Just Pictures

4 Months Old

Where has the time gone!

Today Joshua is 4 months old, I can hardly believe it. He went for his immunizations on Tuesday and he weighed 15 lbs 13 ounces and was 25 inches long, he has now moved into the 75th percentile (at his last checkups he was always in the fiftieth). He handled his immunizations better this time and was happy for the first four hours but after that he was quite cranky, we made sure he got lots of extra cuddles!


He continues to make us laugh with his adorable smiles, silly giggles and interesting sounds; his newest sound is a gurgling at the back of his throat. He is starting to notice his toys in front of him and conentrates really hard on them and he is really working up to figuring out how to use his hands.
Sleeping is going well, he is averaging 7-10 hours of sleep straight and then gets up to eat and goes back to sleep for another 3 hours or so, I really can't complain.

Happy Father's Day

We celebrated Chris' first Father's Day today. We went out for breakfast with my Dad, Wendy, Grandma, Poppa, Uncle Steve, Aunt Jan and Meaghan; unfortunately Geoff (aka "the godfather") had to work. After breakfast we spent a quiet afternoon at home.

This is a first

Joshua was happily playing on his mat this afternoon and I was in the kitchen I look over at him and he was passed out cold. Normally he cries to tell me he is tired and closes his eyes but nothing he just played himself to sleep, maybe its from his busy day of practicing rollover and giggling up a storm. I guess I will just leave him there!

Our Family This Week

Joshua is continuing to grow like a weed, I took him to be weighed again last week and he was 15 lbs 3 oz, he is quite the little pork chop!









Last week we picked up an exercauser for him and I was suprised that his feet rest quite easily on the bottom, I was anticipating having to put a book under his feet for a little while. He seems most fascinated with the mirror on it and spends most of his time staring at himself!





He seems to be more interested in the Jolly Jumper as well, he is still not quite sure about the whole jumping thing but he is slowly getting the hang of it.

Tummy time has gotten a lot better, he seemed to go from screaming his head off with his face pressed against the floor to lifting his head up and looking around, over night. I now prop board books and stuffed toys in front of him so that he can look at them!

Jump, Jump, Jump Around!

Now that Joshua is three months, we have started putting him in his Jolly Jumper. He likes to stand in our laps so we thought he would love it. At this point he is still not to sure what to do with it other than spin around but I think it will likely take a couple of tries for him to really figure it out. Since Joshua loves to look around outside we have set the stand up infront of the big window in our living room so that he can look outside.

The stand takes up most of our living room so hopefully he enjoys it because it is quite the eyesore, oh what we will do for our children!

Sitting in Higher Places

We have set up Joshua's high chair! He still seems a little uncertain about it so will only tolerate it for a couple of minutes at a time. I think this new chair will come in handy as Joshua really seems to be slowing his swing down with his weight, even on the maximum setting it takes forever to get going..

Three months!

Last Tuesday Joshua turned 3 months. I don't know where the time has gone. I took him to be weighed the Friday before the long weekend and he was 13lbs 11 oz and 24 inches long. He has gained almost 7 full pounds and grown 4 inches in only 3 months.



He loves to sit on the couch or floor in his Boppy Pillow while smiling and talking or just plain staring at the wall/ceiling.

I packed up all of his 0/3 month clothes a couple of weeks ago (I put one of his sleepers on and it turned into a v-neck with 3/4 length sleeves) and now his 3/6 month sleepers are getting a bit snup as well, although his 3/6 month outfits still have quite a bit of room (I am bit confused by this!)

The smiles have progressed!

My days are now filled with lots of smiles, they have been coming for a few weeks and started just before my Nana came to meet him for the first time, by the time she left he was flashing his gummy smile all over the place. Now he is chatting up a storm, he will sit in his pillow and chat away and when I talk back he smiles his big smile right back at me, on a few occassions I have even got what sounded like a giggle, it is the sweetest sound!

Some much needed sleep!

I am happy to report that Joshua is pretty much sleeping through the night. It has been five nights now that I have enjoyed at least 7 hours of sleep straight (or should I say he is getting at least 7 hours straight, I need to start going to bed earlier). I have discovered that if I let him have an early evening nap and put him to bed at around 10:00 he won't wake up until around 5:30 to eat and then goes back to sleep until 9 or 10 o'clock. It is so wonderful to only have to get up once a night, although he has only ever gotten up twice a night so I really can't complain. He is also napping alot better during the day. It is true what they say, a well rest baby sleeps better!

This is an old picture, but the most recent one I have of him sleeping!

Joshua's Baptism

On April 28 we celebrated Joshua's Baptism. He was baptized at the same church and by the same priest who married Chris and I, Father Andrew.

