To tide you over and so hard to take a picture

Some of you have been bugging me - "where's a new post, where's a new post?" so I will do a quick one to tide you over for the weekend. Gary will be doing one this weekend, I promise on his behalf, so check on Monday (if you check at work) and there will be one waiting for you!

Lately I have found that it is so hard to take a picture of Calder. Oh, he still loves the camera - big smiles all around when I take the camera out - but he is so on the go all the time, that I am finding it hard to get a shot of him sitting still, let alone looking at the camera. These pictures are a result of what's been happening of late.




The final result in this case - HI MOMMY! :) Waaaaaaay too close. :)


But, I do take multiple pictures - thank God for digital cameras, otherwise I would be wasting tons of film, or have to be satisfied with mediocre pictures. These two I took this morning, they turned out great, and I think Gary will like them!! :)



I love Calder in that shirt (it's a hand-me-down) but it scares me that it's labelled "toddler size" at 12-18 months, ouch! lol Well it fits well and hopefully fits throughout the summer, I have tons of gorgeous Gymboree clothes just waiting to be worn and they are all size 12-18!

I don't know if recently I have gotten more of a domestic bug, or my creativity bug is coming back. At any rate, Gary's mom recently lent me a sewing machine as I got it into my head recently that I wanted to sew Calder a blanket. I know, I know - crazy, huh? Especially since I haven't touched a sewing machine since Home Ec. in Grade 8. But I loved it then, and thought I could remember enough for now. Well, I did ok, I think! I didn't measure anything, hee hee - the sewing is not straight, and I've already had to repair a ribbon tag, but it looks pretty darn good, I think! Not bad for a first try after 20 years!



It's reversible as you can tell and has ribbons along the side for Calder to pull and chew. I noticed that he LOVES tags on clothes and toys and I knew you could buy tag blankets, so I thought, what better thing than to make one? :)

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Happy almost-Friday post!

Hi all,

I am just back a short while ago from 'Stars and Strollers' with Calder and our Babyville friend and I am TIRED. You would think that watching a movie (it was Premonition - a good movie - interesting, to say the least!) would be somewhat relaxing. Well try doing that with an active almost 7-month old. I don't know - the first time we went, it was great - he fell asleep an hour into the movie and it was wonderful. This time, like the last time, he was AWAKE THE ENTIRE TIME and wanting to move around. ArGh. I know he was tired at one point, but my efforts to put him to sleep in my arms were greeted with screams so loud people turned around to look. So, needless to say, he's sleeping now (of course, as soon as I got him in the car he fell asleep) and I should be (wish I was) napping, too - but free time is free time, so I have to pick and choose what I want to do with it.

Anyway, I am going to try not to write so much. Partly because I don't think people want to read a novel (if you guys out there read this, that is! lol) and partly because I am just too darn tired. :)

Yesterday we went and finally had a visit with my dear friend Joanna and her adorable son, Scott. If you don't remember, Joanna had Scott one week before I had Calder!


Her two other munchkins, Brandon and Ethan were off at school until a bit later in my visit. It was so nice to see Jo again and it was great to see Calder and Scott interact. Calder's a bit more mobile than Scott (he like to take it all in) so I think Calder's actions were a bit daunting. I only wonder what Scott was thinking when Calder clamoured all over him in this picture.


Calder tried his hand (with the help of Joanna) at riding a bike for the first time! Doesn't he look cute! :)


Here's a picture of Jo's three boys and Calder. What a handsome bunch of boys they are!


Here is a picture of Scott and Calder holding hands. They're already fast friends! Probably when they are older they will say to us moms - "eeewwww....gross, Mom!" but right now, it's cute! :p


Thanks so much, Joanna - for having us over. Calder thoroughly enjoyed playing with Scott again - but maybe even more the plethora of toys you have! :) It was so nice seeing you again and catching up on us and motherhood. :)

A few days ago I thought, I am getting bored of just feeding Calder vegetables as new foods. Maybe he is, too! So I decided the other day to try bananas with him to see how he liked it. Well I don't quite know if he likes them or not - he eats them - but always the first spoon or two he has faces like these:



Here's a picture of Calder and I (I am the photographer, pretty much the only way to get me in a photo with him!) and my new haircut. Woohoo it's short, but it's nice for Spring! Calder likes it, too - he doesn't pull my hair anymore, it's short enough to actually caress it! Ahhh, says Mommy. My head was starting to hurt.


