The Reasons That I've Been Neglecting My Blog.

I know, I know - I have been M.I.A. lately. I apologize! Incase you were wondering what I`ve been doing with my time these days, here`s a rundown:

- Turkey Butt is no longer working his civilian job and his BMQ is only Friday to Sunday at the moment so I`ve been enjoying spending extra time with him. I especially love to watch him and Little Miss Elle interacting with each other:

Action Shot.

- A local gym was having a 10 days for $10 deal so I decided it was time I got my butt in gear and tried to lose a little baby weight. So far I`m really enjoying it and am attempting to find the money in my budget to get a membership once my 10 days are up.
- Baking. I`ve been a baking queen! It`s pretty much the only housewifely duty that I truly enjoy. Around this house you wouldn`t be hard pressed to find brown bread, chocolate brownies with peanut butter icing:

This is what happens when you cannot wait for it to cool down first...

, apple sauce, banana chocolate chip muffins, or peanut butter chocolate chip cupcakes with peanut butter icing to name a few. Oh, and it is so much fun eating all of these delectable items.
- My lovely friend Jay has introduced me to this magical thing called a Diaper Co-op. Long story short, items are offered at wholesale prices if a minimum amount is ordered. I`m addicted. So addicted. I don`t even know where the money comes from that is paying for this obsession - let`s just say it is fabulous and I am never ever paying retail, for a cloth diaper or home pregnancy test or wooden toys, again. Love!
- My sweet sissy Aych had her 24th birthday on Friday. Sadly she came down with the flu and her party was postponed til Sunday night and my Mama had to miss it (she was down for the weekend). Luckily the party was still quite spectacular and well worth the extra effort that went into it.

The birthday banner that I made for her!

As luck would have it, Turkey Butt arrived home from his BMQ just as my Mama was packing up her vehicle to go. This was a wonderful surprise - a) because I missed him so desperately and b) because the Little Miss had just woken up from her nap and I hadn`t accomplished anything party related except for the decorating and the cupcakes. The Little Miss slept through most of the party:

It was her second one in as many nights (my childhood babysitter celebrated her 60th with a big surprise party the night before) and I think she was all partied out.
- Speaking of the Little Miss, she is changing and growing so much lately. She now waves and gives kisses (especially to her rubber duckies in the tub). She has started her first veggie (avocado) and is not a very big fan of it:

At all... The faces this kid makes, sigh! She is very quickly approaching the 5 month marker and she is just a delight to be around 95% of the time. Love. Her.
Anyway, those are a few of the things that have kept me from blogging much lately. I hope to get back into the swing of things this week perhaps. There may just be a recipe or a beauty product review in your not too distant future! This is my life!

Update.

Sorry for being so absent lately. We've been busy packing and moving and living - without the internet or my cellphone. Here is our update:

Turkey Butt is officially a member of the Canadian Forces Reserves as of last Thursday. He is taking his road test in less than an hour and fingers crossed by 11am I won't have to play chauffeur any more. He's still cooking but hopes to be out of there ASAP - or June at the latest.

Ellie Belly is creeping up on her 4 month milestone. She had this amazing growth spurt where she became so long (but still so slim) and now in the past few days she is finally starting to fill out. such a solid babe, just like her Mama was :). She loves to stand while clasping onto any willing fingers and can even pull herself up from her knees to a standing position. She talks alot, especially if someone is making eye contact with her - sometimes her words even resemble the sounds of real words which we obviously adore. She is even beginning to sing along (ahhh babb bahh's) to some of her favorite songs - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Goodnight Sweetheart, Twinkle Twinkle, Baby Beluga, and the ABC song. Her hair is getting long (minus the bald spot she's created on the back of her head from rubbing it back and forth against her crib bedding) and darker blonde. Though occasionally it still looks reddish. Oh, and she is finally into cloth diapers 24/7. My favorites being One-Size FuzziBunz and Size One Sunbaby's.

Adora is slowly getting used to her new house. The transition was made easier by the woodstove which she loves lying in front of - some mountain dog, eh? She is battling ear infections in both ears like a pro and has been diagnosed with an Aural Hematoma in her right ear. We considered surgery but have instead opted to give it time to heal naturally. So far the medicine she's taking for her ear infections has been easing the amount of fluid in her ear. Other than that, Adora is Adora - into everything, wildly playful at times though usually lazy, and pretty darn lovable. You know, when she's not making me tear my hair out because I've come home to chewed up baby toys, cloth diapers, trash, etc.

