You!

It's getting harder and harder to get a good picture. Starting to think about getting a new camera. :) Pointing is common now. Very cute.

Oh Canada

Taken November 28. Ensemble courtesy of J. and T. The coat is a bit big but we were so excited that it almost fits!
Lotion bottles are also a recent favorite "toting" item.

List

Clean up basement. Check.
Build shelves for cold food storage in garage. Check.
Write thank you notes. Check.
Vacuum rooms that haven't been done in two months. Check.
Entertain neighbor toddler boy while his mommy and newborn sister get some rest. Check.
Make meal for said family. Check.
Finalize service preparations for the weekend. Check.

Take Isabelle to Breton Village and enjoy her delight in the Christmas train display, play table at Pooh's Corner and fish pool. Check.
Decorate tree with Ben. Check.
Feel thankful for family. Check.

Feel excited about Christmas. Check. Check. Check.

It's Christmas, Don't Be Sad

With all the sickness and scramble to complete holiday service arrangements, we have not decorated our tree, put up any decorations or bought any presents. I have found this mildly depressing over the last few days. Ben had to work a lot this week (funeral yesterday) and so our household wheel has screeched and ground to a halt. The house is a mess. The fridge needs to be cleaned out. And we have two sets of company coming back to back next week. Things are looking grim.

Christmas is a time where I have often struggled with the blues. There's always a lot to be done, and I find that I get irritated that the extra tasks and costs eat into my energy reserves and budget. I like being with family and going to church. I just don't like doing the work!! Historically my mom always "hated" Christmas too....maybe this is where this comes from. 2 years ago when we went to Culebra for the holidays, I loved the fact that we didn't buy any presents or put up any decorations. Well, we decided we were not going to, but then Ben did it when I was out one night that year! That was also the year I read Skipping Christmas by John Grisham and was delighted by the premise that one could go away and just come back when it was all over. (I would highly recommend this book. I laughed out loud a lot.)

This year we have been listening to a lot of Christmas music and it has really helped me along. Our favorites this year have been The Raffi Christmas Album, Wintersong by Sarah McLachlan, Peanut's Christmas and best yet, Christmas Songs by Sufjan Stevens. It has surpassed Charlie Brown as my alltime favorite Christmas album. Sufjan has a song called "It's Christmas, Let's Be Glad" and it's a song that I hear myself singing to my mom, and hear my younger sister singing to me. It's Christmas; don't be sad. Cheer up! People are coming. There's food to be eaten. There'll be presents . We'll play music. We'll get the work done together. Every time I have felt sad this season, I sing this song aloud. Even Isabelle has learned the "la la la" part and she sings it often in the bath.

Since it's Christmas, let's be glad
Even if your life's been bad
There are presents to be had

La la la la la la la la la la la la la

It's Christmas, let's be glad!!!

Sign of the Times

She's signing. More, diaper and eat. She is still very crabby with me when I do "all done", as if to say "Lady, get me out of this chair. I KNOW you know what I mean."

When she hears "Where's Isabelle?", she put her hands, palms out, in front of her eyes. She does it a lot during mealtime. In fact, she needs games and songs during mealtime. She's bored. I think she gets that from me. I can't eat without reading or doing something.

Her favorite song right now is "Wheels on the Bus". She claps whenever she hears clapping on a CD or on the television.

The triumph of the day is this: she got some soft blocks from Auntie Christy and Uncle Dane for her birthday that have a cylinder that goes through one of them. She has been trying for weeks to get the cylinder into the hole by herself. She gets frustrated and throws each piece down with a separate hand. Today she was able to do it herself - fed the cylinder through the hole. She looked at me and said "aaaahh" - which translates as "yay!!!!" and clapped her hands.

Snuggle Puppy

I've been absent so long that it's made me not want to post. I have so much to catch up on. But instead of feeling like I have to recap, I'm just going to go forward. Otherwise I may never post again.

We've been sick. Isabelle and I have both had a nasty cold and we've barely survived. She didn't want to eat, sleep or do anything. Amidst this, she's been learning so many new things. This week she figured out how to go upside down and look through her legs. She did do a face plant once while practicing this. :( But today the news is Snuggle Puppy. We've been working on introducing him as her nighttime friend (lovey). During the day I always ask her where he is, and we drag him from room to room as we play. She knows that he is often in the crib so she looks there for him. She knows exactly what he is as when I say, "Where's Snuggle Puppy?", she looks for and grabs him from among many toys.

