Christmas Time

Well, truth is...I'm just a terrible blogger.  I say this every time.  Maybe one day I'll get better, but don't hold your breath!

22 months old (Nov. 14, 2015)

Christmas is almost here.  We have had such a mild winter it barely feels like it.  We do have snow on the ground and have had a few chilly days, but so far it's been an unusual winter.  Lennon is very excited about all the Christmas decorations, trees, and lights.  We have had our tree and decorations up for about a month already.  She saw Santa at a brunch we go to every year - I wasn't too sure how she was going to react but she was totally fine with it!  We took her to the Calgary Zoo's Zoolights the other night.   They put up a ton of Christmas lights throughout the zoo.  She loved the lights but was then absolutely mesmerized by the fire pits they had set up throughout as warming stations.  We had to stop at pretty much all of them.  If you ask her about Zoolights she will say "fireplace."  

I guess I need to think back a bit...November...November seemed to fly by.  We have just been busy with day to day stuff really.  Fred's work and school are keeping him very busy.  All is still going well and we cherish the weekends when he doesn't have classes.  Lennon is more and more active all the time.  She still loves her swimming class and is becoming more comfortable in the water.  I think we'll continue with that for sure.  We try to get together with one of her little friends once a week, which is great.  Mostly we spend our time at the grocery store (she loves Costco! Oh, and Cobs bread is her absolute favourite - maybe it's the samples? yes, it's definitely the samples!), running errands, and just playing at home.  Fred and I got a chance to get away on our own for an extended weekend in November.  Grandma L and Pugga came to stay with Lennon and we went to Vegas!  It was a great time.  We walked a ton, ate good food, and relaxed lots!  Lennon had fun at home too so that was good.  It was nice to get away and have that time together.  November, unfortunately, also brought some tragedy to the Brinkman family.  My Uncle Neal and Aunt Janna were in an accident.  She passed away at the scene and my uncle suffered some serious injuries.  It was heartbreaking news and a grim reminder of how precious life is and how in an instant everything can change.  Uncle Neal is recovering well, although I'm sure the emotional healing will take much longer.

Now we're almost at the end of December already.  December always seems busy.  We've had lots of parties and get togethers to attend.  It just makes the month fly by.  Lennon is a few weeks away from turning two (what?!).  We have lots planned over the next few months, including some travels for us and Grandma B and Gramps visiting for Lennon's birthday!

23 months old (Dec. 14, 2015)

There are the last couple of months in a nutshell.  So, more about Lennon...she is turning into such a little girl.  I don't think we can call her a baby anymore, although we do.  She's losing that baby look and is definitely a toddler now.  She still talks up a storm and her vocabulary is quite something.  She speaks in sentences now and often refers to herself as Len.  "Len sit on the couch," "Len do it," "Len put the boots on."  It's adorable.  We pretty much have full on conversations all day long!  Today I had to laugh - we were folding laundry (she loves to "help") and she saw some underwear and said "Daddy's underwear, Len wear underwear too, older"  I said that she had to learn to go on the potty, that she was old enough to try and then she could wear underwear.  She replied, "ya, poop on potty first."  I said, "yup and then you can wear underwear," and she quickly said "bra too."  Haha!  Let's work on underwear first, Lennon!  Can you tell that she follows me everywhere and watches everything or what?!  She has taken to having showers now too.  She hasn't been in the bath tub in quite a while - she would rather hop in the shower with one of us.  Growing up fast!  Lennon still loves music and sings songs randomly throughout the day.  She quite often wakes up from a nap singing too.  Oh, she's a lot of fun!  She does have her moments though too.  She can get whiney and will use the whine and cry to try to get what she wants.  We are in toddler territory here!  Anyway, it's unbelievable that she's almost two.  That has go to be the quickest two years ever!

Happy girl!, Selfie with Daddy, Selfie with Mommy (serious face)
My two cuties, Checking out the tree, Helping with laundry

Zoolights, right side pic is Lennon staring at the fire!
Lights at Confederation Park
Visiting Santa

Child of Nature

Halloween has come and gone and we're already days into November.  Lennon really enjoyed Halloween this year.  She was dressed up as a penguin (of course!).  I ended up making the costume because I couldn't find one I liked that wouldn't blow the bank.  It turned out quite well, if I do say so myself.  I ended up making one for both Fred and I too!  The penguin family!

On Friday Fred's office all dressed up for Halloween and had a pot-luck luncheon so Lennon and I donned our penguins and joined them.  She was pretty excited to see all the people dressed in costumes.  Her favourite was a lion.  She also got to try her first lollypop.  I think it was love at first lick.  And that was pretty much her lunch.  When we got home I asked her if she wanted to eat anything before nap time since she really didn't have much to eat and she said "pollylop?"  Oh boy!  Later that day we carved our pumpkins with Auntie Holly who was in town for a few days.  Lennon really liked helping scoop out the seeds and was just thrilled to watch us carve!

