I'm BACK!!

So I finally have my computer up and running...and even better, I finally have my new camera!! Yippee. I've been dreaming about and planning this purchase since ... oh ... Christmas. Seriously, when Ben asked me what I wanted for Christmas I knew instantly that I wanted a real camera. But he asked too late, and I wanted a good deal. So I spent the next few months researching and fighting with myself over what to buy, where to buy it from and what lens to get. In the end, I decided to buy a Canon Digital Rebel Xti wit the kit lens. I know it's not the best lens, but for the price I got the camera for,the lens was practically free. Actually it was only $20 more to get the lens and I figured it was worth it...and I'll just buy a real one down the road. Overall the camera and lens are perfect for what I want to do. Anyway, here are some pictures I took the other day with the camera. I've only had it less then a week so I really have no clue what I'm doing yet. But when I have a minute I'll start doing some more research and trying to figure it all out.

Let's see, what else have we been up to? Oh yeah, last weekend we went to Kalispell. It was totally last minute and totally unplanned, but it was so fun. We were there for the 4th of July and it was so awesome! I've never been down there on the 4th, so I was a bit overwhelmed by all the fireworks! I LOVED it!! We went out to Lauren's family cabin for the evening and EVERYONE was setting off fireworks on the lake. EVERYONE!! So Ben and Chris made a quick trip to the Firework stand down the street and bought some for ourselves. It was so fun! I swear, if fireworks were legal up here, you'd see a LOT more Canadian pride on Canada day. Speaking of which, we had a little campout on July 1st at my parents and some of the family. It was so cute to see Hailey and Alisa interacting for once. Up until now they haven't even really cared that the other existed...but I now think I'm seeing the buds of a little friendship developing. Sooooo exciting!! I hope they're best cousins!! Anyway, that's it!

A little Hailey and Dad time!

A beautiful day on Echo Lake

Hailey and Mom Posing...sort of

Lauren and the fish she 'caught'

Oh wait...one more thing. A few weeks ago Lauren and I went to a Garden themed Enrichment for Church. AT the end, one of the ladies in our ward gave away some of her old flower pots...so of COURSE Lauren and I grabbed some. We repainted them and then took a trip to Beaver Dam Nurseries (the best Nursery out here) and picked up some flowers. And here's the final result:




I can't believe I actually started and finished a project...so unlike me! And that's really all. Later.

Just dropping in to say hi!!

We've been computer-less for almost a week now and I am about to die! I've spent way too much time at the library trying to use the Internet there while chasing around a newly walking baby. And at the same time, I've spent way less time on-line...which means I've actually gotten stuff done around here. Cleaning, laundry, organizing, eating etc. All things I didn't do before. Which definitely means I've gained three pounds. Who knew the Internet was a weight loss solution for me?

Anyway, Lauren lent me her computer for the weekend. So I can get online...but I can't post pictures. So, soon enough I'll be back here with pictures. Until then, here is some of what we've been up to lately:

1. Hanging out with Family...Waterton with Ben's family, and general Calgary stuff with mine
2. Cleaning the house
3. Walking! We all walk in this house now! Some of us still look like Frankenstein...but it's still walking!
4. RV-ing....at buffalo lake with my moms family. All her cousins and kids and grandkids!
5. Prepping the basement for Wawa (or Sarah...as most of you know her) to come and stay for a month Can you say built in babysitter?!?!
6. Hanging out with Chris and Lauren...Ben's brother and wife who just conveniently live down the street from us!! FUN!
7. Prepping the backyard for sod...which will be finished this weekend!
8. Planting flowers in my new flower pots! My first willing attempt at gardening (and when I say willing, I mean that this time my mom didn't make me and Josh go to the backyard to dig up the garden from last year, or weed, or plant new seeds or anything...I did it all by myself without anyone making me! Maybe next year, I'll try to actually plant a flower bed.)
9. Trying to lose that three pounds I gained without the computer, plus the other 5 I needed to lose in the first place...so 8 total!
10. Enjoying every last day I have of mat leave and trying desperately to think of something I can do at home for work so I don't have to officially go back. Any suggestions???

