Stop Time...NOW!

This morning when Ceili was at school, I was nursing Abbey before her nap. Being the crazy momma that I am, I was smelling her head and holding her little hand and thought to myself "can we please pause in this very moment forever?". I feel like our baby girl is growing up way too fast.

When Ceili was a baby I was always looking ahead thinking "I can't wait until she can do ______". I am finding with Abbey, our last baby I want to savour every moment of her being a baby. She is now scooting around the house on her bum and trying to stand up. Most of the time when I cuddle her, she pushes away because she wants to go play with her sister. Where has my little baby gone? I can't believe she will be a year old in January!

Maybe I feel like it's going by too fast because we are always so busy and I haven't had as much time to just watch her grow and change. We're always doing something or running somewhere. Plus, breastfeeding has created an amazingly strong bond between us which makes me want her to stay a baby even more.

I think I need to stop, smell the flowers and enjoy my little girls before they're not little anymore!

Breast is Best

I saw this quote somewhere online and had to make my own little picture featuring Abbey. The picture is of her when she was only a few weeks old, passed out after a big drink of "boob milk".

7 1/2 months of exclusively breastfeeding and still going strong!

The Thompsons Go to Cuba!

We made it to Cuba and home safely...barely!

Our flights there were quite good, Ceili enjoyed the movies and TV on the plane and all of the snacks and toys I packed for her. Abbey alternated between nursing and sleeping most of the time with an explosive poop here and there but it wasn't so bad. I even got to watch the movie "The Help" which was an excellent one!

Cuba was beautiful. It was +30 on average and the humidity was between 85-100% every day. We spent most of our mornings on the beach which was only a few steps from our hotel room (awesome!) and in the afternoon we had a siesta and normally went to the pool. Abbey didn't enjoy the sand at the beach so much. Nursing isn't so easy when there are granules of sand in your mouth and your big sister runs by and sand flies into your face! I think Abbey's favorite part were the siestas in the air conditioned hotel room. Ceili couldn't get enough of the beach, I think every kid would love to spend all day making sand castles and playing in the warm ocean. All of us except for Abbey got a bit of a sunburn and a tan and now we're peeling like snakes.

We hired a guide, Michael to take us into town for a day trip. He took us to the zoo in town, a market, the crocodile farm and a few shops that the Cubans shop at. It was really sad to see the lack of choice they have for food, clothes and items for their homes. For example, one store we stopped at had a few large cans of tomatoes, some beer and pop and the rest was bare shelves. It really makes you appreciate what we have here and how much money we have compared to them. We were glad that we brought the stroller and carseat to give away to someone there after we saw the lack of baby products in the stores. We gave the stroller to a man that worked at the pizza restaurant at our resort that had two girls almost the exact same ages as our girls. The carseat was given to a lady that worked at the Asian restaurant and was due to have her baby girl in mid-June. She just adored Abbey and would pick her up and snuggle her whenever she had the chance.

Matt went out on a deep sea fishing trip on his own one morning. I told him that he had to go because I know he has always wanted to. He had a fantastic time. They speared a stingray that was about 5' across! Little did they realise, the stingray was pregnant and as it lay on the boat it gave birth to a bunch of babies. All of the babies survived and were put back into the ocean. The mama was enough food for a bunch of them at the marina to share, so I think they were pretty happy. I was mad at Matt when I found out that he killed a mama stingray, but I guess how were they to know?

We also went to a beautiful beach called Pilar Beach one morning. The water was such a beautiful aqua color and sand was so fine and white. I thought it was terrible that we had to pay $2 for a lounge chair, but we had an amazing time there. There were tons on angel fish which appeared when Abbey spit up in the water! There were also gar fish that swam all around us and they must have been around a foot long each. The water was so clear, you could see everything!

