Babies of the Year

Simon's in the special Babies of the Year insert in the paper today. Check it out and just look for the cutest baby there!

Sunday's Seven

It was easy coming up with a list this week since there's so much to be thankful for at this time of year! This week we are thankful for:

1. Spending time with family at Christmas - we are blessed to have so many loved ones in the city.

2. Yummy food at Christmas dinner - Simon particularly liked the mashed and sweet potatoes.

3. All the people who spoiled Simon for his first Christmas - he had a blast and he's enjoying all of his new toys.



4. Brutus perking up a little bit when his new bed and a gamut of new toys arrived.



5. The whole Barker clan back in one city for this Christmas and many Christmases to come - Simon was particularly glad to have his cousin Braedon to help show him how to open his gifts.

6. Matt being home on holidays!!

7. All the Christmas cards that decorated our mantel and provided Christmas cheer.

Upper Canada Village

Matt and I have been talking about going to see the lights at Upper Canada Village for the past few year - well to be truthful, Matt couldn't care less, but I have wanted to go. We finally made the trip yesterday since the stars aligned - well actually it worked out with Simon's nap schedule, was relatively warm and dry. Simon slept in the car on the way up and then we bundled him up to look at the light display. It's a little odd that a pre-electricity village has a light display but it was absolutely beautiful. Simon was not a lover of the outside mostly because the snowsuit prevents him from sucking his beloved thumb. We took some pictures but without a tripod, I got too much shake so mostly we just got a bunch of blurred lights!

Simon's Christmas Haul

I thought it would be a fun to have a record of all of the gifts that Simon received for his first Christmas so here's a little pictorial of his loot. We tried not to go overboard but between us, two sets of Grandparents, four uncles, three aunts and some friends it kind of became a toy heaven at our place for Simon. Thankfully I restrained over the past year so the toy count is still reasonable.



Holy Crap that's a lot of stuff now that I actually thought it all out! Thankfully we also go money for Simon's education from both sets of grandparents so something for the future as well. We also got a poem framed for Simon's nursery from Great Grandma Fuller. There's probably a few things I forgot to mention but overall Simon was a pretty lucky boy!

That Tongue

The boy is now obsessed with sticking out his tongue. He started on Christmas sticking it out here and there, Boxing Day it was out the whole day, and today more of the same. Here are some photos for your enjoyment!

Wordless Wednesday

2007 Chirstmas Letter

Well it hardly seems possible that another year has passed – and even more impossible that it was our busiest year yet! Here’s a quick recap of the years’ events.

In January we took full advantage of the gorgeous weather and my cousin Terry to get our car ready to sell - this to make room for our most expensive piece of baby paraphernalia, a new Toyota Rav4. It has been a bit unlucky for us having been involved in a hit and run fender bender and an unfortunate case of wrong place at the wrong time when a four way flashing light crashed down onto the car be we love the extra space.

The rest of the time before Simon was born was spent getting ready for Simon – from birth classes, to baby showers, to painting the nursery, to packing for the hospital and getting an early start on sleep deprivation.

In March, we welcomed Simon Reid Fuller to our family. Born at 11:18pm on March 14th and weighing in at a whopping 9 lbs. 4 oz. with a full head of dark hair. He came out screaming but has since evolved into a happy, smiley baby. He is such a joy and we always joke about how it’s so hard to deal with such a crabby baby. I could go on and on about our little boy but since I already have a blog for that; I’ll just let you read up on him there (www.weinerwonderland.blogspot.com).

We have had a busy year with family – John, Maureen, Braedon and Emjae were back in January, June and October, Sue and Les were here in May and October, Terry was here in January, Geoff and Brenda were here in October, Peggi was here in April and then we got to see the rest of the Fuller clan in September at Adam and Cheryl’s wedding. It was so nice for Simon to get a chance to meet most of his extended family. The other exciting news regarding family – my brother John and his family are finally moving back to Ottawa. I’m so excited for Simon to have cousins close by since mine were always thousands of miles across the pond.

