Then and Now

Here is a picture of Julia a year ago. She was smaller than 3 inches and was looking full-on alien!Here she is today! It's truly amazing how quickly humans grow.

It has been a week of firsts. We have started feeding her rice cereal. It has taken a few days, but she's starting to get the hang of it. Here's a photo of Julia and Mark before her first chowfest. She doesn't look so sure that it's a good idea.

Last night Julia had her first solo bath in a real bathtub. She loved it! She chased the little rubber duckie all over and sucked on the face cloth.
We are looking forward to her 6-month birthday on Friday because she can finally get the H1N1 shot and I can stop being worried about her in public. Everything goes in her mouth. Last night we went out for dinner and at one point she had her mouth wrapped around the top of the chair beside her.
Daddy is about to walk in the door any second and Julia has slept three times today, 20 minutes each. She's in a jolly mood, but I'm ready to hand her over to her father's loving arms.

Paws for Peace & Playtime Sillyness

Not only was November 11 Auntie Meghan's birthday and Remembrance Day, it was also the first annual Paws for Peace walk. Our friends Jaime and Ian organized it. They lost their dog, Keemoh, a year ago in an awful incident.
The next picture shows Jaime with their shy doggie, Trout. Trout was hiding because he doesn't like cameras.

Here we have Mark and Julia with Jaime and Jen:
Mark and Julia and Jen, making their way around Kilarney Lake.
I don't think November 11 has ever been as warm as it was this year!

Today we went and visited Heather and Blake. Heather and I teach together and were born one day apart in life. Our little ones were born two months to the day apart. We team-taught a French class together last year. It was great to have another mom-to-be on staff with me all year. Now we both have the year off with our little ones!
Heeeeere's Blake:
Only recently has Julia taken an interest in other babies and cats and such. Here she is undressing Blake! She pulled his sock right off.
She reached out and accidentally clawed his little face and made him cry. She's a little wild one!
Blake was very forgiving and agreed to pose with her for this picture. Julia got tired and cranky and it was time to go home. Here we have Heather and her little man, and my little screaming lunatic. She was asleep within a minute of driving in the car. It's hard work being a baby!

Everybody Deserves A Grandma Margaret In Their Life!

What a whirlwind of delight it was to have Grandma Margaret in Fredericton for a few days. Julia was in Seventh Heaven with the unlimited supply of attention and love.
This baby cracks us up with her foot-in-the-hand sleeping pose:
While she'd rather be carried around, Julia tends to be temporarily happy sitting on the kitchen table watching the action around her.
Julia amputating Winnie The Pooh's left leg.
This is the face of a happy girl! She was a bit shy with Grandma Margaret in the beginning but warmed up with each passing day.
Julia in Grandma's suitcase. Grandma was more than tempted to pack her up and bring her home with her.
Out exploring - Julia's favourite pastime.
Rockin' out. Julia makes such beautiful, umm, noise?! I don't think I'd call it music.
We were sad to see Grandma Margaret leave. Julia has a built-in partner in crime when it comes to her Grandma. Mark and I are both excited to let these two spend as much time together as they want in the years to come.

Julia's shout out to BC:

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Grandma Margaret is Coming!

Julia has no idea that she's about to get a visit from one of her biggest fans! Thursday morning Grandma Margaret flies into town for a small, but very anticipated visit. We're excited for her to see how much Julia has grown. Since our visit to Toronto in September Julia has become a pro at reaching out and grabbing, well everything. She's also begun to sit up on her own (although she still can't be trusted). She'll sit up for a half hour straight and then suddenly fall over. Now that she knows she can sit up on her own she never ever wants to lie on her tummy or back to play. She's a strong willed girlie!
It's a warm autumn day here in Fredericton - 14C! We just got home from a walk and Julia is asleep in her little green chair. Mark didn't have much of a weekend as he was working away on report cards. He did squeeze in a nice walk with Julia while I went to the Christmas craft fair at the exhibition. The good news is that it is only a 2 day school week!
I'm going to to and whip our kitchen into shape. Uncle Bob is going to stop by and this place looks like a hurricane hit it.

Semi-Quarantine For Julia?!

