Rob's off to get some gripe water :)

Joshua's first day

Robust lungs!

Save me, mama!!

What IS this thing?

Proud daddy

In-love mama
Happy doctor
Curious sister
PUMPED Grandpa
Very sweet baby.
PS I'm typing with one hand. :)

It's a BOY!!!!!!!

Hey All! Just wanted to quickly let you know the super news: Joshua Robert Seth Balfour was born this morning (January 2) at 12:55 am after a looooooong slow labor of 21 hours. He was 7 lbs 1 oz, 20.5 inches long, and has a head full of hair like his sister! We are in IN LOVE and we are TIRED! Here's a couple pictures my sister just emailed me to tide you over until we can post more. Oh, and yes, we are already home from the hospital. My doctor's pretty laid back. :)

Christmas 2007

At last I have mustered up the drive to post some pictures of our Christmas...one of the first Christmases we've had where we haven't traveled somewhere. It has been awesome. Connecting with tons of amazing family and friends, Rob having a whole week and a half off, and having a little girl who could jump into the festivities made for a really special and restful holiday. I couldn't have asked for more!

It was a very white Christmas. We have about twice that amount on our deck now.

Ellie in her Christmas dress at church. Oh. And my belly, of course.

Opening presents Christmas Eve. Ellie's smile about getting a Raffi CD looks half-hearted, but she is now a Raffi-addict. We listen to him approximately seven times a day. :)

Ellie decided that the toque that Tom and Farzad sent for the baby was just right for her.

Toy pots and food...Ellie's dream come true!

Another dream come true: Ellie bonded with this doll at Superstore as soon as it came out. She couldn't care less about any other doll on the shelf. Her reaction when she opened it was priceless...her face got all flushed and she said, "Hi baby." in the softest voice.

Yeah, unfortunately it's one of those dolls that makes noise.

But it sure makes the child smile!

Especially when the baby burps!
Once Ellie was in bed Rob and I decided to do a chocolate fondue together as well as exchange our five dollar gifts. :) Yeah, we were trying to stay in budget. He loved the fancy cheese I got him, and I'm making great use of my ice cream scoop!!

Christmas morning Rob made us a delicious breakfast.
And then we headed over to my mom and dad's. This is Regan, my mom and Ellie 'listening' to my dad read the Christmas story.
Auntie 'Weewa' (Leila) was here from Regina and brought with her some of the morning's most exciting gifts. Like that tent. She also brought Ellie a doctor's kit which is pretty much the only thing we've been playing ever since!
Auntie Dana got the girls an astonishing amount of dress up clothes...but they weren't the only ones who loved them. (Uncle Jon had his fun, too)
(So did Daddy.)
Ellie takes pouring tea very seriously. (Thanks Regan!)
Since this was the first Christmas my family has celebrated in the morning (usually we do Christmas eve) we decided to really throw tradition out the window and we had a lunch made of all appetizers. Each of us brought something we wanted to try. It was finger-lickin' good!
In the afternoon we played games while the girls napped. Rob and I hung out longer while everyone else went to their other gatherings for the day. Here's Ellie watching her new 'Elmo goes to the Doctor' movie with her great-uncle Dennis.

So there you have it! And now it's New Years Eve...hope you all have a really great night! This prego lady is going to bed early.

"A poo poo!"

So the other day we put Ellie down for her nap as usual. 20 minutes later she was still chatting to herself, counting the bars in her crib and naming all her animals. 40 minutes...we hear her bouncing in her crib. 60 minutes...we hear her start to say "A poo poo. A poo poo!". So I go in there expecting a poopy diaper. And you know, a kid that's wearing clothes.

Nope!

Instead I walk in to a buck naked child and a sheet that's full of pee (at least it wasn't poop!) and Ellie repeating over and over, "All wet! It's all wet! A poo poo!"

I called for reinforcements over the baby monitor and Rob came down and we had a really good belly laugh! So it's official: Ellie can make her way out of almost any piece of clothing. And her diaper. Now I just have to invest in some really good duct tape.

p.s. today is Due Date day and still no action (aside from Junior pummeling my insides). I get very uncomfortable contractions almost every night at bedtime, but no real deal. My doctor is pretty willing to induce any time I say the word, but I'd rather wait until I'm actually, you know, OVERdue. I sort of remember how much fun labor is and I'm not in a huge hurry to go through it again. :)

Still just three.

Hey all. Just wanted to let you know that there's no baby yet. But I AM too tired and too busy nesting at this point to post Christmas pictures. So that's why there's nothing new on here. Didn't want the silence to be misinterpreted as labor pains. :) I'll keep you posted!!

A story mainly for Grandma and Grandpa's reading pleasure.

So we all know that Elianna is crazy about dressing up, hats, etc. Well the latest thing is UNdressing. It's kinda nice, actually, because she can play for loooong stretches at a time on her own now, simply taking her clothes off and trying to put them back on. (This is usually accompanied by very loud groans and grunts and then a shriek "IT'S HARD!") Well yesterday she was continuously removing her clothing as I was making supper. And then she went for her diaper. I told her 'no' several times, and then she did it again. So I said, "Ellie, if you take off your diaper, you have to pee on the potty like a big girl." Her eyes lit up, "OTAY!" (I've never offered her this choice before.) So we went to the bathroom and I said, "Which potty do you like, your little one, or the big one?" She chose the big one. So I put her naked little bum on there and held her tight and said, "Okay, now you go pee!!" And to my amazement, a look of concentration came across her face, and then we heard a very faint tinkly sound....PEE. Oh, the cheering that ensued! I never knew how thrilling pee could be. I guess she may be more ready for potty training than I give her credit for!

