Thirty-something.

This past weekend I got to spend my birthday with my family, those visiting and then just our little family of four.  And although it has been kind of crazy around here, I am feeling immensely blessed to have such a supportive, considerate husband and best friend, two beautiful children who light up my world and shake it at the same time and an incredible supportive network of friends all over the continent.  Thank you, my dear friends, for your messages and phone calls over the past couple of weeks while we were going through a hard time.  Whatever would I do without you?!

Turning a year older, I have to admit, I don't really feel older.  Maybe tireder.  But likely that is just the stage of life we are in.  You know, when my toddler and infant are both up later than I'd like to be up. When a 'date' with my husband consists of pawning Gabriel off and taking the baby to lunch and rocking her under the table to keep her asleep.  When our ears are finely tuned to the little clicks of doors opening or stairs creaking as our toddler escapes his room.  When we become masters of acrobatics, dodging creaking floorboards and stairs, swinging our feet up over baby gates so we don't have to unlatch them and wake someone up.  It's also the stage that celebrating a birthday is about the little things like sleeping in until 7:45AM, grabbing a long hot shower, taking a walk in the sunshine, ordering take out instead of cooking and going to bed at 9:00PM.  Ha!  I'm sure that there will be more exciting birthdays in my future.  But for now, this suits me just fine.

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Our Week with a House Full.

Since getting back from vacation, we've had a heck of time getting life back to normal, unlike any experience we've had before after traveling.  We've traveled a lot with Gabriel since he was four months old and generally, I'd say we've managed pretty well--flights, sleep, jetlag, you name it.  But we've had about three weeks of not very much sleep and a week or so of chasing our toddler back to his bed a hundred times a night.  So it was with welcome relief that family showed up to provide a little comic relief and change things up to get us out of the house.  

We also got a great opportunity to meet Derek, the love of Rachael's life and soon-to-be husband.  You'll be seeing more pictures of them this summer in Winnipeg!  Everyone was so great distracting a very tired Gabriel--doting on him, reading, playing hockey, playing puzzles and Play-Doh, taking him on walks, etc.  We went down to Bloor Street Village and Queen Street to go shopping and have a big family lunch in Baldwin Village at one of our favorites, Cafe la Gaffe.  (You may remember I took my sister there on our sister date). They took him to the Hockey Hall of Fame downtown one morning and I'm pretty sure that they locked down that friendship forever!   When family wasn't rocking and cooing at Magdalene or doting on Gabriel, they were busy making some fantastic meals in the kitchen.

Family--thank you for flying all that way and loving on us all week.  We were out in the yard yesterday watching the planes fly overhead and Gabriel was sure you were on each of those flights. And yet he still woke up looking for you this morning. :)

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Tea Party

So it is sort of ironic that the other day I was just taking a very early sneak peek at tea sets for Magdalene, you know, when she gets older.  I was surfing around the internet and spotted this.  Oh, how I love Etsy!

Anyway, and so we had friends Marta and Maria over the other day, and as we always do, I served tea and cookies.  Sure enough, Gabriel wanted to try some tea and so did his little friend.  So we served up some watered down caffeine-free tea in our china cups (another etsy find from Honey and Bumble!) and they loved it!  I think they felt very grown up.  Or, because on that day it was so cold out, it was a nice way to warm everyone up.

Then they tore around the house shrieking and playing and fighting over toys as toddlers do.  But there was that precious moment when we were all sitting there and Gabriel and Maria, covered in chocolate from their cookies picked up their tea cups by the handle and just looked so adorably sophisticated.  You know, before he started blowing bubbles in his.... 

I have to say that I am looking forward to when Gabriel might host a tea party for his little sister (or vice versa).  They will prop up the dolls and stuffed animals including Hervé, Gabriel's monkey in chairs and have tea while munching on cookies at their little table complete with a little bouquet of fresh daisies and back-lit by the morning sun.

Of course, maybe he'll be too old for that or be really into the other interests in his life.  Or maybe Magdalene won't be into tea.  And it will be just me, sitting at the little tablet, a fist of daisies, my little tea set and the company of stuffed toys and dolls.  I suppose that's OK too.

Whatever the future holds, there is tea in it. Bring on the tea!  And cookies please!

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