Almost 4 Weeks into the Latest Experiment
By miranda | January 22, 2010
Yesterday I got to experience the difficulty of trying to cook dinner with a crying baby who wants to be held and a 1 1/2 year-old girl who wanted to be held, fed, played with, chased, and read to. Dinner did get made, though in a slightly more distracted way than usual.
Sophie does love her new little brother, she now wants to sit and hold him on her lap several times a day. We think this love will continue to grow until Desmond is old enough to try playing with the toys that Sophie considers to be hers. I hosted a baby shower for little Odin this past weekend, and any toys that he was given have now been thoroughly tested by his big sis for play-enjoyability. It was so nice that Desmond’s baby shower could coincide with Kim’s visit to Edmonton. I didn’t get much one-on-one time, but it was so nice to see her and her two little ones. A happy surprise visitor was my Auntie Jo, down from Fairview, who came with my cousin Angie. Unfortunately, not all of my long-distance-important-people could make it, but such is life.
I have added more pictures to the gallery, please go look at your leisure. My boy smiles and grins, but it has not been caught on camera because every time it happens I can’t look away. That particular miracle has to be experienced in person.
Topics: Desmond, Photos, Sophie, party | 2 Comments »
Now there are four…
By miranda | December 29, 2009
Harry, Miranda and Sophie are proud to announce the arrival of our son/little brother Desmond Odin Joseph Annett. He was born this morning, January 29th, 2009 at 7:27. He weighed 3347 g (7lbs 7oz) and was 49 1/2 cm (19 1/2 inches) long.
There are a few early pictures up in the gallery for everyone to see our newly expanded family.
Topics: Family, Ziggy, baby | 1 Comment »
And there were still three…
By miranda | December 28, 2009
So it looks like the majority of people who participated in our baby pool thought that this child would arrive early. It looks like the majority of people were wrong. Those of you who picked later dates have much less competition.
News will be posted when there is anything to share.
Topics: baby | No Comments »
Latest Pictures
By miranda | December 19, 2009
It is getting nearer and nearer to Christmas/Baby time, and it still seems like there is so much to do, though I don’t feel a special sense of urgency to get it all done. Either I’m not really close to delivery or I will be very unprepared when the time comes. I did find the time this morning to upload some pictures. It was nice to have something other than renovation shots to put up for people to view. Much as the end result is great, it did take a long time and I’m happy to be done with that for now.
The pictures start with a late November visit from Rebecca, whom I last met in Germany about seven years ago, and who is staying in Canada for a year to work and learn English. She is staying in Calgary and came up to Edmonton for the weekend to re-meet me and to see the town. It was a great visit, and a good excuse to finally go and see the big Christmas light display at the corner of 97st and 144ave up close. Sophie loved all the lights, especially a singing, dancing bear that held her attention for some time.
Merry Christmas to all, and I’m sure I’ll be posting important updates here sometime soon.
Topics: Christmas, Photos | No Comments »
It’s Baby Pool Time Again!
By miranda | December 3, 2009
Hello all! Ziggy is nearing the end of incubation (how near? Maybe YOU can tell us!). We have set up an on-line Baby Pool similar to what we had when we were expecting Sophie. This time you get to select the exact hour and minute you want, so there is no worry about coveted time slots filling up too fast. To put in your pick go to the “Baby Pool” link on the right-hand side of the page and enter your name and your choice for sex, date and time. There will be a prize for the one with the most accurate guess, which we will tailor to the winner at the time of selection. For those of you who don’t know, the official due date is the 23rd or December, and yesterday I passed the 37 week mark, so now it is safe for me to deliver any day… No hints as to how I’m feeling, though, that wouldn’t be fair. We only ask that you limit yourselves to no more than 3 guesses per person. Go to the link, put in your picks, there’s no losing here, just fun for everyone!
In other news, those of you who have been checking the Kitchen Renovation album in the gallery will know that things have been progressing, slowly but surely. Yesterday we finally had the last few things hooked up and were able to cook our first dinner in the new kichen! What a great feeling! Even doing the dishes felt great, though I’m sure that will pass quickly. It’s nice to be able to move back up out of the basement and reclaim our upstairs! Have a look at the pictures and let us know what you think.
