It's About Time...

So, while I have a few minutes, I thought I would take the time to write a little story about what has been going on the last month and a half of our lives. I have tried updating several times, but always get pulled away to tend to something else.

Starting where we left off....

One day I thought it would be fun if Camia tried on my dress before I vacuum 'sealed' it in a bag to put into storage. She thought it was pretty fun too.

We tried to get her on her new bike, but it just doesn't work. She doesn't have the strength in her legs to pedal this sucker. I am sure this bike weighs about 15 or 20 lbs, it's pretty stinking heavy. Ryan tried to show her how to pedal, but she just couldn't do it.

She was going down a little slope here, so she let herself coast, and then it was a bit easier for her to pedal with the extra momentum going behind her.

In the end she just likes to push it instead of ride it.

So, it's been sitting in the shed, waiting for another year I think before we try again. In the meantime she's been making her trike work even though it does seem a bit small sometimes. She can spend all day outside playing on her trike when we have the sun or dry weather for it.

I have been wanting to post these pictures to show off my tulips and daffodils, but again that's not done because of my lack of time for posting. Or some serious procrastination, I haven't fully decided yet. So, here they are anyways even though now they are almost done for the year too.

I also wanted to post this,

a daffodil in it's prime. Fresh, bright vibrant flowers always make me happy (those of you who were at my wedding would know this if you saw my fabulous flowers...here is a refresher if you don't remember :)

I also found this lovely little lady in someone's garden.

And this also was taken for my blog to prove that spring was really on it's way though it was/is still hard to see sometimes with the cold dreary weather we've been having.

I also found this lovely little critter on a walk with my friends on the Discovery Trail in Abbotsford. (Such a cool trail, by the way, it goes all through Abbotsford, and is in places where I never thought a natural habitat could exist.)

Camia is at such a fun age right now and I am loving it. I find I am addicted to kids craft aisle's in the stores, even if I don't buy anything, I love looking at the things we can do. Summer is coming (I think), so all the toys and other fun summer stuff have come out and fill the shelves everywhere. Even though bubbles were fun last year, this year it seems more fun. I have also decided that it is worth it to buy bubbles as home made bubbles just don't perform as well as the store ones.

This year we have decided that we are going to take a vacation from vacationing - or at least not do as much for financial reasons and we did so much last year. This year we have decided that we would take a day here and there and have family days, take day drips, see things and do things together as a family. Or, like the Thursday before Good Friday, have a picnic at White Rock. We are both excited about this option and look forward to our summer more this year. Ryan took Thursday off and didn't return to work until the following Tuesday. We had a fabulous time together and I was sad when the end came. At least from now until December except for June there is a long weekend every month, so I have something to look forward to. We packed up a picnic lunch this time and sat on the beach and ate it while feeding the seagulls. The water was way out, so we could walk on the beach, picking up sea shells on our way. Camia loved to pick them and then throw them into the ocean, so she didn't bring any home. I, however, took 5 home. Whenever I go to the ocean I always am on the lookout for those twisty cool looking shells, and am never able to find them. This time, however, I found so many of them! I just had to take a few home with me.

I quite often around this time of year see pictures with kids in a dandelion fields, and I have been wanting to do the same thing with Camia. While at White Rock, I saw a bunch of dandelions, so I tried to get my shot.

Obligatory family photo:

I've mentioned before that it melts my heart when Camia sings he bdetime prayers. I also love watching it too. So one time I decided to take a photo of it...

And then I thought while I am at it, I would like to take another shot...I love this girl!

I have not been very loyal with my camera these days. I have been a lazy photographer, so I think that's all for my pictures. Even though I used to do it all the time, I find it a nuisance to drag my SLR along with me wherever I go. I've requested for my birthday a point and shoot that I can keep in my purse at all times so I am never without a camera.

In other news....

I've been organizing - still - and am feeling a little overwhelmed. But I am making progress. I started a food blog with my friends which you can find over athttp://bonappetitechroniclesof4curiouscooks.blogspot.com/ if you want to see.

Camia has kept me seriously occupied, I don't get much of anything done in the way of artsy anything anymore. It's sometimes even hard to keep up with my domestic abilities. We went through another rough patch a few weeks ago that had me at my wits end, but we've gotten over that hump and are enjoying each other's company again. I describe it as her being 2, simple as that. I am trying to educate myself on discipline, on things that are age appropriate for her and methods that are effective but not long term. I have no experience in this area, and everyone I talk to has different ways. I have no clue what I am doing. The one thing that seems to be consistent in whomever I talk to is 'be consistent'. This is not always a walk in the park.

