On Being Ryleigh

And here is Ryleigh's update.

Ryleigh is just a few weeks away from turning 5. Five, FIVE...Oh. My. God. She's going to be FIVE. Yeah, 5 going on 17.

Sassy doesn't even begin to cover it. I could say I don't know where she gets it, but that would be a lie....she is sooooo my mother; okay and maybe a little bit of me. She is the center of her world. She is theatrical in every way (hmmm, wonder where she gets that oh brother in law of mine). Each day consists of multiple stand-offs, my will against hers. The stand-offs as I call them, always just seem so silly to me. Why can't she just do what I say? What exactly is it that is so hard about "put your shoes on", "pick up your toys out of the living room", "brush your teeth"? Seriously, she can do all of these things, easily if there is a bribe involved, why fight with me over it? Why throw yourself on the floor as if you just ran a marathon and can't find the strength to stand, let alone do as you're told?

Why, why, why???

You know that place where you still remember being that defiant little kid but aren't quite ready to come to terms with the fact you are now on the receiving end of such defiance? Yeah, I'm so there.

So, as I resisted the urge to chunk her toys across the room this afternoon, I took a deep breath and helped her pick up and put her shoes on and brush her teeth so we could spend a nice afternoon out running errands. Did I mention that she is the perfect angel when she wants to be?
She is learning to read, but she is insisting to do so at her own speed. I catch her sounding out words when I'm not looking but as soon as I ask her to do it for me, she gets shy and says she doesn't want to do it. That's cool, I still love to read to her and I know that she's soaking up more than she's willing to let on. She amazes me with her maturity. The things that she sits around and thinks about are just crazy. She has been asking me some crazy questions here lately. Things like, What was here before us...like before humans? What exactly happened to the dinosaurs? How did Avery get out of your belly? Where did the spiders go during the winter? She doesn't miss-a-thing.

Everyone always asks me how her lazy eye is doing. We went to the eye doctor when we were home in December and basically she has to keep wearing her glasses, which she does, and we patch a few days a week. To me her eye looks really great right now, even without the glasses. We go back at the end of June when we're in Texas for another check-up, so hopefully all is well.

She really enjoys spending time with all of her friends here in Canada, but sometimes gets a little sad as she realizes she can't remember the names of her friends back in Texas. Ryleigh can swing on her own, something she is super proud of. She still spends a lot of her time in her little imagination world, playing with her barbie dolls or acting out some sort of one girl production dressed up in her play clothes. For that reason I have decided to sign her up for drama camp this summer. She is really excited because I told her that she will get to perform in a show at the end of the camp. She loves to be in shows. Her first show of the summer though will be the one with her school. She will be the cow that jumps over the moon, as in Hey Diddle Diddle, the Cat and the Fiddle, the Cow (that's Ryleigh) jumped over the moon (yes, they will have a real moon).

She is not my snugly child, she's not my loving child, she's not even my obedient child. She's my sassy little independent, got to do it on my own, got to be in charge of all the planning, must make all my own decisions but at the end of the day wants mom to read me my books and stroke my forehead as I fall to sleep, beautiful, blue-eyed girl. I love her with every ounce of my being and can't imagine my world without her. She teaches me so many things, but above all patience. She is fiercely protective of her little sister, a trait that I didn't expect to see show up, but something that makes me very happy.

I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with the whole Kindergarten thing in the fall. Having her gone all day is going to be very hard for me to adjust to. I know that she's not going to have a problem. Actually she's probably going to be like, mom, seriously, if you're going to cry like a baby could you please go find a dark corner to hide in, you're totally embarrassing me in front of my peeps.

On Being Avery

Here's a little update on Avery's progress as a human being.

We now have 9 teeth in that little mouth of hers. This last one has been a doozy, it's a molar on the upper right side and it has disrupted her sleep and has severely interferred with mine. Her teeth enable her to eat pretty much whatever she wants. She loves strawberries, blueberries, bananas and Junior Mints. She's also partial to peanut butter on a spoon, grilled cheese sandwiches, granola bars and chocolate milk. She's gotta have the good stuff!

