Christmas Party #1

This weekend was the kid's Christmas party that they throw for anyone in the company with children/siblings/grandkids etc. It's the first year we've gone and I can't say enough good things about it. 

Santa comes and brings presents for each child. There was balloon animals, face painting, bouncy houses, gingerbread men decorating and food. 

The kids absolutely loved it. 

Chloe got a pink balloon kitty, then painted her face as a pink butterfly. As she always says, pink is her favorite color. 

Madi got her face painted as a kitty and got a giraffe balloon animal. 

They got to meet Minnie, Mickey, Daisy Duck, and Super Mario. Madi was insanely excited about Minnie Mouse. She followed some of them around. Tried to dance with them. She dragged me over to see them too. It was adorable.

Overall, a ton of fun. 

I love Christmas! 

Chloe's Third Birthday

We had a party in a meeting room at the hotel Eric and I work(ed) at. 

This was back at the end of September, the Sunday before her birthday. 

My sister and cousin came, along with my cousin's son. 

Eric's two sisters came, along with his nephew. 

My friend Sarah came. 

Madi was there. 

Overall, I think Chloe had a blast. 

It was a Frozen-themed party. 

There was a big sparkly #3 that I made. Cupcakes with blue frosting. Frozen cookies. 

For her birthday she got:

- Baby Anna Doll

- Fairy dress-up outfit

- Coloring book and crayons

- Bubble Guppies floor puzzle

- Frozen movies

- A back pack

- Snow White Dwarf house

- And a pack of all the dwarfs! 

Plus some other odds an ends I'm probably forgetting. 

Lots of fun. I'm already looking forward to her next party. 

Things I've Done Lately

1. Almost 3 weeks ago, we went to a craft fair to sell our bead creations. We did better than expected, but not much to show for it. No new Christmas orders and no new Facebook likes. That was a little disappointing but at least we made enough money to re-stock some of our supplies and buy a couple of handmade Christmas presents while we were there. 

2. I had one of my wisdom teeth out back in October. It was some of the worst pain of my life. I thought it was never going to get better. Then finally one day, about a week and a half to two weeks later it finally did get better. I would wish that on my worst enemy. 

3. Chloe's been big on helping me cook. She has a Dora the Explorer apron that I got at the dollar store. She called it a 'nagonic' yesterday, which was basically hilarious. I bought her a new 'nagonic' for Christmas, since the Dora one is way too big at the neck. 

4. I almost finished Christmas shopping. Usually Christmas shopping is a bit stressful. This year, it's a million times as bad. It's all going on the credit card. I'm trying to sell possessions left and right (stuff we don't need/use) to put back on the credit card. The wedding might take a few cuts. I just don't know where we will come up with the money. 

5. Eric got a second job. 

An updated on Wedding Planning

I've been doing a lot of wedding planning this week. 

I think we officially decided to just do our ceremony indoors to save money and worry about the weather. 

We've discussed the guest list. 

After discussing the guest list, I finally ordered my invitations. 

I ordered the bridesmaids dresses. They were not cheap. We're paying the shipping, and the girls are paying us back for the dressing. Shipping alone was $70 so hopefully we love the dresses. 

I looked around town for shoes and couldn't find any. I looked online for shoes, found a pair I thought I was going to order, but it was suddenly 'not available' and they automatically took it out of my shopping cart as I was about to pay. That made the decision easier. 

Still so much to do, and feels like so little time. 

This Weekend

This is my weekend off. The one where I don't have to work and get to spend two days with Chloe. Some weekends there's a lot of whining and fighting. Then some weekends are like this one - basically perfect. We cuddled, we coloured, we cooked together, we laughed a lot. We went to a craft fair and she got her toes and fingers painted. She got a stuffed blue hippo that she treats like her baby. A hairbow and a sparkly hairbow that she thinks is a bow tie for her neck.

Our first snowfall was two days ago and all day yesterday she just wanted to make footprints in the snow.

She loves her one-piece footed pjs. She loves to zip them all by herself.

When we got up in the morning and it was time to take off her overnight diaper, I asked if she wanted help. She told me no. "Because I'm a big girl." She said. She won't let me call her my baby anymore.

She talks in full paragraphs. Cute little run-on sentences.

