Friday, November 30, 2007

Talented!

Yesterday, for the first time...

(officially...she "sort of-not quite" has done this before...tried really but not as successful as now)

...Katie has found her toes. She has definitely been noticing and ogling them lately, but yesterday she found them...Her Mouth found them. Yummy!
I think she seems very happy to have found her toes. Nothing's more fun than eating toes in the tub...
Apparently...!
I tried to get an action shot of the actual eating, but she's become very conditioned to smiling and posing for the camera. I wonder, if I spent as much time teaching her things as I do taking her picture, what she could be doing? Elimination Communication perhaps? Or something else?

I'm think I'll stick with eating toes and smiling. =)

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Not So Serious

Last evening, we had some fun with Katie on the big grown up bed. Specifically dad and Katie played peek-a-boo, where he disappears below the edge of the bed and pops up again. This is a favorite game.

I know these pictures are all similar, but I think it captures the experience and each one is a slightly different expression. (Note the cute outfit...although the tights are 12-24 month size and the feet are big...the better to grab says Katie!)

You're ignoring the rumpled sheets right? You know I usually iron them right after the 6 course dinner and before I sew all Katie's clothes for tomorrow, yes?




See how much fun they have together?
Of course, Katie wanted to explore photography too and took this self-portrait.
All that play is hard work. Time for some relaxing...dads are good for that too!

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Fun with Friends

Yesterday we finally saw Those _____ Girls after a few weeks of busy. We all went to Chapters/Starbucks where mom's could grab a drink. Katie was waiting excitedly for them to arrive:
Here's C with a big smile...both girls were wearing the cute shirts we gave them for their birthday (nice planning Joanne!) that say Those ___ Girls.

How adorable! Here's G. They are both not yet walking but standing very well and very close to walking. Definitely a lot of scooting and crawling. It's good exercise chasing after those girls!


Katie was calmly sitting (trapped?) in her stroller trying to eat a whole container of puffed wheat.
It's always nice to visit with friends. Katie was having such a good time watching them that even though she was getting up to an hour past nap time, and possible into lunch time, she was just happy and excited. Not at all grumpy.

When we came home, Katie and I had some fun on our own.


Have a nice Wednesday!

PS...Katie says special Congratulations to Russ...you deserve it!!!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Our home and COLD land...

O Canada...it's cold! Yesterday I said it was going to be -15...well I heard later it was as cold as -19...and officially I'm sure it was colder or is colder now. You'd think Uncle Shannon was coming to town or something! (The Shannon Front: Weather phenomenon where cold or bad weather coincides with just about every visit Uncle Shannon has ever had to Edmonton).

We've made sure Katie is warm and picked up a fleecy Bunting Bag (with legs) type thing. It's warm and cozy!

The funniest is how it has hand covers so when she tries to pick up toys or hug Koala...well, it just looks funny!

Today our only plans so far are to go to the library...sadly the Awesome knitting DVD that came in for me last week can only be out for a week. I'm not even through the first dvd! Argh...!!! And there's a huge waiting list for it, so if I sign up again, I probably won't get it until next year.
Good thing I have Katie to keep me occupied!

Stay warm and toasty!

Monday, November 26, 2007

7 Months

Good morning! Today, Katie is 7 months old. Time is flying and she's getting bigger and better everyday. It's very cold (-15C) this morning and there is some significant snow on the ground. I know I say it every time, but this time, I think it's here to stay. Really. I mean it.

This past week K started eating puffed wheat. I think it is delicious and am now sad that I haven't eaten puffed wheat in years. I remember eating it for breakfast as cereal but with a bit of sugar sprinkled on top. Yum! Katie does not get sugar on hers. "Ok mom, I'm ready."
Puffed wheat are fun, because you get to eat them with your hands. And not make a big mess.
It's like feeding animals. Have you ever fed a horse? Apparently, if I remember correctly, it's important to keep your hand flat, so the horse doesn't eat your carrot-like fingers. I kept this in mind when feeding Katie. Just in case...have you SEEN her teeth??
Yum yum!

This weekend we went to Grandma and Grandpa's Sat. morning. Katie says "Look how comfy! Bet you wish you had a throne with giant pillows too!"
Occasionally, Katie doesn't nap well at Grandma's, so we see some of this (too cute not to share):
And then this:
Fear not, she is very resilient and forgets how I "tortured" her by visiting relatives and making her listen to crazy words and "punny" jokes.
As you can see, later Katie had a party with some animal friends on the chair. Boy, she had fun....I had so many good pictures to share on this one, it was hard not to post all 30!
Whoa...were you as hypnotized as I was by Katie's stare there? We are thinking about training her to hypnotize people for money...is that unethical?

Saturday night Ben and I went out for an American Thanksgiving dinner while Ken and Cheryl babysat. All went well...our dinner and night out was lovely and apparently Katie was perfect. (as always!).

