Sunday, October 24, 2010

17 months

Canaan turned 17 months on Saturday. On one of the very first rainy days we've had here in Washington, we met Melinda at the pumpkin patch near her home. I am not sure if I've been to a pumpkin patch before so I wasn't sure what to expect. It was pretty messy with the rain. We didn't stick around for long, but we did get some cute pumpkin pictures. Canaan doesn't like things on her head so the bow did not last long at all. She got a package in the mail just this week from Aunt Shannon and got this new dress. I thought it was a perfect dress for visiting the pumpkin patch. She was pretty messy by the end of our visit after falling in the mud a couple of times.







We tried some corn that had been picked in the field only 10 minutes before we bit into it. I had no idea you could eat corn right off the stalk without cooking it. It was delicious! We bought some and had some for dinner tonight.





And here are a couple of pictures from last year's visit to the pumpkins. We didn't make it to the pumpkin patch so we took these pictures in front of Whole Foods. I LOVE this pictures of Canaan. It is one of my absolute favorite pictures. Isn't it amazing that was already a year ago? These pictures were taken October 24, 2009.



Thursday, October 21, 2010

Recently





Until I can get all caught up (or get started on getting caught up), I thought I would share a little about recent days with Canaan and recent pictures as well.

We cannot believe how quickly our little Canaan is growing. She is getting so big (getting a little bit more hair) and is learning new things daily. Everyone tells us how quickly the time goes, but you really don't understand until you are living it.

Canaan is enjoying daycare. When I drop her off in the morning, she will walk right in to the room. After I put her things away (jacket, snuggly, and lunch), I will kiss her goodbye and tell her I love her. She will wave and say hi to me as I leave. In the past 2 months, I think there have only been tears 2 or 3 days (generally when she has been really tired). It is so much easier to leave her when she is happy. We get good reports from her teachers. The very first day I picked her up, two teachers told me what a good eater she was. And I've heard it at least half a dozen times since then. She apparently finishes her lunch and is then interested in what the other kids are eating.

Canaan is so much fun. She is learning new words all the time. Just today, I heard her say her name for the first time. She won't do it again though. She is pretty good at repeating words that we try to get her to say. The words she says regularly on her own include momma, dadda, acs (for Max), hi (both for hi and bye), eggs, ball, moo (without opening her mouth), yes, rarararara (for a dog barking).

Lately she says "hi" to everyone (unless you ask her to, that is). At the grocery store, she will say "hi" to almost every person she sees. She will say "hi" to Max when we leave the house in the morning. And sometimes she will say "hi" when you put her to bed at night. She often waves as she says "hi". If someone says it back to her, she could talk to that person all day just with that one word. She is very friendly and loves people. Several parents of the kids at daycare have told me she is like the greeting committee...always saying hi to them in the mornings or afternoons.

She is still a great sleeper. I think in taking naps at daycare she may have learned to be really quiet when she wakes up. During the week, I sometimes have to wake her up. But on the weekends, we will sleep in a little bit. When we go in her room to see if she's awake, sometimes she's standing or sitting in her crib just waiting for us. She doesn't let us know when she wakes up any longer which is a little weird. At daycare, she is only allowed one nap during the day. At home on the weekends, there are days she will still take both a morning and an afternoon nap. It certainly helps with the late day fussiness when she will take two naps.

With all the changes that took place in July, Canaan became increasingly attached to her snugglies. Her Aunt Shannon gave her a snuggly frog before she was born. Once we saw that Canaan really liked the frog, I got another frog and a pig. We now always have one in the house, one in the car, and one at daycare. It is amazing how much comfort these things give her. As soon as she gets one, she will stick her right thumb in her mouth and snuggle with it.

That's a little update about our girl!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

We've moved!


I haven't posted here in a very long time and hope to remedy that soon with recent updates on the Merritt happenings. I would like to get caught up with my postings about Canaan, too.
After 19 months of unemployment, Matthew got a job in the Seattle area. I was able to get a job in the area as well with my employer in Colorado. So we moved 1400 miles across the country. Our very good friends the Bs live nearby which has been awesome. We lived with them for quite a while until we found a place to rent.
And the even bigger news...as of October 1st we are no longer home owners. We got a call from our realtor during our drive through Montana that we had two offers on our house. What a blessing! We are so thankful we are no longer financially tied to Colorado.
This picture was taken on one of the most humid days we had experienced here so far back in September. We joined the Bs at a church event at a nearby farm. Canaan was not very cooperative with the photo as she was missing her afternoon nap.