Centre Island

"Hello, Mr. Beaver."

Playing at the beach.

Ferry ride.

Downtown Toronto

Run. Run. Run.

Settling into Life in Toronto

It has been two weeks since we left the Alberta. We have been settling in to our new place. I have to admit I was bracing myself for the worst especially when it came to our apartment but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. It looked exactly like was presented on the family housing website. The place was relatively clean and with a few extra shelves there was room for all of our stuff and room for Micah to play. There is also a playground just below by our building, a roof top garden and a drop in play room. Also, a week after moving in the building got new laundry facilities. I feel blessed in where we are located in the building – we are on the 20th floor facing north. On the bottom on the south side of the building there is a lot of construction (including jack hammering) that is very loud- luckily the only noise we hear is regular traffic noise and the occasional fire truck siren.

I also feel so blessed regarding how multiculturally diverse our building and area is. We were told that 61 countries are represented in the Family Housing Building. We are definitely the minority and what a blessing for Micah (and us) to be surrounded by such a rich diversity of cultures and languages.

Outside our window I can see the Holt Renfrew Mall and down the street is a shoppers paradise with Channel, Prada, Coach, Louis Vuitton (any big name designer/fashion house you can think of) and many cool independent shops. Too bad my mat leave and Ryan’s student salary will only allow window shopping (or maybe that is a good thing ☺.)

We have been checking out the neighborhoods around us – including the parks, green spaces and playgrounds. So far they have all been Micah approved.

We have loved the family time and having been doing special outings to explore our new city. We went to Kensington Market on Saturday and Tuesday we had a fun trip to High Park. We took the subway (or as Micah calls it “the noisy train”) and spent the morning looking at the animals at the mini zoo, playing at the adventure centre, having a train ride around the park and enjoying a picnic lunch. Recently, there was also a Safety Fair outside our building where Micah got to meet the local firemen and sit inside a fire truck.

Good Bye Edmonton... Hello Toronto

I feel a sense of relief as I sit on my hand me down futon (thanks Bryce!) in my new living room surrounded by U-haul boxes …we made it!!!! Ever since we made the decision to make the move to Toronto back in February, it has been almost non-stop go, go, and go.

I feel so grateful for all the help that we received in making this move possible with Rob helping Ryan with house/yard projects; my mom babysitting and helping me clean; Rob and Meg allowing me to stay with them for several days and Meg babysitting Micah while I had to work; my friends Niki, Lana and Meg who helped me clean the house; Ryan’s parents and brother in law who helped Ryan pack and unpack the trailer and move our stuff 3200 km; and then Ryan’s parents helping us get supplies for our new place. My heart is so full with love and gratitude. All of the support we received has helped make this transition a little easier. It is tough to leave behind a good job, a wonderful neighborhood, a great church community and most importantly wonderful friends and family. However, I am excited about this new adventure and having a new city to explore and new people to meet.

I thought I would include a funny picture of Micah riding a bike at our roof top garden. More pictures to come once we are more set up.

Micah's First Bike!

The Wonder of a Two Year Old

Last week our precious little boy turned two – it is difficult to believe that it has been two years since he entered our lives. The past two years have been such a blessing and Micah has been such a joy. The last few months have been especially fun watching him learn and develop new skills.

Here is some of his latest developments and info:

Weight and Height: At his two year check up he was just over 28 lbs and just over 33 inches.

Language: Micah is a little chatter box and has become a little parrot repeating a lot of words that we say; every day he is talking more and more words and sentences Communicating with him is becoming easier and easier and he is also inserting his wants and preferences. His first 4 word sentence: “I don’t want nap!”

Learning: Micah can count to three and is starting to count everything. He is starting to recognize shapes – circle, star, and oval are consistently identified correctly. He is also learning colours – his favourite is blue. When reading books he will sometimes ask about the letters and point out “O”.

Toys and activities: His favourite books are Curious George. He loves drawing and playing with play dough. He will often ask us to draw a bus and then he will colour it and put people in the windows (little circles /scribbles). He continues to love being outside and finds bugs and any little creatures fascinating. Run, run, run - Micah is always on the move and often at a running pace. Micah is fascinated with buses an motorbikes and car trips often consist of looking for buses and bikes. Micah loves helping us cook and bake – one of his favourite is helping to make pancakes.

Imagination: This area has been so fun to watch. He will pretend to be different animals, pretend that his teddies are babies (and he will put them down for a nap) or pretend to make things in his kitchen (or ours).

Happy Birthday

For Micah’s actual birthday we had a family outing with our friends Meg, Davey and Matthew to Millennium Place for a time of swimming and playing in the indoor playground. On Saturday we invited a few friends to join us at the Royal Alberta Museum (one of Micah’s favourite places in Edmonton due to the Wild Alberta Exhibit). Afterwards we all came back to our place for lunch and birthday cake. Thank you to everyone who made Micah's second birthday so special.

Spring!

Here's lookin' at you, kid.

We are so lucky to live in a time and place that we can see our baby before it is even born. Here is the picture from our ultrasound this week. Almost half way there... can't wait to meet the little guy :-)