me and my baby

It's been almost two weeks since the last post. Sorry everyone. Life has sped up during the past couple of weeks.  I worked a full day on Sat Jan 19th. it was my first time away from Sarah for an entire work day...and she did fine and so did I (much to my surprise).  I did sea survival training with the Navy, so we got to go into the pool in the afternoon and practise with all the gear, including the life raft.  We got to practise 'rescuing' someone as well. I was last in the pool but first to the end of the pool. Towing someone while fully dressed by wedging your feet in their armpits and swimming on your back to the end of the pool isn't as easy as you'd think.  I didn't break my toe this time either, which is nice!

Dale jumped on a training flight with work to Vancouver at the beginning of this week for a night. He enjoyed going for a run without fully bundling up and he really liked the smell of green.  We're very much looking forward to our trip to BC next week! This snow and cold thing is fun, but...it's getting old.  It's been very cold again this week, so Sarah and I have been cooped up indoors again.

Sarah has been doing a great job looking after her baby this week.  She's sat her up in her chair, fed her from a sippy cup and she's given her a ride on her puppy car.  She's going to be a great big sister, if given the chance!

Sarah has also decided that books are where it's at. She's always enjoyed them, but now we can't do anything unless we've read a book first...so - before breakfast, we read a book, before we brush our teeth, we read a book, before lunch...you get the picture. If I sit down on the floor she takes that as an invitation to read. She grabs a book and sits herself down in my lap.

Little Miss is starting to do animal sounds as well - oof (woof without the w) when she sees a dog, mow (meow) when she sees a cat, and she does a passable monkey imitation as well. Today she also did a good imitation of her Dad's whale song and the actions that go along with it. I wish I'd managed to capture some video. It's very hard to explain how it works.  Every other animal makes a growling sound as far as she's concerned.

On Thursday we went to Mother Goose as we usually do and during the Grand Old Duke of York, as I was throwing her up in the air, I threw my back out. Whoops.  After a visit with the chiropractor later that afternoon and a couple of nearly sleepless nights, I'm on the mend.  Did I mention that I also have a cold? It never rains but it pours. 

Today it's warm! The high is -3, it's sunny out, and mostly importantly for Winnipeg, it's not windy! We grabbed the opportunity and took off down to the Forks this morning for a skate. They've created an amazing 8.5 km skating trail along the river (with a walking trail beside it), including little rest areas with benches and trees around it to block the wind, and a hockey rink by the Forks. So, Dale skated, Sarah sat in her stroller and I walked...I didn't want to hurt my back again. It was beautiful outside and there were a lot of people out there taking advantage of the mild weather. Tomorrow we're back into it - a blizzard and then the deep freeze again. The last two pictures in the blog are movies - press the play button underneath them.

. 

Snowman and the Tent

A couple of weekends ago it was mild enough to make a snowman in the backyard.  It was so warm that we didn't even need to wear hats! Yeah. That really made Sarah's day because she's not into hats - hates them, in fact.  Dale made a snow cave as well, which Sarah thought was fun. It's sorta like tents and cupboards in that they're small, confined spaces. Just her sort of thing right now.

Sarah spends hours pulling her duck and alphabet pal around and around the kitchen.  What she really likes best is when you pull one of them around with her - kind of a follow the leader thing.  

Earlier this week she though it would be a good idea to crawl into the cupboard that contains all her stuff - sippy cups, bottles and tupperware.  It was sure fun getting in, but then there was the getting out part - she got stuck. I'm the meanest mommy in the world because I laughed and went to get the camera for a shot before I took her out.  

Sarah is also in to making piles of things right now. She'll take the contents of her toy box and take them, one at a time, to her tent...and then she just repeats the process in reverse. When Dale comes home from work, they usually play in the tent while I get dinner ready.  She decided to involve him in the piling...you could hardly see him for the pile of toys!

Last weekend we went to get Sarah a little chair of her own - she very much enjoyed Owen's chair when we were visiting the Zacharko's at Christmas.  So far she doesn't always sit in it though - she often uses it to pile toys in. Surprise. Surprise.

