Meet the Chatterboxes

Meet Mr. and Little Miss Chatterbox. Aren't they adorable??

I knew it was only a matter of time until it happened. Princess has always been a talker. I have no idea where she gets it from ;) It's incredible and fun, unless you're in a hurry, are trying to focus on a task, or are at a wedding/baptism/anywhere where chatter isn't incredibly appropriate at the moment (though she's very quiet about it, and I know that asking her to not talk for 45 minutes, I might as well be asking her to hold her breath as well). But she's excellent company. Most of the time the chatter is because she's excited about something, or asking really interesting questions. Sometimes it's just flat out amusing. Sometimes it's ironic (like interrupting me no less than 8 times during tonight's story, Little Miss Chatterbox). But her extensive vocabulary and inquisitive mind makes for great companionship during the day!

Tobes was a late talker (in comparison to Princess, though she had a massive vocabulary pretty early on), but was a definite babbler. Again, totally adorable, though less-so when it was in the backseat of the car while you're trying to find an address and have both children attempting to talk over one another. It started out with babbles while he found his voice, but it wasn't long until you could tell he was interacting with us through babble - he looked at our eyes, gestured, and changed his tones throughout "conversation".

Well, now Tobes has a vocabulary. It's incredible how much it's exploded over just the past week, let alone the past month. He's been saying "Mama" for awhile now, and then used "yup!" to help us discern his points and grunts. But talking really started when he said "nuh-nuh" about a month ago (maybe a month and a half? I have it written in his baby book), and now about 40 words come to mind currently, including names of his sister and his best friend, as well as collections of words like "I don't want to" (which I count as a 4 syllable word as opposed to a sentence because he doesn't use any of those words independently... And he copied it directly from Princess, attitude and all). He now uses babble to fill-in spaces in sentences (like "babblebabblebabble living room" is him asking if he can eat in the living room), and this past week he's started to make REAL sentences, like "More apple please"! It's so awesome how quickly this has all happened in the last month or so! He's asking for things, answering us, but he's also just trying to strike up conversations (like laughing at the TV, then turning around to one of us and saying "Oh Binoo!")

As much as it drives me a little batty sometimes (my life is just never quiet), I love all the things Princess and I talk about, and all the conversations she and I have. I love the questions she asks, and the hilarious things that come out of her mouth sometimes. I almost cried the first time Tobes called Princess' name (*sob*), and I am SO excited to have similar interactions with Tobes. I'm excited for him to join in with conversations over dinner (not that he doesn't now, but it will be exciting when he becomes easier to decipher). And I'm excited for the first time he says "I love you" to us, especially Princess. She frequently tells him she loves him, I know it will make all our hearts melt when he first says it back.

I just might never have a moment of peace again... And I'm ok with that. Mostly.

Easter Bunny vs Santa Claus

I actually looked for an image to represent the topic in my post, but there were a LOT of disturbing images out there!! :S

This year was the first Easter that we got to spend at home in a long time. Easter means a long-weekend, and time off for Hubbyman is precious (he gets lots of vacation time, but between holidays and family trips and staycations it can be used up quick!) so we often use the opportunity to go visit his family who are sprawled out across western Canada. This year we didn't. This year we stayed at home. His brothers came up to visit us, which was nice, and we celebrated my baby sister's 22nd birthday, which was also awesome. But this year we actually got to attend our own church's Easter service, and got to build more traditions at home.

I yearn for traditions. I had some great ones growing up, and I want to pass them down to my own children. Some we have (like spending Christmas Eve at my dad's, or Christmas morning at home), and some we're still working on, which is ok as well.

Easter is a really important holiday to us. While I LOVE the Christmas season and absolutely call Christmas my favorite holiday, Easter is more significant. It's the difference between the ultimate gift, and the ultimate sacrifice.

Before our kids were born, Hubbyman and I talked a lot, and prayed a lot about what we did and did not want to do with our kids. We talked about Santa, and the Easter Bunny, and the tooth fairy, and so on, but now that the kids are here we find ourselves dealing with the concrete, versus the "someday". We're figuring out Santa and honestly didn't intend on having the Easter Bunny at all, but I didn't realize Tara would know/hear so much about him! She would mention him casually when we talked about Easter, and she would talk about coloring eggs and hiding them. We were faced with how to deal with this. Do we allow Santa, but tell her the Easter Bunny doesn't exist? Do we tell her that it's all pretend? Can we balance out the fun of Easter egg hunts and baskets with the solemness of the Holiday?

