7 months!

2day eye am 7 munths old! I lik chokolat!

Holiday Madness Part I - The Island

Well we are back from 3 jam packed days of fun and excitement at Grandma and Grandpa Day's house in Victoria - a few pounds heavier, a few presents lighter, and with a nasty Christmas cold for Jasper as well, ah-choo!

Much fun and merriment was had by all and we all were certainly spoiled rotten this year - the Days and Nielsens must have been very very very good! Mom and Dad treated us "kids" (Aaron, me, Greg, Al) to a night out without our kids on Saturday - dinner and movie...such a treat and we all even managed to stay awake for the entire flick (Casino Royal - quite good actually). Oh and of course we ate and drank a lot.

Christmas eve was upon us and the Nielsens bundled up for a little tour de Rock with Jasper, the highlight being the stop on Dallas Road where there was some serious surf rolling in and quite the wind storm a-brewing. We also had a nice little visit with the Prael family and met their new addition Sonia! Even though my little guy was that size only 7 months ago it really seems like a lifetime ago, I could barely remember how to hold a newborn lest I break her - she was such a gorgeous little girl and the entire clan seemed very happy and healthy. Once home we hunkered down for another night of serious eating and drinking (a minimum of 10000 cals must be consumed per day) and we read Jasper "Twas the Night before Xmas" by the Christmas tree. Unfortunately, visions of sugar plums must have been dancing through his head all night because Jasper barely slept all night - must have known Santa was on his way..ho ho ho!

The big day arrives! Jasper decided to wake up at about 6am, even earlier than Grandpa Day and wanted to get the party started. Once the party did start around 9am however, he was sound asleep again! Did I already mention how spoiled we were this year, it was pure present gluttony in its purest form - almost embarrasing really (it took 3 hours to open everything!) But each present was well received and very thoughtful and much appreciated so thank you Day family and thank you to Aaron and Jasper who spoiled me rotten (including a beautiful charm bracelet from Tiffany & Co!). So the rest of the day pretty much went like this - eat, eat, drink, eat, drink, eat, play game, eat, nap, drink, eat turkey dinner, drink, sleep...zzzzzzzzzzzzz.........

Now we are home for a few days of R & R until we head to the cabin for round 2 of Holiday madness - the Nielsen edition!

Happy New Year everyone, more posts in 2007!

We outta be in pictures

A few weeks ago we went to this lovely little photography studio in Kits for some family pics. It took on average at least 3 staff members at least 5 minutes each shot to get Jasper to smile (and even then he refused at times) so it was a bit of a long tiring evening, but I think worth it in the end. Unfortunately good studios and good pics come with a nice big price tag so there weren't enough copies to go around to everyone, so I thought I would post some here. Please no laughing at my double chin k? And is the faux-hawk not the cutest thing ever?

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Getting into the Christmas Spirit....

In what will likely become an annual tradition as long as we are living in Vancouver, last night the family went to the Trinity Street Xmas light competition. Some of you already know that Aaron and I lived on Trinity Street a few years ago and loved it, and everytime we go back we hope that a house is for sale because we would move back in an instant. Until then, we have to be content with just visiting once a year and looking at all the magical light displays. Our favorite this year was the gingerbread house...mmmmmm gingerbread!

Back at Casa Nielsen's Xmas display.....

The Year in Review

What a year 2006 was! It really does seem like yesterday that we were preparing for Xmas 2005 and little Jasper was barely a bump in my tummy (blame most of the bump on too much yummy food!). Early 2006 was spent preparing for our little Jasper, lots of pre-natal this and that and lots of work for both myself and Aaron. We finally had a nice break in March when the entire Nielsen clan descended upon Harrison Hot Springs for the weekend to celebrate Val's big 5-0! The weather even decided to cooperate that weekend and we were treated like Kings and Queens with amazing food, amazing company and of course amazing soaks in the hot springs - bliss! 2006 also marked my parents 40th wedding anniversary, which is absolutely an amazing testament to their relationship. However due to the impending arrival of not only baby Nielsen, but baby Day number 2, we celebrated early (in March) with a lovely dinner and Mum and Dad postponed their European cruise for a year in order to be close to home when the grandkids arrived. Paige Alexandra Day arrived a few days ahead of schedule on April 15th, but conveniently the same weekend that Mum and Dad were in town for Easter so that worked out well. May not only marked the beginning of my mat leave (hoorah!), but it was a bounty for babies! My good friend Janet welcomed Molly into the world in early May, then Michelle and Kent's little number two - Everett Kent Miller on May 15th and then of course our little bundle of joy on May 29th. There were also some other reasons to celebrate this year - My good friend Jennifer is expecting her first bebe in Spring 2007, and my dearest darling Feathers (aka Ashley) is expecting her wee piper or pipette in April. September saw the sale of Aaron's business after 2 long years of hard work as well as the marriage of Chad and Louise after 10 years of unmarried bliss. Lisa and Helmar welcomed little Sonja Sydney Prael on December 10, and another bebe Sonje arrived in Calgary to my old friends Nathan and Kristen on Dec 6th. Whemph...what an amazing year. I look forward to a happy and healthy 2007 for everyone and the arrival of at least one little bundle of joy. Happy Holidays everyone!

A little preview of the piper to be!

Budding Ballerina

Yesterday we went to Marley's dance "recital" out in Ladner. Even though I am biased, I still think Marley was one of the most advanced "sashayers" in the entire class! Unfortunately, camera problems occured again so I only have one blurry shot of the sashay in action.....

  


As you can see the cousins were very excited about the whole event as well : )

December update

Jasper and I went to my office kids xmas party this morning. There was the usual mayhem and madness along with copious amounts of sugary treats (for me - yum!). Jasper unfortunately got really tired after about an hour (too young for the sugary treats to keep him awake/wired for hours) and really had enough when Santa made his grand entrance. Poor Santa, what an earful he got from Jasper!

Jasper is starting to eat cereal a little more regularly (thanks Everett for the tip) and we are keeping busy with lots of Xmas shopping and fun social events. I am trying to show him how to crawl - every day we practice a little, but Jasper only manages to hold the "ready position" for a second before he flops on his belly. But he is getting quite good at rolling and turning himself in a circle while on his back which is good for checking out every angle of the gymini and crib.

How do you convince a 6 month old that eating is fun?

Ok, so Jasper isn't really digging this whole "solid" food thing yet. We've tried cereal (wet and dry), we've tried real fruit (mashed) and pretty much every single flavour of baby food there is out there. He will tolerate a little bit of yam and applesauce but everything else is met with a resounding gag and icky face. Anyways, one book I read said to let your baby "explore" his food to get him used to it...well, here are the results - much on floor, much on clothes/face/hands, not much in mouth....
Update! 30 minutes later....
Ok, so I spoke too soon, I mixed some oat/rice cereal just because the doctor said I have to keep trying and lo and behold he ate about 1/4 cup - willingly!

6 month checkup

This morning we went to Dr Mary to get Jasper's 6 month checkup (and 3 shots - egad!). He was 72cm long and weighs just over 20lbs. Apparently his noggin is quite big too..44cm! (unless I got that wrong) hopefully this means he is getting his daddy's big brain! Jasper was a real trooper through the whole shot ordeal, just a few quiet whimpers then that was it (clearly gets that pain threshold from me).
I would have posted another picture but for some reason the %*)@(#*_@)($ camera won't download today...sigh.