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We had a pretty low key Valentine’s Day which was nice after our busy weekend. On Saturday morning Leah and I got to hang out with my mommy group. It was pretty small as a few people were sick or busy but it was lovely to visit anyways. Saturday evening Leah and I got to meet a few people Morgan spends his days with at school and share a lovely dinner with them and their families. On Sunday we went to church and after nap went to a Valentine’s party. It was quite sweet to a bunch of toddlers celebrating Valentine’s. The little girl who hosted the party thought it was her birthday.

On Valentine’s Day my mom came over to visit. She brought some heart cookies for Leah to decorate and then we went to my Dr’s appointment. Leah helps the Dr. check my blood pressure, measure my belly and find the heartbeat. Leah is a pro now and checks me at home as well. Here she is spreading some icing on the cookies. She wiped the table and her hands so they would stay clean. She even wiped her tongue when it got icing on it.

Leah made some special Valentine’s for her grandparents and daddy and then helped me make some chocolate covered strawberries. Leah loved licking the spoon once we were finished.

Hope you had a great Valentine’s too!

It was a blustery, rainy day but I decided to layer Leah up and venture into the great outdoors. Leah has been spending most of her days totally indoors as the weather hasn’t been that pleasant and I’m not as motivated to go outside as when I look after multiple children with energy that seems to multiply when they are together. I think she has been feeling a little cooped up even though we have been out of the house a lot, it is not the same as running around outside.

I asked Morgan to buy me some primroses instead of a bouquet as our garden looks so drab and they will last longer (though I’m not opposed to cut flowers every once in awhile). Leah helped me dig the holes with her shovel.

Our front walkway looks so much cheerier now. The tulip bulbs are starting to pop up but it will be a little while before they produce some flowers.

Then it was off to the park on the way to Grandma and Granddad’s to drop off a Valentine’s Day card. Leah enjoyed the puddle jumping and scaring the ducks so they would fly into the water along the way.

Leah’s walking got a little sluggish on the way back so I would encourage her to run ahead to jump in the puddles or the hide behind a tree. Hiding behind a tree means running up to a tree and hiding your eyes thinking that if I can’t see you, you can’t see me. It is pretty cute. I ask, “where is Leah?” and she always responds with, “here I am… over here” until you find her. In the second picture, I asked her to hug the tree. After that, she wanted to hug all the trees we walked by. When we were walking along the road, she wanted to hug the light posts as well. So much for her environmental side.

I’m treasuring this one on one time with her as I know it won’t be as easy in a few weeks to brave the cold outdoors on a whim.

Morgan has been searching for the perfect, homemade, pizza crust that is chewy like the pizzas served in restaurants. We’ve tried different flours and baking techniques but to no avail.

But not all is lost. Morgan keeps persevering and I get to watch my two favourite people make dinner.

This is me at 36 and a half weeks pregnant.

Leah and I have been getting ready for the new baby. This is the large roll of diaper flannel beside some newly sewn diapers. I’ll be reusing Leah’s diapers as they are thinner from so much wash and wear but as they babe grows these thicker ones will be great.

Leah loves hanging out in infant car seats. When we brought hers to our house from my parent’s, she insisted on strapping her doll in. At breakfast the next morning, she got up from her chair continually between her bites of oatmeal to console her doll, rock the seat and yell instructions into her doll’s face (“wake up!” and then one minute later “go to sleep” and repeat).

I bought a little outfit for a boy so now we are fully prepared for a boy or a girl. When Leah was born, my mom went out and bought a going home outfit for her while we were still in the hospital. I thought that might be a little more difficult this time around and she will have Leah to look after and I enjoyed looking for some blue. If it’s a girl, she will get to wear the same outfit we brought Leah home in.

I washed a bunch of baby clothes this week and am so amazed at how small they all are. I’m sure I’ll be even more in awe when they barely fit our babe for the first few weeks.

I’m not looking after any daycare kids this month so Leah and I have been enjoying lots of one on one time together in addition to visiting friends and playmates. Who needs a mixer when you have a toddler with a chair to stand on? We’ve been doing a lot of baking lately.

I’m so grateful that Leah plays on her own so well. Hopefully this will continue once the babe comes and my hands will be full a lot more than they are now. Here is Leah being silly while showing her sticker creation.

Last weekend, we went up to Big White with my family. The view was amazing and we were blessed with great weather.

Leah is very cautious so we had a pretty laid back weekend. She did not want to go on her sled or try any other activities besides riding the gondola. She loved it and would ride it as much as she was able to. When we were in our condo, she would wave at the people riding up the gondola even though they wouldn’t wave back as she was not very visible.

Leah loved spending so much time with her grandparents and aunts and uncles. Many games of hide and seek (Leah running to the other side of the room and covering her eyes to hide), rounds of tickling, books read and walks were taken with Leah beaming.

