Gus & Mary Come for a Visit

Talulah and I were thrilled to have an almost two week visit with Auntie Melissa, Uncle Jay, Gus and Mary. They took a road trip out to see us and we had a great time!

I love seeing the cousins all together. Gus and Talulah are SO close it warms my heart. Watching them say goodbye however is a little heartbreaking. Talulah was sad coming home yesterday and not having Gus and Mary there. She said she wanted to play a game with Gus and then had a cry. When I asked her what game she wanted to play she sobbed, "I can't tell you. It's a secret - I can only tell Gus."... So sad. A few minutes later she said quietly, "I wanted to hold baby Mary today."

Despite the tears saying goodbye, they all had a blast together! Talulah watched fishing videos on YouTube with Uncle Jay and told him all about the princess fishing rod that her Dad got her. Uncle Jay surprised her with a princess tackle box before he left.... He even put some lures in it! She was THRILLED. But, of course, Uncle Jay forgot something. She said that he has to get Gus a prince tackle box... Because she's going to marry Gus someday so he has to have a prince tackle box to go with her princess tackle box.

Gus was upset yesterday morning when they were packing to leave. He asked if they could go pick up Talulah from daycare and when his Mom said no he shed some tears. We found him a few minutes later standing in the kitchen holding a picture of Talulah and Santa (that he got off the fridge) staring at it quietly.

Seriously, these kids are just spectacular.

I obviously had an amazing visit with them and was thrilled when Mary started to recognize me and be excited to see/hear me. :) Also, I made her giggle. It's pretty much one of the best feelings ever. Lucky for me, Uncle Jay caught one of the giggles on video!

Melissa and I tried to get some more giggles, but it looks like Mary takes after her cousin Talulah and keeps it all under wrap when the camera comes out.

And seriously.... How adorable is Gus? I can't even take it.

I got to enjoy a ridiculous amount of snuggles from Mr. Gus, who's not normally a fan of them. I was so spoiled this trip. He asked me to pick him up when we went for walks, whimpered for snuggles when he was feeling down and just plain old went along with it when I asked him for snuggles.

So sweet.

Talulah the swimmer... I mean dancer.... I mean swimmer...

Hmmm... Where to begin this story?

Talulah's been taking swimming lessons at the same time that a friend of mine (Megan) has dance practice. Megan is a fancy-schmance salsa dancer and practices with her partner right after Talulah's swimming lessons. We've been at the same place at the same time for AGES and have never known. When we figured it out I decided to take Talulah to Megan's practice so she could see Meg's sweet moves.

Talulah was in love. In love with Megan and in love with salsa dancing. She didn't want to leave the practice, but having her there wasn't very conducive to Megan's productivity so I promised Talulah that when we got home we could watch a video of Megan performing in full costume and watch it. 

When we got home, before I even had a chance to find the video, Talulah wanted to show me her salsa dancing. 

I searched on Megan's facebook and found a video of her performing last summer. (Megan's the one that starts on the left, with blonde hair https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151955447915722) As soon as it was over Talulah said, "Again!" so we watched it again.... And again.... And again. This started to be a daily request - to watch "Megan's moves". While watching Megan's video Talulah had the following things to say:

"Is it summer? I want to be her partner in the summer. Her dance partner. But she'll have to spin me 'cause I'm very little."

"Is that a flower in her hair? Is it her costume? I have flowers for my hair so I can dance in the summer."

"I want to dance with her there on the stage!"

"Why is Megan at your work? Can I go to your work so I can see her?" (I said yes.) *clapping* *GASP* "Work Party!"

 Then Papa came to town! One of the VERY FIRST things that Talulah told Papa was that Megan came to watch her swimming lessons, followed very closely with, "I'm going to be Megan's dance partner in the summer. You can help me practice."

Aside from all of her salsa dancing... She passed the Salamander level at swimming lessons! Megan came at the very end of the class because she was stuck in traffic (and because she's SUCH A TROOPER coming to see Talulah's swimming class). Talulah was worried that Megan would be sad that she missed her lesson so I promised Talulah that I would make a video of all of Talulah's swimming moves to show Megan so she wouldn't be sad anymore. That seemed to make her happy.

Oh my girl. She's so sweet and has such a big heart. :)

Until next time... :)

Catch Up!

Aaaand it's time for another catch up post. :)

Here are some links to photos from the past few months. Enjoy!

August 2012 - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151127466055726.487886.678560725&type=1&l=d0753faf8f

September 2012 - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151220142285726.502619.678560725&type=1&l=c953157ded

October 2012 - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151244288430726.506872.678560725&type=1&l=569714b464

November 2012: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151289858460726.513838.678560725&type=1&l=97ed77b276

December 2012: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151289858460726.513838.678560725&type=1&l=97ed77b276

January 2013 - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151373404450726.525158.678560725&type=1&l=5cb78dbb0d

Talulah's New Cousin

On December 7th Talulah welcomed a new baby cousin... Gus's little sister Mary Sarah Nance Colbeck. I got to fly out for one night on December 8th to meet little Mary while Talulah was at her Dad's house. (I may have shed a few tears when I found out her middle name.)