She can say a few words very clearly: Dada, Mama, ball, there, that, no, dog, pee-pee, poo-poo and Bubbles!...she says it just like that too...Bubbles! Bubbles! Mama, Bubbles! She understands sooo much more..to the point that we have to be careful now what we say around her. If I say the word "potty" around her she immediately pulls down her pants and diaper and instructs me to set her on the closest potty where she will sit for 15-20 seconds, wipe with a piece of toilet paper and then get down. She has yet to actually pee in the potty, but she knows that she should be sitting there just like sister. She also knows that after sitting on the potty, she is to wash her hands. She loves to wash her hands.

She sleeps pretty well. Nap time is never a problem, when it's time, I lay her down and off to sleep she goes. Bed time is sometimes an issue, she really likes to hang out in sister's room after reading books. They're so cute rolling around in bed together. It reminds me of when I was a little girl and shared a room and at one time a bed with my own sister.

She loves to be outside now that the weather is getting nice. She just got her very own princess coupe and loves to cruise around the back porch in that. She also likes to go to the park and go down the slide or hang out on the swing. Avery definitely has her little posse her and really enjoys her weekly playdates with all her little friends.

It really is quite remarkable to me how very different she is from Ryleigh. Avery is much more calm than Ryleigh ever was. Maybe that's because I'm more calm these days. I cringe to think of Ryleigh at this age, back when I was working full time and carting her off to daycare every day. The closeness that I have with Avery makes me realize how much I missed with Ryleigh. I didn't know it then, I thought I was handling work and motherhood with great balance. Maybe I was, I don't know, I just know that I really miss Ryleigh at this age. Avery is so sweet and loves to cuddle. Her chubbiness makes her very easy to cuddle with. She is a very caring child, she loves to mother her baby dolls and her older sister. She gets frustrated when she can't do some of the things that her big sister can do, like going up and down the hill in our back yard.

She's a good kid, definitely a keeper. I just got a baby hiking backpack and can't wait to give it a try the next nice weekend we get. It appears that Ryleigh shares our loves for the outdoors, here's hoping that little one will too!

A Visit from Rob and Cindy

Last week we had an awesome set of guests from The States. Cindy and Rob came up last Tuesday and stayed in Casa de Montgomery for a week. It was totally awesome to have a piece of Texas here with us...they brought me Rotels, I love them. It's so much fun to have visitors and to show them our little life here. Thanks guys for coming, it was awesome for us and we hope you had a great time as well! The girls miss you already and you left your vodka! I'll bring it to you in a few weeks!


Pre-school is coming to an end for Ryleigh and last week we attended her final Kindergarten orientation. Today we went shopping for supplies for her 5th birthday party. Yes, I said 5th birthday party, FIVE...she's going to be FIVE years old. Amazing. In a few weeks we'll be ordering her uniforms for the fall and then we'll enjoy our last summer before Ryleigh officially starts real school. *Deep Breath* and.... *Exhale*


I found a new tooth in Avery's mouth today. That makes 9 now. Poor baby has been a bit cranky the past few days and now I know why. It's going to be really interesting in the fall having Ryleigh gone all day and it just being me and Avery. She's totally my little sidekick but she loves her sister and they play so well together. She gets really excited when we pick Ryleigh up from school at noon. Starting in the fall it's going to be me and her all day and then when Ryleigh gets home it's going to be all about homework and getting dinner on the table. This summer is definitely going to be special and we're going to do our best to make it last.



So, we've got a trip to Texas coming up. Ryleigh's last day of pre-school is June 12th, the next day the girls and I head out Fort Worth bound. I'm really looking forward to the trip and have already started to prepare. We've got a lot of stops to make and people to see! And...drum roll.....many, many trips to Target!

Weekend Update

This weekend is THE reason I love living here. Holy cow, has it been nice! The sun has been shining, not a cloud in sight and all of us have been soaking up the vitamin D outside. Jeramy took Ryleigh on a 2 hour hike yesterday on the East Coast trail about an hour from here and she LOVED it, just complained a little bit about her legs hurting. It was so cute to see her pack up her little backpack with her camera, water, binoculars and granola bar. She put on her hat and out the door my wilderness explorers went. We ended the day with taco and movie night, the movie of the week: Despareux

Jeramy made us chili for lunch today, yummy! After Avery's nap we went to run a few errands (bought a Wii and some cleaning supplies) and swung by Bowring Park to feed the ducks and take a nice walk. Ryleigh kept wanting to go off on the trails. She's such a little adventurer and just loves being out in nature. I love it! Tonight we set up our new Wii and got in a few games before the girls had to go to bed. Ryleigh and I kicked Jeramy's butt in some bowling, go girls!

