Calling all Potential Babysitters!!

John's Xmas party is on Dec 16, and so we're looking for a wanna-be babysitter. The party is in Red Deer, so it'd be an overnight stint. If you are interested, please let us know....

Pictures....

Now is that a happy face or what!!?? Landon has been having a lot of fun in his Jumperoo these days. He'll be jumping along and then lock his knees so he stops dead, but he keeps bopping his head like he's jumping -- it is hilarious to watch!! The great thing about this picture is that he's showing off his teeth too, you can even glimpse the two on the top :-)

And the second pic is one of my faves from back in Winnipeg -- Landon was just getting to love standing up and looking out the front window. Yup, he's standing there all by himself! Just watching the world go by. He was telling us all about it, as he loves to babble incessantly these days! This picture is from Nov 10 ... just before we packed up and moved out!

YAY - High Speed again!

We finally got our high speed up and running again yesterday! Very nice indeed. Now I will spend 2 days getting caught up on all of the emails / jokes that I didn't read on slow-speed! Then I'll maybe be caught up, and I can spend some time on ebay to buy clothes for this little monkey that is out-growing all of his 6 - 9 month stuff :-)

Today I took Landon out for his first big shopping adventure in Calgary. He even got to ride in the cart while I bought groceries - and he LOVED it. He was bouncing and squealing up and down every aisle, and was absolutely enthralled with the signs hanging above each aisle (the ones that tell you what's in that aisle). He'd watch them even as we walked under them, causing him to tilt sideways from putting his head back so far! What a cute little bugger! I was just glad he enjoyed it as the days of leaving him behind with dad while I grocery shop are now over...

It's finally warming up here (hence the reason Landon and I ventured out for groceries). I do miss Winnipeg street cleaning, that I can say for sure!! While there's enough traffic close to our house to clear the snow off the street, there is enough to make it very slippery. But the main streets are pretty clear after a nice day, so I guess I'll survive! LOL

Well, that's the scoop. Back to catching up on emails and online shopping :-) I'll post a couple of pics as well, since I've been getting harassed for some (rightly so, it's been awhile!!). Take care, until next time...TK

John's first day...

John's first day of his new job, and things went well. He enjoyed it, everyone was super nice, which is great. He's even looking forward to going back to work tomorrow :-) All of this despite the ridiculously cold weather (40 below with the wind chill ... feels more like Winnipeg every day!), and the resulting long drive to work this morning!! But things should get more temperate by the end of this week, thank goodness!!

Landon's doing well. I think he missed his dad today :-) But he's just as cute as ever. He's started to sit up from laying down, but he won't do it with us watching so we're not sure of his methods. All we know is that he's laying down, and when we look back he's sitting up. But if he sees us looking at him he whines for us to sit him up :-/
And he must be an Albertan at heart ... I fed him beef today for the first time, and he ate it like a pro!! So much for all of the chicken and turkey we've been trying :-) Beef it is, and will be! LOL
The 2-napping schedule is still going well (knock on wood, again). He's been going to sleep shortly after 10, sleeping soundly until 9 am. We are still having to wake him up at 9, so we're thinking he may even start going to bed a bit earlier? But he's having 2 good naps during the day, so maybe not. We'll see. It's just nice to put him down and then have a bit of time before we go to sleep, instead of waiting for him to go to bed so that we can!

So that's the bit o' news from here for this cold, windy Monday. Brrrrr! High Speed comes on Wednesday, which I'm looking forward to. And the nice weather will be good too, so I can get my Christmas shopping started (and hopefully finished) soon! Take care ... until next time! TK

Snow Snow and more Snow!!

Where oh where did all of this snow come from? I thought we left this behind, but I guess we brought it with us!!
Things are going well with us. Landon has been sleeping very well (knock on wood), having dropped that 3rd nap for the past 2 days. Let's hope that that continues, as we like his going to sleep at 10:30 much better :-) And he still sleeps until 9 am, which is good for me. Especially since I'll have to be the one to get him up from now on. Usually John gets up and gets Landon up, starts coffee, etc, and I roll out of bed about 9:30. But tomorrow that changes, with John going to work (ACK!). I think I'll survive getting up at 9 am, and I hope John survives getting up at 7 ... aiaiaiaiai. I'll miss John throughout the day, but I'm betting Landon will miss him even more!