Halloween fun!

On Saturday we had a Halloween party with the baby group (from prenatal class).  It was a fun time with all the babies (now toddlers) running around in their costumes.  They even sat still for the parents to get pictures of them all lined up on the couch.  Unbelievable.  Saturday evening Auntie Holly and Grandma and Pugga came over and we had Chinese food.  Then Holly and I took Lennon to trick or treat at the neighbours on either side of us.  Lennon knows them so we thought that would be fun for her.  She was pretty enthralled with all the other kids (mostly little girls dressed as princesses) running around.  Lennon had her little bag and said "trick or treat" and got a few little candies.  When we got home she tried her first chocolate bar, a Kit Kat.  She took one little bite and said "good!"  Haha!  She really took her time with it taking small little bites.  She's asked for a lollypop again a few times but other than that hasn't really been asking for more candy.

Trick or Treat!, Checking out her loot!

The clocks have turned back and we got our first snowfall.  Lennon took a couple of days to get used to the time change.  On Sunday she was really thrown off all day.  She was asking for lunch around 10am and pretty much snacked all day.  I managed to keep her going until about noon and then she just crashed for her nap and slept for a good two and a half hours.  Over the next couple of days she's managed to get back onto her usual schedule.  It took me some getting used to as well.  It's crazy how one hour can mess with you.  We did make it to November 2 before snow came.  It didn't really last though, it was pretty wet and mild.  Lennon and I did, however, go out and get her some winter boots so we are not caught unprepared!

Tell Me What You See

Again another month goes by without a post...

20 months old! (Sept. 14/15)

What has been going on?

Well, Lennon continues to talk up a storm and add to her vocabulary at an incredible rate.  She pretty consistently puts three words together and will occasionally attempt four!  Her little voice is just the cutest.  She counts to two and sometimes three, usually it's "one, two, five" though.  A new thing she does a lot now is pointing at things and saying "what's that?"  Then she usually remembers whatever it was the next time she sees it too.  She enjoys playing with her puzzles, blocks (wooden and mega blocks), her various penguins and loves books.  Her current favourite book is "Harry the Dirty Dog."  She calls it "white dog" and we read it almost every night before bed and most days before nap too.  I think Fred and I can just about recite it from memory now!  Lennon loves music too.  Her new fave song is "I Ran" by the Flock of Seagulls, which she calls "far away."  She gets a very excited look on her face when it comes on and dances and sings (see video below! and no, we did not practice - she has picked out the words on her own over repeated listenings!).  She also asks for it multiple times a day and would love to have it play on repeat probably all day long...haha.

Lennon also loves going to the park.  We, luckily, have a great playground a block away from our house.  We go there almost everyday, weather permitting.  Her absolute favourite is the swing.  She will stay on that thing for up to half an hour sometimes!  She also likes the slide - there's a nice toddler size one that she can climb up the ladder herself and go down (still likes me to catch her though).  Hopefully winter isn't too bad and we can continue to do outside things - I guess I will have to get reacquainted with snow as I'm sure Lennon will love playing in it this year - I would prefer to hibernate all winter;)  Anyway, for now we'll enjoy the warm, sunshiney, fall weather we are having and get out as much as we can!

Family selfie, Favourite meal...pizza!, Visit to Tyrell Museum, Helping Mommy bake, Cutie pie!

Ok...I started this post more than a week ago, not sure why I didn't just post it?  The last couple of weeks we have continued to have awesome weather.  That has meant spending lots of time at the park, a favourite activity!  We also celebrated my birthday, complete with a date night thanks to Grandma L!  And Lennon is now 21 months old! 

We had our first poop in the bathtub incident.  I'm impressed it hasn't happened until now.  Well, Fred was away that evening so I had to deal with it on my own.  Poor Lennon was quite upset by it.  I pulled her out of the tub quickly and started cleaning it up as she ran around naked and crying and saying "happens, happens"  (because I had said "it's ok, it happens.")  I didn't get mad about it or anything, she just got very upset.  Needless to say we did a very quick wash after that...crying, traumatized baby.  I was worried she wouldn't want to get in the tub ever again, but it's been ok.  She still talks about it pretty much daily though (and this happened at least two weeks ago).  "Poop bathtub, happens, no worry, poop happens" poor girl - yes, life lessoned learned: "poop happens!"

We are now into the "what's that?" stage.  Anything Lennon sees or hears gets a "what's that?"  She's such a curious little one.  And she'll remember what things are too.  We are always amazed at the things she remembers.  It's so interesting to watch this little person develop and learn about the world.

Enjoying a warm October, love that smile, mommy/daughter selfie, new shoes!, Run for the Cure, bedtime stories with Daddy

21 months old! (Oct 14/15) She's actually posing for pictures!

