Spark Science Center!

The Best Way to Predict the Future is to Invent It...

LEFT HAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She said: "A little bit scared mommy".

I was totally obsessed with these gorgeous jars.

Of course she's going for the pink one...

Spark!

Yup - Will and his amazing cardigan were there too.  But, he slept almost the entire time so I guess that's why babies are free.  Check out those elbow patches!

Little groggy waking up.

Dzjadju keeping a close watch

The gorgeous new facility.  I felt like I was in a modern art museum!  

Nate and I have often discussed the idea of moving to a different city - especially since all but one of our siblings have left.  But the truth is, we really love our hometown and spending time with the remaining family and incredible friends we do have here.  It’s hard to come across someone who doesn’t love Calgary - the shopping is amazing, there are tons of stellar restaurants all over the city, the culture around town is artsy and creative and downtown isn't too serious and intimidating.  The weather is reasonable (and has especially been this past winter) and the sun is usually shining brightly regardless of how cold it is.  There really isn’t too much to complain about.  

In the last few years our city has had some major positive additions to it - one of which is the Telus Spark Science Centre.  Our little family unit, along with my Dad, Don, who is known as Dzjadzu in our house (Grandpa in polish) went to check it out this past weekend.  We found a ton to discover and of course take photos of.  The day was just full of discovery and exploration.  It was adventure filled to the point that it had Scarlet drifting off in her carseat on the way home.   I highly recommend a visit if your family is looking for a fun thing to do on a Saturday.  The time to go is first thing in the morning as it’s pretty dead.  By 11:00am it was swamped with other kids and families - we were lucky to have been able to play with certain exhibits when it was so quiet.  

Again, it’s times like these that I’m happy we still reside in Calgary.  That day with Dzjadzu may not be fully remembered by Scarlet but I think my Dad (who jumped at the 9am meet time) will cherish and remember the day fondly.  I know I will.  

Kate
XOXO

Body Confidence after Babies

If you had sat me down at the end of my last pregnancy and said: ‘Kate, in four months you're going to post front and back shots of yourself in a bikini on the internet’.  I would have laughed, cringed a little internally and then said ‘Wanna bet?  There’s absolutely no way’.  But when there’s a will (haha, no pun intended) there’s a way.  Here we are four months after his big birthday and wammo - I’m posting front and back shots of myself in a bikini on the internet.  Why???  Well, let’s see here.  Why am I doing this…

I guess the hard and fast answer is that I like my mama curves and battle scars.  They're little reminders of how strong I was and how difficult pregnancy and childbirth are, but that I got through it all.  I know I’m not perfect physically, but I really don’t care.  I did, once, a while ago, before kids when I was still dancing, but I’m realizing there is

SO MUCH MORE TO LIFE!!! 

I really don’t want to get wound up in the freaky thin ‘ideal’, (which I find pretty disturbing anyway).  I just want to keep this confidence after what my body has been through.  I want to keep working out to be healthy and feel good.  I want to keep eating well to be healthy and feel good.  I want to keep living life outside to be healthy and feel good.  If that’s on a beach in Mexico in a swimsuit, then dang nab it I want to be feeling healthy and good - and lately I have been.

Even before the trip, I bought a one piece BLACK bathing suit because I was still thinking to myself, ‘well, I could stand to loose a few more pounds and my measurements aren’t where they were before the pregnancy, and my scar is still lumpy and bumby’ and then one day all four of us were out shopping and Nate encouraged me to try on a cute new bikini. I was like ‘Heck!  Why not?!  I don’t want to care anymore about having the ‘perfect’ bod cause there is no such thing!!!’  

So although the fitness and food will continue to be a focus in my life it will be a healthy focus.  Anything positive, like body shape or weight loss, that comes after that is pure icing (bad comparison I know…).  But really, I’m proud of where I am today.  I want to continue to feel this confidence and work towards more health in my life.  That’s what it is - a journey, not a destination.  So happy healthy living friends.  Hope this weekend will be a feel good one for you too!!!

