The First Supper

As a parent of a new baby, you quickly realize that you celebrate, maybe even rejoice in the little, tiny things in life. The first smile, roll, giggle... it's all a big deal when it is your kid doing it. God gave us such a gift in Boone and we feel honored to be the ones entrusted to care for him.

Today was a big day for little Mr. Boone. It was his first official meal apart from nursing. And while these pictures may look like every other little messy-faced, first foods baby pictures, they were just too fun not to share. 

His first delicacy was whole wheat rice cereal mixed with milk and I think the reviews were mixed. While he did show some interest in eating it, he had some less than enthusiastic faces after each taste from the spoon. But, he has been watching us eat with lots of interest for awhile, so I have no doubt he will get the knack of it all before too long!

Here are a few of our pictures from the "first supper":

Looking semi-excited...

Maybe not so much...

This kid is becoming notorious for his hilarious expressions. He does them so often
that it is not hard at all to catch them with the camera. Here are several from
his first time with cereal:

Here's to growing and changing each day! Such a miracle to be able to witness it all through this little one.

Love,

Jeff, Em + Boone

Brunch, Baby Dedication and 5 months already!

Life seems to move fast these days. It seems like you try so hard to sometimes just make it through the day with a screaming baby, and then all the sudden you take a step back and a month has passed you by. I've been trying so hard to enjoy the moments as they come and not wish away our time remaining here in Calgary. Sometimes that's easy, sometimes that's hard, but I love looking back ast pictures and seeing what we've been doing for the last couple of weeks.

One of the blessings of having the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom is the support you can find from other ladies. Other moms, other Kiewit wives, there are so many wonderful women that surround me up here in the Great White North, and I'm truly thankful for each of them. One of my fellow Kiewit ladies, Emily (yes, there is more than one of us up here!) hosted a brunch recently, and it gave us a chance to get together, let the kiddos be crazy and just share (or commiserate) with each other. :)

Miss Jaelyn after some veggies, I think.

Boone man lounging in the this cute chair at Emily's house.

The three dual citizen amigos (Cora, Boone and Jaelyn!)

It's always good to get together and get out of the house! The weather up here can get you down with the cold and snow, but it always makes you feel better to get together, laugh and eat some good food! As I'm thinking about it, we really need to start doing this more often!

At the beginning of February, my parents came to visit for Boone's dedication at church. In our faith, we believe in adult baptism, but there is the opportunity after a child is born to pause and say that we are going to do everything we can to raise our baby to accept Christ as his Savior and follow him with his life. I was dedicated as a baby and I remembering growing up and seeing children be dedicated and thinking what a symbolic time that it is. So, when we had the opportunity to dedicate Boone, Jeff and I were both very excited and honored.

During the dedication. Pastor Brad Young prayed for Boone and our family.

Edith from our small group was able to come! We were so happy to have her and so thankful she was able to man the camera for us! :) Thanks Edith!

Thankfully he was in a good mood!

Thankful that my parents could make the trip to Calgary for the event! 

We miss them terribly!

Jeff and his mini-me! They were almost matching in their outfits!

And... he's 5 months old! Crazy how time flies by! This month Boone has started swim class where he and dad enjoy splashing around and (watching everyone) sing songs! (Jeff isn't really into the crazy kid songs!) :)

He's also started rolling, although it's not too consistent yet. We are trying to be patient, but we put him on his belly all the time! He is cooing all the time and LOVES to stand up! We've started working on his sitting too. Boone has also gotten really good with hanging out with other people. He usually lasts through nursery at church now, went to babysitting at the fitness bootcamp I go to and has also been spending whole days at the Lake Louise daycare this past month. He loves it and there are always pretty ladies to hold him there all day!

In a few weeks we start food... not sure how that will go, but it will be fun to see all the messy faces he will have.

Well, Boone has woke up screaming from his nap as I finish this post, so I better go!

Until next time,

Jeff, Em + Boone

The many faces of Boone!

I know it may seem like most of our recent posts have been about the new little person in our family, but as any new parent will tell you, your life does shift to focus a great deal on a new baby. It's fun to see life through his eyes and watch him discover new things each day. 

