OCTOBER

I know, I know - it's been over 2 months since I posted here...but I'm sure everyone understands how hectic things have been since I've transitioned back to "work". Not to mention transitioning to home day care for all of us as well as everything else that needs to be done, of course while chasing Jessica around, who is now walking...YAY!! Anyway, I decided to be a little realistic and aim to post at least once a month with highlights & link you to our Picasa Web album for photos (much easier than waiting for them all to upload here). Hope that's ok...and if not...well, too bad. You try being a mom to a very energetic 13.5 month year old!! =) ENJOY!!

OCTOBER HIGHLIGHTS

• Jess has transitioned beautifully to home day care - she is eating, napping & playing well. At the beginning she would be a little sad when Mommy dropped her off but now she is happy & goes off to play with the other kids.
  

• Earlier this month we spent this Thanksgiving as a family of 3 - both sets of grandparents were out of town! Nevertheless, it was a quiet holiday weekend and we enjoyed it together!

• Nana Lou & Papa Tony put Jessica to bed for the 1st time when Jen had to teach at GoodLife and they passed with flying colours!!
  

• Mommy had 5 days off this month & was sooo happy that Jess took her first few steps while Mommy was home.

• We visited a few pumpkin farms this month, which Jess really enjoyed: http://picasaweb.google.com/jenmergelas/FallPhotos?authkey=4vPTRUTRfaQ

• Jessica has been WALKING for about 2 weeks now...she loves being on her feet - it sure keeps us busy busy busy running after her, but we love it!

• Jess LOVES to smile for the camera...just this month she started "smiling" every time we point and camera in her direction: http://picasaweb.google.com/jenmergelas/SMILE?authkey=nqcBO-Miok0
  

• She is talking talking talking....she has so many words! She also knows many animal sounds, including: duck, cow, cat, dog and sheep. She can also do all the actions to "If you're happy and you know it" and follow simple directions.

• The molars have been coming in...Jess has displayed her typical symptoms - a little extra fussiness, a very runny nose and a lack of interest in eating! Yes, our little piggy isn't eating very well but hopefully that will change soon. She is up to 13 teeth now!!!

• Halloween was lots of fun - Jessica wore her costume on 4 separate occasions - she was definitely the cutest duck out there!! http://picasaweb.google.com/jenmergelas/Halloween?authkey=Nxsm6iUglkk

Milk & More

I forgot to mention that Jessica learned 2 "signs" in the past week. We have been trying to be consistent in using some basic signs since she was about 6 months old, mostly from the "My First Signs" Baby Einstein DVD.

On our last day in Wisconsin I was about to nurse her and asked if she wanted "milk" and she signed it!! Russ and I looked at each other with amazement (and thought it was just a coincidence) but she did it again and has been signing "milk" ever since!

Earlier this week while Jess was eating dinner (I think she was having toast at the time) she pointed at the plate with the bread and signed "more". She is actually getting very good at signing "more" anytime and everytime she wants something - she usually points to what she wants, says her version of "more" then signs it. I'll have to see if I can figure out a way to post the video we took of her.

That's it for now! I'll be sure to keep you updated if anything else comes up....so far she's still not walking (which is probably a good thing!!) =)

1st Hair Cut & Trip to Madison

Just before we left for Wisconsin we finally gave in and took Jessica to "Sharkey's Cuts for Kids" to get her hair trimmed. It was such a neat place! Jess sat in a Barbie truck while she got her hair cut and just behind her there were seats for older kids to play video games too! Anyway, it didn't take very long but I was a little unimpressed with the finished product (I only wanted a very little bit taken off but as usual, the hairdresser went a little scissor happy) but she definitely looks cute! And it's nice that she no longer has hair in her eyes!



So the plane rides weren't nearly as bad as we thought...the cabin pressure didn't seem to bother Jess at all! At first I was trying so hard to make sure she was nursing/drinking/sucking on anything during take-off and landing but she resisted so often I just gave up. No crying whatsoever! She actually loved it in the plane so much she was super hyper, bouncing up and down standing on our laps or the tray table, trying to touch or grab other passengers (thank goodness we had some amazing people sitting close to us that seemed to enjoy her) and making tons of noise. She didn't sleep at all while we were traveling and passed out as soon as we got into the rental car.

On the way home was a different story - we were originally supposed to leave Madison at 11:15 am, layover in Chicago and arrive in Toronto at 4:30 pm - just in time to get home for dinner, bath and in bed at her regular bedtime. BUT there was a huge storm in Chicago so our flight was cancelled. Instead, we were re-routed through Milwaukee leaving Madison at 2:20 pm with a FOUR HOUR layover, scheduled to arrive home at 9:20 pm. Luckily, we managed to get Jess to nap in the morning before we left for the airport - for 1 hour. By the time we got to Milwaukee she was so exhausted (and still refused to sleep in her stroller) we decided to rent a car during our layover and drove around to let her nap. When we got back to the airport the guy asked what was wrong with the car because we had only been gone for 2 hours...and paid $47!! The things you have to do with an 11 month old!! =) So in the end, our flight to Toronto was delayed another 1.5 hours and we didn't get home until after midnight. Jessica, who usually sucks her thumb to sleep, just closed her eyes once we got in the car and slept all the way home from the airport.

The one great thing is that she slept in until 8:30 the next morning...and has been waking up past 8:00 am every morning since! Which means Russ & I get to sleep in - yay!!

Anyway, Jessica was GREAT! We were so proud of her!

Here are some photos from our trip:

The popular Madison Farmer's Market that circled the Capital State building:


Our trip to Archiver's (a BIG scrapbooking store that has everything you can imagine in it!!) =)


Some random photos of Jess from the weekend:


And on the wedding day:


I just realized we didn't take any "family" photos during the wedding (which is not a surprise) - Mom & Dad, do you by any chance have any photos of Russ, Jess & I?? Thanks!