Topics: Photos, Renovation, Ziggy, baby | 2 Comments »
Things in Progress
By miranda | October 23, 2009
I’m home with a cold today, so I found some time to upload a few pictures to the gallery. There are two new albums, one for October in general, and one to follow the progress of our kitchen renovation. So far I’ve just got before shots in there, but it has all been torn out now and I should be able to add some progress shots too. I’m sure I’ve said it before, but this is quite exciting to be doing such a big change in the house. Our cabinets won’t be here until the beginning of November, but we’ve still got plenty of work to do before then. More photos will appear as things get ticked off the list.
Topics: Renovation | 1 Comment »
What the Family is up to.
By miranda | October 14, 2009
Well, winter has set in… or has it? Who knows these days. As I write this, it is snowing, but it’s supposed to be +20 in three days. Funny funny.
We greatly enjoyed our garden this year, as evidenced in past posts. I didn’t get around to harvesting all of the herbs before this cold snap set in, but we did make pesto, so our basil patch was put to good use. Our first year of potato growning was a modest success. We’ve had a couple of meals from the harvest, including being able to contribute to Thanksgiving dinner. Now we’re turning our efforts to the BIG renovation. This weekend we’re going to be ripping out the old kitchen to make room for the new one. As the dining room is getting a makeover at the same time we’ve been clearing that out at the same time. Our cabinets don’t come in until the end of the month, but Harry and I want to be sure that we have time to do the demolition and painting and small carpentry projects and all other prep tasks before they arrive. Knowing how we sometimes work, we’re hoping that two weeks is enough.
I’ve started taking a German language course, I just had my second class. It’s going well, I hope my memory will really kick in and help out since Swedish is quite similar in many respects. Ziggy appears to like the class, I get kicked and poked quite often while I’m there.
Sophie is getting taller every day. Yesterday she managed to climb up on a chair all by herself for the first time, boy did she look proud. She’s also really getting conversational. She’s taken to going into the next room and CAL-ling for us in a loud voice. We also think we’re hearing things that sound more like Mama and Dada, though it’s still iffy. She still appears to like the outdoors, just so long as she’s bundled up for it. We have bought her some pretty cute (and warm-looking) winter gear, so she’s good to go.
Love to all!
Topics: Family, Renovation, Sophie, Ziggy, garden | No Comments »
After Another Long Break…
By miranda | September 23, 2009
We’ve been so busy living life these days that I haven’t taken the time to write about it. We’ve taken a few more pictures recently though, and it’s always a good excuse to write a post to go along with a new photo uplaod. Sophie is doing very well, she’s adjusted nicely to the day home and seems to love having kids to play with. Thankfully for my ego (and heart) she’s always happy to see me at the end of the day. She’s evolved from walking to running, and has learned to lead and be led while holding our fingers. She’s making tons of conversation sounds, none of which are intelligible to us, but she sure seems to understand alot of the things we say to her. She loves playing with her shoes, and knows that we will endlessly put them back on for her after she takes them off.
One of the pleasures of August was having Harry’s mom Rachelle visit. She flew into town (and her arms were tired) and stayed with us for a little over a week. One of the beautiful moments was when Sophie could not be consoled and then Grande Mere used a little of the old school touch and had her granddaughter sleeping on her shoulder in no time. Hopefully Rachelle managed to get her computing skills working to be able to read this, and Sophie is hoping that Grande Mere is doing so with a kitty cat on her lap.
Work is going well, I’m mostly keeping busy enough, and the next few weeks are going to include a little more field time, so I’ll be out in the cool fall air, when that finally arrives. It’s so nice to have this last blast of summer heat before our fall really sets in, it extends the life of the garden and Sophie loves playing in the back yard. As for gardening, that is winding down. Last week we harvested our basil and made a big batch of pesto that we froze for later use. We tested some on pasta and it was very good. We also harvested a bunch of tomatos all at once and had enough to make a very nice fresh sauce (with herbs also plucked from our back yard). Now the last few things to take care of out back are the potatos, the remaining beets, and any carrots that decided to grow big enough to eat.
We started a new batch of wine last week as well. This year we’re making twice as much as last year since our taste tests between our grape wine and the kit wine resulted in a far better taste to the home-crushed stuff. We’re also correcting a couple of small mistakes and missed steps from last year, so we have high(er) hopes for this season’s wine. We’ve got two types of grapes: Granache, which we pressed early so that it will end up as a dark rose/very light red, and Valdepena, which is basically a Tempranillo grown in California rather than Spain.
Ziggy is growing at a steady pace, and has become very active of late. Lots of kicks and rolls. I’m feeling fine, but I’m also starting to feel big already, with another 3 months to go. It’s a good thing that we have that time still, because after all the big changes to the outside of the house, we’re making some big changes inside too. We’ve ordered new cabinets for the kitchen, and are going to be re-doing the dining room at the same time. It’s quite an exciting thing to do, but also a very expensive one. Oh well, we’ll be out of debt before we retire, hopefully.
That’s all for now, I’m going to upload some pictures.
Topics: Sophie, Wine, Ziggy, garden | 1 Comment »
a fond farewell to Yeti
By harry | August 17, 2009
Today Miranda and I were very sad to say goodbye to Yeti, who at almost 16 years of age, passed away. She had been very sick for the past week, and was weakened, as her liver failed she had stopped eating for almost a week. With no other dignified option for Yeti, we were by her side as she was lulled to silent rest. Miranda and I cried as we could not help Yeti get better or regain her strength. I wish there was an afterlife for her; she was a loved part of our family.
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Another Exciting Month
By miranda | August 16, 2009
Ahh, it has been a month since the last post… time sure flies in the summer. Casa Annett has been quite busy, our outdoor renovations are now complete, the yards have been transformed. It looks so amazing, almost like a different house! It all started with a patio and snowballed from there. Once we made that look so nice, we just had to replace the back lawn, and then since we had someone here doing that, why not sod the front yard too, since Harry had removed the other large overgrown pine. I am so pleased with the results. I’m sure many people in the neighbourhood must think there are new owners here, but really it is just Harry’s influence working on me. There are pictures in the gallery of this amazing transformation. I’d love to hear some comments on these.
I’ve also uploaded a July album which includes photos from our trip to B.C. and pictures from Sophie’s first birthday celebration. A great time was had by all, the party was also a chance to show off our new stone patio (though the rest of the yard was not done). Harry spent the whole day smoking a huge roast beef on our new charcoal smoking BBQ, and man did it turn out great. Poor Harry, all day chained to that BBQ, with only a beer cooler and a rotating group of friends to keep him company.
When August arrived we took Sophie to her second Folk Fest. We managed to see way more music this year, and the whole family had a great time. A couple of our favourite shows were Neko Case and Iron & Wine on Main Stage, and I finally got to see Ashley MacIsaac live (he playes left-handed like me!). Sophie was such a charmer, she loved being the centre of attention. She was so cute she had everyone giving her things, from food to toys to a pen (which she traded for a stick).
Oh, and another reason the weeks seem to be flying by is that I am back at work. The whole purpose is to bring in a little extra cash (all these yard improvements have not been cheap) and to get enough hours to receive EI again when I have this second baby. I am back at Prairie because it is a comfotable place where they know me and the are fine with my hours being pretty flexible. While I work Sophie is in a dayhome nearby, which she seems to be liking. She usually cries when I leave in the morning but she is always smiling at end of day. She has turned into quite the little chatterbox, and I wonder if being around other kids all the time is making her excercise her vocalizations. The rest of this month is shaping up to be pretty full as well, as Harry’s Mom is arriving tomorrow for a week-long visit. I plan to round off the month with a girl’s night in Grande Prairie to celebrate a favourite person’s 30th.
Please visit the gallery and browse our two new albums. I hope it will not be such a long break before my next post. Lots of love…
Topics: Birthday, Camping, Family, Folk Fest, Photos, Renovation, Sophie | No Comments »
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