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Monday, July 30, 2007

Big Smiling Boy!

This week, Jamie got to meet Grandpa Bob for the first time. They are very happy with each other and Jamie smiles at Grandpa Bob all the time. He has started smiling more and more and we have, finally, managed to catch some of them on film.

Grandpa Bob helping Jamie do his crunches!

Jamie's little "pre-sleep" smile. He also makes this smile with his eyes half-open and looks quite sly. We think this will be the smile he makes right after he has flushed something important down the toilet!

The beginnings of a big grin....

HI MOM!! I'm a happy boy this morning!

My favourite: BIG GRIN!! And, as you can see, his cheeks and chin are quite chubby now--fat little happy boy!

Not much else has been happening here. Bob and Linda arrived on Thursday to see Jamie. They have been enjoying some good quality time with him. Yesterday they did a tour of the city and learned a lot. Today they are going on a bus tour to Mahone Bay and Lunenburg--hopefully it isn't raining too badly when they are out and about.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

I'm A Big Boy!!

We went to the doctor today to see how supplementing was going. James has been working very hard at gaining weight. In one week (yes, a mere 7 days), he has gone from 7lbs 10oz to 9lbs 1oz. If my math is correct, that is a gain of 1lb 7oz or just over 3 oz per day. Considering that he was barely gaining a half oz per day, this is pretty impressive and the doctor was very happy. Obviously, he was working on catching up. He is now on the growth charts for age/weight (just above the 3rd percentile)!! We are very happy. And, since he is napping during the day and content now, we think he is happier with this new routine as well.

This was James on the 22nd--we already thought he was looking fat here. Little did we know!

Mmmmhhhh!! That's good Milk Bar!! James gets very content after a feeding (and now stays content which is good).

"I have chubby cheeks!!"

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

James is Getting Fat!!

There isn't much new happening out here. James was not gaining sufficient amounts of weight--he wasn't even on the chart for his age at his appointment last week as he was only at 7lbs 10oz. I just don't seem to have enough milk to keep him satisfied for very long. He was feeding continuously all day, every day (about every hour or two) and then was very fussy and owly in between feedings and wouldn't nap. So, on the advice of our doctor, we have started supplementing with a bottle. After each feeding session when he has taken as much as he can from me, we offer him a bottle of formula and see how much he takes. He started off only taking about 1 to 2 oz but has started to take more. We think this means that his stomach has grown and he can now hold more. He seems to be getting as much, if not more, of my milk plus formula. We will see tomorrow how much he has gained but, from the pictures below, you can see that he has grown. His face is much fatter and his legs actually have a little chub now. So, maybe he has broken the 8lb barrier!! We will let you know.

James on July 19th--the day after we started the bottle. His face is still pretty thin here but his attitude had already changed. He was having more quiet time and had napped all on his own like a big boy!!

James took to a bottle right away. He can even, sometimes, hold it up himself. And he has no confusion between the bottle and the original "Milk Bar" (which is me)!

On July 23rd, we thought his face had definitely started to fill out.

We think his face in this most recent shot really looks fatter. He is scowly because he doesn't like the flash! He has started to sleep for a couple of good naps throughout the day and seems happier. We had a good session of big grins and smiles last night in response to Jeff making faces at him. He can push his chest and head up when on his tummy and continues to roll over from tummy to back with no help--he doesn't even have to be mad to do it anymore: he just rolls right over. He really likes his bouncy chair and also seems to sleep well in his bassinet. Now we just have to get him into his crib at night!!!
Other than that, not much is new. We will see how much he has gained tomorrow. After that, we will be looking forward to our next visitors: Jeff's parents arrive on Thursday and will get to see how big James is for themselves.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Tall Ships Festival

It was the Tall Ships Festival this weekend so Jeff, James, and I walked down to the harbour to see all the ships. There were a lot from all over the world--India, Argentina, Canada, the USA, and more. They were quite interesting to look at--very "Pirates of Halifax Harbour".

A Tall Ship--I am not sure which one it is.

Jeff and Jamie in front of a Tall Ship from India--it was really big. James had his first trip in a carrier and that seemed to go well as he slept for the whole thing.

Another tall ship--as you can see, it was a beautiful day. It was clear and about 28 degrees after days of fog so that was nice.

Not much else is new here. We see the doctor on Wednesday and will know then how much weight he has gained. He is more and more alert with varying degrees of owly-ness in the afternoon or evening (and we are not calling it colic!). He sleeps well at night but doesn't seem to like to nap during the day much so we are working on that. On the whole though, we think he is doing quite well for just past 5 weeks.

