Happy Halloween

Juliette got her cute little witch costume from Grandma Joan. Mom and I drove down to the pumpkin patch near Spence's bridge to take pictures and let Juliette pick out
her own pumpkin, but when we arrived there were no pumpkins in site except this little one she is holding, which was perfect!


Mom helped me with this picture of Virgil in the pumpkin. It took many tries and alot of laughs before we got this shot. He was 24 days old.

This is what Virgil's pumpkin turned into.


This year we gave out ghoulish cupcakes to our family trick or treaters. I found alot of great decorations and had fun putting these together.














Darren and I took the kids out trick or treating, Keneesha and Indy came along. Juliette wasn't really sure what was going on but she liked getting candy in her bucket and hung onto it for dear life.

Juliette was excited to look at all her candy, we let her eat the fruit and one roll of gummy lifesavers. The rest was tucked away. Virgil slept in the ergo pack when we were out, here he is kicked back in his beaver costume.

Home in Merritt

We arrived back in Merritt the middle of October. Oma came to stay with us for a couple of weeks while Darren was finishing work up North. She was a great help with looking after Juliette and keeping the house in order. We had fun taking the kids to the park, going to Kelowna and taking pictures of Virgil. there were alot of laughs! It is nice to be back and to see everyone.

Virgil meets the family in Vancouver

Juliette was all smiles to have her baby brother home from the hospital.

When Virgil was 6 days old we flew down to Vancouver. My friend Gisele had Juliette on her lap which was a great help. Both kids were perfect flyer's, as they slept the whole way. Grandpa Ashby picked us up at the airport. We went to visit Great Grandma Ashby, Juliette was having fun playing with the panda bears she had on her bed. Virgil was very tired and slept throughout the visit.

A special moment between Grandpa and grandson.

Auntie Mel and cousins Dawson and Justin. I was happy that Mel could give me some tips on changing baby boy diapers!

A family dinner with grandparents. Virgil's first dining out experience.

As Virgil slept peacefully in the stroller at the park.

Juliette was busy playing with Grandpa. She sure knows how to wear you out with all that running around. especially the continuous hoisting on her favorite slide.

We went to visit the Auntie's, Jessie and Jamie. They were excited to meet their new nephew. Virgil is wearing a new hat given to him from Gramma Jan from Salt Spring Island, its a little strawberry.
These are my friends of 20 years from high school with their wives and children. This was a rare occasion to have the group together. It was really nice to see everyone and fun to see our kids playing together.

Heidi and i have been friends since grade 3. We are both blessed with both a son and daughter. I look forward to spending more time with them in the future.

Its a boy!

I was 10 days overdue and I had been bumped from 2 induction schedulings. I was very large and starting to feel pretty uncomfortable. On the morning of November 30th I was to be induced when i phoned in and found out they could not do it that day, I was pretty upset. That evening around 4pm Darren and i went to Earls for an early dinner while Juliette was at daycare. I started feeling contractions during dinner, these would carry on throughout the evening. I would ignore them in disbelief and carry on with shopping, stopping to hold onto things every now and again. That night by 2am i hopped in the bath to try and get some relief, when i realized my contractions were already 5 minutes apart i knew it was time to head to the hospital. We dropped Juliette off at the dayhome at 3am and got to the hospital 5 minutes later. The maternity ward was full so they put us in a different section. Things were happening very quickly i was 7-8cm already when i arrived. I was too late for an epidural so the doctor broke my water to speed things up more. Next thing i knew they told me to push and 12 minutes later we had a baby boy.

This was about an hour before delivery at the Whitehorse general hospital.
Our son Virgil Cole was born at 5:07am on Thursday, October 1st 2009. He weighed 9.3 lbs, 21 3/4" long and was born with a full head of hair and long toes.

All swaddled up and exhausted from a long night.

Mom and Dad with baby Virgil. We were so happy to hold him, the wait was finally over.




















Proud father holding his son for the first time.
























Here is Dr. Tadros holding Virgil. This picture is extra special as They share the same birthday.


When Juliette came to the hospital to meet her new baby brother for the first time, she kept looking at him very seriously. She wasn't sure what to think of him. The next day when she came again, she smiled at him a little. when we asked her where the baby was she pointed to my belly and glared over at him. It was definite denial!

2 days old, Looking sharp after his first bath. the nurse gave him a stylish hairdoo.


Uncle Paul and Aunt Kathie were among some of the visitors that came to the hospital to meet Virgil.















