Loose Ends

I just wanted to tie up a couple of loose ends on the blog where I said that I would revisit something and never did.  But before that, I'll tell you about our day. 

Today we went to a playgroup with five other moms & babies that are from one of my mom groups.  Juliet ended up napping in the stroller on the way to the playgroup so she missed the first part (I left her outside on the back deck - all bundled up in  her stroller, of course).  She woke up about 45 minutes in, so she was able to join the group and was in a good mood.  Oh, and we weighed her last night and she was 17.5 pounds.  That's a little lighter than I had thought - I guess at some point there is a natural plateau.

Tonight we tried her on a couple of new foods from a local organic food company.  We tried two flavours - peas and root vegetables - and Juliet didn't really like either.  The food is not cheap, either, so it's a shame to have it go to waste.  After trying various tactics, Leo and I finally found one that worked - we mixed the food with hummus (about 50/50) and fed it to her on a cracker.  Seriously.  I'm getting nervous that Juliet is going to be as picky as me.  The only things she really likes to eat are hummus and sweet potatoes.  Everything else she either just tolerates or completely refuses.

Loose End #1:  I said a while back that I'd post the final picture we chose on our holiday card (rather than just the outtakes which I posted).  Here's the final one plus a few more ones that were contenders to be the final one.

This was the one we ended up choosing.  We liked it because it was as if Juliet was saying, "Happy New Year!"

Leo's and Goobs' eyes really pop in this one.

This was the best of the lie down shots but it was still kinda awkward.

This was our semi-finalist.  I really like this one, too.

Loose End #2: I also said a while back when we got our house that I would share the story of how we got it.  As most of you know, we looked for a house for 2 years and it was quite the process.  But buying our actual house was QUICK! 

It came on the market on a Wednesday and I saw it that day with our agent.  I was informed that they were "holding back offers" until Monday.  This is a common tactic in the current Toronto market that is used to presumably drum up a bidding war.  Anyhow, the day after the house came on the market, Leo, Juliet and I saw it together in the evening.  The owner was present - an elderly lady - and she totally fell in love with Juliet. 

We decided to submit a "bully offer" - rather than wait for offer night on Monday, we would submit a strong (read: over list) offer beforehand.  So on Friday afternoon, our agent submitted our bully offer and we got the house!  There was no back and forth negotiating - it was just like, this is our strongest offer - take it or leave it.  The owner remembered us and mostly remembered Juliet.  Apparently, when our agent was presenting our offer, the owner was preoccupied and was like, "Is the baby nearby?  When are we going to see the baby?" and her agent was like, "Let's just go through the offer first." and was trying to keep her on task.  So basically Juliet got us our house!  What a great feat for a little baby :)