A Very Snowy Outing

Another wintery week in TO, all I have felt like doing is hibernating in the house. Monday, Felix and I did brave the outdoors and went up to Markham to go for lunch with my friend Kate for lunch. We were going to go for Dim Sum but forgot it was Chinese New Year and all the Dim Sum places were PACKED! Ooops!

Tuesday we did hibernate and I did house work while Felix played on his mat and napped. Wednesday I was itching for some social interaction and fresh air so I made plans with my Mat Leave girls (Heather and Chelsea) to meet up downtown for some shopping and lunch… little did we know it was going to be a VERY snowy day (about 20cm). Anyways we were all taking public transit so we figured we just had to manage to get to the subway and then we were home free. A bus runs right in front of our house so I thought I was good, unfortunatly the bus seemed to not be running so instead I had to walk up the hill from hell with Felix strapped to the front of me and a backpack on my back through the slushy snow. I was feeling rather exhausted by the top of the hill but it was good after the previous day of sloth. We all did make it downtown and we had a lovely afternoon. Heather is going back to work in a couple weeks so this was one of our last outings. The trek home was equally challenging but we made it but the 5 block walk from the bus was much more exhausting than it usually is. I am not sure Felix really LOVED his day of being packed around but I needed to get out.

What else is going on… Amelia has now gone down to three days a week at preschool, Monday to Wednesday. On Thursday we stay very busy with music in the morning and art class in the afternoon, then Friday morning is swimming. Busy times. Amelia is doing really well in her swimming class and is much more fearless with her instructor than she is with us in the pool, there are no complaints about going under water or getting her eye wet. 

This past weekend we went and visited our friends Leigh, Rob and Ronan’s new addition, Nevan. I can’t believe how tiny he is and that Felix was that tiny at one point. Leigh, Heather and I were all pregnant together and Nevan is the last to make his appearance. Check out the small, medium and large.

Payment

Felix continues to awke up in the middle of the night at times, it seems to happen only after days that I have taken him out to do something and he hasn’t had is quality naps. I have realised I must pay for my fun was a night awake up, at least when he gets up he sucks back a bottle and then goes right back to sleep and I am not up for more than 15min. I think I could get him back to sleep by giving him his soother but I have kinda broken him of that and he is starting to try to suck his hand so I don’t think I want to mess with it.

Felix is very vocal these days he will coo and goo away at you, it is pretty damn cute.

We are all over our colds for the most part, there are some lingering coughs but we are feeling pretty good. Amelia is back at school this week and pretty happy about it. She continues to knock my socks of with her vocabulary, frusterated is one of her favs but she has also told me that her toast was very appetizing and was full of peanut buttery goodness (okay that is more of a reitsmaism so it made me laugh). She is very good at expressing herself.

Felix Turns Three Months!

Our little guy hit 3 months this past Saturday. He has really started to change this month, he has become much more alert and interactive.  At the beginning of this month he was very high maintenance, if he was up he wanted to be held or entertained but as this month went on he became more independent. While we were in Vancouver he was happy lying on the floor watching us all do our thing or watching the fan. Since we have come home he has regressed abit, I think it is because there aren’t as many people around to watch. He is still happy chilling on his mat with his toys but only for short periods. He has discovered his hands and he is big on grabbing things from my hair to his toys. He gets very excited when he gets a toy in his hand, he waves it all around.

 

He is also fully of smiles and giggles now, it is pretty cute. He is very ticklish, especially his tummy and feet. He is really full of noises, if you talk to him he tries to talk back with all sorts of funny coos and groans. He is still abit of a cranky ass at times, I am not sure if it is cramps or it is just his general state but he can be very grumpy where nothing we do pleases him, it may also be related to his sleeping…

 

Ah sleeping, it was so good, just before Christmas he started sleeping through the night and napping really well during the day. While we were in Vancouver and when we cam back he got abit messed up for a few nights but he did get back into the routine and he was sleeping up to 10hrs a night. If I had written this post on Saturday I would have been pretty glowing about my sons sleeping, I was pretty pleased with him and he was in my good books. Well his 4^th month has not started off to well, the last three nights he has been waking up crying in the night or refusing to go to sleep until 11:30. Last night was the worst, he was up every two hours, and I was not impressed. In the couple hours before bed he polished off a bottle and half so he should have been topped up and then he went to bed at about 10:30pm. At 12am I put his soother in and he fell right back to sleep, at 2:30am I let him scream for 5min and he fell back to sleep but at 4:30 he screamed and screamed and I gave in and got up and fed him. After feeding him I changed him and he thought it was party time, he was dancing away laughing and smiling, I was so bleary eyed that I put him down on his pack in his crib and he chatted away with his mobile for a half an hour then started crying again. I hope we can start to get him into a decent schedule again, I was getting used to full night sleeps (minus getting up to pump).

