Christmas in T.O.

We got home from Toronto yesterday and had a lovely holiday.  We went out for Christmas dinner at a posh golf club, where Rob's grandpa is a long time member.  The food was awesome - I was soooo full when we left!  Loic was a star, as usual, even though he was tired.  He took a catnap during dinner and was a cuddler the rest of the evening.  

Here he is showing off his drinking skills - such a smart boy!  He only gets a sip of water, but loves to drink out of a glass.

Loic and Grandma - I love this photo!  Grandma looked after him a few times when Rob and I went out and he was a very good boy for her.  We are so happy that we got to spend Christmas with Toronto Grandma!  

Loic meeting his first cat, who happens to be one of the friendliest cats that I have ever met.

On our last night in T.O. we went out for a lovely dinner for Rob's birthday.

This photo wasn't taken in Toronto, but in N.Van at the party hosted by my parents on December 23rd.  Look at Loic and Rob - matching sweater vests!  Cute, cute, cute.  Isn't this a nice photo?

I am waiting to be sent some photos from Rob's aunt Tiny and will then add them to the blog!

Erika

No laughing at me!

Okay, no laughing at the funny sounds that I am making; focus on the very cute laughing sounds that Loic is making!  And yes, that is Toby you see on the kitchen table at the end of the video!

He found me to be quite entertaining this afternoon :)

Will post Toronto photos soon!

Erika

Sleep please?

Hello from Toronto!

Loic has not slept in the past four nights. The first night, we were out late at a party and he slept in the car then took a while to sleep at home. No biggie. The next night, we flew to Toronto, again he slept in the car and on the plane but took a while to get to bed. The third night, he spent FOUR HOURS giggling before finally going to sleep. Rob and I were now tired. The fourth night (last night) he went to bed at 9:00pm, woke up at 9:45 and then stayed awake until 1:40, only to get up at 6:30! What happened to my little boy who slept for 8-10 hours a night?! We think he has finally started teething so tonight we are going to try to give him some pain medication, to see if that helps...wish us luck. He is drooling and is really knawing on anything he can put in his mouth (he has also tried to knaw on ME while feeding - not fun and not allowed!!).

In other news, he is being a very good boy and while isn't sleeping much, is still his happy little self. I got the hickups while feeding him and he laughed hysterically whenever I hickuped; to date, this has been the funniest thing he has done. We should have taped it but we were laughing too hard!! I have never heard him laugh like this - my hickups must have felt really funny to him.

He was spoiled at Christmas and is still charming everyone he meets. Will post photos once we get home. We had a very fancy dinner at a fancy golf club and he was such a good boy.

Erika

Teaching a middle aged dog a new trick...

The naughty Tyler! 

These two dogs sure love each other!  

I have finally decided to teach Tyler not to bark and run for the door if someone knocks.  This is a big challenge for a few reasons, but the short story is that he likes to bark and is a big spaz.  So, we will see how it goes!  My plan is to teach him to go and lie down on his bed in the office when someone knocks (I can do this with a clicker quite easily) but the challenge is doing it while holding Loic AND trying to keep Arthur from barking and egging Tyler on!  We will see how it goes.  Next challenge is to teach Arthur not to bark at the door, but I am not as confident that I can teach him not to bark at the door.  He does listen when I am holding the squirt gun, unlike Tyler.  I once soaked Tyler with the water gun and he didn't bat an eye!  Darn water dog :)

Our family photo shoot

I can't post a lot of the photos because some people are getting them for Christmas!  But, here are two of Loic that we really liked. 

What a cute baby!  Don't you just want to kiss those cheeks?!

Haha!  Funny little man :)

The person who did our photo shoot is Scott from www.scottsphotography.ca  

He did a great job and we love the shots of the three of us - I will post them after Christmas!

Jolly Jumper Fun (again!)

Who would have thought that Tyler would turn out to be such a lovely family dog when we adopted him 6 years ago?!  He loves Loic and Loic thinks that Tyler is pretty darn funny.

Awww.

Loic is really starting to get the hang of his Jolly Jumper.  We usually put him in at before bath time in the evenings and he has started to really jump.  He thinks it is hysterical when Tyler brushes past him, which Tyler does quite often!  

My baby Kangaroo

We had a health scare with Tyler recently, but after spending a small fortune on tests, he is just fine.  We are going to have to keep monitoring his blood work for any changes, but as of now, he is healthy.  What a nice Christmas present for us - we were really worried about our favorite dog (sorry Toby and Arthur!).

Today Loic was tired but wasn't quite ready to nap, so he helped me do some chores!  He really likes to sit and face out, so today we used the sling carrier and he sat like a little kangaroo :)  I usually have him facing in when I use the sling, but this worked well and he liked it a lot.  He napped right away when we were done our chores too, which is always nice.  He even napped through the daily **the-mail-is-here-let's-bark-like-crazy** routine that Tyler and Arthur do 5 days a week.  Sigh.

Please ignore my mismatched fleece pants and pink hoodie...focus on the cute little boy!

