SIXTY- SEVEN

Yesterday was my Mom's  67th birthday. Steve was up early making Olive Fougasse bread.
Mom and I had seen this bread last week at The ByWard market and Steve mentioned he'd try making it for Mom's birthday dinner. (turned out FANTASTIC!)  In the afternoon, the boys brought out the pasta maker and went to work on the seafood lasagna mom had requested for her special day.

Connor and I had made birthday cake on Monday ( He baked, I decorated ) so we were all set to go off and enjoy the mother/daughter spa visit I had planned for us. Mom's birthday felt like a whirlwind but an amazing whirlwind.

The one thing that husband and I have acknowledged this week is that our life is one big rush..... through breakfast to be able to get out of the house, through dinner to get to bath and bed and then it all starts again the next day. It makes me look back and appreciate the slower moments of my life and the slower moments in my days now. Quiet Thomas moments with Euan and breastfeeding Romilly in a silent room- no, I'm not alone but we've stopped moving. *smile*

Happy Birthday Mom.  I hope you had a lovely day celebrating with your beautiful children. We ended the evening downstairs before bed with Connor brushing my hair, Romilly passed out on Steve and Mom listening to the play list Connor was constructing for her birthday.

Loving life being Christy- even if it's rushed!

NANNA BINKY'S HERE

My Mom is here! She came a few days ago which is nice because it gives us a few days before Connor arrives to show her the routine and explore the city a bit.

After a great morning in down town Ottawa exploring the ByWard Market and picking up some gorgeous fresh veg for the week, we spent the afternoon at Rideau Hall. The grounds are beautiful. We saw the changing of the guard, had a picnic, took a tour of the main house and waited on Royal baby news.

While we were there I was interviewed about my thoughts on the royal baby for a local Ottawa radio station. Steve told the interviewer he found the right girl for this particular subject. We will be listening to the station this evening in hopes of catching my few seconds of local fame. *wink* After a short interview we finished our walk through the rose gardens.

Rideau Hall is an excellent way to spend a free and fun day out in Ottawa. They have a children's parks, lot's of green space and free tours though the season of the various buildings on site. They have story time for children on Friday and Saturdays between 1-3 pm.  Here is the link for more information on Rideau Hall activities. http://www.gg.ca/document.aspx?id=15023&lan=eng

We came home to find out that Will & Kate had a beautiful baby boy- Yay!!

THREE

And then there was three...

Connor arrived safely from the UK yesterday. We celebrated his belated birthday with BBQ'd burgers, homemade purple coleslaw & cake. 

There won't be a close up of the cake this year. It wasn't my finest masterpiece. It was meant to be a soccer ball but- I am a 24 hour milk drive through with one child and the other just wanted to climb up on the counter and eat the cake. My soccer ball turned into a chocolate chip world. If only I had long spaghetti arms like my husband, he cooks with Romilly in the Ergo and lasso's Euan with the other arm. He amazes me! 

Happy to have all our kids in one house again. LLBC xo

HOW TO

BE ALONE- I enjoyed this video that I came across on an FB share. It was filmed in Atlantic Canada. When I lived in Halifax I often went to the movies alone on a Sunday afternoon, boy would I love to do that again. These days, time alone is precious and much enjoyed.

http://www.wimp.com/howalone/.

ROYAL BABY WATCH

Just like the rest of the world I have been waiting for royal baby news too. I woke up early this morning to labour news; so here goes I'm making a late but worthy prediction- Princess Alexandra -Girl, 8.3 pounds. Steve's thinks a boy called George but then he wanted to name our son George too so I am pretty sure that's just his favourite name!

Good luck and congrats to a beautiful couple on the birth of their first baby. It's such an incredible thing to bring a baby into the world and become parents.

EGG MUFFINS

I came across these Egg Muffins through a recipe share on FB and I thought I would give them a go for our lunch today. My egg muffins had tomato, asparagus, green onion, ham and fresh basil from the garden. I was so proud of Euan he ate his entire portion- didn't even spit out the green stuff! 

Directions:

1. Spray muffin tin

2. Add chopped ingredients 

3. Add in egg/milk mixture approx 1 egg per tin.

4. Top with grated cheese. I tried out 3 different cheeses to see what tasted best.

5. Cook at 425 degrees for 20 minutes

6. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from the tin. 

