Don't I look radiant - HA!Brought her home to her sisters...
And to some grandparents. This is Sadie with her Papa (Mark).
Then it was Jeff's birthday 3 days later. Then in the next 39 days, Jeff was away for 20 of them as the head coach of the Regina Optimist Dolphins and University of Regina Cougars swim teams. It was cold out, Harriet and Rosie were cagey and I relied on help - here is my sister Karen's idea of help...at least Sadie was sleeping and not yelling.
The girls kept busy while I was recovering...
Due to early AM practices, afternoon office hours and evening practices, Jeff gets to spend every morning with the girls. Makes for long days for Jeff, but nice that they get to spend that time with their dad. While I was on maternity leave, the girls sometimes still went to a home daycare at the Smiths. They are such wonderful people. I'm not sure what we'll do if they decide to retire. Thanks Ian and Maxine!For those of you who know our cats Noctus and Storm, this is the kind of support they gave me with keeping things clean and pristine for the baby:
Yup. Movin'on...
March brought an event. Sadie spent her first (of many, we're sure), weeks at the pool. I still judge diving nationally and Regina hosted Nationals. Thanks to Nana and Peggy Cram, I was able to judge the events and then in between, I could feed Sadie. This year, I attended a meet in Saskatoon (thanks Jamie and Lori for looking after Sadie in the gondola!) and junior nationals in Thunder Bay in July (yes! the return was emotional and difficult, but the competition was great, so I ignored the demons). Sadie didn't come with me to Thunder Bay but continued to breastfeed when I returned so that was a huge relief to me.
Jeff continued to travel for work - he was gone for 2 weeks to Florida for a training camp and then Montreal for Olympic Trials. I went back to work (contract only) 1 day a week in April. It was nice to be involved with work again. I had the opportunity to shift my focus away from mobilizing workplaces to be healthy and active to working even more with the sport community to increase participation in sport to create an active Saskatchewan! I eventually increased my contract time until I went back to work full time at Saskatchewan in motion on October 1.In the spring, Rosie and Harriet (and our neice Stella Mulatz) finished up their first year of dance lessons at Dance Dimensions. Rosie didn't perform in the recital, but Stella and Harriet's performance was, well, truly special!! I think my sister Karen and I will never be the same! Harriet decided to dance again in the fall, but alas, Stella would hand her tap and ballet shoes over to Rosie. Rosie and Harriet are back in combo classes again this fall!
Did I mention how helpful Noctus was with keeping Sadie in a clean environment?
Harriet graduated from playschool in May.
And while Harriet and Sadie were getting into spring...Rosie was always getting into mischief...!!
As usual for a high performance full time coach - summer brought championship season for Jeff. He was gone for 20 days out of 40 in June and July. All across the country he went this year with the clubs: Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal. There was no extra time this year for camping or enjoying the backyard for him. But that didn't stop the girls - we went to Regina beach, set up the slip n' slide and pool in the backyard, visited Grandma Nori and Grandpa Darrell's huge backyard to run and play, hung out with Papa Mark (since Nana was away most of the summer) and visited festivals and events. Face painting happened a few times this year. I think they had a butterfly every time!
And then - the big trip!! My mom and dad both turned 60 in February (the Mulatz daughters threw a catered party - it was awesome!!). And my mom decided to celebrate her 60th year by renting a cottage on the ocean in Nova Scotia. So, we drove to Calgary and the 4 Toth girls stayed with Mike, Sandy and their son Noah. Jeff had a swim meet there, so he stayed at a hotel with the team. So Part 1 of the Amazing Summer Adventure (ASA) began...with Sadie pulling herself up to stand using the Blairs' couch! She was 6.5 months old.
After the swim meet, we left our van at the Blairs' and flew to Halifax (during the night) for Part 2 of the ASA!
And Part 3 of the ASA had us flying back to Calgary, picking up the van and driving to Edmonton to Jeff's cousin Stephanie's wedding all in one day! Congratulations to Steph and Quang! We were a little tired by the end of this day, the end of our 3rd week away from home:
visited Jeff's brother Josh and his wife Danica at their new home in St. Albert, and then drove home to Regina. It was a long but amazing trip. And we came home to very hot weather (mid 30s) and a one out-of-control garden to deal with:
Yes, that's Jeff with Rick Mercer - the clips of the show can be seen on cbc.ca
Jeff at the Water Cube.
Jeff with the legendary Alex Bauman (on the right)
While Jeff was away, Harriet started Kindergarten at St. Francis (Jeff's elementary school alma mater!). Harriet is all about projects, rules, schedules and oh, yah, FUN please! 5 going on 25...she loves her gymnastics, dancing, and swimming. She took skating this year and soccer. She can't wait until she's 6 so she can start learning the play guitar! She was invited to be precompetitive gymnastics this year. She starts in January and we're a little wide-eyed about that whole business. She can't wait.
I attended my cousin Kirk Mulatz's wedding to Rini Jain, what a ceremony!! It was a great time to visit with the Mulatz family. Karen and I went together - and looked mighty swish I think. Here are 2 pictures from the event.
Jeff came home from Beijing on September 19 and had to get right back into the swing of the club. No down time for the coach! He's been coaching and administrating since mid September. With a few trips in western Canada already and a fancy presentation from the Deputy Premier of Saskatchewan for his attendance at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, he's looking forward to the Christmas break as he gets a whole week off without 4:45 AM wake up times.
We took some random photos this fall in the backyard - here are the girls, being "the girls".
Thanksgiving was at our house this year: Stella, Jeff's parents, my parents and us 5. A full house! Rosie was astonished to hear that Stella doesn't like pie.
And yah!! Jeff's brother Josh and his wife Danica welcomed their baby to the world on October 15th. We won't get to meet Marlow until mid February but we Skype using webcams. We can't wait to meet the newest Toth and the girls are pretty excited to have another cousin!
Halloween was great this year - the girls actually went door-to-door and the weather was mild. Thanks to Cathie Kryzanowski who made Harriet's glow-in-dark skeleton costume and Nancy Porter for saving the day with the unicorn costume for Rosie. Stella the cat and Sadie the frog just tried to keep up with the candy monsters.
And then the first snowfall of the season. There was a snowman. Rosie tried to eat the carrot I gave them for the nose and Harriet cried. Then Harriet demanded hot chocolate, jumped on the snowman and Rosie cried. Then Sadie cried because she thought if she stood at the window long enough, I'd let her out there. Then I cried because one minute everyone was happy and 20 minutes later, chaos and crying.
And yah again! Jane called one random Sunday in November and announced that she and Duncan are expecting a baby in June! Ya hoo - another Mulatz to add the clan and a new cousin for the girls. I'm so excited!
And so brings December. It's been really cold this week (-30s and -40s with the windchill); Jeff's ready for his week of holidays; the girls finally got to wear their fancy Christmas dresses and I am savouring a late night holiday snack of cashews, hersey kisses and cranberry gingerale. To quote Kate Gosselin "it might be a crazy life, but it's our life", I say Amen! Wouldn't want it any other way...
To you and yours, enjoy the little pleasures, the little smiles, and especially your loved ones as this year comes to an end. Our best to you in 2009!
Laughs and hugs,
Sara, Jeff, Harriet, Rosie and Sadie Toth
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