Happy Halloween!!!!

I hope everyone is having a ghoulishly good day. We had a great week; Meals got to spend lots of time with her grandparents. On Wednesday we had a surprise dinner guest, my dad ended up being in town for work and came over for dinner and a little visit with Meals. So good to see him, I wish he had more business out this way. Oh Thursday night Jeff and I took Meals for a walk in the carrier and we went to the park and pushed Meals of the swings. Check out the face!! On Friday Jeff had his poker night with the boys at our place so Meals and I vacated and went and hung out at my parents with Mom and Daryl. Meals is very fascinated with Jasper and vise versa, it is so cute to watch them. On Saturday morning Meals was playing in bed with us and she and Jeff started playing Peek-A-Boo with the sheet. So cute!!! On Saturday, Jeff and John worked on the basement and I ran around putting together my Halloween costume. Saturday afternoon Meals was all packed up and went for a sleepover at John and Denise’s. This isn’t the first time she has stayed over there but this is the first time since she has started eating solids. By all reports everything went very well, she was a little out of sorts after first but then seemed to settle in quite nicely. Well I hear Pake and Meals continued playing Peek-A-Boo on Saturday with much excitement and laughter from Denise. Saturday night Jeff and I went out Halloweening and partying, enjoying the fact that we knew we could sleep in as late as we wanted the next morning!!! For Halloween this year we dressed up as the cast of Gilligan’s Island with a few friends. Jeff was the Professor complete with coconut man-purse and coconut headphones, I was Mrs. Howel with my life-ring. I don’t have pictures at the moment but I have requested some. First we went to a house party then off to the bar, much fun and drinks were had by all. Jeff and I got home around 2:30am, sooo tired. Sunday was a BEAUTIFUL day here and we enjoyed a leisurely morning, grabbed some greasy breakie then did some groceries and then headed out to Mississauga to see our baby and relax with Jeff’s parents. What a nice relaxing afternoon, Jeff had a nap and Meals, John, Denise and I went for a walk. We put Meals in her Halloween costume and packed her into the wagon and went for a tour of the neighbourhood. Meals flaked out about half way through the walk and kinda looked like a drunk’n bear, very funny. After our walk Meals had a play then another nap and Jeff and I carved a pumpkin. My parents arrived later and we all had a fabulous dinner. This week Meals started on bananas, sweet potatoes, avocado, green beans and baby crackers. The avocado and green beans were met with some confusion and faces but after we mixed it with some banana or rice cereal they went down no prob. Meals is now fully exploring the living room, it is totally futile trying to keep her on her quilt, her favourite is to go on the hardwood floors. It is abit funny though cause she hasn’t figured out how to got forward just backwards. This week I am off to get a couple baby gates, let the baby proofing begin, ugh!! She has also found her giggle and if you laugh at her she will usually giggle back. We has also found that big loud laughs scare her and she usually starts crying till you give her a cuddle.

Peek-A-Boo

Videeooo Videeeooo

Check it out, I can now post videos thanks for my friend Jen who is my website HERO!!! Here is one from the day Dexter and Meals were playing in her crib.

Breaking News!!!

Another big first for Meals….she had her first grown up poo, ha ha ha!!! Oh god I am a loser but this was rather exciting cause it means she is actually eating. Actually Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning she gobbled it all up. I made pears again but this time added rice cereal and abit of breast milk but kept it pretty thick and she seemed to really like it, she would open her mouth for more and whenever I brought the spoon up she would turn away from whatever she was looking at to eat (big change from Thursday). I think this week I might try bananas or avocados but the trick seems to be adding the rice cereal. Oh the other exciting news according to Jeff is that Meals enjoyed her first Simpsons episode. I wasn't there to see this but Jeff tells me she and Jeff sat on the couch together both transfixed by Homers latest antics for a good 15mins (I think she was just waking up still :). This weekend Jeff and John made a lot of progress on the basement and I went shopping and to a cooking demo downtown with some friends on Saturday and Sunday did chores and we had a couple friends from university over for brunch. Jeff has been doing a great job on the basement, the framing is almost done, yipeee. It is so exciting to see the walls taking shape. Last night we had Sunday dinner at my parents and Meals took a big interest in Jasper (my parents dog). She was giggling and squealing when Jasper came close, it was so cute. Daryl took some pictures and I’ll post them when I get them. Today we are off to the doctors for her 6 month check up, ick another needle or two. This time I am not going to forget the baby advil. Sorry no pics today, I’ll post some soon.