My dad bought her a dot to dot book that they worked on diligently together. Leah has started to colour within the lines in the week or so.

I convinced Leah to sit on one of the small snowmobiles. It looks like it fits her perfectly (don’t tell that to Grandpa).

Leah was convinced this big chair was only for bears. I think she has heard the story of Goldilocks and the three bears so much that this reminded her of Papa bear’s chair.

Though Big White is an awesome place to go with a family as it has so many things to do for all ages, pregnancy restricts most activities. My mom went with Leah, my sister and I on a horse drawn sleigh ride as it was one activity we could all enjoy. The quiet forest with only the sound the horse’s bells with freshly fallen snow gracing the ground was a great experience.

Leah loves to talk on the phone though she is still learning what our land line is capable of. She thinks it is a videophone and likes to nod and shake her head instead of saying yes and no as well as trying to show the person she is talking to different things around the house by holding them close to the phone.

On weekends and other quieter days, I love to play around with Leah’s hair. I’ve found the best time to do it is during breakfast when she is occupied and sitting down.

We recently got a sliding door installed in our kitchen. Leah was so excited to get new windows, especially the one in her room. I told her she would be getting a new window while putting her down for her nap and when she woke up her first words were “look at my new window mommy”.

Our kitchen is so much brighter now and the windows don’t fog up anymore when I’m cooking. Leah loves to help Morgan when he is working around the house. Around the sliding door, insulation and drywall need to be put up as well as mudding and painting.

As Leah gets closer to three, I’m reminded of what we expected of three year olds in group daycare and raise my expectations every once in awhile. If she rises up to the task, we continue on but if it proves too frustrating I break it down or put it on the back burner for a month or two. When we were drawing lines and circles, she started putting dots inside of the circle. I asked her if those were the eyes, then prompted her to draw hair, arms and legs while letting her draw unaided. I am so proud of her first stick person. We’ve also been practicing connecting the dots to get ready for letters.

Since she was doing well connecting the dots, I let her try to do her name. I sharpened a few pencils and let Leah and her buddy go at it as well. I would do an example and let them follow.

She has learned so much in the past few months. She does her zipper on her jacket on her own most of the time, can completely get ready for outside on her own (snow/rain pants, mitts, toque, jacket, boots), can do a 24 piece inset puzzle without help and is almost fully potty trained (I trust her at home but still put on a pull-up which we call “special underwear” if we venture out). All of her potty training accidents helped her to get really good at looking for the tags on her underwear and pants and to put them on the right way.

Her conversations and understanding has developed a lot too. It is interesting to ask her about past events to see what stood out in her mind.

Some people say they grow up too fast but so far in my mothering journey I haven’t found this to be true. Each stage has it perks and downsides from cuddles and watching them take their step to being up many times during the night to feed and tantrums as they navigate independence.

I love watching her grow and am so curious to see how she adapts to becoming a big sister.

…another calendar for the grandparents.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

This year we stayed close to home while celebrating Christmas. We checked out the local church’s nativity walk through just like we have every year since Leah was a babe. (I forgot my camera.) Instead of venturing into the big city, we checked the newspaper for some local houses that had impressive light displays.

The pictures don’t do their displays justice at all. It was fun to walk around and see all the lights and other additions to their front yards. Look how small Leah is compared to the big castle.

We had Christmas eve with my family at our house this year. It was busy but turned out very well. Leah received this sweater and decided she wanted to wear it the rest of the night. She enjoyed giving out the presents as well as opening up hers.

On Christmas day we left her present from us under the tree as she was still so excited about her other gifts. It was funny to watch her play. She would start with one toy and play for a few minutes and then look up and notice another new toy and would repeat the same scenario over a few times while cycling through her new toys. She loves this suitcase and asked to go bed with it. She specifically wanted it to lay on top of her bum as she was laying down so that is how she fell asleep on Christmas eve night.

On Christmas morning we made waffles with whipped cream for brunch. Leah loves to help in the kitchen. On Christmas day we visited Morgan’s mom’s house. Leah likes to listen and watch their Christmas music boxes.

After Leah woke up from her nap on Boxing day, we showed her the lone present under the tree. Today, the day after Boxing day, we had a nice and quiet day cleaning the house and getting back into our normal routine.

Decorating with Leah around is a lot of fun. I put some Christmas ball ornaments in a glass container and hung up some snowflakes in the bathroom and Leah was so excited. She exclaimed to everyone that it was snowing in our bathroom.

I kept our decorations pretty simple this year. Leah’s Christmas artwork is scattered around on the house on various walls. I cut some greens from the backyard for the mantle and put up our little nativity set. Leah can see it from the dinner table and asks who the specific people are.