And Your Bird Can Sing

Well, we finally have a walker!  Lennon now walks unassisted, everywhere.  She all of a sudden found her confidence and she's off!  She even likes to do "running," which is really a fast walk with an excited look on her face.  Cute!  There's no stopping her now.  She's has even been wandering around Carters looking at clothes and saying "cute, cute!"

There is also a lot of talking and singing going on, as usual.  There have been more three word sentences coming out of that little mouth which is pretty neat to hear.  Lennon just keeps adding more and more words to her vocabulary.  I just love her talking!  She picks words out of songs on the radio too and sings them in the back of the car.  She has a couple of favourites that she likes to sing right now and will randomly start singing them.  They are "Hey Jude," she sings "Hey Jude, la la la laa," and Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood," she sings "Ba ba ba Hey."  Love it!

The last few weeks have been filled with mostly indoor activities.  We had about a week of terrible air quality from smoke coming from forest fires in Washington.  Needless to say, that kept us inside but for quick trips to the store or to the mall for a walk.  It was unfortunate because the temperature was so nice that week.  We did get some good outdoor time after that.  Then the long weekend came and with it cold and rain.  Awful.  On Saturday night I even saw wet snow...gross!  Fred had classes on Saturday and Sunday so Lennon and I mostly hung out inside.  Monday was better, no rain, and a holiday, so we headed out to Drumheller to go the the Tyrell Museum to see the dinosaurs.  Lennon actually really liked it and learned to say "dinosaurs" very quickly.  That night after we put her to bed we could here her saying "dinosaurs dinosaurs" before falling asleep.  It was a great day out as a family!

We are now down to one nap a day.  It's actually a pretty decent schedule.  I just have to get used to getting out to do our activities in the morning!  These days Lennon usually wakes up between 7 and 8, closer to 8 lately.  (Today was a weird one where she didn't get up until 9:30!?!)  Nap time is after lunch around 12:30ish.  She sleeps anywhere from an hour and a half to three (sometimes +) hours.  Not bad!  Then to bed around 7:30.  Can't complain, we have a good sleeper...knock on wood!

Please Please Me

Aah, August is flying by.  Some mornings it's felt like fall in the air...so not ready to say good bye to summer!  Although, not going back to work helps;)

At the beginning of the month we celebrated Fred's birthday.  He had classes that weekend, but we got to spend some time together on the afternoon of his birthday and then had a nice family dinner out.  Luckily the next day was the holiday Monday so Fred did get a break!

We also got away to Penticton for an extended weekend (Thurs - Tues).  We flew since we didn't have a whole lot of time.  That flight is great - less than an hour!  Lennon loves the plane.  She's very busy the whole time, getting up and down, switching laps, pulling all the magazines etc out of the seat pocket, etc. etc.  Although we will soon have to pay for a seat for her, it might be just to have the extra space!

19 months old and looking so grown up! (Aug. 14, 2015)

It seems like Lennon is starting to lose her "baby" look and some days we look at her and think she looks so grown up.  19 months old now!  She's definitely turning into a little toddler.  She talks so much and is starting to use words to manipulate us.  She loves to play with the iPhone (of course) and will ask for her "song, ba ba" (Barbara Ann) to be played.  Well, when Fred plays the song on his phone all she really wants is to hold the phone.  Anyway, one day Fred had is phone out for a minute and Lennon from across the room asked for it, he said not right now and put it in his pocket.  She then crawled over to him and said "hug," which is so sweet how can you resist that.  As soon as he picked her up he didn't get a hug, he got Lennon trying to dig into his pocket for the phone!  What a monkey!  She uses please ("pease") and thank you ("sank you") in context a lot, and also uses them to try to ensure she gets what she wants!  It's quite the lesson to learn that just because you say "pease" it doesn't mean you automatically get what you want!

I have to brag a little bit more about her smarts...the other day we all playing on the floor and she was "zoom"ing a car around.  Fred picked out another car and said "here's another one," Lennon promptly grabbed it, with the other car in her hand, and said "two!"  We couldn't believe it!  The things she puts together and the things she remembers and says just astound us sometimes.

Love that scrunchy face smile!, At the Peachfest parade in Penticton - concerned face?, With Daddy at the park, Daddy's birthday cheesecake!, Doing "colours," Chalkboard wall!

As for walking, Lennon is still very cautious.  She had been doing well and taking off on her own quite a bit but then stopped.  She demands "hand" and for about a week was refusing to even try on her own.  The last couple of days she has been trying again.  We've been encouraging her to walk in between us, she'll go back and forth quite a few times, and today she was doing some walking by her self at the park again.

Get Back

Putting out the flag for Canada Day, At the Canada Day celebration, Colouring
Swing!, Hugs for mommy, Playtime (yay for Grandma saving all of our old FP toys!)
Bubbles with Gramps, Picnic in the park, Swinging

We're back home now from a great trip to Bowmanville!  We all had fun visiting with family.  Lennon really enjoyed it - she always wanted to be "side" (outside) and loved to see what Alana was doing.  We enjoyed a picnic and some play in the park one day.  See the pic below of the kids all polishing off a container of watermelon after lots of playground time!  Good times!  We were definitely spoiled by Grandma's great meals - now I have to cook again;)

The cousins, Selfie with Gramps, What a doll!, Watermelon!!

