Saturday, March 17, 2007

Kisses and Tigers and Waves, oh my!

What a week! I have had that nasty cold all week and the babe almost came down with it but thankfully she seems to be ok now. My husband is still successfully fighting it off, although he could use some extra sleep to help with that.

Not much new in our world as a consequence. There has been napping, thanks to my Mum coming and watching the little one. We are still watching eagerly for the walking to begin, although a couple of steps here and there are all she's done as yet.

She now blows kisses and waves bye-bye and it's amazing how such little things thrill me! I keep asking for kisses and what the tiger says so I can hear her little roar. Sometimes I think she gets a bit fed up but she humours me anyway.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

First Birthday (and first steps!)







We had her party on Sunday, it was a fairly quiet one, just family this time. Her cousin came over from Vancouver for the occasion, he is 9 months older than M and I think found her a bit boring because she can't walk yet. She had a little cake all to herself which she thoroughly enjoyed!
The shine was slightly taken off the moment because she was rubbing icing all over her face and into her eyes and she came up in a little rash which freaked Mummy out. She was back to normal before long though.

Today is the big day itself, and I am near-comatose with a nasty cold. So we are eating spaghetti with sauce I had in the freezer and trying not to hack up a lung! Daddy and I will have a smidgen of leftover cake, but no icing for M this time!

To celebrate the day, M took 3 steps by herself one time when I was reading a book, and 5 steps when I was in the loo... She sure knows how to pick her moments! Nana (my Mum) witnessed both times. Grandma (Daddy's Mum) came by for a birthday hug and a little visit so she had more than her share of attention today (as always).

Must get a couple of photos up here and get the pasta made before my dear husband gets too hungry. Myself, everything tastes like cardboard right now so I'm not very enthusiastic. If only I could keep that up!

In other baby news, M can now find several of her toys when asked, as well as the flashcard of the tiger, which she accompanies with a very lifelike imitation. Tiny roar, SO cute!
Interestingly, the little plastic monkey is the only thing identified as monkey, not the flashcard or the stuffed monkey. So she's assigned the name "monkey" to that one toy rather than being able to identify a monkey in other forms. Still, I think she's amazing and watching her develop every day is a joy.

Lucky Mummy, in spite of green slime and antisocial dripping nose!

Thursday, March 8, 2007

First word (and a monkey)

Exciting news this week, the little one said "Up!" to Grandma on Wednesday! And when asked "Where's your Monkey?" she looks around and finds her little plastic monkey that goes with the Amazing Animals train. She's so amazing and she makes my heart sing just to watch her learning and growing each day.

It's that time of year again... flowers are beginning to bloom all over our beautiful city. It's still a bit chilly, but nice enough that we can congratulate ourselves for not living in other parts of the country, where friends and relatives are still dealing with (shudder) snow!

We are really so spoiled here. There is always a downside to anything, depending on your perspective, and mine is allergies. So the beautiful flowers have me using up tissues so fast I wish I had shares in Kleenex. Still, a dripping nose and uncontrollable sneezing is a small price to pay for living in such a paradise. I'll take it over snow and ice any day!

Another trip to the pool today with Nana and Grandma. Little Bun made friends with a nice lady and her 3 children, who were very good at sharing the pool toys. Although as my angel is still teething we had to take them away from her. Chewing on toys that have been in the pool is really not nice... I KNOW what kids do in there...

My new stroller came in to the store, but not until after the pool. Fortunately my mother in law had one we could use for the day, it definitely made the trip a lot easier although it didn't fold as small as the Zooper, I managed to stuff it in the locker, though.

Still so much to do for the baby's first birthday party, although I'm keeping it fairly simple with
trays of meat, cheese, veg, fruit and some buns... And of course CAKE!

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Parties and Dresses and Zoopers, Oh my!

Why do things seem to sneak up on you sometimes? It's nearly my little one's first birthday, and I honestly have no idea what has happened to the past year! Oh yes I do, diaper changes, late-night feedings, watching her become the most amazing little person in the world...

So much to do for her birthday party. The most important thing to get done is her cake, I want to make that really special as it will be her first taste of cake! Something tells me she'll like it. The little monkey eats anything, especially if it comes from Mummy or Daddy's plate!
Nana bought her a beautiful dress to wear. She was going to make one, but then time has been evaporating on us lately and we found a beautiful one so that's one less thing to fret about this week. Less stress is good.

Today was much warmer than it has been in a while although still overcast. My Mum (Nana) and I took the little Bun for a walk. She had a great time, loves to be out in the fresh air. Then after a little nap (for her) we went to TJ's the Kiddies store in search of a decent umbrella style stroller. I want one for short trips as she's getting a bit heavy to carry very far and although she's well on her way she's still not walking. It has to be small enough to fit in a locker at the pool, but durable and comfortable for the baby. They are getting in a Zooper Stomp which I'm pretty sure I'm going to get unless it has some major problem when I see it. They didn't have one in stock so it's coming from Vancouver on Thursday.
(great kids store in BC: http://www.tjskids.com/)

Back to my planning and lists...

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Playing catch-up

Well, I just started and already I'm getting behind!

I took my daughter swimming for the first time this week! We went on Thursday morning because my Mum and her other Grandma and Grandpa go then. (Seniors Day!)
I was afraid that she would be scared of the water and scream the place down, but she was amazing. And she loved it! She floated with her head against me, she went on a little boogie board with Grandpa pushing her through the water, she played with the toys. It was a great experience and now I have no excuse for not going back...
Regardless of how I feel about me in a bathing suit... : (
The Commonwealth Pool is really great for kids, there's a baby pool and a kid's pool with a pirate ship that's also a wave pool. Then there's two other full size pools for adults.
There were a lot of other Mums and babies there.

On Friday we met the Mummies and Babies for breakfast again, my little one was great, enjoyed sharing Mummy's breakfast but she was ready to be out of that high chair long before it
was time to go.

Today Grandma came over to hang out with the Bun while my husband and I went to the Times Colonist Book Sale. It's a HUGE sale of donated books with profits to the "Raise a Reader" fund. We had to wait about an hour to get in because we got there around 9:20 am.
There were actually people lining up at 1am which is just nuts!
We got 99 books, some for each of us and some for our girly girl. $111 dollars all to charity!

I am seriously considering going back tomorrow.... is that wrong?

Tonight we had friends over for dinner, got the BBQ going for the first time in months. It was chilly out but you've got to love a place where you can BBQ at this time of year!