Debbie is no longer a Barker with her long anticipated wedding to Eric. Mr. and Mrs. Bova tied the knot in the Dominican on November 8th. We were unable to make the trip down with Simon but were there in spirit – apparently I remind Debbie of terry cloth since a towel represented me in the photos.

Other news worthy events:
–Bill had his 60th birthday and has officially retired from the military. Now he has to deal with us frustrating civilian HR types
–In a similar vein, Jacquie also retired from the hospital however, the babies were too big a draw and she went back in a more limited capacity.
–Jacquie is now a bionic woman with her new knee – surgery was in early November and she’s now in the 12-week recovery period. The good news is that she doesn’t have to worry about working Christmas!
–Mum is recovering from her second broken ankle – we’re thinking of entering her into a contest for the world’s worst patient
–Matt has moved positions to Health Canada – same type of position but only a 10 minute commute!
–Debbie and Eric have bought a new house that closes in May – John and Maureen bought in the same neighborhood but somehow managed to scam a January closing date even though they bought months later
–Dad is semi-retired and by that I mean working more than ever – he just can’t seem to get enough
–Bill Jr. has been domesticated – his place went from bare bones bachelor to having a feature wall now that he’s dating Tara
–Lynsey has finally been recognized for her professionalism with a promotion – I’m getting a little scared that she’s going to be my boss one-day!

Standing

Simon is standing like nobody's business now. He crawls like a demon to something he can pull up on and then voila, he's standing. He is so happy doing it too and can be perfectly content standing for 10 minutes at a time. Today's nap he also discovered that he can stand in his crib so about 1/2 hour after laying him down, I went in to find him smiling and standing in the corner of his crib. Now if only he could figure out how to get down....

Sunday's Seven

I'm stealing this idea from another blog that I read. This past week has made me realize that we have to be grateful for things/times we have so each Sunday, I'll be posting Sunday's Seven with seven things that I/we are grateful for during the past week.

This week was a rough week but even within all the sadness, I am grateful for:

1. A chance to say goodbye to our sweet little red mini Gus - they were able to stabilize him for a short time and he even managed to summon up the energy to wag his tail when he saw us.

2. Jacquie and Bill coming over to babysit a sleeping Simon even though I was home - just to give the the opportunity to sleep uninterrupted.

3. Matt being home on Tuesday so that he was able to take Gus to the vet.

4. An email from my friend Kate who recently had to put her dog to rest - I sobbed reading it but it provided comfort.



5. Lots of yummy cookies from my cookie exchange.

6. Having finished my Christmas shopping so that I don't have to venture out in the crowds.

7. Having the foresight to get Simon's pictures with Santa done early - the lines at the malls these days are crazy!

Granddad's Christmas Party

Dad was totally psyched that he got to show off all three of his grandchildren at his work Christmas party this year. We packed up Braedon, Emjae and Simon for an afternoon at Kidz SportsWorld. This place was a kids dream but a little much for out of shape parents. It consisted of a bunch of those blow up castles, all of which included a slide up a ridiculously steep wall. I was required to follow Braedon through a bunch of them until he got the confidence to do it on his own. Let's just say that I was a zoombie after about 1/2 hour of that. Emjae wasn't all that interested in them although she did let me take her in one of the bouncers but I wasn't able to put her down. Simon mostly hung out with Granddad upstairs away for the noise. Granddad let him chop on some melon and pizza crust which he throughly enjoyed. The kids were also given an early Christmas surprise - Emjae and Simon both got a ride-on inchworm reminiscent of the ones we had when I was little and Braedon got a noisy toy - something to do with cars which I'm sure Granddad will be regretting picking out pretty quickly. Emjae was much like I was when I was little. Right up at the front waiting for her toy and she was quite the site carrying a box as big as she was back to rip open.

