My little lady is two!

My sweet girl is already two years old. She is full of spunk and attitude, but still knows when to chill out and is always ready with hugs and kisses. She will always be the best surprise that ever happened to our family (notice how I rejected the notion of any future surprise babies...)!

We celebrated her birthday by going to Boston Pizza with both sets of grandparents, and her Auntie Paige. She got her very own kids meal, and a balloon animal. The next day she had a party with a yogurt parfait brunch, and ice cream cake, complete with family and friends.

 

At Two Years Old

Weight: 22lbs (10th percentile)

Height: 32 inches (10th percentile)

Teeth: All except the two year molars (that's like 8 in the last two months people)

Clothes: Can still fit in sweaters and jackets for under a year, but her pants all have to be 24m or 2T for her long legs. Obviously she is not a wiener dog like her mother. Head and feet are still tiny.

Favourite foods: cheese, yogurt, cereal, dried fruit

Food I'm surprised she likes: black beans, nuts of any kind, spicy food

Favourite movie: Frozen, although she isn't very picky about what she watches. She loves to sing "Et goooo! Et goooo!"

Favourite TV show: I want to say Curious George, because she used to run back and forth across the living room screaming her head off during the theme song. But she's pretty happy with whatever. She'll even watch BBC nature documentaries with mum and dad.

Favourite activities: reading to herself (she'll actually take books away from me so she can read them out loud herself), drawing/colouring, singing with mum, swinging, climbing, jumping, dress up, and basically any play time with her big brother

Favourite toys: her puppy dog, her easel, hats, any book, stickers

Mia is fiercely independent and whether it is getting dressed, preparing a snack, or figuring out a toy, she often insists on doing things herself. She doesn't let being tiny stand in her way.

She is potty training. One day two weeks ago she told me she had to pee and took me to the bathroom, where she promptly sat on the toilet and peed. Ever since then she's been ditching the diapers, and is making great progress.

She can say quite a few things. But she is very picky about what she actually does say, at least in English. Most of the time it's limited to one, or maybe two words together. There are times she'll say what sounds like a perfect three word sentence and Gordon and I do a double take, because we swear we heard her wrong. I'm pretty sure she's just faking us all out like she did with walking. She sure understands everything we say!

She recognizes when others are sad and is always ready to give them a pat on the head or a big hug and kiss.

She does have tantrums but they are usually short lived. Her big brother is pretty great at making her feel better or distracting her.

She loves playing with her big brother, as long as he isn't being too bossy, and is always trying to wrestle with him. Isaac will often say that Mia can sleep with him if she's really upset when she goes to bed, and it helps her calm down when they cuddle. They actually fell asleep together the other night. He has taught her to use the force, fight with lightsabers, hunt for ghosts and monsters, and be a battledroid.

Monster hunting

They love to chase each other around the house (which is what they're doing right now while I write), jump on the bed together, and play at the pool and indoor playground together. She can be a bit of an instigator though, and so gets herself into lots of trouble with her big brother.

She can be pretty clingy and shy around people she doesn't know very well, but if she knows you expect a big hug when you walk in the door!

Getting a little prenatal workout in with mum

Love you chicky poo!

Baby 3: Not my plan.

 I am now over 16 weeks pregnant with baby 3.

How did that happen?

I mean, everyone knows how it happened. Except Isaac who thinks that I swallowed the baby and that's how it got in my tummy. I'm good with that.

I'll be honest. Isaac was planned and I was completely ready. Or as naively ready as I could be, being a first time mom. Mia was a complete, and unexpected surprise. I doubt many people expect to stare at a positive pregnancy test when their first baby is 6 months old. Baby 3 was going to be in the summer of 2016. That was my plan. I would not deviate from the plan. Until the Lord had a different plan...

...but wait. I am due in the summer of 2016. So how was this different from my plan?

Gordon started hinting at another baby around July of last year. We have had zero fertility issues (not saying this in an insensitive way, but as a fact we consider in our planning), and that was too early for my plan. So I kept finding reasons to say no. Around August, I started feeling like Gordon's plan should actually be my plan, but I told the Lord I wanted to wait because of xyz, and asked Him to help me feel good about my plan. 

Pretty easy to see the problem there...

Unsurprisingly, I couldn't feel settled about it. So I prayed and basically said, I would go ahead and take the plunge after I felt good about it.

There was still a problem...

