James in the Morning

Here is a short video of James. If this works, I will try to put up more every once in a while so you can see his emerging personality.

High Chair!

Yesterday we went on an excursion to the MicMac Mall in Dartmouth (this is the biggest mall in the Maritimes and people drive in from NB and PEI to come to it--whoa!). I needed some new clothes (not to brag but I have dropped a size since pregnancy!) and we decided that it was time to get James a high chair. He is no where near starting solids--he probably won't start solids until early December--but it gives him somewhere to sit at meals and an alternate seat so he is more upright, which he seems to like. I put the chair together last night while Jeff cooked--though some diagrams took two of us to figure out (not very clear!). So far, he seems to like it. This morning, he sat in it for a while while Jeff and I did housework. He seems to like the vacuum cleaner--he was quiet while I was running it and started to fuss when I turned it off to move furniture and then quieted down again when I started it up again. This is good and maybe he will like it so much that he will take over that chore in a few years (probably not!!).

A new sensation--upright in the highchair.

What is this new thing in front of me--maybe I should reach for it.

I love mornings! Happy boy sitting in his chair.

But I still have to yawn--and I don't look as fat with my chin up!

My Daddy is sooooo funny!

Some Cute Photos of James

James has grown! We don't know by how much but he has moved into some of his 3-6 month sized clothes and some of his 3 month things are too small so we have had to retire some outfits. Since he is little, I think that means that the sizes are probably on the small size for most babies--friends shouldn't need to put their 4 month old babies in 6-9 month size clothes!

James's eyes seem to have settled into a very deep blue colour, although sometimes they look grey. We will wait and see since they could change more over the next few months (we sort of hope they don't since it is a really pretty colour of blue). His hair, which he has less of now that his head is bigger, still looks brown but with a red tinge to it--Nan thought it looked gingery. Maybe he will have red hair, who knows?

Here are some photos of James in some cute outfits.

"Grrrr! I'm a bear!" My cute green bear outfit from Gramma Lin--the hat finally fits my tiny head!


"I'm a big boy in big boy clothes!"

Happy, smiley James. These were taken this morning at about 7:30am--he really is at his best before 9am which is sad for everyone but him!!


Mommy and James before bed last night. "All tucked into my sheep sleeper from Luisa and ready for bed!" We went for a walk with a friend and had some ice cream so he was ready for bed when we got home but was fighting it. Generally, he goes to bed fairly well.


Not much new is happening on our front. James is very cute, of course. Jeff and I are getting ready to go back to teaching after Labour Day. We are each teaching one class per term in addition to doing all our own work. This term I teach on Mondays and Wednesdays and Jeff teaches on Tuesdays and Thursdays so we don't have to worry about a child care conflict. Next term, we teach on the same days but at very different times so, again, we will be able to trade off.

We are having visitors the second week of September (cousin Daniel is coming to visit James, yeah!) and then my mom is coming in October--which works well since Jeff will be going out of town for a couple of days to a conference. We will probably be posting less during the term than we have been. I am going to try to take a few representative pictures each week and post them so everyone can follow James's growth. Perhaps some short videos too since he now is more engaged with his surroundings. He has changed so much since birth that we almost don't recognize that skinny baby in the early photos! So we will try to keep new photos coming up so people can recognize him at Christmas!

I Love My Nan!!

Today was Nan's and Sandra's last day with us. We had a lazy day yesterday. Nan came over in the morning and we chatted and then went for lunch and she had some quality Jamie-holding time. She and Sandra then went sight-seeing for the rest of the day. Here are some photos of James enjoying some good cuddle time with his Nan.

James and his Nan--smiling away!

My Nan is soooo funny!

Hello Nan!!

Nan and James and Daddy!

Today, we went with Nan and Sandra and saw the sights in and around town. We drove out on a 55km loop that Jeff often rides on his bike through the various coves (basically these are fishing villages) just outside town on the other side of the Northwest Arm (the stretch of water on the other side of the Halifax peninsula). These coves (Purcell's Cove, Herring Cove, Harrietsfield) are very small and quaint and picturesque little groupings of houses with beautiful views of the ocean. It is a nice loop and we would recommend it.

While on the loop, we stopped at Sir Sanford Fleming Park and wandered about to look at the views of the Northwest Arm and had ice cream (best deal in town--$1.25 for a cone!!). There is a pond--Frog's Pond--in the park and we walked the loop around it--it was really pretty and I think everyone enjoyed the scenery. Nan wanted to know how long the loop was so I looked it up and it is a 1.4km loop. So it wasn' exactly a short walk in the woods and it wasn't flat--like everywhere out here, there are hills!

Frog Pond--one of the views of the pond. This is about half-way around the pond.


Another view of Frog Pond. There were lots of lily pads and ducks but we didn't see any frogs.

Nan, Jeff, and James at Frog Pond.

Jeff playing on the rocks at Frog Pond.

We also went up to the York Redoubt which was the fortress protecting the harbour since 1793. It is similar to Citadel Hill but not as built up--very interesting all the same and Jeff said he thought it was better than Citadel Hill. After that, we came back to Halifax and drove quickly around the Hydrostone Market and then we went for an early dinner so they could get back and pack for their 7am flight (yikes!). We had a great visit with Nan and Sandra and we hope that they had a good week in Halifax seeing the sights and meeting James.

Let's Play All Day!!

Here are some every-day photos of James playing and being cute. They show some aspects of his emerging personality which is, we think, generally pretty good! He seems to be a fairly happy baby and when he gets upset he is usually soothed easily.

Some days I am very suspicious of that baby in the mirror!

I have really had enough of that evil baby in the mirror, Mommy!!

