Monday, December 31, 2007

Happy Merry Joyous Awesome Holidays!

Hello! My goodness long time no see! Sorry for the break, it was very unplanned and I ended up enjoying the break from blogging more than I thought I would. Since we last posted, I managed to take almost 300 pictures. Luckily (for you) I won't be posting them all. A quick selection for now and others to come.

Katie had a lovely selection of Christmas outfits for the season. From Auntie Alli:
(that's actual red velvet!) (and technically, I'm not a fan of the baby headband, but as soon as I saw it on Katie I was suckered in and thought it was the cutest thing EVER.)

We also had this cutie, from Scotland, courtesy of Russ and Stephanie...so adorable!
I know, the tights don't quite match, but I realized too late that Katie only had one pair of stockings. Oops!

I do think the stripey stockings kind of go well with this cute outfit from Auntie Andrea and Uncle Sheldon. (it's a top and skirt) Can't wait to wear this one lots!
I also feel that hats are an important part of ones wardrobe and we have two to show off: a University of Alberta one that is "Awesome!"...
And this adorable one from Auntie Lorri...it's a sheep (lamb?) hat! So warm and soft! (no real sheep were harmed in the wearing of this hat!)This "baby's first Christmas" was very joyful for many reasons...including seeing loved ones from afar:
Auntie Alli and Uncle Shannon...
Cousin Danny...

And Cousin Georgina, all the way from Australia (although technically from Muncie, Indiana, where she is currently studying).
Another BIG reason for joy this Christmas (or technically Boxing Day) is this newly engaged couple:
Big HUGS and Congratulations to Andrea and Sheldon!

And what Christmas post would be complete without a few pictures of Katie and presents (we may show more of this type of picture in another post...)?

A ball (with a tinkley bell inside!):
And a box:

I think Ben and I (and Katie of course) can honestly say it was our best Christmas EVER. It was so lovely to see people and relax (Ben can't even remember what he does for a living!) and spend time together as a family. (insert nice family picture here)(instead I have dad and Katie...and mom behind the camera!)
Hope everyone reading had a very nice holiday too! We'll see you tomorrow (or soon anyway).

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Santa Special

Yesterday (while you read this, today as I type) I took Katie to the mall for her first visit with Santa! A special moment for sure. She was perfect...I was wondering if she'd do the freakout scared/cry thihng that some babies do, but she just looked up at him (the way she does) and then smiled for the camera (and the puppy puppet held by the photographer).
I think the photographer was impressed...She was obviously experienced at dealing with babies, because when we came up she said "Don't show her Santa yet..." as if she's seen a few babies get scared early. But not our Katie! (Although honestly...isn't Santa a bit scary looking?)

If you do want to see scared/crying babies with Santa though...try here and here and here.

Enjoy your day!

Simple Fun

Well, "the guy" from Sears came but couldn't fix the microwave. Not that he didn't try:
This is what's behind the touchpad if the microwave. Neat! It is fixable, but they need to order a part (inverter and a fuse?...it was hard to understand him). Good thing we still have our old microwave.

Katie had some simple fun yesterday...with a yogurt container. Kids are so easily impressed. Don't you sometimes wish we were all more like this?
Everything is new and exciting! The other day I gave her a clean whisk to play with while I was cooking...I swear that kept her entertained for a good half hour. Of course, due to the banging my whisk is a little more flat and a little less round...but that's ok, it'll still whisk things, right?

Who cares...like Katie, we should all shorten our attention spans and move on to something else. Today I'm going to try ad get Katie weighed...it's been quite a while since we've had any official numbers and we are very curious!

And by the way...I did try the peppermint marshmallow in some hot chocolate, as recommended on the web and on the box...and oh my goodness, it's heaven in a mug!!

Have a great day!

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

A little Santa

Just a quick one for today...Yesterday we received an early Christmas package from Auntie Alli, specially delivered by Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Ken.

Included was a gift that will not be shown yet, but will appear in pictures eventually. What I CAN show you is this:
...which we used this morning. Isn't it adorable?? I especially love the little snowflake detail over the velcro clasp.

Katie really likes it...her face is just really busy gulping cereal for breakfast.
She does this funny thing when eating, where she gulps a spoonful and immediately turns her head to look at things. Whatever is around her. She is just so curious these days! While nursing her a few times since the weekend I've even had to take her to another room because she's so fascinated by the Christmas tree.

Today we've got the Microwave repairman coming and perhaps a visit with some twins.

