Thursday and 16

Hello!

I don't have any pictures right now because the camera's *over there* and I'm too lazy to get up and get it and download pictures right now.

Not much going on...we all walked over to Southgate this morning for something to do and the Bay has some good sales on. So Ben bought some nice stuff for work and we bought clothes for Katie too. Can't beat a pair of twill pants for 2 bucks. Seriously, they were 60% off the last ticketed price...Can you believe that? I wish my clothes were that cheap!

While Ben went for a run last night Katie and I walked for about 45 min in the Chariot. Nice walk...stopped by the pool (Confederation) and asked about swim lessons for her (parent and tot) and we could start in October (they are closed in Sept for annual cleanup). I'll have to see what Kinsmen offers and if they start in September we go there instead. Who knows.

I'm Very excited to start going to the drop-in strollercise class at Kinsmen. The Ped. said we had to wait until at least 4 months...I'll double check at our appointment next week but as soon as we can I'm there!

Speaking of 4 months...we're not quite there yet, but Katie is 16 weeks old today! Wow! It's really getting to be that I can't believe how much bigger and older she is and to marvel at what a short and at the same time long time we've had with her. Life is so great with her I wouldn't change a thing.

Hope you're having a good day, I promise pictures next time when I'm not feeling so lazy! =)

Important Day and Cuteness

Hello! We've got lots of pictures today! is for Katie! (followed by a Random Super Cute Outfit)Our weekend was pretty busy...We tried a new way of doing tummy time, over a pillow, which is supposed to make Katie's arms work a bit harder...I think she likes it. The cute outfit helps...this is the best part of it: We wore this out to coffee with Grandma Cheryl, Auntie Patty, cousin Georgina and Coreen...nice to visit with people. We also did a bit of goofing around with the camera later:And even found the black and white setting! Fun!And we practiced sitting in the Bumbo...we're getting much better at that! (Sitting in front of the mirror is double the fun!)
The big thing this weekend (and the "Important Day" referred to in the title of this post) was Katie's Baptism at St. Joe's church on campus. We had the church full of family and friends to welcome her into the Faith. And Katie did really well...didn't seem to mind the water at all! She did get a little tired after and fall asleep right in dad's arms. As cute as it was, we don't have any pictures of any of it because we were busy. But as soon as we get some from others, we'll post the pictures. We do have a few before shots...(The gown is a family Christening gown...vintage!)


We also had a party to go to on Sunday for Auntie Diane's Big Birthday...it was a lovely garden party. Didn't take a lot of pictures (should have taken more!) but I do have this nice one with Auntie Elaine.And we decided Katie was ready for the next step in her excersaucer toy...she seems to like it, but might need to get a bit stronger before we leave her in there for longer than a few minutes. But, boy-o-boy, is it going to be fun! Yesterday , decided to have Katie weighed because we keep telling people she's something over 15 pounds, but really, it's been a couple of weeks since we last weighed her so who knows. Well, she's officially 16 pounds 6 ounces...Over twice her weight at birth! Good girl! We must all be doing something right! To celebrate, we took her to Kinsmen for her First Swim Ever. I think it was maybe more fun for her dad and I...not that she wasn't having fun, but I think she was pretty...unsure of what this whole "pool/swimming" thing was all about. It did tire her out though...

Canmore Part III - Everything Else

I'll try to make this the last post about Canmore...it's been dragged on too long, I know! Lots of the time in Canmore involved trying to protect Katie from the elements...Grandparents were happy to oblige by covering her in blankets (Katie's mesmerized by the mountains):
And lending her hats to keep warm and protect from the sun.
Ben, Sheldon, Uncle Terry and Auntie Diane were our representatives in the "Spread-Yur-Tarp-Fur-A-Good-Spot-By-The-Stage" contest. This involves us lining up by about 6am (well, Grandparents Dan and Mary and the Van did) and sitting in the early morning cold to get a good spot.
While this was going on, Katie just spent time in the van.

And you know what...there's seriously too many pictures to put words to each, and in keeping with the goal of finishing the canmore posts, I present a quick summary and pictures. We had fun...Katie was great...she liked the music and she slept a lot, was surrounded by tarps and strange people and survived rain and hail (of which I don't have a god picture because it was raining and hailing). We had a great time and really wished you were all there. =)
The End