It's been a great weekend with my best friend. And we still have a whole day left together.

Lately...

Blogging is just not something that I think of very often anymore, but I like to check in every now and then. 

Some things...

- Chloe turned 3 a few weeks ago. She's a pile of fun and energy and whining. 

- We're still potty training. Sometimes she'll go days without an accident. Other times she goes days with nothing but accidents. It's hard. So much laundry. So much stink. She had such a big accident at a restaurant one night that it even was in her boots. Yeah, TMI. It was my birthday dinner. Yay me. 

- She's so smart and such a good talker. She's always telling everyone she's three years old and when she's 5 she'll get to go on the school bus. She knows her whole name. 

- She still hates the car. 

- She kinda hates shopping. 

- She literally always wants to go to the park. She went to her father's for a couple of hours so Eric and I could go to a movie (last night) and when we picked her up at 9pm when it was dark and raining, she started crying to go to the park. 

- We saw Gone Girl and it was awesome. So awesome. 

- It was my birthday last week. I turned 27. I feel old.

- I'm still wedding planning. I think I'm going to pay for bouquets to be made instead of making them myself. Trying to get the bridesmaid dresses ordered asap, but still haven't gotten that done yet. 

- Yesterday I got my haircut for the first time in almost two years or so. 

- We're going to be going to craft fair in two weeks to show off our bead projects. Hopefully make some extra wedding money. We've been making a few sales lately through friends and co-workers. It's been great :)

I don't think there's much else to report. 

Hope all is well with whoever may still be reading this! 

303 days until Wedding

Eric worked super early this morning, and it took me a little while to get back to sleep after he left. Of course I went into deep sleep dreaming mode. I had a horrible wedding dream - All us girls forget to get hair and makeup done. All the boys wanted to go to the movies instead of the reception. My mother decided not to come but didn't tell me. Scott said he was coming but still hadn't shown up. My sister fell asleep. And all the wedding boys were hiding in a dark room playing with a tiny baby bat. 

 I hope there isn't a baby bat anywhere near my wedding.

I guess a wedding dream/nightmare is a sign that it's been on my mind a lot. 

A lot. 

I've been selling Chloe's old clothes and other household junk as much as possible and putting all the cash away. We've been making some purchases with Eric's credit card and working hard to pay that back off as well. 

I ordered and received our guestbook: 

It's got a wooden cover, and brown pages on the inside. I quite love it. 

On Sunday, I met up with all my bridesmaids and we pretty much decided on the dress that we were getting. We took some of the girls' measurements and once I decide on the color, we'll probably be putting the order in. 

We picked out our tuxes, but not sure if we're completely sold on the colors. I need to take the fabric swatches from the bridesmaid dresses in to see how well they match. 

One of my bridesmaids and I got together one night to make burlap flowers. Now that the huge burn on my finger from the hot glue is gone, I'm ready for another round of crafting soon. 

I'm making my own bouquets, card box and centerpieces. It's a lot. I need to get it all done as soon as possible or knowing me, I'll find myself rushing to get it all done at the last minute. 

So things are coming along slowly, but I still don't have a ceremony site, and I'm starting to have nightmares. 

303 days to go. 

All Dressed Up - A Wedding Weekend

This weekend started off bad enough - Chloe woke up sick Saturday morning. She was supposed to go to her father's for the night. Eric and I had a wedding to attend. Luckily, her sore belly passed quickly and she went to her father's. She had a fever for most of the day but woke up find on Sunday morning. 

 Eric and I rushed around showering, packing and getting ready Saturday, then drove an hour away to where the wedding would be. A friend of his got a ride with me. I felt a little sick for about an hour and I thought it would kill the day, but it passed. 

It was a cool, windy day, but when we got to the ceremony location (a park) it was perfectly warm and sunny. Weddings tend to make me teary. This one was no exception. 

We managed to take a couple of pictures - when we were getting ready at Eric's mom's, and then another picture outside before the wedding started. 

I bought a new dress for the wedding - it may have been the perfect dress for the weather. With the wind that day, any of my flowy dresses or skirts would've flashed the world. This one stayed in place. 

We drove around with a couple of his friends after the ceremony - we bought some chocolate milk and animal crackers like the children that we are. Afterwards we went back to his Mom's to charge our phones. The boys played pool while I read for 30 seconds before giving up and just watched, half falling asleep. 

