Record Highs

Matilda Smiling

2012-02-07T12:16:00.003-05:00

2012-02-06T06:00:00.002-05:00

On I Monday decided it was time to get Matilda out of our bed at sleep times. I was determined. Determined. From 9pm to 7am I fought the good fight. There were moments I felt all was lost, and I would rally back. Alas, at 7am, battle weary and broken, I gave up.

She may have won that battle, but I won the war.

SuperPlaydate Sunday

2012-02-05T14:27:00.002-05:00

It was such a joy to watch these two girls play together.

Lillian gave Emilia an early birthday present

They made cookies (very yummy)

And did a science experiment together.

Stupid Allergist

2012-02-03T11:39:00.004-05:00

Today Emilia was supposed to have her allergist appointment. I carted both girls on the subway all the way to Royal York station. It took an hour. Royal York station does not have an elevator, it has lots of stairs.

We got to the office (15 minutes late) to find a note on the door to the effect of:

"Due to an emergency, the office is closed for the rest of the week and will re-open on Monday. We apologize for not calling any of you ahead of time and totally screwing you over. Don't be mad."

Perhaps blurting out "Mother Fucker" after reading the note may not have been my best parenting moment, but did I mention Royal York does not have an elevator?

Emilia asked "What's wrong Mommy?", to which I responded. "Nothing. Let's go to Starbucks."

We had hot chocolate and other bad things for us, and made the long trip back to the daycare.

On our way back we took pictures with that random penguin at Queen and University. As Emilia pointed out, he is also drinking hot chocolate.

Follow Up

2012-01-29T21:20:00.004-05:00

I took Jess' advice. Shampoo, conditioner, comb through, leave in conditioner, scrunch. Better no?

I tried again with the Emilia/Matilda pictures. I think I got a better one that Rick can use for his desktop.

Today, Emilia's best friend Lillian came over.

Look Ma!

2012-01-27T19:56:00.003-05:00

Look I'm holding up my head!

Oh, I'm getting tired.

I'm done. I will just lie here and look cute.

Now I'm sleeping.

Emilia was dawdling so much at bedtime, that I told her she had five more minutes, then I ran downstairs and made a pizza. Then I read her three books and put her to bed. I can make pizza magic.

*I did make the dough in the afternoon.

My Babies at One Month

2012-01-25T07:12:00.001-05:00

Spelling

2012-01-24T07:08:00.002-05:00

Emilia's into letters and reading right now. Everywhere we go she asks me what signs say.

She also loves typing on the computer. This is her spelling her name.

Hair

2012-01-24T06:13:00.002-05:00

Emilia has the most unmanageable hair ever. Sometimes if I don't bathe Emilia everyday, or if she's been running around outside with her hat on, her hair can get really messy.

But sometimes, like last night, I bathe her, use leave in conditioner, and then brush her hair before bed. And it turns out looking a little better. Like this.

Pony tails are a must.

Sleeping

2012-01-22T22:20:00.005-05:00

How are you sleeping? That is a common question. My answer is: I sleep like this. For much of the night. Sad, but true.

Look how cute she is!

2012-01-16T20:42:00.004-05:00

Because I know you're wondering - the vegan burgers turned out really well.

While Rick liked the vegan burgers, what he really wants is a picture of both Emilia and Matilda that he can use as his desktop picture at work. Trying to frame a nice picture while your one month old AND three year old stay still is next to impossible. Here are my best efforts at the Emilia/Matilda photos.

That was last night.
This morning Emilia and I did a puzzle together.

2012-01-13T21:12:00.002-05:00

Last night was pretty bad. Matilda didn't settle down until about 4am. I spent much of today dozing, while Matilda slept on my chest and trying to capture a smile on camera when she was awake. I was not successful, and all this lack of productivity means my kitchen looks like something out of an episode of Hoarders.

This is Matilda today. Not smiling.

Emilia came home, we played Hide and Seek, and she put on shows for me.

Now I'm making some vegan burgers. Now that I'm not pregnant anymore I'm off the animal products. I've never actually made these before. Hopefully they're good. Rick hopes they're good too.

Morning Time

2012-01-11T08:06:00.002-05:00

Mornings were getting a bit chaotic in the Neuman household. Lots of whining and crying, so I made a morning routine, and now everyone's happier.

Today's Routine:

4:41am - Wake up time for Emilia. I know. I know. It's early. But we're working on it. More on that later.

4:42am - I go into Emilia's room, and give her my iPhone, and tell her she can play quietly in her room until the alarm goes off. The alarm is set for 5:45am.

5:45am - We get dressed for daycare, and have potty time. At this point, Emilia always asks "Is it a weekend day?", because on the weekend, she gets to stay in her pajamas and watch a movie downstairs.

