Friday, February 29, 2008

Leap!

Wishing you all happy Leap Year Day (or whatever you call it). We've had a nice and busy few days here. Our playdate on Wednesday was lots of fun. D. is such a cutie and the lunch M. made for us (ok, me) was fab. I see more of these playdates to come! (especially ones where I take pictures!)
We went to strollercize afterwards and had a great class.

Yesterday, we had a little trip to nearby campus to visit Stephanie for coffee. The visit was short but so nice. While we were in the building, we couldn't not visit Grandma Cheryl. (sorry for the bad lighting, this was the only photo I took.) Grandma enjoyed the unannounced visit and did her best to show Katie off to anyone nearby.
Lately, (since about Wednesday) Katie has been sticking her tongue out, licking her chin. I don't know where she got it but it's definitely her new thing.
And in new things and CrawlWatch 2008, there is nothing really new...More of the same (but isn't it cool?).
And Papa (who went on a road trip to Kentucky with G. Uncle Terry for about a week) got back yesterday and managed to stop in for dinner. Katie was playing shy at first, but with food being shared, overcame her shyness very quickly.
And today, Katie and I are both feeling slightly under the weather...noses and throats. Nothing serious but we may lay low for the day and take it easy. Lots of rest and fluids.

Enjoy your (leap) Friday!

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

A Boost

Yesterday was a fine warm sunny day! Nothing new to report on CrawlWatch 2008. More knees up but nothing else yet.

We had the fun of arranging a lunch date with Auntie Andrea. We ended up going to Booster Juice (did you know they have sandwiches as well as smoothies?) and had a great lunch. Katie, although she enjoyed holding the drink, didn't have any...she was happy to eat her avocado and pasta shells. Yum!
Other than that and a trip to Costco yesterday, we didn't do that much (although come to think of it, lunch and Costco is a pretty busy day!).

After Katie was in bed for the night...

speaking of sleep...she was SO SLEEPY yesterday that our usual routine of brushing her teeth was a no go. I tried to put the toothbrush (finger toothbrush) in her mouth while Ben was holding her but her eyes were closed and her mouth was the same...So Cute!...

...Ben and I organized treats for his students (yes, he does teach high school, but who says big kids don't need treats too?). That may not look like a lot of mini-eggs in the picture, but believe me it is.


Today's plans include a playdate and Strollercize. And to keep you laughing today, I must link to this (I emailed this to a few of you yesterday). It's too funny, I laugh every time I read it!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

10 months - CrawlWatch 2008

Katie is 10 months old today! ( I know, what happened to 9 months?...mom forgot to mention it last month...oops.)

YAY! 10 Months!

Yesterday was a breakthrough day in un-crawling. We all know Katie is a master of the scoot, the roll and the shimmy, but has shown little interest in "real" crawling.


Yesterday, in the warm sun, Katie was exploring on her own (with mild supervision) and I saw her doing this:
And this:

This is official" getting knees up" activity. Difficult to do on the hardwood. Although we practice it occasionally, Katie has not managed to do it much on her own or keep her knees there long. Yesterday she did it lots! It was hard to get a picture because she'd hear the camera and fall down. She was actually even on her knees AND hands once. Crazy!She was pretty excited! When dad came home we practiced more and he said she was doing it lots!
Happy girl! We are officially on CrawlWatch 2008. (no pressure...for all we know Katie may read the blog, rebel and refuse to do it again for a month!)
Maybe it's from watching all the active babies at the birthday party on the weekend. Or the extra muscle energy from the protein in the meat we've started eating. Or maybe it's just time.

Watch out...Katie says "I'm coming to get you!"

Monday, February 25, 2008

Fun and Sleepy!

We had a fun and sleepy weekend!

Katie has a new thing...she slides. When she's sitting, she slides down. See photo below.
She does this not only in leather chairs, but also, annoyingly, in her high chair. We generally have to pull her up throughout the meal. I may not continue this much longer...the lesson will be called "this is what happens when you slide, what do you think about THAT!" (of course, if she was going to fall, we'd pick her up for sure.)

Saturday I cleaned the floor a bit and kept Katie occupied in a mini-playpen.
It was easy, comfy and I think she liked it. Good place for reading.
And searching for cheerios.
I tried unsuccessfully to take a picture of how she would pick up a handful of cheerios and try to stick them all in her mouth at once, but all I got was this:
Goofy girl! And something about the texture of chicken has her chewing (chomping?) on it with her mouth all stretched...it's strange but adorable. Auntie Andrea managed to fit us into her busy schedule (between a friend's wedding shower and a movie) for dinner...and even picked up the Chinese! Katie was happy to see her but mad that she was leaving and apparently did not want to be photographed. (you know if you close your eyes, you're not there, right?)And a group shot...laughing because I had apparently forgotten that the camera needs to be on, even for self-portraits. Sunday Katie went to our strollercize friend J's one year birthday party (I took notes...I hear we have one coming in about 2 months). The party was great and fun and there were lots of parents and babies. J had celebratory ice cream cake..yum!Katie did very well with all the kids around, but after a while, was getting a little tired. She's such a good baby, even when tired...after a while all she did was sit on my lap and wait quietly until it was time to leave. What a tired looking baby!A good nap later and we had a super supper at Grandma Ken and Grandma Cheryl's...and grandparent universes collided as Grandma Mary was invited too. Dad came home safe and sound from his ski trip late Saturday night and said we HAVE to go family skiing sometime. He had forgotten how much fun it is and can't wait to take Katie skiing.