Then we went to the dinner and dance. Fun was had by all. I can't wait for our wedding dance. 

On Sunday we woke up (after sleeping in!) to his mom making breakfast. So we ate then she took us to pick up our car. Then! We went to meet up with all my bridesmaids. We didn't get a picture of everyone, but one of my friends, Melanie, always takes a picture when she goes anywhere so we got one of 4/6 of us. 

We discussed bridesmaid dresses, suits and eventually took measurements for some of us. Eric left earlier and drove my sister back to town, and I stayed with two of the girls. We went to Giant Tiger, Starbucks, then drove home, getting Chloe along the way. We hung out at my place for a bit, had dinner at East Side Marios, then visited for a little while longer after Chloe was in bed. Overall, a great day and a great weekend. 

Now it's Monday - a holiday - but I'm back to work anyway. Luckily it's a slow day, but that also means it's going by slow. Eric's home with both girls, and I look forward to getting home and laying around all night before bed. 

Chloe's First Time at an Amusement Park

I was considering doing it, but this morning I didn't put much thought into it - I just got us dressed, packed sweaters, raisins and a change of clothes and we left home just before 10am to go to a local amusement park. 

Being born and mostly raised in this area, I'd never been to it before. It's a bit pricey. But you know what's not that pricey? Bringing an almost 3 year old. I got her an all-access pass bracelet, and just bought me enough tickets to get on three rides with her. I was allowed to go on two of the kiddie rides with her for free anyway. I was just going to get us coupons to go on a few rides (25 coupons) but with the bracelet she went on 42 tickets worth of rides. Much better deal. 

She had a blast! 

She even went on the ferris wheel with me twice. She loved the carousel and nothing scared her at all. We were there for more than 4 hours and could've stayed longer if I wasn't getting a headache and getting tired myself. I'd say it was a huge success. She had some cranky moments but snapped out of them quickly. 

She was tired on the drive home, and wanted a nap but when I put her in her room for a nap she was quiet for a bit but ended up singing and never sleeping. 

I bet she'll sleep good for me tonight. I hope. 

8 Things I Did This Week

1. I used Mod Podge and food coloring to tint some mason jars. Some turned out okay, but a few of them had lumps that dried in place that were very noticeable. I'm still trying to figure a way to make them less noticeable. Arts and crafts are hard. 

2. I sold a bunch of stuff, and still trying to sell more. Almost every cent is going into our wedding savings. I'm determined to come out of this with as little debt as possible. 

3. I went to a work friend's birthday party and drank on a roof-top patio. It was pretty sweet. Then we had some Chinese food and I slept most of the day away Sunday while Eric worked. Oh, except I walked hungover to Eric's work to get the car. I needed McDonald's breakfast. 

4. Our fridge broke. We discovered the freezer wasn't freezing on Saturday afternoon, so we moved stuff to the deep freeze. When we got home at 1am Sunday, we realized the fridge also wasn't working. We threw out a nice amount of food. Someone is supposed to look at it today, but that's still 48 hours with no fridge. And I wanted to do groceries yesterday. I'm hungry and were lacking in food options. 

5. I was super sad about the passing of Robin Williams. He's always been a favorite of mine. We finally had the time last night to watch Patch Adams - also one of my favorite movies. So good. RIP, Robin Williams. 

6. I've stopped drinking caffeine on a regular basis. I still drink it somedays, just not all. I find it makes me feel icky some days. Other days it makes me feel great. It's saving me money though. 

7. I've also noticed that eating greasy/unhealthy foods makes me feel icky too. I guess I'm just not that young anymore. I've been trying to have more smoothies and opt for something a little healthier when given the option (banana whole grain muffins vs. chocolate donut). I think it's helping a bit. 

8. I've been trying to arrange to get the wedding girls together at the end of the month. It's hard. But maybe we can at least get a few of us together. Everyone will be in the area on August 30/31, but all with different plans. We have a wedding on the 30th. 

Busy Summer

This summer has been busy! 

I'm overwhelmed with wedding planning. So overwhelmed. 

I'm working two jobs - both with the same hotel company, but both are insanely busy everyday. 

