have we continued to look after our flower bed that Mat's dad planted?

Thank you flower model.  haha

 Three days last week Dylan refused to nap.  He stayed in his room for 2 hours each time.  The first day, this is the shambles I encountered....

Bed fully stripped of bedding and stuffies....

 Stuff ALL over....

Where did the book and teddy bear baskets go??  Their contents appear to be dumped out all over....

Ah -ha- they were used as props to help Dylan reach things... like the light....

Even Diego looks stunned at the destruction.....

Day 4- he slept.

BUT, Sunday evening after 3 days of no naps- Dylan had a horrible night terror.  Poor little boo.

We are not ready for him to cut out naps...and apparently his body isn't either...despite what he thinks !

cuz that's how we roll in this house....

Naked

Cereal

Eating

B

4

Bed.

Pls excuse my crappy photos... long story short- my camera has to go back to the shop again.  Yes- it's new.  Yes-it was expensive. Yes- it shouldn't be.  But it is.

Dylan always refers to himself as a "big boy".  Sometimes when you call his name, he even says "no- big boy"

He certainly has grown.  This is Dyl and Daddy on Dylan's birth- day.

We are on the downward slide to being 3 now.  Won't be long.

But every once and a while, our little boy emerges....

Our little "big boy"

And just for comparison sake....

Dylan greeted Mat this morning in bed by saying

"HAPPY DADDY DAY"

it was the closest we could get since the word father means nothing to him.

We went out for breakfast which was nice.  Mat asked Dylan if it was "Daddy's day" and of course Dylan said

 "NO"

So since that- he keeps saying it's

" Dylan's Day"

Guess E V E R Y single day is

Dylan's Day.

Happy Daddy's day from Dylan to everyone.

I hate to beg you-- yes YOU ! for comments, but if you read my posts, I challenge you in the next month to comment just once.  After lots of thought and prep goes into each entry, I wonder what's the point?  Who's reading it?  (I know grandparents are) but it's nice to hear from people- to know what they think, what pics they like, what they notice, etc.)  It's so easy to comment.

At the bottom of each entry it will say a # (usually) 0 comments.  You click that.  You write your comment, click the drop down that says.  You can chose to comment as anonymous, or you can click name, and just type your name. 

So there is your challenge.

How we spent our anniversary

--at a Donkey Refuge !  Spare me the comments and jokes about going to see donkeys on our anniversary.   I'm sure there could be lots of well thought out jokes. (I won't even go there)

But in all seriousness, it was really cool, and although Dylan took while to warm up to the donkeys, he enjoyed himself, and finally decided to start petting them.  It's a great place out in turtle valley- not too far from Kamloops.

If you know us, you know we are animal lovers, and the donkeys have the cutest faces, and the sweetest dispositions.  Except Jose- a new mini donkey who has decided he's in charge of the other donkeys... really funny.  He put another donkey in his place before everyone arrived- I forget the name of the donkey that lost his rank to Jose, but needless to say, he looked a bit sheepish.

(if a donkey can look sheepish)

First some humour, and then more pics of our adventure.

Our Saturday night with the RCMP in whistler

May long weekend in Whistler....

Saturday we did the typical tourist thing.... took bad photos in good locations.

Had Dylan ride a cow for a cheesey photo-op.

Had a lovely dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory

(I love their pasta)

And after dinner, Mat and I took the opportunity to head back into town (a 5 min walk) to enjoy the night life.  We don't get out much, so to us night life starts at about 8 pm, and basically means nachos on a patio.  We were back at the hotel by 11pm.  In the morning Mat's parents asked how our night was. 

We shared that we had ended the evening in the company of the Whistler police. 

It's true.....

Ok, picking up on the story....

Sooooooo we did indeed spend the last part of the evening with the RCMP.

BUT

for once it wasn't something Mat did

(just kidding on that)

So, one thing we didn't know, is that May long weekend in Whistler is the biggest party for teens next to New Years Eve.  Police were out in force- the pubs were steady- but the pedestrian streets of Whistler were crazy busy with drunk, loud, obnoxious, horribly dressed teens there to celebrate grade 12 graduation.

Ohhh Joy.

