Hey (momma), How you doin'?

This is seriously what I felt like on Wednesday.

I had my last mother goose class this week before returning to work. ::sniff sniff::. Keira has befriended a 14 m.o girl in that class, Rachel. They are like twins - adorable, blond, blue eyes, into EVERYTHING, vocal and don't sleep! At the last class all they wanted to do was hug and kiss each other. Pretty freakin' awesome.
I think her mom is pretty cool too. We chat a lot and seem into the same kind of things. She's down to earth, not done up, a daycare teacher. Through the entire class I could feel my hands get clammy, my neck sweating a little bit and my heart thumping. I knew I had to make the first move before class was over or K would lose her BFF (not counting Brika of course!). And I couldn't dissapoint those big baby blues looking up at me.
So, summoning my best inner Joey, I took the plunge and nervously offered her my email and phone number. I felt my breath stop as I awaited her reply. It was affirmative. Phew! I don't know how guys do this all the time.

So my first new mommy date is in my near future. What in the heck will I wear? What will we talk about? Do I hug her at the end or just offer a handshake?
And here I thought getting married freed me of the dating scene. Silly me.

Keira is 11 months, 1 week and 1 day old

Boo From us to you!

Happy Halloween All!

It was pretty quiet at our place - anyone who has been here knows it is a little difficult to find - apparently even for people who live in the complex. Despite over 100 units, I think we had a dozen kids, and a lot of candy left over. Regan has already entered 2 candy comas and has sworn off chocolate (until tomorrow I am sure). Next year we are going to talk to our 2 neighbours about really decking the sidewalk out so the kiddos know there are houses with treats in that area that looks like a back alley.

Here are some shots of K rocking her halloween lion costume.




In other news K gave us her first sign back today! I have been occasionally trying to teach some baby sign language (milk, more, done, cat mostly) since she was about 6 months old. Well today that finally all paid off when she let us know she was "all done" at lunch, then dinner.

Its rather simple, waving your hands forward and back in front of your chest. Much nicer then screeching and/or throwing her food on the ground. Dinner was actually very funny; Regan had made a fairly spicy stirfry, but I thought I would let her try it anyway. At first she seemed to enjoy it, but then she got this look of terror on her face and started frantically waving her hands "all done". (We got her something bland and creamy stat to kick the spice).

This gives me the impetus to keep trying more and hopefully this is just the beginning of some beautiful communication :)

In not so fun news, November 1 also marks my official last month of maternity leave. I know how lucky I am to live in a country which offers a full year's maternity, but in so many ways I feel like K and I are just starting to understand eachother and get a rhythm going. And while I know she is headed to a safe place for daycare, I worry about whether or not she will be able to settle into a routine there and thrive when she is not the only baby anymore. She is very sociable and will love having kids to play with, but also demanding of her primary caregiver.

Keira is 10 months, 2 weeks and 5 days old

They always reel you back in

So I have been writing a "woe is me" post in my head for several days. Sleeping (more to the point, getting to sleep and then staying asleep) in our house is NOT going well and I am starting to lose patience. Tonight I was just trying to get K down and get a little bit of time for myself, when she decided to initiate peek-a-boo. She kept pulling her towel over her head and then would wait until I said "where is Keira" before pulling it off triumphantly and cackling. She hasn't done this before - we always have to get things started and guide the game a bit.

So of course my heart melted and I silently swore I would rock her to sleep for hours and hours all the days of her life if she would only stay my smart sassy lovely baby forever. Sigh, they certainly have killer timing.

She has also started resting her head on my shoulder when she is scared, tired or upset. While she is very affectionate with kisses and chatting, she has never been much of a cuddler, so I treasure any opportunity to hold her like that. Bliss!

And a few new photos from the fall; if you have me on FB you may have already seen these. Hope you don't mind the double posting!





Keira is 10 months, 2 weeks and 3 days old

So not Ready for a Toddler

Last week at the mall K refused (as usual) to sit in her stroller, so while I was picking out sleepers at Children's Place, I let her crawl around it. Of course she promptly pulled up and attempted to use it as a walker. Naturally she took a tumble (the girl has inherited my clumsy gene, lucky thing) and BIT HER TONGUE on the fall.
I don't think I have ever been as terrified as I watched my child spit blood in the middle of the store.

10 minutes later she was happy as a clam, but I am still beating myself up about not paying closer attention. Since she started taking steps the blows to the head have increased tenfold.
If she makes it to 1, let alone adulthood it will be a miracle.

the good news is she has 3 new adorable sleepers with zippers. Oh and googling "how to remove blood stains" was rather enlightening.

