November Baby

All Kinds of Awesome

2012-02-04T17:23:00.005-05:00

Juliet is three.

She takes gymnastics on Fridays and dance on Saturdays.

I make sure I take at least 8 hours on Sundays completely off to spend the day with her and Kevin, and I look forward to Sundays for the entire week.

Juliet starts school in 7 months. SCHOOL! If she wins the lottery (literal lottery system invovled) at the nearby alternative school, she'll likely go there. If not, we're working on lining up a home day-care for her drop off and pick up at our local school. Still debating French Immersion.

Juliet asks every day for a 'baby brother and sister like Dora' (as in Dora the Explorer). We absolutely cannot wait until I'm finished school and employed in my new field so that we can have a baby brother and sister for her.

We feel so lucky to have a kid who's as many kinds of awesome as Juliet.

Big Girl Bed!

2011-12-24T23:51:00.004-05:00

Christmas Eve 2011

We put it off for as long as we could.

She never once tried to climb out. She loved her crib.

But eventually she started to ask about this big girl bed thing she'd been hearing about. Most of the children we know and know of transitioned between 18 months and 2 years. We figured that Christmas break of this year, now that she's 3, would be a good time.

Her Gran B was kind enough to buy her her Big Girl Bed from IKEA as her birthday/Christmas gift.

She adjusted perfectly. Went to sleep in it on the first night it was assembled (2 days ago) immediately and even followed the rule we set out and called for us in the morning, rather than jumping out of bed and coming into our room. We feel truly lucky that Juliet is such a good listener and a well behaved little bunny :).

3-Year-Old Stats & Santa Photo!

2011-12-16T14:19:00.004-05:00

It's Christmas Break!!! That's right! Semester 1 of nursing school: Over. Forever.

Today we had Juliet's slightly late 3-year-old check up. The doctor was very impressed by her language skills and sense of humour. Plus, when asked, "do you know what this is?" (as he checked her heart), Juliet looked at him like he was an idiot and said, "yes, that is a STETHOSCOPE"!! He was blown away that she knew what it was AND how to pronounce it (that's when I broke it to him that she's not a genius, but I'm a nursing student so stethoscopes are familiar territory in our house!).

3-Year-Old Stats:

Weight: 33 lbs

Height: 37 inches

Head Circumfrence: 19 inches

After her doctor's appointment, where I was told that she's way ahead developmentally and right on track physically, we stopped at Starbucks for a hot chocolate (for Juliet) and then went up to Fairview for her annual Santa photo!

This was our first year at Fairview. You can view her 2009 (age 1) and 2010 (age 2) Santa photos here. I was very happy with Fairview, though I still think her 2008 Santa photo (not online, taken at Dufferin Mall when she was 4 days old) is the best one of all time!

Teaching a Toddler: Where Does Our Food Come From?

2011-12-09T22:58:00.007-05:00

We are fortunate to have several farmer's markets available to us from May-November each year.

Over the past year, we've become extremely interested in locally grown, naturally produced foods. We shopped exclusively at farmer's markets all summer long, and are participating in a food box program run by our market throughout the winter. We've also started eating exclusively grass-fed beef, which as many health benefits. We were fortunate enough to get to know a fantastic local farmer at our market, who raises 100% grass fed cows. Over the summer, we split 1/8th of a cow with my mom's household, and recently received 1/4 of a cow, which we also split with my mother. It is cost-effective, and we are lucky to be able to literally say that we know EXACTLY where and how our beef was raised.

In fact, a few weeks ago we had the opportunity to get a private tour of the land where our cows grow up. They have free run of a massive area of land outside of the city, and when we showed up, a big group of cows was hanging out, excited to greet us. We felt it was extremely important to not only visit the cows, but expose Juliet to the food chain early on, so that she grows up with an understanding of the importance of eating food that has been raised safely, naturally, and happily.

Here are some photos of our experience:

A happy cow hanging out.

A calf breastfeeding from its mom

Juliet 'feeding' Farmer Jeff some hay (she also had the chance to feed some cows!)

The cows were super chill, and loved coming right up to us to say hi!

Access to water. It's a good life for these cows.

Farmer Jeff with some of his cows in the background.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Juliet!

2011-11-28T19:29:00.003-05:00

Happy birthday to my talkative, loving, cuddly, imaginative, busy, blue-eyed, dog-loving, Princess-loving, Dora-loving, Mickey Mouse-loving, gymnastics-loving, swimming, running, adventurous, potty-trained, amazing Juliet.

Three years have flown by and we are absolutely thrilled at the prospect of many, many more!

Juliet's First Prize Photo Shoot!

2011-11-14T20:51:00.007-05:00

Remember back in January I begged you to vote for Juliet in this contest?

You probably DON'T remember that she WON!!!!

Her prize was a free photo shoot and 10 edited shots of my choice!

We went for her photos in June, 2011. Then, with the wedding and summer and starting school I didn't find the time to choose my images until recently. But the disc came in the mail today! And the pictures are ADORABLE!!!

Annya Miller Photography has been in our lives since before Juliet was born. Annya, the photographer, and I communicated weeks before her birth and she ended up coming and doing Juliet's newborn photos when Juliet was only 4 days old. The wall of our dining room is a photo wall with those pictures. She then came to our home to do family photos when Juliet was one. That's where we got her award-winning toilet paper shot :).

Here are some of the photos from the shoot:

If you're in the Greater Toronto Area and looking for a wonderful photographer to help you chronicle your pregnancy, infant or family, definitely get in touch with the talented Annya at Annya Miller Photography!

Sleeping Beauty Does Halloween 2011 (and introducing The Hallowe'en Fairy)

2011-11-01T21:05:00.010-04:00

This was the first year that Juliet 'got' Halloween. Kevin's been using her as a candy store since 2009, but this year, she was a VERY excited participant!

We try to minimize the amount of refined sugar, so we were trying to think of ways to minimize the sugar exposure at this time of year. After some googling around, I settled on a solution: The Halloween Fairy! The Halloween Fairy lives in Halloween Land and comes to your house after you've gone to bed on Halloween. If you leave your candy out for her, she will take it and leave you a note. The note will tell you what special gift you get as a "thank you" for giving your candy to the fairy.

Juliet was ALL over this one. We let her pick out a handful of candy (one for each night for the week) and she left the rest of the Halloween Fairy. In the morning there was a note for her telling her she had earned a trip to The Disney Store to get a new stuffed animal for her collection! Win-win for everyone!

Here is Juliet doing her thing last night:

Sleeping Beauty doing the obligatory pose before we started trick or treating

She was REALLY excited to get candy...

At one of her first houses.

In front of a really cool, well-decorated house.

Eventually, she wanted to try going up to the houses ALL by herself!! What a big bunny!

Tired and SO over it by the end of the night!

Happy Hallowe'en 2011!!

The Child That Wouldn't Potty Train is FINALLY Potty Trained (with 33 days to go before she turns three!!)

2011-10-26T19:07:00.004-04:00

Juliet will be three-years-old in 33 days.

I am thrilled to say that she will wear big-girl underpants to her party.

I truly didn't think she'd be trained in time to start junior kindergarten next fall.

This child took the long way around (to say the least).

She started showing interest in the potty at about 17-months. I spent one hilarious day with the carpet rolled up, the potty in front of her, thinking maybe I'd have that rare kid who was potty trained by 18-months. When she pooped in her underpants, ignored it, kept playing and then stepped in the poop that fell out of her underpants and on to the floor (and didn't care one bit), I realized that she was *not* that rare kid.

As age two approached, we talked about the potty regularly, let her flush, made a sticker chart, got some special Pez candies for when she went in the potty, read books about potty training and how fantastic it is. Nothing.

So we let it go. Put the carpet back down. She turned two. No interest. Well, no legitimate interest. To talk to her you'd think she was already a potty training superstar. She knew all the steps to how to use the potty and toilet. She loved to tell us, "when I use the toilet I get a Mickey candy and a sticker for my chart!". However, whenever we asked her if she'd like to use the potty, the answer was a disinterested "no".

The months went on and our enthusiastic conversations about the potty continued. In the spring, Juliet's daycare playmate who is a good four months younger went away for a week on her mom's vacation and came back 100% potty trained. Juliet 'tried' the potty after her friend at daycare for a few days, then lost interest again.

By the summer, Juliet had seen two-and-a-half come and go, 99% of the other kids her age that we know were potty trained, and Juliet talked such big talk about using the potty and all of her big girl underpants that I'm pretty sure she had herself convinced she already WAS potty trained.

I made Juliet several offers - if you potty train I'll give you a lunch box to carry to daycare. If you potty train I'll take you shopping for princess underpants. If you potty train I'll....I'll....run out of ideas.

Nothing worked. She could have given a first year university lecture on the art and science of toileting, but NEVER got to the stage where she'd agree to try the potty (aside from a few rare occasions when she was particularly agreeable) and ABSOLUTELY never ASKED to use the potty.

We even resorted to one of those 'potty training weekends' at some point, where we stayed in, removed all diapers and put her on the potty every ten minutes. It was a disaster on several levels. She couldn't have cared less, to start. And the judge-y mommies on my Facebook attacked the hell out of me for 'forcing it' (ugh). So I ended the weekend early, with the smell of pee on my floor and feelings of massive mommy failure.

I was at a loss. The kid is smart, aware, and perfectly happy sitting in her own excrement all day long. What gives?

I pretty much dropped the issue and encouraged Juliet's grandparents to drop it too. What was the point?

Well, last Wednesday I picked Juliet up at daycare and had a chat with her daycare provider about the potty situation. They had given up on her, and everyone was sick of changing her diapers. We chatted about the whys and hows and came up with nothing. Then I made an offhanded remark, "I swear, Baby I is going to be potty trained before Juliet!" (Note: Baby I is a full year younger than Juliet). And the daycare provider said, "yes, he probably is. His parents are working on it".

WELL!

That was it.

We drove home. I announced, "there are no more diapers". We marched upstairs, pulled out the Minnie Mouse underpants her Grandma K had picked up when I first announced we were 'potty training' a good year before, and put them on. They were too small, but they did the trick.

Actually, they REALLY did the trick. Within 30 minutes I heard, "mommy, I need to pee". And she peed. On the toilet. And flushed, washed her hands, pulled up her own underpants and tights, and went downstairs to play.

And then she ate dinner, played for a few minutes, and asked to pee again. This time she went on the potty downstairs. No muss, no fuss.

She wore a diaper to bed that night and woke up the next morning requesting her "big girl underpants". She went to daycare in underpants and didn't have a single accident.

Suddenly, potty trained.

I don't know why it took this long or what flipped the magic switch. I'd imagine I was under-estimating Juliet these past few months. I had always read that you put the kid in pull-ups and they learn to ask to use the potty and once they're doing it regularly you move on to underwear. But I suspect that, in Juliet's head, there just wasn't any motivation to use the toilet/potty when she was perfectly aware that the diaper would catch it all (and not require her to stop playing). And yet, as soon as the underpants went on, it's like she grew up.

So the moral of my story...instead of going on and on about how 'she knows every detail of toilet use but refuses to try', I should have taken the hint and done what the judge-y mommies say not to and...ya...forced it a bit. Because she was ready and, in the end, it was ME holding her back.

Juliet Goes to Ottawa (with an ear infection, no less!)

2011-10-12T18:36:00.010-04:00

Juliet refuses to take antibiotics. And when I say she refuses...oh it's a sight to see.

She had strep throat last year and we got the famous 'banana medicine' and she took it once and then never again. Full-blown, hysterical fits when we tried to get it into her. So this year when she got an ear infection we asked for 'tootie-fruity' flavour instead of banana. She was SO excited to have her big-girl medicine and carried the bag to the car and asked for it incessantly until we got home. Then she tried it once, and once again, that was it. We tried EVERYTHING: hiding it in flavoured yogurt, hiding it in an orange juice popsicle, bribing her, and eventually we tried pinning her down and forcing it into her mouth. None of it worked. All the medicine went to waste.

And that is why Juliet still had a severe ear infection on our trip to Ottawa :).

Juliet on my friend's boyfriend's boat, staying out of the wind!

The Parliament Building!

Juliet in the Parliament Building Library

Family photo on our 'private tour' of the Parliament Building (my friend's boyfriend has a media pass and was able to take us around!!)

The Senate

Juliet makes her best ever miserable face when asked to pose for a photo in the Senate!!!

Throwing pennies into the flame outside the Parliament Building

Out for dinner at The Works (an Ottawa burger chain that we ate at the last time we were in Ottawa in '07 and Kevin has wanted to return to ever since), Juliet learns how to do "CHEERS!"

We had a great, whirlwind trip in Ottawa, thanks to the hospitality of my friend, Cynthia (who was also our wedding photographer!!) and her boyfriend, Justin. With the help of some Kiddie Tylenol aka "candy medicine" Juliet's ear survived the weekend. Sadly, this will likely be our last weekend away for a long, long, long time. Nursing school is all-consuming and taking the weekend to go to Ottawa really impacted my studies, which are precarious to begin with (18 credits + a toddler + a husband who works odd hours is NOT a combination for academic success, so everything is just a little bit harder than it needs to be...).

Anyways, we try to get Juliet as many life experiences as we can, but until I finish school, those experiences will have to be in the form of day trips... :)

Pre-School Swimming Lessons

2011-10-07T19:02:00.008-04:00

Juliet is a water monster. She started swimming lessons when she was three months old. Sounds young? Well, according to Juliet's grandmother she was late to get started. SHE started ME in swimming lessons when I was only 7-weeks, after all (and never lets me forget it)!

However, from the time she was three-months old Juliet has been a regular fixture in the water, and she's always adored it. Her annual birthday trip is to Great Wolf Lodge for a weekend of non-stop water park action. Summers are literally spent submerged 90% of the time. The kid is fearless.

For this reason, I've been searching high and low for a swimming school nearby that will allow her to go in without a parent/guardian. It's not that we don't love going in for the parent and tot classes, it's that Juliet is legitimately ready to actually LEARN to swim, rather than just sing songs and have us drag her around the pool, as you tend to do in parent/tot. I got lucky and found a place via a group buy discount site.

She's in a pre-school class which was advertised as a 1:3 parent to kid ratio, but when we got there it turned out that each child in her "class" had their own instructor, and the kids just came together to play a few games. We would NEVER have been able to afford these lessons without the group buy (they work out to $42 per 30-minute lesson, which made sense once I saw it was 1:1 instruction). So, we'll do this session at this place and then in the new year I think she'll be old enough to enter a pre-school class at a less expensive swim school :).

On the pool deck waiting anxiously for her class to begin

Not sure what to do first: jump right in or check out all the crazy pool toys!!

Swimming with her instructor

Juliet the Flower Girl

2011-09-30T17:11:00.009-04:00

It's been absolutely forever since my last post. Juliet, when you read this later...I'm sorry! Life got busy. We got married, went to Jamaica on our honeymoon for a couple weeks while Juliet had a super-awesome stay-cation with her Yamma (Grandma K), and then fall came before we knew it and now I'm a full-time student again!

We're about to run out the door for a weekend in Ottawa - Juliet's first road trip (if you can call a 5 hour drive a road trip!) and first visit to Ottawa.

A photo of Juliet as a flower girl in the wedding from July 9, 2011:

Juliet just before she went down for her aisle walk

Juliet and her Auntie Molly (the junior bridesmaid) enter for their walk down the "aisle"

Juliet comes up to get her special ring from us (on a necklace to avoid her trying to eat it like she did at the jewellery store!!)

Juliet shows off her new ring/necklace to her cousin Francie

Juliet being a big girl and carrying my train

Finally, one of Juliet's mom and dad (that's me and Kevin!)

Juliet is now 34 months and seriously amazing. Crazy big vocabulary, she sings, she dances, she loves babies (and wants a little sister SO badly...we tell her it'll happen in a few years haha!), she loves princesses, dressing up, cooking at her kitchen, helping mom cook at the real kitchen, watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Strawberry Shortcake and is generally amazing. Not yet potty trained...but amazing!

11 days short of 29 months...wow!

2011-04-17T18:42:00.009-04:00

Where does time go? Seriously? It's freaking APRIL!!!

The good news is, I was admitted to nursing school, my final pre-requisite (a brain-crushing anatomy & physiology course) is OVER, and I finally have more than an hour a week to spend with Juliet. On the other hand, our wedding is coming up quickly - 80-something days to go! And that means a whole lotta working out, planning, vendor visits, etc. So, still a struggle to work full-time and find time to have non-stressful, mom-baby time together.

