All ready for Christmas after a busy December
Evie had her two month vaccinations yesterday, so I thought it was about time for another blog post (time really flies!). The last month has been busy with visitors and Evie has really changed a lot. We're all set for her first Christmas and our trip back to Ontario that is approaching quickly.
My parents, Faye and Bryan, came out to visit when Evie was 5-6 weeks old. We didn't do very much, but it was great to have some extra hands around to hold her. I got to take long, uninterrupted showers and was actually able to eat 3 meals a day! We had pretty cold weather so it was great to have some willing babysitters while I got out to walk the dogs during the day (I'm not sure Evie can take the -30 weather just yet!)
Evie enjoying her visit with Grandma and Grandpa Moffatt
We also had a great visit with my cousin Debbie and her 9 year old daughter Ella who moved to Calgary this fall - Ella definitely took advantage of the opportunity to hold Evie as much as she could :) --I think she'll be a great babysitter in a few years.
Evie took her first trip to the mountains when Grandma and Grandpa were here - unfortunately it was -30C so we didn't spend much time outside. Just the quick walk of Banff downtown, lunch at Earl's, and some very over-priced hot chocolates at the Banff Springs hotel. It was still good to get out there though.
This won't be the last time Evie makes it out to the Rockies
Craig also had his first extended time alone with Evie when my parents were here. My parents and I went out to see the Calgary Flames play one night, so he stayed with her for about 5 hours. It was definitely hard to leave her and I thought about her a lot while I was out, but everything went well. We had already been testing out bottle feeding and were pretty confident she would take the bottle (and she did). I came home and she was doing just fine - well-fed, relaxed and ready for bed. It went well for Craig, though he complained a bit about how it was hard for him to heat and eat his dinner (welcome to life with a new baby!)
Here we are at the Flames game - It was my mom's first time at an NHL game and my dad's first time in probably 20 years. The Flames won and we had a good time.
A few days after my parents left, my sister came to visit for 4 days--she was very excited to meet Evie and I put her to work right away. She came in on a Sunday at midnight and I had her babysitting on Monday morning when I went to a dentist appointment. Evie just slept for the most part, while Lynn enjoyed the time to snuggle with her and the dogs.
We had a good visit. We didn't do too many exciting things, but Lynn did get to see Evie start smiling. She smiles more and more each day - usually in the morning when she wakes up. It's impossible not to be happy when you see your baby smile.
It's not easy to get the smile on camera, but here are a couple that are close
Evie also got to climb her first mountain when Aunt Lynn was here - Prairie Mountain in Kananaskis, about a 40 minute drive from our house. It felt really great to get out and we were really lucky to have such warm weather (between 5-10 C for this hike). It was a short and steep hike - about 750 m of climbing over 3.5 km (my favourite kind of hike - lots of effort for fast rewards). Other than being sweaty and out-of-breath, the hike up was fine. The hike down was a bit trickier as it was snowy and slushy and quite slippery in the bush. Craig and Lynn spent a lot of the trip down sliding and slipping down, but that wasn't really possible with a baby strapped to my front. So it was slow-going until a very nice guy stopped and insisted that I take his poles. He was running up and down the mountain (I was jealous of his fitness level!). The poles made a world of difference though, and I will definitely be bringing ours along for all future hikes, both winter and summer.
A lot of my favourite things are in this picture - can't believe how lucky we are to have this beauty in our backyard
Sisters :)
Feeding Evie on top of the mountain - opted for the bottle as I wasn't sure if it would be too cold for breastfeeding
Shedding some layers on the way up
At six weeks, I was allowed to start exercising again (Craig held me to the six week mark) - so in addition to the hike, I've been trying to get out running again. It feels much better now than when I was running around 5 months pregnant, but I am definitely not anywhere close to my usual fitness level. I'm aiming to get in four 7-10 km runs a week for now, squeezing them in on weekends, mornings before Craig leaves for work, or evenings. I'm hoping to do some sort of a race this spring, likely a half marathon but we'll see....I'll have to get up the motivation to do a longer run one of these weekends.
After all of our visitors, Evie and I got back to our usual routine (I know they say babies don't really have routines at this age, but she is getting pretty easy to predict).
She had her two month vaccinations yesterday. She weighed in at 11 lbs 11 oz (up 4 lbs 10 oz from birth) - it really is crazy how quickly they grow. The vaccinations went fine - it was sad to see her cry in pain like that, but she calmed very quickly with feeding and was just sleepy and cuddly for the rest of the day. I made sure to give her lots of extra love after that tough morning.