6am - Downstairs to watch an episode of Dora, and eat breakfast.

6:30 - 7:15am - Playtime. Today this meant building a block house for her toy rooster.

7:15 - 7:30am - Get dressed for daycare and head out the door.

This last bit is usually the trickiest part. There is often resistance. But that's not my problem. I wake Rick up at 7am, and he does drop off. However, Rick started school this week, and last night he was up late doing work, so I did drop off. So...in order to convince Emilia to get dressed, I told her we were going to put on "Getting Dressed Music" and dance while we put on our things. Worked like a charm. We put on our outdoor clothes in record time to the music of Glee. "Hey Soul Sister, ain't that mister mister on the radio...."

Rolls and Muffins

2012-01-09T21:35:00.004-05:00

Matilda has crazy rolls. She's really going to love this picture when she's seventeen.

When Emilia got home from daycare we made some banana muffins. I get the recipe from the cuisinart breadmaker book. I give Emilia her own little bowl, and she puts random things into it, and mashes everything together. That is my trick for keeping her from putting random things into my bowl. It mostly works. She did manage to put a tea towel into my bowl when I wasn't looking.

Matilda

2012-01-09T21:30:00.004-05:00

We had another baby. Matilda Rachel Neuman was born on December 17th at 10 pounds 6 ozs. I make big babies.

Life Jacket!

2011-08-21T15:46:00.000-04:00

Here is Emilia in her new life jacket! She had a great time at the cottage, where she went swimming with a pool noodle in the lake, rode on a motorboat, canoe, and pedal boat. She loved the boats, but she kept falling asleep on the motor boat! Wish I had a camera to show her hair blowing in the breeze though! It was so cute!

Learning to tie her (my) shoes

2011-08-21T15:42:00.000-04:00

It's a girl!

2011-07-14T15:02:00.001-04:00

Due December 3rd, it looks like Emilia is going to get a sister :)

Canada Day at the ROM

2011-07-02T21:32:00.000-04:00

We started our day with a trip to see the animals at the museum... Hello bat cave! Scary, but fun!

Catch!

2011-07-02T21:31:00.000-04:00

I promised Matt I would share the video evidence that he was the one to teach Emilia to catch.

This was at the awesome Canada day picnic Emily threw, after Emilia had a swim in the fountain with all the bug kids.

It was great hanging out with Jenn H, Adam, Emily, Matt and Anna! Poor Carina had to work.

Cupcakes at the Picnic!

2011-07-02T21:28:00.000-04:00

We had a lovely picnic with the Millers and Shapera's today! Asher and Violet were very fun to play with -- everybody is growing up so fast. Hooray for long weekends!

Brian and Jenn gave birth yesterday! Emilia is a cousin! We are so excited for them, and eager to meet the little guy.

Happy Canada day all!

Family Day 2011

2011-02-21T23:47:00.002-05:00

Today was family day -- a holiday only a few years old now, but it couldn't have been more timely... what with our growing family and all.

In any event, we put the day to its intended use, and it was a really great time! I want to make sure we recall just how active it was so that we can try to keep pace next year. Today was awesome, let's make this a tradition!

So this is how our day went:
7:45am -- Emilia wakes up. Holy crap, what happened here? How do we get this to happen every day?! We think she actually woke up at 7:00am and stayed in bed singing / talking to herself (which she does often in bed, by the way... usually songs from daycare and random things about how much she loves mommy and how she is preparing tea in her imagination, "Want milk? Sugar? Okay!")

10:00am -- I wake up. Holy crap, what happened here? How do we get this to happen every day?! That's right -- this is the latest I have slept in for probably about two years! Fantastic.

11:00am -- Off we go to the TIFF Lightbox, where we are set to meet Karen, Jeff, Elijah and Hadden for a little movie-sing-along. We accidentally stood in line for the Tim Burton exhibit -- which would have been cool, but after 20min of standing in the cold we were more than happy to realize we were in the wrong line (note: upon leaving the building we saw that the people were standing next to in line were just getting to the front! Wow, that Tim Burton is popular! Glad that's not what we were there to see!) Anyhow, the actual singing was whatever, but Emilia and Hadden totally took over the stage and started running around and getting all worked up. It was quite cute. Emilia is pretty fast, when she gets going!

12:45pm -- We're on the subway heading up to the Amazon Playground! This is my new favourite spot to take Emilia on stat holidays when Carina is working, so I got to share the fun with Carina. It's a nice, if a little small, indoor playground with some climbing stuff, a bunch of riding toys, costumes, puppets, and books. Pretty much everything you need to keep your 2-year-old happy for an afternoon. Emilia got into pretty much everything (except the giant monkey head -- no joke, she didn't want to go inside this time) and had a really nice time. She even climbed right to the top of the structure and came down the slide all on her own, which was very impressive.

