Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Today, we played.

This morning began like any other; early, and with a cup of coffee.
Funny story; I bought this mug for myself but I like to think Aryn would have bought it for me eventually.


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Soon enough, the coffee was drank, breakfast was eaten, the computers were off, the phone was silenced, and Bauer was laying by my feet. Aryn and I sat on the plush carpet and ...

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We played.

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Whoever created 'Little People' was a genius. Horses were in the house, people were sleeping in the barn, and I am fairly certain that at one point, a pig was driving the bus.

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But in a little persons play world, pigs can do that. I hope they do in your world, too.

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For what seemed like a long time, we played. The horse came in and out of the house more times than I can count, and the sheep spent more time in Aryn's mouth than on the table but the imagination that came out of that little girl's mind was endearing and exciting. What adventures is this little person going to go on in her mind? What exciting scenarios is she going to come up with? And why is there a fluffy penguin in the bathroom?

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After a frustrating bout of Day 2 swimming lessons (miss Aryn doesn't like to listen...) and a quick trip to Costco with Auntie Aleesha, we came home and continued playing.

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Designs were drawn all over the backyard with chalk and I feel safe in saying that my $5 Little Tykes vehicle at a garage sale was the best $5 I've ever spent.

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And what's that? A random plant growing in our new patio. I don't have the heart to tear it out; I want to see it bloom. How it survives with no water, no food, and living in sand is beyond me. It reminds me that nature is beautiful, and beauty can grow even in the worst conditions. Kinda like life.

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'Til tomorrow. Let love shine.

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And please feel free to leave a comment. I don't know what's going on with my comment tabs but if you click below where it says "No Comments", you can comment. Why can't I change "No Comments" to "Click to Comment"? I should take a Blogger class. 

Monday, July 30, 2012

North Wind

Today was scorching. It's 30C in our house! But tonight, the wind changed, and it brought a cool breeze and a much lower temperature.

While babes are resting, birds are hiding, and husbands are exercising, this is my view. My companion, Bauer, is loving it just as much as I.

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The Farm Life

We have an amazing extended family. Aryn, in particular, loves her cousin. Whatever she says, Aryn does. She would have been a great little sister, let me tell you. She admires her big cousin so much.

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See how excited she is to go to the farm?

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The farm is nestled in the heart of potato country; extremely hot days and the need for air conditioning even at night. Farm weekends are always busy and full of fun and laughter; this weekend was no different. 

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While braving the swarms of mosquitoes, you will catch a view like no other. Garth Brooks' "That Summer" pops into your head more times than not when you look out at the "wheat fields as far as I can see." Simply magnificent.

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Dogs in toe, babes in strollers, and the only sound is the crunch of your feet on gravel roads. This is what life is about.

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Days are spent playing outside in the hot sun, running through the sprinkler, or being put to work. Sweat-filled clothes and dirty socks remind you that sitting at home on the couch watching Parks & Rec is much easier than living the farm life. 

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But look at that face!

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I wish we could see these kids more often. Aryn has so much fun and we laugh so much the whole weekend. But that doesn't mean I want to move to Lethbridge! We just need to hang out more often. 

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The 2-hour drive back home is spent napping and watching little bits of Yo Gabba Gabba in between shut eye. What's better than a sleeping babe? A smiling, giggling babe. 

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We came home to a very happy Bauer, a dark sky (and therefore a quick clean-up of toys before a potential rainstorm), and sitting around the patio, cooling off before another hot night. 

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Life isn't too shabby.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

The New Blog

For awhile now, I've been wanting to change the direction of my blog. Instead of stories only of Aryn, I wanted to write about our life. We have a great life, full of love, great friends, amazing family, and memories that should be shared. I've wanted to link our lives to photos, and I wanted to dabble in my love for photography.

Why haven't I?

Many reasons, really. One, I didn't like the idea of strangers reading about our lives. Yet, I posted photos and stories of Aryn so.... that is a stupid one. Two, am I too hilarious for blogging? Three, everyone and their dog is a photographer; how would I be any different with my one-lens camera? Plus, I'm not that good. Four, people will see what chaotic, psycho lives we lead. 

Then I thought.... everyone has chaotic, psycho lives.

I have many favourite blogs that I read religiously. I do not want my blog to be a mirror to them... yet, I can foresee that happening. 

I love to write; I have been writing stories my whole life. I blog about Bauer, I write about Aryn, and I am amazing at bbm'ing. 

