Sophia eating toast

Sophia and I went to the Health Clinic yesterday for her 6 month immunizations (we are a month behind in the immunization dept) and the nurse asked me what Sophia has been eating. Which consists of all pureed foods. She suggested that we feed her some food with textures now. Which is quite coincidental since this past weekend we were in a restaurant and I had forgotten to bring something for Sophia to eat. I usually give her mum mum crackers to eat while we are eating our meals to keep her busy. So I gave her some rice. One grain at a time. She did so well eating it that I gave her 2 to 3 grains at a time. At the end of the meal she was eating little clumps of rice and was doing so well, not gagging even once. So today we tried to give her little pieces of toast and she loved it and ate 1/2 a slice all in one sitting all by herself. We are so proud of her.

Sophia

Bedtime Yoga

Ever since I started doing Yoga classes, the girls have been asking me to show them how to do it.  I'm a total beginner and I can't even get it right when I'm in class and the teacher is telling us what to do.  So when I was trying to teach the girls some moves, it never seemed 'right'.  So I bought a DVD, "Yoga to Lose Weight" and we put in on tonight.  I think we laughed more than stretched.  Sophia was still awake and wanted to be held so it was hard to do Yoga with wiggly squiggly Sophia in my arms.   The girls loved it.  Namaste.

More Photos

Papa got a new lens that he has wanted for his camera and he has been snapping away.  Thought I would share a few.

The girls got their haircuts this afternoon and the hairdresser curled and styled their hair.  They were pretty happy about it.

This shot was from yesterday when the girls decided to dress up in their princess clothes.  First time in months that they wanted to.  They used to dress up each and every day.  Not any more.  They are growing up too fast.  (They even wear the 'red hair' as a skirt now.  Boo hoo sad.)  

Sophia can sit for a few seconds on her own.  But then she wobbles over to one side.  It's hard work balancing those cheeks.

Picture of Sophia drawn by Rachel.  Made us crack up.

All Clean

Weekend Getaway

Tobi...we missed you!  Tobi came for a visit tonight and it was bittersweet.  He is truly no longer MY dog.  The dog that I fed, kissed and walked (not to mention the thousands of poops I picked after) has found a new figure in his life to follow around.  sniff sniff.  Which makes me sad because he is MY dog.  But happy because he seems really happy with his new family.  No joke, I was calling him to come to me and he did for a brief moment and went straight back to his new master and sat down.  The heartbreak!  But we did give him up and he is such a smart cookie he knows which hand feeds him now.  Also, this new family has saved his life.  On Christmas Eve we got a phone call to say that Tobi was very sick and couldn't even make it up a flight of stairs and stopped eating all together.  He had lost so much weight he was only skin and bones.  He was diagnosed with diabetes and had to be hospitalized for 4 days on a IV drip to regulate his insulin.  And now his new family gives him 2 insulin shots every day.  We are so thankful that this new family loves him and is still willing to keep him.
Papa, the girls, Kaili & Jaia and I went up to the local ski mountain this weekend for some skiing, skating and tubing.  Well at least that was the plan.  We actually stayed in the cozy condo for the majority of the time.  The girls did 2 to 3 bunny runs each on the hill and that was it.  Then today they went tubing for about 2 hours which they loved.  The rest of the time was spent watching movies, playing cards and visiting with friends.  Oh and we got to enjoy the hot tub the first night we arrived which was loads of fun.  We know that next time we need more time up at the hill or not to be so ambitious with our plans since everything takes a lot longer with lots of kids.

We also really enjoyed the gas fireplace.  It kept us so warm.

James and I tried to teach the girls how to ski on the bunny hill and it wasn't too successful.  The girls seemed to have forgot all they learned last year.   It was so hard for me to go down with Alex.  It was super hard for me to get her back up on her feet when she had fallen down.  So after our few attempts Papa and I looked at each other and agreed...lets get them some lessons!

Alex's girl fox even made it up to the condo!

Can't wait until the next time we go back up there.  It really felt like a weekend getaway.

