Crawling

Happy Winter!!!!

So this week was filled with Christmas shopping and cooking. On Monday Denise and I went and got Meals a new car seat (an early x-mas pressies from her grandparents). We got a great car seat that seems pretty comfy. After car seat shopping we went to Yorkdale and met my mom and did abit of x-mas shopping. I was a little worried cause Meals had been rather cranky that morning and was missing her afternoon nap but she was fine, she sat up in her stroller with her favourite board book and flipped the pages opened and closed. Whenever she started to look like she was about to have a melt down we just had to say “clap clap clap” and she would clap away looking very pleased with herself. She also entertained herself but smiling at everyone that would look at her. One guy she was staring at wouldn’t look at her so she started craning her neck around in an attempt to follow him but alas he ever looked, I had a good laugh though. This Tuesday I had my gourmet group and it was Indian themed so I was making a couple curries, this week was also the week that Amelia decided to become very clingy. At times she wouldn’t let me out of her sight with out crying, other times she would cry until I picked her up. This makes cooking very difficult. Ahhhh!!!! It is very frustrating and this was the first time I have been ready to strangle my daughter. She has been getting better now that she can crawl and follow me, it has made for less crying but a lot more pant leg pulling. When she gets tried and fussy Mommy is still the only one that will do. This weekend was very nice, on Saturday morning Andrea and I went for a walk in High Park. It was a beautiful snowy morning and it was Meals first time in her snowsuit, soo funny. She wasn’t so sure about the whole thing, she kinda sat in her stroller staring at us with a look that said, “Um, mom what’s going on why can’t I move”. Saturday night we went to the One of a Kind show with Jeff’s family and then out for Mexican. I remember going last year and Jeff and I looked at all the people with babies and thought that will be us next year, I can’t believe it has been a year. On Sunday I went to the show again with Liv and Andrea and Jeff was in charge of Meals for the day. It was great to catch up with both of them and I get a second chance to sample all the food at the show, yumm. We were at my parents’ house for Sunday dinner and we had a very yummy meal and Amelia even got a chance to enjoy it too. I have decided to try to start to transition Amelia over to more real person food but the soft stuff of course. Last night she had some very yummy mashed sweet potatoes with citrus and some pureed green beans, she was going to get pork tenderloin too but she got hungry before it was cooked. I think this week well try her on some fish. I know this shouldn’t be funny but really it kinda is. Poor Meals had her first major injury well at least it was based on her reaction. She got her fingers stuck between the floor and her book, you might be wondering how one gets their fingers stuck under a book well it is quite easy when your other hand is on top of the book pushing down. There were many tears and snuggles after that, poor Meals… hee hee hee.

There has been many questions about teeth, nope none yet.

Down with the pumping, off with the crawling

Yesterday was a rather exciting day in our house, Meals started crawling on a regularish basis and I gave up pumping. Before she would do one or sometimes two little crawls in a row then back to her stomach but yesterday she figured it out. It is so cute to watch her, she is still pretty shakey when those hands come off the ground they shake in the air for a second. She made it into the kitchen for the first time, no more child free zone for me anymore. I'll try to post a video soon. Also yesterday I gave up pumping. After our trip to Montreal and some rather inconsistent pumping my supply took a nose dive, every since I have been toying with the idea of stopping and yesterday I finally had had enough. I feel so free, no more mmaammaa moocow for me!!!! I have been giving her formula every few bottles lately and she doesn't seem to care either way.

