An Update

Woah, long time no blog O_o

Lets see, what has happened. I will start with the present and move into the past I think.

Gwendalyn is crawling! We were on the phone with grandma Lindsay last night and all of a sudden she crawled! She has been sitting up and twisting around for ages, and we knew it was only a matter of time. We quickly tested it out again by putting something she normally is not allowed to have across the room, and lo and behold she was off to get it. She was so proud of herself! And we of her. I'm so glad that Daddy was around to see it, as he hasn't been able to spend much time with her because he works such long hours.

So that was a great little surprise from Gwen.

I had my 27th birthday this past Tuesday too. I got some really good locally made chocolate and two pretty beaded bracelet/ring things from James. I also had two friends up from Cranbrook, Amy and Rachel and their babies Amelie and Jack for the afternoon. Amy cut my hair for free as a surprise, so that was awesome because I hadn't had a trim in over a year. And Gwen had so much fun with Amelie and Jack. And I think they really inspired her to crawl.

In some not so good news, James got laid off from his job. Apparently it happens a lot this time of year. There a few other places that he has a good chance of being hired at if they don't hire him back in the spring. And we will do just fine money wise with EI and my business starting up again. I think it will be good to have him home more often. He was working such long hours that we hardly saw him during the week. So it will be nice for him to spend more time with Gwen until he can find new work. And then I will have more time to sew :)

Grandma Sawatsky was up for five days a few weeks ago, so that was great. We has all these plans for projects and things, but we mainly ended up just playing with Gwendalyn and drinking tea. Though we did do some shopping and she helped me organize my studio which was a HUGE help. She also cooked and did dishes while she was here. I love you Mom! And of course Gwen just loved having Grandma around.

Lets see, what else...

The weather has been pretty cold here for the last few weeks. We don't have much snow (about 6-8") but is was around -20 to -15 for a while there (where James was working it got down to -32). It warmed up to about -3 yesterday and it was beautiful! I took Gwen to town in the backpack and I only had to wear a sweater! It was lovely. And of course it's usually sunny up here so that helps too.

Other then that, we are flying out to the Coast tomorrow for Christmas! We were going to drive our new car, but with the layoff we couldn't afford it right away so Mom and Terry found us a really great seat sale with Air Canada. Yay, no 12 hour drive in the snow with a baby!!

I can't wait to see everyone at home, and meet all the new babies! And of course it's Gwen's first Christmas so it will be tons of fun.

Jack, Amelie and Gwen

Eating snow

Best Friends

Making a B-line for the cheerio.

Our neighbours enjoying our front yard.

And our backyard in the morning.

Little Cute in the Sled

Just a quick little post.

We bought a sled at the awesome consignment store in town, and she just loves it! I need to rig up a little harness for her, because she likes to lean over and try to eat the snow.

And yes, I normally put a hat and snowsuit one her when we play in the snow. But it was actually quite warm outside that day :p

New Things

We are finally more or less settled into our new place in Kimberley. It's been a very crazy Fall so far, but now I'm feeling like I can relax and get into the rhythm of things.

Our rental house is great. It's not to big, and not too small. It has three stories and four bedrooms, and it looks just like a little European chalet. It's in a great location too. Five minute walk to the Overwaitea, and 15 min walk to what they call the Platzl (a little outdoor mall). Kimberley (pop 6,000) is a very cute and touristy little town, both for summer and winter. It used to be an old mining town but when that closed in the 90s they turned into a Bavarian village. It also hosts Canada's largest free standing cuckoo clock. Pretty exciting! :p

Anyway, it has a lot more charm then Cranbrook. And less hicks too.

However, because it is rather high up in the mountains, we seemed to have left Autumn behind before it even got a chance. We have about 4 inches of snow as I write, and last week we got about 6 inches. The poor leaves haven't even had a chance to change colour and fall off, they are just wilting on the branches under the snow. It's a little depressing because I love Fall so much. But that's what we get for moving to a mountain ski village. At least it's pretty, and the snow is soft and fluffy and not wet.

Cecil has taken to his winter routine without a problem. All he does is sleep on our bed all day long. Lazy fair weather cat.

Gwendalyn thought the snow was pretty interesting though. She found it very fascinating to eat. Though anything you can put in your mouth and swallow is awesome in her books.

