The time has come...

So tonight, it happened. For the last couple of weeks, we noticed that Maddy has been using every tactic in the book to try and extend her bedtime. She'll go into her room for bedtime with no problem, but once it's time for us to leave, the requests for drinks, potty, light on, wipe my nose, wipe my tears...go on and on. Once we do leave, she'll use other tactics such "ipod on!" or just screaming/crying to get us to come back.

Tonight, after both Josh and I went in there on separate occasions, we decided that enough was enough. We'd just ignore the calls. As you can imagine, she was QUITE upset, but we expected that. What we didn't expect was her to climb out of her crib by herself. What a shock!! She didn't fall, and just came out into the hallway and into the bathroom. What kills me is that she didn't even come to find us. She just went straight to the bathroom and started to take her pants down. It was as if to say, "Forget you! I'll just do it all by myself then!" Ha, ha, poor girl. I guess it's definitely time to take the side of your crib off.

(SIGH) The end of an era. I know we're lucky as some kids start climbing out of their cribs way earlier, I'm just more sad because it's another definite sign that my baby girl is not a baby anymore.

I've posted pictures for the Revelstoke trip!

Field Trips

We've been having a really great time going to different attractions around town. It's great to see that for some of them, Ethan is old enough to enjoy them rather than tagging along in the stroller with the snack trap in hand.

Last week I took the kids to the Aquarium because it's been a while since we've gone. Maddy was very excited because she just loves it there. When I pulled up in the parking lot there was a line up that wrap around the side of the building to the sidewalk. My stomach dropped because there was no way I wanted to line up for that long. Luckily, the line up was for non-members only! Phew, that was one tantrum that we narrowly missed. The aquarium was fun and very busy, so after a quick look around we went out to Stanley Park. Maddy and I shared some popcorn and the whole time there were a couple of seagulls watching us. I could tell that Maddy wanted to feed them, but I had to tell her not to because the birds in Stanley Park are a little vicious. I could just picture us in a swarm of birds and both kids screaming. Actually, mom would be screaming right along with them. :) We had a great time and both kids fell asleep before I could even get out of the park. Ahhhh...peace and quiet for a nice drive. I forgot to bring my camera on this day.

On Saturday Josh had to head into work because they have a deadline coming up. With the rainy weather, I didn't want to stay at home so I took the kids to the Play Palace in the Kerrisdale skating arena. I'd come across it while the surfing the net a little while ago. Our friends Chris and Monique called us and so we met up for lunch with them before. I was pretty happy that I could manage both kids by myself in a restaurant. Maddy was very well behaved and I brought a lot of food for Ethan. The Play Palace was extremely busy because of the rain, but it was tons of fun. They have a special toddler/preschool area that was perfect for both Maddy and Ethan to play.

Ethan really loved this drum, especially when everyone was banging on it.

On the other side they have ride-on toys and then larger bouncy/inflatable slides. Maddy really wanted to go on the slide, but adults are not allowed on. So I strapped Ethan in the Ergo and sent Maddy up alone. I don't know if you tell from pictures, but it really is big. When she got up there, she took one look down and started to cry. My heart was breaking for her and I couldn't even go up to help her back down. Luckily there was a nice looking girl and I asked her to go up and help Maddy. Maddy came back down the stairs and looked at the slide again. I guess she really wanted to give it a try, so she went up with the little girl again and this time she came down the slide. It was awesome to see her overcome her nervousness and then find that it was really fun. Ethan on the other hand would've climbed up there if I'd let him. He wanted to follow Jeh Jeh in this tunnel thing, so I let him do that. Poor guy, he would've made it up, but his feet were to slippery in his socks. He was a little sad when Maddy disappeared off in the tunnel. Don't worry Ethan, we'll go again soon. Again, both kids konked out easily on the way home. Heaven.

"Help me, Mama!"

Yesterday, Joanne brought the girls over and we all went to the Burnaby Village Museum and Carousel. I've taken Maddy to the Carousel before, but it was really fast and she only wanted to sit on the benches. This time, I was sure to show her the little horses that don't move up and down. They were the perfect size for her. For the first ride, I even took Ethan on. He liked sitting on the horse for the first little bit, then I sat on the floor with him in my lap and he had a good time. Maddy went for a second ride with Frances and Pippa and I stayed with Ethan on the side. When Maddy came off, she was soooo proud of herself for going on all by herself. Joanne told me that she said "No, Auntie Jo, don't hold me" during the ride. She's really growing up.