And me? Well I've been busy with the new house. We have officially been living in our dream house for almost two weeks now. It is pretty darn amazing, but also a lot of work. I don't know that I'll ever get ahead in my laundering or dusting. Just keeping the fire in the woodstove going is a chore in itself. Especially on days when i'd rather stay in bed - in Turkey Butt's dirty sweats for the 6th day in a row. A baby who often gets up 5 or 6 times through the night will do that to you. Pure exhaustion I tell you. I'll be happy when Turkey Butt can drive himself to and from work so that I can try to get Little Miss Elle on a sleep schedule. I'm thinking about trying the no-tears method. The few times that she's been exhausted and I've had things to do, I've tried to let her cry it out but she just becomes catatonic - screaming, can't catch her breath, coughing fits. Clearly it's not working. That being said, my attempts at the no-tears method have resulted in 15 to 20 minute cat naps if I'm lucky. Oh happy medium, I will find you.

As usual, this is my life!

Jumping on the Yearly Recap Bandwagon

It seems to be a trend in blog world to end the blogging year with a nice little recap. So, no need for me to disappoint.

January - We had to put down our sweet kitten Rocco. We cried. I celebrated my 26th birthday in Cottage Country with Turkey Butt.
February - We found out we were expecting our little pumpkin on the 16th.
March - Celebrated our 1st anniversary at my in-law's very cold camp.
April - Turkey Butt celebrated his 27th birthday with a homemade ice cream cake.
May - Moved to a new apartment.
June - Found out that our little pumpkin is going to be a girl.
July - Went to the zoo.
August - Had an unpleasant run-in at work that led to a few days off of work - funded by Worker's Compensation.
September - Got beautiful maternity photos taken by RavenDawn Photography. Attended my first baby shower - and it happened to be my own.
October - Turkey Butt & I got hitched on the 1st. On the 18th we welcomed our Little Miss Elle into the world. On the 31st we celebrated our first Halloween as a family of 3 (+dog) with cuddling and horror movies.
November - Took holiday photos of Little Miss Elle for our Christmas cards.
December - Found our dream house and put an offer on it. Celebrated Christmas as a family. Officially bought our dream house - now we wait for the closing date.

All in all it was such a wonderful year. I feel so very blessed to have had such an amazing year! I can only imagine what will happen for us in 2012. Will be so hard to top 2011! This is my life!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

Today while Little Miss Elle was sleeping, I did a Christmas photo shoot of the babe. I used various props (stockings, ornament balls, xmas decor) as well as various locations (laundry basket, rocking chair). I then used Picnik to turn the photo's into Christmas cards for my loved ones. So far I have 4 different cards created and I simply cannot choose which I like the best. *Insert consultation with Turkey Butt* Okay, we've both agreed on a favorite so I will show you the ones that didn't make the cut:

And just for fun, our (mine & my sister Aych's) holiday photo from last year:

and our Christmas card from last year:

from Gwen Marie Designs

This is my life!

Baby Love

I am overwhelmed with love for my perfect little baby. The one who arch's her head back and puckers her lips in her sleep. The one who pecks her Daddy's nose like a little chick when she's hungry. The one who nuzzles her head into her Mama's neck and wiggles til she has her head near her Mama's heart. The one who "throws gang signs" when she gets startled in her sleep. The one who, at this exact moment, is sound asleep with her entire right arm hanging out through the bars of her crib. The one who stares intently at her Daddy like he's the most amazing, interesting and entertaining man she has ever seen (I happen to agree with her). The one who melts my heart, blurs my painful labour memories and makes me desperately yearn for another baby - already.

Daddy is so cool!

Kisses, kisses baby-o!

I love you Muffy! You have made us the happiest people in the world! This is my life <3

Elodie at Three Weeks Old

Elodie turned three weeks old on November 8th. She was having a fussy day - the kind in which she was only happy when being walked while being walked around the apartment. Luckily for me, her Auntie Aych showed up in the early afternoon and gave me a break from all the pacing! Then later that evening she had a bath, what a funny kid she is in the tub. She doesn't cry anymore but she does contort her body in mysterious ways in order to try and get out of the water. So serious! Love that kiddo!

This is my life!

Elodie at Two Weeks Old

On November 1st Little Miss Elle turned two weeks old! She went for another Dr's appt at which we found out she was back to her birth weight (6lbs11oz) and was measuring 52cm long! Again she was alert and awake and not fussy. That evening Little Miss Muffett and I went for our first outing, just the two of us! We drove a few towns over to visit with my parentals, a.k.a. Grampie & Nanny Beth.