Isn't this the cutest little face?!

Last night, we went to Rob's company Christmas Party and my parents looked after Loic for us.  Other than not wanting anything to do with the bottle I left (that breast milk took me quite some time to pump!), he was very good and went to bed easily for my mom.  It was nice to be out and know he was well looked after!  Good baby and thanks a lot to Grandma and Grandpa.  

World's Largest Snowsuit

The three of us are going to Toronto for Christmas, so I thought I would buy Loic a snowsuit.  Well, here it is!  Rob almost died laughing when we put it on him today - it is a bit big!  

Loic thought it was pretty funny too - mainly because we were both laughing so hard!  
It is good to minus 15 degrees, so hopefully will be good enough for Toronto in a few weeks.

It was Loic's first outing in the snow today which was nice.  He didn't seem to care too much :)

BHA Open House and Odds and Ends

I haven't posted photos in a while, so here are some new ones!  Loic has been growing in leaps and bounds and is such a fun little boy.  

Here he is in his Bumbo Chair!
Isn't this the cutest little bum that you have ever seen?!
This is his snowsuit that he wears to the dog park if it is cold outside; it is very cosy!
Here he is with my mom and I at the BHA open house.  Boy was it ever cold out!  
Loic's first pony ride on muffin!  Not sure he knew what was going on at this point...

A very busy weekend!

Last Friday, Loic and I went for a visit at Maplewood Farm, which was lovely.  It was just the two of us, so I didn't take any pictures, but he liked looking at the chickens :)  It is going to be so much fun visiting there as he gets older and starts to take more interest in the animals!

We then went and visited my office, which was also really nice.  I really enjoy the people I work with and know that it will be nice to be working with such great people when I go back next summer.  

We had friends over for dinner on Saturday night and we did a family photo shoot on Saturday!  We can't wait to see how our photos turned out.

Today, I rode Jeff for the first time in over a year...I am going to be sore tomorrow!  Rob and I and the squid then took the dogs out for a hike, which meant that we came home with three very muddy dogs!  Thank god for the outdoor dogwash Rob installed, that thing is a life saver!

Will have new photos this week,

Erika

Aunt Jody

Here is a cute photo from our dog walk with Jody this week.  Loic sure likes his Aunt Jody!  And she is very good with him - even when he tries to pee on her when she is changing him!  

Jolly Jumper Fun

We sure love our Jolly Jumper time!  We put Loic in his jolly jumper in the evenings, after Rob and I have dinner.  He has been in it a few times now and is starting to get the hang of it; at first all he did was slowly rotate, but now he is actually starting to jump up and down a little bit.   Very entertaining.
What a funny face!  He concentrates very hard in his jolly jumper :)  And has to deal with Tyler walking in and out of the room at the same time!
What a big boy riding on his Dad's shoulders!!

Hike with Aunt Jody

Today we went for a lovely hike with Aunt Jody, Abby and Ryan.  Tyler and Toby had a great time, even though Tyler was quite naughty at one point!!

Being lazy here - check out the photos on Jody's blog at http://nuttymutt.blogspot.com/

Jody took some great photos today!

Erika

A kitchen full of ... cacti?

My brother is going away for two months and is then moving, so he asked me to cactus sit for him.  No problem I say, how much room do they need?  A south facing window, five feet long, he says.  We neglected to discuss how WIDE this window needs to be and I am now the proud guarding of 21 cacti...

I am happy to care for them, but am at a bit of a loss as to where to put 5 of them (the other 16 have window access) and some are downright ugly (sorry Ryan!)  

Check out the large odd looking one on the right - what the heck is it?!

Erika

We met Santa today!

All together now:  Awwwww!

Dogs and the Squid

I wish this shot was a bit clearer, it is very cute!
Toby and Tyler have very different approaches to being big brothers.  Toby likes Loic, but from a bit of a distance.
Tyler would like to be near the baby at all times and likes nothing more than to lick his head!  Loic doesn't seem to mind :)

I have a shot of Arthur and Loic somewhere - Arthur doesn't seem to notice the baby but is a good boy around him.

13 lbs

Loic weighed in at 13 pounds yesterday!  We weighed him while we are the Dr. to get our H1N1 shots.  My arm is sore today, but Rob is fine.  Go figure - I am the one who has to hold and nurse the baby all day with a sore arm! :)

We went to Mother Goose today and had a good time; Loic sure likes looking at all of the other babies in class.  

Erika

New chair, puppy and baby photos

This is Loic in his dog-walking outfit - very cosy, I wouldn't mind a full body fleece suit!  Tyler now knows that when we put the baby in this outfit, we are going to the park, smart dog.
Here is Loic with Jody, Wendy and Faren's new puppy Beezer.  Too cute!  
Happy boy in his Bumbo chair!!  

Losses

So many friends of mine have lost loved ones in the past few months: Julia, Faren, Deb and Jessica.  My heart goes out to all of them.