These two are pics I couldn't resist posting - one day earlier this week when it was quite chilly out for our daily walk with Finn I bundled Calder up in his snowsuit (a great hand-me down from my cousin Sam!) and he wasn't too impressed. Oh, he's been in it before, but I think because he is so immobile in it, he gets frustrated. All he could do was just lie there, and if you've seen Calder in action recently, Calder just doesn't lie there. Even when he's going to sleep! The full body shot one also reminds me of that little kid in one of my favourite movies 'A Christmas Story' where his mom bundles him up so much that he can't put his arms down at his side, and when he falls down, all he could do was roll from side to side screaming "I..can't..get...up!!" Hee hee.



This final photo I also couldn't resist posting (and taking)! We were out on Monday, Calder and I, for a mall walk since it was so cold. We went into The Children's Place to browse and I tried the most adorable hat on Calder. I didn't buy it, because it was size 12 months, and with Calder's head being in the 90th percentile for head size, it already was a snug fit. He doesn't seem to like hats anyway - his new thing is taking off his winter hat, whenever and where ever - but he stayed still long enough for me to snap this with my camera phone.


Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! Friday is almost upon us!

The past week

Sorry there hasn't been a post in a week - it's been busy and I haven't even taken any new pictures this week. So, I'll just do a quick blurb and post some not-so-recent pictures, for those of you that might be going through Calder withdrawal.

Not much new here - Calder is still pulling himself up to stand everywhere, and I mean everywhere. He tried a few days ago to pull himself up against a wall. Well imagine rock climbing against a sheer face of rock. Pretty difficult. Calder got about half-way up and then boom. He fell down and hit his head. I can imagine this is the first of many but Calder (and I) found it quite distressful. He certainly is adventurous. As many of you can imagine I already have my hands full. I can only imagine how this will continue to change over the coming months as he continues to progress in his development.

On Tuesday Calder and I managed to go for a walk along the Ajax waterfront with a friend from our Babyville sessions. It was a bit nippy out with the lake right there, but for those of you that know me well, I didn't need a hat or mitts! Hee hee! Calder seemed to enjoy himself for the walk, which was about an hour and a half, until the very end when he started to get hungry. We went out for a walk again later, around 4, with Finn - and it was even more beautiful. Kids were playing in the park in t-shirts! Well, I think that's pushing it a bit, but it was beautiful out. Calder, in spite of the bright sun, enjoyed being able to look out of his 'big' stroller without having to look through the plastic that normally covers him to protect him from the wind, and soon dropped off to sleep. Ah, what a life. :)

On another note, we finally got our new couch on Friday morning, bright and early at 7:30. Fine by me! After a 3 1/2 month wait we were glad to get it. Once we unpacked it late Friday night, we were sad to discover a rip in the fabric underneath the couch, as well as part of the metal frame sticking out of the fabric on the side of the couch. We are not returning it, after the ordeal we went through, but needless to say, we will be sending pictures of these faults along with a complaint. That's just not acceptable. I wouldn't recommend this company to anyone.

It certainly is nice to have a couch to sit on, instead of our old futon. Oh, the futon still has a place in the family room, to fill some space, but the couch is where we are now. I forgot it was so large - it fits in the space, but it does make our family room look a bit smaller. Well, I'll say it looks cozier. :) It can have a bit of an olive tinge to it - but is called 'Cityscape Taupe'.

