Christmas with the Coupers in Vancouver (Week 15)

December 21st - We arrive safe and sound back in Vancouver (the flight was a good one, although we almost missed it since there were 700 people in line for security at the Winnipeg airport - I am NOT exaggerrating). Auntie Jill picks us up from the airport. Once we get home, Jill decides she is hungry and need to eat a little baby. Lucky for her, there is a sleeping one in close proximity.

Christmas Eve - Auntie Jill snuggles the bug.

Christmas Day - While the rest of the family plays tennis and Mario Kart on the Wii, Lily surveys the rest of the apartment's decor...methinks she has some design ideas in that little noggin' of hers. Looking forward to hearing what she has to say when she learns to talk. She slept through the entire gift giving and opening process earlier in the day, hence the conspicuous lack of pictures from that event...we decided to let her sleep since she was still knackered from her cross country journey. We fully expect that next year she will be knee deep in wrapping paper, so there should be plenty of those pics in 2010.

Boxing Day dinner - Lily is too little to sit at the table with the big people for dinner, so daddy perches her on a chair so she can feel like she is one of the group. She thinks that spot is pretty cool.

December 27th - All three of us came down with colds once we arrived home. Lily is coughing and sputtering and has little snizzles (Nana's word for sniffles - isn't it the cutest word ever?). Nana comforts the little bug in her time of convalescence and she feels better :)

Winnipeg Visit (Week 14)

December 16th we arrive in Winnipeg. Thankfully it has warmed up from a brutal -47 degrees Celcius to a balmy - 27. We are thankful!! Grandma Roberta and Uncle Adam (mommy's mum and brother) meet us at the airport.

Grandma Roberta, Tannis & the sushi roll hang out on the couch. Lily liked the plane much much better than she liked the train...go figure!!! We are not complaining, however :) It was a very good flight for all three of us.

Grandma Berta's neighbour Jackie comes over the meet the little bug. Uncle Adam is fascinated with Lily's head....could it be because it so closely resembles his own??

Mommy's longtime friend Cathy and her 5-year old daughter Ana come for a visit. Ana flips through the photo album mommy brought for Grandma Berta, while Lily relaxes on the floor. She is getting very good at lying on her back and making faces at anyone in her line of vision.

Eventually Lily voices her desire to become part of the action, so mommy lifts her up to see what Ana is so interested in...

Uncle Adam comes for another visit. Lily raises up her arms to say "Hey! How's it goin?"

Uncle Adam and Lily discuss the future directions of law enforcement...Lily is very opinionated and offers some suggestions for the Winnipeg Police Service.

Lily perches on Grandma Berta's shoulder while mommy finds some clean socks for Lily, since she spit up much of her lunch on the ones she is currently wearing. This is also something she is very good at. She has excellent timing. It usually happens just as we are about to walk out the door to go somewhere.

Auntie Sarah comes to say hi.

So does Auntie Kusham and Uncle Jeremy (who is talking to Dylan while this photo is being taken. I'm not sure what about - cars, cameras, or the crazy cold weather would be my top three guesses).

Kusham and Jeremy's son Jai checks out "the competition." He decides Lily is only a minor threat to attention paid from his mommy, but a threat nonetheless :)

December 19th - Party at Linda and Rick Hunter's. Lily finds a spot on cousin Michele to have a little cat nap. She needs to rest up in order to have the energy to continue looking cute.

Four generations - mommy, Baba, Great Baba and Lily :)

Mommy, Baba, Great Gido and Lily. Lily outdoes everybody with her stylin' outfit.

Everbody!! Grandpa Hunter, Baba, mommy, daddy, Great Baba & Gido with Lily.

A picture is worth a thousand words...

What those words would be exactly, is anybody's guess!! What do you think, Ryan? (mommy's cousin)

Great Auntie Janet (mommy's Auntie) entertains Lily.

