Family :: Holding Hands

I really just had to put this somewhere. Lately, when we are in the car, Olive puts her little hand out for Milo to hold it. Then she smiles and does a little happy wiggle. The evening this photo was taken, they both fell asleep holding hands. It was so sweet and I'm glad I grabbed my camera and took a photo.

I think I've mentioned it before, but being with two kids all day everyday is one of the hardest things I've done. I don't know how other people cope with it but for me it's intense. I feel really lucky that I am able to be a stay at home mom but that doesn't mean that I love every minute of it. Moments like the one captured in this photo definitely take the edge off the moments where Olive doesn't want to be bothered in the car and Milo won't keep his hands to himself. I have no idea what it's like to have a sibling and I'm realizing that it is leaving me a little confused sometimes about how to handle these (I assume) normal sibling interactions. I'm sensitive about being teased and bothered in the ways that I've observed siblings teasing and bothering each other so it's kind of a trigger for me when trying to keep both kids optimally happy. Feeling like I need to keep both kids optimally happy is a whole other thing that I have to let go of. I'm slowly trying to figure it out and trying my best to be patient with the kids and myself in the process.

This photo is lovely, as are so many parenting moments, but I also wanted to take some time to acknowledge the hard parts that don't get captured in photos. Parents out there...this is hard, and we are all doing a great job.

♥elycia

Photos :: Blanket Fort

Just two quick photos so that I can remember our first blanket fort.

These photos also make me think about the fact that Milo has been wearing his pyjamas a lot lately. He's been in a phase where he doesn't like to get dressed. For a long time now Milo has been particular about what he wears but for the past few months he gets extremely upset if the wrong thing is offered. Things are easing up a little and he's not having meltdowns if I offer the wrong shirt or pants but a lot of days he ends up only half dressed because he is just really into whatever pyjama shirt he wore the night before. As long as I'm in the right frame of mind about it instead of trying to force the issue things go pretty well. I'm relearning lessons on not always getting my way and not overreacting about little things. For me, being a parent is definitely the biggest learning experience and the biggest character builder. I am constantely evaluating how things went and figuring out what I could do differently next time to make the situation better. I think that's all we can do, really. Being a parent is really hard but I love it and wouldn't trade it for anything.

♥elycia

Flashback :: Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale 2015

I guess it was a couple months ago now that Hamilton participated in the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale. We met Milo's best friend, and of course her parents who are our friends, for some super delicious treats. Seriously, everything was amazing. I have very high cupcake standards and these ones blew me away. If I'm remembering correctly the lemon and the halva cupcakes were my favourite. Also, that raw cheesecake...yum. This was actually a really bad idea to share these photos because now I'm in the mood for all of these treats. 

After we got our goodies, Milo and his bff had a sticker party on the side of the street.

♥elycia

Photos :: Cleveland May 2015

Last week Ivan, Milo and I finally visited Kaylah in Cleveland. Milo wasn't the best with car rides (long or short) for a long time so a four hour drive was kind of out of the question. I am so happy that we made the trip because we had a fantastic time. 

There is nothing better than seeing your friends love and have fun with your kids. Milo is still talking about Kaylah tickling him.

Always lots of photo booths.

We visited the beach and Milo touched a dead fish.

Jeff suggested we go to Town Hall for vegan Mondays and it was so delicious. Milo hadn't napped and fell asleep during dinner. Luckily we were seated on couches so it was no problem to lay him down for a little snooze. I didn't take any photos, but after dinner we had the best ice cream of my life at Mitchell's. It was just chocolate but it was seriously one of the best things I have ever eaten and I couldn't stop talking about it for the rest of our visit.

Milo got up close and personal with a fire boat and a fire truck. Dream come true.

What is cuter than kids in sunglasses?

So basically we spent our whole visit ice cream shop hopping. 

Right before we went home we surprised Kaylah's parents with a visit. They have the best place ever and we really didn't want to leave. 

We did a bunch of other things but I'm kind of out of the habit of snapping photos of everything. I haven't been taking as many photos lately. I was focussing more on enjoying the moment rather than trying to photograph it. While I think that can be great, not having the best memory, that didn't work for me very well. I firmly believe that you can both enjoy the moment and take photos of it so that's my new plan.

♥elycia

Photos :: The Good Earth

Over the weekend Ivan, my mom, Milo and I went to a restaurant/winery/cooking school called The Good Earth for lunch and then ended up staying the whole afternoon because it was so nice and relaxing there. There are tons of gardens, grapevines, fruit trees and supposedly there are hens somewhere but they are extremely free range so we didn't even see them.

Spending the afternoon there totally made Ivan and I want to move to a farm. Visiting is probably a better option for now though because I'm sure that a farm is more work than we even realize and also it would be really expensive. We can dream though!

They had an entire garden bed filled with edible everything (including flowers) so we have officially decided that we will plant some edible flowers next year to make our fruit and veggie garden look a little prettier. Right now it is not much to look at!

Well, Milo and I are off to St. Catharines for the day. We are spending the afternoon there and then visiting a friend. I'm excited!

Have a good day.

♥elycia

Photos :: Canada's Wonderland

Over the weekend we took a trip to Canada's Wonderland. I had planned on taking lots of photos but I am starting to realize that I'm really bad at snapping photos of typical photo-op things. We took photos at exactly none of the spots that really say, "hey we're at Canada's Wonderland!". I'm ok with that though because we did capture how Milo usually reacts to new things: with a look of great concern, or concentration maybe.

