Lately

It never ceases to amaze me how fast babies grow up. Olivia is sitting up and can now eat with us at mealtimes instead of watching us in awe.


So far her favorite meal has been broccoli mixed with sweet potato. She laughs and giggles and loves attention from her big sister who, to her is the funniest person on the planet.. She is getting to be less and less of a mommy's girl and by that I mean she will actually let other people hold her without mom being right beside her.

She just made it through the arrival of her first 2 little bottom teeth. I can't speak for her but I know I almost didn't survive it! Elle is such a chatterbox these days she loves talking on the phone and asking me lots of questions to which she usually already knows the answers.


She is very dramatic and can change her expressions from happy to sad at the drop of a hat. Usually when she is sad or upset you can just ask to see her happy face and it will automaticaly appear! Curtis continues to be very busy at work and I have now gotten into a normal weekly routine with the Day-home. I have been able to reserve most Mondays and Tuesdays just for me and my girls apart from the kids we have before and after school. This is so great because it gives us time for appointments and grocery shopping and some one on one time with Mommy. I am back at my piano lessons once a week and enjoying it. It is a challenge some weeks to find the time for practice but I am managing so far. I am no longer a teacher in Young Womens. I am still the ward camp director and I was called as the Personal progress specialist, which means I help the girls get all their goals checked off and i'm in charge of planning two big events a year, one of which is coming up in less than a month, "In Excellence" where we celebrate the girls who have moved out of the YW program. There is certainly never a dull moment around here and always something to keep me busy that's for sure. I have added pictures of what we have been up to over the past few months. Curtis,Olivia and I travelled to Las Vegas for my brother Nathan's wedding.

It was soooo hot in fact 10 degrees hotter than normal for September there, so we roasted. Elle stayed home with her Nana which was very fun and exciting for her. We also visited the Calgary Corn maze, had a cabin trip in there and caught Olivia enjoying her first foods. Other than that just some fun family time at home together.

Growing like weeds

My little girls are getting bigger by the day.



It reminds me to enjoy every moment and not get too annoyed when Elle finds her way to my bed in the middle of the night. She's not going to want to snuggle with her mom forever!



Olivia is soon going to be less dependant on me as well.



2 more months and we get to start the fun of solid foods. Her daddy has let her suck on a couple of different fruits and she liked it way too much so we won't try that again until she is old enough to really enjoy it.



We had an awesome photo shoot with our photographer and I can't believe how much smaller both girls look in these photos from just a couple months ago.

A day with my Girls!

There are only a few more weeks until School starts and when it does I am back in full swing with the Day-home. I will not have Mondays and Fridays off anymore. I have been trying to make the best of this time I have that's just for Olivia, Elle and I during the week. Today we had a really great day in the sunshine. We went down to Prince's Island Park and saw the ducks and geese and the WAWER(water)as Elle calls it.



We walked over to Eau Clair Market and Elle loved playing in the water pools with the sprayers and on the playground there. We didn't bring her swimsuit so she just jumped in fully clothed.





We had lunch inside and there is a really big and fun playground inside by the food court which Elle had a blast on. I can't wait for Olivia to be old enough to play with her big sister, I think that will be so fun to watch.





Our drive home was long with stops for diaper changes and consoling for Olivia who had a sore tummy. We don't have any plans to go anywhere for the long weekend which will be a change for us. There is a Fringe Festival and some other things that are going on this weekend for Heritage Day, so I am sure we will have fun at home. Curtis has been working like crazy for the past 3 weeks with the hail storm that we had in Calgary. There have been lots of late nights and weekends at work so we are happy to have him all to ourselves for three whole days.

Our latest.......

It is July and i'm still not sure if summer has arrived yet. We have had a few hot days in between overcast, rain, wind and hail. I will keep waiting.
Olivia is now three months old and she finally had her first real photo shoot. The pictures turned out really cute. We had the opportunity to get away from it all and head out to the island for some fun at my family's cabin. Though the weather wasn't hot and sunny like I had hoped we were still able to enjoy our week away sightseeing, playing and visiting with family. We went to Longbeach in Tofino and also spent some time at Cathedral Grove. Elle loved the beach and was go go go the entire day. I celebrated my 27th birthday while we were away and it was a nice change being with my famiy on my special day. We got to spend time with most everyone from my immediate family. They all made the drive up the island to spend time with us at different times throughout the week. My Granny and Grandpa made it up for my birthday celebration which was nice and my Grandma also made the drive later on in the week for a visit. A couple days after we returned home Olivia and I went out to our Wards girls camp. I am the Camp Director and wanted to be there for the our spa day I had planned. It was a blast. The girls soaked their feet in mini kiddie pools and we painted their nails . I made a face mask and put it on their faces with cucumbers on their eyes and we listened to spa music, they loved it. It was a really fabulous day. I wished that I could be there for the entire camp, but we weren't sure how well that would work out with a 3 month old. Olivia made the move over the weekend from the bassinette in our room to her crib in her room. I can't believe when I look back at pictures, she swam in that bassinette and now she barely has room to lay out straight in it. She has adjusted with no problems and loves her musical mobile that was passed down from her sister! I am working on getting the rest of her room just right, I love decorating my kids rooms. I startback after 2 weeks off from the Dayhome this week. I have been interviewing for new kids like crazy and have a couple new kids starting in August but still need a couple more so i'm keeping my fingers crossed that it can be full again soon. That is it for anything new, hope everyone is enjoying their summer. Send your sunshine this way please!

