On the Farm

Last weekend, we went to the farm for seeding. While the weather wasn't the best the first day we were there, it cleared up for the rest of the time we were there. Megan enjoys the farm as there is lots of room to run and she gets to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa. This was Ethan's first trip to the farm and he got to take a ride in one of the tractors with Grandpa and Daddy, he didn't even mind the noise of the engine as evidenced by the fact he didn't wake up while on Grandpa's lap.

Megan enjoyed visiting the cats at Art & Wanda's farm.

One Happy Boy

As he is now three months old, Ethan has started smiling at people. He is a very happy boy most of the time and I was able to take this picture of him smiling.

Matching Sleepers

Somehow, unintentionally, while shopping for sleepers for the kids, I managed to buy Megan and Ethan matching sleepers (sort of). It's probably hard to tell, but both sleepers say "Peek-a-boo" and each have an "pet" peeking out from behind the "Peek-a-boo". Megan's sleeper has a pink kitty and Ethan's a blue and brown puppy. I wanted to get a picture of them together, but it didn't work out.

Megan in her "Peek-a-boo" kitty sleeper.

Ethan in his "Peek-a-boo" puppy sleeper.

My little copycat

I'm reminded often of what copycats kids are as they learn. This is Megan "feeding" her Cabbage Patch dolls the same way I feed Ethan.

Fun in the Snow

Because we got such a big dump of snow recently, Jason decided it would be a good idea to take Megan for a ride on the sled we got her for Christmas. Megan agreed with this idea and wasn't happy to have to come in from the cold. Hopefully, once the snow melts, we can play on the swings in the yard again.

April Snows

As anyone knows who watches the news or lives in the Calgary area, we received a big dump of snow and it's still coming. Here are some pictures of our backyard after the first big snowfall. These will give you an idea of how much snow we've received.

This is our back deck.

Megan's tricycle

Just Swingin'

Tummy Time

As many parents of young children know, these days babies sleep on their backs and tummy time is strongly recommended to help prevent flat spots. Here are some pictures of Ethan having some tummy time.

"I think I can hold my head up....."

"Yep, I can!"

Ethan's Baptism

As many of our family and friends are aware, we attend a Christian Reformed Church here in Calgary. As part of the tradition of this branch of our faith, children are baptized, usually as infants. This year, on Easter Sunday, we had Ethan baptized according to the church's tradition. For probably the only time in his life, Ethan was dressed in the baptismal gown that Jason's parents had him, his brother and sisters baptized in. Megan was baptized in the same gown and any other children we may have will use it also.

Jason's family (almost all) came out for the weekend of the baptism and spent Easter with us. Megan had fun playing with her cousin Jeremy, whom we only see when we go out to Ontario for visits.

Here we are with Jason's family. Unfortunately, Derek's wife Faye and their little girl, Jorja, weren't able to come. We hope to meet Jorja someday soon.

Ethan at Two Months

On April 1, we took Ethan to the doctor for his 2 month checkup. Here are the results:

height: 56.5 cm

weight: 9 lbs 6 oz.

Camera Fun

Here are some pictures of Ethan I took while playing with a feature on my camera called color accent.

Ethan in his blue sleeper and bouncy chair

Sitting on the red truck blanket Grandma Mantel made for him.

Ethan at One Month

It's amazing how quickly a month can pass. It seems a bit hard to believe that one month ago, I was in the hospital getting to know this new little person and recovering from the major surgery (c-section) that I underwent to deliver him. As he has now had his one month checkup, here are the current stats on our little boy:

Birth weight: 6 lbs 6 oz.

1 month weight: 6 lbs 15 oz

Birth length: 19 inches (I don't know the conversion to cm)

1 month length: 55 cm (I don't know the conversion to inches)

As you can see, he hasn't put on much weight despite the doctor having us supplement him with formula along with being nursed. I will be continuing to supplement him on doctor's orders as he apparently has no body fat. I'm glad to be almost done my 6 week recovery period during which I have been under orders to lift nothing heavier than Ethan and no driving for the first 2 weeks. Megan has been "trained" to know that to climb in Mommy's lap during this time, she needs to climb on something else first. I'm glad to say that I will be able to lift her and carry her again soon. I will try to post more about Ethan as he gets older and starts to be able to do things.

"New" Toy

Recently, Megan rediscovered a baby gift that we had received for her from some family in the Netherlands. I decided she's finally old enough to play with it so I unpacked it for her. She's really enjoying playing with this doll and her accessories. The doll's seat is also a backpack which Megan enjoys carrying the doll in.

Edmonton Visit

When Ethan was 2 weeks old, we decided to take a road trip to Edmonton to visit my brother Ryan and his wife Pam. Ethan was a good baby, sleeping the whole way. We had a nice visit with them as did the kids.

Ethan and Aunt Pam

Ethan and Uncle Ryan

Grandma O and the Grandkids

Shortly after Ethan was born, Nate, Kristie and family came over for supper and a visit. My mom had been staying with us to help out and we decided to get a picture of her with all the grandkids. So, here is who everyone is (left to right): Devun, Katie, Ethan and Megan with Grandma in the middle holding the babies.

Welcome, little niece!

As some of our friends and family know, Jason's brother Derek & his wife Faye happened to have been expecting their second arrival this month just like we were expecting Ethan. Sunday night, Jorja (pronounced Georgia) Faye Mantel arrived.

Welcome baby girl! Congratulations to Derek, Faye & big brother Jeremy.

