New Hampshire - Thomas

Thomas Henry Bates!

What do you want to be for Halloween?

I want to be a Spy-Zombie-Alien-Claw-Monster!

A what?

A Spy-Zombie-Alien-Claw-Monster!

Thomas, you are so funny and so loveable!!!  (Whatever you are!)

New Hampshire - Anna

Sweet girl playing in the leaves.

I love this shot.  She just wants to do everything that her brothers do.

I think Anna's most favourite place to be is on the kitchen table eating her brother's left overs.  You wouldn't know it to look at her, but this little monkey eats non-stop!

We traveled to the Boston Children's museum while I was visiting.  I can't wait until Kate can enjoy things like this.  I enjoyed watching Anna play with the water.  Suzanne didn't enjoy it so much... I let Anna get all wet and well wet is bad... oops!

She really is a funny little fairy!  I miss her already.

Random October Stuff

Below are a collection of random October moments.  Some are typical every day things, and a few are special occasions.  

I'm not sure why, but it seems that all children enjoy playing with their car seats.  Ken thinks it's Kate's way of saying bully to one of her objects of confinement.

Kate is slowly but surely trying to figure out the stairs.  She has finally figured out how to pull herself up onto a step, but hasn't quite figured out how to get to the next one.  I keep waiting for the day we'll have to buy gates.

On Thanksgiving Day we went for a drive - a lovely drive.  The current family history quest is a side step - trying to find Aunt Addie - my Dad's godmother that had no children of her own.  We drove out to a cemetery in Harriston, Ontario to look for what could have possibly been her grave - but it wasn't.

On the way home we took the northern route and drove through several pretty towns and past the Shelburne wind farms.  I could not adequately capture the wind turbines.  They are huge and every where!

After visiting the cemetery in Harriston it got me thinking about other graves, graves of my family in the city.  I was searching on a Jewish site and found Al and Florence Solman's graves, and Eva - the first wife of Uncle Stanley, mother of Maribeth and Lenny.  I decided that Kate and I would go and find the graves.

Al and Florence's grave is in a beautiful cemetery in North York - very well maintained, very peaceful.  The grass was thick and lush and Kate enjoyed it very much.  Eva's grave was in another cemetery in North York and I think Maribeth captured the feeling very well when she called it "a rather spooky and spiritual graveyard".  I felt a connection to Eva that I can't describe, considering she's a person that I've never met and she isn't a blood relative.

Everyone keeps asking me how I'm enjoying Tottenham.  I am slowly making my peace with the place.  The one thing that I love doing in town is going for walks.  I try to take Kate out everyday, it doesn't always happen but we try!  The weather has been so unpredictable the last little while.  I'm never quite sure how to dress Kate. There's the light weight coat, with blanket and cat hat...

...or the heavier snowsuit.

Of course one thing that Kate does absolutley every day is nap!  I'm trying to introduce a "lovey".  I tried the pig and she seemed to like it very much - she's a girl after my own heart!

And every Sunday we go to church.  Thanks to many hand-me-downs from Suzanne, and other generous gifts Kate has a plethora of dresses.

And last but not least in the randomness - eating.  Trying to find the balance between Kate figuring out how to feed herself, and MESS is an interesting journey.  This particular day Ken and I decided to let Kate enjoy her food in every possible sensory way.  She was in Shepherd's Pie heaven!

What a difference a year makes!

It was a year ago today that Ken and I went looking for fall colours.  I wanted a pregnant picture - even though I didn't look very pregnant yet!  I can't remember what we talked about as we walked but I remember it was a beautiful day.

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day.  After church we went for a walk down by the pond.  It's funny to think about pregnant me from a year ago, it's funny to think that I didn't know it was Kate.  And now that she's here it's getting harder to remember life without her.  I'm so happy that I get to be Kate's mom.

Kate's First Thanksgiving

 I meant to take a picture of Kate eating Thanksgiving dinner however that didn't quite happen.  So here's my little pumpkin all turkeyed out, even though she didn't really eat that much turkey, she was more interested in carrots.

I'm so thankful for my family - for Ken and for Kate, and for my parents and sister and brothers.  I'm so thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the peace it brings to my life.  I'm so thankful to live in Canada.  I'm thankful for year long maternity leaves.  I'm thankful for beautiful fall colours.  And right now I'm thankful for pumpkin cheesecake - yay Ken!

Kate is Nine Months Old

 My sweet Kate!

Kate enjoying some light reading before breakfast.

Enjoying yummy yogurt and apple sauce.

She often puts her foot up and I find it very cute - of course I think most things she does are cute...

She likes to put her fingers in her food.

After breakfast we took a nap, I showered, we ate lunch and then went to the library for books and babies.  It was a glorious, delicious, beautiful day and after books and babies we went on a walk.

This is Kate and Marisol.  Marisol is the daughter of Michelle.  We met at Kindermusik.  I finally have a Tottenham friend - YAY!!

We parted ways and Kate enjoyed a nap.

My sweet babe.

After her nap I did dishes and she played in her exersaucer - after nursing of course.

Then I let her feed herself cottage cheese and pears.  She made a moderately good sized mess.

Then she played with her toys - I like this action shot - mid scoot.

Then Ken came home so I could blog!  Yay for Daddy time!

There you have it, a day in the life of nine month old Kate.

If you look really hard...

If you look really hard - or even better, double click on the photo and you can see one of her teeth.  So far there are three, although two of them are still only partially out!

Kate and the Bear

Watch the bear...






































... it is shrinking!