Walk walk walk

Well, here's a little update on our late walker.

Cyan has really enjoyed crawling. So much in fact that I never thought she wou

ld decide to walk (this is ok with mommy because a crawler is slower than a walker ..hehehe)

Well, at 14 months Cyan has finally figured out the walking thing. Here's a timeline of the important event:

June 3rd - Stands by herself and walks to mommy and daddy while packing for Hawaii. Cyan is EXTREMELY proud of this and thinks its really funny.

June 4 - 9th - Stands by herself (and laughs) constantly. Loves to stand on the bed in Hawaii and in the sand.

June 11th - 14th - Takes a few steps (with daddy's encouragement) in the Maui condo. Again, she is very proud of herself.

June 17th - Walks BY HERSELF in the airport again and again as we are waiting for our flight to go home.

Now Cyan walks around when she wants. She is still favouring crawling (she's still faster at crawling). She has a zombie kind of walk. Arms are up usually and she shifts her weight back and forth.

Lots of people have seen her walk and have been very impressed with Cy-boo. 

We just love her! She's so much fun!

Ladena, Neil and Cyan

A few pics from our trip

Aloha again!

Here are a few pics from our trip for you all to enjoy.

We are (sadly) back home now.

We had such an amazing time in Hawaii. We are already talking about our next trip

there... can't wait!!

Ladena

(ok... thats just one photo... I can't seem to upload more right now...)

Aloha everyone!

Aloha everyone!

We are currently in Hawaii on our 3rd family vaction with Cyan.

We are having an amazing time on the islands of Aloha. As you all know, Neil and I love Hawaii so much. It is by far one of our favourite places in the world.

We decided to visit two islands this time around to make it a holiday to remember. Here's what we've been up to.

June 4 - 9th - Waikiki

We flew from Vancouver on June 4th and brought Gong Gong (grandpa Tran) along for our Waikiki part of the trip. We had an amazing time on Oahu. We stayed at the new Waikiki Wyndham hotel. We just LOVED it. It was central and close to the beach. We hung out around town. We were there during a 3 day festival and participated in a street market on Kalakau Ave. and watched a parade. We rented a car and drove to the Windward side of the island and enjoyed a day at a quiet beach. Cyan loved Waikiki Beach. She got to play in the water there and go weeeeee in her crab.

June 9 - 17th

On June 9th the 3 of us flew to Maui and are staying in Kihei. We have done so much on Maui so far and still have two days to go! We have driven almost the entire island. We have found some pretty amazing beached. Big Beach (** 1/2), Baldwin Beach (***) and Kapalua Bay (****) to name a few. We also visited the volcano and Iao Valley. Hung out in cool town like Paia and Lahaina.

Tomorrow we are heading back to our favourite spot so far, Kapalua Bay. This is a great beach for little Cyan. It's a bay and has calm waters. It also has some great snorkeling and some boogie boarding. We can't wait to get back in the sun tomorrow!

We hope you are all doing well! We send our love from Hawaii!

To see some of our pics click here.

Ladena, Neil and Cyan

Giberish giberish giberish

Hi everyone!

Well, many of you know just how much Cyan likes to talk. 

She's not walking yet, but man, can she talk!

She has been saying "oh oh..." for about 3 months now. She often wispers "Daddy" and "hi" and now she's saying "All done" when she is finished eating. SO CUTE!

We have been teaching Cyan sign language since she was a baby. She has quite the signing vocabulary. She signs "More" when she wants more food (surprise) or if she wants to play more (usually bouncing bunny with daddy).

She signs "Please" by rubbing her tummy. Neil and I often don't give her anymore food unless she says please.

She also signs "Thank You" but only on certain occasions - we're still working on that one!

She has been waving since she was about 6 months old and she always blows kisses. Super cute!

I will try to film her doing her signs and post them super soon!

Just thought you'd all like to know this little update!

Love

Ladena, Neil and Cyan

Happy Spring!

Hello everyone!

I hope spring has arrived where you all live. It sure took long for the nice weather to make it to Victoria but it does finally feel sunny and warm outside!

I have updated you all about our move to the condo before. What you might not know (especially if you don't live in Victoria) is that Neil, Cyan and I have made the paper a few times for our move to our Green Home. 

Here are the links to the newspaper articles.

1 - Victoria Times Colonist

2 - Globe and Mail

3 - Victoria Times Colonist

You need to look a little harder for the pictures but they are there. 

Here's one for you to all enjoy!

Happy Birthday Cyan!

Today is Cyan's First Birthday!

We can't believe she is already one year old. Time has gone by so fast.

We had a big family and friends birthday on the weekend and today Cyan invited all her baby friends to the condo for a fun play date.

Cyan was super spoiled with love and presents.

I will write a longer update in the next few days!

