fun

The Golden Compass

Is getting a lot of hype. It reminds me of the Harry Potter and DaVinci Code hysteria. I've heard people say that movies like this (promoting atheistic ideas) should not be made.

I think it's a bunch of crap. The story is fantasy. Yes, there are ideas that are presented that go against Christian teachings, but how is that any different from most other movies that are made, especially in this genre?

It frustrates me when I see Christians so afraid of ideas. Ideas are powerful things, yes, but they only have the power that we give them. I think it's important to know and understand what others believe. How else can we expose the Truth if we aren't aware of what lies they believe? How can we be like Paul in Acts 17, using the culture, the beliefs, the Truth around us to bring people to God if we ignore all of those things and just pretend they don't exist?

I plan on seeing the movie. It looks interesting. I've heard it's a bit violent for young kids, but that doesn't really apply to me. I might read the books too (if the movie interests me enough in the story). I am not threatened by ideas that I know are wrong.

Winter Wonderland

Yesterday Hana and I went for a walk. We had been in the house for two days straight because of the snow, and we needed some fresh air. I figured I could put her in her new snowsuit and walk down to the store with her in the stroller.

Have you ever tried to take a toddler for a walk after a snowstorm?

First, you get the child dressed and put them in the snowsuit. I got Hana in the pants and had her boots on, then put her int he stroller before I put on her mitts (er...a pair of my thick socks....but it worked...) and coat on. I don't know how I came up with this idea, but I'm so glad I did.

Apparently putting mitts and a coat on a toddler is the equivalent of the marshmellow man on steroids - fluffy, strong and angry. Hana tried as hard as she could to kick and arch out of her stroller. It was awful. I almost took a picture, but figured the neighbours might be wondering what all the noise was, so instead we headed out.

(one plus of the mitts, she wasn't able to take her hat off for once!!)

So we head out and once we're moving Hana settles down and even seems to be enjoying herself. We get to the main road and I'm so excited to see the sidewalk is plowed. Er, sorta. Apparently they plowed the sidewalk before some of the streets for some reason, so at the beginning of every block there's this huge pile of snow. Have you ever tried to push a stroller through a huge pile of snow? It doesn't work so well. So I would pick her up and carry the stroller a few feet. Then we turn the corner and half of the snowbank caused by plowing the sidewalk has fallen in. There was a lot of stroller carrying to be done.

We came home by the side roads and just walked on the street.

13 Months

Hana is 13 months old.

She is pulling up on any stable surface and cruising around on the furniture. She gets stuck because she doesn't know how to sit back down, but for the most part standing is what makes her happy. Unless it's beside her walker. She won't stand up within a foot of her walker. We try to walk her over to her walker and on the way she sits down.

She's weaned from the bottle. She gets her milk in a rubbermade straw cup - sippy cups didn't work for her, this is perfect and will last for years. She's also eating a lot better now, altho she doesn't like leftovers. If she's had the same thing within the last 24 hours and I haven't just made it fresh, she wants nothing to do with it. Anything she doesn't want gets picked up, piece by piece, and removed from her sight. If I'm not sitting beside her with a plate or my hand out, it ends up on the floor. Frustrating, but better than just randomly throwing food.

She has 5 teeth now and 3 more on their way. It's made sleeping interesting, but for the past week she's spent most or all of the night in her crib. Makes mama happy.

She is so curious, so interesting in how everything works. She loves books, and laughing, and goldfish crackers and the cat. If she's having a meltdown because the world just isn't fair I know one of the above will calm her.

She's getting so big, so un-baby like, but at the same time she still enjoys cuddling in my arms when she first wakes up or if she's having a rough day.

Snowed In

That's the view from our patio door. That's a snowbank. We're staying in today.

New Baby

It's so good to finally be able to tell everyone!

Not that I couldn't have (or didn't....) sooner, I was just waiting FOREVER for that shirt to arrive!

I'm almost 7 weeks, I think. We're not to sure. Basically we got the house and decided we could start trying again and two weeks later I got a positive test.

I'm due around July 20th. Again, date isn't all that accurate because I can't remember the proper date to start from. But I figure most babies aren't born on their due dates anyway. That will make Hana almost 21 months old. Close, but not too close. I will be in the "two under two" club for a while tho.

We're so excited, and so blessed. It was quicker than we anticipated, and there's been so much going on lately it seems a little crazy, but I'm so much looking forward to the next nine months and what God is going to do for my family.

Picture

Help out a friend?

Can everyone do me a favor?

go to vibe985.com and vote for my friend Gemma in the 50 000$ baby shower contest?

She's a friend of mine from Calgary and could really use the help with this. The winner will be announced on Monday, so vote as often as you want between now and then. She's contestant #7 and you can read her story on the site.

Thanks!

News

So much has been going on lately.

Hana is 1. We're all moved in to our new house. Just got phone and internet yesterday, and it's so nice to be able to connect with the outside world again.

With all that, I've become a NaNoWriMo dropout. Ah well, there's always next year.

There's other stuff too, but it will have to wait.

One

I can't believe she's been outside of me for a year.
She's beautiful, cuddly, intelligent, creative, funny, adorable, active, curious, determined, emotional, social and every other thing I could ever have hoped she would be.

This past year has had it's rough points, but through it all she's the highlight. There have been times we've both broken down into tears, but it's never been anything a night sleeping side by side couldn't fix. She fills my heart with laughter and my eyes with tears of joy. She's made me the mother I am, and a better wife, better friend, better woman than I ever was before. She's made Ben a wonderful father, wonderful husband and the best man I have ever known.

I do have pictures, but can't find the cable for the camera, so you'll have to wait.

