This is 3

Sully, three years ago you were born on a very cold, cold winter day and my life was forever changed. Most days, it's hard to believe you aren't my little baby anymore (although you will always be my "baby"), and I can't believe we are celebrating your third birthday already. Getting to spend these last three years with you has been both a pleasure and an honour. Watching you grow from a tiny baby into the little boy you are never ceases to amaze me. I remember the days when your daddy and I half-jokingly thought you were never going to walk or talk and now we can't get you to slow down or stop talking!

Everyday with you is an adventure and every night I fall into bed completely exhausted. You make me laugh, sometimes you make me cry, you know how to push my buttons and you challenge me constantly. You are stubborn, sensitive, inquisitive, charming, hilarious and loving. You are the boy who has taught me patience and impatience, that it's possible to love someone so much it hurts, and that there is no greater gift in the world than getting to be your mother. I want to freeze time to keep you my little boy forever, while also looking forward to witnessing the young man you will become.

This is three: specific coloured bowls for specific foods, crying at the drop of a hat, but hugs so fierce I never want to let go. Stubbornness that mimics mine, choosing your own clothes, repeating every single thing I say, no false promises because you remember everything, making jokes, hide and seek in the dark, 100 piece puzzles, reading an endless number of books, lots of snacks (oh so many snacks!), taking showers on your own, being potty trained. Negotiations for treats, wanting to be independent with everything, mommy's little helper and a fantastic big brother. Cuddles on the couch, kisses to make boo-boo's better, telling me I'm your "best friend". Being bossy, not wanting to share your toys with friends, jumping on beds, jumping in puddles, walking with your hands in your pockets, asking endless questions. Lover of chocolate, Paw Patrol, crickets on your sound machine, ice in your water bottle, dogs, daddy's truck, motorbikes, ambulances and trains. Hater of socks, blankets, being told "no", car washes, and blueberries. Endless tears some days, but also endless laughter. It's life lived completely in the moment.

This is three.

Happy Birthday, Sully.

I love you to the moon and back,

xoxo Mommy

Halloween 2016!

Happy Halloween Candy Hangover Day! Yes, that's my official title for the day after Halloween. And I'm pretty sure I was in a candy coma all day today. And probably will be for the next several days, seeing as how we ended up having tons of leftover candy, on top of the candy Sully got while out trick-or-treating. I feel a little less guilty about all the candy I will be eating since I ate absolutely none prior to Halloween night!

Anyway, I feel like Halloween really snuck up on us this year and it felt like it was over in the blink of an eye with it being on a Monday and a work-night. We got out the door later than I had wanted and the hour and bit we were out there just flew by. But we had great weather for heading out, Sully loved his costume, and we had the pleasure of going door to door with our good friends and my aunt's husband again! Sadly, my aunt couldn't join us this year as she was still really sick.

It's fun to look back at the photos from last year to see how much Sully, and Kate & Dan's little girl have grown! They were both so into trick-or-treating this year, it was the most adorable thing ever. Sully said trick-or-treat at every house and "sanks-you!" every time someone put something in his bucket. Then we'd head back down the steps and he's exclaim, "let's go get more candy in my bucket!!". And here I was all worried that he'd be too scared to go out!

Of course, professional photographer I am not, and I never have my act together to get Sully in his costume during daytime hours for better photos, but these less than perfect photos still mean a lot to me. This time next year we will have a 10-month old along with us!

How did you celebrate Halloween? 

Did you dress up? If you have kiddos, what were their costumes? 

A Day in the Life of a 2.5 Year Old

OK so, confession time: this post has been sitting in my drafts for almost two months and it just slipped my mind. Or I just got lazy because half of the photos weren't yet uploaded. Anyway. Not a lot has changed in our day to day and I love having these posts to look back on, so even though this was from a day right around when Sully turned two and a half (two months ago), I'm still posting it! Also, I can't believe the last post I did like this was when he was 14 months old. He was so little then!

Here we go...a riveting regular ol' day in the life of a 2.5 year old and a stay at home mom.

*****

08:30: I wake up. I could use this time to start getting ready before Sully calls for me, but I don't. I lay in bed and check my phone.

08:45: Go get Sully who's now yelling "MAMA!!" I change his diaper and we head downstairs for breakfast.

09:00 - 09:15: Eat breakfast.

09:15 - 09:30: Head back upstairs to get us both dressed and ready to head out.

09:45 - 10:20: Drive to my doctor's appointment. This is the last one with my family doctor before I meet my OB in a few weeks.

10:30 - 11:45: Get groceries! 

Sully loves putting money into this dog and then always says "where'd it go?!" and tries to look underneath the dog, haha!

