:: Authentic ::

Authenticity.

.....it's been a word that has been popping up in many different facets of my life lately.

What does it mean to me when it comes to my blog?

It means that I make a point to be real, putting off falsehood and misconceptions and being true to my readers by blogging about my REAL life.....the good, the bad and the downright ugly. Believe me, there is plenty of the latter two.

I'm certainly not going to start documenting every single unsightly moment I have on a day-to-day basis but does mean that I have a deep desire to be myself and share the joys and struggles that make up the daily around here.

I want there to be an equal amount of fun and laughter as hard and frustrating, because, let's face it, no ones life is perfect or ideal and I want to portray both sides of the world according to me so that no one will read my blog and be discouraged because my life appears to be flawless and easy because that's all I ever write about.

Back in the fall of 2009, I shared openly about the biggest obstacle I've ever had to overcome in my adult life: my battle with bulimia (pop on over and read the post here so you can get caught up).

I recently had a comment from a friend of mine, asking if I would share more about my story....

"Just a thought, a while ago you asked about what you should blog about. I love the way you share your heart on this blog (that is REALLY what makes any blog stand apart), and I wondered how you would feel about sharing more about your eating disorder? I have far too many friends who have struggled with this and it is something that I just don't understand or 'get'. It might help a lot of other moms who read your blog and have girls who are approaching the teen years."

I'm gonna do my darndest to try and explain a little more about where my issues stemmed from and what my life looked like.

I used food to comfort myself. I ate when I was lonely, when I was upset, when I was hurt, when I was bored. It started in the fall of 2003 when my then (first) boyfriend (with whom I had a good but up and down relationship) left to work out of province. It was heartbreaking. I was very insecure, needy. I had placed all my value and worth in how he felt about me. I was not at all plugged in with my identity in my Heavenly Father and when he left, I felt like I had no one and nothing. I became very depressed and turned to food, all the time. I would gorge myself and overeat and then purge because of the panic and fear of weight gain. Every time he would call we would drift farther and farther apart. The farther we drifted the worse I became. I tried to hide it, acting like everything was fine. I, by no means, will say that I was "addicted" to food, but it was truly like a drug. It would give me a high, of sorts. My heart would race, while I stuffed myself on almost anything I could find, thinking about ridding my body of everything I was eating. Sometimes I would go days or even weeks without binging or purging, thinking I was better and that everything was fine. But then one little thing would set me off and I would plunge into the darkness again. Eventually, the relationship ended and I felt utterly and completely lost and alone. He had made me feel beautiful and wanted and attractive and worthwhile and when he was gone, I felt worthless and empty and void of anything that merited any one's time. I did wind up telling a few people. I thought that if someone knew, they could help me, make me better. It only made me feel like more of a failure because those who cared about me, KNEW what a screw-up I was. The summer of 2004 rolled around and my former boyfriend came home. We were sort of back together, I was 'happy' again and then I left for school in Alberta. To say that my only year of college was the darkest and loneliest of my life would be completely accurate. I was living alone, in a bedroom at one point and a basement suite at another and was only at school for five hours a day at the most. Then I would return to my solitude. My life was consumed by every calorie. My world revolved around food and either eating too much, too little or sometimes, just enough (on my good days). I went the whole school year severely depressed, devastated, empty. Looking back, I was almost robotic, moving through the paces with a smile on my face. I told my mom and also ended up telling one of my teachers who referred me to a clinic at the U of A. Just before then end of the year, I met with a doctor who prescribed me some antidepressants. He stressed getting connected with some sort of therapy or counsellor when I got home. I remember the long ride home on the train, thinking to myself that this wasn't going to get me anywhere. That it would make me feel better for a couple days, and then I would delve back into the pit. But, a few weeks later, thanks to the thrill of getting to go home and the help of the medication, my fog started to lift. I started to feel hope for the first time in years. Getting home to the ocean and my friends and church family only broke my depression more. I started seeing a very wonderful counsellor at church and through her, God set me free.

However, the story doesn't end there. It is a daily choice to not return to my old ways. To choose not to default back to my old "me". The me I was when I was dead in sin.

"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace."