6 Months

Ah another month gone by, she’s a half a year, CRAZINESS!!!! What a month, new food, haircuts and loss of ear hair!!!! Meals has continued to be a happy baby that is quite content playing with her toys on her own or climbing all over Jeff and I. This month we got a jolly jumper for her which was big excitement for her, it taught her about jumping which she now has translated over to her excersaucer, she jumps up and down looking very pleased with herself. Her favourite toys this month have been her chew toys, I think those teeth are on their way. I bought her a squeaky toy that looks more like a dog toy than a baby toy but she seems to love it. That and she loves books, nope I am not thinking my baby is some genius, she loves chewing on them, hmmm, so special. Oh and she thinks the best part of any toy or baby paraphernalia she gets her hands on is the tag, hours of chew time fun. This month she has started talking alittle more, not really in quantity but more different voices and noises. This month we have seen a lot more facial expressions from the SUPER grin to the lips curled in and the tongue out. This month she has had her first real cold, and in the last week it has become worse, lots of chesty coughs and running noses. Poor Meals, she seems alittle slower than usually and quieter at times but she isn’t that fussed about it (except when I am trying to wipe her nose and she is doing something) She has become more mobile recently, she hasn’t started crawling forward but she goes backwards but only a few shuffles. Her new trick is to get up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth then launch herself forward. It is abit disconcerting for a parent and there have been some loud clunks but she doesn’t seem bothered by it. She is abit of a rough and tumble baby, she loves horseplay time with Jeff and will lie on his chest then try to climb off his side to get upside down (one of her favourite games). She has also discovered the hard wood floors and that she can move around on her belly a lot easier on them, she also seems to like licking them, I don’t even know what to say about that. I have found in the last few weeks she actually is going places with a purpose, while I write this she seems to be on a mission to get to her exersaucer and chew the base, I have had to move her back 4 times now, ahhh!!! Now for the hair update, oh the excitement!!! First two hair cuts done and the ear hair is gone!!! I cut her little wispy mullet a couple weeks ago then yesterday she got her first real haircut. Jeff’s mom has been going to this one place for many years, Jeff’s sister goes there, Jeff went when her was little and now my mom and I have started going, so Tuesday night the moms and I decided to take Meals and get her haircut there too. It has been growing down over her eyes but even so Jeff and I have resisted cutting it because it looks so cute but we have finally caved. So on Meals half birthday the grandmoms, Meals and I headed to out to Georgia’s in Streetsville for Meals first trip to the salon and Mom, Meals and I all got our hair done. So cute I can’t believe how different and how much older she looks, it is abit monkish but still very cute. Now the ear hair, when she was born she had lushes locks not only on her head but also all around the outside of her ear, it was quite dark and about a centimetre long. Jeff was very concerned about it and was pulling on it regularly. Everyone was telling up not to worry because all her hair would fall out but as the hair on her head stayed and continued to grow we were not so sure and we were envisioning some necessary electrolysis in her teenage years but low and behold it disappeared!!! We don’t really know when it happened but all of a sudden it was all gone!! Food, so far Meals has had rice cereal, squash, potato and most recently pear. I don’t know about all of you but I figured pears would be the biggest hit but I was so wrong, talk about faces!!! Yesterday was the first day of the pears and there was a lot of thumb sucking and looking away, bah!!! Oh well. I think rice cereal seems to be the favourite so far, followed by rice cereal and squash. Sleeping has been about the same, she sleeps from about 7:30pm to 7am then three naps during the day. I have found that the naps have been getting shorter though but recently with this cold there has been an extra nap in the evening some days.

Amelia Helen Reitsma - 6 Months (Boggers and all) 

Amelia Helen Reitsma - 6 Months 

Playing with Dad, yeah!!! 

Hee hee hee!!! 

Okay so this morning I was about to have a shower and meals woke up from her nap so I opened her door but left her in her crib. When I got out of the shower this is what I found.... I am probably bad for not throwing Dexter out right away but they were so cute and having so much fun. Dexter is so funny, I swear her is part dog he just loves attention of any kind. After this picture was taken Amelia steamrolled him and he continued to purrr and didn't move.

I think I have lost my cat. Meals was pulling his wiskers and he was still purring and didn't move. 

