Lola turned THREE!

Lola turned three on March 15 and we took her the golden arches to enjoy chicken nuggets and fries with her sister and two cousins (Arie & Aleisea),3 aunts,1 uncle, her Lita (grandma) and her Opa. Everyone else was either working or busy. We went to McD's for a super early lunch and at one point no kids were in the playzone for about 20 minutes! Which allowed her aunt and uncle to climb up into the play structure and help the kids through it (well, mostly Zoey). Everyone had a blast! I have yet to get those photos from another camera since I forgot mine at home.
Lola checking out the candles on her cupcake

March was such a busy month with my brother's wedding that we decided to combine her birthday party with Easter and had it almost a month later. Evelyn, Chris and the kids arrived from California the day before her party. We were all so excited that Lola and Zoey could meet their cousins again Madelyn & Aiden and finally meet Emma. What a busy day that was but we did have a blast!

The Party! Lola had been asking for the past months to have a Strawberry Shortcake Birthday Party. Arie Aiden & Madelyn Zoey Present Time! Zoey,Aleisea,Lola & Arie

A New Look

I hope by sprucing things up a little might make me more excited to start blogging again! To be continued...

I can't believe she is TWO!!

Where oh where has the time gone? Lola's birthday snuck up so quickly! I was planning on blogging more often around her birthday but with having a family Easter/birthday party at our house I got caught up with cleaning and getting everything ready for Easter Sunday...and who knows what else....well life....It's now A MONTH after her birthday!!! So here I am, Lola is now two and I finally have some time to blog. YAY! It will take me a bit to get caught up but there are lots of pictures to post and lots to tell.

Let me start with how a few weeks before Lola's birthday I was getting up numerous times at night. Running into Lola's room because she was screaming and all she ever wanted was milk. So of course I got her milk. Soon she wanted it every time I came to check on her. After a couple weeks of this I had to put an end to it. I honestly thought she wasn't getting enough to eat during the day so I fell into her trap. She must have been testing to see what she could get away with. One night I told her she couldn't have milk but she could have water from her sippy cup (which I left in her crib). She screamed and screamed. She threw her soother out of her crib and I didn't go in right aways. I let her "go" for a while. I went in then and gave her the soother and she soon stopped to cry. The next night she tried milk again but I didn't give in, she cried again but not as long. The next night she slept through. Finally!

We were wanting to put Lola into her toddler bed (which I picked up for 20 bucks) on her birthday but with all the sleepless nights we had recently had I suggested we hold off for another month and see how things went. Then on her birthday I decided we should just DO IT. With the Easter long weekend, it might be a good time to get her adjusted if we were to have a few sleepless nights then at least Jonathan wouldn't be working. On good Friday I washed her bed and after her nap I began to set it up.

She wasn't too happy that I had moved her crib away from it's original spot but then I explained to her what I was doing and she wouldn't leave my side. As I placed the headboard and foot board in their places, Lola decided to sit in between them and after each piece was put together she continued to try to sit as if she were sitting in her bed already. It seemed to be a good sign. Once her crib mattress went on her toddler bed she seemed really excited! She climbed on and off her bed and then would just lay there and smile. Another good sign. I quickly got her crib out of there and got her blankets and pillow all set up.

That evening we went to Jon's mom's for dinner. We put the kids down for night there and when we got home Lola was still half asleep so we put her down and she woke up once during the night (needing a drink) and at 6am I thought I heard her so I sent Jonathan to check on her and she was in Zoey's room! She threw some of her stuffed animals in her crib and wanted to get in with Zoey (it's a usual morning thing we do). Jon sent her back to her room, tucked her in and told her to go back to sleep. Luckily Zoey fell back asleep too. At 7am she woke up and came into our room. I have to say it was a good night with her sleeping in her new bed.
On Lola's birthday we went shopping at Bellis Fair. Yeah, I know that probably wouldn't be her first choice to do on her birthday but it was the only day that worked out to go with Rose (my sister-in-law) and Arie (her little guy). We did take the kids to a play area in the mall. They loved it! Up and down the slides, climbing over the little obstacles and enjoying time with other kids. The kids both slept on the drive home (an hour..tops). Needless to say she was pretty tired and whiny the rest of the day.