If I have a rough day, if I'm tired or feeling overwhelmed, I still battle with my old self. The self that wants me to sit down, and eat. The self that wants me to comfort myself by turning to food instead of freedom. I believe it will be temptation I will carry with me always....but I am a slave to grace and not my weakness.

I'm going to stop writing, before ya'lls eyeballs fall out of your head, but I really hope that maybe this post offered some insight, some clarity and some encouragement.

Projekt Kompleted

I've had this on the go for a few weeks (try finding an NICE oval picture frame.....ANYWHERE) but I'm so stoked to post the finished product!

I got the idea from Meghan over at Life On Base and I got started on a silhouette for Denay almost right away.

I'll walk you through the process I took.

Step One: Get your little one to stand facing perpedicular to you and somehow (I got Denay to look at the cat) get them to stand still long enough to get a good side proflie shot.

Step Two: I uploaded the photo into Picasa and then into Picnik and used the "Pencil Sketch" effect. I then exported the photo back into Picasa and increased the shadow and black to get a nice defined outline.

Step Three: I originally ordered an 8x10 from Walmart and had the whole thing done and ready to go but when I finally found a frame, it was too big. So I re-ordered it from London Drugs in a 6x8. Trace an outline around your kiddo's sweet little head (to give yourself a guideline) and then cut (VERYcarfeully) just inside the line.

Step Four: Take that cut out piece and trace (lightly) the outline onto a piece of cardstock. I wanted my silhouette to face right, so I traced it facing left, so when I cut it out again, I could flip it over to a clean side without any pencil/pen marks. Then, you will wind up with this.....

Once you have it traced, cut it out (again, very carefully) and flip it over!

Here is frame I eventually settled one. I really had my heart set on an oval one from the beginning and thought finding an ugly one I could paint in a thrift store would be easy. WRONGO. I ended up finding this one at Black's for $20 and even though I spent about $19 more than I wanted to, with a few coats of white paint, it was everything I had been envisioning.

Ta...DA! I am thrilled with how it turned out. Knowing I wanted it to go in Denay's room, I opted to do it with white cardstock instead of black and used a fabulous piece of scrapbooking paper to back it.

Super easy, super cute and something you can do in the evening while watching a movie and the kids are in bed....

**Also, be sure to check out this post for your chance to enter and win a free GoGo!**

{Giveaway, GIVEAWAY}

I. am. SO. excited.

I am doing my VERY first Giveaway.

"Christy, what can I win?", you want to know.

This, is a 'gogo' and if you change your purse often or just like being very organized, it's just the thing for you.

Fill it with all your vitals....cell phone, cards and makeup and when you feel like switching purses, just pull your gogo out and pop it into the new purse. Done!

It's super spacious and has lots of room for everything that goes from bag to bag.

AND, it's pink to boot.

"Christy, how can I win", you ask.

It's easy.

To enter, just leave me a comment and let me know your favourite organizing tip OR tell me how having the gogo will make your life easier (if your looking for a chance to confess that your purse is a disaster, this is it).

I will leave the commenting open for a week and then pick a name at random, so once you leave your comment, be sure to check back and see if you won!

Come on now Bloggowers....let's hear it....

Remembering

This, is Reverend Carol Boschma.

The 8th of this month, would have been her 46th birthday.

I met her when I was just a teenager and I loved her. She was beautiful and funny and passionate.

She loved Jesus.

In 2005, we found out that she had a fist sized tumor in her brain.

My first day back to work after my honeymoon, on August 8th of 2006, I got the news that she died.

I went home from work and spent three hours digging up a huge weed in my lawn, weeping.

Carol was one of the first people I told about my eating disorder, she prayed for and supported me.

I could go on.

She was wonderful and I miss her.

I was at bible study last week, flipping through my bible to find the passage we were looking at and I fell upon a small piece of paper sticking out of the old testament.

I picked it up and recognized the writing immediately.

Carol.

Our youth group went to a conference when I was 14, God had given Carol a verse for me that she wrote on a small scrap of paper.

God has used that verse time and time again.

When I read it last week, it broke me and it reassured me.

"I will sprinkle clean water on your, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."