At home, Chloe keeps me busy. We're potty training (and she's doing great!) and we're trying to get out as much as possible - to the parks, the pool, walking around downtown, shopping, anything to keep us out of the house as much. 

She's still a crazy bundle of words. Always talking, always surprising me. On August 4th she told me "I want green puffy treats. I love green. My hair is not green. It's orange." Always random. 

Big Brother keeps me busy in the evenings. 

I look forward to things slowing down when summer ends. 

Chloe & Potty Training

It doesn't seem like that long ago (but it was) that I was talking about Chloe and her tricks to avoid potty training. Eight quick months have passed and basically nothing changed. Until one day a week or two ago. Chloe had a bit of heat rash so I made her go diaper-free for a few hours at home. But then I decided to make her drink a lot of water. When she asked for a diaper I knew it was soon time, but she was too worked up. I got her to sit on the potty and threw a ball back and forth with her until she went. 

After that, she didn't want to go again for awhile on Thursday July 17th Madi was over. And she's been potty training for years, so we had them both without a diaper. Chloe spent the whole day without diaper and only had a few accidents. The next day she was at the sitter's, and then today and yesterday she was at her father's house. 

But finally, it's a start. I don't plan on going back to diapers. Wish us luck. 

Chloe, my shadow

My kid is super attached to me. 

She's my little best friend. She's always nearby. She always wants me to play with her. To read to her. To dress her. To help her eat. EVERYTHING. 

On one hand, I love that. She's so much fun a lot of the time. 

On the other hand, I'd love to be able to get dressed in the morning without helping her eat breakfast. I'd love for Eric to be able to dress her in the morning so I might be able to do something with my hair more often than twice a month. She'll let Eric do anything for her if I'm not home. If I'm home, it's all about me. He'll try to put her boots on to leave the house, she'll get mad and take the boots to me. 

Most days it's easier to just do it than to listen to her cry or get mad because I won't. 

It's one of those phases that I both hate and love. 

Toddler years are fun. 

Wedding Stuff

Wedding Planning: 

Venue: Booked and paid in full. 

Photographer: Booked and paid in full. 

Dress: Paid for, hanging in the closet waiting to be altered and cleaned. 

Bridal party: Chosen. 

DJ: Booked, and deposit paid. 

Make-up Artist: Booked and deposit paid. 

Hotel room: Booked. 

Rings: Paid in full, waiting on their arrival. 

Colors: Eric's okay with light pink if I so choose. 

So basically,all necessities are paid for except Eric's clothing. And our credit card debt is minimal. We only used Eric's credit card for a portion of the rings. Looks like we're almost ready for a wedding. 

Ps, the one year anniversary of our engagement was yesterday. I remembered it all last week, but it slipped my mind yesterday. Eric surprised me with a rose after work. I'm not sure who was more excited, me or Chloe. 

Things That Have Been Happening Lately...

- I've been working quite a bit.

- I've been trying not to be addicted to Starbucks. (I work directly above one.)

- I have really bad baby fever, but not planning a second child anytime soon, don't worry.

- I've been thinking about wedding planning a bit. Just a bit.

- I don't have much else to say, so here are more Chloe quotes.

----------------------------------------

May 4
While changing her diaper. "My butt." She giggles. "Cute." Giggles again, then serious, "But don't touch it. It dirty."

May 16
"I see the park. Now I can be happy."

May 18
"Mommy can you give me a ponytail?"
I don't answer her. After a minute...
"Mommy, I asked you nicely!"

May 20 - 2:00am
I hear Chloe's bedroom door open but she doesn't come in my room so I meet her in the hallway.
"Mommy I want to talk with you."

May 20
"Mommy, I think I want to be sorry now."

May 26
"Eric I wanna talk with you."
"What do you want to talk about?"
"My mommy."
"I like your mommy."
"My mommy's cranky. She won't talk to me."

May 29
At a restaurant with Chloe and Madi, they babble to each other and somehow get on the topic of Santa and Christmas. Chloe says "Merry Christmas." Then later...
"Eric, are you Santa?"
And later, while Eric was gone paying the bill: "Mommy I want to go with Santa."

Things Chloe Says...

Chloe is so full of words and fun these days. I've started keeping track of some of the funny things she says in my phone when they happen.