We've decided to allow the Easter Bunny, but like Santa, his role is severely limited and under parental control. We kept the focus on the spiritual and religious aspects of the Holiday this year. We went to church, and we gave thanks during our family prayer time, and we talked to the kids about what really happened at Easter, though keeping it as age-appropriate as possible. Friday night, after church, we did dye eggs and talked to the kids about what they learned that night (well, that was more for Princess, as Tobes is less than 2) and who Jesus was. Sunday morning the kids did wake to find Easter baskets (the smallest I could find! *lol* Tara got 2 sets of pretty hair stuff, and a new nailpolish. Tobes got a new truck), and the Easter Bunny left a few chocolate eggs hidden around our front room. But at breakfast the focus of the conversation was more on had happened millenniums ago, and why we celebrate Easter.

While I wish we could have had a better head start on our Easter traditions, it really wasn't possible until now, but I think we're starting to lay a pretty good foundation down for them.

What are your thoughts around Easter? Are you pro/con Easter Bunny? Also, do you have any great resources for kids in regards to it? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Eeee!

This is the hotel we'll be staying at, all decked out!!

I still can't believe it's real. I still can't believe that we're actually going to Disneyland. It's booked, passport photos have been taken, and now all I need to do is eventually get my butt down to the passport office to actually get everything in. Then, the waiting game.

We're hoping to keep this all a surprise from them. I still talk in front of the kids about it, but I'm trying to quit (and I haven't done details in awhile, like using the actual name). But realistically, I need to stop. Thankfully they seem to have no idea (Princess isn't asking any questions. Princess ALWAYS ask questions), and there's 8 months for them to forget anything they've heard ;)

Now we're toying with how to tell them. I've been pinning a bunch of ideas for the park in general, and I've found some really cute countdowns (I also may or may not have a countdown on my computer that's down to the hour...)

But here's what we're toying with right now...

Option 1: Hubbyman goes away, a LOT. We will often drive him to the airport. We could get the kids up and dressed, thinking that we're driving daddy to the airport. Park the car, and open the back to reveal their luggage, all packed, backpacks for the plane, and tell them we're going WITH Daddy, and we're going to DISNEYLAND!! (with the video camera on, of course ;))

Option 2: We'll have to leave the house SUPER-early (like SUPER super-early), so it might be fun to kind of charge in when we wake them up and surprise them that way... But then again, they'll be super groggy, and it might be more confusing that surprising...

Only 35 weeks until our trip!!!

California Dreamin'

It's official, we're booking our first family Disneyland trip!! Hubbyman and I have a love affair with Disneyland - it's where we honeymooned, and it's where we went for our first anniversary. We never thought it'd be this long (6 and a half years) until we'd go again, and we can't wait any longer!

We're going in just about 8 months from today. Princess will be 5 and a half, Tobes will be 2 and a half, and we are so excited! (Except shhh! I have to stop talking about it in front of them - it's a surprise! Thankfully neither have caught on yet...)

We've gotten some flack about their ages, and have heard that we should wait. I know that Tobes might not remember anything, and that Princess will only remember some (she's the same age I was when I first went), but the reality is this won't be their last trip, and they're both young enough to fully believe in the magic of it all :) They're also both tall enough now to ride almost all the rides, which is also important. We'll take them again when they're older, and THOSE can be the trips they remember. This trip is for Hubby and I, and we get to share all the magic of the park with our babies. Princess will FLIP when she meets "real" Princesses, and I know Tobes will love going on some of the rides (he's my adrenaline junkie). We'll take them to Toontown to meet Micky and Minne, and all their friends, and we'll check out the new land that's opening up this summer.

We're staying IN the park at one of the hotels this time (for the experience, as well as for the convenience if we need a mid-day rest), and we're going "for Christmas", which means we'll be in my favorite place at my favorite time of the year, and just the thought of that overwhelms me a little! The lights, the music, the decorations, I super-duper can't wait!

