a while and now that I’m caught up, it’s easier to keep on writing. Enjoying relaxing weekend mornings. Thinking of joining a Mom’s group at church during the week. Would be nice to get out of the house. Feeling sleep deprived. Hoping (for) Keith to get a new job soon. His place of work is shutting down at the end of November and we really need him to get a new job before then. List

I Want to Remember your endless amounts of smiles for Mommy when I come to get you from your crib in the middle of the night for a feeding. You’re always so happy to see Mommy, no matter what time of day it is. I Want to Remember how happy you are on any given day. Like seriously contagious happy. Unless it’s a bad day, but even then there are moments you are really happy. And what makes you happy? Just seeing people who love you, especially Mommy, Daddy and Violet. I Want to Remember your attempts at giggling/laughing. You’re this close and it has Daddy frustrated that you’re not giggling for him yet, although we can tell that you want to. I Want to Remember that you are always more content being held by someone than being put into your chair/swing/bouncer/play mat. You love people interaction and it definitely shows. I Want to Remember how endlessly entertained you are with your fists in your mouth, no matter what we’re doing. Unless you’re eating. Then you clutch Mommy’s shirt

I want to remember you pretending to be a monster wrapped up in your monster towel, running around the house going “rawr!” I want to remember how unconditionally you love your little sister. You wake up first thing in the morning and automatically ask if Dom is awake. And if she is, you’re in her room, saying “Morning Dominique!” I Want to Remember how much you love having tickle fights with Daddy. Even though you ask him to stop multiple times, you always go back for me and it makes me so happy to see that. I Want to Remember the millions of questions you ask and repeat over and over again. I’m glad that you’re inquisitive and asking questions. And if it’s a mundane question, I come up with hilarious ways to answer them for you and make you laugh. I Want to Remember how much you love to help me in the kitchen when making lunch/supper. You always have to be standing on your chair, watching me and waiting for me to give you the mixing spoon so that you can stir. And always asking q