Long Weekend with great weather

Hello all, we had a fantastic long weekend here in southern ontario. The weather was incredible, perfect actually, sunny, no wind, not a cloud in the sky. I took a few days off thursday and friday and went fishing with my fishing friends and came home friday nite ready to spend the long weekend with my girls. We spent a huge part of the weekend outside, walked and walked and walked. Actually on sunday we walked about 15k+ (you can tell we are runners). But the weather was so nice, that we just couldn't be inside. The big highlight of one of the walks is that we put Sophie in a swing for the first time. Nothing crazy, just put her in there and swung a little, she liked it, little tentative at first, but we got a few good laughs out of it. Here is a nice pic or two that captures the moment.

The next day, we took both the girls swimming. We wanted to get Sophie and Scarlett in the pool and this was the first chance we got. We went to the club that Natalia and Martin belong to and tested out the waters. Overall, it went well, there were lots of kids splashing around and both the girls handled it well. Here are some pics from a really great day. Can't wait to see them grow up together starting with some cottage time this summer. Can't wait.

Hope you all had a great long weekend and as always, thanks for reading.

John

Projectile vomit

It finally happened. I for one believed that babies and kids throw up, but projectile vomit seemed like a myth to me. How could a little baby vomit across a room, cover someone completely... Thought it was one of those stories that mothers tell us all. Well I have seen the light. On wednesday nite a few of my friends came over and were there as we were putting Sophie down at 8pm. All seemed normal, until Angie picked Sophie up and our little pumpkin began to vomit all over her. She covered Angie and a good portion of the floor. I couldn't believe how much there was and easily it just came out. Sophie didn't seem to mind too much and went back to sleep minutes after. We were a little stunned since it was our first. How often does this happen?

Oh well, I now believe.

John
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6 months today

So princess is now 6 months old (just catching up on my blogging after a busy week). 6 months, half way through the first year. It has gone by very fast i must say. Everything is going well, we really can't complain. Just today Angie said that she is now like a little person, no longer just a baby at all. The doctor was very happy with everything and we are now working out the new food schedule and starting to introduce new foods. All pretty exciting. Here is some pictures of the half birthday girl.

Sitting with daddy. (who is looking scruffy and tired)

tummy time

all smiles for the camera

i love this one, Angie keeps taking pictures of her next to her first outfit, that outfit was huge on her , we had to roll up the sleeves. I guess they do grow :)

Thanks for reading.

John

6 month appointment

So we had the 6 month doctor's appointment and all is well. Our doctor is very happy with her progress and she is doing great with her weight and height so we are very very happy. We also had the last of the shots which are always a little traumatic, but Sophie handled it well and Angie stayed true to self and looked the other way while i held Sophie during the shots. Our nurse always says that the second shot is very painful and it always raises my blood pressure a bit. So we are all clear now to eat all kinds of food and we have started with some banana for this week. Hard to gauge how much she likes it and how much she is actually getting, but she makes some funny funny faces while eating it. Here is a picture that makes me laugh. Beth, you are right, cover everything in plastic for the next decade.

Thanks for reading

John

6 month appt tomorrow

Just a quick note, tomorrow we have our 6 month check up. I literally can't believe this. It seems like she was born yesterday. 6 months. Wow. So we have a set of shots, so I get to hold her down while Angie looks the other way. After this, no more shots for 6 months (i think). She has a bit of a cold right now (congested) so that's good that our dr. (who we both like very much) will have a closer look at her. I really enjoy going to these appointments. I haven't missed a scheduled appointment yet and don't intend to. Will report tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

John

Sitting, finding her feet and more

Hello all, new stuff is happening here every day now. Literally during the last week there has been lots of progress, our little baby sophie is changing every day. First came the sitting up. We have been sitting her during playtime (while holding her) for some time, but she was very very wobbly. And now you sit her down and as loing as there are no serious distractions to her left or right she will sit like that for a very long time.

We are not seeing a whole lot of progress on the rolling over, she is basically there, but doesn't seem very interested in completing the roll over. She gets to her side and stops. Oh well, i am sure one day we will go and get her from her nap and she will be on her belly looking up at us.