I picked Fred up at the end of his two week residential session.  He was exhausted from long days (about 6:30am till midnight every day) but also excited about what he's doing.  We were very happy to have him back with us!  Lennon did a very big, happy "DAD" when Fred went in to get her in the morning!  We got back after she had gone to bed so she didn't know he was back.  So sweet!

Now we're back to normal around home.  Well, not exactly normal.  Fred has been quite busy writing papers and finishing assignments.  He has pretty much been having dinner with us, putting Lennon to bed and then heading to the basement office to do homework until about 10/10:30.  Hopefully the whole program won't be quite so busy as this start, but it is only 17 months so it'll go fast.  He's still enjoying it and excited about it so that's a good thing!  Lennon and I are just back to our usual routines of meals, napping (not me!...well, sometimes me too;), playing in the yard, going to the park, shopping, etc.  The days just go by.

Oh, Lennon is also now 18 months old!  She had her vaccinations last week and weighed in at just over 23 lbs and measured just over 31".  She continues to add more and more words to her vocabulary - it's incredible all the words she knows and uses.  She pretty much talks from the time she wakes up (starts talking in her crib before I even get there) until the time she goes to bed.  She's making some strides (haha, pun intended!?) in her walking too.  In Bowmanville she took a lot of steps on her own!  See video.  She hasn't let go much now that we're home again.  She's most content when holding on to a hand.

18 months old (July 14, 2015)

Pretty flowers at Pam and Bob's pool, Walking in the grass
Smile!, Singing face (love it!)

All You Need is Love

Today is our 7th anniversary!  Wow, do the years go fast.  Although in some ways it feels like just yesterday we were celebrating our wedding with our family and friends at the Calgary Zoo.  All you need is love!  Unfortunately, we are spending this anniversary apart.  Fred is still away for his first residency for his MBA.  He's back with us at the end of the week, so we'll have to celebrate then.  We will definitely be glad to have him back!  Lennon misses him and, of course, I do too.  Thank goodness for FaceTime!

It's been great that Lennon and I have been able to spend our time with my Mom and Dad while Fred's away.  Lennon is having a great time with Grandma B and Gramps!  We just got back from a few days at the cottage, which she loved.  All she wanted to do was go "side, side" (outside), usually to do bubbles.  Although doing bubbles usually just involves her dipping the stick and dripping soapy water all over.  She also took her first boat ride courtesy of Gramps!  She wasn't too sure at first, mostly because the life jacket was so restrictive, but she ended up liking it.  Especially when we saw loons and geese.  My Aunt and Uncle were there too and Lennon had a great time with them as well.  They have always been "aunt and unk" to Steve and I, so now Lennon (and Hendrik and Alana) calls them that too.  Lol!  We had lots of fun together.

Tomorrow we celebrate Gramps' birthday - Happy Birthday Dad!  Later in the week Steve and Heather and the kids are coming to join us in Bowmanville and Fred will be here on the weekend as well.  Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Lots of outdoors time - even some meals!

Fun in the pool - the river was way too cold to go in.  Love that look on her face:)

First boat ride!

"Finging" (swinging) with Aunt and Grandma B

From Me to You

We have a walker....just about!  Lennon is practicing her walking all the time.  She says "walking walking" and grabs our hands and is off.  She walks quite consistently and sturdily just holding on to one hand now.  She could let go but she's being cautious.  I did manage to catch some solo steps on video!

Tomorrow we are off to Bowmanville for a visit with Grandma and Gramps B.  We're looking forward to it - should be a good time!  Fred starts his MBA program too so he'll be away for a couple of weeks for that.  It's great that we can travel east with him and visit while he's at school!

Just a short post...had to get that walking video up!  Off to pack!

I Want to Hold Your Hand

17 months old! (June 14, 2015)

17 months old now!  Wow, does time every fly?! We've had some great weather in June and some cold, rainy weather too.  We had a few really hot days which got up to 30!  I got a little kiddie pool for Lennon for the back yard and she just loves it!  We've been able to use it a few times already.  The first time I could barely get her out of it.  She was so happy!

Lennon continues to add more and more words to her vocabulary.  She has upwards of 80 words that she uses now, it's quite incredible.  It's really nice that she is able to communicate - saves some frustration on both our parts.  My favourite recent additions are please and thank you.  She actually uses them appropriately too - especially please.  There's a lot of "up up pease pease!"  It's hard to deny her when she says please.  Next lesson will have to be that saying please doesn't mean you can always get what you want!