Love

Ladena, Neil and Cyan

We're on the move!

Hello everyone!

Well, many of you have been following our adventures and remember that Neil and I purchased a condo downtown Victoria 2 years ago. Our condo, at Dockside Green, is finally completed! We move in next week!

We are so excited for this new adventure. We walked through the condo a few weeks ago and loved it. We know we will be very happy there even though it is temporary. 

For those of you that don't know,the condo is located downtown. Neil 

will be walking or biking to work. Cyan and I will be walking downtown, to visit auntie Gen for lunches and to do the groceries. We are really looking forward to the new location! The condo is also a LEED designated building and is the first of its kind in North America. 

So, our house is in shambles right now. There are boxes everywhere but the end is near! 

Cyan has no idea what's happening (obviously). I keep telling her she's 

going to have a new room next week but again, I get no reaction. 

I thought since she will have a new room next week it would be nice to document her first room ever in our Zinnia home. Neil took out his camera and took some great shots. You will see from these pictures that our little baby is getting big! She is 11 months in 2 days! 

Cyan is still standing like a star. She has not taken her first step yet but I know it will come soon. Her new favourite thing to do is talk on her Fisher Price phone. She also loves to Shhhhhhhhh mommy and daddy when we read a part of her favourite book, Lello Lion.

We hope you are all doing well and that spring is arriving at your homes!!

Keep in touch,

Ladena, Neil and Cyan

Happy Love Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Well, I haven't posted on the blog for way too long!

Things are going great with us. We are getting very excited for our big move to Dockside Green. We are still trying to figure out what to do with the house but we know things will work themselves out.

Cyan is doing all kinds of cool things now. She baby talks ALL the time. She is going to be quite the handful, I can already picture her constantly asking "why mommy?" or "why daddy?" hahaha.

She also loves to stand. All she does is crawl to one piece of furniture after another and stands. Look at me mommy! I can stand here, and here and here... I don't think she will be walking just yet but you never know with this baby!

I hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day! Cyan is loving her first Valentine's Day. We were busy today with playdates and running around to the grocery store to buy just the right thing for daddy's Valentine's dinner!

Love,

Ladena, Neil and Cyan

Vote for Cyan!

Well, life with Cyan is always full of surprises!

I entered Cyan's surfboard picture in a contest last month with Canada.com. I received an email today telling me that the photo is in the finals! We have one out of ten chances to win $1000!! Wow, that's alot of baby food!

This is a popularity contest, the winning photo is the one that receives the most votes! So please, vote for Cyan! You can vote everyday! Plus, every time you enter the contest you have a chance to win $1000!

Here's the link to the contest, you can't miss Cyan's pic... its the cutest, I think!

http://www.canada.com/wrapup

Thanks for all your votes!

love

Ladena, Neil and Cyan

New year new fun!

Happy New Year everyone!

Well, as of Jan 5th Cyan is officially crawling! It was very slow at first, I could leave the room and come back and she would have moved 2 steps. But now she's a speedy little girl. The house is not officially baby proofed yet but it will be soon! Right now Cyan is hearing a lot of "NON!" and "Non Cyan, that's daddy's". She knows what the word means, she chooses to stop, laugh at me then continue to go for the computer wires, heater, plants etc!

We are slowly starting to get ready for our big move to Dockside Green. Neil and I are getting so excited. We drive by our condo a few times a week to see its progress. Right now I can see our amazing dark wood kitchen and stainless steel appliances. There are also plants in our planters outside Cyan's new bedroom window. 2 months to go and we will be in our new GREEN space!!

Here are a few pics for you all to enjoy!

Miss you all!

Ladena, Neil and Cyan

Helping mommy take down the Christmas decorations.

Happy family, minutes after midnight Jan 1, 2008.

Cyan playing and getting excited!!

Merry Christmas from Victoria

Christmas is almost here!

Hello everyone!

Well, this post is well overdue! A lot has happened since Halloween!

We are all doing so well. Neil is still super busy at work but looking forward to Christmas week off. Cyan and I are keeping busy as always. We have recently added skating to our list of weekly activities. So now we are booked up Tues, Wed and Fri. I love doing all kinds of special things with Cyan. She loves being out exploring new things.

We just returned from an amazing trip in Mexico. We went to stay at my aunt Carole and uncle John's condo in Nuevo Vallarta (http://www.condoinvallarta.com/). Mom and dad were spending almost 2 months there and treated us to a flight down as our Christmas present. We had an amazing time. Neil and I really love Hawaii but Mexico was very cool too. We will definetly be going back. We took 100s of pictures. Cyan loved the sun, the heat, the ocean and the pools. To see some of our pics click here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30960&l=f308f&id=531021857

We are slowly getting ready for Cyan's first Christmas. I took Cyan to visit santa at the mall. She was very curious and wondered why she was sitting on this big red guys lap but didn't cry! The tree is already filled with presents for her. I am really looking forward to her first Christmas, I know it will be very special.

