Quality Father Son Time?

What could these two find so intriguing?

Good thing we bought a wide screen monitor for Gary to work on photos etc. Apparently it works well to show `Baby Newton' on one side and some silly computer game for Gary at the same time.

Auntie Lynette

Today Lynette stopped by and had some time to hang out with Kai and exchange books with me(she always has such great books!). By the way, did you check out that bright ball of Hydrogen and Helium in the sky today? Wow, that was great!
Kai and Lynette. He always has his arms moving all over the place doing the backstroke or something.

He really liked playing with her long curly hair as mine is always pulled back so he can't get at it.

Our House

Exactly a year ago (Saturday) we moved into our first house. Since then we have enjoyed the privilege of a mortgage, property tax, utility bills, and insurance. However, we have truthfully enjoyed having a little grass to mow (I love mowing the lawn and wish we had a bigger one), a mini garden, having a basement to throw all the stuff that we don't know what to do with, having an ensuite!!!!, a nice kitchen with new appliances (a dishwasher!!!), a fireplace (which has really saved us through so many power outages), hardwood (well, laminate really) floors that are so easy to clean that spills never matter!, walls that we can paint in any colour that we want, a bedroom that fits our king size bed no problemo, a garage for our car so we never have to scrape the ice off of it!!...Good times. I also love our neighbourhood. I can walk to the post office, video store or get groceries at any time. Our neighbours are friendly and it feels so safe to walk around the block at any time. So, happy anniversary to our house. I feel so fortunate (and maybe a bit guilty?)to have something so nice.

Hapy Birthday Maria

Last wednesday we celebrated my sister Maria's 27th birthday. Please note her nice new haircut and usually there would be a smile on her face but I think my dad was going camera crazy at this point, hence, the `dad, that's enough' face. We decided to go out for dinner instead of the mass chaos of making it and the cleaning frenzy that occurs afterwards. It was a bit of an experiment as we didn't know if it would be more relaxing to take two little ones with us. People actually tried to sit far away from us but it went okay. Annie had a bit of a meltdown as she only had a 30 minute nap in the whole day and we accidentally made the mistake of laughing when she threw her sippy cup.

Another reason why people may have moved away is that opie was acting a little silly! Kai's looking at me like `Mom, something is wrong with opie and I don't think I want to be sitting with him anymore. Get me out of here!'.

These are a few of my favourite things...

Helping mommy bake!

Looking outside...usually at cars but today, I was interested in the snow (and my reflection)

Bathtime!! I love my froggies!
Phew...lotsa fun stuff this morning and now he's down for his first nap. Annika will be hanging out with us all day so we'll see how they get along today!

Haircuts

Obviously you can tell from this picture that Gary loves getting his photo taken, especially when he is watching the hockey game and especially for a silly reason like showing you his new hair cut! I know its not great but you know, I'm learning. If I didn't cut his hair, he would just shave it all off which is fine with me but the growing back stage is always quite awkward. I've made many mistakes on his hair (like accidentally shaving off a side burn) but 2 years later, i think I'm getting it!

Here's my hair...much better now! There was this long strangly layer that made it look mulletish/rat tailish so I got Gary to cut off a few inches. I've actually never seen him so nervous but really, I didn't care, I just wanted it fixed. It's still got one really short layer and then a big gap and then the next layer but it is much better. I know the flash on this picture is a little crazy but after blinding myself, I wasn't going to take another one!

Here's our little smiler. He didn't get a haircut but I just wanted to show his newest smile. He will just turn and smile at me all the time, I don't have to do anything to get it! So cute and a little funny looking seeing his chubby face all scrunched up.

Gary's bball team played their last game of the season today and Kai and I were able to watch. It was a pretty close game and I was glad that I could be there (thanks Jan for driving us there and cheering with me). I had sweaty palms the whole time, i can't imagine what it'll be like when Kai is playing...if he wants to...of course he will:)

Babysitting Annika

Kai on the activity mat that he never enjoyed all that much but seems to enjoy now.

Annika (my neice) kept wanting to go in the exersaucer, something she's a bit too big for, but, it kept her from running around the house when i was putting Kai down for his nap.