Keira is 10 months and 4 days old

10 months old!

where in the heck does the time go?
Baby bean is already 10 months old, and I can feel the seconds ticking down on my mat leave :(

K can now:
take a few wobbly steps between mommy and daddy
says hi (actually its more like he-ey), Sis (whats this), and Ka/Sa (cat/simon), plus sometimes momma and dadda.
waves, gives high fives, claps
started dancing by bopping up and down in place and shaking her head back and forth.

She is currently cutting her 5th and 6th teeth.
I did an estimated weigh in yesterday and she came in around 19 1/2 lbs and just shy of 30 in. long.

Our neighbours just had a baby girl and I said to them I can't remember K ever being that small, not moving, not babbling constantly, not lighting up every day with her awe and wonderment.

here is her 10 month shot. Let's call it her "whazzup" pose, shall we?


Keira is 10 months and 2 days old

the monster of all updates

is due I know. 3 1/2 months is an eternity on the internet.

I bet you thought I had disappeared into the ether of the blogging world? But no, I  just descended into a haze of milestones, teething, travel and no sleep. A haze I am hoping to resurface from.

Let's start with the big one. K took a few tottering steps yesterday! dun dun dun. Gram came over for a quick visit and thought she would try to entice K by standing a few feet from me and letting go of her hands. K immediately launched for my open arms, but she had to work for them, and took 3 fast, faltering, anxious steps to me sans a helping hand.

Hoping to practice some more with Regan this weekend, and maybe even get some video of it to share!

I am hoping to return with a proper update of all she has accomplished (and resisted!) in the past 3 months. For now I will say that life is a constant roller coaster; one I am very glad to be on. K is pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. 

And I will leave you with a few of my favourite shots from the summer:

boat ride on a swamp in South Carolina, sporting yet another sunscreen fauxhawk

learning the finer art of golf from Daddy

chillaxing on the seashore with her cousin

Keira is 9 months, 3 weeks and 6 days old

6 months old!

I honestly cannot believe I am the momma to a 6 month old.

K is growing by leaps and bounds. She has mastered sitting unassisted for long stretches, rolling both ways and babbles constantly. We have heard the occasional dada or baba, but they don't seem to be associated with anything yet. She likes to turn the pages of the books as we read before bed, explore people's mouths with her fingers, watch Sesame Street with daddy in the morning and still spends most of the day sticking her tongue out. She also likes to "walk" around by holding our hands - her steps seem pretty deliberate, moving towards people, items or cats so I don't think this is just reflex.

She still isn't too interested in crawling. As soon as she gets on her stomach, she immediately rolls to her back or starts crying.
She has also picked up the lovely habit of rolling onto her stomach in bed and getting stuck. She will wail until we come rescue her. FYI for those keeping score, this is not so adorable at 3am (and 4am and 5am...)

Her official monthly weight is 15lb 3oz, so she has slowed some in the past month. The dr. isn't concerned at all, so I won't be either.

And it turns out photoshoots with enticing paper objects are much more difficult then before. This is literally the best we got:

Keira is 6 months and 2 days old

This and That

K has broken her first teeth this week! After months of teething it came out of nowhere. She had stopped drooling as much and hasn't been fussing for no reason.

We are also trying our hand at sleep training, following the methods of the Baby Whisperer. This is essentially a daytime routine of Eat, Activity, then Sleep. The goal here is the baby gets used to a predictable pattern of activities and doesn't associate sucking with falling asleep. It also works to teach babies to fall asleep on their own, in their crib, so they are not reliant on mom or dad. I am hoping to avoid utilizing a CIO (cry it out) method. Turns out this method involves a lot of crying, but we are in the room with her the entire time, trying to help her learn to self soothe. Fingers crossed we get some more sleep in the near future!

Keira is 5 months, 2 weeks and 3 days old.

Evolution of Baby

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have an upright baby!

This is the beginning of the end in terms of a baby I can just place down and walk away isn't it?

Keira is 5 months 2 weeks and 2 days old.

Professional Photos

My dear friend Kyla of Kyla Hemmelgarn Photography has once again outdone herself. She stopped by in April to take some photos of Keira, and as usual, they have turned out tremendously.
Thank you Kyla!!!
Here are some of my faves:






Keira is 5 months, 1 week and 3 days old

My Obsession

..are Babylegs.

These little things rock. They are basically infant leg warmers and come in all sorts of delicious designs. Very handy for quick diaper changes and protecting little knees from crawling. They match nicely with my CDs, so they make any outfit pop. And they will grow with her into toddlerhood as they are very stretchy. They keep her legs warm in the winter, and offer lightweight cover in the summer.
Here is my current stash laid out for you:

K is usually sporting them in her monthly shots, but here is another shot of them:
Again all you aunties and uncles out there, consider this as a gift for the little ones in your life. They are not a necessity, but always get a great reaction. And they do come in boy designs too!

