bath happy

here is proof that she enjoyed a bath! this is her first time enjoying bath time and afterwards since her first bath the day she was born.

diedre enjoying her mobile

diedre is changing every day now. she is looking around more and enjoys her mobile.

she was kicking alot while looking around.

reading with grandma jen

oops...sorry to distract you diedre!

first time in her crib

i put diedre down for a nap for the first time in her crib. she is still sleeping in her bassinet at night in our room for those nighttime feedings.

using miles' playmat

we were all visiting miles and heather and diedre enjoyed using miles' playmat

carabin's new home

rick and danielle hosted us for an Easter bbq last night. it was quite enjoyable.




rick wanted her to try her dress on.

thank you Auntie M!

diedre wearing outfit from auntie M 

little one month

wow. time flew again. diedre is 1 month old today. she is still quite little but growing fast.


she is such a calm baby. she has some fussy periods but is a great cuddler and sleeps well once she falls asleep.


we went to Granville Island to the Cat's Meow for heather's 30 birthday celebration with some friends. diedre did really well in the loud restaurant. she slept and ate and enjoyed some photo ops.

Heather Turns 30!

well the first friend in our group turned 30 today! here she is looking great with a pretty sidekick


the mellengers
celebrating heather's birthday.


diedre is nearly 1 month old.

Grandma enjoying the grandkids

diedre and miles were both wearing osh kosh sleepers. we wanted to display their outfits but diedre fell asleep and miles got food all over his outfit. oh well, another time.


more time with sleeping baby d

after bath time

diedre has beautiful curly hair, but only when wet-ish. here she is nice and clean.

i look tired, i am tired...she had a real crying session after feeding at 10.30pm to 1am. she cried for about an hour. derek woke up after an hour of her crying (he hadn't heard the crying but he said he was having really stressful dreams) and he calmed her and laid her to sleep. thank you derek!

swinging by the walnut tree

my mom is so cute. here she is swinging by the walnut tree after our walk.

bunny do good?

we went to get a checkup for Diedre at the doctors. she is 3weeks and 4days old.
she weighs 9lbs and 6.5 oz! the doctor was really pleased with her progress and says she has great health. we are so thankful for that.

i told the doctor we are trying to graduate her to the next size of diapers (10lb+)...we are almost out of newborn diapers hee hee.

she is a wonderful baby and we are loving her and loving being parents! i am learning more about what she needs to be pacified and learning that although it may appear that she is hungry, sometimes she is just tired and needs a little help getting to sleep. it is a joy and a privilege to sooth her and to provide what she needs.

i am not finding it too difficult to wake up with her throughout the night. she goes right back to sleep at most feedings. sometimes she wants to look around for awhile at the 3-4am feeding but its for a relatively short time. and sometimes she is all grunty and loud after a feeding and i find i can't help but listen to her...those nights are not so good and i end up being really tired the next day.

i am so thankful that derek is okay with having the bassinet in our room so that i can feed her in bed. i think if i had to get up and go to another room for these all night feedings, she would wake up too much and not fall right back to sleep.

her muscle development is great. she really enjoys tummy time and it helps her strengthen her neck so she can lift her head up when she is leaning forward. she stretches out and is so long that i think its time to retire some of her newborn sleepers that i bought her.

so the nights that i can sleep well, and the days i get a nap usually end up being pretty good times. obviously i can cope best if i'm well rested. i have had days where i am over tired and feel like a total failure. i prefer the well rested days :D

i am physically feeling really good and am all healed up. thats pretty exciting for me. i can go for long walks now and resume exercising as long as it feels ok.

our little drama queen

here is grandma jen with diedre at church. diedre is being very dramatic with her hand on her forehead..."its all too much!"

cutest swim suit ever!

my mom brought diedre and miles some gifts from ontario.

here is the cutest swim suit ever! the fabric butterflies stick out from the suit (not just printed on). i am so excited to see my little girl in this suit. its for 6-12 months so its perfect timing for summer.

daddy & baby d

derek got back from a hard days work to visit with Grandma Jen and baby d. i didn't get any good pics of my mom with diedre this day. i will get some soon.
mom was delighted to meet diedre. mom's sister susan and i surprised her at the airport. she thought diedre was so cute.