Ezekiel 36:25-26

I've been struggling for the past few months with my dear Denay. I love her, so much.

After Paisley was born, I felt closer to her. I felt like it was her and me against the world (so to speak), raising Paisley together while daddy was at work. She was my comrade, my little helper and my partner.

As Paisley got older and more interactive I started finding harder and harder to relate to and plug in with Denay. Paisley is just SO easy....she just wants to be held, sat with, googled over and "played" with. I can just sit with her, play silly peek-a-boo games and blow raspberries on her tummy and squeeze her cheeks. I find her relaxing for the most part and the more that happened the more I found Denay exhausting. She loves to play her memory game or build mega-block towers or read or color or play dollhouse and I feel completely void of energy or desire to do any of those things with her. When Paisley is napping and I've got my arms free, all I have the strength to do is sit and each time she asks to play or needs help I get so inconvenienced and frustrated.....and I don't know why.

I've been completely wiped and drained physically. No matter how much sleep I feel like I'm getting I still have no get-up-and-go, no life. Each day I wake up and beg God to give me patience and love and grace and PEACE, but still wind up shooing my sweet big girl away so I can get stuff done or just sit.

Then I read that verse.

I was reminded that my Heaven Father never shoos me away.

He never gets angry with me and His mercy and grace are new every morning.

I was reassured that He is working in me, that He can heal and restore and transform.

That He can take this imbalance I feel, this transition I'm going through and this loss of connection and make it something beautiful.

I wasn't prepared to need to learn to shuffle between two completely different level of stimulation, and most days I feel like a total failure, but every moment I choose my children over what I think are my needs are, I see God's blessings poured out, my home happier and my life richer and I see God filling me with every ounce of everything I need to be the mommy my baby's need me to be.

Amazing, amazing grace.

How sweet the sound.

"New Year - New Routines"

I came across this post on my friend Lacey's Real Estate Blog, and she found it on the Simple Mom blog. It pretty much sums up how I run my household around here and how I keep myself organized which helps our home life to be simple, calm and relaxed.....most of the time :) I thrive on "cleaning as I go" and "putting the house to bed" and I can't even explain how much tidier my whole house feels when I take a moment in the morning to make my bed and straighten the bedrooms.
Read, and be inspired!!

"The new year is here, and with it comes the end of a nice break for most of us. As much as I enjoyed the lazy mornings and fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants days of the holidays, I was really looking forward to getting back into the regular routine.

Something about a new year sparks in me a desire to establish more order and intention in all that I do, so when back-to-school and the new year came together, it was perfect timing for establishing some new, old routines to keep home life simple and days running smoothly.

I tend to dislike schedules but thrive on routine. A routine makes everyone in my household happier, everything runs more smoothly, it establishes reasonable expectations, and it makes for a saner home.
Here are some basic routines that help keep our house tidy and the people smiling around here.

Work It In
Having tasks that flow together while living life is an essential part of a simpler home. Rather than saving up for an entire task that takes huge chunks of time, where nothing is ultimately done except cleaning messes or taking care of overwhelming piles of papers, dealing with it “as you go” and making it a part of the daily routine will ultimately free up more time to get to the heart of living. Having a simpler home makes it possible to enjoy the everyday ordinary moments more.

Start The Morning Right
A basic morning routine is key to starting any day off right. Here’s a great article about jump starting your day with a simple, five minute routine.
In the morning, I throw in a load of laundry in while coffee brews. You can empty the dishwasher so it’s available to load dishes as the day goes on so they don’t pile up. Make beds first thing after getting up — nothing makes a room look tidier than a made bed, and an unmade bed can make a tidy room look messy.
There’s nothing like having it all done, waiting for when you crawl under the covers at night after a long day. Remember the power of ten minutes(scroll down to read). Small, simple, short routines that are built into the day make all the difference.

