Happy 32 Week Birthday, Mika!

Mika celebrated by pigging out on weak homemade chicken soup broth. Pigged out. She was eating from an adult soup spoon and baby birding like mad. She also has a new sandra boynton themed crib bumper...woohoo! We had a long morning walk before the wind got too crazy...then came home and made soup. Domestic goddess or what?

She's Your Baby

Mika seems to love Ween. Well, she loves when I sing Ween songs to her and especially if I am singing along with the music. That's my girl!!! Thanks again to Auntie Kerry for the latest Ween album. Now look what you've done!

Mika chews juice. What's up with that?

Fine Day

Phew...that's what we needed! A day out with friends. Mika and I were late to meet Kristeen, Saoirse, and Diamond. We were just about to push out the door when Mika decided she had to poo. OK, fine..typical baby setback. Up we went for a change and while Mika's diaper was off, she decided to poo a little more. Ugh. Nasty. We finally left and were about halfway to the mall when I realized I hadn't brought my cell. Back we went. Luckily, the ladies had some shopping to do in Chapters, so it wasn't *that* big of a deal that we were late. Meeting Diamond was awesome..she is such a charmer. Mika and I are proud to say that we have a new friend! One who appreciates Dora the Explorer even! Kristeen kindly brought Mika a pack of Baby Mum Mum's to try...and try them she did! Mika enjoyed her new treat so much that as soon as we said goodbye to our friends, we headed over to the drugstore to grab a box. It's so cute how Mika and Saoirse get along. Mika rides facing forward and Saoirse facing backwards..as the Mom's stroll, the wee ones can see each other. I'm still trying to work out how I can babynap Saoirse. Kris and I did well in that each of us only made one small purchase for the girls..soccer shirt for Saoirse and purple plaid pants for Mika (Diamond's favorite colour is purple!). Damn PleaseMum and their sales!
While we were in PleaseMum, a very cute little boy toddled over to Mika's stroller. His mother let me know that he loves babies. He was charming the diaper off Mika..lightly brushing her hand and giving it kisses..the two kids were beaming at each other like mad.
After our adventure with the girls, we went to meet Auntie Amber as she's in town for work this week. Mika was pleased to discover all the fluffy pillows and jewelry in Urban Outfitters and literally danced from one end of Forever XXI to the other with Auntie Amber. The jewelry counter at Forever XXI had Mika about to implode with blingy delight. Yay Auntie Amber! She carried Mika all over the place, even though Mika was covered in MumMum remnants. Nice. Daddy came to pick us up after work and we all headed back to Grandma Jude's for some pizza and visits. Mika didn't nap all day and was crashed by the time we got there...but not for long. She slept for maybe a total of 30 minutes and was up and cranky. At least she woke up for a bit so that Grandma Jude could hang out with her. Mika was back to sleep shortly after we got home..phew. Thanks to Grandma Jude for a load of tomatoes..salsa and spaghetti sauce coming up! Thanks to Auntie Amber for buying Mika a monkey from the toy store.
We need to find a few Gund Dottie Dots kitties. Mika has one and she loves it more than anything. She sleeps with her kitty every night and is unhappy when kitty is in the wash. Mika slobbers and drools on this cat to the point where I cannot seem to get the faint smell of mildew out of the tail. Its disgusting. Daddy is going to try some tricks, but we're still thinking it's a good idea to get a couple of more..to save our sanity later. The monkey is cooler than the kitty, but I am not sure if I can convince Mika of that. In any case, I'm starting a rotation of monkey and kitty. The monkey is close to kitty in terms of size, softness, etc. and he does have a tail for her to suck on. PLUS..when you squeeZe monkey's tummy, he makes shrieking monkey sounds..how can you not love that? Gund has discontinued the Dottie Dots line...hello eBay.

All in all, it was a supa fine day. Revitalizing! Good friends make everything better. It's looking cold and grey out right now, but the weather is supposed to turn nice this afternoon...what to do, what to do?