All strapped in and ready to venture out into the world.

Baby on the way

The summer in the Yukon turned out to be beautiful and very hot especially carrying around the extra weight. Here we are at the property by Dezadeash, 34 weeks along.

Juliette was excited about the baby she would always lift my shirt and give the baby kisses. She would also try to feed him raisins and water through my belly button, it was really sweet.

As we were waiting for the new arrival in Whitehorse, we passed the time in various ways. This included a little art work by the big sister to be. This was at 41 weeks.

Yukon Summer 2009

On April 24 I set off on my journey back to the Yukon. I had to leave a week earlier than the rest of the family to attend my spring training in Dawson City. It was very strange being without Juliette for the first time since she was born. We also decided this would be the perfect time to ween her, as we are expecting our 2nd child in September. I have returned to my job with Tourism and Darren has returned to Highways. Unfortunately he is working all over the Yukon this summer but so far has managed to come to Beaver Creek for his days off.

We have a wonderful couple; Wendy and Sylvain babysitting Juliette while iam at work. It works out perfect as their daughter Lacy is very close in age. Iam told that they are partners in crime! I can only imagine what 2 little toddlers can get into together. She has had an event filled summer so far between all the activities; swimming, Trip to Fairbanks, playing on her favorite toys,the swing and slide at the park, etc. She has continued to use her sign language for various things, but has started to be more vocal using words as well. Her favorite word has been "GEE" for about 4 months now and we are still not sure who or what it means!

On Canada Day we watched the parade in beaver Creek. Juliette enjoyed all the floats and kids. It was a beautiful sunny day, and the whole town was decked out in red and white. One of the locals did his traditional fly by in his plane over the parade.


All of the people on the floats were throwing candy on the side of the road. Juliette got a hold of a tootsie pop that she tried to eat through the paper. It was quite comical.

In February before valentines day i was all set to bake some special cookies for friends and family. It turned out i never did feel like baking , I was dealing with nausea and the many food aversions i had early on in my pregnancy. well, Valentines day finally came in July and i dedicated a day to baking and decorating.

Shortly after we arrived in Beaver Creek we planted in the community greenhouse. We are now enjoying fresh veggies out of the garden. Juliette likes to watch me water the plants and thinks it is funny when i give her a piece of lettuce or carrot to munch on. She just plays with it instead.

In the middle of July Keneesha and Indy made the long journey from Merritt up to Beaver Creek to see Juliette and cousins Kendra and new baby Michael. She was so excited to see them both. They had a couple of sleepovers and alot of laughs. We will look forward to our return to Merritt in the fall.

On Juliette's 19 month birthday she decided to dress for the occasion and accessorize with my undergarments, she must have had about 7 pairs around her neck. She was just proud prancing around the room.

We went to Klukshu to visit with family. Juliette had a great time with her cousins and Auntie's Jessie and Jamie.

After the beautiful hot summer we had in Beaver Creek Ilooked forward to the berries that would come. I found a nice little patch of wild blueberries down at the lake. Darren brought Juliette into the patch and she was thrilled to pick her own berries and eat them right off the bush. A few weeks later the high bush cranberries were ready and again Juliette loved to pick and eat them off the bush, but these she did not chew before swallowing as her diaper proved later on.

I managed to pick 15 litres of cranberries to make juice and enough blueberries and mossberries to make a couple batches of jam. Despite my big belly I was determined to get my berries.

When September 7th came, this marked 2 weeks prior to my Sept. 21st due date and it was necessary for me to go to Whitehorse. We were generously offered a friends house which was vacant to stay in while we waited for the baby. we found a little dayhome for Juliette just down the street so she could socialize a couple times a week and in the event that i went into labour in the middle of the night the lady said she would take Juliette for us. I was sure this baby would be early judging by the size of me and the achiness i was feeling.

Fathers day

Juliette was hard at work drawing her Dad a picture for Fathers Day.

Darren's mom Mary Jane was in the Yukon for 3 weeks and she spent about 10 days in Beaver Creek with Juliette and I. She was good company and a great help to watch Juliette for me while i was at work.

We spent the Father's day weekend in Haines Junction, Darren met us on his days off. We rented a room and had a relaxing weekend together. MaryJane had us over to Nadia's for a spaghetti dinner one night and sourdough pancakes on Fathers Day. We took Juliette to the park a couple of times and did a little photo shoot in the grass.

On June 19th she turned 1 1/2 years old. It is hard to believe the time goes by so quickly. We had a really nice weekend together.