Grammy and Grampy's Visit Day One (and a half)

Hello chocolate birthday cake. Meet ma belly. 

Chocolate on my cheeks, chocolate on my nose.

Chocolate on my tummy and chocolate on my toes!

A trip to Black Brook Cemetery to see the baby eagles.

(Photo by Grandma)

A quick colours book snack. 

(Photo by Grandma)

A boat naming.

(Photo by Grandma) 

And a run through the park with Grampy.

(Photo by Grandma) 

Sundays with Sunny

Although we spend most of our time pulling fingers out of eyes and trying to relay the importance of sharing, we know someday it will be all late night little girl sleepovers. In the meantime they do take really cute pictures.

Also, see the sandals? Salt water sandals! Salt water sandals! 

Frankie's Great Aunt Ruth brought not one but TWO pairs back from Georgia. They are every bit of perfect.

Frances Moon: A Retrospective

Where did this week go? Even though I'm not leaving the house for work short weeks still feel short. Very short. Not that there's anything wrong with popping your head up to realize that tomorrow's Friday again. Some days I feel the same way about this last year. That I turned around just for a second and it was gone and our soft sleepy cooing newborn was suddenly a running, babbling (and running) one year old. 

Despite the speed of this last year, the burst of changes it has inspired in all of us, and the fact that the bean's proper first birthday looms on the other side of the weekend, I am feeling less sentimental than I thought I might. 

Everyday since she made this pod of two a pod of three has been better than the last. Everyday she has noticed more about her world, grown closer to the many people who love her, learned and learned and learned, and offered us new glimpses into her silly, curious and loving little self. 

Once in a while though, I look back through her newborn photos late at night or another baby nearby arrives all soft and sleepy, and I ache just a little bit for those first few days and weeks that are forever passed.

Twelve whole months of Miss Frances Moon: 

Soft and sleepy 

One month 

Two months 

Three months 

Four months 

Five months 

Six months 

Seven months 

Eight months 

Nine months 

Ten months 

Eleven months 

Love. Love.

Olivia Newton Moon

Cardio 

Weight Training

Summer Is

Windows open.

Morning coffee on the patio.

Babies in the backyard after breakfast. 

Love. Love.

(Dear Uncle Josh: This is me trying to find the birdie I just heard)

Go Baby Go

Dear Frances, 

Before you could crawl, before you could walk, before there was the chance of you falling and bumping, I hoped that when these things happened you would be brave. That you’d get back up, dust off your baby knees and keep going. Despite this hope though, I never could have imagined that you’d be as tough as you are. You are nails my little bug, iron nails. You don’t cry when you trip. Or when you bump you head. Or when you go crashing into a pile of toys (over and over). 

I hope this is with you always. That you kick obstacles aside and when that doesn’t work you go right over them. That your tumbles are barely noticed, that you keep moving forward, and that your resolve to reach your destination takes you wherever your little heart desires.

So much love,
Your mamma 

Rainmakers

I know I've mentioned this more than once, but this winter felt like a record setter in its length and snowfall and numbingly cold temperatures. It seemed to start earlier and last longer than any in recent memory. It seemed to be more grey and the sun seemed to set earlier.

I'm pretty sure my will-this-winter-ever-end perspective has been greatly influenced by being confined indoors with a six and then seven and then eight and then nine and then ten month old. 

We went to two sessions of books and babies at our local library and they were wonderful. When Rob was off from regular work and working on the pier house and the timing of naps permitted we went to a weekly play group at a resource center near by. When we didn't have a car and when the weather was blustery nasty awful we stayed inside and looked forward to spring. We read A LOT of books about kittens and farms, rolled A LOT of balls back and forth and knocked over A PRAISE JESUS LOT of block towers.

Spring is here - evidently the wettest and windiest and greyest on record. It has rained (according to memory and my feeling liked a caged bear) for nineteen of the last twenty-one days. If the winter made it feel like spring would never come then this spring has confirmed that we will never again sit on the patio without long pants and the bug will never know the feeling of grass on bare feet. Woe is us and our longing for sunnier days. 

But this week, oh this lovely week, the clouds are finally supposed to part. The forecast for Thursday heralds warm temperatures with sun and cloud and no rain. Being two days away this could change. We could again find ourselves inside with faces pressed up against the outside watching monsoon-like rains carry our wagon and gardening tools down the street and into the harbour.

If you go way back with any weather gods or general weather influencers pretty please put a good word in for us.