These can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. I will be adding this recipe to our book. Enjoy! 

LLBC xo

JUST SAYIN'

A GLIMPSE

Woke up fed Romilly, front crawl laps in the pool, set of arm curls & jumped in the shower to get ready for our usual Friday play dates.. This is just a wee glimpse of my daily summer routine.

I am finally getting my hair done after months of putting it off. I am praying that a nice bright blonde color will make me look a little less sleepy. 

Happy Friday! 

TBT-EUAN

MY LITTLE READER

Euan loves climbing up on his Grandpa's old chair that we recently had reupholstered and looking through his favourite books. He is learning so many words right now. My little bug is becoming a big bug! *Chuckle* It's funny, you bring a new baby home and your little boy doesn't seem so little anymore. I swear he is going through a massive growth spurt right now. 

TMoNH

A few months ago I bought our family a yearly pass to The Museum of Natural History. It's great thing for summer days to beat the heat and also provides a warm activity in the long winter months.

Today we loaded the kids in, drove downtown and toured the dinosaur exhibit. Like with most boys, it did a pretty good job of holding Euan and Steve's attention. ;)

MAGIC

Love is- Euan & Romilly lying under the magic play mat. 

WEEKLY HARVEST

We began our morning with a family bike ride/run- I was on the bike with Euan and Husband ran with Romilly. I am feeling good and slowly introducing fitness back into my life after TWO years of pregnancy!  *chuckle*

Last week while Steve's Mom was here she pointed out the spinach in our garden. Somewhere between May and the birth of Romilly, the contents of my crop had been forgotten-mainly the spinach. Lesson learned, planting spinach, rocket and lettuce unlabelled, mere inches away from each other, and expecting to remember after the birth of of Romilly might not have been my brightest idea. All was not lost...Although I was reminded last week what it was, I had thought it was part of the  rocket (arugula) patch and have been using it in our salads all season! Here is a set pictures from last night using our mixed greens and a few additions from the fridge. I spent yesterday morning cleaning up the garden and putting in some sticks so my snap peas have somewhere to climb. 

Next year we will either have less vegetables or a bigger plot- so many lessons, but so worth it. I am proud of our garden. 

THANK YOU MISS RYDER

Yesterday was awesome. After spending the afternoon in the pool we took our babies to their very first festival (RBC Bluesfest) last night to see Juno award winning Canadian artist Serena Ryder. We packed up a picnic and  made our way down to LeBreton Flats for the six o'clock show.

  I don't have to tell any mom how hard it is to get back to activity after you've got into a well oiled routine with a newborn at home. With Euan it seemed less scary- I was out and about pretty quickly. We even took him to Spain when he was 6 weeks old. Actually, we went to a few countries before he was six months old. He is a great traveler,  one of those babies the airline passengers applauded at the end of a long flight. Yes, we are blessed, he has travel in his blood. But now we have two under two, and the set-up isn't as fast as it once was. We got home last night and after putting the kids to bed, I fell asleep fully clothed and in mid conversation with husband who wasn't far behind me.

It is worth getting out of routine once in a while especially when it makes you feel as amazing as last night did. Thank you Serena for putting on a good show and singing all my favourite tunes. & thank you Husband for having such a great idea and making it happen! xoxo

ROMILLY'S QUILT

We went to Almonte the other day to have a poke around and I popped into the quilt shop where I inquired about the world of quilting. I'm interested in taking their fall course to learn the basics but I would like to get the young lady that works there to do Romilly's crib quilt. She said I could choose any pattern and fabric and sent me home with a few websites that I could find material on.

Let me tell you it's a good thing you can purchase this material already bundled because there is no way my poor indecisive brain could pick it out. There are way too many gorgeous fabrics. I am trying to stick with my colour scheme of  grey, light pink and white. This wouldn't be entirely impossible to do, although it might make for a pretty boring and expensive quilt. So far I'm enjoying the prints I've found on Fat Quarter Shop.

FOOD, FAMILY, FRIENDS, FUN

INFLATABLE LAWN TENT

This would be perfect for Ontario summer bug filled nights.

