Caleb's first Christmas

First family Christmas

Outside the snow is falling and it finally looks a lot like Christmas! It is a great day for sitting by the fire, drinking hot chocolate, playing with our new crocinole board and having lots of laughs while watching Caleb learn to walk on his new zebra push toy (see video below!).

Stocking fun

Caleb's first Christmas was a huge success. It began with a great dinner on the 24th where Grampie Greg, Alan and Caleb all debuted their festive matching Hawaiian shirts from Barbados! It was a very, very special moment for all in attendance! On Christmas morning, Cale helped unwrap all the gifts and has spent the past couple of days playing nonstop with his new toys. He particularly loved his vintage Family Camper, new books and his new toothbrush which was also a surprise winner! It was really fun to fill his stocking and play Santa on Christmas Eve, and I love knowing each year will only get better. It is fun to think about how the holiday season will bring him so much excitement and joy in the years to come.

Wow!

We braved the weather and took Cale outside on his new toboggan today. He looks just like he little brother Randy from The Christmas Story all bundled up in his blue snowsuit. He loved sliding and playing in the snow and now he's ready for a nice long nap. What a great storm day!

Winter wonderland

Christmas Eve eve

I'm finally feeling the Christmas cheer. After being down south then coming home to no snow on the ground in Fredericton, Christmas has been the furthest thing from my mind. But tonight we went to my Aunt and Uncle's (Jay and Gale) house, sat around their beautifully decorated tree, ate holiday snacks, sang some Christmas carols and now I'm feeling filled with holiday spirit, just in time! It will be a very relaxed holiday for us. Alan's parents are in New Hampshire with Kim and Jim, Sarah and Mary aren't coming to Fredericton, so it is just my family and Kathy's family in town this year.

Tomorrow the festivities will begin with turkey dinner at my parents house. My mom is ecstatic to be ordering in the entire meal from the Delta! Christmas day will be filled with opening gifts, taking naps, dog walks in O'Dell and eating Delta leftovers. It will be our first Christmas as parents/Santa so I'll be taking lots of photos to share. I hope Caleb leaves some good cookies for us!

Right now I have to share a very special video - a commercial for New Brunswick tourism that David Myles put together featuring Alan and Kyle. David asked his fans to submit photos of NB and if you look closely you might just see a special little guy and his mama in their first music video debut! There are also lots of great shots from my dad of Moosecall. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Barbados

Playing in the sand with Grampy Greg

We are home after spending a wonderful week in paradise! The trip was everything we had hoped it would be. Lots of time to relax at the resort and swim in the warm, clear water, lots of time with family and friends, snorkeling with turtles and over shipwrecks, good food, great pina coladas and a wonderful baby who had an even better time than we did!

Passed out on the plane

Cale was a champ from the very beginning. He had no trouble with the long travel days and spent the majority of the flights curled up asleep in my arms. He loved the water and laughed as the waves would splash over his feet. He had absolutely no fear and would have happily stayed in the ocean or the pool all day long. He even added a few new sounds to his growing repertoire. A kissing sound when he sees birds or animals to call them in (just like his mama) and a bbrrroooommm sound when he sees cars, trucks or airplanes (just like his dad)! It was so great to have my parents there, too. They were such a great help with Caleb and didn't mind having him over night a couple of times, even though he still curls up in bed between them!


Seeing Lydia and Nick get married was definitely the highlight. The beach ceremony and reception were beautiful and yes, a few tears were shed! We were so glad to be there to celebrate with everyone.

Wedding night close up!

Southbound

There will be no need for all this winter wear soon!

At 5:45 on Saturday morning we take off for our weeklong vacation to Barbados. Sunshine, beaches, scuba diving, surfing, a great group of friends and family AND my best friend's wedding! There is no way this trip will be anything but amazing! I just hope I can make it through my speech at the wedding. I can hardly hold it together while watching a wedding show on tv, so I can hardly imagine how I'll be watching two people I love so much get married on the beach in an intimate ceremony. My mom is worse. She already burst into tears when Alan told her what song he was going to play (45 Years, by Stan Rogers). It will be a tear-jerker, there's no way around it.