Lennon's getting closer to walking too.  She loves to walk all over the house holding on to our hands. She now also wants to "oof" up the stairs - walk up on her feet.  She calls it "oof" because the first time she tried it I made an "oof" sound as she was struggling to pull herself up to the next step!  Haha!  A few times in the last week she's taken a few steps between us on her own!  Finally!  Yesterday, she was standing looking out the front window, I was sitting behind her, and she let go with one hand, made some big "should I do it?" eyes, let go with the other hand and then stepped towards me.  Very cute!  Of course, I cheered and asked her to do it again.  She did it a few more times and then it was off to something else.

Blackbird

16 months old (May 14, 2015), Looking out on the world, Cutie!, with Mom,
Snack time outside, "Mengie" love

Time just keeps getting away on me.  Another month gone by without a post...sigh.

Lennon has become quite the little chatterbox!  She pretty much talks constantly from the time she gets up (she chats to herself in her crib) to the time she goes to bed.  It seems like she learns at least a handful of new words everyday, and remembers them.  She attempts to repeat every word we say.  Time to watch what we say I guess ;)  She now calls me "mommy" which is just so adorable.  I'd love to be able to list all the words she's saying but I just don't think I could, she has that many!  One helpful word she has is "boop."  (Still working on the "p" sound at the beginning of words) When she has a dirty diaper (or she just farts) she points to her bum and says "boop."  If she could tell us before she actually "boops" we could maybe start potty training?!  She loves to talk to people in the grocery store, mostly telling them about her shoes and giving a string of "ba-byes."  A very social baby!

Penguins... Lennon's absolute favourite thing.  Her word for penguin is "mengie," and I hear it about a thousand times a day!  She has a book with pictures of all different animals and for some reason zeroed in on the penguin.  Besides "bear" it was the first animal name she tried to say.  She is now obsessed with penguins.  It's usually the first or second word she says in the morning.  We recently got her a stuffed penguin and she is in love.  She hugs it (says "aww" when she gives hugs) and passes it to us to hug it as well.  She says good night to it every night before bed - it has a rattle in it so we can't let her take it to bed because we'd hear the rattling all night! - and looks for it first thing in the morning when we come downstairs.  Adorable!  There is a great penguin exhibit at the zoo with a ton of penguins.  We were there the other day and Lennon was in awe (see video).  She stared for the longest time and then started saying "mengie mengie" and then started squealing along with them.  We actually went in to the exhibit twice because she loved it so much!

May saw a visit from Uncle Steve.  It was a short one since he always (this is the second time) has something going on in Calgary when we are going away.  It was nice though.  Lennon was excited to see "deese" (Steve) and asked where "lana" (Alana) was.  Steve brought a whole bunch of hand me downs from Alana!  One shirt has a puppy on it and I showed it to Lennon and said this shirt is from Alana.  The next day I pulled it out and asked if she wanted to wear it and she said "lana lana."  She remembered me saying the shirt was from Alana - talk about a good memory!  Anyway, Lennon had fun visiting with Uncle Steve.


After our short, but sweet, visit with Steve we were off to Penticton for our annual May long weekend trip with friends.  This year Lennon stayed with Grandma L and Pugga, who were also in Penticton, so Fred and I could enjoy our annual wine touring weekend.  The last two years were a little subdued with me being pregnant and then with breastfeeding a 4 month old.  So this year was back to our full on tour!  We had a great time and lots of laughs with some great friends.  Lennon had fun staying with Grandma and Pugga, and Ashton was there too so she loved that!

Lennon is much more interested in practicing walking now.  Although she has not yet tried to walk solo, she often comes up to us and says "alk alk" and reaches for our hands to talk her for a walk.  She's getting pretty quick.  She'll take a step or two holding on with just one hand but then drops to her knees again.  Once she feels confident to let go, she'll be off!

In other news, we've made two pretty big decisions.  The first is that I'm going to be a stay-at-home mom!  We've decided that I will not be going back to work in the fall but will stay home with Lennon.  I have had to resign from the school board, which was a bit weird feeling, but I am very happy about the decision and feel very lucky that we are in a position that allows me to stay home.  I know that it's a dream for a lot of people.  I'll stay home at least until Lennon is in school and then we'll re-evaluate.  The other decision is that Fred is going to go back to school.  He is going to get his MBA!  He was accepted into a program that is run jointly by Queens and Cornell (a big deal!).  The program is pretty intensive and starts of with two weeks of immersion followed by every other weekend of classes.  The classes are held here through tele-conferencing.  So, he will still work while completing the program.  The whole thing is done in 17 months - crazy!  It'll be busy and intense but he's really excited about it and I know he'll do great.  I'm very proud of him!

Picture yourself...

Finally I have been able to get some pictures loaded!  Ever since downloading the new OS my computer has not been behaving well.  I think my computer may be too old to handle the newest OS:(  Time for a new one?!