JULY COMPANY

The first of our July company has come. Steve's Mom & Grandmother are here from Guelph to see Euan and meet Romilly for the first time. Yesterday we spent some time enjoying the city. Parliament is so pretty this time of year and there are so many tourist visiting. We  are lucky to live in such a beautiful city with so much to see and do. Once Romilly is a little bigger we can hit the bike trails and explore a little further. She's just over a month old and has grown out of her Moses basket already. Tonight I will be bringing her next bed (the travel cot) upstairs and rearranging our room again. She likes to sleep with her arms out and refuses to be swaddled which means she hits the sides of the basket and wakes herself up. I am hoping her new bed will give us a few hours more sleep! 

MAKE IT FUN

I WON'T ALWAYS

FAMILY RESEMBLANCE

WATER

Euan loves the water park!

GRATITUDE

I am trying to appreciate every moment with my babies: everyone says how fast they grow up and that time gets away from you-it's all true. Connor was 8 when I met him - that seems like a lifetime ago. Now, he is almost thirteen. Since then we have traveled all over Europe, got engaged, married and had two little ones. So many experiences in such a short time-happy and sad.

Be happy, don't react, be gentle be loving, give time, play, be their super hero & mentor, not their friend. Encourage playmates. I have learned that all of this parenting advice takes extra work, but I am finding the rewards pay off when you apply it. It is a lot easier with two of us here. I am less tired and able to spend more happy moments with Euan. I have more time to notice where to put extra effort and which battles to pick. Steve and I are on our way to finding our grove building a stronger foundation to parent on. It's a great feeling.

We had a nice weekend, the kind where you don't have anything planned and that is just fine. We went for a walk, sat by the river and had lunch at one of my favourite spots in Wakefield. Last week was an action packed week of kids and tennis. *smile* Wimbledon ended with a beautiful win by Murray- not a dry eye in our house, including my babies. *laugh*

All theses breast feeding pheromones have great side effects - they make me reflective. They make gratitude, love and forgiveness easy. I have gratitude this week for quiet moments in the car with my husband; the children lulled asleep by the rumbling of the engine. 

It's going to be a good week, I can feel it!

MO DAY

One mo-re day until Friday!

Today we hosted Carri and Olivia for our weekly play date since finishing our Wiggles & Giggles group. Carri brought over a huge bag of goodies for Romilly.. I love it when she cleans out Olivia's closet- she has done this a couple times now.

 I feel lucky to have met some really great people at the play groups I signed Euan up for last fall. I will be sad when a few of them start work again at the end of the summer and maybe a bit envious.

Steve in usual form whipped us up some banana muffins then enjoyed some man time while we chatted and played in the basement. It was a good day!

PS. Happy July 4th!

LLBC

I AM OUTSTANDING

MURRAY

What do you do when you have a new born attached to you.. sit back and enjoy the tennis! What an amazing nail biting match today! Only 2 more to go.. Gooooo Murray!

NURSERY UPDATE

Our other chair came back from getting reupholstered today. They did a fabulous job and the material will last a lot longer then what was originally on that chair. It goes perfectly with the decor in Romilly's nursery. Romilly will be in our room in a bassinet until after Christmas which allows us plenty of time to decorate. I know Steve is looking forward to doing a few projects for her room with Connor over the summer; he actually asked me if I wanted more crown molding added! He was so successful with the ceiling molding he thought they might put a border around the middle. *chuckle* I am loving the slow decorating process; by doing it this way it may turn out exactly as I envisioned it- perfect! Almost one month old and she's longer than the seat- I think she inherited her Dad's height. I'll share some more pictures as we go along....

QUIET HOLIDAY WEEKEND

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We did exactly this  for Canada Day.

 In the morning we did little bit of laundry and watched a little bit of the tennis.

In the late afternoon our friends Shawn & Sarah popped over and we enjoyed a quiet celebration on the deck. Steve and I stayed up to watch the Parliament Hill concert & fireworks on TV but I fell asleep in his lap and he sent me to bed. It was a quiet holiday weekend for us-exactly what we needed after a long week. Oh and I made the peanut butter squares, they were a huge hit. I brought a few over to the neighbors so that we wouldn't devour the entire tray on our own. Steve suggested we could  freeze them instead of giving them away. My plan completely backfired; our neighbor sent us back with a plate of cookies!

 I think I might have a  duvet day with Romilly because she's been cluster feeding all morning. Steve just put the bike trailer together and has taken Euan out for a spin- I met them in the garage to get some pictures before they left. I can't wait to get back on my bike and go with them this summer.

Have a great Monday! xo