Apr 30, 2007

A whole year!! :)



we're in that parental time warp of awe as the reality hits us that Sasha was born a year ago this morning...as of 12:47 am! can't really express the wonder-full year it has been...

once Sasha has her one year immunizations on thursday I can update her weight, length etc (for those curious about these aspects of her development)

what else to update on for the end of year #1...

she still seems healthy and happy (though understandably a bit fussy transitioning back into our routine here at home after over 2 weeks of gypsy living in ontario) and is as independent and stubborn as ever. she's a total ham who loves to entertain...especially showing off her boogy moves ;)

aside from "mama" she is also using "up" in context these days...as in "time to get up" while she smacks my face in an enthusiastic morning greeting!
good morning indeed...teehee

she understands far more than she can speak. able to sign the essential "more" and "milk" she has recently started nodding in agreement as well. other things she can express are waving and high 5. and she's trying out a whole new tantrum scream...clear signal when she's frustrated ;)

my mind is full of too many stories...favorite moments from this past year...lessons learned and struggles overcome...but for now I'm gonna keep it simple and leave off with this:
though we've learned we're in for a lifetime of worry over what we cannot prevent in her life (ie infections and other ailments)...I am thoroughly enjoying the ride of parenting our beautiful and invigorating spirit of being known as Sasha...and looking forward to all joys and challenges we will continue to experience in her second year...and the years to come!!

She fills my heart and spreads sunshine wherever she goes...and I'm oh so proud and lucky to have her in my life...and really happy to share the highlights with all of you :)

on to the next chapter...

Apr 29, 2007

sasha visits ontario :)



Sasha proved herself a very adaptable gypsy on our 2 week journey around ontario...rounding out the end of her first year of life with great adventures in Mississauga, Brampton, Burlington, Hamilton, Toronto and Bomanville! Whew...a whirlwind!

Every trip back to ontario reminds me of how much I miss the family and friends I left behind, and therefore is usually a bit of an emotional roller coaster.

This trip was even more so than usual as there are now sooo many children - the sons and daughters of my long-time friends - who I would love for Sasha to grow up with. I'm so very happy with the life we have here in Vancouver - but I still wrestle with the emotional consequence of my choice to leave years ago when there were no babies to think about!! And the biggest downside was that my uncle has been in the hospital for a while from pneumonia (and potentially legionnaires disease?) so he only saw Sasha from a doorway :(
Good news is he was on the road to recovery, with hopefully only a couple of more weeks before he can go home by the time we left! And he is most fortunate to have Donna in his life...she has been a huge blessing to our family and been a rock by his side during this emotional time...it is very comforting to have her with him...she's a keeper Unc :)

Set aside the emotion of gathering with loved ones and meeting loads of people and Sasha still has many tales to tell: her days of the walking wounded where she fell down stairs (now a permanent slow motion memory in my mind of her 'rag doll' tumble before she stopped herself 1/2 way down...which as always had me a flutter for a much longer period of time than her!!), she joined me in a fall on a lovely neighbourhood walk (yes...seems I still have trouble walkin some days - lol) where my quick reflexes prevented her head from hittin concrete beneath me (another slow motion rerun in my mind...full of nasty 'what ifs?'), and to top it off she suffered a major bum rash...I know you love these gory parenting details ;)

and that is just 3 days worth of drama: she also ate dirt (I know this is a big gasp for some of you...but better it be dirt I know isn't full of chemicals and such right? they're gonna eat dirt at some point...might as well be where you can see it and know it's "safe"), swung on swings and went down a great variety of slides (assisted with glee by me) while playing in backyards and parks, hung out with kids of all ages (3 months to 8 years...and many big kids...sorry 'adults'...teehee) visited a hospital, seniors home, apartments and houses, played at a couple of ontario's early years learning centres, met many animals, continued to master her stair climbing skills, learned all kinds of new tricks and skills from everyone around her, stood on her own two feet a couple of times, spent lots of time in that wonderful traffic perpetually fustrating drivers around toronto (or is it just me that loses my mind in bumper to bumper good times? honestly...one day it took 1 1/2 hours to get from yonge & bloor to keele & bloor 'cuz the gardiner was closed...hindsight being 20/20 I have vowed to remember my brain next time and take the subway when visiting T.O.), ate at many great restaurants and experienced life in suburbs and city alike...and she boogied everywhere she went...she really really loves to boogy boogy boogy - LOL

yes...I gave up my favored mode of transport - my feet and transit - for the ability to actually see as many folks as possible in such a short time. I could never have managed my usual nomad existence when visiting on my own with Sasha...and all the extra gear traveling with a baby entails. Though the effort is always made so much easier because of the wonderful care and hospitality we receive from everyone we visit...Southern Ontario is just far too difficult to get around expediently by transit and Go train alone (and often pick-up/drop-offs by friends) when you are fortunate to have as many loved ones as we have to find quality time with.
I love a good challenge and all...but this time I figured just creating a balance of some kind for Sasha was more important...so we rented a car...
(I'm buying carbon offsets for the flight and the rental car...details on that soon to be found on my other blog...y'know...for the other side of my life as an evolving agent for positive change...that's more appropriate space for commentary on our efforts to continue to reduce our footprint on mama earth...)