Oh, a cute story I forgot to tell.  We were in a Mexican restaurant in Palm Springs and Lennon tried some salsa on her quesadilla.  She dipped it in and liked it!  It was fairly spicy but she didn't mind.  Later in the week we were at another (ya, I know) Mexican restaurant and of course they give you chips and salsa when you sit down.  We gave Lennon a tortilla chip to munch on.  I wasn't really paying attention to her and then all of a sudden she is tapping my arm and reaching across the table with her chip saying "dip! dip"!  LOL  I didn't even know she knew the word "dip."  So funny and cute!  She then continued to dip her chip (the same chip) about a hundred times, licking the salsa off in between dips.

The talking is just the neatest thing!

Anyway, here are some pics of the last month or so...

Loves bathtime!, At the zoo with pal Aria, First time seeing a real giraffe!
Mmm strawberry, Cool kid, Drinking from a straw
Practicing with a spoon, Some made it in!, Pickle on the head?!

Palm Springs

15 months old! (April 14, 2015) That first look is a classic Lennon face!

Things We Said Today

Well, it turns out I'm a very delinquent blogger!  Time is just going way too fast.  All of March went by without a blog...I must schedule in a regular time to blog or something!

14 months old! (March 14, 2015)

March...let's see...I don't think anything really exciting happened in March.  Just the usual routine stuff.  Lennon turned 14 months old on the 14th.  More of an update on her in a bit.  What else, oh, I had a great night out with 8 out of 10 of the girls from our baby group.  We did a "mom's night out" with dinner and drinks.  It was the first time we've gotten together without the babies and the first time many of us have seen each other in a while since many have been back to work for a couple of months.  I do miss our weekly get-togethers with the babies.  But, I do have some other moms/babies who are around to meet up with!

Family Selfie - Grandma L's Birthday

At the end of March we left for Palm Springs!  We just got back a few days ago.  It was hot, hot, hot! Just what I like!  We rented a house with Fred's family and basically chilled out by the pool for the majority of the time.  Lennon loves it in the pool!  She was in it probably twice a day, every day!  She even got a suntan, despite loads of sunscreen.  Our days started early, with Lennon waking up around 6 am everyday, and ended early with everyone in bed around 10, thanks to Lennon waking us all up!  It was nice to have Grandma L around to watch Lennon and give Fred and I a chance to do some things.  We got a massage in, which was amazing, and did some shopping.  But, mostly we just hung by the pool.  It was a fun, and relaxing time.

Lennon is doing great.  She is talking so much and saying so many words now.  It's very cute.  Not all of her words are completely intelligible but we know what she's saying!  Like "frowf" for flower and "la-de-la" for water.  She does have quite the vocabulary now.  "Dada" is still her most used, and favourite, word.  Many times I am still called "dada" but there is the occasional "mama" in there too.  Another favourite word is "Ash" for cousin Ashton.  (Boy, did those two have fun together in Palm Springs!)  She also loves pointing at other babies, even older kids, and saying "baby baby."  Lennon will say her own name too, although it comes out more like "na-non."  I have got to get some of her words on video soon before she's speaking in full sentences!  

Lennon is still not walking but is cruising around the furniture with much more confidence and speed now.  A new fun activity for her is to stand beside us on the couch and let go (usually she's still leaning a bit) and fall into us.  She thinks it's just hilarious and is so proud when she lifts up her hands in the air before tipping over.  One of her favourite things to do is to dance to music.  Her favourite song is the Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann."  Whenever there is music on she bops her head, sometimes gets her finger going, wiggles her shoulders, and will pretend to sing too.  It's quite funny sometimes.  I got a short video of some dancing but will have to get a better one.  What else is new with Lennon...I don't know how tall she is now but I did put her on the baggage scale at the airport and she was 21.8 lbs!  She still eats well and sleeps very well.  All is good!

.....okay, this post has been sitting here for a couple of days now.  I've been trying to get some photos on here but my computer is being very slow and is not working well.  Grr!  Pictures will have to come later.  I can maybe get a couple on here.  Meanwhile, Lennon is now 15 months old!

Words of Love

13 months old! (February 14, 2015)

All of a sudden it's the end of February...how did that happen?!  We've been having such great weather it feels like it should be spring and that it should just keep warming up from here.  But, alas, it is only February.  Which means that there are still at least two months (this is Calgary) of winter left!  It's colder again this week but last week we had some temps up in the low teens!  Amazing!  Lennon and I got out for some great walks!  When it's cold I tend to not want to go anywhere.  I think I need to live somewhere tropical ;)

Lennon seems more grown up all of a sudden.  She is trying to say more and more words.  It's adorable really.  She has to say "nai nai" (night night) to just about everything in her room at bedtime.  She continues to say "baaer" (bear) and "baa" (bath).  Also added to her repertoire is "ball" (comes out pretty clearly as ball!) and, of course, "no."  She likes to point at things we don't let her touch and say "no."  Oh dear!  The words most commonly (like, every two seconds!) uttered are "das" and "dat," which she says as she points at absolutely everything, and sometimes nothing, around the house.  Although she does say "no" she will nod her head for "yes" and sometimes a little "ya" comes out.  She loves to nod when she's excited and also answers with a nod when asked some questions.  The other day I asked her if she had a dirty bum (clearly she did judging by the smell emanating) and she nodded her head.  I then said "ok, let's go change your bum" and she promptly made her way over to the stairs.

