I Love This Age!

18-month-old Christmas Princess spreading cheer to one and all!

It started with a simple question - because Princess and Tobes have birthdays that are just days apart (literally - 2 days) every milestone he hits or every holiday or event we encounter makes me think back to what Princess was doing at that time.

I did a search through my journals (while I'm relatively new to blogging, Princess' first 4 years are chronicled on an online forum... I need to blog more about my kids on here!) and found that at the age Tobes is now (17 months, soon to be 18), Princess had a vocabulary of over 25 clear words (compared to Tobes' 4ish... Though tonight he did learn how to say "Ho Ho Ho" courtesy of Princess). That search lead me to photos and videos of my little Princess... Baby Princess... 18-month-old Princess running down hallways and dancing to her Uncle's cellphone ringtone.

I miss that little girl. I love who Princess is now - I wouldn't change her for the world. My girl is bright, inquisitive, funny, kind, and loving. Looking back at those photos made me realize how much I LOVED that age, and how much I LOVE this age with Tobes.

At 18 months Princess was really starting to become independent in the sense that she loved to hit the ground running and explore. I have video of her tearing down the hallways of a building downtown on our way back to the car from a festival. She was verbal (again, 25+ word count... It was probably over 30 if I really think back) and so expressive. She had the best surprise face when she discovered something new, and her smile took up her entire face. When she didn't have words, she made the funniest noises. I have a video of her saying "WOAH!" at the sight of an indoor waterfall. When she ran her whole body ran. She was still very little, but I feel like it was the point where I looked at her and saw "toddler", more than "baby".

And Tobes is getting to be the same way. He might not be as verbal, but that doesn't stop him from talking (just this evening he carried on a conversation with Auntie L and Baby B for several minutes... I am guessing he was talking about his foot given the way he gestured emphatically at it more than once). He is just as expressive as Princess was, and gasps in surprise at the funniest things (like when we open the curtains first thing in the morning). I love watching him chase after Princess, and try to copy her (as I mentioned earlier, he learned how to say "Ho Ho Ho" this evening, and tried galloping like a reindeer as she did - he even tried to hold his hands in the same way she had hers). He laughs at his own jokes, and has even mastered the fake laugh when Princess finds something funny and he feels the need to join in. His current favorite activity is to shuffle around the kitchen when "his music" plays (we have a little fridge toy that you're supposed to use to make matches with magnets. He just uses it for the music it plays and gets quite upset if a magnet is actually in it).

We're done having kids, but I kind of wish I could keep a constant stream of 18 month olds around!! (as long as I had a nighttime nanny...)

It's such a fun age!

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

I love my wood-burning fireplace. It's hard to pinpoint my favorite part of the new house, but this was a pretty big plus!

We've been completely flattened by chicken pox this month. The benefit of the illness (if you can call it that) is that my schedule was completely wiped for 2 weeks as we gave the kidlets a chance to heal, and all of us a chance to rest up.

And a beautiful side effect of that quarantine? Christmas decorating!! :D Banisters are wrapped in pine, little lights are twinkling everywhere, my village is up, and tonight we set up the first of our 2 (!!) trees! The second will come mid-December, as we're planning on doing one fake, and one real.

I love Christmas. I love everything about it. Spiritually I celebrate the birth of baby Jesus. We celebrate the gift given to us by God. I love the services at Church, and I never get tired hearing the Christmas story. Beyond that, it's also a time for my family to get together (my brother, who is the only one who lives out-of-province, comes home every year) and hang out. It's a time for parties and celebration, and getting together with people I might not otherwise see for awhile. I love decorating. I love baking, and cooking, and planning and hosting. And crafting. And decorating, but I think I already mentioned that. I also will happily admit I LOVE gift-giving. I love brainstorming, planning, shopping, hiding, and wrapping. I LOVE to wrap gifts. I love winter. I love watching snow fall outside while I stay in my pajamas and drink tea and play with the kids, and the magic and warmth of Christmas just adds to that.

I love that we have a wood-burning fireplace this year. I love that our fire isn't going to be provided by the TV (yes, I also love the yule-log channel) but by actual crackling wood. This is going to be the first Christmas in our new home, and the first year we're not running around all crazy-like (in-laws will all be out of town this year). I'm excited to start reading Santa's Favorite Story (my friend let me in on it a few years ago - Santa tells his animal friends about the story of Jesus. It's brilliant!) I'm excited for the Christmas services, and for singing carols, and I'm excited for Christmas morning, when Princess and Tobes see all the gifts.

I love Christmas :) And I love that it's just a few more weeks away!

My Christmas Village. The front room of my house is the PERFECT space for it, and it makes me smile every time I walk through the door!

A Firm Handshake with Change.

I have a secret.

I HATE change.

I can't embrace it. Most I can muster up is a cordial wave, and MAYBE a firm handshake. If I have to.

I hide it well, I know. Most of you can't even believe it, can you? ;) And yet, my life has been completely turned upside-down, and I'm coping. I am a planner. And my plans might change, but I still like being able to have a plan to focus on. And that's not the case right now.

We moved. Surprise! And my world turned upside-down. And now as the dust is settling, more changes are just around the bend. To keep this from being too cryptic, it's related to my livelihood(s). New opportunities are presenting themselves, and the comfort of routine isn't all that comfortable anymore. Or routine! I'm not intentionally leaving out many details, I don't have many to give! *lol*

I'm just sitting here, clutching to the sofa, and trying to ride out the waves!

From a House to a Home! Our First Celebration...

You can't tell in the picture, but the photos in the frames range from 5x5 and 5x7 to 11x14!! It takes up the ENTIRE wall of our dining room, and I love it!

We've now been in our home for just over a month! It still feels weird to head in the exact opposite direction from almost every place I usually drive to (we live on the complete opposite end of the city now), but I'm really getting used to the fact that I am now about 15 minutes closer to everywhere! Church now takes us a total of 4 minutes to get to, a far cry from the 35 minutes+ we used to spend every week.

We're slowly continuing to unpack boxes (now we're into the non-essential, less-than-fun stuff to unpack) and we've finally started to hang picture frames and make the house really look like our own. We decorated Princess and Tobe's rooms first - it was really important to us that they each get their own, unique spaces. Next up will be the kitchen (I'm going Mickey-chic!! Warm yellow, cranberry, and black... I will post pictures once I'm done!) and then we'll probably figure out our room. 

Last weekend our house really felt like our home as we hosted family and friends for Tobe's dedication ceremony. Our first celebration in our house was for the event of my husband's and my decision to dedicate our son, promising to teach him about God and His love for Tobes, to raise Tobes in a Christian home, and ask for God's guidance in our parenting of him. We dedicated Princess in the same manner 3 and a half years ago. Our faith means a lot to our family, and so this was an important event for us, and the perfect first celebration in our new home.

I still can't believe it's ours <3