Our Family & Our Life

Dear Diary, Our little munchkin is 7 months old today! She is a little monkey, rolling all over the place. My dad taught her to "cough" or fakeys as I call it. Dad just walks into the room and she starts "coughing". Silly girl! The introduction of solid food to her diet is improving as well. A couple of weeks ago spoon feeding all of sudden clicked and now she can't enough. Her little mouth opens like a bird, it's so cute. She has mastered cereal (organic brown rice) and vegetables. I would introduce fruit but I don't have any in the house at the moment so the next time I go to the grocery store, I'll buy a few jars. Eating solids is a messy business though. Every night I soak carrot stained bibs and pants sprinkled in peas. Yuck! She is also 50/50 sitting ~ sometimes she can do it and other times not. She's working on her balance and just like eating solids, one day it will click. The picture below shows her ability to crawl - not quite the

Dear Diary, Our Oma has been blest with 95 years today! Truly something to celebrate.. As family, we got together on Sunday night at the home of my cousin Greta and her husband Ed's house. Apparently on the way home to Mount Nemo, Oma kept saying she had a wonderful time and she'll never forget it - so there you go, isn't that all that matters?! Here are some photos from the party - BTW, good thing those Aussie's couldn't come over because we would've run out of cake... what a disaster that would've been!! (ha,ha, just kidding, it would've been lovely to have all of you with us). The birthday girl with one of her great-granddaughters, the prettiest one by far!!! In my head, I have counted 34 great-grandchildren and more expected... Some of those 34 great-grandchildren.... Marg, Me, Oma and Mom - aren't we stunning!? A few lovely grand-daughters -- 4 out of the 24 grandkids (2 called Home), at least I think there are 24 of us. Oh yes, for those

Dear Diary, Isla celebrated her 6 month birthday yesterday! Born on a Sunday and now she celebrated her "birthday" on a Sunday! How times flies as they say. This is the one time in her life when she is allowed to triple her weight but then if you start life at just over five pounds it doesn't take long to triple! She stills has just the one tooth. Her little cheeks are really pink but when we check it's still just the one. It's good thing she has at least one tooth 'cause she's been getting solid food now for four days! Rice cereal isn't her favourite - I give her the bottle to wash it down but she's doing OK. I'll try pureed vege in a couple of days. This is her first taste of solid food - she did really well and even opened her mouth for another bite - but after that it's become a bit of struggle. And her birthday lunch on Sunday of rice cereal. Still not that tasty but thankfully her bottle was around to wash it down. Mom found

Dear Diary, Isla is 21.5 weeks or 5 months old today!! She's doing well and yes, she really is an easy and happy baby even though the photo's may not indicate so. For some reason I had trouble getting a smile out of her this morning. She sleeps well, eats well and loves her daddy. Colin just walks into the room and she smiles and giggles. She is still petite for her age (but lately getting taller) and developmentally she is right on schedule. A few weeks ago she kept waking up at 5 a.m. and we thought we would start her on solids but the "experts" say to wait until 6 months so we reconsidered and I'm glad we did because now she sleeps through until 7 or 7:30 a.m. no problem. Her mommy is much happier and rested as well! We can't wait to see what new things she'll be doing and learning at 6 months old!

Dear Diary, 37 and a few more grey hairs.. As of 11.20pm last night I officially aged another year, and I must say over the last few weeks I can feel it. Ever since my nephew Matthew asked me to play 11-a-side football in Ontario I have realised that either I have to give up or get going to the gym. I have no excuse though as there's a free one about 100 yards away from my bed.. :) Anyway just wanted to say thankyou for all of you guys who left a happy birthday comment on the blog, it was much appreciated. Also to Merlin and Janet who sent me an ecard and the folk at Metro taxis who got me a cake and were all gathered together to surprise me with it. Mum and Dad Vandenberg, thankyou for the birthday card, and whether it said Son in Law or Son makes no difference to me, I know what you mean and feel very thankful that you see me as a son.. Heather, Isla and I went out last night to a Sushi restaurant, even though Heather's not all that fond of Sushi. But we had a nice evening an

Dear Diary, Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband! We are very thankful and blessed for having you in our lives....

