someone is more fun than her parents...

we get compliments on Lilygirl's sequined shoes every time we leave the house. they're just way too fun. notice my love for grey trickles into my kid's wardrobes too? but far be it for Lily to be blah...

little women.... {yikes}

{re-post from The Baby Bump Blog}

I read this article in the New York Times and it really startled me. It's an interesting and really uncomfortable read for moms with daughters, but probably good to check out. 

The gist is that girls are entering puberty as early as KINDERGARTEN.

And one of the largest contributing factors is stress in the home (defined as absent fathers, present step-fathers, adoption and integration issues, etc).

Here's an excerpt:

Family stress can disrupt puberty timing as well. Girls who from an early age grow up in homes without their biological fathers are twice as likely to go into puberty younger as girls who grow up with both parents. Some studies show that the presence of a stepfather in the house also correlates with early puberty. Evidence links maternal depression with developing early. Children adopted from poorer countries who have experienced significant early-childhood stress are also at greater risk for early puberty once they’re ensconced in Western families...

We know that girls who develop ahead of their peers tend to have lower self-esteem, more depression and more eating disorders. They start drinking and lose their virginity sooner. They have more sexual partners and more sexually transmitted diseases. “You can almost predict it” ...says Tonya Chaffee... Half of the patients in her clinic are or have been in the foster system. She sees in the outlines of their early-developing bodies the stresses of their lives — single parent or no parent, little or no money, too much exposure to violence.

Things it's reminded me of:

1. Childhood traumas (even from such a young age) have such a impact on children down the line.
2. There will be damage that we will never be able to un-do 
3. The family unit, when thriving, does so much to bless a child or children. Far beyond what I'd imagined, even to the physical development of a person. Wow.
4. I need to be praying for our future child(ren) in specific ways. Thinking right now if we adopt a daughter, how she may be impacted and how I can be praying...

Lily girl at near 13 months

playing, crawling- too quickly for us at times!, standing, pulling herself up on everything, babbling, developing her own little character, laughing, recognizing her parents (and pointing to us when we ask where Mama and Dada are), and generally making our world wonderful.

she also has (finally!) added to her two bottom teeth with gusto! first up were her two top fang teeth (yes, before the middle ones... we have been calling her White Fang and True Blood), but now we see her middle top teeth and even a slight hint of her bottom fang teeth. and to cope she will "teethe" on anything and everything - including our kitchen table.

she's eating everything we eat now which is a blast and so much easier than separate meals and mealtimes, and she even has some friends...

meet Sophie. Lily's new (and first!) girlfriend near her age (:

First Pancake

When Matty and Dahlia came to stay with Brad an I for an overnight this week, I knew I wanted it to be special. Sleepovers are a big deal to kids and the hype is always huge, but I knew there would be a bit of let down when they actually got to our house - we don't have a lot of toys that would interest them, we don't have X Box, we don't have cable or any good tv shows (except CBC in the mornings for cartoons!), and we don't have a back yard for them to play in. I spent most of the day with them at their house, and we were only at our place for a few of their last awake hours, but I wanted them to have a good time, despite our home's lacking in 4-5 year-old pleasures. 

So at breakfast, I knew that meant pancakes. Seriously, I think they're easier to make for a bunch of kids than cereal - far less mess (spilled milk, anyone?), and minutes to make (thanks to our years-old Costco bag of mix that's still going strong!) M and D loved the thought of waking up to cartoons and pancakes so I was happy they were occupied and content, plus, hey, I like pancakes too. But another little one had never had them until Sunday morning... and guess who is also now a fan for life?

 first M and D enjoy their pancakes...

 then someone feels left out...

 so we make her a pancake... Matt thinks the size is HILARIOUS.

 but it still needs to be smaller for that tiny mouth and still-only-2-teeth!

 group shot of the kids. so cute. 

all that's missing is Olivia (Andy and Loni's youngest who is 8 months older than Lily and will be her classmate one day)

15 reasons I'm glad they'll be 15 months apart

It's hard to say that and not be a little overwhelmed.

Two kids babies so close in age. It's going to be a lot.

And the world has had no trouble letting me know (because that's exactly what every super-nauseous-pregnant-mom wants to hear.... how crazy it will be!) So to keep my head on straight and perspective in this house, I've resolved to get excited about the mere 15 months that will separate my first two children. I'm not naive, I know how hard it will be. So we don't need to think about THAT anymore. ok?

