Here are the pictures from Elias' 9th Month. We've put in a fair bit of time on the couch in the last week watching the Olympics. GO Canada! Eli usually doesn't get much time in front of the tube but this week he has had no other option. At times he's pretty captivated by what's on the TV but usually he is happier getting into trouble.

Lately, our living room feels like it has been transformed into a circus ring. Eli is the Seal because he still spends most of his time pulling himself along on his belly, clapping blocks together and yelping. He sure is moving fast now! Oscar is the lion who likes to sleep a lot but occasionally wants to play. When he is in a playful mood he eats everything in sight and bowls over the poor little seal. Trav and I are occasionally the ring leaders keeping things in order but most of the time we're the crazy clowns running around keeping the menagerie entertained and out of trouble. This is what our lives have become and every day is more fun than the last.

Every time we put Eli down in the living room, there are two places that he always gravitates towards. He either does a quick crawl to tug on the phone cord that is nicely dangling down the back of the table. Or, he sprints to the metal fireplace grate and tugs that around the room. During the Canada and Norway Hockey Game, Trav and I were discussing ways we could baby proof these two hot spots. When a great "a ha" moment came to us. Why baby proof the house when we can house proof the baby! This is the background story behind the laundry basket turned into turtle protective shell for babies. I think we could market this!

Here's a quick update on what's going on...

We had a busy day!

The day started with some cottage cheese and oatmeal pancakes. Eli was very suspicious of these healthy pancakes (top left).

Then we hit up the pool at the downtown YMCA (top right).

It was such a beautiful day we hit up fisherman's wharf and introduced Eli to the seals (bottom left).

For dinner we chilled with some fresh Salt Spring Island mussels on shallots, herbs and white wine (bottom right).

Dessert was somethin' sweet. Matcha Angel Food Cake with Lime Icing (very centre). For those of you who ask "Why green?" I ask you "Why not green?". I tried hard but couldn't crave anything pink or red. I was just dreaming in green I guess. The idea for this cake has been a long time brewing in my head. It was fun to see my dream come to fruition and it is tasty. I have lots left so if you're in the neighbourhood, stop by for a taste.

Oh yea, and....

This morning Eli woke up with a tooth poking through the gums! Houston we have a tooth! You can't see it well in the picture, but it's there!

I have a little voice in my head whose job is to justify purchases I make. In the golden olden days, like about a year ago, we were a happy double income family with a fairly hefty bank account and two mouths to feed. During this era, that little justification voice remained dormant until a substantial purchase was in the pipe. When I was in the grocery store, there was never a need for justification on any item. It just went in the cart. These days, we are a little poorer and the threshold for purchases that require justification has lowered a whole lot. In the grocery store, I now stop to look at $5 jars of peanut butter and carefully try to reason why I have to buy the blue jar with the peanut on top when it is a whole $1.50 more than the no namer brand on the bottom row.

In the last year I have come a long way in optimizing our money that we spend on groceries. The one thing that has had the largest impact on our grocery bill is buying bulk meat at Costco. Once every two or three months, we spend about $100 in bulk meat and freeze it. Then, the rule is... DO NOT BUY ANY MORE MEAT UNTIL THE FREEZER IS EMPTY. This ensures that I don't have things freezer burned and buried in the bottom of the freezer. It also prevents me from splurging on that really expensive but great looking steak when I go to the grocery store. I don't even have to go into the meat department any more. This setup also forces me to craft the food I have into recipes instead of buying groceries for specific recipes. I used to truck off to the store, recipe in hand, and easily drop $40 on one meal for two people!

Now, I am going to take this frugality to the next level.

I have just released an update to our Photo Gallery.

• If you browse past the last or first image on a page using the image browser you will be automatically forwarded to the next or previous page of photos.
  
• You can now comment without logging into google.

Thanks for the feedback Josh and Kate! If there is anything that is weird or broken, let us know!

So today I did it! I am officially 2/5 of a pound LESS than my pre-pregnancy weight. As soon as I discovered this, I jumped off the scale, ran to the garage to rummage through my old clothes for my old jeans. They fit! Yessssss!