Work Visit

Yesterday was one hell of a day. It was good, but I ran around the ENTIRE day.

First, we went on Thursday night to Shoppers to get our passport photos taken because we want to go on vacation this summer. We were an hour because the girl there couldn't figure out how to get her flash to work and the quality of the pictures was questionable. Passport Canada is particular on how it should be taken, so it has to be perfect. When we were there, we saw this and had a good laugh. It's definitely a Jay Leno entry...

Then I got up early yesterday and made my way down to my old work for a visit. I'll be doing a 2-month contract so I went to meet the new team. But I couldn't go for a visit without bringing my munchkin... I would have never lived it down! Here she is with Carmin walking all over the desks.

But I picked a great day because there was a big fundraiser BBQ in the parking lot which we all decided to go down to. Caitlin was being such a good little girl while mommy was in her meeting that I treated her to a Haagan Daz ice cream bar. (Okay, it was just a couple licks, but she LOVES ice cream!)

Then we left to go to the passport office while we were in the city. I was prepared to stand in line, except I wasn't prepared to have my pictures rejected because of the quality!! I had to go back to Shoppers, beg for a refund which they weren't going to give me but did, find a Black's to do the pictures again, go back to the passport office and line up again. Ugh. But they're done, and all the pictures looked great. Caitlin's was hilarious! This is the black & white version of hers - it will actually be in colour. She always smiles for the camera so I had to give her something to eat in order to keep her mouth closed.

When we got home, I let her play outside because she was so well behaved and spent most of the day in the stoller or her car seat. And what does she want to do? Inspect my flowers and pull petals off for daddy :)

Ou Est La Piscine?

I can't believe how hot it's been the past couple days... it's May!! It's been great because Caitlin has really enjoyed playing outside in such glorious weather.

Today, we had her BF over for an afternoon playdate and some backyard splashing. Here they are cuddled up around Caitlin's toys. I'm pretty sure Caleb was there first and Caitlin went and sat in his lap. We'll have to have a talk about not being so aggressive with the boys :)

Then we got them changed into their swim gear and plopped them outside to cool off. They had fun splashing...

But had a ball when the slide entered the picture! Here's Caitlin slip-sliding down...

And off goes Caleb - as my little munchkin plants herself in the front row seats :)

My crafty little girl kept trying to escape from the pool so she could rip daddy's new grass out.

The swim wore the two little ones out quickly, so they said their goodbyes and went down for their afternoon nap :) Good thing too because with the heat, it wore us mommies out too! (Although it didn't quite drive Katie to cry or me to look scoldingly at her while I gnawed on my shoe)...

Zoo Babies

To celebrate the Victoria Day weekend, we took Caitlin to the zoo! She and her friend Dani went to see all the animals and were such good little monkeys :)

She liked the butterfly exhibit although we didn't really see any winged beauties...

But we did see a male peacock courting a female; she didn't look too interested despite all his efforts.

Poor Caitlin was absolutely terrified of the elephants though.

She got really upset when one of the big guys walked past us.

We tried to convince her at one point to take a nap like the tigers...

But she wanted nothing of the sort.

All she wanted to do was sit on a hippo.

So we did.

And so did Dani :)

Funny how both daddies look awkward sitting on a hippo's rump - the things they do for their little girls now!

We got some nice family shots behind a pretty waterfall though.

After a little Dani-chasing...

...Caitlin checked out the smelly flamingos.

I know she really enjoyed herself today even though she had had it by the end of the day.

It was great quality time with her daddy :)

Backyard Fun

We set up Caitlin's sand & water table along with a slide in the backyard, and they're a big hit!

It was such a scorcher that Caitlin hosted an impromptu splash party and had Dani and Caleb over... us mommies successfully kept cool with some shade and a margarita :)

We've had a lot of backyard fun this week; we also went over to my friend Becky's place to visit with her son, Jacob... and his plethora of toys including his giant stuffed dog Fletcher!

But mostly, we spent time goofing around in the backyard.

Caitlin sure loves playing outdoors. After dinner when we're tidying up and daddy's watering the lawn, she realizes it's time for bed and gets upset because she wants to play outside. She'll go over to the back door even though the gate is up and starts to cry and point to the backyard.

