9 Months

The 'spike' is no more (well, it's more like a comb-over now) and she's got some more moves. This baby is changing but one thing remains the same - she's awesome. Nine months and going strong...

MOMENT: Nine months

Look at those baby blues and those seriously sweet cheeks. Aw.

River Ski Fun

We made use of the wonderful snow Ottawa had once the temperature warmed up to "not frigid". Just up the road, we donned our skis and made tracks along the Ottawa River with a little sledding to get us started.

MOMENT: Falling Fun

Tavish is such a fast learner. I showed him how to get up and down hills on his nordic skis. I think we both agree, it's fun - especially when there is some cushy snow to absorb the falls! Keva enjoyed her backpack nap and her first slide too! When there's this much snow that surrounds you, might as well get out and make use of it...

Ammendment

Figures, I finally edit an entry featuring the Jolly Jumper, and less than 24 hours later - I acquire footage that now seems to be missing. Out of nowhere, Keva became keen in the Jolly Jumper. Probably not-so-coincidentally, this also happened within days of the grocery experience being noticeably less tranquil too (um, is that our tilapia on the floor? how does she have broccoli in her mouth?! ack! no, that's not for you!!!). Guess some of these 'moments' are more ongoing than I realized...

MOMENT: Genuine Jumping

The earlier entry honoured Keva's appreciation for the existence of the Jolly Jumper. This little clip shows her evolution (within days) to now being a jumper that could be straining the springs! What a difference a few days can make at this age - my baby is now getting some air! I promise though, no matter what acrobatics she pulls off, this is the last tribute to the Jolly Jumpers in my life.

Jolly Jumpers

Ah, the Jolly Jumper. Seems to be a modern right-of-passage for the first year of life. Truthfully, I've always been a bit leery of them so tend to delay its introduction and limit the amount of time it's used. (Fine, there might be a tiny additional factor of space consumption that dissuades me as well). Try though I might to avoid it, seeing their jubilant smiles and hearing their infectious giggles always make hauling it out worth while.

MOMENT: Jubilant Jumps

Keva's first exposure to the Jolly Jumper was before she was 7 months old. Not too much happening, but Tavish was excited about it. This makes sense, he was a fan himself ... his first jump was when he was 8 months old. We gave Keva a bit of time and hauled it back out just before she was 9 months old and it's part of her play still before she turns 10 months old. These ages happens to be very similar timing to when we captured Tavish jumping as well. This montage show our babes jumping for joy. Be sure to listen to the musical accompaniment - it's pretty funny...

Seeing Double

We were able to stuff Keva into the red hand-me-down snowsuit for the winter. For some extra-cold outings, we did use the blue snowsuit that Tavish wore at this age though. When I went to pick Keva up from the floor after zipping her into it one day, I couldn't help but feel a bit reminiscent ...

MOMENT: Double Take

It seemed as though I was seeing double, so I quickly too a photo of Keva who was growing impatient in the blue snowsuit, just as I recall Tavish doing in a photo I took of him in the very same snowsuit and about the same age. I don't know why I find seeing both of my kids rendered immobile by the same blue snowsuit funny, but I do...

Blue snowsuit 2013 - Keva style

Blue snowsuit 2009 - Tavish style

Family Weekend at the Farm

It was family day weekend and we were invited to join my friend Torie at her family's farm and sugar bush. This was especially exciting because we went at this time last year and had a blast. It didn't disappoint, it was another weekend full of winter wonderfulness...

MOMENT: Terry and his ATV

Tavish grew quite fond of everyone at the farm last year and remembered what he did and with whom eagerly when it came up that we were invited to go again. It was Keva's first time there (unless you count last year when I was 6 months pregnant with her) and she fit right in. Tavish was keen to see and do it all ... with a special draw being to Terry (Torie's father) and especially to his ATV. In fact, an entire month after our visit, when packing up his toy ATV to take for brunch Tavish said: "I wish we had an ATV here. And Terry." When Terry offered Tavish a chance to "help him drive" last year, he made a friend for life...



FLASHBACK: Twice Makes a Tradition?

Family Day weekend last year at "Torie's farm" with more friends keeping us company for part of the weekend that included two other boys that Tavish played with. Here's a highlight reel from the sugar bush adventures 2012 style. Our camera was malfunctioning (fine, it was operator error due to a dead battery and full memory card), so these fine photos are courtesy of Jode and Torie. Thanks for capturing some great memories for us...

Bucket Loss

We started using a new car seat for Tavish in the new year because we knew that Keva (and her Mommy's arm) wouldn't last too much longer with her in the bucket car seat (she is moving into Tavish's seat). It made sense, especially since we had pretty much become accustomed to carrying her out of the seat rather than hauling her in it anyway. There was one disadvantage I'd forgotten though ...

MOMENT: Cart Concern

Right, grocery shopping. With the bucket car seat, I just plopped the baby secured to the bucket into the cart. Now, there was no special seat to keep her secure because she couldn't be trusted to sit securely on her own (this first shopping trip happened back on January 7th). A family has to eat, so I secured her with the seat belt, stuffed her upright with my winter coat, attached a toy, and was off to find food. It was a success. The bucket mourning period was short - the routine task of grocery shopping was more interesting with Keva's company because of it's absence. I've always enjoyed getting groceries with my kid (now kids), and with a face like this - who can blame me?