Things I've been meaning to tell you...

1. Last weekend mom and dad bought me a new cute pair of pants. 2. Actually it was at least 2 new pairs of pants.
3. I have been learning how to sit up a bit. It's works best when I'm not too tired and better when I'm sitting on someone's lap. But as you can see, I can definitely sit up on my own. (for a few seconds anyway!)
4. I love my dad. (You probably already knew that)
5. I love my mom too.
6. We grew some sexy love carrots in our garden this year.
7. See I told you I was sitting up!
8. My mom's Uncle Jerry makes the best Zucchini Ginger Marmalade she's ever tasted (ok,so the only ZGM she's ever tasted, but boy was it good!)
9. I'm a very happy baby.
10. Mom cleaned out the junk drawer the other day and these were the contents. How does that much stuff fit in one drawer?
11. I'm learning how about space and how to read...At The Same Time. Thanks to Dr. Suess and Uncle Shannon.
12. I celebrated my 5 month birthday on Wednesday...holy cow that's old!

These are all things I've been meaning to tell you. I feel much better now...it's no fun keeping secrets.

Have a super day! =)

"I figured it out..."

Also known as "I don't know what I did differently but it's working now"

Videos for everyone!

This first one was taken just this weekend while the others are a bit older.



Ok...I stand corrected...the other videos didn't work again...perhaps a setting change that happened around the time we went swimming? We'll just have to get a new swimming video for you...promise! (because it's SO CUTE) (sometimes, I think I should rename the blog "So Cute"...but I won't).
Have a nice day!

High Up

Well, how the heck do weekends go so fast? Space-time continuum? Ben stayed home on Friday, making it day three home from work. We're both a bit better now but coughed our way through the weekend. We did our best to keep things fun for Katie.
This involved the Hold Me Up game, which we love. See how much we love? I'm not an expert but could this be baby sign language for "More Please!" (see how polite she is already?).
Friday while Ben was recovering, we snuck out for coffee at our nearby Italian Center Shop where I boldly refused all pastries. (If you've been there, you know how hard this is!) Katie was a bit overdue for a nap when we went, so that's why she's not smiling much.
We also did some shopping for a new car seat this weekend...Little Miss 18 pounder is getting a bit heavy when you add on the weight of her little car seat too, so an upgrade will happen soon. The question is, will the car seat we bought fit in the car? Without my knees up my nose in the passenger seat? Hmm...I'll let you know. Those car seats are big. I wonder if the car seat people got together with the minivan people...?

Katie wants you to know she's been working a lot on her push ups and hopes you are too. She can do at least 30 in a row...or so...How many can you do?
Katie has been a dream sleeper mostly these days (pun intended? What does she dream? Did I tell you about my dream?...I'll tell you later). Maybe it's because we have a nice bedtime routine which includes a bath like this (bubbles optional):
(Kudos to dad for taking the excellent picture)

Hope you're having a lovely Monday and special Hi to Cheryl and Alli having much girly fun together in Los Angeles.

PS...My dream? ...I was delivering pizza to some girl who decided she then didn't want the pizza. I was angry (duh) and threw a really gross diaper at her. I ran and stole my sister's car for the getaway... What the heck did I eat before bed that night? Any weird dreams you want to share?

Sick Days

Well, we're sick. All of us except Katie anyway (in other words, Ben and I). Nothing much happening because of that. Ben is on his second day home from work and I would stay home if I wasn't here already. Really we're ok and only have colds...but enough of a cold that it makes life a little less fun.

