Peanut's Page: September 2005

Meals and Emma

Leah and Meals

Chillin' with dad

This was my attempt at being a photographer.

Cough, Cough, Sniff, Sniff

Seems everyone has been getting sick lately especially the kids and not to be left out Meals has developed alittle cough and the sniffles. It isn’t that bad but it’s there. Thank goodness Meals loves getting her nose sucked, she breaks out into a big smile and some times even giggles when I suck out the boggies. Meals other big accomplishment for this week is that Meals has finally managed to get her feet in her mouth now not only do I get slimed when she grabs at my face but I also get wet marks on my pants where her feet hit, ahhh babies :) This past week Meals and I went out to visit Jen and the girls on Wednesday. It was so cute to see Melie interact with Emma and Leah. I guess I better start taking her to play groups cause she seems to be quite interested in the girls. On Wednesday morning, I went to check out another day care with my neighbour Leigh and the kids. This daycare is French, and when I say French I mean FRENCH!! Most of the staff just speak French. Above and beyond the French part the daycare seems pretty cool, they have a kitchen and make them hot lunches, there is a good outdoor area and they take them on little field trips to places like the farm etc. The day care is pretty cool, I hope she can get in. On Thursday morning, I was awoken to Dexter puking, not the most ideal way to wake up I must say. We cleaned that up then I found that he had pee in my closet, BAH BAH BAH!!! I figured he must be sick so I called the vet to make an appointment, they said they had a cancellation that afternoon and to bring him. I was having visions of my sweet little cat being in pain and dying of some horrible virus or something so I called Leigh and asked her to look after Meals for me and I rush Dex off to the vet. The vet looked him over tested his pee etc. and gave him a clean bill of health and gave me drops for kitty anxiety, apparently my cat is pissed off or depressed. Ahhhh!!! I don’t get it he is the one that seems to like Meals and he even lays down beside her and lets her grab at him and he just purrrrs. Friday we went for lunch with a couple of the girls from work then stopped into the office and said, hi it was nice to see everyone and catch up on the latest at work. This weekend was pretty uneventful, Jeff worked on the basement and I went to the gym and did some chores around the house. We also ventured to Yorkdale, we both agree that place is insane!!! The park lot was FULL!!! What happens at Christmas when it is even busier??? Lucky for us we brought “The Child” and got one of the family places right in front of the door, YEAH MEALS!!!! Meals is getting into a good sleep routine these days, knock on wood, she is on a three nap schedule, two in the morning and one in the afternoon. She has given up on the evening nap and boy did she let us know she wasn’t interested in that. She is also getting very good at sitting and she is now looking to be working on crawling. She has been up on her knees for awhile but she was doing this wheel barrel thing where her head ploughs along the floor but on Tuesday she actually got her arms up too but the head was still on the ground then last night she was up on the fours and rocking back and forth, it only last about 30secs but it was progress. Oh my life is going to be interesting soon. Well quite day today trying to enjoy this rain.

