Vancouver Vaction

Hello From Vancouver!!! Jeff, Melie and I arrived safe and sound on Thursday night at 11:30pm (Vancouver Time, 2:30am our time). Much to our dismay our flight was 2.5hrs delayed and we couldn't get a bulk head or an extra seat for Amelia so we had a rather exhausting flight. Meals was very good and slept most of the flight on our laps but the one highlight was when about halfway through the flight Jeff noticed that his leg was rather warm and looked down to find a big wet spot on his jeans, Meals had peed out of her diaper. Being the novice mom that I am and also being rather flustered when we left I forgot to pack an extra set of clothes in her diaper bag so Miss Meals arrived in Vancouver looking less than the sophisticated baby she is in her diaper and a blanket. Oh well :) Other than us all being VERY tired we all made it here in one piece.

Friday Jeff and I did the Vancouver thing and went for a starbucks breakie and then a sushi lunch. In the afternoon we met up with my friends Dave and Fiona from Toronto who were also on holiday here and we went for a lovely walk around the seawall in Stanley Park. That afternoon we went to Granville Island and met dad after work and bought some very yummmy BC Salmon for dinner, a dinner which I barely made it through cause I was so exhausted. That night we had a very good show (tears and screams) from Meals who has not been into napping since we arrived, I think it is s combination of having her schedule mixed up, learning that she likes having snuggle when she falls asleep (after the plane ride) and also just the fact that she is loving all this new attention and things to see.

Sat we met up with Kath and Ahren and went for a nice walk on the beach then that night my Dad and Sarah (aka. Poppa and Sami) babysat while Kath, Ahren, Jeff and I went for a very nice dinner at a restaurant called Fennie's very close to where I used to live, OH YUMM what a dinner!!! Hmmm cheese and cured meats :)

Today was abit quieter, we stayed close to home but we did have vistors, my Uncle Bob and Cousin Brian came up to visit from Seattle. We went for a nice walk and out for lunch at Earls (I love Earls and yes we have been eating out alot). Tonight we had a fabulous Sunday night family dinner with Dad, Sarah, Laura, Adam, John, Debbie and us, yummy lamb.

Meals has been alittle off since we have been here but she has faired pretty well. She has been sleeping in our room in a play pen at the foot of our bed, it is kinda weired having her in the same room as us but at the same time kinda nice cause when she wakes up in the morning all we have to do is lean over and pick her up.

John and Meals having a good giggle

Brian, Uncle Bob and Our Little Family

Sami and Meals having a leisurly Sunday morning

A Meeting of the Minds (Poppa and Meals)

Laura and Meals Friday night

Gone Fishin'

Well maybe not but we are off to Vancouver for the next 10days, yipeee!!! I'll try to post some pics while I am out there but I am not sure if it will happen.

Meals and Paaka chillin' over some wine. 

4 Months Old

Well Saturday Amelia hit 4 months, what a difference a month makes!!! She is so full of personality and energy these days. She is a pro at rolling now and depending on where we are she will roll a round in a sec in order to get a better look at us. She has also become very good at caterpillar-ing around her crib and her play mat, she gets her bum in the air and she gets her feet/knees under she and she pushes herself along on her faces. It is very funny to watch but also means that she usually pushes until she reaches one of the corners of her crib then just pushes into the bumper pad, not so good and creates very interesting hairstyles. We just went for her 4-month doctors appointment (the reason my post is alittle late today) and everything is a-okay. She is still in the 75th percentile for head and weight and the 90th for length. She weights 14.8lbs and is 64.5cm long (still not out of her infant seat yet, yipeee). I found out that most of my concerns (runny poo, congestion and this new thing where she bats at her ears) is all related to her teething, man is teething every hard on the little things. We are still aiming to keep Meals on milk until 6months and then start adding rice cereal etc. I also asked Dr. Vickers about sterilizing and how long I have to continue doing it and low and be hold she tells me I can stop, yipeeeee. For the last 4 months it seems like a microwave is constantly going. This is even better news cause it mean a few less things I need to pack for Vancouver, yipeee!!! Of course the visit ended with Amelia getting two shots, this time I was a very bad forgetful mom and I didn’t give her Advil before we left so there were big tears, poor thing. She seems okay now though and is upstairs having a nap. Amelia is getting a lot stronger, when she feels like it can almost sit up on her own. There is also a noticeable difference in how she sits in her exersaucer, now she stands up more than she sits and she doesn’t need her arms for support. In the last little bit she has also developed more of a temper. If you take the bottle away to wipe her face when she isn’t finished I either get a grunting noise or the puppy dog whimper, both of which are somewhat annoying and somewhat funny. Speaking of bottles, feeding her is becoming more and more of a challenge, bah!!! Her hands are constantly pulling on my hands or the bottle or are being stuck in her mouth at the same time as the bottle, what an adventure. The one thing she has figured out though is that if the bottle is in front of her at the right angle she will grab it and shove it in her mouth, it is my entertainment and compensation for the trails of the rest of the feeding.

