Ramblings of a Stay-at-Home Mom

This past weekend, we celebrated Dominique's 1st birthday with 2 separate parties . On her actual birthday, I did a smash cake for her to cheer her up after getting her 1-year needles. A family member made it for her and I told her that I didn't care what it looked like, as long as it had rainbow colours. And it was! Dominique was overjoyed when she saw it and I let her have at it. As you can tell from the photos, she LOVED it!  This was a mess to clean up. She was rubbing it into herself as a mosturizer and got it everywhere! Luckily it was buttercream frosting she used, so after a bath, it made her skin feel really soft!  Later in the evening, my Mom and my grandparents came down for a small birthday celebration. Hot dogs, brownie cake and presents! Saturday evening, we had another birthday celebration for her (split families suck). This one was more family and friends that showed up. Keith's aunt made the birthday cake for Dominique and I usually let her have free rein o

Dear Dominique: Today is the day you turn 1 year old. And my how the time has flown. I’d like to say that you remained my little baby, but let’s be honest, you were never little to begin with. You’ve taken up so much space in my heart from day 1 and continue to take up more. It’s a good thing Mommy has lots of room in her heart for all the love out there. These days, you are not stationary very long, preferring to be as mobile as you can, crawling over things, starting to grasp whatever you can to stand up, starting to take uncertain wobbly steps that will one day lead to you running around the house. And the noise. Oh girl. You make enough noise to cover you and your big sister some days. But it’s awesome. And I love it. Especially around 6:30 in the morning when you wake up and Mommy and Daddy are just waking up. You sit there in your crib and just babble away to your blanket and teddy bear. And I lay in bed, listening to you talk, smiling. By the way, I won’t even mention the fo

Ok, Ok. I know I said that I'd have this post up on Monday, but I was sick over the weekend, plus working on Saturday and had an impromptu family date on Sunday that took up most of the day. So, here we go. I'm glad to announce that I finished up Dominique's knitted rainbow blanket! Took me almost 5 months of working on it (although I'm tempted to say 4 months because I really didn't touch it during December). But I'm glad I'm done. And just in time for Dominique's birthday on Thursday. I am actually quite pleased with how it turned out, being my second knitted blanket and all. There are some holes here and there due to dropped stitches, but I made it work. I did only 6 colours instead of 7, but it still looks good. Near the end, I basically knitted whenever I had the chance. Kids watching cartoons, me watching a movie, talking with Mom, during Girls' Nights, etc. You get the picture. I didn't measure it yet, but it's a good size. And no, I d

Reading Hunger Games. I‘ve read it a couple time already, but it was sitting on my nightstand, just begging to be read again. Playing with yarn. Lots of yarn. Watching the new DareDevil series on Netflix. LOVE!! Trying to get over this stupid sinus cold I have. At least it’s on its way out, but now Keith is sick as well. Boo! Scrapping my 2015 Project Life album. Got a couple weeks behind while I was finishing up 2014, but I’m hoping by the end of the weekend to be caught up again. Doing nothing much this weekend. Finally. Except work on Saturday, but that's only 6 hours. Loving the quiet during nap time. Both girls are exhausting themselves in the fresh air and then pass out for 2-3 hours while I get some time to myself and maybe a nap(?) Discovering that Dominique is getting closer to walking and grabbing anything she can so that she can stand up. Enjoying watching Violet master more skills. She can almost wash her own hair with shampoo and she’s learning how to clean Pa

Reading lots of short books with the girls. Both Violet and Dominique love being read to, and it’s awesome. Playing Mario Bros. on the Wii. Watching nothing much this week. I kind of banned the TV/movies during the day and I kind of like it. Trying to finish Dominique’s blanket this weekend between an Easter gathering and working. Cooking food for an Easter gathering this weekend with Keith’s Mom and Step-Dad. Lots of food. Eating pizza for lunch with my sister Sam. Drinking as always…..tea. Although I have been starting my mornings out with a glass of water. Going to work this weekend. It’s nice to be able to earn a bit of money, but at the same time, I’m working with teenagers…. Hating the headache that has started. Discovering that Dominique is boycotting her morning and evening naps, except for a 20 minute power nap in the morning and an 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. I’m not sure how I feel about this….. Starting on plans to learn double sided knitting and make an aweso

So according to Keith, Violet needed a pet. He had texted me during the day, saying that he was going to take Violet out after he got home from work for a little bit of a date. Violet was excited to go out with Daddy all by herself. Keith got home early and took Violet in the car with him. He didn't tell me where they were going, but I took it as a good sign. 45 minutes later, Violet walks in the front door, holding a small box and exclaiming "Mommy! I got a guinea pig!" WHAT?!?! I quasi didn't believe her, until Keith walked in behind her, holding everything else for the new resident rodent. Yup, her and Daddy's date, was picking out a guinea pig as her pet. Keith mentioned that she's been really responsible lately and that it would be a good idea to get her a small pet to learn more responsibility for herself. At least it wasn't a mouse.  While we were setting everything up, we were asking Violet what his name would be. She wouldn't give an answer, s

I hope everyone had a very good Easter! Here at the Neufeld house, it was a bit busy, but not too much. We had the gathering for Keith's Dad and Step-Mom last week (it was also my father-in-laws birthday), so it freed up a lot of this weekend. Which was good. On Good Friday, we had lunch with my Mom's side of the family (her parents, siblings, etc) for lunch. Unfortunately, I didn't take photos while we were there, as there wasn't a lot of room for 8 kids to run around and it was very noisy and was causing a massive head ache for me, and I was trying to keep Dominique from getting run over by the older kids who weren't looking where they were going. Saturday was my first day back at work after my Maternity leave (yay....... ), and we just lazed around the house for most of the day. Bonus part was that both girls did really good for Keith while I was gone and Keith mentioned that he may have found a secret for getting Nique to like him while I'm gone. He won'

Reading  Unbroken by Laura Hillendbrand. I finally bought it 2 weeks ago after being on the waiting list at the church library for a while. I’ve started reading before going to bed to relax for a bit. Playing  with the girls and helping Dominique with her standing up. Watching  Big Hero 6. Violet and Dominique love Baymax. Trying  to get outside this week and get some fresh air. Drinking  more water these days. Doing  lots of knitting, as I’m almost done Nique’s blanket. Going  to a couple Easter gatherings this weekend. Food….. Loving  that Keith surprised me with a date night earlier this week while we had no kids for a bit. So needed. Enjoying  naps this week. Been going to bed way too late this week and needing some extra sleep during the day. Thinking  of what to make for Easter this weekend as I’m in charge of desserts. Listening  to Violet and Dominique talking to each other. And lots of happy/mad squeal from Dominique. Celebrating  that we are debt free! Except for the house. S