 

He is pretty into trying to stand up these days, I was pulling into the sitting position, or at least trying but he isn’t much for stopping at sitting he keeps his legs straight and goes right for standing. Once he gets up there he shakes around but he has a huge smile on his face.

 

He doesn’t have a doctors appointment this month but I am pretty sure he continues to pack on the pounds but I would say he is starting to stretch out and become less circular I think he might even be loosing one or two of his chins. He is now firmly into 3 to 6 month clothes and even some straight 6 months clothes. I must say when I first found out we were having a boy I was abit sad about the clothing options compared to all the cute girl stuff but I have come around dressing boys is pretty fun after all.

 

Oh last thing, Felix’s hair… it hasn’t really doesn’t look much different than it did when he was born. New hair is growing in but it is blond so you can’t really see it. One big change is this strip along the back of his head that has worn off, it looks like a reverse monk cut. Hee hee

R&R on the Snowy Wet Coast

The morning of the 27^th we had a very early flight, John was kind enough to act as a Sherpa for us and our piles of luggage. I was actually abit embarrassing how much stuff we had… one suit case each plus stroller and car seats and then carry-ons, we were those people. I long for those days when I used to be able to just take a carry-on on a trip. Anyways I digress. We arrived at the airport and our flight was already 45mins delayed because it was coming out of a snow storm in Vancouver. Not the end of the world, we chilled at the airport, Felix slept and Amelia was happy to try out the bathrooms, water fountains and anything else she could investigate. We got on the plane without incident but then had to wait in the queue to take off. We ended up leaving about 1.5hrs late. Usually I wouldn’t be TOO fussed about a 1.5hr delay, we have had a 8hr delay in LA after already travelling for 24hrs, we can do 1.5hrs BUT we were scheduled to drive right from the airport to the ferry and catch at 12:15 sailing to Salt Spring. Our flight was supposed to be in at 9:10 so this shouldn’t have been an issue…

 

Well the kids were both very good on the plane, 1 was worried about Felix because he is generally abit of a cranky ass but he impressed and pretty much slept the whole flight. Amelia was entertained by TV, coloring and general harassing over her overtired parents   

 

We arrived in Vancouver and were greeted by Rich, just after 10 and we thought we would be fine unfortunately it took us over an hour to get our bags. By the time we pulled out the airport we had 20 min until the ferry and it was a 20min drive. My dad, who was at the ferry already called to report the ferry was 15min late, we thought we were golden unfortunately BC Ferries employees are mean and even though the ferry was still there they wouldn’t let us on instead we had to do the 3hr two ferry route instead of the 1.5hr direct route bah!. In some ways it did work out for us because Dad, Sarah, Laura and Adam arrived to an impassable driveway, and this isn’t a short little driveway this is a 700m driveway all uphill. They ended up walking up while then Dad used the tractor to help create a path which we then drove up when we arrived, even with the path it took us about 2min to get up, we tried to convince my dad to bring us down beers for the drive up but it didn’t happen. Needless to say by the time we arrived we were very tired and VERY happy to be there.

 

While we were there we did do some work outside, the guys pick axed the ice on the driveway to make it more passable and there was a Great Burn of 2008 which lasted 3 days. Other than that we pretty much relaxed and cooked. Amelia had lots of people to play with and read to her while Felix was basked in attention. Before we left Felix pretty muched wanted to be held all the time and entertained but while we were there he started to be quite happy lying on the floor by himself. The ceiling fan was like baby crack for him, it was great! Everyone was very kind to us, especially Laura and Sarah, playing with both kids and giving us abit of a break. It was wonderful.

 

While we were there we got a chance to see my grandparents and my aunt and uncle, it was so nice to see them all and get an chance to introduce them to Felix. Amelia was still in full on performance mode form her Christmas concert and she was quite happy to have a new audience for her “show”, which generally consisted of 4 songs, O Canada was the grand finale.

 

Our friends Kath, Ahren and their daughter Mackenzie as well as John and Debbie all came over for a few days and were there for New Years. For New Years this year my brother decided we should do a multicourse affair, which meant a lot of cooking. We put together a seven course meal and Debbie did all the wine pairings. It turned out really well we started at 6pm and finished dessert 5mins before midnight. It was a great New Years.

 

On Jan 3^rd we took the ferry down to Anacortes, Washington to visit my aunt, uncle and cousin. We had a wonderful visit and got to meet my cousin Brian’s girlfriend, who I swear I wanted to pack in my suitcase and bring home with me, she was soooo great with both Felix and Amelia. While we were down there we also got a quick visit to some great outlet store, fun fun.