5 Month Pictures

Amelia Helen Reitsma - 5 Months

The makings of a beautiful friendship

5 months and Dr. Evil Strikes Again

We have had another lovely weekend, on Friday night Meals went for a sleep over at John and Denise’s while Jeff and I went to a B&B down in Niagara for the night. Our friends Sean and Sylvia got us a gift certificate for a night at the Vineland Estate Guest House for a wedding present last year and we finally got a chance to use it. We had a lovely time and a fantastic dinner at the Vineland Restaurant. By all reports Meals was very good for her grandparents and went to bed without a fuss. Saturday, Jeff and I had a leisurely morning and then went and browsed around Niagara on the Lake with all the other tourists. In the afternoon we headed back to Mississauga and went for a walk and had dinner with John and Denise before going home. Sunday was full of chores, I washed windows and Jeff worked on the basement, oh the excitement. I must say it is much nicer looking out a clean window now though (I had never washed the outside of our bedroom window and it was getting pretty nasty). Sunday night we went to Jeff’s office BBQ (well his groups). It was very nice to meet all the people that Jeff works with and finally get to put faces to names. Meals was very well behaved and lasted 4hrs with no sleep but lots of smiles but the wheels came off around 8pm and we made a beeline for the door, she was asleep within seconds of the car starting. Today Jeff starts some on-site work in Pickering, he will have to be making the commute to Pickering for the next month or so. Poor Jeff, it is going to mean some long days for him. Tomorrow Meals turns 5 months, eeep!!!! She has become much stronger in the past month and her sitting is really coming along but if she had the choice I think she prefers to stand and sitting really doesn’t excite her. Her major hurtle with sitting is learning that she can’t reach for toys that are too far away cause she just ends up doing the pretzel or falling over. She has also started making a LOT more noise. She has many different laughs now but the most common and unprovoked is this Dr. Evil style “nahaha”, combined with the finger touching under her chin and she is vying for the roll of the next Mini Me. She also has a very cute little giggle but you have to work for that one most of the time. She also sings, or what we call singing, it is kinda this airy high noise that she make when she plays. She still LOVES her feet but she hasn’t managed to get them in her mouth yet but it is coming. Still no sign of teeth but LOTS of slobber. This month she had her first trip on a plane, first Jet lag and first sleep in a playpen, all went fairly well. This month also marks the last few weeks of just breast milk and semi-easy feeding for me, next month the mush starts, how exciting. She has also started to differentiate between people, for the most part she is a little flirt and loves attention from everyone but when she gets tired then only Jeff and I will do and there is this whinny little grunt until she gets her way. She also is much more of a monster when other people try to feed her. I don’t put up with the nipple chewing or drooling the milk down herself instead of swallowing it and she doesn’t do it with me much anymore but as soon as someone else gets her the monkey business starts. This monkey business is always accompanied by lots of smiles, the “aren’t I cute with this river of milk spilling down my face” look. BAH!! I work hard to produce that milk and to wash all those clothes, what a monster!!!!! But she is right she is pretty cute with the devilish grin. She is starting to really develop a mind fo her own, when you stop doing something she likes like bouncing her on your knee she goes right from smiling to the annoyed grunt, I think this is the precurser to "do it again, do it again". She has also started to make a concerted effort to try to roll off her changing pad, this has made our live more exciting. Since we have been back from Vancouver she has become more interested in the cats and visa versa. She also seems to have a new obsession with pop cans and the TV remote, should I be worried? Her favorite trick these days is to roll off her quilt as soon as I walk away, the other day I just walked into the kitchen to put something in the garbage and I came right back and there she was about 3ft from her quilt under the table looking very pleased with herself. I think she has gone through another growth spurt since her last visit to the doctor so I am fully expecting her to be out of her infant seat by next month. I have started looking around for a car seat but haven’t bought one yet because I am not quite ready to give up on the infant seat yet. I have also been looking for a playpen for when we go places but I have had no luck finding a simple one, just a bottom and four sides, no changing table etc. Ah well the search continues.

What a change!!!

Look at me bigger and happier!!!

Back to Real Life

This past week was pretty busy trying to get back into normal life, it took Meals three nights to get back to a normal sleep schedule. The first two nights back Meals was up till after 12am, ouch, Jeff and I just aren’t used to that, we both got up very sleep the next mornings. Thursday was quite the day, I had a dentist appointment in the morning so I dropped Meals off at Denise’s then went. Bad news, cavities, bah!!! Then on the way back to pick up Meals, there was a “thub, thub, thub” noise, you got it…flat tire. Bah!!! There was a nail in our tire and according to the CAA guy our tires were pretty worn so Thursday night Jeff headed off to Costco to get us 4 new tires, fun fun. This weekend we did a bunch of errands and a lot of cooking. Saturday night Jeff and I went to Tab and Shane’s wedding in Markham, it was lovely and we got to catch up with some of our other friends from university. After a slow start on Sunday Jeff and I did chores and cooked then had the mom’s of for a indian dinner, yumm vindaloo. Meals is full of noises and squeals these days, when she gets excited she shakes and squeals, very entertaining!!! The cats and Meals have developed and interest in each other recently, Meals now likes to watch them whenever they come by her and they like to sniff at her when they think it is safe. On Saturday and Sunday mornings it is family time on our bed and Meals and the cats are all piled into bed with us, at this time Jeff tries to teach Meals how to pet the cats “nicely”, she hasn’t quite caught on yet :) Not too many new pics from this past week but a couple more cute ones from vacation.

Playtime at the zoo. "Let me get a nice big handful of that hair..."