I just wanted to post something quick. I'm off to shovel the driveway, again (that's the only real exercise I'm getting these days....). Landon is down for a nap, so it's a chance to get some fresh, albeit cold, air. Will post again soon. And don't fret, Wed is High-Speed connection day, so you'll get some pictures shortly after that!! :-D Until then...TK

First full week in Calgary...

Well, we've spent our first week in Calgary, and we've still got boxes to unpack LOL But it's starting to feel a bit more like home now. We've done some driving around, lots of shopping (a Calgary must), and are settling in a bit more.

Landon's doing well. We think that he's ready to drop his 3rd nap, so we've been working through that in the evenings. He didn't have a 3rd nap at all tonight, and went to bed a bit earlier. Now we'll just see if he stays sleeping for the night, or wakes up thinking he's just finally had that 3rd nap. *sigh* Time will tell...

John starts his new job on Monday. We drove by the office today, and did the 'commute' home during rush hour. The trip will be no longer than the drive in Winnipeg, so that's good. The sheer number of cars on the road will be significantly higher though ...

So that's the news from here for today. Will try posting again soon. Oh yeah, and for everyone back in Winnipeg -- the weather here has been crappy!! LOL We got some snow (only 3 inches, and it's really light so it's easier to shovel), and it's COLD!! Monday it's supposed to get down to 30 below ... if this keeps up we may be heading back to Manitoba!! LOL

Take care everyone .... TK

We're HERE!!

Yup - we made it. And all of our stuff did too, which is great news!! So we're doing the unpacking, sorting through, wondering-where-all-of-this-stuff-came-from type of activities.

We got to Calgary Friday afternoon, and spent the first night in a nice, big, empty house. Then our stuff arrived on Saturday and our big roomy house quickly became a crowded, box-filled, paper-overloaded cave. We've been sorting through boxes ever since, and are hoping to get through them all by New Years or so....

About the house: it's quite nice, although it's taking some getting used to to be living in a box on a street of boxes next to 100 more streets of boxes. There's definitely less 'space' here than in Winnipeg, and I'm missing my treed yard and open space front and back (at least we have open space in the back here). We do have lots of room for our junk (er...stuff), and I love the bonus room concept (over the garage). And our great room is nice ... kitchen, nook, and living room all together -- especially the gas fireplace which I think I'll get lots of use out of. Our yard is smallish, and just grass right now, but I have a few winter months to figure out what I want to do with it.
The shopping here is CRAZY!! Consumeristic Calgarians!!!! We have the biggest Superstore I've even seen about 5 minute walk away. That same area is big-box extravaganza with Michaels, Future Shop, Staples, etc. And a short drive away is another shopping haven with Home Despot, Can Tire, Sobey's, and a few million-store mini-malls. Calgarians must do little else besides shopping if this area is any indication.

For all of that shopping....one surprise to us is that Calgary doesn't have a curb-side recycling program (!!). We were shocked that a city this size hasn't put more emphasis on recycling. So we'll have to load up our recycling and find the closest recycling depot I guess *shrug*.

On the most important topic: Landon has been wonderful. He's adjusting well to his new surroundings, even the boxes. The first day we arrived he sat in the empty living room squealing and kicking and playing - I think he loved the big space just for him! He's getting used to his room, and has been sleeping well. And TEETH! Landon got a new tooth last week, and his 4th tooth popped through today! That's 3 teeth in 3 weeks ... he's had a busy mouth, that's for sure!!
And he's been eating like a little piggy too. He's starting to get more proteins ... thanks to Karen for suggesting the sweet potatoe and chicken food. So it seems that he'll make the adjustment fairly easily.

We're on dial-up for another week until our internet and tv get hooked up. So please, no big emails for a few days. I'll try to post again, but it'll be next week before we put any pictures up :-(

That's the news for today ... hope all is well with everyone. Will post soon ... until then!! TK

Move Update

I can hardly believe that tomorrow afternoon we will have possession of our new house!! Holy COW!! This week has flown by!

