Our big girl:)

One of her favorite places, looking out the window into our backyard

Here are a couple of random pictures of Kallie, and a video of her feeding herself. Disclaimer for the video: Yes, she is strapped into the chair with my housecoat tie, I'm getting her used to eating at bigger tables b/c we don't always have high chairs available, and she's doing really great! I know it looks ridiculous though:)

Our little ski bunny! In all new clothes from Oma, so adorable! I got her boots at the mother's market here (an awesome sale of second-hand kids stuff) for $2! They are SO CUTE! There are bright pink pom-poms on the front:) Sorry it's not the best pic, she refuses to pose these days:)

Our big girl feeding herself yoghurt, it's always pretty messy, but a great learning experience, and let's face it, stinkin' adorable to watch!

Workin Out!

Some cute little pics, that were hilarious at the time:)! My friend Sheena and I were working out this week, in my living room, and Kallie was absolutely fascinated. She tried to copy everything we were doing, from lunges to push-ups, and then would just laugh and laugh afterwards. When it came to the leg stuff, we were actually pretty impressed, she can lunge, kick and jump like someone months beyond her age;)! It definitely made our workout a lot longer, because we kept stopping to laugh.:)

Push-ups!

Finishing up with some stretches

Relaxing and getting ready for bed with Sheena, that was a tough workout!

Home Daycare

Avery and Kallie having fun (yes, Kallie is in the toy container:)

I get a lot of questions from people about what I do (home daycare), which surprises me, because really, it's not that interesting or unusual of a job. But I just thought I'd post a little bit about it, because it has it's ups and downs just like any other job, and if a SAHM is thinking about doing it, maybe this will help.

First, I really really do enjoy providing daycare from my home. I love the children that I watch, I love the opportunities it provides for Kallie to be at home with me and also have great social interaction, and I love that I'm able to work with families and provide great care for their children. I think it would be very stressful having to leave your child in someone else's care for the majority of their day, and I'm thankful that I can contribute to society/the world by doing my best to positively impact these children. Here's a list of some things I love about my job:

1. I love the kids! It's amazing how attached to someone else's child you can become, I love knowing them and watching them grow, change and learn. It's really fun and rewarding.

2. I love the fun! Singing songs, playing games, doing crafts, etc. really does make for a good time:)

3. I love laughing! Kids are hilarious, and when you're with multiple children on a daily basis, things are said and done that can just have you rolling on the floor:)

4. I love staying home with Kallie! Obviously one of the reasons I considered doing home daycare is to be able to stay at home with her, and it's a huge benefit (for both of us!)

5. I really enjoy not having to go anywhere to work in the morning. It's nice to just roll out of bed, quickly get ready, and I'm ready for work. If I'm having a late morning, I can have breakfast after kids start arriving, it's nice.

6. I love impacting the children. I'm not sure if this sounds like I'm full of myself, but I just have such a strong passion about building children up, praising them, loving them, and encouraging them, so they feel confident, secure and happy, and it is such a blessing to be able to do that on a daily basis.

While home daycare is great, it also has it's downsides (like anything). Here are a few of the things that I struggle to LOVE every day:)

1. The mess. Kids are messy. It's a fact. Food, toys, drool, mucus, poop, whatever the medium of choice, it's messy and can be a little overwhelming during and at the end of the day.

2. Spending so much time in my house. As nice as it is to not commute, it can be a little much to work and live in the same place EVERY DAY!
3. Lack of adult interaction. I love spending time with each of the children, but I definitely crave adult conversation at the end of the day.
4. This one is just more of a pet peeve...being called a babysitter. I am a daycare provider, not a babysitter. A babysitter is a teenager you hire to 'watch' your child. A daycare provider is someone who is completely invested in the well-being and growth (in all aspects) of your child, and has made a career choice in order to do that to the best of their ability. So for anyone reading this, if you have or know a home daycare provider...please don't refer to them as a babysitter, it can be insulting. K, that's my rant, I'm done;)~

Here are a few pics to show you a small snapshot of the mess the little munchkins can make:)

All in all, I love my job, which I'm thankful for, because that's what I spend most of my time doing. And if anyone else out there is thinking of starting a home daycare, please feel free to email me, tinytreasuresdaycare@hotmail.com, if you have any questions. I'm still in the learning stages of running my daycare, but it definitely gets easier and easier the longer I do it and more established I become.

