Avery And Maya

We did not get to see my brother and his family for long enough - the trouble with driving is that it takes so long to get out to Alberta (and so long to get back) that is doesn't leave much time for actually visiting. The kids were awesome and hilarious, I can't believe we haven't seen them since Palm Springs this past November. Here is my favourite quote from this visit...

Avery: Maya hates me.
Me: No, that can't be true. You're her brother, she loves you.

Avery: Uh-uh, she doesn't like me.

Maya: I like you!

Avery: No, Maya wouldn't like me if I ate her.

Me: Umm, I guess that is true?

Maya: Yeah, if Avery eats me, I will kill him.

Jason: confused I don't think you can kill him if he has eaten you.

Me: confused that Jason is trying to add logic into any of this

Long Ago Insult Comes Back

Hanging out on the couch in Palm Springs: Mom has her laptop out and is working on her blog, I'm on my phone, Avery is beside me on his iPad. He looks over and notices that Mom is scrolling through a lot of photos. 
Avery: Nana, why did you taken so many pictures?
Me: Actually Avery, the past tense is "took." So you should say, "Why did you took so many pictures?" Wait, nope, that isn't right. Okay, I don't know what it should have been but there was something messed up with your tense there.
Avery: You have four eyes.
He proceeds to count my eyes and the lenses on my glasses. It didn't seem like an insult at the time, just a well timed observation, that I totally deserved. 

My Babies!

As I mentioned, my mom has been in Edmonton visiting My Babies. This is why she wasn't at The Cottage for the long weekend. It feels like it has been forever since I got a chance to see Mike, Aimee, Avery, and Maya. I think the last time was summer last year, so we are edging towards a year. That is a long time, babies become different people sometimes in days. It is great to see photos when mom goes, which she always puts on her blog. Here are the posts from her recent trip out west to see her grandkids:
- Intro Post, tons of photos, tons of smiles
- Out and About, lots more pictures, you can see how mobile they are now
- Duck Photos, short post, great shot of Maya
- Final Posts, photos really show how much Maya has grown, and Mike (probably Aimee) shows me up by remembering Mom's birthday and getting her a cake.

I may not see them often, and I worry that my niblings don't know or remember who I am, but Mike makes sure she has them say 'Hi' to me whenever I call. We don't talk on the phone often but when we do there is usually a point where Mike is getting the kids to, 'Say Hi to Aunty Chris' which is always adorable because it isn't easy to pronounce. (When we were little Mike called me 'teen' because he couldn't say 'Christine'.) I think 'Ch' part is hard for babies. I miss them so much, it is always adorable to hear them try. Then there was this recent phone exchange with Mike:
Me: Ok, I gotta go. I love you.
Mike: Ok, talk to you later.
Me: Hey! Tell me you love me. (This is a normal thing I do at the end of a call with him, he usually relents and does it. I take my forced affection when I can get it.)
Mike: ...
Me: Tell me you love me.
Mike: (Away from the phone) HEY, KIDS, come here. Tell Aunty Chris she's stinky.
Chorus of two little voices: Aunty Tiss your stinkyyyy.
Me: Ok, fine, that works. I love you. Bye. (I guess I will take forced insults from my babies when I can get it too.)

No Enough Of My Mother

After spending the last few months in Spain, and now visiting Mike, Aimee, Avery, and Maya in Edmonton for a few weeks, it seems like I haven't see Mom much since our Africa trip in January. I wanted to make a Mother's Day post and went looking for a photo on my computer - I only have the shots from Africa, and I didn't take many of people. I understand the thrill of the animals and wanting all the amazing pictures of them, but it is sad that I don't have many of us - the time spent together with friends and family is really important and I am just not documenting it as much as I should. (See photo on right that I got - Mom taking photos at Blyde River Canyon.)

So, Happy Mother's Day Mom! I love you and I miss you, and I am so glad we got to spend our first big visit to Africa together. In honour of that, here are some baby/parent pictures from that trip.

Unless noted, photos are taken by me (and not edited) please click to see larger. All from our trip in January 2018:

Parents and Baby African Penguins

The young ones are fuzzy, not as cute as expected, 

fully grown is adorable though.

 Two Little Dassies with Their Mommy

Cute rodent thing found on Table Mountain, closest relative is an elephant.

 Baby Baboon Runs to the Grown Ups (By Jason)

It was estimated that this little guy was only a couple of days old, so tiny.

 Young Impala Nursing (By Jason)

They very violently nursed! 

It did not look pleasant, the mothers were not pleased.

 Mother Peacock Watches Over Her Baby (By Jason)

Never seen a baby peacock before, 

there were a bunch, very interesting and quite cute.