Vancouver Vacation – Part 2

Ahhhh vacation sweet vacation!!! Now back to real life. We had a great visit out west, Meals (and us) survived her first two plane rides we introduced her to all sorts of family and friends that hadn’t met her and we got to spend some nice quality family time. Since last Sunday we spent some more time in Vancouver, sightseeing, walking and shopping. Monday morning, my Uncle Bruce dropped by for a visit. The rest of Monday the three of us spent with Kath, we went out to Lighthouse Park then down to Yaletown for lunch and browsing in the shops. I haven’t been to Yaletown since I lived there and man what a difference there are so many condos and all the old warehouse have been converted to funky stores and restaurants. Tuesday, Jeff went to work in EarthTech’s Burnaby office while Meals and I played with Kath. We went shopping and I spent way too much money but oh well my mad money will be in the negative for abit but I do love 4th shopping. Oh my though I went into the most expensive shoe store I have ever seen, I picked up a pair of shoes on sale for $500, they were cute shoes but I don’t think so… I have to have painful contemplations over shoes that are more than $150, in this store I would have got a pair of flipflops!!! Tuesday and Wednesday night we stayed at Kath and Ahren’s, we played lots of cranium and I am sad to say Kath and I were very soundly beat three times, it might have had something to do with our wine consumption compared to the boys (bumplanet, kath….). Wednesday we went for a drive and a coffee/tea (it used to be a drive and a big gulp but seeing as it was 10am I thought coffee/tea was more appropriate). We drove out by UBC and Jericho Beach, SO BEAUTIFUL!!!! For lunch Kath, Meals and I met up with Debbie and Jeff at a new restaurant called the Red Door, it was a mix of all sorts of Pan Asian foods. The food was fabulous and Meals flirted with all the staff. It was so nice to get to spend a little more time with Debbie, she is such a neat person and always involved in such interesting things I love catching up and hearing what she is doing. After a nice leisurely lunch Jeff, Meals and I met up with my cousin Melissa and Auntie Ann who came up from Anacortes for a quick visit. We all went for a walk and a beer on the patio down by the beach. Wednesday night we had a yummy platter dinner with Kath and Ahren and played more cranium (more loses for us). After a very busy day and not many quality naps Meals was a mess, I have never had her carry on for so long before falling asleep, before she used to last maybe 10mins tops but then flake out but that night I think she went for an hour, it was rather stressful for Jeff and I. Thursday we spent the morning with Kath then Dad picked us up and we headed for their Salt Spring Island Resort. Dad and Sarah built a place over on Salt Spring about a year and a half ago and it is the ultimate paradise even doing chores there seems fun maybe because it involves chain saws, axes and the very loveable Pepe (dad’s third child a little tractor). That night after arriving, having a nice dinner and getting Meals to bed we looked at all the slides of me growing up, what a laugh (at least it was for Dad and I, Jeff took it like a man and suffered though by smiling and agreeing with me when required that yes I was very cute :). Unlike Vancouver which was a lot of running around and visiting Salt Spring was a lot of relaxing and card playing. Meals got back on a good nap schedule and had lots of play time with Sami, Laura, Adam, Poppy and us. She also got to meet to meet her great grandparents and my uncle John and Jandi. Here is a picture of the four generations…

Monday night we came back to Vancouver and the ferry.

"Um daddy it is kinda windy up here"

Tuesday morning Kath drove ALL our stuff and us to the airport. We got there in good time and managed to get on standby for the flight an hour earlier. We got on the flight and low and behold we actually got three seats for the three of us so Princess Meals got her own seat. Melie didn’t sleep as much on the way back seeing as it was during the day but she was very happy through the flight and maybe friends with the lady behind us. Things were going so well, on the early flight, extra seat and no delays (it even got in an 15mins early) then came the baggage…. our one big bag come out right away then we stood and waited for the little one which contained all our toiletries and MY PUMP!!!! It never arrived and actually we still haven’t got it, bah bah bah!!!! I had to run out and get a manual one last night, not happy. I knew it was all just going alittle too well. Last night Meals was not impressed with us for trying to put her to bed at what felt like 7:30pm but was actually 10:30 here, there were many tears but finally she fell asleep at about 12:30, ouch, damn jetlag is a bitch. Since we have been gone Meals has become much more talkative, we get lots of songs and squeals and even the occasional laugh when you get her in the right mood. She is also almost sitting up on her own, I wouldn’t say put her on a tile floor and leave her or anything but she can sit up when she is in the mood, at first sitting usually resulted in this pretzelish fold at the waist but towards the end of the vacation she could sit up on her own for awhile. She also has developed a big interest her feet which has resulted in the self-turkey hold while changing her very nice for Jeff and I but I really hope she grows out of it before she hits high school. She is also starting to play abit strange, when she is in a good mood she is fine and loves attention from everyone and anyone but on a couple occasions when she was in a bad mood no one would do but Jeff and I, eep not so good.