Saturday, August 29, 2009

The Baptism!

Some pictures from Sam's baptism (August 9th) at St Joe's on campus. (photos from Gram and Papa's camera)
Gram and Grandpa were in charge of Katie and the diaper bag (big/heavy responsibility...apparently I was due to tidy up the diaper bag. That thing gets heavy so quickly when you throw a ton of things in it and never take anything out!).
Katie, Auntie Andrea, Sam and Papa.
Sam in the family gown (thank goodness it still fit.).
Katie with a bow from a Sam present.
Sam having a good jump in the jolly jumper.Katie's using her imagination lots these days and most of it involves feeding us various foods and drink. "Would YOU like a taste?" she says.Katie under the table.
The girls, just hanging out on Katie's bed. (from another day, not baptism day) Sam's first time in the high chair at Gram and Papa's. She had her first time at Gram and Grandpa's just last night too and loved it also. At home we seem to have the most trouble with her sliding down...but I think we're maybe just not fast enough with the food and she wiggles around a lot impatiently waiting. Dad reading to Katie. She's wearing a t-shirt that Gram made recently (with fake long sleeves underneath) and a wrist band from swimming. Swimming was fun that time...Sam fits in the floating fish seats and we all went in the hot tub which both girls seemed to enjoy. Swimming lessons for both girls start near the end of September. A "vintage" (not antique...from MY vintage!) Strawberry Shortcake house that Katie likes to play with now.Photo of both girls. Katie's wearing a nightgown that Gram made ("Retired Gram" sews up a storm! We like it!).And one of Sam and I hanging out in Gram's backyard after strollercize. We do visit and have lunch at Gram and Papa's a fairly often after strollercize. Ben's finished painting a bunch of the basement. Katie's napping (oo, we're having some trouble sometimes getting her to go down for naps...considering moving the time back to later in the afternoon but we're still thinking about it...she plays and runs around and I *think* is playing with Sam a bit too much when I'm wanting her to nap as well.)

All is well...weather is hot for our last weekend of summer. Ben heads back to work on Monday...The girls and I will miss having him home for sure. =)

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Canmore and other things.

Wow. Today was one of those days where I wonder how I can have "tear my hair out" feelings and "melty, my girls are the best" feelings in the same week or same day even. Lately I've been a bit tired...and I think I'm chalking it up to some terrible twos and some teething. Terrible T's shall we say. =)

Katie has taken to getting at things, especially in her room when, as she says she's "Supposed to be sleeping.". Turning the lamp on, rolling up the carpet, lying on the floor by the door, walking around, getting at things in her closet (we've been lax and have stopped using the bars on top to lock the doors shut). And she does it repeatedly...we go in and get her into bed while she lists the things she's doing, supposed to be doing and not doing "Katie's rolling up the carpet...supposed to be sleeping, Katie not sleeping, Katie's awake!". And then she does it again.

This alone is not enough to drive me crazy, but add in the insistent "Would you like a TASTE?!!" (as she says the question she wishes I'd ask as I'm preparing Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner), the "Eehh" sound which basically comes out every time she doesn't get exactly what she wants exactly the second she wants it, and even the all day "Mom/Dad to do it/to get it"...what is it with that one? I try to foster her independence and make her do something on her own (get the book, toy whatever) and she insists that we get it for her. Or "Eehh". I obviously don't always give in, but really, is this bossy, "do as I tell you" thing a normal toddler thing, to see if she can control us?

Anyway, it's not that anything is a real problem, it's just these little things that are making some days long. Rest assured, as I mentioned before, there are beautiful, peaceful, fun moments every day too...times when I think I wish I could write down everything she says all day long because wouldn't the blog just LOVE it? How does she know so much already? Look she's *this* close to figuring out how to jump! She has some lovely moments with Sam too, where she shares toys and tries to play with her. Only when it's her idea really.

And Sam is only teething...and after a few baby advil nights, she's back to sleeping through the night. And tooth number two is coming, I can just see the white line under the surface. She sat ina high chair instead of her Bumbo for lunch for the first time yesterday at Gram and Papa's...definitely ready for it. Also her skin is looking dreamy these days...the Dr at her 6 month checkup on Friday gave us a prescription cream for her excema type patches and they've mostly gone now. AND in BIG NEWS...Sam's 18.8 pounds. 97th percentile. That's my girl!

Now we go back in time, to the August long weekend. Still catching up with the photos.

Lunch in Cochrane:
Sam was happy.
And this is what she was looking at:Katie likes her sandwich.
Waiting in line with Papa, Gram and Uncle Terry (none of tem in the photo...obviously!) at the Canmore Folk Fest.
Petting the goats...the sheep kept running away!They had bunnies too!Sam was there nearby too!First time in a swing (you've already seen the video!)Katie sees a bear! And a Tall Red Lady!Gram holding Sam.Katie got her face painted (Strawberry) and a Tattoo (CKUA)!Trying to keep Sam out of the sun in the playpen...but she wouldn't nap!Breakfast in Red Deer on the way home.A trip to the park...I was about the say that I don't even remember where or when this was, but now I remember it was some day after strollercize! We do hit the playground afterwards depending on the wheather. And this was just after a stroll to check out the new Southgate Mall near our house (they just finished some renovations)...the new stores are ok, but I'm just happy to have more space to walk around when the weather's not so nice this winter. The basment has just this evening received it's first bit of primer. The days are getting SO much shorter...when Katie wakes up (often between 6 and 7am) she says "It's DARK!". It's even getting noticably cooler at night, although the days (especially the next few forecast) are still warm enough.

