Graduation, a Couple of Birthdays and an 11 Month Old

Hmmmm ... its April and it seems that March has come and gone without mention here on the blog front. So here's a little update.

Dave finished his last week of his Arrow Leadership course in B.C. while the kids and I spent a little time at my Mom's. He has now officially graduated from the program and has a certificate to prove it. Of course we are very proud of him.

While Dave was away, Cole celebrated his 3rd birthday. Some days it seems like he's always been here, other days I look at Kendall and feel like I was just watching him do some of the same milestones. We had a small party for Cole with Grandma and G.G. once Dave got back to Ontario. Cole was in awe of his Toy Story birthday. This year was a lot of fun since he's gotten the whole opening presents thing figured out from Christmas. Cole doesn't like (or rather won't try) cake so I wasn't going to bother making one since Dave doesn't care for it either. I was thinking just a few cupcakes would be easier. However a couple of weeks before his party Cole started pretending that one of the deserts from Kendall's Tea Party set was a birthday cake and he would pretend to blow out the candle (I think he had seen an Elmo's World episode). I knew then that I would have to make a cake. And according to Cole's perception birthday cakes are round - so of course his cake would have to be also. Here are a few pics of his big day.

Oh ... and course Cole got spoiled by all his relatives. He also got his first bike from Mommy, Daddy and Kendall.

2 weeks later we celebrated Dave's birthday. As I mentioned earlier, Dave doesn't like cake. I therefore decided to make my very first baked cheesecake. It wasn't the prettiest thing to look at, but it tasted awesome and I was able to do it while he was at work while keeping both kiddos somewhat under control. Merely that I was able to manage that last part and it still turned out without being a complete disaster was a success.

In just one more short month we'll have one more birthday to celebrate. Kendall just turned 11 months and she's doing new stuff every day. Less than 2 weeks ago her first 2 teeth poked through. The caused her some grief but she bounced back after a couple of days with a slight temperature and a runny nose. Kendall LOVES to eat. Anything she can finger feed herself she gobbles down. Spaghetti, Mac and cheese, shredded cheddar, peas, carrots, soft fruit are all favourites. I'm sure once she gets a few more teeth she'll be totally done with the jarred mush.

Kendall is also sitting like a pro and turns circles on her bum. She still has no patience for crawling. She just can't seem to get those arms and legs co-ordinated. Kendall would rather walk along the furniture and is getting quiet brave.

The girl also has an expanding vocabulary. She now says Da Da, hat, All (ball), nanana (banana), No, mu mu (more). She can make monkey sounds, sheep sounds (her favourite stuffed animal is her Lamby), and moos. She signs please, all done, and waves hello and goodbye.

Kendall figures stuff out quickly. The other day she was playing with a basket in her room with a hinged lid. As I watched her, she would take a cylinder toy - put it on the lid of the basket - lift the lid - watch the toy roll down onto the floor - then shut the lid. She then picked up the toy and did it about 10 more times in a row until she had the method down pat. I'm pretty sure when she's mobile we're in big trouble. Especially since we didn't really have to baby proof with Cole, because he didn't really get into things. Trouble has a name and I'm pretty sure its going to be Kendall!

Fighting The Flab

So for the second time, I'm trying to loose my post baby belly.

Just to remind you of what I'm working with here's a picture of me preggo with Kendall literally the day before she was born.

That's right ... my belly was somehow defying gravity. I carried both kids like this. ALL out front. There wasn't a maternity shirt out there that could cover that thing! From popular opinion 50 percent were convinced that my ultrasounds were wrong, and that I was carrying twins. Of course unless you saw me from the back ... then I didn't look pregnant at all.

You'd think a pregnant lady who was all baby without an inch of extra flab anywhere else would have it easy afterwards right? Not so much. Yes, I was back into normal pants a week or two after delivery, but my stomach ... well let's just say it wasn't defying gravity anymore, and the maternity shirts weren't covering it for another reason.

So here I am almost 10 months later and still wearing my maternity shirts. Until last week my pre-maternity clothes were still packed in the boxes from the move (now they're just in storage bins in my closet). Summer is coming! The time of year where I can no longer hide under a jacket or baggy sweatshirt in public. It's time to get serious!

I pulled out the Abs of Steel DVD again but the pounds just aren't dropping and the bulge is definitely not deflating. So on a family outing to Best Buy the other night I bought a Jillian Michaels DVD. The 6 Week 6 Pack. Now I'm being realistic. I by no means expect a 6 pack in 6 weeks. Nor do I expect that I will be able to find the time to work out the 5 days a week that this DVD expects for the results in this time. I was just looking for something that was going to target my problem area. All this preamble to say, that I've now done 2 days and BOY DO I HURT!