I made her favourite meal it's a delicious paste cooked al dente smothered with a rich creamy cheese sauce....in other words good old KD! We served Lola with her plate and she dug in but as soon as she saw daddy's bigger portion she wanted his! So Jon let her eat off his plate as much as she wanted. She ended up eating her portion PLUS half of Jon's plate!! Where she fit all those noodles...I have no idea! She would've played the perfect role for a Kraft Dinner commercial. We decided to give her dessert after her bath. Again I made one of her favourites...vanilla pudding. Yum!

We decided to give her presents the next day since she hardly had a nap. Our poor girl was exhausted......

Slacker

I will be updating soon!!

More Good Finds

My neighbour told me a couple weeks ago that he would be having a garage/moving sale this weekend and would be selling all the toys he had for his grandkids. I knew he had some stuff but WOW did he ever spoil his grandkids. I was lucky to have dibs on these items! I went over an hour before his garage sale started and checked it all out.


We got three large items:

• a house with doorbell, two seats, mini table, mailbox and doorbell


• a car that Lola can sit in and push around with her feet


• a Little Tikes picnic table

I am very excited to have a few more outdoor toys for Lola to play with (and soon Zoey). We are going to keep the house and table on the sundeck until the weather gets a little nicer. This way I can also let Lola go on the sundeck and back in the house as she pleases. Luckily we have a covered sundeck. I need to move things around to make it all fit better.

On the down side my neighbors are moving. It's a rental house and he has been the best renter ever. He always kept an eye out for our place when we were away (actually, even when we weren't away). He prevented burglars from getting away with some of our stuff. We have been very lucky to have such a good neighbor. Hopefully we are just as lucky with the new neighbors.

My Creative Side

About six years ago I took the Wilton Cake Decorating Course with a friend of mine. We wanted to improve our decorating skills and we had a lot of fun doing it. Even long before that, my mom had a few icing bags and tips for cake decorating. I was always looking for an opportunity to play with them. Since the course I have enjoyed making a few shower cakes and two wedding cakes. I will have to dig for photos of previous cakes and post them at a later date.
Today I had another opportunity to make a baby shower cake. I was looking forward to this for a couple days. My sister-in-law was throwing a shower for a friend/co-worker of hers and I offered to make the cake. Since Lola usually goes to my mother-in-laws every Friday it was perfect timing for me to create.

It's Been A Poopy Week

Not the nicest topic for conversation but when you're a parent it's a pretty normal topic. Yesterday Lola decided to poop in the tub. Luckily both her and Zoey had already been washed and it was just play time in the water. I scooped Zoey up in a flash and Jon came to the rescue. While he held Zoey I got the lovely job of fishing out the poop! Yuck! Anyways I tried not to make too big of a deal out of it but she also needed to know she shouldn't poop in the tub and that's what the potty was for. Now, I wasn't planning on writing this for everyone to read except that, what happened today was a milestone.

Tonight when Lola was waiting for the tub to fill up she wanted to brush her teeth so I stripped her down, gave her her toothbrush and told her to go sit on her potty (like she always does before hopping in the tub). I wasn't paying too much attention to her but she did give me a funny look (it was "the look" I get when she goes #2 in her diaper). I just looked away and hoped she would continue on her potty. When she stood up I just had to go over and check.....WHOOHOO! She finally did it! I started to praise her for doing a good job...she had this confused look on her face. Jon must have heard me cheering so he came over to check out what was up. He began to cheer and clap too. So to make it clear to her that what she did was a good thing, we asked what she did and she said "poo" and pointed to her potty. Immediately after Jon and I began to clap and say "YAY!!!" We asked her a few more times and continued on with the cheering. Soon we didn't even have to ask and she just pointed and said "poo" and she kept getting the same response from me and Jon. The look on her face was priceless, she was grinning from ear to ear the whole time. Did we go overboard with the cheering??? Naaa, we were just so excited she went in her potty.

I had stopped potty training her for a while because we had a few mini-meltdowns. With swimming twice a week it also made for a crazy time for potty training. I was gonna start again after swimming lessons but I think I will start tomorrow morning and hopefully we have more successful moments! Sorry no pictures in this post ;)