It's Still The Weekend

Tomorrow is Canada Day. Chris gets a 4 day weekend because the holiday is on a Tuesday. Chris' parents will be staying until Wednesday morning. I haven't had much time on the computer as we have been doing work in the garden and house. Ok I should say they have been doing work and I am overseeing. It's a tough life!



Grampa Joe hung 5 more hanging baskets around our fence. We already had 3 empty lonely hooks but now they are filled with pretty flowers. So now we have a whopping total of 8 hanging baskets. Lola Joy also planted flowers in the front of the house. I am sure our neighbors are impressed. No longer are we the house with half dead grass and empty hooks. We love you Grampa Joe and Lola Joy!!


On a random note I bought chimes last week. I love the sound of chimes. It makes me so happy to hear them. I love sitting on the patio listening to my chimes.



Our house feels like it is 1,000 degrees. I can barely handle a hot house. I have been running off to air conditioned stores just to escape the heat. I finally bought Sophia a portable playpen so she could sleep in the basement with us. It is so much cooler down there. I think we will be living in the basement from now on.


Sophia had her final swimming lesson today. Her class level was called starfish. She can now move on to duck level. How cute is that?!!

This picture makes me laugh. Sophia looks so perturbed with me. Like she is being forced to hold up her first dolly for a picture and is thinking I am the biggest nerd on the planet. Get used to it Sophia, get used to it!!!

I call this one 'laying on of hands'... praying for miss dolly

(remind you of anybody you know Bethany?)

Sophia wearing her pretty yellow dress from Lola Joy

Lola Joy being put to work...I mean happily planting flowers

(P.S. that is our little kiwi tree in the background, another new addition from Grampa Joe)

If you squint your eyes and look really closely you can see our hanging baskets off of the deck and fence! (The house right behind us is my good friend Jeannie's. Remember I met her at my mommy and me class? How cool is it to live so close!)

Cutest little cactus plant ever!

(Yes, the cactus Lilly had the nerve to chew up!!!! still mad.)

Ok folks Happy Canada Day tomorrow. I am off to relax on the patio with my new book and chimes. I discovered a thrift shop with a fantastic book selection!! yay. I have 3 to choose from tonight. Do I want light and fluffy or something a little more deep?? Yes, I agree light and fluffy it is!

Weekend Update

Oops, did I disapear again?? It was me just being lazy.

Sophia's Lola Joy and Grampa Joe are visiting us for the long weekend. Hooray! We are heading out today to buy flowers for my poor neglected empty hanging baskets. They always help us with things around the house. In fact Grampa Joe is mowing the lawn as I type! I swear he really does like doing these things. I am not a cruel daughter in law!!

Lola Joy brought me the cutest little cactus plant I have ever seen. Lily our cat had the nerve to chew the tips off of the cactus. I banished her to the basement. I'm so sick of Lily destroying any plant life I ever have in the house!! I am still a little fumed about the cactus incident. Huff.

Lola Joy also brought Sophia her first ever baby doll and a cute sunny dress that she will be adorning after her nap.

I will do a post with pictures on Monday. For now I am off to get ready and enjoy the day!

3 Years Ago Today....

Chris and I were married! Last year on our 2 year anniversary we had our first and only ultra sound and found out we were having a little girl. That day was one of my favorite days ever!

So here is to our three years of marriage. The good times, the rough times the challenging and the joyous. We were made stronger through it all and though I may act like a diva at times I love you with all my heart!

Let's take a look back shall we at all the good times leading up to our big day...

Halloween 10 years ago. The only reason I went and dressed up (I hate dressing up) was because I knew you would be there...(I'm the newsboy)

One of our first dates. We played lazer tag with friends and then went out to eat...we were so skinny!

To all the Christmas parties we endured together...

Engaged at last!

Minutes before walking down the isle smelling my gorgeous flowers

Our ceremony performed by my dad. Our siblings as bridesmaids and best man.

Our cake made by my Aunt Lori..flowers by my dad

Eating the yummy cake...no cake in the face here folks!!

