Christmas Eve

My dad and the appetizers. He went wild at M and M Meats and also made the chicken for Jackie's bday and the Turkey for Xmas. Good job dad!

Jackie and Tyler (her boyfriend). Tyler was sandwiched between Trisha, Jackie and Jan on the couch this year and he did really well with it considering all of the uh, interesting and slightly awkward gifts we always give eachother:)

Me and my sister Nut (Trish) trying to make Annika smile.
Wow, I'm exhuasted and we still have all tomorrow to get through! So, on Saturday it was Jackie's 22nd birthday and we had a big dinner and then we all went bowling. I usually don't like bowling but I had a great time! The music, the lights, the company..fun times (I need to get out more!!). Then today we had another huge dinner (my dad made the turkey and it was great) as well as church and Christmas presents. Kai seemed to like his cloth dinasour book the best as he could chew on it. We had a great time with family and I think it will be great in the years to come, watching the little kids open their gifts.
I'll have a picture tomorrow of Kai in his new nifty sled. We couldn't get pictures of Kai and Annika together as she is super sick and I was a crazy paranoid mom keeping them as far apart as possible for the past two days.
Good night. Merry Christmas.

Dessert and Letters

The other night I made a pear and walnut crumble...so yummy all warm from the oven with some vanilla icecream. Wow, I love dessert. A lot. I just went through all my letters from when I was in Kenya. Now, I just have to organize them all in a binder or something. It was 2 years ago that I just had a few weeks before coming back to Canada and seeing Gary, (oh, and my family) and boy was I excited. I was climibing Kilimanjaro with Lynette and we were continuously checking our heart rates making sure all was good:) (We made it to the top by the way, no problemo. The couple we were with made it as well although it wasn't so pretty for them with vomitting and asthma attacks etc)
Did I mention that I love dessert? Especially when there is a hot/cold combo. Gary made me a chocolate pudding cake when he proposed...my taste buds couldn't really concentrate on how good it was because I was so excited.

Teething???

What are the symptoms of teething?
Irritability
Drooling.
Coughing
Biting & gnawing
Cold like symptoms (runny nose, etc)

He's been doing the first 4 for about a month now but suddenly his nose is super runny. Either he's getting his first cold or first tooth. What's better? I don't know.

The senior boys bball team won again last night and Kai and I went to watch. Kai fell asleep in Leah's arms which was a nice break for me and a good work out for her:) Great to see so many fans there and to see them pull off another win.

What are the Chapman's up to on a Sat night?

So, let's see. Today we went to JYSK (10X better service than the Brick...and by better service, I just mean faster service, I get a little impatient sometimes) and got a buffet thingy which we have wanted since we've moved in. It matches our table perfectly and will take out some of the clutter from our kitchen. Here's a picture of Gary in the 3rd hour of putting it together while watching the hockey game. Kai and I encouraged him with some singing which included how wonderful and manly he was putting together the buffet.
Well, I got a slow cooker for Christmas and I'm `accidentally' using it already. So far I've made cheesecake brownies in it as well as a tuna lasagne (not at the same time, dont' worry!). It's pretty fun and I look forward to many more meals in it. You see, sometimes Kai is best in the morning so I'd love to make meals at that time and then have a perfectly warm meal when Gary comes home from work. Such a great housewife
I am.

What else? Hmmmm...I've been reading a bit more lately. A little Maeve Binchy and Karen Kingsbury...good times:)

Tomorrow my sisters and I are getting together to make croquettes and oliebolen (spelling is prob. off)...good old Dutch Christmas tradition...

That's about it! Kai is doing so wonderfully, he goes down for his naps and night time sleep so well now. He's discovered his thumb which took a lot of work on his part because he was always so jerky with his movements. I think he's so cute when he's sucking it and I think that I will prob. have tears of joy in my eyes every time he reaches a new stage. He is sitting on his own for a few seconds and should be able to do it longer very soon. I can't imagine him talking or walking or playing sports or instruments...I don't know how I'm going to be able to hold in the tears from being so proud of him.

He's either sucking on his fingers or sticking out his tongue. Either way, he's always drooling. Apparently he could start teething any time but he's been drooling for months so I don't think it will be any time soon.