Could there be an upside to all of this? Perhaps. Perhaps these rain gods and influencers, having been assigned their annual quota, have decided to divest themselves of their soggier side before the end of May. Because somehow they have come to know that we have planned to have the bug's very first birthday on the first weekend in June. And somehow they have unanimously decided that there is no better place for a first birthday than outside on picnic blankets in a backyard dotted with tulips and lily of the valleys on a warm and sunny early summer day.

Dear Weather Gods and Influencers: I very am glad for your decision. 

Weekend Wins

1. Not being charged by the cell phone company for the GPS application that the bug activated a week ago.

2. A lovely afternoon at a sweet little boy's birthday party and a drive out to the coast to pick up a back pack for carrying babies.

Getting in from the party and checking her messages.

3. Frank trying curry twice and not completely rejecting the idea. 

4. A boat. A pretty boat. Our pretty boat.

The Indefatigable 

5. One whole day without rain. 

6. Babies in boats on days without rain:

7. Itty bitty ducks all in a row:

8. A clean car. A car that is so clean (compared to its previous cruddy self) that I want to go out and admire how clean it is instead of going to bed.

9. Eight more yards registering for the Second Annual Great Northend Yard Sale and averting the Great Northend Panic. 

10. The people we love loving their global adventures: 

Hi Nanna and Granddad and Aunt Lois!

You Must Be This Tall

This week has been a roll-er-coaster. A rolly roll-er-coaster. 

After months of research and looking and waiting we found and bought the perfect sailboat. There were a few disappointments along the way – beautiful boats that weren’t in the budget or boats that other buyers got to first. Although we live on an island (with three yacht clubs within twenty minutes) there are surprisingly few boats for sale here. This meant being ready to jump in the car and drive five to eight hours just to see if a boat that looked good online also looked good offline; an option that wasn’t always an option if it was the middle of the week or if the weekend was spoken for. 

In the face of said disappointments, I resolved not to get too excited about any more of our maybe boats. I’d save my excitement for the day I could peek out the bathroom window and get all giddy because, um, there’s a boat parked in the driveway. On Sunday, I expect to peek out the bathroom window no less than thirty times to make sure that the boat is there and is real and is really ours. 

And then. Once upon a time a job was born. It was perfect for my heart and for my mind and for my little family. It’s possibilities made the idea of being apart from Frances for the first time since she was born almost bearable. It kept me up at night with excitement. And then as quickly as it was offered it disappeared into the black hole of internal restructuring. My heart and my mind are reeling. Rob has been wearing his most amazing papa, boyfriend and best friend sash for two days. This is good. Frances has been extra silly and squishy. Also good. 

I’m stealing one more day for sadness and disbelief and then on Sunday I’m packing it all up, along with the parts of me that have grown attached to this position over the last five months, and sticking it on a shelf. There’s a chance that the sun may be out for the first time in a week and two days is plenty of time not to be overwhelmed with gratitude for what we do have, which is so so much.

Last Week In Three Photos

Emptying the toy basket (one million times a day and counting)

Carefully taking off each shoe (that mum just put on) and setting them aside.

From our trip to North Sydney: odd but clever.

Mamma's Day Morning

Little pea, 

You, your tiny little wiggly self, are the very very best mamma's day gift I think I could imagine. Your infectious smile, your bright eyes, your funny straight-legged run right into my arms. Scooping you up as you hold tight around my neck redeems even the most draining of days. Always. Instantly. 

And you're smart too. When I snuggled you up beside me in bed early this morning you tucked in extra close and fell right back asleep. I'm pretty sure you knew it was mumma's day. And that next to a few more quiet hours, my most favourite thing is watching you sleep, knowing that in those moments you have everything you need - warm blankets, a soft bed, a full belly and a very grateful and humbled mamma.

After eleven months these slow snuggly mornings can still make the rest of the world slip away, bit by sleepy bit. 

So much love, 

Your mamma

A little later in the day with some of your first crustaceans.   

(Photo by nanna)

(Photo by nanna)

Halloween 2012

Baby wants to be an elf who wants to be a dentist.

Salty Dogs

Frances isn't big on shoes. I know - gasp. So far (despite the side eye from little old ladies at the grocery) we haven't pushed the issue. I read in a few places that its best for little feet to learn to walk with nothing on them. It helps with balance and bare feet are, um, awesome. Now that she's walking like its nobody's business and long days outside are surely ahead of us (in spite of yesterday's awful frigid sideways rain) I've been peeking on baby sandals here and there. 