Hello Mommy! Aren't I cute?!?

I finally fit my cute Pooh Bear outfit--isn't it cute! Thanks to Lindsay and Jessi! I usually like the baby who lives in my sea-turtle toy--a much better baby than that other mirror baby!

Right now, the mirror baby is behaving--but we will wait and see!

Hello funny mirror baby!

The Bay of Fundy

On Sunday we went on a road trip with Nan and Sandra, Jeff's grandmother and aunt. We left in the morning and drove to Wolfville and looked at the town and Acadia University, which was very pretty. There was a very nice coffee-shop set up to look like a library so we stopped for coffee and a break. From Wolfville we drove to the Bay of Fundy (through New Minas and Kentville). We then drove to Harbourville--which was tiny--for a view of the Bay and then to Margaretville for another view of the Bay. In Margaretville we also had lunch at a lovely cafe. From Margaretville we drove across the province to Mahone Bay where we stopped for coffee and a bit of a break from the car (James was getting a bit fussy at this point). Nan and Sandra decided they would like to see more of Mahone Bay so they went back there today. After Mahone Bay, it was back to Halifax for dinner.

It was a big day for James. He travelled well and seemed to enjoy the car ride. We had a bit of an issue at Margaretville (you'll note Jeff's change of attire, oops!) but other than that he seems to have enjoyed his day. We were all tired when we got home though so we had a relaxing evening with pizza for dinner. It was really nice to see more of the province and especially the Bay of Fundy with the huge tides. The Annapolis Valley area, which we drove through to get to the Bay, had really nice scenery too. It was a good day and everyone had fun.

Here is a map of Nova Scotia. I have highlighted in yellow our route through the province. I think we left at about 9:30am and we got back at about 6:30pm so it was a long day but we saw a lot of the province that we wouldn't have otherwise seen.

Here are Jeff and James on the shore at Harbourville. This was a tiny fishing village and there wasn't much there but it was interesting to see the low water. We got there at about noon--low tide was at 11am so the tide was coming back in (high tide would be at 6pm so the water was just starting to come back in) and it was very windy.

Nan is looking for pretty rocks on the beach. It was very rocky--not a sandy beach at all--and in this shot you can see the boats stranded at the top of the beach. In 6 hours the tide would come in and the water would rise 31 feet! We weren't there to see it but you could definitely tell that the water was coming in.

Nan enjoying the Bay of Fundy shore in the wind.

The Intrepid Nan heading out to the Bay--she was off before the rest of us had even got our bearings!

Our little family at the Bay.

Mommy and Jamie at the Bay--you can tell from my hair how windy it was. At Margaretville, we pulled on jackets--it was quite a bit cooler by the water than it was inland.

James enjoying his car-ride--he was a little sleepy at this point and, possibly, already not feeling well (when we got out of the car at Margaretville he had a bit of an upset tummy that ended up on Daddy, oops!).

Jeff and James on the rocks at Margaretville. The little house behind is the cafe where we had lunch--it was very good. Again, Margaretville was more a rock beach than a sand beach. At this point it was about 2pm and the tide was clearly on its way back in with the waves coming in with a fair amount of force.

The lighthouse at Margaretville which is a working lighthouse. You can see the waves coming in onto the rocky shore.

Jeff, Nan, and James on the beach at Margaretville.

Jeff and James on the beach.

Birthday and Visits

Here are some more photos of James from the last week. James has been filling out a lot. We don't know how big he is now--he has gained so much weight that we don't need to see the doctor every week or so. Yeah! This means we won't get an official weight until October but we think he is still gaining well.

A normal day--sitting on the couch looking like a big boy!

James has become very interested in faces and he will look intently at Jeff or me and make faces at us which we mirror and then he does them back at us--it is very cute. And if we aren't up to it, there is always that silly baby who lives in the mirror!

James received a cute Pooh-Bear sleeper with matching bib and blankie/bear-toy. He seems to like having the bear toy tucked into his arm and it also holds his interest when Jeff makes it a puppet.

More Pooh-Bear accessory shots.

We are going to lunch for Mommy's 30th birthday. James was very good--he slept through most of it. He has discovered that he can look up at us through the viewing panel/sunroof in his stroller so he likes to do that sometimes when we are out walking.

Nan (Jeff's grandmother) and Sandra arrived on Thursday for a visit with James. James was very excited to meet new people--meaning that he did not actively "make-strange" and is still content to be held by many people.

Smiley-boy. James is more and more cheerful and animated--particularly at 5-6am when he thinks it is time to wake up!

More early morning smiles--this one is a little sly looking.

More early morning smiles as we wait for Nan to come and visit.

Fun-time with Nan! We have more fun time planned with Nan and Sandra while they are here. Today we had brunch at a local restaurant (Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon--the first time I have had hollandaise sauce or smoked salmon since being pregnant since they are no-nos). It was really good and James was a sweetie--he slept until the food came and then he was nice and placid and gave me time to eat before he wanted to get out of his stroller and join the conversation at the table.

We are planning to go on a bit of a day trip tomorrow so we will see where that leads us and perhaps there will be more pictures soon.

Playful Jamie!

Jamie now plays and interacts with toys. He has a play mat from his Aunt Ronalee with dangling toys and a mirror. He will try to grab at the various toys--especially the long-legged chicken and he is fascinated by that funny looking baby in the mirror. It is very cute to watch him play and discover new things in his world.

" What's that baby doing?"

" That baby is a funny baby!"

" That funny mirror baby is doing something funny."

"Look, Mom, I grabbed a chicken!"

"Ooohhh! I am suspicious of that baby in the mirror now!!"