Nearly 3 weeks ago, Mehdi attended a conference in New Orleans. While he was packing the night before he left, we talked about how, at 11 months, Elianne seemed so much younger than Anissa did at that age. We reminisced about a trip we took to Vancouver for another conference, when Anissa was just 11 months old: how she already had an impressive vocabulary and could make a repetoire of animal sounds, had a full mouth of teeth and had had her hair cut. Elianne, on the other other hand, says a handful of words (Mama, Papa, done, duck, ball, hi, bye), has 4 teeth and her baby hair. We laughed about how, the day after Mehdi left Vancouver and Anissa and I went camping in the Okanagan with my family, Anissa took her first steps. As Mehdi filled his suitcase, we joked how he certainly was not going to miss Elianne's first steps on this trip, as she wasn't showing any signs of walking soon.

Surprise surprise! It seems both our girls require two conditions to take those first shaky steps: Mehdi out of town, and Memere and Pepere to cheer them on. I dropped Mehdi off at the airport Wednesday morning, and when my parents arrived in Calgary that night Elianne took her first steps from Dad to me. She's been doing the Frankenstein walk around the house since then, getting more and more confident so that by her first birthday next weekend, she should be up to showing off her new skill.

Happy 2008 everyone! Among a few other resolutions (ie. fit into pre-baby jeans), I had promised myself to: A) be better about posting on the blog, and B) get more sleep. As you can see, I'm already failing miserably at A, and Elianne has completely sabotaged B. She is cutting her top two teeth - finally - and has had a non-stop cold since, well, birth it seems, and thus doesn't sleep much, day or night. I'm so tired and just not thinking clearly these days. Today, for example, I failed to show up to be Anissa's special helper at school. The teacher, thankfully, was kind enough not to mention to her that it was supposed to be her big day, so Anissa was no worse for the wear. How embarrassing!

So, if I had posted on this blog of mine sometime in the past month, what would I have written about?





1. Christmas, of course, and how much fun it was to share the magic of the season with both of our girls. They were both very spoiled by all the family, and had the best time with their cousins. Over several days up in Wandering River, I barely saw Anissa but for in passing (or when I heard her call, "Mom!", came to her aid, and she said, "Not YOU!" because she was playing house) because my nieces and nephew played so well with her. Elianne had fun tearing up Mom and Dad's magazines and we all ate a ridiculous amount. Then, back in Calgary, we hosted a New Year's gathering; the first time we were able to do that in over a decade. We even made it past midnight. Just barely, but still!





2. Elianne, and how hilarious she is. And demanding. She is very social, smiling at anyone and everyone, and is trying very hard to communicate. So far, that means an awful lot of pointing and shrieking. She's as busy as Anissa was at this age, finding everything possible to get into anytime I turn my head; the toilet paper (and toilet!), the blinds, the DVD player (even though it's blocked off by a huge footstool, she's very determined), our wet and dirty winter boots, the shower stall, etc etc. She cruises around on the furniture and can stand for a long time on her own, so I think walking is not far off. I have to start planning her 1st birthday party, which is mind-blowing. It can't be.



3. Anissa's kindergarten open house. We attended last night, and I'm really happy with the school. It seems like a warm, inviting place and I think she will be comfortable there. She spent some time in the kindergarten room with some grade 6 students who were babysitting so parents could attend the presentation in the gym, and when we talked about the school this morning she was excited about the kids who "will also be teaching her". Hope she's not too disappointed next fall to discover just a regular, middle-aged teacher!

Anissa's preschool Christmas party was on Friday. It was a big bash: 60 kids from all 4 classes, plus their families, were invited to celebrate together. The decorations were fabulous, there was plenty of food and family photos and crafts were on the agenda: I know because I was on the planning committee. The students performed songs they've been practicing for weeks. Anissa's class did Vive Le Vent. I'm sure it was adorable. I wish I could give you the details, but I wasn't there. I was at home in bed with the flu.


I was bummed that I couldn't be there, but Anissa, thankfully, was pretty accepting of it. Mehdi took both girls in their pretty red dresses, plus a car load of party stuff (huge beanbag toss cutouts, craft and decorating supplies, a toy donation for charity, Elianne's lunch, Christmas CD's, etc etc). A few hours later, they all clamoured back into the house and Mehdi collapsed onto the living room floor, exclaiming, "I don't know how you do it. I'm exhausted!"


The flu was not fun, but, hey, at least I got a long nap and some recognition out of it!


(And of course, considering all he had to juggle, the camera came back with only a distant video of Anissa's class performance and no photos of the girls...but thanks to a friend, Asuka, I've got these to share. Too bad Elianne had just woken up and has a plug in her mouth, but I'll take what I can get!)

Anissa and two of her school buddies, Holly and Erika.

Elianne with two of her buddies, Holly and Erika's siblings, Carson and Sahara.

So far, Calgary winter hasn't been as bad as I expected. This weekend, though, things got chilly, but the timing was fine since we had invited some of Anissa's pals over for a Christmas Craft-making Party. Of course, I failed to take a single photo. I was too busy handing out glue, googly eyes, feeding the hungry artists...and, well, sipping on Bailey's and coffee with the chaperones. After everyone left, the girls and I hung out most of the afternoon in front of a crackling fire while Mehdi prepped his class for tomorrow. Sometimes a cold day is a wonderful excuse to cocoon at home.

Since I know certain people may be disappointed that there's no photo, here's one from a nicer day last week when Anissa and I took Elianne for her first spin in a sled out on our deck.