The Hell of the North 2012

I don't look as muddy as I felt or as muddy as my bike looked but this is what eating mud on a bicycle for 60 kilometres looks like. I am sopping wet, my nipples are raw and both my calves and both my quads are painfully cramping during this photo. The race is officially called the Paris to Ancaster and like the famous race in France that inspired it, called the Paris - Roubaix, it is also affectionately known as "The Hell of the North". Today was particularly hellish as anything that wasn't paved, which is most of the course, was "soft".

In case you're wondering: yes I paid money to participate, yes I checked the weather forecast ahead of time, no it wasn't my first time, yes I think the hat does make me look younger, yes I shamelessly used this photo with Cohen in the bottom corner to justify this post on his blog and no I didn't get a free t-shirt.

If you look closely at this next photo you can see caked mud on my lip - literally eating mud.

Eat My Daddy's Dust!

Good luck to Daddy on his bike race today!  We'll see you at the finish line!

Born to Stand

Cohen wants to be standing all the time now, but can only do so with help (and he's far from sturdy).  He loves his new activity table because he can stand on his own.  He looks like such a big boy to me in these pics.

Molly tries the Jolly Jumper...

...and decides it's not her thing.


She needed help getting in:

She couldn't really find her rhythm:

And she thought she looked stupid:

What a difference 8 months makes

This photo was taken April 6, 2012 (Cohen 9 months, Maddie 11 months)

This photo was taken August 13, 2011 (Cohen 5 weeks, Maddie 3 months)

Easter in Muskoka

Happy Easter to all our friends and family!

We celebrated Cohen's first Easter the cottage.  We enjoyed a huge feast with our favorite Ukrainian and Canadian Easter foods on Friday night with Lindsay, Erin, Ian and the girls.  Both sets of grandparents were out of the country, so Easter Sunday was a quiet celebration with church followed by brunch at the Rosseau Muskoka Resort with Auntie Linds.  Lindsay and I were also thrilled to collect all the chocolate eggs left by the Easter Bunny.  Cohen may have been too young for an egg hunt, but apparently you can't be too old for one (we loved it!).



All dressed up for Easter:

Family Easter shot:

 Enjoying our brunch at the restaurant:

Nine Months!

Cohen is now nine months old!  The past month has been a busy one for him.  He has been busy teething and has cut 3 top teeth, with another one ready to poke through any moment now.  Cohen has also started playing with his toys differently.  He's purposely trying to figure out how to use them (instead of just putting them in his mouth and enjoying the lights and sounds when he accidentally pushes a button).  He rolls his train across the floor, shakes his shaker and spins things that are meant to be spun and purposely presses buttons.  It's been amazing to watch him figure out all of these things.

Cohen has finally decided that he wants to move.  His main motivator is Molly.  When he sees Molly beyond his reach he starts trying to figure out how he can get to her.  He can roll around on the floor and spins himself around while on his belly.  He's trying to figure out how to get into the crawling stance from a sitting position, but he's not quite able to move where he wants yet....but I know it will be soon.  He also LOVES to stand and walk when aided.  He walks when someone is holding his hands, or behind his push walker (with a little support from Mommy or Daddy for stability).  He's also standing at his activity table now without help.

The other big milestone that Cohen hit this month was with food.  Over the past two weeks he has slowly started to eat the solids that I've been offering him for the past three months (yay!  finally!!).  He enjoys feeding himself puffed rice cereal, cheerios and shredded cheese.  He's also a big fan of yogurt.

What an exciting month it's been for our little guy.  We continue to be amazed by him every day!