My sweet little Elianne, I've neglected to blog about you for far too long!

"Little" Eli is, in fact, not that little anymore. She's 21 months old, and in such an adorable phase that between Mehdi, Anissa and I, she must get hundreds of hugs and kisses a day. She's doesn't seem to mind, thankfully. Here's a little summary of what she's up to these days:

Her favorite things:
- anything to do with Frosty (Fossy) the Snowman
- playing house/school/anything at all with "sissy" Anissa
- taking a bubble bath
- looking at the moon
- going to her "class" (playgroup) at the YMCA -whenever someone mentions Anissa's school, she has to inform them that, "Eli go YDA."
- talking to Memere and Pepere and Mama Jo on the phone. So much so that she cries when I try to talk to them myself.
- the sticker Anissa gives her each day when we pick her up at school.
- her Elmo book

Her not-so-favorite things:
- her high chair. We've given up on that one.
- grocery shopping
- sleeping in

And my favorite part of Eli's age is the new words and sentences she comes out with every day. The things she say most each day are, "Eli do that!" and "Anissa go?" (where did Anissa go?) She adores her sister, and the adoration is mutual. They crack each other up with silly dance moves, giggle while hiding from us, and snuggle on the couch.

Anissa is now in her third week of kindergarten, and I am so proud of how great she's handling it so far. Back in the spring, I was torn about whether to enroll her in the French immersion school her friends from preschool would be attending (classes are 8:10 to 10:50 daily), or the francophone school which offers a full-time program (daily, 8:50 to 3:20). I didn't know if I was ready to give her up to the world so soon, and worried that the French would be overwhelming for her. I worried about Elianne missing her sister, I worried about Anissa making friends with kids who speak French at home, I worried that a full day would be too much, I worried about being "francophone" enough to fit in with the other parents, etc etc etc!

I'm happy to report that all my worries were unfounded. I'm really impressed with how well Anissa has adjusted. She's cheerful every day when I pick her up, easily made friends and is understanding the teacher well enough to keep up. And though Elianne asked for her sister the first few days, she now understands where she is and, frankly, is soaking up the extra one-on-one time with me. It's all worked out for the best. And just when I was thinking Anissa couldn't seem any more grown up, she came home Friday and announced that she had a loose tooth. So now we've also had our first visit from the tooth fairy!

Anissa's first day of Maternelle

Yes, friends, it has been a busy, fun-filled summer. I say that with a long sigh because I'll have to accept that the season of sun and fun is coming to an end. It honestly feels like weeks ago that Anissa was finishing preschool and we were packing up for our trip to Tunisia. My big girl will be off to school in a matter of days - full-time kindergarten - and Elianne and I will be on our own for a large portion of the day. Though I can't help getting teary-eyed at the thought of Anissa "leaving us", I am excited for her. And, looking back on our amazing summer, I feel good knowing that we took full advantage of this last stretch of time together before she heads out into the big wide world.

We kicked off our summer with an unforgettable month in Tunisia. It was so fabulous seeing Anissa and Elianne get to know Mehdi's grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, and of course spending quality time with Mama Jo. The girls had the vacation of a lifetime: amusement parks, ice cream by the ton, the pool, the beach, and billions of "boussa" (kisses). Anissa rode a camel, was a flower girl in cousin Cyrine's wedding, picked up an impressive amount of French and had any five-year-old's dream birthday pool party. Elianne fell in love with a garden turtle, was more talented at remembering Arabic names than I am, and charmed everyone with her constant toothy smile. Between family visits, delicious meals and outings to the beach, the month flew by much too fast. During a quick layover in Paris, we met up with Mehdi's dad, his wife Francoise and their sweet daughter Sasha. A quick trip to the Eiffel Tower and a dinner at Sacre Coeur, and it was already time to fly back to Calgary. Nearly two months later, and Anissa still sighs occasionally and expresses how much she misses everyone in Tunisia. How lucky my girls are to have such a loving extended family in such a beautiful place.

I wasn't really sure what we were going to do back in Alberta once back from our trip and had even worried about how to fill the days, but thankfully there has been plenty to keep us busy. Two of my nieces spent a week each at our house, my parents visited a few times, and we went camping with my entire family. Anissa had a reunion with her best friend, Mariella, during our fantastic week in Whistler with Dan, Natasha, Mariella and Antonia.