On a more FUN note...we paid a little visit to Uncle Ray and Auntie Jen the other night...Katie was on excellent behavior for the "before bedtime" hour. She demonstrated the rollover, her eating skills and smiled a lot. And she met cousins Evan and Mel for the first time (how did those kids grow up so fast!! Seriously, I remember meeting them when Ben and I were first dating and they were little kids...now they're both in high school...Craziness)Auntie Andrea popped over for a bit yesterday, on her way out of town for work. Katie was adorable although a wee bit on the cranky side. (Is that one happens when you wake up at 2am and 4 am when you're supposed to be sleeping? Didn't I warn you nighttime was for sleeping?)
And Grandma and Grandpa D stopped by for a few minutes too. I know they just saw her last week or so but they both insist she looks older. More mature...poised.
Enough that I think I need to take her in to get weighed today. And she's SO heavy now it seems. Sometimes, I need to know how heavy she really is, so I can justify getting tired arms and all that. Like...when you think, "boy it's cold out" and then find out the wind chill is about -1C...you get to say ''SEE, I told you it felt cold out" and know that hey, you were right. Do you ever feel like that?

On another good note...being sick made me feel so lazy about the idea of cooking a real dinner that I dug around for a slow cooker recipe using ingredients we had in the house. Thank you frozen chicken breasts, potatoes, onions, carrots from the garden and spices. 5 hours later and Very Little Work (yay) we had a really delicious chicken stew. I thought homemade biscuits would have been a nice touch too, but Ben pointed out that whenever I make biscuits we eat too many, so again, yay for lazy. =)

Hope you are all feeling well and keeping warm.

Orange

This weekend was a busy one! Ben was feeling a bit under the weather (Back to School germs) (or is he really allergic?) and missed a great brunch at Joanne and Chad's. Coreen and Michael were there too...the best picture I took was this one (the bright sun wasn't good for the other pics):It was a really nice brunch and we had a great time (Bennies but no Ben).
Then I went to a fun Tupperware party at Stephanie's and we had friends David and Neil over for dinner. Taught them the art of SkipBo which was a blast. (No pictures of all this...oops)

Sunday we were supposed to do the Terry Fox run but didn't because Ben still wasn't feeling great...disappointing, but there's always next year!

Ken and Cheryl came over for a bit while Katie was modeling her new Orange outfit (from Superstore).
Katie practiced playing on her tummy and she's almost an expert now.
Auntie Andrea dropped by...
And we three went for a walk which conveniently featured ice cream at the halfway point. (And by the way, the weather this weekend? AWESOME...couldn't ask for a nicer September weekend.)

We also managed to get Russ and Steph over for dinner, nothing fancy, just pasta, and had a very relaxing fun end to our weekend. Katie's doing what I call her Popeye face in this picture...with a big bottom lip that's obviously not meant to be pouty.
The weekend also included mega loads of laundry...what else is new. Today it's back to the grind. (for everyone else but Katie and I!). I finished another little sweater for her...I'll probably take a picture and post it soon, even if the sweater is ugly or doesn't fit (I have my doubts).

Have a great Monday!
PS...still working on some videos...What is up with me and a sudden inability to post video's to Youtube? Am I doing something different? I'll work on it. Maybe Katie can help. =)

Friday!

Well, I may no longer know the true meaning of Friday anymore, but I know you all do, so happy Friday!

We have spoils from the garden to show you today...we harvested all tomatoes the other day because we were scared of frost and this is what we ended up with (Chickie in picture for scale) ( I know, you don't know how big Chickie is...pretend you do). Not bad!
Yesterday was a nice relaxing day...We putzed in the morning and walked over to the mall. I tried on a couple of pairs of jeans...ick...not ready for new jeans yet! It's probably better to wait until fall sales start in a month anyway. It was nice walking around the mall...much emptier than in summer.

In the afternoon we met up with Joanne and the girls for coffee at Second Cup (yay 2 for 1 coupon!) The pictures I took were terrible and the only good one was taken by Joanne...thanks Joanne! All three girls were a bit tired (aka crying) by the end...I'm sure the other coffee shop people thought they'd entered a day care or nursery by mistake! (Notice Katie's green pants...much more girly when paired with a pink top as opposed to the boy outfit from before)

Katie's still doing well on solids...although some meals are better than others. We're still exclusively eating milk and cereal. Sometimes she's a bit too hungry and thinks her hands will help her eat better. I have evidence to the contrary:

See how she has food even up over her left eyebrow? Yep, that's because as soon as the food goes in the mouth the hands are right behind. Messy messy!Katie's napping right now, and I just went and peeked at her...all this rolling over an she's sleeping all cozy on her tummy now. We always put her to sleep on her back as recommended so she's typically not too comfortable sleeping on her tummy...but I think she looks comfy here.
Yawn...perhaps I should have napped too...but no, I must get ready to exercise and make up the Costco list.