3:30pm -- On the way home, we're pretty exhausted but Emilia is still ticking. In fact, this is one of the first times she has actively said "I want food". Thankfully we had several snacks available for her and she happily ate her craisins, crackers, banana bread and juice. We got home and Carina went down for a nap while Emilia and I played on the couch and watched curling in an attempt to bore her to sleep. Sadly it didn't work -- she was too intent on the sweeping! She really is her mothers daughter.

6:00pm -- After a very brief visit from Jessy on her way back from Mtl, we left to have dinner with Matt / Anna! On the walk over Emilia fell asleep in the stroller and we figured she would sleep all the way through. Turns out that halfway through the meal she woke up... but spent the next 45min playing with her helium balloon that we had gotten on our way out of the playground! I'll post the video of this part later!

9:00pm -- We all came home, Emilia went straight to bed and Carina cooked a delicious curry veggie stew while I chilled out in front of Top Chef. A fantastic family day!

Hope Family day was as fun for you all!

Silly face!

2011-02-12T19:27:00.000-05:00

Singing and dancing... loud and quiet...

2011-02-09T21:55:00.000-05:00

Hehehe... this was funny.

Home early! What a luxury!

2011-02-09T21:41:00.001-05:00

Today I got home before 9pm for the first time in weeks! It was so nice to hang out with Emilia and do bedtime... She is such a good kid!

Happy birthday tomorrow Chicken.

Apple Walnut Muffins

2011-01-30T21:18:00.003-05:00

This is a receipe that I found on a random website and vegan-ized. I fed it to Normal People, and they liked it.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup vegetable shortning
Ener-G Egg Replacer (for 1 egg)
1/2 cup almond milk
1 cup chopped apples

For the topping:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup walnuts or pecans

Preparation:
Stir together the flour, suagar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a mixing bowl. Cut in the shortening until fine crumbs form.
Combine the "eggs" and milk. Add to dry ingredients all at once, stirring just enough to moisten. Stir in the apples. Spoon the batter into muffin cups so that there is a small depression in the centre to spoon the topping into.
Stir the ingredients for the topping together and spoon onto the top of the muffins.
Bake for 25 mintues at 375 degrees.

These are my muffins. They look surprisingly like my carrot zucchini muffins, but that could be because I'm using my crappy iphone camera to take all these pictures.

Also, my kid is really cute.

Hello Again

2011-01-17T13:36:00.006-05:00

Ok, first things first. Naomi, here you go:

So, since the last time we spoke, I have become a vegan hippie freak. I can't say what exactly happened. It just snuck up on me. Aviva says that Rick is a saint, but tonight I'm making him sloppy joe empanadas, so really, what does he have to be a saint about?

Anyhow. I've been trying out new recipes, and in the spirit of my friends The Millers, who have an awesome food blog, I want to record new recipes I like so that I don't forget them. I'm going to start with carrot zucchini muffins. Going vegan was really shockingly easy - that story for another time - but I found what I missed the most was baked goods. I found adapting non-vegan recipes has worked the best for me. The one muffin recipe I took from a vegan cookbook went horribly awry. When a recipe asks for soy yogurt run the other way.

I used to make these muffins all the time, since Emilia would actually eat them, and they were healthy. Rick ate the vegan version and agreed it was good, so I know it's a success! Today I added 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts to the recipe, but it's not necessary.

2/3 cup vegetable oil
Ener G Egg Replacer - enough to replace 2 eggs
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups finely shredded unpeeled zucchini (I use a food processor)
1/2 cup finely shredded carrot

Preparation:

Grease 12 muffin cups
Heat oven to 375 degrees
In a mixing bowl, beat the oil with "eggs", sugars, and vanilla extract
Combine the flour, soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; add the wet ingredients; stirring until blended. Fold in the shredded zucchini and carrots.

Fill in the muffin cups about 3/4 full
Bake for 20 minutes.

I found the Ener G Egg Replacer at Essence of Life in Kensington market. This is what it looks like:

It's made from potato starch and taipioca flour.

I gotta say, this vegan diet would be much harder without easy access to the freakie hippie mecca that is Kensington Market.