Kate 

XO

Grammy and Grandpa

The Mexican trip would have been a verrrry different story if it hadn’t been for these two.  I wish I could have been able to say that I could easily handled travelling with two under two and Nate, but the truth is I know there is no way it would have been fun.  As you may have seen in an earlier post, Nate and I had a date day and a date night (amazing), but we were also blessed with daily beach walks alone, major support during meal times so that we could actually eat, and constant Scarly and Will supervision so that we could honestly take a break from baby land.  I’ll admit, it was a little difficult for the first few days to let go of the reins and allow Chris and Rob to help out as much as they wanted to, but once I found my relax button - it was heaven.

Here are a few fun pics of the kids with their grandparents.  We’re hoping we’ll be able to travel again as a group really soon.

Also, tomorrow will be the last day I talk about Mexico for those of you who are over it… haha!!!

It’s like:  ‘Ok Kate, we get it.  You went to Mexico’.

Cheers to an hour of mommy time! 

Have a lovely day friends

XO

The Littles do Mexico

Oh - ok.  I guess we're not looking at the camera.

I know every parent thinks this about their own kids, so I guess I’m right in there with the best of them, but seriously, I think my littles are the ultimate.

I can’t even...

We had a mini Scarlet and Will Weiland fan club that began to grow as each day passed at the resort this past week.  It was so much fun meeting all the new people and friends and walking out to the pool and hearing ‘SCARLET’S HERE!’ from across the blue water.  HAHA!  I mean, it was incredible.  It was just heart-warming and so exciting to see the kids learning and discovering and being social with others.  What better way to learn about our world than through our friends and their experiences?  

Anywho - there will be a few random pics today in the ‘Travel’ section of the kids, their outfits, what they ate, and how it all went down.  Just to let everyone know, I took 788 pictures total over the trip - !!!!!!!!!!! but obviously won't inundate you all with them.  

Hope you enjoy friends!

Kate 

XO

MEXICAN DAY DATE!

Who doesn’t LOVE a day date?  I mean, the kids are both napping soundly, Grammy and Grandpa are happily watching the monitors for a few hours and what do Mommy and Daddy Weilz decide to do for the afternoon?!  You guessed it.  Get day drunk!  Haha.  Just kidding.  Well - we did have a few drinks but obviously we were very responsible.  (Cough).

But that’s not all folks.  We went for lunch outside of the resort (gasp), we went for a dip in the pool (wha?!) and we finished off with a very energetic and flirtatious swim in the ocean (hubba hubba).  Nuff said.

In the ‘Travel’ section, there are a few pics of Nate and I re-connecting during one of the days.  We also got a Date night but unfortunately I was so pumped about it all that I totally forgot to bring my cell phone or my camera.  Oh well - I’ll have the memories in my head.  Hope you enjoy!

Kate

XO

OUR FIRST FAMLY TRIP!

Feeling like the luckiest lady with these three

Oh my gosh guys, we did it!  Our first little vacation as a family of four and it was a blast.  I can’t tell you how awesome it turned out to be - way better than we anticipated, yes I thought of many awful scenarios that thankfully didn't happen.  There were a few little struggles and challenges along the way (like when I accidentally ate some food that had touched shellfish... that was fun,) but Nate and I agreed that it was all WELL worth it.  Just the amount of memories and pictures that we are starting to collect of our kids and the quality time we spend together is something that I have really begun to cherish and value more and more.  For me, this is what life is all about.  Our little 'unit' will be doing A LOT more of this.

 But before I post too much about the trip, I just want to say thanks for all the love and support on the blog.  I came home to some amazing comments and tons of love from you guys and also a very shocking 100,000+ hits!  That’s wild and exciting for me considering I’m still not even totally sure how to set up a proper subscription section for followers (haha).  But I’m still learning.  I just wanted to say thanks so much and thanks for visiting the blog.

 So, I’ll be posting most if not all of the pics of Mexico both in the travel section and on the main page everyday this week.  I’ve been totally ignoring the 'Travel' page so it will be nice to finally put some content in there!  Here’s to MORE travel.  

The glorious views from our room.

Hope you have a lovely week friends!

