Nighttime Good

I have to mention that we have been sleeping much better. Paige hasn't eaten in the nighttime for as long as I can remember (which would be about 2 weeks). Sometimes she wakes up because she has bashed into a corner. Or, this morning's new situation--she had made herself parallel to the top of the crib and was gripping onto it while gnawing on the bar and crying. I had to pry her fingers off and move her onto her side. She went blink blink, looked at me, then cozied up on her side and fell asleep. Lately that has been the extent of it. There have been a couple of times where she has cried a lot and we have changed her diaper, and then she has gone back to sleep. So fingers crossed that this continues! She usually wakes up once in the earlier half of the night, and/or once in the later half...so 1-2 times. No big deal. We let her cry a bit, and soemtimes she just goes back to sleep on her own. Despite that it has been quite a while since she has eaten in the night, I still bring up a bottle for the night in our little thermos. I feel superstitious about it, like if I don't bring it up she will need to eat.

Well, as I look outside, the day looks like scum. Blowing snow and dreary sky. ick.

ah BLah blah BLAH

That is what Paige says all the time now. Sometimes she says Bwah, Rah, Brwah, or Da.

Yesterday we went somewhere really fun, and FORGOT THE CAMERA XD CARD! We had the camera with us, but the card was at home!! We went to the Bird Kingdom in Niagara Falls. There were birds flying around all over the place--right by your head and everything. Some would be walking around on the ground too. Paige would watch these ones, and the flying ones. She didn't get really excited or anything, but we figured it was good for her anyway. There was a nocturnal sort of "spooky" area with bats and owls and creepy things. So she got to see a variety of new surroundings.

For lunch we walked in the insanely cold weather up to the Rainforest Cafe which was on that ridiculously tacky street--Clifton Hill (with the wax museums, fun houses, and haunted houses). The ceiling in the cafe is covered in fake leaves and vines and things, and there are waterfalls, and animatronic gorillas and elephants. There is a fake thunderstorm every 20 minutes. Pretty amusing. Paige didn't really care what was going on. haha.

The day before, we had another swimming lesson. I went in the water with Paige this time, and she was going crazy!! She was kicking her little legs and splashing her arms. I was getting water in my eyes. So much fun. She is in her own little world in there, looking around at everything, and having fun in the water. It is impossible to get her attention.

In that last photo we are in the middle of the group and Paige has a blue toy in her mouth. It gives you a sense of all of the babies in the group.

At night, Katharine, Craig, and Amy came over. The girls are starting to play together...which means they steal each others toys! So funny to watch. If one of them has a toy, the other one will just randomly take it and put it in their mouth.

Little Jumper Girl

The middle part got sped up when a window opened on the computer..so she wasn't really jumping that fast...obviously.

Independent sitter

Paige has been sitting a lot better the past few days. She seemed uninterested in it before, as she had preferred to be on the move exploring things, rather than sitting still with one item. She seems to understand the merit of it a bit better, because who wants to be on their tummy all day? This is a third option-- and she likes options. I wonder when she will be able to pull herself up to sitting? Seems weird.

She has now tried a few more foods:

peas
butternut squash
bananas
applesauce

She seems to like them all now. She no longer makes the face for the vegetables, but still does it for the fruit. She'll still eat the fruit at a good pace, it is just so sweet! The bananas have lemon juice in them.

I forgot! She is a little tadpole!

Don't miss the video below that I posted earlier today, but I forgot to mention that Paige attended her first swimming lesson! She loved every bit of it, except when she swallowed water. Mike said she was kicking her legs the entire time. Apparently the water was pretty cold, but the class ends with a dip in the hot tub. I say "apparently" because I was not in the water! We will probably take turns going in, but as it was a Saturday it was mainly dads in the water, and the skinniest of moms. (I am not just saying that so people say, oh, but you're so small!--I mean there were realllly skinny moms--like they never gave birth). I have a new bathing suit though, so I guess I will have to try it out. It was our first experience of this type of parenting...carting your kid around to lessons, making sure they have eaten, gone to the bathroom, changed, etc. before the lesson begins. Paige's Water Babies class had an entourage as the non-swimmers followed the class around snapping photos. We were the only family without a digital SLR long lens camera (I know because I checked). Maybe next year. None of the other swimming lessons were being photographed. haha.