Today we had a mommy & Juliet day. I took her shopping for new shoes, strawberry bubble bath (we ended up with raspberry, but the excitement level was maintained at FEVER PITCH EXCITEMENT!!) and, of course, ICE CREAM!

I went back to work in September 2010, when Juliet was about 21 months old. She's almost 29 months now, but she is still struggling with the time I spend away from her. She has a life full of love - spends Monday at work with me and my mom, Tues-Thurs with a babysitter who adores her and has made her part of the family and Friday with her other Grandma. Yet she still acts out (all directed at me), and it's very difficult.

She's an amazing 28-and-three-quarter-month-old, though. Her language is astounding. She talks non-stop, mimics extremely well and has the most well-formed opinions of any toddler I've ever seen. She's still sleeping like a champ (12+ hours at night and an afternoon nap), she still goes to gymnastics on Saturdays (and loves it all but HATES the bars - just like me when I was a gymnast!!) and we're really excited about the summer ahead. Here are a bunch of recent photos of my little big girl:

Juliet wearing her new sunglasses. Inside. She would NOT take them off all day.

Painting at Mommy & Grandma's Daycare - making a flower!

Recently Juliet got tonsilitis which manifested itself as a very, VERY high fever and general yucky sickness for several days. Here she is snuggled up with Ophelia playing guard dog!

Sooooo this is Juliet at Korean BBQ a few weeks ago. We were out for dinner for my mom's and Kev's mom's birthday. Juliet was T-I-R-E-D. When the cake came out...well...she painted her face with it :).

Yesterday I pulled my mini-tramp from when I was younger out of the basement for Juliet, who LOOOOVES the trampoline at gymnastics. Obviously she was thrilled :). Kevin was less thrilled....I think he was concerned about the possibilities of her sneaking onto it and falling off of it and...well...I guess I tend to be the 'live and let live' parent in this family unit :).

This is the current wallpaper on my phone :). Juliet + bubbles = her personal heaven :).

Mommy and Juliet TODAY - on Mommy and Juliet Day. An 'official' day that will have to start happening more often to ensure that my time with her isn't spent doing household stuff!!

Next big event is the wedding. July 9, 2011. Wait 'til you see Juliet's flower girl dress!!!! Oh, and, you know, my dress too ;).

Coming up on 27 months!

2011-02-21T15:04:00.005-05:00

Happy Family Day!

Juliet is upstairs having a great nap. A nap that she requested. Yup! Bonus to this age (27 months next week!): She really is starting to understand her own feelings and her body. Her newest thing is to tell me "I'm tired" and "I want food". How cool to hear her acknowledge that she's TIRED! I love it!

I'm really enjoying this stage. She's got a sense of humour and she's able to entertain herself - plus she's able to suggest activities we can do together.

On Saturday Kevin and I in a position (for the first time since she was born!) where we had no childcare in the evening and we both had plans with friends. I ended up bringing Juliet with me to a friend's apartment for a Girls' Night. I was SO nervous that it would be a disaster, but she was great! She hung out with us, watched TV, ate junk food, and at around 9:30pm (waaaay past bedtime) she climbed up on the couch between me and my friend and snuggled up. I asked if she was ready for bed, she said yes, and I set up a pack n' play and she went to sleep. It was PERFECT! SHE is perfect :) (wellllll...maaaaaybe not perfect LOL!).

Some recent pictures:

Juliet on Family Day morning helping to prepare her eggs for breakfast!

Juliet nursing her cookie and brownie "hangover" after her first Girls' Night with me and my friends at Sunday brunch.

Juliet playing dress-up in the fairy princess costume my friend Jing Jing got her for her 2nd birthday :).

Finally, my fave recent picture: Juliet running (with a REAL smile - not a 'put on' smile!) after joining us at a Bridal Show a couple weeks ago :).

VOTE FOR JULIET...Please??!

2011-01-12T12:48:00.003-05:00

Juliet is in the running to win a "Cutest Babies of 2010" contest being run through the photographer who took her newborn shots and her 1-year shoot.

Unfortunately, we can't afford to get Juliet's photos done this year, but this contest could turn that around! The winner gets a FREE photo shoot, which would mean the world to us!

PLEASE, spare a second and visit: http://annyamillerphotography.com/blog/?p=37 and add a comment voting JULIET in the #1 position for Cutest Baby of 2010!

I would be soooo grateful and if you let me know you've voted for her I'll be sure to send some comment love to your blog!!!!

THANK YOU!!!

Christmas with a Two Year Old...

2010-12-28T22:18:00.010-05:00

As noted in my previous post with Juliet's 2009 and 2010 Santa photos, a year makes a huge difference with kids of this age!

Last year Juliet was oblivious to everything - Kev and I opened her gifts and said thank you on her behalf. She went to bed super early. Basically Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were just like any other days!

This year...she knew. She knew about Santa. About presents. We're non-religious and she's too young to understand giving to the less fortunate, so there's not really much more to know. We tried really hard to instill a sense of 'giving is more fun than receiving' by having her give gifts, but she was so overstimulated, so distracted, that our efforts for for naught.

Here's Juliet's holiday season in photos - a little Hanukkah and a little Christmas. Happy Holidays!

Juliet with the hand-painted chair her Grandma K got her for Hanukkah. Princess Juliet - that about sums it up :).

Juliet and Grandma K with after lighting Juliet's baby menorah!

Juliet in her Christmas Eve dress - Xmas Eve at my family's is the annual tradition! This year we ordered thai :).

As my mother and her husband left for Jamaica on Dec 25, they went low-key with the tree this year. but it worked! And Juliet scored some fabulous gifts, as did we!

Tobogganing by Kevin's mom's place on Christmas Day.

Juliet in her Christmas Day dress. Yup. She was overstimulated and needing bed before we even started the Christmas Day evening round of gifts. oh what a night... :)

Juliet has a mid-gift-opening tea party with her Auntie Sharon at the brand new table and chairs she was given by her great aunt Jan!

Ophelia chills on Boxing Day morning after a busy, delicious Christmas!

Juliet and Santa - 2010 vs 2009

2010-12-26T23:39:00.005-05:00

Juliet visited Santa Clause on Christmas Eve (before he started delivering presents, natch).

and this photo can be contrasted with our Santa visit in 2009....
hehehehehe....

Full Christmas post to follow soon :).

Official Annual Holiday & Birthday Photos!

2010-12-23T20:46:00.010-05:00

Juliet - age 2!

Christmas 2010

2nd Birthday

All photographs taken by....me!

Juliet is TWO!

2010-12-04T14:15:00.019-05:00

On Sunday, November 28, 2010, Juliet turned 2-years-old!

It feels like yesterday that I started this blog when I was 12 weeks pregnant! And it feels like I just blinked and Juliet was born and then she turned one...and now she's TWO!

We went in for her 2-year-old check-up yesterday and her stats are as follows:

Height: 33 inches
Weight: 28.5 pounds

The doctor thought she was sweet, intelligent and, to quote him directly, is "smart with a wonderful disposition." That's our girl!!!

I've been a negligent blogger lately. I won't go into details about why, I'll just say that it's been quite the fall.

However, I'll try to make up for it with a bunch of pictures from the fall, taking us from early-October through Juliet's 2nd birthday and birthday party!

Juliet all dressed up for her buddy, Kaylin's, first birthday party!

Juliet and her good long-distance friend, Elena, have a pre-Hallowe'en get together at Downey's farm!

At Downey's with daddy, looking at her doggie face painting.

A unicorn for Hallowe'en 2010! She scored big time in the candy department this year :).

With her grandmas on the tractor ride to get a Christmas tree at the tree farm!

Juliet is TWO! On her second birthday at the party room just before guests began to arrive to help us celebrate Juliet's big day!!

Juliet's good friend, Veda, arrives looking adorable in purple!

Friends :)

One of the tables of Juliet's family enjoying her par-tay!

A table of my friends eating lots of the food I made (with help of my friend Erika!)

Juliet has a go at her Elmo piniata!!!!!!!!!

Mom and Dad present Juliet with her birthday cake, complete with Abby (from Sesame Street) candle!

Juliet explores (but, unfortunately, doesn't love) the homemade chocolate-orange birthday cake mommy (with help from Erika!!) made!

Juliet riding on the cart we are used to bring her remarkable, generous gifts down to the car to take home.

What a special little girl we have. Happy 2nd birthday, Juliet. We are so excited to enjoy another year of giggles, cuddles, chatter, playing, running, gymnastics, swimming, colouring, story time, and much, much more!!!!

23 Months Yesterday!

2010-10-29T17:39:00.007-04:00

In one month less a day I am going to have a TWO YEAR OLD!

HOW??????

Hallowe'en post to come next week. Hallowe'en 2009, Juliet was a doggie and she won a costume contest with Ophelia when we sent them out as 'fraternal twins' (hehe). This year Juliet will be a unicorn :).

5 Years!

2010-10-21T18:01:00.005-04:00

I know this blog is about Juliet, but there would be no Juliet if it wasn't for US! So.....

Today is our 5 year anniversary!

5 years ago today we met at a bar in Toronto. Yup. A bar. A jam-packed crazy crowded bar on a Saturday night.

We've been lucky enough to have 5 years filled with travel, education, cool jobs (and not-so-cool jobs), water sports (our favourite), Sunday nights (our other favourite), huge fights and even huger laughter. Not to mention the addition of the Mrs. McSnuggles (the dog) in 2007 and Mrs. McTODDLER (the not-such-a-baby anymore) in late 2008. We've gone from being students crashing at his dad's vacant condo to these so-called grown ups who own a house and have a child and...it's just crazy to think how far we've come. Yet when I think about us, I still see us in the bar in 2005 :).

22 Months Old (yesterday!)

2010-09-29T19:29:00.002-04:00

On September 28, 2010, which was yesterday, Juliet turned 22 months!!! It's incredible how fast time has gone.

She's pretty amazing - she walks, runs, talks in full sentences, has extremely strong opinions about EVERYTHING, jumps (with two feet - a big achievement that she just figured out how to do at gymnastics a couple weeks ago!), talks on the phone and really answers your questions, remembers things that happened during the day, has the patience to sit and watch Sesame Street, can count to 11 (on her own!), can sing her ABCs (mostly), can fill in the blanks when we read to her....she's fabulous!

However, it's hard. She's having a real problem adapting to me being back to work and seeing her less. We're dealing with pretty difficult behaviours - mainly it seems to be anger with me. When she sees me her whole attitude changes. She cries, throws tantrums, refuses to give me hugs and kisses. It's really hard, particularly since I so badly want our time together to be awesome. But I'm trying (not always successfully) to be patient.

Here is a picture of her at work with me (she comes to daycare with me one day per week right now) doing pudding painting!!!! She was the messiest, most hilarious pudding painter!

Happy 22 months, Juliet! Even though you make us insane these days, we love you tons and tons!

My Little Gymnast

2010-09-11T15:08:00.004-04:00

Today Juliet started gymnastics classes at the gymnastics club I attended, and competed for, as a kid.

She did SO well and was SO exhausted. She liked the trampoline the best, of course, but also loved swinging on the rings and bars, and showing off her somersaults (which I taught her how to do months ago!).

Here she is in her leotard on the way to gymnastics this morning:

Saturdays are now officially my favourite day of the week...gymanstics day! :)

The End of an Era

2010-09-06T14:47:00.008-04:00

Today marks the end of a 21.5 month journey as a (primarily) stay-at-home parent. Tomorrow the daycare I am co-managing opens and our lives change FOREVER!

For the past 21.5 months, I've been home with Juliet most days (while she has been attending home daycare one day per week since January 2010) and have been the primary person involved in household management.

That is ALL about to change. Juliet will now be in home daycare 3 days per week. She will join me at work at my daycare 1 day per week and will be home with either Kevin or his mother on the 5th day. Kevin will be taking over things like meal prep (he works afternoon/evenings), daycare drop-off, and general morning 'duties'. We will now have to work very hard to ensure both of us get to the gym a minimum of three times per week. Weekends will now be when we do things like groceries and cleaning. It will be a VERY different world.

While I am thrilled to be returning to a 'regular' schedule, I'm going to miss so many aspects of the life I've enjoyed since Juliet was born in November, 2008. I will miss my 9:30 am crossfit classes (I'll now have to either go at 7am or 5:30pm). I will miss my summer days with Juliet (to be honest, I'm THRILLED she'll be in daycare in the winter as winters are tough with toddlers!). I will miss leisurely mornings and the ability to wait up for Kevin to come home from work so we could eat together at 10pm. I'll miss everything that goes along with being a (mostly) stay-at-home parent.

However, this year is a big one! And I'm SO excited to watch it unfold in front of me. Here are some things we have on the agenda:

- our wedding! Kevin and I are getting married on July 9, 2011! (and then our honeymoon. We're thinking an adventure tour of Costa Rica....baby-free, of course!)
- Juliet's gymnastics classes. They start next Saturday and I simply can't WAIT! she'll be starting in parent-and-tot at the gymnastics club I went to as a kid!
- applying for my post-degree nursing program. I have one more course to take (which starts next week) and I plan to apply for September, 2011 entrance!
- Juliet's 2nd birthday. Just over 2 months to go....
- Running our daycare! We have 5 awesome kids registered and can't wait to get started!

On that note, here are a few photos of Juliet at Port Dover last week.

Juliet rides a pony at a local farm on our second day in Port Dover.

My water baby always loves swimming at both the private and public beaches in Port Dover!

Juliet's friend, Veda, came to spend a night at the cottage. They had a blast playing mini-golf, going out for dinner, swimming and, of course, eating ICE CREAM!!!!

What a wonderful summer we have had. Now we look forward to this next stage of our lives :).

Happy Labour Day!!!

Almost 21 Months!

2010-08-25T21:55:00.011-04:00

On Saturday, Juliet will turn 21 months. In the photo above, she's sitting on her daddy watching some Sesame Street while Ophelia looks on.

She's a little fireball.

She takes care of her dolls like they are real babies and loves to strap them safely into strollers and feed them from bottles.

She's obsessed with walking the dog. Ophelia. And I'm not talking about 'helping' mommy to hold the leash. I mean, she throws a fit until she's the one WALKING THE DOG. Luckily the extend-a-leash means that the dog can kinda do her own thing and all Juliet has to do is hold on....but let's just say it's always an anxiety-producing experience.

She can basically recite her favourite books. Each night she requests Tumble Bumble, "The Doggie Book" and, on occasion, "Goodnight Shoon". It's weird, she can fully say the word "MOON", but when asked to say it in a phrase (like Goodnight Moon) she loses the M and it turns into a "sh".

She has a sense of humour. She makes jokes. They're usually mainly funny because she cracks herself up.

She's a water baby, through and through. Rain or shine, I get many requests each day for a trip to the "wawa pool" -- her phrase for lakes, pools, splash pads and wading pools. She's a fish. And a brave fish, who has gained so much confidence in the water this summer, I wouldn't be surprised if she was actually swimming(-ish) by next summer.

She's talking. Full out. "Juliet walk Ophie", "Mummy do it", "Juliet go Yama's house?", "Mummy do purple pony?"...and I'm 95% sure she told me to "Shut up" yesterday....but that's offset (maybe) by the fact that she says "Excuse me, mommy", when she needs to get by me, and is exceptionally good at remembering to say "Please" and "thank you"...

She's running and jumping (Kevin thought it was cute when she was jumping in her crib, encouraged it, and now she does "jump, jump!" EVERYWHERE!).

She's able to answer questions about her day. Simple ones, like where she went and who she played with, but it's cool to hear the right answer come out of that tiny little mouth. She also remembers people and places. She'll ask to see a kid or go back to a house we've been to. Also cool.

She's gotten a bit shy. She still says hi to anyone who will look at her, but sometimes she'll grab my hand when we're in public if someone wants to talk to her, or insist that I give her her food at a restaurant when we're out with my dad. Little stuff like that. I'm working hard to encourage her to be open to everyone (not in a creepy 'go with the stranger' sort of way), but I guess this is the naturally shy age.

She's obsesed with her "yamma" (grandma). She's basically told me she'd trade me in if it meant more time with her. Below is them at the beach in early August, when Juliet, me and my mom went to a cottage for a week:

She's so....pretty! Her hair goes into a ponytail and is all sun-streaked from being outside a lot. Her eyes are still bright blue. She looks great in everything. She's losing the baby face and becoming more 'little girl' and we still get told she's stunning by strangers on a daily basis.

Her social skills are hit-and-miss. At daycare she's an angel -- helpful, good at sharing, loving to the younger kids. With me, she has a tendancy to share poorly, pinch, push, and generally cause me to apologize repeatedly to the other parents....but...um....at least she's good at daycare. We're working on strategies to manage the behaviour when she's with me.

She's adventurous and loves rides that go fast. She still loves to be spun and thrown, just like when she was a baby.

She is OBSESSED with sitting in "mummy's seat" in "mummy car". She insists on sitting in the driver's seat, being buckled in, turning on the music and the windshield wipers, rolling down the windows and pretending to drive. Every time we go to the car. Like, EVERY time. A mini-tantrum ensues when I say no and put her directly into her car seat....

She loves to help. Cleaning, carrying, whatever. I enjoy the helping stage.

Above, Juliet helps carry stuff to the beach!

She's so many things to so many people. Everyone loves her. She's, like, the most loved thing ever. She is picky and demanding and (recently) bossy, opinionated and reckless. But she's also sweet, cuddly when the mood strikes her, intelligent, clever, happy, pretty, giggly, and, sometimes even sensitive. She's such an awesome little person and I can't BELIEVE she's almost TWO!!!!!

10 Year Plan

2010-08-01T19:26:00.003-04:00

Today, Kevin and I sat down for the first time to try to map out a long-term plan for our family. We talk ALL the time about our hopes and desires for the future, but we've never put it on paper and talked logistics about some of the finer details.

I made a chart with each year and beneath the year put what age we'll be that year and what age Juliet will be. Then, on a separate sheet, we listed goals. In one column, stuff we want to acquire (including education, property, more children, majore life experiences, etc.), and in the other column, places we want to travel.

We then set off to fill in our yearly columns with items from our list.

It was an extremely beneficial exercise and allowed us to discuss things in a practical way that kept us on the same page. Often we have discussions that end in arguments (since we view things differently) or that end in fantasies with no basis in the real world.

Some highlights of our 10-year plan (which we know is subject to change):

- Upgrade to our 'long-term home' (since the home we are in right now is only large enough to accommodate us as a family of 3) Fall, 2015

- Have baby #2 in either spring 2015 or Spring 2016; Have #3 in Fall/winter 2018 or 2019

- acquire a 2nd property (either a cottage in Ontario or a vacation home elsewhere) either 2018 or 2020

- Spend 2020 living abroad with one of us (probably me) working

- Reach our goal of taking two 'large' vacations annually (one family vacation, one just Kevin & I) by 2015 with once-a-year vacations happening until then

- 2016 sees Kevin reaching his earning goals and his goal of reaching a certain level of management within his field and hopefully starting on his Master's degree

There are many more factors we discussed, but those are the more fun ones :). It's crazy putting the years on paper and realizing that this roadmap ends when I'm 36 and Kevin is 39. Those numbers seem so huge and far away, since I just turned 26, but the reality is that if we want to reach our goals and fulfill our dreams, we need to plan for it and stay on course.

2011 will be a big year right off the bat with our wedding/honeymoon in July, me returning to school full-time in September (and potentially Kevin, too, on a part-time basis while he continues to work) and our big family vacation to the Carribean for New Year's!

I look forward to working hard and having fun and looking back in 10 years to see how close we are to the life we mapped out on this sweaty Sunday on the first day of August, 2010.

Cottage Time!

2010-07-26T21:03:00.013-04:00

It's not that we don't love Toronto...we totally do! But we've been given the most spectacular opportunities to get away this summer...and we're taking every one of them!

We were lucky to be invited to my friend's family's cottage from July 21-25. Actually, we were invited from July 19th...but I had Bon Jovi tickets on the 20th, so we headed up on the Wednesday. My mom joined us, since my friend, Erika, was up with her parents, and my mom loves cottages as much as we do...my mom is also a fantastic 'nanny' hehehehe.

Juliet had an amazing time. We swam, played and got to ride in lots of boats. The grown-ups even got to water ski (one of my favourite things in the world to do, which I haven't done in many years!).

In photos, as always:

Juliet models her first ever lifejacket, waiting to go in the ski boat outside of the cottage.

Juliet and Grandma Karyn...getting excited for water skiing!!!!

Erika shows us how it's done! Slaloming....very impressive.

Grandma Karyn - age 58 - gets up the first try and gets all the way around the lake, after not skiing in about 30 years!!!! Wow.

I did it! On my 3rd try I got up!! I totally did it!!

Juliet and I in the ski boat. She loved to watch the water skiing, and loved riding in the boat. A future skiier? I think so!

Grandma Karyn & Juliet play at the water's edge.

Me and my mom on a boat ride our last evening out there. Juliet was in bed by then, and Erika's dad was kind enough to stay at the cottage while the rest of us went around the lake!

A beautiful view of Lake Kushog at sunset.

Juliet watches the guy from CAA attach our car to his truck to tow us back to Toronto...yup....we got a flat tire and got stuck in some town on the way home....our 2.5 hour drive turned into an 8 hour commute home!!!

In spite of our car troubles, we had a wonderful, relaxing vacation. Juliet remains obsessed with the water, and with her developing language skills, she can let us know she wants to swim better than ever! She once went over, grabbed her bathing suit, brought it to us, started taking her clothes off and saying "kini, kini" (kini = bikini in Juliet speak), asking us to put on her swim suit!! She also refers to the lake as "wawa pool". SOOO FUNNY!!!!

Edmonton, Calgary and Jasper in 8 Days!

2010-07-15T17:23:00.015-04:00

On Wednesday, July 14, we returned from our first ever family vacation to Alberta. We've done mini-family vacations in the past, but nothing longer than a weekend. Kevin and I have been lucky enough to have Juliet stay with my mom when we've gone on longer vacations over the past 1.5 years. But this time we wanted to give it a shot...

I went to theatre school in Edmonton from 2002-2004, and lived in Edmonton until early 2005, so the trip began as an excuse to a) get Juliet on an airplane before she turned two (ie. while it was still free) and b) to visit friends from school.

During the planning process, a day trip to Calgary for the Stampede and two days in Jasper for the mountains and hot springs were added. Another blog will follow with tips on travelling with a toddler (we learned a LOT!) but here's an overview of our wonderful, exhausting, overwhelming first major family vacation.

West Edmonton Mall. At the entrance to the indoor amusement park.

Visiting a friend of mine from school, she took us to a great little pond, where she played with Juliet, even though we didn't have a swim diaper or bathing suit on us...oops!

Juliet made BFFs with my friend's daughters, Emma and Zoe (aged 6 & 5). We were so fortunate to be able to stay with them. Juliet learned a lot being exposed to older children so consistently for 8 days.

Juliet and Kevin watch a hilarious (and extremely talented) performer at Edmonton's Street Performer's Festival 2010.

Juliet on a sugar high at Zoe's 5th birthday party!

Juliet pets a miniature horse named Shanti at the Calgary Stampede! Seconds after this photo was taken, Shanti nibbled on Juliet's fingers and then stepped on my foot (I was wearing sandals). Ouch!!! haha!

Kevin and I were lucky that our friend, Mista, babysat Juliet one night so we could get out for a date night. We started out by visiting the legislative grounds (photo above) and finished with dinner and a walk down Whyte Ave!

On our second day in Jasper, Kevin and I took Juliet, Emma and Zoe to the Miette Hot Springs, a beautiful pool fed by hot springs and surrounded by the gorgeous Rocky Mountains. Perfect!

Driving through Jasper, we got up close and personal with an elk. This elk was just casually walking by, so we stopped so I could get out of the car to get a photo. I was less than 3 meters from the elk! Very very cool!!

Kevin and Juliet pose in front of the Athabasca Falls, a gorgeous waterfall that comes off the Athabasca River in Jasper.

Juliet looks out the window of the airplane as we head back to Toronto.

This gives a very bare bones overview of our trip. It was eight days of absolute jam-packed adventure. We explored parts of Edmonton I'd never visited, caught up with friends and experienced the Calgary Stampede, as well as visiting Jasper for the first time. Kevin and I fell in love with Jasper and plan to visit the mountains again as soon as we possibly can!!!

Travelling with Juliet was an overall success, but I could definitely live without another plane ride for a while....more on that to come!

Now we're home for the week, but Juliet and I head up to my friend, Erika's, cottage next Wednesday, so Juliet won't *really* have time to re-adjust to regular daily life until we get back from there next Sunday!

Juliet's First Toronto Pride Parade & Festival!

2010-07-04T19:59:00.014-04:00

Since Juliet did so wonderfully at the Canada Day parade and all the music and festivities, we decided to take it one BIG step further and attend the final day of Toronto's Pride Festival, which happens to be the day of the big Pride Parade! Here's our day in photos:

Our first stop was the Family Pride area, where there was lots of fun to be had for the under 12 set!

TD had a gorgeous black and white poster up that kids were able to help paint. I thought this was the most brilliant idea. Below is what the picture/mural looked like when we were there:

Cool, right?

This activity was VERY cool too, but J was too young to really participate. It was sponsored by a toy store and let the kids work with all these random supplies to build a city! Juliet just liked to touch and explore. But we had to cut her off before she started breaking stuff ;).

After the Family Pride experience we headed to Yonge and Wood and joined our friends Linda and Christina (above) and their wonderful group of friends who had a special viewing area set up for the parade. We were SO grateful that they let us join them! Following are some images from the parade:

Probably my fave group of all. People from tons of backgrounds, who speak all kinds of languages marching to support their children regardless of who their kids choose to love!

Kevin's fave! He actually asked to take a pic of this guy! He NEVER takes pics!

Juliet watches some "princesses" march.

Juliet was exhausted...yet still managed to muster up exceptional energy in between daddy cuddles.

What a fun day. This was my first Pride too, and I loved it! Juliet, as usual, came through with flying colours and so much cuteness!

Tomorrow is our last day of prep before we take off for our 8 day vacation in Alberta! I'll be spending the next 36 hours preparing strategies for keeping Juliet happy on her first ever plane ride!

Happy Canada Day!

2010-07-02T12:09:00.012-04:00

Juliet's 2nd Canada Day (yesterday) was so much fun!

First up, we found out that a parade was going right by our house. Juliet was mid-nap when I heard it coming, but I made the decision to get her up for it. Above is one of the floats going by. Juliet wasn't terribly interested in it, but the novelty of having it go right by our front door was too cool to pass up :).

Next, my friend Erika came by and we picked up my mom and went to Woodbine Park, where there was a big all-day Canada Day celebration going on. We went specifically to see the cast of Rock of Ages (a musical currently playing in Toronto) perform. There was some waiting around involved, so Juliet entertained herself by trying on Erika's new shoes.

Above is a video of the Toronto cast of ROCK OF AGES performing Bon Jovi's Wanted Dead or Alive!!

After the show, we took a nice long walk along the Boardwalk, by the beach, and then headed up to the Beaches shopping district, where we stopped for (what else?) ice cream!!!!

By the time we walked back to my mom's house it was after 4:00pm and Juliet hadn't napped all day (aside from the nap I interrupted so she could watch the parade). So we headed home, she had a nap, and Kevin came home from work. When Juliet woke up, we walked up to a nearby park where there was a HUGE community Canada Day celebration, complete with a stage, food, a midway (which I didn't see until it was too late), and, finally, FIREWORKS!!!!! Here are some images from our time there...

Kevin wanted a chance to give Juliet some Canada Day ice cream, so the lucky kid got ice cream twice in one day :).

Juliet was one tired baby, even after her late afternoon nap, so it was hard to get a picture, but here's one of the three of us, waiting for fireworks.

Turns out that bringing Juliet to the fireworks was a WONDERFUL idea! She ardored them. She kept saying "WOW!" and "BOOM!" and "MORE!" She sat still and stared at the sky the entire time, never getting bored or scared.

It was a long, fun, sunny, fast-paced day, and Juliet was wiped out by the end of it. We got home around 11pm...a full 4 hours past her bedtime! But she worked hard to stay awake. Here she is on the walk home from the fireworks.

Happy Canada Day, Everyone! I hope your day was as much fun as ours was :).

19 Month Stats & Summer Begins!

2010-06-29T10:52:00.010-04:00

Juliet at 19 months - June 28, 2010

We were late getting Juliet in for her 18-month doctor's appointment, but we finally did it this morning. Current stats:

Weight: 25 lbs, 8 oz
Height: 32 inches

Doctor was pleased with her progress and happy with her height and weight. All is well and he even told us she's adorable...bonus points from Dr. K! Turns out his receptionist isn't terribly reliable and told us we didn't need a 15-month appointment, when really we did. So we have to bring Juliet back to see him later this summer to get her immunizations up to date. Today she got her chicken pox and menengitis shots and was very brave. Only a few tears!

Juliet is speaking a lot now. She says too many words to count. She mimics everything you say and will combine words if prompted (she'll say thank you and good girl, specifically). Her favourite words are Mommy, Daddy, Wawa (water), Baba (bottle), doll, girl, baby, me, ya, no, and eeehhhhh (the whiny noise she makes when we say no to her!). She is running and exerting her independence in a very exciting, but challenging, way!

Our summer is off to a perfect start. We are gearing up for our first plane ride with Juliet (exactly 7 days from now we will be on a plane getting ready for take-off!). We are heading to Edmonton to visit friends from my college days, to see some sights (including trips to Calgary for the Stampede and Jasper for the hot springs and mountains), and hopefully pack our 8 days there with as much exhausting fun and friendship as we can handle.

While we wait for July 6 to arrive, we've been out and about, socializing and making use of our season's pass to Canada's Wonderland! Juliet is too small for the cool rides (obviously) but can go on pretty much everything in the kiddie land! She is a total rollercoaster baby, so she LOVES the rides, and the water park, too (of course!). Here are some picturs of Juliet at Wonderland during her first two visits there this June:

Juliet adores the waterpark at Canada's Wonderland. Here she is on our first trip there in the wave pool!

The Kids' Land at Wonderland has been re-named Snoopy Land and we got to visit with Linus and Lucy, the Peanuts characters. Here's Juliet, Kevin and Linus.

Loving the merry-go-round with Mommy on our 2nd visit to Wonderland.

Juliet can't get enough of the more "hard core" rides! Here she is on the fast race cars with daddy. No hands!

Having a blast on the ferris wheel with mom and dad. Unfortunately, it broke down before the ride really got going, but it meant we got to spend a good 10 minutes at the very top of the ride, looking out over kids' land and singing "The Wheels on the Bus"!!!

I look forward to more amazing summer fun with Juliet, not to mention our Edmonton trip and three visits to cottages during July & August. Stay tuned for more pictures and more stories!

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-20T20:11:00.004-04:00

For Kev's 2nd Father's Day, Juliet drew him a picture (her first real art gift...I expect these gifts will become the norm by Christmas!)and we put it in a frame, and we had a BBQ for both of our families. It was a busy, fun, delicious day.

Weirdly, I didn't get a single photo this afternoon at the BBQ, so here's an oldie but a goodie that exemplifies the amazing relationship Kevin has developed with Juliet over the past 18.5 months. This photo was taken a couple months ago at a fabulous little diner we found in our 'hood!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all the dads who make their children's lives special :).

The Way I Love You (an accidental book review)

2010-05-19T20:26:00.007-04:00

I've started taking some summer courses to prepare myself for a potential return to school in 2011 (or 2012...we'll see), and have, therefore, been away from Juliet for more time than I would like. It's short-term...courses will be over by late-June and we have the whole summer together (yay!).

Anyways, the reason I write this is that Wednesdays are my long days. Juliet sleeps at my mom's on Tuesday nights so that I can leave for school at 7:30am with the car, and I don't see Juliet until Wednesday at 5pm...needless to say my mommy guilt is in FULL effect by my lunch break on Wednesdays....

For the past two weeks I've gone to the campus bookstore during lunch and picked Juliet up a book. Last week it was two mini Robert Munsch books (which she's too young for, but I still read them to her at bedtime) and today I found the most perfect book in the world:

It`s the sweetest board book about the love between a little girl and her dog. I couldn't believe it when I found it. Every page was like reading about Juliet and Ophelia. The author is clearly a parent and a dog-owner. I think it's a must-own for every family that includes a child and a dog....

Here are my own kid and dog...best friends, confidants, co-conspirators....

PS - Happy THIRD BIRTHDAY to Ophelia, the cutest, most annoying dog in the world, who loves us almost as much as she loves our food. She was born May 18, 2007 and we've been loving her since we brought her home when she was 7 weeks old!

It's Been a While!

2010-05-01T01:11:00.008-04:00

Have I ever been neglectful of my blog lately!

Let's recap:

- Juliet is 17 months old now, as of April 28. That means that in less than a month I will have a real, live one-and-a-half year-old!