Also, on thursday this week she found her feet. Now she just grabs them and plays with them and based on what i saw with Scarlett, those feet are going in her mouth in another week. Ha ha. I find all of this very amusing. It is incredible to think about the speed of the baby's development at this age, every time she wakes up from a nap, she has learned something new. Me on the other hand, i feel like every time i wake up i feel a little bit older and a little bit slower.... Maybe there is only so much smarts out there at any given time and it is slowly transferring from me to her.

Thanks for reading.

High Chair Update with picture

So a week of using the highchair has gone by and overall Sophie seems to be ok with it. She sits in it for the cereal feeding and in the evening with us as we have dinner. So far so good. Here is a picture during one of those feeds that i miss during the week.

She really is growing up fast.

John

New High Chair

Hello folks,

little bit of an update, the cereal feeding is going well. We are not exactly sure how much Sophie is eating, but we are certainly trying to give her the cereal. To go along with the feeding, we got a fancy new high chair based on Natalia's recommendation. It is a pretty fancy chair and it fits the rest of the decor. Here is a picture to the chair, and that's not Sophie, but picture of her in the chair coming very soon (with cereal all over her face). Very excited to eat with our little one.

Thanks for reading.

John

Sophie's first real food

Yesterday was our official start to feeding Sophie real food. We gave her the Milupa cereal. Quite a little production, first we fed her normal bottle, than sat her down, put on a nice bib and started to give her the cereal. She has never been fed with a spoon, so most of the food going in was coming back out. I am guessing that is quite normal. She made a few interesting faces, but generally she was fairly ok with the whole thing. Our plan is to do this once a day for a week and after increase to twice a day. At some point I am guessing we also start giving some other mushed up fruit. All of it very exciting to be honest. She is getting bigger and bigger, and more demanding each day. She needs serious entertainment now and gets bored with stuff quite quickly. I can't believe she is almost 6 months now. Time flies when you are having fun I guess. Will post an updated picture or two shortly. We got some great shots in the last month or two.

Thanks for reading
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Cleared to eat solid food.

So we have been cleared (by our doctor) to give Sophie solid food (cereal). We are quite excited and will be starting shortly. Any advice folks?

5 months

I know I said I would write every day, still fully my intent, but a bit of a heavy workload lately has caused me to miss a day or two or three. So, Sophie is now 5 months olds. Really hard to believe to be honest, it seems literally like yesterday "when we got her". I love that expression, I am sure Angie doesn't feel like she was delivered to us :)

So 5 months, lots of new stuff every day, smiling and laughing is on all the time and also so is "razzing" - I have never heard of the word until angie told me. She goes through phases of doing lots of "talking" and at times she doesn't "say" very much. Things change quite frequently now. The biggest changes are in her stability when sitting and her hand-eye coordination, she reaches for things, is able to judge the distance, grab and pass objects between her hands. Cool to watch.

Our bath times are still continuing every nite, sophie and I in the big tub playing with her toys. She loves it and now looks excited as angie passes her to me. All really incredible and adorable. So really, we can't complain in any way, our little pumpkin is doing great and we enjoy every minute of it. There are times that I still don't believe that I have a daughter and still can't believe she will walk, talk, etc, etc, etc. That is still crazy to me.

Oh yeah and Scarlett (Nat's baby) just started saying dada.

Thanks for reading

John
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Baby Types, i am curious

Now i don't actually remember, how Angie and I came across the Baby Whisperer book, but I am very glad we did. I think Natalia had a copy. We have been using the methods in there right from the beginning and we basically believe they work quite well. So I have re-read the part about the different types of babies. I looked at this well before Sophie was born, but have not read about them since and when reading it before Sophie, I didn't think very much of it. Not sure what i think of it now, but would like to find out from you guys about your experience with it.

So here it is, the book introduces five broad temperament types as: Angel, Textbook, Touchy, Spirited and Grumpy.

