to be this happy.....

as adults, do we ever get to experience such unadulterated joy? clothed, fed and loved...if only things could always be that simple.

 

I love this monitor! Got it from Costco a while ago, and it's so great to be able to see her sleeping when she's upstairs. It can receive from up to 3 cameras, and it has night vision too, with a pretty clear picture, and is also motion activated, so beeps when she moves. Will be adding a camera for Christian's room too. I'm sure that will come in handy at times. Works great to monitor the front door too :)

 

Three Months

How can a quarter of a year have gone by so quickly?!

Jacqueline is growing and changing every day.

- She had her 3 month Dr. appointment. She measured 24 inches long (70th percentile) and 12lbs 5 oz (28th percentile). Her growth rate is beginning to slow, which is normal for breastfed babies. At 2 months, her length was 23.5 inches (84th percentile) and I was beginning to be concerned that all those sundresses she has for next summer would be fitting her in December! Hopefully she'll settle into a size that will have her wearing clothes that correspond to her age, otherwise, the clothes I've bought for next summer might be too small!

- she's a very happy baby - smiles a lot. Seems like she might be a morning person as when I go to get her when she wakes up she's all smiles (unlike her mommy!)

- she's very "talkative" as well. lots of coos and gurgles. she'll even carry on a conversation with you if you make sounds back. Christian was a very quiet baby by comparison. He didn't do much babbling at all...the strong silent type...to the point that I was even a bit concerned because he literally didn't make a peep (except for crying) from about 7-9 months of age.

- Her favorite person is definitely shaping up to be her big brother. Now when she sees him, her face just lights right up. He's so good with her...sings to her, kisses her, plays with her. I hope it continues as she grows, because it's a beautiful thing to see.

- She's beginning to try to roll. she can get over on her side from her back but hasn't figured out how to get all the way over. She's almost holding her head up too. She can hold it up for quite a long time, and turn her head to look around, but eventually she'll get tired and it will flop down again (have to be careful with that, as Hugo and I have both gotten some pretty good knocks in the face/head as a result of that). Even the flopping over is going away quickly though - there's a definite improvement in her strength/ability every day

- And among her most popular accomplishments...(knock on wood here)...she's been sleeping through the night since about 12 weeks! She'll usually go from 8-10 hours each night, waking around 6ish for a feeding and then usually right back to sleep for another hour and a half to two hours. It's so nice to know that once she's down for the night I have some time to get things done. This is a bit earlier than Christian slept through, but I also won't take it for granted because Christian began waking again at 5 1/2 months, so I really don't expect this to last.

That's about it for now. Here's some 3 month pictures that I took a few days ago. I was hoping to get some better ones than this. it was a gorgeous warm day and perfect for taking some shots outdoors, but unfortunately, her patience wore thin pretty quickly so this is as good as it gets.

Halloween fun

Hope everyone had a safe & happy Halloween! Jacqueline & I handed out candy, while Hugo took Christian trick-or-treating. Christian had a blast & even went into a haunted house one of the neighbors down the street had set up. I carved 2 pumpkins. Christian picked out the scary face pattern...

Roarrrrr!!!

Born in Africa

This was our conversation with Christian this evening....

C: Excuse me, excuse me...I want to tell you something (we've been trying to teach him not to just interrupt, so have been asking him to say "Excuse me" if he wants to get our attention when we're talking)
Me: yes?
C: You know when I were a kid in Africa? I saw a mouse.
Me: When were you in Africa?
C: No, no, no....I were born in Africa.

Hugo: No, you were born in a hospital. (then tries to explain where by telling him it was near the playground with all the mushrooms)

A couple of minutes later, when I came back into the kitchen, Christian tries to tell me the story again:
C: After I were born at the playground with all the mushrooms.....

Thanksgiving

Monday October 13, Hugo's parents (Oma & Opa) took us to Oakview Terrace for Thanksgiving brunch. It was another beautiful Thanksgiving day (although not quite as warm as last Thanksgiving when it was over 30C). After the brunch was over, the kids enjoyed playing on the grounds. I was planning get some nice portrait-y shots of both kids, but unfortunately, Jacqueline played Sleeping Beauty for the entire time, so just got some of Christian, and shots of Jacqueline at Oma & Opa's house would have to suffice.

Stingray Bay

We went to the Toronto Zoo a couple of weeks ago, to catch the Stingray Bay exhibit before it closed on October 13. Prior to going in, we were asked to wash up to our elbows with water (no soap) and to remove any jewellery on the hand/arm you're putting in to touch them. We were only to touch their backs as they swam by. Surprisingly, they were very slimy feeling. It also happened to be feeding time. The zookeeper handed out small fish, and you had to hold it between two fingers, palm down, with the fish sticking up above your hand. Not being too keen on handling fish, nor having a stingray eat from my hand, I passed, but Hugo is always game for this sort of thing, so he tried it. Could those rays ever sniff out the fish. Even before anyone actually put fish in the water, I'm sure they could smell the fish the keeper was carrying, because they all seemed to get excited; swimming around more quickly. Once the first fish went into the tank, they were darting right over to the people holding it. We got video of the rays eating from Hugo's hand. Check it out here: Stingray video