We Took A Little Road Trip To Saskatoon

Last weekend J, Willow and my sister in law Sarah went to Saskatoon to go and introduce Willow to her Great Grandma & Grandpa, Great Auntie & Uncle and cousins. I had a feeling my heart would melt when Willow first met her Great Grandpa Henry...

Willow & Great Grandpa Henry

And it did. He is so proud of his very first Great Grandchild. We went for dinner in his retirement home and he beamed with pride while holding her out for all to see. I think everyone in the room turned their heads to watch the glowing gramps with his sweet Great Grandbabe. We heard lots of ooohs and ahhhs and Willow got very many compliments about how cute and well behaved she is. So adorable.

After dinner we headed over to Willows Great Aunt & Uncles house. Willows little cousin Anna had been waiting for weeks to get to play with a real live baby!!

Willow and cousin Anna

Between Willows adoring cousins Jesse & Anna and her Great Grandpa Henry I don't think she was left alone for a second. She loved every second of it!

Willow, Cousin Anna, & Cousin Jesse

The next day we went for lunch at Great Grandpa's place and then made our way on over to Great Grandma's home. Great Grandma loved meeting her Great Grandchild too.

Great Grandma Cora, Daddy and Willow

Auntie Sarah and Willow

Great Grandpa Henry, Ginger, Auntie Sarah, Great Grandma Cora, Daddy & Willow

I turned to mush the moment Henry took Cora's hand and walked down the hallway with her. It is so nice to see such long lasting true love, it's pretty rare these days.

After a nice day with Great Grandma & Grandpa we went to Auntie Julie and Uncle D's house for some din. We then relaxed and filled our bellies with slurpees and pounds of candy. We digested while adoring Willow.

I love these moments (which happens often) when I look around and everyone is doting oh baby Willow. She is loved by so many

The Sunday we went back for lunch with Great Grandpa and then headed over to Great Grandmas to get as much visiting in as possible. Great Grandma was in such a great mood and played Willow her harmonica. 

 

We had such a fabulous weekend with the family and are very much looking forward to our next visit. I love that we have such a great family to make such warm memories with.

Teething

We are going through the not so fun phase of teething. She wakes up just screaming from pain and I feel so bad for my poor girl. One minute she is her normal over the top happy self and the next she is in misery. Poor little thing.

Little princess

This picture makes me laugh. Is that mean?

We are all looking forward to this phase to be over with but it's just the beginning! J & I have been extremely spoiled with such a happy little babe so to see her fuss at all makes us overwhelmed and sad for her.

Here's to happy gums this holiday season!!

Santa Claus Came To Town

It never ceases to amaze me just how cold winter can be in Manitoba. I have lived here for 20 something years and I just can't dress warm enough for the temps. Last weekend we braved the cold and took Willow to her first parade. 

Oh nooo, my husband is starting to dress like my father

The boys and I

Uncle Gorgeous

Aunty Houde and my momma

And last but certainly not least baby Willow! I think the poor thing was frightened as every float seemed to be a huge truck or tractor blowing their horns. I am sure she will be a little more amused next year :)

Dear Willow (5 Months)

Dear Willow,

I am so sorry I didn't get a chance to write you a four month post. In these past couple of months you have seen and accomplished so much! We moved half way across Canada from where you and your daddy were born to where your mama was born. It took awhile for you to adjust to the move, it was pretty chaotic but we are now fully settled into our new home. Well, maybe settled isn't a good word as we drive to your grandparents house every weekend. As the holidays approach we are very busy visiting with all of our families and friends. Speaking of friends you have met a lot of new ones! You are very likeable and people just want to be in your presence, can't blame them really.

We are having so much fun watching you grow. It's pretty amazing watching someone so pure and innocent explore everything for the first time. Daddy still has 3 1/2 months of parental leave so he gets to enjoy every single second with you! We are pretty lucky.

This month we get to celebrate your first Christmas!!! EEEE!!! Christmas seems to be even more special when there are little ones around to spoil. Come on Aunties and Uncles, we want some cousins to share your toys with ;)

At 5 months....

 - You have the biggest, most beautiful smile in the world. You always put your tongue at the roof of your mouth and smile with your whole face. It's totally contagious.

- Your laugh is hilarious. It might alarm some as it sounds like you are choking.

- You are extremely ticklish just like your daddy. You are most ticklish under your arms and underneath your chins.

- You love being on your back. You flail those arms and legs like nobody's business.

- You definitely have a daily routine. You wake at 9:30, daddy changes your bum and brings you into the living room to play with your toys on either your exersaucer or princess bed. Nap at 11:30 for a half hour to an hour and than play play play. You go for another nap at 3:30 and sleep for 3 hours. Than play play play. Your evening routine varies. You usually don't go down until 10:30pm, sometimes you want to just cuddle on the couch until midnight. And then bedtime! You wake twice for food, usually at 3:30am and 7am.

