I figured that Liliana and I would try to be productive on our first day of just the two of us. We went to sign the girls up for swimming lessons only to find that at the three pools closest to us, all the classes for Liliana’s age were FULL. Awesome. We signed Kaylie up and I told Liliana that I’d take her swimming myself, as she was quite disappointed that we didn’t get to sign her up. I DESPISE putting on a bathing suit and going into what Noah calls “people soup”, but the kid loves to swim, so I’m going to take her swimming. We also hit up the library (INTERNET!), Walmart, and Old Navy.

Running errands with just one child is SO easy. Alone, both my kids are pretty easy to have around. Together, well, let’s just say that they’ve got a little bit of togetherness cabin fever. This back-to-school thing could not have come soon enough.

There’s not a whole lot happening that I’m missing blogging about except that this weekend my youngest brother Brandon and his wife Roxanne are coming to visit and we’re pretty stoked to see them. We’re heading to the zoo and going geocaching. If hell freezes over, I’ll even write about it! With pictures!

So, THANK YOU! (You know who you are!)

Do you see that little speck on Liliana’s shirt? It’s not leftover dinner. (That’s what’s on her face.) It’s a mosquito.

They are INSANE this year and there’s been some West Nile going around from them as well. July was so uncharacteristically wet that they’ve bred like mad and now we can’t go outside for more than 3.2 seconds without getting 482 bites. Thankfully, August is supposed to be proper prairie weather so maybe they’ll back off a little bit.

That is all.

We didn’t have time on Monday to hit the beach by the camp, so we made sure to hit it today after we got Kaylie.

I got my tattoo touched up two weeks ago and kind of realized I wasn’t supposed to be submerging it after it was already submerged. Whoops. Oh well. It felt SO GOOD to have my feet in a lake again. It’s a rare time when I miss Terrace, but being in that lake made me miss Lakelse pretty bad.

While bathing Liliana, Noah called me in to show me that she’d been sunburned. I didn’t believe it because I’d lathered her in sunscreen. Apparently I missed a spot. Parenting fail. Whoops. Poor sensitive-skinned kid. I don’t worry about sunscreen so much with Kaylie’s dark Portuguese skin, but the younger one’s a different story.

I got a bunch more photos, even though we only spent an hour at the beach. I wish we had more time there, but I wanted to make it back to Saskatoon in time for Liliana to be in bed on time. More photos to come. You’d understand my exhaustion (and therefore laziness) if you’ve ever spent 10 hours in a confined space with one Liliana Wilson Pony.

It took them a bit to get you breathing, as you’d inhaled some meconium. (I called it that on purpose. I’ll explain later.) (And if you ever scare me like that again, well, just don’t.) You looked like you’d been beat up, but I thought you were beautiful from the moment I saw you.

Even though I was quite young when I had you (and I know you like telling everyone that I was 18, thanks for that), I wasn’t scared. It was not in my life plan to graduate and then HAVE A BABY, but you came anyway and I haven’t regretted a single day of your life.

I was so sure that you were going to be a boy that your biological father and I didn’t even have a middle name picked out for you. You finally got one when you were three days old. I wanted a little girl so bad, but I was sure I wasn’t going to get my way. But, you surprised me and I’m so thankful for that.

You were quite an easy baby, Kaylie. You made the transition to motherhood as easy as you could on me.

You had a lot of changes in your first year of life. I brought you home from the hospital to the bedroom that I’d lived in for most of my teenage years. When you were three months old, we got a place of our own. Just you and me. To this day, you were the best roommate I ever had. Although no other roommate woke me up in the middle of the night to be fed. We moved again before your first birthday, but you were a trooper and you hardly noticed. And plus, our new place didn’t have that sharp stucco stuff on the walls. That stuff HURT.

You were a determined, independent baby. You started walking at nine months and I want to say that you just started off running because you haven’t stopped moving since. Your first word was “uh oh”. I can’t remember how old you were when you said it (check your baby book), but I was pretty proud of you.

