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I think it’s a given that if you have more than one child, there will be some amount of sibling rivalry in your house. However, I didn’t realize how early it could start. I expected some jealousy in the beginning but not a lot and in good form, Leah handled the addition of Joel into our family pretty well.

What shocked me (as well as made Morgan and I laugh) was when we heard the phrase, “I had it first” followed by grabbing the other day. It is only a matter of time until these words and other similar phrases are common place. I was giving Joel a bath with Leah’s help in the bathroom. Leah likes to have her own cloth when bathing Joel so she can help too. She let go of her cloth and it happened to make its way into Joel’s hand and he held on tight. Leah went from enjoying the experience to panic in half a second and in an agitated, desperate tone declared, “I had it first” while prying the cloth from his hands.

Poor Joel had no clue but didn’t seem to mind that his object was been pulled aggressively from his hands. I know one day this scenario will more than likely result in two hysterical, crying children but for now, I’ll treasure the humor and attempt to teach Leah how to calmly use her words. Hopefully she will grasp the concept before Joel realizes what his big sister attempts to get away with.

On Canada Day, we spent the morning at my mom’s work, Krause Berry Farms. Morgan and my dad flipped and served around a thousand pancakes for their annual pancake brunch to raise funds for breast cancer research. I helped set up and a little bit once it got going but Leah and Joel kept me busy. Leah had over five pancakes which were her breakfast and lunch. Here she is enjoying one.

She also enjoyed their brand new playground but the highlight of her day was when one of her best friends stopped by with her family. Her buddy was the first child I looked after in my daycare and Leah and her became quite close and though I no longer provide childcare for her, they still carry that special bond.

Leah is getting more confident to go off on her own in public places. Thankfully she asks before she leaves my side for the most part. She no longer requests I stay right by her side on a new playground with kids she hasn’t met before.

Leah is generally quite responsible. She comes to me if someone is disturbing her play and asks what to do. Today I was picking out paint in the paint store and it was taking a long time so she was getting antsy. She looked around and then asked if she could run in the store.

Here is the first card we have received from Leah without our help and with her own words. She made it in Sunday School with help from her teachers. It melted my heart. How sweet.

I am a big list maker. Almost daily I have a list of things to do and it gives me such a sense of accomplishment to cross things off as I get them done. Leah has picked up on this and made herself a list. Her list items, in case you can’t decipher them, include feeding Joel milk from a bottle, going to bed and eating dinner. She repeated these over and over again. Love it.

This past weekend was very busy with multiple outings everyday. On Saturday, I took the kids to the aquarium with a few friends. Leah enjoyed seeing all the fish, dolphins, whales and even a huge sea turtle as well as hanging out with her buddies. She looks so grown up with her backpack on though she did remind me a few times of her age while we were out (happy to crazy upset in 1.2 seconds over seemingly trivial matters). We did well all things considered and Daddy got a lot of work done while we were out.

Then it was off to a BBQ at Grandma and Granddad’s. On Sunday, we got a few errands done as a family before church. After church we hung out a home for a little bit before we were off to another BBQ that including catching part of our dinner. We loaded everyone up and went to the beach before dinner and caught quite a few crabs. A lot of the crabs were thrown back because they were too small but we had enough big ones for dinner.

There was so much to see at the beach including people jumping off the pier, boats driving by, crabs moving about in the traps and kids playing. Joel slept through it all in the stroller.

We were given some baby toys and clothes for Joel and found this toy to be great as it is very easy to hold onto. He enjoys holding on with both hands and shoving it into his mouth.

His hands also fascinate him. Joel is so smiley and has a great laugh. We think he is pretty cute as well.

It was a rainy morning today so I met up with a friend and her kids at the rec centre. Leah had blast playing with the wide variety of toys. Here she is on a large foam block telling me she can’t open her eyes for the picture because she is sleeping on her bed. Leah also had fun playing hockey.

Leah is growing up in so many ways and it seems to take me by surprise a lot. We were in the elevator at church and I asked her to push the button and she turns to me and says, “that is a “m”. There are two “m’s”. M is for mommy.” I do not remember teaching her that so it must have been Morgan.

Her conversations with her friends are quite adorable (except when there is yelling or crying involved) and now involve questions and negotiating, Here is a sample:

Let’s go play on the slide.
What if we go play in the sand?
Okay. Follow me.
Where is the sand?
Over there.
Okay.
And then we will play on the slide.