Family selfie!, Sweet face, Playing with tupperware, Playing with a cup and straw,
Practicing eating with a fork

I haven't talked about sleep in a while, but that's because it's been going so well (knock on wood!!)  Our typical day starts with Lennon waking up between 7:00 and 7:30.  Sometimes she wakes and does a bit of talking around 6:30 but will go back to sleep for a bit.  She then goes for a nap around 9:30.  Usually this nap is only about 45 minutes to an hour.  Then she has an afternoon nap around 1:30, usually for an hour and a half to two hours.  And finally she's ready for bed and sleeping shortly after 7:00.  It's a decent schedule.  I know it will change though!  But for now she isn't showing any signs of cutting down to one nap yet...thankfully.  The 7:00 bed time is great for Fred and I to have the evening together but it also, unfortunately, means that he only gets to see Lennon for about an hour in the evening.  That's probably why she loves to follow him around all weekend!

Other new things Lennon is doing....oh, she's starting to want to feed herself with a fork or spoon.  That makes for some fun messes!  She's doing pretty well though and occasionally some food makes it to her mouth via the spoon or fork.  She has also learned how to drink through a straw.  She is enjoying that and will spend lots of time playing around
with a cup and straw.

Swing (not too sure about it!), First try colouring, Sweet girl,
With pal Jordan, With cousin Ashton

For the Family Day long weekend we drove down to Eureka (near Whitefish), Montana.  It was a nice drive, about four hours long.  We went with Jerry, Danielle and George for a winter getaway.  There was no snow around though (fine by me!) and the weather was quite mild.  That made it nice for walking around.  We had a great time...well, we had a great time after we got out of the stink bug infested house we had rented!  Ew!  We took day trips, there are some beautiful lakes around there, and cooked some great dinners at home once the kids went to bed.  Overall, a pretty chill weekend!

Hold Me Tight

Time is flying...I just realized I haven't written in a while.  What have we been up to?  Well, the weather has been great here - can't do too much complaining about winter so far this year!  We've been able to get outside for walks which is always nice.  We took a day trip out to Banff a couple of weekends ago.  It was so warm we could have gotten away with spring jackets!

Lennon continues to be a happy, joyful little girl.  She is still not walking, which I'm totally ok with.  She has started to cruise around the coffee table a little bit but doesn't get too far when she decides she's faster on her knees.  And fast she is - she sure can go!  I don't know how those little knees do it on the hard floor.  She is going through a bit of a more clingy phase.  She likes to be close to one of us - me especially.  Quite often I have to sit on the floor with her in order for her to just play.  The hardest part is when I'm trying to cook dinner and she's at my feet, pulling on my legs, crying.  It's always a relief when Fred gets home and takes her upstairs with him while he changes.  Hopefully the clingy-ness will pass.  She is very sweet though and gives lots of hugs now.  Every time I get her out of bed, from a nap or in the morning, I get a big hug.

Despite being a bit clingy, Lennon is generally a very chill baby.  She is very inquisitive and takes in everything around her.  It's neat to see her personality start to come out.  She does a lot of babbling and squealing, screeching actually, now too.  She is starting to form some words (besides her favourite, "dada!").  She says "bear" and tries to say "bath," which comes out more like "baa."  I guess she's a fan of the "b" words!  Lennon still says "dada" a lot.  Later in the afternoon she starts pointing out the back window towards the garage and says "dada, dada."   It's very cute!  My favourite is when Fred does get home and she sees him come out of the garage.  She gets a huge smile on her face and rushes to the window and starts squealing.  She then runs (fastest crawling ever) around to the back door to see him.  Melt my heart!

Stats:  around 20.5 lbs and just about 30" - 50th percentile, perfectly average girl!
Favourite foods:  Shepherd's Pie, mandarins, blueberries, yogurt, peanut butter sandwiches
Favourite activities:  swimming, following Dad around the house, playing with toys

Birthday - Party!

Lennon's party on the weekend was a success!  She did have a bit of a grumpy period before dinner.  I think she was getting hungry and was a little out of sorts from having her vaccinations that morning (bad timing!).  She did well though and had a great time.  We had her favourite, Shepherd's Pie, for dinner and then cupcakes!  She was a little unsure of what to do with the cupcake but eventually got her fingers in the icing (enjoyed that!) and then the whole cupcake ended up smooshed into bits.  Fun times!