She is adjusting very well to her new house and routine. She has been is such a good mood lately. She just loves having Cecil around. Although he did bite her the other day because she pulled his fur rather hard before I could stop her. It was good for both of them though, and now she respects his boundaries much better. And I have been teaching her to be "gentle" with him, so she understands she can't go around pulling out his fur and whiskers. He is such a good cat with her though. He really puts up with a lot.

Gwendalyn still isn't quite crawling yet, which is just fine by me. She is starting to get her first tooth, which I can just see the top of.

And James is enjoying his job, though the days are very long. At least he gets to be outside most of time. But because of his long days, I am becoming quite the housewife. I am learning to cook! I even have his dinner ready when he gets home from work most days! Go me!

We also had a great Thanksgiving. Rob and Brad (James' brother and good friend) drove up and spent the weekend. It was pretty chill. We just hung out, had a simple dinner of bought roasted chicken, oven baked stuffing, and mashed potatoes. Then we played the most awesomest Star Trek board game ever and drank sake. It was excellent.

Our fast and easy Thanksgiving dinner.

Gwendalyn stuffing her face with stuffing.

After Rob and Brad left we took a little hike on the trails up behind our house. The view is great from up there. The weather was sunny but pretty cold.

The view looking East from the ridge above our house.

That's about all for now. My next project will be setting up my studio. I have a great little loft room on the top floor with so much storage I could stash all the fabric I've ever owned up there. Hahahaha!!!

Well, here's some pics of our cute little house and snowy yard :)

Changes Come

Well I'm sure most of you Facebook users know that we are moving to Cranbrook by now, so I thought I'd better write up a thorough explanation.  

Just this past Monday James got a call from one of the Forestry companies he has been applying for for the last 8 months.  He then had a phone interview with Maple Leaf Forestry in Cranbrook on Tuesday and then got a call back Wednesday telling him he had the job and when could he start.  He was very excited to tell Rona that his last day of work was going to be Saturday because he has to start work on the 14th of Sept at the latest.  So it's all been very fast.  

We are excited to finally have a decent job again, and in a desirable part of the province.  For those of you who don't know where Cranbrook is, it's in the east Kootenays.  About a nine or ten hour drive from Chilliwack, two hours or so from Calgary, and only an hour and half from Nelson!  It's also pretty close to Waterton National Park in the Rockies, so it really is in a lovely area.  

It's all very exciting, but also bittersweet.  I have really enjoyed being close to our families this  past year, especially with Gwen.  They have been so supportive.  I'm really going to miss being so close.  So that part will be quite an adjustment.   But it's nothing we can't handle.  

James really needs to find a place to stay for a few weeks  this month before I can come up and find a place for Oct 1st.   So if anyone knows of anyone with a room to spare, or rent for the rest of September, please let us know.  And if you know of any 2 or 3 bedroom places to rent, please let us know as well.  

I will probably be going up the weekend after next to start looking.  But I will not be moving up there with Gwendalyn until the beginning of October at the earliest.   All depending on whether or not I can find a suitable and clean place to live.

I'll try and keep this blog updated a bit more often with our plans :)  

Long post is long

So, lots going on in the last months and half, and I'll touch on a bit of it.

I'll start with my annual anime convention I go to, and how it went with Gwendalyn.

(copy and pasted from my deviantArt journal)
Well, it was a success! Having a baby in tow sure changes things as I suspected it would. Friday was more of a trial run then anything. Firstly we had some issues getting around the new convention centre in the stroller. The elevators were most confusing as some of them went to some floors, and I had to run around to different ones just to get from one end of the building to the next. I think they could have designed it a little better. That and they don't have baby changing tables in the regular bathrooms. Thankfully they did have family washrooms on most of the floors, but they were nothing to write home about.
But other then that, the new convention centre (this was the first year the con was there, it was at SFU before) was very nice. Lovely views of the harbour, lots of light and space, but it was lacking green places.

Anyway, on to the convention itself. Well, as I said, Friday was a trial run, and I mostly spent the day running around with a crying baby trying to find how to get outside But registration was fast and painless this year, so that was good. I even managed to get into most of my cosplay. I did a quick round of the dealers room and Artists Alley, which were in the same big hall. It was great to actually have room to move around! But I sure wish one of the main stages wasn't in the same room as well. It's very hard to talk to people when you have music blaring. And Gwendalyn didn't like it at all! Needless to say, we didn't stay very long that day.