Leah has started to enjoy walking. I still take the double stroller in case she changes her mind when we walk to our friend’s house as it is a good distance for little legs. When we walk through one of the parks, she would take about five steps before intentionally falling down because that is what she saw one of her friends do.

She looks so grown up with braids in her hair. I love it. It is nice to see her whole face as well.

Joel chilling with his cool hat while Leah helps me with the laundry. I’m sure these cloths won’t blow away though I may have to buy some more clothespins.

Joel spends time in his stroller staring at random toys while Leah explores the landscape.

I am loving being a mother of two. Leah and Joel are at such fun stages right now and I am savouring this time alone with them at home, though we are rarely at home or alone which makes life a lot of fun these days. Not that we aren’t without challenges but the joys far surpass them in every way.

Leah is so inquisitive and I love seeing and exploring the world afresh through the eyes of a three year old. Joel is so smiley and even gives us a chuckle every now and then. I love hearing him ‘talk’ to us and am in total denial that he is almost three months old.

Leah loves to hang out with Joel. She is usually really good with him or just plays on her own most of the time. When she gets bored then I need to step in as she gets right in his face or is a little too rough. I think she uses Joel to get attention as she knows I won’t ignore her when she is crossing boundaries with him. I try to have some activities for her to do in the back of my mind that she hasn’t done in awhile and then she is back to playing by herself contentedly. She loves to colour on the windows with special window markers, cut up newspaper flyers, play with her babies, push her shopping cart around filling it with random items and playing dress up with her magnetic dolls.

I love to watch Leah try to get Joel to smile. She knows exactly what to do and mimics us which is entertaining. Leah loves him a lot and will protect him and stand up for him if she thinks someone might hurt him or is being too loud. Leah likes to pretend to be baby Leah. Here she is hanging out with Joel while pretending to be a baby. I shake a toy in front of them and she smiles her great, big, cheesy smile.

Joel is a big drooler. I’m not a big fan of bibs but it beats changing his shirt four times a day.

I had some extra time getting ready for church this morning and decided to actually put some time into how I looked this morning. A successful clothes shopping trip and running so I can fit back into my regular clothes was a big motivator. Joel and Leah already had had their morning baths and had breakfast and were entertaining themselves which helped as well. Leah saw me curl my hair and wanted some curls too. She sat and held her head very patiently as I handled the curling iron.

She looked so much more mature with curls and I loved how it turned out. Usually she doesn’t want me to put clips or anything else in her hair so most days her hair looks a little out of sorts and she has to keep putting it out of her face. Last week she got asked by one the asian guys at our local veggie store if that was her hairstyle. I wasn’t sure how to respond as his hair looked very similar to hers.

Leah likes to pick out her own clothes and definitely has a unique sense of style (if you can call her style a style). On Sundays I like to pick out her clothes for her or limit her choices to a couple of dresses. Though I don’t dress up much for Sunday, I like Leah in a dress when we go to church and if she lets me do her hair nicely, it is a bonus.

I love dressing my little boy as well. We have been blessed through gifts and hand me downs so I have only bought a few things for him. I have all his and Leah’s clothes organized by size in her bedroom and with summer coming, they both have almost completely new wardrobes. I had fun looking through their new (and new to us) clothes and putting some of the sweaters and warmer stuff away.

Here Joel is, sleeping away through most of our shenanigans this morning on his changing area in the bathroom. What a cutie.

We have been busy lately, enjoying the nice weather and visiting with friends while trying to keep up with yard work, laundry, errands and cleaning. We are usually out and about everyday hanging out with somebody doing something fun. It’s a lot harder taking pictures with two as oppose to one. I want to be intentional about still taking lots of pictures to mark this special period in our lives.

A few things I want to remember:
-Joel learned how to sleep for large chunks of time in the first week of June. He is regularly sleeping anywhere from 5-8 hours straight. Leah gradually increased the time she slept at night where Joel went from every 3 hours to every 5+ seemingly overnight. He is eating every 3 hours during the day.
-Leah has started asking tons of questions trying to figure out how everything works. She hasn’t got to the continually “whys” yet but I’m sure it is coming.
-Leah is excited about watching the hockey games but it rarely holds her attention for more than a minute. She saw a couple hockey players fall down and thought they were playing ring around the rosie and they all fall down.