Friday, July 13, 2007

A Free Moment

My mother left this morning--the car came for her at 6am so I have been up since about 5am. Jeff and James went back to bed after Grandma left but I was awake so I stayed up and have used this hour to Blog my heart out. My mother has been here for just over 3 weeks and my middle sister, Heather, was here for just over a week so we have been on the go a lot. Which means that there have been LOTS of pictures but then I haven't had much time to do anything with them on a regular basis--so this was my chance!! As a result, there are about 5 postings all at once (partly because I can only seem to put up 5 pictures at a time and I have WAY MORE than that!!). Sorry for the overload but, never fear, since we don't have visitors for the next little while, we probably won't have as many pictures (though there still will be some as I am addicted to my digital camera and to James).

Here is James on his wonderful quilt made by his Gramma Lin (Jeff's Mom is Gramma Lin and my Mom--also named Linda--is Grandma or Grandma Linda or Grandma T). As you can see, James has rolled onto his side from his back. He does this all the time. Usually as soon as you put him on his back, he rolls left or right onto his side and he has almost rolled all the way onto his stomach. He is nice and alert here--what a big boy!

Again, this is his turtle face. He is on his tummy here and puts his hands under his chest and pushes up--the he rolls over onto his back! And he will now do it when he is not mad about being on his tummy so we think he has reached that milestone (very early according to his doctor). He will also roll either right or left. He has done it often enough now that it is not just a fluke.

Here is James again on his lovely Lullabye Sailboats quilt from Gramma Lin. He is growing quite a bit, this sleeper and a couple of others are getting too small and we have actually had to retired one sleeper that is too short. What a porkchop! Not really but we like to encourage him and make him feel good about himself!

We went yesterday and got James a playpen--which they no longer call playpens, they call them "Play-Yards" which I guess had a more feel-good connotation rather than "I am penning up my child"--which we are because we think he is going to be crawling early and we want him to be happy to play in a confined space while Mommy and/or Daddy work! He seemed to like it. It has a bassinet with a toy bar and he is now paying attention to toys--he didn't do that last week so this is a new level of alertness.

Here is James and Grandma T on her last morning here. He is wearing the sleep sack that Mom made for him with the matching hat--which I call his "Muffin Man" hat! I think it is so cute. I have matching slippers so we go together. The best thing is that it now fits--when Mom arrived, the hat was about an inch or so too big around and now it fits which means his head has grown a lot! After this, we walked down with Mom to the car. We are sad to see her go but it was a really good visit and she will come back--try to keep her away!!

That's all for now--enjoy the rest of the posts below from the last week.

Auntie Heather Goes Home!

My middle sister, Heather, was here visiting for about a week. She left on Wednesday and just loved meeting and holding James. Sometimes it was a bit of a race between her and Grandma to see who could get to him first! Everyone got lots of cuddle time, which James thoroughly enjoyed as he mainly likes to sleep on someone.

Heather and James--he isn't always happy to be on camera.

Sleepy Jamie!
Family Picture--we will try to get one with him looking more alert.

Mom, Heather, and James at home.

Mom, Heather, and James in the Public Gardens on a misty, foggy morning.

Peggy's Cove (July 9th)

Last week when Mom and Heather were still here, we went to Peggy's Cove and Lunenburg (and drove through Mahone Bay which looked very pretty but we didn't stop--next time). It isn't far but we took the coastal road which is windy and slow--but it meant we got to see a lot of cute little villages and some fabulous scenery. We stopped at Peggy's Cove and wandered the rocks and then had lunch (seafood chowder which is, according to locals, a MUST at Peggy's) before we went to Lunenburg. It was a full day--we left in the morning and didn't get back until after 5. James is an excellent traveller--he sleeps in the car really well and is barely fussy at all.

This is the scenery on the road to Peggy's Cove. I took this through the window of the car while zipping along at 60-80km so I have to say I love the "Sport" setting on my camera. It is very rocky and marshy and quite lovely. This is a cove or inlet (or something) and the tide is out so you can see the wet shoreline that will, later, be covered by ocean.

James and Mommy at Peggy's Cove.

People have been swept away by waves or have slipped on wet rocks and fallen in so they have warnings--which didn't seem to help as a lot of people were very close to the ocean (we stayed at a good distance but we did go on the dry rocks).

