Maui, Hawaii
Category: Babies
This is Three
We had the most amazing time celebrating Brynlee’s third birthday in Maui. We ogled at fishies during the day at the Maui Ocean Centre & enjoyed some deep dish at Lahaina Pizza Company in the evening. To top off the day our little was serenaded with Happy Birthday by the entire restaurant before enjoying a scrumptious birthday dessert.
Our little girlie has big thoughts, wild dreams and a crazy imagination. She loves horses and wants to be an astronaut (& a million other things) when she’s older. Her favourite colour is blue, she loves hard and is adored by her entire family. She is eager to learn, help and explore the world around her. She is compassionate, thoughtful and often the loudest one in the room. When you hear her full bellied laugh or see her ear to ear grin, you can’t help but smile & chuckle to yourself.
She made me a mama & this is three.
Favourites
Colour: blue & green (just like Daddy)
Number: 5 4 2 3 4 5 blast off
Book: Oopsie Daisy Here Comes Maisy
Food: chocolate & orange spicy chips (Mexican Doritos)
Drink: chocolate milk and white milk
Animal: all of them. But dogs & horses and cows
Toy: Bunny Bunbun & blankie
Shape: triangles
Thing to do at the park: go down the slide & under duckie on the swings
Thing to do in the backyard: throw a ball for Floydie
Best friend: all of my cousins
Silly words she cannot pronounce
- elevator : alligator
- ambulance : angalince
- school bus : scoobus
- hospital : hostipull
- animal : aMimal
- nutella : hella-tella
- paw patrol : paw t’trol
Banff, Alberta
Earlier this month we headed down to Banff, Alberta. Both girls did exceptionally well on the drive and Jessie saw the Rocky Mountains for the first time ever! Mom & Dad were able to snowboard for the first time in F O U R years and it was [thankfully] just like riding a bike! Papa & Lola treated us to some delicious dinners and before heading home we made the mandatory pit stop at the Banff Candy Store for some delicious goodies!
Ps – if you ever want the Banff Candy Store/Banff Ave all to yourself, visit on a weekday at 10am!
Brynlee’s Favs These Days
Favourites [as per January fifth 2018]
Colour: still blue
Game: cheek kisses
- ask her to kiss your cheek & at the last second turn your head and plant one on her
Food: toast
Drink: milk (of the cow, chocolate & snowman variety)
Best friend(s): Addy, Morgan, Eli, Molly & Sam
Thing to do: ‘play in my ice cream stall’ aka her fort
Princess: Princess Jessie!
Animal: elephants, horsies & elephants
Book: bedtime stories about Princess Brynlee (obviously!)
Thing to wear: pink snowsuit & donut jammies
Still obsessed with horses, trains & her baby sister. Insists daily on going outside to play in the snow & jump on Mom and Dad’s bed. Loves to ask people what their name is, their favourite colour and what they’re ‘doing here’. Still debating between becoming a baby doctor, astronaut & princess
Winter Bucket List
A fun little list of things we want to do with our littles around #yeg this frosty winter
Take the girls on our first winter vacation as a family of 4Enjoy an afternoon at theFestival of Treesdecorating gingerbread men & trimming treesSet up and decorate our real Christmas treeMake sugar cookies with Lola (& other various Christmas baking)Build a snowmanon our front lawn- Cozy up on the couch for some hot chocolate and a Christmas movie
Check out some amazing Christmas lights-
Our own street – NormandeauElliot Place- Candy Cane Lane
- The Legislature
- Luminescence at the Valley Zoo
- Take Brynlee for her first skate
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- City Hall
- Victoria Park Iceway
- In front of Grandma & Grandpa’s on the lake
- Papa’s backyard rink
- Decorate the Hunt Gingerbread House
Visit and take a photo with SantaHave a snowball fightWrite a letter to Santa and his reindeerVisit theYEG Ice CastlesGo tobogganing with friends- Take Brynlee for her first ski-doo ride for a wiener roast
Make New Years resolutions that we do not intend to keep- Keep the girls up late to watch the NYE fireworks
- Put out a jar to collect special memories & moments of 2018 in
Brynlee Lately…
Favourites [as of November first 2017]
Colour: blue
Food: fishies
Drink: chocolate milk
Best friend: Addy
Things to do: dance, skip & run
Place: the park
Thing to do at the park: build sand castles
Princess: Rapunzel
Why? Because of her castle
Animal: giraffe
TV show: Peppa Pig
Song: Twinkle Twinkle
Blanket: her duvet & sheep sheets
Book: Up Up Down by Robert Munsch
Quirky things she says these days
“Hmm… very interesting”
“I’m just doing my best!”