Monday we were packed up, which went well from my perspective. Tuesday the movers put everything into the truck, then John and I cleaned out our old home. That was very sad, it was so VERY hard to close that door one last time :-( I won't dwell on that though ...
We stayed at Uncle Neville and Mary's those 2 nights, and they were wonderful hosts. It was so nice to get a good visit in before we left. We took off early Wed am, and made it to Grandma and Grandpa's for mid-afternoon. We've had a nice visit the last day or so. And tomorrow morning we will head for Alberta. YeeHaw!! We won't have internet for awhile (have to get it ordered when we get there, so it depends on how long installation will be). So this post may have to suffice for awhile.

About Landon: he has a cold (started Tues) :-( Poor little stinker. He's still in a good mood, but he's just harder to put down at night (I'm getting used to that though ... heh heh). He went to sleep so well at Mary and Neville's on Monday night, but struggled a bit more on Tuesday night. Last night was really rough, as he couldn't breath through his nose at all. But we finally got him to sleep and we all slept until 10 am :-) I think John was quite happy for a sleep in, as he's been doing so much running around as we got ready to leave!
Aaand ... Landon popped his 3rd tooth through yesterday :-) It's on the top, so now he can really chomp down!! And I think the 4th tooth will be coming through shortly as well ... he has another white line on the top gum :-) Busy little teether.

So tomorrow's the big day. I don't know when we'll get online again, but I'll try to post an update ASAP. To all our friends and relates in Winnipeg - we miss you already!! Will post soon .. take care! Until then...TK

Last post from this ol' house...

And just a quick one at that...busy busy!!
The packers will be here by 8:30 am ... I hope we're ready for them. I've got 'us' almost packed, should be done by the time they get here. The biggest pain in the butt is all the things they won't take -- anything liquid, cream -> like lotions, shampoos, cleaners, etc. So I'm trying to get those sorted through tonight. But I can see that I'll just be reviewing the pile they leave behind as "can't packs" after the fact because there's so much you don't think of. Liquid hand soap, Febreze, etc.

Anyways, I'm feeling a bit stressed, so I will get back to it. I can hear that Landon hasn't fallen asleep quite yet, so I'll tend to him and keep on packing!!

I will try to post from the farm, so there will be nothing until Wed or Thursday. Until then...TK

Getting ready....

Well, the slingshot has been pulled back pretty far, and it's about to be shot -> meaning we'll be flying off in all different directions at crazy speeds for the next few days at least. And I'm not really looking forward to it. I am looking forward to finally getting to Calgary and having our stuff arrive safe, sound and on-time, and starting the 'settling in' process. After the business of the past couple of weeks, aiaiai. It has come up so quickly, but I'm glad for that. It means that this process hasn't been dragged out more than necessary ;-)

So, tomorrow we get our stuff packed for the next week. I think we're ready. Clothes are washed, Landon's food is bought. We're staying with Mary and Neville Monday and Tuesday nights (it'll be nice to get a visit in there before we go too!). And Wed we hit the road.

It's been a long week ... of many good-byes. So many times the tears in my eyes saying good-bye to people who have become such good friends. I will miss you all so much!

Ok, before I cry too much....

Landon's been pretty good this week (knock on wood). He's been sleeping a bit better, and going to sleep better. I'm thinking that he must've been 'teething' again last week, which is what caused our troubles. John and I looked a couple of nights ago, and a tooth is just ready to pop through on the top. It hasn't come through yet, but it's getting pretty close! It may just make it through before we leave Winnipeg.

So, just a quick note. I'll try to post one last time tomorrow, and maybe from the farm. Don't know when the next chance will be after that ... we will order our internet service when we get to Calgary. Until next time..........................................

Final Doctor visit...

We went to the doctor today ... the last time Landon will see his doctor here in Winnipeg :-( He's doing well though ... 19 pounds, 10 ounces, 28 1/2" long. He got a flu shot too (which he wasn't particularly pleased about, but he doesn't seem to be reacting negatively now). Doctor says we must get him eating proteins, so we're going to try turkey and vegetables tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. If that doesn't work, we'll go for the egg yolks next :-/
Landon's eating lots of veggies and fruits though. We keep on trying new things, especially for fruits. But his favourite is pears, followed by sweet potatoes (esp sweet potatoes with apples!), and creamed corn. He tolerates his greens (beans and peas), as well as carrots, so we have quite a variety to feed him now. He's not so fond of peaches. We gave him his first Yum Yum cracker tonight too. He really enjoyed that, gobbled up the entire cracker like he'd been eating them for weeks! Mostly I think he liked being able to chew chew chew as I'm sure some more teeth have to be on the way.