Random things she says a lot:

"That's not how you play!"
"Mommy, why you do that?" - Usually when I do something she doesn't like when playing.

Mommy: Are you my girl?
Chloe: No, I Chloe.


March 25, 2014
Mommy: What's up, Chloe baloney?
Chloe: What's up, Mommy baloney?

April 9, 2014
Chloe: The water's gone down the hole.
Mommy: Then where does it go?
Chloe: The pyramids.

April 16, 2014
Chloe and Eric picked me up from work. I got in the car:
Chloe: Hi Mommy, did you have a good work?

April 22, 2014
(Chloe got a new stuffed Diego doll)
Mommy: Do you like your new Diego doll?
Chloe: Yeahhh. He's beautiful!

April 28, 2014
Eric: Are you jealous?
Chloe: No I not, I'M CHLOE!

May 3, 2014
Chloe and I were playing in my bed with a couple of boxes and their lids. I had one and she had one. We traded. Hers had a big hair in it, so while I had it, I picked the hair out and threw it away. When we traded back, she opened her hair-less box and said:
"Oh no. Did you eat it?"
A minute later she tries to pull hair out of my head to put back in the box.

May 3rd - "Look, an oval!"
We can thank an iPhone app for that knowledge.

May 3, 2014
Chloe and I made a fort and were playing in it. We needed to hide because she said the witch was coming.
Mommy: Why do we need to hide?
Chloe: Because the witch is angry.
Mommy: Why is she angry?
Chloe: Because she's mean.
Mommy: What is she going to do if she finds us?
Chloe: She going to smash us.

While in the fort I also taught her that Princesses is the proper word, not Pinpesses. I love her pronunciation so much better though.

May 3, 2014
Chloe's belly started hurting so she needed a bandaid put on it. That didn't stop the pain, so she thought she needed another.

Early morning wake up call

In Chloe's room, we normally have a child-proof lock on her door handle so she can't get out and roam the apartment in the middle of the night. Even though it's a tiny apartment, I still sleep with the baby monitor on so I can hear her better, but I don't hear her door opening. 

She also likes to open and shut her door a lot throughout the day when she's playing. So we took the handle off yesterday since everyone was home for the day. At night we forgot to put it back on. 

I was in a really deep sleep when I heard a noise beside me this morning. I open my eyes to find Chloe staring at me next to my bed. I sleepily pull her up on my bed and she hugs me then cuddles down with me for a minute. In typical Chloe fashion, she can't lay still for longer than a few seconds. So I finally look the the clock. 6am.

We weren't due to get up until 6:45am. I thought it would've been closer to that time. 

I quickly got her a fresh diaper, a new drink and told her it wasn't time to get up yet. I tucked her back into bed and drifted in and out of sleep myself for the next little while. It was still early, but a little closer to the alarm going off, even though I had set it for 15 minutes later in hopes of falling back to sleep, when she started singing in her bed. One of my favorite noises. It was early, but I could even appreciate it that morning. 

I finally dragged my butt out of bed and crawled into bed with her. She wanted to read a book for all of a minute before she was ready to get up and play. 

I'm kind of tired today. 

But there are much worse ways to wake up. 

Even so, Eric's task for the day is to take her curtains down and hang them up better. The sun shining on her face this morning is probably the reason she was up so early. Normally I have to wake her up. 

Things are hard lately

Earlier this week. I bought a second-hand Diego plush toy. It matches the Dora one I bought for Chloe maybe about a year ago. She absolutely loves it, and plays with both of them all the time now. And of course her little Boots the Monkey too. Sometimes even her Pikachu doll plays too. I spent $5 on Diego, $2 on Dora because of the paint in her hair, and a few dollars on Boots on Ebay. Overall, the best $10ish dollars ever spent, because she's in love. I love seeing her so happy. 

Things haven't been too fun lately. Eric's job shut down. He found a new job a few days ago, but it's going to part-time for quite awhile, and by the time he starts the new job, he'll have had 3 weeks off with no pay. 