Friday night Gary, myself and Calder had a late night. One of Gary's old highschool friends Khurram and his wife Melanie (we went to their wedding in the summer) were in town visiting from their home in Oregon so we went out to go see them at a restaurant at Yonge and Eglinton. We got there a little later than we had hoped, but what with Gary getting home after 7, the dog needing a walk, Calder needing to eat before we left, we didn't get there till past 9 pm. We were kind of half-expecting Calder to do well there, but not as well as he did. There was fairly loud music there, lots of people, and it was dimly lit. Not the kind of place babies usually go, but as the waitress said, not many babies come there - but of them all - Calder was the best behaved. :) He seemed to enjoy himself thoroughly and was fascinated by the hanging pendant lights. Gary and I enjoyed ourselves too, and were glad to get the chance to see Khurram and Melanie again, and for them to meet Calder (last time we saw them he was in my belly still!). We also saw JP and Denny there, two old friends of Gary's.

Thankfully, Calder fell asleep in the car on that snowy ride home and when we got home it was 12:10 am - but thankfully again, Calder was easily transferred to his bed. He slept till 5 am when he needed a bottle, which is fine by me, considering he had such a stimulating evening.

Yesterday (Saturday) Gary got a belated birthday visit from his Brother, sister-in-law, and niece and nephew, Olivia and Peter. Calder again thoroughly enjoyed himself in his cousins' prescence - they entertained him to no end! After they left, after some pizza and cake, Calder had a lovely 2-hour nap. Yay!

Today we are off to Dim Sum (or Dum Sum as my Grandmother calls it). My Grandmother just loves the stuff, as do we - and I think we are all looking forward to our favourite dish, shrimp rolls, yum. Hopefully the restaurant has a high chair for Calder, because he is not one to sit contently in his car seat any longer.

Well, I see this is a long enough blog, so I will sign off. I hope everyone has a wonderful week!!!

Happy Birthday, Gary!!

Well today is Gary's 34th birthday. Yay! Happy Birthday!!

Yesterday we had family over - Gary's parents and my mom and sister - to celebrate this momentous occasion. We ate munchies, enjoyed Calder and even played a game - Tribond. It was Gary's parents' first time playing this game and I think they had fun! After much devouring of appetizers it was time for the cake. Gary has been not-so-subtly hinting for about 2 months now that he wanted a Dairy Queen cake so that's what he got. :) I think he reeeeeeeally enjoyed it. Calder was quite fascinated by the candles, but I think more confused by everybody singing (Happy Birthday) at the same time.






Today Calder and I woke up Gary by singing Happy Birthday again (ok, it was only me singing) and later in the day headed out for an all-you-can-eat sushi lunch. YUM! Gary has yet to receive his presents, but I think he will like the one from Calder! We're about to go on a family walk soon, it's fairly nice out - but I wanted to add one more thing....for his daddy's birthday, Calder surprised him with quite a sight:



Yep, he stood up in his playpen!

And guess what I saw when I came in to get him from bed this morning?!


Little munchkin has been doing this non-stop all day now. :)

Happy Birthday, Gary! Calder and I love you so very much!

Great-Grandma's Birthday

On Saturday Gary, Calder and I went to celebrate Calder's Great-Grandma's 92nd Birthday. There were about 17 people there and I think Calder was a tad overwhelmed at first. So many people wanted to see him and hold him.

One person that got his attention was his cousin, Jack - almost 4 years old and already a little teacher. Calder was so intrigued by him and a smile was often seen on his face in Jack's company, while he was shown cars that he could play with.

Calder was also awe-struck by balloons. He's currently fascinated by a helium balloon on a stick that I have in his bedroom (from my baby shower) but this time, he got to hold a balloon on a ribbon and had tons of fun. You should see the look of concentration on his face!

I think that Calder's Great-Grandma had a great time. There was wonderful company, wonderful food - all for a wonderful and special lady. I love you, Grandma!

