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running behind on my weekly photos but we have been busy with colds and school and school holidays...in general I have been feeling a bit scrambled. 

Huck had his 4 month appointment so here are his stats:
weight: 16lbs 10.5oz (68%)
height: 26.75" (94%)
head circumference: 44.5 cm (98%)

ps...I am a mama to TWO boys. 

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After a nice walk with a lovely friend, full of refreshing and honest conversation I got to thinking of authenticity. I am a mom and that is my job. I have other interests, of course! But for right now that is a large part of what defines me. I struggle with that notion sometimes and I feel like I should be doing more. I get sucked in the land of Pinterest or I read other blogs and I think, well they seem to have the time to do such and such with their kids and keep their house sparkly clean. And I know that I too can come across on this space like all is well and we had an awesome week. Which may be true to some degree but I also have laundry taunting me upstairs that I am choosing to ignore and my oldest son is still hugging Huck too close, and Huck is seeming to drop hours of sleep rather than add to them.

So where is all of this rambling heading. I'm not entirely sure but I felt it fitting to say that picture above of Oliver, that is the face I usually sit across from at the dinner table. Cute. Sort of. Frustrating. Yes. Mealtimes with Oliver have always been a bit of a battle but he has been throwing off attitude and my fuse has been getting shorter and shorter. I feel like I have turned into the "no" lady around here and I sure do hope that we can navigate our way out of the fourteen year old behaviour soon.

And while we are at it, why has Huck taken to screaming in the car? Now part of the problem is that he decides he is either hungry or has a poop while in the car....thanks buddy. But honestly, being trapped in a vehicle with a screaming child is terrible, I do not recommend it.

Well, now this post seems to have turned into a bit of a whine fest which was not my intention but I felt it necessary to say that the images you see on here may not include the whole story. I may decide that cropping out that pile of laundry next to Huck is best (gosh, I really like to rant about laundry) or out of the 10 pictures I take of Oliver there are two where he is not throwing me shade or sticking out his tongue. I am trying. And working, yes raising babies is a lot of work. And I am building up my group of people in my life to help and that is a good thing.

Whole 30...1/2 way

                                             jalapeno turkey burgers+avocado+sweet potato fries

Ok folks, we are at the halfway mark for the Whole30 and I have to say I've gotten into a groove. I have had to do a bit more meal planning but other than that is has not been too much of a change once we got over the hump of no dairy, in fact I may stick with the almond milk for my smoothies as I quite like the consistency and neutral flavor.  I was chatting with my friend, Caroline this morning and I said that really the only thing I miss at this point is a truly crunchy item. Not carrot crunchy. Not lettuce crisp. But a truly crunchy item like the Sun Chips that I packed in Oliver's lunch yesterday! So we may be looking forward to having real tacos in a couple weeks but we definitely have picked up some good eating habits and easy ways to cut some of the sugar out of our diets on a regular basis.

frozen banana+fresh strawberries+almond milk+almond butter

ground beef taco meat+guacamole+bell pepper+romaine lettuce 
                 chicken fingers coated in homemade almond flour+sweet potato fries+broccoli 

meatloaf+homemade "ketchup"+aspargras

 
 onion, swiss chard and sausage fritatta+avocado

                                                       eggs+avocado+nitrate-free bacon

Back to School. 2015

First day of Junior Kindergarten. 2015 

And he's off! We had a very excited bug ready to go to school this year. So ready in fact that he was bound and determined to, in the weeks leading up to school turn into a 14 year old complete with eye rolls and sass. This type of attitude made it so that his parents were counting down the days too! Honestly, Oliver has been giving us a run for it lately but I am hopeful with the start of school and routine and friends that his sweet demeanor will make a return. The only person that Oliver is not frustrated with is his brother, Huck...see photo below. Oliver loves him. A. LOT. which is amazing but the line between smother and love is one that we talk about often. Also reminding him that although Huck is small and seemingly bendy that actually bending his feet or hands in the wrong direction is not nice and will make his cry every time.  So off he goes...ready to tackle new things at school, the most exciting of which Oliver will inform you is that he gets to go to gym class this year! Big deal, guys, seriously. I am very proud of my big boy and I cannot wait to see all that he learns this year. 

my TWO babies. too cute.

ready to rock this. 


my après school pickup buddy. 


