He's WALKING, He's WALKING!!!

Ok, Ok, so he started walking like 2 months ago... and I am apparently continuing to be lousy at keeping this thing updated. BUT, I know that if you know me, you are not surprised in the least.

So... here is the 2 month recap:

October:

-We spent Thanksgiving in Calgary at my aunt's place, dogs and all. It was the first time for Chephren to meet his Great-Grandpa and second cousin Rylan.

-Spent the following weekend at the Canadian Vision Teachers Conference in Banff. It was a crazy, crazy busy time but it was a huge hit as well. I managed to sell some of my photographs at the conference and some of them were featured on the conference cards and keynote gifts as well, so it was exciting for me.

-At the same time as the conference, my brother Ben suffered a huge health setback. My parents had to fly to Ottawa on an emergency flight and we were all pretty shaken up about this. I don't want to go into the details here, as it is not my story to tell, but know that he is on the road to recovery and greatly looking forward to coming home this Christmas.

-I came home from Banff to a boy that was now taking some steps on his own!

-Trent turned 31 at the end of October (ha, sucker!)

-We hosted a pumpkin-carving party at our place and made everyone wear costumes this year. It was a super fun time had by all! (I won the costume contest by the way... I really had to make an effort here because I am the worst pumpkin carver EVER - well, next to Rickshaw that is!)

November:

-Chephren turned one in a very low-key birthday celebration. We continue to be just thrilled to bits with him.

-Trent, Chephren and I went to Maui with my parents for 11 days. It was such a wonderful holiday. Highlights included: snorkeling with turtles, diving with my dad (and more turtles), visiting with friends from back home that were on vacation as well, Trent and I having a few date nights, seeing 'Uncle Willy K' - a local singer, driving both the North road and the road to Hana, going to the beach and pool everyday, and watching my baby turn into a toddler right before my eyes! Chephren started saying words while in Hawai'i and also started to basically run with all of the practice on the grass/sand. He loved the beach, the surf and the pool and was an excellent traveller. We loved every minute of our trip together!

December:

-So far, December has been all about playing outside in the snow with Chephren, and visiting friends and family. We are planning an open house for this weekend with a visit from 'Santa' so I am excited to see what Chephren's reaction is to that!

-New words for Chephren include: Hot, Ball, and Grampy. He also says 'Ho, Ho, Ho', roars like a tiger and woofs like a dog. Fun times!

Well, I think I'll sign off for now and chase after my son (he has been eating dirt while I write this). Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love, the Hasses

Hasse's on the loose!

Since I last wrote we have been here, there and everywhere. I know, I know... shocker. Apparently we are a family that is incapable of 'taking it easy' and choose instead to run around all over the place with our wide-eyed and yet continually smiling son. So, here is an update on the antics of the past 6 weeks or so:

Towards the end of August, our dear friends Sue and Mark came for a visit from Calgary. They had been in livng in San Diego for the past 5 years or so, so it was great to finally have them out to the 'ranch'. In true Hasse style, we took them for a quad ride, and even Sue, who was 7 months pregnant at the time, enjoyed it. She is a real trooper. We loved having them and hope to see them again really soon - next time with their new little one in tow!

The next weekend we headed to Skeleton Lake with our great friends Benn, Jill and Mya. They have a lake lot there and proved to be unbelievable hosts. The kids played, the boys dirtbiked (aka also played) and the girls DANCED! (and drank wine of course)! We had a wonderful weekend and it was a fabulous way to end the summer. Thanks again you guys!

The following weekend we left for Palm Springs. Our friends Chad, Carla and their son James hosted us at their place down there... and what a place it is!!! We were absolutely spoiled while we were there and enjoyed shopping (especially Trent), pool time (especially Chephren) and lots of food and drink (Maren's favorite). We also headed out to see Joshua Tree National Park and would love to come back again someday for some climbing. It looked truly RAD! We loved the area and had an amazing time.

The next weekend, September 19, we attended a wedding in Drayton Valley. My beautiful cousin Candice married a wonderful guy, John, and they had a heck of a celebration. It was great to see my dad's extended family and to get recent pictures with Grandma. She was in great spirits and looking super healthy so that was great to see.

Whew! I'll bet you are thinking that we were done for travelling this fall but you would of course be wrong. We spent the last weekend of September at our lot in Nordegg. We went out there to 'supervise' the stumping of the lot, which for me meant a lot of sitting around and drinking beer. It was GREAT! My mom's friends Anne, Bernie and Laura were also there and they proved to be super fun company. Great weather and a great end to September!

