Happy Birthday: 2 Years Old!

Well our little Julia is now 2 years old. Her day started out by making hot chocolate with Daddy. Here she is stirring oatmeal: Last year Julia was given a "Birthday Girl" t-shirt but it was way too big for her so she didn't ever wear it. To my astonishment she picked out that very t-shirt when getting dressed - for the first time ever! She didn't even see the shirt, so it's not like she read 'happy birthday'. It was just a freaky and timely coincidence. Here's the birthday girl:


We had a lovely morning hanging out with Jaime, Lindsay and their gang of mini-people: Jenna, Keeland and Finn. In this next photo we have Jenna, Julia, Keeland and Luka lounging on the couch.
Jaime, Jenna and Keeland came ready to p-a-r-t-y! They had presents and yummy food and drinks and even a birthday balloon in tow. Julia and Jenna loved the cutest little cake ever (especially the colored sprinkles). Here's a picture of it before it was devoured:

Lindsay and her gorgeous fella brought delicious chocolate chip muffins. Aren't they a sweet duo?! Finn was gearing up for his first airplane ride this weekend.

I realize now that I didn't get a picture of Jaime but I did get (a fuzzy one) of Luka in Jaime's arms. She was giving me a break from his fussy tummy and her mother's touch was doing the trick.

Luka and Keeland lying around: (Luka is 4 months younger than Keeland. Their size difference won't be so noticeable for much longer....)
A few hours later the Bray gang came over to celebrate Julia and Grandpa Dale's birthdays. Marnie gave us a break from Luka's mono-song (hint: it sounds like this- "waaaa")
Julia got a new bathing suit for the summer:

Julia got a fairy dress from the Schwarz's. Is this the beginning of the dress-up years!?
Daddy Mark got the chocolate fondue fountain going. It was delicious! Here he is hanging with our boy:
Julia sitting on Luisa's lap, blowing out her candles:

And now, fast forward to today. Julia and Luka lying on our bed. Julia wanted to copy her little brother:
She also wanted to sit in his bassinette:
Lately if you say "little girl" in any context Julia will correct you and say "no, BIG girl". I'd better get used to this, as it seems that our children grow up faster than we are ready for. I have enjoyed every moment of the past two years and look forward to the next ones. Wiser people than me say that it just keeps getting better.

House Guest-less

Good afternoon! For the first time in over 6 weeks we have no house guests and no imminent arrivals either. On the one hand it's sad not having any more visitors to look forward to, but I guess it's time that we get used to being a family of four.

In these pictures we have Luka wearing the cutest ever little blue vest knit by Patsy. It just barely fits him so he'd better wear it while he can.
What on Earth is THIS!??!?!:


Well it's just a day in the life of Julia. Actually, it's Julia's bed head. She tends to have crazy hair when she wakes up in the morning and we had to capture it on camera.
Julia has discovered lipstick. However she hasn't learned to distinguish real lipstick from markers!! In this next photo we have Julia looking "pretty" after a self-application of lipstick. She was sad to have it washed off, but I was grateful it was washable markers that she used.
Mark will walk in the door any second. It is his first evening of Ultimate Frisbee and the weather continues to be soggy and wet. At least it has warmed up to above 10 degrees. We want some nice weather for Julia's birthday on Friday!!
Julia is sitting on my lap as I type looking at videos of herself a year ago. I still can't get over how much little ones change in one year!!

Sick Chickie...

Our poor little Julia is experiencing her first real bout of the stomach flu. She's been throwing up since lunchtime. The look on her face when she's sick breaks my heart... it's like she doesn't know what's going on.
Everything seemed fine yesterday. Here we have Julia and Mark getting ready to go out and play:
Julia had her splash pants on but was taking forever to get her shoes and socks on. She's perfecting the art of taking her time.

Luka is doing great and continues to grow like crazy. He is almost 5 1/2 weeks old. Here is a picture of Luka followed by a photo of Julia taken at the same age (in the same chair actually).
She was waaay more delicate and petite. I didn't think she was a particularly small baby, and she wasn't. It's just that he is so huge! He's wearing 3+ month clothing now. The outfit that we had picked out for him to wear home from the hospital was too big when he was born. Fortunately we brought an alternate outfit just in case. He has since grown out of the alternate outfit.
I can hear the little man waking up! Time to go.

Good Morning

The weather has kind of gone downhill since Mother's Day. Sunday was gorgeous - a sunburn kind of day if you weren't careful. This year Mother's Day was particularly special. For one, I got to spend the day with my mom for the first time in several years. What a treat! Secondly, she has gone through the ups and downs of cancer since last Mother's Day. A spooky but life-affirming journey. And thirdly, since becoming a mother myself I appreciate all of the love and caring my mother has given me. I would not be the woman or mother that I am without her influence.
And now, on to some photos! First up we have Luka in the bath on Tuesday afternoon. His looks are changing. I can't get over how boyish he looks. I was so used to Julia's delicate features.

Julia LOVES her sandbox from Maymay and Nanu. It's too bad it has been rainy all week because Julia would spend hours out there each day. We have fenced off our front yard so it can be Julia's play land oasis. It's really not that big of a yard, but to her it must seem massive.

Luka sleeping in the blue sweater knit by Patsy. His newborn hair has started to fall out and he's currently rockin' the Friar Tuck look.
My mom and Luka hanging out. My mom knit his this outfit. It's so soft and has has been perfect for these chilly spring days. She had to re-knit him the sweater because the one she brought out the weekend he was born was already too small for him! Bruiser Bray.
Did I mention that we brought him in for his 1-month appointment and he weighed 10 lbs 11 oz. We should start taking bets on when he's going to surpass his big sister's weight. I suspect it won't be long...

Happy Birthday Julia

Julia wanted a "puppy dog cake" and picked this design out online. Maymay made the cake for her.
She waited all day for her "puppy dog cake".
Julia LOVED blowing out the candles. She even brought out some good ol' baby sign language for "more" (which she hasn't done for months now).

Julia doesn't turn two until May 27th but we had a little family celebration while Maymay and Nanu are here. I think that Julia blew out the candles no fewer than 10 times. It's a pretty adorable age.

Another Lovely May Day!

We are three days into May and already I'd like to stop time. Our visit with my Mom and Cathy is going by waaay too quickly. Already they've been here a week and it feels like only a couple of days have passed.
Today we ventured out to Chapters, lunch, and to run a few errands. I don't think I could have done it without their help. At one point Luka was crying (hungry) and Julia was crying (tired) and both wanted to be held. At another point Julia would run off to see something that caught her attention and I couldn't abandon the stroller with Luka in it. How do other parents do it?!

Here is a picture of our super-amazing-incredible support crew. Maymay and Nanu spend all of their waking hours playing with Julia, calming Luka when his belly is upset and helping out around the house. I don't know what I'd do without them!!

I find that Luka's looks are changing. In these pictures he was still pretty brand new - less than 48 hours old. He has that swollen newborn look.

Here's a picture of Julia holding Luka tonight. She's into wanting to hold him, which is wonderful. For a while there she was torn between wanting to kiss him and attack him. She still doesn't know how to make sense of his arrival and is rather jealous when I pick him up. In not too long she'll realize that she has a built in buddy and partner-in-crime.

Weekend Fun!

You couldn't ask for a lovelier spring day than today. It is May 1st and the sun shone all day. Julia spent hours and hours outside. She is loving the new sandbox that Nanu and Maymay bought her for her birthday.
Julia seems to be getting more used to her brother. She still mostly calls him "Baby Boy". One of her favourite observations is: Baby Boy's eyes open!
We took Luka on his first mini-road trip to visit Susan in Rothesay. Then Luka got to meet Liam for the first time. Liam is just over 9 weeks old and we're sure the two will be the best of buds as they grow up.
Here is a picture of Meghan and her little niece and nephew. We have lots of reminders of Meghan around the house and she is missed very much.
Julia is sitting on my lap with her 'monkey jammies' on. She is telling Nanu not to tell Luka that he's 'so cute'. I think it might be bedtime....