Updates Coming...

I know I'm overdue for a post...again...so tomorrow is going to be my blogging day. I have a couple of posts to do, so check back tomorrow night or Sunday, and I promise there will be new stuff...pictures AND videos (oh my, perhaps I'm aiming too high, it's been months since I've posted a video:). Anyways, just thought I'd write this b/c then it commits me to upating tomorrow, which I will! Have a great Friday!

Looking For Your Thoughts on the Matter...

So, I just have a quick question for moms (or anyone really) about food/nutrition. Here goes:

Kallie has always really loved pureed vegetables, any kind really. I buy organic pureed vegetables, and have always really liked the idea that she's getting organic food, as not all of our vegetables are organic (although we try as much as possible). Anyways, here's the dilemma. I find it difficult to get in enough vegetables each day for her when I serve them like we would eat them. And b/c Kallie loves the pureed ones so much...I still feed them to her! Is this crazy? She's 16 months old, and I can't see stopping anytime in the future...is it weird to feed pureed food to a toddler? Does it matter? What if she always likes it (even when she's, like, 5?) Does it matter then? I know we can get hung up on funny stuff, the way I look at it, she gets lots of veggies in this way and likes it, but I'm just wondering if I'm weird or if it will become weird the longer it goes on? I probably sound silly...but it's been bothering me lately, so I just thought I'd ask:)

Thanks for your grace and advice:)

SO Much To Catch Up On...And Therefore REALLY Long

Kallie learned how to say 'cheese' for the camera, this would be mid-'eee'

Well, not SO much, but I haven't blogged in awhile, soI figure our lives must be exciting enough to have SO much to fill you in on:)

First, Kallie turned 16 months old today! Not really a 'milestone' age, but as I'm sure every parent can attest to...EVERY age is a milestone:) I thought I'd take the chance to do a quick update on Kallie, in the form of a list...not necessarily new things, but just facts about her:) We'll go for....10!

1. Kallie LOVES (I'm all about the caps today:) SHOES!!! She is obsessed! Anytime she's sees them off feet, she talks about them and MUST wear them!:) It's pretty cute...but can also get tiresome, when she wants to put on 5 pairs at the same time, or ones that are ridiculously small or big. And she does not give up easily.

2. Kallie loves singing. In daycare we sing lots of songs, and lots with actions, and she's always right in there singing and dancing away:)

3. Kallie loves playing with older kids. In daycare each day she has the chance to play with pre-schoolers, and she's just fascinated! And thankfully, for the most part, the 'big kids' have a lot of fun with her too:)

4. Kallie is a social butterfly. She loves meeting new people, playing with any child who will look in her direction, and she's always a little sad when the kids leave at the end of the day. It's really nice for us, b/c we can drop her off in the nursery at church, or leave her with friends, and there are no problems.

5. Kallie has FINALLY started getting more teeth! She only had FOUR TEETH when she turned 15 months, but has gotten at least 3 more that we can see (two way in the back...which I found odd), and she's definitely still teething (lots of drool and sleepless nights;)

6. Kallie has learned almost all of the kid's names in daycare and uses them properly! In fact, she woke up at 6:30 this morning asking for 'Izshy' (Izzy:), and was just thrilled when she arrived almost three hours later...it was a long three hours:)

7. Kallie feeds herself with a spoon. It can get a bit messy at times, but she will eat entire meals all by herself.

8. Kallie loves snuggling and kissing her baby doll. She always says, 'awww, baby' when she sees it, and then proceeds to kiss it over and over, and encourages us to do the same:)

9. Kallie is, and I'm sure will continue to be, a daddy's girl through and through. She and I enjoy lots of time together, but daddy is definitely the one she holds most dear:)
10. Kallie has had a major growth spurt! She now weighs 25 lbs! and I'm not sure how tall she is (she still doesn't seem that tall compared to the kids around her), but she's outgrown all of her 12 month pants, and I just bought her 18/24 month ones, which are still pretty long, but she can get away with wearing them! 24 months...that's a TWO year old!

