Found a House!

My new favourite thing!

Checking out the snow balls before they disappear for the season!
Last weekend we made it out to Victoria for our house hunting trip. Kian was amazing on the plane and adjusted the same day to the time change. He adjusted the same day once we got home as well!

Victoria was beautiful, although I don't know if I believe the people who say that it is always warm and sunny since it was cold and even snowed while we were there. We started looking at houses as soon as we got off the plane. Kian was really good, although he had had enough of getting in and out of the car after about 6 houses and we decided to call it a day. The following day Kian spent the afternoon with daddy and mommy did a 6 hour tour of Victoria and looked at 20 houses. Things get a bit blurry after about 4 or 5 but I did manage to get a short list of 4 and then we added one we hadn't seen the next day. That one sprung a leak as we were looking at it! Not just a small one either. Water was pouring into the basement!

We decided that we really liked a character house built in 1929. It is a great house for Kian to grow up in with lots of little quirks and hiding places. We may regret it when he gets in trouble and he decides to hide from us for hours! It is 2300 square feet of living space on a quarter acer of land with a long sloped driveway and mature trees! The house is across the street from a golf course which has a cedar chip trail around it as well a great duck pond. I know Kian and I will be feeding the ducks often. I think that we are really going to enjoy our new city and the challenges that will go along with it.

Kian is getting his 4 top teeth at the moment. I was wondering why my sleep pattern was getting worse! He is really fast on his hands and knees and the cats now scatter when I put him on the ground. He started climbing the stairs yesterday so I had to break down and actually install the baby gate. I was hoping to not have to unpack it only to pack it again shortly. He went on the swings in the park for the first time and LOVED them. The slide and see saw weren't very interesting yet but I'm sure that will come.

Look what I can do! Sneaking up on Sozi.
My fire truck!

BIG NEWS!

Okay, I realize that we haven't updated Kian's blog for a while. We do have an excuse! There have been quite a few things on the go lately. Kian is now crawling and boy is he fast! The cats are beginning to regret accepting him in the the household since the first thing he goes for is the cat food and the fireplace. He would also rather play with their toys than his own.

We have surprised quite a few people with the news that we are moving out to British Columbia. Mark has accepted a job with the B.C. government and starts with them on May 20th. That meant that we had to finally finish all our house projects in a big hurry and get our house on the market as fast as possible. As a close friend said today ""Later" finally came!". The house went on the market on Friday and sold on Saturday so I guess we did something right! Now we are up for a challenge to find somewhere to live in Victoria. We plan to go on a house hunting trip later this week to scope out the potential houses (or dumps!) in our price range.

Hopefully we will be updating the blog again before we hit the coast for good, but here are some photos to enjoy!

TWO Teeth!

It has been a busy couple of weeks. Mark and I decided we would attempt the drive to Southern Ontario with Kian in the car. It went surprisingly well! We made a few stops on the way and decided to travel on the American side of the lake. Kian was absolutely fascinated by the carousel at the mall in Syracuse so, of course, we went for a ride. We did arrive at Oma and Opa's place in 9 hours rather than the 15 that it took last time.








Oma's knee surgery went well. We went to visit her everyday in the hospital (except the day of the big storm!) and tried to cheer up all the other patients who were there as well. I think Kian was really missed when he left! Oma is now out of the hospital and doing well.

Kian cut his first two teeth while we were away. He also started on vegetables and is even crawling now. Backwards, slowly, but on his hands and knees and moving none the less! I guess we better baby proof the house fast! We didn't get to visit as much as we would have liked because most people were out of town and the two snow storms that came through made driving interesting in a town where there seems to only be one snow plow! We did see Barb and Ed and Kian had a fabulous time playing with Ed.

Some photos to keep you updated.

6 Months Old!

It's hard to believe that 6 months have gone by already! I feel as though I have been walking through a dream, and maybe I have with the lack of sleep we have experienced for the most part! Kian is actually starting to sleep really well through the night now. The last three nights Mark and I have been waking up wondering if we slept through the crying or what happened to the baby to make him sleep that long. We have a schedule that seems to work which is great!