So does Great Uncle Len! (mommy's Uncle). Lily thinks they're both pretty neat-o keen.

Mommy's friend Colleen (or Clawdine, depending on who you ask) is enchanted by the little jellybean.

Lily snuggles with Blake (one of two boys Grandma Berta has babysat since they were very very little). Lane, Blake's older brother, is on the couch too.

Uncle Adam, mommy and daddy pose with Lily for a picture. She's been passed around like a baby hot potato, so she's got about 5 pictures left in her before she expresses her displeasure.

Picture 1 - Lily hangs out with Uncle Adam. She's getting kinda tired...you can see the two lines under her little eyes...when she's well rested she only has one line under each.

Picture 2 - Again...the fascination with her head!?!?

Pictures 3,4 & 5 didn't happen before Lily, uh, exploded in tears. Adam's girlfriend Shannon figures out what Lily has been asking for...Adam celebrates the achievement! We are all happy now :)

"Whew...it's been a loong day. Think I'll just get some shut-eye on Cousin Andy's (mommy's cousin) lap.

Mommy's friend Tamsin comes for a visit with her little girls, Rhiannon and Catriona. It has been awhile since Tamsin has made faces at a baby, so she has quite a few saved up. Her daughters find this all very entertaining and Lily loves the attention. Mommy checks Tamsin's bags before she leaves to make sure she hasn't inadvertently packed a baby in them :)

We Arrive in Toronto! (Week 13)

We arrive in Toronto December 12, and Lily meets Auntie Marlene (daddy's beloved "Auntie Mar Mar"). They will be best buddies for the next 4 days! They have long conversations that only they understand :)

Lily meets her Great Gramma (daddy's Gramma, Florence) and enjoys some cuddles.

We took a day trip down to Port Colborn and Welland to visit some of Dylan's friends. Lily hangs out with Uncle Kerry for a bit. "Who is this man - he's not daddy - he's waaaaay bigger."

On the same day, we visited Kris, Jen and their 4-year old daughter Julia. Julia is fascinated with Lily, and goes to great lengths to make her smile and laugh...

Success!!!!

Julia and Lily have a long, interesting conversation about Polly Pockets, princesses and other really important stuff.

Obviously Julia has said something Lily finds very, very funny!

"Wow - a shiny, sparkly ornament! My mommy loves those too."

Back in Toronto on our last night...Lily endears herself to her Great Grampa (daddy's Grampa, Archie).

Tannis and Lily with Great Gramma and Grampa Couper. Where is daddy? He's taking the picture, of course :)

Great Uncle Ted (Dylan's mom's brother) and Auntie Zita meet Lily.

Train Trip to Toronto (Week 13)

We left for our cross country train trip on December 8th instead of December 6th due to the derailment in Saskatchewan...they had to build a new track around the crash site. The bad news is this cut our trip shorter by two days in Toronto. The good news is we were upgraded to a larger room - the largest room on the train, actually!! Which turned out to be a good thing, 'cause we needed the space!

They pulled back the wall between two double rooms to create this one room with a king sized bed, and two bathrooms and two sinks. They offered to put the bed up every day and replace it with chairs, be we chose to keep the bed as-is. It was like a giant sleepover for 4 days. A giant sleepover with a little sushi roll who didn't like all the noise very much, that is :) In this picture, we've just arrived and she is sleeping (she's the one rolled up in green). This was one of the last times she would do so until we pulled into Toronto on Dec. 12!

Here we are hanging out watching the scenery go by. Lily is fascinated by the moving pictures outside the window...kinda like TV, but better.

Some of the scenery is quite spectacular.

Here we are hanging out in the lounge of the "Park Car" - the last car on the train, and the one our room was situated in. We didn't do this very often. Did I mention Lily didn't like the train much??

We did find some opportunities to go up to the observation deck, which she thought was interesting for oh, about 30 minutes.

During those blessed 30 minutes, she had fun "driving" the train with daddy.