Michael Cobb B.A.

After 5 long years, and 3 schools and one major change later Michael graduated from the University of Lethbridge on June 2, 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts with a Major in History.. It's been an interesting Journey. I can't say all of it enjoyable but I can say I am extremly proud of Him. I blame it on my Hormones but as the precession started my eyes began to water and my heart swelled. He made it despite the curveballs Life through his (our) way. And I do have to say, He was pretty darn Handsome in his Regalia.

(poor Cameron had had enough after over 3 hours of sitting. )

Congratulations my Michael! Cameron and I love you and are very proud of you!

(Now go find a Career ;) )

Learning to dance in the rain

I'm discovering that there are many lessons to learn from our little people. Cameron is at an age of Wonder! Everything is new and exciting. Everything is amazing and reason for more exploration. Everyday things we take for granted, he finds complete joy and wonder. For example an ant crawling or a bird flying or just plain grass. He crouches down and takes the object of his attention completely in. Processing all it has for him to discover. We have been having a lot of rain. There was one week about a month back that it didn't let up. About three days of being cooped up both he and I had extreme Cabin Fever. Cameron kept begging to go "side". So I relented, put on his boots and rain coat. Grabbed the Umbrella and headed out into the cold wetness. Cameron played as if the day was no different from a sunny one, as I stood freezing under the umbrella.

The quote that came to my mind as I watched him is " Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain."

It's a ........

BOY!

I am super Exited to announce that Cameron is going to have a Baby brother.
Like any Pregnancy there is always Family and friend speculation, half said girl the other half said boy. And me? I really had no clue. It really didn't matter. I would love to have a little princess but I love how Cameron plays with his cousins (80% which are boys) and how he plays with the Boys in his Nursery class and I thought it would be super fun if he had a little brother a perma-playmate. And that's what he's getting.
We are Super Excited.

I have mixed feelings about Ultrasounds. I love seeing the little miracle growing inside. I HATE holding my bladder! I always end up drinking to much just out of paranoia that my bladder won't be full enough and then I end up being super uncomfortable.
So Yesterday I get to the place 15 min early. What I didn't know is that the time they tell you is 15 minutes before your actual appointment to leave room for signing in and registration. So I had to wait for half an hour before getting to go in.

The appointment took an hour and 15 min. One was because I had a student technician but mostly because Baby would not stop moving. Getting measurements and pictures seemed are near impossible task. I'm having another monkey! It's so fun to watch and see. I find growing and having a baby one of the most amazing things. Everything looks good, nothing to be worried about. I'll get the full report when I go back to my midwife.

Here's a sneak peak at our newest miracle.
Thomas Jay Cobb

18 Month Photo Shoot with Auntie Kim

I am feeling so Very far behind. So much is going on. So much to report and tell. So many posts jumbled up in my brain. So Why haven't I been Blogging? Because I threw my Computer out the Window. No not really but I sure have been tempted to multiple times. It might work better if I did. As it is I can't blog with pictures if I want to blog on my own computer. It won't load my memory card so anytime I want to blog I have to go to my Mom or Sisters house with my card to share my life with all you who care to "listen".

So I'm hoping that in the next couple of days I am able to spew out all that's happened to date (including Yesterday's Ultrasound results!).

These are Cameron's 18 month Pictures. Done of course by my super talented Sister Kim. (You can also check her work out on Facebook) These pictures were taken on time. But due to editing and then trying to get my computer to work and not having time or energy to go somewhere else to blog, you get to see them two months late.

Presenting my Handsome little Man, who is growing up way too fast!

"This little Monkey has a BIG secret..."
(the back has two monkeys holding hands and says "I'm going to be a big Brother!")

Updates and going ons

Last Week Michael says "I don't like Nesting, because when you Nest it means I Nest too." Nesting has begun. The Nausea is mostly gone, yes smells still affect me, but I am doing ok. I actually feel pretty good compared to the last 3 months. I am actually able to get up off the couch and get things done. My House is starting to come together. Things are actually organized. The basement still needs to be tackled but I have a date and a babysitter already booked for Michael and I to venture into the depths of our home. I can actually prepare and cook meals again, and eat them. And with this nice weather we've been having, I've been able to eat meat again thanks to the BBQ. I still have some blah days, but and it's a big BUT, my good days outnumber the bad.

