Dear Santa

Our first letter to Santa. Found a cute template, that Audra filled in (with a little help from Mom) with lots of colour and stickers. She is definitely just like her mom with stationary love. She is so excited to walk over to the mailbox to mail it, and truth be told, so I am. I can't wait for the generic letter back, but it's something. A little Christmas magic. Makes me feel like a kid again. It's so wonderful to have kids and be able to relive things, and to see the wonder through their eyes.
Another Christmas season is starting, and it will be great. Audra will actually remember it all this year hopefully. Can't wait to decorate and see a little more of that wonder through her eyes.

4 generations

 We went up to Barrie to visit Gram, or Great Gram, for the first time yesterday. She was thrilled to meet her newest great-granddaughter and namesake.

 Yay for Miss Eleanor being a good baby. It was so nice to introduce her.

 Audra was so excited to see both Grandma and Great Gram. She didn't stop talking the entire time we were there!

 A few winks of sleep here and there, and thankfully she slept both ways in the car.

Four generations. Poor Jay, always outnumbered. So glad we all got to share in this special day.

Month 35

 Well my darling first born, the days and months just seem to keep flying by. November saw lots of visits and lots of fun. Grandma came down and spoiled you. You are a girly girl at heart and loved the fancy tea party gloves, the new wings and the princess wand. You always want to wear dresses and your jewelry box is full to the brim.

 When driving this is my favourite shot. You reading the map book. You are so curious and so busy all the time. You love your books like mom and we recently shuffled books from your room and downstairs, and you didn't miss a beat. You knew I had changed the books out and you had "new" books to read in your room.

 You are a wonderful big sister. Eleanor is so lucky to have you. You always want to help and hold her. It's sweet and melts this momma's heart. You always have to know what she is doing and where she is at all times. You get very upset if I try to change her before you in the morning. It's actually pretty funny. You will be dead asleep and I go into your room, and you bolt out of bed. I guess it;s your right as the oldest. lol

 We went to the Santa Claus parade this past weekend and you really were pushing your luck. You are loving the testing boundaries. It's kinda driving mom and dad a little batty, as we aren't as well rested as we would like. But it's a stage and it is funny sometimes to see what you think you can actually get away with. The parade was a bust. Really disappointing. It was cold, very windy, started a half and hour late, floats kept stopping for no reason. After an hour and a half, we left, unfortunately not seeing santa. You did get to see Uncle Matt and Aunt Charlotte, so that made for some happy times. Here's hoping next years parade is a little better. Mom and Dad have always gone to this parade and were excited to continue the tradition.

And these two pictures best describe you at most points during the day. Busy, busy, busy, and always on the move. You never stop talking and it amazes us as to what you remember. You repeat everything and have a memory like an elephant that never forgets. You are able to put more together, and make things relate and make sense. You were explaining how we were going to see grandma, dad's mom. Wow. All the talking we do to you, is definitely paying off. You listen and put it all together. It's great. 

The next month is going to be crazy busy. Your birthday will finally be here. It's going to be exciting. You have your birthday cake already planned. "Aunt Nickey make princess cake?" lol. She will be forever spoilt with wonderful cakes. Christmas is right around the corner, and we still need to decorate.
You and Dad got the tree this weekend, now we just need to bring it in and start decorating. It will be a fun time. You will be so excited. Can't wait to live it all with you.

Christmas Pillow

 This is apparently what my sewing career has turned into right now. Fussy child who doesn't want to be put down, goes in her sling and then I try my best to reach the sewing machine. Thought it was hard sewing while pregnant!

 Cutting all my fabric was much easier once she fell asleep. And it's my stash of Michael Miller's It's a Hoot that I have had sitting around for a year or so! lol.

The finished result? A crazy quilted top pillow case for my fabulous $6 20x20 feather pillow I picked up at Ikea. (think I may need to purchase some more of those!)

My first christmas project, done and completed. Now if this child would only let me start on the massive list of other christmas items! Fingers crossed. Think my list may be too long for having a month old baby who doesn't sleep or nap very well. Hmmm.... how to get it all done?

101 updated

 Well in going through my list there are a lot more purple dones then I thought there would be. Lots of blue in progress, but overall the list is shaping up well. It's nice to have goals to work towards.

