Around the Lake

Today we visited Cailin's Great Aunt Karen and toured her new house and property. Cailin was amazed by the animals - three dogs and eight cats!

We visited for a while, then drove back in to Moncton and had a BBQ on the back deck. What a beautiful night! After dinner, Cailin, Nanny June, Chase and I toured around the lake again. This time I took a few pictures. Cailin had a sleep, and we all got some fresh air.

Back to the house for a rest, tomorrow will be a big day - Canada Day!

Off to Moncton!

This morning we packed up the van and drove to Moncton, New Brunswick. The drive was long, going around construction on the back roads, but we made it in one piece. Once we got there, Cailin didn't waste any time getting to know her Nanny June, Grampy Don or Uncle Dougie. Uncle Dougie used his arms like a swing and swung Cailin for some time. He was an instant favorite of hers!
Cailin also took to her Nanny June very quickly. Those two get along just fine!
Cailin also watched Grampy Don open the liquor cabinet... She crawled right over, opened the door and played with the bottles inside, much to the delight and entertainment of her relatives. Hilarious!
She also got along well with Chase the dog. She fed him off her highchair and made a friend for life.

We had the best pizza for dinner, and Cailin amazed everyone by eating almost an entire slice all to herself. Well, what she didn't share with Chase anyway.

After dinner, Cailin and I walked around the lake to settle our dinner. It is really beautiful here.

Rainy Day at Bay of Fundy

It was rainy today, so we decided to skip the Halifax Waterfront and take a drive out to the lookout and the Bay of Fundy. The tide was out, and although it was rainy and foggy, it was still beautiful. We weren't able to get any pictures off the lookout though, there was too much fog in the valley.Cailin at the Bay of Fundy. We didn't get out of the car because it was raining so hard, but thought we should have a pic anyway...
It's so beautiful here.
I think this is a memorial, but again, it was raining too hard to get out of the car.
On the way back, we stopped at the lookout and had an ice cream cone. Cailin shared mine, even taking bites out of the cone part like a big girl. The lady behind the counter said she was the most beautiful child. We kind of think so!

Quiet Day

Today was a nice quiet day, settling in at Grampy and Pammy's place. Cailin played with her new toys from her birthday and had a great time.

Tonight we'll have Sunday dinner with Great-Nan Pauline. Then rest up for a busy week!

Cailin's Eastcoast Birthday

It was raining when we got up this morning, but it cleared off in time for the party. Guests started arriving at 3 o'clock and it was so exciting to see everyone again, meet new relatives and for everyone to meet Cailin. She did really well to start with, but is nervous around new people, so there were a few minor tears.

This time around, Cailin fully cooperated in the present opening department. She sat on the floor with me and ate tissue paper while I opened her gifts. She got a ton of books, and once she saw those, she didn't have any interest in anything else. She leafed through her new books while the rest of us ooh'd and aahh'd at her beautiful new clothes. Cailin tossed the books aside though when I pulled two stuffed lab puppies out of a bag. She held on to them for a long time considering her usual attention span. She got a movie, money, a toy remote and cell phone, clothes, stuffed animals and more. Cailin was sure spoiled!

Once the presents were done and the cake was getting in order, Grampy took Cailin outside for a breather. She picked herself some flowers from Pammy's hanging basket and Grampy put them in her hair for her.

Now it was time for cake and ice cream! Cailin got a Tinkerbell cake from the local bakery (I'm on vacation so I didn't make it). It was so cute! And delicious. Cailin sat in her highchair and mashed to her heart's content. She also ate a whole pile of it.

Then it was naptime. What a nice party that was! Thank you to everyone for coming and for your beautiful gifts!

Happy 1st Birthday Cailin!

Today is Cailin's first birthday. I can hardly believe that it's been a whole year already! We feel really lucky to be able to be here at Grampy and Pammy's (all the way across Canada!) to celebrate. Today will be a quiet day while we settle in, and tomorrow we meet the rest of the family at Cailin's birthday party.

To start with though, we went into town and did some shopping. Cailin wore her new hat from nanny and thoroughly enjoyed her ride in the shopping cart. She got a new pair of shoes since I didn't pack her any (oops) and a new swimsuit since I forgot to bring her one (oops again).

We also picked up boring items like diapers and baby food. And Cailin's favorite, toddler cheesies!

Cailin is teething right now, but it doesn't look like she'll get her two front teeth for her birthday after all.

To the Skies!

We were up bright and early on Thursday for the drive into the airport. Good thing too, the highway was closed and we had to take a very interesting (yet scenic) route to the airport. We finally made it, got our luggage checked and had a not-so-nice time through security. We met some other travelers that had missed their flights due to the road closure. We were lucky we left the house early to give ourselves plenty of time!