As I tried to pick photos for this post, there were just too many to choose from. So, I found ones closest to your birthdays and went with them. You’re a very photogenic kid and you’ve always loved being in front of the camera. I’m hoping that you can teach your little sister to do that one day as all my photos of her are blurry because she also will NOT STOP MOVING.

We moved two more times when you were one. You are so resilient though, and you adjusted right away. I went through a couple roommates by this time, but each one of them loved living with you and counted you as a bonus to moving in with us.

You had more toys than any kid could ever dream of, but your favorite thing to play with was a yellow fly swatter. You always were (and still are) a little strange.

Your hair finally started to grow before your second birthday and I saw right away that you were going to be a curly-haired little kid.

You had and still have a special affinity for your Grannie. You had her all to yourself for almost five years and you definitely took advantage of it. You spent quite a few nights at Grannie and Papa’s house not because I needed a break from you, but because you loved being at their house so much. It was probably because they never say “no” to you.

From a very early age, you were very outgoing. I never had a problem leaving you with anyone, which was easy on the days that I worked, but it worried me because you’d go with ANYBODY. You loved going to daycare and cried when I’d pick you up. Everyone who cared for you while I worked told me what a wonderful kid you were and how much they loved having you around. That’s still true to this day.

photos by Steven Vigar

A couple days before you turned three, you met the dude you now call “Dad”. You two hit it off from the moment you met and you have a special bond that I’m so thankful for. All three of us headed off to Saskatchewan the fall after your third birthday. I did a year of Bible college in Caronport while you did a year of daycare in Moose Jaw. You loved it there and would always tell me about your friends when I picked you up. Not one of your friends was a girl, but that’s okay. All my friends were boys growing up, and I think it was better that way. Boys play a better game of street hockey and there’s no girly drama.

You and I lived in a house with one roommate the first semester, and two the next. You wouldn’t know it though, as at any moment out house was filled with people. You made fast friends with everyone and you’d make each one of them color with you, whether they liked it or not. But they’d better not start dancing, or you’d start yelling at them.

We moved back to Terrace the summer of your fourth birthday and lived with your Grannie and Papa until Noah and I got married. You were convinced that it was our wedding and that the wedding included all three of us. We knew better than to argue with you and you made the most beautiful flower girl I have ever seen.

You had a rough morning that day, and during all the photo taking before the ceremony, our photographer caught by accident what was and still is my favorite photo of you and me. I was trying to convince you that you could get through a few more photos and you were just not having it. It was a lot to ask of a four-year-old and you eventually cheered up and walked down the aisle with Reece with a huge smile on your face.

The fall after your fifth birthday was your favorite because you finally got to go to school. You were so excited to go every morning. I got to help out in your class a couple times and it was surreal for me to watch you interact with your teacher and your classmates. You made friends fast and every day when I picked you up, I had about five little kids around me asking to come over for a playdate.

I had one of my worst parenting moments during your kindergarten year. I forgot to pick you up. Luckily, a friend of mine was picking up a friend of yours and she kept you with her until I got there. It was your sister’s fault though, so I lay the blame fully on her. If you end up in therapy with abandonment issues, send the bill to Liliana.

Just before you turned six, you finally got the baby sister you’d been begging for. You loved helping with her. You would bring me diapers and wipes and wanted to hold her all the time. You’d sing to her and rock her and couldn’t wait to teach her everything you knew.

For your first grade year, you switched schools. You attended the school that I had attended for 11 years and you loved it because it meant that you got to see your Grannie every day. She totally played favorites with you and everyone knew that you were her granddaughter. You got way more suger-filled suckers than any six-year-old should have.

The summer of your seventh birthday, we headed back to Saskatchewan. You were not thrilled with this move because it meant that you were leaving your beloved Grannie and all your friends at school. We heard many times that you wanted to go back to Terrace and WHY DID WE HAVE TO MOVE TO REGINA. We bribed you with daily trips to the pool that was behind our apartment building. Eventually, you started to like your new home.

You started at a new school for the third time, but you made friends quickly. I still heard about how much you wished that we’d never left Terrace, but by the end of the year you were pretty happy with your school and your friends and your pool.

You had to share a room with your sister, but you also got a bunk bed out of the deal and you thought that was pretty cool. You knew how to read by this point and you and Liliana would lay on her bed reading book after book.

This past year was a good one for you. You joined the cross country team at your school last fall and I learned of our mutual love of running. At your second track meet, you placed 25th out of over 300 8-year-olds. You were pretty proud of that accomplishment. You love being involved in things and you joined every school activity that you could. You were also in ballet and loved to come home after your classes and teach everything you’d learned to your little sister. The two of you would then put on shows for me.

You are such a great big sister. You and Lili get along so well most of the time. The two of you have your moments where I swear that you’d still push her buttons and she’d still yell at you even if you two were on separate continents. You still love reading to her though and you do most of her bedtime reading.

You love to help and whenever you see me doing anything, you offer your services. You love to vacuum and do dishes and sweep, but for some reason cleaning your room is completely uninteresting. You love to help Miss Sue in her kitchen, especially because she lets you help more than I do.

Today I am driving you to camp, where you will be all by yourself for four whole days. Our house will be so quiet and lonely without you; but, you loved it last year and I know you’ll love it this year as well. I’m not worried about you, I’m worried about me.

It’s hard to believe that my time raising you is half over. Have I mentioned yet that you have to move out the moment you turn 18? And don’t tell Dad, but I’ll help pay for your first tattoo as a moving-out gift. Just make sure it says I LOVE MY MOM.

Happy Ninth Birthday, Goober!

Here’s hoping for more storm-free days!

(As much as I love thunderstorms, the girls go a bit nutso when they don’t get outside.)

She found my popple stash.

Remember them? Maybe?

The box also contained many of my other childhood stuffed animals. Like this giant bear.

Liliana wasn’t paying any attention to the box, as she was busy playing with toys that Kaylie usually has hidden away.

I took off this afternoon to see if I could finally find a couple bedside tables for the bedroom and some sort of shelving for the closet.

Side note, I saw these lilies as I was pulling out of the garage. They’re right behind our fence. When I was growing up, my mom had a bunch of these in the flower garden that went along our back deck. I haven’t seen them since.

Anyway, we’d searched for hours and hours for the furniture items yesterday and this morning at every home store that we could find. I didn’t see anything that I even remotely liked. I happened to spot Value Village on my way to my first stop and figured I might as well venture in there.

I spent a lot of time in thrift stores when I was a kid and have stayed as far away from them as possible since I moved out of my parents’ place almost 10 years ago. But, I was pretty desperate by this point.

It paid off.

I found exactly what I was looking for. And I found two of them. That matched. For $10.

SCORE.

I had to vacuum out the drawers and used a bazillion Lysol wipes on the outside, but I love them.

I also finally found shelves for my closet at Jysk (why does Saskatoon not have an IKEA? SERIOUSLY?). I may or may not have sliced my hand open while putting them together. And then I may or may not have sworn at them while trying to get them in my closet.

Maybe. What? The kids didn’t hear me so it doesn’t count.

I thought you all should know that I took the camera to the pool this past week and DIDN’T FORGET IT THERE.

I know you’re all proud of me.

Prior to this trip to the pool, Liliana had been GLUED to me every time we went in there. I didn’t blame her, as she couldn’t touch the bottom.

This last trip, though, I bought her some little water wings. I also discovered that she COULD touch the bottom at the very beginning of the shallow end.

She was pretty proud of herself. She kept trying to go after Kaylie, but would find that she couldn’t get a grip on the bottom anymore, and she’d go back to where she could stand.

We’d bought a bunch of little water guns for Kaylie’s birthday party last weekend, and the girls had them in the pool as well. Liliana hasn’t yet discovered that hers can SQUIRT WATER because she refuses to let go of it for me to teach her.

Kaylie finally found her goggles and spent most of her pool time under water.

I haven’t had her in swim lessons since we moved here, as I don’t really see a point if she’s completely independent in the water anyway.

We’re going to miss our pool when we move.

Liliana and I went to Saskatoon yesterday so that I could have a job interview. It ended up being not so much an interview as a when can you start, what days would you like to work, what would you like to be paid kind of thing.

