A glimpse into a night with kids...

I am not writing this post for pity. Truly I am not. I am writing it for a chuckle. Those of you who do not have kids, this is what you have to look forward to. For those that do, you will understand and no doubt laugh a little as I am sure you have had nights similar to this.

7:00 - Annie goes to bed without a hitch.
7:30 - Isla goes to bed with some minor tears.
8:45 - Isla comes out of bed, carrying her giraffe saying, "Good morning Mommy". After putting her back to bed, I leave the room.
9:00 - After 15 minutes of various forms of crying, sobbing, screaming, I tell Isla it is time to calm down and go to sleep. She listens.
10:20 - after just climbing into bed, Annie awakes. I pop the soother back in.
12:30 am - Annie wakes up again, this time for a bottle. Cam feeds her.
4:00 am - Annie wakes up. Again. I pop the soother back in and groggily enter my bed.
5:30 am - Annie wakes up. Again. This time. she has peed through her diaper and is soaked. The bed is soaked. She is a bundle of pee. Cam changes the sheets, I change her. Another bottle to get her back to bed.
5:50 am - after 10 minutes of sleep, we are both aroused again. It is Isla wanting to get out of bed. We tell her to go back to sleep.
6:06 am - Annie is up. For good. And thus, we are too.
6:16 am - Isla is up too.

And there you have it folks.

Nine Months!

This past Saturday, Annie was 9 months old. She has officially been out of the womb longer than she was in it... such a crazy thought. Nothing new has changed: still no teeth. Baby dentures may be necessary. For real. As far as crawling goes, she is still relatively immobile. She will get up on her hunches but no real movement. I think she is simply unmotivated. By nine months, Isla was crawling and pulling herself up to standing on almost anything, Annie however, not at all. She's a different kid. Through and through. She continues to wake up at night to eat and as her teeth are coming in, (I've been saying that for months) she is waking up a little more to be soothed or for her soother. She is still much more chill than Isla ever was and on the whole, she is an incredibly happy baby. We are blessed. It is getting so cool to see Isla interact with her more and more as Annie begins to give back to Isla, whether it be a smile, a giggle, a hand clap or a grab of the hair. My continued prayer is that they truly become the best of friends. She continues to be a mommy's girl which brings me so much joy. I am still waiting for the day this changes. And food... oh boy, does Annie EVER love food. She's our little piggie... fisting food into her mouth by the handfuls. She loves anything. Avocado, tuna, chicken, noodles, rice, peas, salmon... basically she eats everything we eat, and then some. We are still giving her pureed foods at times but we have really upped her solids... and she is loving it. We continue to fall in love with her more and more.

Being Thankful...

Just today, I received a very lovely text from a dear dear friend. Upon receiving it, I checked FB (for no particular reason and the 2 are not connected) to see that she had posted on her blog what she was thankful for. Thus, I was inspired to "borrow" her idea.

Here is what I am thankful for on this Sunday afternoon:

- a God who loves, forgives and saves
- a faithful, loving, supportive husband
- Isla, my beautiful, tender-hearted, intelligent little girl
- Annie, her cheery nature and adorable-ness
- Cam's dedication and determination to go to the ends of the earth to provide for our family
- my parents who love me, Cam and my girls unconditionally and for their incredible generosity
- family who is involved in our lives and who care deeply
- warmth in my toasty home
- trail mix (that I am consuming by the handfuls)
- my incredible friends who inspire me, challenge me and accept me
- the gym where I have found a home away from home
- books
- lazy afternoon naps
- coffee
- Christmas lights
- Christmas music (Justin Bieber's Christmas album has not left my car stereo)
- the health of my family, my friends and those whom I love
- compliments

I am sure there is more, but this is just a bit. What are you thankful for today?

Happy Heart

Some of you may know this already, some of you may not. In September, I had my annual physical with my doctor. She took my heart rate 5 times and my average resting heart rate was 44 beats per minute. Normal RHR are 60-100. She was slightly alarmed but not overly concerned. Along with my routine blood work, she ordered an EKG test just to double check this number. The results were more alarming. My RHR was 35 bpm. She is an extremely thorough doctor and I am very pleased with her investigative nature and her genuine concern in the health of her patients. I was called into her office so she could explain to me what this number meant and where we would go from here. After realizing I was not symptomatic (no dizziness, fainting spells etc...), she was quite relieved but still required a second opinion from a cardiologist. As you can imagine, I was a little worried about this. It's not like she was investigating my big toe... it is my heart after all. Having said all that, I know that I am in good health and feel as though I am in the best shape of my life. I consistently work out 5 times a week and she did say that this may have something to do with my heart rate but she also noted that Olympic athletes don't seem to have resting heart rates this low. I was scared. Not gonna lie. Anyway, my appointment was this past Wednesday. I woke up in a somber mood with my hungry stomach in knots. Cam accompanied me to this appointment which was at the Royal Alexander Hospital. When I arrived, I was hooked up to several wires and was asked to do an exercise stress test. I was required to walk on the treadmill for a period of time and gradually both the pace and incline would increase. They would monitor my heart while I was doing this. After 13 minutes on the treadmill, Dr. Cheung announced that I was in great health! He said that in active young people, it is quite normal to see such low heart rates but that there was no reason to be worried. He also informed me that the amount of exercise I do is quite a bit for the average adult and thus contributing to my low heart rate. It wasn't until Cam and I walked out of the appointment that I realized how heavily this looming doctor's visit was weighing on me. I immediately felt this burden lift off of my shoulders. I felt lighter. We celebrated with a trip to Starbucks and big hug to my girlies when I got home! So there you have it, I have a happy heart.