1. Especially if they're the same sex, but even if they're not, the kids will be able to relate to each other during almost every stage of life. Best buds, we're hoping!
2. Our kids will be only one grade apart and almost always at the same school, so we won't be driving from school to school for drop offs and pick ups.
3. They'll have the same friends. (Lisa and I are two years apart and that was just enough to keep us in the not-the-same-friends-zone. But all of my friends who were within a year of their siblings always had shared friends) 
4. If they're the same sex, clothes passed down will never be out of style
5. Our car seats probably won't expire before we're done having all of our children (they have a 6 year lifespan and we've thought about 4 kids, though with these pregnancies I'm seriously considering 3)
6. I get two pregnancies under my belt (and over with!!) in a short time. Honestly, my pregnancies have been hard, and I have no desire, 10 years from now, to still be going through this! I say, have 'em young, and get 'em over with! Is that heartless? 
7. Brad and I are already in "baby mode".
8. Lily currently still naps three times a day. THREE TIMES. Guess how many times I nap a day? Yep. If she were much older, this tired prego wouldn't be sleeping nearly as much.
9. By the time the baby is born, Lily will still probably nap twice a day, giving time to focus solely on baby #2, or heck, rest for the weary if baby #2 can get on a similar schedule. Please Lord, please.
10. With cloth diapers, I won't have to spend more money on diapers, just wash them more.
11. We can still cart them around easily. With two under 15 months, we could even have baby #2 in the Baby Bjorn (which though they advertise can carry a baby up to 25lbs, is best for the first three months, then it gets uncomfortable), and Lily in the Beco
12. Our stroller converts into a double, so we don't have to buy another one.
13. If they're the same sex, sharing a room for a long time won't be unrealistic. My sister and I shared a room until we were 8 and 10 and we missed each other when we got our own rooms.
14. Right now, as I'm sleeping as much as humanly possible and vomiting just about as much, Lily has not once tugged on my shirt and asked "will you come play with me?". For which, I am eternally grateful. She's so young, she doesn't do much else other than stare at her sick mama and the low maintenance is really carrying me through right now!
15. Most importantly, we already get another one :)

PINK

Here's a glimpse into Lily's 3-6 month wardrobe. The top are onsies with feet (heart-stoppingly-adorable), the bottom are onsies with no legs or feet. The other drawers have her "big-girl-clothes" like sweaters and pants, but we usually save those for outings, because they're a lot of work to get on and off when someone (won't name any names for fear of embarrassment) poops themselves filthy on a semi-regular basis :)

I've been trying to integrate clothes into Lily's wardrobe with other colours other than PINK, but normally they also have pink in them. Even if it's a teeny tiny little detail, it's PINK!
So I started buying BOYS CLOTHES. Yup. Because if you go to most baby clothing departments, the boys section is marked by reds, yellows, greens, blues, greys, oranges, denim, patterns, and browns. Whist the girls department is PINK and a slight addition of brown and white. Kinda frustrating.

So boys clothes it is. Nearly every piece of clothing you see in that drawer that doesn't have a slight bit of PINK in it was bought in the boys department. No shame :)

**For the record, I'm grateful for everything I've received for Lily, and I don't actually dislike PINK, I'm just realizing she essentially doesn't have clothes that are not PINK. Here's hoping our next baby is a girl too!

a full nest!

what a weekend!
I LOVED having Missy and Cath here and they
loved spending time with Lily even tough
we mostly hung around the house and stared at Lily
- nothing too exciting but still glorious :)

Montreal, Lily, and Me were all lucky to have them.

The Weight of a Daughter

I've been thinking a lot about parenting lately...

My baby girl is 1 pound this week, inside my womb. She'll hopefully weight a lot more when we meet her face-to-face in August! But the weight of being her mom is already hitting me.

Yesterday I attended a satellite viewing of a Beth Moore conference. She's a great woman, amazing teacher, and total inspiration for me! She mainly leads women's Bible studies that become turned into study books you can buy and go through for your personal study time in the Bible, but she also tours and does conferences and teaches a weekly Bible study where she's from in the US. Well, she talked about some hugely important subjects yesterday, and so many of them spoke to me directly, but also to my future little girl.

She mainly touched on insecurities and how an insecurity is essentially not trusting God. It's disbelief. If I'm insecure about finances, I'm not trusting God that he can provide. If I'm insecure about my appearance, I'm not trusting God when he says we are "fearfully and wonderfully made and precious in his sight". If I'm insecure about what other people think, I don't believe that the God of the whole universe thinks good of me (and therefore what else matters?!).

That hit me for me. But what hit me for my baby girl was this: Beth challenged us and the other 300,000 women listening from various locations all around the US and Canada,

"What if we really got this?
What if we really believed this?
How would our Christian culture be different?
How would our world be different?
How would our daughters and their daughters
LIVE DIFFERENTLY?"

Wow.
What a privilege to be the mom of a daughter!
What a responsibility!

The way I live my life and the way I walk with God is what my daughter will see far before she's influenced by friends at school, media characters, and the city of Montreal. I was deeply challenged by that truth yesterday. Better get to work, Emily!