7 Months

Okay I say every month passes so quickly but really this was the fastest month yet, eep!!! She is growing up so quickly. This month Meals has become very mobile, she pretty much gets wherever she wants too. She still isn’t crawling regularly but she will get a few crawls in every once an awhile. Usually she can’t figure the arms out and she kinds pulls herself along or gets up on her hands and knees then pushes forward with her legs, the good news is she has at least learned to do it slowly enough the she doesn’t do face plants anymore. She is also starting to learn about pulling up which is probably my fault for helping her stand up behind the chair, she has learn that he likes this new level and now tries it on her own. Yesterday we left her with her first real babysitter for a few hours while we went to Harry Potter with John and Denise. I went to get her after her nap and I took a minute to pick her up but I did sit her up and the next thing I know she has grabbed the bars and is half standing, eep!!! Good thing we have moved her crib down. She is also becoming happier sitting, she has been able to sit for awhile now but rarely does it for long before she flips back to her belly to go after something but in the last few days you sit her up and she will actually stay that way and play. This month she has become more interactive, she plays peek-a-boo and she has turned into a clapping fool. It is so cute to see her clapping away when the music starts on the excersaucer. Unfortunately she also claps while she is eating which is not so good and has resulted in a lot of food splattered on her and us. This month she went on her first road trip. It went fairly well but we now know she only lasts about 4hrs before she needs a break. She has started making more noises but this month her fav has been “mmmmmm”, Denise has been trying as hard as she can to change it to “mmamma” and sometime she will do it but not regularly, still awhile to go on that one. Meals does get very pleased with herself when she makes this noise though and thinks it is very funny when we imitate her. In recent weeks she gets very happy when you sing to her, her fav is the stomp your feet part of “if your happy and you know it”, this usually results in fits of giggles (I haven’t videoed this because that would also mean taping myself singing and really none of you need that). She is also infatuated with her books, there is one that I put on the floor with her and she will push it all over the place trying to open and close it and she loves when she finally manages to open the pages. I think she might have her Auntie Julie’s love of books, ha ha. This month Meals has also been developing a temper, she does not have very much patience and that is very clear when you don’t get her food in her mouth fast enough, eep. She has also become abit sucky with me lately, I am sure I don’t help it by indulging her but it has been a recent thing and not that regular, hopefully it doesn’t get worse. In the last couple weeks at times she has started getting fussy if she can’t see me while she is playing and I find I now spend a lot more time playing on the floor with her or sitting her on my lap to flip through books. Gone are my days of cooking meals while she played by herself. This month she has tried some more foods, she loves baby mum mums and I think her favourite meal so far has been banana and mango puree and her least fav has been cottage cheese and avocado which I tried this weekend and she wasn’t very pleased about. I was also surprise to find that yogurt was met with lukewarm reception, I thought all babies loved yogurt, ah well what do I know. She is still sleeping well, usually about 11hrs at night and 3 naps a day. I am trying to get it down to two more substantial naps but it is a slow go. I am not trying that hard though. After sleeping in the same room with her while we were away I also realized that she has become quite attached to her blankets, she usually falls asleep hugging her blanket while sucking on one of the edges and her thumb, I think it is quite cute. Dexter his very good reliable babysitter and in fact if her hears her crying upstairs he comes running and jumps right in the crib, he seems to love her and is always trying to get her attention. Maisy is still totally disinterested in her. Over all she is a very happy baby, she loves flirting with people while we are out shopping. I find it quite funny when I have her facing me and I think she is smiling at me only to realise she is looking right over my shoulder and she has some adult making a fool of themselves in public trying to make her laugh. She has made friends with one of the cashiers at Costco who came over to see her the other day and complimented her on her new haircut. This weekend was very nice, Jeff worked hard on the basement with his dad on Saturday while I did errands and Meals played and napped. In the afternoon, Jeff, Meals and I went to Queen West and did a bit of shopping. I have decided I have got to go back, so many funky shops. That evening we fed Meals and made gourmet pizza and then had a nice very nice quite dinner together. Sunday morning we had our first family nap, Jeff was wonderful and got up with Meals and fed her breakie at 6:30 then they came back to be with me and we all napped till 8:30, how relaxing. I thought one of the funniest parts was that Little Meals took up as much room as both of us with her little arms spread out wide. As I said above in the afternoon we went to Harry Potter with John and Denise, OH SO GOOD!!!! Meals behaved very well for her first babysitter (at least so we are told). My parents joined us for dinner and surprise surprise my dad arrived in town early for business and her came for dinner too.

Amelia Helen Reitsma 7months

(sorry about the double pic but blog is messing up and won't let me delete on without deleting everything).

Pics from Montreal Visit

Meals and Auntie Cherie

The Great Flying Meals

Out for dinner....

Montreal

Home Again Home again... What a great holiday. Meals, Mom and I left Thursday and drove up to the Valleyfield region of Quebec to visit some friends and family. The drive was very long, made longer by construction and traffic jams. Meals was pretty good and slept and played most of the time but after about 4hrs she had quite the melt down, I ended up having to hold her till she fell asleep. Once we arrive Thursday night we had and wonderful dinner with Pete and Marlin. We also had a great visit with my Auntie Cherie, Scott and my cousins. This was the first time Meals met all of them and she was quite a flirt with all. After visiting we drove into Montreal Friday afternoon and met Daryl, John, Denise and Richard at the Bed and Breakfast. The B&B was in the east end of Montreal, my parents stayed in one of the rooms in the downstairs apartment but the rest of us had the whole upstairs apartment to ourselves which made for quite the party place. When we arrive I brought ALL our stuff in and I was setting up the playpen for Meals, I had her on the bed with some toys and I looked down for a second and I looked back up to see Meals falling off the bed, AHHHHHH soo scary, I felt HORRIBLE!!!! She is getting so quick now between rolling and inch worming she gets all over the place. It was only a foot drop or so and there were a few tears but after a little snuggle she was back to normal. I still felt like a horrible mother though. Friday night Jeff had to work Friday so he flew in and arrived around 8pmish, we had all had quite a few beers and I was getting late and Meals was not in the mood for going out so we order in Chinese. Saturday we were up and out shopping downtown. We were very surprised when we got downtown and found a lot of the roads blocked off and no parking on any of the streets, turned out the Santa Clause Day parade was on, how exciting!!! We first headed to Simons, ah soo good. John wasn't much for shopping so he was in charge of Meals and they went and watched the Parade. After shopping it was off for some smoked meat then a walk around Old Montreal and home. Jeff and I were a little nervous about having Melie out all day with no real nap but she was very good and napped a couple times in her stroller and with all the attention stayed in good spirits all day. Saturday night we went out for a FABULOUS dinner at a place just down the road from the B&B. Everything was fantastic. Meals was a little tried to begin with and wasn't so impressed about having to sit in her car seat but after being passed around and then given a well timed cracker while we were eating, it all went well then right to sleep when we got home. She was the smart one the rest of us stayed up and drank wine and talked. I was feeling a little slow on Sunday. Sunday Denise and I went for a walk on Mont Royal then were off to visit her brother, dad and family in Enbrum. Auntie Cindy bought Meals one of those fisher price rings that stack. I had one when I was little it was so crazy to see that they are still around. What a hit!!! Meals loves it, it is great to chew on and hit on the floor. Meals has become really into making noise, hitting things together or on the floor is very exciting. Then Monday we headed to Brockville for a visit with Bill, Betty and Super Pake. (Sorry Meals is having a melt down right now have to make this brief). Last night we got back home, so nice after packing so much stuff around (cribs, feeding chair etc.) I was happy to be home and back to familiar beds. Meals was very excited to get back to her saucer!! There was much bouncing and squealing. Last night she also figured out clapping and will now do it on command it is so cute. Okay must got calm the savage beast. I’ll post pics once I get them from my mom.

