Gillis.me

Too cool for (pre-) school.

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:11:49 -0700

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Ladies and gentlemen, the future of electronic music.

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 16:45:26 -0700

p71.mov Watch on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »

The Bathtime Crew

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 16:02:28 -0700

Claire, counting as she throws the ducks in the tub: "One. Two. Seven. Fiiiiive!"

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Claire practising being a big sister.

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 05:06:00 -0700

Permalink | Leave a comment »

These may be the first set of photos Claire has taken.

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:55:25 -0800

She got ahold of my phone and snapped some photos of the sofa and her pajamas.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Sent from my mobile device.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

So, there's something we've been meaning to tell you...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:50:52 -0800

If you can't tell from the picture, that's a little bitty baby, slowly but surely growing inside Rachel's belly :)

You'll see many more photos of him/her after he/she is born at the end of June!

Permalink | Leave a comment »

We took Claire sledding around the neighbourhood.

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:58:55 -0800

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Bye bye, Baby; OR How I got a little choked up after bath time.

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:27:53 -0800

Earlier this evening, Claire and I were hanging out while Rachel was gone to work.

It was bath night, and it went as any other bath time would. Splashing. Playing. Tickling. Standard bath-time antics. As with most things, she's been more and more independent in the tub, attempting to wash herself and so on.

After we were done, picked her up as she made exaggerated "Brrrr!" sounds. Baby laid her head on my shoulder as we turned around to walk out of the bathroom.

"Baby" she said, catching our reflection in the mirror. Her hair was soaked as she rested in my arms, smiling with her legs hanging out of the baby-sized towel she once neatly fit in.

"Claire," I said, "I wish I could take our picture right now." She smiled back.

"Buh bye!" Baby announced.

I stared back. "Not yet?" I asked, "Maybe stay a little longer?"

"Buh bye!" she declared again.

I stood there, wondering how eighteen months could go by so fast.

"Bye bye, Baby" I said.

The Little Girl laughed and snuggled in close under the towel. I tickled her and she kicked her legs and laughed some more.

We left the mirror and went to get her ready for bed.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Breakfast Buddies

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 09:34:05 -0800

See the full gallery on Posterous

Sent from my mobile device.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Family kicks.

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 12:45:28 -0800

Sent from my mobile device.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Orchard of dreams.

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:20:00 -0700

See the full gallery on Posterous

We went apple picking in Cardigan on Thanksgiving weekend. Claire, a true apple enthusiast, was overjoyed with the infinite rows of fruit she found herself in. When we found the row were going to pick in, she asked for an apple, took it from me (after I peeled half with my teeth), and sat on the ground and got to work.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Oh right. We bought a house.

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:47:25 -0700

We actually bought it quite a while ago: our closing date was September 19th. We've been pretty busy and slack with the blog the last little while, so we haven't had much of a chance to write about it at all. So here's a bit of an attempt to do so.

Here's how it went down.

Our real estate agent (the lovely and professional Kelly Lantz) came across the property whilst taking her dog for a walk. It was a private sale, which made us a little nervous for some reason, but we gladly took a look at it. The seller had actually posted it on Kijiji, which is where we saw the first photos of it, and later set up a time to see it in person. We had a look at it, thought about it, saw it again, thought about it some more, and eventually made an offer with the help of Kelly (it was posted as a private sale, but we felt much more comfortable having a pro along for the ride). Offer accepted. Papers signed. Yay us.

As mentioned, we were to close on September 19th, and managed to give notice to our landlord that we'd be out of our apartment by October 1st. This gave us a twelve day overlap. Twelve days, we decided, that would be best utilized smashing walls and tearing apart floors and painting before we moved in. We conscripted Rachel's brother in law to come in and help us with the process. More on these adventures—on a project by project basis—in future blog posts (don't worry, we took a lot of "before" pictures).

It was a busy twelve days. We'd get up at 6:30 or 7:00 every day, and work until about 1:00 or 1:30 the next morning. We managed to wrap up quite a bit , and are glad we did. Trying to do what we did while living in the house would have been torture, and really, we probably wouldn't have done most of it.

So now, here we are. Fairly settled. A month after moving in, all but one of our rooms is unpacked (and even it is usable).