Other than that, not much doing here. I have a cold and am feeling miserable. Landon is still a monkey in trying to go to sleep at night :-/ Last night he did get to sleep on his own (it took some tears), which is a good sign, so we're hoping this will continue (and get better at it too). I did hear him bouncing his bed ~6:30 am, for quite awhile, but he didn't squawk or anything *shrug* And he woke up on his own @9:30 am -> our earliest wake up in quite awhile! He likely would've gone back to sleep if we'd left him in there, but John scooped him right up. Unfortunately his naps this afternoon were shot as we were at the dr office for over 2 hours! But hey - it's unlikely he'd fall asleep like a dream tonight anyways, given our track record!!

Going out to my last Tremendon game tomorrow night :-( We're down to a whole week of lasts ... the last Tuesday in this house, the last game, the last doctor's appointment ... the list goes on. It makes me sad, and I'll actually be glad when this week of lasts is done, because it's hard to do.

So, until next time ... TK

Shake Shake Shake your head...

Monday, Monday. Actually, it's not too bad of a Monday. Landon has developed this 'thing' where he won't let us lay him down at night - he keeps waking up and crying when we put him down. So I end up sleeping with him in the recliner for an hour or two ... until he's so asleep he doesn't wake up when I put him down (or wakes up but is so sleepy he goes right back to sleep). Not a habit I'm happy to have developed (as I recognize I'm to blame, he's just reacting to what I've taught him ... *sigh*). It might be that he's cold when I put him down, as the house is definitely getting cooler at night now that before fall/winter ... so I might have to leave the thermostat a bit warmer for the next couple of nights to see if that helps. It might also be that he just prefers sleeping in my arms (who could blame the kid). And if that's the case, that's a habit we'll focus on once we get to Calgary ... I'm not going to worry about it before then.

Last night Landon learned to 'shake shake shake' his head. It was adorable. He was jolly-jumping, and I would say shake shake shake your head while shaking my head, and he would copy me. All the while he's jumping in the jumper, so I'm sure he was half-dizzy too. He was smiling ear to ear, and shake shake shaking his head. Toooo cuuuute!! He wouldn't repeat it today though...

And he's just a scootching around whenever and wherever he wants to. So far he's still only interested in the living room, which is nice. I'm sure his 'world' will expand shortly though. Today he scootched on over to me (I was laying on the floor, talking to John). He got to me, turned 90 degrees, and kept right on scootching. He's quite interested in the footstool, of course, as it 'glides' and he's likely to catch a finger and break it. We keep telling him 'no' and moving him away, which I think only intrigues him more. We can 'lock' the rocking chair, but not the footstool, so we may have to jerry-rig something, or move it for awhile. We'll see.

So that's the news from here for today. It's a quiet day, nice out but grey. And our last full Monday in our home :-( Will post again soon....take care. TK

Fun Weekend!

We had such a wonderful weekend!! Friday night the Tremendons had a farewell party at Liz's house ... it was a great night. Landon was in a good mood all night, providing entertainment in his jolly jumper and just generally being too cute not to love.
Sat night Wes had us over for dinner and the band came over for awhile through the evening. It was so nice to see everyone again!!
So it was a fun weekend, but tinged with some sadness too. We've been thinking about moving for so long, and now that it's finally here it's hard to believe!! We've made such great friends here that we will miss terribly. There's been such great times with everyone. And I'll definitely NEVER find Tremendons anywhere else (which may be a good thing, come to think of it...!). So it is likely going to be a lot harder to pull out of Winnipeg than I ever really thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, I'll be damned glad to leave the mosquitos behind ... but I will miss everyone sooooooo much.

Enough of that, or I'll start crying.

Landon's been a sweetheart. He was so good at the parties, and for once we were glad that he stays up late so we could stay out late :-P WE'll have to start trying to move bedtime up again here this week, but I'm not going to worry about too much as I'm sure the entire move will be throwing us all out of whack next week! It's sure cute to watch him getting around better now. He sometimes scootches, sometimes just gets to his back and squirms to where he wants to go. Either way it's fun to watch!!