This week I've started to fill out our passport information. Princess and I both had passports from when we went to Ireland when she was a year old, but I accidentally let both lapse. Tobes will need one as well, and as for Hubbyman, well, I just hope he has space left in his by that point! That also means new passport pictures, which should be nothing short of interesting when it comes to Tobes. Princess was less than a year when we got hers done, so she just stared at the camera and all was fine. Tobes is my Mr. Funnyface! I'm not too worried, it should just be... interesting ;) That's on my to-do list for next week.

I'm also checking out as many forums and boards as I can, including disboards.com, micechat.com, and mouseplanet.com. If there's any I'm missing, please feel free to comment below!

I know I'll post more on this later. I'm just so freaking excited. SO. FREAKING. EXCITED!!!

Getaway!

Last weekend was a milestone for my family. Hubby and I had a getaway, just the two of us. We've done overnight dates before, usually selecting a nice hotel within our city and opting for a stay-cation. This time was drastically different.

I visited Vancouver, BC in October for a conference for work. I was excited - I love flying, the conference was wonderful, and it was so weird being on my own (I NEVER travel alone!) But shortly before my trip, it was announced that the airline I booked through was potentially facing strikes starting on the day I was due to leave. The hotel was booked up, and we had carefully figured out flights versus my husband's work schedule versus the conference schedule, and I had no room to rebook or miss my flight. So we opted to cancel, I booked on another airline, and kept the credit for future use (minus a whole bunch of fees, thankfully! Part of their apologies for the "inconvenience")

Hubby had a conference in Vancouver in March, and so we started planning a getaway. It would be the first time Tobes was ever without either me OR Hubbyman overnight. It was the first time since he was born that we were away from Princess overnight too. We arranged a special Grammie-sleepover with my mom, and started to look at hotels, restaurants, and activities for us to fill our time with on our special getaway!

Fast-forward to Saturday morning. We're packed and ready to go. We kissed our babies goodbye and headed to the airport. It was weird not to worry about unpacking kids, and to have so little luggage to boot! We had uninterrupted breakfast in the airport (a theme for the weekend!) and then boarded the plane!

The whole weekend was magical! We went to the aquarium (I used to have an annual pass to it! Back when Tara was younger we used to travel to Vancouver often enough that it was cheaper just to have the pass), walked around Stanley Park, and ate seafood to our heart's content. We stayed in an amazing hotel downtown, went shopping, and went to Grandville Island. All the while it was just the 2 of us. There were definitely moments where we missed the kids, especially at the aquarium (so many little ones running around!) and it was hard to hang up with them on the phone when we checked-in (hard for us, but they were eager to get back to play with Grammie!), but I've got to say there were moments when we really relished our alone time together (uninterrupted meals, and we were able to keep a much faster pace overall). We "struggled" a bit in the beginning trying to think of non-kid-related things to talk about (and if you know me, you know that I NEVER struggle with coming up with conversations!) It was actually pretty funny - we kept having awkward lulls in the conversation and then both burst out in laughter over it. But the goal wasn't to keep the weekend kid-free, it was just time that Hubby and I needed to spend together. Between all his trips (5 in 6 months), my work (which involves a few evenings and weekends here and there) and the general business of life I mentioned in my last post, we needed the time to just have together, and do whatever we pleased whenever we pleased. It was an amazing time for hubs and I, and it's something we're contemplating turning into an annual tradition!

The conference Hubbyman attended is annually held either in Vancouver or Victoria (both beautiful places to visit), but even if I don't join him for those, we live just hours away from the mountains. Either way, it'd be nice to have that time for just the 2 of us to reconnect and recharge. It's funny because I'm still up in the air about it all. I hate being away from my babies, and I am a FIRM believer that time for myself doesn't have to be by myself, or sans kids, but it really was a fantastic weekend. Please know, I'm not feeling guilty about being away from my babies, I just genuinely enjoy the time we have when we travel to fun places together. But at the end of the day, my relationship with Hubs deserves time and attention too, and the uninterrupted night's sleep is also a pretty awesome bonus ;)

Under a Rock...

Couldn't find a cute picture to represent "under a rock", so here's a cute picture of my kids from last summer instead!

Wow! It's been over a month since I last updated here, and I also have 4 posts in the queue for my other blog as well. There's been no real rhyme or reason, just the busyness of life, I suppose?