End The Day Right
A routine establishes expectations. This is especially helpful for kids, and for mine, the evening is the most important time for a routine. My kids know that after dinner, it’s play time, then bath, put on jammies, brush teeth, and read books.
We don’t follow the clock as much as we follow the routine. They know what’s coming next and they expect it, so it all runs much more smoothly than if we had to chase them around screaming every night that they had to stop playing their game at a certain time and get in bed. The routine helps all of us relax and unwind.
I discovered a while ago that the key to starting each day right was ending each day right. By ending the day with cleaning the kitchen, putting away toys, planning or packing lunches, mornings became easier.
Evening is when it works best for me to fold laundry. I fold and put away at the same time, and I lay out clean clothes for school the next day. No searching for socks when we’re supposed to be out the door.
The key is finding what small things work at what times, and then adapting them to the everyday.


In each and every task and routine, think of making things good enough. Not perfect. Keep things manageable so that you can find what you need when you need it, have someone drop by unannounced without having a panic attack, and enjoy the truly important moments of each and every day along the way.


What simple routines are part of your day-to-day that help keep your home running more smoothly?"

{What We Wore Wednesday}

I always swore I would never do this, yet here I am. I want to preface this post by making sure it is said that this is not everyday wear for me. Normally, you will find me in yoga pants and a t-shirt (if I don't plan to leave the house) or jeans and a top of some sort and some sneakers if we're headed out. On this particular day, I was headed out for a playdate and decided, "Dangnabit. I'm actually going to get dressed today". I also want to add that it took me a good half hour to put this together.

So, now that I've dashed all your disillusions about what these pictures portray, let's get to it.

:: The far left is Denay early last week. I was having a shower and got out to find her in what you see here. I laughed and took a picture. She has very edgy taste, no? The other two photos are from Friday, on our way to a playdate at a friend's. The infinity scarf I had just gotten at a SheShe Purse Party the night before (I have been coveting one ever since my SIL got one at Christmas). The top, jeans and shoes were a birthday gift from my MIL and are Winners and Shoe Warehouse respectively, the belt was from Reitmans and the sweater was on the discount rack at Warehouse One and I think it was $12 ::
So, there you have it! So I looked cute....mostly because my MIL has great taste :)

{Finishing Touches}

I got home from a playdate this week to find a small white tub resting against my front door.

My vinyl wall decal for above our bed had finally arrived!

I ordered it off Etsy from Leen the Graphics Queen and I love it.

I searched high and low for the perfect quote. We really wanted something biblical or about love but most of the ones I found were super corny. But once I came across this one the search was over. There is supposed to be a cute little bird perched proudly on the end of the "&" but I accidentally got sent one that is the exact color of the wall so a replacement is on the way.

The pictures aren't the greatest but it says, "His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me". I had to picture myself reading whatever I chose numerous times a day and this is one promise that I can never repeat enough.

Matthew 10:29-31

"What is the price of two sparrows - one copper coin? Yet not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are numbered. So do not be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows."

SOUP!

Okay, no laughing or judging or gasps of total shock and awe and confusion.

I have never made soup (that wasn't from a can. Which, if you're getting picky, isn't actually making anything).

Not once in my life.

I have no idea why I had it stuck in my brain that it would be so hard but I did.

On Friday last week I made a stuffed roasting chicken for dinner in my slo-cooker, and just being the two of us eating (since Denay's reaction to the word "meat" is "Oh, I don't like it"), we had leftovers. So on Saturday, I boiled a couple chicken thighs so I had chicken water (and yes, that is the technical term, if you were wondering) and I was off to the races.

Here, is my soup journey:

VEGGIES! Lots and lots of them. I kind of used my soup as a way to clean out all of the almost-ready-to-start-sprouting-NEW-life vegetables in my fridge. I chopped up onion, carrot, green and red pepper, celery and mushrooms.

Once the chicken thighs were cooked through, I asked (made) my husband get his hands dirty. The thought of ripping apart chicken with my bare hands was less than appealing at the time. He got all the meat from the roasting chicken and thighs off and into the chicken water (technical term) they went.

I didn't have any noodles on hand so I poured a couple cups of rice in there along with some frozen peas (I know what you're thinking, seriously Christy, MORE veggies) and then let everything simmer while I cooked up the cold vegetables in a frying pan. Once they were slightly cooked, I added them to the pot and let all the flavours and ingredients get all acquainted and happy and warm.

