Big Girl

Throughout this entire pregnancy, I've been telling myself and anyone who asks "Meh, we're not worrying about getting ready for the baby until after Christmas." Well, guess what, folks: after Christmas is here.

Grammie and Grampy left on the 27th. Before they left they emptied the furniture from our spare room and took a load of things to Value Village for us in their truck. Then we got busy turning our spare room (what we used to call Kent's room on account of the view of the pool) into a big girl room. I cried for most of the day. Talia has changed so much in the last few weeks - becoming a real walker, eating with utensils, drinking out of a real cup instead of a sippy, talking up a storm - and I was suddenly feeling very guilty about the arrival of a new baby rushing her through her babyhood. Fortunately Raine was here to remind me that a) she didn't walk until she was almost 17 months old, so she's had a good run at being babied, b) she is never going to remember a time when she didn't have a younger sibling, so it's not like she's going to be pining away for these days and c) she's super excited about becoming more & more independent. Still, it was hard on Mama.

We finished the room Monday night after Talia went to bed. On Tuesday I was feeling unsettled all day at work, anxious about the transition and not looking forward to what I expected to be a long night ahead. As it turned out, there was no need. When we got home, we turned her loose in her new room and she loved it! She played in there all evening. After supper we did her regular bedtime routine and tucked her into her new bed, where she stayed for the entire night. (Okay, Daddy found her sleeping on the floor BESIDE her bed a few times, but it still counts!) And so far today she's gone down for 2 naps in her bed with no problem at all. In celebration of her big-girlness, we broke out the Tadoodles this afternoon. We made a glorious mess and celebrated with a nice bath.

So, big girl room: check. Now, on to the rest of our list. This weekend we're shopping for a new crib mattress and a (sigh) double stroller. I think we're going to get a sit'n'stand instead of one with 2 seats. And I suppose I should pick up some newborn-sized diapers and perhaps a nice warm outfit to come home from the hospital in. Eeeeep! We're having a BABY!!!!

Conversations With My Daughter

Talia is hilarious these days. Rainer and I spend a lot of time together saying "She's nothing like her mother!" and vice-versa.

These days our funniest, and most annoying, chats happen in the morning. Tally was spoiled for the last 2 weeks because her daycare was closed, so she had a good run of sleep-in mornings. Now she has to get up early, and she is definitely not a morning person. (Okay, that is 100% from me, I admit it.) On mornings when I go to work, I get up, shower, and get dressed before going in and waking her up. Our morning usually goes like this:

Mama (turning on light): Talia! Taaaaaaaaaaaaaally Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaine!
Talia: (mumble, groan)
Mama: You awake in there?
Talia: Noooooooooooooooooo......
Mama: It's time to get up! Wakey-wakey, eggs and bac-ey!!
Talia (covering head with blanket): Noooooooooooooooooo................................. beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed.
Mama (sitting down in glider, poking Talia through the bars): Tally, honey, let's go. It's time to get up.
Talia (laying down along the back side of the crib, where her short mama with the giant belly can't reach her): HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Mama (cursing the fact her 1 year old already mocks her): Don't you want to go to Jojo's house?
Talia (standing up so fast she falls over, tries multiple times before succeeding, hands Ted E. Bear to Mama): Do-do?
Mama (in Ted's voice): Good morning, Tally! Let's get ready to go to Jojo's house!
Talia (taking Ted back and throwing him out of the crib): Oh, hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

If we do any of this out of order, Talia is a little bear. I cannot touch her before she wakes up, or she wakes up screaming her head off. I cannot lift her out of the crib before she throws Ted out, or we have a tantrum-filled morning. Once she says "Oh, hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" like she's just noticed I'm in the room, she's her regular, sunny self and we can get on with our day. How is it that my 1 year old is already a teenager first thing in the morning?

Oh, and in case you're wondering, her father can go into her room, pick her up from a dead sleep, and she is instantly wide-awake and charming, and even gives him a big hug. Hrmph.

