Snow Bunnies

After almost six weeks of sharing Penticton with visitors, we are (sadly) on our own again. We decided to get back on the adventuring horse and head out of town with all our babies, toddlers, accompanying gear, and fervent desire to play in the snow. Out to Big White, a ski resort a couple of hours from here, we went. We were close enough to taste the freshies in the pow pow but (very sadly) opted for more stable winter activities. Molly may have died and gone to heaven. I'm not sure she had her mittens on for more than 30 seconds the whole time and ate almost all the snow out of the joint.

Gearing up to go outside.

We pretty much had the woods to ourselves for our snowshoeing outing today. My little heater kept me nice and toasty -- big boy has been bulking up in preparation for being out in the cold. The little peanut got tired of the little stage and has opted for bodybuilding instead.

A little snow never shopped the SS Molly from jumping around. We did some sledding too -- holy smokes, she has a need for speed.

One of our many gondola rides. Wowee.

Being inside the condo was almost as much fun as outside. Apparently, there was a place to "swim"????

This picture really doesn't do this morning's view justice. It was a gorgeous morning of a cloud bank with peaks sticking up about the clouds. Ahhhh, I love winter.

Winter driving, though? Notsomuch. Other family members are bigger fans of driving the path less beaten.

Thanky Panky

I'm thankful for all sorts of things this year. Our own little family is healthy, happy, growing and full of energetic fun; we both have wonderful parents, siblings, in-laws, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins and any other sort of familial configuration one can come up with; and our friends have stood with us and not forgotten us even though we are all the way across and above our home post. I am, really and truly, grateful, humbled, and very touched by all the gifts and well wishes that people have sent our way with regards to our move and Jack's birth. I'm notoriously bad about sending presents and remembering birthdays in a timely manner but people haven't let that stop them from continuing to include us in their lives. This year, being so far from so many who mean so much to us, it has been particularly heart warming. Just like the Grinch, it has made my heart grow three sizes this day (no jokes, I'm not that grouchy in the morning). No other year has Thanksgiving felt as relevant as it does this year.

With all of that said, I am particularly thankful for four people who have made our transition to double parenthood much easier. No, Molly is not one of them, although I love her dearly; let's actually place her on the other side of the helpful list. Our parents have been indispensable in helping us manage over the last many weeks. They have been our chefs, garbage men/women, table fixers, present buyers, toddler distractors, chauffeurs, grocery getters, companions, dishwasher emptiers, sages, and every possible other helpful adjective that you could imagine.

As many of you know, too, I'm very close to my parents and it's been hard to be far away (let's just say that I may still call my dad if I can't figure out why my bike pump isn't working). I can't thank them enough for giving me the time and space to be a new again mom while still being my mom and dad in every way that I needed them to be. Thanks to you guys -- I couldn't have planned it any better.

We wish you all a happy and healthy Thanksgiving this year. Ours is dedicated to our moms and dads.

MIght As Well Face It, I'm Addicted To...

Addict: "a person who is addicted to an activity, habit, or substance". I think I might know one... Who tries to steal a binky that is attached to someone else? And who is sleeping, nonetheless. Molly got totally busted and totally knows it.

Other addictions around here include...

ourselves...

our binkies and ourselves, and...

reading. It apparently doesn't matter on our audience's interest level.

Time Keeps On Slipping, Slipping, Into the Future

Long time no post, sorry! Grammy and Grampy left (sadness) and I was getting up to speed managing two peanuts, which went well for the most part but didn't leave me a whole lot of time last week. Luckily, reinforcements (Nana) have arrived and I am, once again, being spoiled with some free time. Whew, what a nice thing and boy do I love grandparents!

Okay, so we've started trying to adventure out again but we're apparently a little rusty and had to abort our trip the other weekend and the weather has been a little poopy. Plus, John had to depart to the States for meetings this week and spent most of Saturday trying to get our other car registered (Grandpa will be proud of us -- after at least five trips, it's finally done. But no, the license plate still isn't exactly affixed to the Jeep yet... baby steps). Anyhoo, so we've been doing other stuff, like...

working hard. I mean, really hard.


continuing to wear our leg-warmers... I mean big socks (not to be confused with tights, which Molly also refers to as biiiiiiiiiig socks)

and wondering why mom and dad aren't saving little peanuts from big sister antics (like stealing his binky. Poor thing).

Molly has also gotten really, really into showers and baths. Other people's showers and baths, that is. Who knew that Little Miss Dirt Devil would want to be chairwoman of clean around here.

Someone has to make sure that Grammy's shower cap (in Molly verbiage: cap shower) was accounted for

and yes, that is Molly in the bath. Jack's bath. Thanks for the help. It went a little something like this. Jack needed a bath and it seemed like a good way for the master munchkin to help out. And she did... sort of. We did the bath with only a few tears and I went to dress Jack, thinking someone was toddling behind me to continue to commentate on what was happening. Suddenly, I heard the most dangerous sound a parent can hear... silence. Never, ever, ever a good thing, I walked back into the bathroom and guess who was splish splashing happily (and quietly) and fully clothed. Was there anything to do but get the camera and let her have her paparazzi moment?


I think John was a little distressed (not really) because it meant that she couldn't wear her Daddy outfit that day. Molly's lifesaver leggings are John's go-to outfit when he dresses her. We generally switch off on kid duties one morning each Saturday and Sunday so the other person gets to sleep in (theoretically). This outfit is sort of like a deja vu on the weekends and has since become her Daddy outfit. I'm happy to let it be so.