And I think he's still working on getting some teeth to come through. His second one came through on the bottom last week, but he's just a chewing on everything still. His thumb goes in there all day long, and of course any toys he gets his hands on. So maybe we'll get a couple more teeth while we're moving just to cap off all the hoopla :-/

That's the news tonight. Tomorrow we start our final week preparations ... getting utilities organized, etc. Should be a fun week ...
Until next time...TK

Standing up on own...

Yes, Landon is enjoying his new-found ability to stand up by himself... As long as he has something to hold on to that is! The stools are nice a sturdy for him, and the bars are at the right height for him to chew on too :-)

Cute Picture...

Here's a picture of Landon from last week, playing in the exersaucer. He was being such a sweetheart, I had to take a picture! Gotta love digital cameras!

It's so nice to spend a day at home...

Oh how nice it is to just be at home today. I did go out shopping for a while (bought some new clothes ... the first non-maternity, non-new-mom clothes!!), but that doesn't really count does it? It's sooo nice to have our house sold. Tomorrow I'll start worrying about the rest of the stuff we need to do in the next couple of weeks, but for today - aaaahhhhhh!

Landon seems pretty happy to be home too. He is really starting to move around while playing on the floor. He's scootching pretty much wherever he decides he wants to go. His world is pretty much limited to the living room floor still (thank goodness), but he's rolling from tummy to back to tummy to back. He's getting himself around to explore things like the diaper bag, the foot stool, the couch. Today he played with the diaper bag for about 30 minutes. I guess all of those straps on there are very interesting. We brought the baby gate upstairs today, as we can no longer put him on the living room floor without having something at the top of the stairs. He hasn't gotten to the stairs yet, but he could at any time.
I brought out the 12-month clothes for him today too. The 6-month clothes are now too small, and the 6 - 9 month stuff is just fitting him. I'm just hoping that the snow-suit makes it through the winter!

And his second tooth is fully through now, no doubt about it. But he's still chewing on everything, so maybe he'll be getting more teeth soon? Who knows. Last night he really had trouble getting to sleep, so maybe his mouth is bothering him. I thought maybe he had an upset tummy, but we're not sure. Kevin and Taya have sore throats today, so maybe Landon is getting a bit of a cold too? In any case, he was up past 2 am. At 1:30 am I finally just put him in his crib with the aquarium playing and went to bed. He squawked twice, John got up and turned the aquarium on once, the next time he squawked John put him to bed. He squawked for a few more minutes, but I think John and I were asleep before him! Little monkey!! Hopefully tonight won't be quite as bad.

Some new pics posted ... Landon has been such a wonderful baby through this whole house-selling thing. It's unbelievable how good he is :-) I know we'll pay the price eventually, but I'm just enjoying this for what it's worth!! LOL
Anyways, off to do more of nothing! Until next time...TK

First time in the snow!

Landon sat in the snow for the first time today. Initially he was pretty happy, he even had his fingers in the snow for a few seconds. It didn't take long before he realized just how freakin' cold the snow is, and that was the end of that little adventure. If he dislikes the cold this much, it's a good thing we're moving soon!

Halloween Pictures...

Here's our happy Halloween cow! LOL Landon didn't mind the costume at all, as it was just a cow sleeper. The hat was a different story -- mostly he enjoyed pulling the strings and chewing on them. Needless to say, the hat didn't spend much time on his head. He would pull the strings, maybe chew for a few minutes, then yank the hat around all crooked, covering his face, and squawk until we finally took the hat off completely!! But he looked pretty adorable. Thanks Grandma for making the hat (love the ears!).
We didn't do any trick or treating. We spent the evening at Aunty Margaret's (our house was still being shown). But it was still fun dressing Landon up. Next year I'm sure will be an even bigger event!!

We sold our house!

YAY !! We sold our house today!! Phew! Thankfully we won't have to be up and out of the house tomorrow for more showings! It's been a stressful few days, but all was worth it as it is sold and the possession date is good (Nov 20). So we'll be packing up and heading out in 2 short weeks!

Landon's been doing so well with all of the 'visiting' we've been doing! Today we were in Niverville at Pam and Kevin's - we had a great visit. They have such a beautiful home. And Landon loved playing with Frankie and Taya!!

So we're looking forward to collapsing into bed shortly, and not having to panic getting up in the morning to pack up and leave!! YAY -- we can make coffee and breakfast and relax at home for a couple of days before we start worrying about details for packing.

I'd better go - Landon is (hopefully) ready for bed! Until next time...TK