Friday, October 5, 2007

Today my sister Christina, Joshua and I went out for lunch with my Auntie Anne and my cousins David and Matthew at the Golden Palace, everything was delicious. After lunch we thought it wise to take a bit of a walk to work off that delicious lunch so we took a quick stroll around Andrew Hayden Park, it was a beautiful day.

Later than night I went out for the evening with my friend Erika, we had a great time and then came back to my mom's house and had one of our good old girls nights.

Thursday, October, 4, 2007

Joshua and I had an adventurous day today, we started off by going for a walk and checking out the neighbourhood. We later met up with Christina and decided that we would take the bus down to St. Laurent Shopping Centre. Doesn't sound very exciting yet does it! So the three of us set off on the bus. We get to St. Laurent and I quickly realize that there is no way I am going to get out the front door (I have Joshua in the stroller) so I quickly begin pushing my way to the back door, I don't think the other passengers wanted to share the aisle with a stroller. I eventually get to the back door my Christina steps off the bus and just as I am about to push the stroller through the door it closes in front of me, so this leaves me and Joshua on the bus and my sister standing outside on the bus platform. I yelled at the driver that I needed to get off but he had already started moving so would not let me off. I have no idea where the bus is going or how far away the next stop is. The other passengers must have felt really bad for me because they told to wait for two stops instead of getting off at the next stop. I quickly told them that I was from out of town, so they didn't think I was a total idiot. I text messaged Christina who had been sending me texts wondering what the heck had happened and told her I was on my way back. By the time I got back to the mall all that we could do was laugh. Joshua was great through out the bus trip and smiled at everyone!

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

A family friend, Zina, came to Ottawa for a visit today, it was so nice to see her since I haven't seen her for quite a few years. After a few hours of visiting we went over to visit Great Grandma. We had a great afternoon and Joshua enjoyed playing with the new toy that Zina brought for him.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Today Great Grandma took Joshua and I out for dinner, we went to East Side Marios, which is a favourite of mine and I haven't enjoyed quite the same out West. Joshua was great the whole time we were out for lunch and sat in his high chair and babbled to himself the whole time. After lunch we headed to the mall for a bit of shopping. Great Grandma got Joshua a warm sweater since I forgot to bring Joshua's coat (oops).

Monday, October 1, 2007

On Monday, Joshua and I just spent the day hanging around the house and settled in, we also made a trip to the grocery store. I picked up some Farley's Biscuits for Joshua to try. He really seems to enjoy them and he maintained a very good grip on them while he was eating them.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Here are some pictures from this past Sunday, we went over to visit Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Billy, this was Joshua's first time meeting Great Grandpa Billy!

Fair Fun

Shortly after arriving in Ottawa, Grandma, Joshua and I went to the Metcalfe Fair. I scheduled my trip at the time that I did so that I could take Joshua to the Fair. Joshua got to see all the rides, see cows, horses and other animals.

Greetings from Ottawa

Well Joshua and I survived our first solo plane trip. The trip went really well and we were fortunate enough to be sitting next to a couple who enjoyed Joshua, the woman even held Joshua while I was getting us settled before take-off. Joshua slept through the take-off and woke about 20 minutes into flight. He was in pretty good during the flight but did start to get a bit restless in the middle of the flight. I managed to get him to sleep in my arms for about 30 minutes or so and he woke up just in time for the landing. The landing was probably the worst part, he cried through most of if, but I held him close and whispered songs into his ear and he seemed to remain calm if I kept singing. All in the all the trip went really well!

Mom, if you aren't going to update the blog than I will!

Rubber Ducky, Your the One!

Joshua's fascination with his Rubber Ducky has extended beyond the bathtub. It has become one of his favourite things to tote around. During some of his fussy times it can be the only thing that will calm him down.

I think that he likes the pressure on his poor gums that have yet to expose any teeth.

Seven Months

I can't believe that seven months have passed since Joshua joined our lives. The time has gone by so quickly. I remember everyone telling that the time would go by quickly but I never expected this. He is such a wonderful baby and we feel so lucky to have him. It has been such an amazing experience to watch this little person grow before my eyes! I was going through some of his baby clothes a couple of days ago and it is so hard to believe how much he has grown in such a short period of time.

I took Joshua to get weighed/measured yesterday and his stats were 19 lbs 13 oz and 28 1/2 inches long, he is a big boy for sure! I also wanted to talk with the nurse because Joshua developed a bit of rash on his chest a couple of days ago and I wanted to have it looked at. My suspicion was that he was allergic to the peas that I just introduced. After taking a look at him the nurse suspected that it was either caused by his teething or just a bit of heat rash. He tends to get quite sweaty when he gets himself worked up. I haven't given him peas since so the nurse suggested reintroducing them in a few days and see how he reacts. While we were waiting for the nurse yesterday Joshua was playing with those toys that you see in doctors office where they moved the beads along the wire (I can't think of what they are called), he really enjoyed moving the beads around, however when he got frustrated he would start to bang it around a bit.