Here are my muffins:

Backyard exploration

2010-07-25T16:33:00.000-04:00

A week in the burbs

2010-06-28T23:52:00.000-04:00

Last week was bizarre for many reasons. Emilia was just coming off a
week of serious stomach issues when Toronto was shut down for a
meeting of the G20 and G8. To escape the eventual chaos we fled to
Thornhill. We started with a great Fathers day dinner -- Swiss
Chalet! Then for the first few days, while we commuted downtown
Emilia stayed in Oakville -- this was very hard for us as we missed
her lots and ended up looking at pics/videos of her often... But Joel
and Michelle helped distract us by going for dinner followed by the A-
Team! Soon Emilia came back and was so happy, Ana did a fantastic job!
For Thurs/Fri we all worked from home while Bubby watched Emilia (and
also did a fantastic job!) -- it was really fun to all work in the
same house; we ate lunch together, there were no commutes, and we
could go hug Emilia between meetings! Over the weekend we kept very
busy, but made time to watch the news and feel good about our decision
to get outta the city. I feel bad for the police, for the protestors,
but mostly for the people of Toronto having to put up with the
sensationalist journalism taking a mediocre story with a shiny flaming
car over the real story of why the countries met and/or why protests
are organized.

In any event -- its good to be home. Thanks to mom/dad for letting us
settle in, and thanks to our friends who made the trip up to Thornhill
twice!

Points to note:
- Emilia is eating great now!
- She went on the potty for the first time for Ana!
- She is also able to climb up on the couch on her own now!

Pretty wild stuff.

Fathers day picnic -- make-shift playpen

2010-06-21T20:07:00.001-04:00

Goodnight weekend

2010-06-06T21:27:00.000-04:00

Highlight from the weekend -- Emilia saying her own name! Also saying
"Jessy" to her aunt.

Sliding on Monday

2010-05-24T17:11:00.000-04:00

What a lovely day. Emilia and I watched Logan's Run, then went to a
picnic in the park. A good day of dad-daughter time.

Ps -- she *loves* the slide!

Bonding...

2010-05-22T13:58:00.000-04:00

Wheee!

2010-05-18T22:46:00.001-04:00

Sunday art

2010-05-16T11:39:00.000-04:00

Sleeping with the elephant

2010-05-02T22:16:00.001-04:00

We just finished an awesome dinner for Marcela and my birthdays... It
was a lot of fun. We broke in the new bbq, took Emilia on several long
walks through the courtyard, and ate way too much. Also -- kazoo's
made a surprise appearance! Nice touch mum.

Here's a picture of Emilia sleeping off a very busy weekend, with her
new elephant snuggled close.

At the zoo!

2010-05-01T12:34:00.000-04:00

Problem solved?

2010-04-23T21:33:00.000-04:00

Joel: You will blog about this - "Does this make me look fat?" == "Is
this flattering?"

I simply avoid answering the question.

Move complete!

2010-04-18T23:56:00.000-04:00

We finished moving this weekend! Thanks to those who helped --
especially the paid movers. Whew! Goodbye High Park, we'll miss you!
Hello amazing commute... Looking forward to meeting you tomorrow
morning!

Some highlights:
- The bed boxspring not fitting up the stairs... So we got a saw and
split it in two (thanks Matt and Anna!) We patched it up once in
position and you would never know it had once bent in half.
- We replaced the bathroom fixture ourselves - looks great (thanks
Emilio!)
- Emilia getting babysat by Jessie all day Saturday, and giving
Kwinter big hugs. Thanks Jessie!
- Delicious burgers for lunch with dad. Wow, so good! Go to the
"Burger Shoppe" place just east of Spadina on Queen... Get the
"Riverside"!

So tired now... Must sleep.

Emilia's wheels...

2010-04-11T21:57:00.001-04:00

Some recent adventures!

2010-04-11T21:57:00.000-04:00

My grocery list

2010-04-05T20:17:00.001-04:00

Takes the sting off forgetting to place that grocery gateway order!

First haircut? Not quite!

2010-03-13T16:57:00.001-05:00

Off To The Maple Syrup Festival!

2010-03-13T09:48:00.001-05:00

Have you seen Emilia's flashy new style?

2010-03-13T09:42:00.001-05:00

Carina bought sequins and sparkles! Never thought I'd see the day!

Good morning friends!

2010-03-09T07:21:00.001-05:00

Blueberries are yummy -- we promise

2010-03-07T23:12:00.002-05:00

Emilia -- this goes out to you when you're old enough to read this: Blueberries = delicious.

You may not believe us today, in fact you're finding the conept difficult to comprehend, but one day you will agree.

Here's how today went... As many of you know Emilia is not eating that great. She finds it hard to get past the point where food goes into her mouth. She's pretty good with mashed food at this point... but actual solid food is nearly universally refused. The one exception of course being Cheerios. She's a Cheerio addict. She'll do anything for a handful of Cheerios. So we have a few theories -- one of which is that she doesn't like the texture of food. She's not a fan of 'wet' as a texture. So the next thought was blueberries aren't slimy or wet at all... until you eat them! Maybe we can slip them past the defense and get them into her mouth.

