Canada Day and recent fun :)

I may have mentioned this before, but I'll say it again: I *LOVE* Canada Day. I am so proud to be Canadian, and I love celebrating our country. There are usually a lot of fun, free, festive events going on for Canada Day and while I love partaking in them, this year we had a bit of a more low-key day. Since it didn't end up being a "long weekend" for us as Brian worked on Monday June 30 and had July 1 off, we took it easy and got some things done around the house. We are having a bit of a heat wave right now (30+ degrees and SO humid) so it has been a bit hard on the girls. Lucy particularly minds the heat and it is a bit hard to cool her off and feed her successfully, but she has been OK. They're forecasting a hurricane this weekend so that might cool things off a bit ;)

For Canada Day, friends of ours hosted a big BBQ and there were lots of fun people there, including some nice little girls for Molly to play with as well as a kitty AND a puppy and many people to hold our precious little baby too ;) Before the BBQ, Molly just played outside in her new pool all morning ($20 at Target, amazing deal) ;)

So this week I'd like to share some of my favourite Canadian "things".

First of all, here are some of my favourite Canadian bloggers:

Haley at Truth be Told
Alex at She's his Co-Pilot
Tracey at Just a Trace (she has a few amazing series on her blog)
Melissa at Making Melissa
Renee at So Fill your Heart
Laura at Mommy Miracles (a real-life friend ;))

Some of my favourite Canadian songs/musicians:

1) Cape Breton musicians (I am grouping this because I have many favourites including Natalie MacMaster, The Rankins, The Barra MacNeils, Ashley MacIsaac, Beolach, Coig, Slainte Mhath, etc etc) but here are two of my favourite songs: Clumsy Lover Set and Feel the Same way too
2) Joel Plaskett (favourite song Face of the Earth, close second Nowhere with You and best Canadian song True Patriot Love)
3) Blue Rodeo (Head over Heels)
4) The Tragically Hip (Fireworks)
5) Great Big Sea (Ordinary Day)
6) Arcade Fire (Wake Up)
7) Barenaked Ladies (Falling for the First Time)
8) Sarah McLachlan (World on Fire)
9) For Molly - Raffi (Baby Beluga)
10) The Arkells :)

Some of my recommended Canadian tourist destinations (that I've checked out before):
1) Banff National Park (less than an hour from my hometown of Calgary)
2) Calgary (particulary during Stampede which starts today!)
3) Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia
4) Niagara Falls (might be a bit obvious but SO amazing)

5) Vancouver Island (right Haley?) - SO beautiful
6) Quebec City / Old Quebec / Montreal
7)  Halifax (because I am here, of course) haha
8) St. John's - visited once for 5 days and fell in love with Newfoundland
9) PEI - a small but beautiful province
10) Interior BC - love this area around the Okanagan
and 11) Ottawa - I almost moved here before I met Brian and I love the city

Some great links I saw around the web this week for Canada Day:

1) Chris Hadfield and his brother's Canadian music video
2)  100 Great Canadian songs
3) Canada Day 2014 in Photos
4) Things you can only buy in Canada

And this video of a puppy trying to see a new baby is also hilarious :)

I'll be back soon to share some of our fun recent toddler activities - I thought about including it here but I think a full post is in order for that :)

Happy belated Canada Day, everyone!! XO

Dropping in on a Friday again :)

Hi there!!

I have finally come to terms with the fact that I just won't be blogging regularly for a little while longer. I am still reading all of my favourite blogs and trying to comment when something resonates with me, but it has been hard to keep up. Shannon over at Life After "I Dew" wrote a post this week that really describes how I feel...basically when I have free time, blogging is not a priority. I am either doing a fun craft with Molly, cooking, cleaning or organizing our house, or sleeping (usually at about 8:30-9pm every night, HAHA). It might be better someday, but I'm not sure. I am trying to keep a personal journal going just so that I can remember these days and some of the things we have done.

Anyway, I do have some favourites to share this week to link up with Amanda at Meet at the Barre!! I love her Friday posts SO much...I always end up finding a good recipe and some good music and laugh at her funnies ;)

Favourite Pics of my Girls:

Big Sister/Little Sister :)

Favourite Recent Recipe:
Last weekend I made this delicious vegetarian chili (added lentils to make it thicker too) and this very yummy cornbread. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures, but we all enjoyed it and Brian doesn't typically like meatless chili so I was impressed!!!