Here a some pictures from the last few weeks.

Shoe Envy!

I came across these booties on a website when I was pregnant and thought they were the cutest things for winter. Now that Joshua is here I fell in love with them all over again. If I can convince Chris to get a pair I will post a pic of Joshua wearing them!

The best part they are Canadian made http://www.stonz.ca/.

Self Feeding

Joshua continues to be introduced to new solid foods so far he has tried the following:

Cereals: Rice, Oatmeal, Barley
Vegetables: Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Green Beans
Fruit: Apples, Pears, Banana, Mango
Meats: Chicken, Turkey

I am still making the majority of his foods, the one that has proven to be the most painful to prepare is the bananas as they can't be frozen and need to be served fresh and I found that I was just wasting a lot unnecessarily. I tried using the jarred bananas and discovered that they all contain citric acid, which is not recommend introducing until the baby is a few months older than Joshua is. I found a nice compromise, the mesh feeder, I break off a piece of fresh banana put it in the mesh feeder and let Joshua suck on it until he is done. He is not completely sure about what he is doing with it and ends up spending more time sucking on the handle but once I turn it the right way for his he is quite happy!

While bananas were the most painful to prepare I have found the preparation of meats to be grossest and the jarred varieties aren't any better. They more resemble cat food than anything else. I am going to give it one more shot, this time instead of boiling the meat, I am going to try and steam it. A good compromise to the meats is find ones with vegetables in them, however since we haven't introduced a huge selection of vegetables its slim picking the only suitable mixture I have found at this point is the Turkey and Sweet potatoes and Joshua does it, which is more than I can say for the plain chicken.

A Note from Down Under

Joshua got his first piece of mail today, a postcard from his Nona from Australia. She was recently in Australia for work and sent Joshua two post cards from her travels. She also brought his back a few souveniers, including a Koala bear hoodie and an Australia Christmas story.

Hey There Sports Fans!

September 16, 2007 was a big day in our household. No, there were no birthdays or anniversaries being celebrated. Today was the release of the new jersey for the Edmonton Oilers! Joshua is now ready to cheer on his home team!

Go Oilers Go!

Did I do it to myself?

For as long as I can remember Joshua has only slept for 30 - 45 minutes at a time, I thought that I would let him cry a little bit before going in and getting him. Today I have decided to let him cry for a good couple of minutes before going in and checking on him. He woke up after 45 minutes as usuall but put himself right back to sleep after a couple of minutes of fussing and he has been sleeping for almost two hours now. So now I wonder have I been the problem all along? I will keep this up for a few more days and post on the progress.

I have gotten so much done I can't even believe it, I hope he has a long afternoon nap too!

I think Joshua said his first word...

I was bouncing him on my knee this morning while I was checking my email and he was chatting away and then started going Dadadadada, of course he hasn't done it since but I called Chris and told him. I know he didn't really know what he was saying but it was cute none the less.

It's Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood!

Since today was the first really nice day that we have had in a while, and the mud outside our house has started to dry, I decided to take Joshua for a nice long walk and he even wore sunscreen for the first time. It was a beautiful day and Joshua enjoyed looking around, although by the end of our walk he was pretty tired so I lay his seat down he took a bit of a nap!

Laughter Inducing!

Oh No

Joshua has discovered that he can blow bubbles when he is eating, and he thinks it is great fun, I on the other hand may need to start pulling out the tarp to protect myself. I will try and get a picture and post it.

Sweet Potatoes are a hit!

... and thank goodness, because I have a lot of them!

Flower Fascination

Joshua seems quite fascinated with the flowers on our kitchen counter. Every time we go passed t hem he tries to grab on. We let him get up close and he ripped off one of the flower buds.

Finally

After 3 months of testing it out Joshua has finally figured out the fun of the Jolly Jumper. Previously he just thought is was just a great place to hang out.

6 Months Old

I really don't know where the last six months have gone, they seem to have vanished without me knowing. Joshua is still an amazing little man, and we can't get over how great of a baby is. He laughs and smiles at everything and is rarely fussy. It doesn't matter where we take him he smiles at everyone. I knew I would love being a mother, but I never anticipated that i would love it this much.


At moments I think that he could start crawling at any time and then others I think he isn't even close. We are trying to get him crawling before he and I go home to see my family so that Chris doesn't miss it. We recently purchased a web cam so that Chris will be able to see him frequently. As much as I am looking forward to my trip I know Chris will miss his time with Joshua and Joshua will miss his Daddy, oh and Chris and I will miss each other too!

I have officially returned to work, although only for 5 hours a week and my employer is allowing me to work from home, I will go into the office whenever I need to. It is nice to get back into something that requires me to use my brain, even if only for a few hours a week. I miss work but I still think leaving him at daycare will be one of the hardest things I have ever done.