So there's Carina and I, with a small bowl of blueberries, trying to convince Emilia that they go in mouths. We show her how we eat them -- she helps us by putting them in our mouth. We show her that they can be picked up out of the bowl -- she promptly puts them back into the bowl. Finally, after many demonstrations she realizes she can also suck on them... and she's happy to do so, until they're mushy and wet... and then back in the bowl they go.

So we got most of the way there, and we still have half a tub of blueberries. They'll join her at daycare for the next few days... and hopefully by the end of it she'll be in love with another food. If not, than she'll just have to find out about blueberries when she's older.

Emilia in her Purim party dress

2010-02-28T12:20:00.001-05:00

Check out the shaker she made!

Watching snowboarding, eating cheerios -- daddy/daughter time is great

2010-02-27T16:08:00.002-05:00

Go Canada!

Sunday's and Wednesday's...

2010-02-21T13:28:00.001-05:00

This is what we do!

Ten in the bed...

2010-02-18T23:33:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday Jessy!

2010-02-18T23:32:00.000-05:00

Emilia learns magnets

2010-02-18T23:30:00.000-05:00

Looking back on a year...

2010-02-10T21:37:00.002-05:00

One year ago today, at 9:38pm, Carina and I were at the hospital and Emilia was asleep on my chest on a bizare chair that turned into the narrowest bed I've ever seen. She was new, pink, and scary... what do we do with this tiny thing? Tonight she's fast asleep in her crib. She is twice the size, in her cute little pj's, bathed, fed, and happy.

The first year of being a parent is pretty hard, but (with much credit owing to Carina) we made it through relatively unscathed. The darn car seat was the biggest drama through it all... okay, maybe it was the diaper sprayer. Really though we've gotten off lucky with a wonderful daughter who has been healthy, happy, and entirely loveable. She's been great! Which has made our first year equally great.

Some milestones in her development as of right now:
- She is walking like a champion
- She can drink from a sippy-cup no problem, and even feed herself a bottle if we lay her down right
- She has figured out how to get off the bed and the couch with some amount of grace (feet first)
- She has more words than before, but still not many
- She learnt baby sign just by hanging out with other babies at the daycare -- her favourite is "more"
- She dances like a maniac when music comes on and is obsessed with our bedside radio alarm-clock
- She has more teeth showing, but none fully out yet
- She is eating much better, and will even self feed cheerios (she's still pretty behind in terms of eating)
- She will help dress herself, sticking her arms through the sleeves for you (but she still hates pants)
- She is all about 'uppies', putting her arms up in the air and getting carried about
- She loves swimming, especially jumping off the wall to mom or dad

So Emilia, when you're old enough to read this I hope you are as amazed as we are at how far you've come in just one year. I can't even begin to imagine what you'll be up to a year from now... it will be fun to find out.

Here are some pictures taken today -- her actual birthday:

Guest Post: Michelle

2010-02-10T21:36:00.001-05:00

Dear Emilia,

You are a proper little person now and absolutely beautiful! It's such a pleasure to celebrate with you and your family.

Happy birthday!

xxoo
Michelle

Guest Post: Matt

2010-02-07T00:28:00.002-05:00

Emilia,

Two wonderful things happened one year ago this month. You were born, bringing a ray of sunshine into the world; and Barack Obama became President, bringing a ray of sunshine into U.S. Federal politics. Sadly, neither event has lived up to my expectations.

Barack Obama has failed to pass health care reform in the senate. Similarly, you have failed to be the first in a line of "super-babies" with perfect immune systems and the power of flight.

Barack Obama has yet to bridge the partisan gap between Democrats & Republicans. Similarly, you've yet to bridge the gap between looking adorable and not pooping your pants. So disappointing.

Finally, Obama has completely failed to unite the whole world in peace & harmony, and you've so far failed to say "Uncle Matt is awesome". Seriously, Emilia? Epic fail.

Well, I hope your second year on Earth is much less of a total disappointment.

Happy birthday & lots of love!
Matt

Guest Post: Auntie Jessie

2010-02-07T00:27:00.001-05:00

Dear Baby Girl,

Happy 1st Birthday!

You should see how much you've grown. You can walk and you almost have 1 tooth. I can't wait to see what comes next.

