April 25, 2011

Parental leave week 4 - Easter & the Byrne Plague 2011

Daddy is doing very well with his parental leave. Playing chef with his little lady!

Cara got the Byrne Plague again this week so as Gwen and Daddy got better Cara and Mummy suffered through it. Now everyone is much better though.

Cara reverts to being a baby when she is sick...and when she thinks Gwen is getting too much of our attention.

Gwen is much better and her wheezing is all gone now. She is sleeping through the night again. Her 2 bottom teeth seem to be making a move for the surface and may make an appearance soon...hopefully she sleeps through that!

We worked on some more home improvements this week. Painted the stairwell to the basement. Next we're going to paint the basement and have a playroom/family room down there to take some the toys out of the living room.

Gwen started solid food this week! And she loves it! Ate everything I gave her and slept well after :) She been watching us eat and been very interested so we gave it a try. Now she's eating a few tablespoons everyday at supper.

Good Friday was our day to dye Easter Eggs. Cara was unsure what and why it was happening.

But she was eventually happy with the results.

Happy jumping Gwen!

Since she'd had rice cereal and looks at us so longingly while we eat supper we gave her a rice cake to gnaw on and she was so happy! Slobbered all over it!

All gone!

Easter morning started with the Annual Byrne Easter Egg "Hunt"...it is more of just an egg pick-up...until they are older.

It was cold! There is still a bit of snow in the yard where the sun doesn't hit. Cara (and Mummy) were freezing when we got inside!

Cara was so happy with this bunny. It took a couple of hours until she realized that the foil came off and it was chocolate inside! Then she really loved it!

The Easter Bunny was good to Gwen too!

Our sweetie pies :)

Cara could hardly stay still for photos with all the chocolate she'd been eating!

Happy Gwenny on her first Easter!

Easter Sunday was a beautiful day here and so Daddy took the ladies out for a walk while Mummy was making dinner.

Cara and Howie enjoying a book before Easter dinner. Nana is away in Chile with Aunt June!

April 18, 2011

Parental leave week 3 - Edmonton Road Trip!

Well, even with Daddy and Gwen having a cough (but not really sick) we decided to venture to Edmonton for a couple of nights. The girls were great in the car. Cara passed out and slept until we got to Red Deer for lunch.

And so did Gwen. Behind her cool shades are sleeping eyes.

Cara enjoyed lunch at the mall in Red Deer. She loves an A&W hamburger!

Then we were back in the car until we finally arrived at the hotel in Edmonton. Cara got comfy and watched some of her favourite movie....Toy Story 3...we've watched it about 40 times or so.

Then it was bath time! Gwen loves a bath. She's enjoying kicking her feet and making splashes...she laughs and laughs!

It was a jacuzzi tub and Cara thought she'd like the bubbles until she heard the loud noise...so she just had a regular but deep bath instead.

Both girls fell asleep and had good long sleeps...not bad for us all sleeping in the same room! We did have the fire alarm go off when we were putting Cara down but the front desk assured us it was a false alarm and then at 4am someone knocked on the door...but only woke Mummy and Daddy.
Here is Cara and Daddy waiting for our breakfast to arrive. Cara likes building towers out of the creamers.

After breakfast we were off to the West Edmonton Mall.

Daddy and Cara are driving a pirate ship in a big pool....

...this ship. Cara has a love of pirates. She was fascinated.

Lucky for us there was a school group in to see the Sea Lion show and they put on a special early show for the class. We were able to watch the sea lions do some cool tricks.

Then we went to the underground small aquarium. Cara got to touch a sting ray!

And get an up close look at a big bull frog.

And see some really fast penguins!

And also see a sleeping shark, a sea turtle and some fishes.

Next we were off to other end of the mall for a visit to Galaxyland (the indoor amusement park). They have a very large play structure for kids and Cara loved this slide. You had to go up 2 stair cases to get to the top and it twisted around a few times and was very dark on the way down. She went down a few times with Daddy and....

...a few times with Mummy! Gwen hung out and watched all the kids running around.

Next it was time to jump in the ball pit.

And then a nice ride on the train.

Gwen's first amusement park ride!

She lasted about 2 minutes then conked out!

Then Cara had a spin on the Carousel.

And our afternoon at Galaxyland was complete.

Then we went mini-golfing. (this mall really did have everything!) Mummy got a hole-in-one with a baby attached to her!

Cara picked up on the idea of golf quickly. She would grab the ball run to the hole and throw it in!

After supper we were back at the hotel and Daddy and Cara went for a swim while Mummy watched and Gwen had a nap.

Cara practiced her floats.

And her kicks!


The next day we went to the Telus Science Centre. They were playing a movie in their dome theatre about stars. It was Sesame Street themed so Big Bird and Elmo showed us the moon and some constellations. Cara loved it.

Gwen woke up as soon as it went dark and she sat quietly through it all watching the stars too.

Kaleidoscope Cara!


Cara the Space Woman in the Space exhibit.

Daddy the Space Man.

Family photo in the International Space Station!

Having a seat on a tongue in the Body exhibit.

After our look around the Science Centre we got on the road back home. The girls were even better on this drive.

Back at home just as another snow storm was starting. Cara and Daddy gave Gwen a bottle.

In the morning it was Mummy's turn to build a new snowman with Cara. It is nice that we are getting to play in the snow but we are all ready for some melting here. Including Mr. Snowman!

This weekend Great Aunt June and Great Uncle Jack were in town and we got to have a visit at Nana's. Before we left Cara got in her pjs (just in case she fell asleep on the way home) and she had to show June the "moon" at Nana's (it is a round skylight in the stairwell).

Gwen and her puffer.
Gwen had her 5 month check-up on Friday and she is growing great - weighed in at 19lbs!
The doctor listened to her cough and chest and heard some wheezing so prescribed some Ventolin for her until the cough clears up. Gwen is great at taking the puffer though - smiles and laughs :)

The Easter Bunny is practicing her hopping and getting ready to deliver eggs next weekend! Hoppity Hop hop!