a week later

cooking, drawing, baking with Charlie Chicken and outside in the fall sun

What a week it's been! Bowmanville was amazing - fall was fully settling in to bid us farewell, and here in Vancouver, after a full on full day of rain yesterday, the sun is shining - yay! So, I'll work from east to west on these updates. This past week was full of family, packing, food and little outings. Hendrik loved going through the back yard and between the trees to Watson's with Grandma, but wasn't so enthused about toddler play gym in Newcastle. Story time and early morning activities (camping, canoeing, fishing) with Gramma and Gramps upstairs was always a highlight (for both of us), and cuddling under the afghan downstairs for stories at any time of the day was also amazing. The week for me is a bit of a blur - in between feeding Alana and catching sleep and thinking about packing and packing, it all blends together. We had an awesome Thanksgiving dinner last Sunday, and delicious leftovers throughout the week; plus a pumpkin cheesecake for Ralph's birthday on Thursday and my favourite best-ever muffins all week (food food food - this part is somehow less blurry). Alana had some good nights and some bad ones, but is making some progress towards a predictable routine, which is nice for me. Feeding is getting better, finally; I can't wait until it's easy-breezy.

family!

doing some practicing with Gramps - good form!

I got a few bags packed up on Friday, and everything else at the last minute on Saturday afternoon. We ended up with three max-weight bags and two carry-ons; thankfully we didn't have to lug the car seats out west... I felt like we were traveling at capacity as it was. Ralph and Barb and the kids and I folded ourselves into our car, along with alllll of the stuff, and we made it to the airport in plenty of time to unload, get through security and arrive at the gate with both kids and nothing (that I know of) lost. The plane trip wasn't bad, but it's because we got lucky with an extra seat - wait, more because I got lucky with Barb traveling with us (the toddler whisperer?) and an extra seat - and I sat beside the nicest man who was into talking baby and toddler talk the whole time. He has a 2 1/2 year old and is hoping for a baby girl next, so he held Alana (smiles ear to ear) and talked about his son's favourite toys and apps and asked about feeding and all things A-Z, from pregnancy to early baby days. Alana slept some and didn't fuss much when she was awake, and Hendrik stayed busy with aunt until sleep took him just before we landed. It seemed long, the door to door trip, but really it's just a warm-up for Beijing... that is going to be a long trip (it's a 12-hour flight). And get this! So when I called to book for the infants (for Vancouver-Beijing), I tried booking the bassinet - there's a spot for it at the bulkhead BUT... those seats are now for sale - $120. And the bassinet spot on our flight has already been sold! So much for that idea. I want to write Air Canada and complain about the lack of customer service (the dollar comes first), but haven't, as of yet, found the time.

So here we are! Hendrik has adjusted to the time change already, and Alana is getting there - sleeping maybe a bit too much in the day, and not quite enough in the night... but that'll come around I suppose, some time in the next few months. Until then, I can only dream about eight hours of sleep...

Alana's first flight! Six weeks old