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.