After she was asleep for her afternoon nap, I peeked in to tuck the blanket over her, and there was Isabelle, fast asleep with her arm around Snuggle Puppy, nestled close and keeping her company. A first. I'm hoping this is the start of a beautiful friendship.

Almost One

Shameless. It's been almost a month since I posted and so much has happened I can't possibly reproduce it all. We went away on our own (without Isabelle) for 48 hours to a retreat while my mom babysat. Everything went so well. Isabelle was fine; in fact, she didn't seem to miss us. And my mom loved having her (and the house) all to herself. I did miss her so much, but it didn't hurt like I thought it might. And I weaned Isabelle around this whole trip. No more nursing.

Well, we're a few days away from the big birthday. Here's Isabelle's current top 10:

1. She is walking. Yes, I should have done a post just on this, but don't be mad. It's been a lot like crawling and smiling. Tiny bits at first, but in the last week she has really become more confident and wanting to take bigger risks. Today she walked from the stairs to the downstairs couch. She has also walked from the kitchen into my bedroom. She staggers and has to correct herself, and it's so cute. She's very proud of herself.

2. She is really understanding what we say. She can point to my nose when asked, and now gives me objects when I ask for them. So cute.

3. She is learning how her toys work - she has shapes that go through holes on her play fridge door, and she's learned how to put the circle in the circle, and that she has to press the button to release the circle.

4. She loves opening and shutting doors on her toys.

5. She loves putting things inside containers now - this is very new. I was waiting and waiting for her to discover this and it just came yesterday. In the bath tonight, she put her little fish inside her cup, but she was finding it really hard to do underwater!!

6. She has continued her trend of being a big eater. Today she ate an entire WW wrap (folded over with melted cheese inside) and half a pear for lunch (plus 5 oz. of milk to drink). After chowing on a whole banana at 4pm, she still had room to put away a generous portion of soup and an entire piece of toast, plus applesauce and a cereal bar for dinner. I think she eats more than me.

7. She is no longer afraid of the vacuum cleaner, but now tries to compete with it in volume. When it's on, she yells "ya, ya, ya" at the top of her lungs as if to say "I can be louder than you!". She also does this when I'm using the hair dryer.

8. She imitates a lot of sounds/words now. Her favorite is "lather, lather, lather". She will repeat that on cue. And also as a song. She has been doing "whoa" for a while now to signal that she's excited or happy about something.

9. She's learned how to turn the keyboard on and off. She loves to turn the light switches on and off.

10. She loves to give kisses. When she's going to sleep, she presses her nose on my forehead until I kiss her and then she'll stop. But she does it about 5 times before going to sleep. She doesn't kiss Ben for some reason. :) She will kiss her stuffed animals when I say "Give the puppy kisses."

I'm just amazed at what she can do and what she understands. It's so much fun being with her everyday - a real privilege.

Purple Dress

Not much time to post...Isabelle's cold is gone, but now we are dealing with the oh so fun effects of daylight savings time. Can you say 5AM?????????????????

However, she wore a dress to church today (one of Jackie's) and she was so cute in it. Her Oma and Opa are visiting this weekend, and she has had so much fun playing with them and showing them all her toys and games. Ben and I are about to leave for our first night without her while Mom babysits. I'm oh so nervous, and yet looking forward to a break at the same time. I know we will miss her SO much!!! She is changing so much right now and understanding more and more every day.

Thanks for a fun visit, Oma and Opa! We can't wait until you come back. 

Piano

Enough said. Watch and see.

Thanksgiving 2006

I'm trying out a new option for posting photos. I enjoy Picasa so much (thanks Bear) and today read a post by someone who's trying Picasa web albums. Have a look at the album and tell me if you like this better than looking at the Flickr site. At present, it seems easier to upload than to Flickr.

These photos are from Thanksgiving weekend, where Mom, Dad, Jo and Rika visited. We did end up having a turkey dinner, after much searching for the turkey! (Next year I will preorder....). Here's also a few videos of us.

Isabelle is with Rika on the floor for the first time. The last time they were together was before Isabelle could sit up. Rika lost a ball down that vent last Christmas (before the cover was put back on) and she immediately remembered and was looking for it. Watch how Isabelle imitates Rika by putting her head down to dig. Very cute.

It was a beautiful weekend so we spent a good chunk of time outside. This is in our backyard.

Last of all, here's where Rika shines. A ball. A good sized lawn. Need we say more?

Thanksgiving 2006

Playing

This is a good example of how Isabelle plays. She goes from thing to thing, and usually makes the loudest noise she can with the item by shaking it or dropping it on the floor. She has recently perfected the art of pulling all the books/diapers off the shelf.

