Isla at 3

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My Missy Moo, my Stinky Monkey, my Lovey, my Missy Love, my Squiddo:

You’re 3-years old today and I cannot help but wonder where on earth the time has gone. Every day you amaze me with how smart you are, you make me laugh with your silly antics, and you show me what it truly means to love someone with every inch of your heart. You make my heart smile so big, and I’m proud to say you’re my daughter.

You’re getting so big and are becoming quite the individual. You love to do things all by yourself but I cherish the moments when you need me or Daddy to help you. I know it won’t last forever, but know that we’ll both be there for you no matter what, regardless of how old you are.

Just six days ago you became a big sister, and you are shining. Your little sister has an amazing role model in you and I know she’ll look up to you as you both grow up. 

We shot this little video of you to remember some of your favourite things in life when you turned three. Enjoy it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XVT0gj6WkE

Happy 3rd Birthday, Isla! We love you so, so much!

– Mommy, Daddy, and Norah

 

A Very Merry UnBirthday

One great thing about toddlers is that they still have a bit of a goldfish-like memory. While Isla’s birthday isn’t until the 29th, Kyle and I figured we should probably have a little party for her before her baby sister arrives (or doesn’t arrive). Basically, I’ll either be extremely pregnant and cranky or we’d have a newborn and be delusional from a lack of sleep, so an early birthday celebration on Saturday with family seemed like the right thing to do instead of ignoring Isla’s birthday completely!

On Friday I baked Isla’s cake (she helped, haha) and that night I decorated it. I dare say it turned out pretty great, considering I’m no whiz when it comes to cake decorating. Chocolate cake was what Isla wanted, and that’s what she got! (Also – SO hard to ice a chocolate cake with vanilla icing!)

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On the morning of her UnBirthday party I tossed some balloons and the Happy Birthday banner up and we were pretty much ready to party! Isla didn’t seem to know (or care) that it wasn’t her actual birthday, but what (almost) 3-year old wouldn’t be excited about balloons and cake? Kyle made her a special breakfast of homemade pancakes (her request) and they were SO good! She even got some chocolate milk to wash them down with ;)

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Party time wasn’t until the early afternoon, so we ended up making a trip to Costco (Isla’s favourite place, haha), and Canadian Tire (she loves the “money” there), and came home for a quick lunch and I did some prepping of snacks and drinks. Homemade cucumber salsa and passion tea lemonade were both on the “menu” and they turned out to be huge hits.

Everyone showed up right on time and Isla had a lot of fun with her family! She’s so lucky to have so many people in her life who love her, and she was spoiled rotten with clothes, a movie, puzzles, colouring books and more! Her “big” present from Kyle and I was a “big girl” bike – complete with training wheels! We gave her the helmet first and she obviously didn’t clue in why she was getting a helmet (toddler logic, FTW!), but when we told her at the end of all the other presents that there was one more surprise, she exclaimed, “Oh, it’s going to be SO special!!” Then when Kyle brought the bike up she just shouted, “OH MY GOSSHHH!” Priceless!

Needless to say, she loves it!

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After presents was of course, cake and ice cream, and we all mingled for a little bit before everyone departed.

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Overall, it was an awesome day! Like I said before, Isla’s so lucky to have such amazing people in her life and I’m glad that they were able to come and make her “UnBirthday” a special day. I’m not sure how Kyle and I will mark her actual birthday in a couple weeks, but I’m sure we’ll do something special for her. (Maybe she’ll get a baby sister for her birthday!)

I do have a special post planned for Isla’s actual birthday, it’s just a matter of getting it done. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this photo of Isla riding her new bike with Kyle. My heart just melts when I look at it.

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Weekend Update

Happy Monday, everyone! This past weekend was a productive and busy one in our household!

Thursday
When Kyle came home from work Wednesday evening he surprised me by telling me he had taken the next day off! He’s been working so hard at work lately, so it was well-deserved for him and Isla and I loved having him home for an extra day!

We spent most of the day outside enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. (Well, Isla and Kyle did. I sat in the shade because pregnancy + heat = misery.) Kyle started demolishing our shed as we have contractors coming at the end of this week to build a new retaining wall and fence for us.

My mom came and picked Isla up for her usual Thursday visit, so Kyle and I headed out to The Keg for an early anniversary dinner! We’ll be celebrating 4 years of marriage on Thursday this week, but since he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to get that day off, we thought we’d celebrate early. Yay!

After dinner we had some time to kill before picking up Isla, so I made a stop in Carter’s/Osh-Kosh to pick up some pj’s for Isla and another outfit for Baby N – she’s gotta have a couple outfits that are new to her, right? ;)

Isla fell asleep on the way home, so Kyle and I watched a movie we had recorded on the PVR before heading to bed ourselves.

Friday
Kyle’s uncle came over first thing in the morning and he and Kyle started ripping down our old fence and the remainder of the shed! It really didn’t take them long at all and it’s going to look and be SO amazing when the work is all said and done. Kyle’s mom, step-dad and grandparents eventually arrived to help disassemble the makeshift allan block wall and took the blocks to his mom’s place.

I had a hair appointment Friday morning – my last one before I have this baby, so I had a little extra taken off! I was supposed to have a doctor’s appointment too, but his office called and said he wasn’t coming in; he had been up the past two nights in a row delivering six(!) babies, so he needed sleep! He said June was going to be busy for him, but maybe those six May deliveries freed up the month for him a little ;)

Saturday
Isla had her first of two dance recitals in the afternoon, but we spent the morning out in the yard puttering.

When it was finally time to get ready for Isla’s recital, I’m fairly certain that I was more nervous that Isla was. She ended up doing SO great on stage though! The 2-year olds were so adorable and they definitely got the best response out of the audience as far as reactions go. (A lot of “Awwww”‘s could be heard!)

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After coming home and getting Isla out of her dance gear, we headed down to his mom’s for barbecued hamburgers with his family.

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Isla had her 2nd recital that afternoon, but the morning was relatively slow-going before we headed out to do our grocery shopping for the week. Then after lunch, it was time for the recital! My mom came with me to this show, (Kyle’s mom, aunt & uncle, and my dad & his girlfriend went to Saturday’s show), and afterwards we headed out for frozen yogurt to celebrate Isla’s performance.

She has her last “class” (which is actually photo day) on Tuesday, and that’s if for the summer! Classes don’t resume until September, so she has all summer to practice everything she’s learned, haha.

So yeah, our weekend was full of both productivity and fun! This week is already shaping up to be a busy one as well; I have something going on every day this week and the contractors are arriving Friday to start working on our wall. Basically, I have no time to think about the fact that I could give birth any day now ;)

How was your weekend???