It's Been A Long Week

Talia goes to a wonderful home daycare. The daycare provider gives them lots of love and attention, amazing and healthy home-cooked meals, takes them outside twice a day, and keeps them happy & busy all day long. Talia loves going to Jojo's house, and usually tries to hide when I get there to pick her up at the end of the day so that she can stay longer. So I'm not sure who was more disappointed this week when Jojo ended up in the hospital, thus necessitating some quality weekday time for Talia with one or another of her parents. I suspect, however, that it may be Talia, judging by the way she yelled and pointed at Mama while talking on the phone to Grammie today. (Back atcha, kiddo. You're lucky the recycling was already picked up this week, or you would have been out in the blue box this afternoon.)

Poor bunny, I can't really blame her for being less than thrilled with our week so far. Usually on my days off during the week, we're fairly busy in the mornings before coming home so Tally can nap away the afternoon. We take in a Moms & Ones preschool program, we get groceries, we usually have an appointment somewhere with a waiting room full of new toys to explore, we hang out at the park, we have a playdate with friends, etc. This week we missed preschool for a marathon eye appointment in a room freshly emptied of all toys (damn you, H1N1!!,) we had a long grocery/Christmas shopping outing that was pretty boring, Mama has been trying to work from home as much as possible (Talia used up all my sick time while she was still on the inside,) and it's been too cold to play outside very much. Plus, 2-tooth Tally has been having a rough teething week - 3 new toofers have finally poked through - so my usually sunny, easy-going little girl:

has been replaced with a whining, grumpy, bored toddler with a sore mouth.

But things are looking up, friends. I have officially given up trying to get any more work done this week and am embracing my time home with Ms. Crankypants! It looks like we might have a break from teething for a little while! Tomorrow morning Sarah D. and her little darlings Lucy and Charlie are hosting us for a playdate, along with Auntie Erin & Edie! Only one more day until Daddy is home for TWO WHOLE DAYS!! On Saturday Mama is going out to see friends Lisa & Kristin in what is certain to be the best production of RENT ever!! And by the end of the weekend, I hope to be completely done Christmas shopping and baking, with only a mountain of perogies left to be conquered. I think I can, I think I can.

I Don't Mean to Alarm You....

..... but someone told me this weekend there were only 40 days left until Christmas. Eep, eep, eep. That was enough to catapult our little family into full-on Christmas mode. On Saturday Daddy got the Christmas lights all set up with the timer and put good old Santa on guard by the front door. Saturday night saw us take in the Santa Claus parade for the first time as a family - I've walked in the parade before with the Girl Guides. It's way colder sitting and watching, even with this nice weather. After the parade we picked up some fast food, which Talia turned her nose up at. (She threw her Baby Burger over the edge of her highchair for the boys to enjoy, and tucked into her green beans, cheese, multigrain crackers, and raspberries while Mama & Daddy enjoyed their A&W.) On Sunday we got to see the lights in action, and tried to teach Talia who Santa was ("Danta!") and what he says ("Bo, bo bo!")

We've also been helping Santa with a little Christmas shopping, as we picked up a kitchen set & toddler bed to go in Talia's new Big Girl bedroom. We had a hard time finding a food set to go with the kitchen that included healthy options, since most of them come full of cake, pie, fries, nuggets, hotdogs etc. You know. All the delicious food I think is a treat, that m'girl spits out in disdain. We eventually got some nice fruits & veggies at Toys R Us.

Our Christmas preparations continued this morning when we went to Staples to purchase some Christmas paper for Grammie's annual holiday letter, and then scored the first box of Christmas organges of the season at Superstore. Holla.

Clearly, we went from 0 to 60 and exhausted Talia. She's going to have to pace herself if she's going to make it through the holidays!