Cook, Cook, Cook

What a busy short week, Wednesday Meals and I headed up to Kitchener to visit my friend Liv and her three kids. It was so cute to see Meals with Connor and Brady who are just a couple months older than her and Emma who is three. Emma was very excited about having a new baby around, especially a GIRL!!! Emma had Meals giggling away, very cute. It was great to see and catch up with Liv. Wednesday night we came back and Jeff had brought home a jolly jumper that was given to us from a friend of his from work. We put Meals in and she wasn’t so sure at first but then after we showed her how to bounce she went nuts, there were lots of squeals and giggles, soo cute. That night we went out for dinner with a few of Jeff’s friends from high school, yummmm Indian food!!! Meals was very good and sat in her car seat and played with her toys while we ate. This weekend we did a ton of cooking and shopping for the cooking. This weekend we had our Sunday night get together with our parents on Saturday instead and we hosted. Saturday we spent a large chunk of time driving all over looking for ingredients and enjoying the beautiful day. That night we had a great dinner with lots of wine and laughs. Sunday was more of the same. Meals has been off this weekend, rather grumpy because of these sniffles and cough I think. I thought she was on the mend, her nose wasn’t running any more but then it came back with a vengeance this weekend, poor meals. This week she turn 6 months, Whoa!!!

Grandmama and Meals, such pretty ladies. 

SQUASH!!! I don't think so.... 

Meals and I hanging out 

This thing is kinda cool.... 

I LOVE it!!!! 

It's a gaggle of kids. Emma, Brady, Connor, Meals and Liv in the background. 

Connor (left) and Brady (right) 

Playing on Dad 

The Holiday of Eating

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! So full of Turkey!!!! We had a wonderful long weekend, the fact that it was long was the best part. Friday my brother came into town and we went shopping at Sherway, Jeff even got home early and joined us. Friday night we went over to Mom and Daryl’s after taking the cats to the vet for their early check up. We ordered pizza and rented the movie the Interpreter. Meals woke up half way through the movie but was so good, she sat between Jeff and I on the couch and played quietly with us and her toys while we watched, then she went back to bed. This is quite notable because Meals is becoming anything but quiet these days; she has definitely found her voice in all sorts of ranges and tones. Saturday morning we decided to start Meals on solids seeing as it was the holiday of eating we thought it would be appropriate. My friend Jen mother of two with lots of experience mentioned to me awhile ago what fun I was going to have once Meals started solids trying to keep it out of her hair or giving her a bath every time, so prevent this Jeff and I decided to implement a feeding hat and it works like a charm, at least for now but yes she does look rather "special". We started her off on rice cereal, she didn’t seem to mind it, well she didn’t cry but there were some confused looks but some smiles too. We think she likes meal time because she gets lots of attention, Saturday morning John was here too so there was three of us smiling and taking pictures of her. It is kinda hard to tell how much she actually ate seeing as most was pushed out but I do think she got some. After breakfast I decided that if she was big enough to have real food then she also had to start working on holding her own bottle, cue of first really battle of wills and I think I lost the first round. Meals did not want to have anything to do with holding the bottle, when I tried to put her hands on it she would pull her hands away and grunt (this is meals equivalent of crying, grunting, bah it is very frustrating but kinda funny). I thought maybe she didn’t like to hold it cause it was cold on her hands (Meals takes her bottle right out of the fridge which is very nice for us but I can see how it might be cold on her little hands), to solve this cold hand problem I tried putting it in a beer cozy, lots of laughs but no success. After her nap we tried again and this time had a lot more success and by Sunday night she had it under control, she can now pick the bottle up and shove it in her mouth, usually after only a couple missed tries where it kinds goes up her nose. She does get bored or tired though and usually starts dropping it after awhile so we are still working on it, the biggest problem is she has a habit of batting at the bottle after awhile so this is when the problems start. Saturday I also gave Meals her first haircut, it certainly was a day of firsts. No I didn’t trim the bangs which probably should be done, I just don’t have the heart yet, but I did cut the whisps that were making a little mullet. The mullet is now gone. Saturday Jeff, John and Rich worked on some plumbing in our basement, we now have an outside tap in the front, yipeeee!!!!!! What a bunch of superstars. I did chores, managed the Meals and repainted the front door (bah!!!). Sunday started with more feeding time then Meals played in her chair and played with her block and Jeff and I sat at the counter and sipped coffee (well tea for me) and chatted, it was so relaxed ahhh I love having one extra day to spread our weekend tasks over. We had thanksgiving dinner at John and Denise’s with my family. What a meal!!! Yummmmmm. As usual John and Denise out did themselves. We had a great time with lots of laughs; Meals napped through most of dinner but woke up just in time for dessert. WE got home around 10pm and put Meals in her bed where she played till about 10:30 then the yelling/screaming started, ahhhh. We re not used to this, usually when we go to bed Meals has been long asleep and she hasn’t even screamed like this at bedtime in a long time. Fed her some more, read to her and gave her some gripe water and finally around 11:45 she fell asleep. Usually she goes to bed at about 7:30pm and is done for the night so this was alittle worrying, we had been out so much I guess we screwed up her schedule. Monday we had a very quiet day, I took Meals with me out for coffee with my old running friends. Meals was very cheerful but very tired, we went home after and then she proceeded to sleep most of the afternoon and evening just getting up to eat and have short little plays. Last night, we had Denise (John had to work unfortunately), mom and Daryl over for turkey burgers, yummmm. Turkey burgers are my families tradition the day after any turkey dinner, I think most of my family looks forward to that more than the turkey dinner and it is a great way to get rid of some of that leftover turkey and stuffing, yummmmm. Meals woke up just before dinner and sat in her feeding chair with us at the table, I am lovin’ this chair!!!

