The Vancouver experience

Liam: Vancouver Baby!

Hey All!

We just got back from Vancouver where we called an apartment in Kitsilano home for the last 3 weeks as Matt did an ICU rotation at St. Paul's Hospital.

Firstly, we would like to thank Gosia for letting us stay at her home for 3 weeks. She has a great pad across from Kits Beach so needless to say it wasn't that hard to drag yourself out for a walk when the beach is across the street.

Many things have happened over the last few weeks so here are the highlights...

#1) Liam one day woke up and had teeth...yep that's right it's not a spelling error he has two bottom teeth not a tooth like I thought would happen. It is a pretty cute look on him. I'd include a picture but he likes to stick his tongue at you instead of showing you his teeth.

He's getting bigger and bigger!

#2) Great visit from Grandpa Hugh and Grandma Lynda last weekend...it was nice to see them 2 weeks after we last saw them. Made you feel like they were a bit closer to us then they are according to the map. :)

#3) Got to hang out with the inlaws quite a bit (once again a great thing as you forget sometimes how important your family is to you). We were lucky enough to live a block away from Andy and a 1/2 hour walk away from Cam and Carmen. I know Liam really loved being held by them and played with continously. Cam and Carmen hosted amazing dinners for us every weekend and I know I didn't get a chance to thank them for always having us over and working around our schedule.

Lessons learned on this trip: how important it is to connect with your family and friends often as the moments pass so quickly and how great the network is that Matt, Liam and I have around us all the time.

I love you guys always!

Love,

The Robertsons

p.s. the next time you'll see us we'll be in Maui!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!

March madness!

Hey everyone,

No photos with this entry because we are computerless while we are in Vancouver. We have internet just no computer...geez lousie.

We are having a great time in Kitsilano living a block away from Uncle Andy and a 30 minute walk from Uncle Cam and Auntie Carmen. I also realized we have some close friends in walking distance to us...thank goodness or I would go crazy as Matt is wokring some long hours at St. Paul's Hospital.

Recent updates on Liam...
-Last Wednesday Liam woke up with a new tooth...actually it's more like teeth two on the bottm sprouting out. He's excited about it, me not so much as the feeding gets a little dicey at times.
- He is rolling like crazy covering a lot of ground in a short amount of time. It will be soon enough that he starts moving those legs and will be crawling. Oh the fun is only beginning.

We will try to update the photos soon sorry for the delay.

We miss everyone and please email us when you get the chance.

Love,

Matt, Mo and Liam

We are family!

Typical Liam (Matt and I consider ourselves very lucky.)

Wow this was a busy week and weekend in the Robertson household! Liam has recently discovered that he can cover a lot of ground if he simply rolls everywhere. Pretty cool to watch him learning this skill but at the same time very difficult to keep track of him at times. One minute he's in the middle of the living room floor next minute he's stuck under the coffee table.

On Thursday afternoon, Liam and I headed out to the Abbotsford airport to pick up Grandpa Hugh and Grandma Lynda. Liam was excited to see them as they were too. We spent a very relaxing evening at home eating Thai food and of course Liam worked on charming his grandparents. Matt was even able to make it home for the night as no babies were being born that evening.

Grandma Lynda feeding Liam some sweet potato. Yummy

Friday morning Uncle Andy drove from Vancouver to join us for the weekend. It was great seeing Liam's face as he studied everyone wondering how all these new people got into his house. That afternoon, Matt, Liam and I were back to the airport this time picking up Caufu Miles who was ecstatic to see Liam. So we definitely had a full house that evening eating great food, thanks to Lynda, and catching up with family. :)

Saturday morning even more people came to visit. This time it was my cousins Michael, Teresa and their 6 week old son, Matthew, from Burnaby for a little day trip. The Lee family is great at coming out to Chilliwack to visit us or as we call it Chilliwack Outreach. Their son is beautiful and Liam had a great time posing for photos with Matthew...until he decided he should really try to roll onto baby Matthew. (I know, Michael and Teresa, the boys are in different weight classes so we'll wait until Matthew is 6 month then we'll have another sumo match.) Andy headed back to Vancouver that evening for the International Wine festival...lucky guy.

Matthew and Liam before the attempted body slam

Teresa, Monique, Liam, Matthew, Michael and Miles

Sunday was a tough day realizing all our family was heading back to Edmonton. You never know how much you miss your family until they come for a visit that seemed way too short. Liam once again had a great time at the airport smiling for everyone even though I know my heart felt pretty heavy having to say goodbye.

