Thursday April 30th, day 114

This picture was taking three feet away from Luca . . . he's getting so big!  Just kidding!

Luca and Gaia hanging out together!  Gaia is half Korean and completely cute!

On Saturday, Ballet Jorgen Canada drove through Montreal on their way back from Halifax.  Luca and I had brunch with some of the dancers which was a special treat for me.  Luca took the opportunity to have his picture taken with a couple of Canada's best dancers.  

Luca and Cristina

Luca and Tara.  (If you've never seen Tara dance, your life isn't complete)

It's been a fairly busy week.  I can't believe how fast April went by!  Luca and I spent quite a bit of time with Kim and Gaia (I went to highschool in Vancouver with Kim and Gaia should have two dots above the 'i' but I don't know how to do that!).  Gaia is a month younger than Luca but in some ways very much more developed!  She can stand on her own if you help her balance, she can prop herself up on her elbows and she's almost rolling over!  She makes Luca look lazy!   However, he does have 4 pounds on her!  On Friday Luca and I went to the Dr for a checkup.  Luca weighs 16 pounds now which is what I thought he would.  He's in the 80th percentile for weight and 75th for length.  I can't remember off-hand what his length is.  The Dr said everything looks good with him.  On Saturday we had a cocktail party to celebrate Fab's birthday along with our friend Max who's birthday is two days before Fabien.  They always celebrate together.  It was very fun and I thought it was very successful!  Luca and Gaia stole the show for as long as they were awake!

Montreal was 30 degrees on Monday.  I walked up the Mountain with Luca in the stroller for the first time.  It's been great going for walks in the warmer weather.  I get so into them that sometimes I almost forget to feed and change Luca!!!  Poor guy!

I think Luca is starting to reveal his neck!  Until now it's been a Luca's best kept secret.  I've been wondering what's going on in the folds of his multiple chins for months now!  He's been really hungry the last couple days and has been waking up every three hours to feed.  Must be a growth spurt.  Otherwise, he's working on co-ordinating his little hands and has no interest in rolling over or finding his feet!  I noticed today he was feeling pretty solid sitting on me but I'm not sure if it's muscle or fat that holds him positions! 

In this video you can see Luca laughing with Fab, and him finding his hands with an awesome toy my girlfriends gave him.  He's also trying to eat his rabbit and being slightly abusive to Gaia!  

Wednesday, April 22, day 106

It's been a while since I've posted!  Luca is more than 100 days old now and Fabien also celebrated his birthday (yesterday).  

I had a very nice last couple days in Summerland before returning to Montreal.  Luca and I were both still fighting off the cold so we layed pretty low!  The return flight was a little more difficult than flying to BC because it was during the evening which is Luca's favourite time to whine!  He wasn't really bad, but I did need to keep him moving quite a bit which can be hard on my arms after a while.  Fortunately I had the seat next to mine free so I was able to put Luca down a bit now and then.  My ears didn't pop on the landing and I thought my head was going to explode which was the worst part for me, but more importantly Luca didn't seem to suffer like me.  

Since we've been home we've been trucking around the city a lot and catching up on yoga classes.  I started another French class on Sunday evenings at a recreation centre which I'm happy about.  It's taught by a Quebecois teacher so I'm starting to hear how they pronounce the words differently.  Quebecois french is famous for being spoken very fast and not well annunciated which makes it harder to learn.

Luca is laughing now - one of the most rewarding things I've ever experienced.  He's sleeping really well at night - he'll get up once over about 11-12 hours.  He cries when he's bored or lonely and sometimes he has moments of torment from his teeth.  I think they're doing the hokie pokie with him a bit.  I thought I saw a little white on his gums yesterday so they may be coming soon!  Lots of drool anyway!  Luca's also becoming more alert and aware everyday.  He tries to copy sounds and mouth movements with a huge amount of effort!  The biggest change that I've noticed in him lately is that he's starting to hold his body better when I pick him up.  He seems lighter for it too which is nice on my arms!!!  I am loving being a mom right now.  These are really good days!