I remember those summer days when I was a kid and didn't want to go to bed! Sorry honey...

My Muffin

I made Caitlin some delicious muffins for breakfast; I decided to get Honey Bran because they're tasty, healthy, and mommy can eat them too... guilt-free :)

She was excited when they were baking - she walked over to the oven and banged on the glass so the muffins would hurry up. I turned the light on so she could see them rise, but they still took 20 minutes even with Caitlin yelling at them.

She liked it, but really wanted her yogurt - she's a big fan of it now :) But I sure have an eager baker!

Cousins

We went over to Mike's parents place yesterday afternoon to celebrate Auntie Kristina's birthday, however Caitlin got a new present when we were there... a sand & water picnic table!

She particularly liked splashing around once we put some water in it :)

She got one for her birthday which we haven't set up yet. The one she was playing with yesterday is staying at the in-laws, so we'll have to put ours together now that I've seen how much she enjoyed it :)

The the best part was when Caitlin got to meet her new cousin, Cristian. She was so curious about him, but was very gentle with the 2-week old.

Such a good little muffin! (Note she's wearing a different shirt - the other one got soaked from the water table... surprise, surprise!

I don't remember her being that small, but I know she was at one point. Seeing them side-by-side made me realize once again how quickly this year has gone by :)

Pin Party

Mike and I got to attend a fun event last night called the Canadian Tire Pin Party. It's a semi-annual party to reward employees celebrating major milestones with dinner, entertainment and dancing. It was a great opportunity for us to go out on a date because we don't get to go out very often.

I earned my 5-year pin (although I've been there 6 years, but I started in an off-year), so we got to attend this exclusive event. Here's a blurry pic of my name up on the big screen :) It was weird going knowing I'd resigned, but I figured I've earned it, so I'm going damn it!

It was held at the Convention Centre as there were over 2500 guests in attendance. We lucked out and were seated at a table right at the very front!

The MC was Ron James - he's a Canadian comedian and the host of a show called Blackfly.

It's always a mystery who the MC and the band is; it's always Canadian though, that much we know. In past years, it's been Rick Mercer with Great Big Sea, Blue Rodeo, Jann Arden, etc. This year....

Tom Cochrane!

But we got a call shortly after he went on stage that Caitlin wasn't doing so well at home and really missed us. Apparently she was perfectly fine the whole time, even during her bath and sleep routine. Except when Auntie Holly went to give her her nighttime bottle, she sat up, looked around and started saying 'Mum. Mum. Mum.'... and then started to cry when she realized we weren't home. Poor little munchkin.

When we got home around 11:00pm, she was fast asleep in Holly's arms on the downstairs couch. She didn't want to go to bed without saying goodnight to us I guess. I picked her up and put her to bed because she was totally out cold. She slept the whole night, but was admittedly clingy on Sunday. We'll have to make an effort to go out more because I want other people to be successful in putting her to sleep, so she'll have to get used to it.

Catching Zzz's

I usually get up when Mike goes to work and come downstairs to putz around on the computer while the little munchkin sleeps upstairs.

She usually gets up around 8:30am/9:00am which according to her doctor is a perfectly reasonable time to get up for a 1-year old. I thought it was a bit late because she goes down around 8:30pm/9:00pm, but I'm told it's just fine.

Here she is dreaming away in her teddy bear jammies :)

I guess it's the only time in her entire life that she'll be able to listen to her internal clock and get up when she wants. At some point, school, work and life begins and she'll need an alarm.

Sleep now my love!

She seems to be doing well - she had her MMR shots on Monday with no side effects (although she cried bloody murder when she got them... but her tears only lasted 5 minutes or so; she's such a little trooper).

As for her check-up, she's 21 lbs which puts her in the 50% percentile for weight and she's 77cm long or the 80% percentile for length. Her doc said she's also ahead in terms of walking as that isn't expected until 15 months of age and she started at 11.5 months.

But she'll most likely remember her experience with the needles now and won't go walking down the hallway to her doctor with a big smile on her little face!