At the gate Cailin amused herself by devouring a chocolate chip muffin and chewing on my Tim Horton's coffee cup. Maybe she got a little residual java because she was not interested in sleeping on the plane later.

Once we boarded, Cailin made friends with a little 10 month old boy in the row in front of us. They 'talked' over the seat to each other for a lot of the trip. Boy, was Cailin busy. She never sat still until naptime where she slept for a measly hour. It was so hot on the plane that we could hardly breathe. Personally, it was the longest 5 hours of my life. I'm sure Cailin felt the same.

But what a good girl she was! For how hot and cramped it was on the plane, she did wonderfully. She didn't flinch during take off or landing. She played with the seat pockets and the magazines and cards inside. She sat on the little folded down table (or stood on it when the mood suited her) and entranced the flight attendents with her cuteness. She ate the cookie they offered her. Well, most of it. For the rest that's on the floor, I'm sorry!

Eventually we landed in Halifax and got some sweet fresh air. Cailin inhaled her dinner while her dad got the luggage.

Whew! We are finally here!

To the Farm

While in Olds, we ventured out to the farm to see Nanny's horse. Cailin was pretty sleepy, but loved the horses, especially the colts. She doesn't seem to be scared of horses at all.
Nanny's horse, Two Bits, came over to say hi.
Cailin was really good with the horses, and even wanted to pet them.
The colts are very friendly, and apparently have a sense of humor!

Are We There Yet??

Well, we made the drive down to Calgary in one piece yesterday. Cailin got the fidgets about an hour out and a minor meltdown occured, but she soon fell asleep. I thought she would sleep a lot more in the car, but she was awake and kicking quite a bit.

We stopped for lunch about halfway, and Cailin surprised us by demonstrating that she can drink milkshake out of a straw. I let her have some of my root beer shake to taste and she loved it! She also ate most part of a baby burger. What a ham she was, laughing, kicking and having a great time in the A&W. Cailin wasn't that excited to be back in the car confined to the car seat though.

She also amused herself by whipping toddler cheesies around in the car. Her dad was not quite as amused.

Cailin got an early birthday present from Nanny once we got there. While she played with the tissue paper, I unwrapped her gifts: three sweet new outfits, pink giraffe, pink fuzzy bunny and a toy purse complete with stuffed iPhone, puppy and makeup compact!

To christen her new outfits, she managed to dirty them all. She's in the third (and final) outfit now and hopefully it's the last outfit before pajamas tonight.

We fly to Halifax tomorrow, Cailin's very first plane ride!

Nova Scotia, Watch Out!

Well, we are getting ready for our trip out East to see the other half of the family. Not sure why I waited until the night before we leave to start packing, but I did. Perhaps this is why?
Pretty sure anything I packed before the last possible second would be unpacked rather quickly. It's nice to have such a helpful helper.

Speaking of helpful, Cailin powered out in the middle of the loud thunderstorm we're having and went to sleep. I will have to wait until morning to pack her suitcase since I'm sure she wouldn't approve of me digging around in her room while she's trying to sleep.

I can't believe we'll be in Halifax in a few days.

Also: I can't believe my baby is turning 1 on Friday!

12 Month Wellness and all's Well

Today was Cailin's 12 month checkup. She did remarkably well until she got a little bored. To amuse herself, she sat backwards on her chair:Made funny faces. Reached for the clock on the wall. Unpacked my purse for me. Played with my keys...
And perhaps lounged a little.
When the doc came in, she allowed herself to be measured, although she swatted at him and pushed his hands away. Cailin was taken with the thingy they use to look in her ears though, she thought that was pretty cool.

She sat on the scale and allowed herself to be weighed, even keeping her arms way up in the air to avoid touching anything. It was funny.

The verdict:

21 lbs even, 55 percentile

30" tall, 75 percentile

19" head, 95 percentile (my kid's got a HUGE brain)

Cailin is extremely healthy. The doc asked what she eats, and I told him EVERYTHING. Except rice. Apparently rice is major 'yuck'.

He asked if she has any words. She says Mom, Dadadad, Papa, puppy, ball. He says keep reading to her.

When we went to leave, I asked Cailin to wave bye. She wouldn't. Pooper.

One Summer Night

Friday night was the last night I had my nieces. They had been visiting for a week and were topping it off with a big sleep over at my house. They love Auntie's House! After a delicious dinner of hot dogs (or as Grace says, HOTT DOOG), we went outside to play. I'm afraid I had an ulterior motive for that as Grace had eaten 3 1/2 HOTT DOOGS and I was sure she was going to barf. Anyway.