Last but certainly not least, mom and I had just the best day yesterday. We started the afternoon with shopping and starbucks, followed by a stellar dinner at Murietta's on Whyte. Last but so far from least it is not even funny, we hit the Jason Mraz concert at the Jubilee Auditorium. What a fantastic show! If you get the chance to see him, GOOOOO! He is truly amazing.

As for the 'little wild thing' - he turned 11 months yesterday. He continues to grow and change literally every day. His new tricks include: waving bye-bye, clapping his hands, doing sign language (finished, more, drink and milk), standing independently, almost walking (he has taken a few steps), and of course he has cut a few more teeth... he is now up to TEN! He is still just chock full of personality and we love him more each and every day!

That's all for now, expect another crazy update in a few months, we have big plans coming up... including a trip to Maui! Yahoo!

Cheers and clear skies,

The Hasse's xoxo

Getting back on my feet

Hi there,

I was wondering if my blog was even still going to be on here when I logged on today, given that it has been so long since I updated it, I thought that it might have been taken down :)... I do have a good reason for this, well, I guess you could call it an excuse, well, several excuses actually.

As I have alluded to in previous e-mails, Trent and I had a wickedly awesome but busy summer planned. Trent is working 4 days a week due to the slowing economy and I am still at home with the little guy so we thought, hey, let's get out and do some rad stuff! We began the summer with a bang, and did an attempt on Mt. Athabasca with a group of friends on June 15th. We left the parking lot at 2:15 a.m. and it was 12 DEGREES CELSIUS! This is not what you might call ideal glacier travel conditions. But, we headed up to the glacier in the dark anyway, just to see if things might cool down. Not so much, so, after about 3 hours of walking, we turned around and headed down. It wasn't a total loss, but it sure wasn't the day we had planned on. C'est la vie I suppose.

The next adventure for me was a triathlon the following weekend in June. It was a sprint distance event in Spruce Grove and I actually had a great race. I am super happy with my time and enjoyed the race a lot. It was neat to race in Spruce as I knew many, many of the competitors. Hope they bring the race back again next year. This pic is of my great friend Jill and I after the race - 2 super mom's!

The next weekend we departed for Kelowna (yes, again), but this time we had my parents with us. We spent the weekend with Tess and Loic (thank you guys again, you rock!) and then hopped on a houseboat in the schuswap for 4 days with our friends Chris and Jaime. It was super relaxing and the weather was spectacular! We really, really enjoyed our time in B.C. again and are still considering moving there someday, although I think we will absolutely need to move as a 'foursome' since we seem to be joined at the hip these days! This pic is of Chephren swimming in the lake -it was cold, but not too cold for my little fish!

The next weekend we were with friends in Banff (I told you - crazy summer!). We hooked up for a day of rock climbing in Heart Creek and then camped at Tunnel Mountain and then at Mosquito creek the following night. We spent Sunday on Lake Minnewanka which I had never even seen before so that was kind of neat. All in all, we had an enjoyable camping experience and as usual, Chephren was a camping all-star. This pic is of Trent and Chephren on the Lake Minnewanka boat tour - which we did for free thanks to Amanda's friend Kristina - score!

Now comes for the not-so-positive reason why this blog has sat vacant for so long. At the end of June, I was diagnosed with Post-Partum Depression. I wavered on whether or not I was going to write about it at all on my blog, but I feel that it is nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about. I am being treated for it now and things are going much, much better. Needless to say, it forced us to re-evaluate our summer plans and we decided to try and slow things down a bit.

Now, even with PPD, you should know that 'slowing things down a bit' might not mean the samething to me as it might to other people. I swear that I am incapable of being idle! So, my parents, Trent, Chephren and I decided to get serious about our lot in Nordegg. We have spent the past three weekends there and it has been awesome. The boys have worked so hard that they managed to clear us a road and a building site! Plus, my mom took amazing care of Chephren whilst cooking us delicious meals so it was pretty much the best holiday ever for me. Just what I needed. Nordegg is so good for the soul - like plugging in your blackberry charger as my mom always says. One thing that did happen while we were there was a crazy summer storm. We woke up in the morning to find that a tree had fallen on Trent's truck (not so great as it is a work truck) and that literally THOUSANDS of trees were down in the subdivision. What a mess. People in the campground were actually hurt by trees falling on them. It was not a good scene at all. Luckily, no one was killed. On a happier note, this pic is of Chephren having a 'camping bath' - you can tell how much he loves it!

