Holidays!

We've been trying to keep up with holiday fun, so Minnow doesn't miss out in the midst of new-baby land (It has been fun for us, too :D)

Decorating the tree

Just horsing around

Riding the bus to the Santa Claus parade!

 And dancing with Papa

Static hair

Our friend Hayley works at the Montreal Gazette, so we got a warm spot in her posh office instead of having to sit out in the freezing cold to watch the parade...nice! :D

At first the kids were more interested in the lounge than the parade :p

 But they warmed up. Minnow was sharing food with her friend, Lewis

We went to play in the park after the parade, but all 3 of us were too wimpy for the cold. It's gonna be a long winter, since this isn't even half as cold as it's going to get :p

Found a few more pictures :)

Here are some pictures (just from a cell-phone, sorry for the quality) of Minnow as the Lorax for Halloween. There was more to the costume (a tree stump she was supposed to be popping out of), but I could barely get her to wear even this part for more than 2 minutes, so this is the best I could do :p I specifically chose to make a Lorax costume because she loves the book and cartoon so much, but I've learned to never expect Minnow to be excited about any article of clothing :p

We did go to a haunted house and trick-or-treating, but we didn't last for more than 4 or 5 houses--it was a cold, rainy night (sounds like the beginning of a spooky story!), and I was carrying Minnow while 8 months pregnant--Ian was working late so he couldn't come, and all the houses were up a flight of steps, so the stroller didn't work. Minnow didn't mind too much when I pooped out; she just insisted on eating the few pieces of candy we managed to get.

She was a big fan of the haunted house, but I was freaked out the whole time...mostly anxious worrying that Minnow was doing okay, and worrying that my stroller would run over one of the actors jumping out when the lights would go out. :p But Minnow was super into it, and she talked about the "spooky house with all the monsters" for awhile afterwards. She was also enchanted by her little friend Lewis, who went with us, as he was dressed as a dragon,  which is apparently wildly exciting :)  All this took place in a hoity toity neighborhood that's near us, and some of the houses really went all out for the occasion--this one family had even rented (or bought?!) a fire engine just for Halloween, and they were blaring the siren and had creepy guys with hockey masks and chainsaws jumping out of it (I'm sure that's a popular movie reference that I'm missing). Again, I was terrified that Minnow would be too scared, but she seemed rather pleased with everything that was going on. Maybe next year she'll remember how much fun she had, and be more open to wearing a costume :)

And this is just Meridian being a cute elf-baby

In this picture she was writing Christmas cards, she informed me:

And these last few are just some I finally grabbed off the phone from a trip to the mountain this summer: 

 Someone had set up a fairy ring on the mountain, complete with papier mache mushrooms :)

Minnow was intrigued...

Pictures of last month as an only child!

Proud of her "Huuuuuge house" of Legos

Helping clean the living room 

In mittens, of course

 She decorated her own pumpkin, and we refrigerated it to preserve it a little. She got really concerned about her pumpkin getting cold, so she decided to put a shirt on it. :3

It's............A......................

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Baby!


Here's the Sib! The Dr.'s report says "Genital organs normal..." So, we know it has a sex, we just don't know which one it is :p

Minnow wasn't too keen on the whole ultrasound idea. I asked her if she wanted to go see videos of the baby on a big computer screen, and she acted horrified that that was a possibility. Maybe she's a Luddite? ;) She also reprimands us when we ask her if she has any thoughts on whether it's a brother or sister: "No. It's just a baby."  She has given us a few name suggestions, though: Bovvy, Yardo, and Toe.

But, she warmed up once we were in the office, and she kept trying to put pillows under my feet, "So you'll be nice and cozy." She also enjoyed when we pointed out the baby's butt to her. :p
Afterward, we got her some French Fries and took her swimming at a really cool "aquadome" pool. My favorite part of the day was on the way home, when she said to me, "Mama, you were SO, SO brave at the doctor. I love you so much."  <33333 (That's what we told her when she got her molluscum bumps removed at the doctor's office).

Here's a couple side-views, and one head-on alien face :)

Our summer has been great and full so far! We've gone to a county fair, the mountain quite a few times, to numerous pools, to a kids' fest, a medieval fest, strawberry picking, and lots and lots of parks. We're headed to TX in a couple weeks. We better cram a lot more in before we have to hibernate in our apartment with the kids(!) this winter. It's already fall here...

Here's a glimpse of our summer adventures thus far: