January 2016

The warmest January in recent history, this month was fantastic - for so many reasons. We had fun ringing in the new year at Paul and Kersey's house, but the highlight of the beginning of 2016 was the arrival of Macklin Miller on January 8, our sweet little boy. It took Lexi a few days to warm up to the idea of having a little brother around, but eventually she decided he was "my baby" and was "cute" and "funny". 

Lexi learned how to skate this month. Daddy and Granma took her out on the ice at Jenner, where Lexi, walking (and being dragged) along, emphatically exclaimed, "I'm skating! I'm skating! Me play hockey!" Maybe we do have a little hockey player in our hands!

Lexi's little world keeps expanding - this month, her concept of "bad guys" became apparent. Mama let her watch a few episodes of "Angry Birds" on Netflix, and she clearly pointed out which characters were the "bad guys". We rented a video from the library, and Lexi emphatically pointed out who the "bad guys" were. Mama was walking Lexi to Keeley's door one day, and Lexi, panicked, pointed out "a bad guy!" - it was Keeley's neighbor, blowing snow outside of his house. It was so cute!

Also cute: Daddy's "Puppy Pants", which we'll explain someday when the kids are old enough to understand and laugh without rolling their eyes and exclaiming, "ewwww, Mom and Dad, you're gross!", and the Owl Song that Mama made up for Lexi ("There was an owl in a tree, and he got very hungry, so we gave him _______ and he loved it so", where the blank was filled in by Lexi with something undoubtedly purple: purple cheese, purple Popsicles, purple fish... you name it. 

December 2015

Christmas! Imagine being nearly 40 weeks pregnant over Christmas, and talking to a two-and-a-half year old about the baby in mommy's tummy, all the while trying to explain the miracle of Jesus Christ's birth. What is little Lexi going to do?

She's gonna name the baby Jesus, that's what!

December was lovely, the month during which Lexi's vocabulary all of the sudden exploded and she began speaking like crazy. When asked why the nail polish on her first fingers wears off so quickly, without skipping a beat, Lexi replied "I pick my nose!" We have the video to prove it and you can bet that video will be shown at her wedding. 

Lexi found particular joy this month in painting, and she painted many a Christmas gift. What talent! What mom doesn't say that about her toddler? Seriously, though, Lexi did come up with some pretty amazing creations for Auntie Kimmie and Vicki and Clem. 

We were fortunate enough to spend Christmas morning at home, in our Christmas jammies, unwrapping a ridiculous amount of presents. Daddy spoiled Mama with a beautiful bracelet, and Mama had a hop hat crocheted for Daddy. He still hasn't worn it yet, but Mama's sure an opportunity will arise in which he is proud to sport his new crazy green cap. 

Speaking of green, Lexi found a love for boogers this month. Yes, boogers. Her pointer finger became especially adept at sneakily digging for green gold. Mama tried painting Lexi's nails to discourage the nose picking, but it almost made it more obvious. When asked why her pointer fingers were missing polish, Lexi emphatically replied, "I pick my nose!" (There is video evidence of this; muahahaha!)

We had the pleasure of celebrating the birth of Jesus by going to Christmas Mass on Christmas Eve, then travelling to Medicine Hat Christmas morning to spend the day with Uncle Blake, Aunt Tanya, and Linkin. Granma, Papa, and Uncle Landon met us there, and we spent the morning opening presents - such a joyful occasion with two two-and-a-half year olds. Lexi, ask Mama and Daddy someday about the dinosaur Auntie and Uncle bought you...

October 2015

We were blessed with more beautiful weather this October, which meant lots of time outside, playing in the leaves (don't tell Daddy that Mommy left the pile of leaves without picking it up... resulting in dead grass... whoops.) We went for lots of walks and enjoyed the changing colours of the leaves in our yard. The Harterys came over for a nice fall walk, and Lexi loved pulling their dog along (well, I suppose it was more like Lexi got dragged along by a basset hound!)

For Thanksgiving, we went to Jenner and had a wonderful time with the entire Liboiron crew minus Uncle Landon. Uncle Louis joined is, and after he revealed his banana intolerance to everyone, Uncle Blake took it upon himself to continually refer to Louis as 'Banana Lou', a joke that kept popping upturn rest of the weekend. Blake even hid a banana in Louis' bed for him to find when it was time to hit the hay. Talk about commitment to a joke!

We were also introduced to"Pickles" during Thanksgiving, Linkin's favourite stuffie, a penguin that Lexi tried to snatch away at every seemingly opportune moment. And there were plenty. Lots of tears on both kids' part, too. If only sharing came a little bit more naturally to two year olds. 

With Halloween on its way, Mama and Lexi went to a nearby pumpkin patch where Lexi picked out a baby pumpkin and we went for a ride on a horse-drawn carriage. We also waited in line for a ludicrous amount of time for Lexi to have her face painted - she chose a cute green dinosaur. 

We spent the weekend before Halloween in Jenner, and dressed as butterflies for the costume contest. Lexi had picked out an adorable butterfly costume at Value Village, and Mama and Daddy found blow-up butterfly wings at Walmart. Lexi ended up winning a costume prize - she was definitely the cutest kid there (Mama's not biased at all!)

