Cate on a Sunday morning

Cate and her Daddy sorting out all the seaglass that we've collected over the summer...green, white, brown, and most rare, blue.














What shall we do with all this seaglass?

Post from October 2009 - Dead flies and lobsters

Cate is running around the house, obsessed with the "dead flies" that appear on the floor by the sliding glass doors and windows. Phonetically, or in Cate speak, it's "DEH FOIEE!! DEH FOIEE!! MOM Deh Foieee..." I don't know where they keep coming from but they get in the screen doors and produce a million little maggotty progeny and then, again, dead flies everywhere. Part of coastal country living.

A few weeks ago we found an enormous lobster, very dead, blue dead - although I thought they were blue when alive and red when cooked. Maybe this one was in the process of expiring and we could have saved it. Instead we feared it. It was too big for words, our imagination wasn't big enough for the largeness of this lobster. I'm not even exaggerating, it was gigantic, what lobster legends are created from. It's claws were the size of Rob's hands, I bet it weighed 10 pounds. And see, if I had taken a picture I could show you - but like all legends there is no photo. Rob thought it inappropriate - I wanted to bring it home and pickle it for posterity, I thought its accomplishment at living so long and so large should be shared, awed. And we would have been the talk of the shore for years. Earlier in the summer Cate and I found a beautiful little baby lobster, red and very alive, trotting between sandbars. It was adorable and tiny and having fun - I felt momentarily awful at how much I had been enjoying eating lobster rolls recently. When we told our young friends who were playing further down the beach and collecting all things sea creatury - minnows, snails, hermit crabs - the yelps began and the hunt was on for the baby lobster. We never found the baby lobster, but what fun we had frolicking in the shallow tidal waters searching for it.

Chloe's first teeth

It's funny how some little things, no matter how predictable and how common can be cause for such celebration and wanting to share with the world: Today Chloe's first two bottom teeth cut through and we were giddy as schoolgirls about it.

I guess it's partly all the anticipation and the buildup of those first two teeth...will she teethe for two weeks or four months? Will she be very cranky or take it in stride? Turns out she's exactly the same as Cate was teething - and I suppose as all babies - the fiery red cheeks, the super-drool, the red red bum, the aching in her gums...keeping us awake beyond our ability to remain sane... and then, finally, gratefully, the sharp little ridges - teeth!

And a selfish Halleluja as tonight we might sleep longer than a three hour stretch!

I try to remind myself how fleeting this all is and how fast it goes, especially when I feel the sleep deprivation resentment building - it's so hard to control and so understandable - the remedy couldn't be simpler and yet so out of reach. Sleep. Elusive, blissful sleep.

Chloe...the first 6 months

Here are some photos of Chloe - she is beautiful and we are falling in love with her more and more everyday. Cate is embracing her role as big sister and loves it when she can help take care of Chloe. Chloe revels in the attention.

Chloe Day 1 - May 13, 2009











Chloe at about 2 months


























Chloe at 3 months









4 months...giggle giggle









5 months


















...and 5 1/2 months.

We signed for our house!

It's a done deal and we move in to our new (old) house on December 21, 2009! We are very excited and can hardly wait - less than two months to go. Our house is in the lovely town of Sackville, New Brunswick, just a few kilometers from the border with Nova Scotia.
The house was originally built in the 1890s and was renovated almost completely in the 1980s by the present owners; they did a really good job and have meticulously maintained the house ever since. Some of the charm includes hard and soft wood floors throughout, original pressed tin ceiling, custom kitchen, a second staircase from the master bedroom directly to the kitchen, and the perennial gardens. Did we say that we were pretty excited??

Here are some photos...

This is the backyard, and the fields beyond have pastures for sheep, cattle and horses...very nice.







Rob in our new kitchen to be.








One of the three bedrooms; we also have a second sitting/living room that will be used as a guest room/movie room.







We are also very much looking forward to having visitors!

September and October Cate and Chloe

Well, here we are and two months have passed since the last post...I intended to post an update every week but I still think I can accomplish more than I actually can...

Starting back in late August we celebrated Cate's 2nd birthday with Joel and Jordana (they were here for a week from Toronto) and Grammy Jude. We had fun and ate chocolate cake, of course!