Recently, I've been taking lots of pictures of Boone with a fancy new camera that Grandma Robertson gave us for Christmas! It's been fun to try and capture pictures of Boone now that he is smiling a lot more... but we've noticed that along with the smiles come all kinds of funny facial expressions! So here are just a few... Enjoy!

I can't wait to hear what he is thinking when he is making all these faces! Hope his expressions continue as he grows and matures!

Happy Thursday!

Love,

Jeff, Emily + Boone

4 months + Tour de Boone Part 2

We've already passed the 4 month mark with Mr. B! It seems like it's starting to go in fast forward already! We are just trying to take time to enjoy moments with Boone and time as a family together!

Jeff and I refer to the time between month 3 and month 4 in Boone's life as when he started "waking up." It seems like he really began to interact with us more, smile more and communicate more (through cooing, of course!) It's amazing how he is growing and developing more and more each day!

Boone also had a first in his fourth month when he stayed at daycare all day at Lake Louise Ski Resort! It was nice because we knew he was in good hands of the daycare providers and Jeff and I could enjoy a day of skiing in the Canadian Rockies!

Here's a few more pictures of our adventures with Boone on our trip back to the United States!

Boone in his cute Christmas shirt, thanks to our friend, Christy! And, Uncle John with Boone on Christmas Eve!

Boone with the group for his first Christmas brunch! And Daddy and Boone checking out the Christmas lights!

Boone hanging out with Papa and Boone meeting Great Aunt Dorothy, Ryan and Jeff!

Boone wearing Uncle John's infant Christmas outfit from 1989 on our last night in St. Louis!

All in all, it was a great trip filled with lots of good memories with our little one! We are so thankful for the time we got to spend with so many friends and family! And we are already looking forward to the next trip, hopefully soon!

Love from us up north!

em, jeff + boone

3 months and Tour de Boone part 1

Shortly after Boone turned 3 months old, we set out on a three week trip to the states! Our time there was filled with lots of friends and family and many first time meetings for our little Boone! It was so much fun to see him with all the people we love so much.

First, a little look at Boone at 3 months. We had the opportunity to go with some friends from small group to cut down their Christmas tree in Kananaskis Country here in Alberta. Since we were going to be gone much of December, we didn't want to put up a tree, but we cut down a tiny one to get a picture with Boone. Here he is, looking somewhat content.

And here is a picture that represents most of his 3rd month... Crabby. But cute nonetheless. We have had a bit of fussiness, but with a little more sleep and a bit of a schedule, we think it is getting under control. He changed so much between 3 and 4 months! Lots of smiling, cooing, standing (assisted, of course!) and interacting!

On our first trip with Boone he did remarkably well on the plane rides! We flew from Calgary to Denver and then after a couple hour layover, we flew from Denver to Kansas City. He only cried for a brief time on our first flight when we started to land. I think he could tell something was up with his ears, but he just wasn't sure what was going on. Besides that, he did great and many travelers and flight attendants "ooh"-ed and "ahh"'-ed over him! Here's a picture on our first layover of Jeff and Boone hanging out.

In Kansas City, we had the opportunity to attend a work function for Jeff and also spend sometime with friends that we don't get to see often. Here's a shot of some friends from past projects:

Before we left KC, we stopped and spent some time with our friends the Murphys! They had a baby boy, Jonathan, that was due around the same time as Boone! We can't wait to see these two grow up to be great friends! 

Jonathan, Boone and Jonathan's big sister, Hannah!

The boys looking very uninterested... But the moms had fun spending time together! 

Next, Boone and I parted ways with Jeff as he left to go to Omaha for training! I headed with the little one to Fulton to spend a few days with Grandma and Grandpa Robertson!

On the left, Grandpa R. snoozin' with Boone and on the right, Grandma R. taking a turn with the baby carrier. 

After a few days of farm living, Boone and I continued our travels onto St. Louis. We spent time with papa and Nanamimi (my mom and dad) and Uncle John. Also, Boone had the opportunity to meet his great-grandma Sutterfield. Such a blessed little boy with all the love he is surrounded by!

Boone and his great-grandma!