And I'm pretty sure I read somewhere, sometime that it's illegal in Canada to eat soup without cheese biscuits. So not wanting to get busted, I whipped up a batch of cheesy, peppery, flaky and yummy biscuits.

You can't totally tell from the photo, but there are just over a dozen biscuits....and there were three adults eating (my dad joined us for supper).

Don't do the math, it's embarrassing.

I had a few, okay.

Remember, no judging.

Anyways, the meal was oh-so-delish. Just the kind of thing you need to eat on a Saturday night to warm up your insides.

Let them eat soup!

-Hope For The Sold-

Back in fall, I arrived to bible study and had just sat my big pregnant but down when a new face reached over from the opposite couch, gave me a good firm handshake (I love a good firm handshake, says a lot about a person) and introduced himself as Jay and the lovely lady next to him as his wife Michelle. Jay and Michelle have quite the life story that has taken them all over the world and they came here for an internship at my church.

Jay and Michelle are two very passionate people. After attending the film "Trade" five years ago, their lives were changed forever. Ever since, they have dedicated themselves tirelessly to fighting sex trafficking in Canada.

Michelle has a blog called Hope For The Sold. I would encourage you to pop over and have a read.

A few Monday's ago, I attended the screening of their documentary "Enslaved and Exploited: The Story of Sex Trafficking in Canada" at church for Social Justice Movie night. Some of the things I heard and saw broke my heart and sickened my stomach. I left feeling enraged, but helpless in a way. What can a busy SAHM do about such a thing? They handed out a information sheet of books and documentaries, email addresses and contact information. I'll be honest and say that I haven't had a chance to really look it over yet, but I knew one thing I could do was spread the word. One thing Jay and Michelle talked about during the Q&A after the film, was that AWARENESS is the first step. Spreading the word so that people know that sex trafficking exists in Canada is so important. There are so many things I plan to do including sending some emails to Parliament and notes of encouragement to some big fighters of the industry but I wanted to do the quickest and easiest first, share it with all of you.

Pray for Jay and Michelle, pray for justice and pray for the leaders of our country to have wisdom and strength to fight.

{answered}

Okay, so my "Ask Me A Question" post was an epic fail.

Thanks to Michelle and Kim for your encouragement :)

And thanks to Lisa and Shawna for asking me something (I feel so cool)!

Shawna asked, "What is your most favourite thing do to in your spare time...I know what you're thinking - what spare time ;)"

{Answered} - You're reading it! When I do have some time to sit down, I love to get out all my thoughts and daily goings on on my blog. It feels like a way to journal my life and keep track of it and also sort out the jumble that is my head most of the time. I also love to read. Ever since picking up The Oath (Frank Peretti) in high school, I've read hundreds of books and you will never not find a book on my nightstand. I love to read Christian fiction (mostly because of the lack of sexual content and bad language, of which I depise in books) and am a sucker for thriller/suspense/crime drama....although if you were a fly on the wall of my bedroom, you might just find "Pride & Prejudice" cracked open (Thanks Amber). Scrapbooking is another way that I take time for me while doing something timeless for my kids. I have a weekly date with two girlfriends and we sit and chat and scrap our kids lives, while doing life together....it's very enriching!

Lisa asked, "What is God teaching you right now? The best lesson you have learned since...being a wife....and, since being a mom? Favourite CD right now?"

{Answered} - The answer to the first two questions is one and the same. Right now I'm learning and discovering that in order to be a good wife and mom and person, I need to take care of Christy. I struggle with feelings of guilt when I want to get away and take a break from all things wife and mom because I think I SHOULD WANT to be around my family all the time. God is teaching me much about my worth and that I need to take time to be who He made me in order to be the best spouse and mother I can be. So I've been making a point to spend time with girlfriends, I joined my church choir and have been trying to engage myself in much more events that feed my soul.

On a totally different note, I've been listening to a lot of One Republic lately and the more I listen, the more I love. I think my favourite song right now is "Marching On".

So, that's it. Thanks for the comments ladies!

Paisley Dedication Weekend :: Part One

Last weekend we had little Paisley dedicated. For any of my Bloggowers who may not know what that is, it is a small "ceremony" (if you will) where our baby girl was introduced to our church family and where we committed as a couple, to raise her to love God.

