The Boxing Day Aftermath!

While Christmas Day involved a lot of running around, Boxing Day involved a lot of running around the house for the girls! What to play with next?!?! While Mom and Dad ran around the house cleaning up all the wrapping and other Christmas debris we didn't want the girls getting into! The day started nice early with a Boxing Day tradition in our household....World Juniors! The girls, sporting their Team Canada onesies from Uncle Jamie, joined us for an early morning game of hockey!

Morning bottle while watching the Canada vs Germany game

Next came the toys! Time to try everything out and make the biggest mess possible! (Mommy's point of view!) The girls had a ton of fun playing with the new toys, filled with many shouts of glee and lots of crawling and throwing! Here are some pictures of the fun!

We ended the afternoon by watching the Spengler Cup! Poor girls don't stand a chance, they're going to have to LOVE hockey!!!

Notice the chaos of toys all around!!!

While this concept was not required this year, we got a great time from veteran parents....assemble, add batteries and detach from boxes all of the toys you buy your kids before you wrap them. There is the voice of experience talking! The logic being you'll spend most of Christmas morning and Boxing Day trying to figure out how to put together your kids' toys while they move on and play with something else!!

Merry Christmas

Our friends and family keep telling us that every Christmas will keep getting better and better. Last year the girls slept for about 20 hours on Christmas days at the tender age of 2 weeks old. This year was quite the change!! For the first and last time, I was able to Christmas shop for the girls WITH them. LOL They loved the Christmas tree and had a fun time learning how to rip wrapping paper off of the presents.

Morning bottle by the Christmas Tree

Opening Birthday presents was a good trial run for Christmas Morning!! 

Oh the excitement!

Packed up, off to Church and to see Great-Nana

Opening more presents!!

Showing off our Christmas outfits and our standing!

 Abigail models her new jacket from Auntie Jen!

 Currently Abigail's favourite face to make!

(so glad we got a picture of this!)

 Although she just woke up, Molly shows off her new coat from Auntie Jen!

 Molly's Christmas outfit!!

 Sitting in our new chairs from Auntie Moe while opening presents!

 Anyone remember when the girls would just sit still and smile at me for every photo?!?!

Molly, Sophie and Abigail

Even though it was a packed day, the girls managed to stay awake, have lots of fun and really enjoyed the day! It was wonderful to be at my Grandmother's house once again for Christmas dinner, a family tradition for over 25 years. All the cousins were together, we all ate too much and we had a great time watching Sophie, Molly and Abigail play together! Looking forward to many Christmas times to come!

1st Time Playing in the Snow!

While I can't remember my own first experience with snow, I'll never forget Molly and Abigail's first sleigh ride, first time in a snowsuit or first time playing in the snow...even if they just sat in the snow and laughed a lot!

The girls received a beautiful wagon/sleigh from Nana for their birthday and the snowfall the following weekend was the perfect opportunity to try it out! Our Sunday afternoon of playing in the snow was filled with laughter as the girls couldn't stop grabbing at each others toques and hoods. The sleigh ride brought lots of singing and shouting while playing in the snow brought a lot of cheering and laughing together! It was a great day together as a family, looking forward to future snow falls... (for snow playing purposes only!!)

Laughing at what they are wearing for the first time!

Taking it all in as Daddy pulls the sleigh.

Hanging out with my sister! (cool snow effect from Mommy's phone!)

Laughing together in the snow!

Performing the macarena?

Happy Birthday Abigail & Molly

Our baby girls have turned one year old! We spent a lot of time talking about how we can't believe how far the girls have come in one year and how far we have come as parents. We were a bit sentimental as we talked about our "last supper" before babies, how we walked into the hospital on December 11th a year ago to admitting claiming our reason for the visit was to become parents!! Oh how little we knew! But with each passing month, we become a little bit more comfortable with our new role in life and the girls continue to amazing us with their growth and development.

