To Manitoba and back!

Sometimes I think I should rename this blog "Lynsey's Life". But then I think, Lynsey is our life now so the title of "Brian and Sarah's Life" is still appropriate:). We have had a busy few weeks! After the campout we hung out at home for a while to recuperate from the drive, knowing what was coming up. We had some company over the long weekend and went out with Brian's Penner family to celebrate his Grandpa's 80th birthday. We did some shopping, finally getting a baby gate so we don't have to keep laying down our bar stools as barricades. We also got Lynsey this walk-behind toy which she loves! She's so cute plodding along behind that thing:). Last Wednesday morning, we departed for Brandon, Manitoba to attend Brian's brother Steve's wedding. The trip wasn't too bad - we stopped in Regina on the way there which was really nice. Lynsey loved the pool (as usual!). The wedding was on Friday and it was a beautiful day. It was a very nice wedding - I was a bit stressed out because Lynsey hardly slept all day and because Brian was in the wedding party, he was obviously busy most of the day. It was nice at the reception because we took her little walk-behind toy along so she was able to run around in that big open space. Weddings are not as relaxing as they used to be, that's for sure! Oh, well - I guess it's my turn to be running after my baby as she's crawling over to get into someone elses purse. We stopped in Saskatoon on the way back to visit my friend Leanne which was really good. On Saturday, Lynsey stood on the grass by herself for a long time! I put her down thinking she'd stand for her normal 3 or 4 seconds, and it was more like 10 - 15! Very exciting! She did it on Monday, too - often! I got it on video with her standing for 20 seconds, but since that day, she hasn't really wanted to stand. She starts crying and wanting to get down and crawl as soon as we try to stand her up. I think she's a bit of a scaredy-cat all of a sudden. She still does it when she's distracted by a book or something else, but we're just going to have to make sure we don't push her too hard.

A summary on how Lynsey has been doing lately:

Sleeping: Going through a rough patch right now. She got a tooth on the top a few weeks ago and she's cutting three more at the same time, so that could be why, but she is not herself these nights. Last night she actually grabbed my hand and was quiet while I was with her, but when I let go started crying like the world was ending. I hate to let her cry it out in those circumstances! I think she'll come through it like she has every other phase, I'm just a bit tired these days.

Eating: Not really so much fun right now! She wants to try all different sorts of food, but it's hard for me to know if she's getting all the right nutrients. She spits her food out a lot of the time which is really frustrating. It was much easier when she just ate her baby food without a fuss.

Playing: So much fun right now! She is so cute! She plays by herself a lot better now, but still wants to play with us and we are having a blast:). She giggles and shrieks and is happy a lot. She's very active, climbing up on everything and crawling around, but so far I haven't actually found it that hard to manage. I just have to be aware all the time of where she is. So far she hasn't gotten mad when I've taken her away from something, so we'll see when she'll enter that phase!

Camping with the family!

We had a really fun weekend camping near Grande Prairie with my family! We drove up to Edmonton Thursday afternoon and stayed at Brian's parents for night - I thought it might be better for Lynsey if we split up the trip. The drive to Grande Prairie wasn't too bad - Lynsey required some attention on the drive, but we really only made one stop. The weekend was tiring, but really enjoyable. Lynsey was in her element with all the attention she was getting from her little cousins! They were walking her around and playing with her and she was loving every minute:). She slept okay at night, but didn't have the greatest naps - mostly catnaps in her stroller throughout the day. Oh, well - I guess that's the way it goes when you're camping! We had rented a trailer from the campsite and we were really thankful for it - I wouldn't have wanted to tent it with bottles and baby food and diaper changing etc. - I don't know how Mary and Dave did it! Another thing that was confirmed about Lynsey this weekend (besides how much she loves attention and is not shy in the least bit!) is how much she loves the outdoors! She was all over the grass (which wasn't nice and soft at all) and she even loved playing in the gravel (had to make sure her soother was in at all times!). We left the campsite on Monday morning and drove to Edmonton. Lynsey slept almost the whole way - wiped out apparently! We stayed in Edmonton for the day and hung out with Brian's parents and left for Calgary at 8pm, so she slept the whole way to Calgary as well - worked out great:). All in all, travelling with her isn't too bad. I hope she's getting used to the long drives because next week we are off to Manitoba!

