Up and Away

Yep it's finally here.  Natalie has started walking.  She had started the day before her party but we had to pry our fingers out of her tiny hand.  Then the day before her birthday she let go and took off.  Since then, there has been no stopping her.  Now if you reach for her hand she will refuse and bring her hand closer to her.  She absolutely loves this new found freedom and right now it is kind of nice for us.  She hasn't got into too much more.  Most things were already out of her way.  The other day I watched her grab my cell phone off the table.  She sat down, played with it a little bit and then put it back  on the table right where it was before.  It was absolutely adorable.  

Turn The Page

If you may not have noticed, I added a new page onto the blog.  It is about the recent crafts I have been working on.  To go the page you can click HERE or for future reference if you are interested to see updates you can just click on the page above where it says 'Creativity'!

One Year Already

It is so hard to believe that Natalie is a year already.  The time seems to have flown by.  At this time last year, we still didn't know if it was a boy or a girl.  Hearing the doctor say, 'Congratulations, It's a girl', was such an amazing feeling.  She has been such an amazing blessing to us.  I am not sure what else to say.  Sometimes fewer words are better.  

Here are a few pictures from her birthday party on November 12.  We rented a room at the Brooks Leisure Centre and then went swimming after.  The party theme was 'Cute as a Button' which lets admit, is true!  Thanks go out to Jen for helping me with the cake!  She was a pretty clean eater which kind of surprised me.  She ate the entire piece minus the fondant!  Thank-you to everyone for your gifts!  She has already played with all of them!

The cake

Party decorations

Before The Snow Falls

I was outside one day walking around and looking at all the things that needed to be done before it started getting cold when I noticed that there were quite a few wasps fly around.  I look up and I was staring directly at this wasp nest.  I was only maybe a foot away.  I got out of there pretty fast!  I neglected to mow around there until it was cold enough for them to be dormant or dead!  But now the nest is gone (thankfully) and my lawn is mowed!  They always say never to poke at a bee hive or wasp nest but I have to admit, there kinda was a little bit of 'I wonder if...' going through my head.

Before it snowed and it was just cold,  I figured I would take Natalie out for one last walk.  It was actually really cold that day! But we are ready for winter now!!

 And maybe hibernation?!!

Quack Quack

Natalie absolutely loves bath time.  We have (or had) an inflatable duck tab that she bathe in.  If squeezed the beak it would 'quack'.  This has become the alarm to tell her when it is bath time and she usually comes as fast as she can!  It has worked excellent!  However just recently, the cat was standing on the edge of the tub and I may or may not have gave her a little nudge and she ended up putting holes in the duck!  We patched the one hole but the other one is to close to the seam to be able to take a patch.  It still works but we have to blow it up each time!  She loves to splash but then again what kid doesn't right?!! 

My New Adventure

I figured that I had posted a lot about Natalie lately so I wanted to add something a little different and give you an update on myself if it's not to vain!  Ever since Natalie was born I knew that I wanted her to learn sign language to help us communicate.  I started searching for information and learning a few signs.  She wasn't at the age where she could sign back yet but I wanted to start early to get myself in the habit.  In my search I found a program called Baby Signs Inc.  Long story short, I took my certification and am now an Independent Certified Instructor for the program.  This means that I can go and teach classes to help other people get started with their own signing experience.  Natalie is now signing and learning so much more now that we can 'communicate'.  It has definitely helped me to get to see the world through her eyes.  Just seeing how it has benefited us, makes me so much more excited to be able to teach others!  I will post pictures another time of her signs.  It is a little scary to think that I am actually a small business owner but I know that I can do it.  The hardest thing right now is finding the time to work on getting things set up and going.  I enjoy it so much though!  So for my business pitch, If you have any questions at all or if you or someone you know is wanting to learn about Baby Signs Inc, just let me know!  I will be happy to answer any questions you might have! 

Unravelling Mischief

This summer I decided to rearrange the living room to give Natalie a little bit more of a playing area.  We took down a shelf that had been holding Dylan's stereo so with that came the question of what to do with the stuff that had collected on the bottom shelves.  I had put everything into a box until I could go through it and decide what to do.  Well, Natalie happened to find an old cassette tape.  I had taken it away a few times already but she happened to find it again.  The tape was no match for her little fingers!  The next few pictures shows you how it 'played' out! (Get it?)

The look on her face just screams 'BUSTED!'