Hope you had a nice weekend too!

Friday, February 22, 2008

Tastes like...

Yesterday was sunny and warm. We decided to go for a walk. To the local expensive upscale supermarket. To buy chicken. Because I forgot when we went shopping earlier. Even though I had a list...I forgot the chicken. I won't tell you how often this happens to me.

Turned out to be a great mistake though because it was gorgeous and we had a great walk!

See how sunny? (oops, sun in our eyes)
(there, that's a bit better)
Along the walk through the neighbourhood it was all I could do not to take pictures the whole way. It was so great to be outside and walking. We had to watch the icy and puddly places but that made it interesting. And we saw this:
Where there digging up the nearby schoolyard to make a dry pond. (basically a man made "pond" that stays dry until there's a bit of a flood and it then fills with water) Seriously, we see dunp trucks full of dirt going in and out of the neighbourhood all day long working on this.

And so, because we walked, Katie was able to eat chicken for the very first time! She looked very excited.
But was a little less so once she tasted it. The whole meal she was excited to get the spoon in her mouth and then not so sure if she liked the taste. It was pretty messy.
I have been letting her grab the spoon a bit more these days, even though it takes longer to feed her this way. Means sometimes, like at breakfast this morning, we get messy. Squishy is fun. And for those that may be interested, I finished knitting a little lap blanket. It's just about big enough and I love it, although the frilly edges are not my favorite thing. It's blue and woolly and will keep us very toasty when we're watching TV. Hope you have a good Friday!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Bon Voyages

First thing today, we'd like to wish Uncle Sheldon a big Bon Voyages...He's off with the Army to Afghanistan for 6 months or so. Best wishes and take care Sheldon! We promise to invite Andrea over for playdates whenever her busy schedule allows.
For old times sake, here's a picture from July: (this one makes me laugh every time!)
And a much better one from August. (Oh my, look at that green grass...can spring get here any quicker, please?)
Back to the present...Dad came home for lunch on Tuesday this week. Always a good time for a picture (lots of nice daylight!). We're wishing him a bon voyages too, because he's off to Lake Louise skiing, today until Saturday. Can you believe he has never been?

(to Lake Louise that is...he has been skiing before...like, remember that time we went skiing when we were dating, Ben? And I kicked your butt? Oh yes that was fun!)

The other day Katie received a gift from Susan and Hal, friends of Grandma and Grandpa Cheryl. An ADORABLE Care Bear. (so happy these are still around!) This one is so sweet and it glows in the dark! Yay! (and we always like when we match!)
A shot of our new (it's about time) microwave. Looks like the old one! So nice having a clock again...I swear, as much as we missed having a real microwave, the clock was perhaps missed more.
Yesterday we paid a visit to Grandpa Ken (see, I promised you more Ken pictures!).
And Katie, really, it's kind of rude to go showing off your hip flexibility to a guy who just had his hip replaced, don't you think?

Katie was asleep for this, but I took pictures...the Lunar Eclipse. You can just start to see the edge on the bottom left disappearing. I'm sure I could have waited and taken better pictures but apparently I wasn't thinking.(see those apartment lights? That's where we lived when we first got married...I love that we can see it from where we live now.)

Wishing you a lovely Thursday!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Random

Hi!
We're all doing well but don't have much time to blog today.
Here's a video to keep you happy.
(Katie is trouble sometimes!)


ps...we finally picked up our microwave ourselves yesterday. Long Story. Moral of the story? Don't shop at Sears.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Family Day Long Weekend

We had a really nice Family Day Long Weekend. Saw lots of family and enjoyed having Dad home for an extra day.

Friday, while Katie and I were visiting Grandma Mary, we tried a new thing.
Practicing standing on the couch. It's so neat! Gives her a sense of standing, while well supported. Look how tall she is!We also practiced it while we were at Grandma Cheryl's for dinner on Friday. Katie and Grandpa Ken had some fun together. There was even some reading!Saturday morning we had Auntie Andrea and Sheldon over for breakfast. They're so boring...all they do is stare at Katie! (I'm kidding...that's what we do ALL the time and WE'RE not boring. Are we?)Katie also tried on some pants we bought a while ago. They're loose fitting...a bit "culotte-y" and maybe better suited for summer capri season. But cute!
Saturday night while mom and dad made pizza for dinner Katie had some fun with the junk in her trunk.
Mom's watch! Not junk after all!
And Sunday we had pasta for lunch...thanks to grandma Cheryl we've found a favorite new pasta shape.
These tiny macaroni fit right on Katie's fingers! Perfect for playing and eating.

Later in the evening, while winding down before bed, dad and Katie both spent some time reading.
Monday night we had dinner at Grandma Mary's and took the opportunity to take a family photo. (ps...grandma Cheryl...we should do this too sometime soon!)In other non photographed news...Here's a riddle for you:

What's tiny and doesn't photograph well?

A new tooth! That's right, Katie has sprouted another one. Her right just beside the middle teeth. A trooper she is and we didn't even see this one coming. (I do random tooth searches...kind of like random drug searches, but more trusting in Katie and it's good if you find something.)

Let's end off with a fun video! Practicing another new skill...sitting to tummy!