It’s official. The snow is here and it’s staying! We woke up to a beautiful white winter wonderland this morning. I always say this about the first snow of the year. My tune changes by March! but today it is a lovely soft drifting snow and the temperature is only -2 so I don’t mind.

I caught the flu that Tim had and so have been out of commission for 2 days. Yesterday, Tim stayed home from work in the morning to look after Edzèa and let me sleep/rest and in the afternoon Tracey took Edzèa to let me sleep for the afternoon too. This seems to have helped as I am left just a bit weak today with a sore throat. Luckily Edzèa hasn’t caught it or she had it last week and passed it along to Mom and Dad which is more likely.

So, we attended the Halloween party on Monday afternoon at our post-natal class. Edzèa isn’t overly fond of her Halloween costume. My camera batteries were dead when we got there so I don’t have any pictures. I will take some on Halloween. There is only so much torture that I can put my child through! I met a woman who asked me if her name was Dogrib when I told her Edzèa’s name??!! That was a first! Only in the North. It turns out that if she had had a girl she was going to name a daughter Sedzeè (pr.Zedzay) which means “my heart”. This is what my Dogrib friends call Edzèa as a pet name. Strange but true. It will probably be the first/last/only time that happens!

Here’s a daily dose of Edzèa pics for the day:

That’s all for now. Oh, her latest tricks are: 1. She gives wet slobbery kisses 2. She likes biting…not fun for me I’m telling you!

Also just for fun: Signs That You’re Becoming a Yellowknifer (borrowed from an online forum) to help you get into the spirit of what it means to live in the Arctic!!!

1. You are on year three of your three-month plan
2. You know everyone in the City.
3. Insanity sets in.
4. Insanity is actually a pretty good show.
5. Loss of ability to count and suntan.

6. Parkas become sexy
7.  Use the phrase “That’s a nice trailer”
8. You get excited that beer only costs $6.50
9. When people talk about an early breakup, you know they’re not referring to the fact your partner slept with your best friend 2 weeks into your relationship.
10. You use the words ‘ice’ and ‘road’ in conjunction to describe a means of getting out of town, and not to describe an accident.
11. Once the temperature hits -10 you’ve got your winter jacket open, gloves, scarf and toque are nowhere to be found.
12.You have more than one pair of longjohns.

Edzèa and I went to swimming lessons on our own this morning so no new pics. Daddy has been sick with a fever/chills since last night so unfortunately he wasn’t able to share anything with us today. Edzèa absolutely loved being at the pool today. She is now kicking her legs and splashing in the water. She really seems to love the water. She konks out on the short ride home from the pool and doesn’t even wake up when I put her down for her nap in her crib. The pool is highly stimulating!

Later in the afternoon, we attended the haunted house. Markham, Tracey, Mackenzie as well as another SSI Micro baby/family attended, Amanda and Haydon. We were called to the station to Hagwart’s (they changed the name for copyright I believe). We waited to go to Hagwart’s on Platform 9 3/4 and then we were put into the different houses. They figured Edzèa was a Griffyndorf? We then went down a slide to enter the Haunted House and wound our way through a maze of various *scary* things. Edzèa was given a wand and was very happy to be a little wizard. I eventually had to confiscate it as she was swinging it all over the place like a true little wizard but it became a safety hazard for anyone who got within 10inches of her wand.

They had kids dressed up as various characters from Harry Potter along the way and they had various spooky spaces to crawl through. There was a huge spider made of water tubes, a variety of creepy things that you got to touch. Edzèa really liked the werewolf but she didn’t like the tunnel of spiderwebs and spiders !  we had to exit VITE VITE! Otherwise, we enjoyed our afternoon and she pretty much smiled at every scary character along the way. We figure it will be different next year!

Poor Daddy is still sick so Edzèa and I have spent the day trying to let Daddy get some sleep.

That’s all for now.

[Show as slideshow]

This morning Edzèa and I headed out to our weekly Friday song/story time at the Centre for Northern Families. Here are some photos of Edzèa sharing her kitchen toys with her friends Mackenzie and Mathieu. These *toys* are a big hit with the babies. The colander is the big one that they all fight for. It cost me $.25 at the Sally Ann. They love to chew on the wooden spoons as well. They were playing *after* song time had finished. We have lunch at the Centre after the songs are done and today in the lunch room there were about five Dene women who were eating and had cooked the meal for us. They were passing Edzèa around like a hot potato because they thought she was adorable. She was smiling for all of them and they kept pinching her cheeks. As soon as they learned that her name was Dogrib, she became *extra* special. She loved the attention of course!