There has been quite a bit of snow in the last few weeks. The barbeque is no where to be found in the snow, the cats don't leave the deck (if they even decide to go out at all) and the snow pile out front is up to the top of the garage door. Winter isn't over yet. Mark celebrated his big 3-5 birthday this past week. I don't know if he feels any older but he has enough power tools now to build the house from scratch! Maybe some of our projects will get finished soon.....

Kian had his first cold. That wasn't all that much fun. He didn't understand why he couldn't breathe through his nose and would get really upset about it, which didn't make breathing any easier! He was really teething last week as well so we weren't sure if that was possibly making the cold seem worse.



Uncle Guy and Auntie Jacquie were up for a night to visit. Kian loved hanging out with them. He is starting to play strange with some people when they come over but we have figured out if you sing The Hokey Pokey he is laughing and happy and they are safe then. Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? is his favourite book (I can now recite Mr. Brown can Moo for anyone who is interested!) and of course, Itsy Bitsy Spider is still at the top of the list as the favourite song. Swimming lessons are enjoyable. We jumped off the side of the pool and went down the slide as best as we could last week. He isn't crawling yet but every day we wonder if we should dig out the baby gates. He is sitting up mostly unsupported now and playing with his toys. That gives us a few minutes to do something. Very shortly we will be able to introduce other food into his diet and I'm sure he can't wait! He can wait, I'm sure, for his 6 month shots that he gets next week! Maybe daddy will be able to make it this time. Kian also understands the sign for milk, although he can't do it yet, and he knows who the cats are when you ask him. He likes the watch cat "TV".



The month of March will be spent in Niagara at Oma and Opa's place. Mark and I have decided to attempt the car ride. Lets see who will be taking the train home!

Groundhog Day

Some days it feels as if we are living our own version of Groundhog Day as one day seems to blend into the next. The activities are starting to build which is starting to add a bit more structure. Kian is now almost 6 months old (wow) and is becoming more interactive with other children. Library playgroup on Tuesday mornings has become a favourite with puppets, songs and (his favourite) bouncing!

Saturday was Ysabella's first birthday party and we were happy to celebrate with her.




















Kian thought that Ysabella's toys were great and even tried standing on his own! Scarry I know. Kian also got to meet Charlie who is the son of Chris (one of Mark's soccer pals) and Leigh. As well here are some more pictures from the past couple of weekends, including some swimming lessons with Dad.

Cereal Monster

Kian has now started cereal and decided that it is GREAT! I think he can't wait until he has teeth so that he can eat all the things that mom and dad are eating.

The Christmas holidays were spent in Niagara at Oma and Opa's place. Oma was supposed to have a knee replacement but due to unfortunate circumstances the surgery was cancelled. Kian and I went down by train, which was almost three hours late on the way down and broke down on the way back so that we had to take the bus (just from Brockville). VIA was very good about giving us a free ride back to Niagara in the next six months. Kian was really spoiled by Santa and friends. He had a great time meeting all his aunts, uncles and cousins as well as grandparents.
Swimming lessons have started and the little fish is thrilled to be in the water where he can play with the other children and splash up a storm. He has just decided that other children are interesting and watches what they are doing. He learns a lot from his friend Ysabella, who is almost one. He's determined to do what she does, but he has a way to go to catch up. He saw Ysabella on Friday afternoon and on Saturday morning he was sitting by himself (something he saw her doing). She is crawling so I hope that he doesn't learn that right now!


We were at the library for a babytime group over the weekend with Jarrett and Noreen and the girls, as well as Lee, Lorna, Callum and Roan. Kian had such a good time that we signed up of a group during the week. I guess I have to relearn all my nursery rhymes and other preschool songs. This week we are trying to get back into a routine and hope that will help the little monster sleep through the night better. He is just about there.

Christmas Photo Album

Sorry we haven't updated this for a while, but now that the holidays are over life is getting back to normal.

Here are some photos from over the holidays of family & friends we got to see.