A little bit of Gracie...

Gracie is one special little girl!  She's all grown up, with an attitude to prove it! :)

Our day just isn't complete without a little bit of attitude thrown our way by this little girl.  I should have realized this was coming when I wrote my first blog about Gracie's attitude... and she was barely 1 years old.  I remember thinking... "this is just a phase."  Nuh-uh!!  That attitude is bred right into her, and I think she gets it from her mama! :)

Gracie isn't all attitude, though... she's got a nice mix of sweet and gentle in there too.  She is the kindest sister I could ever imagine (other than mine of course, who never practiced karate on me, convinced me to fall backwards off the kitchen counter onto the floor after a promise to catch me, had to be told to "only hit with open hands, your fists will hurt them," or anything else like that!!), and is so sweet to Ella it makes me smile just thinking about it.

Every morning when she wakes up, I go into her room to get her out of bed.  Lately she's been waking up crying, but it doesn't matter because the minute I open that door, she jumps up, stands at the edge of the crib with her bear in one hand and her doll in the other and says "Morning mommy!" with the brightest, happiest voice!  I go over and ask her if she's ready to get up, and she says yes... but she can't get out of bed until you've kissed and hugged every single animal that she's leaving behind in her bed and she lines them  up or tucks them into the blanket.  As soon as I pick her up, she always asks, "I see my daddy, mommy?" and then "Is Ella sleeping, mommy?"  When it's time to wake Ella up in the morning, it's everything I can do to get her to whisper down the hall because she is so excited to finally be able to see her sister for the day.  She usually ends up so excited that she presses her face against the bars of the crib and she screams "Morning Ella! How you doin'?" before Ella's actually fully awake and scares the bejeezus right out of her! :)  One day, Ella will appreciate how sweet those morning wake up calls are!

Gracie has quite the vocabulary.  She knows lots of words (including a few *ahem* unsavoury ones!), and she uses them... all day.  The girl never stops talking, unless faced with people she doesn't know, in which case she will only stare at the floor and say "no" when they try to talk to her.  She picks up expressions from everywhere and everyone, and they quickly become part of her everyday vocabulary.  Her newest one is "aye aye aye," like a little Mexican! :)  She also likes "oh my, oh my" and "what's that noise?"

We are in the midst of potty training Gracie, and after having a fairly impressive poop in her diaper last week, she said to Danny, "Oh my, oh my!  Big one in there, daddy!  Aye, aye, aye!"

She's also very concerned about noises lately, and any unfamiliar noises will scare her.  We must hear at least 30 times a day, "What's that noise, mommy?"  "What's that noise, daddy?" and she usually ends up stopping dead wherever she is and covering her face with her hands.  I really hope this is a phase she outgrows, because most of the time I don't hear anything, and she gets so scared I'm half convinced she hears dead people talking to her... which really creeps me out! :)

The newest phrase she's picked is "mine."  As in, "mine toys mommy!"  She's usually not too nasty about it, she's just informing you that whatever you have in your hands actually belongs to her.  She doesn't mind sharing though!  She can get quite upset when you take things that  belong to her though. Every morning we come upstairs and when she sees that the table has been cleared off from the night before, she gets quite agitated:  "Where'd mine supper go mommy?"  I think this has more to do with her obsession with eating than with not wanting to share her things.  One thing she is quite possessive off is Ella.  Apparently when they discuss Ella at daycare, Gracie is sure to tell everyone "that's mine Ella!  Mine!"  And when we bring Ella with us to pick her up from daycare and all the kids gather around the carseat to have a look at her, Gracie comes over and puts one arm around the carseat and introduces her to everyone very proudly, "This is mine Ella.  How you doin' Ella?"  Oh, if only that would last! :)

When the attitude does come out, Danny is able to stop it pretty darn quick.  Me... not so much.  It's not that I don't do the exact same things Danny does... I just think his stern voice is much scarier than mine and gets her attention much quicker.  She tells me no a lot.  A LOT!!!  Actually, she yells it at me.  "NO, MOMMY!!" and because that's not an acceptable way to speak to your parents, we always correct her.  So the next time, she raises her voice 3 octaves and sings it, "No, mommy!!" as if using her "happy voice" will make it okay.  I try to not to laugh at her then, because at least she's trying! :)

Every night at  bedtime, Gracie has her pee on the potty, gets into her jammies, and we read a couple books.  Then she turns out the light, and we go to the window to say goodnight to everything outside "Goodnight cars.  Goodnight flowers.  Goodnight birds.  Goodnight grass.  Goodnight sun.  Goodnight doggies next door."  Then its hugs and kisses, and into bed she goes.  We line up the right amount of animals and dolls, throw on 2 blankets, and say goodnight.  When we get to the door, we have to stop, say "Goodnight Gracie.  Love you."  to which she responds, "Night Mommy. Uvv you. Muwaaaah.  Night Dadd.  Uvvv you.  Muwaaaaah.  Night Ella.  Uvv you.  Muwaaaah."  Then we go back upstairs to continue our night, but I always turn the baby monitor up to listen to her fall asleep... sometimes she just keeps repeating her goodnight message until she passes out cold, but most nights it's "twinkle, twinkle, twinkle star.  Ow I wonna what you arrrrre.  Uppa bovva word so hiiiiiigh.  Yika dima inna sky.  Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle star.  Ow I wonna what you arrrrre."

