Love at First Sight

Well, I said I'd get to some of the out-of-town Christmas spoilage so here goes. Max was treated to a few packages from his Winnipeg family, including some cool clothes from his second cousins (thanks Wendy and Joey!), some beautiful books from his great-grandma and grandma, and two Christmas outfits from his aunt and uncle on display in today's pictures. Max says they felt super fuzzy! However, the Christmas gift that Max has fallen in love with like no other is his new playmat from my mom.

The apparatus comes with a mat for the ground, two flexible rods that arch and criss-cross over the mat (and are great for dangling toys from), a big mirror to strap to the rods and some plush toys that rattle. After I unpacked the mat, I plunked Max down in the middle of the mat while I tried to figure the whole thing out. Max then started crying so I hurriedly chucked him the stuffed rattly-legged lion that comes with the kit and moved on to the rods. It was a minute or so before I realized that he was, um, making out with the lion. Holding it in both hands, he was snuggling it close to his face. We had read on websites that kids tended to love the lion, but this was still surprising.

I got the rods set up, dangled the duck, giraffe, mirror and other stuff from them and sat back. Max freaked out. In a good way. 30 minutes straight of giggling, primarily from kicking the border of the mat and ogling himself in the mirror. I tried to get involved in the fun, but then Max gave me the "what? you're still here?" look. Ice cold.

Before going off to sulk, I snapped these pictures. Priceless.


Since Max and the playmat first met, he has spent quite a bit of time staring at the mirror (smiling and blowing bubbles at himself), smacking the duck chime or acting out what might happen should a giraffe and octopus ever meet face to face.

In any case, I don't want to slight Max's other gifts - they are all appreciated and wonderful - I've just never seen Max make himself smile so frequently and steadily. Usually, it takes a diaper on the chest :)

P.S. Despite the initial brush-off, Mommy and Daddy eventually injected themselves into Max's fun. Here is the evidence.

Max's First Christmas

First of all, you all know that I'm a Scrabble nerd, so before I get started, I have to note that Max's anagrams to Xmas. Weird.

OK, back to reality. Another Christmas has come and gone, but as you all know, this one was special for us as it was our little boy's first. The romantic in me thinks that Max got treated to a wonderful day with loving family and friends. The scientist in my wonders if he truly got the sense anywhere in his tiny developing brain that Tuesday was different from any other day. He almost certainly will be a little more geared up for next Christmas, when his present-opening muscles will be a little more defined and he will actually be able to have more than one thing for dinner. However, regardless of how Max saw Christmas Day, Holly and I and everyone else in the extended Ottawa family enjoyed personally introducing him to the annual tradition. And, as it turns out, many people not in town enjoyed spoiling him rotten from a distance!!

The week started with a visit to the office on Christmas Eve, where a brunch was set out for employees and their families. It was nice to be able to meet the families of the people with whom I work. Max was introduced to Santa Claus
who was kind enough to pause for a picture before scampering off to deliver his gifts around the world. I had heard that when children meet the big guy, they tend to cry a lot...perhaps overwhelmed with the daunting task of whittling those long lists down to a few items that they truly want. However, Max is a real pro with strangers and cuddled right next to the bowl full o' jelly. Unfortunately, I think he telepathically asked Santa for more snow, which SC decided to ho-ho-hold off on until today. I. can't. wait. to. shovel. it. Thanks, O bearded one.

After a brief visit with Holly's mom and Auntie K-squared, we all went home to put the finishing touches on our Christmas preparations at home. As if to prepare us for early Christmas wake-ups to come ("Mommy! Daddy! Can we open presents yet?? [5 am]), Max decided to interrupt our sleep a couple of times early Christmas morning with gas. As it turns out, though, he was just getting rid of the bad so that he had nothing but good left to give for the rest of the day. When we finally did get up, Max and I shared some fun wake-up time in his chair in the kitchen while I did some dishes. Clearly, he was ready for whatever the day would throw at him!

We went over to Grandma H's for stockings just after 10 am. Max got a bunch of fun treats, including a crazy teething toy that, technically, he got for the first time the
day before and fell in love with then. Well, as it turns out, Max still liked the toy a lot (see picture) and, upon being reacquainted, got right back to chewing on it. Toward the bottom of his stocking, Max also found a bear that, when wound, played music out of a music box inside itself while moving its head in lazy circles. Max also fell in love with the bear's tunes and decided to make the bear his best friend. Well, until he got hungry again at which point Mom (the default best friend) won out again.



