busy: an understatement.

Oh hi.

Happy end of January.

I've complained (a lot) about how busy 2013 had been for us. 

But then life threw us a curve ball and said

"busy? you haven't seen anything yet".

To summarize our December to January:

the ice storm that could probably freeze hell

followed by a 6 day power outage
during which time, Shaun still slept in our subzero house
in an attempt to prevent our pipes from freezing

only to wake up on christmas morning to a frozen leaking pipe in our bathroom

by the time we finally moved back into the house, Shaun had a cold
and I spent the next week trying to prevent the spread of his germs

Bean started daycare - she cried, mama cried, there was a lot of crying
also, trying to get ready, fed, and out the door in the morning should be an olympic sport

I went back to work, GAH... 'nough said

right of passage, the-never-ending-string-of-colds-from-daycare started and hasn't stopped

I learned the hard way that you can still catch the flu (I'm talkin the liver inflaming, never ending fever,
wicked body pain, rib cage damaging, cough til you vomit kind of flu) even after a flu shot

and to top it all off, how many extreme cold weather alerts have we had this season?
there's something wrong when I'm clearing snow off of the car without a jacket
because -15°C feels "warm"
needless to say, I have never looked forward to spring more.

I barely picked up the camera in January, but some highlights of December.

For the love of food.

 We're still working on the exit strategy.

How to dress up pajamas.

My baby with my "baby" - as in the dolly my grandma gave me for my 3rd birthday.
And yes, my mother keeps everything.

It wasn't much of a christmas for us with the power outage, but we still made it work.
And not that you're wondering, but with everything that happened, our christmas tree still stands.
Hopefully I find the motivation to put it away by the end of February. 

november in pictures.

I must've blinked extra long, cause I missed the whole of November.

And half of December.

I mean, how is it December already? 

The speed at which this year has passed is highly alarming...

But back to November:

We had the first snow fall.
(She won't step on grass, leaves, dirt, or sand. What makes you think she would step in snow?)
(She also likes to run away naked.)

Learned how to put on pants.
But due to its highly labour intensive nature, we had to take several breaks.

We put up the Christmas tree.
Yes, in November.
She loves it - especially the twinkly lights.
It's a lighting ceremony at our house everyday.
"3, 2, 1..."
"wooooooow"
18 month olds are awesome.

The ornament bandit has not been as much of a repeat offender as I anticipated.
But our tree is still trimmed ombre style...

And last but not least, in fact, the highlight of my November (but she'd probably disagree):
we met Santa.

Classic.
This was the first of four shots that got progressively more desperate.
The entire mall heard my child screaming
"MAMAAAAAAA"
"AAAHHHHHHHHHH"
"MAMAAAAAAA"
as I smiled and waved at her.
I'll take that mother of the year award now, thanks.

happy halloween. rawr.

...wait, do leopards rawr?

Anyways.

Boo to yet another rainy halloween.

Not that we were going to go trick-or-treating, since any candy collected 

would inevitably be eaten by mama and papa.

Little Miss wanted to wear her costume a day early.

Why not?  Better that we get some use out of it!

So we went to the park and mama was able to take SOME (understatement) 

pictures on a nice sunny day.

What I mean to say is:

This post is a photo dump of my child dressed as a leopard.

Who taught her to pose like this?

I mean really.

"I don't get to eat any candy AGAIN?!" 

"I'm very upset with you right now."

Hope you're having a happy & safe halloween!

(and a reminder of what a very chubby minnie mouse looked like)

pumpkin patch.

That time we tried to go pumpkin picking and it turned out to be a mistake.

Well not a mistake, but seemed like every other family in the GTA had the same idea.

Constantly backtracking here.  All the way back to the beginning of October.

We went/tried to go pumpkin picking.  But basically spent the entire time standing in lines.

Managed to stay long enough to snap a few pictures...

Don't let this smile fool you.

This city girl absolutely refuses to step on grass (or dirt, or sand...)

and spent most of the time like this:

In summary, this is how I felt about the whole experience.

Oh ya, makin' memories.
Happy weekend!

more is more.

I meant to post these a while ago but life got in the way, blah blah... you know the drill.

This girl, lover of hats, scarves, headbands, hairpins... anything that will fit on her head.

(pants even, boxes even, oh and a toque in 30degree weather even)

If you can't choose one, then wear them all.

And then check yourself out in the mirror.

And ask your mama if she thinks you look pretty.

Once upon a time when I was a little thing, I too practiced the "more is more" approach to fashion. 

(although mine was probably "more is more and maybe a little more")

Also, I may have had an "I insist on wearing my pink swimming cap" era in the mid80s. 

So with that image, I bid you adieu.

Have a great weekend!

hi. i'm still here.

Hi Hi

Too many things have been happening around here and I haven't been able to 

find the time (or energy) to make my way over here.

Mainly, we moved (!)

With some very helpful friends (and a little person who likes to think that she's helping),

we moved into our new place over the weekend.

We're still living out of boxes, on a mattress on the floor,
with no curtains on the windows, but it's nice to finally start settling in.

And there's no greater motivation for me to unpack, than a toddler who likes to ransack anything/everything within reach, and eat cardboard (amongst many other non-edible objects).

Since my last post, Moo is walking, starting to say words 

(and tries to repeat everything we say... gotta watch our mouths)

and has gone from baby to toddler way too quickly.
With the attitude she gets when she doesn't get her way,
it's like she's 16months, going on 16 years.

We're still scrambling around here, but I want (hope) to update more often!

Be back soon!

out west.

We're in BC!

My idea of a vacation is to sleep in without an alarm clock,

eating lunch (that I did not have to prepare myself)

and going back to sleep.

So can I call it a vacation if I've been getting even less sleep than usual?

A little girl refuses to sleep unless she's literally on top of her mama
can be cause for some serious sleep deprivation...

At least I don't have to cook.

My girl.  Lover of fast rides and heights.