Éowyn, you are just so beautiful it breaks my heart.
I’m trying to upload a picture to SHOW you here, but it’s not working. Gotta wait til dad figures it out.
You are nine months old today! You are crawling all over the place, though still army humping it most of the time. You are starting to call your Dad Da! now, and I know you’re trying to say “Cat”
. I am amazed at how sweet and kind Elphie has been to you all this while. I’ve never seen her get rough even though you are very grabby. She taunts you, though. She’ll walk by and flick her tail at you, or sit juuuust out of your reach (that is harder now that you can move so well, she is still getting used to that I think!), and sometimes you two just stare at each other through the mesh of your playpen – until you start yelling at her. You call her At, Bat, Ca! And you want her soooo bad.
You aren’t standing on your own yet, but we have both stood you up next to the couch and in your crib and you can hold yourself for a second or two before you start to fall. I just don’t think you’re that interested in standing. We can hold you under your arms and make oyu go “Step! Step! Step!” sometimes though, and that’s pre-tty cute, but when you DON”T want to stop, there’s no making you. You just bring your legs up into a sitting position and wait to be put down. You just love crawling around now 
It makes me so proud! It seems like just a few weeks ago that we were cheering you on to roll over and now look at you! You are starting to feed yourself now, and though you still have no teeth and prefer purreed foods (hell, *I* prefer the purreed foods, you make my heart stop when you seem to have trouble swallowing.), you’ve sampled alot of different tastes. You *love* cheese whiz, and sardines, and noodles are easy to eat for you and really practice up your pincer grip, so i’ll be sure to kepe some of those around for you.
Your Dad is hard at work trying to figure out what he’s doing for work. He has a great job here, he is happy with the work and the people, but housing is just so expensive here… and I’m getting tired of this apartment. The worst thing about it is how thin the walls are – though we’ve finally got good neighbors, even everyday noises intrude. it’s not just noises that bother US, I had a lady come downstairs to ask us to be quiet when I was dancing and singing in the middle of the day with you. It gets old pretty quick. We have *just* enough room here, we’d like more. There are things that we can’t change about this place, that we’d be ale to work on if we had a house that belonged to us. Your Baba really very kindly helped us put in a new shower stall and lino in the kitchen before you were born, but there’s more that we’d like to do. I’d also be stoked about a) not having to pay to heat a house during a two month -40 snap, and b) if i had to, I’d like to heat a house that didn’t have ice on the inside bedroom walls. It gets depressing. So does being cooped up all winter – this first one was hard for ME, but you didn’t mind. THIS winter I think that might change. You are getting used to being outside these days.
None of this is about you! But this IS where we live and I want you to understand why we are thinking of moving away from the Yukon, which we love, and from your grandparents and Uncle Dan, who I love so much. You love them, too, baby, you’re starting to recognize Nana and Baba, and you are just so entranced with Uncle Dan. I so want you to have them close while you’re growing up – you can learn so much from them, and they have so much love for you – you’d be a very rich little girl to have them near.
We thought for awhile that we might be going to Watson Lake, where I was born. My parents were thinking of moving there, and they offered to help us buy a house there, too. We were really interested in living close to nature, and in a small town… but the more we thought about it, the more the isolation got to us. WE’D be relatively happy with it, but I don’t want to send you to school in a town with so few options. I don’t want to have to find work in a town with so few options, and if we’re going to find a small town to live in – I want it to be close enough to bigger cities that it’s feasible for the whole family to get out and SEE things more than once a year. I don’t think you would have grown up happy in Watson Lake, especially if you’re the kind of person who needs other people. Your dad and I are pretty selfsufficient in that way – but we aren’t going to assume that just because we’re loners that YOU will be, too. And quite frankly what I’ve seen of the kids down there doesn’t impress me, and I am not happy with having one and only one option for schools for you either. Sometimes a certain school isn’t the right fit and it’s really important to me that you have the option of attending a different one if you ever have troubles with other students or teachers.
We’re lookinga t Lillooet right now. Your dad is talking to a man down there who is looking for someone to do a job that your dad is familiar with, and enjoys. It’s sounding pretty good right now, we at least have hope – but we’re still waiting to hear back about a few points that will decide it for us. We’re almost certain that regardless of whether THIS job pans out, whether THIS town pans out, that we’ll be looking to move to B.C. pretty soon. We’re going to have to go down there eventually just so that your dad can finish his education and become a teacher, and a move to somewhere where he can do that would be easier if we were already down there. We might even be able to own or at least rent a house there, too, since the prices are just so unreal here. The climate is milder where we’re looking at too, so that makes me very happy – I really want to spend as much time outside with you as I can – it’s healthy for both body and mind, and it keeps a youngun busy. We’d be in a town about the tenth of the size of Whitehorse, and yet closer to places like Kamloops and Vancouver and so many interesting things for you.
MY GIRL! I’ve spent this whole time talking to you about the move and the job and the hoping and uncertianty! But this is where we are and what we’re thinking of in your ninth month, and I guess one day it’ll be cool to read about this. Your dad and I took a walk along the river and through the Millenium Trail with you last night – you were snug and riding like a Queen on my back, and so excited about being outside that we had to wait your screeching out a few times heheh. You get very excited when you see dogs! And people! And trees! And swirling air particles! – and we talked and talked. Your dad works really hard for us all baby, and he’s always thinking of what’s best for us. If and when we move it’ll be a hard few days, and then we’ll have to settle in. But it’s nice to know that the three of us will be happy as long as we’re together. That is what we work the hardest for, and what we’ll always put first.
WELL! I love you very much my chubs. Thanks for listening to me ramble. I’ll let your dad put some pictures up for you later <3
Love, Mamamamamamamama. MAAAAAAAAAA!