This weekend was also Grey Cup (which someone had to tell me because I sure as heck didn't know!) and we were invited to GM and GD's for chili. There was TV, which Katie was particularly interested in since we don't ever have ours on.
GM tried to distract her with a book. I think it may have worked.
There was also cake, to celebrate G Uncle Terry's birthday. How old? I can't say...just know that that many candles wouldn't fit on the cake. =)
Yay for Katie's first Grey Cup Party!
Have a good Monday!

PS For those that like recipes..These...are spectacular!

Friday, November 23, 2007

Suited up

Still a slow week for us. I don't know what it is...Katie is no less cute than usual and yet I'm not taking out the camera as often. I'll work on getting back to normal over the weekend.

Proof that Katie is still cute...we tried on her snowsuit (since it's quite chilly these days...although the snow has melted and they're predicting a high of 3C today...yes that's above zero).
It's still a tad big. We bought this for 10$ at an "Outgrown It" sale. (used clothing etc)

It's neat that it has mitts, booties and hat attached. (mitts and booties do snap on and off)


The zipper on her other pink winter jacket has proven not so good, splitting from the bottom often. But we make do with the toggles and she seems toasty. I'm actually very envious of her. Getting carried to the backseat and a fleece blanket thrown over her. I may have to start keeping a fleece blanket in the car for myself! (and get Ben to carry me?)
I have forgotten to mention that I have gently tried introducing puffed wheat to Katie. I'm feeling like introducing new food textures is a good next step but am at the same time nervous about choking. The puffed wheat has a nice melt in your mouth quality so I don't worry so much. And we go slow. One at a time (for her, I'm doing handfuls!) and ALWAYS supervised.

Hey, maybe I'll try and gt a picture of that later!

As always, wishing you a lovely Friday.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Same old...

I'm really sorry that I have no photos or real news to share. We've just been doing the regular stuff and I've not been quick enough to get the camera out.

Monday we did the usual strollercize and came straight home to relax and think about dinner. I tried my hand at cooking a roast without any real recipe. But with a little advice from Grandma Mary and a hodgepodge of stuff from a cookbook. Threw an onion and some wine in with the roast at 325. Ended up being a little more well done that the rare-ish we like, but it was edible. Yes, edible means something sometimes. We had a backup plan of ordering pizza had it not worked out, so it was good we didn't have to resort to that.

Yesterday, Katie and I did our shopping and library trip in the morning. Three places looking for Chorizo sausages and not one to be found. We subbed Italian for this recipe. It was a big success...very tasty and warm for when Ben walked home from work.

We had some fun with Katie, again practicing throwing the football. She's not very good yet. She needs more practice. We have also figured out that if you hold her hands out while she's on her tummy, she will pull her arms and move towards you. It's funny because it looks like you're the one moving her but really it's her. I was going to take a video of it, but Ben said it would just look like we were doing it. Maybe I'll try it anyway.

Katie has been working on her talking lately...she's been vocal for quite a while, but her sounds are more word-like...more actual "mamama" and repeated sounds. And you can really see her tongue sometimes, working so hard to make sounds. It's weird, I had never really noticed how much our tongues work to make sounds. It's amazing when you think about it.

And I suppose another reason while we're keeping it low key is that I'm absolutely enthralled with a book, The Glass Castle. It's the new book for my book club (which I haven't been to since Katie was born). The first pages had me grinning and cringing both, at the funny/painful situations that are detailed. I'm still finding that, now that I'm near the end of the book. I could loan it to you when I'm done (by tonight likely) if you want. Any takers?

I'll try and take even some boring pictures for you today. =) Promise!

Monday, November 19, 2007

What we really did this weekend...

Practiced this...

Weekend Update

This weekend was a busy one...mainly due to Laundry Catchup...! YAY our new washing machine is working and it's FANTASTIC. It's quiet and fast and spins lots of water out of clothes. I've never enjoyed laundry so much! Special thanks to Dad and Grandpa Ken for setting up the washing machine. I'm sure you didn't work so hard just because our old clothes were stinky, but because you love us. =)

Friday Katie and I went to visit Grandma Mary. Mom forgot the sippy cup so we practiced drinking out of a big girl cup.
We like drinking out of a big girl cup! (and we get water all over our shirt, but who cares, we have a washing machine!)
Thank goodness for the washing machine. Seriously, you can tell we're running low on clothes when outfits no longer match. See a very "What Not to Wear" outfit below...note the hair sticking up too!

Oblivious to fashion disaster, Katie played with a ball of yarn.
And a football (Christmas Colours not intended).

We had a dinner invite to Auntie Andrea's on Sunday night. There was a roaring fire...so warm and toasty! Maybe Katie's first fire?

She couldn't take her eyes off it!
Until she found her shoes...There was some delicious lids:
And fun all around.Katie ended up being pretty tired so we dressed her in her sleeper and put her in the car where she did, eventually, fall asleep. Ben and I fondly reminisced of being a sleepy kid in a car.

In other news...Alli and Shannon are in Germany by now..special Hello to them. And...Great Grandma Lill was (is she still?) in LA and we forgot to mention it! See the fun she had here.

Have a super day...after you take a "Peek" at this special bonus video!