In the museum they had an old fashion car giving rides around the town, so we lined up and all went for a ride.



After some ice cream we went to see the blacksmith. We watched as she made a hook and at the end, she said that Maddy could take the hook home. Well! That was just icing on the cake! Once again, Zzzzzzz in the car. :)

Ethan with the RCMP

Looking forward to another field trip. We've been having a lot of fun lately and I'll be sad when the summer ends.

Ethan 11 months and "Anna" 2yrs 10 mths

Happy 11 months Ethan! You're definitely a little man now. I feel like my baby is all grown up :). Well I know that isn't the case, but he has changed a lot in the last month.

Last month he was just pulling himself up to standing at the coffee table and now he is pulling up, sitting down and furniture cruising with ease. He's even started to walk with the toy walker across the playroom. I just know that he'll be off and running once he learns to walk. It feels like it's really just around the corner.

One development that I'm super excited about is that Ethan is eating the same thing as the rest of the family now. He's yet to have a few things like tomatoes, milk, strawberries and nuts, but it's definitely easier to come up with meals that he can eat too. I L.O.V.E. not having to cook different meals and my pureeing days are over. We even went out for dinner the other night and he and Maddy shared a plate of fried rice. I'm a very happy mama. I believe we have a very happy Ethan too. The look on his face was priceless the night we gave him some chicken pot pie. It was like we couldn't feed him fast enough and his eyes went super big as if to say, "I can't believe you've been holding out on me!"

Ethan has six teeth now. Four on top and two on the bottom. It feels like we are due for another round of teething again soon. The last two came up a little while ago. We're bracing for impact again! :)

I have to blog this next moment because it doesn't happen often, but I will definitely try to make it happen again. As you can probably tell by now, Ethan is not the 'sit still' kind of baby. He never has been. Even as an infant he would push up off your shoulder to look around the room. By 3 months, you would have to hold him and walk around. He hated to be held while sitting because he wanted to see everything. Even now with nursing, he is on, he is off and he is gone. The other day, I picked him up from a nap and he was just so cuddly. I think it helped that Maddy was still sleeping so the room was quiet. I sat down with him on the couch and he made no move to get off my lap. Then he rested his head on my chest and just let me rub his back for a long time. I savoured Every. Single. Moment. I'm looking forward to after nap time again tomorrow. :)



You might be wondering who "Anna" is. Anna is the park leader who runs the wading pool across the street from our house. Lately Maddy has been insisting that we call her Anna. When ever Josh or I address her as Maddy she replies, "No, I'm Anna". Sometimes she's "Tracy" (the lady who ran the play group at the community centre across the street), but mostly she is Anna. This is one of Maddy's favourite games to play now. She really loves to play make believe and pretend that she is other people. Tonight I was told I was "Sharon" and Ethan was "Travis". OK! We just roll with it and hope that we remember who she is at that given point. The funny thing is that when we are around other people, she forgets this game and "Maddy" is back.

I'm having a really fun time with the kids and a lot of it is because it's so much easier to get out and about now. Maddy can now go to the washroom, wash her hands and put her shoes on all by herself. That makes heading for a quick trip to the park, an actual quick trip. I'll blog more about the fun things we've been up to, but it's great that she is definitely becoming more and more independent.

With this independence comes some meltdowns at times as she wants to do everything by herself. One time we were getting ready to go to the Aquarium and I was reminding her that she needed to be good so that we could go. She said , "Mama, you have to stop saying that." "Saying what Maddy?" "You just have to stop saying that." O...K.... I don't know if I was actually getting a little bit of lip from her, but I was definitely shocked :) On the good side, I have noticed that Maddy's communication skills continue to improve. You can tell that she is now going into her 'background knowledge' to come up with content when we play make believe. Today we had a long conversation about what her doggy liked to do and things she had to do as his owner. It was a lot of fun to talk with her.

"11 months" and "2 years, 1o months" is proving to be a really fun time. The kids both nap at the same time in the afternoon and we have a good long chunk of time between Ethan's morning nap and the afternoon nap. We have been able to get out and do a lot of fun activities and with less than one month before I head back to work and Maddy starting preschool, I'm really making an effort to squeeze in as much fun as I can.

Again, pictures to follow! :)

Revelstoke Trip

A little late in posting this, but better late than never. I've been waiting for Josh to touch up the photos but we've been quite busy around here so they still are not done. I figure that I'd better write the post soon before I forget, and then I can add pictures later.