An Early Christmas Gift

This week was rough - I am a poor sleeper at the best of times but throw in stress, an upcoming event, tragedy and I am a wreck. Three nights this week I slept for only 4 hours, which is well below my necessary 9 hours. Last night I was absolutely shattered and Matt was scheduled to go to soccer meaning that I would be on Simon alert which equals no sleep. Thankfully Jacquie and Bill came to the rescue and came over to hang-out at our place, keep poor little Brutus company and listen for Simon so that I could just tune out for the evening. It was the best early Christmas gift. I went to bed at 6:00pm, woke around 10:00pm to go to the bathroom and then went back to sleep until around 6:00am, woke briefly to feed Simon and then was back to la-la-land until 8:00am. I am so glad they were here since Simon woke up to eat (which he has been doing a lot of lately) and I was blissfully unaware. I am still feeling a little off but doing 100 times better than I was yesterday.

In Loving Memory of Gus

Today we put to rest our dear companion Gus. Yesterday we noticed that he was a little under the weather and he quickly deteriorated throughout the day. Gus was diagnosed with an immune-mediated hemalytic anemia and given only a 40% chance to live through the night. He did make it through but the prognosis for the disease is not good and we had to make a difficult decision to put him to rest. We miss him dearly and are still coming to terms with whether we made the right decision.





Our favourite memories of Gus:

-Gus was persistent to the end, if he wanted something he would jump, scratch, maneuver for a better angle, lick for hours until dinner was served, he went to bed or went on a trip to his grandparents. Then he would start it all up again because he never forgot.
-Gus was always there to make you feel better when you were down, he would cuddle for hours.
-Aside from the obvious things that make you smile (short legs, long body and long ears) Gus's personality brought a smile to everyone's face. He was truly unique
-Gus loved to play fetch and any foray onto the floor usually resulted in him wanting to initiate a game of fetch.
-Gus was always there to greet you when you got home and his excited wiggle and incessant tail wagging could brighten your worst of days.
-Gus was exuberant - always chatting to the neighbors and letting them know that he was out and a force to be reckoned with - it drove us crazy at times but now we'll miss it.
-Gus loved his food and everyone else's for that matter. For such a small dog he could certainly finish a sandwich or a glass of milk before you even noticed.

Winter Storm

From the Ottawa Citizen:

On Sunday, residents were being advised to stay indoors as the massive winter storm rolled its way into Ottawa and Eastern Ontario, creating havoc on the highways.

"Stay at home," Const. Kevin Davidson of the Ontario Provincial Police said Sunday morning. "Don't travel unless you absolutely have to."

Well apparently I absolutely had to travel - and so did a bunch of my crazy girlfriends since we had dozens of cookies baked for our annual cookie exchange. The roads weren't too crazy when we headed out but once you ventured into the parking lots it was clear that it may be a bit of an effort to get out. From Carol's eleventh floor apartment, you couldn't even see the ground there was so much snow falling but you could sure feel it when we got out there and had to push everyone's cars up the hill in the parking lot! I quickly realized that boots would have been a good idea - along with mitts and a hat. Thankfully our car is packed with junk so I managed to rummage up mitts and a hat. We only had to sacrifice one car - Farrah's - and she made the trip home by bus with a giant projector. Driving home I kept thinking what's with all these idiots on the road but I guess I was one of them but at least I had a variety of cookies!