 A Wee Elephant Stays Close For Protection

The baby elephants were the best, most large herds had at least one.

 A Zebra Foal (By Jason)

My Mom has better shots on her blog, he stayed close to his mom.

 Two Tiny Black Velvet Monkeys and Their Mother

These were 'my monkeys' because I often saw them from the bus 

and no one believed me.

Aunty Laura

I got notice this morning that my Aunty Laura had passed away over night. She has been sick for the last couple of months and had been put on palliative care a few weeks ago. Goodbye Aunty Laura, you will be missed.

Aunty Laura and I at my wedding

September 24, 2016

Toronto Island, Ontario

Photo by Stephanie Beach Photography

This is her official Obituary which will be published in the London Free Press on Friday:

Sweeton, Laura Delbridge 
April 5th, 2017 

Born March 13, 1943 and died at home on April 5, 2017. Predeceased by her father Alec, mother Berniece and brother George (Carol). Aunt to Christine (Jason) and Michael (Aimee), and Great-Aunt to Avery and Maya. Bridge player, collector, cat lover and traveler. The funeral service will be conducted at Westview Funeral Chapel, 709 Wonderland Road North, on Sunday, April 9th, 2017 at 1:30 p.m. with visitation one hour prior. Private interment, Exeter Cemetery. Those wishing to make a donation in memory of Laura are asked to consider the charity of your choice.

Top Posts For 2016 - Views

After seeing Steph's Top 5 Posts, I wanted to do my own for 2016 on Always Standing. I think I would be able to use Google Analytics to quickly figure it out but it isn't working right now so I did it manually. Scrolling through the 220 posts from last year I can see the number of comments left on each and how many times that post was viewed. Some posts do much better than others and it is very difficult to understand why. It might be what gets visited through a search or something I post on Facebook that gets more traffic than usual - but my theories don't show to be consistent so I am not totally sure.

Honourable Mentions

These two posts did well but didn't break 100 views, however I still wanted to include them because I think they are great!
- Peru Overview, With Help From Mom - As it sounds, a quick diary about my January trip hiking the Inca Trail. The post is mainly used to send people over to Vicarious Travelling to view Mom's photos.
- Flat Surface? - A cute photo of Two sitting on our mantel at Casa Verde.

FIVE

So Many Milestones

Post about picking up my wedding ring, getting keys to our new house, and eating french fries. Pretty sure that I posted a link to this one on Facebook and it covers some pretty big life events, I understand why this shows up.

FOUR

Xmas List 2016

The cute photo above taking by Mom of Maya in a Santa hat isn't included in the original post. It was just a list of what I wanted for Christmas this year, something I do on Always Standing every year. The traffic is probably from relatives and friends coming back to reference the items.

THREE

Talk Consent

I like this post a lot. It references a big campaign but I spoke in my own words as to why it was important to me. I hope it inspired some of the 141 viewers who saw it to talk about the issue of consent - a discussion that can be had at any age.

TWO

Addictive Television

An interesting post to follow up the last one, a quick reflection how that fact that Jon Taffer can be a bit of a bully on the show Bar Rescue.

ONE

Two Speeds

A post that features two pictures of Avery from Jason and my wedding. I am glad to see it showed up as number one, Steph's photos are beautiful and Aves is adorable subject matter.

Happy Birthday Aves

I have been an aunt for two years now. I love this little rascal so much and I hope he has had an amazing birthday! I also hope that the coming year of 'terrible twos' doesn't drive his poor mother crazy. 

Avery Reading His Baby Sister A Story

Christmas 2016 - Edmonton 

Photo by me, with my phone 

Three Years Ago Today

Sunday Mornin' Coming Down - A Sunday post about my Dad, named after a song that he loved.

It still hurts. I think about my father often and I wish he was still here with every fiber of my being. He was gone too soon, even in three short years he has missed so many things that would have given him such joy. There is still more I want to share with him.

I got married.
Mom has a cat.
He became a grandfather, twice.
A house has been purchased and renovated.

The list goes on and if I start thinking about it too deeply it will hurt too much.

Two Speeds

Still sad about the election? I am. Here are some adorable shots of a crazy little toddler to cheer you up. Steph captured the most precious photos of all the niblings that were around at our wedding. Here is just a taste of the cuteness, featuring Avery, Istagram-style (aka square):

It's Friday Night!

Avery Pushing The Stroller Across Nathan Philips Square

Toronto City Hall - September 23, 2016

By Stephanie Beach Photography

Sleepy Saturday Morning

Avery Passed Out During Our Wedding Ceremony

Toronto Island - September 24, 2016

By Stephanie Beach Photography

Teri Wins Halloween

So many good costumes this year for Halloween but after hearing yesterday morning that Teri had wanted to dress her new son up as a piece of sushi but hadn't had time to put together the costume I had to see the little guy in edible form. I told her there was still time and she ended up doing it in the afternoon and sending along the photos. 