I thought I'd give a few updates. For example the big boy bed. Cameron loves it. In fact he doesn't like it when we get into it. For the first week, every morning he would tell me that he slept in his bed, he is very proud. One night he did fall out, When I went to check on him all he said was "fall down" I put him back in bed and he went right back to sleep. Another night when I went to check on him he was on the floor, I don't know if he climbed out or not. There has only been two incidents where he hasn't stayed in bed when we've put him down. They were both my fault. One was because he was hungry and the other was because he needed a bum change. Cameron actually asksto go to bed when he's tired and climbs in. I cannot complain. And what of the Crib? He now refers to it as the baby's bed.

One morning while I was doing my computer stuff.
I heard Cameron making animal noises, so I went and checked on him and he was on his bed, reading his books out loud to himself.
So cute!

Second update, my Kittens. Tiger was Euthanized. This was very hard for me. She was too sick to save. I'm sorry I couldn't help her, I wish I could have done more. And Rugrat is being treated and waiting to be adopted. I miss them. Fluff has turned into a very loving and needy Kitten. We bought some "temptations". Cameron loves to shake the bag and give the kitty her daily treat. We've also started to let her out. I think for now we'll keep her for a little while longer.

We have been loving The warm Weather. If I can help it, I try to spend the entire day outdoors. We have a Park just outside our Backyard and Cameron knows it. One day we were playing in our sandbox and Cameron decides he wants to get into the Wagon. I tell him to get in and I'll pull. First he tells me to open the back gate. To which I reply that if He gets in I'll open the gate and pull him through. He gets in and I then proceed towards the front gate. Cameron did not like that, and he let me know. So I turn around and head out the back. As soon as we are out of the back, he jumps out of the wagon, says "park" and walks to the park and starts playing. He's too smart for His or his parents own good.

We spend a good amount of time at a few different playgrounds around our home. So far we have gone to the Zoo weekly. This last Weekend Heritage park opened so we will frequent there too. We also go to the pool quite often, Cameron loves swimming. And I love to get out and have fun and watch my boy learn and grow.

Looking at Mountain Sheep with Daddy

Chasing a Tortoise in the Rainforest

The Kids love throwing Pennies in to the fountain in the Butterfly enclosure

This past long weekend Michael had Friday off as well as Monday which was nice so we went to the Zoo, yet again. I think I could go everyday and Cameron wouldn't get tired of it. He loves the animals. Right now whenever he hears Zoo, he says "Camel?" We have a bunch of toy animals and animal books and I think they are his favourites. He kisses each page or makes the animal toys kiss each other. The other Day when we were reading a Farm Animal book, when we got to the Geese (goose, is currently his favourite), he looked at the goslings and said "aww cute" (coot is how he pronounced it). He's so sweet. Friday night we went out to dinner to Olive Garden. And my Husband gorged himself on salad and breadsticks and then ate his entire Pasta. So needless to say Saturday morning he wasn't feeling really well. We were going to have a picnic at prince's island and feed the ducks and play on the park but because He couldn't leave the bathroom, I took My Mom, and my sister Kimmy and Joseph instead. I was a bit bummed that my Family weekend didn't work out quite the way I planned but we had fun. We packed most of our picnic food but bought a bucket of chicken and headed over to the park. Kim and I decided that Picnic's are not for our Boys. Outside is not for eating, it's for playing. So while Mama, Kimmy and I ate the boys ran around the field and rolled down the hill and did somersaults and just enjoyed the beautiful day. This is the third time I've tried a picnic with Cameron and every time is the same. I wonder if he'll eat when we go camping. Again everything Joseph did, so did Cameron. Just like the "little Critter" book my son is "ME TOO" he says it too. We didn't get to feed the ducks. Geese really, there were maybe 2 ducks and a whole schwack of geese. I was told I wasn't allowed to bring my stale bread and they didn't have the feed machines anymore. We tried a banana muffin which kind of scared me because the Geese went a little nuts.

Rolling down the Hill

"Me too"

Cameron discovering his Shadow

After nap we had BBQ and then went to the park for an hour to let Cameron burn off energy. He is really proving to be a monkey.



Sunday was church, of course. Which is always a great experience, especially this Sunday because Michael spoke and my Mom taught the RS lesson. Cameron is getting better at being in Nursery by himself. He's still iffy in the beginning but once he starts playing he's OK. I wanted to support Michael in Sunday School so I left Cameron quite soon. I normally linger in Nursery. I don't know if the separation is harder for Cameron or for me. Probably me. The first Sunday I left him alone I sent people in to check on him.

Monday Cameron spent the Afternoon with Omi so Michael and I could have a date. I'm grateful we saved that for Monday. Friday and Saturday were beautiful and Monday rainy. We went to a Movie nothing exciting but it was nice to spend the time together.

This whole week has been yucky and rainy. Which is a real bummer because we are babysitting again. 3 this time, 2 girls ages 7 and 5 and a boy just a few months older than Cameron. I had all these plans to spend time in the great outdoors to tire them out. But Nature had plans of it's own.So now I have to become creative. Crafts, games, activities. I hope that I can rise to the occasion. President Monson once said "Do not pray for tasks equal to your abilities, but pray for abilities equal to your tasks. Then the performance of your tasks will be no miracle, but you will be the miracle." And I hope that I can surprise myself once again.

I'll let you know.

Growing a Garden

On the LDS Provident Living page it says:

“Self-reliance is a product of our work and undergirds all other welfare practices. It is an essential element in our spiritual as well as our temporal well-being.”
—Thomas S. Monson

Planting a garden, even a small one, allows for a greater degree of self-reliance. With the right information and a little practice, individuals and entire families can enjoy the many benefits of planting and tending a garden.

If you have been following my blog for awhile you know I love to Garden. Last year I discovered Square foot Gardening and fell in love with the concept. I couldn't follow all the guidelines. Just due to lack of time and money. (Our garden plot was way too big). So I decided to use the same concept in our already existing garden plot. It didn't work. One because weeds took over faster than I could remove them and two, we did not have a very nice summer. Sadly we had no harvest last year. I will not let that stop me from trying Again.

Square foot Gardening, take two. We bought The materials to build a 4x4 box. It won't be enough to sustain us. But we'll have fun eating what does grow and teaching Cameron in the process. There was another glitch. Finding the right ingredients for the soil mixture. I would ask the workers in the various garden centres if they had Vermiculite and the looked at me like I was from mars. So we made an executive decision then and there. Instead of driving around to more stores (the count was now at four) we would just make up our own soil mixture. We would still have the raised box and still plant the numbers in each square foot that Mel suggests. So 2 out 3 can't be that bad, right? We shall see I guess. At least we'll have fun in the meantime.

That was Friday Night. Saturday morning we built the Garden. Cameron helped of course.

Holding the nails for Daddy

Making sure the Box doesn't go anywhere

Putting the Weed Carpet on

Adding and mixing the Soil

Making the Square foot grid

Saturday, although a nice sunny day was a bit too windy so we decided to wait for Monday to plant and make it our Family Home Evening Activity. We use the Nursery Manual for our lessons each week. And for this one we decided to teach lesson 7: Jesus Christ created the world for me.

Planting was fun. Cameron was really into it. He loved taking the seeds out of the container and dropping them in the soil. And who doesn't love digging in dirt and mud? Maybe that's just me and that's where he gets it from.


(If you're wondering why our heads are cut off, Michael was in charge of pictures, these are the few that I thought still okay to keep, most of them didn't have our heads at all. He thought I wanted pictures of the planting. I was a bit upset at first. Why would I not want pictures of all of us? The whole purpose is to capture Cameron and his facial expressions. Now I just shake my head. There are just some things Daddies and Husbands don't get)

Anyways...

Pumpkins

Tomatoes

Getting topsoil to cover the seeds.

Peas

Digging the holes to plant the potatoes

Planting the potatoes

Carrots

Every time we look at our little Garden we are filled with a sense of pride and accomplishment. Cameron looks at it and says "garden", he knows he had a part in it. Now we anxiously await for the first sign of green.