Wordless Wednesday

Simon's First Day at Daycare

Well my maternity leave is quickly coming to an end. Less than a week to go until I'm back at work. Simon and I have made a few trips over to our care provider to get accustomed to the new environment and routine. Today marked the first day that he went alone and for a full-day. He is such a champ and had no problems. Here is the note that was sent home by Ursula - I'm thinking you'll be seeing a lot of her comments in the blog now since she will be spending a lot of time with him.

Nap 9:30-11:20 :)

Lunch Orzo, mixed veggies, chicken and apple sauce for dessert. Tried milk out of the soft sippy cup. Got some out!! Clever boy!

We read "Froggy Bakes a Cake" before nap. Simon really seemed to enjoy it, he was laughing and giggling away.

PM Nap 1:45-2:30

Note: Erika was really sweet to him, she says she like him!!

3pm bottle only 3 1/4 oz. very distracted boy.

Simon was an absolute sweetie to look after!

Simon's Weekend at Nanna and Granddad's

Mum and Dad if you're reading this, we need you to make a guest appearance on the blog to write an entry on Simon's weekend.

Thanks!

Pittsburgh Visit

Matt turned thirty this past week and to celebrate this milestone birthday, I planned a trip to Pittsburgh for the weekend to take in an Ottawa Senators/Pittsburgh Penguins game. Matt is a long-time Penguins fan and has always wanted to take in a game at the Igloo but with a baby, getting tickets, taking off work, etc. it takes quite a bit of planning. I bought the tickets back in October and started to mentally prepare myself to leave my little guy for a weekend away. It was not easy leaving Simon, but it was reassuring to know that he was in good hands.

We took off bright and early Thursday morning and drove down to the Grove City Outlets - one hour out of Pittsburgh. We started shopping within minutes of checking into the hotel and soon realized that we had grossly underestimated the time that it would take to cover the outlets. In the end, we spent 10 hours there! We got some great buys - $2.99 pants and tops at The Children's Place (by far the best store there), $19.99 shoes and sandals at the Stride Rite store (which retail for about $50 here), shirts for 80% off the clearance price at Tommy Hilfiger for Matt and Simon, among other deals. I bought a ton (surprise) but it was much needed since I'm soon back to work and my wardrobe is covered in Simon stains and seriously lacking in style. Our hotel in Grove City was awesome - we had a huge room that was easily twice as big as the average hotel room and they had a nice hot tub which was a welcome relief after hours in the car and at the outlet. We went all out for dinner with a take out from Arby's :) We took full advantage of being able to sleep in and said a quick prayer that Simon was doing the same for Nanny and Granddad. We checked out and shopped some more!

We finally made it out of Grove City around 3:00pm and braced ourselves for an icy drive into Pittsburgh. I gripped the door handle the whole way and Matt and I had a few altercations about safe driving distance. In the end, my numerous references to being alive for Simon sunk in and we made it into town safely. The GPS lady led us slightly astray so we had to back track a bit to find our hotel. We were quite the sight lugging our stuff into the hotel lobby - what with two huge suitcases and about 20 bags from the outlets. The hotel that we booked was gorgeous - the Omni William Penn. I knew that I had picked a winner when the first guest we saw was Nabokov, the goal tender for the San Jose Sharks. Our room was large and had two washrooms - which took us a while to figure out since we just assumed that the door led to yet another closet. After some downtime, we got ready for dinner out. We went to the lobby for a bit and saw a number of other hockey players who were in town for a Sunday game - Joe Thorton, Jeremy Roenick, and a bunch of unrecognizable (to us) teammates. We had dinner at The Coal Hill Steakhouse. The food was just okay, but the view of the city was spectacular. Thankfully we survived the cab ride both ways (it was touch and go at times with the icy roads) and crashed after a long day.