R.O.M. - October 2016

Photos taken by Teri

Teri: I even got him to hold a chopstick

Chris: I know, it is so cute, I am dying

Teri: Looks like he is trying to eat himself

Note: Teri and Greg are trying to keep a low digital footprint for R.O.M, hence the use of only his initials and the reason he hasn't been mentioned on Always Standing before. He won't have a 'tag' like Lochlan, Cadence, Avery, and Maya, but he is a very special baby in my life so you will probably catch a glimpse or two of him from time to time.

The Best Kind Of 3am Call

Jason woke up me up shortly after 3am this morning and handed me his cell phone. Mike had called him trying to get a hold of me. Aimee had just given birth to their second child!

Mike Holding Maya

Photo by Aimee (I think)

Friday March 18, 2016

I have in my planner that Aimee was actually due on April 10th so this morning was a bit early in more ways than one. Just 2 days shy of full term she is technically considered premature (Late Preterm). Because of this the doctors are running a bunch of extra tests but thus far everything is coming back looking good.

It is a girl! They have named her Maya Quinn Sweeton and she was born at a weight of 7lbs 14oz and is 20in long. Aimee felt like she was going into labour at 11pm last night so Avery went to their day care provider and Mike and Aimee went to the hospital. Maya was born shortly after 1am (Mountain Time). It went so fast that Aimee wasn't able to get an epidural (which I am sure she wasn't too happy about.) Glad to hear everyone is healthy and doing well, can't wait to meet my new niece!!

Casa Verde Colours - Like Baby Names

In the mid-1990s it became common place for expectant parents to learn the sex of their unborn child. This information wasn't offered (or maybe wasn't available) to my parents who were surprised with the birth of a girl (ME!) in 1984 followed by a boy (Mike) in 1987. Now, though not 100% accurate, parents are asked if they want to know.

I will make a side note about the fact that they are finding out the sex and not the gender, gender is a construct and the baby may identify with a different gender than their biological sex suggests.

Even though the information about the sex is offered, some people choose to still be surprised; like Taylor and Mark with Cadence, as well as, Mike and Aimee with Avery and my second nibling. Another recent pattern I have seen is finding out (and sharing) what the sex will be, but not the name. I really understand this one - people share their opinions, at times harshly, when the name is still in the 'we were thinking of X for a girl and Y for a boy' stage. However, once the baby is actually named people are less likely to tell the parents how much they don't like it.

I am finding the same with paint colours for Casa Verde, when I was just at the stage of looking at and choosing colours - everyone shared their strong opinions. I was sad to hear that 'accent walls' are no longer on trend and that beige is dated, though I suspected the later. I have been encourage to do whites and bring colour in decor instead of paint. Also grey. Apparently grey is very 'in' right now, which is good since I like grey and silver a lot. Kristen and I made the main wall in Runuv Bayit grey, it stretches through the kitchen and along the back hallway. After Kristen and Noah moved out, I changed the yellow wall in their bedroom to be grey, as seen in this Rasta photo. Lastly, I recently redid the kitchen with silver, covering up the pink/peach. Needless to say, I will be bringing grey to Casa Verde.

The colours for 5 of the rooms at Casa Verde have been chosen! Jason and his mom will go and buy the paint tomorrow so that we can take advantage of a sale that is happening. I have scheduled some posts on Always Standing that will happen this weekend that give you a taste of the colours I've picked. Using the super fun Colour Visualizer from Home Hardware I was able to put together a decent depiction of my colour plans. Now please remember to be nice about my choices; this baby has been named, aka these paints are purchased.

The actual painting will happen soon! Aunty Nicky is coming over Easter to help us paint the master bedroom, office, living room, dining room, and kitchen. The main hallway will need to be done by professionals at some point with scaffolding, but it is fine as it is for now. When we are done with the laundry room we will pick a colour for it but that will be well after we move in. I also plan to just use leftover paint in the colours already selected to do the suite in the basement when that renovation is finished.

Stay tuned for images of the Casa Verde Colours.

Stuck In The Oven Drawer

"This kid is going to be the death of me!"

Photo of Avery by Aimee

March 2016

Happy Birthday Baby

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY AVERY

Born: January 10, 2015

Thank you for my first year as an aunt!

I have loved it.

(Also is Mom's first year as a grandmother - top photo.)