Fun photos

Well someone at Today's Parent posted a free-30 day trial of some photo-editing software, and I, among tons of other posters on the site, are going NUTSO (as you shall soon see) with editing. I stayed up a little too late the other night playing with some of the editing tools. I think I love the sepia ones best - they hold so much more depth to them. Anyway...I shall post some here! :) Not all are of Calder - so don't complain! :p














On another note, today is my Grandma's 92nd birthday celebration. All my family will be there (with the exception of a few who live farther away) and I am quite looking forward to showing off Calder - especially to those who haven't seen him since not too long after his birth. My, how he's grown! I'll have more to post at a later date. :) Have a Happy Saturday!

Calder's 6-month picture

Well lately I have just been leaving my laptop in the kitchen and have been too lazy to bring it upstairs to the scanner to scan Calder's 6-month picture, but since Calder is at this moment having a very rare nap in his playpen, I decided I had no excuse not to. Here it is! I don't think this photographer was very good - with babies, and with pictures, because in retrospect Calder's arms should have been pulled in more to his side to get a better shot, but what the hey. He's 6 months old now and still an adorable little munchkin.



Look how tiny he was only 6 months ago! I don't have a lot of first pictures on this computer, so I can just post this one - but look!! Awww, I can't believe how much he's grown!!



I also wanted to post a picture that someone at Today's Parent edited for me, for no reason, but just because they thought it would be cute! I think it's a great take on this picture:



Yesterday was a very busy day for Calder and I - we took the GO train to Toronto for his 6-month appointment and needles. I took him in the Snugli which is always an interesting thing - as it is so darn difficult getting him into that on my own. But it does provide for freedom of movement for me - I don't have to bring his big stroller everywhere and wait for elevators or the Wheelchair accessible part of the train. We didn't wait too long at the office, thank God - my Dr. has been known to keep us waiting for 2 hours. I think the trick is to get the first or last appointment of the day. We had pretty much near the last.

Anyway, the Dr. said he is a very healthy boy - she looked in his ears, listened to his heart and all that jazz - and tested him out sitting and standing...two things Calder definitely likes to do. He got his needles, and I must say that he was AWESOME! I didn't even give him Baby Tylenol or anything beforehand, partly because I forgot, but by the time I remembered he was already asleep in the Snugli. The second needle, always the worst - he screamed the loudest but he did not cry like last time. My little boy is growing up and becoming so brave!! :) After that he got Rotateq, an anti-diarrheal vaccine, which is oral - and it must taste yummy because he devoured it.

For his stats: *drum roll please*

Weight: 19.4 pounds (90th percentile)
Height: 27.5 inches (70th percentile)
Head circum.: 44.5 cm (90th percentile) - yes, he gets that from both sides!

He gained 3 pounds in 2 months! I know that soon this weight gain will start to slow down as he nears 1 year of age and certainly as he becomes more active, which is ever-present every day. I heard that a baby's birth weight should be tripled by the time they are 1, or thereabouts. That means in 6 months Calder should be around 24.5 pounds. Not too much of a gain!

Also last night, Calder and I were home not too long after his day in Toronto before we left again to go to Richmond Hill to visit my grandmother for her 92nd birthday. We are celebrating it 'officially' with all of our family on Saturday, but there is something about a person's actual birthday that is very special to me, and I didn't want to miss it. We had a lovely dinner of Pizza and I know that Grandma very much enjoyed seeing her 3rd great-grandchild. :)

Anyway, time for me to log off. I am going to call the Durham Regional Police and complain about our neighbourhood. Don't worry - we're ok, but Gary, Calder and I were very close to being involved in a pretty much head-on collision this morning and I am totally P.O.'d about it. But, we are safe - I am just VERY bleeping angry about people and their driving in this neighbourhood. Gary saw a dog hit and killed around the corner last summer and I am certain that it will happen this summer to a child if people don't stop driving so erratically. I want to make sure that my darling Calder is safe. But, this is one of the reasons that I really don't see us living here long-term. *sigh*

Have a safe and happy day, everyone.

Trying to stand?

Just to let you see how much of a little Monkey Calder is getting to be - here are a few shots of Calder getting up on his knees (maybe even trying to stand?). I snapped these this morning...what a MONKEY! :)