Quilting!

So I've had a bit of a busy week. My mom came up on the weekend and we have been having fun together. We went out on Monday afrternoon for quilt material. Susie, Brooke and I all got supplies for our own. Brooke has made a few before, but Susie and I are first timers. We got about everything cut out on Monday and Tuesday was cutting more and sewing and ironing all day. I think I was at it off and on for 10 hours. I later realized I picked a pattern harder than the other two, but really still not that hard. We had a great time together chatting and making all sorts of mistakes and my mom trying to keep all 3 quilts straight while helping. But mostly she was just having fun with Alli. We didn't work as hard on Wednesday, we had to enjoy the nice weather. That night my mom and Susie babysat. Derek and I just went out for supper, and Alli slept the whole time, but still nice to get out. (we went out last Friday night to dinner and a movie while Susie and Ryan babysat, my first movie out since the day before Alli was born. Derek couldn't last that long, he's been to a few with friends) Yesterday was shopping, we did good at that too. Alli loves the mall. We were out for like 6 hours and she had a great time, so good. Here's some pictures of the last few days

All I know is when we left on Friday night Alli didn't suck her thumb, and then we find these pictures on our camera when we get home.








Alli and grandma playing.











Here we are hard at work. I decided I'll just wait and put up pictures of the quilt when its all done, so it might be next week, but it will probably be next month. What a mess we made!












This is Alli today. My mom and Susie went out to do some more fun shopping for Susie's new house, but I decided to let her sleep.

a minor flood, and another holiday

This is a lot of writing, feel free to skim and enjoy the pictures that follow......
I was having trouble with the blog last night and then we ran into some bigger problems, the plumming. Yesterday morning I heard the toilet gurgling a few times. It went away and I thought nothing of it. Well while I was working on this post it started up again, I told Derek but he didn't seem to concerned. I could hear the toilet flushing upstairs and then ours would bubble up. Suddenly I hear it overflowing. I run in to the bathroom and yell to Derek. Classic Derek, still didn't seem to concerned since we don't have a plunger. He's all, well just lay down some old towels. Meanwhile, 3 towels are drenched and the water is still slightly rising. Now Derek gets down to business. He gets a bucket and pours the water into the tub. So the flowing has stopped, but the tub isn't draining. I'm calling the managers and not even a machine is picking up. So we start calling all our friends and neighbors for a plunger. Surprisingly, not many people have plungers. So we had to trek over to Darryl and Steph's (thanks guys) and borrow. Derek gets home and gets to work. The toilet water isn't moving (sidenote, its clear right now) so he tries the bathtub. Well, dirt and leaves start coming up the drain. So we quit that. For the next little while, the toilet keeps bubbling off and on. Of course since I can't use the bathroom, I have to go. Anyway, we finally found a # to call and a guy came and snaked the toilet upstairs, someone was flushing something they shouldn't have been I guess and there was more damage done elsewhere. So by the time we got everything cleaned up. Scrubbing the floor, the toilet and the dirt in the bathtub, it was after 11 o'clock and my post didn't make it. Phew glad that's over. And your welcome no pictures of that.

Once again we went down for a visit to Raymond on the weekend. It was fun, Alli travelled great and had plenty of family and friends to entertain. She really loves basketball. She always had to be facing the action. If we turned her to face us, she would wrench her head around. Alli got pretty wired and watched the Raymond boys and girls win on Thursday night, and had a tough time settling down that night. Of course derek thinks it's great how much she loves being out and around. I guess we have a basketball loving social butterfly.

This trip I remembered to take at least a few pictures. Nothing special, I really love to take pictures, but I'm not much of a pro and would love to take a class and learn how to do them better. We got some pictures with Alli and her cousins. We went out to Taber on Saturday to see all the Porters, since there were no basketball games of Brett to watch. (but she played great on Thurs and Fri) We finally took some pictures of Alli and Ava together they are not even 2 months apart and we have never taken pictures of them together, horrible I know. So it's the classic lay them on the floor side by side since Alli doesn't quite sit up yet.



Here is me and one of the twins, Brigham







This is Alli and Ava. Classic Ava with her tounge out and Alli sucking on her lips.




Here's Alli and Logan. That little chair she is on is great. i just might have to invest in one.






Alli and Grandpa Baldry. Have a couple of Grandma and Grandpa Steed hopefully to be posted soon!

so it's been a while....

I haven't done a post in a while, not because I have been busy and have had no time, but because, well I hate to say it, but not much has been going on in the life of a 5 month old (at least through my eyes, she of course is busy busy busy) and her mother. Derek is gone all day everyday at work and school and I am left at home without a car. The snow has been falling for a couple of weeks, so we haven't even been out for walks very often. We've been over to visit baby Roman a couple of times, but I keep forgetting to take my camera, you can find him on Whitney's blog. Soon I'll get some. But here's a few pictures of Alli, now 5 months old. She's not much of a poser unless her dad is around, he can always make her smile for the camera.








On Friday night, Derek and I babysat for Ryan and Sarabeth. We had Caroline and Rueben and their cousins ( Jennilyn's kids) Connor and Eric over for a few hours. It was fun. They were such good kids. We watched a movie, did some coloring (as you can see we have a wide range of coloring materials) played ducks? and read stories.





















Last night we decided that maybe if we tried Alli on a bit of rice cereal she would sleep a little longer at night. She was sleeping for 6 or 7 hours before waking up to eat, now its back to 4 hours sometimes. Alli watches us eat everyday and grabs at it, so I thought she just might be ready. Well she did really good with eating. She knew what to do and ate it right up. And during the night last night? Up every 4 hours screaming to eat, maybe I'll try again tonight. I really can't complain because she goes to bed around 9, and sure she wakes up to eat, but she goes right back down and sleeps to at least 8 or 9 in the morning. Much better than the months of awake and ready to play until 1 in the morning. As you can see she is smiling, you guessed it, Derek was taking the pictures and making her smile.





























One last thing. I don't know if anyone else has had this problem, but I cannot find any pink soothers. They might have pink on them, but then there's blue or green or something else with it. So for 5 months I've had to keep a close eye on the one soother I found that is nice, it's white with a bit of red. But the other day, I got a fancy package in the mail. My dear friend Jacklyn in Oregon found me some PINK! Thanks Jack!

bath time!

Is there anything cuter than a fresh clean baby out of tub with a smile and a shiny nose? I didn't think so. None of the pictures of Alli in the tub turned out cute and these hardly come close to the real thing, but I tried.

little miracles

I haven't posted anything for a while. We were out of town in Raymond because Derek had a few days off for reading week. I had a few ideas of pictures to take down there to post and, if you can believe it, I didn't take a single one the entire time. It was fun to just relax and sleep in and have an abundance of family and friends to hold Alli, even when she was sceaming (thanks mom) While we were down we went and visited Derek's sister Christy's new babies in the hospital, born on Feb. 7. She had TWINS! Brigham and Natalee. They were due in March so they were quite early, both weighing just under 5 pounds. They are so tiny and doing great all things considered. Mostly just getting energy and the hang of feeding. Since I don't have any pictures of them, I thought we could all reminise about when Alli was born (like it was SUCH a long time ago). She was only a few ounces bigger than the twins, but it sure makes a difference. We are so lucky to live in a time where tiny twins like Brigham and Natalee only need a few weeks in the hospital and have immediate access to proper care. And brand new babies like Alli's cousin Lucy catch pnemonia hours after being born, and can be cured with a couple weeks of antibiotics in the hospital. And of course, Alli who stopped growing at 35 weeks and for extra fun was breech, but was safely delivered 3 weeks early and only stayed in the hospital for 1 week to learn how to eat. Since i don't have any pictures of the twins, I thought I would pull out some pictures of Alli in the hospital. I know everyone says it, but I really can't believe how fast they grow.

Happy Valentine's!

Today is an excuse for love day. There are a few things I love today. And what do ya know, I love this little Alli. She was being so cute this morning. She slept until almost 10am (which is so very cute I love a sleeping baby) and laid in bed talking to herself for almost an hour (I love hearing her) while I made cookies (I love cookies). So I put on a Valentines outfit (even though any outfit could be valentines because everything is pink and I love pink) and we had a good time. She wasn't so sure about the touque at first (I love it because it makes her look like a chub) but she came around. Alli is 4 months old already! She is almost 12 pounds. She giggles with the tickles ( I love her laugh) and kicks like crazy in the tub ( she loves her bath time and so do I ) But my most exciting love for today and every day, of course, is Derek. Not only because he gave me a gift certificate for a FULL body massage, but because he is Derek and I love him! Lately he is much better at getting Alli to sleep than me. (of course I love that) I guess he is making up for the last 5 weeks of his arm in a sling after shoulder surgery in a great way. I also love a clean house, that doesn't mean I have one, any takers?

playing with the toys!

So last week Alli started playing with her toys. She used to just stare at them and smile, but now she gets really excited and kicks her arms and legs at them making all sorts of noises. For anyone looking at this who has no kids, this probably sounds rather uneventful, but being a mom at home all day you have to get excited over something. What this really means for me is I can get more stuff done because this is quite entertaining for her. But since its still a novelty I sit and watch for a while still. I love to hear her jibberjabber while she plays too. So Cute!