NaNoWriMo

Not only am I moving and celebrating my daughter's first birhtday this month, I'm also writing a novel.

1050 words done, 48950 to go.

See you in December

Checklist

64000$ mortgage : check
14000$ down payment : check (thanks to wonderful people who love us!!!!)
Insurance : working on it
Carpet Cleaners : need to make a call
Turning on power : check
Calling a Lawyer : currently on hold
Rejoicing in all that God has made possible this week: will never end.

Seriously, this has been a roller coaster! So many phone calls, prayers and words of thanks as things have all fallen into place since the first time I saw the house last Friday.

If you're curious, go to http://www.westwoodgardens.info/
We've bought unit 7 and are now only needing to sign the mortgage! We'll get the keys on Saturday and the official closing date is November 9th. If anyone feels like helping us move on the 10th let me know!

Almost a homeowner

We're just waiting for paperwork. The closing date is the 9th. It's a 3 bedroom, 1200 sqft townhouse condo. Needs a few updates here and there, but is essentially move-in ready. Once the mortgage goes through we'll have the keys and I can start cleaning.

This is a wonderful thing, and something that wouldn't have been possible without God, and so we praise Him for all His blessings.

Now, anyone want to suggest paint colours?

No House

Well, the bank came back with a really high counter offer, and there's a lot more than would need to be done to the house right away than we had realized, so we're looking for other options. Hopefully we'll find something else quickly.

House

No, not the tv show...

Ben and I are looking at getting a house, but there's a lot of steps involved. We found a place we like that is reasonably close to Ben's new job, and we have a meeting with a mortgage specialist on Tuesday.

Please pray that things go smoothly in whatever direction is best for them to go.

Thanks!

Which Way?

Click on this

Which way is the girl spinning? Clockwise or counter clockwise?

(Don't worry, it's not one of those things where you look at a picture and something freaky happens, I promise!)

Now, the real question: Can you get her to spin the other way?

I can!

Give

I've decided to make this my browser's homepage.

That way every time I go online I'll be reminded to click and help fund mammograms for women - helping them fight against breast cancer.

I challenge you to do the same. It doesn't even take a minute and it's completely free. No strings attached, just open your browser, click the pink button and then continue on with whatever you were doing. If you're not willing to do it daily, at least do it today. Every click counts.

Hair Days

So I'm trying to grow my hair out long. Like, sit on it long. For fun (because growing your hair is so much fun...that whole half inch a month, good times).

So I joined the Long Hair Community. It's great, lots of good advice, beautiful inspiration, all round good web community.

Someone decided to post a 30 day challenge, to wear your hair up for 30 days. In a row. I rarely wear my hair up 30 minutes in a row, so this should be interesting. I'm trying to learn new ways to put it up, so if I come up with anything interesting I'll let you know. So far I've managed a french braid. Exciting huh?

New Socks!

New socks might not be that exciting for a lot of you, but I learned a new way to make socks and I'm pretty thrilled with it.

I was browsing knitting blogs yesterday (because they're oh so much fun!) and read about the "magic loop method" and so just had to go out and get a long pair of circulars. I had already learned how to do toe-up socks with a short row heel. I love this method because you can really see the size of the sock as you go and make it a perfect fit. Plus the short row heel is so much less complicated than doing a heel flap and picking up stitches and all that headache. Also the figure 8 cast on makes a seamless toe, which is great for people who hate seams at the toe.

So here's a run down of how to make THE BEST socks
I use Bernat Handicrafter Cotton (the little 2$ skins) and size 7 circular needles (29")

Hold the two needles parallel with the points facing the same direction and wind the yar between them making figure eights until you have 10 stitches on each needle (you only need 8, but I always do extra in case I screw up!) The needle with the end of the yarn hanging off it gets slipped out so that those stitches stay on the wire of the circular, but don't pull it all the way through, leave a loop between the two sets of stitches. Knit 8 stitches off the other needle. Adjust so that both sides are on needles again and this time slide the side you just worked off so the other side can be knit (sounds much more complicated than it is!). Again, remember to keep a loop of wire between the two sections of stitches.

That is basically the magic loop method (but check the first few pages in the search linked above for a better explanation and pictures). You'll do that for the whole sock except for the heel. To shape the toe, on the second and second to last stitch every row (for each needle, so increasing on 4 stitches total) knit front and back to increase. I start with 8 stitches and increase until I have 22 on each needle (but I have little feet). If you figure out your gage (eg. 8 sts per inch) and the size of your foot (5 inches) and round up to make it even you can easily figure out how many stitches you need (40). Then you just knit. Knit until you get it long enough it goes to the front of your ankle. For the heel you just work one half of the stitches, leaving one stitch on the needle and turning the work as you do each row (read the short-row links above), then when you get about 6 working stitches you start to increase again, and voila! a heel! A few more rounds (ok, a lot more rounds) with ribbing for the cuff, and you're done!

Mine aren't done yet, still working the foot of my first one, but I just started yesterday. I'll get pics when I'm done!

11 months old

Wow time flies. My baby girl is 11 months old today.

This morning I woke up to her rolling around beside me. Once she realized I was awake she looked at me with a big smile and snuggled against my chest. Bliss.

She wants to walk all the time now, but she can't walk on her own yet. So daily Ben and I take her for walks around the house. Seeing the two of them walking and laughing makes my heart soar.

There's so much learning going on right now. Her newest game is putting and taking. She'll put a toy on the chair and then take it off. She'll put a block on top of another block, clap her ands, and then take it off. It makes me giggle.

She's persistent. When she wants to get somewhere interesting - like under a table or where a kitty is sleeping - she figures out a way to do it, then looks over her shoulder and smiles at me proudly.

Nothing could be better than this.