This is my life!

Elodie at One Week Old!

On October 25th, my little one was a week old. That day she went to her first Dr's appt! She got all dressed up in a navy dress with cherry's on it and navy leggings. She was awake and alert and not fussy throughout the entire visit at the Clinic. Oh, and the medical office assistants were all in LOVE with her. But gosh, who wouldn't love that squishy face?

This is my life!

As Promised...

... the dinky car track that I created for my cousin's 2nd birthday! Turkey Butt purchased a 4-pack of foam mats for his man cave/workout room/the shed at Wal-mart for $9.99. I swiped one to use as the base for the track. I also picked up a 4-pack of electrical tape (in 4 lovely colours) from the Dollarama and found the wooden trees in a random box at the local Used Bookstore. Sadly, this photo was taken before I stumbled across a pack of Transportation scrapbook paper in my craft area. Picture if you will little red, glittery, paper stop signs taped onto all the important traffic stopping intersections!

Let's tally up the cost of this project:

Foam Mat ------- $2.87
Electrical Tape --- $1.73
Wooden Trees ---$1.15 (I could've had 20+ trees for $2 but only wanted 4 and offered to pay $1 for them)
Stop Signs ------- Free (since the paper was bought years ago for a different craft project)

= $5.75 for a birthday gift for a 2 year old!

This is my life!

Thank you!

Lest We Forget!

This is my life! 

It's All In The Details.

It may or may not be apparent to those reading this blog, but I am a details person. To me, everything has to be planned down to the most minor detail and everything has to go perfectly according to plan. Now this doesn't mean that I'm a neat and tidy person, just ask my hubby. In fact, I live quite happily in a minor degree of clutter and chaos - but everything is exactly where I need it to be. Therefore, when the afore mentionned hubby goes on a cleaning spree (a.k.a. out of sight, out of mind) it drives me crazy til I can get things happily messy again. Now take all this into account and then add to it the fact that I just planned my wedding, while quite pregnant. As you can imagine, I had a minor bridezilla moment before we went to the Hall to decorate the night before my wedding. Something along the lines of, "If you're coming to the Hall then you have to know that I'm the boss so you have to do as I say and if you don't I'll cry!"

Luckily everything turned out just exactly as I'd planned and we got so many compliments on all of it. Now I wanted to share some of those minor details with you!

We bought a couple old doors and hinged them together as a backdrop. The wedding was supposed to be outside but the doors worked well inside too.

This was my sister's perfect idea! Two old crates that had washed up on the beach, piled on top of each other as a signing table.



We spray painted pumpkins and ghords black and white and used washi tape to put monogram on it.



Might be hard to see, but the pumpkins in front of the fence to the left say "THANKS"

Sticking with the black and white theme.

This was a last minute detail I found on Pinterest.

We used Mason jars with candles or photos in them. As well as other random items (like this snow globe) as our centrepieces.

Mason jars filled with markers on our Guestbook table.

Our dessert table/candy bar. The groom's cake stand & cupcake stand are white with black polka dots. All the plates are black & white and were found at a used cloting store. We had black & white treat bags by the candy so guests could take some home with them!

I found this black and white frame on the side of the road during town clean up week. Nothing better than FREE.

To the left we had photos of my Grampie and Turkey Butt's Nanny - both of whom passed away almost three years to the day before our wedding day. The sign says, wish you were here. The dresser drawer was another free roadside find and made a great place to put cards and gifts. The right side of the table is Guestbook stuff.

Found this photo in a mason jar idea on Pinterest. The Mr. and Mrs. were Etsy finds.

My amazing best friend Aye wrapped all these lights around the beams and my sister's boyfriend hung all the lanterns.

Our beverage area. More paper lanterns. "Candy" names for each of the drinks (i.e. peach juice and sparkling water was called Fuzzy Peaches).

Well folks, thanks for bearing with me through more wedding photos. I'm sure this won't be the end of them either. After planning for something for over a year, it's nice to drag it out as long as I can :) This is my life.

Wedding Readings

I previously shared with you my reading for the wedding, here. Now, I wanted to share with you the beautiful readings that my husband and maid of honour/sister did!

Turkey Butt's reading (he wrote it himself and could barely choke it out because of the tears):

Promises are easily kept when they are made with love.
So when I say that I promise to love you forever,
that is one that will be easy to keep because
I promise to love you forever.