Things are great and I hope you are great too!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Sam's first swing!

Video taken at the Canmore Folk Fest. A fun time (and I have more pictures of our time there to share soon). These nice swings are great because they're really high...easier for adults to push and makes sense since it's not like the babies are crawling in those seats themselves, right? Why don't we see more like this? Enjoy!

Untitled from BabyLuch on Vimeo.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

A video

(see...three posts in one night...make sure you see/read them all!)

A little video...Having lunch on Cochrane on the August long weekend on our way to the Canmore folk festival. Sam was happy. Katie was happy. Everyone was happy!

Untitled from BabyLuch on Vimeo.

Morning Playground

One morning (according to iPhoto it was July 31) Katie and Sam woke up early...must have been 5am or something...I can't remember. It was early enough that by 7am it felt like we'd been up forever. So after Sam (and Dad, lucky guy!) went down for a nap, I took Katie to the playground.

Love the early morning light.

Only problem was the dew! Everything was wet and we couldn't really play on anything.
Early morning mom. Thank goodness for coffee.
We did find this little reclined seat thing that was under a slide so it wasn't very wet. Fun to lie down on.

As we walked around nearby (talking about how the playground was wet and we couldn't play on anything and how next time I would bring a towel) Katie saw some other fun toys.......locked behind a fence as they belong to the daycare. So upsetting to see all the fun toys but not be able to get at them.

And here's a shot of the playground. It was a fun, simple thing...mornings are my favorite time of day (once I get my coffee). Hopefully we can do more of this (though not necessarily QUITE that early). =)

Summer is busy!

Hello! We've been busy...I don't know what it is about summer, but I always think we're going to have more time and we're always busier than I think we'll be. And there's something about the two kids thing...Katie is exuding toddler behaviour these days (for example...we're moving things higher and further away, out of reach...you can guess why) which I suppose is taking more energy. And Sam is great but also always learning more things and getting more involved (sitting up well etc) but sometimes wants things more and still needs quite a bit of help.

SO, I have a few blog posts underway (currently trying out multi-posting...with another post uploading pictures while I write up this one) and we're going back in time a few weeks now to around the last week of July.

We went out to Russ and Steph's lake a few Saturdays ago and had a superb hot day! Spent time in the shade with the babies and Ben and Katie even went in the water! (we bought this floaty, boaty thing for Sam in BC, but it was too big for her and she didn't like it...luckily it's big enough for Katie too!)
Katie had her first ever popsicle (the all fruit kind...Russ was kind enough to remember my preference for "real" food for the girls). And she's two...she can probably eat a popsicle.
Steph holding Sam.
And their adorable baby W...growing fast he's about 2.5 months old already! Such a cute and easy going baby.
Katie modelling an outfit that Gram made for her last summer...I didn't think it was that big at the time (it was more like a dress) but now it fits her so well with the matching little pants. A fun warm weather outfit for sure...and I think it would work well over pants and long sleeves too!
Sam love carrots WAY more than Katie ever did/does. Though now (sibling rivalry? If it's hers is must be mine?) Katie seems to really want to eat Sam's carrots. Our nearby Italian Centre Shop has cute baskets on wheels, which means Katie can be a big, helpful girl! While she was napping, she somehow twisted her shirt like this:Not quite sure how she did it...but it really looks like she's rockin' an 80's vibe, doesn't it?

I was feeling crafty one day and looked up a recipe for finger paint on line. Using only water and cornstarch, they looked fne to start...but the colours were more transluscent on paper and they got gooey and harder very fast...gummy and jello-like...not paint-like. I wouldn't use this recipe again, but will certainly try something else. (see how I was prepared for a mess?) I don't remember what was going on exactly this day, but I'm sure I was needing something to keep Katie happy and interested for a while. It worked!I have more posts and pictures coming soon (maybe tonight?) but I must tell you a few important things. (this is why I CANNOT believe I've been so lazy about posting...I have good stuff to share!)

Sam has a tooth!! For real! I totally was it coming and the other day (Aug 6th) it poked it's way through. I'm so excited...it's such a grown-up thing for a baby to do you know!? A sure sign of getting bigger. I've been excited about her other milestones so far too, but something about this one was just really thrilling! (and no, I've not been bit yet...I'll nip that behaviour in the bud you can be sure!)

We also celebrated Sam's Baptism on Sunday...again, something super exciting. So nice to have a celebration formally welcoming her into our community. We kept the gathering small and (my bad) invited some people quite last minute (having to do with the busy summer and some hiccups in communication between myself and the church representative) but still had a number of family and friends there. And we had the whole church to ourselves which was nice too! I don't have pictures of this, but Gram and Papa (and maybe others?) do, so when we get some, will post.
And, fresh off the presses...Katie had a wonderful pee in the potty this evening!...we've been not really addressing the potty thing for a while and then, over the past week or so have tried having Katie wear some of her newly purchased underwear around the house. Casually. Just to introduce it as something fun to wear and to do. Today's pee was awesome (can't believe I just typed that!)...the one other time it seemed quite accidental, but this one was real. Right before bathtime which has seemed like a logical time to practice sitting. We're not pushing or rushing, but it's neat to be one step closer to learning this skill. Katie, if you're 10 years old now, and reading this...I'm sorry for embarrassing you...but just be glad I didn't take a picture. =)