4 months & nearing summers end...

Sasha is 4 months old today and she recently achieved another big first…rolling completely over onto her belly! She's been able to roll on her side for some time, but she now wastes no time on her side…it's all or nothing. Apparently these are the first steps to crawling so I'm keeping an extra eye ('cuz you know all parents develop that eye in the back of their heads right?) on our soon to be mobile girl. I know it's still a fair ways away…but I also know this will happen sooner than I think in that strange parental-time-warp kinda way. ;)

anyways, she's finally had her first set of booster shots, which would have been far less traumatic if we hadn't been in the waiting room for over an hour before we got in! (to say she had 'lost all her happy' is an understatement!) the positive is that she still has a clean bill of health and she finally got to meet our family doctor.

rounding out our lazy days of summer...

the weekend that just past was spent at the Jones Park Fun Day (and in recovery the next day!), an event put on by a handful of folks in our community (some of the same fabulous folks I work with on the PAC for Che's school) and Kensington community centre. I was MC'ing the event and had a blast, while Mark and Sasha hung with Granma, Karli, Elise and Brett. Our talented niece Elise belted out a great tune to help us fill the line up when one act was late...she was amazing!! we have a great amount of talent in our community and it's nice to be a part of organizing events which showcase this and bring everyone together in a fun way :)

our friend Jonathan earned his title of Uncle in our tribe when Sasha spit up on his lap (she has a certain knack for gettin' the guys right between the legs) he is a great role model for her life and we also look forward to Sasha growing up with his baby-to-be (so very soon!)

in less than 2 days my mom arrives and I'm soooooo excited for her and Sasha to meet!!

we'll be having a joint clan gathering and many other fun things going on while she's here, so the next update should have many more pics of our adorable little one...including (perhaps) some of her first solid food attempts...bound to be messy and super fun :)

two weeks with brother :)

In the past two weeks we've been lucky to have Che with us and he has spent a lot of time with Sasha...I think she is far more interesting to him now that she is babbling, smiling and laughing in response to him. He even has the walk-&-rock to sooth her down pat! He's defintely proving to be a great big brother :)

Sasha is doing fabulous! We had a visit with her pediatrician this week (after this appointment she is now graduated to visits at the office instead of the hospital - yeah!) and she was "thrilled" with her health and development. She is now 15 lbs 4 oz and 25 1/4 inches long! Will she ever slow down?!

Below are a few more pics from the past week (the previous week with Che we were away and I did a seperate entry for it below):
- long enamoured with her hands, she is now greatly entertained by her favorite toys as well. she spends a great deal of time exploring them with her 5 senses...and she naps with them too
- the boys pickin' blackberries...which I turned into my first batch of jam ever!
- she is now big enough to face forward in the snuggly (which really stimulates her and helps her sleep even more!)
- she sleeps long enough (and soundly enough) that she is in her crib now overnight (for just over a week now she sleeps for a solid 6-8 hours!!)
- tummy time: she is able to lift part of her upperbody as well as her head which has her interacting with her toys in a whole new way
- and she already has the boys wrapped around her fingers: her Uncle Heath, daddy and brother vying for her smiles; and swingtime with Brad (my kind of community meeting. we're planning a festival in our local park for next weekend and thankfully these folks like to hang with Sasha too!)

week 16 pics

a week away

We had a lovely journey to the cabin, just outside of Vernon, and a two day stay with our friends in Castlegar too! A crazy week of road trips which Sasha handled like a trooper as always. Here she is on one of many stops to feed her along the way :)

This was the first of two weeks that Che is with us, and along with Granma we had cousin Sarah with us for the cabin adventure. We are ever grateful to Marjorie and Dale for spoiling all of us for the week!!

Mark, Sasha and I took a couple of days away from the cabin to visit our dear friends Yanive, Shannon and little Ayden who moved to Castelgar last winter. Sooo great to see them and for Sasha to meet them!!

Many good memories created this week for us! The pictures below show some of the best details of the trip:
- clearly we needed a vacation: Mark and Sasha sacked out on the couch
- Sasha gets her first taste of the drivers seat as we pause for a stretch
- Marjorie shares her view from the beach with Sasha. This is the view from the back of their cabin. That is Okanagan Lake.
- thankful for a wonderful day!
- Mark feeding her to the horses ;) This is the view from the front of the cabin. Both lakeside and farmside!
- they match the furniture! totally classic cottage furnishings...comfy and versatile!
- Sarah does storytime for Sasha
- feeding Nancy...the duck that comes for food at dawn and dusk everyday
- Che and Sarah...the surfin' posers!
- beware the demon cattle!
- proud papas Mark & Yanive chillin' out with their little loved ones :)
- Yanive playin' some tunes - that's how you start the day off right
- Yanive, Shannon, Ayden and his best friend Tori...and the nice view from their back deck
(we watched the first amazing lightening storm I've seen since moving here from Ontario...the flashes touching down on all the peaks like this one surrounding Castlegar - super visual display of nature!)
- around the fire on the beach: Penny says "Come and get me mozzies!"; Sasha enchanted by the flames!
- me and Sasha
- game time! we learned some great new card and dice game from Dale...fun for the whole family :)
- Marjorie helped Sarah and I learn how to make jam, quick and easy style...now I know what to do with the monster bush of blackberries in our yard!
- lots of napping for our stimulated little babe ;)

journey pics

3 months...and then some

last Sunday Sasha passed the 3 month threshold, and like most babies (so I'm told) she has now almost doubled her birth weight...that's right...she's over 14 lbs 5 oz at her last weigh in! She clearly goes through growth spurts where she totally gorges on food and plumps up...then she thins out and grows long. She has grown in length to 24 1/2 inches!

sometimes she seems so big...and yet sometimes she still seems so very very small :)

it has been a whirlwind and even the days that we do nothing much seem to fly by soooo fast! I still lose time snuggling with her everyday. It's a nice life and I really like it ;)

her happy and healthy demeanor every day (aside from those fussy moments of course!) make it kinda easy not to worry too much about infections or other problems as she tries to outgrow her reflux into the kidneys.
we'll see how happy she is when she finally gets her immunization shots in a couple of weeks!

this week we're on a road trip with Granma to her friends cottage. With her brother and cousin Sarah along it should be a great experience for Sasha, though it will be a while yet before she gets into any mischief with them (we'll see). we're lookin' forward to gettin' out of town for a bit.

We're happy to have Che with us for the next couple of weeks and will take advantage of great summer weather to do a few family outtings around town too. many more firsts for Sasha, and us too!

now I'm also counting down the days 'til my mom comes to town (Sept 1st) and Sasha finally gets to meet her Oma! yeah! And to top it off we will be bringing my family and the whole Whittam clan together for a gathering - so rare to have everyone in town at the same time! :)

pics below:
- quite a few with dad: posing with her brother and with her cousin Brettster; reading time; lunch on the back deck; and look at how long she is!
- two sleeping pics: one with me and another for the "comfy?" category (the funniest yet in my opinion!)
- sittin' up in the car seat and on the couch (is it just me or does it look like she's pretending to put the peddle to the metal?)
- feeding time shared by her cousins Elise and Sarah
- the cousins eat at the last Whittam clan gathering - Daniel, Kenton, Brett, Sarah, Elise and Sasha

week 13 & 14 pics