Canmore Part II - Lesson Learned

The weekend of the Canmore Folk Festival has, for the past few years, started with dinner at the Rose and Crown pub with Andrea and Sheldon. Mom and dad were already at the festival for the Saturday night concert, which we opt not to attend. Dinner was lovely and the weather was great. A nice thing about hanging around other people is the increase in the number of people in our family photos:Andrea was super nice and held Katie for a while (more shade over there too!) as we waited for the food.
Funny...does it look like Katie's thinking of something in the above photo? Thinking rather hard? She was sitting on my lap when it became obvious that she needed to be changed. Luckily for me it was Ben's turn, because she had the hugest poop! It exploded all up the back of her onesie and onto my shirt and on the blanket she was sitting on. We were definitely grateful that we always keep a spare outfit in the diaper bag (mom's to be - Take note!) You can see by this next photo, Katie felt much better after that. (in onesie number twosie!)
Lesson learned though...when in a pinch, a jacket works as a nursing cover up (or, carry two blankets minimum at all times!).
(Yes, Canmore DOES actually include a festival and music and people and tarps...I'm just dragging it out for a full weeks worth of entertainment!)

Canmore Part I - Calgary

And we're back!
We all survived Katie's first trip to the mountains. Well, more than survived, we had a great time. Katie was an excellent girl, slept well and wasn't fussy at all.
On the advice of Joanne and Chad, we bought Katie a new toy that will be exclusively used in the car...gives her something special to play with that's new-ish and exciting. It's a bar with three toys...a frog with mirror, dinosaur thingy that makes music when you hit it (Katie can't quite hit it yet, so I help) and a lizard rattle.
We stopped for a bit in Calgary, just to walk around and give Katie a break from the car and a snack. It was a gorgeous day for walking and Kesington has so many neat shops!
We found Crave: and thankfully it was about noon so I was able to buy a cupcake without feeling like it was too early to be eating cake. We had a chocolate cupcake with blue vanilla frosting and chocolat sprinkles. And it was really super yummy!
We're got more pictures from Canmore and the festival, but mom's still a bit tired and doesn't feel like blogging for an hour straight....I'll try and post more later today and/or tomorrow. Have a great day!

Blast from the Past

Hello all! We're having a good day today (though not on as much sleep as usual as Katie decided sleeping is for wussies last night!)

We're getting ready for Katie's first trip to the mountains this long weekend. We're staying with friends in Canmore for the Folk Festival...a bit of a tradition for us. It should be interesting to see how things go in terms of schedule etc. There will be lots of family there so I'm thinking we'll have lots of fun. I promise to take lots of pictures and share when we get back.
No new pictures today so I'm sharing an old one from pre-blog. About May 10th or so, so Katie was just a wee one. We found this one going through pictures to print and it really shows just how skinny she was...note the elbow skin.
She's grown so much since then...it's amazing how things change. Have a great long weekend!
Heather

Simply Summertime

Summer is always lovely...the pace is relaxed and even those who aren't lucky enough to have the time off work are more relaxed. Lately we've just been enjoying the pace and soaking up the fun.

Katie is getting closer every day to rolling over by herself and you can see some desire for movement (i.e. crawling) in her eyes...here she is hanging out at G and G Dunnigan's.
We have also been working on plans for her upcoming Baptism next Saturday (not this but the next). We all went to campus yesterday to meet with the coordinator and had a quick coffee break with Stephanie. (Sorry for all the rest of our campus friends...can't have coffee with a zillion people all at once...if you'd like to arrange a coffee break, call us! Our boss is lenient and lets Katie have coffee almost anytime!) Katie was in top form for the visit, smiling like crazy. She attracted quite a bit of attention from various ladies on campus...I'm starting to think that if she gets any cuter, I'll have to watch out for "Wannabe-Grandma" Kidnappers.

Our (ok, Ben's) garden is doing very well...is it beginners luck? We have many zucchini and will therefore be losing many friends, or so I hear. As well, we have lots and lots of green beans and lettuce.
Great Grandma Mary and Auntie Gail stopped by to steal, oops I mean, help us pick some of the garden goodies. You can definitely tell a mother by the automatically built-in baby holding skills...like riding a bike I guess...do you ever forget? (I hope not, I love baby holding!)
The garden was a great help for dinner as it scored us an invite at Chez Dunnigan, that I'm sure we would not have received otherwise. Funny how a baby captivates a dinner table...Does that mean I can get away with serving sub-par food from now on? ("Ignore the KD and feast your eyes on Katie instead!") I think Katie's used to all the attention and I don't think she'd mind being used for such a purpose.

We also were delighted to see Auntie Patti and the lovely Georgina briefly yesterday but don't have pictures to show for it. The australian visitors will have another chance at blog fame at dinner Friday night (at Cheryl and Ken's...so they might get more than KD).

And coming up today is a visit with London folk, my uncle Ted and Annie and Beth and Wils...Ben and I are sneaking off to see The Simpsons and G and G Dunnigan have agreed to babysit while they visit with T & A (don't go there!).

So we'll chat later, hopefully with more pictures. Have a super day!