And that's it, I'll post pics again when I have my own computer back!

The Farm

So last Sunday we headed down to the Farm to celebrate the Grandpa's Birthday (Ben's dad). And while we were there, the boys of course gathered up the guns and went to shoot gofers. There were a couple .22 rifles and I'm pretty sure a Shot Gun out there. Anyway, onto the real point of this blog. So the girls decided to head out the field and see what the guys were up to, and along the way we got distracted by the beautiful sky. The sun was close to setting, it was behind the clouds and illuminating the most beautiful post rain sky I'd ever seen. Seriously, it was so beautiful. Well, thank goodness Rebecca was there to take some pictures of it all. And here they are:

This first on I took...just to remember the simplicity of the country...beautiful hey?





And the rest are from Rebecca's camera:

Oh man...does this kid get any funnier?

The standard Hailey face when someone tried to kiss her

The Standard Hailey kiss...Teeth and all!

Ben, Randall and Carson...looking for Gofers

The best smile we could get from the Hailey Babe...she was oh so tired!

Awww, what a cutie!

And there were more pictures too...but these were a few of my favourites! I just can't get enough of how talented Rebecca is! I'm planning on getting a 'real' camera one of these days myself, but I know that even though a nice SLR (and a little Photoshop know how) will help me a TON with my photos...nothing can ever take the place of pure old talent.

Spring Math

Here's a little math for you:

Thunderstorm + Nap Time + Teething Baby = Disaster

I'm just hoping the rest of the day is better...I guess if you consider constant whining better than constant crying, then we might have a GREAT day!

I can't resist

I just can't resist posting about these cute decals I found.

http://www.vinylwallart.com/index.html

I L-O-V-E all things cute...and well, this stuff matches the description.

This Cuckoo clock decal is awesome! I'm actually trying to think of a place to put one up as I speak...uh... type.


And then of course, who doesn't love a little bird around their house?
Oh and I've got to give credit where credit is due...My friend Angie introduced me to this site. She's sort of the crafty guru around these parts. So if she thinks it's cute, well then it's definitely CUTE! Trust me.

Check this out

Crazy hey?? Just the other day I was sitting on the floor, the babe was standing at the Ottoman and then suddenly out of no where she took four steps towards me. C-R-A-Z-Y!!!! So she's not realy walking yet, but she's sure trying. Either way, she's just so plain old cute! I'm so overly excited, because this is the baby that didn't crawl until 9.5 months, she couldn't even roll from back to front until almost 7 months (I think), so it's extra exciting to see her do something a little early!!

Yay Hailey!!

More Pics from the weekend

Ok...so I got the pictures from our May-long trip from Tanya. Ahhhh....I'm so in love with them. I'm so in love with them to the point that I don't even CARE how white my legs are. Besides...after reading Twilight, I have a new appreciation for pale skin.

Enjoy

Oh man...I'm so in love with that cute little Hailey Babe. She made the weekend.

HMC...RV's Maiden voyage

Ahhh....only my mom would get the title to this post. I think I'm sooo clever!! he he he, HMCRV. - bwa ha ha ha!!! What a total loser I am. And if you even get what I'm talking about - then you're a total loser too (sorry mom)

Anyway, we took the RV out for her maiden voyage last weekend. It was fun...and somewhat stressful. I've just become so accustomed to getting a full (undisturbed) night of sleep that I was dreading this weekend. The only times we've taken Hailey somewhere else overnight have been complete disasters. Disaster in the way that a 9 month old baby wakes as many, if not more, times at night then a newborn...yes a disaster! Anyway, I spent the whole trip shushing everyone around us, and I've pretty much guaranteed that we'll only be camping alone from now on - no one likes being shushed that many times in one weekend. I know...I was so annoying, but I sooooo needed my baby to sleep. And....she did!!! At least I'm pretty sure she did, I wore earplugs the entire time, so I'm not 100% sure.