Keira is 5 months, 1 week and 2 days old.

belated 5 month update

With a 1 or 2 night reprieve (just enough for us to get somewhat caught up, but not ahead of the game), K has maintained the sleep strike, hence my lack of posting (or coherent sentence structure). But last week we did pass her 5 month birthday!
I weighed her just this past Wednesday and she came in at 15 lb 2oz, give or take a few ounces. So she is holding steady right around the 50th percentile.

Other milestones:

• she handily rolls front to back and back to front, though when she is tired she needs some help remembering where her hands need to go to make it happen
  
• she is *this* close to sitting up on her own for longer then a few seconds.
• she has complete control of her hands and now loves to grab onto anything we put in front of her, especially the remote control, the cell phone or my huge pint water glass.
  
• if we put pressure on her feet and dangle a "carrot" (ie her chew book) out of her reach she will wiggle worm her way to it. Hasn't figured out how to push her feet down and out yet on her own.
• she is stringing together consonant sounds quite handily (especially at 6am). We have illicited several baba's from her; Not sure what it means yet.
  
• And while saying mama gets me a sweet smile, she has yet to mimic me saying it.

Without further ado, her official 5 month photo:

Keira is 5 months, 1 week and 1 day old

Sleep Strike

I believe K is instituting a sleep strike in retaliation of some sort of as yet unknown grievous act performed by her father or I.

The last 3 nights she has been up, on average, every 2 hours. Sometimes its several times an hour, occasionally we get a break for 3+. She doesn't open her eyes, just moans and cries and won't stop until one of us holds her. She doesn't have a wet diaper, isn't hungry, nor any broken limbs. She isn't even showing signs of teething. So I have settled on a sleep strike.

The lack of vocal coherency makes it difficult to negotiate the terms of surrender and the return of 2 - 5+ hour sleep stretches per night. We are attempting talks through grunts, hand gestures and a primordial laugh/shriek that I am pretty sure can cut glass at its highest frequency. Management is thinking perhaps the lack of fair wages (ie an allowance) may be the issue. The union has been reminded that since the workforce has yet to control their limbs, they cannot perform the necessary duties that would result in said wages (doing dishes, taking out the trash, fixing daddy a drink). The union has also been reminded to review the rather large benefits package on the table (free room; all you can eat milk bar open 24 hours; unlimited access to jolly jumper and raspberry kisses from management) and reconsider a truce.

Fingers crossed for us union votes in favour one night very soon.

Keira is 4 months, 3 weeks and 5 days

Built-in BFF's

K and I spent a lovely afternoon last week with Monica and Sophia.
Sophia and Keira are cousins, exactly one month apart. They have no choice but to be friends for life!
We think they got off to a great start:



Keira is 4 months, 3 weeks and 1 day old

As I watch my daughter eat her way through the library

K has discovered that she can hold a book this week! And place that entire book in her mouth of course.

As I sit at library group storytime and watch all the babes on the floor, collect any available book around them and then proceed to place each of those books vigorously in their mouths, I can't help but think this is the baby version of marking your territory

Since I have been so bad about blogging the past few weeks, here are some pics of the young miss:



Keira is 4 months, 2 weeks and 6 days old.

random thought of the day

How come babies are not susceptible to the yawning reflex? I can yawn through a 45 minute bouncing session while K watches me and just smiles knowingly as if to say "that doesn't fool me mommy. you want to play! now dance monkey, dance so I don't cry."

Sigh...If only it were that easy to convince her she is tired at 4am....

I'm that Mom...

I dressed K then dressed myself yesterday morning. Then I came downstairs and realized I had done this:Even her bib matches my sweater! And you can't see it here, but we are both wearing blue socks, since I didn't have clean black ones for either of us.
Le sigh...I am that mom. the one who plays matchy matchy with their daughter. Does this mean in 20 years I will be fishing for people to say we look "just like sisters"? Kill me now.

Go Canucks Go

Playoff season has begun and K is showing her support, courtesy of Auntie Tara and Uncle Alan:
Time to race for the Cup!

4 months old

As promised, requisite photos for 4 months.

with Simon:

Signage:

notice the iphone - that's a whole nother story, not involving K

must.sleep.now. will report in AM if 4 month wakeful continues.

I want my sleepy baby back

schedule last night:

730pm - fussy - down for last nap; skipped bedtime routine
8pm - woke up for final feeding - snacked until 9:20pm; moved to crib asleep
woke herself up crying in apparent pain 3x between 9 and midnight
tried to go to bed ourselves at 11:30pm
midnight - fed to sleep, fell asleep at 12:30am
4am - woke up and gurgled to herself. seemed quite content, so sent mental vibes to fall asleep on her own across the hallway. that would be a big fat "no mommy".
5am - gave in and brought her to bed for a feeding to try and get her to sleep
530am - finished feeding but not asleep
6am - finally bounced back to sleep
730am - cats start meowing for food. sprayed them into submission. baby stirs at noise
8am - starts making wake up noises
8:45am - wake up noises turn into hunger wail. get up for the day.