I'm really, really excited to be able to go outside without having to bundle up. Winter is a whole different story when you have a baby. Especially one who is ridiculously squirmy and loves to pull off his hat and bite off his mittens. We've also both had colds for the past few weeks, so I'm hoping the nice weather and lots of time outdoors will get us feeling better.

Since I won't be writing for a week while we are away, I'll leave you with a few bonus photos!

Learning to drink from a cup

It's waaayyy more fun to do it this way

This is what happens if I leave Cale unattended for a few seconds. Maybe Santa reads my blog and will bring us a new deck of cards!

Christmas craft fair

A beautiful pop-up card made by Fredericton's Angela Black. Check out her website here.

I try to support local artists as often as I can, so I love going Christmas shopping at the Halifax Crafter's Market as I did today with Caleb and my friend Nina. Cale was so amused by all the action. I just love how easily he makes connections with people through eye contact and big smiles. Of course, he tugged on the coat sleeves of several strangers and tore down a few paper snowflake ornaments, but mostly he was content to hang out in our arms and take everything in.

Not the world's most elaborate fort, but it does the trick

I am really starting to feel like Cale is becoming more of a toddler and less of a baby everyday. He loves taking things off of shelves, scattering books, cds and coasters all over the floor, so we now can legitimately blame our messy house on someone else! Our bath tub is now filled with toys. He is becoming much more interactive with his play and loves to make little blanket forts, ramps for his cars and big block towers which he quickly proceeds to knock down. Alan and I sometimes play a game trying to see who can build the biggest tower before The Hurricane plows it over. We can't usually get past 4-5 blocks. Sometimes I can hardly believe that things are just going to continue to become more and more fun the older he gets. Our little guy is growing up and I'm loving every minute of it!

Double Digits!

Another sharp outfit. This one is a gift from Aunt Angela. So sweet!

Our little boy is 10 months old!! People always say that the first few years go by too quickly, and they are so right. I can't believe our tiny baby is going to be 1 soon! Thankfully I have two more months of maternity leave and I plan to fully enjoy every minute of it. Especially the minutes under the sun in Barbados!!

Last night my dad and Eric Leblanc were in town to see Alan and Kyle play with David at the Carleton. This is a great venue for musicians because no one is allowed to talk while the band is playing, which is basically my dad's dream show. It was a really great time. Lydia and Nick and a few other friends joined us and the band was amazing, as always.

I was so happy that Katrina had offered to babysit for us, but I admit I was a bit worried about how it would go. I definitely spoke to soon on the sleep improvement front in my last couple of blog postings. After catching a cold and spending a week in Fredericton, Cale is back to waking frequently and has basically reverted to sleeping with me for most of the night. This is going to change starting tonight, but in the meantime I was really worried that he would be a bit of a nightmare for Katrina and her roommates. I dropped him off with lots of warning that he may not sleep at all and headed for the show. I was very happy when I called to check in during set break that although he wasn't sleeping, he had been very happy and having a great time. So far, so good. Then during the encore (my favorite song Pair of Shoes which you can see here) I heard my phone vibrate. My stomach dropped. I was sure they had been going through an hour of crying and finally broke down and called me. I glanced down at the text and read 'he's been sound asleep for awhile, so take your time'!! Whooooohooo...what a relief! When I went to pick Cale up he was sound asleep, in Katrina's arms on the couch!! I should have taken a picture! Apparently he was great all night and then just wore himself out and slept happily with her while the girls watched a Christmas movie! When I left they said the best thing I could have heard 'We can't wait to babysit him again!' Thanks Katrina!!!

Here are a few pics of Cale's latest trick - trying to stand on his own.

So proud of himself!

This takes concentration

Going down (aka Elvis legs)

Daddy's gift from Scotland

Best dressed in the family, hands down. Thanks, dad!

Home, home again

Someday these will all be mine!!

So good to be here when I can. Alan is on tour in the UK for a week, opening for Jools Holland and playing to crowds of several thousand in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Leeds. That means Cale and I are back in Fredericton for a week. We've been havnig lots of fun times with the grandparents, cousins and other baby friends. As you will see below, he has learned a few new tricks over the past couple of days. Tomorrow I'm off to Cocagne with 14 ladies for Lydia's stagette party! Should be a blast.

