GroWiNg gROwInG

Besides G growing so fast right before our eyes, so are her nails, her appetite, her voice, her curiosity and diaper size. It's been a fairly crazy month of firsts, i'm pretty sure 6 months is the most confusing for new parents. She started sitting a week before she was 6 months, and that was cool....just toss some pillows around her on the floor and bam, pillow fortress! Then comes the eating new foods and trying something new every 2 or 3 days, which is cool too until she gags on something because the consistency isn't right, or something gets stuck on her palate and she gags.....which is not cool! We tried little bits of things, banana, watermelon, a puff cereal thing, and all of it....gag. I swear i'm not gonna feed her anything but mushed pureed food until she has all her teeth in lol and even then, i'm gonna be so paranoid! She has found every level of noise her little voice can make, but luckily her loudest screams are always happy ones, when she's the most excited. Since sitting for a little over a month now, she frustrates herself because she can't get to things and wants to. Her tummy has become a little more common to her and she doesn't freak out as fast laying on it anymore. She's done a fair share of face plants into the floor because she can get on one knee but can't figure out the other leg and where it goes so she sits back or face plants. If we leave her sitting she'll be sitting 2 ft away not to long after but it's mostly because she leans and scoots, not fast at all, but it's movement. She continues to LOVE bath time, doesn't mind at all when we dump water on her, she just gets back to the toy she had, like it's no big deal. We were at the beach 2 weekends ago and completely dunked her, no cry, just a little surprised, caught her breath look and then she'd smile.....hopefully we really do have a water baby!!

7 MONTHS: 

Even though some days my brain feels like mush because I literally watch kid/baby shows ALL DAY.....I can't complain, it's a real privilege to stay home with her. It's quite sad but I not only have my favorite shows but I also have my favorite shows for Gem....if one comes on that I don't like, I change it, she doesn't seem to mind yet lol. We had a biscuit type cookie, a cheese puff and a rice wafer thing that she's done pretty good on today.....still, i'm so nervous and on super mom alert when she's eating, but she showed me today she is not like she was at 6 months, progress is good.

She's popped out her 2 bottom teeth the other day! FINALLY!! I've been waiting for those suckers....she's been quite good, had a runny nose and was a little fussy a few days before I saw them but nothing more than usual...and from what I hear about teething babies, i'd like to consider us super super lucky in that department!

We are currently in the "don't leave my side or i'll die" phase, it happens to be my least favorite. We've never been the parents that were all over her at every second, she doesn't sleep with us, nap with us, she plays by herself and has fed herself a bottle since somewhere in the 3-4 month mark. She's so content to play with her oh so interesting toys, but now when you can't leave her side, not even as close as sitting on the couch...I mean it's on the floor next to her or else. She seems to have freak moments during her awake time, sometimes it's the whole 2 hrs i'm on the floor and sometimes I can do some laundry, wash dishes, make something to eat and she doesn't care where I am. 

My parents, who are now Oma and Opa come to visit in 1 week and we can't wait!! Gem is so close to crawling, maybe she'll have a surprise for them when they get here!

Below is some 7 months pictures....this little girl has got one awesome life, I mean...that beach is down the street, walking distance from our house and she gets to grow up there, how lucky.

7 Months:
*eats puffs like a champ
*loves to go on walks and watch the waves
*absolutely loves bath time and all her toys
*pulled up on her own from sitting to standing!!

FirST foOdS

FINALLY the 6 month mark came and then quickly left, that's how crazy i've been!

From 6 months: Gemma is now testing out her taste buds!!  So far we do oats in the morning for breakfast and a veggie at lunch time. She's questioned it all but ends up eating it and liking everything so far....we started with carrots, then sweet potato and zucchini. She's had a taste of banana and avocado but hasn't had a full serving of them yet. I'm happy to say no allergies so far and I can't get more food in her mouth fast enough, our chunku-munk loves food, go figure :) She continues to amaze us with that personality that is coming out, her laugh and smile are still as sweet and cute as ever, and her and Darin love their chat time at night before bed. She loves people and smiles at them all so they in turn love her right back, she loves touching faces, loves Pocoyo (a cartoon) and toys that play music. We're also so lucky to have a good sleeper still, it's nice having that time with Darin at night when she's in bed to just relax and watch tv or a movie together, ya know, all that stuff old people do.....and we're also still in bed around 10pm lol, that's been our bed time for years, what can I say, we like sleep :)

6 MONTHS:

*17lbs 11oz, 25inches

*babbles like a crazy person, which is really funny

*still LOVES her jumper

*hates her tummy so she rolls right to her back

*still sleeps with the blanket covering her face...not sure that will ever end

*sitting up just before 6 months

KaDooMEnT

This past week was Darin's golden birthday, he turned 30 on July 30th, so also his "dirty 30th". His birthday weekend has got to be the best weekend all year. There's so many parties for weeks leading up to Kadooment Monday and especially the week before there's TONS to do. We started our weekend with Friday being a holiday but stayed in to rest up for the next 3 days. Saturday I took Darin out to dinner to celebrate his birthday and then after dinner our friends surprised him and we stayed an had a few drinks with everyone. He was quite surprised, I even made a ridiculously corny sign and got balloons and whistles for everyone, Darin also had a gold crown to wear :) Sunday was the annual boat cruise that we went on last year for the first time....I was also 3 months pregnant but had a blast so I knew this year i'd have a great time also, and I sure did! Nothing like being out on a boat on a beautiful day with blue waters and fun floaties to use....and of course the people watching part, lots of good laughs. We came home and were in bed by 8:30 because we had to be up at 5am to start getting ready for Kadooment....hair, make-up, costume, drop off Gem, meet up with friends to finish getting ready and head out by 7am to the stadium. Our group left the stadium around 9am with drink trucks and super loud music to start our 6hr walk! I was a little scared of drinking and being in the sun the whole day so I started out with a very large water. Kadooment was SO MUCH FUN!! I would do it every weekend if it was possible. There is SO many people and everyone is wearing these insane costumes and there's so many different colors and patterns it makes the sea of people look so good! The crowd watching on the side of the road is packed from the start of the morning down to the end of the road 6 hrs later. Everyone dances and interacts with the Kadooment people, kids, parents, grandparents are all having such a good time!! It was a great day to see the culture of Barbados and see thousands and thousands of people come together to celebrate! We had a great group of friends who made our first time doing Kadooment a blast, wouldn't of been the same without them and we're so happy they made us do it this year.....didn't know what we were missing out on!! Can't WAIT for next year!!!

