Loch’s Miraculous Milestones

So, it’s been a while since my last post and I have no excuses except that I’ve been really busy. We’ve been getting through our days with work, daycare and grad school and little else that’s very exciting to talk about.

Loch has been great and is talking up a storm. He recognizes objects and can say around 75 words…that I can make out! He’s been very happy at school and enjoys going each day. It’s never a struggle dropping him off which is really nice!

He’s been teething (again) since January. He’s getting his eye teeth and they’re creating a lot of slobbery messes. He tries to walk up and down the stairs like a “big boy” now instead of climbing…which kinda scares me a little! Loch is fascinated with birds, airplanes, butterflies, clouds, the sun, basically anything in the sky that he can point to and say the word.

Snow came to Georgia last weekend and the entire state shut down for 2 days due to “Storm Watch 2009″! It was a beautiful snowfall and I was able to take pictures of it.

My spring break will be here next week and mom and grandma will be coming for a visit. I’m hoping that the weather will warm up and we can enjoy some time outdoors. I really want to take Grandma to the Botanical Gardens, it’s so beautiful to roam around and look at all of the different plant species. I’m probably going to go to the Aquarium for the 100th time, but I enjoy it each time I go. It will be really nice to spend time with mom and Grandma for the week!

Brenda came last weekend to watch Loch while Jeff and I went to an event for work. The Gala was held at the GA Aquarium, catered by Wolfgang Puck. It was amazing! We ate our dinner while watching the beluga whales dip and dive and in the tank next to them were the whale sharks, as big as busses, floating by so gracefully. What a wonderful evening we had!

Overall, we’re all doing great and are looking forward to visits from family and taking a few trips in June and July. I’ll keep everyone posted on Loch’s miraculous milestones!

Well, another Christmas has come and gone and this year we were welcomed to Ontario with a ton of snow and ice! Jeff and I were a little bit worried about the  conditions as the roads were closed all along Hwy 21 the day before we left. Luckily, Drew was fighting the roads and made his way to Flint just in time to get us back to  Mom’s before dark. It was a white knuckle ride, but we made it safe and sound.

Being in Canada for the holidays makes a world of difference around Christmas time. I still can’t get used to the southern greenery in December! Jeff, on the other hand, was very concerned about his attire whilst running from the car to the gym…he could “catch” a cold if he wasn’t dressed warmly!

Christmas Eve consisted of a wonderful dinner with Dad and Wendy. There was turkey and the works had by all along with pumpkin pie and Nana’s famous tarts! We had a great meal and enjoyed spending Christmas Eve with one another. Loch enjoyed opening his gifts, he received his first hockey stick and Team Canada pj’s! He’s all decked out with his Canadian gear! Hopefully we will do this again!

Christmas Day was welcomed with coffee and bailey’s…yummy! That’s a great way to kick-start the day! Loch enjoyed tearing into his gifts. He received a Thomas the Train set, Wedgits, and Mr. Potato Head’s family of vegetables (corn head and carrot head). I surprised Jeff with a gift of ghosthunting with the Atlanta Ghost Hunters!  He was so excited and can’t wait for his investigation on the 24th of January!

After we opened gifts, Jeff and I went for a drive down to the lake while Loch was napping. It was a great day for photos on the icy lake and watching the salt ship enter the harbour to fill up. We then went up to the lighthouse and got some good shots of the lake from above. 

We spent the rest of Christmas day at Uncle Larry’s farm with the Young family. It was really great to see everyone even though it only happens once a year. We missed all of the “westerners” (Trev, Tiff and Jay- and their signifigant others) this year. Hopefully on our next visit home, we’ll have them with us. Along with a few more babies to add to the mix!

And yet again, another Christmas dinner…we spent Boxing Day at The Fish and Game in Clinton with the Macaulay family. It was nice to have some of Sid’s beef rather than turkey for 3 days in a row. Loch was excited to see his little cousins Dean and Sydney. They played and ran all over the place wearing each other out!

