More celebrations!

On Monday Sarah & Naomi came over for lunch. The girls had fun playing together and it was nice to be able to chat with Sarah without worrying about a long distance bill!!!

Naomi & Bethany playing. Lately Bethany has been making this face where she scrunches up her nose. I think it's cute...but then again I am her mother!

Yesterday was my birthday, we actually had my first birthday celebration Sunday night and had cake with mom and dad. Last night Gary, Rachel & Ryan came over and we ordered pizza and finished up the cake!!! I had a great birthday, it was so special this year having Bethany to share it with!!

My Family

My daughter, my favourite gift!

A birthday miracle...flowers from my husband!! First flowers from him in almost 4 years!!!! Thanks Matt, I love them!!!

Rachel also gave me this beautiful purple Iris. So I had a flowered filled birthday which was a nice change!!! Although this flower I have to keep alive, so we'll see how that goes!

Bethany in her new sweater/hat set, handmade by a lady in the Miramichi.

She looks so cute!!

Matt finishes up his month long shift tomorrow, so we are really looking forward to spending some quality time together as a family in the next month. His months on are long, but it's so nice to be able to spend 28 days off together!!!

Lunches, Fat lips & Birthdays

On Tuesday Tara, Rachel & Ryan came over for lunch. Rachel and I took the opportunity to take pictures of Ryan & Bethany in their matching Baby jogging suit things. They looked pretty cute. Although we couldn't quite get a picture of both of them smiling at the same time. Tara has just one week left till her due date, so it's getting very exciting! Could be any day now!! I can't wait!

Earlier in the day, Bethany decided to fling herself over the gate of her play tent, banging her mouth on the floor...of course her teeth hit her lip and cut it resulting in a fat lip. She only cried for a minute, I think it hurt me more. She's just a wild child that has no fear, she plays really rough, so I'm sure we're in for a lot more bumps and bruises.

Smiling Bethany, Serious Ryan

Smiling Ryan, Bethany making sure Ryan is really there


Two models getting tired of their photo shoot

Too cute!!!

"It's only 7am and I already have a fat lip...I'll smile for you, but don't even think I'll open my eyes for this picture."

At supper Bethany & I went to Wendy's with Mom & Dad to celebrate Mom's birthday (which was the next day, but they were going away). So we had a quick birthday celebration for Mom!

Bethany, of course just wants to touch the flames

Yesterday Rachel & I went out in the afternoon, I had mom's car to use, so we figured we better take advantage of having transportation!! All we did was go to the grocery store & Walmart, and we both were in some weird trance, so we pretty much walked around in a daze, while the babies fussed. Oh well, at least we got out of the house!!!!

Tales of a Rocking Chair

Today I got an old rocking chair out of my parents basement and cleaned it up. It used to be mine! It was given to me by an aunt & uncle when I was just 2 weeks old. It's still in great shape for being almost 27 years old (better shape than me, I think). Mom said there used to be a music box sort of thing on the rocker part that played music everytime you rocked. Anyways, I'm excited to have something that was mine to pass on to my daughter, she thought it was great fun!

These pics look so calm and serene, really she was rocking like crazy trying to catapult herself out of the chair. She's a little young to sit in it alone!

I also got out and cleaned up mine & my brothers old highchair. I'm going to paint it, and then Bethany will have a highchair to use at Grammie & Poppa's. The strap is missing on it though, any ideas on how to keep Bethany from sliding out??

Bethany & I are spending this rainy day at my parents, waiting for Matt to finish up work for the day!!

Updates from the last week

Well it seems like we've had a busy past few days. Thursday Bethany had her 9 month check up (no needles this trip!). She's weighing in at 18lbs 11oz and is 28 1/2 inches long. The doctor said she looks great and is in the 95 % for height.

Thursday night we got together with some friends that Matt graduated with, John & Dena, Josh & Marian, and the three of us and went to the Fireside for supper to celebrate Josh's birthday! We had a great time and Bethany enjoyed her first time there, although she did get kicked out at 8:30 (no one under 19 years allowed after that), but being the good parents we are, we decided to leave then to!

Friday night Bethany & I had a sleepover at Grammie & Poppa's since Matt was staying on the ship, and Saturday Rachel & I and the babies went shopping. Both Bethany & Ryan were really good!

