2012 Christmas Card

The Stroller

Santa brought both our girls strollers this year and had I known how motivating Q would find it I probably would have asked him to bring it months ago.  You see, before Christmas morning she was taking steps here and there but she wasn't really "walking."  But the stroller changed all that, take a peek:

Checking it out...

Five minutes later...

Twenty-four hours later...

And there you have it ladies and gentlemen.  The stroller from Santa is officially how Q learned to walk.  If you're wondering how long it to her to completely ditch the stroller and start walking around on her own, about 4 days.

Christmas!

 On Christmas Eve we baked and decorated sugar cookies for Santa!  Aunt D and Y were very creative and thus their cookies came out a lot prettier than mine.

Q, while she couldn't really help us decorate all the cookies, she did more than her fair share of eating them.  She managed to find the perfect spot around the table we were using to decorate and each time I looked at her she had a different cookie in her hands (and mouth).

In the late afternoon/early evening various family members started to arrive.  We ate, laughed, played a had an all around great time just hanging out together.  Aunt S recently bought a new camera and she was able to take lots and lots of great pictures!

We put the girls to bed, and shortly thereafter Santa arrived...

The girls (mostly Y) woke all of us up bright and early to head down stairs and open all the gifts.  They did a pretty good job of waiting until everyone was gathered together before they started.  Here's a photo taken amid the chaos.

It snowed a little on Christmas Day but the next day (Boxing Day in Canada) we were walloped!  We had read one report on Christmas Day that told us we'd get several inches at home (Michigan) but only a couple centimeters in Canada so we thought we'd try to head out early.  However, the following morning when we checked the weather reports we read that the snow wouldn't begin until later in the evening with a 1 inch accumulation and the rest coming later in the night, so we decided we'd be safe leaving after dinner.  And then the snow started falling, and falling, and falling and we realized there was no way we were going anywhere!

Y begged and begged to go out and play in it but we hadn't brought along any snow gear.  So we finally settled on placing plastic bags over her feet and socks (to at least keep her feet dry) and then letting her wear her NON-snow boots out.  Luckily Nana B. is really short so she was able to fold the legs of her snow pants up a few inches and make a few quick adjustments at the waist and Y was able to wear those out.  She attempted to run in the snow, she fell in the snow, made snow angels in the snow and build a snowman with Nana B. (which actually looks more like a snow duck).  All of these while Q and I watched them outside of the window.

Uncle L, knowing that Aunt D wasn't feeling well decided that he would go out and brave the freezing cold temperatures to build a snowman for her.  Coming from Peru this was the largest accumulation of snow she had ever seen, and she was too sick to even play in it :(.  But luckily for her, there will surely be plenty more opportunities!

Crochet

I decided it was time to expand my needle craft repertoire and give crocheting a try.  I've been wanting to make some bows that look like roses and none of the knitting patters I tried were working to my satisfaction.  So I searched and found a crochet pattern and decided to give it a go with some help from Youtube.  I have made a few to give to friends and one for each of my girls to wear at Christmas.  The photo below is not my first attempt but it is my best one to date, it has taken me a while to get used to the whole crocheting process.

Christmas Card Photo Attempts

After a failed last minute attempt  to have family portraits taken to add to our 2012 Christmas Card I had the bright idea to just take some family photos around our Christmas Tree.  That too, did not work out so hot.  Mostly for the same reasons it didn't work out in studio...Q was just not into having her picture taken.  But I thought I'd share a few of the attempts that turned out decent, though not Christmas Card material.

Great Wolf Lodge

As a Chrysler employee B is apparently eligible for all sorts of discounts and all sorts of places.  One of those places just happens to be Great Wold Lodge!  So naturally when it came time to use that extra vacation time they gave him, we decided it would be the perfect place to go spend a few days.

We chose to go up on a Thursday and return home on Saturday, we figured it would work out best, and we figured right.  Check in isn't until 4pm but you can arrive as early as 1pm to use the water park.  We arrived at 2:30 and since it was a Thursday our room was ready and we immediately checked in.  Of course Y wanted to head to the pool area right away so after getting changed we were off!

