. . . . Ricks Extra Long Summer . . . .: Peanut wotsits and pooping in gold bogs

I cant believe that its been nearly 4 weeks since my last confession Time is just being so goddamn good at its job at the mooment (this is what happens when cows stop moving for a second - they have a mooment) and every week that passes brings us closer to the inevitable. So many tings have changed in the past few weeks I don't know where to begin. Oh, wait, no, they haven't. Things are pretty much where they were a few weeks ago apart from Hannah being slightly heavier and putting even more things and noses into her ever growing baby gob.

Days have almost blended into one another and even the weather hasn't been able to really help us distinguish one lap of the sun from another. The snow that we usually have at this time of year seems to be holding off so even though its been pretty cold, the roads are clear and there isn't really any snow piles to see. Take a look at a photo taken 5 years ago on November 12th or 13th..

This was the usual pile of snow in the parking lot of polo park shopping mall.

This year we have this....

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Its a tiny bit of snow compared to what we would usually expect.
Maybe we should be happy about all this. Last summer was a great one for Mosquitoes - there were hardly any and if winter carries on like this, there wont be anywhere for larvae to grow in the spring cos it will be dry and therefore no more mossies! That would be awesome! We might even get a brown Christmas like UK gets every year! That would be mental. Although it would still be about minus 4 billion degrees.

So what about the tiny human nightmare that we are dragging up in our family?
Well, the news is that Hannah is doing really well. After a couple of weeks when she wasn't putting on weight, she is not eating like a Tramp on Chips and is consistently getting heavier every week.

She has also now learnt to shout louder and moan more (Must get it from me). She is really good at grabbing stuff and will hold out her hands to get it - So maybe a shoplifter soon?
She can now easily put her own feet in her mouth. So also a bit of a contortionist.
She can roll over - even without being pushed down the stairs.
She has also been swimming and discovered that she can hold things under the water - which is most exciting. She likes to scream and tell the whole pool about this. Just wait till she poops in the pool and holds that under!
She isn't eating real food as yet but has started in peanut flavoured puffed corn snacks (a bit like wotsits in UK) These ones are actually from Israel and as well as getting her to learn to eat soft snacks, the peanut flavouring is really good to help against future allergies.

This is what she is tasting..

Bamba snack

We are now also trying to get her to move from sleeping in the rocker that she has slept in for the last 3 months to a play pen or playard as they are called over here. This is a transition on the way to moving her into her own apartment complete with Crib and toaster oven, but obviously it is tiny step by tiny step and the first stage is getting her to sleep with out a rocking motion or the sound of the ocean playing on phone. Its day two and so far so good she hasn't been too bad. She only woke up 4 or 5 times last night and we are hoping for more of the same tonight.

As a means of proof here is a photo taken no more than 1 minute and 34 seconds ago this very evening....the 27th of November - also known as pins and needles day apparently.

A baby sleeping on TV

When I write these endless posts of nonsense I usually look back through the photos taken in the past few weeks to remember just what we have done. But the only things I see these past few weeks are work and baby. Baby and work. Work and Work and Baby and Baby. The only thing of any significance that has happened is a weekend at the Yurts in Minaki this past weekend, where myself, Buffy and Hannah were joined by Joel, Byron, Adam and Alena for a couple of nights of relaxation, chatting and a little bit of drinking.

Most of the weekend was spent relaxing around the fire in the Teepee that Joel and Byron stayed in, talking nonsense and basically mellowing out. It really was a lovely relaxing weekend and apart from a short afternoon stroll for me Buffy andthe Nah, we really didn't do much. We had good food, lots of drinks ad cool tasty beverages to enjoy. So a nice way to get away from the city for a weekend. Here's a few piccies of the fun...

Hannah on a ladder in a Tee pee

Our Yurt for the weekend.

Work has been busy then quiet then busy then quiet. One of the strangest jobs I have had recently was helping out with an install at a plastic surgeons. They had gold bathroom fixtures which were not to my taste although you can imagine that someone who wanted to get botox or a chin lift might well appreciate being able to take their minds off their pre-operation faces whilst filling a gold bowl with pre-operation faeces (or feces). Its always good to feel posh I suppose...Although I do think the bum wipe paper was probably just 2 ply.

Wanna poop?

Zoom in to read the classy wall art

Oooh shiny and a nightmare to keep clean.

One weird thing did happen last week.
I came down to the kitchen and saw a strange light display on the back door. After looking around I realized that the sun was in just the right position to shine off the tap onto the door making a really neat pattern. Nothing amazing but I thought it was cool...

So I think that's about it for all the riveting news from Westminster Avenue here in Winnipeg. I think I will leave you all with a few baby pictures just to keep you amused and I promise that in the next few weeks I will attempt to have so many adventures there wont be time to tell you about it all! Its going to be amazing...

Here is your baby fix....videos first

Attempting to eat a phone....