Haily smiles....

Do see anything in the following pictures that resembles a smile?

I can NOT get that two year old mine to smile for the camera.

Getting the 6 month old to smile - or look at the camera - or make a pleasant face? A thousand times easier.

You'd think even after a wonderful stolen treat of chocolate Hailey would at least give me something but nope. That's it. She has a beautiful natural smile that I sort of captured on her last picture - but asking to see that for the camera is a bit much I guess.

p.s. here's one just for laughs!

The month of December

And a bit of January as well.

So besides going to Mexico this last month, we have been living a normal - fairly boring life. Like yesterday for example, I was trying to hang a picture in my tv niche - to add some pizazz to the whole look. Anyway, after teetering on top of my kitchen bar stool for a few minutes, I decided to be a super hero and jump off the stool. Well, things didn't turn out as I'd expected -far from it in fact! So mid jump, the stool tipped, and then I freaked out and landed on my back...right on top of the stool. I'll just say this: I'd rather deliver another baby (med free) then feel that kind of pain again. I laid on floor unable/afraid to move and called to Hailey to bring me a phone...which she did. And I dialed Ben and asked him to come home. He agreed but also convinced me to call my friend Julie so she could take me into urgent care. SO I did. And I called my mom...for a second opinion. And then I called Lauren to come babysit. So I spent a few hours in urgent care - had a few X-rays and walked out with just a few bruised ribs, some sore kidneys and a stiff back. I hurt! But I'm so blessed that nothing was broken and it wasn't serious at all. I can hardly walk and standing, sitting and laying all hurt. But nothing major happened. So I'm blessed. Plus I learned a lesson - no hanging pictures on bar stools - and tell the full story to the triage nurse so the doctor doesn't think I fell while dancing on the bar stool - AT THE BAR. That was a fun one to re-explain. But I'm super grateful for all the help I had yesterday! Anyway, Hailey is watching Shrek, Paige is sleeping. So I'm sitting here blogging. I have two hours before I have to move again - so I might as well take advantage and update this tired old blog.

Anyway, boring old life.

So here's a picture update of this month:

So the month started with us putting up the tree and decorating for Christmas....and of course we had to clean before we got started. My full diapered, pantsless 2 year old decided to help - and you may be wondering why I was cleaning my house when my child looks this neglected herself. Well all I'll say is - she is 2 1/2, she does her own things these days.

The next day (still in pj's) Hailey had to put a 'cape' on Paige and turn her into "Super Paige". Paige loved this - any attention is good!


I made this cute little craft at My sisters Super Saturday - I know you want it!


We've started wearing our warm weather clothes and I just could not resist taking a picture of this happy chubby little face!

Hailey helped redecorate the tree - she might have Capri's on in the middle of winter - but at least she has clothes on! Aaaaaand, her hair is done!

Hailey and Paige just adore each other - Hailey loves hugging and kissing Paige

Paige loves kissing Hailey - aka slobbering and sucking on her cheek

We decided to start Paige on solids - is she 6 months old already?? Yep - time sure flies!

This was her reaction...not such a fan

The girls got some cute new Christmas dresses - Paige obviously loved hers!

Hailey didn't want to participate in the picture

I at least got a half smile out of her (oh and the reason I have no pics of them together is because by the time Hailey got dressed Paige was already napping...I'll have to plan ahead more next year)

I babysit this little Girl Kyla once a week. You might think that Paige is just a cute baby in the picture, but she serves a purpose - she keeps Hailey and Kyla from fighting. Kyla is 10 months younger than Hailey and they can be the best of friends or the worst of enemies. Oh girls.

Hailey reading them books.

Hailey and Paige on Christmas eve in their new pj's....oh so cute!

Hailey's reaction when she saw all her presents on Christmas day! The picture is blurry but that face is priceless!

This pic is blurry too, but I love it because she is soooo happy to be opening her giant stuffed Nemo from her granpa and gramma McCance (or granpa granpa as Hailey says - which really is not an insult, she just hasn't figured the difference between the words out yet)

Down in Claresholm with the cousins getting ready for the sled ride behind the quad

And they're off....it's beautiful out there hey?

While the older kids were out having fun in the snow, Paige was mauling her cousin Jaxson. He surprisingly was ok with the whole thing

And then she was all surprised when we told her to stop. She's all "what? what did I do??"

We tried a new approach to solids last week - Hailey helping

And same response

So finally we tried something new today - a baby mum mum. Paige feeding herself was a hit!! Yay!!
And that's it for now!

Oh Mexico

All right, so we're back from Mexico - and oh my, it was the best holiday ever! At least for me. The only thing missing was my wonderful husband! We really really missed him. But I'm so grateful to my mom and brother and my Aunts and Uncles and cousins for helping me with my girls! Everyone was so kind and loving and helpful! The resort we stayed at was fabulous! Really, it was the most beautiful place ever. Our villa was literally on the beach and just a stones throw from the water. We slept to the sound of waves crashing and woke to a beautiful ocean every single day. We boogie boarded in the water, we swam in the pool, we ate in restaurants, we went shopping and sight seeing, we went zip-lining through the canopy, we relaxed, and mostly, we just enjoyed each others company! Seriously, we had so much fun!