Here I am, in my basement doing burpees. I don't think I can remember doing a burpee since they probably forced me to in grade 9 Phys. Ed. After becoming reacquainted with this exercise move, I am truly convinced that burpees are a cruel form of torture and punishment. Since we don't have a very clear picture of Hell, I'm going to guess that there may be a small portion of it that includes doing burpees for eternity. These things seriously make me wheeze, pant and combined with some of the other moves on the video, make it almost impossible to move from the waist down. Ironically the only part of my body that probably doesn't hurt is my abs. I'm taking a guess that its because I was already working these muscles (even if they weren't abs of steel yet).

This post is about telling you all that I AM going to do this. I'm sticking with it. I'm giving Jillian and her burpee torture a chance. I've got to ... T-shirt weather is coming and I only own winter maternity clothes!

Absence Does Not Necessarily Make the Heart Grow Fonder

It's been rather a long time since I've posted anything on the jelly donut front. Donuts haven't really been a treat we've indulged in lately.

My hubby brought home a half dozen the other night. It was the first time I've had a donut in our new hometown. Blueberry filled fritters are a favourite and there were 2. You'd think by now I would just expect the worst, but I'm always kept hopeful and somehow caught off guard. All I found inside was a small air pocket devoid of any filling.

Thank you Tim Hortons for delivering the familiar in a new city, and making me feel right at home.

It's All in The Beans ... I mean Genes -- a.k.a. Attack of the Picky Eaters

Is picky eating genetic? Cole has always been a picky eater, despite all my efforts. I've come to accept that his very limited diet is somewhat to do with some of his sensory issues. So when Kendall started solids I was determined that this would be the kid who would eat any and everything. Apparently she didn't get the memo, because when it comes to food - she definitely knows what she does and does not want to eat.

Cereal and fruit are delicious, but vegetables are suspect and anything in a jar labeled "casserole or stew" is enough to snub her nose at (literally, she scrunches up her nose and waves it in the air while whining and smushing most of the spoonful back out). Pured is also preferable to anything with chunks. I guess I can't blame her since she has no teeth at almost 9 months.

However, her absolute favourite food is Cheerios. I seriously think she has an addiction problem. Now whenever I go to the pantry (where I keep the distinctive large yellow box) I can look over my shoulder and see her sitting up in her seat at full attention. Her need for a fix is so bad that she will no longer eat rusks (a favourite until the introduction of the fore mentioned cereal), I'm sure in mere protest. For 2 short days she would eat peas by hand. First alone, then only if scattered amongst Cheerios and now she will deliberately pick around them for the Os. I've begun to limit her intake in hopes that she'll be willing to try other finger foods again.

I've been looking forward to introducing homogenized milk this month and the freedom it will give me from nursing. I hope Kendall received that memo.

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What is Practical?!

In the last week I ordered, paid for and received a Nintendo Wii. Normally Dave and I are very practically people when it comes to spending our money. There is always something we're saving for, paying off, or needing and that's where the money goes ... or to the kids of course! So a video game system is a totally out-of-the box type of purchase.

Thanks to a number of Chapters gift certificates, some of my birthday money, the return of my bread maker and some extra cash ... I now own a shiny new red Super Mario Bros. 25th Anniversary Edition Wii. Don't get me wrong - I loved the new bread maker I got for Christmas - but that would have required the extra time to make my own bread. Let's not bring up the fact I will be replacing this unobtainable free time with video games instead. In my head I'm justifying my guilt of its impracticality and time in front of the TV, with the theory that I can buy games to supplement my workouts with a little fun exercise (not that all the crunches I currently do are not a lot of fun :) ).

Now the challenge is to determine which TV to hook up the Wii to? We own 2 TVs. A 13" in our basement/playroom/family room, and a 27" temperamental garage sale find that replaced the old 27" we bought when we got married (which had died a slow painful death as our picture progressively got smaller and smaller from the top down). We opted not to move the latter with us across the country. The replacement, which resides in the upstairs living room, decides to turn on or not turn on at random. On more than one occasion I've dragged a crying, devastated 2 year old downstairs to watch a promised movie. With all this said, its been really tempting to buy a new television with the saved money that's been allotted else where. However, we're much too practical for that.

P.S:

When we finally get the Wii set up, I'll write a review and let you know what I think ... and if I ever actually use it to work out!