Summer Holidays are booked!

Just found a decent deal on flights so I've got AK and I booked up for summer holidays!

We arrive in Winnipeg late August 15 and leave early August 29. Can't wait! xo

New apartment

Here are some pictures of the new place for those of you who were asking for them. You can click on any picture to make it bigger.


This is the way to the pool.

Living room and dining room

Kitchen

Master bedroom

Annabelle's bedroom

Big Girl Bed: Night 2

Night Two went even better than Night One. AK seems to have a bit of a cough so was coughing for a while in the middle of the night but didn't cry at all. When I woke at 630am, she was sitting up in bed, watching me and waiting for me to wake up :) I know there will come a day when she refuses to go to bed, or climbs out of bed, but for now, this is great!!!

We had a nice evening yesterday, my friend Linda came over with her little guy Cameron for supper. We walked to the duck pond down the street and fed the ducks and turtles some old bread. It will be fun to be so close by the pond.

It is hot here these days. It was 34C on my way home from work yesterday, and 31C at 740am today. Muggy too. xo

Video of AK seeing her Big Girl Bed for the first time

Operation Big Girl Bed: Success!

AK was so happy when she saw her big girl bed! She pointed at it and said "mine!". She did great in it last night too - she went to bed at 730pm with a minimum of fuss, woke around 3am and fussed for a while - and then I had to wake her at 7am today!

The Big Move!

I moved on Saturday and it went so well! I even had most of the unpacking done on Saturday and finished up most of it yesterday. I just have a few boxes left to sort through and either put away or organize to store. It is wonderful to have so much storage space and so much more room. One friend brought over a "happy home sweet home" cake and another brought beautiful violet roses and yellow carnations for me!

The best part of the weekend was putting up AK's new Big Girl bed. I can't wait for her to see it tonight. I hope Operation Big Girl Bed goes well... if not, I can catch up on sleep later on this week!!! I plan to have the camera ready to take video when she sees the bed for the first time. xo

Bathroom experiment

Having a shower in the morning has always been frustrating for me as it seems like AK whines the whole time she is in the bathroom with me. I tried something this morning - took her into the bathroom with me but didn't shut the door. I figured she was smart enough to be in the apartment by herself for a few minutes and wouldn't get into any trouble. Funny enough, she didn't even leave the bathroom. Guess leaving the door open was the trick all along?

We had a fun conversation during bathtime last night. AK was very grumpy and whiny, probably overtired. She seems to melt down during bathtime lately. I asked her if she was tired of sleeping in her crib and she stopped whining and started listening. I then told her how she'd be staying at Daddy's for the weekend, then on Monday when I picked her up, I'd take her to our new home and to her big girl bed. She stayed quiet and gave me a look like "keep talking Mommy, this is interesting!". So I am wondering if she has just had enough of her crib and doesn't like being in it anymore.

She showed me some of her paintings at daycare this morning. One was a sponge painting - the sponges were shaped like gingerbread men. The other one was free painting with their hands - the teachers said most of the kids are reluctant to use their palms and most use just their fingers. Looks like AK did a bit of both.

I can pick up the keys to the new place this afternoon - I will leave work a little early to do so :)

Milk water and yogurt

This is what passes for dinner conversation around here! (hit the arrow button (play) to play the video. If you have problems, I have no idea what you can do to fix it. Ha!) AK's hair looks poufy as it was in a pigtail, thanks to her daycare ladies, and she had pulled it out of the elastic shortly before this video was taken. xo

Oh goodness

Packing has taken a bit of a step back. If a box is not entirely closed, and AK sees something in it she wants, she takes it out and either puts it back where it belongs or makes me put it there if she can't reach. I think I will just wait until Friday night to finish packing!

AK and I headed off to the beach after supper today to play with Jenni and Matthew. We saw them walking over from their apartment building and AK was beside herself with joy and excitement when she saw them. "Yay Jenni! Hi Jenni! Matthew! Hooray!". Sometimes I think she likes Jenni more than she likes me. Ha! Matthew was kind enough to bring TWO cars to the beach, one for him and one for AK. They had fun sharing and toting those cars all over the place. AK pointed out all the "boats" in the water for me and we watched the sun set.

I was able to teach AK a bit of a lesson tonight. She threw her car and it nearly hit Matthew. She had to hug him to say sorry for throwing it at him. I'm not sure if she understood the sorry part or if she was just happy for an excuse to hug Matthew.