- I have a new website up and running! Check it out here! I built it myself and am very excited to announce that our business will be up and running as of September 7, 2010. We already have 14 people scheduled in for interviews and are only looking to fill four more spots!

- I start two spring courses on Tuesday. It's going to be a busy 2 months and Juliet will be in the equivalent of full-time care (with a variety of caregivers) for the first time.

- We've booked a summer vacation! We're travelling to Edmonton in early July, to visit people I went to college with back from 2002-2004 and to really tour Edmonton. When I went to school there I was a poor student and didn't really take any time to explore the city. This time we'll be in full tourist mode and I'm very excited! Plus this trip has allowed me to reach my goal of getting Juliet on an airplane before she turns two (read: while it's FREE!).

- Juliet is starting one more round of baby swimming lessons next weekend. We're going back to Diaper Fit, which we started when she was just 3 months old. We stopped going for a few sessions but I want to give her a little swimming refresher before summer begins and we're in lakes and outdoor pools. I'm hoping she'll learn to jump in the pool this session!

And now, a Juliet update in photos!
Juliet playing at the IKEA kitchen I got for her. She's obsessed with all-things kitchen-related! I am obsessed with the fact that her hair is long enough to put clips in!
Juliet and Ophelia enjoy some outdoor playtime in our backyard. Notice the beads she's wearing around her neck. She's become such a little girly-girl...loving necklaces and pushing strollers around.
Her new thing: being a Terrible TWO...seven months early!!! This is from yesterday. This is Juliet running away from me for the 80th time that day. We met up with a mommy and baby we had never met in person (friends from our online birth club) at Vaughan Mills mall. The other baby was well behaved, sweet, stayed by her mother, and didn't fuss at all. MY baby??? Literally ran away from me all day long. Screamed and cried about everything. Fussed non-stop. Good thing she's cute!!
Still a big ice cream fan! At least this time I thought to put on a bib. Don't you just love her "stay away from my ice cream" face?!?!? And check out those brand new purple shoes!!!!!

Can you believe it...PIGTAILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In spite of her premature terrible-two-itis, Juliet is continuing to thrive. She's making lots of words: boaw = ball, dooeeeee = everything else :), she's walking and trying to run, she's a good little helper, and she's still addicted to the swings and slide.

We are extremely excited to have a fantastic summer with our little Princess Bunny Bear!

Juliet's Second Easter Weekend in Pictures!

2010-04-06T20:11:00.010-04:00

Good Friday. Visiting Grandma Sandi's new house and wearing a dress that Ken & Lance brought for her from Mexico last year.

Saturday. Most wonderful day! Us in our shades headed to an afternoon exploring our neighbourhood. We've lived here since summer 2009, but never really explored since all last summer and fall were spent at IKEA and Home Depot getting the house ready and then winter was...winter.

A few hours later we stopped at the most random, awesome little diner for lunch. Here's Juliet and Kevin making fish faces :).
After lunch (where Juliet ate significantly more of my Greek omelet than I did!!) we walked to the park to burn off some calories. This is my favourite pic of that trip. Juliet LOVE, LOVE, LOVES the slide, as you can see!
We were very excited that it was a nice day on Saturday, as the local ice cream shop re-opened for summer on Good Friday. We decided to give Juliet her first ice cream cone EVER on Saturday (she's had bits of our ice creams before, but never her own). This photo was taken seconds after I handed her the cone.....
This is a few minutes later.....

And this is "mommy's monster demon baby" all hopped up on sugar, insisting on walking the rest of the way home. Saturday was perfect!!

And, finally, Easter Sunday. All dressed up (with her beads, which she demands any time she sees them lying around!) and the Bunny side of her Bunny Bear dress, courtesy of Michelle and made by Laura at Wave Kaia.

16 Month Old Peanut Butter Faced Baby Puts on a Show!

2010-04-03T12:31:00.002-04:00

April 3, 2010

During 'second breakfast' (she saw me having peanut butter toast after feeding her her breakfast and begged for some), I got Juliet to show me some fun stuff like how she knows how to laugh & cry on command (the crying in this video is weak, she's actually good at it lol!) and do some other stuff!

Almost 16 Months!

2010-03-19T16:12:00.007-04:00

Me and Juliet @ 15 months old.

Hmmm, I haven't written in a while. Probably because everything is just...normal. Juliet has hit a bit of a plateau, I think, with a crazy flurry of new skills having been picked up over the last few months.

Let's see....here's where she's at right now (she'll be 16 months in 9 days):

Walking

She's totally walking, doing that straight-legged baby walk all over the place. When she's tired she slips and falls a lot, but she's certainly a full-blown walker now. I'd say she crawls maybe once a day, usually when she's tired.

Lots of people said, "watch out, soon she'll be walking", but I'm actually enjoying the walking WAY more than I did the crawling. Probably because the acquisition of walking skills has coincided with a much higher level of comprehension. Obviously she's still a baby, but she can take direction now. So it's great to be able to say, "time to get our coats on, come over here", and have her walk right over to me! She can also get toys on command, understands "no" (though only sometimes acts on that understanding), and will even fetch things for you if you ask! What more can I ask for?!

My Little Puppet

Sooo trainable at this stage!!! Here is a sample of the things I've taught her to do:

- point at herself when I ask, "Who's mommy's little demon monster baby?!
- Shake her head "no" when asked, "are you a boy" and agree that she's a girl (still shaky on this one)

- point out her head, parts of her face, bellybutton, etc. Currently working on learning "cheeks" and "shoulders"

- Throw her arms out wide to indicate "sooooo much" when asked, "how much does so-and-so love you?" or "how much do you love so-and-so?" - While reading her favourite book, Once Upon a Potty, she gives the main character, Prudence, kisses, shakes her head "no" when the book asks questions, claps when the book announces that Prudence got a potty, and can even point out Prudence's mother!

- Gives Ophelia "gentle pets" and hugs!!

A Friendly Face

I am so happy that Juliet is still super social, will go to anyone, and loves to say hi to the world. I've been told that now that they're so aware they may not be so open and willing to socialize, but Juliet still is, and that makes me SO happy!!!

Daycare

Juliet goes to a home daycare in our neighbourhood with a lovely lady one day a week. She will start going full-time in the fall, once I secure a full-time job, and will continue full-time there until she starts school, which will coincide with me entering my last year of school, if all goes well! It should (knock on wood) work out perfectly, as I'll start working full-time after graduating right as she starts kindergarden and will, therefore, free up lots of money, since she won't need full-time daycare anymore! YAY!

Routine

Juliet is still napping twice a day! It's wonderful!!

She's a good eater, but pickier than she used to be for sure. She's very vocal when she doesn't like something. She also gives the dog her 2nd, 3rd and 4th meals of the day by slipping her food and letting her lick her hands. SO GROSS.

Friends

The baby that Juliet socializes with the most is probably Kaylin, who is only 5 months. She also has some friends at daycare, but I've been terrible about making friends for her with babies that are her age. Days are so busy that it's hard to get out to the meetups and the other social events that are available for moms and toddlers.

Overall, Juliet is a happy, healthy, well-adjusted, adorable little thing! I weighed her on our bathroom digital scale and she was 23.6 lbs. She feels like she weighs MUCH more!

Until next time :).

Israel Trip Part One

2010-03-01T20:41:00.009-05:00

I went to Israel from February 11-23, 2010 through the Taglit program.

I could write a novel about the trip (but I won't). I was lucky enough to travel from Jerusalem to the desert way up north to the Golan Heights and to Tel Aviv. I saw everything from lush, beautiful greenery and waterfalls to stark deserts to thriving urban cities.

I learned that what we see on the news about the Middle East is only a fraction of the story. Israel is not just guns and soldiers (although there ARE guns and there ARE soldiers).

It's not just a desert.

It's a tiny country that you can drive top to bottom in eight hours, yet is home to millions of trees, a diverse population of Jews, Arabs, Bedouins, Ethiopians and many, many others. In the span of two hours you can drive from the emptiest, quietest desert to the heart of Tel Aviv, which is a city that is just as rich in culture (and malls and bars) as Toronto.

I encourage anyone who watches the news and hears about the Middle East conflict to make an effort to either travel to one of the countries in question, or at least spend some time online, reading about daily life in these places. For every story about the army and the politicians, there are thousands of stories about beautiful children going to school, students thriving in universities, families getting started...anything you can think of in your own community is happening there.

Without further adieu, here are some photos from my journey.

A view of Jerusalem from an observation point. A city that is home to thousands of years of culture. Me in front of the Western Wall in the Old City in Jerusalem. No, I'm not that much of a fashion victim (LOL), but I had to cover up my shoulders and it was hot. So clashing scarf it was!!

From ancient ruins to modern day. Some very happy people on Ben Yehuda Street on our first night out in Jerusalem. These people believe in spreading joy through song and enthusiastic dance!At the beginning of our hike through (and up...waaaay up) the canyon Ein Ovdat. So gorgeous.
My life is complete! I have ridden a camel! Me and my friend Leah on our camel (who I named Princess and who is obviously my kindred spirit -- note the purple harness

I'll be back with a Part 2 post about my trip that will have pictures of the Bedouin compound we visited, as well as some of the beauty of Northern Israel and Tel Aviv.

Thanks for taking the time to look through Part 1. I hope it has given you even a tiny idea of the beauty that exists in the Middle East.

Juliet at 15 months!

2010-02-26T09:46:00.002-05:00

Hello!

I'm home from my trip with a multitude of photos and video to come :).

Until then, here's an update on Juliet via video. She'll be 15 months on Sunday (Feb 28), and I took a video of her the other day showing off her many talents of late!

Enjoy!

2 Weeks Away!

2010-02-10T20:41:00.005-05:00

Well it's a bittersweet evening. Tomorrow I leave for two weeks. But this isn't like our Dominican trip from October (which I never did get around to blogging about...but it was sensational). This is me, by myself, for two whole weeks! And right as Juliet is starting to make real words and literally moments before she's going to start walking more than she crawls!!!

As much as I'd like to stay at home to ensure, 100%, that I don't miss a single milestone, I've been given a great opportunity to travel across the world for FREE! I'll be going to Israel to learn about the culture, see sights, and do some extra cool stuff like sleep in the desert and ride a camel :).

13 days begin tomorrow when I'm dropped off at the airport at 3:30pm. I both can't wait and wish it would never get here. But I think at this point mostly I can't wait. Juliet will divide her time between her two grandma's houses, and Kevin has an extra week off that he'll spend at home with J next week.

And since I know no one can stand the thought of 2 weeks without Juliet photos (teeheehee), here ya go:

Juliet does her famous "OH NO!" action. Don't you love how babies are like really adorable trained puppies? Or monkeys? All we have to do is say "Oh no" and she immediately knows what to do!

Juliet gnaws on a Wii remote while her puppy sister models her "Naughty Dog/Nice Dog" bandana, which she got for Christmas from Grandma K.

My Baby's Not a Baby Anymore!

2010-02-07T02:42:00.006-05:00

Most recently I counted 20 steps in a row! She still prefers crawling, but she's just about walking.

Juliet is making lots of things that closely resemble words! She communicates no by shaking her head, says "ya" for yes (though she doesn't always mean yes, but it's a good guideline). She does the standard "mama" and "dada" and she says "hi" and maybe kinda sorta "bye".

She waves hello and goodbye. She gives hugs and kisses. She knows what "gentle" means when petting the dog. She does the baby sign for more (my mom taught her). She's as close to a fully functioning human as she could possibly be considering she's been on the earth for less than 15 months. Truly amazing!

Here she is in some of her more hilarious recent moments:

In what looks like straight up bad parenting, I was loading the dishwasher and J was playing nearby. I turned to empty a plate into the garbage and, ten seconds later, when I turned back, I saw THIS!!!!! :)
Giving daddy kisses through the railing!

A Shout Out to Annya Miller Photography

2010-01-22T21:18:00.007-05:00

Photo credit: Annya Miller Photography

As some may remember, Annya Miller took Juliet's newborn photos when she was only 5 days old!

You can view the wonderful photos she took here:

Click here for colour photos!

Click here for black & white photos!

As you can see, she is incredibly talented (plus her subject matter is pretty freaking cute). Today we were lucky enough to have her back to take a variety of photos. The goal of today's shoot was to photograph: Juliet at a year old, our new house in all its IKEA-decorated glory ;), our family of four (dog included in that count) and some engagement photos.

It was a huge, fun success! Annya is not only a super fun photographer, but a really fun person to have around. I cannot wait to see the results of today's photo shoot, and totally blow my budget ordering pictures.

Visit Annya's website here!

Photo credit: Annya Miller Photography

This Time Last Year...

2010-01-17T00:03:00.010-05:00

Just wanted to pop in and take a look back at what Juliet looked like and where she was at this time last year.

This week last year was a big one for Juliet. She saw her first movie (Gran Torino), met her good friend Michelle, went for coffee with Sarah, Ashley and Ananya, and hung out in the sling on my chest 24/7. She also had the following spit up event: One of my all-time favourite pictures from Juliet's infancy and the epitome of dog and baby parenting. Baby spits up everywhere, dog has a field day licking it up...and getting it all over her nose. Baby cries. Parents can't possibly do anything but watch. And laugh.

This time THIS year...
Yup, I have the happiest, cutest, most fantastic 13.5-month-old on the planet. And I appreciate her every single day!

First time suited up and out in the snow this winter. Honestly, not sure it was worth the effort. She didn't seem to even know she was outside. And the aftermath (the soaking wet all over the house, etc.)...mmmm...maybe snow is for next year :).
Juliet is introduced to her extra special "intro to crayons" crayons. She does not make one mark on the paper. I colour on Piglet. She tries to eat the crayons.

Just keeps getting cuter.....................

Happy 2010

2010-01-01T22:51:00.002-05:00

We had a great New Year's Eve. Certainly beat last year's, which involved me being deathly ill, Kevin being on his worst behaviour, and Juliet screaming all night long. In a hotel room. :p

This year we went to our friend's place and it was great fun! Party games, good food, some Wii, and a baby fast asleep at her Grandma's house ;).

So. Resolutions.

My only real resolution is to make sure I'm doing less talking and more DOING. It's been lovely being home with Juliet exclusively, but I really do want to establish a career and it's time I make a decision about where I'm going to focus. I am maybe the luckiest person in the world to have a perfect child AND the luxury to find the career that makes me happiest. Kevin is so supportive -- he'd be equally pleased if I ran a daycare out of the house as he would if I became a brain surgeon.

I resolve to get that sorted out this year by volunteering in areas that interest me, upgrading my high school courses so I can gain entrance to various post-grad programs I'm considering, and picking up more babysitting in the evenings to contribute more to our household income. I resolve to make a conscious effort to get the business I'm starting with my mom off the ground by March 2010, which will also help supplement our income.

Finally, I resolve to take my post-baby health more seriously. I know there is something wrong with me. It's just not normal that I'm eating like a saint and working out religiously and still haven't lost an ounce since the day I brought Juliet home from the hospital. I have a doctor's appointment on Jan 4 and I am not leaving her office until she refers me to someone who can figure this out. I can't afford to keep buying new clothes when I have perfectly nice clothes from before the baby sitting in my drawers.

I suppose I have a mini-resolution, which is to make sure I'm keeping Juliet's diet clean. I was doing a great job at that until the holidays hit. I'm pretty sure she's had some sort of holiday-related treat every day since her birthday...ack!

Happy New Year everyone. Hope 2010 is the start of a magnificent decade!!!

Looking Back Over 2009

2009-12-30T09:16:00.016-05:00

+It's almost over. My resolutions post will come soon. First I'd like to look back over some highlights of '09.

1) Of course, my first full year of raising my most beautiful daughter, Juliet. Juliet is an absolutely joyful baby. At this time last year she was literally a sleeping, projectile pooping and vomiting, squirming little blob of a baby. Today she is a cruising, vocalizing, charming, clever little girl. It's incredible and how absolutely lucky am I to be able to witness this all from a front-row seat!?

2) Crossfit. One of my oldest friends in the world, Jing Jing, introduced me to this form of exercise and it's the best thing that's ever happened to me. The crossfit philosophy of short, intense workouts and the method of training they employ (classes where you get personal attention froma trainer vs a gym model where you work out on your own) works for Kevin and I wonderfully. Crossfit has become a huge part of our lives and, while I still have over 40 lbs of baby weight to get rid of, that is because I need to fix my eating and talk to my doctor about what is wrong with my hormones post-baby. My workouts are on the exact right track and that's because of my dedication to crossfit.

