Ramblings of a Stay-at-Home Mom

Dear Dominique: 6 months Bay Girl! And you’ve grown so much! Right now you love everyone. Seriously. As long as you are fed and changed, you’ll go to anyone who will hold you. Which helps a lot at church as I rarely get called out for you. The volunteers at church always comment that you love to be held and are such an easy baby. Awesome.  Right now, you love solid food. And lots of it. You are definitely my baby who eats everything by the truckload. I have no problems giving you new foods to try and you just sit there, with your mouth wide open, waiting for me to put more in. You still do like your nursing time with Mommy, as it’s quality time, just the two of us. Right now, you want to see everything around you and are always curious about stuff going on. You take the whole world in with eyes wide open and I pray that you continue that. Right now, I think you’re starting to teeth. You’re drooling a bit more and are chewing on anything you can get your mouth on, especially if it’s...

Dear Violet: I want to remember your enthusiasm for anything and everything. Getting up in the morning and having breakfast with Mom or Dad? Enthusiastic. Hearing Dominique waking up and talking? Totally enthusiastic. Cousins coming down to play? Enthusiastic. Mommy cooking supper and you want to watch? Enthusiastic. Going anywhere where there is water to play in? Really enthusiastic. I swear it’s contagious and I love it. There will be days when you’re not enthralled about anything, and that’s OK. But the days you are? I love them. I want to remember the laughter and giggles and screeches when you and Daddy have tickle fights. Most of the time you start them by going up to Daddy and either tickling his feet or poking him and then the tickle fights ensue and endless amounts of giggles are heard. And as soon as Daddy stops, you go back for more. Always more. It makes my heart soar when I see you and Daddy interacting this way. And I pray that this continues. I want to remember your love...

Dear Violet: I want to remember your enthusiasm for anything and everything. Getting up in the morning and having breakfast with Mom or Dad? Enthusiastic. Hearing Dominique waking up and talking? Totally enthusiastic. Cousins coming down to play? Enthusiastic. Mommy cooking supper and you want to watch? Enthusiastic. Going anywhere where there is water to play in? Really enthusiastic. I swear it’s contagious and I love it. There will be days when you’re not enthralled about anything, and that’s OK. But the days you are? I love them. I want to remember the laughter and giggles and screeches when you and Daddy have tickle fights. Most of the time you start them by going up to Daddy and either tickling his feet or poking him and then the tickle fights ensue and endless amounts of giggles are heard. And as soon as Daddy stops, you go back for more. Always more. It makes my heart soar when I see you and Daddy interacting this way. And I pray that this continues. I want to remember your love...

Reading lots of stories to Violet and Dominique. Playing around with the layout of the living room. Watching The Lego Movie on repeat. Everything is Awesome!! Trying to do more journaling for myself. Cooking a couple more new recipes this week. Eating tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches tonight. Drinking lots of Earl Grey and Honey Lemon teas. Doing some planning for Violet’s upcoming 3rd birthday party. Going nowhere this evening and liking that plan. Loving the clothing score that I got at the local thrift store. Bag sale day means lots of clothes in one bag for $8! Hating that Fall is slowly giving away to Winter. Brrr… Discovering that Dominique is trying to figure out crawling. Ack! Enjoying some much needed quiet time in the early morning or after the girls go to bed. Thinking of how to once again re-organize my craft closet. Still too much stuff in there. Feeling sick, sick, sick. Darn stupid cough that won’t go away. Hoping (for) Keith’s new job to go good ...

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...