So-Cal Visit

Here are some pictures of our recent visit to So-Cal. We drove down the 101 to visit Liliana's grandmother and great-grandmother who live in North San Diego County. We stoped in San Luis Obiso on the way down, which is a very cute college town, it just has a nice vibe with friendly people everywhere. We rented a room a hotel that had a pool, and boy did Lilibug go crazy for swimming. It was surprizing since I was not sure she remember swimming from last fall, but she was so excited to be in a pool again. This summer is going to be tremendous fun having her visit pool in the area, and possibly swim lessons too!

Uncle Presley's Visit

Unlce Presley drove for the first time down from Vancouver, BC to the SF Bay area for the first time to meet our little Lilibug. It was a fun visit with a trip to the Academy of Science, a visit to the Golden Gate Bridge, and lots of fun at home.

Visits from Friends & Family

In the last month there have been several visits for the bug family, Dan - Daddy's friend from Utah came to the bay area for a visit, and spent five days in the bug home. Uncle Presley then traveled from Vancouver to the bay area to met and visit with Lilibug for the first time! After our visitors left we got ready and drove to So-Cal to visit with Lilibug's grandma Mimi and great-grandma Nana. We were gone for a whole week, arriving home in the middle week to prepare for Daddy's birthday, which is today!!! Busy month indeed!

Reflections

Time to Reflect

Well, it's almost my birthday (tomorrow is actually my birthday) and I'm taking inventory of my life. I'll be 38 and counting. I have wondered is this where I want to be in my life? Am I happy or chasing some remnant of happiness of my past? Am I filled with same ideals of my past or have I changed my beliefs over time as the years go by? Rather am I constant or has my Essence changed with each passing day? Have I day-dreamed my life away, or have I learn to ground myself more in reality? I'm a Pisces after all, a day dreamer, who wishes to be more of a realist, a lover, a mother, a mind explorer, perhaps, there is even an artist that is burried deep within myself who wants to emerge a little at a time. The question then remains 'Who am I?'

Have I actually set out in this beautiful life and accomplished certain goals? Hmmmmm.......what brings this line of thinking??? Turning 38 is really not that big of a deal, right? Exactly, except that my partner (daddy bug) is turning 40 this year, and it's my 20 yr High School Reunion is in July, so of course, I'm taking inventory of my life! That AND I'm a Mom!! Having Liliana (our little bug) I really let myself dream bigger, think bigger, and I actual think more about the future, my future, her dad's future, and most of all her future. Funny how that works when you have a child, gone are the days of throwing caution to the wind, thinking of only yourself, and planning only for the now. These days I put Liliana first, her needs first, and thoughts of security constantly flow into my head. So here I'm taking inventory, but still wanting to be a lover, a dreamer who has tried to ground myself in reality, an idealist (to some extent), a mind explorer, and perhaps even an artist.

There are not a lot of answers I provide to the above mentioned questions, as there are more questions for my soul to feed on, to develop as I continue to grow as this person. What I can answer and take inventory of, is that I do feel fulfilled by having our lovely daughter enter into our life. She is a beautiful being who brings us much joy and happiness, so yes I have accomplished much in life, more then I ever hoped to!! Now to develop myself, my career, and my art- life, which I have the rest of my life to do and be, all in all life is so worth living, gratitude straight from the heart baby!

My spiritual questing and mind exploration has also been transformed by the appearance of the Lilibug. She has opened my eyes and guided my soul on a new path that has set me free of past meanderings. My Tarot Card is the 'Lover's Card', and my previous quest in this life has been to find the Other that completes me. Well, now being in relation with my life partner, and with the introduction of our little Lilibug I'm now more complete and full of love then I have ever experienced in any lifetime. My previous searches are over, now begins the search for myself to focus on a new and different part of my identity. It is an exciting time to be alive! I'm loved and I give love, this love is received and regenerated back outward. Inward - Outward, Up - Down, the cycle of life continues within me and through my loved ones. Here lie my introspection and insights, my reflections and thoughts of a life lived, past, present, and future. Thank-you Great Mystery, and my two great loves - Lilibug and Chretien!

Hooray!

Liliana is on the mend! Pink eye is decreasing and she has a playdate planned for tomorrow morning at Studio Grow with her little buddies, Miles and Marco. I'm so happy she is feeling better, finally!! It's so hard when she is feeling under the weather, I feel so helpless when she is sick. I try to make her as comfortable as possible, but I feel so helpless when I hear her cries. I'm always so relieved when she starts to feel better.

Thank goodness for sunshine and playdates, I feel as if we have been cooped up inside the outside for far to long. Studio Grow will be lots of fun.

I can also show off my new haircut. I had 4-5 inches cut off my hair this week. It was kind of shock but my head feels so light and more comfortable now.

Pink Eye Sucks!!