In H1N1 news, our doctor had to deliver a baby on Friday, so we are now getting our shots this week instead, on Tuesday afternoon.  I haven't read about any major side effects, so am not too worried.   We are going to weight the squid on Tuesday as well, I am curious to see how big he is!  He grows out of clothes in about a week.  He sure is a happy kid - today we went for a dog walk in the pouring rain, watched a movie and went grocery shopping and he happily joined in.  We carry him in his baby bijorn facing out now, which he loves because he can watch everything around him.  Such a good baby.  He is starting to take two naps a day now, which is good, and sleeps for about 11-12 hours each night (he still gets up 1-3 times a night to eat, but is good about going right back to sleep).

Erika

H1N1 shot and odds and ends

Rob and I are going to get the H1N1 shot this afternoon.  We decided to get the shot because Loic is too little to get it, and we want to reduce the chances of us bringing it home to him.  It would be bad if he got the flu because he is so young.  I have never gotten a flu shot but feel that it is important to get it to help keep the squid healthy.

In nap news, today is a good nap day - he has been asleep for an hour and a half now!  Yesterday we struggled though nap time, a lot of waking up, feeding, napping and repeat, but today is better.  Last night he slept from 9:00pm-8:00am with only one feeding in between!  Yipee!  That was almost like a real nights sleep for me!  Go squidy go.

When I nurse Loic to sleep, he does the cutest thing.  He always smiles a few minutes after he falls asleep, in his sleep.  Too darned cute for words.

This morning we went to visit our friend Julia and her 9 GSD puppies!  They are pretty cute.  Loic had a good time smiling at Julia, but am not sure if he noticed the puppies :)

Hawaii photos part 2

Family portrait - minus grandpa (I think he was still snorkeling).
Here we are at the boardwalk to nowhere.  
Our little family!
The squid asleep on Rob's chest.
Last but not least, two boys in a tub!  Rob said it was ok to put this up on the blog.  I figure that I will show all of Loic's girlfriends this photo one day!

Hawaii photos

As promised!  I am going to post the photos in a few posts, to make it easier for blogspot.

Mom and Grandma with Loic in the pool.  He liked to get his legs wet.
After dinner one evening, sitting with Grandpa.
Sitting with Grandma at our snorkeling beach - Rob and I got up close to a very large sea turtle here!  
Sunglass wearing baby :)

Aloha!

Photos to come soon, I promise!

We just got home from our first family vacation to Hawaii!  We were there for my Dad's 60th birthday as well as my 29th birthday.  We had a great time and the squid was a good boy.  While we all know that I am not a good flyer (very nervous, hate turbulence) Loic was a good baby on both plane rides.  Thank god for Rob - he held the baby when I needed to quietly panic and stare out the window...

While we were away Loic learned how to roll onto his tummy!  He likes to do it, but then gets stuck and needs help to flip back to his back!  Funny boy.  We can tell already, he is going to be BUSY!  We are going to get him a jolly jumper soon, should be hilarious.

Off to work on the photos.

E

Ah sleep

Another shot of Loic at the Aquarium, next to the squid info :)  

Last night Loic went to bed at 8:30pm and he got up this am at 8:00, with only two feedings all night!  What a difference from last week, good baby.  Now if we can keep this up, we will be laughing!  

We leave for Hawaii in one week - I am sure Rob is quite ready for a holiday.  Tomorrow the squid gets his first set of vaccines, we are not looking forward to it.

Aquarium Visit

Today, for FUD day (Family Unit Day) we went to the Aquarium!  Auntie Jody works there - she has a very cool job.  She gets to work with Fur Seals and Sea Lions.  We also went and toured the rest of the aquarium, which was awesome.  

Here is Aunt Jody with a fur seal pup - they have very big eyes and are quite adorable.
Here is Jody's hand very close to a sea lions mouth.  The sea lions are very interesting, and very large.  They can do all sorts of neat tricks too.  I didn't know that they were pretty easy to spook; at one point they got startled and ran away.  They are pretty big animals to be running around!  
We saw the belugas too - up close!  They came over to say hi, but Loic was asleep at this point.  They seemed as interested in us as we were in them.
Here is a shot of our Squidy next to a squid! :)  He was laughing at Jody at this point.  He had fun today and was actually looking around at things, usually he sleeps though our FUD outings. 
Aunt Jody and Loic after our visit - and after a very messy diaper change, which necessitated a whole new outfit...thank god I know how to pack a diaper bag!  He is becoming a funny little person, he smiled at Jody a lot today and is taking an interest in things around him.  I have so many things to teach him, most of them quite nerdy and science based.  Poor Loic!!  :)

Growth Spurt...

For four nights in a row this week, Loic has decided not to sleep for more than an hour and a half at a time.  Needless to say, this is getting to be a bit tiring!  Everything I have read says that this is because he is going through his 12 week growth spurt.  Last night was better, thank god!

In other news, a good friend of mine had to say good bye to her dog and we are all very sorry for her loss.   It is never easy to say goodbye to our pets and they just sadly don't ever live long enough.

Here is a photo of Loic with his grandpa, taken on Thanksgiving when google wouldn't let me upload any photos.