Simon @ 9 months

Simon has changed so much over the last month. He no longer wants to be treated like a baby now that he's on the move. At 9 months, Simon:

-is crawling - it started more as a drag but now he's up on his hands and knees and getting into everything
-is still waking up 1-2 times a night
-is awake for longer periods - he can go about 4 hours without a nap or crankiness
-loves to say da da da da da da da da da da da da da da
-loves his tub - he splashes like a maniac and smiles like crazy
-hates getting bundled up in his snowsuit and strapped into the car seat
-is starting to pull himself up to standing - mostly on the bus and on Nanna and Granddad's fireplace
-loves to shriek - we often have shriek-offs with him and he thinks that is hysterical
-is such a smiley little baby
-has been to see Santa for the first time
-is still gagging on anything with too much texture
-is wearing 12-18 month clothing - he outgrew the 6-12 months stuff overnight!
-weighs in at 21 lbs. 13 oz.
-loves to sip water using a straw when we're at restaurants - it gives Matt and I an extra 10 minutes without him fussing
-is totally uncooperative for diaper changes he squirms, sits up, screams and then he remembers how much he loves to shriek so he settles in doing that
-got his second hair cut compliments of Nanna - he was in motion the whole time so it's a little uneven but he's so cute it doesn't matter
-thinks the vent covers make great toys
-has started eating yogurt and drinking regular milk
-is eating 3 solids meals a day
-wears size 4 diapers
-loves to watch the dogs and laughs hysterically when you get him to pet them
-is still sucking his thumb endlessly
-is a pooping machine - no more 10 day stretches, we barely get 10 minutes some days :)

Dinner with the McLeans

Between Christmas shopping, Matt's exam, Simon's sleepless nights and our furniture moving expeditions, Matt and I have been sorely lacking in socializing. We focus so much of our time on Simon and have really forgotten how to talk amongst ourselves and with other adults. So we invited Marta, Adam and Isabella over for an early dinner and some playtime. Simon was a bit of a cranky pants since he decided to nap for 1 hour total today but he did have fun knocking over the wood blocks as fast as Marta and I could stack them. Isabella had quite the time playing with the bus and exploring our house - Simon even showed her how to remove the vent covers! Matt is just glad to have someone to play the Wii with although Adam may not want to play with him again because Matt beat him at Golf, Bowling and Baseball.

Waiting for my pants

Now that Simon is on the move, he is no longer interested in his silly baby toys. He now cruises around the main floor of the house looking for things to entertain him. Todays winners - the dog bowl which is a great substitute for the tub to splash in and our front loader washing machine. Here's Simon waiting for his pants!

More Random Cuteness

Look at my cute overalls with Dachshunds on them.



Me and Brutus - he's a little relieved that I'm headed the other way.


Multitasking - reading, playing with the bus and smiling for the camera - I'm a genius.

Random Cuteness

Just some cute pictures of Simon - he's growing so fast that I am taking more photos than ever to hold onto my "baby".

Big boy standing by his bus.


Daddy you're so funny.


I know my favourite toy is down there somewhere.


I am so happy to be in the tub!

Happy 90th Birthday Granny Lay

We celebrated Ms. Geraldine Lay's 90th birthday with some cake today at Granite Ridge. What an incredible feat to have such a long life and judging by the number of cards that she has, she has made quite the impression over the years. Here's some pictures of Simon checking out his Granny, Geraldine opening a gift from Geoff and Brenda, a group shot and a fun one of Tara just because she was so nice to pose for it :)

They're Back

It's official - the house is sold, their stuff is packed in storage and they have landed in Ottawa. They are now in the 8 week transition period while they wait for their new house to be built. Simon is already loving his cousins - they are big and can do so much more than him and you can definitely tell that he's taking it all in. Emjae's curls are more gorgeous than ever and Braedon is his usual crazy self.

We're going to have to velcro him to a wall

Simon is into everything now that he's on the move. I don't even know why we need toys anymore because the vents on the floor, the dog toys, flyers and cords hold much more interest for him. I have covered up two vents with his play mats and I just need to find some double sided tape for the other one. It's so entertaining to watch him now. He'll just be sitting there and then he zones in on his target, flips onto his knees, gets a big smile on his face and then starts to go. There is no distraction going to stop him from his ultimate goal (usually the vent). The other day at my parents we had to relocate a lamp, a speaker, put up a baby gate, cover the fireplace with the dog pillows (much to Oxford's disgust), and tape down the vent.