Dad is HOME!

As if Gabrielle didn't get into enough trouble on her own, now that Daryl is home for 4 days she has an accomplice!

Tissue boxes...my new favourite toy! I love to stick things inside and take them out...over and over and over!I can't hear you mama! Either that, or she stuck something in her ear!

Friday morning Gabrielle and Daryl made pancakes, and the wee one decided to taste the batter before cooking. I'm not sure if she is shocked at the photo being taken, or the fact that her hands went into something "icky".

This morning, it was quiet...all too quiet after breakfast and I went upstairs to find the two of them in the shower!These next few days are going to fly by. With only a few days to go before we leave for Toronto I've started packing...Gabrielle has no clothes left to wear so she is running naked! Not sure why Chow is licking his lips...he's so weird, but such a good big brother! STREAKER!

I've also been planning Gabrielle's 1st birthday party, because once I get back home there will only be a few days before the big day! Our dining room table is covered with b-day stuff...good thing Gabrielle has no idea what it's all about! Daryl has gone to Salmon Arm this morning to pick up her gift. Photos to follow!

No Lions or Tigers...only Bears.

OH MY!

Some shots from this past summer that I wanted to post for a while. This was a little cinnamon cub that frequented our yard from May to August. I was glad we didn't see much of him after that, and hope we don't have too many visits this year with Gabrielle wanting to play outside in the yard!

Our garage really needs to be painted!

March Madness

It's been a crazy few weeks! We've tried a whole bunch of new foods and grew another tooth! Gabrielle now has 4 up top, and two on the bottom. She can officially chew! She loves crapes and can't get enough of them! Pancakes too...especially when she gets to make them with daddy in the morning!

Daryl has been working in Whistler alot, if you can call what he's been doing work. Sounds like lots of fun to me - snowshoeing, sleddin', hiking, setting off avalanches and playing in the snow. Tough - but somebody's got to do it!We're gearing up for Gabrielle's 1st birthday! In less than a month, our little baby will be a year old - I just can't believe how fast the time has gone. She is so active and really starting to communicate. She signs a few things now, and understands so much of what we ask her. She loves her baths - now that we have more toys! There almost isn't enough room for her in the bath anymore!

With the spring time weather fast approaching, we've been going for lots of walk and spending time outside watching the wind in the trees and the birds fly overhead. She always hears the planes before I do and looks up to spot them. It's amazing how fast they learn!

Lately, she's been playing a new game -she will crawl around me when I'm sitting on the floor, sneak up behind me and "scare" me. I pretend to be terrified, and she LOVES IT! It is so funny to hear her squeal with delight! Gabrielle also loves to be chased around the kitchen.We're heading to Toronto for a few weeks and over the Easter holiday, and I can't wait to see my sister and two nephews. Colton and Mac haven't met Gabrielle yet, so I'm so excited for them to meet! It will be our last holiday before I go back to work. Sadly, I must return to my job, however, I am going back only part-time (3 days a week) so it isn't so bad. Gabrielle will be spending two days with Grand-mama, and the third at a local daycare - which looks awesome! I wish I was a kid again! I hope she likes it too. I know that she and my mom will have lots of fun together! We've already talked about having lunch dates together down at the park near my office and going for walks in the summer. It will be such a special bonding time for them.

More news to follow...have a wonderful Spring!

5 - Count'm...5!

Gabrielle now has 5 tooths. Our little jack-o-lantern has just cut her centre top incisor (left side) and proudly shows off the new nubbin when asked.

10 years after graduating, 6 years of procrastinating, I have now registered to write my Professional Practice Exam which will officially make me a Professional Engineer. I was registered last year to write on April 21, however, my daughter was a little impatient and decided to join us early. At least I had a good excuse not to write, as I wasn't as ready as I would have liked. No excuses this time...

Back to Life...Back to Reality

We've been home for almost a month - but it feels like only yesterday we were basking in the heat of the Australian summer sun...ah...the long hot days, cool breezy evenings...the amazing wine!

Reality check - it was -10C yesterday here in the Loops with blowing snow and wind and a general terror of the thought of venturing outside. We stayed indoors most of the day. Good thing too - I think Fletcher got frost-bite!

Our first week back, we went to Golden with Daryl and had a blast! We stayed at this isolated little cabin in the wilderness with no TV, no Internet, no heat (we did have a wood stove) and it was amazing. Gabrielle and I went for nice long walks (her in her wooden sleigh, all bundled up), only after did I hear there were cougars all over! We had a chance to visit our friends the Klotz' in Calgary for a brief over-nighter, which was great. They have 2 beautiful girls and are the kind of parents that Daryl and I hope to be to Gabrielle. They love the outdoors and being active and are planning on taking their kids to Base Camp of Mt. Everest in a few years! WOW is all I can say!

