Happy Easter

The crazy Dawson crew woke up early to a breakfast of bacon and toutons and then we went to...
THE SUGAR BUSH!
We went to Stanley's and met up with some friends.
On the way there, Girl-chick decided to wear her Easter basket as a hat.

They have a fantastic play structure and Tater did a lot of swingin' 'cos that's what she likes to do. All. Day

Girl-chick took off for the rest of the playstructure.

But she eventually came back to the swing too and enjoyed a quiet bit of a taffy treat.

Then it was off to the rocks!

There was time for Mummy-love.

There was time for Daddy-love.

The last thing we did was go on a wagon ride. Girl-chick "drove".

Thank you Barry. Thank you Chris.

And the lovin' continued at home too!

We hope all our family and friends had as wonderful day as we did!

Mamma! Wan' dub-dub peeeeeeeease!

Yup, that is the Tater's first real sentence.With an object, subject and predicate and some other sentence-y things thrown in for good measure! That's what she said today at supper time, asking for ketchup. Am I proud? I am proud.
My little Tater is growing so fast and is so very naughty and yet I love her.

We have had a rough few days. First Girl-chick woke up early Monday morning barfing in her hair. And she was poorly for two days, absolutely miserable. Luckily for me because I had a boat-load of work to plow through that Da Man stayed home Monday. I got enough work wrapped up that we even managed a quick trip to Home Depot but the Girl-chick just sort of *drooped* all over the car-cart that we normally never get to score. By Tuesday she was on the mend though. And she said to me in the afternoon, "Mummy, I am going to be not sick tomorrow and I am going to daycare. I don't like to be sick."
Wednesday morning, the barfies struck yet again. Poor Tater was kind enough to stand up along the crib rail and yuck onto the floor but splashback caused me to have to change the sheets anyway.
There's a lot of laundry waiting around in piles.
By Wednesday evening, she was better and, because of the same boatload of work, called up my daycare provider and asked if it was OK to bring her back and she said yes. (You're a SAINT). She did have an amazing day.
Me, Thursday, not so good. I did get through the boatload of work. I also did manage to get to a sink in time. 'Nuff said.
What was Girl-chick's fist bona-fide sentence? It was approximately three years ago, almost to the month.We took her out to the park and asked her which way to go. She pointed 'thataway' and said, "Wan' that way!".
Did I mention the laundry in piles?

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Xin nien kuai le!

Today is the Chinese New Year of the Tiger (our year, so guess how old me and Da Man are?). It also happens to be Valentine's Day AND on Monday, Ontario Family Day. On Tuesday I have the day off to take the Tater to get her 18 month needles (coincidentally, she is 18 months old on that day!).
Do the math:
Saturday + Sunday + Family Day + Tater's Day = Loooooong weekend

At daycare on Thursday, they did their Chinese New Year celebration and we dressed both kiddos in whatever we could find was traditional.

Friday was Valentine's Day at daycare so we slapped them in hearts:

Saturday was Chinese New Year's Eve which is the traditional day of family reunion. My mum and little bro were at the aunties' house for the reunion dinner. We had no one else but us so we did our own version of a nice Chinese dinner (that involves a lot of cooking on my part and crying on the part of the Tater). We did call in the morning to speak to Poh Poh to wish her and Uncle Al a "Gong Xi Fa Cai".

Here's a picture of the grub.

Girl-chick learning the chopsticks.

Tater tried to figure out chopsticks too.

And dessert was red bean ice-cream!

Been busy

Since the last post, we have had family birthday for Girl-chick and a birthday party at gymnastics the ensuing weekend. The Tuesday after that saw Girl-chick and Tater at the pediatrician's office; one for her four-year-old check-up and the other for some tummy troubles. Nanny was then dispatched at the airport to fly out to New Brunswick to the other Dawson crew. We are now settling back into a routine.

Things are shaping up fast house-wise to which is good. Our friend has set a start date to completing the basement and we are quite excited because that means more spaces to play for all of us, more of our stuff languishing in the garage get to come in and be stored away in their homes and the poor little car gets to sleep in the garage once again. We have had some days of bitter, bitter cold and mornings with the little fireball has been of whining and complaining. (I mean the car but in retrospect it applies to Girl-chick and Da Man too!)

