Can somebody please turn up the heat?

BRRR! It's way too cold out.

I like winter, but winter at -10 is just fine. -15 is pushing it and -20 and beyond is grounds for crawling into bed with a good book and not getting out until it warms up.

Mom took me shopping on Thursday, and as an early Christmas present, she bought me a new down coat. My old winter coat was about 2 sizes too big. This one is down, super warm, and is an awesome copper color. And it fits! I tried it out on Friday, and it kept me toasty, even in a car with frosty windows. Miss Lily has a great little down snowsuit so she was warm too.

Little miss fussypants gave grandma and grandpa a bit of trouble on Friday. (I hit mom up for some babysitting while I went to my hair appointment and ran some errands.) She has had no issues with taking a bottle of milk from my mom in the past, but she was having none of that on Friday. She would not take a drop from my mom, or my dad. She cried and fussed and howled and pouted and then went to sleep, and waited patiently for me to come back. I guess Mommy is best, but she's going to have to learn to take a bottle, so Bryan and I can go on dates, and so Bryan can feed her every once in a while. Hopefully this is a short term snit...

Today I was in a cooking mood - I made Bryan waffles (the real thing, no Eggos here!) and bacon for brunch, and then made calzone for dinner. Yummy!

I have some Ben and Jerry's in the freezer, calling my name. It seems wrong to eat ice cream when it's so cold...but I don't care. Cookie dough, here I come.

Three months ago our little girl joined us.

I can't believe how fast the time goes by. People tell you to savor every moment with your newborn because in a blink, they are all grown up. It's so true.

Three months ago she couldn't do very much at all. Now she can hold her head up, stand on her daddy's lap, sit propped up in a chair, and play with her little toys. She can roll over from her side to her back, she can push herself up if she's on her belly, and tries to grab anything within reach so she can put it in her mouth. She can smile and coo, and if you are really lucky, she'll giggle for you.

She is fascinated by so many things in the world that is unfolding around her. She scratches her fingernails on the plastic of her Excersaucer, rakes her fingers through the soft grey fur on Leo's back and clutches my hair in her hand as I carry her through the house. She stretches her little legs as far as they can go, and then stretches some more. She pushes herself up on her belly until she is too tired to hold up her little head, and yet, she still tries to look around. She grins when you tickle her belly and blow raspberries on it, and gurgles of laughter have been known to bubble up if you make silly noises while dressing her. She crinkles the petals on her toy frog as she tries to put it in her mouth, and fiddles with the soft edge of her blanket as she rocks in her swing. She jumps back, and then grins when her daddy's raspy beard brushes her cheeks.

You don't really appreciate how much your senses help you interact with your world until you watch someone experience it for the first time.

The world seen through the eyes of a child is a wonderful thing.

Rembrandt, Rubens, Remington, Russell and Ritcey.

One of these things is not like the other.... (can you tell I've been watching Sesame Street?)

Today mom and I took Lily to the Art Gallery of Alberta to see a Baroque Masterworks exhibit from the National Gallery. There was also a small exhibit of cowboy art by Remington and Russell. This was timed for the rodeo, I'm sure.

Lily had two opinions of the art. One involved a trip to the restroom to change her diaper, and the other involved her blankie and some shut-eye.

Fortunately Mom and I found all the exhibits interesting. Well, not the stuff on the 2nd floor, but we didn't stay up there long enough to do anything other than look at each other and decide it was time for coffee right there and then. I enjoy a lot of modern art, but it has to have a point, and neither of us saw the point in looking at any of it today.

The coffee was almost as interesting as the art gallery. We went to the Second Cup at the Library, where we witnessed a very drunk individual fall off his chair. I'm not sure he ordered his coffee off the menu...

They were playing a lot of country music at the Second Cup, which fit in really well with the 4 or 5 gigantic John Deere tractors perched in the middle of Churchill Square. I whispered to Lily, that country music gives us a rash, so we don't listen to it. When she's older I'll have her grandpa explain why Ian Tyson and Corb Lund don't count.

Hello again. It has been pointed out by my good friend Marny...that I, Bryan, don't post as often as my...well let's face it, post-happy...and beautiful wife. So I am here to rectify that oversight, and rectify it I shall.

Lets see, new in my life, oh new job, I am back doing plumbing again, building up those apprenticeship hours. New chair cushion, thanks to my lovely wife. New short hair, well as short as it is, the hair that is there is of course new. New desire to eat chocolate, ok let's not lie, that's the same desire I have always had.

But anyway, hmm what to say next, oh yes, this last weekend, Carrie and I decided that only parent sanctioned baby toys would be accepted on the upcoming first Christmas of our darling Lily.

What is a parent sanctioned baby toy, you might ponder? Well it's one...(unlike that coffee pot toy that Carrie posted) that is approved by both of us. It has to meet the following criteria...

a)Not have a repetitive noise that will make us gouge out the eyes of the person that gave it to us...
b)Not have a repetitive noise that will make us gouge out the eyes of the person that gave it to us...
I know that's the same reason as the first one; but really, it's so big that I thought it deserved a second mention.
c)Something that is tactile and Lily will enjoy
d)Not something that has its own program on television...With the exception of the Children's Television Workshop, I mean seriously who could resist a stuffed cookie monster toy?! Really who?

I did have more reasons, but I am a bit tired after working all day. I believe I'll post a bit more, very soon, or at least so I have one post on the board..Well visible post that is. More from me later!

Before the trip to Walmart...



















And after the trip to Walmart.

I should wear a hat next time...

Would it be wrong to put this on Lily's Christmas list?

TRICK OR TREAT!

Halloween is so much fun when you are a kid, except when the weather is crappy and you can't fit your costume over a snowsuit so you have to wear it under the snowsuit and then no one can tell what you are dressed as...

That was the case for the poor cold kids that were out tonight! BRRR!

We spent the evening at my mom and dad's, partly because I needed out of the house, but mostly to show off Lily's costume...

I had way too much fun making this costume! I finished the last parts yesterday, but when I went to get Lily to model it, she was grumpy, so...

She had her stunt double stand in...

Today she was less grumpy, and let us put the costume on, but every time we got her to smile, she stopped smiling in time for the camera. This is what she looked like as a 'kiss'




















And this was what she wore the rest of the day - it has a spider web and a button spider on it...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!