3) Our Dominican vacation. Nothing more to say about that one. It was wonderful!!!!!

4) Maintaining my connections with my friends. While I'd give myself a D- in making new mommy friends (I totally suck at it!), I'd have to give myself a B+ in maintaining my old friendships. It has required a lot of effort on my part as everyone is busy, but I'm proud that I didn't drop all my friendships when I had Juliet.

5) Buying our house! Gosh I can't believe I thought of this FIFTH! This was a HUGE event that consumed the entire spring and summer of 09! We started hunting in approximately February, bought at the end of May, moved in in mid-July and I'm only starting to feel like the house is 'done' (and it's still far from really truly done lol) NOW! I adore our house. It's small and I realize it won't be our house forever, but it's just right as a starter home with lovely hardwood floor and the open staircase and renovated bathroom and big windows...we love our home and we're so lucky to be able to have the perfect house to raise our little girl in. Of course this entry into 2009 highlights wouldn't be complete without a shout out to my mom who let us live in her basement apartment while we saved up money to buy our house. Thank you!

6) Our engagement. September 6, 2009!

I'm sure there are more. It was a very full, very busy year and it's been a lot of fun (and a lot of stress). I have a bunch of goals on tap for next year, but I'll save that for later. Right now I have a dog and a baby who need to be entertained :).

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T14:19:00.003-05:00

Kevin and I both have divorced parents. All four of our parents live locally and, as of this year, none of them attend the other's holiday celebration. Siiiiighhhhhh....

Just like the Reese Witherspoon movie, we have FOUR CHRISTMASES to attend! Woohoo! OK, in fairness, we only have three Christmases. My dad doesn't celebrate. We have Sunday brunch with his side of the fam. But still, four holiday events.

Here is our schedule (in case you don't have enough going on in your own world and want to know all about our little universe):

Today (Christmas Eve): My mom's. We're still working on getting a tradition started. This year we're going to decorate a gingerbread house, eat a delicious meal (I am contributing dessert -- a chocolate cranberry cake that I've never made before), and we're going to do a movie night -- Love, Actually and Funny People. The only people who will be there are us, my mom and her husband so we're trying to create a tradition that works for a small group.

Tomorrow (The Big Day): Wake up at my mom's and make breakfast, open gifts and force the dog to wear a bow ;). Then our unit will head up to Kev's mom's, where we will do gifts with her, Kev's bro & fiance. Then the rest of Kev's family and my mom and her hubby arrive for more presents (anyone wanna donate some space in their basement to store all the gifts Juliet will be getting???) and Christmas dinner. We then sleep over at her house.

The 26th (Boxing Day): Up until last year Kevin's dad joined us at his mom's on Christmas day. Not this year. This year we're hosting him and his girlfriend and his brother & fiance at OUR HOUSE for what I've decided will be a 'leftovers pot luck'. We'll see how that goes!

The 27th: Brunch at my aunt's with my dad's side.

The 28th: Please, universe, let me get back to the gym....hahahahaha

Would love to hear about other people with 'modern families' and how you balance it all!

Merry Merry, Happy Happy!

Jessica & Juliet

The Santa Photo Fiasco...

2009-12-16T21:48:00.003-05:00

We tried three times and had three Santa photo failures. However, this particular failure was somewhat hilarious. So i thought I'd post it here:The poor kid was horrified! This photo was taken at Drysdale's on the day we went to help Kevin's mom chop down her own Christmas tree. There is a puppy-Santa photo to come. Will post it as soon as they e-mail it to me.

Well, 9 days to Christmas and SO much to do. Currently working on burning the slide show I created on to the first of 10 CDs. Our low budget Christmas involves giving homemade gifts to our families -- including this slide show. What are you doing to save $$ this Christmas??

Holiday Greetings from US to YOU!

2009-12-14T15:58:00.004-05:00

With the holidays coming up and the anticipation of how busy, busy, busy we will be, I thought I'd take a moment to send out a holiday greeting to all of the great people who have both read my blog and shared their blogs with me over the past year. It's been so great to follow the growth of your children and your families and to share Juliet's growth with you. Here's to a fantabulous 2010!!

Jessica

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, JULIET!

2009-11-29T08:36:00.006-05:00

The party and the big day were yesterday and it all went wonderfully. Separate party post to follow once I have the pictures on the computer. Until then, here is Juliet's official 12 month/1 year post!

Weight: 21 lbs, 9 oz

Length: 29.5 inches

At ONE YEAR OLD, Juliet is...

Cruising, has taken maybe half a step unassisted,but still favours crawling
Napping twice per day (yay!)
Clapping, waving, turning on and off light switches, giving high fives, looking at the correct person (usually) when asked, "where is so-and-so?", petting Ophelia (and is starting to work on being gentle. Kinda), giving hugs on command, putting phones up to her ear and pretending to 'talk'
Eating everything imaginable. She still hasn't tried honey, but that's about it. Loves to feed herself and will make a big stink if you try to feed her
Obsessed with electronics, particularly remote controls and computer keyboards, and ESPECIALLY electronics that we specifically keep away from her!!
A rollercoaster baby. She loves to be flung around, spun, bounced and flipped
still babbling, 'mamama', 'dadada', 'bububu', 'heh'
Sometimes pairing the 'heh' noise with waving, which may mean she's saying 'hi'. Maybe.
Has 2 bottom teeth that have been in for about 6 months and FOUR teeth at various stages of coming in on top!!
About to enjoy our new family tradition of leftover birthday cake for breakfast following family birthday parties! Hooray!

Juliet is a sweet, loving, funny, adorable, curious, easygoing, intelligent, adaptable, beautiful little girl. We are the luckiest people in the world to have had the opportunity to watch her grow up over the past 12 months and 1 day (and counting)!

Happy, happy, happy, happy birthday to our Juliet! And many many many more!!!! :)

It's TOMORROW!

2009-11-27T22:06:00.006-05:00

My little baby girl will be one tomorrow. I can't believe it. She's such a cool little person and I'm so excited that I get to keep spending my time with her and keep taking care of her. How lucky I am!

On Wednesday we went to Sears for a quickie holiday/birthday photo shoot. We plan to have our amazing newborn photographer back in the new year to do family pics.

Today I baked Juliet's birthday cakes and it was a catastrophe! I made two total duds that ended up in the garbage, found out that the $15 heart shaped pans I bought won't work, and finally settled on square cakes. It will be fine but it was a bit devestating...and put me 3 hours behind! Then Ananya came over and we cooked for over 8 hours!! All the food is done, done, done and it's all vegan! Yay!

Tomorrow starts early, up and getting ready to go, and the party starts at 2pm! Eeek! I'll be the mother of a one-year-old at 2:04pm tomorrow. And to think, I'm sitting here remembering what I was doing at this exact moment last year like it was yesterday (packing up to FINALLY go back to the hospital after 24 hours of labour!) and remembering my first positive pregnancy test like it was yesterday, too. Does time ever fly.

A preview of the gorgeous pics we got at Sears -- these are the unedited ones from the CD (official 1 year bday post to follow at some point this weekend):

PS - check out my BIRTH STORY from last year, in case you have nothing better to do. I re-read it just now and...well...whatever happened to memories of the pain of childbirth fading over time? Not so much...

This Time Last Year...

2009-11-21T14:09:00.004-05:00

It was my 'first' due date. My doctor changed it to the 18th of Nov, but initially my due date was the 21st. NOTHING was happening. It was a Friday. I was uncomfortable and frustrated as I read the birth stories of all the other women on the online baby board. It was also my dad's birthday, so I went with him and my little brother and sister to a movie...I think it was....nope, no clue. Some kids movie. I had them sign his birthday card after the movie and I'm not entirely sure, but I think we had dinner either that night or later in the weekend. We lived at my mom's in the basement apartment and Kevin worked a horrible job that had him commuting 90 minutes each way and made both of us miserable. It wasn't until a whole week later that Juliet made her appearance.

Flash forward.

Juliet is exactly one week away from her first birthday. It's a Saturday. I'm hosting my dad's birthday dinner and there will be 12 people in my house in a few hours. I'm making a spaghetti sauce and a black forest cake at his request. Juliet is teething like crazy and not in the best mood. She's upstairs SUPPOSED to be napping right now but I don't think she is. She's napping in her nursery in OUR house that we bought 7 months ago. Kevin is at work at his newer job that is a 10 minute walk from our house and is flexible enough that it rarely makes us unhappy, let alone miserable.

What a difference a year makes. I cannot wait until I can put up her 1-year-old blog post. A whole year. From newborn to little baby to near-toddlerhood. Wow!!!!

A Belated Hallowe'en Post!

2009-11-10T19:38:00.009-05:00

Well I don't know if I'm ever going to get around to blogging about our Dominican vacation. Sigh. It's just so busy. But, I know that I MUST blog about Juliet's very first Hallowe'en!!

So here goes...

Early on the 31st we dressed Ophelia up in her 'slutty cheerleader' costume (above) and brought the baby's costume in the car. We headed to a doggie Hallowe'en event.

At the event, Juliet got dressed in her costume (above) and watched while Ophelia and I competed in some of the doggie events. Below you can see us competing in a doggie version of musical chairs (which we KICKED BUTT at and WON!). We also ran in relay races and through obstacle courses.

Finally we entered the doggie costume contest. We entered Ophelia as a slutty cheerleader in the first contest and didn't place. BUT in the second contest we took of the cheerleader outfit and entered Juliet & Ophelia as 'fraternal twins'. Above is me walking Ophelia and Ophelia's 'twin' crawling right behind her! And, did I mention that we WON the contest?!!!?? It's true! Ophelia won a big box of dog toys! Woohoo! After all, who could deny a baby and a dog a grand prize?!

That night we dressed Juliet and Ophelia up again and alternated between handing out candy and trick or treating at a few houses on our street. It was great. We got to know our neighbours, got some candy, and even got invited in for a tour of a house down the street that just sold, which was a nice treat. At around 7:30, an exhausted Juliet went to sleep and my dad came over to babysit so Kevin and I could head to opening night of The Toxic Avenger, an absoltuely AWESOME musical that just opened here!!!
The next day we hit up one more doggie event where Ophelia and Juliet BOTH mixed and mingled with dozens of little dogs!

It was a very puppy-licious Hallowe'en and everyone had a blast!

11 Months Old!

2009-10-31T09:33:00.006-04:00

Yup, it's not the best picture, but this is the reason it's so hard to get a good one of her looking into the camera these days -- she's a standing, moving MACHINE!!!!

At 11 Months, Juliet is.....

Standing for much longer periods at a stretch, can even clap and wave while standing independently.
Has taken one step that has ended in her toppling over, but still, she has figured out HOW the walking thing happens. She just hasn't been able to apply the theory quite yet!
Shakes when told to "shake, shake", claps, waves, gives a high five, pets Ophelia and sometimes does 'head butts' when asked.
Napping twice a day but often fights her afternoon nap
Hairy! That's right, her hair is growing and we're hoping we'll be able to make a little tiny itsy bitsy ponytail soon.
Cuddly. She's become a real snuggle bunny when she's tired.
More or less refusing to eat unless she can feed herself. Which often threatens to get messy when we're trying to feed her applesauce or cottage cheese!

Great baby and it was a great month, even though we missed the last week of her month since we were away on our vacation.

Next month -- JULIET TURNS ONE!!! EEEEEEKKKKKKK!!!!!!!

The Upside to the End of Summer!

2009-10-18T17:26:00.008-04:00

Pumpkins! And horse drawn hay rides! And apples! And holiday season! And the leaves changing!

So beautiful and so much fun! We had the most gorgeous fall day for our visit to Chudleigh's Apple Farm. Juliet's first time (because she wasn't born this time last year hehehe).

We invited Juliet's 2 grandmas along and had a great day :).

On a hay bale in the middle of the maze.Juliet takes her first pony ride!!!!

In line for lunch. Ever seen such a happy baby?! And this was after missing BOTH of her naps!!! :)

She used to pull hair when she was up on someone's shoulders. Now she just LOVES it!!!

In the pumpkins. Awesome.

Just a small selection of pics from an amazing day. Next up....Baby's First Halloween (after our adults only week in the Dominican, of course!)

Have a great week. If I don't post before Halloween it's because I have to scramble to get ready for our trip and then we're gone until the 29th! Woohoo! Carribean, here we come!!!!

The Thankful List!

2009-10-12T15:33:00.009-04:00

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm just waiting for Juliet to finish her afternoon nap so we can go to Kevin's work and help him finish up the Thanksgiving meal he's making. Last night we had a delicious meal with his family and the night before at my mom's.

Juliet was AMAZING last night. It prompted me to make a Thankful List, in honour of Thanksgiving, but also so that Juliet will be able to look back on what life was like when she was 10 months old!

The Thankful List 2009

1) The most incredible baby. Not only is she healthy, but she's gorgeous. People stop us on the street all the time to tell us so. She has an amazing personality, is easygoing, social, and happy. She sleeps extremely well -- 12 hours at night and 2 naps per day, no problem. She was a great breast feeder and is now an awesome eater. She's flexible and adaptable and willing to go new places, meet new people and try new things without a complaint. I will be scared to have another baby in the future (the distant future!) because I know that there is no possible way we will have this kind of luck again!

2) My mom. She's my soon-to-be business partner and she's like Juliet's 3rd parent. She's always willing to have Juliet over and having her around has made our life with Juliet almost entirely stress-free. She's also cool (for an old person!).

3) Our Families. Kevin and I have great families who are generous and supportive.

4) Our house. All the stars aligned so that we could get this house. It wouldn't have been possible without a generous inheritance from Kevin's grandma as well as his mom's generosity in letting us access this inheritance now. It wouldn't have been possible without our AMAZING real estate agent (the 2nd agent we worked with after a long battle with our first agent). It wouldn't have been possible without this economy and the low interest rate we were able to lock in at (3.69% for 5 years). And it wouldn't have been possible without a ton of persistance and pretty much LIVING on the MLS website for a few months :).

5) Crossfit. Discovering this form of exercise has changed the way we look at fitness and working out. We can't WAIT to start a normal workout regemin, including crossfit a few times a week, now that our bootcamp is over!

6) Gail Vaz-Oxlade from 'Til Debt Do Us Part. No, we've never been on the show, nor will we have to be. Thanks to hours of watching Gail do her thing with the couples on the show, I learned how to budget, live on cash, and ensure that we can not only survive, but live well, on one salary while I am home with Juliet and working on opening up my business. Gail is the only 'celebrity' I would actually go to great lengths to meet. I think she's a genius.
7) Our friends. Kev and I are on the hermit-side, but we both have great friends. We just aren't great at making time to hang out with them as often as we should.

8) The South Beach Diet. No, we don't follow it exactly any more, but we've learned amazing lessons about food from this diet. We no longer eat bread and we shy away from sugar 99% of the time. Fruit is no longer the go-to snack, we focus more on proteins and veggies and good fats. I'm thankful that we discovered this diet and gave it a go, because it's taught us a great way to live for the future.

9) Kevin. If it wasn't for Kevin I wouldn't have Juliet or any of this great life. My facebook status today is 'Jessica...wants to freeze time'. And it's so true. Things are SO AWESOME right now! The baby, the house, the upcoming vacation, the potentially incredible business, being back in school....i'm super lucky to have a supportive partner who is encouraging me to reach all my goals and is doing what it takes to help me out.
10) Blogging. I remember people telling me to enjoy the baby because time goes by so fast. Then I remember taking her home from the hospital and thinking, 'time does NOT go by so fast, this is great!'...that was when I thought she'd always be this tiny blob of a thing and our life would always involve hanging out at home while people stopped by to admire her. Well, then real life kicked back in and MAN has time sped up!!! Now I am SO happy I've made the time to blog about Juliet regularly because for the rest of my life I'll be able to go back and see just what was happening during any given time of Juliet's life. It's like a gift I gave myself!

11) Ophelia Glinda McSnuggles. Our puppy dog and first baby. She's possibly the most annoying and trying part of our days but she is such a good girl. And we love her soooo much!!! Enough that I just dropped $127 on her most recent vet appointment....don't ask!

Ophelia is the second from the right in this pic.

Aaaaand I'm missing at least 30 things, right? Well, i'll think of them later, I'm sure.

What's on YOUR thankful list?

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

2009-10-09T21:40:00.003-04:00

It's Juliet's first Thanksgiving!!!!

To celebrate, she will be attending a total of THREE Thanksgiving dinners. That's a lot of 'cute baby eating turkey' photos!

I'll do my best to post 'then and now' photos next week: Juliet in my belly last Thanksgiving and Juliet at 10-and-a-bit months this Thanksgiving.