K, that was the longest post ever...I was going to write more about my trip to Wpg. a few weeks ago, but at the risk of boring everyone to death, I'll do a very brief summary. And for more pics, check facebook, they take way less time to upload;)

Spending time with Kelly and Patti-Ann

Our trip was truly amazing, it was a real vacation for me, as I don't believe I changed more than 2 diapers all week, and I got to sleep in almost every day (thanks a million times mom, I love you!). I got to spend time with my absolute best friends, have really amazing conversations and meaningful times (and lots of fun of course:), and two of those friends had just had babies (Sadie was 7 weeks old when I got there, and Anthony wasn't even 1 week!) so that was really amazing, getting to spend time with 'new' (again) mommies and love on those little babies:) I was able to spend time with friends I hadn't seen in a long time, and catch up and re-connect. I got to spend lots of time with my family, go out with my sister on more than one occasion (mmmmm.....Romaritas!), which is always so much fun:) I love my family so much, it was just amazing to hang out and talk...and talk...and talk:) And I actually got in a decent amount of downtime for myself. Our trips are usually so rushed that I never relax, and with a full daycare waiting for me here, I needed that time to myself.

We went to Stonewall and visited my great-aunt Geordie on my mom's side, it was a good time together with family.

Making a break for it after Grandma gave her a bath!

I know I'm not being brief, but I figure ppl can stop reading at any time:) The other AMAZING thing that happened while I was 'home', was that for the first time since I moved away, I was in Winnipeg, and didn't wish that I lived there. Don't get me wrong, I love everyone there so much, and I miss my family and friends on a daily basis, but I am so settled in Thunder Bay, and finally truly happy here! I have been happy here all along, but it's been a process to totally adjust. And it was a very peaceful and settling feeling to realize that I was ready to go HOME at the end of the trip (although I do wish everyone would move out here...think about it, inexpensive houses, beautiful scenery, Lake Superior, it's calling your name:) I'm starting to make some really great friends here, we've found a home church that we absolutely LOVE (and has made all the difference in the world), and I just know that we both know we're going to be here, and happy here, for a veeeeeeery long time.

Kallie and Grandpa reading the paper together:)

Well, enough of all the rambling, sorry my posts are so sporadic, life as usual is still crazy, but again, I know it is for everyone else too:) Hopefully now that we're settling into fall, and more of a routine, life will follow suit:)

Growing Up SO Fast!!!

I know I'm long overdue for a post...but as is typical for everyone, especially in summer, our lives have been crazy this month! Kallie and I just got back from a week long vacation in Winnipeg with my family (and lots of friends:), so I do have lots of pics to post. While I have a spare minute though, I thought I'd write a quick update on how much Kallie is changing!



While we were in Winnipeg, Kallie had a major 'language burst'. Before we went, she knew about 5 words (hi, bye, mom, dad, banana...I'm sure there were a few more, but they weren't very frequent). While we were in Winnipeg she learned TONS of new words! Just to clarify, she's probably said or mimicked almost all of these, but she finally started saying them on her own: Sock, toes, baby, eye, nose, go, away, shoe, help, please, and she strung words together: daddy go bye-bye, daddy go, daddy go away, bye daddy (can you tell that she missed her daddy just a little bit? It was constant all week:), help please, oh no! And since we've been back, she's learned the words bib, kitty, and fan.

I am just so amazed at how quickly she's changed, her understanding has totally developed too. She understands almost everything we say without any clarifying, which makes things easier and also a little tricky:) I have no idea whether she's early, normal, or late in these developments (and I don't really care:) but I'm just so proud of her and thrilled at all she's learning! I love love love this age, it really is incredible seeing her become a little girl!

Hopefully I'll get a post up in the next couple of days with pictures and a bit about our trip. It really was a wonderful time, I got to relax (thank you mom!) and visit with all my close friends, cuddle TWO newborn babies, and it was just the right amount of time: I was sad to leave, but more than ready to come home to my husband and house:) And my house, by the way, has one more room almost complete! Lyndon was hard at work while we were gone, putting in all the hardwood in our master bedroom and painting, and I'm just in love with it!