Hope you have a good Tuesday!

PS...also today I also might be trying hard not to eat the whole package of Peppermint Marshmallow that was also sent by Alli. Yum!

Edited to Add:
...I just finished reading the review for the marshmallows...and it's kind of negative...oops...I really really love them!

Monday, December 17, 2007

Coming Soon to a Christmas Near You

Hello! My goodness...things do get busy right before Christmas don't they! This weekend was no exception. We had plans for hosting dinner Saturday night, which meant that some of Friday was spent cleaning and preparing (isn't that the best thing about having people over, how you super-mega clean your house?). We put extra leaves in the table and Katie wanted to see just how big the new table was. This is how big:She had a blast on that big table!
Saturday morning we had a lovely breakfast planned at the Derick Club with Grandma Mary and all the sisters (Katie's great aunts...all sisters in law actually). They breakfast about once a month throughout the year and in December daughters and granddaughters get to come too!
(and grandmothers in law this year!) Grandma Cheryl brought measuring spoons for Katie...which she was very excited about.

And Auntie Andrea was very good at keeping her away from silverware and other various table things. She also spent time on Grandma Mary's lap and played with a newly gifted turtle (Thanks Great Auntie Muriel!)
We did eventually tire of holding her and found the nearby high chair.
The real fun in the chair was found down below:


And for the rest of Saturday, Katie was visiting with both Grandparents in order to give mom and dad time to prep for dinner. It was our very first time cooking Turkey (the whole reason for the get-together which I like to call "Turkey Saturday"...perhaps a new tradition?) The big table before: And during (but no after because I forgot).The evening was superb and both food and company were excellent. Really feels like the Christmas season is here now.

Sunday was fun and relaxing (dinner hosting is hard work...Ben and I were both exhausted) and we made up for our Katie-less Saturday. All I wanted to do was squeeze and cuddle her, just like this!
She's so good at tolerating the squeezing. And I played around with camera settings while she sat with her dad...Ooo...dad and Katie now come in a wide-screen version!
And kicking it old school in black and white.
We did have some work to do on Sunday...getting Katie's first Christmas tree. Traditionally we often go into the woods and cut down a tree with my mom and dad, but decided to keep it simple (and warm...er) by buying a tree. But Katie says it looks like a forest!
A rigorous tree selection process.
All that hard work deserved a coffee break! (puffed wheat for you know who!)
Katie was reunited with her Starbucks bag-O-fun.
And spent time with Grandma Cheryl in the Big Comfy Chair (we've been very lucky getting the BCC lately!)
A few hours later and we had a real, pine-y smelling tree in the house. Katie got up close and personal. with her first Christmas tree. And it definitely passed inspection. The first miracle of Christmas...
And preview of what's to come...

Friday, December 14, 2007

...All The Way

What's the sound of one hand clapping?

Who cares? All I care about is these TWO hands:



Yes, Katie officially learned to clap her hands yesterday! Yay! We're all clapping our hands in excitement! She's now clapping everything she can get her hands on.

Or perhaps, you prefer a more seasonal video? (Jingle Bells!)

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Proof

Today I have proof that Katie is getting over her cold.

See that? No pajamas. When are feeling fun and perky and un-sick we get dressed in real clothes. Although not necessarily clothes that are meant to be worn together. A closer look at the pants:

These were bought ages ago on a super sale at the bay. Cheap cheap. A bit lighter and summery for December, but hey, did you hear it was above zero yesterday?

Ahem, and no, I wasn't purposely trying to camouflage Katie in the blanket.

We did actually go to Strollercize yesterday...it appears that we only skip Mondays (two in a row now). It was announced that there is a potluck lunch on Friday the 21st. Yay potluck...I grabbed the sign up sheet and was struck dumb trying to figure out what I could make that is awesome and appropriate. Crackers and cheeses and dips were already listed. Can't make something hot because we'll be working out first and THEN eating . (must earn food!)

I had already written my name down before the panic set in...so I wrote "will bring something, not sure yet" and of course had to explain it all to the instructor. While chatting the instructor mentioned that she is Celiac and finds potlucks lacking in gluten free options and therefore eats all the chocolate (I think this was presented as something negative).

What's that? Do I hear a challenge? I am definitely going to bake something amazing and gluten free for her (Teachers Pet 4-evah!). Any suggestions??

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

It's getting better all the time...