Man-oh-man Mary's a little doll. I got to spend the night at the hospital with Melissa and Mary, snuggling that little baby so her Mom could catch a couple hours of sleep. What a special treat that was. Talulah insists that Mary is her SISTER and not her cousin.

Talulah and I went out to Winnipeg on Christmas day for a visit! She was immediately smitten with Mary (even before we met her actually) we were all smitten with her. How could we not be?

Without further ado, here's sweet Mary...

Squishy new baby!

Gus and his baby sister! :)

Auntie Sarah and baby Mary.

Mary Sarah Nance Colbeck :)

Mary with Jim & Nan.

In her hat from Auntie Sarah... It was a little big.

Awake time!

A little blurry, but Talulah's first time holding Mary!

Talulah helping give Mary a bath.

Cousin snuggles.

Kisses for Mary!

Talulah & Mary

Mary's very first New Years celebration!

Snuggled up with some spectacular girls!

Mary in one of Talulah's old outfits. :)

She's starting to SMILE!

The Sweetest Thing...

- Yesterday I was home with Talulah while she was sick with a cold. Out of nowhere she came up to me and said, "Mama, when I was in your tummy I couldn't see your heart. But I could hear it singing me a song."

MELT.

She asks a lot about when she was in my tummy, and she loves to put her head on my chest and listen to my heart so I'm sure she was putting two and two together. But wow, she knows how to melt her Mama.

- While FaceTime-ing with Uncle Jay and Gus, Talulah declaired that when she grows up she's going to marry "Baby Gus". Gus happily chirped, "Yeah!" when she told him. Cutest. Cousins. Ever.

- Talulah told me that when she grows up she wants to be a mom and have a baby. I said, "That's great! I always wanted to be a mom too. And if you have a baby, I will be the grandma." So she said, "NO! You'll be the SISTER!" and also assigned the following roles:

• Daddy will be the dad
• Grandpa (Wes) will be the step-dad
• Grandma (Gwen) will be the grandma
• Jodi will be the step-grandma
• (And, of course, she'll be married to her cousin Gus)

Talulahisms

- I told Talulah she could open a piece of mail for me and she started to rip it apart like a crazy person. I took it away and said, "Talulah, you can't open my mail unless you do it carefully." to which she replied, "Ugh Mom... It's my DESTINY!" I told her she was destined to open mail carefully or not at all.

- Talulah sat me down on the bed, took my face in her hands and said (very seriously), "Mom, you are my mom. You have to take care of me. If you don't, I will take things out of my bum." I laughed REALLY hard and said it's a good thing I take care of her then!

- Talulah: Knock knock
Mommy: Who's there?
Talulah: Banana
Mommy: Banana who?
Talulah: Banana on paper (fit of laughter)

- Talulah: Knock knock
Mommy: Who's there?
Talulah: Banana
Mommy: Banana who?
Talulah: Banana and glasses (fit of laughter)

- "I'm baby Gus's cousin. In sixteen I'm going to take him to Naba Scotia to see the ocean. And a mermaid. 'Cuz he's my brother and I'm his sister. We'll go on Thursday and fourteen. We will eat a monster."

- Talulah: Mom, my bum is getting bigger.
Mommy: Oh great! That means you're eating all your vegetables and growing up!
Talulah: Mom, do you have a big bum?
Mommy: Yes. It's very big because I'm a grown up and I eat good food to make me big and strong.
Talulah: I'm gonna have a big bum like you someday Mommy.

Wow...

I'm sure most of you have heard me talk about my "babycenter moms". Well, two such moms that are very close to my heart live so very far away from us. We've developed relationships since we "met" online in January of 2008 when we all found out we were pregnant. At that time we all had one thing in common - our babies were due in October 2008.

Well finally, after FOUR AND A HALF YEARS of chatting online almost every single day, of texting and emailing, of snail mailing.... We finally got to meet in person!

Mandy, who lives in Ontario, and I decided to pack up our girls and head out to meet Em and see her brand new home in Nova Scotia! What a treat it was to get to hug these true and genuinely wonderful friends of mine! And seriously, seeing the photos of the kiddos don't do them any justice. I mean, they're ADORABLE in photos, but in person?? There aren't any words to describe their sweet little voices, the sound of their laughter, their facial expressions and the oh-so-special inflections that Phinner (specifically) has mastered.

It was an amazing trip with some amazing friends! I'm normally pretty detached with goodbyes. Like, "Bye! See ya later." then gone and I'll be sad on my own on the plane or whatever. I know, it's strange since I'm such an emotional person normally.... But this time? No, this time I was a blubbering mess. A. MESS.

But you know what? I'm thankful to have had an experience that actually brought me to blubbering snotty tears.

Talulah had an amazing time too! Ever the incredible camera-dodger... I'm sure you can see some glimpses of her where she isn't making a funny face and is genuinely happy. This kid LOVED the ocean (times a trillion), LOVED all of the land that she could run free on at Em's place, LOVED getting into trouble with Phinn, LOVED taking care of Seamus and LOVED having a "sister" (Shae).

