Christmas 2009

Grandpa Dibble, Haley, & Grandma Dibble

We had an awesome Christmas here in Calgary! My parents visited from Houston for a week and Haley had fun playing with them! Dad & I toured the Big Rock Brewery (excellet tour) on Wednesday and got to sample all of their beers! Tasty! Christmas Eve was low key with various appetizers for dinner, as is the Dibble tradition! Christmas Day was so fun! Haley was beyond excited when she saw all the presents under the tree! She LOVED playing with the paper and bows but didn't quite understand opening the gifts. Haley got so many new toys, books, and clothes! Mom & I hit the Boxing Day sales on Satruday but didn't have much luck! And Steve & I went out to dinner twice! It was so nice to have a quiet meal with just the two of us! My Dad also cooked every night (& sometime hot lunches) which was great! We have a freezer full of leftovers! Overall, it was a great Christmas and we are so blessed to have such a great family! Enjoy the photos & video!

11 months

Jonah & Haley playing at the music table today

Today Haley is 11 months old....hard to believe!

What is new with Haley this past month:

• Has 2 teeth
• Cruises on all the furniture (no signs yet of walking)
• Recognizes most of her toys by name (i.e. You ask her where her car is and she will point to it or go get it.)
• Loves dogs. Points to them in pictures, on the tv, and outside.
• Is obsessed with climbing the stairs
• Loves to help with laundry
• Reads book, points to pictures and says "uh"
• Talkative but just babbling. Sometimes I think she thinks she is really talking.
• Loves music and dancing
• New favorite food is Goldfish, but also eating black beans lately too.
• Is excited for Christmas!

Busy...

Haley's new best friend, Mr. Hoppy, the grasshopper

Reading a Halloween book with Daddy

We have been busy lately with Haley not feeling well and getting ready for Christmas! Where to begin.....

• Haley had a pretty bad runny nose for about a week
• Her eczema flared up resulting in an emergency trip to the walk-in doctor clinic
• She got her first case of diaper rash (which is now cleared up)
• She got her second H1N1 vaccination which resulted in 2-3 days of extreme fussiness, a low fever (99.7F), and sleeping issues
• And she cut tooth #2 which probably attributed to the sleep issues

But I'm happy to report that she seems MUCH better yesterday afternoon and today! She even took a 2.5 hour nap this morning which was nice for Steve & I as she has only been taking 30 - 45 minute naps since all the things above started!

Last weekend we put up our Christmas tree! We got a real 7' Douglas Fir and put tons of lights on it! There are only a few ornaments on it as I was too nervous to put the glass ones on. So far Haley will just touch a branch, jump back, and then quiver. It is pretty funny. If you ask Haley "where is the tree?" she smiles and points to the Christmas tree.

We are also getting ready for Grandma & Grandpa Dibble's visit! Haley is so excited and cannot wait to play with them! Steve & I are excited too for Grandpa's cooking and Grandma's baking! Not too much is planned other than Grandpa & I are going to tour the Big Rock Brewery on Wednesday, we may try to get out to Banff if the weather behaves, and Steve & I are going to try to go to dinner one night!

Haley in her snow suit

And....

Today my Christmas cards arrived from shutterfly.com. The absolute latest they were promised by shutterfly.com was December 10th. Hmmmm.....Good thing I had a back up plan! I hope to use the cards to write Christmas thank you notes....

Guess What?

Today the address labels arrived! Not sure if they were the original order which shipped on 11/25 and was scheduled to arrive on 12/1 or the reprint that were ordered on 12/9. Anyways, they do look lovely. My replacement cards went out in today's mail. My luck the cards will arrive tomorrow!

Dancing Queen

I Hate Shutterfly.com

Ok, need to rant. So on November 24th I ordered Christmas photo cards with matching address labels from www.shutterfly.com. The address labels were shipped on 11/25 and scheduled to arrive on 12/1 per their website. Didn't arrive. The cards shipped on 11/27 and were scheduled to arrive between 12/7 - 12/10. Didn't arrive. I called yesterday and was told that international orders can take 3-4 weeks to arrive once shipped. That is B.S. for 2 reasons: 1) the absolute delivery date provided on the shutterfly.com website was 12/10, not somewhere between 12/18 and 12/25 as 3-4 weeks would be. That is just crazy. I ordered the cards plenty early. and 2) while Canada Post is slow, it is not that slow.

I called back tonight after the mail came and after any type of delivery service (UPS, FedEX, etc.) would have possible delivered them and after much discussion, was refunded my $149. At least I got my money back.

So after searching all the photo card websites I could find I realized that new cards were not going to happen as they would not arrive until like a day or two before Christmas. I ended up just ordering a regular print of my selected photo and will just do regular Christmas cards. Now I just have to find the perfect cards tomorrow. No fun!

Needless to say, Shutterfly.com has lost a customer here. And watch, they will arrive next Tuesday after I put my new cards in the mail on Monday.

I'm bummed.

Before heading out to Zach's 1st Birthday Party

We have been really busy here lately! What have we been doing....

1. Haley got her first tooth (lower front left). That was quite the process and I think the one next to it is coming in...
2. Trying to take the perfect Christmas Card photo. This is a tough task with a 10.5 month old. A few outtakes are below. The cards are currently clearing Canadian Customs and will be mailed shortly. If you didn't receive a card from me last year, but want one, send me your address.
3. Eating. But the only finger foods Haley will eat are carbs, mostly Cheerios and Gerber Puffs. Will not eat anything else. I've tried cheese, green beans, peaches, pears, bananas, pasta, etc. Any other suggestions?
4. Getting into EVERYTHING! All I do is follow Haley around the house all day. I think it looks like a tornado rolled through here somedays.
5. Just finished our last Kindermusik class for the Fall. See class photo below. Classes resume in January again! Haley seems to really enjoy music and love to "dance" (which basicially means she wiggles her torso back and forth. Very cute!)
6. Christmas shopping. Amost done here. Did most of it online for our families in the US. Much easier.
7. Weaning. Yeah! On Saturday the nursing session after Haley's afternoon nap was replaced by a sippy cup with formula. Saturday & Sunday she really didn't drink any of it. Yesterday she drank about 3 oz. Progress I guess. I plan to replace her nursing session after her morning nap this Saturday with formula. That one should be a bit rougher I think than the afternoon one. Cross your fingers for me and if you have any advice, PLEASE share! And if I write this here, there is no going back...
8. Freezing. We had a huge blizzard last Friday and got about 5 inches of snow. The terrible part is that the winds were gusting to ~50mph so there are some places with LOTS of snow and others with almost none. Our street sits in front of a park and all of the park snow blew into the street leaving about 2-3' worth. Finally on Sunday a road grader made it to our street to officially plow it. A poor attempt had been made on Saturday to clear one lane. Now there are like 5' snow banks....if only I was about 20 years younger it would be so much fun. And it has been SO cold. Yesterday morning it was -17F and is currently a balmy 4F. Anyone want to visit?
9. Getting excited for Christmas and Grandma & Grandpa Dibble's visit!
   

Christmas Card Outtake #1

Christmas Card Outtake #2

Having fun in the highchair

Tasting the puzzle

Kindermusik Class