snapshots of 2014...the year in pictures

Here in Southern Ontario we've experienced our first snow storm of the year, which means that 2014 must be drawing to a close. Judging from my obnoxiously long commute last night (a typically 30-minute round trip to pick up the girls took more than an 1 1/2 hours), the winter is undoubtedly upon us.

Though I never post on my blog as much as I intend to, I find myself taking pictures year round with stories in mind. As you've likely noticed, my kids faces never appear on here (or in any other online spot), so my phones are always filled with pictures of the backs of them! I have lots of pictures of their sweet faces too...but they're just not for internet consumption. :)

However, as I scrolled through my photos, I thought I'd share a pictorial retrospective to let you in on the little happenings that I never ended up sharing in full this year.

Here is a snapshot of 2014...with a little commentary along the way:

Winter...
Braving the cold out on family walks...

Spring
Celebrating Father's Day with my Dad and Cal - the girls were practicing their golf swing. And if memory serves, Lady M crushed me. Future LPGA'er?

 Waterfall walks and bike rides...

First independent swimming lessons and fresh haircuts...

Summer
I experienced my first week away from my girls in their lifetime. I've never been terribly good at leaving them, but thankfully Calvin is an awesome daddy, and I got to head to Lake Tahoe, California for an incredible conference with some colleagues. And the hugs when I arrived back at the Toronto airport were priceless...

 No summer is complete without a packed truck, and a trip to camp. (My little dancer is getting her camp-rope bracelet put on by my friend Trishy, and one of our awesome counsellors).

Lady A experienced her first pedicure on our mother/daughter trip to the spa. Lady M is a seasoned pro, and declared this past weekend "Mummy, I really need another pedicure". Ahhh yes, an absolute 'need' for any 6-year-old. But, let's be honest, I'll take her to get some cute Christmas toes in a few weeks. :)

Lady A's colourful tootsies

Lady M's flowery piggies

Mummy/Daughter spa date!

Fall
Lady M started Grade 1 with her snazzy new Hello Kitty backpack, which was really just a 'filler' until we could locate a Frozen backpack (which were sold out EVERYWHERE!). Hello Kitty now belongs to Lady A, because I ended up locating a coveted Elsa & Anna bag shortly into the school year. The first picture is at home, before school...the second is of her holding her teacher's gladiolus - Lady M was quite nervous about starting at her new school, but when her teacher allowed her to come to the front of the line and hold her flowers, she was good to go!

We celebrated my mister's 36th birthday in September with his favourite - carrot cake! 

Having built up a little courage to go away for a week thanks to my time in Tahoe, I took another week away to head to Florida with my mum. We were there to celebrate the wedding of my cousin Casey, and his beautiful bride Alex. Wedding, family visits, outlet shopping, sunshine and sleeping in - a wonderful week away!

Halloween this year gave us one Queen Elsa and one squishy little monkey. Cuteness abounded!

Lady M's homemade Elsa wig!

And with our first snowfall this week, we are into the thick of it again...

So, there's a little glimpse into our year - it's been a great one!

the big girl bed

Tonight my little Lady A is snug as a bug in her new big girl bed, but the day did not go down in history as just a simple transition; nope, she added a little spice to the day to make it extra memorable for all of us...

In less than three weeks Lady A will be celebrating her second birthday, and having gone from a little girl who was ridiculously easy to put to bed at night, to one who cried unless you stayed with her until she was completely out, we decided the time had come to move into a big girl bed.

We had been storing a queen size mattress at my parents' house for some time now, so thought we should pick that up and get her little girl room set up. Yes, I did say queen size mattress. That may seem like a bit much for a 28 pound child, but my girls are both in them now because they just happened to be the mattresses we owned. The queen offers an extra buffer before they'll fall out of bed too, which is always good!

Anyway, we had planned to go pick up the mattress later this afternoon, after nap. But, in a ironic little twist of fate, Lady A chose to make her final sleep in her crib the most memorable. I put her down, and she was crying a little, so I went downstairs to have a peek at her on the monitor while she settled. However, I didn't even have an opportunity to turn the monitor on before I heard the giant THUD from the floor above me; Lady A had gotten her leg up high enough to dive right out of her crib. In about 2.5 seconds I flew up the stairs and into her room, checking on my little girl who was laying on her back and crying. Thankfully, apart from a bit of a sore hand, her big jump had a relatively soft landing. It scared the heck out of me, but all was well.

So I scooped her up cuddled my little munchkin to sleep before laying her back in her crib for her final 'baby' nap. This afternoon we set up her big bed in her room, and she is now peacefully slumbering in it tonight. A successful transition so far!

With her growing vocabulary, increasingly expressive manner, growing independence and now her real bed, my baby is growing up so quickly! I'll always remember the day she moved into her big girl bed, both because of her nose dive out of the crib, but also because of how sweet and small she looks laying on her big mattress.

~Kristin

breakthrough!!

Well, its been several weeks since returning from camp. The week that was SO much fun, but completely ruined the sleeping habits of our sweet little girl. After a week of cuddling with mommy & daddy, returning home found her requiring the same attention - cuddles every night until she fell asleep. Well, tonight, after weeks of trying, she finally went to bed on her own again. Phewf!

We've never had a challenge with getting Lady M to bed in the past; she's always been very good about singing a song, reading a book, getting a kiss and saying 'night-night'. Then, right before we left for camp, we had just settled her into her new room, and she'd gotten the hang out of sleeping in there, becoming familiar and comfortable with her new surroundings. Then one week went and changed it all. Screwed up all of our hard work!

Its funny how with kids it just takes one small thing to really alter their habits (which of course are always changing anyways, and just when you think you've figured one out, something changes it...but I digress). This was probably one of the toughest though because it forced Cal or I into an 8:30pm slumber on many occasions each week (its tough not to pass out when you lay your head on the pillow!) Not that I'm completely opposed to that, mind you, I like my sleep (A LOT) but its just not always necessary!

So, tonight its just Lady M and I, and she went to sleep with only my beautiful rendition of Baby Beluga, a kiss goodnight and a couple of tears. Success.

Happily, I am now downstairs in the family room and thought to myself "great! I can get my reading for school done since I have class tomorrow!" Well, best laid plans. The hubby is out with my car, and my books are in the trunk.  So, if I can't read, I suppose I'll write!

Hope everyone else is having a great night!

things that go bump in the night

I suppose its natural that kids are going to fall out of bed, right? But aren't most kids under two in one of those little toddler beds with very little wiggle room? My little munchkin is in a beautiful, big queen sized bed, yet she still finds a way to wiggle her way right off the bed!

She's been in that bed for probably two months, and we've rushed in to pick her up off the floor three times now. After the first tumble, we moved the room around a little bit making the potential falling space a little safer. (Namely, we moved the night table to a different space in her room). We also packed her in with more pillows on the two open sides of the bed (bed rails don't seem to fit her plush, pillow top mattress very well) and we thought we were doing just fine.

But then, early on Sunday morning I heard the 'thump' and then the instant tears. I ran into her room, and there she was - at the end of the bed! She had wiggled her way all the way to the foot of the bed, and then taken the plunge from there. Perhaps, subconsciously, she was trying to get to her toys which are at that end of the room, but something tells me she's just a wiggler. That is the reason we moved her to a 'big-girl' bed at 18 months, after all. However, the mattress was on the floor back then, and she never fell out.

I realize all kids fall out of bed at some point; surely I did too. However, its an awful sound to hear the thump and tears in the middle of the night. So, maybe now that she's fallen off every possible side of the bed, she has learned her lesson and we're in the clear? I guess we'll just wait and see...