Yes, it does...Liliana has pink eye (conjuctivitis) in both of her eyes, and we have been 'attempting' to put drops in her eyes for the last two and half days without much change. It sucks! Poor thing, yellow dried crusties are formed on the outside of her eyes and she definitely is not in a good mood, coupled with a cold (runny nose and a cough). This is not a recipe for fun! I want her go to her school tomorrow, but she may be cooped up inside our house for yet another day (it has been raining for the last 12 days straight). Boo for pink eye! Fingers cross she can go to school, and that the sun will shine tomorrow.

After Christmas Birthday Party Pictures

On the weekend we hosted Liliana's After Christmas Birthday Party, since her birthday is December 25 we decided to have her toddler friends party celebration almost a month after her birthday. We rented the 'Birthday Loft' room at the Children's Discovery Bay Museum in Saulisito, CA. We had a fun time with cake and drinks, and then the tots had the run of the museum with outdoor play structure, train tables, art workshops, and tots structures that were nature based (it truly is a fun place full of tot adventures waiting to happen). Liliana really enjoyed her party, so much excitement that she missed her afternoon nap, but she expressed how happy she was especially when she opened her gifts and found a new baby doll with a car seat! Since Saturday she has not let go of the baby and has sang Happy Birthday to herself many-many times. It was her first real party with her friends! It was so sweet to see all the little kiddos sitting at the table enjoying cake and watching all the adults gather with their little ones seeing proud looks on all their faces! What fun!!

Mendo Madness!

Well, we are back from our little getaway vacation to Mendocino. It was a beautiful trip with spectular views and relaxing vibes. The ocean was breathtaking, the forest lovely, and our little bug had a fun filled time of hiking, playing on the beach, and eating delicious gourmet food. We stayed in a old water tower that was renovated into a quaint little lodging cottage. It was cute, and we had a refreshing time getting away from the busy bay area.

Love Love Love

Today Daddy was day care, he and Lilibug came to meet me after work and we walked home together. Once we got home I lifted Lilibug up to give her hug and Lilibug wrapped her arms around my neck and said to me "Mommy I love you." She melted my heart in that very moment, what a little sweetheart!!! She also told me she missed me today when I called home. I love her so much!! Of course, I also told her I missed her first and then asked if she missed me. Her response was 'miss mommy'.

I went back to work four weeks ago, this time around it's a part-time job, twenty hours a week. It not so bad, I get to focus on my career and get out of the house for 20 hours a week, and I then I with my precious little buggie bug. This week we had no child care, so Daddy was looking after our little being. They had such a fun time together giong for pizza for lunch, taking long naps, and going on field trips, such as Habitot Children's Museum. Daddy really enjoyed his prescious time with his little girlie bug. I'm not sure who had more fun? I would come home and both of my darlings had face paint on their faces, art supplies strewn around the house, with Lilibug dressed in a unique combination of clothes (sometimes over her pj's). I'm so happy that Daddy and Lilibug had their special together.

Happy Birthday Bug!

I can't believe Christmas has come and gone, along with Lilibug's 2nd birthday! It is amazing that our little bug is growing and developing so quickly!!! This year she sang 'Happy Birthday' to herself (over and over again), she licked all the icing off her cupcake, and she opened her presents up with a running dialogue stating what every present contained! She was so excited and happy, and so much fun to watch. Christmas is really about the children, and double whammie for her since her birthday is on Christmas. Of course, her favorite present was a toybox that held her attention for over an hour on her special day. She would crawl inside the box wanting the lid on and hid inside of it. She would giggle and laugh while inside the toy box. She is such a cutie! Her other favorite is the rocking moose, which is just a hoot, being that I'm Canadian and a moose is one of the symbols of Canada. She loves the moose and it totally rocks across the floor as she rides it. I really enjoyed the holidays this year, thanks to the bug her excitment.

Yikes what a day & night!

Oh good lord what a day!!! Lilibug has a urinary tract infection, last night consisted of no sleep and today during the doctor's visit she had to have a catheter inserted into her urethra while I was holding her down!!! Not fun at all, our poor little bug! It was such a yucky experience, at least she now is fast asleep and hopefully we all get some more shut eye tonight then last night (approximately 2 hours). I will be so relieved when she starts to feel better and stops saying her pee pee hurts. This is my first experience with not being able to soothe her in a short period of time, it was so hard because she just does not understand with an explanation and mommy just can't take away the pain immediately.

End of the year already!!!

We're back!!! can't believe it's been almost one year since our last blog entry! A lot has happened over the last ten months, a trip to MB to see my family, a trip to Portland, and a trip down to San Diego to see Grandma Mimi & Nana. We also had a visit from Opa from Germany for three months, and I went back to work twice!!! My job did not work out in the summer, and the other job/internship just started three weeks ago (I'm going to totally enjoy it and it's only 20 hours a week which means lots of quality time with the little bug). As for Lilibug she is totally amazing growing and developing into a little independent. She runs around now, talks sentences, gives delicious hugs and kisses, and says 'I love you'. She is quite the artist, and loves visiting Habitot Children's Musuem with her best bud Marco!!! We have started checking out preschools for next fall, and I feel sad she is growing up so fast!!!

We're Back!

We're back home after a beautiful vacation in Hawaii. The vacation was a getaway and a celebration of Mama Bug's birthday, and sort of honeymoon for myself, Mama Bug and Daddy Bug, of course, the vacation ended up being amazing for the Lilibug, she loved every moment. She almost seemed to develop in front of very eyes becoming awestruck with her surroundings. Every morning Daddy Bug took Lilibug for a morning walk, where she gazed at the Lily Pad Pond, they walked around the property looking at plants, admiring flowers, shuffling through rocks and gravel, and heading down to the ocean for sorting through seashells.



Lilibug swam in the ocean for the first time, in fact, she also went swimming for the first time. At first, Lilibug appeared a little frightened of the water. We were staying at Anini Beach on the north shore where the water is a little rougher during the winter months, and colder. We all went swimming the first day after our arrival, and the Lilibug seemed a little shocked by the experience. The next swimming experience was at Tunnel Beach, also on the north shore, again Lilibug seemed outright frightened by the water, but the next swimming experience was much different because we hit the toddler beach on the south shore of the island in Poi'pu where waters are much calmer and warmer.

Aloha from Hawaii!

Hello from Hawaii!

Yup, the bug family is in Kauai, HI, our first family fun vacation together. What fun!!! At the moment, we are listening to rain pouring down on the roof of our cottage, it sounds magical. We are staying at a little cottage on the north side of the island in Anini Beach, a very quiet and secluded spot. The cottage is called the "Lily Pad", it has a little pond with carp and tons of frogs, it's quite the frog orchestra at night. The little bug has been tot he beach every day, and today when we were at Poi'pu, on the south side of the island, she played in the water and even floated a little, a natural swimmer! She has managed to not get sunburned I, however, am red as a beet!!! The vacation is pure magic with both of us, Mama Bug and Daddy Bug, slowing down to the island pace. Each day we are drinking in the beauty, relaxing our old bodies, and having a relaxed and chilled time. Liliana is having so much fun, every morning after breakfast her and Daddy Bug explore the property and walk to the beach to look at sea shells. She seems to love it here.

The one thing that is a bummer is that we forget our battery charger, and when we went to buy a new charger no battery charger could be found the island for our brand of camera. We actually went out and bought a new cheaper digital camera, but alas, sadly the new camera did not even turn on, it seems to have a some sort of malfunction (according to internet reviews of this type of camera). We also bought a disposable camera, which fell into the ocean! The universe is conspiring to keep us from taking pictures. Oh well, best pictures are taken with the mind and are always available in our memories.

Update - we bought a new digital camera and took some pictures of our dream getaway. It was a beautiful and dreamy trip that Lilibug loved!

Waiting for our Visitor from Winterpeg

I'm patiently for our visitor to arrive. Tomorrow morning Gwendolyn will arrive from Winterpeg. She is my childhood best friend. I'm so excited, she has never met Chretien nor visited our home. Lilibug is in for a treat, Aunite Gwen will arrive with her wacky sense of humor and there is sure to be lots of laughter in our house during her visits. Gwen is such a unique soul who is a dear friend. Her friendship means a lot to me, and whenever I see her it's as if no time has lapsed at all, we just pick up where we left off.....singing and cooing to each other. I love her, and can't wait for her to visit my family her in the bay area.

Witness her first steps!

Guess who's walking!!

That's right, it's official Lilibug is walking on her own! It's bittersweet, she is growing into a little girl right before our eyes. I was wondering when it would happened and here is the day, our walking tot! She looks absolulety adorable!!

The Lilibug took her first two steps in front of everyone on January 3, 2009 at her birthday party. Almost a week later she took seven steps two times in a row at her friend Marco's home. This last week she took several steps three days in a row at Tot Land where she had been intently watching many other toddlers walk around on their own, and she had been using many toy walkers to help her steady her balance. Today with the help of her Auntie Amanda Lilibug and Uncle Chris she spent the afternoon walking about the house, then suddenlyl she got the hang of it on her own and walked the rest of the afternoon on her own. We were all amazed, and when Daddy Bug got home we dialed up his Nana where Opa and they watched online through video conference. Lilibug showed off her fancy new moves as we all gathered around the computer. Lilibug was completely puzzled by the video conference, she kept picking around the computer trying to see Opa and Nana on the other side. How nice that they got to see her walking for the first time all on her own.

Picture Updates