We really had a spectacular time. There are no words to describe the joy that both of us feel. So.... enjoy the pictures from our trip to Nova Scotia!

June 2012 - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150992508100726.473163.678560725&type=3&l=849e5c7086

July 2012 - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151062282110726.480831.678560725&type=3&l=bca2405b09

Sweetest. Kid. Ever. (Lucky Mommy)

On Mother's Day weekend Talulah and I went to the zoo both days! Saturday with Papa, and then Sunday (Mother's Day) with just the two of us.

Saturday when we went with Papa it was just a quick visit - mostly only to renew our expired passes. During the visit, he wanted to take a picture of Talulah and I, but instead he was recording a video. Good thing too! The tiny bit he caught was pretty darn sweet. Take a look (it's literally like 2 seconds long):

Here are some photos from Mother's Day (I didn't take many, we were too busy enjoying each other!):

Talulah making a craft at The Calgary Zoo's Mother's Day Brunch!

Busy being an artist.

The final product! (Along with the plant that they planted at daycare!)

Trying to see the zebras! (They were hiding.)

Running around and burning off the sugar from brunch.

At dinner with Grandma Gwen! 

Grandma playing with Talulah.

Off for a Mother's Day ice cream cone after dinner!

 We had a blast all weekend... And the stellar weather was a welcome treat too!

This morning we had the following conversation:

Talulah: Mommy? You're a good mom.
Mommy: Aawwww, thank you Talulah!
Talulah: I'm going to tell Nora. (Nora is a friend at daycare)
Mommy: Okay.
Talulah: You're NOT a bad mom.
Mommy: Did Nora say I was a bad mom?
Talulah: No.
Mommy: Oh. Who said I was a bad mom?
Talulah: Nobody... 'Cuz you're a good mom.
Then, a few minutes later, I was kneeling down to help her put her shoes on. She walked over, put her hands on either side of my face, leaned in close and said...
Talulah: You're MY mommy.
Mommy: Yep! I'm your mommy and nobody else's.
Talulah: All mine. (BIG smile followed by BIG hug)

I'm an insanely lucky Mommy.

Check out a few other videos we made last night. In the first one my lovely friend and co-worker Claire got a chocolate "T" for Talulah so I was giving it to her. (Ssshhh... Don't tell that I also got a chocolate "S" from Claire. If Talulah finds out, she'll eat that one too!)

This next one is a video of Talulah in her new shirt. She loves it because it's sleeveless and shows off her tattoos. She asked who was on her shirt and I told her it was "Captain America" (Mommy might be a teensy bit obsessed with The Avengers movie that just came out *blush*.) She kept trying to say it, but was having lots of trouble... instead saying things like "Capkim Amanananana" and the like. It was so funny! Well.... until I started recording. Of course once I hit record she could say it fairly well. But the video's still cute. :)

After we watched that first video, Talulah thought she was HILARIOUS! She asked to make another "movie" and then proceeded to full on belly laugh at herself while she watched it. .

One last note I almost forgot to mention... We got WORMS!!! We bought a vermipod from Miss Karla Cox at www.provisionspermiculture.com so we now have under sink compost! Buuuuut........... Talulah and I are loving our worms something fierce so I'm pretty sure they're our pets. She named them Cece. She had come up with some other names, but we can't remember them and they all look the same so they're all Cece. Yay for red wigglers!

Daddy's Little Girl

The three if us got to go for breakfast after Talulah's Hapkido class today. It was fun and so nice to get to see some special moments between Talulah and her Daddy. :)

Death, Lies and Stinkyheads

- Talulah called her Dad a stinkyhead the other day. When he told her it wasn't nice and asked her where she heard it from she said that I call her a stinkyhead all the time. I assured him that I don't. When Jodi asked where she heard it from she said it was from swimming. When she then called me a stinkyhead yesterday and I reinforced that it's not a nice thing to say and asked where she heard it from..... She said that her Dad calls her a stinkyhead all the time. : |  So, basically - she's trying to master the art of lying............. And we're pretty sure she heard it from the older kids at daycare. She has yet to confirm this.

- While driving to her dentist appointment earlier today Talulah said, "Mommy, if the monsters get you and you die - Shannon can be my new mom." (Shannon is one of her teachers from daycare.) I'm not sure how this came up in that brain of hers... But she felt it was important to share. I asked her if Shannon knew about this plan and she said, "Not yet." I was sure to tell Shannon when I dropped Talulah off at daycare later in the day. Shannon laughed and said she'd be happy to be Talulah's new mom if the monsters get me. Phewf... Now that we've got that cleared up. Although, I'm not sure where she learned about dying from. That might be something else we'll have to talk about soon.

- Last night at dinner Talulah said, "Do we get to go to the dentist tomorrow?" I confirmed and she cheered for joy! This sent Papa into a fit of laughter because... How many three year olds do you know who LOVE the dentist?