Two Beats Off

Uncle Damon and Auntie Kerry came for a visit on Friday..but Mika was asleep by the time that they arrived. It was a nice break after a mildly stressful week...just kicking back and hanging out. Saturday, we finally got over to visit the Shermans. Like a fool, I took zero photos! gah! Dummy. Auntie Fran was there and brought little Zoey with her! Zoey is so frickin' smart..its just scary. And a to-die-for beautiful little girl to boot. She's even done some modelling! Zoey will be 4 on October 12...hopefully she will be back in daycare by the new year so that Mika has an older girl to watch out for her! Zoey was more into playing with the bigger girls than Mika, but Mika was taken with Zoe anyway. Hopefully Zoey will be back over for Thanksgiving this year. The Shermans are all doing well and Mika didn't have any major freakouts over there, which was nice. Auntie Serena brought us a wicked shell windchime/mobile that Mika is obsessed with. Something new to distract her while I shower..as its now hanging in the bathroom. Auntie Serena also brought us some funky bath stuff from the island..bombs and teabags!..and a shirt for Daddy, of course. Uncle S was feeling poorly as there is some kind of complication in his body after having his appendix out last weekend, but Auntie Shawndee was her usual bouncy self! Grandma and Grandpa Sherman are well too. Soon-to-be Uncle Cory is still trying to make his way back to Alberta from Newfoundland. The engine in his car blew when he was only about 4 hours from home...but tis all fixed now and he should be starting his journey again today. Grandma Sherman gave Mika a cute little 1st Xmas ornament..one thats actually kewl instead of lame! I guess that means we should consider putting up a tree this year...2 cats + 10 month old baby + xmas tree = more mayhem than I want to deal with!
We've been grumpy and stressed for no good reason in this house lately..just kind of a Meh month or something, despite birthdays and visits and everything. I think we may get to see Saoirse again tomorrow, so that will be kewl..a pick-me-up! Also Auntie Amber is supposed to be in town, so we'll probably meet up with her when she is done at the salon tomorrow. Another pick-me-up! The ladies should have us revitalized in no time.

Happy 31 Week Birthday, Mika!

Mika has started to imitate us...when the mood strikes her. She makes the 'tsk' sound and clicks and clucks her tongue when Daddy or I do. A large-ish step, as previously she just stared at us like we were idiots whenever we tried to get her to do anything. Mika showed me this morning that she is more than capable of sitting up on her own, folding her body in half to reach things, and getting back up into the sitting position. I had my suspicions, but up until this morning, Mika preferred to just let herself flop over and flail. Little Schnook.
Mika's Thursday adventure included heading into the office with Mom for a few hours, hanging out at Dante's with Mom and Auntie Laura, and visiting G. Thanks to Auntie Laura for the spanky new jacket for Mika. It washed up beautifully...I was worried that the fluffiness of it would disappear in the dryer.
Mika behaved far better than I expected her to at the office. She actually passed out on my lap just as I was getting into a training session. Mistakenly, I shifted positions at the end and she woke up again. Nonetheless, it was wonderfully handy that she slept through the training. Mika has a new love: highlighters. Luckily, she didn't get the caps off of any of them, but a large number of highlighters around the office now carry her DNA. It was kewl to see the fine folks at work again..its been awhile!
Auntie Laura kindly picked us up from work and we went and hung out at Dante's for the afternoon. They have good coffee and the food is decent too...plus they seem to not mind us sitting there for hours on end. It was a really good visit - Mika still adores Auntie Laura and her bling.
G was doing OK when we went up to see her last night. Not great, but OK. She hasn't been eating much of what they serve at the care facility, but Auntie Kim had come by earlier with a homemade lunch. G had a soft banana bread cookie while we were there..not very healthy, but you have to know G and what she typically will eat (coffee and sweets the day long!). The banana bread cookie bordered on healthy eating for her. Mika stole a bite and loved it, but she loved the crinkly cookie wrapper better. Mika has made many friends at G's place. There's one fellow, Al, who parks his wheelchair in front of G's door whenever we visit - he's waiting to talk to Mika. We bring her out to see her new friend before settling down to visit with G. Then there's Jimmy, who makes his rounds past G's door a few times during our visits..he often stops to listen in on what we're talking about and usually gets a good chuckle. Mika goes out to visit with Jimmy too. There's yet another man that Mika visits regularly whose wheelchair is often parked either beside the elevator or the nursing station. We don't know his name, so we call him Mika's boyfriend. Many of the women, Paula especially, insist on regular little chats and snuggles with Mika too. And then there are the nurses and other caregivers!! Mika is one popular little girl over there. I think that G is the only resident who has a great-great grandchild.

We're supposed to head over to the pool today to get Mika hooked up with some swimming lessons next month. I'm finding it rather cold out and am wanting to curl up on the couch with a blanket and CBCNewsworld. No rest for the wicked though!

Gin and Juice

OK, we're waiting a bit before adding any Gin, but Mika is now drinking diluted juice as part of her daily diet. The Doc recommended it once Mika hit the seven month mark. We started today with pear juice and the kid loved it!

Zomby Woof

Meh Blah Bleh.