“Yes, I promise!”
“Why?……. Because????”
What’s your favourite colour?”
4 Months
This little beauty is already over 4 months old and weighs 16lbs 11.6oz. She is 24.75in long and already has her two bottom teeth (which I find crazy because Brynlee got her first tooth at 8 months!!). Accompanying her two little chompers is non-stop drool, tons of snuggles & the want and need to put everything in her mouth – including her adorable little toes! Her favourite things are watching her sister play, jumping [falling asleep] in the jolly jumper & bath time. She can roll from her tummy to her back and enjoys popping her soother in & out of her mouth.
Things I want to remember about right now:
- how her tiny jaw quivers ever so slightly when she nurses
- the feeling of her body getting heavier & heavier as she drifts off to sleep
- the sound of her adorable baby raspy voice as she coos & babbles
Navigating Life With Two
This week my Mom and I took the girls to the Muttart Conservatory. I’ve realized that planning activities in the morning – whether it be a special outing or a quick trip to the park, makes life with two kids much easier. I’ve recently made it a priority to stick to routine and be back home by nap time. This is because Brynlee experienced a significant sleep regression when we switched her to her big girl room and again when Jess showed up. Nap time was hit or miss for a few weeks in our house and it was extremely hard on all of us. Now with a newborn, I definitely count on Brynlee’s afternoon snooze to catch up on some zzzzz’s myself.
Anyways, back to the Muttart. I had only been there once before but knew it would be a hit with Brynlee. While we toured the pyramids, I wrapped Jess up in our Solly Baby Wrap and had an amazing time checking out the pretty flowers and cool and interesting trees and plants. Unfortunately we had picked a time where the feature pyramid was undergoing a change so it was filled with a bunch of beautiful flowers. Brynlee insisted on having a tea party with Lola complete with milk and fishy crackers in it since there were wrought iron patio sets scattered throughout. She is just too adorable.
Brynlee’s favourite parts about the Muttart:
– hanging out with Lola [always a fav]
– watching the water falls
– spying on other children
– and the koi fish in the pond to which she said “takeit … home”
Perhaps we will look into getting her a pet goldfish.
First Few Weeks With Jess
Jessica Olive is now 5 weeks old and is as sweet as can be. She currently has bright blue eyes just like her sister did as a newborn and the most amazing smelling chocolate brown hair. I am convinced she’s going to end up looking just like Brynlee with her long eyelashes and little button nose, but people keep saying they can see more of me. Ya well, I’m not going to get my hopes up just yet.
Jess is a fantastic sleeper… as long as she’s tucked into our bed at night. Right in the middle of our king size. This is the total opposite of Brynlee who slept in her crib in her own room from day one. Once again breastfeeding has been wildly successful and at one month she weighed 11 lbs 9.6oz, which is 3lbs 7oz more than her birthweight of 8lbs 3oz. She has already outgrown our limited selection of newborn clothing and is filling out 0-3 month onesies. Whoever came up with “big babies are happy babies” was bang on.
We introduced a soother pretty early this time and Jess has now taken a bottle from Craig twice. Our fav bottle is the Comotomo because it’s super easy to wash and is suppose to be great for breastfed babes. Brynlee was never great at taking a bottle so it was extremely difficult to get any baby-free time. One of the most important things I’ve learned since becoming a mom is the value in taking time to focus on yourself. In the end, that time you spend away from your babe absolutely makes you a better mom. Plus who doesn’t enjoy getting a well deserved pedicure 😉
Brynlee These Days
This little girly is growing up so quickly… here’s a little update
– says she wants to be a doctor when she grows up
– obsessed with singing “happy to you” and getting people to blow out “cannels”
– has stopped jamming the soose in Jess’ mouth
– when we ask her what color something is, she always says pink… followed by blue?
– has successfully escaped her crib twice. Time to take down the railing
– loves being outside and “wunning” in the backyard with her pup
– will accept crackers as cookies and thinks yogurt is ice cream
– requests songs about dinosaurs and choo choo trains before nap and bedtime
Melissa Hunt 