Teresa: In Somewhat Still Life

In honour of Teresa turning three, I took some pictures this morning while Frances was napping. I took approximately 50 pictures, but most of them were a blur of toddler movement, here are some of the best/funniest.

My Baby is a Pre-Schooler....

and in some ways that is so wonderful. Teresa has grown into a loving, caring young lady, who just happens to be completely hilarious. Although Teresa can be a bit of a diva (I'm pretty sure she gets that from the Yost side) with her arguing and frequent meltdowns, she is also very nurturing. For example, she is with Ken (who has a bit of a cold) checking him out with her brand new doctor kit. She has just informed him he has a fever, but he will get better. She tells Frances she loves her, comforts her and brings her toys when she is upset, reads little stories to her and plays with her. Teresa is becoming a very good big sister, which is not really surprising, since she is being tutored by the best (don't look so surprised Andrea, you know it's true).

So today my Teresa is three. We had her party yesterday and she had a blast running around with her friends and completely destroying her room. There in the presence of her family and friends she opened gifts, ate cake and ice cream, had a tea party and charmed us all. It was a wonderful afternoon, and here are some of the highlights.

Great Grandpa and Frances

Pre-dinner mayhem

Frances is teething a bit and likes to chew on anything

Rowdy sniffing the loot

Addie, enjoying the tissue paper

Ladybug cake, hand-crafted with love....and much icing.

She sang Happy Birthday and clapped with everyone

She blew out most of the candles by herself

Mmmmmm, ladybugs are delicious!

And now, I put together a little montage of Teresa's first three years.

Seven Months

In the past seven months, Frances has truly begun to integrate herself into the family. She interacts with us, wants to play with Teresa and Ken, and just flat out wants to be a part of the action. It has been amazing to see her grow and develop to this point, from a tiny infant with unfocused eyes to this baby who plays, laughs and is able to communicate her likes and dislikes. She loves playing with Teresa, but when she is done, or when she wants Teresa to stop manhandling her she lets her know. Her personality is beginning to shine through, and what a personality she will have! I can't wait to see what she has in store for us next.

Usually in these monthly photo sessions Teresa will join Frances for a bit. Here are some of their best shots.

Saint Rowdy?

The other night I was going though some of our old pictures, and was laughing because it seems that Rowdy truly has been replaced, poor pup. When we first got Rowdy we took picture after picture. There is even some video of him swimming. Now, well, he's lucky to get in the shot, and even then it's usually by accident. It's not as if he lacks attention, Teresa and Frances love him, much to his chagrin.

Even so, the fact is Rowdy is an awesome dog, the perfect dog for our family. Teresa dresses him up, chases him around and tries to ride him. Frances has witnessed this, and, in order to fit in she has taken a liking to pulling on his jowls. All Rowdy does is lie there, tail usually wagging, lapping up the attention. Sometimes he'll let out a low growl and walk away. If it's gotten bad he will look at me, then the back door, begging to go out. Rowdy is so patient with the girls, and it is wonderful to watch the three of them interact. But for now, I present to you, all by himself: Rowdy!

Terzilla meets Karma

When Teresa was Frances' age, she loved to destroy whatever Ken and I built for her. Heck, she still does. Well, now that Frances can sit up, she is more interested in playing, especially with Teresa. We used to just plop her down by Teresa with some of her own toys and she would happily chew on her own things and watch Teresa. However, lately she has been more, ummm, forceful in her efforts to play WITH Teresa, not just by her. She wants a piece of whatever action there is. While tea parties are now pure mayhem, "building" towers has to be my favourite activity the two of them take part in. Teresa builds while Frances destroys and I laugh. To Teresa's credit, she is taking this new development rather well, and does not get TOO upset with Frances, just says no and tries to rebuild. I hope she takes Frances' future destruction in stride, because God know little sisters can be a pain in the ass.

What a Difference Two Weeks Makes

I mentioned yesterday that Frances had suddenly decided solids were the kind of thing she could get behind, and it turns out it wasn't a fluke. She liked them today too. She even grabs the spoon and feeds herself.....I can tell I will be scratching my head frequently with this one.

Mmmmm, oatmeal!

What do you mean I didn't like solids....I've ALWAYS liked solids.

Lunch with Oma

My sister and I took a trip down memory lane yesterday with a drive out to Steinbach to have lunch with our Grandma, Teresa and Frances' Oma. When Andrea and I were kids we would spend a couple weeks out in Steinbach in the summer, one week with each set of grandparents. It was a great time, and inevitably, Grandma Friesen would make us this:

This is pizza made in a pie plate, and nobody, I repeat, NOBODY, can make it as good as Grandma can. So Andrea and I went, had a nice visit, a good dose of nostalgia and Teresa exhausted my grandma's bichon, so a good time was had by all. Except maybe the dog....poor thing.

Frances, hanging out with Auntie.

Frances with one of her namesakes.

Teresa and BJ.

Update: After giving up feeding Frances any form of solids for two weeks, we tried again this morning and she ate like a pro! No complaining, crying, or fussiness of any sort. Turns out we just had to wait a bit before she was ready. Who knew there was any benefit to this whole "being patient" thing we keep telling Teresa about.

First Days....

Teresa will have many first days, more than I care to think about right now. Thursday was her first day of pre-school. Well, technically it was her second day, but I don't count her first day since ALL  the parents were there. Thursday was her first day without me, and while I am totally fine with this new stage in Teresa's life, let's not ask Ken about it. He's feeling a little vulnerable right now, poor muffin.

Since the pre-school is just down the street from our house we walked. After dropping Teresa off, Frances, Rowdy and I went for a nice long walk at a pace quicker than molasses and enjoyed the quiet. Teresa had a fabulous time. She glued stuff, painted stuff, danced and listened to stories. She didn't miss me one bit, which is the way it should be.

"Mommy, this picture is making me mad." End quote.

The walk would have gone faster if she didn't want to pick up EVERY. SINGLE. LEAF.

Teresa in motion

She was so excited and ran so fast down the steps the flash didn't have time to charge.

Baptism Video

As Cara had previously mentioned, our darling Frances was baptized on August 2nd at St. Charles.  For those who are interested, here is the video in all its splendor...  Sadly the Paschal candle was in the camera's line of sight.  I might also add that there are a few cute 'out takes' at the end.

Bed Head

This is what I found when I went to get Frances after her afternoon nap. I think I remember napping that hard once....

Season in the Sun.....

Today we returned from Grand Beach for our last long visit of the year, as we foolishly scheduled Teresa into gymnastics classes this fall on Saturdays.  The weekend was amazing and we had a great time, but obviously I leave with a heavy heart as the cottage is a place that I love.  I hope that my children will fall in love with the cottage as much as I have, and I know that Teresa is well on her way.  I don't know what it is about the cottage, although I am certain it has something to do with having grown up there, but it is made that much more special when I am there with my wonderful girls.  I was verklempt at times today for no good reason, save that I knew that today was my last day there with my girls at this moment of our lives.  It isn't helped by the fact that by the time most people read this post Teresa will have been in her first preschool class.  I find it difficult to believe that my tiny little girl is growing up so quickly.  As I said to a friend last week, my girls are a physical sign of my continuous aging which I am terribly conflicted over.


This weekend spent the most beautiful weekend of the summer on the beach.  It was a great weekend, as we had Kris & Susan visit for a couple of days and I got to spend quality time with Teresa at the water, splash with Frances in the lake and I even went for a long morning walk on the beach with Rowdy.  I saw the osprey, numerous pelicans and found joy in watching garbage men with Teresa.  Foolishly though, Cara and I forgot to use the camera at any point in time so there is no new pictures.  I did though spend some time one evening working with old footage, making the baptism video and three others that will soon be posted on the blog, and here is the first.