What else? Anissa and I went to see Cirque du Soleil (her mouth was open in awe the entire performance), we took the girls to Sesame Street Live (Elianne's turn to be in awe), Anissa attended a week-long summer camp at the zoo and we had plenty of backyard/playground dates with friends.

I'm sure I've forgotten something, but I'll let the photos fill in the blanks.


Here's a peek at Tunisia:



And here's back home:

We're leaving tomorrow on our trip to Tunisia, cutting Anissa's preschool year short by a week, so she said her goodbyes to her class today. She was feeling sad about both the farewells and missing the year-end party, but I think the giant group hug her friends gave her eased her pain a little.

A few months ago, I thought Elianne was slower on the verbal side of things than Anissa had been at her age. She's really been proving me wrong these past few weeks, though, as she's been learning new words - and using them in creative ways - at a rapid pace. Of course, the way she says them isn't always very clear, but her face lights up with pride when we understand what she's just told us. I thought I'd jot down a list of some of the things she can (sort of) say at age 15 months, besides the obvious Mommy, Papa, hi and bye:

- "weayou?" - where are you?
- "bur" - bird
- "dee" - deer
- "bottle" - this one is perfectly clear because it is one of her favorite things. No matter how we present milk, in whatever cup or with a straw or even warmed up, she only spits it out if it's not in her precious bottle.
- "stu" - stuck
- "bre" - bread
- "geyyi" - spaghetti
- "buh" - up
- "wee" - means 3 things: tree, soother or shoe (??)
- "tubtub" - bath
- "car"
- "bee" - an actual bee, or "brush teeth"
- "bu" - bug or book
- "buddy" - bunny
- "boddy" - potty
- "wa" - water
- "bow" - bowl
- "manya" - banana
- "buy" - snack (she's trying to say "bite")or butterfly or bike
- "Emmo" - Elmo (she knows him from a cookie box)
- "Dah" - Dora
- "ball"
- "tore!" - score
- "duh" - duck
- "bag"
- "cup"
- "baby"
- "meyyi" - Mehdi: usually trying to help me call him in some other part of the house
- "fy" - a bit disturbing, but this is "fry", as in french fry. Anissa and I mentioned fries one day last week while we were eating lunch, and Elianne started demanding to have "fy" and crying in frustration when we explained we didn't have any. We don't eat fast food very often, so they must have made quite the impression on her!

The big winner, her real favorite lately, though, is..."NO!" And when she gets frustrated, especially if I take something away from her, she throws things and flops onto the floor and kicks and screams. Sound kind of like a temper tantrum to you?

After a one week delay due to the return of winter, Anissa's soccer league finally kicked off last night. Although she was excited, I think Mehdi was the most pumped. The last time Anissa played soccer she was 3 and didn't really get into it, but he had high hopes for this time around. Well, last night wasn't a disappointment for anyone - after warm-ups and choosing their team name, the Sharks had their first match. There was some brief confusion over which goal to shoot at, but soon the game got going and was such a blast to watch. Anissa didn't lack any enthusiasm on the pitch, running fast after the ball wherever it went (including out of bounds and into another game's field), and several times ran back into the game when she was supposed to be sitting out. Final score: Sharks 1, Opposition 0. It was so much fun I had no problem picturing myself as a soccer mom. Good thing, because I have a feeling I may not have much choice!

Growing up in northern Alberta where the weather is relatively stable (cold, and always cold), I had always heard about the crazy nature of Calgary weather. I knew about chinooks, the warm winter winds that blow in and melt the snow in hours, but had never experienced one. I always thought it was a bit of an exaggeration, but after a winter here I'm a believer!



The weather here is truly nuts and impossible to predict. I regularly dress the girls in clothes for certain weather and few hours later, out at the park or mall or wherever, end up scrambling for warmer or cooler versions of their outfits so they don't suffer from the sudden heat/cold. (The secret is layers and plenty of extras - hats, sweaters, coats - in the car.) This past week really took the cake: we had spring weather the first few days, spent some time at the park, then were hit with a massive snowstorm mid-week. Then, summer arrived this weekend and it reached 24. We played in the snow, barbecued and had ice cream after a day at the zoo all within a few days. It's certainly never boring.


