Break

Juliet and I are heading to a cottage for a week with Juliet's grandma, so I'll be taking a break from blogging since the cottage doesn't have internet access (it doesn't even have cell coverage!).  Hope I'll have some cute pictures of her to post when I get back.  To tide you over, though, here's a picture from today of Juliet on dad's shoulders.

It sort of looks like Leo grew a new head, and the new head is a baby.

P.S. If there are any potential robbers out there that are thinking of robbing our place while we're away, 1) we don't have anything worth taking (most of our furniture hails from our university days) so don't bother, and 2) Leo and our big vicious dog will still be home, so be forewarned. :)

"Classic" Episodes

Do you ever notice on TV that sometimes instead of repeats, the TV station will advertise "classic" episodes?  Like, as if you were tricked into not realizing that you were watching a repeat.  Anyhow, I don't have any new pictures for today - we just went shopping at Dixie Outlet Mall and I bought some nursing tops - so I decided to post a "classic" picture of Juliet.  This was taken at my friend Miwa's house last weekend.

Juliet asleep on mom's shoulder. 

TMZ

Yesterday was the 4th hottest day on record in Toronto (37.5 degrees without the humidex, 49 with the humidex).  I had planned to keep Juliet indoors and out of the heat, but then we decided to see a movie and had to run an errand, so we ended up going out after all.   Man, was it hot!

We went to the mommy and baby showing of the movie Horrible Bosses and Juliet was relatively good throughout the movie.  I say relatively because she fussed a few times and I had to get up and walk around with her in the theatre to soothe her.  It was OK, though - everyone at the movie had a baby with them, so people understand that they will hear fussy babies from time to time.  The movie itself was good, not great.

After the movie, we went to Juliet's doctor so that she could get the vaccine against rotavirus.  This vaccine was taken orally, so it wasn't anything like the shots she got a couple of weeks ago.  She cried a little, but was easily soothed by nursing.

Juliet kicks up a storm on the exam table at the doctor's office.

Then today, Leo had the day off from work so we had some family time.  We ran a whole bunch of errands (including purchasing a Jolly Jumper for Juliet, which should be fun) and had a picnic lunch at the park.

We can't use sunscreen on Juliet yet, so she has to be pretty covered up when we're outdoors.  All you can see here are her little feet!

Saving the best until last - I think the best picture of the day was when we got home and gave her a bath. After the bath, we were drying her off in her chicken towel and got this:


"Oh, no!  The paparazzi caught me again!"



A Great Introduction

Juliet met her great nana for the first time today and it was so nice to see them interact together.  So few of us get to meet our great grandparents - some of us don't even get the privilege of meeting our "regular" grandparents - so it was really special for Juliet to meet Leo's mom's mom.  I had a really close relationship with my maternal grandmother, so I have a soft spot for grandparents in general - which made this introduction extra meaningful.

Great nana holds Juliet for the first time.



Juliet is a squirmer and a stretcher sometimes.

While we were at great nana's, she taught me how to make a couple of her baking specialties - her famous date squares and her delicious apple pie.  Truthfully, I don't eat either of these things (I'm sure everyone reading this knows I don't like fruit) but Leo loves both of these desserts so I thought I'd learn how to make them.

It was quite amusing as great nana doesn't follow specific recipes for either dessert - she just goes by sight - so it was difficult to try to write down instructions (a "couple of sprinkles" of nutmeg???).  Once I get home I will try to replicate what we made and Leo will have to be my taste tester to see how I do.

Oma and great nana at the beginning of my baking lesson.



The finished products - an apple pie, date squares, and my instructions - complete with diagrams.



Road Trip

Juliet went on a little road trip today as we took the 3-hour drive to Oma's.  After about 2.5 hours, we made a quick pit stop for a feeding and diaper change, and we were on our way again.  I wasn't sure what it would be like to travel with a baby, but Juliet made it seem pretty easy today.  Maybe we'll even try air travel with Juliet in the next few months.

Once we got to Oma's, we spent the afternoon chatting with Oma, Chris, and Juliet's aunt Laura.  Chris made an awesome dinner of BBQed smoked pork chops - it was so tasty and smokey. 

Juliet hangs out in the bassinet lent to Oma - she takes up the entire bassinet (it's hard to tell in the picture because of the pattern).  Hopefully she won't get much longer in the next couple of weeks as we want to use this bassinet again when we come back in August.

 

Juliet with Oma and Aunt Laura. 



Juliet fell asleep in Oma's arms.



Six Hours Straight

Yesterday, Juliet and I once again went to Bayview and walked around and visited our favourite shops.  We stalked the neighbourhood for houses for sale but there were only a scant few.  Leo came and met us for dinner at the local pub, McSorley's, and then we went and got some gelato.  Juliet was a little bit cranky while we are at dinner (the waitresses still managed to coo over her), but fell asleep in Leo's arms while we were walking along Bayview afterwards.

Daddy holds his sleepy girl.