Edzea also ate more solid food than she ever has for lunch today. She loved the mix of carrots and peas. I tasted it and it tasted like solid peas! She liked it more than the apple puree that I gave her for the first time today.  I had thought that apples were going to be a big hit. Everyone told me to let her dictate when to stop feeding her. I finally just stopped as I was worried as she went through 3/4 of a jar. She’s only ever eaten a few tablespoons of solid food before but she liked her peas and carrots!

Before we left the house this morning, Sadie showed a lot of interest in playing with Edzèa. She has figured out that baby=toys and some attention. She doesn’t mind having her hair pulled and she certainly finds Edzèa’s toys interesting. Here are some pictures of the two of them.

This afternoon, Tracey babysat Edzèa for a few hours and I went to the Flea Market and then went home and did some cleaning up and some odds n’ends. I picked up some great stuff at the flea market today. Great dresses for Edzèa for the future and a cute little Santa sleeper with a hat. I found a big set of foam jigsaw mats for $4 for when she starts crawling/trying to stand/falling etc. plus I got some more plastic kitchen utensils aka toys. Tim thinks we need a budget for my flea market’ing now as I come home with new (old) stuff every week. I am just planning for the future! He says I should only be allowed to buy clothes for 6 months in advance for her…whatever. I get some great stuff!

Tomorrow afternoon, we are all going ( friends with babies) to the Hagwarts Haunted House that one of the local highschool’s does for Halloween. They are making it more baby-friendly for the afternoon session. Not sure if we are dressing the babies up in their costumes or not. We also have our fourth swimming lesson tomorrow morning. I’ll post pics if we get some more!

G’night.

P.S. I was asked to work on an interesting day project when I get back from holidays. The Prince of Wales Museum in Yellowknife is hosting a Youth Forum with Aboriginal youth on climate change and effects on the land. As a part of this forum, they are hiring artists to work with the youth to have them do some artwork in response to this investigation. They will be painting on the blades of wooden paddles. Some of my students from CJBS will be participating as well as all of the students that I have been teaching at Kalemi Dene. I’m looking forward to seeing my students again as well as my friend/old vice principal, Tammy Steinwand who is now the Culture Co-ordinator for CJBS. Tracey is going to take Edzèa for the 6 hour period for me and I will do an exchange day with her. They offered to have me bring the baby but I decided that it would be more conducive to be sans baby!

Today we made it through Yoga without a call-out for Mommy. Yesterday, I looked after Mackenzie with Edzèa and the two of them interacted for the first time. Well, Edzèa was interested in Mackenzie more than herself for a change! So, I think that this change has transferred to the one hour daycare time at the gym. She was a perfect child today for them! Also, her second bottom tooth is out and on it’s way up now so maybe the painful teething part is done for now anyways.

She is napping perfectly today too. She’s been napping pretty well all month. One nap in the morning and one in the afternoon. The expensive aquarium mobile that we got her seems to help do the trick. It also keeps her occupied when she wakes up now too. She turns it on and off by herself.

We’ve turned a corner this week. Edzèa sits up and plays well with her toys by herself right now. It is a nice change to be able to do some things while she keeps herself entertained for a change! I never thought the day would come. I still need to be in the room and within eye-range but as long as she can see me and play she is happy. It’s great! Here are some pics of her playing with her latest favourite toy.

I finished making her Halloween costume last night. I will post pics after Halloween for your interest.

Tomorrow I have my afternoon baby-free. I have to think through what I’m going to do!!! I want to paint a little chair that I bought at the flea market last week for Edzèa but the time is really supposed to be spent with me doing something for myself!

Last Friday, Tim and I went out alone for dinner and dancing for a few hours. Tracey came over and looked after Edzèa while she slept and this week I am returning the favour. This is a new *couples* night out system we are trying out!

Yesterday, we had our first *real* snow but it didn’t stick and it’s +5 and raining again today. I’m not complaining. This has been a great fall! without any of our usual COLD weather.

Tim and I are looking forward to heading to BC in November. I leave next weekend and spend a week with my family before Tim arrives and we head to Qualicum Beach for a week. I thought the weather would be a great relief after a Northern winter but honestly this is just like a BC fall right now. Bye for now.

Just added some pics of Edzèa in a cute dress so thought I’d share them. We’re off to learn Infant CPR today.