So how can I make MY blog different from all the others? 

I do not really know.

I do know that the past 2 years, since Aryn has been born, has been a real growth for our family. "Obviously," you'd say. But more-so for me. I went from being someone who is the centre of every friendship circle, someone who is the life of the party, someone who had a great self-esteem and vibrant personality.

I am not that any more.

I am now more of a wallflower. I worry more about what people think of me that I don't always say exactly what I want to. I stress more about what people think of me or see me as, than who I want to be. 

Parenthood made me that way!

Am I a good mother? Is everyone else a better mother than me? Do I look good? Other moms look better than me. How many mistakes am I making? How come I can't get around to making supper every day? Why don't I do this? Why don't I do that? 

I think I'm crazy. 

I'm lucky to have an amazing husband who reassures me I'm awesome, but sometimes I don't believe him.

So this is my new blog... I am turning over a new leaf. It's going to take time, because I am going to change who I am, what I want, who I want to be, and the kind of wife and mother I need to be. 

I am excited, I am nervous, and I am scared of failing.

But with Ryan by my side, and my beautiful baby to give me hugs and kisses every day, not only will I succeed, but I will be better than I imagined.

Blog desire

I want this blog to be more about our lives than just Aryn's beautiful, growing life. I want people to read it. I want people to enjoy it.

More to come...

Friday, July 27, 2012

Photo plug

So I am not a photographer. But, I love taking photos. When it comes to Aryn, taking photos is both an adventure and extremely frustrating. You say "look at the camera," and she hears "turn around and run the other way." When you say "smile, Aryn!" she hears "look down, don't make eye contact, and pretend you're enthralled with some random thing."

It's a crap shoot trying to get one great photo!

Thankfully, I feel like I got more than one great photo when I took Aryn to Lyalta yesterday. There's an old railway elevator, that has been converted into a seed cleaner. It's still being used today, and I am really pleased with the photos.

Take a gander! And check out my super awesome watermark!! Ginger Snap Photography.... it fits us, hey??

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Sunday, July 22, 2012

Sleepin' In

This morning, for the first time ever, Aryn slept until 9am. She was in bed last night at 7:30pm.

For those of you who don't understand the significance of this, let me explain it to you:

1. Aryn is up at 6:30am every day. Nap time is at ~11:30 because by then, she's over-the-top tired.

2. Aryn is up at 6 flippin 30 every. single. morning.

Understand?

Friday night we were up until 2am playing cards with our neighbours and she was up at 6:45 that morning.

So a sleep in until 9 am is not only something to be celebrated, but something to be cherished. She got big hugs and kisses for it.

She then pooped in the potty, so she's pretty much the most awesomest little girl in the world today.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

22 Months!

So much has happened with us this past month!!!

First, Aryn is now in her big kid bed. The first night (which I didn't update on! Whoops!) was ok... I woke up at about 4am, went to check on her, and she was on top of all of her blankets on the floor. But that has been the ONLY night!! Every night she's slept awesome; in fact, she's almost sleeping better than before! Her room is empty of toys and attention-grabbers. It's literally her bed, her dresser, and the rocking chair. The drawers in the change table are empty, and I've concocted a "lock" for the closet. Even if she got up in the middle of the night, there'd be nothing for her to do but go back to sleep!

It's been about a billion degrees in Southern Alberta this past week. So, Aryn has had to get used to sleeping with a fan going in her bedroom and the window opened a crack - with the curtains moving and noises from outside.

I have to admit: I am now OBSESSED with her sleeping with a fan on! I hope I can keep this going, even after it's cooled off!! We can talk at a normal volume, put dishes away, Bauer has barked, we've talked outside... and she's slept through it all!! I LOVE the fan!!

We went to a birthday party last weekend for Aryn's friend Keegan, and I learned two things: 1) This kid loves to PLAY with other kids! 2) This kid LOVES sand and getting dirty!

The latter is not exciting for daddy, who loves this house being spick and span!

What else has happened in our lives...

- Bauer's been super sick lately. We are not sure what's wrong. He ended up going to the vet on Tuesday afternoon, and he stayed until Wednesday at 5pm. He was on an IV, and they did some blood work and testing and all they got was that he was severely dehydrated. Perhaps it's the heat, perhaps something else caused it. Either way, he's not our same puppy! Last night he slept on the floor (which he's never done - ever!), and today he barked at some strangers walking by, looked like he was in pain, then started coughing and hacking. And every time he eats, he throws up what was in his mouth because it's like he can't swallow it! I feel so bad for my little boy and wish I knew what was wrong. :(

- Aryn is an avid colourer. We've had to hide her crayons. Because no matter how much paper is taped to the table, she wants to colour on the wall, the windowsill, the chairs, my leg, the fridge, the dog, the chairs....... she's a great little artist, but come on kid!! Throw me a bone!!