This weekend we are actually staying home, but it is our only free weekend until OCTOBER! (See? INCAPABLE of slowing down). What is on the agenda? Friends from Calgary are coming up next week (YAY!), then we are at a friend's lakelot (YAY!), then we are in Palm Springs for a week (YAY!), then we have a wedding, and then we are back in Nordegg to stump the lot (YAY!)

There, now you have the full Hasse story. Oh, I almost forgot, Chephren is 9 and a half months old now. He is crawling on his knees (Finally! He pulled that belly of his around for months!) and pulling himself up to standing on everything. He is just as happy as ever... most of the time. He still has his super hot temper and has taken to throwing himself around when he is mad. It is a bit ridiculous! I think he must get that from Trent (is anyone buying that?) He has 8 teeth now (yes, 8), and is an eating machine. He still loves to be outside, loves to 'jump' and loves music and books. We adore him more with each passing day.

Signing out for now... who knows when I will have time to update again! Hope all is well out there with all of you :)

Love, The Hasses

Maren's 30th Bday

Well, as if it wasn't enough that Trent surprised me with our stay at the Burrowing Owl a few weeks ago, he also took me stay at the Overlander Lodge this weekend. What an absolute treat. This time, we were even sans Baldie - which means that we got some actual alone time.

We had a bit of a late start to the day on Saturday due to the crappy forecast in Jasper. We had been hoping/planning on scrambing Roche a Perdrix, however conditions are still crappy for scrambling in the rockies. We were also hoping to ride Trent's new bike down to Jasper however the cold temps scared us off. When exactly is summer supposed to arrive??? This has been a brutal spring. Just brutal.

So, instead, we hiked the Sulfur Skyline trail and followed it up with a soak in the Miette hot springs. The cold temps were actually just right for that kind of activity. The hike was enjoyable, but again, there was an unbelievable amount of snow on certain parts of the trail. Luckily, we were still able to 'summit' the ridge. We also saw 2 bears in the area, one with 3 baby cubs. They are by far the smallest cubs I have ever seen. So adorable. Thankfully we were in the car for both sightings.

Then, ahhhhh... the Overlander. We have been there a few times before and it is always just an awesome experience. We stayed in a mountain view room this time and enjoyed a delicious bottle of red wine on our patio before dinner. The meals there are always fantastic also. I had an amazing halibut and shrimp dish. I am not exaggerating about how great this place is... you should go... really.

Sunday was spent having lunch with my folks, reuniting with my adorable son (who changed overnight, I swear!) and having dinner with my great friend Catherine. All in all, it was a lovely weekend. I find birthdays to be not only a time to spend with friends and family, but also a time for personal reflection. Thirty is a big one for me. I have always held '30' as the marker for actual adulthood (!) Wait, does this mean that I have to grow up? No, of course not... but I do think that my next 30 years will be significantly different (and even better) than my first 30. I am hoping it will be a time for me to continue to grow as a person and to begin to take even better care of myself than I do already. One thing that I do know is that I would like to be around for a long while yet, especially now that I have a son. It is going to be so rewarding to watch him grow up. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people. I have no doubts that the love from my friends and family will carry me through the next 30 years. Cheers!!! Here is to growing old graciously!

7 months - more roadtripping

Okay, okay... so, I am apparently NOT going to keep this thing up to date!

Things have been well, busy as usual. This past month, we made the trip down to Kelowna to see our wonderful friends Tess and Loic. I, along with these two amazing athletes, competed in the Oliver Wine Country Triathlon. Tess and I did the Olympic distance while Loic used the sprint course as a 'training day'. Tess and Loic both placed third in their age groups (just awesome!) He will be competing in the Oliver half ironman this weekend and by the looks of things, he should do AWESOME again! Me, well, I was just happy to finish standing! Actually, it was a wonderful course and a great day for a race! I finished just three minutes from my goal time and I learned a lot about how to improve (aka: get faster) for the next one. Yes, there will be a next one! I just haven't exactly figured out which one yet. Trent and I are contemplating doing an adventure race together at the end of August, so I guess we'll see. I am not so sure that our marriage can withstand such an undertaking... in any case, I will keep you posted!

It wasn't all racing down in 'wine country', there was of course some wine drinking! We were able to take in quite a few wineries after all, given the fact that Trent surprised me by booking us into a winery for a night and extending our stay by a few days. We had an absolutely wonderful time, even with our fussy, fussy child. Chephren cut his two front teeth while we were down there and he was a bit crazy to say the least. He was a trooper though and we had a great time as a family. We had such a great time in fact that we came home with a plan to move down there! However, after some more careful thinking and discussion about it, we have decided that we are better off here for the time being. Someday we will look at it again though, I really think that we would love it down there.

