...but not the Holy Spirit

Yesterday was Abrielle's baptism, and it was a great day that was full of good food, good friends, lots of laughs and some rejection of salvation.

To begin with, Abby is now the 5th generation to be baptized in the christening dress that she wore.  The dress is about 110 years old and in remarkably good shape, despite a little yellowing around the collar.  It is long, and beautiful and of course I wasn't smart enough to take a close up of it!  My mom thanked me several times for having her in that dress, but I thought it was a pretty incredible thing that she be able to wear something with so much history.  And, she didn't even get it dirty!

There were 2 other baby girls and 1 little girl being baptized at the same time, but of course it was our little one that brought some comic relief to the service.  To begin with, unless I had her soother in her mouth, she was chattering away the whole time.  Then, when it came time for her to be actually baptized, Tyler held her over the font just like he was suppose to.  Abby wasn't a huge fan of that though, so she started doing her little baby crunches to bring herself back up.  Father Fernando was able to baptize her in the name of the Father, and of the Son...but it took 2 tries before he got her in the name of the Holy Spirit.  If you can see in this picture, he is actually laughing as he tries to get her again.

 


You can see that everyone is laughing as Abby tried to dodge the last scoop
of water!

 

Later on, when he went to make the sign of the cross on her forehead with oil, she quite politely pushed his hand away.  Could this be a bad sign? I think it is just typical Abby, and it made the day all the more memorable

After the ceremony, we went to my parent's house for a casual lunch, some drinks, some sun and conversation.  I really appreciate that my parents were willing to host for us.  They provided all of the food and beverages, and our house is just too small to fit that many people comfortably!  Surrounded by all these people that came to celebrate with us, I was blown away by how much love there was for Abby.  Tyler's grandparents and his sister Amanda and her boyfriend Shawn all drove up just to pretty much turn around and drive back to Medicine Hat.  Church is really not my brother James' thing, yet he was willing to stand up there as her Godfather. Kaella got up at an ungodly hour after changing her flight so that she would be home in time.  3 of our guy friends, fresh off their camping trip with Tyler and all probably fighting exhaustion and hangovers were there, freshly shaved and looking good.  Terri Jo and Brett had both packed their babies up and attended the ceremony.  Crystal had brought Tate (my future son in law) out and navigated him through the crowd that he was unsure of like a pro.  Not to mention the other 20 people who had taken time out of their busy days and lives to come and celebrate something that they might not even believe in. 

Toasts were made, food was eaten, cake was had, and it was just a great time.  I don't take for granted these times when I am surrounded by friends and family.  I feel so blessed to have people in my life that love my little girl so much that they are willing to take time out of their weekend and spend it with us.  Not to mention that Abrielle was completely spoiled!  I had specified NO GIFTS when I invited people, but that was largely  ignored.  One very special gift that she received was from Amanda, my sister in law, and Abby's Godmother.  Amanda gave her the ring that she had received from her Godmother when she was little.  I am so happy that she is going to have something to carry on from that side of the family too, and James gave her a beautiful engraved jewellery box where we can store it for safe keeping.  She also received a joke gift from my brother in law, a "get out of jail free card" for when she decides to replace the original sin that she lost.  I'm thinking about framing that one!

So, for all of you that came out or sent well wishes for Abby and us, thank you.  It meant the world to us.

Crazy Picture Lady

I'll admit it, I'm a Mamarazzi.

I take a lot of pictures of Abrielle.  I will often look back and think, why do I need so many of her in her office or highchair?  At the time, she was obviously being super cute, so I snapped a few...and then a few more...and then a few more.  And thus, a problem was born.   I am (as my husband would say) a crazy picture lady.