Amazing the difference a year makes!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who is celebrating! Remember to get to the gym on Tuesday! I'll be there with bells on ;).

Glow Baby Baby's First Journal - Cool Product!

2009-09-30T19:49:00.004-04:00

I won something! I NEVER win things! But I enetered a contest and I won something!

It's a Glow Baby Journal. A brilliant concept and something I deeply wish I had had when Juliet was born. I had this regular notebook that was filled with scribbles as I desperately tried to keep track of when she last ate, what side she nursed on, how many hours, minutes, seconds she slept...and all the poops. Ya.

The Glow Baby journal would have made my life 1,000 times easier! Check it them out.

I'm really glad I won this contest. While Juliet won't benefit from this, I'm 100% going to save it in my 'future baby' box, along with all the other super awesome stuff I saved from Juliet (like the Heart2Heart sling). If I had had this when Juliet was born I would have had an infinitely easier time keeping track of all the stuff we new moms like and need to keep track of.

I think I'm going to be ordering these for baby shower gifts in the next year or so as well. It's the kind of gift a mom-to-be won't know she needs until the baby comes out and they go 'oh my god I need to somehow write all this stuff down!'

10 Months Old!!

2009-09-30T19:23:00.005-04:00

Happy 10 Month Birthday, Juliet!

I couldn't decide on a 10 month photo, so I chose two :). Juliet has really bonded with Ophelia lately and has become absolutely animal-crazy!

At 10 Months, Juliet is...

Physically:

Cruising while holding on to stuff
Standing unsupported for up to 7-8 seconds at a time, but only every so often

Clapping, waving "hello" and "goodbye", and giving High Fives!

Crawling so fast she makes it to the other end of the house (and the dog food bowl) before I can even get up to follow her :).

Other Areas:

Developing a great sense of humour! Laughs out loud all the time -- particularly when being thrown around. She is going to LOVE Canada's Wonderland in a couple years!!
Sleeping 12-13 hours EVERY night. And sleeping deeply. We often go in to give her kisses (and, I admit, we pick her up the odd time...I know, I know...) but she never even stirs!
Obsessed with eating Ophelia's food and playing with her water dish.
Makes "panting" sounds whenever she sees the dog (she did it today when we visited someone who has a cat, too).
Loves remote controls and computer keyboards. Loves them way too much. Loves them so that mommy can't get a single thing done while she's awake anymore :).

Juliet is growing so incredibly quickly. Her hair is growing in mostly in the back. She's got a bit of a mullet going on :). I'm thinking she'll walk within the next couple of months. She certainly wants to. I'm finally adapting to her being a crazy moving baby, which took a while. All is wonderful and Juliet is the cutest :).

PS - sorry for the late date in posting. Her actual 10 month old birthday was September 28.

I feel old.

2009-09-26T13:24:00.005-04:00

I'm not old. In fact, as far as moms go, I'm pretty young. It's one of my favourite things, this being young. Like, this one time at the gym I mentioned "my daughter" to this random lady in the course of a conversation about something gym-related and she looked at me as though I was some sort of psychotic and practically screamed, "YOU have a CHILD? YOU are FAR TOO YOUNG TO HAVE A CHILD". I'm not THAT young. I'm in the 2nd half of my 20s. And that lady had no tact whatsoever. But anyways...I'm on the younger side.

On to the story. Our old 1997 Neon that we bought in April 2008 for $1500 all-in started to die. It started to die to the point that our mechanic looked at us and said, "I'll keep taking your money and fixing it if you want me to, but you might want to look at getting another car". We have an honest mechanic, thank goodness.

So the car hunt began. I seriously don't care about cars so I let Kevin take the wheel, so to speak And yesterday we bought the car of his choice. And right now, sitting in the living room, looking out the window at our new vehicle parked on our parking pad...I FEEL OLD.

Here it is:

It's not this exact one. I don't have a picture of ours yet, but this is exactly what it looks like. A 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe. It's 4 cylander and all sorts of other car words that Kevin said make it better on gas and good for us.

I drive an SUV, we own a house, have a baby and a dog. By definition, I think that makes me old!!! The only saving grace: WE DON'T (nor will we ever) LIVE IN THE SUBURBS!

Have you had an 'I feel old' moment lately? Tell me about it!

Dominican Republic Adventure...BOOKED!

2009-09-22T12:39:00.005-04:00

Yaaaaaaay! I'm soooooooo exciiiiiiiiiited!!!!!!

We booked our trip. And let me tell you, figuring it out was no small feat. But it's booked. And we're thrilled.

We'll be staying at the Riu Mambo. This is what it looks like:

We'll be spending our days doing things like this:

We'll be...in heaven!

I'd love to hear from anyone who has been to Dominican before, particularly Puerto Plata. Any tips? When we went to Cuba we read over and over that we should bring our own ketchup, and I totally ignored the warnings. The only downside to that trip was the lack of ketchup!! This time I'm going to listen to any and all advice!

So...tell me about your Dominican vacation, please!

10 Days

2009-09-17T22:03:00.004-04:00

So, Jaye pointed out that it's been 10 days since my last blog. I suck! So here are the 10 reasons I've been gone...

10) I've been busy watching Juliet get cuter. I know, you thought that was impossible, right? So did I. Turns out it happened! Proof:

9) I started a Crossfit Bootcamp that runs Monday through Friday at 7:00am. Which means I have to actually BE THERE at 7am. Which means I have to wake up at 6:00am. Which means I kinda feel like it's January again and I have a baby who still doesn't understand that night is for sleeping :). But, seriously, if you haven't heard of it CHECK OUT CROSSFIT!!! It's the best workout of my life and it's all about short duration and high intensity. Amazing.

8) I went back to school. Two nights per week. To get my ECE.

7) I started taking entrepreneurship courses and have been working on our business plan.

6) I've been babysitting a LOT! Recently I started a regular Tuesday afternoon job where two kids (age 5 and 1) that I've known forever get dropped off at my place and spend some time with me and Juliet. On our first Tuesday we did PUDDING ART. Wanna see the results?

And this photo wasn't even taken at the end of the "art" session. The result? Three children in my bathtub getting hosed off and a porch that is still stained with chocolate pudding!

5) I've been intensely researching our Dominican adventure vacation!!! I'm 99% sure of our departure date (Oct 22) and while I still haven't chosen the resort, I do know that we'll be doing the adventure portion of the vacation through Iguana Mama, and will be doing waterfall climbing, whitewater rafting, horseback riding and MAYBE zip lining...oh YEAH!!!!!

4) I've been obsessing over the upcoming season of Grey's Anatomy. Have you seen the 5 minute teaser?????

3) I've been trying to maintain my social life. We had a BBQ last weekend. We're going to my friend's party tomorrow night, baby-free! Woohoo....go us!

2) I've been trying to get the house 100% finished. I'm stuck at about 96%. The dining room. And what to hang on the walls in the living room. I'm stuck!

1) I've been spending an inordinate amount of time....staring at my engagement ring!!!!!!!

It's going to be tough to keep up with my blog with school, Juliet, babysitting and other work, the business plan and, well, all my shows are premiering over the next couple weeks. But I'll do my best!

Hope you're all doing great and I'm going to make a concerted effort to read all of your blogs as much as possible :).

Home...and Engaged!

2009-09-06T18:11:00.011-04:00

Yes, that's right! Our first weekend away as a little family ended with Kevin proposing! It was the perfect end to a truly great first vacation just the three of us (I know it wasn't complete without Ophelia, but the puppy had a great vacation of her own, spending time with my mom and making daily trips to the dog park).

Day 1- Friday:

Arrive and discover that Juliet is allergic to her baby sunscreen...but absolutely LOVES the lake!

Spend some time outside, let the sunscreen rash wear off, put on a new brand of sunscreen and head back for more beach time and swimming!

Head into town for posing on a pig and baby's first merry-go-round ride!

Followed by dinner. This image brought to you by Juliet grabbing a lemon out of my water glass and shoving it into her mouth:

And, finally, a walk on the beach at sunset. We couldn't have asked for a nicer first day.Day 2 - Saturday:

Daytime was a walk along the shore from the private beach to the main beach, where we had lunch, ice cream, and then a walk back and a swim.

Nighttime involved putting Juliet to "bed" in the car and hitting up the drive-in! Juliet slept through the whole thing, and we suffered through 2 mediocre movies: Time Traveller's Wife and Inglorious Basterds. Blech. But it was the first drive-in either of us had been to since we were kids, so we're glad we went!

Day 3 - Sunday:

A simple "last swim at the beach before going out for breakfast and heading home" turned into a walk along the water's edge...turned into Kevin on one knee proposing!! It was a lovely, unexpected proposal and I am so excited! We don't plan to get married any time soon, but we're excited to be engaged.

The ring, from one side. It's beautiful and I feel like this pic doesn't capture it. I'll put up another when I get one.
After the unexpected proposal, we happened upon a lovely crepe stand and stopped for brunch. The crepe guy also happened to be into photography and got a lovely photo of us. Yes, the ring is on my pinky. But that's a long story. As I type this, the swelling in my ring finger is starting to go down. The ring will be returned to its rightful finger soon.

Getting Away....

2009-09-03T21:34:00.004-04:00

For only the second time this summer (the summer that will forever be dubbed, "the summer of the new house") we are going out of town for a long weekend!

We're going to a cottage I've been to a million times. The cottage is right on the water and in a small beach town about 90 minutes outside of the city.

This will be our first trip as a group of 3 -- me, Kevin and Juliet. No grandmas coming with to "nanny", no "baby-free" getaway, no Ophelia to turn the trip into a puppy-focused adventure...just us and our little Bunny Bear.

The Pack 'n Play is in the car. I have 2 outfits packed for her for each day. Bottles and formula on the counter ready to go. Diapers. Wipes. Just need to throw some food into containers for the drive up there. She'll eat off our plates when we arrive. And must pack the stroller and feeding chair. Yes. THEN we're ready!!

Have a great weekend. We'll be back late Sunday...in time to wake up and go to the Ex on closing day!

Canadian-mom.ca has a new contest

2009-09-01T13:45:00.003-04:00

Click below to enter:

http://canadian-mom.ca/?p=1772

Of course I'd like to win it, but a little friendly competition never hurt anyone :).

9 Months Old!!!

2009-08-28T22:47:00.005-04:00

Happy 9 Month Birthday, Juliet!!

Another month, another impossible monthly photo shoot! This was the closest I could get to a combination of her face and body facing the camera and not flailing, crying, or trying to crawl away.

At 9 Months, Juliet is...

Length: 28 inches
Weight: 18 lbs, 12 oz (that's exactly 10 lbs gained since birth)

Physically...

In constant motion, reaching for things she shouldn't have. She particularly loves to grab at and eat remote controls (she favours the remote control that controls the sattelite box and has almost ordered random Pay Per View programs more times than I care to remember) and dog food
Trying hard to balance and stand without holding on. So far it's only lasted a few seconds, but she wants to let go!
WAVING AND CLAPPING!! It's so exciting! It started about a week ago (consistently, it happened here and there for a few weeks before that)
High fives (happened once, I was the only witness)
Making a new smiley face. It's the super-extra-smiley face where she crinkles her nose, as if to say "you thought I was cute THEN? Look at me NOW!!

Other Areas...
Has started to really react when Ophelia licks her face. She now puts her head down and makes a grossed out face. The dog doesn't notice.
Cannot stand to not be the centre of attention for even one split second. "Eaaaaaaah" is the call we get when our attention is diverted from her momentarily
Loves to feed Ophelia (and Sophie) from her high chair
Still eating well, though the odd time she'll take food from her mouth and put it back on her tray if it displeases her. She also likes to blow raspberries when her mouth is full on occasion. Lovely.
Has discovered the toilet and likes to try to reach in and touch the toilet water
Still loves the water! Yay!

I wish I had length and weight stats to post but our doctor's appointment got rescheduled to the 31st, so I'll post them then!

Great month, great baby!!

10 Non-Mushy Reasons Having a Baby Rocks

2009-08-24T21:10:00.005-04:00

10) You have the best little conversation starter and social buffer; a perma-excuse to both strike up and end conversations. Never feel awkward again.

9) You finally have an excuse to paint four solid walls in Secret Rendezvous or Atomic Vomit Green. And no one can tell you it's a ridiculous colour for a room because it is now the sacred colour of Your Child's Nursery. So. There.

8) You gain an appreciation for the little things: online gossip, The View, taking the dog around the block because the mood strikes you. Basic activities, the execution of which would have once indicated that you were supremely bored, are now....AWESOME.

7) Um, so, like, all of a sudden you understand why people thought you were a bit of a freak for treating your dog (or cat, or bird, or hamster) like a real person. Now you have a HUMAN to dress up, photograph endlessly, celebrate daily, and talk about incessantly (and the poor dog'll never know what hit her).

6) "Yes, of course the house is dirty! We have a CHILD. Did you want me to ignore the CHILD and let her crawl into TRAFFIC so that YOU could come home to a clean house?"

5) Free stuff! Yup! First there's the baby shower, then there's the newborn gifts, then before you know it there's Baby's First Christmas, Hanukkah, Valentine's Day, Birthday, etc....For the first couple years it's all "for the baby", but really it's so totally for you!

4) Baby and Me Yoga. Baby and Me Swimming. Baby and Me Movies. Baby and Me Salsa Dance. It's like life before baby, only cuter, and taking place at 11am, while everyone else is stuck behind a desk!

3) You get to add, "...AND I'm a mom" to the end of every statement.

2) There is a new person on this Earth who (at least for a while) will think you're the funniest, prettiest, most delicious, smartest, most valuable human specemin going. And you kinda feel the same way about them.

1) No matter what your life was before baby; no matter how successful or happy you were, suddenly you have this massive obligation staring you in the face. An obligation to make your life better and better and better. Because it's not only your life anymore. For those who choose to embrace the fact, and live it every day, it means that having a baby will forever and ever make you make your life a better place, in every single way.

That rocks, right?!

Juliet Claps: The Movie

2009-08-19T09:28:00.002-04:00

This important moment in baby history took place yesterday at my mom's house.

New Milestone!

2009-08-18T21:26:00.002-04:00

Juliet learned to clap today!

I have it on video (not the very first clap, but a clap that closely resembles the first clap ever!).

Video to follow later this week....

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far.

Summer in the City

2009-08-15T21:55:00.011-04:00

Summer in the city. I was never familiar with this as a kid and teenager. Always at camp in July and then the cottage we rented in August. The summer I was 20, my first summer not at camp and not in town with my parents, I went to England. Now? NOW I'm familiar with it. And summer in the city is HOT this year!

I pull the baby from her car seat drenched in sweat. I'm fall over exhausted at the ends of days from a combination of active baby-active dog-stifling HEAT.

But it's Juliet's first summer and it's the summer we got our house, and therefore it's an amazing one.

Word is the heat is going to keep up into the fall. Works for me as we're set to do a long weekend at a cottage on Labour Day weekend. Strange to think that that will only be our second time out of the city this summer. That's very much not "us"! I guess that's the price you pay for taking possession of a new house in July: The ultimate summer in the city!

Some images from the last few days.

Too hot to dress her in an actual outfit for bed. But must keep diaper covered. Once the diaper did not get covered at sleep time. And there was poop. And little 8-month-old hands playing with poop. And it was everywhere.

Playdate with a little friend who will be ONE this week! Big boy!

Playdate continued with the little guy's big sister and brother (in the background, trying to make the water spray) at the splash pad.

Finally, proof that Toronto can be beautiful. Taken today, when I ditched the gym and took a solo bike ride down the Leslie St. Spit instead. Look to your left while pedaling the Spit, you see this, to your right you get a panorama view of the downtown core. It's a great city, Toronto.

The Lovely Bones Trailer...What Do You Think?

2009-08-11T20:14:00.000-04:00

Loved this book. Read it twice. The trailer looks......

Well, you tell me what you think, especially if you read, and loved, the book.

I think it's a big fat fail. But I'll still go see it :).

Mom of the Year?

2009-08-10T19:40:00.003-04:00

(Before you call Children's Aid...I swear she didn't drink any of it)

This photo was taken yesterday, at our FIRST BBQ at our new house! Kevin invited some of his friends over (boy style of BBQ invitation -- he e-mailed them 3 hours before he wanted them over and told me that we were expecting company WHILE WE WERE IN THE CAR ON THE WAY TO ANOTHER EVENT). We pulled it off and I was soooo happy to see that our house/backyard was more than big enough and had more than enough seating! Yay!