As you can see from these shots, the sunny days seem to be the girls' favorite.

Just got back from a week of blissful laziness at my parents' place. Anissa had a week off of school so the girls and I stayed in Wandering River after a family Easter weekend, sending Mehdi back to work in Calgary. We spent some time with friends and extended family but mostly filled the days with crafts, reading, puppet shows, dancing to Mexican mariachi music (don't ask) and, Elianne's absolute favorite: watching the small herds of deer that came to feed several times a day in the front yard. She even learned to say "deer" -sort of- and demanded many many times a day to be held up near the windows so she could check in the trees if they were back.

Eli and Memere.

A stroll with the big cousins.

Elianne also got to ride the tractor for the first time with Anissa, Pepere and I. Her eyes grew huge when we drove into the pasture to feed the buffalo their bales. The huge beasts, stamping and grunting just below the tractor door, never fail to impress me, so I can imagine what a sight it must have been for a one-year old. She didn't learn to say "buffalo" but she did continually point and make the sound for what she thought they were - "eeee"ing in her best elephant impression.

Anissa, other than a few days fighting a stomach bug, also enjoyed some new experiences. At my friend Ramona's parents' farm, she got to feed a baby calf a bottle of milk. And she discovered a new favorite hobby with Memere and Pepere; playing cards. She played hours of Crazy 8's, Go Fish and Memory Match. And it's actually a bit freaky how lucky she is, almost always beating everyone (and we were even trying to win!). I'm thinking of taking her to Vegas.

Only two of my childhood friends, Ramona and Kim, were in town that day, but between the three of us we've produced these seven sweet girls.

The icing on the cake, though, was seeing the girls' reunion with Mehdi after nearly a week apart. The way their faces lit up when they saw him melted my heart, and the way they fought over his attention was hilarious. They are lucky to have such a devoted and loving Papa, and they seem to know it.

Lately I've been especially frustrated with how quickly an afternoon at home with the girls can go by without being able to accomplish much of anything. Sure, there's always some playing and reading of books, but much less of that than I'd like and more of the tedious house-keeping stuff like cooking, cleaning up and laundry. But why is it, with all the effort I feel I'm putting into the house, it still looks like a tornado whipped through it and I still have trouble finding matching socks? I've decided to do an experiment to find out. To pinpoint where all my time is going, I thought I'd sit down and jot down all the things I've done in a period of time.

This afternoon I picked Anissa up at 11:15 from school, and Elianne, Anissa and I were home for lunch by 11:30. It's now almost 3:30. What have I been doing in those 4hours? Here's what I remember off the top of my head:

- Lunch preparation. Washing strawberries, making sandwiches, cutting up cheese, cooking and chopping carrots for Elianne, eating, loading the breakfast dishes in the dishwasher.
- 2 loads of laundry. Fighting Elianne off as she tries to unfold what I fold.
- Followed Elianne up the stairs 2 times as Anissa had forgotten to close the gate.
- Called and left message at Mama Jo's.
- Emailed a friend to ask if I had left ELianne's sippy cup - the only one she likes - at her house last night.
- Got a suitcase out of the basement to put some of the clean laundry into (packing for our Easter escape to my Mom and Dad's).
- Pretended to be sleeping 3 times so the Easter Bunny - aka Anissa dressed in a furry white suit - could deliver eggs to me. This made me realize how sleepy I was, so I made and consumed a cup of chai tea.
- Set up a pad of paper and crayons for the girls, then later consoled a screaming Elianne when I discovered crayon scribbles on our footstool and had to take the crayons away.
- Chased Elianne - who was eating toilet paper - out of the bathroom.
- Helped Anissa find Easter egg painting set from last year in the basement.
- Answered the door and signed for a letter. I got my passport!
- Chased Elianne out from under the high chair, where she was picking up some snacks, to pick up gobs of carrot and strawberry from the floor. Swept up all the other crumbs.
- Put on a CD and twirled around in the living room with the girls for a few songs.
- Hung sweaters to dry.
- Rocked a strawberry-smelling little girl for a few minutes before putting her down for a nap.
- Checked emails. Sippy cup found! Called Mehdi to ask him to pick it up after work.
- Took out glue for Anissa, nearly broke my wrist trying to open it and poured some into a paper plate.