After a quick wardrobe change, Max took a stand (assisted, of course) and demanded food. So Holly fed Max and the family got stuffed on some yummy eggs benny. Present time ensued, with everybody spoiling everybody. Highlights included two gifts for Grandma H from Max that were bought by...Grandma H herself. This included an inspirational candle letting Grandma know how special Max felt she was and that she was "the one he loves more and more each day", that it was her "vitality and wisdom" that kept him going. Awesome. Max also scored a sled, some wonderful books, and some nice outfits while Holly and I were offered multiple date nights with babysitting included - what a great idea!

After prezzies, I took Max for a stroll in the beautiful zeroish weather. By the time I got back, his great-grandpa D had arrived at the party and so Max got a great chance to hang out with him for a while. For some reason, Max's great-grandpa has an amazing calming effect on him - we were able to plop Max on his lap for about half an hour and let the two of them catch up on old times. Then, the T-Man and his family arrived for a wonderful turkey dinner with all the trimmings. I even ate brussel sprouts. Holly was mighty jealous as brussel spouts are one of her favourite foods and she can't eat them these days due to the potential gaseous effect on Max.

In the end, Max had a great time with everybody. Here are some other pictures of Max with members of his Ontario family. Thanks to everyone here for treating Max to such a wonderful first Christmas! Stay tuned for the next post, where I'll cover some of the out-of-town spoilage that happened this Christmas.

The friend who saved Christmas

Everyone who knows me knows that I love, love, LOVE Christmas. I love finding the perfect gift, baking lots of treats, seeing the lights, getting my decorations out, going to parties and everything else that the season brings. I always try to get my shopping done by early fall at the latest so I have lots of time to enjoy this time with friends and family. I've even been known to go to the mall on Christmas Eve just because I enjoy the hustle and bustle even though I normally hate crowds.

This holiday season has been radically different for me. The day to day of taking care of Max and generally not being "plugged in" to what day it is most of the time have meant that I didn't really do Christmas this year. We didn't get a tree, unpack any decorations, do any baking, send out cards, etc. I hadn't even wrapped anything until a marathon wrapping session yesterday.

I was telling our friends Is and Chris about my general lack of holiday spirit and how I just didn't feel like myself this year at brunch two Sundays ago during the blizzard.

This past Friday night, Is and her partner G-Man dropped in for a quick visit before they left for the holidays. They brought a tin of amazing baked goodies, homemade flavoured olive oil in a beautiful bottle, and a jar of homemade dulce de leche (G-Man is a gourmet chef par excellence and this stuff is pure heaven. I was pouring it on just about everything the last time he made it.).

But Is and G-Man brought one very special gift for me - my very own Christmas tree.

A tiny, perfect tree with coloured mini lights and beautiful little ornaments. Max's first tree. I'm tearing up as I write this post with the tree twinkling in the background. It smells wonderful too. I put the new ornament that my mum gave us (super cute with little snowmen named John, Holly and Max on it) at the top. The base is covered in presents from John's family in Winnipeg that we will open tomorrow morning before we head over to my mum and Auntie Karen's place for the day.

With apologies to Santa and everyone else who has ever given me a wonderful present, this is probably the most thoughtful and amazing Christmas gift anyone has ever given me. It sounds cheesy but everything feels OK again with this little tree in the house. I have a spring in my step that I didn't have a few days ago. I've had a wonderful few days and I'm looking forward to spending tomorrow with family and friends.

Here is a photo of Is, Max and our tree:



Is, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for saving Christmas for me. You are a gem.

Hugs,
Holly

A few tidbits about my other holiday heroes:

- BIG PROPS to our friend Kerry who babysat Max on Saturday night so John and I could enjoy an evening out with my family at Stuart McLean and the Vinyl Cafe Christmas show. Kerry was a pro. Thanks to Auntie Melody too for starting a wonderful family tradition!

- Thanks to Renee for a great new ginger cookie recipe. I don't have a lot of time to bake so this easy and fabulous recipe was awesome to make this past week. I cranked the Christmas mix on the IPod (hugs to John who put all of my Christmas CDs on the Ipod) and really enjoyed baking. We finished off the whole batch of cookies in less than 48 hours!

Hi-ho, hi-ho...