I don't even remember the dates, but back in mid July we packed up the Westy and drove to Revelstoke. We decided to try something new because Ethan H.A.T.E.S long car rides, so we started driving at 8pm. Ethan did really well. He konked out early and pretty much slept the whole time. Yippeee! Maddy on the other hand was hilarious. I guess she doesn't really get out much when it is dark. She woke up while we were getting gas in Merritt and pretty much stayed awake for a long time. She was completely amazed by all the lights in Kamloops and would shout up to us in the front seat, "What's that mama? The letter 'M'! I see a train!!"... I was quite worried that she was going to wake Ethan who was sitting right beside her, but he was out.

In Revelstoke Oma had lots of activities for the kids to do while Josh and Herman worked on the Vanagon. They took the transmission out, cleaned it and rebuilt some part of it. They also did something involving a drive shaft?? Well, I won't even try to go into details as I'm impressed that I even remembered the word 'drive shaft'. :)

Baking cookies with Oma.

There's the transmission...I think.

I cannot remember the exact order of day trips but here are some highlights:

We went for a picnic at the lake that is just 5 mins. away from home. I have to say that it's awesome to be just 5 mins away from a lake. No chance of anyone falling asleep before getting home in time for a nap. Maddy had a great time playing in the water with Oma and I even put Ethan in the lake. He loved it and was splashing around. The tough thing about Ethan's age is that he puts everything into his mouth, so he had quite a big handful of sand. Maddy was in heaven when Oma bought her a popsicle. By the end Maddy had both the popsicle and Oma's cone in her hands. One happy girl!!!

Ethan was having a blast in the lake. He loved splashing around.

Oma and Maddy building sandcastles.

On another day we went to Kim, Pascal and Kaes' house for lunch and a play date. I am always so impressed with how great Kaes is with Maddy. Maddy just loves him. It was also great to see Ethan having fun with the 'boy toys' since he doesn't have too many toys of his own at home. The poor little guy, he desparately wanted to follow Kaes and Maddy around but he couldn't get up the stairs to follow them. Next year Ethan!

Everybody is too busy playing to look at the camera.

We took the kids to the pool a couple of times and it was Ethan's first time. He loved it and was taking it all in. We borrowed a floaty thing from Kaes and it was perfect because he could just hang out and float around with us.


One evening we tried to go to the river for a cook out. Unfortunately, the water was really high so there wasn't much of a beach to sit on. After trying to find another site, we decided to just head home. Luckily, Oma and Opa have a fire pit right at home so we could still have yummy smokies and s'mores.

Auntie Lyn and Uncle Aaron

"The itsy-bitsy spider went up the water spout..."

A cook out in the side yard

We were supposed to go camping for the last couple nights of the week, but with the Westy being fixed and the age that Ethan is at right now, we decided it would be more enjoyable next year. Instead we went to Blanket Creek one evening and had a cook out. The lake had tons of tadpoles and the kids (and adults) had a great time watching and teasing the gofers. (They like marshmellows!!).

This is how we roll! The Blommestein Westies at Blanket Creek

Maddy and Kaes at the lake

This picture just cracks me up.

If you've driven that part of the Number 1 highway, you've no doubt passed by the Enchanted Forest. It's a place I remember driving by as a kid and wishing we could stop. Well, dreams do come true!! :) I guess compared to other theme parks nowadays, this would be considered 'low key'. It was great to see Maddy really enjoy it though. I guess because we haven't taken her to a really hyper theme park (like Disneyland) yet. She had a great time running in and out of the little houses and really loved the Winnie the Pooh characters. To her, they might as well have been real and that was really fun to watch. She even climbed all the way to the top of the tree house and back down again with Josh.

Maddy loved exploring all the little huts.

The good 'ol snack trap was enough to keep Ethan busy

Kaes on a time-out. Just kidding!!


In the third little pig's house made of bricks.

In a blink the week was over and we had to pack up the Westy again. It's always fun to spend time with family and we're already looking forward to Christmas. Thanks mom and dad for everything and for such a great week.

I just love this picture.

Lots of just 'hanging out' time.

Lots of treats at Oma's house. Sorry Ethan, not for you yet.

Auntie Lyn is very good at braiding hair.

I just wanted to blog about a cute story that happened while we were at Blanket Creek. Josh was walking with Kaes and Maddy. He said that at one point Kaes put him arm around Maddy's shoulders as they walked. Maddy smiled up at Josh and said "Papa, when Kaes puts his arm around me, he's making sure I'm safe!" Too cute!