Sit-Stay-Play

I forgot to mention that within the past couple of weeks Jessica has FINALLY learned to just sit and play. Mind you, it doesn't last very long, but it's still great that she will keep still for a few minutes!!


And here are a couple of 11 month photos with the MK bear....

Busy Busy Busy

It's been a crazy month so far and we're keeping busy. We visited the new Valleyridge splash pad in Oakville and Jessica loved it!

It's brand new, less than 10 minutes from our house and lots of fun. It will definitely be a favourite when Jess starts running around on her own. She especially loved the park and the fake mountain to climb!



We spent last weekend at a friend's cottage - Jessica went swimming in the lake and played with 2 year old Reese. Russ caught some pretty good sized Bass too!



That's about it! Jess is motoring on her hands and knees and loves to climb the stairs. Have I mentioned that she can now say "Da-Da" (which came 1st) and "Ma-Ma" directed at us - it's pretty exciting! Here's a cute photo taken just yesterday...we still have our box spring mattress leaning up against the wall and she loves to crawl behind it.


Anyway, Jess just woke up from her nap. Thanks for stopping by! We're taking our 1st airplane trip this weekend to Wisconsin for a wedding...I'm a little anxious about the whole thing...with a stopover, traveling during her morning nap time, cabin air pressure on her ears, trying to keep her occupied during the flight, making sure she'll have her breakfast and lunch, not to mention the fact that we'll have to wake her up at 5:00 am. AAAHHH - wish us luck, I'll be sure to keep you updated. =)

I almost forgot...happy belated 11 months (last Sunday) to our little girl...which is crazy, mostly because it means I have to go back to work in about a month. Grrrr...

Finally caught up!

Ok, I know it's been a VERY long time since I've updated my blog and I apologize sincerely. The past month has been crazy busy, especially since we were away for 9 days at the cottage. Nevertheless, I am finally caught up....you'll have to scroll down and start from "Canada Day Weekend" and scroll your way back up to the present.

It really is amazing how quickly time goes by and how fast Jessica is growing up. She is crawling around on her hands and knees now, and pulls herself up onto everything (and can get back down too!) She loves to just sit on her knees, bounce around and play. She is pointing at everything and recognizes, points and says "BOOK", "DUCK", "BIKE", "DOG", "CAT" and "BALL". She also recognizes and points at the Canadian Flag whenever she sees it. I think her all-time favourite "toys" are BOOKS!!

Jess is sleeping 11-12h at night (in bed around 7:00 pm), napping 2x a day (for about an hour each) and eating like crazy!! She is finally enjoying fruits - after I figured out the best thing to do is feed her fruits first! So she is finally having well balanced meals (actually, she eats better than we do! =) - fruits, meat, veggies & grains. She is able to feed herself some foods, including cut-up whole wheat pita or toast, avocado slices, shredded chicken, cheese strips and diced bananas.

As I mentioned in my "Cottage Weekend" post, she now has 8 teeth! The bottom two incisors came in while we were away. As you can see in some of the photos, her hair is growing quickly too, but I refuse to cut it because I want it long! Hopefully I'll be able to put it in a little ponytail
on top of her head because those little clips are, although extremely cute, definitely hazardous.

I think that's about it! A month and a half left before I go back to work *sigh* - we are interviewing for home day care providers right now but haven't found anyone we love yet. So please think of us, we have to find someone soon!! Oh, and we start Water Toddlers next week - it should be fun, Jess is sooo cute in the water!

Bye for now!

Cottage Weekend - July 14-22

Every year for the past 3 or 4 years, Russ and I have spent a full week at the Combermere cottage. We've always enjoyed being up there, just the 2 of us, for a whole week of NOTHING (ie. relaxing, reading magazines, chillin' at the dock, catching some rays, swimming in the lake and scrapbooking for me!). It was a little different this year with Jessica - a lot of fun, but also exhausting! Mostly because she decided to wake up at 5:30 every single morning! Not to mention that two teeth came through that week as well, which meant 2 extra sleepless nights. Believe it or not, but we were actually looking forward to coming home to sleep in our own beds, and not right next to Jessica's room (like at the cottage, where we could hear every little noise she made!!) Nevertheless, we had lots of fun with her.

Jessica went wading and swimming in the lake:


We also went to Hinterland Beach....



...where she met a little boy named "Zen":


We didn't have enough room in the car to bring her exersaucer, so Jess spent a lot of time in her Jolly Jumper (which she didn't seem to mind one bit!!)


We also visited Jess' 2nd cousin Ava, who is 9 weeks older than Jessica. Ava sat happily playing with a toy while Jess crawled around the room as soon as we put her down. That's our little girl!


Our friends Sab & Dan and Mike & Ofie joined us for the 2nd weekend, which was a lot of fun. They've been coming up to the cottage for a few years now. They really seemed to enjoy playing with Jess, which gave us some free time (we finally got to take the pedal boat out!). But with Jessica's 5:30 am wake-up calls, we left the cottage to go for a walk after nursing her to give our guests a little extra sleep - it was a chilly at that time, but absolutely gorgeous out!!


All in all, it was a great week. Jessica slept relatively well and it was so much fun to play with her. Russ really enjoyed spending the entire week with Jess! She learned some new "tricks" while we were there - whenever we would ask "Jessica, where is the "duck/flag/boat?" she would look around and point at it (there is a stuffed duck in the cottage and a flag and boat by the dock in the lake) It was really cute!

We are definitely looking forward to spending another week at the cottage with Jessica next year...hopefully she'll be sleeping in later then! =)