"What's With the Band-Aid?"

You may have noticed something conspicuous and pink on Lilah's forehead in her birthday party pictures.  If you guessed princess Band-Aid, you are correct.  And it's not just for show, unfortunately.

On Friday morning, the day before her birthday party and two days after her fourth birthday, the incident occurred.  I was attempting to make going to the bathroom into a game, since it is something Lilah often resists and it can sometimes take a dramatic turn.  But in my attempt to avoid a big upset, I created even more drama.  I had scooped her up and was playfully stomping towards the bathroom with her in my arms when I heard a sickening thud.  Forehead meeting sharp corner of a wall, Mama's heart in her stomach.

I knew as soon as I saw it that it would probably need stitches.  So off we went to the emergency room at BC Children's.  The final tally was three stitches, two stickers, two popsicles, one plastic fairy wand and one very sorry mama. 

*Warning: the photos below show the cut quite clearly, so if you're squeamish about blood, skip right on down to the comments.

 

Thankfully, she forgave me almost right away.  I took a little longer to get to a place of self-forgiveness, but I'm pretty much there now. 

 

The stitches came out today, and now all that's left is to protect the scar from the sun for, oh, pretty much the rest of her life!

 

 



Four Years in the Making

 
Sometimes, when I take her in, my eyes scanning the familiar lines of her face, shoulders, hands, and long, lean, limbs, my brain registers a vague shock at how much she has grown in four years.  And in her growth, I see my own, exponential in comparison. 

Her now four-year-old spirit thirsts for learning, and she laps up the small drops of knowledge I can impart, not knowing how much she is teaching me in the process.

From that earth-shattering moment on July 3, 2009 (1:31 am, to be exact) when I became a mother for the first time, I have been challenged, stretched, and pushed far beyond what I thought were my limits.  And, as always, with growth and learning come the realization of how little we really know and just how much growth and learning are still possible.

To my big girl who is gradually bringing out the bigness in me,

Happy fourth birthday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Signs of Summer

 Happy birthday Canada!  And what a beautiful long weekend to kick off the beginning of summer.  I don't want to jinx it, but it really feels as though summer has finally arrived in Vancouver. 

 

It's in buckets full of ripe, juicy BC strawberries, 

Epic sunsets,

Cooling off at the spray park,

And playing outside.

It's in toes (and hands) sinking into lush, green grass,

Legs tired from pushing pedals,

And water play in the golden evening light.

And also?  It's deep in a glass of chilled white wine sipped while sitting on the patio after the kids have collapsed, exhausted, into their beds.  And on that note...

Happy Monday!  What does summer mean to you?

Happenings

Last ballet class.

Last gymnastics class.

Strawberry picking.

 

 

"Junuary" in Vancouver is almost over, and summer is coming - I can feel it!

Up in the Air

 

 

A Full Tank

We spent May long weekend with the Hubs' side of the family, as is our annual tradition.  This year's destination was a cabin on Galiano Island.  While sleep deprivation did its best to drain my tank (the baby developed a fever right on cue), the little moments added and multiplied until I returned from our weekend away overflowing with love and contentment.  Fuel for my love tank:

Breathtaking views,

Hammock snuggles,

Shared secrets,

Time with cousins,

Bellies full of food,

And, of course, more than a few photo ops.

 

May your love tank always be this full!  Happy Wednesday.

 



10 Reasons to Love Listicles

Today, my friends, is a momentous day in blogging history, for today marks the Listmaster's 100th listicle.  To celebrate, I'm writing a list of reasons to love listicles.

1.  They cure the Sunday evening/Monday morning blues.

2.  You can make up any excuse to share random and gratuitously cute photos of your baby.

3.  They're free.

4.  No need to mess around with paragraphs, and full sentences are optional.  Who doesn't love point form?

5.  If you can count to ten, you can listicle.

6.  No one minds if you stray from the proposed topic.

7.  Listiclers are a very special breed of blogger, and you get to meet dozens of them!

8.  Stasha.

9.  They will bring a smile to your face and happy emoticons to your fingertips.

10.  What's not to love????

 

This Guy

Whoa.  Extremely long, unintentional hiatus.  Looks like I've got some 'splainin' to do.  But that's another post for another day.

Today I'm going to keep it simple and share some recent iPhone pics.  Seems like a good way to ease my toes back into the blogging pond.

This Guy

 

Destroyer,

 

 

Perpetual sock remover,

 

 

Stander,

 

 

Crawler,

 

 

 

Trouble maker,

 

 

 

And snuggler extraordinaire!