This was the first time either of my girls had flown on a plane, so I was quite nervous. But thanks to Westjets amazing tv's on each seat, Hailey was easily distracted pretty much the entire flight. And thanks to Paige's sweet personality, she just slept or played and cuddled in my arms the whole time. Our flight home was even better because we had extra room and the flight crew let me take Paige's carseat on and gave her her own seat. So she really was a dream...even during our 5 hour delay in Saskatoon. Both Hailey and Paige did so well - and I was so grateful for all the praise from all the other passengers. We didn't get home until 1am on Saturday, which could have been a complete disaster, but wasn't. Anyway, here's a little (well huge) photo journal of the trip:

So like I said, the resort was beautiful! See the big villa in the middle? The top two floors? That's where my aunt and uncle and their crew stayed. See the two windows to the left of their villa on the top floor? That's where they had us staying! GORGEOUS!!

The view from our villa was gorgeous too! Day:

And Night:

The resort Restaurant was fabulous...and had another amazing view:

And the people eating there were pretty neat too!

We did a lot of swimming in the infinity pools:

And a lot of playing at the Beach:

The sunsets were beautiful every day:

Paige was soooo cute:

Hailey was so fun (and she may have made a new best friend in her 2nd cousin Roel)!!

We had a little zip-lining adventure in the canopies:

We did a little bit of shopping (p.s. if you click on this picture you might see a little surprise sleeping in the basket of the stroller):

And finally, I enjoyed the company of my best buds:

Overall it was the perfect Holiday...and I hope to return here someday. Thank you so much Rita and Randy for letting us be part of this Holiday!

Wow...

It has been a really really long time! Wow. I think I sort of forgot about this place - and the saddest part? I have no pictures to add right now. Our computer died last month, which means, I can't upload pictures to the computer. I can add to Ben's laptop - but it's his work computer and I never really get a chance to go on it. So, one day I will upload all my pictures to the computer and post a billion pictures. Until then, I'll just write a few things about my girls for my records.

So Hailey:

She's almost 2 1/2 and boy can she talk! Seriously, she is a chatterbox...and the beauty is that we mostly understand it. She is big into pretend play right now. All her baby's have to have naps, and meals (even milk from...well you know where). She likes to pretend sleep (bed times and naps), and play animals. The best is her dog impression - she has to lick everyone and everything! She's also big into monsters - but not in a scary way. She just likes to run around fake screaming and hiding form her monsters. Oh - the hiding! This kids LOVES to hide! The dryer was her most recent spot...oh the joys. She's trying really hard to wean off her daily naps and I'm trying really hard to keep them going. The only problem is that when she naps she doesn't want to go to bed and then wakes up early! The jury's still out on what we'll do here. All I know is I'm not good in the mornings. She's growing up soooo fast! So fast that she is even changing Paige's diapers for me - multiple times a day. I still have to 'fix' them up a bit, but she's really doing a good job. Speaking of diapers - I may just be the worst mom in the world. Hailey is potty training herself...seriously. And I'm not encouraging it. I'm just so not ready for the running to the bathroom gong show it will be. But I think it's going to happen sooner then later. Most days she doesn't wear diapers in the morning and she goes to the bathroom all on her own - no reminders from me or anything. She poops and pees without problems! Honestly, this is crazy to me! But Hailey has really been the easiest kid when it comes to things like this - she slept through the night with no problem, she took a bottle without even thinking twice, she weened from the bottle without looking back, she transitioned to a toddler bed in a night and now she's potty training herself. Now before you get jealous - just remember I have Paige too!

So, Paige (she's 5 months). Well she is the sweetest little thing ever - really I just adore her. But man oh man is she work! She's a bit sensitive and really likes no one other then Ben or I. Seriously, she makes strange like you wouldn't believe. She is also so addicted to her soother and can not sleep without it. She has sleep troubles at the 45 minute mark without fail. She falls asleep easily and then wakes up exactly 45 minutes later - like clockwork! The good thing is she goes right back to sleep as soon as I pop a soother in. But really, it's a bit frustrating. But she's still so great! Right now she's sleeping 10-11 hours consistently at night without eating - and then I usually feed her and get another hour or two. Which is good I think. She still sometimes wakes for a paci replug, but that's ok I think. I'm still not sure what to think about this paci thing. Hailey sucked her thumb - which meant she self soothed from such a young age. So I don't know if what Paige is doing is normal or not. But it's working for us. On the developmental side of things, I think she's doing great! She rolls from her back to her tummy (but not tummy to back...she gets to frustrated and then just cries), and now she's starting to sit up! Ahhh - when did she grow up? We've also started giving her a bottle once in a while - I'm still breastfeeding, but I love the freedom of a bottle every once in a while. So I'm sooooo glad she'll do both for now! Oh - and just like her big sister, Paige got her first tooth at 4 months old. And now we're working on tooth number two. All I can say is "WOW" she is NOT a happy teether! But at least we're getting it out of the way! Gotta be positive right? We're going to start solids in a few weeks here - and I don't think Paige could be any more ready. She is so wanting to eat what I am. Almost there!

Anyway, that's my update for now! My girls really are so fun. I love them so much, and even better, they love each other so much! They're going to have lots of fun together - I know it. Maybe they'll fight a bit - but I can take that! They're just so cute!

p.s. when I blog again - I hope it's pictures of our little trip to Mexico we're taking next week. The girls (H&P), my mom and I! How fun hey?? And a little bit crazy!