 101 in 1001

1. learn to take better pictures new camera so working through this one
2. buy next camera, DSLR, and learn how to use it properly have the camera, learning
3. learn to quilt have made a few quilts now, big takeaway-iron everything!!!!
4. sew window treatments for house
5. pay off credit card-almost there, might not finish this one til back to work after mat leave lol
6. use more coupons -do lots of price matching and try to use coupons everytime I grocery shop
7. become CPR certified
8. watch a sunrise -have watched a few of these now. As tired as I am nursing, so worth it
9. watch a sunset
10. learn to make great homemade pizza crust -great crust recipe from the Grazing book. We made a birthday dinner solely of homemade pizza's-was delicious
11. cook through an entire cookbook -in progress, keep changing books!
12. eat less red meat
13. open an Etsy account-account opened, haven't listed any items though
14. do a Mom-Mom sale, selling Felt Pantry items-mom to mom sale done, and actually made some money,selling felt pantry items, still a work in progress
15. keep a cleaner house -have a cleaning schedule somewhat in place, definitely notice the difference
16. procrastinate less
17. build something out of wood, possibly a play kitchen
18. wear more skirts and dresses
19. make and sew some skirts and dresses
20. learn to sew from a pattern-done
21. make Audra some sewn clothes-also done
22. a) buy some new clothes b) getting rid of the old, faded and stretched out ones that don't fit
23. organize the laundry room-done
24. make homemade soap
25. make homemade lipbalm-done
26. thrift more
27. get oil changes regularly and on time-done, even got the fluids changed relatively on time
28. throw out less, reuse and recycle more-resuing items for sewing, recycled items are being used for crafts
29. learn to can sauce-done and we have been enjoying the sauce. also did homemade ketchup
30. drink more water-not quite at 8 glasses a day, but certainly drinking a lot more
31. make more photobooks
32. scrapbook for Audra's pictures
33. make a proper will
34. learn to make a proper piecrust-don't know if it's a proper one, but found a great recipe that works well and makes a pretty decent crust
35. take daily vitamins-done, still finishing my prenatal ones, but have multi vitamins ready when those run out
36. figure out a clothesline system in backyard
37. paint the florida room
38. get family trees and genelogy history together and in order-have the book started, need the parents to help out with this one
39. write in my journal at least once a week-smash book count?
40. make a tshirt quilt
41. watch IMBD's top 250 movies list-at 103 of 250, few more to watch
42. make my own ice cream
43. learn how to crochet, and be able to read the patterns
44. take a picture everyday for a month-done
45. learn to use chopsticks properly
46. make a list of 101 quotes that inspire me-in progress
47. read the Narnia series-in progress
48. donate hair to locks of love
49. finish Wreck My Journal-in progress
50. translate all Babcia's recipes to english-in progress
51. go a month without pop- done, missed my diet coke
52. go to an auction or estate sale
53. go vegetarian for one week
54. sign up for Postcrossing and send some postcards
55. knit 10 projects, real items, not just dishcloths-in progress, 6 items done
56. organize desk/craft space-done, but its a mess again, so need to re-do
57. go on a road trip
58. take a family vacation
59. do a detox
60. stop using plastic bags, bring my own everywhere
61. get new eyeglasses-done, didn't need new glasses
62. make all my own christmas and birthday cards
63. make a lot more homemade gifts-in progress
64. put $5 away for every goal completed
65. buy rechargeable batteries for everything
66. floss every day!!!-done, doing
67. start some great, lastly family traditions-christmas, apple picking, many more to come
68. do some cross-stitching
69. buy a new mattress
70. spend no money for a week -done, not as easy as it sounds
71. get a new tattoo - done, woo hoo (maybe another one before the list is due! lol)
72. have a great garage sale
73. A-Z photography project, start it!
74. bring lunch to work for a whole month -done while i was still working
75. don't eat out for an entire month -done, easier when you don't spend money for a week! lol
76. join a book club
77. family outing to the drive in, including Audra
78. teach Gwen to actually walk properly
79. go on more walks as a family -in progress
80. bake bread more often instead of buying it
81. do some volunteer work
82. carve our names in a tree out back
83. take pictures of everything for insurance
84. read 101 books -71 out of 101
85. get my hands on a Smash book -Done and in progress!
86. make a 5 year running calendar
87. grow and keep a healthy spider plant
88. teach Audra the alphabet and counting -alphabet done, counting to 20 done (Sept '12)
89. start a family planner, get everything in order
90. make a book page wreath with an old book
91. make my own labels for clothes and projects
92. turn a composition book into a gorgeous journal -in progress
93. make my own cloth napkins and just use those -done
94. make my own all purpose cleaner -done and in use
95. make Audra a felt board, and pieces to go with
96. stock up Audra's play food
97. learn to run, and maybe actually like it
98. make a custom recipe book
99. clear away any clutter, get rid of it -always in progress
100. print my list and hang it on the fridge -done
101. do some pickling and canning of fruits and veggies -done

And somehow, once I got going to finish this post, I suddenly ended up with more then 101. So I will call these bonuses. If I get them done, great. Maybe I'll substitute them for other items on my list. lol.
(102.do some geocaching
103. make a great wish at 11:11, Nov 11th, 2011 (made a great wish that came to be October 10th!)
104. use my wii fit more
105. take a class to learn something
106. take a class for fun
107. buy some designer fabric and make something nice with it -done, Anna Maria Horner purse
108. burn pictures to cd, organizing as I burn
109. take pictures of Audra's artwork and crafts, make a collage out of them)

Instagram Love

 I couldn't resist sharing a few photos from Instagram. It is an app that lets you make and share photos, with different filtered effects. You can follow friends, see their photos, comment on them, and I love that its not facebook! There are all these different apps too for various frames to make all your pictures snazzy.