Visit to Guelph

Tuesday Denise, Melie and I went to Guelph to visit Michelle, Jeff's cousin who is there at University. We had a great lunch at Casey's and a very nice visit. Meals had not had much of a nap that day so she did not want to have anything to do with sitting in her seat so instead we had to take turns holding her, she thought this was quite wonderful and squealed and giggles through most of lunch. Here are a couple of sitting/funny face pictures too.

Hats Are Cool After All

This weekend we did lots of visiting and eating. On Friday afternoon, Meals and I headed out to Oakville to visit Jen and the girls and to see Rachelle, a friend from Waterloo that was in town. We had a very nice time all catching up and the girls all played… kinda. Actually Emma and Leah were so good with Amelia, they were very gentle and also quite interested in her and her toys. Jeff ended up meeting us out there and we all had dinner and visited. Before kids John and Jen and Jeff and I used to get together one a week or so and have dinner and watch some bad TV (it was very easy when we lived in the same building), now with kids we don’t do it as much but to do it when we can. On Saturday we did lots of errands and prepared for our Evening of MURDER, AH AH AH!!! Saturday night we were invited out to Andy and Kierstan’s for a murder mystery dinner. I was Desiree Minter, the wayward daughter of the deceased’s neighbour. Jeff was Chris Lester, the rock star wanna be son of the dead woman (Yup those a women’s pleather pants Jeff is wearing). Kierstan and Andy prepared a fabulous dinner and we all had a very good laugh over the whole story and costumes. Chelsea, the widower’s assistant ended up being the killer. Meals enjoyed herself abit too much, I was really hoping she would have a good sleep while we were there but Meals had better ideas, she wanted to play with us all night, ahhhh. She didn’t end up getting to sleep until about midnight, eep. Needless to say Meals was rather sleepy on Sunday. Sunday, Jeff worked very hard on baking, icing and decorating my mom’s birthday cake (She requested that Jeff make it, he is developing quite the reputation as the dessert King). Meals and I went for a run with my mom in High Park. While I got myself ready to go Jeff got Meals dressed and when she came down she was all decked out in a little hat, yes a HAT and there was no screaming!!! My mom just got Meals a jogging stroller so she can now take Meals with her on some of her runs, so we tried it out. It was a beautiful morning for a run, what a fabulous fall day!!! Sunday afternoon I finally paint our front door, we chose a glossy black. After getting high on the fumes, I had a nap along with Meals. Ugh!!! Now that the door is still drying we have had to keep our front door opened and all the windows to try to air out the smell, I must say it was pretty chilly when I came downstairs this morning, brrrrr. Sunday night we went to Mom’s for her birthday/Sunday night dinner. We had a VERY yummy dinner with tasty wine pick by Daryl for the special occasion and finally Jeff’s beautiful Devil’s Food cake with Irish Coffee Icing. This week Meals has been talking/singing more and more, she definitely likes to hear herself and it is pretty funny. She has been getting up on all four and rocking back on forth, she hasn’t figured out how to move her legs or arms while she does this but she is getting close it think. I have also noticed that she moved herself around on her belly a lot more now, she is getting very good and turning herself towards whatever toy she decides she wants. Oh and for those of your who were confused no I don't suck boogers out with my mouth (GROSS) I use the blulb sucker, come on people!! :) Not much else new.