This little bub. Gosh, he melts my heart. At 8 months old {and 5 months corrected} now, we’re working hard on building his strength and motor skills and he’s already come so far! According to his physiotherapist, the number one thing we can do at this point to help his development along is tummy time. I’m absolutely not a professional, but according to her, it’s sort of ‘the gateway’ to many of the other skills he’ll be working on mastering in the upcoming months.
Author: Jen
Mermaid Ice Excavation
Summer’s here which means that it’s officially ice excavation season! We love ice excavations and as the years pass, I’m always slightly surprised by just how into them Miss G is. She’s done many ice excavations in her time, and yet she still gets all amped up when I mention doing one {which I of course love}. I do try to make them fun and different each time, playing into whatever she’s interested in that summer, so a mermaid rescue ice excavation it was for my girl who currently loves mermaids. {So fun, right?! Mermaid birthday party here we come!}
Make Ten {an easy card game for kids}
Miss G loves playing all sorts of card games, so when I came across Make Ten, a simple game that focuses math skills and uses just a generic deck of cards, I knew it would be a total hit.
UPDATE: Since sharing this game and our Make Ten printable play mat, I’ve had countless requests for play mats using larger numbers… Well, I’m so happy to say that I’ve finally gotten around to creating a couple of options and best of all – they’re customizable and can be used with any larger number you choose! Scroll to the very bottom of this post to find them.
Sunday by the River
Pink eye… Gosh, it sucks. I’ve never had it myself {touch wood!}, but after Miss G brought it home from Kindergarten last Friday and spent our Father’s Day / Victoria weekend with it, this Friday, Brad came down with it too {ugh}. And since we’re pretty much desperate to have Sam avoid it {and Miss G avoid round two if that’s even possible}, today I decided to pack up the munchkins and escape for most of the day.
A Weekend in Victoria
Oh my goodness… What a whirlwind weekend! While there was a time in my life when i headed to the island every other weekend, with two little ones it tow, having what’s essentially a day and a half away feels too short. That being said, we had a fabulous time in Victoria this past weekend and managed to sneak all kinds of fun into our mini getaway.
The best part? Undoubtedly seeing Grandma Sue! While my family moved to BC while I was still in elementary school, over the years everyone – my dad, my brother, and my mom – eventually made their way back to Alberta, leaving me here alone in BC {though truthfully, I spent most of those years in the Middle East}. Either way, it’s so nice to have my mom back and just a ferry ride away! {I see many island trips in our future.}
Big Sister Little Mister Style: Coordinating Clothes for Babies and Big Kids
Ever since our sweet Sam came home from the NICU, Miss G has been absolutely obsessed with coordinating her outfits with those of her baby brother. I’m 100% on board with the cuteness that is a little big sister / little mister matchy matchy-ness, but what I learned early on is that it’s not that easy to find coordinating baby / big sibling pieces when you’re shopping at the usual well known children’s stores.
Kidtropolis
When I first got word of Kidtropolis opening up out in Richmond, I knew we had to go. From what I saw, it reminded me a lot of one of our Kuwait favourites – Kidzania {an amazing kid-sized city where visitors get to assume typically adult roles and even earn and spend a salary}, so I figured that Miss G would thoroughly enjoy a Vancouver version.
6 Months of Sam
Our baby boy is 6 months old. Our baby boy is 6 months old! Goodness, I have to let that sink in just a little. It’s hard to believe that he’s already been here with us for half of a year. It doesn’t seem like that long. Time can be cruel, can’t it? Ugh.
Perfection
After 8 long years with the same entry-level DSLR, I finally splurged and bought myself a new camera last week. And oh my goodness… I had forgotten how fun it is to take photos when you don’t have to run to your computer and upload your pictures every 3 snaps in order to reformat the card and get your camera working again. Ahhhh…. Freeeeedom!
To celebrate, my littlest bubba and I had a bit of an impromptu photo shoot this morning and thank goodness we did! Other than the photos taken for his 3 month, 4 month, and 5 month updates, I’m pretty sure these are the only proper {read: non-iPhone} photos I have of him to date, and that’s just sad. Unacceptable, really. By this time in her life, I’m fairly certain that I’d taken at least 50,000 real camera photos of Miss G {not that I was a proud mama or anything}, which I guess means one thing – it’s time to play catch up with my little Sam Sam! ☺
I’m absolutely not a photographer, but these pictures pretty much sum up what I love so much about the delicious baby stage… Bright, curious eyes. Wispy lashes. Tiny little fingers. Folded hands. Thigh rolls. Chubby toes. Mmmmm… I could truly just eat him up.
5 Simple Baby Play Ideas
With our sweet boy now well out of the sleepy newborn stage, we’ve been having a total blast playing together while his big sister is at school in the mornings. Our little play sessions are more me sitting back and watching him play than anything, but I absolutely love it. It’s such a special thing to watch your little one become interactive, playful, and full of personality, isn’t it? I just adore it and sort of wish that I could freeze time to enjoy this stage a little longer, though I know I’ll think the next stage is just as much fun, or more likely, even better.
Do-It-Yourself Backyard Summer Camp
Last night, after the munchkins were both snuggled in bed, Brad and I began talking about our upcoming summer… This one will be very different for us for several reasons, one of which it’ll be our first summer with two kids {!!!}, but also, it’ll be the first summer in a long time that a) we’ll be stationed in one spot {and in our own home no less!} and b) that doesn’t involve a 36 hour trek back to the Middle East {and all of the prep that comes with that} at the end of it. We’ll just be here. In Vancouver. Which feels sort of strange at the moment.
Coffee Sugar Scrub Kids Can Make
After making a super fun, soap-included funfetti sugar scrub for Miss G last week, we decided that this mama needed a sugar scrub of her own too! My little helper and I hit the kitchen with some basic ingredients from our pantry and came up with an amazing smelling scrub that involves two of my very favourite things – COFFEE and being pampered!
Funfetti Sugar Scrub
Well, I’m excited to say that we’ve officially made it a full 3 months home from the NICU without baby bubba getting sick! According to our nurses, the first 3 months {and especially the first 4 – 6 weeks} are the most critical as far as keeping little NICU babes healthy and bug-free, and I’m so glad we were successful. During those first 6 weeks, we really avoided taking Sam to public places as much as possible, and though we’ve loosened up quite a bit since then, we’re still all about the hand washing in this house. It’s such an easy thing to do and since it’s the best way to keep germs at bay, we’re going to keep on it. After all, we don’t want baby bubba getting sick now any more than we did in the first 3 months – having a sick baby is awful!
Veggie Lentil Mac and Cheese
While most mac and cheese dishes aren’t overly nutritious, this version is packed with protein, veggies, and whole grain pasta, so I feel good about giving it to Miss G and she’s just thrilled that she gets to eat a giant bowl of pasta and call it a day.
Plastic Cup Greenhouses
One of the things I absolutely love doing with kids come springtime is growing plants from seed. That being said, I’m most likely the worst gardener on the planet. Like really, really bad. Cactuses, succulents, and other kill-proof plants? Give them to me for a week or two and I can almost guarantee that they’ll be dead. It’s terrible.