Today was a stay-at-home day for me. Quite unexpected but the Tater woke up spewing forth partly digested supper and blazing hot. By the time morning rolled around she was still hot and so I bravely "volunteered" to stay home. Tomorrow Da Man is home anyways and I will take the early bus into town and work until 2. Lots of work to do!

I have to go and finish off some blankets - my first commissioned pieces of 2010!

What I did on my Christmas vacation - Tater's story

I had a lot of fun too!

I rolled around on the floor with Mamma.

We found out that my big sissy fits into my party shoes (they are way too big for me but the package said 16 to 20 months).

Remember it's mine OK? Give it back when I can fit OK??

Mamma let me feed myself chocolate mousse.

Some parts of the vacation was too long and I became a basket-case.

I helped Mamma with the laundry. Boy-howdy it's cold in the laundry room! I swiped Sissy's hat while she was a gymnastics.

We did art. Smooshy, colorful art.

What I did for my Christmas vacation - Girl-chick's story

I had fun.

We decorated the tree.

We hung our stocking at the fireplace.

Santa brought me a guitar.

I played in a laundry basket.

We made snow angels in the backyard.

When we came back inside, my snow pants ate my boots and it was very silly!

Mummy made chocolate pudding mousse for dessert! I got to lick the beater.

We did a lot of crafts.

We also made rice krispies squares but I did not like it because it was too messy.

I made funny faces. Lots of funny faces.

I had a lot of fun at Christmas vacation with mummy, daddy, tater and nanny. I was glad to go back to daycare because I missed my friends.

What we did on our Christmas vacation - Background

The whole family took Christmas time off from Dec 24th to January 3rd inclusive. Da Man and I are lucky enough to have family-centric employers who do understand the importance of balancing work/life and strongly encourage downtime for the holiday season. Of course, we are also painted into a corner because daycare services are not available to us for the holiday season.
Most years BC (Before Children) we have flown out East when we could afford it to spend the holiday with Da Man's older brother and his family. They had a family and we didn't. They had bags of room and we didn't. Most often, Da Man's mom also spent Christmas there because it would otherwise have been a smidge too lonely on the Big Island.
When Girl-chick arrived, we not only braved four flights for Christmas, we also made a trip in the summer to see the cousins and a separate trip to the Big Island to be christened! Girl-chick did a lot of traveling in that one year and she met a plethora of aunts, uncles, cousins and even the great-grandmother she was named after!
After the Tater came, it no longer became feasible to do all this schlepping about. Tater's life has probably been less exciting, more sheltered. She has not ever been on a plane ride (much less 12 within one year), she has never been on a car ride more than 3 hours in length! (We did go to the cottage for a visit and it was almost 3 hours drive away)
This year, Nanny came here for a visit instead to spend time with her littlest grandchildren and to check out the new house. This has been good because that has meant a warm home after work, Tater is picked up early instead of being the last little kid at YaYa's, and, and, AND supper is ready to be served as soon as we get in (that one is important!).
We had fun. We toured the outside of the house, we tidied up, we put up the tree and stockings, we did crafts and went on quite a few car rides. Of course, the grown-up version is so much more... blah than what Girl-Chick and Tater can tell! Read their stories instead.

A wallet for me - anyone else?

Ggggrrrhhhh... I've been trying for several days now to post this on FB to offer some to anyone else.
I posted the other day on FB that I made a new wallet for myself. Nothing fancy. Just a little wristlet I made by following a tute from Spool{}. Immensely pleased with my efforts, and wanting to experiment with it, I started on making more as birthday gifts for some wonderful nieces. Then a co-worker asked for one.
I got to thinking...
While I'm cutting out pieces anyway, I could mass-produce some more for other people!
So, I tried and tried to post pics on FB to see if anyone else would like one. Errors galore! I don't even know where to begin ranting about my FB experiences since the new year began.
And then, inspiration. Why not just post it here and then link back to FB?

 

Here is what I made for myself:

I love the combination of fabrics - mere scraps I bought from Tonic Living as remnants.The button is from Nanny's old button tin that Da Man used to rifle through as a boy. I think it came off a duffel coat belonging to someone in the Garden.

This here be the main compartment with space for credit/bank cards and space for anything else you may want to put in. I have all my cards in those pockets - holds 4 on each side or more if you double/triple up and the big section holds two pens and my check book comfortably. With bags of room to spare.

And here is a picture of the outside pocket. It holds scrap paper and receipts right now.

Wish list for upgraded versions:

1. A zippered pocket on the back for loose change, bus tickets, passes, etc
2. A detachable wrist strap
3. A more expandable silhouette

If anyone reading this would like one, here is the deal:

1. You can send me fabric of your choosing or let me choose for you (you can specify a favorite color)
2. You have to be willing to wait - I can only sew when time and sanity allow and right now, Girl-chick's birthday looms and I have just cut out loot bags for the little girls
3. You have to accept a certain wonkiness as I experiment
4. You may have to fund me either in fabric or a small bit of $$ - fabric ain't cheap. Correction: NICE fabric ain't cheap

PM me if you want one. I'd love to make one for you!

Snow Angels

Today is the fourth or fifth day in a row we have had snowfall.
Sometimes, it spirals down lazily, big fat delicious flakes.
Sometimes, it beats against the windows in a rhythmnic tippety-tappety, little needles of ice.
Sometimes, it comes at us sideways, forced by a puff of Jack Frost's breath, nuggets of soft crystals.

Today the kidlets ventured outside to get some fresh air and "shovel" the driveway.



The Tater went back in with Nanny and looked out with envy...



As we flopped in the back and made snow angels!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Another year is upon us.
It is a small vine laden with bunches of promise ready-to-burst.
Girl-chick and Tater will discover things about their world themselves, delightful snippets of information they will process into the great big ball of the World As We Know It.
Da Man and I will laugh with tears in our eyes, cry with aching sides, and perhaps even shake our heads in stunned disbelief while our progeny go through this process of discovery.
Our extended families, wherever they may be in the world, will likewise grow - up, together and maybe even regrettably, apart.
But grow we will.
This is the Dawson's Nest resolution for this year: We will grow. We will delight in the growth process. We will take life's twists and turns as it happens and enjoy the ride too.

Christmas... and the aftermath

'Twas the night before Christmas...
...stockings were hung on the mantel with care

Kids were dispatched to bed...

Mission Ho Ho Ho complete...

We waited and waited for Girl-chick and Tater to wake up (!) - it was 0830 before stirrings commenced and then the shredding began!

And today, this is what the back of the house looks like.

Season's Greetings!

Hello visitor!

You've come to this blog either because I have sent you a URL (99% of you) or you've somehow stumbled on it via somewhere else (1% of you). This is the Dawson family blog. In the last year, I have tried to capture moments in the days of our children - they are growing up too fast and I will never have this time back. I cannot say I have been entirely successful because I do it as time and energy permits but I figure a mere snippet could still give friends and family from far away a brief glimpse. No names are mentioned specifically in this blog but if you know us, you know whom we are referring to!
The 99% of you will already know that we have had a very busy year. We have just moved into our new house; it's been about a month and everything is mostly put away but things are still chaos! I have no earthly clue where anything non-essential is. Christmas cards are filed under "non-essential" despite what some people may think. I did get Da Man to go to Costco and buy me a huge roll of stamps though. Perhaps next year. We also didn't get a chance to get any nice Christmas pictures of the kiddos to send out (none that I would print in perpetuity). We do have a random selection of pics we would still like to share with you.
This year has been a good year to us.
Health-wise, we had a rocky start to 2009 with Girl-chick and Tater at CHEO with asthma and RSV.

We did manage to get the Tater out in time to attend her own christening!

Girl-chick's asthma is mostly under control with a strict regimen of Singulair, Ventolin and Flovent. She's had a flare-up or two but nothing too dramatic. In August, Tater had an ear infection which led to a nasty yeast diaper rash which led to said rash spreading all down her legs and then movin' on up. Our ped said (and I quote): "If this was a test in school and I had to guess, I would probably guess chicken pox".

Developmentally, Girl-chick has been moving at warp speed! From the initial random scratchings on pieces of paper, she can now trace, write letters and draw recognizable objects. Of course, just to be contrary, yesterday she told me that the (I swear) funny bear-like creature she was drawing was actually a kitty. O-Kay... Of course, this is the child who introduces herself to people as "Serafina the Princess Kitty" (yes, it's an obsession and I do nothing to discourage it). Tater learned to walk (Thank you to my True Blood watching mother's helper - you know who you are!!) around 10 or 11 months. By her birthday she was steadier on her feet than her sister had ever been at that age. She also had more teeth! Today, she runs around to catch up to her idol, wrassles with the best of 'em, and climbs her highchair! She has a decent working vocabulary of 15 or 25 words and is on the verge of a language explosion.