I'm not sure how parents of newborns are going to make it through the winter amidst all of the H1N1 hoopla. Thank GOODNESS Julia is getting close to her 6 month birthday when she can get the vaccine. The nurse who immunized Mark and I last weekend very assertively told us to keep Julia away from crowds and to only let people in the house who were vaccinated. Wow. I can't imagine having to live like this for the next 4-6 months! That being said, it's a small sacrifice to keep the little one safe, especially with Mark working in an elementary school environment.
Julia is fast asleep at the moment. She decided to wake up between midnight and 2:30am and party! She's awful cute, even in the middle of the night. Her ability to sit up on her own is getting stronger by the day. This morning she sat up for a half hour on the floor until she reached too far for a toy and did a face plant into the blanket.
It is almost the weekend! Unfortunately for Mark report cards are due on Monday, which means that it's not much of a break for him. On the bright side, he has a small class of only 16 kids this year so it shouldn't take him too long. He's a superstar teacher and father and the guy deserves a break at some point. The moment he walks in the door Julia just wants to be with him, so he doesn't get much time to himself. It's a good thing she's so fun to be around. Have a great weekend everybody!

Julia Has Caught the Travel Bug

What a sweet little passport photo! Julia sat perfectly still and looked straight ahead at her Auntie Ariel who was standing behind the photographer. The worker commented that she's never had a such a cooperative little subject and that most babies require 20+ shots to get a suitable passport photo. Her little elf ears crack me up every time. I've got to enjoy them while she's still bald.
Speaking of bald, I was getting a kick out of filling out the passport application for Julia. It asks for hair colour. Will they accept "bald"? It also asks for weight and she hasn't been weighed in over a month but I'm pretty sure she's heavier than the 12 lbs 8oz she was then. I guessed her weight to be around 14 lbs. The form also asks for eye colour, which can be tricky since many babies' eyes change colour during the first year. I think it's a safe bet to say that Julia's are going to stay blue.
We are sad to have Ariel leave today. She's been so wonderful with Julia - coming to the little one's rescue whenever she makes even the slightest squawk of protest or bordem. On the bright side, we're going to head to Toronto on December 14th so it really won't belong before we all hang out again.
Halloween was a bit of a non-entity in our household unfortunately. Julia fell asleep within 15 minutes of getting into her Eeyore costume. Mark and I were fairly exhausted from spending several hours in a line up to get the H1N1 shot. Julia is still too young at 5 months, so her best protection is to have her parents immunized. Neither Mark nor I had much of a reaction other than stiff arms.
Who is this flaming-haired ogre with my daughter??!!
If you have never been to our house, we've got a ton of trees on our property. Ariel and I tried to make a dent in the leaf population by raking one afternoon. I think we did pretty well. Julia enjoyed playing in the leaves with her dad when he came home from work. This little kiddo love love LOVES to be outside. If ever you find yourself alone with her and she's being fussy, just go for a walk. She gets down with nature right away and usually drifts off...
Julia is babbling away on my lap while I type. I think it's time to wake Ariel up and squeeze what we can out of the last few hours we have together. Take care everybody!

Sunrise in Freddy Beach

Julia had a tough night last night. She woke up several times with really bad gas pains. I feel so awful for her when she's in pain and I can't do anything other than console her. Several diaper changes and a wardrobe change later she woke up just after 8 in a fine mood. She's chirping away and smiling at me as I type.
The above picture was taken of our back yard at sunrise. The one nice thing about all of the leaves falling off is that we can see the Saint John river.
As I mentioned in an earlier post Miss Julia started sitting up just a few days shy of her five month birthday. Here are a few pictures of the little one in action.
For a little lady who generally hates being on her tummy, Julia seems to be pretty happy in the next picture.
We've been having a great visit with Auntie Ariel. We are about to head out to get Julia's passport photo taken because we'll be spending Julia's first Christmas in Cuba! The reservations have been made and we can sit back and get excited! This is a first for our family. Not only have we never gone away to an all-inclusive together before, but we've never been away from the GTA either (with the exception of Meghan who spent one Christmas in Cape Town).
Here's one final photo of Julia for you to enjoy. She's getting bigger! I'm curious to have her weighed when she turns 6 months because I really have no idea how heavy she is.

Morning playtime with Julia

Julia didn't care much for the time change and was up for some good ol' playing bright and early this morning. At least the kiddo is on schedule... You can see in the video that she's intensely focused on picking things up these days (and putting everything in her mouth). It's pretty nifty to see her motor skills develop before your very eyes. Unfortunately everything is fair game these days and that means that you can no longer eat with her sitting on your lap -unless you want little fingers sifting through your food and the risk of hot beverages spilling all over. Mark and I are enjoying this last while before the little lady becomes mobile. She's awful strong and we suspect she'll go straight to walking. Time will tell!