This Friday we went to John and Jen’s for a BBQ with a bunch of the guys from my class at Waterloo. It was very nice to see everyone and catch up. All the other babies were very good sleeping like little angels but Meals on the other hand thought it was party time and was not impressed with going to bed. She end up falling asleep but then she woke up when we moved her into her car seat then out of it when we got home. She was rather overtired and didn’t get her usual 12hr sleep so Sat she made up for it and other than the trip to Plant World with us in the morning she slept most of the day away (one big nap from 9:30am to 2:30pm, I kept having to check to make sure she was alive). As I said we went to Plant World on Saturday morning, they had a big end of season sale so we went and bought our remaining plants/trees for our backyard. Finished planting the trees and shrubs and we put down the soaker hoses, then today the mulch was delivered. Here are the before and after pics of what we have been working on, we just have to finish laying the mulch in the bottom level…

before

After (everything is still pretty small but it will grow in)

Saturday night we had a friend of ours from Jeff’s engineering class for dinner with his wife who is from Perth, Australia. We hadn’t seen them in about 3yrs and it was great to catch up. Sunday Rich, Jeff, Meals and I went for a trip to the Toronto Zoo, I must say the Toronto Zoo is my all time favorite zoo, the fact that it was build in the woods makes is seem like you are way out of the city. There were a number of highlights this time, this was the first time I have seem the polar bear move and even better it went for a swim!!! We also saw a 5 month old gorilla which was about the same size as Meals and finally we saw one of the hippos moving!!!!! Okay I have abit of a fondness for hippos, some people like camels, some like penguins but I like hippos. Much to my disappointment I have never actual seem them in action and as usual this time the two outside were just standing in the water doing nothing (well one did move its ear) but then we went inside one of the pavilions and saw the pygmy hippo… Now the pygmy hippo I usually find even more of a disappointment cause like the two other guys it usually is lying like a lump but it doesn’t even have the impressive size to make up for its lack of activity and it actually looks more like a pig. This time the pygmy hippo was out to impress, it totally up staged the lumps out in the pond and the pygmy hippo was swimming around at high speed and flapping its ears (my favorite part) it was sooo cute. For the most part Meals was relegated to her stroller for most of the day but she was sprung to see some of the animals, the jaguars, the lion (not so interested) and the ever so lovable orangutans. It was another great, although busy day at the zoo.

Rich throwing Melie to the Lions

Last night we had an AMAZING Sunday night dinner at my parents, it is Richard's last before he heads back to school so they went all out. Daryl made beef tenderloin with this amazing coffee chilli rub and topped with these to die for wild mushrooms, mouth watering!!! I am going to be so sad to see my brother go, I have loved having him around this summer. Well off to Vancouver on Thursday for 10days, I can’t wait!!!!

