My Thanksgiving weekend started with baking some pumpkin pies of course 🙂 I love the apple pie that I make! Thanks for the recipe Michelle!

Then I went with Livi and my mom to visit my Grandpa. He is doing so much better! What a relief! I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to the man who helped raise me. He has been moved to a temporary rehab facility where he does physio and gets the help he needs to get back on his feet. It was so good to see him dressed, talking, smiling and laughing. We visited Grandma at her house, briefly, then went home to finish making our delicious Thanksgiving dinner. Jon’s best friend, Geoff, came to join us. Livi was in bed so it wasn’t quite the family dinner I had envisioned. There are many more years to make those memories though! I can’t wait.

Saturday was a quiet day. Jon went to work for two hours and we spent the rest of the day napping and playing with Livi. I think she was teething some more so she was a little bit of a hellion. Once we got to Jon’s Aunt and Uncle’s home for a Thanksgiving wiener roast, she turned in to the angel that I know her to be. Although it was quite cold, she had so much fun running around the yard and exploring with her Grandma, Auntie Lisa and Uncle Tony. She even tried to play with the big boys. They had a remote flying helicopter that she was completely enthralled in.

 Sunday afternoon we went to Jon’s Mom’s house in Langley for another dinner! Before dinner Lisa, Tony and I took Livi to the park to hopefully get some energy out. Unfortunately, I think kids have reserves some where. She just kept going and going! At the park she was completely enthralled by the gravel on the ground. It was better than any slide or bouncy see saw. She did enjoy the swing as usual, though. At Livi’s Grandma’s house her favorite toy is fast becoming the keyboard. Her and Lisa got some quality keyboard time. I was astounded by how much food Livi ate that day! She ate an entire small plate full of food and then roamed from plate to plate to whoever would give her bites of their pie! What a little piggy! Where did she put it all? She drank her entire bottle when we got home too!

Monday had yet another dinner at my family home in Chilliwack. Surprisingly, with all these dinners I didn’t get any Turkey! Everyone served ham. That is fine by me. I think I slightly prefer ham to turkey anyway 🙂 That preference might change with my mood though! Before the final delicious dinner my mom was getting ready for us, we went to have some family photographs done by my friend Jenn. I’m so excited to share them but you’ll have to wait for another post. They are already on Facebook 🙂 The rest of the day was filled with scrumptious food, the boys playing Xbox and me kicking the girls butts in Scrabble. All in all, it was a fabulous weekend. I am so thankful for that!

I thought it was about time to give a family update. There always seems to be so much going on and Livi keeps growing up so fast. I don’t want to forget anything! I looked at her the other day and I swear she looked like she was ten years old! She will always be my baby but I don’t think other people will look at her as a baby for much longer.

Livi:
Livi’s language has taken off. She seems like she is coming up with a new word every week at least! She has 13 words clearly down now… Mommy, Daddy, Baby, Kitty, Puppy, (Auntie) Sessa, Belly, Sock, Shoe, Nana (banana), Bye Bye, Hello, Okay and No. Thankfully she doesn’t use “no” to terribly often. Just yesterday she began saying gina (vagina), and toe. We’ll see if they are actually set in her vocabulary or just her copying our sounds.
I was on the fence as to whether I wanted to teach her sign language or not, but did end up teaching her a sign for “all done” when she was around 6 months old. I got tired of her telling me she was full by blowing raspberries filled with applesauce and carrots all over my face. Jon decided he wanted her to be able to say “more” in sign as well, so she has picked that up this week too. I love being able to communicate with my daughter.

She is running everywhere, even in big bulky shoes! I’ve been quite impressed by the lack of falling on her face. I have also been terrified by the new troubles she is getting herself in to. She jumps off the couch just for the adrenaline rush. I barely caught her going head first over the arm of the couch. I had to dive for her. Her head was inches from the ground and I only caught her by one foot. She has also gone head first in to the tub… trying to get the water. I think I’m going to have a few concussions in my furture.

With her new found mode of transporation she has begun exploring so much more as well. We have to keep the bathroom doors shut because she can open up the toilet seat… We learned that the hard way. We’ve put child locks on the garbage can and cleaning supplies cupboard but wanted to give her some safe cupboards to explore… That freedom to explore means we are finding measuring cups and juice jugs in very obscure places around the house.

Livi has her first molar too! It finally broke through today… I think there are parts of it still cutting though because tonight she was not the easy going little angel I know and love. Her last forth, top front tooth is nearly out too so that is probably adding to her issues. She has eight, nearly nine, teeth now.

Livi has officially been off formula for a few weeks now. I didn’t just want to cut her off of formula suddenly at her one year mark, so I had been giving her half formula and half milk bottles. There was no issues at all with the transitions. She is eating anything and everything now too. She knows when I try to give her baby food and is not generally the happiest about it. She only wants adult food. She’ll take her baby food with out a problem if I pretend to scoop it off the plate or bowl that I am eating from. I doubt that trick will work much longer but I need her to finish all the jars of baby food still in my cupboard!

I’m sure there is more to tell about her but this post is getting very rambly (is that a word)…. on to Jon and I.

Jon:
Jon had a job interview on Monday. It is just for a temporary 8 hour a week position but it is in the field he is really wanting to get in to and it would definitely get his foot in the door. He has a lot of experience for the position but not the education for it. Let’s hope that experience wins out!

Me (Katie):
I have had a rather busy last few weeks myself. On top of caring for Livi, my Grandfather unexpectedly had to have galbladder surgery, so I’ve been trying to visit and help Grandma out when and where I can. Since he is 87 years old the recovery from the surgery has been pretty tough. He is going to go in to a temporary longer care rehab facility now to help get him back on his feet. I am very close to my Grandparents. They have helped raise me and my siblings, plus I live just a few blocks from their house. It is pretty hard seeing my Grandpa, who always looks so strong and proud, be so weak and let me shave him…. I got a little teary eyed doing that for him.

Anyway, I need to get to bed. I have a busy day of cooking and baking tomorrow to get ready for our four Thanksgiving meals this weekend!