Both girls had a blast playing in the water, something that hadn't been able to do since our neighborhood pool closed in September.  There weren't a ton of people there, in fact aside from us there may have only been 5-10 other families utilizing the water park.  Y was quite apprehensive of the water even though we made sure she was wearing a life vest.  I think the few months out of the pool affected her level of confidence.  We stayed until about 6:30pm when we decided we would head up and order a pizza for dinner.  Every night at 8pm and 9pm they have story time for the kids and we wanted to be sure to make it to the 8pm time slot so that we could get the girls in bed.

Friday morning we woke up, ate breakfast, showered and headed off to the water park again!  Y met a little boy who was able to boost her confidence in the water and after that there was no holding her back!  I told B I would watch the girls if he wanted to do any of the big water slides, an offer he took me up on!  After he was done, he encouraged me to try it and assured me that it was just a smooth, calm ride down to the bottom - he LIED!  I was terrified, but I will admit I had a blast doing it.  We stayed for a couple hours before heading up to our room for lunch.  Immediately after lunch, B and Y were off again to the water park while I stayed behind to make sure Q had a good nap.  She ended up sleeping for 3½ hours but once she woke up she pointed to the door and said, "go pool!" Actually she began to say that any time we came back up to the room.  Regardless of what time it was she would always point to the door and say, "go pool!"  We returned back from dinner just in time to get upstairs, change into our PJs and enjoy our final night of story time.  Friday was a bit more crowded than Thursday had been but it was still pretty deserted.

On Saturday we had to check out of our room at 11pm but we were allowed to use the water park until it closed at 9pm.  We didn't end up staying that late, we ended up leaving around 6pm because we still had to stop for dinner and then make the 2½ hour drive home.  Saturday was notably crowded, in fact I told B that it's not a place I'd care to visit during the summer months for that exact reason - there were just too many people.  But part of that could be attributed to the fact that they had recently run a special on Groupon which many people had apparently taken advantage of.

It was an awesome weekend and something that we will definitely be doing again,  In fact Y is constantly asking us when we are going back to Ohio or Great Wolf Lodge.  Even I must admit that I can't wait to go back, they have so many kid and family friendly activities that we didn't get to take advantage of!

At story time this scene "comes alive" to tell the story of a little boy lost and afraid in the forest.

They were getting ready for Christmas while we were there.

All the kids loved banging on this drum/table

I meant to take a photo of the finished product before we left but forgot the camera was already packed away.  This gingerbread house is built using a wood frame but everything you can see is edible.  He had been working on it since September!  I was able to taste the icing he was using and it was actually delicious.  He told me that the candy canes that you see on the side are actually mint flavored.  He told me I could taste if I wanted but didn't advise it since He had done that part a month prior - I took his word for it.  haha

 

After storytime with Wiley the Wolf

This was Thursday, as you can see it was pretty deserted!

First Steps

Q recently started taking her first steps.  Here is a video reenactment.  She actually took the first steps slightly earlier in the day but we didn't have a camera ready and had to record this a bit later.  She's 15 months in this video, let's see how long it takes her until she's "officially" walking.

If you listen closely at the end of the video you can hear her congratulating herself as she takes her steps!  Haha, I guess she didn't know what the big deal was, why we were all screaming but she decided she'd scream with us!

Meeting Aunt D.

B's brother, L, was married in July 2011 - just days before Q joined us.  Shortly after they were married L returned to Canada to start college and D remained in Peru (her home country) while they began the visa process.  They lived apart for 15 months before her visa was finally granted.  She arrived in Canada on November 9, 2012.

We (especially Y) were so excited to meet her so we planned a trip up to Canada the following weekend.  She is truly a doll and we are so very lucky to have her join our family.  Y absolutely adores her and she can often be heard talking about her or asking to call and talk to her on Skype or even on the telephone.  She is wonderful with children, so it's really no wonder that the girls came to love her so quickly.