Today, Juliet and I went over to my friend Miwa's to hang out with her and her daughter, Emiko.  Emiko is 22 months old so she seems so big compared to Juliet!  Generously, Miwa has lent us a lot of baby clothes and gear, including the carrier featured in an earlier blog post.

Miwa holds Juliet.  I love this picture - Juliet looks so thoughtful!  Incidentally, when Miwa was holding Juliet, Emiko had a tough time and cried when she saw her mommy holding another baby.  Awwwww....

We had lunch at Miwa's and then went for a walk in her neighbourhood and went to the local splash pad where Emiko played in the water.  Juliet's much to small to participate so we just hung out on the grass and enjoyed the weather. 

On a side note, Juliet slept 6 hours straight last night, was up for half an hour and then slept another 5 hours or so.  Not sure if this pattern will last, but if it does, I will be very happy! :) 

Playdate

Juliet and I had a playdate today with my friend Sylwia and her son Gabriel.  Gabriel is 3 weeks older than Juliet, so it's interesting to learn about what changes we can expect in the next few weeks with Juliet.  One of the things that Gabriel has just started doing is giggling and it was extremely cute to see him giggle.  Juliet smiles but has not started giggling, so I'm looking forward to that.

When we were taking pictures of the babies, they were much more interested in us - the moms - but paid virtually no attention to each other.

Take Your Baby to Work Day

Today I took Juliet to my work to meet some of my colleagues and she even attended her first meeting.  I work with 3 different departments, so Juliet had a lot of people to meet and of course she charmed everyone.  She was really good for the whole visit - a lot of people commented on how good and cute she was.  At one point in the visit she started to fuss in the stroller so I took her out and held her, and she promptly fell asleep in my arms.  Here is a picture from my tour through the Programming Department.

She was so well behaved at the office but when I got home she was cranky.  I tried the usual tactics to soothe her, but they weren't working very well.  When Leo got home, he tried his tactics and they weren't working either.  So we tried the technique from one of our books called "Happiest Baby on the Block". 

The book describes the 5 S's: Swaddling, Shushing, Side-lying, Swinging, and Sucking.  We didn't do all 5, but we did 3 of them - Swaddling, Shushing, and Swinging - and they totally worked.  It was like we turned on a switch and Juliet went right to sleep.  Not sure how it worked (it was kind of eerie how well it worked), but it did!

Tummy Time

We weren't sure how Juliet would do today, given that she got her first shots yesterday.  She seemed almost completely normal - the only thing that was different was that she slept less than she usually does, which meant that I had to spend more time entertaining her and finding things to do.  It was too hot to go outside with her (35 degrees with the humidex), so we just hung out at home. 

One of the things that we did today was tummy time.  For those of you who aren't familiar with it, basically it's recommended that babies spend at least 30 minutes a day on their tummies.  In the olden days (like when Leo and I were babies) parents were told to put their babies to sleep on their tummies.  But when the recommendation changed and parents were told to get their babies to sleep on their backs, they found that babies were not reaching certain milestones as quickly like crawling and holding their heads up because their neck muscles weren't developed.  Also some babies were getting flat heads from laying on the backs of their heads for too long. 

So now we're told to give our babies tummy time.  Juliet absolutely hates tummy time - she wimpers and eventually cries and generally we can only get her to do it for 5 minutes or less at a time.  Nevertheless, she's getting stronger and is doing mini push ups - look how high she got today!

"I hate tummy time but I have to admit it's working!"



"Yay!  Tummy time is over for today!"



Battle Wounds

Juliet had a very busy weekend with lots of visiting and spent some time enjoying the weather.  Friday was Grandpa's birthday and so we went over to his house for a BBQ.  Grandpa made beer can chicken on the BBQ and it was moist and delicious.  Grandpa got lots of presents, 90% of which related to planes or flying.

Grandpa and Aunt Shona sit with Juliet on the back deck.

Juliet naps on mom.

Juliet is happy to see dad when he gets home from work.

On Saturday, we had brunch with Grandma and then went over to Chrissy and Trevor's place for dinner and had a BBQ on the deck.  I'm not complaining about the fact that we had BBQ again...we've lived in a condo with no outside space and no BBQ for 8 years, so we absolutely love going over to friends'/families' places for BBQ.  I think it's half the reason we want a house!

Leo looking thoughtful while holding Juliet.  I think he didn't realize he was going to be in the picture.

So cute!

On Sunday we had a nice visit from Juliet's Aunt Paula and her friend Adam. 

And in the afternoon, we went down to the waterfront and to the Distillery District and had a nice Sunday stroll.  It was so hot and humid, we didn't want Juliet to stay out too long.  I had a yummy gelato and wished I could have given her some!  Oh well, she'll experience gelato eventually.








And now for the sad news...Juliet got her first set of shots today.  She got two needles - one in both thighs.  She cried right after she got the needles.  She cried like I have never heard her cry before.  The nurse told me to nurse (lol) to soothe her, but Juliet was too worked up to even try.  I just held her and tried to comfort her by "shushing" in her ear and that seemed to work and she quieted down within a few minutes.  They warned us that she could get a fever and be cranky, but she actually seems pretty normal now.