But Saturday was much better! We stayed with my sister Lesha Friday night in Vancouver so we got to the convention much earlier. I managed to get both myself and Gwen into cosplay, but I was so mad because I forgot her hat with ears at home, so we had to improvise. But she was in a better mood all day, and I even got her to nap in the stroller this time. It was also nice that Daddy, Auntie Lesha and Uncle Colin joined us for some photos that day. None of them had a convention pass, but they just wanted to hang out for a bit and check out the cosplayers anyway. We had lots of fun walking around outside taking photos. Once they all left Gwen and I met up with my good friend Rissa and headed back to the dealers room (I made sure to check there was no concert going on).
I wish I had more time to spend in the Artists Alley and hang out with my friends, but it was super busy, and Gwen started to get fussy when we stopped for too long. But I did find some cute things in the dealers room, and I let Gwen pick out a little toy. She grabbed a little Mario mushroom plushie. And I found her the cutest little outfit! I was just looking at some Sailor Moon stuff because Rissa is a huge fan (and I'm a closet fan) and there was a Sailor Moon bathing suite complete with a little hat with buns and pigtails. SO CUTE!!! I could not resist. It was used, but it still had all it's Japanese tags on it, and she won't fit it till next summer I'm sure, but it was only 5 bucks! I was sold. I can't wait till she can wear it ^_^

So it was a good day. And Gwen had so much fun watching everyone, and she got lots of pictures taken. She is such a little camera lover too. I think she is gong to make quite the fine little cosplayer

I didn't run into some of the people I was hoping to see, and I didn't get to hang out with some of you as long as I would have liked, but just the fact that Gwendalyn lasted for over 5 hours made the convention a success. Now I have next year to look forward to when she is walking (o_O

If anyone cares to know, I am dressed as the character Jessica and Gwen is a monster called a Candy Cat from the Playstation 2 game Dragon Quest VIII.

n


Ok, on the other things.

We started feeding Gwendalyn solids, and she really likes it. She has been watching us eat for a while now, and seemed to be very interested. So we gave it a try and she cannot get enough of it. It will be lots of fun when we can give her more then just rice cereal.



We also made Daddy a hammock for Father's Day. We all really like it :)




And just yesterday we had our first trip to the beach this summer, and Gwen's first trip to the beach ever! I quickly ran to Sear's to get her a swimsuit, and I got to show off my own new swimsuit too. I love it! I actually feel sexy in a swimsuit!
We went to Chilliwack Lake becuase Cultus is always way too busy. It was beautiful! The water was freezing, and Gwen didn't even like her toes being dipped, but it was great just to lay on the beach and look at the mountians. Even though she didn't like the water, Gwendalyn had fun just being outside, so it was a good day. When the baby is happy, we are happy :)

I has a swimsuit!

Fun in the sun :)

Did not like the cold water on the feets at all.

Ooh, sand.

Daddy fell asleep, but of course Gwendalyn didn't!

Short post is short

Just a quick update.
James and I went on a real date for our 6 year anniversary last Sunday. It felt very strange. We left the little one at James' parents after she went to bed, and went out for dessert and then a movie. I kept feeling like I was forgetting her somewhere. She of course, wasn't the wiser. That child sleeps like a log at night.
Oh, and the new Star Trek movie is awesome. AWESOME! If you havn't seen it yet, GO NOW! I'd see it again, but I think I'll have to wait.

I was going to post some pics, but they don't seem to be loading. So next time I hope.
Sorry for the short post.

Mother's Day is Awesome

I hope all you mothers had a great Mother's Day, I know my first was great.
It's like having a second birthday!
Gwendalyn got up at 5am to wish me a happy Mother's Day with all her cute little smiles and wiggles. So we drank and cuddled in the bed for a while until we all fell asleep again. Then she surprised me when we woke up again to a big bouquet of flowers.
Then we went up to mom's for brunch and had waffles with all the trimmings. We all got mom some herbs for her kitchen garden.
Then we went down to James' parents where he cooked us all a wonderful Thai dinner of coconut soup and pad tai with shrimp. Gwendalyn surprised me again with a lovely picture frame featuring 8 photos of herself. She is so sweet :)

Hope everyone had a good Mother's Day, and have a great long weekend to whomever it applies :)

Also, Gwendalyn has done lots of other neat things in the past few weeks. She sleeps all alone in her own room in her own crib now. Which seemed rather easy for her to adjust to, but me, not so much. She laughs like crazy at silly faces and tickles, she can grab her soother out of her mouth and put it back in in less then three attempts. She talks like crazy! You cannot shut her up sometimes. And I think she has even tried to sing when we dance around to music. I'll have to post some movies, they are super cute.
She also rolled over from back to front the other day! I was so immpressed! I think it was more of an accedent on her part, and she hasn't done it sinse, but I was very proud of her none the less.