We also had the opportunity to take some family pictures with my immediate family! I'll put those in a separate post once we get the images from the photographer!

After we picked up Jeff from the airport in St. Louis, we headed back to Fulton for a week and then celebrated John's birthday and Christmas in St. Louis! So... more pictures to come!

We are headed to ski this weekend! Can't wait to get out there for the first time this season!

Cheers, 

The Robertson 3 

2 months already!

We've reached the 2 month mark with little Boone! Just for the record, I started typing this on November 5, 2012, but am just now getting around to finishing it! I'm already falling behind on my motherly duties! Needless to say we are still in awe of the little wonder that the Lord blessed us with! Sometimes Jeff and I just look at him and we both say "Gosh, I love him so much!"

In the last month, we've gotten out and about a lot more! It's starting to feel more normal to get the diaper bag ready, bundle up Boone and head out for errands or a meal out! We've made it back to church and have actually been able to sit through a whole service with him!

We also started attending  the birth and babies class through Alberta Health. Originally, the class was designed for you to come for 5 weeks before your baby arrived and then bring your baby for the last 5 classes. Well, Boone showed up the day before the first class, so we ended up skipping all the classes about childbirth and labor and started attending the postpartum section of the class. We've met some great first time parents and also have learned quite a few things for taking care of Boone!

Some stats: Boone weighs in at 10 pounds, 12 ounces and around 22 inches long. He's now wearing 0-3 month clothes and we've finally moved into the regular cloth diapers. Up until this point, we had just been using newborn cloth diapers, but Boone is too big for them now! Boone is sleeping anywhere from 5 to 7 and a half hours a night at a time (which makes us feel like we are getting tons of sleep!) Also, Boone sleeps in his crib in his room... a little earlier than what we anticipated, but he was having a crabby night, so we just decided to place him in the crib and he fell right asleep!

Also, Boone is an official Canadian citizen! We applied for and received his Canadian birth certificate, and his Canadian passport is being processed as I type this! Once we have all the Canadian documents, we will take a trip to the American consulate to get all his official American paperwork figured out! We've heard this is quite the process... so I'm not exactly looking forward to it!

Here's a few snapshots of his second month:

Still not really enjoying the car seat! Although he quiets down once we get going!

Two month old. Getting so big.

month 1

It has been one month since Boone Samuel Robertson decided to surprise us all and come into the world 6 weeks early! What a crazy month it has been...

Our precious Boone,

What a sweet surprise when we found out you would be entering our world in early September! As your dad and I sat at the hospital hearing the plans for your delivery from our doctors and nurses, we were scared, excited, anxious and nervous all at one time! We thought we had another month and a half of preparation, but you had other plans!

As we heard your first cries in the delivery room we were relieved, but could tell by the many neonatal doctors rushing into the room, we had a long road ahead of us. You spent nearly two weeks in the hospital, but I'll always remember the Saturday morning when we walked into the nursery and saw your NICU resident, Desiree. She looked at me with a huge smile and nodded. She didn't have to say a word, but I knew... you were headed home!

Since, then, it has been a fun rollercoaster of craziness. The smiles, the cute sounds, and the sleepy cuddles have all been so sweet. Of course, you've had your fair share of screamfests, but I'm sure when we look back on this first month, those memories will fade away.

A few stats about you:

You weighed 5 lbs, 13 ounces at birth. You lost weight while in the hospital, but by the time you left, you were almost back at your birth weight at 5 lbs, 12 ounces. You steadily gained weight, and as of yesterday, you weighed 7 lbs, 8.5 ounces.

You are still swimming in your newborn outfits. That's part of what makes me remember that you are still pretty tiny.

You've officially met both of your grandparents. The Robertsons came September 12 and the Sutterfields arrived on September 22. You are the absolute light of all of their lives. It's amazing to see them love you!

You love laying on your tummy on anyone that is available, riding in your car seat, and laying in your dad's arms. You dislike taking a bath, getting your diaper changed, being cold (you are going to have to work on that Mr. Canadian) and any delay in eating when you think it's meal time.

What a ride it has been so far. We are blessed by you and so thankful that you are healthy.

We love you!

Ok... one more picture. Just had to do the official one month photo.