Aych's reading (a poem she found that perfectly fit the occasion):

Her laugh was their first step down the aisle.
His hand would be her's to hold forever.
His forever was as simple as her smile.
He said she was what was missing.
She said instantly she knew.
She was a question to be answered.
And his answer was, 'I do!'

This is my life!

Spreading the News.

Turkey Butt and I went to my Diddy's and Step Mom's house for Supper last night. We used the opportunity to tell them about our impending Bundle Of Joy! While my Step Mom was working in her home office, and just before my Diddy was expected to arrive home from work, I stuck this:

on the fridge door. Diddy saw it immediately because he conveniently arrived home with groceries to put away. They were both SO excited which makes us REALLY excited. This first trimester, when the world doesn't yet know our secret, is really hard. I spend 90% of the time filtering my thoughts and hiding my excitement about being pregnant. I can't wait to be able to talk about it openly. But until then, moments like last night mean the world to us. Right before dinner we even had a congratulatory toast - Turkey Butt and Diddy with water, my Step Mom with wine and me with a juice pack. Haha, everyone had a good laugh and found it very appropriate! I'm feeling the love! This is my life!!!

Day Seventeen and Still Going Strong

Day 17 – A photo of you and your family

Photo from Raven Dawn Photography
My Family - Me, Adora & Turkey Butt

My Family - Diddy, Step Mom, Sister & Me

My Family - Mama, Sister & Me (and the Super Hero is my little cousin)

Complicated, yes! But this is my life!

I love this man!

"I want to eat meat and watch action movies tonight. I'm feeling really manly now that I've impregnated you."

So, I'm not sure how these posts will end up looking in the end. I'm going to attempt to hold off on posting them til we're a little further along in our pregnancy. But that being said, I want to blog and the one thing on my mind is this baby! So, a little recap: For the past few weeks I've been feeling a little off - sore boobs, randomly nauseous, outcrop of acne on my face, oh and constipation. Pretty much the exact same symptoms as the last time I was pregnant. I've pretty much just been waiting for the chance to pee on a stick and confirm what I was already 95% sure of. Well, that chance came yesterday! Although my period wasn't technically due until the 21st (and my tests were only supposed to be accurate 4 days before your expected period) I couldn't wait one more day. So I tore around the apartment trying to find a stick to pee on, before peeing my pants with that elusive first pee of the morning (if you've ever taken an at home pregnancy test you know what i'm talking about), and without alerting Turkey Butt to what I was doing. Well, I failed. Completely frustrated I hollered about not being able to find anything to pee on, then he told me to just be patient and wait one more day because i'd waste a test and then I finally found one and stormed into the washroom. You probably know what happens next. And to my surprise, it became positive almost immediately. So I snuck back out of the washroom, wrapped my arms around Turkey Butt and asked if he was mad at me. When he said no, I said, "Good, because I'm having your baby!"

Okay okay, I know this is a pretty lame way to break the news to him! The first time around, with Bun, I wrote baby across my stomach and asked him to rub my belly after he had cooked me a wonderful meal. It was so cute when he realized what my belly was trying to tell him! We were so excited! Sigh. Anyway, this time around, since I wasn't smooth enough to keep the fact that I was testing from him, I did the best I could. and it turned out to be just perfect for us!


Due date calculator results


Your baby will be born on or around Monday, October 31 , 2011

You are 3 weeks pregnant.
http://www.babycenter.ca/

February 16th, 2011

This is my life :)

Day Eight

Day 8 – A song to match your mood

I briefly looked for a song about being sick (I'm getting a cold and just got over a bit of the flu) but sick or not, my mood is always happy! Thank you turkey butt for loving me - even when I'm sick and whiny :) Oh, and thanks to Adora for bringing me breakfast in bed... her bone! I love my family! This is my life!

Day Four

Day 4 – Your favorite photograph of your best friend

This one's a little tough. My Turkey Butt is my best friend, as is my sister, my father and of course my bestest. So, bear with me as I show a photos of my best friends!

My Diddy at the cottage

My baby sister Aych as a wee kidlet.

My Turkey Butt in costume at a Murder Mystery Night

My bestest Aye at our Haunted Housewarming Party (Theme: Zombie Prom)

And for fun, I give you my favorite photos of me with my bestests:

Cheating a little... This is me with Diddy and me with Aych :)

Aych and I - I pissed her off somehow :)

From the beginning :) At the Discovery Centre during his birthday week!



Classic Elle & Aye - shovin' our faces full of food!

God I love my Best Friends :) This is my life!