So my guess is she slept for a total of a about 8, maybe 9 hours in there. We managed maybe 4. This is the on heels of 3 nights of blissful straight 10 hour stretches from 10pm - 8am. Normally she will sleep 10-12 hours at night in 2 stretches. And Regan has a midterm today.

Apparently K has decided to greet 4 months old with the so called "4 month wakeful". Awesome.
Will post 4 month old shots later today if the zombie formerly known as Janine ever wakes up.

Keira is 4 months old.

purty pictures

I haz them.

Introducing my gorgeous new Nikon d60 DSLR, paired with a Sigma 18-125 OS (optical stabilizer) AF (auto focus) zoom lens. This was my birthday present and I am in lurve!!

Here are some early snapshots from the first few days. Good shots are kindof a fluke still - I am hoping to slowly learn all the different functions and really bust out some quality images.


Keira is 3 months, 4 weeks and 1 day old.

Keepin' up with the Joneses

As anyone who is having a baby, had a baby, or is shopping for a baby knows, baby buying is BIG business! As Regan often says, the money we used to spend going out for drinks or nice dinners is now spent on WHATEVER will make Keira happy and not cry. We try very hard to buy used or on sale, accept hand me downs and stay away from fads. And it was working; until we met Sophie. Her supple orange neck and come hither legs were too much to resist.

Sophie is a Giraffe. And apparently, Sophie is filled with baby crack.
Sophie is a 40 year old toy hailing from Switzerland and it is a must have for all the coolest babies in teething land. We were skeptical but the hundreds of 5 star reviews on the internet coupled with the sleepless nights and screaming fits due to K teething sent us flying to the store for one. And for the low low price of $19.99, she was ours. Possibly the most expensive toy to ever grace your child's mouth (actually, considering they put everything in their mouths, this isn't true. But possibly the most expensive toy ever DESIGNED to go in your child's mouth).
However, we are now converts. She immediately lit into Sophie and has been chewing on her for days now. She will even hold Sophie herself. Halleluah!
So to all those aunties and uncles out there - buy this for the next child in your life. The parents will praise your name!

K enjoying a nosh on Sophie's leg - her fave body part.

And for fun, some other fun photos of K over the past few weeks:

K Showing Daddy how she likes to stand.

K has also discovered her feet this week and likes to suck on her big toes now.

More tongue action, plus bonus baby arm rolls.

Mommy playing with the black and white function on her camera.
I think it makes her eyes stand out nicely :)

Keira is 3 months, 2 weeks and 3 days old

Operation: Bedroom Reclamation

Fingers crossed, but O:BR seems to be a success.

Keira spent her first night in her crib in her own room. While I am not sure Regan and I were completely ready for it, she seems to have enjoyed it:

Keira right after she woke up
the morning after her first night in her crib!

I don't think we slept much that first night - we just listened intently on the monitor for breathing, and when that failed to soothe us, Regan went in to check on her. This is what being a parent is though right? Worrying every second you don't see your child in front of you...

Keira is 3 months, 2 weeks, 2 days old.

Worst Mom Ever

On my way in to bounce Keira to sleep, I managed to bonk her head on the door frame. If the poor little thing wasn't already crying from being tired, she sure let me know she wasn't happy after that incident.

Worst.mom.ever. If I could bribe her with cookies, I would have. Since I couldn't, I offered her a boob instead :)

3 months!

So I am a few days late on doing this, but Keira passed 3 months this week. She is officially out of the so-called "4th trimester". They are supposed to be more acclimatized to the outside world by 3 months. It has been simultaneously the longest and shortest 3 months of my life!
I didn't get a chance to redo my sign, but I did snap a few pics on the day. Look at her sitting up and smiling like a real little person:
Keira has taken on many milestones in the last few months. She would follow our finger starting really early - in the first week or two. She would follow objects from around 2-3 weeks. She started smiling around 4 weeks, and the coos and gurgles kicked in a few weeks after that. Just this past week we heard the first real belly laughs - this is a progression from the laugh that sounds like a screeching pterodactyl. She began grasping objects around 8 weeks and now loves to sit on her activity mat and pull on her zebra or lion. She has successfully rolled from her front to her back twice, and from her back to her front once (still trying to capture it on video, but so far, no luck). She has wonderful neck control and has been sitting up (with her back or chest supported by us) since 6ish weeks. She now loves it when daddy holds her hands so she can stand for a few seconds on his lap. We just tested out the jolly jumper today, and she tried her bumbo out on her 3 month birthday.
As they say, the grow so fast!

working on tummy time

a picture of her little feet, for posterity.
they won't be this small for long!

Keira is 3 months, 4 days old