- Aryn has been babbling in her random little language for almost a year now. She's been "talking" so much and it's been so cute and funny that we never really thought anything about it. I always know what she wants, and people are constantly telling me how cute her little language is. Until recently, when I started comparing (I know, I know - never compare!) her to other kids her age and realized that... my kid does NOT talk!! Arynese is cute, but we need to add some English to it. So, I took her to a speech pathologist here in Strathmore. The woman is amazed at how smart Aryn is - she appears to know colours (she picked out the yellow and blue crayons when asked to!), all animals, the sounds every animal makes ('roar' for lion, 'woof woof woof' for dog, 'eow' for cat, and she trumpets for an elephant!), she knows characters on Sesame Street, she knows how to draw a circle, etc. She is just apparently too smart for us and I'm the one that needs to be trained! So, we're going to continue seeing this speech lady and hopefully she teaches ME how to teach Aryn how to start speaking in English. I'm hoping it happens soon!!

- Aryn has been loving the "Little People" toys lately. She has a doll house and a barn now that I got from those garage sale sites and she LOVES them. She's constantly playing and putting them to bed and putting them on the toilet and it's so adorable and so much fun to play with her!! I love it!

- Potty time is going to start going in full force soon. I'm sick and tired of diapers!! I am a huge cloth diapering fan. I loooove my clothies. But every time she pees, she cries and her bum gets all red. So she's now in disposables, and I HATE DISPOSABLES!!! They're expensive, I am constantly thinking about how I'm ruining the environment, and .... I just hate disposables. Sooooo I'm now bribing Aryn to happily sit on the potty (with Smarties!) and I'm going to start making sit on the potty every half hour. I want her to "get" it and start using it. I'm not so worried about night time - we'll keep diapers on for then - but for the day time, I'm ready for her to be potty trained. So..... fingers crossed!!

No photos - sorry!!! I'll try to get you all some soon!!

Sunday, July 8, 2012

First night in a toddler bed...

This morning we were awoken to a little girl on top of her change table. The change table is attached to the crib. This would be quite the little fall!!

She was also put to bed in shorts (cuz it's 27C in our house!) and she reached in, grabbed poop, and rubbed it all over herself. Awesome.

So, I spent the whole morning emptying out Aryn's bedroom. The bookshelf is gone (and in our spare bedroom upstairs), her toys are gone, everything in the change table is gone, everything she can possibly get her little hands on... is gone.

These photos are from when we first tried putting her in a big kids bed in April. It didn't stick cuz she got out and played during her afternoon nap and I wasn't ready for my baby to be a big girl!

It's bittersweet that she's in a big kid bed!! I am nervous about tonight... if she'll stay asleep, if she'll stay in bed, if she'll get up at 5am...

I'll keep ya posted!

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Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Talking... yet not "talking"

Aryn has been very vocal for a long time now. She's babbled in her little Arynese language for quite some time. It's super cute, and everyone who hears it says how awesome it is and how they hope that one day their kids speak Arynese!


However, as cute as it is, it has become somewhat of a sore spot for mommy!

It's hard not to compare your child to others. I think everyone does it. So while other kids younger than Aryn are walking around saying things like "I want water" and "There's a monkey!" (at the zoo), Aryn is just babbling away in her own language. Again - super cute. But, as a mom, sometimes worrisome. And only when people make comments! Why do people feel the need to say, "oh, your kid isn't talking yet?"

Yeah, she's not. Bug off!!

Anyways, so I have talked to a speech lady at the Strathmore Health Unit and they are going to do a little assessment. Maybe she has a tough time hearing (although I highly doubt it since she's the lightest sleeper known to man!), maybe she's tongue tied, maybe she's so over-active that her mouth doesn't move fast enough, maybe I'm just not teaching her the right things!

And maybe she's just doing things at her own pace and will talk when she's good and ready.

I personally like the latter.

Whatever the reason, all I know is that my girl is ridiculously smart, and funny, and even though she doesn't talk, doesn't mean there's ANYTHING wrong with her.

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