This video is of Teresa diving and playing at our neighbour's water slide.  For long time blog readers, you will recall that Teresa is a water baby who will spend hours in water.  This summer she has truly come into her own, as after a few weeks at the beach she would 'dive' into the water, splash, enjoy being soaked by splashing, and pretty much anything that didn't involve submerging herself.   I must admit though that I found myself exceedingly proud of Teresa this weekend, as we were at a friend's pool on Friday afternoon where she finally chose to let go of me in a pool.  In the past she has been glued to me and terrified, but Friday there were older kids about and she saw them playing in the water so she tried on a spare pair of water wings and actually went into the pool without me and started to learn to kick about the pool.  I was always nearby, but honestly didn't believe that this would happen so soon.  My girl is growing up and somedays I think I will blink and she will no longer be the perfectly innocent and nice girl and be an older kid that judges others and excludes the 'losers'...

Without further adieu, a few pictures from our wonderful summer at the beach and the video of Teresa 'diving' and playing in water.

Splashing with mommy.

Frances & daddy in the lake...  She was fussy then, and was great today.

Swimming with auntie Tarra

Floating and playing in the lake.

So darned cute...

Moments

Our days are made up of moments, seemingly unrelated bits that make up the pace of our day. There are moments of peace, quiet, frustration, anger, and fun. Our house has been witness to many moments, and the feeling that ties them all together is that of love. This house is brimming with love.

Doesn't every architect dance around their work?

When the three of us play together, it's often with blocks. Teresa and I build, while Frances chews.

Methinks the desire for destruction is strong in this one....

She is concentrating so hard...

Sisters, side by side.

Yo, Mom cut my hair already! Sheesh.

The Goof.

Hamming it up for the camera.

Susie Homemaker

When I meet people for the first time and they ask what I do, I say "I stay at home", which isn't really an answer to their question, since it's like me asking a lawyer what they do, and they then proceed to give me their office address. What I do isn't complicated, but when I say stay at home the majority of people will reply "You're lucky, it must be nice to have all that free time." My reply to this is to smile and nod and hope I am thinking BITE ME loud enough for them to hear me. You see, my time may not be spent pretending to like co-workers and caring about my boss' cats/cars/children, but I am busy. I just happen to be busy doing things I like for no money, like pretending to hunt for treasure, wondering how Frances managed to undress herself and, my new passion, becoming a 1950's stereotype.

Since staying at home I have begun to think more about what we put into our bodies, and, more specifically, what is in the food we eat. I found myself growing more concerned with a seemingly endless list of ingredients I cannot pronounce, so, I started cooking most things from scratch. I made my own baby food, cakes, cookies, pasta sauce, etc. If it comes in a package, I am reticent to purchase it, so, most dinners are entirely homemade. Recently I have started to make all our bread (except hamburger and hot dog buns, I stink at those) and I find I am loving it. There is something so satisfying about having fresh bread, kneading it, watching it rise, smelling it bake. Every second or third day our house smells like a bakery and I love it! Plus I know exactly what went into it, and a fresh loaf disappears so quickly I don't need to worry about preservatives.

But, I must confess, it isn't only the health aspect that keeps me baking, it's a lifestyle choice for me. I love mixing and kneading the dough, seeing it rise, letting the smell of fresh bread permeate the house as it cools, and watching my family enjoy the fruits of my labour. Baking is relaxing, and Teresa loves it so we get some time together while we cook. I am also entering the final frontier and taking a canning and preserving course so I can make pickles, jams, you name it. For me, I love enjoying the food I make, knowing what is in it and seeing my family enjoy it as well. Next step, buy a nice house dress and greet Ken at the door in heels with a martini, then sit back and have a drink while he takes the girls to the park.

Greg showing off a raisin walnut loaf I made for breakfast

Chocolate bread for dessert...