 

 

Amelia Helen Reitsma - 4 Months 

"mom, I worked hard on this bed head" 

Bath time with Dad.  

hee hee hee 

"umm, dad help me here... she's crazy" 

Pizza and Poop

This week has been pretty quiet, I went to the gym a couple times and Melie came along and went to the day care. Wednesday Jeff and I went and checked out another daycare and then that night we went to Jeff’s gourmet group dinner (this month wives were invited too) and seeing as all the parents were going too my brother babysat for us. Poor Rich has been avoiding diapers all summer so I guess Melie stored up a good one for him. Rich claims it was a poop of biblical proportions and there was no getting away with ignoring it till we came home. On this daycare front, Jeff and I have checked out three daycares now, the waiting list in our area for daycares are crazy so even though I am still not sure what I am going to do when my mat leave is over we need to get our names on lists now. It feels so weird to think of her going there, right now I am micromanaging every aspect of her life, it is so sad to think of someone else taking care of her all day and not seeing her 8 or 9hrs a day. It also seems so far away that it is kinda hard to get my head around it. It is good to start looking and getting ideas now though so we keep all our options opened and we will be able to be abit more picky about where to take her. Thursday Denise, Meals and I went for a nice long walk and Meals showed her first signs of an impressive temper. Our walk was about 2hrs and we were just on our way home and meals hadn’t slept at all during the walk but instead played with her toys and looked at the trees, well in the last 20mins she broke down and started screaming. I could only handle so much of the screaming and I broke down and carried her, man was my back sore after that. She did finally fall asleep in my arms but what a show, I had to have a little chuckle at the little whimpers and stuttery breathing that continued for a good 5mins after I picked her up. Friday night and Saturday Meals and I were on our own while Jeff and Rich went to the Argos game then played in a softball tournament. Saturday night I was off duty and I went to out with a bunch of friends from university for my friend Tab’s staggette. Yesterday, Jeff and I cooked all day and had our parents, Rich and Jeff’s Aunt and Uncle Bill and Betty over for Sunday night dinner. We had gourmet pizzas (homemade from the crust up), I went a little over board and made a bit too much , oh so much food. Melie graced us with her presence almost all evening. She seems to be quite the party girl, she would just not go to sleep. We put her down and she cried for abit then was quiet, I assumed she was asleep but every time I went to check on her she was wide awake doing laps of her crib and went I poked my head in I would be greeted by a big smile, she was up there for over an hour!!! She has been doing this a lot lately, she just plays in her crib, I think she is sleeping but no. I find it quite frustrating because I am not sure what to do, she should be sleeping but if she is wide awake I would rather she be down with me playing. Plus even though you can tell she is over tired cause her eyes get all red and she gets starey, she is quite pleasant and happy (if she were fussy and crying I would have no problem putting her in her crib until she fell asleep). I am very confused by this, Jeff is starting to think she has insomnia but then again he can’t understand how any one can resist the wonderful sleeping powers of the bed.

The Dancing Fools

Bill and Betty and Meals

This weekend Melie had her first of I am sure many bouts of the runs which has led to her first diaper rash. Oh man, what a pain in the butt, ha ha ha. I didn’t know a body could produce something so florescent green. It isn’t really that bad it isn’t a constant flow of anything but every diaper is abit dirty and due to the diaper rash I have been told that wipes are off limits till it gets better so now we have to wash her with soap and water. The first time Jeff and I tried the soap and water routine it was abit of a joke, I walk up the stairs to find Jeff holding a diaperless-Meals at arms length over the sink, they were both looking alittle concerned. We have now refined our technique and it still is rather messy but not as dangerous. Meals has started to burrow into the corners of the crib, with the whole SIDS thing I get rather stressed about it but we move her and then come back to find her back in the corner, bah. Let me tell you her already impressive hairstyles get even funnier after the burrowing action.

Melie now has better control of her hands and when you lie beside her she likes to touch your face, grabbing my nose seems to be the current fav. It is so cute, she gets so pleased with herself. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the end of the summer.

Beer and Gardening

This past week has been a bit quieter than the previous weeks, we were actually home for a few dinners and had some nice family time. The weather has continued to be very nice here but earlier in the week we had some pretty crazy thunderstorms, which sent the humidex through the roof, oh the stickiness. This week Melie learned to roll from both sides (we think). So last week I said that she was rolling and would get stuck and start fussing and it was affecting her sleep, well just after I posted that she seemed to sort herself out and decided she prefers her stomach. Melie is now constantly rolling over onto her belly and she even seems to prefer sleeping on her stomach. As many times as I roll her over on to her back whenever I look back in on her she is back on her stomach sleeping away. I find it very cute going in to getting her after a nap and finding her up on her elbows staring at the door smiling when I come in. We haven’t seem her roll from her stomach to her back but during one nap I checked on her and she was sleeping on her stomach and when I came to get her when she woke up she was on her back, so we think she can do it but it is like the elusive snuffilupigus, no one has actually seen it.

