some videos and pictures

owen's baby. given to him to represent the baby growing in mama's belly (i'm now 20 weeks!). he likes to take care of her and carry her around.


our garden at granny's house! it's a good time to get dirty and hot.

weekend wedding

it's been a blur these days! we had Erin and Ben's wedding this past weekend (Ry's sister). It was a beautiful, fun, enriching occasion that lasted from Thursday night to Sunday night! So we were pretty wiped come Monday, but it was a good feeling.

We all were involved in the wedding, which means I unfortunately don't have any photos of us in our wedding wear. But here is one of Owen at the dress rehersal (as well as cousin Lillian) (note his new short spring haircut):




Ry did the music during the ceremony. He played guitar beautifully, and sang full and strong and awesome, as he usually does. Owen was the ring bearer that bore no rings, as we weren't sure he'd even make it down the aisle. BUT he did make it down, holding my hand. He wanted me to carry him, but I promised him goldfish when we made it to front if he walked so he obliged. I was [one of] the maid of honours, and owen escorted me down. I kept him in line through the ceremony, which involved taking him to the potty, retrieving him from the sacred alter at the front of the anglican/episcopal church (in the middle of the vows), and ignoring him when he started to say poop and fart loudly in hopes of getting some laughs. But he did great, all in all. Pretty low interruption, really. And the ceremony was beautiful; I was able to enjoy it.

This week has been pretty low key, thankfully, and now we're getting ready to go the Granny's cabin, to open it up for the season. We're really looking forward to this getaway, as the cabin is such a beautiful, quiet recluse location (except when the neighbours are there). Roger and Marnie will be there too, it will no doubt be a nice time together.

grandparents.

we just spend a wonderful 5 days with my parents (or rapa and rama as owen calls them). They stayed in our living room so we could spend as much time together as possible. Owen got along with them splendidly and couldn't get enough of the tractor, animal, and reading time. I can see that the next couple of days will be difficult as he has grown accustomed to constant attention.

Here are some pictures in the days before Rama and Rapa's arrival:





Here are some pictures from our time together. We took a lot of walks down Grand and Summit, and we visited the zoo and conservatory.











and finally:

glorious day

we had a gloriously warm day today. temperatures reached 17 C and our windows are still open. It's wonderful what fresh air and warm sun will do to ones mental, emotional and physical state. Owen and I went to the park today. Much of the playset was inaccessible due to the incredible amount of water around the slides and steps. He had so much fun any way. He slipped on some ice and fell in the water, but he reacted well and did not even want to go home after it happened. We had a lot of fun.

owen has mastered the potty, at least as far as pee is concerned. he tells us every time he needs to go, even if it's at some place that isn't home. we still put diapers on him to go out, but usually they are dry the whole time. we're so happy about this new development! and owen is, too. he applauds us and encourages ry and i when we pee in the potty, too.

This is Owen enjoying his bath.


Owen set this up: after I remade his bed, he set all his teddies to go night-night with him.

shome!

we've all been fighting a little lingering cold that doesn't want to shake itself entirely out of our bodies. it's nothing major but it's slow nose drip and throat tickle are annoying. Perhaps it is merely coincidental, but since Owen has caught this little bug he's become more of a bug himself. His stubbornness has gotten stronger and his desires with it. So, if he wants chips then you better believe he will make that request known. He gets this look in his eye that I am sure he's mimicking from a time when I was determinedly telling him to not throw his food on the floor. But he looks at you, eyes kindof slanted, and says, '..i...want...chips!!!' The fact that there aren't any chips in the house doesn't matter whatsoever; no, he doesn't care about that little fact. But at any rate, these little episodes ('sodes as i like to say) usually pass after his fall-straight-onto-the-floor-while-yelling fit, followed by some quiet time in his room. He usually emerges feeling calm and happy and, gratefully, the chips forgotten.

obviously our little owen is becoming more aware of the possibilities one uncovers when one exerts his will. as parents, we are trying to allow the space he needs to be determined, forceful and then upset. he certainly balances out his tantrums with his still-intact sweet disposition (despite all i've said). He's becoming quite the little talker, as well as a caring boy. If one of us coughs, his immediate question, 'you okay?' never fails to make us smile. His laugh and smile, as contagious as ever, emerge easily. He loves wishing us 'big days' when we leave for work, and his uncontrollable excitement when we arrive home is marvelous and is like no other homecoming. one of his forms of play has been to pretend to go to work. he has a couple bags that he puts over his shoulders, he gives kisses and hugs then says bye and have a big day, then he's off 'to work'. Sometimes this involves putting on shoes, mitten and his tuque (all of which he has to do himself), but he's never gone long. His work days are short. He gives hugs and kisses all over again as he happily announces that he's home (shome!).

life is busy and full; we're content while tired.

it's called 'winter song' and i love it.

and the walls have colour!

Well it has been awhile (again) since my last post. Ry is in school again and working. I am working as well. We both work on Tuesday, so Owen gets to hang out with Daryl (aka dee) for about 5 hours during out overlap time of work. He really enjoys that time as he thinks daryl (and sandy) are the coolest.

we discovered an 'open gym' 6 blocks from us. owen is in love with it, and it's nice for ry and daryl, too, because there are basketballs to play with. It's open on Tuesday and Thursday. There is a family open gym on Sunday that we have yet to visit. It has been a good discovery as the winter is now beginning to feel long.

owen is in the process of being potty trained. He is now at the point where he completely gets the whole peeing in the potty thing, and he is very excited about it every time it happens. He doesn't like to wear diapers. Usually when we go out places now, when it is not for a very long time, he won't go pee until we're back home. He doesn't love going to the potty when he's having fun, though. I think that is a problem for a lot kids - the potty isn't quite as exciting as his cars. But he's getting it and hardly has accidents anymore. At first, as incentive to use the potty, we would give him a balloon every time he would pee. Now he doesn't need the incentive so much so we've cut that part out (unless he asks for it). There is a picture below of him with balloons and that is the story behind the amount of balloons.








And here (finally!) are some pictures of our apartment. I got a couple rooms painted, making me feel better about posting these. I was not going to post pictures until we had a mattress for our futon, but I decided that it doesn't matter. The frame is big and unattractive, but you get the idea. We've made a couple places to sit on it with pillows, and it serves as a functional clothes-drying rack.

bathroom:







Our dining room (wallpapered when we moved in) [with our clothes drying on the rack], and our living room & front hall: