Ellyanna's First Christmas

1. Checking out her first Christmas present ever

2. Silas loving the lego we gave him, or maybe just loving the box it came in

3. Relaxing after all the gift opening

4. Hanging out with Grace in their Christmas dresses! I love this picture it is too cute!

The focus

At just three months old our little girl has amazing focus, here she is watching TV, I can't remember what it was but it had her completely captivated. So much so that it was hard to draw her attention away from it! I love the picture where is standing, it must have got really intense at that point, and the picture with her soother in her hand, it's like she just pulled it out to comment on what was going on!

Bitter Sweetness

So another year has come and gone and this past year we were lucky enough to meet Kevin and Sarah, or as we often refer to them, the Aussies. They were here for the year on exchange with Sue, a former co-worker from Glendale. Nate and Kevin taught side by side for the first half of '09 before his transfer, and became great friends.

We spent many evenings with them, swapping stories and enjoying the odd beverage (except for Jamie of course, as she literally found out she was pregnant the day they arrived)! Sarah and Kevin are just good people we would love to pop over and visit, perhaps we'll have to apply for an Australian exchange soon.

This is Sue, she has just returned from Australia, and is meeting Ellyanna for the first time. The last time Jamie saw her was just before Christmas last year when Sue informed her that she had a feeling Jamie was pregnant. Obviously she was right! We are delighted to have her back of course but sad that it meant Sarah and Kevin would be on their way.

Ellyanna"s latest photo shoot

So I took Ellyanna for some professional pictures at Superstore last week and it was so funny! Here are a few before and after shots. She was prefectly happy when we got there.

As the shoot went on, she become more and more unhappy, making it difficult to get those classically cute baby photos. However we did get some pretty funny ones! Apparently she would rather just smile for her Dad!

And the sweet little angel shot! She is too funny! This was the last shot of the day. She cried for a few minutes after this, making me think she may be hungry. I asked one of the girls who works there ( a former student of mine) to warm some water in the staff microwave so I could make her a bottle. However by the time she got back Elly was as happy as could be checking out her photos with me, no bottle needed!

Ellyanna loves her play matt, she has been spending up to 45 minutes kicking and batting at the toys. There is also a mirror which she has recently discovered. She stares at herself in it and has many deep conversations in with it. I'll try to upload the video soon.

She also loves her jumperoo, she isn't a pro at yet as she is still a bit small for it, but she enjoys herself anyway.

First encounter with a boy!

This is Brady Maaskant (Alanna's nephew). Here is the story to go with the comical strip!

1. "Well hello there cutie," says Brady.

2. "Are people watching us?" whispers Ellyanna, "I have never talked to a boy in front of anyone before!"

3. "Don't worry Ellyanna, "I think that man over there is distracting your Mother, she'll never know."

4. "OK, you can hold my hand as long as nobody can see," Ellyanna says shyly!

Busted by my big sister Hailee!

Here I am with my new friends Brady and Hailee, I can't believe we were all caught smiling at the same time!

Our Family at Emerald Lake

There were a number of times Elly was just smiling away, and once or twice that she was crying.

This is just moments after the wedding, down on the pier (that is absent of any vessels for some odd reason...)

And this is later in the evening.

Lastly, Elly was certainly ready to party with Papa.

Thank You!!

I just thought I should say thank you to my Mom for taking Ellyanna for almost two straight days so I could fight off this nastiness, including two nights, you are a life saver!
Also to Helen for taking Elly for the better part of Sunday so both Nate and I could nap.
And of course thanks to Nate who has pretty much been at my beck and call since Wednesday. I have the greatest family any gal could ask for!
PS Mom I hope you aren't getting what I have, get well soon.

H1N1 Ridiculousness

So on Wednesday night I came down with the chills and by Thursday morning I was/still am sick as a dog. At first I thought it was just a cold but then on came the fever. Now what does one normally do when they are sick and have a new baby, go to the clinic.
Well I walked into my regular doctors office for the walk-in clinic and found a sign that said

"STOP IF YOU HAVE A NEW COUGH OR FLU SYMPTOMS DO NOT ENTER" OUR OFFICE DOES NOT SCREEN FOR H1N1"

Well I was not impressed as I was pretty certain I didn't have H1N1 anyway, so I asked the receptionist what I was supposed to do, as I had questions about what to do about Ellyanna, should I stay away from her, is there any thing I can take....

Well she informed me I would have to wear a mask and wash my hands right in front of her. Then a few minutes before the walk-in clinic opened I was escorted directly into a room so I wouldn't be infecting any other patients. I felt like I was being treated like a BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS TERRORIST. They were very rude.

Finally when the Doctor came in he too was wearing a mask, and gloves and one of those yellow capes they wear in surgical rooms. It was all just a bit much.

So the Doctor asked me about my symptoms, looked at my throat and ears, didn't listen to my chest, asked what Nate did for a living. Then he said "Well I could swab your throat but since it's the weekend we won't have the results until Tuesday anyway and by then it will be too late to treat you if it is H1N1 or you'll be feeling better." Then he proceeded to say that he could give me the drug to treat it anyway. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, he was going to give me a drug to treat something he wasn't even sure I had... it just seemed a bit odd to me. So anyway after double checking if it was alright for breastfeeding mothers to take he realized that I couldn't have it any and basically sent me on my way after a few more comments about the fact that I was passing whatever I have on to Ellyanna, but that she was also getting the anitbodies too.

I was incredibly disappointed, seemed to completely focused on the fact that it could be Swine Flu that he didn't seem to even consider anything else. Is this what our medical system has come to with all the Swine flu hype?

Alanna's Bachelorette Party

So this past weekend I got a whole 30 hours off and headed to Banff for my best friend Alanna's Bachelorette Party. We had a blast and Nate and Ellyanna both survived/thrived on their own! Above is Alanna's dinner outfit, we cooked dinner at the condo we rented before heading to the bar where she changed into her next outfit.

Notice she is wearing a monobrow (how could you not notice) and I am wearing fake eye lashes, we were celebrating both her best and worst features as she has very light eyebrows normally and huge eyelashes!

This is her bar outfit which she wore proudly, not many people can pull this one off but she looked awesome!

Here I am sporting both my feather boa and her's as she was finding it a little hot, these guys danced with our group of gals all night! It was so much fun!

Ellyanna's fifth week.

There is Elly looking so pleased to be dancing with her father.

Four generations of Silers, two ladies and two gents.

A true sign of genetic linkage.

Grace Autumn Lesko turned 4 this past weekend and celebrated by having 12 of her closest friends over and dressing up as Pirates and Pixies.

This is Grace getting ready with Professional Pixie. She had games and activies like painting treasure chests and making pixie dust! She also brought all the costumes and painted all the kids faces. It was adorable.

So we have had a very busy two weeks, Ellyanna is now 5 weeks old and looking super cute in her toques!

Ready for bed after her Thanksgiving dinner at Auntie Stacey's and Uncle Mac's.

Grace and Elly showing off how tall they are!

5. Sit on this huge couch all by myself, because I can! (Zoom in to see my expression!)

6. And act like a starfish!

Here are some of Ellyanna's favorite things to do this week.

1. Hang with Grandma Link (and Grandpa Link too but he was at work on this day).

2. Look riduculously cute while wearing a shirt that says "My finger may be small but I have Daddy wrapped around it.

3. Give Daddy a big bear hug to make him feel better, he was sick with a head cold.

4. Read with Dad while Mom get's ready to put me down for the night.