Our flight home was far too exciting for my liking. We were supposed to fly from Cuba to Toronto. We ended up flying from Cuba to Miami and landing. At one point I looked out of my window and said to Matt "Why are we so

low....are we even flying or are we on the ground?" I could see a city's lights right out my window. Not really below us, but more beside us. Finally after about 30 minutes of me wondering what was going on, the captain comes onto the speaker and tells us what is going on. They were flying so low because there was a cabin pressure problem on the plane and they were trying to fix it. If they would have gone much higher we would have been low on oxygen and the masks would have popped out of the ceiling. Needless to say, they couldn't fix it so they had to get rid of fuel by flying in circles and we finally landed in Miami about an hour later. I really felt lucky to be alive. If those pilots didn't know what they were doing, we wouldn't be here today! We ended up sitting on the tarmac for almost 2 hours while they figured out what they were doing then had to go through customs, get our bags and line up to get our hotel info. It was complete chaos and we finally got into our hotel room at 4:30am. We had to get up and get to the airport again before noon because our plane to Toronto left at 1:30pm. Our last plane ride from Toronto home was uneventful, thankfully and I am not overly excited to fly again in the near future!

I am THAT Mom

In a few weeks, we will be travelling to Cuba with both of our girls for a one week vacation. I am so excited, but ovewhelmed with packing! I think we're taking half of the house with us, but at least we'll be prepared.

While I was collecting 75 diapers and 3 packs of wipes I got to thinking about our very first trip to Cuba. It was just Matt and I and we went around 5 years ago. It was alot of fun. On the flight there, there was a small baby crying. I heard the mom talking about how excited they were for their vacation. I remember saying to Matt "why on earth would someone take their little baby on a flight all of the way to Cuba just for a vacation?". Now I'm that Mom! And, you know what? I have no regrets! Over the past 4 years, I have come to realise that we do not view our children as optional. Many parents take off without their kids every chance they get, but I want my kids to experience things like a swim in the ocean, feeding flamingos and different cultures and types of people. When I see my children experience those things, it makes me feel like I am experiencing them for the first time as well because I get to live it again through them. I understand parents who need a getaway once a year or so because us parents do deserve some alone time, but I hear of parents going on all- inclusives every few months and leaving their kids with grandma and that's just not us.

I have had a few revelations over the past few years regarding children that I never thought I would have. Another example is, I always saw mothers breastfeeding their babies without a cover in public and thought to myself "I would never do that, I'm too self conscious". And what do I do every time we go out and Abbey is hungry, I whip my boob out and feed her of course! My child needs to eat, so I don't care what anyone else may think!

I also carry a potty seat in our van, make my kids wear a leash when they're toddlers and are in public, have endured many, MANY tantrums in the middle of stores and do not give in which causes an even bigger scene.

Yepp...I'm that Mom and I don't care what people think of me because I do what's best for me and my kids and Matt and I are doing our best to raise smart, caring, healthy, independent children!

Never a Normal Shopping Trip

Tonight Matt and I decided to make an impromptu trip to Costco because we were in dire need of diapers, Pull-Ups and baby wipes all of which we buy there. Both kids had been in a decent mood today, so I thought "hey, why not?".

We got to into Costco and into the bread aisle when Ceili says about a lady right beside us "OH, that lady is grumpy!". The woman looked at me like "say something to make me feel better about the rude comment you kid just made" and I just stood there because I didn't know what to say or do! I asked Ceili later why she said that, she said "she had a grouchy face on". Toddlers say the funniest things!

When we got to the checkout, Abbey started screaming so I told Matt I was going to sit down in the eating area and feed her. I sat down with Ceili and Abbey and of course she wouldn't latch on, she just screamed while I tried to stick my boob in her mouth. That's probably the first time that has ever happened, so I didn't know what to do. You have to remember this breastfeeding thing is somewhat new to me because Ceili and I didn't do well with it and switched to formula when she was 7 weeks old. I had to put Abbey back into her carseat and take her home. I don't know if she wasn't hungry or there was just too much commotion for her, but she did nurse when we got home.

I'm glad to be home after all of that craziness!