Work has been growing steadily which is awesome, especially when opportunities present themselves to me without warning. I've got some awesome projects coming up, awesome collaborations, and in the end, because I'm actually working on my own projects that I love (not that I don't love hospital work, because I do, but it's so different when I get to call the shots, know what I mean?) it's a little overwhelmingly awesome at times ;) And a little busy as well!

Kidlets are keeping me super busy as well, and I'm coming to the realization that in 5 short months major change is coming. Princess will start school, and in the fall I'll be shuttling her off to her French Immersion school every afternoon. We finally made our decision and it was a tough one - it came down to a 3-way tie, and Princess got a pretty good say in which school she liked the best as well. I'm insanely proud of the little girl she's become, and I'm really excited for her and hope she loves school as much as I did, but it's one more step in her growing up, and if any of you know anything about me, this is not one area I deal well with ;)

I do have an awesome post to write soon as well, but I'm going to make it separate from this one - one other thing I've been busy with is a little getaway Hubbyman and I were able to take this weekend, but more on that later!

Here's my clumsy little attempt at an update - thanks for reading!

<3

School Daze

I am thankful for living in a city where the general consensus seems to be that our public school system, albeit grossly underfunded, is good in comparison across the country. The majority of kids who are in the school system (as opposed to home-schooled) are in either our public or Catholic school system. We do have a few private options, and a few charter schools, but in general most people I know are sending their kid to the school down the street from them.

The public schools in my area offer a whole host of options. There are programs for those with learning delays, for those with special needs, and for those who need extra enrichment (the "brilliant" kids). If you don't want French (one of our national languages) to be your child's second language, they can choose from German, Ukrainian, or Mandarin, to name a few. Your child can learn French by immersion, or they can go to a Francophone school if French is a primary language spoken at home. There is at least 1 if not 2 Christian schools in the city that are now under public funding, and there is also a program that has been brought into other public schools where there is one classroom per grade that teaching the curriculum from a Christian perspective (celebrating religious holidays, and I believe attending chapel once a week for example). There's also a fine-arts school that while the elementary school isn't as hardcore, to get into some of the jr. high and especially the high school programs you have to audition. The Catholic school system is similar in choices, and as a tax-paying citizen you have access to either (though priority is given to those who are Catholic/baptized Catholic when it comes to that school system) There are options. Too many options if you're a mom like me.

The school down the street from us offers full-day kindergarten (full-day, every day), and I was opposed to it for Princess. While I know it's ideal for some families, especially those who are working fulltime, the thought of putting my 5 year old in an 7 hour/day classroom, 5 days a week made me uneasy. We don't need it for her, and we don't want it for her. I mostly stay at home, and she's never been away from her parents for more than a few hours at a time (except for a sleepover now and then). I want a part-time, half-day kindergarten. And in our fine school district, they have an open-door policy, which means that as long as there's room (and in some cases, as long as you can get the child to the school), you can send them there.

So therein began my search. We started with 6 (!!) schools in our surrounding area. I called each, talked to various people, read booklets and pamphlets and talked to parents. From that we narrowed it down to 2 schools. One offers the Challenge program (because I needed it growing up and didn't have access to it! It's enrichment in the classroom, and not to toot my own horn, but I was doing grade 6 math in grade 3...) and the other one offers French Immersion. The Challenge program school was fantastic to tour. They were incredibly helpful, and the program itself (if Princess gets in, they do testing in kindergarten for the grade 1 year) is a dream. They have extra funding for extra field-trips, they do a lot more group work, and it does NOT mean more homework, worksheets, etc. It's just the curriculum taught differently. As for the French Immersion school, Neither Hubbyman nor I speak a word of French, but I have talked to many who intend on putting their children in, or who have graduated from it, or have their kids in currently and the majority of them only have great things to say. By giving Princess access to a second language early on, she has a better chance of learning it, which could open up education opportunities and job prospects later on. She has a better chance as an adult of picking up other languages. I also know that all parents think their children are brilliant, but the manner in which Princess picks up language is kind of amazing, and I can't help but think that learning a second language in school will challenge her enough and it might slow her little hyper-speed brain down enough that school is an acceptable challenge.

We've almost made up our minds (one of the schools fills up FAST), so stay tuned. This has completely taken over my life for the past month and a half. I'm happy to send in those papers and be DONE with it... Until Princess actually starts school in 6 and a half months :S