Cleaning Buddy

I love my little Grace so much. It amazes both Stuart and I how much love we can feel for such a little person. I mean we were happy before she was born and I didn't feel like I had a need to have a child, like I had more love in me and just had to give it to someone. And yet each day we just love her more and more.
As Grace gets older her personality keeps developing and she seems to be developing at a rather alarming rate. She learns a new word everyday (today it was “stuck”), demonstrates some new skill (like pulling her arms out of her sweater herself) and she apparently LOVES to clean.
Anyone who knows me knows that my standard of cleanliness is, how do I say this delicately, disgusting. I could care less if I had clean dishes or clothes that I didn't have to smell first to decide if they were clean. However, I have been getting better in my adult life. Ask my parents, they'll tell you.
Then along came Grace and not only does she love to clean, she will take the iniciative and start cleaning if she decides something is not up to par.
Her favourite method of cleaning is taking a sponge or paper towel along with some cleaner (she knows the difference between cleaner and a spray bottle full of water) and wipe down the coffee table, walls, fridge, cupboards or anyone who will stand still long enough.
She likes to Swiffer the floors and the carpet, put dishes away, organize the chairs, stuffed animals and books. She even “helps” me put the laundry away. I'm amazed.
If only I could get her to vacuum I'd never have to clean again.

Boating Lake Simcoe

For years now Stuart has always talked about the fact that his father owns a sailboat, the said sailboat is amazing to go around Lake Simcoe on and the he knows all about sailing. I will admit that I'd been hearing about the alleged sailboat for so long that I stopped believing Stu. (I'm sorry honey I'll never doubt you again.)
This summer Stu's parents put the sailboat in the water for the first time in several years and have been fixing it up and taking it around Lake Simcoe. Now that we finally came back east and stopped pretending to be cow loving Albertans we got to take a trip on it.
I don't like boats as a general rule. Ok maybe I like them sometimes but I get violently sick on them. I didn't want to go and tried every excuse to get out of going but I ended up going kicking and screaming. Ok I wasn't kicking and screaming I do want to set the example of being semi-normal for my inlaws.
Despite my fears of nausea, vomiting, being uncomfortable because I'm the size of a cow, I had a great time. Grace had a great time and I hope to do it again. Stu even got to impress me with sailorly knowledge.

We're back

I've been a bad blogger as of late. I mean I have had a few things going on; moving back to Ontario, survey camp, Stu starting school, constantly expanding and breaking my ankle but I think I've made it to the point where I am ready to start blogging again. Hopefully.

It's A...

GIRL!!!

Announcing another little baby girl Watt. We are so excited. Today I was finally able to get my 18 week ultrasound (at 23 weeks) and we were all able to see our little baby swimming around.

I've been very anxious for this ultrasound. Because we have been in Edmonton for the last few months I've been going to walk-in clinics for my pre-natal care. (If you thought that most pre-natal appointments were a general waste of time you should go to see a walk-in doctor. But I digress.)

Until today, I had never heard my baby's heartbeat and have been very nervous if I went longer than 45 minutes without feeling any movement. I've been worried that baby is not developing properly simply because I haven't had my regular doctor who has more than 5 minutes to spare.

It was wonderful to finally see baby. Grace was also able to see her baby sister. She was pleased to know that baby had a nose and a mouth just like her. Her little sister even waved at her.

Baby has all major body parts (they couldn't find Grace's right foot in the first ultrasound), has a regular heartbeat, is moving around like crazy and likes to open her mouth...a lot.

We can't wait to meet you baby. We are so excited and love you very much. All we need now is a girl's name. Good thing we still have 17 weeks.

Colouring

If there's one gene Grace got from me (and I sometimes think it's only one) it's the arts and crafts gene. If the supplies are out and you stand still long enough there is a very good chance that you will leave covered in stickers, marker, pen and/or improvements made with scissors. (She can't actually cut anything with scissors but she knows the theory behind them)



Trying to be the good parents, we got Grace a colouring book that has a life size picture of what baby will look like at the end of each month. It also has a desciption of the different things baby can do. This month it has apparently learned to suck its thumb.
At the end of each month I crack out the colouring book while trying to explain to Grace how baby is doing. She still doesn't get it. She thinks there's a baby in her tummy and then gets mortally offended when we tell her otherwise. (At this rate we're never getting into a state-of-the-art nursery home.)
But she does love to colour. Today while colouring the closest thing to a picture of her baby sibling, Grace added stickers, crayons, markers and paint. So enhtusiastic was she that she emptied her entire craft box.
Later she spent over half an hour covering herself and mommy with Disney princess stickers

Check out Grace colouring and her newest phrase.

