‘Sit Down Mommy, Sit Down’

This is a phrase I hear almost daily and while it warms my heart to hear my sweet ‘baby’ girl expressing her desires, it also breaks my heart to hear those words. 

Anyone who knows me, knows that my home is that, a ‘home.’ It won’t win a spot in a designer magazine nor a Molly Maid ad but it is a place where love is.  I love the time that Hannah and I share together here but there are times when she wants more of mommy’s time and as hard as it is to hear the words, ‘Sit down Mommy.  Sit down.’ I’m glad she knows to say them to express her desires.  When I’m trying to get something done, these simple words cause me to pause and question whether what I’m doing needs to happen at that exact moment or if it can wait? 

There are times when supper preparations are set aside in preference for reading a few stories together.  Sometimes the laundry is left for a day longer than I may have intended but a great tea party was held complete with imaginary tea, cookies and lively 'conversation’.  The dishes may sit in the sink until after she’s in bed but we will have built a big tower using her wooden building blocks and then shot it down with the ball popper.   

There are other times when I need to continue with what I’m doing when I hear ‘Sit down Mommy.  Sit down.’ but those words challenge me to ask myself if Hannah can help me with what I’m doing?  It may take a little longer to accomplish what I’m doing but we’re doing it together and that’s all that matters!

Supper preparation is still a work in progress but we’re getting there.  We normally get home around 5:30 so the question is always, playtime/story time or begin preparing supper and save those activities for after supper?  We have a narrow 2 1/2 hour window in the evening and I want to make the most of my time with my sweetie.  I think what I’m going to try this week is a 15 min window of time dedicated to all things Hannah when we first get home and then move into dinner preparations from there.  Thankfully we don’t mind leftovers so dinner prep won’t need to happen each night.  Also,  I may try to pull out the crockpot and see what we can have waiting for us when we get home. 

I’m slowly trying to get some little projects done around the house that I’ve been avoiding for far too long and trying to do them with a busy toddler as my ‘helper’ keeps life interesting to say the least.  Last week one evening’s goal was simply to unpack 1 suitcase and put away 1 load of laundry that was already folded and upstairs.  In those brief moments Hannah was able to completely empty a bathroom cupboard, 1/2 her book case and begin looking for what she could 'do’ next.  Yikes!!  The laundry did get put away and thanks to her start, the bathroom cupboard was also cleaned and reorganized. 

I find by the time Hannah goes to bed I’m ready for some down time and just don’t have the energy to attack bigger projects so another change in my routine is that I’m going to wake up 15mins earlier each day and slowly work away on the little projects I want to get accomplished early in the morning.  Tomorrow morning starts with beginning to work my way through the baskets of clothing in Hannah’s room and organizing it into sizes and storage bins.  Right now it’s pretty much just in a ‘too small’ basket and needs to be further refined.  It’s good to have a doable project that I can work away on each morning and then just leave it ‘as is’ when it’s time to begin getting ready for work. 

Hopefully with my project time taking place in the mornings before Hannah wakes, she won’t have as much need to remind me to, ‘Sit down Mommy.  Sit down.’

On a side note, my little smarty pants knows her mommy well!  On the Friday morning that we were leaving for Florida I was doing the last minute packing that can’t happen until well…the last minute.  Hannah was awake and playing in our room while I was packing in the office.  I suddenly heard, ‘Mommy!!  I stuck!  I stuck!’  I immediately stopped what I was doing and quickly went to see what I could do to get her ‘unstuck.’  As I walked into our room there sat Hannah.  Not stuck at all, just patiently sitting on our bed waiting for me to arrive.  As I entered the room she said, ‘Sit down Mommy.  Sit down.  Read story!’  Yup, that’s my girl!!  If she’d asked me at that particular moment to come and read a story I would have said that I needed to finish packing so she knew enough to say that she was ‘stuck’ to get me to come immediately.  I couldn’t do anything but laugh, shake my head at her logic and snuggle into bed to read a story with my sweetie. 

At the rate we’re going Hannah is going to be smarter than me by the time she’s umm….5!!

Hannah Skating ~ To Say I Was Shocked is a Huge Understatement!

If you had ever asked me if a 22 month old could ‘skate’ I probably would have laughed at you.  22 months?  Are you kidding?