Didn't bring my camera- but I should have.  It was madness !  Seriously elbow to elbow with drunk teens.  We witnessed a horrible fight amongst where one guy got knocked to the ground by a very scary crazed teen.  Long story short, we told the police we witnessed it and could identify the guy, and wandered around with them trying to find him.  We couldn't locate him- which in some ways I'm glad about because I know my first thought was testifying months down the road, and knowing what it's like to be a witness in court- I didn't want to do that again.

So needless to say- if Dylan ever asks to go to Whistler for grad.

NOT A CHANCE !

Whistler

Mat and I had never been to Whistler, but had always wanted to go because we generally love anywhere in the mountains.

Mat's parents hadn't been either, so on the May long weekend (this will become important later) we took a trip there.

 The weather was great the first day, and iffy the others.  We still got outside and walked and walked... and walked.  Dylan must have walked a good 5 km the second day- and never complained once.  In fact loved it.  Guess the walking gene does get passed down.(we know who to thank for that)

 I had intended on bringing my book and sitting on a chair here for some peaceful reading/people watching- but the weather didn't cooperate.

We saw two bears around town.  Before we left Mat was thinking of ways for us to move to Whistler...

Never know....anyone have jobs for us?

It is a beautiful place.



Random Grannie/Grandad's Visit

Nurse Grannie, Doctor Dylan, Sick Patient Barney.

After the patients were attended to, they were thrown off the couch and told "Bye-bye"

He really has to work on his bedside manner if this is something he wants to pursue.



Nurse Grannie taking her work VERY seriously...



Better bedside manner with Diego



Dancing in Whistler

Just came out of no where- Dylan dancing to a stupid song I made up while eating... he thought it was the funniest thing EVER !

It was too big to load here, so you have to go see it on youtube... follow the link....it's really cute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juB2nPOM-9w

AND for more dancing....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EnIQCA5skU

Ohhh he's so cute !!!

Whistler out take

Hey fool-

get out of my shot, I'm trying to capture your artful display of supermarket salads...haha

Missing....

Next week I'll be blogging about Grannie and Grandad's visit. 

Including our trip to Whistler.

BUT

today something else has come up.

Dylan has been sick for the last 3 days-

he woke up with a barking cough that hasn't gone away. 

Sometimes he coughs so hard he throws up. 

He's sleeping with me, and waking every hour. 

He's fighting Tylenol. 

He won't let me take his temperature

although I'm sure he's had a fever on and off. 

During the day he's

touchy

crabby

and

easily cries. 

I think the illness

and

the combination

 of the house being so quiet

is a bit much for him this week.

He's randomly asks about Grannie and Grandad. 

He refers to Grannie's spot in the car,

and asked me to draw Grandad today. 

I asked him if he wanted soup today-

he said for Grannie too?

We went to Walmart last night,

he asked if Grannie could come too.

It was similar when we left Calgary. 

 He said he didn't want to go home,

he wanted to stay at Grandma's house. 

When we asked him if he'd like to go to gymnastics

 (which he loves)

he said "no, Grandma's house"

 

He's lonely. 

He wants me to play with him every second of the day. 

He cries if I'm doing something and and can't come. 

 He says "please mommy play,play, play" 

Like he's begging. 

Because he's older, this transition from leaving both sets of Grandparents is much harder. 

He has the capacity to understand now what is happening, but it also makes it harder.

 

Poor little boo.

Makes me sad that he's so lonely.

We've completed our foster parent assessment and are approved.  I think having a foster child will be good for Dylan. 

But I do wonder, especially in light of this week, how will he adjust if/when the child leaves?

<sigh>

morphing into a big boy

I've been editing photos on photoshop and re-organizing photos now that I have an external hard drive to store all my photos on. 

This was one in a series of shots I took of Dylan.

He's so photogenic- he's so cute ( I know I'm bias)

He'll be 2 1/2 years old at the end of June.

We are heading towards 3.

How can that be?

T-H-R-E-E ?

Really?

Hold on

Let me do the math...

Yup.

If that's not startling enough, this picture, of our beautiful baby boy is.  When I see it I feel like I'm looking years and years into the future. 