End of the Holidays

I can't believe that tomorrow we start into our normal routine again.  The girls start school and Papa goes back to work this week.  We had such a long break.  We were all off since Dec 19th.  It seemed long and we are looking forward to getting back into some sort of routine.   Most of the holiday was spent in the play room.  I was trying to organize it and take out toys that they don't play with to make room for all the toys they got this Christmas.  That wasn't an easy task since the girls were usually all with me.  As I pulled out toys that had been neglected for months, the girls would want to play with it so it was hard to throw things out with them 'helping' me.
The girls are wearing the stylish Montreal clothes that Susan sent them.  They have worn this outfit twice already and I have them in the dryer right now so they can wear it to school tomorrow.
These deer are lovely (except when they eat all the plants around our house) and they pass by our house quite often in the morning.  They don't seem to be too scared of us.  They were literally about 1 1/2 feet away from the window where we were sitting and looking out at them.

Sophia has been quite fussy and a handful this past week.  I'm not sure why that is.  She seems to be better from her cold.  Maybe it's teething?  I don't know but she sleeps so lightly (was awake last night from 3am to 5am).  She's passed out on Papa at the moment.  Which is sweet but....24 the movie is on right now on T.V. and Papa and I were supposed to watch it.  Oh well...I'll catch it another time.  
It's been 10 years today since Papa and I got married at City Hall in Montreal.  Remember that day guys?  After the service we went out for lunch at the Marche in Place Ville Marie.  (We did get married in a church that spring).  Seems like a lifetime ago.  So much has happened since then.  We have 3 kids, had a dog for 9 years, lived in BC all that time and got older together.  Amazing when you think about it.....10 years!  I look forward to what the next 10 years bring.

First Day of 2009

Like most of the holidays we are spending our day indoors at home.  This cold has been going through each member of our family for 3 weeks.  Holy Moly Long.   I love staying at home.  I'm a total home body but even I am getting cabin fever!

The girls are homebodies too.  Papa keeps asking them if they want to go sledding in our backyard but they insist on staying indoors...and painting.

Sophia is finally getting a little bit of an appetite.  Just a tiny bit.  We want her to eat more but she just doesn't eat with gusto.  The pediatrician says that she is growing and not to be too concerned.  It's just that she is in the 10th percentile.  I know that I'm short but Alex and Rachel were always in the 90th percentile.  I know it is bad to compare.

I'm still thinking about something that happened yesterday.  The whole family went to Earl's for lunch (seriously one of the only times we have left the house except for Christmas dinner at Silvano's place).  While I was at Earl's I went to the washroom and was nursing Sophia in one of the empty stalls.  We were the only ones in the washroom.  2 women entered and went into separate stalls.  One of them noted that there was pee all over the seat.  The other woman responds by saying, "It was probably someone Oriental...they do things like that".  I was shocked.  I waited until the woman who said that rude, racist comment flushed and was at the counter washing her hands to step out and confront her.  I was just going to say something along the lines of, "Wow, what a hurtful and racist comment that was".  But when I saw who it was I was speechless.  It was my butcher's wife and daughter.  I go to this meat shop ALL THE TIME.  EVERY WEEK!  It's a family run butcher and the father and his daughter are there all the time.  The daughter felt so badly and was trying to make small talk with me about how cute Sophia was...how much she has grown, etc...  I just washed my hands and left.  I'm sad that people still stereotype like that.  I'm also sad that I don't have a good butcher to go to anymore.  I refuse to give our hard earned money over to people who would think like that.  Is that wrong?

Anyhow, I want to start the new year off with a positive outlook.  I could think of all the usual New Year's resolutions...like losing weight, etc...  But I think I will keep it simple by 1) taking care of myself (mama's usually don't and then don't have too much energy to give back to their family) 2) be present - not just rush through the motions but really BE THERE for my kids when I play with them 3) Kiss Papa more.  Aim at least for 1/10th of the times that I do for the girls.  What are some of the things that you are wishing to do in the new year?

Happy New Year Everyone!