I’m pretty stoked about it.

I left Liliana in Saskatoon with Noah for the weekend. Kaylie was at a sleepover at her friend’s place. This meant that I had Friday night FREE.

After having it just us three girls for the last couple weeks, my free night was AWESOME.

I stayed up late and slept in until 10am.

WONDERFULNESS.

I was up before Kaylie was due to be home.

Kaylie got hit in the face with a book by her friend right before she was dropped off. I figured she’d develop a shiner as the day went on, but so far it’s just a bit swollen.

*

Kaylie’s soccer team is in a tournament this weekend. They lost their first game early this afternoon, but won their second game 8-O. Kaylie was in net for the second half, but got pretty bored as the ball was on the other end of the field the majority of the time.

Kaylie and I got to spend this evening just the two of us. After her game at 5, we made popcorn, and watched Flicka 2. It kind of took me back to the time in our lives, pre-Noah and pre-Liliana when it was just the two of us. It wasn’t so bad. (Don’t tell the other two.)

Her last game is at 8am tomorrow morning. Whomever scheduled that game is going to get a beating. I don’t think I’ve EVER had to be anywhere that early on a Sunday before. She and I are heading to Saskatoon to pick up Liliana and see Noah for Father’s Day right after her team photos at noon.

Apparently I like to fit as much into a weekend as I can.

Liliana’s daycare provider had a wedding to prepare for today and I couldn’t find anyone to watch her, so Lili and I got to spend the day together. I love days where I get to spend one-on-one time with one of my girls. It doesn’t happen often, especially now that it’s just the three of us for the next couple weeks.

We brought Kaylie to school and spent the next couple hours shopping for Kaylie’s birthday party tomorrow. After dropping our purchases at home, we (finally) went to visit Laurie and her newborn baby girls. I haven’t seen her in way too long – I don’t even think I saw her her whole pregnancy! I’m such a good friend. I explained to Liliana where we were going and she was quite excited to see “Angry and Organ”.

Upon meeting Avery and Morgan, Laurie said that I had to do the hold-both-babies-at-the-same-time thing. She didn’t have to tell me twice. I’ve never held newborn twins before and I can honestly say that I could do it ALL DAY EVERY DAY. They’re still so tiny that my arms didn’t get that achy there’s-no-blood-left feeling.

I forgot my camera, but I did have my phone with me.

Liliana and the girls’ big brother Reid went to play downstairs and gave Laurie and me a chance to catch up.

When she came back upstairs, I asked Liliana if she’d like to hold a baby.

She said yes. I wasn’t sure how she’d handle it, but she did really well. And then told me that she was “all done”.

After lunch we (picked up my camera and) headed to Anna’s place to hang out and give Ethan his replacement rocket ship. He lent Liliana his rocket ship many months ago and Liliana has literally played with it every day since. It’s been in bed, at daycare, in the bath tub, EVERYWHERE. It’s got paint wearing off and some pieces missing. So, I found an identical brand new one online and Liliana got to give it to him today.

I love visiting with Anna. I feel like she’s one of those people who just “gets” me. Except when she said that she thought my kid was bipolar because she goes from laughing to crying to laughing to crying all within three minutes. Then I pointed out that her kid had his foot on the restaurant table. (Did I mention we took four kids four and under out for dinner? We’re good like that.)

Liliana and I had an awesome day, I’m so glad that I got to have it off. I miss play dates and I miss hanging out with my friends and our kids. It seems that week days are the only good time to do things like that, as evenings are filled with soccer and dinner and baths and bedtime and weekends are usually a bit crazy. As much as I really enjoy working, I really enjoy NOT working even more.

When Liliana and I got home, the door buzzer went. It was my book being delivered. I Will Carry You by Angie Smith. I am SO looking forward to curling up with it.

On our way to pick Kaylie up from her friend’s birthday party, Liliana asked if we were going to the babies’ house. When I told her, no, we’re going to get Kaylie, she said in true Liliana fashion, BUT I WANT TO GO TO THE BABIES’ HOUSE! Apparently little “Angry and Organ” made an impression on her.