We had a loverly dinner last Saturday for my Mom's birthday. Grandma, Grandpa Ted, Uncle Lucas, and Auntie Jenn all came out. In this tiny condo, having 4 people over is mayhem. Daddy opted for a BBQ/Appetizer type dinner so that we wouldn't have to worry about where to seat people. BBQ and appetizers can be consumed standing up! Despite it being Mika's Grandma's birthday, Mika got almost as many presents..because she is spoiled rotten. Lucas and Jenn brought Mika a new stuffed lamb and elephant. The lamb is in need of a bath already from her making sweet, sweet love to it. Mika's sweet sweet love involves much drool. Grandma brought her a teether that vibes when chewed. Mika loves it..must feel funky on the gums.
Yesterday we went to visit G again. Mika seemingly adores her great-great granny. Mika sits on her lap and beams away at her, which makes it all the more sad that G is blind. It's really hard on her to not be able to see Mika. G can feel Mika no problem as Mika honks noses, bites, pulls at hair, clothing, whatever. This time, Mika left with 3 of G's stuffed toys..G insisted because she said that Mika will get a lot more enjoyment out of them than G would. One couldn't even tell if there was a baby in the carseat from all the animals..aside from Mika usual menagerie, there was the bear from Urs, the panda from Fran and Sheena, and a little dog that I believe Auntie Bee had left.

Current Nicknames: BumBongo. As in "I'm playing the Mika Bum Bongo". Sometimes we call her Mika BumBongo, other times just BumBongo. She could care less.
The other name in use is Mikanator or just The 'Kanator. Again, she could care less.

Happy 7 Month Birthday, Mika!

and Happy Birthday to Grandma too!

We took Mika on a long stroll today and enjoyed one of the last nice days of the year. We were going to paint, but it was too nice out not to take advantage of it.

We Care A Lot

Woohoo! I've secured daycare for Mika in January! At least the fine folks at the daycare believe they will have space come January. In any case, I paid a small deposit so that they will hold the next available spot regardless. The centre is conveniently located in between my home and my office and also on the bus line that both Daddy and I use to get to and from work. Two other major bonuses are that they have no problem with cloth diapers and make their own food in the daycare, much like Mika currently enjoys. Mucho thanks to a good family friend and former neighbor, Auntie Fran, for giving me the heads up about this place. Fran's Granddaughter attends the same daycare..Mika is going to have a friend in the 4-year old group! The staff and kids that I met were all awesome. The centre is big on education. 1:3 staff to baby ratio. Extremely clean. Toys are washed and disinfected daily. So on and so forth..now to come up with the first month's fee and we're golden!

Happy 30 Week Birthday, Mika!

30 weeks old. Yikes. What more can I really say than that?

Mika and I have a fun-filled day planned. First we're off to check out a daycare and maybe leave a deposit for the waiting list. Then we will be coming home to clean the house. Tomorrow we're having Grandma (my mom), Grandpa Ted, Uncle Lucas, and Auntie Jenn over for a BBQ to celebrate my Mom's birthday. Mika's contribution to the cleanup will be throwing toys on the floor to keep me on my toes and screaming encouragement. Once Daddy is home from work, we'll be heading over to visit G and then back home to finish cleaning. You're all jealous, aren't you?

Mika, your Mom and Dad love you more and more each day...even though you become more and more demanding and a much bigger terror with each passing second.

ninja

Mika's current fave site: Ninja!

I'm Gonna Crawl!

Mika is so close to crawling. She gets up on all fours and just sort of rocks back and forth until she faceplants and cries. Mika is rolling around now to get into mischief. I'm fairly impressed at how she can twist and turn and manatee her way over to where ever it is that she is wanting to go. Usually its to grab a hold of cables, remote controls, mugs of coffee, or anything else that poses a threat or danger. Ah, babies.