 Awww melt my heart!

 Happy birthday!

 You can add hashtags to the pictures, they are then grouped with other pictures, other groups etc.

Eleanor and her future boyfriend!

Photo Afternoon

 Wanted to take some pictures of my cute little fall baby. She was mildly cooperative one afternoon, so I quickly snapped some shots. She is so adorable. I just want to pinch those cheeks that keep growing bigger and bigger.

 For every one great shot, there were quite a few of these wrangy ones! lol.

 Love, love, love baby feet!!!

Wide awake and so beautiful! Thanks for a few really good shots pretty girl!

Updated tshirt

 Well after all the work on my pregnancy shirt (or not really, lol), figured I'd better post the final result. Look at that little belly up there!

 After all those weeks, the counting down, or counting up, the crossing off, the little cute bug deserved her own little post on the shirt. All those weeks, so incredibly worth it.

Month One

 Well my bright eyed little girl, the first month has flown by. You are so cute, full of life and personality. We started out in a good rhythm of eating and sleeping and then about week three you decided that life is just way too exciting, and you don't sleep anymore. You enjoy your little catnaps, and somedays it feels like you don't even take those. You love to eat and we have managed to get you from formula and bottles in the hospital, to bottles of breastmilk, to breastfeeding. Yay. Now if only we could get you to take a soother occasionally, because it feels like that hollow leg is never full!

 You love to see what's going on and what everyone is up to. You love your swing like your sister, and it needs to be going full tilt, just like her. You fall asleep pretty quick in the car, like other babies you love the movement.

 Your little chicken legs are filling in very nicely. You went from 5 lbs 8 oz, when we left the hospital, to back to your birth weight in 3 days. In two weeks, you were up to 6lbs 9oz! Wow. Then your first month check up had you at 7lb10oz! Wow! I am sure you are over 8lbs at this point. You don't fit into your premie clothes anymore! Yay. You will be in all those cute outfits everyone has gotten us before we know it!

You are so loved by everyone. Especially your big sister, who can't leave your side. She needs to know what you are up to every minute of the day! When you actually do sleep, she wants to wake you up just to see you awake! lol. She's not the only one, we all love you so much. Mom would love it if you slept a little more. You are too cute for words, so it's ok. Who needs sleep?
Happy one month my little bug. We love you.

Halloween

 Gotta love halloween peeps! They're not just for easter. We all enjoyed them and they went into the goodies bags that Audra and I made for daycare. She is so cute and so generous. She loves being able to help and making things for others is a great learning project. I know she takes pride in being able to give things to others, and it warms this momma's heart. I love being able to teach her that.

The goodie bags for everyone at daycare.

Eleanor's first halloween. Mommy's little Pumpkin. She looked so cute in that little outfit. Even if it was way tooo big for her.

Audra was the cutest little lion ever. Aunt Linda and baby Marcus came to visit and Audra was pleased as punch to be able to hold him in his very cute cow costume. He is so cute! And so big. Hard to believe there is less then 3 weeks between him and Eleanor.

Being silly with the pumpkin bucket. She is such a ham sometimes.

Eleanor borrowed a mermaid costume, and was so cute, and very warm, on a rainy halloween night.

Audra was quite the trooper and made it to way more houses then we thought she would. She was determined. In Dundas you certainly have to work for your candy with all the hills, steps and driveways. When asked if she wanted to continue, she said yes she wanted to keep going, her bucket wasn't full yet. And you have to love that she dumped all her chips into the buggy basket to make room for more candy. Definitely her father's child! lol. She was so cute, after every house, she would yell down the driveway, look momma!!!! And couldn't wait to show me what she had gotten.

Two girls in their costumes, after a very successful night. First halloween together. Can't wait for next year!

And so excited that halloween is done, and can't wait for Christmas. We bought our Elf on the Shelf and can't wait to introduce Audra to him. We will wait, because really, as exciting as Christmas will be, I just can't bring myself to start decorating anytime before Remembrance Day. Or even before the end of November. It just starts so early every year. And feels like we are barely out of one season before the next is upon us. Still a few more fall crafts to do and enjoy.