So, you can imagine how stoked I was when I won a photo session for her with JillianClaire Photography (she has been doing our pictures since our maternity session, and I absolutely love her.  Go here: Jillian's page
I was planning on getting her 9 month pictures done anyway, so now it is free!  As an aside, I would HIGHLY recommend Jillian. This isn't a plug for her, but I truly think she has an amazing talent, and is just really great to work with because she is a Mom herself. She understands that when a baby is tired, things aren't going to go well and has offered (complimentary) second shoots on separate days when she felt that she didn't get the shots she wanted.  Here pictures are lovely.  Here is one from each session we have had done with her:














So why do I get so many pictures done?  Well, for one, I am a first time Mom, and I think that kind of comes with the territory.  But also, my theory is you can always throw a picture out, but never in life will you be able to go back in time and snap it again.  You only get one shot (no pun intended).  I love having pictures of my baby smiling, but I also love the ones of her mad, like her newborn shot above. 8 months later, that is still her face when she cries, so I am so glad I have that picture to look back on.  I think there is equal importance in capturing both the happy and laughably sad times in our lives.

I am also trying to actually get in front of the camera more.  I hate pictures of myself, mainly because I don't like the way that I look.  I am incredibly regretful though that I don't have very many pictures of myself and Abby when she was a brand new baby.  It wasn't until a couple of months ago that I decided to make an effort to step around to the front of the camera more.  I think as moms we tend to be the ones hiding behind the lenses, and as such dad's get a lot of pictures with their babies, and we don't.

It is not just with Abby that I am trying to take more pictures though. I want to get more of scenery, friends and family.  I use to be embarrassed to be seen pulling a camera out, or requesting a photo op.  Now I am not, because I have come to embrace that pulling out my camera means that I care.  I saw a moment as something special and wanted to record it forever.  What's so wrong with that?

As an aside, I really want to upgrade my camera.  I don't want to have a big huge one, but I am looking for one that is going to take a better quality of pictures and is in the $300-$400 price range.  Any recommendations?

Blogger maintenance

This is not really a post, but more of an answer!

So, as you are probably sick of hearing, I was perplexed (but happy to hear from!) people who were emailing me or facebooking me with comments but not using the comment form.  A friend of mine pointed out that you needed a blog to do so. 

Turns out you just need a Gmail account.  I am not suggesting anyone run out and get one, but that is the solution!

Go baby go

In case you missed it on Facebook, here it is: Video

I took the video clip out because it wasn't playing.  Comments are also not working.  So, go blogger. 

Abby is crawling!  Well, squirming and dragging, but she is moving, and she is FAST.  Yesterday when my sister's kids were over, I was in the kitchen getting them a snack.  When I came back in, Abby had moved from her playmat to halfway across the room.

Me:  How did Abby get there?

Logan:  She cwaled (sic).

Ryann:  (In a bored voice) She crawled over here on her own.

Me:  She CRAWLED?!?!?!

Logan: (Impatiently), Yuh, Abby CWALED!

Geez, sorry for asking. 

We have seen Abby kind of move a shuffle or two forward, and she can definitely scoot backwards, but this is new.  And, like I said, even though she is only one day into this thing, she is FAST.  I'm going to have to baby gate the basement stairs, and since she is pulling herself up too (my, aren't we growing up?) that is going to involve screwing it in, not just propping it up like we have been for the dogs.

This is just a sentimental Mama talking, but now that Abby is crawling, I see it as her crawling away. 

She is crawling away from being a baby.

Crawling away from being so dependent on me. 

Crawling away from the safe places that I put her.

She is just on the move, ready to explore, put foreign objects in her mouth, wreak havoc on low lying objects, terrorize (or get stepped on) by the dogs, and I am sure all other kinds of trouble that I hadn't thought of.  At the same time, I am so proud of her, and I love how she is so proud of herself.  If you  watched the video you can see, she is her own biggest fan, and that just makes it even more cute.  My baby is active, growing and learning, and really, what can you do but sit back, smile and say "Go baby, go"?

Recipe: Couscous Salad

I'm just going to warn you ahead of time:  DON'T FEED THIS TO YOUR BABY!  It made a giant mess everywhere.

On Abby

What?   Is there something on my face?



Heh heh heh, you are gonna have fun cleaning me up! 
How did I get couscous IN my diaper?
I'll never tell.

 On the Dogs

How did he get couscous in his fur?  Ask the baby.
At least he is cleaning my floor for me!

Ugh.  Seriously, unless you are prepared to put a tarp under the high chair, do not give this to a child.  I literally had to put her in the bathtub immediately following dinner because she was such a disaster.  It was delicious though.  I love couscous because it is so fast to make and is super tasty!  Here is one of my fave brands.