Walking and Talking

We got out for some walking/hiking towards the end of last week, which was really nice. Molly and Grampy got to hit up two favorite spots while and Molly hoofed it for the majority of both excursions, which gives me hope of getting out there by myself. She would have rather walked the whole time but sometimes the speed needs to be turned up a notch or two so she gets slung onto someone's back. I prefer to carry wee little Jack since he's about 1/3 of her weight, although is working hard to catch up. Little chunker is already up to 9 lbs 4 oz so has done well regaining his birth weight and then a-plenty more. I can attest to his hard work.

We have a good number of bears around these parts (a mom I met had one camped out in her yard up on one of the hills for three days) so we've engaged Molly's services in keeping them away when we're out and about in the woods. I'm pretty sure that her songs, antics, and somewhat loud hiking attire work better than bear spray, yelling "hey ice cream/hey bear" or any other solution out there.

Jack stayed nestled, all snug in his Bjorn

Molly got a ride courtesy of Grampy


On Sunday, John and Grampy took Molly up to a waterfall, which is more of a trickle this time of year. Fortunately, rock tossing remained possible...

while Jack stayed back with the ladies and kept us entertained.

Tumbles

Grammy and Grampy took over much of the Molly duty while they were out here, thankfully. One activity that Molly LOVES is her tumbling class (she calls herself a tumblini), with her coach and lots of places to hang like a monkey. It's pretty fun and it gets a lot of her wiggles out every Monday.



This is largely for me that I'm posting this, because I don't want to forget this one aspect of Molly's toddler-hood, but it's also funny (sometimes. Other times, it would be nice if she could let it go). She lives largely in the moment, like most toddlers, but manages to hold onto things and then brings them up out of the blue. I know other parents have experienced this... but it can be weeks later and she'll say something about some event, person, decoration, etc. that we saw or heard about weeks ago. Some of her recent examples:

- "kitty scratched me" -- this happened in August
- "man fall off the bike" -- this happened in September
- "chair fall down" -- no idea when this happened but it wasn't recently
- "little bit of blood" -- this happened only this past week but it's already part of the loop tape
- "ohhhhhh, mama has owie eye" -- I did have an owie... but it was fixed up about a month ago

I love the evolution of her personality but sad that she's already grown out of some her funny habits. She used to say "band-a-daid" for a bandaid, for example. It's one of those bittersweet parenting moments to realize that your little munchkin has outgrown something that seemed like it would last forever (not that I exactly expecter her to go to college saying band-a-daid, but you know what I mean).

Our House

We've had some cold days that have kept us indoors over the past week or so. Jack, like Molly was at this age, is no fan of the wind, so staying snug as bugs in a rug has been much more fun than braving wind and rain. So, we've been...

having tea parties, which mostly involve pouring the "tea"

sharing secrets

coming up with creative ways to stay warm while I run upstairs because I've forgotten something for the 400th time

fastening Jack's carseat (with or without him in it)

doing naked stroller rides for Molly's new doll, Maggie May (with my mom here we had enough votes to memorialize Rod Stewart)

try and share our snacks with wee ones... hmm... that sister of Jack's is suspect.

We've been able to do so many of these fun things because we've had such wonderful help and support. Having Grammy and Grampy here has been so, so wonderful and we're all going to miss them very much when they depart back East this week. Thank you!!

Mr. Clean

This is how Jack prefers to bathe. Molly found it unacceptable that Baby Jack Peter was clothed, however, so we had to undress the little man (who hates being chilly), and we ended up with...



this. Uh oh, because according to Molly, Baby Jack Peter is crying. Really? Thanks kid.

I think he's still perplexed as to why we had to do that whole experiment. He was miffed for quite awhile but his sister was glad that he was clean and dry.

Wake Up Little Jack, It's Time To Go Home

Auntie Holly just asked in her last comment if Jack is ever awake... my response -- you do know his dad, right? The other answer is that no, he is not often awake (although more and more every day) and he, like his sister, chooses what must be THE most uncomfortable positions to sleep in. He too has elast-o-neck. A true Doyle.

Molly is working on teaching Jack to put up his dukes.

Mr. Mighty Duck

Molly has taken over being in charge of head coverings these days (I haven't put a wig on her in ages... I, sadly, left my Sunny the Clown costume in Newburyport... should have brought that out here with me so that Jack could have had the pleasure of wig wearing. Not surprisingly, the mullet wig is here and will have to make its debut soon).

Jack gets in on the hat action

Bloomers on the head

The next Star Wars character -- green produce box head

Moo Buzz La La La

Our first Canadian Halloween went well (and yes, it's the same as in the States). Molly consented to wear a costume, which was a big win for me (she did wear one last year but she's a bit more persnickity these days). Big thanks to my mom for her help with the finishing details. She sews a bit straighter than I do. Molly was a little bumble bee who pre-gamed with a little pear snack (because bees like pears), trotted outside in her bee costume (after I had to rework her antennas onto a hat because she would not wear them as a headband), where Molly saw a man in a mask (alongside an adorable dinosaur who was not scary at all), and yelled "SO SCARY! GO BACK INSIDE!". She wanted none of this trick-or-treating... until John picked her up and carried her to our neighbor's house. After that, realizing that she got some treats and compliments, she was happy to provide a buzz buzz, happy Halloween, or trick-or-treat at every one of the subsequent houses. I think John and I just wanted to keep going since the candy since kept disappearing into our pockets.


In seemingly typical baby fashion, Jack snoozed through the entire event but did make a cute cow and apparently was a hit with the treaters. My brother, Greg, apparently needs to be in charge of passing out candy next year, though. He reports that he sent kids to the back of the line if they didn't pipe up and actually say "trick-or-treat". None of this happy Halloween or Hi stuff for him -- he was a stickler.