We had a fantastic weekend and I hope our visitors felt the same. We're thinking about flying back to Edmonton in May/June...what do people think?

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Future soccer player?

Love,

Matt, Monique and Liam

1/2 year birthday with a special visit from Uncle Derek

Can you believe Liam is 6 months old already?! On Friday, Liam officially celebrated being a half year old. He ate rice cereal, hung out with some friends and even got to blow out candles on an ice cream cake. To top off all this excitement Uncle Derek from Edmonton was in town for a visit.



Liam's latest stats:
weight: 19 lbs 9 ozs
height:27 inches

He's actually slowed down a little in growth but in the 80th percentile for both.

Friday night:
- party at Amy's house in White Rock
- shared birthday cake with Auntie Chauntille who was turning 25
- Uncle Derek came to stay for the weekend as he was heading back to Edmonton



Saturday
- shopping in Langley with Auntie Karen, Auntie Chauntille, Auntie Sian, Larissa and her son Max
- very busy day: eating at Olive Garden and shopping, shopping and more shopping but Liam just sat back and enjoyed the day.

Sunday
- Saying good bye to Uncle Derek



Busy weekend and we know next week will be even crazier as we get ready for Grandma and Grandpa Robertson's arrival on Thursday and Cawfu Miles' arrival on Friday. woowwwwooo

Love,

The Robertsons

Victoria here we come...

Another whirlwind adventure for the Robertsons this weekend as we just came back from Victoria. We were there for a Family Medicine Residents conference which was held at the Coast Harbourside Hotel, a great hotel with an awesome indoor/outdoor swimming pool. :)

We left Thursday night with Matt's collegue, Shelter, and spent the night at his family's house in Burnaby. The next morning we headed off to pick up Matt's collegue, Amy, and we were off to the ferry. We arrived on Friday in early afternoon and were throw instantly into a busy day. As Matt attended sessions Liam and I were lucky enough to meet up with my godmother, Rita Robertson, and her daughter, Tracey, and Tracey's 3 year old son, Ethan. Rita is very close friends with my parents as she babysat both Miles and myself when we lived in Kitimat, BC. I don't get to see them very often but the Robertsons mean a great deal to me.



Matt, Liam, Sian and Amy on ferry


Rita, Liam, myself, Ethan and Tracey


Liam and Ethan hangin' out

That evening we enjoyed a great dinner with our friends Justin and Catherine. They made us gourmet pizzas and treated us to some fantastic red wine. Liam enjoyed their house as well but more so their bed as he snoozed away the evening there.

Most mornings as Matt went to sessions Liam, Karen, Kylie and I spent time in the hotel pool. Liam did a fine job kicking those sumo legs of his and then relaxed in the whirlpool afterwards.
Liam, Auntie Kylie and Mom



Saturday afternoon Matt and Justin headed out onto the water on Justin's racing boat. Matt said he had a blast cruising around on the ocean. While Liam, Loreal, her son Chase, Catherine and I headed to downtown Victoria to shop and spend the afternoon enjoying the fantastic sunshine.

That evening we went to The Keg for dinner with Catherine, Justin, Matt's collegue Jeremy and his wife Loreal and son Chase. We had a great time eating and chatting!

As usual the weekend went by in a flash but we had a chance to see friends that we don't get to see very often. Well that's all for now.

Love,

The Robertsons

Another year older...sigh!

On February 7th, I finally turned 27 years old...sigh. I wasn't sure how I would be feeling about this birthday but I was lucky to have some great friends here out in the 'Wack to celebrate with.
On the Monday evening the girls, Chauntille, Sian and Karen, took me out to Mill Street Cafe for some great food and conversation. Then back to Chauntille's for a birthday favorite...Dairy Queen ice cream cake...mmmmmm.


On the Tuesday night, Matt and I went out to The Keg in Abbotsford for a fantastic steak meal. yum yum. We had an amazing evening out but we did start to miss our little Liam.

Speaking of little Liam he is doing well sitting up more and more each day. He is a great little man.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Love,

The Robertsons

Paul Mick comes to town

This weekend our friend, Paul, came for a visit from Vancouver. Liam was so excited to see Paul Saturday morning realizing there was a new person in our house. They had a great time laughing and smiling at one another and I am pretty sure Liam was working on pronouncing Paul's name.

Another great part to our weekend was Liam's first attempt with rice cereal which occurred Saturday morning. He really took to the rice cereal gobbling a full tablespoon up. No spit up even! You know this kid loves food.

Well this post is going to be short and sweet just to let everyone know we are thinking about them!