Having left my own family after getting married I can understand how difficult it is for her to be so far away.  But my own distance from my family is small in comparison to hers.  Not only did she leave her family, she left her entire culture to travel to a land that was totally unknown to her - it's almost a whole different world for her, literally.  I am glad that she is here and very fortunate for the opportunity to know her.

15 Months

Note:  This post has been dated for the actual date of Q's 15 month well baby but as I'm writing this she is actually 17 months, because of my delay this will likely be a brief post and will include information concerning the 2 appointments with the specialists she was referred to.  My apologies, I'm behind!

At 15 month's Q weighs 21½ pounds and is 31 inches long and she is still not walking.  Because of this her pediatrician wanted us to take her to see a pediatric neurologist.  During the course of her checkup he (the pediatrician) heard a heart murmur that he wanted to have checked out further so he also referred her to a pediatric cardiologist.  Other than these 2 things, she checked out perfectly.

We were able to get her in to see the Neurologist the following day, he said everything seemed normal but he wanted to have some blood work done just to double check and make sure there were no neurological defects going on...all turned out fine but she goes back for another checkup in January.

In early December she went in to see the Cardiologist and while she does have what is referred to as an Innocent Murmur, it's not something that we should be concerned about.  If it remains at the age of 5 she would like us to return and have her checked again but for now, we were told not to worry, it will not have any affect on her day-to-day activities.

October (Quick and Dirty Recap)

Before I get to the actual post, I just have to say that I'm so far behind in posts that it'll take me a few days to catch up.  Bare with me!


This fall we were really able to enjoy all the perks of having a second car!  I signed Y up for several of the free programs offered at our local library and many of them she was able to do with a friend from church.  We started with a story time one day a week and another program called Music & Movement.  She wasn't a big fan of just sitting during story time but she loved Music and Movement which incorporates singing and dancing in with story time.

They also offer several seasonal activities at the library, I signed her up to attend a Halloween/Trick or Treat activity at the library that she was able to do with her friend E.  They were able to dress up in costume and go around to different locations in the library and were given many non-candy treats.

We were also able to spend a day out with friends from church.  We went to Wolcott Farm where they were able to see all the different farm animals.  Y is not at all a fan of barns so any animals that were inside them she didn't really care to see.  After walking around the farm for a bit we sat down for a quick bag lunch before heading over to Blake's Cider Mill.  I've lived in Michigan for 7 years and had never been to one so it was a real treat for me as well.  We were able to see how the cider is made from start to finish as well as buy some of their yummy apple goodies (apple donuts, apple cider, and an apple cider slushy).  They also have a little carnival type activity there for the young kids but we didn't venture to that part of the property.  It was a great day and boy did it tire us out!

We had a rather large and unwelcomed guest come visit us on our balcony this month as well.  It was my first time seeing a Praying Mantis in person and it scared me quite a bit.  So much so that our beautiful pumpkins (posted above) never made it outside.  It wandered around our balcony for a couple days and then it just rested above the sliding door wall that leads in from our bedroom.  It stayed there through the freezing cold.  It stayed there through the wind and rain of Hurricane Sandy.  So naturally I assumed it was dead, though I still refused to go out on the balcony.  One day when the in-laws came to visit I sent my father-in-law out to remove it's dead body (B also refused to go near the thing).  Turns out, the sucker wasn't dead after all!  I was so very glad that I didn't go out there!  My FIL ended up sweeping it off the balcony into the grass and from there I don't know what happened to it - nor do I care!

I'm going to lose my Mother of the Year Award again this year.  Even with my best intentions I didn't get a really good photo of both girls in their Halloween costumes.  The only half-decent photos were 2 I quickly snapped at our church Halloween party when I went to get them dressed in their costumes.  Halloween night was a mad rush and to top it off it was rainy.  Y spent the majority of the night crying that she was cold and wet and wanted to go indoors.  Q was a pretty good sport about it though, she just road along in the stroller making no sounds at all.

Super Girl

Baby Lamb