Gotta refresh the lipstick!

Our first dance in the gazebo...looking very tanned

Posey posey for the camera

Becoming a dad...saying hello to our little daughter Sophia Grace

Thanks Chris for everything you do for us!

8 Months 1 Week & 3 Days Old

I think I am in denial that Sophia is growing up. The thought that in 4 months Sophia will be a one year old is mind boggling...in a good way and in a sad way. I want her to grow up yet at the same time I just want my baby to stay a baby!

I can't wait until she is older and we can have little conversations. To hear that little husky voice speak sentences. To find out what she loves to do. Will she like to do crafty things?? I hope so. Will she love to play mommy with her dolls? I hope so. Will she love to play dress up?? I hope so. Will she love to snuggle with mommy still? I hope so. Will she turn out to be a tomboy? Probably. And I am ok with that! Most likely all the forced girlyness will make her into a tomboy. For now I can play mommy with my little baby girl and dress her in bows and pink and love every second of it.

Playing big girl in mommy's blogging chair!

This blogging thing is fun!

Have I told you that Sophia is saying "mama"? It is the BEST! It's more like "mamamama" and only when she is tired or cranky or fussy but hey I will take it! I love it. This morning I woke up to Sophia saying "mamamamama" in her crib. Best way to wake up ever!

Wait don't go there's more......

I bought Sophia Grace another pair of shoes.

A girl can always use a pair of Chuck Taylor's!

Grampa's Garden

Have I mentioned what an amazing gardener my dad is?? Chris and I got married in the garden. So did my sister Gina and her husband Matt. My dad is a Pastor and he married me and both my sisters. How cool was it to walk down the isle with my dad in his garden and then have him turn around and marry us. Very cool. This garden holds special memories and it is really great to share it with Sophia and Sam.

Here is one of my favorite pictures from our trip home. Sophia sitting with Grampa overlooking the garden.

Did you notice the awesome playhouse in the back?? One day Sophia will think she has died and gone to heaven. It even has lights and a loft upstairs. My mom has decorated it very sweet and is a little girls paradise...and maybe a big girls paradise as well!

Sam sweeping the playhouse steps for Grama...he is such a helpful boy!

Long Time No Blog

Sorry dear friends for the very long departure from the blog world. Sophia and I got home on Thursday afternoon. The adventure home drained me for a few days. Let's just say the Vancouver airport was a nightmare and travelling with a baby made things very difficult! Luckily we had my sister Gina and her little guy Sam with us. Otherwise I think I would still be lost, confused and crying in the Vancouver airport.

How is Sophia doing you ask? She is doing great! It was pretty darn awful having her so sick and miserable. I ended up taking Sophia into a walk in clinic. The Dr. said it didn't sound like a typical stomach flu. He wanted to get a urine sample from her to see if it was a urinary tract infection or a kidney infection. Getting a urine sample from an 8 month old was very challenging! I won't go into details but you have to place a bag around her in her diaper and hope to God you get a sample. I barely did. I got a few drops. Sophia started feeling better the next day, no more fever and almost back to her cheerful self. We fly home. I assumed Sophia was fine since we never heard back from the Dr's office. Yesterday we got a phone call saying that yes in fact Sophia had a urinary tract infection. What?!? I promptly took her back to a doctor here. He made us get another sample from her. I gathered a lot more "sample" this time. We sent it to the lab this morning. Hopefully we will here back quickly. I am now a pro on collecting urine samples from a little baby girl.

Anyways she was sick almost our entire trip. I squeezed the two last days in with seeing friends and going out. The really sad part...I never made it to Target!!! I am still heartbroken. It hurts a little bringing it up.