Following her birthday Cate started at a new daycare in Bathurst, just a couple of days a week to hang out with some kids her age - boy did we luck out with a fabulous daycare called Club des amis. The caregivers are warm and gentle and all completely bilingual; the kids are all so well behaved and happy and rested... Anyway Cate has a ball when she 's there; I saw a little boy at daycare doing a backwards walk with rap moves and making those rap sounds that result in a lot of spitting, well Cate came home doing the same moves the other day, and has been imitating it all week - the down low crouch with bent knees and arms a-swingin' like a monkey and the pffft phhfffftt pftpft, again with lots of saliva in the mix.



They had a Halloween party last week and she dressed up in a little purple tutu with a leotard and was a dancer - of course she had a backup wonder woman costume on underneath - that does truly explain Cate: gentle and fiersome, ballerina and superhero. Aside from daycare and rapping and dancing, she is completely obsessed with sailboats - we've been showing her some videos of the various Volvo Ocean Race clips and she is truly awed and I think inspired - she talks about Grandpa John's sailboat almost everyday...

Chloe is a love, her personality and character are emerging more and more and she is really a gigglepuss, she's fairly anxious to go straight to walking, but being only 5 1/2 months, she'll have to wait a bit longer! She is very, very tall and lovely, her complexion is much more fair than Cate's b ut you can tell they are sisters. She loves to sit up and look around but her favourite time is when we are interacting with her, she just loves to have a face right there for her to gaze at and tickle and grab. Cate has gracefully accepted her sister's permanent state in our family and Chloe glows with glee when Cate plays with her.














That's all for now...next post will have news of our new house!

Visits with the Digby's

The Digby's from Peterborough and Brampton,
friends of Adam's, had the cottage for a week and
we had the pleasure of spending some time with
them - what a fun and fabulous family! The
sandbars were out, we ate excellent food, and
listened to Trevor play music. Scotch was
imbibed and cigars were smoked, Risk was
played, and there was much laughter all around. We hope you guys
come back next summer!

August 22 - Vic's visit

Vic and her beautiful girls, Ainsley and Anna, came all the way from Saltspring Island BC to see us on the east coast - we loved having them here! They stayed with us at Janeville and the weather was perfect.




We painted rocks we collected from the beach, ate homemade popsicles, ran around in the nuddie...








Shennanigans with Cate's Grandma Judy, and lots of generally "crazy silliness!" Fun times girls we can't wait til our next visit!


Oh and of course...the hairdo! Anna and Ainsley worked tirelessly on their creation.








We'll miss you - thank you for such a wonderful visit!

August 17th - Youghall with Dad and Doris

I took the girls to the cottage for a weekend with Dad (Grandpa John) and Doris (Oma Doris). We had perfect weather and the sandbars were lovely - we sailed, ate, and played.



Rob joined us for 2 days. And we had an excellent Scrabble game with Carolyn and Bud.





Cate loves the water - it is pure bliss for her and the jellyfish too, she just loves those jellyfish. We have now instituted the rule of lifejacket always in the water though - she just loves to go straight out...no fear of the depth. She loves Getaway and had a nice little nap under Grandpa's lifejacket while he WD-40'd all possible bits.

Janeville - August 11, 2009

We're currently based at Mom's place in Janeville, NB (pic left). Our plan is to spend the summer here with visits to the Youghal cottage, and take day trips to the southern part of the province to find a house. Since Rob works from home he has lots of flexibility and I am on maternity leave until next April - so we have some time to find just the right place for our little family, with lots of room to accommodate visits from friends and family.


On the sunny days we spend time down at the beach here in Janeville - 48 steps down to the water - or over at Youghal to play on the sandbars or have a sail with Dad in his fantastic little Hobie Cat. (Dad is teaching me to sail, thus the super light wind conditions...and seeing as I still have trouble with left and right, you can imagine my confusion with starboard and port...never mind - we'll have it up on one rail by end of summer!)



Cate unequivocally loves the water and is not dismayed in the least by the hundreds of jellyfish that were out this year - she just walked right through them and stuck her hands in the curious purple jelly, completely immune to the stings from the tentacles that attached to her arms and legs. She is just beautiful to watch explore the Chaleur Bay sandbars and creatures.




Chloe is simply growing - what can I say, other than that! She is a fantastic little (big) eater, and loves it whenever someone - anyone!- has time to spend with her. She smiles so easily and just seems to float about . She is calm and getting giggly. We are so happy we have our girls!




More soon!

Intro - August 10, 2009

Hi!

We'll post updates of our family news on this blog, and especially include some photos of the girls.

Enjoy and thanks for keeping in touch!

Courtney, Rob, Cate and Chloe