A while back (and a few times since) baby Salt Water Sandals dared me to buy them. At first for their intense cuteness and later for their construction and durability (but really how cute are they). 

Today I decided to officially deem baby Salt Waters my May online purchase and now I can't find anywhere that ships these sweet little feet coverings to Canada. Zappos used to sell them but no longer ships outside the US. And naturally in scouring the online for a way to get them here I came across this:

Now I want a pair. A matching pair. And since I'm trying to keep to one online purchase per month I need to find somewhere that will ship both children's and adult's sizes to me - because two things so long as they are from the same store still count as one purchase, no? Please forward all genies and rabbit feet to the address below. 

Another Good Reason for Organic Cosmetics ...

They become snacks when you're not looking:

Sneaky beetle.

Make-up bag munchies aside we're making some progress with meals. The new high chair we picked up a few weeks ago was just what we needed and no successful escapes have yet been made. It has shoulder straps, a waist strap and a between-the-legs strap; all of which were initially very unpleasant for baby-must-wiggle but have been begrudgingly accepted. 

Now that everyone is sitting at meal time I'm hoping to transition to more and more finger foods and self-feeding. Sometimes this means being able to offer small well-cooked bits of what we're having when we're having veggie burgers or stir fry or pasta. For all those other times (which is most times), I've been putting together a go-to list of baby-finger-feeding-friendly foods that I can reference before heading to the store each week. 

Kiwi                                Banana     

Avocado                         Baked tofu 

Ripe pear                        Ham Cubes  

Cucumber                      Cheese Cubes

Veggie burgers               Sweet potato fried 

Cooked carrots               Cooked broccoli

French toast strips          Whole grain muffins 

Multigrain cheerios          Dried apple pieces 

Dried prune pieces          Pasta and tomato sauce 

Hard boiled egg pieces    Banana Berry Smoothies 

Bread with cream cheese and fruit puree 

Brown rice overcooked (to make sticky) and formed into balls 

We've also tried raisins which were acceptable to the bug's refined palette (ahem, weren't immediately spit out). Raisins received mixed reviews in other internet places - from recommended to not recommended as they might pose a choking risk. Frances is getting much better at chewing (or chewing slash gumming) her foods and much much better at not putting too much in her mouth. She only has her finger foods when she's strapped in her high chair (important) and when she's supervised (super important) and we haven't yet had any raisin troubles. We're giving them a sticky thumbs up.

Another big winner - broccoli cheese nuggets. This kid loves broccoli. Which is odd since no one else living here does. She's been have two to four of these as an appetizer with lunch and dinner and I've yet to find a single one mashed into the high chair once I lift her out. From Wholesome Baby Food: 

1 16-oz package frozen broccoli, cooked, drained, and chopped
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs (I used wheat germ instead because it was in the cupboard and sounded a bit healthier than bread crumbs)
1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
3 large eggs or 5 egg yolks (depending on if baby is old enough for whole eggs)

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Lightly coat a baking sheet with olive oil and set aside.
3. Combine all remaining ingredients and mix well.
4. Add seasonings if you like - garlic powder or pepper and a fruit or veggie puree to substitute for the eggs if desired.
5. Shape mixture into nuggets and place on baking tray. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, turn nuggets over after 15 minutes. 

I used fresh broccoli rather than frozen (I didn't even know you could buy frozen broccoli) and sort of eyeballed how much to use. The recipe (with this modification) yielded about fifty nuggets which I popped in a freezer bag and into the freezer. Now we just have to heat them up for twenty seconds and we're brocking.

New Parliament Countdown (And Things Unrelated)

Close up: baby drinking milk

Wide angle: luxury baby MUST have one foot up when drinking milk.

Also: baby birthday party invitations - check. 

Did you vote yet today? There's still time. We took Frances along. We plan to take her every time (we're already looking forward to a municipal election next year) so that she grows up with the understanding that voting isn't something you sometimes do only if you have the time. Its something you always do no matter what because we're very lucky to have this opportunity at all. And there's no better time than right now to start a family habit! 

We'll be popping the popcorn tonight and settling in around the tv to watch the results come in poll by poll across the country (after the bug is fast asleep). Rob has mentioned no less than six times in the last three days how excited he is for election night. It's kind of like our stanley cup, except with all Canadian teams, no Don Cherry and better odds that someone from Toronto will win something (sorry uncle matter)!