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

Natalie eats a birthday cupcake

Natalie eats a birthday cupcake

Our baby girl is a year old!!!

Yesterday we had the delight of celebrating Natlaies first birthday party and I will share some photos and videos with you. I must confess I did not take too many pictures as I was too busy with things. Life is always such a balance of enjoying the moment and capturing it on camera. Oh well. I jsut wan tto thank everyone who made yesterday a special day and for those who could not be here thank you for your birthday wishes and cards. Also check out the cake and cupcakes I made them myself (Daelynn showed me how to decorate cakes last year!, thank you). Natalie got a lot of great baby swag including a very warm snowsuit from Babcia, can't wait to set her loose in a snowbank. Her friend Lauren was there to show her how a proper first birthday is done (thanks sweetie).
The party started off with a great feast of cabbage rolls and turkey thanks entirely to Chris's mom, I don't know how she does it. Then Natalie was treated to some birthday cake wheile we sung happy birthday (in English and in Polish). She was not sure what to do with the bear cake but she certainly knew what to do with the cupcake. Then she opened up her presents or rather I opened them for her, she was more interested in the paper. She was so partied out theat she fell asleep the moment we put her in her car seat, and she slept for nearly two hours!
This girl knows how to party.

I will get hte photos and videos up ASAP but the server is too slow right now

Natalie eats a ravioli

Natalie eats a ravioli

Natalie climbs up some stairs

Natalie climbs up some stairs

Party at Gymboree and Natalie eats a cupcake

So its getting close to Natlalies birthday and already her friend Lauren (blonde baby in the dress) has turned the big 1.0

For Laurens party we all went to Gymboree (basically a big playroom for preschoolers) and Natalie had a blast. If that wasn't good enough she got to enjoy a delicious chocolate cupcake, mostly she just squished it in her fist but I think she liked the bits that went in her mouth.

Speakign of mouth check out the video of her chowing down on some Kraft Dinner, I just learned how to post videos on the blog via google video.

Later, and I will post more about her upcoming birthday.

Natalie eats Kraft Dinner

Natallie eats Kraft Dinner

The baby is sleeping on my lap and this is the only time I can update my blog

I feel like every time I have left the blog for more than two eeks I need to explain myself at the begining of the next post. Well if you have ever had to care for a ten month old baby than no explanations are necessary. For the rest of you "uninitiated" out there, just you wait!

Some of the of pictures are from a little day trip we took last weekend to Elbow Falls. Its a lovely little spot if you ever get the chance to go and I recommend going beyond the day use area and following the hiking trail downstream. There you will find a beautiful bend in the river with nice flat rocks to sit on and even some good swimming holes. But be warned getting into the water there is not for the faint of heart, its very very cold. Also the rocks under water are unbelievably slippery so use care. Only Chris braved the water that day, although I bet it would be really refreshign on a +30 degree day.

The other set of pictures are from Gull lake, which we had the pleasure of visiting on Saturday wiih all our Polish friends from Edmonton. We had a great time and Natalie is becoming quite the little traveler. It was there that we discovered she really loves Chocolate timbits, in fact it was her first chocolate anything. Words cannot describe how proud I was to watch her eat that little morsel of chocolate donut, I am sure it will be a lifelong love. Speaking of strange food Chris also let her chew on a pepperoni stick he was eating. Believe me most of the time she eats very healthy, but sometimes she licks or samples small bits of other food just for fun. The black eye I must explain, she got it when she hit her head on our headboard, she was very sleepy at the time and probably did not know where she was moving. but it is all good and healed.


ok now I must go and feed this baby some dinner.

no more spoons! I want to feed myself!

So I am not sure at what point most babies get tired of being spoon fed pureed baby foods but Natalie is so over that. if she can't pick it up and put it in her own mout than she wants nothign to do with it. If I do manage to land a wayward spoon int her open mouth then she sticks out her tongue and transfers the food to her hand and then usually puts it in her hair or something. So check out her hair (her very own styling with yogurt) from yesterdays dinner pics.

As for life back in the paid workforce I can't say the transition has been smooth, but we are making great progress. Natalie is in a loving dayhome and we have lots of cuddle and playtime when I get home.

Our trip to BC

The last week of June we took a fimily holiday to BC around the Kootenay Lake area. Natalie had her first camping experince and she spent three whole nights in a tent. It was a short trip but here are the photos for you. Things are a little chaotic in the Derkowski house as I am returning to work. Natalie is haveing a hard time adapting to the dayhome so we are taking things one day at a time.