Canmore Here We Come...Here We Are Actually

I know, I know...I'm suppose to be posting more often. Well I am sorry. We have been more then a little busy this week. To make up for it I will post lots of photos (I would've anyway).

Let's see...Monday I drove 9.5 hours from Saskatoon to Canmore. It took much longer as it was raining for all of the trip except the last 2.5 hours. So to say the least it sucked. Dunkelzahn was suppose to be sedated...which I interpreted to mean sleeping...he was only drowsy for the trip. This meant he still meowed but not as loudly. It wasn't too bad. It did smell a little like damp cat but I can deal with that. I arrived late in the evening on Monday and had to get all sorts of things ready quickly. I had to unpack the car, organize the material, grocery shop, and eat. I did all this and ended up going to sleep around 10pm. So I didn't do too bad. The next morning I drove to Calgary and went to the airport to pick up Dinara and Daddy. Dinara looked very surprised when I was waiting for them in arrivals. This is to be expected...Mommy wasn't on the plane what is she doing here now. Very cute.

For the remaining time we have been chilling out. I have driven to Calgary twice and determined how long it will take me to get to work each day. I have to find some people to commute with...it will cost me $30 per day to drive. Just a tad expensive. Oh well...we aren't paying rent so this can be our rent money. Our friend Trevor is visting us right now. He is having a great time just relaxing with us. Uncle Trevor has also been a big hit to Dinara...she just loves his cooking! We do too! Tonight it is a marinated chicken breast with pesto pasta for our main course. Yummy! Well enough chatting here are the photos.


Nana and Opa's Canmore condos with the addition of the new TV. Doesn't it look great!


Same but now you can see the new cat condos too.


Dinara in her Nike pink suit. She looks like a little Anna Kornikovia (spelling?) doesn't she?


Dinara running around on the new floors. Have you noticed her hair yet? Yep she had a hair cut. We just couldn't wait any longer for our friend in Edmonton (translation Mommy couldn't get to Edmonton anytime soon and baby needed a hair cut).


Dinara playing with one of her favorite toys...the blocks Nana and Opa bought her in Saskatoon. She also loves a Grama and Grampa toy...her pot and wooden spoon.


Happy Canada Day! Dinara's first Canada day...I think she shows good Canadian spirit. She is at her first Canada Day parade...well actually her first parade end statement.


Trevor watching the parade. I didn't get one of his face...whoops. I'll try later today to accomplish this.


Clown number one...it said Jerque du Soleil on his back.


Second clown of the parade. This one had a moving pink flamingo puppet. Very cute.


Shriner's new cars. These are much cooler. I think Opa will agree.


Dinara is one cool little girl...thanks to Aunt Heather's and Uncle Kat's gift of the No Zone suit. We love it! Andrew refers to it as her superhero outfit. It worked really well this hot Canada Day. This suit means that we don't have to put sunscreen on her (except her face, hands, and feet). We made the sunglasses fit by putting the strap around the hat as well as her head.


Dinara on the swings. She loves to swing her time away. Daddy and Mommy like pushing her on the swings too.


Dinara still on the swings with her baloon. I just thought she looked cute.


Daddy and Dinara at the park. Cute, cute, cute!

Nana and Opa Visit/The Sparks Meet Dinara

Sorry about the lack of posting...getting ready to move to Calgary has taken up most of our time. I think we are pretty close to done on that front though. Boy do I have a lot of clothing. I decided while I was packing to cull my closet and give some of it to charity. I love to buy clothes (as many of you know and have witnessed first hand) so I decided anything I don't need to keep was going bye bye. I got rid of two green garbage bags. My closet looks quite bare but I am sure by the end of my four months in Calgary I'll have replaced a good deal of it. I also got most of Dinara's stuff packed and boy does she have a lot of clothes too. I need to not buy so much...it is just so hard when all the kids clothes look so cute.

Back to the actual title of this post...Nana and Opa visited Dinara last week. I think they had a great time...well I know they did. We took them to Fudrucker's for breakfast (yes they ate a greasy spoon and I have photographic evidence). Dinara got many new toys and DVDs from them too. They spoil her but oh well...isn't that a grandparents job. Her favorite gift from them is a set of wooden blocks. You all know these blocks they are the old fashioned ones with the alphabet, numbers and pictures on them. I am sure we all had these at one time. Nana only did one really bad thing for the whole trip...she rocked Dinara to sleep and let her sleep on her. This is a BIG no, no as for the next week we had a hard time putting her to sleep in the normal routine. We have stressed to her this faux paux and I think she won't do it again...well I hope she doesn't. We now have her back to her routine and she goes to sleep fine again. Whew!