Gabrielle is growing like a weed. She is well over 70cm tall but still just 16lbs. She looks so petite when she is racing around the house -mostly on her hands and knees - or pushing her new walker. She really has no driving sense of direction, so she slams into pretty much every wall around her. Sometimes the dog gets run-over...10 points for road-kill!

Despite only having 4 teeth, our little jack-o-lantern is eating up a storm. She eats everything we eat these days, including (but not limited to) pasta with all sorts of sauce, pork chops, ground beef, lasagna, chicken finger, veggies (favourite being mashed potatoes, peas and spaghetti squash), cheese, yogurt, cereal, toast, bananas (which were ridiculously funny this morning!) apples and pears, apricots, did I mention cheese? She also loves scrambled eggs - with or without cheese, and Grand-mama's crepes! Also, grilled cheese sandwiches are AWESOME!

Gabrielle and I have a great time playing at home. We have set up quite the play area filled with all sort of things to do and explore. She loves magazines and ripping the pages from them! She loves her new gum-ball machine, and her age-old favorite is the jolly-jumper. She loves books and is now starting to appreciate them a bit more by NOT eating them all. Although, the touch-and-feel books are still fun to taste - we ask "what does the koala taste like" and she licks the fur...we never said we didn't have a weird child!

Gabrielle loves to play games, especially peek-a-boo and "chase me". She loves to dance, loves music and now mimics us when we cough with a fake little throat-clearing sound. It is very cute because she looks at us as if to say "see, I can cough too! I'm a big girl!" Gabrielle loves her baths and goes mental in the water trying to see if she can empty the entire tub just by splashing us! She isn't walking yet, but we know it is only a matter of time. She stands up holding on to furniture etc. very well, and sometimes even lets go! What balance!

While in Australia, Gabrielle loved Tante-Helene's fish. She would spend so much time watching the fish swim round and round - and now does the same with her aquarium in her crib. Not quite the same, but I don't think she really knows the difference!

I'm in the process of figuring out my return-to-work program, and quite frustrated by it all. I was thinking of a career change - I think I would make a great lottery winner! It looks like I might be going back on a part-time basis for the first 6 months (filling in for someone going on maternity leave) and then...who knows. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. I'm just really torn about leaving her with a stranger from 8am to 5pm and seeing her only 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. Why have a child then when someone else has to raise them? It's not that we really need my income anyhow - we can make due with Daryl's...it would just mean a few sacrifices of the "fun" stuff that we had planned. Anyhow - as I said, we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Now that we're back in the Loops and back to reality, updates will happen more regularly. I apologize to all our readers from around the world...but I do hope you understand! Talk to you soon!

Vegemite Sandwich!

Some of you may have noticed that I've been out of touch lately. Well, I have a perfectly good excuse. I'm on vacation. Since mid December we've been in Australia, and today, Daryl flies home with Gabrielle and I joining him in just over 2 weeks. For national security reasons, I didn't update for the last month, and also because I've been out enjoying the fabulous Australian summer. Our list of activities, jaunts and adventures is amazing, considering we've been carting around a 7 month old (who turned 8 months down here, and is about to turn 9 months in a few days).Looking for a Christmas tree - 34C!Swimming in the Murray River - she LOVED it!Hanging out at the pool with dad.Into the Ocean - she was like a little turtle heading straight for the open water. We had to run after her and catch her. She didn't realize it was getting deeper and deeper - either that, or she didn't mind! She just wondered who kept on splashing her!

Christmas was amazing, although didn't really feel like Christmas with 35C weather. More like a wonderful summer family BBQ and gathering. I must admit, I did miss the snow a little bit, but not the cold weather that the Loops has been experiencing since we left.

Gabrielle has 2 teeth. Although numerous friends and family members have been stating since she was 3 months old and chewing on everything that she was teething, only just after Christmas did the two white buds show their bumpy heads. She loves having her teeth brushed, which I think is hilarious. She opens wide, lets me brush, then chomps down. HARD. Fortunately, she is only munching and gnawing away at her toys and rusks, and hasn't yet taken a bit out of mama. I might bite her back. She is strong.

Our vacation has been everything that we wanted it to be. Surfing, hikes, visiting family and friends, petting Australian wild-life, driving on the wrong side of the road, eating shark and kangaroo. We'll be trying to pack more into the next few weeks, then it's back to reality. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. Life is such a blur...