BTW, Isabelle has had a bad cold the past few days and so we have been just doing everything we can to make the little patient comfortable. I haven't even bothered to mark all the wakeups on Trixie, but for the most part she has been putting herself back to sleep. She just makes noise when she realizes that she can't breathe through her nose. Wednesday was a beautiful day so we went for three walks, and then after Isabelle went to bed, I listened to Ben and other members of The New Midwest playing live on WYCE. They also played a track from the new CD. You can check out all the information here or hear some of the tracks. I'm playing on "Holiday" and "Hearfelt Journey". It's kind of a thrill to hear your husband's band on the radio.

Coughing

Isabelle has always made a lot of strange, loud noises. We call her our little monster. This is one she picked up at the end of September, and still enjoys happily making while riding in the stroller, much to the raised eyebrows of passersby. It hurts my throat to just listen!

Video Week - Take One

This is video week! I hope to post a new clip each day and catch you all up on the last month. Here's Isabelle's current "Top 10" (thanks, Bear).

1. She has been cruising for 3 months now and is still not that interested in walking on her own. She did do some standing (letting go to stand), but with much encouragement only.

2. She loves her push cars, and has lately been helping Daddy close the gates by "walking" them shut. Today I was playing the piano and looked over and she was standing on top of one of the push toys and holding on to the handle. Eek.

3. She eats A LOT of food and her favorites are cheese, breakfast of cereal/fruit/yogurt and most veggies. She loves to eat and still screams loudly from her highchair when the next course is not coming fast enough. She also returns to the highchair footrest and floor surrounding between meals to look for leftovers (yuck!).

4. She definitely looks at me for approval when investigating a new item or spot in the room. "Is this okay?" "This looks too fun to be allowed."

5. She has to sit completely upright in the stroller, and so we have blankets stuffed behind her to help. Otherwise she is very mad. She hates leaning back.

6. She still loves loud noises like leaf blowers, mufflers, etc. She also loves pets and babies.

7. She has become fascinated with opening and closing doors - her gate, her little tikes garden door and mailbox hatch, our doors. All the cupboards are latched, so thankfully that's not a problem anymore.

8. She loves necklaces and earrings. I can't put her to sleep if I am wearing either because she can't NOT play with them. It's kind of an obsession!

9. She has been sleeping through the night (6:30-6:00) for two weeks now. Awesome.

10. Isabelle is Daddy's girl. She cries when he leaves to go to work, or shuts the door for privacy in the bathroom.

So, the clip of the day comes from September 30 and Isabelle is watching Ben sweep in the dining room. This one is not super exciting, but shows her many expressions.

Sleep, Sleep, Sleep

Just a quick update....Isabelle had three uninterrupted nights in a row. Last night she woke up at 4:15 and was just awake and wanted to play, but we didn't have to feed to get her back to sleep. Ben did an awesome job trying to settle her down, and she eventually talked herself to sleep aroun 5:15. At a few points I even heard squeals of delight from Bellie..."Daddy, it's so fun that you are up - let's play!!". So even though we were tired out this morning, we still feel like four nights in a row with no feeding is a step in the right direction! Part of me is thinking, we will just get this "no feeding" thing down, and then we'll have to work on "no playing" in the night. It's all worth it for the little Belle.

We've been having huge fun with this generous gift from Mrs. Marge at church. We were visiting her and she suggested that we take this home with us. Mrs. Marge is special to us because she's fighting cancer, like Grandma Marge did, and they share the same name. Mrs. Marge also plays the piano and organ. Isabelle loves her little piano and plays it every day. (Sharon - she's wearing the outfit you gave her.)

All Through the Night

Last night, for the first time since April 10th (thank you Trixie Tracker) , Isabelle slept from the time we put her in bed until past 6:00am with no wakeups and no feedings. I'm hoping that because it happened once, our chances of it happening again have increased. Maybe I'm just jinxing the whole thing by even writing this! Whatever the future holds, last night was cause for some rejoicing in this household!

