June 2013

How can someone be this cute? Sarah and Buttercup Mountain goat 1 Mountain goat 2

Pictures

Sarah and Snickers The grandmas (Cuba 2013) Vili's new truck Let's take my birthday gift for a spin At the library

Dominican 2011

Another great family trip is over. This time we revisited Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. We spent a week at the Riu Merengue in February. It's a beautiful resort in between 2 other Riu resorts which we also had access to. This time we had 8 people in our group, Mom, my brother, Drew and Lin, and the 4 of us. The flight with the kids was a breeze because someone had come up with the great idea of bringing our portable DVD player along.
(I just gave myself a pat on the back for that) Like I said earlier the resort was beautiful with a 5 star sandy beach that stretched out to at least a kilometre.
There were a number of pools to choose from, but we always ended up by the smallest one. It was only about 8 feet across and 1.5 feet deep. Perfect for the girls. On a few occasions we took them into the big pool.
I was surprised to see that they both quickly got the concept of their floaties. Hang on and you won't sink! Peter and I took turns taking naps with them. That way we both had our own quiet time. In the afternoons we took walks on the never-ending pathways throughout the resorts. Sarah loved the kids show in the evening where (again) she got to go up on the stage and dance. The only negative memory we have is the food. Until this resort, we had always had amazing food choices in the Dominican, however this time it was different. The quality of the food wasn't bad, but they had little to no variety. Basically, it was the same thing every day.
We're hoping to go visit another country next year. For now, we're looking forward to spring and summer. It's almost the end of March, my tulips are about 2 inches tall, but 2 days ago we got a foot of snow that covered them all. :(

Christmas 2010

Well, obviously, I didn't get my wish of posting updates more often than every 6 months. Here we are in December, ready for Christmas. The presents have all been wrapped, the tree's been decorated and the front of the house looks festive in multicoloured Christmas lights. The girls are now 21 months old and 3 years. They both take swimming lessons still, and Sarah also plays soccer on Saturday mornings.She's past the little girl stage, she's more independent and reliable. She's also a big help around the house, whether it's cleaning, laundry or shopping. Her vocabulary is unbelievable for her age. She has a thirst for knowledge, she has to know everything about everything. Christine is slowly starting to talk, unlike Sarah, she doesn't seem to be in a hurry. She has her ways of letting us know what she wants.We have 2 new additions to our family as well. 2 weeks ago I decided that I didn't have enough on my plate, so I got 2 kittens. I adopted them from a lady who'd found them abandoned with their mother. She had already found a home for the mom and I took the kittens. They were about 10 weeks old and already litter trained.
They're great with the kids. Sarah likes to pick them up and carry them around the house, but they don't seem to mind. We're going to let them explore the outdoors in the spring, once the weather is nicer. Peter's a bit worried that if we let them out they might not come back, but I'm sure they will.I joined the Dirty Thirties Club last week. I was kind of uneasy about hitting this milestone. Where have the years gone?
I took Peter's advice and instead of worrying about getting older, I focused on all my achievements by the age of 30... I'm married to an amazing man, we have 2 beautiful kids, a big house, a great job...what more could I ask for? And still there's so much more ahead of us. Our next big adventure is going to be a trip down south in February, probably to the Dominican, but we haven't decided. Sarah is already counting the number of sleeps till then.

No time

Wow! It's been 6 months since my last posting. That's right! 6 months!!!
That's how long it's been since I've had a free minute to sit down and write. And now is not the time either. I just got home from work, it's midnight and it's time for bed because tomorrow is going to be another crazy day.
I know, we wanted it this way. We wanted to have the kids close together in age so they can grow up together (hopefully as best friends).They take up every second of every day. However, it's slowly getting easier. Sarah is now 2 and a half and Christine is almost 17 months.

Look who's walking...2 (in the Dominican)

That's right! Baby Christine is on the move. She can fully walk by herself now, but she still feels more comfortable crawling. She's also showing signs of understanding what we say to her. She now knows the basics, such as "come here, pick up the toy, look that way, eat your numnums, etc. She's almost a year old and we're planning to throw a birthday party for her.
We enjoyed a week in the Dominican Republic a little while ago. What a holiday! The weather was perfect, the flight was quick and enjoyable, the resort was clean and inviting, the food delicious and the beach gorgeous. Of all the resorts we've been to, this was my favourite!
The girls loved it! They had a separate pool for kids, plus a shallow area in the main pool where Christine hang out most of the time. The ocean was a bit too wavy for Sarah, but she enjoyed playing in the sand with her sister. Christine ate about a pound of sand the first day. We just couldn't get her to stop. It was too funny!
We took a bunch of baby food with us, but we ended up bringing them all home, since the food there was fantastic! There was a great variety everyday for all ages (including babies). Sarah's favourite part of the holiday was the nightly entertainment.Every day at 8pm they had a "mini-disco" where all the kids would go up on the stage and dance with the entertainers. Sarah was the youngest and cutest of them all. She loved being in the spotlight. She's so much like her daddy. She's not shy at all! By the end of the week, she was famous. A number of people would come up to us each day and say that she was adorable in the show the night before. They also loved the plain ride. After landing another couple said that we had the most well behaved and cutest kids they've ever seen. It's so true! I didn't think this vacation would go so smoothly. Our kids are awesome!

Reaching new milestones

With the holiday rush over we are finally able to get back to our normal daily routine. Sarah started a new semester in swimming, she now swims with the instructor and not with Mommy. The transition went very well, Aaron (the instructor) is patient and makes the class so fun for the kids they forget that Mommy's not there. It's a nice break to just stand on the side and watch her. Christine is starting her first class in April and as with Sarah in the baby class, I'll be in the water with her for the first year.
Christine is almost 11 months now and she's working very hard on learning to walk. She can take 4-5 steps unassisted and she can stand on her own for up to 10 seconds. She's also doing a great job with potty training. She successfully uses the toilet every morning (for both pee and poop!). Sarah is now completely toilet trained. She doesn't even wear a diaper at night. It's fantastic!
Unfortunately, my maternity leave is almost over. I'll be going back to work in March. I'm hoping to get on the weekend shift, that way I would have 4 days off to spend with the girls. We would need someone to watch them on Saturdays since we would both be working. We've interviewed 3 home daycare providers and we found a great place for them.
We're going on our first vacation as a family the day after tomorrow. We have a trip booked to the Dominican for a week at a very nice resort on the beach. I can't wait!