We Love These Lazy Fridays

Talia and I are having a rare stay-at-home day today. When I decided to go back to work half-time, I thought I was going to have all kinds of time on my hands. As it turns out, Talia sleeps away the afternoon so I try to be home right after lunch most days, so that only leaves 2 or 3 mornings a week, depending on my work schedule. One of these mornings is usually taken up with Talia's preschool program and a grocery run. Another is usually spent at the Doc's office, since between me being pregnant & Talia picking up every germ that goes through her daycare, we are regulars there. I try to keep the third morning for playdates and visiting, although it only happens every second week, and often something comes up. Like today, for example, when we were expecting Shaw anytime between 8 and noon, and the cable guy finally rolled in at 11:55.

(I don't know why I felt the need to appear cool for the cable guy, but I did my best to assure him that "we used to have digital cable, it's just that we moved out of the city, you see, and digital cable just made it to our tiny town....." and "oh, no, you don't have to hook up the VCR; we don't really use it anymore....." Yep, we've really leapt back into the '90s with the installation of our new digital box this morning. Which is approximately 1/6 the size of the original digital box we had the last time we had digital cable, lol.)

So now I have diapers in the wash, a relatively clean house (at least until El Destructo wakes up from her nap), 2 snoozing puppies, and lots of time to get supper ready. I'm not gonna lie to you; I'm putting my feet up and enjoying my life of luxury. At least until the washing machine beeps.

She's a Lady....bug

Hallowe'en has come and gone and was a smashing success. Grandma & Grandpa came in for the festivities, since they usually only get 4 kids at their place, and we've been bragging about our 150+ trick-or-treaters for 3 years now. In a town that is supposedly home to 400 people, how do we get so many visitors on Hallowe'en night? I guess all those city kids know that the shorty-tally couple with the cute ladybug and 2 bad chugs in St. A. give out a bag of chips AND a huge handful of candy & chocolate bars.

Grandma & I took Talia to a few houses - our 2 closest neighbours, the new neighbours 2 doors down (I figured I should introduce myself as the proud owner of the 2 dogs that get their 2 dogs all worked up everyday) and another friend down the street. When we came back in, Talia cried, picked up her coat, crawled over to the front door and pointed outside - so Daddy and Grandpa took her out for a nice, long walk around the neighbourhood so she could see all the kids & pumpkins some more. We ended up getting only about half the kids we usually do, so we had lots of time for visiting & eating treats. What a great night.

Our favourite combination of costumes for the night were the 4 girls who came as a bottle of ketchup, a clown, and 2 Micheal Jacksons. And my personal favourite from last year was back in his crowd-pleasing costume - a huge gift box, beautifully wrapped, with a tag that said "To: The Ladies, From: God." Runners-up were the giant lego block and the puffy snowman. I'm so sad that I only have a few more Hallowe'ens to have my way with m'ladybug, before she wants to be a (yawn) princess or (groan) Spiderman.

Yesterday we all had chocolate hangovers as we said bye-bye to Grandma & Grandpa. Talia (clearly inspired by Skyler's presence at Book Club yesterday afternoon) took 3 wobbly steps last night. I fear it is too little, too late to stop The Big Appointment on Wednesday, where the Dr. will give us the official diagnosis as "Lazy, with an underlying case of So Cute People Don't Stop Picking Me Up."

Off and Running... no wait, still crawling.

We're on a countdown at the Raine house. Talia has a mere 17 days left to become a full-fledged walker, or she has a date to visit our doctor at my next prenatal appointment. We thought we had a big breakthrough yesterday - the stinker took her first steps for Uncle Kent and some stranger that works with Uncle Kent - but she has since refused to take any others.

Just to be clear, we are not concerned at all about the fact that she is not walking - she certainly gets into enough stuff as it is. She is 100% capable of walking. She pops up and stands in the middle of nowhere with no support. She walks all over this house, pushing a chair, holding on to furniture, pushing her little walking toys sideways (just to make things more difficult, I guess), and will walk a mile while holding on to 2 fingers. She will even occasionally walk for her Daddy as long as he keeps 1 finger on each of her shoulders. But she refuses to move those cute little feet without the security of someone or something touching her. And before you ask: no, I don't carry her everywhere (she weighs a ton and I'm pregnant, remember?) and yes, we do give her opportunities to walk ALL THE TIME.