September 28, 2006

I went into the kitchen to get the bottle ready at 3:30 am and saw these on the counter with a card addressed to me. Ben took the afternoon and Friday off so we could spend some extra time together. Auntie Christy and Uncle Dane babysat Isabelle so we could head out to a nice dinner (at Tuscan). We enjoyed wine with dinner and talked through things we were thankful for in the last 10 years, and things we hoped might happen in the next 10. Here are the highlights of what we listed:

Glad We Did in the Last 10

• went to California in 2000 to visit Saddleback Church
• Melody's trip to DC2000 as a chaperone
• Marriage Encounter for our 5th anniversary
• move to Toronto
• Ben working for Pepsi in Toronto
• move to Grand Rapids
• Ben took the day off (w/o pay) to spend with me the day after our miscarriage
• went to the Tyndale Retreat, and didn't leave upon realizing we would be sleeping guys/girls and we knew no one there
• deciding to go ahead and try to get pregnant before finishing at Calvin Sem

Hope to Do in the Next 10

• go on a trip (just the two of us)
• have more children
• establish and stick to a "date night"
• have photos taken in our wedding garb
• walk every day
  
• record music together

(There's more on that list that we can't publish.....)

Jason and Ginette (our best man and maid of honour) suprised us with phoning in a gift certificate for us to our restaurant. What a wonderful way to have them there with us! (Thanks, guys!!) We came home and retreated to the spare room to reread our letters that we wrote to each other 5 years at Marriage Encounter. It was a perfect anniversary - flowers, good food, reflection, conversation, thankfulness. Here's to the next 10, my love. So glad we made it.

September 28, 1996

When I woke up it was raining. When we left the church the sun was shining. We were kids, with no idea how we would pay our rent or complete our studies. I don't know how we made it through that first year. But we were together. We were married.

Honeymoon in Minden, Ontario

Noisy, Noisy

A few videos to share:

Isabelle has been obsessed with loud noises. She loves lawn mowers, cars, trucks, machines, etc. She has even perfected her "brmm, brmm" noise. I think she's dreaming of her great grandpa's RC airplanes. She would LOVE those. Anyways, this clip comes from early September when Ben offered to take Belle along while he was mowing the lawn. She was riveted to the side of the backcarrier, straining to see the lawnmower and trimmer the whole time.

This clip shows more of the everyday Isabelle. We've been working on baby signing, but so far she just seems to get frustrated at me...it's like she already has her own signs and I know them - they are just not the polite hand motions. They all involve yelling and vigorous body movements. The most obvious one is "I want that."

SoulCare Retreat Recap

The retreat was wonderful. Friday night we kicked off the evening with lively singing by 35 women (led by me), followed by a great dinner. I was seated at a table with some new and old faces, but everyone was just wonderful to talk to. The topic for Friday evening was "Finding Your Voice" and I came away from that thinking about my own reticence to say what I think.

Saturday morning we also had a great time of singing and then I was part of a panel (yeah, I was doing double duty....) of pastor's wives. One was close to retirement, one was 15 years in, and then there was me, with a whole year under my belt. Even though I wasn't sure what I could contribute, people gave me really encouraging comments afterwards about what I had shared. The questions centered around how the ministry had affected our marriage and our kids. I shared about the patterns Ben and I have tried to set up in our life this year (limit social events on Sundays, make sure congregants use the cell and not the home phone, take a day off and stick to it, use a daily connecting time - for us it is lunch, etc.). I couldn't share much about how it has affected Isabelle, but I did share my ideas and hopes for helping to make Sundays special for her, and how we try to be organized so as not to create more chaos on Sunday morning.

In the afternoon we had someone come in to talk about assertiveness. Let's just say it was a great presentation, not only to remind me of good habits for myself, but how to think and react when people don't communicate well. We closed with more great singing and with Carol giving us a blessing. Ben had a wonderful day with Isabelle, and I was so glad to see her at the end of the day!! That was the longest I'd spent without her, and it seemed long. It was a great weekend, but I was really tired Saturday night.

SoulCare

This weekend I'll be leading worship at a retreat for Calvin Seminary spouses. The retreat is the annual kickoff event for a program called SoulCare that I attended while Ben was at the Sem. It was a weekly event that brought together women whose husbands were entering the ministry; women whose lives were on hold and after that faced uncertainty. Where would we live? What kind of church would we serve? What would we do there? It was a great group for us to share feelings and thoughts about being married to a future minister. Our host and leader, Rev. Carol Muller, lives in a gorgeous house on a lake, and just being there always really fed my soul. Sometimes it was hard for me to be there (I was pretty much the only woman in my group who didn't have children) but as a whole, it was really good for me to go.

Last year the retreat was the weekend after we moved, plus I was 7 months pregnant and I had to cut out on the Saturday to attend a prenatal class. It was really chaotic. This year Ben is looking after Isabelle for Fri evening/all day Saturday so I can go. He's looking forward to the time with her.