Sometimes I want to sit and cry because I feel like I am getting no where, and when she stares at me blankly - something she is getting good at - when I try to reason with her it just makes me want to laugh and be angry all at the same time. She talks my ears off now more than ever, there is hardly ever a quiet moment in my day, so I savor my moments when I get them. I feel mentally exhausted with her constant flapping lips, her continuous questions and her response with 'why not?' when I say no. While I try be patient and try answer her questions, it is quite tiresome sometimes. I often have to remind myself of a video I watched on you tube, which you can watch yourself if you type 'what is that' into the search bar at the you tube website. It's about an old man and his son sitting outside. While sitting on a bench, the son reading a book and his father observing what is around him, the father constantly asks what one specific kind of bird it is. After numerous times of answering the question, the son gets outraged and yells at his father that the bird is a sparrow and that he has answered the same question so many times and when is he going to remember. The father goes into the building behind him, gets a book and has his son read a story from it. In the story the father explains that his three year old son asked him 32 times what kind of bird is that. And 32 times the father hugged his boy and 32 times the father told him that it was a sparrow. I crave this kind of patience and wish it was easier to come by. Where this man lasted 32 times listening to the same question, giving the same answer I get annoyed after 3 time of the same question, and it's so easy to get frustrated and so easy to be impatient, impolite and unkind. So, I often tell myself 'remember the sparrow.' and often it helps. But often it does not help either. And this is what gets me down. Camia is naturally a very busy child. She demands attention that sometimes I feel I don't have to give her. When I craft or do housework, she asks questions that to me seem to have an obvious answer. Like, 'what are you doing? What is the scissors doing? What is the broom doing?' I find it frustrating because if I say 'I don't know. What is _____ doing?' she can tell me. SO. A solution for me was to start walking. Everyday (well, mostly, to be completely honest) we go for a walk and every day we go to the park (unless it's raining. We'll still walk, but not visit the park). It's a double whammy for me. I get my walk, and she gets to play. We spend between 1 to 2 hours playing at the park, she brings her sand buckets and makes sand castles, sometimes other children join her. I get to sit and watch and sometimes build castles with her. We both enjoy this time and look forward to it every day. This way I am not feeling obligated to be doing other things, like washing the floor or sewing or crafting something. And, I don't have the time for such things anymore.

Most people think and say that having 1 child is an easy task, and although Camia is generally an easy child, there are times when the road is bumpy and often times I question my judgement and wonder if I am doing the right thing. Am I helping her be a better person? Am I hindering this process?

But then I think, who can stay upset at this face? These big blue eyes, this funny, happy child who brightens the world of so many?

It gets me every time.

On a completely different note, she does make me happy in a way that nothing else can. She cracks me up, which makes the other things not seem to matter. She knows how to work me, and knows how to make me say yes. She says things like 'I'm too little for that' and after falling off her bike today she said 'mommy, I have red blood'. Phew. I am glad we got that out of the way. She's polite and says 'pardon me' a little too often. I don't really think she's gotten ahold of the true meaning, and says it when she doesn't hear you and when she doesn't understand you. I don't want to discourage this, though, because I think it's simply darling when she does say it.

I think one of my favourite parts about having her right now is that she loves 'snuggle hugs', as she calls them. She asks me to snuggle with her when she goes to bed at night and when Ryan gives me a hug, she insists on being in on it and comes running and asks for a 'snuggle hug'. I am in love.

I have been debating setting a couple personal goals for me, but it's been hard to keep them up. I wanted to set myself to reading 1 book per month which at the time seemed like a small goal. I read 3 in March, and none in April. We are 1/3 of the way through May and I still haven't cracked one open. I am also toying with the idea of committing to blogging once a day, but am shying away from it when I think of my book commitment. Plus, Ryan told me that then my blog might get boring. My mom told me I had to make time. So, I think I might try that first :).

In the meantime, the canucks are playing and I am hogging the computer so Ryan can't watch (We don't have TV)...so I better sign off now and call it good for the lack of news for 1 1/2 months.