Love you muchly,
Auntie Jessie

1st Birthday Party

2010-02-07T00:17:00.004-05:00

This morning we had Emilia's 1st birthday party -- and what a party it was! We had a lovely time! Several of Emilia's friends, and many of our friends joined in the fun! For the event we rented out a small art studio at Bloor / Bathurst (Studio561) which was the perfect amount of space. It had a decent sized open area where we set up foam floor squares for the kids to play on, and then up a few stairs was the studio area where we set up the drinks and lots of the food so the adults could hang out up there more.

There were 4 babies total -- Emilia, Haddon, Asher and Roman. It was great to see how much Asher and Roman have grown! They're really growing up quick, and they seemed to have a nice time. It was also fun to see how adventurous Haddon was -- quickly exploring the space.

The highlight for me was our improvised 'circle time' sing-a-long. Carina thought it would be a horrible idea, and that no adults would want to sing along without kids, but it turned out great! We did a lot of audience participation songs to get the group involved, and I think we all really enjoyed it -- at least, I did! The last song on the list was 'happy birthday' and at the end of it Auntie Jessy brought out a beautiful (and delicious) 1st birthday cake!

Shortly after the singing Emilia fell fast asleep on the little couch and Zaidy and uncle Brian watched over her. In all we stayed only 4hrs, but I was exhausted after! We came home and napped before heading to the Millers for their "Miracle Fruit" party -- which I'll link to after they post on their blog (update: http://lifeatnumber71.wordpress.com/2010/02/07/twisting-our-tastebuds/)

A great day! I'll post the 1st of the 'guest blog posts' after this, and the rest over the course of next week. For those who did not get a form, I am offering the chance to write 'guest blog posts' which can be funny stories about Emilia or our family from her 1st year, hopes and wishes for her, tips on what to tackle in year 2... these types of things. Pictures and videos are also allowed -- email me and I'll include yours!

Emilia has become a parrot... She loves to copy you!

2010-01-21T20:22:00.000-05:00

Some pics from the week...

2010-01-14T23:23:00.001-05:00

The Answer to Sleep Problems?

2010-01-14T06:39:00.004-05:00

Yesterday Rick accidentally fed Emilia undiluted formula. She went to bed at 7:30pm. It is now 6:45pm. Not a peep from the bedroom. I'm considering going in to check if she's still alive. She has NEVER slept this long. Shall I tempt the gods and wonder if she will be sleeping longer now? On a side note - we're going to feed the poor girl some prunes today.

Fun night out

2010-01-02T22:13:00.001-05:00

Emilia mastered stairs tonight, climbing a full (minus 2) flight
tonight at the Millers place for pizza and chuckles. It was great to
also see the Shapero's and Asher is growing up so fast. They'll be
playing together in no time.

All the excitement really tired Emilia out!

All I want for New Years is my two front teeth...

2010-01-02T10:57:00.002-05:00

The new year is here, and Emilia is now 10 and 2/3 months old! It's amazing how fast things have gone, but here is a quick update on progress so far:

- She's more-or-less walking now, actively pulling herself up and moving from object to object with lots of wobbles. Most often she'll end her walk with a lunge towards whatever her target is -- often mom or dad.
- She's got 4 words going on at the moment: Da, Ma, Hi, Bye bdie. She gets "hi" right in context most of the time, and the others are so-so... but we think she knows what they mean.
- She is getting much better with solid foods, eating her mush nicely and even nibbling on some cookies and bread on her own accord. Her favorites are plain yogurt mixed with fruit or cereal or both.
- She's still sleeping pretty well, though the past two night have been rough (5am wake ups).
- She finally has the first signs of teeth! Her bottom tooth on the right side can be felt but isn't entirely visible yet. She's clearly showing the signs of discomfort at this new development in life... so we picked up some pain relievers and threw her teething rings in the fridge.
- She still can't read. Go figure.

It's funny to watch how playful she is these days. She loves to jump all over you and play 'rough' a little bit.

So 2009 was pretty great, but 2010 is going to be plenty of fun. A giggling baby is pretty much the best thing in the world. Yesterday we really got her going when we had family sing and dance time to "Sweet Caroline" and "Boots Boy"... I'm pretty sure Emilia thinks her parents are crazy.

Happy new year to all!

Sleeping positions

2009-12-29T23:11:00.000-05:00

Lovely visit with lovely friends!

2009-12-27T15:35:00.000-05:00

6am on Christmas day

2009-12-25T22:12:00.000-05:00

Good morning scene as Emilia and I check out a cozy tv fire on
Christmas day. Later on we would head to Matts for a fantastic
breakfast... And then straight to Ana's for a delicious dinner.

Its been a lovely first holiday season for Emilia -- thanks to
everybody!