*Sigh*  I do love that little girl!! :)

A little bit of Ella...

Babies are pretty useless!  Now, I would just like to say that I have spoken to other mommies, and they tend to agree with me!  Between the day they're born and around, say, 2 or 3 months old, babies are useless!  They're cute to look at... but that's about it! They eat, they poop, they sleep, they cry.  Basically the first 2 to 3 months is just surviving.  After that is when things start to become fun, when having a baby is really worth it!

Ella is starting to get to that point now.  You smile at her, and she smiles back.  She laughs now.  She holds her own head up.  She talks and coos and carries on a conversation.  Of course I don't have a clue what she's saying, but she's still talking along with me!  I can put her in the exersaucer, and she'll play for hours (or 20 minutes, which is hours in baby time!).  When she gets in the tub now, she gets so excited and splashes all over the place.  She's just getting cute, plain and simple! :)

This little girl can talk too!  Holy moly... she will talk your ear off.  Her favourite time to talk is during dinner, or when changing her bum.  She loves to lay on the change table and talk and talk and talk!  Here she is, having a little chat with Aunt Tricia on Thanksgiving.  She was pretty tired by this time of the night, but she was still able to carry on quite the conversation!!

Ella is also a smiler!  Gracie smiled very early, and Ella did too... the difference is, Ella gives them away for free!! :)  Gracie used to make you work for her smiles.  And most of the time, while you were making faces or funny sounds, she would look at you with this very serious look on her face, as if to say "Come on puppet, is that all you have?  Entertain me!"  Ella is the total opposite!  All you have to do is look at her, and she smiles away!  I sometimes compare them to Garfield and Ottis.  I'll let you decide which one I think acts like the goofy puppy! :)  Even now, Gracie is quite serious!  She's not a fan of people she doesn't know!  It's not that she's shy, she's just very choosy about who she will speak to.  Ella is only young yet, but I can tell that her personality is going to be the complete opposite of Gracie's!  I'm looking forward to meeting Ella's personality in the near future.  It's hard to imagine your second child as anything but exactly like your first... before she was born, the only image I could conjure of her was Gracie as an infant!  And since Gracie's personality (and *ahem* attitude) is all I've ever known from my children, I'm looking forward to watching a new and different personality develop.




It's hard to believe that nearly 3 months have passed since Ella was born.  Every day is a new adventure with her, and it's exciting to watch her grow and develop and learn new things.  Time seems to pass faster each and every day, and I have a feeling things aren't going to slow down any time soon.  So while I can, I take tons of pictures, and record all the memories.  Because soon my little Ella will be big like Gracie, and Gracie will be... well, she'll be bigger too!  So as much as I'm glad that Ella is out of the "useless baby" stage, I do kind of wish that the world would spin just a little bit slower... 

Enough is Enough

Last week I wrote a little about being thankful... thankful for friends, for family, for people in our lives.  Today at church, my priest spoke a sermon about being thankful for things.  For being happy with what we have, instead of always wanting more.  

He asked us, "when is the last time you met somebody who was truly happy with what they had?"  And the truth is... I don't think I ever have!  It's true that I'm happy with what I have... but do I want more?  Absolutely!  There are days when the toys are all over the floor, and the boxes of children's clothes are piled 6 high, and the laundry baskets are overflowing, and I think "I need a bigger house."  There are days that I stand in my closet, staring at "nothing" and think "I need more clothes."  There are days that I stare in my freezer or cupboards, full of food, and think "there's nothing to eat."

There's always going to be more stuff that I want... and when does it stop?  When I get a bigger house, will I be satisfied?  If I can go on a clothes shopping spree, will that make me happy?  If I fill all of my cupboards and fridge with the freshest foods, will I be able to make dinner more often?

Danny and I said we wanted to raise our girls with respect.  We want them to respect people, but also things.  They should recognize that they are lucky to have the things that they do, that not everybody is able to have as much they do.  We always said we didn't want a house full of toys, and at Christmastime and at birthdays, they will have to donate old toys to make room for new ones.