Angel

• adapts to environment and whatever changes you throw her way.
• rarely cries
• no terrible twos
• easy-going and even tempered
• it doesn't take much to distract or calm when upset
• few meltdowns
• good sleeper
• adapts easily to big-girl bed
• social, smiling and everyone
• takes things in stride

Textbook

• has reached every milestone like clockwork
• no trouble reading the child's cues
• for the most part a mellow temperament (but has cranky periods)
• easy to soothe and reassure
• goes with the flow when things are introduced slowly
• takes average time to fall asleep
• not frightened by other kids

Touchy (15 % of children)

• ultrasensitive from the beginning
• high-strung and excitable
• flinches at noises
• cries often for no apparent reason
• room has to be warm enough or dark enough to sleep
• hard to fall back asleep
• things have to be introduced slowly and gradually
• shy of strangers as a baby
• tends to clutch to mother
• as a toddler bashful, fearful and cautious
• great at puzzles and games that require concentration
• tend to be good students

Spirited (15% of children)

• aggressive and vocal
• loud screams to get attention
• in social situations, jumps right into the action
• wants the other kids toys
• never a good sleeper
• good eater but can't stay at the table for long
• climbs incessantly and heedlessly
• throws fits when parents don't give him what he wants
• challenging to parent
• born leaders, explorers, entrepreneurs, fearless

Grumpy

• got a chip on their shoulder
• hard to make smile
• dressing and diapering a challenge
• hates being swaddled
• feeding difficult all along
• impatient if things are not right
• quirky eater
• social if wants to be but holds back to assess situation first
• old soul (as if she has been here before and not happy about being back)
• prefers to play on her own
• good at maintaining own boundaries
• can't push them
• very independent as adults

So those are the categories, funny reading it again, but I really do think that babies start out and we all end up different as adults with different temperaments so I guess it makes sense.

On the side I am putting up a poll (and you can select multiple types), lets see what the results show.

Thanks for reading.

John

Incredible Day Outside.... Winter is done.

Today was one of those days that i love here in Toronto.... The winter is finally over, not that this was really a winter at all, literally no snow at all and a few cold days. Today, was a record temperature for March 16th of 19 degrees C. Incredible, i knew the day was going to be great when i got out on the bike at 7am for my morning commute and could tell that i was very very overdressed. We live in the west-end of the city and i have about 11km to work (door to door) mostly over the Martin Goodman Trail. It is a really enjoyable part of my day. I love my bikes and nothing is quite like a bike ride. Angie and i have met through the whole running, biking, triathlon crowd so we have missed being active.

But it was the way home that was really great, i biked out from the office shortly after 5 and Angie took Sophie for a walk along the trail and we met along the way. It really was great. Our plan is that we will do that every chance we get since we love being outside and want Sophie to love it too. So today was really cool, meeting my girls on our first walk. One of many after work meetings.

You guessed it, we are the people that are getting the running stroller and that thing you attach to the bike to pull the kid. I really hope she likes the outdoors :)

Chat soon folks and let me know which running, biking toys you have bought and liked.

Appt was good.

So we actually had a really good dr. appointment with Sophie today. All is good, her weight and her height are great and she is where she should be. We are very very happy about it. We also had the 4 month shots, but since we are now pros (2nd time) and since I have seen a needle or two delivered in my life, we handled it well.... I held the baby, angie turned around and didn't look and the nurse delivered the shots. The nurse always says that the second one really hurts and you can tell that she might be right, sophie hardly noticed the first one, but she did some nice crying on the second one.

My favorite part is that Angie as part of her lab work has taken lots of blood and bone marrows I think, but she was an incredibly cute mom today and turned around for the festivities. So overall, it was cool and hopefully things stay great and we go back for more at 6 months.

Thanks for reading everyone. Now I need to come up with some new and exciting topics, and I for sure will take any requests. For those that know me, you know I have an opnion or two....

John
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Dr. Appointment

Up early for our 4 month dr. appoinment this morning. That means the second round of vaccinations. I am sure it will go great, she was great about it last time, almost no crying at all, but I am guessing it gets worse the older they are.

That's it for now, will report after we get our report card from our doctor.

John
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4 months.... with photo

You guys are completely right, what's a post about a baby without a picture of the baby. Here she is. looking quite cute if i may say... A few words to explain this one... You might notice she is wearing a camouflage dress, a good friend of mine JR saw it at Bass Pro and bought it (since i like to fish). This terrifies Angie a bit, but she was a good sport and put Sophie with her animals. Haha. Still laughing at this... I am guessing the only time she will wear the camo outfit (probably for the best).