On Saturday morning, my inlaws, sister and brother-inlaw, two nephews and Trev's nanny hopped a boat and over they came. We were just a teenise weensie bit excited to have them around for the weekend. We hung out here for a bit and then packed up and headed to their hotel for a pool party.

:: Denay was so excited to see her cousins, she literally couldn't get out a sentence because she was stuttering so badly ::

:: We came back here for dinner and chowed down on my MIL's amazing turkey pot pie. YUM. Then, since we all weren't stuffed already, we chowed down on Nanny's fruit pie with ice cream. Yeah, I consumed A LOT of dessert this weekend ::

On Sunday, it was breakfast at our place. I made Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Baked French Toast and it was YUMMY (and I'm sure, totally fat and calorie free).

Paisley's Dedication Weekend :: Part Two

Paisley was dedicated alongside little Millie, who is the second daughter of our good friend's Tyler and Lizzie.

:: Paisley was so good for Pastor Shane as he walked her around and showed her off to the church. It was so cute, once both babies had been taken by the Pastor's to walk down the aisles, Denay and Adaiah were both asking where Paisley and Millie had gone ::

I also wanna give a big shout of thanks to our friend Jan with Orange Passion Photography for taking photos with my camera for us!

After church we had a yummy croissant and fresh tray bun lunch with everyone. Our wonderful family all brought something to share and the spread was wonderful (I'm a huge sucker for a deli sandwich and pototo salad). My girlfriend Alana with CAKES By Alana (who also did Denay's 2nd birthday cake here) made a beautiful two-tier purple paisley apple cake.....which, during our little photo op, Paisley literally dug, right into....and we let her.

I'll admit it, there were tears when everyone left.

We're always crashing houses when we visit, getting meals and yummy treats made for us and I absolutely love being about to spoil my family back a little and have them in my house, serving them. I miss my nephews and my sister-from-another-mister. Spending a whole weekend laughing (and yelling over the kids), eating and being together makes my heart ache to be able to do it so much more often. Since my brothers all live out of province, having a get together with my family all together only happens about once every two years, so I cherish the times when I can be all together with my other family.

I love my family and we are so abundantly blessed to have had one full side (with a great grandparent even) here with us to support us and love on us and be with us in joy to celebrate our sweet little Paisley-girl!

~ Ask Me Something ~

I have no idea how successful this will be, but I'm gonna give a shot anyways.

I'll also add that I totally stole this idea from my fabulous SIL.

I want to drum up some interesting topics and ideas to blog about. I've started to feel like all I do is blog about my kids and my kids and a little bit about my kids.

So, go ahead. Leave me a comment and Ask me something. Anything.

A question you want answered or a topic I can blog about.

I'm ready, waiting!

{The Princesses :: An Update}

Life with two girls.

I never thought it would be as fun as it is!

Paisley absolutely loves her sister and Denay just loves to read to her and hold her hands and dance with her and squish her face and call her chubby-cheeks.

:: Princess Denay ::

My almost three-year-old big girl. She loves books and playing tea party, coloring and her blankie.

She has recently really taken to getting dressed, every morning, all by herself and mommy is so proud! She weighs about 22lbs, wears size four diapers (at night), size five shoes, and still easily fits into 24 month and some 18 month clothes and has a few 2T and 3T shirts that will fit her again in the fall. She is potty trained but we're still struggling (aka momma is going nutso) with daily accidents. I think the flurry and lack of attention during the reno has caused her to regress a bit. She always kicks my butt at The Memory Game and wants to be where ever I am....which can get slightly (and when I say slightly I mean REALLY REALLY REALLY) overwhelming sometimes and I'm still learning how to love her at her age and am finding myself having to re-learn how to relate to her now that I've got a wee babe (run on sentence) BUT she is so beautiful and thoughtful and wonderful and I {Heart} her a whole bunch.