Finally, we spent Halloween evening carving three pumpkins - a kitty one, a dinosaur one, and one that said "Lexi". In an adorable turn of events, Lexi ended up playing with the dinosaur cut out until it started to rot a little bit and Mama threw it out. 

September 2015

What is it about busy months? Although there is so much going on, it seems like we just had so much time to enjoy our lovely little family of three this September. Mama was back to work, Daddy was super busy with harvest season, and Lexi had full days at Keeley's... but it was an amazingly fun month. Except for potty training.

Yes, potty training. Lexi, sweet, sweet, Lexi, you're just not interested. But we've come so far, it seems a sin to let you back into diapers full time, so we're sticking with it. We allowed you the last two weeks of August to go completely pantsless so hopping onto the potty wouldn't be that big of an ordeal for you. You even had a pee dance with Grandma, celebrating every time you made it to the potty in time to relieve yourself. At Keeley's house, you've been great, only sending home wet pants every few days. But at home with Mama and Daddy? You could care less! No diaper? Poop in the pants! Great! I can't tell you how many pairs of of panties I had to rinse out by hand. Yuck! Many people told me, "you're trained - she's not. She has her own agenda!" So my dear, I'm super proud of your ability to recognize the urge to go to the bathroom and use the potty the majority of the time, but I'm totally confused by your lack of concern about wetting or pooping yourself. Oh well, this too shall pass.

Maybe the whole potty issue isn't so cute, but your verbalizations make up for it (maybe.) When we ask you what a kitty says, you respond, "the meow!" Dinosaurs? "the roar!" Speaking of dinosaurs, we took a trip to the Calgary Zoo with Grandma, Papa, Auntie Tanya, Uncle Blake, and Cousin Link, where you made it pretty apparent that dinosaurs were not your favourite zoo animal. Those animatronic dinosaurs frightened you terribly, and you spent the 35 minutes it took us to get through the dinosaurs covering your ears and crying every time we approached a new dino. Uncle Blake held you the whole way, and you clung to him desperately. It was adorable and so, so sad at the same time. The rest of the animals seemed to make up for the awful dinosaur experience, especially the penguins. You and Link squealed every time a penguin swam up in front of you and flitted around. But those dinosaurs? No thank you.

Which is why I'm a little bit confused by your absolute obsession with dinosaurs now! Grandma gave you a stuffed dino that you sleep with every night, and you love a Netflix show called 'DinoTrux'. I don't get it. I love you and your little idiosyncracies. Other things we loved about you this month: that you're speaking in full sentences; your obsession with listening to Bible songs in the vehicle (although as the month went on, there was ONE song you'd listen to out of FORTY on your CD of Bible songs - the one with the train.) You're still loving books, especially Dr. Seuss books - and Daddy showed Mama an interesting strategy - let you turn the pages, and the book shortens because you skip so many. I'm not complaining - those books are long! We catch you picking your nose and eating it almost every day, and it's like you know it's not something you're supposed to be doing. You look at us coyly when we catch you, and it's adorable. At least you're building your immune system. I can't wait until you're 16 and you read this, rolling your eyes, exclaiming, "Moooom! I can't believe YOU WROTE THAT!" Muahaha. The cutest thing about you right now is how you pronounce certain words. I want to remember forever the adorable way you say "moon", "tuba", "marshmallow"... there's so many more. I pray that all the video I take of you never gets lost...

November 2015

"Play talk. Play talk!" This phrase was the hallmark of November, during which Lexi decided all of the sudden to abandon her love of independent play and engage those around her in a game involving whatever toy animal she thrust in your face, and "talking" - although she'd more often than not tell you you were doing it wrong. Mama panicked a little bit when this behaviour began, because a new baby was coming in a matter of months and she really appreciated Lexi's ability to play independently. So much for that. Adorably, Lexi called any fish "Nemo", and her favourite toys to play with were always "Nemo" and donosaurs - especially her purple Dino, which she won this past summer at the Rodeo fair. 

Lexi's vocabulary began exploding in November, resulting in a number of memorable words and phrases: "baboon" for balloon, "whatchu doing", and "maybe that one" were some of her favourites. She also used the word "both" when she really meant "all", insisting that "both" her babies needed to be moved from the bed to the living room, when she really meant ALL. All hundred or so stuffies. We quickly put boundaries around that one!

A special family moment this month was going to the Santa Claus parade. It was chilly out and the parade wasn't fantastic, but Lexi was such a trooper and we had lots of fun. 

August 2016

August was a cozy month, with beautiful sunny days that weren't too hot, and lots of fun activities. Lexi had her first "official" sports encounter as we joined the Brooks Gymnastics club for one week. Although there was a lot of trepidation at first, Lexi ended up loving most of it - especially the foam pit. She wasn't the biggest fan of being thrown into the pit, but she did love stacking the foam blocks one on top of the other. The slide captivated her from day one, but it wasn't until day 3 or 4 that she really began tackling it (as long as she had her Nemo with her.)