She is growing up so fast :') She weighs 13 lbs and change now, and is very long.

Wow, you guys should be proud of me, two posts in less then a month, go me!
Enjoy the pics :)

My Mother's Day flowers ^_^

Little Cute in the stroller.
She finally fits her little sweater that grandma bought.

My beautiful sleepy cute

starting to roll over

the end result :D (and then she started crying)

Talking very forcefully
Tummy time in the backyard


Hiking with mom and dad

Goodbye Kitty :'(

Welcome to my monthly update!
Seriously, I knew this whole blog thing was a bad idea :/

Well, a lot has happened in over a month since my last post.
For those of you that don't know, my dear little cat Terra has passed away. Well, that's a very nice way to put it anyway. She was actually attacked by a bobcat just outside my mom's house where she lives with her dear brother Cecil.
It's amazing she survived the initial attack at all as I'm sure everyone who lives or has lived on the mountain knows: when cats disappear, we all assume they have been 'eaten'. But my mom and her dog Mali managed to chase off the attacker, so it must have been a very young and inexperienced bobcat. Terra would have lived but had too much neurological damage that it would not have been much of a life at all. So mom and I had to make the terrible decision to put her down.
I haven't had to put many cats down in my years of loosing cats, and I don't know it if made it harder or easier. At least we got to bury her next to our old dog Cecelia. Out of the many many cats we've lost, we have only ever buried three.
I think I have been taking it extra hard because of my mommy hormones though.
But we all miss Little Thing.

Ok, so I started this post weeks ago, so I'll just end it there, as a tribute to my beautiful little cat, and maybe the next post will be alittle more light hearted.

Well, a lot has happened in the last few weeks.
Gwendalyn is now over 9 weeks old. She's growing up so fast!
She is starting to grow out of her 0-3 month size sleepers. When we were in for her two week check up she weighed 4.81 kg (10.6 lb). She is smiling, playing with her hands, tracking and making long eye contact, she even laughed for the first time on Saturday, and (dare I say it) she is SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!
I am very excited about the latter. She's been doing it for about two weeks now, and it's great. And not just 5 - 6 hours either. She goes for about 7 to 8, and sometime even 9! And she still naps a lot too and drinks like a fish.
Other then that, the laughing is so cute! She has only done it twice so far, but we managed to get the second time on camera. I'll try and post it sometime. So cute!

As for me, now that she is sleeping longer, I feel like I have the energy to have a bit of a life too.
Two weekends ago I had my first post baby photo shoot that my lovely friend Maple arranged. Lesha joined us too, along with some photographer friends in downtown Vancouver, and it was great. I've really missed doing artistic things since the Little has been around, so it was a really great break for me. I can't wait till she can join me too.






Also, Colin came out with us and spent a few days. Unfortunaitly James got really sick and was in bed for four days. So Colin, Geoffe, Gwen and I spent Sunday at my mom's house because they were away in Tofino. We went for a walks, took photos, raided mom's pantry and made fun of Twilight. We were only planning on spending the afternoon there, but it started snowing like crazy without warning, and we got snowed in! It was pretty great.
Yay to having a social life. I'm glad my friends don't mind hanging out with my baby too :P










Also, the week before that, my dear friend Annemarie came out for a wedding from Winterpeg. She and Diedre came up and we got to spend the whole day together! I only get to to see her about once a year, so it was super fun, but all too short. But we tested out the rope swing up on the Mountain, and it's still going strong and tons of fun :D

Diedre and I rescuing the rope swing that had been caught on a high branch.

Little sleeping in the snugly.

Having fun with all the attention.
Nice fohawk Gwendalyn :p

Taking a nap after a busy day.

It's been a pretty good month, but alas, now I am sick too. Thankfully the Little isn't. Yay for breastmilk and its magical properties.