At the mom's group at the base last week the public health nurse brought in a presentation on teeth for us.  Apparently we should already be using baby toothpaste (no fluoride) and teaching her to spit it out. They usually don't get the concept of spitting until they're around 3, we were told.  She thinks that toothpaste is pretty cool and she loves brushing her teeth so we got into spitting this week and she's pretty much got it already. She sits on the counter with her feet in the sink and spits between her feet. We're pretty sure that the whole spitting thing is going to backfire on us at some stage (maybe when she meets the Queen), but what can we do? She's a natural. I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that I used to be a bos'n?

more presents

On January 2nd, we opened more presents.  We still needed to open most of the gifts from my family!  We also set up the tent that we bought for Sarah - and, as predicted, it was, and still is, a hit.

Sarah was lucky enough to get three dollies this Christmas.  The first one of the two below was made by Sarah's Auntie G (my sister Gwyn) and the 2nd was made by Grammie (my mom).  She sure loves them all!  I wonder what she'll name them?

  

Sarah the clown - she loves to wear hats of her own invention...this one is a plastic mixing bowl.

Teething brushing is generally fun for Sarah (unless her teeth are hurting).  She loves to clean her Manni Bear's teeth as well as her own. 

end of December and the beginning of 2008

We went back down to Judy and Hilding's place on the 29th and stayed until the 31st. Uncle Gil and Auntie Linda as well as Auntie Connie and Cara came for dinner on the 30th. As usual, there was quite the spread of food - just in case an elephant and another 10 people dropped in. :o) Just kidding, Judy!  

The hoar frost was spectacular, so I took a few pics one day...

    

We went back up to Scott and Angie's for New Year's Eve. We had a fantastic dinner and then we all went to bed early.   What a difference from a few year's ago!

The next morning, New Year's Day, we got up at 5 am and left Scott and Angie's at 6 am for the drive home. We had breakfast in Lloydminister, a late lunch with friends in Saskatoon (Karen and I met through Kindermusik in Winnipeg and they moved back to Saskatoon a couple of days before we showed up there). We had dinner in Regina (MacDonald's - not much choice where we stopped) and then we settled in for the rest of the drive to Winnipeg. 

Our plan was that once Sarah had dinner and we changed her into her sleeper that she'd sleep all the way home. Not so much...what a great time for a molar to decide to appear. She didn't scream the whole way, but she did wake up every hour or so to register to complaint. We had to stop in Brandon so I could nurse her. Playing with a baby in the back seat while you're in the front seat isn't easy. I'm glad I had an appointment with the chiropractor when I got home! 

When we finally arrived home at 1 am I took Sarah into her room and told her that we're at home in Sarah's house and Sarah's room. She looked around, smiled, sighed, I nursed her and she went right to sleep. I think we might have a homebody on our hands...

post Christmas visiting

Boxing Day was at Denis and Cheryl's house (an Arndt family occasion) where Sarah had clearly had enough of Christmas cheer...she was a little tyrant. Dale and I spent the afternoon trying to stop her from taking a header down the many stairs.  When we were all ready to leave, she decided that she was going to bring the two Sarah-sized snow people with her. She took one under each arm and headed for the door... 

Dale and I did well in the secret Santa gift exchange - a 1,000,000 candle power flashlight (not as cool as the 3,000,000 candle power one that Gordon got, but still pretty bright) and a pair of super battery operated scissors which are perfect for trying to get into the ridiculous packaging for kids toys.

On the 27th we caught up with the Zacharko's and Kelly gang in St. Albert. Here's a picture of Erin with Nathan, #4 kid and the only boy, so far, of the gang.

   

The next picture is of Dale, Owen Zacharko and Sarah all trying to make the new toy work in different ways.  Owen wanted to see how it worked if part of the track was removed...Dale wanted it to work the right way. Any guesses as to who won?  At the end of it all, Sarah collapsed in a chair just her size...I guess we better get her one just like it - she just loved it so much. 