Playdate Fun

Since there are a few of us who have babies close in age now we decided to start a weekly play group. So every week Brenda and Summer; Adrianna and Tyler; and Joshua and I all get together for play date. We alternate house and have an entire afternoon together were the babies can interact together. The babies are each separated by a couple of months, Summer is 8 1/2 months, Joshua six months, and Tyler is 2 1/2 months, it is really neat to see the different stages of development. (Watch Summer scoot around while we were taking pictures - she is definitely more mobile than the boys are, we figure she should get her shots in while she still can!)



Today we went to the library near our house and participated in story time. Summer was fascinated with all the toddlers running around, Joshua was fascinated with his blanket and Tyler had a great nap. This weeks theme was dragons, they read George and the Dragon, The Paper Bag Princess, and a few other stories. At the end of story time a little boy went up to his mom, pointed at Joshua and said "Mommy that baby has no hair." It was so cute and I chuckle to myself when ever I think about it.

Fun with Food

After starting solids a couple of weeks ago I decided that Joshua wasn't quite ready for the full experience so we took a break for about a week or so. We started back last week and it is going so much better now! I have now introduced Rice, Oatmeal and Barley cereal and they seem to be going over fairly well. Each time I introduce a new cereal he doesn't really know what to think and starts gagging immediately, but by the third time he has it he does much better. I have been offering him cereal in the morning about an hour after we get up and he has his first nursing session of the day and then I offer him more around our dinner time, now that he has tried a variety of cereals I can offer him different things in the morning and the evening.

I am bit confused with the latest bit of advise that I received that suggests starting meats and cereals first as opposed to the traditional cereals, vegetables, fruits and then meats. The nurse said it was because babies need the iron, but all of the cereals that I buy are fortified with iron so I am not sure it is really necessary. Oh well I guess I should make an appointment with our doctor and find out his opinion on the subject.

Congratulations Deanna and Brian!

We had the pleasure of attending our friend Deanna's wedding this past weekend (one of the triplets). The bride looked stunning, and the day went off beautifully, minus the rain!

Joshua got to go to his first wedding and he received complements after the ceremony on how quiet he was, we sat at the back just in case and were prepared to sneak out the door if he started fussing.

Some New Toys

The three of us spent the evening at Wal-mart a couple of nights ago. Our intention was to run in a pick up a few things but he started pouring outside so we decided to stick inside until the rain slowed down, over an hour later we finally decided to head home anyways. During our time inside we roamed endlessly through the baby and toy departments and ended up with some new joys for Joshua, Fisher Price Stack and Roll Cups and Roll-A-Round balls, at this point he seems most interested in the balls because he can roll them around while he is on his stomach.

Watch out for Flying Food!

Last Monday I gave in and decided to start Joshua on solid foods, they recommend waiting until babies are 6 months old, but I figured he was close enough! His first food adventure was with rice cereal. I initially made it with water, since he didn't seem to thrilled with it, I have been making it with breast milk since and he seems a bit better with it. I start with one tablespoon of cereal and then add enough milk to make it quite runny. I have finding that once he is about part way through then I can thicken it up a bit because he has gotten used to the taste but doesn't like the consistency, once I put a bit more cereal into the mix he seems much happier.

Here he is after his first taste, he was really unsure what to make of this new taste.

Barn Yard Fun!

On Sunday afternoon I took Joshua out to my Aunt and Uncles farm, it wasn't our first visit out there but it was Joshua's first experience with barnyard animals!

Later that afternoon Joshua spent watching, Poppa and Geoff play Crib in preparation for Monday tournament, I will need to find out if they still hold their title as Champions!

Dance, Dance

This past Saturday we went to a barbecue at our friends Clayton and Brenda's. Joshua got to hang out with his friend Summer. I think they may have had the most fun out of everyone there, check our their dancing!

Preparing for Solids

Joshua's next big milestone is rapidly approaching, the beginning of solid foods! Up to this point Joshua has only ever experience breast milk, so this should be a very interesting experience for all three of us. I have decided, for now at least, to make all of the foods on my own, minus the cereals. So far I have our freezer stocked with peas, yellow beans, carrots, and enough sweet potatoes to feed our neighborhood. So far the task has been fairly enjoyable, I set the vegetables to steam on the stove and carry on with my normal routine, once they are soft enough I throw them in the blender until they are smooth, then I pour them into ice cube tray to freeze. Once they are frozen I toss them in a freezer bag to store. Joshua sits in the Bumbo and watches quite closesly as I prepare everything.

Woo Hoo

After months of having difficulty logging into this blog site, I have finally been able to do it the right way. Since at least January in order to update this blog I have had to view another blog and leave a comment so that I can log in. I have just installed Firefox, which is another Internet browser, and SUCCESS.

I promise to post regularly now!