Long Morning

Yesturday was a long day. It was a "no" day, the first one that we've ever had but still it made for a very unproductive day. After Grace went to bed last night I thought that she was in bed for good. Not so. She graced us with her presence around three am.
Me being the very tired and wonderful wife, kicked Stu out of bed to deal with her but in his tired state he just brought her into our bed and then went to sleep on the couch.
It was a long night. Grace wanted to sleep as close to me as possible and almost got me off the bed a few times. When I woke up this morning, I was not in the best of moods. Translation: a tyrannousaurs rex is probably more cheerful. That all changed however when I looked over at Grace and realized that she'd removed her diaper at some point during the night.
Thinking quickly, I forced her into a diaper and plopped her infront of Arthur. I stripped the bed and then called my Dad to ask him how best to clean pee off of a matress. I love my Dad very much and think he's the greatest Dad ever but apparently he just wasn't around all those times my brothers and I never made it to the toilet. After a quick conversation of "I don't know, I never had to deal with this, try baking soda." I got the matress cleaned. (Quick note. Baking soda does remove all bad smells from matresses.)
After quickly pouring a bath I dumped Grace in. She was confused as to why she was having a bath first thing in the morning. She then started whining because she wanted breakfast. Howlering to Stu I asked if he could watch Grace while I made breakfast. Stu reply was "No I'm so tired. Can you turn down the sun?"
Okay.
Once Grace decided that her hunger out weighed her love of the bath, I dressed her, whipped up some scrambled eggs and told her to eat. I had to run and get the laundry washed because our building was turning off the water all day and I kinda like to sleep in non-pee covered sheets.
I had almost made it to the door when Grace noticed me and barricaded the door. After much convincing, nagging and hoofing Stuart off the couch I left them reading a story together.
With only twenty mintues to spare I got the laundry in the wash and made it back in time to make juice, fill the water jug and explain to Stu that he needed to shower now if he wanted to get clean.
After he showered I informed him that all towels of any shape and size were in the wash.
Fortunately, it seems that all the major drama was over before nine this morning. The rest of the day went as quietly as it could for the Watt house.
Tonight we plan on duct taping Grace's diaper on.

The Ledge

This is possibly my favourite place in Edmonton. Before I came to Edmonton I had a list of places that I wanted to see before I left. The Alberta Legislature Building was on that list but more for a tour in air conditioning than anything else.
One sweltering Sunday evening friends of ours took us there and I feel in love with it. In front of the main building there is a giant, raised pond that is about knee deep. You can swim and wade around the pond and splash around in many of the smaller fountains that are in the gardens. There are also many walking paths, beautiful flowers, a very friendly security guard to make sure everyone stays safe and all sorts of people to look at.
I usually have to do a great deal of convincing of my other family members to get us to go but I love just sitting there in the quiet and watching all the people there.

Grace and I wading at the Ledge

The beautiful folliage. Grace thinks it's silly that I smell the flowers.

Stuart posing on the steps. Notice a certain nudist escaping behind him.



The Legislature Building at sunset.

Things I've Learned While Parenting

Nobody likes to burn their tongue. It's a fact of life. If you're a toddler you really don't like to burn your tongue because you think everything you eat after that will have the same affect. Or at least that's how my toddler operates.
Since we don't have a microwave out here everything must be heated up in the oven or on the stove which usually means its too hot for her highness to eat right away. We try very hard to tell her this whenever it happens (which is about every meal) and rejoiced when she learned to say "hot". Because of this, Grace now thinks anything that is hot must be bad.
This is what I've learned. Don't ever teach your child something that they can use as an excuse later on in life.
This evening at the supper table while Grace was enjoying her grilled cheese, I held up her broccoli and asked her if she would eat it.
She held her hand a centimeter away from it, looked me in the eye and said "hot". The broccoli was raw.
Does anyone know what to say to that? Because I certainly don't. I just stared at her and said it wasn't hot. Grace repeated that, yes, it was in fact "hot" therefore she couldn't eat it. She then went to sit on the couch where she could finish her sandwich in peace.
I honestly thought that I would always be able to explain things to her in a way that would make her respect and love me even more than before IF she ever talked back to me. Mom has many surprises yet to learn.

Nursery!

Attention! Attention! Grace Mae Watt is now offically a nursery cutie! On Sunday, now that she is offically 18 months old, she got to join all the other 18 month to three year olds at church for Nursery. She got to colour, play with all sorts of toys, have a snack and a little lesson. Mommy and Daddy got to sit through their lessons without having to wander the halls for the first time in 18 months.

