Better late than never? Here goes...

Christmas Yoda:

"Laundry doing I am"

We all went out for a walk at Grandma and Grandpa B's on Christmas Day. It was pretty cold out so it was a pretty short walk! I was worried about Maddie but it turns out she was the warmest of us all, of course.

Looking through "her" stocking. This one is a loaner from Uncle Britt b/c in my infinite wisdom (or eternal optimism?) I packed the stocking that Grandma Pollock made special for Maddie. Better luck next year.

The highway near Flin Flon - so much hoar frost and snow.

This high chair was mine, my mom's, and my grandma's. It used to have a tray but that part has long since removed as Mom used to use it as a plant stand. Pretty cool, eh?

Baby in a Box
Order yours today!

Does this really need any explanation? It's called "10 minutes of peace for a mother"

To all our Calgary Friends! We miss you crazy and I wish I had a picture of each of you to put in here. Thanks for being such fabulous people.

Erika and Kole, Maddie and me. Bo and Erika fed us a couple of times when we were in town last - thanks so much guys, we sure appreciated it! I will definitely miss our coffee dates.

Maddie loved looking out this window and watching all the big kids go to school.

When we went to Calgary last time it was just Maddie and me (well, and Ryan, our Cellar Dweller) - but no Beagles. With no beagles in the house Maddie was able to have her blankie out all the time and she loved it!

The Birthday Girl!

We had dress rehearsal on tuesday night (her actual birthday). I made cupcakes for our little commune (aka us and my sister wife's family).

This is the result:

A little "then and now" for you. Does this look like the face of a child that would scream bloody murder when you attempt to change her diaper? Ahhh, I didn't know how good I had it a year ago...

I swear, this girl just gets sweeter and sweeter! Currently she is:
- walking a lot more
- added "banana" and "night night" to her repertoire
- and gearing up for her Daycare Debut on Friday

My mom made me a cake like this when I was in nursery school ('member how they used to call it nursery school? Ahhh). It seemed only fitting that Maddie should have a Lucky Elephant cake too.

We have LOTS of video of the eating, but not many pictures. I think Auntie Lisa has some good ones so maybe I'll steal them from her blog.

So...

As of today Maddie:
- takes up to 12 steps on her own. She can go from sitting to standing to walking now all by herself. She's still a bit wobbly of course, but pleased as punch none the less.
- signs: more, milk, and eat. She's working on cracker, water, and Daddy (guess who's teaching that one)
- has started drinking whole milk. Not a big fan yet, but we'll keep offering.
- is getting much better at drinking from a straw. Still not so great with a cup, but we're also partly to blame for this b/c it's so darn messy!
- has started to show an interest in feeding herself with a spoon - again messy but she's getting better with practice (go figure).

Where are the pictures? As Jason will be happy to tell you: I am a computer virus. What this means is that Jason's computer no longer works as well as it did before I moved to Saskatoon. As a result, I can't put pictures on for a little while until he gets "the other operating system" working (whatever that means). So be patient and just review old posts if you need a little Maddie Fix.

And hey to all you Calgarians - Maddie and I will be in town on Wednesday for a week to pack and visit (no, haven't sold the house - just being hopeful). If you want to get together, or better yet, if you'd like to babysit Maddie - just give me a shout on my cell or on facebook. But I won't have internet once I'm in Calgary.

TTYL
-J