Let it Be

It's almost the end of February and we've been having spring-like weather.  It's been quite unbelievable.  We have been able to get outside for walks and even to the playground!

#cutie indeed!, Three generations, With Grandma and Gramps, Smiley!, I love waffles!, Puzzles

At the beginning of the month we were in Bowmanville staying with Grandma and Gramps for a couple of weeks while Fred was at his second residential session for school.  We had a great time!  Steve and Hendrik and Alana came to visit for a weekend while we were there too.  The kids had a blast together!  It was nice to have the cousins get to know each other a bit more.  I got a chance to reconnect with some old friends too which was great!  It is quite amazing how so much time can go by and yet you can still feel comfortable with people.  Our time in Bowmanville was spent with lots of visiting with family, some library visits, and swimming.  Lennon loved the pool there.  They have a great tot pool that is very warm, almost bath like, so I enjoyed that too!  We were very happy to be reunited with Fred after two weeks and then spent a couple of days relaxing in Bowmanville before travelling back home.  Lennon was awesome on the plane!

Craft time, Play Doh, Reading at the library
Making pizza, Colouring cousins, Story time
Puzzling with Gramps, Trying to write, With cousin Alana

Back home we've been back to our regular routine.  Swimming classes are going well. Over the last month or so Lennon has really taken to it and is just all smiles and squeals when we're in the water.  One pool visit in Bowmanville saw us in the pool for more than an hour and a fight to get her to come out!  With the weather being so great we are getting out more which is nice!  We are in Edmonton this weekend.  Fred had a function at the U of A on Thursday and is doing his classes for school here today so we came along for a little get away.  Half of Fred's school team is in Edmonton so I've gotten to meet them too, which is nice.  Yesterday we toured the Alberta Legislature, this morning we went to West Edmonton Mall and tomorrow we will head back home. 

Our family, Sandwich kiss, Pigtails!, with Pugga at his Alma Mater (U of A), Mmmm pizza, selfies with Dad and Mom 

Birthday (Two!)

Well...we now have a two year old!?!

First, Christmas.  We had a nice, relaxing Christmas in Nashville.  It was a great time spent at Auntie Holly's (Fred's parents were there too).  Lennon was very excited about presents... "lots of presents for Len!"  She did very well and didn't get too crazy with all the excitement.  She even took breaks to guzzle some water.  Haha!

Lennon did great on the plane (both ways).  This was her last plane trip on our laps...next time she has to have her own seat.  We did break up the trip a bit with a stopover in Minneapolis.  It worked out quite well.  Lennon got to keep fairly close to her usual sleeping schedule and we were able to have a short (but really nice) visit with my cousin Erica who lives close to Minneapolis.

Our time in Nashville was pretty relaxing.  It was nice to have others around to entertain Lennon, although she did get a bit clingy to mommy.  Highlights of the trip for Lennon were a ride on a train with Auntie, seeing Chickadee (Holly's dog), presents, and a performance by Auntie and Daddy.  Fred and Holly did a show on New Years Eve, so Lennon got to see Daddy on stage for the first time.  She was thrilled.  She really wanted to go up on stage as well.  Through the whole performance she kept saying "Len sing" and then at the end she quickly said "Lennon's turn now."  So cute!

Back home we started preparing for Lennon's birthday.  Grandma and Gramps arrived a couple days after we got home.  It was great to have them here for to celebrate Lennon's birthday.  She sure loved having them around too!

We had many birthday celebrations.  The weekend before we had a group birthday get together with our baby group at a place called the Flip Factory.  It was fun.  They have a big toddler area that you can reserve (we were the only ones in there) that is all padded with toys for toddlers.  The kids had a blast!  On the day of her birthday we went to Costco, met daddy for lunch, and then Pugga joined us later at home for dinner.  Again, Lennon was very excited about presents.  Then we had a party on Saturday.  Once again, the presents were a highlight for Lennon.  She had fun - she always does with lots of people around.  By the end of the evening she was so tired she had bags under her eyes.  A success, I'd say!

Grandma and Gramps left yesterday so now we're back to the usual around here.  Although in 10 days we'll be heading to Ontario.  Fred has his next residential session for school so Lennon and I will go stay with Grandma and Gramps.


Back to "we have a two year old!"  Lennon amazes us everyday with her sweet, charming personality, her goofiness, her smarts, and pretty much anything she does;)  I'm just going to go to list form for the things she's doing at two years old...

- still talking pretty much non-stop (using full sentences quite consistently)
- will repeat anything and everything she hears (she's repeated a "shoot"...nothing worse than that...yet)
- favourite phrase is "maybe after."  For example: "Lennon can I have a hug?"..."maybe after."
- still loves penguins
- current favourite toys are a baby doll and a kitchen set
- favourite store is Cobs (bread) because she gets samples
- still sleeps incredibly well (knock on wood)... a 2 to 3 hour nap in the afternoon and almost 12 hours at night and goes to bed without any fuss
- can be a bit clingy to mommy
- loves to sing/loves music...randomly starts singing (usually "let it be,") pretends to play piano and does air guitar too, can't help but dance if there's music on (once even stopped to dance between a crying fit - cry, dance, cry, dance)
- is enjoying swimming class more and more
- favourite food is any kind of fruit, especially berries, and cucumber - will rarely eat meat unless it's ham while in the grocery store or hidden as in shepherd's pie
- loves to help set the table
- absolutely adores her cousin Ashton...squeals like we never hear any other time
- is cautious (not your typical no fear toddler)
- is generally very sweet and gentle
- very social -charms anyone around her
- weighed in at 27lbs on the luggage scale at the airport (we'll get an official reading at the dr next week)

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.