Friday, June 26th, day 171

How to keep your baby cool on really hot summer days!  This was at our friend Vero's place on Wednesday.  It was St Jean the Baptist day which is Quebec's "national" holiday.  It was also extremely hot!  Over 30 degrees.  Luca loved the water (as always!)

Nothing makes a bbq like a baby in a bucket!

This is Luca's fish face.

My whole little family trecked to Toronto for my good friend Angel's wedding.  I was a bridesmaid.  I don't have any pictures of the event yet but I'll post them when I do.  It was a great weekend.  Fab did most of my job but it was a little stressful at times as Luca only likes his milk from me.  It meant Fab had to follow me around a bit which wasn't ideal.  I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all my old Toronto friends, and getting out of Montreal for a weekend.  Beautiful wedding too!

The bridesmaids.  These shots are from the rehearsal brunch on Saturday.

My last Mom and Baby yoga class was yesterday.  We brought camera's in for the occasion!

Luca's a total chick magnet!

A bunch of the ladies from my Mom and Baby yoga class.

It's taken me a week to get on top of things again after the trip to Toronto last weekend!  Amazing how much extra energy is required with a baby!  Luca has been a total pleasure this past week.  He's taking long daytime naps, going to bed at 8pm and sleeping straight through until 5 or 6am.  He's stretching out and all his muscles are starting to work under all that fat!

In this video is a bit with my cousin Mandy and her apartment in Toronto as well as some jolly jumper time and a bit on the train back from Toronto.

Wednesday, June 17th, day 162

Aren't they beautiful!

Luca and a couple girls enjoying the warmth of the day and a little rest on the lawn.

It was so warm, and he loves to be as naked as possible!  This is just after the first round of swimming . . . I thought he was going to nap but he had a little snack and was ready for round two!

After all that swimming, he crashed big time!  I couldn't have woken him if I tried!  (Which I didn't of course!!!)

Luca had his first swimming lesson today!  It was a huge success!  A friend is house sitting in a house that has a pool and a hot tub so a group of 6 moms and babies (and 2 dads that could get out of work) hired a swimming teacher to coach us through the motions of getting a little ones in the water.  I feel so lucky to be involved in this!  

The pool was very cold.  It was about 70 degrees (olympic pool temperature is 89 degrees and most pools are at around 82 degrees) - which is chilly for adults but even more difficult for babies.  Luca and one other baby toughed it out for about 15 minutes but the other babies would have nothing of it!  Luca was also the only baby wearing just a swimming diaper, everyone was better prepared to block the sun with a full body wetsuit.  I was a little concerned he might get a little burn but we weren't out there too long.  Luca is by far the fattest of the crew and I'm sure all that blubber helped to insulate him a bit!  He also floats really well!

After the outdoor pool, we migrated to the indoor hottub which was a wonderful 100 degrees.  A couple degrees warmer than our body temperature and perfect for babies.  A lot of them fell asleep in the hot tub!  Of course there wasn't as much room to move around but we seemed to manage just fine.

In the video you can see me practicing some of the activities the instructor taught us.  Pulling him forward on his tummy which is a very natural thing to do.  I also held him by his head and back so he could float him on his back.  He loved this (which is unusual for babies apparently!).  We also did some submersions - putting his face underwater!!!  It was kinda scary at first but babies are pretty good at getting water out if they accidentally breath it in.  I did the first one of these outdoors in the pool and Luca took a bit a water.  I was told to blow raspberries at him to help teach him how to expel water when takes it in.  Basically you just blow on his face and dunk him in!  He was really a trooper about it all and never complained for more than a couple minutes if he really didn't like something.  He had the most water time of all the babies (once in the pool and twice in the hot tub).  If it weren't for eating and sleeping, I'm pretty sure he would stay in that hot tub all the time!  Even when he was exhausted, he didn't do his usual sleepy whine, he just kept on trucking!

This video is a little long but I included almost all the footage I have.  Thanks to all the moms and dads that picked up my camera to help capture this for me!

Playing with his dad!

Luca after eating some rice cereal!!!

Catching his feet and sucking on his toes is his favourite came right now!

The rest of the week wasn't nearly as exciting as today!  He's starting to get the hang of the jolly jumper but is in general, pretty conservative when it comes to exercising!   I am always noticing improvements in his co-ordination.  Mostly I am impressed by how much I love him!  We are having such a good time together.

In this video you can see some jolly jumper time and some of the sounds he likes to make.  Also, he loves to play with his dad and laugh hysterically - except when the camera's on!  

Thursday, June 11th, day 156

It's important to exercise, or this could be your butt!!!

Luca turned 5 months old on Saturday!  I am really noticing changes in development.  He is starting to use his jumbo legs to stand more and more.  I invested in a Jolly Jumper a couple days ago to help encourage weight bearing.  You can see his first time in it on the video!  

He rolled over - once!  He's strong enough to roll over from tummy to back but he doesn't seem that interested in it.  He can pull his legs up when he's on his back and likes to grab his ankles.  He can pass a toy from hand to hand pretty easily!  On the down side, he's starting to get crankier when he's tired but resists naps as much as possible!  I have started putting him in his crib where he can cry himself to sleep - which takes about 5 minutes.  It felt weird at first but I don't want him to think that I'll rock him to sleep always.

It's been another busy week and I have found myself out all afternoon, everyday!  I keep trying to do a little less so I'll have more time to focus on Luca but the time just flies by.  He doesn't seem to be suffering!  Also, he's getting near the age of crying when he doesn't get the toy that he wants.  I feel like the challenges of parenting are just beginning . . . !  So far I'm amazed at how rewarding being a parent is.  I am so excited by every little development!

Wednesday, June 3rd, day 148

Luca and I had a great week!  We took it a little easier than last week.  Friday was the 2 year anniversary since Fab and I met - things go quickly!  I got him a portable barbecue that we can take out into the park in front of our house to make burgers.  In the evening, our friend Karin (who's from Scotland - you might notice the accent on the video!) came and babysat Luca while Fab and I went out for dinner.  We had a wonderful night!  Karin wore him out so much that he slept for at least 8 hours!  On Saturday the whole family went to pick up some free plants (we chose Marigolds but there were Pansies and Impatients as well) from the city.  Every year the city of Montreal grows extra plants and gives them away so everyone can contribute to beautifying the city.  It's a great system.  We got 16 little plugs of marigolds which look great in the courtyard of our building.  In the afternoon we had a little barbeque with a couple friends.  It's still quite chilly here, 12-15 degree highs but it's been pretty sunny.  Hopefully the summer weather will really get going soon.  Sunday, we went to explore the street festival on St Laurent street which is a couple blocks from us.  Every year for a weekend they block off the road to traffic and all the vendors bring their merchandise out onto the sidewalk on sale.  Quebecer's love sales!

Luca has been a lot of fun lately.  He entertains himself for quite a while with one toy and I've noticed he's getting good at passing it from hand to hand.  He's vocalizing more - especially when he's tired or bored!  He still drools like it's going out of style and chews on anything he can get his hands on.  He's enjoying standing more, especially when he doesn't have his diaper on!  Must be annoying to always have to wear one of those!

In this video you can see Luca's first joke!  He latches onto my cheek or chin and starts sucking!  He knows it's my face and sometimes he laughs while he does it!  Unfortunately my massive nose is in the way of a lot of the action!  Sorry!!!

This is a video of Luca talking.  He's also always entertained by his own feet!  You can see Karin feed him sweet potato for the first time.  (He's also tried Oatmeal this week too)