Category Archives: Life

Christmas Tree Light Up

I am used to the downtown life of Victoria when it comes to special events and fun activities, so when I heard that Edmonton’s Christmas Tree Light Up was happening this weekend, I was excited to go! When we got there, there weren’t too many people, but by the end of the night, it was shoulder to shoulder in the square.

Amy was singing lovely Christmas carols with her choir as part of the entertainment.

Right in front of city hall, they flooded the square so it made an ice rink. We stood Calvin on the ice, and right away he got his excited, jumpy legs on. You could say he took to it like a hockey player to the rink. Don’t look too closely at the ice…it’s pretty gross looking.

After the tree was lit up, there were fireworks and Calvin loved to watch them. I was quite impressed with them! Every Canada Day in Victoria, people are disappointed with the display, but these, for the humble little Christmas Tree lighting day, were quite comparable Let’s see what they pull out of their hat for other holidays!

It was a fun evening, but cold. I have never seen so many children in show suits all in one place! And it did a good job of getting me in the Christmas spirit, although that isn’t hard to do.

Are you looking forward to any specific Christmas events in your town?

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SH – Hanging Out With My Boy

While Tim was up in Fort McMurray on his business trip (he returned on the 10th), I tried to complete a photo scavenger hunt he created for me to work through so I stay busy and he can get new photos of our boy.
(see the whole list here)

Mommy and Calvin’s best artwork (Mommy can help Calvin draw!).
I mis-remembered what the list actually said, so I don’t have a picture of what he drew, but you can be assured that it was a masterpiece!

Calvin helping mommy make dinner.

Mommy and Calvin reading books.

Calvin and mommy upside-down together.

Mommy and Calvin wearing some of each other’s clothes.
Yes, I am giving him bunny ears while wearing his socks on my fingers.

Now if only he would appreciate the fun to be had when we do these things. Truthfully, the extent of our hang out time normally is me showing him how a truck can roll along the floor, and him showing me that he would prefer to eat it.

How do YOU play with a baby who doesn’t know how to interact with toys and books yet?

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SH – A Visit with Aunty Michelle

While Tim is up in Fort McMurray on his business trip, I am completing a photo scavenger hunt he created for me to work through so I stay busy and he can get new photos of our boy.
(see the whole list here)

Calvin getting a shoulder ride from Auntie Michelle.

Last Thursday Tim’s sister, Michelle, flew in for a visit over the long weekend. It was looking like Tim might have been gone for the whole time, but he was able to finish the work up North and fly back down to join us on Saturday. I don’t have many pictures from her visit, but I did get the one I needed to check one off the list!

We had a good visit, with the exception of the two of us girls getting the flu and being rendered useless all day Monday. But I think I am pretty much back to normal, and hopefully she is too!

I also have to share my experience with picking her up when she arrived.
The day before she flew in, Edmonton got a pretty major snow storm and no clean up had happened between then and Thursday late evening when her plane was scheduled to arrive. The parent’s of friends of hers offered to pick her up and have her stay with them the first night since they lived fairly close to the airport and that meant I didn’t have to drive there in the middle of the night with Calvin. What a great idea!
So the next morning I got the address and directions from Michelle. The address was pretty remote, but Google pulled it up when I typed it in. However it didn’t match the directions Michelle gave me, so I kinda winged it. Google’s directions ended up to be completely incorrect, and Michelle’s directions looked to me like it was not quite right compared to what Google showed me, so I was completely lost. I stopped at a coffee shop and some guy looked up the address for me again, and found it! So I drove there (on a completely remote township road with tons of snow…don’t worry, it wasn’t slippery, and I stayed in control of my car the whole time), but I ended up at the end of the road at the banks of a lake before I got the house that matched the address.
I called Michelle and she looked it up and directed me from there. However, the road numbers she saw were differently named at the place I was, so I went out of my way yet again and made another call when it looked like I would be going way farther than I thought I should be. Here is a map that maybe makes it all clearer.

1: Where Google told me it was (makes sense – close to the airport)
2: Where the coffee shop guy showed me it was
3: Where it really was (not quite as close to the airport as I was expecting – maybe “close” means something different in more remote places)
The highlighted portion is where I drove. Not shown is another exit further north I took then got back on the highway.

So what should have taken me half an hour took about an hour and a half, but we made it there safe and sound!

Thanks for coming, Michelle!

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Mobility

Calvin is now mobile. However he can only push himself backwards and pivot on his belly, so I don’t think he really knows where he is going, or that he is even going somewhere. So then if be backs onto a leg of furniture and it is between his legs, he is rendered immobile and gets frustrated that he is stuck. Here are a couple places I have found him when I heard him whine.

Under the crib.

Under the laundry drying rack.

Of course the little goofball puts his pouts away and pulls out his smiles for the camera.

Getting Out

It’s shaped up to be a fairly busy week! On Sunday I went to a church with Jordan and Amy. I met a few young families there, and was invited to a moms and tots group on Tuesday morning, and then also a small group Tuesday evening. Also, Amy’s cousin invited me to a mom’s group at her church this morning! So I have met lots of new people, all with families, which is great.

I felt really comfortable at that church and hope to return. Everybody I met was super friendly and made me feel really welcome.

This morning was a little more difficult since it was a fairly large group of moms and kids, but there were still friendly people there, and I didn’t feel out of place.

So It’s been a good week so far in that sense. This afternoon I am doing laundry, and tomorrow I hope to do some baking, then I have to pick up Michelle from the airport, and she will stay with us until early next week! So this week is full, and I feel like I may not have time to complete everything on the scavenger list! But that is quite fine since I have a good excuse. :)

Baby Gadgets

I am not a huge gadget person. I like things streamlined and to have as little amount of stuff as possible so if it’s a tool that’s used for only one specific thing, I tend not to have it (unless it’s a waffle iron, because nothing else can do that!). However, I was gifted a few little items at my baby showers, two in particular had to do with feeding.

The first one was the Boon Spoon. I tried it once, and probably won’t again. It is a really neat idea, but you have to keep the spoon vertical the whole time, otherwise the food wouldn’t be close enough to the end to squirt out, and also, if Calvin decided to spit out a bunch of food, but I already had more on the spoon waiting, it was hard to scrape it all off his chin. I would not recommend this product.

The other I was reminded that I had when my Oma mentioned that when her children were little, she would wrap food in cheese cloth then tie it in a knot and they could suck on it. If I had cheese cloth on hand, I would probably do that, but I already had the modern day tool…the net feeder thing! I don’t know the brand or whatnot, but I’m sure there are many companies who make this sort of thing. It keeps Calvin busy for a good while, and he can feed himself that way! It does get a little messy when he decides to hit everything around him with it, but he is a baby eating; he is supposed to get messy! The net does get a little hard to clean if he has pulpy food in it, like oranges and even bananas, but I just throw it in the dishwasher, and if there is still food stuck in the seams, at least I know it’s clean!

Mmm…Banana!

I had to add this one too, because I love his facial expression!

Are you a gadgets person? What do you like? If you aren’t, what few ones do you have that you enjoy?

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SH – A Visit with Jordan and Amy

Calvin beating up Uncle Jordan.

This morning Calvin and I went to the church that Tim’s brother, Jordan, attends. Afterwards we were invited over for lunch with Jordan and Amy. Of course things got a little out of control.

First, Calvin punched Uncle Jordan in the face…

…then he pinned him to the ground!

But of course he only had kind smiles for Amy.

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