Saturday night was rather stressful. Grace was full of anxiety about going to Nursery but was greatly comforted when we reassured her that Mommy and Daddy would be there with her for as long as she wanted. In the end that was about 3 minutes.

When it was over she was bursting with stories to tell us, pictures that she had drawn and was rather sad to leave. She then went home and collapsed to have a giant nap.

We hope Grace continues to have this much success in her Nursery endevours.

Three Years

I still can't believe that I'm this old, but on July 29 Stu and I celebrated our third anniversary together. In some ways it feels like a long time but in other ways I wonder what I've been doing with all that time.

We decided to splurge (sp?) and bought some sword fish to dine on. Stu came home early, Grace went to bed early and we were all set for a lovely night when (a) we realized that the lady at the store did not give us sword fish but some other less enjoyable kind and (b) Grace decided to wake up and keep us company for most of the night. Even so it did end up being a very lovely evening.

So I would just like to say thank you to Stuart for the past three, most wonderful years of my life. Thanks for loving me and taking care of me. Thank you for putting up with sinks full of dirty dishes, with late night discussions about our feelings when you're trying to sleep and with wearing wrinkled shirts to church because I do not know how to iron your shirts properly.

Thanks for all the late night freezie binges, camping in the back yard and living room. Thanks for making me laugh after a bad day and eating the cinnamon rolls even though they didn't rise. Thanks for being such a great Dad to Grace and for being my best friend.

Happy Third Anniversary Sweetie. I'm so happy you chose me.

Go Karts

Stuart's office was given the incentive to make 15 sales in a day. If they did this they would get to go Go Karting. Having never been I can't say I saw the motivation in this. However, the guys were so excited, worked their tails off and made it. They were on their way.

Because we have nothing better to do during the day, the wives came along and brought the kids to see. All the wives were told they could also go on the track (after the boys were done for their own safety) except for me since go karting is a no-no when you're pregnant.

It was a two toddler effort to get that kart moving.



I just think they look so cute together.

Just one of the boys.

Stu was the leader of the pack for almost all of his two races until he was side swiped and sent into the dirt. Tall men were not made to fit into these things.

Blueberries

On Friday blueberries were on sale; or at least as cheap as they get in Edmonton. We'd bought them before and Grace refused to eat them, preferring to push them around in her stroller. We offered her some this time as we were waiting in line to check out thinking that she'd call it a ball and throw it across the room.




She absolutely LOVED them. We manages to get her outside by feeding her one at a time but while I was loading the bags into the trunk she attacked the container, refused to let it go and pitched everything she could reach out of the cart in protest. This lead to a mini picnic in the Superstore parking lot.


She now opens the fridge, takes out the container of blueberries and talks to them while eating them.

Fort Edmonton

On Saturday Stuart finally took a day off. This is a big deal if you know my husband and his working habits. We decided to go to the local fort. Grace and I went there during the week and greatly enjoyed so we dragged Daddy along. However it probably wasn't the best choice in family day trips since the temperature reached a whopping 35 . We lasted 3 three hours before we admitted defeat and went search of some air conditioning.

They were making banack for all the visitors to eat. Stuart who has obviously never been to a girls' camp in his life thought it was the greatest.

Grace just sat down part way through the fort and decided to collect some rocks.

Checking out the Native American tee pees.

On the street car.

The beautiful view of the North Saskatchewan river.

There really isn't a point to this video other than Grace saying a few words and being cute.

19 weeks

And so it begins. It's tiny and hard to see but baby is most definately there. The maternity pants are out after much complaining and trying to fit into my regular pants, the pickles have been bought by the case and Grace can no longer jump on Mommy's tummy.

Baby now moves, kicks and spins. Grace has moved onto the five month picture in her baby colouring book. We are all very excited to meet you baby.

New Favourite Place

Grace has become quite the independant child lately. She brushes her own hair, brushes her own teeth, drinks from her own cup and takes her blueberries for a walk in her stoller. Recently she has started helping me make food in the kitchen but her favorite thing is helping me reorganize my fridge.

No matter where she is in the house, as soon as the fridge door opens she is there, rearranging the mustard and the yeast and taking the lemon juice out to go play.

She has also started just sitting in the fridge. She sits and talks to the condiments and just generally enjoys herself until the fridge's cooling system turns on. She doesn't like the noise.

Names

Baby names. They really are difficult to come up with, at least at our house.

I remember when my youngest brother was born and my Dad couldn't decide on a name. Poor Dave was "Baby Boy Daniel" for a while and my other brother kept calling him Watermelon Head. (W.H. for short.) I thought it was hilarious that my Dad couldn't come up with a name and yet here I am thirteen years later facing the same dilema.