All in all (besides the sick baby) we had a great trip visiting home. It was great hanging out with my little nephew Samuel and Gina. They are moving to Ontario in two days. It will be quite a while before we see them again. So this time together was fantastic. Samuel has the best personality ever! He cracks me up constantly and is so incredibly sweet. Sophia and Sam love each other. Sophia would smile and get so excited every time Sam would walk into the room. Sam would help Sophia all the time. He would give her her soother or sippy cup, he would point out her eyes to her (he was trying to teach her where her eyes were, this turned out to be a bit dangerous...but cute nonetheless) Sam is very observant and would watch us and copy what we did. We would always place this soft sheepskin rug on the hardwood floor so Sophia could play and have a soft landing if she tipped over. Every time Sophia woke up from a nap and came back upstairs Sam would run and find the sheepskin rug lay it out then go gather toys for her to play with. It was the.cutest.thing.ever!! There were so many countless adorable moments I can't even begin to tell them all. I will tuck them away in my memories and look back fondly on our time in Grama and Grampa's house together.

I will leave you with a few of our gazillion pictures from the trip. I will have to do installments of pictures from our trip over the next few days! Keep an eye out. I will not be disappearing again.

The calm before the storm. She got sick this evening.

(P.S. my bangs are tucked to the side, some days they just get in my my way. This day they happened to be bugging me..I know you care)

Auntie Gina and Sophia. Sophia loves her Auntie!

Sam the man!!

Sam helping Grampa mow the lawn

Grama and Sophia!

Grampa and his grandkids on Fathers day!

Sam having a tea party

The boy never fails to make me laugh!!!

No, I Didn't Forget About You

So here we are in Vancouver and Sophia has gotten the flu! This is the first time Sophia has had the flu and let me just tell you it sucks!! My poor baby girl. She is now starting to feel better and has managed to keep food down. Phew. Talk about ripping your heart out. I think it is the absolute worst feeling seeing your baby sick. 

How did the plane ride go you ask.....she did so well!!  No problems. Mommy was so proud! She was all peachy keen and happy until Wednesday. Then she got a high fever and was miserable. I kept thinking "is it her teeth bothering her"?? Nope, it was the nasty flu! This is the first moment of down time that I have had. She is cozily sleeping at the moment and I can start to feel relaxed again. sigh. I have had to cancel our plans for the last few days and just hunkered down at Grama's and Grampa's house. Luckily I was with my sister and mom who have some experience in sick babies. So we were in good hands.

I don't have too many pictures of Sophia since she hasn't been her model self. I have a few from the day before she was hit with the flu bug and tons of her cutie pie cousin Samuel. 

However... after just trying to upload the pics from my mom's fancy huge mac I am clueless on how to actually do it. And to be honest don't feel like taking the time to figure things out. Mommy wants her some down time to just veg out!

I promise you a gazillion pics once we are at home again and I am reunited with my ancient laptop.

Leaving On A Jet Plane

Today Sophia and I are heading home to Vancouver. This will be Sophia's first plane ride! I am not too worried it is only an hour and a half flight. Yet you never know. She hasn't been sleeping well. Her teeth have been terrorizing her through the night. The joy. Let's hope for the best!!

I will do my best to get on a computer and update with pictures from our trip!!

Check It Out!

Just wanted to let you guys know that I added a list of the blogs I frequent on the right side of my page. You should check them out!

In totally unrelated news I got my haircut today! I think it turned out great. I am doing my best to channel Katie Holmes. I know I know it's only a side shot of me. That is the best way to show the haircut. Plus I look like a total goof trying to be cool and pose for a picture. And this way you get to see my husband Chris. All we are missing is Sophia...she was sleeping.

What do you think??

Arty y Pico Award

When I started this un petite blog I had no idea I was going to make bloggy friends. My main goal was to keep my family and friends who are spread across Canada and the US in the loop. That still is my main factor in doing the blog. However along the way I have met fellow mommy bloggers who crack me up, who make me think...but mostly just brighten my day! It is a whole new world of people I can sooo relate to and gives me a chance to escape into the blogosphere every day. Two years ago I could barely send an email, no joke. I was pretty pathetic. My husband has always and forever will be a computer geek. I never got it. Until now. Now I am officially in the club, and I love it! Computer geeks are the new chic!


So why the sudden outburst of emotion??

