All Things Royal & Pretty

It's everywhere you turn...every channel, every talk show, every newspaper, every website. The Royal Wedding.

I haven't been much interested this week, on account of the fact that we have been over saturated by the whole thing all week. But today is different. Today is the real thing...no more speculation about what she's wearing, how her hair will be, who is designing her dress, what the vows will be. Now we know it all, and have seen it all, and it was a beautiful thing.

Everyone will remember where they were the day William & Kate got married. Some were dressed up and celebrating at a party, some were lucky enough to be at the actual ceremony or at least in the crowd outside. But from our own tiny little corner of the planet, I spent the morning watching the new "Princess" marry her Prince...and I did it with my own little Princess, in our jammies.

We turned it on at 8 (I couldn't get up at 6 or any earlier!!), as I had PVR'd it, and we rewound it to the ceremony. Maisie loved the pretty Princess, and if she wasn't on the screen for a minute, she would ask "Where the Princess go?". Then she would say in a soft, dreamy voice "Sooooo prettttyyyy".

Maisie actually let me watch the coverage all morning, until about 11:00 when I decided I was about to go completely cross-eyed from the post-wedding speculation...apparently, we're back to making assumptions on what she'll wear for the reception and party, and where they'll go on the honeymoon. So, we turned it off and we're back to normal. I'll probably watch the ceremony again later on Fast Forward when Mike gets home.
I have to say, I think we need to bring headwear back into regular fashion. I am absolutely in love with the cocktail hats, or "fascinators", They are just the most cute little things I've ever seen! Way better than a big hat. Just a thought...maybe this wedding will bring it back!

Yesterday we went to Toys R Us with everyone, and Nana bought both littles a toy. Maisie got a "Little Mommy" bath doll. She comes with a diaper, slippers, a ducky towel and shampoo.

She was a tad concerned at first.

But once she got into it, it was fun to give the new baby a bath!

Tonight we're going out to dinner, minus littles! Always fun!

Cousin Fun

We've been having a great visit with Maisie's Auntie Erin and cousin Aidan for the past few days!! Maisie isn't quite sure what to make of Aidan's boyish wildness, but she's starting to adjust. And they're definitely exhibiting a lot of "Monkey See, Monkey Do" mentality! I don't know how people do it with twins!

We haven't been able to do too much on account of the miserable rain, but we've always found ways for them to burn off some energy. Parks, malls, running around the yard...we've done our best under the circumstances!! These park pictures were taken on Monday, before the rain hit!

I also have had trouble getting pictures of the littles, on account of the fact that they don't sit or stand still long enough!

(Maisie is in the background, pointing at the ring step things that she wants to climb up to get to the slide. Instead of taking the stairs that she could do herself, she insisted on using these dangerous things instead! I had to help her about 47 times, and it just about bloody killed me, lol!)

Anyway, it's almost naptime and I am in desperate need of a break from my little! She's not in a great mood, and is feeling a tad defiant, so hopefully a rest will help!

Easter Joys

I knew that it would be fun seeing the holidays through a kid's eyes. But no one ever told me it would be THIS fun. I think I get more anticipation than she does, because she doesn't fully understand yet. But she knew the Easter Bunny was coming last night, and she was very excited when she got up!

Like he used to do for us when we were little, the Easter Bunny left a trail of notes for Maisie to follow to find her Easter basket. He also left an Easter egg hunt for her! Unfortunately, the lighting gave me some trouble (always too dark, even though I had a bunch of lights on!!), so the picture selection is sort of weak. The notes took her to her table, the bathtub, Daddy's desk, her little kitchen, and finally her closet!!

Checking under her table for the next note...

Success! Found the treats in the closet!

She ate an unnecessary and ridiculous amount of chocolate this morning, which is to be expected. And we had cinnamon buns for breakfast. I knew she was going to have a serious sugar crash & burn, and I was right. She kept the Naughty Step warm for much of the morning. But once the sugar passed, she was a doll for most of the day.

After nap, we took the new sidewalk chalk outside to play. That was tons of fun!!

Maisie in Chalk

My Hopscotch Masterpiece

She did a pretty good job, considering the concept is lost on her!

