Cutest baby ever!

I'm sure everyone thinks this of their babies ... so I guess I am following suit! I have to say that its very hard for me to not post every single picture I take of Ainsley!! But, I try to restrict it to the cutest of the cute photos : ) I took these yesterday before a walk outside - I was trying to get her to smile at the camera.






And these ones were after I put on her hat ... it took some more convincing to get a smile!




So, after seeing these pictures - don't you agree that she is just the cutest baby ever?! ; )

Team PM

The Deck!

As of today, Peter has almost completed the deck. All that is left to do are the railings on the top level, and two small staircases from the bottom level to the ground. Also, next spring he will be filling in the space between the two tiers with lattice. We are pretty excited to get a little bit of use out of it before the cold weather comes! Fletch too enjoyed being allowed to go out the kitchen door and lay outside in the backyard.



And, of course, I have to post some recent pictures of Ainsley. She will be 4 months old tomorrow!! I've said it before, and I'll say it again - I can't believe how fast she is growing and how quickly the time goes by. She is so cute and so funny and we are so thankful for her! She loves to talk and play and be entertained - and I think she is starting to like having her picture taken too, which is good because it happens alot! Here she is before church on Sunday in her 'Guess how much I love you' dress (based on the storybook with the rabbits).



Yet another shot of her sleeping with the blanket pulled up around her head - too funny!


Team PM & Ainsley

Bathtime photoshoot

These pictures were so cute I had to post them! We had a photo shoot during Ainsley's bath/after bath time last night so here are some shots from that.






Now, isn't she the cutest baby ever?! We think so ; )

Peter is back to work

Today is Peter's first day back on the job .. he has a busy day ahead of him! In the last post I mentioned that he was lead FTE on 6 fleets of aircraft, but its actually 8 fleets! Needless to day he's going to have a lot of work on his plate, but he enjoys the work - mostly the flying : )


Here is a video of Ainsley jumping in the Jolly Jumper ... its pretty fun to watch her, she just loves it! In fact, as I type she is jumping and squealing and having a great time : )

Back in the swing of things

Hi everyone ... I apologize for taking so long to post a new blog entry, I know there are some of you who have been waiting and waiting ; ) Needless to say, we have been super busy since coming home from our 8 week holiday. We had a great trip and it was so great to see everyone, but it was nice to get back to our place and our routine. Although, we were both pretty homesick for a few days once we got back to Cold Lake. Our friends here were excited to have us back and to see how much Ainsley has grown - its been really nice spending time with all of them again.

So ... since we've been home we've been working on our yard. When we first came home we were surprised and a little horrified to find a weed forest all over our property! Some of these 'weeds' were more like trees and were as tall as me!! We honestly didn't think they would grow in the hard clay, but they did and we spent 2 days pulling weeds. Peter then worked on the deck for the rest of last week and has the top tier finished. Earlier this week we found out about a really good deal on topsoil, so we had that delivered and since then we've been raking the rocks and sticks out of it and getting our property graded so we can put down fertilizer/grass seed today. I don't think either of us realized how big our property was until the topsoil was spread - its huge! Its been a lot of work, but its going to be so nice to have grass and deck all done for next summer.





Ainsley making her contribution to the backyard.


Last week the weather was HOT and its supposed to be hot this weekend again, but the last two days have been pretty cool - so we've gone from shorts and a tank top to jeans, a sweater and hat.



Ainsley has been growing like a weed as they say ... she had her first round of shots last week and was 12 lbs., 1 oz., and 23.5" long. She is in the 50th percentile for her weight and length so she is just average. Hard to believe that she is almost 4 months old! She has become a very chatty/laughy/squealy baby and loves to stand up and talk to me face to face. She has even learned how to rollover from her front to her back. But, her latest favorite thing is her Jolly Jumper - she absolutely loves standing in there and jumping! She can spend up to a half hour in there jumping before she's tired. The other day she even fell asleep in it! It was the funniest thing and thank goodness I had the camera handy!!


She is still sleeping very well at nights and also for her naps. She now likes to have a blanket around her face or her head when she sleeps ... we often have to sneak in and move it off her face after she's asleep. Here she is napping in her bouncy chair with the blanket pulled up over her face!


In fact, she likes to pull alot of things up onto her head - she's so silly : )


And, as with all little girls - dressing them is half the fun! Here we are on our way to church last Sunday ... as you can see in the pictures, the headband didn't last too long.




Peter goes back to work on Monday. He is looking forward to it, but he also knows that its going to be super busy. He will be the lead Flight Test Engineer for 6 fleets of aircraft! Hopefully he won't have to travel too too much, but he's pretty sure that he'll be away a bit here and there. I am looking forward to starting some fall activities with Ainsley including a playgroup and maybe even swimming.
Now that I've gotten caught up with the blog I'm sure I'll be updating it regularly again : )

Team PM & Ainsley

Heading home

Well, 'home' isnt' really how I think of Cold Lake yet, especially now that I've been back in Ottawa over the summer : ) We are heading back west tomorrow - this time through Canada. I hope we see at least one moose, but I also hope its not in the middle of the road in front of our car. The side of road would suffice.