Cailin got a kiddie pool for her birthday the weekend before. Since it was 8:30pm, I didn't put any water in it, but it didn't matter. The kids didn't care if the pool was dry, they played in it anyway!

My beautiful niece Kelli, going on 8yrs pretty soon. Cailin loves her to pieces.
Kelli can always manage to put a smile on Cailin's face. In fact, I got Kelli to distract her while I cut Cailin's fingernails the other day. Kelli did a song and dance, and Cailin watched with great interest while I quickly trimmed her nails. It worked perfectly.
Grace is my 2 1/2yr old niece. I can't believe how much she is talking nowadays. Last time I saw her, she only had a few words. Now she sings, talks and tells you all sorts of things. When I asked her, "Who made this mess?" Her immediate reply was, "Cailin did it." I laughed.
We had a wonderful time outside, playing in the wagon, climbing on the slide. All too soon it was time to go in for baths, bedtime and sleep. In the morning they had to go home to B.C. and it was sad. I can't wait to have them again.

My Latest Hobby (CAAAKE)

I've been taking cake decorating courses in my spare time. My initial hope was to make cakes at home for weddings, birthdays and special occasions. Our town is in sore need of another specialty cake outlet. Since we're gone for 3 weeks this summer, that takes a huge bite out of wedding season. Someday though, I hope to make a business of cakes.

This was my finale cake for my final course. We were gently prompted to make cookie cutter white fondant cakes with fondant roses.... My creative side won out and this was my creation:

The instructor loved it. I call that a win-win. The top layer is marbled blue and white fondant with flower cut outs.

My first client cake was for a friend's daughter's 1st birthday. She wanted ladybugs. So for Olivia, I made a pink ladybug smash cake for her highchair.
For the rest of the guests, I made a purple ladybug cake on a woven basket. I had a lot of fun dreaming these ladybug cakes up. My friend teared up a little when she saw them. Her daughter's 1st birthday party was lovely.
This one is my favorite! I love Hello Kitty with a passion that's embarrassing for someone my age. But anyway, I made this cake for my own 29th birthday. I figured that it was cute AND a nice photo opportunity for my pending cake business:
I do really hope I can make a living off of cakes in the future. However, if that doesn't work out, I will always be able to make a mean birthday cake for my own kid.

1st Birthday Party, Westcoast Style!

We woke up to a beautiful Saturday. It was a perfect day to have a 1st birthday party. Guests were coming from all around. Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins from B.C, friends from across town, and more cousins. I had decorated a few days before, made and decorated the cakes the day before, and it was finally the big day.

The birthday girl was quite taken by the paper cups.Cailin was suitably underwhelmed by her surprisingly heavy, hot dress. But look, polka-dots!
I fancy myself to be a bit of a cake decorator, a Cake Boss if you will. I even made sure her bears were wearing matching polka-dot dresses! The main cake is on the left and the little white bear is her smash cake for the highchair.
The decorations were raspberry pink and chocolate brown with stars all around. Cailin would just stare at them and look, and look, and look....
Cailin got a kiddie pool later on when opening the presents, and since it was such a hot day, it was immediately set up and enjoyed by all the kids and babies. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of the pool since I was furiously trying to keep Cailin from drinking the pool water. She drank some anyway.

It was a beautiful day. A good time was had by all.

SHE'S CRAWLING! (Kinda)

Cailin has avoided crawling now for months. She seems capable of it, but for some reason she just... doesn't. Imagine my surprise this morning when I put her down in front of the toy box and she scooted across the room and gleefully tore apart the bookshelf. I was stunned. Of course Cailin doesn't do a conventional crawl - she's highly original. She scoots on her bum and uses one leg and both arms to propel herself, like so:Imagine what kind of day I had with a suddenly mobile kid. I have a baby gate handy to keep pets/nieces out of the basement, and that went up immediately. She was into everything. Her favorite drawer in the house is the dish towel drawer of course. Bailey was two steps behind her all day, snooping in whatever Cailin was.
Occasionally Cailin would wander (scoot) down the hall and play with her reflection in the closet mirror. She would laugh, clap her hands, smile and babble up a storm to her reflection. Then she tootled off to our bedroom to play with the door on Bailey's kennel. The verdict? The kennel door works pretty slick. Over and over and over....
And then, once the mirror and kennel got dull, there was ALWAYS the dish towel drawer to play in. With your trusty puggle sidekick of course.
This is the beginning of a beautiful era, this crawling. I can tell.