This one here is a bit more traditional, but not nearly as funny.

Chat soon.

John

Sophie is 4 months today

So day 1 of my blog everyday thing is today.... So far so good. Actually, it's not that I don't have stuff to write about, I feel like I always do, but the topics may vary greatly so maybe the blog will switch its focus a bit. We will see. I am guessing there might be some very short and very boring posts coming as early as tomorrow.

But today, I have stuff to write about. Sophie is now 4 months old and somewhere around 15 poulds. I also think she is quite long, but I don't have any exact data on this, but she seems tall and since both angie and I are tall, this is not very surprising. She is now in a stage that I adore, she is smiley and laughing and into her toys and listens and concentrates when we read to her. It is incredibly cute. Her hair is starting to come in all very blond and the current redish blond hair she has is fading away. She also found her hands and her mouth and she grabs for everything and puts it in her mouth. Very cute.

Her "talking" is getting funnier and funnier and she is making more and more sounds every day.
On the sleep front all is really good which we are thrilled about, we are now using some of these pick up and put down techniques and teaching her how to go to sleep on her own and to my total surprise it is really working. It is not taking us very long to ger her down and she is sleeping through most of the nite (down around 8 and making it to about 5). We love that right now, but we know this could change on a dime so we are enjoying it while it lasts.

That's it for now and I will be writing about something tomorrow, no idea what that will be, but there will be one tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.
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3 months old

I apologize for my inconsistent writing lately. I always want to write a post, but than something comes up and all of a sudden I haven't written in a few weeks. Will be better, I promise.

So Sohpie just turned 3 months old yesterday which is just incredible to me. It in a lot of ways seems a lot longer than that, but I am guessing most of that has to do with everything that was happening right around her birth. It's funny how incredible all that seems now. Waiting for sophie to be born and Natalia fighting for her life at St. Mikes. It seemed like a crazy race and I was really hoping that Natalia gets to meet her niece. I never lost hope, but the idea of witnessing Sophie be born while Natalia was on a ventilator across the street seems completely out of this world to me now. I am so glad how it all turned out and like Natalia said many times during 2009, "things are really coming together".
And things have really come together, everyone is doing well and adjusting to their new lives, Natalia to her new incredible lungs, being a full-time mom again and Angie and I being parents to our little pumpkin. I must say, it has been an incredible 3 months and Scarlett and Sophie woint believe us when we tell them about it one day. So November 13th and a week later Nov 21st are very very special dates and I look forward to celebrating both of those in the future. I have a number of pictures to post of all of us and will add them to the blog in the near future. Thanks for reading.

John

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Ok... I lost

It really looks like everyone thinks that Sophie looks like Angie. I totally agree and couldn't be more thrilled by that. Very few men should really want their daughter to look like them and not their significant other :) just saying, most of us are not pretty enough for that.

Anyway, not much to report over here, we seem to have recovered from our illness and sophie is now 13 pounds and will be 3 months in not too long. Time flies when you are having fun, but it really seems a lot longer than 3 months to be honest (not in a bad way).

I have some big blog posts in the works about Natalia's surgeon Dr. K and a few other things so sorry for the lack of writing. My goal is shorter and more frequent posts.

Chat soon.

Sick pumpkin

So over the last week or so, all 3 of us have managed to get sick, it started with some coughing and moved on to full on sick. Yesterday we took Sophie to the doctor since it just wasn't going away on its own and the doctor said her lungs were congested. We got some inhalers for her which we started immediately. It was tough seeing our little girl struggling and coughing and sneezing, so it was great to see the meds start working so quickly. Angie and I are big believers in our healthcare system (since angie works in it and I have seen it save natalia) so we didn't have any objections to the medicine. She had to get sick at some point so I am glad that we are working our way out of our first bout. To be honest, Sophie was actually really great through the whole thing, it was us that were really worried for her, but I guess that is our role :). So all is well, we are on the mend and hoping to be back at full strength very soon.

John
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