To add to that fun, his ex is fighting him in court soon for child support payments (which he already makes, but not sure how he'll afford with his loss of income), for 50% of his daughter's daycare, which he also couldn't afford with no job, or even with one. When she was in our care, the government helped us with the costs because we're low income. She doesn't qualify because her and her boyfriend make a lot more money than us. She's also fighting for a very strict visitation schedule. Madi will need to be picked up between 7:30-8:20am on the days he takes her, and she wants it to be the same days, always. He already committed to taking her all Thursdays a long time ago. We got a huge book in the mail yesterday from her lawyer, complete with texts and emails they've exchanged. He's obviously going into this court appointment with their intentions to make him look like the worst father in the world. There were even some blatant lies in the book. It's insanely stressful. In the document it states that he owe her 50% of all daycare costs since she stopped living with us in October. 

If she wins and he's ordered to pay the child support and daycare effective immediately, I don't know where they expect the money to come from. He's doing all he can to find a full-time job, and it's not his fault his former job shut down. We're terrified. 

It doesn't help that since becoming common-law, the government decided we need to pay back all money they've given to me since we started living together. You think they would've given me the heads up on that when I specifically called and asked when they needed to know about our marital status changed. They said when we became common-law, aka a year. I guess they just forgot to mention that they'd take away all money from me from the day we started living together. That was a nice bill to get in the mail, considering we had two children in our care for most of those months. 

To add to that, I've started waking up 2 out of the last 3 nights with a toothache. It's from a tooth that was pulled but they left a piece of it in long ago. I'm calling first thing Monday to see when I can get into the dentist. 

The stress just won't stop. 

As soon as I manage to push one thing out of my mind, we get a new letter in the mail either from a lawyer or the government to kick us in the ass again. 

We're pretty sure that with all the money everyone thinks we owe them, our wedding may not happen anytime soon. So we'll be out even more money in the deposits we made, but we shall see. The officiant is already paid in full, and I already have the dress so maybe it'll happen. 

I'm tired of stressing. Usually I just try not to think about any of it.

The toothache is the hardest to ignore. 

Our Easter Weekend Away

This Easter was a great one. We spent the weekend away, staying with some of my closest friends (a married couple). The drive up was difficult - Chloe was not impressed with the sun in her eyes, and kept throwing sippy cups, toys, even treats we gave her as a distraction. I was relieved when we finally got there. She doesn't know my friends too well, since they live so far away, so I tried to explain to her who they were - that they were at her birthday party. That wasn't a great idea because she then thought we were going to her birthday party. Luckily she forgot about that by the time we got there. 

Immediately when we arrived, I realized I forgot to pack pjs for Chloe. Fail.

And all stores would be closed the next day. We rushed to the grocery store and bought her two pairs of pjs. 

When we got back, I realized I forgot mine too. Double fail. I wore Eric's pj pants to sleep in all weekend, which were way too big and not very comfortable. 

On our first full day there, Chloe decorated cookies and we just visited with my friends and their family. We went out for a lunch, then afterwards split up and Eric and I took Chloe to a park and the car wash. She enjoyed both. After that, we met up with people at a different park. Later on, we went for some frozen yogurt. We all loved it. 

Once we were home and Chloe was in bed, we watched The Heat. I loved it. 

The next day was zoo day! We got up and ready and went to the zoo. It was colder than expected, and Chloe didn't seem overly excited, but she didn't complain or whine. She loved the Easter egg hunt (see the top right picture below) and especially the Cheetos she got in her treat bag. 

Afterwards, my friend was amazing enough to watch Chloe so Eric and I could shop. Shopping wasn't very successful. I need jeans, but apparently I don't have a size. I'm between sizes. We ended up just buying hand sanitizer and train tracks at Toys R Us. 

That evening we had dinner at my friends parents' house. They are also like family to me so the company was great, and the food was amazing! So good. 

And that was our last night there. 

We woke up Sunday and Chloe found a trail of... well, see for yourself on our YouTube video outside the bedroom door. 

She loved the egg hunt, loved her Little People car, her beach ball from another friend who lives in the Dominican. She especially loved the chocolate chicken that had a chocolate egg inside filled with Smarties. She devoured those Smarties. We hung out until around noon before we hit the road to come home. 

About halfway home, when Eric was paying for gas, Chloe told me she was sad. I asked why, she said because she wanted her Daddy. Luckily, he was home so she spent about 3 hours with him that day. She had to take her beach ball with her to his house.  

Monday was back to work, for a 10 day stretch. Not looking forward to it, but at least two days are already down. 