Her latest moves...

I have figured out how to load up a video! But it took 8 years to do it, so these won't come too regularly.

6 month stats

That was Paige eating peas last night. You can see the disturbed look. Too bad our camera takes blurry shots in low light.

Took Paige to the doctor today for her 6 month appointment and shots. Once again, she did not enjoy herself. These are her stats:

Weight 17lbs

Height 25 inches

Not sure if I posted 25 inches last time by accident? Don't feel like going back to check, but at any rate, she grew 5cm. She is still growing along in the 75th percentile.

This is her new "jumperoo". She goes ballistic in it and jumps around like crazy.

Crawling..

Paige has started to crawl....

She doesn't crawl in the traditional sense, but she pulls her body along using her arms and elbows. If she sees something she wants (newspaper, magazine, or remote control), she will grunt and extend her arm way out and then start inching her way along. We have seen her go about 6 feet before we have had to stop her from getting into danger. ie...DVD's fell on her head, she got under the Christmas tree, etc.

We have the ability to put videos on our computer now, so I will try to post one tomorrow.

Paige tried peas this morning and liked them. She had a disturbed look and furrowed brow the entire time, but she kept opening her mouth for it. I think it will be difficult to incorporate more solid food into the day. It takes a lot longer than I would have thought, especially when I have to fit it inbetween her 3 naps and her bottles.

Santa and the Tooth Fairy

Well, Christmas is all over. We had a fantastic time here and in St. Albert. Santa brought Paige a few new toys and some outfits. For Christmas we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for some lunch and presents and then over to Leslie's house for dinner with everyone.

Then it was off to St. Albert to stay with Auntie Jen and visit the rest of the family and friends. We had an 8:00 flight which got us into St. Albert at around midnight local time. Paige had a few naps along the way so she was able to make it till such a late hour without going completely ballistic. When we got there I was feeling a bit weird, but attributed it to being tired and having a long flight (not to mention a few hours of playing Nintendo DS on the plane). To make a long story short, I was sick all night and then fainted in the morning from dehydration. What a fabulous way to start a vacation! You know I was sick when I had THREE naps the next day! The illness put a bit of a damper in the plans, as I was sick for the turkey dinner at Grandma Val's on the 27th. I quickly got better though for the next day and was able to visit with Lisa and Cadence, and Andrea and Emmerson, and then The Barr's for dinner!

We had a couple of visits with Grandpa Jerry, saw Amanda and Angie, and had a visit with Janice, Lisa, Gordon, Sarah, Katie, Colin, and Lisa's mom. On the 28th Grandma Val babysat for a few hours while Mike and I went to a party at Janice's house.

All in all, the trip was fabulous and we had lots of visiting time with everyone. Paige was quite good natured considering she was cutting TWO TEETH!! She had a few bad sleeps and was sometimes a bit cranky, but we figure she could have been a lot worse. She also got a lot of practice with her crawling. She is not crawling yet, but she performed a precursor to crawling with doing a few bunny hops forward on her elbows and knees, as well as a few backward scoots.

Paige made a few new furry friends. She laughed hysterically at Abby (Beagle) when she jumped or barked. She also was semi-amused by Austin (tiny thing), but he was smaller than her so the jumping didn't make quite the same impact. Riley (golden retriever) was huge, so she didn't seem to quite understand what he was.

In terms of these teeth, sometime between this morning and about 2:00pm, her first tooth broke through. I know because I have been feeling around in there continuously. There is now a tiny little sharp point in the place of her bottom left incisor.

Oh--she also tried Oatmeal cereal today, and she didn't seem to notice anything different from the rice cereal. And, she is sleeping her face off after her week as a party girl.

I practice my moves in the night..

Not that it was at all funny, but Paige woke up at least 10 times last night. Why was she waking up? Well, she was sleeping on her stomach again, and she kept going onto her knees with her face still planted on the mattress!! She has figured out how to get onto all fours for a few seconds. In the evening, she would do it with her head up, but in the night, she was still trying to sleep while she was practicing her new move.

Even when I was getting up for the 800th time, I had to laugh because it was pretty ridiculous. Poor little girl also had a stuffy nose, so as a family, we changed her diaper, fed her, suctioned the nose, and got out ye old humidifier again.