Flora and Leia: a picture story

Yup, it’s more pictures instead of words, but these pictures don’t need much more explanation than what their captions provide.

Hello puppydog

I have a big tongue too!

You are *licking* me!

Now you're licking my *face*!

I like all this licking!

I think I'm going to lick you back

Flora and Leia get along well right now. We’ll see what happens when Flora figures out that she can grab Leia’s tail, follow her around, and get into her food. (Let’s hope Mummy and Daddy are on the ball to avoid some of these things at least some of the time!)

Christmas is a whole lot different with a baby around

Personalized First Christmas Ornament from Auntie KylaFlora’s first Christmas went reasonably well. Sean brought Flora and I down to his mum’s on the 17th to spend some pre-Christmas time with her and my parents. He had to go home on the 18th and finish his work week. The extra visiting time was great, but we were very happy to see Sean when he finally got back to his mum’s on the 24th.

As usual, we split our Christmas celebration between Sean’s mum’s and my sister’s place. Christmas Eve must have been hard on Flora because she spent most of the evening crying her little heart out. None of us could figure out what was bugging her, and it made me cry to see her in such distress. It was probably a combination of gas pains and too much stuff going on. Being passed around from person to person for comfort probably didn’t help either. She finally fell asleep and we went back to Sean’s mum’s.

Christmas OutfitChristmas Day was much better. Her Christmas outfit from Grandma Janet was a big hit. Flora liked to chew on the fur trim and ended up getting some gravy on it when Daddy and Grampy Doug were sneaking gravy into her mouth (as sneaky as feeding her at the Christmas dinner table can get). I didn’t think she should be having that gravy, but she seemed to like it, so I guess she’ll like her condiments when the time comes! Grandma Faye gave her a Christmas outfit too. We didn’t get it until Christmas Day, I wondered if I should be changing her outfit halfway through so that both outfits would be worn. We didn’t end up doing that, but I did put the outfit on her on the 27th after we got home. Naturally, every time I tried to take a picture, she got cranky.

Despite everyone telling us that they weren’t going to get Flora much for Christmas (since she’s so little and won’t remember it), she got spoiled with many gifts. I don’t even want to list it out because it’s a little embarrassing (and I don’t want to unintentionally slight someone by forgetting something). Flora is lucky to have so many people who love her. Sean and I got spoiled too. My mom picked up a video camera for Sean and I, which was quite a surprise (she said she got a good deal when she went to the States on Black Friday). We’re still getting the hang of it, but it’s quite a neat little toy. It will be great to use to share video online of Flora doing interesting things.

We came home on Boxing Day, and after over a week away, I was glad to get home. Sean is off until January 2nd, and the three of us have just been hanging out and relaxing. It’s been a great end to a very exciting year.

In my Christmas jammies with Daddy My first ChristmasSmiling with Grandma Janet Looking a little sleepy Christmas sleepers

Flora has a bonding moment with her daddy (and the dog)

Everyone in bed but the cat and ISean hates it when I post pictures of him sleeping on the web. (I only did it once before, so it’s not like it’s a regular occurrence.) However, he and Flora looked so cute in these pictures, I had to share them.

When my sister saw them on my Flickr page (she checks it every day to see if I’ve posted new pictures of Flora), she told me that there was a similar picture of my dad and I. I can’t remember if I’ve seen it (I’m sure I have), but she told me that she wanted to group the two pictures together in a frame. Obviously, she is the scrapbooker of the family. I then remembered that I saw a similar picture with Sean and his dad (his dad isn’t sleeping, but the premise is right), so maybe she should group all three if we can find all the pictures.

Mirror ImageI must have stumbled on some classic baby picture pose, if we all have a picture like this. I wonder if there is a book of classic baby picture ideas that you can apply to your baby.

One month old

Where did the time go? I can’t believe it’s October already. Flora is one month old today. We went to her one month doctor’s appointment yesterday and she is doing very well. She is now just over nine pounds, so she gained nearly three pounds in a month. The sleepers that were too big when we came home from the hospital are fitting much better now. As Grandma Faye (my mum) says “she’s perfect!”

Sean went back to work almost two weeks ago. His first day back at work was the first day I had spent alone with Flora since she was born. I was anxious about being able to handle it, but we’re doing okay and sort of settled into a routine. I’ve managed to get dressed and fit in a few chores every day before Sean comes home so I figure we’re doing okay.

Flora is starting to have wakeful times during the day now, so it is nice to see her eyes. She is constantly looking all around the room, taking everything in. I wish I knew what was so interesting about what she sees. Despite all the time she spends awake, I still seem to take most of my pictures when she is sleeping. I guess that’s because it’s hard to take a picture of a baby while you are holding her. I need to get after Sean to take some pictures of her with me, or at least when she’s not crying. (Sean seems to catch a lot of pictures of her when she’s crying for some reason.)

Speaking of crying, she’s not a major crier yet. She lets us know if something is on her mind, but usually calms down once we figure it out. She has trouble getting burps out sometimes so that’s something we’re working on. Between the farting, the grunting and the noise of a diaper being filled, I had no idea that newborn babies were so noisy. I expected crying, but not bum noises I can hear from another room! (She is going to kill me when she is a teenager and she finds these archives on the web.)