Out On The Weekend

Meh...another weekend gone! We were busy again, as is the norm lately. Kerry and Damon came over on Friday night and Damon finished the bathroom/master bedroom closet repairs!! Woohoo!! There's just a bit of sanding left and then we're ready to paint. Mika was asleep by the time K&D arrived, so she missed out on a visit..but they'll be back! Saturday was cleaning mayhem for me. MAYHEM! I cleaned out our main floor bathroom like it has never been cleaned before. I even went so far as to disassemble the behind-the-toilet shelf to thoroughly clean it. Prior to us putting the cats' litterbox back in there, you could have eaten off the floor. It was madness, I tell you...sheer and utter madness. I still felt all gross and dirty after a shower. My skin tone is a couple of shades lighter now as I don't think I will ever get all of the drywall dust off my face. Ugh..and I will be doing it all again after we've sanded the walls for painting. After the shower that didn't make me feel any more clean, we headed out to Grandma's for supper. I had emailed my Mom asking if she would like to come over this weekend so we could make her dinner for her birthday, but she said that the wait was too long and to come over this past weekend so she could see Mika. Hrm..I'm still not sure if she and Ted are coming this weekend..guess I better find out! Mika was spoiled rotten AGAIN by her Grandma. A new teething ring, three new cloth bug toys, a plaid scottie dog outfit, complete with shoes, and a little pink fleece fall hooded jacket with the best wooden buttons. Spoiled Rotten! It was a trying visit, to say the least. Mika skipped her afternoon nap and had a meltdown at Grandma's. Mika's stomach was bothering her too, so that made things even worse. She recovered and was happy to play with Grandma and Grandpa Ted afterwards. My Mom's cat, Scruff, even let Mika pull his tail! The dinner was fantastic as always and for some reason, I ate a yorkshire pudding. I have never eaten a yorkshire pudding in my life. Grandma made G's infamous gingerbread cake with meringue icing for dessert..yum.
Sunday we ventured out to visit G as we hadn't seen her since Thursday. G's still doing well, all things considered. We also went and did some grocery shopping...Mika needs her bananas or all hell breaks loose. I have to limit her banana intake otherwise she would eat nothing but. I worry that she'll O.D. on potassium or something. Once we got home, I cleaned out the master bedroom closet. It wasn't nearly as bad as the bathroom. Sometime this week, we have to pull the carpet out and install the laminate flooring in there. Then we have to sand and paint. I guess it makes more sense to paint first and install flooring after. Meh. I hate painting. Daddy made dinner and I finished cleaning and I was supposed to go into work, but slacked off and didn't go. Nice. My excuse was that it was within an hour of Mika's bedtime and not worth the hassle of hauling her out, getting her overstimmed, and then trying to calm her down again for bed. I'm going to have to let her get overtired at least one day this week so I can get a bit more done on the server before we actually have to deploy the thing.
On Sunday morning, Daddy and I saw the biggest freakin' crow that I have ever seen around here. I guess if the bird was *that* big, it was probably a raven and not a crow. I didn't really notice whether the tail was more fanned or the bill heavier than our usual crows, but the thing was HUGE. It was almost as big as Spartacus and he is a big freakin' cat. Daddy laughed and asked if a dragon just flew past because the sound of the wind rushing through this bird's wings made it sound even bigger than it was. A deep Woosh, Woosh as it flapped. Also saw a fairly big slug in the garden..maybe the size of my pinky finger. I don't typically see any slugs period and if I do, they are pretty small. I kinda wanted to bring the slug in and keep it as a pet, but I thought better of the idea.

Mika and I are going to check out a daycare this week. The centre was recommended by a good family friend whose Granddaughter goes there. When I called this morning, I was told there were no spots currently available. The lady said that if I get on the waiting list now, chances are very good that there will be space for Mika come January. I hope its a good place. The location is perfect..on the way to and fro work for both Daddy and me. Plus, if Zoey still attends daycare, Mika will have an older friend to watch out for her.

Happy 29 Week Birthday, Mika!

Not much to report. Mika is doing as well as ever. She tried green beans yesterday and while she didn't spit them out, she obviously did not really enjoy them. Mika is getting even closer to crawling or some other form of mobility. I'm tired and braindead and will post more later.

Baby Got Back (pains)

The last long weekend of the summer has come and gone. Sad. It's all cold out now.
Our weekend wasn't much to write about. Saturday was a bit of a work day for me. Sunday was a visit from Kerry and Damon. Monday was a G visit day. Mika tried a Cheerio for the first time on Friday. No interest. Preferred to dump the bowl and smash them than eat. She tried avocado yesterday and really hated it. She just kept spitting it out no matter what, so that was that. Daddy made guacamole instead.
Saturday was really mellow. I was feeling badly because Ant and Lori got rear-ended. They're both OK though.
Sunday we got up and did some shopping. Kerry and Damon came over in the afternoon so Damon could work on our bathroom and closet. They'll be back Wednesday and it should all be done! Yay!
Yesterday was another mellow day. Visited G and puttered around the house trying in vain to cleanup. Daddy swapped out another light fixture in an attempt to improve the light in this place. Yesterday was also Kerry's Birthday...Happy Birthday, Kerry!

Today I have having issues moving my neck. I did a lot of reading this weekend and apparently did some minor damage. Damn that John Irving and his huge novels! When Mika gets up from her morning nap and is all happy and bathed and fed, I think I will take her out for a walk. Sometimes the 'boring' days are the best ones.

Happy 28 Week Birthday, Mika!

Another week gone. Wasted by colds! Daddy, Mika, and I are all mostly over our colds, but there are still some lingering effects. Daddy went back to work today after being off for most of the week.
Mika tried squash for lunch today. It smelled like rancid chef-boy-r-dee (can you tell I don't eat squash?). She reacted as though she was eating rancid chef-boy-r-dee too, but managed to choke it all back anyway. We're doing a whole lotta nothing today and will be visiting G when Daddy gets home from work. We haven't seen her since last Friday due to house repairs and sickness.
Off to bathe with my snotfilled baby...