On Wednesday of this past week, I got to take Max (and Holly, I guess) in to work with me for the afternoon to meet some of my colleagues. As excited as I was to show the little guy off, Holly was on logistics: determining exactly what feeding schedule to use in order to have him in the happiest mood possible for my coworkers. Meanwhile, I was hoping that the chosen schedule would have Holly in a relatively good mood herself :)

So we settled on delaying his late-morning feeding until Holly and Max arrived at work at about 12:15. This way, he'd be full of yummy goodness at 1:00, when we would be holding court with the people who work in my section (they had booked a boardroom for an hour to ogle and pass the baby). The plan worked. Well, mostly. We knew that the one risk in feeding him right before showing him off was the imminent spit-up. So we fed Max, decked him out in his awesome blue/brown combo with blue and brown shoes our friends I&G bought for him and before we could say "who's the sexiest baby in all the land?", Max ralphed all over his shirt. In fact, had he been competing in some future Olympic event where competitors all had the word COOL written on their chest and had to cover it up with vomit as spectacularly as possible, he'd be a gold medal baby right now. Cool, indeed. Regardless, the outfit was a big hit, but not as big a hit as the matching Robeez shoes. It's remarkable that the shoes were purchased separately from the rest of the outfit because they coordinate so well. Everyone loves the shoes.

In any case, it was really nice to get to introduce Holly to the people I work with every day; I often mention people at work (only good stuff) and now Holly can attach faces to the names. It was also interesting to note who couldn't wait to get their hands on the baby (almost only women seem to have this gene) and who was just fine laying low. Before leaving, we got some WONDERFUL gifts from my section, including a rolling toy that propels itself (it says on the package that this promotes crawling, but I think it promotes application of first aid skills) and a jingly, crinkly, stuffed banana (it hangs from carrier handles or play gyms and has all sorts of special features, including mirrors on the soles of its shoes - Paul Simon inspired? - and four plush peel sections with velcro that can be stuck to the banana's head so that he can actually be peeled...so awesome).

After our sit-down with my section, we went for a tour of my old building, where there were scads of people I thought should meet Max. The trouble was, it was mid-afternoon, just before Christmas so many people were either out of the office or at Christmas events/parties. However, given that it was the federal public service, many, MANY people were still diligently working at their desks. In the end, Holly and Max got to meet a lot more of my colleagues. As for the ones we missed, well, we're headed back in on Monday for a Christmas Eve brunch. Everyone shows up with their spouses and kids (and, from a security message sent to all staff the other day, it appears that people have tried to bring pets in the past) for some chow. Then, although we are given the option of calling it a day very early on, everyone will probably get back to work, setting their families to work wherever their skills can be used. This is the federal public service after all.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures on Wednesday, but I will be sure to take some on Monday. After all, Santa will be there.

In the meantime, to tide you over, here is a random video Holly took this past week. Yes, that is a garbage bag filled with bubble wrap. Enjoy!

Snow Day

Wow, are we ever in the middle of a doozy. Max has been asleep most of the day and Holly and I have been relaxing when not shoveling. If he were older, he would certainly be over the moon. We're about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through the expected 30-50 cm of snow since last night and the plows are working overtime. Given that we're not in Toronto, it's not like the army has been called in for support or anything. I'm not sure if my office will open tomorrow and the prospect of a snow day with my little guy has me giddy. Here are some pictures:


The necessary "before" picture, taken last night just past midnight. That's Grandma H's car in the driveway (PS THANK YOU!!! for lending us the use of your car so often - Max loves his Maxmobile Sport.




Our front yard at about 3pm...no the storm didn't change the car into an SUV - that's the original Maxmobile that the little guy used to come home from the hospital. THANK YOU Auntie M for the frequent use of the MM!




The side of our house - the TMan's car has been stranded in our driveway for the winter. For a carless family, we sure do have a lot of cars this weekend!





Our backyard. That pile on the right is the top of our barbecue - high enough that the clothesline is eaten up by the drift.





Max, oblivious to all the storminess, having a nap.








So I'm looking forward to seeing how things develop tomorrow, but not to the next pass of the *%#$ plough.

Photos of the week, part deux

Once again, it's time to bring three great photos out of the vault and have you decide which is simply the best. Just like in the game Apples to Apples, this word "best" is completely subject to interpretation, so please explain your decision.


Exhibit A: So we went to this friend's tea party and while Holly and I helped ourselves to slice and sandwiches, it seems that Max got into something he shouldn't have.





Exhibit B: One day, we woke up and Max was eating breakfast in bed and doing the crossword. We made him clear all that away so that we could take this picture.