The countdown came as a result of my last prenatal appointment. Our doctor was making small talk with me while measuring m'belly, and asked how old Talia was when she started walking. I replied "Um, she's still NOT walking, actually." The doctor looked over at my stubborn daughter, who was holding the little metal step stool up in the air waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay above her head while doing squats, out in the middle of the floor, and asked incredulously "THIS baby isn't walking?" While the doctor did say there is a big difference between ability to walk and willingness to walk, the fact remains that 95% of children are walking by 15 months. That's 95% of ALL children, including those in wheelchairs and those with other physical and/or cognitive impairments such that they will NEVER walk.

So unless something changes drastically sometime soon, in a little over 2 weeks we will be back to charm the pants off of the doc. (Talia will probably choose that moment to take off in a full sprint and never look back.)

(She doesn't walk, but she actually jumps sometimes, and almost never falls down. I'd say her balance is fine, wouldn't you?)

I love my little baby who is rapidly turning into a big girl, and I've been glad to have her baby-ness linger through her extended crawling stint. And her feet are so ridiculously tiny, it is hard to find her good shoes, so I have been lucky that she hasn't needed really good outside shoes yet. But February is coming soon, and I would really like Talia to be nice and sturdy by the time her little brother or sister arrives, since I won't be able to carry them both when we're in a parking lot, etc.

It will be nice to have the dr. confirm what we are already certain of - Talia's physically able to walk. But since I'm pretty sure she's not going to give us a prescription for a cure for stubbornness, we'll still just have to wait until little Tally is good and ready to walk on her own.

(Do you see how she mocks all of us people who walk?)

Take That, Cancer

About this time 2 years ago, my brother and I got this email sent to us at work:

Hi Kent & Suse:

Yesterday I got a phone call from the place where I had my mammogram last week. There's a spot on it that doesn't look good. We're going to Brandon today for another mammogram. There's no point in worrying until we know what today brings; it's in God's hands.

Love, Mom

I sat at my desk, shocked, and quickly called my brother. We sat on the phone in our separate offices, crying, while we took turns calling our Dad's cell phone to find out a) what the HELL was going on and b) where our Mom learned her email etiquette (um, Mom? Maybe the next time you have news like that, you can phone us.)

By the end of the day, my Mom had had another mammogram, an ultrasound, and a biopsy. She didn't have a firm diagnosis, only that it "didn't look good" but that the spot was also very small, so if it was cancer, it was caught early. By the end of that week, she had her diagnosis: breast cancer. And within another week, she knew that she needed to have a breast removed. She told the parents of the kids in her home daycare and waited to hear when her surgery would be.

What she didn't know at that time was that she was finally going to be a Grammie, with both of her kids expecting their first child within 6 weeks of each other. I was crazy & over-emotional thanks to the pregnancy hormones, and it was hard to not burst into tears everytime we spoke on the phone.

Mom had a great attitude right from the start. She was very matter-of-fact about the whole thing; yes, she had cancer. Yes, she would have a breast removed. Yes, she might need chemo, or radiation, or both.

On Christmas Eve 2007, Mom & Dad opened the last present left under the tree. It was a book called "Just Grandma, Grandpa & Me" and was from Baby Raine, with a promise to meet them in July. Soon after, she found out that Baby Raine's cousin was on the way, as well. The 2 babies gave "Grammie" something to look forward to; I think she forgot she had cancer sometimes.

In January, Mom had her surgery. Kent & I waited all day for our Dad to call and let us know how it went; imagine our surprise when the phone call came and it was Mom on the line, telling us she felt great and "just decided it was time to get on with getting well." She went home from the hospital the next day and didn't look back - she had 2 grandbabies to get ready for, you know. After a follow-up appointment with Cancer Care in Winnipeg, the verdict was in - the cancer had been very small, it was caught very early, her lymph nodes were cancer-free, and she did not require chemo OR radiation. It was the best news we could have hoped to receive.