I will post with some more pics before Christmas!

Ladéna, Neil and Cyan

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Cyan is sooooooooo excited for her first Halloween! She's been wearing her costume all week!

Here she is in her very first Halloween costume. This year she's a little lion!

We hope everyone has an awesome day!

BOO!

Cyan is sitting up now! Here she is playing with her toys!

5 months and 25 days old

Well, Cyan is just about 6 months old!

Wow! What a journey its been so far.

Cyan continues to be an amazing little girl. I am still doing so much great stuff with her. Our weeks are filled with play dates with friends and lunches with daddy and shopping with grandma.

We recently started a mommy and baby aquafit class. This class is perfect for both of us! I'm getting a great workout and Cyan gets to play in the pool - which she LOVES! She's a real water baby.

Today we started a new program at my friend's school called Roots of Empathy. Cyan will be visiting her classroom (with me of course) all year. The students will be learning how to understand others and empathise towards others through dealing with Cyan. She loved all the attention she got from the big kids and adored when they sang to her.

Most of you know we have already booked our next trip! We are heading to Mexico on Nov 22nd. Neil and I can't wait to go somewhere warm. Our summer was not very impressive here in Victoria and we need to warm our bones! We are also looking forward to surfing a bit. Grandma and Grandpa will be there to take care of Cyan, we won't be teaching her how to surf just yet!

We'd like to congratulate our friends Stephanie and Christian who welcomed their new little baby boy on Sept 28th!

We are patiently waiting news from our friends Brad and Naomi - expecting a surprise soon and from Genevieve and Luc, also having a baby this month!

Here are some latest pics of Cyan! Yep, she's growing! (17lbs already! Mommy is strong!)

Looking out the window

Hanging out, auntie Gen was babysitting!

Helping mommy with the laundry.

5 months! I'm big now!

Well, Cyan is already 5 months old. You don't realize how fast time goes until you have a baby. She has almost been here with us for half an entire year! So bizarre!

I honestly don't know what I would do without her. She is such an amazing little girl.

Anyways, I thought I would share some new super cute pictures.

Here she is sitting next to her first teddy bear. The bear used to be bigger than her just a few months ago!

More to come soon of course!

We'd like to also say a BIG congratulations to our friends Brad and Naomi who tied the knot this weekend! We are sooooooooo happy for you! xox

til next time

Ladéna, Neil and Cyan

Back from our first trip!!

Well, its time for an update isn't it?

We have been a very busy little family lately!

We just returned from a 10 days trip back East with Gen and Jeff to attend a wedding and visit family and friends. What a busy trip it was!

We left from Victoria on Aug 16th and flew to Toronto. Cyan was amazing on the plane. She slept on daddy's lap almost the entire way. We spent 3 days in Toronto. Attended Jean-Philippe and Lauren's amazing wedding, visited the city and went to the zoo.

We then drove to Ottawa and Cyan got to meet her great grandparents! What a wonderful visit that was! She also got to meet some aunts and uncles and cousins.

We did a bit of touristy things in Ottawa. Enjoyed the beautiful market everyday, went to the National Gallery and checked out the locks... one of my favourite things to do in Ottawa! We also got to hang out with Brigitte and Livia, Gen, Luc and Gaby and the Croteaus.

After lots of running around in Ottawa we headed to Montreal! We had a great dinner with our aunt Elaine and uncle Lamberto (Cyan met her first Italian man and she liked him!) We loved visiting and shopping in Montreal. We enjoyed Old Montreal and St-Catherine street and relaxed at the Sheraton.

I'm sad that our trip is already over! I have to say that travelling with Cyan wasn't much harder than travelling without her. I had to pack a lot more stuff but besides that we travelled as usual. I'm happy to see that she did ok with the plane ride and the time change. She is already back to her sleeping habits and is enjoying her toys and bed again.

We are planning on taking her to Mexico for our next trip. I can't wait to dip her feet in the ocean!

Here are a few pics of the trip. Enjoy!

Love,

Ladéna, Neil and Cyan

Beau bébé!

Hi everyone!

Well, we're still having tons of fun with Cy-Cy! We are slowly getting ready for our big trip back east. Its going to be so great!

Cyan is doing lots of new things now. She LOVES sucking on her hands and baby talks so much with us! She also smiles all the time! She is such a happy baby.

Here are some fun pics of Cyan taken today. Enjoy!

Hi everyone!

Mmmmmmm, my hands taste so good!

So, let me think... what should I do this afternoon?

Love
Ladéna, Neil and Cyan

Cyan chatting away with mommy!