Baby Goes Potty (60/365)

She was adamant that her baby had to go pee before she tucked her in and went to bed herself.

I'm Dizzy! (59/365)

Spinning madly round and round with one of the kids at the daycare, and the help of her caregiver.

I'm thinking she'll be perfect to get on the Teacup Ride in Disney with Poppy and me! She LOVES to spin around and make herself dizzy!

Snowflakes (58/365)

Our Wonderful Hosts (57/365)

Pam and V, at breakfast on Sunday morning prior to our departure.

It's always sad to go. But with luck, we can do it again sometime this summer!

Thank you both for your amazing friendship, hospitality, kindness, generosity and OMG, the most delicious food ever! (The ribs and carrot cake were a huge hit! YUM!)

Love to you both. And we can't wait to see you again!

Visiting with Friends (56/365)

Saturday morning, at Pam and V's house, another blogger friend, Patti, and her husband brought over their 3-year old for a visit with Petite and all of us. The kids had fun together. We made tentative plans to go back this summer and do Centre Island in Toronto (think Disney for really young kids only) and to visit the zoo.



Saturday afternoon, we visited one of my good friends. She and I have been friends since junior high (age 13). This is a good pic of her family with Petite. It was their first time to meet her and they lavished so much attention on her, giving her a number of gifts and playing around with her. They had fun and it was so nice to catch up with my girlfriend; I hadn't seen her since I was pregnant with Petite!

(Photos were taken all through our 4-day jaunt, but are being uploaded late. Apologies!)

Silly Girl (55/365)

We spent a lazy day at Pam and V's house while they were out doing a few things and attending events. Petite found this and decided to try it on for size. Looks to me like it fits like a glove!



(Photos were taken all through our 4-day jaunt, but are being uploaded late. Apologies!)

Road Trip (54/365)

On our way down the 401 to visit Pam and V for the weekend.

(Photos were taken all through our 4-day jaunt, but are being uploaded late. Apologies!)

Dollhouse (53/365)

Petite loves to play house. At her caregiver's, they have a few types of dollhouses and Petite's caregiver mentioned to me that anything to do with playing house, or dolls, or caring for babies is right up Petite's alley and that her attention span is really good when she's doing these types of things.

I wish I could give her a sibling to hug and kiss and help diaper and put to bed...

Pancake Day (52/365)

Petite, my girlfriend K, and her daughter K, enjoying pancakes at my house for Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday).

It was yummy! Petite found 11 cents, I only found 6 cents, but K and K cleaned up, finding over $3.40 between them! WOW! My girlfriend got the ring, and I got the button.

Tears (51/365)

Today is 'Family Day' here. I don't have the holiday, so Hubby took the day to care for Petite; her daycare was closed.

So today Petite spent the day with Daddy. The hope was to spend the afternoon in the nearby park, on a sled and enjoying the crisp winter weather, as

He tried his best to get her to go out with him.

This was the result.

Apparently the intended jaunt to the park was replaced by a drive to get an ice cream cone.

"Some days are diamonds," as my mom would say!

Birthday Party (50/365)

Today, Petite and I went to a birthday party for my friend's son who just turned three.

The kids had a blast!

Horsing Around (49/365)

Playing with Daddy, and squealing my head off!

Movie Night (48/365)

I was reading status updates on Facebook today. One of my girlfriends mentioned "Mommy and Kids Movie Night."

The kids cuddle in Mommy's room, with her on the king-sized bed and have popcorn and watch a movie with her.

I LOVE this idea. So we started doing it right away. Petite was excited!

Weekly Tasks (47/365)

On Thursday every week we get the flyers; a bunch of circulars from grocery stores, furniture stores, electronics shops, etc. is dropped in my mailbox.

And every week, I sit down with the flyers to look at the home improvement stores and dream about upgrading the house. But in reality, the task that I do with the flyers every week is much more mundane than that...

I use the flyers to plan a weekly or two-week schedule of meals.

The flyers help me comparison shop and determine the menu for our family for the next two weeks. I print out a copy of the menu and post it on the fridge. Below the menu, I make a list of food that we need to buy (and where to buy it on sale!) to make sure the meals are done on time and on budget.

Such is my task. It's not fun. But it helps us organize our weeks and it permits me to schedule planned events or special meals. It also helps because Hubby works nights so it's usually just me and Petite; by doing this menu plan, Hubby can determine if he can prep something for me beforehand. Or I can see just how often we have fish on the menu. Things like that.

Doing this is just one of the little things that helps our household run more smoothly.

Next Steps? (46/365)

To be determined...

Chocolate! (45/365)

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Snoozin (44/365)

Shadow, taking a snooze on the bed with me last night. I'm not sure where his brother Smudge was at the time, but it was nice to cuddle with Shadow for a few minutes. My boys don't get as much cuddle time with me since Petite arrived and they are rather jealous of her. They are 16 years old; I brought them back to Canada from Japan in 1995. And I love to bury my face into their soft fur. They're my furbabies and I love them so much!