The last couple of days Bethany has been trying to become mobile, she's finally figured out a way to "crawl" on our slippery hardwood floors. She uses one knee and one foot to go forward. She's getting the hang of it now and was scooting all around this morning.

Bethany "crawling"

Another thing she's becoming obsessed with is pushing herself up into a sitting position. It was really cute at first, but now she's doing it in her sleep, and at 1am, it's not so cute. Seriously, the last few nights I've heard her moving around a lot and go check on her and she's sitting up in her crib with her eyes closed. These new tricks they have to keep doing over and over again!!

This is what she discovered she could crawl to this morning

Another trick that she must do 800 times a day, stand up and jump up and down in her crib

In other exciting news, there's an article about the Coast Guard in the Canadian Geographic Magazine. The writer was on board the ship Matt's on when they were up north in the summer. It's a very interesting article, but we're most excited about the picture of Matt in the magazine! Check it out!

The Cover

That's Matt in the left picture, he's also in the other pic of the engine room crew (bottom left hand corner). The caption with his photo reads: Recently graduated Marine Engineer Matt (last name) had supernumerary status, leaving him free to roam the Louis day and night learning all he could about her inner workings.

That's about all from here, Matt's working, so Bethany and I are home most of the time. We are looking forward to a playdate with Sarah & Naomi this week though! Bethany's very excited to play with Naomi, and Sarah and I can chat for hours...with no long distance bill!!!

Baby Shower

Last night Rachel and I (Rachel did most of the hard work!) had a baby shower for our friend Tara. Tara and her husband Colin are due to have their baby in just 3 weeks!!! We are very excited to meet their new baby! The shower was a lot of fun and I think it went pretty well. Tara got lots of nice gifts, so that was great. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, since Matt has the camera on the ship.

Matt went back to work last Thursday, but the ship is in port here, so he's home in the evenings which is nice. So Bethany and I are without car and housebound for the next 28 days...oh well. Rachel is housebound too, so one of these days I'm going to walk to her house, maybe, I think. We think it's probably about a 45-50 min walk, not too bad if the weather stays decent.

Bethany doesn't seem to be quite herself this past week, she has thrush, so she's on medication for that, but I've also noticed that her voice is a little horse sounding the last couple days, so I'm not sure if she has a sore throat. She has a doctor's appt on Thursday for her 9 month check up, so she'll get all checked over then! It's hard to believe she's almost 9 months old! This 9 months has gone much faster than 9 months of pregnancy did!

Bethany's down for her nap, so I'm off to have some lunch. I'll leave you with a picture of Bethany and Ryan on New Years Eve in their Christmas pj's. This is pretty much the only picture I have that it doesn't look like Bethany's trying to attack Ryan (probably the reason Ryan looks a little scared in the pic).

Christmas Week Update

We had a great Christmas this year. It was so fun watching Bethany check out her gifts. She was very spoiled by everyone and we now need a room just for her toys! Christmas morning we opened our gifts at our home and then went to Mom & Dad's (grammie & poppa) to open gifts there. We had our first Christmas dinner at Matt's parents (Nanny & Opa's)...and then 5 hours later had another one at my parents...so we were turkey'd out, well until leftovers the next day!!!

We were very fortunate that Matt wasn't working this Christmas, so we were able to spend the holiday relaxing and enjoying time with family and friends! So here are 800 pics to recap the last few days...just kidding there's only 400.

Bethany & Daddy playing a little guitar

Uncle Adam & Bethany in their Santa hats!

Bethany was very happy to see her Uncle Adam!
It was great to have him home for Christmas.

Poppa, Grammie & Bethany
Bethany's shirt says "Look out Santa here comes Grandma" Very true!

Our family after the Christmas Eve service

Bethany in her Christmas Eve dress

Bethany & her "cousin" Lizzie, Adam's lizard playing together

Mommy & Bethany Christmas morning

New toy!

Gifts at Poppa & Grammie's house

One of the many gifts from Uncle Adam

New play tent from Grammie & Poppa

And a new car!

Teddy bear from Nanny & Opa

So there are a few pictures from our Christmas. We are so blessed this year to have Bethany to spend it with. I hope everyone else had a great Christmas season!!

Also, check out the Bethany elf our friend John sent us:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?userid=ea4adfd78b14ea5d7fe6016G06123016

Very cute John!!