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Here it is... my growing belly. I am 27 weeks or 6 months along now and "Baby XY" seems to be doing well. His heart beat was 150 beats/per minute on Tuesday when I was at the doc's.

We have been taking photos for his scrap book, but I am not sure if I am bigger or smaller this time around. I will have to pull out the old photos when I was carrying Emma and compare.

Either way... I am getting big!!

Dann went to home Depot yesterday to pick up a few more items for the basement and they offered him a "Home Depot" credit card. He wasn't interested until they mentioned that you get a "Disney" lamp for just filling out the application.

Dann thought of Emma immediately and knew she would love a Jasmine Princess lamp, thus he waited 50 minutes in a line up.

The things Dad's do for their little girls!!

Emma gave her Daddy a HUGE hug for this special gift!

As you can see, Emma has a new pink dance outfit (I picked it up for her while I was in Nanaimo). Emma calls it her "Ballet Tutu" and she lives in it. We found a second blue one for her this past weekend @ Giant Tigar for $5, thus her and her friend were ballet dancing all afternoon. The red carpet in the living room was their dance mat and no one could step on it unless you were a ballerina.

The two of them managed to stop for a few seconds with their babies so I could take a photo, then it was back to the dance mat. I guess you could say they were cuttin' a little rug!!

Baby XY

Just thought you would like an update on "Baby XY". This photo is taken at 24 weeks and I am coming up to my 27th week, thus Emma's baby brother is already past this point, but it gives you a good idea.

I am feeling well over all, but I am starting to get tired again! I think it is more because my nights are not as restful and of course, Emma's 6:30 a.m. wake up calls don't help. Truth be known, my left hip is usually pretty sore by 6:30 a.m. (from lying on it) and I don't mind getting up to stretch etc. Come 1:00 p.m. I am looking to lie down like a beached whale. Truth be known, I am just getting old... hahaha!

Our Big Adventure

Our big adventure consisted of going to three different hardware stores in search of some new bathroom fixtures. We decided that we needed to "spice up" our basement, which included the bathroom.

Dann found this floor model sink & cabinet and the lady was willing to give us a racey deal. Although the cabinet looks black in the photo, it is called "chocolate brown", and the lady threw in the faucet set for half price ($50.00 value). This new sink & cabinet will replace an exsisting white mini pedestal sink (which is all scratched up & not from us). The cabinet will offer some storage space for towels etc. and the larger sink will offer a place for soap or whatever. The faucet color is called "distressed rust", appearing dark brown/black with a flake of lighter rust color around the handles. It looks pretty sexy and I will accent the bathroom with "distressed rust" towel rack etc.

We also decided to put up some white wainscotting with chair rail in the bathroom along with a new color of paint on the upper portion. It will look a million times better. The last owner thought he knew how to build things (developing a basement), but Dann calls him a "hack" and is kept busy fixing the backyard carpenter's mistakes.

After arriving at the hardware store, Emma asked for popcorn and then started to entertain herself while we looked around. She found a new love for a toilet plunger and was having fun walking through the aisles, squishing it down and pulling the suction cup off the floor.

When it was time to leave, Emma asked if we could buy the plunger for her, as she thought it was the best toy ever. This behaviour resembles the "box" story... a child opens a large present and the parents are all excited about what is inside the big box, but the child is more taken with the box than it's contents.

I guess the simple things are really better!! We did not purchase the plunger, but I now know what to buy her for Christmas!!

Dann is busy working on the bathroom as we speak (or I write). I have taken before photos, but I will wait to post them until it is finsihed. This may take a week or so, as work really cuts into our remodeling time.

Lazy Me...

I just realized that it has been a week since my last post... stay tuned, we are heading out for the day and I am bringing the camera!!

Happy Canada Day

Happy 139th Birthday Canada...

We hope everyone had a terrific day celebrating our Great Nation's Birthday!

There were a few things going on around town, including a mini-fair, thus we went to check it out. All Emma could talk about was riding the ferris wheel, but you guessed it, as soon as we arrived she announced that she would just like to watch... OH BOY!

Anyway, we strolled through the park and looked at all the exhibits and of course made a pit stop for a little swinging action.