I Swear, I Have a Good Excuse...

2009-08-07T20:13:00.003-04:00

I've been way too exhausted to blog this week.

For the second year in a row I volunteered at a summer camp for children living with cancer. It's an absolutely amazing experience. Last year I volunteered for a week at their out-of-town residential camp site (I was 26 weeks pregnant) and this year I did their day camp, so I could see Juliet in the evenings.

Even though it was day camp it was still the most tiring week of the year (ok, that's an exaggeration, the three months that Juliet went on a sleep strike were the MOST tiring!).

I spent the week doing my very best to give a group of the most amazing children I've ever met the most amazing experiences they've ever had. We swam, planted seeds, did gymnastics, dance and drama, went canoeing, climbed a wall, played endless running games, and even hunted a pirate's treasure! It was a wonderful week and once I've spent the weekend reconnecting with Juliet, I'll be back with more!

Have a fantastic weekend!!!

My Baby Eats Dog Food.

2009-08-04T18:55:00.004-04:00

Her latest discovery. I understood when she put it in her mouth the first time. A curious baby, I get that. What I don't get is that she seems to enjoy the taste. Any time I feed the dog, or even when she spots the dog's food bowl, she beelines towards it and shoves a piece of it in her mouth.

So gross.

Does your baby have an inexplicable, disgusting food habits?

At my mom's, the first time she tried dog food.
Hmmm...maybe I can let Ophelia take care of baby meal times. Save me some work ;).

Purple Bedroom and a Formerly Naughty Puppy

2009-08-02T11:40:00.011-04:00

Well, we've got all the furniture assembled and placed (except the buffet which was out of stock) and we're slowly chipping away the million boxes of STUFF. The only room that is completely complete (OK, except for one poster and the print I want for above her bed) is Juliet's room.

Here are some photos of my little bunny bear's beautiful purple bedroom:

Her crib, beautiful fairy/ballerina mobile from Grandma Karyn, and the Eyore name cross-stitch Grandma Sandi made for her when she was born.

Her dresser (which is also her change table), Moses basket filled to the brim with stuffed animals and shelves.

Self-made "closet" (gotta love old houses with zero storage space built in!), toy bins and bookshelf.

In puppy dog news, our dog who has always been "too cute to be mad at", is finally getting some rules! We finally have nice furniture and we'd rather she didn't do her "cute" puppy thing and, oh, totally DESTROY it. So the rule is that the dog CAN be on the couch, but ONLY if she's on her brand new dog bed. We went out last night (to see (500) Days of Summer -- amazing!) and when we got home we found Ophelia obeying the rules...and oh, how cute it was:

Blog Award! Sweet!

2009-07-30T22:13:00.007-04:00

Cool! I got a blog award from Ziggy's Blog. Go check her out!

The rules of the "One Lovely Blog Award" are: Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I'll keep updating the list of blogs I'm giving the award to here:

1) Winter Baby
She's pregnant with her first, and blogging about it!

2) Canadian Mom
She's a Canadian Mom (obviously) with lots of interesting observations. She's funny, too!

3) I Know This Much...
You MUST read her this entry. You will die. I can SO relate!

4) Where Will This Little Foot Take Him?
A mom of two boys (which I think takes amazing talent in and of itself) who is helping one of her little guys who has a clubfoot!

5) Rebekah's Bits and Pieces
She's a dog person and a photographer. Basically, she reminds me of me. Except that I'm not a "real" photographer, and she is. Yet another reason to visit her blog!

6) The Skinny on Getting Skinny
Any blogger dedicated enough to weight loss to give their blog that title deserves an award! Keep up the good weight loss...I hope to do the same :).

7) One Day at a Time
A seriously amazing woman raising a darling little boy and pregnant with a little girl. Doing it all while coping daily with a disability!

More to come...

8 Months Old!!

2009-07-28T13:54:00.004-04:00

Happy 8 Month Birthday, Juliet!!Once again it was a huge struggle to get her monthly photo. She's normally very happy and giggly...I swear!! Silly baby isn't interested in posing with a sign above her head any longer. Posing with the sign in her MOUTH would work for her, however...

At 8 Months, Juliet is:

Physically...

Pulling herself to standing

Standing holding on with only one hand

Waving (as of yesterday, and still sporadically)

crawling and getting up on her hands and feet

Reaching up when she wants up

Bouncing on her feet when she stands

Taking steps when holding someone's hands

Has TWO teeth (bottom centre)

Other Areas...

Saying "ma, ma", "ba, ba" and "da, da". Working on "ga, ga"
Significantly more interested in boxes than toys. Seriously, bring her empty boxes, no more toys!
Eating just about everything. As of today she can "officially" (according to the doc) eat everything except fish and berries!
A very good eater. She'll put anything in her mouth. Unfortunately that doesn't just go for meal times...
On the go. Utterly disinterested in being held (unless she is being transported to or from her crib) and demanding constant attention.
Happy, happy, happy! She is forever giggling and grinning. She particularly likes to smile at Ophelia and Sophie (doggies!)

Overall, she is doing fabulously and we can't wait to finish getting the new house set up so she can start enjoying it!

We love you, Juliet!

Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful Girl...

2009-07-27T22:01:00.007-04:00

Photos courtesy of Karti Ganesh.

Pick-Me-Up for a Very Wet Saturday

2009-07-25T16:04:00.007-04:00

Could it rain a little harder? Please? I don't think I'm appropriately cold and wet yet. It's March, right? Or is it April? I should expect these non-stop downpours. OH, WAIT....IT'S FREAKING JULY!!!

At least I have cute photos of dogs and children to keep me warm and dry. I simply cannot look at another box, piece of styrofoam, or allan key (thanks to IKEA). So I'm taking a break to reflect on the two cutest things in my life and, in my opinion, the world.

Ophelia is the best dog in the world because she always out-sleeps us! She's never once woken us up to go pee. If we stay in bed 'til noon, she'll stay in bed 'til 1pm! That's my puppy!

Juliet teethes patiently while I shop for the most interesting items of all: basement storage bins. Woohoo.

The basement storage bins created static and her hair was standing up on end! Can you see it? It was adorable! She was a little Einstein baby!

Ophelia, the other day, getting in some cuddle time. Poor puppy is so confused with the move going on. Plus, suddenly the baby has discovered that the dog's toys and food are fun, and Ophelia is very quickly learning what it's like to be a big sister to an almost-8 month old!

Stay dry! And if you're in a place where it's not thunderstorming...send a little of that weather over here, would ya?!

Best. Wedding. Video. EVER.

2009-07-24T15:44:00.002-04:00

Must watch. Seriously!!!

Courtesy CDAN

Looking a Little TOO Excited...

2009-07-23T22:31:00.000-04:00

to be out shopping. Juliet has graduated from sitting in her car seat
in the cart to sitting up like a big girl!

Here she is on our 97th Canadian Tire run this week. I have more and
cuter photos on my camera. To be continued...!

South Beach Diet - Day 4. Oh, and More Moving.

2009-07-23T14:28:00.003-04:00

I haven't had bread or sugar for 4 days. Misery. Whether the diet is working is uncertain, as I went on a carb binge for the days leading up to the diet because I knew I'd need the fuel ;). So my weight ballooned (probably just some water retention).

I've been eating (with a few adjustments to keep it interesting) the following:

Breakfast: Veggie Quiche Cups OR 2-egg omelet with turkey sausage, onion and green pepper

Snack #1: Low-fat cheese and celery OR cottage cheese

Lunch: Today I had leftover shrimp stir-fry, other days it's tuna and lettuce wrap or something similar

Snack #2: Sliced turkey with low fat cheese and veggies

Dinner: Protein and veggie combinations, such as zucchini lasagna, stir-fry and asian cabbage salad, chicken and asparagus.

Dessert: The ricotta stuff I mentioned here.

Overall, you know, it's going...as well as anything that involves me cutting off bread and sweets can go.

In other news, we are still not fully moved in. We're not even CLOSE to unpacked. And there's still a ton of stuff to come from the apartment. The baby is still sleeping at my mother's, as is the dog. How does anyone move with a small baby?

That's the question of the hour.

Starting the South Beach Diet

2009-07-21T10:10:00.004-04:00

I finally bit the bullet. I started the South Beach Diet yesterday.

As some of you may know, I put on a LOT (and I mean a LOT) of weight during my pregnancy. Over 70 lbs. And I'm 5'3". And I was carrying small. Which means the weight wasn't "all baby". Nope. The weight was all ice cream. Immediately after delivery I lost about 25 lbs, but I still have 50 to lose.

I started exercising when Juliet was 5.5 weeks. I started counting calories the second she was weaned. Nothing. Haven't lost an OUNCE since 2 weeks post-partum. None of my clothes fit. I had to suck it up and spend some $$ at Old Navy so that I had something to wear other than my Lululemon pants and maternity tank tops all summer.

Well I decided I a) can't afford to and b) refuse to buy more new clothes for fall. After mucho research and hearing some personal testimonials, I've decided that South Beach is the better of the dieting evils. I won't go into details about how it works as pretty much everyone is familiar with it, but basically I'm getting my carbs ONLY from veggies for the next 2 weeks and then slowly adding back in fruits and "good" carbs (no refined junk) after that. SB believes that you shouldn't be hungry. I believe that, too! So, that's a start...

I'm lucky that Kevin has agreed to join me and my mother is doing it as well, even though she weighs the same as she did when she was 15 and is a perfect size 6 to match. Ya, that's right, my MOTHER is in significantly better shape than me. And she doesn't work out OR count calories. Explain that, please?

Anyways....

I started SB yesterday. Protein, veggies, skim milk and cheeses. That's pretty much it. Yesterday sucked in a BIG way. It was moving day. It was hectic. It was the kind of day that normal people fill with take-out and chocolate bars. But there I was, driving to the new house to meet the movers there with my red pepper and my sliced turkey in hand. The good thing about the timing, though, is that with the move I'm not finding the time to make it to the gym. I'm hoping to get back to my regular routine by the weekend, but if I was eating normally and not working out, that would be bad. I know myself.

By the end of the day yesterday I was really feeling like crap. Headache, exhaustion, the works. I went online and read that if you're feeling icky from SB to add in more skim milk and more beans. So my mom and I are planning to have chilli for lunch and I'm going to have milk with both breakfast (egg, spinach and pepper mini-quiches) and dinner (grilled salmon and grilled asparagus). We're also planning to have larger snacks.

Let's hope that works. And let's hope SB works! We're planning to go to Dominican in October. Our first big baby-free vacation since she was born.I bought the cutest bathing suit a few weeks back, but it's about 20 lbs away from fitting properly!

Am curious if you've done SB and what your experince has been? Any recipe ideas? Links to good SB forums or info sites? I'm open to it all.

I close this post with what was the highlight of my day yesterday: Dessert. Yes, SB lets you have dessert. Desserts with no sugar, but desserts none the less. This thing tasted like mousse. Mmmmm. Here is the recipe (as I made it, modified slightly from the book's recipe):

1/2 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
1 tsp (ish) cocoa powder
1 tsp (ish) vanilla extract
1.5 packets Splenda

Stir, stir, stir and enjoy! Yummy!

Busy People Really Do Get More Done...

2009-07-18T23:21:00.010-04:00

It's true!

While staying home with Juliet has been one of the greatest luxuries of my life and I am SO lucky to be able to stay with her indefinitely while going back to school and starting my business, I must say it's easy to fall into a routine of just "being" with baby. It's easy to get complacent and enjoy doing all things baby, and then spend your down time (ie. nap time) relaxing. Too easy.

This house thing has jolted me out of that lifestyle in a hurry!

Today we spent the entire day painting! Natural Linen for our bedroom and Lilac Bouquet for Juliet's. Two rooms, three coats of paint per room, total of six coats. Add to that Juliet's 10-year-old aunt and uncle who arrived to "help", and you have a crazy-fun day!

I'm quickly remembering what it's like to have a lot to do and very little time to do it in, and somehow managing to make it all work. After 7+ months of chilled out baby time, I'm kinda enjoying it.

Some highlights from our long, but successful, day of painting:

Kevin shows Juliet's uncle how to use a roller so he can help prime Juliet's walls. For a 10-year-old, she's got great focus and attention to detail.
Kevin works on the 2nd coat in the master bedroom.

Me, looking like I haven't bathed in days, painting Juliet's room.

And now for some much needed SLEEEEEEEEP!!!!!!

P.S. Will the parenting Gods seek vengeance? When I got home from painting around 10pm and found Juliet fast asleep, I just couldn't resist picking her up. It woke her up. She's now back in her crib babbling away. It's almost midnight. What can I say? I missed her so much!

Too Crazy for Photos!

2009-07-17T22:22:00.004-04:00

This post is dedicated to our new house. Our entire life right now is dedicated to our new house.

We spent almost 10 hours shopping today, with the help of my wonderful and talented friend, Sarah. Sarah is amazing and should be an interior designer. She helped us make final decisions on everything. Thank you SO much, Sarah!

Thanks to my mom, too, who spent the whole day with Juliet. We left soon after she woke up this morning and didn't get home until long after she went to sleep. We miss our Bunny Bear!

We spent close to $5,000 today. Seriously. Aside from buying our house, I have never spent that much on anything. Even my car didn't cost that (I love you, car, please keep functioning).

We did IKEA, Canadian Tire (twice), a baby store whose name I'm forgetting...mostly IKEA. And we have most of our big stuff now. And we have very little money left.

Tomorrow I WILL be taking pictures, as we will be painting the bedrooms!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

We are First-Time Home Owners!

2009-07-15T21:28:00.011-04:00

The house is ours! We got the keys today at 5.

This evening we left Juliet with my mom so she could have dinner and go to bed, and Kevin and I took Ophelia to the house. We spent time in each room and talked about our big plans! For pictures of the house staged for sale, click here.

Now the work begins. We are SO lucky that our "landlord" is my mom and she is letting us take as long as we need to clear out of the apartment, but we still have a ton of packing to do. The movers come on Monday to take the big stuff.

Here are some photos of OUR empty house. That sounds so cool. OUR house! Having lived in two different basement apartments over the past three years, it's going to be so amazing to wake up with the sun! We hope to be sleeping there by next Wednesday.

The master bedroom with original wood floors and huge windows with California shutters. We're going to paint. The bed spread is red, so we'll work around that.

Ophelia explores the master bedroom, and looks out our (her) window!

Partial view of the 2nd bedroom (Juliet's room) from the doorway. She'll have a nice view of the yard. Her room will be painted PURPLE!!!Our beautifully finished bathroom. The previous owners did a great job, particularly in here. You can't see the clawfoot tub, but trust me, it's great!

Partial view of the backyard. Just out of view of this picture on the left are gorgeous flowers. I hope we can learn how to maintain them!!

I took many more pictures but they're likely boring to anyone but me :).

Friday is our epic IKEA/Home Sense/paint store day. Cannot wait! Owning a house is AWESOME!!! :)

Milestone - Ba Ba Ba...

2009-07-12T14:25:00.002-04:00

Finally! The kid is practically walking but wasn't vocalizing much. Yesterday she suddenly started calling out a lot more and making tons of noises. Today I started hearing her combine vowels and consonants for the first time! I'm currently listening to her in her crib, having just woken from her afternoon nap, saying "ba, ba, ba, ba" over and over again!

Yay for milestones!

White Water Rafting Weekend Part 1 - Everything but the rafting!

2009-07-11T22:30:00.011-04:00

Last weekend (July 3-5) we went white water rafting at River Run, on the Ottawa River. This was my fourth time up there and Kevin's third. I'll talk more about the amazing rapids later, but this post is about Juliet. It was her first time up at River Run and we brought her two grandmas with to hang out with her at the resort while we rafted (my mom joined us for the first day of rafting, however).

Here are the highlights of Juliet's vacation, as well as some scenery shots. A post about the actual (amazing, out of this world) white water rafting will follow when I get the water camera photos back!

Beautiful view of the forest and lake from our cabin's porch at dusk.
Kevin explores the beach at dusk.

Juliet eats at the Pavillion. It was a challenge to feed her off of our plates on the trip, but we did it! It was a carb-heavy weekend for her, that's for sure!

Juliet and her grandmas in the Pavillion after a meal.
While we hung out at the big bonfire and listened to live music....

...Juliet was fast asleep in her Pack n' Play. Thank goodness she was so exhausted she was willing to sleep anywhere!!

On Sunday, when the weather warmed up, Juliet and her grandmas took to the beach! Juliet wore her swimsuit dress, a gift from Grandma Sandi.