Reunited with grandbaby

here is amanda's mom, grandma jen & miles. she met miles when he was 6 days old and was able to spend a week with him back in september 2004. he is such a big boy now, always smiling and very happy.

happy milk smile

at 3.30am i fed diedre and afterwards, she gave the happy milk smile. it is such a cute moment and now i can share it with friends and family. i took some short videos of her too but i don't know how to post them on here.

Welcome Back Carabins!

Rick and Danielle finally returned from their fair province of Nova Scotia. They went home for Christmas and then got married the same day Diedre was born (feb 26). We threw them a welcome back party. it was the first time our group of friends have all been back together for quite awhile.


diedre chillin' in Kristin's arms

The Carabins have been gone for half of miles' life and didn't get to see him because he was already in bed. They were shocked with how big he was from the photos around home.


miles looking snug as a bug


rose is finally showing a little being four months pregnant now. she loves to cuddle baby d...people are saying its the year of girls (sooo many boys were born last year) so i wonder if rose & joanna will both have girls?

Derek turns 29

wow! how the years do march on. derek turned 29.

as an observer, i felt like this was a very different birthday since he is a dad now and the usual "birthday boy gets the day off of all responsibilities" did not really apply.

for me, i usually try to surprise him with a great gift for his birthday or a great party. i offered to throw him a bbq but he said he wanted to do the traditional Pizza Hut party. then he thought a bbq might be nice, but i decided that i'm crazy to think i can host a bbq when i'm tired and diedre is only 2 weeks old...so i said, Pizza Hut it is!

as for the gift, for the first time, i felt like "i'm not working...how do i buy him a gift?" even though we fully share money it just seemed weird to buy him a gift with our money this time for some reason.

i also wanted to buy him stuff that he needed to pick out, so i decided to just tell him that we could go shopping and that i would buy him a harness or rope for climbing.

i still bought him a card. the most fun thing was buying him his first birthday card FROM diedre. it was really cute and it made both of our hearts jump :)

Happy Birthday Derek dance

our friends singing happy birthday, andrew and brent are dancing...it was a pretty exciting rendition of an old favorite. derek was thrilled.

visiting poppa

poppa came to pick diedre and i up to go visit over at andrew & heathers. we went for several walks and had a great visit.


poppa & miles

grandpoppa & diedre's first meeting 

pretty as a picture 

talking with her hands...more proof of her love of french

listen to me 

the man who delivered diedre

here is our doctor with diedre. we had a doctor's appointment today. she weighed 7lbs 13 oz! that is really terrific since she was 7lbs 10oz when she was born, and was 7lbs when she left the hospital 8 days ago. she gained 1 oz by feb 28 (7 days ago). i figured all that healthy eating must be doing her some good. the doctor was really pleased with her. her health is great.

we drove grammy and grandpa salmon to the airport early this morning to fly home to ontario. it was really sad to see them go. i will miss their company and their help. they have been so helpful getting us started as a new family this past 9 days. having them around allowed me to rest and recover. i'm really thankful for that. derek goes back to work tomorrow and i will have my first day alone with diedre as primary caregiver. it will be interesting to see how it goes.

derek & diedre napping

a nice sunday afternoon nap.

we came back from shopping at sears. grammy & grandpa salmon bought diedre a crib. there was a sale ending at 2pm on the crib but since the sign had not been taken down they honored the price $50 off!!! what a great surprise.

we also bought her crib bedding and baby monitors using a gift certificates from derek's boss. what a blessing to have diedre's new clothes and books and nursery room items ready for her. the crib comes in later this month but at this point, she is happily sleeping in the bassinet, most nights :D

diedre is such a blessing. she eats really well and sleeps between feedings. the last two days she has had super long naps around lunch time, up to 4 hours one day! crazy. we sure are enjoying her.

brent holds a baby!!!

brent is always turning down the offer to hold a baby. he received some cheers for holding diedre. now we just have to work on getting him to change a diaper before he has his own baby.

proud grandparents

here are grandpa & grammy salmon at the end of a full evening.

daddy & d

derek and the boys went out for appies while the girls enjoyed the shower. derek came back really missing d so he was desperate to hold her.

church friends baby shower for diedre

diedre had a baby shower and here is the very cute welcome cake made by our friend karen. she told me to cut off the bear's head and slice up the body...i couldn't bring myself to do that so i ate the foot but tomorrow at church i guess we'll slice up the bear.


me & princess d posing with the cake.

it was such a wonderful party. she got so many beautiful outfits, great story books, and a crib mattress!!! we feel really blessed by our friends.