Tomorrow is a holiday here in Canada. They call it Victoria Day, so yay for the 3-day weekend! I plan on doing some spring cleaning to prepare the house for some visitors this week. My old boss from Sugar Land and good friend Cindy and her husband Rob are coming to visit on Tuesday. The weather isn't going to be exactly glorious while they're here, but I have things planned for when the sun does peek out from behind the clouds. I'm so excited, we love to have visitors from back home! So, get your plane ticket, pack your bags and come on!

My Mother's Day

So, Happy Mother's Day to everyone! I hope everyone had a great one, I sure did! Avery woke up at 6am and I didn't move a muscle. Jeramy swept her away (she was in our bed by the morning) and let me sleep away. At about 8am Jeramy and both of the girls showed up with breakfast; scrambled eggs, strawberries, yogurt and for dessert a cheesestick. Ryleigh was particularly excited about the cheesestick for dessert, it was clearly her idea. Avery was particularly excited about the strawberries, she scarfed down three out of four of them while I at "my" breakfast. Ryleigh also presented me several hand made cards and one hand made flower. Best gifts I could possibly ask for. After I was done eating, the breakfast crew vacated the room and I continued to snooze until 11:30! I wasn't just being lazy, Jeramy and I were over at his boss' house pretty late last night, so it really was extra cool of him to let me sleep in since I know he was just as tired as I was. After I got up I fed the girls some lunch in the kitchen that my hubby had cleaned, put Avery down for her nap and then headed off for my weekly workout session with my trainer. After a good workout and a protein shake I headed home to prepare the family for a birthday party this afternoon at the pool. We're not talking about flip-flops and sunblock, it's an indoor pool and the girls had a blast. Avery is so fearless, she marched right up the kiddie slide and went right on down into her daddy's waiting arms. Ryleigh got to hang out with her friends, which always makes her happy. And when my babies are happy, momma is happy.

One more thing...

This last week I honored another special mom and grandma...my Granny, Betty Steen. Granny passed away in September 1996 after a battle with lung cancer. During her battle she went through chemo treatment and as a result of the treatment, she lost all of her hair. One of my last memories of her is from Thanksgiving 1995. We used to have Thanksgiving dinner at her house every year. This particular year, when we walked in and saw Granny in the kitchen wearing her apron, cooking up a storm, she was completely bald from the chemo. I don't remember her baldness ever bothering her. One of the most remarkable things about Granny, was that superficial nonsense completely eluded her. She loved her family, loved her grankids and loved two little girls that didn't become a part of her family until they were preschoolers. I miss her, she was cool and she would think that things like moving to a place where icebergs float by just a few miles from your house was awesome.

Three days ago I cut about 9 inches of my hair off and donated it to an organization that makes wigs for cancer patients. The donation was made in Betty's name and it was cool to be able to honor her even in such a small way. Here are the pictures:

On Being Big

The weather today turned out to be just unbelievable. The girls and I spent a lot of time outdoors. First over at a friend's house Avery and I had coffee, breakfast and some great playtime outside. At this morning's gathering we celebrated the recent birth of one of our fellow expat mum's baby boy. We also found out that one of our fellow expat families will be moving back to Texas. Like most of us here, they have mixed feelings about whether they want to go or stay, but they will be missed!

This afternoon it was actually warm enough to wash my car! Granted, I did it in my water proof shoes, jeans and a long sleeve shirt....my fingers turned blue from the cold water, but hey, I was outside, NOT SHOVELING SNOW!

Avery slept while I washed the car, but Ryleigh got to do something much more exciting. She got to go to the park....by herself! Before you go callin' CPS, the park is right across the street from our house and I could see her the whole time because I was right out front, washing my car. I walked her across the street and then headed back up the drive and watched her walk, no strut the rest of the way to the playground. I could tell that she really felt sooo big. This coupled with the fact that she also recently figured out how to open the child locks on the cabinets and the child-proof door handles means that she is allll sorts of big girl these days. I really am starting to feel nervous...it's the calm before the storm, I just know it.