Christmas 2007

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We started on the 22nd with the Nadeau family at Blake and Karen's house where we spent the afternoon socializing, opening gifts, snacking and sipping a glass of wine or two.

Jackie got lots of great gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Nadeau and Mom and Dad - below is her opening a gift from us.

Anyone remember this old toy - well I found a few items that Fisher Price has brought back - funny - I bet this is the only time she will see a phone shaped like this.

The Turkey - Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the Turkey. Blake and Amy did a wonderful job on the whole meal including a beautiful bird.


We then left on the 24th for Canmore, where we stayed a few nights and once again enjoyed spending time with family, drinking more than a few glasses of wine and ate lots of food.

Jackie trying on the Santa hat.

Adam was Santa that morning - handing out the gifts. You might notice, we started the first thing in the morning gift opening tradition - my sister Amy came out with us and when Jackie and I woke her up - she came up stairs saying: "What time is it?? It is still dark out!" - oh, the life of a student...

Jackie (with lots of help from Adam) put together a wonderful photo album for me - it has pictures from the minute she was born to a few days before Christmas.

The front is engraved saying: "You're the best Mom ever I Love You Mommy ~ Jacqueline"

Jackie and Brutis playing with the toy Santa brought for Jackie.

Reading books together. Amy gave Jackie a copy of the Robert Munch book "I Love You Forever". Funny things happen when you have a baby - suddenly I can't read it without crying, if you have not read the book it is a great one.

Grandma Hill and Grandpa Eric gave Jackie her first baby grand piano, she is enjoying it a lot.

Crawling

She started crawling on Monday December 17th!

She really needs to work on her technique - once I get a picture you will all understand, but one leg is not bent - therefore she looks like she has that leg in a cast....

So far, she enjoys being able to crawl after Brutis when he is chewing on a bone.

Practice Session

The other day we had a little practice session with Jackie, I think she will do just fine!

Family Photo Shoot

Our good friend Starr Mercer came over a few weeks ago to do our family photo shoot. I wanted to do an outside shoot, but due to -20 weather, we were confined to bring inside. Everyone that is on our mailing list should have received our family photo by now, here are some more of our favourites.

Thanks again Starr for doing such a great job!

Christmas

(Should I tell her this is not her gift - don't worry Kristi, she did not rip the paper.. yet)

Christmas, only 8 days away and I feel like I am 6. I have not been this excited for Christmas since then. I am so excited since this is Jackie's first Christmas, I am excited about all the traditions we are starting, all the things I want her to look back at 28 years from now and have great memories of Christmas.

All the little things that I am excited about:

* Jackie getting her first gift from Santa

* Adam and I getting to be Santa, even though her Santa gift this year is already under the tree (she is just too young to be able to read or pay attention to shapes and types of wrapping paper), but in later years it is us putting a gift under the tree after she has gone to bed.

* The food! I have so many fond memories of my Mom's Christmas baking, especially things that were made exclusively for Christmas.

* Christmas morning! The Christmas tradition I grew up with was opening our gifts Christmas eve, but we are going to go with the Christmas morning tradition. To much of Adam's sister's discontent, we have not yet done a Christmas morning gift opening, it is hard to wake up early when there are no kids, but we are starting this year.

* Family! I grew up far away from most of my parents family, I look forward to each year as we are all able to get together, and Jackie has lots of aunts and uncles, grandparents and close family friends close by.

Before I was a Mom

Before I was a Mom
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put him down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache,the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.


Editing to add:
Before I was a Mom
I never would have cried every time I read this!

A Jackie update

Well our little princess is now 9 months old, and changing everyday.

She got her third tooth on December 6th - almost 4 months after her 2nd came in.

She is sooooo close to crawling, but the latest change happened yesterday (December 16th), she pulled herself up to a standing position. Below are a few photos I got after she pulled herself to standing with the stool.

A new place to explore

As Jackie gets more mobile we will have to keep an eye on this one. Yesterday she discovered Brutis' kennel, she did not try and get inside, but I know this is going to happen some day.

Santa

Jackie's first photo with Santa. I absolutely LOVE it. She did not cry, which I was fully prepared for, but I think she was captivated by the beard.

This Santa is at Southcentre Mall. He is the same Santa every year and I have been told people come from hours away to have their kids photo take with him.

Christmas Tree

Jackie loves the Christmas tree. Okay, she loves the ornaments.

I sit her under the tree and she loves to reach up and pull an ornament off to play with. (Don’t worry, I got safe ornament hooks – plastic, not metal with poky ends.)

Since a few ornaments have some sparkles, that sometimes means a sparkley baby.

I can move backwards

We are still not crawling (I am NOT complaining), but she has started to move herself backwards, unfortunately that means she sometimes gets herself stuck.

Stockings Hung with Care...

This is the first year we have hung stockings in our house. Normally we do stockings at Adam's Mom's house when we celebrate Christmas there (instead of making her fill them all, we all contribute to every ones).

But this year I wanted to start hanging them in our house, even though Christmas morning will not be done here.

Any guesses which one is Brutis'? Jackie's is the blue one.