All done for today!

After we had exhausted the chalk colouring, we were hungry and decided it would be a good night to go to Red Lobster. It was delicious (of course!) and Maisie was a dream child. She coloured (you'd think she'd be sick of that by now!), and played with a couple of toys I took for her. Then the food came, and she shared my salad and then ate all (ALL!) of her broccoli, and most of her chicken fingers! She didn't even make a peep the whole time we were there. I feel like (understandably) people see us come in with a two year old, and they think "Oh great...", but we always wow them with our happy toddler. She's a joy.

Right now, Mike and Maisie are downstairs watching music videos and wrestling (sounds like she's killing him, actually). It's almost bedtime for her, and she's getting monkey-fied, which can either be good or bad...it will either tire her out, or pump her up for more. Hopefully she's pooped.

We had such a nice, relaxing, lazy weekend. Tomorrow morning is Easter brunch at my parents' house, which Mike will miss because he has to go to work. But after that, I'm going on a sugar-detox. I feel like sugar has become my heroin. Someone should probably lock me in a room and let me detox...that way, I will get the chills and the itchies all alone. Hope it goes well...I don't want to do it, but I have to get it out of my system! So tomorrow is my last day to eat the Easter chocolate and enjoy the sweets!

Hope everyone had a very Happy Easter and a wonderful weekend!

Colour Me Maisie

Since today is a holiday, and Mike is home, we decided to dye Easter eggs!

This is a very scary feat, considering it involves dye and a 2 year old.

I wasn't quite sure how to entertain her while we did it, since there really wasn't much for her to do. I gave her some crayons to colour the eggs with.

I had only hard boiled 6 eggs, but should have done more because Maisie had so much fun!

Notice the pretty colouring...Maisie's creativity has not been stunted by "the junk food of creativity"...the dreaded COLOURING BOOK!! Geez....

So the whole process went quite well. We just had to let go, and allow her to do whatever she wanted. If she wanted to dip her egg multiple times in many different colours, we let her dip her egg multiple times in many different colours. If she wanted to bash two eggs together to hear the noise, we let her bash the eggs together. And the mess stayed mostly contained to her hands!

The finished product! Interesting, but memorable nonetheless!

Easy Peasy

I wish I could say that the title of this entry describes my life. But, like everyone else I'm sure, unfortunately my life right now is nothing close to easy...but that's okay. Sure, the weather isn't cooperating with Spring, Maisie is getting her two year molars, and other aspects of my life aren't moving at the speed which I would like them to. But Maisie is sometimes able to remind me that even if life isn't necessarily easy, it can be Easy Peasy, if that makes any sense.

Despite the fact that "Easy Peasy" is technically short for "Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy", which was apparently a British commercial in the 70's and is meant to refer to something being very easy...Maisie's version of Easy Peasy is just cute and fun and makes her laugh. And isn't that what we all want out of life?

It all started today...I have no idea where she learned the term. Maybe I said it, or maybe she heard it on TV. Wherever it came from, she loves it and finds it hysterical. She says it over and over again, and then laughs like the funniest thing was just said. During story time tonight, every couple of words read she would pull her soosie out and say "Wan' do Easy Peasy again!"...so I would stop reading and she would say "EEEEzee PEEEzee" and then laugh. More pure toddler joy...and she found it, Easy Peasy.

We finally got a pretty umbrella, and even though it's technically Mommy-sized, I thought I deserved a pretty umbrella too...but of course, it's always commandeered by the little one. This past weekend we took the new umbrella out for a spin.

May the rest of your week be...Easy Peasy :)

Wrestlemania

For tonight's WWE matchup, we have Crazy Maisie in this corner....standing 32 inches tall, weighing 35 lbs. And in this corner is Docile Daddy, also known as Tickle Tiger...standing 6 feet, weighing...well, some number of lbs. This competition is going to be an interesting one, as it appears to be an unfairly sized match...I expect it to not be a battle that can be won by Maisie. Will she be outmatched by the bigger competition? Will she pull out a new move to use on the sneak attack? Let's watch and find out.

