Meighen

On Saturday Meighen will be five months old! I can’t believe my mat leave is almost half over… very sad. Just when I finally forgot the stress of the office.

Meighen’s had a great couple of weeks. Last weekend we visited with Pere and Auntie Julie. Pere gave Meg a beautiful clown from the Barnum & Bailey museum in Florida. That made Meg laugh too. This past Tuesday we went to my office for lunch and hung out a bit. Everyone couldn’t believe how happy, quiet and cute she was. I’m so glad she makes a great impression on people and adjusts to any environment. Me and my colleague went for lunch at a pretty noisy place and she did great – didn’t bother her at all. Tomorrow we’re going to check out a few local malls for the best Santa display and maybe get her picture taken if I like the set up. Saturday I’m heading to Grammy’s till Wednesday. My folks got a new puppy (sheltie) and it’ll be neat to see Meg interact with a pup and not an old fart like our two dogs. Don’t get my wrong, Meg loves Sprocket.

There have been a few more milestones (or close to being some). Meg laughs almost every day at either the dogs or Daddy. Today we went to the neighbour’s for tea and she was giggling at their dog. She likes to see dogs play and being silly. Meighen is also this close to sitting up on her own. She can balance for a few seconds (5-10) on her own before falling over. She gets a bit better everyday and I bet will be sitting just fine on her own by Christmas. We also think she’s about to cut her first tooth!! It’s on her bottom left just behind her cheek (not a molar). Ben often runs his fingers along her gums and this time was greeted by a hard white lump. It’s almost or just through the skin. Unbelievable!! 22 weeks and cutting teeth. This kid is ready to get on with life.

I’ve started taking baths with Meg now that she can almost sit up. I didn’t want to risk it before when she was all flimsy but she’s pretty solid now. I think she enjoys the deep water and loves to splash her hands and kick her feet. It’s almost like she’s trying to swim. That got me thinking about “mom and me” swimming classes. I’m going to find one that starts in the new year, find out what age they recommend and get us registered! Now that swimming lessons in the winter sounds terribly fun but ah well, she’ll be six months and I think that’s around the suggested age.

I’ve started decorating for Christmas and super excited to share it with Meg. I hope to have the tree up this week (or as soon as I’m back from Mom’s). Right after I can start my baking, do my shopping for Ben and call it done! I’m usually done my Christmas cards by now but we were late booking our family photo and want to use that as the card this year. It’ll probably be December 15^th before they’re in the mail.

I think that’s about it for now, but that was long enough!

We’ve almost completed Meg’s 20^th week and she’s starting to get mobile. She can shimmy across the playmat on her back with a series of half rolls. She’ll put her legs in the air and fall over to her side. She can’t quite make it to her tummy from her back yet but I’m sure it won’t be too long now.

I heard her first real laugh yesterday. Usually it’s just a “hee hee” but this time it was a full giggle session. Sprocket was doing her usual nut at the door to go out (leaping, flapping her gums and making noises) and Meighen thought this was the funniest thing.

This was a good week. We got to chill at home for most of it. Tuesday we shopped till we dropped and tomorrow we’re going to Costco with Pere and back to his place for dinner. Sunday we’re going to Auntie Julie’s for dinner. Next week I’m hoping to do lunch with a colleague and start decorating for Christmas. On the 29^th we’re heading to Grammy’s for a few days although Ben will only spend one night with us.

Toronto had our first snow last night and today me and Meg went out to shovel the driveway. She had a funny look on her face when she saw everything white. I wonder if she thought to herself, “Last week it was green and there were leaves all over, now it’s all white – where’d everything go?”

She’s still doing awesome with her rice cereal. Below is a picture of her eating like a big girl.

Yesterday we continued the family tour and spent the day with matante Chantal and cousin Amelie. I got a note on Tuesday that Toronto Hydro was shutting down the neighbourhood to replace the transformer – ug! The power would be out all day. There’s no way I could stay here with no heat, hyro or anything – how would I warm bottles for Meg? Thankfully Chantal came to the rescue and took us in for the day. We stayed warm, fed and had a great visit with just the girls.

This past week has brought a few firsts for Meg. Last week we started her on a bit of rice cereal. At first it was really runny and I was mixing it ¼ tsp powder with ¾ tsp formula. She kinda got the idea right away and after a few servings over the next few days she became a pro! I’m doing the above quantity twice a day for now (but less runny) and will bump it up to maybe a ½ tsp over the weekend since it’s been a week. Hopefully in a couple weeks I’ll try her on very small bits of veggies. I’m very excited for her to try new foods.

