Staff Beach Party

            Incredible food, incredible friends, fantastic weather. We're really going to miss the Supply and Demand family.

Wedding Plans: Engagement Photos

           We had our niece (technically my soon-to-be niece) take engagement photos at the cottage the weekend before last. We needed them for our Save the Dates which will be going out soon. It was a really hot day, but we still got some great shots. Thanks, Keely!

                We are clearly very awkward in front of the camera, but we're working on it. I can't wait to look at these a year from now and see how much we've changed. We're both working hard on changing our lifestyle habits to get in shape for the wedding! Wish us luck :)

Father's Day: Why I love Daddy

Abigail takes longer than most to write blog posts, so here is her long-overdue Father's Day post for Mark: (she's really sorry for the delay) 

These are just some of the reasons I love my "Dada"

:

He makes me laugh during mealtime

He eats my feet

He made me laugh before anyone else.

   He taught me how to be cool in pictures

He lets me crash in his bed after a long night

We're like twins sometimes

Seriously. We match a lot.

We've been bros from the start.

He let me stay up late to watch The Avengers

He's really proud of me already, and wears that heart on his sleeve pretty literally.

He doesn't panic when I wake up during a dinner party, and knows just how to lull me back to sleep while still being the best host/dj around

We're the best nap partners

He takes me out, even on laundry day, when I'm dressed like this.

He makes me giggle and squeal while all the ladies around us sigh for some reason.

He takes me for walks and hangs out at the Canal with me.

He splashes with me!

He loves me ALMOST as much as I love him.

Cottage Life

     Since finishing my work as a nanny, I have been dividing my time between packing up house in the big city, and enjoying myself/tutoring at the Big Rideau. The cottage Mark's family has there is wonderful. It is such a peaceful retreat. Though we've yet to experience a weekend without cold and/or rain, we still love it. 


       So does Abigail.  She went swimming every day, rain or shine, at least once a day. She LOVES the water! She also loves playing with her cousins Quinn and Keely (Liam she missed you!). Between Auntie Beth and Grandma, Mark and I get a bit of a break at the cottage. For some reason they both really like taking Abby. Papa got a fancy new tv for the cottage that's bigger (and nicer) than any of the sets anyone has in their homes. It is GIANT. New leather furniture is being delivered to the cottage this week too, next weekend we'll think we're at a resort or something. As long as the lake, the porch, and a swing or hammock is around, I don't think Abby would notice that anything has changed.

     We ate lots of fresh strawberries, watched a fancy new television, did some creative writing, took engagement photos, and had a lot of reading time. Abby worked out a new napping schedule, played blocks and transformers with Quinn, ate and ate and ate, crawled in a million different ways, stood up a lot and used every bathtub-like basin on the property for bedtime prep. That girl is adaptable, and I love it. 

     Hope you had a wonderful weekend too!

Hot Hot Heat

          I love that band. It is also really really hot outside these days, despite the rain we've been getting. I do not handle heat well and neither do small children for whom outdoor play is the quintessential Summertime experience. Catch-22 for those of us brave enough to be caring for them full-time. Abby and I have one week left of work, and then we will be retreating to the cottage a few days a week to beat the city heat. Which, by the way, seems worse than regular run-of-the-mill heat in that it also throws sweaty people, car exhaust and every smelly green bin ever into the mix. 

         So how do we beat the heat these days? Well-placed fans and a portable air conditioner for starters. Baths, light fabric and colours, water, water, water. Hydrating during this heat is really important; it keeps headaches at bay, keeps you sweating, and gives you an excuse to run into an air conditioned place to relieve your over-full bladder! Basically it's a win, win, win. Hats, sun glasses and sun screen are also high on our packing list for outings of ANY duration. I don't know if you've seen pictures of Abby or not, (ha) but she may or may not be extremely susceptible to the effects of the Sun. 

        Today after work we walked home (I wear her to and from work which, though a short walk, is SWEATY in this heat I tell ya) and went straight to Mommy's bed to relax, have a drink and soak up all the air conditioned goodness. I couldn't get over how funny Abby was being despite it being her post-work crash witching hour so I grabbed my camera to show her off again. She also learned a pretty neat trick recently which I thought I'd show you. 

       
          Woo hoo, we learned about gravity and FINALLY tipped the cup on our own! Abby has been using bottles and sippy cups of water for as long as she's been in a high chair and eating solids- but the notion of tipping the cup was far from her radar. "Isn't that mommy or daddy's job anyway?" Now she tips cups even without handles, I love it!

 
        "Lady, I knew that I had to tip the silly cup, it was just more fun to make you do it every time I wanted to drink. Dance, monkey. Dance." - What she was thinking when I took this picture (obviously)

            Peek-a-boo elicits this reaction every time! I love it, and the giggles? Oh the giggles and squeals how they kill me. 

        This air conditioning feels nice. 

          Seriously, how is this child mine? How did she grow inside me? Oh Abigail, we love you so much, even in this heat.