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After a couple of weeks of using the walker, one day without us paying much attention she took three steps at my mom's place. The same day, at home she took six steps. We got the camera, and waited, and waited. Sure enough, she did it again.
Here she is again, just before her bath. I don't think it will be long now until she is walking!
Christmas is a time of celebrations. Celebrating Jesus' birth. Celebrating God's gift to us. Celebrating with family, friends and food. Christmas is receiving God's love wrapped up and given to us through the birth of a child. I love Christmas and part of it is giving gifts to those around me. I see gift giving as a symbol of Christmas because of God's gift to us. I give with love, I receive with love. Gift giving is partaking in the miracle that Christmas really is. It's sharing love and joy, wrapped up in a present. 


We couldn't resist and buy a Christmas gift from Adrianna to her cousin to be. As soon as Sue opened up the gift, Adrianna was eager to play with it. Thankfully I had thought ahead and bought one for her too. Sophie the giraffe has become one of her favourite toys now.
A cozy sweater from Oma Buitelaar.
And the big present from all: her own set of wheels!
It was quite the hit! She kept going in and out of this part of the car. It kept her happy past her bedtime, quite a challenging task at times!
Of course with two engineer brothers, they tried to put the car together right away. But they don't make it easy to put together...it becomes quite comic to watch, but not so fun for those putting it together. It took Harvie a good portion of Christmas eve day to make all the parts fit together!

December 24th, Christmas eve, we got all dressed up and headed for a beautiful candlelight service at our Church. It was the first time we spent Christmas even just the three of us and I love it! It was quiet, calm and relaxing. (After finishing this post I realized I hadn't fixed the red-eyes...oh well, too late now!)

Each gift was first seen as a place for sitting. Good thing there wasn't anything breakable!




My mom gave three different dog stuffies to Adrianna, each one welcomed with a big hug, kiss and cuddles. Why is it that they receive her affection and we have to beg for it?

Now, the best gift of all. Harvie got a mooning Santa from my mom. Adrianna was cuirous and entertained by it.
On Sunday, December 27th, we had the Peters Family Christmas at Aunt Lydia's place. It was so nice to celebrate with the big family, enjoying a delicious meal and the chaos of opening gifts with eager children. Adrianna received books and stuffies, two of her most favourite things! My cousin Sandy took pictures during the gathering, which I'll post later.


Oh, and the stable, this is what I can do with it! Maybe next year I will try telling her the story again...


A visit with Santa...
Harvie's work has a "family" Christmas party every year. This year it was up at Grouse Mountain. He ventured out with Adrianna, a diaper bag, snowsuit and accessories, stroller, courage and patience to the party without me. I had this semester's final class and had to miss the great event. Looks like it was fun...so much to see and do! A taste of Mr. Winter Wonderland.

Now, this is one exciting place to explore, don't you think so?



On a sunny Sunday afternoon we went to the pumpkin patch. It was the first for Harvie, Adrianna and myself. Adrianna was feverish that day so she didn't want to smile for the pictures...a little fresh air is just what she needed, she just didn't know it!





The November winds are upon us. The weather has changed and with that the fall-back of our clocks. What used to be a the best night of the year for me, is no longer. Little ones just don't appreciate an extra hour of sleep like we do. Adrianna's bedtime is now 6 o'clock, keeping her up longer than that just seems cruel. Especially when she's had croup that now developed into bronchitis. Poor little girl, hasn't slept well for a few nights, and neither have Harvie and I. We are both under the weather too. November winds, please blow away quickly and let the Christmas season emerge with warm greetings and blessings of health not only for our household but to all!


On Sunday, September 20th we celebrated her birthday with a family gathering including both sides of the family. She enjoyed a lunch with her cousins first (or as Gabriel calls is...cousuncle and cousauntie, after all they are my cousins).
Then it was time for opening the wonderful and thoughtful presents from her loving family. She is well stocked up with toys, books and clothes for a while now! She got a Barbie set from Auntie Jennie, an early start for her Barbie collection. And, she even received her first cheque, an addition to her college fund from Uncle Marlen and Auntie Sue. Thank you for the generosity of all!
And the moment Uncle Jeff has been waiting for an entire year...holding Adrianna without her screaming! We have made some great progress this year. Yes, Adrianna, he may look scary and act funny, but he loves you!
As tradition have it, Marlen had is annual birthday bbq at the beach. Adrianna was already eager to go last year. On the way there last year my contractions increased, but sure enough they slowed down once we got there. This year Adrianna made her full appearance at the bbq!
We had our first, and I am sure not our last, trip to the emergency room. We were at a bridal store in Chilliwack with my cousin Sandy who is getting married (Adrianna will be one of the flower girls!). As Sandy was trying out a beautiful dress, Adrianna crawled over to the mirror, found something, and before any of us knew had something in her mouth. When I rushed over to see it, all I saw was a metal type of pin on a pearl. My first thought was an earring, but at a bridal store it could also have been a sharper item like a pin. So off to the ER I went, with my cousin Becky to keep me calm. Two hours later the doctor showed me the x-ray which displayed an obvious earring. Two days later, it made its way through Adrianna's digestive track and into the garbage it went. The doctor thought it would be an interesting memory keep, but I wasn't about to clean and keep it. Yuck! If Adrianna wanted earring I think she found a very creative way of letting us know! Through it all she was incredibly cute, laughing and entertaining all in the ER waiting room.


A rare moment...feeling cuddly after waking up from a nap...so precious!!!
This month Adrianna outgrew a couple of her favourite toys...the swing and the exersaucer. Just in time for the first birthday where I am sure she will replace it with some new toys!




We went to the Agrifair in Abbotsford with Adrianna. It's amazing how much we enjoyed it...simply because of Adrianna's delight as she watch...and even touched (to the dismay of the poor donkey, her favourite) the animals. She got a little confused with feeding the lama...she tried to eat the grass herself! I think a trip to the zoo is in our plans for the coming month.













Ten months old...I have come to realize that time quickly goes by when it comes to little ones growing up. I am trying to treasure each stage Adrianna goes through. I love her smiles and babble. I see her personality evolve with each passing month. She got her first two bottom teeth this month, replacing her toothless smile with little white tidbits. Although she is not crawling yet, she is moving in her own way. We never know how or where we will find her in her crib. Her favourite sleeping position is now on her tummy.
We celebrated Father's Day in June. It was Harvie's first Father's Day and Adrianna made sure it was a special one. She found a perfect card for her daddy and gave him a mug with her picture for the office. We hosted a family bbq for my dad with alot of filet mignon, guarana, a little bit of other sides and a DQ ice-cream cake.