Exhibit C: As you've likely already figured out, I never tire (pun intended) of pictures of Max sleeping. When he conks out in this sling, his neck ends up in some pretty awesome positions. This is just the best one of which we have photo evidence.


So the ball is in your court. Vote early and vote often...I mean once. Don't want to have any of you using bots to stuff the ballot box.

Get a grip

Hello all,
Almost another week has gone by...but not an entire week, so my conscience will allow me to sleep tonight. Speaking of which, Max continues to sleep very well, putting in an 8 hour night last night (sweeeet). Everyone woke up well rested this morning. Yesterday, Max was a little sad as he went to his last reading circle event of the year (I am reminding Holly to blog about this right now - as someone who has never been, I just wouldn't be able to do it justice). So we're just going to have to make do with our current repertoire of songs and body awareness games.

So Max's new trick this week - holding on to things. A couple of weeks ago, we were able to jam something into his hand and if we were lucky, he'd squeeze it for a bit and that was about it. Now he actually plays with things sometimes. He has a little rattle that he likes to hold while getting changed. Yes, the rattle + diaper combo leaves him in a state of euphoria last seen at the Burning Man festival...soothers and all. He likes playing with these plastic chain links things, dangled from something overhead. With his new-found aptitude with chain links, maybe he's taking after his grandfather Richard and learning to be a master fencer. The kind with the pickets, not the epees. Here he is on stir-fry night, first with a bean and then with a chopstick. So cute!













I'm personally getting excited to bring him in to work next Wednesday so that he can meet my colleagues. Some have already met him at wedding receptions and pumpkin-carving parties and the like, but many haven't. I can't wait!

Yikes - it's been too long

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a week since the last post. See, we used to have this hour at 2:30 am where we could take some time to jot things down, but now that Max is putting in the long hours of sleep, we get up at 5 or so, and then when he goes back to sleep just after 6, I get ready to go to work and then that's it for the day. Despite the fact that the opportunity for good sleep is better than before, we kind of miss that time for catching up with each other and posting little things to the blog.

A lot has happened this past week. It all started with my first night without Max. I'll let Holly fill you in on the details of what happened while I was away (everything went smoothly, no worries), but I went down to Oshawa for the weekend with a couple of friends for my first Scrabble tournament in half a year. It was a little weird being away from Max for the first time, but I enjoyed catching up with old friends and spreading the word that I have a new baby boy! It had been a while since I've been able to tell someone the news - I had forgotten how good it felt to let people know about Max.

Before getting home from Oshawa, most of Ontario (for those of you not in the province) got leveled with a blustery storm. By the end of Monday the 3rd, at least a foot had fallen in a day and a bit. This pile of snow made driving conditions tough between Oshawa and Ottawa, but without it, I never would have seen that team of sled dogs (with a sled, no less) tied up outside a Tim Horton's in Scarborough. Since Monday, there has been mucho shoveling and Max has been introduced to snowsuits. Holly picked up a wonderful new babywearing thing that allows him to sit on her front with a snowsuit on (the other ones are a bit tight when Max is bundled up!). I also had to make some adjustments to the car seat to allow the seatbelt to get over Max's tonne of downy softness. Kind of like putting on snow tires - eventually, we will have to undo everything when things warm up.

One crazy thing that happened this past week is that I got Max whipped into a full-on giggle for the first time, just by rocking/swinging back and forth. I couldn't believe it! I tried again, and he cried. Oops. So maybe emotions are still a little random at the moment. Hopefully it will happen again soon, to confirm that Max really does love me.

Oh, he just filled his diaper.


I'm back. So this weekend has been really laid-back and wonderful, so far. Holly's aunt took her and Max to a craft sale all yesterday afternoon and then Holly got to partake in a bake exchange last night with some girlfriends while I hung out with Max and our friend K at home. Max was a little grumpy, but took a bottle from K with no problem (kind of chugged it, actually) and fell asleep like a little angel just before K left, prepping him for yet another night of great sleep! This morning, Holly said she had the best sleep in a long time so we celebrated with some brekkie before her mom...

oh no, another full diaper...

and sister whisked her off to go shopping. We laid low, watching some TV, puttering and doing some laundry in the afternoon before Holly left again for a Christmas gospel concert with her mom. So I get to have more father-son time tonight!! So until the next time, hopefully within a few days as opposed to a week, here are some more pictures to tide you over.