Juliet shows off her battle wounds - notice the circular band-aids on her upper thighs :(  I think she sort of looks like Leo in this picture.

Shopping on Bayview

Yesterday, Juliet and I had quite the busy day running errands.  We dropped off some stuff at Goodwill (we're still getting rid of stuff to make room for her), we went to Sears, and then we did some shopping on Bayview.

At Sears I learned that they had a "Nursing Room".  It's one of those things that you wouldn't even notice unless you were looking for it, I suppose.  It ended up being really useful.  It's this little room with 4 comfy leather chairs where your baby can nurse in private.  It also has a change table and a sink for washing up. 

After finishing up at Sears, we headed over to Bayview, which most of you know is the area in which we've been looking for a house for 2 years to no avail.  People keep telling us to expand our search area and give up on getting into the neighbourhood.  But hopefully this post will help explain our stubbornness.  While we were on Bayview, we bought some high quality, delicious food items that would be difficult to match elsewhere in the city.  Here's a picture of our bounty:

Clockwise from top: Whole wheat bread from Cobs, chocolate chip cookies from Epi, Arctic Char from De la mer, scones from Cobs, and Montreal style bagels from The Bagel House

I forgot to bring along the camera to take a picture of Juliet while running errands, so I ended up snapping this pic at home when we got back.  She's been smiling a lot lately - so fun!

Cute polka dot sleeper from Juliet's great aunt Pat and uncle John.  Purchased in Vegas, baby!

Sleep Sack

Last night Juliet graduated to using a sleep sack.  For those of you who don't know what a sleep sack is, it's basically a personal sleeping bag that zips up at the front.  Back in the day, our parents might have used things like top sheets and (gasp!) blankets, but today's parents are instilled with the fear that their babies will suffocate with all that loose fabric.  Enter the sleep sack, where babies presumably are safer.   I think it worked well for its purpose and it was a lot easier than swaddling her in the middle of the night.

The seep sack makes her look extra long, but really it's that long since it's supposed to fit her until she is 6 months old.

"Hello, blog fans!"

Carrier Time

Yesterday was one of those Sundays where we spent the day cleaning and running errands.  It was really too bad since it was so nice out yesterday but it just really needed to be done so we had to bite the bullet and do it.  We were too busy to cook so we decided to walk over to Swiss Chalet for dinner (for which we used a gift card from Juliet's aunt Laura - thanks!).

We decided to use a carrier to bring Juliet to Swiss Chalet in since it's such a short walk, and Leo wore it.  Isn't it so much nicer when dads are carrying the baby?  For some reason, people think it is.  It's not just the carrier, either.  Whenever Leo is with Juliet, people (mostly women) just flock to him and ooohhh and ahhhh over him and the baby.  People are so easily impressed when dads take an active role in parenting.  Which is nice and all, but hey, Juliet's mom does stuff, too!  Can't I get a little love? 



Leo with Juliet in the carrier in the Swiss Chalet parking lot.

 

Awww...hi Juliet!

Aunties and Uncles

Aunties and Uncles is a really good breakfast joint in Toronto, but that is not what this post is about.  Yesterday we went to my aunt and uncle's place in Hamilton to celebrate my cousin's graduation from high school.  She is entering hair dressing school in the fall and is very excited about it and we're very happy for her.  My cousin met Juliet for the first time and said she would be Juliet's hair stylist when she gets older. For now, though, Juliet just wears her hair in the style of a balding man (brushed forward in an attempt to hide the lack of hair).

Drinks and BBQ outside under the grapes.  Notice the pile of mush beside Leo - it's the remnants of my strawberry shortcake where I pushed aside the strawberries.  Sorry, aunt Cathy!  :(

Grandma holds Juliet

Aunt Cathy holds Juliet.  Juliet is wearing a beautiful Calvin Klein dress that Cathy gave her.

Photo Shoot

Last weekend we visited Anjana and she did an awesome photo shoot with Juliet.  Anjana is a really talented photographer and did our engagement and maternity pictures as well.

The grandparents have seen these pictures already, but I just had to post them because they all turned out so well and are just perfect for this blog.  We want to use one of these for some announcement cards but can't agree on which one to pick.  Vote for your favourite below!

Chicken1

Chicken2

Chicken3

Chicken4

Hairband

Pinkdress1

Pinkdress2

BigYawn

Tutu

Sunlight

Don't let it influence your vote, but my favourites are Chicken3 and Pinkdress2.  She's making good eye contact with the camera in both of these pictures.  In Pinkdress2 she looks like a broken down doll.  For those of you who watch America's Next Top Model, this is a good thing :)

Fashion Credits: chicken towel from Emily (Elise's Air Miles friend), tutu dress from Terry (Leo's friend) and Carla, hot pink dress from Anjana.