Well, my thoughts about that all changed on Saturday.  Our friends Liz and Ava have a skating rink in their back yard and they invited Hannah and I over to skate.  The weather was amazing as it wasn’t too cold and it was snowing the huge, fluffy snowflakes that accumulated faster than Liz could clear the ice.  In the brief 15 mins we were on the rink, Liz shovelled no less than 3 times!!  BEAUTIFUL!!!

I wasn’t sure if Hannah would like skating so I took a pic inside just to ensure I ended up with at least 1 pic of her with her little skates on.  Someday when she’s in the Olympics we’ll want this pic. 

When we went out and I placed her on the ice she surprised me by thoroughly enjoying herself.  (I’m not a fan of skating so am thankful we had an opportunity to go out.)

Even when she fell she had a smile on her sweet little face!

One of Hannah’s first attempts to skate on her own.

Skate assist? Who needs one? Not me!

Check out the beautiful snow falling!! I love, love, love this kind of light, fluffy snow!

Hannah’s own style of getting around the ice and then voila – up she goes all on her own!

Those mitts were cramping my style!

It was a fun afternoon with our friends.  Next week we’re going out for a CNY dinner together which promises to be another great time.

I love how Hannah is broadening my experiences and also teaching me that I was waaaay off in what I believed toddlers could do.  I’ve never given them the credit they’re due.  She’s a smart cookie and will keep Mommy on her toes for years to come!!

Florida Trip Wrap-Up

It was a quick 4 day trip but Hannah and I would do this again in a heartbeat! 

These flights were her last as a lap child which makes me a little sad.  For years and years, even long before I began Hannah’s adoption, I longed to be the Mommy on the plane holding her little one close as the plane took off and landed.  We have been blessed to do a lot of travelling together over the past 14 months and that’s not going to change but I will miss holding Hannah during take off and landing.  What I won’t miss is trying to keep my energizer bunny’s feet from kicking the seat in front of us.  Beginning with our next trip Hannah will be secured in her car seat when we board the plane.  I have a feeling it might be a little easier for both of us as she’s used to being in her car seat and is very happy there.   During our flight to FL Hannah hopped across the aisle for a little visit with her friend Ben.

When we first arrived in FL Hannah fell asleep in the car so Mommy decided it was time to finally go someplace I’ve wanted to for a very long time and it was yummy!!   Emily, I made it!!

Hannah enjoying lunch in the travel high chair.  This little chair has been great to have and use in a pinch.  Normally the challenge is that it doesn’t put her at a good height for the table but there was a booster seat at the house we rented which put her at the perfect height.

A sucker featuring her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse friends that was almost as big as Hannah! 

Checking Minnie’s teeth

Enjoying a private boat ride at DD.  With the weather being less than ideal, boat rides were not something most people were looking to do but Hannah and I had fun tooting around the lake with the big boat all to ourselves!

Swimming with Mommy in our back yard

Awe!  Kisses for Molly

Hannah’s buddy Ben!  She sure has missed him since we returned home.  She talks about him daily.

Sadly Tuesday around noon it was time for us to say good-bye to our friends and head to the airport.  Little did we know at the time that our flight would be delayed approx 4 hours but we made the best of our time anyway by hanging out with some Disney friends at the airport.

Hannah and Snow White

Mickey

Enjoying eating and wearing ice cream in the airport

Some may think it’s a Goofy idea to travel all that way for 4 days and you know what? We agree….and we wouldn’t have it any other way!!

I wonder where we’ll end up next??

Making it Snow!!

It was another c-o-l-d day here.  Early this morning I watched an interesting video on the news about a gal who ‘made it snow.’  On the way home from church I suddenly wondered if it might be cold enough here today to do the same thing so decided to give it a try.

Here are the results!  COOL!!

The temp was –18oC/-0.4oF today and with the wind chill it was –26oC/-14.8oF.

Not sure what the technical term is for what was happening….I’ll just call it SNOW!

Creative Orange Picking

Sunday afternoon the Mommies were out shopping and on our way home we were talking about all the beautiful orange trees that lined the highway we were on.  We were all surprised and excited when we passed a sign that said ‘U-Pick Oranges’.  Cool!!  What a fun activity that would be!  It was late in the day so we decided that we’d go the following afternoon after the kiddos woke up from their naps.

Well, after all the rain we had Monday morning we knew that wasn’t going to happen so we got creative. 

