My Girls

I get together with a few girls once a month to chat and eat yummy food and we call it 'photoclub'. Which really...it is. We always have some sort of theme to follow that month and then the day of photoclub we all remember we have an obligation and quickly go and snap a few pictures in that general theme. And then of course we race trying to get the pictures printed in less than an hour so we send them to both Walmart and Costco to see who's fastest...and it turns out they're equally as fast. Which then means we have two sets of the same picture to share that night - YAY! and by 'we' I mean 'ME'. I do all that! I'm terrible at remembering to TAKE pictures for photoclub!! But I always pull through...except for the time I printed them and then forgot them at HOME!!

But this month we decided to do a little Mother's Day photoshoot in lieu of  our monthly food/chat fest a.k.a photoclub. We all got together at Tanya's lake and took pictures of each other with our kids. I've never looked better! These girls KNOW my best angles!! I also kind of LOVE the pictures because they are of me and my beautiful daughters - I really have the best life. I will honestly treasure them forever and ever!!

Let's go fly a kite!

It's been a little bit windy here lately. Not even really comparable to Southern Alberta...and clearly nothing that keeps us indoors or that has ruined days. BUT it's been windy enough on and off that the girls have been begging us to take them out to fly kites! Now, in my home (with a husband who works too much) most things fall under the "mom" category, but kite flying is one of those rare activities that is clearly 100% "dad" territory! So one day Ben rounded up the girls, pulled out the kites and took the girls down the block to the green space to fill their kite flying fix! They LOVED it! Every single little second. It was even cold and little bit windy and they still LOVED it!

Dance

So my little girls have been trying out all sorts of hobbies this year...well ok, just Gymnastics and dance. We're trying to expose them to a few different things before we let them focus...if they want to. So the verdict is in, and they seem to have enjoyed gymnastics more than dance. BUT I'm going to try them in a different dance program next year to see what they think.

Anyway, their year end recital was a few weeks ago and my oh my were they adorable! Hailey LOVED every second of it. She was ALL about the makeup and the outfit and memorizing and practicing her moves. She wanted me to take a million pictures of her in all sorts of interesting poses that were beautiful in her 5 1/2 year old mind! And they were in my mind too because I just think she's beautiful! She was so dedicated to her moves during the recital and full of concentration! Definitely made me proud!

And then Paige...she took this dance thing on like she does everything in life: 100% or not at all. You just never knew what you were going to get. At the dress rehearsal she just laid on the stage (on her back) and spun in circles while they rest of her class danced around her. So I KNEW we were going to be in for quite a show on the day of. And she didn't disappoint! At the recital we were happy to see her trying so hard and performing her dance EXACTLY how she was supposed to! And then the best was at the end when they teacher was handing out the year end certificates she just stood there...and then shimmied her tutu up her body, over her shoulders and around her neck. And she continued to just stand there. The teacher called her name, and she stood still. She called again, and Paige stood still. Then her teacher said "Is Paige here?" and Paige piped up "Yep I am!! Right here" And she still stood still. Then the teacher asked her to come over to her to collect her certificate and FINALLY Paige decided to move...after she put her tutu back where it belonged of course. It was sooooo cute and had the entire audience giggling in their seats! And in sweet Paigey fashion, she had know idea that anything had happened. Oh she adorable!

It was a great experience and I'm excited to see how they like dance this year! I just LOVE being a mom of girls!!

Easter

I'm a sucker for traditions and for family! Friends are great and I have some really great loyal and fun friends. BUT family it where it's at! I just LOVE my family and I especially love having everyone so close. Well...of course my parents aren't close by right now, but we still love them all the way in Montreal! One of my favourite traditions is Easter  Every year the Easter bunny sends us a letter...long and detailed of course...with a breakdown of who is hunting for which eggs. There are 12 grandkids and that means over 12 groups of different styled/coloured eggs. Once the letter is read the hunt is ON! The kids run out and search...and that genius Easter bunny hides them according to age (hardest to find for the older kids, and easiest to find for the little ones). It's all sorts of fun chaos! And I LOVE every second!