Saturday was game day. Matt was psyched and I was glad it was an afternoon game so we didn't have too much time to kill. We went for a walk around the hotel rather than heading to the zoo as originally planned. We went into Macy's and did some more shopping and then back to the hotel to get ready to head out to lunch and then the game. We hung out in the lobby a bit before heading off since the Senators were also in our hotel. Being our home team, we recognized all of the faces. We sat in the lobby across from Gerber and Alfredson, went up on the elevator with Spezza, and Matt kept a close eye on the elevator to see all of the other players on their way to the arena. I felt a little like a groupie in my Ottawa Senators jersey so I put on my coat and tried not to stare. Once we got our fill, we headed out to a famous Pittsburgh lunch spot, Primanti Brothers to try out their sandwiches. The place was packed but we managed to find a table and ordered up their #2 most ordered sandwich, the Philly Cheese steak. Matt and I both agree that we never need to eat one of these again but we enjoyed the experience. The place was uber casual and the sandwiches were served up on a piece of wax paper and came complete with finger marks from the servers hands. Two slices of bread surrounded a cheese steak, coleslaw and french fries. It was a welcome relief to have to trek about a mile to the arena after eating one of these. When we got to the arena, I quickly realized that I was seriously out numbered in my Ottawa Senators jersey. Because Ottawa is a newer team, it is not uncommon to see numerous fans for the opposing team. This was not the case in Pittsburgh - it was a sea of Crosy and Malkin Pittsburgh jersey's and I was one of a handful of Ottawa fans so I had quite a few comments directed to me. Thankfully I made sure in advance that I would be safe wearing an opposing teams jersey and it was only some good natured ribbing. Pittsburgh was definitely the better team for 50 minutes but Ottawa managed to come back from a 3-0 deficit to tie the game and put it into overtime. With 3 seconds left in overtime and my comment that it was going into shoot outs, Ottawa scored. Matt was a little deflated but he was glad for the chance to be a hometown fan for his Penguins. He also was pleased to have picked up some Penguins garb for Simon to wear for the next few years. We had another steak dinner this time at Ruth Chris Steakhouse and it was awesome - I had a recommendation for this one and I just wish that I had checked out one of the other restaurants that was recommended rather than going out on my own for Friday's dinner.

Sunday we packed up our stuff and started the long journey home. We stopped at the outlets to quickly return some of our less than stellar purchases after we had the chance to get buyer's remorse (and after totaling up our bills - ouch) and then stopped again in Syracuse to grab some dinner and stretch our feet. We rolled into Ottawa around 8:00pm and were so glad to see Simon still up. The worst part of the trip (besides the drive) was not seeing him.

Wordless Wednesday - A Nostalgic One

Happy 30th Birthday Daddy!

Simon @ 11 months

It's hard to believe we're in the home stretch, the last month before our baby turns one year old. All the sudden it feels like he has grown up too fast and I'm starting to regret wishing that the days would pass faster during those first few months. Our big baby is now turning into a big boy!

Here are the highlights of Simon @ 11 months:

-feeding himself and as a result, starting to enjoy food more. His favourite foods are cheese, berries, yogurt and brown bread.
-starting to stand on his own - but only if someone whips away the object that he is holding onto. Not it's not his cruel parents doing this, it's the other babies at playgroup.
-a total Momma's boy. He now cries when I leave and when I show up (if he's tired or hungry).
-getting accustomed to day care - it helps that he's the baby and as such, gets special treatment.
-mastering his ability to manipulate his grandparents.
-loves the dogs - feeding them, chasing them and petting (aka hitting) them. Oxford and Olive are a bit more tolerant than Brutus.
-wears mostly size 12-18 month clothes - although his waist is tiny so they are always sagging down
-is just getting his seventh tooth - four on top and three on bottom - the ones on the right always coming through first.
-is sleeping most nights from 7:00pm-6:30am only waking on nights when he is gassy.
-cruises the furniture like a pro but is not interested in walking with his walker or holding onto our hands.
-wears size 4 diapers.
-is totally weaned to bottles - 2 of formula and 2 of homogenized milk.
-takes two naps per day - Matt and I can't wait until he drops that morning nap so that we can get out and do more.
-loves to wave - he dropped all of his other skills in favour of his royal wave.
-bounces on his knees and waves his hands like a maniac.
-has had four haircuts - two by a professional and two at home.
-loves to help Mommy with laundry.
-loves to share his food - he puts it toward you and if you pretend to eat it he laughs hysterically.
-is such a smiley happy baby.

