random

who knows when i'll post again so here's some randoms from the last couple days. i give james a bottle every once and a while and what sweet happy baby he is during and after those feeds. and yes, it's a cute pink bottle. it was from alli and she never really took a bottle so i thought i'd get some use out of it. alli likes to wear her hat all the time cause derek is always wearing one lately. also, she thinks if she's wearing it we're going somewhere.









i have to tell these fun stories cause i don't want to forget them. the other day james was in the bouncey chair and alli comes up and is asking to hold him so i sit her on the couch and get him out. she sits for all of 3 seconds, says all done! and jumps off the couch and goes into the bouncey chair. i think she had a plan all along.
another one.
the other day i was in her room with all her sleep "entourage" (bunny blanket and soother) telling her it was nap time. she runs past and into my bedroom. i keep calling her and so she comes in grabs my hand and takes me into my bedroom and starts trying to climb into james's playpen saying night night. so i put her in and she took her nap there. weird gal. today she played happily in there for about 15 minutes, it was awesome. ok i could go on but i'll spare you.

heading out tomorrow and am so excited for the week. derek will be alone once again. i'm sure he'll be so sad to get a full nights' sleep for a week and go golfing and out to movies. we finally got to go out and celebrate our anniversary last night. just slightly late, our anniversary was on july 5th. only 5 years and we already can't get it together to go out for a night with no kids. but thanks to brooke for taking on BOTH alli and james for the night.

it's kinda hot here...

...and I hate to complain about it being too hot, especially since I complaind about how cold the winter was. But it is rather hot for Edmonton. And I love it when I go do fun things with water nearby. But when I am stuck in my sauna apartment holding and feeding a furnace of a baby...not so fun. They have been doing renovations on the pool at our building for over 2 months, you think they could have done this during the winter. ok enough complaining, sorry. I'm outta here again on Sunday anyway. Going to my friends' wedding in Calgary then down to Raymond for another week at my mom's where the ac in on! Nothing to go down for, just nothing going on here, so I thought why not.

This is what James thinks of the heat. So sad. Had his 2 month check up the other day, 10lbs 8 oz. The little chub. And he's grown 2 inches. Eating like a mad man I tell ya.



The cute thing is that Alli is so sweaty all the time, that her hair curls real cute all the time. I promise Alli doesn't hang out in her diaper all day, I took these right after her bath the other day. Don't worry I'm not that ghetto. But as you see above, Alli is eating crackers out of the box. So maybe I'm a little ghetto!



She is waaaaay to into "reading" her shrek coloring book to look up and smile. And I see I forgot to flip this picture and I hate when people don't flip them, but I'm not fixing it. And I see that my pictures aren't showing up from last post and I really don't want to load them all again. Such a slacker, I know.



Went to the ledge the other day to cool off as we have been doing often lately. Alli just held Kienna's hand and they walked around, it was pretty cute.

my little trip

Ok, here's waaaay to many pictures of our trip to Raymond. Had so much fun hangin out with family and friends and eating, eating, eating. Had a girls night with Britt and Jacklyn and Lyndsey (stayed out waaaay to late of course.) All of Derek's family was around and all mine minus Peter. Alli had lots of fun with cousins. And James got LOTS of cuddles from friends, aunts, unlce's, grandma's grandpa's, great grandma's and grandpa's and cousins. Oh, and Alli got her first "haircut" Just a little trim off the back from Jacklyn, can't believe I have no pics of the moment.

So in no particular order...

Here's Alli and Lucy in their matching dresses from Grandma.



Hanging out in the pool. Alli loved it of course. And so did Susie and I. I didn't get any pictures of the "wheat box" My mom got one of those kiddie sandboxes and filled it with wheat. Best idea ever!



Alli on our trip to Waterton. That cold water really didn't seem to bother her. I guess she's just real tough like here mama!



In the moment I thought the messy face was cute...later, not so much.



This bear crossed the road right in front of us on our way to Cameron Lake!