11:45 - 12:10: Grab coffee from the drive-thru and head home.

12:15: Sully helps me unpack all the groceries. He loves exclaiming over what every item is or asking what it is. 

12:30: We eat lunch. Leftover pasta and meat sauce for Sully, and leftover steak and carrots for me.

13:00: Sully helps me unload the dishwasher. He LOVES this job and takes it very seriously. My only job is to stand at the appropriate shelf he can't reach so I can take the glasses and plates from him. Heaven help me if I try to do any of it. 

13:30: We head upstairs for nap time. I read Sully a few books in his room and then I rock him while I sing him a song.

14:00: I head back downstairs where I tidy up the kitchen from lunch, read a few blog posts, answer some emails, group text with my friends, open up the mail (it was a good mail day!), and work on my own blog posts. 

15:30: I hear Sully through the baby monitor and see that he is jumping in his crib and throwing out all his toys. He's usually pretty content to play and jump in his crib for 30 minutes, so I never rush up to him until he starts calling out for me. By some great miracle, he has never once tried to climb out of his crib!

16:00: I head upstairs and get Sully out of his crib.

16:05: We throw in a load of laundry. It's Sully's clothes so he loads them all in without my help.

16:20: We head down to the kitchen for a snack. Cereal as per his request. I put away dishes that were in the drying rack. 

16:30: I start making apple butter. Sully works on his puzzles, destroys the family room and reads books to himself.

17:00: SPUD delivery arrives! Sully wastes no time digging into the blueberries.

18:00: We run out to get Jim from the train station (5 minutes away). He usually buses home, but it was raining all afternoon, so being the nice wife that I am, I offer to pick him up. 

18:20: Arrive back home. I ladle out the apple butter into jars (don't worry, I turned the stove off before I left), and Sully and Jim head out for a walk before we eat dinner. (Yes, we eat late). 

18:30 - 19:15: Call my mom to chat. Check emails and do more dishes while I wait for the boys to return home.

19:15: Get dinner on the table. A mishmash of roast chicken, perogies, and leftovers from last night.

20:00: Head upstairs to get Sully ready for bed. No bath tonight as it's too late. PJs on and I brush his teeth. We read a few books, rock and sing songs.

20:30: Lights out! I collapse in my bed and scroll Instagram for 20 minutes.

20:50 - 21:30: I go clean up the kitchen from supper, throw the laundry from the washing machine into the dryer and fold the towels that were in the dryer already.

21:30 - 22:30: Jim and I watch the latest episode of Bachelor in Paradise.

22:30 - 24:00: Me time! I read my latest book in bed before Jim makes me turn out the lights at midnight. 

And just like that, another day is done! 

For your reading pleasure - more 'A Day in the Life' posts:

6 Months

14 Months

Sully Says Vol. II

It's been five months since I did my first Sully Says post and I can't get over how much his speech and vocabulary has changed! He is no longer saying just words or short sentences. He talks non-stop all day long, asks tons of questions and is actually quite bossy (he comes by it honestly though!).

Here's some of my favourite things he's been saying lately:

Sully: What you got mama?!

Me: It’s cinnamon! 

Sully: OH! Cinnamon!

Me: Here, smell it!

Sully: “Mmm I LUB cinnamon!"

Whenever I offer him a bite of my food:

Me: Here, try a bite of this.

Sully: No sanks! I can't yike that!

Dat's SPICY! After insisting he wanted a lemon slice.

Me: Did you poop?

Sully: No!

Me: Are you lying?

Sully: No, I'm Su-yee! (Sully)

Me: What's in mama's belly?

Sully: A baby's in mama's belly! I see it?!

Me: No, you can't see it yet.

Sully: IT'S GONE!

It's so windy! On my head! I need go inside!

Looking at a bull at the livestock exhibit at the Stampede:

Sully: Look! It's a sheep...or maybe a pig.

Climbing at the park:

Sully: Be careful honey, be careful.

Take this off! It hurts my boobies! Referring to his car seat straps.

When he should be sleeping:

GOODNIGHT! I LUB YOU! GO TO BED! and repeat over and over.

Turn the fan off mama! Turn it off! When we were driving with the sunroof open.

One weekend we drove to the mountains and told Sully we would have a picnic when we got there. I laid out our snacks on a picnic table and Sully just sat there with a huge look of disappointment on his face and says: I want a pig-nic! Where's the pig-nic?!

Oh no! It's raining out! Da TUNDER IS COMING! Big tunder, mama, a big one!

Me: Did you have a good nap?

Sully: Yup! But I can't sleep no more. I not tired now. 