Cait's Birthday

My blogging is really lacking lately....I'm just feeling so caught up in my everyday life that I'm having a hard time focusing anytime to recording it. So, here I am over a month behind and finally posting about Cait's  Birthday!

Timing was perfect for Cait's Birthday this year. All Ben's family happened to be in town so we had a little get together for her Birthday with a little Easter celebration on the side. It was great. We did a HUGE birthday for Hailey when she turned one, and then didn't do much of anything for Paige. Classic middle child. In our defense we had just put an offer in on a house, left for Holidays out of the country, and sometime while we were gone we had to officially buy the HOUSE! The house we'd only seen once...just three days before. And then we happened to move into that house less than two weeks later! It was a crazy busy few weeks and Paige's Birthday fell right in the middle of it. But we still had a cake, and family and a little party where we got to watch her one year video. A family tradition. So she certainly was not forgotten! And it most definitely loved.

Anyway...back to Cait. So we had fun opening presents...all the little girls in the family LOVED every single second of it! If they could open presents everyday of their lives I'm sure life would be complete. In fact...I should try that once in while...just re-wrap their toys. Genius! So Cait got spoiled! Of course...it's hard to NOT spoil that baby girl!

Then we sat her down for cake. It took her a few minutes to warm up to the idea, but by the end she had us in tears! We were laughing so hard. She just gave the cake eating business her ALL! Two hands on the highchair tray...and face buried into that lovely cake! It was the perfect Birthday and we look forward to many many more with our sweet and silly baby Cait!

Cait

There's this picture of me and Cait that Rebecca took of us back in the fall when we were doing our family pictures. It hangs on the wall just outside Cait's room. I chose this picture and this spot for a reason. It gives me peace. I can see it from the rocking chair in her room, so each time I rock, cuddle, or feed her I see that pictures and instantly feel comfort. The reason I feel peace when I see this picture is strange though. That day, the day we took pictures, I was exhausted. Exhausted to the point that I literally could not hold my eyes open as the photoshoot came to an end. More pictures had my eyes shut than should have been the case. WHY? Well, the night before our family pictures I was literally up all night with a crying baby. This was normal for us...and not normal at the same.

I'm a strong advocate of sleep training. My first two babies were generally sleeping 12 hours by the time they were 4 months old - and we worked hard to get there. At 6 months it certainly wasn't an issue in the slightest! But with Cait, no amount of sleep training has worked. She either sleeps through the night...or she doesn't. Letting her cry it out doesn't work, rocking her to sleep doesn't work, bottles don't work either. She chooses when, where and how to sleep. And we CAN NOT figure it out. Part of it, actually most of it, is because we know she's in pain most of the time. Kidney infections do that to you. So we cater to her...and that's ok. but sleep, and peace and happiness are sometimes not the easiest thing to come by around here.

ANYWAY, this picture gives me peace because when I look at it, I see an exhausted mom who is tired of being a mom. There's a weary smile on my face...one that I feel is on the verge of tears. It's the face of someone who really needed help and wasn't sure how to ask for it. And so now when I look at that picture and it's been an equally as rough day, I am comforted because I know I've been there before and survived. I've felt that exhaustion...and made it through. And then on the great days (there are lots of those too) I see how far we've come from the exhaustion that day (and many more since) brought us! I celebrate that great day we've had and how awesome it feels to be a mom to this special little girl!

Anyway...Cait just turned one last week. And I've spent a LOT of time reminiscing on this last year and thinking of all the sleepless nights, the hospital visits, the surgeries, the kidney infections, the specialists appointments etc. And then I remember that those tough moments - although many - aren't the strongest memories...they definitely do not define this last year. What I love to remember is her infectious laugh, how she rolled over so young and never stopped moving, how she loved the swing and spent a lot of time in it, how she makes the cutest most perfect baby sounds and just chats with herself all day long, how she'll do anything for a laugh from us, how she started taking good solid steps at 9 months and then full on walked less than a month later, how she will eat anything I feed her, how she LOVES Hailey more than anyone, how she squeals with excitement when Ben comes home from work, how she lets Paige hold her and feed her bottles, how she sometimes just wants me...and will cuddle forever as long as she gets to be in my arms, how she loves to carry a purse and a baby around all day long, and...

just how plain old ADORABLE she is.