MeRiCA!!

A few weeks ago G and I traveled back to Orlando for 2.5 weeks. She had just turned 5 months old and she's on her 2nd international flight. She did pretty well on the plane, almost had a melt down when the plane got to the gate and stopped....just like the car stopping for a bit, she gets fussy, she'd rather the movement. We got through immigration great and met Laura outside and started our road trip from Miami to Orlando. Thank goodness G is so chill, she impressed me with how well she did all day. I was nervous about her not sleeping at night and her schedule she's on might get all screwed up because of traveling and she's not at home, but she adjusted pretty well. The last few days she was ready to go home but she stuck it out and did pretty well on the flight home too....I had an open seat next to me so she slept there most of the flight.

At G's 5 months appointment (in Orlando) she was 16lbs!!! I knew she had to be up there in weight, my arm hurts if I hold her to long lol.  She's teething for sure but no teeth yet, just lots of drool when she's chewing on things, and she is so so close to sitting up. In Orlando she went in her first pool and loved it which made me smile, we hope she continues to love the water and be our water baby. Our families were so excited to see Gem, especially the grandparents!! Gem's cousins even drove down from Georgia for a week to visit. This trip was so neat, watching G interact with people and smile at them and grab their faces, she's a little person with a personality. Jordis was so excited to have Gem there and even though Joss was a jealous 1 1/2 yr old she still decided sharing things with her was ok and would carefully give her a toy or try and share a cookie :)  G also had her first trip to the mall lol! I got a new jogger and went for a test ride the next day at the mall. She loves her jogger because she faces out and sees everything. After a few days of on the go everywhere, she would have a day where she was a hot mess and stayed home those days, simply out of pure exhaustion and her schedule getting all messed up....sadly my mom was watching her some of those days and had to deal with the crazy 5 month old...thanks mom!! For the most part she's really good going out and running around with me, she's on a nice schedule so I attribute her awesomeness to that. She's great at napping too, I know she's tired and just lay her in bed and she'll fall asleep on her own, as long as there's a/c and a fan she's good lol. Night time is the same way, bath, eat, bed and then I could go out to dinner and things with friends :) 

Since the last paragraphs: Things happen so fast, 3 days ago Gem started sitting on her own after her morning nap...weird lol. It's like she just decided she was gonna sit today and she'll sit for forever before she goes over. People always say "they grow up so quick", "enjoy all the moment", "before you know it...", "when are you having another" (that's my least fav). I believe all of those "grow up so fast" comments because I blinked and high school was 13 years ago.......i'm trying my best to soak it all in and enjoy all those moments but seriously, if another person says it to me I may roll my eyes in annoyance at them....i've got to think of something else to say to parents when Gem is all grown up and I come across little babies, I have a little while to think of something clever. A great follow up comment to my least favorite question "when are you having another" is....enjoy this one because you're next one won't be such a dream.....well thank you for that, something that already terrifies me, people seem to remind me of, well done.

Anyways, we're back in Barbados, Darin was so happy we came home finally and G is adjusting well back to her schedule and sleeping through the night. We have her 6 month appointment next week so i'll have some stats up soon :)

CanADiaN TiME eH?

It all started almost 2 1/2 years ago in the Bahamas....I met this girl :) She was tall, blonde and from Canada, she was dating a friend of ours we'd just met and I was the girl they set up for her to meet and hang out with. I met her at dinner and then told her we'd go to the beach or something the next day and surprising to me, for the next 2 weeks she was in town we were joined at the hip. Whenever her boyfriend was working, day or night at the restaurant, she was all mine and we did everything together!! We became instant best friends and I was so upset when she had to go. Thanks to iphone for imessage and facetime, we continued to chat and talk like we'd been friends forever. We got to know each other pretty well over those next couple years and then the day came when she bought her ticket to come to Barbados!! It was only a month away but I was so stinking excited and we talked about all the stuff we were gonna do and where we'd eat or have glass after glass of wine.

Foxy is her name, we call her Jen sometimes but for the most part it's Foxy, and the day arrived when Foxy was landing in Barbados!! Her trip was amazing, we did so much stuff and ate some amazing food, trying new places and spending the days at the beach. It was so nice to have someone help me with Gemma too. If I needed to drop Darin off at work so we could have the car, she'd ask me to leave Gem with her so they could play. She fed her numerous times, changed diapers, watched her while I had to do some errands for Darin.....Gem loves her aunt Foxy and so do I. The week went by at a steady pace, not to fast, but the day did come when she had to go and I was not excited about it. Living here makes me love visitors but also hate it at the same time because I always have to drop them off at the airport and say good-bye. We had a good long big hug and I of course cried (lol, such a dork). I just don't want it to be another 2 years before we see each other again, and I couldn't help from thinking that when I had to say good-bye....wish we lived closer, Vancouver and Barbados are just to far apart. I'm very lucky to have a friend like her and even though our friendship has been and will always be long distance we'll always be close :)

Love you Foxy!! Come back!!