The past few weeks have been exciting as the girls are pulling themselves up in the crib, on the couches and tables in the living room and Abigail seems to enjoy trying in out in the bathtub! Bath time continues to be a riot with lots of new tub toys from their birthday and Christmas. The girls are eating all regular food now which has made holiday visiting so much easier. While we are still enjoying two bottles a day (one to start the day and one to end the day) the best milestone we've reached this month is NO MORE FORMULA!!! Words cannot describe the amount of joy this brings to our lives!!! LOL The girls are now drinking homogenized milk and they drink through 4L at an alarming rate! This is HUGE for us as we no longer have the hassle or the EXPENSE of making and buying formula. Ironically, we are almost on our last box of diapers from our Diaper Party last year so while one expense is being eliminated, another one will begin!!!

The girls' birthday party was wonderful! Since the girls had no input and zero friends to invite, I figure this will be one of more easy birthday parties to plan for girls. (I can't say I'm looking forward to planning kid birthday parties, they seem so extravagant then what I was used to growing up!) Using the upstairs room at Henry of Pelham with lots of space and a large fireplace, we were able to replicate the cozy at home feeling we wanted, just with a lot more room. The girls looked beautiful in their dresses from my Mom's good friend Sandy. They showed off their crawling and happily were passed around by friends and family. I think the singing of Happy Birthday with a lit candle on a cake in front of them was the most exciting part for them as they both just stared at everyone singing!! While opening gifts the girls spent a lot of time reading their cards like books and I'm sure had no idea of the wonderful toys that would be coming home with us. 

Everyday Shawn and I are so grateful for all of the love and support we have for our little girls. Our friends and family are always so generous. As the saying goes, "It takes a village to raise a child."

Here are some pictures of the girls birthday party and actual birthday.

 

 Molly, Sophie and Abigail

The Birthday Girls Molly & Abigail

Molly with the finger test!

Now the official taste test!

Abigail enjoying her birthday cupcake

Investigating their birthday presents

Up She Goes!

Yesterday, Molly pulled herself up in the crib!! It was such a surprise I quickly called Shawn into their room. The past few weeks both girls have been bouncing on their knees and pulling themselves up to their knees using couches and tables. The past few days however Molly has been showing off her Captain Morgan pose on a regular basis! Today while we played together in the living room, Molly pulled herself up on the hardwood floor using the toy chest! After my first day back at school, it was wonderful to see her show off her new talent. With new heights there will be bigger falls, I think we may have some bumps and bruises in our future!!

No Love For Santa This Year

With the Christmas Season upon us, it has become evident the girls have no love for Santa this year. We have two Christmas parties under our belt with Kris Kringle and here is some evidence of the girls' experiences with him.

 

 A Molly meltdown with Santa at the POMBA Christmas Party

Abigail shows her dislike of Santa at the NRPA Christmas Party.

What do they say, three time's a charm...Mall Santa here we come!

It's Officially Over...

Upon learning about my blog, I often was asked the question "Where do you find the time?". A month ago I would have told you during naps or once they were in bed for the night. However, this past month with the end of my maternity leave approaching, things have gotten a little more busy in the Turcotte household. 

Since my last post about our trip to Ottawa the girls have changed so much. It was actually interesting for me to reflect upon all they have done in the past month. The girls continue to cut teeth with Molly sporting 8 teeth and Abigail showing off 5 chiclets. In Flavour Town the girls are virtually done eating pureed food, minus the yogurt and apple sauce they seem to enjoy. It is amazing to see how developed their pincer grasp has become, the girls are efficient little eaters now! We have also started them on a bit of homo-milk which they seem to enjoy. Both girls have fully mastered drinking through the straw on their sippy cups. Their motor skill development has also been amazing to watch. Abigail has fully abandoned her combat-army-worm crawl and is racing around on all fours. The girls now clap and stomp their feet while we sing "If You're Happy and You Know It". Pulling up to their knees and reaching for objects on coffee tables and sofas is common place, with a few attempts at pulling themselves upright. One of the most entertaining developments is the girls enjoyment of  playing peek-a-boo with one another while hiding underneath my black bathing suit sarong wrap. The girls will laugh and laugh together as they peek through the sheer material.