Favourite New Music:
Coldplay's new album Ghost Stories...especially A Sky Full of Stars

Favourite Show that Molly has been watching:
The Hive, which is a British show on Netflix about a family of bees. Ahhh so cute!! See?

Favourite Show We've been Watching:
Still Homeland. We just finished Season 3 and Season 4 isn't out until October. What an amazing series!!! Now we're watching old episodes of House on Netflix :)

Favourite LOL this week:

Favourite new purchase:
We technically got them for free, but Brian and I both got new cell phones this week. Sony Xperia Z1s. They are awesome so far, but I'm still figuring it out a bit. They are similar to our Samsung phones since they are both Androids, but the Xperia has some pretty cool features.

Favourite recent read:
One More thing, by BJ Novak of the Office fame (Ryan on The Office). It's a collection of short stories - so I haven't finished it but I have gotten into some of the stories and it's very entertaining so far!

Favourite Mommy Lifehack:
In the mid-morning when Lucy is napping, Molly watches 4 2-minute clips on Youtube (Wheels on the Bus x2, Row Row Row your Boat and Hickory Dickory Dock [my fave]) and I get to shower with the door open 10 feet away. Works out great for both of us ;) Another great Mommy lifehack: Molly and I "work out" together - doing HIIT for 20 mins and some strength training. She loves to jump around to the music I put on! :)

Favourite Newly Discovered Blogs:
Kids Activities Blog - amazing resources for keeping kids entertained and educated!
Lindsay's List - some great posts about being a mother & fitting it all in!

Favourite recent life moments:
1) Brian is a diehard Habs fan so Molly has been wearing her Habs hairclips and t-shirt all this week to support his hockey team in the playoffs. She is obsessed.
2) Lucy is smiling these days! I love it!
3) Molly had a little bout of Hand Foot and Mouth disease and I caught it too but we are all seemingly on the mend now :)
4) My sister graduated from Med school yesterday and won an award! I'm so proud of her!!
5) And here's Molly's contribution to this post: aaaaaaa ("I push A!")

Check out all the other Friday Favourites here! BTW I love how I spell favourites the Canadian way for an American link up ;) Oh well!! Potato, potato! ;)

Hope all the Americans out there have a great long weekend...ours was last weekend but since I am home everyday and Brian has to go into work that day to meet a deadline, it was pretty normal around here for us ;)

Favourite Things: March

Hellooooo Wednesday! I've been waiting for this day for awhile! I'm going to the doctor this morning (regular pregnancy check up) but I really need her to check out my extremely itchy baby belly!! It is driving me nuts these days!! I think it's just winter dry skin and stretching, but it is unbearably uncomfortable and I can't wait to see if there is something I can do to relieve it. Ahhhh.

I had a post like this planned for this week anyway, so I'm going to link it up with Emily at Beauty and the Greek and Kylie at Liploss and Lunges for March Favourite Things!!!

1) Banana and PB wraps

I have always loved these as an easy sandwich for lunch or for a quick post-workout snack, but I've had them mid-morning lately and they definitely keep me going. Easy to make! Today it's for lunch!

1 Whole Wheat wrap (any size)
2 TB natural Peanut Butter (in Canada, THIS one is my favourite)
1 banana

Roll and eat. YUM.

2) Come to Me by the Goo Goo Dolls


I had heard this song when it first came out and forgot about it. THEN, Amanda mentioned it on her blog a few weeks ago and I listened to it again and FELL IN LOVE. I've probably listened to it about 5 times a day since then. :)

3) House of Cards (Season 2!)
We'd be watching Season 2 faster if I could bring myself to stay up later at night. We're about halfway through it now, and it's not disappointing. I have never really been a huge Kevin Spacey fan until watching this show.

4) Fruit, Fruit Smoothies, and especially Strawberries

I've had a fruit smoothie with spinach every morning for about the last month-6 weeks. It keeps me going until lunch, and provides me with protein and nutrients. Delicious. We also got some amazing strawberries this week from the US (I like to buy local but not very possible in March in Canada!) and they are so red, juicy and flavourful that I might have had a whole container of them myself a few days ago...

AND, here's my fruit salad from last night's pancake Tuesday supper!

The most delicious thing I've eaten all week - leftovers sitting in the fridge for me at work!