On Friday Dinara had her booster shots...five of them!!! She had one in each arm, one in one leg and two in another. She now only needs a pneumonia booster in 8 weeks and then she is caught up until she is 4 years old. Good because she really didn't like to have all those shots done. On a good note that day though she got to go over to Grama Gail and Grampa Gord's house and play in the pool and hot tub. She loved this! She barely noticed that she had been given shots at all. The exercise in the pool helped a tonne. While at the Sparks house she also got to meet Aunty Terri, Aunty Jenny and her little cousins Kiki, Alex, Jack and Thomas. They all fell in love with her. In fact the two Aunts got teary eyed when they met her. I can understand that. So we all had a good time in the pool and Terri's two boys kept wanting to hold Dinara. I have pictures that I will post of all of this.

Well that's really all that has been going on these last few days. I leave tomorrow with a SUV full of stuff and Andrew and Dinara follow on Tuesday. Imperial paid for both of them to have seats on a Westjet flight to Calgary. Very nice! Now Dinara will only have to travel for two hours to Canmore instead of eight. Mommy likes this too! I get to set up the Condos and get groceries and stuff for the place. Well that's all for now. I'll try and post later this week from Canmore. We don't know what our connection is going to be like initially so be patient with us. Lots of love from us in Saskatchewan...soon to be Alberta.


Nana and Opa in the Fudruckers. Nana is feeding Dinara her pancakes.


Dinara sitting all cute in her highchair at Fudruckers. This is her favorite restaurant so far.


Dinara in her highchair at home eating her cookie. I just thought it was a cute picture so I added it to the blog.


Ok this is the one and only time you all will see me in a bathing suit. Mommy and Dinara enjoying the pool.


Dinara on Daddy's lap. She is just so cute in her little Winnie the Pooh bathing suit.


Dinara playing peeka-boo with Mommy.


Thomas holding Dinara in the warm tub.


Jack holding Dinara in the warm tub.


Dinara playing with the boys in the warm tub.


AquaDinara. Diver extrodinaire!

Hope you all like the photos. More to come. TTFN.

Our American Visitor...aka Dermal Pigmentation Sibling

Well it has been eight days and our days are still very busy. We were lucky this last weekend and Aunty Bridget from Seattle came to visit. She brought lots of fun things from her March trip to Disneyland. Dinara now has her first set of Mickey ears, and her first stuffed Minnie Mouse. She also brought Dinara a wooden puzzle. Dinara hasn't quite figured out how to put the pieces in but she likes to take them out and chew on them. We had quite a good time with Aunty Bridget...we played together, got tatoo'd together, had an amazing pistachio oregano tarragon pesto pasta (Bridget made for us), and many other treats. It is sad that Aunty Bridget lives so far away because when she is gone we miss her a tonne. I have some cute pictures of Dinara pre- and post Aunty visit...enjoy.








We put Dinara in a Stitch costume that I bought a year ago. It was only $10US on the Disney website. I love it!!! We let Dinara run around the house in it before picking up Bridget. I hope you like the photos.


Dinara and Aunty Bridget meet for the first time. We thought she would like the Stitch version of Dinara...and we were correct! "I LIKE FLUFFY!"






Some photos of Daddy and Dinara in Gabriela and Luis' swimming pool. She had a great time with Daddy. She did get a little cold after we took her out of the swimming pool.


Who's our cool little girl? I bought a pair of sunglasses for my girl that have a velcro band...sadly they are a little big but oh well they'll fit eventually.




Dinara was in a kissy face mood today. Daddy is very happy that Mommy taught our girl to give out kisses...he is just worried in the future what this means (he keeps threatening to buy a tazor).

I know we don't have a lot of things to say right now but I hope the pictures make up for this. I'll try and post later this week after Sharon and Diet (Nana and Opa) come for their visit.

Lapsed in Blogging But Here is An Update

Well many things have occurred in the last few days so I will provide a run down for you all...if in fact you are still looking at our blog. We travelled to Edmonton this weekend. We got to see Nerissa and Shah get married, Dinara met her grandma and grandpa...as well as her many, many, many aunts and uncles. Well I'm going to post some pics and think about what to write.


This is the best family picture of the three of us (thanks Karmen). Doesn't our little girl look precious in her fancy outfit. She wore this outfit for about an hour and then we changed her into more comfy clothes.


Daddy and Dinara playing outside Grama and Grampa's place. She was enthralled by the cottage cheese container. She just kept trying to get the lid off.


Dinara with the cottage cheese container again. We also bought this hat in Edmonton...isn't it cute?


Daddy was dangling the cottage cheese container. She is so cute with her tongue hanging out.


Grampa feeding Dinara some of his Orange Mocha Frappichino from Starbucks. Grandparents get away with soooo much. She did love it though. Good thing too as she didn't get an afternoon nap that day.


What do you think Mom...are they me? Dinara trying on sunglasses at Toys R Us with Grama and Grampa.


Daddy being silly with Dinara's little pool. He tried scaring her but she just laughed at him. Funny Daddy!


Dinara in her little pool. She is just sooooo cute. I love taking photos of her.