Katie is feeling much better today! (as far as I can tell...she hasn't actually said "mom, I feel better") Thanks to some advice from a mom-friend I tried some saline spray for her crusty nose and I honestly think she started breathing better almost immediately. Her voice is back a bit today too...now we can actually hear her cry again yay! (yay?)

As you may recall, we missed Katie's last swimming lesson on Sunday. We called to see what we do about the report card and they said it would be mailed out. I guess they meant instantly because it arrived in the mail yesterday. Being swimmers both her dad and I, we felt really proud of our girl's first swimming report card. I'm excited not about how well she did (although she did do well) but about her sharing some experiences I had as a child. (ignoring the discrepancy in that I probably was not in swimming lessons when I was 7 months old)
I notice that they've gone away from embroidered badges and started giving out stickers. That's a little harder to put on a backpack (or something) isn't it? I could have sewn her badge on the diaper bag! For bragging! Maybe I should put the sticker on the car? (kidding!) (And you should read the comments...so nice and personalized!)

Dad practiced his video skills last night and this is what you get (I think very good!)

That's all for today...but wait, does it smell like Up Dog in here? =)

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

More sicko and surprises!

Katie's still feeling under the weather. Her breathing sounds terrible and her voice is all croaky but she still smiles and does her normal things...playing with rattles and eating puffed wheat. We also had a little visit with Grandma Mary yesterday and that brought her spirits up!(Yes, it's pajamas all day again!)

Yesterday I had a Very Very nice surprise! A few of you know that back at the end of September I had won a giveaway from a website...modmom...for some new baby feeding products from Boon. Well I was very glad I didn't post about it on the blog because they didn't actually arrive in the mail until yesterday (a very new product line...!) The giveaway included everything in the feeding line except the chairs (understandable...that would be expensive to ship!) . Really, you should check out their website...all the feeding products are cool and they have some cool stuffed toy storage, awesome bath stuff and pretty jewelry. Katie tried her best to look excited, but it was hard being sick.

I opened a few of them right away and the snackball is neat...Katie thinks it's a toy ball of course. The Squirt feeding spoon I used for cereal this morning and it's weird but also very very neat! The sippy cup isn't quite spill "proof" but more spill resistant...I wouldn't throw it in the diaper bag full of water but it's fine if it just tips over. Anyway...we're very excited!

And yesterday I was able to make a batch of Gingerbread cookies. Mini Baby Katie Gingerbread cookies actually. So cute! Katie will not be eating them but I'm sure Ben will eat her share. The nice thing about baby size cookies is that one recipe makes hundreds cookies!
If anyone feels like skipping work today to come and say hi to Katie today, you just might get a cookie!

Monday, December 10, 2007

Poor Baby!

Sadly, Katie is a big sicko today. She had a cough and sneezy thing this weekend that developed a bit and now (though still fairly cheerful) her breathing is terrible and she can barely "talk" or cry because she's so stuffed up. We think she'll be fine but we're keeping an eye on it.

She did have a good weekend though...Look at these lovely pants!We just LOVE these pants. They're bright and colourful and comfortable. And the shirt is from MEC in a weird salmon colour that wouldn't match anything...but it matches these pants! How cool is that?
Friday Katie and I went to Costco and she had her first ride in a shopping cart. She loved it! And it's great for us because since moving out of the bucket car seat, options for Costco shopping were to Bjorn her (which she's almost too big for now) or bring her stroller in (which doesn't work well when you're buying anything big, like diapers). So happy!
Saturday we ventured out for a bit of shopping. Urban Barn was fun and Katie enjoyed the big comfy couch.
We also went to a nearby Chap-digo (Chapters/Indigo...Ben made up that name isn't it fun?) and while mom had a coffee and dad had a bearclaw (random Flickr bearclaw picture), Katie had fun with a bag.

Also this weekend, we had a visit from Andrea...she'd been away for a couple of weeks including a conference in Vegas...lucky girl. The reunion of Katie and her Dimple Buddy was a happy one. And not just because there was a present. =)
Um...yes, Katie did wear the same outfit two days in a row, but it was too cute not too! Very good for Jumping.
Sunday we skipped Katie's last swimming lesson because it was apparent she was getting this cold, so we hung out and napped and Katie had lunch in the style of the French (meaning it took hours to eat). It took Katie a while to eat because mom let her play with her food and get a little messy.
Not really fun to cleanup afterwards but worth it.
Today will be low key and we're skipping strollercize. I don't think the other mom's would be too happy with me bringing Germy Girl. At least she's sick now and not during Christmas Holidays...that would be even less fun!

Have a happy Monday!