Hope you're having a lovely Friday.

Cooling Off...

Hello!
Well...I'm having trouble posting because I haven't actually taken a picture of Katie in a couple of days (can you believe it? Trust me, she's no less cute than before). I did take this one on Monday...see how we no longer have the head rest that in her car seat? She's definitely outgrown it. We're actually planning on looking around for her next car seat this weekend. Other than that we have not done much this week. Strollercize as always...there was a news guy at our class yesterday and they even taped us! But I was so busy and a wee bit tired yesterday that I totally forgot about it until 9pm...missed the 6pm news and no way could I stay up for the 11pm news to see if they played it then. Oh well! Did anyone see it?

I went to the library yesterday as well..Love the library! You can find books on line, request them, and they will email you when your book comes in and the day before the book is due back! Just what I need! I'm reading knitting books, a couple of parenting books (usually I just skim these and take what information I want...general ideas and such) and a nutrition book that I'm enjoying quite a bit!

We had Grandpa Ken, Grandma Cheryl and Great Grandma Lill over for dinner last night for homemade pizza. Sort of for a run through on Katie's bedtime routine since K and C are babysitting for bowling tonight. The pizza was good although it stuck to the pan (we make our own dough in the breadmaker) and I'm pleased to say I figured out how to replicate the Lemon Poppyseed dressing for spinach salad like they make at Vi's for Pies. Delish!

AND...I couldn't help but pick up a few cute CUTE clothes from cough*superstore*cough because believe it or not, they are SO adorable. Pics to come for sure when the clothes are washed and Katie's wearing them.

Ok, that's all for now. Proof that more words doesn't equal less boring. =)

PS...and by Cooling Off I mean FROST...this morning. We harvested all the tomatoes and Zucchini yesterday...I can't believe how many tomatoes grew!

Watch what you wish for..

Hello! We had a great weekend and I hope you did too! This weekend we ...hmm...now that I think about it, I can't really remember what we did. Thank goodness for pictures!
Looks like we went shopping...Katie is really enjoying the Baby Bjorn and so are we. It works well when you go shopping for a few things but don't want to bother with getting out the stroller or using a cart. We also went swimming with Katie this weekend...just playtime, no laps for mom and dad, we're working up to it. She's going to be a great swimmer though...we hold her up on her tummy and she has lots of fun and kicks her legs and moves her arms. We'll have to be careful though, or she might expect this kind of treatment in the bathtub. Physically Not Possible! She also likes watching the other kids.
It makes me think we need to do more with other kids. I'm planing on signing up for October swim lessons for her and I at the nearby pool.
(Swimming video to come...technical details, check back later!)

We also went for a family run on Sunday morning, while there was still a bit of frost in the air (well, on the chariot anyway!). 3 times around Hawrelack Park...about 7.5km. We're sort of training for the Terry Fox run which is next Sunday.

And regarding wishes...the story of the weekend.

Friday (or Saturday?) Katie was jumping in the jumper and I was just saying to Ben..."Hmm...Katie hasn't pooped in a couple of days I think...Guess we'll have to keep an eye on that...solid food, probably changing her habits" I'm reading the paper or a recipe or something at the table and Katie's in the kitchen. Then, Ben walks by and says, "I think she's pooping". I look at Katie and agree, "yes, her face does look like a poop face, good girl". And then Ben says, "NO, she's POOPING...on the floor!" It appears that we must watch what we wish for. It was quite a mess for which cleanup involved a launderific amount of cloths and wipes and ended with a "Mom and Katie Shower". You should be very glad there's no smelling over the internet as we have entered Big Girl Poop territory (for those of you without kids yet, breastfed baby poop smells a bit like yeasty bread and not really all that bad or strong...once they start eating solid food...lookout!)