In the last month, she has started to like her soother a lot more. At first I wasn't sure that I wanted to give her a soother, but seeing how quickly it can calm her has really changed that (I'll worry about breaking the habit another time :). I also think it has helped to decrease her vomiting. She would feed for comfort a lot in the past, and would literally projectile vomit all over me and herself (WAY more than spit up). It didn't bother her too much, but it was pretty inconvenient (especially the time she did it in the doctors office and I had no change of clothes for myself!). Anyway - I think the soother helps her to meet her suckling needs when she is not hungry.
She is a lot more alert and awake now, and actually pays attention to her toys a little more. She also likes when I (or anyone probably) talks to her and she will make some noises back...I like to think she is responding in her own way and eventually that will turn into a conversation. After she gets tired of "playing", singing, and talking with me she is usually ready for a nap and will fall asleep in my arms after a feed or be very happy in her swing.
Working out her neck muscles
Playing with one of her favourite toys, the sock monkey (I think she likes the contrast in his face)
More playtime in her play mat
She is still sleeping quite well at night - we usually put her to bed for the night around 10 pm, and she'll usually sleep until 4-4:30, wake for 30-40 minutes to eat, and then sleep until 8-8:30. Even though getting up in the night isn't the easiest part of the day, it is one of my favourite times with Evie (call me crazy). She is so groggy and sleepy and behaves most like a newborn at this time, so I think that's why I like it so much-eventually I'll have to move on and accept that she's growing quick and not really a newborn any more, but these night feeds are a little reminder for me still.
My sleepy night-time baby, getting her fill of milk before she returns to bed
We also started cloth diapering this month. We have one size diapers (they have snaps to adjust the sizes) so they are pretty bulky on her still, but she doesn't seem to mind. I will try to do cloth at home for the most part, but not likely when we are out or travelling. It went well for a week and a half, but then I realized how fast she was growing and how many size 1 diapers I still had left to use (so we have temporarily gone back to disposables to use those up!)
We made it through our first "sickness". Craig was off work for a few days sick - it was nice to have someone to talk to, but we tried to limit his contact with Evie and me. And when he had to watch her, his hands were washed and sanitized and a mask was worn! Neither she nor I got sick, so it was a success.
We also went out to Bragg Creek area to find a Christmas tree - the dogs enjoyed running around in the deep snow and we managed to find a pretty decent tree after walking in the woods for a half hour or so. Now we're all set for Christmas!
The next month will be an exciting one - we'll be taking our first trip back to Ontario with Evie in the beginning of January. We are very excited to introduce her to friends and family there!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us here at the Pearce home!
My parents, Faye and Bryan, came out to visit when Evie was 5-6 weeks old. We didn't do very much, but it was great to have some extra hands around to hold her. I got to take long, uninterrupted showers and was actually able to eat 3 meals a day! We had pretty cold weather so it was great to have some willing babysitters while I got out to walk the dogs during the day (I'm not sure Evie can take the -30 weather just yet!)
Evie enjoying her visit with Grandma and Grandpa Moffatt
We also had a great visit with my cousin Debbie and her 9 year old daughter Ella who moved to Calgary this fall - Ella definitely took advantage of the opportunity to hold Evie as much as she could :) --I think she'll be a great babysitter in a few years.
Evie took her first trip to the mountains when Grandma and Grandpa were here - unfortunately it was -30C so we didn't spend much time outside. Just the quick walk of Banff downtown, lunch at Earl's, and some very over-priced hot chocolates at the Banff Springs hotel. It was still good to get out there though.
This won't be the last time Evie makes it out to the Rockies
Craig also had his first extended time alone with Evie when my parents were here. My parents and I went out to see the Calgary Flames play one night, so he stayed with her for about 5 hours. It was definitely hard to leave her and I thought about her a lot while I was out, but everything went well. We had already been testing out bottle feeding and were pretty confident she would take the bottle (and she did). I came home and she was doing just fine - well-fed, relaxed and ready for bed. It went well for Craig, though he complained a bit about how it was hard for him to heat and eat his dinner (welcome to life with a new baby!)
Here we are at the Flames game - It was my mom's first time at an NHL game and my dad's first time in probably 20 years. The Flames won and we had a good time.
A few days after my parents left, my sister came to visit for 4 days--she was very excited to meet Evie and I put her to work right away. She came in on a Sunday at midnight and I had her babysitting on Monday morning when I went to a dentist appointment. Evie just slept for the most part, while Lynn enjoyed the time to snuggle with her and the dogs.
We had a good visit. We didn't do too many exciting things, but Lynn did get to see Evie start smiling. She smiles more and more each day - usually in the morning when she wakes up. It's impossible not to be happy when you see your baby smile.