Joshua wore the same gown that my sister and I wore.

Many visitors came to celebrate with Joshua, including Auntie Sarah, all the way from England; Great Grandma, from Ottawa; and Grand Aunt Pat, from Vancouver.

Joshua sitting in his Boppy Pillow with his Chris before the service began, we take this pillow almost everywhere we go.

Joshua and his Auntie Sarah, who is also his Godmother, and his Grandma!

Joshua and his Godfather Geoff, my cousin

Joshua and his Grand Aunt Pat from Vancouver.

I am missing some pictures that are on other people's camera's so I will update this when I get them.

Playtime!

I have to share these pictures because I laugh everytime I see the last one.

This is how play time usually starts out, all happy, he is even waving hello to the camera.

And this is how playtime ends."Please mommy I am done, no more pictures."

Tummy Time

Joshua seems to enjoy sleeping on his tummy the most, which I don't let him do, so whenever I put him on his mat for some good ol tummy time he puts his head down as if he is going asleep. I have now started to prop him up on his Boppy Pillow and that seems to keep him awake and he enjoys being able to see around much more.

Wow 2 Months Now!

Ok, it has been a while since I last updated!

Joshua is now over 2 months old and I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. He has been growing like crazy, he gained a whole pound in one week and now weighs 11 lbs 8 oz and is 22 inches long. He smiles and coos more and more everyday which makes my job so rewarding. Sleeping has been going fairly, it has been a little disrupted by the move and then by his shots, but things are getting better he still on gets up about twice a night.

Joshua is One Month Old today!

Where has the the time gone!

He continues to grow, and is over 8 lbs now, I have noticed a difference when I pick him up! I took him to the doctor yesterday and his bilirubin count was down far enough that he doesn't have to for blood tests anymore.

We are going to spend the day visiting his Nona (my stepmother) at work and we may also go and see his Opa (my Dad) too.

I think we are crazy!

Since the arrival of Joshua, Chris and have been noticing a dramatic decrease in the amount of space available in our house, wow babies and there toys take up a lot of space. We weren't really even thinking about moving for another 4 years at least but we happened to notice a house for sale down the street that we really liked. We decided to just go and take a look at it and see if it was as good as we thought it would be. Turns out it is better! So on Tuesday we put an offer on it and this morning the called and accepted our offer.

We love our current house but as I mentioned the >1200 square feet is feeling really tight now that we have another body in the house. This new house is 1562 square and has everything we wanted in a house, 3 bedrooms, two and a half baths, decent size kitchen, etc. It is also brandnew, the current owners never moved in.

Here are some pictures.

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin

Joshua has been enjoying some playtime on his activity mat, he can entertain himself for about 10 minutes by just staring at the toys that hang over him.

The other day, I put in on his tummy and he rolled over within seconds. He doesn't seem to mind his tummy time, but it has to be on his own terms.

Unfortunately, I didn't catch the moment on camera but here is some footage of him playing (don't mind my camera skills, I was just messing around).

My little Gloworm

A few days after Joshua came home, he started to develop jaundice. He is now almost four weeks and it finally seems to be clearing up, thank goodness. It was tough, since he was born we have been taking him for weekly blood tests so they could test his bilirubi levels. I am not sure who the first on was harder on me or him, thank goodness for Chris becuase he stayed with him while I stood in the hall and cried. We are pros at it now and the last two times they were able to get it from his arm instead of squeezing it out of his foot.


In this picture you can see how yellow he was!

Welcome Joshua Keith

Sorry for the delay in posting this, I was having trouble accessing the site.
Joshua Keith made is his grande appearance on February 22 at 12:47 am after a very short labour. I ended up having to be induced early because my fluids started to leak again and my OB just decided that now would be the time. I suppose all the bedrest really paid off because this was only a couple of days after I was taken off of bedrest.

I ended up getting an epidural because the pain was so intense and our nurse who started the induction said he wouldn't be born until at least 7 the next morning. However, the epidural only last 30 minutes and wore off just in time for me to start pushing. I only had to push a few times as well and then had to wait 30 minutes for my OB to come, she literally walked in the door and caught him because I just couldn't wait anymore.

Chris was fantastic (as I knew he would be) and supported me through everything, I am so thankful for him. He is such a wonderful dad too! It was really neat Joshua came out screaming, which is wonderful, and Chris went over to see him and as soon as he started talking to him, he stoppd crying instantly. He even put his feet up on the side of the bassinet and looked like he was lounging!

He weighed 6 lbs 13 oz and was 20 inches long!

Baby Shower

This Sunday my friends Corinna and Megan hosted a Baby Shower for me and the baby! I had so much fun and it was really nice to get out of the house and spend some time with friends. It was the first time I had really gotten dressed up since being on bedrest so Chris insisted on taking some pictures (35 weeks 2 days)!





