Squishy Squirrel: A very BIG update...It's been awhile!

It's been nearly three months since I have posted anything. I am such a slacker! No, really though...It's been a difficult few months for me so everything in my life is taking a bit of a toll. On May 2nd, Squish, myself and two of our buddies were on our way to Centre Island for a picnic and we were rear-ended on Queens Quay by a dump truck. Without going into details, it's been such an enormous inconvenience and has affected me physically as well as being a gigantic time consumer, which is sooooo frustrating! The physical stuff has been challenging with Autumn. It's been tough to lift her and do what we normally do together and the other stuff has been hugely irritating and a major stressor for Teddy and myself as well. That's all I will say about it, but please forgive me for not posting anything in ages.

Life has continued to be busy with work and a busy bee toddler kicking around. Sunshine and heat have been less than plentiful here in Tdot this spring but we have still managed to spend some lovely days outside. Autumn is talking so much now and even in full sentences. I always think she's a bit ahead of the game in this department for her age and it's nice when other people confirm her genius. We have been hearing lots of "WOW"s with respect to her vocabulary these days. My girl is so smart!

We are on a wait-list for toddler soccer and looking forward to starting swimming lessons back up this summer as well. I'm eager to get her into some physical activities to burn off some of her beans. She's full of 'em! Haha! Yesterday, I picked up a second hand climber and tiny slide and she went up and down and around that thing for three hours after her nap yesterday. It's a hit and I'm so glad that we don't have to go further than the back yard in a pinch to get a few beans out. Autumn also has her little tent outside on sunny days and has been blowing bubbles, drawing with sidewalk chalk and even kite-flying. Revisiting these activities has been nostalgic and super fun! We invited Minnie and Lara over for a visit yesterday and caught some great shots of the girls partying together in the tent. I love seeing them together. I know they will grow up and have a very special friendship.

I don't even think I have mentioned yet that Teddy's sister had a baby in April! It's been THAT long!! Baby Madeline June was born a few weeks early but is doing so well and her mama is nestling right into her new job quite naturally. Maddy is super cute and we are dying to meet her. With typical preemie challenges and a few other unique little Maddy issues, our family really felt the distance with her birth. It sure would have been nice to be closer during the tough times to offer our support--particularly since we dealt with a few similar preemie problems. Sigh. Thank goodness for the ease of text photos and email or we would all be so out of touch with each other. Autumn's cousin Cole also turned 1 in May. He's such a big boy now! It's crazy how time flies...Yikes! Really looking forward to being together in August when Cole's mama and daddy tie the knot! YAY!

These days, Squish is super into penguins. She loves them. Yesterday, she told me she wanted one to live in her crib. "Autumn yike a pengo in a tib." Not going to happen, obviously, so I let her watch Pingu on tv instead. She has also said recently that pigs and cats make her happy. She's such a funny little human. She makes us laugh every day. She has been doing a lot of pretend cooking lately too. Making soup, stew, tea, eggs, etc. Yesterday, she even scrambled a snake, a la Gruffalo. Of course, someone has to eat the pretend food/drink the pretend tea, which is entertaining and hilarious. We had some pals over a few weeks ago for a BBQ and Autumn had Lauren and Paul drinking radish tea with milk and honey for an hour straight...Constantly refilling their cups and offering them more. Thank goodness for patient friends.

Teddy and I took a four day Squishless holiday at the end of April. It was particularly hard because we chose Cuba and opted to stay in Havana in a Casa so we had very limited access to contact with her while we were away. We still managed to have a blast and it helped to know how comfortable our girl is at my mom and dad's house so we didn't lose our minds too badly at not being able to call her every day to check in. With the crappy air quality and instense UV index, I actually think it would have been way more stressful for me to have had her with us. Those old cars sure spit out some rank exhaust and Teddy and I were both looking pretty lobster-esque despite sunscreen and what not.

I will leave you all with some recent photographs. It's 6:30am and I'm dying to work on a little crocheted cardi that I'm making for Autumn. Will post photos as soon as it's done! (Yes, I get up before the roosters for alone time. Who doesn't?)

Love and Peace. m.