Sweet dreams

2009-12-06T19:37:00.001-05:00

I just put Emilia to sleep. It's amazing how much easier it has become -- she's quite amazing at it now. I still go through the routine, but by the end of the bottle I just put her into her crib and she rolls over and falls fast asleep. It's really incredible. What a great kid.

One, Two, Three!

2009-12-05T11:07:00.002-05:00

Emilia is just coming up on her 10mo mark... and for the last few days she has been doing better and better at standing and taking baby-steps. Today she did the best yet, taking multiple steps in a row... and we caught it on film!

"Honey, what happened to all the toilet paper?"

2009-12-02T13:37:00.003-05:00

My parents would tell you this is payback. My confession is that I let her do this because it kept her busy long enough for me to get ready this morning. I should probably find a cheaper (and more environmentally friendly) way of entertaining my kid.

More from the party!

2009-11-29T22:37:00.000-05:00

Rainbow songs really knows how to keep kids (and parents) involved!

Wanna play? Oh... You're asleep

2009-11-29T22:35:00.001-05:00

This Saturday we went to a wild holiday party at the raging spoon.
All of Emilia's friends were there, and so was rainbow songs, a
photographer and lots of toys. She sang, clapped and played until she
was exhausted. We pushed two armchairs together for a mock-crib and
she slept while we cleaned up around her. Meanwhile Haddon still
wanted to play!

It was a lot of fun -- thanks to Karen for organizing.

The crying...

2009-11-26T22:27:00.001-05:00

The crying you just heard was because Carina left the conga line and
startled Emilia.

Happy US thanksgiving!

Wonderland has nothing on this ride!

2009-11-17T18:15:00.000-05:00

Some weekend pics!

2009-11-10T21:55:00.000-05:00

Pumpkin + Costume

2009-10-31T22:24:00.001-04:00

Happy halloween!

2009-10-31T21:57:00.000-04:00

On the way home from sushi with Bri

2009-10-31T06:20:00.000-04:00

The new Sears.ca

2009-10-24T10:52:00.002-04:00

So many of our posts are related to babies and the daily progression of cuteness -- I'd like to take a minute to comment on this weekends festivities though.

Yesterday night we relaunched www.sears.ca -- and it is very cool. You should take a look. There's not nearly as many pictures of Emilia as I would like, but otherwise it's great.

Some highlights:
- Way easier search / browse
- Streamlined checkout
- Awesome profile page

This has been an amazing project to work on from a UX perspective, and I'm most excited about how this site will act as a foundation for things to come.

Also -- thanks to Carina and Emilia for understanding that I've been home at 9:30 every night... and spending many weekends in the office. Going to try and be home by 5:30 every night next week!

Upright and mobile

2009-10-22T08:46:00.000-04:00

Highs and Lows

2009-10-20T21:02:00.004-04:00

Low: 155 Pounds. My pre-pregnancy weight

High: 215 Pounds. My weight just before giving birth

Low: 155 Pounds. My weight this morning!!

Really Low: A stranger assumed I was pregnant today. They asked me how the baby was. I was confused at first...Emilia was in daycare today, how did they know I had a baby? Then they offered to lift a heavy box for me. Oh. Oh!

And this is the second time this month someone has assumed. And I'm talking ASSUMED, not ASKING, as in "Do you know what you're having?" assumed. I know I have a muffin top, but really? Does this really need to be said people? Never assume. Never ask. Sheesh!

Emilia hearts Mowgli

2009-10-16T23:47:00.000-04:00

Who you gonna call?

2009-10-16T23:44:00.000-04:00

Taking over Indigo

2009-10-09T13:35:00.002-04:00

This is a guest post by Aviva Klompas!

Today I played with Carina and Emilia. Special thanks to Indigo for
allowing us to lounge for hours in their children’s section drinking
coffee and drooling on countless toys and books (most of the drool was
from Emilia).

First off, I can report that this baby is ridiculously cute. I’m not
telling you anything you don’t know – but hooo boooy, the cuteness is
off the charts.

At first Emilia gave me that look that I’ve seen so often in her blog
photos. The one that says, “I’m not impressed with you. You bore me.
Stop making those absurd sounds and faces, you look like a fool.”
Eventually I wore her down - or possibly she decided to humour me so
I’d leave her alone – and she giggled and smiled.

As Carina has written about a few times, being around a baby seems to
neutralize key areas of brain function. After being told half a dozen
times by Carina that Emilia is now eight months, I told a lady that
she was five months old.

I can’t remember much else. The effect on brain function appears
long-lasting, but fortunately I took a video. Enjoy!

Grocery shopping fun

2009-10-05T21:28:00.000-04:00

To daycare!