Abby and I both had seconds of this one (I gave her some that didn't have margarine or spices).  Here is the recipe!

1 cup couscous
1 cup water
1/2 cup lentils
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp margarine
Garlic to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste

Place couscous in serving dish and cover with boiling water.  Cover dish and let stand 5 minutes.
Warm lentils and peas in olive oil
Fluff couscous with fork and add in the (now) cooked lentils and peas, season to taste.
Once seasoned, add in 1 tbsp of margarine and allow to melt.  Don't skip this step, you need a bit of extra oil.
Serve cold or hot.

You think I look bland?  Taste me!

Busy Bee

I cannot keep up with my baby

Seriously, Abby has gotten so busy lately.  She is a body in motion during all of her waking hours.  She has Go-Go- Gadget arms that can extend past where you could ever imagine, grabbing at anything in sight.  Nothing on a table is safe.  She wants to walk everywhere and is far too brave considering she hasn't mastered walking only holding on with one hand yet.  But she is bound and determined!  She has figured out how to move forward through a combination of crawling, slithering and rocking side to side, so now she is unstoppable.  She twists, turns and shimmies if you are holding her, and if her feet touch something solid while you are, you better be sure she is going to start bouncing too!  She is a fearless baby, a quality that I like, although it is sure making my life a lot busier!

No wonder she sleeps 12 hours a night!

Speaking of which, gone are the days where I could bring her into bed with me and she would sleep for another half hour to an hour.  Nope.  Not anymore.  Once she wakes up, she is up and ready to go!

I was thinking that she was going to be sleeping with me this weekend after I walked into her room yesterday and saw her sitting up in her crib.  Well, that's new I thought as I walked in to interrupt her pulling down her mobile.  Upon seeing me, her eyes lit up and she grabbed the side of the crib.

And then she stood up.

Oh no.  You've got to be kidding, right?  Tyler has been gone for all of 3 hours and she picked today to endanger her life on her unlowered crib.  Crap.

A quick phone call to Grandpa Stan and he was over, tools in hand, playfully questioning Abby about her recent activities.  He lowered the crib down to the second lowest level for me and I figured I could sleep easy.  I put Abby in to test it out, and the little turkey stood right up again.



Oh please, this is too easy now!



Oh well, hopefully she can't flip herself out.

On an unrelated note, at Alisha's suggestion I made overnight oats last night.  They are so good and I will definitely be doing this for breakfast more often!

Chocolate Almond Overnight Oats

2/3 cup soy milk
1/3 cup large flake oats
1 tsp cocoa
1 handful of raw almonds, chopped

Warm the soy milk enough to dissolve cocoa and combine with oats and almonds. Stir and refrigerate over night.

Easy, no?  These are suppose to be eaten cold apparently, and although I had a little trepidation about that, I really liked it.  I am glad I put almonds in mine because the crunch really added a nice balance to the texture.  Raisin bread...you might be on your way out!  (Who I am kidding...I'll never leave you.  I'll just cheat on you instead).

Here is what mine looked like.

Heaven in a bowl.

I've got a new recipe I will post later today, so check back!

Recipe: Barley Casserole

This is one of our favourite quick "go to" suppers at our house.  I always have the ingredients on hand and it takes no time at all to cook up.  A family friend first made this dish for me last Christmas, and I have been tweaking it ever since. Barley is loaded with protein and fibre, so it makes a great meal when meat isn't involved.

Barley Casserole

1 cup pearl barley (I have tried it with pot barley...not my fave)
3 cups low sodium veggie stock
1 onion, diced
1-2 carrots, diced (I always use about 12 baby carrots because they are always on hand)
1 cup frozen corn
1 red pepper
1 tsp chia seeds
1 tsp Montreal Steak Spice
Olive oil
Garlic

Bring barley and stock to a boil, and then allow to simmer until the liquid is absorbed.
Sautee carrots and onion in a generous amount of olive oil, adding corn when veggies are almost soft.  Season with garlic and steak spice.
Combine together and add chia seeds for a punch of protein! 

I served mine with homemade wheat bread...delicious!

Enjoy!