Other Chephren news includes:

• He is rolling all over the place and getting pretty close to crawling


• He can sit independently for long stretches, although he still falls sometimes when I am least expecting it (WHAM! - poor kid)


• As I mentioned, we are two more teeth into the mix AND, he is continuing to be a crazy fussy teether (boo!)


• The solid foods continue to go well (his new favourite thing is CHEESE), although he is also now pooping 3 or more times per day (sigh!)


• He knows his name and loves to hear it!


• He likes to go in his swing outside


• He is in love with all of our animals - I think that he likes them more than he likes any of us!


• He is finally getting some hair


• He weighs just about 22 lbs - yes, my arms are killing me and is wearing mostly 18-month sized clothes


• He is just as social as ever and keeps us all in stitches with his giggles, squeals and smiles


• He continues to have a terrible temper (uh-oh)...


• He loves to 'roughhouse' already - his favourite new game is 'bulldozer' in which I 'bulldoze' him around on the ground with my head - he loves it! He also loves to be thrown around and held upside down... what a goofball!

Well, I think that's it for now, we are off to go swimming with some friends!

Almost 6 months

Woah! With all of our travelling in the month of April, time has just flown by. I have been so busy keeping up with Chephren that I haven't had a chance to update the blog. Given the title of this entry, you have probably figured out that Chephren has almost reached the 6 month mark. I know everyone says this, but it is going by so fast! I'll be honest, the first few months (when you aren't sleeping AT ALL) seem like they are never going to end, but now that things are settling down, the time is just flying by.



Chephren has reached many milestones in the past six weeks:

• He is sitting independently, for a few seconds at least
• He went swimming for the first time (and is now a wildman in the tub!)
• He cut two teeth in the bottom front and has moved on from rice cereal to sweet potatoes, carrots, barley, chicken and teething crackers
• He has been hiking in the backpack carrier and loves it
• He has a new 'girlfriend' (who he loves but yet he cries everytime she tries to 'talk' to him!)
• He has flown on a plane (5 times) and proved to be a brilliant flier (thank goodness!)
• He drove for 50 hrs (25 hrs each way) down to Moab, Utah and only cried for about 45 minutes total (!!!!)
• He usually sleeps through the night - 12 hours (except this week, he is waking up soooo much, I am starting to be one tired momma!)
• He will go poop on the potty if I catch him soon enough (yes, he is training ME)
• He is starting to make new sounds (including the 'mum, mum, mum' one - YIPEEEE!), I sure hope I win this one on Trent, not that it's a competition...
• He had his first visit to the hospital emergency room in Nevada (boo), but luckily it was only the stomach flu. Scared the crap out of me. Can you imagine what a basket case I would have been if the 'swine flu' had already started down there???
• He continues to love the chariot and especially loves it when I take him running (again, thank god!)
• He is wearing 12-18 month sized clothes, and continues to grow like a weed. He is 20 lbs. now. I can hardly carry him in the car seat, and in fact, often choose to leave it in the car (NO, not with him in it!!!)
• Chephren loves shopping (not a good thing), as his mom does NOT need to be encouraged to go out and spend any more money than she already does!

Well, that is the big update on the little guy, Trent and I are not nearly as interesting (in our opinions) but here is the update on us:

• I am training for an Olympic distance triathlon taking place in Oliver, BC. It is in just over 3 weeks. I am ready for the distance, but I fear that I will be S-L-O-W!!!
• I have finished my contract for the website work (and the website is launched, check it out at: vision.alberta.ca). There is talk of my contract being renewed for another year so I am excited about that. It is great work and also great to stay home with the little guy.
• Trent is down to 0.8 at work (company-wide). We are a little nervous about this financially, however, now we have the potential to do a lot more fun stuff this summer which is really exciting for us. We have some awesome trips planned so I will try to keep the site updated with all of our adventures.
• We had a great time in Moab, with both of us getting the chance to ride several times (thanks to my wonderful mom). Trent is still not much of a biker, but I am totally sold and wanting to buy myself a new mountain bike. Now, where to find the extra cash for something like that?

That's it for now, I will try to keep the site a little more current from now on. Thanks for checking in on us!

The Hasse's xoxo

Having a BLAST!