Into a time when he goes to school.

When he picks his friends.

When he won't hold my hand anymore.

When he goes out to play- without me.

When he doesn't mispronounce words.
When he doesn't call me "mah-ee".
When we actually miss changing diapers.
When we miss little boy snuggles.
When he doesn't cry little boy tears.

When he knows more about science than I do.

When he doesn't think the world revolves around our little family.

When he is really a BIG boy.

This picture is almost like a computer composite of what he's going to look like in years time. 

It's wonderful, weird, beautiful, and kinda sad.

Our little boy is really growing up.

(insert squeaky voice that instructs you he is a BIG boy !)

And the next picture in the sequence.... back to looking like our little boy.  Weird.

Last 7 weeks re-cap

We were in Calgary......

I did some photo shoots that were awesome !  The boudoir marathon was my favorite !  I'm always surprised that I enjoy that style of photography so much, but I really do !

Dylan played with his cousins and tried to hug and kiss and cuddle them- sometimes successfully, sometimes not. 

He's become such a huggy little guy. 

When he was little he wasn't affectionate.

We persisted.

We hugged.

He fought.

We kissed.

He pulled away.

We cuddled.

He ewwed.

We finally broke him !  (haha) He's given in and become such a huggy lovely little guy- it's awesome.

 He spent lots of time with Grandma and Grandpa.

(why he more helpful in their kitchen,

and more destructive in my kitchen?)

Mmmmmm Peanut Butter Lid

 Kendra visited... we did what we do best- watched trashy TV- this time on the computer. 

<disaster date !>

(who took this pic by the way?  I don't remember it being taken)

Diego "graced" my parents with his presence.  I don't think my mom felt too graced when he licked her freshly made pan of rice krispie squares.

Whoops !

When we came home I don't think Sasha felt "graced" by his presence either.... can we say battle for dominance?

Break out the vacuum, cuz the fur really flew !!

....... to be continued tomorrow.

When I was a kid, I can barely remember anyone staying at our house.  If they did, where did they sleep?  Not a clue.  Family from Medicine Hat must have stayed at our house- only I don't remember.

Because Mat and I live in a city where we have NO family, we have people stay with us regularly.  In the time we've lived in this house, the "guest" bedroom has changed location three times.  After having Mat's parents here for a month, it got me thinking...what kind of hosts are we?

I always wonder, were they warm enough?  Did they have enough to eat at supper?  Did they feel comfortable to help themselves if they were hungry?  Did they think my bathroom was dirty?  Did they notice that I don't sweep my floors enough?  Did they notice that sometimes the litter is really really stinky?  Did they get stuck watching crap they would never watch on tv at night?  Did we do enough things?  Did we sit around the house too much?  Did we go out too much and spend too much money on "stuff"  (lunches, dinners, activities, etc)  Did we take advantage of a guest's generosity?  And in general, did they feel WELCOME in our home.

Some of those things matter a lot, and some don't.  (sorry bout the cat litter, we really can't do much more- it's the curse of three cats)  We don't send out comment cards, we don't give frequent lodging coupons or discounts, and most people are too kind to say that you or your place sucks.... so how do you really know?

Maybe I do need comment cards.... Dear: Guest- thank you for staying at Ziebart-Cook enterprises, please complete this quick survey and in return you will be rewarded with.....


Endless kisses from this face.

Ohhhh Hello !  Remember me? 

I'm back to blogging after an extended break to indulge in "grand-fest 2011"  The biggest grandparent festival to hit Dylan's life !  almost 7 weeks of uninterrupted grandparent fun !  Grandfest began in Calgary with my parents for 2 1/2 weeks of uninterrupted fun.  It hit it's height with a special one of a kind 4 for the price of 2 Grandparent weekend.  We picked up Mat's parents in Calgary and Dylan had all 4- yes 4 grandparents at once.  Which I actually think is pretty amazing cool experience for Dylan considering none of us live in the same city.

We had to take advantage of this event. 

It's been a while since I blogged- busy busy

(more to come about that later)

Dylan was very fortunate to have both sets of grandparents together in Calgary this month, so a photo shoot was in order.  I know these will be photos he will cherish for many many years.