While we were having our picnic, these people were loading in their peddle boat. Of course Alli was right into it, helping herself to a lifejacket and all. We lucked out that even though they live in Ontario, my parents ended up kinda knowing them (everyone has a conection to Raymond) So they let us take Alli for a ride. Alli even insisted (cried) to go for a ride in the boat with the unknown man. Suddenly she wasn't so clingly.



Grandma hiding James in there.



Alli riding dad the horse.



Cousin Ava and Alli eating popsicles. I should have stripped Alli down like Ava, those popsicle stains are a killer.



James and his purple lips from the thrush medicine.



Yay the parade! I think the kids got more candy at the parade than they do at Halloween. All the Baldry grankids watching.



We went to Derek's 10 year high school reunion. For some reason they always have a float in the parade. You can't really see Derek on there, but he's there.



Derek's grandma and grandpa Hicken were the honorary parade marshalls. I don't know what that means, but that's what they were. Not bad for an 88 year old guy to be riding a horse. And of course Granma Hicken rockin wiht her band!




Derek was gone for some of the week to his glacier climbing scout camp by Banff.



So there it is. I must also note that I could not resist staying away from the Raymond Road Race. I "ran" the 5km. It was my second time running since my csection 6 and a half weeks prior. It was fun to run it with no pressure just to have fun. I'll also note that Derek won his category, my dad got 3rd in his and (though it is debateable) my mom got 2nd in hers. And yes mom you beat me it might have only been by one second, but you did beat me.

Phew, hope you made it through all the pics of the last couple posts. They take forever to load. I am just sweltering in the heat here. South facing apartment, not good. It's a killer up here, it's gonna cool down to a chilly 20 degrees overnight. The lovely sun has not quite set as I write this after 10pm and will up be at 5am to start warming again.

just james

I have returned! I was down in Raymond for almost 2 weeks and it was great! BUT...before I get to all the fun we had over the long weekend, I'm doing my ALL James post. I'll quote my dad here..."before 3 months babies are cute but useless" He said it, not me. (but let's face it, it's so true) Sometimes it's quality not quanity, but when there are so many quality...

I got the pictures that Rhonda took when James was a week old sooooo many cute pictures to choose from.












We are so happy to have James in our family. Inbetween cries he is quite the smiley baby. Alli can sure make him smile big. (and cry too, see above about to sit on his head) James is named after Derek's best friend James Cooper. They were friends from when they were 2 years old up through high school, and James passed away shortly after high school. While we were in Raymond we spent some time with James Cooper's family. It was such a fun experience to be with them and talk about their son with them while our James was there. I didn't know James C. very well, but from Derek talking about him and visiting his family over the years I am so proud to name our son after such an awesome guy. I know Derek is excited to tell our James about who he is named after, and I know someday James will be proud and excited to tell people who he is named after.

I'll get another post up in a day or 2 I hope!

another week already!

Well, I can't believe another week has come and gone! I don't even know where the days go.



When my mom was up she taught Alli about her shadow, and Alli has not quit talking about it since. She usually waves and chases her shadow, but here she is talking to her shadow. It is so funny, almost everytime she says the word shadow she gets real excited, but says it in a whisper.

On Saturday we went with some friends to a lake. And what a lake it was. Since I should be asleep right now and Jimmy and Alysha took such cute pictures and told the story so well, I'm going to cheat. Look here for some extra details on the days adventure!

Alli was hanging around by the water and boat all day, she was loving it. Uncle Ryan was so good to her. I'm not gonna lie, it was cold and rainy for a good part of the day and I was being a whimp. I hundled in the corner with James most of the time. (Derek had to work and couldn't come) Alli cried until she got a turn in the car and totally loved it. I guess Grandpa Steed needs a new toy for the grandkids to ride behind the boat...hint hint.