Dinara having some water poured over her by Mommy. She loves this...many babies usually hate having water poured over their heads. Our girl has such a darling smile...admit it your hearts are melting right now. Aren't they?

Well that's enough for today. Andrew told me to do two posts. I'll have more text in the next one but my brain needs sleep. Talk soon. We swear we are going to keep up the blogging...just really not as often. We are trying for once a week now. Talk soon.

Dinara and the Play Pen Attack

When it rains it pours...now Dinara not only has a small cut on her nose but also has a cut on her lip. Today Andrew and I set up her new play yard (play pen) and she was having a good old time in it. This evening, however, the good times halted when she tried to climb out of it (unsuccessfully) and fell...biting her lip. She was definitely not happy about this. The play yard is upstairs...this allows us now to put her in a secure place and do some house work. Our floors have all been cleaned upstairs. It is wonderful...we are no longer stepping on food or sticky substances.

On a better note Dinara has learned a new skill...she can now climb stairs (supervised of course). She is quite the explorer. We didn't even try to teach her about the stairs but she learned none the less. We took down the blockade and she just started crawling up them in front of us. She surprises us every day. We went shopping today at our downtown mall (Midtown). We finally used one of the baby shower gifts we received...$100 gift certificate. We went to Children's Palace and purchased three tank tops, a pair of jeans, a jean skirt and a sundress (this tranforms into a skirt and a tunic). They are soooo cute. I think Grandpa is going to love the shirts we bought her. We also received presents in the mail today. Andrew's Aunt Joy sent us some very cute summer outfits for her. They are just darling and we can't wait to put them on her. Aunty Bridget sent us a memories album that she made with some pics of Dinara from the blog and some spaces for us to put more photos in. She also included a gift for Andrew and I...Champagne flute with skulls on them. They are from the Disneyland Vintage Store. We love them!! I have put them on display already. Thank you Joy and Bridget for your gifts we really love them.

Here are some pictures of Dinara today...

Dinara and Daddy hugging.


Daddy and Dinara playing the 1, 2, Up game.


Dinara toddling around.


The best smile in the world!


Dinara playing with the newly purchased clothing! She likes her clothes already.


Silly photo Mommy wanted to include. She is such a silly little girl. You gotta love it!

Well that's all for today. Keep up the comments and ask any questions you like (I may or may not answer them though...hee hee). Talk soon.

Food Intolerances...She Really is My Daughter

Well as the post title states Dinara seems to have one if not two different food intolerances. She has most definitely reacted to the Yams we fed her last night and this afternoon. Boy did she ever react...two bathtimes in one day type of explosions (graphic enough for you?). So she is definitely my daughter. I really wouldn't have wished food allergies on anyone but oh well. Those two things are mostly easy to keep out of her diet (yams especially).

Other than that our girl has been an angel. She loves to play (by herself, with us, with her Aunty Fina), she loves to walk/toddle along, and well does everything else a little 16 month old should be doing. She is a delight to us...even when we get a little frustrated. Oh well...part of parenthood I'm sure. Not much else really to state today. Oh! Daddy did the bathing of out little one today...he did a bang up job too. She likes to bathe alone now so no issues there. Mommy is quite relieved about that...my skin couldn't take the abundance of baths.

Well here are some pics of Daddy and Dinara playing tonight. Sorry about the red eye but that's just what happens with the new camera (not nearly as good as my old one...pic quality better but it doesn't have as good a focus). Oh on a side note we got a call from Andrew's mom in St. Petersburg, Russia. She talked to us a bit and asked if I received my Mother's Day card...I had but I found out it was from Paris (fancy eh?). She also told us that friends of hers (and ours) from Van. Island are buying out Europe for Dinara. Just a quick note to you guys...it is appreciated but its too big and we don't have any place to store it. Thank you anyway Lee and Joe. Also, Andrew's Poppy (Grampa on his Mom's side) called today. He inquired after our girl, our trip, and well life so far. He has told us that all of Wally Joe's (Andrew's cousins son) old toys are being stored at Sharon and Diet's for our girl. That way when she visits she has activities (whew we won't have to pack so many toys this way) when we visit in Nanoose Bay.


Look at how our girl can walk on her own.


Daddy tickling his little girl. She is hating every minute of it.


Daddy and Dinara playing the Chase Me game.


Daddy jumping out from behind some foam pads (the blue one is mid-air) and stunning Dinara. She really wasn't scared just shocked. Daddy and her laughed loudly after this.


Daddy and Dinara watching Baby Einstein (Neighborhood Animals).


Lazing about with Dinara.

Just thought of this...we took Dinara to the Park today (Aunty Fina and Uncle Jordan came too). She had a good time. She liked the slide again and loved the swing. She found the swing only so, so until she leaned back. Then out came the large smile. She really just liked having Daddy, Mommy and Aunty Fina walking her around. Lots of sights and sounds for her today. Well that's all for now.