"okay I am ready, watch this...."

WHOA!!!

On Thursday Denise, Melie and I went downtown and met John for lunch. We had a very nice lunch on a patio then went back to John’s office and got the grand tour of RBC computer central. John was quite the proud Paaka walking around with Meals under his arm introducing her to everyone. Before we left Meals took advantage of John’s nice boardroom table and had her diaper changed, hee hee her first board room experience.

Friday night Jeff, Rich and I went to Toronto’s Beer Fest down at Fort York with a bunch of friends while Meals went for a sleepover at John and Denise’s. It was kinda weird, last year we went to the Beer Fest and I had just found out I was pregnant the day before so I was in abit of a daze through the whole thing, how far we have come in a year. This year the non-preggo me got to taste and sample lots of beers but after a few disappointments I went back to the old favs of McAuslan and Steam Whistle. Here is a pic of the boys enjoying the Tuborg Lounge bean bag harem.

Saturday we picked up Meals from Jeff’s parents then went to Humber Nurseries and bought all our plants for our backyard and Sat afternoon with Rich’s help we planted them all. The bottom two levels of our backyard are basically done and mount dirt on the front lawn is only a small rolling hill now, yipeee!!! (we just have a couple evergreens that we still need to get). Saturday night Rich stayed for dinner and we played board games. While we were organising dinner that night we had Meals on her mat and we were in the kitchen and next thing we know Jeff looks over and Melie is under the table up on her elbows looking very pleased with herself. Oh no, she is on the move. Sunday we had our neighbours over for brunch with their 9month old son Ronan. The kids were great and slept while we ate and we had lots of laughs. Sunday night was swimming and dinner at the Reitsma Resort and Meals even donned her swimsuit and went for a dip with Steph. This weekend Melie has also started some new noises and habits. On the noise front, she now grunts, mostly when one of the toys she has been playing with falls out of her reach or if she is getting annoyed about something. She has also started this high pitched airy whimper that is the precursor to tears usually, I think she has learned it from Maisy, bah!!! Finally the one cute noise that she has started is this semi-raspberry where she kinda sticks her tongue out and blows bubbles with all the excessive amount of drool she has, that one is pretty funny and she seems very pleased with herself. She has also started to recognize her bottle and if you take too long getting it in her mouth after she has seem it then the whimpering starts. I have become pretty good at getting everything organised before I grab the bottle now cause when she is hungry she is HUNGRY!!! She has also decided to start taking breaks when she eats, she’ll suck away then it sounds like she starts to get overwhelmed and then instead of just not sucking she turns her head away takes a break and then turns back for more, it is kinda funny but at the same time feeding takes more concentration and time now. Just over 2 weeks till we are off to Vancouver and the Salt Spring Paradise, can’t wait but I think I am going to has to start figuring out what I need to bring for Meals soon, packing just isn’t quite as easy as when I was just responsible for myself.

Melie's pre-Beer Fest beer lesson. 

"Here dad now you taste my hand" 

"This humidity is really messing with my hair" 

Melie and Mini having a good laugh. 

Auntie Ann and Melie out for brunch. 

I'm a standing fool. 

New Tricks and Long Weekend Fun

I can’t believe that changes in Melie in the last couple weeks, every day she seems to have a new trick, it is hard to keep up. Last week after I wrote the post about her not quite being able to roll over (getting her arm stuck) sure enough hours later I went upstairs and there she was in she crib fully over. Rolling over in her crib in now a regular thing, which I think it is great that she is learning etc. but what a pain!!!! She rolls over then plays for a bit then gets frustrated. She hasn’t figured out how to roll back yet so this means that she stays awake fussing and drooling all over her mattress till I break down and go roll her over, then 5mins later she has done it again, bah!!! The rolling over has really improved her upper body strength though, she is very good at getting up on her elbows now and getting her head right up to look at things.