Corinna and Megan planned a fun game of The Price is Right, were there were three games played.


The first game there were 6 items layed on a table and the contestent had to place the correct price ontop of each item. My friend Kristine did a great job and I learned that I had no idea how much baby stuff cost!



For the second game the contestent had to indicate the correct price for a package of newborn diapers. The incorrect price was listed on a board with other numbers on top and you had to figure out which numbers moved down to create the correct price.

And for the last game the contestent was shown an item (a Burberry Rattle) and numbers were slid across an open box and the contestent had to stop the numbers when the showed the correct retail price.\

Oh, and we got to keep all of the items used in the game!

We were very lucky and we received many wonderful gifts for the baby such as a baby bath tub, a diaper genie and a diaper champ (we decided to keep both so we could have one on the main floor), a play mat, some clothes, and other very necessary baby items! My friend Corinna sells Arbonne products and she gave me the Arbonne baby line, I am really looking forward trying them on the baby, I have heard they are wonderful.

Maternity Pictures

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AYsWbdu5atnugI recently had some maternity pictures taken (32 Weeks, 4 days), they were done by my friend Claudine. She is very talented and I am so happy with how they turned out.

Click on the picture to see the others that were taken (these are quite artistic and were done with draped fabric etc.)

Happy Belated Birthday to me!!

Last Saturday was my 26th Birthday!

The night before Chris was talking to the baby and telling him that it was "mommy's birthday tomorrow, so be very good" and I had to had "make sure you move lots so mommy knows your OK". Well that was a huge mistake, he had what I think is his most active day yet, unfortunately with those movements came extreme pain. I am not sure what he was doing but it really hurt. I was describing it to my nurse a few days later and she was concerned that they were contractions, I am sure they were the baby moving around because I could actually feel him grinding away on my insides. OUCH.

Anyways, Chris took me out for a drive that afternoon I really enjoyed looking around at the city when the sun was out (I usually only see it at night right now). Later that evening we went out for dinner with Angela and Emma to the Moxie's that they just renovated down the street. Don't worry my small outing was okayed by the nurse!

Angela gave me a beautiful necklace that we saw we were were in Bakewell, England (Pride and Prejudice Country for you Jane Austin Fans). We were in a small fair trade shop and I fell in love with it and she offered to get it for me for my birthday, I have been anxiously waiting to wear it since!

Our baby has quite the library!

I really hope that the baby likes to read! Chris and I started collecting books early on for the baby, we purchased some of our favourites for him. Over the last several months we have been receiving books from different family members and I must say, he has quite the collection.

1. Dr Suess Treasury Collection (contains 13 stories)
2. Robert Munsch Treasury Collection (contains 16+ stories)
3. Love you Forever
4. The Elephant and that Bad Baby
5. Owl Babies
6. George and the Dragon
7. Slinky Malinki Open the Door
8. Oh Baby the Places You'll Go (specially for reading in untero)
9. I'm A Manatee
10. Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin
11. The Story of Christmas
12. Are you my Mommy?
13. Richard Scarry's Best Moth Goose Ever

I think my favourite to read to him is the "Slinky Malinky Open the Door" because it cute and a sing-song type read. The baby's favourite seems to be the "Oh Baby the Places You'll Go", he moves around like crazy when I read to him.

I started reading to him quite early, in fact I am not sure if his ears had even deveoped, so hopefully he likes reading when he is older.

Thank you everyone who has sent us books, they are already being put to good use!

34 Week Update

I reached 34 weeks yesterday, I can't believe it. I have been on bedrest for four weeks now, at times it seems to be going to quickly and other times seems to be going by slowly. I was given the green light by the nurse a few days ago that I could make dinner again, so hopefully that helps Chris out, he still doing all of the cleaning and getting ready for the baby.

Today I also got a call from the Antenatal program that they have spoken to my doctor and they are going to drop me down to 3 visits a week instead of everyday. This means that things are going well, but I am kind of sad at the same time because they really helped to break up my day.

The baby is doing wonderfully and seems to have changed positions, he is still head down but I am not sure if he turned around our what because my belly completely changed shape overnight. The nurse thinks he may have just moved further down into the birthing position, I plan to ask my doctor today at my appointment.

At my last doctor's appointment my doctor said that I would likely be coming off of bidirectional at 36 weeks so only 2 weeks to go, I am practically counting down the days. Once off of bidirectional I will be able to resume a somewhat normal life again, minus working of course. I have been creating mad lists of things that we need to get or things that we need to get done and I am looking forward to being able to completing some of them on my own and given Chris a break.