The new family at Peggy's Cove (James was so impressed he had to sleep through most of it). The ocean was amazingly blue.

Jamie the sleepy boy and Daddy at Peggy's Cove (and there are more pictures in the next posting--too many for one).

Lunenburg (July 9th)

Here are some more pictures from Peggy's Cove and Lunenburg.

This is the view of the ocean from behind the lighthouse--I actually got one with NO people in it which is amazing because the rocks were crawling with tourists (including us).

Mom and Heather on the rocks behind the lighthouse.

Mom, Heather, Jeff, and James in front of the Bluenose II at Lunenburg--a very cute town.


The view from the dock in Lunenburg.

A Day In Yellow

It was the start of the Tour de France last week so we thought it would be appropriate to dress James in yellow. Before that, he had some diaper-only tummy time. They are cloth diapers so they make his bottom look huge and his skinny body look even more skinny by comparison!

James is enjoying being half-dressed on the beautiful quilt from his Great-Aunt Jackie.

This is his turtle face--sometimes his stretches out his skinny neck and purses his lips and wrinkles his forehead and looks like a turtle coming out of his shell. So we have started to call him Yurtle on occasion. If he starts to introduce himself as Yurtie, we will know we have gone too far!

Here is his Yellow Tour de France outfit for watching the Tour with Daddy (in honour of the yellow jersey given to the leader of the Tour). We call this the outfit for "Team Canard". He is much more alert now and eyes are open often during the day as he stares intently at people and things.

James and Grandma enjoying the Tour.

James enjoying his bath--which he does enjoy as long as the water is warm enough and he is kept in it. He does NOT like to be cold!

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Tour and Citadel Hill

Today was the start of the Tour de France so Jeff and Jamie spent most of the day watching that--Jamie dozed on and off but was really into the Prologue time trial through London! On another day we will put him in a yellow onsie so he can really get into the spirit of things--we have three weeks so it may not be tomorrow.

After the Tour was over for the day, we all went for a walk up to the top of Citadel Hill. Jeff and I have never been--shameful after eleven months here but it is a fairly steep hill and only really open in the summer. It was really neat--we will have to go back again with James in his carrier since it was not really stroller-friendly but what we saw was very interesting. It is the fourth fortress built on the site and dates to 1856--Halifax was never actually attacked and good thing because they would have been sorry! It was a good place to visit and I think we will have to go back and see the whole tour and more of the areas that were difficult to get to with the stroller--plus, it had fabulous views of Halifax so I will put up some photos.

Mommy and me on the wall of Citadel Hill looking into the central compound--boy was it windy!

A hard day for a little guy--I protest by sleeping!

A really big gun for such a little boy! This is not the gun but they shoot off a cannon every day at noon on Citadel Hill. We have never heard it the whole time we have been here (and we live within walking distance of the hill). Acoustics being what they are, it points towards the harbour and you can only really hear it if you are on the right side of the hill at noon (which we must not have been).

The view of the harbour from Citadel Hill--you can see the island in the harbour with the lighthouse (I can't remember the name of the island).

The Town Clock and Harbour from Citadel Hill--this clock was finished in 1803 and was started by the Duke of Kent (Prince Edward) because he was, supposedly, very annoyed by the tardiness of the townspeople and soldiers (none of whom, probably, owned watches!).

Friday, July 6, 2007

7 Pounds!!

James has had an eventful week--we have been on the go and busy, busy. Auntie Heather arrived on Monday and has been enjoying Jamie (though she is disappointed that he only rolls over when she is out of the room--he did it again today and we think he could be crawling and walking early so I guess we should anchor the bookshelves to the walls!). James also had his check-up on Wednesday and had gained 5oz so he is up to 7lbs 1 1/2oz -- what a porkchop! He is almost too big now for some of his very small sleepers. What a big boy! He is becoming more alert and sometimes enjoys tummy time though he sometimes protests it loudly. Mainly, he likes to be warm and to have a full tummy (but don't we all!).

Here is Auntie Heather holding James for the first time.

James is getting the feel for his new stroller--it is for 3+ months (though it reclines enough that he could use it now) and is very light and good for walking and transit users. Plus, it has a fabulous rain cover which is a must here!

James now will sit in his vibrating bouncy chair (an excellent "borrow" from little Sophia courtesy of her Mom and Dad, Dawn and Dale).

"I am a sleepy Monkey with Daddy in the gelato shop!"

"Who is that suspicious looking baby who is looking at me? Who're you looking at!?!?"