Canada Part 2

We are now back in California and have been since Saturday. I was super nervous to fly home alone with both girls but things went fairly smooth. We were only delayed like half hour... so it could have been much worse.

I should have taken a picture, but just imagine me with Cora in the Ergo, huge diaper bag over my shoulder, pushing a luggage cart with two big bags and a carseat, and pulling Aubrey in the stroller backwards. We were quite the sight.

The worst part of the flight was that I woke up that morning super sick. Ugh. I get sick every time we travel. So, flying alone with two kids and a nasty summer cold.... sitting in the middle seat next to a 40-year-old man while trying to entertain a toddler and nurse a baby. I'm just trying to forget it because I know that I will have to do it again :)

Anyways.... the last two weeks we were there, Steven was not :( He had to go back to work. In order to make the distance seem a little better, I tried to send a "picture a day" from my phone to his. They were the only pictures I took, and the quality isn't great, but here are some of the highlights:

Lots of time at the lake. We need to work on Aubrey's "say cheese" smile. We get that one every time. 

 When not at the lake, we were at my grandparent's pool. I got the girls matching swimsuits from Gap. Love having little girls.

 Meeting grandpa for lunch. Cora was happy to see him. My dad also took Aubrey on quite a few "granddaughter" dates. These always ended with her coming home eating ice cream and going to bed late. 

 My brother came to visit! We took a few spins in my moms MGB.

 I got to see the new Calgary temple for the first time. So beautiful.

Cake batter in your underwear. Can a toddler have more fun?

This little girl got two teeth, now sits like a champ, is rolling everywhere, and starting to scoot. Ahh... it is happening so quickly this time around.

Sister love.

Rides, rides, and more rides. 

We are now on official grandma and grandpa withdrawal. Aubrey has never been great at playing independently, but we were making progress. 3 whole weeks of undivided attention? We have some work to do.

Love going home to visit. I already miss so many things and can't wait to be back at Christmas. I loved the sweet reunion with Steven, and I am looking forward to getting back in the swing of things once our family is healthy again.

Canada Part 1

We are here in Calgary! I love coming home to visit.

Just a few days before we were set to come, a horrific flood ravaged Calgary and surrounding areas. My parents home is fine, but so many people lost so much. Here is a picture of the golf course view out of my parents window right after the flood:

The entire golf course is ruined. The city zoo is gone. Thousands lost their homes. The aftermath is pretty sad, but I'm amazed at how much people are serving and doing everything they can to rebuild.

Nicole and Steve and Zach are also here to visit this week (Trent comes next week!). The cousins have been having so much fun together.  Heritage Park on Canada day, swimming at Grandmas, Calaway Park, swimming again at Southland Leisure center for the 4th of July.... and that has just been the past few days.

Aubrey was pretty excited about her first taste of cotton candy.

I'm definitely learning that vacations as an adult are all about making sure your kids have fun. I'm having fun, but I'm so tired.

Between all those amusement parks, the kids have gone on a lot of rides. They love them! I'm glad that I have adventurous girls who love to have fun. Here is how Zach and Aubrey feel about rides....

And here is how they feel when the rides stop...

Cora has been doing alot of this...

The poor girl gets dragged around everywhere and most of her naps are on the go. I complain about how she only naps for 30 minutes at a time, but it definitely isn't her fault. I was so adamant about a schedule for Aubrey, but that has not exactly happened this time around. At least she sleeps good at night.

We even managed to get a cute picture of all three cousins:

Stampede tomorrow, movie Saturday, my birthday Sunday.... lots more fun in Canada to come. Maybe we will even get a picture of Steven and I?

Life with 2

Now that I am six months into having two kids, I wanted to record just how life with two little ones is from day to day.

I'm not going to lie... it is hard! I constantly feel like I never have enough hands or enough time. Or enough sleep. But... I love it. I love my little girls and I couldn't imagine my life without them.

Before I had Cora, one of my major goals with having two kids was to get out of the house! I love being a stay-at-home mom, but it is kind of hard for my personality. I have always been very social and involved. If I stay home too much, I get sad and just don't feel like myself.

However, going out with both of them is so hard and crazy. I'm very lucky that I have good friends that help, but nursing a baby/running to the potty/swimming/etc... very hard with both. Babies just don't travel well. But... I think I'm getting good at faking that I have everything under control!

So... we go out every morning, then home for naps, then playtime and dinner, etc. Here is a sample of our week since I am terrible at taking pictures of all the fun things we do:

Monday- Grocery Shopping. Ok, this isn't fun. But.. I did find a grocery store that has a "car" cart for kids, so this might get more fun soon.
Tuesday- The park. Sand and swings and a picnic.
Wednesday- I was supposed to have a playdate with my friend Lisa, but her son got sick. So, last minute we met up with a bunch of friends at Great America. Love having season passes. I don't think Aubrey loves anything more than the kid roller coaster right now. The wilder the better....
Thursday- Pool day with friends. 2 1/2 hours. I was exhausted but neither girl took a nap longer than 45 minutes. What is with that?
Friday- Play group.

