A quick update on what we're all up to

Alexandra

My little girl is practically running around the house now. She loves playing chase with her brother, or for that matter, doing anything her brother is doing, and her favourite thing to do is to go outside and play. At least three times a day, she'll walk to the front door, pick up her shoes and bring them to me in hopes that I'll put them on her and take her out!

She now has 7 teeth and I think she's working on the eighth. The funny thing is that she is getting them all out of order. Because her 7 teeth are the two top front teeth, the two bottom front teeth and three of her four molars. Yup, that's right, she's still missing four front teeth -- but she's got her molars! The molars have been popping out at an amazingly fast rate -- as she only got the first one around her first birthday. And now she has three.

At her 12 month doctor's appointment a few weeks ago, she weighed in at 19 lbs, 15 oz -- which is in the 50th percentile. And she was 29.5 inches in length -- which is in the 75th percentile. So, she's tall and skinny for her age. Which doesn't surprise me really, because all her 6 to 12 month pants are too short, but she's just swimming in anything that is 12 to 18 month size because she doesn't come close to meeting the weight range on them.

And finally, she has three words in her vocabulary right now. They are: hi (which sounds like haaa and is always accompanied with waving), nana (which is banana and is her favourite food -- she'd eat nothing but bananas at every meal if I let her), and mmmm (which is what she usually says when she eats bananas, but since she loves most foods, it refers to anything tasty).

Austin

There isn't as much new to report about Austin right now. He's still taking swimming lessons -- which he loves and asks almost every evening if he can go swimming tonight. This time, he's taking evening sessions (since I was supposed to be back at work) and he's in a class instead of in private lessons. He's doing really well, even though I think he's the youngest in the class.

Next month, he'll also be starting soccer again. We've signed him up for the same league as last year because he had so much fun, so hopefully it'll work out again as well.

Mom and dad

Why not? Might as well put all the updates out here. Ryan and I are both playing softball again this summer, although we're no longer playing on the same team. Ryan is playing in a men's league and I'm playing in a co-ed league on Tuesday nights. At least we (hopefully) won't be playing on the same nights so we won't need to get sitters for the kids.

And summer is quickly approaching and with that comes many summer plans. We have two camping trips booked (our annual Canada Day weekend camping trip and another one at the end of the summer) and we've also booked a week at a cottage on Lake Bernard. It's the same lake we've been to the last few years, but we're staying at a different cottage -- a bigger one than last year, which was a little too small for all us.

And finally, in September, Austin and Alex are going to have a cousin! My sister and brother-in-law are expecting their first baby and I'm just a little excited!

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Alexandra's big birthday party bash

Alex's first birthday party was this past Sunday morning at Mega Fun 4 Kids -- an indoor playground in Scarborough.

Because our friends' daughter, Isla, turned one eight days after Alex did, we decided to get all of our friends and families together for one big party -- hence we rented the space for the party.

In total, we were about 35 people (10 of those were kids) and we had a blast. We had the space for two hours (and at this playground, you get the whole place for your party, not just a single party room) and all the kids, regardless of their age, had a great time running around and playing with everything. I was surprised, however, that they did all stop to eat (and not just cake).

Alex was a little timid, and although she wanted to play, she wanted to be sure someone she knew was around her at all times. That's ok though, there were a lot of people who wanted to hang out with her anyway!

Her favourite part was, of course, the cake!

Here are a few pictures. There are more on the slideshow.

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My new full-time job

Many of you already know this, but for those who don't, I am now, officially, a stay-at-home mom. My maternity leave ended on Friday, April 10 and I signed my termination papers at the office on Monday, April 13.

But it wasn't as simple as I make it sound. Although I had been toying with the idea of quitting work and staying home for months -- I had decided to go back to work, even if it was only to see if I liked it vs being at home with the kids every day.

Then, I sort of got laid off. My position within my department was eliminated and I was given two choices -- take the severance package offered, or take a nine-month contract being offered in hopes that a full-time job would come available before the contract ended.

Although the job looked like it could be interesting, it wasn't really what I wanted to be doing. So, after a lot (and I mean A LOT) of debate, discussion, sleepless nights and support from Ryan -- I decided to take the severance package. But instead of immediately looking for a new job, I'm going to take on the full-time role as mom and spend this time with the kids -- at least until Austin goes to school in September 2010 and maybe even until Alex goes to school two years later. After all, they're only young once.

As a writer, I'm also going to try to pick up some freelance work, mainly to keep my skills up and to keep my resume from having a big black hole on it when I do go looking for work in a few years.

So, that's it. I'm now a full-time mom and I'm excited about it. I love being with the kids every day -- going on fun outings, watching them grow and learn and teaching them new things. Although I did warn Ryan that he'll know if I'm having a REALLY bad day with them, because he'll come home from work to find the kids in a box on the front lawn holding a sign that says "Free".

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Alexandra's First Birthday (Part 1)

Alexandra's first birthday celebration on April 10 was a very low-key affair since it was Good Friday and we had just arrived home from Vegas a few hours earlier. But the day did include a trip to the park and hanging out with mom, dad and Austin all day -- two things she loves doing.