-For parents who said they weren't going to spoil you, you are sure spoiled. You run the show around these parts. You make up your own routine and we just work around it.

-You eat every fours hours, and are still exclusively breastfed. We tried to give you a banana rice snack but you don't like them much. Mama went out for a holiday party and daddy bought you back up formula but you would not drink it.

- You have 2 favorite toys, your donkey and some funny looking teething toy that Nate and B got you.

- You drool A LOT!!

- The next best thing to being in mama or daddies arms to fall asleep is definitely your swing.

- You are a huge fan of blankies and bring them right up to your face when you are about to fall asleep.

- We use the "stork bite" on your forehead to determine how tired you are. If you are really tired or upset it goes bright red. It kind of looks like you have unibrow.

- You wear 6 month shirts and onesies. 6-9 month pants.

-You wear size 3 diapers.

- At 4 1/2 months you weighed 15lbs 4ozs and were 29inches long.

- Bath time is definitely your fave. You LOVE being naked and splashing about.

- You are a very happy baby, you cry if you are hungry or over tired.

- you love looking at yourself in the mirror.

- You now roll over.

- You recently started playing shy.

- You are a back crawler. We have to be very careful now because you get around pretty quick on your back.

-You are kind of getting the hang of your jolly jumper.

- You tried baby yoga a couple of times which we really enjoyed and have had a couple of play dates

- You just found your feet and will not let them go. You find hands to be pretty interesting too.

- Lily and Maple make you laugh. Their barks are pretty funny. You like the feel of Timbits fur.

- You won't go to sleep without your soother unless you are in your mama's arms.

- You still can only handle three books in a row and than you are over it. They have to have lots of bright pictures!

- Glama & Pop Pop find the best way to get you to stop fussing is the tv. Bad habits already lol

- You are the best little traveler.

Willows little friends. Youngest to oldest

Ahhh life is good

We love you to the moon and back little Willow xoxoxo

Where The Buffalo Roam

EEEEEE after almost a month without the internet it's finally here!!! The ground will have to be dug up to keep us connected come Spring as we are the only year round residents on this side of the street. So for now hooking the computer up to my phone will have to do :)

My gang and I have only really spent just over two weeks in our new place. The holiday season is so busy for us in Manitoba. There is so much going on between parties, visits, and shopping that we have been spending a lot of our time at my parents house. When we got back a couple of nights ago after being gone for just under a week there was some suspicious looking prints making there way right up to our door. I have a feeling Timbit was teasing a wolf or a very large coyote. Needless to say J's job is to take the dogs out for their nightly pee no matter what after seeing that.

It's funny here, our new house is much closer to a big city and the nearest town is only a 5 minute drive away but I feel so much more isolated here than in Cape Breton. Right now the town is closed until summer so I know it will be a different feeling come then. I have only heard amazing things about the summertime here. It will be also be better when we meet more friends. Thank god J is on parental leave until April because I think I would be going crazy right about now. I get very home sick for Cape Breton when we are not visiting our families or friends. I have found myself crying for the ocean a couple of times. As long as we are outside doing fun activities as a family I seem to forget my need for the salty sea. Ughhh that darn ocean has such a pull.

Yesterday we took a drive down the road to check out some bison. And what a sweet surprise, the bison had CALVES!!! I know way too exciting. Animals excite me beyond belief but BABY ANIMALS?!?! Come onnnnnnn!!!

Hungry little nursing babe <3 The bison on the right hand side is eating too. They always have snowy heads as they bury their huge faces in the snow to get to the grass underneath. So cute!

I was nervous about one of them charging the car. This one sure gave me a stare down for a good while

Some would say it was rather stupid of us to be traveling down these paths with our little car. But we looked at it as an adventure. No cell service, wild animals among us, freezing temps and and a baby. Ok maybe it was stupid, and we realized this half way in and turned around. But we didn't get stuck and we had lots and lots of fun.

 It definitely wouldn't be a proper family adventure without spotting a Moose

If you look closely you can spot a coyote or a wolf

Neglectful Blogger

I haven't posted on my poor blog in WEEKS! We are finally settled into our new home, just waiting for cable and Internet :). Not having cable has been totally fine but I am going through blog withdrawals without the Internet.

We are loving our new home. We moved from the middle of nowhere in Nova Scotia to the middle of nowhere in Manitoba. There are many similarities between the two, lots of wild life, you don't see a soul besides an animal for days, and we live in the woods again. I am just really missing the ocean and the landscape our old place offered. Although for Manitoba we live in the hilliest part which is nice. And I am loving the "cabin feel" this place offers. It's a very cozy little place.

Here is a little glimpse of life in our new town through my phone pictures..