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I was so wrapped up in getting Oliver off to school this week that I forgot all about my 52 week installation. Oliver could not have been happier to head off to school on Thursday. Since he is in a Montessori classroom he already knew his teacher and a bunch of friends from last year making it a very easy transition. Frankly, had he been able to drive himself to school at 6am (school starts at 8am) he would have! So my big boy just keeps getting bigger and my littlest is not so little anymore. Huck is growing leaps and bounds. He can roll both to his belly and to his back. He has attempted "sitting" on his own more than once and overall the more physical the skill the better. Oliver was an early walker (he got up and strolled around the park at 10 1/2 months) but I seriously think Huck may beat that. We will see. 

playing in the photo booth at Diesel Cafe. One of these days it will work when we go and we will all pile in for some silly pictures.  


All kitted out for soccer! His favourite part was the shin guards although I giggled when I put them on him because we had to get the large youth size for the length of his shin but his teeny calf muscle did not even begin to fill out the elastic band. The socks are a necessity. 

look! I can sort of sit! 

and fall into pillow! Ha, that is the best part!

heading off to sleepy land...

Michigan. Little Cottage. 2015

Get ready for a whole bunch of pictures! Our family trip to Michigan this year was wonderful. We were there for about two and half weeks and we had some fabulous beach days, a few chilly days and a lot of time with family and friends. It continues to amaze me that when you take the routine of "regular" life away that you slip into another completely different routine. Michigan routine goes about like this; get up, eat breakie, decide whether to go the big beach or the little beach, go to said beach, play and swim until you are hungry, eat, nap, go to the other beach, go home for dinner and bed. Play that on repeat and that is our time at the Little Cottage. It is a very special place to me and I am so happy that all of my boys love it as much as I do. So browse through to see a pictorial study in our time at Sylvan Beach. 

Whole 30





For the month of September, Matt and I are doing the Whole30. If you don't know about the Whole30 you can read all of the details on their website, but basically, we are allowed to eat meat, eggs, veggies, some fruit, and healthy fats. Everything else (grains, legumes, alcohol, dairy, sugar, processed foods) are not allowed. Crazy. A bit.

My decision to try the Whole30 came from a mix of different places. A bit over a year ago my good friend Jaimie talked about her experience with Whole30. Was I ready to jump in? Not yet. Fast forward to this year; I've had a baby and I got into the habit of having ice cream after dinner and eating potato chips. Are these terrible? Not really but I felt like I needed a reboot after the Summer. So after our trip to the Little Cottage in Michigan we decided to kick it off in September.


eggs+bacon+avocado+tomato

almonds+cashews+dried cherries+dried cranberries

I'll be honest gearing up for September 1 seemed a bit daunting and we were trying a few new products including almond milk and plaintain chips and ghee.  There would be no go to comforts like milk in the morning coffee or a sweet treat or even a glass of wine after a long day. The first few days were a bit rocky and oh my goodness I have never eaten so many eggs in my life but overall it has been fine and both Matt and I feel good about following through with our social experiment of detoxing off of sugar. There is a long way left to go and a lot more eggs to consume. I will do a few more updates as we go along, so stay tuned.

roasted potatoes+rotisserie chicken salad+carrots+tomatoes 

almond milk+frozen bananas+almond butter 

turkey rolls+avocado



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Now that we have been home for a few days, we are settling into sleeping in our own beds, grocery shopping (diving into our first Whole 30, details for another post) and generally just getting back into the swing of things. Oliver is ready for school...he is pushing my buttons and I really think that we are both ready to back into the routine school and friends and playing and learning. It has been super hot so we have been seeking refuge indoors, like going to the library and tucking into a bunch of books or going to the mall to shop for duds for school. Huck continues to be a good boy but for the past few days the two boys have been bouncing off of eachother; when one is happy, the other is cranky and vice versa. It has made for some long days.




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