For the long weekend, we headed out to Oroville to spend sone time at the lake with my parents and brother. We had a great time relaxing and having fun. Morgan and I even snuck out for a date leaving both kids at the cabin. We had a two hour window to try and find some fun in a very small town. We had to pick up a few things from the grocery store before we headed down the main drag to find a restaurant to have some dessert. After enjoying some cake, we checked out the new development before heading back. It was so nice to have some time together alone.

Leah loved to watch the boats and ski-doos on the water. When Leah saw my uncle backing up his van into the water, getting his back tires wet while launching the boat, she said, “no, no, the van can’t go in the water”. There was lots to see and explain. She was also worried about people on the boat going into the water as well as the girls who were going tubing. When she saw a skier bail, she worried if theirs eyes were closed. Leah didn’t want to leave her viewpoint until the couldn’t see any boats anymore.

Last year, Leah was not a fan of the boat. This year we started slow and she even wanted to stay on to watch my cousin and brother ski. She started asking to go back to Grandma so we headed back to the cabin and then I went out on the boat for a bit with my cousin and brother. I even went for a ski. I adore my kids and love spending time with them but it was also so refreshing to have some time not being concerned about dirty diapers, tantrums or crying.

While in the boat, Leah wanted to be very close to Morgan or I. Here is her uncle Trevor skiing.

After work relaxing on the couch takes on a different feel after having children.

Monkey see, monkey do.

Leah loves to hang out on the deck. Joel was sleeping inside so I asked her to tell me if Joel was crying while I cut the back lawn. I reviewed the instructions, asking her what to do if Joel cried. She responded by saying, “put the soother in his mouth”. I reviewed the instructions again saying Joel would be hungry and she passed the test the second time. Then she was concerned she might not hear Joel through the screen door. I reassured her that the screen door wouldn’t be a problem. Joel was only about four feet away.

I knew I would be able to hear Joel cry within half a minute of him crying as we have a rotary mower and a small back yard but it was awesome seeing Leah taking her job so seriously. Every once in awhile she would call loudly to me saying Joel’s not crying yet mommy. I would stop cutting the grass, ready to run upstairs when she would repeat herself while I silently hoped Joel would sleep through her yelling.

I told Leah she needed to wear a hat now that the sun is out and summer is coming and she insisted on wearing a toque. I eventually convinced her of the merits of a ‘new’ pink hat. She also told me today while I turned the water on full blast for her to wash her hands at the bathroom sink that it was too much water and I was making the fish sick. She has got the conservation part down now, just need to work on the education.

Joel loves hanging out with his sheep. He is so smiley now and coos when he is happy. He also loves staring at his fist when it happens to be in his line of sight. Good times!

Leah is now three years old and proud of it. She reminds us almost everyday that she is a big girl. We are blessed immensely to have her in our lives and love her so much.

Getting ready for her party…eating breakfast while Joel gets cuddles after a morning bath.

I made Leah a sunflower cake with cupcakes as the petals.

At Grandma and Grandpa’s house enjoying dinner and opening her presents.

Last year at the lake Leah declared my dad’s low-rider lawn chair to be hers so my dad searched high and low to find another chair like it for Leah so he could have his chair back. My dad has never visited so many stores in his life searching for this chair which is a testament to how much he loves his granddaughter (and to how much he likes his beach chair). Leah also got a pretty spiffy bike but hasn’t quite figured out how to pedal. She is a pro at her tricycle though.

I never knew how hard the job of being a mother is until Leah joined our family. I also had no idea of the depth of joy that being a mother entails. I like how this poem describes a day in the life of a mother and I adore the artwork that Leah made to go along the poem, especially her drawings of people.

If you aren’t familiar with the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff, grab a snuggle with the nearest child and watch this before reading the rest of this post.

If you give a mom a muffin,
She’ll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
So she’ll pour herself some.
The coffee will get spilled by her three year old.
She’ll wipe it up.

Wiping the floor, she will find some dirty socks.
She’ll remember she has to do some laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She’ll trip over some snow boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan supper for tonight.

She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She’ll look for her cookbook. (101 Things To Make With a Pound of
Hamburger.)
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill which is due tomorrow.
She will look for the checkbook.

The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two year old.
She’ll smell something funny.
She’ll change the two year old.
While she is changing the two year old the phone will ring.
Her five year old will answer it and hang up.

She remembers that she wants to phone a friend to come over for coffee on
Friday.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
She will pour herself some.
And chances are,
If she has a cup of coffee,
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

Written by Kathy Fictorie