Photoshoot with Rochelle Elise Photography

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Astrid, photography, photoshoot, Rochelle Elise, Rochelle Elise Photography

For Astrid’s 1st birthday, we decided it would be good to get some high quality shots of the whole family. Good photographers are in high demand in Vancouver, so it wasn’t until August that we were able to schedule a photoshoot with Rochelle Elise, who does amazing work with families.

We really enjoyed working with Rochelle. It was challenging finding a time where the lighting would be good (Rochelle prefers to shoot at dawn and dusk), Astrid would be awake and in a good mood, and the weather would cooperate. The day of our photoshoot, it rained in the morning and cleared out the forest fire smoke that had been overshadowing Vancouver for weeks. We lucked out.

Here are some of our favourite shots that Rochelle captured (all images are courtesy of Rochelle Elise Photography).

Happy Thanksgiving 2017

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Arbutus Greenway, Astrid, Southlands, Southlands Heritage Farm

To celebrate Thanksgiving and the beautiful fall weather here in Vancouver, we took Astrid to Southlands Heritage Farm to visit the pumpkin patch. Southlands is a bizarre neighbourhood in the south-west corner of Vancouver, with mansions on giant acreages, horses, and active farms.

Astrid wasn’t a fan of the horses. In fact she was terrified of them, which is odd because she’s usually fearless. But we had fun in the pumpkin patch, playing in the straw pile, and watching the goats.

We rode the Skytrain most of the way there (to Langara-49th) and biked back along the Arbutus Greenway. It was our first chance to bike most of the Arbutus corridor. What a great route. Nice gentle grade and busy with cyclists, walkers, strollers, runners, and people of all ages.

Astrid fell asleep in the chariot and slept for most of the way home, which included a pit stop at the Kitsilano Farmers Market.

Emily showing off the 15 km we biked today. The Arbutus Greenway is too new to be on this bike map.

We ended the day walking around the Olympic Village and enjoying a beautiful sunset over False Creek.

Astrid: Social Butterfly

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Astrid, baby sign language, communicating, toddler

Now that Astrid has mastered walking, her brain has moved on to learning how to communicate. It’s been scary how fast she’s progressed. Her physical milestones (like rolling over, crawling, standing, and walking) were gradual progressions that developed over weeks. But communicating has been a sudden mental leap.

She only has a few formed words (‘hi’ and ”more’ are the latest), but she understands a lot and uses baby sign language and other gestures to clearly communicate what she wants. For example, if I say ‘Astrid, do you want to play outside?’, she will run and grab her shoes and sit by the door until I help put them on. When she’s hungry, she often stands next to the fridge yelling ‘more’ and pointing her fingers together (in baby sign language). She also understands (and usually follows) simple commands like “bring this to mommy”, “drink water”, “sit”, and “no, don’t touch”. Although when we say ‘no’, her frequent response is to laugh and wag her finger at us.

Astrid is extremely extroverted and sociable. I’m not sure who she gets that from. She loves running up to people and giving them hugs. When they leave she either waves good-bye or blows kisses. It’s amazing watching the joy she brings to random strangers.

Her favourite games right now involve collecting small trinkets from around the house and putting them into boxes or bags. It’s hard to keep track of my toothbrush and keys. She’s also (finally) interested in her books. She grabs a book, sits on her little chair, and flips through the pages mumbling gibberish to herself.

Astrid is loving her new daycare. I think a lot of her communication leaps can be attributed to the new environment with good caregivers and time with older children.

We had one small cold this month and a week of bad, infected diaper rash. Other than that, she’s had a great month. She transitioned to one nap a day (usually from 12-2), sleeps well at night, is a full of energy when she’s awake, and eats like a champ.

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Astrid: Summer Fun

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Astrid, beach, park, summer

We’ve been taking advantage of our hot, extremely dry summer with plenty of trips to the parks and beaches.

We spent one weekend up in Kamloops visiting Kelsey, Matt, and Jacob. Astrid had lots of fun playing with her cousin.

We took a day-trip to Buntzen Lake to play in the sand and do a little hike.

We’re lucky to have many outdoor options close to home. Hinge Park has new swings. Creekside Park has an amazing new playground. And Granville Island has a fun splash park.

Astrid loves playgrounds. She’s mastered coming down slides on her stomach.

Last week we transitioned Astrid to a new daycare. Her previous care provider is going on vacation for 2 months, so we were forced to find a new spot (the joys of home-based daycare). Our new spot is a little bit farther away (10 minute bike ride) and Astrid will now be mixed in with a bunch of older kids, but we’re hoping it will be good for her development.

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Astrid: Month 12

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Astrid, fathers day, flying, ponderosa

Astrid continues to impress us with her strength, determination, and joy.  She’s mastering standing on her own without support, napping at daycare (on most days), and her molars are coming in. Otherwise she’s the same exuberant munchkin she’s been for the past few months. She hasn’t checked off any new milestones, but she’s noticeably more opinionated and vocal, she’s more dextrous and enjoys climbing everything, and she’s understanding basic instructions.

As soon as Emily went back to work Astrid started napping better at daycare. She still has her bad days, but she’s generally happy to be at daycare with her friend Lara and provider Mary. They’ve been going out to the library, play gym, and on neighbourhood walks. Astrid is happy to be dropped off in the morning and happy to be picked up in the evening. Grandma picks her up early once a week so they can spend some quality time together in the park (with Grammy too).

With the nice weather and new modes of transportation, we’ve been going on a lot more outings. Astrid is pretty good at restaurants and happy when we find playgrounds or other climbing structures around the city. We visited the New Westminster Quay with Shannon and Simon this month. We were impressed by the boardwalk and the vegan food crawl at River Market.

Baba and Gido visited for a weekend. Astrid enjoyed their visit so much that she insisted on visiting them at the Ponderosa two weeks later. It was our first solo trip without Emily.

We flew to Manitoba for my Aunt Weiner‘s memorial service. Astrid was a great traveller. She slept on the flights (with only minor screaming on landing in Vancouver when her ears wouldn’t pop). I was nervous before our trip about feeding her, putting her to sleep, and separating her from Mom for 4 days, but she bottle fed in the morning and night, ate well during the day, and slept through the nights. She really enjoyed playing with her cousins and grandparents and exploring the Ponderosa.

Astrid went to her first theatre show on Granville Island. She sat engrossed with the adventures of Sun and Moon in Good Day and Good Night.

For Father’s Day, Emily made me vegan french toast for breakfast, we won a free lunch at Chau Veggie, and we spent the afternoon at Car Free Main Street. It was a perfect day.

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