A few months later, Grammie's first grandchild was born. Talia Isabelle was named after both of her Grandmas, so when you hear us refer to "little Tally" it's because Grammie is "big Tally."

Last October the McQueens participated in the Run for the Cure, and yesterday the McQueen fam all Walked For The Cure again. It was great. I barely held it together as we wove our way through the crowd of walkers & runners to find the registration table where my mom could get her survivor shirt, or while random strangers hugged her, patted her shoulder, or told her it was beautiful to see her out walking with her family. We hope to be picking up Grammie's pink shirt for many, many years to come.

One of those nights....

A recap of last night:

5:30 pm - Arrive at daycare. Baby takes one look at me and makes a beeline for the toy room, hoping to be forgotten at wondrous daycare instead of being dragged to boring old home. Listen to daycare provider talk about how baby has crush on 3 year old boy. Make mental note that husband will be meeting said boy at the front door with a shotgun in 15 years.

5:45 pm - Get home with tired baby. Use culinary skills to whip up delectable soup & grilled cheese. Thank lucky stars that husband married me for more than my supper-making abilities (namely, my ravishing good looks.)

6:30pm - Husband arrives home, and is immediately tagged in to handle supper clean up, baby clean up, and bedtime. Scoot out the door for fun-filled evening of picking up race kits & getting groceries in preparation of McQueen Thanksgiving. Remind self that the sooner I leave, the better the chance I will make it home in time for The Office.

7:00 - 7:30pm - Stand in 2 long lines, one outside in FREEZING cold, to pick up kit. Curse self for not grabbing warmer jacket. Catch up on work emails while standing in line. Get to front of line only to discover the only shirt sizes available are XXL or M. Remind self that soon I will be home on the couch, watching The Office.

7:35 - 7:45pm - Wander aimlessly through unfamiliar Superstore that is not organized like regular Superstore. Curse Galen Weston. Curse him more when I realize 1/2 the store is under construction, thereby making it impossible to find ANYTHING. Smugly pass candy aisle without stopping.

7:45 - 8:00pm - Find approx. half of items on list. Smile knowingly at short, dishevelled, exhausted-looking pregnant woman across the aisle, thinking "at least I'm not as tired as THAT woman."

8:01pm - Realize I am smiling knowingly at my own reflection. Sigh. Head back to candy aisle.

8:02 - 8:10pm - checkout & pack my own groceries, once again vowing to never return to Superstore.

8:35pm - Burst through front door, excited to have caught The Office. Notice husband is watching something else. Ask husband "Why aren't you watching The Office?" to which husband replies "The Office is on at 8."

8:36pm - leave husband to unpack groceries and go to bed. Hrmph.

A Maze In Corn

Today the Raines got lost in a big field of corn. It was awesome. Talia thought wandering around in corn was the funniest thing ever, which was fortunate, since it took us a long time. Then she rocked the petting zoo, got mad when we wouldn't let her pick up a kitten (she loves soft things a little too much, if you know what I mean) and got SUPER mad when a turkey pecked her. Mama was annoyed that they didn't have a pumpkin patch this year - our pumpkins didn't grow, so that was the whole point of our excursion to the maze. But a bag of mini donuts fixes everything, and we ended up having a great day. And wouldn't you know it, on the way home some poor sucker was selling pumpkins on the side of the road. Score!!

Wii Got a New Toy!!

Well, today Rainer and I leapt into 2007 and picked up a Wii. It's technically the Raine Family Christmas present this year, but we saw them at a good price and thought we might as well pick one up now, instead of possibly scrambling to find one closer to Christmas.

The Wii was only part of our shopping spree today - we picked up a few fall things for Talia, found some black shirts for the babies for the upcoming McQueen Family photo shoot, and most importantly..... I also got pants!!! It's true that I just had a baby 14 months ago, and you would think that means that I have lots of mat clothes. But Talia was a July baby, so I have lots of tank tops, cute summery tops, sundresses, skirts, and capri pants. Little Cold November is making his or her grand entrance mid-February, and no matter how big & hot I get, capri pants just aren't going to cut it in -40.