:: Princess Paisley ::

My littlest lady is just over five months now and at last weigh was 12lbs 2oz. She is, quite honestly, THE happiest little baby EVER. She sleeps from 8:00pm until between 4:00am and 5:00am, goes back to sleep after feeding and then wakes up around 8:00am. And I know there are mom's reading this that want to sneak into my house while I'm sleeping and smack me because of this girls awesome sleep habits at such a young age. Let me tell you, after what Denay put me through, I can say with every confidence that I deserve it!

Paisley can roll over both ways and she is just starting to sit up for five or ten seconds at a time. She has also (yay) started wiggling forward when she's on her tummy and sees something she wants. She gets those chubby little legs under her and pushes and inches herself along until she reaches it. Yep, just like a little caterpillar. She loves her exer-saucer, bumbo, Gumdrop soother and, of course, her thumb. After months of of struggling with latches and sore lady-parts then weeks of a diminishing milk supply, she is now almost fully bottle fed. I'm finding I'm full enough to actually feed her about one feed a day...which is not enough for me at all. I'll post more about this later.

I love her and she warms my heart with her big, full mouth, full face smiles. She makes me want to have A LOT of babies.....like lots and lots ;)

{Disclaimer - no, I am not pregnant and don't intend to be anytime soon}

So Much, So Much

Boy oh boy.

Do I ever feel like a bit of an inept Blogger.

I've got so many things I want to share and write about, yet, seemingly, so little time.

As much as I CANNOT BELIEVE that it is March ALREADY, with that disbelief comes the comforting and sunshine filled knowledge that summer is coming.

The light is coming.

The energy is coming.

Bring. It. On.

:: Meeting Lord Stanley ::

A few Friday's ago, a girlfriend of mine offered to take Denay for the afternoon/evening for a playdate with her daughter.....she mentioned she was planning to stop by our local ScotiaBank branch as the Stanley Cup was on display for viewing. So instead of sending Denay along to her house, we packed up (very hastily, I might add) and drove down and got in the line-up.

COLD IT WAS.

We had no clue how long we would wait, so us gals took the walking kids to S-bucks across the street, and the King held Princess P and our spot in the line. Then.......two hours later (and one street ball to the head for me) we finally stepped through the doors and into the warmth where the infamous Stanley Cup glistened in all it's glory.

:: The kidlets played with each other so well and never complained about the long wait or the cold ::

:: The MaC clan with the Stanley Cup ::

Not being a huge hockey fanatic, I have to say that it was very cool being able to see such an iconic symbol of our nations sport in person but I found myself so caught up in trying to take a nice picture that I didn't really even look at it.

Oh well, that's why we have pictures, right??

R.E.N.O

R - really

E - extremely

N - nutso

O - operation

Yep, that's been the last month or so in our house. Total turmoil. Complete chaos. Utter upheaval.

You Bloggowers of mine who know me in real life, know that I like my home just "so" and that lack of "so"ness in my life makes me a little squirrely.....and squirrely I have been.

Three nights spent at my parents instead of one thanks to carpet installed poorly that had to be ripped out and replaced, four full-sized doors in my dining room, oil paint in my hair and a week without doors on any room upstairs (ick) sums up our reno in one really long run-on sentence.

Anywhoo, onto the fun part.....the before and after!

:: Living room ::

:: Dining room looking from the kitchen ::

:: Dining room from the corner of the kitchen ::

{continued from above}

:: Dining room looking from the living room ::

:: Looking down the hallway from the living room ::

:: Hallway at an angle ::

{continued}

:: First set of stairs, up to the landing ::

So, altogether the downstairs got a fresh coat of Coastal Breeze (Sico) throughout with the separating wall in the hallway painted Oyster Mushroom (Sico) as an accent, all baseboards, casings and doors painted white.

Now, onto the upstairs.....the significantly more complicated portion. All of the baseboards had to be taken off into to install the new carpet - which was put in terribly the first time around and was then torn out and replaced. The doors had to be taken of the frame in order to paint the frames and the doors so we lived without doors for a week and we are still working on getting Denay to sleep the way she did before the madness.

Without further delay......

:: Looking down the stairway ::

:: Our bedroom door from the hallway ::

{continued}

:: Looking out to the hall from the bathroom ::

:: Our bedroom looking from the window ::

:: The bed from the window ::

:: The bed and window from the door ::