My Top 10 Wish List...

This post is pure self-indulgence. I warn all of you reading that it is all about me and what I want for Christmas. I know, it's childish, selfish and totally necessary. I have been making Christmas lists since I was a child and just because I am approaching 28 does not mean it must stop now... right? Right? It allows me to dream. Here we go (in no particular order):

1. Personal Training sessions - again, some of you know that I am training (loosely right now) for a triathlon or 2 to be done next spring and summer. Along with the workouts I regularly do, I would love to spend some one on one time with a trainer to get a program that is not only going to work on my endurance (a HUGE part of being able to swim, bike and then run) but my body strength as well.

2. Studio Pant (Lulu Lemon) - these pants are just a must have. They are lined with fleece (um amazing) and would be perfect for lounging, throwing over my work out stuff before the gym and wearing EVERYDAY.

3. A new gym bag (also Lulu Lemon) - I seriously cart my whole house to the gym whenever I go (and more than that when I take the girls). A massive gym bag to house all my stuff is just what the doctor ordered. It can stay in the car and then I don't have to worry about forgetting anything. This would simplify my life immensely.

4. A foam roller -  an essential for every human. Before or after a work-out (or really ANYTIME), you use one of these puppies to roll out your muscles. It's basically a self-massage and is simultaneously the most painful and amazing thing at the same time.

5. New boots - I swear I go through a pair a season. I have winter boots but no casual boots to wear with jeans, tights or lulu's. I have been coveting this pair from Steve Madden. They are more riding boots but I am hopelessly in love with them!

6. Healthy Cookbooks - I have really started loving cooking! I have been trying out new recipes each week and thoroughly enjoying the results. Some have been hits... others have not. It has been fun learning about nutrition and stocking my house full of healthy delights. I would love any book but this one has been catching my eye lately. 

7. Adam Levine - But I would settle for the new Maroon 5 CD! I just think that next to my husband, Adam is the hottest man out there! I also really enjoy his unique voice and think Maroon 5 are a great band to listen to at the gym, working out or anywhere really. It pumps me up and gets me grooving.

8. New baking pans - muffin tins, loaf pans, bunt cake pans, cookie sheets... you name it, I want it! Along with cooking, I have really gotten into baking. Isla loves it and it is something that I really enjoy doing with her. And eating with the whole family!

9. New slippers -  any kind really. Any suggestions? I just want something durable and super toasty warm. 

10. Unique picture frames - Cam and I have started a picture wall in our front entry way. We have 8 pictures hanging there now, all in different frames and it looks pretty neat! We want the mis-matched look. Different sizes, shapes, colors... anything!

And there you have it. What's on your wish list?

Sledding!

As crappy as it is that winter has reared it's ugly head already (doesn't it know it's not supposed to arrive until December 21st?), we've decided to take advantage of the snow and the very reasonable temperatures. On Friday, Cam and I took the girlies sledding! We bundled up the ladies, plopped Annie into the backpack and headed off for our local sledding hill! Isla LOVED sledding last year so we knew it would be a big hit. Not gonna lie, I have always had this irrational fear of sledding. I'm pretty sure it stems from an incident I had in grade four... I was sledding down "The Big Hill" and I noticed there was a much larger child in my path. I started shouting and yelling for him to move (steering did not occur to me) but instead, I plowed into him. He fell on top me in such a way that my face was forced into the snow for the remainder of the way down the hill. When the treacherous ride was over, my face was sliced and diced. I've been afraid ever since. Anyways, I digress... my kiddos have allowed me to get over this fear and tackle the sled once again! All 4 of us had so much fun! We topped it off with a game of hide n seek in the forest! A lovely Friday afternoon!

all bundled up, ready to go!

my snow angel!

Annie and Mom.

sledding smiles.

My turn. Eeeeeeeek!

Annie's first time down the hill.

She observes.

Totally unrelated... just one more pic of Annie. I melt. I swoon. I love her. Xo.

I lied. 2 more.

Happy Halloween!!

Wow. What a snowy, cold Halloween. Not gonna lie, the weather kinda took the fun out of that. Couple that with the fact that our block was a ghost town and it made for a pretty disappointing Halloween. We had 4 kids. That's right. 4. Now, I am not a huge Halloween guru, but it's fun for the kids to dress up and trick or treat! I have awesome memories of trick or treating with my parents and with friends and all of my memories are full of people! I remember when my mom would hand out candy and keep a tally of kids that came to our door. We would usually have 80-110 kids EVERY Halloween. Nope, 4. We headed out with just Isla (my parents came over to watch Annie-Roo and hand out candy to the swarms of children barreling down our door) around 6:15 or so. Every second house on our block had their lights off, doors closed, no one home. We didn't see a SINGLE trick or treater. So after Isla asking "where is everybody?" about 5 times and crying NON stop (she was cold, she didn't want to say trick or treat etc...), we came home. I was disappointed. Having my own kids has allowed me to be a kid again in that sense and I was really excited about Halloween-ing with my ladies.   Cam's mom ended up calling us to tell us that there were bunches of kids in her neighborhood, so after refueling with a bag of Cheesies, Cam took Isla over there for a few more houses. I stayed here with Annie. Besides all that negativity, our girlies were the cutest! It was fun to put them in their costumes and see them all dressed up. Here is my little peacock and my ferocious tiger!

Perfect Peacock.

 Dressed-up Sisters.

Isla the Tiger ready to devour Annie the Peacock!

Isla: "ROARRRRRRRRRRR!"

And now a throwback to past Halloweens:

Isla the Peacock: Halloween 2010

Isla the Giraffe (who picks their nose): Halloween 2011