After having been prompted (or is it nagged?) by our biggest fan out there in blog-land, I have decided to update y'all once again. February was a bit of a tough month for us Hasses. We had three family members in hospital (all are now okay) and a good friend who had a heart attack (also now okay). On top of ALL of that, Chephren was just not himself, for pretty much a month straight. He was so irritable, and we just couldn't figure out what was wrong! It was very worrisome. There is a good chance that he was feeling all of the 'stressed out' energy from mom and dad.... either way, I am sure it didn't help.

If February was the 'low' point of the Chephren experience, March has been the high point. He is back to being just an absolute joy! He is eating well, sleeping well (in his CRIB) and keeping us all in stiches all day, every day. I am feeling so, so thankful for this and all of the other wonderful things that are going on in my life.

Trent and I are headed to the mountains next weekend for our first weekend away from baby. We are a little anxious, but mostly just pumped to get outside. Speaking of outside, my mom and dad bought us a chariot running stroller and I am absolutely stoked about it. It is such an awesome thing to get outside and be FREE! Spring can't get here fast enough!

Chephren and I are headed to vegas at the end of March for some more outside time and then the whole family and a group of friends are headed to Moab, Utah for some mountain biking in mid-April. I am thrilled at the prospect of updating the blog with some tales of ACTUAL adventure! YAY!

11 Random Things About Chephren

I wrote a list for myself this morning on facebook and I thought I would continue the theme and write one for Chephren too...

1. Chephren doesn't poop... he explodes.

2. Chephren has a temper... and yes, babies this young can have tempers. They can be stubborn too.

3. I am shocked that Chephren is as fair as he is. I thought for sure that I would have a Trent stunt-double on my hands. I am secretely pleased that he is a blondie.

4. Chephren naps for 40 minutes at a stretch... it is annoying.

5. When Chephren laughs or smiles at me, I can literally feel the joy spread all over my body.

6. Chephren loves music. His favorite song is 'Baby Beluga'. He also likes fingerplays and action songs.

7. Chephren has 4 sets of grandparents who adore him. We feel VERY lucky about this!

8. Chephren sleeps in a bassinet at night, next to my bed. I never thought that this would work for us, but I love to have him there. I will be sad when he is too big for it and has to move back to his crib.

9. Chephren loves to be naked.

10. Chephren loves to watch t.v. - something that he did NOT get from his mom!

11. Chephren can smell fear... seriously! What I mean is, he is very sensitive to people's energy. If you are anxious, then he is anxious. I am like that too.

3 months

Well, we have made it to the 3 month mark. It is amazing how the passage of time is directly correlated with Chephren's age! It is kind of like when I was pregnant again, only we are not counting down to anything and I am not nearly as uncomfortable!

Chephren continues to thrive and amaze us. I think he changes almost daily. He is just so much fun. He has turned into quite the good sleeper (thank GOD!), that is, as long as he has his 'blankie'. He is a bit of a suck I guess... a regular 'Linus'. I was like that too with my blankie so I guess he comes by it honestly. He has moved on to the jolly jumper and bumbo and has taken to 'watching' t.v. - he watched the entire second half of the superbowl! I am sure glad we don't have satellite or cable! Man he is like his dad!

Trent and I are just rolling along. We did manage to get out to Canmore and although it was too cold for ice climbing, we spent some q.t. with some great friends. We loved it!

I am still working a little bit here and there for AB Ed on the website stuff and Trent hasn't been away as much with his job lately so that has been nice. I am taking a spinning class with some friends and that is proving to be super, super fun! We are headed to Moab in April so it is good practice and I am hoping to do a triathlon in May with some friends in B.C.

That's it for now from the Hasse clan! Ciao!

2 months and counting...

The past few weeks have just flown by. We, as usual, find ourselves quite busy... Chephren definitely keeps us that way! The new year came in quietly for us this year, and we even missed the 'big moment'. I think we were in bed 3 minutes afterwards though! Chephren is still a very good baby, although he has had tremendous trouble sleeping since his 2 month vaccines and as a result is quite a bit fussier than usual. Mom is stressing about this but is hoping that things start to get better soon. He had a huge nap today - best one since those dreadful shots, so things might be looking up. Also, he has started grasping things on his own, playing in a jumper-thingy and as you can see from the picture he really, really likes books (yay!). We are also doing some baby yoga and massage with him as well as listening to an endless array of kids music. In short, life is good, and yup, it pretty much revolves around him. We are headed to Canmore this weekend though, in hopes of catching a day outside. Can't wait to get out there with some great friends... Um, I hope I can still lift my tools, I am pretty flabby these days!