Da Man is doing well. He continues to be an on-loan Government schmoe. I think he enjoys it. I certainly have enjoyed him being around more. I applaud single parents everywhere who choose to go it alone. Me, I would have been the epicenter of a murder-suicide if Da Man had to go away for an extended period of time. The girls are not hard to manage solo for small periods of time but days at a time would stress the psyche. Da Man has decided to take up shooting as a hobby among other healthy changes to his lifestyle he has been making. I am very proud of him because he has quit smoking, given up on soda and started eating more veggies in this year!

I went back to work full-time after my maternity leave was over. I had been busy prior to that, exploring alternative forms of income-generation. Nothing concrete but now I know that I have an extra skillset that I can rely upon should the unexpected happen. Sewing gives me great pleasure especially when I can see on the faces of the recipients the appreciation for what I have made. I have been granted permission to carve out a sewing studio for myself in the new house and I am quite excited. Initial forays into selling dresses, skirts, etc have been promising. I do have an Etsy shop set up but there is nothing in it yet. For now, I am still relying on word-of-mouth and I just enjoy making gifts. I am also hoarding beautiful fabric for that "special project"...

That is as brief of an update as I can provide to you all. For all our friends and family from far away and even nearby, we wish you all the very best for the upcoming new year. We hope that 2009 has been good to you all and we hope that 2010 is a significant improvement!

Almost settled in...

Since the move two weeks ago we have mostly settled in. There's still lots of things in boxes and vacuum bags but we have the essentials (except for Da Man's hat... that's gone walkies). The kids' bedrooms are mostly squared away - three to five Rubbermaid tubs teetering by the side of the bed as a night stand. Tater got another new dresser yesterday - we stopped by IKEA on the way home from a cancelled swim class to pick up another pine dresser. It's cheap, solid wood and unfinished - I LIKE it! For now, things are getting bunged in. Once the basement is done and the garage can be tidied and the driveway paved and sod laid down, I'll take the dressers out and paint them and decorate. Perhaps by then we will have a better idea of what the Tater would like in terms of decoration because right now it is a melange of bugs and flowers and random miscellany. Girl-chick remains firm on a princess room and so far we have been able to appease her somewhat with a small purple princess mirror (dollar store, received as a prize at a birthday party two years ago)and a princess bed (cheap, lurid pink IKEA sheers draped over the head and foot of her bed and meeting in a giant rosette on the ceiling in the middle. Once the Christmas break comes around, I have a small mural with kittens and butterflies planned. As much as she is adamant on the whole princess thing, I remain steadfast on limiting the influx of the typical Disney icons. Strangely enough, while she has run the gamut of princesses (she has a "Sleeping Beauty" haircut and likes it tied up in "Jasmine" style, she really loves Ariel), Girl-chick more often than not is a CAT. She meows and mewls with the best of 'em. She introduces herself as Serafina, the princess cat. Perhaps the kitten mural can have a small crown thrown in.
I am quite excited about the upcoming Christmas break. Mum-in-law flies in on Wednesday which means we will have another set of willing adult hands to entertain the children and other necessary chores 'round the house. Tater is still in a needy phase, leading me to think that perhaps selling all those wonderful slings was a tad bit premature. I am either going to whip another one up tonight or learn to do things with only one hand. Christmas gifts are most probably all done with the exception of minor gifts. The plan is to wrap tonight and survey all that I have and fill in gaps as needed.
Poor little Tater is teething. She's a bucket of drool - if the front of her shirt is soaking, sopping wet then her sleeves are from playing in the toilet!. Yup, my little Tater has discovered the joys of swishing her hands in water which isn't so bad in and of itself. It's just that the only bodies of water that happen to be most convenient are the ones found in the toilets! Blick. Yuck. Bleh. To make things worse, her hands and fingers are the worst parts of her body in terms of her eczema. Her poor little fingers are always red and swollen and shiny-plasticky. I'm sure dipping them in bowls of standing water (and who knows what else (cos big sis does not always remember to flush)) is not helping. I've taken to rubbing in Penaten into her hands at bedtime. Da Man started doing it to his hands because of what the tin said and he says it has been working so at night, on top of greasing her up, we also do her fingers in Penaten. Never hurts to try.