Our last big milestone is the elimination of our "Whale of a Good Time" baby bathtub. The girls are now happily playing and bathing together in the big tub. If we let them, I think the girls would play in the tub for hours. They scream, splash and shriek at one another while exploring the water, especially when it is pouring out of the faucet. It is definitely the highlight of our evenings!

 

Here is a picture of the girls playing away in the tub together! With my maternity leave coming to an end this weekend, fun times in the bathtub will something I look forward to every night with my girls!

Longest Road Trip Yet!

They're older now, they should be able to handle a longer road trip!

One of the unexpected surprises of our trip to Ottawa, Remembrance Day Weekend, was the Flavour Town adventure the girls experienced. Salina and Andrea introduced the girls to a variety of foods we hadn't thought to try with the girls. Cottage cheese, tofu, zucchini, and pumpkin soup were all on the menu, plus the girls had a lot of their food in small pieces as we continued to move away from some of the pureed food. It really is a marketing accomplishment that companies are able to convince parents to buy a baby bullet or special equipment to make baby food, when really the time spent eating pureed baby food is so short.

One thing illustrated by our road trip, was how beneficial having a routine is!! (Yes this is yet another post promoting routines!!) We were able to predict when the girls would need a nap or need to eat, which made planning very easy. The girls surprisingly transitioned well from place to place and slept will in the playpens.

A definite highlight of the trip for the girls was playing with Avea and Declan! The girls loved all of the new toys to play with and spent a lot of time watching to see what Avea and Declan would do. The experience also gave us a chance to see what to expect in the next few months! Life is going to get busy once they are on two feet!

While driving meltdowns seem to be the norm for our extended road trips, we made it five hours outside of Ottawa before Abigail started to lose her mind. In hindsight, thinking about how we frantically pulled over of the 407 with me trying to comfort a sobbing child, Shawn shouting for me to get back in the car before we get killed, us trying to find an exit to find a place to feed the girls, the whole scene was quite comical. As always, the humour is noted well after the experience! LOL As we drove the remaining hour home in blissful silence, we apologized to each other for losing our minds as much as Abigail did! Chalk this road trip up to another great adventure full of learning experiences.

The Time Change Curse

The thought of changing the clocks to "fall back" each autumn was always a welcome treat! An extra hour of sleep, it almost feels as though you're stealing time! Earlier in the year when we "sprang ahead" to Daylight Savings Time, I was warned by other parents of the curse time changes really are! Routines and schedules get thrown into a loop! I took note of these warnings and was pleasantly surprised when the spring ahead went without a hitch. Flash forward 6 months and I have a clear understanding of the Time Change Curse. 

Before kids, an extra hour of sleep! With kids, 5:30am wake up call!! Molly, who usually wakes up first each morning, has kept a consistent routine this week of waking up anywhere between 5:15-5:45am. My mornings this week basically have looked something like this...

When lamenting to two of my university girls, Salina informed me she just put her son to bed 30-45 minutes later to help with the transition! Wish I would have thought of that idea!!

Celebrating Movember!

In honour of Movember, the girls show off their own mustaches.

Abigail thinks Movember makes you look ridiculous!

Molly thinks Movember is hilarious!!

Happy 1st Halloween

The girls first Halloween was a spooktacular event! The girls spent most of the day stuffed into cute, warm ladybug costumes and I carted them across the Niagara Region visiting friends and family! The girls were a huge hit everywhere we went, I swear we made half of downtown St. Catharines smile while visiting the St. Catharines Farmer's Market.

We have been building up anticipation to Halloween with awesome outfits, Mommy's Little Monsters and My 1st Halloween! Yesterday, the girls happily ripped up newspaper while Daddy and I carved pumpkins; we created a "spit up" pumpkin and another one with two bottom teeth in honour of the girls.

Here are some pictures of our adventures on Halloween!

We started the day off visiting Auntie Jen at work!

Then we visited Nana and she read us some new books!

After visiting Daddy at work we went to visit Great Nana. Here the girls are enjoying the bears she gave us!