Family, as of now.

Sometimes it amazes me how much things change, and how quickly. 

Although it seems like just yesterday that we took Madi into our home, it seems like just yesterday that she also moved out. I used to think of it as having two children. I thought that way for a bit even after she left. But we started seeing her less and less. I was no longer allowed to have her in my care alone since her mother deemed me 'unfit' out of no where. 

I still love her like family, but I no longer think of her as my daughter in the same way. She will always be Eric's daughter. At one point I would've assumed she would always be a sister to Chloe, but more and more it seems like the bond is one-sided. Chloe absolutely adores Madi and asks for her all the time. Madi, however, is quite indifferent to me and Chloe. I only see Madi for about an hour or less a week, but she spends every Thursday with Chloe all day, and still she runs past Chloe and asks for the tv immediately upon her arrival. To the point that it even hurts Chloe's feelings at time. 

What I once considered to be 'my family' is drifting apart more and more with each passing week. 

Even my own family is breaking apart a little. My mother spent a little over a weeek with us, sharing a room with Chloe, before she moved quite far away. Chloe got used to having her around, and asks for her and my nephew all the time. She doesn't understand yet that Grannie is far away. We probably won't see her again until my wedding, which is still a little over a year away. 

My mother and my brother are both living in the same spot, far away. My sister is an hour away, but we don't speak much. My grandfather is still in my hometown, about two hours away, but it's hard to get over to visit him very often. 

It's like I'm losing more and more family by the day. 

Luckily, I'll always have Chloe. At least until she's a teenager and decides to hate me. But for now she's my best friend, my favorite person to spend time with. 

And then there's Eric. Who used to take Chloe to daycare on the bus when I worked too early to do so. Who makes supper for us when he works late, because I hate cooking. Who puts up with my crazy mood swings. Who took care of me when I was sad that my mother was leaving. Who takes care of Chloe like she's his own. 

That's my family now. It's small. It makes me sad that we seem to have 'lost' everyone else, but I'm quite happy with the ones who are left. 

10 Pictures

I saw this on someone else's blog about posting the 10 latest pictures on your cell phone. So I wanted to jump on the bandwagon. Here are my 10 latest pictures (excluded pictures of clothes I was trying to sell). 

Eric sent me this picture of the girls settling in for a nap, together for the first time in the double bed. They did not nap. 

Chloe reading a Dora book. 

Yes! 

Chloe double-fisting. 

Chloe with her crazy hair. She  got paint in her hair at daycare and there wasn't proper time for washing before we went to town to pick up Eric. And of course she pulled out and lose her hair elastic right before we went into the store. 

One of our first nice, spring-like days :)

I gave her a Push Pop to keep her entertained during our hour-long car ride to a friends house last weekend. 

We were pretending to go to sleep with Eric's huge pj pants as our blanket. 

Chloe decided I needed all the puzzle pieces on my chest. 

Annnnd I saved this from the internet cause I love it. 

Easter is Coming

I had a few bad days lately, and was feeling pretty crappy. Then that passed. I've been so happy these past few days. 

Chloe's been so cute and so smart. I love hanging out with that little kid. She's so random. 

After bath...

Chloe: The water all gone down the hole.

Me: Then where does it go?

Chloe: The pyramids.

You can thank Dora the Explorer for that one. 

She identifies a lot of letters of the alphabet. And all basic colors. I can have conversations with her. It's such fun. Eric's friend Matt was locked out yesterday so we went to pick him up. I asked Chloe if she wanted to go get her best friend Matt. She got so excited and wouldn't stop talking about her best friend Matt. Until we picked him up, then she got shy for awhile. 

Next weekend is Easter. One of my favorite holidays. I already bought a couple of toys and outfits. Just need to stock up on chocolate. That's something I am not able to do in advance. 

I have no family left in the area (except my sister), and Eric loses his job next week so we've planned a weekend away to visit my friends (who are like family) and hopefully some family. I couldn't be more excited to spend Easter with these people. 

And have I mentioned Eric loses his job? By no fault of his own, the place is just closing. It sucks big time. He had decent pay, hours we were used to, and benefits. I'm getting benefits set up through my job, but we still need him to be working as soon as possible. At least this gives him a chance to get a job closer to home, since his job is as far away as it gets without actually leaving town. 

