Ultimate Blog Party 2009!!!

The Ultimate Blog Party has started!!!

I discovered the party while surfing other sites and it looks amazing this year with lots people and lots of prizes. I love reading about everyone's adventures and experiences!

Check out the party for yourself you can click the link on the left, it's hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom.

For those of you who are visiting, you'll see right away that I am the proud mama of 7 month old Brea. This blog is mostly a chronicling of the things I love and learn about her every day. I am so enjoying my time at home with her. Before I went on mat leave, I was a teacher-librarian at a middle school where I worked with wonderful kids aged 11-14. Needless to say, I love to read and am fostering that in my daughter.

Please enjoy your browse, I recommend checking out the video in the "Flying Rat Creature" entry, it's a guaranteed smile :o)

(For the hostesses: I would love to win USC 10 - Mabel's Labels, 26 - Hatley, 35 - Hotslings, 66, 16, 11, 46 or any gift certificates for Amazon or for baby gear. Thanks!)

Some updates and the "Flying Rat Creature"

Here's some recent pictures of Brea. She will be 7 months on Monday! I can't believe how fast the time has flown by. She is a super sitter now and much prefers to be sitting or standing (in her exersaucer) to play.


We have been progressing with solids and she is getting food twice a day now, breakfast and dinner. She does not seem overly impressed by solids and prefers Mommy's milk but we are happy that she is trying all the different flavours without a fuss.

So far, we have tried: rice, oatmeal, sweet potato, carrots, apple, pear, chicken, peas, green bean, avocado and banana. The ones in red are the clear hits :o)


Brea loves bathtime and eating her duckies. She would probably splash forever if we let her.


Grauntie Gloria came to visit today and we discovered the FLYING RAT CREATURE! It's pretty funny... I don't know if Brea was laughing more at the rat or at Grauntie G :o)

Tutu cute!

We have been LOVING Spring Break! It has been such a treat to have Daddy with us all day long, especially since basketball season took a lot of his time. Brea has been enjoying all the attention and the longer outings (it's much easier to go places with an extra set of hands).

I haven't been blogging this past week since we have been busy but I wanted to pop on to load up some pictures of Cheerleader Brea at the Agrodome. A friend of mine, who is a super costume maker, sent me instructions for making a tutu and it is SUPER easy! I whipped one up in about 40 minutes, with just enough time to make it to the game on Friday.

If I'd had time I would be wearing a matching one :o)

All decked out in school colours!

It was a great game and the boys played really well, unfortunately, they couldn't hold on and lost out in the end. Brea tried her hardest though and even made it onto the floor at halftime to give Daddy a hug.

Basketball and Showers

Watching the game with Daddy at the Agrodome

We made it out bright and early yesterday morning to the boys' 8:30am game. It was so exciting to see Craig on the big basketball floor in the Agrodome. Brea was such a great fan and watched three quarters before taking a nap. I was impressed by her ability to ignore the drum, horns and screaming teens. The boys won and are playing their next game tonight (actually, they should be well underway as I type this). Unfortunately, today's game is past Brea's bedtime but we'll definitely be there tomorrow!

In the afternoon, we made it out to my school for a baby shower! The staff held a wonderful party for the seven babies born last year. It was so nice to see everyone and the scrumptious food was a great treat. We all received super cute embroidered towels for the babes, it has a ducky on it and the words "Splish Splash Brea's taking a bath". We love it!

The babies!

Brea's wondering when the photo shoot will be over...

Max is super comfy to lie on while she waited :o)

Brea's Island Adventure

Last Tuesday we had the treat of spending the WHOLE day with Daddy! Craig got a gig to drive the school bus to Nanaimo to help the school's Girls Basketball Team get to their game to qualify for the Provincials. And not to keep you guessing, they WON their game and will be representing their school. They were so excited! The last time the girls qualified was in 1993. Needless to say, Brea had a super exciting day with lots of people, noise and activity to keep her busy.

We started the day nice and early for Daddy to get to school and prep the bus. Unfortunately, an unforseen event caused us to have to change buses at the last minute which in turn lead to the bus breaking down when we got off the ferry in Nanaimo. It turned out to be an easy fix, we'd run out of propane, so we got a tow to the gas station to refill and were off without another hitch. Thank goodness, we left early so there was a lot of time to spare. I hope this is the last of the bus problems for Craig, it seems like everytime he takes the buses out, they break down. This is his third time - they say things come in threes.

Brea enjoying a ride on the bus.

It was a little drizzly on the ferry ride there so we only had a chance to pop out onto the deck for a short while. Brea threw her coin into the ocean since this was her first trip on water (a tradition my family has always had to guarantee safe passage) and we spent the majority of the voyage walking around in the hopes that she would take a nap - she had a short snooze.

Walking on the ferry with Daddy.

On the Island, we met up with Auntie Margot, Uncle Jaime and cousin Maria. They were able to drive up from Ladysmith to meet us! We had a wonderul Lupper (since it was past lunch and before dinner) and caught up on family news.

With Auntie Margot, Uncle Jaime and Cousin Maria

We even made it back in time to see the last quarter of the Girls' game. Yay! The trip home was nice, Brea was still wired on the ferry and was very interested in watching all the big girls but as soon as the bus pulled off, she was asleep - our baby was pooped.

It was so nice to be able to have a visit with family on the Island, it's been difficult to make it over there now with baby but we are hoping Spring Break will allow us some time for a longer visit.

Family Fun

More family fun! Last week brought a chance for Brea to meet more family. Craig's Aunt Linda, cousin Michelle and her boys - Logan and Campbell were here for a visit. We went over to Grauntie Gloria and Gruncle Jim's for dinner to see them all.

Here's some highlights:

The boys in their train.

Michelle, Linda and Jeff having a good conversation.

Michelle

Brea meeting Alisen

Brea with Gruncle Jim

All together at the dinner table!