Here's Alli with her friend Ella and Uncle Ryan






Ok, once again slackin on the James pictures. I didn't even notice it until right now. He is 6 weeks old today and is actually sleeping without being held, which is a miracle for this time of night, hence the I should be sleeping right now. I swear I'll take some pictures of him and put them up this week. I am going to Raymond tomorrow. It's going to be a fun 5 hours with 2 kids and no Derek. The things I do for you Jacklyn!

happy father's day!

How do you get out of cooking on father's day? Buy your husband a BBQ for father's day! Yes, I gave in, Derek has been BEGGING for a BBQ for quite some time now. Our little tiny put on the ground BBQ wasn't cutting it anymore. I suprised him with it last night so he could put it together for today. We had delicious steak and potatoes on the BBQ, sooo good. Now Derek will cook for me even more, YAY!



I totally posted on James's 1 month day and didn't even put up pictures. I feel like a slacker with pictures of him. If I ever pull out the camera Alli is all in my face saying cheese and poor James gets neglected. So I must get better cause Alli has about a million of her. Here are the boys snoozin after a CRAZY night of very little sleep. Derek was up late writing his talk for church today (slacker) and James just wanted to be up and eat eat eat. He must be growing, because he's been eating lots today. Derek is such a good dad to these kids. I love seeing him with both of them, cuddling with James and "wrestling" Alli. During Derek's talk today, Alli just stood on the bench saying daddy, daddy for half the time. Just loving my guys today! Can you believe I got a nap today while Derek entertained BOTH the kids? I couldn't ask for a better dad/husband. Love you too dad. I'm to tired to get all sentimental...




And whats a post without pictures of Alli. Just a few of our daily trips to the park, nothing exciting these days. If anyone knows Alli, you know she is a social little girl. But the past week or so she has been sooooo clingly to me, and she has never been like that ever. Alli is usually always happy to go to someone new. That's why it's been kind of annoying having her hang all over me. She has never ever had trouble going to nursery, if anything, she is sad to leave when it is over. And the past 2 weeks has been no good at nursery. She's been crying and having fits when she goes, makes me so sad. Hope it passes soon. BUT, Alli still loves Sesue (thats what she calls Susie) Whenever the phone rings she says Seuse! and when we are in the car and driving through areas with lots of houses she either says Sesue or dog (for the Petersons)

so sad...

The other day our favorite neighbors moved to Mighigan. They knew they were only going to be here for a year, but it was still so sad that they had to leave. The year went by so fast, I feel like only yesterday they were moving in with 3 kids into a 2 bedroom apartment. (and right then I knew they must be mormons!) Their little girl Lilly was about 6 months older than Alli and they were so cute together. And I taught Ethan in primary. It was a perfect setup. They lived on the ground floor so they always had all their toys outside and it was free reign. Alli would walk right up to their door anytime we were outside and start calling Lilly, and Lilly would run to the door calling her name. Also, it was so nice to have Annie (the mama) around, we would just sit outside while the kids played. She had a baby boy at the end of March, her 4th in 5 years! I don't know how she does it, and always so happy. So we are just a little sad a lonely this week without them. No toys to go steal from them and no boys out playing all the time and no one to chat to while I put off making supper. AND, no handy babysitter next door, shucks. We're for sure going to miss them.

Alli and Lilly were too busy twirling to stop for a picture.



Here's some of the neighbor kids. Issac is on the top left and lilly below. The other 2 neighbor kids thought it would be fun for everyone to eat cherries, it got waaaaaay to messy. Ethan isn't in the picture because he broke his leg last week nad wasn't out playing. (those boys were wild)



I can't believe I odn't have a single picture of Annie and I. I guess since we both just had babies we weren't to excited about pictures. But even worse is we didn't get a picture of our babies together! And if you are wondering, we both named our baby's James. We had wanted to name our James that forever, so we did it anyway, haha.

One more of Alli and Derek going for a walk to the ravine. We got the carrier for James and he loves it, but so does Alli. Derek is going on a big hiking camp for young mens in July, so this was a little practice I guess.