Simon's New Do

His shaggy mullet is gone and now he has a big boy cut - I cried when I saw him because he didn't look like my little baby anymore. No more haircuts for him!

Happy Valentine's Day

Our little Valentine

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday's Seven

My picture project has fallen by the wayside - I'll still post some cute ones of my little man but definitely not daily shots.

I'm a little late on this post but here it goes. This week we are grateful for:

1. An afternoon off to run errands while Simon napped with Grandma and Grandpa.

2. Any meal that we don't have to prepare ourselves.

3. Simon trying lots of new food - there is much more variety in his likes these days.

4. That the crib at my parent's has freed up for afternoon naps. No more rushing in and out to accommodate Simon's naps.

5. Getting Simon on to a more structured routine.

6. Sleeping through the night - well Simon is, not me :(

7. A healthy baby so that we could leave the house and socialize again. A week being cooped up indoors is not for us.

Contagious

It's contagious - baby laughter that is. You can't help but smile or laugh along when you hear it. Simon gets the giggles when it's inching towards bedtime and last night on our way home from the mall was no exception. Matt was doing his monkey impersonation and Simon was eating it up and laughing full belly laughs. Let me tell you that it's much nicer to have a laughing baby in the back seat than a screaming one!

Wordless Wednesday

Hostage Taking

Yesterday was the first 1/2 day trial run for daycare at Grandma and Grandpa's. Simon went over at 11:00am, had a bottle, showed off his new skills with eating at lunch, and then it was time for a nap in the dreaded playpen. Simon decided he wasn't having any of that - roughing it on a hard mattress is for the birds. So he decided it was better to just stay up. That is until Grandma brought him onto her nice Queen size bed with a cozy feather duvet. The bed apparently met Simon's exacting standards and he cozied up for a 2 1/2 hour nap keeping Grandma and Grandpa hostage the whole time lest he wake up and fall off the bed.

Fruit Break Through

We have been making huge strides when it comes to solid food for Simon. Although he still doesn't eat much, he is finally learning how to chew. I was chopping the food up into little pieces to make it easier for him (or so I thought). Great in theory but try picking up a slippery and tiny piece of fruit when you don't have great coordination. Turns out that he does best with large chunks that he can bite from. Yesterday he ate a whole strawberry and today he ate 1/2 chunk melon, 1/2 chunk pineapple and 4 raspberries. He also had a bit of watermelon but quickly decided it wasn't for him and launched it on the floor.

Sunday's Seven and 365 Days of Pictures

Well the picture taking was hit or miss this week since Simon was sick. So here's what we ended up with.


We had to think hard about things to be grateful for this week since it was a challenge to say the least. Here's what we came up with:

1. Sick baby = cuddly baby. So we took all the cuddles he was offering up.

2. In-house laundry. It was a lifesaver with the number of outfits and linens that we went through this week - there would not be enough quarters to have done the laundry otherwise :)

3. Helping hands on Wednesday from Granma and Grandpa - we managed to get most of the house sterilized and the above described laundry put away.

4. Flowers from my Mum - they made the house (aka my prison for the week) more cheerful.

5. Matt shoveling - again. I know that I mentioned this a few weeks back but we had another doozy of a storm and Matt was out there by himself shoveling snow that at the bottom of the driveway was about 4 feet wide and 4 feet high. Simon and I watched from the bedroom and encouraged Daddy along with banging on the window and the new signature "touchdown" maneuver (we made all the difference)!

6. Dinner out at Baton Rouge - the ribs were to die for - and it was nice that we could leave Simon with Nanna and Granddad because he wouldn't have made it through the 30 minute wait to be seated.

7. My computer! It has kept me connected to the outside world for the past week.