This is a pretty long video that includes clips that were shot by my brother Jesse, and my dad.  In general I've fallen out of the habit of taking photos and videos . . . gotta get that going again!  It starts with Luca doing some exercises on his tummy!

Sunday, April 12th, day 96

Luca and I doing our exercises!

Only Fabien is missing from this picture of my brothers and our families.

Cousin Bella!  She's wonderful with Luca!

Bella, Piper, Diego and Luca!  All the cousins, or grandchildren, depending on which way you look at it!  Diego was so careful with Luca.  I was very impressed.

My brother Lance and his nephew.

Luca in the car on Saturday.  From this angle, I see a lot of Jesse when he was little. 

We had a great Easter weekend . . . even with Luca's first cold.  He's pretty snuffly and sleeps a little more than usual.  I wish I could take it away from him but there's not much I can do.  

It was great to have the whole family together.  All I can say is I'm happy to be home and to see everyone!

Friday, April 10th, day 94

We had a pretty mellow day today.  In the evening a bunch of friends came over to celebrate my dad's birthday.  Luca was so social, he wanted to be part of the party the whole time, even if all he could contribute was drool!  He's getting more and more athletic - I think he's starting to think about rolling over.  He loves to stand up if you hold him (and carry most of his weight!).

Luca and his Gramma

Getting some exercise in the morning!

Thursday, April 9th, day 93

Luca and I spent the day resting from the trip out yesterday.  Well, mostly Luca was resting!  I just let him catch up on naps!  It's wonderful to see my family.

Luca's smiling more and more . . . he's such a wonderful baby!

A rare nap on his back - he has to be beyond tired for this to last.

Playing with his latest girlfriend!  She gets lots of slobbery kisses!

A staring contest with a rubber ducky!

Wednesday, April 8th, day 92

Here's Luca's aunt, Dana and cousin, Piper looking super happy and healthy.  It's wonderful to see them!  Piper is 4 1/2 months older than Luca.  It's amazing the difference in development between the two, Fab and I have so much to look forward to.

Luca and I coming off the plane in Kelowna

My brother, Uncle Paul holding his daughter and Luca.  Luca was super hot after all the traveling and needed to cool down a bit!

A hard-to-catch-on-camera Luca smile!  He smiles we he sees faces now.  It's so cute!

Unca Brother Jesse and Luca!

Luca showing his resemblance to Buddha!

Today is my father's 70th birthday!!!  An event worth crossing the country for.  Luca and I left Montreal early in the morning and arrived in Kelowna around noon.  Both flights went really smoothly - Luca was really well behaved and probably happy to be held constantly for such a long time!!  My arms were pretty tired by the end of the day!  It's wonderful to see my family again, and I'm so happy for Luca to meet everyone.

Monday, April 6, day 90

Luca after a bath, in his dad's pull-over!

On Sunday, we visited Fab's co-worker, Yan and his 2 week old son Loic.  Super cute baby!  It's weird for me to hold only 8 pounds now after lugging Luca around!  Luca loves looking at other babies - he's always very watchful in mom and baby yoga.

Today is Luca is 3 months old!!!  3 lunar months that is as he'll be 13 weeks tomorrow.  We have had a great week.  March was beautiful and April has been pretty rainy so far . . . but there are crocus' up so I don't mind.  Almost all of the snow has melted now.  

This week Luca has discovered his thumb!  He's getting pretty good at sucking it to comfort himself.  He's grabbing more things and needs his nails cut pretty regularly.  He smiles all the time, but never when there's a camera around!  I've put him in the bath tub by himself with just a couple inches of water and without my support!!!  Of course I don't take my eyes off him to blink - but he loves it!  He's a water baby for sure!

I'm starting to prepare for my trip back to BC with him on Wednesday!  I can hardly wait (except for the travelling part which I'm kinda dreading).  

In this video, you can see Luca's way ahead of his age group and has started reading.  I was a little worried about paper-cuts though!  We took this video on Sunday.  It's the only video I've taken all week!  I'm getting pretty lazy!