 

After Anacortes, we headed back to a very snowy Vancouver and a nice few days of hanging out with Dad and Sarah, Jeff and I also managed a few sushi dinners. Due to all the snow moving around was abit tough so it gave us a good excuse to continue our relaxation. Both my dad and Sarah took the week off from work so we got to spend lots of quality time. We hit Science World and the Aquarium and we even managed alittle walk once the snow started to melt and there was a brief reprieve in the rain. We also got to spend some more time with Kath, Ahren and Mackenzie.

 

The night before we left Vancouver we went out for a great dinner with all the fam plus the adopted Auntie Debbie and Uncle John. It was a very fun night full of laughs. Amelia got to sit between her two uncles who doted on her and played all sort of games with her. Although we were hoping Felix would sleep he had other ideas and he screamed until we got him out of his car seat and let him sit up at the table.   Amelia’s night was made even better but not having mom or dad close by, we allowed the uncles to determine if she had eaten enough to deserve dessert, and they both agreed she had. At the start of dinner the waiter had indicated the evenings dessert special was a white chocolate cheesecake, Amelia did not forget and placed her order with the waiter herself. She ate almost all of it herself.

 

It was a fantastic trip, very relaxing but full of time with family and friends. Sarah was amazing with Felix and even Dad stepped up for some Felix care, but his true partner in crime was Amelia. Those two get on like a house on fire, I think they both have the same level of energy J

 

Our Trip home was uneventful and all on time, we arrive home to some very frigid temps and we are still shivering our buns off.  Welcome to the hells months…I can’t wait for April (neither can Amelia as she is already planning her birthday party, she either doesn’t understand or doesn’t care that her birthday isn’t for another 3months, she is ready though with her cake selected and her guest list made).

Jeebus’ Birthday Party

Well we had a wonderful Christmas. As usual we were all spoiled, to the point that Amelia decided that she was tired of opening presents and she needed a break (she came back with a vengeance after breakfast though . Sticking with tradition we spent Christmas Eve at Jeff’s parents and then stayed over, opened pressies there then went to my parent, opened pressies and then headed home for a quick clean up and shower before heading back to my parents for Christmas dinner.

We are so fortunate to have such wonderful friends and family, our Christmas was fully of laugh, love and very yummy food

Amelia was really excited for Santa this year, she left out her cookies and carrots and a little note. In the morning she was surprise with her present from Santa by the fireplace. Amelia and Jeff tested out all their senses examining it before opening, I wasn’t quite sure what they were hoping to determine by tasting the paper but you can’t mess with Science.

Santa did some early shopping this year because Amelia put her order in for a kids digital camera back in August, unfortunately Amelia changed her mind in the last weeks before Christmas and switched to a Barbie. Although Santa had finished his orders, Grandmaman and Pake picked up the slack and Amelia still got her Princess Barbie as requested. Amelia also got a cash register from my Mom and Deep, which she is abit obsessed with, her favorite game these days is restaurant where she takes your order she brings you food or drinks and then you have to pay (she has it abit off though as she usual give you the money). She also recieved Candyland from Julie, there was quite a rousing game of Candyland before Christmas dinner.

In follow up to my last post, Jeff made his venison stew from the LCBO mag and I must say it was AMAZING!! It will definitely be made again! This year mom went abit nuts and decided to not only make a MASSIVE turkey but also a ham, Amelia was quite pleased with this as ham is one of her favs. It was one of the best ever Turkey Dinners.

At Christmas Dinner Jeff and Julie held the second annual Soda Wars, where they both go out and buy the craziest soda they can find and then they try to kill each other with it at Christmas Dinner. I cannot remember for the life of me what the entrants were this year but I think Jeff’s reigned supreme with the weirdest of beverage.

Christmas just sort of washed over Felix this year, there were some staged photos with him and a couple pressies but I think he could have passed on the while thing and he felt it just got in the way of his naps. I am sure next year will be a different experience. I think he did enjoy the extra kick the breastmilk had though…

After Christmas Dinner we headed home, put the kids to bed and started trying to unpack and de-tag all the pressies and tidy. We were leaving on the 27th for BC for two weeks and we hadn’t really started packing or preparing and we were hosting Boxing Day Turkey Burgers… Okay so it may not have been my smartest move inviting all the Fam plus Dans, Rory and Dans’ Sister and Brother in-law over for Turkey Burgers the day before we left but what can you do it is the only way I can ensure that celery isn’t put in the burgers, I hate celery. Ha ha ha No it actually all turned out very well and we had VERY yummy burgers and a great visit with our friends. We did however stay up till 11:30 packing and then were up at 4am the next morning for our 7am flight… This was the start of the longest day of my life…