Here’s our version of orange picking with the kids.

Find an ‘orange tree.’  Close-up shot

At a distance :o)

Hoist up the kiddos and begin picking.  They were happy as could be and our orange picking adventure was a huge success…even if it was only in our living room with the oranges we’d picked up at a roadside stand.  :o)

Hannah concerned about her friend Molly eating the outside of the orange

Ben ~ mighty proud of himself!

Hannah’s turn

 

Although the orange picking wasn’t as we’d originally planned it was still fun for the kiddos and the parents too.  It’s just one more reason for us to enjoy a FL trip together again sometime – orange picking in the Florida sun rather than our living room.

If the Toddler’s Are Quiet….

….you’d better go find them!!

Tuesday morning Hannah and I were pretty much packed and ready to go.  The rest of the group are staying until Saturday but Hannah and I needed to fly home as I had to go back to work Wednesday.  Still, very thankful for a 4 day vacation with my sweetie and our amazing friends!

The whole group had enjoyed a dip in the pool that morning which was a great way to end our mini-vacay.

Afterwards the mommies were enjoying a final few minutes of fun together when suddenly we realized it was quiet. 

Too quiet! 

We hopped up, began calling to the kids yet there was no answer at all.  The outside doors were all locked so we knew they were in the house somewhere, but where?

When I opened the door to our room I could barely call out to the others as I was laughing SO hard!!  Check out Hannah and Ben and look at how proud they are of themselves!

 

Yup, when it’s quiet you’d better find the toddlers!

Splish, Splash, Sploosh ~ Downtown Disney

We woke to thunderstorms Monday morning but didn’t let that change our plans and we set off for a day of fun at Downtown Disney.  Ben’s Mommy and Daddy surprised him with a t-shirt of his favourite Disney character, ‘Tow Mater’ and he was SO excited!!

Thanks to Auntie K’s Etsy sleuthing, Hannah had a great new outfit to wear too!  Unfortunately due to the weather it was hidden under her coat most of the day but she still looked totally adorable!

Molly was sporting a sweet Minnie outfit too but like Hannah hers was hidden beneath her coat.  Trust me, she looked adorable!

When we arrived at Downtown Disney it was absolutely pouring so we sat in our cars for about 15 mins. until there was a slight break in the storm and we could run into the store.  We were still completely soaked after getting out stuff together, setting up strollers and running through the rain but hey, it wasn’t snow so we didn’t care!  Thankfully our group is all about the fun and making lemonade out of lemons so we  enjoyed our time regardless of the downpour!

After visiting the World of Disney store we went next door to the Lego store where Hannah and Ben had a blast playing at the Lego table. 

 

 

 

Once again Miss Molly was happy to watch from her stroller and watch the others in motion.  Give her a couple of months and she’ll be right in there with the big kids!

As we watched Hannah play, we teased that she has a big ‘personal bubble’ and needs her space.  Here she is in action at the Lego table.

Mmmm…ice cream at Ghiradelli’s.  Mommy ate the yummy chocolate ice cream with peanut butter sauce (there are no calories on vacation, right?) while Hannah was happiest munching on the empty cone.

One final group shot of the stroller brigade before we went our separate ways for a few hours.  Hannah and I were in for the long haul at DD since we were going home the following day but some of the others decided to call it a day and go back another day when the weather was more cooperative.  Check out Ben and Hannah holding hands!  SO sweet!!  They sure did enjoy themselves together this week!

After the others were gone Hannah and I continued our walk around the lake, taking in each of the stores located at DD.  We found some characters and she was excited to stand and pose with ‘Mimmie and Mimmie’

as well as Donald Duck and Daisy.

We also added a cute little ‘Plupo’ stuffy to her Disney Collection and he’s been a big hit.  He goes with her to bed each night and it’s so sweet to see her sleeping with her little arm wrapped around him.

This little spot just outside Goofy’s Candy Co is special to me.  My niece and I found it our very first trip we took to Disney and we tried to take a picture there each trip.   Now Hannah and I do the same.  Here we are last April.

It is also special in that it was one of the pics I included in my file that went to China when I was waiting for Hannah.

After a private boat tour around the lake we called it a day.  Hannah was asleep before we left the parking lot and I can’t say I blame her.  We may not have made it to an official Disney park this trip but a trip to DD was a fun alternative.