Sticker Shock (43/365)

Petite has a huge Dora sticker book. On Sunday evening, Hubby walked in the living room to find this:



He said, "No no Petite. You'll ruin your stickers on the couch," and took the book away from her. (He can be a little heavy handed sometimes. I have to remind him that she is a little girl and she is doing normal, little girl things.) She promptly started to cry and came running to me, sniffling, "Mommy, Mommy, Daddy took my sticker book." I scooped her up in my arms, eager for any reason to have a cuddle. I said, "You're putting your stickers on the couch. Are you being silly?" attempting to inject some levity into the situation. She immediately snuggled against my neck, and replied, "No. I being sad."

Made me giggle. How can you not!

Dinner Out! (42/365)

Photo will be forthcoming; it's on the camera and I need to download it. (*Updated on Tuesday, Feb. 14.)

But we went out to celebrate my stepson's 16th birthday. I can't believe how big he's grown. Yikes!

This is my friend's daughter K, and my stepson, J. It's crazy to watch them grow!

Nugget (41/365)

The neighbour's cat loves to say hello when we get home in the evening.

*Apologies for not posting in a timely fashion; I'm exhausted. At the end of the two-week cycle that hubby works and so I've had 12 days with very little break from the work-all-day, baby-all-night routine. Colour me pooped.

Sledding Fun (40/365)

As I picked her up from daycare today, I drove up to see this. The caregiver was out front with them. And they were loving it!

Ribbit (39/365)

When out shopping the other day, we were looking for some Valentine's chocolate for the kids and my girlfriend. There were tons of things available of course. And a boatload of soft plush toys as well.

Petite got a ton of chocolate for Christmas; we're still doling it out to her. So I was going to get her a plush toy or something else for Valentine's this year. When we passed the big, cuddly bears, she plucked out a bright red one and snuggled him close. But that was quickly jettisoned in favour of this little guy.

This morning, before we went out the door to daycare, she rode him like a pony. And she's named him Ribbit. Poor thing. Never knew what hit him!

(NOTE: Our Internet and phone connection was down for a few days. While I took these photos, I was unable to post. So today, Wednesday February 8, I'm uploading a few posts at the same time. Hope that's okay.)

First Fat Lip (38/365)

I went to pick her up at daycare on Tuesday. Her caregiver met me with, "Petite, did you tell Mommy you got a bo-bo today?" (Never words you truly want to hear, are they?)

She looked up at me and her fat, cut lip and scraped chin told the story. She fell on the ice outside playing and her tooth cut her lip. It's blue and bruised. Poor girl. You can see the swelling a bit in this picture but most of the blue colour is on the inside of her gums. She's doing a fair bit of pouting so she can look at it in the mirror, so I gather she's going to live.

Still, it ain't pretty lookin', that's for sure.

(NOTE: Our Internet and phone connection was down for a few days. While I took these photos, I was unable to post. So today, Wednesday February 8, I'm uploading a few posts at the same time. Hope that's okay.)

Shopping! (37/365)

Out for a jaunt, looking for some size 3 clothing, as her size 2 stuff is now too short. I think she's grown about 3" in the last month or so.

Where does the time go?

(NOTE: Our Internet and phone connection was down for a few days. While I took these photos, I was unable to post. So today, Wednesday February 8, I'm uploading a few posts at the same time. Hope that's okay.)

The Tax Man Cometh (36/365)

I'm behind. Only by one year, but I'm behind.

In 2009, Petite was born. I was off on maternity leave and I simply never got around to doing my taxes until sometime in 2010. I had to pay in; not a huge amount, but I had to pay in.

That done, I knew I had to file for 2010 as well... and I still haven't done that. I suspect I'll have to pay in for 2010 as well, so I've let it slide a bit. Money's been tight with Hubby finding his footing in a new career.

I just picked up the software for the 2011 tax year. I hoped to file 2010 and 2011 together, with the expectation that what I owed in 2010 will be paid by what I expect to get back in 2011. Alas, Revenue Canada is now on my ass and has delivered a registered letter asking me to file in the next 30 days for 2010. Bugger.

I'd best get a move on. Now where are those T4s for 2011?

(NOTE: Our Internet and phone connection was down for a few days. While I took these photos, I was unable to post. So today, Wednesday February 8, I'm uploading a few posts at the same time. Hope that's okay.)

Winter Fun (35/365)

Posting this from my iPhone as our Internet and phone connections aren't working at the moment and are being upgraded as I type.

I will upload the photo later but I can tell you that the pic today is of Petite out enjoying the snow. The city holds a wonderful festival called Winterlude each year and this is the first weekend of Winterlude. Lots of tourists in the downtown core and beautiful sunny weather too. So I took Petite out to go sledding and to play in the park. We had sooo much fun!

Daycare's Done! (34/365)

Taken as I arrived to pick her up from daycare. She was having fun in the snow with her caregiver, but as soon as she saw my car, she started running towards me, "Mommy, Mommy! Go home see Daddy?"

So sweet. I love my girl.

My Favourite Book (33/365)

Nana read her favourite book before she left.

I give you, Nana... reading "Fox in Socks" by Dr. Seuss.

Jump on Poppy's Bed! (32/365)

Horsing around with Poppy and Nana.

It's wonderful to see my parents enjoy their granddaughter so very much. I am blessed.