2009-09-29T08:06:00.001-04:00

Tastes like apple sauce... Kinda!

2009-09-22T22:23:00.000-04:00

Learning about nature

2009-09-20T23:08:00.000-04:00

Reading With Emilia

2009-09-13T11:00:00.004-04:00

Emilia loves reading. Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See and Chicky Chicky Chook Chook are two favorites. Here we are reading A Cuddle For Little Duck. Emilia's really starting to learn new things now. She understands how to turn the pages, she's beginning to understand the concept of "No". Although, we're trying not to use that word too much. When she's going after something she shouldn't (the computer power bar holds a particular fascination, as does the DVD player). We get her attention, and say "Not for Emilia" while waving our finger back and forth. She understands...but doesn't always listen! She's beginning to give me her toys as well. She will offer them to me, and then I give them back to her. I find it really cute. We have three signs so far: "not for Emilia", "come here", and "can I have that?". She doesn't always listen or understand, but I'm astonished that she is catching onto these concepts so quickly.

Brian's birthday drama...

2009-09-06T21:08:00.000-04:00

High five?

2009-09-05T12:30:00.000-04:00

Walking? Er... Not quite!

2009-09-04T07:06:00.000-04:00

The most traumatic moment of our marriage...

2009-09-01T19:56:00.002-04:00

And it has nothing to do with Emilia... or, very little at least!

(spoiler, things work out okay in the end... if a little soggy)

So let me set the scene for you -- I had just gotten home from work, it was 7:24pm. Emilia was already asleep and Carina was in the washroom. She greeted me with a hug, a kiss, and the phrase "Hi, I'm being handy." I look into the washroom and there are metal tubes on the floor... a hose on the counter, and some packaging around. "Hi", I responded, "Can I use the bathroom?" The answer was no, and let me tell you why! But first, another piece of news...

We're cloth diapering now! Hooray for the environment! Hooray for long-term cost savings! We actually just started recently -- Carina concocted a blended hybrid-brand approach mixing the shorts from "g-diaper" brand with the cheaper cloth inserts from some other brand to provide the perfect mix. In all, cloth diapering will cost ~$100 less this way... or so she tells me. In any event, we now have the lovely task of cleaning poo off highly absorbant cotton swatches -- the precise reason they invented disposables to begin with. It's hard to do! (Do you see potential for drama yet?)

Anyhow, as the story goes Carina had been lamenting to her mom group about how tough it is to get things moderatly clean outside of running a load of laundry... the solution presented itself. It's called "the diaper sprayer" and it's made by a brand called "bum genius". What could go wrong?! There's a 3-step process!

So alright, she's hard at work plumbing and I putter off to make myself some dinner. I'm at the stove melting cheese onto my highly pathetic pasta w/ butter and garlic -- whatever is near at hand -- when I hear a shriek from the bathroom. The next words were "Rick... I need your help!" I drop the pan and run to the washroom... and it's like a water park in there. The floor is quickly flooding, Carina is already drenched, and there's water spraying everywhere from the bottom of the toilet! So Carina is frantically fiddling with whatever mechanism she unleashed and muttering to herself and I'm asking her how I can help without getting anything but mumbles and swear words... so I run and do what any grown man would do. I grabbed a potato and a towel and took off my socks. I laid the towel across the door of the bathroom... perhaps it would create a barrier no flood could penetrate! Then I jumped into the bathtub only to realize that inside was another, tiny, completely full bathtub -- also full of water! Great! Out of the fry-pan into the fire... but with water? Anyhow, now with completely drenched feet I'm blindly offering Carina the potato that will save us all from certain death-by-drowning... and the water is creeping past the 1" mark on my makeshift barrier. Finally Carina was able to twist something the right way and the rain stopped.... and I said, "Man, I wish I had a camera right now."

Sadly for all I didn't... but it may have been for the best. It was quite a scene. A few minutes later she was confident enough to stand and step outside and we shared a nice, post-traumatic, soggy hug. Job well done, team! We may not be plumbers, but at least we didn't drown.

Now that's a record high... or is it something else?

PS - Any plumbers out there?

High speed chase!

2009-08-31T07:26:00.000-04:00

Good eaters...

2009-08-29T17:41:00.000-04:00

Kids already after my bank card!

2009-08-28T18:21:00.001-04:00

Standing tall

2009-08-24T18:58:00.000-04:00

She has been sticking her tongue out more lately...?

2009-08-22T14:40:00.000-04:00

Sleeping beauty

2009-08-21T08:15:00.001-04:00

Bumping up and down in my little red racecar!

2009-08-20T07:49:00.000-04:00

Official crawling video!! Omg!!

2009-08-19T07:15:00.000-04:00