We  love her so much and are so grateful to have Cait in our family. In this short year she's taught us all patience, kindness, sympathy, empathy, and most importantly how to love no matter what!

Happy Birthday Cait! We love you!

Cait's One year video

It's a tradition in our family to make a "one year" video for our girls. Besides being a compilation of our favourite pictures from their first year, it's also where we introduce them to "their song". We spend a LOT of time listening to music and finding the song that perfectly describes how we feel about our newest family member. Hailey's song is "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds, Paige's is "surprisingly so" by Amy Seeley and Cait's song is "Lucky" by Kat Edmonson. The girls love listening to their songs and hearing why we chose their song for them. In Hailey's case we just felt soooo lucky to have her in our life. When we had Paige we were worried about how we could possible love another baby as much as we loved Hailey. Surprisingly enough it wasn't all that hard at all, and she quickly became one of "our favourite things". And Cait's song, we're so lucky again. The lyrics I like are "Life is just a dream, lucky you, lucky me". We toyed with the idea of having "We were made for eachother" by Emilie Mover as her song, but "lucky" just felt so much more appropriate for Cait. Have a listen and let me know what you think.


Cait one Year vimeo from Meagan McCance on Vimeo.

Paige's video can be found Here
And Hailey's Here (but the video isn't there anymore...I'll try to re-upload it)

Remember that time in March?

Remember that time in March when your friends called you up and told you to head over to the Ag Center (or whatever it is called) and get those adorable girls of your on a free horse ride? And then you did? Yes, I remember that too...and I remember how it made THEIR day, or month, or even their year! hahaha.

These girls were BEAMING the entire time they waited to ride those horses. And they were beaming during their ride, and especially after!

It makes me thinking that maybe we need a farm with horses, cause you know, I'm so great with animals (heavy on the sarcasm). 

Paige

This is quite possibly the sweetest picture of Paige. She's been having an emotional few weeks lately and this sweet little sleeping girl just melts my heart.


I'm not sure if her struggles are because:
-she's three
or
-she's three and hasn't been feeling 100%
or
-she's three, hasn't been feeling 100% and has a busy mom
or
-she's three, hasn't been feeling 100%, has a busy mom and a sick baby sister who monopolizes her mom's time
or
-she's three, hasn't been feeling 100%, has a busy mom, a sick baby sister who monopolizes her mom's time and a big sister who gets to do fun things like go to school
or
-she's three, hasn't been feeling 100%, has a busy mom, a sick baby sister who monopolizes her mom's time, a big sister who gets to do fun things like go to school and who likes to wake her up early to cuddle
or
-she's just three

Regardless of what it is, this was one of those moments that had me climbing into bed with her to cuddle. How could I resist?

Quick little update

The girls are in bed, Ben's out with friends and I have a few moments of me time...and I've been sorting and editing pictures. I'm just realizing that I'll have a one year old in less than two weeks. And that means I need to put together her one year video. So sorting it is. I've taken a hundred million pictures and now I need to decide  Where do I even start?

Speaking of pictures...I think I'm going to do it. I'm going to make the jump and start taking picture of people for real. For real guys! I've been practicing and working on this for years. I've taken a few courses and I just have a few more things to finish and then I'm ready to launch this thing. I'll probably start out with an introductory rate...a portfolio builder. And see how things go from there. So in preparation I've been taking pictures of my girls and just testing things out a bit. I BEGGED them for a shoot last week and they only agreed as long as they got to pick their outfits, wear my jewelry and wear makeup. So I obliged. We found a tiny spot of shade in my backyard and snapped a few frames. And I think I came out with a few keepers. These girls are LOVELY!