Evie also got to climb her first mountain when Aunt Lynn was here - Prairie Mountain in Kananaskis, about a 40 minute drive from our house. It felt really great to get out and we were really lucky to have such warm weather (between 5-10 C for this hike). It was a short and steep hike - about 750 m of climbing over 3.5 km (my favourite kind of hike - lots of effort for fast rewards). Other than being sweaty and out-of-breath, the hike up was fine. The hike down was a bit trickier as it was snowy and slushy and quite slippery in the bush. Craig and Lynn spent a lot of the trip down sliding and slipping down, but that wasn't really possible with a baby strapped to my front. So it was slow-going until a very nice guy stopped and insisted that I take his poles. He was running up and down the mountain (I was jealous of his fitness level!). The poles made a world of difference though, and I will definitely be bringing ours along for all future hikes, both winter and summer.
A lot of my favourite things are in this picture - can't believe how lucky we are to have this beauty in our backyard
Sisters :)
Feeding Evie on top of the mountain - opted for the bottle as I wasn't sure if it would be too cold for breastfeeding
Shedding some layers on the way up
At six weeks, I was allowed to start exercising again (Craig held me to the six week mark) - so in addition to the hike, I've been trying to get out running again. It feels much better now than when I was running around 5 months pregnant, but I am definitely not anywhere close to my usual fitness level. I'm aiming to get in four 7-10 km runs a week for now, squeezing them in on weekends, mornings before Craig leaves for work, or evenings. I'm hoping to do some sort of a race this spring, likely a half marathon but we'll see....I'll have to get up the motivation to do a longer run one of these weekends.
After all of our visitors, Evie and I got back to our usual routine (I know they say babies don't really have routines at this age, but she is getting pretty easy to predict).
She had her two month vaccinations yesterday. She weighed in at 11 lbs 11 oz (up 4 lbs 10 oz from birth) - it really is crazy how quickly they grow. The vaccinations went fine - it was sad to see her cry in pain like that, but she calmed very quickly with feeding and was just sleepy and cuddly for the rest of the day. I made sure to give her lots of extra love after that tough morning.
In the last month, she has started to like her soother a lot more. At first I wasn't sure that I wanted to give her a soother, but seeing how quickly it can calm her has really changed that (I'll worry about breaking the habit another time :). I also think it has helped to decrease her vomiting. She would feed for comfort a lot in the past, and would literally projectile vomit all over me and herself (WAY more than spit up). It didn't bother her too much, but it was pretty inconvenient (especially the time she did it in the doctors office and I had no change of clothes for myself!). Anyway - I think the soother helps her to meet her suckling needs when she is not hungry.
She is a lot more alert and awake now, and actually pays attention to her toys a little more. She also likes when I (or anyone probably) talks to her and she will make some noises back...I like to think she is responding in her own way and eventually that will turn into a conversation. After she gets tired of "playing", singing, and talking with me she is usually ready for a nap and will fall asleep in my arms after a feed or be very happy in her swing.
Working out her neck muscles
Playing with one of her favourite toys, the sock monkey (I think she likes the contrast in his face)
More playtime in her play mat
She is still sleeping quite well at night - we usually put her to bed for the night around 10 pm, and she'll usually sleep until 4-4:30, wake for 30-40 minutes to eat, and then sleep until 8-8:30. Even though getting up in the night isn't the easiest part of the day, it is one of my favourite times with Evie (call me crazy). She is so groggy and sleepy and behaves most like a newborn at this time, so I think that's why I like it so much-eventually I'll have to move on and accept that she's growing quick and not really a newborn any more, but these night feeds are a little reminder for me still.
My sleepy night-time baby, getting her fill of milk before she returns to bed
We also started cloth diapering this month. We have one size diapers (they have snaps to adjust the sizes) so they are pretty bulky on her still, but she doesn't seem to mind. I will try to do cloth at home for the most part, but not likely when we are out or travelling. It went well for a week and a half, but then I realized how fast she was growing and how many size 1 diapers I still had left to use (so we have temporarily gone back to disposables to use those up!)
We made it through our first "sickness". Craig was off work for a few days sick - it was nice to have someone to talk to, but we tried to limit his contact with Evie and me. And when he had to watch her, his hands were washed and sanitized and a mask was worn! Neither she nor I got sick, so it was a success.
The next month will be an exciting one - we'll be taking our first trip back to Ontario with Evie in the beginning of January. We are very excited to introduce her to friends and family there!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us here at the Pearce home!
Can't wait to meet Evie next week. Enjoy reading your comments and seeing all the up to date pics.
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