Reflections on a very different Fall

Christmas break is officially here - hard to believe that we are 4 months in to this very different school year. I have let this blog slide yet again, and to be honest, I'm not sure this post will be all that exciting based on the slow pace of life these days, but at least the kids keep things entertaining (and loud and messy). I am definitely never bored....mostly just tired!

Family Christmas photo 2020 - Can you guess whose face was photoshopped?

While this Fall was much different than those of the past, the routine of being back in school has been good for all of us. The relaxation of summer was nice, but it was also very easy to let the kids eat too many treats, watch too much TV, and put clothes on far too late in the day. It was definitely a challenge in September to get 3 kids out the door by 7:45am (Evelyn's school starts at 8am), but now I pretty much have it down to the minute when I have to start asking them to start getting boots/coats on (knowing that I need to build in some extra time for when there is inevitably someone who doesn't listen the first time, a fight that breaks out, someone trips while heading out the door, etc....).

Since the beginning of the school year, parents have not even been allowed in the school yard at Evelyn's school. I'm glad she was headed into grade 1 and not Kindergarten as it would likely have been a lot scarier experience (for parents and kids) to head into the school yard to find your cohort class in their designated location. On the first week of school, we actually had to write her class number in Sharpie on her wrist! While the first couple weeks took a bit of time to figure out pick up and drop off, it is now a lot faster since all the kids know where they are going. Each grade is dismissed by a separate gate/area of the school yard, and parents wait in the same location (keeping distance of course) until their child comes out. From my anecdotal observations (driving by other schools and chatting with other parents), I think Evelyn's school is quite strict with implementation of the guidelines. She's in a mask all day, inside and outside, except when they are eating.

At the start of the year, she didn't seem to mind wearing the mask too much - saying that after a while she just got used to it. It likely also helps that everyone else is in a mask all the time. It still made me a bit sad a few weeks ago when she told me her favourite part of school was snack time and lunch time, since it was a mask break :( So the masks may be getting tiresome, but she still doesn't really complain. I am definitely not complaining either. I think the teachers and school staff/admin have done an awesome job with quite limited support this year, and their roles are covering so much more than education (even more so than usual). Shockingly, Evelyn hasn't missed a day off school and hasn't even had a runny nose since before the pandemic - so we have been very lucky on the illness front. I am looking forward to when school can return to a more normal state though, with the different special events, family activities, field trips, opportunities for parent involvement, singing and other things that aren't really possible this year. We have a week of online school when the Christmas break ends and I am just keeping my fingers crossed that that one week doesn't turn into more.

Evelyn's grade 1 photo (she of course lost her two front teeth the weekend before)

Lucy started preschool this year too, and was beyond excited. Like at Evelyn's school, parents are not allowed inside and all the classes start at staggered time. So we wait outside until Lucy's teacher comes, she takes their temperatures on the way in, and we pick them up 2.5 hours later at the door. I actually prefer this from a convenience standpoint, as I can keep Juliet in the car the whole time if it's really cold outside. They don't wear masks at preschool but are very strict with their illness policy and will send the kids home at the slightest showing of a symptom. Once Lucy was sent home when her teacher saw some red spots on her abdomen and thought it could be chicken pox....turned out it was just a rash from spending way too many hours in our hot tub that had just been repaired after being out of commission for a couple months :)

Lucy's goodbye wave on the first day of preschool

Other than school, we don't have much going on this fall - both girls were attending gymnastics once a week and were really enjoying it, but it was called off in late November when restrictions on group fitness started coming back in. So hopefully we are able to resume that when things improve. The lack of activities has made for a much different and challenging maternity leave experience. With my first two maternity leaves, I always made an effort to fill our time with different activities - classes at the library, drop-in playgroups, playdates with friends, sport or art classes, etc. I always liked to have one "free" day at home in a week, but five days a week of unstructured time can be challenging. On the days when Lucy doesn't have preschool, I am always looking forward to picking Evelyn up from school so she has her favourite playmate back.

Here are some pictures from some of our fall activities:

Enjoying the fall leaves - we've definitely lucked out with the weather for the most part. We've had lots of above zero days this December

Playing dress up

Lucy comes up with some pretty great outfits

Discovering Horse Thief Canyon near Drumheller earlier this fall - such a unique landscape and fun to explore

Juliet's first time in the hot tub - I'm sure it will be even more enjoyable with 3 girls splashing around. When we moved into this house, we weren't sure how much we'd use the hot tub, but it has been great during the pandemic!

Matching day is a pretty exciting day in our house

I know they will only want to match for so long, so I'll take advantage while I can

Making animal homes in various materials

Out for a hike in Kananaskis, which Evelyn said was "the best day ever"....perhaps there is hope for my favourite hobby after all!