Hmmmm.

Nothing here that's going to change the world, and the house is more of a mess than it was 4 hours ago. But just writing this helped me to see that, in between all the tedious stuff, there have been some beautiful moments. They may seem small, but overall I think they add up to something very, very big.

Happy belated birthday, Eli Belly!

On February 16th, our sweet little Elianne turned one. Memere and Pepere came down to celebrate, and we threw a Bunny birthday bash. She had icecream for the first time and kept asking for "mo!" (more). This first year with her has flown by much too fast for my taste, but I look forward to all the years to come with her as part of our family.

We love you sooooo much, Elianne.

Nearly 3 weeks ago, Mehdi attended a conference in New Orleans. While he was packing the night before he left, we talked about how, at 11 months, Elianne seemed so much younger than Anissa did at that age. We reminisced about a trip we took to Vancouver for another conference, when Anissa was just 11 months old: how she already had an impressive vocabulary and could make a repetoire of animal sounds, had a full mouth of teeth and had had her hair cut. Elianne, on the other other hand, says a handful of words (Mama, Papa, done, duck, ball, hi, bye), has 4 teeth and her baby hair. We laughed about how, the day after Mehdi left Vancouver and Anissa and I went camping in the Okanagan with my family, Anissa took her first steps. As Mehdi filled his suitcase, we joked how he certainly was not going to miss Elianne's first steps on this trip, as she wasn't showing any signs of walking soon.

Surprise surprise! It seems both our girls require two conditions to take those first shaky steps: Mehdi out of town, and Memere and Pepere to cheer them on. I dropped Mehdi off at the airport Wednesday morning, and when my parents arrived in Calgary that night Elianne took her first steps from Dad to me. She's been doing the Frankenstein walk around the house since then, getting more and more confident so that by her first birthday next weekend, she should be up to showing off her new skill.

Happy 2008 everyone! Among a few other resolutions (ie. fit into pre-baby jeans), I had promised myself to: A) be better about posting on the blog, and B) get more sleep. As you can see, I'm already failing miserably at A, and Elianne has completely sabotaged B. She is cutting her top two teeth - finally - and has had a non-stop cold since, well, birth it seems, and thus doesn't sleep much, day or night. I'm so tired and just not thinking clearly these days. Today, for example, I failed to show up to be Anissa's special helper at school. The teacher, thankfully, was kind enough not to mention to her that it was supposed to be her big day, so Anissa was no worse for the wear. How embarrassing!

So, if I had posted on this blog of mine sometime in the past month, what would I have written about?





1. Christmas, of course, and how much fun it was to share the magic of the season with both of our girls. They were both very spoiled by all the family, and had the best time with their cousins. Over several days up in Wandering River, I barely saw Anissa but for in passing (or when I heard her call, "Mom!", came to her aid, and she said, "Not YOU!" because she was playing house) because my nieces and nephew played so well with her. Elianne had fun tearing up Mom and Dad's magazines and we all ate a ridiculous amount. Then, back in Calgary, we hosted a New Year's gathering; the first time we were able to do that in over a decade. We even made it past midnight. Just barely, but still!





2. Elianne, and how hilarious she is. And demanding. She is very social, smiling at anyone and everyone, and is trying very hard to communicate. So far, that means an awful lot of pointing and shrieking. She's as busy as Anissa was at this age, finding everything possible to get into anytime I turn my head; the toilet paper (and toilet!), the blinds, the DVD player (even though it's blocked off by a huge footstool, she's very determined), our wet and dirty winter boots, the shower stall, etc etc. She cruises around on the furniture and can stand for a long time on her own, so I think walking is not far off. I have to start planning her 1st birthday party, which is mind-blowing. It can't be.



3. Anissa's kindergarten open house. We attended last night, and I'm really happy with the school. It seems like a warm, inviting place and I think she will be comfortable there. She spent some time in the kindergarten room with some grade 6 students who were babysitting so parents could attend the presentation in the gym, and when we talked about the school this morning she was excited about the kids who "will also be teaching her". Hope she's not too disappointed next fall to discover just a regular, middle-aged teacher!