Dear Diary, Just an update on the days of our lives here in Waterdown. We're still doing a bit of visiting and Isla is enjoying all the cuddles and hugs she gets. Of course, the sparkles in her big blue eyes and that little cheeky smile are enough to melt your heart. I could look at her all day but then I might be a bit biased! My cousin Fran Geurts came by last week for a nice chat. I haven't seen Fran since I left 3 years ago and we had a nice visit. Fran and her family used to live in Burlington and she used to come times to watch Sue Thomas FB Eye a few times. I also went to visit my friend Elsa last Friday morning. We had a nice chat and her daughter Katelyn thoroughly enjoyed having another girl around the house. Poor Katelyn has three brothers!!! When we arrived in Canada we brought our British car seat with us, however, they are illegal to use in Canada. Mom and I have been on a car seat search and to date we bought two, not that I need two but anyways a long story shor

Dear Diary, Isla is 12 weeks old today! Any parent would tell you time goes fast and I would certainly agree. I weighed her today and according to my calculations, she weighs 13 lbs. 6 ozs. and sleeps 8 to 9 hours every night. This afternoon I put her on her playmat - she likes to "hit" Pooh Bear and Tigger or at least look at them dangling in front of her - and she was wide awake when I went upstairs. When I came down again, this is what I saw... ...ahh, isn't she adorable, fast asleep! Being little is tiring work. The nice thing about her sleeping is that she wakes up again and this is what I see.... .... she's all smiles! .... and more smiles..... We just love her to bits and can't wait to show her off soon in Canada. Our flights have been booked from Dublin to Toronto on 22 May which is less than two weeks away!! We still have loads of little things to organize and pack. Whoever picks us up from the airport, I'm warning you all now, bring at least t

Dear Diary, I guess the correct heading of this post should be week 6 of Isla's young life, shouldn't it? Anyways, which ever week it is, she is doing well. Last week Thursday was a memorable day for us as she gave her mom and dad her first smile (if you speak to her Oma, she'll say she had one at week 2 but that is just her wishful thinking!). It was a half smile but she has since figured out how to move her entire mouth when she wants too. They are still few and far between and the best time to possibly see one is when she is about half way through her bottle. She is becoming more and more alert with longer awake periods when we have some very interesting "conversations" as was happening in the photo below. She loves to hold hands with her mom.... Colin was off work yesterday and we decided to go for a short drive because Isla likes to get out and see the spring lambs. This is not a happy face -- her lamb was just born and she was being very protective Ahhh, ba

Dear Diary, The beginning of week four of our darling daughter's life saw her being baptized! Our own minister has been off ill for quite some time so we were concerned that we wouldn't be able to have her baptized at Gardenmore but in Colorado. The minister from 1st Larne Presbyterian was assigned to be in our church yesterday so the opportunity was available for which we are very thankful. We had a lovely day however Nanny Black couldn't attend as she is ill and had to be hospitalized yesterday. We pray that soon she may be well enough to come home to her family. Isla Jennifer Black wearing her daddy's baptismal gown My cousin Marie Vandenberg is back in N. Irleand for a few days and was able to join us for this happy occasion. We wish Marie well as she moves to Scotland later this week. Jenna Black with Isla Erin couldn't wait to hold her little cousin! Amy also did a great job of holding Isla and perhaps a future babysitter for her! Today is also a bi

Dear Diary, I have been wanting to update the blog for quite some time but just never got to it so tonight I have put Isla (pronounced EYE'la) to sleep in our bedroom and I have her bedroom (and computer room) to do work on the computer. Isla is a good baby but she is easily woken up so I figure this is the best way for both of us. Let me tell you about her first 3 weeks of life..... Well, as many of you probably know, I had pregnancy induced hypertension from about 34 weeks onwards. Even with five weeks off work before her expected due date, not much changed and it continued to go and up and down right to the end and even after her birth! At 39 weeks a midwife was at the house and my BP was well over 100 so she was obligated to call the hospital to see what they wanted to do with me. I was told to come in with an overnight bag as they wanted to monitor me for the next 24 hours. That was Valentines day and by Saturday, I was going stir crazy in the maternity ward so I asked the doc

Dear Diary, The arrival of Isla Jennifer Black took place this Lord's Day 17th Feb 2008 at 10.20am. She weighed in at a mere 5lbs 4ozs, but mother always told me good goods arrive in small bulk. That's all for now......... The Black Family..