They kept wanting each other's toys. It just went back and forth between 4 toys.


This is what Kai looks like when he wakes up from his nap and I go in to get him. Seriously, what a great little boy he is. The other day, Gary said that the first 2 months really weren't that bad. Sorry, but if you're not the one recovering from major abdominal surgery, you can't say that. If you get to sleep 8 hours straight, you can't say that. If you are gone for 3/4 of the day, you can't say that. Just a tip for all those fathers and fathers-to-be out there:)

This is Annika motoring around like crazy now. She's just over a year old.

Here's Annika running away with the remote (the most coveted `toy' of all today). She realized that no matter how much Kai stretched his arms, he couldn't reach her when she ran away with whatever he wanted. Just you wait Annie..give him a few more months!

Mullet

Today I got a haircut and I got what I paid for:) I just went to the cheap place by our house and got a cut for $11.50. I wish I could cut my own hair. I cut my sister Trisha's hair once, and I think it looked pretty good all layered and stuff. Oh well, so I have a mullet. That's okay, I wear it in a ponytail most of the time anyway as I'm shedding like crazy (hormones all out of wack) and its not 100% mullet...the lady meant well so I was appreciative of her effort:)
On another note, we took Kai to W.C. Blair pool today for his first time. He enjoyed it immensely and I'm quite confident in those swimming Pamper thingy's that he wears so that's good. I had visions of lifeguards blowing whistles and frantically waving everyone out of the pool if Kai went to the bathroom in the pool and it somehow escaped the diaper, but, all was well. In the family change room they have these cool seats to put little kids in and strap them in so you can get changed etc. and it was fabulous, I could go on my own. We didn't get any pictures as we were all in the pool and I wasn't about to let Gary keep his fancy dancy camera on the pool deck.
We also bought a baby gate today. Kai isn't crawling but sometimes Annika is over and I'd also like to be ready for when Kai does start moving around.
We're planning on taking him camping over spring break. Any tips for sleeping in a tent with a 7 month old? He is a very light sleeper and only sleeps in his crib. Maybe I should set up the tent and start having him take naps in it. Totally joking...well actually..maybe it would be a good idea..hmmm
Looking forward to dinner tonight...asian style salmon and some chocolate fudge covered shortbread for dessert.
Gary's got a bball game tonight. Their game last Tuesday was pretty fun to watch. They will either be done on Monday or in 3 weeks from now.
We missed `The Office' this Thursday as our computer failed to tape it for us. When we returned from care group, we were sad. Well, I was. By the way, took Kai to care group and he refused to sleep. He was up until 10pm. For a kid that is in bed by 7pm every night, this was slightly disasterous.
Gotta go....have a great night everyone!!!!
PS A great baby shower gift for someone would be a `Today's Parent' subscription. I love it. I totally look forward to it coming in the mail (although this months wasn't the greatest). Only $20/year. Just a suggestion.

Playing Upstairs

Today, mommy and I played in my bedroom. We don't usually play there because that's the place that I associate with sleeping, but we had fun!

I love doggies. This scooby doo is so big, I like trying to eat his leash.

I'm trying to learn how to crawl but have no idea what to do. Mommy tries to position me but after 20 seconds or so, I flop right down onto my big belly. It's okay, I have lots and lots of time to learn. I've just mastered sitting up on my own and now I fall over nice and gently and controlled.

I tried talking to this guy. I laughed and talked (blew bubbles) and tried to reach out and grab him. He did the same thing to me! Do you like my bald spot? It isn't going away yet but the rest of my hair is growing a little more.

Happy Valentines Day

We never really made a big deal about Valentines Day in our family but I think my mom always bought us some chocolate. I remember in university she mailed me a valentines card once. Anyway, hope you all have a great love day...you don't need a special someone either (I know, easy for me to say) because it really just celebrates all those that make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. I will be spending my Valentines day hugging and kissing my little man Kai and making a nice dinner/dessert for Gary.

Happy Heart Day! Wow, I miss teaching the chambers of the heart!