Thursday, 25 September 2014

mexico... a second trip!


 We FINALLY got to Primo Tapia to visit Rob's sister and her family... they moved there to run an organization called Casa de Luz, THREE years ago! about a month before Paxton was born. Needless to say, life's been busy on our end and getting there with the kids just hadn't happened. But this winter when MaryLynn and Cal got married they wanted to have us all together at some point and the Mexico/SanDiego idea came about.

I'm so thankful that I finally got to see where they live and work. I expected before I went down that they were doing an amazing job, so seeing it in person wasn't a surprise. They pour every ounce of their entire lives and beings into Casa de Luz. It was such a beautiful and inspiring thing to see. The community and love that they have there is just so special. (We are SO proud of you guys! and think the world of the work you are doing... thank you for showing us around and sharing what you do with us!) I feel sad that it took us so long to get down there, but so grateful at the same time that I now have been there. It was a whirlwind trip. 4 days! Travel with an almost 3 year old and a 7 mos old is NOT for the faint of heart! BUT this was important to us so we decided to just go for it. I SO look forward to the day that we can go down for a couple weeks and really get involved and do life with them for a bit.

It was such a quick trip that I hardly took any photos. I figured I'd post the few that I did take... we finished the trip off with an afternoon at Sea World with everyone (minus Toni who had to stay back with a team) and also met up with Cal's daughter and her family. Sea World was a huge hit and the perfect way to end the quick visit.

Special thank you again to MaryLynn and Cal for the trip...






Wednesday, 30 July 2014

a trip to Mexico

For Grandad's 60th Birthday, he flew his kids and their families to San Jose, Mexico for a big family vacation!
The vacation rentals booked were perfect, and the pool and grounds were total paradise. It was great. Rob, the kids and I were there for a full two weeks, which was so nice. Minus the unsleeping children (but really that's just life anywhere these days!) and then Erin, Toni and the kids joined us for the last week. This was SO special cause our kids haven't gotten to spend a lot of time together, and Pax is finally at the age where he was so excited to have them around to play with. Him and Bella had quite the connection, it was so sweet how she took him under her wing and loved on him. Sure makes it hard having them far away, knowing what we are missing out on :( BUT we made the most of the week together and had a blast. Thanks again Grandad for such a wonderful trip and making such special memories for our kids! Pax has not stopped talking about "Grandad's house" and has even yelled at planes to stop and come back so he can get on and go see Grandad in Mexico :)

and the best one of all of us... kindy tricky with so many kids :)







Thursday, 5 June 2014

half of a year

Our little miss Isla turned 6 months last week. I instantly tear up at how quickly these months have flown by (also, apparently having 2 children doesn't lend itself to blogging any more regularly!) 6 months is a hard mile stone for me. Maybe because they are starting to sit and EAT solids! That newborn smell is fleeting and her independence is beginning to unveil. 
Isla Anne Louise is just the sweetest little baby girl. truly. She's so so happy, gives the biggest smiles ever and the amount she's already "talking" and using her voice leads me to believe that I'm going to have a sweet little chatter box on my hands. She's so expressive and loves to make eye contact and then light up the room with her smile. She's intoxicating and I just can not get enough of her. Her most favourite form of amusement is watching big brother run around the room, she hardly takes her eyes off of him when he's around. It's such a delight to watch how their interactions unfold. Pax loves his little sister too. He always refers to her as "baby eye-wah" and if she's crying he's quick to let me know that she's either hungry or tired ;) He's done a wonderful job of learning to share Mama with his sister, the initial change was hard (!!) but he's quickly come a long way, he's so gentle and loving with her. Melts this mama's heart. I feel like the amount of time that I used to have in a day has been cut in half! I now understand the term "juggling act" in a whole new light. I wish with my whole heart I had a pause button that I could push just to slow life down with these babes of mine. I think that's why I feel so strongly about this blog (which I like to think of as an online journal). So that we can all look back on these days that are blurring together and remember some of the beautiful moments that otherwise would have been forgotten. 

For me the change from having no babies to one babe vs. having one babe to two babes was a breeze. I was SO ready to be a mom and was just thrilled to have my life change when Pax came into it. The change from one to two babes was HARD!! I felt so torn right down the middle. When they both were crying or needed me, I felt paralyzed. I didn't know who to go to or how to help them. I do know that I had a bit of postpartum blues going on, and once Isla came Pax's sleep regressed horribly. I was getting maybe 1-1.5 hrs chunks of sleep and was feeling often like I was drowning. I wanted to be able to do everything the exact same for Isla that I had for Pax, like hold her all the time for each nap, and just felt so sad that she didn't get my undivided attention the way Pax had. It was never about her, I was so so so thrilled to have a baby girl, and loved her to pieces. I just felt so sad that I had to share myself between the two and wasn't prepared for figuring out how to do it. I also forgot how horrible hormones are and how much they impact those first few weeks. But even with all that being said I still miss those newborn snuggles and her teeny tiny perfect little body! I already wish I could do it all over again just because it's gone by so fast! Each day I'm working hard on enjoying all the moments. Being fully present. It all sounds so cliche when I type it out, but I just know how quickly it will fly by.

So in a grasp to hold on to her little 6 month self, I snapped these photos of our beautiful babe. Enjoy :)


And... had to add a few of her eating her oatmeal. She's loving it already and grabs the spoon for more! I did try to get Pax to join in on some of the photos but he wanted nothing to do with it. Instead, he pulled off all his clothes and climbed into the little red wagon full of rain water in the backyard and had a blast. haha.

There are so many other things I want to blog about too, Mexico, my sis' fam moving to our street... so I'm going to try to get another post up soon :)










Friday, 3 January 2014

Some photos of our new family of four...


Our new family of four. 



Special thanks to auntie Allie for photographing these for us!!















Sunday, 15 December 2013

Isla's first photo shoot

I got to take some photos of our sweet little girl. She had other ideas in mind, and with Paxton around it was a bit of a gong show,  but in the end I think I got some adorable shots ;)


The beautiful wall paper was a gift from Gigi, and Dad & Patricia graciously put it up while they were here visiting. I love it!


The little outfit Isla is wearing here is the same one she came home from the hospital in, also the same one I came home from the hospital in 30 years ago!


Hope you enjoyed the photos of our little lady ;)