March 2014... Moving so fast!

Whoa... it's the end of March already?!  Things are zooming by.

So, what's happened lately?

Portland Trip
At the end of February, I took Ava to Portland for a PT course, and my mom came down from Victoria, BC to watch Ava while I attended the course.  Everything worked out well and we were thankful to Nana to watch Ava so I could do this.

Hectic Lives
We don't feel like we've really caught our breath since the beginning of Feb.  Work has been very busy for each of us.  My boss had her baby and another therapist has left the clinic.  Plus, I was hardly breaking even by paying for daycare and only working 6 hour days, so my days have become longer.  As a friend recently reminded me "kids are expensive... get over it!"  and I still feel like I'm working on this balance.

We are running around and can't seem to do a good job of anything.  We both feel like we are doing a so-so job of exercising, working at our jobs, parenting, keeping up with household tasks and bills.  Actually, we've done less than a so-so job with our household!

Jason came home to find that I'd 'hung the laundry to dry' like this... clearly running out of time on the task and leaving.

Ava turned 8 months (and is almost 9 months!)
Ava is becoming more proficient at crawling and can get into everything, so we have reorganized and tried to babyproof our upstairs.  It seems Ava eats all day.  Wake, nurse, play, eat breakfast, morning nap,wake, nurse, play, eat lunch, afternoon nap, wake, nurse, afternoon snack, play, dinner, bath, nurse, bed.  She is eating 'off the menu' at school, which means she can eat most solids.  Her teachers marvel at how much she can take down - she especially loves avocado, sweet potato, cheese, and banana.
No teeth yet.

Rachel 
Rachel got her first ever haircut at a salon.  She didn't love it.  She got to sit in a fire truck chair and pick a treat and a sticker at the end and watch the move 'Planes' as the hair dresser tried to maneuver around her hand as it tried to block her out.  Rachel keep saying 'I don't like that!' over and over...

She did love seeing the movie 'Frozen' in the theatre with me as a special treat, and has been pretending to be Anna ever since.  She has even worn a dress and put her hair in pony tails a couple times, and knows all the words to every song.

She loves playing with all her 'kids' as always.

Rachel has loved watering a plant on the window sill and watching it grow, and is wondering when we can have a garden outside...  too bad it keeps snowing in between beautiful sunny days.

Rachel is enjoying playing with others a little more and is making more serious friendships at school, so that she misses them and asks to go to school on her days off.  She is also becoming a more interested big sister - playing peek a boo with Ava and giving her toys and interacting with her more.

Thankfully, Rachel still loves to read and will often read herself to sleep at night.  She loves to read Berenstain Bears books, Robert Munsch books, Mercy the Pig books, Little Miss and Mr books, and Franklin books.  We go to the library and exchange books 1-2 times per week.

Funny things she has said lately:

1)Playing with her Daddy's throat and asking about an Adam's apple.  Laughing so hard while watching it move up and down.  Then shrieking in delight: "Daddy - do it again!  Swallow your apple!"

2) Rachel loves to measure things.  She'll grab her measuring tape and measure my leg:
R: "Mommy - you are so tall!"
M: "Oh?  How tall?"
R: "65 bucks!"

3) Singing "... the more we get to Heather, the happier we'll be..."


Anyway, we are busy but happy.  Lucky as always to have each other.