Sitting on Grandpa's knee!

Singing and playing with Aunt Pat.

Hanging out with Great Grandmother!

Molly, Sophie and Abigail

 

Trying out Sophie's clown wig!

The Feeding Frenzy Continues!

I clearly remember a time when the girls ate seven-eight times a day. Most days back then were a vicious cycle of formula mixing, baby feeding, bottle cleaning, sanitizing, repeat! It seemed endless and felt as though it consumed most of my days. There was nothing worse then getting ready to crawl into bed when you suddenly realized we needed to make formula for the next day. 

This week however, with the weaning of their afternoon bottle, the girls are down to just two bottles a day, one first thing in the morning and another one before bed. Although I haven't done as much reading on the topic of weaning as I would have liked, so far the girls have done really well. The removal of the afternoon bottle came as a result of me following their lead. Most days they seemed disinterested in stopping their play for a bottle and even then would only drink about a third of what I was offering. Now that we're down another bottle, the feeding frenzy has reach new heights!

New additions to the girls diet include cheese, cherry tomatoes, grapes, spaghetti with chicken (oh this goes down so much better now!) and toast strips. While the girls still hide more cheerios in their high chair than they eat, they are becoming masters of the pincer grasp!

 Abby loved spaghetti!

 Has anyone been as happy about eating spaghetti as Molly?

The Sippy Cup Selection

As the girls are approaching 11 months of age, we have begun introducing the sippy cup! I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. The end of formula making and bottle cleaning will likely be the greatest milestone accomplishment, second only to successful potty training!!

It's remarkable the endless sippy cup selection available to infants. Not only by colour, but some have handles, others have straws, sometimes you can put your child's name on them! When I attended an Eating Workshop put on by the Ontario Early Years Centre and Niagara Public Health they talked a lot about transitioning to drinking from a cup as early as 6 months. We have been trying water in a cup and it is super cute to see the girls make progress with this skill. 

Here is the selection of drinking cups we've tried with the girls, some were gifts, others we purchased ourselves for the girls to try.

 

Every baby is different but so far our girls seem to be most successful with cups with handles. They don't seem to understand the concept of having to suck on the spout to get the water out. Perhaps this is because they have been drinking out of little cups with help so they are used to the water just flowing. Whatever the reason, the girls seem to really like the Avent Revolutionary cup. It claims no spout, no straw, no mess...and while the first are true, we have had some wet pajamas from the girls releasing some water and then enthusiastically shaking their cup all around! LOL All joking aside, what I do like about the most recent addition to our sipply cup repertoire is that the girls can easily mimic drinking from a cup on their own by holding the handles and bringing the cup to their lips, when their upper lip gently presses on the release valve, water enters the cup drinking area and the girls can drink water exactly as if they were drinking from a cup. 

Here are the girls showing off their latest accomplishment!

 Abigail trying out her new green sippy cup!

 Molly mastering the art of sippy cup drinking!

Sharing a drink of water together!

Mini Vacation in Niagara Falls

This past week, the girls and I joined Daddy at his work conference to vacation in Niagara Falls! LOL The girls had a ton of fun exploring their new space (why is it they can always find the cords and electrical outlets???) I felt like a Sherpa carrying a 4 day supply of baby belongings up to our room, but I guess that's the price you pay for vacation with babies less than a year old! 

The Bumbo chairs make feeding time a lot easier when you're away from home and this hotel table had a convenient serving drawer! The girls really enjoy holding their own spoon during meals.

 This was the first time girls had ever seen Niagara Falls and it motivated a lot of standing and Abigail even pulled herself up!

 Molly standing on her own, enjoying the view!

 Abigail getting her first view of the Falls!

 Abigail standing on her own, looking at the Falls!

The girls looking out the window, Abigail has pulled herself up to get a better view!

The girls really enjoyed all of the exploring they were able to do in the hotel, plus they were a huge hit with Daddy's colleagues and all of the hotel staff!!

The girls are always making people smile, wherever they go!!