I didn’t recognize Kaylie when she came to the door of her friend’s house. Her hair is usually up in a ponytail with a head band.

The birthday party she was at included a trip to the hair salon. The face paint was from the Play Day (end-of-the-year sports day) that she had at school today.

As much as these two goobers have kept my head spinning these last couple weeks, they also make me smile, shake my head, and laugh more than any other human beings on earth.

Especially when one wears an orange (her favorite color) shirt that says “My momma says I’m special” and one insists on wearing her sunglasses upside down.

To be honest, yes, losing it would have SUCKED. But, a camera can be replaced. Eventually. When I actually get some of that stuff that you buy stuff with. But. Photos cannot. There weren’t even any spectacular photos on there, just moments. I like moments.

Like when Liliana was all coughy and chokey and I stayed home with her last Monday and we made granola bars.

And then she ate almost 2 cups of chocolate chips. Seriously. She ate from measuring cups. We measured!

World’s Greatest Mom. RIGHT HERE.

And Kaylie missed her Daddy this past week and got to see him on the weekend.

And Liliana was forced into child labor.

And, you know, the infamous WE WENT IN THE POOL AND THEN I LOST MY CAMERA. And forgot my ISO was set to 1200. Whoops. If I remember right, I put it to about 200 after this shot. Genius, right here.

Liliana was GLUED to me the entire time we were in there, which I guess wasn’t so bad, as it means that she wasn’t trying to be all independent and drown herself.

Kaylie took to being back in the pool like … a fish to water. I KNOW.

The girls and I are back to our bachelor-ish ways after our weekend away. We had Extra Creamy KD for dinner. On a “picnic” blanket. In front of the TV. While watching Raise Your Voice. The movie that inspired Kaylie to ask me, on our way to Saskatoon on Friday, if I’d ever heard of Three Days Grace and did we have any of their CDs. (Followed by “How did Michael Jackson die?” Seriously child, who are you and who have you been hanging out with?) I confess that I’m a closet Hilary Duff movie fan (Liliana got her name from the credits of Cheaper by the Dozen) and it’s rubbed off on my eldest daughter. (Her current favorite movie is A Cinderella Story.)

We took off to Walmart after dinner to pick up birthday invitations for Kaylie’s 9th (!!) birthday party, which she is having this weekend (A sleepover pool party! HOLD ME!) and a flotation device for Liliana. When we got home, I filled out one invitation as an example and Kaylie copied it and filled out the rest. I made sure to check them before she put them in envelopes, just to make sure that I wouldn’t have five 9-year-old girls showing up at random hours.

So, this Monday wasn’t so bad. Work even flew by. Which is, whatever. I actually like my job, so if it goes by quickly or not, it’s not a big deal, except that I like seeing my girls at the end of the day.

When I got my camera home today and uploaded the photos, I was half expecting to find photos that I DID NOT TAKE. But, I didn’t. Not that it would have been a bad thing. You know, depending on the photos.

Oh wait.

First off, thanks for all the encouragement on my last post. It was a crummy morning, but the day definitely improved. Apparently there was no hot water because there was a problem with the heater in our building, which I would have known about had I checked the mail that day because there was a note in my mailbox about it. I have nothing but good things to say about the company that runs our apartment building but I, on the other hand, should check my mail more often. The hot water was back that evening and I have to say, the longer it’s been since your last shower, the better the shower you finally have feels. Also, two days of dishes is a LOT of dishes. It took me two episodes of Friends to do them all. (We don’t have a dish washer.) (And yes, I usually measure chores by TV.)

We’re in Saskatoon for the weekend and got Kaylie’s heel checked out this morning when we visited my MIL at work. She’s got Planter Fasciitis. I assume it stemmed from her over-activity in the last couple weeks with school and soccer and ballet. She’s got to keep off of it for at least a week to avoid worsening it, which will be a TREAT for my child who lives for being active and outside. Getting her to stay off her feet is like getting Liliana to stop screaming. Near impossible.

The best part about being in “Sakstakoon” this weekend? When Noah got back to his parents’ place after work, he took over parenting duties and I’ve been sitting in a recliner ever since.