Enjoying Linda's new glass tables

Thankfully, we don't have stairs at home

Sneakers and sleepers

Well, Alan and I decided it was time to take the final step in our relationship - matching shoes! If only they had kids sizes, all three of us would be sporting new kicks!! No one has commented on our matching foot wear yet, but we've definitely received a few approving glances (at least we interpreted them that way) so we are feeling like hip, young parents again!

I didn't know if I would ever write this - but Caleb slept through the night! From 8-6. This is a hugely significant event in our lives and has taken weeks of hard work to finally get to this point. I think just being at home for a month helped us get into a good, consistent routine, but we also held firm to our no night time feeding and no picking up rules. The successes have been gradual to get us to this point. For the first several nights if Cale woke up, we'd go to his room and rub his back until he fell back asleep. Then we began letting him try to fall back to sleep on his own, which he seemed quite ready to do and never cried for more than a 5 minute period. Now if he wakes up at night he is able to settle himself back to sleep quickly and we don't have to go into his room at all. Yay for sleep!!!

It feels so good to know that once he is down, he will stay down instead of just waiting for him to wake back up in an hours time. It gives Alan and I our evenings to ourselves and already I'm sleeping more soundly and feeling much more rested than I have for well over a year. Now, let's hope we can keep this up when I head back to Fredericton for a week.

Bedtimes are no trouble for this grown up boy!

Rain, rain, go away

I want to go outside and play!

Grampy Greg and Grandmama Linda were in town during this wet weekend. It was their first experience with stormy weather in the Cove and although they enjoyed looking out at the breaking waves, my dad admitted to feeling a bit seasick watching the rough water! The highlight of the weekend was taking Tyvonn to watch the St. Thomas hockey team play against DAL on Friday night. My dad knows the STU coaches so he was able to get the players to sign a stick for Tyvonn and we also arranged to meet the entire team at Tim Horton's before the game. STU ended up losing in overtime, but it was a pretty special evening for Ty.

Caleb is now 9 months and one week old. He weighs 24 lbs and is in the 90th percentile for height and weight. He loves exploring everything around him, although he has unfortunately picked up the world's most annoying habit - grinding his teeth! He seems quite pleased to have a new sound in his growing repertoire, but it is incredibly difficult to listen to!

How can I be 9 months old already??

I'm still not ready for a full sleep update. We had been doing really well, but things have once again regressed into frequent night wakings. We have completely stopped feeding him or picking him up when he wakes at nights, which led to 3-4 nights of long stretches of sleep, but he is now waking every 2 hours again. Booo. Even though a quick back rub puts him right back to sleep I was hoping we'd be much further along after 12 nights of trying. It is a bit frustrating, but hopefully we will see improvements again soon.

Reading a book before bedtime. If he's tired enough, he'll even sit still for a few minutes!

Halloween

Our 8 tooth Caleb pumpkin

Cale had a great first Halloween. We spent the evening in town to pass out candy and have a nice dinner with our friends Cate and Jordan. Cale happily munched on tofu, roasted red peppers, noodles but no candy! We were laughing at some parents who were trick or treating with babies even younger than Cale. There is no way the baby is eating all the candy...maybe Alan and I should've taken him out to stock up on treats for ourselves! We didn't have a clever costume for Cale this year, but we couldn't resist using some things from around the house to do a little photo shoot.

Elmer Fudd

Our good friend and bassist Kyle Cunjak

Pumpkin Race

Final pumpkin preparations

Today Caleb and I headed to the beach to watch the 9th Annual Duncan's Cove Pumpkin Race. On Halloween weekend each year, everyone from the Cove brings their carved pumpkins to the waters edge as the tide begins to go out. Each pumpkin must have a candle placed inside. The winning pumpkin is the first float pass a designated buoy, with the candle still lit! Unfortunately, our car broke down in town yesterday before I was able to pick up my pumpkin so we didn't have an entry this year. Many of the pumpkins made it out to sea, but several took in water and sunk. It was really a sight to see. Afterwards there was a wine and cheese party (as well as the trophy presentation) at a neighbours house, so Caleb was able to make many new friends. He basically crawled around until he ran into a pair of shoes, then he would pull himself up and stand there tugging on the persons pant legs until they picked him up! I'm sure everyone at the party held him at some point, and he was as mellow and content as ever. He seemed just as happy in my arms as he was in the arms of a complete stranger. I'll post some more Halloween pictures tomorrow as well as an exciting sleep update!