Another first that happened today was her first time playing in her exersaucer. Last time Ben tried her in it her feet didn’t touch the floor so we thought it best to wait a bit more. Now, she can firmly plant her feet on the base and can make it wobble. We showed her how a few of the toys work on it and she took to them right away. She was spinning the noisy thing on her own in just a few minutes. She’s so eager to learn and do things on her own. Last night she was giving Ben’s bottle of water the eye so when it was empty we let her hold it. She kept raising it to her mouth and trying to drink from it – awe! She’s trying so hard to be a big girl when she should still be a baby for just a little longer. Thankfully she’s been cuddling a bit more this past week. I love it when she puts her head on my chest or falls asleep in my arms – too precious.

Meighen is now 19 weeks! She’s a totally different baby than what came home with us in June. She’s very vocal, happy, independent and observant – she’s awesome. Lately she’s been in awe of her feet. She loves to pull her legs up and hold onto them, very cute and baby like. She’s loving mirrors and enjoys looking at herself and Daddy.

We had a busy weekend. Saturday night was girls night with some of my school friends. I bought Meggy with me cause Ben had a birthday party to attend. She had fun and loved the attention. Sunday we went to visit my Aunt Kathy and had a great lunch. I even scored the chicken carcus to make more homemade soup.. nummy! I can’t wait till Meg’s old enough to have my cooking. I wonder what she’ll like and consider her favourite. Mine’s always been a roast chicken, stuffing, and mashed potatos and gravy. Maybe because it’s a Christmas dinner.

We have a quite week here at home. Have a few leaves to finish raking/bagging and a bit of the basement left to sort. I also want to go through the next couple boxes of clothes for Meg (six months). There’s a lot of three month stuff that fit her but I want to get out a few warmer things since the weather’s turning quick. Quite a difference from last week’s 20+.

This week has turned out to be a busy one! On Tuesday me and Meg did a bunch of errands, seems it took all day! Wednesday Meg took it easy while I did stuff around the house. I raked half the leaves and got them bagged, took down old outdoor Christmas lights in hopes of getting new ones up early, prepped dinner and made another 3 pumpkin cream pies (to freeze for later). Yesterday we tagged along with Grammy and Grandpa while they visited with my two aunts on my dad’s side and one aunt on my mom’s side. Lots of driving and visiting. Meg was awesome through the whole trip and hardly fussed. She enjoyed getting passed around to new people and lapped up the attention. Today we raked and bagged the rest of the leaves, did a ton of laundry and planning on restringing our new Christmas lights so they alternate colours (blue & white).

I never really gave much thought to daylight savings time but this fall – wow, it’s awesome! Meg used to go to bed between 11 pm and midnight. Now since the time change she’s out between 10 pm and 11 pm. Ben and I get to chill in bed with the tv like we used to. She’s on a great schedule now waking up around 9 am or so. That I can handle. It was brutal when she’d be asleep by 1 am and up again at 8 am. If I get to bed at 11 pm I’m more than happy to start my day a bit early. Seems I get a lot done this way.

Not much else to report. Meg’s doing great holding her own bottle. We started using the cloth diapers this week, well after her morning poopy. So far they’re doing good. Great for wet diapers but the dirty ones are little more labour intensive than a disposable. They’re also more bulky and I think the flushable liner is a bit too scratchy. The set we have only goes up to 15 lbs (she’s almost there) so we’ll give it a go while they fit and decide if we want to invest in the next size up.

Friday was Meggy’s first Halloween. We decided to take part at the last minute and give out candy. Meighen dressed up as a bat (or “Bat Baby!” as Ben liked to call her). We went next door to our neighbours and took some pictures/video. Then Meg sat out front with me for a little while handing out candy. All the girls/women who came up all “awwwwwed” at her, giggled and kept on their way. She was adorable, but then again what baby on their first Halloween isn’t? Yesterday we to visit baby Ben. Ben’s friend and his wife had little Ben a few weeks after we had Meg. It’s amazing how just a few weeks have so much progress in baby world. Ben’s doing great, is super cute and already weighs more then Meg! A cutie indeed.

Not too much going on this week. Have the weekly grocery run and might grab some more formula with freebies. Our local Toys’R'Us still has our formula that comes with free ‘dippers’, soother, sample cereal and jar of baby food. They also still have a few cans left with the ’2 free movies + a popcorn’ coupon for Blockbuster. We’ve had so many of them we haven’t paid for rentals since Meg came along. It’s awesome!