We had a really good time in Halifax, it was busy, but we got to see alot our friends and family in that part of the country. We visited Peter's parents in their new home in Indian Harbour Lake, and then stayed with Peter's aunt in Halifax. We also visited his grandparents cottage near Pictou and spent some time at Camp Evangeline ... sleeping in a very small cabin! At least it was only for 3 days. Ainsley has travelled really well and we haven't had one bad night with her on the whole trip! Even in the tiny cabin ...

While at the cottage we had a campfire on the beach. Ainsley was mesmerized by the flames for hours - she just sat on my lap and chewed my finger!



I'll add more pics and stories when we get back home ... for now, I have to go finish packing!

Team PM & Ainsley

Cutest baby ....

Here is Ainsley smiling for Grandpa before church on Sunday : )

Roadtrip 2008

Well, we're now in Nova Scotia ... and what a trip we've been having! Ottawa was busy and filled with lots of visiting, it was really great to see our friends and family there. Ainsley got to meet many people for the first time and experienced some other firsts as well: first fireworks & first swim on Canada Day, first karaoke party (she slept through most of it) & first l-o-n-g nighttime sleep. Last night she slept for 10 hours straight!!! We couldn't believe it ... but we didn't complain either, let's hope it continues : )

We'll be in Nova Scotia for a few weeks and have trips planned to Fortress Louisbourg, to Halifax to see friends & family and also to Peter's camp at Debert. Should be a fun few weeks and we'll try our best to keep you posted!

Team PM & Ainsley

Ottawa ...

We've been in Ottawa for almost 2 weeks ... the trip so far has been awesome and we've been having a great time hanging out with all of our friends/family. Ainsley is 2 months old today and has been a perfect angel (most) of the time. I forgot to bring the USB cord for our camera so I can't upload any of the pictures we've taken ... but, Peter's cousin posted one of us on facebook so I was able to post that one. I'll write more soon : )

Summer is coming ...

We have defined summer this year as the time that we'll be away from Cold Lake .... for 8 weeks we'll be travelling across the country (and through the States) to Ottawa and Halifax. We've been talking about this trip since we were in England! And now, it is upon us: we leave Monday morning - early. We're still not sure how this trip is going to go seeing that we now have a baby ... we know that she sleeps well in the car, let's just hope she'll also sleep when we reach our destination each night! Speaking of Ainsley ... she is 6 weeks old tomorrow and is now 8 lbs. She is still tiny, but the changes are becoming very noticeable. She's filling out alot and starting to get a little 'buddha' belly : ) We're really looking forward to showing her off to all of our friends and family on the trip - should be a good time! All that being said, I do have to mention that spring here has been beautiful - it has been very warm but no humidity during the day and nice and cool at night. Plus, the sun doesn't set until almost 11:00 pm - very nice for evening walks; the sunset is always really pretty pinks and purples over the lake.



She is starting to fit into more of her clothes and is now getting into 0-3 month stuff ... which she has TONS of so Mommy is having a lot of fun dressing her : )



Here we are heading out to Peter's baseball game. Ainsley is wearing a little sweater, hat and bootie set that my good friend Kristy made for her.


Fun things she is doing now include staring at her fist and moving it around; smiling in the morning when I go in to get her out of bed; focusing on our faces and looking into our eyes; cooing a little; watching toys put in front of her, especially her little wrist rattles. She has also started spitting up a bit here and there, which makes feeding (or 20 minutes after feeding) a little more interesting! We're having a blast and its so much fun watching her grow, learn and discover her world.

And a shout out for Fletch - today is his 8th birthday! He celebrated by eating a Dentabone : )

Team PM & Ainsley

Time really does fly!

Hard to believe that today is the first of June! Ainsley will be one month old tomorrow. The first month of parenthood has gone pretty well, and we are not as sleep deprived as we thought we'd be! Ainsley is a very good eater, and sleeper - she is now sleeping for 5.5 - 6 hour stretches at night which is very good for Mommy & Daddy. Last Wednesday she weighed in at 7 lbs. so she has now surpassed her birthweight and I honestly think I can notice her size changing almost daily! Things that fit her last week are now getting too small ... I guess I can now start to believe all those people who told me she'd 'grow like a weed'. And because she's getting bigger she was able to wear her first dress to church today.


She also had her first bottle of expressed milk this week ... this makes going out much more convenient - plus then Daddy can feed her too ; )


My parents visit went very well and it was so nice to have them here to show them around Cold Lake, to meet our friends, visit our church - and of course, to spend time with their new granddaughter. I think they enjoyed themselves ; ) My mom also got to come along to a shower that my friend Julia threw for Ainsley & I.




While my parents were here Ainsley received a special gift in the mail from my Uncle Roland and his family ... they made her a chair for her dolls and teddy bears - but of course, since she's so tiny we had to sit her in it for just a second : )


We're off to Ottawa this month and starting to really look forward to the trip ... despite the potential difficulties of travelling with an infant. We'll keep you posted!

Team PM & Ainsley