I also have one new bird for my Duncans Cove list - the snow bunting. The books say they typically arrive in coastal areas around the Maritimes at the end of October, so this guy was right on time!

Heading out to sea
(and don't worry, only biodegradable products were allowed!)

Home videos

I love my Ergo baby carrier. Thanks again, Harris! It is super comfortable for both of us, easy to travel with and works well for babies of all sizes. I think we started using this when Caleb was still only 3-4 weeks old. We have recently graduated to the backpack mode, and Cale is loving it!
It's been awhile since I've posted a video, and Caleb has gone through many milestones in the past few months, so I've put together this little video montage! He seems to already enjoy hamming it up for the camera.

Times they are a changin'

"Hey mom, do I have something on my face?"

I think the changes over the past 3 months have been the most dramatic by far. At almost 9 months, Cale now loves to feed himself all kinds of different foods. He is completely mobile, crawling at both a regular and high speed and is pulling himself up on everything in reach. He loves flipping through books and point at things. Pat the Bunny is a big hit right now. He is delighted when I let him touch the branches and leaves that he points at while we are out on walks. I love that he still smiles all the time and is more interactive than ever. I can't wait to see how much he weighs at our next doctors appointment. I don't think his cheeks could be any more round!

Flushed cheeks and a toothy smile

Just the two of us

Cale and I had a quiet weekend while Alan was away. I found time to stock up on homemade baby food, go for several nice walks, finish the third Stieg Larrson book, The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (so good!), have some wedding talk with Lydia and even watch some chick flicks (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants part 1 and 2 - made me wish Lyd, Amy and I had an item of magical clothing to share...maybe it's not too late!!).

We did a new trail today - Frog Pond in Purcell's Cove - which was beautiful. Two loops around took us 1 hour. I always laugh when I walk with both Caleb and Arlo that the people we see are either 'dog people' or 'baby people'. Often people will say something like 'Oh, how cute' or 'What's his name' and I have to quickly decide if they are talking about my baby or my dog! Today it was all 'dog people'! Poor Cale could have been invisible! I have never heard so many 'Look at him, he is sooo sweet'.....and as I smile down lovingly at Cale, they continue 'I just love beagles'!!

Beautiful leaves on our hike

Afternoon baths

After several beautiful days of sunshine, we woke up this morning to rain, strong winds and big waves. We even lost power for a few hours, which is a first since we've been living in the Cove. Grammie Jeffries found a great link to a webcam at the Chebucto Head Lighthouse where we live. There isn't any fog today so you should be able to get a good look at the size of the waves by clicking here.

Alan headed off this morning for shows in Ottawa and Manitoba, so Cale and I had to brace the storm in order to take Arlo for a walk. We came back soaking wet and I decided the best remedy would be to start a nice fire and take a warm bath. I'm happy to say that we'll be back in the sweet sunshine soon enough - we just booked tickets to Barbados in December for Lydia and Nick's wedding! And my parents are also coming so the babysitters are on board!! Can't wait for a getaway with family and friends.

Plotting a post-bath getaway!

Happy Thanksgiving

Caleb (in his Tom Brady jersey) eating his turkey dinner. He would much rather feed himself with his fingers these days than by spoon fed now that he has mastered his pincher grip!

I have so much to be thankful for this year. Mostly I'm thankful for our healthy and happy baby boy and the wonderful family he has who love him. I don't think Cale could ever have asked for better grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends. I'm very thankful for my one year maternity leave that has allowed me to make so many trips to Fredericton. I've reconnected with friends in the States on facebook who have only 6 weeks maternity leave which I couldn't even imagine. We were home again this weekend for both a delicious turkey dinner made by my mom and for a special musical event. Eric Leblanc, who is a good friend of both our families and like an uncle to Alan and I, had a CD release concert Saturday night for 'Thirty and Thankful' an album that celebrates the Grass Circle Jam, a group of friends who have gotten together to play music together at Eric's house over the past 30 years. Eric is actually the reason Alan and I are together today! He was the one who told me to take guitar lessons from a young man named Alan at Freddy's Music Store 9 years ago! So I'm very thankful for Eric, as well!

Baby's first autumn

Well fall is officially here. Our three cords of firewood are nicely piled on the deck although we haven't needed our first fire just yet. The days are still sunny and warm enough to quickly dry our clothes and diapers outside. I made a delicious squash, ginger and apple soup the other day which made a perfect lunch for a fall day and a great remedy for the colds we all have. I packed up all our summer clothes and hung our sweaters in the closet. I couldn't resist stopping for a quick photo shoot midway!

We've been seeing tons of deer on our walks lately because most of the leaves have already fallen (thanks to Hurricane Earl). It always amazes me how quiet they are, but I always seem to catch a glimpse of their white tails bobbing up and down as they run off through the bushes. All signs that fall is here and I feel ready to let go of summer and embrace the season ahead. Although, I must admit, I am already looking forward to many more matching Hawaiian shirt shots next summer!

Watching a boat go by on a sunny day

Tricks and talents of an 8 month old

Having a laugh with his toy car

Cale's personality is really starting to shine. He is a hurricane for sure - strong, physical, determined - but also incredibly happy, social and curious. A friendly, inquisitive yet powerful hurricane, you might say! He is extremely close to a full on crawl (his record is 7 hands forward in a row) but is still in what we call the sweeping stage, where he pulls himself on his belly across our floors collecting any dust particles in his path. If only he had a sponge suit, he could do our mopping as well! He still smiles at everyone he meets and occasionally will see someone across the room and stare at them for as long as it takes to make eye contact and get a smile in return. Most people seem to love this, but once in awhile in a restaurant he will twist completely around to give someone the stare down but the person averts his eyes and won't return his glance. At this point we need to distract him so the staring contest doesn't continue for an uncomfortably long time! He has 7 1/2 teeth and is making more sounds and eating more foods everyday. He loves to pull himself up into the standing position and laughs when you help him walk across the room. He loves cars and balls but doesn't seem too interested in stuffed animals. When he is on the move there is clearly an object he is determined to get to and everything else is simply an obstacle in his path. He seems particularly interested in cords, outlets, the dog's dishes and houseplants at the moment, so we are in the process of rearranging each room to make them 'hurricane proof'.

Baby on the loose!

In Memory

Ellie at her 90th birthday party in November 2009

My great aunt Ellie passed away yesterday. She was 90 years old and an incredibly smart, funny, sweet and loving lady. She never had children of her own, but was just like a mother to my mom and a grandmother to me and several of my friends. Spending time with Ellie at her home in Riverside Albert County when I was young is where my lifelong love of the Bay of Fundy was born. I'm so happy that Caleb and I were able to spend lots of time with her while she was in the hospital over the past few months. Although Ellie didn't have the strength to hold Caleb in the end, she always wanted to warm his feet in her hands and Cale never failed to reward her efforts with a giant smile. Ellie lived a long and happy life and will be greatly missed by many.

Ellie with Alan and I on our wedding day

Harvest!

Grampie and Dad playing at the Lunar Rogue

Fredericton's Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival is one of my favourite times of the year. The city comes alive with music - buskers on every street corner, bands playing in bars and tents downtown and people filling the closed off streets. It was a busy weekend for Alan as he played 7 times in 3 days with Petunia and the Loons and with David Myles. For those of you who haven't heard David here is a link to one of his new videos. He recently posted a bunch of new songs on youtube that are really worth checking out.

I had a great time taking Caleb out to enjoy some of the afternoon shows. He loves watching his dad up on stage, and it is especially fun to see both Alan and Grampie Jeffries playing together. Cale earned himself a new nickname 'Hurricane' during the show at the Rogue. For the first 3 songs he sat completely still with his mouth wide open staring at the stage, but after that it literally took a team of 6 to keep ahead of his path of destruction! Placemats and toys were flying off the table, a woman sitting in front of us received a friendly hair pull, dancing on counter tops...he was a wild man!

Hurricane Cale stealing the microphone from dad

I was really grateful that my folks offered to keep Caleb for not one but two nights, so I could go out with Alan and take in some great music. Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi were definitely the highlight for me. Homemade Jamz from New Orleans was also great, especially considering the drummer just turned 12 over the weekend! Another great visit home.