Note: This video does not include poop. It is safe for viewing by those who do not like baby poop. This is merely a video including a jolly, jumping baby.

The Remember Whens

Tonight I've had my first "real" case of the Remember Whens...complete with misty eyes. Perhaps brought on by the rolling over (4 times this evening!!) and her skill in the Jolly Jumper, or how she seems to grow ever single day.
I remember when she was tiny and she'd have the most drunk, satisfied look on her face after feeding (can't find an exact picture but this might be close...from May 12th).I remember our first few weeks when nursing was painful and all I (and Ben) did was walk her all night (it seemed like all night) and then I'd pull the cradle out in the living room and sleep with her and feed her all day. I remember Ben feeding me while I fed her because that was the only time I could eat. I remember when pretty much all her clothes were huge and she was all skin and bones. I remember being so nervous when we left the hospital...would we break her? How do we know what we are doing?

And now...not to brag(or jinx myself)...but it's second nature. Thinking about her needs as much (or more...when did I last shower?) as my own is so natural.

I'm overjoyed with her and our life now but this fond-kind of sad-remembering is a new feeling. The bittersweetness that moms must feel with every new moment with their child...things are always changing and growing. The "letting go" is a part of parenthood that I don't think I ever understood till now. Her smiles and belly giggles and jumps big and little will always make me happy...I'm so glad and I love you sweetheart! (you too Ben)

(apologies for the sappy, tomorrow back to your regularly scheduled happy)

Heather

RollerGirl

Yesterday Katie (finally?) rolled over from her back to her tummy unassisted for the first time. About a month ago, she was oh-so-close...and then nothing. She stopped trying. So we helped her a bit and insisted on a little more blanket time. My theory has been lately that maybe if I ignore her a bit and leave toys lying nearby, she'd be bored and motivated. I'd like to think I was right although it's likely just a case of her being ready.

The moment in pictures:
This is how I left her...picture initially taken t show cute outfit. Sorry 'bout the lighting in all of these, it's been a little cloudy and dark lately.

I thought her look was saying "See mom? I'm on my back and I love it! I have no intention of rolling over ever!"
Not 4 minutes later ( I noticed the time on the computer) I saw that she was now like this:And had gotten there without out any audible fussing. She looked quite pleased I think, and I encouraged her with lots of clapping, which I'm trying to teach is a sign of good/fun things!
I know these pictures are all kind of the same, but they're all so cute!

In other news, feeding continues to go well. We had a lovely playdate with the twins yesterday and have another set up with my friend Julie and baby M this afternoon. Busy = fun week!
Have a super day...I'm going to go make some tea...don't know what the temperature is but it's chilly!

PS...Bowling...yes, we're not talking about that due to mom's appalling bowling scores. It appears that I may be subconsciously striving for a low average to increase my handicap. Regardless, it was a fun evening and we look forward to a new season.

A New Thing

Bad Blogger = Good Mom. Lack of posting this week so far has been due to play time and mother/baby time in general.

We Strollercized yesterday and even went to the pool afterwards with another mom and her 6 month old. Katie had more fun that last time I think...realizing that the pool, although big and scary can be fun too! The only problem was that after all that, we ended up getting home quite late. Leaving the house at 12:45 for the 1:15 class (time to set up the Chariot), class ends at 2:30 and it was about 3:00 before we were in the pool. We stayed for 30 min and then decided to leave (my decision, not Katie's...she wasn't fussing yet, but why let it get to that right?). By the time we got home, with heavier traffic it was about 4pm. Long afternoon!

We also got our 4 month immunization shots yesterday...Katie was brave and did even better than last time! Katie now weighs 17.7 pounds and still around 27 inches.