My mom came to visit earlier this week and the three of us went on Flora’s first outing that wasn’t a doctor’s appointment or a walk around the block. We just went to the mall to pick up a parcel for Sean and get some groceries, but it felt good to finally leave the house for more than a few minutes. The stroller steers well, and fits in the trunk (barely – we have a small car). Flora had many admirers and was very well behaved – there was some crying occasionally but she calmed herself down and went back to sleep. Breastfeeding in public was not attempted – more because she didn’t need it rather than due to any embarrassment on my part.

Sean and I took Flora on her second outing after her doctor’s appointment. We went to Costco, and she slept through most of that expedition. She had a few admirers there as well. One set of ladies fawned over her a couple of times throughout the store. It made me giggle and feel more than a little proud. Fortunately no one tried to touch her, considering that cold and flu season is starting. We don’t start our immunizations until next month, and I don’t feel ready to deal with a sick baby yet.

Here are some more pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Getting ready to go out with Mummy and Grandma.
In the Car Seat

More hanging out time with Grandma
Grandma Faye and Flora Grandma Faye and Flora

Snoozing in her chair.
Flora in her rocking chair

A few closeups with her eyes wide (!!!) open
No really, what *are* you looking at? Gasp! I don't know what she is looking at #1 Dude, I am so much cooler than you

Napping with Daddy earlier tonight.
Flora snoozing with Daddy

Canada Day Weekend

401 Traffic
We liked this guy's bumper sticker
Wanker On Board (up close)

To celebrate Canada Day, Sean and I visited my parents and sister (who all live in Prince Edward County). Traffic was still very heavy when we left Toronto on Saturday morning. We saw this guy’s car (couldn’t really not see it because of the flags), and saw his bumper sticker, I had to get a picture of it.

Because traffic was so heavy, we ended up getting off the 401 (a high speed, multi-lane highway) and taking Highway 2 (a regular highway) from about Port Hope to Colborne (about a half an hour drive on the 401). We managed to drive on the slower highway at the posted speed limits (mostly), stop at the The Big Apple to pick up an apple pie and lunch, and when we decided to try the 401again at Colborne, we ended up seeing the Wanker On Board car again! So yup, traffic was definitely slow on the 401.

By the time we got to my parents’ place, it was raining so our plans of boating and water-skiing went out the window, which was a bummer. We also discovered we weren’t actually allowed in the house yet anyway; it is up for sale and someone was coming to look at it later in the afternoon, so it had to stay clean. After hanging out in the garage with my stepdad for awhile, Sean and I drove up to my sister’s place to hang with her. We took my dog and my parent’s dog with her, so the pet total at Kyla’s was four dogs, four cats and a guinea pig she was babysitting for the weekend. (Brindell the guinea pig was very cute – he looked like a walking toupee!)

The dogs were shockingly well behaved considering they were gated off in the kitchen for awhile (to keep from bugging the guinea pig, who was out to play and socialize). Once the weather cleared up, we went outside and Sean decided to get brave and go in the pool. He was trying to sit in Kyla’s newest pool chair, but he was having a hard time getting on it. This montage sums up about three tries. Our dog was trying to drink the pool water, and was also quite puzzled at Daddy looking so goofy.

The water was warmer than the air so it was a chilly swim. Kyla and I did not join him. It started to rain again so we went back inside. Now that the guinea pig was back in his cage, the dogs could come out and play. Sean got kisses from Cujo, Kyla’s youngest pug.

Finally, my parents showed up and we had supper. Kyla’s husband Chris was home by this point (he was fixing his race car), but he was zonked so we didn’t see much of him, which was a bummer because he is always fun.

On Sunday, the five of us (Kyla, my parents, Sean and I) went out in my parents’ boat to go to Kingston. We saw this boat along the way:

Fortunately, there was no pirate flags on it.

Once we docked at Kingston, we wandered around the arts and crafts show that was set up by the harbour. When we went back to the boat to have a snack, it started to rain, so our timing was great for snacking under the covered boat. Sean used his new fishing rod, but didn’t get anything more than a nibble.

We left Kingston to go to Wolfe Island for a late lunch/early supper at the Brown’s Bay Inn. Good meals were had by all, and it stayed sunny the whole time which was good because we were eating outside.

As we made our way home, we watched rain clouds wreaking havoc on other places, but we had a rain-free trip the whole way home. We also got to see a rainbow on the way, and it stayed long enough for me to get several pictures with both my and my mom’s cameras:

When we got home, I went with Kyla to go and pick up her dogs so she could bring them to my parent’s place while we went to watch fireworks. However, once she got home, she wimped out and decided to stay home. As a result, I got to drive her spiffy Ford Escape back to my mom’s so I could still see the show.

We went back in the boat to go and see the fireworks in Bath from the water. Sean decided to watch the fireworks from the shore by the fire. He made the wrong decision because once the fireworks started, we ended up being able to see the fireworks shows from Bath, Amherst Island and Kingston in the far distance. We hardly knew where to look! Once the show ended (and all the shows seemed longer than the average fireworks display) and we turned around to go home, we discovered that we could see Picton’s fireworks in the distance too! So we ended up seeing four official fireworks shows in one night. We also saw some mini-shows from people who were doing it in their yards. So we definitely got a better show than Sean did – less mosquito bites too!

Sean and I left my parent’s place at about 7:30 this morning to beat traffic. We didn’t see the Wanker car again so I think we succeeded.

Hope everyone else had a good Canada Day!

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada
This work by Melissa Price-Mitchell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada.
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