On the 28th we went to visit our friends Dave and Margot Steele in St. Albert. Margot whipped up her usual stunning brunch and we caught up while watching Sarah run around like a crazy girl. She slept while we drove to see the Bergs and their crowd in Edmonton.  Wes Berg did some piano playing with Sarah which she very much enjoyed. We stayed with Scott and Angie that night in Edmonton and the following night as well...then it was back to Wetaskiwin for a few days..but that's a different post.

Christmas Day

On Christmas day Gramma and Grandpa Holm had to have the turkey in the oven at the hall in Millet at 6 am, so by the time they got back we were awake. We opened our stockings and presents - as usual, Gramma and Grandpa were very generous!  Sarah got so many gifts - including a little green doll who teaches the alphabet and numbers. 

I went for a run and then we got ready to go to the Pahl family Christmas in Millet. Here's a picture of Sarah and her daddy all dressed up for Christmas dinner.  The shoes, btw, didn't last long once we got to the hall. 

Auntie Angie and Uncle Scott and baby William got to the hall before we did, so we did a little photo op of the cousins before the rest of the gang arrived.  William was very interested in Sarah, and chewing his own hand. Sarah wasn't so sure about sharing space in the same chair as William and liked chewing her finger. 

  

She was willing to put up with sharing her space, but it was too much when he tried to grab her dress to have a chew on it!  Then she noticed the little mouse that was part of William's outfit that he'd been chewing on... it might make good chewing for Sarah!

 

As the afternoon progressed, Sarah got more and more daring - but the end she was on the other side of the hall from both of us amusing herself.  As long was no one tried to get in her space, she did just fine.  Auntie Angie read a story to Sarah, which she very much enjoyed.  After dinner a 5 generation picture was done with Grandma Pahl at the centre.

Our drive to Edmonton, Dec 23rd and Christmas Eve

We arrived in Wetaskiwin around 4 pm on the 22nd after a long drive from Winnipeg. We left around 1 pm on Friday the 21st after Dale finished work. The forecast was for freezing rain and a frontal system with lots of snow was forecasted to arrive in Winnipeg from the mid-western United States later that night. We chose to drive the Yellowhead highway in the hopes that we'd be far enough north to miss out on the system.  Other than freezing rain near the Saskatchewan border, which slowed us down, the weather was good. After dinner in Russell, near the border, we changed Sarah into her sleeper and hoped that she'd go to sleep - and she did...until we got to the hotel in Yorkton at around 10 pm.  With a new room, a new bed (pack 'n play) and a bit of a nap, she was ready to go just when we desperately wanted to get to sleep. We finally got her to go to sleep around midnight and we were up at 5 am to start the drive.  She slept until we stopped for breakfast in Saskatoon and did quite well for the rest of the day.  I think she remembered Gramma and Grandpa Holm from our visit in September and she definitely remembered Daisy and Lady, the dogs.

On the 23rd we went over to Bummpa and Nana's to see Sarah's cousins, Rylie and Rachel and her parents, Joc and Darryl as well as her uncle Jay.  It was our only chance to see Joc, Darryl and kids because they had Christmas in Calgary. Uncle Scott and Auntie Angie and baby William were there too.

Sarah loved the little house at Nana and Bummpa's but she didn't like it when other cousins tried to get in there with her. She's definitely a kid who likes her own space.

  

We did some tobogganing, which Sarah thought was great fun until her Daddy managed to get the toboggan up to a speed that was too fast for her...after that there was no way she was getting back on that toboggan! As usual the kids got great gifts and fun was had by all.  Rachel and Sarah received the same gifts from Nana and Bummpa - Nike warm up suits.  Very cute.

 

On Christmas Eve we went into Leduc to see Dale's Grandma Pahl (Sarah's namesake) on her birthday with Gramma and Grandpa Holm. We took her out to lunch. 

 

The evening of Christmas Eve we went to Bummpa and Nana's for dinner but we had to cut and run early - Sarah was very tired and needed to get some sleep.  

Sarah was very interested in the clips for the high chair at Gramma and Grandpa's and decided one day that she wanted to feed Gramma's bear.  In these pictures she showing the bear how to open wide and she's feeding him.