We still have big plans for the little house (who doesn't) and plan to share the process and experiences on the blog as we go. It may not be in a timely fashion, but we'll post.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Claire heart apples.

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 14:58:54 -0700

She does. A lot. Here's what it sounds like when she gets one in sight.

Apple apple apple..m4a Listen on Posterous

The "apple-ahhhh" at the end is usually how she says "apple sauce," just so ya know. We also went apple picking last weekend. Pics to follow.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

How I knew it was time to put the camera away.

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 15:22:03 -0700

Permalink | Leave a comment »

This stuff is harder to clean than you probably realize.

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 18:11:11 -0700

Last weekend, we decided to take advantage of one of the last nice evenings of the summer and head to the beach for a little picnic. We packed some food for Claire in her lunch bag, and then tossed a few easy snacks in her diaper bag for us (crackers, a banana, etc.).

We left our apartment, driving towards Stratford's Tea Hill Park (prime picnic local and home of PEI's only cricket pitch). As we approached the water, we could start to smell a faint stench. "Great," we thought, "the tide's out and the beach should be niiiiice and stinky just in time for our picnic."

We carried on towards the park, all the while the smell growing stronger and stronger. The stench started to change, to a slightly sweeter smell. A familiar sweet smell. The beach was starting to smell like... banana?

"Is she eating... a banana?" I asked Rachel.

"Oh... Claire."

She had managed to grab the banana from the top of the diaper bag, and being the resourceful child she is, squeezed the fruit until the peeling popped open. She then proceeded to squeeze its contents through the newly formed hole and attempted to lick it up. A nice little road trip snack.

We didn't quite understand the severity of the situation until we got to the park and looked in the back.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Scenes from Claire's daily jump-around time on our bed.

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 09:17:23 -0700

IMG_1473.MOV Watch on Posterous

Sent from my mobile device.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

With the scribble of a pen, we bought a house.

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 12:49:00 -0700

Earlier today (2:34PM, to be exact), Rachel made the first signature on a document which made us homeowners.

Technically, it made our credit union a home owner, but we're going to eventually own it. It's been a fun ride looking for a spot, and you can expect to see a lot more posts about the house (and our home owning/renovating adventures) here before too long.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Walkin'.

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 19:24:00 -0700

Claire's been eager to walk for quite some time now. Over the past couple of months, she'd been walking around furniture, walls, cupboards, and appliances (which, along with reaching out for our coffee mugs, has also helped her learn to say "hot").

In the past few weeks, however, scurrying about furniture has been upgraded to full fledged walking around the apartment. We shot these few clips about two weeks ago:

It's taken a while to post, and since filming it, she's ramped it up even more. She frequently goes on a screeching rampage, stomping around the apartment shaking her hands in the air like an uncaged chimpanzee. One minute she's standing at the coffee table having a bit of a snack (usually fresh Cheerios; occasionally "aged" ones from beneath the couch), and the next minute she's on the other side of the apartment playing in our bedroom, trying to run Rachel's hair straightener through her locks.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Us and Fr. Andrew

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 05:18:00 -0700

Our friend Andrew was ordained to the priesthood last week. Jason MacLean was there to take photos of the whole thing, and we got him to snap this one for us afterwards.

You can see a whole pile of pictures of the ordination on Jason's website.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Photodump

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 16:57:18 -0700

We know you've all been on the edge of your seats wondering what the Gilli (plural of "Gillis") have been up to. Well, fear not. Just because we haven't been posting anything doesn't mean we haven't been taking photos. A rundown:

1. Claire likes strawberries
She gets stripped down to her diaper to eat them.

See the full gallery on Posterous

2. We had visitors
My cousin Colin and his lovely girlfriend Alex came for a visit when they were spending some time on PEI. This is the formal portrait of the event.

3. We went out to Mom and Dad's cottage
And sat around and had some lunch and the like. 'Cause that's what you do when you go to a cottage. It was fun.

See the full gallery on Posterous

4. We went to a park with some friends
Claire spotted the swing, and there was no going back.

See the full gallery on Posterous

5. Rachel took a nice photo of Claire outside her play tent

6. We went to see some of Rachel's family
There was a bit of a shindig to see off her cousin who's off to Alberta to work.

See the full gallery on Posterous

That's it for now.

Permalink | Leave a comment »