There are many pictures I don't have yet to post - like her 1st bday celebration at Aunty Tania's! - but below is a series to highlight the fabu network of loved ones who I'm privileged to have enrich my life and the life of our beautiful girl...




Sasha's family here is her Oma, Great Uncle Rollie and Nany (her Great Grandma) and Great Grandpa. Above is me and Oma enjoying a 'high 5' moment and here we are with her Great Grandpa (he loved introducing his "daughter, granddaughter and great granddaughter" to everyone at Peel Manor)





And folks who are family to our heart include the Holland Clan (pictured are Niney & Pumpa, Aunty Manda & Uncle Fraser, Great Grandma & Grandpa, Great Uncles & Aunt - Randy, and Mark & Julie - and mia are Aunty Tricia & Uncle Marko, cousin Rachel and Barry & Denise)





the Boomlights - bestest friend Tania and her partner in crime Jeff (Aunty and Uncle) and funny guy Zac attack; the Light ladies Ivory and Sue. here's Sasha and Aunty Tania, mastering one of Zac's toys and with Hunter dog sniffin for food





















the Roberts clan - my life long BSBOABSB Angelalalala and her hubby Ian (Aunty and Uncle) and their 3 lovely girls Annalise, Abby and Lila...and Aunty Allison and Nana Roberts (and here's a pic of her 'riding' Abby's trike too)



















the Kowalskis - my soul-sista Sue-b-doo and her hubby Mike (Aunty & Uncle) and their 3 adorable kids Mason, Gabriella and Sofia. Here's the kids...and Sasha eating dirt in their yard ;)

















here's me and Sasha with another of my fabu friends Sivvy and her new baby Jade (sorry we missed you Jed!)

We were happy to see Aunty Rosanna and Uncle Simon though I have no pictures to prove it...so far ;)

And 3 other friends I missed out on the chance to see were Catherine and Brad (sorry I couldn't make it to London too!) and Camille - boohoo...she was in Jamaica! (be sure to call when you visit vancouver this summer hon!)

That's a lot of aunties, uncles, great grandparents, grandparents, and cousins for a little girl...and I know Sasha will benefit greatly from my luck to have them all in my life...even over 4ooo km away :)

so many thanks to all of you! hugs hugs hugs

Apr 7, 2007

sunny days are here again!

we're getting ready to visit our loved ones in Ontario...just a quick update before Sasha and I take off.

Sasha has a great sense of humour and has become quite the cheeky girl - as you can see in this picture ;)

she's cruising a lot these days, has become a hyper-speed crawler, and she over her came her fear of grass with gusto (as you can see in pics below). well, she may not have actually been afraid of the grass, but the first few times we put her down on it (when it was dry long enough to put her down outside barefoot) she was not a big fan of the feeling of it...now you can't stop her!

she has not shown any signs of new infection since the procedure, and to our joy she seems as happy and healthy as ever :)

here are a bunch of pictures for your viewing pleasure - next update will for her 1st bday!!:

- play day with Marina, Gilly & Merlin (cruising the table with sassy Sasha), Kristen and Jakob. (we're really gonna miss Johnny, Kristen and Jakob who are moving to Cortes Island while we're away! lookin' forward to our perogie making gathering tomorrow before we say goodbye...'til we visit them this summer on our BC camping journey)
- around home - Granma asks "where's your teeth?" and Sasha shows her; playing with the laundry...she can totally get lost in the task of sorting piles of clothes for at least 1/2 an hour some days; nappin' with daddy; playing with Che and one of her soft books; in the sling getting ready to go out
- many nice days to be outside lately...faboo! - backyard fun with Karma, daddy and brother...look how long she is!; and exploring the greenery
- after our day of plastic garbage collection and photo taking for our family learning project on plastics, we played in the park...and then I got a pic of Mark and his kids on the walk home :)

(see shop4change.blogspot.com for more on this adventure and www.flickr.com/photos/plastic_in_our_hood for our 1st photo essay "Plastic in Our 'Hood")