And we also found out that since we're recently common law, we owe back some money to the government that they never bothered to mention when we changed our marital status. Luckily we have the money set aside so we can pay it. So long, half of our wedding fund. 

But I'm still happy. Despite those things, and other things that are trying to bring us down. I'm sure I'll get worked up about it someday soon :p

What I've Been Watching

I haven't done this in so long. While I'm certain no one cares, I'm going to make this post anyway. 

Desperate Housewives

I've been watching this show since high school and only recently did I finally sit down and watch it from beginning to end. So amazing. I miss it now that it's gone. This show is so addicting, that Eric got addicted to it. Now he no longer makes fun of my "girl shows". Win win. 

10/10

Gossip Girl

It's been a long time coming, but now that this show is on Canadian Netflix, I'm finally going to find out how the series ends. I've watched almost the entire thing a couple of years ago but it was too hard to find episodes online because I had no cable. I started rewatching from the beginning this time, and I'm addicted all over again. 

9/10

How I Met Your Mother

One of my favorite shows since 2005 is over. I am so sad about that. There were a lot of mixed reviews about the finale, mostly bad reviews though. At first, I wasn't a fan but the more I thought about it, the more okay with it I am. The show started getting cheesy from seasons 7-9, but the last couple of episodes made up for it. I just wish they would've focused on Ted and the mother a little more. They had amazing chemistry. 

8/10

Big Brother Canada 2

I've been a Big Brother fan for awhile. Things are just about to get really interesting in this season and I can't wait. 

Have you been watching anything good lately? 

Chloe, my little talker

Chloe is all words lately. You hear so much about the terrible twos but rarely to you hear about how amazing this time can be. 

She plays make-believe like nobody's business. Some of her favorite make-believe games include making things pretending to sleep, whether it be her toys, or me and Eric. She says "Close eyes, go to sleep!" like the perfect little mother. 

Yesterday she was playing with her Little People princesses and I was using a rubber dinosaur pretending to drink out of a dish. It soon turned into a game where I had to ask for more milk and I wasn't allowed to  forget to say 'please', and she started responding with "Here you go, Honey."

And she knows the rules of playing, as she told Eric a few times just this morning "That's not how you play this!"

I started letting her help me cook a little. A few nights ago I let her help stir the Hamburger Helper sauce in with the milk and water, with no heat on of course. Her exact words were "Mmm soup. I love soup."

Yesterday when I changed her, I put her in a skort from her summer clothing stash since our place is usually really warm. She didn't like it at first, I guess because it's hard to open your legs really wide in a skirt. But then she discovered pockets. She pushed her hands in and said really excitedly "I love pockets!"

Yesterday she was looking at a picture of me, my mother and step-father from a few years ago. "That's my mommy." She said. "That's my Grannie. She's so happy." She paused and looked for a few seconds longer. "That's my Grannie. She's so happy to see me."

When we leave in the morning before Eric, she looks at him and says "You taking the bus?" Yes, he is. 

Today she looked at him very seriously when we were dropping him off at work. "You go get Madi?"

When we read her favorite books and watch her favorite shows, she's great at knowing what comes next and verbalizing it. Today she said the word 'No' to the tune of 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'. I don't know if that's impressive at that age, but it was cute. 

It's crazy how much she talks all of a sudden. I love it, and I want to remember all of it forever. 

Bullet Points of My Life Lately

- Chloe was sick - fever, coughing, crankiness. Luckily the worst of it was Thursday and Friday, when she was home with my mom and Eric. She was fine to go back to the babysitter's on Monday. 

- I was a little sick too, but mostly just a head cold that passed quickly. 

- Mom's been staying with us for over a week now. Tonight she flies away to move. For good. I don't think we'll see her until my wedding in 2015. 

- My nephew was with us also from Wednesday night until Monday morning. Madi was over Thursday and Friday through the day. Needless to say, I'm happy I was working. Wayyy too many people for me. 

- We've been working hard at our bead business. I don't post about it in here anymore because I don't want google searches bringing people to this blog, like it was before. And for that reason I even started a bead blog. Our custom people are a lot of fun to make. 

- The new job is going great. Most days are flying by. No complaints there. Yet :p