Buckie!?

Well, we won't change his nickname yet, but Jasper is finally getting his top front teeth! Two little white nubs have finally broken through (complete with a cute little gap). No pics of the buckies yet, but here are a few others taken by Grandma and Grandpa this past weekend.

  

Happy 3rd Birthday Marley!

Our little Marley turned 3 yesterday. The entire fam spent a few crazy hours in Ladner with a frenzied group of toddlers jacked up on sugar, and an hour spent at "Go Bananas". Despite the madness, the entire party was executed with military precision by Greg and Al and much fun was had by all : )
I couldn't get a good picture of the bday girl due to above mentioned sugar induced madness so this one will have to do...

Jasper and Paige partied it up quite hard!

 

Week in review

   

Well another week has gone by, not a remarkable week by any stretch, but still a lovely week spent with my boy. On Monday we got to meet wee Hannah for the first time - so cute and so tiny! We had a lovely afternoon in the sunshine at the Isle Granville with Tanis and Kayna (and a lovely afternoon shopping!) and lunchies with Uncle Jeffie on friday. Now that the weather is improving and Jasper is getting to the age where playgrounds actually are something he can use (but not totally enjoy - yet), I have been introducing him to the swing, and slide, and other apparati...however he seems far more interested in watching the other kids play than playing himself. His new boots are tres cute non?

Oh, and since Jasper has now figured out how to crawl UP the stairs, we installed the first baby gate this weekend - Jasper was none to thrilled about it....

What goes up.....

Well, I knew there had to be a downside to all this crawling business. Jasper has already figured out how to climb the stairs. I have found him 3 times now 3 stairs high and headed for the summit...ack! Jasper has also found the downside to being able to pull himself to standing on all the furniture and that is of course that he has to get down somehow, and the floor is hard, and sometimes he lands on his head.....

Bienvenidos al mundo bebe Hannah!

My good friend Jennifer and her husband Craig welcomed Hannah into the world this past weekend - 3 weeks early! Sorry to Jen for my lack of photography skills - again the camera was doing something funky, but I did manage to salvage one good pic of the beautiful wee girl. Another girlfriend for Jasper!

My Sweetheart

Finally a post that isn't about Jasper (even though he is my little sweetheart). Today is our three year wedding anniversary and I am so thankful to have such a wonderful husband. Aaron is the love of my life and I am thankful every day for him. I love you sweetheart!

Nuestras Vacaciones en México

  

I remember the good old days when a vacation in Mexico used to consist of lots of lying in the sun, relaxing, reading, sleeping in til noon, cervezas and of course lots of eating. Well, travelling with an 8 month old takes all but two of those aforementioned items out of the occasion - the cervezas and lots of eating. Please don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, and will gladly suffer the hell known as airline travel with a baby to do it again in the future, but it certainly was a different experience this time.

For the first time in my adult life I was also very conscious to not get any sun - am really starting to notice the mess know as my dermis over the past few years, and thus I am probably the exact same shade of pale pasty white as when I left! I am sure I will be happy for it in 20 years though.

So, on to the good part - the trip! We stayed in a little village called Puerto Morelos which is nestled in between Cancun and Playa del Carmen on the Mayan Riveria. Puerto Morelos took a absolute beating from Hurricane Wilma back in 2005 and is still recovering today. Basically our casa was surrounded by devastation - to land and sea - and rebuilding of hotels, casas, roads and other infrastructure was in full swing (including the road leading to the house, if you could even call it a road - am not sure there are any shocks left on our rental car!). So, I am glad we went there and helped support the local economy - the area is definately suffering from a lack of tourist dollars.

 

It was about a 30 minute drive from our casa to either Cancun or Playa del Carmen. We spent a day at each, my preference was definately for Playa del Carmen despite the hoardes of touristas. We also spent a lovely (but expensive!) day at Xcaret (pronounced 'Ish-kah-rayt') which is an amazing eco-park/zoo/aquarium/beach/snorkeling area all in one. We also enjoyed spending some qt with the Nielsen/Miller clan. All of the kids held up pretty well considering the trip and the strange surroundings and high heat. Jasper loved spending time with his cousins and by the end of the trip didn't even cry each time cousin Logan "played" with him - guess the little one is toughening up finally! : )

 

So, now we are back and ready to book our next beach holiday (Maui - next winter). I got a nice jump start on my quest to learn Espanol (via classes and software) and none of us had a visit from Montezema and her revenge so we are all thankful!

Oh, and never let anyone tell you it doesn't rain in Mexico - here's proof!

 

8 Month Report Card

Crawling - check!
Pulling myself up to standing using furniture - check!
Saying Mama - check!
Taking major headers out of my carseat - check!
Taking headers just about everywhere - check!
Clappin my hands - check!

Now we just need to work on eating and things will be perfect!

Hack, hack......

Well, there is not much to report since my last entry. I finally got hit with a nasty cold, at the same time Aaron has been away all week, and its snowing - again! So, poor Jasper has been stuck inside with his sniffling snotting mummy who is surviving on Advil Cold & Sinus and anything cold and liquidy. Only one week til our Mexican siesta so that is getting me through. We did take some pics today from the bedroom window - the sun is out and the view is fabu-lous!

Da-da-da-da-dum.......

Ok, I concede. Even though Aaron "claims" that Jasper actually says "mum-mum-mum-mum" on occasion (esp. when upset), I think his first real word was da-da, which seems to be his favorite little phrase now besides "phhhhhhhhtttttt" (always accompanied by copios amounts of spit bubbles)!

Holiday Madness Part II - The Cabin

First off, let me begin by saying that Jasper does in fact smile, he does so a lot, just never in front of the camera : )

A typical trip to the cabin usually consists of lots of drinking and eating, game-playing and lots of good zzzzzzz's. This trip certainly did not disappoint in any of those areas, well except for maybe in the "lots of zzzzzz's" department, but what can you expect with 2 - 7 month olds in da house.

Jasper was once again spoiled rotten by Mimi/Papa C and his Auntie/Uncle and cousins...the favorite gift by far being the little stride to ride car, I think Logan would have been happy if he could have taken it home as well!

We decided to ring in the New Year with a little Mexican flair in preparation for the Nielsen family trip to Mexico on the 19th. Mimi produced a buffet that would rival any all-inclusive and Uncle Kent blended up some magical margs - Ole! Despite the fact that most of the cabin was in bed by 9pm, I think we all rang in the New Year to the tune of said 7 month olds crying, fireworks exploding, and crazy late night snowmobilerers snowmobiling!

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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