Olivia June Dry : April 13th, 7lbs 5oz

Our little Olivia is growing so fast, she is 7 wks old now. She is such a great baby. She is never fussy and is always so happy. She smiles for Mommy all the time. She gave me her first real smiles at 4 wks which was such a nice surprise. She loves being in the tub and coos and smiles and splashes the whole time. She is growing rapidly. At her six week checkup she weighed in at 11 pounds. She is getting cute and chubby little rolls on her thighs! We love her so much and couldn't imagine our little family without her.

A full and eventful March

One last post before our little family of 3 turns into a family of 4. Note worthy events in our lives for the month of March included Curtis' 32nd birthday on the 8th, and Elle's 2nd birthday on the 27th. I also tackled a very lengthy TO DO list of items before baby comes. Only a couple things left to do so I am feeling almost ready for baby. Everyone keeps telling me that because I am not ready for baby to come yet the baby is bound to arrive early before my list is completely checked off! We will see. I figure I have a good week at least left to go, so plenty of time. We are starting to get really excited and anxious to know if the baby is a girl or boy.

For Curtis' birthday we had a family dinner and I was lucky enough to get to escort Curtis to a Flames game, a gift from his Dad. I decided after the game that it was going to be my last while pregnant. Those lines to the washroom are way too long and those stairs seem extra steep. We had a great time though.

We had a couple of days childless while Elle was enjoying a sleepover at her Nana's this month. We decided to take advantage of that time and went out for dinner to the Japanese Village my favorite, and we also went to the movies, something that we do very rarely since Elle joined us. It was really great to just have some time for the two of us before baby comes.

Elle was spoiled on her birthday and enjoyed the balloons and presents and attention. We had a smaller gathering of just close family which was nice and not as overwhelming for her as her first birthday. We had a delicious birthday cake made by my cousin who is taking the baking course at SAIT. Thankfully this year Elle can use a fork, and we didn't have as much cleanup.

The slideshow has some birthday pics and other fun times mostly outdoor,that we had in March. Elle really loves to be outside as much as possible, I can rarely distract her from wanting to stay outside on the short walk from the car to the the house. All day today she was out in the back garden with her pail and shovel helping Dad work on the yard. She is such a fun and happy little helper.

We can't wait to update you on the excitement to come this month as we wait for baby to arrive, so we will keep you posted.

Almost 2 going on 13!

Today Elle found some mascara in my purse and decided to put some on just like mommy! She actually did get some on her one eyelash but it is evident from the pictures that I still need to teach my daughter that less is more! We thought it was pretty funny especially since she ran right over to daddy with mascara in hand after making herself beautiful in the front mirror, and was so excited to show him what she had done. That is when I came down the stairs thinking that Curtis had attacked her with a jiffy marker.... he was quick to tell me he had nothing to do with it! Oh how quickly they grow up.

Christmas has come and gone

2009 ended great for the Dry family. We stayed in Calgary for Christmas and Elle was spoiled as usual! Her face was so cute christmas morning as we brought her downstairs to all the presents that Santa brought. She looked for a second and then let out a gasp of surprise. By the 4Th or 5Th present she wanted to be done so we had to open alot for her or be very persuasive. It was a long but fun day for her. Santa brought Curtis a photography course for Christmas. He is all enrolled. It is through the New York Institute of photography and it is all done correspondence using Internet DVDs telephone and mail. He has three years to complete it and he is nervous since it has been so long since he has done anything school like. He was very surprised and happy. Santa brought me a jewellery dresser I have wanted for a while that matches the rest of our bedroom furniture. On boxing day we took off for Fairmont where we met up with my Sister and her family and my oldest brother and his family who made the drive from Victoria to see us for the week. All the kids had fun playing together and though Elle and I were feeling a bit under the weather we still enjoyed a day out in the snow with the snowmobile and toboggan. The highlight for Elle was Radium Hot Springs. She had a blast and kept plunging into the water with no fear even if there was no one ready to catch her. We have to watch that child,her dad has made her fearless. My baby bump is growing and I can no longer keep up with all the things I give myself to do each day. I get so frustrated because I feel so lazy but I just can't do as much as I could a month ago. I am definitely slowing down. Only about 3 months to go. It is going to fly by and we are getting so excited for baby. I am thinking a girl would be great so we don't have to go out and buy anything but we will just have to wait and see! We don't think Elle really has any idea what is going on with the new baby coming. She did successfully make the big move from her Crib to a big girl bed last weekend and she loves it. Curtis captured some middle of the night shots of her (which are above). She is growing up and is going to be a great big sister.