This afternoon, Gracie found some money while she was playing in my closet.  By money, I mean 35 cents, but to her, it could have been a million dollars!  We went grocery shopping, and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to show her the value of money.  She wanted a treat, and I told her treats cost money, so she would have to hand over her money if she wanted to take the treat home.  She thought really hard about it.  She really didn't want to give up her money.  But of course, in the end, the lure of a chocolate treat won out and she handed over her 35 cents.  Of course the little chocolate that she bought was more than 35 cents, but we'll save that lesson for when she can count! :)  The point is that she traded in her money for her treat, and she was happy.  She didn't need both. 

So if we expect our children to learn these lessons, why is it so hard for us, as adults, to be happy with what we have?  Maybe we all need the innocence of children, who think that a chocolate treat at the grocery store is the greatest thing in the world.  They see the chocolate in their hand, and don't even see the 300 other chocolate bars inches from their face.  When playing at home, Gracie can spend so long just laying on the floor, playing with her crayons and scrap paper.  She doesn't need toys that sing and dance and flash lights.  We can go outside and run around on the lawn for hours.  She doesn't need electric toy cars.  She can wear the same outfit 10 days in a row, and still look in the mirror like she does every day and say "I'm pretty, mommy."

Danny and I have spent so long talking about the things we want our children to learn from us, but I think sometimes the things we can learn from them mean so much more.  We need to just start paying attention, and try to soak up some of that innocence.  They are so happy with what they already have... somehow, in their little time in this world, they've already learned something that adults have such a hard time grasping, the greatest lesson... that enough really is enough!

So much to be thankful for!

Today is Thanksgiving... and I have tons to be thankful for!

This weekend, one of my oldest and bestest friends got married!  The weather was fantastic, the ceremony was amazing, and the bride was beyond beautiful!  I had the honour of standing with Leah as a bridesmaid, and there is no where else I would rather have been this weekend than sharing in her special day!  The wedding also gave me the opportunity to catch up with some friends I haven't seen since high school, and we had a fantastic time.  Watching how happy everybody was for Leah and Dave, and sharing in that happiness, makes me realize how lucky I am to have such great friends in my life!  True friends are always just a phone call away, even if those phone calls are far and few between, knowing that they will always be there for you, no matter what, no matter when, is pretty darn special!

My parents made the trip from Fredericton to Digby for the wedding weekend too.  I needed someone to watch the girls so I could be in the wedding, and Danny could come as well.  Driving all that way, just to babysit??  That's my parents!  They would do anything for Danny and I, and we are so grateful for everything they have done for us!!  Someday, we will be able to repay them for all of their troubles, for all of their generosity, for all of their selflessness.  Until then... we will give them the pleasure of caring for and spoiling their grandbabies! :)

Thanksgiving Dinner with the family.  Being away all weekend meant that
Colonel Sanders had to cook!! :)

My sister is also pretty awesome to me.  We forgot about finding someone to watch Charlie for us while we were all partying in Digby this weekend, and Patricia didn't hesitate to take her for the weekend.  I text her some mornings... "Come visit.  Bring tea."  And she always does!  Gracie adores her, and she's there to babysit when we need her.  I know that I don't have to worry about leaving my girls with her because she loves them like they're hers!

There's my husband as well, and I'm thankful for him every day.  He's really a very special guy, who doesn't hesitate to show how much he loves me and the girls!  Sometimes I take for granted how lucky I am, but then I see a dad who complains about having to stay home to "babysit" his own kids, or who rolls his eyes when his wife asks him to help bathe the kids... and that's all it takes to remind me of how amazing Danny is.  He doesn't think twice about helping out with the girls... not because he knows it's his job... but because he truly enjoys being a part of every aspect of their lives, the good, the bad, and then dirty!

And then of course, there's the girls.  Every single day with them is a gift, and I need to slow down sometimes and savour every moment!  Like this morning, when Gracie unrolled the toilet paper roll while sitting on the potty.  Instead of noticing the mess on the floor, I should be thankful at the success we're having with potty training.  Instead of being annoyed at the fact that Gracie talks alllll day, every day, without taking a single breath, I need to close my eyes and listen to the sound of her voice... thankful that she wants to talk to us, grateful that she's such a smart little girl who can make us laugh all the time with the things that come out of her mouth!  Instead of being frustrated when Ella is crying, I need to be thankful that she only cries when she's hungry, and not all day long like some parents have to endure.   I'm thankful watching my girls grow!   Seeing how strong Ella is getting every day... she can hold her head up without any help now, and sits up straight with us barely holding her hips.  Gracie is an amazing big sister, and helps out however she can with Ella.  When I go to get Ella up in the morning, Gracie has to follow behind me, yelling "Morning Ella" all the way.

Thanksgiving only comes once a year, but I think it's important to take a few moments every day and realize how lucky I am to have the life that I have, how lucky I am to have the friends that I have, and how luck I am to have the family that I have!