Because my new friend Jen over at Daily Mish Mash has bestowed upon me the.....

Arty y Pico Award!!

Thank you Jen! As Ni Hao Kai Lan says "you make my heart feel super happy".

So in receiving this award there are some rules.

You must.....

1. Chose 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity,design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name of and link to the blog that presented her/him with the award.

4. The award winner and one who has given the prize has to show the link of Arte Y Pico blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5. To show these rules.

Without further a do I would like to present

Amanda at Lifelong Playdate - My very first blog friend!! Luv ya Amanda and Beans! Hope you are having a safe and happy flight today!!

Bree at The Story Of A Little Man Named Lincoln

Christy at Cakerwakers

Lindsey at What Would Kate Gosselin Do?

Heather at A Big Boy, A Baby Girl, and a Precious Pug

Congrats!! Thanks for making my day all that much brighter!

Soooo Big!

Sophia and I play this game.... I lift her hands way up high and I say Sophia is soooo big!

Today I looked at these pics and thought wow Sophia is getting sooo big! She is turning into a little girl. No longer a little itty baby. Amazing how time just breezes by you. I am amazed daily how much I love her and how she can melt my heart in a single second.

Auntie Gina gave Sophia a personalized CD at Christmas. It is so fantastic! Every song on the whole CD has her name Incorporated into it. We love it! Here are a few clips of Sophia listening to her CD. She still gets camera shy. Love the way she looks in the direction of the music when she hears her name. Such a smart girl..hehe!

If you are interested in getting a personalized CD for your little ones click here!

I'm Going Home

Sophia and I are heading home to Vancouver on Monday. So excited. I was last home when I was 7 months preggers to visit friends and to work in the office. (I worked out of my house here in Calgary for the same company based in Vancouver.) Can't wait to just chill and relax in my parents house and my dad's super amazing, holy cow beautiful garden!! My sister Gina and nephew Samuel will be there too. It will be our last big hoorah visiting with them before they move to Ontario, boo.

I am only telling a few select good friends that I am coming home, otherwise my whole trip will be way too busy and packed and all I really want to do is relax. We are coming back for a visit in July with Chris. So I think I will make that trip the visit friends trip. Anyways being in Vancouver means I can cross the border and you know what that means? It means TARGET! Way too happy about it. I used to cross border hop with my good friend Christina quite often. Our primary objective would be to hit up Target and eat some Taco Bell. Good times!! My only dilemma...lack of money. Some how this month my wittle maternity leave bank account has completely dwindled away. Bad timing! That's what Visa is for, shhh don't tell Chris.

So since I am going home I need good hair. My last hair cut sucked. I went to a new girl since my regular lady had a baby and moved away, how rude. Doesn't she know I depend on her?? So selfish. Ahem. So I am trying a new girl yet again who seems promising. I am contemplating bangs. I really do love Katie Holmes newest do.

However I am not 6ft tall and I don't weigh 100 lbs. But nonetheless I may give it a try. I know of course it won't look the same because when do haircuts actually go the way you want them to. Bangs are tricky. It means I will have to actually style my hair if I leave the house. Now that I have the most super fabulous hair straightener my world has become bigger. Gone are the days when haircuts were pointless because my hair would poof and kink and do it's own thing and NEVER resemble how the stylist styled it. Now I have control over my hair. Seriously this hair straightener is the best thing that's happened to me besides Sophia. I'm not being over dramatic.

So wish me luck that I won't end up looking like a nerd.

Thanks Mom!

I was feeling down on myself. My mom called me and knew just what to say. What I needed to hear. I feel better now. She knows me to well. She knows what I can get like, my history. I dwell on my personal negatives way too much. So thank you mommy for making me feel better.

Here is my mom with Sophia and Sophia's favorite new purse...

