Merry Christmas!

The week-end of the 22nd of July was great fun! Since my family was not home for Christmas we agreed to celebrate it 6 months later. It works out well since it's nice in July and it's also my grandfather's birthday.

On the Friday, I went over to my parents and my sisters and I made turkey dinner. Mashed potatoes, cauliflower and turkey. It was an all white meal. It was tasty but looked kind of bland. Christina and I made place cards. They made the table fell more christmasy... I gave everyone a card from a Canadian artist. We had agreed to not exchange gifts but I was happy to give the nice cards. For dessert we made peaches on the BBQ. They were very tasty with ice cream.

The next day we went to the Longueuil marina and took the ferry into the old port. We had a nice pic-nic and walked over to the Flower festival. I had a fab time taking pictures while Vanessa's grandmother pushed her around. Freedom! She even changed her very messy diaper. I took over 170 pictures (joys of digital).

We went back to the ferry and went to my parents for a BBQ and some down time since we were all pooped.

Sunday, Eric and I did some errands and printed some of the pictures from the flower festival. With a few pointers from Tim, I was able to take some that were nice enough to blow up and hang in the living room. My parents, sisters, grandfather and Lorraine came over for drinks and we head out for dinner. Dinner was nice and we celebrated my grandfather's birthday and Jo-Anne's. We walked across the street and saw "Scapin" a play in the park. We all had a great time. Even Vanessa was spellbound.

Giggles

Vanessa has been giggling for a while now but it was always so unpredictable. It's now more and more frequent. I love it! Can't get enough. Her worse time of the day is also her best. The evening is when she gets cranky but it's when we get the most giggles. Go figure. I thought I would share my favorite moment. Vanessa's last change of the day.

Vanessa turns 4 months.

Vanessa is growing as I type. She's developing new tricks. She likes to lie on her activity mat and bat or kick the bells. Bells are much nicer to listen too than anything with a battery. She can entertain herself for a little while. When she sits in her car seat, she likes to swing her fist at the spider since it is closest in reach. I think she might be a leftie but it will be a while before that's definite. Vanessa loves to stick as many fingers in her mouth as she can. Her favorite position is her fingers in her mouth like a bowling ball. Her drool is everywhere and she isn't teething yet. She loves her daddy very much but is preferring her mother to calm her down. That is bitter sweet for me. On one hand my heart breaks when she screams with Daddy but on the other I love cuddling her until she falls a sleep or smiles.
We went to the CLSC and weighed Vanessa. I was shocked at how big she looked on the scale and how she now looks like a baby and not an infant. She is now 13lbs. As far as babies go she's a light weight but she's really long. We'll measure her at the next appointment.
This month Vanessa should start rolling over and getting herself into more trouble. She giggles in small doses. It's about once or twice a day but each time she does it we're elated. I can't wait for a cause and effect of these giggles.

That's enough rambling for now. I'll post some pictures soon but for now I just wanted to document her accomplishments.

Montreal Jazz Fest

On Friday night, we made a spur of the moment decision to attend the Jazz Fest. Eric wanted to see a Dixie land band that was suppose to play at 8pm. Eric, Vanessa and I head over at 7pm and found great parking and walked over. The band was already playing and there was no where to sit so we walked around the site. Vanessa wasn't sure where to look so she looked everywhere. She tried to soak in everything. I put her in my carrier facing forward. Dozens of people smiled and said nice things. People can be so friendly when they see a baby. I sat down to wait for the main stage to go on at 9pm and breast feed Vanessa. Nursing her has gotten much easier over the past couple of weeks. She feed for about 5 minutes and fell into a deep sleep. Eric and I noticed the sky got black and then sprinkle a little. We agreed we didn't want to be out in the rain with Vanessa since the temperature had dropped. I had kept the carrier on while feeding so I stuck my limp baby in and it started to downpour. What excellent timing. Everyone ran for shelter. I zipped up my fleece around Vanessa and she didn't get a drop but I was soaked in seconds. We walked seven blocks to the car while she slept. While strapping her in she woke up and realised she hadn't eaten. We drove straight home while she complained loudly.

All in all it was a great evening full of excitement. Maybe I'll take her back this week.

Much Anticipated Pictures

These pictures are some of the best from the last month. They're all of Vanessa of course.


Vanessa taking her first ferry ride from New York to Vermont. It was a real rocky ride because of the strong wind. She was dressed for the day in her sailboat onsie that Great-Auntie-Mary-Jane designed.

Vanessa loves the Mama Kangaroo carrier. This was taken after mini-putt. It's amazing she fell a sleep while I was playing.



Vanessa is all dressed up for yet another first. The family surprised some friends and joined them camping. Since it is unseasonally cold (down to single digits), we are very well dressed. She has a full sleeper and a sweat suit on top. We discovered on the first night that the hoodie was not such a great idea. Vanessa screamed at the top of her lungs in a quiet campsite when I took it off. The next night we put on a fleece with a zipper in the front. Besides that she had a really great first experience. We plan to go again at least once more this year. Next year camping will be a different adventure.


Vanessa in her new tent! This is awesome. It's a pop up tent with a built in air mattress and comforter. It can be staked down so it won't blow away. It ways very little so it's great for travelling. We put it in our tent with a blanket over it. The blanket cut out the light when we came in with our flashlights and in the morning. Vanessa slept in until 9 am so it worked well. Vanessa slept in a bunting bag one of our neighbours gave us. She was warmer than we were at night and her air mattress did not deflate like ours. I still checked on her a few times a night.


I love this pic with Daddy in the background. He's back there putting in a new faucet. Vanessa is cheering him on. Note the only blue outfit she owns. It has sailboats all over it so we had to wear it.

The classic picture of Daddy and baby sleeping on the couch. Eric's a great dad and husband. I'm sure the rest was well deserved. Some day Vanessa will show her appreciation but for now Eric will have to take the occasional giggle as payment.

This is Vanessa almost diagonally in her crib as you can see it's a tight fit. We always put her head to the bow of the boat. It seems the most logical. One day this week she managed to squirm her way around with her head at the stern. I wish we had put the camera on 1 min increments to take pictures. It would have been fun to watch. And no I haven't wished that I had a video camera in her room.


That's all the pictures for now. Enjoy!