We learned a few things from the last time we were at an all day walking around type place that made our trip to Wonderland smoother. I will share my wisdom (actually just common sense things that we seem to need to learn the hard way) with you in case you find yourself walking around all day with a baby. Really, I'm just typing this out to remind myself what to do...

1. Use a backpack as a diaper bag. Previously we used my regular over the shoulder diaper bag and it was really uncomfortable to carry around all day.

2. Bring a stroller. We usually just wear Milo in a wrap or our Beco carrier but it was nice to be able to pop him into the stroller when we were travelling longer distances around the park. We also figured that even if he didn't want to stay in the sroller much at least we could carry our water bottles, camera and diaper bag in it. That stuff gets seriously heavy.

3. Bring a carrier. I was really happy to have both the stroller and the carrier. Like I said, we tried to use the stroller when we were walking longer distances but the carrier was handy for walking inbetween and waiting in line for rides. I don't know about your baby (if you have one) but Milo is super hard to hold just in our arms. He usually wants to get down and run around, but pop him in a carrier and he's cool to hang out. The carrier was also handy for when Milo decided that he had had enough of the stroller.

I think that's all I've got. Those were the most important things for us anyways. We actually didn't end up staying too long. We went to the car for a snack and then decided to take off because Milo was ready for a nap and Ivan and I were actually kind of tired too. We were wimps! It was a fun day though and I'm excited for when Milo is old enough to go on some rollercoasters.

♥elycia

PS. Today is Ivan's birthday and he is kind of the best ever. Happy birthday Ivan!!

Photos :: Milo Having Exactly No Fun at the Playground

You can't tell from these photos but Milo seemed to enjoy his first trip to the park. The weather was beautiful yesterday so we went for a walk and ended up stopping in at a playground in our neighbourhood. It is just so nice to get outside and do things!

:: hat, thrifted :: sunglasses c/o BonLook :: sweater c/o ModCloth :: jeans c/o ModCloth :: shoes, thrifted (for only $6!) :: Beco baby carrier ::

Nicer weather makes me feel a lot happier and more optimistic about life in general. This year it is also making me want to declutter and reorganize our whole house. We just have so much stuff. I am now really good about not obtaining new things but I sometimes still have a hard time getting rid of things I already have. One minute I want to just get rid of everything and then the next I'm thinking of how this or that might come in handy someday. I am infinitely better about this "I need to keep everything just in case" attitude than I was a few years ago but it really is difficult to change the way you think about things. I really want to simplify though so I'm working on it. I'm sure some of you guys struggle with the same thing, right?

Well, I hope you are all enjoying some beautiful weather and I will talk to you all again soon!

♥elycia

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What I Wore :: This looks familiar

:: scarf, thrifted :: glasses c/o BonLook :: shirt, Target :: pants c/o ModCloth :: socks, ? ::

This isn't really a what I wore post. It's kind of just a 'here's what's going on around here' post. We had a bit of a rough weekend. Ivan was sick, Milo was grumpy and I was in a really grouchy mood. Fortunately I was able to recognize how grouchy I was, state it as a fact and just move on with my day. My Mom came over one day to help organize our kitchen cupboards which made me feel better. Sometimes keeping a positive attitude is difficult but silly little things like making things neater help.

I am back to feeling good and enjoying each day for what it is. As I mentioned, Milo is determined to walk so we spend most of the day doing laps of the house, stopping when something catches his eye. Sometimes he sits down and plays for a bit but usually he prefers to pick up whatever caught his eye and carry it around.

I think Milo and I might head to the mall today to send out some mail & maybe take a photobooth picture. We'll see!

♥elycia

This post contains affiliate links which help me run my blog. For more info on affiliate links click here. Thank you for your support!

5 Fave Friday

5. I have always loved these swimsuits.

Beach Blanket Bingo One Piece in White from ModCloth

I know it's winter but we just booked a trip to Florida so I guess it's ok for me to think about swimsuits. 

4. These shoes are fancy. I like them.

Grey Allen Loafers from Le Bunny Bleu

3. This stocking is pretty adorable.

2. I really, really like this necklace.

1. Ohhhhh, this dress looks nice.

The Ricci Dress by Pink Martini from Ever+Mi Crush

Phew, there we go! I'm satisfying my urge to shop by window shopping instead. It usually works very well for me.

We started letting Milo try some foods this week and it has been pretty cute. We are doing baby led solids so far and although I feel confident that it's safe, that doesn't mean that I don't have mini heart attacks the entire time he's eating/playing with his food. I try to stay calm though. I think it will just take some getting used to. We started with banana, then avocado then sweet potato. Last night I made a lentil dahl and dipped Milo's spoon in it so that he could lick it off. That was his favourite by far; I kept on dipping it for him! It had a bunch of spices and I thought it was delicious so it was nice that he seemed to like something so flavourful.

Ivan and I have been eating healthier lately, kind of because now we will be trying to feed Milo what we are eating and kind of just because it's good to eat healthy. I already feel like I have so much more energy and my general mood has improved so much. Not that I was super unhappy before, I just feel so much happier now. What does that mean for you? Well, a happier Elycia is a chattier Elycia and therefore a bloggier Elycia. That means that hopefully I'll blog more.

Well, I hope you guys have a good weekend. We have done exactly none of our Christmas shopping and we have a busy weekend so I'm really not sure when that will get done. Last year we went really minimal with gifts for our parents and made a donation to a local charity instead of buying gifts for all the kids in the family (who already get lots of gifts) so we are planning to do the same this year.

♥elycia

This post contains affiliate links which help me run my blog and contribute to my family. For more info on affiliate links click here. Thank you for your support!