Turning 29, getting visitors from the north, going to Invermere, etc.

We've had quite a busy time since my last post - probably should have checked in last week! Oh well - I can cram it all into one post:). We got a kiddie pool and tried it out with Lynsey and Elijah - Lynsey quite enjoyed it actually. Becky and Gordie came to visit us last weekend! They came on Friday and stayed until Monday. We had a really good time with them - Lynsey didn't whine the whole weekend for all the attention she was getting! My birthday was on Saturday and Mary and Dave came out as well to celebrate my last birthday in my 20's. This last weekend, we made a trip to Invermere. One of the girls in my small group (Christy) has parents with a "cabin" out there (I put cabin in quotes because it was more like a big, beautiful house!) and they were kind enough to let a group of us hang out there for the weekend! We had a great, relaxing time. Lynsey loved it, but she didn't sleep very well. I hoped she would be easily adaptable to a new environment, but apparently I have gotten her quite used to a routine, and a new place to sleep just didn't agree with her. She is at the age now where she is all too aware that there are more people around and sleeping might mean that she will miss out on something. I really hope she will do okay this weekend at the family campout! She slept from 8 until 8 last night with only a small stint of talking around 6:45am, so I guess she was a bit worn out. Two weekends in a row like this might be a recipe for disaster, but we'll find out:).

Definitely on the move now:)

In the last week, Lynsey's mobility has increased almost exponentially. It was like she wasn't really that interested before, but now that she can move a bit faster, she is experimenting more with stairs, climbing things, standing up on things, all things she's not really balanced enough to do well yet. She loves standing up by the fireplace (as you can see from the pictures!) and can quite proficiently stand up by the couch now. Her second tooth came through yesterday and she is drinking her milk a bit better again which is good. If I had the energy (and a better back) to walk her around all day, she would be the happiest baby around. I don't think she would ever get sick of it. Now I'm wishing she would learn how to walk! Okay, I might be crazy. I haven't gotten her weighed since she was 6 months old, but by my next blog post I WILL have! I can't procrastinate any longer - I want to know how heavy she is.

Our basement is almost furnished to my satisfaction - there are just a few odds and ends I want to get yet. It's looking good down there! So nice to have it done because we have gotten more visitors this summer than probably ever before!

Finally a tooth!

After months of drooling, Lynsey has finally cut a tooth! She wasn't actually that cranky either - if this is bad as teething gets I can handle it! She started drinking less of her bottle on Friday or Saturday, and not napping as long as she should, but she didn't actually cry that much. She did NOT like it when I tried to feel the bump on her bottom gum, though! I think it was really sore. Yesterday it finally poked through. I think she finds it strange to have this sharp thing in her mouth, because we can totally see her rubbing her tongue against it:). She also started making this "o" sound a lot (you can see her funny expression in some of the pictures), which also may be her feeling her tooth with her bottom lip. Her last swimming lesson was on Thursday and she passed - yay! Failing is impossible of course, but we can still call it an accomplishment. She is becoming more and more curious of other babies, and I'm starting to see the whole dynamic of them wanting the toy that the other one has. The good news is that Lynsey still doesn't cry when you take something away from her, so I'm hoping that means she's easy-going (fingers crossed!). She is finally sitting and playing sometimes, which is a nice relief for us. For the longest time, she refused to sit and always wanted to be led around. She still does a lot of the time, but with the right entertainment (ie. grass outside) she will sit and play for a while. The basement is slowly taking shape and we will be spending time down there very soon. It just seems like there is always more organizing to do before it can become functional. It's hard making our stuff fit into this new space, and I'm constantly forming new plans in my head about what goes where. How happy will I be when it's all done! Mary and Dave stopped in on Friday night on their way back to Stettler - Ezra is so much more relaxed than Lynsey! It will be a little while yet before they play together:).