Lucy needed a bit of help along the way, but did most of the hike

Juliet was snuggled close of course

One of many weekend walks in Fish Creek Park, down the street from us

Building a teepee with logs left from the 2013 flood

The kids favourite "rainbow tree" in Fish Creek

Making a puffy paint watermelon

Painted pumpkin seeds to make it look real

Lucy all ready to head to gymnastics

I know this will be my last maternity leave, and Juliet won't be a baby for long, so I am trying hard to soak it all in while I still can. That still doesn't change the fact that the days feel long though. I have found that to keep myself feeling healthy and able to deal with the MANY demands of little kids, exercise is essential...even if it means a bit of TV time. If I can get in some exercise early in the day, I feel much more equipped to be present for the kids the rest of the time. Most days, I manage to get in a treadmill run and a shower when Juliet has her morning nap and it keeps me sane! Lucy is either at preschool or will get some morning TV time. Of course I feel guilty about this, but I know that at the end of the day, our time afterward will be much better spent. Most days, my runs get interrupted by the need to change the show on Netflix or get a snack, and Juliet is often sitting in her bouncy chair in the bathroom while I have a 3 minute shower - but I'll take it for now!

Luckily Juliet doesn't mind watching me on the treadmill for a few minutes

I think the thing that makes me the most sad about this maternity leave is that I haven't really been able to share Juliet with friends and family like I have in the past. Everyone loves a sweet little newborn, and she is getting to the age where she is smiley, giggly and very interactive - And while I love getting her all to myself, I know there are lots of other people who would love to see her. At Lucy's gymnastics class, the other attendees are basically all 3-4 year olds with baby siblings and it was funny to see all the babies in the viewing area. All of them were born during the pandemic and as we all sat and watched our older children, the babies just stared at each other - it was a whole new experience to see other babies and be outside the home. Anyway, I know Juliet won't remember this time (which is great) and all the people she hasn't met yet, but I look forward to a time when I can share her more with the world because she is a real joy.

Such a sweet little smile

At 7 months, Juliet is in is one of the harder stages for taking care of a baby (and this is only my opinion...I know it will be different for everyone). Newborns are completely reliant and need lots of feeding in the day and through the night, but they are pretty portable and don't really need to be entertained. I never really feel guilty keeping a newborn in a baby carrier or a stroller for a good portion of the day. With Juliet though, I don't want her to be strapped down too much, since she is a lot more active and wants to play (but still needs a lot of assistance and can't move around). Now that she is sitting up well, it is definitely better (entertaining a baby who is lying down is tough) but in my experience, once a baby can crawl (or move) they get much happier. She is pretty consistently having 2 naps a day, but they are all over the map - sometimes 2 hours, sometimes 30 minutes. I'm sure that's my fault though since I'm always forcing in her naps around pick up and drop off schedules. Oh to go back to a time with one baby where you plan your life around their nap schedule...Evelyn would consistently have 2x2hour naps every day!

Can't be mad at this face even if she does wake up after 20 minutes

Those cheeks

So stage-wise, I think this isn't necessarily my favourite - but Juliet is an awesome baby. She is happy most of the time, aside from when it is bedtime and she's being kept awake too long, when Lucy is hugging her too tight, or when she has gas. She is pretty used to riding around in her car seat now (and I will keep her in that bucket seat until I can't carry it anymore since it's so convenient to have one kid somewhat contained). I think she is the smallest of my kids, but I'm honestly not sure since they aren't doing weight measurements anymore at vaccination appointments due to COVID. She's still a chubby baby though. She is loving solid foods so far - definitely our best eater at the moment, followed by Lucy who will try most things and is a pretty good eater, and then by Evelyn....who basically survives on bread, various crackers, cheese strings, peanut butter sandwiches and a few select fruits (as long as they aren't too squishy or too hard).

She's loving solids and is usually the last one left at the dinner table

She likes the dogs and always smiles when they come by (and they like her a lot more now that she's able to share food with them)

Are there any babies who don't love spaghetti and meatballs?

Juliet is a good little patient, always sticks to "doctors orders"

Juliet loves her elephant and (just like Lucy) likes to fall asleep with it over her face

Giggles in the jolly jumper tent

Juliet has a few fears that I've discovered so far - the exersaucer, the robot vacuum, and this weird toy bunny.

Finally big enough to participate at the playground

Little darling

Evelyn has really been enjoying grade 1 and we've noticed a big difference in how much more French she's picking up this year. She likes to quiz us on French words she's learned, and is pretty excited when we don't know one (which is pretty common for Craig already). She has a very good accent and is often singing French songs around the house, which Lucy then picks up from her. She can pump out an incredible (and overwhelming) amount of crafts, drawings, and various art projects and still gets a bit (sometimes a lot) frustrated when things aren't "perfect"....I know where she got that trait from though, so I can't fault her too much. She is a great big sister to Juliet and is usually very helpful to me. Juliet always smiles and laughs at her, which is adorable to watch. She also plays quite well with Lucy - they of course have their fights, but it is nice that they can get into imaginative play together for a decent amount of time now. For Christmas, she wants (needs) her two front teeth and two lower incisors which all fell out in the span of a month this fall!