Katie's not rolling over yet, but I think I know why. She's started devoting energy to a new thing. All of the sudden she's started doing this:
Sucking in her bottom lip...even while she's eating (or trying/learning/pretending to eat).

Where is she getting this from? (Of course, I had pictures of both Ben and I doing this, as my punch line, but Ben's was a bit fuzzy, and mine...well, I've decided no one needs to see that much of my nostril...!)

Here's what it looks like when we're not eating.
Today, the plan is to go to Costco and meet Those M__ girls this afternoon. And probably sneak in some laundry and dishes.

Tonight's a Big Night...first night of league bowling for mom and dad. It'll be tough living up to our second place finish from last year, but we're up for the challenge. Really, I'm just hoping to have as much fun as we did last year. Grandma Mary and Grandpa Dan are the first babysitters...Thanks to those who are keeping their Thursday nights open!

Katie's sleeping right now, and although this picture is not from this morning, this is an accurate representation of the "I'm Tired Eye Rub". Such a simple and neat thing... if you think about it, everyone does it! Pay attention next time you're tired...I'll bet you rub your eyes.
Have a great day everyone!

P.S. I HAVE to share this...I met another mom at strollercize, who introduced me to her friend Heather...I go "Oh, I'm Heather too...what's your last name?" Honest to goodness, she says "D_______" and says my actual maiden name. Is that not crazy?!! I knew there was another one in the city, but to finally really meet her was freaky neat. And she knew about me too! =)

Looooooong Weekend!

Hi everyone! I missed you! I had a super long weekend hanging out with mom. I missed dad lots, but kept busy so I wouldn't be sad about it. I don't look too sad do I? I did a lot this weekend and mom took lots of pictures. So when your caught up on your work email and have time for a coffee break, come and take a look!

First thing I did was help mom do the dishes. Mom says that laundry and dishes are like hugs and kisses...they never stop. I think I must have been a big help because mom smiled at me a lot.
On Friday night mom and I went to grandma Cheryl and grandpa Ken's for dinner. I got some cooking lessons from Grandpa about cooking mussels. I thought there might be a test after (all those teachers around!), so I made sure to pay close attention. After a good night's sleep (I'm such a big girl, I sleep through the night a lot now!) Mom took me to grandma Mary and Grandpa Dan's house for breakfast and crossword with Uncle Terry.
After the crossword was finished (they finished the whole thing!) Grandma and Grandpa took us to the mountains in their big orange van.
We stayed in Banff for the night. I've never seen so many trees! The weather wasn't too bad...nothing a cute fleece jacket wouldn't fix anyway! Sunday morning we got up and walked around Banff. Grandma tried carrying me in the Baby Bjorn and it worked really well, especially since there was lots of construction on the main street and the stroller would have been a pain in the diaper. We didn't go into too many shops, but there was this one that had a whole huge wall of bead necklaces...you wouldn't believe me if you didn't see the picture:On the way home (we just stayed over the Saturday night) we stopped in Cochrane for ice cream at MacKays . Of course I didn't have any, but mom said it was excellent and it won't be long before I can taste some!

Monday mom and I hung around and did our own thing for a while (lying on a blanket...good times...don't need pictures of that...see ever other blog post if you need a reminder!). Then mom decided I was in such a good mood that we should go visit Great Grandma Tighe (Mom's mom's mom) We had a good time. She didn't say much, but I think I made her eyes smile lots.
After the visit, Grandma Mary offered us lunch, so we went over there. For "kicks" Grandpa let me watch some football with him on TV (spoiled already!). Grandpa even let me hold the channel changer.!The we came home, I napped etc while mom made some dinner for herself and baked some apparently yummy chocolate scones. Mom was even able to put some veggies in the dinner...they looked like this:Dad sure did a good job on his garden. Anyone need any carrots?

Speaking of dad, he gets back from Penticton tonight..I can't wait to see him! He told mom that his friend did really well in his Ultraman and placed 4th! Wow, congratulations!

Yawn...Sweet Dreams everyone!