Not that boy names are a problem. We have both names picked for a boy: Daniel Michael and we had both names for a boy Grace, had it turned out that way, by three months. However, a girl is more difficult.

I did not pick the name Grace and no matter how many times I tried to veto it, I lost. Stuart agreed that I could pick this baby's name, however, Laura, Nadine, Nora and Eden have all been dismissed. We could have a "Baby Girl Watt" on our hands after all.

Oh well, she could always be Watermelon Head.

Waterpark

One of the many incentives that Stuart received as part of his job was summer passes to the West Edmonton Mall. This allows us to visit almost everything in the mall without having to pay for it (which is good when you consider a one year old's attention span) including the waterpark.

Before I moved out to Edmonton, Stu would call me evreyday and in every conversation tell me just how wonderful this waterpark is. So great was his excitment that on my first full day in the city, he took the day off work and brought Grace and I to the park. Unfortunately, his daughter immediately after walking in became deathly afraid of water.

Despite the threat of ever lasting trauma, we kept bringing her every Friday and by her second visit she was happy to sit in the giant bathtub known as the kiddie pool.

Last week however was different.

Last Friday Grace went into the wave pool for the first time ever. After cautiously sitting in two inches of water for a while she decided to start exploring. Further and further we ventured into the pool until eventually we had to hold her. She did not like this. She wanted to walk. We backed her up, she walked into way above her head and we repeated this several times.

This week because of the water parks extended hours and because it's very hot and I'm pregnant we have been to the waterpark three times. Each time my child gets her clothes off and runs straight for the water. She has no problem putting her face in, running away by herself and having splashing fights with Daddy.

However, because I am a life guard I know how easy and preventable drowning is especially with small children. As happy as I am that Grace loves the water I do wish that she had some fear of it or at leastof sticking her face in it.

After several family meetings it was decided that come September Grace will start swimming lessons.

Canada Day

Well it`s a little late but at least I got it up. At the end of June, Stuart`s parents came West to visit us all for a week. It was a lovely visit and on Canada Day we decided to take the kiddies to the zoo.

The Edmonton Zoo was the perfect size for a couple of toddlers, lots of animals but not so big that they missed their naptimes. They also had a child`s petting zoo. This is when we discovered that our daughter may love to look at animals but she`s deathly afraid of them if they come within a foot of her.

Riding in the tank. I accidently cut the line to get her in there.

I just love how short she is compared to him.

Kukabaras


She liked the look of the owl but she wasn`t going to touch it.

Waiting with the kiddies.

Grace and Grandad

After the festivities were over, Stuart`s parents babysat so we could go see the fireworks. I absolutely love fireworks and haven`t gotten to see any in years. They obviously have a larger budget for these things in a provincal capital then they do in say Brantford.

Saturday Night

Saturday night after Stu came home from work we decided to go on a date. Since it was Saturday night and we're in a strange province, getting a babysitter was not an option. So we took Grace with us to the West Edmonton Mall.

Stu and I haven't been bowling since our first date and well, Grace has never even been to a bowling alley. Needless to say she was impressed. She had never experienced black lights before and couldn't figure out why her shirt and Daddy`s socks were glowing. Then there were the lights that just kept spinning around the floor; she was in heaven.

They gave her a little ramp to push her ball down.

Needless to say by the end of the game my bowling skills had been show cased. Stu won with 113, Grace got 68 and I came in last with 61. Yes, I was beaten by a one year old.

After bowling we thought we would introduce Grace to mini-putt. My mini putt skills are slightly better than my bowling skills so I figured I could at least beat my daughter. However, Grace felt that the greatest part of golfing was running after the balls and helping us by putting them in the hole. This worked well until she decided to help some other families that were golfing as well.

Things that Make Me Smile

Grace has recently learned that she can say 'no' to me or to Stuart. She can also try to do whatever she wants and depending on what she wants to do or which parent she is with she may just get away with it. I realize this is a normal part of a child's developement and I did it to my parents too but I find it very exhausting. At times though, I find that what she says make me realize just how happy I am that I get to be her mom.

Today after her diaper change she refused to put her pants back on. (Grace hates clothes in general but especially pants.) However, I had plans to go buy her new shoes. The following conversation occured:

"It's time to put you're pants back on."

"No"

"Do you want to spend all day inside?"

"No"

"Well then you have to put your pants back on."

"No"

"You know you can't say no to everything in life."

"I do"

"You shouldn't though."

Much louder. "I DOOO"

Mom eventually won the battle of wills and Grace got her new rainbow, platform, jelly shoes. I love hearing her little thoughts.