Kate XO

Thick Side Braid

Ok - so clearly I’m slightly obsessed with hair right now - this is what having a daughter has done to me.  Here is my version of the side dutch braid.  I would probably never go out of the house looking like this cause let’s be honest - the milkmaid isn’t quite my best ‘look’.  But I figure if I keep practicing braids on myself my fingers will get some serious skills for Scarly.  If anyone has any other ideas or thoughts about braids or hairstyles please leave me a comment!  I absolutely love to read them and always try to respond.  

Whoops - this angle kinda got away from me.  I was trying to get the full braid but should have just set it up...

This is a little better and the only pic of the length of the braid.

I also wanted to mention that I will be abandoning the blog for a while since we’ll be away.  But I’m sure I’ll have lot’s to write about when we get home!  Hope you guys all have a fantastic few weeks and lot's of spring weather!  Also, if you can, please send me positive plane vibes.  If you’ve read previous posts you’ll know one of my biggest fears is getting stuck in a plane just sitting on a tarmac for hours on end.  Claustrophobia has really gotten to me as I’m getting older.  I even needed to go and see a doctor about it because I was losing sleep!  Luckily, I was prescribed some emergency pills in case I start to panic.   THANK GOODNESSS!  But still - I could really use the prayers.

Luvs, and talk soon!

Kate

XOXO

Double dutch elastic ponytails!

Wanna guess how long this hairstyle took to do?  Let’s just say I could have made tonight’s lasagna dinner in the same amount of time.

But moving on…

Parting her hair (as you can see) is tough.  Maybe it’s too short or too clean?  I don’t know but if anyone has any suggestions I’d love some help.  Once it was finally done I was pretty happy with the end product - it's kinda hard to see but I even matched the paired elastics.  (I can hear the applause).  It didn't come out until her nap time so it has some serious staying power.  

But what do you guys think?

Kate 

XOXO

ps - I should sooooooo be packing for the trip instead of doing hair but I can't help myself!  I'm totally addicted. #shouldhavebeenahairdresser

16 weeks POST-PARTUM

How are you feeling? 

Excited.  This is a big week for our little family!  

Sleep?

We’re getting there…

My Nutrition?

I can’t lie - I’ve been a slacker this week (see ‘Eats’ for proof)

 Any weight loss?

1 pound for a total of 29 pounds putting me at 114

Best moment this week?

Lady date with one of my best girls Ali!  We went for dinner and just gabbed for hours.  

 How is Scarlet coping?

I’m dying to get her in the pool!!!  The weather was cooler here this past week so we did very little outside.  I’m starting to sense she is feeling cooped-up in the house so the vacay will be amazing!

Baby Will?

He’s holding his head up and smiling non-stop!  He babbles and talks and laughs too which makes spending time with him even more fun (if that’s even possible).

His weight?

 I’m guessing 15, 16 pounds

His disposition?

His personality is emerging!!!  If I got a buck for every time he smiled at me during the  day - I’d be a millionaire.  Check this boy out…

What are you looking forward to?

My sister-in-law Laura and her son Charlie are coming over Thursday!  YAYYYY!  And our first get-away as a famjam of four to MEXICO! 

Fourth Trimester Rulebook: I will do my best to implement these rules for the next three months.

1. I will be kind to myself, my mental well-being, my body and my heart.

2. I will do my best to let go of the cleanliness of our house.

3. I will ask for help and ask often.

4. I will do my best to sleep or rest when the baby sleeps.

5. I will resist the urge to feel guilty when I am not with Scarlet and Nate.  I will value and cherish my time with sweet baby William. 

6. I will not workout or be physical ;) for at least 6 weeks

Blonde baby braids!

FIRST FRENCHIES!!! 

Ok - panic at the disco.  Did this just happen?!?!  YUUUUUP!

My baby’s first french braids!  I can’t contain my excitement!!!

Ok, ok, yes I know, they are incredibly lopsided and super teeny weeny; but they’re definitely coming!!!  haha.  I never knew I would be so pumped about hair as I am right now.  Scarly didn’t even flinch when I did them.  Whoo Hoo!  Let the hair games begin.

Hope you have a fabulous week friends!

KATE

XOXO