As always, Christmas was wonderful and I was so excited to get home again even though it had been a whole year! I hate that it’s that infrequent…perhaps this year will bring a few more trips home? We have so much to be thankful for…our family, our health and our beautiful little guy! God has truly blessed us this year!

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Last year my mom got Loch a bear that told the story Twas the Night Before Christmas…he didn’t think much of it!  But this year, as we were unpacking our decorations, we came across the bear and turned it on in front of Loch. He was mesmerized!

We’ve had a very busy month of November. The beginning of the month was warm and all of the leaves were on the ground. Loch and I took some time and had a picnic at the park. It was a special treat of MacDonald’s french fires and hamburgers…yum!

November also brought Thanksgiving and we took our annual trip to North Carolina to see the Harris clan. Tammie and I planned out a big photo event for the kids that was painful…well for me anyways. The kids had matching outfits and looked so cute…but Loch was the ultimate factor in the outcome of the photos! It’s pretty hard for an 18month old to “pose” for pictures! Jake and Raegan looked adorable and we got a few shots that will work.We had a good game of Scrabble, it was nice to relax and spend time with one another.

I also took Loch to get his pictures done once again so that I had something to give at Christmas. I’m pretty happy with these ones, he loved the train and had a hard time keeping his hands off of it!

oct30-08

Click on the link above to view the short video….

Loch’s daycare had a Halloween Parade on the 30th and all of the kids marched around in their costumes.  It was quite an undertaking considering how young the children are. I didn’t have a good angle for this video, but it gives you an idea of how Loch just “goes through the motions” and does pretty well with such a large crowd!  And the teachers weren’t so bad themselves…that’s why I don’t work in a daycare…what a nightmare!

It’s Halloween night and Loch is all tucked in his bed while the doorbell is still ringing with trick-or-treaters. I was extra prepared this year for Halloween and ordered his costume ahead of time online. It seemed that we talked about what he was going to dress as for about 2 months! Seriously, it doesn’t need to be that difficult! Last year we put him in a little pumpkin outfit from his Aunt Tammie and a hand-me-down Pea in the Pod outfit from Jill.  It was much more simple when he was a “baby”.

Halloween 2008 brought excitement in knowing that Loch would actually be able to collect candy, run around with excitement and maybe even eat some of his treats! First, we had to think of a costume: pirate?, fireman?, cute lion?, bam-bam????? AARRRRUUUGGHHHH! And then we needed to create a “theme” since he’d be trick-or-treating with his friend Ava. They OBVIOUSLY had to go as a couple! Peter Pan and Tinker-Bell was the final costume decision!

We had a great time at Trunk-or-Treat at our church. It was a nice introduction to the craziness of this holiday since we were only in a parking lot and the kids were able to wander from car to car. Our trunk was decorated for the occasion with pumpkins, fall flowers, spider webs and even a bloody hand or two. The kids were WILD and had a great time randomly zig-zagging all over the place.  There were bouncy blow up castles, food and spooky sounds to set the scene!

A few weeks ago we took a trip to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens to see the scarecrow exhibit. It was a beautiful day (around 80 degrees) and Loch was ready to run through the gardens for a few hours!
Ava, Kristalyn and Brenda joined us on our adventures. In the children’s garden there was a storyteller with bongos and shakers and all things fun to bang on for kids. He was an enthusiastic storyteller and captured the children’s attention…even Loch and Ava’s!
Throughout the entire gardens, there were really unique scarecrows to get us into the Halloween spirit! The flowers were beautiful and I even got a few shots of some garden wildlife!
I can’t wait to see what it’s like in the spring…enjoy the photos!

Here are some of the scarecrows throughout the garden….

Cool sculptures and ponds…

Here are some pics of the little man…

I’m pretty lucky to have such a happy boy in the mornings! Loch usually gets up around 6am (if he isn’t already awake!) and starts his day with a smile, lots of laughter, running around, and out the door to school! Here are a few pics of us in the morning!