When I told Jenni that the hot water tank seems to have conked out on us again, she invited us over for bathtime too. We took her up on the offer and into the tub the kids went, along with the sandy cars! Matthew seemed very curious about AK's... ahem... girl parts and so Jenni was kind enough to have the "girls have vaginas and boys have penises" conversation. My goodness, I thought those days would be a ways off yet... not so!

AK fussed a bit at bedtime - she seems to be doing this more lately. It's never more than 10 minutes of crying but it is heartbreaking to listen to some nights. Almost seems like she's scared of something, or is having some separation anxiety? I'll have to do some reading to see if I can come up with some ideas. She also got quite upset with a shark toy during bathtime, one second she was playing with it and the next she couldn't get it away from her fast enough.

AK's got a wee scratch on her face from an altercation at daycare. Sounds like she had a toy that someone else wanted and AK got scratched in the process. It's not too bad but I hope it heals before next Saturday as AK and I have a Mother's Day photo shoot scheduled. It will double as her 2 year photo shoot as well as she'll be just a couple months shy of 2 year old. xo

All dogs are called Holly

Check out the sweet ponytail and the doggy on AK's shirt that looks like Holly!

If we see a dog now, any dog, AK calls it Holly. It's pretty funny.

I forgot the other night that, when I asked AK to give Matthew a good-night kiss, she gave him a kiss that must have melted his heart. It lasted a good ten seconds and I was quite taken aback. I had to break it up!

I'm slowly but surely getting rid of some of AK's things in anticipation of our move on Saturday. Someone came to look at the crib today and he is going to come back on Saturday to pick it up. That was the biggest thing I really wanted to get rid of. Time to move on to a toddler bed! Ack! I hope I know what I'm getting myself in to. xo

Sunday Funday!

Today was a very fun day!!! We started off with pancakes with the Forsyths...




Then we headed over to the fountains with them and met Dayna and Katelin there. No pictures from the fountains unfortunately. After a nap and lunch, we played around the apartment for a few hours, then went to Lone Star for supper with the Mosers. Chris (not Christie?) put lip gloss on AK's lips, which she thought was pretty cool.



We finished off the day with another round at the fountains with Anna and Sofia. The girls were kind enough to share their snacks with each other.



Highlights of the day were the lip gloss and AK's progression of saying the word "butterfly". She has gone from "fly" to "buttfly". Nice, hey?

I did a wee bit more packing today, but still have a good bit left to do. I probably won't even try to do much more until Friday night, as I start moving on Saturday.

Rain, rain, go away!

Man, did it ever pour for most of the morning! AK and I bundled up in our raincoats to head off to gymnastics. It was good to get back to gymnastics after a few weeks' break but AK wasn't too interested. We left with about 10 minutes left in the class. AK was nearly falling asleep in the car on the way there so I wasn't surprised when she crashed on the way home.

After nap and lunch, we headed outside to jump in some puddles. AK wasn't too interested in that and was happier to play with the hose instead.

Angella, Alex and a friend of Alex's came by for a visit and supper. AK was a bit shy at first but was showing off all her new words for them by the end of the visit. It was fun to have them come by and catch up.

I can feel AK's top eyeteeth coming in. Fun times! xo

TGIF!

Hello all!

I took AK to the beach after work for playtime. We met up with Gill and Jim, Anna and Alex. They had not seen AK since before Christmas so they were all quite amazed with how she's grown. The girls said that Annabelle is not a baby anymore, she is big now! I actually think she might be heavier than them now!

It was overcast and a bit rainy so we hung out in a cabana most of the time. We shared some snacks and drinks. The Owens' dog Eddy was there too - AK loved her although she kept calling her Holly. Guess all dogs are named Holly O? Ha ha!

After playing for a while, we headed over to the Huys to find them just about to take Matthew and Luci to the playground so we headed back to the beach for a while. AK had a bath with them and then she came home and straight to bed! I bet she'll sleep great tonight after that fun night at the beach. xo

Time for a new blog

Hi all,

I assume you've followed me over from the Windows Live Space. I think I'll find Blogspot easier to use and hopefully it'll work well for you all too.

Will try to get into a more routine posting to keep everyone up to date. I leave you now with a photo of my seemingly hocky-loving daughter!!! xo