Love,

The Robertsons

Gung Hay Fat Choy (Happy Chinese New Year!) a few days ago.

So we're a little late on the New Year's greeting but lots of things are going on over here in the 'Wack.

We had a fantastic weekend in Whistler hanging out with Matt's collegues and their families for the annual Residents trip. We want to thank Dr. John Robertson for having all of us at his cabin for the weekend. Matt was pretty excited to ski as Whistler received the most snow in their history this season!

On the way home we went to visit Michael and Teresa and their new son, Matthew. I almost forgot that Liam used to be that tiny and Michael was blown away by how big Liam is now. They are doing well enjoying the life of being new parents and their baby is beautiful. Almost makes me think of having another...but not yet.

We are home for the next few weeks which will be nice as we need to get our house and lives back in order. Our next big trip will be to Victoria in a few weeks for a residents conference, as Matt goes to sessions I get to cruise around Victoria. Yeah!

Until next time...caio!

Love,

The Robertsons

The Lazy Days of Liam

I can't believe it is almost the end of January. Wow time flies! Matt is busy delivering babies I think he delivered number 8 this morning. We had a great visit with Uncle Cam, Auntie Carmen and Uncle Andy this past weekend in Vancouver. We are headed off to Whistler this weekend for Matt's Residence Retreat. Whoo non stop activity in this household.

We wanted to write a little entry to say...

1) Happy Birthday to Uncle Miles (January 20), we miss you very much and can't wait to see you again.

2) Congratulations to my cousins Michael and Teresa on the birth of their new son, Matthew, on January 21. (Cousin Philip that must have been a great birthday present) Soon enough we will have to have a Liam versus Matthew sumo match as I am sure Matthew will also be a budda baby. :)

3) Liam is 5 months old today...I am sure he weighs 20 lbs as his car seat is a tad heavy to lift these days. He is doing well rolling like crazy and learning to sit up. Of course everything keeps going in his mouth ranging from the telephone antenna to his foot. Oh to be a baby again.

Well, we hope everyone has an enjoyable January and we miss you all. Come visit soon!

Love,

Liam, Monique and Matt

Our wonderful weekend in Sunpeaks!

Hello everyone!

We just got back from a wonderful weekend at Sunpeaks Ski resort (Kamloops, BC). Our friends Ryan and Karen so generously invited us up to spend the weekend with them. It was great to get out the rain, 27 days straight, and be back in the land of snow. Snow is nice to ski in but drive in...hmmm I still hate it.

We drove up on Friday night with our friend, Chauntille, and arrived in Sunpeaks around 10:30 pm. We were met by Ryan, Karen, Karen's friend Karyn and Ryan's collegue Shawn. Liam woke up enough to say hello and smile a bit but was pretty tired and sleep like a log for the night.

The next morning we were joined by Matt and Ryan's collegues and their partners (Andrea, Dave, Dave's girlfriend Simone, Nick, and Nick's girlfriend Yoko). They all headed off to spend the day on the slopes while Chauntille and I had a lazy day of relaxing and chatting. We did go for a walk around the village in Sunpeaks. We had beautiful weather and Liam seemed to really like the look of the snow. That evening we spent time in the condo's hot tub and headed out for a great dinner in the village.

On Sunday Karen and I went skate skiing in the morning as the conditions were perfect (great weather and nice snow) and then traded off with Ryan and Chauntille. Matt had a relaxing morning with Liam hanging out in the day lodge.

Now we're home and busy days are among us again. Matt started Obstetrics this morning and is already in the process of delievering babies. wow weeeee. :)

Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Liam, Monique and Matt

It's a new year...10 days ago. oops.

Hey everyone,

So we're a little slow here in the Robertson household...okay maybe not Matt or Liam but I am definitely moving at a slow pace.

We had a great New Year's Eve celebrating with our friends Karen, Ryan, Sian and Derek. The boys even brought in the new year with shots of flaming sambuca. No casualties except Derek may not smell for the next few weeks until his nostril hairs grow back but whatever it's new years! Little Liam even woke up exactly at 11:58 pm for the occasion...laughed, smiled realized it was not anything special rubbed his eyes and went back to bed.

On New Year's Day we went into Vancouver to spend the evening at Chris, Susan, Erica and Brigit's beautiful house in North Vancouver. We also went to visit with Uncle Bill and Auntie Maxine from Ottawa, Noel, Rae-Ann, Ariel and Kieran who are sadly moving to Toronto right away, and John and Diane who were visiting from Dawson City, Yukon. We had a great time eating chinese food and enjoying some fantastic conversation and company.