I was away this past week with work, thus Dann and Emma were under Rowena's care! Needless to say, they both got spoiled rotten. The temps got into the +30's, so Emma and her friend beat the heat wading in the mini-pool and playing on the swings with the sprinkler going under them.

It would appear my gal had a little "silly" time with her daddy during my absence. We owe this great look to Sarina and her first Birthday. Emma received these fun glasses in her party treat bag and they managed to move with us and everything!! Every so often, Emma digs them out of her dress up box and sports them around the house!!

Emma also got "another" princess dress just before I left for the week. Truth be known, it was cheap at Winners (like 5 bucks). Emma could not wait to get home and try it on... she does look darn cute, but I am biased too!

Happy Summer

I took these photos the evening of the first day of summer. So what right?? Well I took the photos at 10:45 p.m. Yes, it is still that light out at 11:00 o'clock, no wonder Emma is all confused about bedtime. It is completely dark by 11:45 p.m. and it starts getting light again around 3:45 a.m. - 4:00 a.m. I guess we are living further north than it seems!!

We were suppose to be going to a picnic at a campground with my crew today, but Emma woke up at 2:30 a.m. and got sick. She continued to do so the rest of the night and into the morning. She has nothing left in her stomach, but still tries to bring up something. Poor chicken!!! I told her that if she feels better later, Daddy, her and I could go have our own little picnic in the park, but we should not give her little "funk" to the other kids that would be at the watch party. Emma is sad about not going, as she was looking forward to holding "Baby Bella"... hopefully the "bug" passes quickly. As it is, I only got 5 hours of sleep and at 3:45 a.m. I was scrubbing Emma's rug with carpet cleaner (she did not make it to the bathroom in time). The washer is now on and hopefully I will not have to do another load!! The joys of parenthood!

Father's Day and More...

Although Dann worked nights and did not get to bed until 6:00 a.m. Sunday morning (supposed to be 3:00 a.m.) we still managed to have a great day. While Dann slept, Emma and I baked him oatmeal/raisin cookies, banana bread and made his favourite breakfast... Crepes!! After Crepes, Emma gave Dann her card & present (new white t-shirts and a bag of chocolate covered raisins) and then it was off to the playground for a little Daughter/Daddy time.

Overall, we all had a great day and Dann got to enjoy his little girl!!

Here is Emma dunkin' the cookies we made... YUMMY!

When we returned from holidays, Rowena presented Emma with her first pet... a Fish. Emma promptly named it "Max", and she loves him. It is a Chinese Fighting Fish, with a purple/blue tail and a bit of red in it's front gills.

Emma feeds Max every morning before she has her breakfast and talks to him all the time. We decided Max needed a bigger "fish bowl", so we got a cool glass vase and jazzed it up with some polished rocks. We decided we would get some tiny fish for the small blue tank, but we still have to head to Petland this weekend to pick them out.

Aside from Father's Day and our new addition... Max, I have been busy becoming an ebay user. I decided it was time and made a few bids this past weekend. I managed to win one of the bids and now we are proud owners of a "slightly used, but in excellent condition" Baby Bjorn - City Black Baby Carrier. I was excited about my purchase!! I think I will have to limit my time on ebay, or I could get addicted!!

Cousins

Here are a couple photos of Emma and her cousin Ashley.

The girls had a blast playing together... only wish we lived closer.

The Final Leg...

We headed to Calgary for our last stop before heading home. It was a quick visit, but we still enjoyed ourselves. Emma warmed up to her Uncle Wayne right away.

She was busy eating "cheezies" and cuttin' a little rug. Needless to say she was not too interested in dinner after all the snacks!




Emma got a new
3-D Princess book from Auntie Phyllis and she loves the glasses...

We decided to stay at the Hospitality Inn the last night of our trip, but when we went to book in the front desk gal told us they over booked. She went on to say that they had a room for us at the new Deerfoot Inn & Casino Hotel, and it was on them, so we took it.

Turned out that the pool & water park was very "child" orientated and Dann & Emma had to go for a little dip the next morning before we left.

Emma loved the water slide, but I think Dann liked it even more!

The Hotel was beautiful and the water facility was great... even better since it was free!!

That's it for vacation photos!!