Now that I have two kids, one of the things I miss most is "me" time. That pretty much never happens anymore.

I think that my favorite part about having two is watching them interact. Cora is getting more fun and interesting for Aubrey.

That was all mostly for me to record, so now here is why anybody else looks at the blog.. the pictures!

The only pictures I have taken recently have been of Cora. Oops. I felt bad and almost didn't post anything until I had some of Aubrey, but then I remembered the hundreds of baby pictures I took of Aubrey.

Aubrey is still fun and crazy and cute, but she always tries to grab the camera so she is much harder to photograph. So, here is my sweet almost six-month-old baby girl... Where does the time go?

 She is getting so big and so fun. She had her first meal of solid foods and loves it! It was a little weird for me. I give her food... and she opens her mouth, eats it, and is excited. That never happened with Aubrey :)

Growing Up

These little girls of mine are growing up far too quickly. On the one hand, I'm excited about it because I would love a little more time to myself and to have them be a little more independent. 

But, seriously... time needs to slow down because they are changing so fast, and I am definitely going to miss these days.

Aubrey: 

The big news in the house lately is that Aubrey is potty-trained! I *think* that I can say that now. We spent the Memorial Day weekend trying out the three-day-potty training method. Going in, I was skeptical. I have heard so many horror stories about potty-training that I was scared. But, it seems to have worked?

After the first two days of learning, something clicked and she hasn't looked back. We did it completely cold turkey. No pull-ups, no diapers... including naps and nighttime.

I'm still nervous about outings outside of the house because she is terrified of public restrooms, but we are getting there.

She is also talking up a storm... complete adult-like sentences, and is usually very sweet and agreeable. I'm finding two not so terrible... but she was really hard from about eighteen months to two, so I think she got it out of the way early. I've heard that three can also be a nightmare, so I will enjoy this time with my little friend.

She is also quite the little flirt and flashes that smile all the time. We are IN TROUBLE.

Cora:

Cora is my sweet little angel. She is seriously such a good little baby. She is queen of the 30-minute naps, which is driving me crazy, but other than that I don't have much to complain about.

She sleeps 7:30 pm- 6:30 am.... often without waking up, or she will wake up once. This picture below is a great representation of what she is like now. Those hands are always in her mouth.

She is getting strong, and is starting to be able to sit-up on her own.... She rolls front to back but not back to front. I go back and forth about whether or not she will be an early mover. She is strong, so completely capable. But she is also so chill and mellow and I can see her taking a while to get on the go. I can deal with that considering her crazy sister :)

She loves the bath and swimming... still hates her car seat. Loves to look around and study objects in her hands. She is a great sister and puts up with a lot.

And, just for fun here is a picture of my girls with all of their cousins/grandparents on the Foote side. I think it is hilarious that nobody is looking at the camera... because we were all trying to get them to look.  We have been lucky to have some really good pictures taken lately.

The Duplex

We have officially been moved into our cute little duplex for a few months now, but I am finally getting around to taking pictures. Taking pictures of every place we live has become a tradition for me. I enjoy looking back at the memories we make each new place we move.

We traded in the super fancy neighborhood and cramped but fancy apartment for a backyard, garage, and more space. We love it and it feels like home. I still want to cry when I think about how much we pay for so little, but that is life in California. One day I'll get my nice house, but we have a good life here for now.

Here is a tour:

The front of the house... and the side walking up to our front door.

The backyard!!! Probably the best part about moving. Apartment life with toddlers is miserable. I told Steven that unless we hit extreme poverty, I am never going back. We have strawberries, blueberry bushes, lettuce, and all sorts of other edible landscaping.

Kitchen and Dining Room. I know everybody is super jealous of the 1970's kitchen cabinets. They remodeled most of the house, but those were left untouched :)

Family Room:

Girls Room and our Bedroom:

And.. the bathrooms...

There you have it... a sneak peak into our daily life.

And since the sweet little girls living in the house are way cuter than the house itself, here are a few recent pictures (thanks Jason for the one of Aubrey).

Family Photos

So, I normally don't blog twice in one weekend...but I couldn't help myself.

We had family photos taken with my family in Las Vegas a few weeks ago and we just got them. I love them! Vanessa (visionsbyvanessa.com) is so talented... if you ever need a photographer in Las Vegas, she is great!

Here are a few of my favorites.... I love capturing the fun ages both my girls are at. Pictures really do tell 1000 words:

 My sweet parents... such a great example of lasting love.

 I'm so excited to replace the family photo in our living room with this one. I feel bad everyday looking at the one we have because Cora isn't in it.

Probably my favorite picture. It looks like a piece of artwork.

 Pretty sure Aubrey is telling Cora all about her stick in this one :)

 Aubrey was no longer co-operating at this point, so we had to improvise..

 My sister's cute little family.

 The whole group. I love my family.

 Siblings.

If only Cora was looking in this one, but I love it anyways.

Doesn't Steven look great in blue?

We are taking pictures with Steven's family next week. I may be silly, but I really get excited to see family pictures. Capturing memories is important to me.