I couldn't feel good about that either. So for a few weeks I wrestled and wrestled with conflicting emotions. I liked having two kids, but I wanted more kids. What if I couldn't be the mom I wanted to be with 3 kids? How would we afford 3 kids? I'd have lots of time to work before a baby. Would Gordon have a job before we had another baby? He would have time to look for a job. One day I looked in the mirror and said "I'm comfortable with two kids". The distinct impression came "You are not here to be comfortable."

Dang.

But that still wasn't enough to convince me. So I continued to be in this state of back and forth with myself.

One day I was doing errands, and I felt I needed to be still and quiet (something that doesn't happen very often at home). I turned the radio off and said a another prayer. I said I was scared, there was too much I didn't know. I didn't want to be sick again. I didn't want to go through another painful recovery. Then I was quiet. Another impression "Be brave Morgan. There is someone waiting to come to your family. I need you to be brave."

That crumbled my resolve.

In that moment, I gave my will to my Heavenly Father. And I felt completely at peace.

That was in August, so 9 months from then would have been May. I knew it wouldn't take longer than a month, so I planned on being due in June. The only month where my mum couldn't take time off work. And judging by my last two recoveries, I would definitely need my mum. What was I gonna do?

Then I was two weeks late (y'all know what I mean). But every pregnancy test was negative. Both tests were positive the first time with Isaac and Mia, so I was confused. I have never ever been more than 4 days late in 13 years, and even that was scary. I am like clockwork. And then the "lateness" ended, and the dr told me all my bloodwork was negative for pregnancy and was otherwise normal. My cycle just had an off month.

That anomaly made it so that I would be due July 1. A few days after my mum finished work. Summer of 2016.

Most people would call me crazy, tell me I'm reading too much into things, or say it was a coincidence. But it wasn't.

It was a tender mercy. Following the Lord's plan made my plan possible after all.

Christmas

The kids absolutely loved Christmas this year, especially Isaac. He and Mia had melt downs when their daddy took the Christmas tree out to the garbage. I still have a couple handmade decorations up that the kids and I made, because Isaac has expressly forbid me from removing them. According to him "Then I will be sad, because Christmas is over." We spent a busy 2 weeks away from our home with both of our families, and there was much fun to be had! (Aside from the 3 hours we spent stuck in traffic due to an accident on the highway).

Highlights
-decorating the house and tree with Isaac-he kept running around yelling "MERRY CHRISTMAS!!"
-this year's Santa picture

-doing the "12 days of service" to help us focus Christmas on the Saviour
-our big Star Wars fan (daddy) taking our little Star Wars fan (Isaac) to see the new movie in theaters as his first movie theater experience
-Gordon and I going to our first murder mystery
-finally coming out of the pregnancy closet
-sledding (more than once)

-getting our exercise at the gymnastics club-the kids couldn't get enough jumping and climbing in
-skyping with my missionary sister Devon on Christmas day
-family game nights
-Isaac rock climbing with daddy and uncle Liam

-playing at the indoor playground
-watching fireworks from the hot tub
-finally being able to eat what I want without feeling sick (mama)

Funny Stories (pretty much all about our crazy boy)
-We called to Isaac to tell him his timeout was over. His reply didn't come from where he should have been, but from the piano room where the treats were. We found him hiding under the table, shoving handfuls of m&ms into his mouth. When we found him he said "Loooook I found the treeeeatttts! Mmmm! m&ms are so tasty!". Then he zoomed around the kitchen singing "You better not cry!" from "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" over and over again.

-He cleaned the toilet with his father's toothbrush.

-He snuck into his uncle's room, ate half his gum, while jumping on his bed.

-He was at his great grandma's, and while she was on the phone he filled a water gun with water from the dog bowl, and started to shoot her with it.

-I was helping Isaac off the toilet (aka wiping his bum) and he says very seriously "mummy be very gentle with my bum." to which I replied "what happens if I'm not gentle?". he says "then my bum will fall off. and if my bum falls off, then I won't be able to poo anymore!" I must have missed that in physiology class.

And now for picture overload

Our Christmas eve elf

Excited for Santa!

Handmade stockings by Granny are stuffed!

Santa brought him a Darth Vader backpack!

Mia could have cared less about presents. She just wanted to read her books.

 

Frozen book, Frozen pjs, in her Frozen chair.

We definitely partied hard this Christmas.

And ate waaaay to much junk food.

 But when you are as cute as these two... you get away with a lot! (At least with the grandparents!)