Choices, choices ...

Emma has discovered the joys of both sucking her toe and her thumb. Often when I am changing Emma's diaper she has difficulty deciding which to choose so she sucks on both at the same time.

Sorry no photo of it yet.

Exersaucer

Emma just loves her exersaucer.



and that's about all the time I have for this post...

One Month Later

It is amazing how fast time can fly. Between my computer being replaced, Emma not sleeping well for a week or more, a trip to Iroquois and Emma not caring to nap during the day (other than on me), a month has gone by. Right now Emma is sitting in her carrier watching the screen.

For halloween, Emma dressed up as Tigger thanks to her Aunty Michelle. Now everyone sing the Tigger song!



More Photos from the past month:

Emma faces - 2 months

Growing so fast I can't keep up with the monthly faces! She's nearly 3 months now, but here she is at 2 months.

The Grand Visit

Emma's grandparents came to visit from Grande Prairie, Alberta for two weeks in October. We had a great time. While they were here we took a road trip to Ottawa and Kingston, stopping to visit some of my relatives along the way. While in the Ottawa area we took a ride on the Hull-Chelsea-Wakefield steam train, visited Parliament Hill and the Byward market. In Kingston, we stayed with my mom, who has been busy purging stuff from her house. Lucy and Paul got the freezer and we scored some venison steaks!

Baptism

While Emma's grandparents were visiting we had her baptism in Kingston at the same parish we were married in. Fr. Bob did a lovely service.

New Hat

Emma got a new hat while on holiday. It immediately got rave reviews by passers by. She looks quite sweet in it.

Where has my infant gone?!

Emma is growing like a weed. She turns 2 months old tomorrow, October 3. Already she is wearing 3-6mo clothes, is smiling and cooing and has long alert periods (too long and too alter if you ask me). She can stand and hold up her own weight with us only providing balance support. She is a baby now, not an infant.

Sniff. I'm not ready for that! She's growing too fast!

The stairs are finished!

We've always had issues with the front stairs to our house. They were tile that 1. were treacherously slippery when wet, and 2. the colour never really matched the rest of the house. Ever since moving in we've been looking for a solution to make them less slippery before someone killed themselves on them (particularly the mail courier) short of completely re-doing the entrance. It became particularly important this year as I refuse to go down those steps in the winter with a baby in my arms. It was bad enough last winter with a baby in my belly.

This year we found a fake stone product that you apply over the old surface and decided to give it a try. Doug just finished applying it and repainting the railing. I think it is a marked improvement! So far so good.

Before:


During. It couldn't not be wet while in progress or it would wash away.


Looking down the blue tunnel.


The finished product. Much better no?

Aunt Lucy's Wedding

Emma's Aunt Lucy got married last weekend. Good thing Aunt Lucy was happy to share the limelight.

Smiles and Coos

Emma has really grown in the last few weeks. She is now smiling and cooing, having long periods of quiet, alert time and holding up her head well.

Here she is hangin' in Leo's perch.


Still can't resist mom lulling her to sleep.


She has discovered the joy of sucking on daddy's nose.


Here's a slideshow of her smiles!




We took her down to Doug's sailing club to meet some folks. Did I mention that she is also discovering her thumb?

Emma's Coming Out Party

We had Emma's coming out party a couple of weekends ago. Many friends came out to welcome her into the world.





as usual, in case the slideshow doesn't work:

Coming Out Party

One Month Old

Time sure flies. Emma is now one month old. I swear I can see her grow before my eyes. This month we have had Grandma R. up twice, Aunt Chantale, Aunt Lucy and the cousins up for a visit and have gone to Kingston for Aunt Lucy's wedding shower (Dad babysat).

As for the cats, Leo is back to his old self and Smudge is slowly coming out of her depression. Doug took some time in his two weeks off to do a fun project: build a new arm for the cat tower. It is very popular.




As always, link to the photo album if the slide show doesn't work:

One Month

Family is there to keep you humble

You can't get away with anything when family is around, especially if you have an Aunt Lucy lurking around with a camera. Emma is less than a month old and already has blackmail photos that will haunt her for the rest of her life -- of course she also has a mommy that is willing to publish the best for all to enjoy...

Baby Registry

Some have asked if we had a baby registry. We do now.

www.myregistry.com search under either of our names.

or more specifically:

http://www.myregistry.com/Visitors/Welcome.aspx?sid=19c1ed9c-2d8c-4284-a6e9-e7c7d1fbf522

The Many Faces of Emma

Emma can be very expressive, even when she is sleeping!



For those having difficulty with the flash slideshow, here's a link to the photo album:

The Many Faces of Emma

One Week Old

As of yesterday, Emma was one week old. I think I've only had two good (definition of good is relative) night's sleep in that entire week. So, from what I've been told, all things are normal (also a relative term).

Here's some photos of what happened this week:


In other household news, Doug finished Emma's cupboard doors. I think they turned out very well.

















Having difficulty with the slideshow? View the album here:

Emma Week 1

Emma's middle name

We've chosen Kathleen, after my grandmother on my mother's side, as Emma's middle name. So her full name is Emma Kathleen Watters Doole.