Musings on Ellie's People Passion

I think one of the most amazing parts about being the parent of a toddler is watching the personality of your child unfold. When Ellie was 10 months old she learned to say 'HI!', and grocery shopping was never the same. We had to yell hi to everyone. I think I thought it was a stage at the time. Now that Ellie is 21 months and she STILL says hi (plus much more...as much as you're willing to hear) to nearly everyone, I'm realizing that this is just who Ellie IS. A people person. She has this drive to connect with every person she meets (with the exception of a few scary people...like Santa Claus and Dr.Dyck).
The other day I was at my Grandma's condo and she wanted to bring Ellie up to the top floor to say hi to a friend of hers. So we knocked on the door and this lady called out, "Come on in!" My Grandma opened the door and let Ellie in while we stayed behind. Ellie MARCHED right in there by herself with her crooked pink toque and her green rubber boots and yelled out, "HI, LADY!". I think Mrs. Hires is still recovering from the shock of it...
Names are very important, too, and Ellie doesn't seem to easily forget them. We were at a family gathering on Sunday and I introduced Ellie to a bunch of new people. About 15 minutes after meeting one of my uncles she marched up to him and said, "Hi Ben!". If she can't remember or doesn't know your name, it's "Hi, De-da!" I don't have a clue why. :)
At night before bed when we pray and I ask Ellie what we should pray for she says, "Fends" (friends). And so we thank Jesus for a list of at least 20 people and then Ellie is satisfied. Often when we leave the house Ellie asks if we're going to 'chuch' (church)...and if we are, she says, "FENDS!" And starts the list of people she knows we'll see at church... "Dow-ee, Arnew, Simmy, Azewin, Sunsin, Donald, Wobbie..." (translated that's Chloe, Andrew, Simeon, Azelin, Allison, Donovan, Robbie....)
Aside from Regan (obligation to best-friendhood by cousinry...and yeah, i think i just made up two words), Ellie's very best friend in the world is "Dow-ee"...Chloe. It's heart-warming to watch them. When they spot each other in church their eyes light up, they yell out each other's names, and most recently, they give each other a big hug. They love running up and down the aisles together. Having Chloe over for a play date is like inviting peace and quiet personified into the house...for some reason, they just jive, and they play together like angels. The only thing they fight over is teapots. (Why do they only make one teapot in a set, I wonder?) Ellie seems to get tired fairly quickly by most social situations, but not by Chloe. Go figure. What a blessing! Here's a few pictures of Ellie with her bosom buddy:

Coloring up a storm.

They actually complied when I asked them to fold their hands!

Chloe's birthday partyRight before a teapot fight broke out.

With Ellie's extreme extroversion I am very curious to find out who this next little Bean is going to be! I'll keep you posted.

Mmmm! That's NUMMY!

The other day I was vacuuming up a storm (that's actually a joke...vacuuming is a slow, painful process these days) and Ellie was happy and busy around the house, playing with a little white measuring cup that she loves. I sometimes put a few drops of water in there which she joyfully slurps up with abandon and declares, "MMMMM! That's NUMMY!" If there's no real water in there, she's happy to pretend there is, and often shouts out the same thing. So I thought nothing of it when Ellie ran up to me with a huge grin on her face yelling over the noise of the vacuum, "Mmm! Nummy!". Then she did again, only this time with the front of her shirt all wet. It only took a moment for my swollen pregnant brain to register that there is only ONE place in the house where there is water readily available at Ellie's height. I immediately shut off the vacuum, grabbed Ellie's hand, and we marched to the bathroom where my nightmares were realized: the toilet seat was covered in water. "Ellie!" I said. "Did you drink water from here?" Her response? "MMMMMMM! It's NUMMY!" Now if any of you have any idea how to get it through to a 21 month old that toilet water is actually a really gross thing to drink when you are on the floor laughing and can't for the life of you keep a straight face, well, you can feel free to let me know. In the meantime, all I can do is thank my lucky stars that there was no toilet cleaner or pee (or worse) in there. And keep the door closed.

We're back!

Back from our internet holiday, that is. How refreshing! I found myself bored a lot at first (we don't have cable, either)...but by the time the month was over and we got the internet reconnected, I had absolutely no desire to go on. Nice feeling. ANYHOW! There isn't much new to report about November, except we did a lot MORE of everything...

We got to spend more time with Grandpa and Grandma Balfour when they came out from BC to visit us in the middle of the month...

And we got more toys, because they brought early Christmas with them! Ellie really missed them when they left...and now she calls a blond lady at the grocery store "Gamma".We had more play dates with Regan, as always......and hung upside down more....
...and started losing a lot more water out the tub at bath time.

We started wearing a lot more clothing...

...because we suddenly had a LOT more snow!

We now have more Christmas baking around the house. Which is disappearing quickly, thanks to Lil'Bean 2 (he/she makes mommy hungry for sweets.)

We started using our imagination more (this is Ellie in her boat with some hot soup)...

...and playing dress-up more (I didn't think that was humanly possible. As it is Ellie is usually wearing some piece of dress-up clothing at all times.)

We acquired more furniture (the bassinet = fill it up with stuff and pretend to go nigh-night)...

...because as you can see, there's a lot more baby happening and it ain't long till Junior arrives! We're pumped!
So there you have it. You are updated. We will keep you informed as the countdown to Baby #2's arrival draws near!