Rainbow playdoh kits - Evelyn always likes to have everything sorted out and in the correct order (don't try to mix of the order of a rainbow or she will call you on it)

Out for an adventure in Drumheller

Ice cream cone ready for school on Halloween

Catching ladybugs

Lucy is our wild child, and honestly, I would love to see what is happening inside her little brain. She can be the cutest, sweetest little angel and then at the flip of a switch she is grabbing Juliet in the jolly jumper and swinging her as high as can be or squishing a pillow over her face. One time she actually tipped the whole Jolly Jumper over with Juliet in it. I'm sure there is some jealousy mixed in there, but it is almost like she loves Juliet so strongly that it turns into overly aggressive behaviour. Anyway - that is another factor that has made for a very different maternity leave, as I spend a good portion of the day protecting Juliet from Lucy. She is fiercely independent - I'd say even more so than Evelyn for some things, and she always wants to pick her own clothes, dress herself, do her car seat buckles, etc. Things take a lot longer, but it is generally helpful (though her outfits are sometimes questionable and she might choose to wear 3 headbands at the same time, but I pick my battles). In the last few months, she has also really matured "academically" (I use that term loosely) - but in the summer, she was pretty much just scribbling, and then it seemed like all of a sudden she was really into learning to write her name, colouring in the lines, and drawing with intention. So she is often pretty happy to do her "homework" as she calls it during the day with me - and I love seeing what she comes up with in her drawings. The early drawings of our family are very sweet :) Anyway, Lucy is definitely a much more difficult 3 year old than Evelyn ever was, but she is spirited, sweet, and tough all at the same time and I know her character will serve her well in the long run.

An "Elsa Braid" at Lucy's request

Loves Starbucks as much as I do

Taking care of Juliet

One of many tight hugs

Bringing daddy some play doh treats

Our fearless biker

Our house wouldn't be crazy enough if we didn't also have two large dogs barking constantly at squirrels, delivery people, and every person who walks by on the sidewalk. We are pretty sure Hudson had a stroke a couple months back. All of a sudden he could only turn in one direction and had lost all sense of the daily routine (which he is normally compulsive about). He wouldn't get up to greet you at the door, had no idea when it was time to eat or go for a walk, and didn't have much of an appetite. Luckily most of the symptoms resolved within a couple weeks, though he is noticeably slower on walks, but I guess that is how it goes with a senior dog. Ruby on the other hand still has tons of energy. We keep the dog toys in our front closet and Ruby is always scratching at the door and whining to get in there and try to coax someone to play with her. She still acts like a puppy half the time even though she'll be 8 this spring.

The kids picked out some Christmas presents for the dogs and within a day of us wrapping them, Ruby figured out which ones were dog toys (we had to hide them back in the basement as she wouldn't leave the tree.

Hudson's appetite seems to be even stronger now - sometimes he can barely walk up and down stairs, but somehow he managed to get on this tiny chair to lap up some leftover milk from breakfast....

I love when the dogs lie all over my freshly folded laundry!

Like most people, our holiday season has been and will be pretty quiet. Fortunately for us, it isn't all that different from other years since we generally don't travel or see family over Christmas anyway. We have been having lots of fun with our advent activity calendar (and it's nice that I actually have the time to put into it this year and haven't sworn it off in the first week of December like I do most years). Christmas will be filled will FaceTime calls, way too many presents for these kids, and a low key dinner. We usually let the kids choose their dinner (it will be a toss up between peanut butter sandwiches, chicken nuggets, hot dogs or pizza) and then after they go to bed, Craig and I eat enough charcuterie for like 10 people...our Christmas dinner tradition.

Here are a few pictures of some of our favourite holiday activities so far.

Prepping the advent activity calendar for 2020!

Making reindeer hats - the girls insisted that Juliet needed one too

Decorating the windows

We went to ZooLights for our one "outing" of the year. It was pretty crowded and I'm surprised its allowed to stay open with our current COVID restrictions - Probably would have been better to leave it for another year, but the girls did have a great time.

COVID-style Santa pictures at the Zoo

Driving out for our annual Christmas tree hunt - Ruby is sure that she deserves a seat closer to the front of the van

Annual Christmas tree hunt - it was about 15 degrees, so made for a warm winter walk

We found the perfect tree (actually two trees growing beside eachother)

Evelyn and Lucy's mini trees

The final product

Snowstorm in a jar - water, baby oil, sparkles, paint and alka seltzer tablets to create the snowstorm

The kids love this activity - Craig prefers to be out of the house

Their goal is to make the glass overflow, which they always achieve with enough alka selzer

Making bird feeder ornaments with seed, gelatin and cookie cutters

Annual Christmas baking day - the girls are starting to get the hang of baking and even starting to save the licking for the end

Sugar cookies

Gingerbread

Sugar cookies are delicious but they take so long to decorate

This is only about half the cookies we made - 11 solid hours of work in one day from me and probably 3-4 hours for Evie and Lucy (luckily we have some friends who we could offload some of these on with some front step cookie deliveries this past week)

Making cinnamon ornaments

Creating Christmas cards to send to family - the girl were pretty self sufficient this year and exciting to mail these off

A few quick family Christmas photos. Lucy refused to make a happy face for our family shots, but was happy to hop down on her own and pose for solo pictures. (so in response to my question above, Lucy's is the photoshopped face). Juliet was also terrified of the big flash, so I had to take her photo with my phone at home. So goes a typical family photo session.