5) Pregnancy pillow AKA "Big C"

(Source)

I slept with my normal memory foam head pillow and a body pillow for the first 7ish months of this pregnancy because I turned over a lot. I transitioned back to my pregnancy pillow a few weeks ago, and so far, it has really helped my neck and back pain. It just supports everything so well and allows for the best possible night's sleep. My only issue is when I need to turn over, because the whole pillow has to come with me. Brian's only issue is that it the pillow kind of counts as a third person (4th counting the baby?) in our bed, hahaha.

6) Sporcle.com triva website

I used to love this site and followed it regularly when I was in school. I've done a few quizzes here and there lately. I LOVE trivia. My father in law has recently started going to a trivia night at one of our local pubs that he raves about constantly...it makes me miss the days I had a big group of friends at trivia night downtown. Sporcle gives me a good fix when I have time though! There is an app for it too.

7) Squeez'ems reusable squeeze bags for kids

Source

I'd been eyeing something similar to these on Amazon for awhile, but then I came across these ones at Walmart last week. Molly loves fruit smoothies (she also has one everyday) and pureed fruits and vegetables. These reusable packages are great for making your own "baby food" and easy to take on the go. I put applesauce in hers, or yogurt, and we can take it in the car or she can wander around with a limited likelihood of mess!!!

What are some of your favourite things these days?? I am hoping that my April post can say something along the lines of "My favourite thing right now is spring weather!!" ;)  What are the chances? hehe. I'm actually pretty sure I'll be saying then that my favourite things are 1) not being pregnant anymore 2) raspberry beer, and 3) sushi. Can't wait! :)

10 Things on my mind today

1) Very few people have been blessed with the ability to whistle/sing in tune. This is particularly true for Sleigh Ride...sigh. Someone I know has been whistling it CONSTANTLY...and out of tune.

2) Public transit either brings out the best or the worst in people. These days, it seems like the worst as people scramble for seats on the bus...but I have seen some kind gestures too.

3) It is usually best to assume that my 2 year old wants to try something herself first, and then ask for help if she needs it. This goes for getting dressed, getting into chairs without being lifted, etc. etc. etc. "Me do!" is a common phrase out of her mouth these days.

4) Marriage is not easy. I always knew this, to an extent, but we have had a long few weeks with my husband working a lot of overtime, so I am feeling like we need to rest and re-charge over the holidays. Marriage requires constant patience. I also discovered this blog/book in the past few weeks that has really changed some of my thinking (and self thoughts) about my husband.

5) A book is more of an actual escape to me than TV. If I'm watching something on TV, even if it's gripping, I find myself turning to my phone as well, or my computer, or just generally distracted. With a book, all my focus is on the pages. I also found this blog post interesting this week.

6) My first pregnancy was easier, in many ways, than this one. Fortunately, I do not feel exhausted all the time as I did a couple of months ago...but I am finding it harder to do certain things such as pick up toddler toys at the end of the day. Also, there is that whole caring for an independent little person each day on top of my own self-care...that definitely amplifies the lack of free time ;)

7) On the same note, it takes hardly anything to make me cry during this pregnancy. And I don't usually mean crying over my own sadness about something. I mean things like this WestJet Christmas video:

or this:

James Van Der Beek posted this on Instagram this week. Link here.

or this:

Basically any photo of a soldier reuniting with a family member has the same effect on me: tears

Yep, all tears, all the time. And in some ways, I actually like those cathartic tears that are for someone else's sorrows or joy. Furthermore, even though I only really watched two seasons of Glee, I've been listening to a lot of their Christmas music this year and my heart breaks for Lea Michele and listening to her sing duets with Cory Monteith (R.I.P.) I want to get caught up on the show someday, but I'm not sure if I can watch the tribute show for him (definitely can't while I'm pregnant or I will be soaked in tears!!)

8) I really wish that all saxophone players could either sound like Kenny G, or Braddy G (my extremely musical cousin Brad who doesn't like that nickname, haha!). The saxophones in my concert band have been absolutely demolishing the most beautiful Christmas piece ever written, O Holy Night. Each time I leave rehearsal, I have to listen to version for a little bit to get it out of my mind. Now, obviously, we cannot all be accomplished musicians, and I'm not anywhere near a professional french horn player, but it is painful to the ears.

9) Yoga is good for the mind, body and soul.

10) Keeping this image in mind anytime I am frustrated instantly vanishes it and makes me long to see my little toddler. She has transitioned into her big-girl bed like a total champ, and I love her with all my heart.