We're gearing up for next weekend's Run for the Cure. Talia's Grammie has been cancer-free since just before her first 2 grandchildren were born. Here's the whole crew at last year's run:

Last year we kept saying "by this time next year, the babies will be running around all over the place!" Little did we know that we would end up having the 2 laziest babies around, at almost 15 and 14 months neither Talia or Landon seem inclined to take any steps independently anytime soon - they are too smart to use their legs like a couple of suckers!!!

To Do

Talia's To Do List:

1. Be as healthy as a horse while in Kenora, charming the pants off of Grandma & Grandpa - CHECK

2. Get a fever just as we are leaving Kenora - CHECK

3. Sleep all the way home - CHECK

4. Hardly eat anything all day - CHECK

5. Get fever again at bedtime - CHECK

6. Scream uncontrollably while in bath until I throw up the little amount I did eat - CHECK

7. Finally calm down and go to sleep, only to wake up at 5:30am with highest fever of my short lifetime - CHECK

8. Scream uncontrollably from 5:30am to 9am - CHECK

9. Once dr. office opens at 9am, suddenly stop screaming, lose fever, and eat a big breakfast - CHECK

10. Make Mama stay home from work for nothing on a day that includes thunderstorms outside and no cable inside - CHECK

Well, at least we've kicked that fever for now. Here's hoping it stays that way.

Solitary Confinement

Talia and I are under house arrest for the remainder of this week, as the Little Lady has gotten herself a case of german measles. It was only a matter of time, I suppose, as Talia has been in daycare for about a month and STILL puts everything in her mouth, so she's bound to pick up whatever germs are floating around there. I'm able to work from home, so I've brought some stuff home with me, but my measley little companion isn't allowing for much work to get done!

We've had a busy August, with Daddy starting a new job, Mama heading back to work and Talia adjusting to her new part-time digs at Jojo's house. The transition to daycare was much harder on Mom & Dad; Talia didn't notice that we weren't there. By her second morning at daycare, she recognized Jojo's house, giggled, squealed with delight, and pointed to the door, firmly telling Daddy "DO! DO! DO!" Rainer drops her off in the morning, he says that he takes her shoes and jacket off, puts her on the floor, and she's off like a shot. I have the joy of picking her up in the evening, I'm so happy to see her, but she often tells me off for showing up in the middle of her snack or playing with her new boyfriend, Felix. That hurts Mama's sensitive little feelings, but truth be told, we are both really glad that she loves Jojo's place so much. It would be much more difficult to leave her somewhere if she cried and didn't want to stay.

It looks like September will be just as busy. We are off to visit K-town this weekend, provided that little Miss Measles is no longer contagious. I still get really carsick thanks to little Cold November (just like when I was pregnant with Talia!) so I'm not really looking forward to the 2 hours in the van, but it will be great to see everyone once we get there. And of course, we get to sneak a peak at our second little Rainedrop on the 23rd, so stay tuned for ultrasound pics! In the meantime, here are some of our favourites from August:

Best friends in matching shirts.

Ready for daycare in the morning.

Mama's first day back at work.

Daddy's first day at his new job.

Watermelon = pure joy.

Couch potato!

It's A Real Shame We're So Far Away.....

You might think that not much happens in the town I grew up in. After all, there are only about 800 people there. But after living in this thriving metropolis of 400 for the last 2.5 years, I appreciate the shenanigans of my home town, which is practically a city compared to this place.