Anyway, Nate and Tan and their boys came along. They had their own camper to stay in. Then Josh and his girlfriend Lita and my parents came too. Josh and my dad were banished to a tent and Lita and Mom stayed in our trailer. There was actually room for all of them in the trailer, but dad snores really loud, and we can't guarantee anything will smell fresh after Josh has been around - so they had to sleep outside. I think they were fine with it though... or at least they were used to it. Anyway, it was a fun trip. We stayed in a campground near Kalispel MO, which means we got to hit the Target, Ross, Lowe's, and Bath and Body works - all while enjoying some seriously beautiful country. Seriously, it's so gorgeous down there. So, here are some pics from the weekend. Tan, has some more on her camera - and I really really need to get them because if I remember correctly, there are some gorgeous ones of us on the Beach.

The front end of the big rig - pretty cool. Do you see the laundry basket there? that's directly below the laundry chute - yes, the RV has a laundry chute.

Me and the Babe in front of the monster just before we left to go home- it really is a monster. There's a full pop-out on the other side too...sorry no pics of that

Here's one of Mom and Hailey inside the camper...Hailey was trying on her new outfit - cute hey?

Hailey and Alexander...banished to the playpen. Alexander was free to go, but he actually liked it in there. Oh - and I usually do dress my kid in matching clothes, just not when she's crawling in dirt.

Ben - working hard as always...and telling me to do something useful - as always.

BPA and the Zoo

So I'm sure many of you parents are aware of this whole BPA thing. It's not actually new...but it's new in the news! Do you follow? Anyway, I've been fully aware of it for a while, but yet I still let Hailey drink out of her Avent bottles (which we ALL know is made from polycarbonates... which we also ALL know is made with BPA... common knowledge). So, my whole theory was that if I didn't heat the bottle, everything would be ok - no chemicals would leach into her milk and therefore we would be fine! And I'm sure we could have all lived a long happy life if we followed that hypothesis (maybe our kids would have an extra arm or two...but no biggie right?) Well, here's the thing, Health Canada decided to put out a report that basically sent all bottle feeding moms into a full blown frenzy. But that's the sort of thing that happens when you find out you've just spent the last 10 months poisoning your child - right?? Common everyday kind of stuff around here. Anyway, I joke about it because that's what I do, but in all seriousness, I think they're right. It's better to be safe than sorry. I'm sure us BPA bottle feeding moms didn't really poison our kids, but why take the risk? Especially when you can return all your 'bad' bottles without a receipt and buy 'good' ones with that money! It's a good deal and I'll gladly go along with it (as long as you don't get me started on the ridiculous mark up of BPA free bottles. Come on... we've totally been taken advantage of!)

So last week...or the week before we returned all three of Hailey's bottles and bought some nice 'Born Free' bottles. She doesn't seem to care...and I'm happier then ever because I didn't even pay for her original bottles in the first place. It all worked out fine....except for the time when Hailey overheard me talking about it all:

Interpretation of her face: What? BPA in my bottles?? What kind of world is this?? What about this sippy cup here? Will this give me a third arm too?

Don't worry, I'm a good enough mom that I explained to her that things will be ok (and she can always sue us later if she feels it's necessary) and that her sippy cup is BPA free, I checked. She seemed somewhat satisfied with that answer.

On to better things. So last week we went to the zoo with Laura and her kids. And this time we finally got some pics of the kids together:

They loved it...can you tell?

Hailey says: Excuse me Heidi...but you're not supposed to lick the glass

And finally - me and the babe...Hailey's still a bit wary of me after the whole BPA thing. She'll come around eventually.

ETA: So...I just have to be clear here...I really am a good mom. In fact, Hailey has been using the Avent Tempo liners for quite some time (and they are supposedly safe) - and that's only when she is lucky enough to get a bottle. I was never really comfortable with her using the regular bottles. Oh and we never microwaved them either...I at least knew that much. Anyway, here's a link to some info on BPA and bottles:

A list of 'safe' bottles: http://www.toxicnation.ca/node/161

-we now use the bornfree ones and we have an adiri - although Hailey isn't a big fan of it. It's a cool concept though

And an in depth review of bottles in general: http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2007/11/z-report-bisphenol-in-baby-bottles-and.html

Actually read that entire blog, there's some really great info on there. Anyway, this is just my take on things...make up your own minds.