Wow, well what we've seen tonight here folks is a takedown by Crazy Maisie. I've never seen anything like it before. She blew in like a stealth with a knee to the belly and won the match. Pick on someone your own size from now on, Maisie!

The Invisible Mother

I read this story on another Mommy blog, that had apparently been in an email forward. On a day where Maisie wasn't feeling well, and I was at her beck and call all day (and believe me, I didn't mind), it just felt fitting. Whenever I would get off the couch to do anything, she would say "Mommy, come sit with me?"...how could I resist that. So it was a lazy day of trying to get my girl to feel better.

Whether you are a mom or have a mom, I'm sure this will ring true.

The Invisible Mother It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more! Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.' Some days I'm a crystal ball; 'Where's my other sock?, Where's my phone?, What's for dinner?' I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history, music and literature -but now, they have disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone! One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England . She had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when she turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe . I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'With admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.' In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: 1) No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. 2) These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. 3) They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. 4) The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything. A story of legend in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof, No one will ever see it And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.' I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, no Cub Scout meeting, no last minute errand is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree. When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for 3 hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, he'd say, 'You're gonna love it there...' As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible mothers.

It's so true that we don't get credit for all that we do...from even the time before our children are born, we are sacrificing for them...giving of ourselves for them.

We do it selflessly, without much (if any) thought of how we might benefit. My wish for my daughter is that she grows up to be kind, polite...to have a good sense of herself and her abilities. To know that she is worthy in all aspects of her life, in whatever she chooses to do. I hope that she is able to love unconditionally, to stand up for herself, to know that she is tough and to always know she can come home. And I hope she will continue to build the beautiful cathedral with her future family.

Banana "Poxicles"

Today started out chilly and cloudy. We got up early (for a Sunday!) to go to Gibbons park to watch one of Mike's work friends on a 5k run. There's a fantastic little toddler park there, and Maisie could do pretty much everything herself. All of the steps and slides and climbers are just the right size for wee ones.

Driving the car, just like Daddy!

By the time the runners came by, Little Miss Stubborn wouldn't come over to the path to watch...she wanted to stay at the playground. Maisie and I missed him run by the first time, but saw him on his way back when I finally managed to entice her to come over!

Yes, she's that wee little pink thing waaaaayyyyy over there.

By this afternoon, the temperature had risen incredibly to the point where it feels like summer! The windows are open, there's a bit of humidity and it's easy to mistake this for June. We had a delicious summery dinner of steak (portobello burger for me), mushrooms, beans and sweet potato fries. After dinner, we went outside for banana "poxicles".

Oops...dropsies! Five second rule!

As I write this with the window open, the breeze coming through is both warm and has an air of humidity to it, and for once the humidity isn't bothering me! Tomorrow is supposed to be thunderstorms, but that's alright with me, because we're stuck in the house anyway for Potty Training: Day 1.

Hope it was a great weekend for you, as it was for us!

Sunny Days Sweeping the Clouds Away

Today was a beautiful day (finally!!!) and we spent quite a bit of time outside! Maisie went off to the park with Nana and Papa this morning and had a great time. Then, this afternoon after her nap, we went outside to play in our yard.

It's amazing how much Maisie has grown in a year. I think about it often, but sometimes it's only so obvious to me in comparative pictures. Last year, she was barely walking and we couldn't do much outside because she was so tippy, but this year, she's all over the place and we're going to look into getting her a trike. Where does the time go?

April 2010

April 2011

Not only has she grown taller and stronger, but her hair has grown. And her vocabulary, and her abilities. She can run and jump...dance and sing. So much has happened in the past year for my little Lovey Loo, and there will be so much more in the coming months and years. It's amazing to watch.

Her "Aunt Eva" scowl, that she inherited from me, that I inherited from Aunt Eva. Aunt Eva made the best butter tarts in the world, but she had this scowl all the time, even in pictures of her as a child! Sorry Maisie...maybe we'll get Botox together one day :)

I love that there will be many more days like this in our near future. That the really bad, cold weather is finally behind us, for the most part! We have nothing but days of sun, the park, walks, swimming, splash pads, ice cream and the beach ahead of us! No more snow!