Four Months

A lot has happened since my last post. Natalie has grown up so much! She smiles all the time and finds humour in the strangest things! Her little hands grab all sorts of things and go immediately for the mouth. She hasn't quite figured out how to roll over onto her stomach but she is a very strong, solid baby and I have no doubt that she could do it, she just doesn't want to! The other day she was standing and as I was supporting her she took some steps. I couldn't believe it so I tried again and sure enough she kept walking. Once she gets the balance thing figured out, look out here comes trouble! When we get her up from either night or nap, the first stop is the hallway mirror. She loves to see herself and always gets so excited and giggles. It really does brighten up my day! Here are a few pictures of her. I couldn't decide which ones to eliminate so there are quite a few here!

On March 18 and 19 Dylan was a delegate for the Alberta Mennonite Brethren Conference in Edmonton. This was also the perfect opportunity to get away from home and have some family time! We left on Thursday the 17 and came home on Sunday the 20. On Friday Natalie and I spent the day at the West Edmonton Mall and met some of my family there. It was an excellent day and we had a lot of fun. On Saturday we got to take Natalie swimming for the first time in our hotel pool. At first she wasn't to sure if she liked it or not but once she got used to it she was ok. We had a king size bed in our room and as I was getting ready one morning I propped her up on the bed. She looks so tiny!

Animals

Rusty seems to be quite the conversation starter in our house. We have alot of people ask about him (or her we really don't know) so I thought I would do a quick post as an update! Rusty has grown considerably. He would be close to 4 1/2 feet as an estimate. Have you ever tried to measure a snake?!! In diameter he would be about the size of a toonie. Once again, really hard to measure! He still only eats once a week although it has been a while since he has actually eaten. He is eating frozen Jumbo Mice or else Small Rats depending on where we get them from. To the day he has not bitten anyone so we still consider him harmless!

Then we also have our dog Spencer. He is a very energetic Chocolate Lab. I had originally bought him to replace mom and dads dog that I accidentally ran over but he soon became known as my dog! For the most part he is well behaved. We have now trained him to move back when you come up the stairs so he doesn't jump on you. However, he tries to sneak in some bad behaviour. We used to feed our cat on our patio table on the deck so that the dog wouldn't get at it. I looked out the patio door one day and there was the dog sitting on the table! That ended quickly!!

We let our house cat out when we found out that I was expecting but this summer we acquired a new cat. Everyone else seemed to keep losing them but we ended up with four new ones. The first one (which we kept) showed up very cold, wet, and hungry. We gave him some special treatment for a few days and then let him back on the deck with the dog. However, they seemed to form a special bond and are never seen apart! I have never seen a cat and dog enjoy each others company so much before!

Friendship

When I first went to Bible School I knew that I would make some new friends but I had no idea that God would bless me with such an amazing friend. Jaymi and I first met at Bethany College at the beginning of the second semester. I am not sure what drew us together but we soon became best friends and spent most of our time together. Saying goodbye to her at the end of the semester was so hard. It was incredibly difficult! Jaymi's first trip out to the farm was definitely a memorable one! We found out very quickly that she wasn't much of a farm girl and could never ever be a hunter. This was also the first time that she would meet Dylan, with none of us realizing what was to come from that friendship. But through the distance between Manitoba and Alberta, we have still stayed very close friends. It wasn't all that long after, that I got a phone call from Jaymi saying that she had met this guy. Some guy named Jared. Well one thing leads to another and I got that phone call saying that they were engaged and Jaymi was asking me if I would be her Maid of Honour. A few months later, I was calling Jaymi to tell her that Dylan and I were engaged and asking her to be my Matron of Honour. We have only seen each other a few times since then but each time is so special. Jaymi and Jared came this past weekend and we got to officially introduce Natalie to them. At first Natalie played shy but she soon found lots of humour in Jaymi's curly hair. It took her a little bit longer to warm up to Jared but by the end of the weekend she spend most of her awake time with them!

Jaymi is like a sister to me and I appreciate her sooo much!

Attitude and Personality

It seems like every day brings something new to the table. Natalie has either been developing something new or showing us more of her personality. She has her routine down and is sleeping through the night which is a relief for me especially. At night I feed her, change her, swaddle her and then we sit down for a book before settling into bed for night. Lately, we have encountered a small problem. As soon as I finish reading the book and close the cover, she immediately bursts into tears until I start again! All I can say is she loves her books! I am sure we will have them memorized pretty soon!

Another milestone in her development is her giggles. Yesterday was the first day that we really heard a true flat out giggle. We had heard it once in a while but not like yesterday. It really makes my day! I walked in the house and could her both Natalie and Dylan giggling and talking to each other! You could just hear and see the love that they have for each other. It's incredible!

Bath Time

Natalie loves her bath!! She completely relaxes in her daddy's hands! Here are a few pictures from her bath tonight. As you may notice, she is doing two of her favourite things. 1) Her little hand is constantly going into her mouth 2) If her hand isn't in her mouth, she is playing with her tongue. Enjoy!

Winter Wonderland

This year the weather has been particularly cold. We have LOTS of snow and the drifts are unbelievable. Here are a few pictures of some of the drifts. I altered the color so you could see more definition. It was still snowing when we took these so it was really hard to see with just a flat white. Thank-you to Dad for digging us out. There would have been no way we could have got out without your assistance! We have more snow now since these were taken but this gives you a pretty good idea . The last couple of days the weather has been around -30. Last night I believe it was -40 but today it was around -28!

Dylan standing in front of a drift.

To our left of him is the back end of a motorbike.

This is to the South of our house.

I am standing on the left in a space between two drifts.

This is to the North of our house. That little twig sticking out

is an evergreen tree! There are two wires from the fence buried underneath.

In some spots in the area, the fence is completely covered.

Our driveway. Some of these drifts are waist high.

After Dad cleared, this is the pile that was left. You can

compare it to the outhouse on the right.

This is the same drift I was standing behind.

Yes it is about the same height as the mini van.

I believe it is taller than the van now.

Two Months

Two months. Wow!! It is incredible to see how much Natalie has changed. This is our chance as parents to brag a little bit about our daughter. She is super cute! Her dimples add that extra bit of charm to her very frequent smiles. Her giggles are starting to come more often but yet they are not very established. She has been more awake yet still getting plenty of sleep. Her nights are getting longer which is a relief for her mom. We have enjoyed our time with her and look forward to what the future brings!

I was trying to get a good video of Natalie to add here. We took quite a few but this one was one of my favourites. It will be obvious why after watching it!