Here's a summary of the conversation between my Dad and his back-lane neighbour this weekend:

(Dad & Neighbour, standing in Neighbour's driveway.)
Neighbour: You guys get a cat over at your place?
Dad: No! Why the hell would we get a $%@# cat? What would we do with a *$!@ cat?!?
Neighbour: Well, something's been crawling around your yard all afternoon and just went under your step.
Dad: Really? Let's go see what it is!
(Dad & Neighbour both try to peek under stairs from various angles.)
Dad: I can't see a damn thing. I'll go get a stick and scare him out!
Neighbour (lying on lawn, eyes peeled on mysterious visitor under the stairs): OK
Dad (poking furiously with stick): Do you see it?
Neighbour: Yep!
Dad: What's it doing?
Neighbour: Getting ready to spray you!
(mystery guest under stairs runs out, solves big "what IS that?" mystery by spraying Dad.)

Good old G.P., skunks and all. Can't wait to visit for August long weekend!

Happy Birthday, Little Lady!

This weekend we celebrated Talia's first birthday. I can't believe it's already been a year since we met that serious little newborn. Talia has gone from this:

to this:

in just one short year! Amazing! We have further celebrated Talia turning 1 by wearing pjs without feeties, ending nursing, and throwing away all the soothers. This morning for about 15 minutes, I'm pretty sure Talia thought being 1 was for the birds. But she has bounced back like a champ!

I don't know where the time has gone. I'll be going back to work half-time in 3 weeks and am so sad that my best friend summer with my little friend is quickly coming to an end! But before we know it, we'll be into our new routine and it will all be fine, I'm sure.

Here are some pics of the party, for those of you not on Facebook - Donni, I'm talkin' to you.

Special thanks to all you rule breakers who ignored my request that your presence be your gift, especially Auntie Donni who came all the way from Regina for the big party!

Happy Birthday, baby girl! xoxoxo

We Heart Summer

Summer is finally here, and we are in full-summer-swing. Our blogging has suffered, as we've been living outdoors, in the real live world, with real live people. (It's nice out there!)

We're rockin' our summer projects - the new deck is finished, Talia is proving to be quite a little fish, the introduction of ice cream was the best day ever, our garden is coming along nicely (25 hills of potatoes and counting, yo!) and Rainer is working non-stop to get our yard tip-top for this weekend's festivities. What's going on this weekend, you ask? Our little lady is turning 1!!! If you're looking for a pool party to attend this Saturday and will be in the area, send me an email and I'll send you the details.

Who's Yer Daddy?

Talia was a busy girl today, making sure Grandpa & Daddy had a great Father's Day. We went out for breakfast, where Talia ate tons of pancakes and helped herself to all the hashbrowns on Grandma's plate. (Sorry about the giant mess, Chicken Chef, but that's what you get for not having trays on the highchairs. Tally's too short to eat efficiently when the table comes up to her shoulders.)

This afternoon, Daddy took a break from all the deck-building and played in the pool with his baby girl. She's quickly on her way to being 85% fish, just like Daddy.

Heart to Beat

Talia and I were invited to take part in Nor'West's Big Bike Ride team Heart to Beat. Check us out in our snazzy team uniforms!!

The Nor'West riders raised a ton of money, and we had a great time pedalling along to Livin' on a Prayer. Take that, heart disease!

Green-ish Thumbs

This weekend we planted our garden. It is 1,000 square feet of vegetabley goodness. Well, hopefully it will be, someday. Right now it's more like 1,000 square feet of weeds & seeds. Grow, seeds, grow!! Get lost, weeds, get lost!!

Talia was a great helper. Without her, we wouldn't have anyone to eat clumps of dirt or randomly shake leftover seeds all over the lawn. I don't think Grampy will be impressed by our yard if we have random carrots and beanstalks sprouting up willy-nilly all over the place. Note to self: next year, put Ernie in charge of supervising Talia, as Bert seems to be no match for her.

In other news, Talia is now crawling over to things and pulling herself up like crazy. She's been able to pull up for months; she just hasn't been able to get herself over to something she can pull up on. We're really in trouble now, kids.

And lastly, we have to find a new spot for Talia's hamper, because instead of sleeping, she likes to pull her dirty clothes out of her hamper, through the bars, into the crib.

What a stinker.