Things that scare...

So there are a few things in this world that are scary...yet completely harmless.

Examples??

Sure.

One would be Ben's reaction when he discovered the blue streak across our car was not some random mark, but was the result of his wife's lack of depth perception and minor run in with a wheelbarrow. Ok...he wasn't really scary, but he definitely was soooo harmless.

Another example would be me in labour...scary? Yes. Harmless? Completely - well I guess that depends on how fast you can run.

Anyway, the third thing would be Febrile Seizures! Hailey had two of these this week and boy are they scary! S-C-A-R-Y! But oh so harmless. Basically she had a high fever, and therefore she had a seizure. And then, the next day when I couldn't keep her temperature down she did it again. At first I wasn't too sure what it was, but I knew something was wrong. I took her into Urgent care and assumed they would send me home without a diagnosis and secretly laughing at me again behind my back (remember the Urgent care/teething post from a while back - yeah, you remember). INSTEAD...they sent me home with a pile of information on seizures, a requisition for an EEG and tears streaming down my cheeks. It was not a good day.

Here's the thing about Febrile seizures, they are completely harmless. They are an extreme reaction to a fever...and that's it. But medically speaking, there's no harm done. Once the doctors know what causes the fever and once they are satisfied that they can treat whatever that problem is, they don't care about the seizures. In Hailey's case she had group C strep...which is relatively minor and is often not treated. So our only concern was keeping her fever down...and therefore avoiding another seizure. Which we did...and she's fine now! No more fever...no more seizures and hopefully no more tears for a little while. That doesn't mean I won't be taking her temperature every 5 minutes for the next 20 years....but at least we know she's ok. She just scared us a bit...but that's what babies do.

What a week I've had...

It's been a crazy and oh so scary week around our house. My poor little baby decided to get sick and scare her mom and dad half to death. She's fine now and just as cute as ever. I'll post more about it all later, but I just had to share a little insight into my mind.

So Hailey had a pretty hot little temperature this week. I took her temperature, converted it to Fahrenheit like all bad Canadians do, saw that it was 104, and then thought to myself:

"interesting...If she was a werewolf it would be 109.9"

Do you think I'm too obsessed with my Vampire/werewolf books? I think so.

Pictures

As promised. Pictures, but no video - I can't get them to load:

Hailey before her bath...I can almost her saying "muuuuum, please - a little privacy??"

Second Cousins...she had to wait until he was strapped in before attacking. Definitely an opportunist.

A little Baby Daddy love

Going for the stairs...her new favourite thing

The Happy Couple!! Glamorous as always.

Oh, I can't forget about a few other fun things we've done lately. Just a few weeks ago, we headed south for the day for celebrate Ashley's Birthday! The big 21...which of course means she's going on a mission - watch out all you Knoxville Tennessee peeps - Ashley's a comin'. I just said peeps - ha ha ha.

We played mini-golf and Hailey was cute - of Course.

And then at one point we had Chris and Lauren over for some food and cards. We even dug the old coffee table out of hibernation for the event - lucky them!You think they'd be over more often since they literally live down the street...but it seems like we hardly see each other at all. Come over more (said in whiny pleading voice).

Here's Hailey and Chris, she thought she was pretty cool sitting there like such a big girl.

And that's it!

Has it been that long already??

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted. I swear it was yesterday...is someone messing with my calendar?? Anyway, since my last 'hopeless romantic' post, I have gone on to read the other two books in the series...and can I just say how embarrassingly in love I am?? I KNOW it's so juvenile but I can't resist it. Anyway, I'm done with the books for a while and I am looking forward to getting on with my life. I have been so consumed with the stupid books that it will be nice to have a break!

So not much has gone on in our lives since last post. I've been sick here for almost a week and I'm finally feeling better. All I can say about being sick though is that I now know (FOR SURE) that I can't handle being pregnant again for a LOOOOONG time. I had some sort of stomach bug and it was way too much like morning sickness for my liking. It just reminded me how awful those first 4 months are, and I'm so not ready for it any time soon - as in at least another year.