Birthday

One year!  Wow!  I can't believe how fast this year has gone.  It seems like just yesterday we brought our little girl home.  It's a bit surreal to think back to what we were doing on this day last year...and in the days that followed, adjusting to our new life.  The year has been full of ups and downs, but definitely full of joy!  I can't imagine life without my Lennon now.

Lennon is very active now.  She plays with all of her toys and crawls all over the house.  Her favourite thing to do is pull toys out of boxes and put them back in.   She also loves to point at absolutely everything and say "tsss".  She calls Fred "dada" and waves to him as he leaves for work in the morning - adorable.  No "mama" to me yet:(  I think sometimes she calls me "dada" too.


Lennon had a good day for her birthday.  We had our swimming class, which she loves, and then a long afternoon nap!  She got some very cute videos from her cousins, Hendrik and Alana.  She FaceTimed with Grandma B and Gramps, Uncle Steve and cousins, and Auntie Holly.  Grandma L and Pugga came over later in the afternoon for dinner.  She got a few presents (spoiled!) and then was off to bed!  We're going to have a small party on the weekend.  She'll get to have a cupcake then!

Happy Xmas - pics

Kissin' Cousins, New hat from Grandma, Riding, with Hendrik, Caught!, Cutie!, Sliding, Riding, I Spy Quilt from Grandma

 

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas from the cutest Santas!, with cousin Pam, Christmas dinner, the "Fab Four"

Family

with Dad, with Uncle Steve, High fives to cousin Paul, Cousins (Lennon, Hendrik, Alana, Juniper, Jimmy)

Gramps and his girls, Opening stocking, with Gramps, Reading with Grandma, Matching jammies!, Crawlin' around, the Grandparents, with Dad, Sweet face

Happy Xmas

Christmas has come and gone. It always seems to go by so fast. Tomorrow Lennon and I head back home after a great visit in Ontario. Back to our regular routine. Lennon has been absolutely great here. She immediately adjusted to the time change and besides a short wake up here and there has been sleeping like a champ!

We had a long flight here. Well, it felt long because Lennon wouldn't sleep. She was up the whole time and, now that she's more mobile, didn't want to sit still on my lap. She did well though and only had a couple of short crying episodes. She was happy to see Gram and Gramps at the airport and squealed in the backseat of the car with Gram. She slept most of the way to Bowmanville and then went down to bed quite well when we got there.

Steve and Heather and the kids arrived on Thursday. The kids were very excited!  Alana was thrilled to see Lennon. I think Lennon must have gotten a thousand hugs and kisses during the two weeks they were here!  There was only one biting incident with Lennon leaving a few teeth marks in Alana's cheek. Sorry Alana!

Friday night there was a surprise party to celebrate Steve's retirement from Team Canada. He was very surprised!  He played on the team for 17 years, the longest stretch ever!  He had an amazing career travelling and living all over the world. We took advantage a few times to visit while he was overseas. Thanks for that Steve!  We wish him the best of luck as he figures out what's next.

Fred arrived on Sunday and we had a full house!  Lennon was happy to be reunited with Dad and so was I!  That morning Lennon learned how to climb the stairs. I think some tutoring from cousin Alana helped expedite the process!  She mastered them in a day and is now unstoppable. Now I'm trying to teach her to turn around backwards when she wants to go down. She's fearless and tries to go head first. She has figured out going down the stairs backwards. Just need to get the start right now.

The next week was filled with visiting and Christmas activities. We had a great Christmas. Lennon was spoiled, of course. The kids opened presents throughout the day on Christmas Eve and Day. The adults did out gift exchange after the kiddies were all sound asleep. Christmas Day was spent with Aunt and Unc and Pam and Bob. Always a good time!  And always a yummy dinner!

Between Christmas and New Years Eve Fred and I went on a getaway to Montreal for thre nights.  Our first time away without Lennon. Mom and dad graciously agreed to looking after her. She was a good girl for them! Yay!  The hardest part for us was leaving. After the first day it was all good though!  We had an awesome time. We went to an amazing spa and had a massage and a very relaxing morning. We did a ton of walking around and saw lots. We also ate lots of good food. We stood in line for almost an hour at La Banquise for what is supposed to be the best poutine, it was worth it! It was all a great time and it was awesome to get away, just the two of us, again.

We returned to Bowmanville to a happy baby and a delicious Greek dinner with the whole family prepared by Steve and Heather. We spent New Years playing canasta (Fred and I won!) and hanging out. Steve and Heather and the kids headed back to London on Saturday. It was great to spend time with them and watch the kids play together. Hopefully it won't be too long until we see them again. Fred left on Sunday to go back home to work. So, the rest of this week has just be Lennon and I hanging with Grandma and Gramps. It's been a lot quieter with everyone else gone but it's been nice too!

Tomorrow we're back home. Time to clean up the Christmas decorations and plan for Lennon's birthday. She turns 1 next week! Whoa!

Pictures will have to be posted later from home.