Clap Clap Clap!!

Here is Meals clapping away. Please turn down your volume or ignore the high-pitched voice in the background, eep I hate hearing my voice in recordings.

Look at my pretty sweater from my friend Violet in Aus. 

Look at me, Look at me!!! (don't get the wronge impression she didn't get up there on her own, she had help).  

Meals doing push-ups. 1...2...3... 

For Fathers Day I got Jeff a family photo session with the photographer that took the pics for our wedding. I got some of my favs in digital so here they are. Thanks Heather, http://www.heatherhoganphotography.com/ 

Meals and Jeff sharing a giggle 

 

Three meals for Meals

Well Amelia is now up to three meals a day. I started on breakfast and dinner a few weeks ago but this weekend we finally introduced lunch. As a result of this three meal a day thing I am running out of food options to keep things interesting (Meals probably doesn’t care but I feel bad giving her the same thing for lunch and dinner) so Sunday Jeff and I made a bunch of new baby food to try out this week. I made a mango and banana puree that was a HUGE hit then we made potato and broccoli that wasn’t quite as exciting, we also froze some applesauce and pureed apricots. I have bought some mini-yogurts that I think I am going to try out this week. Eep!! Seems so grown-up. We have had a good week, Wednesday Meals and I met Jen at Square One and did abit of shopping then we went back to their place and met Jeff there. We all watched the Raptors season opener and caught up. It was so nice and reminiscent because John and Jen used to live in the same building as me in Mississauga, the four of us used to get together all the time to watch T.V.. Now with kids and living farther apart it is hard to do as often but we always have a goodtime when we get the chance. Friday night Jeff and I went to the Just for Laughs comedy show with Andy, Kierstan, Dave, Damon, Carinta and Robin. Oh sooo funny, I had no expectations and it turned out to be fabulous (other than the butt pinching seats at Massey Hall). While we were out Meals stayed with my parents, Jeff and I got back to their place at about 10:15ish and much to our surprise we found our little daughter looking very pleased with herself on the floor with all her toys around her smiling away, hmmmm. She definitely was up past her 8pm bedtime, what a devil I think she might have Mini and Topo wrapped around her little finger. Saturday Jeff went to play street hockey in the morning and I stayed home with Meals. While Jeff was gone Meals had her first major tantrum in a long time and boy had she been saving up, what a show. There was much crying, whimpering, crazy breathing and sticking out her bottom lip. When I was little and I was pouting away about something my dad would turn to me and tell me that he could stick out his lip farther then me which would then turn into a competition and usually end with me trying to stifle my giggles and maintain my pout. Well looking at my daughter I think she can beat me in the lip department already, she is the Princess of the Pout!! I finally put her in her crib and she tried to keep up the yelling but quickly fell asleep. One tried girl. Saturday night we went up to Dave and Fiona’s in Guelph for dinner. Yummy dinner and lots of laughs. Since I have been on mat leave I don’t get to see Dave and Fiona everyday at work so it was great to see them. Meals didn’t think much of being put down in her playpen while we were all up talking so she ended up playing at the table while we ate and after dessert she was playing ON the table (I could make a comment of one of the previous videos I posted, the lying on the table and possible future professions but I think I will pass). Yesterday was the baby food extravaganza as well as some work on the basement by Jeff and John. Last night John and Denise came for dinner, we heard all about their trip to Texas and Meals entertained us all at the table. This week Meals, Mom and I are heading up to the Montreal region to visit relatives and friends on Thursday. Friday we are meeting up with John, Denise, Daryl and Jeff in Montreal for alittle holiday and some early Christmas shopping at Simmons. My brother Richard is also coming up from Bishops to meet us, I can’t wait to see him, after having him around all summer I am missing him so much now that he is back at Uni. After the weekend Denise, Meals and I are going to visit some of Jeff relatives on the way back so next Monday there will be no post, have to wait till later in the week. Meals in the big girl bath.

Meals and her Pumpkin 

Out for a Walk!!!