Mostly she just rolls around when she is in her crib but she has rolled herself off her play mat a couple times, this has made my life a little more interesting. Due to the rolling and melie’s love of standing I decided to setup her Exersaucer on Monday, it is supposed to be for babies 4 months and up but I read the physical requirements and she meets them all. She LOVES it; it is like drugs for babies. All the toys and colours get her so excited. I don’t leave her in there for long and I have put the feet down so it doesn’t rock on the floor yet so there is still more excitement for her to come.

On the topic of the illegal mothering things I have done, I also put the dreaded bumper pads on her crib. After finding her stuck in the bars of the crib and seeing the big red marks on her legs from it I decided it was time. Yes, I’m a bad mother. I have mentioned before that she likes her dragonfly in her crib, she started off staring at it all the time, then once she started being able to move around a bit in her crib she would kick at it, now she manoeuvres around and rolls on her side and plays with it with her hands. It is so cute to see her squeezing the wigs that make a crinkly noise and grabbing at the rings. Grabbing at the dragonfly was just the first of many things that she grabs, now her little hands seem to get into everything and whatever she gets her grubby mits on ends up her mouth. Her favourite toy (or so it seemed because she used to stare at it all the time and now grabs for it) is this psychedelic turtle, she now loves putting its head in her mouth, that poor turtle has become very damp. We also bought her some teething toys for her to chew on (we were starting to worry about her pour little thumb) which she gets in her mouth and chews away on. The combination of the chew toys, the drool and maybe the jowls has led Jeff to believe that our daughter is part St. Bernard. Melie really seems to have decided to cut back her nap times now, she now longer does her 3-4hr naps anymore that are now more like an hour tops and lots of playing in her crib, bah!!! She still sleeps between 10 to 12hrs at night but she has reduced her nap time at least for now.

Oh last week I mentioned that Melie has started trying to "hold" her bottle while I'm feeding her. Well now she is trying to stick her thumb in her mouth while I am feeling her, very frustertating for both of us, she gets pissed off cause she can't figure out why she can't get the milk out while her thumb is in there, bah!! Don't be fooled by the picture, she looks all innocent but really that thumb was working its way into her mouth as this was taken.

Oh good news, I didn’t say anything last week because I didn’t want to jinx it but it has been a week an a half now and there hasn’t been any more eye goo, I think her tear duct has finally unplugged, yipeee!!!!! Last week was another busy one. It was great to have my dad over on wed night for dinner and so nice to finally get to introduce him to his first grandchild. We are all very excited for our trip out to Vancouver at the end of August, and then Poppy and Melie can have a good long visit.

Friday night we went over for dinner at John and Denise’s for Denise’s birthday and to see Jeff aunt and uncle, Claude and Cindy. Denise made herself a wonderful birthday dinner and we all had a very nice time. Saturday, our new TV was delivered, yipeee!!! Our old TV blew on Wed morning so Thursday night Jeff, melie and I went shopping for a new one. We are now the proud new owners of a lovely Panasonic widescreen TV, so pretty. To celebrate the new arrive Jeff and I rented two movies Saturday night and ordered in Indian food, yummm. The rest of our weekend was mostly consumed with working on the backyard and abit of shopping. The backyard is coming along well, Jeff Roto tilled the two bottom levels this weekend and all the top soil just got delivered so I will be busy moving soil this week, fun fun playing in the dirt. Hopefully this coming weekend we can plant. Yesterday Denise, Melie and I went for a 15km walk down to the lake and back, it was a beautiful day!!! We were gone for about 2.5-3hrs, I was hoping Melie would sleep through most of it but no, she had couple 20min naps but almost the whole time she played with her turtle (chewing on the head) and looking at the world. Last night we went for the traditional Sunday night family dinner but instead of cooking we went to Axis Grill up in the Junction and we all caught up on what everyone did for the long weekend. Very nice. Whoa was I ever long winded this week.