Also, there's a typo in my original birth announcement email. Emma was both at 12:43. (So much for telling people she was born at "large straight o'clock" :-(.)

It's a girl!

[From Doug's initial email announcement.]

The waiting is over! Christine gave birth to a beautiful girl this
afternoon (Friday the 3rd) at 12:34 pm. We are naming her Emma Watters
Doole (middle name still to be decided).She weighed 8 lbs 9 oz and was 21
inches long. Both Emma and Christine are doing fine and should be coming
home from the hospital tomorrow.

We'll have more photos and a decision on the middle name posted to our blog
soon (http://watters-doole.blogspot.com).

Winners of the baby pool Christine set up:
- Only 10 of 23 people got the sex right
- Lawrence and Jenna got the weight right
- 6 people got the length right
- James was closest to the actual time, and Janice, Rejeanne and Lawrence
also got the birthday right.

Here's some initial pics






































[Our wonderful medical team, Dr. Pairaudeau and our midwives, Carron and Ainsley. The midwives did the delivery, Dr. Pairaudeau was our consult during the pregnancy and was on call when we went in. He very generously spared some time to consult on the delivery as well.]

More painting done

A couple of posts ago I showed the start of the second bedroom dragon-inspired transformation. We are happy to announce that it is now done! Yes, Doug is much happier than I am as it means all the painting he has been doing for the last two months is near an end. (But does it ever really end?)

Checkout the slide show:



We have one last issue to resolve in the room: what to do with the cupboard doors. We both agree that they need to be painted, however, we do not agree on how. Both of us are so tired of coming up with ideas that we are just ignoring the issue for now. Any suggestions?

Who me nesting?

Just because I finally got around to making the pillow shams and bed skirt after nearly a year of procrastinating, to finally hemming three pairs of maternity pants, to putting meals in the freezer so Doug and I don't starve in the first few weeks...

I call it panic.




As far as the bedding is concerned, I had help when cutting out. Smudge was good enough to select one end of the fabric to nap in rather than the middle. So accommodating of her.

Wooo Hooo Bathroom's Done!

Last November Doug stuck his knee through the tile wall in the shower (note the plastic duct taped to the back wall in the before photo). This May, we got a contractor to fix the mess before the end of July. Doug didn't want to take the time do it himself as he wanted to save his vacation for after July (my due date). I just wanted it done quickly to minimize the time trekking to the basement middle of the night. Yep, 7 months pregnant and having the only full bathroom renovated -- no second shower and one part bathroom in the basement. Smaaart.

And while we were at it, we decided to do a thorough job of it and gut the room completely, not just fix the shower stall.

Once the contractor did his thing, "we" (read "Doug") still had quite a bit of finishing to do like painting, putting up hooks, making the mirror frame, installing the vanity back splash. My part has to do with buying new towels and shower curtain, which is proving more difficult than expected. :)

Today Doug installed the mirror and the back splash.
I must say, I do like the final result.

Before / After


For more photos on the various stages, check out the photo gallery:

More Preparations

We have decided to paint the second bedroom in preparation. We know we will not need it for many months (assuming things keep being positive) but we also know we will have very little time - or energy - shortly.

We bandied about several ideas and colour schemes until we came upon this little guy at the hospital gift shop. I fell in love with it right away.

So, blue, green purple and orange it is!


I know this looks like Doug did all the work, but he didn't. I just had the camera. Ok, he did most of it but I did help beyond supervising. For some reason he doesn't take photos of me doing stuff and the posed photos he takes of me are usually awful (and I'm not photogenic to start with).

Taking Bets

I've set up a baby pool for anyone interested in taking bets on gender, size and date.

http://www.expectnet.com/game.php

game name is WhatWeightWhen

Finished work!

Ok, so not exactly finished work but at least finished commuting into the office. The plan is to work from home this coming week. THEN I'm finished work.

It's all part of my clever strategy for the baby to not come too early and give me some time at home to relax before the impending onslaught. I've heard too many stories of women who finish work early thinking they had at least a week to go but lo and behold, no! They seem to go into labour as soon as the stress stops.

Only time will tell though. Any bets?

Starting Preparations

This week was monumental in that the stitch (cerclage) that was put in at around week 17 was finally taken out. Having that done really drove home how near the end we really are -- and how totally unprepared we are. We promptly went out and bought an infant seat.

Doug had fun putting it together...

while the Smudge and Leo explored the box it came in.

Week 34

So, we've managed to make it past the monumental week 32! We are now starting week 34 as of Monday June, 18.

Now that we are deep into the third trimester, we've been trying to prepare ourselves. Most of our (ok, mainly my since I'm the one doing the scary bit) preparations to date have been around information gathering and list making. Doug and I have just finished our courses on Labour & Delivery and Taking Care of Baby. One thing we did discover out of the baby course was that we aren't doing too bad. Neither of us are that naiive about babies. Not to sound smug, but some other parents-to-be, on the other hand, are in for a very rude awakening - *very* rude. We at least know that we are going to be completely overwhelmed!

In other news, today we got Doug a hammock. It's his birthday present (actual event was June 4). Here he is practicing his napping technique.