Big moments in the New Year...
- Liam rolled over for the first time last week. He is a belly to back kind of guy. Everyday I have to watch this little guy as he tries to roll away especially on the change table.
- Liam was measured recently at 18.5 lbs and 27 inches...putting him in the 90th percentile = he is big and you could do weight training by simply lifting him up and down.

Well this should give you a glimpse into the life of the Robertsons for the time being.

We hope all is well in the world with our friends and family!

Love,

Monique, Matt and Liam

We're back...in Chilliwack!

We have just returned from our wonderful visit to Edmonton for Christmas. We were able to see many of our family and friends but unfortunately our time ran out and we didn't get to see everyone we would have liked to.

However, we will visit again in the new year. Here are some of the highlights of our trip:

- Cawfu (Uncle) Miles met his nephew for the first time and definitely created a strong bond especially in the Oiler fan department.
- A few of my students from last year came by to visit whivh really brought a smile to my face.
- Liam met Great Grandma Robertson and sat quietly in her lap and eventually fell asleep on her.
- Michelle, Michael and Jayden made a surprise visit to Edmonton on Christmas eve to surprise Auntie Marguerite and all the Gendalls.
- Liam was an all around great boy...actually he was a great 'sucker' baby making many couples think about having a baby. :)

We would like to thank Kung Kung Peter, Pau Pau Grace, Grandpa Hugh and Grandma Lynda for having us as guest in their homes for the last two weeks. We hope you had a great time with Liam because I am sure he is suffering from Grandparent withdrawl right now.

We want to say hi to all of our family and friends that we were unable to see but we will fly to Edmonton again soon.

Christmas time in Edmonton!

Hello everyone!

We are currently in Edmonton enjoying Christmas with our family and friends. Liam has been a very good boy charming all the people that he meets.

Liam and I had a good flight from Abottsford to Edmonton despite 2 delays and landed us in Edmonton at midnight. He slept most of the way and on the way home from the airport he fell asleep until the next morning. He met his Uncle Miles the next day and they seemed to have really bonded...must be an Oilers' fan thing.

The last week Liam has met many people from mom's work, grandparents' friends and of course spent lots of time with Grandpa and Grandma Cheung (a.k.a Kung Kung and Pau Pau). On Monday night Liam saw his dad again after 5 days apart...they definitely missed each other.

Finally Liam met his Great Grandma Robertson yesterday and there was an immediate bond between the two as they played and Liam eventually fell asleep on her.

The trip home to Edmonton has been fantastic so far and I will keep you updated on the latest adventure of the Robertsons.

See everyone soon!

Love the Robertsons

Uncle Simon comes for a visit!

Liam was quite excited this weekend as our friend Simon came to visit from Calgary. Uncle Simon made quite an impression on little Liam (okay Liam's no longer really that little he has quite the budda belly) as he had Liam laughing and generally in great spirits all weekend. We hope Uncle Simon will come visit again soon.

Our next big event is flying back to Edmonton! Liam and I will be flying to Edmonton on Tuesday and then Matt will come the next weekend. So I know I am very excited to see all our friends and family so be ready for some phonecalls and plan making! See all of you very soon.

Love,

Monique, Matt and Liam

Long weekend in Vancouver

Hi everyone!

We were lucky enough to spend Rememberance Day long weekend in Vancouver visiting with family and friends.

On Friday night we had dinner with RaeAnn, Noel, Aeirelle, Kieran, Susan, Chris, Erica, Bridgitte, Uncle Walder, Aunt Nancy, Carmen and Andy at RaeAnn and Noel's house in Port Moody. RaeAnn made fantastic pizza and apple crisp. We are so lucky to have such great family so close to us.

On Saturday and Sunday we had fun visiting with friends. We had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with Tim, Jasmine and their son Ryder. He is one handsome boy and it is exciting to think Liam will be like him soon enough. Carmen invited some friends over on Saturday night for some drinks and in typical Liam style he loved being held, especially by Jay, and spent the evening wide eyed.

On Sunday night our friend Stacy arranged for us to stay a night at the Pan Pacific Hotel. Wow, we had a beautiful room with a huge city view and it felt like we were on a mini vacation. Liam had a great time staring at the city lights from his crib. That evening we had a great dinner at The Keg with our friends from Edmonton, Jason and Nicole. It was nice to have a wonderful dinner and be pampered for a weekend.

We want to thank Carmen for letting us spend the weekend at her apartment and Stacey for arranging the room at the hotel. We had a wonderful weekend that definitely helped us relax and reconnect with our friends and family.