A quick upload of photos

OK Chris is bugging me that he needs to use the computer so its just a quick post and than I am out of here.

Another video

Its spring la la la la la

got some more pics for ya'all. We were experiencing technical difficulties which included misplacing the cable which connects the camera to the computer, forgetting to recharge batteries, and general forgetfulness in the whole picture taking area. But we are back and snap happy and Natalie is running circles around us. Most of my shots are action shots of the back of her head. She has a growing vocabulary which includes the words: ma ma, da da, na na (banana), Noooo, this, cat, at, yessss, ba ba, yeah, oh oh, and whats this. She points at everything and climbs on anything that she can. We do our best to take har tot he park and get her tired but with these unpredictable Alberta springtime weather some days is sunny some days it snows. Chris and I got a little bit of skiing in this winter and I still suck , maybe more practice next year.

Natalie dances to her fridge farm

Natalie does a little dance

Natalie take a Christmas day walk

Natalie take a Christmas day walk

A little bit o'heaven for 2007

Well baby its cold outside and Chris is at his Japanese lesson, the baby (well toddler I should say) is sleeping peacefully and I am at it again updating my blog.

We had a fantabulous holiday season filled with family, friends and great food. The only hiccup we encountered was when Natalie got into our recycling and cut her left pinky on a can. She was rewarded with seven stiches and we were forced to put off a ski trip to B.C. Her stiches are out and Chris and I were sufficiently traumatized that we have more baby gates and more baby proofing done around the house. You can see the one picture of her with her hand in a badaged mitt. She has been an amaizing trooper abou the whole thing and did not need any pain medication.

As the previous incident may have indicated Natalie is in her "INTO EVERYTHING " stage (yes caps are required to describe this phase). It's like she is Issac Newton discovering gravity, Beethoven discovering the delights of sound and music, a Columbus discovering the new world (or perhaps just the dishwasher), and a caveperson of some sort learning how to string together short monosylabic sounds. Having a toddler is like witnessing human history unfold before your very eyes, I highly recommend tying it!! Unfortunatly she has not evolved to a reasonable, sensible, democratic being. She is stuck in some sort of tyrranical hedgemony of her own divising, alas we are often relegated to the class of peasant or even worst beast of burden. But I remind myself I am the parent here, I am queen of this house (that's right Chris, I know you will read this) and if I don't want her to play with something I have every right to take it away (toothpaste is a common caouse of discontent). The only problem with this plan is that Daddy, the once and future king of this realm we call Derkowski, is like a bowl of jello around her and he often gives into ther whims. Fear not loyal readers we will strike a balance and will not spoil our tyrrant toddler.

Thats all for now take care and stay warm.

H

2006 year in review

It's that time of year again where I reminiss about the good and bad of the past year, happily I can report from our little family we have had more of the former than the latter. The year began with me staying at home and taking care of Natalie while Chris went off to work. He had just started his job before Christmas and he was getting used to beign Mr. downtown office worker, quite a change form his previous life as a student/stucco plasterer. The winter evenings flew by as Natalie reached her developmental milestones, she rolled over at 4 months, got her first toooth at five months and took her first plane ride at 5 months. We were kept busy by a steady stream of friends who joined us to play Cattan on friday or saturday evenings. Spring came and Natalie started eating solid foods, we proudly watched as she gulped down her first spoonfulls of runny rice cereal. As the weather grew nicer we spent more and more time outdoors and finally in June we took a mini family vacation to the Kootenay lake area in BC. Natalie is now a seasoned camper and I never imagined that three nights camping with a 9-month old could go over so well. She had just started crawling by that time and we let her roam freely in the tent. When we got back to Calgary it was time for mommy to go back to work and Natalie had a difficult time adjusting to the change, mommy had a hard time too. But with a little bit of patience from my dayhome provider and with the support of Chris and family we slowly got used to the new working schedule and Natalie is happily adjusted to her dayhome and gives the lady a big hug every morning and at times she gets upset when its time to leave. As for me I changed jobs at the begining of December and am working for a local biotech company and I couldn't be happier with the move. Chris is taking Japanese lessons every friday night in hopes that he will become proficient by next fall when we plan on taking a vacation to Japan. Our plans for Christmas are to stay in town and spent it with family and maybe get in a little bit o' skiing before the new year comes. Here are some of the very few pictures form November and december thus far. I have not taken as many pictures because with the way she moves most of my pictures are of the back of her head. Cheers all and may you have a beautiful christmas and a rocking new year.

Heather

And finally some photos from October

Ok as promised here are a select few October pictures for ya

The penultimate Halloween update

Okay so a new post every month, thats not that bad for a working mom. I have spent much of the time chasing after my walking baby and trying to go to the mountains as much as we can. Trust me I have lots of photos but this blog is not letting me post them :( I will try again soon