Starting Summer with a Bang...

at the cottage!

On Tuesday my good friend Maggie and I got together to chat and let our kiddies play. Maggie thought it would be a great idea to have our two families get together for dinner that evening, this idea turned into going out on their boat, to then going up to their families cottage for dinner and a nice boat ride on the lake! Maggie's family has a cottage about 40 minutes north of Barrie, which was just close enough to spend the evening, but just far enough away to get a piece of holiday paradise on a Tuesday evening on the spur of the moment.

We all had a fantastic time, Loralai especially! It was her first ride on a boat, and what a better way to start her out then on a pontoon boat. It was slow enough that she did not get scared, and Loralai and Drake were able to walk around, it was perfect. Loralai LOVED to watch the waves in the water, and she got to have a swim in the warm lake. All I can say is that I hope this is a indication of what the rest of what the summer will be like...warmth, sun, great friends, and wonderful lastly memories!

Loralai driving the pontoon boat, she is such a serious little driver!

Maggie, Drake, Loralai, and I

Loralai leaning in for a smooch!

Having fun with Daddy!

This is what Loralai's face was like almost the entire time we were cruising around the lake, she is just in love!

Loralai in her fancy borrowed life jacket since she did not want to hold on to Mommy's hands while in the lake.

Loralai's Party!!

If I could sum Loralai’s birthday up in one word it would definitely be FUN! She was surrounded by family and friends, including all her little baby friends Drake, Grace, and Sofia. I set aside one part of the living-room and hallway area for all of Loralai’s toys, so that Loralai’s and her friends could play, and boy oh boy did they play! Originally we had wanted to hold her party in the backyard, and I had different activities in mind like a water table (that she received on her actual birthday from Carrie), and her pool with sand buckets and shovels, but it of course rained all day so we had to improvise.

Carrie and I made the 1 large cupcake which was from scratch carrot cake, and the 24 regular vanilla cupcakes. The cake was a big hit especially the carrot cake...delicious!

They say that the first birthday is more for the parents then the child, and I would have to agree, and also disagree on that one. Yes, the theme and decorations were all what I wanted and she does not technically know that it is her birthday, but she did have lots of fun, and all of her friends and toys were there! So I would say it is a little bit of both.

Starting with Loralai’s first birthday I wanted to begin a couple of birthday traditions. My parents had a “Happy Birthday Lyndsey” sign made when I turned a year old and to this day they still put it up every year. It is one thing that I look forward to each year and I wanted Loralai to have a similar special tradition. I (with a little loving help) created a pin the candle on the cupcake game out of felt. This game will be something that we will be able to put up every year, and what is even more special is that it was made and not bought. I also have a fabric Happy Birthday sign, this one I actually purchased from Pottery Barn Kids. I wanted something again that we will be able to take out and hand year after year.

Loralai's 1st Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to You,
Happy Birthday to You,
Happy 1st Birthday My Beautiful Loralai,

Happy Birthday
I Love You!!

I can not believe that Loralai is 1 already. My little baby is now officially a toddler, which is a bit bittersweet since I really do miss the 'baby' stage, however I love how so interactive she is now, and I love to see the world through her eyes, and watching her learn and become her own person.

For Loralai's June 16th birthday we took to the park, and then out for dinner to McDonalds for the first time. Her cousin Brandon (9) wanted to take her there and get her "chicken nuggets, fries, an apple juice, and a toy for under 3", his words exactly lol. How could I resist? Of course she LOVED IT! We then went back to Carrie's house to sing happy birthday and open a couple of presents!


Loralai had her 12 month appointment at the pediatricians on Thursday, so here are some fun Loralai Facts:

Loralai weighs 21.5lbs
and is 30 inches in length.

Loralai just started today on 3.25% whole milk and did not even have any kind of reaction, Mommy was expecting a twinge, or to at least have a funny look, but she seemed to like it or at least be impartial to cows milk versus formula. Daddy and I have waited for this day when we could stop spending a small fortune on formula $28 a can every 4 days, to just $5 for 3 bags!! yay

Loralai can of course crawl up the stairs but has just started to get the concept of turning around and coming down the stairs on her belly!

I took her to the zoo the other day and when I showed her the tigers I roared and Loralai copied me, so now she roars lol...so cute!

We are having a cupcake birthday party for Loralai tomorrow, so there will be more pictures and stories to follow!

Reception Photo's

So we finally had our party to celebrate our marriage! It was small and intimate with about 42 people, but everyone had so much fun. Todd's boss catered and the food was fabulous! We had ribs, chicken, pasta, a couple of different types of salad, and steak. I had the cake made by a local cake designer. We had a banana cake for the top, and the cupcakes were made with 4 flavors: caramel, chocolate rasberry, banana, and a vanilla. My cousin Carrie made some delicious desserts, and some sugar cookies that read "I DO", "EAT CAKE", and lots of "T's and L's with hearts!

Since our budget would not allow us to have a professional photographer, and because our favourite photographers live in Florida, we had a family friend Heather take some photos for us which was so nice. Heather got some really wonderful pictures that we were not able to take in Florida because I was not able to have my girls in Florida with us, so I am happy.

Loralai danced the night away with everyone, and like always was definitely my little social butterfly. We had about 12 kids at the wedding, and they were seated at the kids table which was adorned with craft paper, crayons, stickers, candies, and much more.

Enjoy the pictures...

My poor little baby!

We just found out tonight that Loralai has Roseola. For the past roughly 5 days Loralai has been in and out of the hospital or doctors office. It first started last Thursday when Loralai woke up with two gooey eyes, so I called our doctor when the office opened that morning and they were able to get us in almost right away. The doctor confirmed that Loralai had two eye infections, a swollen gland in her throat, and a slight fever. She prescribed us eye drops, and said that the swollen glands were caused from a virus. So we got the prescription and we were on our way.

Well on Thursday evening I had gone out with my mom, we came home and Loralai was in her high chair eating dinner with Daddy, and for whatever reason we both gapped and forgot to close the gate to the stairs. Well during dinner Loralai was getting fussy and wanted down so I let her, and she was playing in the kitchen, she went out into the living room which normally is just fine if the gate is closed, all we heard was bang bang CRY!! We went running over to find her face first in the front door mat. She had fallen down 4 carpeted steps. Loralai cried for about 5 minutes and Mommy cried for much much longer. I just could not believe that we left the gate open. So fortunately she ended up with just a small rug burn on her head, and no other bruises.

Loralai's fever had got much worse by this time so I tried to give her some Tylenol but she threw it up right away, she fell asleep and I made sure to keep a close eye on her. At about 2:00am I decided that she was just too hot and woke her up. I tried again to give her some Tylenol but again she threw it up, I started to panic and we decided to take her to the hospital. The nurse registered us and tried giving her Tylenol again but to no avail and she threw up again, just this time it was all over Mommy.

We finally got into a room after waiting for about 4 hours. The nurse again took her temperature this time rectally which was 103. She decided that Loralai needed to get Tylenol into her system ASAP, and gave her a Tylenol suppository. After about 20 minutes her fever FINALLY broke! My little girl is such a trooper, the entire time she was still smiling, definitely not her usual self but her spirits were still up. We saw the doctor at about 8am, and he said that she was ok, and confirmed it was just a virus and just to keep an eye on the fever. He also confirmed that her head from the fall was perfectly ok (Thank God)

So after all this, this afternoon Loralai breaks out into this horrible rash. I took her to the walk-in clinic, and the doctor told me that she had Roseola. Roseola is a mild illness caused by a virus, which is generally harmless and happens in children from 6 month-2 years. So basically this virus causes a high fever followed by this rash. The rash disappears very soon after it arises. The only thing about this virus is that you do not know what it is until it is almost gone, meaning the rash. Roseola is contagious only in the stages were there are no symptoms.

Loralai today was back to her normal self except for this rash, here is a picture of my poor little baby! The rash on her face is the worst, but this similar rash is all over the tiny body :( Hopefully the rash is gone by tomorrow!