And no birthday -- even a low-key one, is complete without cake, a rendition of 'happy birthday' and presents. The presents were opened mid-afternoon -- with a lot of help from Austin who was too eager to see what she got to let her open them herself. Thankfully, she's not yet old enough to really get the present concept. Next year though, Austin's in trouble. Now, don't think that we're letting her first birthday go by as a low-key affair. Her party is going to be this Sunday morning. It's a double-birthday party as the daughter of good friends of ours is also turning one this week. So, stay-tuned for more photos next week!

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How we spent our April vacations

Last week, Ryan and I jetted off to Las Vegas, leaving the kids with my parents.

The trip started with packing up and heading to Brampton on Saturday evening where we all spent the night so that on Sunday morning, Ryan and I could easily sneak out while the kids slept to catch our 8:30 a.m. flight. Luckily, it was a direct flight; so with the three-hour time change, we touched down in Vegas just before 10 a.m. local time and were in our hotel room by 11 a.m.

We were able to get a fantastic deal and therefore were staying at The Venetian -- a five-star resort hotel on The Strip. Let me tell you, this place was unbelieveable! All rooms there are suites, and our 'basic' suite was 650-square feet, had three LCD TVs, a king size bed, a sunken living room and a bathroom almost the size of Alex's room. We definitely lived in luxury for the four nights we were there.

So, that afternoon, we grabbed a beer to go (because you can drink while walking along The Strip) and headed out to wander around. It was a beautiful day and we just kind of wandered for awhile before heading back, gambling for awhile and then sitting down for dinner. We ended up heading back to the room early that night -- there was a time change after all, and we had been up since 6 a.m. Toronto time.

On the Monday, we were a little more rested and after breakfast, sat down and played some blackjack. We did this one morning on our last trip too, and there's something really fun about playing cards and drinking before 11 a.m. It's even more fun when you're winning, which we were at the time.

The afternoon was spent shopping and wandering around from hotel to hotel -- again, enjoying the beautiful day. That evening, we went for a nice dinner in one of the restaurants at our hotel and then we had tickets to the late show of Blue Man Group. I didn't know what to expect, but it was really good and really entertaining.

On Tuesday morning, we got up early, rented a car and drove out of town to Red Rock Canyon for a day of sightseeing and hiking. You'd never know you were just a few miles outside of Vegas when you're here. It was fun -- even if we did get a little lost while hiking.

From there, we drove to Fremont Street -- downtown Vegas, where all the older Casinos are. About 10 years ago, Fremont Street was transformed to be completely enclosed by an LCD screen and every evening there are these very weird (but kind of cool) light and music shows. We hung out there for a few hours and then had dinner at one of the diners in an old casino.

On Wednesday, we again took advantage of being able to drink while walking on The Strip and had a couple of beers while we wandered from casino to casino and pretty much just enjoyed the sunshine. That night, we saw Ka -- a Cirque du Soleil show. And wow, was it ever incredible!

And then, just because we could, and because we were leaving the next morning, we stayed up playing cards until 2 a.m.

We didn't gamble much while we were there -- and in fact, managed to not lose any money, coming out a whole $18 ahead of where we started.
We flew home on Thursday morning -- and with the time change, the stopover in Chicago and picking up the kids in Brampton, it was midnight before we got home.

The kids, as I understand it, had a great time with grandma and granddad. But I think they did tire their grandparents out just a little! And, while we were enjoying hot and sunny weather (20C to 27C every day), they were doing this:
Now it's back to reality for everyone.

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Happy Easter!

After a busy week of being on vacation (and the kids being spoiled at Grandma and Granddad's house), Easter weekend has been on the low-key side for us.

On Friday evening, my sister and brother-in-law came from Ottawa to spend the night. They arrived just in time to help us sing happy birthday to Alex and to eat cake!

On Saturday night, we headed out to my parents house for a family Easter dinner -- a fun evening with lots of yummy food. And instead of making an Easter-type dessert, my mom decided to make a chocolate birthday cake for Alex; so once again, we all sang to her and she got to eat cake! She's going to be a pro at this birthday thing by the time her party rolls around next weekend!

This morning, the Easter Bunny came! It took Austin a few mintues to understand the fact that after he found a few Easter eggs that there were likely still more. And that, yes, they were for him. After every find, he'd ask us if the egg was for him.

Alexandra, on the other hand, didn't quite get the concept of looking for eggs, but she enjoyed following Austin around the room with her basket in hand. And she did actually find a couple -- and when she did she stood, pointed and yelled until someone helped her get it and put it in her basket.
With such a busy week of Ryan's and my Vegas vacation, Alexandra's first birthday and other news, stay tuned for a slew of new posts and pictures in the coming hours and days!

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Alexandra is definitely a walker now

I finally managed to catch my walking monster on video. She's gotten really good at it in the last few days -- so good in fact, that she often just walks around the house, just because she can, not because she's trying to go anywhere.

Here are two videos of her. Enjoy.



(I have no idea why Austin felt the need to throw blankets at her while she walked by, but she thought it was pretty funny.)

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