Confession

I totally blew my vegan diet so bad yesterday! It all started by me not eating breakfast. Sophia has taken to sleeping in which is amazing and awesome and fantastic and wonderful. We had our second swim lesson yesterday. I drove in with my neighbor Jeannie and her lil guy Alex. Sophia slept in until 8:45 and so did I. We had to leave by 9:45. I had to get her fed, dressed etc etc. I had to pack our bag of pool essentials. By the time I had finished I looked at the clock and thought hmm no time for breakfast. I will survive. We have our lesson. Sophia has a blast. We stay for the free swim after class with our friends. Tummy starting to get mad at me. We dry and dress our babies then dry and dress ourselves. My tummy is getting angry. We finally head home and Jeannie says she is going to stop at McDonald's for some lunch. She apologizes for tempting me. I say that's ok. I am an adult and can make my own decisions. I decide I neeed french fries and a diet coke. My two huge addictions/obsessions. It tastes soo good going down. Salty and hot and then the cool fizz of my favorite beverage. No guilt. I get home and the guilt starts to creep in. I decide today will be my cheat day and will start afresh tomorrow. I need to go grocery shopping so really I had no choice in eating those fries. I like to tell myself these lies. Dinner rolls around. Hmmm what to eat. I think maybe I will get take out Vietnamese food and choose the healthiest option. I decide on rice and a veggie salad roll. I call to place my order, they are closed on Mondays. Weird. Then I throw all caution to the wind and order in Chinese food. I swear I have been craving Chinese food like all the time. It tasted soo good. I love me some chicken chowmein, beef and broccoli and good ol sweet and sour chicken. Being vegan for a week seemed to make meat tastes so much better than usual. I thought it was supposed to have the opposite effect. So now you know. When I cheat I go all out. Yet another issue I have and why losing weight seems impossible. Maybe I can get hypnosis or therapy.

The guilt was a bit too much so I distracted myself with craftiness. You all know what happens next. I burn my fingers. It is my punishment for being so weak.

Anywho it's a new day and I am going to the grocery store as soon as miss Sophia wakes from her nap. Veggies and tofu here I come! Can you tell I'm excited.

The Price Of Craftiness

I have been wanting to create a keepsake box for Sophia's little memorabilia. I have her teeny tiny nicu identity bracelets, her little cap the Dr's put on her right after birth and my hospital bracelet. I bought her a pair of shoes and the box they came in was perfect for my little keepsake box. I really had no idea what I was going to do with it. I decided to just plunge into my scrapbook supplies. I had no real action plan, I just started gluing and sticking a whole bunch of cutesie embellishments onto the box. I felt like I was 10. In the process of my mad "accessorizing" I burnt my fingertips with my mini hot glue gun. I was squeezing a huge glob of glue onto a button when it flipped and landed on my middle fingertip. Crap it hurt. While trying to get the darn button off my finger it landed on my other middle finger tip. Crap it hurt. I flung the button off and began to blow on my fingers. They instantly blistered. I ran them under cool water for about 10 minutes. I then whined and complained to my husband. That always seems to make me feel better. After taking some ibuprofen I came back and looked my glue gun in the face. It was not going to stop me. I finished my little box.

However I think I got a case of over decorator-itis. It's a bit much and not only did I feel 10 it also looks like a 10 year old made it. But oh well. I have not been crafty in far too long and it felt good (besides the glue gun incident). Typing by the way is a skill at the moment. No use of my middle fingers. I also made Sophia mini 'bejewelled' berets. They are quite cute actually, very blingy. I don't have pics as they are safely tucked away in Sophia's room where she is currently sleeping. No fingers were harmed in the making of the berets.

Here is a picture of my elementary school project

Last Week

Last week my parents came to visit. My dad came to help my sister Gina move out of their house. My mom and I were in charge of Sam during the days. Oh what fun we had. We just played all day and enjoyed the nice weather.

Sam and Sophia playing with our talking bunny wabbit

Sam making it all better for Sophia (Note the little coin purse in Sophia's lap. She couldn't get enough of this little purse from Grama. Such a girly girl.)

Sam re-organizing my cupboards. It really needed help..so thank you Sam!

Seeing what it would be like to have two kids

Me and my little Princess