Sully Says

I have been waiting a long time to finally be able to do a post like this! I've always enjoyed similar posts from my friends, and I knew I wanted to capture the things Sully says in a similar fashion.  Toddler speak never fails to amuse me, and even though Sully's vocabulary is just beginning, I don't ever want to forgot the way he says some words or expressions. Two is such a fun age and everyday he is saying more and more. Some days I can't wait till he can express himself better verbally, but then other days I don't ever want these early days of talking to go away. It's just too sweet and funny!

Here are some of the words and phrases (or "conversations") that Sully's been saying/we've been having, that Jim and I have been getting quite the kick out of:

Me: "Can I have a kiss?"
Sully: "NO kiss!"
Me: "Please??"
Sully: "NO pwease!"

"Tu-tu cheese": Cottage Cheese

"Yo-we": Yogurt

"Nacks!": Snacks (but more particularly, for crackers).

"Iss": His soother (no idea why he adamantly calls it that!).

"Close de doe-ie": Close the door.

"Dada on da twain!": Everyday we pick up Jim from the train station, and now whenever we are out in public, Sully tells everyone his Daddy is on the train.

"Nice! Ees nice!": whenever he pats babies on the head, strokes clothing or anything soft.

"Mo-bo bike! Yike Daddeez!": Sully is obsessed with Jim's motorcycle, and says this whenever we see a motorcycle out while driving.

"Ees gone!!": After anything is finished/over/gone.

"Ees here! Yets go!": When we get wherever we are driving to.

"Ees a mess! Ees a mess!"After he spills anything, throws his toys, or sees a "mess", complete with the action of waving his arms to show me said mess.

Sully can repeat the entire alphabet back to us (and identify most of the alphabet on his own), but sometimes when we ask him to repeat the alphabet and he doesn't want to it goes like this:

Me: "A"
Sully: "NO A!"
Me: "B"
Sully: "NO B!"
etc for the entire alphabet!

Needless to say, this kid cracks us up on the daily, and I can't wait to see what other great and funny things he starts to say.

Sullivan's 2nd Birthday Party

This past weekend, we celebrated our little man's second birthday! It feels like yesterday that we had just moved to Calgary and were planning his first birthday party! I can't believe how fast this past year has gone, and yes, I am very well aware that I will be saying that every single year from now on.

Anyway, I knew that this year his party would be much more low key for a few reasons. For one thing, most of our family and friends live in Edmonton and I knew it would be silly to ask or expect people to drive 3 hours to come to a birthday party. Secondly, until Sully understands what his birthday actually means, I personally don't see the point in going over board with the party planning. But that's also because I'm not a huge party person. I'm all for celebrating and acknowledging someone's special day, but I didn't want an overwhelming and large party this early in the game (of course, I might have felt differently about it all had we still be living in Edmonton. But that's neither here nor there).  This mentality worked out especially well for me this year since I was so sick the week before his birthday that I had no desire to plan much.

So simple it was! My sister came to visit this weekend so she could be here for it since she missed his birthday last year and we didn't get to see her at Christmas time either. My sister-in-law Patty and my two youngest nephews drove down for the party, and Sully had the time of his life chasing them around. My aunt Max and her husband Barry, my cousin Lauren, and Barry's daughter Kate, Kate's husband Dan, and their daughter Gwen also joined the party!

I relied on lots of balloons for decorations (because what two year old doesn't love balloons?!), provided some appetizers, fruit and veggie cups, and made homemade cupcakes. And booze. We had lots of booze, because I'm pretty sure every adult needs alcohol to get through a toddler's birthday party! The weather was so beautiful that day that the kids were actually able to run around and kick the ball in the field behind our house, and it's so sweet to watch Sully run after them.

I think the most memorable moment from the party was when Sully put his finger into the birthday candle flame on his cupcake. I've posted the video on social media, but I've also included it at the end of this post because it's just too funny not to share! Yes, I am that mom that laughs at her own son's expense! (And in my defence for not reacting quicker, I actually didn't see what had happened as I had pulled my camera to my face and thought he was just crying because that's what toddlers do!)  Don't worry, his finger is fine and I think his reaction was more of a reaction to how we all reacted. Oh toddlers. Never a dull moment!

Anyway, there's not much else to say, I tried to take lots of pictures, but that's almost impossible at a birthday party and getting your two year old to stop moving for one second is pretty much the hardest thing ever!

Thank you to all of our family who spent the afternoon with us to celebrate Sully's second birthday, and thank you to everyone who called, texted, etc to send their love on such a special day!

Happy Birthday, Sullivan! We all love you so, so much and you bring more delight, love and fun into our lives on a daily basis than you could ever know! xoxo