Next Stop... Lethbridge

We headed to Lethbridge Friday morning and Emma was in a foul mood right off the start. She complained about the all curves in the road and demanded that her Daddy stop turning the truck so much as her blanket kept falling off her lap. For you prairie folk, this does not sound like a hard request, but for all of you who reside in B.C., you know there is not a staright road to be found. After the road thing, she started in on how uncomfortable she was and that her bum hurt. Every 10 minutes she asked if it was time to get out and stretch. To top it off, Emma only slept 25 minutes of the 10 hour drive (and yes, we have a DVD player... that did not seem to help too much that day). You can imagine how happy Dann and I were when we saw the "Welcome to Lethbridge" sign!!

Although this photo was taken in Vernon, I blogged it just to remind me how cute my gal is and not to hold the bad travel day against her... hahaha!

Emma loved the bubbles that were shooting out of the bubble machine and was trying to catch them before they popped on the ground.

Grandma & Grandpa were very surprised to find Emma ringing their door bell. Although our visit was only for a couple of days, it was still nice to be able to spend some quality time with my parents.

We took Emma to Henderson Lake for some play time and she loved the dock and wanted to jump on it, as she liked all the movement. The guy fishing on the dock might not have been that impressed about all the movement, as I am sure Emma scared away the fish on a few occasions...

OH WELL!!

We were able to meet my friend Peggy's new little girl over a cup of Java. Annya is a beautiful baby and very well behaved. Emma loved her and was practicing her "big sister" skills.

As you can see, there was always time for "Tim Horton's" on this vacation (isn't there a commercial that use to say that???). Although Dann could do no right in Emma's eyes for most of the trip, she did not hestitate to pose with her Daddy for the camera.

Not only did we surprise Grandma & Grandpa, but we surpised Great-Grandma too! She was happy to see us and of course, Emma stole the show!!

First Stop... Kelowna

We started our journey on May 26th and made our way through Jasper National Park, enroute to Kelowna. On our way through the park we saw a black wolf. The wolf was very cool and very active. It was in the ditch while we were driving by, so we stopped and took a few photos. The wolf was not bothered by our presents, but kept an eye on us while rolling around in the grass playing. It was one of our highlights of the trip, as Dann & Emma had never seen a wolf in the wild before. I had the pleasure of seeing a wolf last year while driving through Jasper, but not as close as this time

We made lots of stops along the way, as our little girl does not sleep too much while travelling. Emma enjoyed posing for the camera... as you can see!

Once we arrived in Kelowna, we headed for Ian & Phyl's place. We always enjoy our stay there and their company, not to mention the lodging is awesome! Emma was apprehensive about Sydney (the dog) at first, but within a day or two, they were close buddies. Sydney loved coming into the guest house and spending time with us when Mommy (Phyl) was away at work.

The view from the main house and the guest house are breath taking, and as you can see, Cinderella (Emma in her new dress-up gown) found her Prince Charming (Dann catchin' some rays) enjoying the sun. Although there was some rain, this particular day was hot... just the way we like it!!

Here is Emma riding her bike with Molly... ya that doll is a world traveller!!

We managed to spend a few days with our old pals from Powell River. Baby Hazel is all grown up since the last time we saw her, and looks just like her Daddy!

Emma and Sarina were very excited to see each other and once they settled into playing, one would never guess that a year had past since their last "play date".

Hazel kept up with the older girls and they all had fun together.

While Branden was at work, Jenny, Dann and I took the girls to two different water parks. They really had fun splashing, chasing each other around and playing on the tire swing.

Emma had a little "incident" while running around at the water park, resulting in a skinned knee. She sobbed on my lab for approximately one hour, but eventually got back into the game and never looked back (hard to see, but she has a large band-aid on her left knee. Thank goodness there was a first aid person on duty with an abundant supply of bandages).


Hazel and Sarina loved the water slides at both water parks, going down repeatedly!! Emma on the other hand, stood at the end of the slide "supervising". I see a "forewoman" or "boss" position in her future, as she is very good at instructing others what to do and how to do it!

Although the girls live apart now, I think they will always have a lasting, long-distance freindship.

We stayed in Kelowna for one week, but the visit came to an end very quickly. We left June 2nd to Lethbridge for a surprise visit with Grandma & Grandpa.

Stay tuned for more vacation photos in the days to come...