Ahh...nap time

Not for me, for him! Today I waited until he was really tired, then I read him a story and put the music on and left him in the crib. He only cried for about 8 minutes. He must have been so tired. Usually he would cry for a lot longer so I often rock him to sleep. I hope this is the beginning of a new routine. Those of you who do not have kids...just you wait:) Who do you listen to for baby advice? baby wise? the baby whisperer? the internet? your dad? husband? sister? mother-in-law? your gut? You want to do what's best but I want to make sure I'm doing the best for him and me. I'm such the researcher type which actually just makes it a lot more difficult because which source is the most reliable and up-to-date and works for Kai? Anyway, I feel bad writing about baby stuff all the time because most people who read this don't even have kids. But hey, is this for you? For me? For kai when he grows up? I have no idea.
This morning we walked to Shoppers Drug mart instead of Extra Foods. I tried on a perfume but the more I smell it on me, perhaps it was cologne...I think I smell like a guy. Gary is coming home on time today for the first time in weeks (he's had bball practice/games)! Kai and I are excited to have dinner with daddy. Then, I think we may go watch the bball game...although, then I'll miss `House'....hmmm...dilemma...

This weekend

These pictures are from my sisters blog and they were taken at lunch today as mentioned below.
So this weekend Kai and I went to watch Gary's bball team in their first tournament. Kai loved watching every minute of it and didn't mind missing a nap. My sister Jantina also came to a game and is quite sure that Gary would love to have her taking stats. On Saturday night, we celebrated 4 birthdays in the extended Chapman family. Today, the whole Dekens clan went to the Beacher Street Cafe at Crescent Beach to remember my mom as this would have been her 54th birthday. My mom and dad LOVED walking there, I think our whole family loves the ocean as we grew up boating/fishing every summer (by the way, Kai's name means ocean). A couple of us went to the Langley Hospice society this week as they had a evening to remember those that had lost loved ones recently and I thought they did a wonderful job. One of the techniques they taught us to get through grief is to take a deep breathe in and out and then hug someone for 3 whole breaths in and out. This makes you really think and feel about the person you are hugging, recognizing how precious they are to you. Gary gets lots of long hugs now. Oh ya, tonight I went to a cookie exchange. You know, you bring 6 dozen cookies and exchange them with others and then you get a whole huge assortment...I better get back to running again!

4 months old

So today Kai had his 4 month shots and he did wonderfully! Wow, he is seriously such a pleasure (now). For all the other mom types out there, here are his stats:
Height: 27inches Weight: 18lbs 3oz Head Cirucmference: 44cm
All of these are in the 97th percentile. This past week he has really enjoyed sticking his tongue out. Tongue length must be genetic because both Gary and I are able to touch our tongues to our noses and I bet Kai will be able to as well.


So this week I was slightly impulsive. Usually I'm super Ms. Cheapo but I bought a brand new recliner! I saw the Brick had 50% off this recliner so I just bought it. It doesn't match super well but it is nice to curl up in and Kai loves to rock in it with me.
We set up our Christmas tree this weekend. We decided to go with a fake tree from Costco. It is normally a huge tree but we took out the whole bottom section because when we had the whole tree up, we really didn't have much room in our house. Anyone who knows that I grew up on a Chrismtas tree farm may be shocked but we decided that its probably best to not kill a tree and in the end we'll prob. save some $:) Gary and I got to set up all the decorations that we bought last boxing day! Wow, this whole blog makes me seem cheap but I guess that's not the worst thing to be!

Do I look like him?

Here's me and my dad when I was 3 months old (on the left)...on the right we have Kai, do I look like him at all?

Below is a picture of me at Kai's age with my mom. It's weird to think of my mom being a mother to me when I was his age...did she blow on my belly and cheeks to make me laugh? Did she bake cookies while I was in the jolly jumper? Did I like to watch tv? Did I like to be moving all the time or was I fine just cuddling? How did she do cloth diapers all the time (I use about 50% of the time)?, When did I sit up by myself? When did I start solids? When did I sleep through the night? It's been 6 1/2 months since mom's been gone and I miss her. I wish I could've asked her about motherhood.

Here's a picture of me and mom was I was 3 years old.

Snow Day!

Teachers love snow days too!! Gary is wearing a toque because its cold and uh, someone gave him a haircut...um ya...it'll grow back:)
So what did we do? We braved a walk in the snow on Sunday but on Monday, it was too cold for the little guy so we hung out inside the house. Gary actually did a bunch of school work (go daddy go!) and Kai and I did our usual routine.

Attack of the Mommy! This guarantees the best giggles EVER!
Cooking with daddy...Kai just likes to be where the action is. This probably isn't the safest thing in the world but I don't want to be a `reflective vest' type person like my dad:) No offense dad, you always kept us very safe...and paranoid...

Smiles for daddy
PS I'm starting to feel ready to go back to work. I know I have 8 more months but you know...just how I'm feeling. I was wondering when that feeling would hit me or if it ever would and I think being trapped in a house (I miss my daily walks soooooo much) is helping me get there.