Not only did Lexi start gymnastics, she also made a surprisingly quick transition from her crib straight into her big girl bed. Not even the toddler bed we'd purchased for her - after a night of absolutely refusing to sleep in her crib, and a frustrated Mama deciding to just throw her in the guest room, the guest room quickly became Lexi's room. How is it fair that a two year old gets a more comfortable bed than her mom and dad? At least the transition wasn't difficult - Lexi loves her big girl bed and room!

Lexi also loves her "Bible", a CD of Bible songs given to her for her baptism by Auntie Clem and Vicki. Imagine Mama's surprise when Lexi showed her the CD case and exclaimed, "my Bible!" Sometimes, when Lexi wants to read, she'll pull out the CD insert and ask Mama or Daddy to read her her "Bible." Where these things come from, who knows... Mama's guessing some divine intervention on this one!

We got to spend lots of time with Uncle Louis and the Prins family, taking lots of walks and enjoying the less-scorching-than-July weather. One day, after watching Louis light up a cigarette, Toby asked Mama, "have you ever tried smoking?" and Mama truthfully answered, "yes." Shelly revealed a few days later that her son piped up at home, saying, "Mrs. Liboiron sure is lucky!" "Why?" inquired Shelly. "Because," stated Toby, matter-of-factly, "she never got addicted to cigarettes!"  ...from the mouths of babes. Or nine year olds.

The Liboiron family capped off a great August with a trip to the Jenner Rodeo grounds, where we camped for two nights and participated in the "Up in Smoke" barbeque competition. Well, Mama participated - she got to judge some delicious food and will be judging again next year! We camped beside Carl and Aiden Scheibner, and Lexi had a great time following Aiden around and bouncing on the bouncy castle. Shortly after Up in Smoke, it was back to work for Mama, with a bit more of a baby belly to show off.  Halfway through the pregnancy, feeling pretty decent, and excited for a few months of work before a new maternity leave!

July 2016

What. A. Scorcher. As beautiful as July 2015 was, we spent many days indoors, basking in the air conditioning - it's just been too hot and too dry to spend lots of time outside. We did have a few dates at the Duke of Sutherland splash pad, and a few swims at the Prins' new swimming pool, not to mention a couple of dips in our ever-deflating kiddie pool - but mostly, it's been a lazy indoor summer because it's just too darn hot! Not to complain - we'd rather this hot weather than a dry -30 - but sometimes, it's just too hot.

The beginning of July was exciting for all of us because Uncle Louis drove all the way from Ottawa to live with us for a few months. Lexi loved seeing her uncle from the moment he arrived, and clear as day began excitedly asking "where Louis? Where Louis?" If we had ever been concerned about her ability to pronounce names, it was completely squelched with her pronunciation of "Louis" - clear as day. Louis quickly secured work at JBS, and found an apartment with Shelly's brother Stew - all answers to prayers. God is good! Especially good is His timing - we would have never believed it if it didn't happen to us: on Saturday night, at 4:30 in the morning (so I guess Sunday morning), Louis ran upstairs and woke us up, exclaiming that the basement was flooding. Our regional water hose mysteriously (and impossibly) became unattached - and if Louis hadn't have been sleeping in the basement, we wouldn't have known for at least another 3 hours when Lance woke up - by which time our basement would have been under at least 3 feet of water. Thank God Louis was in the basement, helping us to avert a huge crisis! The cleanup wasn't even that bad. It was a pretty comical hour and a half of our lives, waiting for a Regional Water representative to come shut off our access, during which Louis was holding the hose toward the basement window, watching gallons and gallons of water pour out. We did manage to get a few laughs out of the entire situation.

In baby news, our little pickle is now 17 weeks along in Mama's belly and is twisting and turning up a storm, mostly in the evenings when Mama lies down to sleep. July has been an exhausting month pregnancy-wise, and many naps have been had, not to mention a lack of nutritious meals. Even Daddy exclaimed, "I'm getting fat because my wife isn't cooking!" There are too many excuses not to cook - it's too hot out, I'm too pregnant and I'm having too many food aversions. Honestly, this baby has been sucking the life out of Mama - she's feeling pretty down and out. Maybe returning to school in a month and getting back into routine will be helpful - shame on Mama for even thinking about that! Time to capitalize on the rest of vacation time!

Mama finished a two-week run of Tumbleweed Theatres Shakespeare in the Park, a western rendition of Romeo and Juliet. It was so much fun to get involved in community theatre again, although the pulls of an outside commitment were very trying. It will probably be a few years again before Mama gets involved in any more theatre.

Lexi is chattering away, her vocabulary increasing so much that others are pointing it out. One of her favourites new words is "goggles" - pronounced "gumgumgumgumgum." We spent the last weekend of July at Lake McGregor with the Hopfs and both Daniels families - Lexi's entire weekend was spent with a pair of goggles on her forehead. She loved bouncing on the inflated tube, telling Dada "nigh night," encouraging him to close his eyes, and bouncing down to wake him up.

July has been a tough month, but it's been a lot of fun. Praise be for all the blessings we encounter every day!