Hmmm, what else? Oh - Hailey is now crawling!! Yippee! She's so happy now too. She's also mastered the stairs (well the going up motion...going down is a distant dream) and she is an expert at pulling up on things - things like her crib at 4AM. Ugh. We practice the sitting down thing all day long so she knows how to do it, but there's something about the crib slats at 4AM that keep her from sitting down. One day right?? I have some cute pictures on my camera, which is conveniently dead right now, so once it's charged I'll post them. I also have some videos of her showing off...oh and some serious lunch time drama. They're good fun. So stay tuned, there will be pictures.

The things I can do when in LOVE

OK, I have a confession to make. I'm in love. Not surprising right? I'll explain:

Yesterday I was somewhat productive. I managed to make Ben lunch, feed and play with Hailey all day, make dinner, clean a bathroom, clean the kitchen, sweep the floors, clean all the mirrors and glass surfaces, dust our furniture, shower, brush my teeth AND read an entire 498 page novle...plus the first chapter teaser from the next book in the series. Impressive I might say.

So when Ben came home last night he commented on all that I'd done and this was our conversation:

Me: Us women can do amazing things when we're in love
Ben: uhh...thanks?
Me: Not you silly; Edward Cullen
Ben: Who?
Me: The Vampire from this book I'm reading
Ben: A Vampire?? I don't get it
Me: Of course you wouldn't, your human

So there you have it. I finally broke down and read the first book in the series - Twilight. And now I'm completely obsessed. I NEED more!! And just so you know, here's a sample of our conversation last night before bed:

Me: Ben, I wish you were a Vampire
Ben: Oh jeez, not again
Me: No, seriously; is there anything more romantic then desperately wanting to drink someones blood and then fighting every urge to do so because you love them so much??
Ben: I don't even know what to say to that...
Me: Don't say anything, you just can't understand...you're too human.

And that's it, a glimpse into our lives. Fascinating. I think I'm going to go and google Twilight right now and see what kind of things I can obsess over now. Wish me luck.

Just because I can...

I can finally upload pictures again, so here's a post. Yay!!! I'm nto sure what was wrong, but it was really annoying. Anyway, here's a quick one of Hailey and her (my) newest obsession.







I bought a pair of little leggings off ETSY and while I was waiting for them to arrive I decided that I could make my own for half the price. So I did. The skull ones I bought, the striped ones I made. Pretty cute hey?? She obviously doesn't wear them together like this most the time, just for comparison pictures. Seriously, it was so easy to make these, all you do is take a pair of knee high socks, cut off the foot, then cut the toe and heel off the foot so it's a tube of fabric, then fold it in half and sew back to the leg of the sock to make a nice little cuff. EASY! Mine wasn't quite as nice as the one I bought, but that's because I couldnt' find adult knee highs and had to make them with kids sicks. And of course, for you sock sewers out there, it means I didn't have enough fabric to completely fold the 'cuff' over. It still sort of works though.

Here's a close up

Oh...and just for reference (I check back here once in a while to remember what Hailey's doing and when). At nine months:

-she is now an expert army crawler

-she can pull herself up onto the couch and walk the entire couch length...ALL BY HERSELF!!

-She can stand unassisted for 10 seconds...

-but she still can't crawl.

-She still sleeps well at night

-She still has her 8 teeth and no more on the way....at least for now

And that's it!

Sleep

Things that wake Hailey up:

• Mom and Dad whispering in the next room
• People having fun...especially other kids
• Her favourite toy randomly saying "I'm a blue bird...tweet.tweet.tweet"...in another room
• The phone singing it's soft melody when it rings
• Someone (anyone) touching her door knob
• Her dad blowing his nose...down the hall, in a bedroom behind closed doors
• Her mom just thinking about her
  

Things she sleeps through with no problem:

• Her Dad's phone ringing on the loudest setting
• The Smoke detector announcing to the world that Mom burned dinner...again
• Dad taking out the gas line and putting in a new one (read: lots of banging of pipes that echo throughout the house)
• Dad drilling a hole through the basement wall to the outside world to fit said pipe through
  

Go figure, she must be my daughter