Apparently Juliet wasn't a huge fan of the cold water (she's used to the kiddie pool water of swim class), but according to the photos, she still had a pretty good time :).

Juliet's first big weekend away: huge success.

White water rafting: the best it's ever been. Stay tuned for swimming, cliff jumps and insane rapids!

Our First Car Vomit Experience (Babies are GROSS)!

2009-07-09T18:17:00.007-04:00

It happened yesterday.

Mid way through our loooong drive home from our real estate lawyer's office and through the city's endless rush hour we were ALL starving. Kevin stopped and I bought a chicken wrap for us all to split. I sat in the back seat with Juliet and broke the chicken, pita and some veggies up into teeny pieces.

About 10 minutes into her makeshift meal (and not much closer to home. UGGGHHH, TRAFFIC) it happened. She opened her mouth and vomited. Not little baby spit-up, but full blown VOMIT. First time I've ever seen it, and most certainly the first time it has happened in a confined space.

It went all over her body: arms, hands, chest and legs. It drenched her clothes. It completely covered her entire car seat.

Smart mommy would have had a change of clothes, a big old cloth and some wipes...THIS mommy? I had her diaper bag, but all it had in it were diapers.

So we sat in the stinky car with a stinky baby, covered in her own vomit, windows rolled up because the weather was crappy. We were stuck in there for over an hour. It was all very disgusting, but I'm told it's a rite of passage into motherhood. And I could tolerate it. The only thing that really got me was this:

A few minutes after the vomit to end all vomits, the child did the unthinkable: she took her left thumb (the thumb she had just vomited all over three times in a row), stuck it in her mouth, and (I'm revolted just typing this) STARTED SUCKING.

Babies are SO gross!!!

"What's in a Name?" - Part 2

2009-07-06T19:37:00.005-04:00

Last week I decided to start a series of blogs dedicated to Juliet so she'll always know all of the reasons we gave her her name.

Part 1 describes how I first discovered the name Juliet when I was a young teenager at summer camp, through the Indigo Girls' cover of Romeo and Juliet.

The second inspiration for giving her the name Juliet involves my former job. When I met Kevin in October, 2005, I was working as a stage manager on a production of Romeo & Juliet. When we first started dating, he would come by the theatre and wait for me while I sat in on notes from the night's rehearsal. In fact, the only reason we met was because I happened to be at a late night rehearsal when Sabrina called me to "rescue" her from a bad date. Had I not been out at rehearsal there is no way I would have picked her up and agreed to go with her to the bar where Kevin and I eventually met that night.

Therefore, if it wasn't for the play Romeo & Juliet, our little girl would not be here!

A publicity shot of the death scene in the production of R&J I worked on in 2005.

A Canada Day Moment

2009-07-02T10:42:00.007-04:00

Juliet and I spent part of her first Canada Day visiting her daddy at work! Kevin works as a counselor in a supportive housing environment, so we went to help make a Canada Day lunch. Later in the day, Kevin and Juliet had some daddy-baby playtime in the common room. This picture made my day!

Well, that's it for me until Monday. Today is a packed day as we get ready for Juliet's first big weekend away for our white water rafting adventure.

Have a wonderful weekend and remember to take lots of photos...once a moment is gone, you can't get it back!

Everything's More Fun With a Baby!

2009-07-01T15:40:00.015-04:00

Last weekend, Juliet and I treated my mom to a hotel escape to celebrate her new life. Now that she's been laid off from her job, she has decided to work with me to start a business and is on the verge of a few other life changes, too! Yes, the weekend was supposed to be about her...but, when you bring along a baby, the best moments of any special event somehow tend to centre around them....

Here are some fun moments from our hotel weekend (oh, I should mention how I was able to afford this! Have you seen Priceline or Hotwire? The two BEST sites for getting SUPER discounts on hotels. I paid 20% less for this room than Kevin paid when his friend got us the Manager's Discount at the hotel he works at.)

Special thanks to Sandra at Artful Life for the Quick Photo Tip about shooting on continuous mode. I tried at the hotel and got a few beautiful shots that I would have missed if I hadn't been shooting on continuous.

Grandma K makes Juliet laugh by throwing her around. My future rollercoaster baby can't get enough of it!
Juliet explores an arm chair. Looks cute. Hotel beds are soft and big. More space to crawl! Juliet asks you not to judge her clashing sunhat and swimsuit ;).Mommy (that's me) and Juliet demonstrate the Back Float. One of the many swimming skills Juliet has mastered in swimming lessons! Juliet LOVES to swim, having begun her swim classes at 3 months old.

Exhausted after our big swim, Juliet naps in the lap of luxury. A whole bed all to herself :).

Rejuvenated after her nap, Juliet stayed out WAAAAAAAAAY past her 7pm bedtime and we had a night on the town. Well, a late dinner, anyways. She sat at the table like a big girl and we fed her off our plates. No rice cereal for this kid! Here she is at dinner, explaining that she's hungry while we wait for our orders.

The next morning, Grandma Karyn got a massage while Juliet and I took advantage of the MASSIVE, carpeted upper lobby, where Juliet crawled and pulled herself up to her heart's content. We wanted to go visit the waterfall gardens, but it was pouring rain :(. Have you ever seen such chubby thighs?!

Grandma Karyn gives her favourite baby in the whole wide world a BIG kiss. And thus concludes Juliet's...uh, I mean, HER special weekend :).

And next weekend: WHITE WATER RAFTING! Our fourth time rafting but Juliet's first big trip. CANNOT WAIT!

Happy Canada Day!

P.S. Planning to start doing a Wednesday Weigh-In, but due to, um, issues...it's not the best week to begin. However, check out the blogger who has inspired me to begin blogging about my efforts to lose the baby weight, Jaye at Canadian Mom. Her Wednesday Weigh-In for this week is here.

"What's in a Name?" - Part 1

2009-06-29T20:53:00.004-04:00

We had soooo many reasons for choosing Juliet as our first baby's name. I want to record all of those reasons now, before I begin to forget them.

I remember asking my mom why she chose the name Jessica for me and her answers were just never satisfying (the most often repeated answer was, "I just liked the name Jessica. It's a nice name")! I want to always be able to give Juliet a satisfying answer, in the form of a series of blogs that I'll write as I think of all the different reasons we gave her her name!

So. The first inspiration behind the name Juliet, was the Indigo Girls' cover of the Dire Straits song "Romeo & Juliet". A girl I went to camp with the summer I was 14 used to play this song on her guitar and I just fell in love with it. Ever since Juliet was born, I've been playing her different bands covers of her "theme song".

Listen to the Indigo Girls' version of "Romeo & Juliet" here:

7 Months Old!!!

2009-06-28T15:04:00.005-04:00

Happy 7 Month Birthday, Juliet!

At 7 Months Old, Juliet is...

A Baby on the Go

Sitting by herself for looooong stretches
Pulling herself to standing from sitting up
Getting into a sitting positon on her own when lying on her tummy
Rolls front to back and back to front like it's nothing!
Standing holding on to anything and everything (our hands, tables, radiators, etc.)
Taking steps with support

A Baby on the Grow!

Has the beginnings of her two bottom teeth poking through. You can see white and feel jagged edges but they're not all the way through yet.
Wearing some of her 6-9 month clothes. She's still in lots of 3-6 month (and some 0-3 month, believe it or not!), but she is moving up in the sizes...FINALLY!
Has outgrown her basinette! My mom was kind enough to buy a crib for us to use temporarily until we move.
Having significant trouble getting to sleep for naps lately. Sleep training has finally begun now that we have the crib.

A Hungry Baby!

Eating fruits, veggies and dairy. A normal breakfast for Juliet is cottage cheese and fruit, lunch is a fruit and veg and dinner is usually the same.
Eating off our plates at restaurants! Today at brunch she had couscous, blintzes, hummus, bagel, and watermelon. The kid LOVES to eat.

A Baby Chatterbox!

Laughs out loud like a real person when something is hilarious. Recent things that have made her "LOL": Mommy doing burpees in the park, Grandma K singing while whacking her feet on the floor!
Makes "eh, eh, eh" sounds

Juliet is continuing to grow wonderfully and we continue to feel like the luckiest people in the world to have such a beautiful, sweet, healthy, happy little girl!

WE LOVE YOU, JULIET!!!!

New Crib, Mini-Review: My Sister's Keeper & The Weekend!

2009-06-27T12:06:00.008-04:00

Happy Weekend!

I am pleased to report that we have a temporary crib. Juliet finally did it yesterday: she flung herself out of her basinette. Fortunately we were prepared! Here is a photo of her sleeping in her temporary crib for the first time (not as pretty as her crib for the new house, but a very good stop gap):
As you can see, she's not used to having all that space to spread out...she's sleeping horizontally. Guess she likes the closeness of basinette sleeping. How cute is it that she's holding on to her little Bunny Bear (her nickname is Bunny Bear and this toy is a stuffed bear wearing a bunny suit...perfect, no?!) To answer the next question: Yes, we removed the stuffed animal from her crib!

So, last night we saw My Sister's Keeper. Won't go into details, but was worth a watch.

Cast: all-around strong,

Cameron Diaz: good, but not as good as all the "buzz" is making her out to be. I thought her performance was actually a little bit on the one-dimensional side...but maybe that's just me...

Compared to the book: Obviously, the book kicks the movie's butt! They did a good job of maintaining the integrity of the story, but cut out some storylines that forced them to change the ending. The ending, in my opinion, was the best part of the book.

As a stand-alone movie: Touching. Thought-provoking. Beautiful.

Opening Night Audience reaction: OMG. Some of the sadder moments were actually lightened by the fact that people in the theatre were SOBBING. LOUD! Kevin and I both agreed that even in the parts where we might have felt a little teary eyed, the ridiculously over-the-top reactions of the rest of the theatre made it more funny than anything!

Buy the DVD? No. Seeing it once was enough. But I would recommend seeing it. It was worth the $12. Abigail Breslin is amazing and the movie was visually stunning. Plus, even as a run-down mother of three, Cameron Diaz's body is still OUT of this world amazing!! :)

Well, I'm off!

Juliet and I are taking my mom (aka Grandma K) on a special hotel weekend. She was recently laid off and we have decided to go into business together. I decided we needed to celebrate this new phase of her life, so I used the amazing Priceline.com to get us a night at a great deal on a room in a beautiful 5 star downtown hotel with an outdoor pool!

Have a great weekend!

Having an Old Navy Kind of Day

2009-06-26T11:27:00.011-04:00

Is there a better place to get inexpensive, adorable clothes for babies than Old Navy? Not that I've found.

A few days ago I put Juliet in what I think is the single most adorable sleeveless onesie ever designed and we went out for the day. This was before the teething got bad. Today the teething is bad. So I'm going to take a moment to reminisce about 72 hours ago, when I had a little more of my sanity :)....Relaxing and demonstrating her well-honed sitting skills, while inadvertantly advertising for Old Navy...a bunch of people stopped to ask a) where she got her gorgeous blue eyes and b) where I got that gorgeous summer outfit!

Blowing a raspberry, Part One Blowing a raspberry, Part 2Juliet meets a dog. Is confused. That's not Ophelia!

Checking out the house we were visiting. "Hmmmmm....what can I eat here???"Exhausted after a long day. It's hard to be the most beautiful baby in the whole wide world (at least in her mommy's eyes)!

Sigh. OK, that was fun. Now back to the Baby Who Will Not Sleep. Bigger sigh. Please, teeth, hurry up and come in!!

Anyone Got Some Advice? Naps and Teething and Tempra, Oh My!

2009-06-25T11:38:00.006-04:00

I feel two teeth. At the bottom. They're not teeth, more like little jagged things piercing her gums.

She hasn't napped for more than an hour (total) in days.

She has a runny nose.

She tries to jump out of bed when put down for a nap. I try to ignore her and let her fall asleep on her own, but eventutally it becomes obvious sleep is NOT on her baby agenda.

She's so tired she practically falls asleep at meal times and while playing.

She's constantly playing with her ears and rubbing her eyes.

But no matter what, she won't sleep.

I tried Tempra. Doesn't do a thing.

She's still sleeping at night. Quite well, actually.

It's just naps.

Advice?

The Three Greatest Things in the Whole Wide World!

2009-06-24T09:14:00.006-04:00

Dogs. Babies. Summer.

(Juliet models the awesomeness of summer: bare feet, sundresses and watermelon -- the watermelon is what's splattered all over her dress).

WHAT ARE YOUR THREE GREATEST THINGS IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD???

Not About Baby...About My Sister's Keeper!

2009-06-23T10:12:00.003-04:00

Who else is excited about this movie?

I discovered Jodi Picoult when I happened upon her novel, "The Pact", and read it in 6 hours, flat. Could not put it down. I moved on to "My Sister's Keeper", and then kept working through her books. Eventually I had to stop. They're not exactly comedies.

I've read that they've changed the ending in the film and I know that they've cut some characters, but, just like I went into the Shopaholic movie with no expectations and enjoyed myself, I'm planning to do the same here. Can't wait for Friday! I've even asked Kevin to change his work hours so we can go on opening night :).

What Were YOU Doing At 3AM Today?

2009-06-22T17:46:00.008-04:00

I was staring at this face:

That would be Juliet, mid-yawn. Yup. Exhausted but adamantly refusing to partake in any form of sleep or rest. My perfect, slept-the-night-at-18-days-and-went-to-bed-without-a-fight-from-day-one baby is missing. Please come back, lovely baby.

I feel the beginnings of a bottom tooth about to break through. Any day now. Maybe that's the what inspired Juliet to host last night's two hour middle-of-the-night party?

Father's Day & The Photo Improvement Project

2009-06-21T19:51:00.014-04:00

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, EVERYONE!

Father's Day Events:

Today was ALL about Kevin. Lunch with Kevin's dad followed by TV shopping. He went W-A-Y over budget when purchasing a flat screen and some kind of surround sound package for the new house. In fairness, we need a flat screen as our living room is 10'2" x 12'0" (read: tiny) and our current 42" non-flat screen monstrosity would leave no space for, well, a couch.

The Photo Improvement Project:

I chose today as the first day on my mission to learn to be a better photographer. I've always loved chronicling life in photographs, but ever since Juliet was born, my interest in photography has increased tenfold.

I will begin by working on taking pictures with no flash. I read this advice on another blog (and am currently trying to remember which one; I'll add a link to it as soon as I do). Summer seems like the perfect time to perfect my no-flash photos.

Beyond that, I'm kind of at a loss. I would appreciate ANY advice on how to improve my photography skills, particularly in the arena of baby photography!

Here is our first Father's Day chronicled in photos with NO FLASH!

Heading out for lunch, all dressed up. (no flash, photo not messed with at all, just slightly cropped)

Juliet's favourite game! (I played with the brightness & contrast on this one to try and make it crisper...did it work? Or should I have just left it, like I did with the first image?)I had to get a kiss in, but the poor kid was already half asleep. (I messed with the midtones here, but I think all that accomplished is to make my shirt and her dress brighter. Not sure there was any point in that...right?)

Kevin, his dad and Juliet. (Total cop out, right? I couldn't get the colours right. I had my camera on Manual and I had set it for flourescent lighting the other day and forgot to change it to natural light. The photo was blue, so eventually I gave up and removed all the saturation. Is there another solution?)

At lunch. Juliet's first time in a restaurant high chair. It was great to have her at the table like a big girl, but her almost-7-month-old hands were far too busy. Spent most of the meal stuffing bread balls into her to keep her relaxed! (again, the setting was wrong on the camera :(...).

Juliet explores her Daddy's face after lunch. (Played with the brightness, trying to get Kevin's face to look the same as Juliet, but it didn't work).

Hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day! Looking forward to adventures, ideas, opinions and advice on taking better pictures!

6 (and a bit) Month Photo Shoot

2009-06-18T10:16:00.011-04:00

I am so lucky to have some talented friends! One of these friends is a budding photographer (who moonlights as a nurse/administrator-type-person during work hours), Michelle. She generously offered to do Juliet's 6 month photos and even dropped them off on disk yesterday afternoon. Thanks, Michelle!

Here are some highlights from the shoot. We didn't get as many smiles as we would have liked as Juliet was waaaay late for a nap and had just had a bad morning at the Extreme Fitness daycare :(. But, we did get some lovely images:

Baby feet in mommy hands!

Eating with mommy (that's me!)

That's my happy baby!

Exploring a toy with mommy.

The sun peeked out for a second and Juliet had to say hello!

Alien-looking baby trying to crawl on the slide (tired baby face usually equals alien face when you try to get her to smile :))

Exploring the grass....

....aaaaand eating the grass! Yummy!