Welcome, Ethan!!

As most of our family already knows, early Saturday morning, Jason and I got up early to go to the hospital for a scheduled c-section to deliver our newest family member.

We welcomed Ethan John into this world at 11:15 am February 2, 2008. He weighed in at 6 lbs 6 oz. and 19".

So far, Megan seems to like her baby brother. She got to hold him on Saturday when Daddy brought her to visit at the hospital.



Hopefully, she'll continue to adjust well to having Ethan around and will learn quickly that Mommy can't pick her up and carry her for a few weeks and find different ways of climbing into my lap during my recovery.

Happy Birthday Megan!

Well, it's official. I am now the mother of a 2 year old. Where has the time gone? I have greatly enjoyed the past 2 years at home with my girl and will continue to enjoy each day I have with her. Here's a look at the past 2 years on this day.

Newborn






1 year old

2 years old.

I can't help but marvel at how she's changed over the past 2 years. I know I'll probably be saying the same thing every year for the rest of her life.

Just Chillin'

I just had to take a picture of this! She just looks so....... grown-up, I guess. This is one to cheer you up on a bad day. (I did not pose her at all! She did this herself.)

Megan's 2nd Birthday Party

Last weekend, we celebrated Megan's second birthday. Due to weather (ie. SNOW), it wound up being limited to just family (Grandma & Grandpa O, Uncle Nate, Aunt Kristie, Devun & Katie). Megan, of course, didn't care that no one else that was invited couldn't make it. We enjoyed watching her open her presents and playing with them. Here are some pictures.

This is the Leapfrog Fridge Farm. She really enjoys matching up the parts of the animals and hearing the sounds they make.

Grandma & Grandpa gave her a doll house and magnetic writer. She loves to scribble on the writer.




Jason & I decided Megan should have her own Flames Jersey seeing she likes ours so much. This was probably her favourite present of all.

I made a cake for the party this year as we ran out of time to order one. We couldn't help laughing at Megan as she tried to blow out the candles through her nose.

Haircut

Recently, it was time for Megan to get her hair cut again. We took her to a local children's place to get her hair cut. She seemed to enjoy sitting on a chipmunk while getting her hair cut.

She sat really good for the girl cutting her hair and didn't really want to leave once we were done.

New Year's

For New Year's this year, we went out to Canmore and spent a few days enjoying the mountains. Those who were able to, went skiing and snowboarding. Everyone agreed to take New Year's day off from that and just play with the kids in the snow. There was a play area near our "rooms" where we took the kids to play.

It didn't matter to Megan who pushed her in the swing as long as she got to swing.

There were also slides and ride-on characters to be played with. You can be sure that Megan enjoyed playing with it all.

One Big Christmas Post

This year we stayed in Alberta for Christmas. Unfortunately, it didn't start well as on December 23, in the early morning, our van was hit while it sat in front of our house while we slept. Jason discovered the damage when he went outside to get something before church.

This accident means that we were short our primary family vehicle over Christmas. Fortunately, the damage is repairable and covered by insurance at no cost to us.

Later that day, we decided to let Megan open her Christmas gifts from us. She had little problem tearing open the wrapping paper. This is a doll stroller and carseat set that we got her as one of her gifts.




Megan also had no problem making sure the wrapping paper made it into the garbage.

We also gave Megan a baby Cabbage Patch doll for Christmas which she loves to carry around the house and just about everywhere we go.

Megan also received a TJ Bearytales story bear from us. We were going to try to keep this one to open in Drum, but Megan decided otherwise.

Christmas Eve day, the box from Jason's family in Ontario arrived. This meant that Megan got to open gifts again. She didn't seem very impressed as most of these gifts contained clothes and not toys (she needs the clothes anyway). Megan does love the one toy she did receive.

Yes, that's right, the one toy she did receive was a shape-sorting ball that is still available through Tupperware. She's very good at putting the pieces in the right spots.






On December 25, we went to my parents to open gifts there. We came home with more toys for Megan to play with and grow into.

This was one of Megan's gifts, a Dora the Explorer puzzle book. She loves to make the book make sounds when she pushes on the shapes.

Lake Louise

This past weekend, we went to Lake Louise for Jason's company Christmas party. As part of the pre-party activities, we got to go on a sleigh ride around the lake. Megan, as you can see, came with us and enjoyed looking cute for the camera as always.

Grandma and Grandpa O came along for the ride and to babysit Megan while we attended the party. Megan enjoyed her time with Grandma and Grandpa.

OOPS!

We recently took a trip to the mall with Megan. The mall happens to be renovating their floors among other things right now and Megan wasn't paying very good attention to how uneven the floors were and, as you can see, skinned her top lip as a result. She doesn't even seem to be bothered by it anymore and I know that if we keep it clean and leave it alone, it will heal nicely on its own.

Daddy's Helper

We've finally put up our Christmas tree (yes it's artificial). Megan once again got to be Daddy's little helper as she helped him put the balls on the tree.

Our Little Flames Fan

Recently, while watching a Calgary Flames game on TV, Jason decided to dress Megan up in my Flames jersey. She looked so cute, I had to take a picture.

Halloween 2007

This year, we decided Megan could go trick or treating for Halloween. We found a cute Winnie the Pooh costume for her to wear and a sleeper that was close in color to the yellow of the suit to wear underneath.

I may be a bit biased, but I think she was the cutest Pooh bear that I've ever seen.