The Birthday Boy's Baby

Happy birthday to my little brother! Normally I would put up a picture of Mike, but his son is just so much cuter!! Here is a shot my mom took (she is in Edmonton right now) of Mike tickling Avery:

Avery Giggles - 10 Months

November 2015

Photo by Mom

And So Today

In an update style, I thought I would respond to my own post yesterday about all the great things going on (in the same order as before):

- It is Still Fall in Toronto, But Also in Ottawa
Fall is my favourite season in Toronto but Fall is great in Ottawa too. (Technically Winter is my favourite season in Ottawa, but both are good.) Jason and I are heading up to Ottawa for the weekend for a quick visit with Steph and Dave since we didn't get a chance to see much of them over the summer - they have been super busy with Stephanie Beach Photography.

- The Star Wars Trailer is a Day Older, and Jar Jar is Dead
There was some concern among Jason's friends that the awful Jar Jar Binks character might make an appearance in the upcoming Star Wars movie. I don't think he will be there though, and I ended up doing research to ensure he would be too old to show up on screen. Here are my results:
- Jar Jar is a Gungan, and they live for 65 Galatic standard years 
 - Using the Russian Formation dating system, he was born in year 948 
 - Leia (and Luke too obviously) born in 981 
- So Jar Jar is 33 when the twins are babies 
- She is in her 20's during the 'original' trilogy making Jar Jar 53 
- As long as this is set more than 15 years after that (and I have heard it is supposed to be 20ish years past VI) Jar Jar is DEAD
And I might be a bit of a nerd for spending the time to look all that up and work everything out.

- The Liberals Continue to Have a Majority Government
And they will have for four more years. That is the whole point of a majority government, there probably won't be a vote of none confidence to bring about an early election. I am hoping that they get a lot of work done and make some big changes.

- Jays are now 1-3 in the ALCS
Last night the Blue Jays lost terribly in the fourth game of the American League Championship Series. Jason was so bothered by how badly the game was going that he turned off the TV after the second inning. I don't care though, I can use it to make an exciting announcement - Mike and Aimee are going to have another baby! I am excited to be a two-times aunt. I decided that this little thing has thrown up a poster on the womb ceiling to celebrate, since big brother Avery is such a fan.

Future Blue Jays' Fan

My Next Nibling, Avery's New Sibling

Due Late Spring 2016

A Glorious Morning

I woke up on this grey Tuesday to a wonderful new world, for the following reasons (not in order of importance):

- It is Fall in Toronto
I really love living in this city and it is the best in September and October. It reminds me of the quote from You've Got Mail: "Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils..." only about Toronto instead of NYC. Jason and I are getting married in a year and we picked the date partly because it is so beautiful here in this season.

- There is a New Star Wars Trailer
Overnight a longer trailer (the teaser came out a while back) for the new Star Wars movie was released online. I was insanely excited by the short little teaser, this longer trailer is amazing. Jason has already organized with P and a bunch of their friends to go on Saturday December 19th at 4:30pm. We have tickets to see it in IMAX.

- The Liberals Have a Majority Government
This recent Canadian Federal Election pretty much became a quest to get Stephen Harper out of office while dealing with the complexities of a multi-party system. After voting last night I went to bed hoping to wake-up and find out that the political landscape of Canada would be shifting 'left.' It has, the Liberal party now has a majority of the seats. I am a bit sad that my beloved NDP lost so much ground but I do feel like a lot of their gains were due to how awesome Jack Layton was, and now that he is gone their buzz has settled down.

- Jays are now 1-2 in the ALCS
I really don't care about baseball, but the exciting news that the Toronto Blue Jays won last night's ALCS playoff game meant that this photo of Avery got posted on Facebook, which made me very happy!

Go Jays Go!

Avery, October 2015

Cuteness In My Inbox

I love when I open up my email to photos from friends and family - especially if those photos are of cute things!! I am sad to live so far away from the cute things that are happening to people I love, but seeing pictures makes it easier. Here are a couple that I got sent recently:

Uncle Si, Aunt Dan, and Fi's new puppy

Sent In An Email From Mom

I hope to meet this little ball of fluff (black lab) the weekend after Thanksgiving when I head down to the cottage to help with some Fall chores. If he doesn't visit the cottage than I hope to pop in to see him on the drive back to Toronto.

Avery Trying To Climb The Couch

Sent In An Email From Aimee

I don't know when I am going to get a chance to see this adorable face next. They aren't coming home for Christmas and it is hard to find time to get out to Edmonton. He is getting so big!!

A New Father

Happy Father's Day Mike

Photo by ME

(February 2015)

Eating His Toes

Avery's New Favourite Snack

Photo by Aimee, Edit by ME